#and stop trying to knit every film into every other in a model based around forcing maximized consumption and minimized craft ur killing me

[zoophagist]

(pulled from screenrant)

hey. sorry. what? so many mixed feelings about this... they, uh, they tried that dar/k un.iver.se thing already and it went So Badly. canning the cohesive “cinematic universe” take was exactly the reason we’re getting the bizarre and singular renfield experience (whatever that ends up being). also. i hate ma.rv.el and how they’ve poisoned the media landscape :) please for the love of GOD do not m/c/u-ify the project. ........ on the other hand ....... more renfield.......... and could you imagine if after all the prestige they tried to throw at the d/ark univ/erse RENFIELD is the movie that finally gives the vision traction? hilarious. sorry, you can’t be polished and serious and cool if you want your cinematic universe. ONLY fucked up little freak retellings and spin-offs allowed.

truly the finger is curling on my monkey’s paw for wanting popular renfield content. look at this... they’re mainstreaming my boy....

[celestianstars]

Everything I Want

Henry Cavill x Black Female Reader

Summary: You’re feeling insecure about your weight and afraid Henry might leave you for someone better. Henry wants to show you that’s far from the case (based off this request)

Warnings: 18+, angst: body image/self esteem issues, mentions of racism, fluff/smut: unprotected, nothing too wild, creampie mention 

Word Count: 4.6k

Notes: I’ve been struggling with similar feelings lately and wanted to write this in hopes it might offer some comfort to others 💓

——————————————————————————

It started with a handful of comments you hadn’t even meant to stumble across, and that was all it took.

You knew the comment section on any picture posted of you and Henry was a dangerous place; for every sweet comment there were at least three others spouting some sort of hate and usually you ignored it as best you could, pushed it aside, didn’t even bother to look...but this time it hurt, far more than you were anticipating. 

Usually you could roll your eyes at the racism towards your darker skin color next to Henry’s, even laugh cause of course they’d be jealous of you, your complexion, your magic, your energy, the fact that you were Henry’s girl, of course they all wanted to be you. 

But these comments were about your weight, the way your stomach looked as some creepy paparazzi dude had snapped a pic of you bending over, the fact that you were chubby, had fat in places deemed less than desirable. It hit you in a years old sore spot. 

It was just the fact that you were caught just being yourself, defenseless, and still, people ripped into you, sowing seeds of doubt in your mind. 

Maybe they were right, you looked odd next to Henry, he was so much more athletic looking than you, what could he possibly see in you, he’d probably eventually leave you for a better looking, bendier, thinner model, you were just some experiment for him. 

You couldn’t stop from tearing up at reading those things, every shred of confidence now in question. 

It was true you struggled with body image and self esteem issues before, you were in fairly good place recently, a lot of it to do with your own mental work and of course Henry’s compliments and love for you was a considerable boost. 

Maybe you’d only been dating the man for a year but you kept falling for the classic English charm he had harder each day, and wouldn’t trade that for the world. 

Your doubts were still there, especially after seeing those comments, your usual routine to hype yourself up was falling flat but you tried your best to trudge through it all. 

---

Henry was usually awake before you but since he was on a break from filming any projects he got to sleep in a little. And that meant more time to snuggle, which you both greatly appreciated, cause nothing felt better than waking up next to him, his arms around you. 

This morning you’d woken up before him, your eyes fixated on the sunlight flitting back and forth across the walls of Henry’s room from the gaps in the blinds. Your mind raced, nothing but bad thoughts and fears.

“You’re up early, couldn’t sleep?” Henry’s deep, groggy voice pulled you from your thoughts. You turned slightly, smiling at how cute he looked, messy hair falling across his forehead, the blue/green of his eyes focusing on yours. 

“Yeah, I tried but nothing. Good morning, baby.” you sighed, trying to make your eyes match the smile on your face. You were sure you were failing and Henry always had a knack for reading you well but you prayed it would be written off as exhaustion. 

He’s gonna leave. He’s gonna leave, this won’t last. 

“Good morning, love.” he whispered back to you, rubbing his eyes before reaching his hand up to tuck a stray curl back into the satin scarf wrapped around your head. 

He loves you. You know he does, he’s not going to leave. 

Your mind wrestled with thoughts of your own worth and what amount Henry believed you worthy enough to be with him. 

You were so sure sometimes that this was all going to crack and fall apart at any minute, watching for any sign of his body language being even remotely hostile to indicate when you should start packing your bags. 

“Are you alright, love? You look a little sad.” he pulled you from your thoughts yet again, his warm hands snaking around your hips to pull you closer to his chest. 

You were desperately trying not to let anything show, insecurities didn’t look cute, he’d leave you for sure if he knew you were having doubts. 

“I-yeah yeah I’m fine. Just tired.” you closed your eyes and sank into his warmth, finding it easier to lie if you weren’t looking at him. 

Henry knew you far too well, however. 

“Can you open those pretty eyes for a minute and look at me?” his voice was back at a whisper, so gentle, coaxing you in that way that tugged at your heart. You didn’t want to listen, he’d figure it out right away if you did but he was asking so sweetly, his thumb brushing over your cheekbone. 

You wanted to turn your back to him, make him see that you were difficult, always needy for reassurance, too afraid to ask, not good enough for him. It would be easier that way. Easier if he just left you now so you could start picking up the pieces. 

“Henry, please don’t. I...can’t.” a lump formed in your throat, you hated the fact that you cried so easily, cried at everything but you couldn’t help it. Your heart sometimes felt too big for your body.

But that was also one of the things Henry adored about you. Your heart was so big, love and kindness just poured from you onto everyone and everything you came into contact with. 

And in an industry where Henry was so used to people being selfish and only out to suit their interests, seeing how you operated on a day to day with this much love was everything to him. It made him want to be like you. 

“Alright you don’t have to look at me, but did something happen? It feels like you’ve been distant lately.” you could hear the concern and slight hurt in his voice and it made you break. 

You started to cry, curling in on yourself, trying to pull away from Henry’s grip as you let the tears come. He wouldn’t let you out of his embrace but instead, made himself a kind of blanket for you, draping himself over you, encompassing you in warmth and letting you cry it all out. 

It concerned him to see you this way, he was thinking of a million possible things that could be making you cry, trying not to think of worst case scenario things while he was at it. 

He didn’t like seeing you cry, it wasn’t very often in the year you’d been together that you’d seen each other cry much but god did it hurt him to watch. 

All he could do was hold you close to him and keep you anchored while you released what he assumed were things you’d been holding in for a minute. 

Henry cupped you’re cheeks, brushing tears away as you clutched onto his arm tightly, almost like you were too afraid to let go. 

“Take a deep breath with me, sweetheart. I’m right here, it’s ok.” 

He rubbed your back and started the process of getting you to be calm, your tears eyes looking back at him so desperately he wanted to scoop you up and make it all better immediately. 

After a minute you were only sniffling, finding it easier to breathe. “Can you tell me what’s going on? I’m here to help you out, babygirl.” 

You were reluctant to say, fear still wrapped tight around your vocal cords. 

But there was Henry. 

The man you had and were falling so in love with each day, his eyebrows knit together in a concerned frown, expression soft for you only. He felt safe and despite your fears you knew you had to tell him. 

“W-well it’s just...I saw some Instagram comments on a picture of us the other day and...Henry they were making fun of how I looked and you know those types of things don’t usually affect me but this time I-I couldn’t…” you sniffle and trail off, feeling overwhelmed. 

“I know it’s stupid, it’s just a stupid comment but sometimes I just feel so hated. All the racism and shit and now about how I look…” more tears slipped from your lashes, dotting the pillowcase. 

Henry listened without speaking first, taking in what you were saying and feeling, letting you have the space to continue speaking in case you found more words. 

To say he was furious was an understatement. He knew of the racist comments, nearly broke his phone the day he came across some in his own comment section. 

You guys had that long talk about the differences in race that were an undeniable part of your relationship and listened to you speak about your experiences being called every slur in the book just for being by his side.

That was a difficult ballgame to play but you and him had managed it well so far and came back to discuss that topic often because it wasn’t lost on him that he was rather ignorant about the way you experience the world. 

But now that these hateful people had found a new way to attack you, Henry could barely stand it. Because you deserved none of it, and to see the way it was hurting you made him sad.

“Baby I’m so sorry. I know that definitely didn’t help with your body image issues.” Henry sighed and kissed your cheek, moving down to kiss your shoulder, trying to comfort you as best he could. 

“No it really didn’t. I know I’m chubby and I’m not as fit or active as you but...they really didn’t hold back and now I feel like I’m not good enough for you. And they’re right, like you deserve someone who matches you and doesn’t look like the sloppy mess I am. I just...I hate myself for not being good enough for you.” you started to sob again, this time pushing away from Henry and rolling over. 

You didn’t want to look at him when he finally said that he agreed. It would be easier this way. 

Hearing that broke Henry’s heart. You truly believed you weren’t good enough for him and it couldn’t have been further from the truth, you were pure goodness to him. 

You felt the bed shift, Henry’s weight no longer occupying the space beside you. This was it, he was severing the ties and you weren’t as prepared as you’d hoped to be. 

Panic flooded your system and you sobbed even harder, curling into a ball. 

“I’m so sorry. Please don’t leave me, Henry. I’ll be better. I’ll be better.” 

Your voice was muffled but Henry could hear you anyways. He thought his heart couldn’t have hurt any further than that but hearing you plead for him not to leave you, his heart sank. 

Upon hearing Henry’s footsteps on the hardwood floors, Kal poked his nose through the bedroom door and barreled in, coming straight to your side of the bed. He could sense something was wrong. 

Henry rounded the corner and knelt down by the side of the bed, arm stretched over your body. 

Kal wanted to jump up onto the bed but he kept him back, knowing you were in too fragile a state for Kal’s eagerness to comfort you.

“Hey hey, I am not going to leave you. Ever. You are everything I’ve been looking for my entire life, you’re more than that even. Remember how I used to struggle with my weight too, I felt exactly how you feel and it hurts, it sucks and other people’s opinions have never ever helped but know that with me, your body is yours and I love it any shape, any way it comes or changes. You’ve always been good enough for me.” 

Henry lay his chin on the bed, cocking his head to look at you.

You stopped crying for a second, taking a second to really take in what he was saying. 

“R-really? You could have any model you want, why are you with me, babe? Sometimes it’s hard to believe. Men have left me before, I’m a bigger girl, I know I’m a lot to handle. I can be needy and I know you don’t always have time for that with your work. I just don’t want to tie you down, be a burden.” 

“I’m with you because you're you. No model could replicate what you’ve brought to my life or who you are and how important you’ve become to me. I don’t want anyone else, I’m more sure of that than anything. No one else but you,”

“And maybe you’re needy but baby, you’re a person. I can’t fault you for a human emotion. I get insecure sometimes that you won’t want to be with me because of how much I work, the fact that your family is across the other side of the world, the distance. I worry you won’t feel cherished by me but then you look at me and make those feelings disappear with your words. I’m here and you aren’t going anywhere from my life, no amount of internet trolls and racists will change that.”

The tightness in your chest began to lift, and then he laced his fingers with yours and brought your hand up so he could kiss the back of your hand. 

“You’re my girl, always will be. I just feel it, and I know you do too.” Henry brushed his thumb over your knuckles, pressing soft kisses to your fingers. 

“I can’t believe how amazing you are, I’m in my feelings for a whole other reason now.” you scoff and reach your free hand out to give Kal a scratch behind his ears. 

“I think the same thing about you, daily love. I’m serious, me and Kal are your family, we chose you and we love you and that’s just that. This connection we have is deeper than anyone else knows.” 

He was right, you had to remember that. Nobody else knew just how in sync and in love you two were and nothing anyone said could ever break what you were building with him. 

Your loyalties lay with each other. 

“Can I hold you, love?” his voice was so soft you didn’t resist this time, only nodded and reached your arms out to him. 

Henry scooped you up, turning so he was sitting on the bed and you were straddled in his lap, face buried in his neck. 

You listened to his steady breathing, comfortable with just being in this embrace, letting the words spoken minutes before sink in. He rubbed your back and because he’s cheeky, pinched your ass too. 

“Trying to have a soft moment here, Henry!” you giggle and poke his side. 

“Mmm indeed, but that doesn’t mean I can’t also admire your ass!” 

“What ass? You got more ass than me, zaddy.” you pulled back to look at him, finding him smiling already. 

“Oh yeah, what was it you said to me the other day, I’m ‘triple cheeked up’?” he snorted and you laughed again, remembering how you’d been discussing his ass for a good twenty minutes. 

It was cute how he’d ask you what you meant when you used terms like that. 

“Damn right you are. And me and the whole internet agree you should share some of that cake for those less fortunate!” 

Henry rolled his eyes and moved you so you were laying on your tummy on the bed now, his head resting on your ass. 

“Fair request but I’d rather keep my cake and get all this extra cake of yours to myself.” 

“Man, I love you.”

“I love you too, baby. Everything I’ve ever wanted, remember that.”

---

The rest of the morning was spent in happier spirits. You thanked Henry again during breakfast for letting you cry and for reassuring you that he wasn’t going anywhere, stating that you felt much better about the whole thing now. 

It felt like a weight had been lifted and you were glad you didn’t shy away from speaking up even as much as it scared you. You had to remind yourself that Henry loved you and it was ok to feel doubt sometimes, he would always be there to help make you feel better and you had nothing to worry about. He was yours. You were his. 

The usually dreary and rainy English weather had broken it’s chain to give you quite a sunny day today, still chilly but perfect to take Kal for a walk in the park and run some errands, maybe convince Henry to let make a stop at a store you’d been dying to check out since it opened. 

You had just arrived at the park and was about to get out of the car when you spotted someone already taking photos of you and Henry from across the road. 

“Fuck, I’m not even really dressed up. I didn’t put on any makeup today either, Henry I can’t do this. Everyone’s gonna see those pics and say things about me..I-I can’t!” you wanted to cry all over again. 

Maybe it was wishful thinking to assume that after Henry’s pep talk this morning and even through breakfast that everything would be fixed. You were still in a vulnerable state and had a ways to go before your confidence was back in that place you knew it could be. 

Henry turned to face you, his back blocking anyone’s view of you. 

“We don’t have to go out there if you don’t want to. We can go to another park, my love. I only want you to feel comfortable. And remember, your worth doesn’t change because of someone’s ugly and bitter opinions about you. No matter what happens or what’s said, you are still beautiful and smart and badass.” 

Your breathing began to even out as he rubbed your back and kept encouraging you with his words. 

“We can go somewhere else, it’s not a problem, just say the word.” 

Kal was in the back, ears perked up and eager to explore the outside again and seeing his cute fluffy face and then Henry’s, you felt better again, knowing that Henry would be right by your side if you stepped out, reminded again that this was your family. You were safe to be yourself here. 

“It’s ok, I think I can do this. I wanna try.” you nodded your approval and took a deep breath, climbing out of the car. 

Henry did the same, getting Kal and his leash situated before holding out his free hand for you to take, pressing another kiss to your hand when you did. 

“That’s my girl.” 

You’d never get over hearing him say those words, they filled you with butterflies and made you smile, giving you the strength to ignore anybody else, fuck em, you were living your best life with the best man and the best dog, nothing else mattered. 

Maybe regaining your confidence and being able to shut down those thoughts of self loathing and negativity weren’t going to be easy but you could remember doing it before and succeeding and thought this was new territory to navigate and a new situation than the last time, you could do it again, and Henry being there to encourage and support you would be even better. 

You were gonna be ok, periodt.

---

You held hands as you walked, snapping a million pics of Kal being absolutely adorable and saying hi to the usual people you saw walking everyday. 

Things felt serene, calm, like there was an air of hope around everything, it felt fresh and you liked it, wanted to lean into that and soak it in. The sunshine also did wonders to help your mood. 

A good twenty minutes into your walk, Henry pulls out his phone and hands you the leash. 

“I know you said not to address it before but...I’m gonna do it.” he winked at you and at first you were confused at what he meant but then you realized. 

He was gonna make a video addressing people’s comments about you and it half thrilled and terrified you. You didn’t want it to start drama, you’d witnessed the way things got ugly the times Henry replied back in your defense to someone being ignorant but it was incredibly endearing to see him support and defend you so fearlessly. 

You had to hold in your laughter as he started to speak to the camera, starting it off by prefacing what a lovely day it was in London, turning his phone so it was on you and Kal. You giggled and blew a kiss at him before looking away, knowing Henry was about to rip everyone a new one. 

“So I’m here on this lovely Sunday morning with my best girl and the best dog in the world to remind you that racism and body shaming and hateful comments towards the people I love will not be tolerated, we can all do better than that. It’s something I take seriously, as should you because you never know what someone is dealing with privately and it’s also just a cool thing to be decent, kind human beings!” 

You watched him continue on for a little bit longer, bright smile etched upon your features. He honestly looked really hot defending you like that, and then with the concentrated look he had on his face while typing out a caption and uploading it to his insta. He was giving you that ride or die type energy and you were so in love. 

“How was that?” he quirked an eyebrow and put his arm over your shoulder, mindful not to mess up the twists you’d put your hair into earlier that morning. 

“Honestly pretty hot.” it came out breathy and the look you gave him after let him know exactly how you were feeling bout it. 

---

After finishing up at the park and stopping at a couple stores, you were back home, Kal settling down now that he’d gotten his energy out for the time being. 

“So I want to revisit something you said earlier, love. C’mere.” Henry sat back on the couch, kicking his boots off. The way he was sitting, thighs on full display in his jeans, it only served to add to the multitude of dirty thoughts you were having. 

“Oh?” you played innocent, coming to sit in his lap. 

“Mhm, something about the statement I made being hot to you. I want to touch on that again. And also show you how much I love and appreciate your body and how sexy I find you.” his voice dropped in pitch and you were done for. 

He was always so good at these little acts of worship, as he called them. And there was no way you’d resist him. 

You hummed your approval as he pulled you in for a deep kiss, his tongue gliding over yours, your hands and his seeking each other out, tugging at clothes, the need to be so close to each other taking over. 

“You have no idea what you do to me, every day. I swear, love.” Henry nipped at your bare shoulder, standing up and taking you with him. 

His movements were so sure, so strong. 

He lay you on the soft sheets of your bed, careful not to crush you completely as he settled on top of you, lips finding your neck once more. 

“I could never get tired of this, of you. I want you to know that. I want to be here, always.” 

Your heart melts and you get even wetter all at the same time, smiling and moaning softly as Henry undresses you and showers you in kisses and love bites. 

The room begins to heat up and you can no longer breathe normally as Henry buries his face between your thighs, his fingers working in unison with his tongue. 

He flattened it out and flicked it over your clit, sucking and spitting on your pussy, letting it drip down over your folds before pressing his lips against you again. 

His beard grazed against your skin, making your squirm and cry out but he’s so strong his arms keep you in place, his mouth moving along with your hips. 

“Fuck, fuck oh my god, baby!” you dig your nails into his forearm, so close to letting go, the pressure building. 

And then he pulls away and you nearly scream. 

“You’re so unfair!” you huff, but still unable to resist him as he came up for air, pulling him towards you to kiss him. You could taste yourself on his tongue. 

He licked his fingers and grinned at you. 

“I promise you’ll get to come as many times as you want tonight. I just want you to fall apart on my dick, that’s all. I wanna fuck you senseless.” he pushed you back gently, your legs already sliding around his back. 

“Fuck me then, please. I want you so bad!” you whine and rock your hips into him, knowing the friction felt good. 

You asked and Henry was keen on delivering exactly that. 

Your legs were up on his shoulders as he slid into you again and again, going deeper each time, hitting that spot that made your legs shake. 

He pressed warm kisses to your calves and ankles, chuckling when you trembled and pulled at the sheets, the bed rocking back and forth from the force of his thrusts. 

He was so big and thick, it always took some time to get used to but you loved it, loved the feeling of him filling you up so deep, the way you’d stretch around him. 

Henry grunted out praise and compliments about your body, how he thought about you like this when he was away from home, countless times you got him hard at inappropriate times because you were just that sexy to him. That he loved you endlessly and wanted to show you and make you feel loved in a hundred different ways. 

It was so nasty but so romantic at the same time and you were living for it. 

“You feel so fucking good you know that, baby? Come on, look at me while I fuck you.”

It was hard to focus but for him you’d manage anything, biting your lip and surrendering yourself to the emotions and heat flowing between you both. 

Henry kept a steady pace, fucking you hard and deep, coaxing you for more after every orgasm he pulled from you, praising you and telling you that you were his, only his. 

It was everything and you found yourself a babbling mess by the time he came deep inside you with a strangled cry, sweat coating both your bodies, and still he placed sloppy kisses to your lips, laughing with you as you both caught your breaths. 

You kept your legs wrapped around him, wanting him to stay inside you for a little while longer, relishing in the feeling of him. Letting your mind float back into your body, where it solidified the fact that Henry was your man and he loved you and it was as simple and deep as that. 

He was everything you’d ever wanted in a partner and you were the same for him and through your insecurities and rough patches, you’d be there for each other. Nothing could change that. 

“I don’t think I can walk but fuck...I love you, Henry.”

“Ah that just means I get to carry you everywhere. And I love you too, angel. Always.”

---

Ahhh so I hope this was alright! 

Shoutout to all my sensitive black girls out there who struggle with self esteem and self worth, we’re so valid and beautiful and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You deserve love and affection and I know you will all receive what you always put out!

Also I’m deep in my Henry feels and hope you enjoyed this! 

Let me know what you think, thank you for reading!!

——————————————————————————

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[backdeck-potato-novelist]

I Get The Feeling That I’m Right Where I Belong

Chapter 6

AO3

Beginning, Previous, Next

Chloe spent Saturday morning arguing with her father. She didn’t really know what about, just that she didn’t like how he had it planned. Once they had reached a settlement, one that was definitely more in her favor than the original plan had been, she moved on to negotiating with her mother. This discussion was about fashion, and so she was much more invested, to the point of actually caring to remember what she was arguing about. There was a charity gala and auction in two weeks, and Audrey had been working on a new line based on the local Parisian heroes that she wanted Chloe to wear to the gala. The event had something to do with raising money to help with disaster relief somewhere that had been hit by a hurricane, or maybe an earthquake, Chloe didn’t remember. Audrey wanted her in the Ladybug dress. Chloe finally managed to talk her mother down to the Queen Bee tuxedo. Audrey thought it was a bit tacky, Chloe going in an outfit inspired by her own super alter ego. Chloe knew that red did not do her complexion any good, but black and gold, especially the dark gold of this specific ensemble, looked fabulous on her. There was a reason her costume looked like it did. Chloe had also managed to convince Audrey that Kagami should at least try the Ladybug dress, and that if it worked for her, she should wear it to the gala. Chloe was very excited for whenever they would schedule Kagami’s fitting. Her dragon looked very good in red.

Adrien spent Saturday morning in his room. He did not want to be in his room, but he had haggled and bartered with Gabriel for an afternoon out. In exchange, he was stuck in his room. Two hours of piano, an hour of Mandarin, and finishing all of his homework for the next week was probably the second worst Saturday morning he could possibly imagine. The worst was a tie: either his current situation but without Plagg, or Gabriel seeing him on a date with Luka. The first would bore him out of his mind, and the second might result in police involvement. Neither was a good option.

Kagami spent Saturday morning baking. She particularly liked making cookies, and was absolutely fantastic at it, but Chloe loved her blondies, and so whenever she turned the oven on, she would make them. When she was younger, Kagami had decided that baking was stupid and any woman who wanted to bake and went out of her way to do so would only ever amount to being a housewife. That was until Marinette had befriended her, despite Kagami’s attempts to not be taken in by the girl’s charm. Kagami had come over to the bakery one afternoon, before she knew Marinette was Ladybug, and had accidentally ended up helping Sabine make a batch of cupcakes. She stopped by the library on the way home and checked out three cookbooks, and had turned it into a weekend tradition ever since. Marinette had also tried teaching Kagami to knit, though she hadn’t taken to the needles as quickly as the pots and pans.

Nino spent Saturday morning sleeping. He also spent the early afternoon sleeping.

Luka spent Saturday morning walking along the Seine. His mother’s boat could be rather restrictive, the sounds of the people and the water around him were very inspiring, and Juleka snored. A lot. After half an hour of slow meandering, he realised he had subconsciously been making his way towards Adrien’s house. As much as he wanted to see his boyfriend, he turned around. It wouldn’t do either of them any good for him to be seen by the adults of the Agreste manor. Three more weeks. They could wait three more weeks to be seen in public together.

Marinette and Alya spent Saturday morning in Marinette’s room. Marinette woke up first, and so spent some time embroidering a dress she was making for herself. Alya woke up when she rolled off the beanbag she had spent the night on. Marinette helped her back onto the cushion, joined her, and then the two girls spent quite some time pretending they were getting up and ready for the day. Eventually, Sabine poked her head into Marinette’s room and got them actually moving.

At exactly three o’clock, two unremarkable high school students entered the front door of the Grand Hotel of Paris. One of them said goodbye to the gorilla of a man who had driven him there. The other carried a large tote bag stuffed to the brim with somethings that looked suspiciously like cookies wrapped in aluminum foil and plastic wrap. When the first tried to reach for one, his hand was slapped away. Overhead, three superheroes went shooting across the sky, jumping and swinging from rooftop to rooftop. If anyone on the streets of Paris had looked up, they would have seen two blurs, one of red and one of orange. The third teal one was nearly invisible against the clear Parisian sky.

At seven minutes past three, a very disgruntled DJ slammed through the back door of the Grand Hotel of Paris, sprinted up the employee stairwell, and burst into one of the penthouse suites up on the fifteenth floor.

“You’re late,” Chloe said. She didn’t even bother turning around.

“Yeah, yeah, I overslept,” Nino grumbled, maneuvering around a large spread of papers on the floor. He made it to the sun room and collapsed into a large and fluffy armchair. “Did I miss anything?”

“We ate all of Kagami’s cookies without you,” Adrien announced around a mouthful of said cookies.

“What, really?” Nino sat bolt upright. Wayzz emerged from Nino’s hat and flitted around his wearer’s head.

“No, not really. I saved some for both of you.” Alya came and sat down in the chair with Nino, forcing her boyfriend to move over. She handed him a plate piled with cookies and blondies. As Nino breathed a sigh of relief, Wayzz did a little celebratory spin in the air before landing on the plate.

“Thank you, Alya,” the Kwami smiled, before he began eating.

“You’re welcome, Wayzz.”

“Now that everyone’s here, we can actually begin,” Marinette said, cutting off the turtle’s response. “Because, y’know, we’re here to do more than just hangout.” She gave Alya and Nino a look. Alya winked back while Nino had the decency to look sheepish, before sprawling out across Alya’s lap. “So Chloe, I hand it over to you. Any updates?”

“Thanks, Maribug.” The blonde stood up at the head of the table. “To make it short, I’ve got nothing. No progress, at least, since last weekend. We’ve had the list of people who have the time, money, and schedule to be Hawkmoth for a while. Mayura’s been a little trickier to track down, but I am working on that. As bad as it is, the more they attack together, and really the more akuma attacks in general, the easier it is to track them down. I still haven’t gotten into the city camera network. I mean, it’s a long shot, but as far as I know, you can see akumas on film and tracking them all across the city would narrow that list down a ton. So, uh, yeah. That’s my update. Next?” Chloe sat back down. Kagami reached over and grabbed her hand to give a little squeeze.

“Cool. Thank you, Chloe. Alya, how’s the online scene? Anything going on?” Marinette turned to her best friend.

Alya stood up, prompting a whimpered “No” from Nino as his pillow left.

“Yes. Big time. Someone got a photo of Viperion and Chat Noir having a midnight picnic on the Eiffel Tower. Roses, candles, that whole aesthetic you two put together every time. They posted it on Wednesday and people want answers.”

There was a beat of silence, broken by the sound of Adrien’s head hitting the table.

“Can’t you take it down?” Luka asked, rubbing his boyfriend’s back. “I feel like that would be much easier than, well, any of your other options.” Alya shrugged awkwardly.

“As your friend and teammate, I want to. As a journalist running the largest and best superhero blog in the whole country, I can’t. It would raise too many questions. For the sake of keeping our identities well hidden, I need to not just keep the photo up, but react big. As far as everyone else is concerned, Bug and Chat were a thing this whole time. The photo is a big shock, and I need to treat it as such. So, Marinette, Adrien, Luka, can we coordinate that after this? I think an interview would probably be a good idea.”

Marinette and Luka nodded as Adrien grumbled “Ok” from his facedown position

“And Adrien! I appreciate that you play favorites with the Ladyblog, but you don’t need to turn down interviews with other people. Aurore is a very nice person, and her blog is actually pretty dang cool. She just happens to be a regular civilian and so can’t organize interviews with any of you whenever she wants to. So, as a general note for everyone, you can take interviews with other journalists. I’m not holding you to some kind of exclusive contract. Oh, and Gami? This applies to you too. Please be nice to other reporters. Please. People look up to you. Children admire you. Be a good role model and please stop threatening people who have cameras or mics.” Alya gave Kagami a mock glare. Kagami glared back, before sighing and shrugging.

“Fine. I will attempt to be less rude to those who have made it their mission in life to invade my privacy and personal space.”

“I’m willfully choosing to pretend you aren’t being sarcastic, so thank you. With that, it’s back to you, Marinette.”

“Thank you for that, Alya. Alright, next-” Marinette stopped suddenly. “Did any of you hear that?”

Adrien was just about to ask “hear what?” when there was a scream from the streets. As one, the seven miraculous wielders were up and moving out onto Chloe’s balcony, trying to determine where the scream had come from.

It didn’t take long to spot the source of the terror. Up near the Eiffel Tower, smoke filled the air as five explosions went off in quick succession. With a resounding crash that echoed off the Paris skyline, the Tower itself toppled to the ground. 

“Well,” Marinette groaned. “Duty calls.” She quickly backed away from the edge of the balcony, out of sight of the street below. With a flip of her hair, Marinette whispered, “Tikki, spots on!” 

The six other heroes mirrored the actions of their leader, and within seconds, they were leaping across the sky.

Damian spent Saturday morning glaring at Tim. Despite all prior evidence suggesting it was impossible, Tim had slept the entire flight over to France, as well as through most of the morning in Paris. Damian had slept on the plane, but decided not to sleep at the hotel, as much as his jet lag protested. If anything, that was why he wanted to stay awake. He was here for a month. The sooner he could get over the five hour time difference, the better. Tim was of the opposite mindset. In the five minutes of quasi-conscious conversation Damian extracted from him in the car over to the hotel, Tim explained that since this was a fake recon mission, he was going to be remaining on Gotham’s schedule. His rationale involved something to do with board meetings. Damian thought that was all a bunch of bullshit to excuse sleeping in until 5 pm on a Saturday.

As three twenty rolled around, Damian was suddenly very glad that Tim was still holed up and passed out in the hotel room. The explosions that shook the building could only mean one thing, and as skilled as Red Robin was, he had never fought an akuma before. Technically, Robin never had either, but he’d supported Team Miraculous more than a few times and had even been a part of Ladybug’s backup plan once.

Three minutes later, Robin was standing on the roof of the hotel. It wasn’t difficult to see the smoke rising from where the Eiffel Tower had stood only minutes ago. Unclipping his grappling hook from his belt, he began to pray that his angel would be there soon. He was good, one of the best in the world, but even gods were occasionally too much for him. 

Oh well. He’d do what he can for now.

[talabib]

How To Stop Living For Others And Start Living For Yourself

Take a minute and answer these questions: Why are you in your current job? How did you choose your major in college? Why don’t you spend all your time on your favorite hobbies? To the first question, you probably said, “The job pays enough money.” The second: “My parents told me to get a career.” And the third, “Hobbies all the time? That would be selfish.”

These answers highlight what’s wrong with many of our choices in life: we do what others tell us, or what we think we are “supposed” to do. What you really want deep down rarely enters the equation. This has to change. You need to start living for yourself and start doing what you love doing!

Your negative beliefs are the biggest obstacle between you and your dreams.

If you feel that you’re an undiscovered genius lost in the daily grind of a dead-end job, you need to ask yourself – what’s holding you back? Most likely it’s you, or more specifically, your negative beliefs.

What we believe is largely based on the messages with which we’ve been bombarded since we were very young. Your parents, for instance, might have told you that nobody in the family has ever been any good at making money. The more you hear this message, the more likely your brain and subconscious will believe it’s true.

The result? You’ll shy away from pursuits that could lead to financial success, from learning about investment strategies to pursuing an MBA – all because you’ve convinced yourself that trying to make money is pointless.

Such negative beliefs are known as the Big Snooze. It’s this part of your personality that keeps you from chasing your dreams. Fortunately, you’re more than capable of freeing yourself from the crippling power of the Big Snooze. How? By adopting positive beliefs that allow you to have faith in yourself.

Start by reflecting on who you are as if you were another person entirely. Admire your strengths, and think honestly about all the good things you could say about yourself.

Use these reflections as the basis for some positive beliefs. When you believe that you’re talented, that your ideas are worthwhile and that you have something to offer the world, the negative attitudes that you’ve carried with you for so long will cease to hold you back. It’s at this point that your journey begins.

Discover the person you want to be and don’t let anyone tell you to quit.

When we’re young, we have an intuitive understanding of who we are and how we do things. But as we grow older, we stop listening to this inner knowledge and do what others tell us to do.

If you want to make your ambitions reality, you need to embrace your inner badass. Once you stop caring about what other people think, you can find your own path!

Do you dream of becoming an author? To do this, you’ll have to write a lot! This, in turn, likely requires you to carve out free time while you hold down a job that helps you pay the rent.

Colleagues may snicker about your “hobby.” Friends may drift away as you spend less time with them and more time on your novel. These changes can be bitter, but you have to push on if you want to get published.

Appreciate that you’re doing your own thing, and you’ll find the strength to ignore the disapproval of others. Granted, it’s not always easy to discover your “thing.” The demands or pressures of friends and family hem many of us in. But if you decide to become a doctor or a store manager just because it’s family tradition, you’ll wind up hating your job and your choices.

So listen to your intuition and take a step back to observe how you live, what you do and what really interests you. Reflecting in this way will help you discern what you truly want from life. If you’re yearning to become a blacksmith, for example, then accept this fact and go for it!

Express a desire to learn, cultivate gratitude, and learn how to forgive for a happier, richer life.

Your time on this earth is limited – so make the best of it! Every day offers a chance to enjoy and celebrate life’s journey, though it’s all too easy to forget this in the rush and bustle of modern life. There are three things you can do to value each day a little more:

First, change your attitude to challenging tasks. Rather than approaching a problem like an expert, consider yourself an avid learner. People with a passion to learn don’t feel pressure to prove their abilities, which means they don’t grapple with the fear of failure, either. Mistakes are no longer frightening but a welcome part of the learning journey. Let’s say you’re a professional ice skater. If you see yourself as a champion, every fall can feel like failure and a blow to your self-esteem. But if you’re instead a lifelong learner, you’ll approach new challenges with a playful attitude, with more courage to take risks that in turn help you learn more.

Second, make an effort to express and experience gratitude daily. Gratitude isn’t about showing appreciation for the sake of being polite – it’s a positive state of being. By being grateful, you keep all the good things in life in the foreground of your thoughts. And by practicing and sharing gratitude, you can help others stay positive, too. Say, for example, you work in a tight-knit team. You can practice gratitude by focusing on what your team does well. Perhaps you’re able to keep communication transparent, open and kind. Or your team strives to keep egos in check. Whatever it is, be thankful for it! And thank every member for the things they do well.

Finally, you can improve each day by learning to forgive others and yourself, too. If someone hurts you or betrays you, the incident will trouble you until you forgive them. Why? Because forgiveness allows you to move forward in life. The same goes for something you might have done that you now regret. If you’ve done your best to make amends, it’s time to forgive yourself. By accepting yourself and your mistakes, you’ll be able to free yourself from negative thoughts and sleepless nights.

Your thoughts are powerful, so make them work for you!

In our modern world, we’re hyper-focused on action. Thinking things over and taking time to develop ideas, on the other hand, are habits that we don’t often practice. But we should.

Perhaps you want to become a writer, but the road to becoming a published author is unclear. To uncover the how of this process, you might look to literary role models and examine how they achieved their dreams to find inspiration for your own path.

As you feel your way and progress, you’ll begin to feel comfortable calling yourself a writer. Thinking of yourself as the person you want to be is another powerful way to make your thoughts work for you.

By acting as if the thing you want is already a reality, negative thoughts won’t be able to hold you back. In other words, fake it ‘til you make it!

If you dream of becoming a great speaker but are afraid of addressing a crowd, don’t focus on your trembling hands or timid voice. Instead, visualize yourself delivering fantastic speeches, and you’ll soon be presenting more confidently. The more speeches you give, the more your confidence will grow, and the more your public speaking will improve – this is called a virtuous circle.

Tackle procrastination, excuses and hesitation

Thought is a powerful tool when it comes to achieving your goals, but it must be combined with real action. To act positively, you need to first overcome the drag of procrastination and hesitation.

When we procrastinate, we let the fear of failure stop us from following through on decisions. If you think that you’re not qualified to perform a certain task, you’ll look for any reason not to try it. Thoughts like “My writing isn’t good enough” or “It’ll never pay the way” will only hold you back.

To overcome these excuses, you need to convince yourself of your purpose. If your resolve is weak, this may be a sign that you need to redefine your goals.

Taking action also requires you to overcome hesitation. This isn’t easy! Often, we hesitate when we’re scared to become someone we might not like. Let’s say that your dream is to become a stage actor, holding the attention of appreciative audiences and commanding a powerful presence.

But you hesitate when you seriously consider this goal. After all, you’ve never liked extroverts, and it seems to you that most people judge such people negatively, too. Will becoming an actor turn you into the very person you dislike? Short answer – no. You simply need to learn to overcome your hesitation.

To do this, you need to stop judging others. Then spend time asking yourself tough questions, like “Do I really want to become an actor?” or “Will it make me happy?”

If you answer yes to these questions, then it’s time to recognize your hesitation and procrastination for what they really are. No more excuses!

Focus all aspects of your life toward your goal.

So you’ve decided to change your life path to work toward your dream goal. But how far will you go? Too often talented people don’t live their dreams because they give up too soon.

Remember that failure is a fact of life, and we all experience rejection. Basketball legend Michael Jordan didn’t make the cut for his high school basketball team; renowned movie director Steven Spielberg was rejected from film school three times!

While rejection is a part of anyone’s journey, quitting is something you should never do. Instead, learn from your mistakes and keep pushing until you create the life you’ve always wanted.

To overcome the temptation to give up, you need to remain responsible in all aspects of your life. If your habits, surroundings or circle of friends make it harder for you to achieve your goals, it’s time to make some thoughtful changes.

In fact, creating a new environment and lifestyle centered around your life purpose is one of the best ways to stay on track.

If you’re an aspiring writer, surround yourself with people who have similar passions. Start and end your day in ways that will help you reconnect with your goals. Explore new groups, places and communities that can provide you with more support as you push forward.

It’s also worth reflecting on how you think about money. While it’s good to be conscientious about saving and spending, choosing to spend big from time to time is justified if doing so will improve your life. Use your money to live the life you want in accordance with your life goals!

Ultimately, your new life will emerge through clear intentions, powerful desires and action. Don’t care about what others think, and crucially, give yourself permission to live your dreams!

To stop living for others and live for yourself., learn to pinpoint the things in your life that are holding you back and make changes to how you live and think to address these blocks. Importantly, don’t let anyone distract you from doing what you love! Soon enough, you’ll find yourself living a life of which you’ve always dreamed.

[yourkeeperoftherunners]

Hello R2!

Plot: AU My friends and I are on vacation and they saw you pass them by while heading to the pool. I wanted to head up and sleep off the jet lag, but my friends convince me to go down to the hotel pool to see you in your cute R2-D2 swimsuit. At first I think they’re messing with me because I’m a huge Star Wars nerd, but once I see you trying to shove off thirsty male guests, I wanna run up, change, and show I’m a serious fan like you. Are you the droid I’m looking for?

Rating: PG-13 (Minor language, flirting)

Characters: Suho x Female Reader, Baekhyun, Xiumin, Chen

Notes: Based on a real swimsuit I own and a passing thought. This is an AU if the guys were normal individuals traveling somewhere on a break and happened to be staying at the same hotel as the reader. (No mention of their real life careers or fame.) Corresponding moodboard can be found here. Dedicating this one to @oh-beyond – it was too tempting to not write it.

“Yaaaaaahhhhhhh!!! Spring break – finaaaaaallllllyyy!” Baekhyun whooped as he threw his arms up.

“Hey watch your arms!” Chen snapped as he dodged Baekhyun’s outstretched right arm. “I’d like to start my break without a black eye, thanks to you!”

Baekhyun stuck his tongue out at Chen and Xiumin rolled his eyes as he watched them in the rear view mirror. “Hey you two, don’t start a fight in the backseat or else I’ll make you drive.” He cast a quick glance over at Suho who was looking back and forth from his phone to the road. “How much further to the hotel?”

Suho showed him the path and murmured that they needed to drive straight for 1.5 miles before turning left at the next intersection. He stifled a yawn and shifted in his seat, trying to stay alert.

“You could nap you know?” Chen spoke up as he leaned forward. “Just give me your phone – I’ll guide us the rest of the way.”

Suho shook his head no and allowed a small smile to cross his lips. He waved his hand and murmured that he was fine. “We’re almost there anyways – I can just nap in the room.”

“Which is Suho‘s way of saying ‘You’d get us lost Chen-ssi’,” Baek teased.

Chen whipped around and smacked Baekhyun hard in the arm, making the other yelp in pain. Xiumin knit his brows and muttered something in Chinese.

“You’re going to want to move over soon,” Suho noted as he pointed up ahead.

“Waaaaaaaaaaeeee?! It actually looks nice – I mean fancy nice!” Chen gasped as they walked through the automatic doors into a large lobby.

“Suho did good finding this deal!” Baek agreed as he scanned the lobby, nodding at the elegant touches of natural cut wood panels and pebbled floors.

Suho grinned as he put his bag down and leaned his arms on the desk. He and his friends saved up to go somewhere beautiful and far away from Korea for this spring break, especially after a grueling few months cramming for midterms.

About a month ago, his laptop dinged with a notification about this hotel offering a special rate for their spring break week – a suite for under $200 a night with free breakfast and light snacks in the afternoon. Not to mention a decent bundle with the car rental and flight that Xiumin scored a few days later. The only catch with the latter was they were unable to sit together. Xiumin ended up being moved to first class – Suho was pretty certain that the stewardess with caramel colored hair had something to do with the swap. Baekhyun was seated next to a tall redhead boy with a deep voice, Chen got an aisle seat next to a sweet elderly lady who kept patting his arm, and Suho ended up in the back next to a overly chatty pregnant woman who was expecting her firstborn in three months. The woman wasn’t bad per se, but whenever he wanted to sleep, she’d come up with a new story or topic to talk about or she had to ask him to stand up so she could go to the bathroom.

“You’re such a dear – I’m sorry for the constant up and down,” the woman told him toward the end of the flight. “I promise I’m not normally like this but with a little one on the way –”

“It’s fine M’am,” he said with a polite smile. “I hope he or she is healthy and happy.”

“Hello, who is the reservation under?” the clerk asked with a pleasant smile.

Suho fished out his passport and passed it over, along with a printout of the hotel confirmation. The clerk accepted both and began typing his name into the computer to pull up the room.

“How much do you think it cost to do this lobby?” Baekhyun whispered as he looked closely at one of the wood wall features.

“More than what we’re making right now,” Chen sighed as he heaved his bag higher on his shoulder. “Well, for now we can pretend we’re vacationing like kings!”

“I think I need coffee,” Xiumin mused as he scanned the lobby for the nearest cafe. He pouted when he couldn’t find one and flagged down a bellhop who was wheeling an empty luggage cart to the entrance. “Excuse me, where is the cafe in this hotel?”

The bellhop paused and started to point straight ahead, using his arm to show the directions – go straight past the check-in, hang a right, and go straight for 6 steps before going to the left. Chen joined them at the mention of coffee and frowned as he tried to follow the bellhop’s gestures. Baekhyun tore his gaze from the wall feature and walked over as the bellhop mentioned the specialty items on the menu.

“Try the coconut milk latte – highly recommend it!” the bellhop said before excusing himself.

“Sounds interesting,” Baekhyun murmured. “We getting coffee now?”

“I think Suho’s almost – woaaaaaahhhh...” Chen said as a woman passed them. He lowered his sunglasses as he watched you walk toward the direction of the pool, hair billowing behind you.

Xiumin blinked and turned his gaze to you, eyes widening as you moved further away. Baekhyun froze and craned his neck to get a better look at you, humming in appreciation about your figure clad in a pair of cutoff shorts and a one piece bathing suit.

“Guys is it just me or was she wearing a Star Wars bathing suit?” Chen asked as he turned to look at the others.

“Eh? I didn’t notice her bathing suit,” Baekhyun replied with a shrug. “Those legs looked so good in those shorts!”

“Yeah it was Star Wars themed,” Xiumin confirmed. “I think...R2-D2? It was white and blue but her hair kind of covered parts of it?”

“Aish, we should have stopped her!” Chen whined.

“Why? What would you have said to her?” Baekhyun asked as he tilted his head.

“No not for me! I would have wanted Suho-ssi to see her bathing suit! They could have talked about that series and given us a break!” Chen sighed.

To say their friend was a fan of Star Wars was, well, an understatement. Suho owned every Star Wars film (including the awful Star Wars Holiday Special VHS), t-shirt, and collectible toy you could think of. Someone in his family introduced him to the series and started his love of all things Star Wars. Hell, Baekhyun even recalled finding Star Wars boxers in Suho’s drawers once! He watched the movies all the time and tried to get his friends to discuss theories about the world of Star Wars and what was next for the latest trilogy. While his friends liked Star Wars too, they had to admit that it was hard to keep up with him. Sure it made holiday and birthday shopping easy for them, but sometimes Suho showing his Star Wars geek was tiresome to deal with.

“Here are the keys Mr. Kim, I hope you enjoy your stay,” the clerk replied with a bow as she passed over the room keys in an envelope.

Suho smiled as he accepted them and thanked her before hoisting his bag onto his shoulder and walking over to his friends. “Got the keys – wait what are you looking at?”

“Suho you missed her! The perfect girl for you!” Chen whined as he shook Suho’s arm.

Suho groaned as he yanked his arm free. As much as he liked his friends, they kept trying to set him up on dates but none of them ended very well. Either the girl had a conflicting schedule or she’d find his interest in Star Wars cringeworthy and would ditch immediately. At this point he was done trying to please his friends and decided he was better off focusing on his studies and supplementing his free time staying up to date with the news for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

“Come on guys, let’s just get to the room and crash,” Suho sighed as he began heading to the elevator.

“Waaaaeeeeeeee! Suho, you’re just going to walk away from your dream girl?” Baekhyun demanded as he followed him.

“Yeah! She could be...the one!” Chen insisted as he caught up to Suho.

Xiumin ran ahead and blocked his path, preventing Suho from going any further. Suho huffed and tried to move around the older boy, only to find that he would move in the same direction as Suho to prevent him from getting away.

“Look, I know you’re tired but you have to believe us,” Xiumin said as he looked him in the eye. “While you were checking us in, this really pretty girl in a Star Wars bathing suit walked by and she was headed to the pool. I really think you should go find her.”

Suho opened his mouth to protest and Xiumin pouted, jutting out his plump lower lip and positioning his hands in the tulip pose. His eyes widened and took on a cute begging look. Suho stared at his friend for a few seconds and huffed. Damn Xiumin and his aegyo...

“Fine,” Suho sighed as he rolled his eyes. “But first, I wanna drop off our stuff in the room.”

“Want me to get your back, Miss Dalek?” a guy asked as he sank into the lounge chair next to yours.

You snapped your head up and twisted your lips into a frown. “Wrong robot, but nice try,” you remarked with a shake of your head.

“Heeeeeeyyyy Sexy Robot girl!” a beefy looking guy called out as he stopped by your chair. “I think I felt a spark when I saw you!”

“That’s gotta be one of the worst pickups I’ve ever heard,” you groaned, slapping your head with your palm.

“Babe, where are you?” a girl called out.

The beefy guy snapped his head up and made his way over to a model-like blonde with huge lips and lots of makeup on. She snaked her arm around him and began dragging him to the jacuzzi. Silently, you thanked your lucky stars that one was gone – what a mess!

You turned your attention back to braiding your hair and turned your back to the first guy who addressed you. Maybe, just maybe if you pretended he wasn’t there, he’d take a hint and leave you be. Part of you was starting to regret wearing this bathing suit but it was one of your favorites.

“So are you actually into this nerd stuff?” the first guy asked you. “Cause most girls don’t actually care about sci-fy and –”

“For the record, this “nerd stuff” is from my favorite film series Star Wars,” you corrected him with a roll of your eyes. “Second, who the fuck do you think you are telling me that I can’t care or like sci-fy?”

“Whoa! Whoa! Calm down!” the guy said as he held his hands up.

“Suho, you should have changed into your shorts!” Chen scolded as he nudged Suho toward the pool area.

Suho shrugged indifferently and scanned the area, expecting to see no one fitting his friends’ description of a girl in an R2-D2 bathing suit. Instead, his eyes snapped to the left and he saw one matching their description, who happened to be arguing heatedly with another guy.

“Babe, calm down! It was just a question!” the guy protested.

“I’m not your babe,” you shot back. “It’s really annoying to have people like you pretend to know things when in reality, you don’t know shit. Daleks are from Doctor Who, genius! They’re the mortal enemies of the Doctor! My suit is R2-D2 – the droid who guides Anakin through his first x-wing battle, stows the plans for the Death Star in his memory, and helps Luke Skywalker! How do you not know this?”

“Now do you believe us?” Xiumin asked as he glanced over at Suho. “If I were you, I’d catch her before she leaves so she knows there’s at least another true Star Wa– ahhhh Suho, where are you going?!”

Suho had turned and began walking quickly to the lobby, making a mad dash to the elevator before it closed.

“Look it’s an easy mistake to make!” the guy protested as he followed at your heels to the lobby.

“No, it’s a mistake to deal with an asshole like you when I’m on vacation!” you spat. “I came to relax and have fun but no, you just can’t keep it in your pants and have to assume that I’m some nerd school girl trope that will play dumb and get on my knees for you!”

Your ears were pounding and you huffed as you caught the elevator that was opening. You quickly pressed the button for your floor, followed by the Door Close button, not realizing that someone was in there with you. You froze when you saw the reflection in the doors and snapped your head up.

“Oh crap...I’m so sorry – you probably wanted to get out, didn’t you?” you asked as you turned around.

Suho held his hands up and shook his head, offering you a polite smile. “It’s fine, I can take it down after we reach your floor. It seemed like he was really bothering you.”

You nodded as you brushed a strand of hair out of your face and paused when you saw the design on this guy’s swim trunks. You blinked as you stepped closer before your eyes traveled up and down his body. Star Wars vintage tee, Star Wars logo baseball cap, and a really awesome pair of trunks with vintage Star Wars comic book covers all over.

“Am I dreaming or are you wearing a lot of Star Wars right now?” you asked as you looked up at him.

He ducked his head and nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “I uh...I’m sort of one of those “I own every movie, t-shirt, and toy that I get my hands on” kind of fan,” he admitted. “I even got a film quality replica of Poe’s jacket this holiday from my parents – I wear it whenever I can. I mean, my friends have to pry it off my body sometimes because I wear it so much.”

“Shut up,” you breathed. “I can’t...I can’t believe I found another person who just gets my love of Star Wars. Where the Hell have you been all my life?”

He opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the ding of the elevator, signaling your floor. He smiled sheepishly before gesturing to the open doors. “Looks like it’s your floor,” he murmured.

You snorted before pressing the Door Close button and hitting the Lobby afterwards. “Changed my mind. Besides I wanna know what’s under the shirt Threepio. Although I’m sure you’re probably ripped compared to him.”

Suho blushed and you smirked as you slipped your fingers into his hand.

“C’mon you gotta say it,” you teased.

He swallowed hard and allowed a cheesy smile to cross his lips.

“This is the droid you’re looking for.”

[dcnativegal]

I miss Black people

A tall Black man came into the office in Christmas Valley last week to introduce himself as a social services worker for parts of Deschutes County and north Lake County, too.  My door and my fellow therapist’s door were open, and we introduced ourselves and chatted amicably. When he and I discovered we had both lived in DC, I became Chatty Cathy, waxing poetic about Ethiopian Food. It became clear that he wasn’t that familiar with it, couldn’t remember the word ‘injera’… but that was okay. I was talking to a Black man who knew DC.  I’m pretty sure I embarrassed myself. My colleague was friendly and professional. I was irrationally glad to see him out of all proportion to the occasion.

He probably left thinking to himself, white people are weird. Guilty as charged.  

I am one of those white people who study Black people. Their experience, history, personalities, and the systemic, systematic way in which they’ve been imprisoned in one big internment camp called the United States of America. Everything about them, with the possible exception of current music beyond a superficial point. My kids listen to nothing but music made by Black people, so we, as a family, have that covered.

Formative books: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The Color Purple. Beloved. Also, Why do all the Black kids sit together in the Cafeteria, and When Race Became Real. Between the World and Me is the most recent.

Formative movies: Sounder (with music by Taj Mahal).  Anything by Spike Lee (with the possible exception of Inside Job, which is excellent, but not about Black experience.) Moonlight. Daughters of the Dust.  I am Not Your Negro is the most recent. Anything by Ava DuVernay, most recently, 13th. (I dare you, white reader, to watch it, on Netflix, and not have your mind blown.)

Music: Otis Redding. Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder. Early Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five. Tracy Chapman. India Arie.

I could go on and on… Perhaps I’ll stop with this link to 100 Woke Black women to follow: http://www.essence.com/news/woke-100-women

“Study” does not mean to keep at arms-length. I have been a marshmallow in a sea of cocoa since I can remember being alive. And since, many times, in different schools and neighborhoods, I was one of the few white kids, it behooved me to observe how we are similar and different. When you are the minority, you study the majority.

Little differences, in hygiene practices (Black women are more fastidious), in pronunciation (Andrea is pronounced An DRE uh by Black folks, AN dreeah by white. Darrell is DaRELLE for Black people and DAR rul for white.)  In Happy Birthday songs: Black folks sing the Stevie Wonder version. In mythical secret jokes. Some Black people think that white people smell bad when wet. I’m serious. Based on how stinky the white men were when they came across the Atlantic to kidnap Black people. I mentioned this one day to a church friend, a PhD in Math, descended from Jamaicans, and she gasped! How did I know?! (I read it in a book, silly.)

I notice how much African American Vernacular English is used by white people. “You go, girl.”  “24/7.” “I’m down.” “Word.” White folks don’t necessarily notice. I do. I try not to use AAVE. For fear of being scolded by my daughter. But also, because it is not appropriate. I struggle with this appropriateness thing. Because it’s the right thing to do. I keep learning how much culture has been stolen from Black Americans. Elvis Presley is just the tip of the iceburg. White people have stolen from Black people for millennia, and not just culturally. I look for examples of this, and find it, daily.  I look out of long habit, so that I can give credit where credit is due.

It is absolutely true that Black people have transformed my life again and again. A Black 10th grade English teacher told me I was a good writer and should check out the Urban Journalism Workshop. I did, I applied, I got in, I learned to write, and the article I wrote earned an honorable mention from the Robert Kennedy Journalism awards. It was about the gentrification of Mount Pleasant, a neighborhood in DC. In 1976.  I’m pretty sure I got into Oberlin College because of the Urban Journalism Workshop. Because I had zero extracurriculars besides running away from home. Thank you, Mrs. Feely.

I spent 40 years in the grooviest episcopal church on the planet (IMHO) because of a Black seminarian I almost married. He was 9 years my senior, I was 17, when we met. St Stephen & the Incarnation became my spiritual home because he was assigned there. And after I realized I was too young to marry, it stayed my parish home until I moved to the Oregon Outback in August 2016. Thank you, Eddie.

I miss my Black friends. Gay and straight women, with a few gay Black men in there, too. I know a lot of wonderful straight Black men, but I can’t say I’d call any of them in the middle of the night to take me to the emergency room. (One of my criteria for being a real friend. I’m sure they’d take me; I would just be so embarrassed.)  Each of my friends is amazing. Of course, that is also true of my white friends. I’ve been mulling over the difference between my white and Black friends.

I’m reminded of something I read years ago about being friends across the racial chasm: the Black woman’s advice to her white friend was, “Forget I am Black. And, never forget that I am Black.”  The zen koan of being friends with a Black person.

I feel lucky when a Black person will deign to be my friend. They could so easily reserve their precious energies for other people of color, especially people of the African diaspora. Out of self-care. (deign: verb, do something that one considers to be beneath one's dignity.  "she did not deign to answer the maid's question" Archaic condescend to give [something.]  "He had deigned an apology.")    When I am hanging out with my Black friends who are activists and seemingly tireless in their work for justice in all kinds of situations, I am amazed that they have time for me. I know in fact that they are tired. And I do my best to be someone they can relax with. Even though I am white.

I have a Black friend who grew up in Crown Heights Brooklyn, where my son lives now in an apartment with many roommates. Her parents were from Guyana, an African-Caribbean country. Crown Heights is gentrifying, but it seems to still hold a special mix of Caribbean immigrants and Hasidim. S is a little younger than I am, and also has 2 kids, one in college (same one as my daughter) and the other graduated (as is my son.)  My kids’ dad and I met their family when we each had only one baby in diapers and one parent each were home, and craving adult conversation. Play group in Brookland DC used to meet once a week until the community-organizing father of my children got hold of it, and then it met 3 times a week.

Our oldest boys were friends. We had second children. We developed a tradition of going to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for a week every summer and sharing an old beach house that was right on the water, one family per bedroom. We’d have 4 families give or take, and take turns cooking, looking after munchkins, and going on field trips to the Wright Brothers Museum, Walmart, and movies.

When it was time to figure out where to have the oldest boys go to school, our two families combined forces. In DC, finding a decent public school requires a strategy. We got pretty elaborate: what are our criteria for excellence? How much did each value weigh in the decision?  We teamed up, with S and I spending the night in her car one icy January to get on the list for a popular bilingual Spanish/English immersion school (Oyster Elementary). My kids’ dad and her husband hit a number of schools that were apparently much less popular but still made our list. My kid got into Oyster, and S, who was right after me, did not. We decided that our boys would go to a DC public Montessori program instead of risking separation.  

By the way, S met a nice Jewish young man from Iowa when they both attended Harvard, and married him. After many years, she decided to convert to Judaism, and both boys had bar mitzvahs, which were very cool to attend.

Both families switched to another DC public Montessori program when the original one seemed in steep decline, and enjoyed that community for a while. It became clear that my son wasn’t doing as well in that context, so I got him on a waiting list for a phenomenal charter school that uses the Expeditionary Learning model (affiliated with Outward Bound.)

We remained friends as families, going to the beach, joining the pool just over the DC line that many Brooklanders belonged to. Our boys grew apart, but we still hung out. One amazing bit of fate is that it was S and her son who introduced my boy to film-making at around 6th grade. He now makes his living as a filmmaker and is a Tisch film school graduate.

S is one of those women who is rather butch, and also straight. She is not femme: never wears make up, keeps her hair very short for minimum of fuss, and never wears skirts or dresses (except in her wedding.)  I taught her to knit on one of our beach weeks, and she’s gone on to become expert and imaginative. I figured out at one point that I had a crush on her, but I stomped that out, and we have had a great 20+ year friendship.

When my marriage ended, S and her husband extended dinner invitations to both me and my ex, separately, but only I responded. My ex is introverted, and for some reason he let his connection to these folks wither. I was grateful to hold onto the friendship, and enjoyed coming to their house for amazing food prepared by Ed, the son of the Iowan baker. Lots of far ranging conversation. We’d solve the problems of the world, and then I’d go home. We also share a love of movies. I had to call Ed once to get me to an emergency department, and he did with calm kindness.

Neither S nor her husband are on Facebook much, which is where I keep in touch with most of my social connections from DC. I’ll have to actually write them a letter, which I used to do routinely.  I miss these people very much. Maybe I should just call them up. How novel.

S was my friend first, and Black incidentally.

B became my friend and her Blackness was way more prominent. Whereas S never uses AAVE, B uses it a lot, and with her I feel like I can say “GIIRRRRRLLLL” in greeting.

 B is from a large African-American Catholic family, originally from Florida. Old school Black, which is to say, ancestors enslaved and brought to the mainland United States, then reared here after Emancipation, and always in the minority. Whereas Island folks, from what was formerly known as the West Indies, were also enslaved, they freed themselves from colonial power, and became majority Black countries. B taught me that some Caribbean folks look down on the old school Black folks. I learned a lot about hierarchies within Blackness from Brigette.

We met at a card game for women in our neighborhood. Her son was a year older than mine, and she lived within a block of us. I started to pursue her as a friend; we attended a Black-taught “all sizes welcomed” yoga class in the neighborhood, and would walk there and back every Saturday morning. On those walks we got to know each other.

She is so accomplished; a law degree, an all but dissertation PhD drop out, an author, a management consultant, a philanthropist. I was honored to be the one white person present for a discernment committee she gathered, Quaker style, to help her make a decision.  She influenced me a great deal. I hope I was a good friend to her. She was, probably still is, extremely busy, always, involved in one justice-promoting effort after another. I felt like a slacker in her presence. And she was not judging me. She simply lived every waking moment as an opportunity for social change. I also know there is pain underneath that activity, not just ‘post-traumatic slavery syndrome.’  Our sons are out in the world making art. She is making change. I miss her.

There are many others… Imani, D, Isaiah, Fern, Paulette, Liane…and powerful Facebook friends... Claudia, Alan, Reuben, KM

When I see a Black person out here in Oregon, I am riveted and try not to stare. Black people in white places are used to this, it is the ‘white gaze’, just like women are conscious of the ‘male gaze.’  For the observed, this vigilance is automatic and barely conscious until there is a perceived danger. Is that man (of whatever color) following me down this street? Is that white woman following me in this store?  I regret that I am adding to this vigilance for people of color in Oregon.

In Eugene Oregon at a huge hippy extravaganza called Country Fair, I took to counting Black people. Less than 20. I follow the SURJ-Eugene Chapter on Facebook. It’s the closest chapter to where I live. (Standing up for Racial Justice is a white person’s organization that hopes to support Black Lives Matter efforts. White folks can ask other white folks to call each other out and help each other grow. This is not the job of Black People.)  Oregon is a very white place. 

I am an anti-racist organization of one. Which is not to say I am the only one who cares about racism against Black people, systemic and individualized here in Lake County. I have not yet met anyone as steeped as I am, but it’s always possible. (Where are you?) Anybody out here willing to start a book club to read Witnessing Whiteness? It’s for white people who want to reveal and counteract the racism that lives within all of us.

From the context of my upbringing, and my choice, the collective and multi-hued Black American World is my north star. The Black/white conversation, the current animosity, the centuries-long history, is my cosmology: “noun, the science of the origin and development of the universe.” My social universe. The foundation upon which I build my politics, my theology of justice, my self-image. My corrective. Also, my joy.

I am a white person who works on her racism. Even when there are no Black people in my Oregon Outback world, except a phlebotomist, one former client, and the girlfriend of another. My moral universe is constructed around the fact of the injustice of slavery and its current unjust sequelae. (Noun. se·que·la. a condition that is the consequence of a previous disease or injury.)  Part of the post-slavery curse is the anti-government bias that is ripping further the tattered safety net. It is hard work to help white folks in mostly white contexts to see how anti-Black racism seeps into every bit of politics and also harms them individually. I’m working on this. I find it exhausting when the occasional conversation starts with “I don’t have a racist bone in my body.” I was so spoiled in D.C.

Yes, I believe in reparations. TaNehisi Coates’ work on this in The Atlantic is a paradigm-shifter.  (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/)

I only recently read a book on the native American experience, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s epic, “An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States.” Now I can include the injustice wrought against native peoples into my cosmology. Except I did not grow up as a white person in a majority First Nation context. A whole new arena to familiarize myself with. First Nations are deeply relevant to life out here due to water rights.  (You can watch Roxane Dunbar-Ortiz read from the book here: https://youtu.be/Pn4QTS6S3WU.) And you can read about water rights and the Klamath Nation here: (https://www.rotary.org/en/rotarian-helping-klamath-river-dispute)

I will continue to be a Black-identified white woman living in Whitelandia. I will try not to be obnoxious when I hear something flatly racist, although I will counter it. Someone said something about Black on Black crime early on. I said something, and now she knows I’m a ‘liberal.’  I share about Black experience on Facebook because I rejoice at the artistry and profound accomplishments of people who Overcome, every day. Maybe my new friends in Oregon will have a couple of stereotypes dashed by following my Facebook posts. Maybe not.  Some of the clients at our mental health center are white ex-offenders with Aryan nation tattoos. Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.

My job is to enlighten white people, somehow, with humility, because i know next to nothing. I need to tell the truth, but tell it slant, as Emily Dickinson wrote, so the truth will dazzle gradually. My job is to live with integrity wherever I am, as inclusively as possible, mining my own deep veins of ignorance (see, Native American History, also, the racist history of Oregon vis a vis Sundown laws, et al.) Counteracting the deep ignorance of the public discourse about the roots of our current politics in my own thinking. And praying to know how to be a bridge builder.

Written on the immensely tall wall of the Lincoln Memorial are words from the 2nd Innaugural address. To quote Wikipedia, “Lincoln suggests that the death and destruction wrought by the [Civil] war was divine retribution to the U.S. for possessing slavery, saying that God may will that the war continue "until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword", and that the war was the country's "woe due".’  What I believe is that the great Civil War in the USA right now is the price we are paying for the sin of slavery, the divide of have and have not, early white immigrant/imperialist versus newer immigrant especially from South and Central America, the disconnect of white republican voters-for-trump and the fact of their deep dependence on the government. My cousin, President Lincoln, (4th cousin, 5 times removed) was more right than he knew.

I will be an ally no matter where I am, however (deeply) imperfect. I can’t help it.

[isaacbewleystopmotion]

Researching stop motion animation

Stop motion animation is an animation technique where physical objects are captured in frames to give the illusion of them moving on their own. This is primarily done by taking many pictures of the objects and moving them slightly for each photo and then playing the images very fast, somewhat similar to zoetrope animations.

Due to the nature of stop motion animation being for physical objects, the use of physical materials are mostly used to make the models and objects. Clay was used primarily in the early days of stop motion and is still used to an extent in the modern age of stop motion, although the discovery of new alternatives has led to materials such as foam latex and plaster to be used for covering clay bases of models and making the objects look more aesthetically pleasing. Wires are often used with clay to make the models more stable and give more potential when moving the objects around. However, even the most basic of materials used in everyday arts and crafts can be used in stop motion very effectively, with films being created out of things made of LEGO bricks, and models made of felt held together with pipe cleaners.

There are several methods to doing stop motion animation, with the most popular and prominent technique being claymation. This technique is where the models and objects are made of clay, hence the name. Most of the set from backdrop to models will be made of clay for claymation, due to the versatility of the material. Puppet animation is very similar to this, with the clay models being replaced with puppets made out of felt, latex or other similar materials. Wires are often used in both techniques to make sure the models are positioned correctly and move easier, which makes production more smooth.

Cut-out animation is a subgenre of stop motion that is used much less, but is still utilised to an extent in modern films. For this, flat characters and backgrounds are created on paper, cardboard or other materials and manipulated on a flat surface to appear to move. A notable example of this technique is on the show South Park - while the animation style is now digitally created to replicate cut-out animation, the original pilot for the show was created with physical cut-out animation.

Pixilation and object stop motion animation are very similar subgenres, with the subject matter of the animation styles being the main difference. Pixilation is a method where actual human actors are used, and the same photo frame technique is used to capture them. Due to the use of human actors, this method is commonly seen as the most difficult form of stop-motion due to how time-consuming and inaccurate it can be when moving for new frames. Object animation is essentially the same - however the use of human actors is swapped for physical objects that are premade, such as rubiks cubes, dice and tinfoil.

Silhouette animation is another subgenre, although it is much rarely used compared to other methods, even pixilation. It involves characters who are only seen as black silhouettes, with a plain white background to make the silhouettes stand out. The silhouettes tend to just be cardboard cutouts or paper with back lighting, making this technique similar to cut-out animation. The use of silhouettes and a stark colour scheme seem to be heavily referenced and inspired from shadowplay (an example of shadowplay is the ‘shadow’ segments in the children’s show ‘Big Bear in the Big Blue House’).

The Nightmare before Christmas is a extremely well-known stop motion film created in 1993 by Henry Selick. It is regarded very highly and has excellent reviews, remaining a classic horror/christmas film for decades after it was released. It took around a week to make one minute of the film, and took 3 overall years to finish. The Tim Burton style of the models and overall theming make the film very popular and stand out from other more lighthearted stop motion films, and marked a new trend in using stop motion for more horror-relating films. The film shows how stop motion can not only be used for innocent and funny plots and characters, but can also support more creepy plots and designs well.

Coraline was made much later in 2009 but is very similar in theme and popularity to Nightmare before Christmas. Directed again by Henry Selick and taking twenty months to complete, this film has achieved cult status much like Nightmare did before it after using creepy theming through the stop motion style. Unlike Nightmare, Tim Burton was not involved in this project, however the production team was extremely large and had at peak 450 people helping. People were even hired to make miniature clothing for the models, even using knitting needles as thin as hairs in order to make realistic looking clothing.

Kubo and the Two Strings was also made by the same company that directed Coraline. It was completed in 2016 after being directed by Travis Knight for 5 years, with several being dedicated to the animation aspect alone. One of very few modern stop motion films, it recounts a tale based in asian culture around the power of music and magic, and was critically acclaimed for the intricate animation - the crew even went as far as to build a 16ft animatronic of a skeleton for the film. It was the second animated film ever to be nominated for Best Visual Effects in the Academy Awards, alongside the Nightmare before Christmas.

Another notable film in stop motion was the Wallace and Gromit film, Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Released in 2005 by the duo directors Nick Park and Steve Box, it received critical acclaim and success and won numerous awards including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (the only other Dreamworks film to win besides Shrek). After the failure of Flushed Away, this classic W&G film was a critical and commercial success for the Aardman and Dreamworks partnership. It shows the classic slapstick and charm of stop motion animation alongside the rest of the animated shorts, although this is the first feature film.

Chicken Run was created in 2000 by Peter Lord and Nick Park from Aardman. It was the company’s first feature length film, and was released to critical acclaim and is the highest grossing animated film ever. It recounts the tale of chickens trying to escape from a farm before being turned into chicken pot pies, and uses classic clay models in order to achieve a charming soft style. The film took 18 months to fully shoot, and shows good examples of special effects in stopmotion that I can take into account when creating my final piece.

Lego Movie was also a groundbreaking film released in 2014, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from Warner Bros. While the film is not created fully by actual stopmotion, the animation style is made to replicate that method and is worthy of study for that purpose. It uses 3D computer generated animation rather than traditional stopmotion, but makes use of choppy, blocked movements to replicate the actual look of real stopmotion, Whether it achieved the look well is up for debate, but it shows that it isn’t too hard to replicate stopmotion by other methods and other alternatives can be used in my project if I cannot create a effect I want with plain stopmotion alone.

Corpse Bride is another cult classic film with Tim Burton influences. Made in 2005 under the direction of Mike Johnson and Tim Burtion, it tells the story of a man who is thrust into a love triangle between a dead corpse and an alive woman whom he does not love. The film is another excellent use of stopmotion style to be creepy and unnerving, with the puppets used having bold, outlined and sunken features to almost appear dead and sickly, like the subject matter of the film.

Fantastic Mr Fox was created in 2009 by Wes Anderson in American Emperical Pictures, based of Roald Dahl’s book of the same name. It gained commercial success, with a high score on internet critic website Rotten Tomatoes. This film is especially interesting as it used a vastly different style of stopmotion modelling to create the animal models, which makes it stand out from other films done with the same technique. This could be interesting to learn from as I want my piece to be different from every other stopmotion film, and something as simple as a model style change could be the key to achieving a unique look,

James and the Giant Peach is an older film, shot in 1996 by Henry Selick for Disney. It is once again based off a Roald Dahl book of the same name, and incorporates live action and stopmotion into one singular film. This technique created an interesting effect when the divide between live action and stopmotion is shown side by side, and this interests me as I could create something similar by using humans in my stopmotion. However to avoid outright copying of this, I could try using this method through pixilation or cut-out stopmotion instead of simply filming live action alongside the actual stopmotion.

Jason and the Argonauts is a classic film created in 1963 by Don Chaffey. The majority of the film is shot in live action, but the film gained fame for including stopmotion creatures in fight scenes - the most iconic use of stopmotion is the famous skeleton scene where they rise from the ground to attack the soldiers. Again, this film is interested to study when considering the possibility of combining humans and stopmotion, although I think that it would be easier for me to use a method like pixilation for this instead of shooting live action and then shoot actual stopmotion.

[talabib]

How To Stop Living For Others And Start Living For Yourself

Take a minute and answer these questions: Why are you in your current job? How did you choose your major in college? Why don’t you spend all your time on your favorite hobbies? To the first question, you probably said, “The job pays enough money.” The second: “My parents told me to get a career.” And the third, “Hobbies all the time? That would be selfish.”

These answers highlight what’s wrong with many of our choices in life: we do what others tell us, or what we think we are “supposed” to do. What you really want deep down rarely enters the equation. This has to change. You need to start living for yourself and start doing what you love doing!

Your negative beliefs are the biggest obstacle between you and your dreams.

If you feel that you’re an undiscovered genius lost in the daily grind of a dead-end job, you need to ask yourself – what’s holding you back? Most likely it’s you, or more specifically, your negative beliefs.

What we believe is largely based on the messages with which we’ve been bombarded since we were very young. Your parents, for instance, might have told you that nobody in the family has ever been any good at making money. The more you hear this message, the more likely your brain and subconscious will believe it’s true.

The result? You’ll shy away from pursuits that could lead to financial success, from learning about investment strategies to pursuing an MBA – all because you’ve convinced yourself that trying to make money is pointless.

Such negative beliefs are known as the Big Snooze. It’s this part of your personality that keeps you from chasing your dreams. Fortunately, you’re more than capable of freeing yourself from the crippling power of the Big Snooze. How? By adopting positive beliefs that allow you to have faith in yourself.

Start by reflecting on who you are as if you were another person entirely. Admire your strengths, and think honestly about all the good things you could say about yourself.

Use these reflections as the basis for some positive beliefs. When you believe that you’re talented, that your ideas are worthwhile and that you have something to offer the world, the negative attitudes that you’ve carried with you for so long will cease to hold you back. It’s at this point that your journey begins.

Discover the person you want to be and don’t let anyone tell you to quit.

When we’re young, we have an intuitive understanding of who we are and how we do things. But as we grow older, we stop listening to this inner knowledge and do what others tell us to do.

If you want to make your ambitions reality, you need to embrace your inner badass. Once you stop caring about what other people think, you can find your own path!

Do you dream of becoming an author? To do this, you’ll have to write a lot! This, in turn, likely requires you to carve out free time while you hold down a job that helps you pay the rent.

Colleagues may snicker about your “hobby.” Friends may drift away as you spend less time with them and more time on your novel. These changes can be bitter, but you have to push on if you want to get published.

Appreciate that you’re doing your own thing, and you’ll find the strength to ignore the disapproval of others. Granted, it’s not always easy to discover your “thing.” The demands or pressures of friends and family hem many of us in. But if you decide to become a doctor or a store manager just because it’s family tradition, you’ll wind up hating your job and your choices.

So listen to your intuition and take a step back to observe how you live, what you do and what really interests you. Reflecting in this way will help you discern what you truly want from life. If you’re yearning to become a blacksmith, for example, then accept this fact and go for it!

Express a desire to learn, cultivate gratitude, and learn how to forgive for a happier, richer life.

Your time on this earth is limited – so make the best of it! Every day offers a chance to enjoy and celebrate life’s journey, though it’s all too easy to forget this in the rush and bustle of modern life. There are three things you can do to value each day a little more:

First, change your attitude to challenging tasks. Rather than approaching a problem like an expert, consider yourself an avid learner. People with a passion to learn don’t feel pressure to prove their abilities, which means they don’t grapple with the fear of failure, either. Mistakes are no longer frightening but a welcome part of the learning journey. Let’s say you’re a professional ice skater. If you see yourself as a champion, every fall can feel like failure and a blow to your self-esteem. But if you’re instead a lifelong learner, you’ll approach new challenges with a playful attitude, with more courage to take risks that in turn help you learn more.

Second, make an effort to express and experience gratitude daily. Gratitude isn’t about showing appreciation for the sake of being polite – it’s a positive state of being. By being grateful, you keep all the good things in life in the foreground of your thoughts. And by practicing and sharing gratitude, you can help others stay positive, too. Say, for example, you work in a tight-knit team. You can practice gratitude by focusing on what your team does well. Perhaps you’re able to keep communication transparent, open and kind. Or your team strives to keep egos in check. Whatever it is, be thankful for it! And thank every member for the things they do well.

Finally, you can improve each day by learning to forgive others and yourself, too. If someone hurts you or betrays you, the incident will trouble you until you forgive them. Why? Because forgiveness allows you to move forward in life. The same goes for something you might have done that you now regret. If you’ve done your best to make amends, it’s time to forgive yourself. By accepting yourself and your mistakes, you’ll be able to free yourself from negative thoughts and sleepless nights.

Your thoughts are powerful, so make them work for you!

In our modern world, we’re hyper-focused on action. Thinking things over and taking time to develop ideas, on the other hand, are habits that we don’t often practice. But we should.

Perhaps you want to become a writer, but the road to becoming a published author is unclear. To uncover the how of this process, you might look to literary role models and examine how they achieved their dreams to find inspiration for your own path.

As you feel your way and progress, you’ll begin to feel comfortable calling yourself a writer. Thinking of yourself as the person you want to be is another powerful way to make your thoughts work for you.

By acting as if the thing you want is already a reality, negative thoughts won’t be able to hold you back. In other words, fake it ‘til you make it!

If you dream of becoming a great speaker but are afraid of addressing a crowd, don’t focus on your trembling hands or timid voice. Instead, visualize yourself delivering fantastic speeches, and you’ll soon be presenting more confidently. The more speeches you give, the more your confidence will grow, and the more your public speaking will improve – this is called a virtuous circle.

Tackle procrastination, excuses and hesitation

Thought is a powerful tool when it comes to achieving your goals, but it must be combined with real action. To act positively, you need to first overcome the drag of procrastination and hesitation.

When we procrastinate, we let the fear of failure stop us from following through on decisions. If you think that you’re not qualified to perform a certain task, you’ll look for any reason not to try it. Thoughts like “My writing isn’t good enough” or “It’ll never pay the way” will only hold you back.

To overcome these excuses, you need to convince yourself of your purpose. If your resolve is weak, this may be a sign that you need to redefine your goals.

Taking action also requires you to overcome hesitation. This isn’t easy! Often, we hesitate when we’re scared to become someone we might not like. Let’s say that your dream is to become a stage actor, holding the attention of appreciative audiences and commanding a powerful presence.

But you hesitate when you seriously consider this goal. After all, you’ve never liked extroverts, and it seems to you that most people judge such people negatively, too. Will becoming an actor turn you into the very person you dislike? Short answer – no. You simply need to learn to overcome your hesitation.

To do this, you need to stop judging others. Then spend time asking yourself tough questions, like “Do I really want to become an actor?” or “Will it make me happy?”

If you answer yes to these questions, then it’s time to recognize your hesitation and procrastination for what they really are. No more excuses!

Focus all aspects of your life toward your goal.

So you’ve decided to change your life path to work toward your dream goal. But how far will you go? Too often talented people don’t live their dreams because they give up too soon.

Remember that failure is a fact of life, and we all experience rejection. Basketball legend Michael Jordan didn’t make the cut for his high school basketball team; renowned movie director Steven Spielberg was rejected from film school three times!

While rejection is a part of anyone’s journey, quitting is something you should never do. Instead, learn from your mistakes and keep pushing until you create the life you’ve always wanted.

To overcome the temptation to give up, you need to remain responsible in all aspects of your life. If your habits, surroundings or circle of friends make it harder for you to achieve your goals, it’s time to make some thoughtful changes.

In fact, creating a new environment and lifestyle centered around your life purpose is one of the best ways to stay on track.

If you’re an aspiring writer, surround yourself with people who have similar passions. Start and end your day in ways that will help you reconnect with your goals. Explore new groups, places and communities that can provide you with more support as you push forward.

It’s also worth reflecting on how you think about money. While it’s good to be conscientious about saving and spending, choosing to spend big from time to time is justified if doing so will improve your life. Use your money to live the life you want in accordance with your life goals!

Ultimately, your new life will emerge through clear intentions, powerful desires and action. Don’t care about what others think, and crucially, give yourself permission to live your dreams!

To stop living for others and live for yourself., learn to pinpoint the things in your life that are holding you back and make changes to how you live and think to address these blocks. Importantly, don’t let anyone distract you from doing what you love! Soon enough, you’ll find yourself living a life of which you’ve always dreamed.