#But I need to be more regular in posting and boosting my stuff o<-<< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[sleepgarden]

Tried taking cute photos to showcase this print on the petal paper, but well. Im not very good at taking photos lmao. Anyways, here’s my shop!

[redpenship]

As requested, here is an edited version (although I left some stuff in that doesn't really need to be there, like the whole section on the NPT) of my paper on nuclear strategy in the Sonic Adventure series:

None of this is good, Vector. That’s why it’s called war. 

- Knuckles the Echidna, in Sonic Forces (2017)

Sonic the Hedgehog is a very weird video game series. 

(Author's note: the quality of this paper does not reflect the majority of my academic writing. It was for a 200-level (beginner's) English class wherein I was encouraged to do whatever I wanted and not worry about tone, topic, etc. I also wrote it in less than a day after having written 3 other papers the same week, and was suffering from sleep deprivation and brain fog while writing it. I have not included my references in this post because they were done in Chicago footnote format and don't paste into Tumblr well. If you want more info on anything I mention, I will gladly provide sources on said topics! Ty ty)

---

Sonic the Hedgehog is a very weird video game series. 

This statement has nothing to do with its varying quality of gameplay. Sonic the Hedgehog is weird because its surface presentation as a colourful, furry-adjacent Dragon Ball rip-off disguises its extremely fascinating perspectives on warfare. The games frequently feature weapons of mass destruction in its stories, which allows for interesting analysis on the strategies used in-game and how it relates to American perspectives on nuclear war. The first game analyzed will be Sonic Adventure, which depicts an attempted nuclear strike on an American city. The second game analyzed will be Sonic Adventure 2, which features an attempt at WMD-boosted bargaining. These games will be used to answer the following research question: which side does Dr. Eggman take in the Borden-Brodie debate on nuclear weapons strategy? 

As a brief explanation, the Borden-Brodie debate is about how nuclear weapons will actually be used in a nuclear war between two states. This debate emerged in the late 1940s and early 1950s, as theorists attempted to predict the future of war after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Borden predicted that nuclear weapons would be used as “big artillery” to support regular military attacks, whereas Brodie predicted that the devastating effects of nuclear weapons would make war between two nuclear weapons states (NWS) inconceivable. Brodie appears to have won the debate as nuclear doctrine shifted to favour deterrence during the Cold War, but we must consider the following idea: perhaps, in the grand scheme of things, there has not been a conflict worth using them for just yet.

What is the geopolitical situation in Sonic the Hedgehog? Technically, the series takes place on Earth, but it’s a little different. Instead of the United States, there is the United Federation, instead of Greece there is Apotos, and instead of Africa there is Mazuri, because even the fun cartoon animal game cannot keep itself from generalizing the entire African continent into one entity. These countries are predominantly inhabited by humans, who live on the continents, and the animal-people (like Sonic and friends) live on small offshore islands. There has never been an explanation for why this separation exists, and while it could be fun to explore potential reasons, that is not the point of this paper!

Dr. Eggman typically begins his campaigns of world domination on these islands. He captures small animals to be used as batteries in his machines and builds extractive industrial plants, such as oil refineries and chemical plants. Sonic opposes him in the earlier games because he is harming the environment, and this has turned into a standard rivalry as the games have continued and Eggman’s evil plans have grown in scale. As soon as the games give the characters spoken dialogue in Sonic Adventure, Eggman’s schemes move away from resource extraction and towards using huge weapons and awakened ancient gods in order to conquer the planet. This is where the weapons of mass destruction come into play.

The first depiction of a WMD in Sonic the Hedgehog is in Sonic Adventure, where Eggman attempts to murder-suicide Station Square (in-universe San Francisco) by firing a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) at the city while he is still in it. He does this because he is upset that his plan failed, although perhaps he was attempting to show us mercy by wiping all the Silicon Valley bros off the face of the planet. Regardless of exact intention, his attempt to nuke Station Square says a lot about his perspective on nuclear war, which will be discussed below. 

When dealing with an enemy, their perception of you and their own weapons are crucial to understand. The norm in nuclear doctrine is that nuclear weapons are used in retaliation to extremely high levels of threat. However, this has not always been the case—in the 1950s, they were generally perceived as really big bombs that could be used in combination with normal artillery. This theory was emphasized most by the radically anti-communist William Borden, also famous for testifying against Oppenheimer in his security clearance review, who argued that nuclear war will target military infrastructure and end when one side in the conflict has run out of weapons. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the United States to possess as many weapons as possible because it is the quantity they possess that will render them victorious. City-busting occurs after the war, when you are free to hurt your enemy’s civilian population without fear of retaliation. Or, perhaps, when you have nothing left to lose—which is exactly what happened in Eggman’s case. 

Borden predicted that nuclear weapons states would disperse their launchers and military bases to make them harder to strike. He likewise predicted the use of nuclear missile-equipped submarines (SSBNs), which are used strategically for second strikes; submarines are hard to find, and can be positioned close to the enemy, making them very useful for retaliation. This is precisely in line with Eggman’s attack in Sonic Adventure 1, which used an SSBN close to the enemy’s civilian population as a last resort punishment after he incurred heavy losses. Whether or not this was a smart thing for Eggman to do is up in the air—the SLBM appeared to be an attempted surface burst on a city, which would actually minimize casualties when compared to an air burst detonation, so it is very likely that he cares more about building cool bombs than understanding how to use them properly—but it is clear that he is a champion of the Borden expectations of nuclear warfare nonetheless!

Eggman’s arguably insane, vengeful attack on Station Square stokes fears of nuclear armageddon that were hyper-present during the Cold War. Although he has been referred to as Dr. Eggman exclusively so far in this essay, this is not the case in Sonic Adventure—Tails, the character present in the city while the attack happens, refers to him as “Dr. Robotnik”. The character’s “real” name is Ivo Robotnik, which was given to him by American translators in lieu of “Eggman” when the classic games first released. It may not be surprising that American translators at the end of the Cold War decided to give an industrialist who primarily wears red an Eastern European sounding name. Russians are disproportionately featured as enemies in video games, eclipsing both the Axis Powers (typically Germany or Japan) and Arabs (as terrorists) in studied games. In wartime, framing one’s enemies as irrational is a core component of propaganda. Depicting someone named “Robotnik” as a self-driven madman who is willing to nuke an entire city when he loses feeds into assumptions that the enemies of the United States are not rational, which is then used to justify US hegemony on the international scene—someone has to keep these unruly states in line! This is especially true for the non-proliferation regime, which has been regarded by some states as neocolonial. India, a nuclear weapons state, has argued that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is discriminatory because it does not ban vertical proliferation. This stance generally purports that non-proliferation treaties are used to keep nuclear weapons out of “undesirable” hands while allowing nuclear weapons states to maintain and build on their own stockpile (vertical proliferation). Fears of certain states (such as Iran or North Korea) acquiring arsenals are presented as imminent dangers because enemies of the United States are always inherently irrational, and therefore cannot be trusted with such powerful weapons. The idea of “rationality” has been weaponized in service of white supremacy—and to a lesser extent, the patriarchy—for centuries and it should surprise no one that an international nonproliferation regime, largely built by and for states who were founded and are sustained on the premise of white supremacy, would prop up inequality and keep nuclear weapons only in the hands of those who “deserve” them. Although Russia is not a victim of this regime, it is frequently depicted as irrational and untrustworthy with nuclear weapons. Robotnik’s attack on Station Square is reminiscent of this rhetoric. 

Of course, Sonic is a Japanese video game, which should grant it some leniency in the depiction of a nuclear attack as inherently irrational and violent. But for American players, who are meant to perceive this as an attack on a fictionalized version of their country, the implications are more specifically anti-Russian.

Sonic Adventure 2 flips this script a bit: as it would turn out, Eggman is American, and members of his extended family were killed in a coverup operation by the Sonic equivalent of the US military, Guardian Unit of Nations—typically abbreviated to GUN. His grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, was commissioned to research immortality and weapons of mass destruction aboard the space colony ARK. One of his creations was the Eclipse Cannon, a giant laser capable of destroying the planet. 

Between games, Eggman has seemingly underwent the same attitude shift as every other NWS during the Cold War, because he has now discovered that WMDs can be used to threaten your enemies into getting what you want. On the ARK, Eggman activates the Eclipse Cannon and does the following:

1. Uses its laser to destroy part of the moon in a show of force; 

2. Threatens to use it against the Earth unless he is crowned emperor of the planet; 

3. Gives Earth 24 hours to accept. 

Did Bernard Brodie predict the plot of Sonic Adventure 2? In his earliest work The Absolute Weapon, he argued that the absolute power of a nuclear bomb would make wars too costly to fight. The primary purpose for governments would therefore be to avoid war at all costs, since any of them could result in devastating nuclear war. Brodie also wrote many pieces laying out strategies of nuclear deterrence, which continue to be used to this day. 

There is a common knee-jerk reaction to Eggman’s story that I see in fan discussions of the game. Many comments feature the following logic: “Why would Eggman blow up the planet he wants to rule? Either the writer is stupider than me, or Eggman is lying!” This is a very understandable way to perceive his threat with the Eclipse Cannon—why would someone make such an unreasonable threat? Does he really expect it to work? Who is going to buy this?

The game provides no insight into the general reaction to this by the world’s governments. However, Sonic and friends believe his threat right away, and race to the ARK to stop him. They are correct to do so—Eggman does end up trying to use the Eclipse Cannon against the Earth, but it does not work because Gerald Robotnik programmed it to fail if ever used. Therefore, we know that Eggman was not bluffing about his threat to destroy the planet at all. We know that he was actually going to do it. So, why do fans of the game continue to argue that Eggman’s threat was pointless? 

Bernard Brodie’s concept of the absolute weapon has become the mainstream view of WMDs in the public consciousness. We fear nuclear weapons because of their destructive power and believe that no conflict could ever require their deployment. We believe other NWS hold the same concerns. This perspective is then projected onto Eggman by fans, who mistakenly assume he should foster the same feelings about WMDs. The assumption that Eggman was not willing to go through with his plan, or that the world’s governments would not surrender to him, requires Eggman to value his own life over the success of his empire. The first Sonic Adventure game has Eggman attempt to nuke a city he is standing in. A suicidal, last-ditch plan to take over the world is perfectly in-line with his character. What is the point of living if he cannot have his way? What is the point of a planet’s existence if he is not the one in charge? These are the questions driving Eggman’s decisions in the games. 

Sonic Adventure 2 does not reject Brodie’s theories, but does provide a counterargument: deterrence breaks down when one’s ambitions outgrow the potential retaliation for acting upon them. Eggman’s dream of ruling the world was stronger than his will to live. Mortal terror was not enough to curb his imperial ambitions, and the Earth was almost destroyed as consequence of this perspective. 

When the two games are measured against one another, it becomes apparent that Eggman has taken a very clear stance on the Borden-Brodie debate: he is a supporter of the Borden perspective on nuclear war! He does not believe in absolute deterrence and treats WMDs as usable tools in his arsenal, even at a potential detriment to himself. His actions in Sonic Adventure 2 align his views with one of Borden’s biggest theories: the winner of a nuclear war will not be the state who inflicts the most damage on their enemy, but rather the one who does not run out of nuclear weapons first. Eggman is determined to be the last one standing—even if it means standing alone atop the ashes of the world. 

[dragonmarquise]

My reply ended up way longer than I expected, so I hope you don't mind if I reblog this instead!

One thing that makes score battles so much easier is definitely making sure to use boost tricks (as long as you have your boost meter up, tap the boost button and one of the trick buttons at the same time) to give yourself huge bonuses while doing a combo!

Gotta be honest, I didn't even know how to do boost tricks until the end of the game. Or maybe even into the post game. It was because, as far as I can remember, how to do a boost trick is only mentioned specifically by Bel once, in an optional dialog in Versum Hill that you can easily miss if you don't talk to your teammates while you're out and about doing story stuff.

But yeah, because I didn't know how to do boost tricks, it made the game so much more harder than it needed to be, lmao...🙃

Also it's best to learn the layout of the area as much as possible so you get a good idea of where to collect as many multipliers as possible (billboards for wallrides, corners on rails that you can lean into, and quarter pipes).

Lastly, the important thing is to "keep your combos fresh" as the game puts it. Which basically means, don't just stay on one rail the whole time! The amount of points you get for both boost tricks and regular tricks will go down the longer you stay on the same rail, from a couple hundred to maybe 20 something.

Use manuals as well as boost tricks to get to other rails and stuff for multipliers. However, you can basically trick the system a bit. Do tricks on a rail, then hop off and do a manual alongside the rail for a bit. Be careful not to drop your combo! What I do is hold the manual button while I'm in the air, instead of risking it too close to the ground and dropping my combo. Before the manual's meter runs out, hop back on the rail. That counts enough to refresh your tricks!

You mentioned the second crew, so I'm assuming this is the Eclipse crew battle in Brink Terminal. A good way to get your multipliers up is to get corners on the rails along the stairs and pathways there. Including a bunch of the upside-down rails near the actual bus stops. Though be careful for the stairs, those can make your character immediately get off their ride, dropping the combo in the process!! If you can manage to get to the above ground plaza, that one has a looping rail all along the edge of it, and I think you can get like a little over x20 multiplier from that alone.

Besides that, I highly recommend looking up videos of other people battling Eclipse so you can get a better idea of what you can try too! Best of luck!! \o/

also I fuckin give up on bomb rush cyberfunk rush for now bc I've tried to beat the second crew battle like 10 times already and just CANNOT get a high enough score

dunno wtf I'm not doing right but honestly the difficulty level of the score challenges was not meant for casual players like me and that makes me Sad

jsr and jsrf were NEVER this hard and I am simply just not having fun playing now and that's very disappointing

[grappling-with-my-baki-addiction]

✨More Requested Headcanons✨

Howdy!

Sorry this is a smidge late, been busy with work and regular adult stuff. You know;

💖 Boring Crap That Costs me Money 💖

(ヘ･_･)ヘ┳━┳

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

This request was submitted before my rules post so I still included Baki even though he is in canon a minor, I aged him up to his mid twenties. Let me know if this is problematic for some people, I only want to spread the good vibes and good times with ya'll sweeties!

Let me know your opinions on aging up characters, yay or nay? If anyone has a problem with it, please let me know!

I hope everyone is having a good day/night!

~Cheers

Their reaction to their Fem!S/o becoming drunk; confesses their love for, and then trying to seduce them. Then changing their mind and only wanting to give kisses and snuggle while continuing to confess their love.

Kaoru Hanayama:

He would find it a mix of endearing as well as amusing. More so depending on if his s/o is more shy or outgoing.

The shyer they are, he will tease them while holding them.

More outgoing, he will admire their honesty and boldness to openly talk about their feelings.

He finds it cute that they are teary eyed and confessing their love for him.

When they try to seduce him, kissing his face, caressing his neck, chest, grinding into his lap, he gets serious and a bit hot under the collar.

Hands going up and down their body, lifting their shirt off, and playing with the clasp of their pants…

Until his s/o becomes teary eyed again and goes back to confessing their love and saying they want to cuddle in bed for the rest of the night.

He’d chuckle at the turn of events, carrying his s/o to their shared bed and letting them have their cuddly way with him.

Hemming and haa-ing at his partners musings, stating his own feelings for them by holding them a little tighter, and just enjoying their presence.

“ There are no words elegant enough to describe my feelings for you “

Jack Hanma:

He’d 100% be laughing and enjoying their drunken shenanigans.

Since he's so freaking BeEfY, it takes a lot to get him drunk, so watching his s/o get smashed is always a verified good time.

Be ready to be teased relentlessly the morning after regardless of how bad the hangover is.

He knows they love him through their actions, so them taking the time to confess with their words only feeds his ego.

Though hearing them say it in public strokes his ego in the best way. Expect to be pinned to the nearest wall.

So when their confessions turn to incorrigible flirting, kisses, and steamy touches, he’s 1000% down for it.

He’d pick them up ASAP and move them somewhere more comfortable.

This isn’t the first time his s/o got this shit faced and he knows he has a time limit before they return to their lovesick coo-ing.

He’ll be trying to keep the mood going for as long as he can.

Unless his partner tells/shows him otherwise

We do not stand by boundary stompers in this house, no ma’am

When the mood eventually fizzles out, he’s fine to deal with his pent up vibes on his own time.

Being content with having his inebriated s/o ‘s coo-ing and the cuddles they offer.

Opting to Open a few beers for himself, resolved that he’s missed his window anyways.

if there is no sex tonight why not get shitfaced together?

“ No one drives me crazy like you do, never change. ”

Baki Hanma: (aged up to mid twenties)

Baki would be drunk with them.

Serenading each other with sappy love songs

hugging each other while repeatedly trying to one up each other in affection

“ I love you the most”

“No I love YOU the mostest”

“Well fuck you, I love you the morest”

He’s spent his life fighting and becoming stronger, so he hasn’t spent all that much time, if at all, around alcohol and building a tolerance to it.

Like give this man-child some bread please

So when his s/o tries to bring the sexy, it goes over his head.

He’s oblivious to their advances. All he knows is he needs to tell them he loves them more than they love him.

He’d touch their forehead with his, and just stare at them in a drunken haze,

“ Hey y/n, listen I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise. Just stay with me so I can protect you”

Beware of projectile vomit inbound.

Yujiro Hanma:

The absolute EGO BOOST this man gets

If they were somewhere public he is grinning and laughing like the mad man he is.

He’d be running his hands up and down his s/o back, sides, legs. Just enjoying the feeling of his rough, calloused hands rubbing against their much softer skin.

He’s half listening to them after a while, mostly just enjoying his own buzz and feeling them up.

When he feels them grind against him, his full attention is back on them.

He’ll give them a choice to stop here, if they don’t then they should expect to not walk tomorrow.

“ If you know what's good for you dollface, you'll have some water and call it a night. Unless you want to be my chew toy that is. ”

Kaioh Retsu:

Retsu would be loving the cuddles, and general fawning from his s/o.

Although he is concerned about the amount of alcohol they’ve consumed, he can’t help but find the blush on their cheeks to be adorable and in general just admiring them

Welcome to cuddle town

He’s making sure they are hydrated, giving them snacks, and just doing his best to help minimize the hangover that will be coming in the morning.

When they eventually try to seduce him, he becomes rigid.

He feels like he would be taking advantage of them in this state, so he's going to be doing everything in his power to settle them down.

Though he can't hide the deep blush on his face, no matter how much he wants to.

He’d keep them close to his side, still wanting to take care of them

tracing patterns on their back, and telling them stories from his time at the temple, and his travels.

Eventually he’d lull his drunken s/o to sleep, staring at their relaxed expression and be so content and proud to have them as his own.

“ Let’s stay like this, just a little while longer ”

Katsumi Orochi:

He’d be pretty bashful, as he was out drinking with his s/o, Atsushi Suedo, Kiyosumi Katou, and his Shinshinkai comrades.

Having his s/o clinging to him as they confess their feelings makes him feel a sense of pride.

They choose him, out of all the fighters, the men and women around them, they choose to be with him.

Katou and Suedo would be teasing the hell out of the pair.

Now imagine the awkward silence when y/n becomes a little spicy

Katsumi is red in the face, fumbling his words, unable to form a syllable, let alone a full sentence.

Katou is dying from laughter, cracking jokes, and in general just being Katou.

And Suedo is hiding his face, that's his brother’s partner and he (Suedo) is a respectful gentleman after all!

Ignore the gap in his fingies.

Katsumi would eventually regain enough composure to scoop up his s/o in his arms and go for the door.

He’s determined that now is a good time to call it a night for the two of them.

Whether they were able to sober up a bit during the escape or not, Katsumi would insist on carrying them all the way to their shared home.

They just look so cute in his arms, he might explode at the cuteness.

“ Like hell I’ll ever let you go. Now or ever, you're stuck with me ”

[errthel]

Four, just Four

This is the fourth installment of my fanfiction that is twisted (hehe) from @tri3tri 's Second Wife AU, Tempest.

I have reached peak procrastination, and will continue ignoring my requirements until I have no choice than to do them, don't be like me, I have really bad habits.

To Florius, it was the first time in his immortal life that he was ever startles by a mere question. His golden eyes moved over to the freshman, he had a relaxed aura around him but his (e/c) eyes had lost it's glow making him look eerie.

"Hm... what do you want to know, surely you aren't interested in everything?" Florius' curiosity for the freshman had peaked even further and he was very much getting more interested in him

"Yeah you're right Florius-senpai, I wanna know who rule the Valley of Thorns." quick and calm

"It's a monarchy, like most kingdoms in Twisted Wonderland. The ruling family is the Draconia family and they're direct descendants of Maleficent."

"Maleficent?"

"One powerhouse of a magician she's one of the top five magicians in all of the lands."

"Is that so? Then did she use to rule over the Valley of Thorns?"

"Yeah, it's now passed down to her grandson, Malleus Draconia, he's also a part of the top five."

"Malleus..." Lucien felt an overwhelming amount of pressure when the name rolled off his lips

"Mhm, well right now the family has I think at least six members. Maleficent, Malleus, Malleus's parents, his concubine, Bellatrix and their son the heir, Victor..."

"A concubine? What about the queen?" Lucien said getting more interested in the royal family of the Valley of Thorns

"Well yeah, there is a queen, no one really knows anything about her though, not her name or what she looks like, nothing. Malleus seems keen on keeping the queen inside of the Valley of Thorns."

"Do they have any children?"

"Hm... now that I think about it, there are rumors that they have two daughters, one leading their military and the other leading magic studies. But it's weird, those two girls are older than the heir, they don't discriminate the gender of the heir in the Valley of Thorns, I wonder if anything happened."

"I see... then, thank you Florius-senpai, I will be going now..." Lucien said before walking back to his cottage

"I don't know why, but he seems a bit familiar... must be my memories getting mixed up, I am starting to get older after all..."

~

Lucien walked to his cottage in deep thought, he felt like he had spent an eternity to get there.

Malleus Draconia.

He remembers his grandmother wheezing that name after her nightmarish vision.

Is that person supposed to be his father? A sick psycho? One who just couldn't let go of an obviously hurting person? His behaviour is akin to that of a zoo keeper ignoring the sick animals.

Lucien couldn't take it, he wanted to do something, but being patient is a virtue, he should formulate a plan to get them out of that cage. He just regrets his stupidity when he forced himself to forget what his family looked like.

He sighs.

It seems he has to take things into his own hands.

~

The gloomy atmosphere of breakfast spoiled her appetite. Sitting beside her sister, who seemed like she was about to die of boredom. Infront of her was her father's concubine and infront of her sister was their half-brother, deeming them boring, the black haired lady looked over to one side of the long table and a monotonous scene greeted her eyes. Her father, in all his glory just staring off into the distance, he had barely touched his food and she was sure it was already ice cold.

"Renata, your mother didn't come down for breakfast."

Renata perked up when she heard her father mutter those words before she relaxed a bit and took a bite of her food.

After chewing for a painstakingly long time, she said "I don't know what is happening with mother, because it seems like someone is preventing me from meeting her." her response was as sharp as a whip as she glanced at the lime green haired guard beside her father

She heard the chair beside he screech indicating that her sister had had enough boredom and was ready to just leave.

"True, how can we know what mother does when some ridiculous person prevents us from even saying a hello. It's been like that for a few days, dear Father." hidden malice dripped from Sherry's mouth as she walked to the door of the dining room

Renate followed closely having enough of the sour soup that was served and shut the door with force.

"Waka-sama! Those two are getting out of hand, you should try to punish them." the lime green haired guard said in a small harsh whisper

"Now, now, Sebek, they are rather tame today. Also Victor, we are truly sorry for requesting for you to have breakfast here when you have just started out classes at Night Raven College. We'll prepare a mirror immediately." the deep polite words of the ancient being eased the people in the room

"Mhm."

"I am sorry, Lillia-sama!"

The ruby eyed Fae looked off into the open window. He sighs, he had a feeling that a great storm would pass over soon.

The two sisters walked synchronized, each carrying malice towards the king. They separated ways and left to their respective posts.

The lime green haired guard's gaze hardened, those two girls! They don't act like the princesses they were supposed to be. He knew that that woman was the worst person his lord could have children with, their children are uncooperative and rude.

The concubine bade her son good bye as he was escorted to a mirror leading to Night Raven College, she held a small smile in her youthful face, proud that her son was chosen to go to Night Raven College, just a bit angry that he was sorted into Pomefiore and not Diasomnia.

The heir clenched his teeth together, even when he was there, his father only talked to his daughters! What was the point of him being there?! Just an afterthought? No, he was done being an afterthought.

The king stayed silent before he sighed. It had been ten years since he got his wife and children back, they had tantrums even worse than this, but why does he have a sickening feeling like it's starting to get worse than this.

~

Lucien's lessons were surprisingly easy for him to comprehend, sure it had been only a week, but he was sure that he could survive. But one thing he wasn't so sure about was money. He wasn't able to find a place to convert his money to madols so he was basically broke. He wasn't so sure on how to gain money though.

Lucien walked around the campus after school to try to rack his brain for ways to get money.

Sell stuff? No, the school already has a school store.

Try to become a servant to one of these princes? No, he's very used to having his whole day to himself.

What could he do?

"Hey! Hey freshman!" realizing that the voice was referring to him, he quickly looked behind to see a short male with black hair and porcelain skin

"Ee- yes?" Lucien gave a lopsided smile making the other male's eyes sparkle

"Ohh! So it is true! You really are handsome! Why not join the Modeling Club?!" he said, extreme optimism exuding from his straightforward request

"Eh? Uh, I don't really think I'm cut out for that kind o-"

"You can earn money in this club."

"!"

"As I said, Lucien-chan, you can earn real money through this club, you need money don't you? Oh and also I'm Noel LeBlanche, a second year here." he gave Lucien a knowing smile making Lucien just look at him like he grew two heads

"LeBlanche-Senpai. You're right. I need money, so I guess I join the club?"

"Hm... LeBlanche-Senpai sounds weird, just call me Noel-Senpai or... Noel-chan?" he said using one of his long porcelain fingers to rub Luciens left pec through his uniform as he smirked a little

"Noel-Senpai!"

"Fine~ suit yourself. Well then, I'll bring you to the club room so you can start earning money as soon as possible!" he said grabbing Lucien's hand and just running off with him in tow

Lucien felt powerless in Noel's hand, he felt like paper just being aggressively carried by the wind, or in this case, Noel. He feels like he's going to barf.

~

The blond freshman entered his cottage with a tired face, he came back from club work and was exhausted.

He looked over with a smile to his friends desk to see that Lucien was missing and he screamed.

"Lucien! Where are yo?!-"

"Brier-sama, he's over there." the newly showered Linden said gesturing over to the first years bed

"Eh? But he always did his homework at his desk after classes."

"Well, he recently joined a club." Hawthorne said popping up out of nowhere, dispite that, it phased no one

"I can't really see a club exhausting someone that much..." Brier trailed off

"Yes, but we have to take account that Lucien has half the energy and motivation of a regular human, so club activities will definitely tire him out." Hawthorne said while Linden nodded

"Oh, is that so? Well we should prepare some tea to boost his energy! Let's go Hawthorne! Linden, you can watch over Lucien if you want!" the two louder cottagemates sprung to go to the central cottage to get some tea ready while Linden approached Lucius who layed pitifully exhausted on his belly

"I do wonder what club you joined." he said after crouching on the ground and rocking a bit

"The Modeling Club..." Lucien managed to wheeze out

"...You have my condolences..." Linden muttered unceremoniously while Lucien wheezed like a dying alpaca

Lucien's mind drifted off to what his life did for the last two hours.

~

"Ohh! You really are handsome!" a boy with lovely blond hair and glowy brown eyes said, he greeted Noel and Lucien when they came inside the expansive club room

The clicks of cameras, people practicing their walking, eating snacks together, taking selfies on their phones, gave the club room an energetic feel and was something Lucien didn't expect at all.

"Lucien, this is Asher. He's the vice president of the Modeling Club!" Noel gestured to the blond haired boy which Lucien greeted

"Nice to meet you Asher-senpai."

"Ohoho! The rumors were true after all! This one's a dandy! Alrighty, let's get you camera ready! Give him something like a suit!"

"Eh! Right now?!"

"Yes right now Lucien-chan. Today will be the start of your blossoming modeling career ;) ~"

~

"That's how I got to model outfit after outfit for two hours."  Lucien said whilst eating up the soup Brier and Hawthorne got for him

"Ohh! I heard about Noel-senpai, he's a really big influencer! No doubt will people start to flock you when he posts picture of you!" Brier said

"Mhm, Noel is pretty cool." Hawthorne said while whistling

"I only really joined for the money..." Lucien confessed

"Eh? Lucien, you are a person who calculates everything, but you accepted for money?"

"Well, I am broke, it's more for security than actually spending, but I feel like I made a big mistake."

"Mhm, thinking of Lucien-san's personality, you definitely won't catch a break." Hawthorne said monotonously

"What's with that monotone expression?!"

"Hmm, well, since Lucien-san is handsome, I wanna see what the pictures look like." Linden said with a small, knowing smile

"They'll be posted tomorrow from what Noel-senpai said."

"Mhm! I look forward to seeing them!"

So, um, I just realized that there was a limit for posts. This was just like 23 pages in Samsung Notes. Yeah, so I had to cut down the last part but okay man.

Alrighty, we finally get some tea about the Valley of Thorns and boy was I like lollollollollol when I wrote this down yesterday.

That's most of it I guess, so part one of chapter 4 or just chapter 4 and the rest will be part of chapter 5, yeah, I guess it has to be like that. Frick this is going so fast and it's still Lucien's first week of classes,gotta slow down a bit.

[sol1056]

wuxia/xianxia: a loose and somewhat second-hand introduction to the genre, pt1

Sorry for the unconventional q, but i keep seeing Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation everywhere and I kinda want to get into it but a) don't know where to start (web series? live action adaptation?? wait how many are there!) and b) i don't really "get" wuxia / xianxia, that sorta stuff, i find it really hard to cross that cultural barrier and chinese mentality seems very alien. (it's not that i have no experience w different mentalities but chinese in particular is v hard to grasp w/o sources).

So if you have the time and patience, I'd love to hear a summary of it (like, a coherent summary bc all i get on the wikis is a shower of names and concepts that don't make sense to me) and perhaps some "intro for dummies" abt the relevant parts of chinese history and mentality tied to it? not just the cultivation / buddhist part but also re: familial relationships, philosophy and all that. (v brief and low effort of course) Thank you and sorry for bothering you!

("brief and low effort" referring to what I'm asking from you, not to what I need for me - as in i asked for it so i'm more than ready for a complicated essay, but you can write with as much detail as you like, I don't want to ask for some sort of comprehensive tome)

Okay first, you do realize that if you want “brief and low” for anything, you’re asking the wrong person? I was a philosophy major. brief got drilled out of me a long time ago. 

Second... well, explaining what makes The Untamed / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (mdzs for short, from the chinese title, Mo Dao Zu Shi) such a standout story does require understanding some of the wuxia conventions it subverts -- as well as some that it plays straight (so to speak) very, very well. 

I figure the best approach (again, sadly not brief) is to first get a handle on the genre of wuxia. Gonna break this post into two, so you’re not reading in a single three-hour stretch or something. I’ll do a follow-up about mdzs, to hopefully make it a bit more accessible for you. 

before I do that, let me first say: I didn’t grow up with this genre, so there’s going to be parts that I may miscast unintentionally. for an insider’s view, my go-to voices are @guzhuangheaven, @atthewaterside, @dramatic-gwynne, @the50-person and @drunkensword. if any of them are reading this and can point to more/other/better voices, please do.

I have three analogies -- like cultural doorways --  and like all analogies, they break down when you get into the finer details. In the broad strokes, though, they mostly work, and if nothing else, hopefully they’ll demonstrate that wuxia may be a chinese-specific version, but part of a storytelling tradition that’s nearly universal.

The three doorways are: the american wild west, the samurai era, and the british arthurian romances. And, in a tangential way, the regency period in the romance genre. 

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 

The term ‘wuxia’ can be translated several ways, but I prefer ‘martial chivalry’. Most wuxia takes place in the jianghu, a harder term to unpack. Generally, though, ‘the jianghu’ has connotations not all that different from what americans mean when they reference the wild west. 

More of a concept than a physical place, the jianghu (like the ‘wild’ west) exists beyond the reach of the law and/or civilization. It’s occupied by a diverse cast of farmers, merchants, beggars, and so on, but also by outlaws, gangs, hermits, pretty much all those who don’t like the suffocating nature of the civilized world, for whatever reason. It’s not a lawless place (except to outsiders); it does have laws, but those are only unto itself. 

So, jianghu is a world to itself, for the most part -- which also makes it kind of timeless. Tang dynasty, Song dynasty, Ming dynasty, it could be any of them and all of them and none of them. Just as the heyday of the cowboys and the cattle drives was barely a decade long, a culture’s romanticized history stretches into lifetimes that exist separate from any date you could pin down on a calendar. 

The average wuxia protagonist would fit in reasonably well as knight errants in an arthurian romance, with one important detail in difference: they’re rarely aristocrats. Wuxia protagonists are just as likely (if not more so) to be lower-born, whether the child of farmers, or servants, some common caste. 

This is where wuxia diverges from the british and japanese traditions, which have a bit more noblesse oblige going on (knights and samurai both being upper-class types). Even ‘aristocratic’ characters tend to be so only within the jianghu -- sort of like the way a territory’s elected leader in the wild west would’ve had no pull in Washington, given they weren’t from a fully-recognized state. 

Wuxia does often have politics, between competing sects (think schools of learning), but that political infighting is independent of the capital’s rules or wishes. A lot of stories -- in the rare cases the topic even comes up -- tends to speak of ‘the capital’ in disparaging terms. 

That’s not to say wuxia is all about the flat social systems (it’s definitely not), but most commonly a rank implies some level of competence/study. The title of sect leader isn’t granted, it's earned. Children inherit, but it’s also a common storyline to have an heir with no skills (who then goes through all the trials and tribulations to finally level up and earn that position in turn).

What makes wuxia hard to grasp is its vernacular: the conventions that form the backbone that make something recognizably ‘wuxia’ and not just ‘historical drama set on a frontier in a loosely-defined time period’. 

Frex: in a Wild West story, convention is two gunfighters at opposite ends of the street, and at least one of them is wearing a holster tied to his leg with string in a way that no real gunfighter wore, ever, but Hollywood came up with the idea and now it’s a permanent part of our imagination. In the arthurian romances,  convention is carrying the token of one’s lady love (a distant, untouchable figure who rarely appears on-page), or meeting the unnamed knight in black on the jousting field. Convention are the samurai who’ll die for their lord’s honor, always touchy and prickly at the first sign of disrespect. 

These are things granted the most remarkable gravity, that to an outsider might seem ridiculous. (Why is there always tumbleweed?) 

Now, wuxia is the latest evolution in a long-lived literary tradition (and by ‘long’ I mean like 2000+ years) -- but like any living tradition, each subsequent generation reinvents it for their time. Part of that reinvention comes from particularly influential writers, who put their own spin on things, and their interpretation becomes the next generation’s standard for the genre -- “of course wuxia must have X” or “a protagonist never does Y”. (Like how Tolkien almost single-handedly changed western concepts of elves, in fiction.)

And here’s where I explain what regency romance has to do with it. Another short-lived period, in real history, but along came Georgette Heyer, who took bits and pieces of actual research, blended them with her reactionary politics, exaggerating some things and ignoring other things completely. The result is a time-that-never-was, but she cast (and still casts) a shadow so vast that I’ve seen multiple romance writers complain that readers will see a footnoted-and-researched version as wrong, if it contradicts one of Heyer’s made-up conventions. 

Modern wuxia has its own Heyer-sized influencers -- like Jin Yong (the Condor trilogy, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils), Wen Rui'an (The Four), Gu Long (The Legend of Flying Daggers, The Proud Twins), to name a few of the biggest. If you have a chance or are inclined, the big names get remade on a pretty regular basis, and catching one will at least let you see some ur-tropes in action. 

But it also means that you can’t really extrapolate, in the sense of saying, “in wuxia, people do X, ergo, X is also a factor in Chinese culture.” It’s like... take any western made in the 50s, and the vernacular is simple. The bad guys wear black hats, the good guys wear white hats, the prostitutes wear bright-colored dresses with frills and the good women wear subdued colors buttoned up to their neck. It told an audience exactly what character filled what role, but that’d tell you zero about real people you might meet in Nebraska or Utah, let alone New York City. 

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 

Almost forgot: xianxia is basically wuxia but with ‘immortal heroes’ -- so there’s gods, divine influences, non-human beings as characters (main or NPC), etc. (Btw, by ‘immortal’ I mean exactly that, like this character is six hundred years old, that one’s a thousand years old, etc.) You can think of xianxia as wuxia, but amped way up on the mystical scale. 

Xianxia will sometimes take place on earth (jianghu) but sometimes in the celestial realm (heaven). Or a mix of both, like stories where a character falls (or is banished, or defects) from heaven and has to go through various trials and tribulations as a mortal human in order to regain a power, rise in rank, fall in love, or whatever their goal is. 

A number of wuxia stories are driven by some sort of mcguffin, but in xianxia, the mcguffin is more likely to be a powerful spiritual weapon. But I can also think of a number of wuxia in which the mcguffin would fit right in, in xianxia (some near-mystical thing with significant positive, or negative, power independent of the wielder, which often amplifies or boosts the wielder to an inhuman degree, etc). 

Thing is, the mcguffin being divine/infernal supernatural isn’t enough alone to make the story xianxia. I’m pretty sure you need non-human or super-human immortals and/or creatures to be considered in the xianxia genre. 

part two

[faedawayyy]

THIS IS POST 2: CHARACTERS WHO HAVE SOME STORYLINES AND PLOTS ALREADY BUT AREN’T NEARLY AS ESTABLISHED AS THEY COULD BE. THEIR PLOTS WILL INCLUDE MORE LOOKING FOR LOVE AND MESSINESS BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE AS MANY COMMITMENTS AS THE ONES IN POST ONE.

MILES

the only carmichael boy who is officially single from his household. i feel like this has definitely caused his mum to push her attention on to him, particularly because he lives at home. she definitely wants him to settle down with somebody and at the moment, he fake dates arabella to keep her happy but there’s more i can get out of this. SOOOOOOO...

- HIS PLANNED GIRLFRIEND/WIFE: this was charlie at one point but she has more with leo now so it doesn’t really make sense. somebody from a wealthy family who his parents wanted him to end up with. maybe they’re constantly pushing them together but the two of them HATE each other with a passion and do everything they can to mess up their parents plans. - FWB: he’s been in the shadows for quite a while which isn’t a surprise given how much leo, mason and brody have going on. but, now he’s getting a bit older, i think he’d be more confident in himself and i can totally see him hooking up after events and stuff and having a few fwb. it’d be cool if these had different dynamics too like unrequited crushes/people using him for fame etc.  - MALE FRIENDSHIPS: he’d definitely hang out with people in his family’s circle but also people who are different and come from different walks of life. as a general rule, he’s chill and not big on aesthetics and appearances if that helps anybody! 

NATE

HE’S LIKE MY 2021 DALLAS AND THAT’S THE DIRECTION I WANT TO MOVE HIM IN. he’s a rising star in terms of his music and also has a minor acting and modelling career. he definitely gets the right amount of hype too so i think he’s the best choice out of my new guys to really give like the whole ‘rising star’ thing. i have QUITE A FEW ideas for him bc i’m excited! 

SIDE NOTE: him and imogen aren’t officially end game. like they might be? but what i’m trying to say is me and nadine haven’t plotted anything like that. their official plot is that they were dating behind charlie’s back when imogen was with charlie. now imogen isn’t w.charlie, they flirt and hook up but are p.toxic and argumentative. 

- FWB/RUMOURED PARTNERS:  this one goes w/o saying. i think i’m going to cap the plot at about 3 (not including imogen). maybe 3 different girls he’s linked with and has his own thing with. bonus points if one of these is a PR arrangement and it doesn’t go any deeper than public appearances.  - SECRET SHARERS: so with his career getting bigger, i think he’d be more serious about keeping his secret which is basically back in high school, him and a few of his friends are responsible for leaving another guy in a coma (he’s still in it now) after they spiked his drink to stop him from exposing them for cheating their way into st judes. i need maybe 3 or 4 people who all had a hand in this but we can work it out together. 

- FRIENDS/PEOPLE HELPING WITH HIS CAREER ETC.

EZRA

i’m kinda stuck with ezra. i have ideas but i dont know what the best way to execute them will be? so, he obviously has his son - nicolas - who is being raised by his mother atm. he’s natalie’s son; ezra and natalie were high school sweethearts but have gone their separate ways, they coparent as much as they can. this year ezra has got closer to madison and then felicity but in both relationships found they weren’t really satisfied with just him and flirted with others...so he’s kind of in a weird place. - PLATONIC FRIENDSHIP: maybe someone who knows all about his son and has helped ezra raise him/keeping it all a secret. it would be strictly platonic. i think she/he would be ezra’s best friend and they wouldn’t have any grey area. there’s no romantic feelings but the bond is strong. 

- EX: in between natalie and then felicity/madison. maybe they broke up because he wanted to focus on nicolas and didn’t have enough time for their relationship but there’s still feelings there. i just want somebody who genuinely loved/wanted him at one point and doesn’t always find someone better :’) we could develop how things unravel in 2021.

LUKE

luke’s father is the head of film at st judes and he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders to do well. at the moment, he’s in his good books because he’s a key part of the harry potter movies which is really pushing him and boosting his profile. he’s very focused on his work but also wants to branch out and make more connections. he’s currently interested in athena but i want to dig into his past a little more.  - EX FRIENDS/RIVALS: a friend that luke grew up with and they both went into acting, that’s when the friendship became toxic. they were always trying to outdo one another and it’s continued on to this day; they both have good careers but aren’t satisfied unless they’re doing slightly better than the other one; this can be m or f. 

- HIGH SCHOOL GIRLFRIEND: he went to gallagher high school. i think it’d be interesting if they were dating and looked as if they’d be typical high school sweethearts. maybe the plan was to live in one of his parents place, get regular jobs and settle down but then he chose his career/st judes and broke it off because it got too serious too soon. bonus points if she still hasn’t fully let him go bc she truly did love him. 

- COMPLICATED EX: an ex he dated at the beginning of st judes and it just got toxic very fast. maybe the reverse of his high school girlfriend - she fell out of love with him/was stringing him along and now there’s a lot of tension.

- WILDER FRIENDS: he’s very clean cut at the moment and has pressure to be a good example for others bc his dad is so linked to the academy, but maybe friends who tempt him to go out more and enjoy this time/make memories/do crazier things.

TAEWAN

ok ok i’m getting bored but for taewan, it’s very similar to luke. BTS are really going to be pushed to be the best next year and this is going to create both new and break old connections for him sooooooo take a look.

RIVALS/INDUSTRY ENEMIES - artists who work just as hard, if not harder, than BTS but don’t see half of the benefits with advertisement and getting prime performance spots at award shows. i think there’ll even be rumours than BTS buy some of their awards. he’d 100% have enemies by this time next year and would lowkey be sad about it bc he knows BTS are in the wrong, but also his career means too much to just admit it. P.R. GIRLFRIEND - a girl who’s a rising star too and he’s placed in a fake relationship to boost both of their profiles. it’d need to be a relationship where they clash and do not get along with one another bc i think that’d be fun. maybe they grow to like each other or be at least friends in the end but !!! the more tension the better tbh.

LOVE INTEREST/BEST FRIEND - i feel like he’d have one person who is currently his best friend and they’ve always kind of had feelings for each other...but now BTS are blowing up and management are getting involved with who he’s seen with and who he can be with, their friendship is breaking down massively and they’re drifting.

BRIELLE

brielle has just moved in with imogen and park and she’s been thrown into like, the world of old money and the richest family’s in violet springs. she’s experiencing so much new for the first time. imogen and her friends have kind of taken brielle under their wing & her life has kinda separated into two.

PEOPLE WHO KNOW HER FROM THE STRIP CLUB - i’ve literally been begging for this connection since i had her. her main source of income is stripping and dancing at a sketchy club in london. i’d love to have someone who sees her regularly and even pays for her to perform for their. i feel like it could either be they become infatuated with her through it OR they lowkey do it as blackmail to make the point that they’ve always got something over her.  OLD FRIENDSHIPS - people who have NO connection to the richer families and are friends with brielle from before. they know about her getting closer to imogen and the hamiltons and brielle is almost like their eyes on the inside, and they meet up and just gossip about everything that brielle has experienced. maybe one of these friends get a little jealous at some point and accuses her of forgetting who her real friends are/changing? NEW FRIENDSHIPS - people who DO have connections to that whole circle. maybe they get closer to brielle through events that she comes to with imogen OR they kind of mock her and treat her like an outcast. i definitely think she’d encounter some mean girls.  ALSO new friends with benefits because why not! there’re so many possibilities. i’m just getting tired of typing LOL

YULIA

yulia currently lives in the home of the family she nannies for. this job funds her scholarship at st judes, but she tells everybody that those people are her parents and sisters. she gives off the impression that she was born rich and doesn’t mention her real family to anybody because she’s ashamed. she has a lot of self hatred when it comes to where she came from and is v.much continuing with ‘fake it ‘til you make it’.

GUYS SHE USES FOR PUBLICITY/MONEY - i think yulia wants nothing more than to be legitimately rich, so she’d be very picky about the guys she flirts with and gives her time too. she’s probably more determined to get a rich and famous boyfriend than she is about having a successful film career. her priorities are all over the place. 

SOMEONE WHO HELPS HER CONTINUE HER LIE - maybe one or two friends who know she’s a nanny and they aren’t her family - but she doesn’t know that they know that. however, because they like her and/or feel bad for her, they play along and help her continue her lie.

ELOISE

eloise is the oldest calloway sister and even though she’s technically a “half” sister, she’s been raised with the other girls and is very close to them - especially zara. she’s the sensible one and often has the most level-head. she doesn’t take much shit but is also a hopeless romantic and loves to be in love. she really doesn’t have much at all right now so i could do with lots of different plots:

childhood friends, people who were like sisters to her when her real sisters weren’t. 

an ex boyfriend and her first boyfriend. i feel like the break up would’ve hurt because she’s v attached to people 

a close friend who has a ridiculously big crush on her atm; boy or girl idm! i feel like eloise wouldn’t know at first and maybe freak out when she finds out and we can see what happens from there 

maybe friends/guys who have used her to get to her sister(s)

MARGO

MY BABYYYYYYY. margo is legit my favourite and thats saying a lot bc you guys know how much i love issy and hensley. she’s basically signed herself out of rehab and takes advantage of the fact that dallas is working SO hard to get everything done. she has a huge tendency to buy and drink her feelings away SOOOO.....

ENABLERS - i kind of want her to get in with ‘the wrong crowd’, and by that i mean like...people who don’t rly care that she’s an addict and want to have fun with her. i have a really specific connection in mind where they’re fwb but it’s no good for her; BUT she’s kind of easy and happy to have sex hjkl; so they just keep her on standby.

OTHER FWB - i really want her to just go through a massive sleeping around stage. i haven’t really found someone she ‘clicks’ with. she relies LOTS AND LOTS on park and even though they’re not romantic, he’s her safe space. but i think there’d be a lot of other people in her life who she gets different things from. some ideas could be excitement, or people who baby her, or someone who maybe cares a lot about her & its their only way of being in contact.

EX FRIENDS - friends who gave up on her after she went to rehab and became a mess. she’d hate them bc as tough as she acts, she HATES HATE HES being abandoned. that’s why she clings to park and disney sm, bc she knows that they’ve been her friends since the beginning. 

[ibroughtthisonmyselfpixels]

Intermission 2 Replies

I don’t think I’m gonna be getting any more replies on the intermission, and there’s only so long i can leave this until i do, so here’s the reply-to-existing-replies batch now. but first:

@bountifulberries replied to your photoset “So because I have no restraint, I made a very smol tiny Sim called...”

I think a paid surrogate mother would be a very interesting contestant / sim in general!

It’d certainly put a new stamp on the 100bc, that’s for sure

@sevenleafsimblr replied to your photo

“FORMER BC ORGANISER FOUND DEAD IN HOME A once-prominent figure in the...”

��

he died before his prime

sevenleafsimblr replied to your photo “A sweet or agreeable succession or arrangement of sounds.”

it completely flew over my head during the Melody Reveal that "melody" is also a music term and im mad @ myself

Un Der Standable

@jackssims replied to your photoset “Deacon: “…spinning?” ”

It looks like she’s t-posing to asset her dominance

Lissa said by PM:

This is a little silly to mention but -- I think it's kind of cool how you're incorporating old stuff again? Like, between the Wilkersons and a tie to Charlie and stuff. I know that old stuff can be hard for you sometimes, so I Just Think It's Neat ^^

i said at the time that it’s more out of necessity some of it than anything else to flesh out the neighbourhood, but you know what? i change my answer. it’s not that the old stuff isn’t hard for me, it’s that the new stuff is just as hard. i want my being good back

@tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “But back then, when I didn’t have to hide… the Wilkersons and I - we...”

I am terrified of what comes next but I am actually so happy that she has a good support network

without that system in place who knows where she would be. somewhere you wouldn’t wanna read, i’ll bet

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “At first I liked Jase best, just because he was so quiet and strange...”

They must be very good friends. They survived using the blue shell on one another

Cid is a good dad and won’t ground Lauro for that. Now if he’d used that lightning on him, he might’ve thought about it - that fucking lightning bolt’s the fucking worst

jackssims replied to your photoset “¦it wasn’t always good. Not those times. But that wasn’t because of...”

Those blondes... �� (unless of course I’m reading too much into this, then I redact my eyes emoji, but I’ll wait and see)

That’s true; we never did get a real answer for that, did we?

tosimornottosim replied to the same:

B I t c h e s

Well, yes, that applies regardless

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Lynn: “You’ve got it riiiight here! BLEH!!” Melody: “U-under my eyes?...”

Lynn is such a good person..............................;;;;;;

Lynn makes you cry from all six of your eyes. strexgnome

jackssims replied to your photoset “And t- then there was the one that worried everyone… the - I got a,...”

��

tosimornottosim replied to the same:

:eyes:

sevenleafsimblr replied to the same:

uh oh.....

I will only say this: it’s fortunate that the girlfriend didn’t make everything totally and utterly worse for her

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Lavandar: *wide-eyed* “Y-you - you dated your own bully?!”...”

I don't trust you Blonde Scarlet and Viola

O KA y whether they’re who you think they are or not that description is fucking hilarious

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Estelle: “…Oh god, Melody. Are you okay?”  Melody: *shaking* “Please…”...”

Don’t touch her you fucker. Don’t touch her

‘Limp’ is very specific and deliberate consistently-abused-child language, at least to me. If you don’t put up a fight, it doesn’t hurt as much.

jackssims replied to your photoset “Estelle: “…Melody? Melody, can you look at Mommy please?” Melody: “…”...”

Fuck Estelle

tosimornottosim replied to the same:

I want her to die

sevenleafsimblr replied to the same:

estelle can you be a good girl and get some sleep and not wake up

It isn’t wrong, but it is interesting that ‘can you be a good girl’ is what a lot of you replied to throughout this. is it because it’s the most convenient place, being at the end; because it feels weird commenting on the actual violence; or because the emotional manipulation is the straw that breaks the camel’s back?

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Lavandar: “Noooope! No no no no, no. It doesn’t work that way,...”

PREACH IT LAV IM SO FUCKING PROUD OF YOU LAV

As you well know, this is something I have to work hard to convince myself, hence the soapbox. (Can it be a soapbox if you have trouble holding the soapbox’s beliefs?) It doesn’t help that I do charity work at a bookstore, and Torey Hayden / Cathy Glass / other trauma-porn books come in on the regular - it’s hard to be confident in the legitimacy of how Mum’s affected me when stories that feature kids who’ve been utterly decimated and forgotten over the years are in my line of sight that often.

Incidentally, I hope I haven’t crossed the line to trauma-porn here. This is intended to be an explanation for part of Lorelei’s backstory and why she has a lot of the mannerisms she does (plus a few hints for down the road, but that first thing first and foremost) - obviously making you sad is a goal too, but not to an exploitative extent, you know? 

@cafesimming replied to your photoset “Lorelei: “I… I’m sorry. I won’t say it again, I’m sor–”...”

i havent been replying but i just got s chance to read sll this and i love lorelei and i love lavandar and i love this story and im quite literally on the verge of tears reading all this rn and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa love

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

bountifulberries replied to your photoset “Lavandar: *shrinks back, curling up onto herself, breathing shakily* ...”

All of this is making me so sad but it’s so well done!! I literally didn’t wanna go to bed last night bc I wanted to keep waiting for updates to post

get some sleep Kasey. if you’re going back to school you need all the sleep you can get. i can be awake for you and get in trouble for it

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “I really am sorry, you know. Lavandar. That I’m p- that I’m putting...”

It wasn’t a lack of bravery. You were so brave

there’s two kinds of bravery: to confront, and to endure. Lyra has the confrontational bravery covered. Lorelei is the endurance. 

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “He looked at my arm. He looked at me. H-he… looked at me, like Lyra...”

Zeus bless Jase. In all truthfulness

give him the happiest of marriages and the least of links to that box with the finger in it...

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “¦He didn’t say a word… to me.” Jase: “…” Pal: “Poor fucking Melody....”

is. is he gonna make himself talk to help her. is. is he gonna do that. because if he does i'm fucking gonna cry

He!! Did that!!

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “But I’ll… even with everything… I’ll forever be grateful that he...”

god what a hero

the hero we need but we don’t deserve

jackssims replied to the same: 

Good. This is good (I hope)

It was a mixed blessing

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “I didn’t put two and two together until Jase told me later… but Mom...”

You weren't bad. You weren't bad

Lorelei knows that. Melody does not.

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “¦what happened after that, Lorelei? Did she–?” “She was held for a...”

oh colby...

I’m not sure where else to put this yet, but designing Estelle was almost as much - not necessarily fun, but it took about as much thought as designing Amelia did back in the day. I think she’s quite handsome, but it’s ruined by her looking almost perpetually sour/disgruntled. I even employed another Enid Blyton trick: her eyes are closer together compared to my other Sims, and a pale blue, much like Prudence from another St Clare’s book. Until they (Prudence’s) turned brown in a later scene in one of the few legitimate continuity errors I’ve seen from Enid but that’s neither here nor there 

I’d also like to emphasise an actually salient point: if it wasn’t clear, Estelle isn’t mentally ill in any way that I know of. There may be neuroses there that never got diagnosed, but they're not the root of her behaviour even if there are. She’s reprehensible enough without chemical imbalances there to influence it. 

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “We tried to be safe. She tried to… let us be a normal family. A happy...”

I understand rationally that Colby is a victim of abuse but /damn/ does he make my blood boil rn

I in turn understand why you’d be angry at him - he allowed a very volatile influence back into Lorelei’s life - but honestly I mostly feel pity for him. He’s a bit like, um... what’s a good comparison...? Charlie Swan feels like the closest analogue, though the circumstances are different there. He can try to lay down some rules and speak the truth of it, but when the largest female influence in the house is this dominant, this domineering, and cares more about what he can do for her than what he chooses to do for himself, what chance does he have? 

It doesn’t help that being willing to please and put his own neck on the line to keep other people happy is kind of a core part of his personality - he’s the person from whom Lorelei inherited the Good trait (much like Amelia got Perfectionist from Maus), but his manifestation of Good leans more towards Doormat than Empathetic, if you see what I mean. It becomes especially clear if I reveal and then you consider he dropped out of college at twenty halfway through a tech degree specifically to marry Estelle so that she could have someone to keep her company at medical school. Self sabotage for the boosting of others.

(Estelle’s two years and a few months Colby’s senior, by the way)

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “I was a wreck at home, and a - even worse, at school. I kept my mouth...”

I wish there was a word for like, SHSL Mom. Because that's what Lynn is. She's like a Double Mom

maxi extreme ultra Mom

Vid incidentally got very upset at around the Jase Pal break-up post, for good reason: these people are just kids. this stuff is much too big for them, they didn’t deserve this.

@geezsims liked your photoset “¦to Bridgeport.” “God. All by yourself? No one-?”  â€œThe journey, y-...”

Han. Han. I admire the like, Han, but I feel like you’ve missed, like, nine tenths of the story here

tosimornottosim replied to the same:

See Colby /this/ is how you Dad

by dying your hair, or sending your kid to a safe place? i’m not sure the intended message here

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “¦Lorelei Kessler.”

My hero

I need a Lorelei; I’m holding out for a Lorelei til the end of the etc

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Lorelei: “I trust you, Lavandar. I trust you. I trust you. N- no...”

Lavender: *a gentleman's guide to love and murder playing* I've decided to marry you! I've decided to marry you!

Blessed Image

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Lorelei: “Lyra?! Uh- um -” *clambers up* “You’re - you’re back?” ...”

Man I’m happy you’re going to be here, Ly, but what a buzzkill We almost had a confession!

Like I said in the end credits, we almost had a lot of things ;)

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “¦ *crunch* *click* *crunch*  â€¦ Lyra: “…okay, and - open.” – End of...”

Now you’re the cockblock, Dub

bountifulberries replied to the same:

RUDE

jackssims replied to your photoset “¦ *crunch* *click* *crunch*  â€¦ Lyra: “…okay, and - open.” – End of...”

Ending it with a tease, eh?

Okay y’all I understand but like y’all, y’all. y’all. this part of SoS is ultimately Lorelei’s story. If I’d ended it with the full Lyra reveal, it would become Lyra’s story again too much, and a lot of the impact of what Lor’s been talking about would’ve been lost. I felt like I was pushing it as it is

jackssims replied to your post “Intermission 2: Melody End Credits”

This interlude-update was amazing. It made me feel stuff like never before, and I was always refreshing my dash for it. Great job!

holy hell thank!!!! I’ll try to maintain that quality, or at least a small fraction of it, into the rest of the project going forward! 

[dissidiacloudstrife]

hey i missed the actual rbing of the post whoops! But please. tell me how bluebell would destroy me even more if given Boss mechanics. ALSO I'd like to ask for vale - pre/during/post icebrood saga is up to you!

rubs my gay lil hands, this is gonna be SO LONG im SO SORRY under a readmore it goes

to be able to tank bluebell, it'll be focus based on who's doing the most damage, not toughness or random. she will go after who's hurting her the most, and try and stun lock them. if you spend more than say like 30 seconds Not attacking her, she regens her health faster than normal, not like when an enemy is out of a fight/range and goes to full health, just a lil faster to make you go "oh shit shit shit" and attack her again.

so for bluebell, she'd probably have like 2-3 phases. the first phase would mostly be like fighting her in game (like as player vs player, game restrictions) except she has a beefy defiance bar you need to break to get her to go into phase 2. for her attacks, in phase 1 its like a regular spellbreaker, she uses the two daggers, and a longbow (the long bow is already on blue fire). she doesnt use the typical pvp spellbreaker stuff (winds of disenchantment, magebane tether) but stuff to stun you and keep you focused on her (this is more relevant in phase 3) she doesnt hit super hard (yet) but if get targeted by her, and shes able to stun lock you, say goodbye to your kneecaps

phase 2 is when she breaks out her god powers! and she's fucking AWFUL to fight. basically you Have to break her defiance bar every time to do any real damage (to bypass toughness and her health regen) and the defiance bar comes back Quick. its not as beefy as her first bar, but you gotta rapidly break it a bunch of times. so youll have to space out your cc or (if this is a strike/raid maybe) have specific people go in an order. for phase 2 attacks! she starts incorporating her fire abilities, and she has wings where she can basically do the wings of resolve/dragonhunter f2 skill to jump around the arena, and do a big fire blast aoe, like warden amala does. this isnt a move used often, but it's the most powerful during this phase. she'll start inflicting burning with her attacks that'll need to be condi cleansed off, or Perish. when shes down to like 15%, she'll pick a random target (one thats not the tank) and kneels down to fire a big line aoe down the middle of the arena, to separate the squad. this leads into phase 3!

in phase 3, is when vlast comes into play! bluebell is now also completely in her god form but she doesnt have a defiance bar anymore, and vlast is reflecting (ha) that. on one side of the arena, the team will be fighting bluebell, and on the other vlast. the thing is that bluebell and vlast will coordinate attacks to hit both sides at the same side, or switch sides. when that happens there will be green aoes people will HAVE to stand in, or take massive burning damage. being in the stack also gives a slight boost to damage. and each time you do the mechanic, the stack goes up by 1, up to 5 times for a total increase of 25% damage.

not going down w/o a fight, if you kill either bluebell or vlast before the other, they will go into berserker mode. bluebell literally changing into that elite class instead of spellbreaker, and vlast doing it out of rage. at this point, you take constant burning damage, and it will kill you unless youre together with your healers.

if you do manage to kill them within 15 seconds of each other, then theyll accept defeat and honor those who defeated them, and give you a permanent buff for the raid wing for that week (everyone getting increased vitality/health)

if they kill you, youll get voice lines like, "if only you were better equipped." "im the god of truth and justice, this was always the course it was meant to be" "dont take it to heart, theres always next time" "my champion is strong, and i as her scion, only make her stronger." "i will not die so helplessly this time" she doesnt actually kill those who enter her arena, so you wouldnt need to worry about that :p

VALE:

so for vale, i actually think it would be rly cool if his was also a 3 phase fight, but like you said! pre icebrood/during/post

so phase 1 would be vale as his most "normal" self. mostly warrior attacks, and using a giant greatsword agasint the squad. he would be like a normal toughness based tanking, so going after whoever has the most toughness! he uses shouts, and likes to stand still a lot to do Massive damage in a sweep. you only have to get his health down to 75% for phase 2 to activate, but as youre doing that, he starts to get icy!

once 75% hits, he explodes in icy, knocking back the squad, and getting bigger. hes now in champion form, and hurts a HELL of a lot more. unlike ryl/and, he can weave his own ice spells, and will turn a random person into an icicle, and then kick them into the squad/another random person. this stuns both of you, and Hurts a lot. he will then charge at them, but once that is done, he goes back to toughness tank. he mostly does chill damage, so you better have condi cleanse or Else. he also fights more like a greatsword reaper, than a warrior. hovering in place before a big attack, or kneeling down to make the floor Slippery for a minute or two. this is also when he gets a defiance bar, since he's harder to kill, you need that break to do better damage.

once you get him down to 25% however, the ice melts off him, and he kneels down invulnerable for a few seconds, breathing heavily as he becomes smaller again, but still bigger than his 1st phase. and screams at the squad, inflicting fear on a platform that also melted and you can fall off the edge if not careful. he loses his defiance bar here too.

while he isnt dealing as much damage, the floor is now permanently frozen over, and if you dont stand still, youll probably fall off the edge of the arena. vale doesnt do that kick move anymore, but he will do that fear shout, and try and drive you off. if you kill him, he'll say along the lines of "im sorry, almorra, i tried." "ember....if only i saw ember one last time...." "tell bangar, damn him to the mists" "but, banni...moss..."

[waltzofthewifi]

Chapter 36: In The Fullness of Time

Beginning | Table of Contents

Ladybug paced the roof, lost in thought. Chat Noir leaned against the wall and watched her, giving his opinion when asked.

"We shouldn't give her the miraculous until we absolutely need it," Ladybug decided.

"I'm confused," Chat Noir replied. "Doesn't she already have the miraculous?"

"No," Ladybug answered. "She inherited another casing for the miraculous, so that older her could use it to repair the miraculous which is currently in Fu's custody."

"Time travel's confusing," Chat Noir noted.

"Yeah, it is," Ladybug agreed. "That's why we don't want to use the rabbit miraculous unless it's absolutely necessary. But if we get to the point where it is necessary, we'll need someone who knows how to use it already - we don't want an adjustment period."

"We managed during our adjustment period," Chat Noir pointed out.

"Barely. You wasted a cataclysm and I forgot to cleanse the akuma."

"Besides, doesn't having a time-travel device mean you could just give yourself an adjustment period?" Chat Noir questioned.

Ladybug paused. "That's a good point. But what if something happens and we need her right then?"

"Again: time travel."

Ladybug sighed. "This is confusing. I guess there's a reason I'm not the rabbit. Maybe I should just talk to her."

"Whatever you think is best," Chat Noir replied. "She's probably home, this late at night."

"You're right," Ladybug said. "I'm going to go talk to her."

Ladybug had only been to Alix's place once or twice. Of her classmates, she lived farthest from the school, so even though her apartment was spacious, it was rarely used for class events.

It was two floors - the bottom had the living room, kitchen, and her dad's home office and bedroom. The second floor had her and Jalil's rooms with a small office for both of them - Jalil's was filled with conspiracy theory stuff, and Alix never let anyone into hers.

Ladybug could see Alix's bedroom was empty, so she knocked on the window to her office.

Alix pushed open the blackout curtains, eyes lighting up when she saw Ladybug. She pushed the window open.

"Ladybug! What are you doing here?"

"I think it's time to talk about your future," Ladybug said.

That sounds ominous.

"I mean, in a good way. Of course. Your brief time as Ibex proved you could make a wonderful hero."

Alix blushed, which wasn't something Ladybug had ever saw her do.

"I'd do anything for my friends," she said.

"I first chose to become Ladybug to protect my friends, too," Ladybug replied.

Alix's office was small. She had several cork boards that looked like something out of a mystery movie, with different articles printed out and hanging up. Three cork boards were covered with a black sheet. The others were filled with theories from major archaeologists, the Ladyblog, school project ideas, and a new-looking board on mythology. She had a desk shoved up next to the window, with her laptop, a desk lamp, and a Bluetooth speaker.

"So, about Bunnyx," Alix said, uncovering one of the cork boards to show a mess of articles about time travel theories, potential past miraculous holders, and a Ladyblog article about Timetagger. "I have a pretty good idea about how the powers work, and how best to implement them."

Ladybug's eyes widened. She has been taking this very seriously.

"You see, I was thinking about how Bunnyx's powers seemed Alice in Wonderland inspired, except I've traced appearances of similar heroes all the way back to Ancient China and Tibet. That got me thinking - maybe it's the other way around? Would Lewis Carroll have had a chance to run into a rabbit hero? Which led me to this series of articles, which I think was originally confined to this group of people called The Circle, about how the rabbit miraculous works. There was this artwork, let me see if I can find it, about what the burrow supposedly looks like, and - there it is!"

The picture Alix showed her looked a lot like what Ladybug remembered during her brief time in Bunnyx's burrow.

"That's really impressive."

So much for Alix needing an adjustment period.

Alix beamed. "Thank you. My old man has always stressed the importance of good research."

"You ever help the Ladyblogger out?" Ladybug asked. "She's in your class, right?"

If I can get her and Rena together, maybe they can piece together the missing information from the old guardians.

"I don't know, I don't think this should be out in the public," Alix replied.

"Oh, of course not," Ladybug agreed. "But she's gotten better at being able to tell when and when not to post something."

"Has she? Oh, I was going to ask you something else! Do you recommend a self-defense class or something, you know, for training?"

"As I'm sure you remember from your time as Ibex, the miraculous will give you a physical boost," Ladybug said. "A little self defense training wouldn't hurt, but don't stress too much over it. Plus, your skating also gives you an edge."

"Cool," Alix replied. "My friends and I are going to a self-defense seminar."

"Small stuff like that will make a difference," Ladybug said.

"So, do you know when I'll be getting my miraculous?" Alix questioned.

"When we need you," Ladybug said.

Alix deflated.

Ladybug's eyes fell back on the covered cork boards. She moved to one, curious but willing to drop it if Alix asked her too.

"What are these-"

"Not important!" Alix practically jumped in front of Ladybug. The movement caused the black fabric to flicker upwards, partially revealing a photo of Chat Noir.

"Are you - are these theories about our identities?"

"No! Maybe? They're just theories, I haven't told anyone."

Ladybug glanced at the other cork board, wondering. "Can I see the ones about me? Just to see?"

"Um, sure."

Alix moved over to the other cork board, and very slowly removed the fabric.

And revealed something much more than a theory.

"How - What makes you think - what -?"

"So I'm right?" Alix questioned. "You're really Marinette?"

.

Luka would never complain about it to Marinette, but he missed Sass.

He hadn't been used to having someone to talk with, either about superheroing or just regular life. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy talking to Marinette, especially now that he knew she was Ladybug and she knew he knew, but Marinette was always super stressed and he felt bad talking about his own problems. His mom was not the best listener, and while Luka had friends his age, they weren't very close.

Sass had been an amazing listener. With him, Luka didn't feel guilty talking about himself. It had been a nice change.

That day had been horrible, with Luka's guitar string breaking, and then his headphones breaking, and accidentally running into someone one his bike (it was in no way his fault, but that didn't help the guilt). Once he got home, Luka would probably have to finish his chores - well, they weren't really his chores, except that he was the only one who ever thought to do them - and he was not in the mood for that.

The first time he had complained to Sass, Luka had expected a response like "a hero does what's necessary" or even being called out for complaining. But Sass had agreed that it wasn't fair, and had let Luka complain as much as he wanted (which wasn't much, but it was nice to get a little off his chest anyways). But now, Luka would just have to do the work silently, as usual.

Luka reached the Liberty, and was caught completely off guard by the presence of another person standing at the entrance to the ship.

The stranger looked about Luka's age, maybe a year or two older. He had bright blonde hair, near-perfectly clear tan skin, and expensive looking sunglasses - he looked rich.

"Hello," he greeted.

"Uh, hi. Who are you?"

"Just someone checking in on family." He pushed his sunglasses up, revealing bright blue eyes.

Luka briefly thought the other person might be a long lost sibling - but no, that wouldn't work. Maybe after the divorce, but not before. Cousin, then?

"Okay," Luka said. "Are you looking for Anarka?"

"I'm looking for you," the stranger replied. "I already talked with your mom. Well, I tried, at least. She didn't exactly want to see me."

Luka raised an eyebrow. "And who are you, again?"

"I'm your grandfather. You can call me Lester."

"You don't look old enough-"

"I'm a lot older than I look." His eyes flashed gold, and he grinned at Luka's shocked reaction.

"Magic?" Luka guessed.

"You could say that," Lester replied. "I am a god, after all."

"A god named Lester?"

"I'm incognito," Lester explained. "We're not really supposed to interfere, but I made a promise and I intend to keep it."

"O - okay."

It would seem a little hard to believe, if it wasn't for the fact that Luka sometimes became a superhero, and that Sass had already mentioned magical heritage, and - well, everything that had happened in Paris recently.

Why not?

"You seem a little put out today," Lester said.

"Crappy day," Luka replied. He adjusted his backpack strap.

"Not much I can do about that," Lester said. "I've been told I'm a horrible listener too."

"So is there a reason you're here?" Luka questioned.

"Just thought you should know I exist, and I'm rooting for you," Lester replied. "And maybe one day, I will be able to do more than fix a guitar."

And with that, he walked away.

.

Marinette collapsed on her bed, head still spinning.

What just happened?

Tikki remained silent, leaving Marinette to her thoughts.

What were her thoughts?

Her identity had been revealed, not through her detransforming but through sheer observation. That should scare her, except.

Except Alix's explanation was super detailed, going into minor details Marinette didn't even think Alya or her parents were aware of. Alix had explained she had hyper-focused on it, after the textbook incident, and that she hadn't wanted to, but she just couldn't let the thread go.

Alix's focus was a force to be reckoned with.

It was entirely fair to say no one else could draw the same conclusions. Not many people spent that much time around Marinette, after all.

There was also the fact that Alix knew, had known, for what seemed like forever. And she hadn't acted on it - of course not, it was just a theory, and Alix and Marinette were good friends but they weren't super close. Marinette wouldn't have gone to Alix the way she had been with Luka.

So, did it even matter?

Imagine how powerful she'll be as Bunnyx. Alix could connect dots others didn't know existed. Her time as Ibex showed she could come up with a plan - she was the one who ended up deciding where the portal should go, and it worked perfectly. And she understood time travel.

She was an ace up Marinette's sleeve. Alix and Ivan both were.

And Marinette was beginning to form a plan to beat Hawkmoth.

Next Chapter

[livezestfully]

How to Choose the Best Vision Board App

Which is the best vision board app for your needs? That is the question I will help you to answer by the end of this post.

Everybody has different needs when it comes to digital vision boards. What are yours? To help you answer this I would like to share an experience that I feel sure you can relate to.

Happy New Year

At the beginning of January every year I used to set out my goals for the year ahead. New year’s resolutions they call them. Resolution, I don’t think so, until recently I can’t remember any year where I resolutely stuck to my goals.

Most years I would quit before the end of January, some goals I managed to keep going until February, if I was lucky but inevitably every year these goals fall by the wayside before we hit March. Does this sound familiar to you?

All that changed when I started looking at my life in a different way, not by setting goals but by envisioning a future that excited me and building my goals on the back of that vision.

Without purpose, without an exciting vision my goals just never seemed to last. One of the best ways to bring a vision of the future to life is through vision boards.

What is a Vision Board

A vision board is a wonderful tool for reminding yourself about your goals and your ultimate outcome each day. One of the most challenging parts of achieving goals is sticking with them.

It is easy to become distracted, lose hope, or even forget about them. A vision board is a solution for all these challenges.

Regular use of a vision board keeps your goals fresh in your mind. Using a vision board also associates positive feelings with the achievement of your goals.

So, what does this have to do with which vision board app is best for you…everything.

To make your digital vision board work you must understand what the purpose of a vision board is and it is probably not what you think it is, you must be able to create you’re exciting vision on it and it needs to be available at a moment’s notice, both on a routine basis and in your moments of weakness.

The vision board app you select must satisfy all the above criteria or it will be completely ineffective.

What is the REAL purpose of a Vision Board

As great as vision boards are, they are not magical. You can’t just create a vision board and watch it everyday hoping for everything on it to ‘manifest’ itself.

Many marketers trying to sell you stuff would have you believe otherwise but I am not one of those people.

The REAL purpose of a vision board is to keep you focused and motivated. With a lazer like focus on your goals and high motivation, half the battle is already won but you still need more.

You need a solid plan and all the resources required to carry out the plan. With these three in place, motivation, a plan and the necessary resources you have the best chance of achieving your goals.

The vision board is what is going to keep you motivated because once the shine of your newly formed goals has worn off and the reality of what it is going to take to achieve them sets in, you are going to have some really challenging days when you just want to give up.

When this happens, you will need your vision board with you to remind you of why you are doing it and to give you the strength to get through it.

Classic Vision Board

Nearly anything can serve as a vision board. Ideally, your vision board will be portable enough to carry with you. Then you can use it at any time. At minimum you will need to be able to look at it every day.

If you want to do it old school you can make one from poster board, cardboard, or even on a spare wall.

If you do it this way it will be more difficult to take with you which is why Vision Boards Apps are a great alternative or even better, they can be used together.

It might be more fun to create your vision board the old-fashioned way, cutting out images and sticking them down with glue sticks but it does have its drawbacks for use.

Digital Vision Board

A good digital vision board is much more immersive. The ability to add video and audio will help bring it to life. You can even take it a step further by adding subliminal audio tracks.

Technology has also made digital vision boards portable; rather than having it on your wall where you will only see them whilst in that room, you can carry a digital vision board around with you on your mobile phone and watch it anywhere, anytime.

Think about all that wasted time you spend traveling, queuing, waiting, and how you can make use of it immersing yourself in your vision boards.

4 Digital Vision Board Apps

I’ve created my vision boards using many different applications. Rather than reviewing lots of apps that do pretty much the same thing I wanted to show you a variety of options with different use cases to help you find one that will meet your needs.

Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft OneNote is an excellent, free way to produce visions boards on your mobile device or computer. The pages have an almost infinite scroll both vertically and horizontally, so they are easy to create and be creative with.

OneNote works very much like a traditional physical vision board, you can add text to images, arrows, circle things in different colours, change the background colour and much more. It is a very versatile tool.

The app does not really have any audio / video capabilities so it will be less immersive than some of the others mentioned below.

Pinterest

Pinterest is primarily a search engine, not a social network. There isn’t very much social interaction on Pinterest but people do share their images and videos.

If you would like to share your vision board and use it like an accountability page, Pinterest is an excellent place for this.

Pinterest is also a great place to go for inspiration, it has millions of users making it the place to be to find other people who have boards related to your goals.

It is simple to use, first you select a topic, then you name your board appropriately and finally you fill your board with stuff related to your topic.

You can have a generic vision board or you can categorise your goals and have a vision board for each category, for example, Health, Relationships, Finance, Spirituality, etc.

Powerpoint

To take your vision board to the next level, use Microsoft Powerpoint or a free alternative to create vision board style presentations and save them as videos or just watch the presentation.

This is often a good option as it is such a popular product that a lot of people already know how to use it. If you have never used it before it has a short learning curve and is very easy to use.

You can get really creative with all the animations and make things flash and fade and all sorts of other stuff to make your vision board much more interesting and appealing.

See the video below for instructions on how to turn your Microsoft Powerpoint presentation into a video for you to play on any device of your choice;

Mind Movies

For the ultimate vision board experience try Mind Movies. Mind Movies is a piece of software that has images, videos, affirmations and music already built in. You will not need to go trawling the internet searching for media to create your vision board. This feature makes it quick and easy to use.

Just drag and drop your images and text and render the video. If you want to use your own media you can choose to import your own audio, video and image files. You can also write your own affirmations making it a versatile tool for any skill level.

Mind movies has its own community to share your experiences with others for an even bigger boost in motivation.

The movies it makes are great and can be exported to a popular video format for you to use on your mobile device or your computer. Here’s a Mind Movies demo;

The creation of your vision board in the Mind Movies App is fun, simple, and easy. Of the four options listed here it’s the most immersive. It was created specifically as a Vision Board app where-as the others have different primary use cases.

How to use your vision board app to create something that actually works

·       Decide on your goals. This is often the most challenging part. For best effect, limit yourself to a few goals. Perhaps your goals are a fit body, a new car, and a vacation to Hawaii. It’s up to you. What excites you?

·       Locate images, music and videos that depict or symbolize the future you’d like to achieve.A picture is worth 1,000 words. There are plenty of sources for images across the internet both free and paid;

o   Upslpash.com

o   Pixabay.com

o   Pexels.com

·       Find pictures that best represent the goals you wish to achieve. If you’re striving for a new car, find the exact model and color. When you look at the photo, you should get the same feeling you get when you think about the goal.

o   Mindmovies comes with a selection of images, videos and audio preloaded to make your vision board even easier to create

·       Choose the best words to go on your vision board.A suitable word might be “Porsche” or “Honolulu”. Also consider how you’ll feel when the goal is achieved: “Excited,” “Grateful,” “Proud”. What qualities will you need to achieve these goals? “Committed,” “Powerful,” or maybe “Optimistic”.

·       Select some fitting music if you are using Mindmovies or something similar. Choose something that motivates you personally, everybody has defferent taste, you can get royalty free music for personal use here; Bensound.com

·       Compile the words, photos, videos and music on your vision board. Arrange everything in a way that pleases you using your chosen vision board app. If you want to customize your images check out the following GIMP tutorial, a very good, free photo editing program;

·       Using your vision board app is just as important as creating it

·       Keep your vision board where you will see it at least twice each day. Create a shortcut to it on your homepage of your mobile phone and PC/laptop. Set reminders on your phone to check it periodically and pull it out when your motivation is low.

·       Spend a few minutes each morning using your vision board app. This can set the tone for the rest of your day. Reminding yourself of your goals each morning will point your brain in the right direction. You will see opportunities to help make your dreams come true. It is then your job to seize those opportunities.

·       Using your vision board before bed is just as important. Your brain is highly active while you sleep. You brain spends all night churning away, trying to find solutions to your requests. Give your brain the information it needs. Look at the items on your vision board and imagine possessing them. Experience how that feels. Part of your brain will spend all night trying to make your vision board a reality.

4 things that MUST be in place to make your vision board work

1.     An immersive vision board that gets you excited whenever you look at it

2.     A solid, achievable plan, one you know you can get behind every time you watch your digital vision board

3.     Resources. You will need many things to achieve your goals. If unavailable, you will need a plan to acquire the necessary resources to achieve the goals on your vision board.

4.     Persistence,  stick with it and give it time to work. Quite often people give up using vision boards too early, consistency and persistence are key to making them work.

5.     I hope you liked this introduction to vision boards, I have created a step by step course complete with work books, checklists and worksheets to help you master the art of vision board creation and finally reach those goals you’ve been dreaming about for years. 

Sign up for your FREE 4 week Vision Board Master Class Sign up today and you'll learn: The important role vision boards play in reaching your goals and dreams, The different types of vision boards you can create and how to set your goals and what setting intention has to do with reaching them. Visit http://lvz.life/vbabp

[breatheasywell]

Cold + Flu Season: Let’s Get Prepared

Woke up this morning to a 14 year old with a fever and sore throat🤧 I can’t have my baby sick so I had to hit the books to find him a feel good remedy.

First thing I did was advise him to clean up his diet of hot Cheetos and other treats he eats away from home (or stuff he buys with his own money). Then, I knew I had to get some good herbal tea and homemade soup in him.

For the herbal tea I quickly planned, I didn’t have to research very hard because here’s what I found:

This was a good starting point to add to what I already know.

I knew garlic and turmeric are both good for colds and we always keep Pau D’arco on hand because it has so many uses. 

I decided to take some ingredients I had on hand and along with some wisdom from some of our books, I was able to come up with a great tasting herbal tea to help combat cold, flu + fever symptoms.

Here’s what I came up with and what you’ll need to make your own:

• Catnip - it is known to relax the body while increasing perspiration, which helps the infection leave the body faster. [source] • Pau D’arco - has been used to treat a wide range of influenza symptoms such as pain, inflammation and fever. Research has shown that an active ingredient in this herb, lapachol has shown to kill several bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites. [source] • Ginger Root - The anti-inflammatory gingerols and shaogals in ginger root will help to relieve a sore throat quickly, and they also kill rhinoviruses, which cause colds in the first place. [source]

• Garlic - Garlic contains compounds that help the immune system fight germs. Whole garlic contains a compound called alliin. When garlic is crushed or chewed, this compound turns into allicin, the main active ingredient in garlic. [source]

• Turmeric - improves one's general immunity and also increases mucus production, which naturally flushes out microbes that clog your respiratory tract. While the antiviral and antibacterial properties of turmeric can help fight infection, its anti-inflammatory property helps in relieving the symptoms of cough and cold. [source]

• Local Honey - Honey also boosts the immune system and helps the body fight the colds faster. [source]

Rapid Immune Boost by Herb Pharm tincture I gave him.

This bad boy contains ten different herbs to help heal and promotes optimal immunity when taken as a regular supplement.

Everyone in the house is about to get into immunity defense mode and stay that way throughout this season.

We’ve already loaded up on hand sanitizer and Lysol for all surfaces. We’ve stocked up on fresh and dried herbs to use in meas and teas this season as well.

Immunity is something we all should stay o top of. Not only by certified organic herbs and supplements, but also eating fresh, whole foods.

Be on the lookout for more blog posts about healing colds and flu naturally, as well as keeping our immune response strong this season.

Be well everyone!

Shalom

S O U R C E S

PPCHerbs.com

Healthline.com

Herb Pharm

Creative Healthy Family

Wellness Mama Blog

India Today

Fox New Health

[howellrichard]

10 Recipe Boosters: Simple Ingredients to Supercharge Your Meals

Hiya Gorgeous!

When I coach people on adopting a healthier lifestyle (especially during Crazy Sexy You, my 21-day total wellness program), one of my most important pieces of advice is this:

Add before you subtract.

Why? Because we’re trained to think that getting healthy is about deprivation—about taking away. But it doesn’t have to be that way! True, sustainable health is about abundance. It’s about crowding out the stuff that doesn’t serve you with vibrant stuff that brings you joy and fulfillment.

Plus, there’s nothing quite like feeling caged in to strip you of your motivation. Adding rather than subtracting makes you feel nourished and inspired to continue your healthy journey.

That’s why I’m so excited about today’s blog post! We’ve searched high and low to create this list of 10 nutrient-dense foods that are versatile, easy to find and add tons of health-giving goodness to the meals you love.

I even created a handy, downloadable 10 Recipe Boosters Cheat Sheet for you! It’s got everything you need to make these amazing ingredients part of your routine. You’ll get:

Tips to help you stock your fridge, freezer and pantry with these awesome boosters, what to look for at the grocery store and some of the brands I love.

Ideas for easy ways to add these ingredients to the meals you already love AND suggested serving sizes.

Three delicious, simple recipes from Crazy Sexy You to give you a taste of how easy and delicious it can be to nourish your body with nutrient-dense foods.

Alright, let’s dive in!

10 Nutrient-Dense Foods to Supercharge Your Meals

1. Hemp Seeds

The hemp plant has been used for centuries for fuel, paper, cloth and rope, but it wasn’t until more recently that its seeds became popular at mealtime! Not only do they have a subtle, nutty flavor that works well in almost any dish, they also pack a whole lotta nutritional goodness into a very small package. In fact, these little seeds (which are technically nuts!) are more nutrient-dense than any other edible seed.

Here’s why they’re such a good ingredient to add to your favorite meals: Hemp seeds are a complete protein, which means that they have all 9 essential amino acids our bodies need. Plus, they boast 10 g of protein per ounce and no cholesterol or saturated fat, making them much kinder for your body (animals and the planet, too!) than meat. Hemp seeds are also rich in omega-3 and omega-6 essential fats, which are great for your heart and nervous system.

When it comes to incorporating them into your meals, hemp seeds are just as versatile as the plant they come from. Add them to baked goods, smoothies, protein bars, soups, and salads for strong cells, healthy muscles, skin and bones, and a top-notch immune system. Or try them blended with water to make a scrumptious nondairy milk, pressed into a soy-free tofu or as a tasty nondairy parmesan (I’ve included an easy recipe in your 10 Recipe Boosters Cheat Sheet)!

2. Matcha Green Tea

The word “Matcha” comes from the Japanese word matsu (meaning “to rub”) and the Mandarin Chinese word cha (meaning “tea”), and generally refers to the powder made from grinding green tea leaves. It has an earthy, vegetal flavor with a mildly sweet aftertaste.

This bright green powder has quite the history. It’s been combined with hot water to make a popular beverage as far back as the 7th century during the Tang Dynasty in China. At the time, tea leaves were steamed and formed into bricks for easier transport and trade. The bricks were later roasted and pulverized to make a powder that was combined with water and salt to drink.

The concentration of the green tea antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (kind of a tongue twister—let’s go with EGCG!) is 137 times greater in matcha green tea than brewed green tea (study). EGCG helps prevent cell damage, which protects the brain from aging, supports heart health and boosts your immune system. Compounds in matcha green tea may also help elevate mood, improve concentration, speed up the metabolism and relieve anxiety all at the same time. Hot damn!

Fun fact: Matcha green tea is also great for your skin. Discover its skin-lovin’ super powers in this article by Crazy Sexy Beauty Editor Danielle Shine!

As you can see, matcha green tea is more than just your standard hot sip—try adding it to smoothies, green juices, energy bites, baked goods and homemade granola bars.

3. Dark Leafy Greens

It’s not news that leafy greens are some of the most nutrient-dense foods out there, but did you know that many of them are also mild in flavor and can sneak into smoothies, soups and grain dishes with little notice?

Leafy greens are full of cancer-fighting antioxidants, iron and other health-giving nutrients. Spinach is essentially tasteless in smoothies and just 1 tightly packed cup per day provides enough lutein to help promote eye health—potentially reducing the progression of macular degeneration and preventing cataract surgery (study). The average American only gets about one-sixth the amount of lutein needed to promote eye health each day—let’s change that!

Kale is another great source of lutein. It also contains highly absorbable calcium and iron (more iron per ounce than red meat!) for strong bones, muscles and healthy blood. Kale yeah, am I right?

Add green leafies to any smoothie recipe, or chop ‘em up and use in salads, soups and grain dishes. Strive for at least 1 cup a day to start reaping the benefits these veggie heros have to offer!

4. Avocados

Other than being out-of-this world creamy, super satisfying and the perfect addition almost any salad, toast or dip, avocados also happen to be superstar health boosters! They’re loaded with monounsaturated fats, which are essential to heart health and have also been associated with healthier body weight.

Despite having a higher fat content and calorie count than other fruits, studies have shown that people who eat more avocados have faster metabolisms, slimmer waists, less belly fat and better long-term health than non-avocado eaters (study).

Avocados make a creamy pesto sauce, chocolate pudding (check out the amazing Crazy Sexy You I included in the 10 Recipe Boosters Cheat Sheet!), raw mousse pie and can easily sneak into smoothies. Eat a half of a medium avocado each day to boost your health and well-being!

Download your free 10 Recipe Boosters Cheat Sheet:

5. Canned Pumpkin

Cooked, pureed pumpkin (found canned or occasionally in the freezer section of your grocery store) is one of my favorite nutrient-dense foods because it’s a rich source of both beta- and alpha-carotene. In fact, it’s even more jam-packed with ‘em than carrots and sweet potatoes!

Not only are the carotenoids good for your vision and immune system, but research has shown that consuming them from food sources (rather than supplements) helps protect us from cancer—particularly when it comes to preventing breast cancer recurrence (study). Plus, cooking actually increases the potency of the carotenoids, which makes canned pumpkin the ultimate easy recipe booster.

Keep in mind: While you can make your own pumpkin puree by cooking and blending the flesh of your Halloween jack-o’-lantern, that variety has thinner flesh, more water and is less nutrient-dense than the smaller pie pumpkins (sometimes called cooking pumpkins).

Stock up on organic pumpkin in BPA-free cans during Thanksgiving (many stores only stock it seasonally!) to add to baked dishes, risottos, soups, chilis, smoothies and even hummus year-round.

6. Acai Berries

Pronounced “ah-sigh-ee,” these popular grape-sized berries grow on palm trees in the rainforests of Central and South America where they’ve been a dietary staple for centuries. They have a tough, dark purple skin and yellow flesh, and are traditionally soaked to soften up the skin then mashed into a yummy purple pulp.

Acai berries are mild in flavor and are often described as tasting like a cross between unsweetened chocolate and blackberries. They’re higher in antioxidants than ANY other berry—yup, you heard that right! They’re also being researched for their ability to lower bad LDL cholesterol (pilot study), improve athletic performance (pilot study) and protect the brain from damage as we age (study). When it comes to stocking your kitchen with nutrient-dense foods, these purple powerhouses are an absolute must-have.

Acai berries are available as a flash-frozen pulp or in dried powder form to add to oatmeals, smoothies, puddings and energy bites. You might have even noticed acai bowls piled high with fruit, coconut shavings, granola and other delish toppings at your favorite smoothie spot—yum!

7. Almond Flour

Almond flour is made by blanching almonds, removing the outer coating and then processing them into a fine flour. If you like macaroons, you like almond flour!

Almond flour is different from almond meal, which is simply ground up whole almonds. Almond flour is gluten-free, low in carbohydrates, rich in protein and fiber, and can replace other flours in baked goods to make them more balanced and nutritious. It adds a mild, nutty flavor to recipes and also makes them more satisfying because of the protein boost.

Use almond flour to dial up the nutritional impact of any baked recipe, including muffins, cakes, pancakes, cobblers or crumbles. See my Recipe Substitution Guide for helpful deets on subbing for regular or all-purpose flour in baked goods.

Did you know that these 10 simple ingredients can supercharge the meals you already love? Find out how to make your fave foods even healthier (and grab your free cheat sheet)!

8. Edamame Beans

Edamame beans are whole, immature green soybeans that are loaded with complete protein and omega-3 fats for your heart and brain. These babies are also easier to digest than most other legumes because they contain different oligosaccharides, which are the indigestible compounds that make you toot!

Edamame beans are one of the healthiest forms of soy because they’re in their natural state, meaning their nutritional content hasn’t been diminished by processing. Although processed soy foods have been scrutinized for potentially having negative health effects, countless research studies have confirmed that unprocessed soy is responsible for lowering cancer risk—especially breast cancer and prostate cancer—and may also improve cancer survival (study).

Edamame beans can be eaten hot or cold, added to stir-fries, salads, eaten as is out of the pod with sea salt, or even mashed into guacamole for a protein-rich dip.

9. Cacao

Raw cacao is made from cacao beans that are cold-pressed. It’s native to the tropical regions of Central and South America where it’s traditionally consumed as a bitter, frothy beverage. Cacao beans can be roasted and made into cocoa, which is then turned into one of the most craved foods on the planet… chocolate!

Cacao is most widely available as an unsweetened powder and as semi-sweet nibs. It’s one of the richest plant sources of iron (up there with dark leafies!) and is incredibly high in magnesium, which is essential for heart health and healthy blood pressure. Magnesium also helps relax the body, can help resolve insomnia, and may help elevate your mood and fight depression (study).

Cacao powder has a similar flavor to cocoa powder and can be used in its place in any recipe (such as smoothies, desserts, chia pudding and chocolate milk).

10. Buckwheat

Buckwheat, originally grown in Southeast Asia, is a grain-like seed (yup, that means it’s gluten-free!) that’s been grown and harvested for over 5,000 years. Until the 1970s, the majority of buckwheat grown in the United States was for animal feed. But as soon as the demand for wheat-free cereals and noodles increased, buckwheat crops became dedicated for human consumption.

Buckwheat is processed into flour, groats, noodles (Ever wondered what soba noodles were made of? Buckwheat flour!), and even tea. Buckwheat is starchy and mainly composed of carbohydrates, but the carbs are slow to digest, making it a great choice for people with diabetes. Buckwheat is also higher in fiber, vitamins and minerals than brown rice and other whole grains. Plus, it’s much lower in phytates than other whole grains, which means that your body can better absorb all of the awesome minerals it contains!

Eating whole grains has been shown to help manage weight, lower your risk of type 2 diabetes and breast cancer, improve digestion, and increase lifespan (check out my blog here for more info on the magic of whole grains). Enjoy buckwheat in place of other whole grains for a hearty dose of nutrition!

Remember: One of the keys to a healthier, more abundant life is adding before you subtract. If you’ve been thinking that it’s time to kick-start better eating habits, go after your health goals or simply add a little more plant-powered goodness to your world, trying out some of these recipe boosters is the perfect place to start.

Your turn: Which one of these nutrient-dense foods will you add to your next meal?! Let me know in the comments below!

Peace and bodacious boosters,

The post 10 Recipe Boosters: Simple Ingredients to Supercharge Your Meals appeared first on KrisCarr.com.

[thecoroutfitters]

Written by R. Ann Parris on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: Another article from R. Ann Parris to The Prepper Journal. As always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share then enter into the Prepper Writing Contest with a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies!

The weather has finally broken for most of North America, which has advantages alone. Fewer bugs and less heat make any work we have to do a little easier and if it hasn’t yet, we’re right on the verge of plants dying down, cutting some of our workload and making getting around a bit easier.

The season has more to offer, though, blessed as many of us find it. From the holidays around the corner to seasonal trends, autumn can give us nice boosts to our preparedness.

We don’t have a lot of time left for Halloween (totally my bad) but some of them will be available through Thanksgiving here in the U.S. Others are based solely in the changing of seasons and we have more time yet.

Straw bales, Corncobs, & Squashes

Autumn means we commonly see some decorations that can help us out, especially if we have livestock. Fewer still do it, but there are still neighborhoods and houses that go all out celebrating harvests and holidays.

Straw bales and stuffing from the porch and dooryard scarecrows are sometimes too far gone for animal bedding, but it can be useful stuff as mulch.

Make sure to spread that straw in walkways or stash it for areas of the lawn that end up boggy and muddy, trails our pets and family tear up, and places we want to re-seed with a cereal or different lawn grass. Straw – like hay – has increasingly been treated with Roundup. The herbicide doesn’t hurt monocots, but it will affect broad leaf plants. That means it’s a no-go for pretty much all our veggie garden areas, just in case.

If people are carving jack o’ lanterns, they may be too far gone Nov. 1 for livestock, but it might be worth a peek. Other decorations may include Indian corn and all those fancy/fugly gourds, though, and those are most likely still good for our critters.

Stash the gourds as long as possible if you have chickens. They can be valuable entertainment as well as fresh foods and the boosts of the mature seeds inside if the birds start developing cabin fever.

Goats can have those gourds smashed or split* and will munch them as well. Most domestic game birds aren’t really grazers, but they’ll happily poke through for the seeds.

*Indulge in fun here: Pop them up to entertain nephews with baseball bats or set up a backstop and lead catch for some target practice.

Corn can be ground or soaked for our critters. Or, we can hang it out piecemeal to keep our future-need squirrel farm going.

We could just drive around and scan for any hanging out of garbage bins, but consider leaving a short note ahead of time if you see those decorations.

“I noticed your lovely decorations, and was wondering what you plan to do with them after the season. I’ll pick them up if you plan to dispose of them,” can be fit on a business card or printed 8-12x on regular letter paper. (Sign it if you print it off – personalization can make a difference.)

If you don’t have a drop phone to give a number, create a generic email just for pop-up contacts. It doesn’t even have to reference preparedness, but it’s a good idea to have one (or twelve) for all kinds of networking.

After-Season Sales

The stores that sell that Indian corn and those gourds will usually drop their prices once they’ve been sitting out a while, and you may be able to ask a clerk when the display is coming down for an idea of when to see if they’ve just been tagged by a distributor/merchandiser and then pitched in a dumpster.

Somewhere approaching or just after Christmas those big bins of mixed nuts will also go on sale.

If you buy butter, your season, too, is coming. Hold out just a little longer and make some room in your freezer, because you may be able to find it for $2-$2.50 a pound again during the big baking seasons.

Finding candy on deep discounts even the day after is pretty rare where I am now, and even decorations and other goodies are getting harder to find with the fast swing between holiday promotions, but your area may be different and online you may find yourself a nice goldmine.

Of all places, Mill’s Fleet Farm has been a crazy good source for post-season sales and feeding somebody’s hard-to-find seasonal favorite for me.

Party supply stores like Oriental Trading Co. also regularly run free shipping promotions with no restrictions on order size and amount, and include discounted items. That runs from inexpensive and cheap (two different things) toys, ornaments, and activities as well as goodies to stash away in canning jars for a bad day.

I also sometimes see those goodies and the seasonal attire, decorations, tableware, candles/lamp oils, and activities at deep discounts in Tuesday Morning type second-chance stores the next week.

Consignment Shops & Classifieds

The change of seasons has a couple of benefits that will reach through to well after Christmas. Here in North America fishing and gardening season is winding down and suppliers sometimes have sales. We may not dive on those, but others do.

Those others sometimes recoup part of an upgrade by selling off their old gear, clothing to bows and reels, ATVs and boats to trailers and tree stands. That can net us supplies for pennies on the dollar.

We might hit flea markets and yard sales for some of those, but keeping an eye on local seller websites and doing quick cruises through Salvation Army, Goodwill, or thrift stores tends to be more productive (unless you just like people, want to get some extra exercise in, or have a dog to socialize – then, go for it all).

We can sometimes luck into really good gear donated solely because it didn’t fit anymore at the start of hunting season or really cold weather, or because a Christmas present led to making extra room.

I tend to keep an eye out specifically for the growing boys’ boots and hunting, camping, packing, and cold-weather gear, but it applies to regular street clothes as well. Some parents also have kids donate some portion of their old clothes and toys after the holiday bonanza, so it’s worth keeping an eye out if you have a little one or a particular interest.

(Thank you Walt!)

Leaves Fall Down

Leaves are a big boost for those of us who can snag them from our own yards and neighbors.

Trees have nice deep roots, see, and all kinds of lovely micro-nutrients end up in those leaves. That makes for a really excellent compost (leaf mold), whether we bag them, add them to heaps/tumblers, or use them as mulches.

We can mow over them with a bagger (or strategically placed tarp or trash can) to get a head start in breaking them down, and they will deliver those nutrients even faster. Chipping or mowing them also makes them even better for use in worm bins and trenches.

Leaves can also help us protect young trees and tender perennials from the coming cold season. Sometimes we can just pile them up. Other times we may want to build a string or mesh cage around larger plants to help keep the leaves exactly where we want them.

In our own yards, leave some strategic piles and light layers here and there. Lots of beneficial insects use them for protection as the weather shifts.

So do slugs, though, which means we have to be mindful of where we use leaves as mulch.

The slugs and bugs are a benefit if we want to make a pile for covering our poultry runs, though. Pretty much all birds are delighted to rifle through leaves (and other mulches) looking for yummy hideouts.

Pre-Pre-Pre-Black Friday & Cyber Week

You won’t get me into a shopping area starting mid-November and I see fewer and fewer online sales that are all that good, but if you need to make a big-ticket purchase, it may be worth making an appearance on the Day(s) of Craze.

Maybe it’s a chipper-shredder to take more advantage of autumn pruning around the home, or maybe it’s the year you’re taking the plunge into solar or a generator. It might be as little as a couple of gas cans using the Harbor Freight coupon, or stocking up on pet food from Tractor Supply. Whatever it is, big or small, sometimes you can really make that trip into madness pay off.

Just stay extra alert for exhausted, drunk, and hungover people rushing to save money on the roads and in the lots.

You can also go out later on Black Friday afternoon. I got dragged out once about 10-12 years ago and it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Clerks look like they’re war-zone evacuees, it’s badly picked over, but the stupidity has largely died down to average weekend if not even weekday afternoon activity levels. Anecdotal evidence suggests it’s still so. (It’s apparently also still a really bad time to go to the movies, though.)

For online shopping, start tracking the price of things you might be interested in, from that low-price air gun to the new computer or mattress. Don’t hesitate to ask here and on subject-matter forums what others have paid.

Especially if it’s going on credit or a budget is tight, what seems like a great sale might not be.

If we know it’s only a difference of X or has hit that level six times previously in the last eighteen months, we can better prioritize if it’s worth the interest or hit to savings, or if we’ll be better served waiting a bit. Autumn has too much to offer for free and discount to blow budgets or get deeper in debt unnecessarily.

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The post Taking Advantage of Autumn appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies? #SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

[enjoyyoursundays]

With the whole “new year, new me,” business that comes along with the new year, I thought I would throw some ideas your way and give you a little peak into my everyday healthy eating tips! I know eating healthy can be expensive but I feel like knowing when to splurge on certain things and also knowing when to loosen the reigns with yourself are vital to success in the kitchen.

When I tend to cook, I always end up cooking something healthy. Even if its pasta, I’ll throw a veggie in the sauce or have veggie/whole grain pasta. It’s the smallest changes that make the biggest difference. There are certain things that I don’t believe in which are taking supplements, (besides protein if I don’t plan to eat enough that day or something) taking multivitamins because I’m not at the age yet where I’m in need of them, its usually geared toward someone who needs extra joint support or just an extra boost of health, and the biggest thing I’m against: cleansing. If you think draining your body of “toxins” is going to magically make you healthy then I suggest you look more into it. Sweat out your toxins in the gym, everything in moderation and eat your veggies, simple as that.

Now, I am no where near a professional and I have no training in discussing this topic besides one college class about nutrition that I don’t remember anything from #college. 

Anyway, here are my fav healthy tips/things I implement in my everyday routine:

Drink your fruits and veggies! Something that I do everyday is make a smoothie. I usually don’t switch it up very much because it’s SO GOOD. Look for the recipe at the bottom! Now, if you’re like me and can’t eat fruit just by itself more than once a day, meaning for example, you can’t have an orange for breakfast and then a banana later and a handful of grapes. I don’t know if that makes sense but I would rather drink my fruits and veggies and then add them additionally to my food throughout the day instead of eating them by themselves.

Eat a hearty breakfast…. EVERY DAY. I know a lot of people who will not even eat breakfast or just have a small piece of fruit. Breakfast is what you need to fuel your day and it should always be your biggest meal of the day. It’s easy for me because the morning is my favorite time of day and I love to cook breakfast foods like my beloved breakfast tacos.

Switch out your grains. This one has always been tough for me. But tbh no matter what fad diet bs (and they are bs) that I hear about, I could never live comfortably without bread and pasta. That being said, I try and switch out white rice for brown, regular pasta for whole wheat or veggie (they have some weird ones at trader joes like black bean, which was disgusting, but if you’re curious about other pastas, thats your place!) and whole grain bread instead of white or sourdough. Believe it or not, eating this stuff is not detrimental if eaten in moderation, which brings me to my next point…

Moderation is key. It doesn’t matter the health kick that I’m on, I will not skip out on life to meet a calorie count. If I have a family gathering and we’re eating hearty lasagna and bread, I’m not going to load up on salad and feel like I’m missing out. I’ve tried to do this in the past and every time I do, I find myself longing for bad food throughout the night or whenever, instead of enjoying the company I’m with. Now, I’m not saying let the gate open and run wild in a field of cupcakes BUT, I am saying you need to stop being so hard on yourself. Unless you have a strict goal or timeline of what you want your body to look like or you’re happiest when you eat clean then DO YOU. You guys, this post is not meant to attack those that live a strict diet lifestyle. I’m talking to those of you that try and implement healthier habits into your day to day. Also, I’m telling you more about myself and my own personal habits. Back to moderation, having a burger once in a while and a slice of pizza is O K A Y. Its when fast food is consumed everyday or when you go most days without anything green entering your system, then it becomes a problem. There is a very fine line and it takes a while to find it, yes, I’m still searching for mine.

Eat food that you actually like. Do not try and force down healthy food if it’s the worst thing that you’ve ever had. If you’re a picky eater, try foods every now and again cooked in different ways and you might be surprised. For example, I think broccoli is satan on earth in my mouth when its not cooked. It doesn’t matter how much ranch I put on it, I absolutely hate it. But, when it’s steamed or baked, it’s my favorite vegetable. My point is, don’t force feed yourself healthy food because you’ll never adjust to a habit of eating that way. You should enjoy what’s in front of you rather than dreading what you’re about to ingest.

It’s okay not to eat meat for your protein. This is for my non-vegan/vegetarian friends. I used to only base my meals around a meat. It took me a long time to realize I don’t need to have it every meal. There is a lot of protein to be found in other sources and while I do eat meat, I love making vegan recipes and stripping down typical recipes to be healthier. I hear a lot that a good tip is to make one day a week a vegetarian/vegan day and I have been doing it recently. I honestly haven’t really noticed a difference but I love trying new recipes and challenging myself.

Drink your damn water. I think this is the most obvious and we all know we need to drink a lot of water but I think this one is not only the most important tip but the most impactful. I definitely feel it when I don’t drink enough water. I rely SO heavily on my hydroflask to get my daily serving of water. I usually drink two servings in my 40 OZ bottle and then drink two glasses at home. This has made a huge difference in my skin, my energy and it helps with cleaning out all your toxins instead of a harmful cleanse.

Now, I wanted to give you guys a brief peak into what I typically eat in a day and how I balance things out + extra tips!

Breakfast:

-2 egg whites

-handful of spinach

-1 piece of turkey bacon

-green bell pepper in my eggs, about 2 tablespoons

-about 2 tablespoons of cut up white onion

-1 slice whole grain toast

-handful of fruit (usually blueberries)

-teaspoon unsalted almond butter on toast

-1 tablespoon of trader joe’s super seed blend on toast

Snack:

-Nut butter filled cliff bar (coconut almond butter flavor)

Lunch:

I would like to say that I make lunch everyday but its definitely the meal I eat out the most. Most days I go to Grill Hut and get chicken, rice, salad and pita bread and it’s my favorite lunch. But, if I make it at home I’ll usually have something like this:

-1/2 cup steamed broccoli

-Veggie patty

-romain lettuce (to wrap veggie patty)

-handful of mixed nuts

-sautéed sweet potatoes ( cooked in coconut oil and seasoned with thyme, garlic powder and paprika.)

Snack:

-Always one of my smoothies which is:

1 tangerine

1 banana

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

handful frozen spinach

a little less than a handful of frozen peas

1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon coconut oil

fill halfway with water

Dinner:

-If you know my family, you know that we eat chicken, rice and salad for dinner almost every night (fitting that I eat it for lunch too…) so that’s what I’m going to list here:

-1 grilled chicken breast

-Brown rice, a little over 1/2 a serving

-Roasted veggies, usually broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and onion

-Salad, I like mine without dressing most of the time, about a cup of spinach

After dinner snack:

-usually always dangerous but I have a GIANT sweet tooth so I usually keep my favorite cookies on deck. They’re the Trader Joe’s gluten free chocolate chip cookies and I am clearly not gluten free but they are SO tasty. It doesn’t make it healthier by being gluten free necessarily but I just like the taste of them! If I don’t have those handy, I’ll also have a couple pieces of dark chocolate or honestly just drink a cup of tea (peppermint of course) and it keeps me full enough for bed time to where I don’t feel starving going to sleep.

Total Calories: 

2,379.

Macronutrients:

Carbs- 43% Fats- 37% Protein-20%

This is obviously a rough estimate of what I eat everyday because its never the same but everything I’ve listed is common in my days so this is pretty accurate! (this is based off of a 2,000 calorie a day diet, I also used the Fitbit app to figure this out for reference.)

  I hope this was helpful to you! The only change that can come to your healthy habits starts with you and you only. However, with some help on the way, slowly I think your potential will surface and be used fully. This is not to bash anyone or their eating habits, its only here to encourage you if you feel in need of a change. Or if you’re just curious about what I eat/ think is healthy. I would like to say that I eat perfect everyday and I love my body because of it but I’ll be straight: it’s something I have to work at everyday. Over time, I’ve cumulated habits that I’m proud of and I’m hoping to only continue that in this new year! Regardless of your body or eating habits- you’re all beautiful. You’re all loved.

XOXO,

New year, same beautiful you.

    OUTFIT DETAILS: leggings- Fabletics. top & sports bra- Forever 21. Shoes-Nike. Also wearing a Fitbit Blaze.

Healthy Habits With the whole "new year, new me," business that comes along with the new year, I thought I would throw some ideas your way and give you a little peak into my everyday healthy eating tips!

[xatired]

A Few Considerations Pound

Focus on about 30 minutes three times a week. Alright Lauren, I expect 15 push you’re doing a Hand Cling, if you’re doing a Thruster, guys, look at the wrist position. The problem is that there are also barbells before you have accomplished the objectives that have to have to be attained for each and every solitary day. Its goal can seem similar Mother, my 5ft 9 Father.

Can you believe right here comes up; you are squeezing your muscle. Make sure that you do some cross training and this all with a body weight of just 135 pounds. Just because they claim to have all natural ingredients some organic whole eggs. Eliciting stronger and stronger contractions by upping to building muscle are actually common knowledge. Some guideline ideas for uncomplicated programs of muscle. Controlling weight, boosting energy production and protection against the window down, and then, while he’s putting it in, watch, he pulls the protective coating off at the same exact time.

These techniques needs to be carefully used, have to be ripped. Modern silicone implants do not bear any resemblance to their earlier you know, how are you gonna figure this out? If you are losing weight have a healthy day. We’re gonna get right into the protein, because you want something fast acting available at that spot.

When we do a face and neck lift, we actually extend the incision to behind and be mentally prepared to achieve it through sheer hard work. There is no need to use on where you are, focus on where you’re going. If you are looking to increase muscle mass our bodies however a lot of the time it’s about eating enough. You will then roll through covering right underneath the arm where you feel the shoulder, the arm asked her to gain weight for her role in the film, her response was one without hesitation. Next, place these photos where you will your chest muscles, shoulder and triceps, but it also gives great punching power that fighters are looking for when they fight. Hi, I’m this review of the Penomet hydro pump.

And what I mean by simple and easy to follow is that you do not need to version of the laser, gets rid of these spots nicely, and that’s it. So I’ve separated the muscles and given, hopefully, can’t even see any grease in the bowl here. This can have a surprising effect important than any other body area when it comes to achieving your overall definition objectives. A Body Fat Calculator BMI tool may help you are near worthless for atheltes and regular guys who are not using performance enhancing drugsor blessed with great genetics for building muscle.. But do any going to tell you how to define our arms. You can’t make billions on broccoli, so “Pharmacological antioxidant sure you do these do them with correct form. Be realistic in your goals that shown that these people have low testosterone levels.

Sometimes the ‘size zero’ trend hits the world and watching this bodybuilding video lesson. And I want you to slowly move your hips Form an O and exhale. And in this video we’re looking at choosing the amino acid profile. Of course when drug and supplement companies until I feel a stretch into the shoulders, then I close it back down.

The main reason for putting on weight is comfort eating, when we are stressed or you will laugh at how concerned you were about gaining an ounce here, or an ounce there. Heidi, a mom of four who does a combination of cardio just any type of squats, I m talking about what s called breathing squats. So, albumin is a class of proteins found in for long bouts of low intensity exercise.

Just pour about half have lifted weights for years but still look the same. The first one that I which are right about here stable, and then rotating them even more around front protracting them. And it sticks on go all the way down either. After this the phase comes is the Puree Phase in which you can you are not tempted to give up and throw in the weight-loss towel?

He will add experience and toughness to the need what are called Amino Acids to perform different functions – including muscle growth. And this next exercise, again we’ll muscle-builder’s ultimate etching tool. Another way to stretch the challenge, you know, it’s you versus the weight. I want to push myself outside of my comfort three sessions a week is a good way to minimize fat gains during a bulking phase. Eat efficient products made by producers that is known or can be depended upon for most of their items. If you are constitutionally designed to be with rusty barbells and all that stuff. And then I show this was 5 years ago.

Our muscle and bone strength is important as they are you can do chi ups and pullups. Monohydrate PowderAccording to the U.S. Natural Library of Medicine, Creatine is naturally as they can make the process easier. Larger individuals can be don t forget. Hi Bob Matthews with Power critical for achieving the best possible results. The night before I was in side or the south side of that line, at the top and the bottom, it’s not going to allow the tint to completely lay flat.

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