#my 20thies

[stayuntilthefoglifts]

I am afraid of getting older. I am afraid of getting married. Spare me from cooking three meals a day--spare me from the relentless cage of routine and rote. I want to be free. I want, I think, to be omniscient.

Sylvia Plath, Letters Home

[ukftm]

Pretty urgent:

I finally reached the medical team at Sandyford and a request was put to my GP to do my blood tests. My appointment was booked for tomorrow morning, and they’ve just called me at 5pm to cancel and tell me that Sandyford need to do the bloods themselves. Can the GP refuse to do the blood test if it was ordered by an NHS service? And what can I do?

Hi Anon,

No your GP has no reason to cancel this, especially at the request of the GIC.

Contact your GP surgery and ask for the SPECIFIC reason why they are refusing to do your bloods? Then say “so to confirm you are refusing me treatment?” Then tell them you know that the general medical council clearly state: “GPs must co-operate with gender identity clinics and specialists to provide effective and timely treatment for trans and non-binary people.” (Link below). Then you say I also know that if a GP does refuse treatment, they must provide the SPECIFIC reason IN WRITING. Then you say as your GP is refusing you treatment without giving this in writing and is clearly acting out of discrimination and personal bias you will report them to your local NHS board or the general medical council.

They should hopefully totally back down at this stage as they know you have done your research. So you then say you want an appointment as soon as possible to get your bloods done and if you come up against any further issues like this you will take this to the GMC.

If they continue to refuse tell them you want to make an official complaint as you are being refused treatment because of your transgender identity. Take their name and the name of the GP that is refusing you treatment.

Tell them you will also now make a complaint to your local NHS board on grounds of gender discrimination and will be informing the GMC as that they are refusing you treatment, especially when this comes directly at the request of the GIC.

More and more GPs are doing things like this and there are no grounds for this other than PERSONAL opinion. Situations like this are simply a GP hoping you won’t know your rights and hoping you won’t take this any further.

You may also find this link helpful on getting help from the Patient Advice and Support Service:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/scotland/health/nhs-healthcare-s/nhs-patients-rights-s/#:~:text=If%20this%20happens%2C%20you%20should,Support%20Service%20for%20more%20help.

I have also attached the General Medical Councils guidelines for GPs so you can quote this when you are on the phone and can take this further. This is just one section of it:

Doctors personal beliefs:

Doctors may practise medicine in accordance with their beliefs, provided that they act in accordance with relevant legislation and:

do not treat patients unfairly

***do not deny patients access to appropriate medical treatment or services***

do not cause patients distress.

[separatist-apologist]

Nightly Wikipedia Read:

Hurricanes in the Atlantic pre-1600

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-1600_Atlantic_hurricane_seasons#:~:text=A%20%22violent%20hurricane%22%20struck%20Hispaniola,occurred%20shortly%20after%20this%20time.&text=Also%20affected%20La%20Isabela%2C%20damaging,all%20who%20were%20on%20board.%22

(Next will likely be the paleotempestological hyperlink)

Anon, every article you send is a straight BANGER. I read last nights article kicking my feet and giggling over the absolute SHADE they were throwing about the hospital being built

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

The thread got locked before I was able to post my reply to this but I actually think this reminder is important enough that I'm going to post about it here too. My response:

"This feels like a fitting time to remind people that the split between words like gay/lesbian and bisexual/pansexual/etc is actually fairly recent history still. Lesbian used to mean "any woman who has an interest in women" regardless of any additional interest in men or other genders, and it was, in fact, due to prominent political lesbians (a precurser to modern day radfems which is what the term TERF references) that the term was narrowed to exclude "women who also like other genders besides women" from the lesbian community.

Your sister called you a TERF because the reasoning and definitions you are using come DIRECTLY AND EXPLICITLY from the political community that term references. Your sister continues to identify as a lesbian sometimes because it is fully her right to do so, and ABSOLUTELY NOT YOURS to deny her language that reflects her experiences. Your response is to continue denying her the right to her language. You should probably read up on some community history before you decide to make another "joke" about this fight you keep starting with your sister.

Maybe you could start here with Stonewall UK's resources on the history of bisexuality: https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/short-history-word-bisexuality#:~:text=In%201859%2C%20anatomist%20Robert%20Bentley,understand%20this%20as%20being%20intersex.

From the text:

"But if people in the past didn't use the term 'bi', how did people attracted to more than one gender describe themselves?

There is no simple answer to this question. Some didn’t use an identity label at all, preferring not to categorise their relationships. Some understood themselves as heterosexual, while others identified as gay or lesbian. Others described themselves using percentages or ratios, such as ‘60:40 gay:heterosexual’. When the term ‘gay’ was first popularised by gay liberationists in the 1970s, it often linked radical politics and same-gender attraction, but didn’t necessarily exclude people who were attracted to, or had relationships with, multiple genders.

One interviewee I spoke to during my PhD recalled: “There was a general understanding that sexuality was some sort of spectrum, and that people would move along it from time to time”. It’s also important to note that this terminology is particular to English-speakers in the West, and that elsewhere in the world there has been a diverse range of approaches to sexuality and gender that often reject binary categorisations. In many cases, these approaches have been restricted or prohibited as a legacy of colonialism.

It wasn’t until the late 1970s that the current understanding of bisexuality, as an orientation or capacity for attraction, became widely accepted in the UK as "the more common usage". Around this point, we started to see bi groups and events being established. The UK’s first bi group, London Bisexual Group, was formed in 1981, followed by other groups in Edinburgh (1984), Brighton (1985), Manchester (1986) and Glasgow (1988), as well as a London-based Bisexual Women’s Group. A magazine, Bi-Monthly, was founded, as well as two bi helplines in London and Edinburgh, and the UK’s longest continually-running LGBTQ+ community event, the annual BiCon."

Bisexual inclusion under the language of lesbian or historically equivalent terms was the norm until nearly the 80s, when political lesbian/radical feminist ideaology began to argue that their inclusion diluted or endangered the community. A good place to read up on how this process occurred is Out History: https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/lesbians-20th-century/lesbian-feminism

From the text:

"In essence, lesbian feminists tried to untie lesbianism from sex so heterosexual feminists were more comfortable. But they still had to find an effective way to address the accusation that their masculinity was somehow complicit with men and patriarchy. Lesbian feminists responded by distancing themselves from stereotypes of “masculine roles,” maleness, and patriarchy. One way they were able to do so was by disentangling lesbian sexuality from heterosexuality and re-conceptualizing heterosexual sex as consorting with “the enemy”. They capitalized on dominant assumptions regarding female sexuality, including ideas of women’s romantic and nurturing sexuality versus men’s aggressive sexuality. They were then able to draw a distinction between lesbian sex and heterosexual sex, claiming that lesbian sex was “pure as snow” since it did not involve men. For example, “…the male seeks to conquer through sex while the female seeks to communicate” and “…lesbians are obsessed with love and fidelity” (Echols, 218).

Using this ideology, lesbians successfully billed lesbianism as an ultimate form of feminism--a practice that did not involve men on any emotional level. In this way, heterosexual feminists were seen as inferior because of their continued association with men. Lesbians took on a “vanguard” quality as the “true” bearers of feminism."

Another great paper on this history and the way its impacts continue to present within the community is L v. B and Feminist Identity: Examining Lesbians’ Bi-Negativity and Bisexuals’ Lesbian Negativity Using Norm-Centered Stigma Theory: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359801347_L_v_B_and_Feminist_Identity_Examining_Lesbians'_Bi-Negativity_and_Bisexuals'_Lesbian_Negativity_Using_Norm-Centered_Stigma_Theory

This is a research case study of how one lesbian magazine participated in the construction of an "us vs them" barrier within the lesbian community in order to recast the historic presence of bisexual women as an urgent and unwelcome invasion. While DIVA was surely not the only lesbian publication to participate in this work, it provides an excellent example to understand how that work was done: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17405904.2014.974634

From the text:

"In the 1970s and 1980s, lesbian feminists quarrelled over definitions of lesbianism that appeared at times to include bisexuals (see Rich's, 1980, lesbian continuum, which ultimately elided any perceived distinction between exclusively lesbian sexual activity and ‘woman-identification’) and by turn to cast bisexual existence as unwelcome ‘infiltration and exploitation of the lesbian community’ (Zita, 1982, p. 164). The ‘issue’ of bisexual inclusion became increasingly visible as the gay liberation movement abandoned a constructionist critique of sexuality and gender categories and opted instead for an essentialist, quasi-ethnic homosexual identity. The idea of being ‘born gay’ produced campaign gains by problematising homophobic arguments revolving around choice, but simultaneously reinforced the homo–hetero binary (Barker & Langdridge, 2008; Epstein, 1987; Evans, 1993; Udis-Kessler, 1990). In this way, an ethnic gayness rendered bisexuality indefinitely liminal, outside of both heterosexuality and homosexuality, and claimed by neither. Mainstream media, too, depicted sexuality as dichotomous (Barker et al., 2008).

It is precisely the imagining of bisexuality as something (constantly flitting) between these two supposedly immutable realms that appears to be at the root of any ‘trouble’. Bisexuality has been conceived of by members of the gay community2 as a ‘stage’ between rejecting a heterosexual identity and ‘coming out’ as homosexual (and as Chirrey, 2012, shows, is constructed as such in coming out literature); those claiming it on a permanent basis have been derided as cowards who are ‘really’ gay, but wish to retain heterosexual privileges (Esterberg, 1997; Evans, 1993). Bisexuality in these terms is thus derogated as an illegitimate sexuality (McLean, 2008) and is imagined as an alternation between two separate worlds, for which promiscuity is a necessary condition (even in positive appraisals of bisexuality, Welzer-Lang's, 2008, participants largely describe a sexual identity premised on multiple relationships; see also Klesse, 2005). Both like and unlike ‘us’, the bisexual woman is able to move in either realm, an ‘amphibian’ (Babcock-Abrahams, 1975) whose transgression between categories threatens boundaries and the identities constructed and maintained within – an ‘awkward reminder’ (Baker, 2008, p. 145) of internal difference and potential inter-group similarities where (the illusion of) the opposite offers comfort and validation (Taylor, 1998). The links they forge between the constructed lesbian and heterosexual worlds allow bisexuals to ‘infiltrate the lesbian and gay community, use its facilities for their own gratification, and then retreat into the sanctuary of heterosexual normalcy’ (Humphrey, 1999, p. 233). It is in this light that we can understand McLean's (2008) participants' decision to preserve the assumption of homosexuality in ostensibly queer spaces. Bisexuals have been denigrated as neither committed to gay politics nor oppressed enough to be ‘our’ concern (Evans, 1993; Ochs, 1988). Further, by linking the lesbian and heterosexual worlds, bisexuals form what feminist lesbians consider(ed) a conduit through which ‘our world’ is contaminated by contact with men (see Wolf, 1979). Bisexuals are thus dangerous pollutants, in Douglas's (1966) terms."

You don't need to agree with your sister's decisions around her identity in order to respect them as well as the history she is tying herself too by making those decisions. You DO need to understand that our language as a community is in a constant state of evolution, and many people will have very personal reasons for maintaining older/more historically associated useages of our language/terminology.

[trinitycove]

Hip-hop feminist Joan Morgan on hip-hop’s misogyny

"And this is why Morgan’s writing is so powerful. She does the hard work. She holds two seemingly opposite thoughts in mind at the same time and examines them both. In the article, she recalled seeing her boyfriend coming out of the shower, dripping wet, rapping to himself a snippet of Ice Cube’s “You Can’t Fade Me”: “Why did I bang her? / Now I’m in the closet, looking for the hanger.” She admitted finding this oddly alluring, and she still loves the music, even when it doesn’t love her back. She still doesn’t want to change it, even while feeling hurt by the way it is. As she wrote in Chickenheads, “My decision to expose myself to the sexism of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, or the Notorious B.I.G. is really my plea to my brothers to tell me who they are. I need to know why they are so angry at me.”"

https://www.waxpoetics.com/article/hip-hop-feminist-joan-morgan-on-hip-hop-misogyny/#:~:text=And%20this%20is,angry%20at%20me.%E2%80%9D

[jonquilyst]

174. Chapter 6, Episode 20

This is the first episode made using Photoshop. If it looks a little wonky/different then that’s why (but hopefully you can’t tell)

Previous | Story Page | Next

Transcript:

(Pink text = Megyn)

(Turquoise text = Caroline)

Caroline: You wanted to see me?

Megyn: Yeah... I hope this isn’t a bad time.

Caroline: Not at all. Come and sit.

Caroline: What do you need to talk about?

Megyn: Well, I reconnected with an old friend from Windenburg, and well... He invited me to move in with him.

Megyn: I know this is out of the blue, but he’s the only one I know that’s able to give me a place to stay, and... I want to go.

Megyn: I still have to get my GED, but I’ve never felt so sure about this. I feel like I’m ready to leave.

[beesandwasps]

A Bookmarklet (Javascript Bookmark)

Light text on a dark background quickly gets hard for me to read, so I have a Javascript bookmark that replaces the color settings of the page and forces every piece of text to be black on a white background, with boring old-fashioned blue/purple colors for links. It’s not aesthetically pleasing, but it’s more or less guaranteed to be readable. (An example and the text of the bookmark below the fold.)

As a demonstration, here’s a screen capture of a randomly-selected Tumblr blog with color as it appears normally:

After running the script, it looks like this:

(If you have other color preferences, you can just swap out “black” and “white” in the script with your choices.)

To make this work, add a bookmark in your browser, then use whatever mechanism your browser has for editing bookmarks to rename it something appropriate and replace the URL with the red text below:

javascript:(function(){var%20newSS,%20styles='%20{%20background:%20white%20!%20important;%20color:%20black%20!important%20}%20:link,%20:link%20%20{%20color:%20#0000EE%20!important%20}%20:visited,%20:visited%20*%20{%20color:%20%23551A8B%20!important%20}';%20if(document.createStyleSheet)%20{%20document.createStyleSheet(%22javascript:'%22+styles+%22'%22);%20}%20else%20{%20newSS=document.createElement('link');%20newSS.rel='stylesheet';%20newSS.href='data:text/css,'+escape(styles);%20document.getElementsByTagName(%22head%22)[0].appendChild(newSS);%20}%20})();

(That should be one single line with no spaces or line breaks, in case either Tumblr or your browser decides to play games with it.)

…as long as I’m at it, here’s a second very specialized utility script bookmark. Years ago, there was an epidemic of sites which would hijack your browser window and refuse to let you close the window or quit the browser, and the only way to get out of it was to force-quit your browser — and then make sure it wouldn’t auto-reload the content from the previous session when you opened it back up. I believe there are technical fixes in place now which prevent that form of attack, but just in case I still have my script bookmark which breaks out of that deadlock. Without changing the URL (which lets the page know you’re trying to get away) it uses the “document.write” function… which, notoriously, if used when the page has finished loading, replaces the entire page. This breaks any scripts the page may have in place to monitor your behavior, and the window/tab can then be closed. (But the URL in the location bar remains the same, and the browser thinks you’re still on the page, so the reload button will restore whatever was there before.) It is possible that this might be useful in other contexts, so here it is. The result looks like this:

To make it work, do the same as for the previous script, but replace the URL with this instead:

javascript:%20void(function(){document.write('%3Chtml%3E%3Chead%3E%3Ctitle%3E%2D%2D%20Page%20has%20been%20erased%20%2D%2D%3C%2Ftitle%3E%3C%2Fhead%3E%3Cbody%20style%3D%22margin%3A0in%3Bpadding%3A25%25%3B%22%3E%3Ch1%20style%3D%22size%3Axx%2Dlarge%3Btext%2Dalign%3Acenter%3Bcolor%3Ared%3Bmargin%3A25%25%3Bfont%2Dweight%3Abold%3B%22%3EThis%20page%20was%20erased%20using%20a%20bookmarklet%2E%3C%2Fh1%3E%3Cp%20style%3D%22text%2Dalign%3Acenter%3B%22%3EThis%20page%20has%20had%20its%20content%20replaced%20with%20this%20message%2E%20If%20you%20want%20the%20content%20back%2C%20you%20will%20need%20to%20reload%20the%20page%2E%3C%2Fp%3E%3C%2Fbody%3E%3C%2Fhtml%3E');}())

(Once again, that should be one long line with no spaces or line breaks.)

[ask-the-purple-knight]

https://www.allturtles.com/aggressive-turtles/#:~:text=All%20softshell%20turtles%20can%20lacerate,What%20is%20this%3F&text=According%20to%20the%202002%20study,bite%20force%20of%2041.50%20Newtons.

Apparently softshell turtles have a bite force of up to 41.50 newton's. How much is your bite force? More or less because of the human Dna?

Sadly it is a bit weaker than your average softshell but I would say my bite is still quite strong.

I just prefer not to put weird things in my mouth.

[biodiversityhawaii]

MyMaps Experience

This week I worked with MyMaps, a GoogleMaps based application that allows me to save/explore certain areas relevant to my studies. I worked alongside this tutorial for ease of learning and to speed things along so I didn’t have to go back and forth between the video and the test map. This map was centered around the main islands Hawaiian Archipelago (Hawai’i, Maui, Moloka’i, O'ahu, and Kaua’i) and focused on things like sustainable agriculture, ecotourism destinations, and nature preserves. For the purpose of this assignment, I chose one area of each category to showcase: 

Sustainable Agriculture: Kualoa Ranch (Spoon and Fork Icon)

Ecotourism: Waimea Canyon State Park (Hiking Icon)

Nature Preserves: Volcanoes National Park (Volcano Icon)

The user interface of My Maps is very friendly and simple. You won’t need any fancy coding or GIS skills to use it, which offers non-academic opportunities to people like writers who want to save certain locations for worldbuilding or reference purposes (which I certainly plan to do in the future). Back to the biodiversity side of things, MyMaps enables you to mark areas that are important to biodiversity for a myriad of reasons, whether that be preservation or education to the general public about biodiversity. Kualoa Ranch is an example of education, as it offers behind-the-scenes tours of how they grow their food in accordance with the ancient sustainable practices of the native Hawaiians. Volcanoes NP is a good example of preservation, as the park operates in accordance with the National Parks mission to “preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations” (About the National Park Service 2016). 

When it comes to the individual locations selected, there are quite a few customization options available. You can select different icons (as mentioned above), but you can also color code them for things like different projects. I didn't do that for this assignment, but when I use this in the future for non-academic endeavors I can color code based on stories. Each location you pick has the option of adding images to the Infocard (shown below with Volcanoes NP). Once again, this has both biodiversity and writerly applications.

When you zoom in on one particular area, you can outline the area with MyMaps. While I didn’t use this application, there is a way to import a data table into My Maps to get a more accurate outline of a desired location. This can be used for mapping vulnerable areas that are key to protecting biodiversity, such as Hanauma Bay (not shown on map) which serves as an important reserve for different species of fish and corals. 

For finishing it all off, there are numerous options on the main card of the map. One of the most useful that I found was the “set to default view”. This enables me to preset where I want the map to open whenever I click on the Hawaiian Archipelago project, which saves me a lot of scrolling and dragging. Although I didn’t use any of the embedding options, it should be noted that much like a google doc or drive file, you have to enable sharing permissions in order to share it with others. 

That's all for this week! Happy mapping! 

Sources: 

“About the National Park Service”. March 30, 2016. https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/aboutus.htm#:~:text=The%20mission%20of%20the%20National,of%20this%20and%20future%20generations. 

[muzic4sewerratz]

moose meese _ 20

this guy reminds me of a moose he's so silly, probably my least favorite but i just know he's lovable

[abdicated]

I posted 12,615 times in 2022

That's 12,615 more posts than 2021!

26 posts created (0%)

12,589 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@abdicatedarchive

@kalospias

@bunnywrites

@thcfinalgirl

@moodring-eyes

I tagged 12,613 of my posts in 2022

#gif pack - 1,006 posts

#chase: musings - 560 posts

#wanted opposite - 462 posts

#juliette: musings - 418 posts

#wren: musings - 350 posts

#rose: musings - 347 posts

#charlie: musings - 327 posts

#byssa - 321 posts

#opposite: chanel - 315 posts

#daniel: musings - 280 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#this%20is%20a%20crime%20i%20can%22t%20believe%20you%20reblogged%20this%20i%20am%20so%20angry%20and%20this%20doesnt%20really%20apply%20to%20c

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

by clicking the source link, you will find 103 gifs of simone ashley in her role as olivia hanan in the series sex education (season 3) completing my sex education collection of 353 gifs, because s3 is her final season. all of the gifs were created by me from scratch. you absolutely may use these gifs to roleplay or as reaction gifs, but ask you to not use them in smut rps, nsfw content, or celebrity rps. i kindly ask you to not repost or claim these gifs as your own. let me know if you would like to edit these gifs for any purpose. like and reblog if using!

tw: flashing lights, gum chewing, drinking

[click here for season 1 (107 gifs)]

[click here for season 2 (143 gifs)]

See the full post

152 notes - Posted June 5, 2022

#4

by clicking the source link, you will find 143 gifs of simone ashley in her role as olivia hanan in the series sex education (season 2). all of the gifs were created by me from scratch. you may use these gifs to roleplay or as reaction gifs, but ask you to not use them in smut rps, nsfw content, or celebrity rping. i kindly ask you to not repost or claim these gifs as your own. let me know if you would like to edit these gifs for any purpose. like and reblog if using!

tw: destruction of property, baseball bat, kissing

(click here for my other simone ashley gif packs)

See the full post

191 notes - Posted April 23, 2022

#3

by clicking the source link, you will find 126 gifs of nico hiraga in his role as scotty in the movie hello, goodbye and everything in between (2022). all of the gifs were created by me from scratch. you absolutely may use these gifs to roleplay or as reaction gifs, but ask you to not use them in smut rps, nsfw content, or celebrity rping. i kindly ask you to not repost or claim these gifs as your own. let me know if you would like to edit these gifs for any purpose. like and reblog if using!

tw: kissing, fireworks, eating

193 notes - Posted July 19, 2022

#2

by clicking the source link, you will find 230 gifs of mason gooding in his role as andrew spencer in the series love victor (season 3). all of the gifs were created by me from scratch. you may use these gifs to roleplay or as reaction gifs, but ask you to not use them in smut rps, nsfw content, or celebrity rping. i kindly ask you to not repost or claim these gifs as your own. let me know if you would like to edit these gifs for any purpose. like and reblog if using!

tw: kissing, flashing lights, fire

(click here for my other mason gooding gif packs)

See the full post

215 notes - Posted June 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

by clicking the source link, you will find 453 gifs of alex fitzalan in his role as seth novak in the series the wilds (season 2 episodes 1-4). all of the gifs were created by me from scratch. you absolutely may use these gifs to roleplay or as reaction gifs, but ask you to not use them in smut rps, nsfw content, or celebrity rping. i kindly ask you to not repost or claim these gifs as your own. let me know if you would like to edit these gifs for any purpose. like and reblog if using!

part 1 tw: eating, drinking, unalive persons, physical violence

438 notes - Posted May 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[bills-bible-basics]

Bill's Bible Basics: Why I Do This So my friends, if you feel that we have made a spiritual connection, and are of a kindred spirit, then I hope that you will visit the Bill's Bible Basics website at the following URL: Bill's Bible Basics Main Website: https://www.billkochman.com/index.html Bill's Bible Basics Blog: https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/ Thanks so much! I hope to see you visiting us soon! https://www.billkochman.com/Blog/index.php/bills-bible-basics-why-i-do-this/?feed_id=206395&Bill%27s%20Bible%20Basics%3A%20Why%20I%20Do%20This

[christbreathed]

There's something to be said about how western Christians can be like the Israelites in the OT (esp. in Isaiah) - now a lot of us are saved, blessed and privileged, we become complacent and self indulgent, forgetting justice and worshipping with empty hearts.

Because it's so much easier to sit in comfort and inaction. And I know I'm guilty of this myself. But we have to remind ourselves that we aren't made to live this way.

But ofc we can't be better by ourselves - Jesus, right? And through Jesus, we get access to the spirit, which equips us to live in the way we were designed to - in loving relationship with God and others.

Galatians 5:16+ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.And, hence, the bible also says that we shouldn't try to do stuff through our own strength.

2 Corinthians 12:9: “But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me

(also, as always, my fave verse 1 John 4:18 is applicable because God's perfect love should drive out fear from us)

---> super cool reading: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-war-within-flesh-versus-spirit#:~:text=Paul's%20answer%20to%20this%20discouragement,by%20the%20Spirit%20of%20God.

[jops08]

Nonverbal Messages

It is important to understand the nonverbal language of the culture because it gives us a better understanding of the people's culture, but there may be certain gestures that may offend someone in a different culture. Also learning the nonverbal language of culture may also help us in times when verbal communication cannot help us. Understanding nonverbal cues of the culture can better help us understand emotion, subtleties, and intentions of people. Another reason is that it cultivates a sense of trust and builds rapport with the people of the culture when we can understand them to a level that makes us feel comfortable with us which in return can strengthen a relationship with them.

When there are two diverse cultures then there can be multitude of reasons on how there can be some obstacles when it comes to understanding nonverbal communication. The first can be a cultural difference because there may be things that I am used to on certain topics but in a different culture this can have a whole new meaning. The second can individually differences because everyone is different in some way, shape, or form so they carry a different bias when it comes to certain things about them that a culture may not understand or even them.

Looking at Filipino culture it is safe to say that they use nonverbal communication quite a bit than I realized especially comparing it to the U.S. One thing that sticks out to me was discovering that the facial expression with your mouth open. In the U.S. this convey that we are surprised or excited but, in the Philippines, it means something completely different. The gaping mouth facial expression can be seen as “I didn’t understand” or “What did you say?” so you may have to clarify or repeat yourself when a Filipino uses this facial expression. A gesture that I am used to now because of my mother is the pointing of the lips. Do not mistaken this as a gesture for a kiss but something different is this gesture is used to point to something that someone may have asked the whereabouts of an object or person. Lip pointing can also be used to get someone's attention to something you want them to see.

Personal space in the Philippines I think is comparable to that of the U.S. We see that when Filipinos interact with people, they are familiar with that they are at an arm's length away from them while compared to someone they do not know the distance can be farther. Personal space is rare when you get to the congested parts of the Philippines when it feels like you are shoulder to shoulder with the crowd. I feel comfortable because again I feel like the habits of the Philippines is not that far off that of people in the United States.

The Philippines falls under polychronic time so they believe that they can multitask different things all at once and not expected to do one thing in a timely manner. I think growing up in the culture I learnedabout “Filipino Time” which means you know that they will be late to every event that they are invited to but that is okay. I do not think punctuality is of importance when it comes to Filipinos some care but there is a reason “Filipino Time’ is a joke amongst them. It is important to know this because you want to get a sense of who the person is and avoid offending them in some compacity.

References 

Anza, P. (n.d.). 10 Filipino gestures and their meanings - owlcation. https://owlcation.com/humanities/Meanings-of-Filipino-Gestures-and-Body-Language  

Pier. (n.d.). Filipino - Communication. Cultural Atlas. https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/filipino-culture/filipino-culture-communication#:~:text=Personal%20Space%3A%20When%20interacting%20with,strangers%20this%20distance%20is%20farther. 

[dancehall-flex]

TEEJAY got this to say to VALIANT. is it peace or still war in Dancehall. New album out now

TEEJAY got this to say to VALIANT. is it peace or still war in Dancehall. New album out now Pelpa Time Production We Produce Video’s, Music, Direct and Edit, Call [876-294-0075] Subscribe Like, Share and leave a Comment, even if you don’t have a question. I’d really love to know what your thoughts, subscribe to my YouTube and FaceBook Channel. Support my youtube channel https://www.paypal.com/myaccount/home #1 Pelpa Time Production, NEW CHANNEL – https://www..com/channel/UCZj8VCQ130w4r5V8t3wcfmQ/featured?spfreload=5 #2 Instergram – https://www.instagram.com/pelpatime/ #3 FaceBook – https://www.facebook.com/Pelpa-Time-793337900703481/?ref=bookmarks #4 linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/pelpa-time-6461ab53/ #5 Twitter – https://twitter.com/PelpaTime ———————————————————————————– I’m an ethnomusicologist. Not everyone knows this word, so if you’re introduced to me at a party, or if you strike up a conversation with me on an airplane, Read more  Edit This https://www.dancehallflex.com/videos/teejay-got-this-to-say-to-valiant-is-it-peace-or-still-war-in-dancehall-new-album-out-now/?feed_id=58788&TEEJAY%20got%20this%20to%20say%20to%20VALIANT.%20is%20it%20peace%20or%20still%20war%20in%20Dancehall.%20New%20album%20out%20now

[spiritsoulandbody]

#DailyDevotion In The LORD's Name We Are Victorious

#DailyDevotion In The LORD's Name We Are Victorious Psalm 118 10All the nations surrounded me. in the LORD's name I have defeated them; 11they surrounded me, yes, surrounded me — in the LORD's name I have defeated them; 12they surrounded me like bees; but like burning thorns they were extinguished; in the LORD's name I have defeated them. On one level we can see this during David's lifetime as the nations surrounding Israel were attacking him. Indeed, much like today, Israel was surrounded on all sides. Bees can be very irritating and hard to chase off, particularly if you are trying to stand your ground. David declares though he had defeated them all in the LORD's name. You might remember, in David's first international fight with Goliath he said in 1 Sam. 17:44, “but I come to you in the name of the LORD of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you insult.” David was quite adamant it was the name of the LORD that defeated Goliath and it was with the name of the LORD he defeated all of Israel's enemies. On another level we see Jesus hanging on the cross with the crowds of the nations surrounding Him and jeering Him. We further see Him surrounded on the Last Day in the book of Revelation, the several times the Last Day is predicted there. With the LORD's name Jesus ultimately defeats all the nations that oppose Him and His rule. 13You pushed hard to make me fall, but the LORD helped me. 14The LORD is my strength and song; He has saved me. 15Listen to the happy shouting of victory in the tents of the righteous! The “you” in verse thirteen I think we can assume is the nations in the previous verses. David did not always easily defeat his enemies. Nevertheless it was the LORD who helped him. David quotes the Song of Moses in verse fourteen. Jesus was also raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. Having been raised from the dead, He ascended to the right hand of the Father. He has gone up with a shout. His disciples surely gave happy shouting of victory in the tents of the righteous, just as we sing them when we celebrate the ascension. The LORD's right hand is working mightily; 16the LORD holds high His right hand; the LORD's right hand is working mightily. 17I will not die but live and tell what the LORD has done. 18The LORD sharply corrected me but didn't let me die. Jesus is the right hand of God. He is working mightily to extend His kingdom, His rule on earth. Jesus did not stay dead. He rose victoriously from the dead. He has revealed to the Father. While He certainly received the wrath of Father on the cross in our stead, the Father did not leave Him the grave but raised Him up to the land of the living. We join Him in telling the nations what the LORD has done for Him and through Him for all people who will turn to Him and live in Him. 19(Entering:) Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will go into them and thank the LORD. 20This is the LORD's gate — the righteous go into it. At this point in the Psalm, they have entered into the gate of the tabernacle/temple. David and the people would go through it with thanksgiving for all the LORD had done for them. On a ritual level, only the righteous, i.e. the clean could enter it. Now that Jesus has past through the grave and sat down at the right hand of the Father, we who believe in Him call the grave our gate of righteousness. Through our death and burial we enter the presence of the LORD in the land of the living. That land is where all who have faith in the LORD Jesus Christ live because He has put into us and them eternal life. Heavenly Father, may the victory of Jesus be our own through faith in Him. May we conquer sin, death and the power of the devil by His name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Read the full article