#Although now I have orders going on my moms Amazon and on mine

[infpravenclaw5w4idkwhatelse]

ever have one of those days where you have to sign into your family Amazon account so many times that, instead of asking your mom for the code for a gazillionth time, you sign up for 6 months of free Amazon prime with your student email? Yeah….lol.

[datingintampafails]

Chapter 24 Jake* Part Two

First Date and Another Week

Finally, he arrived at my place to pick me up for our first date, what normally was a five minute drive became twenty five minutes due to traffic. I hop in his car and I’m excited. While we are driving, I look at his center console and see a book regarding Emmanuel Kant, a philosopher. We talk briefly about philosophers, this one in my opinion tells me a lot about him, though he says he doesn’t think Kant’s ideals are sustainable and rather just interesting to think about. Jake* did not have high degrees from college, but is intelligent and well read, there’s more to this book than just the cover.

I had made reservations for my favorite restaurant, Maggiano’s. At the restaurant, it feels like we’ve been together forever, I’m discussing with the waitress that he’s allergic to cheese and making sure that certain items on the menu are okay for him. I order my food and get a glass of wine. Dinner is the opposite of awkward, we are engaged in conversation without a dull moment and happy to be together. 

My best friend got word that we were going to our favorite place, so I ask him if it’s okay if we bring her some leftovers of cheesy garlic bread. He’s completely cool about it, so on the way, we stop by my friend’s apartment to give her the food. She meets us outside and meets him briefly. He is a little quiet but otherwise friendly and we chat for a couple minutes before driving off to my place, a few minutes down the street.

We get back to my place to continue hanging out. My dog goes crazy for him, but after a bit, she relaxed so we could focus on each other. I couldn’t tell you what we were watching, we were just cuddling. We kissed not that much, as his beard’s length scratched my face and I told him it was uncomfortable on my face, but that I definitely wanted to kiss him. I at one point brought my dog outside, and upon returning inside I said I didn’t feel good. My Apple Watch said my heart rate was at 160 bpm, insanely high for me, and I laid back down on the couch. Again, a caring man to the rescue. He tells me to relax there and he will get anything I need and not get up. He gets my dog and brings her back inside, he brings me a drink, I’m waited on hand and foot. I feel better with him around. We spoke about a lot that night of course, but I remember him telling me about him having deleted Hinge and I was the only one he was talking to. Although things so far had felt pretty deep, I was still super surprised he had dropped everything, seemingly, to be with me. I of course had done the same, but for my own reasons. I had talked about Jake* to my best friend and in talking with her I made a deal that if things with him didn’t work out, I would cease dating around until a vaccine comes out/COVID is more or less over.

Meanwhile, outside of my head, he touches my leg and I admit that I have become rather *excited* by being with him in person, our chemistry is just as good in person. He starts to finger me, I tell him to be careful because I wouldn’t want my heart rate to increase again. Strangely, I let him continue and my heart rate goes down. Upon taking a break, this man takes his hand and puts his fingers in his mouth, tasting it. I laugh at him and call him a freak but he laughs too. He too is turned on and he asks me if I want to touch him. I say that I am afraid his claims of being a shrimp are true. Curiosity gets the best of me and over his pants, I touch him and say “oh okay.” I know enough that he is not small. Besides that, nothing happens, as due to my heart issues, I have told him that I want to wait until I’ve seen a cardiologist and make sure it is safe for me to be participating in “cardio.” I ask him if he wants to sleep over, because I want to spend time with him now that I can, and because sexually I am tempted and almost want to just see what happens. He says no. We stop fooling around and just hang out together for another bit of time before he starts to get a headache and becomes really tired. It is then time to leave and agree that we will both have to masturbate later tonight due to our forbidden sex. 

The next day, I am off to test drive a potential new car. We text during my experience there while I’m waiting and I share my news of the new car and the not so great experience at another dealership trying to take care of my old car. He talks about how he felt off due to his headache/tiredness and is seeing a doctor Monday:

We talk about what happened too with the lack of a sleepover: 

I remind him of the activities we DID do, and that obviously I definitely was feeling it. It’s bizarre to me that he still holds uncertainty for my growing feelings of him. 

He is talking about me to his family, I know because he mentions his mother “keeps asking” about me, “will I get to meet this one?” He jokes about telling her I’m 10 years older than him. I say “yeah we just had our first date last night so I should meet your mom tomorrow.” “Exactly.” He now claims he is bored, I ask if he’s bored or if he just wishes I was there. Again, an “exactly.” I get real again.

He decides to take a nap before watching football with his family. He says he is coming back after dinner and asks to come over. I say absolutely and he sends an emoji surrounded by hearts. More or less, he appears at my door maybe 45 minutes later. I did not notice at first, but he had shaved so that his beard was more like stubble. He called me out for not noticing, but upon kissing him and touching his face I told him it was a lot better and I could actually kiss him now without hurting myself.

I do not really remember much about that night or what we did as much as our first date, besides what I am about to describe. Again, he played with me, I touched him, and it got to a point where I finally said, “ok let’s have sex now,” caught by surprise he said “what?” I reiterated I wanted to have sex with him and go to my bedroom. He said he didn’t have condoms, I told him I did. That was that. Shrimp definitely was NOT a shrimp, when we were actually at the point of penetration, it felt a lot bigger. I did not climax but enjoyed myself, and he was attentive, gentle, and communicative. As a joke, he said “good girl” to me, referencing my story to him regarding Dan*. I laughed and playfully nudged him. Similar to Ethan*, compatible sex can only grow feelings. We cuddle, re-clothe, and return to the couch for a while. When he leaves I verify he’s reached home safely before passing out.

In the morning we text each other our good mornings and I tell him I’m glad we didn’t wait. He mentions how great it was and that he’s turned on by thinking about it. I tell him the options of masturbation, bringing “that dick over here,” or a cold shower. Jokingly he says the latter before sending a follow up “just kidding.” He is taking a shower before coming over. I too am going to take a shower, so I let him know the door is unlocked. I hear the front door opening as I am finishing up my shower. I yell out to him that I’m in the shower and he comes to my room. More or less since I’m already naked, we go straight to business. He ate me out, as that is something that he really enjoys doing before having sex. We spend more time together before I more or less kick him out since a plumber is supposed to come by and I am getting my hair done.

Later on, we have a conversation about condoms, he expresses it’s difficult to stay erect with them and I let him know that later down the line we don’t have to use it because of my IUD. He says “Look we’ll stop using them when YOU want to.” I describe to him I am not a fan of them necessarily but the pros and cons. We have more sex talk then immediately segue to sports. I joke that he had better luck with his sports bets before we started having sex. He claims no sex until the end of football season, with another quick “jk.” I am told I wouldn’t make it, I respond that he wouldn’t make it. At this point, we have seen each other three days in a row. I express to him again that I like him.

Monday comes along and both of our appointments go well more or less. They’ve found an abscess in his tooth and he was about to get a root canal to clean it out that day. He mentions he’s driving by my work. For some reason he didn’t think I was there, so missed the opportunity for him to have stopped by. Later that day, I finally feel confident enough to start showing off his Instagram to my co-workers and show them this guy I’ve been talking to. Upon showing one coworker his photo, she says “wait…. I know him!” Turns out she went to middle school and high school with him; they were friends in middle school before he started being a bad boy in high school. My other coworker keeps yelling as a joke that she and I are Eskimo sisters.

We make a plan Tuesday for him to help me swap out my cars, a very nice gesture I appreciate. Consistently he let me know his head is bothering him, an ailment that plagues him constantly. At this point, I don’t have his address, despite him having had mine for a while. I pick him up and we take care of the swap. After the swap, we go back to my place and I flip flop about what we are gonna eat for dinner. Finally, decide on Outback Steakhouse. I insist on paying to thank him for helping me today, something he has never had a girl do for him.

Not much in between, we spend Wednesday night together again and have a sleepover scheduled for Thursday. Wednesday he says something about seeing me in 11 business days, which for whatever reason rubs me kind of the wrong way. When Thursday comes, he, unfortunately, bails since he isn’t feeling good. Friday I made a joke about seeing him for 11 business days. I had promised to give him Hulu logins and a profile, I just needed to get to his place. I mention I am watching the new episode of The Boys on Amazon Prime, we have inside jokes about it, quoting lines like “lazer my tits” and later, “Fuck Fresca.” He gets “upset” that I watched it without him (I did not know we were supposed to watch things together). I asked “was I supposed to wait for you lol,” he says he thought that we would watch it together while eating lunch together. Also didn’t know we were getting lunch together. I came over, watched the episode again, and then we went to McAllister’s for lunch. When we are at his place, we get into sexcapades, with sex brain logic, I decide now is good enough to no longer use condoms. Not to be sketchy at all, and he mentions he feels bad shooing me away after sex, but he has to pack and get ready to stay at his parents’ for the weekend. He plans on Sunday that he is gonna come back after a 1pm football game, and wants to make me dinner at my place. He used to be a sous chef and is quite a talent at that, so out of everything and anything that I could want or have from a real chef, all I want is sloppy joes. We go back and forth on different real dishes he could make, risotto, chicken marsala with pasta, but in the end, I end with sloppy joes. I don’t expect really to hear much of him since he is hanging out with his family for the weekend before Sunday. But I am wrong.

[caribouwritings]

Sub-Zero

           I was only three when my older brother Eddie died. He had a brain tumor; he died a couple weeks after my birthday and a couple weeks before his.

          He did just as he told our mom when he said, “I stay four.”

          On June 27th, my big brother was gone at age four.

***

           My parents tried to give me a happy life. They gave me privileges that some kids are not as lucky enough to have (such as a vacation almost every year). Despite what the therapist had said when the event happened, I was damaged and it was only a matter of time before it would all show in forms that got glossed over repeatedly.

I didn’t just lose my brother, I lost my best friend, my protector, my guide… I lost my Eddie.

           Although I can now say it and not think much of it, I still cry at the thought I was cheated out of a big brother to teach me the ropes and take my hand when I was scared.

           Senior year of high school was the hardest. I was graduating (on that day fifteen years later) and my brother did not even make it to kindergarten, which he was so excited for because he’d get to ride a bus; His favorite thing in life besides me, our family, Scooby-Doo, and Donald Duck was anything with an engine.

           I outlived my brother who knew what he wanted (it could’ve changed in time, but it would still involve cars and trucks), and I had panicked. I believed people when they told me I would be a great English teacher. I wanted to be a writer, but everyone kept saying I am a teacher at heart. There was just a couple teeny tiny (major) problems:  I hate school (and still do), I am very selective with what I choose to read, and I don’t talk unless I want to or need to.

            Kudos to those who teach, but I’d rather not go back. School for me was where I had my individuality constantly beaten out of me, I was bullied by other students for who I was, have been accused and associated with things I am not, and my mental health got worse.

           However, being non-confrontational, I just nodded my head and let myself be pushed to a major I did not want and watched as I slowly went downhill, and crossed paths with someone a little bit before graduation who is just like me… sort of.

           I was looking for some new games to play that are like Street Fighter II. While watching a Top Ten Best Fighting Games of All Time video on YouTube, the channel (Watchmojo) ranked a video game called Mortal Kombat (2011) at number two, right next to Street Fighter II which placed number one. When I saw the game on clearance at Walmart, I put it in the cart with the plan to take over the unused Xbox 360 in the living room bought by my parents’ for the Kinect feature. My mom did not care anymore, she was just grateful that the expensive gaming system collecting dust under the TV stand was finally being used.

           I played through several kombatants (yes, with a ‘K’, most ‘C’ starting words are replaced with a ‘K’) in the Ladder Fights and Test Your Luck challenges for hours enjoying the blood and gruesome moves.

            I oddly kept finding myself drawn to Sub-Zero, the blue ice assassin (don’t call them ninjas, they find it highly insulting). I didn’t know why though; I couldn’t figure out why I thought the man with ice powers was intriguing. Curious by nature, I did what I do with everything else I found fascinating, I dug for all the information I could find. It didn’t matter how useless and random, I wanted to know everything about the world of Mortal Kombat, and I now know a huge chunk of it.

           Sub-Zero’s real name is Kuai Liang, and he was originally called Tundra. He is the younger brother of Bi-Han, the first Sub-Zero in the series, and Kuai Liang took the name Sub-Zero after his brother’s death to honor him. That was the only similarity I thought we had, but I was so wrong… I was so wrong.

           Mortal Kombat is super violent. The two ice powered brothers are best known for a fatality where they rip the head and spine out of their enemy opponent, both parts still attached together like a twisted party trick (and this is also the main origin to the ERSP rating system in video games). I am not even strong enough to lift a twenty pound puppy without nearly dropping the stubborn Shepard Labrador mix back on the ground with a thump. Plus there’s the other stuff on the surface:  blonde Caucasian female with an olive shade of green eyes, a bubbly persona and pink girly appearance, versus a dark haired Chinese American male with icy blue eyes, a cold persona and super violent history.

           “He is just a video game character, he is not real. You don’t need to care this much for this fictional character.”

           I know that. Kuai Liang is not real, but his story is real to me.

           Kuai Liang went through hell. Everything bad that could have happened, did happen to him. He lost his brother when Scorpion—the wraith of the NetherRealm (and the franchise’s fan favorite character)—killed him in retaliation for killing the whole Shirai Ryu clan, his kind-hearted wife, and innocent baby boy (spoiler alert, it wasn’t Bi-Han at all! Scorpion was tricked into killing an innocent man!). Wanting to avenge his brother’s death, and avoid the Lin Kuei’s new cyber-initiative their Grandmaster was keen on, Kuai Liang and his best friend, Smoke, ran away to find the answers to what happened to Bi-Han. Right when our new Sub-Zero nearly has his revenge and is to kill Scorpion, he is stopped and surrounded by members of his former clan who have been converted from human to cyborg; despite the robotic outsides and still human insides, they are brainwashed to obey like full-fledged robots. He is taken back to the clan and suffers the same fate of being turned into a cyborg and is renamed LK-520, then sent after Smoke who managed to get away. Lucky for both of them, cyber-Sub-Zero is knocked unconscious and Smoke gets help from his new allies to reset Kuai Liang, but although he gets his control back, he is now stuck as a mashup of man and machine. Until (in a rushed scene of the game) he is killed and his soul is sent to the Netherrealm where he is rebuilt from what is left of his remaining bits of human organs and bone inside his robotic shell. Although human again, he is now under the mind control of the sorcerer, Quan Chi (spoiler alert! He’s the real person behind Scorpion’s suffering!), and is now working alongside both the man who framed his brother and the man who murdered his brother, along with several of his new allies that died as well. In the tenth game, he is freed from Quan Chi’s control by being in the right place at the right time (and by also being a fan favorite character too).

           That should be the end of it, but it’s not. This is right before I realized how perfectly Kuai Liang’s life parallels mine. This is before I read the comics.  

           Like I said, I get invested in stories to the point I want to find out everything I can. When I found all three volumes of the comic series on Amazon, I couldn’t resist and I bought all three.

           When UPS came to deliver the package, I brought it straight to my room plopping the brown cardboard box on my bed, and cut the tape open with a pink mechanical pencil. I didn’t care for the other two books I bought (except enough to hide the one I bought for my little sister’s birthday in the closet) because there they were. Volumes one, two, and three were at the bottom of the box under giant green bags of air that are satisfying to stomp on and give unsuspecting siblings heart attacks, but that was unimportant in this moment. I took the three volume books out and spread them on my bed, and dived right into the unknown; into the rebuild of the Shirai Ryu, the second generation of klassic characters, and what happened to those who lived or were brought back like Sub-Zero.

           Sub-Zero, at this point, was my favorite character. In volume two, however, there was a shift in my view of him. In that shift, he became my number one favorite character ever and sealed his place into that spot permanently.

           Kuai Liang had become possessed by a cursed dagger in the previous volume, and it continued into volume two. Scorpion (he is a good guy now… sort of) and his apprentice, Takeda, go after him and get the dangerous dagger back, but the curse makes it hard for Scorpion to reason with Kuai Liang. Scorpion becomes frustrated and the two fight to what they believe to be the death, until Takeda manages to get the dagger away. Kuai Liang exhausts out all the remaining evil within him, and then is left standing there perplexed by why he is there and what is going on. It doesn’t matter to Scorpion though, he still beats the bewildered young Sub-Zero to a bloody pulp and leaves him to die.

           Kuai Liang rethinks his life as he lays their bleeding out, so when Bo’ Rai Cho (ew, trust me on this one, just ew) comes to him to help him get back on his feet, he asks him, “you haven’t figured out what all these events mean? Why I’m here?”

           Kuai Liang’s answer is, “I must commit hara kiri…”

           There. There it is. Right there. That is the line that made me see I am more like Sub-Zero than I thought I was.

           We lost our older brothers, we lost our individuality, we were beaten, we were bullied, we were brainwashed, we took orders, we went down wrong paths, we battled the world, we battled ourselves, and we took so much of a beaten that we laid in our own blood, sweat, and tears thinking “I must commit hara kiri…”

           What is hara kiri? To simplify, it is suicide.

           I remember putting the comic down on my stuff animal infested bed and staring at the lavender colored walls, looking at the big picture. Sub-Zero is a strong warrior with ice powers, and he hit rock bottom. He may be physically stronger than me, but he is just as broken and weak as me on the inside. He put up a shield, hiding behind his anger just like I hid behind my smile.

           I picked up the comic again, and skipped frantically through the pages of volume three just to get to Kuai Liang and find the answers. What did he do and how did he survive to be in the next game?

           It is complicated and complex, but the answer is different based on how you interpret his story. I obviously interpreted it well, because I am here. I am okay.

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 17: 2x07 Catspaw

It’s not Halloween but it is my mom’s birthday so a very good opportunity to watch Catspaw.

So we start with Sulu and Scotty missing on an away mission but why exactly the Enterprise is here and what the away mission was is not explained...

Also speaking of interesting and unusual combos--Scotty and Sulu!

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

I like Uhura’s nails. They go so well with her communications board. Even her job is stylish.

Oooh, possessed dead mannequin crew member warning the ship that it has been cursed?? Very promising.

Also falling like that was an impressive stunt.

Lol Assistant Chief Engineer Dealle is in charge because the first and second in command are going after the third and fourth in command. What would TNG have to say about that??

According to the Amazon trivia, Uhura was supposed to be the next in command and in charge of the ship in this ep but NBC didn’t want a woman in charge and can I just say that if this is true we were ROBBED.

Oooh mysterious fog.

Chekov and his terrible wig. Should have left him in charge.

Also it’s interesting that this is the first Chekov episode in production order and he’s actually not the navigator. He’s Spock’s backup.

This is like a game of telephone: Chekov tells Desalle to tell Uhura to tell Kirk.

This is a very serious, creepy, mysterious opening in a lot of ways (the dead crewman mystery) but I remember this as more of a goofy, silly episode. (But actually upon having now seen the whole thing... it’s more serious than I remembered in its sci fi concepts! I guess I was just remembering the witches lol.)

Honestly those witches... I guess Macbeth is a pretty big part of Earth Lore lol. I think McCoy is alarmed and unsettled by this while Spock is more intrigued and Kirk just thinks it’s dumb.

I love Kirk’s face when Spock’s only comment is “bad poetry.” Hilarious. Like “I love you but please be more helpful. This is Serious Time not time to play games and fuck with me.”

I really like Kirk in this episode. He’s giving off smart, curious explorer vibes. (Although I will say, with the whole episode down... he is very harsh on the aliens. I mean he lost a man in the opening and so he’s not down to clown but still.. I think he overestimates their hostility some.)

Creepy castle. Trick-or-treating. I want the deleted scene where Kirk explains Trick-or-Treating to Spock.

Kirk looks so frustrated by the cat.

“I’m not that green.” Lol.

What a talented cat actor!! Trot trot trot.

“Bones? I mean...the other Bones?” Maybe a different nickname today. That’s a really underrated joke.

I wish they’d picked up on Spock and put some Vulcan horror in there too. (Although I guess creating horror tropes wasn’t exactly their intention...) I wonder what Vulcan subconscious horror is like.

That was actually a pretty cool transition from the dungeon to the dining room.

Kirk would be more impressed with all this if they hadn’t killed someone. He’s never up for fun and games when someone’s dead. He’s very dubious about all of this, especially the cat.

Hmm, they are not native.

Kirk’s face just screams: “So the cat...is talking...to you?” (Actually you know what, I do think it’s very interesting that Korob can understand Sylvia even when she’s speaking in a different language.)

I bet young Spocks read about wizards and familiars and was super taken with the idea.

I don’t believe for one second that Spock’s thoughts are black and white lol. This decadent bitch? No way.

None of this is Kirk’s interest. Illusions, weird tricks, people who don’t give straight answers. This is not the way to impress him or make him want to help you in any way.

McCoy the jewel expert. These look real!

You like shiny stuff right humans? Pretty crystalline forms for you?? Not in a post-scarcity utopia!

McCoy has just realized this woman IS the cat.

Hmmm, telepathy, like Spock’s?

I want that Enterprise necklace!!

“You do with your minds what we do with tools.”

Lol at Kirk thinking he’s won because he can send another search party. Like... how’d the last search party work out for you?

Mmm, Kirk looking at the necklace. That’s some Acting.

Credits to navy beans.

“An Earthman like yourself...”

These aliens are very interesting. Very, totally alien, as Spock says. This idea that they tried to read the humans’ minds and missed their target is just so cool. Like, they weren’t trying to create a weird Halloween experience, they thought they were creating a familiar home for the aliens. “Oh, a castle, just like home!”

So it sounds like this planet is not that far away from Earth. The aliens are coming closer...

Haha Sylvia says she’s not a puppet but ironically--she is exactly, literally a puppet.

I’m just going to say it: Sylvia is one of the best female characters in TOS. Like should I be insulted that the lady alien went insane and emotional and messed everything up? Probably but I prefer to think of it as her being intrigued and invested in her own power and possibilities and then she goes overboard.

Anyway this is Macbeth whoops

“You torture our specimens.”

So what is their mission??

Hmm, she’s really into Kirk. And he knows just how to manipulate her: telling her she’s not really a woman, she’s not real, then transitioning into Honeypot Mode.

“I can be many women,” she says and just puts on different wigs.

Whoops she found his conscious mind. So much for manipulating her.

And so the familiar becomes the wizard.

This is sad; they could have become friends with the aliens. Korob doesn’t seem so bad.

Big cat!! Really big cat! Not the most terrifying creature at all; the nicest and softest. I'm not convinced that cat is big; I think it's pretty obvious the hallway is just small. However, I like the idea. I wish I had a super big cat to be friends with.

[Cat screams continue]

“Well at least we found them.”

Spock is so unruffled. "Hmmm, this is most unpleasant. If only we had some kind of weapon or something..."

“I got the transmuter. It’s mine now.”

Sylvia is obviously still into him lol.

“Don’t let her touch the wand.” It’s a transmuter Spock have you not been listening?

THE PUPPETS.

Spock wants to study them. Of course he does. And so the specimen becomes the scientist and the scientist the specimen.

...Overall an interesting ep. But I do have some questions. One of those eps that leaves a lot of world bulding unsaid, which leaves room for fun speculation.

So, first, these aliens came from very far away, and now they’re in our galaxy. Mom question if it was an “invasion.” I think so, at least in a neutral sense. But what was their purpose? Why were they traveling to new planets? Do they need something their planet can’t give them? Or are they just exploring for fun/curiosity--as we ourselves do?

Sometimes they’d speak as if they had some greater mission--the references to the old ones, their insistence on getting the humans’ help as if they relied on it, their “tests” like they were looking for something specific--but the actual mission was never stated or even hinted at. So I guess it’s just as possible they were exploring as intelligent beings do, and then found these humans, and came to really like them and just thought the alliance (or possible further study) could be advantageous.

Are these two the only aliens left or are there others back home? I assume there are others but it wasn’t completely clear if the “old ones” were memories or beings with, like, literal oversight.

Also, why were Scotty and Sulu on the planet in the first place? Spock says the planet has never known to have beings on it. So was the Enterprise just like triple checking that or did they have a reason to go down? Did Korob and Sylvia lure them? Because I felt like Kirk's annoyance with them was rather unfounded if his men just invaded their home first. I tend to think that they were in the area and something on the planet attracted them--that the aliens specifically wanted them to come down. That, and the killing of Jackson, would make Kirk’s reaction to them more reasonable.

I’m not saying I don’t have sympathy for the aliens because I definitely do. Like, we would absolutely do the same thing: find the interesting specimens and examine them. These are curious aliens. A lot of what they do seems to be in fun also--providing the humans with a setting they think the humans will like; offering them things; playing around with illusion. Of course then there are hostile actions--like killing Jackson, manipulating Scotty, Sulu, and Bones, and harming the Enterprise. But it’s not entirely clear to me if these are meant to be hostile actions, or if they just don’t see them as that serious--or perhaps, serious but worth it. Also some of it might just be Sylvia going power-mad (like the Enterprise torture, which Korob didn’t like).

I wonder what the aliens were doing on the planet before the Enterprise arrived. Were they in their real forms, or were they creating other illusions? They took these forms (human and cat) from the Enterprise crew’s mind so one would assume they looked different before the Enterprise got there. Were they on their way somewhere else? Could they have already known about Earth, even?

I like these aliens because they really do feel alien. I think that’s very difficult; a lot of sci fi (including Star Trek, often) presents aliens against the bar of humans: how are they different from humans, as opposed to, what are they like? These aliens have some very impressive powers: mind-reading, mental control, shapeshifting, “magic.” But their powers also have limits: they don’t always read minds correctly, for example, and Sylvia is so easily corrupted by her newfound love of sensation. And like I said before, their actions seem erratic and the morality of them hard to parse, perhaps because they’re just operating on a completely different moral plane than people.

Like, why DID they kill Jackson? Did Sylvia do it just because she could? Was it part of the test? Korob says later “you were warned not to come and you came anyway, that shows loyalty,” and the nature of the warning--the curse--was also taken from the horror subconscious. So maybe they thought this is how you communicate with humans, and the idea that killing one of them was so egregious didn’t occur to them, either because they see the humans as specimens, and would no more mourn our deaths than we mourn the deaths of lab rats (or than Kirk et.al. mourned the aliens tbqh), or because they just have a different relationship to death on their planet.

And what was the purpose of taking control of Scotty, Sulu, and Bones? Some of the dialogue implies that control is part of their telepathy--and yet they seem more than capable of reading minds without actually altering what the object of the mind reading does. Do they gain control when they go particularly deep in their interrogations? Why are they interrogating that deeply at all, and what are they STILL looking for after taking control of 3 people?

Another possibility is that they had too many specimens and didn’t know enough about them to feel comfortable letting them all roam free. They were outnumbered 5 to 2. The fewer people who are free, the easier to interrogate them and learn about them--they also use physical restraints at times, and after they try talking to 3 and find it too much, they switch to talking to 1 at a time.

And then finally, as with the killing of Jackson--it might just be something they did because they can. And I have to say, humans would be the same. Like if we had a group of aliens, we’d use the tools at our disposal to corral and restrain them and then learn about them, not necessarily malevolently, but for our own safety and sense of power and control. And some people probably would cross lines. Like, Korob and Sylvia aren’t entirely benevolent OR malevolent. They’re just alien.

The transmuter was very weird. I have to say, it didn’t really make sense. They seemed to use their powers just fine without it most of the time, which is why I’m inclined to think Sylvia wasn’t lying when she said it just magnified their abilities. BUT then why did destroying it destroy all the illusion? It seems pretty obviously just a plot device that would allow the episode to wrap up in an hour.

I’m also confused and intrigued by the line that they used the transmuter to get to the planet. How do you use it to travel?

And...why did they die in the end? If those were their real forms, you’d think being returned to them wouldn’t harm them in any way. And yet they seemed to disintegrate right there. They did seem very delicate and we don’t know what their native planet was like. Perhaps they needed the transmuter/their shape-shifting abilities to survive on this planet at all.

Actually just occurred to me--the transmuter. Maybe their mind reading abilities are inherent but their shape-shifting isn’t. Although that raises the question of how they could have built something so big when they are so small--does the wand itself change shape and size?

One interesting thing about these aliens is that even though they appear as humans without being humans, they are NOT energy beings like a lot of other aliens who shape-shift to human forms. They haven’t transcended to a state beyond teh physical form. Unlike the Organians or the aliens from Return to Tomorrow, there’s no sense that they are purposefully evolving or striving toward being so mentally powerful that they no longer need the body--they do have bodies and they are physical beings, but one of their, imo, inherent powers is this extreme mental capacity, including a version of telepathy and a version of shapeshifting.

The Amazon summary says they are “aliens on a mission of conquest” but I don’t think that’s true.

Anyway idk if I had other thoughts but I’m becoming decreasingly coherent so I think it’s time for bed!

Next up is I, Mudd. I’m not a big Harvery Mudd fan but I seem to remember there were some funny bits in that ep so it should be fun.

[connordavidscamera]

Falling in Love | Connor Brashier

A/n: this is a repost from my Shawn account!! This is my piece and is not stolen.

Summary: you just can’t believe how in love you are with your fiancé.

Warnings: fluff

Word count: 1.8k

***

Staring at my fiancé from across the room, I still can’t help but think I’m dreaming. Never in a million years did I think I would be able to keep this man interested long enough for him to even want to marry me. But here we are a month into our engagement, at our party with all our friends and family, and I still think I should wake up any second now.

I knew I was a goner the first time he kissed me - when the whole world stopped existing until we pulled away for the much needed oxygen to find its way back to our lungs. It was almost too perfect, the way his lips curved against mine, the way his hands cradled my face like that was its rightful place - since that day, it has been. I’d never understood what people meant when they said sparks flew when they kissed someone. But I understood that day.

Our relationship was never rushed. We took everything slow and steady (even though people had their opinions about how long it took us to go public on his insta, or how long it took for us to say I love you. Except, hi, that’s no one’s goddamn business, but go off, I guess.) And I’ll admit, it did take longer than expected for either of us to say those three words to each other - eight months, actually. But you could feel the love in the relationship even without them. It was in the way he always picked up the phone when I called, no matter the timezone. It showed when he would come back from tour and he’d come to my apartment just to fall asleep on my chest because my heart beat lulled him to sleep. And how his hands always found their way to lock with mine whether we’re walking to the car, or dancing in a crowded club, or eating dinner and we’re sitting on opposite ends of the table, so he reaches over and it’s like that cutesy couple thing you see in all the movies. We didn’t need the words to feel them.

And just looking at him and his nonchalant attitude, no one would think that he had a romantic side. And they definitely wouldn’t guess that for our first six dates, before he finally asked me to be his girlfriend, he sent me flowers the next day. And then when we started actually dating, little love notes would just pop up everywhere. Like when he slept over and would wake up before me, I’d find a sticky note on my bathroom mirror that would say something like “Your smile is the best part of my day.” And there have been a few instances where I wasn’t feeling my greatest and he just showed up hours later - seeing as these moments only seemed to happen when he was off on tour - and he’d cuddle me on the couch while we watched shitty rom-coms until I felt better. And it may not be a big deal to anyone else, but when he talks to me, or listens to me talk, his eyes are always trained on me, and I think it’s kinda cute.

And he’s the most caring person. Not just with me, either. He looks after his own. His brother got in a fight one time and Connor was there instantly to patch up his wounds and give him a place to stay so he wouldn’t have to face their mom. Another time Alessia fell coming off the stage and he sprinted to get her ice for her swollen ankle. He made sure to check on her every thirty minutes or so, even though he was working and couldn’t do much for her then. And he is always, always there when I’m sick to my stomach, or sick of life. He’s there drawing hearts and smiley faces over the problem area with his finger, whether it be my stomach, or back, or my mind. He takes care of his own and that to me says everything about our future.

And this boy, Jesus Christ, he is so creative. I’ve never known anyone whose mind works like his. He can see a plain brick wall and immediately his brain clicks and it’s suddenly turned into an aesthetic Shawn’s next shoot. And he doesn’t just focus on faces, he goes and he gets the beads of sweat on Shawn’s hairline, and the rings on his fingers. And he edits his videos in such a way that you can’t possibly watch it only once and feel like you’ve seen everything. It’s fast paced and beautiful and I could watch him edit for hours on end and never get bored. The way he layers photos on top of videos and how he knows just  the right time to make the music swell in a scene. He’s talented and I hope he knows I think so.

He’s so random too. I never know what to expect with him. We can lay in bed while he’s stroking my hair, pulling me to sleep when he asks, “What if cows screamed when you milked them?” Or, “You know, Popeye ate a lot of spinach, but I don’t think that’s the real reason he was so strong. He had to be taking steroids.” One time he came into the room at 3 in the morning, woke me up and asked, “When you were a kid, did you have those suction cup ball things that you would throw at a wall or a window and they’d just stay there?”

“Connor, I’m trying to sleep.”

“I know, but this is important.”

“Why?”

“Because I just bought a dozen of those and a dozen of those sticky slappy hand things.”

And he’s spontaneous (not just in the things he buys off Amazon at 3 AM). There have been many occasions where he has called me up and told me to pack an overnight bag because he wanted to go to the beach or Disney or because he found this bookshop in Nevada that he thinks I’ll enjoy. And then of course there are the more “extravagant” trips he likes to take at random points in the year. We spent last Christmas in the Bahamas because he wanted to wear shorts on Christmas day and he couldn’t do that if we were going to a family Christmas party apparently. Another time we flew to New York because I said I was craving something from this one restaurant we went to last time we were there. He doesn’t wait a second. If I mention wanting something, we’re gone in hours, or it’s already ordered and on it’s way. There is no way to fully know what his next move is gonna be and that keeps the relationship exciting.

And he sees things so vividly, remembering them in soft light, sometimes though in overexposure. He tells stories- AMAZING stories - through the lens of his camera. He puts everything into perspective in such a way that you can’t picture it any other way. You can’t see Shawn on stage and not immediately think of the thousands of girls and women crying because they’re in the same room as him and he’s there and he’s beautiful. And you can’t see him running to hug his fans without seeing the pure elation from the ones he touches. Connor gives you the pieces to make one whole and leaves nothing out, not even once. He never strays from the real story he’s telling, although he might go into a few others while doing so,he always finds his way back.

And despite his resting scowl, he’s not a fighter. He puts off this “I dont give a fuck” type of vibe, but he’s a softy. Until someone says something they shouldn’t. It’s only happened twice. When we were out with friends and I was getting us a couple waters from the bar. This man, who was way too close to me, tried to buy me a drink, his hand playing with the straps of my dress. I was uncomfortable, but I couldn’t find Connor in the crowded space and I had nowhere to escape to when he started getting even more touchy. And then I heard it, the unmistakable sound of skin hitting skin. “Come on, we’re going home.” He said roughly into my ear and he pulled me away, out of the club. Only for him to be Connor again, my Connor. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? God, I oughta kill him. Can I get you something?” I just shook my head and wrapped my arms around him. He let me. Of course he did.

The other time was early on in the relationship. We were hanging out with his brother and some of his friends from school. I don’t really know what happened, but one of Dylan’s friends said something about me. Connor told me later it had to do with him having me in his bed while he did awfully dirty things to me. Con went off on the younger boy, his face red with anger. He looked like he would blow steam out of his ears at any second. Dylan and I had to pull him out of the room, and let’s just say, he and I don’t go anywhere near that guy anymore.

“You’ve been staring at me for a while now, sweetheart.” Connor said, suddenly at my side, his voice low in my ear. “You’re giving me bedroom eyes. Can’t take care of you with all these people here.”

I hum, finding his fingers to lace mine through. “Hmm… that’s never stopped you before.”

“No,” he presses a gentle kiss to the side of my neck. “But we are kind of hosting this party. So it would be rude to just disappear for 20 minutes.”

“Who said it would take that long?” I giggle, connecting our lips in a quick peck.

He hums into my skin, “Later, kid. When I have you all to myself and we can be as loud as we need to be.”

I nod, biting my lip. “We could always kick them out early.”

“Patience, y/n. Want me to take care of you?”

I nod desperately. “Please.”

“Then you gotta be good for me. Because the guys are staring at us right now and neither of us will hear the end of it if I take you right now.”

I whine. “Okay… but I want everyone out in an hour.”

He kisses my lips one more time before pulling away from me. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I love you,” I say just loud enough for him to hear. 

“I love you, sweetheart.” He throws me a wink before disappearing in the sea of people that fill our home.

***

I hope you enjoyed (again)! Please like, reblog, and leave feedback!!

[razieltwelve]

Additional Staff (Final Rose)

Averia sighed. This was not the first time she’d overused her Semblance and ended up catatonic, so she wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with the strange, eldritch realm of Saviour. However, she was not used to having company while here aside from her Semblance.

“What are they doing here?” Averia asked, pointing at the small figures scurrying around the awe-inspiring corridors and vistas that filled her Semblance.

Saviour chuckled. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean!” Averia reached over and picked up one of the little miscreants. “Why are there hordes of mini-Diana’s running around in my brain?”

“Technically, this isn’t your brain so much as it is a physical representation of your soul.”

“That’s not the point! Answer the question!”

Saviour gently eased the mini-Diana out of Averia’s grasp. And mini-Diana was the right way to describe the creature. She resembled a cartoonish version of Diana that was only a foot tall, and she was doing a marvellous job of mimicking her little sister’s mischievous grin.

“Well?” Averia asked.

“Hmm…” Saviour patted the mini-Diana’s hair and got a happy sound as her reward before the mini-Diana hopped onto her shoulder and began barking orders in squeaks and other sounds at her fellows. “This entire realm is a physical representation of your soul and of Saviour in particular. Saviour has essentially infinite processing power and enough abilities that trying to manage them all on your own would melt your brain. Instead, it comes with this handy management package to help you survive, which is why I exist. However, you recently awakened the third level of Saviour.”

“Yes,” Averia said. “Two months ago.”

“Each level is orders of magnitude more powerful than the one before, and not simply in terms of raw power. There are also a multitude of additional functions, as well as improvements to existing functions. To help manage that, this… representation was updated.”

“And that explains mini-Dianas how?” Averia asked. A mini-Diana had climbed up onto her head and was busy trying to style her hair into Diana’s iconic spikes while another pulled at her cheeks in an effort to get her to smile. 

“I am the administrator and commander of Saviour. I am, for all intents and purposes, the interface through which you communicate with your Semblance when the load becomes sufficiently great. However, to help everything run more smoothly, I created adjuncts, additional representations to ease things along.”

“And why do they look like miniature cartoon versions of my sister?”

“It’s actually fairly simple. Since they are responsible for doing a lot of the tinkering and maintenance around here, they took on the form you most closely associate with tinkering and maintenance… which happens to be Diana.”

“And why are they tiny and cartoonish?”

“You know… I have no idea. I mean, technically, this is your soul, not mine. I just take care of the place.”

“…” Averia covered her face with her hands as one of the mini-Dianas hopped onto her shoulder to give her a comforting pat on the head. “We can never, ever let anyone know about this. People already think I have a sister fixation. If they find out I have mini-Dianas running around in my brain -”

“Your soul.”

“Then I will never hear the end of it.” Averia growled. “Why couldn’t my Semblance be more like mother’s. I doubt she has mini-Dianas running around in her brain.”

“You know,” Saviour said. “You’re probably right. She’s probably got mini-Serahs and mini-Luminas running around instead.” Saviour smiled. “But don’t worry. The mini-Dianas might not look intimidating, but size is deceptive. Although they do have to follow my orders, they’ve got a fair bit of latitude. If there’s a threat they can handle it.”

A handful of mini-Dianas nearby began to cackle ominously as energies capable of cracking Creation gathered around them.

Averia’s eye twitched. "What about her?”

Not far away, a mini-Diana in a security guard outfit was flipping through a comic book while sitting on a chair in front of a locked door.

“Her? She’s watching over some of your memories.”

“I don’t think she’s doing a very good job.”

“She doesn’t have to.” Saviour smirked. “Look.”

Perched in the shadows over the security guard mini-Diana was a small cadre of mini-Dianas in ninja outfits.

“…” Averia looked heavenward. “I need to get out of here.”

Saviour patted her on the shoulder. “You overused your Semblance. You’ll be here for at least another two days.”

Averia took a deep breath. “It’s going to be a long two days.”

X     X     X

Diana cackled. “I knew it!” she crowed. “I knew I was awesome!” On her shoulder and all around her, the mini-Dianas cackled as well. “I’m totally in your brain.”

Saviour ignored Averia’s frantic gestures to stay quiet. “In her soul, actually.”

“Okay… now that just sounds creepy.”

Averia dragged in a deep breath. “Why are you here?”

“Well, you’ve been catatonic for a couple of days now, so our parents thought I should jump in and have a look. Mom knows from past experience that it is possible for certain people to enter this mental space if they have permission from Saviour, and I figured I would be someone who has permission.” Diana paused dramatically. “Little did I know that I would already be here…”

“Don’t say it like that. It sounds weird.” Averia glared. “And could you stop encouraging them?” Diana had been feeding the mini-Dianas treats since she’d arrived. “And where are you getting those? This is a mental representation of my Semblance.”

“I’m giving them to her,” Saviour replied.

“…” Averia glared again. Sadly, glaring at Saviour was effectively glaring at herself. “And why hasn’t she triggered any of the automated defences?”

“She’s Diana,” Saviour replied. “She’s basically got master access to everything.”

“…”

“Hey, don’t look at me. You’re the one who sets the rules.” Saviour shrugged. “And it’s Diana. It should be fine.”

Watching Diana begin to marshal the mini-Dianas into a makeshift army, Averia made a mental note to tighten security. “I’m not so sure.”

X     X     X

Author’s Notes

Saviour can be a very troublesome Semblance. But don’t worry. With the help of the overly romantic avatar of her Semblance and an army of mini-Dianas, Averia has everything under control. Or not. And, yes, Saviour is right. Lightning’s version is full of mini-Luminas and mini-Serahs. What Lightning doesn’t want to share is that once she unlocked the fourth level, the mini-Vanilles appeared.

If you’re interested in my thoughts on writing and other topics, you can find those here.

You can find my original fiction on Amazon here.

[sarahrl82]

This will be a beginners guide from a very eager to learn beginner! I found my first article on the healing power of Crystals and gemstones about 3 years ago. I was so intrigued and wanted to learn as much as I could about these incredible gifts from earth! In this blog post I will share with you all of the most important and most FAQ’s about crystals.

We will discuss how to utilize crystals. Crystals can have an incredibly positive impact on our emotions, overall health and happiness.

A brief history and break down of healing crystals.

Crystals, whether they are considered to be “precious stones” or “semi precious stones” have been used by a variety of cultures/faiths dating back to biblical times. This is a general and more literal explanation of what a crystal is:

” A Crystal or crystalline solid is a solid materials whose constituents ( such as atoms, molecules, or irons) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions”. Single crystals are usually identifiable by their geometric shape, consisting of flat faces with specific, characteristics orientations.”

The word “Crystal” derives from the ancient greek word (Krustallos) meaning both “ice’ and “rock”

Whether they are formed by magmatic, metamorphic processing or the precipitation from water. (which is what creates the different types of druses or quartz) They are extremely beautiful and miraculous creations!

Some general basics on healing crystals.

Crystals and gemstones have been known not just for their unique beauty. They’re also known for the healing energies that are inside of these incredible stones. In ancient times crystals were used to distinguish royalty, honor the dead, safeguard villages and homes. They were used for common ailments, assisting in fertility & for spiritual ceremonies.



Some of the most common healing crystals and their meanings & uses.

The 7 essential types of Crystals that are associated with Chakras are:

Amethyst -crown Chakra

Carnelian-sacral Chakra

Yellow Jade- solar plexus

Green Aventurine- heart Chakra

Lapis Lazuli- throat Chakra

Clear crystal- Third eye Chakra

Red Jasper- root Chakra

whether I am working, walking the dog or at an appointment in a waiting room my crystals are always with me.

You don’t have to practice Reiki or use crystals in any one specific way. There are limitless uses, ideas and preferances in which people use and benefit from their crystals.

A few ways you can use and feel the benefits of Crystals are:

Keeping a crystal with you in your pocket, purse or on your desk,

Holding a crystal in your hands. Keeping it close to your skin such as, wearing it on a necklace or bracelet

Having crystals on your desk or in your workspace

Putting a crystal(s) on your night table or dresser in your bedroom.

Placing certain crystals under your pillow (or inside your pillowcase) for a restful and peaceful nights sleep.

Placing crystals around your home and office/workspace

How to know which healing crystals are right for you.

There are many different kinds of crystals and crystal families. Just knowing a few basics will help you choose your first crystals. With time and experience you will learn which crystals are right for you.

I have found some very powerful and meaningful crystals in a wide variety of places! One surprising place where I found the Citrine pictured above was on the WISH shopping app!! Now hear me out, before you say “they’re probably plastic” they are not! I was able to find these authentic and beautiful crystals at such a crazy low price because I always follow a few simple steps when I shop on wish! I wrote an entire blog post on how you can shop smart and score awesome products too!

For comfort and help easing your anxiety, a Rose Quartz, Amethyst or Lapis Lazuli are all great in those areas.

My rose quartz tower helps ease my anxiety and stress so that I can focus and write!

For prosperity or business ventures Citrine, Aventurine and Pyrite will all help with wealth, optimism, abundance and confidence.

My Citrine are always on my desk, in my workspace or with me in a cloth pouch when I attend meetings and seminars, It is my extra motivation and confidence when it comes to my business!

To work on self confidence, emotional health and self love. Rhodochrosite, Rose Quartz, Moonstone, and Malachite are all powerful & inspiring crystals.

Practicing self care is NOT selfish. I am no expert and definitely NOT a doctor or scientist!



Okay, so obviously I am not here to give anyone medical advice. I am not qualified to do so, however I can share with you things that have helped me tremendously. I hope that maybe, they will help you too! Crystals have helped me with my anxiety, PTSD and the tremendous grief of losing my mom in 2014.

My mom at 18 years old. Just wanted to share because it’s one of my favorite old pictures of her!

She was my best friend! In my journey to try to make my way through the pain and grief I found an article about crystals! I thought to myself “I will try ANYTHING” I started out with a set that was specific to Virgos. Since I was new to the idea of healing crystals. There was a set on Etsy for my Zodiac sign and I started there.

My very first crystals I found this set on Etsy and felt like it was a really simple way to get to know crystals and start learning more about them and myself!

Although, I have read hundreds of articles & blog posts. I still can’t resist putting every book on crystal healing in my Amazon cart!  I am still learning so much! That is also something I truly enjoy!

There is so much to learn about these magical and beautiful creations! Sometimes, I feel like a sponge. I just wants to learn and soak up every bit of knowledge I can.

I want to share a few of my absolute FAVORITE go to sources! These are my TOP recommendations on where you can learn about the power & uses for healing crystals.

This book is a MUST HAVE if you are new to healing Crystals or just want to learn a little more! You can CLICK HERE to check it out on Amazon!!!As a busy mom of two little wild thangs (AKA teenage boys) having even a few minutes with my healing crystals or a good book is pure heaven!!-boymomandblingCLICK TO TWEET

The Sage Goddess is absolutely AMAZING!! She is an endless source of information, guidance, resources, and incredibly reasonably priced Healing Crystals for purchase. She has classes and FREE resources. Plus she also has Groups for learning all there is to know about Crystals, gemstones, Astrology and so much more! You can check out all that the Sage Goddess has to offer by CLICKING HERE. (It will open in a new tab so you won’t lose your place here!!) To check out her YouTube channel CLICK HERE

Crystal Healing Author, Krista Mitchell is another Favorite of mine. Her Instagram is so inspiring and informative! I recently read her book “Change your energy” (Healing crystals health wealth love and luck). I was totally addicted after the first few pages! She also has an amazing blog. I love to use as my go to reference for everything that is Crystals related! You can check out here Instagram HERE! You won’t be sorry!

Ethan Lazzerini is an ACTUAL expert, unlike me. He is an endless resource of everything and ANYTHING Crystal related! His blog is truly astonishing! He has so much information its crazy! He presents everything and teaches in a way that makes it so it is not at all overwhelming or intimidating. I have recently been learning about Crystal Grids. Grids are a really great way to focus your energy and intention with your crystals. You can really supercharge your intention. Using sacred geometry, different crystals and a grid you can make yourself. You can check out Ethan Lazzerini’s blog HERE . His, is the book I am currently reading now. It is called “Crystal Grids Power” ( Harness the power of crystals & Sacred geometry for manifesting abundance, healing & protection). It is available now on Amazon and where all books are sold.

LOCAL SHOPS ARE AWESOME!!!! There are 3 local shops near my home that I found simply by searching “healing crystals near me”on google! I bet you also have at least a couple local shops near you, although you may not know it yet. I absolutely recommend searching for shops near you. It is always a great thing to support your local small businesses! Especially right now with all of the uncertainty small business owners are facing in the midst of this pandemic! You can also reap the benefits of shopping local! It really is a wonderful experience to get to know your local shop people. You can often find one of a kind pieces and some really great prices too! Here are a few of my favorite local shops. If you are ever in Ohio, in the Cleveland area I hope you will stop in and check them out!

Goddess Elite is a local shop in North Olmsted, Ohio that I first found about 3 years ago. I bought my first items from their website and picked up my order at the store. The staff was so incredibly welcoming and went out of their way to make sure all my questions were answered. Very kind and friendly staff! Goddess Elite is about 10 minutes away from my house. It has been there for over 20 years and I had no idea! That is why I can’t stress enough to SEARCH YOUR AREA!!! It is so simple to use the “near me” search option on Google and find your hidden gems! (Pun INTENDED)  You can check out the Goddess Elite Website by clicking HERE

New Moon Witch is a local shop in Lakewood Ohio. I found this shop about 2 years ago. I loved the wide variety of crystals and the friendly and very knowledgeable staff. This is another “hidden gem”. Just minutes away and I had no idea until I searched for shops near me! You can check out the New Moon website HERE.

Bear Soul Studio and rock shop is also in Lakewood. I found this shop more recently. I visited for the first time just a couple of weeks ago. This shop also had very kind, friendly and helpful staff. I felt so peaceful and at ease just being there. The crystal selection was amazing! It is a smaller shop, but WOW do they have a huge selection!! Truly stunning crystals and very reasonable prices too! You can check out the Bear Soul website HERE.

A few Crystals that are, in my opinion important and essential in beginning to work with healing crystals.

Garnet- Energy, health & passion

Rhodonite-Power, generosity & hidden talents

Carnelian-Confidence, vitality & motivation

Rutilated Quartz- guidance, healing & strength

Agate- healing, power & emotional and physical strength

Peridot- beauty, insight & positivity

Jade- wisdom, peace & prosperity

Bloodstone-self worth, health & courage

Turquoise-healing, luck & communication

Aquamarine-truth, peace & mediation

Lapis Lazuli-wisdom, clarity & enlightenment

Amethyst-spirituality, intuition & cleansing

Labradorite-Magic, imagination & consciousness

Smoky Quartz- grounding, humility & natural

Tiger’s Eye- Fortune, success & optimism

Onyx- protection, healing & block negativity

Terminated- Quartz- luck, balance & perspective

Jasper- supreme nurturer, emotional healing & wholeness

Using Crystals has taught me so much about myself! I want to continue to learn and grow. My goal is to help others who may be curious about Crystals but unsure where to start.









I created this little space for meditation,prayer, journaling and having quiet time to truly feel and connect with my crystals. This area is my special space inside my “Cloffice” my home office & walk in closet combination!! To see more of my DIY attic to Cloffice project CLICK HERE!!

How I use my Crystals in my daily life, both with my day to day routine and work.



I think of my crystals as a source of strength, comfort, inspiration and motivation. Whether they are in my pillowcase (for a much needed restful nights sleep) or on my desk (for concentration and inspiration) my beloved stones are never far away.



Feeling the affects of the crystals for me, has been a sense of comfort, peace, strength and inspiration. It can be as simple as feeling the motivation and “pick me up” I need to complete my daily tasks. Crystal healing has made a huge impact on my emotional & physical well being.

There will always be debate on how, why and “IF” Crystals can actually “heal”. For me, however it is as simple as knowing how I feel. I personally FEEL better and felt a difference in my overall mood and emotional state.

So I don’t really need to prove or explain that to anyone who thinks otherwise. I do, however fee it is important to at least share my own personal experiences. My hope is that it may also have the same positive impact on you too!

Do you already have a Crystal collection started? Which Crystals and stones have impated your life? I would love to know which Crystals you’re currently working with. Tell me your thoughts and most used Crystals in the comments. You can also message me directly on Facebook and Instagram!

I would love to hear from you! If you found this post helpful please share! Know someone who is interested in learning more about Crystals? Be sure to send them this post!

[arthistorycuriosity]

My Cabinet of Curiosities

My cabinet of curiosities from top left clockwise: Farewell to Kings by Rush, an apple head with human hair, a watch from Paris, a bear claw, my father’s tooth, my cat, my great-grandma’s silverware from the 1930′s, letters from my penpal in Germany, my TI-84, and The Vancouver Province announcing Barack Obama’s first presidential election win. All these items are displayed in a vintage trunk.  Farewell to Kings Album

Closer to the Heart by Neil Peart

And the men who hold high places Must be the ones who start To mold a new reality Closer to the heart Closer to the heart

The blacksmith and the artist Reflect it in their art They forge their creativity Closer to the heart Yes, closer to the heart

Philosophers and plowmen Each must know his part To sow a new mentality Closer to the heart (Peart, 1977)

The Farewell to Kings album represents music, Canadian culture, literature, and sexism. Rush is my favourite band. They are a Canadian rock band. Their members are Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart. Sadly, Peart passed away due to brain cancer in January, 2020. All three band members are intellectuals, especially Peart, who is a published author. The Farewell to Kings album art is a scene of post-atomic destruction with a doll representation of a king in the foreground who looks broken and dead, with his crown in the rubble near a destroyed bunker, with industrial pollution and a cityscape in the background. Many of the songs’ lyrics are war protest songs. The album title is also a reference to the novel, A Farewell to Arms, in which Hemmingway’s character walks away from World War I, because he is about to be unjustly executed. The character escapes with his girlfriend (who later dies in childbirth) (Hemingway, 1957). Peart also lost a wife and child. Rush is one of the most successful-ever touring bands, members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, recipients of the Order of Canada, and holders of honorary PhD’s (Ankeny, 2020).  However, can you see something wrong with Peart’s lyrics? The lyrics have such a positive sentiment, to live a life true to one’s feelings, yet Peart always employs the universal “he”. Not surprisingly, most of Rush’s fans are white, nerdy males. (At least that is the stereotype.) I would almost rather hear about Motley Crue’s treatment of groupies than suffer Rush’s utter absence of the female. So, it is with ambivalence that I present this token of my favourite band.

Apple Head

People indigenous to the Amazon rainforest originally shrunk heads to frighten off enemies and to compel the spirits of their enemies to serve them. When western cultures contacted these people, they prized the heads as travel mementos which obviously caused more killing (Santillan, 2020). My shrunken head is an apple. My dad’s friend carved it about twenty-five years ago and he attached a lock of his sister’s hair. Over the years it has hardened and blackened. It is just over an inch in diameter and has acquired a sheen over the years. Its face is laughing and its hair is ash blonde. We joke about it and say that people will think that we are into witchcraft. My dad talks about it protecting him on the road (because it normally hangs in his minivan) and I think he might half believe it. The significance of the head is to represent the study of cultures, and to remind me that when somebody else’s culture seems repugnant, adding mine to the mix can make things worse. It also represents my own irreverence toward all things supernatural, because nothing could be less sinister than a silly apple, even if it looks kind of creepy. Watch

This pocket watch represents my travels to Europe. It is silver and the cover depicts the Eiffel Tower. The word Paris is embossed onto it in cursive. It has floral and beaded detailing around its face. The numerals are Arabic and its hands are lightweight and simple. I bought this watch at Versailles when I was nine years old. On that occasion, I went to France with my family and we saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Versailles, Beaune, Nimes, and Carcassonne. The rich history of the French Revolution impressed me because I kept thinking about the guillotine, which killed the nobles whose images I viewed and whose homes I visited. On my second trip to Europe, I went alone as a nineteen-year-old student. I studied in Berlin at Humboldt University. Everywhere I went, there were remnants of the Holocaust. After that shocking experience, I traveled to Strasbourg by train to visit friends. My hosts and I watched the July 14 fireworks, even though there had been terrorism in Nice the year before. From Strasbourg, I took the high-speed train to Paris and visited the catacombs, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre and Montmartre. While I was in Paris, I stayed with wealthy friends of my Strasbourg hosts. They were nice to me. I felt like I was their daughter. They had an impressive house and the whole downstairs was just for me. I had a super fancy bathroom. For dinner we had sausage or something. Afterwards, they asked me if I liked cheese and I said yes, so they brought me a huge selection of cheeses, all of which I sampled, despite being lactose intolerant! Later, I was glad to have the downstairs suite to myself. Anyway, the significance of this watch is to remind me of a history that is so much bigger and more horrifying than what I can normally mentally process. It also reminds me of my ability to act outside of my comfort zone. Bear Claw

In Indigenous cultures, especially here in British Columbia, bear claws represent protection, leadership, strength and healing (The Ancient Symbol, 2020). This bear claw was given to my mom by an Indigenous man in Pemberton. The base of the claw is amber-coloured, whereas the portion that protruded from the paw is charcoal-coloured. It is curved and has a slight hump on the inside. It resembles a dead fish with its head cut off. It is roughly an inch and a half long. The pointed end could definitely tear you to bits. The man who gave it to my mom had watched her band play at the pub, and they had conversed during the band’s break. At the end of the night, the fellow presented her with this bear claw, which is hardly what she would wear for jewelry, because she is not partial to hunting, but she sensed his generosity and sincerity and so she thanked him and kept the bear claw with a feeling of respect and gratitude. This bear claw is significant because it reminds us that we are very fortunate if we are welcomed by Indigenous people and it reminds us to look at their gifts through their cultural lens and not our own. My Dad’s Tooth

This is my dad’s tooth. I am not sure what type of tooth it is. It might be a wisdom tooth. It is rotten and disgusting. You can see dried up blood and black tooth decay. It is roughly 3/4 of an inch long. Luckily, it does not stink. This tooth is in my collection because I like gross things and I think every treasure chest should have at least one gross curiosity. This semester, I am studying anatomy, so body parts are important. This tooth is a reminder to maintain proper oral hygiene and to floss every night. People die from tooth abscesses and this is a stupid and avoidable way to die (if you come from a rich country). Hygiene practices are also especially important now in our current pandemic. My Cat

This is my cat, Shit Rock. He is black, white and gray and his back has a leopard pattern. His fur is thick, healthy, shiny and soft. He smells like nothing, which makes him so much better than a dog because dogs stink. I love him as though he were my child. At first, when he was a kitten and we rescued him from a barn at my aunt’s house, we used to call him Bubbi, and that is his name at the vet. But Shit Rock is his real name, and this is stolen from the Trailer Park Boys, whose character, Bubbles, is a cat lover. The Trailer Park Boys are icons of Canadian counterculture whom I like for their comedy, irreverence, and Canadian-ness. They also like Rush! Shit Rock is a naughty little kitty, but he has a sweet side as well. He can bite, scratch, and growl when he is hungry or wants to go outside. When he is outside, he likes to cross the road to play with his other kitty friend, which is dangerous. His sweet side comes out when he is full and sleepy. He cuddles, kneads, licks, and purrs on the fluffy blanket on my bed. My Great Grandma’s Silverware

This is my great grandmother’s silverware, which she received as a wedding gift in the 1930’s. She did not use the three sets that remain in the original packaging. The box in which the knife set is housed is blue with vintage lettering. The cardboard is frail and thin. The knife handles are plastic, but they look like yellowed ivory. The spoons are dark and tarnished. The significance of the silverware is to remind me of my father’s Mennonite family history. The Mennonites were expelled from Germany and Russia and other Slavic countries and they dispersed through North America and South America from the 1870’s through the World Wars (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019). My father’s maternal relatives settled in Altona, Manitoba in the 1870’s, whereas his paternal relatives escaped from Siberia and came to Canada during World War I. The Mennonites were pacifists and although my father is irreligious, he has kept this trait. He once had a conversation with a Dutch serviceman, my mom’s step-cousin, whom he told, “If I were called to war, I would tell my government to shoot me before I would ever kill anybody.” The cousin seemed favourably impressed. As for the unused silverware, it speaks of frugality, of saving things for a more important time that never arrived. This stinginess also translated into a parenting style that involved a lot of disapproval, the tone of which got less toxic with each passing generation. (I am not making this up… Just read a Miriam Toews book.)

My Letters/Postcards from Antonia

In 2012, I met a German girl named Antonia on Twitter. We shared an interest in One Direction, a British boy band. We became very good friends and decided to start writing each other real, snail-mail letters. I have kept her letters in a box in my room. It is funny to reread them and remember my tween years. I have studied German since the ninth grade, and to this day, Antonia and I practice English/German with each other. I met her in person in 2018, when I studied abroad in Berlin, and she was just as lovely as I could have imagined. Antonia took an airplane from Bavaria to spend a day with me. We attended an anti-neo Nazi protest. It was a wonderful day. This photo shows a Christmas card she sent me in 2019, and a few postcards too. The Christmas card has a Christmas tree made of glitter on the front and on the inside, she put little dashes of glitter too. The postcards are from Prague, Berlin, and Salzburg. The postcards represent the acquisition of language and cross-cultural exchange. They also represent two parallel comings of age on separate continents: when we first met, we only had a boy band in common, but when we met in person, we had enough in common politically to join a protest together. My TI-84

My TI-84 is a black, rectangular instrument, about 6 by 2 inches, with a lot of intimidating buttons, all of which have three functional levels. It has an LED screen with intimidating, primitive text in its display. The cover has my name and hearts on it, which I did with White Out during one of my math classes. The back bears a sticker of Jack Black from Tenacious D. My TI-84 graphs functions, and finds their roots, maxima, minima, derivatives, and antiderivatives. It can calculate probabilities for normal, t, chi square, F, binomial, Poisson, and geometric probability distributions. It can perform a wide range of statistical tests. It multiplies matrices, calculates trigonometric values, and is handy with logarithms. I got a C in calculus but an A in statistics. I hate math, but I know it matters. For example, statistical studies have changed the United Nations’ policies on awarding aid. They found that giving money to women in impoverished nations ensured that children would be fed, whereas awarding the same money to men did not result in the feeding of children (United Nations, 2020). Another example of math being important socially is the mathematics of exponential growth, which describes the inequality generated by the capitalistic financial system and which also describes the spread of diseases, like Covid-19. Projection models for the spread of disease help public health officials decide policies.   The Province 2008 Newspaper

My last curiosity is a 2008 Province newspaper announcing Barack Obama’s presidential win. It is torn on the backside, permanently folded, yellow, and fading. It stinks a little bit. Obama looks young in this photo compared to now, even though the time since then has gone by very fast. Why should I care whom Americans elect? Well, everything they do affects us; economically, militaristically, culturally, etc. I get very sick of watching their TV and seeing their flags on everything. Pierre Elliott Trudeau said in a 1969 interview with President Nixon: “Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt" (MacMillan, 2018). This was true when Nixon was in power and it is most certainly true now. I was happy when Obama was elected. I believe that he did his best; however, America is just too far gone. Maybe in many generations to come, they will have free health care. More likely, the country will dissolve into two factions. Or maybe both of these things have already happened somewhat. Now we have Trump, The Proud Boys, and an out-of-control pandemic, and most of Canada’s cases have come from America (Tumilty, 2020).

Thematic Analysis

One theme that recurred in my collection was that of irreverence, even though this was not deliberate in my choice of objects. My kitty is named Shit Rock, which is so off-colour as to be unmentionable at the vet’s office. He is named after the Trailer Park Boys whose humour is founded upon stupidity, drug dealing, and failure. My calculator did not escape unscathed because it bears a sticker of Jack Black in his Tenacious D persona. Tenacious D sings vulgarities with operatic enthusiasm. The apple head is a standing family joke that pokes fun at a creepy looking thing with complete disregard for supernatural associations. Finally, the silverware reminds me of my paternal Mennonite roots and my reasons for wanting to shake them off. As the above thematic links diagram shows, many of the sub-themes that my objects brought to mind are interconnected. However, now I will try to lift another theme out of the objects’ functions. Five of the objects function as memory enhancement. The newspaper stores and helps us recall events of a particular period, in this case the 2008 American election. The TI-84 stores, remembers, and manipulates more mathematical data than any good math student can hold in her head. The watch not only acts as a mnemonic device to help me remember my travels, but it also keeps track of time. The Rush album generates music, which transports its listeners to the time when the music was new, and in this way, it also enhances memory. The letters/postcards serve as a reminder of a long friendship and constitute a written record of two girls’ transition from childhood to adulthood.

References:

Ankeny, J. (2020). Rush: Biography & History. AllMusic. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rush-mn0000203008/biography.

Hemingway, E. (1957). A Farewell to Arms. New York: Scribner.

MacMillan, M. (2018, June 15). Sleeping with a very cranky elephant: The history of Canada-U.S. tensions | CBC Radio. CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-edition-june-17-2018-1.4692469/sleeping-with-a-very-cranky-elephant-the-history-of-canada-u-s-tensions-1.4699017.

Peart, N. (1977). Closer to the Heart - Farewell to Kings. Thornhill, Canada: Anthom Records 

Santillan, J. (2020, March 27). 8 Disturbing Facts About Real Shrunken Heads. TheCollector. https://www.thecollector.com/shrunken-heads/.

The Ancient Symbol. (2020). Native American Bear Symbol. https://theancientsymbol.com/collections/native-american-bear-symbol.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2019). Mennonite. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mennonite.

Tumilty, R. (2020, April 30). Canada's early COVID-19 cases came from the U.S. not China. Healthing.ca. https://www.healthing.ca/diseases-and-conditions/coronavirus/canadas-early-covid-19-cases-came-from-the-u-s-not-china.

United Nations. (2020). Reduce inequality within and among countries – United Nations Sustainable Development. United Nations. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/inequality/.

[cecilspeaks]

117 - eGemony, part 1: “Canadian Club”

The suffocation of the ego.   The eternal silence of the void. Faceless, yet screaming. And now serving orange wine on tap.

Welcome to Night Vale. 

Listeners, we have a new sponsor! Our show is brought to you by – money. When purchasing items, please consider using money. It’s exchanged universally in place of transactions with actual value. Money is available in handy ones, fives, sixes, eights, and now twenties. [very fast] Money may be habit forming, symptoms may include (avarice) [0:03:21], lack of introspection and, frequent substitution of the phase “intelligent” for “wealthy”. Please ask your doctor if money is right for you and nod with considerable vigor when your doctor asks if you think money will complete you.

We have a visitor who I’m just now learning about. I’ve been handed a note by my new intern Gustav. Gustav says Station Management has ordered him to bring this guest immediately to the studio. Gustav, are you missing an eye? Uh, Gustav is nodding. OK. Uh, let’s see. The note says, it says to please welcome... Oh. What?! Wow! I mean, WOW! Gustav, is this real? OK, it is my honor and my privilege to welcome to the show – Hugh Jackman.

Hugh: Hi!

Cecil: Wait you’re not the Hugh Jackman, right?

Hugh: I like to think I am.

Cecil: Yeah, you’re not.

Hugh: But my children think I’m the real Hugh Jackman, so..

Cecil: Your children are wrong. But go on Mr Hugh Jackman.

Hugh: My name is Hugh Jackman, and-

Cecil: [muttering] Hmm but not the Hugh Jackman.

Hugh: Here’s my card.

Cecil: Oh. Hugh’s business card is a hologram he’s projected straight into my fingers. Says he’s the senior vice president in charge of “dreamfluencing” at.. ee-Gemini?

Hugh: It’s pronounced “ee-Gemonee”.

Cecil: Oh so it sounds just like he-

Hugh: I’m here to solve a funny little mystery. I just need to uh, open my briefcase here. Take a look at this.

Cecil: Oh, well that’s a Playboy magazine.

Hugh: Yes! December 1969. It had the pictorial on Bond girls in case you don’t remember.

Cecil: Oh I can see that. Ooh and there’s also a feature on architect Mies van der Rohe.

Hugh: I’ll take your word for it, Mr Palmer. I only read Playboy for the advertisements like this one: the one for Canadian Club.

Cecil: OK uh listeners, Mr Jackman is showing me a full page ad that features six people hiking in dense-looking woods, and two of them are carrying a sling of some sort and in the sling is-

Hugh: A case of Canadian Club whiskey!

Cecil: Uh huh. Um the headline reads, “On October 13, 1969, we hid a case of Canadian Club deep in the Amazon jungle. Here’s how you can find it.” Oh let’s see! Well this is actually quite entertaining, there are clues and maps and, is that an acrostic?

Hugh: It is an acrostic, very good Mr Palmer! It’s a clue to where the case was buried. Now from 1967 to 1973, Hiram Walker Distilled Spirits TBA Canadian Club ran a contest where they hid 21 cases of Canadian Club whiskey throughout the world, from the densest alleys of Jakarta to the skyscrapers of Manhattan, the cable car tracks in San Francisco, on cobblestoned streets in London, under 30 feet of water on the Great Barrier Reef. They ran ads with clues about how to find them, and find them the people of the world did! Every single case was recovered.

Cecil: That’s remarkable.

Hugh: Mr Palmer. We hid a case under the ice caps of the North Pole, and people found it. we dropped one on Mount Everest..

Cecil: [clears throat, mutters] Mountains. So why do you think people wanted to find them so badly?

Hugh: As far as we can tell, it has to do with people’s desire to have alcohol. Ironically, it sank the contest. People weren’t buying Canadian Club. They figured that it was way cheaper and more fun to get a yacht and sail to the Cayman Islands and snorkel under the security fences of the International Monetary Fund and then you know like, remove a case from the International Monetary Fund’s Mom’s poolside refrigerator, and that’s exactly what happened to case number 17. So sales plummeted, but later, Hiram Walker merged with (--) [0:07:21], which was acquired by Bacardi Constellation brands, which is now an acquisition of our little tech startup, eGemony!

Cecil: Now excuse me but what does eGemony do?

Hugh: We dreamfluence!

Cecil: [long beat] …Got it.

Hugh: It turns out there’s one further case of Canadian Club. It’s been hidden for over 40 years. Right here in Night Vale! Here’s the ad. This is the November 1973 issue of Playboy. Go on, read it.

Cecil: Um, “on August 30, we hid a case of Canadian Club in Night Vale. Here’s how to find it.” But, Mr Jackman, the rest of the ad is blank.

Hugh: We at eGemony after some internal discussion, believe that might be why the case was never found. There seems to have been some kind of event at the printers that month. Fran Lebowitz’s interview with progressive rock band Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman is perfectly fine for its first 37 pages, but then devolves into a series of umlauts. Little Annie Fanny, generally a lighthearted and [chuckling] adorably misogynistic comic strip, was just panel after panel of…

Cecil: ..umlauts.

Hugh: And Mr Palmer, look at the pictoral on men’s golf pants.

Cecil: Aaaagh…

Hugh. Yeah.

Cecil: Ooooooooh.

Hugh: I know, we’re not really sure what happened there. Further, you’ll see that every cartoon has the same punchline.

Cecil: Oh yeah. Uh, here’s a bride on her wedding day and her mother is telling her… “It’s under Cecil’s desk”?

Hugh: Same punchline is on page 33 with the desert island, and page 74 here with the cowboys at the saloon.

Both in unison: “It’s under Cecil’s desk”!

Cecil: That is so odd! So Mr Jackman, why does eGemony want to find his case of liquor?

Hugh: We thought it would be.. fun. Can I look under your desk?

Cecil: Why?

Hugh: The case is under your desk.

Cecil: Yeah, but this desk wasn’t even here in 1973.

Hugh: So you’re telling us - me - no?

Cecil: Well I’m telling you to ask Station Management.

Hugh: Oh, I will!

Cecil: I-I-I mean they’ll make you fill out a form, and they can also create fire with their minds. Also they’ve eaten people before for way less. Hey Gustav? Gustav, come in here and show Hugh what Station Management did to your eye.

Hugh: Oh my!

Cecil: Oh God..

Hugh: That is disgusting.

Cecil: Ugh, it’s getting wor- [gags] OK, that’s enough Gustav.

Hugh: Oh. I am prepared. [ahem] I’m familiar with your Station and Management and not afraid of them. Eunice, Lily, Agatha, DeMarcus and Chad, old friends of mine.

Cecil: Who?

Hugh: Have you never learned the names of your supervisors, Mr Palmer? You need a team building retreat. I’ll be back. You haven’t seen the last of me.

Cecil: Yeah well you aren’t even the real Hugh Jackman!

I don’t trust that man. I need to figure out what to do next. We’ll be back after this.

[serene voice] Life is meaningless. There are no guiding principles, nor rewards, nor punishments for how to live. Just flashes of pain or joy, which are only neurotic messages, not actual experiences. Even pondering why we exist is a rudderless journey. So consciousness is a means to no end. The Sheriff’s Secret Police would like to acknowledge that hearing this will ruin your day.

However, they are further authorized to announce that nothing we have heard about nature describes a process that occurs without purpose. We can point to a fish’s fin and understand what function it serves. A monkey’s fur, a starfish’s many arms. The acorns in your uncle Simon’s branchy beard that explode outward as stabbing bristles whenever uncle Simon experiences fear. They all serve a purpose. So it’s possible that consciousness developed for a reason larger than consciousness itself can conceive of. The function of your mind is literally beyond comprehension. Which means that awareness, pursued to its limits, only makes you aware of your helpess ness. You are without power in this life. Except when you purchase items by using – money. This has been brought to you by – moneyyy.

We are back and – I’m in a jam. I mean I don’t trust this “Hugh Jackman” nor his company. I mean after what StrexCorp did to our town, I’m a bit wary of any business conglomerate. Although eGemony does seem different, friendlier. But what is this thing with looking under my desk? I’m not sure I should even look under my desk, I mean what if I find it? what if I don’t find it?

Every time I’v ehidden under my desk, I’ve closed my eyes and for good reason! I’m so distracted I lost my notes and now I don’t even know what the news was supposed to be! And Gustav went to go by some cotton balls and anti-bacterial spray for his missing eye. Um.. [rustles papers] Well, I mean honestly I’ve never really looked at any of these magazines before. I mean, Playboy was for other boys and girls. Uh, interesting. Listeners, did you know that Playboy magazine has a bunch of pictures of women across various careers with in-depth profiles on their lives? I did not know this. yeah there’s a whole pictoral on this issue of all the women who have ever played James Bond, in full costumes! Oh my god, look at these smart tuxes and pistols and one of them’s on a motorcycle!

In the middle of a magazine, there’s even a foldout photo of a woman in coveralls and a hard hat, leading a volunteer construction crew who’s building houses in a hurricane-ravaged Nova Scotia. Oh, and on the other side of the foldout, there’s a Playmate questionnaire. Let’s see, her turnoffs include “impatient people and tick bites”. You know, I agree with that. And her turn-ons include “groovy people, good food, overwhelming feelings of dread, chanting, and all hail the Glow Cloud”. All hail the Glow Cloud! Yes! Uh, the playmate’s name is Missy Wilks. Missy Wilks?! Could that be the Missy Wilks who lives over on Kestrel Street here in Night Vale? I mean, they do have similar eyes and tendrils. I wonder if it’s possible that she knows where the case of Canadian Club is? Well let’s see. [dials] M-I-S-S-Y-W-I-L-K-S.

[phone signal]

Missy: Hello?

Cecil: Hello, is this Missy Wilks? This is Cecil Palmer from the radio station. It’s a little hard to explain why I’m calling but-

Missy: Have you looked under your desk?

Cecil: Oh, not yet. Should I? I mean I kind of don’t want to.

Missy: Cecil. I’ve been waiting for this phonecall for over 40 years. You must look under your desk. The future of Night Vale depends on it.

Cecil: Have you been doing anything else?

Missy: Pardon?

Cecil: 40 years.

Missy: Well, no not really. Raised a family. Shot a guy once. But you’re stalling, Cecil.

Cecil: I’m not stalling! Bu-but you know, we really should get to today’s weather.

["Lost Everything" by Mary Epworth]

Cecil: And we’re back.

Missy: Have you looked under the de-

Cecil: No, I’ve not looked under my desk!

Missy: Come – on -, Cecil!

Cecil: Wait, why does Mr Jackman want this so badly?

Missy: Ugh! It’s why they put cases everywhere on the planet! They knew that leaving an item in place long enough allows it to absorb the spirit of the area. That case is now infused with the soul of Night Vale. No one actually recovered those other cases. eGemony recovered them after they bought all the other parent companies of Canadian Club. They’re going to send out one of their corporate prize contestant sweepstakes buzz marketing street teams to dreamfluence anyone who stands in their way. If eGemony finds it before you do, they will drink Night Vale’s soul, the same way they’ve drunk the soul of all the other cities!

Cecil: Wait, that makes no sense! They’ve recovered a bunch of these across the world. Are you saying that Manhattan, San Francisco, London, the Great Barrier Reef and the Cayman Island don’t have souls anymore?

Missy: Cecil.

Cecil: Oh my god, you’re right. OK then, alright, I’m going to look. I am looking under my desk. And I am findiiing.. nothing. I, there’s nothing under here!

Missy: Mm?

Cecil: Wait, wait wait wait wait wait wait oh, oh, oh, oh, oh wait put – a pushpin! A red one! And it-it’s holding an envelope to the underside of the desk!

Missy: Is it manila?

Cecil: Yes! And it’s addressed to me. There’s a letter inside. It’s written on papyrus and you can tell it’s very old because it’s written in cursive. It says: “Dear Cecil how are you? We are fine. We’re sorry we didn’t write earlier, but we were unlearning our destinies. We had to unlearn so many things. Small steps, then larger ones, then larger until we were almost flying, but not quite flying because we had to unlearn our expectations and then unlearn our limitations, so we gave up on flying. Because that turns out not to work regardless of your expectations and no matter what you unlearn. So we relearned what we needed to. we’ve relearned so many essential things, Cecil, about work and love and complaining about work and love and – oh! And we took the case of booze! If you wanna find us, you’ll know us by our sign.” And then it’s signed with a smear of foam. No wait, this isn’t just any foam it’s – hold on! [sniffs] [tastes] Cappuccino!

Oh my goodness, I have to tell Ms Wilks that..

Missy: I’m still here.

Cecil: Oh! Miss Wilks! I know where the case of Canadian Club is!

Missy: Where?

Cecil: It’s in the cave lands outside of town. It’s been taken by the baristas!

Missy: Cecil! This is the worst possible news! The baristas are no match for buzz marketing street teams. The baristas are gentle people, soft of spirit and jolly of countenance, whose dreams are only influenced by the purest of the loves, not crowd sourced manipulations. The baristas are rosy-cheeked and innocent! They gamble like lambs, Cecil! You’ve got to warn them!

Cecil: OK, I will, I will. Thank you, Miss Wilks! Listeners, this is terrible, I-I-I don’t know what to do! I don’t like warning people about things, I mean warnings lead to consequences and we all know how much I avoid consequences. In fact, there’s only one way to be thoroughly insulated from consequence and – that’s to accumulate enough money. But I don’t have any money. As Station Management recently switched their payroll protocol from cash to Twitter followers and Groupons for local spas, so I’m kinda screwed.

Think, Cecil, think. Think think think think think.

Stay tuned next to the sounds of chewing amplified to the threshold of pain.

Good night, Night Vale, Good night!

Today’s proverb: People always say “before I die”, as if they haven’t already begun the process. 

[woodworkinghere1]

Being pregnant Q&A

Celebrity News Today -

Good morning, buddies! A couple of days in the past, I had you guys ship in your being pregnant questions through Instastories. I rounded up among the hottest ones under, but when there’s any matter you’d like me to jot down a whole publish on, let me know within the remark part. I additionally needed to start out out this publish by saying I do know that the subject of being pregnant and conceiving is usually a very delicate matter for lots of people. I’m sharing our story with you right this moment. Although it took us some time to get pregnant, I do know there are such a lot of of you who’ve struggled for longer, gone by means of fertility remedies, and many others. Everybody’s journey and battle appears totally different. I’ll solely perceive a fraction of what you’re going by means of, however I do know what a lonely and onerous journey it’s – my coronary heart goes out to all of you.

Now, let’s start.

Q: When is your due date?

January 13, 2021. I’m 15 weeks right this moment and the child is the scale of a navel orange!

Q: Inform us the story of the way you discovered you have been pregnant.

It’s just a little bit anti-climactic haha! I’m a serial being pregnant take a look at taker – I ordered this field of 100 assessments from Amazon and so they’re actually low cost so I principally examined on a regular basis in the course of the TWW (two week wait). On the cycle we obtained pregnant, I took a being pregnant take a look at actually early on (the morning of 6 DPO – days previous ovulation) and noticed a really, very, very faint line on the take a look at. I had been taking being pregnant assessments for a yr and a half and had NEVER seen that earlier than. I obtained so excited, I ran to Chris’s workplace and confirmed him the take a look at and was screaming, “DO YOU SEE IT?! DO YOU SEE IT?!” Sadly, Chris did NOT see the road!! He was satisfied that I needed it to be optimistic so badly, my thoughts was making a second line. However he couldn’t deny it when it obtained a teeny bit darker the following day, after which the following, till there was DEFINITELY a second line! After which he was extremely comfortable and we have been in a position to rejoice. Nevertheless it drove me loopy that he didn’t consider me at first.

This was a being pregnant take a look at I took that night time – are you able to see the second line?! I undoubtedly can, however you may need to squint just a little to see it

Chris and I ran out and acquired a bundle of First Response Early Consequence Being pregnant assessments that night time as a result of they’re recognized to be the perfect!

Q: What’s the first symptom you seen?

The primary symptom I seen was mild cramping (I believe it was implantation cramps) on 5 DPO. I used to be additionally FREEZING COLD on 6 and seven DPO. I couldn’t get heat! By days 7 and eight DPO, I began having all the typical signs: my boobs harm, my sense of odor was heightened, I used to be SUPER emotional (and nonetheless am

).

Q: How lengthy had you been making an attempt earlier than you bought pregnant and did you conceive naturally?

Chris and I attempted for a yr and a half earlier than we lastly obtained a optimistic being pregnant take a look at. We did conceive naturally. To be trustworthy, it was a really powerful, lonely, and irritating journey. It is a very lengthy story, however I’ll attempt to condense it right here: We obtained some take a look at outcomes again a yr into our TTC (making an attempt to conceive) journey and our physician advised us that we may most likely solely get pregnant by means of IVF. He needed us to get examined once more 4 months later earlier than sending us to a fertility clinic. For the following 4 months, Chris and I fully modified our life – we began taking dietary supplements, ate largely natural and cooked from dwelling, lower out alcohol and soda, changed all of our physique merchandise with pthalate- and paraben-free options, ditched our Teflon pots and pans, and changed all the plastic in our kitchen with glass options. Plus much more! We obtained re-tested on the finish of the 4 months and obtained superb outcomes – and some weeks later we discovered we have been pregnant. It’d seem to be a loopy story (it nonetheless blows my thoughts just a little!) and I do know not everybody’s story would be the identical as ours, however we really feel extremely grateful. I’d be comfortable to jot down an entire weblog publish on all the pieces we did that ended up working, for those who guys need!

Q: How did you retain your spirits up in the course of the “trying-and-nothing-is occurring” interval?

I’ve at all times been an optimist by nature (I believe it’s simply how God made me) – I’ll at all times select to take a look at a glass of water and see that it’s half full. However I’ll say that once we obtained the take a look at outcomes again the primary time, I used to be devastated. I cried for 2 weeks straight, questioning God’s plan for us all the time. If we did find yourself taking place the trail of IVF, I noticed it may very well be a really very long time earlier than I held my child in my arms. I do know IVF can be a really bodily and emotionally draining course of. If it got here to that, then I’d have been prepared, however I couldn’t maintain again the tears and inquiries to God. I’ll always remember that I stuffed my neighbor in on this data and he or she cried with me, she hugged me and he or she stated, “Caitlin, God has deliberate so that you can be a mom. It won’t be the way in which you supposed, however you’ll be a mom. And don’t you doubt that. He will probably be devoted.” This was precisely what I wanted to listen to in that second. And I noticed that she was proper. I knew God could be devoted, I simply wanted to proceed to have hope. I held on to God’s promise that I would turn into a mom, even when it wasn’t the way in which I had initially deliberate. I felt a lot peace after realizing this, and I actually needed to let go of all of the plans that I had made for myself and for our household. This was as much as God, not me. I believe realizing that I wasn’t in management and easily letting go of it actually helped me. And every time I felt down, I prayed and wrote in my journal… realizing that sometime I’d look again on that journal entry with a child in my arms.

Q: Had been you monitoring your cycle? In that case, how and did you employ an app?

Throughout my TTC journey, I found the ebook Taking Cost of Your Fertility. I will probably be endlessly grateful for this ebook as a result of I realized a lot about my physique and cycle, and I actually felt so empowered as a girl after studying it. Early on, I began monitoring my cycle in line with FAM – the Fertility Consciousness Technique. This technique includes recording your cervical mucus and monitoring your basal physique temperature (BBT) each morning. I ordered a basal thermometer off of Amazon and used an app referred to as Kindara to trace all the pieces. I wakened each morning at 6 a.m. to take my temperature, recorded my cervical mucus, and peed on ovulation strips. The FAM technique is admittedly cool as a result of it’s so correct – I may decide the precise day I used to be ovulating each month! In the end, this helped us to conceive as a result of we have been in a position to time all the pieces completely.

This may seem to be gibberish to lots of you – however the above chart is my chart from the month we conceived! The blue traces present my temperature, and I ovulated on Cycle Day 20 as a result of my temperature elevated and stayed excessive afterward.

Q: Have you ever had any morning illness? How did you cope? Have you ever had meals cravings or aversions?

The nausea began in my sixth week of being pregnant. Fortunately, it by no means obtained so unhealthy to the purpose the place I threw up, however there have been loads of instances I actually felt like I may have. For the remainder of the primary trimester, I felt tremendous fatigued and NOTHING sounded good to eat! I additionally had lots of meals aversions. The considered eggs, crimson meat and fish all made me nauseous. My cravings have primarily been for carbs and sugar (which stinks as a result of I’m making an attempt so onerous to eat wholesome!). I need pizza, potato chips, OLIVE GARDEN BREADSTICKS, and chocolate chip cookies. On days I felt actually unhealthy, I ate no matter I may that made me really feel higher, and tried to not really feel responsible about it (even when it was unhealthy). On days the place I felt higher, I craved contemporary fruit and greens and ate a lot of salads and smoothies.

Q: What labored finest in your morning illness?

Sea bands and ginger chews sadly did not work for me, however right here are some things that did:

Consuming a number of small meals and snacking all through the day, moderately than consuming three bigger meals. I saved a breakfast bar or saltines proper by my mattress to eat very first thing within the morning.

Pedialyte freezer pops!! These style actually good, are good and cooling, and in addition include electrolytes to assist forestall dehydration.

I added these being pregnant flakes to my bathtub just a few instances per week and I swear they helped with nausea!

Respiration contemporary air. Getting out of the home not less than as soon as a day for a stroll actually helped me.

Distracting myself! Anytime I may efficiently distract myself, I barely seen the nausea. This may very well be engaged on a venture or simply getting misplaced in a very good TV present – proper now I’m actually into Vampire Diaries on Netflix.

Q: Can you are taking baths throughout being pregnant?

I’d seek the advice of your physician about this, however mine stated it was high-quality. I take a number of baths per week, it’s one of many solely issues that makes me really feel higher after I’m nauseous! My physician stated it was high-quality so long as the bathwater shouldn’t be too sizzling. You don’t need your core temperature to recover from 101 levels. I don’t fill the bathtub up very a lot and fill it up with heat (not sizzling!) water. I additionally don’t soak for hours… a very good 20 minutes is sufficient for me!

Q: What prenatal vitamin are you taking?

I’m presently taking this prenatal vitamin, I get mine from Complete Meals. This one can be an amazing possibility. Ensure your prenatal nutritional vitamins incorporates folate as a substitute of folic acid. Folic acid is the artificial model of folate and is tough for most individuals to soak up! Along with a prenatal, I’ve been supplementing with DHA since I’ve been unable to eat any fish.

Q: How did you cover your bump within the swimsuit photos you posted?

All of of my swimsuit photos have been taken early on the being pregnant after I wasn’t actually exhibiting but! The under picture was taken at six weeks. You’ll DEFINITELY discover my bump if I took the identical image now! My bump “popped” at 14 weeks.

Q: Are you going to seek out out the gender? Will you be doing a gender reveal?

Sure! We selected to do a non-invasive blood take a look at referred to as MaterniT 21, which might be accomplished as early as 12 weeks. It screens for sure chromosomal abnormalities that might have an effect on your child’s well being and improvement – resembling trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) and intercourse chromosome aneuploidies (SCAs, irregular numbers of X or Y chromosomes)… and it may well additionally detect for those who’re having a boy or a woman. We simply obtained our take a look at outcomes again and the child is wholesome, and we all know the gender! We need to do one thing for the gender reveal, however most likely received’t have a celebration as a result of we’re nonetheless practising social distancing.

Q: Are you exercising like regular?

I may barely work out in the course of the first trimester! I believe I labored out as soon as per week, nevertheless, I nonetheless managed to go on a stroll not less than as soon as day-after-day (thanks, Winnie!). When you don’t have any power and really feel nauseated, figuring out is the very last thing you need to do! Since coming into my second trimester, I’ve gotten a few of my power again and I’ve been in a position to work out a number of instances this week at the next depth. (Aspect word: I’ve not began “prenatal” exercises but. I’m nonetheless doing my outdated favourite exercises, simply modifying them for being pregnant and what feels good for my physique.)

Q: What are you consuming now?

Now that I’m out of my first trimester and feeling just a little higher, I’m in a position to make more healthy decisions. I need to do an entire publish on being pregnant vitamin – I actually suppose it’s soooo vital in your child since all the pieces you eat goes on to them! I learn this ebook early on in my being pregnant and it’s SO GOOD. A number of the meals I’ve been incorporating into my weight loss program now are natural pasture-raised eggs, bone broth, a lot of greens, natural hen and wholesome fat like nuts, seeds and avocados. I nonetheless can’t stand the considered consuming salmon, so I’ll preserve taking my DHA complement for now. I’ve additionally been craving fruit, so I’ve been making a lot of smoothies. These smoothie cubes have been a lifesaver, and so they’re formulated particularly for pregnant mommas!

Q: How has being pregnant throughout COVID been?

Very bizarre! While you’re pregnant, your immune system is lowered (in order that your physique doesn’t reject the child), and that makes you extra vulnerable to viral infections, together with COVID. We have now been taking social distancing precautions further severely, whereas nonetheless making an attempt to keep up our sanity. For example, we prepare dinner at dwelling most nights however often will eat at a restaurant if we’re in a position to dine exterior and we all know that they’re practising secure measures. Physician’s appointments are undoubtedly totally different with COVID – Chris shouldn’t be in a position to include me to most appointments, together with the one the place we heard the child’s heartbeat for the primary time! Chris was sitting within the automobile proper exterior the physician’s workplace and I Facetimed him in in order that he was in a position to hear the heartbeat as properly.

Q: How did you cope with nervousness between first trimester appointments?

The primary trimester was full of tension for me… particularly main as much as the primary few physician’s appointments! I had some unhealthy cramping at first and was actually involved for the child’s well being. I prayed A LOT and reminded myself time and again that the child was going to be okay. I’ve additionally been doing this every day devotional each morning, and it helps me to maintain a optimistic outlook and jogs my memory each morning of God’s faithfulness.

Q: What was your first child buy?

Y’all! I’ve not bought ANYTHING for the child but! I used to be ready to seek out out the gender. Now that we all know… I assume I can begin ordering issues! I’m just a little psycho and love to do lots of analysis earlier than ordering something… so it is going to most likely take me some time to create a whole registry. I’m actually specializing in shopping for natural/non-toxic child merchandise after I can.

Q: What cream are you utilizing to moisturize your bump?

I’ve been researching pregnancy-safe lotions and lotions to make use of (this web site is nice for that, by the way in which). Thus far I’ve been utilizing this natural shea butter, it’s good however VERY thick. I additionally positioned an order for this one in hopes that it goes on just a little simpler. That is what I’ve been utilizing for chapped lips.

Q: Likes and dislikes thus far?

Likes: that in all places I’m going now, I do know I’m not alone

I discuss to my child all day lengthy. And secondly, my boobs are HUGE! (Nicely, in comparison with my A cup earlier than lol!) I like them!!! I advised Chris we’ll simply must preserve having infants in order that they keep this measurement for a very long time.

Dislikes: My physique doesn’t really feel/look the identical anymore. It’s a unusual feeling to not have management over your physique, though being pregnant is such a blessing! And clearly I dislike the morning illness and fatigue. I additionally must pee all. the. time.

Q: Wholesome but satisfying snacks or protein bars which are secure to have when pregnant?

I lately found THE BEST protein bars, I’ve re-ordered them twice. They’re Jonesbars – they include only a few elements and are 100% natural. The peanut taste is my favourite however you may need to verify together with your physician earlier than ordering – some docs don’t advocate having peanuts whereas pregnant. (Should you’re questioning, I’ve nonetheless been consuming peanuts and peanut butter.) Another snacks I’ve been having fun with are carrots and hummus, contemporary fruit, natural popcorn and uncooked almonds.

Q: What number of kids do you need to have?

We would like not less than three, however possibly we must always see the way it goes with the primary one.

That’s it for right this moment’s Q&A publish, however let me know if in case you have any extra questions! I’ve just a few posts within the works, together with my “First Trimester Necessities” and a few mocktail recipes. By week two I used to be already sick of consuming plain water! Oh and thanks AGAIN for all of the love and assist for Child Dorsch!

And on one closing word, I need to emphasize this once more: if you’re struggling to conceive, my coronary heart goes out to you. Know that I’m praying for you, and don’t lose hope.

Xoxox

The post Being pregnant Q&A appeared first on Celebrity News Today.

source https://daily247.net/pregnancy-qa/

[a-running-bean]

A hospital gift guide

So you have a friend, family member, loved one or acquaintance who’s sick or injured and has been hospitalized. You want to bring them something special to cheer them up, but you don’t know what in the world they could use or enjoy while they’re stuck in the hospital. I’d love to recommend, from personal experience, some gifts that were especially useful or enjoyable while I was hospitalized for 3.5 weeks!

- Socks: Use your imagination! These could be warm wool socks, slipper socks with grips on the bottom, fuzzy spa socks, or socks with images or sayings on them. They will keep your loved one’s tootsies warm and cozy (especially if they only have one sock-wearing foot, like me), and will also lift their spirits. I received a special pair from my boss, Jill, that read “I’m a girl - what’s your superpower?” Those socks inspired me to start Funny Sock Fridays when I was in inpatient rehab, where I wore one interesting sock every Friday to serve as a conversation starter with therapists and nurses. I also received a beautiful striped pair of extremely soft socks from my BFF Rya, which have kept my one foot super warm and happy while I recuperate in my parents’ freezing cold house. If you know they have a cast, consider buying some oversized socks — or really stretchy socks — so that their exposed toes and the end of their cast can be covered as well.

- Blank cards, stamps and a nice pen: I was completely overwhelmed by the love and generosity that I received from so many different people when I was hospitalized. I wanted to write a thank-you note to each and every person who visited me, mailed a card, or sent flowers or a gift. (I was also on a pretty heavy dose of strong painkillers for quite some time, so it was a major struggle to even remember who sent which of the five floral arrangements in my hospital room. Oops.) I was gifted a variety of blank cards and some stamps from my best friend and her mom, Shelby and Judy, as well as my dad. Those came in handy when I wanted to send mail to thank someone for their gift, write a birthday card for my boyfriend (yes, both of us had our birthdays while I was hospitalized... bummer), or connect with a new pen pal (hi Jessi!). Although your loved one in the hospital may not “have it together” enough to write thank you cards to everyone on their list, giving them the tools to send out some mail could be much appreciated. (Hot tip: Target often has blank note cards in their $1 section near the front of the store!)

- Blank journal and pen: While I have chosen Tumblr as my platform for working through the ups and downs of my rehabilitation process, others may want to put their experiences down on paper instead. Gifting a nice notebook and a pen will give your loved one the opportunity to chronicle their own journey through illness or injury. They may want to document the event or illness that landed them in the hospital in the first place; remember the names of favorite doctors/nurses/therapists at their facility; keep a log of gifts and cards received (for future thank-you note usage); develop a schedule for taking medications or completing their prescribed exercises; or write down goals for their recovery and for the future. Those blank pages hold a world of possibilities.

- Lip balm and lotion: I have never felt more dried out in my life than during the 3.5 weeks I was hospitalized. It could have been the hospital air, it could have been the hearty pain medications... whatever the cause, my skin and lips were flaking and peeling like I was trapped in the desert without water. Trust me, males and females alike would both be reaching for the moisturizers if they were in my position, so don’t fret if your hospitalized friend happens to be a dude. Just get them the goods. My favorite lip balms are the original Burt’s Bees (peppermint flavor) or Chapstick (cherry flavor). For an amazingly non-greasy, quick absorbing hand and body lotion, I recommend Gold Bond Ultimate Healing Lotion with Aloe. It has a nice light and fresh scent that’s perfect for either ladies or gents, and it works like a dream.

- Books or magazines: This one’s a little trickier, because you have to know what kind of reading material they prefer. Knowing their hobbies and interests helps, because you can bring magazines or books on related topics. I can give you a reading list that’s a mile long, if you need personalized recommendations.

- Pajama pants, yoga pants, or sweatpants: These don’t have to be my favorite $98 yoga leggings from Lululemon... just an inexpensive pair from Target or TJ Maxx will do! Pajama pants, yoga pants and sweats have a loose, wide leg opening. These are usually easy for your loved one to put on in bed and will definitely fit over a cast. Once the patient has regained more strength and mobility, they may want to wear bottoms that are slightly more form fitting, so leggings or track pants could be a good option.

- Tumbler or water bottle: While I was in the hospital, a fresh Styrofoam cup of water was delivered to my bedside every few hours, whether I had finished the previous cup or not. Styrofoam... nature’s best friend... NOT! Help your patient save the planet and gift them with reusable drinkware, so they can ask their nurse to refill that instead of filling a trash can with unused foam cups every four hours. I had the good fortune of receiving a cup holder for my wheelchair, and my mom bought me a cool sugar skull tumbler from Target, so wherever I went, I had my own water cup. It was awesome.

- Hat or headbands: Gotta hide that bedhead and/or third day hair grease! I received two nice wide Buff headbands from my friends at The Summer Camp Society and they were AMAZINGLY HELPFUL while I was at Mary Free Bed. When I was first learning to shower myself again, I was scheduled for night showers and didn’t have the energy to blow-dry my hair before bed, so I’d wake up with crazy bad bedhead. I also didn’t want to get up early to get pretty for a long day of physical and occupational therapy (who did I have to impress in rehab??), so being able to run a brush through my hair and slap on a nice wide headband was awesome. I have a big, round head, so headbands usually slide off, but those Buff headbands stayed. put. I also love wearing hats, especially when I have “day three hair” (ladies, you know what I’m talking about), so my birthday gift of a Roga Cap came in handy a few times. Thanks Mom and Dad! (If you are a runner, know a runner, or just love insanely comfortable hats, get a Roga Cap and thank me later.)

- Dry shampoo: This is helpful for guys and gals alike. Just ask my boyfriend — I’m pretty sure I’ll have to start buying 2 cans of Batiste at a time because he uses mine so frequently. If you don’t use dry shampoo now, you should become a convert. It is life-changing. (I recommend the Bare scent if you want something light and fresh, or Wild if you want to keep catching whiffs of your hair all day and thinking about how great your head smells.) Having this in the hospital was wonderful because I could give my hair a quick touch-up to make it last until my next shower. After a certain point, you start to feel like yourself again, which means all of your silly vanities return — like plucking your eyebrows and worrying about if your hair looks too dirty.

- Bath products and nail polish: On a similar note, a small luxury like nice bath products or nail polish can make your loved one feel like a million bucks. I would have LOVED to use smelly-good shower gel instead of the standard issue hospital soap during my 2.5 weeks at Mary Free Bed. If she is able to shower in the bathroom, ask her what her favorite Bath and Body Works scent is and bring in some shower gel. (This gift may not be appropriate if your patient is still taking sponge baths in their hospital bed.) One of the first things I wanted when I got to MFB was a manicure... but I couldn’t leave the hospital just yet. Fortunately, my amazing friend Sophia came by and gave me a mobile manicure. She did an incredible job; my nails were chip-free and flawless for the entirety of my stay at MFB. That did so much to lift my spirits and make me feel normal and pretty again. (If you live in or near Grand Rapids, call up Manic Muse and make an appointment with Sophia ASAP!)

- Gift cards to their favorite stores: Let your loved one do some online shopping from their hospital bed! A gift card is not a cop-out... sometimes it’s nice to let them pick out what they want, instead of trying to guess. Go with an Amazon gift card if you’re not sure what they like, so they can order books or gizmos or new sweatpants. Online shopping is like a gift to yourself because, even though you know exactly what you ordered, it’s very exciting when your package arrives. Everyone knows the feeling. I was so grateful to receive a Oiselle gift card from my Michigan Volée teammates while I was staying at Mary Free Bed. Because of them, I was finally able to order a shirt I had been wanting for months. Thanks, birds!!

- Cozy throw blanket: Michael brought me our furry, fuzzy Michigan State throw blanket from home, and it made my hospital bed feel so much more like MY bed. Stores like Target, Home Goods (TJ Maxx/Marshalls), or Meijer sell inexpensive, cozy throw blankets that will brighten up your patient’s room and give them something to snuggle with in their bland white hospital bed.

- Some of their (or your) favorite snacks: Snacks are nice to fill the space when hospital meals aren’t cutting it. Although I initially thought MFB had a great menu, I quickly got tired of eating the same few palatable options and found my tummy rumbling in the afternoons. Fortunately, I had a whole drawer full of snacks to choose from, thanks to wonderful friends and family members who brought food during their visits. My friend and coworker Tesi gave me a hilarious gift when she visited: a Trader Joe’s bag full of her family’s favorite snacks, along with the instructions to report back on what my favorite snack was. (Nutty Bits for the win!) Ask them what they’re craving — for me, it was extra toasty Cheez It’s — or bring them a few options, both savory/salty and sweet, if you’re not sure what they like.

Hopefully you will find something on this list that will turn out to be the perfect gift for that injured or ill special someone. And send them my best wishes when you visit! xoxo

[ackhub]

After the fact - 2010 PC Build

Introduction

I’ve been back in Texas for holiday recently. Having recently finished my 2019 PC build in Berkeley, I’ve been tinkering around with my first PC, now named Imber (previously known as Imbrium, Rain, and even Epic Hamstah Machine), a Windows 7 machine I built in 2010. I cleaned out the interior with an air blower from Amazon and backed up a lot of old files I had here. 

I actually had a vague idea of when I built this computer: I know it was in the summer sometime around my middle school years. With some digging back, I found that the excel sheet I made to collect parts was created on May 17, 2011, but that seemed too late. So I found the monitor, which was bought on a Newegg account on August 21, 2018. 

Going from this and the assumption that the excel sheet was copied from an older one, I can safely say that the computer was built in the summer of 2010. I regret never making a build log, so I’m going to write a short one around 8 and a half years (approximately) after I finished building it. 

Buying and building

(Taken 2014/11/20, well after the cooler was installed. Unfortunately though the 2010 building process was well documented via old Canon point and shoot camera, I cannot locate the pictures for the life of me. They may be on a portable hard drive somewhere.)

This computer was a reward for being accepted to Whitney High School. I got a lot of help with buying parts and mechanical assembly from my brother, who had much more experience with building computers. Because of this, a lot of the design decisions made for this build were made by him. This included the “refrigerator” case, a Lian Li PC-A05N, which essentially just resembles an aluminum box. In retrospect, the cramped interior of the Mini Tower form factor made it somewhat more difficult to connect cables and install components.

Two components I made a big and possibly bad call on: buying a “cutting edge” motherboard and graphics card. While these two components make up a huge chunk of the cost, with inflation this PC ended up costing around the same as my 2019 build, with a grossly overpriced 1080Ti at over 500 dollars. 

With the parts, all that was left to do was building the computer, according to old online guides and tom’s hardware threads. This was a huge learning experience for me. Building a computer is a good way to develop basic mechanical skills, which in this case is screwing in screws and plugging in cables. The hardest part was installing the CPU, which involves applying thermal paste. I remembered being obsessed about this step, which I probably redid 3 or 4 times (breaking one of the plastic brackets of the stock cooler), and once again when installing the aftermarket Hyper 212 EVO, and probably once a year after that. Reducing core temps was really a goal of mine in the early years, and I religiously took care to clean every nook and cranny. 

Bezel upgrade

In 2013, I decided to do something about my obsession over the fact that the front panel for the CD drive was made out of plastic. I bought a replacement aluminum bezel straight from Lian Li and screwed it on. While documented on a very old Google Blogger blog, you can see all the pictures of the process here.

Audio Bug 1 (AB1)

The current speaker set on this machine was salvaged from a family friend’s relative moving to Hong Kong, and although its wires are kind of frayed causing the right speaker to not work sometimes, I have been able to get it back to a working state with some wire manipulation. 

Audio Bug 2 (AB2)

(Taken on 2019/07/05, a relic from the past: an audio switch that was used for switching audio output from headphones to speakers.)

The motherboard would not switch from speakers to headphones automatically once headphones were plugged in to the front panel audio jack. I am not sure if AB2 arose from the start of this build, or after some botched driver installation. Either way, this hardware solution was proposed by my brother. My dad even drilled a hole in to the side of my work desk in order to mount it. Deep into its lifetime, the switch stopped working properly. It is possible that my headphone cable for the ATH M50s, which you can see in the photo below, started having trouble due to the the angle required to plug it in to the switch. Eventually I ended up uninstalling whatever driver I had and using what now appears to be the default Windows one, which was a simple software fix for AB2. If I had done this fix earlier, this whole story could have been avoided. 

Audio Bug 3 (AB3)

A possibly related problem is the “audio corruption” bug. Sometimes, when playing games for extended periods of time, the audio would start getting garbled, which corresponded to the system experiencing extreme amounts of lag. I also have no idea when AB3 started occurring, but it led to a lot of restarting the computer during competitive CS:GO matches and tilted teammates. I might have fixed this problem last weekend. Through some hung startups with automated driver install tools, I eventually ended up with a crappy outdated VIA HD audio driver and the return of AB2. Installing the newest version of the driver from 2012 fixed this, and its possible that AB3 was also fixed. I won’t know unless I start playing a lot of CS:GO again.

Graphics card and RAM upgrade

At some point, I swapped out 2 4 GB sticks for one single 8 GB stick. 

Sometime in high school circa 2015, my friend Richard offered me a bargain deal for his GTX 650 Ti Boost, for around 20-50 (?) dollars. That was the last time I ever upgraded this machine. This replaced the old EVGA GTX 460, which is lost to the sands of time.

 (Taken 2019/06/04) 

This is Imber in its current state. It has been “upgraded” with an ancient hard drive from an even older build (probably my brother’s first, or second) that my mom was using previously, since that machine was failing. This 2010 build now shoulders the role of being my mom’s work machine. 

Looking back at my first computer build, I’ve come to appreciate how many advances have been made in PC part picking and construction since I built it. At the same time, I see some weaknesses in my decision making, especially with purchasing parts (and writing documentation!). Leaving this process to my brother for the most part also did not prepare me for design decisions when it came to my next computer, which I would build eight years later. 

[tglifestyle]

5 Cities 4 train rides 3 hotels 2 Airbnb’s 2 DMB concerts Countless pizzas, sandwiches, bowls of pasta, and glasses of prosecco and aperol spritz

…And 142,911 steps!  Guess that kind of makes up for the food and drink indulgences.

Rialto Bridge, Venice Italy

My husband and I both agree that this was one of our favorite trips yet, and we are already talking about going back.  There is just so much to see, do, and taste in Italy that 10 days wasn’t enough.  We did, however, manage to cram a lot into those days and experienced as much as we could.

I’ve broken down my Italy Travel Blog into 6 sections:  Introduction & Travel Tips, Venice, Padova, Bologna, Florence, and Rome. Hopefully you will enjoy the stories and pictures, and if you are planning a vacation to this wonderful country, the tips I’ve included are based on both what I read during my research prior to leaving as well as our actual experiences while there.

Top Tips

Do your research and plan ahead. Sure, being spontaneous is part of the fun as well, but mapping out your days will maximize your time there.  Additionally, many of the sites require tickets (that do sell out), so don’t waste your time waiting in long lines.  Plan ahead, and buy tickets in advance when you can.

Be prepared to walk! I hate to say this, but if you are mobility-challenged, you may find yourself frustrated in Italy.  The age of the cities and buildings does not make them friendly to folks with wheelchairs or strollers (although I was stunned at how many families we saw with strollers).  I can’t say this enough: Comfortable shoes are a must!

Visit more than one city. Italy has a fabulous train system so I highly recommend visiting multiple cities traveling by train.  The trains are clean and comfortable, the system is easy to navigate and relatively inexpensive.  And, they get you there fast!

Pack smart. I go into more detail below, but remember that the old, narrow walkways of Italy can be difficult to traverse with lots of big, heavy luggage.  Take no more than a good backpack, and a quality rolling suitcase that can withstand cobblestones and bricks and make sure it is a 360 spinner so you can easily get through the crowded streets.

Learn some key Italian words and phrases.You’ll be surprised at how appreciative the locals are when you can greet them and thank them in their language. Learn numbers for shopping, ordering food, and getting to specific addresses as well as the common greetings used in the day, evening, and when leaving.  And of course, please and thank you are a must!

Open your mind and explore. Eat things you’ve never eaten before.  Learn about local culture and customs.  Try an Airbnb instead of a hotel.  Don’t just rely on cabs, try the bus or subway (unfortunately, there was no Uber or Lyft when we visited).  Strike up conversations with folks who speak English, ask for recommendations, and show interest in what they have to say.

Have a plan for souvenirs. You don’t want to forget anyone, so make a quick list of people you want to buy for, and get something of local flavor (not just cheap trinkets from a vendor or I LOVE ITALY t-shirts).  Think about bringing back items actually made in Italy like wine, limoncello, leather goods, pasta, and other items.  Make sure you understand customs laws when it comes to re-entering the U.S. (or your local country).  We did not attempt to bring any meats or cheeses, but we did bring back plenty of wine and pasta!  Also, think about how to get it home.  I shipped a box from a Mailboxes Etc. store (they’re all over Italy) for $100.  We also purchased a cheap rolling suitcase from a vendor for $20 and checked it as an extra bag (which also cost $100 with United Airlines).  So we spent over $200 just getting the souvenirs home.

Speaking of money, get your currency (Euros) from an ATM once you get there. There is really no need to order currency from your bank ahead of time, and the exchange places at the airport are a rip-off.  Use your bankcard at an ATM and most likely you’ll just have to pay the out of network ATM fee charged by your bank and/or the ATM fee.  You can use a credit card at most places, including in most taxis, but you’ll need cash as well.  And, make sure you always have a few 1 Euro coins in your pocket because some bathrooms require payment.

Get an international data plan. Contact your wireless provider and choose a plan that is right for you.  Mine was a flat rate of $10 per day, plus what I normally pay.  I warned my husband about the cost of international roaming, and sure enough, during our first day in Venice he received an alert that he had already spent over $100 roaming.

Botanical Gardens, Padova Italy

Italy Vacation:  Packing Smart

I have a very hard time travelling light.  I always over pack and end up lugging around large, heavy suitcases.  I was determined not to do that this time, especially since I knew we’d be hopping on and off trains while visiting multiple cities. All I wanted to take was a good backpack, a small crossbody purse, and a 20” rolling suitcase.

The Gear

My mom bought me this awesome SwissGear backpack for my birthday.  It was perfect for this trip.  The straps are super comfortable and there are lots of pockets and compartments.  It has a special section for a laptop and a pocket for your tablet (I did not bring my laptop but I did bring my iPad). I kept my camera, all of my charging cables, plugs, and European power converters (bring more than 1!), my iPad, travel pillow, medications, snacks, glasses & sunglasses, and a small cosmetics bag in my backpack.

I normally carry large handbags, but for this trip I wanted a small crossbody that was more useful than stylish, but still looked good.  I chose this Travelon Anti-Theft Heritage Small Crossbody and it was perfect.  I fit my passport, credit cards and money, sunglasses, tissues, lip balm, Tylenol, and even a small umbrella in it.  It is slash-proof and has an RFID blocking pocket as well as a tiny little LED light so you can see what’s inside in the dark!  This is definitely the perfect travel purse.

I have a few different suitcases, but chose my London Fog 21” hardside expandable spinner since it’s smaller, but sturdy and the wheels on it glide smoothly.  Let me tell you, that baby rolled along cobblestones like a champ! I also like that it has a TSA approved lock on it, so I always felt like the contents were secure.

Now, I’ve always considered myself an ace at rolling up clothes – I can get a lot of clothes into a suitcase.  The problem is finding what I’m looking for and having to unpack half of it to find that one top, and then re-roll and re-pack everything.  When I’m travelling to just one destination for a week, I unpack and hang stuff up, so it’s not a huge deal but knowing we were going to be on the move, I realized I had to have another option.  I decided to try using packing cubes, and I am now a packing cube lover!  Why didn’t I use these bad boys sooner?  They really don’t add any weight to your suitcase and are great at helping keep everything organized.  I bought this set on Amazon for under $20.  It was awesome to have all my tops in one cube, bottoms in another, and underwear and sox in another.  They really helped me to not only stay organized, but also to maximize the space in my suitcase.  And, as I got towards the end of my trip I was able to use them to separate my dirty clothes from my clean.

The Clothes

I had been watching the weather and reading about the climate and new it would be in the high 50’s to low 70’s during the day and cooling down to the 40’s in the evening while we were there in late March/early April, which is similar to spring here in GA.  Layers were going to be essential, so in planning my outfits, I made sure I had a combination of long and short sleeve tops as well as cardigans for layering. Because I wanted to pack as little as possible, I decided to choose pieces that I could mix and match and that were in a similar color scheme (mostly black).  This also helped me to limit shoes.

Shoes– this is where I usually go wrong.  I often end up bringing 6 or 7 different pairs to go with different outfits.  That was going to be impossible for this trip so I decided to take just 3 pairs (wearing 1, packing 2).  Knowing it was going to be cool in the evenings and that we’d be walking a lot, I chose to skip out on anything open-toed and anything with a heel.  Yep.  I did not pack a single pair of heels!  I have never travelled without heels, because I wear them at least 5-6 days a week.  Instead, I chose to bring a cute pair of black flats that worked with both skinny jeans and skirts, and a pair of stylish Steve Madden leopard print sneakers (to break up the monotony of all the black!).  I also purchased a pair of Rockport waterproof ankle booties specifically for the trip (which I wore on the plane so they didn’t take up space in my suitcase).  I did a lot of research and purchased what I thought were the most comfortable walking shoes I could get that were waterproof and didn’t sacrifice style.  They looked good with skinny jeans and leggings.  My feet never hurt and I never got any blisters from any of my shoes.

Outfits– I brought the following items, which I was able to mix and match for my outfits each day. I wore most pieces twice each. The only things I did not wear at all were the skirt and the short sleeve black sweater.  It was just too cool in the evenings for skirts, and we really didn’t dine anywhere super fancy.  I only wore the dress once – the rest of our evenings out were in jeans.

Bottoms:  2 pairs denim skinny jeans, 1 black leggings, 1 black skinny jeans, 1 denim jeggings

Tops:  2 long sleeve t’s (one black, one white), 2 cardigans (one black, one gray), denim button down, black blouse, olive green blouse, black/white stripe top, 2 graphic t’s, floral tunic length blouse, and 4 camis (2 white, 2 black).

Other:  2 scarfs (one leopard, one floral to add color and mix things up), 1 black dress, 1 black floral skirt, and a short sleeve black sweater. Also, socks, underwear, bras, and 1 pair of pajama pants.

Outerwear:  I brought a black jean jacket and a black raincoat with a hood.  I wore the black jean jacket nearly every day, and the raincoat came in handy for the 2 days that it rained!

Miscellaneous Items

Don’t forget the following when packing for a trip:

Raincoat and umbrella (purse size)

Small Ziploc with Band-Aids, Tylenol, Dramamine, antacids, wet wipes or hand sanitizer

Prescription medicines

Tissues

All of your charging cables and adapters/power converters for the country you are visiting (bring more than one, otherwise you can only charge one device at a time)

Earplugs and a sleep mask

Photocopy of your passport (in case yours is lost or stolen)

Hard copies of all of your reservations and pre-paid tickets (in case you can’t access them from your phone it’s good to have paper back-ups!)

Things I brought but didn’t use:

Selfie stick – I found all the tourists with selfie sticks in hand to be obnoxious and couldn’t bring myself to use ours. I kind of wish we did take at least a couple pictures together with one, but it never came out of my backpack

My good camera -I brought it out one day in Venice and found it much easier to just use my phone.  I have the latest iPhone and it takes great pictures.  I do like using my good camera, but it was big and bulky and just seemed cumbersome to carry around all day

Travel Hair Dryer – the hotels and Airbnb’s all had dryers, and honestly I only washed my hair twice the entire trip! Dry shampoo is the greatest invention ever!!!

Overall, I’m happy with my packing choices – I feel like I didn’t overpack, but I still had plenty to wear with some variety.

Itinerary for a 10 Day Italian Vacation

Day 1:  Travel Day Days 2-3:  Venice (Venezia) Day 4:  Padua (Padova) Days 5-6:  Bologna Day 7:  Florence (Firenze) Days 8-9:  Roma (Roma) Day 10:  Travel Day

Click here for Italy Vacation Part 1:  Venice

Italy Vacation: Introduction & Travel Tips 5 Cities 4 train rides 3 hotels 2 Airbnb’s 2 DMB concerts Countless pizzas, sandwiches, bowls of pasta, and glasses of prosecco and aperol spritz…

[gothify1]

"This company and this bra are amazing! I own a couple of different styles of their bras, but this one is the most comfortable. It does have four hooks in the  which is great for . I wear a 32G just for sizing. I know personally it can be tough to find a comfortable bra in my size. I think this bra does well at holding your boobs in without squishing them down too much." — Amazon Consumer "It’s always been a big challenge to find bras that fit and do what they advertise. This bra is the answer to everything. The   feels amazing! It lifts up your breasts and gives immediate relief to your . I cannot believe how much a difference a good bra makes. I highly recommend this bra to anyone who has D cup and higher. You will feel and see the difference. No regrets about this item. I am purchasing more ASAP." — Amazon Consumer "Yes, I do love this wire-free   bra. It is very comfortable, moves and stretches easily, the shoulder straps are wide, adjustable, and well padded, especially for larger sizes. I am not bothered by scratchiness or pinching. Everything is smooth and cushioned against the skin. It's great for everyday wear, and I gladly recommend this product. I plan to get rid of several other styles/brands that I've been wearing (enduring) and order more of Delimira. Thanks." — Martha Maratha "I love this full-coverage bra. It’s comfortable, I don't have problems with the straps falling down, and [it] keeps everything in place." —  OCshopper949 "Feels comfortable with smooth edges and full front and  !" — Shamazon "Fits well and  extremely well! The straps are comfortable and help relieve some of my upper  pain!" — Terri Mabry "The bra is great, but to take it to the next level, the bra has wider panels on the sides and back while maintaining the straps (love the straps). We top-heavy girls also have back bulge and smoothing this out helps us too." — Over Fifty Club "This is the first time I have purchased a bra without trying it on. It fits great, I am a size 42C. I love that there are no underwires, the straps are comfortable and not falling off the shoulders or digging in. I like the extra  . It is not a minimizer, so I look good too." — Amazon Consumer "This bra is one of my favorite bras. It offers good support and looks good at all times under your clothing. I started using these bras two years ago after the birth of my daughter. It worked great as a substitute breastfeeding bra. I would unbutton all but one snap, and it worked great for me as a breastfeeding bra and helped support my back with the wide strap. Well after two years the bras did wear out and started ripping, so now I am ordering more. I really like these bras; they get a lot of wear." — Flyladyjax  "It is remarkably comfortable. The back is about 3" or so wide, so it is very supportive to the back as well as the breasts. The underwire is external to the cup which prevents chafing. The wide-set straps are adjustable and do not slip from their position, nor do they slip off rounded shoulders as wide-set straps typically do. With a [bust] suffering the effects of gravity, I can tell you that this bra makes everything look 35 instead of 68. It is higher in the front if that is a concern for anyone. I'm ordering more." — KYRetired "I just checked how long ago I purchased this bra. My old one is finally falling apart after four years! When I reached for a bra in the morning, I always ended up choosing this one for its ease and comfort. The front closure and the back support are the best features. It is not snagging or slipping up, yet it is not too stiff either. The wide straps also help; they nicely stay in place for hours. I came back to order it again, as I do not even want to waste time trying to find it in regular stores." — Redlotus "Best. Bra. Ever. Straps are wide and gel-padded so it doesn't dig in. I never thought I would be able to wear front close bras due to my larger bust size, but this is so comfortable AND . No side spillage, gives good posture  in the  without riding up, and the full coverage front makes sure that you don't fall out of the bra if you bend down." — Mreid "Goodbye, underwires. Hello, happy. You're not going jogging in this bra, but you also won't hate it at the end of the day. It will keep you decently contained for daily activities without compressing your breasts or your lymph nodes. It's easy to put on and comfortable to wear. It provides enough  to keep your  from hurting and absorbs a little sweat, too. I haven't been so happy with a bra since my first training bra." — Windmill Mom "Love, love, love these bras. I bought a few of them at a different store, and they fit perfectly. The  is very comfortable, and the straps are too. Great  and I can wear them with anything. I have five different colors. You can't beat the price of then on Amazon, way cheaper and still great quality. Highly recommended!!" — Sam "The most  comfortable [bra[ I have ever worn. My  never felt so relieved!" — Amazon Customer "This is the most comfortable bra I've ever worn! I had shoulder surgery and couldn't wear a bra that hooked in back for a long time. I wore this bra every day for nearly four months, and it felt fantastic. The wide, stretchy back gives great support and clean lines, the front hooks make it easy to put in and off. I wear both my usual size for lighter support and a size down for firmer support. The stretch of the back makes it versatile. After A LOT of wear, neither of mine have any issues with durability or pilling; they're still as good as new." — Deana Barger "Nice looking, fits very well, and the straps are comfortable. Bought two more." — Lulu "I've purchased this style again and again and it never fails to be the best fitting bra around. When on, [it] feels like you're not even wearing anything; it is so comfy. True to size and ever so comfy giving the support I need. Try one and you'll never go look for another style. Have in all colors and replace when worn." — Jullee "This bra is comfortable and true to fit. The price was right. I can be very active in the bra and not have anything poking me like other bras. It shipped promptly. It has wide   and adjustable straps. Although the picture looks like it is a padded bra, it is not a padded bra. Despite this fact, I would still recommend this product." — Nina

[thebibliosphere]

Hey, tumblr mom! Since everyone is asking you about food can I ask your opinion on frying pans? We need to replace ours and my husband is really into the idea of buying cast iron frying pan. It seems like to much work for me, tough. I've always used either stainless steel or teflon ones. What do you think? Is it worthy? And if you had to choose between teflon or stainless steel which would you buy?

Oh, and I was going to mention it in the other ask I sent but forgot. I have IBS and one thing that really helps me is chilean boldo infusion. Idk how easy it to find it where you live (the fresh leaves work best), but it’s something a lot of south-americans use to treat hepatic and gastrointestinal issues. (Fun fact: the nurse at my high school used to have a bottle of concentrated cold boldo infusion in the fridge to give to students who were hangover)

Thank you for that last little bit, it’s something I will bring up with my allergist/many doctors as a quick google tells me it could also help my gallstone/bile production issues. So thank you :)

And ooooh god not teflon, anything but teflon, firstly because I don’t like how they cook/retain heat, and secondly because of some of the health concerns that comes with what happens when teflon starts to break down and you start eating it/breathing it in. Y’all can call me a mad hippy over that if you want but when your immune system is as fragile as mine you’ll avoid anything at all that might harm it.

Both stainless steel and cast iron have their merits. 

Cast Iron

You are right in that the cast iron takes a little more work to upkeep—initially. After it’s been seasoned a few times and you don’t do things like soak it in water or scrub it with lemon juice, it’s going to become practically indestructible. There’s a reason you can still buy cast iron skillets in antique stores that just need a little bit of salt and oil to get them back in working order. If you maintain it right, your cast iron will likely outlive you by quite a few decades. I wipe mine clean after every use using waterand  a non acidic soap, dry it on a high heat, and then season lightly with some oil after each use. Once it starts to smoke, that’s you, you’re done seasoning. You only really have to do the salt and oil scrub if it loses the coating or if something gets burned onto it, or if you have rust spots, which happen form not being properly sealed. 

I will say, cast iron is hard to get used to working with at first, because of how differently you have to manage the way it conducts heat. Cast iron is great at retaining heat, which is what makes it great for searing meat and yes, even baking in, but you need to get it hot first, which can require about ten minutes of prep over a hot stove trying to ensure even heat coverage. (I throw mine in the oven for 20 mins) That might seem like a lot of work, but given how well it retains the heat after that, it actually cooks things better. With stainless steel the output of heat is enough to sear the outside of something, but to cook say, a chicken in it (yes you can cook a whole chicken in a skillet) you’d need to keep it on the heat for longer for the heat to reach the middle, resulting in chewy over tough food. With cast iron, the heat output from it is so much better that it’s already starting to cook the rest of the bird while you’re searing it, resulting in less cook time, and hopefully a more juicy meat—as well as making the outside very nice and crispy. Cast iron is great for making things crispy.

That and you know, you can fight the Fae folk with it if the need arises.

Stainless Steel

There’s a common misconception that you can just throw things into a stainless steel pan and it’ll be fine. But the truth is if you want to maintain your stainless steel in good working condition, you will want to make sure it’s evenly oiled before any food touches it (Ask ETD about the time he made popcorn and ruined my pot because there wasn’t enough oil around the SIDES of the pot so the heat just obliterated everything and I had to buffer the pot to get it back to working condition, he felt so bad lol) and make sure that it is adequately preheated. Otherwise your food is just going to burn and stick to the base and it’s going to be a mother fucker to get it off. I’ve seen far too many people burn away the caramelization going on in their stainless steel pans because they don’t know how to heat/preheat with it. (note if your caramelization does get stuck, loosen it up with some water or better yet some stock, get that flavor back in your food yo!) Other than that, yea, once you get used to how stainless steel works and retains heat, it is lower energy when it comes to maintenance vs cast iron. Just don’t use cold salt water in them, or you risk pitting the pans. (As I have previously talked about)

Because you have mentioned you have IBS, I will stress the importance of trying to buy as high quality stainless steel as you can, as not all stainless steel is made equal. 

Surgical stainless steel is the safest as it is non porous, while a lot of the cheap stainless steel you can pick up (I’m thinking of places like Walmart and Target) can break down and leech into food during the cooking process. Stainless steel is an alloy made from a mix of metals including iron, chromium (is what keeps it from corroding) and nickel to name but a few components, and given nickel is a high allergy metal you don’t want that going into the foods of people who may be sensitive/allergic. (I had a friend find this out the hard way that that is what was going on with her)

The way I was taught to test the quality of the pan is by holding a magnet up to it. If it sticks? It’s typically going to be higher in nickel than you want it to be and could cause a possible health risk for people with nickel allergies. Nickel is also a carcinogenic and considered worse than aluminium which everyone and their dog is now trying to get away from because of the metal being linked to cancers and altzheimers, so, just something to keep in mind seen as how you already have a compromised gut

(Also to those of you reading this now who are about to go check your pans: if it sticks? It’s not a cause for panic. Although if you have a known nickel allergy and you keep getting sick and you have no idea why…you may want to consider replacing your pans.)

There is also a third option available to you, which is ceramic pans. Which honestly have become my favorite frying pans to cook with. Due to their low metal content they will not work on induction stove tops, but if you’re using electric or gas you’re good to go.

Ceramic

They still don’t have the slippy non stick you get from teflon pans where flipping a pancake is akin to wielding a projectile weapon, but given how ceramic heats up and retains heat, they are pretty non stick and it makes them ideal for cooking with a lot of things. You also generally shouldn’t use metal utensils on them, because you can damage the glaze, but plastic, wood and silicone are fine.

They’re sort of like the easier to maintain version of cast iron in that regard and use less oil to cook with. (I personally would never fry eggs on stainless steel, meat and veg sure, but eggs need a surface that is more forgiving and ceramic was a god damn revolution to me. I speak from over a decade’s worth of experience of making breakfasts in restaurants and cafes) They are also great for throwing in the oven, and using as shallow casserole dishes, provided you make sure they are listed as oven safe. (Mine is good up to 350′f)

Due to the materials  they are made with, they are also pretty damn sturdy and hard to break, and you also can’t damage them by soaking them in water, which is also nice. You should not however cook on anything higher than a medium-high heat on them, whacking your heat up as far as you can with a ceramic pan is going to cause issues (it will cause issues with a lot of pans tbh, but you can generally get away with it for boiling water, just not in a ceramic pot), like breaking down the glaze quicker and ruining the non stick. You also should not take it from a hot stove and throw it in the sink right after cleaning. You really shouldn’t do that with any cooking utensil, but especially do not do it with ceramic as you might crack or even explode it. And no one wants that. 

Again, like stainless steel, not all ceramic pans are made equal and some will be made from cheap material/coated with an extra non stick layer to compensate for this, and they will break down faster/ruin your food, so keep that in mind if you do decide you want to look into them. Between the three, ceramic is in my experience the best, most easily maintained non stick without the health risks of teflon. It’ll also cost less in the long run, because you wont have to replace the pan as often as you would a teflon one.

I currently have the Green Pan Lima frying pans, which tbh I found a lot cheaper in an outlet mall than Amazon currently has it listed for, and I think Target might be selling them right now too for cheaper. It’s an excellent pan and I can get really crispy results with it due to how well it holds heat. I’ve also used it to bake with.

I have also used the Cuisinart ceramic range, which you can use metal on, but I sort of found the heat retention to be not as good as Green Pan Lima.

And then there’s also the Green Life range which tends to be cheaper and rather cute, even if it doesn’t feel quite as sturdy in my hands. (They currently have both the large and small pan on sale on Amazon for $30, which is pretty good)  I’ve got my eye on their ceramic bake ware sets though. I’m intrigued to see how they’d work out compared to my metal tins.

Anyway, I hope some of that was helpful for you, in weighing your options. Ultimately it’s about personal preference. I love all my pans, cast iron, stainless steel and ceramic, but it really depends on how much maintenance you are willing to put in, and how much you are willing to spend.

As for the rest of you, you now know more about cookware than you likely want to, but who knows, it might be useful for you one day :)

[sabreean]

To start with, plastic-free housekeeping - some of this stuff may eventually warrant posts of their own, I rule out nothing

Paper towels: I have ditched single use tree paper for reusable bamboo paper towels. They can be washed (I wash by hand since I’m not more than arm’s reach from the sink anyway, but they can go in the machine) and reused. I tried cloth towels for a year when the pandemic panic buyers defeated even Amazon but they just aren’t as absorbent as paper, and these maintain absorbency even after being washed and dried multiple times (line or machine). They only get discarded if they are used to pat dry meat or clean up after the dogs. They will probably wear out eventually but there’s no sign of it yet. I use Mavis Miki brand. No, this little mom & pop in British Columbia doesn’t have any of the hippie-charity-ecoactivist bells and whistles of Grove Seedling or others, but I ordered these based on excellent reviews for my first go with reusable bamboo, and I am damned satisfied. Even Grove’s own website has a significant number of poor ratings for consistent reasons that do not apply to the Mavis Miki towels, and I found the same complaints about other brands on Amazon. The towels won’t go back onto a roll after first use of course, but BFD and if that’s a dealbreaker for you, rethink your life choices. Bonus: they are perfectly sized to use on my Swiffer, which their marketing suggests was deliberate. Smart, very smart.

Toilet paper: We are still on our first roll of Cheeky Panda and so far I have no complaints. It’s…toilet paper. I chose this brand because they offered 4 packs (the other big brands in the space didn’t offer less than 10) and their bamboo is sourced so that pandas are not deprived of food. I could also get bamboo Kleenex but since I’m never more than ten steps from the bathroom it’d be kinda dumb, I use the toilet roll. I’ll probably stick with this brand for the same reasons as the bamboo paper towels above; Cheeky Panda also makes them but they are single use. Cheeky Panda is a B Corp that donates part of every pack sold to charities through their Earth, Ocean and People initiative, working towards the UN's Sustainability Goals. Note: I’ve tried bidets and do not like them at all. I don’t feel clean or dry, I feel like I’ve sat on a garden hose. As for washable cloth toilet rolls - are you kidding me? Cloth diapers for the entire household? Yeah, you have fun with that. I even had someone suggest going out and picking leaves or even growing specific plants for toilet leaves, I kid you not. Fucking leaves.

Laundry: Sheets Laundry Club because…well, because they were the first I detergent sheets I heard of but it turns out that other brands make them. The laundry detergent is in sheets in a cardboard box, and they offered a 10 sheet trial pack. I’ve used almost the entire pack and there’s no difference from store bought detergents, so I’m sticking with them. Pro tip: tear them into pieces instead of tossing them in whole, and if you are washing in cold water you can dissolve them in water a bit first. I’d love to wash in cold water but that function is broken on our machine, select it and you still get hot water. I also bought their dryer sheets and again, just as good as store-bought even when it comes to grabbing dog hair and lint, but they are bio-degradable natural fabric with plant-based fabric softeners. Bonus: they work well on the Swiffer. I just learned a couple of weeks ago that you can use dryer sheets instead of the bulkier and more expensive Swiffer sheets because dryer sheets’ whole reason for being is using static to grab lint and dust and hair. I’ve been using Swiffer for almost 10 years and only this month learned this life hack. I am pissed.

Dish soap: Sheets makes dish soap bars so I tried out the starter pack that has one bar and I like it a lot. It doesn’t have the grease-cutting power of Dawn but face it, nothing does no matter what claims other brands make, so I keep a little bottle of Dawn for greasy pans. The bar works great and a little goes a long way. They have unscented as an option and I don’t think we’ve used even half the bar in the four weeks we’ve had it, and we hand-wash everything daily because we have no dishwasher. They also make dishwasher soap. The starter pack came with a coconut scrubber that I knew better than to expect to work at all, I’ve tried coconut scrubbers before. But I bought five more because while they may not scrub, they work great as coasters and trivets and soap dishes and spoon rests. Pro tip: wet your sponge or rag or whatever and run it over the bar a few times instead of running water over it because this stuff suds up a LOT; and don’t use the Sheets soap tray or any wooden soap dish because the bar sticks like glue. They don’t stick to the coconut scrubber so I use that as a soap dish instead.

General cleaning: I’ve been using white vinegar for years; it’s cheap and sold everywhere, it’s multipurpose, it cleans almost anything and you can buy it in glass bottles. I used to keep it in a spray bottle but realized when I moved here that I’d been stupid, just wet a rag or sponge and douse it with vinegar straight from the bottle, duuuhhh. Vinegar & water also works great on a reusable bamboo paper towel for wet Swiffing and I’m just as pissed about only now discovering that hack as I was about the dryer sheet hack, instead buying expensive wet Swiffer pads whose scent I hate. Goddammit. After five weeks of hand washing dishes, my hands are getting dry and itchy so I ordered a pair of If You Care household gloves. These reusable gloves are “…made from FSC Certified latex, i.e. the natural rubber is sourced from a responsibly managed plantation. Furthermore, the rubber tappers, who cut the bark to get the raw material flowing, have received a fair trade premium, and it is their decision how to spend their extra income.” They are also biodegradable if they get worn out, you just scissor them into little bits. I use the bamboo towels for housecleaning but if you really want sponges or scouring pads there are many companies who make such out of a variety of materials: sisal from coconut shells and agave plants, wood pulp, recycled paper fiber, walnut fiber, cellulose, loofah. There are even copper scrubbers out there and some scrap metal recyclers will take them. I will try one when my current steel scrubbers wear out; my partner the trained chef is partial to aluminum skillets and non-metal scrubbers can’t get the job done.

Garbage bags: I have a box of Seventh Generation now but when they run out I’m switching to Unni. 100% compostable but unlike every other biodegradable bag brand on the market, these bags don’t split or tear or soak through. Not at all. Biobags are a great idea but they SUUUUUUCK, you’re lucky to get half the bags off the roll intact and they marinate in the liquid that seeps out into your trash can, and the same was true of every other brand I tried. I found Unni back in Austin when I was collecting food scraps for compost. I wanted to start using biodegradable food waste bags when the city instituted curbside composting, but none of the brands available at Wheatsville Co-Op or Ecowise (OMG I loved Ecowise, please tell me it will be reborn) or Whole Foods were worth the price of a gum wrapper. Then I saw some articles recommending Unni as the real deal, the savior come to redeem us all, so I ordered a box with no hope or expectations. They really worked. They really really work. No tears, no rips, every bag on the roll intact and usable, no soaking through, these things are amazing.

Air freshening: unscented beeswax candles baby! Is your place smelling musty? Can't get that one cooking smell out of the air? Do your dogs fart a lot (our main driver)? Light a candle! It doesn’t need to be scented to consume whatever smell you want to get rid of or whatever room you want to freshen. Real beeswax burns clean, you don’t have to put anything under them to catch dripping wax usually although I don’t know how that works. Note to self: Google that shit cuz now I want to know. Yes, they are significantly more expensive than other candles and if the price is too high, other kinds of candles work just as well for the purpose. I bought mine from a beekeeper here in Hawaii on Etsy and I'm sure that you can find local sellers wherever you are. Or you could buy wax and make your own. Candles are beautiful and calming at night, and I’m one of those freaks who finds joy in looking at flames. Think Milla Jovavich in “Dazed and Confused”, you know the scene.