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how2fit · 25 days

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We’ve never had access to more health and fitness content, yet so many of us remain confused about exercise basics. We know where to find videos of handstand push-ups and choreographed kettlebell sequences, but when it comes to figuring out how much cardio to do or what kind of gear you actually need to get started, it’s hard to know who to trust (and who’s just trying to sell you something). For accurate, expert-backed info, we assembled a squad of certified personal trainers and asked them which fitness questions they field over and over again. Here are their answers and recommendations for creating an effective—and enjoyable!—personal fitness routine. Experts In This Article Dane Miklaus, CSCS, founder of WORK Training Studio in Irvine, California Daniel McKenna, CPT, former Peloton instructor and founder of The Irish Yank Society Jen Kates, CPT, founder of Shift Human Performance Marcel Dinkins, CSCS, Peloton running instructor Mary Beth Rockwell, CPT, founding trainer of The Next Fitness Thing app Mathew Forzaglia, CPT, founder of Forzag Fitness Wesley Showalter, CSCS, Chicago-based personal trainer 1. “Where do I start?” This is one of the most common fitness questions out there. For folks who are just starting a fitness program or returning to exercise after a break, Dane Miklaus, CSCS, founder of WORK Training Studio in Irvine, California, recommends starting with physical activities you enjoy. That may mean stepping outside the gym and away from traditional workouts. “Can you put on a set of headphones and listen to a podcast, music, or audiobook while you walk? Do you enjoy riding bicycles? Forget the stationary bike. Go enjoy nature,” Miklaus says. If you create a routine around doing what you like, you’re more likely to stick to it. “Over time, you’ll begin to add on. But the piece of advice I would give to most beginners is to start out slowly and with an emphasis on consistency,” he says. When setting goals, prioritize process-based goals over outcome-based goals. For example, rather than focusing solely on a specific result, like losing 10 pounds or running a seven-minute mile, create goals around the long-term habits and behaviors you wish to establish, like accumulating 15 minutes of intentional movement a day or strength training two times a week. “Goals are great. Goals can help you get started. We can have milestones that we want to reach. But, in time, your ultimate goal should be training for life. Training as a lifestyle and exercising as a product of a healthy, holistic, overall approach to living your best life, as opposed to some number on a scale or body fat percentage,” Miklaus says. 2. “Which shoes are the best?” People meet Marcel Dinkins, CSCS, Peloton Tread instructor and former Division 1 athlete, and want to know which shoes she’s lacing up before a run. “I think this really shows just how much we are over-emphasizing gear,” she says. Yes, supportive, activity-appropriate footwear is important, but sporting the same shoes as your favorite athlete or influencer won’t guarantee similar results. “I think a lot of people new to the space may not realize that the people they are looking to for product recommendations, like trainers and athletes, may have direct sponsorships with those brands, meaning they may not necessarily be their go-to choice but instead a paid endorsement,” she adds. Ads and product placements are designed to get you to buy shoes and other goods, regardless of their quality or value. If you’re just beginning your fitness journey, resist the temptation to spend your entire paycheck on new gear. Chances are, you can use what you already have to get started. (Those old sweats and free promotional T-shirt from the back of your dresser will work just fine.) And if you do decide to invest in a new pair of kicks, seek out expert, unbiased advice. “It's important to focus on what works best for your body rather than relying solely on popular recommendations or endorsements,” Dinkins says.

“Visit a running store to get fitted specifically for your body and goals, ensuring the shoes you choose are the right fit for you.” 3. “How can I lose belly fat?” While this is another common fitness question, research (like this 2022 review in Human Movement) shows that spot reduction, or targeting one area of the body for fat loss, is impossible. No specific exercise (or gadget, tea, or garment, for that matter) will shift the focus of your weight-loss efforts to the belly, hips, thighs, or arms. Where you gain and lose fat is largely determined by your genetics and biological sex, per a 2019 study in Nature Communications. So, the best you can do is aim for overall fat loss. Most people are surprised to hear that exercise alone won’t drive sustainable weight loss, says Mathew Forzaglia, CPT, founder of Forzag Fitness. “People will try and outwork a bad diet. And, in the beginning, they will see noticeable results because they are challenging their body with a stimulus it isn’t used to, so it's forced to adapt,” he says. But unless you address unhealthy eating habits, your progress will plateau. “Eating a cleaner diet and being in a calorie deficit [using more calories than you consume] is the best and most successful way to burn fat and lose weight,” Forzaglia says, emphasizing that you don’t need to go hungry. Filling your plate with whole foods—grains, vegetables, fruits, lean sources of protein—and cutting just 100 to 200 calories a day may be enough to tip the scale in your favor. Resist the temptation to judge your progress according to someone else’s timeline—it’s not a fair comparison. 4. “Do I need to strength train if I just want to lose weight?” Mary Beth Rockwell, CPT, founding trainer of The Next Fitness Thing app, gets this question a lot, especially from women. There’s a commonly held belief that clocking hours of cardio is the best and only way to lose weight, if that's your goal. Rockwell reminds her clients that weight loss is one of the many benefits of resistance training. “I stress how important building muscle is to speed one’s metabolism, so progress comes more quickly than with cardio alone,” she says. Essentially, when you add muscle mass, your body burns more calories at rest. Plus, an efficient strength workout burns a significant amount of calories; the rate of energy expenditure during a typical resistance workout is comparable to that of a moderately intense ride on a stationary bike. Strength training can also bolster bone density (even in younger people), ward off age-related sarcopenia (muscle loss starting in your 30s), improve posture, and help you maintain your functional fitness. (Even if you don’t care about muscle definition, you still need to be able to carry your groceries.) Your goals will dictate exactly how much strength training you should do, but most people will benefit from two full-body sessions per week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 5. “Is it too late for me to start strength training?” Whether you’re in your 30s, 40s, 50s, or beyond, it’s never too late to start strength training, says Jen Kates, CPT, founder of Shift Human Performance. “There is a myth that is circulating that says that you cannot build muscle if you’re over 40 years old, and I’m here to tell you that this is just that: a myth. It’s simply not true if you are strength training and eating ample protein and food to support muscle building,” she says. That said, your body and how it adapts to a training program will not be the same in your 50s as in your 20s. As noted above, we do need to contend with sarcopenia as we age, and our anabolic (muscle-building) response to resistance training gradually declines with time, per a 2020 review in Frontiers in Physiology. However, these are reasons to do more strength training in our later years, not less. Lifting can help older adults preserve the muscle mass they have and potentially improve their strength, body composition, and mobility.

In a 2023 study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, a group of older adults in their 60s, 70s, and 80s underwent 12 weeks of supervised, full-body resistance training. Researchers assessed participants’ strength, functional capacity, and muscle mass before and after the program. They found that all participants—even the octogenarians—improved in all categories. Bottom line: It’s never too late. 6. “What should I do when I’m not in the gym?” Regardless of a client’s goal, Chicago-based personal trainer Wesley Showalter, CSCS, emphasizes the “non-workout” aspects of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. “People need to be good about their sleep, their water, and their walking,” he says. It’s not uncommon, he says, for regular gym-goers to never miss an hour-long training session or group fitness class but then sit in front of a screen for the rest of the day. These “active couch potatoes” have worse cardiometabolic health markers (e.g., blood lipid, glucose, and insulin levels, as well as body fat composition) than people who accumulate more daily activity at a lower intensity, according to a 2022 study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. In other words, the folks who spend most of the day on their feet walking around may be in better health than those who take a 45-minute HIIT class and do nothing else. As a baseline, Showalter recommends accumulating 10,000 steps a day, regardless of whether it’s a training day or a rest day. As for sleep and hydration, he advises his clients to get between seven and nine hours of sleep every night and to drink about half of their body weight in fluid ounces. So, if you weigh 160 pounds, aim for 80 ounces of water per day. 7. “How much cardio do I need to do?” Your cardio needs depend on your current fitness level and ultimate goals. The person exercising for general health and longevity will train differently than the veteran marathoner who wants to PR their next race. For the average person with no specific performance-related goals, Showalter typically recommends around 90 minutes of steady-state or “zone 2” exercise per week. “You want to be uncomfortable. You could talk, but you’d have labored breathing. But you’re not at your max effort,” he says, describing the level of exertion. He notes that these 90 minutes should be in addition to your daily baseline activity. 8. “Why is it taking so long to see results?” Our culture values instant gratification in all areas of life, including fitness. “I am constantly reminding my community that results take time. You need to be consistent and show up daily, weekly, and monthly to see and feel results,” says Daniel McKenna, CPT, former Peloton instructor and founder of The Irish Yank Society. Everyone brings a unique set of variables—genetics, skill level, experience, lifestyle, stress levels, diet, sleep, age, and biological sex—to the table, so individual outcomes will vary. Resist the temptation to judge your progress according to someone else’s timeline—it’s not a fair comparison. That said, if you haven’t noticed any changes (including your mood, energy levels, and how you feel during workouts), you may benefit from a few sessions with a personal trainer or a nutritionist. They can help you optimize your diet and training based on your goals and unique circumstances. Well+Good articles reference scientific, reliable, recent, robust studies to back up the information we share. You can trust us along your wellness journey. Ramirez-Campillo, Rodrigo & Andrade, David & Clemente, Filipe & Afonso, José & Pérez Castilla, Alejandro & Gentil, Paulo. (2022). A proposed model to test the hypothesis of exercise-induced localized fat reduction (spot reduction), including a systematic review with meta-analysis. Human Movement. 23. 1-14. 10.5114/hm.2022.110373. Rask-Andersen, M.

, Karlsson, T., Ek, W.E. et al. Genome-wide association study of body fat distribution identifies adiposity loci and sex-specific genetic effects. Nat Commun 10, 339 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-08000-4 Endo Y, Nourmahnad A, Sinha I. Optimizing Skeletal Muscle Anabolic Response to Resistance Training in Aging. Front Physiol. 2020 Jul 23;11:874. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2020.00874. PMID: 32792984; PMCID: PMC7390896. Marzuca-Nassr GN, Alegría-Molina A, SanMartín-Calísto Y, et al. Muscle Mass and Strength Gains Following Resistance Exercise Training in Older Adults 65–75 Years and Older Adults Above 85 Years. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. 2024;34(1):11-19. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2023-0087 FARRAHI, VAHID1,2; ROSTAMI, MEHRDAD2; DUMUID, DOT3; CHASTIN, SEBASTIEN F. M.4,5; NIEMELÄ, MAISA1,6,7; KORPELAINEN, RAIJA6,7,8; JÄMSÄ, TIMO1,6; OUSSALAH, MOURAD1,2. Joint Profiles of Sedentary Time and Physical Activity in Adults and Their Associations with Cardiometabolic Health. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 54(12):p 2118-2128, December 2022. | DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003008

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whiteroofradio · 1 year

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Woofcast 687: db Sold his MINI

We managed to rally together one more time before closing out 2022! A quick not to the affliates, we do go long. We are pretty sure all y'all won't mind. Catching up, db sold his MINI (and replaced it with a bicycle). His garage is now home to a BMW X3, which there will be more words about that coming (like, it really should be a wagon).

Then, the latest news from MotoringFile, as usual! If you missed Gabe's review of the BMW X1, go check it out if you want to find out what the next version of the Countryman will be like. We get filled on on life with a non-JCW MINI in Gabe's garage with a horrible name, product code relevations and spy shots of the G56, plus some other information you will find to be very interesting.

Oh, yea. Feather bowling is totally a thing.

For those of you that have missed it, we are still recording Black Roof Radio!. Click through for access to the most recent episodes, all available **FREE OF CHARGE**! Also, as db mentioned, RSS is not dead! You can still follow and subscribe to your favorite sites using any of the latest versions of RSS Readers. Check out NetNewsWire (yes, it's back!) for OSX/IOS, Aggregator for Android and Newsflow on Windows! Any of these will let you subscribe and help break you of your social media habit!

Links for the podcast players below

db sold his MINI: https://dbmini.us/20-years-is-a-pretty-good-run/

db's new vehicle: https://www.juicedbikes.com/products/ripracer

Bimmerfile X1 review: https://www.bimmerfile.com/2022/11/08/video-review-the-bmw-x1-28i-is-the-best-x1-since-the-original/

Untamed Edition: https://www.motoringfile.com/2022/11/01/our-2022-mini-countryman-untamed-edition-is-here-and-theres-a-lot-to-take-in/

Product codes: https://www.motoringfile.com/2022/10/24/next-generation-mini-product-codes-reveal-big-changes-for-the-brand/

First looks, NexGen MINI: https://www.motoringfile.com/2022/12/12/exclusive-first-look-at-the-next-generation-g56-mini-cooper/

Feather Bowling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feather_bowling

Download!

#podcast #mini cooper #whiteroofradio

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starlingsrps · 2 years

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jess kerry.

BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME: jessica renee kerry

NICKNAME(S): jess, jessie

PREFERRED NAME(S): jess

BIRTH DATE: june 2

AGE: thirty eigh

ZODIAC: gemini

GENDER: female

PRONOUNS: she/her

SEXUAL/ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: heterosexual

NATIONALITY: american

CURRENT LOCATION: [mumble]

LIVING CONDITIONS: she bought a small house a few years ago and it started as a fixer upper and now it's her favorite thing she's ever done. with the exception of anything plumbing or electric, she did it herself (with her brothers) and she will never leave now.

BACKGROUND

BIRTH PLACE: [same as mumble]

HOMETOWN: [mumble]

SOCIAL CLASS: middle

EDUCATION LEVEL: high school; b.a. in psychology/education; m.a. in education

FATHER: peter kerry, 66, head of kerry & sons construction

MOTHER: kathy, estranged. kathy left when jess was nine and while her brothers have, to varying degrees, made some kind of contact with her, jess refuses.

SIBLING(S): shawn, 43; mark, 41; daniel, 40

BIRTH ORDER: youngest

CHILDREN: nope

PET(S): lucy, one eyed gray tabby; harriet, black cat; thomas, one eared russian blue.

OTHER IMPORTANT RELATIVES: the boys are all married with lovely wives and she has nieces and nephews

PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIPS: some! she's had a few serious ones and some more casual ones but it's never been number one priority. she like her life as it is and yes, it would be nice to have someone to share it with but she's got the cats.

CURRENT RELATIONSHIP: deeply single

OCCUPATION & INCOME

PRIMARY SOURCE OF INCOME: high school guidance counselor

CONTENT WITH THEIR JOB (OR LACK THERE OF)?: extremely. she started college thinking she'd become a therapist and then interned at a high school and it became the only thing she could picture herself doing. she works hard to make her office and herself a safe space/person and stays in touch with her students after they graduate.

PAST JOB(S): grocery store cashier, library attendant (fired for talking too loud during exam week quiet hours), baby sitter, sumer receptionist at the family office.

SPENDING HABITS: oh she's a fiend for a bargain. a flea market? don't threaten her with a good time. the clearance aisle? she's already there. a closeout store? her eyes turn black and she's in the car.

SKILLS & ABILITIES

PHYSICAL STRENGTH: average. she can help move a couch but she's not going to do it herself.

SPEED: eh she's fine.

INTELLIGENCE: curious. she was good at school and enjoys reading and podcasts about things she wants to learn more about. she perhaps knows too much about true crime and is currently in recovery from true crime podcasts but it's fine.

ACCURACY: average

STAMINA: no better, no worse than anyone else.

TEAMWORK: she's a very good leader but never wants the attention.

LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: english, some spanish

DRIVE?: sure.

JUMP-STAR A CAR?: yep.

CHANGE A FLAT TIRE?: yep. (jess doesn't want to be a stereotypical only daughter but her brother danny really did kind of force her to learn how to handle a car)

RIDE A BICYCLE?: yep.

SWIM?: yep.

PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?: nah

PLAY CHESS?: yep.

BRAID HAIR?: yep.

TIE A TIE?: yep.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE & CHARACTERISTICS

FACE CLAIM: gillian jacobs

EYE COLOR: blue

HAIR COLOR: dark blonde/light brown. she'll go blonder one month, hate it and go darker and then change her mind immediately.

HAIR TYPE/STYLE: long with a part that wants to be middle but can never be anything but side.

GLASSES/CONTACTS?: reading glasses.

DOMINANT HAND: right

HEIGHT: 5'4

BUILD: small. the kerry family are hobbits. bunch of short kings.

EXERCISE HABITS: she has an amazon ripoff of a peloton

SKIN TONE: fair

TATTOOS: a four leaf clover on her left hip. it was spring break, she meant to get it removed, it has become a reminder of why she is not allowed to do tequila shots.

PIERCINGS: ears

MARKS/SCARS: a few but nothing super notable

NOTABLE FEATURES: big eyes, cute smile.

USUAL EXPRESSION: elastic. she absolutely does not have a poker face.

CLOTHING STYLE: vintage-y for daily - she likes a swingy dress or skirt with a nice sweater or blouse. home is for beat up concert tees and leggings.

JEWELRY: whatever suits the outfit; she does wear an apple watch and can get very competitive about CLOSING HER DAMN RINGS.

ALLERGIES: nah.

DIET: like normal?

PSYCHOLOGY

MORAL ALIGNMENT: lawful good

TEMPERAMENT: choleric

MBTI: ENFP

MENTAL CONDITIONS/DISORDERS: depression - she's on medication, goes to therapy, and it's managed but it's always there.

SOCIABILITY: extrovert

EMOTIONAL STABILITY: pretty stable but when she's in a depressive state, she drags herself along by the skin of her teeth.

PHOBIA(S): needles and snakes

ADDICTION(S): nah

DRUG USE: ehhhh nah

ALCOHOL USE: white wine is friend.

PRONE TO VIOLENCE?: no but she is very capable of defending herself.

MANNERISMS

SPEECH STYLE: measured, a little husky. "talks too fast" has been a constant criticism for her entire life so she works Hard at talking at a normal speed, hence the measured pace.

ACCENT: not that she's been made aware of.

HOBBIES: gardening, home repairs, reading.

NERVOUS TICKS: tapping her fingers on any available surface or against each other.

DRIVES/MOTIVATIONS: contentment. she's comfortable with who she is and what she's worked for and is at a point where she would like to enjoy it.

POSITIVE TRAITS: creative, confident, generous, and nurturing.

NEGATIVE TRAITS: idealistic, intense, singleminded, stubborn.

SENSE OF HUMOR: good - it's easy to make her laugh

DO THEY CURSE OFTEN?: she tries not to too much because she works with kids but: she works in a high school. can't help it sometimes.

FAVORITES

ACTIVITY: sitting on her back porch in the morning with coffee while the cats wander about the yard yelling at each other.

ANIMAL: cats. specifically her cats.

BEVERAGE: black coffee

BOOK: she reads pretty much anything and everything. she will absolutely throw down with a YA series if it's good.

COLOR: blue

DESIGNER: nah.

FOOD: brownies

FLOWER: lilacs

GEM: eh!!!

HOLIDAY: halloween

MODE OF TRANSPORTATION: driving

MUSICAL ARTIST: death cab for cutie then, death cab for cutie now and always.

SONG: "bixby canyon bridge"

SCENERY: sunrise

SCENT: sage, grass, and coffee

TELEVISION SHOW: mad men

WEATHER: sunny spring days

VACATION DESTINATION: please don't ask, you will only remind her of how long it's been since her last vacation.

ATTITUDES

GREATEST DREAM: she's gotten a bit antsy of late for a change which led to grad school last time so.

GREATEST FEAR: loss. she's not great with it.

MOST AT EASE WHEN: she's helping others or laying on the couch with a one cat at her head, one on her stomach, and the third on her feet while watching tv.

LEAST AT EASE WHEN: on the spot.

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT: the life she's built on her own.

BIGGEST REGRET: never one Biggest, many small ones.

TOP PRIORITIES: family, friends, students, cats, community, herself.

#c: jess kerry

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bizarrequazar · 2 years

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GJ and ZZH Updates — April 03-09

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. A glossary of names and terms often used can be found [here]. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

04-03 → A few minutes after midnight, a new post with previously-unseen photos was made on Zhang Zhehan’s Instagram that had been unprivated a few hours earlier. Caption: “Find your voice. Find yourself. True power is always greater than perfect power!”

Fan Observations: - This did not come as a surprise—most were already expecting it to happen after the profile picture was changed on 03-31. - There is a great deal of debate over whether these are recent photos (some have wondered if they are from around the same time as [this photoshoot] posted 21-06-11, note the uneven bangs) and whether Zhang Zhehan is the one behind the account. - The first part of the caption is the slogan for the brand registered in Xie Yihua’s name, the latter is a paraphrase from one of Zhang Sanjian’s essays. Some fans who haven’t been paying attention to Zhang Sanjian originally celebrated these photos until the paraphrase was pointed out, at which point many deleted their posts. - Though still widely used, Instagram is officially banned in China and can only be accessed using a VPN. As 813 was an issue centered around patriotism, it seems like an unwise decision to make a comeback on an illegal site. Addition 07-19: Clarifications about Instagram’s legality in China. - Related to the VPN, Zhang Zhehan developed a habit last April of setting the location on his posts to Paris, France, with only 3 of 16 posts he made after that point not including a location. This new post does not have a location.

→ Su Shifu—a podcaster who gained popularity since he started talking about Zhang Zhehan after 813, who has claimed to have insider knowledge, and who is considered by some to be a legitimate source (see 04-04)—posted an essay claiming that Zhang Zhehan recently started living with a younger boyfriend (not Gong Jun.) [source] Fan Observations: - This essay is uncharacteristically articulate for him, as he’s known for being very vague and difficult to parse clear meaning from; Su Shifu’s posts following this were back to their usual vague style. - A CPF got their hands on a copy of the essay prior to its posting and DMed it to Gong Jun. I have not been able to find information on how it was obtained.

→ A slew of other rumors arose and circulated on Weibo about the two actors, largely relating to the topic of their relationship, all with nothing to back them up.

→ Bluebird organized a fan celebration on Twitter with the hashtag #ZhangZhehanGongJunCelebration and the theme of “stronger together”, and dailydose_simon organized a related celebration with the hashtag #WeLoveYouGongJun. Both #ZhangZhehan and #GongJun trended thanks to the combined efforts as well as from people discussing Zhang Zhehan’s Instagram. 💙💙

→ Two previously unseen photos from a photoshoot Gong Jun did for GLITZ magazine last year were released.

04-04 → followerno65 posted findings about Su Shifu, showing that he has repeatedly lied about his background, and that he likely only talks about Zhang Zhehan due to the traffic it brings him.

→ QuelleVous made a post explaining and exemplifying a dialectic discrepancy between Zhang Zhehan’s and Zhang Sanjian’s writing. [sources for zzh’s writing] It was also pointed out a few days earlier that Zhang Sanjian uses the Taiwanese writing of “bicycle” while Zhang Zhehan always used the mainland writing; it’s been noted that Xie Yihua’s family is from Taiwan.

→ KFC posted three photo ads featuring Gong Jun.

→ Xie Yihua’s team made a post through a Hong Kong fan group addressing the doubts about Zhang Zhehan’s involvement, specifically in regard to some of the products using the haizhe symbol (photo below is from one of the hats). They stated that it’s a “business collaboration” and that it’s unfair to question the profit distribution, and also indirectly implied that these “collab” products are limited edition, which would help boost sales. [source screenshot (account has been privated)] [translation here]

Fan Observation: Many have commented that the entire post reads like a riddle rather than a legitimate business statement. As well, it’s been noted that Zhang Zhehan and Zhang Sanjian are mentioned as separate parties. Addition 04-15: It has been questioned if the products with this symbol were prepared prior to 813 for the concert Zhang Zhehan said he was working on organizing in late July, as the quality of the embroidery is notably different than on Xie Yihua’s other products.

04-05 → Zhang Sanjian posted an essay suddenly lacking the dialectic discrepancy QuelleVous had pointed out the previous day. The essay also included some editing notes that hadn’t been taken out which suggest that multiple people work on the essays. As of 04-06, there is public evidence that the Chinese side of the community—and presumably those behind Zhang Sanjian—saw QuelleVous’s tweet.

→ Roving Inspection Team reposted an anti-cyberviolence news report with the comment: “The voices against cyber crimes are getting louder and stronger, and the force of justice is getting stronger too!” [translation quoted]

→ More slanderous rumors about Gong Jun arose. I will not be repeating them here.

04-06 → A #GongJunAppreciationWeek hashtag event organized by _zuokanyunshu started on Twitter, getting #GongJun trending again.

→ Someone found an old account of Gong Jun’s and posted the personal information they found on it to Douban. This led to antis using the information to try to hack into his other social media, Alipay, and various other apps and sites. Numerous spam calls were made to his phone number, and the account was used to create further slander against him. Several photos including nudes were also spread with his face photoshopped on, claimed to have been found on the account. A hot search about this reached #1 in Weibo’s entertainment category. [source] [source]

→ A statement was posted on Gong Jun’s studio Weibo and reposted to his personal addressing the most serious recent rumors and the doxxing attempts, and saying that legal action was being taken. [summary translation] [full translation] Douban later suspended the group where the doxxing and related rumors originated. Beijing Xing Quan Law Firm later made a post confirming that they had submitted Gong Jun’s case to the courts; this was reposted by Gong Jun’s studio Weibo. [translation]

[meme source]

04-07 → A studio recording of Zhang Zhehan singing Unbreakable Love (永不失联的爱) by 周兴哲 was released to Weibo by Xie Yihua. I will not be providing a link, it’s easy enough to find if you really want it.

Xie Yihua’s been doing a lot of other shit to try to legitimize herself, including sharing minor “updates” supposedly about Zhang Zhehan’s day to day life to give credence to her claims of having current direct contact with him. She also made a claim that she’s running the brand on his behalf so his assets don’t get frozen, argument against this [here]. As well, I have been unable to find a concrete source for her direct involvement, but fans siding with Xie Yihua have started to claim that Zhang Zhehan suing CAPA is “the wrong move” because they’re too big a target; Bluebird—a lawyer—made a thread refuting this.

→ Gong Jun’s studio Weibo posted that a police report had been filed and lawyers had been entrusted to handle rumor-mongerers, as well as giving a stern warning that further legal processes will be taken if these sorts of actions continue in the future. [translation] This was reposted to his personal Weibo with the comment: “Can’t take it anymore, everything will be dealt with according to the law!!!” [a translation note]

04-08 → The Japanese Word of Honor dub was released. [website with purchase links]

→ Li Xuezheng’s Weibo account was deleted.

An hour later, Roving Inspection Team posted: “During this critical moment, our Director Li has something to say, ‘No matter what I believe in justice and the leadership of the Party towards a more just society. I'm well. Thank you for your concerns. I hope everyone focuses on their real jobs, abide the law, and use our powers to repay our country, love our Party and our government! Social media will not have Li Xuezheng going forward. Thank you everyone!'” This post was also later deleted, presumably by Weibo. [quoted translation and post screenshot] Fan Observation: - It’s been noted that his last line was likely intended to shut down any future attempts by others to create accounts pretending to be him (sounds familiar.) Several people have already made unsubstatiated posts claiming to have talked to him since this. - This obviously isn’t what any of us wanted to see, but it should be taken as a sign that things are going well offline. His account was due to be unmuted less that 48 hours after this; Weibo—and CAPA by extension—wouldn’t have done this if they weren’t afraid of him. We can only continue to be patient and trust in Li Xuezheng and Zhang Zhehan.

→ QuelleVous found that Xie Yihua hired a professional team to edit her Baidu Baike page at 10am on 08-13 (one sentence deleted, contents unknown) and again on 11-25 (”edited a mistake”). It has also been found that Xie Yihua has had direct connections to CAPA in the past. [here] [here] It is unsubstatiated at this time, but there are also rumors that Xie Yihua previously met with Li Xuezheng to try to stop him from suing CAPA. Update 05-27: Some of what was edited out on 08-13 includes her connection to her brother-in-law, her connection to Culture Co. and its ties to the Beijing circle and foreign capital, her connection to Kris Wu, and her connection to Zhang Zhehan (later added back in.) [source and more info]

→ Rising with the Wind completed filming.

04-09 → Golden Shield’s Weibo posted a message from Li Xuezheng again thanking everyone for their concern and saying that his motivations have not changed. [screenshot and translation] This post was later deleted, presumably by Weibo.

→ KFC posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ There’s a bit of a war currently going on between QuelleVous and Xie Yihua, which I haven’t included much of due to it not being directly relevant as well as I don’t want to get involved myself. The latter posted a “solemn statement” including an unnotarized letter warning against defamation dated 04-09 which makes mention of business being conducted for “a friend” (Zhang Zhehan’s name is not included), and an official police report from 02-06 (QuelleVous didn’t start talking about Xie Yihua until March, the report seems to be for theft of documents.) [translation of Xie Yihua’s statement] [QuelleVous’s response] QuelleVous has stated she’s contacted her lawyers.

Not a lot of fun stuff this week so here’s Gong Jun wearing puppy slippers from 04-06. [full photos]

Additional Reading: → Flora’s Justice of the People daily timeline → Twitter user softforwangxian has put together a timeline [here] with details of the major attacks on Gong Jun since 813.

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This post was last edited 2022-07-19 (added update about Xie Yihua’s Baidu.)

#It's like 90% legal stuff and industry conspiracy this week #There's a reward at the end to encourage you to read it all #Zhang Zhehan #Gong Jun #Word of Honor #woh cast #lld timeline #my zsj tag #my xyh tag

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heartofether · 3 years

Text

Episode 14 - Hungry TRANSCRIPT

[You can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts, or go to our “Listen” page if you’re on desktop.]

VAL

Hey there. I just wanted to say before the episode that you may notice that Phoebe's voice sounds different than it did before. We now have a new voice actor who will be playing Phoebe Wood. We wish her previous voice actor, Nyx King, all the best on all of their future endeavors. Phoebe's new voice actor is going to be Lark Pelletier, who we are delighted to have on our cast.

I just wanted to let you all know so you didn't get confused when Phoebe's voice sounded different, and it was some sort of plot-related Not!Phoebe thing. Other than that, I hope you enjoy the episode, and stay safe out there.

AUTOMATED VOICE

Please state [THE VOICE GLITCHES] your message.

[THEME SONG BEGINS PLAYING.]

VAL

Three-Eyed Frog Presents: The Heart of Ether.

[THEME MUSIC FADES TO A STOP.]

[PHONE BEEP.]

[INT. THE POPPY GARDEN MOTEL, AGENTS MAY AND JUNES’ ROOM, NIGHT.]

[AGENT MAY IS HEARD FLIPPING THROUGH PAPERS.]

AGENT MAY

This is the audio log of Operation Saturn, phase 1.2. This is day one, part two. Conducted by Agents May and June. All recordings are legal property of the Harper—

[HE STOPS, THEN, FRUSTRATED] Goddammit, where did he put that photo?

[HE CONTINUES TO SORT THROUGH PAPERS, THEN, DISGRUNTLED] After our conversation with Irene Gray, Agent June and I had to re-organize the folders she disturbed. Of course, June had no understanding of how the folders were sorted, so he shoved papers wherever he saw fit. [UNDER HIS BREATH] No mind to the effort I put into labeling each folder.

It must be here somewhere.

[THE DOOR SWINGS OPEN AS AGENT JUNE WALKS IN, ARMS FULL OF SNACKS. HE'S HEARD CLOSING IT BEHIND HIM AS HE TALKS.]

AGENT JUNE

You are not going to believe this, my man. Okay, so, this motel is cheap as hell, right? Super dusty, the wallpaper’s peeling off, kinda smells like someone’s dog died in the lobby. Honestly, lowkey hoped the Foundation would have been a little bit more generous with their funds, but also I’m not surprised they stuck us here. I mean, hey, what do I know? Maybe this motel is haunted and they expect us to Ghostbuster the place up.

[AGENT MAY GROANS LOUDLY.]

AGENT JUNE

[CONT.] But! Here’s the kicker! Vending machines downstairs? Jam-packed. They have king-sized candy bars!

[THERE ARE WRAPPER NOISES AS AGENT JUNE SHOWS OFF HIS FINDS.]

AGENT JUNE

Look at this! Man, I haven’t actually eaten candy in so long. The drink machine is all off-brand soda, though, so, sucks to suck, I guess.

[HE DUMPS THE SNACKS ONTO THE BED.]

AGENT JUNE

Oh, and there is a pool. Hot tub, too. Though there were some stray cats in the bushes who were…well, I’ll leave that up to your imagination. Still, if you packed a swimsuit, maybe we could hit that up later?

AGENT MAY

I did not pack a swimsuit. Unlike some of us, I came here to do my job.

AGENT JUNE

Hey, that’s not fair. Of course I’m doing my job! I just, you know, enjoy having a life outside of work. Know what that’s like?

AGENT MAY

Of course I do. I just don’t intend to do any messing around while we’re here.

AGENT JUNE

Oh, yeah?

[AGENT JUNE CROSSES HIS ARMS.]

AGENT JUNE

What do you do outside of work?

AGENT MAY

I cook. I read, though recently, I haven’t done so as much as I used to. I keep up with the news. I, you know, run errands. [AS THE LIST GOES ON, HE STRUGGLES MORE AND MORE TO COME UP WITH THINGS.]

AGENT JUNE

Okay, only half of those things are potentially fun. Not even guaranteed fun, just the potential for enjoyment.

AGENT MAY

What does it matter to you what I do in my free time, anyways?

AGENT JUNE

Because nobody should be trapped in that miserable cycle where you just do your 9-to-5 until you die, dude! Come on.

Alright, how about this: from here on out, my mission within this mission is to get you to do something fun. Got that? You’re walking away from here with one new hobby or so help me.

AGENT MAY

What about our actual job?

AGENT JUNE

I’ll find time in between! You just watch.

[AGENT JUNE PLOPS DOWN ON HIS BED. HE OPENS THE WRAPPER FOR ONE OF THE CANDY BARS. THERE’S A PAUSE.]

AGENT MAY

Do you think Irene Gray will come back around?

AGENT JUNE

Mm, not sure? She didn’t seem too happy with us.

[AS MAY CONTINUES, JUNE IS HEARD EATING ONE OF HIS CANDY BARS.]

AGENT MAY

I’m just worried she won’t agree to work with us after today. I mean, our mission just started, and we might have just lost what could have been a valuable connection. I mean, you saw how suspicious she was when we entered her house. It’s possible that she knows exactly what it is we’re after—and if she’s familiar with Valencia’s work, well, who knows what she knows?

AGENT JUNE

[THROUGH CHEWING] I get what you mean. [HE SWALLOWS.] Though, to be fair, our method was kind of…

AGENT MAY

[A BEAT.] Pardon?

AGENT JUNE

[HESITANT] Don’t you think it’s kind of cruel? Using Rosemary to lure her in? It’s clearly a sensitive topic for her, and we just kind of, you know, ripped the bandage off a wound that may or may not have healed properly.

AGENT MAY

[STRAINED] You have a point.

[UNCOMFORTABLE] We were following orders, though.

AGENT JUNE

I guess.

[THERE’S A PAUSE, FOLLOWED BY MORE CANDY WRAPPER RUSTLING.]

AGENT JUNE

Speaking of which, what does the Foundation have on the agenda for us next?

AGENT MAY

Plenty to keep us occupied. We are going to be interviewing a woman named Lorelei Foster—

[AGENT JUNE GROANS.]

AGENT MAY

We’re not trying to bait her or anything like that. This is just an interview. She lives on the outskirts of town, but she used to own Moon Cloves, the only metaphysical store in town. She is also one of the only people who was close to Valencia that is still alive.

AGENT JUNE

Gotcha, gotcha.

[AN UNCOMFORTABLE PAUSE AS AGENT JUNE CONTINUES TO EAT HIS CANDY.]

AGENT MAY

Would you mind not eating on the bed?

AGENT JUNE

Mm! Actually, so glad you brought up the uh, singular ‘bed.’

[AGENT JUNE SHIFTS AROUND ON THE SINGULAR BED TO EMPHASIZE HIS POINT.]

AGENT JUNE

What do you plan on doing about that?

AGENT MAY

Haven’t thought about it. Say, do you know what happened to that photo we had of the bicycle?

AGENT JUNE

Oh, no clue.

[AGENT MAY GROANS IN FRUSTRATION.]

AGENT JUNE

[COOING] You’re avoiding the bed situation, aren’t you?

AGENT MAY

[GRUMBLING] You can have it. I’m fine sleeping in the car.

AGENT JUNE

[SURPRISED] Woah, you sure? I mean, I’m used to uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, trust me.

AGENT MAY

I’ll be fine. I prefer the uh, privacy, of the car.

AGENT JUNE

[UNCONVINCED] Sure.

Uh, thank you. For the bed. [HE CHUCKLES.] How did the Foundation manage to mess that one up, anyways?

AGENT MAY

Apparently, there was a mistake in the paperwork.

AGENT JUNE

That sucks.

AGENT MAY

Indeed.

[A PAUSE.]

AGENT MAY

Right. We should probably get some rest soon, anyways.

AGENT JUNE

[HE SCOFFS.] Dude, are you kidding me? It’s like, 8:30! Okay, I refuse to go to bed that early.

AGENT MAY

We have a busy day ahead of us.

AGENT JUNE

Yeah, and I’m used to functioning off of five hours of sleep, so I’ll be fine.

AGENT MAY

My apologies for having a healthy sleep schedule. Anyways, I’m turning this off—

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

[ANOTHER PHONE BEEP.]

[INT. “VEIL,” A HIP, MODERN RESTAURANT DOWNTOWN, MIDDAY.]

[THE RESTAURANT IS BUSTLING WITH ACTIVITY. THERE’S FAINT CONVERSATION AND DISH CLANKING IN THE BACKGROUND.]

AVERY

Is it on?

IRENE

[UNEASY] Um, yeah. Say, how did you know I was going to record this?

AVERY

Hm? Oh, it was a lucky guess. I just wanted you to wait until we got done ordering.

IRENE

Right.

[A BEAT.] How long do you think we’ll be here, exactly? I have plans to meet someone back at my house this afternoon.

AVERY

Oh, that’s fine. It shouldn’t be long. You could technically leave whenever you like, since I’m taking the bill.

IRENE

What? No! I’m not letting a teenager pay for my food—

AVERY

How old are you, again? You look college-age. You’re wearing a university t-shirt—say, did you live on campus? Maybe have a meal plan? I mean, you don’t look like your parents have money, but I could be—

IRENE

[CUTTING THEM OFF] Okay, okay, I get it. Thank you for lunch, I guess.

AVERY

Not a problem.

[THERE’S A LONG PAUSE.]

IRENE

[AWKWARDLY] So, are you going to explain it?

AVERY

Explain what?

IRENE

The meat thing.

AVERY

Oh, you want to discuss my eating habits? That’s kinda rude, you know.

IRENE

I mean, you just ordered your burger, quote, “as rare as you’re legally allowed to serve it,” and then offered me your side. Plus, I’ve seen what your mom buys at the store for you.

AVERY

Oh, don’t preach to me about the ethics of eating a living thing or whatever. I’ve heard enough of that. You know, it’s not as black and white as—

IRENE

[OVERLAPPING, WITH A GROAN] Look, I may be vegetarian, but it’s not like that. I’m not talking from a place of judgment or moral high ground, I just—wanna know if there’s a reason for it. Your meat diet.

[SHE TAKES A DRINK OF HER WATER.]

AVERY

I’m not human.

[IRENE PROMPTLY SPITS HER WATER OUT.]

AVERY

Mm, well, I think I’m pretty close to human. And don’t mix this up as some sort of identity thing—I actually had my gender slash identity crisis before my transformation.

[MUTTERS] Actually thought I had myself pretty well figured out before the change. Keyword being ‘thought.’ There was still this part of me that was desperately trying to be something I wasn’t, I think. It led to me becoming something I didn’t want to be in a very literal and permanent sense.

IRENE

So, you weren’t always like this?

AVERY

Nope. I used to be a person just like you. That is, until I got involved with some heavy stuff. Stuff I shouldn’t have messed with, you know?

I did a ritual I shouldn’t have done, and—hey, do you know how it feels for your insides to be rearranged by some otherworldly force? As if your internal organs are a completed puzzle, but somebody decided it didn’t look right, so they just started jamming the pieces together in an attempt to make a new image?

IRENE

[UNCOMFORTABLE] That sounds painful.

AVERY

Obviously! Anyways, I’m doing better now. That was a couple of years ago. The big difference is that now, raw meat is pretty much the only thing my body is good at digesting. I can technically eat other food, but it doesn’t take much before I start getting sick.

IRENE

That sounds…jeez, I’m sorry.

AVERY

Hey, there are perks to it. I mean, my canines are super sharp, so I kinda look like a vampire if you look hard enough. Oh, I’m also super strong. Like, not “pick up your car” strong, but I could probably lift this table up.

IRENE

[SLOWLY BECOMING INCREASINGLY OVERWHELMED] Right.

AVERY

Does that answer your question?

IRENE

Yeah, but it spawned, like, five more, uh—

[IRENE STRUGGLES TO COLLECT HERSELF FOR A MOMENT.]

AVERY

You’re not going to figure this all out in one day, so don’t try to. Seriously. You look really overwhelmed. It’s not about making out the whole bigger picture right away, just focus on like, the upper right-hand corner of it.

IRENE

[CALMING DOWN] Right. Right, okay.

AVERY

I’ll let you ask a couple more questions, though.

IRENE

So, you did a ritual that shifted your organs around and made you something…slightly to the left of human?

AVERY

That’s correct.

IRENE

Where did that power come from? What made that happen to you?

AVERY

[THEY THINK FOR A MOMENT.] That’s a more complicated answer than I think you’re ready for. I mean, if you don’t even know what Ether is—

IRENE

[CUTTING THEM OFF, IN REALIZATION] Ether! God, Valencia had that written somewhere, I think—when I went up to the attic during the—

AVERY

So you do know Valencia.

IRENE

Well, yeah. I’m living in his old house.

AVERY

I know. That house has a reputation, you know. Almost as much as the man himself. [WARNING] People take note of things like that.

IRENE

So, Ether is the source of your power?

AVERY

Mm, sort of? It’s complicated. Ether is the source behind a whole lot of things, but I’m not sure it has any sort of agenda.

IRENE

Is it linked to the mold at all? Or, wait, do you even know what the mold is?

AVERY

You mean the Spread? Yellow, infects people upon touch, kind of has a mind of its own?

IRENE

…the Spread?

AVERY

That’s what Dorothy and Valencia called it. They had all sorts of weird names for things.

IRENE

That explains the Folk.

Did they have a name for what you are?

AVERY

Yeah. [MUTTERS] I don’t like it, though.

IRENE

What is it?

AVERY

[WITH DISTASTE] The Hungry.

[A BEAT.] That’s really the only name there is, though, so, I kinda have to just suck it up.

IRENE

How did you find all of that out? From what I’ve seen of their research, it’s mostly blank—

AVERY

[WHISPERING] Might want to keep your voice down about the research. People could be listening.

[A PAUSE.]

IRENE

[WHISPERING] What the fuck.

AVERY

[AT NORMAL VOLUME, TRYING TO PLAY IT OFF] The naming conventions are the only part of their research that sort of became common knowledge over time. At least, among those who knew what Ether was. I think even that stupid Foundation picked up on the names after a while. Dorothy and Valencia never really agreed on how exactly the names should be determined, and they died before they could finally stop having petty arguments over it.

I knew Dorothy, though, before she died. She helped me figure out my whole [UNSEEN VAGUE GESTURE] situation. She was a much kinder person than Valencia, you know.

IRENE

I’ve gathered that much. Damn, that means you know more about this than even her own granddaughter.

AVERY

Phoebe Wood? I don’t know her that well. I only saw her around the bookstore once or twice—well, and at Dorothy’s funeral, obviously.

IRENE

I see.

AVERY

Any other questions?

[A PAUSE.]

IRENE

Why did you invite me here?

AVERY

…hm?

IRENE

I mean, why did you invite me to lunch? This—whatever you’re involved in—is clearly far bigger than me. Why would you want to talk to me, of all people?

AVERY

[THROUGH A SMILE] You’re clever, Irene. Nosy, too. That might cause you some problems later.

Anyways, this whole lunch was a test.

[A BEAT.] Oh, why do you look so shocked? What did you think this was about, anyways? Leisurely conversation with some random kid who came to your house?

Anyways, I’ve been involved in this business for, mm, two years? After a while, you get really good at reading people, you know? Most people who choose to get involved in this are just flat-out stupid, but you, Irene, are a special breed of stupid.

Like, you’re not pretentious or egotistical like some of them are, but you’re stubborn, you know? You don’t go down easy. Take that as a compliment. Or don’t. I barely know you, what does my word count for?

[IRENE STUTTERS SOMETHING INCOHERENT.]

AVERY

[CONT.] What I’m saying is that you might just be stupid enough to accidentally do something smart. That’s the kind of behavior that can save you from getting killed. Am I making sense?

IRENE

Um, maybe?

AVERY

Great. Anyways, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you’re in too deep at this point. You were already kind of cursed the moment you were naive enough to move into Valencia’s house. There’s a reason it was empty for so long, you know. Again, reputation, or whatever.

If you’ve already encountered the Spread, however, well, that’s kind of the final nail in the coffin. You’re in this game, whether you like it or not.

IRENE

Calling it a game implies that it’s fun.

AVERY

[THINKING] For some of them, it is.

IRENE

And who are they?

AVERY

If you learn to shut your mouth, you may never have to find out, but you’re not very good at that.

IRENE

[OFFENDED] Hey—!

AVERY

[OVERLAPPING] Anyways, you clearly need some help getting your footing in all of this. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone on your side who isn’t out of their mind or a murderer? I pride myself in that.

IRENE

[WARILY] You said this was a test.

AVERY

That I did.

IRENE

…did I pass?

AVERY

Yep.

[HESITANT] The test wasn’t to see whether or not I would help you, though. I planned on offering my assistance regardless—well, unless you were a complete jerk, but you’re not.

The test was to see…well, to see if you could help me.

IRENE

You need my help?

AVERY

[TRYING TO HIDE THEIR WORRY] I think the waiter has our food. You should probably turn off the recording.

IRENE

[REALIZING] Oh. Okay.

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

[ANOTHER PHONE BEEP.]

[INT. IRENE’S ATTIC, THE SAME DAY, MIDDAY.]

[THERE IS THE SOUND OF PHOEBE AND HOLLY CLIMBING UP THE LADDER AND INTO THE ATTIC.]

IRENE

[TO PHOEBE] Can you climb up over the—

PHOEBE

[OVERLAPPING] Yup, yup, just um, please—

[IRENE HELPS PHOEBE UP ONTO THE ATTIC FLOOR.]

PHOEBE

Sorry. Thank you.

IRENE

It’s not a problem. Will you be able to get down?

PHOEBE

That should be easier, I think. My legs just hurt a lot if I move too much. It’s fine. I’ll be fine.

[HOLLY CLIMBS UP INTO THE ATTIC.]

HOLLY

Here’s your cane.

PHOEBE

Thank you.

HOLLY

Of course.

PHOEBE

Oh, Irene, I hope you don’t mind I brought someone else. Holly is, uh—

HOLLY

[OVERLAPPING] We’re dating.

IRENE

Oh. Oh! Right, I didn’t know you were dating someone, Phoebe.

PHOEBE

[FLUSTERED] We just started recently—I mean, like, very recent.

IRENE

Well, congratulations.

PHOEBE

Thank you.

[FOOTSTEPS AS HOLLY LOOKS AROUND THE ATTIC.]

HOLLY

So, this is it?

IRENE

Unless he has something hidden beneath the floorboards, then, this is all of it.

HOLLY

[SHE CHUCKLES.] At this point, that wouldn’t surprise me.

IRENE

Good point. [A BEAT.] We’re not ripping up my floors, though. This house may have belonged to Valencia, but it’s mine now.

[PHOEBE IS HEARD FLIPPING THROUGH SOME PAPERS.]

PHOEBE

This looks just like what Grandma Doe has.

IRENE

There’s more than just that.

[IRENE HANDS PHOEBE ONE OF THE BOOKS.]

PHOEBE

[READING THE COVER.] Daughtler: The Heart of Ether.

[SHE FANS THROUGH IT.]

PHOEBE

[SURPRISED] None of this is written in code. Irene, have you read any of this?

IRENE

Not yet. I haven’t had the time. We found these books when we got cornered.

[PHOEBE CONTINUES FLIPPING THROUGH PAGES.]

PHOEBE

It never got finished. He must have died before he could get around to it.

[HOLLY'S FOOTSTEPS ARE HEARD IN THE BACKGROUND.]

IRENE

What do you think he planned on doing with these?

PHOEBE

I’m not sure? Maybe he wanted to make the knowledge more accessible?

[HOLLY IS HEARD OPENING A CARDBOARD BOX.]

HOLLY

Hey, have you looked in this box?

IRENE

Um, no. I haven’t sorted through everything yet. Why?

[AS IRENE TALKS, SHE WALKS OVER TO WHERE HOLLY IS.]

HOLLY

There’s a bunch of undeveloped film in here.

IRENE

What do you think is on it?

HOLLY

Hell if I know. Do you have a place to develop film?

IRENE

No. Do you know anyone, Phoebe?

PHOEBE

Um, no. Sorry.

HOLLY

We can try putting an advert out. There’s a bulletin board outside of the Open Eyes Bookstore. Maybe if we post something, someone will reach out?

IRENE

That’s a good idea. I can put my number on it, too.

PHOEBE

[NERVOUS] Are you sure that’s a good idea?

IRENE

We don’t have to say what the film is for, right? It wouldn’t hurt to try. I mean, what if Valencia took a photo of something really important? Until we figure out how to read the other research, this may be the only tangible evidence we have.

[A BEAT.]

PHOEBE

Yeah, um, about that—

HOLLY

We figured out how to read the research. Well, correction, Phoebe did.

IRENE

[SURPRISED] Actually? That’s great news, Phoebe! How are you going to do it?

PHOEBE

[NERVOUS] Well, you see, it’s er, um, complicated. You might want to sit down?

IRENE

Oh, I guarantee you, nothing can surprise me after the conversation I had earlier. Try me.

PHOEBE

Well, the reason why the papers look blank is because they’re written in a way the human eye can’t read. Everything the two of them researched, it all stemmed from this thing called Ether, though I’m not sure entirely what that means yet other than it’s something like a power source.

My grandmother and Valencia had, um, special abilities? That allowed them to read and write in ways nobody else could understand, as well as do other stuff. So, if I want to be able to properly continue their work, I have to do the same thing they did. Acquire those same powers.

IRENE

So, is there, like, a ritual you have to do?

PHOEBE

You’re not freaking out?

IRENE

[DEADPAN] What did I say? I’ll accept anything at this point.

HOLLY

It is a ritual, yeah. We haven’t done it yet, because there’s a specific way to do it, and the consequences of fucking it up can be pretty bad. Dorothy left instructions on how to do it.

Phoebe’s going to be the only one trying to—how do I say this, ascend? Obtain the magic, or whatever it is? I’m going to be there to help in case anything goes wrong, though.

IRENE

That’s your plan, then? You’re gonna try to get supernatural powers to continue your grandmother’s work?

PHOEBE

It sounds kind of surreal when you put it that way, but, yes.

IRENE

Are you sure that’s what you want, Phoebe? I mean, I’m not saying you shouldn’t—it would definitely be helpful to have someone who can understand all this stuff, but… [SHE TRAILS OFF.]

PHOEBE

But?

IRENE

It’s your life. You don’t have to do what your grandmother did. This sounds like a really big deal. I mean, is there any way to reverse it once it’s done?

PHOEBE

Not as far as I know.

HOLLY

Trust me, we had this conversation. [HOLDING SOMETHING BACK] I have my worries too, but—

PHOEBE

But it’s not really a choice. For me, at least. I’ve thought really hard about it, and I’ve decided that if Grandma Doe thought I could handle it, then I trust her. I know there’s no turning back, but, I’m willing to accept the responsibility.

IRENE

Okay, then. That’s good. I hope it didn’t seem like I was trying to scold you, I just—

PHOEBE

No, you’re fine, don’t worry! I know you’re just looking out for me. I appreciate it. [SHE SAYS THIS WITH SLIGHT DISCOMFORT, SINCE SHE ISN’T USED TO PEOPLE CARING.]

IRENE

Of course.

[A BRIEF PAUSE.]

HOLLY

Well, should we get back to the shop and post that ad?

PHOEBE

That would be a good idea, yeah.

[PHOEBE CLOSES THE BOOK.]

PHOEBE

Um, do you mind if I bring this book with me, Irene?

IRENE

Go right ahead.

PHOEBE

Thanks again.

IRENE

Yup. Let me know how it goes.

[HOLLY HELPS PHOEBE GET ONTO THE LADDER.]

HOLLY

Are you good?

PHOEBE

Yup, yup. Thank you.

HOLLY

Unless you need my help, you can head to the car. I’ll be down in a minute.

PHOEBE

I’ll be okay, thanks.

[A LONG PAUSE WHILE PHOEBE CLIMBS DOWN AND LEAVES.]

HOLLY

Irene?

IRENE

Yeah?

HOLLY

What’s your endgame here?

IRENE

[TAKEN ABACK] Um, what?

HOLLY

I mean, why are you doing this?

IRENE

I didn’t have a choice. The mold attacked me first.

HOLLY

But you didn’t just move to a different place. You didn’t try to run away.

[A TENSE PAUSE.]

IRENE

[WARILY] You know what they say. Curiosity killed the cat.

HOLLY

Oh, come on, it’s not just that.

IRENE

[A BEAT.] No. No, it’s not.

HOLLY

Whatever it is, could you promise me one thing?

IRENE

I can try.

HOLLY

Don’t get too close. You’re already in dangerous territory. Not long until you’re gonna get burned.

IRENE

[SHE SCOFFS.] Not the first time I’ve heard that today.

HOLLY

[DEFENSIVE] And no matter what it is, you don’t put Phoebe at risk, in any way. You don’t touch a hair on her head, got that?

IRENE

I’d never dream of it.

HOLLY

Good. Take care.

IRENE

You, too.

[HOLLY LEAVES. THERE’S A LONG MOMENT WHILE IRENE LINGERS, WAITING UNTIL THEY’VE LEFT THE HOUSE.]

IRENE

There’s one more thing I need to tell you, Rose.

When Avery asked me to turn off the recording, it wasn’t just because our food had arrived. They said they needed my help with something.

You know how they said they were part of a wider, I guess, subcategory of weird? The Hungry? They know other people who are like that, and apparently, the Hungry are starting to go missing. It’s been most prevalent in the Washington area over the past month, but it’s been going on across the country for a long time.

Avery thinks someone’s killing them. One by one. Hunting them down.

They asked if I could help figure out what’s happening. I agreed. Not sure why. I have no clue how I’m supposed to catch a killer. Guess I’ll have to figure it out.

I should get going. I have a lot of thinking to do.

Talk to you soon.

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

[ANOTHER PHONE BEEP.]

[INT. IRENE’S BEDROOM, NIGHT.]

[THERE IS THE SOUND OF CRICKETS FROM OUTSIDE.]

IRENE

[SOFTLY, TINGED WITH SLEEPINESS] Hey. I know it’s late. Trust me, I’ve tried sleeping, but it just isn’t happening. I have too much on my mind. Avery’s problem, Phoebe’s plan…Ether. Whatever that means.

But, above all of that—above the chaos my life is slowly dissolving into—I’ve realized something: I might see you again. For years, the thought of being with you has been a passive daydream. Now, for the first time in ages, it’s a real and tangible thing in my hands. It’s not just a hope, but a possible future.

I’ve thought about how I might react. Hell, I’ve thought about that ever since you first went missing. Will I start sobbing? Will I scream? I have no idea. I might not do anything. Might just stand there and stare at you, dumbfounded.

[TENDER] I can be sure of one thing: if I find you, I promise not to let go. Whatever is chasing you, whatever tries to hurt you, I won’t let it. You’ve run for so long. You must be so tired.

If—no, when—when I find you, I’ll…I’ll give you anything, okay? A hundred flowers. A thousand paper cranes. Easy mornings, trips to the bakery, that domestic life you used to romanticize so much, but never got. My flesh, my blood, my bones, my whole entire being. I’ll give it all to you. Of course I will.

Goodnight, my dove.

[PHONE BEEP.]

[RECORDING ENDS.]

AUTOMATED VOICE

Today's quote is: “I will take the sun in my mouth

and leap into the ripe air

Alive

with closed eyes

to dash against darkness.”

E.E. Cummings in Crepuscule, 1917.

We are all there is here. That which we harbor will not spoil you with rotten words. There is no cause for concern. There is no cause for concern. [THEN, SLOWER] There is no—

[THE VOICE IS CUT OFF BY A GLITCHING NOISE.]

[OUTRO MUSIC & CREDITS PLAY.]

ELI ESDI

The Station Arcadia podcast tells stories from a dystopian world where dieselpunk, steampunk, cyberpunk and solarpunk societies all exist side by side. These diverse stories are told through a radio station on a shifting island, and given voice by the Station's Host - Kassandra.

KASS

Did that man just try to offer jerky as a consolation prize for someone’s daughter?

ELI

Woven through each stand-alone story are threads that come together to tell the story of a revolution, and hope in the face of a dying world. MEMORIE

I understand enough. The revolution still has hope and I want to help.

ELI Breaks in the narration bring us on-site to each society, where we hear four unique and powerful stories.

[ALICE GRUNTS]

TEDDY

Stop squirming!

ALICE

I can lift myself through the window let me just-!

[DULL THUD FROM BEHIND A WALL.]

ALICE

[MUFFLED] Ow.

ELI

Station Arcadia broadcasts Fridays at 9 am Pacific Time. Transcripts and additional information are available at stationarcadia.com.

Remember listeners; Stay Safe, Stay Moving, and Stick Close. You’ve been listening to Station Arcadia, the promo.

#heart of ether transcripts

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docholligay · 4 years

Text

The Rest is Commentary

A Patreon release from long ago! I don’t often release my writing about Judaism, but I know a lot of people find it very guiding and soothing in some way, so here is an oldie for these times.

Want to support my releases? Thank you! Patreon – Ko-fi

“It all goes back to that old question. Is Judaism ritual, or ethical?”

His dark eyes are sparkling brightly as he answers me in the only way a rabbi can.

“Yes.”

I lean back in my chair, swinging my arm, nails still dirty from pulling potatoes out of the ground, across the back of it, and give him a long look. He’s the student rabbi, our heir apparent, and is only getting to know me.

“That’s as may be,” it’s been observed my rural accent gets stronger when I’m doing dirt work, and it isn’t wrong, “but you know damn well people are more one or the other. And I’m not real impressed with ritual.”

I am a doer. It’s funny, for someone whose entire career, entire life, runs around words, and they we use them, and the way we manipulate them, and how they can make a thousand things true or false, in my own personal life I regard them little. Action is all that has ever mattered. There are a million pretty things you can say to make you feel better, but our actions show what’s in our hearts.

But maybe spending all my life using words to paint pictures that may or may not be true is why I don’t trust them.

I am a Jew because I live Judaism in my ethics, in the way I decide to do or not do something, and every aspect of those choices I make is somehow filtered through my understanding of Jewish ethics. I am called to be righteous, and I am called to be just, and any prayer I say or candle I light or service I attend only serves as a reminder that I am called to be righteous, and to be just.

Rabbi Erik thinks I may be a little hard on people.

But that’s why I never became a rabbi.

“Ritual,” he says, “involves habit, and choice. Goodness is a habit, and a choice. If we live the Jewish rituals, we learn to make a constant choice, even if it’s inconvenient.” He takes a sip of his water, “And with Jewish law, it usually is.”

I shake my head at him. “Ritual can remind us of what it means to be a Jew, but it just as often mollifies a guilty conscience. Being a Jew’s what you do..”

“Rituals are doing.”

“Rituals are fucking frosting on Jew cake. Rituals are sleepwalking through something you’ve done a hundred times because you think you’re supposed to. All of Judaism to me, is wrapped up in,” I tap the table as I say it, “Justice, justice, shall you pursue.”

It’s a well known Jewish saying, and he whispers it in Hebrew, nodding, as soon as I say it. A lot of commentary has been spilled on three words that define so much of Judaism, that many Jews, like me, have taken as the moral heart of Judaism, the mast that we lash ourselves to in the face of evil or worse, weakness. Ritual takes obedience. Justice takes strength. Your Judaism is walked, or it is bullshit.

“I’m tired,” I say, looking off, “of people talking about righteousness in torah study and not getting on their hands and knees to help. We’re supposed to repair the world, and maybe I can’t do that, but I can put my hands into the dirt and feed someone.” I look back to him. “Say little and do much, you know.”

I think he’s about to laugh at me, for a minute. I consider myself deeply religious, which I think some of the congregation would find funny, being as I show up to service once a month, maybe. But I’m always to be found packing a box of food or calling a rep or repairing a bicycle for kids. This is my prayer. This is how I show God there was a reason to bring me out of Egypt.

But he doesn’t laugh. He just shakes his head.

“You know a lot of the texts for someone who hates ritual and study.” But he moves on. “This Yom Kippur, I’m going to talk about teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah.” He looks at me, maybe expecting some note of relief, but these are pretty standard topics, “And how they mean deeper things than repentance, prayer, and charity”

Now he has my attention. Those are not poor translations, if we accept any Jewish concept having a one word equivalent, but they mean so much more than that--teshuvah is more about coming back to what it means to be Jewish than it is to simply be sorry, tefillah is more about keeping the lines of communication open than it is supplication, and tzedakah, tzedakah most of all, is about more than putting coins in a cup, but about seeking to do good, seeking to make the world a more just place. Tzedakah is a verb.

“I want you to make a ritual,” he smiles at me, leaning over for a moment, “of coming more often. Because I want you to talk about tzedakah. Opportunities for our congregation.” He nods at me. “How to find God in doing volunteer work.”

I laugh. “I’m a born and bred rural Montanan, Erik, I find everything in the dirt, why should God be any different?”

“I love you, you should have a podcast.” Sometimes he is the most L.A. “But that’s what I’m talking about! You’re great with words. You’re something different.”

He’s not completely wrong. Our congregation is a small spattering of Jews who grew up in Montana, and a much larger handful of transplants from both coasts brought here by the hospitals or the colleges. Showing up every Shabbat, picking up and leaving your religion at the door, that’s what they know.

I never had a temple, really, so my temple was in the shadow of the mountains, in the tall grass of the prairie, in a dark bar where Waylon played over the jukebox. I kept my Judaism in my heart because I had nowhere else to put it.

I sigh. Already the goddamn ethical requirement to try and inspire my fellow Jews to be better is weighing on me.

“Fine.” is all I say, but it comes out in my grandad’s voice, country and annoyed “Fahne.”

“Great!” he goes to clap my shoulder, and remembers my Montanan boundaries, lifting his hand. “High five. Good job.”

I give him a high five, and wonder what the fuck I’m going to say.

#We are lost in Corona...#spoiler alert I am now a regular attendee #goddamnit Erik you got me in the end #Also I am now #in fact #a coordinator for our mitzvah department #so #IT HAPPENED #patreon releases

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twistednuns · 4 years

Text

October 2020

To buttress - increase the strength of or justification for; reinforce / to mollycoddle - to give someone too much care or protection.

A letter from Nina. One of those weird internet connections. Not my first one, certainly not my last one.

Frank’s DnD backstory reads quite insightful/poetic to me as he has taken so much from his life. He might have done it without intent but it’s quite obvious to me. I’ve agreed to make a character sketch for him. I’m looking forward to the challenge but I’m also afraid of starting the project because obviously I want it to be perfect. Anyway so the other night I sat at his kitchen table and started drawing a facial composite for his goliath. Lots of sketches actually with him giving me some prompts and ideas. I think he loved watching me do my magic. What a peaceful moment.

Applause from some students. Simply for entering the room. They must really hate their English teacher, eh?

I’ve started forming the habit of drawing tarot cards on a full moon and new moon night. It helps me set an intention for the following two weeks. So on the first of October I drew the Queen of Wands to represent me and I’m loving it. It’s the perfect choice.

The fabric dyeing process for the Plot exhibition at Haus der Kunst

Inviting warmth into my life. Wearing appropriately warm clothing. Even hats. Drinking tea all the time. Turning the heating on even though it’s only September. Warm breakfast. Ayurveda inspiration. Hot baths. Thinking about buying an electric heating blanket for my bed.So far I’ve been taking a hot water bottle to bed with me pretty much every night.

Finding one of those Barts woolly animal hats online. This one came with tigers. And the seller sent me a cherry marzipan teabag. I enjoyed it on a cold and rainy Saturday morning.

FAQ: The Status of the Shits Women Have Left to Give

Reading the final scenes of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy. I actually took the wrong bus one evening and ended up in front of one of the Pinakotheken instead of Villa Stuck. I must have been quite immersed. I’m very happy with the ending. I mean, the main character is walking around the house barefoot with the smell of fresh paint following her, her hair loose. What a wonderful image.

The wind blowing through the maple trees outside my living room window. I’m just going to quote a Wikipedia article to explain what happened next: The distinctive fruits are called samaras, “maple keys”, “helicopters”, “whirlybirds” or “polynoses”. These seeds occur in distinctive pairs each containing one seed enclosed in a “nutlet” attached to a flattened wing of fibrous, papery tissue. They are shaped to spin as they fall and to carry the seeds a considerable distance on the wind. People often call them “helicopters” due to the way that they spin as they fall. During World War II, the US Army developed a special airdrop supply carrier that could carry up to 65 pounds (29 kg) of supplies and was based on the maple seed.

Monsieur Wiener - I’ve paid him a visit when I had problems with my analogue Pentax camera!

I don’t know why but one dark Friday evening I slipped into the empty church at Odeonsplatz. I loved the peaceful atmosphere, the specific smell and the red church candles flickering.

I loved meeting Flo. We had such a great time, constantly joking, talking about this and that. Sailor Mercury, Hades, our family. His wink. He said that I had been exactly right but in the end apparently I wasn’t. It stung because he had been one of the rare guys in the last months (years, actually) I actually liked. Oh well. I guess it wasn’t meant to be after all. This is what the Universe had to say about it the other day: There are no accidents. If it’s appeared on your life’s radar, this is why: to teach you that dreams come true; to reveal that you have the power to fix what’s broken and heal what hurts; to catapult you beyond seeing with just your physical senses; and to lift the veils that have kept you from seeing that you’re already the person you dreamed you’d become.

Videos of Marno and Erin together. Also: she is so freakin’ beautiful as a marauder.

A surprise call from Ann-Katrin.

Sweet chai tea with milk.

The bright moonlight making the neighbours’ roof look like fish scales.

Forensic linguistics. I listened to a podcast episode about the Unabomber who was only discovered after his brother had noticed some stylistic irregularities in his manifesto. You can’t eat your cake and have it too.

Autumn leaves. Especially when it’s just the outer leaves turning red or yellow while the rest of the foliage is still green.

Sitting next to my ten-year-old student Ella on the bus on our way home on a Friday afternoon. She’s a very chatty Gemini and even though her self-importance and constant talking can be quite annoying I’ve kinda taken a liking to her.

A bunch of Alstroemeria in my dark green glass vase on the desk. A pretty image.

I still appreciate how beautiful my LuLuLemon thermos bottle is after all this time.

I should probably mention my new hair (extensions). Well, it looks absolutely gorgeous from the front. But I already know that I won’t get them again because you can see the glue in a few places, it’s quite hard, often painful and feels unnatural. And of course it’s much too expensive.

Baby carrots with King hummus.

My lunch dates with Becky.

Making my favourite sour thai curry. With rice noodles. And peanuts and cilantro. Yum.

Starting to work on a big soapstone sculpture. It’s going to be a hand! I love it when I have a group of calm students. It allows me to work on a project with them.

Making delicious pumpkin lasagna.

Visiting Manu’s mum. Making plum dumplings together. A fun afternoon in their kitchen.

A very cosy Sunday. Waking up at 5:30am. Watching Practical Magic in bed. Having a slice of pumpkin lasagna for breakfast. A sudden urge to get out, dressing up to keep out the cold, going out, early, streetlights still on. A walk through the woods. I loved how calm everything was. Being out before all the others had a chance to disturb the stillness with their kids and dogs and bicycles. Making lebkuchen. Lots of pecans. Having a nap. Writing a letter. Drawing weird mushrooms and bugs.

Autumnal smells. The moist smell of the forest ground, mushrooms, the smell of chimneys on a cold Sunday morning. Incense, gingerbread spices. Facial oil with lavender and iris. Roasted pecans.

A crafty day. I made a haunted house, some ghosts, spiders, bats, skulls and pumpkins out of paper.

Schlurp.

Meeting Frank in front of Residenztheater. The whole square was empty, he was the only person there. Waiting for me. Looking up to the opera roof. What an impressive building.

Talking about living life in story mode and action mode. I feel so stuck in action mode at the moment and desperately want to switch to story mode. Fantasy, magic, coincidences and meaning.

Spicy pumpkin recipes in the current issue of Schrot und Korn.

Rice and hazelnut milk as a bedtime treat.

Collecting autumn leaves. Chestnuts, acorns, feathers, beechnuts. Making a little autumnal alter with some crystals.

Thursday mornings. So much time for myself. Lots of tea, warm breakfast.

Treating myself to massages and nice facial creams and serums. Ya Yah is such a gifted person. I love her massages the most. The other day I also got a facial for the first time in many many years. It was nice to be wrapped in an extremely fluffy blanket. When the bright lights were on I could see different colours after closing my eyes and imagined being at a tropical beach. Unintentional ASMR sounds from the rubber gloves. Cosy.

Spicy winter tea in my new thermos bottle. The steam swirling up from my favourite mug (the moon phase mug I bough in Canada).

Buying cheap sparkly stickers, washi tape and stamps. Just because.

Pecan nuts are the BEST. Crazy delicious.

Porridge with coconut milk and mango for breakfast. Persimmons. Candles in the morning.

Gloomy twilight. The dark hour right before sunset/sunrise. Spooky black silhouettes against the ink blue or greyish white sky. Fairy lights. Memories of spending Halloween at Greyfriar’s Kirkyard in Edinburgh.

Finding yet another woolly hat for my collection. This time with pheasants.

Deltavenus’ Instagram feed.

Cutting open a fresh lime.

Happily singing along to my two favourite mantras (Jai Mata Kali / Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha) while making apple galette. Trying to harmonise in different ways.

A very surprising call from Claudia. She ended up in my kitchen, drinking half a bottle of wine.

A lovely Sunday with Sash. A walk through the English garden. Watching the waterfall, falling leaves, backlit by the afternoon sunlight. Haus der Kunst. Getting in for free (art teacher bonus). I really liked the Michael Armitage exhibition and the enormous dyed curtains in the hall. Franz Erhard Walther’s Dust of Stars autobiography was impressive as well. I just ordered the book online; I’m looking forward to reading it. We also had a drink at Goldene Bar and enjoyed a late lunch at Baoz Bar.

Becky leaving me a lovely note and an English magazine on my desk.

Fink’s Knödelstube with Lena and Sash. We had 13 different kinds of dumplings. Heavenly delicious.

I came to realise that mornings are my favourite time of the day. I love gloomy, dark sunrises and my usual productivity highs.

Writing limericks with the kids.

Getting lost in the woods after dark which might not look like a good think at first glance but I uncovered a little secret - some bee hives I had never seen before!

A mild obsession with The Corrs’ song Old Town. I didn’t even know where it came from. It’s not a song I’ve ever actively listened to.

Learning about sesame plants. Another one of those plants I expected to look completely different.

I can smell mushrooms. On Saturday morning I went to the forest again early in the morning and whenever I would get a whiff of mushrooms and look down there they were.

Dog owners wishing me a good morning on my walk. Interestingly only men, the women tend to ignore me.

Wicked! - Modern Art’s Interest in the Occult. Learning about Leonora Carrington.

James’ chameleons in art class. He drew one representing each of his family members. He was the one licking a bat. Bold.

Buying far too many books. But I found out that Naomi Novik just published a new novel about a school of magic. And within two days I came across the writer Ursula K. Le Guin three times so I took it as a sign and got one of her books as well.

Prepare for the Roaring Twenties - The human desire to socialize will survive the pandemic.

A deep talk session with Jonathan about getting old, having children, self-worth, dating, obeying rules.

Finding my favourite pair of jeans on Kleiderkreisel for a fraction of the original price. And a baseball jacket with a Strange Ladies Society print on the back.

A walk in the forest before work. Something I’ve never done before I think. So good for my nerves, really.

The art of decision-making.

Joy praising me for my authoritative voice (effectively making the fifth-graders do what I want).

Decorating the classroom with the fifth-graders. I love my haunted house on the window pane, their lovely spiders, ghosts and bats. I should probably mention that our class mascot is a cute spider named Crawley so we’re all quite into spooky stuff. On the last day before the holidays we all showed up in costumes, played a Halloween quiz, listened to creepy music and I brought some candy, too. Fun!

Meeting the gang on Halloween. Japanese-inspired dinner and a board game.

#things i love #present perfect #personal #october #2020 #october 2020

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highstakesr0ller · 2 years

Photo

{⋅. ✦ .⋅} task 25:

altair byun

inspired by : izaya orihara (durarara), lee hyo-in ( make me bark ), lloyd hansend (the gray man), desire (the sandman ), kai parker (vampires diaries ), mr. fox ( fantastic mr. fox ), kookseverwhere!!! - awolnation ( song ), etc.

{⋅-: ✧ pinterest - musing - spotify :-⋅}

{⋅. GENERAL .⋅}

birth name: altair byun nicknames: a. tair. date of birth: oct 29 age: 27 gender: male pronouns: he/him powers: unknown species: human / mortal. sexuality: straight place of birth: boston, massachusetts current residence: elias, california occupation: current owner of snake eyes (money laundering)

{⋅.TESTS.⋅}

zodiac sign: scorpio mbti: ENTP temperament: sanguine-choleric hogwarts house: slytherin moral alignment: neutral evil

{⋅. APPEARANCE .⋅}

height: 6′0. hair colour/style: brown with bangs, kept extra short on the sides. wavy to straight. eye colour: dark brown, almost black piercings: daith on right ear. tattoos: none. notable markings: birthmark on the back of his neck, cigarette burns on left arm. glasses/contacts? no. faceclaim: song kang

{⋅. HEALTH .⋅}

physical ailments: unknown allergies: unknown. sleeping habits: sleeps enough. usually looks tired due to the dark circles under his eyes. dominant hand: right hand. drugs / smoke / alcohol? no, yes, no

{⋅. PERSONALITY .⋅}

( + ) traits: fearless, innovated, confident, adaptable, strategical. ( - ) traits: arrogant, insensitive, argumentative, intolerant. usual mood: ominous likes: reading articles, crossword puzzles, researching, the smell of money, chilly weather, festivals, speaking to people, organization, the rising sun, concerts, new ideas, people who agree, escape rooms, hang gliding, cold coffee, origami, extravagant things, cutting tags, sharp objects, podcast, multitasking, architecture, knife throwing, numbers, traveling, checkbooks. dislikes: long lines, the feeling of boredom, being late, ringing in the ears, traffic,children, rule breakers, rough textures, music, the sound of typing, zenith and orion. bad habits: half finish projects do require more money.

{⋅. RELATIONSHIPS .⋅}

mother: eun-ju byun father: biologic unknown adopted by orion batholowem siblings: zenith batholowem children: never birth order: eldest significant others: none closest friends: this could be you

{⋅.SKILLS & STATS .⋅}

languages spoken: english, korean drive? yes. jump start a car? yes. change a flat tire? no. ride a bicycle? yes. swim? yes. play an instrument? no play chess? yes. braid hair? no. tie a tie? yes. pick a lock? no. sew? no.

compassion. 4/10.

empathy. 4/10.

creativity. 4/10.

mental flexibility. 7/10.

passion. 9/10.

luck. 6/10.

motivation. 9/10.

education. 6/10.

intelligence. 9/10.

charisma. 7/10.

reflexes. 9/10.

willpower. 10/10.

stamina. 4/10.

physical strength. 5/10.

battle skill. 6/10.

initiative. 7/10.

restraint. 9/10.

strategy. 7/10.

team work. 4/10.

#watask #⊱ ── “one more roll o'the dice oughta do it!” task #⊱ ── “Into the darkness they go” ng: altair

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skinfeeler · 4 years

Text

today was the only day that ever happened.

i often dream lucidly, and when i dream lucidly, i am capable of waking myself up. today, at what turned out to be 07:30, i realised i was dreaming, thought to myself “fuck, i have to wake up, i have so much work to do today” and woke up in a daze. my half-hour morning routine (breakfast over an episode of netflix or a podcast) ended up taking about thrice as long because of some domestic stuff. by the time i was done, it was 09:00.

two hours of work on the exam i have in two days, finishing the job. one hour of continued work on an assignment, keeping me on schedule. two hours of casual shopping (got new shampoo/conditioner, some groceries i had run out of, and special cleanable ear plugs for sleeping) as i explored all the stores in the neighborhoods i hadn’t noticed yet, 30 minutes of full-body lifting maintenance, 15 minutes of practising longsword guards, 15 minutes of folding and stashing laundry, then an hour of admin work and catching up with people. shortly after 16:00, i ate dinner. after that, i went to the hardware store to get some things we needed to fix things in this house, as well as a tire pump— without which our bicycles that we brought over from elsewhere would’ve eventually become useless.

at 17:30 i slept until 20:00. i had been planning to go watch a film with a friend for two hours, but someone else was feeling down and had a big day ahead of them the day after and i also wanted to do voice training before midnight (ever courteous) while also making sure i could do HIIT so i needed to shuffle some things around. until 20:45 i was looking at timetables and schedules as well as talking to people to get things done. then i needed to do the same thing as my morning ritual to wake up, meaning that at 21:15 i was ready for voice training. finished that early, caught the stream at exactly the time i said i would, 21:45. i streamed for exactly an hour, as i said i would, because the person i did it for wanted to go to sleep at 22:45. it was good, just tying some ends up, which i went through efficiently both because that’s just how i play games, but also because you know, i was on a schedule and wanted a nice starting point for next stream. fortunately it helped me untense just enough to not be wholly consumed by workbrain.

then, per schedule, i waited for my friend i was going to watch the film with to get ready as i prepared a pre-workout shake and retrieved my protein shake. i drank the shake over the course of the first hour of the film (runtime: just under two hours) meaning that i would be ready to have my pre-workout 30 min after the first hour of the film. ultimately the source for the film didn’t work out, so while we took measures to be able to do it tomorrow, i had most of my protein shake and all of my pre-workout as we chatted about a couple of things, including some things i wanted their input on vis-a-vis my work on the committee i’m part of at the derby as they’re the only one i know at my general level of athleticism. while we chatted over call, i also arranged a time and place to go skate with someone tomorrow and figured out at what point i’d have to depart for that.

at 00:45 i was ready to go outside, and by 01:00 i was done and back inside. after some work i took a shower at 01:15 — i don’t mean to make a habit of showering past midnight, but this time it ended up going this way — and after that changed back into workday clothes. had some fruit quickly and made plans with someone to help them work through a high school maths course and assigned the task to a post-it for on my wall (the strongest promise i can give people) and from 02:00 through 03:30 i did some editing work on my novel manuscript.

then i finalised this document i had been keeping as a record all day and posted it, and now i am going to sleep, knowing that i did what i both had to do and wanted to today and what’s up for tomorrow.

PROTEIN SCOOPS INGESTED: 2. HOURS OF MEDIA CONSUMED: 2. LITERS OF MILK DRANK: 1. NET POST-IT WALL GROWTH: -1. TIMES OUTFIT CHANGED: 6. NET BLACK OPS POST-IT WALL GROWTH: 1. TIMES MOMENTUM LOST AND REGAINED: 4. WORKOUTS PERFORMED: 2. CIGARETTES/ALCOHOL UNITS/JOINTS TAKEN: 0. SCHEDULE CHANGES: 4. MUGS OF TEA DRANK: 3. BONDS DEEPENED: 3. WOMEN RESPECTED: 1.

#i can do this all week bro

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ethdifi1989qi-blog · 4 years

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Low-key and mystical performance praise What is the investment idea of ??Spark Capital

Two weeks ago, a number of companies invested by Spark Capital completed acquisitions and exits and the next circular of investments by additional first-tier money, including food delivery company Postmates, clever mirror firm Mirror, quick messaging company Discord, and so forth. In June, they also completed 6 new investments. Such outstanding performance during the epidemic is quite rare in the VC circle. This program discusses what kind of fund Spark Capital is definitely, and the evaluation of these invested and acquired companies. What sort of company is Spark Capital Lively and lively: Although Spark Capital is in Silicon Valley, it seems that there is not much discussion about it, in fact it is not really a first-line fund. Louis: Because they started in Boston and are not of pure Silicon Valley descent, they are not on the list of top-tier Silicon Valley funds. But judging from their purchase portfolio, it really is an extremely competitive company. The founders of Spark Capital (Bijan Sabet, etc.) also mentioned that they encountered many obstacles if they "fight" from Boston to Silicon Valley. Lively and vigorously: Their team is not big, mainly divided into two funds, one for earlier investment and the other for growth. Today their initial administration scale is 450 million U.S. bucks, and the growth period is 900 million. The total amount is approximately 4 billion U.S. dollars in AUM (property under management). What makes me more eye-catching is the businesses that Bijan has committed to, such as Twitter, Tumblr, Trello, OMGPOP, Foursquare, and also Stack Overflow. Generally, one vote is one standard. Louis: Bijan is still very good. Both Twitter and Tumblr invested quite early, and he invested in the business when Twitter got just 12 employees. Founder of Bijan Sabet Spark Capital Their partners are not many, and some are drawn from the investee company. For instance, in the first days of Twitter, Kevin Thau was employed as a fund partner. Kevin later on led the investment in Mirror, which was recently acquired. Which companies have you invested in? Lively voice: Let's talk about the most famous Postmates first. Louis: Postmates may be the top foods delivery business in the United States, and its market share is most likely No. 4. The first choice is DoorDash, accompanied by Uber Eats, No. 3 is Grubhub, and No. 4 is basically Postmates. Lately Postmates was acquired simply by Uber, and you will furthermore see Uber Eats' ambitions. Image supply: foodondemandnews.com Suffering from the epidemic, Uber's first-quarter financial report had been ugly. Although overall revenue is rising, the net loss is approximately 3 x that of the same time period this past year, reaching $2.936 billion. They also laid off employees consistently, layoffs about a quarter of these employees inside a month. Although Uber's overall loss is expanding, Uber Eats's business has skyrocketed. Uber Eats' total bookings are US$4.683 billion, which is 30% of total revenue and a 52% year-on-year increase. So the epidemic actually taught Uber a lesson. We all said before that if startups can grasp among the four requires of humans, they may become giants. But Uber is rolling out to this year, and it has discovered that the 4 major rigid requirements may also be in order. Image source: digital.hbs.edu More than a month ago, there have been rumors that Uber can acquire Grubhub, the company with the 3rd largest market share. DoorDash's current market share is 45%, Grubhub has 28%, and Uber provides 17%. If Uber successfully acquired Grubhub a month ago, its total market talk about could be add up to DoorDash. Afterwards, a European giant named Just Eat Takeaway acquired Grubhub, that is equivalent to the merger of Ele.me personally and Baidu Waimai. So Uber could only turn around to find Postmates. Around 2012, Nabeel, somebody of Spark Funds, entered Postmates in a valuation of 73 million through the B circular, and the business was eventually acquired by Uber for $2.6 billion. Spark Capital offers its own expenditure philosophy. The CEO of Postmates will be neither a graduate of the CS main from an American Ivy League college nor a senior executive encounter in a big company. Its CEO is really a German. After dropping out of university, he's got experienced various locations in European countries for a long period. Although the price of $2.65 billion isn't high for Spark Capital, it is not a case of sensation like Twitter. But it can be seen that their investments have become stable. Lively and lively: Postmates has a total financing of nearly 900 million US dollars, so the price of 2.6 billion US bucks did not help make everyone earn often, but at least it is profitable. Their Website had two rounds of financing this past year, one in January and something in September. As you stated, this industry is as well money-burning and competition is as well fierce. Louis: For early investors want Spark Capital, it is still a good result. Uber nearly bought Grubhub. If this list is completed, it is unlikely to end up being still left to Postmates. Lively: How will be Mirror, a relatively new company? Louis: Friends who make use of Instagram should be able to see this company's ads frequently. It is a D2C brand that is a yoga exercise mirror for exercise. It looks no different from ordinary mirrors, but electronic, you can try yourself in the mirror, follow the yoga instructor in the mirror to accomplish yoga, and there are other fitness lessons. Mirror's mirror markets for under US$1,500, also it had approximately US$100 million in revenue last year. Image supply: Mirror official website The home fitness field in the usa is relatively popular. Probably the most popular one is Peloton, which is a bike for exercising in the home. Many huge tech circles and VC circles have this type of bike in the home. The cost of this car is expensive, more than 2,000 US dollars. Peloton was also successfully listed this past year, and the existing market value is about 19 billion US dollars. Lively: Where is the selling point of Mirror? Louis: The prospective market for Mirror is relatively high-end. Individuals above the center class in the usa are suffering from good fitness routines. They cannot visit the gym during the epidemic. Increasing numbers of people are considering how exactly to maintain health and fitness habits in the home. Mirror's $100 million in revenue this past year was not a big explosion, thus Lululemon's acquisition of this company was also a bold attempt through the epidemic. The features of Mirror are reflected in product design and social attributes. The high stickiness of Peloton customers is also due to the social nature. You can view how far your friends have ridden by riding a bicycle every day. Just like Line's methods ranking, there will be peer pressure. Image resource: Peloton official website And the complex threshold of Mirror hardware isn't too high, a few courses on a mirror. Additionally, there are many home fitness startups in China, including startups that benchmark Peloton or Mirror. The prerequisite for home fitness in the usa may be the maturity of the exercise industry and the popularization of outdoor exercise practices. But it continues to be a comparatively new thing in China. As a result, whether domestic exercise can achieve how big is the United States remains to be verified. Another company Spark Capital invested in is certainly Discord, the former entered the marketplace at a valuation of $22 million in the A round. The new round is led by Index Ventures, and today has a valuation of 3.5 billion U.S. dollars and keeps growing very fast. Image source: medium.com Discord can be an software for tone of voice and textual content chat. After logging in, you can see that its interface is very much like Slack, but their audiences are very different. Slack is really a SaaS firm of to B, and their users are all enterprises. The primary audience of Discord is in the gaming circle, where the voice function can be used the most. To place it bluntly, this is a software application for everyone to play video games, and the CPU occupies very little. Along with game communication, additional communication may also be performed on it. Many users of Discord are attracted from Reddit. Reddit is an extremely popular discussion board in the usa. Peer-to-peer conversation is fairly laborious. There is no personal messaging and quick messaging functions. Therefore, many large Reddit stations will open their own servers on Discord. Currently Discord has 45 million users and 9 million DAU. Even though initial feature set was even more casual, which was not the same as Slack's starting place, some schools in Europe already are using Discord for classes. So actually, Discord has mixed the functions of Slack and Zoom. This is a thing that many startups wish to accomplish but have not completed, because the United Claims can be used to doing a single function, and performing a good job first. Discord also found a good entry point in an individual dimension after combining the features of Slack and Zoom. They entered the market through the overall game segment and expanded to other areas. I think the potential customers are quite good. Lively voice: simply talked about the voice interaction and chat field, we are able to mention Clubhouse again. Louis: Clubhouse is also an extremely popular startup in Silicon Valley recently. A16z invested 12 million US dollars, with a valuation of around 100 million US dollars. But Clubhouse's products have not however seen everyone, as the current consumer invitation system. Now generally there are only 1,500 customers, basically all are tech giants, journalists, CEOs or some Hollywood celebrities. The product is founded on voice social media, and Clubhouse really wants to disrupt the podcast industry. They believe that podcasts can be converted into real-time chats. For example, many large bosses are usually chatting, and ordinary people can pay attention to them instantly and take part in interaction. Image source: techcrunch.com Clubhouse's environment is that users can easily see many areas after successfully logging in. For example, in this chat room, you can find leaders from Spark Funds discussing some emerging topics, and I wish to proceed in and pay attention. We just mentioned that it had been invested 12 million US bucks by a16z, including 2 million secondary shares (old shares). Both founders have cashed out US$2 million before the product came out. This is rare in the VC circle, and I don't believe this is a good sign. However, from the perspective of two extremely popular businesses, Discord and Clubhouse, after the epidemic, there is still a lot of room in the voice social and video fields. Lively voice: Spark Capital committed to 2 new companies in June, and the remaining 4 companies are fresh rounds of previous investment. One of the newly invested companies is called Teooh, which is a bit like the Sims 3D avatar. It could socialize, hold meetings, or hold workshops, reside podcasts or remote control team building. There are several consumer scenarios. Spark Funds casts a seed circular. Image resource: teooh.com Louis: Considering its web site now is quite "fun". It has made a 3D animation model for everyone, and the animation level is quite rough. But in the beta stage of the product, we can't use its current design to predict its future development. In case you are beginning to consider the prototypes of Google or Facebook, you may find it inexplicable. Maybe after a year or two, this type of product could have a qualitative leap. Lively voice: Another company that Spark Capital committed to in June is Tatch, whose function is to monitor sleep quality. This company was established in 2017. The form is a small patch like a plaster which can be connected to your body to monitor sleep high quality in eight various dimensions, including breathing and switching over during sleep. In the future, there may be cooperation with doctors. There are various such companies. Why do Spark Capital spend money on this company? Image supply: tatchhealth.com Louis: There are many people in this industry, including Apple. Apple also lately introduced a sleep monitoring function. Spark Capital recently committed to a company, that i think is quite interesting, called Quaestor. It is a SaaS item that connects investors and founders. On the main one hand, it helps investors manage the business they spend money on, and alternatively, it helps entrepreneurs manage investor relations. The management of most VC organizations is in fact very "primitive", and everyone uses Excel and E-mail. The founder of the product can be a VC background, and one of them was something manager at Carta before. Lively voice: Carta can be a particularly interesting product. Essentially, during the past two years, everyone has used it to communicate with investors about the stock situation. Louis: Indeed, Carta basically achieved the monopoly of this type. Carta is really a SaaS software managed by way of a startup company's shares. Start-up companies need to open choice pools for workers and manage shares for traders. This software program can do 409A valuation. You can even trade shares on it. Equity dealings in the principal market supply the impact of a secondary market. So Carta's item supervisor was dug out to accomplish Quaestor, which is reasonable. Image source: Quaestor Quaestor's products presently do not directly cope with equity dealings. At the beginning, they could still start from the perspectives of CRM, data collection, and data management, rather than directly starting finance. Lively voice: Quaestor's main function is to see how very much money is in the account of the invested company, quarterly earnings, etc. Whether it's for entrepreneurs or traders, this is actually very challenging to manage. How to talk about these data regularly without leaking the data is still very complicated. If this piece can be achieved, it'll be a good market segment. The founder's judgment on the problem of the VC industry Louis: Both main companions of Spark Funds are usually Bijan and Nabeel. Bijan may be the founder of Spark Funds in Boston, and Nabeel is really a partner in the San Francisco office, both with an excellent investment history. Each of them also have a podcast, Hallway Chat. In the latest episode, they talked about the development trend of the VC sector this year. Image source: Apple company Podcast Weighed against the household VC sector, Silicon Valley seems "lazy". It feels as though half a year is on christmas every calendar year. There are always a group of holidays beginning with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Xmas and New 12 months. There are basically no people in the last two months Worked. Because these VCs may also be bigwigs, they are not young and their children are older. In summer time, the kids have summer holiday, and they went again during the past two months. Therefore, the overall US VC sector feels very lazy. When the epidemic broke out, it experienced that individuals were not working. Bijan of Spark Funds also asked Nabeel, how can you think the overall purchase of VC changes this year. Nabeel's thinking is not exactly like everybody else. He thinks VC will undoubtedly be increasing this year. Companion, Nabeel Hyatt Spark Capital He said that whenever the epidemic simply started, everyone started to panic. After therefore a long time of VC work, he felt like a startup business for the first time. Following the fall in the US secondary market place, it rebounded strongly, which lots of people did not expect, and it also gave the primary market a enhance. Early investment may not have been affected an excessive amount of, however the growth stage is certainly picking up. It is a boost from the secondary market, and the panic provides gradually stabilized. Nabeel also mentioned that it might not be possible to talk to the founder face-to-face when making investments, so it is often necessary to make more decisive decisions. One pattern they notice is that good startups are becoming more popular. Why Clubhouse can be rushed to vote by the two top VC companies, Benchmark and a16z before the product release, and finally won by a16z, is because of the higher price. Therefore Nabeel believes that this year's VC industry scenario might not decline. But Bijan stated that previously two years in Silicon Valley, everyone feels that bubbles must exist, especially in the technologies industry. In 2019, the bubble in fact existed. So in 2020, if the VC market is still in an upward craze, both of them think it is a far more dangerous signal. Recommended reading Chinese giants retreat overseas. In 2020, overseas dating giants are embracing changes and digging into the wants of owners. Dig An app isn't plenty of. The e-commerce economy is made on Facebook. What would a country look like? The number of confirmed cases is second on earth. What opportunities does the double-edged sword of the epidemic provide to Brazil? Business Cooperation Cassie | Line: 18506490569 Media consultation Ares | Line: 18060664421 Developer docking Liu Yanting | Range: 18850230356 Long press the picture to scan the code Sign up for the Beluga community

#bitcoin price #bitcoin news #ethereum games #crypto mining game #top crypto games

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thatwitchglenda · 4 years

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BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME: Glenda Calliope Chittock PRONUNCIATION: /ˈɡlɛndə ka-LYE-oh-pee MEANING: Fair and good; beautiful voice REASONING: Glenda was a sort of ‘pick a name, any name’ sort of choice. Calliope is her paternal grandmothers name. NICKNAME(S): Glen, G PREFERRED NAME(S): She doesn’t really prefer nicknames to her full name, so really it’s up to whoever is talking to her. BIRTH DATE: October 3, 2000 AGE: 19 ZODIAC: Libra GENDER: Female PRONOUNS: She/her ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Heteromantic SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Heterosexual NATIONALITY: English ETHNICITY: Colombian/Mexican CURRENT LOCATION: While she’s shared a flat with Amelia in muggle London for some time, the two girls are currently in the process of moving to the Peakes. LIVING CONDITIONS: See above ^ TITLE(S): n/a

BACKGROUND

BIRTH PLACE: Mould-on-the-Wold HOMETOWN: Mould-on-the-Wold, a quiet all wizarding village SOCIAL CLASS: Middle class EDUCATION LEVEL: Hogwarts. While the end of her 7th year was interrupted, Glenda was in the process of and has since completed NEWT examination

BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood, although her family is so far down the ranks it doesn’t say much. FATHER: Augustine Chittock MOTHER: Collette Chittock nee Alderton SIBLING(S): None BIRTH ORDER: n/a CHILDREN: n/a PET(S): None. She never got one when she went to Hogwarts, but she’s been thinking about getting a cat for some time. OTHER IMPORTANT RELATIVES: Honestly, the Chittock’s have very little family outside their immediate circle PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIPS: Peter Pettigrew ARRESTS?: None PRISON TIME?: N/a

OCCUPATION & INCOME

PRIMARY SOURCE OF INCOME: Working as Sienna Rowle’s stylist/assistant SECONDARY SOURCE OF INCOME: Sponsorship through her podcast CONTENT WITH THEIR JOB (OR LACK THERE OF)?: Very content. The podcast and getting to work with people she really admires is basically a dream come true for her. Working with Sienna, on the other hand, is just super fun? She actually really enjoys it and she can’t deny that the benefits of the job (ie pretty great pay, tagging along on trips, etc is awesome as well) PAST JOB(S): Internship at the WWN SPENDING HABITS: She used to spend way more than she has. Now she can actually afford to buy the things she likes but really she’s just... lowkey a shopaholic? She likes to shop, she loves to buy things for other people. MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION:

SKILLS & ABILITIES

LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: English DRIVE?: Barely. Her family does own a car, simply because they live outside of London and relying on the floo and apparition constantly just isn’t an option. But she never properly learned how to drive? She’s driven it maybe a handful of times and is basically an old lady at the wheel. JUMP-STAR A CAR?: LOL CHANGE A FLAT TIRE?: Definitely not RIDE A BICYCLE?: Yes SWIM?: Yes PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?: She used to play the piano fairly well but she hasn’t touched one since she was at least fifteen. It’s unlikely she could do more than a few cords and a few songs burned into memory. PLAY CHESS?: Nope BRAID HAIR?: Yes, she loves to braid her hair! Her mum used to dutch braid her hair every night before bed and so she usually sleeps in braids out of habit? Girl likes her braids. TIE A TIE?: Yes, she learned before Hogwarts on her father. Frankly, he liked to pretend that he couldn’t, it was very cute but also pretty horrifying until she got the hang of it. PICK A LOCK?: She probably thinks she’d be able to do so with a bobby pin if she tried (thanks to all those muggle films), but thankfully, there’s alohamora.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE & CHARACTERISTICS

FACE CLAIM: Cierra Ramirez EYE COLOR: Dark brown HAIR COLOR: Dark brown, almost black HAIR TYPE/STYLE: She’s always kept it fairly long and can pretty much count the times she’s cut her hair in her life. Depending on her mood she’ll straighten it or just curl it; but Glenda’s gotten pretty decent at updos in the last year or so. She’ll throw in the occasional space buns or whatnot. GLASSES/CONTACTS?: Glasses but really only for reading far away/watching television. At Hogwarts she constantly forgot to take them to class with her, which often resulted in needing to take notes from whoever was sitting next to her. She’s gotten much better at wearing them when she actually needs them. DOMINANT HAND: Right handed HEIGHT: 5′1″ or 155 cm WEIGHT: We don’t need to know that BUILD: Petite/curvy EXERCISE HABITS: Honestly, she doesn’t really go to the gym unless someone forces her to go with them. Back at school when Amelia was on the quidditch team, the girls would regularly work out together. Now she more so relies on youtube videos and a yoga mat to get a workout done in her room TATTOOS: None, although she’s not opposed PIERCINGS: She’s had the standard lobe piercings for as long as she can remember, but has gotten some over the years. Two on each lobe, as well as her helix and tragus on one side, and rook on the other. MARKS/SCARS: Most of her scrapes were healed before they ever got a chance to scar; but she does have one particularly notable one on the back of her neck. Not having listened to her mum, she’d hurt herself and terrified of getting in trouble, had hidden the pretty large cut away. Sadly, it had resulted in dittany not being used soon enough. NOTABLE FEATURES: None USUAL EXPRESSION: LOL let’s just say resting bitch face. CLOTHING STYLE: Honestly, it’s always changing. Glenda’s super into what’s trendy and ‘in’ and her style really reflects that. She loves bright colors and things that make her stand out (especially given that she’s so short), and her staple is heels. She honestly almost always has some sort of heel on. JEWELRY: She basically always wears her mothers necklace that was given to her before leaving for Hogwarts. It’s a pretty simple design, just a small pendant with a tiny wildflower in resin. Earrings are also a staple for her, she rarely takes them out and is always sporting something. ALLERGIES: Pollen, latex, dogs. Sad. DIET: She’ll literally try anything once PHYSICAL AILMENTS: None to make note of

PSYCHOLOGY

MORAL ALIGNMENT: True Neutral TEMPERAMENT: Sanguine PRIMARY INTELLIGENCE TYPE: Musical Intelligence APPROXIMATE IQ: 121 MENTAL CONDITIONS/DISORDERS: None SOCIABILITY: Emotive PHOBIA(S): Touching raw cotton, spiders ADDICTION(S): At most her phone DRUG USE: Occasionally will smoke some weed but more socially than anything else ALCOHOL USE: Again occasionally and as a social thing PRONE TO VIOLENCE?: Not really. Although she might want to sometimes, Glenda’s never actually hit anyone

MANNERISMS

SPEECH STYLE: Very casual QUIRKS: Her height, she’s so short. She talks pretty loudly and very quickly compared to others, she’s definitely that person that you have to remind to speak quieter sometimes. Very extroverted HOBBIES: Roller skating, baking HABITS: She has pretty much the same wake up routine? Cannot function without making some tea in the morning. NERVOUS TICKS: Lip nibbling. So much lip nibbling. When she’s uncomfortable or nervous or basically anything other than neutral. She also tends to wring her hands when she’s nervous and she’ll fiddle with her rings or any jewelry she might have on. DRIVES/MOTIVATIONS: Honestly, she’s just always trying to one-up herself. It’s not that she necessarily has to prove anything to anyone accept herself. FEARS: Being mediocre. Although she wouldn’t admit it, she’s terrified of people hating or disliking her when she does actually put herself out there. POSITIVE TRAITS: NEGATIVE TRAITS: SENSE OF HUMOR: DO THEY CURSE OFTEN?: Not too much, but she doesn’t mind cursing and regularly does so CATCHPHRASE(S): None, really?

FAVORITES

ACTIVITY: Listening to music tbh. ANIMAL: To have? Cats. To just like admire? Sloths, man. BEVERAGE: Tea COLOR: Pink DESIGNER: Marc Jacobs FOOD: Straight up just some farfalle with pesto and loaded with pine nuts. Topped with some parm. Amazing. FLOWER: Daffodils GEM: Amethyst HOLIDAY: Halloween MODE OF TRANSPORTATION: Apparition MOVIE: Ever After MUSICAL ARTIST: Tove Lo maybe? Stevie Nicks? SCENERY: Some pretty fucking mountains, man. SCENT: Woodsy, musky scents. Or rose. SPORT: Honestly, none SPORTS TEAM: ^^^ TELEVISION SHOW: Superstore, Arrested Development. ...Greys Anatomy WEATHER: Snow!! VACATION DESTINATION: She’s gone nowhere really, like, she’s been on one holiday because of Sienna and so I don’t think she actually has a favorite.

ATTITUDES

GREATEST DREAM: That her podcast really, really takes off. That she becomes properly relevant in the music industry as someone who genuinely has something to say. GREATEST FEAR: Irrelevance, but also loneliness. She doesn’t want to base anything of herself on love or relationships but she definitely has this fear of ultimately being alone. Or not even being alone, but being lonely. MOST AT EASE WHEN: In her room, hanging out with her best friends and listening to music. It’s peaceful, it’s happy. LEAST AT EASE WHEN: In a new environment with new people that she doesn’t necessarily know or trust. She’s not necessarily uncomfortable, but she’s more on guard than in any other situation.

#bio #if witchery is a sin she’s going to burn-smiling︱Glenda Chittock

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