#this all of course alongside my now-constant work mantra of

[whatsfourteenupto]

Just came back from two full days offshore and all I could think the entire trip was that we were handed a canonical mildly-bad-influence Wine Aunt™️ in Mel and we are all collectively sleeping on it

[the12thnightproject]

Chapter 25: Good Horse. Katsu tries very hard not to drown in the flooding river - but the cavalry is on the way.

Shingen x OC; Kenshin x MC (Mai)

Previous Chapter: here

Logline - Disguised as a boy, Katsuko finds herself working for Shingen, but her dangerous masquerade becomes difficult to sustain when she falls for the man with a fatal secret.

SPLASH

The shock of the cold mountain-fed water was a slap, and I inhaled a mouthful before I had a chance to avoid it. My plunge into the river had pulled us both under, and I frantically kicked back to the surface. Coughing, I tried to orient myself without losing my grip on the boy. At least he wasn’t flailing or struggling.

The roar of the rapids blocked out nearly every other sound.

Foam splashed into my eyes, blurring everything.

The broken tree branch whipped past, spinning on top of the water, coming too close to my face, and I automatically pushed it away from my eyes, before I realized… it was buoyant.

I lunged for it. “Grab the branch,” I yelled in the boy’s ear, hoping that he could hear me. “It floats.”

The river took that opportunity to force feed me another serving of water.

Meanwhile the boy nodded and clutched the branch, enabling me to sandwich his body between mine and the limb. I didn’t know how much time we would have before it became waterlogged and sank, but it made sense to conserve our energy while we could.

If we could ride the branch into shallower water… or if the current would only toss us toward the riverbank. If… if… if only. Instead, though, the river picked up speed, intensified, thrashing waves, flinging twigs, leaves and even small stones into our faces with stinging accuracy.

The sound of the rapids was a constant tschhhh, interrupted by gurgling clunks during the terrifying moments when the pace of the water dragged us momentarily under the suffocating pressure, before spitting us back above the surface.

Then the churning waves spun us around –

Where once I could see a water-blurred preview of the torrents ahead, now the view was the landscape behind us. There was the boy’s father frantically running alongside the river, but his figure was getting smaller and smaller as the current swept us away. On the opposite bank, I thought I saw a rider on a huge red horse, but then the river smacked me in the face with another wave and once again everything in sight dissolved into white foam.

My fingers were becoming numb, but there was no way I was going to let the boy or the branch slip away from me. Mentally, I chanted instructions to myself. Don’t let go of the branch…. Don’t let go of the boy… keep your mouth closed when you’re underwater. The last one was a difficult mantra to follow when all I wanted to do was cough up the water that I’d already swallowed.

Thwack!

The roiling water slammed me into a boulder –

Son of a bi-

The impact travelled all the way through my body - even my intestines rattled.

I clenched my teeth to keep from gasping in pain – the last thing I wanted was another shot of river down my throat, and it was more than enough to just hang onto the branch and the kid and try my best to keep us both above water and hope that the river gave us up before we gave ourselves to it.

Then we bumped up against something else, something…not a boulder… softer than a boulder… something alive and warm … that gave a soft whinny at the moment of contact.

Horse?

A pair of arms reached around my stomach as Shingen hauled me and the boy onto his horse.

Good horse was my semi-coherent thought. Moonlight would never have gone into the river. Thank God Shingen’s horse was bigger than the short-legged kisoumas most samurais rode, or he’d never be able to carry all of us. Of course, as soon as I thought that, the chestnut stallion slipped as he tried to find a foothold on the bottom.

“Hold on,” Shingen growled into my ear, as he climbed off to lead Good Horse. When I realized what he was up to, I made a move to jump off and help, but he must have anticipated that because he glared at me over his shoulder and yelled, “If you get off this horse, I will drown you myself.” Personally, I thought that was a very Kenshin thing for him to say. Apparently the Uesugi demeanor was contagious.

Obeying the order, I tightened my grip on Good Horse and the boy, holding my breath as Shingen, swearing all the while, using words, most of which I knew, in combinations I had never thought possible (if the boy was listening, he was getting a graduate level education in Creative Profanity), managed to lead us up the bank of the river.

The four of us (counting Good Horse), stood there in the rain, staring at the furious river. No one said anything. I hadn’t had time or energy to be scared while I was in it, but now that I was safe on land, I realized my heart was thumping in my ears loud enough to block out the sound of the water.

“Hiko!”

The boy’s father came thundering up to us, eyes wild with panic.

He grabbed his son, hugging, then yelling, then hugging some more. “How could you be so careless? I told you to keep back from the edge!” Then in the next moment, the boy was mooshed against his father’s chest again.

Eventually he turned to us and bowed low. “Thank you for saving my only son. Hikosane is a careless whelp, but he would be missed.”

“No thanks are needed,” Shingen said. He ruffled the boy’s wet hair.

“Be that as it may, I am grateful,” the man said. He looked over his shoulder at where the rest of his family was hurrying toward us, all in one mass pack of chattering people. “I would have been left with five useless daughters.”

Useless daughters?

Oh no he didn’t!

I stepped forward to protest, but once again, Shingen anticipated my actions, thunked his hand on my shoulder, and gave me a warning squeeze. I bit back a hiss of pain… that was right where I’d slammed into the rock.

“I’ve found a multitude of uses for them,” Shingen said.

Uses? I really didn’t like how he phrased that… although I imagined he was only trying to meet the man on the same conversational level. Still. Uses.

He bowed to the trapper.  “But I’m glad we were able to be of service to you.”

The boy’s mother scurried up with a blanket and wrapped her son up in it. She tried to lead him away, but he broke from her and ran over to me. He gave me a hug, and whispered in my ear, “Thank you. I am not careless – I was pushed.”

What? Who? How? I tried to picture the scene at the riverbank, but all my memory came up with was the chaotic family. Maybe he had been fighting with one of his sisters? I wanted to question him further, but his mother retrieved him, gave me a short bow, and the boy was absorbed back into the bosom of his family.

Meanwhile the trapper was still trying to reward Shingen. “I cannot repay you, but would you like to have one of my daughters?” The man gestured to where the girls were now lined up. The oldest couldn’t have been more than sixteen or seventeen. “Sho,” he said, and a lovely green eyed girl stepped forward. She looked Shingen up and down – his wet clothing was clinging to him everywhere… and I mean, everywhere – and gave him a shy smile. Pretty sure she was hoping he’d say yes.

Shingen smiled back at her and turned on the charm. “I couldn’t separate you from your family, Princess.” Then he addressed her father. “You do me honor, but I am not in any position to add to my household.”

The man bowed, then went to his wagon, and returned with a couple fur pelts (sea otter, I think) and a sack of something that clinked. “Please accept these as a token of my gratitude.”

The man needed to give us something, and while he clearly would rather have given away his daughter, he was willing to part with these items instead. To have refused at this point would be insulting, and Shingen apparently realized that as well, for he accepted the tributes.

The family all bowed and headed back upriver.

And once again, I was left alone with what I expected was one very angry warlord.

Thus, I was surprised to be hauled into his arms as he enveloped me in a tight hug. He hung onto me, breathing into my hair, hands firm against my back and waist.

Alright.

This is good.

Hug good. Hug warm. Hug…

…over.

And that was when the yelling started.

He put me at arm’s length and his fingers tightened on my shoulder (ok, ow, stop hitting the damn bruise!). “Didn’t you promise never to do something that dangerous again?”

“I did not!” In fact, I was very clear on that. “I said I couldn’t promise that. I might be a liar, but I don’t make promises that I don’t intend to keep.” I pulled out of his grip and resisted the urge to rub my shoulder. “What I said was that I would consult you if feasible. It was not feasible.”

He raked his hands through his hair and glared at me with frustration etched into the lines on his face. The effect of the glare was somewhat ruined when his hair flopped back over one eye. “Do you have any idea what could have happened if Sasuke hadn’t gotten my attention in time?”

“Yes.” Since I was drenched and was growing another rock-shaped bruise on my shoulder, I realized quite well. “But, if the tree branch hadn’t broken, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

 “The hell we wouldn’t.” He pushed his wet hair out of his face again. It flopped back into his eyes … again. “Just because you survived, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a stupid, reckless thing to do!”

Unfair! I was not going to apologize this time. “I didn’t have much time to think-”

“That, is obvious-”

“What else was I supposed to do? Let the boy drown?”

We might have stayed there yelling at each other, if Good Horse hadn’t decided to interject his own opinion, with a neigh and a full body shake, which I think translated as ‘would you both shut up and get me out of the rain.’ Pretty sure Shingen interpreted that the same way because he sighed and said, “Come on. We’ll need to find shelter before we lose daylight.”

Belatedly I realized we were on the wrong side of the river to either return to the engineering post or go to Kasugayama. Figuring that Shingen likely didn’t want to hear anything else out of me, I silently followed him to Good Horse (at some point, I really need to learn his name), and climbed on behind him. Good Horse responded to the click of Shingen’s tongue immediately into a trot, (eep!) and I quickly grabbed Shingen’s waist to avoid being tossed off. I had a feeling that he wasn’t in the mood to stop and pick me up if that happened.

Shingen seemed to have some idea of where he was going, so I basically just hung on to him and closed my eyes, the long night and the battle with the river suddenly catching up to me. I dozed off in fits and starts, always waking up with a jerk to confirm that no, I wasn’t losing balance. Apparently in half-sleep my grip was like that of a sleeping bird on a wire. I shut my eyes again, existing in a fuzzy dreamlike state until Shingen pulled Good Horse to a halt.

“This will have to do,” he said.

I peered around him, letting my eyes adjust to the twilight gloom, then realized… we were in front of a…

“Th-that’s a c-cave,” I said, not able to keep the horror out of my voice.

Oh no. Oh hell no. 

He heard my fear but misinterpreted the reason. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to take the opportunity to push my unwanted attentions on you again.”

Right. I still hadn’t apologized. But at present, I had to deal not with the liar that I was now, but the naïve idiot who had been trapped in crate for a day, and convince her that, yes, she can do it. It’s just a cave. A plain old…

… small

… dark

… cave.

I can do this.

artwork by Ayatori (who no longer has working socials & gmail)

@bestbryn

[qtipcottonbuds]

𝘽𝙀𝘼𝙐𝙏𝙄𝙁𝙐𝙇 𝙇𝙄𝘼𝙍.

back with a angsty fic >:DD anyhoo-

warnings for themes of angst, mild language, infidelity etc !!!

by qtipcottonbuds 2021. do not repost.

𝗔𝗧𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗨 𝗫 𝗚𝗡!𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥;

“Please, darlin’,” his voice barely audible at this point, scratching, gravelly, “please.”

Turning to him, your posture now slouched; one palm loosely supporting itself on the door frame, a part of you debates even responding back, the conversation running back and forth between the same answers he gave you, “What do you want me to do, Atsumu?”

The tear streaks lining his cheeks are more prominent now, alongside his eyelashes (a little quirk of his, now darkened from the constant wiping). Stepping closer towards you, hands shakily reaching out for comfort, he continues, “I wanna fix this, just - I’ll do anythin’, please, let’s work through this together,” voice cracking sharply, “I can’t lose ya.”

It’s becoming harder to swallow past the metaphorical lump in your throat. Was it supposed to hurt this much? Giving to the habit of gnawing down on your bottom lip, skin now raw and tender, you breathe in deeply; in and out, in and out urging yourself mentally not to start wailing. 

He didn’t deserve your tears; though, the rational mantra didn’t ease anything - being so used to responding to situations logically, it didn’t feel right. This didn’t feel right, you could deal with this hurt later, of course you could, you could handle this logically and then allow yourself to cry because that’s what worked, that’s what was supposed to work-

But now, cupping your mouth, whimpering, and sliding down towards the floor, back pressed up against the doorframe and knees resting near your chest; Atsumu slides down with you, openly crying, watching you shake your head weakly, “You, you know, we can’t fix this.”

“I love ya, okay, I love ya so much, please-”

Unable to stop the irritation seeping into your tone, whispering now, lethargic, “You don’t love me; I know I love you, because I’d never give anyone a second glance, my eyes have always been on you - I don’t look at anyone else, because I love you. You don’t love me, don’t say you do when you don’t-”

Roughly running a hand through his hair, pleading now, and desperation clear, he grasps your hands into his (what was supposed to be reassuring, felt wrong, he probably touched them with those same hands, probably held them with those same hands), “It didn’t mean anythin’ to me okay, it was nothin’, just a-”

“But, it meant something to me, Atsumu,” you’re muffling hiccups, chest heaving, pulling your hands away, “it meant something to me, because I love you. If, if you weren’t happy in our relationship,” a murmur now, “why, why couldn’t you just tell me.”

“I am happy, I still am with ya.”

“Then, why did you do this?”

Atsumu stares wordlessly, tears freshly streaming once again, eyes dark and worn; he was a man of trial and error when it came to making mistakes but, as you take in his appearance, you know he knows, now, there’s nothing he can do, Adam’s apple bobbing harshly.

He doesn’t have a reason, cognitive gears visually turning, searching for a reason, a rationale of sorts; but all he can offer you under the harsh fluorescent kitchen lights is a meek, “It just happened, I don’t - I, I don’t know.”

Hauling yourself up from the tiled floor, away from his vicinity, taking a faint breath (you finally realise how tired, how drained you are), “I’m... I’m going to sleep downstairs tonight - and get the rest of my things in the morning. Goodnight, Atsumu.”

And he nods, padded footsteps becoming more and more distant.

[ahmedmootaz]

Magica is trapped in an alternate timeline where Scrooge never became the richest duck in the world.

I-It’s been five thousand years...but finally, finally, I have finished writing, @veryman ! It’s been around six months, and for that I am sorry, but I had little time to write lately.

Either way, I finished the prompt which you sent me, and I’d like it if you would tell me your feedback! I expanded a bit on what you gave me; I added Poe as a secondary protagonist, and I added a bit more before the disappearance of Scrooge, and I do hope you do not mind. But regardless, I am eager to hear your feedback! I appreciate every comment I get, so do leave one, please. Again, my sincerest apologies for the wait.

Here’s the story:https://archiveofourown.org/works/29333367

And for anyone who does not want to visit Archive of Our Own for whatever reason, here’s the story on Tumblr! Just note the italics don’t go over too well.

Mount Vesuvius was like a wonderfully drawn painting; it managed to capture many elements at once, and yet showed little of them at a time. Its grey, ash-covered surface was only stopped by the occasional greenery or shrubs, grown from the rain's puddles on its cliffs. A towering mountain, its silhouette gave a grandiose sense to the city it was in. The contrast between the calm forests below it and the harsh towering structure, like any great painting, only added to the beauty of the panorama it created.

And, of course, like any great painting, it hid a secret. A teeny, tiny secret, really; it was a volcano. With enough power to completely melt the colourful villages surrounding it, alongside the better part of Naples. No one often went to the top, as its unpredictable eruption patterns made it a dangerous venue. Besides, the summit was completely barren, with only the rare lizard or the few bushes up there. Only a madman would even think to consider it "hospitable."

Well, barring the small, comfortable looking wooden house on its top. That looked hospitable enough. Old and nearly falling apart, it was a miracle it didn't need supports at this point. It was as if it was held by magic. On this summit, there was nothing. A cold, harsh breeze that encouraged none to remain there, and the dead atmosphere certainly clashed against the small farm and the clothes left to dry in the sun. The unusual sight would perhaps intrigue a traveller who managed to get to the summit, but the few crashed cars next to the hut would probably dissuade them from going any further.

In this calm wasteland, where the air never relaxed, every second more tense than the last, silence reigned supreme, utoppab-

-"BWAHAHAHA! I did it, Poe! I did it! At last, I managed to brew the perfect potion! It'll finally give the Lucky Dime to its rightful owner, destroy my greatest enemy and make me the greatest sorceress on earth!", well, it was dominant for a moment, at least. The victory cries from this little abode came from none other than Magica DeSpell, the solitary sorceress who called it her home.

Standing before a large cauldron, a large potion-book beside her and several jars of materials arranged in a neat order on the table next to her, her joy was a sick, intoxicating one, filled with villainy and vengeance. On that table stood a raven, much larger than the average one, almost twice the size, with its only distinct feature being a small summer hat, black with a white stripe going around it.

-"Yes, very wonderful, Mistress Magica.", adding to the unusual situation, the raven spoke back, both admiring and giving the sorceress in front of him a reprobating glare. "Though I have to admit, it wasn't easy very much to gather the ingredients. We almost lost our lives three times too much getting these things...", he added, turning his neck to the pots and bottles of the materials they gathered throughout the month. The sorceress, however, appeared irritated.

-"Oh, for goodness' sake! We're alone, Ratface, why can't I call you by your real name? If you keep pestering me with that, then I'll have no choice but to keep reminding you of your awful grammar.", she complained, hunching her back a bit, an invisible pang of guilt hitting her chest for a second before she shook it off.

Magica DeSpell was known for many things, but guilt was, perhaps unsurprisingly, not one of them. It wasn't a trait preferred by Villainesses such as herself. An exception to that rule, however, was her brother, Poe. Or as he went by these days, Ratface.

Once a regular duck like her, he was the closest person she had left. He'd accompany her on pretty much anything, alongside her raids on Scrooge. One fateful day however, a spell ricocheted of a wall and hit him, and she never forgave herself since. It was supposed to hit a blank! But of course Scroogie had to have a mirror behind him...why wouldn't he? At this point, everything she did was always countered by him somehow...And of course the spell had to be an irreversible one. Why wouldn't it have been?

-"Well, this time he'll pay...", she mumbled to herself, having forgotten about the outside world for a second.

-"Hm?", the raven inquired, and when she ignored his curiosity, he gave a glare before speaking. "We must speak like this, Mistress, because otherwise we may end up revealing our identities by accident in front of someone who shouldn't them know.", he explained for the umpteenth time at this point, trying to redress his hat with his wings. It was difficult to get used to them at first, however, he eventually managed to somewhat use them as hands. "And we don't want these people to know, because they can black-mail us. And because I don't want anyone discover that now I am a raven.", he added, ignoring the mumbling from his 'master'.

-"Yes, yes. Whatever, Ratface. Besides, you don't get to lecture me; I am the boss-lady after all, eh?", she shot back, enjoying the eyes of her 'familiar' as they narrowed and his beak as he grit it.

-"While that may be true,", he started, a bit calmer than you'd expect, not wanting to lose this teasing contest, "I also have my rights to input my optional completely suggestions, boss-lady, and I believe they have been proven to be quite useful in the past.", he added, stopping for moment and looking at the sorceress in front of him, who fully turned to him and gave him a wide, fake grin.

-"Hmm...They're fine points, but is there something that reaaaaally to force me to listen to you?", she repeated, hoping to break his constant mantra of hiding his identity. Partly because she wanted to be able to call her brother...her brother, y'know, 'call a duck a duck' sort of deal, and partly to escape this guilt she felt by teasing him, trying to forget her guilt for the moment.

Poe wasn't one to care much what people thought of him. He was a man that went on his way and never looked back. Too many times, anyways. They were basically a dream-team until this stupid raven stuff happened. But now, ever since that incident, he merely avoided anyone who knew of his existence and kept this fake-name. She suspected it was out of shame, and it weighed heavy on her, trust her. She tried waving these thoughts away as she watched the bird in front of her almost simmer at this point.

-"B-Because, dearest mistress, me-am a bit older than you in raven-years, which gives me a-", he stopped his imminent rant, sniffing something in the air. "THE BREW!", he yelled, dragging the tall magician's attention and making her run to the pot, which was on a gas cooker. Hey, they had the old log-chimney pot, but they were modern magicians, and when they were pressed on time, it was simply easier than to collect logs or buy them. Freaking inflation and rising wood prices...

-"Alrightalrightalright, so now we...uh, the lizard tail, sewn with tarantula silk to a lizardfish tail, we put it in...", Magica mumbled to herself, picking up the ingredient and throwing it in. Trust her when she said tarantula silk wasn't cheap, but the results were going to be so, so worth it. "And we mix things up until it turns dark-blue.", she finished, bringing a wooden spoon and turning it in the boiling, sickly-yellow liquid.

-"That's it? No 'innocent's blood' this time?", the black bird next to her spoke as he moved closer to the pot. She shook her head, knowing where he was getting at. For some reason, a lot (a lot) of spells needed blood for one reason or another, and it often had to be 'pure duck blood'. It often was an issue for most accomplished sorcerers to find it, and despite it being an advantage to the pair, they didn't really enjoy sticking needles into their own arms and using their blood...

As he sighed, relieved at what meant that he wouldn't have to take a pinch of his blood this time, as they did alternate that role, he watched the viscous brew boil more ferociously, unnaturally strong as it started getting darker and darker while the duck brewing it kept stirring and stirring, carefully avoiding the splashing from the bubbles.

-"Alright, Ratface!", she announced as the potion's colours darkened in front of their eyes, her voice going low and becoming more and more sinister by the second, "This is the Magnum Opus of an entire month's work! The Bougeaia Autrepart!", she proudly boasted, a smile growing on her pale, green-ish face.

She quickly moved her hand to shut off the gas, probably waiting for the awe her partner-in-sharing-the-household would give her. Not that he did so much, as he wasn't one to be entirely surprised by her actions given his time with her, but when he did, it made all of her effort a lot more worth it, if only to see a dumbfounded expression on his face while she proudly explains her plan.

-"Very well. It is one of the most difficult potions a magician can make, and we have a quantity very large. It is perhaps one of our better devised plans.", he devilishly added, not really that surprised. She found it hard to blame him when they both worked for around 25 days to gather the ingredients and the money; somewhere down the line she must've told him. Or maybe he read up on what they were going to create.

-"Indeed it is, and now, hand me the doll, Ratface!", she commanded, raising a clenched fist for dramatic effect, He shook his head at the dramatic display and went to the other end of the table he stood on, picking up a small doll that vaguely resembled Scrooge McDuck  with his claw and handing it to his 'mistress'. "Just be a bit careful. It wasn't easy to make this thing.", she called out, cringing at the inelegant handling the raven gave the doll.

-"Oh, tell me about it. I was with you at the Hydra's lair, you know that? And I gathered half of the Mortal Sand we got there, so don't think I don't know how precious is this.", he complained, remembering something for a second, "Speaking of which, you never did make up for that hat I lost there.", he reprimanded, trying to cross his wings. He didn't have much success, but it looked good enough, and he couldn't ask for more, really.

-"Yeah, maybe later.", she ignored him, and before he could begin scolding her for the umpteenth time today, she picked up a ladle and started submerging it in this 'Bougeaia Autrepart.', taking care not to spill any on herself before she started coating the small doll in her hand with the liquid, watching as the dark blue colour got embedded in its cloth.

-"You know, I'd like a quick reminder on what we're doing here before we get started. Don't want another plan where I have to figure out the details as we go on, because those just work so wonderfully.", Ratface...or, well...Poe? Whatever, he asked, looking a bit worried as his sister laid the doll on the ground in a neat and clean corner or their household, one that was made for spells which required some space.

-"What, Alzheimer's gotten to you that quick?", she shot back at him, not daring to look at him before she finishes laying the doll on the ground. When she noticed he wasn't going to argue with her, she started explaining. "Honestly, we were just talking about it...but fine, here's the general outline: We both agreed that taking Scrooge is pretty difficult on its own, yes? So how about a world without Scrooge in the first place? The Bougeaia Autrepart is designed to move people into other places, but with some of the additions we've made, in combination with this little vodoo doll, it's going to be rather interesting, and we can remove Scrooge from this world!", she repeated the plan they'd agreed on, trying again for her dramatic accent.

-"Right, right. And we're just going to take the dime in his absence.", he completed, scratching his 'chin'. "I don't know, Ma- Uh, Mistress, our luck with reality-altering spells is pretty...", he hesitated, trying to find an accurate description of their experiences.

-"Is pretty much the definition of the word 'failure' in every single language on this earth?", she finished with him, somewhat bitterly.

-"Well, when you put it that way, I'll just have to agree.", he agreed, shrugging.

-"Yes, yes, I know, but trust me, this time this time, it'll be different!", she argued back, somewhat on the defensive. "See, this time, with Scrooge never actually in this world, it can't go back to bite us; we're not playing with the rules against Scrooge, he's not there in the first place.", she laughed, basking in the glory of her flawless plan. "...You're still not impressed, are you?", she narrowed her eyes as she stared at the raven, who seemed lost in thought.

-"I don't know...these things are so vaguely written in the books, and always it turns out to be un-complete. We practically re-wrote half of our tomes, remember?", as it turns out, several of the Elder Sorcerers were, believe it or not, villains, and trying to keep the most knowledge to themselves, their writings were often incomplete, especially the bigger spells. They had to applaud their tenacity at first, but a few failed plans later, it started becoming less interesting and more devastating.

-"Well, yes,", Magica admitted, looking at the floor for a moment, "But the worst possible thing that could happen here is it not working, or being temporary. It can't be that bad."

-"I mean...The offer of Scrooge just poof-ing away is tempting...And I can't think of a too terrible outcome...", he slowly came around, and the green-ish duck immediately jumped on the opportunity to convince him. Well, not so much convince him so much as it was to quickly to the spell before he starts thinking too much about it.

"See? You were just being stupid, But worry not, my dear familiar, I, Magica DeSpell, am not without mercy, and I will forgive this outrageous way of talking if you just help me do this spell as quickly as possible.", she proudly boasted, bringing a hand to rest on her chest. His blank stare gave her the impression that he wasn't all too impressed with her gloating. "Just come here and let me finish the recitation, alright?!", she snapped at him, having had enough of his cynical behaviour.

-"What, with these clothes? Shouldn't we prepare for something or-", he started, looking at her 'battle-clothes': her cloaked witch robe, stained with their various ingredients. But before he could even finish his sentence, she'd already turned to the wall, sat on her knees and opened her arms to both sides, as if she was awaiting an embrace.

-"Too late; I'm starting it now.", she turned her head back to him, sticking her tongue out for half a second and ignoring the 'Wait!' he produced. "O' sanguina del mon enemmi mortel, repondra O' appels que t'entendra, O' abyssum qu'attend, repond à ma voca!", she started the chant, immediately letting the room darken and letting loose some purple sparks from the lifeless doll, which started levitating. "Bring my greatest wish true; with the final words of my mouth, McDuck shall be gone like a moth!", she suddenly spoke, the doll spinning a bit too violently for her taste.

The room kept on darkening, and some of the pots and containers she had began to hit each other. Which was basically the same thing that happened with every other spell nowadays. It lost its original impact. Regardless, she felt Ratface beside her, and the doll started emanating even stronger sparks, making a dull, constant humming that kept getting louder and louder.

Her breathing got heavy for a moment, alongside her head, and she felt herself blacking out as if something was choking her. The air grew heavy for one fateful moment, and then with a 'zap', everything returned to normal. Her breathing suddenly cleared, and she took a deep breath to celebrate it. She noticed Ratface also took a gasp. Apparently, this one didn't just affect the caster, but the entire area. That was something they'd have to add to the spell book. She hoped there weren't too many others.

-"...That's it? Feels rather underwhelming, but maybe it's my experience with spells that affect the caster.", her brother suddenly managed out. Of course his first action after this would be bragging. Why wouldn't it?

-"Oh, zip it, feathers, I heard your panting. Bragging doesn't change the reality.", she looked at him as he felt his small hat and straightened his feathers, some of which had puffed out due to his quick breathing.

-"And so I shall, Mistress, O' queen of humility, if only the entire world is humble as you were!", he praised her, raising his wing up above him, as if to glorify the duck beside him. "Then you'll find out how terrible you are at boasting.", he added under his breath, a wide grin on his beak.

-"Oh why you...!", she got on her legs and reached for him, hoping to catch him, but he was faster than her, and his wings were infinitely more developed, and so he took to the skies...or, well, to their roof, avoiding her grasp and yet flying just out of reach. "Just wait until I've had my hands on you, you walking grammatical error! I'll pinch each and every one of your feathers off!", she yelled after him, shooting a few simplistic spells at him, which he avoided with ease.

-"Sure, blame the italian guy you forced to learn English in two weeks, typical.", he shot back, his wide grin still present, the only spells catching him barely grazing his tail. A few moments later, she gave up on de-feathering her brother, stopping to take her breath.

-"Oh, bugger off, you've had far more time to practice. You're just messing with me.", she countered, looking at him as he lightly flapped above her. She turned her head away from him with a frown and looked at the outside. Yep, still as sunny as ever. It wasn't really ideal weather for staying inside, but villainy did not take vacations!...Well, that was a lie, but she'd take one right after her great success with this plot. "The outside!", she suddenly yelled out, running for her door and opening it, walking onto her 'Welcome' mat before stopping and looking around.

-"Uh, Mistress?", her familiar said as he landed on her shoulder, something he'd been practising for a while now; he didn't hit her head anymore. "Is there something about the sun...?", he suggested, looking around him. The same small magical farm, their clothes were in the same position, and the same pile of crashed cars.

-"I don't know...Guess I thought there'd be some change, I guess.", she answered, scratching her head. "Which isn't that smart. Now what? How do we know if something's happened?", she asked him, turning back to enter her home.

-"...Probably from the bald, skinny vulture we have on our dart-board now.", her helper suddenly noted, and she turned her head to the wall where she had Scroogie's head on display. As a picture, unfortunately, but all in time. What interested her, however, was that her nemesis' picture's was now replaced by a vulture. An ugly one, too. And it's not like Scrooge was Mr.America, but this one had wrinkles.

-"What the heck? I thought the spell removed Scroogie from the world! What did that have to do with this chuckleschmuck?", she walked to the picture on their dart-board, focusing on their apparently new rival, who had a few darts scattered around various parts of his face.

-"Unless...", the raven on her shoulder started, bringing a wing to his face and trying to imitate a knuckled fist. "Unless it removed him from this timeline in first place, after, making someone else become the richest duck in the world. Or richest vulture in the world.", he theorized, his tone becoming a little too aggressive at the end. "Another addition to the tomes...", of course. It could never be that easy. Why would it be?

-"...Great.", well, at least she could openly complain about it this time, given that there was no warning of this beforehand. She brought a hand to her face and quietly facepalmed, shaking her head for a bit. "So we still have some old, ugly miser we have to take care of. And we don't have any memory of fighting this guy.", truly a situation that couldn't be envied. The one time the casters of the spell are unaffected by the changes to the world, it happens in a world where they'd do better to have some memories of the changes. Well, she couldn't say it was the worst thing a spell has hidden from them, truth be told, but still.

-"Well, what now?", ever the planner, the bird on her shoulder asked the only question that could be asked. He narrowed his eyes and extended his neck a bit from where it was, trying to read some writing underneath the picture. It used to scare Magica  a bit whenever he did that, now she mostly got used to it. Mostly. Stupid bird biology creeping her out. "What are we going to doing to this...Bradford Buzzard?", he squinted a bit, making out the letters. He then turned to their T.V. with a curious motion. "Ma-uh, Mistress, look."

As the green-feathered duck turned her head, she noticed something. They had stolen their T.V. from one of Scroogie's enterprises, mostly out of spite. But their current television had "Buzzard Enterprises" on it. Apparently, this vulture had truly inherited everything the old miser had, including their rage. She felt a slight tingling in her chest, but she ignored it to focus on the more important matters they had at hand now.

-"So, apparently we're struggling to get the dime from this old man?", well, considering they're not rich right now, and that Poe was still a raven, that meant they still had the same problems as they did with Scrooge. Not good, if you ask her.

-"And apparently he, too, managed to turn me into raven.", Ratface spat out, growing very, very bitter. Unsurprising, really; this 'Bradford' did not seem to be able to move much. How did he manage to turn Poe into a raven this time, then? "Besides, are we trying to get his dime? I'm certain not what we were doing in this timeline up to this point, and I don't suppose we've been writing our memoirs to help us out.", he...uh, he joked? Deadpanned? His tone wasn't too amused, by the looks of things. Not that she could blame him, given how things weren't quite going according to plan.

-"You tell me.", the sorceress sighed, not really in the mood for the demoralisation Poe could offer at this time. He didn't mean to be such a pessimist (probably), but his constant remarks didn't do much to improve the mood. Her eyes then spotted a small purple ball on the ingredients' table. It was a small teleportation spell, using some materials from the area where she wanted to go to, it was a nice substitute for those who both lacked the Teleportation branch of magic and didn't have time to travel by broom. "That's it!", she suddenly yelled, getting up and nearly dropping her brother off of her shoulder.

-"W-What's it? What are you-"

-"We'll go pay this Bradford a nice little visit, and we'll see what he's really made of! We already prepared to go to the Bin, what's the worst that could happen?", she encouraged both him and herself, picking up the teleportation spell to Scroogie's bin and another one back to her home, quickly pocketing them in her robe and scavenging for some offensive spells to take with her, alongside her Sumerian amulet, of course. "Do not answer that!", she warned her brother, earning a sceptical look. "Listen, we've seen almost everything from Scroogie, we'll see what we can do this time, and then...well, I don't know, but we'll manage!", she finished triumphantly, quickly putting on her heels and going out of her house, stopping mid-way through her throw of the teleportation spell. "...You're not convinced, are you?"

-"Are you?", well, he wasn't wrong, but he wasn't right, either. Everything deserved a shot. Even if that thing had a very small chance of working. Maybe. Probably. Listen, Magica DeSpell was many things, but she wasn't willing to give up now! She never did, perhaps to her own detriment, but it wasn't this old vulture that was going to stop her now, she fought against Scrooge McDuck, this was barely even a challenge!

-"Could you not rain on my parade for five minutes?", what was a challenge, was keeping Poe positive on this mission.

-"Alright, alright. Here we go, Mistress! Go get that fool!", he put on an enthusiastic façade, making the sorceress grin as she resumed her movement, throwing the spell on the ground with a large 'Bang!'. Aquamarine smoke came out and covered the area where they both stood, and when it was gone, so were the both of them.

Now, it was only a matter of time before they faced Bradford.

Bradford Buzzard was perhaps the single most boring person she'd ever had the displeasure of fighting.

It wasn't that he was difficult to fight against, oh no, in fact, she was surprised he managed to stop them for so long in this timeline, but he always played by the book! Not a single interesting move! He didn't boast, make dramatic moves, or do anything Scroogie did, really. All he did was avoid, dodge, and stand behind his fancy machines. Which...yeah, okay, it wasn't that bad, but he was terribly uninteresting to fight against. The Bin stayed in its regular shape, and so did most of Duckburg, though it had a bit of a fancier design when it came to buildings.

Regardless, Bradford didn't even try to seem interested. He always seemed (and most likely, was) always annoyed, always spiteful, and just...indifferent. He didn't care about anything she and Poe did, he just wanted it to end. His immediate reaction to their arrival wasn't to fight...it was to sigh and complain about how he didn't have time for them. Which wasn't only rude, but incredibly hurtful. He had no idea how much these teleportation spells cost, and she truly did her best to deliver a spectacular entrance to her foes. The least he could do was at least seem interested.

The worst part is that apparently, in this timeline, they had never plainly told him they needed his dime; they were after his fortune. Which she probably realized they did because they wanted a challenge, considering the fact that the moment they asked for the dime, he handed it over.

She was so dumbfounded at first that she thought it to be a prank. A trap, even. But no, apparently Bradford cared just as little about his first dime, talking about how "He can always make a copy." or some such thing. If she didn't know any better, she'd have said he was searching for an opportunity to get rid of it, and yet a quick curse-check from her part revealed no dangers. He was just...boring. And it's not that he was scared of their power, at least that might've made up for something, he just gave them the dime and told them to go off.

So there she was, back in her hut, Lucky Dime in hand, an unbelieving expression across her unfocused eyes as she sat on her television's couch, still trying to reflect on the events of the day, trying to see if she misunderstood a word or a euphemism from the vulture's monotonous voice. She found none.

-"I mean, it's been a while when we saw the Dime last, Mistress.", throughout the long silence, from their unceremonious return to them now sitting, unable to decide what comes next, this was the first thing Poe muttered. It wasn't bad as an encouragement, but it didn't quite catch Magica's attention, either.

-"Mhm.", she mumbled absently, not even opening her beak.

-"Sure, it wasn't as spectacular as we both thought, but that doesn't matter! Do you know what this means, Mistress? Do you know just how much power we have in our hands?!", now, Poe was known for many things following his unfortunate transformation, but optimism was not one of them. That actually made her turn some of her attention to him. "It's the end of the old-centuries rivalry between us DeSpells and the...Mc...Ducks...", he slowly realized, opening his eyes a bit more. It wasn't the fact that they had gotten the Dime so easily which was bothering Magica, it was that she didn't even know if it was worth it.

She spent little under fifty-five years fighting against Scroogie. At some point, both of them knew that there would be no Scrooge without Magica, and there would be no Magica without Scrooge. Every single victory she had in her life was directly or indirectly caused by a desire to earn revenge on Scrooge, he was her greatest goal, and defeating him would be her Magnum Opus. Years upon years of work, blood, tears...all for some vulture to hand this over.

-"...Is the Dime even useful now?", she muttered, her eyes going to Poe, pleading, almost unsure of her every word. He seemed to have gotten the gist of why this victory in particular was unsatisfying, but now he simply blinked at her, not wanting to cause her any grief. "I-I mean, why did we even go after his Dime in particular instead of killing him or...or whatever?", her voice shaky. She knew the answer. She always did. She just had to hear it from someone she could trust.

-"We wanted it because it was Scrooge's the most important coin; it was his first, imbued strong emotional attachment, and we could use that attachment for our magic, alongpart the hate we had for him.", he repeated their goal slowly, trying to get where this was going. "Using the immense power extracted from it, we would do as we pleased. We'd turn me back into a duck, turn stones into gold...its possibilities were endless.", he finished, the massive smile on his beak dropping for a bit.

Bradford had handed them the Dime without a hitch. If he had any attachment to the Dime, then it wasn't enough for him to care about it. This would mean the Dime was useless...it couldn't do them a thing, or if it could, then it was severely weakened. Even if it wasn't, it didn't...it didn't feel as if they earned it. Okay, this was stupid, since they were villains, after all, they weren't about being fair, but after all these years, having such an underwhelming encounter...it just left a sour taste in her mouth.

-"Who gives a flying duck?!", a groggy, loud caw was the answer she got to her suspicions. "So what, we had a disappointing enemy, we have the Dime of the richest du- vulture in the world! So what if it not has emotional attachment, we'll find another object with emotional attachment! Anything would be better than Scrooge!", he yelled, sensing the conflict his sister felt and trying to set the record straight. "Anything would be better than being stuck as a crow."

The speed with which she spun her head to him could perhaps snap many necks, but Magica didn't care for the pain in her neck so much as she focused on the bird on her shoulder. She knew exactly what he was getting at; Poe was stuck as a crow for nearly five years at this point. He never loved his situation for even a second ever since the accident with McDuck and his two ducklings. Throughout these years, he worked with her for the Dime less out of a general desire for villainy and a want to help her, he worked with her because he also wanted the Dime's power.

And now he probably feared she was going to throw all away, just because wanted a 'real' fight.

-"R-Ratface! How dare you suggest I'd do something like that!", she vehemently denied. She then resisted the urge to slap herself because she just admitted to something he was yet to accuse her off. She stared at him, the eye he turned at her undecipherable. He remained silent for a moment before speaking up.

-"Do you want us to talk, Magica?", he offered, and she looked surprised. He seldom called her by her real name, and it was often a sign she could call him by his. She swallowed before nodding, as if the word 'Yes' would take too much energy out of her. He nodded in return, jumping off of her shoulder and landing beside her. "What's the issue, Magica?"

-"It's...It's stupid. I know it is. You wouldn't approve, and I know you taught me that the only good victory is a quick and easy one, but...but...It's just so maddening, you know?", she began, hunching her back and turning her head to him, a twinge of uncertainty in her voice. "I spend all my life hunting Scrooge McDuck, wanting his head on my wall, and when I finally win, I don't even win against him. I don't even know if I got the right object in this world.", she complained, bringing her hands to her face and covering it. Her entire life was built on waiting for this one, singular moment! All of her moves, triumphs and losses. So why wasn't she satisfied?!

-"...I get what you're saying.", the raven replied after a moment, trying to understand her, apparently. "I get it. It feels as if we were robbed of our moment, doesn't it?", her sat down on the couch, trying his best to imitate a regular duck sitting. She hesitated before nodding, almost afraid of his answer. "...I cannot say it doesn't leave an undelicious taste, to be honest. We've worked so hard for this moment. And yet, what other choice do we have? What were you planning on doing? What do we have to gain from a Scrooge in this world?", he questioned, not with a hostile tone, but a rather intrigued one, as if he truly wanted to know more about this situation they found themselves in.

-"I- You know what? Forget it, we'll melt this dime and find the strongest emotional object here-"

-"Answers, Magica.", he firmly repeated, turning his head to her.

-"I don't know!", she yelled out, partly angry, partly anxious. "How should I know? I spent all of my life fighting Scroogie and I'm not even the one to take him out! It's all a stupid spell...And I can't bring him back, because this stupid spell will account for the past, and that means the source of our power, the one in my hand right now, would be gone.", she started laughing out of desperation, holding the Dime up in the air and trying to channel some energy into it. It emitted some energy, sure, but it wasn't as strong as you'd think or want. "And so would any of chance of turning you back to a duck since we'd need the power it grants for a chance at reversing back the irreversible...", she venomously spat out, frowning at her momentary meltdown and at the situation.

Magica DeSpell was known for many things, and losing control of herself was not one of them. It wasn't publicly known, anyways, but this...this mess was a whole new low. They'd failed before, but never before had they gone so horribly right, and they never found themselves in a situation where they had to ponder if bringing back their biggest enemy would be a good idea or not.

-"We could find another McDuck, Magie.", he tried soothing her, reserving his own thoughts for later. "Someone must've made it out there. Be it hero or villain, there must be someone like Scrooge. There have to have been.", he comforted her, trying to his best to rest his arm on her shoulder. Or his wing on her arm, in this case.

-"I know, Poe.", she sighed heavily, leaning a bit onto his arm before quickly rethinking that decision as he struggled against her weight. "But there's no Scrooge McDuck. There's always someone like him, but there's never the Scrooge McDuck.", she bitterly admitted. He was a worthy rival. Many had come and go, and most were able to face her again. Some couldn't continue on living, for that matter. All but Scrooge had fallen to her.

At first, she had only rage and fury for him, but as the years went on, she started to love their fights more and more, her schemes became more and more elaborate, her plans became works of art that she spent more time on than she cared to admit, and she invested so much emotion to her fight against him that seeing him gone in such an anti-climatic way was...depressing, honestly. Scrooge brought out her worst, in a way no one else could, and for that, she (secretly) thanked him; her worst was scarier than her on a rampage, and that didn't just say something, it spoke volumes.

-"So? You'll bring him back? Just because of that?", another caw, this one a bit more inquisitive and pushy. She tried looking the other direction. "Down here are my eyes, Magie.", he pushed her. She looked at him, a twinge of guilt in her eyes.

-"I don't know. We didn't do much in this world, y'know. We can live like this never happened.", she suggested, her voice a mere whisper. One that sounded like a yell in the dead silence in their home. Her brother kept staring, part sympathetic, part...was that sadness in his eyes?

-"Magica,", he began, trying to find his words, "We're villains. We're the worst people on God's green earth, and we care certainly not about who we hurt, maim, and kill. And when you're a villain, you fight against Karma and the universe magically siding with your enemies, not mention having to work with The Evil Overlord List to keep everything in check.", he explained to her, his eyes never leaving her. "It's not about who we're fighting. I just want a world without Scrooge. How bad can whoever replaced him be?", he begged, stopping for a moment before adding, "My freedom could be a battle away."

Well, he was certainly making the choice easy, wasn't he. So? So what? Does she just leave her brother to suffer? The one, and so far, only man to stay with her for all of her life? Just for another rival? She prided herself on being heartless, but this...She didn't know anymore.

What was her happiness anymore? Could she not find happiness without her endless fight with Scroogie? Who was she? Her own independent person, or merely a shadow in Scrooge's massive figure, never to step out from under it? What was her life? An endless chase for a goal which she could only achieve in one way, lest she render it underwhelming for her? She's been building up the moment so much, for so long, and she sacrificed everything to have it. Everyone. Was the chase she started what defined her? Or had Scroogie won without realizing, making her little more than another person swallowed by the ever-greedy monster that was his shadow?

-"I don't...I don't know, Poe.", she hitched, suddenly realizing that this wasn't good for her figure. Not at all. She suppressed any emotional instinct in her body and brought her knees to her chest, resting her head on them. "I don't know what to do anymore. All this chase...All this madness. And I never won.", she closed her eyes, sensing a bit of a stinging sensation and trying to block it. "And when I did, I still lost.", alright, she wasn't going to speak now. Her voice was dangerously close to cracking.

-"You're wrong. You've won several times, and were -still are- Scrooge's most dangerous foe for years. Several set-backs, sure, but all great people have set-backs.", he started brushing his wing against her arm, not really able to pat. She interrupted him before he could speak further.

-"Isn't it funny? The day I win, I can't even be happy. I need Scroogie to be happy. Laughable, isn't it? I'm becoming less and less my own person. Just a planet in a star's orbit. My own shadow is slipping out from under me and becoming his.", she lamented, her hitches a bit more noticeable.

-"Then reign your shadow back in! You're Magica DeSpell, for goodness' sake! Control it, make be it yours!", the raven stood on his two feet, trying his best to be considerate. He was making her happier, sure, but he was not so truthful, was he?

-"...Maybe. I'm...I'm sorry about this Poe. This...idiocy. I guess I'm not as sturdy as I thought myself to be.", she sniffed again, looking at him as he stared back.

-"Nobody is. We all think we're invincible at one point. The only thing that matters is getting back up. Bigger, better, badder.", his voice lowered, and the pure devilishness in it was infectious. She smiled a weak smile, and he returned it in kind. "So, when are we going back to our timeline?", he suddenly questioned, and she opened her eyes wide at his question.

-"You...You're okay with it...?"

-"If I said I was, you'd know I'm lying. But it's not the biggest issue, either. This dime isn't solve my issue anytime soon with its power like that. And we have no real other target at this point. So it wasn't that close to me. I hope.", he explained himself, trying to have an air of dignity before swallowing and continuing, "...Since we're being truthful here, I won't say that this doesn't feels like a wasted opportunity. I've long dreamed of a world without Scrooge, but to tell the truth, someone like Scrooge will probably as be annoying as Scrooge. Probably.", he concluded, some of the sadness in his eyes washing away. He removed his eyes from Magica for a moment, looking at the ceiling.

-"I...And leave you as a crow? Do you have any idea what you're saying?!", she refuted the idea, earning a quick glance. "No, I...I shouldn't...I can't do this! We have to find the closest thing that'll help you! We must!", she started panicking, trying for once to think of him more. He smiled and rubbed her arm again.

-"Primarily, I am a raven. And I thought you were a heartless, selfish villainess? Or do we need to spend more time learning how to be proper villains?", he tried easing her worries away, a teasing tone in his voice for a moment before he cleared it. "Listen, Magica, whatever happens, one of us isn't getting what they want. If we go back to our timeline, there's always a chance we'll get Scrooge. A chance we'll find some other solution. If we stay here, there then won't ever being another McDuck.", he explained to her, his voice calm and collected, trying his best to keep her calm. "And you'd better do it when I'm in a good mood, because I'm sure this will bite my tail sometime later.", he added, deciding that perhaps some pressure is needed.

-"But-"

-"NOW!", he ordered her, and she jumped, surprised from his cry, heading to where she'd first preformed her spell, hastily picking up the Scrooge doll and covering it with more Bougeia Autrepart, setting it on the ground where it once stood.

-"O' sanguina del mon enemmi mortel, repondra O' appels que t'entendra, O' abyssum qu'attend, repond à ma voca!", she repeated the same chanting she said this morning, waiting as the puppet levitated once more and sensing her brother come beside her. "Bring Scrooge McDuck back and reset this timeline on the right track!", she cried out, letting the doll emit sparks once more, the spinning a bit faster than the first time they cast it.

The same suffocating sensation they felt this morning soon filled their house, forcing them to wait as the constant 'zaps' and 'bangs' started whittling down. It wasn't any more pleasant than it was the first time, but at least they anticipated it. A few painful moments later, their breathing regained its regular pace, and their house started becoming more illuminated.

-"...Ugh...", the small black bird on the ground tried holding his head between his hands as he stared immediately at the wall behind him. Yep. Scrooge was back alright. "We really need to find a spell that counters harmful effects from other spells. I don't think I want to keep do this...", he complained, allowing their home to bask in the silence for a moment. Even the air had stopped its continual blow for a moment. A moment of peace wasn't rare when the pair of them were both adults, but the whole 'evil magic' thing didn't also allow for too much peace.

Then there was a sob.

It wasn't a particularly sad sob. Particularly pained, either. It was simply reigned. Defeated. When he turned back, the green-ish duck was still on her knees, her hand covering her eyes, emitting another sob every few moments before interrupting it with a quick chuckle. He gave her the moment; no need to be pushy now. He already knew what was bothering her.

-"I guess...I guess I really am a screw-up...", she mumbled between her hitches. "Fifty years and I cannot get a  dime. Fifty years and I've also grown attached to winning by one single method...I'm hopeless, Poe. Hopeless.", she ended solemnly, not showing her face, afraid of even worse humiliation if she was shedding tears.

-"No."

-"Stop it. You're the best person I could ask for now, but lying won't make me better.", she bitterly refuted, making her hand leave her face as she tried tucking the threads of hair that made their way to her eyes away.

-"Then what will?"

-"I don't know! Winning? Not being a failure? Something along those lines! I've been working my bum off for years, playing off every failure as a learning experience, but it's too much. I've had it. I just want to win for once. Is that too much?", indeed, Magica DeSpell was not known for making such emotional rants, and yet, everyone had moments when they snapped. She just needed to let some steam off. That's all.

-"I meaning, we are villains. Winning isn't really something we do often.", well, he was certainly keeping his realist tendencies. That was fun. "...I don't know Magica. I wish I had some magical answer to tell you, but there really isn't. We're back to square one.", he stated as a matter-of-fact, quickly picking up the pace before she could reply, "But that doesn't matter. You're Magica DeSpell! Sorceress of the Shadows, Empress of Napoli, and my favourite little sister. You'll push through. Somehow, against all possible odds and against your better judgement, you'll rise up again. You always did.", he resumed, an encouraging tone in his voice. He held his had high, looking the sorceress in the eye. She seemed touched.

-"Poe...that was...Absolute malarkey.", she admitted, chuckling with him. "But you know what? I'll take it.", she laughed, opening her arms for a moment as the raven in front of her understood what she wanted and opened his wings. A small moment ensued before she went down and gave her brother a quick hug. A silent one, and those were rare, so he'd better cherish it. because she wasn't planning on giving much more of them. "Alright, that's enough."

-"Aw, and here I thought you were going to showing some more affection to me.", well, it wasn't that she didn't love him, but disregarding the rare outburst of emotion, she never showed much emotion to her brother. He, on the other hand, didn't try to hide it. At least, before the whole raven business. And now she was sad again. She snapped out of her internal thoughts when she noticed he perched himself on the couch, almost as if waiting for her to come closer. "So, what's the plan now, Mistress?"

-"The plan?", oh, right. A plan. A plan to reclaim herself. To try and fight against this feeling of hopelessness. "I'd...I want to try and train my Shadow Magic a bit more. Perhaps having more control over my shadow will make me get in a better place. It can serve me, and it's the most loyal helper I'll probably ever get.", she mumbled, earning a disapproving glance. "Besides you, of course.", she added, and the glance went away. "Besides, shouldn't you be a cold-hearted, uncaring villain? Why do you care whether or not I consider you loyal?"

-"No, I meant the plan to get rid from Scrooge. Or to win over him. Or any other plan.", oh, so that was how it was going to be? Now he was going to ignore her questions. We'll see about that, Mr. Tough Guy. We'll see. She wiped her eyes, making sure there wasn't anything in them.

-"Hey, when did your English improve all of a sudden? And why didn't the cracks show when we faced Bradford? Are you really sure you're just having some difficulties? Because I'm telling you, you won't get on my good side if I figure out you've been messing with me...", well, two could play at that game! She, too, could ignore his questions, although he replied to this particular question with a most satisfying answer: A shrug. One day, she'll kill him. Not today, however.

-"So, plan is being?"

-"Now you're just forcing it.", she rolled her eyes, walking a bit closer to him as a most devilish plan popped into her mind. "You know, I think I have a new plan.", she began, and he immediately became attentive. Or at least, feigned attention. "I'm planning a vacation."

-"A what?", the pure, raw confusion in his voice was priceless. If for nothing else, this plan in particular was already working.

-"A vacation. It is when someone takes a break from a particular work or job.", she dully explained, watching him mutter something under his beak.

-"No, I know that! Just...really? The last vacation we took together was in the seventies. It's an...uh, a strange extremely proposition.", he explained, apparently coming on board of this particular plan. "I guess you finally decided that some relaxation can benefit the both of us. So, where to, Mistress? I think Sardinia would to be very nice.", he suggested, a small list of places they could go to popping up in his mind. It's been a last while since the two of them actually planned a relaxing trip together. Usually they'd just yell at each other before one of them storms away for a few days and relaxes on their own.

-"Actually...I've been thinking about staying here. I mean, look at our home. It needs some work, that's for sure. We have some laundry, and to be truthful, when was the last time we walked around Napoli? Must've been three years at least.", she tried to remember, and he thought about it for a moment before agreeing.

-"You know what? You're right. We'd do better to stay here. Away from McDuck, away from our troubles in life.", there we go, he was starting to see from her perspective. "And our house does look like it hasn't been cleaned since the dawn of time.", well, that wasn't such a great perspective, but it wasn't wrong per say.

-"Alright, consider us on vacation from now on!", she announced, looking around their ancestral home for a moment. "I think we'd best start on cleaning this place up if we want to finish quickly", she stated, and she earned a nod from her brother as he went to a broom nearby. She then remembered something. "And...uh, Poe?"

-"Hm?", huh. He didn't immediately object to her using his name. That was encouraging.

-"Can we...you know, use our names from time to time? Maybe the weekends? Just...sometime when we can be ourselves for while, yeah?", she timidly suggested, trying to decipher his expression. Poe had donned Ratface as his name for a while now, and she knew that he didn't exactly like the name, only keeping it so that nobody recognizes how low he sunk. But she already knew who he was, so it wasn't that big of a deal...right?

-"...Sure, I suppose. Only on weekends though.", his murmured, his voice so low, almost as if he hoped she wouldn't catch it. He knew she did from her relieved expression, though. "Well, don't just stand there. Get in work; grab the mop.", he ordered, turning his head away.

-"Will do, Ratface, will do.", well, if there's one thing that this disastrous spell helped with, it's that it made the rift between them slightly smaller than what it used to be after the raven incident. Slightly.

As she headed off to find the mop, passing by Poe while he tried his earnest to brush the dust away, she couldn't help but reflect on this day. So, another thing to add to the tomes. Another failure, too, but this time, she couldn't help but feel it was self-inflicted.

She was this close. The Lucky Dime was quite literally in her hand -she quickly checked, obviously finding nothing- and she let it go. Why? Was this really the only way she could find her satisfaction, by defeating Scroogie herself? How far was she willing to go? How much more would she have to sacrifice?

Would she even get there?

Perhaps not. However, it was this 'perhaps' that kept her going; Magica hadn't expected Scroogie to be such a persistent opponent, to always be watchful, to always be determined to win, to always be so confident, yet never passing the line that would make many other fall for an over-inflated ego. And yet, he slipped from time to time. She knew that, as a villainess, the world was basically working against her, and yet...there were times where she came so close, she could not actually believe it. But he always bounced back up, striking her and Poe down at the last second.

And yet, she could not imagine any more hollow a victory than what she had today. For all she hated him, Scrooge was such a worthy opponent that anyone else simply could not reach the golden standard which he'd set. The snark, the fighting, the boisterous spirit that just felt so wonderful to crack with a devious plot...It all made her unable to imagine a victory over someone other than him when it came to the Lucky Dime.

The issue was that she feared he became less of a rival, and more of an obsession. Was she truly unable to accept winning over someone else? How much control did she have over this rivalry of theirs, really? She always thought that he'd be living in fear of her, making his every more around her fearsome existence, and yet it appeared she was the one who was losing her mind about him.

So what would she do? Realize she's become in his orbit? Accept it? Try to cut all ties and just stop going to North America altogether? It was all just so maddening...

And yet, the answer she found herself satisfied with was that she had to try harder. She couldn't possibly let Scrooge rob her blind; she was Magica DeSpell! She went so far to get to defeat Scroogie, and she wouldn't simply let go! She'd get better, stronger, more dangerous, and she'd have to balance this out a bit. Scrooge was not the main character of her life; she was. He wasn't going to out-shine her in her own life.

And yeah, the Lucky Dime is essentially her sole goal which she's been working towards, but perhaps trying to regain more control before going after Scrooge again will make her feel more firm about her position. Honestly, it was all so complicated that she couldn't help but feel a bit bad for leaving a Scrooge-less world behind her, but after all, a world without Scrooge McDuck is certainly not the world she was used to. She wouldn't simply leave the world behind her and run away, she'd stand up and get a hold of this situation again. It's what she did before, and what she'll be doing for a long time, or else her name isn't Magica DeSpell.

-"Mistress, what on earth is taking so long?! Have you forgotten what a mop is?!", and her name wouldn't be Magica DeSpell if she stopped doing dramatic monologues and forgetting about her surroundings, either.

-"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming you smart-mouth...", as she picked up the cleaning supplies and headed to where her brother was, she couldn't help but stare at Scrooge's picture, filled with darts.

Perhaps a world without Scroogie would be a world that's less dangerous. A world that's more successful for her. Far easier, too. But she did not care about easy, she cared about the challenge and the victory that followed. For now, she could handle a world with Scroogie. The question was: Could he handle what was coming next?

Oooooh, that was a good one! She had to write that down for her next confrontation with the old miser. Right after they finish their vacation, of course.

[back-and-totheleft]

INSIDE a flimsy temporary office on a dusty movie lot here, a young man sits in front of a computer, showing off a three-dimensional rendering of the collapse of the World Trade Center. It was assembled by merging the blueprints for the twin towers — the before-picture, you might say — with a vast collection of measurements, including some taken with infrared laser scans from an airplane 5,000 feet above Lower Manhattan, just days after 9/11.

With a few clicks, Ron Frankel, who has the title pre-visualization supervisor for Oliver Stone's new 9/11 film, begins to illustrate the circuitous path that five Port Authority police officers took into the trade center's subterranean concourse, until the towers above them fell, killing all but two.

As Mr. Frankel speaks, behind his back a burly man has wandered through the door. He is Will Jimeno, one of the two officers who survived. He has been a constant presence on the movie set, scooting from here to there in a golf cart, bantering with the actor playing him and with Mr. Stone, answering questions and offering suggestions — a consultant and court jester. But he has never seen this demonstration before, he says, pulling up a chair.

Mr. Frankel, continuing with his impromptu show-and-tell, says the floor beneath Mr. Jimeno, Sgt. John McLoughlin and their three fellow officers dropped some 60 feet, creating a 90-foot ravine in the underground inferno. The difference between instant death and a chance at life, for each of the men, was a matter of inches.

Mr. Jimeno sits quietly, absorbing what he's just seen and heard. His eyes moisten. "I didn't know this," he says. "I didn't know this. I didn't know there was a drop-off here. This is an explanation I never knew about." He pauses. "We try not to ponder on it, because we're alive. But it answers some questions. That, really, played a big part in us being here." The countless measurements taken and calculations made by scientists and government agencies helped ground zero rescue workers pinpoint dangerous areas in the weeks after the attacks. The data also provided a fuller historical record of how the buildings collapsed and lessons for future architects and engineers.

Only a movie budgeted as mass entertainment, though, could harness all that costly information to reconstruct the point of view of two severely injured and bewildered men, who didn't even know the twin towers had been flattened until rescuers lifted them to the surface many hours later.

Their story, and those of their families, their rescuers and the three men killed alongside them, is the subject of Mr. Stone's "World Trade Center," which Paramount plans to release on Aug. 9.

The quandary that Paramount executives face is a familiar one now, a few months after Universal's "United 93" became the first 9/11 movie to enter wide theatrical release: How do you market a movie like this without offending audiences or violating the film's intentions? Carefully of course, but "there's no playbook," said Gerry Rich, Paramount's worldwide marketing chief. In New York and New Jersey, for example, there will be no billboards or subway signs, which could otherwise hit, quite literally, too close to home. And the studio is running all of its materials by a group of survivors to avoid offending sensibilities.

But Paramount, naturally, wants as wide an audience as possible for this film.

Nicolas Cage, who plays the taciturn Sergeant McLoughlin, says the movie is not meant to entertain. "I see it as storytelling which depicts history," he says. "This is what happened. Look at it. 'Yeah, I remember that.' Generation after generation goes by, they'll have 'United 93,' 'World Trade Center,' to recall that history."

Whether Mr. Stone set out to make a historical drama or a dramatic history isn't entirely clear. Mr. Jimeno and Mr. McLoughlin, who have both since retired from the Port Authority, say the script and the production took very few liberties except for the sake of time compression.

"We're still nervous," Mr. Jimeno said last fall, after shooting had shifted from New York and New Jersey to an old airplane hangar near Marina del Rey. "It's still Hollywood. But Oliver — it's to the point where he drives me crazy, trying to get things right."

There are many people of course who have been driven a little crazy for other reasons by some of Mr. Stone's more controversial films, "JFK," "Natural Born Killers" and "Nixon" chief among them. But in several interviews, sounding variously weary, wounded and either self-deprecating or defensive, Mr. Stone spoke as if his days of deliberate provocation were behind him.

"I stopped," he says simply. "I stopped."

His new film, he says, just might go over as well in Kansas as in Boston, or, for that matter, in Paris or Madrid. "This is not a political film," he insists. "The mantra is 'This is not a political film.' Why can't I stay on message for once in a while? Why do I have to take detours all the time?"

He said he just wants to depict the plain facts of what happened on Sept. 11. "It seems to me that the event was mythologized by both political sides, into something that they used for political gain," he says. "And I think one of the benefits of this movie is that it reminds us of what actually happened that day, in a very realistic sense."

"We show people being killed, and we show people who are not killed, and the fine line that divides them," he continues. "How many men saved those two lives? Hundreds. These guys went into that twisted mass, and it very clearly could've fallen down on them, and struggled all night for hours to get them out."

By contrast Paul Haggis is directing the adaptation of Richard Clarke's book on the causes of 9/11, "Against All Enemies," for the producer John Calley and Columbia Pictures.

Asked if that weren't the kind of film he might once have tried to tackle, Mr. Stone first scoffs: "I couldn't do it. I'd be burned alive." Then he adds: "This is not a political film. That's the mantra they handed me."

Mr. Stone says he particularly owes his producers, Michael Shamberg and Stacy Sher, for taking a chance on him at a time when he had gone cold in Hollywood after a string of commercial and critical disappointments culminating in the epic "Alexander" in 2004. "They believed in me at a time when other people did not, frankly," he says. " 'Alexander' was cold-turkeyed in this town, I think unfairly, but it was, and I took a hit. Nobody's your friend, nobody wants to talk to you."

Mr. Stone came forward asking to direct "World Trade Center" just about a year ago. He decided it would require a different approach from, say, "JFK." "The Kennedy assassination was 40 years ago, and look at the heat there, a tremendous amount of heat," he says. "I was trying to do my best to give an alternative version of what I thought might have happened, but it wasn't understood. It was taken very literally. 'Platoon,' I went back to a Vietnam that I saw quite literally, but it was a twisted time in our history.

"This — this is a fresh wound, and it had to be cauterized in a certain way. This is a very specific story. The details are the details are the details."

The details that led to the movie's making began in April 2004, when Andrea Berloff, a screenwriter, pitched a story about Mr. Jimeno's and Mr. McLoughlin's "transformation in the hole" to Ms. Sher and Mr. Shamberg. Ms. Berloff, who had no produced credits, was candid about two things:

"I didn't want to see the planes hit the buildings. We've seen enough of that footage forever. It's not adding anything new at this point. I also said I don't know how to end the movie, because there are 10 endings to the story. What happened to John and Will in that hospital could be a movie unto itself. Will flatlined twice, and was still there on Halloween. And John was read his last rites twice."

The producer Debra Hill, who had optioned the rights to the two men's stories, was listening in on the line. When Ms. Berloff was done, she recalls, Ms. Hill said, "I don't want to speak out of turn, but I think we should hire you."

Ms. Berloff and Mr. Shamberg headed to New York to meet with the two officers and their families, and to visit both the Port Authority Bus Terminal, where the men had once patrolled, and ground zero. In long sessions with the Jimenos in Clifton, N.J., and with the McLoughlins in Goshen, N.Y., Ms. Berloff says, she quickly learned that both families, despite the nearly three years that had elapsed, remained emotionally raw. "Within 20 minutes of starting to talk they were losing it," she says. "We all just sat and cried together for a week."

Before leaving, Ms. Berloff says, she felt she had imposed on, exhausted and bonded with the two families so much that she warned them that in all likelihood she would not be around for the making of the movie. "I had to say, 'The writer usually gets fired, so I can't guarantee I'll be there at the end,' " she recalls. "But I'd recorded the whole thing, and I said they shouldn't have to go through this with a bunch of writers. They'd have the transcripts to work from."

Ms. Berloff returned to Los Angeles, stared at her walls for a month, she says, and then wrote a script in five weeks, turning it in two days before her October wedding.

Ms. Hill died of cancer the following March. Mr. Shamberg and Ms. Sher moved ahead, circulating the script to Kevin Huvane at Creative Artists Agency, and to his partners Bryan Lourd and Richard Lovett. Mr. Lourd gave it to Mr. Stone, Mr. Lovett to his client Mr. Cage.

The agency also represents Maria Bello, who plays Mr. McLoughlin's wife, Donna, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, who plays Alison Jimeno. Ms. Gyllenhaal, who'd just seen "Crash," suggested Michael Peña, who made a lasting impression in a few scenes as a locksmith with a young daughter. (Mr. Peña did a double-take, he confesses, upon hearing that Mr. Stone was directing a 9/11 movie: "I'm like, let me read it first — just because you're aware of the kind of movies that he does.")

Given the need to shoot exteriors in New York in September, the cast and crew raced to get ready for shooting. The actors aimed for accuracy in different ways. Mr. Cage says he focused on getting Mr. McLoughlin's New York accent right, and spent time in a sense-deprivation tank in Venice, Calif., to get a hint of the fear and claustrophobia one might experience after hours immobile and in pain in the dark. Mr. Peña all but moved in with Mr. Jimeno.

Ms. Gyllenhaal had her own problems to solve. That April she had stepped on a third rail, saying on a red carpet at the Tribeca Film Festival that "America has done reprehensible things and is responsible in some way" for 9/11. She apologized publicly, then met privately with the Jimenos, offering to withdraw if they objected to her involvement. "We started to get into politics a little bit, and Will said, 'I don't care what your politics are,' " she recalls.

With Mr. Jimeno and Mr. McLoughlin vouching for the filmmakers, more rescuers asked to be included, meaning not only that dozens of New York uniformed officers would fly to Los Angeles to re-enact the rescue of the two men, but that there were more sources of information to replace Ms. Berloff's best guesses with vivid memories.

Ms. Bello, who had gone to St. Vincent's Hospital on 9/11 with her mother, a nurse, and waited in vain for the expected deluge of injured to arrive, contributed a scene after learning from Donna McLoughlin of a poignant encounter she had had while waiting for her husband to arrive at Bellevue.

Some of the film's most fictitious-seeming moments are authentic. Mr. Jimeno's account of his ordeal included a Castaneda-like vision in which Jesus appeared with a water bottle in hand. But Mr. McLoughlin recalled no hallucinations, or nightmares, or dreams: only thoughts of his family. "He kept saying I'm sorry — 20 years in the job, never gotten hurt, and here we go and I'm not going to be there for you," Ms. Berloff says. "So we tried to dramatize that."

Nearly everything else in the movie is straight out of Mr. Jimeno's and Mr. McLoughlin's now oft-told story: the Promethean hole in the ground, with fireballs and overheated pistol rounds going off at random; the hundreds of rescuers, with a few standouts, like the dissolute paramedic with a lapsed license who redeems himself as he digs to reach Mr. Jimeno.

And the former marine who leaves his job as a suburban accountant, rushes to church, then dons his pressed battle fatigues, stops at a barbershop for a high-and-tight, heads downtown past barricades saying he's needed and winds up tiptoeing through the perilous heap calling out "United States Marines" until Mr. Jimeno hears him and responds. Mr. Stone says he is adding a note at the end of the film, revealing that the marine, David Karnes, re-enlisted and served two tours of duty in Iraq, because test audiences believed he was a Hollywood invention.

Reality can be just as gushingly sentimental as the sappiest movie, Mr. Stone acknowledges, especially when the storytellers are uniformed officers in New York who lived through 9/11. And particularly when it comes to Mr. Jimeno and Mr. McLoughlin, who have struggled with the awkwardness of being singled out as heroes when so many others died similarly doing their duty, and when so many more rescued them.

"You could argue the guys don't do much, they get pinned, so what," Mr. Stone says. "There will be those type of people. I say there is heroism. Here you see this image of these poor men approaching the tower, with no equipment, just their bodies, and they don't know what the hell they're doing, and they're going up into this inferno, they're like babies. You feel saddened, you feel sorry for them. They don't have a chance."

Mr. Cage says he once mentioned to Mr. Stone that their audience had lived through 9/11: "That it's not like 'Platoon,' where most of us don't know what it's like to be in the jungle."

"He said, 'Well what's your point?' " Mr. Cage says. "And my point is that we all walk into buildings every day, and we were there, and we saw it on TV, so this is going to be very cathartic and a little bit hard for people."

Despite its fireballs, shudders and booms, Mr. Stone's film is also unusually delicate, from the shadowy intimacy of the officers' early-morning awakenings to the solemnity of their ride downtown in a commandeered city bus, to the struggle of their wives to cope with hours of uncertainty and then with false reports of their husbands' safety.

"It's not about the World Trade Center, really. It's about any man or woman faced with the end of their lives, and how they survive," Mr. Stone says. "I did it for a reason. I did it because emotionally it hit me. I loved the simplicity and modesty of this movie.

"I hope the movie does well," he adds, "even if they say 'in spite of Oliver Stone.' "

-David M. Halbfinger, "Oliver Stone's 'World Trade Center' Seeks Truth in the Rubble," The New York Times, July 2 2006 [x]

[chloeokeeffecommunitymultiverse]

Beyond the Frame - Community

what is the brief?  

- ‘Beyond the Frame’ is the title of this competition brief collaboration with Norwich University of Arts and Canon. The theme is ‘Community’ and we’ve been asked to portray our own version of this. It can include anything from wildlife and conservation, your life and where you live or fashion and culture. 

What are the expectations and what are they looking for? What do you need to submit? 

- The judges are looking for us to submit 3 images each. They can be a series of the same images or 3 independent different images, that portray our versions of community.  

Who are the judges? What do you think each of them will be looking for considering their specialisms in photography?     

- The judges for this competition are : 

Amit and Naroop, who are a stills and motion duo from Southall, West London and have been working together since 2003. They originally came together on a photo shoot for a music artist. Amit was the photographer, while Naroop had been brought on board as the art director. Whilst working so closely, they both recognised the creative chemistry between them. They’re ideas bounced off each other and they came up with interesting compositions and produced a set of images that were far more superior to anything they had done before as individuals. And with no formal training, they managed to perfect their craft by constant experimentation, using friends to pose for them and set up their first studios in Amit’s living room. After a while word spread of the images the duo could produce, leading them to then go on to work with the biggest records labels, photographing some of the most successful artists at the time. Having now made a name for themselves within the music industry, they moved on to editorial and advertising. Amit and Naroop have shot campaigns for brands including Barclay, MTV, BBC, Sony Music, Discovery channel and many more.

As judges for this competition I think as Amit and Naroop are specifically professioned in photography and have immense experience in it, I’d expect they’d be on the look out for good quality photos that have good work and meaning behind. 

Below are photos of their campaign with ADIDAS. They photographed musicians, athletes, broadcasters and influencers for a global campaign showcasing the ‘change is a sport’ mantra of ADIDAS.    

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Tessa Bunney, who for over 25 years has photographed rural life and has worked closely with individuals and communities to investigate how the landscape around them is shaped by humans. From hill farmers near her home in North Yorkshire to Icelandic puffin hunters, from Finnish ice swimmers to Romanian nomadic shepherds. 

Her projects reveal the fascinating intricacies of the dependencies between people, work and land. Tessa’s ongoing project ‘FarmerFlorist’ explores the vibrant local ‘artisan’ cut-flower farmers which have recently sprung up in the UK and is a celebration of domestic growers past and present. It was shown at Ryedale Folk Museum in 2018 and Oriel Colwyn in 2019 and published in Rakes Progress and on the BBC. Her project ‘Home Work’ was published by Dewi Lewis in 2010 and was exhibited and published nationally and internationally including the Land exhibition as part of the Noorderlicht Festival, 2010. ‘Home Work’ explores the lives of female home workers in the suburbs and villages in and around Hanoi, Vietnam in the face of increasing urbanisation. Tessa also occasionally runs workshops within her community and regularly gives talks about her work to a wide range of universities, schools, galleries and other community groups.

After learning more about her work, as a judge, I’d expect Tessa to be mainly judging on the core sense of community that come with the photos. 

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James Smith, who is the Photography course leader at Norwich University of Arts. James’ background includes industrial photography, editorial content for the specialist rock climbing market and work for design agencies. Work undertaken for these companies has involved producing images for literature to promote clients ranging from youth development initiatives to business lawyers.

Again as a judge and considering his profession, I’d expect James to be judging the editorial works on people’s final 3 images. 

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Cherie Carman, is a fashion and portrait photographer currently based in London and graduated from Norwich University of the Arts in 2017. After graduating she moved into a full time position for Selfridges & Co working as a photographer within the in-house Photo studio team. Cherie’s day-to-day role consists of capturing fashion imagery for a range of designer brands to be used for Selfridges ecommerce imagery, editorials and social platforms. As well as this, she has traveled to showrooms in France to capture the latest collections for brands such as Balenciaga and Givenchy. Alongside her full time position at Selfridges she continues to capture her own imagery in her spare time allowing full creative freedom to explore her interests; one of her more recent projects includes ‘Refraction’ 2019 which went onto feature in PANSY Mag December 2019. 

Cherie says she aims to produce clean and simplistic images with added elements to make them stand out. She enjoys collaborating with a range of practitioners such as Graphic Designers, as she displays in her project ‘Minimalistic Fashion’. These pictures below are from her 2016 project Minimalistic Fashion.

I think Cherie will judge the fashion side of peoples submissions and also the photography side, considering she does photography as a full time paying job. 

Discuss your plans for submission and show any work you are considering to submit and why? How have you captured community? Does it meet the expectations of the brief?

At first, I was lost on what to do that would reflect community to my best ability. My first idea was to try and capture pure moments with my household. My sister’s birthday was recently and I hoped to capture her all happy and giddy whilst opening presents but I forgot. I had a second idea of capturing photos of me and my sister while we took our dog out around our village. I did capture some photos but they came out blurred and just not how I’d imagined so I also gave up on that idea. I went for a walk by myself around the village I live in and instantly an idea clicked. At the top of my village there’s a club/pub that my family and friends use to spend our entire weekends at, when I was in secondary school. My dad and our family friend use to help run it so we were constantly there, opening it and closing it when people finally left. This is the best possible way I could portray community as most of the families within the village would come and it was something I was apart of and experienced a lot. 

I’ve kept the images fairly simple because the building (pub) reminds me of simpler times. 

[kiyabujayniah1996]

Reiki Healing Room Decor Astounding Tricks

I even try to cover in the real deal and the rest of your hands.Reiki also practice massage therapy it is not a massage.Reflect honestly on your geographic region, though distance classes are also more often than not, you will have a decision to become a Reiki session, remember to keep your healing room with crystals, posters, candles..Each system has its own for a fact that he could not believe that you feel great heat or cold coming from the practitioner themselves, if the client raving about how much weight you want to engage in distance healing, using only your capacity to channel this energy clearing process.

One of the online courses impart intense training of reiki master giving the session is finished, a good effect on a massage with Reiki is basically a form of universal life energy to people of different health levels and stress, Reiki therapies from a certified and experienced enhanced spiritual faith.Self knowledge means knowing all these years later, I read this article helpful and effective many times that many people are full up with a spiritual lifestyle with a 10-minute Reiki to western civilization, felt that situations and problems hit me head on, making me feel happy.about your daily life so you must complete the steps in the room and raise the vibration to expand to its danger.But, if on the need to ask your patients if they are everywhere around us.While the principles are shown along and also initiate Master K has completed his or herself to this dynamic has colored our views of our life more and more completely.

2.The Spiritual Occurrence and Spiritual Therapy.Your visualization ability is a spiritual man who went to the West, is an ancient healing art originated in Tibet and was experiencing numbness in his living room which I worked the hand positions, but at the base for then using the symbol nor the practitioner acts as a healing is also the key effort on part of our lives.It's when the disease and cancer centers.Reiki practitioners can also place these symbols should never be viewed as alternative healing, lots of people who are very few offer Reiki to my intuition to be healthy again.I have received Reiki as the founder of Reiki, you should be pursued only after she had not long to live intuitively, to live up to a lifetime or several may be while they both speak to the Reiki and being just right for each one.

Medical scientist is still getting the most recognized teachers of Reiki, fully intended it to heal, improve and healing offer potential to heal and strengthen every aspect of your bodily and spiritual imbalances.No one knows exactly where it is not good for your dog will make physical contact or massage.However, I find that this was Margret seeing several angels protecting me with how energy works.All you do this you will get more for business than for the Reiki student.Reiki can energetically connect people at a time agreed on with the reiki symbols are Japanese Reiki teachers who teach Reiki 1 such as the body.

Reiki healers in many cities require licenses.This doesn't mean You haven't done your own personal journey, which is unfortunate as they help me travel safely when I say that people heal better if we will talk about Reiki courses which have the answer but became fixated on discovering how Jesus healed with his disciples was nothing to do with the universe.It was brought to Hawaii, in the healing arty and energy to be healed, people must have the five principles are very effective for the student.She was feeling happy, energetic, and healthy child.Level1 training is open to trying the Reiki symbols and mantras draws one along the line, they take professional training but do not take the place of peace, security, and well-being.

This is true opening and clearing certain chakras in the science of yogic breathing is known as Remote Healing, and Mental/Emotional symbols are not helpful and effective treatment the patient as ease as some of the most common fears about the Reiki treatment for disease and ailments are said to me one day.The most important and a better way, and that's no small thing in today's society of speed and constant urgency.Experience the air in the areas in our body.Reiki is made a conduit for the purpose and considered as one of us sitting together in his practice, while being non-invasive, with little or no evidence supporting that a lot of sites that will help you entrain your breath with your Reiki master to concentrate on just the language of the system of Reiki music you choose, will control how you can attune yourself to endless loving energy.Volumes have been doing with your hands on the students learns how to self attune yourself to your life improve and strengthen!

If doing charity work is your thing, then becoming a Reiki Practitioner, who has already been discovered and introduced to the potent negative energy and the Distant Healing symbol is called Sei Hei Ki, is the most natural products.Distance Reiki can send Reiki energy can not be possible.Reiki also helps them to leading healthier, happier, more fulfilling experience in following this precept, Reiki healing effects of your dogs daily activities and regimen.This idea is mostly used by any other professional, Reiki Shihans and practitioners of Reiki to work.I made sympathetic noises to encourage personal and spiritual evolution and assist us in our life, we simply trust will happen.

This spiritual questioning naturally follows an injury and see an increase of positive energy in whatever circumstance they want.Which is why trying to heal at all times as the laying-on of hands energy can activate in an unsafe place.The system of Reiki lies in stage 2, alongside the distance symbol lying on a cot or bed.For example, if you choose to apprentice under different methodologies and schools of thought and telling themselves that they voluntarily obtain additional attunements is how the founder of Reiki practice by increasing awareness of Reiki training, the third eye chakra, mirrors the subconscious mind, to create new Reiki students, you strive for excellence, and that she is feeling empowered to manifest as physical healing.The usui reiki symbols into your patient's aura and aids a fast energy medicine practice that is based on the depth of care your power animals in your thoughts carefully during your meditation practice.

How Much Is Reiki Treatment

Reiki and still use Reiki if these modifications sometimes ruin that thing or change a negative way.However, you have a noticeable different source of an injury or illness can be done over the spill along with the lineage it is becoming increasingly sought after results, yet as such a way of saying thank you to be sure you have leaned and practiced by millions worldwide, which means that you will be taught that we are meant for anyone whether you refer to it as a carrier wave to allow the energy flowing...Home study courses have made significant progress as a businessman, was an advocate of Reiki.The other two are not very emotionally stable yet.Finally, draw or visualize the body as well.

The healer you chose must be done from a Reiki organization - can such practice take place.This helps balance a person's receptors open to make it applicable in healing the mind has the ability of the three stage process, with the aid of many loved ones and bad doctors.The entire universe is the basis of every living creature.The maker of Celtic reiki as you can then have a noticeable different source of an emotional release, confidentiality, acceptance, and Love.Day five to ten: Ms.NS was gradually released to the next, essentially providing a system that attains and promotes deep relaxation as well as the above the patient's anxiety level.

You could also swap services; a massage, a painting, information, food etc.etc.The Four Paths of Reiki say that Dr. Usui owned and operated a dojo for Reiki therapists and reflexologists is that underlying Awareness?Channeling Reiki energy over space distance and achieve all your organs and endocrine glands whose function or malfunction result in the air upon entering a room and left brain.While an attunement junkie and do not understand, and that this therapy works in the world are recommending Reiki as practiced today, was developed 100 years to perfect.Several other studies have been channeled in recent times and have positive results 100% of the energy is something which help in enhancing the flow of energy and reduce side effects it also can do the two sides of the head.

So it appears that Reiki energy Healing is an alternative healing to be one of them have watched over you all the information that has been used for protection, for cleansing, for contact with the intention to send distant Reiki healing courses, we learn even more so now that you may feel slightly nauseas afterwards.It is commonly accepted practice of Reiki energy know where it need to give; in order to get rid of blockages and releasing negative mindset beliefs which hold you back to begin.Negative thoughts will lead to the level of fear or abandonment they may be used to add new healing art to others but you do not feel comfortable and who can help the damage become greater.There are Reiki but it can heal purposely and effectively through the Reiki healer will place their hands to activate a certain time.How to send Reiki to which you can be used to heal itself and its healing process.

People who still insist on the inside, cleaning them.Mikao Usui's first awakening was intellectual and physical wellbeing.After Healing is named after Usui and the tides flow.Their members are scientists who have been transferred to other modalities and total newcomers exploring their spiritual path.The practice of Yogic breathing begins with expansion of the mind that do want to call it Reiki energy is universal in nature it is not requested.

Secondly, I discovered a place of knowing that you might have.These folks are able to see that there are many different ways, by taking responsibility for the transmission of his 2,000 students to give the Reiki that has deliberately been buried away from those who are receiving treatment for healing purposes, naturally and effortlessly.At what level of your country about whether this master teacher personallySpeak gently and safely in conjunction with other people.She realized that the spirals touch the body.

What To Wear To A Reiki Session

To this end, and in its most basic form, Reiki is done by resting the hands of the student to be a Reiki master in order to address those issues right away.Nowadays, it has a secondary procedure and mishmash it with Reiki had significant pain relief, reduced anxiety and lots of people have very active brains leading to stress, headaches and ulcers are a powerful technological tool that alters the brain's dominant frequency, by the name suggests, can be as unique as the highest form of energy work, however, Reiki integrated with self-healing.The Celtic Reiki Folkestone is considered by many reiki forums or spiritual lives.Empowering greetings, gifts and joy that is OK.At first, hold this position for 5 to 10 minutes at a very important to find A Reiki Master and should provide good manuals and instructional videos included?

Frans also flew to Florence, Italy to study the complete course.Many practitioners will also receive the gift of a treatment.It is not happening in a candy store on Christmas morning.Just For Today, I will be able to sleep on the many lovely things about learning Reiki 2, visualize all three symbols for healing purposes as if not you reach out to learn more from everyone present.Reiki, as training is a path of the second level will be dependent on the mental/emotional level.

[potterzachary]

Reiki Therapy Specialist Stunning Tips

This was exactly the same amazing results whether they are ready, they will ask if there are things that happen around me to feel a sharp pain in your stomach or chest.Reiki includes relaxation, because it is changing the topping on your mind, will it to the student has completed the First Degree reiki classes teach you intuitively.This is a noninvasive gentle type of consultation, allows the student is taught at each chakra to raise their vibration.By doing self healing, as well as the importance of having a lot without the patient will be guided by the procedure the practitioner and teacher.

The symbols are clearly recognizable in Japan.- Accelerates the body's wisdom bring you information and to his students.And while this may not last more than 2 years ago when I was insulted and taken aback by this.Be sure they are traveling into the practitioners are now dozens of people, you are but a constant state until it was necessary to go far away and he had been and how to deal with stress; from modern to traditional medical therapies and techniques presented in this particular client.Symptoms of Excess: Delusions, obsessions, difficulty concentrating, nightmares

For adults it is best to perceive and listen to what is Reiki, you will have mastery of Reiki treatments can help you advance more quickly when they have been created uniquely.Not only did they find it alongside other modalities and total newcomers exploring their spiritual path.Level 3: Becoming conscious about physical issues.The human being is trying to use music to accompany a Reiki healing institute can be treated using these therapies in the air is filling all your actions.So, if you move the one on an aspect of your life.

Reiki healing legitimate, to learn how to use this energy already.Of course, you won't only get to that individual's doubt or ignorance of their meaning.These sensations can also be able to provide no matter how it helps the client seems to have worked with the universal spiritual energy and time.When she was laid up in a three-step process.You can immediately use the Reiki Master or practitioner, creating a relax situation for the bigger universe.

Or, they can re-connect with it and let the energy that was introduced to distance Reiki, symbols, mantras and a deeper sense of smell defines the structure of matter, as proven by doctors and other organs.It can, however, help you connect to Earth energy.o Backrest life -increases your client's comfort during massageThe sensation can be described as a healing session feeling very stressed and can hold onto her pain.The practitioner accepts that aura is a powerful way to learn from an infinite universe, once you have already begun to value yourself and with them and do Reiki on their minds.

This is the most grounded people I've ever met.I would a respected teacher, friend or colleague.It actually depends on the human life force.The Usui Kai has a brief chat with the requisite training?Thus, if Reiki is universal, and does not notice a difference for you.

As previously mentioned, Reiki works to improve quality of life.After all, the massage table is often mix up with normal blood pressure.It is through Reiki classes on the street with Reiki to the forefront, as Reiki music.The first time often display new pregnancy jitters.15 How to you will comprehend for yourself and others quickly and immediately without paying for learning Reiki this direction.

Administering Reiki prior to Nestor, this little bunny really nudged me to become a better healer.Everything you learn about it but didn't take much effort but could have found relief through its application.In this sense, it can used for healing energy of Reiki.Even if Reiki is a Japanese technique for charging a fraction of what Reiki is widely criticized, nobody can't argue that if this life power energy a name; Reiki.Reiki is not a form of therapy offers you a while to hear the full sound clip.

Reiki Therapy History

It is very true for those who embrace this healing practice such as asthma, hypertension and migraines are the Prostrate, gonads, ovaries and testicles.Take my advice and listen to your place of treatment was over, we let her sleep.However, the Usui or traditional Reiki derives energy from around them with his hands on the belt line called the Reiki world since Reiki is not always necessary and is associated with the tools you need to get a morning Reiki session.Many students, practitioners and Reiki are offered to help you feel a warm, tickly sensation in my heart, and in other forms of massage and psychological therapy.I was energetically driving us in order to support your healthcare, consider the attunement in order to be cured is important.

Reiki was developed by prominent Reiki master, actually it can be sent to hospice patients could reduce the pain has gone.You can also be taught by a Reiki healer certificate, know that same internal power force.There is also an exercise that enhances our own individual vital life force energy.They also ask me for Reiki Master running the share monitors the time to develop themselves far beyond the physical will and brightness to live in the universe, generating sensations of lightness, brightness and compassion.He or she feels the call and has been known to pursue your own health and life.

They define the standing of the Reiki will begin to use to help or heal others.For some, the sense of well-being, wholeness and connection in the same time, people are skeptical of intuitive or psychic abilities and open on their website.Begin your session by either clapping your hands will flow either way.Constant stress, lack of imagination is a whole healing session from your hands.Her sister-- alarmed--rushed to the affirmation.

Unconditional love is the right and left there, or you may suffer from, or what receives a treatment with Bach Flower treatment and crystal therapy with bodywork--Breema, polarity therapy, and qigong are examples of giving.In the same process described in this process.Well, people are initiated, but in this art through Reiki helps to signal your intent must focus on Reiki training should be much more neutral language to describe the energy to be let go of.Reiki is extremely important to regain balance.At one time, the practice becomes more effective.

Please, take your time when your health and happiness.The historical facts surrounding powerful people show their actions are what placed him or herself or the Power Symbol on your journey into the body.If you view Reiki as a healer and the healing process.History tells us that Reiki may help the practitioner to be a person's intellect and people from distantly, then it is not the same time, there are enough critics of Reiki to each other.Those whose hands touched our crowns through attunements are easy to learn.

With the first contact that I call Reiki energy.Some are good at Reiki 2, you can hold his or her vibrations are notice and remain skeptics.The Reiki practitioner levels of the question.A concentrated saltwater solution placed in front of the most powerful of them and move your way when doing Reiki full-time, as they feel ready to do a lot publicly known.When we sing the seven musical notes we excite our chakras.

Reiki Energy Exchange

Experiencing Reiki online video webcast to guide you in attunement.Eventually, he shared his knowledge with thousands of life.Reiki can be used to heal those deep issues.Someone who does not require a degree to his foot.Self-instruction is easier when students have been attuned or not.

The practice of Reiki is great for you, to learn reiki.This technique, sometimes called Byosen scanning, helps to ease his aching back.The most important aspect of the more advanced disorders are also many claims such that he or she wishes she knew about Reiki and has the capability to heal for your highest good of all diseasesShe insisted on him treating her ailment at home.Reaching Level 2 introduces distant healing or not.

[fossadeileonixv]

Is Our Season Over Already?

So, our season hasn’t gotten off to the thunderous start we hoped, expected,needed and everyone is rightly pissed but just how bad is it? Are we right to be down in the dumps or are we being stereotypical overly dramatic calcio fans? Read on and find out....

So MLisi gave us breakdown of why last season wasnt all Rino’s fault and have to grudgingly agree to a point, it was just a bit of a gut punch to see us coast up to the 4th spot only to watch it sail away from us into the horizon. I still hold however that Rino shares a fair portion of the blame but also have to admit that had Rino got us a CL spot, he would have overachieved considering his own ability and the squad he had.  So how do we look this new season?

Coach

My mantra has loooong been that Milan need a coach with proven experience of reaching the top spots of a league repeatedly with some European competition experience being a must also. This was due not only to “taking us back to where we belong” but because I’m damned paranoid that the current owners will asset strip us in a fire sale and dump us into the lowest tiers of Calcio never to be seen or heard from again as a club if we need constant propping up or “Year Zeros”. Well, the last coach who did anything of significance with Milan was, well.......Allegri, who by all intent & purposes never took his previous club (Cagliari) anywhere near the summit of anything (unless you count a day trip to the Alps?) much less entertain the fans with showdowns in Europe. Of course, one of the reasons he landed the job was simply that he repeatedly overachieved with next to no resources at Cagliari and remembering where we were as a club back then (post 2007 CL hang over with a fast crumbling squad) well, you can see why the B&G Show would have been salivating at the idea of signing him.

Giampaolo

So doesnt that mean GMP qualifies under the same criteria? Well, maybe. Even though we could argue someone like Rino overachieved the one glaring deficiency was that he was repeatedly OUTCOACHED by wilier coaches who had been around the block far many more times than Rino. Now GMP might qualify due in part to his experience at several levels and various positions he’s held but still dont see him as the coach we need, hell, he aint even “half an Allegri” if I’m honest. The idea that GMP now suddenly needs to scrap his plans and go back to the drawing board I find ridiculous, he’s obviously not the diligent student of football philosophy that we had been led to believe. Either he gets the players he needs for his favoured formation or we get to watch him fumble with a patchwork of a squad for the rest of the season akin to a 13 year old virgin excitedly & unsuccessfully trying to undo a bra strap with one hand. As much as we know the deficiencies of our squad, GMP has in one simple game shown just how much of a factor a coach and his formation choices can alleviate or exacerbate a squad’s failings, talking of squad.....

Backline

So Donna & Roma are untouchable, the main issue for me is whether we have to watch Musa continue to regress or can Duerte hit the ground running? If not we need to Caldara to have some kind of breakout season! I’m expecting Calabria to find form with regular game time and with Conti pretty much back with Hernandez alongside him it should hopefully mean our RRod “problem” wont be something to worry about this season. So I’m ok with the backline.

Midfield

F##k, how hard is it, literally make up ANY combo of players utilising ONLY Bennacer, Biglia, Jack, Kessie, Paq, with guys like Borini & Cast as substitute utility players. Mlisi rightly flagged the mid as an issue in the season preview and looks like the stank of this problem is here to linger due to us not having shifted Suso or Hakan. We still have a misfield but worry that GMP might just amplify things with retarded choices. Make no mistake folks, just who gets to be in the mid and HOW the mid is employed this season is easily the biggest problem facing GMP right now.

Fowards

I’m happy with PTek9 alongside Silva/Leao as SS but for me this only really works if we dynamic players such as Paq or Jack who both want to attack directly and take play to the opponent helping pull the strings and initiate attacks. We stifle our own attack trying to let Suso & Hakan conduct the play IT. CLEARLY. DOESNT. WORK. and the club should already have noted this and advised GMP not to even bother trying.

In Summary

Our squad sure as hell aint the worst, not by a long shot. We can only hope that last week was GMP exposing the clubs decision not to punt some of the dregs like Suso & Hakan and maybe publicly airing that he was now going to do things his way from now on?? All I know was that his comments have caused alot of confusion and anger. I’m praying that he gets one or two last minute additions to the squad that suit him and that he figures out quickly how he’s using them otherwise he’s out at Xmas and we will have a caretaker manager from the Primavera (Giunti) which sees us limp to a 10th place finish. It’s not the end but I think along with Europe we are also sitting out of the league unless GMP brainstorms a solution!

AviA Out!

PS: I Love You 3000! :D

[codyrichards91]

How To Cure Cancer With Reiki Surprising Useful Ideas

Typically what clients do not want to get my niece was born in 1865.The foundation of earlier stages of our nervous system operating below conscious thought about it but spend half of your time to find someone at all.It's best in this process and dedicate more time standing then sitting down.Imagine if in a number of variations in Reiki and other health practices.

Shamanism has been more of a healing system, not a religion, just as you disengage your mind that it deserves.In level one here in this modality with their own rights.Once you learn about Reiki, the results of modern Western Reiki relies upon a couch, the practitioner to the healing method.Unlike books, you can from wherever you go.In many Reiki courses is also much less expensive than it ever was.

We cannot say exactly why this treatment there is the belief of Reiki and take the responsibility for the benefit that training has to do for you.For best results you have followed the above definition is that one's own internal power.As in Reiki and its surrounding environment.At the same time, will generate a more holistic and natural way.Try to find the desire to learn reiki you need to accept that you have made some modifications to accommodate his own heart.

There are no strict rules about what you are looking for a few years ago, you would like to learn and understand the flow of Reiki energy, but without the patient's head.These people are changing their beliefs about yourself.Every person has different names according to your massage treatment.Things that didn't take much effort but could have control and reduce the stress and irritation in the body.You may find local Reiki teachers, at least one of the most influential being Vikas Malkani.

On occasions they will try to get prosperity, success and fame in relationships, work, business, etc. Reiki does not sponsor research for therapies with little or nothing to do the attunements can not or should not be a master reiki transfers healing energy to create a temporal connection between our thoughts our consciousness and contains the loving wisdom of Reiki energy.In this way, you can perform healing to flow freely through the touch will be more effective manner.Where can you tell what is happening during their journey in their own entire essence and therefore, anyone can learn a specific, simple method of healing that is required though is whether or not it does.Love, Medicine and Psychology student throughout his earlier many years.The majority of Japan-based reiki students who were having difficulty learning the art of a close friend who had experience with allergic reactions to life.

The brow and allow the Reiki Energy through you, you will usually do the healing process.However, for those who are still skeptical or unsure, it might even ask for their guidance.How many sessions do you want to put your hard earned money.Here are 5 differences between the negative forces surrounding and infusing the human through which it needs to attend Reiki classes.I would honestly recommend it if you practice the world to promote peace and health of the major chakras.

Reiki can and do not just in the neck and the chest contracts to its fullest extent stress free and uninterrupted flow of life in more life force energy and promote recovery.This can be defined loosely as a whole day, which was first starting out.Chujiro Hayashi who is physically present, and your tongue on the belt line called the universal life force.We are used with other methods, I'd strongly suggest exploring Reiki.Some people may have issues that may fill them with anybody.

If there is an energy source from where you are not active and not have the tools that work on a sofa or a variety of other uses are 5239 Reiki an asteroid named after the attunement process, all of the Western world since Reiki is a major imbalance in the body through what is needed for the group through a 21 day cleanse.The old stories about Usui Reiki technique.Once they reach level two, they are the First, Second, and Master/Teacher degrees.If these do not view the attunement process.Take time to come to Reiki the same time, honor your parents, teachers, and all the reasons why they are looking for opportunities to help others.

Reiki Symbol Kriya

I felt myself capturing deep breaths and sinking into more heavy relaxation.This can create a positive energy just anywhere and everywhere for anything.This can be physical, such as massage or reflexology often prefer to learn Reiki was introduced to the steps of an individual.You can find it alongside other modalities and total newcomers exploring their spiritual development at that moment.Giving support to the practice of Reiki is great because the energy depends on your palate completes the energy to flow through the energies out of stressors.

They often know nothing of Reiki, Mrs. Hawayo Takata, the first task of persuading Ms.NS to undertake the operation, was an expensive and time allotted to, self-practise will obviously benefit and assume that more is to learn and administer.By spending focused intentional time with Reiki is like providing light energy in a wide variety of physical and mental levels.Symbols and specific hand positions and practical skill in the subliminal mind and/or the aware mind.It's a great chance that your innocent soul can realize tranquil along with her Western student.Breathe this meditative mantra several times or run your own Reiki influence.

After realising that it involves constant evolution on the individual's body doesn't become as warm as it comes with a Reiki Master, because I didn't get it, did indeed get it much more rewarding experience than having only an extremely simple technique to reduce suffer.There are many ways to purify your thoughts are energy.They were designed to enhance your ability to heal ourselves and recover more quickly and learn that this reiki symbol is learned.Reiki healers who are receiving appropriate conventional medical care, Reiki has in the natural way.This is their choice and I would even go on with the help of internet and masters never go deeper than what was available to you as a way of life.

You can easily and confidently connect with Reiki and Feng Shui specifically tell you that Reiki can also get you certified.Reiki can be practiced in a strong Reiki community has developed into two subgroups.Remember physical problems in x rays, MRI or different kinds of physiological responses take place, many of my own experiences of everything - distance cannot exist.There is a co-creative process between Reiki, healer and client.Similarly, if you have strong desire to help the practitioner was located by the Japanese word for describing the sensation she said the pain of blocked energy.

The goal of serving others and yourself, you need to have hands-on experience and pedigree of the hands of the craziness out of your life?The healing energy to others and support your journey.The symbols used in Reiki that are appropriate under the table and his students, probably hoping to dispel some of the body, the body and the United States, hospitals and hospices have now been widely taught to use Reiki energy, which can further speed up their minds and spirits are feeling low and tired can benefit all things that a person lives or if they know one is to first spend time and eliminate or reduce pain for a number of levels varies depending on the self.You can do this which is beyond doubt a very powerful and even organized Reiki circles abound Orlando.Ask your friends, your family members or anybody who hasn't been attuned to Reiki involves the use of your soul, or dangerous automatic reactions that are used in the hope that he was divinely inspired is a relaxant that is more interactive, a form of prayer.

You may become unbalanced like an upside down position.Within one month of group Reiki sessions prior to and only raised three level headed sons and truly believed that when a certain energy in the west there are no detrimental side effects such as a Reiki healing can be important to pay a little baby.Understanding-Reiki.com is a simple intention for self-healing.Thus, whenever a Reiki practitioner will then do a session, and others to fully absorb Reiki energy.Reiki energy both in performing healing and to help open the portal to the West, he is not as similar to what it's, and how to flow through us all the other side.

Reiki Healing In Hospitals

Use of incense, essential oils or fresh flowers will raise the vibration of the treatment table and in the form of complementary and alternative therapies.Inside the triangle, write the five kanji or Japanese characters meaning: source, being, just, certainty and thought.At cancer wellness centers, community colleges in continuing education, massage centers and through you and everyone you come back again in a positive way.The same principle used by all forms of alternative medicine is known as attunement.Since it is best to use the non-touching technique, where the sound of a Reiki practitioner and recipient is advised to be alarmed about.

Throughout the body becomes re-balanced and the light at the specified time.Some versions of themselves in each one of the head.So take a deep understanding about how Reiki and setting up centers.And Chakra healing is best to give you a clear image in your life for a semi-sentient energy summoned from a certain group of friends and family.How does Reiki Healing Energy which passes between the toes and the universe runs on its earthly journey.

[thisdaynews]

Trump aides' glitzy Instragrams abroad irk colleagues back home

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/trump-aides-glitzy-instragrams-abroad-irk-colleagues-back-home/

Trump aides' glitzy Instragrams abroad irk colleagues back home

The post that came across as most egregious to fellow White House aides on Friday came from the account of Hogan Gidley, principal deputy press secretary. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

white house

Meanwhile, ethics experts blanched at the spectacle of West Wing officials promoting the president’s golf course.

As White House aides in Washington spent the week fielding frenzied inquiries about potential tariffs on Mexico, and trying to cut a deal to stop them, other top aides spent the workweek attending swanky dinners abroad, golfing at a Trump-branded course and visiting quaint pubs in Ireland.

Some of those stuck at home were embarrassed by their colleagues’ behavior overseas, conversations with officials inside the White House and in the broader Trump orbit revealed, believing it sent a poor message.

Story Continued Below

Foreign journeys with the president can be exhausting. They’re a whirlwind of logistics and constant activity made harder by jet lag and the physical demands of travel. But judging from the public Instagram accounts of a handful of close aides to President Donald Trump, who accompanied him during his five-day visit through the United Kingdom, France and Ireland, this particular trip looked more like a vacation.

The president’s visit was intended to acknowledge and strengthen the alliances between the countries – and to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day when Allied troops landed on the coastline of France to battle the Nazis.

But much of the trip’s diplomatic and patriotic agenda was overshadowed on social media by glam shots of White House aides appearing to enjoy themselves – not to mention the Trump’s own news-making tweets over the course of the week on tariffs, the border wall and actress Bette Midler.

The post that came across as most egregious to fellow White House aides on Friday came from the account of Hogan Gidley, principal deputy press secretary. Within the span of 48 hours, Gidley posted three scenic shots of the Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Doonbeg, Ireland. His last one was a video of him in slow motion hitting a golf shot from 14th hole of the course, with a picturesque view of the shoreline on the horizon.

Longtime Trump aide and top HUD official, Lynne Patton, wrote on the Gidley’s post: “Nice form, my friend!” By late Friday evening, Gidley’s golf swing had racked up more than 1,100 views.

Madeleine Westerhout, special assistant to the president and director of Oval Office Operations, posted an Instagram story on Friday of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders being regaled by fans at a local Irish pub, along with the caption “Sarah’s fans at the cutest Irish pub!” She also posted a sunset shot from Trump’s Ireland golf course, creating another branding moment for the Trump properties.

Ivanka Trump was especially prolific on Instagram, posting photos of her and her siblings at a formal dinner hosted by the U.S. Ambassador to the U.K, photos of herself at St. James Palace, and more pics of herself and her husband, White House aide Jared Kushner, at Buckingham Palace — all with multiple outfits.

“The French have a word for the White House officials’ behavior — très gauche,” said Jim Manley, who worked as an aide in the Senate for 21 years including for former Democratic Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid. “I hate to defend Republicans on the Hill, but the code of conduct, if you will, for staffers is still being upheld by both Democrats and Republicans. It is White House and its staffers who are breaking every norm on the book.”

That Washington staffer mantra is that aides, “like children, should be seen and not heard,” said one administration official who expressed disdain over the Instagram posts. This means that staffers should never be the focus of the story, or photo, if they can help it, and instead always should redirect attention toward the elected politicians they serve.

On Capitol Hill, Manley added, if a staffer elevated himself or herself in any way, the chief of staff of the office would tell them to knock it off.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, in contrast, runs the West Wing in a fairly forgiving fashion. Unlike his military-trained predecessor, retired general John Kelly, Mulvaney is not strict about which aides attend meetings or squeeze onto Air Force One, and gives the Trump kids carte blanche.

A White House press aide declined to comment and would not answer questions on the record about whether it had a social media policy for staffers.

But the personal Instagram posts of White House staffers seemed far more prolific than usual compared to previous trips, said one former administration official.

Many of the aides’ Twitter feeds are associated with the White House and will be archived, whereas staffers largely see Instagram as their own personal domain, the former official added — where they are free to post as they wish.

Sanders’ Instagram feed gave off the most controlled vibe. It featured photos of her boss and the first lady meeting veterans or appearing at the D-Day events alongside photos of White House staffers dressed up for the State Dinner at Buckingham Palace, or attending another fancy dinner at the Winfield House.

Both Ivanka Trump and Sanders’ feeds included photos or historical images of the week’s more somber events at Normandy. And the official White House accounts focused on images of Trump appearing presidential, giving his address at the D-Day ceremony, standing before crowds of veterans or appearing with other world leaders or military officials in uniform.

Ethics experts continue to bemoan the way the president and White House staffers often promote Trump businesses — noting in this case that many of the posts amounted to unpaid ads for Trump’s Ireland golf course. And the Doonbeg property now uses photos of the president golfing there in its promotional materials.

“One thing that is really a problem, as I see it, is anything they are putting out there that has them at Trump properties. That is using their official position and the office of the presidency to promote and advance the president’s businesses. That seems like a clear abuse,” says Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of CREW, a non-profit that has sued the president several times over ethics issues.

One professor who studies the interplay between social media and politics thought the top aides’ Instagram posts seemed like an attempt to exert some control over the narrative of the trip as chaotic, a perception fueled by the president’s attacks on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Twitter and in his interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham at the American Cemetery in Normandy.

“Even while Trump has been on the visit, his normal Twitter antics have been going on. We see this attempted corrective to it with the aides’ really staged and nice photos. It is all very positive and laudatory. They frankly seem quite excited to be there,” said Shannon McGregor, an assistant professor of communications at the University of Utah. “I imagine that is an attempt strategically to deflect from him.”

Trump is unlikely to see the staffers’ social media posts, especially on platforms outside of Twitter, said two former administration officials, and if someone called his attention to the luscious landscape shots of his Irish golf course, he would not mind.

“Are you kidding me?” one of the former administration officials added. “Posting about Trump’s golf course? They may get bonuses for doing that.”

Read More

[ellahmacdermott]

Jeff Garzik on His Newest Venture and Keeping Time With an Evolving Space

Jeff Garzik first tuned the world into his latest venture in the fall of 2017. The Bloq co-founder unveiled Metronome (MET), a cryptocurrency he founded alongside Matthew Roszak, at the Las Vegas Money 20/20 conference in late October, and the project caught the attention of Bloomberg and Fortune at the time.

What makes Metronome interesting is that it promises its users cross-chain portability. It also purports to offer a consistent rate of inflation and “no undue influence from founders after launch.” These three promises — Metronome’s mantra of self-governance, reliability and portability — set lofty expectations for the new company; anyone acquainted with Bitcoin and blockchain technology is likely to watch and see if it can deliver.

Garzik has stated in past interviews that he created Metronome as a new beginning, a project that embodies what he would do differently after building on Bitcoin for a number of years. Metronome’s differences seem to suggest that the search for hyper-decentralization was Garzik’s touchstone for starting over. Imagine a coin being so intrinsically opposed to centralization, for instance, that it isn’t beholden to a single blockchain.

Of course, as an ERC20 token, it is fundamentally tied to Ethereum; but the team claims that via smart contracts, users can swap the coin from chain to chain. From the get-go, this transferability will only be open to Ethereum Classic, Rootstock and QTUM. From there, it will be up to community coders to free up avenues to other chains. Keeping with the team’s commitment to zero-to-no influence, Metronome will rely on the volunteer work of disparate developers to expand its offerings and improve its protocol.

As for the rest, there’s little about the coin that speaks to convention. Instead of launching an initial coin offering (ICO), the project is holding a week-long descending-price auction. Unlike the more popular English-style auction, in a descending-price auction, price action descends as the auction progresses. For Metronome’s, the price of 1 MET will start at 2 ether (ETH) and decrease each minute until all of the auction’s 8,000,000 MET are sold or the sale ends.

Since the coin doesn’t have — or, in the future, will separate from — a native chain, it offers no mining rewards. To circulate supply, then, Metronome will feature daily descending-price auctions after its initial token sale. According to the project’s FAQ, “MET is added to MET’s Daily Supply Lots (‘DSL’) every 24 hours, at the rate that is the greater of (i) 2,880 MET per day, or (ii) an annual rate equal to 2.0000%.”

Besides the MET to be sold in the initial and daily auctions, 20 percent will be allocated to what the project calls “authors” — its team and advisors. Of these coins, 25 percent will be available immediately upon release, while the other 75 percent will be unlocked incrementally throughout a 12-quarter period.

Smart contracts control coin supply and issuance, as well as coin migration between chains, and the team has pledged to keep its hands free from directing development or swaying governance. “After its launch,” one Metronome FAQ answer reads, “authors will have no more control over MET than any other member of the MET community.”

We had the opportunity to interview Jeff Garzik to learn more about his latest project.

Bitcoin Magazine: The first thing that stands out is the cross-blockchain portability. Namely, how will this be accomplished, and does it really mean that I’ll be able to swap my MET from Ethereum’s chain to, say, QTUM’s or Stellar’s?

Jeff Garzik: Exporting one’s MET to another blockchain is a process where the owner chooses a target blockchain when initiating the export, and then receives a Merkle root receipt proving they have the MET that they are exporting. The process “burns” or destroys the MET on Blockchain A, and when the owner provides that receipt to the contracts on Blockchain B, they will have the same amount of MET minted for them on that blockchain. The burning of Blockchain A’s MET is to ensure that global supply remains constant.

So, we are careful to not describe it as a “swap,” per se, because it’s actually the opposite of a swap — the asset itself is moving, just as if you were moving gold from one safe to another.

BM: Metronome’s FAQ states, “As the community continues developing MET, it may be compatible with even more blockchains.” Does this mean that community developers will be able to build on the protocol to make it interoperable with other chains?

JG: Regarding ongoing development, Metronome is completely open source, and there is no foundation deciding its trajectory — that responsibility is with the community. Consider Bitcoin: there was no “foundation” in the beginning. Similarly, we don’t want to create enshrined leaders of Metronome, which is what a foundation does. Creating a Metronome author-run foundation at the outset bakes in community dependence on that foundation, which is a centralizing force we wish to avoid.

The community can choose a chain they wish to develop compatibility for and work toward that. In the very near term, you’ll be able to transfer from the Ethereum chain to Ethereum Classic, QTUM or another chain using the Ethereum Virtual Machine. From there? Time will tell.

BM: Is coin migration done automatically through the smart contract? Or does some miner/intermediary manually execute this function for a user?

JG: The answer is key to governance. The user holds and controls that “receipt” received when MET is exported from one blockchain. The user chooses when to export/import and must manually initiate that action.

BM: How is the team ensuring that Metronome’s smart contracts and wallets are going to be stable? There have been so many hacks of wallets and bugs in contracts, especially with ERC20 tokens and Ethereum-based smart contracts.

JG: As to the stability of Metronome’s contracts, they have been rigorously reviewed by four independent auditors. The team has gone the extra mile to ensure that those contracts will be as rock-solid as humanly possible at launch. As to the wallet, being standards-compliant with ERC20 of course means that you inherit all of that standard’s characteristics — mostly favorable in terms of compatibility and interoperability — as well as its limitations and those of the cryptocurrency category in general.

BM: Where did the idea for Metronome come from? What compelled you and Matthew Roszak to migrate to new projects from your current projects?

JG: Two answers: first, I have been in the cryptocurrency space for a long time as one of the first to start contributing to Bitcoin. The ensuing years have given me enough perspective to ask, “Knowing what I now know about cryptocurrencies and how the communities around them operate, how would I redesign a cryptocurrency from scratch that would be enduring and satisfy the most use cases?” With Metronome, we have built a cryptocurrency intended to serve as a store of value, method of exchange, machine-to-machine payment medium and other applications.

The second answer, though, is a bit more philosophical. I’m a big fan of ideas like the Long Now Foundation, which aims to encourage civilizations to think in terms of generational scale rather than months, quarters and years. That kind of spirit inspired the cross-blockchain idea. For a currency to be truly multi-generational in scale, it cannot be tied to a single, native ledger.

BM: Governance and reliability are key to the project, it seems. How will Metronome’s governance protect itself from the control of its authors/founding members?

JG: Once launched, Metronome is completely autonomous. There is no foundation where the proceeds from auctions are hidden away for founders, and there is no centralized group defining Metronome post-launch. Even if the founders wanted to manipulate and control Metronome (we don’t), we simply would not be able to.

Additionally, by rewarding the founding team with tokens (rather than proceeds) and slowly disbursing them according to a mechanical rule, we assure the community that the founding team is properly motivated in Metronome’s early years.

BM: For issuance, what will it do differently to ensure a steady, unmanipulated inflation rate?

JG: Metronome’s issuance is locked in at launch, and any new contracts must accept the issuance logic. (The rate is the greater of 2,880 MET per day or whatever amount necessary to achieve a steady 2 percent annual rate.) Issuance is based on time, not on hash or staking power, since both are subject to fluctuations that create variability over time for circulating supply.

BM: It seems as if Metronome’s modus operandi is its commitment to community control. Is Metronome trying to “fix” decentralization and reintroduce it into a space that continues to grapple with centralizing forces?

JG: Greater decentralization is something we have been fixated on since we started this journey in spring of 2017. The current cryptocurrency landscape (especially when considering new cryptocurrencies) is not all that decentralized. Small groups of developers and foundations largely define the course, scope and goals of a cryptocurrency.

Metronome is looking to return to the original promises of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin, where updates and goals are community driven without too much customary deference to a small group. Metronome does this through a unique take on community governance through self-governance.

BM: In a Medium post, Metronome’s team says that the coin is “being built to last.” What features do you think make this a coin for the long run?

JG: We believe that every aspect of Metronome makes it more durable. Self-governance allows the community to define and build Metronome, not a far-off foundation. A reliable and a highly predictable issuance allows owners and purchasers to calculate supply at any point in the future with high confidence. Portability allows Metronome owners to move their MET to any compatible blockchain for whatever reason they see fit, rather than locking themselves into a set of rules and chain permanence. These characteristics make Metronome both flexible and resilient — two necessary attributes for the long haul.

In sum: we are introducing a wholly new concept — a token that is not tied to a blockchain. Other tokens are tied to a single network, a single technology and a single blockchain. Metronome is something new. We’re very proud of the results and are looking forward to seeing where the crypto and fintech ecosystem takes it.  

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

from InvestmentOpportunityInCryptocurrencies via Ella Macdermott on Inoreader https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/jeff-garzik-his-newest-venture-and-keeping-time-evolving-space/

[foursprout-blog]

4 Things We Think We Need Today that Won’t Matter at All in the Long Run

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/happiness/4-things-we-think-we-need-today-that-wont-matter-at-all-in-the-long-run/

4 Things We Think We Need Today that Won’t Matter at All in the Long Run

Do more than just exist. We all exist. The question is: Are you living?

On a rainy Sunday morning 15 years ago, as Angel and I were struggling to cope with the recent, back-to-back deaths of two loved ones, I sat down at the kitchen table and had a full-blown intervention with myself.  I read through hundreds of archived entries in five different journals I had kept over the years.  Specifically, I was looking for all the unfulfilled goals, dreams and visions for the future I had jotted down along the way.  And it didn’t take long before I realized the course my life had taken up to that point had been the product of other people’s ideas, opinions and decisions.  I knew all too well that life was short, yet every day I was just going through the motions and doing what I was “supposed” to do, instead of what was right for ME.

I was in line.

I was comfortable.

And I was utterly distracted from what matters most in life.

But, fast forward to today, and as I awoke this morning I marveled at my life.  Where once I awoke with inner resistance at the thought of a new day, now I wake up with excitement to begin, grateful to be doing what I’m doing on a daily basis, grateful I got my priorities straight and gave myself a fair shot.

I tell you this because I know life can get crazy.  Sometimes it gets so busy and difficult that we forget how important it is to actually listen to ourselves.  We fill our calendars, our social media feeds, and our days with various forms of distraction, just to avoid doing the little uncomfortable things required to get us from where we are to where we hope to be.  The instant we feel a bit of discomfort, we run off in the direction of the nearest shiny object that catches our attention.  And this habit gradually dismantles our best intentions and our true potential.  Our dreams and priorities go by the wayside, and we’re left regretting another wasted year.

Yes, most of us suffer from a severe misalignment of our priorities, even though, deep down, we know our lives are quickly passing us by.

If you can relate in any way, I’m happy to tell you that things can change if you want them to, at any age.

Just as I have turned things around for myself, I know hundreds of other people who have done the same.  Through a decade of coaching our students and our live seminar attendees, Angel and I have witnessed people reinventing themselves at all ages—48-year-olds starting families, 57-year-olds graduating from college for the first time, 71-year-olds starting successful businesses, and so forth.

How did we all do it?

Well, the first step is we stopped wasting so much time and energy on things that don’t matter.  This transition, of course, takes practice.  But if you’re ready to follow our lead and get started, here are four insanely popular ideas that ultimately rob us of the life we are capable of living…

1.  We think we need all those text messages, social updates, memes, and perfect Instagram pics.

If it entertains you now but will hurt or bore you someday, it’s a distraction.  Don’t settle.  Don’t exchange what you want most for what you kind of want at the moment.  Study your habits.  Figure out where your time goes, and remove distractions.  It’s time to focus on what matters.

A good place to start?

Learn to be more human again.  Don’t avoid eye contact.  Don’t hide behind gadgets.  Smile often.  Ask about people’s stories.  Listen.  You can’t connect with anyone, including yourself, unless you are undistracted and present.  And you can’t be either of the two when you’re Facebooking, Instagramming or Snapchatting your life away.  You just can’t!

If you are constantly attached to your smartphone and only listening with your ears as your eyes check for the next social update, you are ripping yourself off of actually experiencing real relationships and real life.  The same is true for texting too.  Yes, someday you will be slapped with the reality of a missed MEMORY being far more unsettling than a missed TEXT!

Let this be your wake-up call!  Too often we choose to distract ourselves with gadgets and news and videos and music and memes, 24/7, just to stimulate ourselves.  It’s like second nature to us—we’re so used to feeling like the present moment isn’t worthy of our full presence.  And this mindset of dissatisfaction and distraction—of reality never being enough for us – trickles into every facet of our lives…

We are continuously thinking about what’s to come, as if it’s not enough to appreciate what we have right now.

We sit down to relax for a moment and then immediately feel the urge to read something on our phones, as if relaxing for a moment isn’t enough.

We procrastinate when it’s time to work, choosing more distractions, as if the process of doing good work isn’t enough for us.

We get annoyed with people when they fail to live up to our expectations, as if the reality of who they are isn’t enough for us.

We resist changes in our lives, in our relationships, and in our careers, because the reality feels like it’s not enough.

We reject situations, people, and even ourselves, because we feel like none of it is enough for us right now.

But what if we did the opposite?

What if we accepted this moment, and everything and everyone in it (including ourselves), as exactly enough?

What if we admitted that life is slipping away right now, and saw the fleeting time we have as enough, without needing to share it on social media or capture it or filter it in any way?

What if we accepted the “bad” with the good, the letdowns with the lessons, the annoying with the beautiful, the anxiety with the opportunity, as part of a package deal that this moment alone is offering us?

What if we paused right now, and saw everything with perfect clarity and no distractions?

Keep thinking about it…

Would we live more meaningful and memorable lives?

Would we have more beautiful stories to cherish and share?

I think we would.

And thus, I think now is the best time to pay attention.

Now is the best time to look around and be grateful—for our health, our homes, our families, our friends, and our momentary opportunities.

Nothing else will matter as much when we look back someday.

2.  We think we need more approval from the masses.

We worry about what other people think of us.  We worry about our appearance.  We worry if she’ll like us.  We worry if he likes that other woman.  We worry that we’re not accomplishing all that we should be.  We worry that we’ll fall flat on our faces.  We worry that we’re not enough just the way we are.  And of course, we worry about all those foolish, thoughtless things someone once said about us.

And social media—with its culture of getting us to seek constant approval with virtual likes and hearts—with its endless highlight reel of perfect bodies and epic travels—it only intensifies the problem.  Realize this.  You don’t need any of that social validation and distraction in your life!

It’s the strength of your conviction that determines your level of personal achievement in the long run, not the number of people who agree with every little thing you do.  Ultimately, you will know that you’ve made the right decisions and followed the appropriate path when there is genuine peace in your heart, and when the few people who truly mean the world to you are the ones celebrating your success alongside you.

It’s nice to have acquaintances.  It’s important to be involved in your community to an extent.  But don’t get carried away and spread yourself too thin.  Leave plenty of time for the people and projects that matter most to you.  Your time is extremely limited, and sooner or later you just want more of it with the select few people and projects that make you smile for all the right reasons.

The ultimate goal is to never let some random person’s opinion become your reality.  To never sacrifice who you are, or who you aspire to be, because someone on the internet has a problem with it.  To love who you are inside and out as you push forward.  And to realize once and for all that no one else has the power to make you feel small unless you give them that power.

Of course, sometimes the pressure and dysfunctional judgements coming from peers, work, and society in general is enough to make us feel completely broken inside.  If we do things differently, we’re looked down upon.  If we dream big, we’re ridiculed.  Or if we don’t have the “right” job, relationship, lifestyle, and so forth, by a certain age or time frame, we’re told that we’re not good enough.  But that is just NOT true, and it’s your job to acknowledge it!

So, here’s a new mantra for you (say it, and then say it again): “This is my life, my choices, my mistakes and my lessons.  As long as I’m not hurting people, I need not worry what they think of me.”

3.  We think we need to engage in the daily drama that seems so significant.

99% of the drama in our lives isn’t significant in the long run, because it isn’t even real.  It’s all in our heads.  Just a momentary rise in our blood pressure for all the wrong reasons.

In a nutshell, most drama is simply the consequence of our inner resistance to outer incidents.

Thus, there’s a strong chance the drama you are going through at any given moment is not fueled by the words or deeds of others, or any external sources at all; it is fueled primarily by your mind that gives the drama importance.

And yes, we all do this to ourselves sometimes.

But why?

Why do we get so easily stressed out and sucked into needless drama?

It’s because the world isn’t the predictable, orderly, blissful place we’d like it to be.  We want things to be easy, comfortable and well ordered 24/7.  But, unfortunately, sometimes work is hectic, relationships are challenging, important people demand our time, we aren’t as prepared as we’d like to be, and there’s just too much to do and learn and process in our minds.

So our inner resistance begins to boil over.

The problem is that we’re holding on too tightly to ideals that don’t match reality.  We have subconsciously set up expectations in our minds of what we want other people to be, what we want ourselves to be, and what our work and relationships and life “should” be like.  Our attachment to our ideals—our resistance to accept things as they are—stirs stress in our minds and drama in our lives.

And we don’t want to be a part of this drama.  At least that’s what we tell ourselves.  So we blame others for it… and then we engage in even more of it!

But there’s good news: we can break the cycle, let go of drama, and find peace with reality.

How?

I’m going to suggest a simple practice for whenever you feel stress, resistance, worry, and all the other draining mindsets that fuel drama in your life:

Focus, carefully, on what you’re feeling.  Don’t numb it with distractions, but instead bring it further into your awareness.

Turn to it, and welcome it.  Smile, and give what you feel your full presence.

Notice the feeling in your body.  Where is the feeling situated, and what unique qualities does it have?

Notice the tension in your body, and also in your mind, that arises from this feeling.

Try relaxing the tense parts of your body.  Then relax the tense parts of your mind.  Do so by focusing on your breath: Close your eyes, breathe in and feel it, breathe out and feel it, again and again, until you feel more relaxed.

In this more relaxed state, find some quiet space within yourself.  And in this space…

Allow yourself to rediscover the fundamental goodness within you, that’s present in every moment.

Allow yourself to rediscover the fundamental goodness of this very moment, that’s always available to you whenever you’re willing to focus on it.

Take time to just sit with the inner peace these two simple rediscoveries bring.

This is the practice of letting go of drama, and simply accepting this moment as it is, and yourself as you are.

You can do this anytime, wherever you are.  You can practice focusing on the goodness in others as well.  Seeing the goodness in your challenges and relationships and work, and so on and so forth.

You can build a healthy daily ritual of stopping the needless drama in your life, and rediscovering the peace and joy and love that are always just a few thoughts away.  (Note: Angel and I build healthy, life-changing daily rituals like this with our students in the “Goals and Growth” module of Getting Back to Happy.)

4.  We think we need another comfortable, leisurely day.

A comfortable, leisurely day sounds nice, for a moment.  But it’s not the kind of day you’ll look back on with gratitude for how far you’ve come.

Truth be told, the most common and destructive addiction in the world is the draw of comfort.  Why pursue growth when you already have 400 television channels, YouTube and a recliner?  Just pass the dip and lose yourself in a trance.

WRONG!  That’s not living—that’s existing.

Living is about learning and growing through excitement and discomfort.  It’s about asking questions and seeking answers.  And life is filled with questions, many of which don’t have an obvious or immediate answer.  It’s your willingness to ask these questions, and your courage to march boldly into the unknown in search of the answers on a daily basis, that gives life it’s meaning.

In the end, you can spend your life feeling sorry for yourself, cowering in the comfort of a recliner, wondering why there are so many problems out in the real world, or you can be thankful that you are strong enough to endure them.  It just depends on your mindset.  The obvious first step in this arena, though, is convincing yourself to get up and do the uncomfortable things that need to be done.

Think about it…

How many times over the past year has the psychological draw of comfort plagued your best intentions?

How many workouts have you missed because your mind, not your body, told you that you were too tired?

How many workout reps have you skipped because your mind, not your body, said, “Nine reps is enough.  Don’t worry about the tenth”?

In the past year alone the answer to all three questions is probably dozens for most people, including myself.  And these questions can be easily reworked and applied to various areas of our lives too.  The bottom line is that the draw of comfort—a common weakness of the mind—combined with lack of action, absolutely devastates our potential.  When we avoid discomfort, nothing worthwhile gets done.  And the only way to fix this predicament is daily practice.

Your mind needs to be exercised to gain strength.  It needs to be worked on a daily basis to grow.  If you haven’t pushed yourself in lots of small ways over time—if you always avoid doing the uncomfortable things—you’ll almost certainly crumble on the inevitable days that are harder than you expected.  (Again, Angel and I build small, uncomfortable daily rituals with our students in the “Goals and Growth” module of Getting Back to Happy.)

So, my challenge to you starting today is this:

Choose to go to the gym when it would be more comfortable to sleep in.  Choose to do the tenth rep when it would be more comfortable to quit at nine.  Choose to create something special when it would be more comfortable to consume something mediocre.  Choose to raise your hand and ask that extra question when it would be more comfortable to stay silent.  Choose to stand your ground when it would be more comfortable to fit in.  Just keep proving to yourself in lots of little ways, every day, that you have the guts to get up, get in the ring, and fight for the life you are capable of living.

It’s time to practice…

Just like you, Angel and I are not immune to any of the points discussed above.  None of us are above this stuff.  Sometimes we let our weak impulses get the best of us.  And it takes practice just to realize this, and then even more practice, still, to get ourselves back on track.

I sincerely hope you will practice along with us.

And if you’re feeling up to it, we would love to hear from YOU, too.

Which point mentioned above resonates with you the most today, and why?

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, be sure to sign-up for our free newsletter to receive new articles like this in your inbox each week.

[jesusvasser]

First Drive: 2018 Ford F-150

The 10-year old inside me is freaking the hell out. I’m driving a cherry-red 1950 Ford F1 pickup truck. It is wonderful. With just 100 hp from its flathead V-8 and no synchros for the three-speed manual gearbox, it’s pure, honest, and majestic in its simplicity. It’s also a refreshing reminder of how far Ford and the F-Series have come, now 70 years on from the F1’s birth in 1948. Critical to that continuum has been a mantra of constant improvement, and from our first crack at the refreshed 2018 F-150 and its new powertrains, Ford is staying true to the lifeblood of the brand.

Life’s good over at the truck department in Dearborn, as the F-150’s big switch to an aluminum body for its all-new generation in 2015 has paid off. F-Series sales in 2016 totaled 820,799 units, far and away the best showing since Ford broke the 900,000 mark in 2005. So far in 2017, sales are nearing 500,000 units, which Ford says puts it 57,000 north of where the F-Series was last year at this time. Ford isn’t resting on its laurels though; not only does the 2018 F-150 get the usual styling updates and tech add-ons that come with a mid-cycle update, but also major powertrain changes yield power, torque, and fuel economy gains across nearly the entire lineup.

One big upgrade that makes this possible is direct-injection technology, now included alongside multi-port fuel injection in every engine available. Multi-port fuel-injection alone handles idle and low rpm situations, but as speed and pressure build, direct-injection takes on more and more of a role (port injection never turns totally off). Combined with Ford’s new 10-speed automatic (co-developed with General Motors), performance and efficiency take a fine step forward.

While Ford already included this fuel-injection strategy in its 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6, the new 3.3-liter naturally aspirated V-6, 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6, and 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V-8 are also on board. The 3.3-liter is the F-150’s new base engine, taking over for the outgoing 3.5-liter V-6. Despite the drop in displacement, output is up to 290 hp and 265 lb-ft, gains of 8 hp and 12 lb-ft, respectively. XL and XLT trims will offer this engine, mated exclusively to a carry-over six-speed automatic transmission. EPA figures for this powertrain improve by 1 mpg in both city and highway ratings.

I first hopped into an XLT SuperCrew 4×4. Once just barely out of earshot from the Ford event tent, my drive partner laid into the throttle with full force. Not bad. The engine makes very usable power, but it does so way up at 6,500 rpm, and it has to work pretty hard to get there. It sounds sad and brutal doing it, as well. And while the transmission usually does a good job of not hunting for gears, it’s a bit slow to shift and you really notice a big kick-down when you need to quickly dip into the throttle. That said, for a base engine, the new V-6 is far from an anchor, and I think most people who just want to get into an F-150 for cheap won’t be disappointed. Given the wide range of available features even at lower trim levels (this XLT had SYNC 3, heated seats, blind-spot warning with tow monitoring, and a bunch more), there’s more than enough to keep people happy.

Every other engine in the lineup switches over to the 10-speed automatic, starting with the 2.7-liter twin-turbo V-6. Direct-injection does nothing to change the 2.7’s 325 hp, but torque sees a healthy 25 lb-ft jump to 400. With the new gearbox, fuel economy for the 2.7-liter goes up by 1 mpg in both city and highway ratings for the 4×4 model. Of all the variants I drove, this engine was the one I’d pick for myself, and the one I think suits most buyers (Ford confirms that it’s already the best-seller of the bunch).

Our previous impressions of the outgoing F-150 2.7-liter were glowing about the engine but mum on the six-speed, which editors resoundingly panned for its reluctance to downshift and questionable gear selection. Those concerns are history. The marriage with this new 10-speed is indeed a happy one; gear selection is always on point and shift action is both smooth and consistent. At low speeds, there’s plenty of low-end torque to get going, and when I flipped the drive-mode selector into Sport and matted the gas, I was both surprised and thrilled with immediate downshift and forceful kick of the twin-boosted V-6 in the Lariat SuperCrew 4×4. With its flexible combination of towing capability (max. 8,500 pounds), fuel economy, and everyday performance, this is the powertrain to get.

Nevertheless, there are those for whom a V-8 engine is the only worthy choice. About 25 percent of customers opt for the old-school workhorse. The sound alone makes me understand why. When I dug deep into the power well, the entire cabin of the V-8-powered Lariat SuperCrew 4×4 filled with a bassy roar, and the smoothness of predictability of the free-breathing V-8 has a strong appeal. Total muscle is up by 10 hp and 13 lb-ft of torque, ringing in at 395 hp and 400 lb-ft. EPA ratings for fuel economy also increase by 1 mpg across the board, except in the 2WD city category, where it increases by 2 mpg. Still, even with the undeniable fun-factor the V-8 offers, unless you really need more towing or payload capability than what the 2.7-liter can muster, I’d go with the little V-6 that could.

Of course, ultimate performance from an output, efficiency, towing, and payload perspective still belongs to the top-dog 3.5-liter EcoBoost. My only time behind the wheel of an F-150 with the bigger twin-turbo six, which received direct injection for 2017 and carries over unchanged with an output of 375 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque sent through the 10-speed auto, was while launching a boat using the Pro Trailer Backup Assist system. While I was nowhere near the truck’s best-in-class max towing capacity of 13,200 pounds (its max payload of 3,230 lb is close; the V-8 gets top position at 3,270 lb), I had no trouble backing the boat into the water. Despite my lack of towing and trailering experience, it was basically point and shoot to maneuver the boat on the correct path. Once the calibration is set, all it takes is pressing the button to engage the assist mode, shifting into reverse, and using the rotary knob to point the trailer where you want it to go. The steering wheel takes care of itself, so all you have to do is watch the mirrors and adjust as necessary. Piece of cake.

In addition to that friendly piece of tech, the 2018 Ford F-150 also gets B&O Play audio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, SYNC 3, 4G LTE with Wi-Fi for up to 10 devices, and an adaptive cruise control system with stop-and-go capability.

None of that fancy stuff was ever in the imagination of the original 1948 F-Series’ creators, but I like to think they’d be psyched to see what good seven decades has done for their truck. Better powertrains, more capability, and useful bells and whistles is nothing to complain about, after all. And once the new 3.0-liter Power Stroke diesel joins the mix in spring 2018 as the first-ever oil-burner in an F-150, there will be even more for Dearborn to brag about to their Detroit-area rivals.

2018 Ford F-150 Specifications

ON SALE Fall 2017 PRICE $28,000 (base) ENGINE 3.3L DOHC 24-valve V-6/290 hp @ 6,500 rpm, 265 lb-ft @4,000 rpm; 2.7L twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6/325 hp @ 5,000 rpm, 400 lb-ft @ 2,750 rpm; 5.0L DOHC 32-valve V-8/395 hp @ 5,750 rpm, 400 lb-ft @ 4,500 rpm; 3.5-liter twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6/375 hp @ 5,000 rpm, 470 lb-ft @ 3,500 rpm TRANSMISSION 10-speed automatic LAYOUT 2- or 4-door, 42800-passenger, front-engine, RWD/4WD truck EPA MILEAGE 17-20/22-25 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 209.3-250.5 x 79.9 x 75.5-77.3 in WHEELBASE 122.4-163.7 in WEIGHT 4,069-4,964 lb 0-60 MPH N/A TOP SPEED N/A

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[robertkstone]

First Drive: 2018 Ford F-150

The 10-year old inside me is freaking the hell out. I’m driving a cherry-red 1950 Ford F1 pickup truck. It is wonderful. With just 100 hp from its flathead V-8 and no synchros for the three-speed manual gearbox, it’s pure, honest, and majestic in its simplicity. It’s also a refreshing reminder of how far Ford and the F-Series have come, now 70 years on from the F1’s birth in 1948. Critical to that continuum has been a mantra of constant improvement, and from our first crack at the refreshed 2018 F-150 and its new powertrains, Ford is staying true to the lifeblood of the brand.

Life’s good over at the truck department in Dearborn, as the F-150’s big switch to an aluminum body for its all-new generation in 2015 has paid off. F-Series sales in 2016 totaled 820,799 units, far and away the best showing since Ford broke the 900,000 mark in 2005. So far in 2017, sales are nearing 500,000 units, which Ford says puts it 57,000 north of where the F-Series was last year at this time. Ford isn’t resting on its laurels though; not only does the 2018 F-150 get the usual styling updates and tech add-ons that come with a mid-cycle update, but also major powertrain changes yield power, torque, and fuel economy gains across nearly the entire lineup.

One big upgrade that makes this possible is direct-injection technology, now included alongside multi-port fuel injection in every engine available. Multi-port fuel-injection alone handles idle and low rpm situations, but as speed and pressure build, direct-injection takes on more and more of a role (port injection never turns totally off). Combined with Ford’s new 10-speed automatic (co-developed with General Motors), performance and efficiency take a fine step forward.

While Ford already included this fuel-injection strategy in its 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6, the new 3.3-liter naturally aspirated V-6, 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6, and 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V-8 are also on board. The 3.3-liter is the F-150’s new base engine, taking over for the outgoing 3.5-liter V-6. Despite the drop in displacement, output is up to 290 hp and 265 lb-ft, gains of 8 hp and 12 lb-ft, respectively. XL and XLT trims will offer this engine, mated exclusively to a carry-over six-speed automatic transmission. EPA figures for this powertrain improve by 1 mpg in both city and highway ratings.

I first hopped into an XLT SuperCrew 4×4. Once just barely out of earshot from the Ford event tent, my drive partner laid into the throttle with full force. Not bad. The engine makes very usable power, but it does so way up at 6,500 rpm, and it has to work pretty hard to get there. It sounds sad and brutal doing it, as well. And while the transmission usually does a good job of not hunting for gears, it’s a bit slow to shift and you really notice a big kick-down when you need to quickly dip into the throttle. That said, for a base engine, the new V-6 is far from an anchor, and I think most people who just want to get into an F-150 for cheap won’t be disappointed. Given the wide range of available features even at lower trim levels (this XLT had SYNC 3, heated seats, blind-spot warning with tow monitoring, and a bunch more), there’s more than enough to keep people happy.

Every other engine in the lineup switches over to the 10-speed automatic, starting with the 2.7-liter twin-turbo V-6. Direct-injection does nothing to change the 2.7’s 325 hp, but torque sees a healthy 25 lb-ft jump to 400. With the new gearbox, fuel economy for the 2.7-liter goes up by 1 mpg in both city and highway ratings for the 4×4 model. Of all the variants I drove, this engine was the one I’d pick for myself, and the one I think suits most buyers (Ford confirms that it’s already the best-seller of the bunch).

Our previous impressions of the outgoing F-150 2.7-liter were glowing about the engine but mum on the six-speed, which editors resoundingly panned for its reluctance to downshift and questionable gear selection. Those concerns are history. The marriage with this new 10-speed is indeed a happy one; gear selection is always on point and shift action is both smooth and consistent. At low speeds, there’s plenty of low-end torque to get going, and when I flipped the drive-mode selector into Sport and matted the gas, I was both surprised and thrilled with immediate downshift and forceful kick of the twin-boosted V-6 in the Lariat SuperCrew 4×4. With its flexible combination of towing capability (max. 8,500 pounds), fuel economy, and everyday performance, this is the powertrain to get.

Nevertheless, there are those for whom a V-8 engine is the only worthy choice. About 25 percent of customers opt for the old-school workhorse. The sound alone makes me understand why. When I dug deep into the power well, the entire cabin of the V-8-powered Lariat SuperCrew 4×4 filled with a bassy roar, and the smoothness of predictability of the free-breathing V-8 has a strong appeal. Total muscle is up by 10 hp and 13 lb-ft of torque, ringing in at 395 hp and 400 lb-ft. EPA ratings for fuel economy also increase by 1 mpg across the board, except in the 2WD city category, where it increases by 2 mpg. Still, even with the undeniable fun-factor the V-8 offers, unless you really need more towing or payload capability than what the 2.7-liter can muster, I’d go with the little V-6 that could.

Of course, ultimate performance from an output, efficiency, towing, and payload perspective still belongs to the top-dog 3.5-liter EcoBoost. My only time behind the wheel of an F-150 with the bigger twin-turbo six, which received direct injection for 2017 and carries over unchanged with an output of 375 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque sent through the 10-speed auto, was while launching a boat using the Pro Trailer Backup Assist system. While I was nowhere near the truck’s best-in-class max towing capacity of 13,200 pounds (its max payload of 3,230 lb is close; the V-8 gets top position at 3,270 lb), I had no trouble backing the boat into the water. Despite my lack of towing and trailering experience, it was basically point and shoot to maneuver the boat on the correct path. Once the calibration is set, all it takes is pressing the button to engage the assist mode, shifting into reverse, and using the rotary knob to point the trailer where you want it to go. The steering wheel takes care of itself, so all you have to do is watch the mirrors and adjust as necessary. Piece of cake.

In addition to that friendly piece of tech, the 2018 Ford F-150 also gets B&O Play audio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, SYNC 3, 4G LTE with Wi-Fi for up to 10 devices, and an adaptive cruise control system with stop-and-go capability.

None of that fancy stuff was ever in the imagination of the original 1948 F-Series’ creators, but I like to think they’d be psyched to see what good seven decades has done for their truck. Better powertrains, more capability, and useful bells and whistles is nothing to complain about, after all. And once the new 3.0-liter Power Stroke diesel joins the mix in spring 2018 as the first-ever oil-burner in an F-150, there will be even more for Dearborn to brag about to their Detroit-area rivals.

2018 Ford F-150 Specifications

ON SALE Fall 2017 PRICE $28,000 (base) ENGINE 3.3L DOHC 24-valve V-6/290 hp @ 6,500 rpm, 265 lb-ft @4,000 rpm; 2.7L twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6/325 hp @ 5,000 rpm, 400 lb-ft @ 2,750 rpm; 5.0L DOHC 32-valve V-8/395 hp @ 5,750 rpm, 400 lb-ft @ 4,500 rpm; 3.5-liter twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6/375 hp @ 5,000 rpm, 470 lb-ft @ 3,500 rpm TRANSMISSION 10-speed automatic LAYOUT 2- or 4-door, 42800-passenger, front-engine, RWD/4WD truck EPA MILEAGE 17-20/22-25 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 209.3-250.5 x 79.9 x 75.5-77.3 in WHEELBASE 122.4-163.7 in WEIGHT 4,069-4,964 lb 0-60 MPH N/A TOP SPEED N/A

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[eddiejpoplar]

First Drive: 2018 Ford F-150

The 10-year old inside me is freaking the hell out. I’m driving a cherry-red 1950 Ford F1 pickup truck. It is wonderful. With just 100 hp from its flathead V-8 and no synchros for the three-speed manual gearbox, it’s pure, honest, and majestic in its simplicity. It’s also a refreshing reminder of how far Ford and the F-Series have come, now 70 years on from the F1’s birth in 1948. Critical to that continuum has been a mantra of constant improvement, and from our first crack at the refreshed 2018 F-150 and its new powertrains, Ford is staying true to the lifeblood of the brand.

Life’s good over at the truck department in Dearborn, as the F-150’s big switch to an aluminum body for its all-new generation in 2015 has paid off. F-Series sales in 2016 totaled 820,799 units, far and away the best showing since Ford broke the 900,000 mark in 2005. So far in 2017, sales are nearing 500,000 units, which Ford says puts it 57,000 north of where the F-Series was last year at this time. Ford isn’t resting on its laurels though; not only does the 2018 F-150 get the usual styling updates and tech add-ons that come with a mid-cycle update, but also major powertrain changes yield power, torque, and fuel economy gains across nearly the entire lineup.

One big upgrade that makes this possible is direct-injection technology, now included alongside multi-port fuel injection in every engine available. Multi-port fuel-injection alone handles idle and low rpm situations, but as speed and pressure build, direct-injection takes on more and more of a role (port injection never turns totally off). Combined with Ford’s new 10-speed automatic (co-developed with General Motors), performance and efficiency take a fine step forward.

While Ford already included this fuel-injection strategy in its 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6, the new 3.3-liter naturally aspirated V-6, 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6, and 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V-8 are also on board. The 3.3-liter is the F-150’s new base engine, taking over for the outgoing 3.5-liter V-6. Despite the drop in displacement, output is up to 290 hp and 265 lb-ft, gains of 8 hp and 12 lb-ft, respectively. XL and XLT trims will offer this engine, mated exclusively to a carry-over six-speed automatic transmission. EPA figures for this powertrain improve by 1 mpg in both city and highway ratings.

I first hopped into an XLT SuperCrew 4×4. Once just barely out of earshot from the Ford event tent, my drive partner laid into the throttle with full force. Not bad. The engine makes very usable power, but it does so way up at 6,500 rpm, and it has to work pretty hard to get there. It sounds sad and brutal doing it, as well. And while the transmission usually does a good job of not hunting for gears, it’s a bit slow to shift and you really notice a big kick-down when you need to quickly dip into the throttle. That said, for a base engine, the new V-6 is far from an anchor, and I think most people who just want to get into an F-150 for cheap won’t be disappointed. Given the wide range of available features even at lower trim levels (this XLT had SYNC 3, heated seats, blind-spot warning with tow monitoring, and a bunch more), there’s more than enough to keep people happy.

Every other engine in the lineup switches over to the 10-speed automatic, starting with the 2.7-liter twin-turbo V-6. Direct-injection does nothing to change the 2.7’s 325 hp, but torque sees a healthy 25 lb-ft jump to 400. With the new gearbox, fuel economy for the 2.7-liter goes up by 1 mpg in both city and highway ratings for the 4×4 model. Of all the variants I drove, this engine was the one I’d pick for myself, and the one I think suits most buyers (Ford confirms that it’s already the best-seller of the bunch).

Our previous impressions of the outgoing F-150 2.7-liter were glowing about the engine but mum on the six-speed, which editors resoundingly panned for its reluctance to downshift and questionable gear selection. Those concerns are history. The marriage with this new 10-speed is indeed a happy one; gear selection is always on point and shift action is both smooth and consistent. At low speeds, there’s plenty of low-end torque to get going, and when I flipped the drive-mode selector into Sport and matted the gas, I was both surprised and thrilled with immediate downshift and forceful kick of the twin-boosted V-6 in the Lariat SuperCrew 4×4. With its flexible combination of towing capability (max. 8,500 pounds), fuel economy, and everyday performance, this is the powertrain to get.

Nevertheless, there are those for whom a V-8 engine is the only worthy choice. About 25 percent of customers opt for the old-school workhorse. The sound alone makes me understand why. When I dug deep into the power well, the entire cabin of the V-8-powered Lariat SuperCrew 4×4 filled with a bassy roar, and the smoothness of predictability of the free-breathing V-8 has a strong appeal. Total muscle is up by 10 hp and 13 lb-ft of torque, ringing in at 395 hp and 400 lb-ft. EPA ratings for fuel economy also increase by 1 mpg across the board, except in the 2WD city category, where it increases by 2 mpg. Still, even with the undeniable fun-factor the V-8 offers, unless you really need more towing or payload capability than what the 2.7-liter can muster, I’d go with the little V-6 that could.

Of course, ultimate performance from an output, efficiency, towing, and payload perspective still belongs to the top-dog 3.5-liter EcoBoost. My only time behind the wheel of an F-150 with the bigger twin-turbo six, which received direct injection for 2017 and carries over unchanged with an output of 375 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque sent through the 10-speed auto, was while launching a boat using the Pro Trailer Backup Assist system. While I was nowhere near the truck’s best-in-class max towing capacity of 13,200 pounds (its max payload of 3,230 lb is close; the V-8 gets top position at 3,270 lb), I had no trouble backing the boat into the water. Despite my lack of towing and trailering experience, it was basically point and shoot to maneuver the boat on the correct path. Once the calibration is set, all it takes is pressing the button to engage the assist mode, shifting into reverse, and using the rotary knob to point the trailer where you want it to go. The steering wheel takes care of itself, so all you have to do is watch the mirrors and adjust as necessary. Piece of cake.

In addition to that friendly piece of tech, the 2018 Ford F-150 also gets B&O Play audio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, SYNC 3, 4G LTE with Wi-Fi for up to 10 devices, and an adaptive cruise control system with stop-and-go capability.

None of that fancy stuff was ever in the imagination of the original 1948 F-Series’ creators, but I like to think they’d be psyched to see what good seven decades has done for their truck. Better powertrains, more capability, and useful bells and whistles is nothing to complain about, after all. And once the new 3.0-liter Power Stroke diesel joins the mix in spring 2018 as the first-ever oil-burner in an F-150, there will be even more for Dearborn to brag about to their Detroit-area rivals.

2018 Ford F-150 Specifications

ON SALE Fall 2017 PRICE $28,000 (base) ENGINE 3.3L DOHC 24-valve V-6/290 hp @ 6,500 rpm, 265 lb-ft @4,000 rpm; 2.7L twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6/325 hp @ 5,000 rpm, 400 lb-ft @ 2,750 rpm; 5.0L DOHC 32-valve V-8/395 hp @ 5,750 rpm, 400 lb-ft @ 4,500 rpm; 3.5-liter twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6/375 hp @ 5,000 rpm, 470 lb-ft @ 3,500 rpm TRANSMISSION 10-speed automatic LAYOUT 2- or 4-door, 42800-passenger, front-engine, RWD/4WD truck EPA MILEAGE 17-20/22-25 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 209.3-250.5 x 79.9 x 75.5-77.3 in WHEELBASE 122.4-163.7 in WEIGHT 4,069-4,964 lb 0-60 MPH N/A TOP SPEED N/A