#though i have learned the pringles trick...

[thedeluluverse]

Happy Valentine's Day! <3

Even if you are like me and are single as a Pringle today lol, it can still be a good day! Just remember that me and BTS love you hunnies!! <3 Please leave any feedback as I'm still very a new and nervous bean uwu XD

Summary: You get more than you bargained for when you visited Jimin after rehearsal but so does he…oops!

Pairing:  idol!Jimin x F!reader, mentions of other members but nothing sexual happens.

Rating: 18+

Genre: idol!au, dating!au, smut, fluff, established relationship, one-shot

Word Count: 1,870

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI. Swearing, anxiety, explicit content, oral sex (f. receiving), fingering (f. receiving), breast play, dirty talk, pet names, clit play, praise, neck kissing, some hair pulling, semipublic sexual acts, nibbling

It is 2 weeks before the iconic performance of BTS’s ‘Dionysus’ and your boyfriend Jimin Park is still at the stage even though rehearsals ended 2 hours ago. You only had a half day at work, so after some quick tidying around the house, you indulged in some long-overdue self-care. After an orange and wild berry scented bath, a refreshing Vitamin C facemask, and lathering a sweet honey-caramel scented lotion everywhere, you are glowing. You are starting to worry about your boyfriend still being out in the cold November air. Changing from your turquoise silk robe into a pair of comfy grey pajama shorts, your favorite blue cloud sweater, and white combat boots, you decide to stop by and check on him.

Rehearsal went as well as it could, for it was the first run-through on the stage rather than in their practice room for everyone except Jimin. Faced with his mortal enemy, chairs, it felt like he was back to day one of learning the choreography. While the rest of the members kept reassuring him, saying they had plenty of time to perfect everything, he was still embarrassed whenever he stumbled or fell off the chair. He only intended to stay for a half hour once everyone left. Still, his inner perfectionist took over, and the next thing he knew, it was 2 hours later. With the sun having set, the temperature dropped significantly.

He is so focused, in fact, that he doesn't realize you are there until you pipe up with a "Hello??? Earth to my Jimin-ssi!" He is startled, asking, "Oh hey, y/n, how long have you been standing there? You shouldn't be out here; it's freezing if you aren't under these lights." Crossing your arms, you raise an eyebrow glaring at him, "Lights or not, it is FREEZING!! What in the world are you still doing out here?" As you climb the steps onto the stage, he tries to explain himself, "Listen, don't give me that look. Please, babe." He sighs and looks at the ground sheepishly, confessing his struggles with the chairs that day. Your face softens, and your shoulders drop as you reach out and caress his cheek. "I understand, honey, and you can come back anytime you want in the next couple of weeks. Just please come home, I've been missing you all day, and I want cuddles," you say as you take his hands and give your best pout-puppy dog eye combo. He grins at how adorable you are, kisses your nose, and asks, "Can't I just stay 1 more hour?" You tilt your head, giving an annoyed look, and both attempt to convince the other to do what they say for 5 minutes.

            The wind picks up, and you shiver as you notice his face has changed from a pleading look to a smirking one. "Um, when did your flirt king side join the chat?"

You ask, confused. Chuckling, he steps towards you, stating, "Once, I caught your scent through the breeze just now. Hmmm… I wonder if you taste as good as you smell." He wonders as he tilts his head, holds his chin, and smirks. You are caught off guard by this change in demeanor and reply, "I..uh.. hold on! Your tricks aren't going to fool me tonight, Mr. Park, no, no, noooo... We are going home, and no flirting will make me change my mind. Let's go; practice is over." As you head towards the stairs, he lightly grabs your wrist, stands behind you as his hands land on your hips, and whispers into your ear, "Oh, I agree. Our staying here another hour has nothing to do with the performance. Like I said, I want to find out if you taste as good as you smell, darling."

Your eyes are wide as you try to maintain a regular breathing pattern. Having been so busy, you've barely spent time together lately, and today you had been intensely craving his touch. Hesitatingly you ask while turning around to meet his gaze, "b... but… aren’t we going to be caught?” your eyes scanning the area. He gives a very Cheshire cat-like grin, letting you know that he has been the only person there for hours and even has a key to lock up. "Not that I'd care otherwise. I just want you so bad right now, y/n." You stare at the ground biting your lip as you consider this proposition. You answer, "well, if you are 100% sure we are alone, then I gu-“your words are cut off by a deep kiss as he cups your face causing you to stumble backward into the prop table. Mutual giggles echo throughout the late-night air and are quickly replaced with passionate kissing and light moans as your hands travel around each other's bodies. As your hands knock off his hat and dishevel his hair with one of his hands on the small of your back and the other wrapped around your ponytail, giving it a slight tug, you break the kiss to catch a breath.

            Looking concerned, he asks, "Are you okay? Was that too much?". Your lust-filled gaze meets his as you shake your head; panting, you say, "No, I'm fine. I just wanted to say that I'm down.". Surprise overtaking his features, he says, "wait, really?!?!". You laugh at his reaction and drape your arms around his neck as you kiss from his neck up to his jawline between words, "don't. make. me. ask. again." smiling against his skin. He lifts you onto the table, grinning, saying, "whatever you want, princess." "Oh, thank god," you exclaim, confessing, "I've been craving you all week, Mochi."

Laying you down, he hovers over you, sliding his hands under your sweater, grabbing your breasts, and teasing your nipples. "Well, that makes two of us, sweetheart," as he leans down and nibbles your earlobe making your breath hitch.

He leaves a trail of kisses down your neck before pulling down your bra, swirling his tongue around your hardened nipples before working his way to the drawstring of your shorts. As he unties the bow, he gives teasing pecks on your clothed cunt, making you whimper, losing patience. This elicits a chuckle as he remarks, "Looks like my little slut is eager now, isn't she?" you exhale in frustration. "Yes. Yes, I am, please… I’m aching for you…”.

Following that confirmation of neediness,  he pulls down your shorts and lacy underwear with a fierceness you had never seen before. He widens your legs as he barely grazes your clit with his fingers tracing down your pussy. "Damn baby, already so wet for me," he boasts as he slowly slides two fingers in and out. Then, covering your lips with his as his tongue gives light flicks to your clit, gradually increasing the speed along with his hand. You grip the sides of the table as you press yourself into his face, loudly moaning, "fuck baby, just like that!" you say while trying to breathe. Feeling you pulse around his fingers, signaling you are close to your climax, he removes his fingers and slightly nibbles at your inner thighs. Propping yourself up on your elbows, you look puzzled and remark, "Um, Hun, I  didn't  say evacuate…." He smirks and says, "Oh, I know, trust me." Before you can reply, he wraps his arms around your thighs, pulling you closer to his face stating, "I wanted to make sure I didn't miss a drop, my love."

After giving a few passes along the length of your heated core, his tongue explores every inch of your pussy. Taking great care to lap up every drop of moisture, not wanting to waste any of your preciousness. Having made you cum a few times already, he decides to turn it up a notch. Maintaining rhythm, he pushes on your lower abdomen, circling your sensitive clit with his thumb making you practically leap off the table. Your body has finished shaking from your final climax, and Jimin places a soft kiss on your lips, letting you taste yourself. Your limbs collapse against the table as your breathing slowly returns to normal, and you get dressed. In the meantime, Jimin takes great care wiping off and cleaning the prop before you head home.

The next day rolls around, and you sleep in because between it being your day off and the events of last night, you plan on not doing much of anything right now. Jimin, however, had to get up early to get a quick workout before meeting everyone else at the stage for rehearsal. His anxiety spikes as soon as he gets there due to flashbacks of last night and paranoia. The worry is that they will be able to tell (or smell) that something happened mixes into an uncomfortable cocktail of emotions which causes him to do even worse today. Everyone else notices and checks on him, very confused since he said he stayed late last night practicing the choreography. He laughs it off, saying, "yeah, I did. I just uh… didn't get sleep well." At this very moment, you show up with hot chocolate and Yeontan for all the warmth and serotonin since it is brutal outside.    

You place the drinks and the dog on the table, handing the leash to Jin while you hand out the beverages. Yeontan starts feverishly sniffing the table (cue heart attack for poor Chim Chim). After about 10 seconds, Taehyung remarks, "That's weird. He normally doesn't investigate an area that long." Jin immediately bends down to try and assess the reason for this abnormal behavior. He informs everyone that the staff must've super cleaned the prop due to the wind being wild lately because it has a strong cleaning product smell. Tae promptly moves Yeontan to the ground before he licks the chemical residue. Jimin lets out the biggest exhale in his life. With this reassurance that y'alls secret is safe, his confidence returns and nails the routine.

As you drive back to the house, you cannot help but ask him why he was acting so weird and fidgety. He tells you about his irrational fear, and you cackle in response because you know he did a better job cleaning up after the fun than he does his own house most times. In response, he pouts as he faces the window and crosses his arms, upsettingly saying, “Aish, it's not funny, y/n-ah!! I was terrified all day!!". Even though it technically was his idea, you apologize and reassure him that you won't bring it up again. He feels guilty that he snapped at you, so then turns back to face you, saying, "It's fine. I'm sorry. I don't regret it one bit and would do it again in an instant if given a chance," as he smirks and grabs your thigh.

Grinning, you blush as you pull into the driveway and say, "No objections here. First, though, I think you could use some stress relief". You raise an eyebrow and leave a quick kiss on his cheek before exiting the car as he remains in shock for a moment before running inside to accept your offer for fear you will change your mind.

[spiritboardvalentine]

i have to learn to draw lizards again.

[tiger-in-the-flightdeck]

Ohhhh man I'm watching venom 2 tomorrow with a friend for Halloween! Could u do a lil piece on venom/Eddie waiting for their s/o who's out trick-or-treating, but soon they come back soaking wet cuz it rained and they're miserable cuz they barely got ANY candy and their costume is RUINED they're MISERABLE so obv venom/Eddie needs to comfort them

What's this? Another trick or treater? Why, I think I have just the thing for you!

Also available on AO3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34856737

It had been raining for two straight weeks, so it was no real surprise that it would be raining that night as well. Not a surprise, but still a disappointment.

When Venom had learned of this Earth tradition of spending a day in the autumn with scaring people and demanding candy in return, he had been thrilled and looked forward to it the moment the weather turned brisk. And with the ability to take any form he wished at his disposal, he refused to listen to Eddie’s insistence that this was a tradition for children. He had grabbed a reusable shopping bag from the back of the cupboard door, made himself look like a wolfman, and dashed out into the night.

At least he’d gotten the right date.

The wind began to pick up, sending the rain pelting against the windows. Eddie only got a handful of kids at the door, and his candy bowl was still nearly full by the time the bell stopped ringing altogether. He sat in wait for Venom, sharing a mini can of Pringles with the chickens to keep from getting pecked, and channel surfed. He hated when they were separated. Even though he could feel Venom through their connection, knowing he was out there on his own was still unsettling. And the silence in his head was echoing. When it got too overwhelming, he stood to pace.

“He’s perfectly safe on his own,” he explained to Cher who ruffled her feathers at him. “He’s not been gone long enough to start to feel off. I’m just worried. Hell, this time of year is practically tailor made for him.” The chicken clucked and preened under one wing. “Yeah, I know. He’ll be fine.”

Despite the chicken’s reassurance, he leaned on the window to try to see through the rain.

Eddie.

His head snapped up and he was at the door before the lock snapped.

The last time he’d seen the Symbiote look so miserable, his favourite cooking show had been replaced with a news report. He squeaked when he walked, the water pouring off him to puddle on the floor. Disappointed, he muttered, holding out the shopping bag. It was practically empty. Went to every building on the block. He couldn’t even be bothered to speak out loud, let alone take on his normal form. He still looked like he was partially transformed into a wolf. Only four people opened their doors. Considered stealing from a child dressed as Spider-Man. On principle.

Eddie pressed his lips together to smother the laugh before it bubbled out. It took him several minutes to get himself under control. “Oh, bud. I’m sorry.”

Now I am cold and wet and do not have candy to show for my efforts. To punctuate his misery, a drop of water dribbled between his eyes and clung there.

“Well, lucky for you, I didn’t get much action either. So we’ve got all this to get through on our own. I bought enough for a hundred trick or treaters, and we only got a couple. Check it out.” Eddie shook the plastic cauldron that was still filled to the brim with assorted goodies. There had been a sale at one of the grocery stores and he’d filled his cart before remembering he’d gone in for bread and orange juice. “C’mon, I’ll dry you off, and you can gorge.” He set the cauldron on the coffee table and went to the bathroom for Venom’s towel.

Draping it over Venom’s head, he scrubbed him dry, watching as his Symbiote gradually shrunk and lost his shape until he was a formless blob on his lap. He half expected him to start to purr. “See? Not so bad. You can even pick out a movie to watch. I think The Great Pumpkin is on in ten.”

Venom oozed over Eddie’s legs to reach into the candy pile for a Snickers. He ate it slowly, savouring it and the feeling of phenethylamine flooding his system. By the time he’d gotten through a dozen of them, he felt up to talking.

“I like Woodstock.”

“I know, buddy,” Eddie replied, leaning back and petting the glossy pool on his lap. “Me too.”

[sugar-petals]

Any advice for someone that wants to be vegan?

sure, about time i empty my bag of tricks 👍🍵

#1 essential: an extra large chopping board that makes you feel like you’re a chef in ratatouille 😄

with a bento box you’re prepared for any circumstance plus you don a futuristic looking bag aye

vegan magazines are pretty worthwhile imo, they have everything you need. recipes, facts, trends, shop/restaurant recs, vegan celeb interviews e.g. peter dinklage, joaquin phoenix etc

learn your vitamins and possible deficiencies (which also apply to normal diets sometimes). however, often it’s better to be less formulaic when picking a dish. veganism gladly arrived at a point where nobody has to sacrifice their taste buds anymore.

spot the hidden non-vegan ingredients: keratine, propolis, collagen, casein, gelatine, pepsin, royal jelly, isinglass (for wine), e120, e441, e542, e901, e904, e910, e920, e921, e913, e966 

the weight loss rumors are true. the pounds drop like dominoes and you don’t even have to pay attention to it. you can eat the same amount as before, it still happens.

even if your country might not be advanced in veganism, know that the english speaking world is i.e. the amount of recipes, channels, and blogs online can def pack a punch

oil is not a demon, it actually helps to digest nutrients. only go part-raw vegan if you desire to do so

you can eat all the batter because egg-less

support your local asian convenience store — this is vegan paradise, i guarantee you. lot of egg-free noodles, mochis (yay) are vegan, tons of suitable snacks. 

same goes for arab-run shops. the small turkish supermarket in my town is equally as rewarding to visit as the bigger malls.

if you want vegan sweets and snacks don’t deprive yourself, only make sure not to do it all 100% fast food style. 

veganizing recipes that are non-vegan is russian roulette 😅 youtube likely has an alternative somewhere.

know that soy is controversial ecologically, same goes for avocados. on the other hand: 70% of the world’s soy is fed to cattle 

underestimated vegan product abundances: ice cream, cookies, crisps (sans pringles)

becoming an expert on nuts legumes is entirely worth it. they are versatile, nutritious and tasty. once they are part of a recipe, it’ll turn out phenomenal and not boring, this is a promise.

anticipate that your faith will receive some dents in it when you see your favorite people eat meat. 

avoid such situations if possible but it’s usually not. at least try to dish up (for yourself) something pompous and spectacular which makes people jelly and has the meat look bland heh

dates are a perfect sweet treat

popcorn is safe to order

don’t worry about protein

there is good vegan mayonnaise on the market and it’s delicious 😍

making your own almond milk is fun but messy and store-bought versions are still much better. pick the ones in middle price range

in terms of shampoos and hygiene/beauty products you don’t have to worry, you’ll find something vegan for sure. look for the cute little bunny symbol for cruelty free products whenever possible.

prepare the 50 or so essential counterarguments but swerve the big and malevolent provocations. 

it’s easy to debunk carnist beliefs but you wanna keep the family peace and also make veganism an enjoyment rather than a endless soap box brawl without actual concrete results. 

convincing hardliners is difficult, they need to do it from their own impetus. science will scare them enough down the line. rather, entertain yourself with some vegan memes.

the holy trinity of going-out options, e.g. at festivals: pizza (order without cheese), fries w/ ketchup, churros 🇪🇸

know common dairy ingredients, that alone will make you stay vegan

if you miss your former favorite non-vegan product have faith in vegan companies developing alternatives. i think they understand the market well. nowadays, you can substitute almost anything. from chicken nuggets to marshmallows, no limits.

there are ways to make a pretty vegan burger hhhh

your sense of taste will change drastically.

buying cookbooks can amount to a whole book shelf but tbh you don’t need too many of them. maybe 5-10 in total. because you will google a lot anyways. 

btw: vegan cookbooks are popular among present options by relatives! 🎁

thrifting is also part of the lifestyle unless you navigate past the wool and leather in the stores which imo is easily possible though.

haul out the spices, if you cook don’t hold back 🔥

bread is a staple yeehaw 🤓

[crvmsdecorum]

“If there is no pizza then I’m not going.” 

( zoey deutch, 24 , female, she/her,  ) Did anyone else just see ALESSIA FAUST ? I hear for the FAUST family they can be a bit IMPULSIVE & CRUEL. But I also heard they can be LOYAL & ADVENTUROUS. If you dare, I hear they frequent OLLIE’S in their spare time when they aren’t being a SOLDIER / BOUNCER AT EDEN’S. Tread carefully or else you might be next on their list !

trigger warnings;; mentions of abortion, suicide. 

T h e B a s i c s

Full Name: Alessia Vivienne Faust Nickname(s): Alice, Wild Child, Spitfire, Brat.  Preferred Name(s): None.  Age: 24 Birthday: October 30th Birth Place: Paris, France Current Residence: Chicago, Illinois Zodiac: Scorpio  Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: French, Italian Occupation: Soldier / Bouncer at Eden’s Tattoos: Has the family tattoo on her right upper shoulder and added various flowers around it, a tattoo around her neck, tattoo on her upper right thigh, collarbone tattoo in Italian,  Piercings: Triple earlobe piercings (both ears) w/ one cartilage piercing, industrial piercing on right ear. 

P e r s o n a l

Status: Single as a fucking pringle.  Positive Traits: Protective, Friendly, Selfless, Blunt.  Negative Traits: Reckless, Impulsive, Sarcastic, Grumpy.  Sexual Orientation: Straight

F a m i l y

Father: Matthew Faust (deceased) Mother: Lucille LeRoux (deceased) Siblings: Oliver, Lucian, Darcy, Effie, Hana, Cassidy, Andrew, Caleb. Others: Blair. 

P l a y l i s t

do it like a dude by jessie j • no glory by skan (ft. mime & drama b) • fight back by neffex • what’s up danger by black caviar (ft. blackway) • rumors by neffex • don’t call me angel ariana grande (ft. miley cyrus & lana del rey) • now you by gjan 

B a c k g r o u n d

Meet Alessia Vivienne Faust ; Her name literally means Defender of Life. She is currently 24 years old and a bouncer at Eden’s. 

She was born on October 30 and is the result of a rather short affair between Matthew Faust and infamous French ballerina dancer Lucille LeRoux. 

Regardless of how short it was their actions resulted in Alessia. When Lucille first learned of her pregnancy she was beyond frightened and more overly worried of what it would do to her career. 

She instantly thought about aborting the baby and on the day of the operation Lucille was confronted by Matthew himself. Feeling ambushed by his appearance the woman came clean in telling the Italian her unborn child is his. Outraged by her actions he kept a calm look and simply made a deal with Lucille: carry the child to full term and then hand the baby over to him. All expenses will be paid for the woman’s troubles plus more. Without a second thought to it the ballerina accepted this. 

The entire pregnancy was long to Lucille and came quick to growing tired of it, especially watching the other dancers from the sidelines, but she stayed throughout the pregnancy for the money. It was a lot and Lucille couldn’t pass it up. 

Soon enough the time came and Lucille gave birth and no one was by her side (Matthew was on a plane). At first she refused to look at her daughter and just allowed her newborn to be laid in her crib. The French finally gazed upon her daughter when the newborn couldn’t stop crying and no nurse was coming to her aide to sooth the infant – and you know what? Lucille fell in love. 

When Matthew arrived to the hospital to take what was rightfully his the Italian came to see the hospital room empty. No Lucille, no newborn daughter. This was the result of how Lucille ended up with a hit on her from the Italian mafia. 

She used the money he had given her prior to the birth and ran away. Lucille created a new identity for herself and moved to London. There she thrived as an artist who resided in a old fire station. The place was big enough just for her and little Alessia. Plus, the art work they would create together. 

As you all very well know all good things come to an end and Lucille’s actions quickly caught up to her. It was Halloween and Alessia had just turned five years old and was dressed as a ballerina - a nod to her mother’s former profession. She had went trick or treating with her next door neighbor and their kids, the night went off perfectly until Alessia came home. 

The ballerina child found her mother lying in the bathtub filled with water and her wrists slit so deep with a ‘suicide’ note on the sink. It was a nightmare that she forever will remember unlike most of that night. One moment she stood over the corpse and the next Alessia was in the police station an hour later covered in a mixture of water and blood. The next she remembered was a police officer wrapping a blanket around her with exciting news. “We have dialed your father and he is on his way to get you.” is what the office said. Never before had anyone spoke to Alessia about her father other than Lucille and all she would say about him is he was a charismatic business man. 

Little did Alessia know is the officer who informed her of this was on the payroll of the Italian mafia and was the very same man who murdered Lucille, but yet he didn’t act like a cold hearted killer at least not to the child. The last thing Alessia remembered of that night was meeting Matthew Faust for the first time and ditched the ballerina costume. 

Over the next few years Alessia quickly changed or more so showed more of her brute personality Lucille always kept in check. She acted out at school, but mainly against those who were bullies or she deemed they deserved it. 

The bastard daughter doted on her father constantly and loved him even more when she felt a rage against her mother for ending her life early. There was nights where Alessia expressed her thoughts of the anger she felt to Matthew. “Wasn’t I enough?”, “How could she? I - I thought she loved me.” Then the truth came to light of Lucille’s true reaction to learning of her pregnancy and how she wished to end it before Matthew told her a little white lie and said Lucille had a change of heart. He twisted the words around to make Lucille more of the bad guy and it worked like a charm. 

The anger she felt Alessia turned it into drive of what her mother is missing out on from her actions. While she caused a lot of fights in school and protected those who cannot protect themselves, Alessia somehow managed to excel in school and managed to graduate in the top ten percent. 

By the end of the summer Alessia moved to New York and attended private college institute for a business degree. She wanted to be useful to the Italian mafia when needed and what better way then getting this degree? 

Though there was something missing from Alessia’s life -- ADVENTURE. She still attended school, yes, but when not in school she would pull off some of the craziest stunts that involved parkour among many other daring things. All everyone knows is she has scars on her to prove it. 

And after almost four years in school, half way to achieving her Bachelor’s degree Alessia up and left. The need to see the world and for all it’s glory finally caught up to her and she set out to see. Of course she remained loyal to her family and often helped them out while living in Italy for a while. 

With nears stirring in Chicago of what is going on, Alessia decided she can get her fill of action back home and left Italy. 

Personality;; Alessia is an impulsive woman and is always put’s her family before herself. She does have a soft caring side though it is hardly shown to those outside the Italians. Alessia has very powerful protective instincts. She cannot stand to sit back and see people get hurt, always trying to do something to help whenever possible, even if for a complete and total stranger. She is extraordinarily devoted to helping innocent people and protecting the Fausts. Now without being said, Alessia is very sarcastic and a sharp tongue at times. She is always ready for a comeback when someone say something to her in a negative manner of the sorts. 

Wanted Connections;; Former flames, enemies, old school mates, friends, etc. I am honestly down for anything.

[toxicsquad]

There is no better way to get to know someone than through a good question tag. In this case we have decided to make an Indie game dev question tag with the responses of our four developers. We hope that it will reveal many unknowns, but if you are left with any questions, do not hesitate to use our ask.

What part of game development are you responsible for?

Athe: I write and write, I melt in my seat, I correct, I cry and then I program. It’s an endless cycle. Occasionally I laugh like crazy while I eat Pringles.

Sam: I draw and color without leaving the lines (almost always) the sprites, the illustrations and the ravings that usually occur to us past 3 in the morning.

Illy: English translations.

Sher: I draw BGs

What tools do you use (hardware / software)?

Athe: Recently my desktop PC has passed away, so I’ve had to rescue my old PC from the garage. I also have a laptop that saves my life more times than I would like to admit. As for the software, I need, above all, drive documents, video editing programs, image etc (I have an Adobe package) and of course Renpy and Atom.

Sam: My main friend and companion is my tablet, a wacom intuos S (pistachio color, so cute). As programs I mainly use the Paint Tool Sai, because there is nothing in this life like its stabilizer. And less frequently than I would like (for details, texture brushes, effects ...) I also use Clip Studio Paint, which I only know how to use at about 2% of its capacity ... If someday I have time I would love to stop and learn seriously what can be done with it.

Illy: During the school year I live in a residence, so I use an old laptop, and when I return home I use a desktop computer that never has memory space. I translate the chapters in the same Atom where the complete script is and I keep them in google drive files where I share them with our beta reader. I also use editing programs like photoshop when I have to translate comics or procreate for when my artistic skills are required.

Sher: ipad+procreate+some final tweak in photoshop, I don't need much more

What is your favorite part of the job?

Athe: Would it be wrong if I say that is when we released the episode? During the whole production time everything is very stressful, there are times when it’s really uphill, but when we release a new chapter it feels soooo good. It's like saying to yourself, yeah, dammit, I can do it. Look at everything you've climbed by yourself. You're doing it right.

Sam: In general, my favorite parts are when the first scenes start to be programmed, and I can see the sprites with the backgrounds, the texts, and how the illustrations look. Everything always looks so much better when viewed in-game… I also really like being able to check out the script as it is written. And from the artistic part that concerns me, when I see that my hands capture the idea that I had in my head ... Especially in character designs.

Illy: Having to find a way to translate very spanish expressions into English, research vocabulary that I have never had to use and commenting on some translations with our beta reader (which we adore) to make it understandable without losing the original meaning.

Sher: I like to do the lineart when the sketch is complete, if I no longer have to think about anything else and it's just going through it, I find it very fun and relaxing

What is the most difficult part for you?

Athe: Offf, yes, I admit it, sometimes writing is the WORST. Other times I love it, especially when I can expand on the descriptions or stop at a part that is intimate or that I find interesting (for example, Hasiel's conversation from 6.3, small spoiler: P). But, I HATE having to paste scenes, often the protagonist moves between scenes and you always have to add lines to those transitions that really do not interest anyone, but that otherwise the text would be confusing. Anyway... It is a very wide world, with a lot of history, I have to deal with what I need readers to know to understand the facts, although sometimes it gets a bit boring.

Sam: What part does not... Rather who e.e Zihel and Ariel are a thorn in my side. Especially Zihel. I know it has to do with the fact that it has never been my strength to draw boys, and much less if they are more masculine in appearance... That's why I also suffer a lot from drawing muscles. Another thing that brings me a headache is the perspective of the illustrations. Every time I try to get out of the typical shot or poses a little... It doesn't work out.

Illy: Doughy’s  stuttering ¬.¬

Sher: chairs, sofas, tables... anything with four legs is my enemy

Anything to help or encourage you while you are working?

Athe: I need music, no, seriously, I NEED IT. I’m unable to focus without it. If, on top of that, I can get what I hear to act as a sounding board for what I write, the text is a thousand times better... But the muse is a pretty bad person.

Sam: Having a show/movie in the background that entertains me. The longer the better, so I don't have to stop to think what I want to put on next.

Illy: Eating sunflower seeds to trick my brain and not be tempted to do something else that distracts me.

Sher: I try to see other artists to motivate and inspire me before I start drawing, what I find most difficult is that initial push and that is where I need the motivation, then I usually have something in the background but it is not necessary

Something that’s a pet peeve or discouraging?

Athe: Some narrative climax moments. Generally, they are not important plot moments (that is almost entirely decided), they are often small decisions to go from scene A to scene B, but I can spend a LOT of time deciding which is the fastest and best way to tie those two ends. I'm the worst.

Sam: Many times when starting, I can't get the poses to fit the way I want, for example.

Illy: Finding many parts in a row that I find especially difficult to solve and that make me believe that I have forgotten how to English properly. And looking at how many lines I still have left.

Sher: When I don't know how to fill in some area, if I see something very empty but I don't know how to solve it, I can spend days looking at the screen without being able to advance, even if I have other areas that I could do in the meantime

What is required on your table or work surface?

Athe: Notebooks, sticky notes, pens… I’m a person who writes everything down, especially the tasks, but I also order the story by color schemes. The stack of sticky notes have 9 different colors, each one represents a character and I play a lot with them for a lot of nonsense. Besides, even though I have been writing on the computer for many more years than I wrote by hand, I still have a preference for the analogical.

Sam: Coffee, sweets, chocolate, cereals... And cats.

Illy: My phone, the sunflower seeds, a Capital America: Civil War 1L water cup, sticky notes that remind me of tasks.

Sher: I have nothing really lol all my things are for decoration

Your most productive hours?

Athe: Owl. Totally nocturnal. Although I have several crises a month to force myself to work at other times that always end... Wrong.

Sam: Also at night for the most part, although I can no longer stay awake as long as I endured before having a job (the good old days...) However, in the middle of the afternoon, when the zoo that I have at home is still taking a nap, I also manage to go a long way.

Illy: From when I finish eating until 7 or 8 in the afternoon, when I don't have to cook, clean, run errands...

Sher: I take over for Illy apparently, from 7 or 8 is when I start to get into the mood until bedtime

Do working hours make you forget to eat or make you eat twice as much?

Athe: It depends, in the past I ate a lot, now if I have stress I don't eat anything. If I'm in a normal productive phase and I'm not on my nerves, I'm probably eating by inertia.

Sam: They make me eat more, but especially junk food e.e And they make me forget healthy meals, especially dinner at night.

Illy: It depends on my mood, but I usually eat twice as much.

Sher: I'm generally a VERY distracted person so I don't usually get to focus on a task to get to either of those two modes but I guess when I am sooooooo much on the task, I forget. But that happens like a couple of times a year and "forgetting" is "I delay an hour."

What part of your set up would you improve / change (in aesthetics or functionality) if you had no money limit?

Athe: I'm trying to match some of my peripherals with the rest. They are all a damn different color, apparently I'm cursed... Now seriously, I wish I had a better graphic card that would allow me to make video captures, some speakers and a quality printer.

Sam: Actually, I don't think I need anything more complex than what I already have… But if I had to improve something, I'm curious about the most professional tablets, the big ones with the included screen and all that stuff.

Illy: A new laptop that lets me open 4 chrome tabs, Atom and photoshop at the same time without dying.

Sher: A pc screen that will not change the colors I use on the iPad would be nice, really

Which character are you most like? And why?

Athe: Phew I think the easy answer would be to say Akane ... But, Akane is a better person. : P

Sam: This is very difficult... They are all very different, but still I do not think I look much like any of them. If I have to say something, I could identify with Maske's tendency to avoid problems, and his more homey and calm side. And well… Since Akane has been an OC of mine for many years, surely I have something of her too.

Illy: I think I partly have Maske's instinct to stay out of trouble, and on the other hand Joe's shallowness, although tbh I wish I really did look like any of our awesome babies.

Sher: surprised because (unpopular opinion around here) is one of those who I "least care" about really but I would say that Pin because he is a little dumb, happy and probably has a Satanic room and proud of it

Favorite CG/art.

Athe: AT THE MOMENT. Maske chapter 1. It couldn't be more predictable. I know.

Sam: I quite agree with Maske in chapter 1. But I would also put Pin in chapter 5 and Akane in chapter 6.2 on the top.

Illy: Kyeran in Coco's tank ?? Is he even real? Being basic is my brand.

Sher: surprised again and disappointed but I would say that of angel Hasiel because I like pretty dresses, pretty hairs and pretty wings

Favorite BG/scene.

Athe: The Red Light District amazes me. I already liked the life of that place, its history, but the way of expressing it... Uggg Sher took it to another level. The dirt on the street, the night, the constricted buildings...

Sam: I think I’ll say Raziel’s square, I like it a lot from the first day.

Illy: I don't know if I can choose just one T__T but I would say that the Red Light District and Valefar's pub are at the top.

Sher: for not repeating the red light district that I also like very much, I really like the areas of Coco's laboratory, including the “main” area although the perspective is horrible and makes the characters look tiny, but I like how it looks :(

Your favorite chapter to date?

Athe: Ufff... The first and second one I assure you no, hahaha. I will say that the third one, but also for things that are not necessarily from the chapter, but of the production. It was a good moment. I felt that everything was flowing with ease. We all assumed a clear role, they were times that made us feel comfortable and capable of assuming what came next, I think it was a qualitative leap also, both in texts and in art.

Sam: Oh. Well let's see... Chapter 5 is amazing for me, for everything that happens but also because there are many personalized interactions and choices. I can't say I have a definitive favorite, but it could come close… Also from the last ones I really like the 6.2.

Illy: Chapter 5 has so many details, so many things happen, it's hard not to be my favorite. But the last ones with the specific routes are so great that if I stay with the 5 it’s with the  pain of my heart to have to choose one.

Sher: I would say 5 also because in the end when a lot of things happen is when you remember the most

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🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧🚧

No hay mejor forma de conocer a alguien que a través de un buen tag de preguntas. En este caso hemos decidido hacer un Indie game dev question tag con las respuestas de las cuatro desarrolladoras. Esperamos que os aclare muchas incógnitas, pero si os quedáis con alguna no dudéis en usar nuestro ask.

¿Qué parte del desarrollo del juego llevas a cabo?

Athe: Escribo, escribo, me derrito sobre mi asiento, corrijo, lloro y después programo. Es un ciclo sin fin. Ocasionalmente me río como una demente mientras como Pringles.

Sam: Dibujo y coloreo sin salirme de las líneas (casi siempre) los sprites, las ilustraciones y los desvaríos que suelen surgir a partir de las 3 de la mañana. 

Illy: Las traducciones a inglés.

Sher: Hago fonditos

¿Qué herramientas utilizas (hardware/software)?

Athe: Recientemente mi PC de sobremesa ha fallecido, así que he tenido que rescatar mi viejo PC del trastero, también tengo un portatil que me salva la vida más veces de las que me gustaría admitir. En cuanto al software, necesito, sobre todo, documentos de drive, programas de edición de video, imagen etc (tengo un paquete de Adobe) y por supuesto Renpy y Atom.

Sam: Mi principal amiga y compañera es mi tableta, una wacom intuos S (color pistacho, muy cuqui.) Como programas uso sobretodo el Paint Tool Sai, porque no hay nada en esta vida como su estabilizador. Y con menos frecuencia de lo que querría (para detalles, pinceles de texturas, efectos…) también utilizo el Clip Studio Paint, el cual sólo se usar como a un 2% de su capacidad… Si algún día tengo tiempo me encantaría pararme a aprender seriamente todo lo que se puede hacer con él. 

Illy: Durante el curso vivo en una residencia, así que uso un portatil del año que reinó carolo, y cuando vuelvo a mi casa un ordenador de sobremesa que nunca tiene espacio en la memoria. Los capítulos los traduzco en el mismo Atom en el que está el guión completo y los guardo en drive donde los comparto con nuestra beta reader. También uso programas de edición como photoshop cuando tengo que traducir viñetas o procreate para cuando mis habilidades artísticas son requeridas.

Sher: ipad+procreate+algún retoquito final en photoshop no necesito mucho más

¿Cuál es tu parte de favorita del trabajo?

Athe: ¿Estaría mal si digo que es cuando sacamos el episodio? Durante toda la producción todo es muy estresante, hay veces, que se hace realmente cuesta arriba, pero cuando liberamos un nuevo capítulo sienta taaaan bien. Es como decirte a ti misma, sí, joder, puedo hacerlo. Mira todo lo que has escalado tú solita. Lo estás haciendo bien.

Sam: En general, mis partes favoritas son cuando se empiezan a programar las primeras escenas, y puedo ver los sprites con los fondos, los textos, y cómo se ven las ilustraciones. Todo queda siempre mucho mejor cuando se ve dentro del juego… También me gusta mucho poder cotillear el guión conforme se va escribiendo. Y de la parte artística que me toca, cuando veo que mis manos plasman la idea que tenía en mi cabeza… Sobretodo en diseños de personajes. 

Illy: Tener que buscar la forma de traducir a inglés expresiones muy nuestras, investigar vocabulario que no he tenido que usar jamás y comentar algunas traducciones con nuestra beta reader (a la que adoramos) para conseguir que se entienda sin perder el significado original.

Sher: me gusta hacer el lineart cuando el sketch está completo, si ya no tengo que pensar nada más y es solo ir repasando me parece muy divertido y relajante

¿Cuál es la parte que más te cuesta?

Athe: Ufff, sí, lo admito, escribir a veces es lo PEOR. Otras me encanta, sobre todo, cuando puedo explayarme con las descripciones o detenerme en una parte íntima o que a mí me parece interesante (por ejemplo, la conversación de Hasiel del 6.3, pequeño spoiler :P). Pero, ODIO tener que empastar escenas, a menudo el protagonista se mueve de escenarios y hay que agregar siempre líneas a esas transiciones que realmente no interesan a nadie, pero que de lo contrario el texto quedaría mal montado. En fin… Es un mundo muy amplio, con mucha historia, tengo que lidiar con lo que necesito que los lectores sepan para entender los hechos, aunque a veces se haga un pelín peñazo.

Sam: Qué parte no… Quiénes, más bien e.e Zihel y Ariel son mi espinita. Especialmente Zihel. Sé que tiene que ver con el hecho de que nunca ha sido mi punto fuerte dibujar chicos, y menos si son de aspecto más masculino… Por eso también sufro mucho dibujando músculos. Otra cosa que me trae de cabeza es la perspectiva de las ilustraciones. Cada vez que intento salirme un poco del típico plano o poses… No sale bien. 

Illy: El tartamudeo de Doughy ¬.¬ 

Sher: sillas, sofás, mesas… cualquier cosa con cuatro patas son mis enemigos

¿Algo que te ayude o anime mientras estás trabajando?

Athe: Necesito música, no, en serio, LA NECESITO. Soy incapaz de concentrarme sin ella. Si ya consigo que lo que escucho haga de caja de resonancia de lo que escribo, el texto es mil veces mejor… Pero la musa es bastante mala gente.

Sam: Tener alguna serie/peli de fondo que me entretenga. Cuanto más larga mejor, así no me toca pararme a ver qué es lo que quiero poner después. 

Illy: Comer pipas para engañar a mi cerebro y no tener la tentación de ponerme a hacer otra cosa que me distraiga.

Sher: intento ver otros artistas para motivarme e inspirarme antes de empezar a dibujar, lo que más me cuesta es ese empujón inicial y es donde necesito la motivación, luego ya suelo tener algo de fondo pero no es necesario

¿Algo que te corte el rollo o te desmotive?

Athe: Los nudos narrativos. Generalmente, no son nudos gordos de la trama (eso está decidido casi en su totalidad), a menudo son decisiones pequeñas para pasar de la escena A a la escena B, pero puedo tirarme MUCHO tiempo decidiendo cuál es la forma más rápida y mejor planteada para atar esos dos cabos. Soy lo peor.

Sam: Muchas veces a la hora de empezar, no conseguir encajar las poses como quiero, por ejemplo. 

Illy: Encontrar muchas partes seguidas que me cueste especialmente resolver y que me hacen creer que no tengo ni idea de hablar inglés. Y mirar cuantas líneas me quedan todavía.

Sher: cuando no se como rellenar alguna zona, si veo algo muy vacío pero no se como solucionarlo puedo tirarme días mirando la pantalla sin ser capaz de avanzar, incluso aunque tenga otras zonas que pudiera ir haciendo mientras

¿Qué no puede faltar en tu mesa o superficie de trabajo?

Athe: Libretas, post-its, bolígrafos… Soy una persona que lo anota todo, sobre todo, las tareas, pero también ordeno la historia por esquemas de colores. La pila de post-its tienen 9 colores diferentes, cada uno representa un personaje y juego mucho con ellos para miles de idioteces. A parte, a pesar de que llevo muchos más años escribiendo a ordenador de los que escribí a mano, sigo teniendo querencia a lo físico.

Sam: Café, chucherías, chocolate, cereales… Y gatos. 

Illy: El móvil, las pipas, un vaso de 1L de agua de Capital America: Civil War, post-its que me recuerdan las tareas.

Sher: no tengo nada realmente lol todas mis cosas son de adorno 

¿Tus horas más productivas?

Athe: Búho. Nocturna totalmente. A pesar de que tengo varias crisis al mes para forzarme a trabajar a otras horas que acaban siempre… Mal.

Sam: También por la noche en su mayoría, aunque ya no aguanto trasnochando tanto como antes de trabajar (qué tiempos aquellos…) Aunque a media tarde cuando el zoo que tengo en casa aún está echando la siesta también consigo dar un buen empujón. 

Illy: Desde que acabo de comer hasta las 7 o las 8 de la tarde, cuando no tengo que cocinar, limpiar, hacer recados...

Sher: le tomo el testigo a Illy aparentemente, a partir de las 7 u 8 es cuando empiezo a entrar en el mood hasta que llega la hora de dormir

¿Las horas de trabajo hacen que te olvides de comer o te hacen comer el doble?

Athe: Depende, antes comía mucho, ahora, si tengo estrés no como nada. Si me encuentro en un rango productivo normal y no estoy de los nervios, probablemente, esté comiendo por inercia.

Sam: Me hacen comer más, pero sobretodo porquerías e.e Y hacen que me olvide de las comidas sanas, sobretodo de cenar por la noche. 

Illy: Depende de mi estado de ánimo, pero normalmente comer el doble.

Sher: en general soy una persona MUY distraída así que no suelo conseguir centrarme en una tarea para llegar a ninguno de esos dos modos pero supongo que cuando estoy muuuuuuy dentro de la tarea, me olvido. Pero eso pasa como un par de veces al año y “olvido” es “lo retraso una hora”.

¿Qué parte de tu set up mejorarías/cambiarías (en estética o funcionalidad) si no tuvieses límite de dinero?

Athe: Estoy tratando de que alguno de mis periféricos peguen con el resto. Todos son de un maldito color diferente, al parecer estoy maldita… Ahora en serio, desearía tener una mejor gráfica que me permitiese hacer videocapturas, unos altavoces y una impresora de calidad.

Sam: En realidad, no creo que necesitara nada más complejo de lo que ya tengo… Pero por mejorar, me llaman la atención las tabletas más profesionales, las grandes con la pantalla incluida y eso. 

Illy: Un portátil nuevo que me deje abrir 4 pestañas de chrome, el Atom y photoshop al mismo tiempo sin quedarse tieso.

Sher: Una pantalla de pc que no me cambiara los colores que uso en el ipad seria bonito la verdad 

¿A qué personaje te pareces más? ¿Y por qué?

Athe: Ufff Creo que la respuesta fácil sería decir Akane… Pero, Akane es mejor persona. :P

Sam: Esto es muy complicado… Son todos muy distintos, pero aún así no creo que me parezca mucho a ninguno. Por decir algo, me podría identificar con la tendencia a evitar problemas de Maske, y su lado más casero y tranquilo. Y bueno… Dado que Akane es OC mío de hace muchos años, seguramente tenga algo de ella también. 

Illy: Creo que en parte tengo el instinto de alejarme de las movidas de Maske, y por otro la superficialidad de Joe, aunque tbh ojalá parecerme realmente a nuestros bebés geniales.

Sher: sorprendida porque (unpopular opinión por aquí) es de los que “menos me importan” realmente pero diría que Pin porque es tontito, feliz y probablemente tenga una habitación satánica y orgulloso de ello

Tu CG/arte favorito.

Athe: DE MOMENTO. Maske capítulo 1. No podría ser más predecible. Lo sé.

Sam: Coincido bastante en la de Maske del capítulo 1. Pero también metería en el top la de Pin del capítulo 5 y la de Akane del capítulo 6.2. 

Illy: ¿¿Kyeran en el tanque de Coco?? ¿Es siquiera real? Ser básica es mi marca.

Sher: sorprendida de nuevo y decepcionada pero diría que la de Hasiel de ángel porque me gustan los vestidos bonitos, los pelos bonitos y las alas bonitas

Tu BG/escenario favorito.

Athe: Me flipa el Barrio Rojo. Me gusta la vida de ese sitio, su historia, pero la forma de plasmarlo… Uggg Sher lo llevó a otro nivel. La suciedad de la calle, la nocturnidad, los edificios constreñidos...

Sam: Creo que me quedo con el de la plaza de Raziel, me gusta mucho desde el primer día. 

Illy: No sé si puedo elegir solo uno T__T pero diría que el Barrio Rojo y el bar de Valefar están en el top.

Sher: por no repetir el barrio rojo que también me gusta mucho, me gustan mucho las zonas del laboratorio de Coco, incluida la zona “principal” aunque la perspectiva sea horrible y haga a los pj parecer diminutos, pero me gusto como quedo :( 

¿Tu capítulo favorito hasta las fecha?

Athe: Ufff… El uno y el dos os aseguro que no, jajaja. Diré que el tres, pero también por cosas que no son necesariamente del capítulo, sino de la producción. Fue un buen momento. Sentí que todo estaba fluyendo con facilidad. Todas asumimos un rol claro, unos tiempos que nos hacían sentir cómodas y capaces de asumir lo que venía después, creo que fue un salto cualitativo también, tanto en los textos, como en el arte.

Sam: Ay. Pues a ver… El capítulo 5 es una pasada para mi, por todo lo que pasa pero también porque hay muchas interacciones personalizadas y elecciones. No puedo decir que tenga un favorito definitivo, pero podría acercarse… También me gusta mucho de los últimos el 6.2. 

Illy: El capítulo 5 tiene tantos detalles, pasan tantas cosas, que es difícil que no sea mi favorito, pero los ultimos de rutas específicas son tan geniales que si me quedo con el 5 es con un poco de dolor de tener que elegir uno.

Sher: Diría el 5 también porque al final cuando pasan muchas cosas es cuando mas se te queda grabado

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[deceptionheadcanons]

*Gives puppy dog eyes* If it's not too much to ask and you have the time... could you give us some Kaymeron family headcanons? Pretty please with a cherry on top? 😇

I mean, I wasn’t going to…but then you put the cherry on top, so. However, I have certain plans for a certain fic coming up so I won’t be too too specific about some details because a lot of what I have I’m gonna write in there ( c: )

Cameron’s a big old hot mess. From the very second Kay tells him she’s pregnant, he’s in nonstop panic mode. He runs around the house doing the baby’s room and practically bubble-wrapping it so it’s safe. He asks her every five seconds if she needs him to do anything, if she feels sicks, if she’s okay. The instant Kay mumbles to herself that chocolate sounds good, he’s sprinting out the door with his keys before she can even finish. He’s researching TONS of stuff and shoving it all in Kay’s face (“Are you getting enough folic acid!? Where do you get that?! Ugh, but you had to have already been in good folic acid standing before you got pregnant– Kay, were you in good folic acid standing before you got pregnant!?” “I don’t know Cameron, it’s three in the morning.” “Ugh! We’re too late!”) The days leading up to the due date he was so frantic he forgot the word for pancake and was ten seconds away from having a full on mental breakdown because he couldn’t figure out what ‘the flat and smooth version of a waffle’ was.

They have a little girl, and Cameron is a crying mess all day while Kay just looks at him in affectionate exasperation. The first night he’s so insistent on holding her he falls asleep with her in his arms on the couch.

He begs Jonathan to go home and clean before they’re released from the hospital because “Do you want her to get home and think we’re messy? First impressions are important, we can’t mess this up, Jonathan! This isn’t amateur hour!”

He doesn’t push magic on her, ever. When she gets older she wants to learn tricks, she practically begs him to teach her, and he does then. But only then. He never wants to be like his father, so he only teaches her when she wants to learn. She’s fantastic at them, though; but she also takes after Kay because she’s always got her nose in a book and telling Cameron obscure facts, like “Did you know the inventor of the Pringles can was buried in a Pringles can?” He absolutely adores her.

Cameron’s definitely the ‘fun’ parent. Kay’s gotta step in all the time and be the Debbie-downer, in Cam’s words. In her words it’s ‘more responsible.’ One time she came home from the store and whatever they’d been trying to make on the stove was on fire. The alarm was going off and Cameron was trying to figure out the fire extinguisher.

Cameron’s the overprotective one, though. Every single time she stays out past curfew, he’s pacing the whole house and googling crime rates and ranting about how the world is a cesspool of danger and corruption and she’s out there in the middle of it.

That’s all I’ll write for now; I have so many more but I don’t want to hit you with a wall of text! 

[financenfreelance]

5 Amazing Budgeting Apps for Your Finances 💰

Create your digital budget easily and achieve your financial goals with this list of five helpful budget apps!

Our smartphones are integrated into every facet of our lives like love, relationships, and shopping. Our finances should be no different! In fact, if you’re interested in more info on how to EASILY fine-tune your budget, check out this article as well: How to Easily Automate Your Financial Success (With Technology)

Personal finance mobile apps are not only easy, but effective tools in helping us budget in a fun way! You can track your spending, organize your personal budget, and create your successful financial life. Check out these awesome budgeting apps that will help you succeed in your finances! 5 Easy to use Budget Apps

An efficient budgeting app will take away the complexity of managing your financial life. I mean, I have an app to track my schedule, cycle, diet, and… my Pokémon. Budgeting apps should be no different!

Take a look at my recommendations below:

💰

1. Mint

Mint is the standard budgeting app for all! It lets you easily input your budget, provides a bill tracker, and gives you alerts if you’re going over your budget! It can even provide you with a credit report.

There are so many great resources that go along with mint, including strategies and special tips that can help you improve your credit score. You can also link you bank account, credit card info, and even your investment and retirement accounts. And yes, it’s secure!

Oh, and did I mention that Mint is 100% free to use? Score! >Try Mint Here

💰

2. Every Dollar

If you’re a follower of the legendary financial guru Dave Ramsey, you might have already heard about Every Dollar. This app provides you with an elegant accurate visual infographic of where you are from a financial standpoint.

You can access this via any platform, like mobile, tablet, and desktop. You can create budgets and track your spending as it goes along with your budget. This can be easily done by connecting the service to your bank.

This app is also 100% free to use!

>Give Every Dollar a Try

💰

3. PocketGuard

PocketGuard is a really nifty personal finance tool. It will study your debt and your bills and then using that info, suggest strategies to help your finances.

This budgeting app will track all of your spending, and update your transactions in real time. It also provides several graphics – charts and graphs of your finances to give you a better understanding of your spending. PocketGuard will provide you with a free trial, and then afterwards is 3.99 a month.

>Try Pocket Guard!

💰

4. Marcus by Goldman Sachs

This is the Goldman Sachs budgeting app that tracks your spending and debt. It has a screen that lists your linked financial accounts, and a screen that tracks your transactions. One of it’s popular integrations is the ability to save for a specific event like a specific party, vacation, or tuition this year!

This app is 100% free to use!

>Check out Marcus

💰

5. Goodbudget

Sometimes, the biggest challenge is getting on the same financial with your partner or significant other. That is where Goodbudget comes in. It is a budget management app that helps couples work together on one budget for their household. It’s good for working together on your financial issues. Even though that is it’s established use, you can still use it as a single pringle.

It also has a unique feature called the envelope model, where you can open an envelope, put money into it, and then use it only for the predetermined purpose. This budgeting app is like a a digital version of the real envelope method!

>Try Good Budget Here

So let me know in the comments below, what do you use for your budgeting? Do you use anything from my list? If not, what budget system do you use?

💰💰💰

Increase Your Income by Freelancing

Now that we know what budgeting apps we can use to organize our money, let’s talk about how you can make your first $1000 freelancing income!

I have something you may be interested in!

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A Step-by-Step Guide for freelance beginners.

Fantastic Freelancer is a brand-new course that lays out of all the tips, tricks, and proven strategies that you need to become a profitable Freelancer.

Starting your own freelance business or side hustle can seem like a huge feat.  There are just so many factors that go into success. This course will teach you everything you need to know to help you to start your own prosperous freelance career.

This course will present all of the essential elements to becoming a successful freelancer and starting a freelance career. Some valuable info that you will learn from this course includes:

A sneak peek at the valuable info that you will learn from Fantastic Freelancer:

Skills to Pay the Bills

Your Freelance Superpower

Freelance Portfolio’s that Get Sales

The formula to crush it on Fiverr

The specific steps to succeed on Upwork

Manage Projects with Ease

What to do when sh*t hits the fan

How to manage the money

& more!

Check out this amazing freelancing course now!

Or check out how I did it here: Read my story on why I started freelancing and how I went from broke to $1000 a week.

[sussex-nature-lover]

Saturday 16th January 2021

History - The Tower of London’s Famous Ravens

Something in the news this week has taken me back to the Summer of 2019 when we visited the Tower of London a couple of times. Our route took us from the South Bank, on foot, across the famous bridge. The first time we went it was pleasant enough for walking around and we avoided rain, but it was quite a dull, overcast day. The second time we went it was one of the, if not the hottest day of the year in a very hot July. Visitors were all searching for some shade and the Yeoman Warders were really suffering in their heavy woollen uniforms and hats. They were allowed to carry water but no concession was given to what they have to wear. I felt so sorry for them.

Tower Bridge up above and the Tower of London as seen from the Bridge. This impressive Royal Palace property is today dominated by modern London.

The Tower of London with its crowds of visitors and the landmark ‘Walkie Talkie’ building in the background (below)

View of Tower Bridge from inside The Tower of London

I read this week that one of the famed Ravens left the Tower several weeks ago and has not returned as yet. ‘Merlina’ who is 14 years old, arrived as a chick in 2007.

It wasn’t only me who picked up on the story

I’m not so sure I wholly believe them though 😄

Merlina is described as a free spirit and has left the Tower before but always returned as she had a very strong bond with the Ravenmaster and his Team. She’s been described as the real Queen of the Tower, the Raven ruler of the roost.

In the wild Ravens usually live for 10-15 years, but the Tower's birds have been known to survive until the age of 40. A statement said that as she hasn’t returned, it’s feared that Merlina has passed away.

Above photo credit Spitalfields Life, the link is an article and you can see Merlin(a) there too. By the way, here the Warder’s wearing the daily routine, dark blue ‘undress’ uniform that warders wear.

In his 2018 book the current Ravenmaster, Christopher Skaife, described Merlina's character.

He wrote: 'She likes playing with sticks while rolling on her back and doing forward-rolls. She is also adept at mimicking strange sounds to get what she wants.

'Much to the confusion of the local crows, Merlina is an expert at imitating their call to get them down from the trees to play with her. She also has a knack for impersonating gulls, but as far as I can tell, that’s just to annoy them.

'Merlina is a bit of a loner. I think of her as the Tower Princess because she refuses to socialise with any other raven, or sleep with the others in the fox-proof enclosure I had built for them when I became Ravenmaster in 2011.'

And revealing one of her naughtier habits, he added: 'Merlina has a knack for spotting — from the other side of Tower Green — members of the public eating Pringles.

'Stealing the tube and popping off the lid to cram as many into her mouth as possible, she will even take them to the nearest water bowl and give them a wash if she doesn’t like the taste.

It seems unlikely now that she’s going to return and she’s going to be really sadly missed.

The Legend of the Tower of London Ravens

It is not clear how long captive ravens have been held in the Tower for, though the intelligent birds, which are common in Britain, often nested in towns throughout history.

However, according to local legend, the Tower's relationship with captive ravens could date back to King Charles II, who reigned in the mid-17th century (r1660-1685 to be precise)

Charles II is thought to have been the first to insist that the ravens of the Tower be protected after he was warned that the crown and the Tower itself would fall if they left.

The King's order was given against the wishes of his astronomer, John Flamsteed, who complained the ravens impeded the business of his observatory.

A common superstition now holds that 'if the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it.'

Another  version has it that the head of the medieval Celtic warrior Brân (a name that means ‘crow’ or ‘raven’) lies buried beneath the White Tower and that the ravens embody his spirit.

However others believe the legend is likely to be a Victorian 'flight of fantasy'.

In the Second World War the ravens were used as spotters for bombs and planes during the Blitz.

When numbers fell to just a single raven guard, Winston Churchill ordered that the flock — known as an “unkindness” — be increased to at least six to comply with the ancient legend.

 When you visit the Tower and have a guided tour by a Yeoman, they all delight in teasing about the six birds from the legend, but we know they have a little trick up their sleeve and have spares. There are still seven there today.

The Tower does have a breeding programme although most of the current flock of Ravens were brought to the Tower as chicks. There are two - Poppy and Georgie - who were born there as part of the programme. The other birds are called Jubilee, Harris, Gripp, Rocky and Erin. 

Last year three new raven chicks were born at the Tower in April during the first lockdown. 2019 had seen the first chicks to be born in the Tower in three decades.

The new chicks hatched in early April and grew fast, although they didn’t remain at the Tower of London owing to lack of space.

Behind the Scenes with Time Out

Two Ravens on the Gun outside the White Tower

We watched this pair for a while when we there in the July and were entertained how they used the gun for shade. It actually seemed to amuse them as much as us how they used it to echo their raucous Caw Caw calls, as they seemed to do it all the more just for effect.

The Ravens are free to roam the Tower precincts during the day and preside over four different territories within the Tower's walls. Visitors are warned not to become over familiar or try to feed them - they can bite if they feel their territory is being threatened.

Size Comparisons - most Rook and Crow are similar size around 90cm wingspan. Ravens wingspan is up to approx 150cm

The Rooks in our garden seem absolutely huge, so this gives you some idea of scale.

‘Joe’ Rook at the top of The Totem by our feeders

For anyone who wants more background:

Origin of the Tower and Some Salient Points

The Tower of London was built on the demand of William the Conqueror after he defeated Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson in the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and then marched on to London.

The castle, which took almost 20 years to build, was designed to proclaim his power over London and stave off any potential rebellion.

It was expanded and later became a prison.

Henry VI was murdered at the Tower in 1471 and, later, the children of his great rival Edward IV – the Princes in the Tower - vanished within its walls in 1483.

The Tower was guarded by the the famous Yeoman Warders, known as 'Beefeaters'. Henry VII's personal guards were the first 'Beefeaters', so named as they were permitted to eat as much beef as they wanted from the King's table.

It was also the site of the beheading of Henry VIII's wife Anne Boleyn.

Today, alongside being a tourist attraction, it is home to the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.

Yeoman Warder in full ceremonial dress uniform as dating from Tudor times

We took these photos as we were lucky enough to witness the Ceremony of the Constable’s Dues. Read about that Here.

Guard outside The Queen’s House, which today is residence for the Governor

NOTE:

It’s not only Ravens who’ve lived at the Tower, the grounds housed the Royal Menagerie for many, many years and when it was closed in 1824 on the grounds of animal welfare and compassion, the animals who were moved were the foundation of London Zoo.

Luckily today, the only live inhabitants, apart from humans, are the Ravens and we did see a solitary Squirrel. Everything else is represented by impressive models.

NB: I’ve been checking, but unfortunately there’s no positive news about Merlina. I’ll keep watching.

Rook, Crow or Raven Wildlife Trust

The Tower of London Twitter account - news of Merlina’s disappearance on 13th July 2021.

FOR HOME LEARNING:

To read all about Ancient Fortresses try Here ‘The History of the Tower of London spans across more than one thousand years and the reigns of countless Kings and Queens.A unique fully comprehensive Timeline has been developed to guide you through the key events of the Tower of London and its bloody history.’

NOTES FROM THE KITCHEN:

We were having a delivery of logs today but I’ve just had a call to delay due to the weather. It is misty and pouring with rain and looks set for the day. Yuck.

The delivery’s been rescheduled for tomorrow.

We’re hunkering down tonight with a chicken curry.

[lyravellas]

Lunar Interlude II – Internal Affairs: TAZ Pre-Finale Relisten Recap

Justin has a Quiznos Crisis™.

Travis jokes about writing his initials on the relic destruction spheres “like a magic trick”.  Exactly like Angus does in the Reunion Tour.

Magnus trying to hug Lucretia and Lucretia not letting him get close is sad as fuck but what else is knew

The IPRE crew breaks my heart twice a week.  I’m immune

Lucretia is super bummed out about Captain Captain Bane’s death because the two of them were close friends, but also probably because that’s yet another thing for her to feel guilty about. Yikes.

[after learning that Robbie’s been thrown in the brig] Taako: “Was it because he loved pringles too much?? Did he pop and then neglect to stop?”

Lucretia: “Hey if that’s a crime, then we all deserve to be thrown in the brig”

Griffin describes Lucretia as being “flabbergasted” upon hearing about the boys’ meeting with the red robe.  Either this was an Oscar-worthy facade on Lucretia’s part, or she was very surprised by the fact that Barry decided to establish direct contact with the boys.

ANGUS MCDONALD, MY SON

The Director ruffling Angus’s hair is the stuff dream are made of

Enter everyone’s favorite nasally nerd lord, Lucas Miller.

As many people have pointed out, Lucas does talk about the voidfish “popping out a kid that makes us forget our own existence” in this episode. I am convinced that Griffin McElroy relistens to these episodes and cackles maniacally about all of this sneaky fucking foreshadowing.

This episode is also the first appearance of the E-G-G-B-A-B-E melody. Griffin is on some next-level shit.

On a personal note, hearing the first instance of the voidfish’s melody after the finale is pretty god damn emotional.

So is Johann asking the boys if they’re okay with being forgotten if they die.

So is Taako asking if people would forget his cooking show (and by extension, the incident at Glamour Springs).

Here’s something interesting: I don’t think Merle speaks at all during this exchange. Taako asks about his show and Magnus claims he’ll never die, but Merle stays quiet.

Magnus is actually the one that hands Leon the coin this time, which gets him to leave the room. However, Taako makes it a point to put the coin in perfectly and no-scope the crank specifically because Leon’s not there, making Griffin angry on Leon’s behalf.

Taako gets the cloak of the manta ray on this run, though, which proves to be 100% fucking useless throughout the rest of the campaign. This is Leon’s curse. Nothing will convince me otherwise.

First occurence of the fantasy costco jingle, which haunts my dreams to this day.

First appearance of the Flaming Poisoning Raging Sword of Doom as well. Nice.

This is also the episode where Garfield first acquires Magnus’s blood, immediately making Travis go “oh no am I going to die”

WELL PAST TRAVIS, DO I HAVE SOME NEWS FOR YOU

Things that would be useful if the McElroys remember them:

Merle’s physician’s pendant gives him a 25% chance of retaining a spell slot when he heals someone.

Merle is able to infuse weapon strikes with divine energy and deal an extra d8 of fire, ice, or lightning damage.

Okay real talk though. If Merle doesn’t ever use this then I’m going to absolutely lose my beans.

[geekmama]

Resolved

Chapter 3: Age of Discoveries

Within a few weeks, Mrs. Molly Holmes’ presence at Madame Celeste’s became an accepted thing by all concerned, except by her husband, of course, who knew nothing about it.

His guilty but enthralled wife went at least twice a week to the brothel, along with her adviser, of course, though that worthy was persuaded to allow Molly a great deal of time on her own through the simple expedient of flattery on the part of Madame Celeste’s housekeeper, a woman whose sense of humor and devotion to Madame allowed her to carry out this subterfuge in fine style. The adviser, Miss Pringle, would be asked humbly to give her opinion of various aspects of the house’s environment and on the health and welfare of the serving staff, which was numerous. That the housekeeper and serving staff were, to a man, laughing at her behind her back -- for the house was run like clockwork and the serving staff well cared for and very well paid -- Miss Pringle never suspected. 

It had all been arranged on Molly’s very first visit to the establishment. Madame Celeste, having been introduced and immediately realizing exactly who this young medical student was, and, more importantly, who her husband was, contrived to see Molly alone in her office, ostensibly to consult her about a chronic skin condition that manifested in a most delicate area and had baffled every doctor the woman had consulted. This was no more than the truth (“Lies can complicate things quite wretchedly, my dear Mrs. Holmes, and quite unnecessarily”), but though an examination was carried out, that was not Celeste’s goal in meeting with the wife of Sherlock Holmes. She seemed sincerely interested in what Molly had to blushingly relate about their wedding night and their subsequent weeks in Italy, and Celeste laughed when Molly told her how Sherlock had reneged on his promise to allow her to visit the brothel in disguise.

“I am not surprised in the least. Not content with wedding an unschooled virgin, once a gentleman of the higher orders has tied the knot he props his wife on a pedestal and presumes she has no more interest in sexual matters than the innocent he married. And then, when he grows dissatisfied at home, he comes to us. I’ve seen it time and again.”

Molly’s dismay was so plain on her face at this that Madame said, quickly, “No, no, my dear, that won’t happen to you! We’ll make certain of that.” And then and there, Madame began advising Molly in some of the ways in which a gentleman’s pleasure might be increased. “But you must implement any changes in your behavior with the greatest caution, since your husband was unwilling to allow you even to visit here, much less take instruction. Foolish, but there it is. He must believe these tricks and practices sprang from your own imagination. So nothing too startling at first. Later, when he grows more accustomed to your innovations, you can allow yourself to be more adventurous.”

“This is so kind of you!” exclaimed Molly, “and it makes me very proud to know that you hold Sherlock in such great esteem!”

Celeste laughed again. “You should be proud, but… well, your husband seemed an odd sort, very aloof to my girls’ blandishments, all business except on that one occasion when he came here to receive instruction on your behalf. It piqued me, cool and handsome and condescending as he was. I tell you, Mrs. Holmes, to know that he is being entirely undone several nights a week by his innocent little wife, thanks to our tutelage, will give me more satisfaction than I can easily convey.”

Molly suspected that Celeste was also pleased at the notion that the wife of Sherlock’s bosom would be deceiving him, even if it was only by a sin of omission, but after that first visit, Molly was fairly caught. The things she learned from Madame Celeste and from some of the other girls were both titillating and to the point, and as she began over the weeks to employ them in the bedroom, she could not help but notice how greatly her dear husband was affected, and how loving were his glances at all other times.

 *

 One afternoon in the middle of October, Molly had come alone to visit Madame Celeste and was trotting up the back stairs of the house with a vial of the precious unguent she’d discovered that actually eased Madame’s skin condition. She’d come twice before by herself for this purpose, always using the servant’s entrance, and Madame had been most grateful, though she cautioned Molly to be extremely careful that she was not observed.

“The trustees at your school wouldn’t like you coming here unaccompanied by your advisor, and your husband would likely take a dim view of such behavior as well. I don’t wish to incur his antipathy.”

But Molly had promised to be careful, and the unguent she’d brought (purchased from a Chinese doctor in Limehouse, near the Magdalene Hospital,  if Madame had but known) proved so soothing and beneficial to the woman that she actually paid Molly considerably more than its actual cost. “For I cannot imagine that your husband gives you anything more than pin money, and moreover, if you will take my advice on financial matters as you are wont to do regarding those of the bedroom, you should open your own bank account and add to it as you can, in case of a rainy day.”

Molly, whose “pin money” from Sherlock consisted of a very generous quarterly allowance, and already feeling enough guilt over deceiving him, did not elect to take this advice, though she did find a hiding place for her profits in their bedroom, a shoebox at the back of the wardrobe containing some elegant pumps that unfortunately tended to pinch and that she would likely never wear again, though they were too pretty to easily give away.

She was acquiring a nice little nest egg, thanks to Madame Celeste’s stubborn malady, and it was with happy anticipation of adding to it that she ascended the stairs, heading toward Madame’s office on the second floor. However, once she reached the first floor landing, she came upon a most disturbing sight: a lovely young woman, no more than a girl really, whose name, Molly knew, was Lucinda.

Lucinda’s face was much tear-stained, her mouth was set in a tragic line, and when she saw Molly she gasped, exclaimed, “Oh! Oh!” and burst into renewed sobs, burying her face in a large handkerchief.

“Lucinda!” Molly cried. “What is wrong? Are you unwell?” For every other time she had seen Lucinda she had been aglow with unabashed happiness, a somewhat unusual state for one of Madame Celeste’s working girls who, young as some of them were, tended to adopt a wry cynicism early on in their careers.

“No! I… Oh, ma’am… read this! ” And Lucinda handed Molly a rather damp and somewhat crushed letter.

Molly smoothed it carefully and read: 

 My Darling Lucinda,

It is with a heavy heart that I write this missive, one that contains news that I know will be difficult  for you to bear. My father has discovered our affaire du coeur . I have met with him, perforce, and he has given me to understand that he will disinherit me entirely if I continue to frequent Madame Celeste’s or any other house of ill-repute. My intention of offering you marriage he treated with the utmost contempt, telling me that I must decide for myself whether you would be willing to live with a man with no expectations and no prospects (since my poetry, though I know you hold it in high regard,  is unlikely to earn me a living wage) and whether it would be right even to offer you such a life.

I have to admit that the answer that groaned within my breast was “No.”

My heart of hearts, it grieves me more than I can say to tell you we must part, and that I pray you will quickly find happiness with some other man. I myself will doubtless live out my life as a bachelor, for I cannot conceive of any woman who could take your place in my affections, and I will not marry for position or for filthy lucre, no matter what my father says. I beg you will find it in your tender heart to forgive me, and will sometimes allow your thoughts to touch upon the hours of bliss we have experienced during this idyll, ill-fated as it has been.

I am, and ever will be, your own,

Bertram

 Molly, having read the letter, looked up at Lucinda in horror and sympathy.

Lucinda said, “My life is over!” and gave a hitching sob, her tears overflowing once more.

Molly put her arm about the girl. “Lucinda, you must not say such a thing!”

“Oh, Mrs. Holmes, you do not understand. I… I am not like the other girls here. I have only been here since August, and my Bertram was the only man I… I ever…”

“The only one to have bedded you?” Molly asked, surprised. “How is this? Were you a maiden when he first came to you?”

Lucinda nodded, and pressed the handkerchief to her trembling lips.

Molly said, “If you please, tell me how it all happened. I always thought that perhaps you were of genteel birth, and now…”

“I was,” said Lucinda. “My father is a clergyman in… in the north of England, a most God-fearing man, but… well.... My dear mother died two years ago. It was a dreadful time, and I… I cannot but believe it turned my father’s intellects somewhat, for though he had never been warm, he became far worse, almost a recluse, except on Sundays, and when parish business arose. And… well… I look a great deal as my mother did in her youth. Many of the townspeople remarked on it. My father seemed almost to resent that, and as the months passed, he kept me more and more restricted to home.  But there was one young man, the son of the local blacksmith, who would come and do work on our property, and… he had a fondness for me. One day, we were both in the orchard behind the house and he… stole a kiss. It was nothing, truly! But my father witnessed it, and he was… oh, dreadfully angry. He sent the young man away, telling him never to return. And then… oh ma’am! He... he cut a switch from one of the trees and took me in the house and… and...” Her voice trailed off and she had grown very pale, quite overcome at the memory.

“Oh, Lucinda!” Molly breathed, horrified.

But then Lucinda looked at Molly, her face set. “I ran away. I put on my best clothes, stole all the money from the poor box in the chapel where I had gone to church every Sunday of my life, and I ran away to… to the nearest town and bought a ticket for the train to London. There had been an advertisement in the Times, for work as a lady’s companion, and I was determined I should apply for the post. And I did, too… but they thought me too young, though I had turned seventeen. That was last July. I tried then to find other work in service, through an agency, but it seems it’s very difficult when one has no references -- and not much experience. We had a housekeeper at home, you see, and a girl to help her, and then there was Cook. I am afraid I didn’t learn much about domestic work or… or anything useful.” Lucinda fell into dejection at this, snuffled, and then blew her straight little nose with the damp handkerchief.

“But how did you end up here? And with Bertram?”

Lucinda smiled slightly. “I was nearly out of funds entirely -- London is so very expensive a place to live -- but then Sally Ripple befriended me.”

“Sally?” said Molly, frowning. “You mean that little dark-haired girl who seems so lively?”

“She is lively, and I still believe she has a good heart. She’s Madame’s favorite of the younger girls. She saw that I was close to despair, and at wit’s end trying to think what to do. She brought me here. Madame said she had a surfeit of servants and needed no more, but if I wished to become… well. I resisted for two weeks. And then, one night, I saw Bertram and… and fell in love. And I told Madame I would have him.”

“Did he know you were…” Molly hesitated, fascinated and appalled.

“Oh, yes. He had to pay a great deal, I believe, for… for my maidenhood. But he loved me. I know he did. From that very first time. And I saw him many times after that over these last two months. I knew he would rescue me from this life. I knew it, though the other girls… they weren’t as certain. But they did encourage me to hope. Only Madame laughed at the notion. And it seems… she was correct.” Lucinda sniffed again, and wiped her eyes.

“What will you do now?” Molly asked, quietly.

“Madame still maintains she needs no additional servants. But… I can’t. I can’t give myself to any other man. I won’t. I won’t! ”

Molly put her arm about the girl’s shoulders. “No. There must be some other way. Lucinda, will you stay here until I speak with Madame Celeste? I am here to deliver the medicinal unguent she has found so beneficial and I know she will listen to me.”

“But... what will you tell her?”

“Well… if you had the chance to become a kitchen maid in a… a somewhat strange but quite genteel home, would you leave this place?”

Lucinda stared, and breathed, “Oh, ma’am. Do you mean--”

“Wait here!” Molly commanded imperiously, eyes glinting, and an impish smile on her lips.

 *

 “Alphonse!”

Alphonse turned from the cutting board where he had been creating a mountain of perfectly julienned root vegetables which he would presently braise with butter and herbs and salt and pepper and just half a clove of garlic so as not to overwhelm the delicate flavors of the-- but here he stopped his musings to stare at the not one but two women before him. Or woman and girl. Though the stranger, the girl, was several inches taller than his mistress, and built on queenly lines, very pretty in an English Rose sort of way, and she was obviously very young -- not even of age, if Alphonse was any judge (and he was).

“Madame?” he asked, the question in his voice and disapprobation in his eye.

“Alphonse, you will forgive me for interrupting you at a crucial point in your preparations--”

“All moments are crucial,” Alphonse said in baleful tones.

“Yes, so you have given us to understand,” said Mrs. Holmes, with a somewhat humorous sidelong glance at the girl.

The girl did not notice, however, but looked upon Alphonse with awe and some trepidation, as was certainly appropriate.

But Mrs. Holmes continued, “In any case, you have been hinting for some time that you need an assistant--”

“An escuelerie.”

“Precisely. Though I do hope you will deign to teach Lucinda some of your cooking skills, if she shows the aptitude for it.”

Alphonse stared, first at Molly Holmes, then at… Lucinda. He said, “This?”

“Yes,” said Mrs. Holmes.

“This is not a boy. What will I do with a female? They do not belong in the kitchen.”

“Oh, rubbish!” exclaimed Mrs. Holmes, a stubborn glint in her eye. “Lucinda will be more than equal to any task you may set for her. Is that not so, Lucinda?”

“Oh… oh, yes, ma’am. Only… if Monsieur doesn’t want--”

“I don’t,” stated Alphonse, and prepared to turn away.

“I will give you a raise in pay,” Mrs. Holmes stated.

Alphonse considered this, as well as her determination. “How much?”

“Two pounds a month.”

“Five,” said Alphonse.

“Three and that’s my final offer. Otherwise you will accept her, with only a good grace and no increase in pay at all.”

Alphonse drew himself up and glared at the mistress of the house, but it had little effect. She had been coming into her own these last two months since her return from Italy. Her husband flitted about London in a daze of lingering bliss, and no wonder. She was a force to be reckoned with, his lovely, kind, and energetic young mistress.

Alphonse bowed slightly. “Three, then.” He looked at Lucinda and jerked his chin in the direction of the sink. “Put on an apron and get to work.”

Mrs. Holmes gave him a glowing smile in thanks.

 *

 Lucinda settled in quite happily at 221B Baker Street. Wary of Alphonse, at first, she soon grew used to his gruff ways, worked hard to please him, and began to pick up bits and pieces of culinary knowledge. There was much more to cooking than she’d ever supposed when she was growing up in quiet, conservative Yorkshire, and she found it exciting and immensely satisfying when she achieved any success -- and to receive a nod of approval from Alphonse made her quite giddy.

Mrs. Hudson and Mr. Holmes, the famous consulting detective, each gave her a nod of approval when Molly first introduced her to them (“... one of the girls I came to know through my community service -- and Alphonse has been complaining he needed help …”) but otherwise barely acknowledged her existence. Young Archie was friendlier, but was so wary of Alphonse that she rarely saw him since she spent all her time in Alphonse’s kingdom.

Or nearly all. After a week, Alphonse had allowed her to serve some of the dishes he so lovingly prepared (and it was love, he had the greatest admiration for his employers and went to great lengths to please them). And it wasn’t more than a few days later before she was delivering all of them to the table, since Alphonse preferred to lurk ominously in his particular domain.

It was this new task that finally revealed to her, and to her mistress, the true state of affairs. One morning, a Saturday, Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, Mrs. Hudson, and Archie were sitting round the breakfast table, and Lucinda was carrying in a tray with a dish of kedgeree upon it, the smell of the haddock, eggs, and spices wafting up to her. Her stomach had been a little delicate lately, but now it revolted entirely. She quickly set the dish on the table and hurried from the room.

But her distress had not gone entirely unnoticed. Mrs. Holmes came looking for her, and found her in the tiny back garden, vomiting into one of the flowerbeds.

“Lucinda!” said the kind, worried voice, gently rubbing her back. “You are ill! Why didn’t you let us know? You should be abed.”

Lucinda carefully wiped her mouth with the edge of her apron and then reluctantly turned to her mistress. “No, I am not ill. Not like that. Oh, Mrs. Holmes…” Her voice trailed off in utter despair.

And Mrs. Holmes gasped, suddenly realizing what was amiss. “You are with child!” she said, almost whispering the words.

Lucinda nodded, and her eyes filled with tears.

[veganspoonsandpennies]

Humus and carnist 🐝✨

Humus - What are your favorite vegan snacks?Ben n jerrys chunky monkey ice cream w a banana, peanut butter, and chocolate sauce is a huge weakness of mine (even just the bananas,Pb, and choc sauce..), fries fries fries FRIES, avocado toast, warmed pita with butter and seasonings(particularly w garlic salt) or hummus, chocolate covered coffee beans, chocolate covered coconut, Pringles (they currently have a chicken taco and Jamaican jerk flavors that are vegan that I LOVE), choc chip cookies (especially with frosting!!), cupcakes 😍😍😍

Carnist - What made you go vegan?omg Ok so my story is really long and boring and Im sorry lol.(Tw for abuse, drug mention) so my mom was a vegetarian until I was like 16, and so vegetarianism was pretty normal to me growing up and for a few years (like maybe 13-15) I was vegetarian and was on the peta website trying to learn things about different animal rights issues. I’m not exactly sure what specifically at that point had gotten through to me. But when I was 13 I went through some pretty violent trauma and so I empathized very strongly whenever I watched videos of what animals had to go through for things like meat or fur. And I did try to be vegan for a few months, but I had few resources in terms of anyone showing me how, and I still hadn’t made the full connection of how violent and immoral all exploitation is, I didn’t know dairy and eggs are just as violent as the meat industry and are also integral to the meat industry. so although I was fighting with rednecks in class over hunting and meat and fur, and trying to make as many essays or projects about animal rights, there was SO much I didn’t know. And then I hit a really rough patch in my life when I was 16, I was doing a lot of drugs, became homeless, and I guess it all slipped away from me because I had yet to fully “make the connection” even though I already knew it was wrong. I was also surrounded by a lot of shitty people at the time who hounded me for being vegetarian and eventually tricked me into eating a meat pizza while I was blackout high. After that I just gave up on vegetarianism and went back to eating meat until I was about 20(so like 4-5 years ago). I had about a year of clearing my head of the really heavy drug use, got away from all those crappy people, and I happened to see the clip from Apocylpse Now where they slaughter a real bull. And then it all came rushing back to me. and as an adult, I was more mentally equipped to do thorough research myself. I first stopped eating meat that night I saw that video, then not long after that I learned how terrible dairy is. then I went plant based and called myself a vegan, however it took like 6 more months before I started to fully grasp the concept of speciesism and realized that as humans we are always unlearning our speciesism and human supremacy. I realized things like breeding and horse riding (something I grew up doing) were also Very wrong, etc etc. And now here I am today :) and I will NEVER AGAIN make the mistakes I made then. I still have a drug problem now, but I’ve also now “made the connection” so no amount of being black out fubarred or being tricked/shamed into eating animals will change me

-mod sky 🐺💖

~

humus-

i like cheese dips and popcorn and potato chips of any kind honestly. and veggie sticks and yeah french fries. one of my fav ‘snacks’ lately has just been entire cans of garbanzo beans?

carnist-

i dont have a good story or anything i think one day the ~pushy~ aggressive vegans of tumblr just finally got through to me and i watched earthlings and went vegan that night

-mod dog

[clumsysoaper]

On March 20, 2020 my soap making channel hit 8K subs. Then I came up with an idea to create a letter for my future self. To celebrate together with her. I wonder how long would it take to hit 10K from 8K? I’ll patiently wait. I’ll keep this video unlisted and will only publish when I reach 10K milestone. Stats to date, I have 124 videos now and I wonder on how many videos will this channel have by then? Will I be still working overseas? I pray that by then, cure for Covid-19 is available. To my future self, Remember to publish this video when we reach 10,000 subscribers. Remember to answer my questions and update the description box with your answers. Remember to thank our soap sisters and bubble brothers, we owe everything to them! I know that in the future, you will continue to chase our dreams, in doing so always take a moment to look back. Share your blessings to your family, friends, to everyone and lift everything back to God almighty. I love you so much, Cathy #clumsysoaper Dearest Past Self, We made it! 10000 soap sisters & bubble brothers in our mini soap making family. We now have 139 videos. Today is 14 Aug 2020, it took almost 5 months from the day you decided to make a time capsule for me. No cure for Covid-19 yet but Scientists are doing all they can to find a vaccine. Yes, I am still working overseas. Working from home, (a few days after you made the time capsule video), though I sometimes go to office to do some lab work. I really can't believe that we can reach this far. I owe everything to our Soapmaking family. I owe it to you also for doing all the hard work and preparing the way from me. Btw, I am working on something big. Something that you've dreamed about when we are still a little girl. Don't worry, I won't share yet until it is ready. Before I end this message, I would like to dedicate all our hard work to our loving Mama, to our Papa in heaven, to our younger brother, his wife and our nephews! I lift everything back to God, for without Him. I am nothing. To God be the glory. Love, Your Present Self, who used to be your Future Self. ☺️🥰💕 P.S. So much fun sending a letter to you. #clumsysoaper10K --- My Favorite Soap Designs: Rose Hanger Swirl Soap Making: https://youtu.be/RG3KiRPh5N4 Sculpted Layer Unicorn Soap Making: https://youtu.be/hRazNsGK2Xo Open Cup Swirl Soap Design Technique: https://youtu.be/4c6XAlptBiI Soda Bottle Swirl Soap Design Technique: https://youtu.be/nVkwjVuIJW4 --- Beginner Soap Making Tutorial: Soap Making Beginner’s Guide: https://youtu.be/gWh6LQjOcUo How soaps are made: https://youtu.be/niWYhW08iMs Soap Making History: https://youtu.be/CBwKrKeWs5E 15 Common Mistakes of Soap Makers: https://youtu.be/Vwj3cWu7cTc How to label soap: https://youtu.be/v1y-80OHu_8 Soap Lye Calculator: https://youtu.be/yYFHbGdOXXk DIY: How to make improvised Soap Mold Dividers: https://youtu.be/dTTK_ifREb4 PVC Soap Mold Making: https://youtu.be/rXWsW7YhNdA How to measure soap mold capacity: https://youtu.be/xhQPaBXiwsA Milk Carton Soap Mold Making: https://youtu.be/Mp-Ot4VR48U Pringles Can Soap Mold Making: https://youtu.be/gkrk31KKtzs Pringles Can Melt and Pour Soap Mold Making: https://youtu.be/P8JmW80V3bU Soap Projects that you may want to try: Coconut Oil Soap Making: https://youtu.be/lV3-f7zTV0s Castile Liquid Soap Making: https://youtu.be/uByN3pdTsm4 Milk Soap Making: https://youtu.be/Mp-Ot4VR48U Castile Olive Oil Soap Making: https://youtu.be/5C9U0WG2WCo How to: How to make Extra Virgin Coconut Oil at home: https://youtu.be/fXRjRQkONHQ How to make soap using Used cooking oil: https://youtu.be/Uyane2IOSU0 Hi I'm Cathy, D' clumsy soaper. Sharing with you my handmade #soapmaking crafts. Subscribe to keep you posted on my weekly soap making tutorial, tip & tricks, diy and soap recipe video uploads: https://goo.gl/xf54dG Like and comment if you enjoyed the video. Feel free to share to your friends and family members who are interested to learn the art of soap making. May you have an awesome and soapy day. If you are want to make soap recipe or need help to calculate how much does your soap cost, I created a soap lye and cost calculator. You can visit that at www.mysoapcalc.com. My Soap Calc™ is a web-based soap lye calculator that helps to create handmade soap recipes for home soap making. This site is a soap making online resource and platform for informal collective learning & fun social community. Connect with me: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/cathzie05 Twitter (@clumsysoaper): https://twitter.com/clumsysoaper Instagram (@clumsysoaper): https://ift.tt/2tPjMl0 Facebook page (D' Clumsy Soaper): https://ift.tt/2hVk9pX Facebook group (Soap Makers Hub): https://ift.tt/2z0Bghe My Soap Calc: www.mysoapcalc.com Music Credits: All music are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license (https://ift.tt/1bFo3O7) by Cathy D' Clumsy Soaper

[the-grumpy-panda]

Eat Them Up, Yum!

No fish heads here. Just the remains of my counter top junk food blow out. I can use my counter again! The real treat within these treats may be the two (originally three, but one was cancelled on the sellers end, and of course it's the one I really wanted. Maybe next time...) chips I ordered from Canada, because why not? Thanks Ebay! I've already gotten candy from all over the world, so let's see what the Canadians are hiding. Besides the secret to producing attractive celebrities. Curse you Ryan Reynolds. Do you know how hard you make it for us average folk? Bastard. But I'm keeping Neve Campbell and Evangeline Lilly. They are mine now! Oh, and Emily VanCamp. Thanks so much. I'll probably just blow right through these and make any comments short and direct. I think I'm simply ready to be done with this phase of eating. **Quick note. Parts of this were written months ago. So excuse the fact that some of these treats may no longer be on shelves. Maybe I should change my nom de plume to "That Fuc*ing Lazy-Ass Panda." HEY! Even Grumpy Panda's get busy. Orphan Black marathons won't watch themselves. But don't ask me to tell you about the show. I'm merely in love with Tatiana Maslany. Wait a minute... lemme check this internet thing... WOW! Another Canadian! Yup. MINE. Seriously, Canada... what's in your water up there? On to the eaty (Fake word number 46.) things -Honey Roasted Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! Almost no discernible difference from a regular Reese's cup. The aftertaste is where this gets you, but not pleasantly. There's an acrid note coming way at the end, and a bit of an oily sensation somehow. -Barbecue Payday candy bar! Take a Payday, roll it in some dry rub barbecue seasoning, and you'd have this bar. It doesn't work all that well, though. It's not gross, and I think I've learned that peanuts coated with a dry rub barbecue mix would be delicious, but the barbecue does not mix well with the sweet nougat portion. At all. -Hershey's Cherry Cheesecake candy bar! An unpleasant smell is the first thing to greet you. It's like a cheap, institutional soap almost. Taste wise, I don't like it. Whatever they did to try to get the white chocolate (not something I'm a fan of to begin with) to taste a bit more like cheesecake is off, and it leaves me reminded of lavender candy... which is also not very good. This may be due to the cherry element. It's present, and were it not for the surrounding chocolate, it might be a decent flavor element. Maybe they'll try this part in another bar. Then there's the cookie bits, which make the bar look unappealing as well. Little dark pieces festooned like barnacles. I suppose this is meant to simulate a crust like element, and while it does add a needed crunch, that's about all it does right. -Strawberry Kit-Kats! Was strawberry a flavor in the mix from all those Japanese Kit-Kats I tried way back when? I can't recall, but if it was, I bet it was better than this one. Not that this one is wholly bad, it's just a bit mediocre. It smells of Frankenberry cereal, which is fine by me, but the taste is just too artificial and a bit too sweet. -Mike & Ike Cherry Cola candies! Aw, man. These smell like cinnamon. They taste like a cinnamon or spiced cola. It's cool the cola flavor comes through, but no cherry seems present and a spiced cola is not appealing. Anyone else remember when Pepsi tried that exact thing one holiday season? Yeah, it was gross, and these unfortunately remind me very much of that. Mike & Ike also have a Root Beer Float candy out, but I didn't see those whilst oot and aboot. (Is that Canadian enough to trick Mia Kirshner, you think? Yet ANOTHER fine example of prime Canadian genes.) -But wait! What's this that just became a thing in my life mere minutes ago.I kid you not. I wrote the preceding paragraph yesterday, and today this makes its existence known. How coincidental... and saddening.  Pepsi Fire soda! Pepsi with cinnamon. Didn't they learn from the spiced cola fiasco? If this wasn't handed to me, I never would have bought it of my own accord. It smells like dank beer. It tastes like sheer awfulness. That is all that need be said. -Mike & Ike Buttered Popcorn candies! I know I've had a popcorn jelly bean before, but I can't remember my thoughts about it. These can't be much different though, can they? To start with, they certainly nailed the stale popcorn smell of a run down theater. That's not necessarily a bad smell, just a distinct one. There is a surprisingly decent and understated buttered popcorn to these. Unfortunately the gelatin aspect of the candy overpowers the whole thing, so ultimately once the initial flavor burst subsides, it's like chewing a mouthful of unflavored goop. Which, I suppose, is exactly what candies like these are before getting flavor added. I will say I like them, and eventually I finish up the box, but I do think an extra dose of flavoring pumped into the mix would take these up a notch.   Ruffles Mozzarella & Marinara potato chips! These smell just like a cheap,  frozen mozzarella stick. If that's good or bad depends on how you feel about cheap, frozen mozzarella sticks. I'm okay with them. I don't get a lot of cheese flavor from these, but there is a very noticeable marinara with Italian seasoning element, and it's not bad. But not great, either. It's... fine. Were the marinara flavoring not so noticeably powdery, these would be better. Not bad, overall. I'd try them again down the road once I'd forgotten I'd had them before. -Ketchup flavored Pringles! These smell like a ketchupp packet left open in the bottom of a mop bucket. I think the bucket part might be the can permeating out. What are you making these cans from, Pringles? The taste isn't all that bad, though. I'm reminded very much of a cold, limp french fry dipped in ketchup, but with the crunch of a chip. I thought these would be gross, but they're serviceable. I wouldn't eat too many at one time, but I'll graze on them in the coming week. -Chocolate Peanut Butter Twinkies! I almost passed on these, because they just LOOK boring. Do they come out a winner, though. Nope. Dry as desert toast and a nearly missing filling makes these a quick trick by Hostess to use up leftover batter and get your dollars. Don't give them any! -Lay's Crispy Taco chips! Lay's Everything Bagel chips! Lay's Fried Green Tomato chips! Shoot. I can't remember enough for a full run down. So here's the quickness... The bagel ones were my least favorite. The fried green tomato ones were my favorite, but I also liked the taco ones. However, I thought the variety should have been different. The taco should have been the 'kettle cooked' version leaving the bagel for the regular chip. -Let's not forget Lay's Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Popper chips! I had them. Again, specifics escape me, but I was left unimpressed. I didn't hate them, but would ignore them if I saw them again. -Dunkin' Donuts Mocha Oreos! I liked these. Just enough mocha flavor complementing the chocolate cookie for an enjoyable treat. Goes great with a glass of whatever milk or milk like substance is your fancy. -Tropicle Fruit Punch flavored pickle! Because... because sometimes life is sh*t and fruit punch flavored pickles in a jar are there to hold your hand as you take that last step off the bridge. However... I found these unassaulting. (Fake word number 86.) They were fine. Not delicious, but just "Oh. So that's what a pickle soaked in Kool-Aid tastes like. Okay. This is a thing, though?" Wouldn't buy them again, but if I were at your cook out and you put one on my plate I'd eat it. And then dial the suicide hotline for you. I believe that brings me to a conclusion. And a respite. It is now close to mid August. That means... Halloween sweets are soon to be upon us. As early as August 7th, 2017, I saw Pumpkin Spice Cheerios and Pumpkin Spice Quaker oatmeal on shelves. Now THAT'S early. And just a couple of days after that, I saw the pumpkin shaped Reese's cups. Time to cash in savings bonds and get ready for a spooky treat fest. Or a trip to Canada. What are they building? They have subscriptions to those magazines. They never wave when they go by... what are they building up there?

[lhistoiredehannah-blog]

We are not the snide comments uttered by cowards dressed as friends. We are rich social tapestries. We are complex amalgamations of our interactions. More than a sneer, or a sum, or a reduction of some fuzzy anecdote as it slides from the memory. Do not allow yourself to be compartmentalised. Not only are you a piece of art in your own right, but your colourful threads weave in and out of more lives than you can imagine.

My tapestry is messy; mostly there are colours, so many colours, dotted with grey masses and black masses from when the sun hid behind cloud. I will not allow a person to weave grey thread as I remember that life has a rather tactile ability to provide that itself.

                                                                                                *

It started with two: deep green and bright red. A reserved man and a vibrant woman, riding the wave of uncomplicated love that characterised that period, for them.  She taught me to love passionately, to tie laces and to not be jealous. To be daring, to exaggerate, to tell the truth even where it might hurt. I remember her loud stomach laugh, but I also remember her angry, flushed shout. He taught me to love quietly, to read, to be curious and remain sceptically asking questions.  I was a loud girl. A brave girl. A scuffed knees, scuffed shoes, singing in the rain girl. I was a ‘not-afraid-to-be-top-of-the-class’ girl.

Soon the red and green were crossed by a thick, navy blue. An honourable man, a strong man with a weakness. Me. He taught me what she had, though uncensored. He taught me to be true, to be blunt as a flint, to not be afraid to drive off road. Alongside it, a pastel pink, the woman with the warmest smile.  She would teach me to add soft edges and to appreciate the virtues of sometimes just caring. She taught me that silly was OK and that your age had no correlation to whether or not you were actually young.

There is a tiny thread, a growing thread that runs alongside me as these four mammoth adults teach me who I can become. He is little and blonde, a face speckled with freckles, and he becomes my side kick. He teaches me how to be the eldest and I teach him how to be the youngest. Later he will teach me how dangerous the ego can be. He will also teach me more about identity, about the fluidity of social labels, than any book or analysis ever could have done. He will teach me tolerance and understanding and the beauty of diversity. But that will come later.

The greys start to run through. Bureaucratic beige: the man with the cords teaches me that you cannot cure by asking how things make you feel. It just is not enough. Clerical NHS turquoise: the ladies in blue teach me that lying doesn’t work. The green thread starts to fray. The red thread becomes scarlet, with passion, with strength. Some days the red is a flame, some days it is blood. Some days I avoid both, I avoid everything, and it teaches me that absence pauses time. Without people, a person becomes nothing.

A boy on the outside taught me that the outside, in reality, was just someone else’s inside. He taught me that jagged bones were the same as thin, red cuts. He taught me that deflection was as valid a way as any to plaster up holes. His maroon continues to thread across my tapestry because friendships like these never cease to be.  This boy sees the darkness, but somehow together, we can still see.

At this point I was learning lots of lessons, from lots of people, and the picture becomes a flash of primary colours. It’s all basic and brash because I am unable to comprehend the beauty of subtlety. I learn skills and knowledge that I may never need. I learn that boys like girls who smile and giggle, and I learn that I am frankly not like that. I learn that spending years in a cave had left me very far behind. I try to catch up and keep falling. I learn from other people’s adolescent mistakes rather than making them myself. The couples teach me what I need from love and loss. The competitors teach me ambition. The rejection teaches me my place.

Everyone leaves.

A person becomes nothing. The canvas becomes blank.

Fleetingly, customers teach me how selfish people are. Staff teach me how stupid people are. Being hungry teaches me how strong life is. It teaches me how to separate the mind from the body. It teaches me how to be selfless whilst simultaneously being labelled the most selfish of all. ‘How can you do this whilst your mother is sick? A person can only handle so much. I have to choose and I do not choose you.’

How does disappearing constitute a selfish act?

With that,

The green thread SNAPS.

                                                                                                *

Six skeletons teach me how complex a person can be whilst masquerading behind a single word. Being anorexic is easier than being Ella, being bulimic easier than being Ellie. Being crazy is simpler than being a mum and crying at a dinner table somehow makes sense when you live in a bubble. Bitching over a garden cigarette somehow made the difficulties seem legitimate. Being trapped taught me all the things I didn’t want to be. I filled the crevasses and I followed the rules and I left.

A week of sirens.

‘I can’t do this anymore.’

I pinch my eyes closed. The sobs that reverberate through the thin semi walls teach me that strength is sometimes the ability to bow down and let go. The whispers teach me that people in love can be the most selfish of all. The long nights that never seem to become days chip away at respect, at colour and at life until that crisp November morning.

The red thread is tied in a thick, tangled knot.

That moment taught some to seek hope in God. It didn’t for me. For others it dug up countless lessons she had already championed. Stories floated to the surface that she had never pushed. I realised how many lives she had touched. She taught me what it means to be inspired.

But man was I tired.

The chain breaks and every thread starts to fray. People do not know what they can say.

The bones resurface and the face becomes gaunt. The boy with the scars takes me by the hand and I know that I love him though I don’t know what that means. We watch the stars and make the kind of jokes that make other people shudder. I spend days being spoon fed and not knowing who I am. I build something from the ripped shreds, though my memory plays tricks on me and I somehow can’t remember who I was before. In the whitewash, a hospital bed becomes a cross road and I turn right.

This time eight skeletons teach me that easy isn’t always good. Each pointed chin got there through pathetic lies, each rib represented a relationship they had severed and an opportunity they had elaborately by-passed. ‘You’re better than this’ went from cliché to truth, because I was.  The doctors taught me the cockiness of the human mind. In recovery, I learnt the relationship between selfish and selfless, and how they are both arcs on the same circle.

Walking out the door, walking head held high, I realised I was eighteen. I realised it was my time to be selfish because it was my time to learn. The pastels of the EDU and the ICU and the hospice abruptly become brighter: sharp and alive.

                                                                                                *

Sambuca taught me how to mix, with lemonades and sours and garish liquids I can’t even comprehend now. Pink and red and green and blue. Artificial colours of artificial memories with an edge of sharp alcohol that somehow makes them feel like pop-art.

A pin-up red head taught me how to get phone numbers and how to look like a girl a man would want to kiss. A brunette with an STI taught me that a kiss was enough, for now at-least. Weed taught me that I could finish a tube of Pringles with ease. My return taught me that the people I had once idolised were just people, and I was one too. The foundations were built for relationships with strength and I got about with my hammer.

I learnt to love the boy who I had antagonised over as a great, clever friend. A blue thread. I learnt to shelf my envy to appreciate the arty girl for her deep heart and creative soul. A gold thread. I learnt to be a sister to the sisters, to be wild-card for the partiers and to be a rock to the fleeting worriers. My circle grew like my mother’s and that made me feel pride.  I made sure to give more than I took and that always paid off.

I met a boy and he taught me how quick you can lust then lose. That was a lesson I will never cease to thank him for. I wasted my first flirt with pink with a boy I could never had built anything more with. And that is not an insult, some people are just not made to be.

                                                                                                *

New city, new canvas. Black over white. Nights over day.

I am independent in the dark. My past has made me someone who is somehow more prepared than the teenagers that hustle around me. I am a sleek and sassy adult and I work out what I value. A muscly boy teaches me that I value the kind of strength you find in Northern honesty and a complete disregard of the norm despite the ability to espouse it. His thick, metallic strand still supports me today. A blonde teaches me not to use and abuse, and the ripples she casts somehow provide me with great friends who believe they’ve been wronged. Mistakes teach me that your own mistakes make the best stories. And I never stop telling them.

There is a plait on the black, my thread crossing with that of two boys. I think that I am in love again and I probably am but it’s different this time and I ruin it. I am cut lose and I realise that I don’t like drama as much as I had thought. But it makes for good stories. Plus I get laid. So I cannot complain (though of course I did).  As an adult I somehow bring these two back as friends. It’s crazy how petty the past can seem.

I learn way too much about the New World. I then learn that the term does not include Africa. This is when I vow to only write essays when sober.  I break the vow to discuss Machiavelli on a bottle of Glens. I get a first.

I move each year, in a little circle around a little town strewn with litter and shattered bottles. I pretend each shabby room is home because I can’t even remember what the green thread ever meant. I feel like an atom and I base myself in the people I choose.  I make shallow friends and deep friends. I loose some because I don’t treat them right, but that only teaches me to change my approach. Then there are those who don’t treat me right, but for some reason I fail to lose them.

A dark November brought me a new thread, a strong one which had more impact than anyone for some time. A boy with deep brown eyes made me feel like a woman. He told me he loved me. I loved him back. We did stupid couple things. We went from honeymoon haste to deeply comfortable. We had three years, but that was enough. This bright yellow took me to Germany. It taught me to enjoy the succulence of wine and to despise the selfishness that came with wealth. I learnt to love more passionately than I ever had, and I learnt to resew broken threads. He taught me to communicate but he also taught me that beauty can rot and sweet can turn sour. He taught me that nothing is black v white, because nothing is so simple.

When he said goodbye he taught me to heal, and that nothing can be reduced to simply one man’s fault. I was independent again and his paradigm had led me through such rich changes that I now stood an adult with the world being seen through new eyes. In this relationship I created a new world and just because he left my side didn’t mean we both had to leave that world. That’s what it means to be an adult. It’s an acceptance of the flowing nature of time, and the appreciation of shapes that don’t need to be sharp.

Yellow, like red, and like blue, and like maroon, will probably shape how I think for some time. And I do not resent that, I respect it.

                                                                                                *

My canvas is now beige. I am an adult now, who pays taxes and reads politics. I get excited when the chamber erupts (sometimes I heckle along). Wild farm girl would have been so disappointed. I only hope she would be appeased by my less civilised behaviour when I’m presented with a glass of fizz.

Most of the tapestry now is pure, the colours are clean and their trajectories are straight and toned. I have the subtle autumnal shades of my flatmates, the couple who have taught me how friendships and love should be played. They have taught me raw, human, honest happiness. I have the silver influence a blond drug user who never stops teaching me how ambition and knowledge don’t stop an individual from indulging in whatever the fuck they want.

I have a new thread, a pale blue that is warm and young and right. It fits alongside me as though it has always been there and it makes me feel so much less afraid.

I have others, new friends and old friends. Revitalised loves and memories that don’t stop swelling. I have the kind of people who support and the kind of people that critique. They both balance in a way which helps me grow. I have a new brother in the musical boy, the one who drinks and drives. I have a drinking buddy in the sassy Northern girl who I know will always force my accountability. The artist is still here and so are the sisters and so is the outsider. Some things don’t disappear, they grow.

But my reasons for writing, for confession, they were not to chronicle everything that I have learnt. They weren’t to share wisdom or to be pretentious. They were to note that I am a person with a history. I am a person who makes decisions that aren’t right sometimes. I make choices based on less than fact. I make mistakes.

As an adult, we look at mistakes differently than when we were children. We learn. We feel shame but we bend down and pick up the pieces to glue them back together. There is value in having enough pride to sometimes say ‘no, OK, I was not in the wrong here’ and standing our ground.

I am an adult. I am not a child on the school ground. To act like one would reduce my wealth of life experience to nothing.

                                                                                                *

Ask yourself, what is your tapestry? Whose threads have contributed to the colourful shapes? Whose threads have been cut, or tied… was it worth it? Who stands out and do they do so for the right reasons?

We learn from everything and everyone. We are built from our experience. Sometimes people are malicious, shallow and nasty. As an adult, these people are to be pitied and learnt from. And finally, if they continue to act as a sharp, threadless needle, unpicking more than they sew, chuck them. They are not worth the ground beneath your feet.

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Psychic Medium in Pringle SD 57773

The following article goes into detail about psychic medium in Pringle South Dakota 57773 A medium can either be natural born or develop later in life, though they will already possess medium skills which they just haven't recognised yet. It is the view of many life long spiritualists that the days of old were more productive in terms of the natural abilities and volumes of those having these abilities. The Victorian era saw mediumship as being highly fashionable with seances and parlour tricks providing entertainment for the curious, whilst being underpinned by the realisation of the power and greatness of mediumship itself when pure evidential readings left the sitter in no doubts as to its validity. Materialisations, levitation and apports were regular events and the great late Daniel Douglas Home was one Scottish medium who did these things. An astonished and varied gathering of well to do towns folk and journalists witnessed him float up into the air and they also saw a human arm materialise in front of them which was firm to the touch and seemingly unattached to anything. Daniel was quoted as being the most gifted medium, and sought to avoid contact with other spiritualists stating they could teach him nothing. He remains an enigma for many who merely thought mediumship was an illusion or trick. During the scandal, Home was apparently at his best when it came to producing incredible phenomena. In December 1868, his most famous feat took place at the home of Lord Adare. During the evening, Home reportedly went into a trance and floated out the window of the third floor, then floated back in another window - all before the eyes of a number of stunned witnesses. The event occurred in front of three irreproachable members of London's high society, Lord Adare, his cousin Captain Charles Wynne and the Master of Lindsay. There is no doubt the world lost an astonishing man when Daniel passed to the higher life.

In the early 1900s many natural born mediums were encouraged to develop and many young child mediums took to the stage to demonstrate their skills. These skills were developed by what is know as sitting in circle. Circle development covers a group of people sitting to develop their clairvoyant or psychic abilities. The aim is to help everyone learn to connect to spirit in their own way and usually in a variety of different ways. Workshops in general can cover traditional clairvoyance, psychic art, clairvoyance with music, ribbon and colour clairvoyance, psychic drawing, sand reading, flower reading, tarot reading and much more, all under the gentle guidance of a variety of well qualified mediums and psychics. Mediumship development needs 2 very important ingredients, one is a person with a good heart, compassion for fellow man and all things living and the aptitude to develop either potential or those already gifted & active, and the other are good spiritual medium teachers, it is a discipline that required intense study for the best possible results. Whatever phrases we use to describe clairvoyant and psychic abilities, first and foremost it is the spiritualist way of life and all that it encompasses that should always be at the fore. Some may feel that spiritualism is a religion, i feel it is more a way of life.

Sarah Saxon works in the psychic and metaphysical industry and offers services Worldwide to advance spiritualism & world awareness, articles are unbiased and fact based.

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