#maybe that's why I still prefer regular books to audio books

[dailyaudiobiblechronological]

7/27/2022 DAB Chronological Transcription

Isaiah 44-48

Welcome to Daily Audio Bible Chronological. I'm Jill. Today is the 27th day of July, and once again I find myself in the place saying I can't believe how quickly this month has gone by. Feels like we just got here, doesn't it? Or maybe that's just me, I don't know. We're reading the Bible. We do it every day and at this channel we do it in chronological order, which means it is being read as best as historians and theologians can tell in chronological historical order of events. That's why we jump around the reading as much as we do. So if you have a regular Bible you read through that and chronicle order and then this is chronological. So we don't go from chapter to chapter to chapter. We do passage that jumps from chapters to other chapters to other chapters and read it as it happened. And why do we read different translations? Why can't we just stick to one? That's a really great question. We do that because sometimes we hear things differently when they are set in a different translation things that we didn't understand we didn't catch. And I get it. Some of you have a preference and some of you don't like certain translations but we always say stay with it. Even the ones that you don't like because even in our preferences and our dislikes God still has some things to say and he cannot speak them if we're not listening. So don't jump past. Stay present and learn what we need to learn even in our discomfort and our particular-ness I guess is a more compassionate way to say it. Today we are reading Isaiah continuing through that reading chapters 44 through 48 and this week we are in the Contemporary English version. Isaiah chapter 44.

Commentary:

So there's a lot of review happening in the book of Isaiah through the prophet Isaiah. We have a strong focus today on idol worship and if you are maybe in this place of redundancy. Boy have I heard this over and over and over again and again. That's the whole point. How many times the people fall away and God's response every time is just come back, just turn away and come back. Again, we look back at how many times in our own lives we have lost faith, regained faith, lost hope, regained hope, given time and space and attention and energy to things in our lives that are reckless, absolutely reckless when God is just longing for that space, time and energy that relationship, intentionality. And so I love how this is spelled out today- that idols- what can these idols do for you? What can pieces of wood and pieces of bronze, clumps of material- what can they possibly do for you? And it is a fair and honest question that we might scoff off or laugh at or roll our eyes at, but we really should sit with that question. What can these things do that have no life? What can people do, people that we'll never encounter never have a discussion with and we put all of our faith, all of our hope in them. We write people out of our lives, family members, close friends, people that disagree, that we dislike people and what are we gaming? What are we gaining other than the though that we're winning, the thought that we are right. And let's zoom out and go after the bigger thing that is behind all of this, we have our pride. We have our pride that keeps us right, it keeps us unshakable. It keeps us in the status quo. It keeps us comfortable and we know that pride comes before the fall. So we read this today. Let's once again let the words wash over us. Let the words fill in the cracks. Let them sink deep because they come with a heavy weight even though we've heard them continuously. We've heard them repeatedly throughout the Scriptures. This is the theme throughout the Bible: endurance you have to keep going. We keep enduring some of the same things over and over again and until we can ever overcome, we must endure.

Prayer: 

So father, we thank you once again for the gift of your word today. We thank you for how it transforms us, we thank you that it causes us to remember, causes us to think of how many times we've heard those words and it must cause us to consider why we've heard it so many times. And yet, we sometimes fail to change anything. Let us Father, examine our own hearts, our own lives even here and now on this day and remove anything that's heavy, that is weighing us down, that is pulling our attention, our energy, our space- it's just consuming us (and we let all of the wrong things consume us). I pray that we would turn our thoughts, our hearts, our conscience, our attention to you, the one true living God. And we thank you that you meet us where we're at. We pray this now in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Announcements:

Daily Audio Bible, that's home-base. Check it out guys, if you have not. That is the app as well. Plenty to do there. Take a look around if you have never. If you would like to partner with the Daily Audio Bible thank you so much for your partnership and we could not do this journey without you. That is no understatement and that is words that don't hold the magnitude that they should. We cannot do this without you and we are so grateful for every every partnership. If you're giving by mail DAB PO Box 1996 Springhill, TN 37174 or you can hit the give icon it's up at the top right hand corner of your mobile device and then lastly, look for the give icon on the website as well. If you need prayer. We are a people that pray for one another and I am so grateful for that aspect as well. 800-583-2164 or hit the red circle button at the top right hand corner of your mobile device. You have two minutes on the prayer line, hit submit, turn the wheels chronological, and it shall go to the right place. That's gonna do it for me today. I'm Jill. We'll turn the page together tomorrow and as we move out of this month and into a brand new month as we are waiting for the season of summer to run its course and for the season of fall to come. Not in a real big hurry, even though I do love fall- my favorite season. We realize, all in due time, seasons must run their course and even when we think they're done, and when we are anticipating what is next the season usually has something left to say. We can't wish it away. We have to embrace whatever season that we're in, and we must know that we are not alone in every season. I'm Jill. Until tomorrow, love one another.

Community Prayer Line: Hi DAB family, it's Rene from FL. I called a couple times and they haven't aired it, but I just really want to thank the people who prayed for me on the one situation I had where I called my husband to wish him happy birthday. I still call him husband because we are not divorced, but I thank you for calling about marriages. I thank you Joe and Tabby and Diane Olive Braun, but I do need to clear up something. I was the one with the bitter words. I want you to know that. He kind of made it seem like he didn't have time to talk. And basically, is that all? Is that all you need? Because I continued to talk to him after I said happy birthday. So I got upset and hurt. And I said something and I hung up. That's why I just wanted to make sure that you guys knew that. He doesn't say bad words about me that I know of. And I know there was a lady today that called in and said she found out her husband used to praise her and talk well about her. There's a lot of people that didn't even know my husband was married at his work. He's married to his work is what I think. So I pray for him, for his business, for us if we could ever get back together, it would be God's will. I just know that it's going on 3 years and we're still separated, and it would have to be him to say he would wanna come back. I've asked and I've asked for counseling and I've asked for all of that. And I need to know. I really wanna hear from God whether I need to move forward or not. So I just wanted to clear that up. I love you all so very much. Thank you for every person that prayed for me that meant more than you will ever know. God bless. I love you in Jesus. Good morning DABC fam. This is Samantha from TN. It is July 21st and I just hear Whitney's praise report about her rent and the rain and that is just fantastic. Thank you Lord for your provision and for reaching down and taking Whitney's hand through this while she was in that dark place. I just pray Lord that you continue to deliver her and provide for her. And comfort her. I also have a prayer request of my own. My friend who is recovering from a stroke, miraculously, may I say? Their custody trial for her daughter against her ex-husband is today. We've worked really hard to get to this point and we're pretty sure she's gonna be able to get her daughter back cuz she should have had custody of her this whole time. So I just pray for favor and for wisdom and that the truth would come out in what is good for that little girl would come true. Thank you for your prayers everyone. My friend's name is Leesy and her little girl's name is Yasmin Rose.

Hello my DABC family. This is Sonya in Austin, TX again and it is not even an hour since I called in my prayer request asking for prayer about helping me find my school i-pad. I kid you not, I walked into another room, turned, kinda looked on a couple shelves and it's laying on the top of something. I promise you, that's not where it's been. It's been a year, we have looked. My husband has looked. I have looked and I looked at what was underneath it on those shelves, those are items we've used in the last year. So I just give God the glory. And thank you for your prayers. And this is an answered prayer. And I will continue to pray and lift you up. This just gives me confirmation that God is saying nothing is too small, even though I felt so silly. I mean I've prayed and asked God on my own, but to reach out to all of you around the world to pray for an i-pad and then I feel like God's just saying, that's right, it's not too small. Alright. I love you all. Have a blessed day. I hope this warms your heart.

This is Vincent, Walking in Love from Connecticut. And once again I find myself at a crossroads. I'm caring for an 85 year old mother, the pandemic took my job, took my money, took my faith and hope in a good life and then I was blessed with meeting someone far, far away. Beautiful person. Beautiful soul. And there's no way of connecting with my future bride. And I just do not understand the ways of God. And I know, his ways are not our ways. And I also know that I have to have faith and that's becoming difficult. And I'm embarrassed and ashamed that this is my dilemma but it is. It's not cancer, it's not death, it's just pain and hopelessness. And hopefully it's not too trivial for someone not to pray for me. Peace and love. Vincent, Walking in Love. God bless you all. 

[pearl-kite]

So I'm trying to pin down what I think Sam would look like for me, and this feels a bit better than the last one, but still not quite right

Who knows what the fuck is going on with me and style. Consistency? Pfft, who even cares any more. I do think I'm going to start doing some face study sketches to strengthen up the issues I've started noticing now that I'm hovering around that improvement plateau

[ybangtannies]

Hiii💜💜💜i just want to start off by saying i love your blog, your stories are really good. I just got through reading the bts profiles and i don't know if you are taking request but if you are i was wondering if you could do a scenario where yandere namjoon and y/n are best friends and one night he comes over and they end up doing it, but the next morning they just joke around because it was a mistake and they are good friends, then two weeks later she calls him tells him she is pregnant, and namjoon try to talk to her about keeping the baby because he secretly love y/n and is crazy about her.

[Here it is! I'm sorry it took me months to write this, but I hope you enjoy it! I got a little carried away and it's way longer than what I intended to be lol]

Masterlist

Word count: 2.7k

Namjoon’s eyes open wide suddenly, and frantically starts looking for your figure, and even though he doesn’t find it, he knows you’re around and awake because he can hear the shower from your en suite bathroom. He lets out a sigh and savours the memories coming to him from last night, your moans and whimpers, how good he felt being completely embraced by you and your scent; every single detail about last night and you both enjoying and pleasuring each other is engraved in Namjoon’s mind.

He knows you usually take around fifteen or twenty minutes in the shower, so he relaxes on the bed and starts thinking. What does this mean for your relationship? It surely changes everything, right? This must mean that you love him too. He knows you used to sleep around -much to his dismay, he still doesn’t understand how he put up with it, maybe because it was just sex with strangers and you made it pretty clear you wanted nothing with them- but it’s been a long time since that and if you decided you wanted Namjoon, your best friend, someone you clearly know and have already a bond formed with, to be the person you had sex with after such a long period of time, then there must be a reason behind it. Maybe you weren’t sure on how to tell him you love him too for fear of being rejected and thought sex would be the way to let him know without words? Namjoon smiles at the thought, his sweet and pretty girl, if only you knew how crazy in love he is about you. He’s been waiting for this to happen for way too long, have imagined it millions of times but reality surely does exceed fiction and now that he got a taste of what it would be really like to be with you like this, he doesn’t think he’d be able to give up this feeling for anything in the world; there’s no way, he would be insane to turn down his other half.

His stream of consciousness is cut off by the door of your bathroom opening and your figure emerging from it, you stand on the threshold and look at him with surprise.

“Oh, good morning! I didn’t think you’d be awake already, it’s pretty early and you always sleep until it’s almost lunchtime” you chuckle while entering the room, going to lift up the blind and open the window a little.

Namjoon is looking at you in awe, you’re not wearing anything he hasn’t seen on you before -a shirt and some worn out shorts- but he can perfectly see the hickeys he gave you last night on your neck since you’re wearing your hair on a side plait plus you’re still yawning even if it’s been surely more than half an hour since you woke up and adding that to the fact that now he is your boyfriend... he wonders if you’d be up for round two before having breakfast.

“Hello? Earth to Namjoon! Are you sleeping with your eyes open again or what?” Your voice is once again bringing him back to reality, your glance focused on your phone rather than on him.

“No, no, sorry, I guess I’m still a little tired. What’s up?”

You roll your eyes playfully while looking back at him, “I was asking if you wanted to have breakfast now, but you can keep sleeping if you want, I have things to do anyways.”

Namjoon accepts your offer and accompanies you to the kitchen to make breakfast; he loves how he knows his way around your apartment and how domestic it feels waking up together after having been making love all night to have breakfast and spend the morning at home, like a long-term couple.

He is about to open his mouth and address the elephant in the room once you’re both seated at your table and drinking coffee when you beat him to it.

“So, I don’t want to make things weird after last night and I don’t really think this need to be said since we’ve been friends for quite some time now and already know each other and where we stand,” Namjoon doesn’t like where this seems to be going, “the sex was really good and I think we both needed it after the stress from college but -and don’t get me wrong please- I don’t think it’s a good idea to make it something common, you know?”

Nope, Namjoon is hating this. He is quite lost, what is happening right here? What do you mean you don’t want to have sex with him anymore? Are you already breaking up with him? And what do you mean by ‘making things weird’ and ‘we’ve been friends’? What the fuck are you even talking about? Is he still sleeping? Is this one of his nightmares? That must be it, a nightmare, the worst he’s had so far.

You must sense his confusion because you chuckle a little and even blush; Namjoon wants to smile at the sight, you just look way too cute, but your words have him very confused right now.

“The sex was good, really! Amazing even, Joonie! All I’m saying is that we both know each other too much to have a friends-with-benefits relationship without fucking it up -no pun intended by the way” you laugh again lightly while sipping from your mug and grabbing a toast from the plate in between you both.

Namjoon is really thrown back by your behaviour but as much as he’d like to talk back and confess how ardently he loves you, he realises maybe now is not the right time; he is already sure about his feelings for you and what he wants but you don’t seem to be on the same page just yet and he, being the gentleman he like to think he is, will of course give you some time to figure out your feelings for him. Because of course you must be in love with him too, but maybe you’re more stubborn than he thought you to be and preferred to think your feelings for him were only of lust and not love. It’s okay, you’ll come to your senses and if not, he’ll help you find the right way to his side.

“Yeah, sure. Don’t worry about it, y/n. I know what you mean.”

Days goes by, then weeks and before Namjoon realises it’s been almost a month since that beautiful and extraordinary night he revives almost every day in the solitude of his room. It’s during one of those moments when he is remembering the way your voice sounded asking him for more, to please don’t stop thrusting into your tight and velvety walls and he is about to climax, saying your name like a mantra, that his phone starts vibrating making him jump on his bed and let out a groan, who the fuck? He is tempted to ignore it, too occupied with his hard and leaking cock on his hand to bother with answering the annoying prick that is calling him right in this moment, but then he takes a glance of your name on the screen and it’s physically impossible for him to ignore you. Namjoon sighs and tries to even his breathing and even covers his naked body with the sheet of his bed even though it’s just a regular call.

“Hello, babe, what’s up?”

“Namjoon,” uh oh, you’re using his full name plus your tone is way too plain, this cannot be good, “are you busy right now?”

He looks down at his now less hard cock and shakes his head slowly, “not at all, why? Do you need something?”

“Could you please come over?” Namjoon is already out of his bed and looking for his underwear and clothes, he doesn’t need for you to give him more details about wanting him to go to your house, but he still asks.

“Sure thing, but is something the matter? You sound serious”

A silence follows his question and Namjoon stops his movements altogether, looking straight to the wall with a frown adorning his face, “y/n? Is everything okay?”

“Just… please, come quickly, okay? I need to tell you something.”

He is about to interrogate you a little more or even ask if he needs to bring you something, but you don’t give him time and hang up just as you finish speaking. He looks at his phone with a deeper frown now and hurries up out of his house and into his car.

Namjoon arrives in record time, he’s been thinking about what could have possibly happened for you to be that dry on the phone; yesterday evening when he last saw you everything was okay, and even this morning you sent him an audio telling him how excited you were because the books you bought online finally arrived and were going to start reading them. So, what happened?

You open the door as soon as he rings the bell and without any words, sign for him to come inside. Namjoon observes your attire: sweatpants, a Superman t-shirt and your part of your hair is on a cute little bun, you look adorable and if it weren’t for the frown on your face and your apparent inability to look him in the eye, Namjoon would be cooing internally at you.

“What is happening, y/n? You’re making me worried,” he is now sitting next to you on the sofa in the little living room of your apartment.

You sigh for what seems to be the tenth time since Namjoon got here and start fidgeting with your fingers, “I don’t know how this happened… well, I know how it happened, but I don’t know how we both could be so irresponsible…”

“What happened? What did we do?” Namjoon is more nervous with each passing second, several scenarios running through his mind.

“I’m pregnant”, you guess the best way to tell him is by just doing it at once, to rip off the band aid.

A few moments of silence follow after your words, nothing can be heard, and it feels as if the world has completely stopped. You look at him cautiously and find Namjoon looking at you with wide eyes, opening and closing his mouth like he was a fish. The image is funny, cute even, and you would have laughed have it not been a moment like this.

“What?” It’s the only thing that Namjoon manages to say, he’s not sure he heard you right and doesn’t want to get his hopes up like he did before, just in case.

You mumble a little ‘wait here’ and leave the room, in the direction of your bedroom. Before he can decide if he should follow you or not, you’re back with several sticks on your hands. Your face doesn’t show the same worrisome it did when Namjoon first got here but the frown is still present, and he has to physically restrain himself from softening it and give you a kiss on the forehead.

“Here, these are the pregnancy tests. I went out this morning to get them, they’re all positive. I’m three weeks pregnant, Namjoon.”

He takes them and indeed, they all show two lines, one of them even stating what you just said: 3 weeks pregnant.

“This… this is…” Namjoon is trying to find the words to describe how he’s feeling right now; he wants to cry, to scream, to jump, but overall, he wants to hug you and kiss you silly. He is going to be a dad! And you’re the one carrying his children! He could marry you on the stop. Actually, he should start looking for rings and think about a proposal. Would you prefer to wait until you give birth? Or maybe you’d like to do it quickly before your tummy starts showing. Either way, Namjoon doesn’t mind, that’s your decision to make.

“I know it’s not ideal, don’t worry. I’m going to start looking for abortion clinics today, I want to get rid of it as soon as possible. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about, I think we should both pay it since, you know, we both did it.”

“What the hell are you even talking about?” Namjoon can’t believe what he’s hearing, ‘abortion clinics’, ‘get rid of it’?

“We’re not gonna keep it. I’m not gonna have it, Namjoon.”

You are both standing now in the middle of your living room, looking at each other, both with a surprised look in your eyes albeit for very different reasons.

“Why not? I want to be a dad; I want to keep the baby.”

“What? Since when you want to be a father?”

“Since always?” Namjoon is trying not to raise his voice and keep his cool, he doesn’t want to upset himself more than he already is and doesn’t want to upset you either, that wouldn’t do your children any good.

You scoff and roll your eyes at his answer, “you don’t have time for that. You barely have time to eat with how busy you are with college; how do you plan on making time for a baby? You surely won’t drop college; how would you find a job then? Look, if you don’t want to pay for it that’s okay, I can afford it, it’s no biggie”

“It’s not about the money, y/n. I don’t want you to abort our baby because I want to have it with you. I’ll make time for it, we have nine months to figure it out, okay? We’ll both see how we can manage it. Maybe next year I can take fewer classes at college, and you could stop your studies for a year until the baby is old enough to leave them in a nursery without too many problems. Let’s just focus on celebrating and making an appointment with your doctor, darling, don’t worry too much” Namjoon is making his way to hug you and finally kiss you, but you take a few steps back looking at him with wide eyes, as if what he has been saying is insane.

“What the fuck? What the fuck am I supposed to be celebrating? I don’t want to be a mother; you know that I’ve told you several times before. Once I get a fucking abortion it’s when I’ll be celebrating. Look, I’m sorry if you want to be a father right now, but I don’t and I’m not gonna do it.”

Namjoon is starting to get angrier with the moment, he doesn’t understand why you have to be so stubborn. Surely, you’ve told him before about your reticence towards being a mother and how you’d rather abort if you were to ever get pregnant, but he always thought you were saying that referring to carrying the children of another person, not his.

“There’s no need for that, baby, if you just…”

“Don’t ‘baby’ me, Namjoon! My word is final: I’m having an abortion whether you like it or not. Now leave, please”

That’s it.

He snaps.

“Shut the fuck up. You’re not fucking getting an abortion, and that’s final. Do you understand? You’re gonna carry my children and this is just going to be the first of many to come so you better get used to the idea, is that clear, baby? I gave you enough time to fucking figure out your feelings for me, but this is way too much, I’m not gonna let you murder our children just because you are way too stubborn to realise, you’re in love with me. Now stop fucking talking nonsense before I made you myself.”

With each word that abandoned Namjoon’s mouth he got closer and closer to you until he had you trapped against the wall. You’re looking at him with horror in your eyes and his chest is heaving. He raises his hand, and you flinch and close your eyes, a yelp escaping from your mouth, but the hit never comes. Instead, you feel his fingers on your stomach softly while his other hand goes after your neck in order to bring you closer to his body.

“We’ll be okay, baby. I get that you’re nervous, but we’ll figure everything out and be the best parents to our children.” His words are disturbing, but what scares you the most is the smile on his face and how his eyes are shining with excitement and utter happiness, as if just a moment ago he wasn’t screaming and threatening you. Namjoon is finally able to give you a kiss on the forehead and you can’t do anything but stay still and feel tears falling down your face.

[dialovers-translations]

DIABOLIK LOVERS DAYLIGHT Vol. 1 Sakamaki Ayato [Track 2]

Original title: 夜の湖

Source: Diabolik Lovers Daylight Vol. 1 Sakamaki Ayato

Audio: Here

Seiyuu: Midorikawa Hikaru

Translator’s note: If there’s one thing Rejet knows to do with these CDs, it’s keeping us on the edge of our seats! The final bit of this CD was actual one of the voice samples released prior to its release and I remember being extremely intrigued by it back then! Even while listening to the actual CD, it got me super curious and I couldn’t wait to listen to the next track to find out what is going on with the MC.

Track 1 ll Track 2 ll Track 3 ll Track 4 ll Track 5 + Epilogue

→  LIKE MY TRANSLATIONS? SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI!

Track 2: The Lake at Night

The two of you are walking through the forest until you eventually reach the lake.

“...Is this the place you’ve been dyin’ to visit? It’s just a regular old lake, no? There’s seriously nothin’ special ‘bout it at all...It was stupid of me to even expect anythin’ from you in the first place.”

You explain.

“Haahー!? The sunrise...? ...Don’t tell me you want to stay here until dawn!?”

You nod.

“You’ve gotta be shittin’ me. Do you even know how much time’s left till sunrise!? ...See you.”

Ayato tries to leave but you quickly stop him, insisting you can chat till the sun rises.

*Rustle*

“What? Don’t give me that nonsense! Why did we need to come all the way over here just to have a chat? We can just talk at home!”

You shake your head.

“Haah? There’s other people around then? ...Oh. In other words, you wanted an excuse to be all alone with me?”

You elaborate on your idea.

“A quiet time, huh...? I thought you liked things to be lively though. Well, I won’t deny those dudes are hella annoyin’. I turn my back for one second and they try to make a move on you. I’ll admit we can never truly feel at ease in that kinda environment.”

He plops down on the grass.

“...There we go. ...Oi, hurry up and lend me your lap already. You don’t expect me to get comfortable without a pillow, right?

You take a seat next to him as he rests his head in your lap.

*Rustle rustle*

“...Hmph.”

You smile and admit enjoying these times together. 

“...It’s nice to sit back and relax at times, huh? Damn, you really sounded like a granny just now. I don’t understand. This is just dull, you might as well be dead. ...I mean, you humans have a limited lifespan, right? Then doesn’t this feel like a waste? Isn’t it normal to want to enjoy yourself, maybe have some good food or something? ...Well, I’m a Vampire and immortal so I don’t really care either way.”

You explain.

“Hmph. If you like this, then whatever. You’re so easy to please. (1) But don’t come complaining to me afterwards.”

You chuckle. 

“Don’t laugh, geez. ...Actually, you’ve been actin’ kinda off. Like you’re in bad shape...or lackin’ energy. Did you eat somethin’ which had gone bad or somethin’?”

You retaliate.

“I wonder. Hehehe...Well, seems like you still have the energy to talk back at least. ...By the way, you remember the promise we made, right? I told you I’d suck your blood if you failed to entertain me, didn’t I?”

You flinch.

“Look at that pathetic look on your face. Did you think I had forgotten?”

You try and bribe him with the lap pillow. 

“Hmph. You’ll stay like this a lil’ longer? All you’re doing is lending me your lap though? You haven’t been tellin’ me any interestin’ stories either. ...Are you perhaps teasin’ me on purpose?”

You quickly shake your head.

“In that case, it makes sense.”

You frantically flail with your arms while trying to explain yourself. 

“Hehe...Hehehe...No need to get so desperate trying to deny it. Your funny expression is only becomin’ even more hilarious. I’ll content myself with that for now and leave the real fun for later. Guess you should be grateful to your own face.”

You say thank you.

“...Aah? Why would you thank me for that? Lemme tell you, but I prefer suckin’ your blood after scarin’ the livin’ hell out of you. It’s just not the time for that yet, that’s all. Heh!”

The wind blows in the background.

“...For real though, what are you gonna do ‘bout this depressin’ mood? You should take some responsibility and talk to me. Anythin’ will do at this point. You wanted to enjoy some idle talk, right? Come on.”

You bring up the past.

“What? Our first meeting? You really think I remember all of that? ...Ahー But if I recall correctly...I was nappin’ in the living room while the thunder roared outside...Right! I was woken up because you made a huge fuss.”

You tell him you were truly shocked back then.

“Haha...You mistook me for a dead person, didn’t you? Goin’ on ‘bout callin’ an ambulance or some shit. Bit of an overreaction, don’t you think? Yours Truly doesn’t just die! 

Well, I doubt you knew we were Vampires at that point. I was hella thirsty back then, so when an energetic-looking prey walked right up to me, I obviously had to go straight for a bite. Yet, that damn Four-Eyes had the nerve to get in my way!”

You tell him you nearly forgot about that.

“Excuse me? Don’t be forgettin’ ‘bout that when you’re the one who brought up this topic!”

You admit to being surprised Ayato recalls so much.

“I remember plenty of other things as well! You better don’t underestimate my memory! ...Actually, why don’t I help you remember a few more embarrassing moments? No need to be modest. Whatcha so afraid of?”

You flinch.

“Hehe...Are you scared of me?”

You hesitate.

“What? If you’ve got somethin’ to say, then spit it out.”

You explain.

“What do you mean you’re no longer scared of me like you were at first? You flinched just now!”

You frown.

“Why can’t you put it into words well? Don’t tell me you’re makin’ fun of me?”

You shake your head.

“Then what is it?”

You try and put your feelings into words. 

“Haah!? I don’t understand what you mean with ‘because we understand each other now’. Geez. ...But well, there’s a few things I learnt through living together with you as well, I guess. Humans are weak. They die so easily. They’ve got a limited life span as well. ...That’s not all. They love to fuss ‘bout the details and they’re so infuriatingly slow and clumsy. They get upset over the most trivial things or cry over nothing. Also...Sometimes the strangest things make them happy. Furthermore, they’d go through the trouble of comin’ to these kinda places. Ahー What a drag.”

You thank Ayato for keeping up with you. 

“Che...Why are you thanking me now? I really don’t understand that sorta behavior of yours. Fuck.”

You ask if he would like to head back soon. 

“Aah...? What do you mean ‘soon’? Of course I want to head home already! ...But well, you still want to stay here a lil’ longer, right? ...Just the two of us.”

You nod.

“Oh? You’re bein’ surprisingly honest. Do you want to be with me that badly?”

You nod again.

“Heh. You just said you want to be together forever, huh? Fool. You really think I’d let you go? You can no longer leave me. ...Not ever.”

You suddenly frown.

“What? Got a problem with that?”

You quickly turn your head and try to make excuses. 

“No point in tryin’ to hide it. You’re an open book after all. ...Don’t tell me you actually believe you could get away from me?”

You shake your head.

“If that’s not it, then don’t look so damn anxious. ...Heh. Actually, I bet you were thinking that you can’t live forever?”

Your eyes widen in surprise before you ask him how he knows.

“Heh. I know everything that goes on in that head of yours. ...Don’t be worryin’ about those kind of stupid things. Did you drag me all the way out here to talk ‘bout that shit? ...You didn’t, right? Pretty sure I told you to entertain me.”

Ayato suddenly pins you down.

*Thud*

“I bet you’re rackin’ your brain over complicated shit again? Good job gettin’ yourself pinned down. ...Just so you know, there’s no point in tryin’ to cover it up. Even if you keep quiet, I can tell by lookin’ in your eyes. Che...! I should just be the only thing on your mind. Well, I’ll just force myself inside your head if I need to. ...I’ll make it so you can’t worry about anything unnecessary.”

*Sluuuuurp*

“Mmh...”

*Sluuuuurp*

“I’m not lettin’ you go any time soon...So brace yourself.”

*Sluuuuurp*

“Nnh...”

*Sluuuuurp*

“...Hah. Come on. Sit up already. Don’t you understand? I’m givin’ you special permission to sit down on my lap. Hurry up...”

*Rustle rustle*

“Say…Doin’ this doesn’t feel half bad, does it? …Just admit it.”

*Sluuuuurp*

"Come on. Don’t close your eyes. Make sure to watch…how you’re bein’ turned into a mess.”

*Sluuuuurp*

"Hehehe…Seems like you’re ‘bout to lose it from sheer excitement. Show me more of that expression.”

*Sluuuuurp*

"Don’t you dare let the other guys see you like this.”

You whimper.

“Listen up. You’re fated to continue havin’ your blood sucked by me like this. Both now and in the future. Foreverーー”

You nod.

“Heh. Glad you understand.”

Ayato gets up and wipes some dirt off his pants.

“…Woah. The wind has picked up. …Oi, we should probably head home soon. I don’t want to get nagged at later.”

You remain unmoved.

“Come on. Get up already. Or has your back thrown out? …Guess you leave me no other choice.”

*Rustle*

“Come on. Gimme your hand. …Hah? What’s wrong? Grab it already.”

You shake your head.

“Oi, there really is somethin’ off ‘bout you? Come on.”

Ayato grabs your hand.

“…Eh? Doesn’t your hand…feel colder than usual? What’s wrong, for real? …Can’t you hear me? Oi! …Idiot! Don’t close your eyes! Answer me! Chichinashi!!

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

Translation notes

(1) Ayato calls her 無欲 or ‘muyoku’, which is used to describe someone who is free from any ‘worldly desires’. 

[mediawhorefics]

Still (and forever) thinking about Louis recording himself reading for Harry. Does he send him files chapter-by-chapter? What’s he read to him? All I want are reading details 🤣 Also, related, I would probably kill a man for an audio book read by either of them 🥺

oh yes let’s talk about hl + books in my fics !!!!! sharing books/story is my love language which is why it’s tts (and moy tbh) hl’s love language as well because i have no shame i guess. 

well, my headcanon is that the first time he does it it’s a secret/surprise and he hides the file on h’s phone. so i’m thinking prob. a whole book. most likely poetry though because he knows harry loves the rhythm of poetry and finds it soothing and it’s his first big tour since he got sober so he’ll need all the soothing stuff he can get..... 

as time goes on though, it changes and yeah he starts sending him stuff chapter by chapter, or in smaller chunks if it’s not something that has chapters (like a poetry collection, or short stories). i like to think that maybe louis starts having a routine where he wakes up, he goes on his run with Clifford and records a chapter for harry in the morning before officially starting his day. and he loves it because it’s a way for them to stay connected, cos once harry has listened to it, they can discuss the story together. 

and as for what he sends him... well it depends! i think they pick stuff together; stuff they’re both interested in. a lot of poetry of course and biographies, esp. musicians, because louis loves to know more about harry’s world and harry just love music and learning about it. novels, obvs. cheesy historical romance when louis knows harry needs a pick me up, because they make him smile & laugh, and they both enjoy it. and there's always a big supply in the lighthouse anyways since people drop them off/swap them all the time. the ones set in scoltand are h’s favourite because it makes him feel closer to home when he’s away. and louis’ fake scottish accent is terrible and it brightens his days to listen to it. rarely contemporary romance though, it just doesn’t have the same Drama to it and that’s what they both enjoy. mysteries only if harry has been doing well and can handle the stress of Not Knowing what’s going to happen, but they’re more a ~louis thing than a hl thing so it doesn’t happen very often. lots of sad books. harry does love sad books. even though they upset him. he likes the catharsis though, even when he’s in a bad mood. sometimes erotica when louis is in A Mood. he never warns when a chapter gets naughty though, loves the idea of teasing harry/taking him by surprise like that. if it’s Het (like in some of the romance novels), louis puts on the most ridiculous voices because he knows it’ll make harry laugh. if it’s actually hot, well........ 

and letters. louis sends him little files of himself reading famous correspondences all the time on top of the regular books. just very romantic letters. esp. gay ones. harry sends him romantic postcards and louis reads him famous love letters. it’s their Thing. 

sometimes they do the thing on facetime or on the phone.... they like having that connection where louis is Acually Reading for harry. but most of the time, harry prefers to have the recordings. he can listen to them before going to sleep, or before a show if he’s nervous, or during long flights/long bus rides, or when he goes out for a walk after a show, calming himself down under the cover of darkness, his bodyguard walking a few paces behind him.... or when he’s having a wank tbh. 

i like to think that sometimes if there’s a book harry really wants louis to read to him, he’ll have it shipped to the lighthouse instead of asking and louis teases him for being such a needy dork but he complies ofc. 

whatever you do, don’t think about elderly hl in this verse, still living in their lighthouse though it’s not a b&b anymore because they don’t want the hassle, still reading together.... louis’ eyes aren’t what they use to be, his voice cracks a lot more, but he’ll put on his glasses and strain and he’ll read to harry every night before bed because it’s what they Do and that’s his baby. 

[dreaming-gamer]

Eyy! Now, I have a proper V HC request, hihi!😍😍😍❤❤❤🙈🙈🙈 The gang ( include anyone you want ) introducing V to his very first cosplay convention!😍😍😍❤❤❤ I'll patiently wait, my dear. I love your V HCs so much😍😍😍❤❤❤

Hello dear! <3<3<3 Thank you so much for liking my headcanons and the request! :D :D :D I’m sorry this one took so long, I should have posted this one much earlier but better late than never? *sweats* 

In any case, here we go! <3<3<3

Random headcanon: Cosplay convention

Nico:

Nico is the first one to jump at the idea when she finds out V has never been to a cosplay convention. She loves those because people just let their creativity flow and she is among them. Creating an impressive cosplay that lets her display her genius, oh that’s right up her alley.

Of course the work on the van and Nero’s Devil Breakers go first, but the Queen of Machines can juggle that and more if needs be. If she’s going to a convention, you can bet she’s going to show off something that’s flashy and functional.

She’s all for helping the others find something they want to dress up in as well, they don’t even have to take something as spectacular as she does, if they don’t want to. If they do, she’s all for helping them with something on the more mechanical style as sewing and fabrics aren’t her thing.

Honestly, she just wants her friends to come along, try the event out. If someone really doesn’t want to dress up, she won’t push the suggestion too much but if she can work on them for a bit, they might open up to it. She’s the one to convince V to come along, claiming she can find just the right character for him.

Though Nico is able and considered fixing a workable Gundam costume (complete with rockets and guns, could it get better?!), she ultimately chose Mei Hatsume from My Hero Academia as her own cosplay character because let’s face it, it would let her show off more of her creations.

The costume itself she found online, cheap and the inventions are the important part, so that’s all good for her. A prototype is customized to function as a flying skateboard for anyone who wants to try, an Overture is remodeled to set off (harmless) fireworks rather than demon-killing sparks, a Dr Faust replica with built-in video and audio to teach you Michael Jackson moves on the go, she brings an array of different inventions and many are a success with younger audiences.

Nero (& Kyrie):

Nero’s never been to a cosplay convention, he’s just as new to them as V is. As a kid, he wanted to dress up and go to gatherings like that because it looked fun and hopefully no one would look at him funny, as they did in the Order.

Now that he feels more secure in his own skin, having come to terms with his heritage and how he can use it to protect his family, Nero doesn’t feel the immediate need to dress up for the convention but when Kyrie mentions it might be fun, he falls for the suggestion.

Whenever the orphans’ clothes get holes, Kyrie fixes them with her sewing but she is uncertain she has the skills and the time to fix herself and Nero matching outfits in time for the convention, when they have both decided they’ll go. And Nico has convinced them that they’ll have the most fun if they dress up.

Nero is supportive, he’s fine with whichever costume Kyrie wants to do, he doesn’t push and he’s fine with just going as they are as well if it spares Kyrie some trouble, but the kids are very insistent. And Kyrie sometimes has a hard time saying no to them.

Knowing it’s one of Kyrie’s favorite Disney movies, Nero suggests Beauty and the Beast for the two of them. Kyrie wants Nero to have fun and get the whole experience by dressing up, but at first, she is a little bit hesitant about his suggestion. She never wants Nero to feel like she doubts him or his humanity ever again.

They have been through a lot and so, they just talk it out, ending the discussion with soft whispers of love and care and in agreement over their choice.

As for their costumes, they don’t buy anything new. They check their closets for anything unused or something that can just be adjusted. In their eyes, the details don’t have to be perfect as long as they are both having fun. Kyrie also has a field day trying to put make-up on Nero’s face for the Beast look. Honestly, she does a good job. And the clothes she adjusted for Nero’s blue Beast attire, as well as her own blue and white dress for Belle, look great and she feels proud over her work.

At the convention, Nero will make sure to keep an eye on her, make sure she won’t be dehydrated or stay on her feet for too long in queues. It’s mostly unexplored ground for both of them, but they have a lot of fun just people-watching and following the three orphans under their care around, as the boys point out characters that they know everywhere. If the boys don’t recognize someone, they’ll run right up and ask.

Their camera roll is full of pictures of other cosplayers and the kids posing at the end of the day. And Nico snuck in a few pictures of Nero and Kyrie as well.

Dante:

It’s a party, Dante’s interested, enough said. He doesn’t mind grabbing the most ridiculous outfits if it gives him the love of the crowd. At a convention, people of all ages gather so it will be some simple, awesome fun.

As for him choosing a cosplay, the Dr. Faust hat has made him realize he rocks wearing a hat so he initially thought of cosplaying Alucard from Hellsing but after realizing V would cosplay another Alucard, he switched gears. Actually, Dante might just prefer cosplaying a character that likes having fun, just like he does.

By coincidence, he found Vash the Stampede from Trigun and though there is no hat involved, hey, the guy rocks red just as well as Dante does and he uses guns. Does Dante know anything about the character? Not really but that doesn’t stop him from rocking it. Plus, Dante already has red clothes, it’s just a matter of going into character because adjusting those clothes, he knows not how to do.

At said convention, he instantly clicks with a Deadpool cosplayer and they dance to Michael Jackson songs. They also photobomb some cosplay shoots, all in good fun. He lives for the spirit of people just having fun and humans just being humans, gathering thanks to a common interest.

Dante is the type who comes to a convention with several outfits. Or at least he would, if he had enough money for it. Since most of his paycheck goes to keeping the gas, water and electricity at Devil May Cry running, he resorts to simple, but effective ways to show off character, both his own and from other series.

V:

When the idea of going to a cosplay convention is first introduced to him, along with what it actually entails, he’s a bit skeptical. Nico telling him that there will be a ton of people doesn’t really sell him on it as he’s not that fond of crowds. But hearing that many will dress up as characters from stories they enjoy catches his attention. If he agrees to go, maybe he should be sure to make the most of it. And when Nico notices that shift in his demeanor, she keeps pushing him to join, juuust a bit.

For V, cosplay sounds like a way to show appreciation for characters and the stories they star in. Being the big fan of literature and poetry that he is, this aspect of the event does trigger his interest but when Nico gives him the idea to try out cosplay himself, she suggests that he shouldn’t go with cosplaying William Blake. Griffon laughs out loud at the mere idea but his suggestion of V cosplaying as a Disney princess (the orphans under Nero’s and Kyrie’s care have tried to show the avian various Disney movies, further adding to his arsenal of nicknames for V), is equally shot down.

V does want to put some thought and care into who to cosplay, but he also acknowledges his lack of sewing skills and is not too into the thought of buying a costume for himself with his limited funds. Kyrie offers to help but he is hesitant to accept it, seeing how she is trying to make something wearable for both herself, Nero and three little boys.

Ultimately, Nico and surprisingly, Dante become his greatest helpers. The childhood home of the sons of Spardas might have mostly fallen apart, but there are still some of their father’s old black robes in one of the rooms. It needs some adjustments, being too big on V’s lean frame, but the length is pretty spot on.

Nico demonstrates an automatic multi-tool that includes both measuring and sewing capabilities, as well as a laser pointer and a demon alarm that accidentally trips when Griffon is present. V doesn’t ask why she saw the necessity to put all of those functions together, but in the end, two of them are helpful for their situation. And she will show it off at the convention, as part of her genius.

How Dante does it, V doesn’t know, but one day, a long blonde wig is delivered to Devil May Cry, perfect for his decided cosplay. Turns out Dante’s flirt with the lady at the costume shop was helpful.

Ultimately, V feels very satisfied with his appearance as Alucard from Castlevania. The black robes are a different material from his regular leather vest but it’s still in black and thus, he feels right at home in it rather quickly. The long blonde wig takes some more time to adjust to.

What he had not anticipated were people asking to photograph him in this getup but thankfully, V took his time to research his character’s lines and mannerisms. Alucard is a gentleman, so V doesn’t find it very hard at all.

During the convention, Nero and Kyrie have enough on their plate, keeping an eye on the boys, so Nico usually stays close to V. Their chosen media are not anything alike, but that hardly matters. Nico is easily swept up in the excitement of the convention and seeing her makes V think that letting loose once in a while isn’t so bad.

Griffon stars in V’s cosplay as well, dressed up as a bat.

The next day, V will be a bit socially exhausted. Expect him to keep to himself with his book and tea for a good remainder of the day.

[dailyaudiobible]

05/25/2021 DAB Transcript

2 Samuel 7:1-8:18, John 14:15-31, Psalm 119:33-48, Proverbs 15:33

Today is the 25th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we…as we lock in and buckle up and do what we do every day, take the next step forward on the journey that we have embarked on through the scriptures this year. And I guess we’re moved into 2 Samuel by now since we’re moving into chapter 7, but we’ve probably got the lay of the land. 2 Samuel is dealing with the life of David, whereas 1 Samuel was dealing with the life of Saul. And as we’re dealing with both of these people there are sharp contrasts, and we can find things about ourselves in both of these men. And now we’re focusing on David who is king of all Israel at this point and is Israel’s 2nd king. And, so, we pick up the story in Samuel chapters 7 and 8.

Commentary:

Okay. So, through the course of our year so far and even recently we’ve talked about the boxes that get made to stuff God in so that we can have a better understanding of God but He’s bigger than the box and He won’t fit in the box. And, so, that kinda…kinda gets us disgruntled and we can’t figure out mystery. So, we’ve talked about these kinds of things that bring us tension on our journey of faith. We actually have a real God box described today in the Old Testament in the book of 2 Samuel. David is now firmly established as “the” king of Israel. There are now rivals, he is the king, and he has used that kingdom to subdue the enemies all around him so that there’s respect and peace around the nation. And David has had a very nice palace built and gifted to him. And, so, he lives in this nice palace. Basically, he’s able to slow down a little bit and look around that all that he has and all that he’s in control of and he has this rev…revelation, this sort of realization that his nation is in good shape, he’s in good shape, he has everything he could dream of but…but God, the Lord God who made all this possible still lives in the same tent that He’s been living in, the tabernacle, since…since the time of Moses. And, so, actually from a good place in David’s heart he’s thinking, you know, he’s making this comparison and thinking “I have it better than God. Like, I have been blessed with so much here and then the Lord is living in a tent and we need to make God a spectacular home to live in. This box, this walled in area, this temple for God to live in.” And David shares that with the Prophet Nathan who’s like, “yeah, if that’s in your heart than do what’s in your heart.” But that wasn’t what was in God’s heart. That’s the thing. And, so, God’s speaks to Nathan who then comes back to David and this is where we get this…this kind of God box description. Through Nathan the prophet, God says to David, “are you the one to build a house for me to live in? I have not lived in a house from the day I brought the people of Israel up out of Egypt until today. I have been moving around in the tent and the dwelling. I have traveled everywhere with all the people of Israel. Did I ever speak a word to any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people or ask them, ‘why have you not built a house of cedar for me?’” I think this is really interesting because what God is saying is, “you know, you’re not gonna put Me in a box. I am out and among the people where I have always been. Everywhere you’ve gone I’ve gone with you and led you. That’s how this works.” Now as we know, Solomon, David’s son, the next king who we haven’t met yet, he will be given permission to build a permanent temple. And he actually will bring Israel to its finest…finest hour. But it’s interesting to just sit there and look at David, look at what he might be thinking realizing how blessed he is, how fortunate. I mean he has had his share of struggle. So…and so there is no way that he can’t appreciate where he is now. Running…he was running for his life from cave to cave and now he’s the king. And he knows that this only happened at the hand of God. And he looks around at all he has and in his good heart wants to build something even bigger for God. And isn’t that kind of what we do? Like God has blessed me and I need to build something big for God and we start thinking along those lines. And man, it gets mixed motive.…our motives get mixed really, really quick. Cause we’re gonna build this big thing and people are gonna see us build this big thing and so we’re gonna get the notoriety and the performance value for building this big thing for God. And maybe God doesn’t want that thing built. Maybe He’s just fine being out and among the people. What exactly would we conceive of building for God that just on the face of it is gonna be so impressive that God becomes speechless? I’m mean we’re talking about the Being who spoke the world into existence. So, what are we going to build for God? That really, really checks our…our motivations. That really, really checks why we would try to do some of the things that we try to do. What we ultimately find out as we continue the journey through the…the bible is that we are the temple of God and God indwells us and is everywhere that people are, He’s within us and among us and hovering around us. So, He doesn’t really need the box. It’s we…we seek out the box so we can say, “there…there is God, that’s where God is, that’s what God does, that’s what God does not do. Whatever is not in that box is not of God.” So, what if we were to start realizing that we are that temple, that box, if we want to call it that? Are we open? Are we surrendered? Like are…are we available or are we a closed box and we just tell God who He is and what He does and doesn’t do all the time? We just quote scriptures back to Him like He’s forgotten or never really even knew what was in the bible. And we sing worship songs that describe for Him who He is as if He doesn’t know anymore. What kind of freedom would there actually be if we let go of all of that and said God is God, which is well, well, well beyond any possibility of my human understanding? Like, all of eternity, a billion, billion years from now I will still be learning new things about the Lord. So, I…I do not know what I think that I know. What kind of freedom would there be in just believing in faith that He loves us profoundly and wants to draw near and we don’t have to come up with a formula for that, we just have to draw near back? Think of the freedom in that, the freedom of being in a loving relationship. Let’s live into that today.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come. We are so often trying to become aware of Your presence through our intellect when You remain beyond anything that we can conceive of. We only see glimpses and…and they’re so good that we want more, but it’s You who comes in Your kindness and graciousness to be among us. So, we want to experience You for who You are in the gentle, unhurried way of…of actual love, of actual relationship instead of us running around thinking of what we need to do to impress You or what we need to do to impress everybody else so it can seem as if we’re closer to You. We don’t need any of that. We just need intimacy with You. There’s nothing else that our heart…like this is what our hearts truly crave, and we fill it with all kinds of other stuff. And, so, forgive us for, even though we’re the temple of being a closed box that simply tries to control You. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, and that’s how to get connected and stay connected and find out what’s happening around here. So, check that out. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can access all of these things from there. There is a Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app and you hit that, and it pops open a drawer.

And, so, you can access things like the Community section, which is where the Prayer Wall lives as well as the Daily Audio Bible Shop where there are resources there for this journey. All kinds of stuff. We have the Daily Audio Bible journal in the Shop that we’ve developed over the years to be the perfect size to carry around. Like, it’s just the…the “the” journal that we’re using around here to journal in. Things to write in like the Black Wing pencil line. I love journaling with a pencil. That’s been going on for several years now. Everybody has their own preference but it’s a little old school to have a really great pencil and sharpen that pencil and write in your own hand, old school, in your own penmanship no matter how bad it might be, to say things. And I’ve journaled digitally in my life, I’ve done that, it’s just a different kind of process than just sitting down, sharpening a pencil and just kind of allowing what’s in your heart, what’s in your mind to flow out onto the page. It’s really, really helpful and the precedent is very much in the bible. We’re continually instructed to remember, remember what happened here, don’t forget God’s faithfulness and…and when we’re pouring that out on the page in our own hand it sure is nice to go back when things get foggy and it seems very unclear, to be able to go back and see, yeah, that thread is true. God has always been here and has always been faithful. And we begin to tell the story back to ourselves as we read through our journal. And it’s an incredible thing. So, stuff like that, resources like that are in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. And I can’t thank you enough other than to say what I say on a regular basis. This wouldn’t be happening if we weren’t in this together. That’s just a fact. And, so, I’m humbled and awed and grateful that we are on this journey and have been on this journey for these years. And I thank you with all of my heart for your partnership. So, yeah, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Spring Hill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit that Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top, you can’t miss it or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi, good morning this is D from New York. I’m about a four-year listener and second time caller. My first call was early March when I, my husband, and my son were sick with COVID. And, so, this is a praise report to say that we’ve all recovered very well. Thank God and thank you for your prayers, especially Randal’s who I heard a couple of days after I recorded my prayer request. I’m also calling for Mom Tries. I just heard her prayer request. Congratulations on becoming a pro athlete, a pro triathlete. I totally understand the jitters and the nerves that you may be experiencing or maybe not quite since I’m not a pro athlete. I am a 66, 67-time marathoner, a novice triathlete and as an indoor athlete I totally understand, and I get it. And I pray that you perform well this weekend at that full Iron Man and know that all things, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. I’d like you to give us peace feedback and let us know how it went. Praying for you girl. You’re going to do wonderfully. Bye-bye.

Good morning DAB family this is Laura from Eugene, Oregon. I’m just calling in with a grateful heart this morning as I’m listening to the reading, as I listen to Brian’s commentary, to the prayer requests and the prayers being lifted up. Thank you each one of you. I am so so grateful to be a part of this Daily Audio Bible community. I just wanted to share an answered prayer. I called in a while back with a prayer request from my son’s mental health. He was really in a bad place and it’s always concerning with him and he is such in a better place now. Prayer is powerful. So, thank you. I just pray now that he can come to know the Lord again. He accepted the Lord as a child but he’s far away now. So, that’s where that true healing can happen. So, I just am praying and asking you to pray with me for his return to the Lord. His name is Andrew. And then I’m also asking prayer for my mom Alice who just received a cancer diagnosis this week. It was very unexpected, and we’re all in a little bit of shock and not knowing where to go next. So, of course we are turning to the Lord and I’m asking you for prayer for healing and for wisdom and discernment as we go forward and navigate this whole situation. Thank you DAB family. I am so grateful for each one of you and I love to pray for you. It’s my honor.

Hello this is Gods Tree From Many Branches But I Am Rooted in the Word of God. I’m calling because I feel like I needed to give some words of encouragement. About two years ago I called DAB desperate, crying, and upset because I got an announcement that my brother was suicidal, and the police were looking for him and everybody was looking for him and we didn’t know where he was, and I called you all immediately to start praying immediately for my brother. Praise God, we found him, and they were able to get him help, and he was… he had a total breakdown. He went through a total mental break, but God was able to restore him and get him to counseling he need and get him back on track. And it’s been two years later, and he is living happily. He is in love with the Lord, he is trusting God for everything in his life. He still has a lot of things that he needs to straighten out in his life, and he still beats himself up for things that he’s done but he knows God has given him grace and giving him mercy. And he has found joy and he’s found a purpose in life. And I wanted to give this encouragement to those who are struggling right now in dealing with depression and even suicidal thoughts. Bind the enemy and rebuke him in the name of Jesus because there is happiness after the darkness. You will find joy after weeping all night long. God is an awesome God, and He is the Keeper and I just want you to trust Him and believe it’s going to get better, take it from me. In Jesus’ name, I do pray for you. Amen.

Hi this is Victorious Soldier just calling pray for some of the DABbers. I want to pray for…for Keith and Grace the lady with her husband and her who was having some challenges. I’m gonna pray for you and your family. I wanna pray for Michael Rowing the Boat Ashore, just thank you for being a part of the DAB and continue to pray that God continue to bless you. Thank God for bringing you aboard and thank God for giving you some wonderful insight into His word. I wanna pray for Paperclip and Allison’s son. It’s so good to hear that. I didn’t realize you had a son. Thank God that you’re free and thank God that you’re there and just stay in the word. We’d love to hear from you. Tell Allison Shalom, Shalom. I wanna say, Shannon from Salem, praying for you in your classes, that suicide prevention is great. Prayerfully, with all the depression and everything that somebody will latch on and see that life is worth living and God would give ’em joy. Gracious Father we just lift you up. We praise you for the DABbers, we praise you for the light. I want to pray also for those who have lost their mothers or lost their fathers or are going through with their children with the depression and everything that’s going on Lord, we just ask You the names I call and the ones that are going through with the depression the one that’s going through with the COVID. Lord, we just ask You to have Your way. We thank You for our brother over…overseas who is doing better. We just lift you up. We praise Your name, Lord we just ask You to touch as only You can do. We ask You to speak the word Lord. We ask You to…to connect with them and let them feel You that You are there and I’m recognizing and acknowledge You that you can direct their path…

[witchesoz]

What we know of Oz: Book 1, the East

# Let’s talk a bit about the first Ozian region that Dorothy travels through: the land of the East, the Blue Land, the land of the Munchkins. This region’s “official” color is blue – well, official is maybe too much of a term. In the book it is merely referred to as the “favorite” color of the land’s inhabitants, like all the other “official” colors of Oz. However it doesn’t mean the whole land is blue – the flowers, the grass, the birds are said to be a diverse and vibrant palette of colors. Blue is rather found in man-made things: the Munchkins houses, farms, fences and doors are painted blue. The Munchkins also dye blue their bedsheets, their rugs and their clothes. In terms of clothes, we know that women and children wear blue but we don’t know exactly what they wear. However we have an exact description of the typical clothing worn by all the adult male Munchkins (and it seems that being an adult in the Munchkin population is being old enough to sport a beard) : a blue round hat that rises to a small point a foot above their heads, with little bells around the brims that tinkle sweetly as they move, blue clothes the same shade as the hats, and well-polished boots with a deep roll of blue at the top. In terms of culture, we know that the Munchkins are by nature kind-hearted people, very emotional and very empathic – for example, when Dorothy starts crying, immediately the three grown-up Munchkin men around her also start crying. 

The narration adds says that the Munchkins are good farmers able to raise large crops – in fact, all the Munchkins houses we see are also farms of some sort, and most of the Munchkins are farmers, the only exception mentioned being a tinsmith and a family of woodchoppers. A typical Munchkin house is round, with a big dome for a roof, all painted blue. # The Munchkin country is “sometimes pleasant, sometimes dark and terrible”, as the Witch of the North puts it. Boq has a very similar warning: “the country is rich and pleasant, but to go to the Emerald City, one has to go through rough and dangerous places”. Indeed the Munchkin Country seems to be split in two areas – its most eastern area, which is a true Eden Garden, a rural Arcadia – and its western part, the closer to the Emerald City, that is basically one gloomy and creepy forest filled with dangers and monsters. Is it the natural disposition of the region? Or was it a natural tool the Wicked Witch used to isolate even more the Munchkins? Or maybe the whole country was peaceful and beautiful a long time ago but the Wicked Witch of the East made its border a world of doom and death? Who knows, all theories are possible.

To explore the Munchkin country, I will probably follow the Yellow Brick Road, the one that crosses the whole land. Note that in the book the Yellow Brick Road isn’t a sort of “historical landmark” or “main axis” in the Munchkin country. It is merely the only road that leads to the Emerald City, and in fact it isn’t cared for by anyone anymore, falling into ruin in the most isolated parts of the country. Most of the Munchkins never want to go to the Emerald City – Boq for example never went there, and the Tin Woodman explains that his father went once to the city, when he was a small boy, and that it already was “a long journey through a dangerous country”. (Take in note how there is a separation between the “dangerous country” and the one the Munchkins live in; I will talk about it later with the Quadling country). As for why the bricks are yellow, it is not explained in the book, even though a theory explains that the road is yellow merely because it goes towards the west, hence the yellow color (and it suggests that there are similar roads, a purple one for the north and a red one for the south).

The road starts in the best part of the country, with “neat fences of dainty blue color”, fields of grain and vegetable in abundance – it is also where is located the house of Boq. For those of you that don’t know of him, Boq is apparently “one of the richest Munchkins in the land”, his house being larger than a regular Munchkin house, and after the death of the Wicked Witch he hosts a party with a bunch of friends where they abandon themselves to the typical Munchkin pleasures – dancing, singing, playing the fiddle and eating feasts of fruits, nuts, pies and cakes. After this house follows the cornfield where the Scarecrow is first met. After that the road becomes rough, the yellow bricks said to be uneven, broken or missing. The farms are “not well-cared of”, there are fewer houses and fewer fruit trees, the country becomes “more dismal and lonesome”, until there are no more fences, and the land becomes rough and untilled. Clearly, the Munchkins avoid being too close to the western part of their country, or had to move away from it.

The road then enters into a forest – which seems to occupy the whole western part of the Munchkin country. The forest is said to be “great”, with trees “so big and so close” that their branches meet and unite, blocking the light of the sun, so that at night the forest is pitch-black and no human can even see what is going on around them. This is where the Tin Man’s house is located. The presence of the Tin Man is actually quite an interesting thing… you see the Tin Man is the only “human” inhabitant of this forest, and his cottage is the only house found in the forest. Since the Tin Man lived there (and then stayed rusted there) for a very long time, it is very possible that he lived in the woods at a time when the forest was still occupied by Munchkins lumberjacks and woodsmen, but that they ended up abandoning it, leaving only one wood chopper behind, the Tin Man. But again, the Tin Man’s cottage is quite close to the edge of the forest, so maybe even at the time when lumberjacks worked in it, they did not dare go into its depths. Further away, the trees and branches become so thick that if they aren’t chopped down, one can’t keep walking on the yellow brick road, clearly indicating that the road was abandoned and that nature grew wild around it. The road goes on in these “thick woods”, its yellow bricks covered with “dried branches and dead leaves”, with no birds around (because as the narration puts it, birds prefer open spaces and sunshine), but with deep growls in its depths, the growls of wild animals – in fact, it is in this part of the forest that we meet the Cowardly Lion. Then the road is split, yes, split, by a wide and deep ditch that divides the forest “as far as can see”, with jagged rocks at the bottom and sides too steep to climb – the Lion has to take his comrades on his back and jump over it to continue along the Yellow Brick Road. Later, our little team meets another gulf that breaks the road, but this one so broad and so deep not even the Lion can jump over it, and they have to cut down a tree to cross over. These gulfs are obviously quite “recent” given that they actually break the road in two – which makes one wonder when, exactly, the road was created. Either the ditches are recent, either the road is very ancient. (Interestingly, in the audio series “Chronicles of Oz”, the explanation given to these huge breaks in the road was that the Wicked Witch of the East broke the Yellow Brick Road to prevent the Wizard from invading her domain). It is also very interesting to note that these ditches actually act as the “borders” of a very specific part of the forest, said to be “thick and gloomy” – the territory of the Kalidahs. 

Kalidahs are one of the threats of Munchkin land, “monstrous beasts with bodies of bears and heads like tigers” the Lion says, with claws so long and sharp they could cut him in two. I’ll talk of the “mind” of the Kalidahs later, but I will already mention here that the mention of the Kalidahs as “monstrous”, especially when it is done by the Lion, himself a beast, seems to indicate that the Kalidahs are seen as monsters or abominations by the other beasts of Munchkinland. However, this should be taken with a grain of salt – it may also just be the Lion’s cowardliness speaking. Immediately after crossing the great gulf, the trees become thinner and start to bear fruits (peaches and plums mostly, in the forest the only fruits available were nuts), until the Yellow Brick Road stops at a broad river. This broad river seems to act as the border between the Eastern lands and the central region of the Emerald City, so I’ll stop my description here. However, note that to go from where she landed to the Emerald City, Dorothy had to walk around five or six days – four or five in Munchkin land, roughly one day to go from the river to the Emerald City. Some of you may like to calculate the amount of miles or kilometers she crossed in this time based on complex calculations… I remember someone once calculated the rough dimension of Oz… It must be still on DeviantArt somewhere

[bethhxrmon]

do flowers exist at night? -chapter eleven

Chapter Eleven: Jingle All The Way

Pairing: Steve Harrington x OC

Chapter Summary: Christmas has finally come to Hawkins and has allowed for everyone to take the time to be happy and decompress from the past month’s events.

Word Count: 2.9k

Warnings: Swearing, Annie being petty

A/N: Howdy! I hope you guys liked this chapter, I’m trying really hard to get out these chapters, but I also don’t have much time/energy for writing with uni going on soooo hopefully I’ll still keep updating regularly, but we’ll see! Anywho, if you really liked this part, you can find the other ones here.

~*~*~*~

"Do you think she's gonna like these?" Steve asked, closing the oven as he put some brownies in.

Annie hopped off of his kitchen counter and nodded, "She'll love them. Trust me, Steve, I've gone on and on non-stop about how amazing you are to her. She already loves you, she just wants to know who's been making me so happy lately."

"That's me, right?"

She laughed, grabbing the rubber spatula and dabbing a bit of brownie batter on the tip of Steve's nose, "It's definitely you, I promise."

"That's sweet and all, but did you really just dab batter all over my face?"

"Just your nose."

Steve got the rubber spatula out of Annie's hand with ease before dabbing it on her lips, "Really?"

Before either of them could properly realize what she was doing, she already had Steve pulled down to her level by the collar of a dark green polo shirt before kissing his nose. Which he responded to by kissing her. That was something that became more and more common over the bit of time they officially started dating for.

The school wasn't about to find anything concerning their relationship until after the new year, and Annie liked it that way. They had a chance to try being together in the best environment. It was hard to screw up hanging out with each other, after all.

Within the last week, they ended up hanging out almost every day. Someone had to show Annie what to do with snow. Seattle never got a whole lot of it and Steve had no qualms about running outside and almost freezing to death in it. Annie preferred the part where they went inside and made hot chocolate while cuddling with each other on the couch. The cuddling part couldn't be done quite as well when hanging out with the kids in the past few days.

As much teasing as they got from the kids, Annie was pretty sure they were okay with it. Not that it would have made her stop dating Steve.

There was batter all over both of their faces, but neither seemed to care. Steve left kisses all over her face that made Annie laugh. It was amazing how being out of school for a little while made her realize she didn't mind being touched by someone else. At least, not as long as she liked the person in question.

"So, I don't have anything to worry about?" he asked, looking down at her.

She nodded, "Exactly, you're gonna be fine. Just be your dorky self and it'll be fine."

Of course, there was a part of her that worried about her dad making another appearance. It still didn't stop her from burning the letters that got sent her way. She read one a couple months ago and that was all she needed.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked.

She shook her head, "Oh, nothing!"

"Are you sure?"

"I just don't want my dad screwing up Christmas, you know?" she said, "He screwed up Thanksgiving, and that's not a super huge deal, but I don't want him being all rude to you."

"It's gonna be fine," he said, pulling her in for a hug, "And even if he shows up, we'll work it out."

Annie nodded, letting herself just stand there in his arms. There was just something about how Steve's arms felt around her. They were so assuring and they were firm, but not strong enough to hold her still. It wasn't anything she had to worry about.

Though, a part of her was waiting for the other shoe to drop. For Steve to do something or for her to do something stupid. That was how these things tended to work. Not that she knew a whole lot, but it was how her parents worked. She didn't like to admit it, but it was also how her last relationships worked.

It probably wasn't anything worth worrying about. Not on a Christmas Eve night that was about to turn into Christmas Day in a matter of ten minutes. She already had his gift wrapped and kept in her dresser so he wouldn't get too nosy and find it. 

"Do you think you're gonna get bored?" she asked, barely realizing she said anything until she felt Steve move so he could look at her.

He frowned, "Of course not, why do you think that?"

"Just, I mean, we kinda met when a lot was happening and, well, if we're not doing something super dramatic, don't you think it's gonna get boring?"

"If not having any drama is boring, then I think that's the best way for things to be," he let out a sigh, "Like, when we were dealing with monsters and stuff, didn't you wish things were boring?"

She nodded, "Yeah... yeah, I guess I did."

"And you're not a boring person either. You have so much to say and I'm pretty sure I could listen to you talk for the next year without stopping and I still wouldn't get bored of hearing you talk."

"Really?"

"Really, I should be more worried about you getting bored of me," he laughed.

It was supposed to be a joke, but Annie knew better.

She took his hands in hers, "You're not boring at all."

"I'm okay with being boring, you know. I don't need to-"

"Steve!" she caught his attention, "You're not, though. Come on, you do sports, and I hated sports until I heard you talk about basketball."

"I'm gonna get benched."

"I could plant weed in Hargrove's locker and then you won't."

"You wouldn't."

Annie shrugged nonchalantly.

"Even if he wasn't there... I'm still not nearly in shape enough."

She looked at him, frowning, "You're the most beautiful, and probably most in-shape, guy I've ever known."

"You're my girlfriend, you have to say that."

"I don't have to say anything I don't believe. And I like every part of you from your floppy hair and your birthmarks and your eyes and your tummy's a great pillow because Lord knows I never get enough sleep. And that's without going into how kind and brave you are."

"You think that?"

She pulled him down to kiss him, "I know that."

Christmas was never the biggest holiday for Annie, but it was obviously different from how she celebrated it years before. With only her mom in the house, that should have taken Christmas shopping down by a lot. However, she did not count on befriending a bunch of kids. There were so many of them, but she would see them all later.

A part of her was anxious about Steve meeting her mom, though she was more excited than anything else. She had only said good things about Steve, knowing that he would be nervous about this. Not that there was much to be nervous about. 

Annie knew that the only thing to worry about was whether or not her dad decided to make an appearance. That was something she felt would be fine, though. Mainly because snow was blocking the roads, making most travel impossible. At least, as far as going on the interstate went.

"So, when's Steve getting here?" her mom asked.

Annie heard a knock at the door, "Um... I think that's him!"

She was quick to rush to the door, seeing Steve with a rather large bag and a tupperware container, "You made it!"

Steve nodded, a smile was on his face that was far too large for any regular person, "Yep, your mom's here right?"

"Yeah, relax, she'll love you!"

Her mom stood from where she sat on the couch, "Steve! It's great to meet you, I've heard so much about you!"

"Um yeah, it's great to meet you, Mrs. Hardwick," he said, extending a free hand to shake.

The first thing her mom latched onto was that Steve baked brownies in the shape of Christmas trees. Something that neither Annie nor Steve pointed out was a team effort and involved both of them getting rather distracted thanks to each other. If Annie admitted that she kind of slept over at his place, she was sure that would put a wrench in the day.

As it turned out, Annie was more correct than she originally thought when it came to her mom loving Steve. They ended up talking to each other more than she did. Not that she was complaining, she took it as a good sign. There was nothing to worry about after all.

"I'm glad I finally got to meet you, Steve, but I'm pretty sure my daughter's got something she wants to give you," her mom said, getting up and walking off to her office.

Annie grinned, "I told you so!"

"Your mom's so cool! She's so smart," he smiled, "So... you have something for me?"

She nodded, handing him a box, "Now, keep in mind, I figured this out before we were dating, but I think it still works perfectly."

"Yeah?" he asked as he took the box and unwrapped it, "Oh, curtains."

Annie laughed as she noticed how he was trying to not look sort of disappointed at the dark blue fabric, "Aren't you gonna take it out of the box?"

"Um yeah, sure, I can do that," he said, pulling out the curtains before noticing something was wrapped in them, "Tapes?"

She nodded, "Yep, you said that you were really invested in Emma, but you also said you liked it better when I was reading it to you. Obviously I didn't narrate it, but the person reading it's pretty good and-"

He wrapped her in a tight hug, "It's perfect, thank you."

Annie smiled, melting into his touch. Though, he was soon pulling back so he could pull something out of his larger bag.

"It's not nearly as thoughtful, but here you go," he said, handing her a bag.

She took it and started to take out the tissue paper, "I'm sure it's great."

The bag had a notebook and a couple of tapes. Though, she was pretty sure that it wasn't an audio book. She picked up one of the tapes.

"I'm not great with names like you are, but they're both full of songs that remind me of you. Maybe you know some of them, or not but I thought you might like it. And I know you said you didn't know how to let out your feelings and I remember hearing something about writing being a good way to figure that stuff out and-"

She pecked him on the lips, "Thank you, they're amazing."

After staying at Annie's house for a little while longer and having a nice lunch, she and Steve went off to Hopper's cabin. She claimed it was so her mom and Scott could have a nice time and be alone. Which was part of the reason, but she also wanted to see the kids. They did a not quite so Secret Santa of sorts. One that she was pretty sure Steve cheated on given that he had a pretty large bag with him.

It was easy to find something for Max, who she was lucky enough to pick. Lucas had begged her to switch since he got Steve and had no clue what to get him. She didn't budge, though, having decided that she was going to roll with it.

And even between learning about her powers, which she still had yet to tell anyone about, she found herself bonding with Max the best. With a bit of help from the owner of the local comic book store, she was able to find some Wonder Woman comics that she was sure Max would really like.

Once at the little get together, it was easy to feel just as comfortable as she did at home. The only awkward thing was seeing Jonathan and Nancy together. Even that wasn't all too bad. At least, until Nancy went up to both of them, asking to talk to Steve.

Annie stood back so she wouldn't worry herself with whatever those two were talking about. Instead, she found Lucas.

"Hey, did you take my advice?" she asked.

Lucas nodded, "Yep, your boyfriend will officially have the best present in the galaxy."

"If you say so," she laughed, "If you really think an R2D2 is the best present."

He shrugged, "You're the one who said Star Wars."

It was true, that was her suggestion. She knew that he liked it even if he didn't like to admit it so easily. This was the one way to make sure that Steve got something that he was interested in. He didn't share everything that he liked openly, so that made figuring out what to do for him a bit difficult.

A little bit later and Nancy approached her, "Hey, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure," Annie nodded, "What's up?"

Nancy let out a sigh, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. You know, for not stopping all those rumors. I know you didn't do anything with Steve. He's not the type."

"Yeah, you're right. He's also not the type to tell you that you didn't treat him nearly as well as he deserved," she said, "But I'm the type to tell you that apologizing now that all that's kinda on the backburner's too little too late."

"That's why I'm apologizing."

"And I don't accept it."

Nancy blinked and crossed her arms, "Why not? If you don't mind me asking."

"I had to deal with guys treating me like I was a piece of meat, like I was some sort of exotic prize to be won," she shook her head, "You wouldn't get it. And maybe if you said something, nothing would have changed, but at least it would have meant you cared about someone other than yourself."

"I care about other people."

"Well then I'm not other people," she replied, "Merry Christmas."

Not too long after that exchange, it was time for everyone to give their presents to the right person. Really, the gift giver wasn't secret at all. The goal was to just make sure that no one spent an arm and a leg trying to get something for the whole group. Though, Steve clearly didn't get the memo. Not that she blamed him for getting something for each of the kids. He wanted to make them feel special.

A few minutes after she gave Max her present, someone tugged on the sleeve of her sweater. Annie smiled a bit, seeing El.

The young girl handed Annie a bag, "For you."

Annie opened the bag to see a blue Care Bear with a crescent moon on its stomach.

"You said you can't sleep. It's a bedtime bear," El explained.

She smiled and felt tears prick at the back of her brown eyes, "I love it."

That was when it hit her, if anyone would understand what was going on with her, it had to be El. Everyone was starting to go off to the kitchen since there was some food that was ready. Though she caught El's attention before she could follow.

"I need to show you something," Annie said, "I think I'm like you."

While she trusted everyone in this cabin to keep any of her powers a secret, she trusted that El would be the most understanding. So she started by unplugging the tree. Then, she set her focus on the lights. She had practiced a little bit over the last few weeks, so making the tree turn on by herself didn't strain her as much as it had before.

The once dim tree was now lit up with the lights glowing a light blue. Annie felt a drop of blood come down from her nose.

"What the hell?!" Steve exclaimed, which made Annie lose concentration and the tree went dark again.

Annie's eyes were so wide they could have popped out of her head, "Um... I-I can explain?"

"Can you? Because it looks like you did that yourself," he shook his head, "How long have you known?"

She pursed her lips and looked at the floor, "Three weeks."

"Wait, seriously?"

El looked between both of them and walked away to the kitchen. It wasn't that either of them seemed heated, but Annie knew she needed a chance to just explain it to Steve. Except, she wasn't sure how to. All she could do was nod.

"Does anyone know?" he asked, stepping closer to her, "Is this the first time you've told anyone?"

Annie took a shaky breath and nodded again, "You remember that day we were fighting? And how my hand was all bandaged up from the phone breaking? I um... I broke it on accident."

"I don't understand."

"I was talking to my dad and I got really angry and I made it short circuit. When I went to your place that night... I meant to tell you about this because I thought it would sweep everything under the rug. It's how my parents worked, focusing on the next thing instead of apologizing. Then, it turned out you were miserable and so I didn't tell you," she looked up at him as she chewed on the inside of her cheek.

He frowned, "Why didn't you tell me later?"

"It never felt like a good time. I guess I just didn't wanna make you worry about me."

"Hey, I'm your boyfriend, I'm gonna worry about you. You can tell me about this stuff, even if I don't really get it," he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

She smiled a bit, "You're not gonna tell anyone, right?"

"No... not unless this teddy bear counts as someone," he said, nodding down at the blue bear.

Annie laughed, "You're such a dork."

"I'm your dork, though," he replied, grinning.

Taglist: @dungeons-and-demodogs​ @nxncywheeler​ @ilovebucketbarnes​

[walkingshcdow-a]

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻 (talk to me u never talk to me u scary girl)

Send me 🌻and I’ll tell you whatever I want | Accepting!

Soooooo scary.

Anyway, that’s 10 things you want me to talk about. OKAY!!!

I have a stack of TBR books by my bed, but on the side that I don’t sleep on that doesn’t have a lamp. It’s the most useless setup. Like, I’m not gonna reach across a queen-sized mattress to rifle through these books before bed. I fantasize about reading them - luxurious bath times, cozy rainy days, sunning myself in the common patio with a book - but I haven’t been able to bring myself to read them. I think I’m scared of being disappointed. I don’t have time to be let down by fiction anymore. Last year, I read so many duds and so this year, I can’t quite motivate myself to read. It’s super lame and I feel like a sham since I’m an English teacher.

My BFF bought me a beautiful oracle deck/tarot deck when we were in college. She knew I wanted to get into reading tarot but that I was superstitious AF about buying my first deck for myself - something I now think is ridiculous, but I was twenty and anxious - so she bought me this glossy, gorgeous deck. I haven’t learned to read it but I want to. I really, really want to. Especially since I’m pretty good at the Rider-Waite tarot deck. Maybe I’ll offer free readings online as I learn the deck. IDK.

I really, really want to play a DnD campaign. I’m really still angry that the last one I tried to DM didn’t pan out past one session. I understand why and it was for the better, but damn. I love tabletop RP. I love board games. I love regular RP. Just let me play games with friends!!!

I cosigned a statue of Sekhmet to my friend’s metaphysical shop. Everyone who looked at the statue kept asking me if it was Sekhmet or Bast and my friend and I were both like The headdress is quintessential Sekhmet. Bast doesn’t wear that kind of headdress. But ngl, the statue looked more like a cat than a lioness so... Who knows?

I binge-watched Season One of Gravity Falls yesterday while I was nursing a sinus headache. I don’t know what my deal is, but I have a THING for chaos twins. I just kept imagining a world where the relatives Dipper and Mabel had to spend the summer with were their creepy goth third cousins on Piffling. It delighted me.

If you have a mask that ties over your head instead of with ear-loops, it’s so much easier to wear when your hair is in a ponytail. I prefer my mask that ties around my head to my ear-loops one BUT MY GOD I WANT THIS MALEFICENT ONE OR THIS ONE. Actually, when I saw the blue and pink on the second mask, my brain was like “Sleeping Beauty is a bisexual film”. All the characters in it are bi. Aurora, Maleficent, Phillip, Diaval. Every fairy. Even the king and queen. Bi af. If you argue with me, you owe me ten dollars.  

I bought the more expensive model of Mazda when I bought my car in part because I liked the features but also because I was more at ease driving to Fleetwood Mac than I had been driving to whatever was playing in the first car I tried out. NO REGRETS!! MY CAR IS AMAZING. I drove it through a high water crossing today and it excelled. I say these sentences like I bought my car recently, but like, nah. I got my car while I was student teaching three years ago. I’m just thinking about it because I’m listening to Fleetwood Mac right now and I just drove for 3 hours. I know fuck all about cars, though. I want to learn a few things but I’m scared to ask. I’m very good at calling AAA and talking to the guys at Discount Tire, though.

My sister has spent the last two years trying to convince me that I’m secretly a cat person. I actually would secretly rather have plants than animals because I don’t even feed myself, but I do stay hydrated, so I think I’d do better with plants. I might drag Courtney to help me pick out succulents this weekend. They’re 10 for $10 at Kroger and ADORABLE.

I want to go on an apartment cleanse/redecorating spree. I spent so much of my childhood moving that I’ve never felt very comfortable decorating or making a space my own. It’s time. I also have a ton of stuff to donate to Goodwill.

ICB you want me to make an audio loop of every time someone says “Finnegan” in the 2015 film. ICB I might do it. Why do I love him so much? It’s not like Max Landis gave him a personality. That’s 100% Freddie Fox and the costumer’s handiwork. Well. Plus me. But that’s just between us.

[its-bianca]

Studying/Planner Apps

Essential apps for studying, planning, health, etc. Who says everything has to be analog?

These are all the ones I’ve tried and downloaded (unless said otherwise). The ones with the * next to it are the ones I don’t use or have gotten rid of for personal reasons, but still highly recommend all of them.

I go through apps like a child goes through toys. I try them out, get rid of the ones I don’t like. Apps are toys.

There’s tons more, but these ones are the ones that I recommend to people with similar needs and schedules like mine. The ones I haven’t or don’t use anymore are ones I could definitely see being helpful to others or that I’d maybe use in the future if my needs change. 

Note: these are things from the App Store, but I’m pretty sure most are available on the Play Store too.

Podomoro Time Trackers

Forrest* - Haven’t tried this because you have to pay for it on the App Store, but I’ve seen everyone go bonkers over this app and how they plant trees for studying, etc. etc. 

Plantie - Best and only Podomoro app I still use. Gamified, but not TOO gamified. You just grow fruit, collect, coins, buy more fruit trees. It’s super simple, while still providing really good graphs and charts. Also, it allows you to turn off the feature where it stops your task as soon as you leave the app. Sometimes I need to use my phone for assignments, and I still want to track my time. It’s completely FREE, with GREAT charts as a visual. Other apps need a premium subscription to access the graphs and charts, which is why I love this app because even though the chart is quite simple, it does its job. Although, it doesn’t tell you when to take the longer break and it has to be adjusted manually. That’s fine for me, because I always get disturbed by something before I even get to 4 blocks, and if I waited until I had a big chunk, I’d never get anything done.

Block & Flow: Stay focused* - Podomoro but visualised with stacks of blocks for each day or week. And you can list out what tasks you have for that day and sort out sections for work, reading, school, etc. I didn’t need that feature, which is why I used Plantie instead.

Workflow Timer* - Another good option with options to make multiple tasks lists. One of the simpler and more user-friendly ones. It also looks really good!

Hours Time Tracking* - App for timeblocking, scheduling, and tracking the time while you’re working. It’s not helpful for me, because it’s practically impossible for me to strictly schedule something in my day after school, but could be useful for others. Really easy to makes tasks and separate by color. 

Stay Focused* - Simplest Podomoro timer out there. No distractions, no graphs, no gamification, just pure focus.

Planners/Calendars/Tasks

Wunderlist - Great reminder system, intuitive (type in “essay next mon” and it will schedule the task to be due next Monday), syncs everywhere, attach documents, etc. I used this for my assignment list, books to read list, schedule etc. for a long time, until recently where things got hectic and I wanted to make a daily to do list rather than only a master list. I use a bullet journal for school stuff now, but still keep Wunderlist for that shopping/movies/books/apps/websites to check out list. 

24me* - Personal assistant, lots and lots of features, with scheduling, to-do lists, notes, journaling, etc. Tracks weather and traffic to and from work/school. All in one.

Google Calendar - I don’t schedule on this, but use it to sync my school calendar with personal calendar. Easy scheduling and you can SHARE your calendar with a friend! All Google apps are made for collaboration basically. 

Habitify* - Habit tracker on your phone and tracks progress every day, showing when you skip and reminding you of it. Don’t quite remember why I got rid of it because checking back it seems really good. Might redownload. 

Trello* - Kanban boards, “cards” and lists, great reviews. I’ve heard people use it as a bullet journal sort of and project planner though that wasn’t it’s original purpose. I downloaded it for a club thing, but never really used it personally. 

Notetaking/Planning/Journaling

OneNote - I use this ALL the time, even though I don’t use my Microsoft account much anymore. My notes are organized and have a hierarchy. Very customizable with headers, notebook sections, pages, subpages, etc. Easy to share with group mates and an okay collaboration space if you want to see each other’s progress on research or something during a group project. MUCH better than having tons of Google or Word docs of notes. Completely FREE for the full experience.

Notion* - One in all workspace for journaling, notes, scheduling, planning projects basically a mini-website for your life and work. Great guide for bullet journaling on Notion from studyblr Eintsein here. Another Notion bullet journaling guide on YouTube here and here. I highly recommend it, but don’t use it since I use an analog bujo, prefer OneNote for class notes, and don’t have much use for it other than that currently. You do have to pay for unlimited notes, but there’s a pretty good amount to start out, and if you really don’t want to pay, there are workarounds to it.

Milanote* - Like Notion, but more restrictions on the free version. I don’t use it anymore because I’ve realized I didn’t really have a good purpose for it and it cluttered up my phone. In a way, it’s more ~aesthetic~ than Notion, but there are less things you can do. It does have a better learning curve though.

Evernote - I don’t use it often, but I have it to take quick notes or other stuff. Evernote is like a god in the notetaking world, because it’s user friendly, quick, and syncs up really easily with everything. 

Health

7 Minute Fitness - There’s a lot of these out there. Go find one or two. Don’t be sedentary.

30 Day Fitness Challenge - Same concept as above.

Simple Habit - FULL of free mostly 5 minute guided meditations (though there’s premium access). There’s no excuse now. Also, I used to try 10 minute meditations on Headspace which made me really sleepy. 5 minutes work best, because they’re quick, and if you want more time, just move on to the next part in the series or find another one. Lots of free series for basically any subject (school, women, mothers, grade anxiety, sleep) and SOS mode. Unfortunately, you can’t download any of them in the free version.

AloeBud* - Self-care pocket companion. Make reminders on your phone for every self-care thing you can think of. Schedule notifications multiple times a day with personalized messages. 

TaoMix2 - Mixer for relaxing nature/white noise sounds. It’s pretty restricted in the free, but it’s enough for me.

Cove* - If you’re a music person, this app let’s you make quick music and tunes matching your mood. A sort of an easy music therapy if you’re not good with instruments or composition. 

Reflecty* - Little journal buddy asking you fun/reflective questions about your day and tracking your mood. It’s short and sweet. Each entry is a “story”.

Oak* - Great for breathing and very simple guided meditations. Breathing practices for anxiety, freshening up, and calming nerves before a big performance. It just takes 15 seconds to breathe.

Grid Diary* - Journal prompts in grid fromat. Customizable daily prompts.

DayOne Journal* - Again, RAVING reviews. Everyone loves it. I haven’t used it because I prefer analog journals, but it’s a pretty good for travel journals with pictures, audio, video, etc.

UVLens - Reminds you to put sunscreen on throughout the day depending on your skin, activities that day, and type of sunscreen. 

Flo - Period tracker. Need I say more? 

Tasty - FOOOD (by Buzzfeed). New recipe ideas, includes shopping list, make your own cookbook.

KitchenStories - MORE FOOOOD. Includes Asian and international cuisine since it’s crowd-sourced.

Miscellaneous

Audiobooks - Audiobooks from the Gutenberg Project, but in app form. You can download classics for free, etc. There are some paid audiobooks, but they’re usually for better narrators/text corrections, so absolutely not necessary to get lost in an old book. Jane Austen, Charlotte Brönte, L. Frank Baum, all the good stuff.

Daylio - Tracks mood, activities, with intuitive charts. You can edit moods and activities shown per day. Free version is pretty good, and it replaces the need for making a habit tracker in my journal, because I don’t like making those.

Scannable - Very intuitive scanning app. I’ve used this for many legal/important documents and nobody had a clue it was “scanned” on a phone. It makes regular photos of documents easier to read and look like it came from a scanner. It can share as a PDF or jpg. Granted, you need good lighting for the best quality. 

Google Docs, Spreadsheets, Slides - Everyone’s probably used this before, but to reiterate, this is the best collaboration app/website. Super easy to share with real-time tracking and updates.

BEAKER by THIX* - For chemistry people. Mix compounds/elements together, make new compounds, see their reactions. Don’t have much use for it since my chemistry class is moving at a glacial pace but I could see this being useful for others. 

Chemtriz - Same as above, but gamified. You take elements and put them together in the right configuration to make compounds.

PictureThis - Plant Identifier - Weird addition to list, but it’s a cool app to get back in with nature. Now I know what a boxwood plant looks like.

IFTTT* - Hard to explain, but it enables different apps that don’t usually work together to work together. So if you input something in an email, you can make it go into a Google Spreadsheet(?). Just go check it out. It’s cool. Many shortcuts, track stuff in the Health App, get emails showing cool NASA pictures. 

Canva - AMAZING graphic design app/website for those who can’t use Photoshop (ie. me). It’s better online, but there are hundreds of templates for magazines, book covers, planners, posters, flyers, and basically any graphic design needs. Many free graphics and photos ready to use. Premium version is NOT necessary to get full benefits from this program. I used it to create this calendar for my room. 

[the--blackdahlia]

Too Young to Fall in Love Chapter 1 (Dirt!Nikki x Reader)

Title: Too Young to Fall in Love Chapter 1

Summary: Nikki Sixx was a hard partying musician on the strip. He never expected to fall in love with anyone, until a girl knocked on his dressing room door looking for a ride home and took his breath away. Just like everything else Nikki did; the drugs, the money, the music; Nikki went hard with love. (Y/n) Bass never expected the bassist of Motley Crue to be the one to shake her calm and calculated life up. She had a plan. Graduate school, become an epic producer, and watch from behind the scenes as her brother’s band rose to fame. Nikki and (Y/n) were perfect for each other, too bad her brother, Tommy, didn’t think so.

Series warnings: Smut (18+ Please), drug use, language, referenced miscarriage, drug overdose, mentioned attempted suicide, out of character moments for everyone in the band, the timeline might be a little screwy but it’s fanfiction!

AN: I couldn’t have done this without the help of @flamencodiva​! Go check out chapters 1, 2, and 3 on my Patreon now! I really hope you guys like this. A lot of hard work has been put into it!

“Dudes, this crowd is fucking wild!” Tommy said happily as they got ready to go out and perform. Nikki chuckled some. No matter what, Tommy still got excited looking out at the crowd. He also still hurled too. This time though, he had missed any of their shoes, which was nice. “I think my sisters and their friends might have came out tonight. Not sure.”

“Dear god, there’s more of you?” Mick asked, shaking his head.

“Yeah dudes. Athena and (Y/n). (Y/n) we’re pretty sure was an oops baby, but she’s amazing!” Tommy laughed. Mick leaned over towards Vince.

“Are we sure he’s not the oops baby?” Mick asked, making Vince laugh.

“Okay guys, we ready?” Nikki asked. The boys got ready to head out on stage. They did a couple last minute checks to make sure their hair and make up was perfect before they headed out, the crowd erupting into screams and they started playing one of their newest songs, “Shout at the Devil”.

****

Tommy had found Athena after the show and she had convinced him to go out for food with him. She had thought (Y/n) had headed back home for the evening, so they left the venue. Nikki was in the dressing room, taking off his makeup when there was a knock at the door.

“Yeah?” He asked, making his way to the door and opening it, and freezing for a second.

“Uh, hi,” She said, looking around. “I’m trying to find my friends. My sister cut out on me and I don’t have a way home.”

“Yeah, sorry. I’m here by myself.” He said. “The rest of the band already headed out.” He looked at her, seeing the defeated slump in her shoulders. “Hey, I’m about to head out myself. I could drop you off somewhere?”

“I...are you sure? Big rock star like you probably doesn’t want someone like me cramping your style.” She laughed. Nikki found himself staring at her. Those beautiful (e/c) eyes and the way her lips twisted into a smile when she laughed.

“It’s no problem. Really.” He laughed a little. “Probably should get your name though.”

“Oh, I’m (Y/n) Bass.” She said, offering her hand for him to shake. He laughed and took her hand, kissing the top of it.

“Nikki Sixx.” He told her. She smiled brightly.

“Yeah, I know all about you.” She smiled. “Just saw the concert. It’s amazing!”

“We’re ok,” NIkki shrugged playing it cool as he packed his bass. “I mean so far a lot of labels heads are being dicks,” he chuckled. “We might just start our own and distribute what we record and just try to find someone to manage us.”

“Well, maybe I’ll get done with school fast enough and can help that.” (Y/n) smiled at him. “That’s what I’m going to school for. Audio production, music management, things like that. I started earlier than everyone else and I’m the first person in my family to actually go to college, so they call me a geek.” She waited for him to get done taking off his makeup and get ready to leave. She was rambling and felt really nervous.

“That’s fucking sweet!” he chuckled and smiled. “I have to say… you would make one very sexy music producer.” He grabbed his things and walked up to her giving her a small smirk. “Wanna eat before I drop you off? I’m sure you’re hungry and I’m hungry… two hungry people....” he trailed off.  

“That’d be great.” She smiled. “I’m sure my par...roommate is probably asleep and probably wouldn’t appreciate me cooking this late…” She rocked on her heels.

“That’s cool, I mean one of my roommates is a human garbage disposal,” NIkki gave a short snort and looked in to her (e/c) eyes. He could feel his heart skip a beat as he closed his trunk and led her to the passenger side door. “So… any preferences as to what you want to eat?”

“Dude, diner food is some of the best,” She laughed. “So, like a burger or something?” She shrugged, blushing a little.

NIkki placed his hand over his heart feigning a sense of hurt, “A woman after my own heart.” he offered her a wink before carefully closing the door and making his way to the drivers side. “Hold on to something, I don’t do slow.”

With a devilish smirk he peeled out of the parking lot and down the road towards the diner.

“Still a better driver than my brother.” (Y/n) laughed some. “This is the first concert I’ve been too that I didn’t have to sneak into the strip for.”

“Well aren’t you a bit of a devil,” he teased as he helped her out of the car and led her inside.

They quickly sat at a booth and smiled at one another. This was weird, Nikki had never seen himself with a girl this beautiful, and he had never felt his palm get this sweaty over a chick before.

“Hey Nikki.” Doris said. “Jack and Coke?”

“You know me Doris,” he sent the sweet elderly waitress a wink. “What do you want (Y/n)?”

“Just a Coke, no Jack.” She said shyly. “I’m not a big drinker. Kinda a lightweight.” She laughed nervously.

Nikki shrugged, “I’m ok with that.” he looked to Doris and titled his head. “Change my order to just a regular coke Doris would you please?”

“You’re turning down booze? You feelin’ okay Sixx?” She went to go get their cokes. (Y/n) looked up at him.

“You didn’t have to do that.” She said softly.

“Wouldn’t be fair,” Nikki said. “Besides, I want to remember our conversation.” (Y/n) laughed and searched the menu, biting her lip as she did. She could feel Nikki’s eyes on her.

“I...am I being weird?” She asked, glancing up at him. “My siblings say I’m weird and people are gonna stare. But they like to be assholes to me because I’m the baby.”

“Huh?!” Nikki shook out of his trance. “No, you aren’t weird at all! I just.. I…” Nikki fumbled for the right words to say. (Y/n) smiled at him.

“I think I want the bacon cheeseburger.” She told him, putting her menu down. “Can’t go wrong with that and some fries.”

“No you can’t go wrong with that,” Nikki smiled. “I’m going to have the same.”

They sat there, not sure what to say to each other. (Y/n) was surprised that someone like THE Nikki Sixx wanted to talk to her, and Nikki was surprised that someone as cute as (Y/n) wanted to give him the time of day.

“First Saturday I’ve had where I haven’t had a huge test on Monday.” (Y/n) said, finally forcing the conversation. “Gets kinda annoying sometimes.”

“Huh, I was never really book smart, I was surprise I actually made it as far as I did, considering my background...” NIkki gave her a sad smile. “But it’s nice that you’re doing what you’re doing. Do you like it?”

“I love it,” She smiled. “Well, I love doing the stuff actually meant for my degree, not all that well rounded person crap.”

NIkki laughed, “What are they making you take math that you won’t use?”

“Dude, I hate numbers. They haunt me in my sleep.” (Y/n) groaned. “Why do I need to calculate the surface area of a sphere when I’m going to be working for Elektra records or something?”

“Maybe they are going to make records into spheres to fit more songs?” Nikki joked. (Y/n) laughed.

“You’re probably right. Some of the people at school said vinyl and cassettes are on the way out.” She smiled. Doris brought them their food then. “God, this smells so fucking good.”

“It is heaven,” Nikkis said but looked over at (Y/n). “You smell better though.” (Y/n) blushed and laughed.

They ate in silence. (Y/n) was starving and devoured her burger. As she ate, she noticed Nikki staring.

“I...sorry.” She said, putting her burger down. “Not being very lady like, am I?”

“Actually, I’m impressed.” Nikki took a bite of his burger. “You are probably the first girl I’ve eaten with that acts human.”

“Well, I learned to eat fast. If not, my brother tries to eat the food off my plate. Asshole.” She said, eating some of her fries. “So, any good songs in the works? I bought Too Fast For Love few weeks ago. Have it in my Walkman and I listen to it at work.”

“We got a few songs in the works for a killer album,” Nikki smiled. “Might scare some parents.”

“Oh, dangerous. I like it.” She smiled. “My best friend has been all about pop bands. I thought she was going to die when I bought your album and a Kiss album.”

Nikki gave a soft chuckle as he stuck a fry in his mouth, “I would have loved to see the look on her face.” Nikki raised his eyebrow at her. “Are you a good girl (Y/n)? Or a bad girl disguised as a good girl? Or both?” (Y/n) coughed on her drink and looked up at him.

“Take me on a few more dates and you’ll see?” She suggested. She had never been this smooth in her life.

Nikki coughed on his fry and smiled at her, “really?” usually a girl would throw themselves at him and it was ‘wham bam thank you ma’am’ but (Y/n) seemed different.  

“I mean, if you want to…” She said. “I really probably should be going.” She pushed her empty plate away from her.

“I can drop you off at your place,” Nikki said as he put a twenty dollar bill on the table and smiled at her. “Come one, we can talk about our next date on the way.” he held out his hand to her after standing up. She smiled and took his hand, walking with him out to the car.

“Do you have another show coming up?” (Y/n) asked. “I wouldn’t mind coming to see you play again?”

“Yeah, can I have your number? I’ll give you mine…” Nikki trailed of as he gently caressed her cheek. He looked away bashfully. “Sorry, I just… I want to see you again.”

“I’d love to see you again,” (Y/n) said. She took a pen from her purse and wrote her number on his palm. “Here.” She drew a heart around it. “Call me and just leave your number on my machine.” she gave him a smile and a wink.

“Ok,” Nikki leaned in, their noses grazed each other as Nikki stared into her eyes. “Would I get slapped if I kissed you?”

“Not by me you wouldn’t.” She told him. Their lips were close.

Nikki gently let his thumb graze her soft skin before leaning in closing the gap. His lips found hers in a chaste kiss at first. His heart pounding in his chest as he pulled away slowly only to feel her hand snack along the back of his neck pulling him in for another kiss. He dared himself to graze his tongue along the bottom of her lip. He was relieved when she opened her mouth letting him explore it with his tongue as her own met his. She slid closer towards him the kiss becoming heated and passionate. When they broke away, their eyes fluttered open at the same time.

“Wow,” Nikki rasped. “Keep kissing me like that and you’ll have me seeing the universe.”

“You and me both Sixx.” She said. “I’ve never been kissed that good before.” Nikki couldn’t stop the smile that spread on his face. Why was she so damn cute?

"We keep seeing each other and you might get more where that came from," Nikki groaned inwardly. He knew he sounded cheesy. But something about her made him all mushy. (Y/n) giggled a little.

“Sounds like a plan.” She smiled at him. She didn’t figure him to be a softy. Hell, she didn’t figure herself to be a flirter. With two older siblings at home who liked to scare off anyone who got within ten feet of their sister, it was hard to be flirtatious. Or have a boyfriend. Or well do anything.

"Call you later sweet girl," Nikki whispered before kissing her again.

She gave him the directions and he pulled up outside the dorms. (Y/n) got out and smiled at him. What she didn’t tell him was she was just staying the night there with her best friend from high school. In reality, she lived a few blocks over, with her parents.

“I had a fun night.” She said. “I’ll talk to you later Nikki.”

As she made her way towards the dorm, her heart was beating a mile a minute. She had never met anyone like him before. He was so sweet and charming. She wasn’t sure if it was a ploy to get in her pants, or if he was really that way. As she used her friend’s key to get in, something came to mind then that made her heart crash.

When Tommy found out, he was going to kill them both.

Forever Tags:  @anathewierdo @dekahg @marvel-af-imagines @feelmyroarrrr @nanie5 @imboredsueme @gemini0410 @aiaranradnay @babypink224221 @mogaruke @xxwarhawk @sandlee44 @shatteredabby @caswinchester2000 @supernaturalwincestsblog @lauravic @mrsambroserollinsacklesmgk

Motley Crue Tags: @niksixx

[shy-magpie]

RQG 93

Poor Alex, party split during heavy emotional scenes all around. Right, I don't want to call him Carter because SG1 Carter doesn't deserve to have her name sullied but my only association with Howard is Stark and he does. So I will be calling Cursed Drunk Guy Howard even if it risks sounding affectionate Howard completely misses Sasha's tone as she sarcastically says maybe the curse is responsible for *a bunch of things across decades that couldn't possibly be effected* Grizzop tries to kick some sense into him, good luck Ben is having fun Azu/Helen don't know what to do with his pity party "I think this gone a bit of a sex thing" Grizzop on him and Azu trying to knock sense into Howard, who keeps encouraging them Of course it would be the Tahan branch; 5 minutes to let Hamid deal with the fallout of the nuclear explosion that passes for his family and catch his breath is not to much to ask for. Not even the branch they are dragging Howard to Hamid's house in full paparazzi mode Alex does have a compulsion to make his characters hate-able, there is seriously an essay in there if it wasn't line crossing to analyze a real person directly "out and about" That's one way to describe it Azu. Poor Hamid has to catch them up, the paladin twins are caught up on justice. Sasha is caught up on the shared name. Sasha is the only one who is actually tracking rather than demanding explanation from Hamid and that's because she has a rank in cynicism. "Hamid's rich"-Sasha explaining why Jr won't be going to jail Hamid, paladins don't really get nuance as a concept. Just stick to "it was my Dad's idea and trying to expose him as lying to protect Jr would just mean both would be in worse trouble" and try to focus on the idea that Jr will be being punished just in a way that keeps the rest of the family from being smeared by his actions. Ben is having too much fun using Grizzop to torture Hamid Hamid is a prison abolitionist, I knew he was perfect. *deletes essay on how just locking someone away isn't actually doing anybody any good* *deletes another on how Dover isn’t necessarily representative of jails in this world* Azzop want to just turn him into the cops Hamid threatens to break up the band if they turn over his brother and drops his own crime on them without context Hell yeah Hamid, if they can't listen for a moment and at least explore the idea of justice separate from the law then screw 'em. Paladins go extra judicial all the time in the other direction they could at least spitball a few "what if he does all the worst jobs at an orphanage until he dies" or they discretely ask the family of the guard if they prefer him to be exiled without recourse to his name or use his power solely work in the city on the guard's favorite cause. Even if all the idea are shot down, exploring why they won't work would shore up the argument for arresting him. Perception check.  Nickle says Jr was listening Howard was here the whole time and is blaming Hamid? No, Barret Howard is back to blaming Hamid or at least his family. Damn Alex and his breaks Hamid was in exile and you broke in! That better not be the break in that started this mess Sasha is so disenchanted with Hamid, I hope she doesn't write him off like Bertie Azu gets Howard to use his words. Nickle says inside guy was Jr Called it You broke in, how is it their fault you suffered consequences after you chose to break in Time for Jr to spill Sasha is back and cynical as hell No one is your friend Howie, we just need the info Can't you just spell him sober? Hamid is finally using his words Azzop just slow your roll Grizzop is this helping in any way? Of course my sweet dragonling picks up on the pain Sasha is in, even as his entire team is on a "you and your family are everything that's wrong in the world" tear Screw you Grizzop Yeah it is your fault Jr Grizzop you are on such thin ice, I really did come to like you as much as Zolf but if you really think Hamid is evil for wanting to talk to his team about what to do... Yeah it really is both of your faults Howard, Jr Be useful Grizzop Azu is willing to at least consider the idea of  mitigating circumstances in the form of a curse Is them both trying to drink themselves to death part of the curse or is it just a fair assessment of the utter lack of coping skills in rich men? (Yeah, maybe I should cut Jr more slack it's an addiction but increasing the amount and trying to get Barret to Resurrect his victim is not exactly stepping up) Grizzop glad you are willing to consider a next step other than hanging the entire Tahan family but maybe going directly to one of the your borderline God Kings is skipping a few steps. People talk about this type of show making people expect their friends to play like pro comedians but I don't think enough is said about how regular GMs probably shouldn't aim to emulate Alex "The Web" Newall. His sub plots have sub plots, and he is the finest Xanatos speed chess player I have ever seen. Azu comes through to save the day Is there an audio version of gifs? Because I want to be able to drop "would it be morally wrong to gag him?" as a sensible comment on any number of tumblr arguments Love Ben, Grizzop still has a little making up to do before he is back in my good books Alex lampshades the failure of his comeback Told you they could sober them up Can you cast "talk linearly"? Fairhands has bedside manner, was beginning to think that didn't exist in this world Oh thank Aphrodite they shut up Thanks Grizzop Jr. is actually innocent? You can't end *starts muttering mantra*But we respect his craft, but we respect his craft,  but we... That is so Ben, I love him but his first instinct is to justify his character's decision. Not whether it was in character or moved the plot along, but Grizzop was right based on the information he had. I have to be the only one who's take away isn't "they nearly condemned an innocent" but "that means that Sr isn't going away; his poor family, can't they get him on obstruction or something?" Oh and Hamid? My dearest dragonling? Give them the full story of how you got kicked out of school soon, using the words "unintended" and "Gideon switched the formula" a lot.  Azzop get a bit fevered over law equals good; Sasha is going through a Barret related breakdown & seems to think the Tahans are a Mafia family. Which leads to a whole conversation on the inherently criminal nature of that level of wealth in a world where Other London is a) a thing and b) isn't alone.

[morebedsidebooks]

Who’d Have Thought by G Benson

Hayden cleared her throat, and she flicked her thumb along the band on her finger again. She needed to stop that, even though it had replaced the gnawing the inside of her cheek habit nicely. “Uh, yeah. I asked Sam if she wanted to join us. You said you wanted to get to know her.”

“I suppose I did.”

“Did you mean it?”

“What? Of course. It’s just… Won’t it be awkward?”

“Not if you behave.”

“Me? Whatever do you mean?” Luce even tried to flutter their lashes innocently.

“You look like you have something in your eye.”

“I do. It’s insult at your insinuation.”

“You’re a drama quee—kin—uh, drama quing?”

Luce’s eyes lit up. “I love that.”

“Excellent. Henceforth, quing is the gender-neutral term for royalty. I may have read it online, but we can pretend I came up with it.”

“Great. But, back on track, I am not a drama quing.”

“You really are.”

“Well, awfully sorry if your shotgun wedding has brought out my more dramatic side.”

Their coffees appeared in front of them, and they both threw a thankful expression at the waitress.

“It’s not a shotgun wedding.” Hayden reached for her tiny espresso glass, stirring it slowly with a spoon in the hopes it would cool faster. She needed it to get through the next two hours until she could fall into bed.

“Isn’t it?” Luce sat straighter. “Are you pregnant?”

Hayden didn’t know if they were being serious. “No.”

“Right. You have to have had sex for that.”

Instantly, her cheeks warmed. “Still going with that theory?”

“Well, I haven’t seen your legs for a while in the change rooms, but last I saw they weren’t the smooth you go for when you’re getting lucky.”

“Well, now they are.”

More lies. And, damn it, now she was going to have to shave them all the time. Far too much effort.

“Well, I assumed you’ve shagged now. Done it at the hospital yet?”

“No. Seriously, Tasha insinuated that the other night. Who has sex in a hospital?”

Luce paused with their glass halfway to their mouth. “Uh—everyone?”

“Who? Who is everyone?”

“Like, everyone. The amount of affairs going on there is scary.”

“I think you’re thinking of TV shows. Who has time to have sex at the hospital?”

Luce sipped their drink, shrugging while they swallowed. “Look, it happens.”

 Books with marriages of convivence are one of those fun pleasures for me, especially if the participants aren’t straight. Who’d Have Thought by G Benson features a pansexual protagonist among other LGBTQ+ characters so I thought I would share this delightful book as part of celebrating May 24th Pan Visibility Day.

27-year-old Hayden Pérez loves her nursing career, her adopted cat Frank, her friendship with fellow nurse Luce, and her family back in Florida. What she doesn’t love is being perpetually broke and the abrupt and socially difficult neurosurgeon at her hospital Samantha Thomson. But that’s just changed, the latter at least from the outside when late one-night Hayden somewhat impulsively answers a craigslist post. What are the odds anything would come of responding to an ad for a woman to participate in a sham marriage for generous compensation anyway, or that the offer turns out to be from none other than Dr. Samantha Thomson? Who’d have thought, indeed.

The novel is a longer read taking its time to peel back bits and develop. Narrated by Hayden who is of Latin American descent and was raised bilingual, it also touches on the process Hayden goes through related to her sexual identity and how even when you understand yourself, coming out will still be to one degree or another a constant. I very much relate to her searching for the vocab. You date a guy first that is what is expected what to think about, but this girl now you like—maybe you’re a lesbian, now wait… bisexuality, that’s familiar…pansexuality?... oh that! The novel has clear explicit rep when it comes to LGBTQ+ identities. Pansexual is written on the page in different instances beginning at the first meetup outside work between Hayden and Samantha:

“Can I ask why it had to be a woman?”

“There were a few reasons, but I prefer women, so it worked.”

A few reasons beyond preferring women? This mystery was not getting any closer to being solved.

“Was there a reason you didn’t disclose your gender?”

“I simply forgot. Plus, for all intents and purposes, it didn’t really matter. Did you think I was a man?”

Hayden shrugged. “I’m pansexual, so it didn’t really bother me either way. And, well, it would all be fake, so like you said, it didn’t really matter.”

Had it been Hayden’s imagination, or had Thomson flinched at the word “pansexual” and flicked her gaze around the other tables? Why would a lesbian, or however Thomson identified, care if someone heard that word?

Samantha, a 42-year-old lesbian (yep that is how she identifies) and gorgeous redhead just forgot to put the detail the ad was the women seeking women variety. Did I mention she is a little odd? Incredibly skilled she operates on people’s brains, gives lectures and authors papers but, overlooks or has some interesting ideas of things regular people do. Buying a giant kitty condo for Frank is totally normal and endearing though! She also can be relatable and delivers probably one of the best quotes of the book:

“Sometimes parents don’t deserve your forgiveness. But you need to do it for yourself.”

I won’t say much further so not to spoil everything but, both these women have some complicated family situations.

Nor is there slouching with the secondary characters either. A longtime friend of Hayden, Luce is non-binary preferring they/them/their pronouns and of Japanese descent. Just so lovesick the current object of affection being a coffee cart girl, their crushing is the cutest. And there is Jon the enigmatic 21-year-old handsome next-door neighbor in Samantha’s swanky NYC apartment building around too.

The novel as well gives quite a picture of one of the primary settings the hospital. Specifically, Hayden’s brutal hours as an ER nurse. (For content concerns, I’d say a full range of reasons from accidents to diseases that lead to people needing medical or other specialized care are present throughout and outcomes are not always good.)

But then there is also the novel’s humour in the writing and banter of the characters. The oh so tired classic joke about cooking equipment even gets referenced:

Actually,” Hayden interjected, her wine almost empty. “I’m pansexual.”

They blinked at her, and Hayden could swear Sam’s lips twitched.

“What?” Irene asked. Clearly not in the way that she cared about the answer, but the way people did when they were shocked you spoke at all.

But Hayden went for it anyway. “Pansexual. I’m not a lesbian, because I’m not only attracted to women. I’m attracted to people without their gender really playing a role. But I’m not attracted to kitchen pans, like some people joke.”

But the way Hayden injecting a little levity with it and reacting in the situation to correct and explain made me chuckle and wish I had fortitude like that (maybe it’s some liquid courage too). And really the entire plot winds round a treasure-trove for acknowledging the farcical with a sham same-sex marriage for close to a quarter million and Samantha is tight lipped about just why she needs a woman to get married to and now. As in big capital N-O-W letters. Other than it’s not an immigration issue. Maybe I’m just as curious as Hayden so I was turning the pages to figure out what all the characters have going on in their lives. Bit by bit readers are given pieces to get a full picture and could appreciate the situation of a wild thing like a quickie marriage with boatloads of cash involved and deceiving coworkers, friends and family for a year.

Very much the depth digging into the characters’ lives and backgrounds is the strong point to me of this take on the fake marriage trope. Who’d Have Thought offers a varied LGBTQ+ story and romance, adversity and medical drama, still with a good bit of humour to balance out.

  Who’d of Thought by G Benson is available in print and digital (including audio) from Ylva Publishing

[betweenthetimeandsound]

Three Minutes to Eternity: My ESC 250 (#190-181)

#190: Kaliopi -- Crno i Belo (North Macedonia 2012)

“Отвори душа признај ми, Што сме сега јас и ти, Пола мое во тебе, А пола твое спие во мене,”

“Open your soul and admit to me, What we are now, you and me Half of me is in you And half of you is sleeping in me”

Kaliopi was supposed to be (North) Macedonia's first entrant in the 1996 with the song Samo Ti, but an audio-only pre-qualifying round ended up preventing her from doing so. Whereas Samo ti is a calming, R&B influenced song, Crno i belo is an alternative rock song which takes a number of twists.

Crno I Belo starts slowly, but it really picks up from the second verse onwards as it transforms into a rock song. There’s a sense of confrontation with the lyrics, which the music also tries to convey. And I don’t need to say much about Kaliopi’s vocals—a bit harsh, but awesome. And that scream is nothing but penetrating.

Personal ranking: 4th/42 Actual ranking: 13th/26 GF in Baku

#189: Måns Zelmerlöw - Heroes (Sweden 2015)

"Now go sing it like a hummingbird The greatest anthem ever heard"

I know there was a bit of flack of Sweden's most recent win, because they won primarily because of the jury (they were third in the televote). Compared to "Grand Amore", which comfortably won the televote but only gotten sixth with the juries, which was a pretty bad mismatch.

In addition, compared to the other fan-favorites of the class of 2015, Heroes is a more mainstream-sounding pop song, with influences from "Lovers from the Sun" and the highly produced Swedish-pop scene. But when I listen to it, it's very engaging and surprisingly danceable, with a great message of strength and togetherness. And the staging was quite slick and creative (with a bunch of influence on some of those from the following year)

So while Heroes is not my personal favorite of 2015, it's still a compelling and awesome pop song. Six years later, it's holds up fantastically.

Personal ranking: 7th/40 Actual ranking: 1st/27 GF in Vienna

#188: Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov -- Water (Bulgaria 2007)

"Море, Митра пее на реката Митре ле, ий… Митре ле"

"Lo, Mitra sings by the river Oh Mitra, eeh.. oh Mitra"

I have the strange impression that Bulgaria has a trance music scene we don't know of. From Elitsa and Stoyan's two appearances to the lyrics of Stanga being taken from a Bulgarian folk song, it's something that was not in focus in the rest of the world.

That said, Bulgaria's only qualifying song prior to 2016 is an experience to behold. While the lyrics are simply about Mitra meeting a lad riding a horse, the soundscape feels like you're in the surreal place yourself. You are in a rush against time, but you're also on a journey towards...somewhere.

Both the music and drumming really amplify the experience; seeing Elitsa and Stoyan drum together was a highlight for me. And while there are questions about Elitsa's vocals, including a point where she goes off-key, she still provides the necessary tone for this intriguing song.

Personal ranking: 4th/42 Actual ranking: 5th/24 GF in Helsinki

#187: Tose Proeski -- Life (North Macedonia 2004)

“Life is a book and you gotta read it Life is a story and you gotta tell it Life is a song and you gotta sing it You've got to know how to live it.”

For some curious reason, I prefer the English-version of this song to the Macedonian language one. Whereas this one, performed from Eurovision, focuses on the angst of existence and the importance of making the most of it, "Angel si ti" is an ode towards a lover who lines his streets with roses and even turns back time.

That's one of the things which work here that really shouldn’t. The mid-2000s sound, the lyrics, and the sheer angst of it. But for some reason, I really enjoy it. Tose (RIP) sings this really well, and it feels like a song out of a musical, in a scene where the protagonist cannot decide what they want to do with their life. It's awesome and I love this lots (and please, put this in a hypothetical Eurovision jukebox musical--there's so much plot potential!)

Personal ranking: 6th/36 Actual ranking: 14th/24 GF in Istanbul

#186: Lisa Andreas -- Stronger Every Minute (Cyprus 2004)

“My love grows stronger every minute And it won’t ever die You must believe I’ll always be there For you, all my life”

Greece and Cyprus are basically sisters in the contest--you can almost always expect them to give votes to each other considering the circumstances. However, their combined quality frequently varies, as well as results. 2004 was their best results year, though not necessarily their best in terms of songs (you'll get that later, towards the end)

At fifth place, Stronger Every Minute shared the best Cypriot entry ever with two other entries (one of which is #239, another coming soon) until 2018. This time, it comes in the form of a delicate love song, performed so tenderly and serenely by Lisa. Despite her looks making her look older than sixteen, she conveys a sense of innocence, helped by the glockenspiel and the acoustic guitar throughout.

I love how sincere she sings this “love letter”, as one blogger put it--I hope everyone can feel a love like this! A pure oasis in the flash and chaos of the 100% televote era.

Personal ranking: 5th/36 Actual ranking: =5th/24 GF (with Sweden) in Istanbul

#185: Paloma San Basilio -- La fiesta terminó (Spain 1985)

“La fiesta terminó Ya no hay más que niebla entre tú y yo ¿Para qué echar más leña arder Si el fuego se ha apagado ya?”

“The party’s over There’s only a fog between you and me Why throwing more wood to burn When the fire is already dull?"

Juan Carlos Calderon and Paloma San Basilio are really well known in their fields --the former is a noted songwriter who already wrote one of the biggest hits in Latin America, whereas the latter is a noted singer and theater actress who would win a Latin Grammy and play Evita.

Together, they have this really nice power ballad, albeit one with a bit of melancholy in it. The lyrics are the strong part of this piece, telling of a relationship that has come to an end using the party as a metaphor for it. It works very well, especially with Paloma's warm voice and the way she emotes the song through her hand gestures.

The resulting package is quite sad, yet very, very beautiful. Unfortunately, it didn't get the result it deserved (which maybe because of that backing vocalist picking at his nose...).

Personal ranking: 2nd/19 Actual ranking: 14th/19 in Gothenburg

#184: Sakis Rouvas -- Shake It (Greece 2004)

“I would trade my life for a night with you Driven by desire”

(Yes, this is already the third song from 2004 to appear in this section. haha. The first two that appeared here are fighting for my fifth, whereas the top four here is the exact same top four of that year.)

The first of the Greek Golden Era, we get Sakis Rouvas in all his glory. This was a hit when it was first released, and it at one point was the highest selling single of all-time in Greece. And as of 2021, it's still the highest-scoring Greek entry, despite them winning the following year.

While his regular discography doesn’t usually feature Greek elements, as he's better known for popularizing pop and rock influences in Greek music, I still think the bouzouki riffs do a good job here adding to this bop (the composer is Nikos Terzis--remember this name).

It's a dancefloor banger which I keep on repeat, and it seems that people across the continent have done so too! Especially those from Turkey. The performance is also quite fun, albeit with some...curious choreography (e.g. 1:42-1:46). That said, we also get some of Sakis' athleticism, thanks to him doing track when he was younger.

Personal ranking: 4th/36 Actual ranking: 3rd/24 GF in Istanbul

#183: Claude Lombard -- Quand tu Reviendras (Belgium 1968)

"Passent les semaines, se traînent les jours Et moi, j’attends ton retour En filant la laine dans mes beaux atours En bordant ma peine de doux fils d’amour"

"Weeks passing by, the days are lingering And I’m waiting for your return Spinning the wool in my beautiful finery Embroidering my pain in soft threads of love"

A couple of commenters compared to a Kate Bush song, and I think it comes down to Claude’s voice, which is very ethereal. However, Claude's voice has some depth, which, in comparison to Kate Bush's earlier work, is a bit more mature.

As for the song, it’s very folkloric but tragic, in which she yearns for the day her lover comes back. The use of strings helps in that it establishes a medieval ambience to it, but the overall feeling is still timeless. It’s almost as if one is caught into the story and wept along with her.

I especially love this because it stood out amongst the class of 1968--while most of the other songs has a happy-go-lucky vibe, Quand tu Reviendras goes in the opposite direction. Same with my runner-up.

Personal ranking: 1st/17 Actual ranking: =7th/17 (with Monaco and Yugoslavia) in London

#182: Doris Dragović - Marija Magdalena (Croatia 1999)

Maria Magdalena, gib mir deine Macht Für immer und nicht nur für eine Nacht

“Svjedok mi Bog, srca mi mog, Ova žena zna, da ti pripada sva...”

“As God is my witness, I swear by my heart, That this woman knows, she belongs to you entirely...”

(The first few lyrics were from the first Maria Magdalena from Austria, haha. Just wanted to mess with you. :) )

The second Marija Magdalena is a beloved entry in the fandom, and for good reason! It hasn’t aged since 1999, which shone amongst the relatively dull field with its mix of ethnic and dance music. Lyrically, it focuses on a love that redeems the narrator, hence the imagery related to Marija Magdalena (yay, religious imagery and redemption!). I think it works efficiently, and Doris performs well on stage with her powerful vocals and diva-like presence. Arguably, it's argued that it was the best song of 1999.

The only problem I have is with the backing vocals on the instrumental. The delegation cheated, and that’s the end of it. I’m still wondering why people would put this as their favorite of 1999 otherwise; even with the new rule about allowing them on the track. It puts me on edge on what would've happened had they won.

Beautiful song, but cheaters don't prosper in my book.

Personal ranking: 3rd/23 Actual ranking: 4th/23 in Jerusalem

#181: Evelin Samuel & Camille - Diamond of Night (Estonia 1999)

“Diamond of night, burning so bright Guide me my silvery new sign”

The last Eurovision song of the twentieth century is filled with mystical imagery, atmospheric instrumentation, and a beautiful violin solo. The whole thing reminds me of a fairytale, with a cool soundscape, though sometimes I feel like something is lacking in it (especially because it resembles some entries from the 1996 contest; I was thinking of I evighet when writing this)

The lyrics are especially pertinent for Evelin Samuel (the singer), who tried to get to Eurovision throughout the entire 1990s. She was about to go as one half of the Estonian duo from 1996, when she suddenly got a tour in Japan, which was then canceled. She managed to become a backing vocalist in 1997, and finally got her chance here. Seeing her sing "now i can say it's my time" is very touching, even if her eyes seem to be bulging out!

In the end, it's a peaceful and serene song, with hope for the new millenium. However, considering what the first song of Eurovision 2000 would be, little did one know it won't always start on the right foot...

Personal ranking: 2nd/23 Actual ranking: 6th/23 in Jerusalem

[chineselanguageblog]

To Learn Chinese

So you wanna know where to start when learning Chinese, or how to gain momentum and push through to fluency? Read on, dear reader…

Despite being only a mere mortal like yourself (in that I am not yet fluent in Chinese, - but it is only a matter of time) I am quite experienced in learning languages and have developed strategies and techniques that have saved me literally hours, days, months, maybe even years. These I will share with you today, so that you may learn from my past mistakes and less time studying and more picking up Chinese chicks!

Mentality

Okay, so, if I could impart only one thing on you it would be that confidence is half the battle.

If you spend too much time worrying about whether you will ever reach fluency, firstly, that is time you will not be spending injecting Chinese into your brain, but secondly, and most importantly, it will become a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy – you won’t enjoy the process, will associate Chinese with stress and essentially never become fluent.

This ‘blind faith’, as an atheist, is something that doesn’t come naturally to me. But you really have no choice but to take my word for it that if you:

Put in the time (listening, writing and, eventually, speaking)

Enjoy yourself

Believe you will become fluent

Then fluency is an inevitable result.

“But, Chinese is such a hard language compared to French or Spanish!”

Don’t get sucked into this idea.

Chinese is not harder, Chinese is just far more different to English than most European languages are. Plenty of Westerners have managed to tame the beast. Off the top of my head, take Steve Kaufmann or Luca Lampariello, for example.

In fact, I would argue that Chinese is actually objectively easier and more logical than any other language I’ve come across (with the exception of Chinese characters – logical in theory, but struggle city in practice for anyone trying to learn it who doesn’t use it every day).

Consider these things:

1, Rather than having completely separate words for related concepts, one character in Chinese will represent a ‘concept’ that will manifest itself in a huge number of multi-syllable words, ie: 工 (gōng) – representing the idea of ‘work’, present in other words such as 工作 (to work), 工厂(factory/plant), 工地 (workplace), 工匠 (craftsman), 工力 (craftsmanship), 工业 (industry), the list goes on.

2, No conjugations. No tenses. No cases. No plurals. No gender. Therefore, no memorising ‘je peux, tu peux, il peut, nous pouvons’. ‘Nuff said.

3, No long words – say goodbye to ‘anticonstitutionnellement’, ‘Unkameradschaftlichkeit’ and ‘electroencefalografistas’.

I could go on for ages about how simple and logical Chinese really is. Also, don’t be afraid of tones. They can be learned naturally through extensive listening.

Approach

Although the sometimes vicious debate present amongst the language learning community would have you believe otherwise (I’m looking at you, Steve and Benny), there is no hard-and-fast rule to language learning. What works for some may work for others. What seems to be unanimous is that a lot of input in the form of listening and reading is needed at some stage, with output (speaking) following either once a good level of comprehension has been achieved or from the start, in addition to input.

Here is what I would advise for those beginning their Chinese studies, and for those already on the path.

Beginners

Learning Chinese can be struggle city. But only if you don’t have fun while you’re doing it!

1, Get some materials. Textbooks are okay, as long as they have dialogs with a recorded version. If you’ve got the dough, ChinesePod is great.

2, Do a significant amount of input (reading and listening) with this beginner material. This is the hard bit, where the language gradually becomes less ‘foreign’ – in other words, you get used to the language. To make rapid progress, try to dedicate at least 30 minutes a day (an hour is better).

3, Work the language into your life. I’m not really an advocate of ignoring your friends and family who don’t speak the language, or listening to the language while you’re talking to them and while you sleep (per AJATT), or changing the language on your computer and phone into Chinese - this is too annoying for me. Instead, make use of dead time. Do you daydream on the train/bus? Now you listen to Chinese. Do you wait in lines? Now you listen to Chinese while you wait in lines. Do you walk the dog? Paint your house? Daydream? Listen to Chinese while you do these things. You’ll see how easy it is. I would estimate that the average person has about 1-2 hours a day of dead time, this meaning time they do NOTHING else. If you studied Chinese only in the time you otherwise would be wasting, you will see massive progress. Now imagine if you fit some Chinese into your free time, too?

4, Two words. Mini goals. Learn 30 words a week, and then step it up after a couple of weeks. Listen to 30 minutes of Chinese a day – then step it up to an hour incrementally. I’m soon to write an entire post over on my own blog dedicated to explaining the importance of mini goals.

5, Characters. Forget about them for the first month. After that though, they are important. Spend 15 minutes a day learning them. Although it may seem tedious, it’s worth learning the radicals first, or as you encounter them – this will enable you to quite accurately guess new characters later on.

6, Get an SRS. Do your reps daily, and add sentences whenever you can. Also, I’ve found sentences are better than words, as you learn grammar and new vocabulary simultaneously – it also seems much less boring than just drilling single words. If you have the option/can be bothered, add sentences with audio so you don’t get a botchy pronunciation (or just do a lot of listening). Where to get sentences? Mine them from the dialogs in your textbook, from ChinesePod, wherever. Just make sure they are correct!

Intermediate Learners

1, Enjoy. This is the best part of the language learning journey. The language is starting to become familiar, and you can start doing fun stuff in the language! Like, watching TV shows from YouKu (the Chinese version of YouTube, but with full episodes) and actually understanding them! Or, reading authentic, interesting content and books. Or making friends, or…

2, Get a girlfriend/boyfriend. Now this may be a difficult and in some circumstances unethical task (if you are just using them to practice your 中文). The truth is, that at the intermediate level you need to actually increase the amount of input you’re getting in the language in order to step it up and push through to the advanced level. At the very least, get some friends! If you live in a cultural melting pot (like my own city, Melbourne, or like, NYC, etc) then you should have no problem meeting Chinese people. Or go study overseas (this may not be practical for you – but if you’re at Uni, go on exchange like I am!) Or, hey, why not get some Chinese roomies? Instant friends that have to hang with you!

3, Everyday. Even more important than in the beginner stage, at this level you need to be having contact with the language every day in order to incorporate it into your psychic. This is because the language needs to become part of the fabric of your mind, which is just not possible if you only study on the weekend. There’s a saying that goes ‘learn a language and gain another soul’. This is because you develop a borderline personality disorder when you learn another language – you will find your thinking and personality will be heavily influenced by cultural elements of the target language.

4, Don’t give up. At this point, you have got it in the bag! The hard yards are almost over. Like I said, this is the best part, it is all downhill from here. You don’t have to agonise over mind numbingly boring hospital-grade artificial learning materials, and can get onto some juicy stuff. It’s simply a matter of continuing to consistently expose yourself to the language, and talk as much as possible. Language acquisition is a natural process, and we are inherently good at it by virtue of being human. Just don’t stress, it will come!

Anyway, that’s all from me, for now.

There is an abundance of resources out there to help learn Chinese, yet it can all be very confusing and time-consuming for the new student to find the best way and the right materials to help.s

Wanting to provide some assistance to students, at one of the regular meetings of the Learn Mandarin Now team, we decided to commission a survey to find out the preferred methods savvy, modern, Chinese language students use. After some thought on how to do this, we agreed to ask 50 or so top bloggers what resources they use to get ahead with learning Chinese - after all…, they should know!

Just who did we ask?

Actually, we asked a wide cross-section of people including teachers of Chinese, native speakers, new and experienced students of the language (both Chinese from overseas and foreign students) and, of course, top bloggers.

The aim: to get a wide variety of opinions and suggestions.

The top 10 recommendations

For reasons such as ease of being able to study whenever the student wanted to and the variety of options on offer, the results, perhaps not surprisingly, showed that the preferred methods to learn Chinese are primarily web based. Other students, however, still preferred to learn and practice with other students or people in their day-to-day lives or via hard copy items such as books.

With 42% of votes Pleco, an integrated Chinese-English dictionary/flashcard system, which not only allows students to learn via Smartphones, but also offers a variety of other features such as being able to look up unknown Chinese words ‘live’, came out on top.

22% of respondents went for human interaction, either learning or practicing with Chinese friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, work colleagues or via other social interaction with native Chinese speakers.

Multi-media captured 20% of the votes, and this included watching Chinese TV programs, dramas, documentaries or movies, or even listening to Chinese songs in order to listen to tones, and learn more common words and colloquial phrases.

The MDBG Dictionary, a comprehensive dictionary which offers the ability to look up a huge number of words in Chinese, Pinyin or English was also a popular choice-easy to use and readily available and it garnered 14% of the votes.

Both also polling 14% were:

(i) WeChat (Weixin), “the new way to connect with friends across platforms”, offering voice and group chat, free calls, video calls and the obligatory message stickers, and thereby especially popular with the younger generation looking to instantly chat in and learn Chinese; and

(ii) Anki, a spaced repetition software programme which makes remembering things easy. As it’s considered more efficient than traditional study methods, time spent studying can be decreased or the amount learned greatly increased. The programme is content-agnostic and supports images, audio, videos and scientific mark-ups.

Skritter which is suitable for Smartphones or PC’s and allows the student to learn how to correctly learn to write Chinese characters—even suggesting corrections to any mistakes if they appear, scored 12%, as did Memrise which offers a wide variety of on-line courses and aims to make learning joyful and exciting.

Rounding off the top 10 with 8% was Line Dict, a very useful on-line Chinese dictionary which translates both words and phrases from Chinese to English and vice-versa, using Chinese characters and Pinyin—plus offering handwriting recognition and the ability to view stroke orders for characters, and also Chinese Pod which promotes itself as a site offering “Chinese learning for busy people”, with over 3,000 short, self-contained, award-winning lessons.

It was both exciting and rewarding for us at Learn Mandarin Now to do this survey and we may well repeat it at some future date. If you’d like to know more about the results in detail you can also read: How to learn Chinese: great tips from 50+ top bloggers, one of our other related articles.

Happy learning!