#Clover Arizona

[kenneturner]

Purple Owl's-Clover

Purple Owl’s-Clover — Image by kenne

[libraryofmoths]

Moth of the Week

Salt Marsh Moth

Estigmene acrea

The salt marsh moth is a part of the family Erebidae. This species was first described in 1773 by Dru Drury. It is also known as the acrea moth.

Description Both male and female moths have white heads, thoraxes, and forewings with a varying pattern of black spots on the forewings, with some moths having no pattern at all. They also share an orange-yellow abdomen with a vertical line of back dots. On the male, the hindwings are the same organge yellow while on females the hindwings are white. Both males and females have three or four black dots on each hindwing.

Wingspan Range: 4.5 - 6.8 cm (≈1.77 - 2.68 in)

Diet and Habitat The caterpillar was first thought to be a pest to salt-grass, but in fact it prefers weeds, vegetables, and field crops such as dandelions, cabbage, cotton, walnuts, apple, tobacco, pea, potato, clovers, and maize. Adults do not feed.

This moth is found in North America, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Colombia, and Mexico. It prefers open habitats such as openings in woods, thickets, farm fields, grasslands, and marshes. It is called the “salt marsh moth” because it is common in coastal salt marshes (tidal marshes) along Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts.

Mating This species of moth does not emit pheromones from the tip of its abdomen but instead from its throat or the to of its abdomen. These moths are seen from May to August but can be seen all year in southern Florida and Texas. It is presumably during May and August they mate in most parts of their range while they mate all year round in Florida and Texas.

Yellowish eggs are laid in clusters on the host plant leaves. Females usually produce 400 to 1000 eggs in one or more clusters. It is possible to find a single egg cluster containing 1200 eggs. Eggs hatch in four to five days.

Predators This species is frequently parasitized as larvae, usually by flies in the Tachinidae family. In Arizona, the most common parasites were Exorista mellea and Leschenaultia adusta while two other parasitic flies were also seen: Gymnocarcelia ricinorum and Lespesia archippivora.

Both the larval and egg stages are oararzitized by Hymenopteran parasitoids such as Apanteles diacrisiae; Therion fuscipenne, T. morio, Casinaria genuina, Hyposoter rivalis; Psychophagus omnivorus, Tritneptis hemerocampae Vierick; Anastatus reduvii; and Trichogramma semifumatum.

A cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus is known to harm this species but there are little data on its importance and effect.

General predators such as lady beetles, softwinged flower beetles, and assassin bugs prey on these caterpillars, but are not thought to have a large impact on population.

Fun Fact This species has 4 subspecies: Estigmene acrea acrea, Estigmene acrea arizonensis (Rothschild, (1910)) (Arizona), Estigmene acrea mexicana (Walker, (1865)) (Mexico), Estigmene acrea columbiana (Rothschild, (1910)) (Colombia).

(Source: Wikipedia, University of Florida, Missouri Department of Conservation)

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

Qrow: Well Lucky charm, how do you feel about finally meeting Tai?

Clover: *Carrying Bakeware and a plastic bag* I'll be honest, kind of excited. He's been your friend since you were in Beacon, and he raised those Girls.

Qrow: Good plan *Knocks*

Taiyang: Hey! you must be Clover! keeping birdbrain out of Trouble?

Clover: Doing my best, but he seems to drag me into it.

Taiyang: Heh. Yeah that sounds like Him. What d'ya have there?

Clover: I brought you some Fried Chicken.

Taiyang: ... That's a chicken finger.

Qrow: Uh Oh.

Clover: yeah?

Taiyang: That's not fried chicken

Clover: It literally Is? It's chicken, that's been fried?

Taiyang: Eh- Well, Fried Chicken is on the Bone, you eat it with a fork and knife and a side of mashed potatoes! Chicken fingers are Finger food! An appetizer!

Clover: Well ... Sorry for disappointing you. I did bring Iced Tea! *he Holds up Arizona Iced tea*

Qrow: Honey?

Clover: Yeah?

Taiyang: *Cracks Knuckles*

Qrow: RUN!

[random-thought-depository]

""Moreover, it turns out that the United States is not all that tightfisted when it comes to social spending. “If you count all public benefits offered by the federal government, America’s welfare state (as a share of its gross domestic product) is the second biggest in the world, after France’s,” Desmond tells us. Why doesn’t this largesse accomplish more?

For one thing, it unduly assists the affluent. That statistic about the U.S. spending almost as much as France on social welfare, he explains, is accurate only “if you include things like government-subsidized retirement benefits provided by employers, student loans and 529 college savings plans, child tax credits, and homeowner subsidies: benefits disproportionately flowing to Americans well above the poverty line.” To enjoy most of these, you need to have a well-paying job, a home that you own, and probably an accountant (and, if you’re really in clover, a money manager).

“The American government gives the most help to those who need it least,” Desmond argues. “This is the true nature of our welfare state, and it has far-reaching implications, not only for our bank accounts and poverty levels, but also for our psychology and civic spirit.” Americans who benefit from social spending in the form of, say, a mortgage-interest tax deduction don’t see themselves as recipients of governmental generosity. The boon it offers them may be as hard for them to recognize and acknowledge as the persistence of poverty once was to Harrington’s suburban housewives and professional men. These Americans may be anti-government and vote that way. They may picture other people, poor people, as weak and dependent and themselves as hardworking and upstanding. Desmond allows that one reason for this is that tax breaks don’t feel the same as direct payments. Although they may amount to the same thing for household incomes and for the federal budget—“You can benefit a family by lowering its tax burden or by increasing its benefits, same difference”—they are associated with an obligation and a procedure that Americans, in particular, find onerous. Tax-cutting Republican lawmakers want the process to be both difficult and Swiss-cheesed with loopholes. (“Taxes should hurt,” Ronald Reagan once said.) But that’s not the only reason. What Desmond calls the “rudest explanation” is that if, for whatever reason, we get a tax break, most of us like it. That’s the case for people affluent and lucky enough to take advantage of the legitimate breaks designed for their benefit, and for the wily super-rich who game the system with expensive lawyering and ingenious use of tax shelters.

And there are other ways, Desmond points out, that government help gets thwarted or misdirected. When President Clinton instituted welfare reform, in 1996, pledging to “transform a broken system that traps too many people in a cycle of dependence,” an older model, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, or A.F.D.C., was replaced by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. Where most funds administered by A.F.D.C. went straight to families in the form of cash aid, TANF gave grants to states with the added directive to promote two-parent families and discourage out-of-wedlock childbirth, and let the states fund programs to achieve those goals as they saw fit. As a result, “states have come up with rather creative ways to spend TANF dollars,” Desmond writes. “Nationwide, for every dollar budgeted for TANF in 2020, poor families directly received just 22 cents. Only Kentucky and the District of Columbia spent over half of their TANF funds on basic cash assistance.” Between 1999 and 2016, Oklahoma directed more than seventy million dollars toward initiatives to promote marriage, offering couples counselling and workshops that were mostly open to people of all income levels. Arizona used some of the funds to pay for abstinence education; Pennsylvania gave some of its TANF money to anti-abortion programs. Mississippi treated its TANF funds as an unexpected Christmas present, hiring a Christian-rock singer to perform at concerts, for instance, and a former professional wrestler—the author of an autobiography titled “Every Man Has His Price”—to deliver inspirational speeches. (Much of this was revealed by assiduous investigative reporters, and by a 2020 audit of Mississippi’s Department of Human Services.) Moreover, because states don’t have to spend all their TANF funds each year, many carry over big sums. In 2020, Tennessee, which has one of the highest child-poverty rates in the nation, left seven hundred and ninety million dollars in TANF funds unspent."

- The New Yorker: "How America Manufactures Poverty" by Margaret Talbot (review of Matthew Desmond's Poverty by America).

[findmeinthefallair]

There's a grief therapist who opened the first grief therapy facility of its kind in the world - a carefarm (Selah Carefarm in Arizona) where the animals and scenery are the main "therapists", not the staff who monitor things there. It's definitely different from the colder, more detached, prescriptive and clinical model of mental healthcare that most people expect from the mental health sector.

Here's what's most fascinating: all the animals there are rescue animals who have experienced healing. The founder observed that because the animals have known much suffering, they are excellent at modeling qualities such as trust and generosity for the grieving individuals and families that seek treatment spending some time at the farm, compared to animals who have not gone through such adversity. They don't learn and teach this out of a textbook.

Which brings me to my thoughts about how these palismen:

including the ones that Hunter was tasked to capture and hand over to Belos, would play a very good role in integrating the collective grief the Boiling Isles has experienced under Belos's reign.

Even Flapjack is a great example: he has known the pain of bereavement and separation for centuries. It definitely translates into the patience, wisdom and courage that he models for Hunter..

Palismen like Clover, Emmi and even Maya, and the unnamed ones like Viney's, came from the same batch.

I believe the Bat Queen can therefore be a wellspring of the positive qualities listed above too, and in her little arc you do see it in action by comparing her bitterness and reactiveness in Escape of the Palismen versus how she softened in Hunting Palismen. At her core I think she would have tremendous generosity too.

[stalkerofthegods]

Odin deep dive

Odin is a wisdom god and a war god, given up his eye for sight in wisdom, may he send blessings upon all of his worshipers.

Herbs •mugwort (oldest of all herbs), plaintain (mother of herbs), stonem, root (drives away evil), wormwood (venom-loather), chamomile, wergulu (maybe chicory), apple, chervil, fennel, chamomile, crab-apple, stinging nettle, mugwort, sweet cicely, corn salad/rampion, monkshood, Amanita muscara, yew, mistletoe, Ivy, juniper, rye, poppy, clover,

Animals• raven, crows, horses, eagle, bear

Zodiac • He was born at the beginning of the time so he doesn't have a birthday... sorry...

Colors • Grey, deep cobalt blue, black, blue

Crystal•  gold, amber, and jasper

Symbols• his staff, his horse, raven, hats, runes, tree of Yggdrasil

Jewelry you can wear in their honor• necklaces that remind you of him and rings

Diety of• war, half of the death, heroes, magic, runes, poets, wisdom, rulers, sovereignty, shamanism, the dead, ecstasy (the reasoning in patron), prophecy, healing, royalty, the gallows, battle, victory, frenzy,

Patron of• war, half of death, heroes, magic, runes, poets, wisdom, rulers, sovereignty, shamanism, the dead, ecstasy (the reasoning behind this is that he has epithets calling him this, and also because he holds the item of the magical mead, and he ventures around the world, simply for his own "pleasure", and his historical mentions of fertility around this god, I may be wrong but I do think he is also a fertility god, and since ecstasy is also believed to be caused to be from desire, and since he inspires the desire for poetry that could also be a point, and also his ecstasy for war, also contributing for his desire for knowledge.), prophecy, healing, royalty, the gallows, battle, victory, frenzy, intoxication,

Offerings• Your blood (not from your wrists or any heat points because that could mean ur livelihood ur offering to him, and he had human sacrifices to him back then, but please be careful, and please sterilize the tools before and don't do this as self-harm get away, he will get pissed!), apples, arizona tea (UPG), books, stuffed animals of his animals, tree imagery, toys of thrones, imagery of thrones, wine (he does not drink or eat food, for wine is both water and food for him, so his dogs eat his food, so make sure to keep in mind wolf/dog-friendly food, like spices/etc.), dog treats, meat, rye, thorns (from a myth when he put a valkyrie to sleep as a consequence for sabotaging a battle), mead, beer, ale, fruit, berries, vegetables, Spearlike vegetables (ex- leeks, asparagus, garlic)

Devotional• Learn runes, write runes on flashcards and bottle caps or play cards or coins to learn them, study, do your homework, research things you are interested in his honor, take care of yourself, think out of the box, learn new skills, set boundrys, donate to war veterans and animal shelters in his name, drink alcohol or something you love to him (raise a glass to him ), eat 3 meals a day, work on communication skills, learn cartomancy/pyromancy/shufflomancy, honor your ancestor, write down and interpret your dreams, work with veterans, do community service in his honor, learn basic med, face your fears, create things that remind you of him (art, tapestry, baked goods, etc)

Ephithets•  “Master of Ecstasy”, "all father, "raven-god", "army-god", “Father of Men”. “Gautr of Men”, “The Ancient Gaut, “Delight of Frigg”, “Eagle-headed One”, “Attacking Rider” or “Attacker by Horse", “Wealth Friend”, “Enemy of the Wolf ”, “Father of Balder”, “Feeble Eye/Flame Eyed”, “Shield Shaker/Spear Shaker”, “Feeble Eye/

One Eyed”,  “Bear”, “Blind One”, “Bale-worker”,  “Battle Enhancer”, “Chieftain”, “Brother of Vili”, “Brown One”, “Son of Borr”, “Spearman”, “Lord of Ghosts”, "Sole Creator of Magical Song", “One with a Straight Forehead”,  “Ever-Booming”,  “Dweller in Frigg’s Embrace", “First Husband of Frigg”,

“Father of Magical Songs”, “Cargo God”, “Journey-Empowerer”, “Burden of Gunnlöð’s Arms”, “Gallows’ Burden”, “Snatch” or “Gain”, “Mighty God”, “Mighty Thule (Poet)”, “Very-Wise/Concealer”, “Much Wise”, “Lord of the Earth”, "One Who Rides Forth”, “The Found”, “Contrary Advisor/Gainful Council”, “Father of Galdor (Magical Songs)”, "Gallow’s Lord", “Wanderer", "Journey Advisor”, “One in a Gaping Frenzy”, “One from Gotland”, “Gautr” (Latinized Langobardic version), “Dangler”, “Spear Inviter”, “Spear God”, “Spear Master”, “Spear Charger”,  “Guest”, “Blind Guest”, “Deceiver, “Riddler”, “Seducer”, “Goði (priest) of the Raven-offering”, “God Protector”, “Yeller",  “Wand Bearer”, " King of Hliðskjalf", “The Masked One/The Hooded One”, "Gunnlod’s Embracer", “Warrior", “Battle Blind", “Master of Fury” (Romanised Langobardic ), “Master of Fury” (Westphalian), "Skillful Worker”, “Hanged God”, "God of the Hanged", “Hanged One”,  “Ruler of Gods”, “God of Gods”,  “Teacher of gods”,  “Fetter Loosener”, “High One”, “Grey Beard", “One Eyed”, “Lord of Hliðskjalf”, “High One”, “Visitor of the Hanged”,  “Blinder With Death/Host Blinder”, “Hang Jaw”, “Host Father”, “Host Gautr”, ” Host Lord”, “Host Glad/Glad of War/Glad in Battle”, “Host God”, “Battle Wolf”,  “God of battle”, “Engager of Battle”, “Helm Bearer”, “Screamer” (that's very ominous..), “Famous Lord/Mound Lord”, “Inciter/Thruster/Shaker”, “One Eyed”, “Hatter", “High One”, “Raven-tester”, “Raven God", “Fetterer/Ripper", “Blusterer”, “Roarer”, “Lord of Gods”, “God”

Hrossharsgrani – “Horse-hair Mustache”, “Whet Courage (Mood)”, “Roarer”, “Splendid Ruler”, “Just As High”, “Yellow-brown Back”, “Gelding”, “Iron Grim”, “Horse-wolf/Bear”, “Yule-father”, ”Yule", “Mighty One”, “Old Man”, “Nourisher”, “Long Beard”, “Shaggy Cloak Wearer”, "Lord of Light"

"Lord of the Wild Hunt", “Son of Borr”, “User/Enjoyer”, “Frenzied One” (Old Norse),  “Frenzy”, “Divine Inspiration”, “Breath",  “Opener”, “Boomer/One Whose Voice Resounds”, “Wished For/Fulfiller of Desire”, “Master of Fury”, “Red Moustache”, “Wagon God”, “Chief”, “God of Runes”, “Mover of Constellations”, “Truth Getter/He Who Guesses Right”, “Truth”, “The Truthful”, “Longbeard”, “Slouch Hat” or “Broad Brim” or “Deep Hood”, ”Long Beard,” “Broad Beard”, “Victory Bringer”, “Father of Victory”, “Victory Gautr”, “Victory Protection”, “Victory Author”, “Victory Tree”, “Victory Successful", “Victory Sure”,  “Victory God”, “King/Trembler”, “Treachery Ruler”, “Son of Bestla”,  “Friend of the Goths” "Speedy One", “Luller to Sleep/Dream", “Fleeting/Changeable”, “Wise One”, “Wise One”, ”Sweller", “Welcome One”, “Quarreler/Raging, Furious”, "Third”, “Triple”, “Burgeoning/Inciter to Strife”, “Strength”, “Sweller”, “Lean/Pale”, “Double”, “Twice Blind”, “Beloved”, “Foe of the Wolf ”, “Dangler", “Wayfarer”, “Swinger of Gungnir”, “Awakener/Vigilant”,  “Ruler of Gallows”, “Ruler of Heaven”, “Father of the Slain”, “Slain Gautr/Gautr of the Slain”, “Chooser of the Slain”, “Slain Tame/The Warrior”, “Slain God”, “Slain Receiver”, “Wayfarer/Waytamer”, “God of Men/God of Being”, “Stormer/Ruler of Weather”, “Contrary Screamer”, “Killer”, “Swinger”, “Friend of Loptr”, “Friend of Lóðurr”, “Friend of Mímir”, “Friend of Altars", “Master of Fury” (Gothic), “Dangler”, “Phallus”, “Smith of Battle”, “Master of Fury” (Allemanic, Burgundian)", “Master of Fury” (Frisian), "Wise Victory Tree", “Wolf”, "Wolf’s Danger", “Wish”,  “Terrible One”, “Stormy”

Equivalents• Mercury (Roman), Indra (Hindu), Thoth (egyptation)

Signs they reaching out• seeing his signs, seeing him in a dream, seeing his family and him in dreams, seeing his animals, seeing imagery of him.

Vows/omans• seeing his animals, his blood pact of brothership with loki, and his marriage vows.

Number• 9

Morals• questionably lawfully chaotic

Courting• Frigg

Past lovers/crushes• Jord, some say Freyja, and some say he's married to Freyja and Frigg.

Personality• trickster, his deminer can change easily, one saga describes Odin, “when he sat with his friends, he gladdened the spirits of all of them, but when he was at war, his demeanor was terrifyingly grim.” this shows that he can be a very kind and accepting deity, but he also has another side, so when worshiping his war epithets be aware of this, he is quite competitive. He is also serious and demands respect.

Home• Vahalha

Mortal or immortal • mortal

Fact• He often changed genders just to get passed obstacles

Curses• no knowledge, not being able to go home or know who you are.

Blessings• knowledge, someone coming out of a battle as the victor

Roots• Germanic paganism, perhaps rooted from the Anglo- Saxon gods

Friends• Mimir, loki used to be his friend, Frigg (his wife), Lóðurr, loptr

Parentage• Bestla, and Borr

Siblings• Ve and Vili, loki

Pet• 2 talking ravens called Huginn and Muninn, a magical horse called, Sleipnir, two wolves called Geri and Freki,

Children • Thor, Balder, Hod, Hermod, Heimdall, Vidar, and Vali. 

Appearance in astral or gen• Odin is frequently portrayed as one-eyed and white long-bearded, long-haired, wielding a spear named Gungnir or appearing in disguise wearing a cloak and a broad hat and a golden ring, and in the 'astral' he can be seen as anything, but mostly in a human-like form (never seen him in a dream or astral personally.)

Festivals • Yule.

Day • Wednesday.

Status• Ruler of Asier, the father of the gods, has an army of the dead, powerful.

What angers them• disrespect, betraying oaths, and ignoring him.

The music they like• I take it Viking and hunting and gothic/metal music.

Planet• Murcery

Tarot cards• hanging man, the magician, the priestess, the chariot, the

hermit, death, suit of swords.

Reminds me of• goth, bikers (motorcycles), yelling

Scents/Inscene • sandalwood, sage, cedar, mugwort, basically all his herbs except the dangerous ones.

Prayers• Prayer for Wisdom in Teaching

Allfather, Ancient One Eye-plucked Wanderer Teacher of Runes and Mead-stealer Bless me, keep me As  I wander and in gift-for-gift, Teach others from Your path

https://sarenth.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/prayers-to-odin/

The Ninefold Blessing of the Allfather

Grace me, Father, with the blessings of the breath of life, and, with the lips that shape the ond into forms beautiful and terrible Grace me, Father, with the blessings of the Runes, with the markings that break fetters and heal the sick Grace me, Father, with the blessings of wisdom, with the discernment and care it brings, with the faculties to use it properly Grace me, Father, with the blessings of pain, with the forging and strength it bestows, with the edge it sharpens Grace me, Father, with the blessings of inspiration, with the knowledge and comprehension it gives, with the ways it opens Grace me, Father, with the blessings of joy, with the openness of receptivity and growth, its seeds, with the way it enlivens life Grace me, Father, with the blessings of power, with the ability to choose and stand firm, with the ability to change the world around me Grace me, Father, with the blessings of intelligence, with the ability to comprehend and deduce the meaning of things, to understand the world in all its complexities Grace me, Father, with the blessings of faith, with the trust and determination to embrace it, to always reach to understand You and the World better, in all the ways I can

https://sarenth.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/prayers-to-odin/

Links/websites/sources • https://www.britannica.com/topic/Odin-Norse-deity https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-aesir-gods-and-goddesses/odin/#:~:text=As%20mentioned%20above%2C%20Odin's%20name,can%20take%20countless%20different%20forms. https://www.worldhistory.org/odin/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin https://wytchofthenorth.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/odin-and-herbs-ask-me-about-odin/ https://wanderingwomanwondering.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/deity-offerings-series-for-odin/ https://www.norseshamanism.online/blog-norse-shamanism/offerings-to-odin-and-how-to-make-offerings-to-odin https://www.northernpaganism.org/shrines/odin/writing/altars-and-offerings-for-odin.html https://odindevoted.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/offerings/https://study.com/academy/lesson/yggdrasil-the-tree-of-life-norse-mythology-symbol.html#:~:text=Yggdrasil%20is%20a%20tree%20in,god%20in%20the%20Norse%20pantheon. https://www.tumblr.com/alder-bos/669862051714318336/deities-and-their-tarot-cards-long-post

I use resources, I do not own the info, and most deep dives have UPG (that I use in my work.) And I only take some information from sources. I am 14, this is my hobby, I am learning but I spent many hours and days on this, and I am always open to criticism. I have been doing worship for 5 years. Please know you can use the info, I do not sue, but I will take action if this work is used without permission and not put as a resource if used in any work. without permisson and not put as a resource if used in any work, for the public.

ODIN DOES NOT SUPPORT NAZIS

[swissboyhisch]

Are They The NHL Power Couple or Just Best Friends?

If you know who Connor McDavid is then you would definitely know who Y/n L/n is. The young captain of the Edmonton Oilers, who is only aged 19, is very quiet about his private life, rarely posting on social media. But one thing for certain is that he constantly posts about his "best friend" Y/n L/n, or Y/n/n as he calls her. If either one of them isn't posting a picture about the other, usually someone else – either their childhood friends Y/b/f/n or Dylan Strome or a teammate of McDavid's – posts a picture of the two. The pair claims their just best friends but by the looks of the pictures, everyone expects them to be something more than just best friends. Even their close friends and family hint towards them being more than best friends. It seems like everyone wants them to be a couple.

From what we know, McDavid and L/n have known each other since birth; their parents were close friends before either of them were born. What we do know is that L/n was born in 1998, meaning she is only a year younger than McDavid. Our first public sighting of her was at the 2015 NHL draft, where McDavid was drafted 1st overall by Edmonton Oilers. There we witnessed McDavid celebrating the announcement by hugging his family and pressing a kiss to L/n's forehead, the young teenagers smiling at each other. As the years go on and McDavid becomes one of the best players in the league, their "friendship" becomes more public.

Currently, L/n is in Edmonton and our feed is getting flooded with photos of the best friends from both McDavid and L/n , along with their friends and family. These photos prove there is something between them but we don't know what that something is. Here are 10 photos to help you get to know the girl behind the youngest captain in NHL history and 5 photos that make us believe that there are sparks are flying between Connor McDavid and his best friend, Y/n L/n.

1) The Girl Behind The Captain

Y/n L/n seems to have her selfie game down pat though as she looks absolutely stunning in this picture she posted last month. It's a simple picture really, with not all that much going on, so the fact that she still manages to look so good speaks volumes. The selfie craze might be a little overdone in most cases but what we can say Connor is a lucky guy.

2) Besties

Y/n posted this photo during this past offseason when the large group of friends went on holiday to Europe, celebrating many things, like Octavia's Graduation and Connor's rookie season celebration. In this picture: Y/n L/n, best friend of Connor McDavid; Y/b/f/n, girlfriend of Oiler's forward Leon Draisaitl; Clover Bennett, cousin of New Jersey Devil's Forward Beau Bennett; Zara Strome, younger sister of New York Islanders' Forward Ryan Strome and Arizona Coyotes' Forward Dylan Strome; and Kennedy Moore, Girlfriend of Dylan Strome.

3) Prom Season

This past May, McDavid himself posted this picture to his Instagram, mcdavid97. Y/n, who was finishing her senior year, had asked Connor to be her date to her senior prom back in Erie. The caption was "Prom with Y/n/n 💕 #4". We believe that the hashtag four is the number of Proms they've attended together. Doesn't Y/n look just stunning though?

4) Talented

Just last month, Y/n represented the US at the Shotokan Karate World Championship in Paris. Her sister, Y/s/n, posted this photo, congratulating Y/n on her gold medals in her events. This isn't the first time she has been declared world champion. The young girl has travelled the world, competing and representing her country.

5) Siblings

Now we know McDavid has an older brother, but Y/n has an older sister named Y/s/n who we predict is roughly the same age as Connor's brother, Cameron McDavid. The two sisters are close, often posting photos of each other and photos together. And from the comments on their posts, all siblings are close, along with the Stromes and the Y/b/f/l/n. If we wanted to join any family, it would be the McDavids or L/n.

6) Support

Dylan Strome, now of the Arizona Coyotes, posted this after an Erie Otters game in 2015, McDavid's last season with the Otters. The caption thanked Y/n for always being at their games and being their number one supporter. It proves her, and Y/b/f/n, have been there since the start of both of their hockey careers. 

7) Future Family

Earlier this year, McDavid's older brother Cameron finally married his high school sweetheart, Holly Jensen. The day after the event, the bride posted this adorable photo of herself and her bridesmaids, including Y/n L/n (Far Right). We knew that Willow was close to the McDavids but they were closer than we thought! At the age of 17, L/n was asked to be a bridesmaid for the McDavid family wedding. She looks absolutely beautiful and we wished our puberty was that good!

8) WAG Life

At the age of 18, young Y/n is constantly spotted with the older WAGs; and not just Oiler WAGs! Even though she is not publicly known as a WAG, L/n is known to hang out with Kelly Talbot, Y/b/f/n and Mikayla Marrelli (Darnell Nurse' girlfriend) in Edmonton. But the young adult is also friends with many of the Lady Leafs, such as Stephanie Le Chance, Molly Robinson, Lucy Cashin and Sydney Esiason. But it doesn't stop there, she's also been seen with Arizona WAGs such as her best friends, Zara Strome and Clove Bennett.

9) Adorableness

Posted only yesterday by Y/n, the two friends are shown skating together, McDavid having to hold the brunette steady as they posed for the picture. If you look in the comments of the post, McDavid replies with "Just as bad as last time ❤️" and Y/b/f/n state that she's still bad at ice skating even though "she's basically dating an NHL player". I mean is that confirming everyone's wishing of them being together?

10) Future Mum

Isn't this picture just adorable?! No, she doesn't have a child; L/n just happens to love kids! She is known to be the team's babysitter when she is in Edmonton. This was posted by the teenager's older sister. The baby she's holding is the girl's niece. Honestly, if McDavid and L/n have a baby, wouldn't it be the cutest baby alive?!

11) Potterhead

This summer, we got updates on the young Oilers rookie as he experienced his first offseason of his NHL career. With his first year paycheck, he could have bought many things but instead, he decided to spoil his best friend. McDavid ended up taking L/n to the place she had always wanted to go since she was a kid, The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter. There, the pair took over the Oilers Instagram, doing a live stream as the pair sat and drank butterbeer at the Leaky Cauldron. This photo, posted by a fan, was a screenshot of the Livestream as they headed to the ride, Forbidden Journey.

12) High School Sweethearts

Y/n's best friend Y/b/f/n, posted this when McDavid was in his senior year. This was taken during Homecoming where all the athletes are celebrated for their part in the school spirit. McDavid played ice hockey for Erie Otters at this point, and well recognised at the school, while Y/n was a cheerleader for her school team while also heavily training in karate.

13) Travel Bug

How is she only 18 and yet travelled to more countries than most of us have in our entire lives? Whilst travelling the world for karate competitions, she also regularly travels during the summer with her friends and family, this year travelling to Europe with a group of friends as a graduation celebration. This stunning photo was posted by McDavid last June, he captioned this by simply putting the heart emoji underneath it.

14) Animal Lover

Don't you just want to steal this cute pup? The L/n family pet is a rescue German Sheppard, which was gifted to Octavia by her family after Connor and Dylan had been drafted in 2015. Rightfully named after Oilers mascot, the gorgeous dog is named Hunter. We don't know if L/n brought the dog with her to Edmonton, but we hope that we get more pictures of this in the future.

15) The Look

And our favourite picture of the two best friends was posted by the Edmonton Oilers account its self, reposted by the NHL official account. This year's Thanksgiving fundraiser night was a blast and after his killer rookie season and being named the captain, McDavid had a stunning girl by his side for the night. The team account posted this adorable photo of the young friends, both looking amazing. But just by looking at them, you can tell there is something more. Now it's a waiting game.

We're just saying if they were together, they would be the NHL's power couple!

TAG LIST

@penny4yourthoughts @mp0625 @nowandkei

[cherrylng]

MUSE X MOVIE [STYLE Series #004 - Muse (August 2010)]

A love story between a vampire and a human, the Twilight series is having a huge ripple effect! The key to this film, which triggered the explosion of Muse's popularity in the US, is the author's ‘love for Muse’. Text by Naoto Mori

"I'd like to thank the talented musicians who inspired me, especially Muse, from whose songs the sentiments, scenes, and synopsis of this novel were born. Without their extraordinary talent, this novel would not exist."

These are the words of Stephenie Meyer, the American author of the Twilight series, the international bestselling teen romance novels about vampire boys and human girls (from the acknowledgements to the second novel in the series, New Moon). She is an avowed fanatic of Muse and is now a cheerleader for the cultural quota. Originally a housewife in Arizona, when she suddenly wrote her debut novel at the age of 30, she was inspired by the dreams she had and the songs of Muse and other popular rock bands. Their music functioned as a literal ‘muse’ (Greek goddess of the arts). Meyer herself wrote in her acknowledgements for the final film in the series, Breaking Dawn:

"Thank you, my beloved band. Muse is really an appropriate name, as you have been an important inspiration for this saga!"

For example, in Japan, Chika Umino's manga Hachimitsu to Clover was based on two albums, Hachimitsu by Spitz and Clover by Suga Shikao, and Meyer seems to have drawn inspiration for the colour and atmosphere of her world from the songs of Muse. On her official website, she presents a ‘playlist’ of songs that have specifically inspired her. You have to go directly to the site for more details, but some excerpts include ‘Time is Running Out’ from the first film in the series. In the second film, there's ‘Hyper Music’ and ‘Apocalypse Please’. The third album, Eclipse, has six songs, including ‘The Small Print’, ‘New Born’ and ‘Hysteria’, and is particularly Muse-intensive! The final album includes a cover of ‘Can't Take My Eyes Off You’ (Frankie Valli's 1967 hit), which is not included on the album. Incidentally, other bands that stand out are Coldplay, Travis, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance…… and so on.

This playlist could be called an album of images of Twilight by the author Meyer, but Muse also participated in the soundtrack of the film adaptation series that started in 2008. The first film, Twilight, featured the song ‘Supermassive Black Hole’. At this point, Muse was still using pre-existing songs, but for the second film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Muse provided a ‘New Moon Remix’ of ‘I Belong to You’. For the third film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, they wrote a new song, ‘Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever)’, which became the first single from the soundtrack. Finally, Meyer and Muse had an official collaboration through the film!

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is directed by David Slade (a Brit, of course), who has been working on music clips for Muse for some time. He was chosen to direct the Twilight series, which shares a common motif with the Sam Raimi-produced vampire horror film 30 Days of Night, which was a No.1 hit in the US. The Muse-Meyer-Slade connection, then, is completely predestined. In this sense, the film version of Eclipse, which brought their creative meeting to fruition, may be called a monumental film.

Slade's clip for Bliss, shot long before his directorial debut, had the feel of a sci-fi short film starring Matthew Bellamy, but the Muse clips shot by other directors are also filled with a magnificent and fantastical sense of beauty. Muse's sound world must have a tremendous power to evoke images for creators of film and literature. For example, the clip for ‘New Born’ was also directed by Slade, and the song was used so memorably in the ending of the 2003 French splatter horror film ‘Haute Tension/High Tension’ that it was the talk of the town among film buffs at the time.

Now, it's time for a delusional analysis. Why is Meyer so firmly attracted to Muse? What is the connection between Twilight, their music, and their creations?

The following quote from Meyer may help to decipher this. In an interview published on the official website of the Japanese edition of Twilight by Village Books, she was asked, "Do you read other vampire novels?" She replied: "No, I've actually never read any vampire novels. (It's the same) with films."

Yes, Twilight can be categorised as a gothic horror genre, but it is not a heavyweight, authentic one. It is based on a Romeo and Juliet-type boy-meets-girl story, to which the vampire legend has been introduced as a sweet European taste. The ideal balance of romantic and gothic flavours is the sound world created by Muse in Meyer's mind.

In line with the Twilight story, Meyer is the American ‘normal girl’ heroine Bella and Muse is the ‘ideal prince’ Edward from a foreign country (England). Their music and characters (mainly Matthew) provide the ‘eternal maidens’, symbolised by Meyer, with a kind of royal shoujo manga fantasy, just as Queen did in the 1970s.

One last little tidbit, by the way. Here's an interesting remark from Robert Pattinson, the pretty boy actor who plays Edward in the film. He wants Gus Van Sant, the director behind ‘My Own Private Idaho’ and ‘Elephant’, to direct the final film, ‘Breaking Dawn’. Sullen!!! Well, the style of the series so far will be too artistic to stand out, but it's likely to produce a standout masterpiece. I'd love to see it!

In the first film, ‘Twilight’, ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ is played during a baseball game between vampire Edward, played by Robert Pattinson, and his family. Vampires, who never age, fly up and down the mountain.

For the second film, ‘New Moon/Twilight Saga’, Muse provided the ‘New Moon Mix’ of ‘I Belong to You’. Unfortunately, it is only used in the film for a short time, when Bella is seen off by her father and gets into the car, so check it out carefully!

At the suggestion of director Catherine Hardwicke, Ms Stephenie Meyer, the author of the original novel, also makes a cameo appearance in Twilight! She plays a customer at the diner where Bella goes with her father and orders a vegetarian sandwich. She is only in the film for a brief moment, so check it out!

The original series of four books, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, which sold explosively. Acknowledgements by Stephenie Meyer can be found here. The original Japanese translation is available from Village Books, translated by Ami Obara.

‘Lords of Dogtown’ Sony Pictures Entertainment

Directed and executive produced by Catherine Hardwicke, director of Twilight: First Love, this is the true story of the ‘Z-Boys’ who revolutionised skateboarding in the 1970s in Venice Beach, aka Dogtown, on the west coast of the USA. The film stars Emile Hirsch and also features the late Heath Ledger.

‘The Golden Compass’ Happinet

The first solo fantasy film from Chris Weitz, director of New Moon, tells the story of Lyra, a 12-year-old girl who, after the disappearance of her best friend and uncle, sets off on a journey with a compass that shows her the truth and her alter ego dæmon. Based on a fantasy novel by British children's author Philip Pullman.

‘Hard Candy’ Geneon Entertainment

In this first feature from David Slade (Eclipse), 32-year-old photographer Jeff brings home Haley, a 14-year-old girl he met on a dating website, only to have her punish him for it. This thriller was inspired by the Japanese ‘oyaji-hunting’. Slade's fresh sense of imagery is on full display.

‘30 Days Of Night’ Pony Canyon

Vampire action film directed by David Slade, which debuted at No. 1 in the US. The film depicts an epic battle between a group of vampires who attack a town where the sun doesn't rise for 30 days, and a young sheriff played by Josh Hartnett. Based on a comic book by Steve Niles (written) & John Templesmith (illustrated).

‘High Tension’ Asmik

An extremely brutal, bloody splatter movie from the director of French horror hopeful Alexandre Azizi comes HIGH TENSION. When a schoolgirl leaves the city to visit her best friend's family home, she sees a chainsaw-wielding killer slaughtering the family and stands up to save her best friend, but what follows has surprising consequences……

‘My Own Private Idaho’ Kadokawa Pictures

One of Gus Van Sant's best-known films, in which Mike, a narcoleptic played by the late River Phoenix, and Scott, a man of wealth played by Keanu Reeves, who both make a living as male prostitutes, embark on a journey in search of their identities. His latest film, Restless (2011), also stars Japan's Ryo Kase.

‘Hyper Music’ A simple piece of work, with dynamic camerawork capturing the aggressive performance scenes of the three musicians. I sigh at the power of how they disappear at full speed towards the end.

‘Feeling Good’ Taken on set at the same time as ‘Hyper Music’, which became both A-sides.The contrast between the monstrously distorted faces of the people and the performance amidst the dancing flower petals is typical of Slade.

‘Bliss’ A spectacular piece in which Chris and Dom watch Matthew fall through a hole in a huge structure, like a future space station, to nowhere. Truly a Muse!

‘New Born’ This is one of Slade's best efforts, made on a tight budget and in a tight time frame. Filmed in Prague, the scenes of the three performing under the control of the girl's psychic powers are powerful.

Translator's Notes: I never watched the movies but I have read all of the Twilight books. I was a teenager back then who voraciously read through any books just out of that need to get through the boring tedium of school. It was an okay-ish read for the first 3 books, up until I finally reached Breaking Dawn. And honestly? The last book would've been better off never having that subplot about Jacob and Esme. Even teenage Cherry read that whole subplot and went "WTF????" It was just that memorably messed up and I don't even know how the film cast even powered through that part of the story.

Also, I wasn't surprised by My Chemical Romance being part of Meyer's playlist. What I didn't expect was that Coldplay was included as well. So... I guess if Meyer had liked Coldplay far more, who she dedicated the books to and the story itself would've carried very, very different contexts and plots????

[fibula-rasa]

Would never describe myself as "a bright little patriot" but an all-black outfit with a grape-colored bag absolutely sounds like something I would wear

What are you wearing?

Transcription:

Photoplay, December 1941

Be a bright little patriot and take your color cue from your state flower for the gayest-hued season that's ever dazzled America

BY MARIAN H. QUINN

Alabama…goldenrod

A bright gold wool furless coat with a taupe belt

Arizona…saguaro cactus

Be as draught-resistant and as showy in the Lasso boots on page 60* — maybe a pair of red ones

Arkansas…apple blossom

The apple-blossom pink and blue wool striped collars and cuffs on your wool dress

California…golden poppy

The gold buttons you'll wear on anything; maybe they'll be massive carved ones for your suit

Colorado…columbine

A purple crepe lining for your black day suit

Connecticut…mountain laurel

The new plaid combination — purple with mountain-laurel pink, navy blue and white

Delaware…peach blossom

A wool dress the color of peach blossoms under your dark coat.

Florida…orange blossom

A needlepoint purse worked in orange-blossom pattern

Georgia…cherokee rose

A simple white crepe dinner skirt; a sweater of yellow pailettes

Idaho…syringa

White or cream rayon slipper satin waltz dress; wear a black snood and black gloves with it

Illinois…wood violet

Violet silk stockings (honest!) with your violet evening dress

Indiana…zinnia

Be as vivid in a bright orange or red hat worn with black

Iowa…wild rose

Sequins forming a pattern of roses all over your evening bag

Kansas…sunflower

Bright woolen jacket of orange; matching orange gloves

Kentucky…goldenrod

Circular yoke of gold crocheted yarn topping a black wool

Louisiana…magnolia

Magnolia-pink rose on the big pillow muff of black lace you'll carry with your chemise dress

Maine…pine cone

New combination of pine-cone brown with baroque pink

Maryland…black-eyed susan

Smart suit: A black jacket with a yellow skirt

Massachusetts…mayflower

Interpret it broadly; be shipshape in a wine middy-top dress

Michigan…apple blossom

Pale pink crepe blouse; deeper pink jacket; black skirt

Minnesota…moccasin flower

Soft-soled moccasins of gold-trimmed white kid for dancing

Mississippi…magnolia

Pink velvet piping on your black dress

Missouri…hawthorn

A waist-length red velvet cape trimmed with jet for evening

Montana…bitterroot

A whole suit of peachy pink for the tea-dancing hour

Nebraska…goldenrod

The gold service insignia of your beau on the left-hand (nearest the heart) glove

Nevada…sagebrush

Sage-green shoes to go with a sage-green monotone costume

New Hampshire…purple lilac

Clogs of purple satin for your purple dance dress

New Jersey…violet

A purple felt hat with your dark blue wool suit

New Mexico…yucca

A creamy white dog collar of pearls to make you as imposing

New York…rose

Red-as-the-rose red with black; perhaps knitted red gloves

North Carolina…oxeye daisy

A snow-white angora felt cloche with a yellow grosgrain band

North Dakota…wild prairie rose

Belt with a buckle that's made of a cowhide prairie-wagon wheel

Ohio…scarlet carnation

Carnation-red wool jacket piped in black to wear with a black skirt

Oklahoma…mistletoe

The dress on page 63**; wear it and see what happens

Oregon…Oregon grape

A grape-colored suede bag, only contrast to an all-black outfit

Pennsylvania…mountain laurel

Pink brushed-wool hat for your dark suit

Rhode Island…violet

A violet plaid tweed coat

South Carolina…jessamine

Over your black dress wear a tight-waisted tunic of yellow wool

South Dakota…pasqueflower

A purple wool suit and its surefire accessory—a yellow sweater or blouse

Tennessee…iris

The lining of the black peplum on your black wool, a blue as deep as the iris

Texas…bluebonnet

Blue suede gloves, blue velvet bag as an accessory team

Utah…sego lily

The white and orange cockade of finely pleated ribbon on your red velour hat

Vermont…red clover

A clover-red corduroy dress

Virginia…dogwood

A creamy satin waistcoat to wear over a black-velvet skirt

Washington…rhododendron

Deep pink snakeskin gloves to match the belt on a black dress

W. Virginia…great rhododendron

Combine a pale pink with Dublin green in a jacket; wear it over a nut-brown dress

Wisconsin…violet

Dog collar of purple velvet on your beige dress

Wyoming…Indian paintbrush

A harlequin necklace; one side orange-red, one side green

*aforementioned boots for Arizona:

**aforementioned dress for Oklahoma:

[orinelldo]

Deltarune Yellow: Stories from Another Place

After playing through Undertale Yellow I thought "What if these characters were in the Deltarune world" so I went ahead and wrote a few short stories based on that idea: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52748578/chapters/133414159

Here's a general gist of what the folks from UTY are like in Deltarune

Clover lives in a town called "Notheast" (it's just Arizona, it's the absolute worst) with Martlet. Adopted at a very young age by her and despite not knowing how to be a mother at first, Martlet has raised him well. He loves old cowboy movies and always wears his iconic hat and bandana.

"North Star" and his "posse" are just normal working folks who reenact old western battles in their free time (really no different than the usual). Clover hangs out with them.

Martlet is a local town official who tries to keep things as orderly as she but really her efforts hinder more than they help, no one has the heart to tell her this though. She adopted Clover when he was 4 and been his cool bird mom ever since.

Ceroba runs a martial arts class and occasionally larps with "North Star". Is still married to Chujin, they have their issues but what couple doesn’t?

Chujin runs an electronics store that he's trying to remodel, it still has the cheezy atmosphere of 80's advertising from back when. Also takes care of a flower garden in the town center, it's a nice reprieve from all the sand. Kanako helps out with the gardening and occasionally mans the store register when Chujin can’t. Used to be a big shot… so they say

Kanako is a friend of Clover's since they were in 1st grade elementary. She wants to be a hero but isn't sure what she wants to do that would be "heroic" enough to help people. She larps with Clover but pretends to be a samurai instead… even though the group thinks it ruins the mood when everyone is shooting (nerf) guns at each other while she batters people with a wooden katana.

Dalv died in a mishap with makeshift explosives, all that was left of his house was a single Balloon… or atleast that’s the exaggerated story of it. Truth was the man accidently lit a match near an open propane tank. The balloon did survive though don’t worry.

There's a mining operation happening west of the town but the locals don't know what their mining for. There’s rumors of hidden treasures and impossible creatures but the Miners wont speak a lick to locals.

Axis only exists as Chujins store Mascot, the cardboard cutout of him is a common target of harassment by kids. Someone punched a hole through it once and nobody knows why.

That doesn't cover everyone but I'll get to those folks when I can gather my thoughts more.

[starrynightsistube]

HELLO HELLO HELLO!!! I will start doing these art dumps whenever I have lots of art I haven't shared. This time, I will share some art I made for my Undertale Yellow Letsplay series!! (Note: This isn't everything I've drawn, mostly just the best of) ((ALSO SPOILERS TO UNDERTALE YELLOW ITSELF)) Who could this be?? This isn't Undertale Yellow!?!? Well...I can't say much at the moment since it pertains to the lore of the letsplay. I was going to make multiple little talk sprites for them, but they were taking too long. I do plan on making a revised design so I might do more talk sprites in the future.

Here are some Miscellaneous sprites for jokes or serious bits. Featuring @rotatingdynamite character!! (The green square). Probably my favorite one of these is the Clover holding the Arizona Tea cause I had like an obsession with Tea during the recording of this series. I no longer drink Arizona tea now. Shame.

GOD OK IM LIKE PROUD HOW MOST OF THESE CAME OUT! Ceroba is one of my favorite characters from UTY and I've wanted to draw her after I originally beat the game. Admittedly I haven't drawn fox's before so drawing the snout in certain directions doesn't...look right. BUT IM GETTING BETTER I SWEAR

Here were some early sketches of Ceroba I drew during Episode 2 development. Little outdated from how I draw her now, but I still love how these came out.

The remaining stuff here I can't..explain since I think it's best I leave you with the intrigue of what they could be. OOoooOOooooOO

THUS ENDS THIS LITTLE ART THREAD!! Thank you if you have made it this far. If you are at all interested, or even want to see what didn't make it into this thread. You can check out the series on my Youtube Channel

[roosterbruiser]

this post is for Landslide baddies and Landslide baddies ONLY 🫵🤨

remember when I talked about writing a bunch of alternate versions of Landslide? and one of them was what if her and Jake met first?

while that will never be written (I love Landslide so much and I don't want to change anything about it sorry love you) mother has decided to feed her children a few crumbs....

here were the tentative plans for the story where her and Jake end up together (and they're largely unfinished, literally just crumbs!!!):

-starts on December 2016, so only a few months after Maggie's death

-her and Jake meet on NYE so she’s like three/four weeks pregnant but has no clue obvi

-they meet outside The Hard Deck. she isn't going in--she's just kind of standing around the entrance. she's not super fucked up yet, but she's high. he gets to talking to her, obvi thinks she's gorgeous and a conquest. but then cut to the chase bc she's like come back to my house and who is he to disagree?

-and then when they get back there, instead of having sex right away, maybe he notices that her air conditioner in the living room isn’t working. and he fixes it while she kind of just stands there. and then maybe he’s even like looking around her house a little bit while she goes into the bathroom and takes some more pills and he sees all the pictures on the walls and then realizes that he’s with Clover Ledger—whose sister is dead as of recently. like, super recently.

-so then maybe when he goes into the bedroom, she’s waiting for him, naked. and she’s kind of like not really there. he doesn’t want to take advantage of her and feels quite sick about this whole situation. and she’s high so she’s not much help. so maybe he just covers her up and she is able to whisper, could you just stay? and he does stay. he just holds her. 

-and the next morning, maybe he orders in some breakfast and sits in the living room while he waits for her to wake up. so then he starts playing a record and it happens to be Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. she wakes up to her sisters song playing in the living room. at first, maybe she thinks it’s a ghost or something because she can’t see him. but he walks up the stairs holding pancakes and eggs and hash browns. then they eat breakfast together. 

-he can tell that she’s deeply sad, deeply wounded. she's very obviously self-destructing.

-they should have one scene where she’s slightly sober. and maybe it’s the first time she’s laughed in a long time—he’s made her coffee and they’re just chatting about the academy and school and where they grew up and stuff. breakfast accidentally spans out across the entire day. they don’t even kiss, barely even touch. it’s just a pure interaction. she gives him her number and he promises to call. 

-I think he is enamored with her already and he doesn't even have the best version of her yet.

-they end up hanging out maybe once or twice more. maybe they even have a random meeting at the grocery store or something. it’s kind of a weird fated thing. 

-but then she kind of falls off the map after that. so like he calls her and texts her and she doesn’t answer. and then he finally swings by her house, not trying to be creepy. he is genuinely worried something happened to her. 

-finally Bob answers her phone in like late March and there’s a misunderstanding because Bob thinks Jake is just another guy that’s taken advantage of her but Jake has to tell him that they were friends and blah blah blah. so Bob says the next time he sees Faye, he is going to ask about Jake and then maybe he will let Jake know what the next move is. Bob slays.

-so he waits about another week or two and then gets a phone call from Faye’s phone—it’s Bob on the other end of the line. he tells Jake that Faye said if he really wanted to come see her, he could come during visiting hours. he tells Jake that she is in an in-patient treatment facility in Arizona. then he tells Jake to call if he has any questions. 

-Jake can’t stop thinking about Faye. she really touched him deeply. so he does it one weekend—he goes and visits her. se hops on a plane and goes to the treatment facility and sees her. she looks better physically—she really does. she doesn’t look as dead as she did before. she’s awkward and embarrassed and broken and he’s just happy to see her—he doesn’t care that it’s in a rehab facility. she tells him almost as soon as she sees him that she’s pregnant—and then he can actually see it. when he visits her in late May, she’s about 14 weeks pregnant.

-he is randomly all in. he calls her when he can and they have long conversations on the phone. he visits her whenever he can, too—somehow always missing Bob. he is unspokenly there for her for her pregnancy, too. he wants to be there for everything she’s going through. 

-she leaves rehab when she is about 20 weeks pregnant. she goes home. he helps out around her house. and then they start spending like a lot of time with each other. like they’re kind of just best friends. he doesn’t really know a lot of people in San Diego and she doesn’t have her sister or Bob at the moment. or her family. so they just start doing everything with each other. he helps with things like her air conditioning and just stuff around the house. 

-she’s starting to prepare for the baby. she doesn’t want to force anything on him, but he insists that he wants to help her. so he starts going with her to pick out baby clothes and nursery items and all that good stuff. and then eventually he starts going to her appointments with her whenever he can. he will go out and buy her pickles in the middle of the night. he is the one who tells her that she should start going to childbirth classes. and he shows up for her there, acts as her partner. 

-as it progresses, he’s still just there. he’s falling in love with her for sure, but more than anything wants to just support her. he cares about her a lot. she always jokes that he should go out and find a girl and sleep around and go crazy but no—he just wants to be there with her, feeling the baby kick, doing whatever she wants to do. 

-a point of contention is that he is in love with her but she needs him as a friend so desperately. like she doesn’t want to believe that he is only there to fuck her. and he does love being her friend but is truly also in love with her. 

-when she goes into labor, she’s a little bit early. I’m thinking she goes into labor on August 1st, just after midnight. and she drives herself to the hospital and is there for a few hours before Jake figures out what’s going on. and he only figures out because she tells Bob and Bob is scrambling because he was supposed to be flying in in a few weeks instead of August 1st. so he calls Jake to be his placeholder. 

-he's there through everything--even the emergency c-section. he strokes her hair and even manages to get her to laugh a few times. he gets to see her face the first time she hears her son cry. they are both overwhelmed with emotion, crying and laughing, totally shocked and in awe.

-he is very little because he was early, but he's healthy. Jake is actually the first person who gets to hold him (partly because Faye is numb and strapped down and partly because all of the staff thinks he's dad and neither him or Faye is correcting it). he watches her kiss him and love him and oh, boy. he's in real trouble now. all of this feels too good, too weirdly good. too natural.

-she names the little boy Bowie Palmer Ledger.

-she keeps expecting Jake to hit the road. but he never does. he leaves for a half hour to go home and grab a bag and then sets up camp at her bedside. he's totally obsessed.

-the last night in the hospital, in the afterglow of it all, they admit their feelings for each other. but Faye says that she's a mother now and she can't be getting involved with anyone just yet. plus Jake is the best friend she's had since Bob and she doesn't want to lose that. Jake agrees with her. they both decide it's best to be friends for a the time being. but they do share one tiny little kiss.

-but the biggest issue is: Jake is absolutely in love with her. like more than he's ever loved anyone ever before. he has no desire to leave whatsoever. he wants to stay with her and raise this fucking baby—and he knows that’s crazy. 

feel free to send me any thoughts on this....maybe we could expand on some things together....

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A national physician group this week called for the complete termination of a Medicare privatization scheme that the Biden White House inherited from the Trump administration and later rebranded—while keeping intact its most dangerous components.

Now known as the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) Model, the experiment inserts a for-profit entity between traditional Medicare beneficiaries and healthcare providers. The federal government pays the ACO REACH middlemen to cover patients' care while allowing them to pocket a significant chunk of the fee as profit.

The rebranded pilot program, which was launched without congressional approval and is set to run through at least 2026, officially began this month, and progressive healthcare advocates fear the experiment could be allowed to engulf traditional Medicare.

In a Tuesday letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) argued that ACO REACH "presents a threat to the integrity of traditional Medicare, and an opportunity for corporations to take money from taxpayers while denying care to beneficiaries."

The group, which advocates for a single-payer healthcare system, voiced alarm over the Biden administration's decision to let companies with records of fraud and other abuses take part in the ACO REACH pilot, which automatically assigns traditional Medicare patients to private entities without their consent.

CMS said in a press release Tuesday that "the ACO REACH Model has 132 ACOs with 131,772 healthcare providers and organizations providing care to an estimated 2.1 million beneficiaries" for 2023.

"As we have stated, PNHP believes that the REACH program threatens the integrity of traditional Medicare and should be permanently ended," Dr. Philip Verhoef, the physician group's president, wrote in the new letter. "Whether or not one agrees with this statement, we should all be able to agree that companies found to have violated the rules have no place managing the care of our Medicare beneficiaries."

Among the concerning examples PNHP cited was Clover Health, which has operated so-called Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs)—the name of private middlemen under the Trump-era version of the Medicare pilot—in more than a dozen states, including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and New York.

PNHP noted that in 2016, CMS fined Clover—a large Medicare Advantage provider—for "using 'marketing and advertising materials that contained inaccurate statements' about coverage for out-of-network providers, after a high volume of complaints from patients who were denied coverage by its MA plan. Clover had failed to correct the materials after repeated requests by CMS."

Humana, another large insurer with its teeth in the Medicare privatization pilot, "improperly collected almost $200 million from Medicare by overstating the sickness of patients," PNHP observed, citing a recent federal audit.

"It appears that in its selection process [for ACO REACH], CMS did not prevent the inclusion of companies with histories of such behavior," Verhoef wrote. "Given these findings, we are concerned that CMS is inappropriately allowing these DCEs to continue unimpeded into ACO REACH in 2023."

While the Medicare pilot garnered little attention from lawmakers when the Trump administration first launched it during its final months in power, progressive members of Congress have recently ramped up scrutiny of the program.

Last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) led a group of lawmakers in warning that ACO REACH "provides an opportunity for healthcare insurers with a history of defrauding and abusing Medicare and ripping off taxpayers to further encroach on the Medicare system."

"We have long been concerned about ensuring this model does not give corporate profiteers yet another opportunity to take a chunk out of traditional Medicare," the lawmakers wrote, echoing PNHP's concerns. "The continued participation of corporate actors with a history of fraud and abuse threatens the integrity of the program."

[virtie333]

how's the summer treating you?

Hey, hi!

For the most part, I think summer is treating me pretty well. Other than the growing hatred of a job I used to love and the stress of looking for work better suited to my mental state, it's been good. LOL

The weather is finally getting hot, and I love that. I'm not a Southern Arizona 100+ degree every day girl, but I am happiest when it's between 80 and 95*F (26-35*C). We've had just enough rain to make it wonderfully green, and at the moment we're going through a sweet clover bloom!

Thank you, so much for the ask!

[leafgorge]

Here are some for you ,just chose the ones that stuck out to me (^∇^)

48. Can you curl your tongue?

44. Do you have a strong accent?

36. Favorite clean word?

thanks for the ask!!

48. yes i can curl my tongue and i can even do the clover dealy with it

that thing

44. yeah like i said with cy’s ask i’m english but recently moved to arizona so i have a strange mix or american pronunciations and dropping my r’s

36. this is difficult but I really like the british pronunciation of synapses specifically (like cynapses like the cy is cypress) and the word ubiquitous they just sound nice

thank you so much for the ask!!

[heyits-asher]

Clover: someone you miss right now?

"My mom and my little sisters, I haven't seen them since I left Arizona. I always miss my older brother, it's been over twenty years since I saw him."