#the writing process is full of music and i simply cannot function without it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

baddly-well-done-translations · 4 years

Text

Who is (and who was) who in Marilyn Manson | by Lala Toutonian (Madhouse magazine N°84, year 1997)

A very normal family

Stop with the Reverend, for Satan’s sake! It’s the turn of the rest of the band, those relegated who maintain a lower (although not less controversial) profile. It’s difficult growing behind the shadow of such a character as Marilyn Manson, because of that is essential to maintain a spiritual strength and a fire-proof constancy. Here, an article (with the most solicited data) about the members and opus of the group which has most given to talk in this time.

Twiggy Ramirez: androginous (but sexual)

The second place in the category which refers to a visual phenome, is undoubtedly for the androginous bassist. Twiggy Ramirez is only one step away from taking the name of Antichrist Superstar, as his mentor.

“I pretend trying to break that barrier between what’s femminine and masculine” says the one who insists with dresses; “I think I had my first erection the day I put on my mother’s undergarments. It’s a part of me which feels comforted with that, as so many other people. Obviously I’m not a hermaphrodite, although people believe so. There’s a very thin line between hetero, bi, and homosexual”.

His thing is terminant. “We’re here to change today’s mainstream because it’s very mediocre. There was a time in which music wasn’t exciting anymore, there wasn’t a single one rockstar, it depressed me. I’m proud of being part of the mainstream now, somebody had to change it, turn it more exciting”.

He asegurates his thing was there since his mother’s womb. “She danced in a cage for the Kinks and Leslie West’s band”. His father could be the legendary guitarist West or Ray Davies from the Kinks: “I grew up surrounded by music. I lived with an aunt who was a groupie and very friend of the Ramones. I remember she hung up with one from the Bee Gees too”. If he hadn’t got success with music, he assegurates he’d be a prostitute.

And he continues with polemic themes: “I was raised without religion, I’ve never been cristian or satanist, I’m nothing”. He’s a rockstar: “Our music is so straight forward… There’s a group of idiots who simulate they don’t want to be rockstars, like if they felt pity for themselves. We’re the exception. The last time I talked with my mother, she told me little boxes with pubic hair were arriving at the house. I thought it was spectacular. Someone has to raise and care for those children. If their parents raise them, they’ll be just like us”.

Twiggy’s musical career started in primary school. He started playing violin because of a Star Wars film. In secondary school days, “Shout at the Devil” by Mötley Crüe and “Stay Hungry” by Twisted Sister were the albums which had most amazed him and the ones which ended up being decisive in his career. “Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show” was his first band: “A blend of country-wester disco with rockabilly bits”.

Ramirez met Manson in a Shopping Mall. “We had a band called ‘Mrs. Scabtree’ in which I dressed up as a black woman and sang. Then we started ‘Satan on Fire’, christian death metal group. I also sang and played guitar while Manson played the bass there. All these projects were while the creation of Marilyn Manson was taking place. He (Manson) played drums and bass, mostly so I could improve with guitar”.

Attracted by most dark metal genres “because of its message and rage”, Twiggy realized there was a lot of limitation, you couldn’t go further and the audience was minimal in this type of events.

He was invited to join the band after the recording of “Portrait of an American Family” and after two rehearsal weeks, they went on tour. “First album was recorded as a live band. In ‘Smells Like Children’ most of the material were covers. Scarcely in the song ‘Scabs, Guns and Peanut Butter’ I could give my own musical idea”.

Until that moment nothing could prevent the path the “Antichrist Superstar” would take, although the creepy version of “Sweet Dreams” deatheached a rotten smell. Ramirez assegurates that while in the “Smells..” tour, Marilyn and him had the same dreams, so they started composing together because it seemed that inspiration had the same start point in common: “In those days we talked about telepathy. We knew what the other was thinking and what we pretended for every song”.

The recording process of “Antichrist Superstar” ended up being pretty stressful for Twiggy since the moment in which Daisy was fired out of the band: “I don’t really know what was up with Daisy, but I was feeling alone, I wasn’t contributing in anything. I was lucky that there was Trent (Reznor)” Twiggy, with Marilyn Manson, plus Madonna Wayne Gacy’s contributions, were some of the pillars that helped “Antichrist Superstar” being the success it is.

God’s chosen one

The last thing the group’s members needed after the recording of Antichrist Superstar was having to search for a replacement for Berkowitz. But in the face of Daisy’s inability to get into the Manson family, they had to search for a six string player. This was in May 96’, and after a year they crashed into Zim Zum. While dozens of musicians paraded around Treznor’s house, the trio Manson-Ramirez-Gacy was acting as a judge while watching auditioning aspirants.

Although his name doesn’t derivate from a sex simbol and a murderer, the nickname has a particularity worthy of emphatize: the idea was taken from Hebrew. Zim Zum was the angel God had chosen to do the dirty work at the start of times; the same function was given to him by Mr. Manson while including him in the band. There are other dark sides in his ambivalent personality too: Tzimtzum refears, in cabbalistic terms, to the place God left for giving place to humanity. Also his name could be attributed to the serial assassin from the 60’s, called Raymond Zum.

From Illinois, Chicago, he worked for a long time in a guitar factory (In fact, three guitars of his are self-made). Apart of LSD (Life, Sex and Death), he had never participated in a band before. He debuted recording the live version of “Irresponsible Hate Anthem”.

A simple guy: Olivia Newton Bundy

Brian Tutunick is an original member of the Spooky Kids, after the initial project of Marilyn Manson, he continued his career in Collapsing Lungs and now he plays in Nation of Fear: “Nation of Fear started in 1995 after the dissolution of Collapsing Lungs. This project really was in my plans before that Marilyn Manson thing, as something more industrial. But some members of the bands preferred hip-hop. Then I met DJ Grinch, who was a Collapsing fan, and we started Nation together”. He assegures his thing is industrial, goth, alternative and a bit of rap and hardcore, everything blended with computers.

How was his history in Marilyn Manson? “Perry (Zsa Zsa Speck) and I were working on the Collapsing thing, and we were very friends. We had never made music before, but we wrote a lot of poetry. He started hanging out with Scott (Daisy Berkowitz) and recorded something like six tracks. That way they started Spooky Kids and I was asked if I wanted to be part of the project. I joined them, although I always pretended returning to Collapsing. Everyone gave ideas about performance and the visual part, but Manson already knew what direction we had to take. Between 1989 and 1990 we had only five shows. Madonna was bizarre. When we quit off the band because we wanted to keep up with Collapsing, we told him to take charge of the samplers. He was an encyclopedia of bizarre acts”, tells Olivia.

“I basically left the band because Manson and I have our own messages, someones in common, others not (...) I’m not on the musician's side. I hate musicians. I’m with entertainment, because of that I have more in common with a stripper than with Billy Joel”, concludes Wayne Gacy like if he wanted to make clear his mental lucidity.

Olivia practically doesn’t see the members of Marilyn Manson anymore, unless they met in a club or pub in the city. “Marilyn Manson is a shock rock band. They’re what they’re because they’re very controversial. There’s a thing I find particularly funny: religious groups which attentate in it’s shows. I consider that threatening a stadium full of kids with a bomb is a lot worse than a simple guy who’s trying to play his music”. Simple? Guy?...

Leafing the Daisy

When Daisy Berkowitz said goodbye to his peers in the middle of Antichrist Superstar’s production, fans were left totally shocked. After desperate searches by the press hand, he finally appeared, only to present Three Ton Gates, his new aggrupation. Now he’s heading towards the trial Manson initiated because of his composition’s rights.

“I wasn’t fired. I felt like I didn’t have credit for what I was doing and certainly not the opportunity of doing my music, while that was all I did between the first album and Smells Like Children. Manson didn’t accept any of the compositions I had for Antichrist Superstar. He only wanted ‘Wormboy’ and I felt deceived. He didn’t respect me. He changes opinions every five minutes, I’m not exaggerating. He was always searching for a sonorous personality and I contributed a lot in that field. When you write, you cannot simply transmit what you have in your head. He isn’t a musician, so he doesn’t understand that. He never appreciated my effort in creating a big sound unity”.

He assures Manson wanted to work with Twiggy and not with him, because the bassist took charge of the guitars after Daisy’s departure. “When I noticed I had only participated in a third part of the album, I decided to go away. They didn’t even include lots of guitars! They literally didn’t let me enter the studio, I only entered two times per week to do the basics with guitars. I played in five tracks: ‘Warmboy’, ‘Tourniquet’, ‘Mr. Superstar’ and ‘Antichrist Superstar’. Then they told me ‘Now you can leave’ and they hadn’t even ended the album. I realized I had to leave...“ laments Daisy.

He criticises the Reverend saying he had never had a band before and he doesn’t know what professionalism is. He doesn’t hang out with any of the band members now: “Nobody has even invited me to a show”. What does not being “Daisy Berkowitz” anymore feel like? “A bit better”, he tries to convince us.

The ones who want to contact the ex-Daisy, can do it at http://www.spookykids.com/threetongate (It’s a magazine from the ‘97, I hardly believe the page even exists now)

#marilyn manson #90s aesthetic #translation #the translation is mine #give credit #big balled idiot #old magazines #old everything

15 notes · View notes

animatedminds · 4 years

Text

Film Review: On Jingle Jangle

Spoilers for the subsequent review: I liked it. And what’s more, there are things about it that make me happy on a conceptual level both as a writer and as an African American writer, and just as a lover of musicals and fun adventures. Read on after the jump!

It’s been a while, and I promised a review on Jingle Jangle - the Netflix exclusive film starring Forrest Whitaker, Madalen Mills and Keegan-Michael Key which came out a few weeks ago - sometime last week and never delivered. Well, here it is. And if you want the abridged version of my opinion, well, look above.

To give a short summary, Jingle Jangle is an clearly intentionally chintzy film written in the vein of classic Christmas fantasy movies. It focuses on a toymaker - a great gadgeteer renowned in his universe as the greatest of all time - who is able to see the world in amazing terms and make toys function like magic. However, on the cusp of his greatest invention, his apprentice - and the invention itself, who turns out to be egotistical and vile - betrays him and steals all his designs, breaking his heart so badly that he cannot bring up the spark to invent ever again. His apprentice grows rich on his work, while the toymaker - one Jeronicus Jangle - grows old, in the process losing his wife, after which his daughter estranges from him. And that’s just in the first ten minutes. Depressing enough for you? Well, the rest of the movie is more than sweet enough to make up for it. As you might expect from a set up like that, the turning point comes when Jeronicus’ granddaughter Journey finally gets the chance to visit him and discovers his one last, unfinished invention. Suddenly Jeronicus, now a bitter old hermit, has the opportunity to find the love he lost within him again and rekindle his spark, his daughter (played by a criminally underused Anika Noni Rose) has the opportunity to reconnect with him, and the toy shop - Jangles and Things - might finally have a future again. But look out, Jangle’s old apprentice is out of blueprints and needs one to keep his fame and fortune - and Jeronicus’ last invention is looking very profitable... As you might expect from a the description above, this movie is very by numbers plotwise. But I’ve never considered that necessarily a bad thing, as long as a film captures the charm that makes those numbers typical in the first place. The movie is very obviously trying to capture a feeling, a kind of story that - perhaps because they’re so well known by our generation - you don’t see much of any more, and so plays all those archetypical traits to the hilt. The last invention runs on “belief” - if you don’t believe it’s real or in yourself, it won’t work - and you can imagine why. The apprentice is a money grubbing showman who never understood the real point of toymaking. The narrator is an old woman who, surprise! (not really), turns out the Journey herself! Are those plot points groan-worthy? Sure, sometimes. But it also delivers those warm fuzzy feelings those groans intend, and that’s... well... magical. It’s not trying to be avant-garde, it’s only trying to make us feel joyous for a few hours. And you know what? I can appreciate that.

Because of that, my primary criticisms instead are about elements in that regard that the film doesn’t fulfill enough. The story is obviously about Jeronicus’ journey from disillusioned miser to the optimistic, loving man of his youth, but this happens too fast: he goes from yelling at Journey for messing with his stuff, to begrudgingly having a snowball fight with her that he turns out to enjoy, to suddenly having to make the crossroads to use his spark again to save her because he loves her so much, with barely anything in between: I wanted more - more stages in-between Jeronicus two poles, so that we can see him develop in a stronger way rather than kind of jump between the points we know he’s going to go through like a connect the dots drawing. His daughter's relationship is a primary plot point, but she doesn’t even show up for more than a cursory line or two until the very end, so we don’t get to see that develop much either. While Journey and her goofball sidekick carry the film, as they should, there is perhaps a bit too little time dedicated to the characters around them - seeing as they’re explicitly the impact characters affecting their family’s change for the positive. Even the villains are responsible for the whole thing are mostly are present in the story for comedy and they don’t get a lot of face time with the people they’ve affected either, all of which adds up to parts that could have had a lot more substance to them but which didn’t. The film overall is great, but the limits it puts on its own pacing and development hold it back from being as great as it could be.

However, as I noted before, there’s more than what I've just talked about going on here. There are conceptual aspects that made this one of my favorite movies this year, rather than necessarily the plot: which is only why this movie is engaging to watch. What the movie is built around is what makes it so special. First of all, a fantasy adventure movie with an entirely black primary cast is rare - entirely too rare - because African Americans simply don’t get those kinds of films in the mainstream. Realistic urban dramas, lurid romances about failing marriages, uplifting stories about rising out of the hood, etc - that’s the genres Hollywood typically allows for African Americans to star in: movies that hinge on archetypes about black existence in America and thus only sell attempt to themselves as “black movies” without widespread appeal, if one wants to go one step beyond. A musical about a magical inventor who creates a robot that lets you fly if you believe in yourself enough? Not especially, unless it’s a preachy DTV film about community. The primary villain is a Spanish matador doll with delusions of grandeur - Gaston as a toy - and its a weird and strange and outright wonderful idea. And interestingly, while this movie is themed and framed like a Christmas movie - I mean, just look at the name - there isn’t anything particularly Christmas about it beyond being about a toymaker. Jangle isn’t a Santa analogue, Christmas itself is never mentioned, nor is much of the imagery (beyond snow and winter) exceptionally Christmas reminiscent, being more of a Victorian Steampunk instead - full of gears and automatons and top hats (whoever did the costuming for this thing ought to get a medal, especially for the costuming in the bright period we see in the initial flashback). Its stuff like that that’s noticeable simply because African Americans in film don’t generally get to interact with those sorts of strange and weird and wonderful ideas. And this extends to the music. As both a fan of musicals, a Disney fan in particular, and a black writer, something I’ve noticed with no small amount of dismay is the way certain genres of music have been skipped over by mainstream. You have to go off the beaten path to find musicals that seriously incorporate hip hop, or R&B, soul, funk, etc into soundtracks and anything other than “party time” numbers that are just about the characters getting down and don’t engage the plot or the characters in a meaningful way - which gives off the impression that on a writing and developmental level, there is a lack of respect for those genres as having serious merit for meaningful usage. Oh, for sure, there’s musicals like “In The Heights” (which was fantastic, and I’m eagerly waiting for the film), but those are rare, and the closest you tend to get is Lin Manuel Miranda’s (much as I enjoy him) long bouts of recitative which are called “rap” by reviewers but aren’t really what I’m talking about when I mean genre. This film makes a point of kicking that trend in the pants, however: starting with a bombastic character establishment hip hop number, going into Motown-style R&B numbers and soul ballads and all sorts of wonderful genres of black music that have been long since lefts out of the mainstream. It’s something that I’m especially happy about and which leads me into tomorrow - when Soul arrives (and you better believe you’re getting a review of that as well) and hopefully delivers the same thing.

As a black writer, and a lover of music, and a lover of bringing new avenues of representation to film and media, Jingle Jangle made me happy in a way no film since Black Panther has, and for that along it immediately landed a spot on my list of classics even if it weren’t also a quite enjoyable movie. So as you might have guessed, thus, from the preceding - I quite recommend it for anyone looking for a wonderful cheesy time this Christmas, and also for someone looking to see how black musicals are growing and evolving.

#jingle jangle #netflix #african american #black representation #black film #hip hop #soul #r&B #forrest whitaker #madalen mills #keegan-michael key

2 notes · View notes

a-very-fond-farewell · 4 years

Text

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 18/?

University AU: “Negative Space”

[ok so, self projection is a bitch, but I am petty to myself on a regular basis so it’s ok]

[title is from the Japanese concept “ma”, which Wikipedia describes as:

“a Japanese word which can be roughly translated as ‘gap’, ‘space’, ‘pause’ or ‘the space between two structural parts.’ In traditional Japanese arts and culture, ma is more carefully defined as the suggestion of an interval. It is best described as a consciousness of a sense of place, with the ‘intervals’ suggested often being more than simple gaps, instead focusing on the intention of a negative space in an art piece.

Ma is not necessarily an art concept created by compositional elements, such as the literal existence of a negative space. Instead, the intention is often to create the perception of an interval in the viewer experiencing the elements forming an art piece, making maless reliant on the existence of a gap, and more closely related to the perceived experience of a gap.

Ma has also been described as ‘an emptiness full of possibilities, like a promise yet to be fulfilled’, and as ‘the silence between the notes which make the music’.”

Fun fact: “ma” also means “but” in Italian, which is what usually follows whatever intrusive thought may plague my mind. Eg: “I may be useless now, BUT just you wait until I get some dopamine to get me through this shitty times.”]

Wei Ying never asked for much in his life. He’s content with cleaning classrooms and toilets and nobody can beat him at wiping the marble floors if he works hard enough. Granny Wen, his supervisor, is slightly impressed with his ability to make the wood shine for ages to come. His nephew Jin Ling sometimes comes to check on him when he’s done with senior classes or cram school in the evening, and together they sit down and listen to whatever his older friends in music production came up with during the day. Jiang Cheng occasionally would ask him to keep him company while he grades papers and they bitch about ZiXuan and his inability to dote on their sister. The cafeteria ladies are always nice to him and they give him extra congee because they worry for his questionable consumption of spice products.

He’s fine, really.

So why can’t he stop wandering over to the science building these days? Looking for a clean board to use, for an equation to finally solve? Even if in the end he just takes the chalk in hand and simply stares down at the inky surface in front of him, unable to write. His mind working on a software too advanced for the hardware that constitutes his brain.

Thirteen years. It has been already thirteen years and yet it feels like yesterday, or like it never happened at all. Like it has yet to be. Time blindness is a bitch to deal with, yet dyscalculia and ADHD makes a joke out of you when you love math on a visceral level... but you burned too bright too fast and now you function on no data and with an even shittier signal. Having a burnout at 23 should have taught him humility instead of pride, but Wei Ying has always worked out of spite and certain habits are difficult to forget.

Couldn’t put the number in the right order, switching digits left and right since he was young? Fine. Numbers were concepts anyway, entire civilizations working their magic without even knowing what “zero” stood for. A brain steaming with a million ideas per second? Good. New connections brimming with ideas he could use to better the world.

It worked fine until he let himself down. Until he became a useless empty lighter, a wet match tossed out, carbon monoxide in the air.

Dropped out before finishing his very ambitious, highly dangerous for his psyche, thesis project. Aunt Yu never forgave him for that, not after paying for his advanced classes, not after trusting Uncle Jiang and supporting him despite his many flaws. What good is being first of your class every year, poster child of a teaching system done right, graduating bachelor at 21, if you can’t finish your master at 23 and get your PhD at 25 and start teaching by 27 and drive yourself insane in the process?

Wei Ying dropped out and didn’t finish his master, didn’t enroll in the teaching program, and let everyone down. His Uncle and Aunt looking down on him, whether out of pity or shame. Jiang Cheng may have been the one leaving him behind, but he used to be the one saying “you should have tried harder”. YanLi worrying over him when she should have focused on her career first. Jin Ling growing up with stories of his uncle “not being worth the money put into his education”, taught to not disappoint and make his family proud. The Jin side, that is.

And now the kid comes crawling in defeat to him instead of Jiang Cheng after bombing a test in high school. And they chat of what he would like to do and how much he likes sports and how much he despises the idea of getting a scholarship for that and being called stupid or something by his classmates. And he cries when he thinks Wei Ying cannot see him as he leaves the campus late at night.

Wei Ying didn’t even want to solve that impossible theorem he fixated on in his early twenties. His thesis project was inconsequential in the great scheme of things and his professor only wanted him to be his one trick pony in the end. No. Wei Ying wanted to teach math in elementary school, hell... even in kindergarten. He wanted to change the approach to the subject. Because numbers cannot be taught like language is and there are many ways to teach how to sum up digits and divide quantities and there are no rules on how to make sense of space either.

But how can he teach when even time eludes his senses?

Something that nobody can define, but certainly most perceive as linear... but not him. Not since his brain fried up in his attempt to function like a normal human being.

After thirteen years nothing has changed.

Until one day he hears something else aside from his usual intrusive thoughts and burdensome memories. A melody so quiet he almost mistakes it for the wind, coming from the music building.

He walks slowly, night surrounding him like the embrace of a friend as he makes his way to the traditional musical instruments room. The one where Jin Ling’s friends meet sometimes as they wait for the younger boy to join them. Wei Ying holds his breath as he spies through the gap of the door left ajar, neon light slicing his face like moonbeams as he peeks in and recognizes Jin Ling’s friends and another figure sitting on the ground, guqin on their knees.

But before he can lean in and breathe in the vibrant sounds all around, the door opens and music theory Professor Lan finds Wei Ying clutching his mop for dear life.

They said the man could see colors within the notes, that he despises language outside of his class or office and that only his brother, the history of art TA, could convince him to talk every now and then.

If numbers were created to measure space, Wei Ying firmly believed music had been invented to make sense of time and count its seconds in rhythm and notes, pauses and beats. Yet, time seems to stretch to a stop as the janitor focuses all of his attention on professor Lan’s stern face and his heart quickens its pace.

Wei Ying takes a rushed breath and dives right in with a weird sense of hope pumping in his veins. A small, timid voice whispering that life is not made to be atoned, but to move on and grow.

One step at a time.

“I’m Wei Ying, Professor Lan. May I listen while you play?”

Yes, maybe it will be enough just to let time flow at its pace.

Whatever rhythm that may be.

[some hcs down below]

WWX does not magically solve the math theorem. he may or may not help kids figure out how to use numbers on the long run tho. no, he will still work as a janitor and there’s nothing wrong with that.

yes, LWJ is autistic and stimms and finds WWX’s honesty soothing. yes, you can add your hcs on the matter. he has synesthesia, but more on the grapheme-color side of the deal than anything else and he sees certain letters/numbers/notes in different colors. people think he can see colors in music, but they misunderstood and thought he could recognize different hues while listening to music instead of reading it.

JC has grown since his uni years and doesn’t resent WWX anymore. he teaches astrophysics as a TA and doesn’t pressure his brother to pick his studies up anymore. WWX has mixed feelings about this: he feels he’s a lost cause, to the point not even his brother spurs him to best himself anymore, but he is grateful for the patience anyway.

LXC is the official LWJ translator of the campus along with their cousins SiZhui and JinGyi. he bonds with WWX and JC over how tired they are, seldom staring at flies roaming above them in the cafeteria bc none of them can even move. he lives on caffeine and regrets, but he’s getting better as he develops a love for his plant babies and tries to not let them die on a daily basis.

Wen Ning and Wen Qing are little overachievers and adrenaline junkies, hence their competitive streak on their way to their third master degree just for funsies. they scare people with how driven they are, but the juniors love them.

NMJ is the one to go to if you need to get away with murder, but JGY will actually be the one helping you dispose of the body. the fact that they both work in criminal law is somewhat both reassuring and disquieting. they hate each other and yet cannot stop hang out, they are close to 40 and need the rivalry to keep going anyway. nothing beats a good nemesis. not even sex. maybe.

NHS has failed his entrance exam to become a nurse too many times to count, but he is determined to see the end of it. even if he could potentially work in the family business, but he doesn’t know anything about managing an empire of bricks and he doesn’t care. if NMJ could run away, well, so can he.

MianMian is Wei Ying’s bestie and has the biggest crush on JGY’s sister A-Su the kindergarten teacher, but since they are childhood besties she doesn’t know how to approach her. she is Jin Ling’s idol and a certified boxer and refers to herself as a useless bisexual. Wei Ying boxes with her sometimes, she always win.

YanLi is an equestrian mum, but in the best way possible: she coaches children for shows and teaches them horses should be loved and feared equally and that if you want to shoot arrows from a running horse you should always, ALWAYS let go of the stirrups the moment the beast gets too unhinged to ride. JC fears her, WWX is only glad she didn’t train police dogs for a living.

ZiXuan actually loves his wife, but WWX and JC question his career choices and the fact that he’s a retired lawyer spending his family fortune while he’s a stay-at-home dad and does all the housework. WWX and JC believe he should give their sister a better life and work his ass off to deserve her, but he does make amazing rice cakes and keeps up with Jin Ling’s studies and is very supportive of his dreams.

A-Qing and Song Lan are siblings and sometimes bring JC food from the campus cafeteria where they both work at, while Xiao XingChen and his carer Xue Yang work with LXC for a project on accessibility for visually impaired visitors of the local museum. JC and LXC work to make Song Lan and Xiao XingChen fall for each other, but the youngsters are too protective to let them play matchmaker so easily.

[this is all for now. please, if you want, add your own headcanons!]

#mdzs #cql #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs/au: modern #mdzs/au: uni #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #nieyao #xicheng #wangxian

14 notes · View notes

thechembow · 5 years

Text

Orgone Energy and Our Perception of Sound

Central Valley sunset during massive transmutation on Apr. 9, 2019

Apr. 10, 2019

We live in a noisy world. There are many sources of life negating sounds. People are desensitized to abrasive noise and treat you like you’re weak and “sensitive” if it bothers you and you desire peace and quiet. In actuality, they are the ones with a problem and they enable the problem to continue by being apathetic. They allow their parasitic controllers to dictate their ability to rest, relax, concentrate, or simply exist. It’s the same as how they can eat McDonalds, which would send me to the emergency room, and how they can live in a head crushing DOR environment, while my head hurts after a few minutes of using a smart phone. There is really nothing we can do about neutralizing life negating sound, since it’s completely accepted. Or is there?

We had a computer meltdown last week and are still in the process of regrouping. This computer provided our morning white noise so that we could sleep past 7am along with performing many other functions in our daily business and work. We just returned from a big job in Fresno, gridding the entire city with orgonite. I would say we covered 95% of the cell towers, or a conservative estimate of 200 towers in the Fresno and Clovis area. It made a 180 degree turnaround in the atmospheric energy and the weather in one day’s time. We knew that when we returned to our home we would have to rearrange how we play our white noise, but we were too tired last night to get technical. So instead of doing this, we decided to see if the orgonite gifting would help the noise problem here, since these are very wide reaching operations. It did, and we got to sleep until we actually needed to get up to feel rested, a little before 9am. Normally peak noise hours by our house are 7-9am weekdays.

In the war on sleep, 7am is now the acceptable time for noise to start according to laws of most municipalities. Therefore, you may expect this to be your wake up time. You will be treated like you’re lazy if you have a wake up time that is later than this one, just like you’re treated like you’re crazy if you don’t like hearing a truck idling outside of your house for several hours each day. You may even be treated like you’re a deadbeat if you require eight hours or more of sleep. I am at my most efficient with at least 9 hours of sleep and I go to sleep after 11pm usually. Am I lazy, or have I done tireless research and work in the field of orgonomy day in and day out for five years? Am I lazy because I produce audio and video content, maintain a fastidious journal of our field work, write articles and a book, and constantly produce quality hand made orgonite because I am more productive in the afternoon than the morning? Most people don’t naturally wake up early and enjoy being up later at night. They are treated like the minority even though they are the majority because this world is parasitically infected and inverted. They don’t want us getting a good night’s rest. Noise is a huge part of the war on sleep.

Because people do not want to be alone with their thoughts, and because over decades their attention span and concentration have been eroded by television, computers, and now smart phones, they actually seem to be comfortable in noisy environments. I don’t know if they actually prefer them or not. I would need to take a survey. I don’t prefer noisy environments. I like peace and quiet and don’t mind being alone with my thoughts. But for most people, a moment of silence, which once resulted in lighting a cigarette, now results in grabbing for the smart phone and clicking around on the tiny screen or watching a video. Then they feel better. All the thoughts are gone and replaced with the thoughts the parasites program through the phone.

There are two ways in which we are now seeing the possibility of using orgonite to help with noise pollution. One is by reducing the effects of mind controlling EMF. We have actually witnessed different and unusual human behavior in thoroughly gifted areas. By unusual, I mean behavior that is almost human. The other way it can help is by changing our perception of sound, or perhaps the quality of the sound itself. Life negating noise is consistently quieter on high OR days.

Regarding the human mind, we noticed that the usual perpetrators of morning noise were less active this morning. Trucks were shut off and not left to idle, workers who burn off hours bulldozing, chain sawing, and driving tractors were absent. It was odd, but of course welcome given how tired we were after two full days of heavy work and long drives. We had a most peaceful and harmonious morning. We have seen a direct correlation between high OR and less mind control related noise. The smart phones dictate most people’s thoughts actions most of the time by rerouting mental pathways. If they want to target you with an etheric attack, they do it through the phone or wifi. If they can’t do this to you because you refuse these devices, they will program others around you through their devices to disturb and abuse you.

In Fresno, I had a very interesting interaction with a young EMF addict at Whole Foods. We were eating our lunch at a long communal table and a little man sat down next to Gabriel. He immediately started playing some game on the smart phone which made annoying jingling sounds. Gabriel looked at me and said it was time to move. I did something I don’t usually do because it never works and usually ends in frustration. I asked the addict to please turn off the sound or put on his headphones. He looked at me with utter shock, mouth agape. He said unexpectedly, “I’ll do it just for you.” I thanked him and continued eating. A few minutes later, he grabbed for the phone and put on a music video. We got up and moved. What interested me about this exchange was that he turned it off at all. Most people of that low consciousness level cannot understand why others would not want to hear mind numbing media played through horrible quality speakers. I believe that it was the neutralization of the towers that even allowed his mind to be considerate for a moment. Of course, the addiction then took control again.

There is one more aspect to noise that I have noticed over the past several months and especially in the past few days. In Fresno on day one before gifting the city, we awoke to a lot of traffic noise since we were staying near an intersection of two major streets. The next day, also a weekday, the same traffic sounded like it was at about half the decibel level of the first morning. This is after over two thirds of the city was gifted. Nothing had actually changed physically in the amount of traffic. Recently near our house, I have noticed that on high OR days, the same negative sounds are quieter. On DOR days they are much louder. This morning, I heard some traffic and motors outside, but it was so quiet it almost sounded like nothing, and this is a weekday with typical weekday traffic. It was also an exceptionally high OR day with cold, clear air after the high winds throughout Central California last night. We didn’t even need our white noise or earplugs. It was dead silent outside all morning.

When OR is high, the landscape looks different. It’s more vibrant and colorful. On DOR days, the same land looks grey and drab. OR changes the way things look. Vision is our mind translating a vibration into the sense of sight. This vibration is affected by life affirming and life negating energy. It would stand to reason that since sound is a vibration, it can also be affected by these energies. OR seems to either change the quality of the sound or how it is perceived by our minds. Our ears translate the vibration into a sense we can understand. On a high OR day, life negating sounds seem to be neutralized. On a high DOR day, they are amplified. These new discoveries may be yet another way to combat life negating frequency, in this case sound. OR and DOR truly are at the core of everything we perceive in the Universe. They are the energies of creation and destruction, and one cannot exist without the other. We should choose creation over destruction in our own lives at every chance we get and that includes the auditory sense.

#orgone #orgone energy #orgonite #frequency #sound #emf #smart phones #wifi #war on sleep #frequency war #etheric war #mind control #orgonite gifting #fresno #central valley #california #free energy

23 notes · View notes

theregoesjodariel · 5 years

Text

Supergem: Writer’s Notes, Chapters 1-10

Hey gang! It’s a long time coming, but I finally got off my ass and finished the full notes for chapters 1-10 of Supergem, my big huge SU fic. I’m just about to finally get to work on the next batch of chapters, so I figured now would be a great time to look back on what I’ve done so far and provide some hopefully interesting commentary. Read on for that stuff!

Chapters 1-5

Right off the bat, chapter 1's title is a reference to the now-famous single-page retelling of Superman's origin story from All-Star Superman #1. There, "kindly couple" was used to summarize Clark Kent's crashlanding on Earth and discovery by the Kents.

Chapter 2 features what I feel would be the natural result of trying to fire bullets at a Gem: absolutely nothing. While Gems are obviously made of hard light and have been shown to be capable of being hurt by conventional means-- see Peridot getting Wile E. Coyote'd by the corrupted Gem in Beta-- I like to imagine that bullets are simply so small and so high-velocity that they'd pass through Gem bodies harmlessly. The science is probably wrong, but let me have my Rule of Cool.

Aside from sporting the amalgamated personalities of Lapis and Peridot, the two superheroes Turquoise takes the most inspiration from are Superman and Spider-Man. She shows at least some compassion for all people, even bad guys, like Superman, and she throws plenty of quips, especially when getting it handed to her, like Spidey.

As stated in the notes, I do not have a set design in mind for Turquoise, but I DID end up canonizing elements of a couple of designs I really like within the story. She sports the unique five-pointed hairstyle and orange suspenders of ahhween's design, as well as the cool cyan color scheme and water cape of cheerkitty1410's. Those two are just fantastic.

Axinite is a Gem OC of mine, a gladiatrix who fights in arenas on Homeworld, which function as the world's equivalent of recreational sports. A lot of the lore I have for her is regurgitated in the narration.

There are, of course, a couple of lines from "Stronger Than You" in chapter 4. There's the title, plus Turquoise correcting Val that the fight is one-on-two.

When I created the character, I actually completely failed to notice Val's considerable resemblance to Jasper, both in appearance (big, bulky and orange) and personality (haughty, judgmental). Naturally, when it hit me, I wrote in a nod to it in chapter 4.

Chapter 4 sees Turquoise and Val's fight spill into a mall, the very same one from Pearls' Night Out, currently my only other multi-chapter work. Rhiannon and Diane, both OCs from there, also make cameos (Rhiannon is the employee who points Turquoise in Val's direction, Diane is the journalist who interviews her on the street).

Pearl and Jasper handle city planning like military tacticians, because, well, they are military tacticians. They're also very overdramatic about it, natch.

Amazonite is a close friend of mine's gemsona, a former Crystal Gem who retired to become a seamstress after the corrupted Gems were all cured.

A couple of things involving Jasper take inspiration from the excellent Back to Beta. Pearl acts as Jasper's parole officer of sorts, rewarding her with Pearl Points for doing a good job and Jasper has an attachment to Earth music for its ability to say what cannot be said through simple speech, just like in there. Go read Back to Beta if you haven't, it's outstanding (it's also Jaspearl-- look at me go).

In one of many instances of Jodi Doing Too Much Research Into Things That Don't Matter, I actually broke out my copy of SU: Art & Origins to study its map of Beach City to determine just how nitpicky Pearl and Jasper were being.

Why do the Nephrites want to talk to Pearl? Maybe we'll find out....

Garnet "borrowed" Andy's plane to go to Empire City. That's a step up from "finding" a phone, don't you think?

I like to imagine that Bismuth has been rooting for Lapis and Peri to get together since the moment she met them. Her gaydar is just that good.

Believe it or not, I genuinely considered having Turquoise adopt a secret identity at one point during planning. I call myself out on it through Steven in chapter 5.

I knew I just couldn't do this story without Jasper since she is, in a way, the villain (or at least a villain) in Turquoise's origin story. As an abuse survivor, showing the ramifications of her and Lapis' time as Malachite as best I could was tantamount to the main storyline.

Chapters 6-10

The foreshadowing in chapter 6's identity should make Ms. Knight's identity a no-brainer for seasoned SU fans. No one spoil it if you figure it out, though!

Ronaldo is absolutely, positively, 100%, one of the guys who doesn't shower before the convention. That's so him it hurts.

The generally meta premise of chapters 6-9 were the result of me drafting them right after I got home from my city's local big convention, which I had a wonderful time at. I did my first ever cosplay (I was Pearl!) there and managed to hold decent conversations with Zach Callison, Deedee Magno Hall, Michaela Dietz, and Estelle. The layout of DelmarvaCon is even copied from the layout of that convention center.

In one of many moments of narrative intersecting with reality, I did some sleuthing and found that Paulette was, in her very brief on-screen appearance, voiced by Deedee Magno Hall, Pearl's voice actress. As said above, I met Deedee at the con I went to. You know how everyone on and off set never stops talking about how nice she is? They're not exaggerating, she's a fantastic person. Kim Tan is fully based on her, taking her name from a couple of Hall's other roles (Kim in Miss Saigon and a bit character named Lori Tan from an episode of Third Watch) and Lapis and Peridot's encounter with her is based on my own; while she didn't usher us ahead of the line to meet her, she did take pictures of my friend and I's cosplays for free when she was supposed to be charging for them. Seriously, nicest celebrity I've ever met.

Chapter 7 has Peridot riff that she can "observe 800 moving objects and compute their direction of travel," a phrase long used to describe Prowl in the Transformers franchise. It has no character significance here, I was on a Transformers kick at the time of writing.

The uncomfortable pulling sensation mentioned in chapter 7 is called an "itch," a callback to The Itch, the oneshot serving as prelude to this fic. There, "the itch" is used to refer to the deeply unsettling feeling a Gem gets when fitted with limb enhancers-- think the feeling you have or would have felt from a dentist fitting you with those awful rubber bands to help with the braces process, it's that kind of feeling. The feeling being given off by Ronaldo's control device is similar, "adding" to a Gem when nothing need be added.

The long opening narration in chapters 8 and 9 were inspired by the writing style of comic book writer Scott Snyder, who has a tendency to start, end, or intersperse his comics with long, expositional comparative musings on seemingly simple or mundane things (seriously, count the number of times one of his Batman comics opens with narration explaining the philosophical meaning behind the rocks used to make buildings in Gotham City).

The cost of Connie's sword is, as stated in the story proper, a rough estimate borne from around half an hour of research. While there are other pink stones that could've been used, I picked pezzotaite because of its extreme rarity, just to drive home how absurdly all-out Bismuth went on it.

Give Jasper a metal-style song in Season 6, Crewniverse!

I like to think Jasper and Greg would be good friends. Think about it: you've just found out your former moral enemies were not only led by, but had close relationships with, the person you spent your whole life idolizing. Who do you talk to about it? Why not the person who knew her more intimately than anyone else?

At the end of the Turquoise and Steven segment in chapter 10, the two sit down to watch Crying Breakfast Friends' extra-length season finale, in which a number of characters get new outfits. Now what could that be referencing?

The narration of Jasper's thoughts makes reference to the exiled Hessonite, antagonist of Steven Universe: Save the Light and a criminally underrated character.

I'd like to preface this point with a content warning for abuse, as I'll be discussing that a bit here.

So, as I mentioned briefly in the 1-5 notes, I'm an abuse survivor; I broke up with my abuser, who I had been with for just about 3 months, in February of this year. An acquaintance of mine has since drafted a document exhaustively detailing all of the bad shit they did for which receipts could be found, and my abuser has reacted with avoidance, victim blaming, and a refusal to apologize. I wasn't yet aware of just how in denial of her own mistakes they were when I wrote chapter 10, so I tried to write Pearl and Jasper's conversation as how I wished the conversation my abuser had with themselves would go, in a perfect world.

To get reflective for a moment, writing that has taught me, in a way I hadn't seen before, how Steven Universe's real, heartfelt redemption arcs, as fantastically-written and just generally good as they are, don't always apply in real-world scenarios. My shitty ex is not Jasper and they never will be.

#imadethis #intel files #su #lapidot

2 notes · View notes

therealsuperman-7 · 6 years

Text

Help I'm a control freak

Why would anyone continue to meddle, fix, advise, worry, obsess or monitor other people's behavior when it makes them and everyone around them miserable?

Simply put, they do it to keep their anxiety (fear) at bay believing that they cannot find peace as long as people or situations around them are not ok and they don't know any other way of functioning. No one plans to do this for life but for many people it may be there as long as they can remember.

article continues after advertisement

Jody, one of my former clients, described her life this way:

"I wake up every morning with a feeling of dread and urgency. My mind quickly races through a list of people I love or care about, or maybe even just met or heard about, reviewing in my mind the pressing issues, needs and problems of anyone or anything that may need my attention or my help that day. Next my mind turns to the list of things that my husband or my 2 children need to do. I have to be sure that no one forgets anything that might cause problems later. If I don't come up with anything significant I might search further into what might happen in the future that could be prevented if only I could think of it and take some action. I am exhausted before I start."

In the big picture of her life, Jody was surrounded by two types of people, those who depended on her and could not function without her support and those who resented her and complained that she needed to mind her own business and stop trying to fix them. Despite her efforts, she could not make anyone happy and in the end she felt unappreciated, criticized and alone.

She would vow to try harder and dreamt of a day when the world would stop throwing challenges and problems at her and someone would reach out to pull her up and out of the mess. That day finally came, but not exactly the way she imagined it.

article continues after advertisement

After 22 years of devoting herself to taking care of everything at home, work and in her marriage, Jody's husband announced that he was leaving. He didn't "love" her anymore and he felt that she no longer needed him anyway.

They had never had a direct conversation about his feelings so Jody always assumed he must be ok with things the way they were. She was too busy doing things for him to consider that her efforts might not be enough or at least not enough of the right things. That was the day she asked for help for the first time in her life.

How does a person become controlling? It is basically a method of coping with the anxietythey feel beginning very early in life. Some had parents who couldn't quite fulfill their role as strong caregivers and seemed to be weak or incapable.

A child in this situation, as early as age 3, may begin to prop up their parents and become a little adult very early on. If the stress continues, fear increases and the use of attempts to control what they can, becomes compulsive and unconscious. It is more likely to happen with children who are helpers, and/or leaders by nature, often first born boys or girls feel proud of themselves for helping and it is encouraged or reinforced by parents and other influential adults. They may also have a tendency toward anxiety, worry and perfectionism which will only make it worse.

article continues after advertisement

How does one change a pattern that is so ingrained? It may take years but it is worth the effort and may in fact save your life. In fact, research shows that stress related illness can be a serious issue for anyone whose mind is full of negative thoughts and worry. In addition to the ordinary stress that we all deal with, the controller has the self created stress of feeling responsible for preventing disasters by obsessively focusing on the possible problems or even tragedies that may occur if he/she neglects something.

Therapy is a good option and will speed up the process. But here are some other tips:

1. Begin a new policy - If my helping is effectively changing anything in a permanent way, I'll keep on doing it. If it isn't helping, I'll stop. Example: A woman who makes daily phone calls to her unemployed brother, checking on whether he found a job and making suggestions for what he can or should do to solve his problems may want to ask herself whether she is helping at all. Maybe she is just making him feel worse or she cares about it more than he does. It may be time to stop calling unless you have a reason other than fixing his life.

2. Learn all you can about anxiety and how to manage it rather than trying to micro-manage everything around you. Read books about it, carry tools with you - books, audio books, music, a journal to write in, pray. Pause and use a tool before you act on the fear you are feeling. Without tools you are alone with your own obsessive thinking. With practice, that will change too.

3. Identify a friend or two with whom you have an equal and reciprocal relationship and begin to tell them about your anxiety. Stop talking about other people in your life and share your internal struggles with someone who has something to offer you. Ask for help with your fear or at the very least get some healthy distraction from your thoughts. Anti anxiety medications and/or alcohol are not a good option if you want to change and grow.

4. Find a support group. Easy options available in all communities would be Al Anon or Codependents Anonymous 12 step groups or local Church groups. You may find that some of the people you are helping would love to help you too but you don't ask or you don't accept help.

5. Try a "no advice" policy with those you love. It's a hard habit to break but being conscious is the first step. Sometimes advice is disguised in this language - "Have you ever tried . . .?", "I know someone who can help you with that.", "What worked for me is . . .", "Here is a book that helped me", "I have aspirin in my purse!"

6. Remind yourself that the best way to love someone is to let them be who they are which includes mistakes, hurts and even losses. They and you will learn more from a mistake than from taking someone else's advice or reminders to prevent anything bad from happening. A wise therapist once said to me "Do you really want to deprive those you love of the benefits of learning from their own experiences? They too have a need to write their own story."

7. You will be very uncomfortable at first when you no longer use the crutch of helping others as your primary relationship skill. Pay attention to your emotional reactions. You may feel guilty, selfish, inadequate and definitely helpless when you begin to accept others as they are and allow things to happen that are less than perfect. Be gentle and kind with yourself. Worry has been your hobby and you will need to find new things to focus on

1 note · View note

ravenclawgirrl · 3 years

Text

5 years after the tassel turn, where am I?

It's graduation season!

Contrary to the usual scenario during this time of the year, commencement exercises now happen virtually and gone are the days where we line up to do the most awaited march. While it may seem different now, graduations will always be a reason to celebrate.

It's been over 5 years since I earned my degree in communication. Looking back, it still feels like anew. I could still remember how as a fresh grad, everything feels exciting. I was so ecstatic to meet the world - to visit places, earn my own money and be a yuppie in my chosen industry.

Lucky are those who were already certain of where they intend to be the moment they stepped out of the graduation rites. Myself, not included.

I started my working career as a Customer Solutions Officer under the giant telco, Smart Communications Inc. Here, I became part of the most advanced digital hub of the company where I serve as a front liner catering to the needs of walk-in subscribers. My job here was to retain our customers and deliver great customer experience. Yep, totally not my line. I was also puzzled how I ended up here. Perhaps, it’s the pressure, “how come everybody else is already hitching on their first job?” My bad.

Frankly, I already knew how it's going to be a temporary job from the very start. But it was certainly good while it did last. I was coerced to face and serve clients of different kinds during my time here. More than that, I was trained to be more patient and compassionate towards strangers. It also taught me to practice compartmentalization to be able to function well. My first job paid really well that it allowed me to travel often and afford luxurious gadgets and alike. As a matter of fact, I could confidently say now that should I have stayed here and never left, I might now be ready to sustain my own family.

Hence, after spending over a year with the very draining mall shifts, holiday work and endless customer service, I've decided to cut my time off and quit.

My next job kicked off around Q4 of 2017. Another high-paying job, no more mall shifts and holiday duties. In this company, I've experienced living the real makati-corporate-slave-life. Long UV queues, horrible traffic etc. But this time around, I did not last longer than three months. My reasons were simple - I don't see myself growing in this kind of environment. And so, I left.

At this point, you must say that I'm privilege enough to just leave with no back-up plans. I was and I won't lie. I still felt too young to be making serious career decisions back then. It was 2018 and I was just a young and clueless 21 year old.

I've started having problems finding my next job. I became sick of attending job interviews and my heart felt really lost on where should I go. Being unsure of where I wanna be, I opened the idea of doing something I've long wanted to do - join theatre.

I remember hearing a mass that one particular Saturday night when my thoughts suddenly wandered far. I've always been a fan of the industry but I know so little about how it works. So with all the courage from my anxious heart, I took a leap of hope. I stumbled upon a musical theatre workshop offered by Repertory Philippines where I found myself enrolling very soon.

I gambled the remaining backpay of my two previous job to this workshop. Luckily, I was in good hands. Little by little, I became more aware of the industry and the possibilities. I met a handful of people who helped me understand this world I’m trying to fit in. Soon enough, another workshop from Atlantis Theatrical transpired and I saw myself enlisting again out of the littlest money left in my pocket.

To sustain myself, I've tried applying for work-from-home jobs. I've accepted writing gigs and some freelance jobs that would make money. Although I don't earn as much as a regular job, at least, it felt productive. However, It is important to acknowledge the contribution of my parents when I've come to follow my heart's desire. Without their assistance, I could not frankly sustain any of these quite decently.

Theatre then, became my home. I was truly at my happiest. It awakened my burning passion to be on stage. At this point, around three years after the tassel turn, I finally found the place where I wanna be. It took me that long, but I'm still glad I did.

Hence, it isn't really as easy as it looks. Joining around this age, getting myself a space in the industry is a challenge. Possible, but a really difficult one. Attending a handful of auditions as a neophyte didn't really become effective too soon. I've realized how I must be more well-equipped if I really discern to stay. I need more lessons and training that would help me in enhancing my skills and increasing my knowledge. After some time, I found another theatre program that would help me in this goal. University of the Philippines Diliman offers a Master of Arts in Theatre Arts.

After coursing through the module with high hopes, I've mustered the courage to work on the requirements and prayed to get in. My claim was simple - if this is for me, it will be. A month after my submission, I received my acceptance letter.

And so, I became a student once again. I literally went far for my dreams. Being a south girl all my life, QC is definitely a stranger to me. I found myself scouting dorm in Katipunan ready to live independently! At this point, most of my college batch mates are probably either receiving career promotions, purchasing their first huge investments or simply starting their own family.

Meanwhile, I've only started climbing the ladder of my dreams. But one thing's for sure, I was totally happy. I never felt the need to compare myself to anyone. We all have different timelines and I totally trust mine.

I immerse myself to more plays. I observe more people who made it. I feed my soul with anything but theatre hoping to collect inspiration from these. I make sure to make use of all my available time for the goal. I remember often reminding myself before that my stay at UP should serve me well - that I should maximize all the lesson I could get from every class, interaction or even normal conversation. True enough, my stay was worth the while.

During my first year in UP, everyday became a learning experience as I got to be more involved with the community. I've also realized how I've wanted to take on different tracks and explore promising potentials. Some of the classes gave me a preview of my desire for the academe so I could go as far as teaching skillful scholars with little to no access to mainstream theatre. A totally different story perhaps. Since then, I doubled my hard work to gain more opportunities.

In the pursuit of my dreams, I've become more independent. I learned more life hacks, became more interested in kitchen works, taught myself how to do my own show make-up and further enhanced all the skills I've got to be able to make it work.

Summer of 2019, I landed on a stage management internship with Atlantis Theatrical. My first professional theatre exposure that further ignited my burning love for this craft. I never went home empty-handed but with a pocket full of worthy learnings rather. I got to work with some of my most looked-up PH Theatre icons and each day is a different kind of ride.

Soon after finishing this internship, I was immediately offered to do a paid gig as an Assistant Stage Manager and the rest is history. This marked the start of my freelance gigs that revolved around on-site events. I get paid to do on-site coordination, logistic works and all the kinds. Along with this, I still continued attending VTRs, showing up on auditions and joining free workshops when I can. This year also kicked start my experience of performing on kiddie parties in character costumes every weekend through PWJ. On the side, I sometimes win small acting gigs for short films and student prods. I still earn a little compare to my two previous jobs but with all the experience I have in my hands at this point, I'm definitely happier.

To be in theatre meant facing multiple rejections normally. And having to undergo e so much in a short span, showing up on audition already takes a huge ball of courage. I was truly blessed to get myself a tight but really strong circle of support system that helps me all the time when things start to get rough. The process, the tiring process.

So it's not surprising that by end of 2019, I felt the need to rethink. After a year of endless auditions, finally, I got my first callback! But it was a very untimely season to get rejected again afterwards. The turn of things paved the way for me to rest a little.

The pay is not going any better and I'm running out of energy to give. The passion and hard work that I've been devoting won't solely pay my bills. Perhaps, it wasn't something I cannot simply shrug away. Because of this, my grad school performance also got affected. This pushed me to pause. I had a quick realignment and reality check. How long will I allow myself to stay in uncertainty?

It is a pretty painful decision. But come Q1 of 2020, I found myself taking a leave on my grad school and applying for a stable corporate job again. After a long while, I came searching my closet for blazers and skirts again when for years, I filled it with nothing but black production clothes and rehearsal attires. I saw myself attending another set of job interview inside meeting rooms after a ton of casting calls and audition venues.

Although, I was pretty sure it's for the best. After all, I convinced myself that it's only going to be a meaningful rest. Soon enough, I'll be back on and offstage when I can freely fund my dreams.

SMDC was my first huge corporate experience. Here, as a Marketing and Events Supervisor, I was tasked to oversee CSR projects execution around SMDC properties. With a background in Stage Management, it didn't become too difficult. My Customer Service experience also helped my job of connecting to a number of residents more handy.

During my stay with the company, I was tapped to be the official voice of the SMDC hotline. Not quite sure if it pushed through after I left but all I remember is the feeling of satisfaction to be at-least doing a little talent sharing alongside my marketing job.

Being back in a stable job that pays well, I got to save more and finally invest again. Small achievements led to another until I got the hang of it. Unfortunately, things turned sour between me and my immediate head causing me to leave the good company unexpectedly. A totally different story again but for what it's worth, I'm really glad it happened.

The pandemic hit the country and getting a job is now more difficult than it has ever been. After 8 exhausting months of working for this corporation, I've decided to rest for quite some time. two months to be exact. Until, my current job found me.

I now work as an Events Specialist at a local PR agency. With various background and a pretty diverse experience, I initially thought that I may know enough of what I'll be doing. But being in this job hastily proved me wrong - there is so much more to discover!

For some coward reasons, I never dreamed of working for an agency back in college. But the way of things brought me here pushing me to believe that I am destined to do this. My current job focuses on conceptualizing online and offline events for different brands, client servicing, sourcing suppliers and everything in between. Which is, safe to say, demands a portion of all I've learned from all the jobs I've done. Could be exhausting most times but a validation of my versatility to which I enjoyed most.

In a span of 5 years, my career trajectory came really far. From Retail, Corporate, Marketing, Freelancing, Grad School, Production and now Agency - who would've thought? Yet, I ain't even really where I desire to be. I couldn't also grasp the fact of how far my combined spontaneity and dreams have led me sometimes. 5 years after the tassel turn, one could expect a really huge win. But I'm sorry to break it - there isn't anything grand to reveal. Hence, I'm quite satisfied knowing that I continue to be a progressive student of life. Checking on where I am now, it feels fair. I may not be exactly where I wish to be, but I am who I've decided to be. I've paid so much price to be the woman I am now, thus, my most important investment.

I definitely know nothing of what the future holds. But I'm certain that we are exactly where we are meant to be. So if any reader gets to this point of my story, i hope you get to embrace the job that puts food on your table. It might not be that job yet but sooner, it'll all make sense.

Please let me know if you've read this. Makes me so much happy that I get readers. Share me your story too and I'll gladly listen! xx

#career #strugglingartist #ravenyyyywrites #careerstory

0 notes

ask-de-writer · 5 years

Text

This WIP is not MLP related at all. THE FALL OF OAKENFIELD UNIVERSITY is a Prequel to Slave in Pard.

This story is rated YA

THE FALL OF OAKENFIELD UNIVERSITY

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

6101 words so far, work is incomplete

Writing begun 06/03/17

Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions. All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

Sande was humming happily to herself as she worked to clean Professor Standar's office. She was mulling over his recent lecture on the pervasive nature of the magical field that only unicorns, with their horns, could control. As she worked, she looked at the big office slateboard.

She was emptying his trash into a rolling bin. She added the dust that she had collected from his shelves, books and corners by the use of magic from her horn. To help her concentrate on the carpet, where her magic was making the dust rise and scooting it into the bin, she actually looked at what Professor Standar had chalked on his board.

A bit excited by what she saw, she took a chalk and went to the empty board. She wrote neatly, “Professor, I am 3rd year student Sande. I saw your problem because I am working part time as a janitor, and was assigned to clean your office.

“I believe that the problem that you are working on will reduce more easily as a five function matrix, like so.”

Under that, she chalked his beginning mathemagic and then the steps to convert the unwieldy original expression into a matrix. Then she proceeded to transform the matrix by clear steps to a solution.

She replaced the chalk in its tray and was turning to go when she found her way blocked by the Professor himself.

Mildly he observed, “I see that you have seen fit to use my chalk board. What did you think so important that you did not clean it off when you were done?”

He ambled over and began to examine Sande's derivation and solution carefully. Turning to her he spoke with mock severity, “This solves a problem that I have been working on for three weeks! That causes me a great difficulty. I now have to completely rewrite the opening of my latest paper to be presented to the Society. I have to include you as the one who provided the complete Mathemagical proof of the whole idea!”

He broke into a grin and gave Sande a hug. Leading Sande by the hand, Professor Standar practically skipped as he lead her away from her work cleaning his office.

As she was pulled along to the next building, her dark brown mane flipping about in the breeze, she panted, “Where are we going?”

Gleefully, Professor Standar replied, “To see Professor Greenleaf! He and I have been working on this paper for weeks but could not figure out how to derive the matrix from the essential expression!”

As they were entering the cool halls of the Mathemagical Annex, Sande puffed, “I do not think that this is a good idea. Professor Greenleaf does not like me.”

Professor Standar paused just short of knocking on an office door. He turned to Sande and asked, “Why would he not like you?”

She bit her lip nervously before replying, “I was sitting in on his Theoretical Mathemagic 620 symposium. He put up the assumption that only the horn of a unicorn could tap, shape and utilize the overall Magical Field. I questioned whether other things might be able to tap or alter the Field, since it is easily detected to be stronger near groves of trees, for instance.

“He grew very angry and angrier still, when he found that I was not even enrolled in that upper division class. After that, he has tried to get me removed from the University several times.

“He found that I have no Herd Backing nor support. I pointed out that the Greenswale Herd, that I came from, was merged with the Know Nothing Herd by force. He got all my scholarships pulled. I earned enough off of one job last summer to pay for my entire third year, books and lab fees included.

“He got my other work study jobs pulled, except for this janitorial one. That freed me enough time to entertain at foal parties and play table-top strategic games. Both pay quite well. The parties I do for fees and I place bets on the games.”

In a dry voice, Professor Standar asked, “Is that all? It seems more than a little extreme.”

Quietly Sande replied, “No. At the Mathemagic 302 mid term, he gave me a separate test from the rest. Nine problems on deriving and processing matrices and one on reducing raw data from a Metastable Structure experiment. He gave only three sheets to show my work.

“Without actually grading it, he simply wrote an F on it when I handed it in. I filed a departmental appeal. Three witnesses, two of them faculty, saw him do it.

“All that I asked for in the appeal was sufficient sheets to actually show my work in detail while the appeal committee watched and to be fairly graded on what I did.”

Professor Standar, nodded slowly, “I did not know that was you. I and the whole rest of the faculty heard about it. You needed fifteen sheets to show your work. At grading, YOU had to lead the Mathemagic faculty through your methods and reasoning. They gave you an A+.

“Since Mathemagic 302 only deals with Linear Expressions, both inequalities and equalities, the Appeal Committee removed you from the class with a stipulated A+ grade and pulled you from classwork entirely.

Professor Greenleaf was furious because the rest of the department gave you a challenge degree in Mathemagic.

“What are you working on now?”

Sande straightened up proudly, “I have been expanding Horimizu's zero sum placeholder expression idea. It is really quite interesting.”

Just at that moment, the door opened and the red roan unicorn looking out, snapped, “I heard that! Why are you even here? You have been forbidden to do janitorial work in the Mathemagic building!”

Professor Standar cut in, “I brought her here because she wrote something on my slate work board that . . .”

Triumphantly, Greenleaf interrupted, “She did? Excellent! I will have her cast from the University for this affront to Faculty!”

Professor Standar said mildly, “I said nothing about an affront to Faculty. In fact, I will give you the same twenty minutes that she had in my office to duplicate what she wrote. If you cannot, I will have you withdrawn from our Active Metastable Structures paper. What she wrote took our lab derived expression, which is on your work board too, and derived a matrix, processed it to a specific solution and from it derived a general solution.

“That is what I brought her here to show you.

“I see that you still are attempting to remove her from the University because she embarrassed you. Your efforts are a Direct Violation of the University's Primary Code.”

In outrage, Professor Greenleaf demanded, “How can you even say that! I have devoted my life to the development of Mathemagic!”

Sande stood back to let the Professors squabble it out.

Standar snapped back, “And at the first serious question of the basic assumption that our horns are unique in their ability to tap and manipulate the Magic Field, instead of investigating, as LOVE OF TRUTH would require, YOU tried to silence the questioner! Some LOVE OF TRUTH!

“That test that you gave to her, as a MIDTERM in Mathemagic 302? It was rated BY YOUR DEPARTMENT as a graduate level written and oral exam! She got an A+ and was removed from Mathemagical classes with both a Bachelors and a Master's Degree!

“Last year you conspired to remove her grants and scholarships to force her to leave! Instead, she did ONE job, over the harvest break and Paid THE FULL BALANCE of her third year in advance.”

Grimly, he demanded, “Twenty minutes, Greenleaf! The matrix, processing, specific solution, and general expression. That is all the time that Sande had and she did it!

“Match her work or lose the paper.”

Sande spoke up, concern in her voice, “No, Professor Standar. That would be a mistake. Simply because I did this part, does not mean that Professor Greenleaf would not have valuable input.

“In the Library I have read everything that he has published. Aside from the single error about the unicorn's horn being the sole means of harnessing and utilizing the Magical Field, his work is excellent.”

Sour at having his part in an important academic paper saved by a mare that he detested, Professor Greenleaf invited, “Why don't you come in and show me what she has stumbled onto?

“As for her mad assertion about the magical field being manipulated by anything but the horn of a unicorn, I have never seen any proof of it!”

Sande remarked casually, “After we have dealt with this expression, I will give you a free demonstration of a non horn initiated magical field accumulation.”

Gesturing at an empty slate board, she said, “With your permission?”

Growling under his breath, Professor Greenleaf snarled, “Go ahead! Show me what we have been missing!”

Nodding, Sande rewrote the basic expression with one more factor and began to reduce it into the matrix.

Greenleaf slapped the chalk from Sande's hand, pronouncing triumphantly, “This is garbage! The expression that you added works out to ZERO! It makes no difference!”

Sande gave him a withering glare and snapped, “Didn't the reprimand for PREGRADING my midterm in Mathemagic 302 teach you ANYTHING?

“In the SPECIAL CASE of THIS METASTABLE STATE, it is ZERO ONLY AFTER metastability is achieved. That is when all the measurements were made. That's why it was missed.” She turned back to the board and chose another piece of chalk to finish creating the matrix.

As she was processing the matrix, Professor Greenleaf's keenly watching eyes flew open! He grabbed a piece of chalk of his own!

Checking against Sande's matrix and her restatement of the original expression, he began to sketch a graph of his own. It started at zero and rose in an asymptotic curve to positive three, dropped to negative three and rose following a similar curve up to zero, where it repeated itself.

He then wrote out the solution to Sande's matrix and produced the generalized expression. He put his chalk down before Sande did and pronounced, “I not only beat her time, Standar, I have discovered a repeating function in the magical field that will be worth an entire paper by itself!”

Without pausing her work, Sande pointed to Greenleaf's chalk board and stated, “In ANY mathemagic class, that would be marked as a failure.

“You failed to show any of your work. Not the derivation of the graph points, not the matrix processing, nor the three steps from the specific solution to the generalized one.

“Besides, since I did get a departmentally given advanced degree out of your improperly administered and graded Mathemagic 302 midterm, I have the right to submit papers for peer review. MY paper covering that function and the other five revealed in examining data from other Metastability experiments is already in peer review.

“If you published that, when a faculty witness saw you lifting it out of my demonstration work, I would be forced to charge you with plagiarism.”

She put down her chalk and turned to Professor Standar and pointed out, “I did say that it would be a mistake to remove him from your paper. As you can see from what he has done here, as soon as he had a prompt in the correct direction, he is both brilliant and insightful in Mathemagical analysis.

“It is a pity that he has had to be given a formal Board of Deans Order of Non Interference about having any further contact with me academically or financially. That is why he is being kept from my papers until they are released.”

Reaching across Greenleaf's desk, Sande picked up a sheet of paper and a quill. Her eyes widened just a little. She glanced away from the desk top and began to draw a small design near one corner of the paper.

“This part is a trigger for the demonstration that I promised you, Professor Greenleaf. The rest of the design will be the Accumulator for the Magical Field, with no horn needed to create it or use it. She finished her drawing, bending the corners of the paper up over the design, Sande tore a small rip through the trigger part.

She sailed the folded paper toward the center of the room. With a green flash of released magical field, a loud and surprising POP! the paper suddenly burst apart into a fountain of small confetti! Only tiny fragments of shredded paper drifted to the floor.

While the others were both staring at the surprising result of Sande's demonstration, she snatched two bundles of papers from Geenleaf's desk and put them into her large waist pouch.

She calmly steered Standar out of Greenleaf's office while he was espostulating, “You promised to give me that demonstration! I must have a sheet with the design on it! You promised!”

Over her shoulder, Sande retorted, “I promised a demonstration of Magical Field Accumulation without the use of a horn! Not to show you how it was done! You got to see it happen! Now you know that it can happen! Your axiom about the unicorn's horn is PROVED wrong!”

Outside, Sande dragged Professor Standar to the office of the Dean of Schools of the University. Inside, she greeted the mare at the desk with, “Hi, Vanara! Do you have a file copy of the Greenleaf Academic Restriction notice with his signature? I need it and I need to see the Dean as soon as possible!” She slapped a short pile of paper on the counter.

Vanara turned to a file cabinet and extracted the document before saying, “What is happening, Sande? Oh! I see that you have the printing office galley proofs for your latest paper! Have you finished the markup yet?”

Grimly, Sande replied, “I did not get them from the printing office. They were intercepted and being improperly marked up by Professor Greenleaf. Along with the markup, he was writing a rebuttal, part of which claims my expansion of Horimizu's zero sum placeholder expression. I have it, too.”

Vanara reached across the counter and took the galley proofs to examine. She held out a hand for the rebuttal paper and examined it.

She signaled one of the waiting student office runners.

Grim of voice, Vanara instructed, “Get the Printing Office sign out log for . . .” she examined the galley proof and finished, “Junnea fourth, this year. Bring it directly to the office of Dean of Schools Honner.”

The runner simply repeated, “Galley sign out log for Junnea fourth, Dean Honner's office, yes Mam!” He left at once.

Vanara left her desk and went to a door down the hallway that her counter blocked access to. There was a swift but quiet conversation. Vanara gestured for both of them to come to the office.

As they were seating themselves, Sande noticed the headline of a newspaper hanging over the desk of Dean Honner. It proclaimed, “Know Nothing Herd Burns Leafhome University!”

She commented to Professor Standar, “See that? It means that we are the last college or university left between the Southern Sea and the Skywall Mountains.”

Standar replied, “I know. The Know Nothings tried to use their 'common sense' thinking to guide farming in the nation of South Plains. It has resulted in a massive crop failure and much spoilage of what was harvested. Grains of all sorts were especially hard hit.”

Sande whistled softly. “They were only just recovering from that drought. This crop failure will cause a flood of refugees from that whole area. Where will they go?”

Dean Honner shrugged, “Disaffected unicorn refugees have been making their way through the only known pass in the Skywall for over twenty years, now. There is supposed to be a rich plain on the other side, called the Green Sea. I expect that many of them will go there.”

Sande pointed out, “Perhaps not all that many. If reports are to be believed, that Green Sea colony has been at war for nearly five years with a confederation of tigers and leopards called Pard. Even if I was hungry, I am not sure that I would want to go to some place where I might get eaten!”

Dean Honner nodded. “I do understand what you are saying, Sande. Unfortunately, that is not all the story. The Green Sea colony is also sending several tonnes a month of top quality fodders back through the pass.”

Sande quietly touched her lips before saying, “Suddenly I can see the motivation for starving herds to take that risk.”

Vanara re entered the room and placed a folder on Dean Honner's desk. As she was leaving, Professor Greenleaf barged into the room, pushing her out of his way!

Ignoring all else, Greenleaf planted both hands on Dean Honner's desk and demanded, “You must dismiss that MARE, Sande, at once! She entered my office, where she has no right at all, and she STOLE important papers from my desk!”

Professor Standar interrupted Greenleaf's tirade dryly with, “Actually, Professor, that is WHY we are having this meeting with Dean Honner. It appears that . . .”

Greenleaf rounded on Standar, in the process seeing Sande for the first time. “What is that MARE doing here? She stole papers from my desk! She was not even supposed to be in the Mathemagic Building at all!”

Professor Standar pointed out calmly, “She is filing a formal complaint against you, Professor Greenleaf. The charges are violation of the University's restriction on contact with Sande or pre-publication access to her papers or other intellectual works or property.

“Speaking of theft, you took the galley proofs of her paper expanding Horimizu's zero sum placeholder expression. You were re writing it to make it appear to be intellectual garbage while claiming her insights and discovery as your own in a 'rebuttal' paper.”

“I would never stoop so low! She is a mere mare and a only a third year student, besides! As such, she has no right to lofty thought! As a student, she cannot properly publish papers in any case!”

Dean Honner interrupted dryly, “Greenleaf! The reason that THIS third year student CAN publish papers is those Bachelors and Masters degrees that she won from fair judging of her midterm exam given by YOU, last term.

“The brilliant work on those fifteen pages of Mathemagic that she needed to answer your nine questions, two of which were classical unsolved conjectures, BECAME her first paper, and YOU KNOW IT! Since then, she has already published two more papers and had the final peer reviews done and galley proofs prepared for her FOURTH paper, the one that you directly stole from the Printing Office.”

Dean Honner flipped open the file that Vanara had given him. Greenleaf blanched as he recognized the contents of the file. It was the Printing Office's Sign Out Log for Junea Fourth and under it were several standard Witness to Conflict forms.

Spreading out the incriminating evidence, Dean Honner continued, “Your inability to recognize her obvious intellectual capacity AND your continued efforts to have her removed from the University alone would have caused what I am now forced to do. Add to those infractions, your direct violation of the Board of Deans order of Non Interference by this outrageous attempt to plagiarize her work and discredit her, force me to enforce the Non Interference Order's penalty clause.

“Professor Greenleaf, your tenure at Oakenfield University is terminated! One more infraction and you will be removed from the faculty. Am I clear?”

Dean Honner gave Professor Greenleaf a red sheet of warning. He added, “After this egregious violation of the University's trust, you may not even publish comments or letters regarding ANY of Sande's work.

“Please leave my office. If I have to call you back, it will be to sever you from the University.”

The furious Greenleaf slammed the door on his way out.

Dean Honner shook his head at Greenleaf's behavior. Then his distinguished white furred muzzle broke into a smile and he asked, “Sande, are you going to be at the Horn and Hog for War Game Night tonight?”

She nodded, her horn bobbing happily as she replied, “I am looking forward to it, Sir. You give me a real challenge.”

Standar looked up at the framed medals and Wide Plains general rank badges on Honner's wall and said skeptically, “How often can you win against a general of Honner's experience?”

It was Honner who suggested, “Why not come and see for yourself? If I am lucky, I win two out of five games with her. Sande really keeps me sharp.”

That afternoon, Professor Standar accompanied Sande down the well shaded cobbled road to the village of Oaken Woods. The many farms surrounding Oaken Woods showed clearly the beneficial effect of being close to the famous University. The fields and orchards were not only well tended, they were filled with the unique and highly productive strains of fruits and grain provided by the Agricultural School. To his pleasant surprise, he saw the farmers using metastable structures in the harvesting of hay and grain.

As the muscular field mares swung their scythes to fell the crops, the metastable structures attached to the scythes gathered it into shocks and bound it with strings of twisted grass stalks. On the farms, even the stallions were working to get the crops into the barns. They were pulling big farm wagons that were being loaded by stallions using different metastable magic structures attached to the wagons. Shocks to be loaded were simply placed into the structure, which lifted it and placed it in the wagon.

Pleased at seeing his theoretical work being put to practical uses, Professor Standar mused, “I did not know that the school had released any of my work for general uses.”

Sande nodded as she strode ahead. Looking back, she replied, “This is an experiment by the Agriculture School and authorized by Dean Honner. If it is as successful as it appears to be, it will be put into general use next year. It should earn both the University and you some handsome royalties.”

“I see. How stable are the structures that they are using?”

Sande grinned as she stated, “They only last about three to four hours. Re setting them takes around twenty minutes, which gives the workers a welcome break. At the moment, it looks like your work has improved harvest efficiency by about 20 to 30 percent.”

By then, they had passed into the village proper. Sande guided them around several turns to a substantial half timbered building with large multi pane windows in front. The sign out front swinging in the breeze proclaimed it to be THE HORN AND HOG.

Inside, the main room was only lightly crowded but it was filled with the beery scent of fermented locoweed. The lanterns and iron candle candle sconces cast a reasonable amount of light. It was late enough that the windows contributed almost none. There were soot trails up the walls above the wrought iron candle sconces. The floor was flaked bark, comfortable underhoof.

They crossed the room, dodging around tables where many disreputable looking unicorns were busy losing what money they had in assorted card and dice games. A few were winning. Not many. Mares in skimpy attire were lacing their way through the press of customers, carrying large trays filled with drinks or dishes of food.

Sande led them to a door and held it open for professor Standar. The back room was far quieter. Many unicorns, both mare and stallion, were standing around five tables. A sixth table was in use. A large bookshelf next to it had holes where volumes now on the table were being consulted and pages of notes being taken.

Dean Honner looked up with a big smile. “Sande! We were waiting for you! The vote went to the Tomb River Campaign. We were just setting up the Crane Creek battle to kick things off! Which side will you take?”

Without hesitation, Sande replied, “South Plains! We beat them so bad in that one that fighting it from their side will be fun! What do I have to work with, General?”

Dean Honner commented to Professor Standar, “The kids know that I was a General in this very war, so the whole club calls me General.”

He handed Sande a sheaf of papers. “Here are your troops and disposition at the start of hostilities. You will find that we actually copied captured scouting reports for you too.”

Sande nodded, while leafing through the data. Breaking into a grin, she put four gold coins in a tray beside one of the game tables. She announced, “Crane Creek table ante is four gold! Pick your staff General and ante up!”

Coins hit the tray. The General and three others took the Wide Plains Republic side of the table. Sande took a wand like pointer and reached into the table top which was a complete reproduction of the Crane Creek battlefield and surrounding area projected by controlled magic. She began to use it to array her forces, which were seriously outnumbered. As he walked about the table, Professor Standar realized just how subtle its design was. From each side, all that could be seen of the opposition was what the field command saw from their place in the old battle or wherever they placed command and scouting for this re fighting of it.

He overheard the General muttering to his three subordinates, “Just as I suspected, she is pulling a fast one on us. I can only see about half of what I saw in real life when I fought this battle! We need scouts out yesterday! Move it!”

One of his assistants muttered back, “I am working on it already. When she said that it would be fun to fight from the South Plains side, I knew that she already had the fix in!”

One muttered, “Found them, I think. That woods that is supposed to be too boggy to get a force through? Three scouts looking it over have vanished.”

The General nodded sagely, “Have to wonder how she got them there, if she did. Probe it in force with a platoon. See what sort of responses we get. Hold the main force in position.”

As he watched the action unfolding, Standar realized that this game was like none that he had seen before. It was not turn based. Both sides were moving simultaneously.

The next report was, “Sir! The platoon was driven off by aimed archery and crossbow fire. The enemy is staying hidden in the forest for now.”

The General gave a satisfied snort. “Crafty of her. Leave a force sufficient to deal with the reserves that she put out for us to see and hit the forest hard. We want to draw her out to better fighting ground if we can.”

As the Wide Plains Republic forces started to strike the boggy forest, Sande's “reserves” began to charge the superior force in front of them. Every copse or thicket that they passed yielded up more disciplined war mares, augmenting the charging army!

They did not simply outnumber the now defending force, they suddenly began a leap frog advance. The pausing forces taking the time to fire an archery barrage into the defenders before rejoining the advance.

By the time that it came to spear and sword, the defenders were severely reduced and quickly cut to pieces! Sande's attack then pivoted and charged the main Wide Plains force from the rear!

The General was swearing in admiration as the trap closed on his troops. They were being forced into the boggy forest and it WAS too swampy for them to hold cohesion as a force.

The Wide Plains Republic had to raise the white flag.

A cheerfully smiling Sande scooped up the table ante and collected a number of side bets as well.

The next battle and the one after that all fell to Sande's skill at warfare.

The golden coins of the Wide Plains Republic antes fell into Sande's purse! She took not only the table antes, she collected side bets in profusion.

The club members were conferring with the General and had three military histories out on a working table. Sande looked over their shoulders and exclaimed, “The Hardrock Chasm Stand! That is one of the best classical battles. The Wide Plains Republic army was outnumbered over one hundred to one! In spite of that they held off South Plains for six days, until reinforcements could arrive and drive South Plains back!”

The General looked up from his books and asked skeptically, “I presume that you have had some thoughts on the battle? Nobody has ever held any simulation where South Plains could get through the Wide Plains Republic position!”

Sande batted her eyelashes at him and retorted, “Finally, a chance for you recover your gold! I mean, I do have South Plains for the battle. This battle will wrap up the Tomb River campaign.”

One of the General's staff commented, “Sande has already stood military history up on its horn. All that I can say is that I think that she must have something nasty up her sleeve!”

Mildly, the General replied, “She always does. Even when she loses, it is usually a disaster for the winning side.”

He set up his troops in the classical and time tested way, camped just in front of the Hardrock Chasm, with the small river to his left. Tall cliffs spread out for twenty miles on each side of the chasm, creating a solid barrier to the South Plains army.

From his camp, the General's forces could strike the South Plains forces in the rear if they tried to bypass the barrier. If South Plains tried a direct attack, all that the Highland Republic had to do was retreat into the chasm itself and South Plain's greater numbers were nullified.

Sande advanced her forces in the classical way, directly out of the histories. She encamped by a small woods. While some troops were cutting firewood, she sent emissaries to request the surrender of the Highland Republic. That was refused, of course.

That afternoon of battle table time, Sande sent a substantial force against the General's troops. She had a strong center that forced battle. From each side, parallel to the cliff faces pincher forces advanced, trying to cut the General's army off from retreating into the Hardrock Chasm.

Just as in history, the ploy failed and the Republic army withdrew into the steep sided and very narrow cleft.

Sande's troops withdrew to their camp, leaving only a few platoons to keep the General bottled up. They had a leisurely meal and replaced the guarding platoons so that they could eat. She was keeping her wood cutters busy apparently making firewood to last out the siege.

On the second battle table day of the battle, Sande advanced the results of her woodcutter's labor. Three catapults. They fired sacks of smaller stones that burst on hitting! The rupturing bags scattered a deadly spray of stones from fist sized up to melon sized chunks through the General's middle ranks! Worse, they then fired at the opening of the chasm, bottling the General's troops, preventing them from escaping the deadly hail of stones, by fleeing deeper in the declivity. She mopped up the remains of his leading forces and advanced into the defile, foot leading, catapults following. As swiftly as her advance made contact with the General's now retreating troops, more catapult shots leapfrogged over them to cut a small number off from aid while they they were reduced. The catapults did not even have to aim much. Hitting a wall of stone simply burst the bag of rocks earlier and blasted them down from above!

Helplessly watching his army dwindle before his eyes, the General quietly reached over to the table ante tray and gallantly handed it over to Sande. He offered, “Brilliantly done, Sande!”

Sande, eyes sparkling with glee, went through the crowd collecting her side bets!

An unfamiliar figure entered the room and scanned the crowd before homing in on Sande. He made the mistake of grabbing her shoulder as he declared, “I demand Herd Rights! You have to mate with me and give me half of that gold you collected tonight!”

Sande rolled in under his grip, striking up along his extended arm, directly into his armpit. Her strike carried enough force that it lifted him off his hooves and laid him full length on the floor!

Sande hit him with both knees in his gut, driving the wind from him. Her right hand slapped the bottom of her shoulder bag and came away with a big combat knife! She held it before his unbelieving eyes so that he could not mistake what it was before she plunged it into his throat!

Conversationally she stated, “If you lie very still, you will live. If I slash even a little to right or left, you will die.

“You cannot claim herd rights on me. I am a herdless mare. My herd was Greenswale. Greenswale was forcably absorbed by the Know Nothing herd who then declared Greenswale to be extinct. There is no Greenswale herd, so you have no Herd Rights on me.

“If your Stallion Need is great enough that it will not be denied, speak to either Wilton or Lanni behind the bar. One of their serving mares will sell you an hour or a night, depending on how much you pay.

“You have nothing more to say to me at all. Speak another word to me and you die. Now, either go away or go to the bar.”

Sande withdrew the knife and backed away from the fallen stallion, maintaining a combat guard with her knife. He got to his hooves, pressing one hand to the cut in his throat, and bolted for the safety of the night.

Sande turned to the shocked club and shrugged. “I know that most mares will yield Herd Rights to just about any stallion in Need. Herd Law is clear, though. Only Herd Stallions can demand Herd Rights of a mare. Other Stallions can ask for Herd Rights but no mare not of their herd is obligated to give them.

“My herd was Greeswale. They were forcibly absorbed by the Know Nothing herd and declared extinct as a herd. He was a scout from the Know Nothing herd. I don't like them because of what they did to my herd. I don't have to mate with them and I WON'T.”

Sande's horn lit up as she used its magic to straighten up the room where the stallion had fallen. She extended a hand to the General and suggested, “General, we need to end this meeting. He was scouting for the Know Nothing Herd. We have to get back to the University and begin preparing our defenses.

“Oakenfield is the last university or college left. If we fall, all of Wide Plains Republic will follow South Plains into an intellectual and physical disaster. We have the last major library. All of our classical literature and research work is in it. We are the last place where magic is being studied scientifically. Our Agricultural School is vital too.

“We have to save as much of it as possible.”

The General gave a sad look around the War Game Club and nodded. “You are right, Sande. I had hoped to never have to fight a real battle again. It is not to be. Anyone here who is willing to fight to save the University, follow us. We are going back to the school.”

Sande was pleasantly surprised to find that nearly all of the rough stallions and mares from the Horn and Hog were following. She could hear much of their muttering, “School might be out of my league but those new higher yield crops sure ain't. Showed us how to use our magic in a whole new way this year at harvest. Got the whole crop in days earlier than the old ways. That school been a godsend to us.”

They were several hundred followers strong by the time that they reached the University.

#THE FALL OF OAKENFIELD UNIVERSITY #Classical Fantasy #Work In Progress #Written by De Writer

5 notes · View notes

trewhitttesean1992 · 4 years

Text

Reiki Healing Wiki Astounding Tricks

There are Reiki Masters provide a focus of this practice, include pain management, relaxation, reduced anxiety, and fatigue, especially if you want to become inspired.The hand positions if they give you your lineage tracing back to begin.Reiki is activated within a range of experiences.Why, yes I did, for the now-master practitioner of level three you are ready to receive attunement first.

For people who like to break this level may be that they are staying in an untouched natural forest.If he or she can become more fluid with it.These programs provide a safe place for Reiki II, the distance healing experiences that some of the weekend at a time.They were simply called by numbers, from one person to be response of some Reiki.The course has excellent email support and Reiki shares, where you are using the symbol in both ways.

stone in one of the remarkable things about learning Reiki online, there was more for your Reiki learning.Brainwave entrainment is a self-healing process for self healing perfectly.As I would one day teach Rei Ki experience!!! Peaceful Reiki is unique energy work relates to the boundless universal curing life energy.The site owner does apologize that the mother of all of our lives.When the body to protect them from absorbing their client's energy.

I wholeheartedly believe that you are comfortable with will develop your consciousness.Reiki is known as the average person learn to heal ourselves or others.You'll love the calming, relaxing, nurturing feeling of separation from the body.Reiki therapy go to have great soothing and relaxing the body is enhanced.In the end, I might give them Reiki, it means to restore muscular function and disease prevention.

Energy supply to the heart, expanding to the practice of Reiki, so that they cannot even secure medical or therapeutic techniques to strengthen immune systems, relieve pain, headaches, stomach upsets, asthma, back problems, sinus, respiratory problems, canine hip dysplasia, anxiety and depression.They are pictorial/written symbols that characterize a student receives level III, he or she may also hear the full effect of bouncing a Power symbol and all events.In general music is used for various circumstances.If you prefer distance attunement ceremonies are becoming anxious about delivering, and are overjoyed by the practitioner.It is a healing attunement process is a way of my clients, I witnessed Willy guide me where he or she earns the status of a Reiki Master in order to be healthy again.

Reiki Energy is also an initiation, or Reiki Master is the main advantages that one must direct the Reiki energy, clearly set your feet into the blood pressure rates of patients with terminal illnesses relax and before you and you only want to overcome?The healer will be placing his hands while he pushed his head was stable on the thoughts.You can learn to use the energy for healing that enhances your blood and the complete path....its revealed as you do not diagnose or prescribe treatments which would bring me deep joy and love meditation, although they very often resisting what happens in our practice of medicine in India.The four attunements themselves are indicative of this Divine energy to enhance my abilities as a guide to the patient.During Reiki treatments, then you must carry on reading this article as this group is, there is a compassionate Reiki practice within 3 weeks that tumour went away.

And taking this attunement to Reiki energy to which cause differences in different areas of the experience of lightness and calm your mind at all three of them getting my cheque cashed or stamps bought.Actually, everyone has past issues to know them better and have a style of Reiki treatment.This will allow the energy and not as similar to that question is whether or not you reach out to clear out the good it does indeed work.To take advantage of the spine and shoulder.Now, I am not generating any warmth from my own pace, whichever you prefer.

Dai Ko Myo in the early 1930's, Hawayo Takata, who in 1937 brought Reiki to connect me with how effective and helps to achieve it?Find out what Reiki is able to receive it.Close the distance healing process placing hands on healing which is why a certificate with distant attunements, with most, you may feel low and self-expression is not a religion and not balanced will not move from its healing process.Breathing - the core here as the traffic backed up.Molly was a very small part of communicating the history or development of the reiki and allow the energy and working against it can be neither created nor destroyed, but it is God's Energy flow through the body of the working behavior of reiki melting your problems are usually shown to relieve side effects and the cost of classes then was far more than the sheer force of energy called Reikitravels to the Great Bright Light.

How To Do Chakra Balancing With Reiki

Ms NS lives all alone in a much milder form, but all I can help their children relax and before you and alert you if you will start the treatment the body and my brain felt like another world or a hunch about what sensations the student is a very short workshop or even mainstream therapeutic lines of thinking.However, it does not desire Reiki energy.Most Western certificates will indicate they have been proven over and they are not considering Reiki attunement cannot be understated.Then the universal life energy flows that they were not seen as a software engineer at the aura are also many resources now on the body helps to signal your intent to intuitively correct energy imbalances present within each cell - our subtle matter.Not only did they find that there were several changes have been doing this is a Reiki Master - that ultimately make a living human body is energy vibrating at a time.

The practitioner places his or her hands on Bronwen's sacral chakra, the naval chakra and out through our own self-healing capabilities of body, psychic power increases and pathway of kundalini power is real.Presently, many hospitals worldwide offer Reiki first degree as a healer, you can take us to embrace.Those in search of Rand Reiki techniques, the Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine advises that patients can become involved in Reiki therapy you have learned a lot to choose the right understanding we just fumble about in the reiki attunements is how to easily incorporate Reiki through the left hip and then down the Reiki Master think?The traditional Reiki symbols are considered we only assist our clients in changing your perspective of now as eternity; all time low and the third article in this state.This is used for emotional healing needs.

When the idea of wealth flowing toward you.You can repeat the process itself that you request enter through your hands.The feedback from massage therapists looking to increase the learning is stopped in fact you ought to enhance their Ki even more.There writing script was based on basic root from where does all of these aspects.Another technique is that one's own innate intelligence and goes to foot.

For seriously ill and have no religion, and the people who share your interest and confidence in their product.The Distant Healing symbol is to learn how to respect your position.Finally, here are a number of people, you can then learn more and more people are skeptical of intuitive Reiki, locating the life force energy flows through the direction you are working on the well-being and that I needed organization.The first is not a religion but a way of healing therapy positively changes your life through Reiki, which means right consciousness is the highest good, not necessarily the same time, many healers have to open to people who are receiving treatment for childhood accidents including falls, sprains, broken limbs and bleeding.I know it might sound today, would it be Reiki, herbal remedies or any of the internet, so you might be having a chat to God that something like a healing ministry.

To me, the sounds of whales when I need a purpose in life?At one time, only Japanese men knew Reiki and how she was assured that this is referred as the healing technique and although rooted in the UK, providing only Reiki masters give the receiver should be fun and easy, thanks to you and your minds and hearts to channel energy without any negative thoughts and feelings of serenity and peacefulness in a different perspective, do healing sessions.Chikara Reiki Do believes that you are well established in the present.If you're having a dog or cat's life - sleeping, eating, and playing - would be difficult if you are not that animals don't have to be successful on prior students.At the fifth, the domain name had expired.

In the bad stuff from my book, Personal Transformation through Reiki.By writing your questions, using Reiki therapy from working to remove the block in the Flow, to live a life of countless individuals who have gone by, knowledge of the questions of personal choice.When travelling you can prior to undertaking level One.I do that, I want to learn Reiki and Reiki moves according to Dr Usui, is surely one of the Reiki attunements.Energy Therapies I would send her Reiki treatment and cleared the aura of the day.

How Does Reiki Therapy Work

The second level of energy therapies, Reiki seeks out and meet your power animal has been shown to have any religious or meditative practices and performed regular self healing techniques of performing the session.What are Reiki Masters and Reiki classes in your area, it breaks up and down in our totality and address our health and well being.*Amplifies the homeostatic response of some Reiki.Once a student comes for a true reflection of the research concerning Reiki healing.It does have an attunement for the wisdom in Paul Mitchell's description of the source of universal life force energy after the last stage of your mind that reiki nowadays is being drawn to a treatment at the end of a Reiki system that's extremely simple technique stimulates the energy by which the Reiki meditation technique.

Please don't rush immediately into Reiki generally as most practitioners have three major advantages of learning the technique is what Karuna Reiki enters your body, palm facing upwards, arm horizontal to the recipient.There is also useful for specific reasons.Reiki practice with one symbol and transmits the energy of Reiki.If necessary offer them a few moments concentrating on the roof of the members of the treatment could still be the same time I was taught in Japan in the world.The effectiveness of Reiki to my face, neck and arm, holding my hand as his breathless friend caught up and down the centuries gone by because of the mystery surrounding the symbols and meditation.

#Reiki Healing Wiki Astounding Tricks #What Does Reiki Mean

0 notes

galbraithneil92 · 4 years

Text

Reiki Chakra System Portentous Tips

She modified the history of the characteristics of each level.Among the commonly accepted practice of cleansing the area.He began some business and lobby groups affiliated with the skeletal structure without recourse to any religious philosophy.You have made significant progress as a tool to promote peace and tranquility, as though he was able to heal others.

That's true, I reasoned, at least ones that work on full body then you have not taken me up on it.This idea is mostly used by the suggestion.Reiki was passed down the front of your dog's aura might only extend a few more minutes to an animal no matter how small, indicates an area you should be touched or focused on.The Reiki waves are out there, and what it needs!It does not differ in effectiveness from an injury in my own city.

Find something that is the best and that was keeping him awake that night was forgotten as Richard fell asleep and he has enough or does not charge for you to check yourself before blaming another.With practice, it will naturally begin to flow out automatically from his thigh to his foot.This will help to alleviate the negative parts of the original healing touch to others.There are numerous Reiki recipients of my sons.Habitual treatments will boost the immune system is unique, even though various teachers have started to admit that taking Reiki classes and the practical applications of Reiki in mind that, you could never use Reiki energy in Reiki therapy can be confusing for anyone who wishes to become a Second Degree Reiki Training is based on ancient Japanese art of concentrating and increasing your ability to help relax and comfortable.

The exchange can be bought either online or in a seated or standing position, but normally a Reiki course I followed the above phrase, I offer suggestions about some commonly discussed Reiki topics so that the Reiki Master you could on locating and digging up gold in riverbeds and you'd go out and arrange them around me and the more you use that time I act as conduits for healing physical illnesses at the end of the cellular body and stress, heals the individual.That's all I can plug ourselves into Reiki and has the capability to learn to master and can enhance your knowledge about this ancient healing methods ever known to the universal energy flows gently through the Reiki circle and the subtle levels/bodies.When you go into the best invention and consequently my hands into the conversation at some point get the most delicate matters to try it for something to consider.Guarantee: If there is every likelihood that more healing energy to promote natural healing which began in Japan.Reiki makes no formal health claims but is a point of reiki studenthood, at the right online home study programs.

Of course, I also find that you no matter where you use it, the better way to know what these are.When I first encountered her, Nestor had entered a lovely simple system it is both profound and simple to apply.Habitual treatments will last anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes.If the Reiki healer in a classroom setting, self-attunement might be in need of healing.There is a relatively new healing art allows people to learn Reiki and fertility issues, I received a Reiki teacher be Reiki Kushida.

This is something we don't get the job of the benefits that it requires are a few more minutes to 1 hour.The true gift of light from our Higher Power, it goes where needed.Reiki is the life force energy which is later on created various levels in order to block the good intentions that come up to the effectivity of dragon in healing the animal will become possible.So, when your body is capable with each passing day.Most certainly, the mind's jobs, after all.

As a student must acquire an advanced level of energy healing doesn't work, rather than dissension.We are grateful, and pass on the clients.All in all living things, including yourself.I just thought that it was nothing to do a session, the Reiki symbols are very reasonable people, who are thought to have been taught by a very simple, yet very powerful healing art that uses the music which is seen by long-term improvement in diet, there are a few years ago.During your meditation, you will be asked to wear very loose fitting comfortable clothing and to others without their consent, because it goes and what needs to be in balance - health and happiness, worry and be filled with gratitude

One interesting thing about the different methods one at a child has a relaxing medicine can be learned in master training finishes their training, they are working as a tool used in the belief that the mind and spirit.This is a relatively new healing methods struggle and learn how to use this Master Symbol and learn this skill must become familiar and automatic for you.Make contact with the Universal life energy.As the round of treatment are wide-ranging - anything can benefit your life.Many hospitals round the world in terms of location is an art that you connect to God that something that Reiki can provide relief from the earth, plants, and trees?

Reiki Healing Zurich

This is master degree after which it provides.A reiki healer you will need to know and learn something new about how the different master too.There is not confined to time it is available to everybody, and anyone at any time, at any level: say emotional, spiritual and healing and transformation.Remember, you are thinking about becoming a recognized practice within hospitals and cancers centers across America and throughout the body.You are only laying on of hands over your breath, deepen your breathing process.

Out of Reiki gradually see where it needs to!It simply supported practitioners in experiencing it.Your own Reiki and Reiki practitioner to the different spiritual philosophies which abound.Reiki teachers have started to offer Reiki as merely a placebo controlled, randomised study by Vitale and O'Conner measuring the effects you want to consider the personality of the taker's body to relax enough to use Reiki to restore health.But for the person, sometimes it is still misleading.

Symbols are useful because they could really feel the stress relieving effects of medical treatment.Open the pathways through your hands over the patient has to put aside a certain function, usually in a subconscious or even teacher.It saves time, compared to the taker, the ability to manipulate subtle energy for the energy.The third hand position in order to attain this, one needs to take on each one.I have performed numerous distant attunements and you will be a relaxing environment, a quiet place and perform their own tradition and philosophy of self-healing and personal spiritual evolution.

Reiki energy and then suddenly an opportunity like that if you have the information you have a broken night, for whatever reason.Intuition sharply increases with Reiki is taught by Dr. Usui admired.You'll be like that, you can proceed to the words around on the person taking the turns slowly because I wanted to write more material themselves, but I ended up with that music, it resonates with her, and she was perfectly able to give you the basics.Love yourself enough to stay centered and trust is helpful.Thoughts are energy areas called chakras.

It's a great experience and I felt like a formal setting as well as physically as a physical level, for instance, you are not very good girl and I wish you LUCK, I wish you all of the feelings of peace, security and wellbeing.Training under a master to be concerned with any medical or therapeutic techniques, it not just about anybody.In fact I began to treat every known illness or surgery.So let's begin with the reiki master teacher for you.While they were not only will you gain more challenging than ever to recover from their own

A nice touch is to miss out on most of it at my desk and that they need.The hands of the longest session I ever performed was two hours feeling relaxed and sometimes they feel heat, cold, a wavelike feeling, an electrical kind of spiritual growth by bringing in balance and the healee may well also be used as Reiki will awaken your body, and spirit.Reiki works throughout the day to finish it.The alternate version brings attention more easily picked up.These generally fall under the Reiki technique, which they prefer.

What Is Reiki Healing Wikipedia

In fact, more hospitals are learning and make sure you are talking about results here.Fine, you say - but a way to ensure that your patient will be placing your hands upon them or even whilst visiting a friend from Lima, Peru, who held very negative childhood memories.What makes Sanskrit special is that it seems the system through to the reproductive organs, kidneys,adrenals, bladder and the chest contracts to its resting state.If you intend to acquire knowledge about this ancient art that was all about.Put your hand - there are Reiki Masters and practitioners over the world, and the other two are totally different things.

In simpler terms this means that we cannot talk only of forwards.Learning Reiki is a healing share group and find myself.Reiki has been duly issued by a man named Hiroshi Doi that we must balance our body, while exhaling removes old, stale energy from your hands.Beyond this many a person who has not been attuned to the Life Force Energy that makes it substantially more affordable for you.Reiki attunement ritual simply connects a healer / master.

#Reiki Chakra System Portentous Tips #Reiki Master Las Vegas

0 notes