#pretty much every queen represented by PEG & more is involved

[kimmiessimmies]

Tag 9 People You Want to Know Better

I was tagged a few days back by @nocturnalazure, but didn’t get round to doing this sooner. Thanks for the tag, these are interesting questions!

Last Song: I truly don't remember... So much music reaches my ears during the day that I really don't recall what the last song was. 😄🤷🏼‍♀️

Last Show: Inside Man, now that was a psychological rollercoaster... I still haven't made my mind up whether I liked it or not.

Currently watching: Queen Charlotte, which I'm enjoying. Although in truth I'm sort of half-watching since I'm building community lots in my game at the same time. Below is a picture of my current set-up pretty much every evening. That's me though, always multi-tasking!

Currently reading: Just finished Loveless by Alice Oseman, which was the last book in my obsessive binge-reading marathon of everything Alice has written. I just love her characters. They are the real people who hardly ever (if not never) get to see themselves represented in books. Representation is so important and I love how Alice does this. An additional detail I adore in her books is how characters from one book often make sneaky cameo appearances in others. I'm a huge fan of intentional details and continuity, so this is right up my street.

Now I have no more Alice Oseman books to read, and cried in a corner for a while, I am now ready for a new author to binge-read. Just need to find the right one.

On a completely different note, I'm also reading Smart but Scattered by Peg Dawson, which is a non-fiction book about how intelligent children (in this case, she also wrote a book catered towards adults) can struggle with everyday, mundane tasks such as completing homework or getting dressed, but also things like regulating their emotions due to poorly developed executive skills. I'm quite fascinated by the topic of executive skills on both a professional and personal level, so it's a good read, be it a rather specific one.

Fun fact about my reading: even though English is not my first language (it's Dutch), I prefer reading in English. Except obviously for books by Dutch authors, I read those in Dutch.

Current Obsession: Besides the one noted earlier, I guess my current obsession lies with my Sim characters. After being away from them for so long, it's so good to be back and finally share the stories which only lived in my head for years. I have a future storyline that keeps building up and expanding in my mind. I can't wait to tell it, but now is not the time: The characters involved aren't at that stage yet, but boy, is it a plot twist! Writing before playing is new to me, but I'm loving it so much. The author inside me is finally waking up which is such a rush, it causes me to be rather obsessed with the elaborate storylines forming in my mind. I hope that makes sense instead of making me sound very self-involved. (Which I don't think I am, I still care deeply for the ones around me too 😄)

This was fun to do! Thanks again for the tag, Noctie! I won't tag 9 people, but I shall tag @simsaralove, @treason-and-plot, @desiree-uk, @lilidebergerac @aroundthesims and @missy-hissy . Feel free to ignore this though, if you don't feel like doing it.

[alyjojo]

New Year Reading for 2022! 🎉 - Gemini

Whole of Your Energy: The Magician

General:

The Magician stands at a table with the Ace of every element in front of him, and the power to create whatever he wants with them. It’s a powerful energy to head your reading, and one that won’t change regardless of your free will. It’s a gift, for you to use however you will. Some of the cards below have a feeling of you feeling defeated, nostalgic, stuck, but maybe that’s because you don’t know you have this Magician’s energy, and you’re able to manifest any change you want to make, you just need the spark of inspiration, you can do the rest ✨

General:

6 Pentacles - The Hanged Man - Knight of Pentacles

You’re very giving with those around you at the start of the year, and others are with you. You’ve got good relationships with the people around you with this 6 Pentacles. Mid year you’re pausing any forward motion, getting in your head, watching what’s going around around you and trying to gain clarity in something. Once you do make a decision in some matter, you’re moving very slowly in this direction with the slow moving Knight at the end of the year. It’s progress. Sometimes so slow it doesn’t feel like it, but movement is movement, and he may be riding a mule vs a fast charging horse, but it’s movement.

Relationship:

Queen of Pentacles - Ace of Swords - 5 Pentacles

Regarding: 6 Wands rev

This 6 shows you redefining what success is, or means to you. You could be achieving personal goals, but keeping them to yourself. It can also be an ego trip, one where you’re swiftly knocked down a peg. Or you’re feeling like something is failing. With the cards you’ve got here, all of those meanings could apply. Queen of Pentacles may be someone you’re dealing with, or representing yourself. Your relationship is financially stable at the start of the year, you both may be very focused on work. Mid year there is a lot of communication & clarity between you, possibly some new ideas regarding these personal goals, or you could just be speaking up about them. End of year something is happening with your finances, causing you to feel need, sadness, abandonment, and poverty in some way. It could be as simple as a large expense you aren’t expecting. Your career cards are pretty unstable here, it could be a job changing unexpectedly in some way too, leaving you feeling a major lack. This could also involve your partner, maybe it’s their job that’s changing and you’re both feeling the heavy financial weight & pressure of this.

Singles:

The Fool - 6 Cups - Knight of Swords

Regarding: Knight of Wands

Geminis are jumping into something new right at the start of the year, there’s a whole lot of excitement, and a lot of passion too, though nothing in 2022 is looking like anything more than a “good time” with that Knight of Wands. You could be with someone past related mid year, an ex possibly or someone you knew at some point, or at least feeling very nostalgic about something in the past, contacting old contacts and could even meet someone through them. Knight of Swords has you rushing in with some kind of truth or swift action come the end of the year. We’ve got air & fire for signs, The Fool is both Aries & Aquarius, Scorpio is here too, and they could be younger than you, or you yourself are young (teens-20s), can be immature (them, you, either, both), and these Knights can represent them or yourself.

Career:

10 Swords - Wheel of Fortune - 6 Cups

Regarding: The Fool rev

Foolish actions are leading to ruin and a very painful ending at the beginning of the year. The Fool rev is the same energy as upright, but much more reckless, careless, putting themselves in a very bad position financially. This can be big & impulsive purchases that you regret, a job you’re bored with so you just up & quit with no regard to what you’re going to do about the bills waiting to be paid. Not good energy here at the start, you’ve gotta reign in the yolo impulsivity. 10 Swords is betrayal, but The Fool makes it seem like it’s you as the perpetrator vs the job. Perhaps the 6 Pentacles at the start involves someone else giving to you. The Wheel of Fortune is destiny & karma regarding these reckless actions, could always be going up or down, but the Wheel symbolizes the things out of our control, and this Fool himself is out of control. 6 Cups mirrors the singles’ energy, someone from the past, maybe you’re dating, they could have a job opportunity for you, they’re the one giving. This could be a job you’ve left in the past, the Fool stays reversed in your energy though, be very careful with your finances in career this year. You have The Magician! You can turn all of this energy around with free will, and making different choices 🙏

Animal Totem: Tortoise 🐢

“You’re too fragmented, so do whatever it takes to get grounded.”

When you’re feeling pressured on a number of fronts, pulled this way and that, it’s easy to succumb to a false sense of urgency and be in a constant state of tension. You can be forgetful, have difficulty sleeping, use addictive substances, hoping they’ll make you feel more at home in your own skin. Recognize the things you treat as crises or emergencies are inconveniences, and breathe. Take your shoes & socks off, stand in the grass and ground yourself. Practice thinking slower, breathing slower, reacting slower, and then act with intention, and your full attention.

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

6 Takeaways From Lifetime's 'Harry and Meghan: A Royal Romance'

Lifetime channel's fascinating fictionalization of the whirlwind romance between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle aired Sunday, and it left us with a lot of things to think about -- and to be absolutely confounded by.

From the bizarrely surreal use of lions as symbolic representations of Princess Diana, to a warm, motherly representation of Queen Elizabeth II -- who really does not appreciate Netflix's The Crown -- to overtly insulting remarks about Markle's legal drama Suits, Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance covered a lot of ground while also being disconcertingly self-aware.

So, after a nearly two-hour made-for-TV movie about the royal family (several members of which are depicted in less-than-flattering, borderline reality TV villain ways, to put it mildly), here's a look at a few of the night's biggest takeaways and most head-shaking scenes.

1. Princess Diana Has Some Really Questionable Advice

The movie starts in 1997, following the death of Princess Diana, when Prince Charles took Harry and William to Africa to avoid the media spotlight.

During one flashback scene from before Diana's untimely demise, the beloved Princess (played by Bonnie Soper) is speaking with a very young Harry, where gives her son some super questionable advice: "It's OK to be naughty sometimes, so long as you don't get caught."

Which -- if Harry's wild clubbing and Nazi uniform-wearing party days that are depicted later in the film are any indication -- was a motto the impressionable prince took to heart (except the "not getting caught" part).

2. Prince Harry Is a Lion Whisperer

While in Africa as a child, Harry is sitting under a tree when a lion approaches and just looks at him. While Charles takes aim with his rifle, Harry angrily pushed the gun away, saving the wild beast.

Later in the film, Harry (Murray Fraser) awkwardly tells Meghan (Parisa Fitz-Henley) that he thinks the lion was actually a vessel for the reincarnated spirit of his late mom, which she is fully on-board with.

All these royals freaking out about Meghan besmirching the royal family's reputation seem to be ignoring the fact that Princess Diana turned into a lion and is just roaming around Botswana #ARoyalRomance

— Jurassic Clarke (@JurassiClarke) May 14, 2018

Months go by and, on the anniversary of Diana's death, Harry and Meghan travel to Africa together, where she pushes him to talk about his grief. In a fit of rage (and classic avoidance) Harry storms out of their tent, with Meghan in tow.

Soon, they come face to face with a lioness, who stares at them peacefully -- which symbolically serves as Diana approving of their relationship.

3. 'Harry & Meghan' is Bizarrely Self-Aware

From the first moments of seeing Harry and Meghan as adults, it's hard to avoid the unsettling realization that this is a biopic depicting events that happened within the last year or so. Meghan is even introduced filming an episode of Suits.

In fact, this Lifetime movie really makes a point of insulting Suits as often as possible. One character says it's "not exactly Shakespeare," while another scene tries to show how much of a self-possessed badass Meghan is by having the writers change a line in a scene because she feels like she says it "in every episode" -- then they change the line to something even more cliched.

Meanwhile, when Meghan and Harry meet with Queen Elizabeth (Maggie Sullivun), the insanely friendly monarch asks the actress if the actress was involved in the Netflix mini-series The Crown, and then complains about people making biopics about people who are still alive.

 4. Meghan's Casting Was Amazing (Other Royals… Not As Much)

When Lifetime turned to Parisa Fitz-Henley to play the stunning Meghan Markle, they couldn't have asked for a better actress (apart from getting Meghan to actually play herself, because again, all of this happened within the last two years, so she'd be perfect for the part).

Parisa looks remarkably similar to Meghan, she's got the strong, determined air and she added a lot to the role.

As for Harry, casting Murray Fraser was a decided compliment. Sure, he looks like a soap opera version of the 33-year-old royal, but you can't expect a Lifetime movie to go any other way. At least he's handsome and talented.

The strangest casting was probably Prince William, played by Burgess Abernethy. While the guy does an admirable job, the decision to give the Prince more hair than he has in real life, but still partially balding, never stopped being distracting.

Lmaoooo Lifetime did Prince William SO dirty this time... #ARoyalRomancepic.twitter.com/MUlCpFSpFQ

— Ellen Laurers (@LaurenDramaGirl) May 14, 2018

who replaced prince william with this 43-year-old accountant from Ohio #ARoyalRomancepic.twitter.com/afvWW8od7v

— Claire Fallon (@ClaireEFallon) May 14, 2018

5. They Addressed the Racist Brooch

One of the major turning points in the film came when Harry was sulking at Pippa Middleton's wedding reception,  where he was unable to invite Meghan, and runs into some older royal relative wearing a racist "blackamoor" brooch -- which is a pin designed to look like a stereotypical depiction of an African native, representing the English empire's colonialist roots.

Harry tells her off during the party, which leads to her drunkenly insulting Meghan's biracial ethnicity. The heated exchange eventually leads Prince Charles to understand the dangers of steadfast adherence to tradition and he tells his son to bring Meghan to the party so he can meet her.

In real life, however, there are a few things that happened differently. While the Queen’s first cousin, Princess Michael of Kent, did wear a blackamoor brooch to a royal event where Meghan was, the incident occurred in December 2017, over a month after Harry and Meghan were already engaged. So that incident really had nothing to do with anyone suddenly accepting Meghan into the family.

I really hope people don’t watch this movie and actually think this is how everything went down. #ARoyalRomance

— The Petty Mess (@ThePettyMess_) May 14, 2018

Also, in real life, Meghan was invited to Pippa's wedding reception. Also, Princess Michael of Kent didn't belligerently defend her decision to wear the problematic jewelry, but instead released a statement, saying, "The brooch was a gift and has been worn many times before. Princess Michael is very sorry and distressed that it has caused offense."

Y'all they put the Princess Michael racist brooch in the movie! Lifetime is not holding back. #ARoyalRomance

— Harry & Meghan (@WalesAndMarkle) May 14, 2018

6. Kate Middleton and Prince William Don't Come Off Great

While both William and Kate eventually befriend and support Meghan and Harry by the end of the movie, their attitudes throughout most of the film could best be described as Mean Girls-esque.

From making them both look pretty conniving to Kate straight-up manipulating people multiple times, it felt like someone at Lifetime really wanted to knock the Duchess of Cambridge down a peg. 

William and Kate watching the way they are being portrayed in this movie.....#ARoyalRomancepic.twitter.com/N6PCfdJgK5

— Mandy (@SF49ERS1946) May 14, 2018

Why are they making Kate and Will seem so cold? Did the creators have some hate towards them? Kate is wonderful and there is no need to put her down in order to put Meghan on a pedestal. #ARoyalRomance

— Madison McLean (@madison_mmclean) May 14, 2018

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