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miraculouscontent · 3 years ago

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Didn’t Need Burrow (May 23rd-25th)

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Astruc admitted Sabine was based on an ex and Marinette is what he imagined their daughter to be like. He later admits Audrey was based on an ex and Chloe is what he imagined their daughter would be like. Despite moving on, he still bitter and created two teen girls as "payback" against his exes.

The whole “virtual daughter” thing still squicks me out.

Also, I don’t actually take “Didn’t Need Burrows” referring specifically to the staff/fandom since that’s outside of the show, but I also definitely think about them all the time and like sticking them in here.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Building off of the "Adrien knows about Marinette's crush on him and tells Plagg about it" Burrow, Plagg will point out to Adrien that this is a bad idea and what he is doing is wrong and that Adrien is leading Marinette on so as to stroke his own ego. He will not be listened to, and the show portray him as in the wrong, despite him being right, because anybody who stands up for Marinette's agency deserves to be shut down. In the meantime, Adrien will be allowed to continue

Bonus if Plagg will be considered “wrong” because Adrien not leading Marinette on would lead to him being sAd because Marinette isn’t fawning over him anymore (as if he doesn’t have a million fans).

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be presented not only as "Chloe if she was good person", but also as "Marinette if she wasn't constantly making mistakes"

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be basically Marinette if "Marinette's Mistake of the Week" formula never existed.

Sounds about right.

Amazing what can happen when the show doesn’t have a gun to your head telling you to make mistakes in every episode.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: The show delves into a shitty harem as the writers forget that Adrien is not the main character. Who knows, maybe Zoe will join the harem.

The only reason I feel like Zoe wouldn’t be a part of Adrien’s harem is so she can ship the love square.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: There will be Animaestro-type episode where Marinette "makes alliance" with (read: is manipulated by) Chloe or Lila against Zoe. In the end she is only one punished, while her "partner in crime" (or rather person who manipulated her) walks away completely scot-free.

To the surprise of no one. Can’t have the antagonists be punished, because that would make sense.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: (narrative-wise) Agreste's family drama and Bourgeois's sisters drama will overshadow whatever Marinette character arc will be in season 4.

I’m taking this a step further and saying that Marinette in generall will keep having her plots/”arcs” overshadowed by everyone else.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Marinette will be akumatized. She will be easily defeated due to "bond" between Chat Noir and Temporary Ladybug Zoe. This will be presented like Ladybug's constant refuse to "bond" with Chat Noir was reason why their fights with Akumatized Villains are so hard. (bonus: This episode will be followed by a group of fans that would state that Zoe should replace Marinette as Ladybug Miraculous Holder and not Chloe as Bee Miraculous Holder.)

Uggggh, I’m always waiting for the “love square magical bond” garbage.

Also, the bonus reminds me of the fact that I don’t understand people who hate on both Marinette and Luka but continue to ship the love square. Like, wouldn’t they want to ship Adrien with someone “””worthy””” of him??

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: If Marinette akumatization has Miracle Queen-type set-up, Chat Noir will quickly defeat her and whatever all other Miraculous Holders alone (or optionally supported by Temporary Ladybug Zoe). This will be presented by narrattive as proof of why Chat Noir is Brawn in Ladybug-Chat Noir duo. (Bonus: After that episode Adrien stans will make mass of "I hope this will shut up everyone who think that Chat Noir is useless/weaker than Ladybug/etc." type posts)

At this point, I’ve just grown numb to Chat suddenly being able to do things that don’t make sense for him.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Temporary Ladybug Zoe

Okay but is she keeping the black highlights or do they turn red. These are important questions.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Kagami will be changed (ret-conned) into Adrienette (or other Love Square's part) shipper after "Lies"

Something similar is already on the card so that’s fun. :’3

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe, not Marinette, will be wearing that dress from the Season 4 Concept Art.

*eye twitch*

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Rena Rogue will be appearing even when she isn't needed to defeat Akuma of the Week. This will be probably used to justify Chat Noir's increasing resent up towards Ladybug and (probably) consequent reversal of Love Square.

anything: *happens*

Chat Noir: bad Ladybug

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Ending: Marinette will willingly sacrifice herself to wake up from coma/ressurect Emilie. Both Adrien and Gabriel will be happy that Emilie is back. Adrien will have his happy relationship/ending with Zoe whom personality is (or was ret-conned into) "Marinette in anything but name". (Bonus points: if everyone behave like Marinette never existed after Emilie revival)

I’m sad.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: If Akuma of the Week isn't Reflekta/Mr Pigeon/Gigantitan/etc,.Pig Miraculous"s "Gift" power will basically fail and only make current Akumatized Villain angrier and more determined to achieve his goal, basically restarting whole fight against Akuma.

PIGELLA NO

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Lila will never react to Zoe becoming more popular than her

I imagine Zoe isn’t the same age as Chloe since they’re not twins, so Zoe at least won’t be in Bustier’s class.

Now, if they make her a Lila slave, then we’ll see.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow to know that Marinette is going to hate Zoe for being related to Chloe and this will be limited to her or she'll be the only one scolded for it (likely by Adrien), because you can't hate someone for who they're related to (which actually is a good lesson but ml will probably f it up somehow).

I feel like the writers just look at a character and go, “okay, how can we engineer them in a way for Marinette to mess up around them?

Anonymous asked:

Didn't need Burrow - Chat will find out Rena Rouge knows her identity and becomes angry bc "You and me against the world, m'lady." This will cause one episode of Adrienette becoming closer and Ladynoir drifting apart before Chat magically forgives her like it was no big deal after she makes a huge gesture to get him back.

You’d think they’d have worn out the reset button by now...

Anonymous asked:

Didn't need burrow: one of two things will happen, either Adrien will try to help Luka get back together with Marinette (basically the same plot as Mr. pigeon 72) or the relationship will not be brought up ever again and Mari and Luka don't really directly interact with each other anymore

“Bonus” if Adrien is “taught a lesson” that he shouldn’t meddle, and it’s only because he chose to meddle in Lukanette. “Double bonus” if his attempts actually get Lukanette back together but this is presented as a bad thing (for some reason)..

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be(e)come pernament Bee Miraculous Holder.

This won’t be added because I think we already got official confirmation on this?

Oh, or do you mean “permanent” as in her keeping the miraculous eventually?

edit: yes, that’s what they meant (also, A+ pun)

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Every Miraculous Holder introduced in Season 4 will be will lose right to their Miraculous, except Zoe/Vesperia.

lol me just imagining them struggling over either making models or trying to not use those miraculouses anymore.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Luka will be forced to say Adrien and Marinette are perfect for each other in "Optigami".

Wow, show, why don’t you just prove more that you’re purposefully pointing out that you’re giving Marinette a grand total of One “Obvious” Option.

Anonymous asked:

Unsure if this one has been sent yet but | Didn't Need Burrow: Alya is going to continue Marinette to pursue Adrien even after Marinette broke down and said she doesn't have time for love right now.

We have some similar ones I think.

“Marinette’s feelings towards moving on are invalidated/ignored by one of her “friends” to push for the Love Square“

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Sandboy 2.0: Ladybug's nightmare will be about Chat Noir abandoning/hating her

I was dumb enough to raise an eyebrow at this like, “Would they really reuse akum--oh wait.”

Anonymous asked:

I'm gonna try and go for a good Didn't Need Burrow: WHen Sole Crusher gets Marinette we'll either get a lovely King Kong moment between them, or Chat Noir will come in and save her (and it'll possibly be a moment of reverse love square).

If they have Marinette doing the cliche “crushing because they got saved” I’m gonna throw hands.

Anonymous asked:

Don't need to burrow:

Marinette will never have a heart to heart with Luka revealing she's Ladybug or even explain the reason for their breakup.

Just gonna slap a big asterisk on this because it’s like:

*despite Luka being an obvious choice and they could’ve worked out the issue but the show is afraid of the side ship they’ve created working out better than the love square itself

Anonymous asked:

Don't need to Burrow: For Optigami, the episode will barely or never acknowledge Luka's and Marinette's relationship/breakup. It will be ignored and we won't have any cute Lukanette moments. As long as Adrien is in the picture, Luka will be always sidelined.

Honestly that last one is basically one of the commandments of this show.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Lila will now only appear in cameos (probably without even any voice lines).

show writers, shoving Lila under a rug: Leela Ransai?? Never heard of him.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Since Lukanette is over, Luka can be ret-conned from show. Everyone will behave like he never existed at all (and Lukanette never hapenned).

We at least know that Luka now appears in a later episode, but this could easily be worded as “Luka can be retconned away from being Marinette’s love interest and everyone will act like he and Marinette aren’t that close or never made soft eyes at each other.”

Except I wouldn’t count on Lukanette being retconned because that would stop the show from being allowed to make Marinette feel bad and guilty and possibly cause another akuma over it, plus possibly Luka “rejecting” his feelings for her and thus making her feel worse that he sees her in a lesser light.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: There will be an episode that will break "Mr Pigeon" episode record of "Don't Need a Burrow" and close calls.

Not gonna lie, I would be legitimately impressed if that happened. I’m just wondering what predictions would be mashed together to make it as such.

Anonymous asked:

Didn’t Need Burrow to know that Zoey (I heard somewhere that that’s how her name is going to be in America, it might be wrong), is going to get involved in the love square somehow.

Bonus:

Or she will replace Kagami’s role as Marinette’s friendly rival, and when her heart gets broken Marinette will be the one to blame, for no reason, like always. Or she will have an interest in Marinette, since it seems they are going to be close friends, only for Marinette to put her in the friend zone, and she gets akumatized. People will blame Marinette for giving false hopes to the girl, even though, she never acted different than how a friend would act.

All girls exist to comment/have an opinion on the love square, obviously, and they’re antagonists/villains if they have a negative opinion on it.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Writers will use Alya bashing concept of Alya proposing Lila as potential new Miraculous Holder. Marinette will obviously refuse, but due to fact that Lila is suddenly ret-conned into being good person this is Marinette's Mistake of the Week. She will repair it by making Lila pernament Miraulous Holder

Waiting for the one episode long Lila redemption...

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Sabrina will be redeemed. She will change from Chloe's servant... to Zoe's servant.

and it’s fine of course because Zoe and Sabrina are best friends and Sabrina is doing this all happily and willingly.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Alya will be changed into basically Marinette's Guardianship mentor

Somehow, this is one of the ones I hate the most because it seems accurate so far.

#((''Sole Crusher'' airing in a bit so needed to get this out now.))#((''Mr. Pigeon 72'' is such trash for most of it so I wanna salt but after seeing the trailer for ''Optigami'' BOYYYY))#((better to wait it out.))#((Four episodes in a week and my brain is mush.))#Didn't Need Burrow #((I'll put these on the spreadsheet later. I'm tired.))

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tohokuu · 3 years ago

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it's moon knight SICJEICJIDAK me and my brother are quite invested in the fandom (and me also finding marc x steven x reader fics gosh) and yes flopping on hw AND life honestly idk where to begin but i'm trying

whew okay so the sanhwayungi dynamic AHAAAAA

both pairs are VERY similar i think that’s why my brain thought "hey i have a prompt! what abt a fivesome???"

sanhwa TOUNGE??? they're in charge of that

so why did i add yungi in??? idk.... they're big... uhhhh... yeah.

also i just found out that i'm into masks??? help??? so like, watch the don't stop mv, you'll see why

aqh god so my brain just mushed biases and bias wreckers in one bed that's literally all there is

not really into dirty talk but i feel like the four of them really works

also my first thought in this fivesome setting is a college!au typa thing (parties??? like those masquerade themed ones)

also i feel like the deja vu era fits lean on this

ok that's all my brain is too lazy to generate it's 2am rn

also oooo so leaning more to fountains vibe ok ok

- ☀️

OHHHH moon knight- MY BAD

I cant wait for the episode tomorrow bc last week was literally a cliffhanger so now i’m like 😔😔 what’s gonna happen to them ??

SPOILER FOR MOON KNIGHT !

ALSO YK YHE CASKET THAT WAS SHAKING BUT THEY NEVER OPENED IT ? IM POSITIVE THATS JAKE LOCKLEY BUT BOTH MARK AND STEVEN DONT KNOW OF HIS EXISTENCE SO THEYRE LIKE ????

and the marc x steven x reader fics are absolutely flawless oh my god

sanhwa are crazy w their tongue while yungi is content w you riding them until you’re crying

AND NO IM INTO MASKS TOO ☠️☠️ MOON KNIGHTS GOT ME FUCKED UP

#☀️ <3 #hades asks {💡}

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seekingthestars · 4 years ago

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a tag thing! here, have some miscellaneous information about me, though i am not an interesting person lol thank you for the tag, @mylastbraincql!!! 😘💞

Rules: create your own post, copy and paste the questions, and tag however many people you want to get to know better

Relationship status: very single ✌️

Favorite colour: blue!

Lipstick or chapstick: chapstick, bc i don’t have the patience for lipstick honestly. i get Very Antsy whenever i have any lipstick on and check it like four thousand times to make sure it still looks nice lol i have this one dark red lipstick though that i like to wear when i want to be fancy and feel Powerful and it’s perfection (if you watched Agent Carter, it’s Peggy’s signature lipstick and it’s wonderful)

Last song I listened to: Pinwheel by SEVENTEEN (vocal unit). a v good relaxing song and also i love vocal unit so much ;n;

Last movie I watched: uhhh movie? i don’t remember movie...i think it was The Addams Family?

Three ships: these are gonna be real random lol so! wangxian (obvious reasons lol), zen/shirayuki (from Snow White with the Red Hair, a very adorable series), mitsuki/towa (from Waiting for Spring, also a very adorable series)

Currently reading: Wotakoi: Love Is Hard For Otaku (v cute, v funny, highly recommend)

Currently watching: technically Flower of Evil and Dance of the Phoenix, though i haven’t actually watched any in a couple weeks...also the new episode of Scumbag System every week (highly enjoying that) and MDZS Q and a bunch of SEVENTEEN compilation videos on youtube bc um they’re adorable and that’s where i have fallen recently

Currently consuming: water? it’s late, i’m not eating anything, but i had a piece of chocolate pie earlier hahaha

Currently craving: this is vague but A Break hahaha (work’s just been v frustrating the past couple of weeks and i’m very Tired™ fjewoiafaw)

my brain is mush and also i’m always too shy to tag anyway /o\ but pls feel free to consider yourself tagged and steal if you’d like to answer!!! 💞 💞

#tag game #personal #in the process of typing this my last song has changed #it's now Simple by woozi from svt!#i've listened to Simple a lot today (like...two hours on repeat this morning at least lol)#i've been listening to svt a lot the past few weeks i love their music

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master-sass-blast · 5 years ago

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It’s Truly Magical.

IT’S HONEYMOON TIME!!!

Summary: You and Piotr enjoy your honeymoon --by going to Disneyland, no less.

Pairing(s): Piotr Rasputin x Reader.

Rating: T for implied sex, mention of needles, and briefly referenced childhood trauma but this fic is a fluff fest I promise.

Set after “In the Dawn of a New Day.”

Taglist: @marvel-is-perfection, @chromecutie, @super-darkcloudstudent, @girl-obsessed-with-things, @nebulous-leo

“So let’s see… a week and a half is… uh…”

“Make list.”

You stare down at your suitcase as you try to do the math in your head. You’re trying to pack for yours and Piotr’s honeymoon.

Because the two of you are married now. You, Y/N Rasputin, managed to snatch up the world’s greatest catch for yourself.

Suck it, universe.

“That’s… ten-ish days, so ten outfits –except for the nice dinner, so that’s another outfit, oh, and the plane flights…”

“Just make list.”

The two of you are going to California, courtesy of your uncle; you two get to spend the first four days of the trip at Disneyland, and then the rest of your honeymoon will be spent at a little beach house AirBNB where the two of you can just chill and enjoy the ocean.

“So that’s like… twice as much underwear? Three times as much?” You blink when you remember that this is technically your honeymoon. “Do I even need underwear?”

“This might be easier if you made list, moya lyubov’.”

“And I’ll need… uh…”

“Darling wife of mine.”

You smile bashfully, butterflies fluttering in your stomach at the reminder that you’re his wife now, and look over where Piotr’s sitting on your two’s bed.

He smiles at you, loving and endeared, and tosses a pen and notepad at you. “Just make packing list already.”

(You do, eventually, wind up making a list –though your husband does have to help you with the process.)

***

The day of the flight brings its own boughs of anxiety and struggle. There’s the prospect of trying to navigate the airport properly and get through security –which promises to be a headache regardless of how much time you give yourselves—and then underlying tension that the two of you might get thrown out for being mutants—

But the unarguable worst part of the day happens before the two of you even leave home to head to the airport.

Piotr crosses his arms over his chest, face strained with worry as he stares down the small vial of yellow fluid in your hands. “I do not like this.”

You’re not cleared to fly on commercial flights –and technically won’t ever be, since the psychic scarring on your brain is permanent—without having your mutation repressed in some way, shape, or form. After an extended discussion between Hank, Professor Xavier, Alyssa, and your uncle, the four of them figured that you’d be unlikely to get a repression cuff or collar through airport security, which only left one option to keep your mutation repressed in the event –albeit unlikely—that you had an episode.

Repression serum.

The dose in the vial is only enough to get you safely to California –and you’ll have to use it all for it to work properly. Another vial will be provided before you and Piotr leave California to come back home. There’s no way for you to use it under any other circumstance or hoard it away for later, and Alyssa and Professor Xavier were both confident that you were well past the issues that led you to using it regularly that you wouldn’t be likely to relapse—

But yeah, you don’t like it either.

“It’s what we have to do, sweetheart,” you say, expression grim as you load up the syringe. “It’s for everyone else’s safety. And mine.”

“I know,” Piotr says, paling slightly as he watches you prepare the injection site on your arm. “I just… I really do not like this.”

“It’s going to be okay, honey,” you reassure him. “I’m going to be okay. I promise.”

There’s really not much else to say, considering what you have to do or your history with the repression serum, so you take a deep breath and insert the needle into your arm.

The serum hits as fast as you remember it hitting (since the dose was calibrated for your resistance to the stuff). Within about thirty seconds, you can feel your connection to the air around you being tamped down. It’s almost like someone’s put on a very thick jacket all over every inch of your body.

You grimace once you remove the needle and press a piece of gauze against the injection site. “I don’t like that.”

“Are you alright?” Piotr asks, panic evident in his voice and on his face as he kneels in front of you. “Do you feel sick? Do we need to see Hank?”

“No, no, I’m fine, I just don’t like how the serum feels,” you clarify. “I don��t like not feeling connected to the air. It doesn’t feel good.”

Piotr blinks as understanding flickers across his face, then he abruptly claps a hand over his mouth and stands, turning away from you in the process.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” You quickly set the syringe and the now empty vial aside and stand, maneuvering so you’re positioned in front of your husband. “Piotr, talk to me. What’s going on?”

Piotr shakes his head as he wipes a few tears away from his eyes. “I was afraid… that you would like it. That you would miss using serum. And that you do not… it is big relief to me.”

Tears well up in your eyes as your heart tears for your mush of a man. You wrap your arms around Piotr’s waist and hold him while he takes deep, shaky breaths. “It’s okay, Piotr. I’m okay.”

And you are. You really, truly are.

***

Getting through the airport is just about as much of a hassle as you anticipated. It’s confusing, it’s chaotic, there’s far too much standing in line involved, and the ratio of people to available outlets –logically—should’ve caused a bloodbath by now.

Fortunately, you and Piotr don’t get tossed out for being mutants (even though the two of you “pass” relatively well, you’re both legally required to register as mutants, which always opens up the risk of being thrown out of anywhere that checks your ID).

(Piotr also doesn’t set off the security checkpoint metal detector when he goes through it, which –while logically being a good thing—is honestly kind of disappointing.)

You opt to lean against your husband’s shoulder while the two of you wait to board, at which point you lament over having to wait even longer, to which Piotr remarks that the two of you will still get to board earlier than everyone else because you’re flying in first class, which prompts you to pull out your boarding pass and study it—

“We’re flying first class?”

Piotr chuckles as he drapes his arm over your shoulders. “You just realized this?”

“You’re the one who checked all the tickets and reservations, not me!”

The ticket does, in fact, confirm that the two of you have first class seats reserved –next to each other, too, which is a bonus.

“Why’d my uncle get us first class seats?” you ponder quietly. “It’s so expensive.”

“Probably my size,” Piotr reasons. “I have trouble fitting in smaller seats.”

You shrug, then smile up at your spouse. “Well, we can at least have fun with flying first class for the first time!”

“That we can,” he agrees before dipping his head to kiss you.

***

As it is, Piotr still barely fits into the first class seat. It’s clearly better suited to accommodate him than an economy seat –but only barely.

Fortunately, you don’t need the dividing armrest down to be comfortable, and you’re more than happy to be closely snuggled against your hubby for several hours. You take the window seat so Piotr has an easier time getting in and out of your seat and nestle up against him while he scans the in-flight safety pamphlet.

“You two are absolutely adorable,” one of the flight attendants comments with a smile. “We don’t see a lot of super lovey couples on the flights.”

“I think it helps that we’re flying out for our honeymoon,” you joke; at home, it’s a well known fact that you and Piotr are a pair of regular lovebirds –though, the added buzz from the wedding and honeymoon doesn’t hurt.

The flight attendant beams when you show off your engagement ring and wedding band. “Congratulations! That’s so wonderful! We do offer complimentary beverages and snacks to our first class passengers. Maybe some sparkling wine to celebrate, or a cookie and some milk if you’re not alcohol drinkers?”

You look up at Piotr. “Cookies and milk?”

He smiles down at you, then nods at the flight attendant. “Cookies and milk would be nice.”

***

Fun fact: A non-stop flight from New York to California is a little over six hours.

Additional fun fact: years of being able to fly one’s self makes travelling by plane a touch lackluster.

“We’re not even breaking the sound barrier,” you whisper to Piotr at one point. “Where’s the fun in that?”

He merely snorts and kisses the top of your head.

All in all, though, it’s a good time. The two of you snuggle against each other as the plane soars through the skies, Piotr fills you in on all things Disney, and you play games provided on the little screen interfaces on the backs of the seats in front of you.

You’re also provided a proper meal a couple hours into the flight –and, much to Piotr’s delight, it’s reasonably healthy, if not necessarily portioned out for someone of his size.

“The perks of flying first class, I guess,” you comment before starting in on your food.

***

Actually arriving in California, admittedly, is a bit of a mindfuck, solely due to the time difference between the East Coast and the West Coast.

“None of this feels right,” you mumble as you try to reconcile the earlier time to your inner body clock.

“Imagine how I felt first coming from Russia,” Piotr comments as he scans the directional signs to figure out where the two of you need to pick up your luggage.

“Shit, yeah, that’d be insane.” You frown. “How does your family manage to jump between here and there, then?”

Piotr shrugs. “Lots of coffee, probably.”

***

The process of getting to the famed park is far less drawn out than the flight. Once you two have your luggage, you head over to the car rental place and pick up your car –rented so the two of you have a reliable way to get around for the rest of your honeymoon—and take the half hour drive to the park.

You give Piotr a goofy smile when another motorist curses you out for abiding by the traffic laws. “It’s like we never left home.”

Piotr just tips his head back and laughs.

***

To make everything extra special, your hotel reservation is at one of the hotels in the park itself –very appropriately named “Disneyland Hotel.” The two of you get checked in and head up to your room—

And it’s nice. There’s a massive king-sized bed that sits directly across from a combination dresser and TV cabinet. A desk and chair sit next to the dresser-cabinet combo, and a cushy looking armchair sits next to the bed on the far side of the room. Everything’s decorated in warm, inviting tones of brown and gold, save for a genuinely pretty blue and gold carpet. On the other side of the bed, closest to the door, is another door that leads to a bathroom.

It’s nice. Clean. It has amenities like a mini-fridge and a coffee maker and an ironing board.

It’s also like almost any other hotel you’ve ever been in.

Piotr shrugs when you remark as much. “Were you expecting something else?”

“I don’t know… mouse ears everywhere? Super bright colors and patterns?”

Piotr chuckles as he sets yours and his suitcases down. “The crucial experience is park. Rooms are supposed to promote rest and relaxation.”

“Fair enough.” You dart over to the window on the far side of the room to check out the view, then chuckle when all you can see is the parking lot. “Oh, damn, can’t get this view anywhere else.” You whip out your phone to take a Snapchat video of the view, then tuck it back in your pocket and turn around when you hear Piotr groan and the bed creak ominously.

He’s dropped face-down into the bed, arms spread out like a starfish and legs hanging haphazardly off the bed.

You cross your arms over your chest. “Feeling comfy, baby?”

“Planes do not agree with me,” he laments, voice muffled by the bed.

“I bet.” You cross over to the bed and hop up next to him. “How about this,” you suggest as you gently rub his back. “We just get some room service –because I’m hungry—and then just stretch out and rest. We’ve got four days here at the park; that’s plenty of time to check everything out.”

“Sounds wonderful.” He lifts his head and grins at you. “We are at Disneyland.”

“Yeah, we are,” you reply with a grin of your own. “Are you excited?”

He giggles and nods before dropping his head back down. “Very.”

You gently run your fingers through his hair and kiss the top of his head before turning and rummaging through the nightstand drawer for a room service menu. “You get comfortable, babe. I’ll get us some food.”

***

The two of you eat and take a little nap before unpacking. Since you aren’t staying the entire duration of your trip at the park, you only unpack what you need –a few clothes, some toiletries, a couple of things to do during down time…

And, in your husband’s case, an entire pantry’s worth of healthy snacks and protein bars.

You gape as Piotr carefully tucks away a supply of unsalted veggie chips, mixes of dried fruit and nuts, crackers with “extra fiber” (whatever the fuck that means), and a couple boxes of protein bars into one of the dresser drawers. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Piotr! We are on vacation!”

“We still need to eat!” he retorts defensively.

“They have restaurants and room service here!” you argue, trying to hold back amused laughter. “And we can always buy food if we need something they don’t have!”

“It is still less expensive this way,” he reasons.

“The park expenses are on someone else’s tab, and we’ll still have to get groceries for the rest of our trip.”

The gears in Piotr’s head visibly turn while he processes your statement. He huffs –and shoots you an amused glare when you giggle—and continues unpacking his snacks. “Just wait until end of trip, when you are sick from travel food and I am not. You will eat words then.”

“The only thing I want to eat is your dick,” you fire back, snickering when the tips of Piotr’s ears go red. You pick up one of the boxes out of the dresser drawer and read the label. “‘Multi-grain Nutritional Crackers, now with Extra Fiber.’ Honestly, you are such an old man.”

Piotr shakes his head, takes the box from you and puts it back in the drawer, then lifts you up into his arms. “Not old just yet.”

You giggle and press your lips against his.

***

The following morning hosts massive bouts of excitement –Piotr—and general disgust at the existence of mornings in general –you.

Your mood does perk up, though, upon having some proper breakfasts in one of the restaurants in the hotel –accompanied by coffee and some of the park’s legendary Dole whip, no less. By the time the two of you head into the “attractions” part of the park, you’re just as pepped up as your Disney-loving hubby.

The two of you wander around a bit, getting a sense for the park and where everything is, until—

“Babe!” You point at the Alice in Wonderland spinning teacups ride. “Let’s go on that one!”

Piotr acquiesces, and the two of you get in line for the ride. It takes a fair bit of standing and waiting, but eventually the two of you are ushered onto one of the massive teacups. You both get settled, then wait for the ride to start.

“What’s this for?” you ask, tapping a stand in the middle with what looks like a steering wheel attached to the top.

“To spin ride,” Piotr explains. “It makes cup spin faster.”

Your eyes widen as you stare at the device. “I thought the ride just spun the cups on its own.”

“It does.” Piotr gestures to the frame the cups sit on. “Entire ride spins like merry-go-round. Riders can spin cups while ride spins.”

You grin, borderline maniacally. “Fuck. Yeah.”

Once the ride starts, you immediately start trying to spin the cup as fast as you can. Under any other circumstances, you suspect the cup would spin without too much resistance.

However, those circumstances don’t involve having the world’s heaviest Russian husband in the cup at the same time.

You grunt as you try to spin the cup. “Dammit! Why do you have to be so heavy?”

“It is not end of world, msyhka,” Piotr chuckles. “Just sit back and enjoy ride.”

“I want to go fast! But I can’t do that because I just happened to shack up with the one Russian juggernaut that eats lead for breakfast!”

Piotr laughs again –then grips the wheel and gives it a mighty yank.

You shriek, delighted, as the cup whips around at maximum speed. The world dissolves into a blur of color and noise as your hair whips around and smacks your face.

It’s like flying without the physical effort of flying. It’s amazing.

“That was awesome!” you giggle as you stumble off the ride. “We should go –babe?”

Piotr staggers after you, looking considerably worse for wear. He’s gone pale –paler than usual, at least—and clammy looking, and his jaw is clenched tight. “I think,” he manages in a weak, shaky voice, “that was mistake.”

You put your hands on his arms, helping steady him. “Holy shit, baby, you look awful. Come on, let’s get back to the hotel room so you can lay down.”

“Perhaps that would be for best,” Piotr agrees as you steer him in the direction of the hotel.

***

“No fucking way. The Steel Boy Scout can’t handle rollercoasters. That’s incredible!”

“I mean, in his defense, it was a spin heavy ride,” you say to Wade as you stroke Piotr’s hair.

The two of you are back in your hotel room; Piotr had opted to lay face down on the bed and bury his face in a pillow, while you’d opted to call Wade and update him on how the vacation was going –or, rather, wasn’t.

“Yeah, well, still,” Wade insists in your ear. “It’s funny. He’s a superhero who battles diabolical villains on a regular basis, and he can’t handle spinning around a little.”

“I mean, you make a valid point—”

The bed lurches as Piotr shoots off it and sprints to the bathroom.

“Ah, shit. I’ve gotta go.”

“Has Chernobyl finally decided to blow?”

You wince as the sounds of Piotr emptying his stomach contents into the toilet emanate from the bathroom. “Yeah. I’ll talk to you later.”

***

You spend the rest of the day in the hotel room to let Piotr properly recuperate. You order room service for the two of you once Piotr’s feeling well enough to eat, and otherwise spend the day texting, scrolling through social media, or watching TV while you hold your husband and stroke his hair.

All in all, it’s a day perfectly spent.

And, fortunately, Piotr’s feeling well enough by the time the day comes to a close that the two of you can catch one of the park’s famed fireworks shows. Granted, you have to stand off to the side so Piotr doesn’t block anyone’s view, but it’s still a stunning spectacle to behold.

(It also gives Wade’s fireworks “demonstrations” a run for their money, which isn’t something you’d ever thought could be possible.)

“Are you feeling better, honey?” you ask as the two of you stroll back to the hotel, hand in hand.

“Much.” Piotr squeezes your hand gently. “Tomorrow should go much better.”

“Here’s hoping. No more spinning rides for you, mister.”

Piotr chuckles and shakes his head. “On that, we are agreed.”

***

The following morning, Piotr’s in a much better state than the previous day. After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, the two of you head back into the attractions part of the park and scope out more rides to try out –with a strict emphasis on “non-spinning” for your husband’s sake.

Eventually, the two of you come across a ride called “Big Thunder” that seems promising. The two of you hop in line to get on the ride—

Except upon finally being able to get on said ride, it turns out that Piotr’s too big for the safety mechanisms to work properly.

You burst out cackling as Piotr sheepishly extricates himself from his seat and steps back onto the platform. “We can’t win with you, huh, baby?”

“It would see not.” He kisses you gently. “I’ll see you back at walkway.”

You smile at him and blow him another kiss as he heads towards the exit.

Then, an attendant comes by to check your harness and the harnesses of the other rides. There’s the sound of the motors that run the coaster coming to life and hissing –and then the ride shoots forward.

And you scream.

***

“It was awesome!” you gush to Piotr once you find him outside the ride. “It’s like flying, but I get to sit down the entire time. It’s basically perfect! Although, I think we’re gonna have to skip rides while we’re here. You’re not gonna fit on… any of them, really.”

Piotr chuckles and kisses the top of your head. “You can still go on rides, myshka. This is your trip, also. And there are calmer rides and other attractions I can enjoy.”

“Alright.” You take a moment to check a map of the park that Piotr downloaded and sent to your phone. “Do you want to go find a ride we can both go on?”

“That sounds very nice.”

You smile and take his hand in yours, then the two of you head off in search of a ride that both of you can go on.

***

The two of you wind up going on Astro Blasters –even though neither of you are very good at hitting any of the targets—and going on the famed Pirates of the Caribbean ride together, and you also hit Splash Mountain and the Indiana Jones rides on your own.

(Piotr pays to get pictures of you riding the rides on your own and gets a good chuckle out of your open-mouthed, exhilarated expressions.)

You also take time just to wander around the park and take everything in. You two take a selfie in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle, spy the Mickey Mouse costume character strolling around and saying hi to kids, and generally take in the sights and sounds of the park –of which there are many.

Just like the advertising says, it’s genuinely magical.

***

“Are you enjoying Disneyland?”

Piotr grins as he wipes his fingers on a napkin. “Da. I really am. Are you?”

You grin back and lean over to kiss his shoulder. “Yeah. It’s pretty awesome.”

The two of you had opted to stop for lunch after a bit, with Piotr citing that getting overtired or going too long without eating in the baking California heat would wind up doing either of you in. You’d decided to get a corndog and a soda, whereas Piotr had purchased one of the famed turkey legs and a bottle of water.

(The picture you’d taken of Piotr biting into his turkey leg was nothing short of priceless.)

“I want to get something to remember trip by,” Piotr continues as he polishes off his turkey leg (which had taken him the same time to eat as it had for you to devour your corndog). “Proper memento.”

“Well, Mikhail did give us that jar of money after the reception,” you point out. “You want to use that to get a little honeymoon treat? Maybe some matching mouse ear headbands?”

Piotr beams and nods. “That sounds wonderful.”

***

The two of you resume wandering around the park after eating lunch. You briefly stop to watch a parade of characters and decorated vehicles go by, then resume the hunt for some proper mementos to commemorate your honeymoon at the park.

Which, actually, is easier said than done. The park has several shops scattered throughout it and different kiosks by rides that host specially themed mouse-eared headbands. Trying to compare all the options available, let alone narrow things down to a top pick, is almost too tall a task to handle.

(Not to mention that the headbands themselves are egregiously expensive. Holy shit.)

Eventually, though, you settle on a sequined Minnie Mouse ears headband –complete with a sequined red bow with white polka dots—while Piotr opts for a classic –sequins free—Mickey Mouse ears headband.

“I think we look pretty good!” you declare as you post one of the selfies you took of you and Piotr to Instagram.

Piotr brushes a soft kiss against your temple. “I agree –but you look best.”

You sputter and duck your head bashfully. “You’re awfully sweet, Mr. Rasputin.”

“Says person eating cotton candy.”

“Not my fault it’s good.” You split your last bite in half and offer part of it to him –then gape when he actually accepts it. “What’s this? You actually ate cotton candy!”

Piotr rolls his eyes good naturedly –though he does pull a face at how sweet the candy is. “Is my vacation. I eat treats if I want.”

You grin and giggle, then yank on his hand and head in the direction of another vendor stand. “Ooh, come on! I need to get a pretzel!”

“You just finished cotton candy.”

“Yeah, but—” you glance around and lower your voice carefully “—I need to get a Snapchat of it so I can send Wade a snap about being a ‘childless whore fucking up the pretzel line.’”

Piotr’s eyes widen and he claps a hand over his mouth to stifle a massive snort. “What?”

“Baby, please?”

He shakes his head, but ultimately acquiesces. “Lead way, myshka.”

***

You wake up on the third day of your trip with sore legs and feet, a barely there stomach ache from eating too much cotton candy the day previous, and an erection pressed against your ass.

You grin when Piotr’s lips start pressing against your neck. “Morning, sweetheart. Feeling good?”

“Chrezvychayno.”

You sigh, content, when his hand latches onto your hip and his other arm presses against your chest, pulling you flush against him. “Y’know… we’ve pretty much done everything we can do in the park. We could just…” You swing one of your arms back so you can slide your hand down his side. “Stay in bed today. Order room service. Do what all honeymooners do.”

“That,” Piotr murmurs huskily, lustily. “Sounds perfect.”

***

You two spend the last day of the Disney part of your trip largely lazing around. You stroll through the park to get more pictures and check out a few more rides, but other than that you two simply enjoy each other’s company until the time for your dinner reservation at the renowned Blue Bayou restaurant comes. The two of you take a few hours to get cleaned and dressed up for the dinner –a cocktail dress with blue and purple flowers for you and a suit with a blue and purple tie for him—and head over to the Blue Bayou restaurant.

The space itself is nothing short of breathtaking. There’s trees along the edge of the outdoor dining area, and lanterns and flowers are strung across the space to give it a soft, ethereal feel.

You two are seated in a quiet corner of the dining area at a sleek black table bordered by chairs with elegant backs that look like wrought iron; the waiter hands you two your menus and takes your drink orders—

And then it’s just you and Piotr.

You glance up from perusing your menu and smile at your husband. “Anything in particular looking good?”

He “hmms” thoughtfully. “Possibly lamb… or roasted chicken.”

“They both look good,” you agree. You nudge his leg under the table, then grin at him when he looks up at you. “Love you.”

Piotr beams at you. “I love you, too.”

The waiter returns a couple minutes later with your drinks, jots down your orders, then takes your menus and whisks away once more.

Piotr reaches across the table –careful not to knock into either of your glasses or the candle at the center of the table—and takes one of your hands in his. “So. We are married.”

You grin. “Hell yeah we are.”

He smiles back, then gazes thoughtfully at the engagement ring and wedding band on your left hand while rubbing circles against the back of your hand with his thumb. “What comes next?”

You let out a huff. “I mean… we have a house to furnish.”

“That we do,” Piotr chuckles. “But I meant more for us. What do you want us to do next, as couple?”

You glance around surreptitiously, then quietly suggest, “Have lots of sex?”

Piotr snorts. “Duly noted, myshka. Answer question seriously, please.”

You sit back in your seat, taking a moment to enjoy the way his thumb rubs against your hand before mulling over the question. “I don’t know. Right now, I’m kinda just content to enjoy the moment and our new life together.”

Piotr nods after a moment. “Okay. And… in future?”

“Kids, eventually,” you say, flashing a demure smile at him. “I mean, I think we should get the house furnished and functional first, but… maybe in the next year or two.”

Piotr smiles at that, eyes sparkling and face glowing. “Alright. It is your body; you set all rules.”

“I think in a year or two we can start trying,” you reiterate. “But, right now, I’m just looking to enjoy us. You.”

His smile softens, and he squeezes your hand gently. “That sounds very nice.”

You smile back, slowly getting lost in the depths of his sparkling blue eyes—

It really is magical.

#sass writes #piotr rasputin x reader #colossus x reader #IT'S HONEYMOON TIME #BOW CHICKA WOW WOW #deadpool fanfiction #x men fanfiction

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boonesfarmsangria · 5 years ago

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‘Four In A Bed’ and Boards Of Canada: Foals’ Yannis Philippakis’ guide to battling boredom in lockdown (part 2 of NME interview)

The frontman plans to spend his time off reading about cavemen and getting into soap. Sure, why not?

Lockdown – week five. How are you coping? It’s tough, eh? We’re all struggling a little for ways to distract ourselves from the endless scrolling doom of the news and really make the most of this time trapped inside.

Fear not, dear reader. To save your brain from turning to mush, Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis is here with some of his own top tips to stave off boredom, find inner-peace and keep the grey matter in shape while self-isolating – from sweet synth sounds to a soapy fetish. Enjoy…

1. Spend a night with Four In A Bed

“It’s wholesome, it’s nerdy and it’s specifically British. There’s a passive aggressiveness to it that I really enjoy. People are forced into confrontation with each other in the final episode. I love it. There are some great fall-outs in there. I love it when you get a couple who are overly negative of another person’s place but openly big up about how great their establishment is and how it’s the pinnacle of taste, then you get there and it’s full of crocheted doilies and little gnomes. People’s perceptions and reality come crashing to a head – and that’s where all the juicy stuff is.”

2. Enjoy Ed O’Brien’s new album ‘Earth‘

“I’m going to be spending a lot of time with this record. He’s somebody I’ve got to know over the last few years and is one of the few people who I feel that I could turn to for advice on a number of different levels – not just musical but deeper themes. We were well into the ‘What Went Down’ tour and I was full of booze and drugs and I get bumping into him and I said, ‘I really want to get myself to Mount Athos in Greece for a total change and to replenish myself’. He was one of the few people that understood that. I ended up going and that formed this kind of connection where he encourages me spiritually to be that person. He also met my mum after we played Ally Pally and she was impressed by him.”

3. Know your place with Werner Herzog

“I’m intending to binge on a lot of Werner Herzog documentaries in the next few weeks. I read this quote from him the other day where he was talking about how utterly indifferent nature is to us. Our existence isn’t guaranteed, and in some ways it hasn’t been earned. There’s a lesson in this: we need to reappraise our place.”

4. Drift away with Boards Of Canada

“I’ve been going back through their archive. There’s something that’s both futuristic and primitive about their music at the same time. They conjure up this imagined past. Right now we’re technologically advanced and are the pinnacle of evolution in some ways, but we’ve been taken out by something as ancient as a virus. They really suit the mood right now.”

5. Get into gardening

“I don’t have big garden; it’s just a yard and mostly concrete but I’ve got some raised vegetable beds. I’m growing veg and I find it super therapeutic. It’s good to feel anchored to the earth. It’s much easier and more rewarding than people think. I’ve got some foxes in my back garden and they’ve been getting quite cocky lately, but I like that. I want the streets to be reclaimed by foxes so that I can be proven right with my lyrics on ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost’.

6. Read about cave men

“There are a lot of books on my shelves that I’ve only ever pretended to read but am actually going to now before I get caught out. I was reading this book last night called Before The Dawn which is about the history of humankind. Homo habilis were one of our early ancestors. They made very crude stone tools and there was no modification of that for 800,000 years before the next step of toolmaking and evolution. It’s good to have something like that to put into perspective how much change there has been in recent times and how unnatural that is. That idea of constant growth is actually at odds with the way that nature has worked for millennia. I’d like to give a shout out to homo habilis for banging that same tool for almost a million years.”

7. Make your own soap. Sure, why not?

“I guess you could say I have a soap fetish. Well, not a fetish, but I’m into soap in quite a big way. I collect it on tour. I was thinking about trying to make my own soap or to try and review some soap. My soap addiction has been vindicated by the current cleanliness vibe.”

Foals will be taking part in #TimsTwitterListeningParty for ‘Holy Fire‘ on May 4.

Interview | NME | Andrew Trendell

#foals #yannis philippakis #enswbl #quarantinefoals #actual reading #fixed w p2

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loopistyle · 3 years ago

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Wow, what a week, between @asos writing back to me and watching this week’s episode of four corners my brain is totally mush One thing is for certain and undeniably true, there’s already enough clothes to go around for all of us so my decision to continue to buy pre loved and from very small ethical brands when buying new still stands Yes, I am glad they wrote back, yeah, I am shocked to see fast fashion practices are going from bad to worse, but this has all been happening for such long time, I am sadly not surprised by @zara stealing designs, ultra fast production lines made by people who get so little using toxic materials that are meant for the bin I am happy it’s been exposed once again so more people can rethink their consumer choices and demand transparency, in my humble opinion this should all be taught at school What do you think? Did you watch four corners? Has it made you change your consumer habits? #ethicalclothing #ethicalfashion #sustainablefashion #slowfashion #ethicallymade #sustainableclothing #vintageshop #ethicalfashionblogger #fashionrevolution #slowfashionmovement #buynothingnew #30wears #styledsustainable #SpotMyStyle #realstreetstyle #slowfashionseason #oootd #fashionrevolution #chooseused #tallboottuesday (at Newstead, Queensland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPHENnfNmUJ/?utm_medium=tumblr

#ethicalclothing #ethicalfashion #sustainablefashion #slowfashion #ethicallymade #sustainableclothing #vintageshop #ethicalfashionblogger #fashionrevolution #slowfashionmovement #buynothingnew #30wears #styledsustainable #spotmystyle #realstreetstyle #slowfashionseason #oootd #chooseused #tallboottuesday

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jeremystrele · 4 years ago

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A Day In The Life Of Rae Johnston, Trailblazing TV Journalist And Organisation Super-Woman!

A Day In The Life

Sasha Gattermayr

SBS and NITV’s first science and tech editor, Rae Johnston. Photo – Alisha Gore.

‘I used to be a terrible morning person, but now I love it. It’s so peaceful,’ says Rae. Photo – Alisha Gore.

Rae has been working from home recently, and spends the first hour of the day clearing her inbox. At 9am the NITV team has an editorial meeting where everyone pitches their stories for the next 24 hours. Photo – Alisha Gore.

Once she’s gone on air or pre-recorded from the TV studio, Rae heads into the voice-over or radio booth to record a podcast episode or promo voice-overs. Photo – Alisha Gore.

Rae has just finished Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener, an acclaimed memoir about the author’s experiences as a woman working in a tech startup in Silicon Valley. Photo – Alisha Gore.

Rae Johnston is an incessantly curious person. She has a system-minded brain and a constant thirst for knowledge, the perfect combo for a groundbreaking journalist at the top of her game. She is also a lifelong gamer and self-confessed geek, two passions that primed her for success in her first TV gig – a role as a video game TV presenter. This was the start of her windy, non-traditional route to journalism, one that involved no formal study and a LOT of on-the-spot learning.

‘I went through so much hate and harassment online during my early career, as one of the few female video game journalists in the country (and the world) that I’m pretty much indestructible at this point,’ she says. ‘There is very little about my own life that I keep private – I believe that by sharing the ups and downs in my life it helps break down the idea you have to be “perfect” on social media.’

Now, she’s at NITV and SBS, as the network’s first Science and Technology editor, a role which sees her producing content for television, podcasts and digital channels, as well as hosting tech and science-related panels and events around the country.

‘I love creating processes and efficient ways of working,’ says Rae, identifying herself as a ‘routine person’. ‘That’s always the biggest challenge of helping to create a new role – figuring out how it will work within the existing business – but it’s also my favourite part. Present me a problem, I’ll find five solutions and categorise them by effectiveness, resources required, and time needed to implement them.’

She’s not kidding. The big reveal during our interview (which is a surprise to no one once you’ve seen Rae’s credentials) is that she’s a fastidiously organised person. Between uninstalling social media desktop apps, scheduling her workdays down to 30-minute increments, and some pretty serious spreadsheets I would love to get my hands on for my own life admin purposes, Rae has some of the most impressive productivity hacks going around.

But when it comes down to it, for Rae everything rests on the four ‘wells’: well-rested, well-fed, well-caffeinated and well-organised. I’m obsessed with that mantra.

FIRST THING

I set my alarm for 5am every weekday. On Saturdays I let myself wake up naturally, but it’s usually no later than 7am whether I like it or not. On Sundays, I’m up early again to get ready for a hike.

On weekdays, the first thing I do is throw on my activewear and head to the gym. I like to do classes, whatever is happening, to mix it up. It’s usually a combination of yoga, boxing, and reformer pilates. On Saturdays, I grab a coffee with my husband and son and take our dog to the park. On Sundays I pack my hiking backpack with a thermos of tea and head off to a National Park for the day.

I used to be a terrible morning person, but now I love it. It’s so peaceful.

MORNING

Most days I work from home all day. If I’m hosting an event, or have a filming day in the studio I’ll drive. I bought a car for the first time this year, after 20 years of receiving not-worth-trading-in-hand-me-downs from family. I love driving.

I get back from the gym about 7am. I’ll pop my headphones in and catch up on news podcasts while I do some housework and have a coffee, then at 8am my workday begins.

I like to spend the first hour of the day clearing my inbox, then at 9am the NITV team has an editorial meeting where we all pitch our stories for the day. I could be writing an article for online, producing a TV news segment, scripting an explainer for our current affairs program, or preparing for a podcast episode. Working across all platforms means I have so much flexibility with where stories get to go.

For the rest of the morning, I’m usually making TV and radio appearances as well as chasing and conducting interviews on Zoom for my upcoming stories. It’s my peak research time.

I’ve been getting better at having breakfast every day. Working from home means I can cook something decent to eat while I’m doing my research.

LUNCHTIME

I break for lunch at 12pm every day, and try to eat in the sun as well. I’m following the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet at the moment – it makes me feel better, and gives me more energy.

AFTERNOON

If it’s a studio day, I’ll drive to the SBS/NITV studios after lunch. There I’ll usually head straight into hair and makeup, where I edit my scripts from my phone.

Once I’ve gone on air or pre-recorded from the TV studio, I’ll head into the voice-over or radio booth to record a podcast episode or promo voice-overs.

Then I like to clear my inbox again. Some days, I can get through all my emails.

My final task of the workday is to sort out my schedule for the following day. My life basically looks like a game of Tetris in a Google Calendar.

I usually have a big afternoon slump after recording – being on-air fills me with so much adrenaline, once it leaves my body I just want to nap. I usually have a piece of fruit and a cup of tea to give me a boost at around 4pm.

EVENING

I officially finish at 6pm, but sometimes I have radio or TV appearances in the evening. I find it hard to get any writing work done once the sun sets. I’m great in daylight hours, but as soon as it gets dark, my brain turns to mush.

Myself, my husband and my son take turns to cook – it’s great. If I’m cooking, I’m usually roasting a chicken or making a big pot of soup. My son is the burger specialist, and my husband loves to smoke meat, it’s amazing.

I love to knit while we watch a movie at nighttime. My nan taught me to knit when I was little, and I recently picked it back up again. It’s something to do with my hands that isn’t mindlessly scrolling through Instagram.

I do one of two things to switch off – I hike, and I play video games. Both force me to focus on one thing, don’t allow me to multitask, and show me new and wonderful places with friends and family.

LAST THING

I’m usually in bed by 9:30pm. I’ll start to wind down at 8:30pm with a hot shower, my skincare routine, some comfy PJs, a herbal tea and a book. I’ve started journaling recently, too.

I have clinical depression, and getting enough sleep every night helps me manage it. If I have a bad night, it can throw me off for a week. Sleep is very important to me, and I need a lot of it.

‘If it’s a studio day, I’ll drive to the SBS/NITV studios after lunch. There I’ll usually head straight into hair and makeup, where I edit my scripts from my phone,’ Rae explains. Photo – Alisha Gore.

Flooded with so much adrenaline after being on air, Rae usually experiences a classic 4pm slump. She usualy has a piece of fruit and a cup of tea to keep her going. Photo supplied courtesy of SBS.

Rae officially finishes at 6pm, but sometimes she slots in radio or TV appearances in the evening. Photo supplied courtesy of SBS.

Right now I’m listening to, watching, and reading…

I can never listen to, watch or read just one thing at a time.

So right now I’m listening to a few podcasts: Curtain by Amy McQuire and Martin Hodgson, the Wall Street Journal Tech Briefing and Shameless are my current regulars.

While in isolation I’ve been re-watching Parks and Recreation – I needed something comforting. I’ve also been watching Doom Patrol, an incredible comic series adaptation with Brendan Fraser.

I just finished reading Anna Weiner’s Uncanny Valley, a memoir of her experiences in the early days of Silicon Valley. I’m currently reading Growing Up Aboriginal In Australia, a collection of stories written by some of my NITV colleagues and edited by fellow Wiradjuri woman Anita Heiss. It really highlights the diversity of experience we have.

I get my best work done when…

I’m well-rested, well-fed, well-caffeinated and well-organised.

My productivity tool/tip is…

I’d be lost without my calendars. I have a year-to-a-view spreadsheet that I use to block out big event hosting days, and I use the weekly view on my digital calendar to schedule my workdays in 30-minute increments. It sounds like a lot, but it works for me, and keeps me on track.

I’ve uninstalled Twitter and Facebook from my phone, and only access them on desktop during work hours. I also set limits on Instagram so I don’t waste time scrolling.

A philosophy I live and work by is…

It used to be “never hope harder than you work”, and then I experienced burnout. Now it’s more along the lines of “do what you can, with what you have, where you are”. Everyone is “winging” it. Your best is always good enough.

Something I’ve learned the hard way is…

The importance of scheduling in down-time as well as work. I’m still learning where my limits are, and sometimes overextend myself, but I’m getting better.

Keep up with Rae’s fast-paced life on Instagram!

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agentverbivore · 8 years ago

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Now in light of this gifset: /post/159608654687 (the lion cubs!!!) which is just so freaking cute, how many kids do you imagine Fitzsimmons having in the SBS universe. And have you imagined anything else in terms of a Fitzsimmons family in this verse ;) I LOVE this universe and I love it that you frequently publish your HCs about it :D It's so awesome :D

hehehe no lie, I’ve been just waiting for someone to ask me about family/child headcanons for this universe. like, real talk, I basically don’t care about and am not interested in FitzSimmons baby headcanons in any normal AU or canon, but suddenly you mention the Side By Side ‘verse and my entire brain turns into mush. and wasn’t that post adorable?! I have so many misc animal (well, lion and lizard) posts in my Academy AU tag now, lol.

most of what I’ve imagined so far involves adorable new baby and daemon scenes - and most of them are Fitz-focused, lol. for example, I set one out in this post a while back (@eclecticmuses has been the sole victim of me occasionally having SBS!baby daemon feelings-attacks, lmao). they’re all snippets seen through rose-colored glasses that don’t take into account any of the difficult baby/kid stuff, but, y’know. I have a few little scene-lets that have popped into my head over the past few months that I just love.

I’ve really only ever headcanoned FitzSimmons as having one child of their own, Margaret (named after her), and so that continues in this universe. her daemon eventually settles as a monkey, to Fitz and Sarama’s pure and utter delight.

read on for so much tooth-rotting fluff you’re gonna need to floss after.

I just can’t resist the image of Jemma, exhausted but blissfully happy, sitting in a rocking chair in the baby’s room as she breastfeeds, with Fitz sitting on an ottoman nearby and holding the baby’s daemon in his two cupped hands, staring down at the tiny thing in awe. it shifts from a baby sloth to a baby lemur, and he just watches it in pure wonder, lifting one finger to stroke gently at its tiny side. the daemon mewps and twists around towards his finger, seeking out his touch. Caedmon is practically in Fitz’s lap, nose hovering centimeters from his hand. Sarama is busy watching the baby feed, having crawled off of Jemma’s lap to the sidetable for a better view.

“He turned to you,” Caedmon whispers excitedly, and Fitz just nods mutely. he doesn’t know how Jemma’s taking to motherhood so calmly, he can barely believe that these wonderful creatures came from them - that their DNA combined to make something so unique and fragile and magnificent! Fitz is quiet during a lot of early fatherhood, lol, observing in utter awe. (he can barely stop touching Jemma when they first get home from the hospital. he frets around her to such a degree that she has to remind him that she’s her own person and doesn’t need him to wait on her hand and foot. at least, not all the time. if he wants to be supportive, she teases, he can wake up with her when the baby needs feeding. he does this anyway, of course.)

at one point, he stands to stretch his legs while Jemma feeds the baby, taking the baby daemon with him and continuing to gently pet its side. but as he paces to the other side of the room, the daemon begins to squirm unhappily, and as Fitz nears the door, the daemon lets out small cries of distress. he freezes in complete panic, and then whips around as the baby bursts into (much louder) cries as well. Jemma waves him back over, reminding him that baby’s bonds with their daemons don’t stretch very far - he’s pulling at their bond. with all the speed he can muster while still carefully holding the baby lemur, Fitz zooms back over to the other side of the room, kneeling at Jemma’s feet and murmuring apology after apology. he’s sorry, sorry, sorry, he didn’t mean it, he won’t ever do it again, please don’t cry, papa’s here…

as soon as he’s back within range, both the baby and the daemon calm immediately, with the daemon shifting contently into a baby squirrel and turning so that he can hug onto Fitz’s thumb. Fitz nearly faints with relief, moving his hands so that Caedmon can snuffle affectionately at the baby daemon.

Fitz shuffles forward, cupping the baby daemon against his chest, and leans in to press scratchy kisses over Margaret’s forehead and tear-stained cheeks, apologizing over and over again until Jemma halts him.

“Don’t beat yourself up, Fitz,” she scolds gently, reaching over to smooth the fingers of her unoccupied hand over Sarama’s back. “We had to learn eventually how far their bond goes, it’s good we know.” Fitz feels guilty about that one brief moment for years, Jemma’s loving admonishment notwithstanding. (caring fathers are like that, you know.)

ah, and then one other headcanon that happened while I was watching Planet Earth II a few weeks back. there was a video segment about a baby monkey that nearly fell from the tops of the trees and got stuck, and its father had to come rescue it. so I couldn’t help picturing Fitz - in charge of both baby and daemon while Jemma and Caedmon rest - leaning over the edge of the crib while watching the episode. Sarama’s inside the crib with the baby; early on, she spends whole nights in the crib with them, to make sure everything’s okay. (Caedmon misses her while she’s in there, but all four of them agree that they feel more secure having her in the crib to watch over things - even if the crib isn’t very far away from where FitzSimmons are sleeping.)

so Fitz is leaning over the crib while the baby burbles happily away, TV on low volume, and is half-watching the story about the monkeys and half watching his daughter. the baby’s daemon is currently in the form of a baby capuchin climbing helter-skelter all over the crib’s slats. Fitz instinctively reaches out to hover his hand behind the monkey daemon as the one on TV slips, and blows out a relieved little puff of air when the TV monkey dad swoops in to save the day.

“You gotta promise me you won’t do that,” he says to the baby daemon. “I can’t climb trees.” the little capuchin just reaches up to grab onto Fitz’s hand in response, and happily hangs upside-down from his fingers. he sighs.

ok that got pretty long, lol. the other headcanon that I have off the top of my head is that this definitely happens, with Margaret dressing as Caedmon and Sarama at alternate years for Halloween. (as a baby, she looks a little more like a burrito than a lizard, but Sarama is pleased as punch anyway.)

oh, and, like I said, their daughter’s daemon definitely settles as a monkey - at a “normal age,” much to Fitz’s great relief - but he absolutely tries out being a lion cub and a shingleback skink as he goes through animals. for a long time, they think he’s going to settle as a horse, because in the summertime he often changes into one and goes galloping around their Perthshire yard. but when he settles as a spider monkey, Fitz and Sarama really couldn’t be more pleased - and Jemma is thrilled that after all that time of the two of them being so disappointed about Sarama not settling as a monkey, their daughter’s daemon was one instead. full circle. :-)

If you want to know more about post-Side By Side, click here!

#fitzsimmonsavengers #FitzSimmons #thefitzsimmonsnetwork #fsfic #fstag #Agents of SHIELD #ask #Academy AU #Verbivore writes #SBS Tidbits #fic bts #fanfiction #ficlet #somehow I'm not surprised by the length of *this* post lmao #I really have been just waiting for this kind of question :-)#thanks for asking it!#if you ever want more fitz!dad headcanons you should watch monkey nature shows #it just sort of happens that way lmao

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foursprout-blog · 7 years ago

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This Is How To Sleep Better: 5 Secrets From Neuroscience

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/happiness/this-is-how-to-sleep-better-5-secrets-from-neuroscience/

This Is How To Sleep Better: 5 Secrets From Neuroscience

***

Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my first book become a Wall Street Journal bestseller. To check it out, click here.

***

I’ll bet you’re not getting enough sleep. Honestly, I’m kind of cheating — it’s a pretty safe bet.

From Why We Sleep:

Two-thirds of adults throughout all developed nations fail to obtain the recommended eight hours of nightly sleep.

And that’s bad. Really bad… Yes, this is the part where I lecture you on how horrific missing sleep is. I promise to make it as quick and terrifying as possible, okay?

From Why We Sleep:

Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer. Insufficient sleep is a key lifestyle factor determining whether or not you will develop Alzheimer’s disease. Inadequate sleep—even moderate reductions for just one week—disrupts blood sugar levels so profoundly that you would be classified as pre-diabetic. Short sleeping increases the likelihood of your coronary arteries becoming blocked and brittle, setting you on a path toward cardiovascular disease, stroke, and congestive heart failure. Fitting Charlotte Brontë’s prophetic wisdom that “a ruffled mind makes a restless pillow,” sleep disruption further contributes to all major psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, and suicidality.

So if you’re fond of saying, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, well, that may be happening a lot faster than you anticipated.

But I know: you’re fine. You don’t feel tired. Or you’ve “taught” yourself to get by on less sleep. Or you have mutant powers. Nope. Truth is you’re too tired to realize how tired you are. You’re like a drunk shouting, “GIMME THE KEYS! I CAN DRIVE! I’M FINE!”

From Why We Sleep:

When participants were asked about their subjective sense of how impaired they were, they consistently underestimated their degree of performance disability.

Which is probably why “…vehicular accidents caused by drowsy driving exceed those caused by alcohol and drugs combined.”

You need eight hours. The National Sleep Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both recommend 7 to 9 hours — but after 10 days of 7 hours your brain is mush whether you realize it or not. So get 8.

From Why We Sleep:

After being awake for nineteen hours, people who were sleep-deprived were as cognitively impaired as those who were legally drunk… After sixteen hours of being awake, the brain begins to fail. Humans need more than seven hours of sleep each night to maintain cognitive performance. After ten days of just seven hours of sleep, the brain is as dysfunctional as it would be after going without sleep for twenty-four hours.

Let’s not forget: sleep deprivation is routinely used as a torture method. And we do this to ourselves. Voluntarily. (I’ve moved on to waterboarding myself. I like a challenge.)

But, seriously, if two-thirds of people have this problem then we need some real answers from a real expert…

Matthew Walker is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley, the director of its Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab, and a former professor of psychiatry at Harvard University. He’s been a sleep consultant for the NBA, the NFL, Pixar and a bunch of other places your mom would be really impressed by.

His New York Times bestselling book is Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams.

We’re gonna explode some myths, review the science and get some great tips on how to sleep better — along with the best way to implement them.

Let’s get to it…

So Why Do We Need Sleep Anyway?

On the surface, from an evolutionary perspective, sleep makes absolutely zero sense. You can’t gather food, find a mate, socialize or do anything useful while you’re out cold. And you’re vulnerable to predators.

Yet every animal that has a lifespan of more than a few days sleeps or performs a sleep-like activity. So obviously something pretty darn important is going on. Actually, a lot of important stuff…

Sleep is essential for memory and skill development. Cheat yourself on zzz’s and learning drops as much as 40%. Yeah, thats the difference between an A+ and an F.

From Why We Sleep:

When we compared the effectiveness of learning between the two groups, the result was clear: there was a 40 percent deficit in the ability of the sleep-deprived group to cram new facts into the brain (i.e., to make new memories), relative to the group that obtained a full night of sleep.

Sleep is also a built-in therapist, emotionally working out the issues you’re dealing with while you’re out cold.

From Why We Sleep:

REM-sleep dreaming offers a form of overnight therapy. That is, REM-sleep dreaming takes the painful sting out of difficult, even traumatic, emotional episodes you have experienced during the day, offering emotional resolution when you awake the next morning…

That’s not too shocking — we’ve all been moody after a night of little rest. But what you probably don’t know is that sleep also helps you deal with the emotions of others. Less slumber means less emotional intelligence.

From Why We Sleep:

By removing REM sleep, we had, quite literally, removed participants’ levelheaded ability to read the social world around them.

Nobody has ever told you to “stay awake on a problem.” And there’s a good reason that “sleep on it” is a phrase that exists not only in English, but in numerous languages. Next time your Swahili-speaking friend needs to come up with a creative solution to a tricky challenge, tell them to “kulala juu ya tatizo.”

From Why We Sleep:

Things were very different for those participants who had obtained a full night of sleep—one dressed with late-morning, REM-rich slumber. Almost 60 percent returned and had the “ah-ha!” moment of spotting the hidden cheat—which is a threefold difference in creative solution insight afforded by sleep!

And from a health perspective, sleep is the after hours cleaning crew. You make quite a mess in your grey matter with all that thinkin’ you do all day. Without the janitor to sweep up those amyloid dust bunnies you have a much higher chance of developing Alzheimer’s.

From Why We Sleep:

Without sufficient sleep, amyloid plaques build up in the brain, especially in deep-sleep-generating regions, attacking and degrading them… getting too little sleep across the adult life span will significantly raise your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

And downtime makes you sexy. Yeah, research shows “beauty sleep” is real.

(To learn more about the science of a successful life, check out my bestselling book here.)

Alrighty: sleep-deprived bad. Lots-of-sleep good. So if you’re only going to do one thing to improve your nightly slumber, what should it be?

Have A Consistent Sleep Schedule

Go to bed at the same time every night. Wake up at the same time every day. It’s crucial.

From Why We Sleep:

…if you can only adhere to one of these each and every day, make it: going to bed and waking up at the same time of day no matter what.

Don’t just set an alarm to wake up — set an alarm for bedtime. Build yourself a good pre-sleep routine where you wind down at the same time every night. And if you can get someone to read you a bedtime story, all the better.

(To learn the seven-step morning ritual that will make you happy all day, click here.)

You’re consistent and ritualized. Great. So let’s talk about that thing you hear mentioned constantly: blue light. How your smartphone and iPad screens are teaming up to turn you into an insomniac. Thing is, that’s only half the story…

“Blue” Light Isn’t The Only Problem

All light is bad. Blue is just worse.

From Why We Sleep:

Even a hint of dim light—8 to 10 lux—has been shown to delay the release of nighttime melatonin in humans. The feeblest of bedside lamps pumps out twice as much: anywhere from 20 to 80 lux. A subtly lit living room, where most people reside in the hours before bed, will hum at around 200 lux. Despite being just 1 to 2 percent of the strength of daylight, this ambient level of incandescent home lighting can have 50 percent of the melatonin-suppressing influence within the brain.

That sleep hormone melatonin doesn’t just immediately flood your system when you flip the light switch off. It takes time. So dim the lights long before you’re ready to hit the sack.

And make sure your bedroom is darker than an H.P. Lovecraft story when it’s finally time to sleep.

(To learn the science of how to take naps that will make you smarter and happier, click here.)

Now everybody knows dark is important when it comes to sleep. But there’s a second melatonin trigger that most people don’t pay enough attention to…

Be Cool

Ever try to sleep when it’s too hot? It’s not just icky uncomfortable, but it’s also telling your brain that it’s not bedtime.

From Why We Sleep:

Your nocturnal melatonin levels are therefore controlled not only by the loss of daylight at dusk, but also the drop in temperature that coincides with the setting sun… A bedroom temperature of around 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3°C) is ideal for the sleep of most people, assuming standard bedding and clothing.

Your body wants its core temperature low when you sleep. So it’s gotta dump all that heat you’re producing. And this is why you often see people’s feet or arms sticking out from under the covers: unconscious heat regulation.

From Why We Sleep:

The need to dump heat from our extremities is also the reason that you may occasionally stick your hands and feet out from underneath the bedcovers at night due to your core becoming too hot, usually without your knowing.

For super sleep, take a hot bath before bed. It doesn’t just relax you; it dilates blood vessels, allowing your body to ditch all that extra core warmth. This can boost NREM sleep by up to 15%.

From Why We Sleep:

When you get out of the bath, those dilated blood vessels on the surface quickly help radiate out inner heat, and your core body temperature plummets. Consequently, you fall asleep more quickly because your core is colder. Hot baths prior to bed can also induce 10 to 15 percent more deep NREM sleep in healthy adults.

Exercise definitely improves sleep but you don’t want to do it within 3 hours of bedtime because — guess what? It raises your core temperature.

(To learn 5 secrets from neuroscience that will increase your attention span, click here.)

I’m guessing you know that drinking a latte and a Red Bull before bed is not a great idea. And you probably heard booze isn’t a genius move here either. But there’s more to it than that…

No Coffee, No Booze… And No Sleeping Pills

If you want the best sleep possible, you should only use caffeine in the morning or early afternoon.

From Why We Sleep:

Caffeine has an average half-life of five to seven hours. Let’s say that you have a cup of coffee after your evening dinner, around 7:30 p.m. This means that by 1:30 a.m., 50 percent of that caffeine may still be active and circulating throughout your brain tissue.

And decaf isn’t really decaf. It actually contains 15-30% of the caffeine of a regular cup of coffee. So if you drink three or four cups of decaf after dinner, well, don’t be surprised if you’re staring at the ceiling at 2AM. (To learn more about the science of coffee, click here.)

And, no, alcohol doesn’t help you sleep. What it does is actually more akin to anesthesia, which is not “real” sleep. And because it’s not the real deal, your brain can’t do its memory consolidation work properly.

From Why We Sleep:

…those who had their sleep laced with alcohol on the first night after learning suffered what can conservatively be described as partial amnesia seven days later, forgetting more than 50 percent of all that original knowledge.

And sleeping pills affect the same receptors in your brain as alcohol. So you get the same results — except their effects on memory are even worse.

From Why We Sleep:

No past or current sleeping medications on the legal (or illegal) market induce natural sleep.

Oh, and there’s one other teensy-weensy little problem with sleeping pills… they don’t actually work.

From Why We Sleep:

A recent team of leading medical doctors and researchers examined all published studies to date on newer forms of sedative sleeping pills that most people take. They considered sixty-five separate drug-placebo studies, encompassing almost 4,500 individuals. Overall, participants subjectively felt they fell asleep faster and slept more soundly with fewer awakenings, relative to the placebo. But that’s not what the actual sleep recordings showed. There was no difference in how soundly the individuals slept. Both the placebo and the sleeping pills reduced the time it took people to fall asleep (between ten and thirty minutes), but the change was not statistically different between the two. In other words, there was no objective benefit of these sleeping pills beyond that which a placebo offered.

I’m sure this is going to get me hate mail from Ambien lovers. Emails they won’t remember sending, that is.

(To learn how to best use caffeine — from a neuroscientist — click here.)

So what if all of the above isn’t cutting it? What if you have stone cold chronic insomnia? What’s the cutting edge front-line treatment for the most serious of sleep issues?

To Sleep More… Sleep Less

If you’re only able to sleep 6 hours a night, then restrict yourself to 5. You’ll feel like poop the next day and crash hard…

But then only let yourself sleep 5 hours and 15 minutes. Now you feel like double poop and will be out before your head hits the pillow. So go to 5 hours and 30 minutes… And as long as you meet your designated quota, incrementally increase the amount of sleep you allow yourself. No naps.

You’ll be a zombie for a while but this is actually a core part of what is now quickly becoming the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia: CBT-I. The application of cognitive behavioral therapy to sleep issues.

From Why We Sleep:

One of the more paradoxical CBT-I methods used to help insomniacs sleep is to restrict their time spent in bed, perhaps even to just six hours of sleep or less to begin with. By keeping patients awake for longer, we build up a strong sleep pressure—a greater abundance of adenosine. Under this heavier weight of sleep pressure, patients fall asleep faster, and achieve a more stable, solid form of sleep across the night. In this way, a patient can regain their psychological confidence in being able to self-generate and sustain healthy, rapid, and sound sleep, night after night: something that has eluded them for months if not years. Upon reestablishing a patient’s confidence in this regard, time in bed is gradually increased.

(To learn 3 secrets from neuroscience that will help you quit bad habits without willpower, click here.)

Okay, hopefully that wasn’t too exhausting. (Or maybe it’s good that it was?) Let’s round everything up and learn the most important question to ask your doctor…

Sum Up

Here’s how to sleep better:

Have a consistent sleep schedule: Yes, that includes weekends. Yes, I understand that you hate me now.

“Blue” light isn’t the only problem: Dim the lights in the evening. Set the mood. (Barry White music optional.)

Be Cool: People stick their feet out from under the covers because it’s good science.

No coffee, no booze… and no sleeping pills: And while I’m ruining everything and being a total buzzkill let me add: there is no Santa Claus.

To sleep more… sleep less: Don’t think of it as CBT; look at it as getting revenge on your brain for not letting you sleep.

What’s the question you definitely want to ask your doctor before your next procedure?

“How much sleep did you get last night?”

The amount of zzz’s you get certainly affects your life. But don’t forget that how much sleep other people get can affect your life too. Or end it. After a 30 hour shift, residents make 460 percent more errors.

From Why We Sleep:

Additionally, after a thirty-hour shift without sleep, residents make a whopping 460 percent more diagnostic mistakes in the intensive care unit than when well rested after enough sleep. Throughout the course of their residency, one in five medical residents will make a sleepless-related medical error that causes significant, liable harm to a patient. One in twenty residents will kill a patient due to a lack of sleep.

But hopefully you won’t be seeing a doctor anytime soon because you’ll be in tip-top shape due to all that glorious shut-eye you’re getting.

And this is the one post where if you fell asleep while reading it, well, I’m not offended.

Join over 320,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here.

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The post This Is How To Sleep Better: 5 Secrets From Neuroscience appeared first on Barking Up The Wrong Tree.

#Happiness

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fjadwrites · 2 months ago

Text

Good afternoon!

Yes, I know. This is a lot later than my usual blogging time. You could say things had gotten busier around here since I woke up this morning. It's 3:46 PM here as I'm writing here. But I did read for today. I think that's a good thing. I tried to read as much as I can while doing things around here.

As for my reading update from yesterday, I got to finish reading several books! What do you know? Then again, three of them were just the shortest books from my old currently reading list that were added since the early 2024, to be honest. You could say I'm in a hurry to be on track with my Goodreads Reading Challenge for this year. And what better for me to do that?Read short books. But three out of the four books I've finished reading yesterday were self-help books. And one of them has something to do with writing. And obviously, since I did crunch reading (as I'd like to call it) yesterday, it was obvious that I surpassed my page count quota yesterday. With this, now I'm thinking of raising the maximum number of pages for me to read to either 80 or 90. Definitely not 100 as it was still too much for my brain.

Let me rate the books I've read yesterday. I mean, I know I did it in Goodreads already. But I also want to do it here.

"The 12 Week Year" by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington - ⭐⭐⭐, but only because it only made my brain like a mush and maybe I just felt pressured in a way as I was reading the whole thing. I mean, the idea was great that you can actually do a lot of things in about 3 months. But maybe I wasn't in the right mindset just yet to implement the process to myself at the moment. For now, I would consider doing the process in the future, especially since I do view myself a failure at my age of 33.

"5,000 Words Per Hour: Write Faster, Write Smarter" by Chris Fox - ⭐⭐⭐, but the idea was definitely something I can do when I'm writing. I actually first heard about this book because of Kate Cavanaugh's video when she tried to write 5,000 words an hour like Chris Fox. But it actually took me a while to finish reading the whole thing. I don't know what made me stop reading this, to be honest. And I know it's other than my reading slump. Should I blame my writing slump/writer's block on that, as well? But yes, I know I can only write around 3,000 words maximum in one day. Why? I tend to write my stories by hand first. It has been a habit since high school and I don't think I've ever outgrown that. But I could still do the practices here in this book in my writing just so I can use that as a reason to discipline my writer self. So the books still helped me in some way.

"Romancing The Beats: Story Structure for Romance Novels" by Gwen Hayes - This one was a definite ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for me, only because it does provided me more insight than I ever thought I needed when it comes to writing romance stories. I mean, you could say that romance is sort of my forte in writing stories. It was the genre that I started writing back in high school. Yes, I'm thanking Kate Cavanaugh once again for me discovering this book for writers. And I think she outlined her first romance novel with this as a guide. I still haven't started outlining any romance stories with the beats in this book. But I will get to that ㅡ once I managed to get my writing groove back.

The second volume of "By The Grace Of The Gods" is also done, and I've rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐ in Goodreads. Hmm... Maybe because I wasn't some of the characters to appear here early that I've only seen on the second season of the anime version. Another thing that could've affected the original 5 stars rating was the initial assumption I had that anime version encompassed the first two volumes of the light novel. I was wrong. This volume seemed to be encompassing only 3 episodes since it has something to do with the continuation of the monster subjugation and starting the laundry store. The real problem for me? Information overload on the store building part.

That's a lot for me to even write here, you know. But I thought I should add my comments (even if it's short) on each of the book I would finish reading. Yes, even my own ratings on the books done reading.

It's currently raining hard as I write here, but let's get on with the next part. As for th book I continued reading, I actually read 18 pages of the fifth volume of "The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen" at past midnight, as I've mentioned in my blog entry yesterday. I didn't add more pages done reading on that book after that since I concentrated reading more on the other books. So no comments and ratings just yet.

I really should try raising the maximum number for a bit, but I would definitely not let it reach 100 for my brain's sake. But with all that I've read today, I think I already reached this page count quota today. I'll let you know about the books I read tomorrow.

Just to give you a heads up ㅡ they were mainly novellas. Blame my frustration for constantly seeing the number of books behind schedule in my Goodreads Reading Challenge. So this was my solution to finally beat that.

Yes, I know this entry is already way too late than my usual posting time. But it's only past 5 in the afternoon here in 🇵🇭, so it's still within the day.

Let's see if I can post here during my usual early posting time. See you tomorrow! Happy reading. 😊✌️💕📚📖

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foursprouthappiness-blog · 7 years ago

Text

This Is How To Sleep Better: 5 Secrets From Neuroscience

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/happiness/this-is-how-to-sleep-better-5-secrets-from-neuroscience/

This Is How To Sleep Better: 5 Secrets From Neuroscience

***

Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my first book become a Wall Street Journal bestseller. To check it out, click here.

***

I’ll bet you’re not getting enough sleep. Honestly, I’m kind of cheating — it’s a pretty safe bet.

From Why We Sleep:

Two-thirds of adults throughout all developed nations fail to obtain the recommended eight hours of nightly sleep.

And that’s bad. Really bad… Yes, this is the part where I lecture you on how horrific missing sleep is. I promise to make it as quick and terrifying as possible, okay?

From Why We Sleep:

So if you’re fond of saying, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, well, that may be happening a lot faster than you anticipated.

From Why We Sleep:

When participants were asked about their subjective sense of how impaired they were, they consistently underestimated their degree of performance disability.

Which is probably why “…vehicular accidents caused by drowsy driving exceed those caused by alcohol and drugs combined.”

From Why We Sleep:

Let’s not forget: sleep deprivation is routinely used as a torture method. And we do this to ourselves. Voluntarily. (I’ve moved on to waterboarding myself. I like a challenge.)

But, seriously, if two-thirds of people have this problem then we need some real answers from a real expert…

His New York Times bestselling book is Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams.

We’re gonna explode some myths, review the science and get some great tips on how to sleep better — along with the best way to implement them.

Let’s get to it…

So Why Do We Need Sleep Anyway?

Yet every animal that has a lifespan of more than a few days sleeps or performs a sleep-like activity. So obviously something pretty darn important is going on. Actually, a lot of important stuff…

Sleep is essential for memory and skill development. Cheat yourself on zzz’s and learning drops as much as 40%. Yeah, thats the difference between an A+ and an F.

From Why We Sleep:

Sleep is also a built-in therapist, emotionally working out the issues you’re dealing with while you’re out cold.

From Why We Sleep:

By removing REM sleep, we had, quite literally, removed participants’ levelheaded ability to read the social world around them.

From Why We Sleep:

And downtime makes you sexy. Yeah, research shows “beauty sleep” is real.

(To learn more about the science of a successful life, check out my bestselling book here.)

Alrighty: sleep-deprived bad. Lots-of-sleep good. So if you’re only going to do one thing to improve your nightly slumber, what should it be?

Have A Consistent Sleep Schedule

Go to bed at the same time every night. Wake up at the same time every day. It’s crucial.

From Why We Sleep:

…if you can only adhere to one of these each and every day, make it: going to bed and waking up at the same time of day no matter what.

(To learn the seven-step morning ritual that will make you happy all day, click here.)

“Blue” Light Isn’t The Only Problem

All light is bad. Blue is just worse.

From Why We Sleep:

That sleep hormone melatonin doesn’t just immediately flood your system when you flip the light switch off. It takes time. So dim the lights long before you’re ready to hit the sack.

And make sure your bedroom is darker than an H.P. Lovecraft story when it’s finally time to sleep.

(To learn the science of how to take naps that will make you smarter and happier, click here.)

Now everybody knows dark is important when it comes to sleep. But there’s a second melatonin trigger that most people don’t pay enough attention to…

Be Cool

Ever try to sleep when it’s too hot? It’s not just icky uncomfortable, but it’s also telling your brain that it’s not bedtime.

From Why We Sleep:

For super sleep, take a hot bath before bed. It doesn’t just relax you; it dilates blood vessels, allowing your body to ditch all that extra core warmth. This can boost NREM sleep by up to 15%.

From Why We Sleep:

Exercise definitely improves sleep but you don’t want to do it within 3 hours of bedtime because — guess what? It raises your core temperature.

(To learn 5 secrets from neuroscience that will increase your attention span, click here.)

I’m guessing you know that drinking a latte and a Red Bull before bed is not a great idea. And you probably heard booze isn’t a genius move here either. But there’s more to it than that…

No Coffee, No Booze… And No Sleeping Pills

If you want the best sleep possible, you should only use caffeine in the morning or early afternoon.

From Why We Sleep:

And sleeping pills affect the same receptors in your brain as alcohol. So you get the same results — except their effects on memory are even worse.

From Why We Sleep:

No past or current sleeping medications on the legal (or illegal) market induce natural sleep.

Oh, and there’s one other teensy-weensy little problem with sleeping pills… they don’t actually work.

From Why We Sleep:

I’m sure this is going to get me hate mail from Ambien lovers. Emails they won’t remember sending, that is.

(To learn how to best use caffeine — from a neuroscientist — click here.)

So what if all of the above isn’t cutting it? What if you have stone cold chronic insomnia? What’s the cutting edge front-line treatment for the most serious of sleep issues?

To Sleep More… Sleep Less

If you’re only able to sleep 6 hours a night, then restrict yourself to 5. You’ll feel like poop the next day and crash hard…

From Why We Sleep:

(To learn 3 secrets from neuroscience that will help you quit bad habits without willpower, click here.)

Okay, hopefully that wasn’t too exhausting. (Or maybe it’s good that it was?) Let’s round everything up and learn the most important question to ask your doctor…

Sum Up

Here’s how to sleep better:

Have a consistent sleep schedule: Yes, that includes weekends. Yes, I understand that you hate me now.

“Blue” light isn’t the only problem: Dim the lights in the evening. Set the mood. (Barry White music optional.)

Be Cool: People stick their feet out from under the covers because it’s good science.

No coffee, no booze… and no sleeping pills: And while I’m ruining everything and being a total buzzkill let me add: there is no Santa Claus.

To sleep more… sleep less: Don’t think of it as CBT; look at it as getting revenge on your brain for not letting you sleep.

What’s the question you definitely want to ask your doctor before your next procedure?

“How much sleep did you get last night?”

From Why We Sleep:

But hopefully you won’t be seeing a doctor anytime soon because you’ll be in tip-top shape due to all that glorious shut-eye you’re getting.

And this is the one post where if you fell asleep while reading it, well, I’m not offended.

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The post This Is How To Sleep Better: 5 Secrets From Neuroscience appeared first on Barking Up The Wrong Tree.

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