#I have to watch this vid every christmas it is the LAW

[blue-dissolve]

Have I truly become a monster?

[neonnoir-ao3]

Some Words of Comfort.

Recently, I’ve seen a lot of people (especially those who have read spoilers/are actively searching for leaked content) lament about their future reactions to the deaths of our beloved characters in-game.

We all knew this was inevitable, and that them living was not an option for the plot of the game, but the time has finally come to face it head-on.

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I understand that someone outside this community might be like “it’s just a game”, but I know it’s way more than that to many: the concept of a female villain that, to many, can be seen as sympathizable and even endearing, is a bit of a new concept— especially on such a large scale as this instance.

In addition, Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters have become a bit of a comfort item for some (with an emphasis on sapphics/wlw, from what I’ve seen personally) in the form of a large, protective, and caring hypothetical partner, or even just a maternal character one can appreciate simply because of her love for her children. Regardless, most of us are here due to some desire for comfort.

Take my own story with this community, for example:

(tws for death, covid, suicide, and general medical emergencies)

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Frankly, 2020 and the beginning of 2021 have ruined me. I lost two men who were the only two positive father figures I’ve ever had. The last of the two tested positive for covid and deteriorated within days, to the point where less than a week after testing positive, my family was making the choice to pull the plug. This all occurred days before Christmas and my birthday. On the first day of the spring semester, having not had the time to properly mourn my grandfather, my mother is in the ER for multiple days with an internal infection that doctors said likely would have turned septic if she had waited to come in any longer. This led to three surgeries throughout the next few months. (Oh, and one of my relatives quite literally dropped dead on that first day of class, too). I am also estranged from one of my parents, and they have been trying to contact my family: they have multiple untreated mental illnesses (severe NPD, bipolar, and more) and they are extremely aggressive in that state of mind and they are agitated extremely easily. That only brings more stress, along with resurfacing trauma and related emotions. Every moment of every day has been a struggle. So much so that I failed half of my classes voluntarily simply because I couldn't do them anymore.

To be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t expect to be here right now. I expected that the pain of simply moving forward would have finally overridden my fears of death and that I would have already ended my suffering by now.

Then, in late January, I saw something trending on Twitter. About a new female villain in an upcoming horror game. And it went from there.

As cheesy as it sounds, this fandom and its content seriously saved my life. In the darkest of days, I’ve come to this tag for comfort. The oddest way I found said comfort was through those who were attracted to Alcina aesthetically. I have extremely long-term trauma related to being bullied and being the victim of a hybrid catfishing/'Oreo Game' on early social media by peers in middle school to the point where I do not think of myself as being able to be loved, let alone being worthy of it. Finding this community not only provided a great form of escapism (and opened a door into a fantasy world where I could imagine my own person vampire milf gf), but also gained a little bit of self-esteem (as many of you know, I share a lot of visual qualities with Alcina. -yes, I'm still kinda freaked out about it-) via seeing people where features/attributes like mine were actively praised and desired rather than insulted and pushed away like they have been until now.

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(okay sorry that kinda turned into a trauma dump but I needed to emphasize the fact that this community has seriously helped me during a really dark point in my life, and I know I can't be the only one with that sort of experience)

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What I’m trying to get across here is that, like many others, this community and its content have been comforting and therapeutic, and it really is more than just a game to us. It’s entertaining and even a form of escapism in these extremely trying times. We all have some degree of PTSD from surviving a literal mass plague— and this is something we're using as a method of coping. a distraction. a coping mechanism.

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With that being said, here are some ways to hopefully assist in lessening the emotional stress:

(please note that I am not a mental health professional and these may not be healthy coping mechanisms for everyone.)

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Understand that it’s just a game.

I know, this sounds completely counterintuitive, but it’s more or less about keeping your level of immersion down. Personally, I can’t do scary shit in general: I have to listen to music on low volume while watching dark ARG vids at night or when I’m alone because I get too into it, and then my paranoia kicks in. Sometimes just pausing for a moment and grounding yourself/reminding yourself that this is a video game: a jumble of code and 3D rendering that doesn’t have to affect your views/headcanons if you don’t want it to. Did your favorite character just get slaughtered? Nope, that 3D rendering of them just got un-alived, that’s all.

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Ignorance is Bliss/We are the Captain Now

Simple: Capcom can’t even pronounce Dimitrescu right, or even acknowledge the way it’s correctly said in Romanian culture itself. How can you trust them to give you a perfect canon? That’s the thing: with that logic, you can’t. What they say is true means little (if anything, for that matter) to your headcanons and preexisting ideas of the Dimitrescus. In short: fuck ‘em.

I’m currently seeking a double major in pop culture, and one of the cool things I’ve learned so far is affirmational vs transformational fandom. Affirmational is where official canon is seen as the law of the land, and followed to a T. Transformational is seen as much more inviting for audiences, allowing them to bend canon as they wish to fit their own creations. This fandom is obviously transformational, so take that game canon, rip it up, and get back to whatever you were doing.

Capcom’s canon is not the end-all, be-all. Far from it, actually.

Want to still acknowledge canon? Godmod your way out of it.

Character A died? It’d be a shame if they emerged from the rubble they 'died in' a few hours later, very beaten but alive nonetheless... how awful would it be if they sulked away, nursed their wounds, and continued to live... (/s)

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Ignore it completely.

Remember: give it time. Once the game drops, there w be a wave of grief, but eventually, we as a community will recover, and get back to business as usual. Think about it like the in any way. Stay with the version in your head that makes you happy.

Get Creative!

If you're into creating fanart, writing fics, or even just posting a list of headcanons, take some advice from the late Carrie Fisher: "Take your broken heart, and make it into art". Make the fluff oneshot of your dreams! Draw the fanart you've been wanting to! dump lighthearted headcanons into the tags! Not only will it cheer you up, but sharing it with the community will spread the love!

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I know a lot of people are struggling with this emotionally (especially with the pandemic making entertainment like this even more important sources of escapism and coping mechanisms) and I hope that, at the very least, I was able to help comfort one person who reads this.

Remember: give it time. Once the game drops, there will be a wave of grief, but eventually, we as a community will recover, and get back to business as usual. Think about it like the flowers that bloom after major wildfires: after a period of loss, some beautiful can still come of it.

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💙

[femsff]

Identity asks... 3, 13, and 23 (because I seem to be picking number themes...)

I’m keeping the ones I’ve already answered to others in here as well, just so everyone can get to know me even better!

identity ask………oh shit

if someone wanted to really understand you, what would they read, watch, and listen to?My body language, me, and whatever I’m talking about. That may seem like a cop-out answer to some, but I really do believe the only way to get to know someone is to observe, talk to, interact with and listen to them. Not necessarily in that order. I come into contact with a lot of different people through my work but also see/read a lot online and it often amazes me how little attention people pay to others! Be that cues (non-verbal or verbal), body language or just downright listening to and hearing what they have to say. No wonder people often don’t understand other people’s actions, points of view or feelings. Can anyone really be surprised or confused by someone if they ignore everything they say/do/emote?So, I like to think you can really get to know me by interacting with me. it seems to have worked for me in life so far.

have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? if so, who?

list your fandoms and one character from each that you identify with.The only fandom I actively participate in is Stargate SG-1. Somehow, others just don’t grab me. It’s a bit strange because I watch a lot of TV shows but I think it’s the interesting Sam/Jack ship and its lack of resolution that keeps me going back, in combination with the show’s plot and everything of course. If I have to choose one person, it’d be Sam Carter, but I also identify with Jack O’Neill in some aspects.

do you like your name?  is there another name you think would fit you better?

do you think of yourself as a human being or a human doing? do you identify yourself by the things you do?

are you religious/spiritual?

do you care about your ethnicity?

what musical artists have you most felt connected to over your lifetime?

are you an artist?

do you have a creed?

describe your ideal day.Sleep in a little, have breakfast, go out to the grocery store/farmers’ market to get groceries and enjoy some brisk air (I prefer colder weather), relax, maybe go swimming, catch up on social media, news and emails*, have lunch, watch a new episode of a good TV show or two*, read a book/fanfic*, write some fanfic*, make dinner, maybe watch another TV show or continue writing* while chatting with some of my online friends*, whatsapp family/friends (not a phone call person), read the news, gossip and (post to) social media*, shower, go to bed*.*With my kitties by my side,

dog person or cat person?Cat, cat, cat! I’ve grown up with* both, first we had a dog and when she passed away when I was a toddler, we got another one two years later. We got our first cat about two years after that. She had a litter, from which we kept one kitten. Unfortunately both cats died when I was in my early teens. My sister managed to get us another cat by asking one for her birthday (and I was totally in cahoots with her and together we picked a kitten from an ad in a newspaper, behind my mother’s back) and then naturally, I needed my very own cat a year almost two years later. Let me tell you, my mother was not impressed with the tiny orange fluff ball (riddled with flees) my stepfather helped me pick up without her knowing about it. Unfortunately, sister’s cat was killed in a traffic accident a few years later. When I moved to uni, my mother insisted I took my orange cat with me as the cat only liked me (according to her) and, well, it was just mean to leave the cat all alone in my new house… so my housemate agreed to get a kitten! Sadly, both cats passed away about a year and a half, the orange one due to ‘old age’ (she’d had a brain infection a few years ago and recovered remarkably well, but her health wasn’t optimal) and the other one was so affected by it that she refused to eat or drink and died a few days later. It was awful! The house was very quiet and I was terribly upset, so my mother suggested I get another kitty. At first I thought that was a bad idea, but then I reluctantly started looking online and fell in love. The little attention seeker was so affectionate, playful and active that I felt awful leaving her on her own while I went off to work, so a few weeks later I got another kitty. They’re Best Felines Forever (BFFs) and the cutest, sweetest, most affectionate and lovable cats I’ve ever had.Don’t get me wrong, i still like dogs. But… I’ve also discovered I’m actually allergic to dogs ever since moving away from home and not having one around me/in the house. My sister and mother both have a dog and they’re nice, but always need entertaining and they have that typical dog smell I’m not too fond of. I not-so secretly like my sister’s dog better because it’s trained better and actually listens and doesn’t constantly jump into my lap like the hyperactive dog of my mother. Coincidentally, I was also allergic for cats but by having them around 24/7 I’ve built up a tolerance and rarely have reactions. Also, my current two kitties are half ragdolls, a breed which is known to be more tolerable for people with cat allergies.* Over the years we’ve also had birds, fish, hamsters, guinea pigs, mice (it was supposed to be one but of course I bought a pregnant one and got 10!), a rabbit and a turtle. I think my mother tried to make up for the fact that she never got to have pets as a child and instead took her stuffed toy dog out for walks on a leash in the neighborhood.** The dog I grew up with died almost a decade ago.

inside or outdoors?Inside for sure. Don’t get me wrong, i don’t mind going outside or anything but I prefer being shielded from the elements/heat and would never voluntarily go hiking or something. It’s just not in my nature. But I do need to go outside, even for a little while, every day just to get some fresh air and maybe let the wind mess up my hair.

are you a musician?

five most influential books over your lifetime.

if you’d grown up in a different environment, do you think you’d have turned out the same?

would you say your tumblr is a fair representation of the “real you”?

what’s your patronus?

which Harry Potter house would you be in? or are you a muggle?

would you rather be in Middle Earth, Narnia, Hogwarts, or somewhere else?I have a secret… I’could be considered a terrible sci-fi/fantasy fan as I’ve never read the LotR books (my brother loves them), the Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter. I do vaguely remember watching some LotR and HP movies at certain points in my life (in the gym, recuperating from surgery, passively watching something someone else is watching), but they never really spoke to me nor make me want to read the books. So, if I have to choose a universe, I’ll definitely be in the Stargate universe even though it’s simply on “boring” Earth. Well, most of the time, anyway.

do you love easily?

list the top five things you spend the most time doing, in order.

how often would you want to see your family every year?Oh, I don’t know... we don’t have a very big family and we don’t do things like family weekends or anything, so I tend to just go visit when I feel like it or my mother/sister “subtly” hints it’s been a while since I’ve been by. I do like spending Christmas with them and I always try to make it to everyone’s birthday (or whichever day they celebrate it), but I’d say about half a dozen times a year is plenty*. Also, my sister had a baby this year and I’m a first-time auntie so I do make an effort to see the little one. I get almost daily pics and vids though, so it’s not like I need to be there every month.*I live in a small country and everyone is practically in a different region (north, north east, west, and center), except for sister and mother who live in the same city. Anyway, for us traveling an hour is quite a distance and two hours is like very far away (and when I have to go west, phew, it’s 2.5 hours and that’s me making a lot of effort), so we don’t generally feel like we have time to have weekly visits.

have you ever felt like you had a “mind-meld” with someone?

could you live as a hermit?

how would you describe your gender/sexuality?

do you feel like your outside appearance is a fair representation of the “real you”?

on a scale from 1 to 10, how hard is it for someone to get under your skin?

three songs that you connect with right now.

pick one of your favorite quotes.Honestly, I’ve got nothing… Some of the things I’ve learned over the years through (online) media is that quotes and quoting important people is a thing in the US. It’s not in my country. I’ve never been asked to memorize/apply quotes from famous inventors, authors or other historical figures in school. Granted, I did drop history in the equivalent of 9th grade, but it was never a thing in Literature (of any of the languages) either. The only things I can really quote (which I’ve learned in school) would be the laws of physics, mathematical equations and such. And, outside of/after school I never developed an obsession with quotes either. Sure, some of my favorite characters on TV have great lines, but nothing really noteworthy for a question like this one.

[xonrb-blog]

001. name / age / pronouns kika (which is a nickname my mumma calls me, it’s short for my full name), almost 20 !!!, she/her/hers

002. which character(s) do you play? just noor rn !! but i’m honestly always coming up with new ones, rest in pieces

003. nationality / ethnicity / timezone i live in the uk ( scotland !! ) while i attend uni, which puts me in gmt :)) but i’m originally from another country.

004. tell us a bit about your  ( home / current ) country / city / etc. your pick my city is so beautiful. it’s an ancient city and some days walking the five km to class is so surreal i don’t realise i’ve done it until i’m there. daffodils are currently blossoming everywhere, and the trees in the meadows are thick and lush and the grass is so green. somehow, though, i miss the winter, when the christmas market lit up the streets and glowed in the distance.

005.  favourite color / fruit / season my favourite colour isn’t just one colour!! i really like palettes of colours, so like a sparkling saltwater blue and the green ivy climbing the walls right now. and the night sky colours. always the night sky colours. hmm, fruit is so hard!! because i love every fruit. i think i eat coconut the most ?? (tesco has these little packs that are soooo good i buy them a lot) but i love lychees and mangos and strawberries and limes and pears and blood oranges (shut up it’s fucking red) (lmao) and every fruit !! i like winter so much, especially december, because it’s so beautiful and i like the dark and how everyone lights it up and i didn’t grow up in a place where it snows so i love the snow. and the holidays the winter brings!!!

006. favourite books + writer whose writing style you admire the most ooooomg. this is so hard!! i actually love a lot of writers so i guess.. my favourite series of books are the tana french books, which are these murder mysteries set in dublin that are like…….. gah. so good!!! and i love a constellation of vital phenomena, that writing is so beautiful. gone girl. margaret atwood. zadie smith. so many !!!!!!!

007. what kinda music do you listen to + any fave bands / musicians alllllllllllllll kinds!! my favourite song right now, because i can’t really answer the faves question lol we’ll be here forever, is chanel (frank ocean, blessssssssssssed).

008. what are you doing for a living / what are you studying? i’m in law school!! it’s not very fun right now. not gonna lie. i don’t know if i want to be a lawyer anymore honestly???

009. what’s your dream occupation? lingerie model. LMAOOOOO. no, but i think what amal clooney is doing?? i want to work with human rights cases. but also i wanted to be a journalist for a long time. or an egyptologist. there is not enough time for me to do everything i want to do!!!!

010. relationship status i have no time and i’m not even joking fml

011. coffee, tea or hot chocolate? i sound twelve but hot chocolate unless it’s high tea. but champagne above all else ;)

012. dream holiday destination? this is such a long list……. recently i’ve been obsessed with santiago chile!!! i’ve been watching so many vids on it….. visiting all of you tbh??

013. the thing you’re most proud about yourself i go to a really nice uni and so many people told me i couldn’t so f them

014. tell us a bit about your family! my mummy, my dad, my brother (younger by two years), my precious (cat, his name is gilded or gordito, it goes back and forth), the dogs my family got to replace me while i’m in uni (big and char) who are mutts. full haus.

015. how long have you known your closest friend? my best friend??? five years?? six?? honestly idk, but we’ve been best best friends for a year and a bit. but my closest friend group, let’s see, two plus four plus three… wow, nine years !! and my oldest friend, almost our entire lives, 16 years or so.

016. superpower you’d like to have? teleportation, easily!!

017. celebrity you’d like to meet? angelina jolie and i don’t even have to think about it tbh.

018. guilty pleasures anything sweet :// gotta stop lol and american junk food?? like, this is so weird, but i love goldfish lol

019. pet peeves like xee i have misophonia!! but mostly about illness noises, so, cover your mouth when you cough, okay???? not hard. don’t get me sick too. also, people who party while i’m trying to sleep. uni is the worst.

020. do you have any hobbies? well, writing!! and photoshop, tho my computer is broken again right now. and i draw and read and run and all of that.

021. where would you like to live in the future? oooooh. all over the place!!! i’ve got a big list.

022. tell us a story about a thing that recently happened to you! it can be a funny, scary, sad story, your pick! the drive to our old ancestral house in the south of scotland is a very haunted thing, and it was raining and close to the gloaming when we did it. so it’s not the highlands (where the mountains are) but there are these very big hills rising up from the side of these very narrow one lane roads with not another soul in the world on them. the valleys are massive and the drops are so far down. little waterfalls run down the sides of the hills, and everything is so bright and green even in the darkness. here’s some gifs from a snap video i took because i’m extra but also it’s so beautiful:

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

hi i was wondering if you had any good coffee shop aus? like either of them owns it or works at one?

Hey @evanisoverwhelmed! Ooh, I love coffee shop aus with a passion, so this is going to be a very long list. I’m also going to mention the stories where they’re both customers meeting in a coffee shop, all right? Enjoy! Hugs, Marjan

23 by felix_felicis33

Blaine doesn’t think he’ll ever fall in love, or get the chance to, but that all changes when he meets a man with blue eyes and a beautiful smile at a coffee shop. The world seems a brighter place when Kurt enters his life. The only problem is, he doesn’t belong here with Kurt. He belongs ninety-one years in the past, back in the year 1923.

50 First Dates by Aki_Aiko

Blaine Anderson meets Kurt Hummel in a little coffee shop and they immediately click.  The only problem?  Kurt forgets who Blaine is every single day.  Based on the movie 50 First Dates.

A Great Day to Meet the Love of Your Life by @unshurtugal​

AU where Kurt and Blaine didn’t meet in high school. Kurt’s first relationship was with Adam, and a few weeks after a particularly nasty break up, Kurt happens to bump into him and his new boyfriend at a coffee shop. In a moment of panic to not appear as alone as he is, Kurt kisses a stranger. His name is Blaine.

About Coffee Shops, Pick Up Lines and Two Boys by @daydreamerlily

“Kurt is really happy to have found his coffee shop. And it’s totally unrelated to the fact that the guy behind the counter looks dreamy.Ok, maybe it is related. But sue him, the guy is very good looking.”What if the guy you have been crushing on, hears you saying a stupid pick up line? And what if from there it starts a weird but super cute relationship based on those pick up lines? What if Kurt Hummel falls in love with Blaine Anderson in a way that is all theirs?

Across a Crowded Room by @lady-divine-writes

The first time Kurt sees the handsome stranger, it’s like a fairytale. Their eyes meet from across a crowded room, and Kurt falls hard. But in this fairytale, Kurt gets called away to deliver coffee and bagels to the higher ups at work, and is in danger of never seeing his prince again. And the next day, he doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean they don’t end up together in the end.

Ad Eros by @the-cimmerians

AU. Kurt grows up. Blaine does too.

After Sunset by @fablewriter

Blaine is a vampire who works in/owns an all night coffee house. He meets Kurt when Kurt comes in one night after being sexiled from the loft. Cue challenges of dating someone who can only go out at night and passes out at dawn.

(Bonus if there’s a moment where Blaine is all “wow, is that the time? I’ve had such a good time talking to you I didn’t realise how close to dawn it was and zzzzzzzzzzzzz” or something like that)

Always a Coffee Shop by CharleK

Blaine Anderson is at the prime of his swimming career. During his stint in the London Olympic games, he meets the owner of a small coffee shop called The Espresso Room. Inspired by Klaine AU Fridays.

And I Am Left To Sell by @whynobritneybrittany

Shamelessly stealing the title from a line of “It’s Time.”  Based off spoilers from this article revealing what Kurt’s doing for money while stuck in Lima.  Because the world needs more barista!fic.

Ashtanga Yoga Love by @hazelandglasz

*AU where kurt falls in love with the instructor from those youtube yoga vids* mercedes: i thought you planned to do yoga in the morning only?kurt: y-yEAH but blaine just put up this really important afternoon yoga session and i just have SO much to do this evening! i need to relax first that’s all!!!mercedes: http://31.media.tumblr.com/20f465ec34be41664a099fa381298913/tumblr_inline_nt37y4iCLz1qalwhh_500.gif

Bad Luck Verse by holdingdaylight

It’s just Blaine’s luck that the barista at the new coffee shop is really, really cute. It gets even better when a condom falls out of his wallet in front of him.

Barista Boy, by @purseplayer

Short funny story with an unexpected twist :-)

Best Seat in the House by @constantcompanion​

Inspired by mshoneysucklepink on tumblr, who wrote: “Honestly, I would like to think that Blaine is completely oblivious to the market for that because he has a bubble butt, and that in fact the inventor saw his butt once and was inspired, and Blaine doesn’t know, but he finds out in some cute way.

Oh, wait, an AU where KURT invents the bubble butt because Blaine the barista at his favorite coffee place bends over in his job a lot…Oh God someone write the thing!”

So I wrote the thing.

Beyond Expectation by @whatstheproblembaby

klaineniffhuntbastianmalec prompted: mafia/soulmate klaine. Kurt works at the lima bean, which was just bought by the Anderson family. Kurt hates the family since they’re the local mafia. Blaine’s name is on Kurt, doesn’t matter where, and has no idea his new boss is also his soulmate.

Books, Summer, Coffee and You by just-an-artist-pl (check out the sequel too)

Blaine loves books, Blaine loves to study and he is in love with the popular Kurt Hummel for two years now. But he never talked to Kurt, never made eye contact with him and he doubts that Kurt even knows he exists. nerd!barista!Blaine and popular!Kurt

Breakfast with Snorlax by @prideofportree

Blaine is a Pokémon trainer on his way to the big city. Kurt works as a barista in said city. They meet. There is a Snorlax present.

Caffeine and Love by @thistidalwave

In between cleaning stainless steel counter tops and making cups of coffee at his job as manager of Anderson Coffee Inc. in Midtown Manhattan, Blaine dreams of breaking out of the shell he’s been trapped in all his privileged life–though of course his father would never allow him to strike off on his own. When someone sets up shop in the abandoned building next to the coffee shop, Blaine thinks nothing of it save that at least his father won’t complain about it going into disrepair anymore. That is, he thinks nothing of it until he meets Kurt Hummel. Then it basically all goes to shit.

Careful, The Beverage You Are About To Enjoy is Extremely Hot by @munchkinpandas24

“He read somewhere that it was one of Starbucks’ brilliant marketing strategies to maintain at least one completely dreamy (gorgeous, ravishing, steamy, prettiest of the pretty) guy behind the counter at any given shift. Nicely done, Starbucks. It seemed Kurt found his absolute favorite.” 

Catch Me A Catch by @lilyvandersteen

Blaine is a hard-working pre-law student and part-time barista, whose brother Cooper has snagged a role in Funny Girl. Kurt is a diligent NYADA student and intern at Vogue dot com, whose roommate Rachel is the new Fanny Brice. Cooper and Rachel hit it off immediately, and then start scheming to get Kurt and Blaine together. 

Chocolate Croissant by @missmichellebelle

There’s a certain employee that would entice Blaine to keep coming back even if they stopped serving his croissants entirely.

Coffee Shop Listening by @flickerthenflare

Kurt and Mercedes take an interest in the live music at a coffee shop, although Kurt is most interested in the musician.

Coffee Shop Soundtrack by CoffeeEyes (squick warning: infidelity)

AU where Kurt and Blaine never met or dated in high school. Blaine works at a coffee shop in New York and Kurt comes in one day.

Covered in Rain by oncetwiceforevr

Blaine plays guitar in a cafe, Kurt’s there one day and Blaine’s smitten. Inspired by this picture as found on Zachary Quinto’s twitter and John Mayer’s Covered in Rain. A love song to New York City.

Crema by @twobirdsonesong

Kurt’s just landed a job at Vogue as Carrie Bradshaw’s assistant. One of his tasks is to bring her coffee in the morning.  Enter Blaine, the barista.  This is the story of how they change each other’s lives. 

Cross Your Mind by @supercess

Blaine Anderson is a normal person; working at a coffee shop and once in a while, playing for an audience at a local music bar but when he gets a chance to attend a prestigious fundraiser, he meets a certain Kurt Hummel. And now one question is on his mind: how do you make a celebrity fall in love with you? 

Daily Special by @spinmybowtie

Kurt is working at a coffee shop for some extra cash, when Santana, his meddling coworker, decides to help him score a date with a cute regular. 

Damaged Hearts Can Heal by @mrscriss2012

“As if in every lifetime that you and I have ever lived, we’ve chosen to come back and find each other and fall in love all over again…” Blaine and Kurt meet in a Coffee Shop. 

Delicious by @hazelandglasz

barista!blaine fic in which kurt is alone on christmas eve and sitting in a cafe and blaine made him a drink and watches kurt as he licks the whipped cream off his drink and blaine never looks at the whipped cream can the same way again and then the cafe slowly empties and blaine goes over and talks kurt because he looks so lonely and all he wants to do is make this beautiful boy laugh and he does and soon enough it’s just to two of them left and kurt has a spot of whipped cream the corner of his mouth and blaine wipes it away with his fingers

Double Double by @downtowndystopia

Blaine Anderson is an international student at a Canadian university. He meets Kurt Hummel in a Tim Horton’s and the most stereotypically Canadian coffee shop au happens. (Based on an almost-true story) (no really)

Drawn Your Eye by @backupandround

A wee barista!Kurt drabble based on this post 

Early by @accio-chris

“I came earlier, so I could talk to you, alone.”  It was Blaine’s turn to blush. 

Everything by @somethingfishyfan /morethanwords

Blaine Anderson was everything.. and Kurt Hummel was in love

‘Blaine leant forward, closer to Kurt. “I know the coffee order of all my favourite customers,” he whispered.’

Everything Has Changed by @dont-stop-believin-in-klaine /blackrose1002

Day 8 of Klaine Valentine’s Challenge 2016

Coffee shop AU :)

Excuse Me While I Fall For You by ohmyheartsbeentried

There’s a new curly-haired guy that plays guitar at the coffee shop; he’s charmed everyone with his voice and stage presence. One of their most frequent (and best dressed) customers has certainly taken a liking to him. Not that this is any of Sophie’s business. She’s just a barista.

Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by @accio-chris

14 days, 14 songs.Two boys, one love.

***

Day 2 - Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg

Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by @iliketowriteaboutklaine

Written for Klaine Valentines.

Prompt: Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg

Whlie visiting Lima, the Anderson-Hummels return to the Lima Bean.

Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by ItsNotEasyBeingQueen

A few Lima Bean moments in the Klaine timeline.

Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by @somethingfishyfan /morethanwords

‘This was so unlike me.. but my whole body ached with just how lovely he was.’

Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by @starsandcologne

College!klaine au; The one where Kurt longs for a date with the new barista.

Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by @warblingaway

AU Klaine. Kurt goes for coffee every Wednesday, and the one time he sees Blaine changes all future visits for him. At this coffee shop, the same song plays every Wednesday at the same time, and Kurt slowly relates to them, one lyric at a time.

Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop by @whenidance

A series of coffee shop scenes throughout Kurt & Blaine’s relationship and Kurt, Blaine, Rachel, & Mercedes’ friendship. Based on Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg (yes, that song from that commercial). Written for this prompt.

Fantasies Make for Tidy Relationships by @lady-divine-writes

Blaine has his life set up just the way he wants…well, no, not really. After a painful breakup with a manipulative, abusive boyfriend, Blaine can’t quite get back in the groove of things - anything. He spends more time teaching than following his dream of striking out and having a career in music, and as far as relationships go, no. Too messy. Too complicated. Too much of a chance of getting hurt. Even though the handsome, witty, charismatic owner of the coffee shop he goes to every morning, Kurt Hummel, really seems to have a thing for him. And Blaine can see him having a thing for Kurt, too…but no. Still too messy. Still too complicated. No matter how flirty things get between them. But Blaine needs something. All his old methods of stress relief are just that - old. So he hops online in search of something new, a toy that will take his old routine of self-pleasure from boring to soaring. And if he happens to start fantasizing about his beautiful barista, what could it hurt?

This is the story of how Blaine Anderson realizes he’s having the relationship he’s always wanted with a machine instead of with the man of his dreams.

Finally Found The Boy by @whatstheproblembaby

Based off my tags on this Tumblr post: #okay but combine all four: person a works at a coffeeshop #person b works at a flowershop #they start fake dating to cover for person a who’s lied to their parents about meeting their soulmate #but then they do whatever thing reveals soulmates while fake dating and start REAL DATING #THE END 

Frayed at the Ends by sparkofinspiration

When the love of his life Kurt Hummel left him, a broken Blaine Anderson dropped out of college and moved in with his parents. At 25 he decides to move to New York City to pick up the pieces and start fresh, but a run in with Kurt stops him in his tracks. 

Grande Non-Fat Mocha by JustGidget

“He loved the way the boy would smile at him. He loved the way he would giggle and brush at his bangs when Blaine would greet him with “Grande Non-Fat Mocha?” and slide the cup over to him.“

Grande Non-Fat No Whip Mocha by dontwantyourcrown

Completely unrelated to You’re The Cream In My Coffee. This is a Barista!Blaine AU. One shot only, first meetings AU where Kurt is a frequent visitor to a coffee shop and Blaine wonders why he’s so paranoid about his drink.

Half & Half by @skivvysupreme

Puppy!Blaine loves his barista job, and his coworkers and customers love him. He likes to be liked, and he loves feeling appreciated. It’s just… well, there’s only one coworker, in particular, who Blaine wants to notice him…

Happy Accidents by @lilyvandersteen

Blaine, who is going to the same coffee shop every morning, at the same time for his morning fuel, is confused. At the coffee shop, he often sees the same faces - of the other regulars. There is one particular face he looks forward to seeing, though, but Blaine is just not sure if the face belongs to one or two men (twins). Kurt has shared custody of his kid. The weeks when he is dad, he dresses one way, the other weeks he is more sharply dressed.

Happy golden days of yore by prettyskylark

Kurt passes by the coffee shop every Thursday evening. A coffee shop where a very cute pianist plays and whose smile warms Kurt’s heart even on the worst of days. So when chilly weather and bad mood make Kurt finally step in, he takes his chance and go not only for his coffee order (written for the Klaine Advent Drabble Challenge, Day 1: Artist).

Hello by @dont-stop-believin-in-klaine /blackrose1002

Day 8 of Klaine Advent Drabble Challenge

Coffee shop AU :)

Hope by @dont-stop-believin-in-klaine /blackrose1002

Day 8 of Klaine Advent Drabble Challenge

Soulmates!Klaine AU :)

Hot and Strong by @rospeaks

Blaine owns a coffee shop. Kurt is his favorite customer.

I don’t need you to fix me but I want you to help me by @prettyskylark (trigger warning: physical abuse)

Blaine is just a simple barista and Kurt has got a perfect boyfriend anyway. What if he is not so perfect after all?

I Feel Good by DreamingKate

Kurt and Blaine meet and NYADA and Blaine basically falls for him right away. He’s happier and it’s easier for him to get out of the bed in the morning because he knows he’ll see Kurt. One day, they’re out to coffee or something and Blaine sees a piano in the shop so he sings Kurt I Feel Good by AJ Holmes and basically it has a cute, sappy ending.

I Have Measured Out My Life In Coffee Spoons by @daswarschonkaputt

Based off Sara Rye’s Tumblr Klaine Young Models AU gifset.

Kurt Hummel is one of the most coveted young models, with a phenomenal following. Blaine Anderson is not far behind, even if he’s forever going to be labeled as ‘the kid from the GAP commercials’.

They’ve never worked together. Until they do.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand by @munchkinpandas24

Just a quick one-shot from a tumblr post.  Basically magic happens when Blaine and Kurt hold hands and it’s adorable.

Ik was meteen ondersteboven by @forabeatofadrum/maanorchidee

“you and your friend always sit at the table and gossip in [insert language here], which happens to be a language i’m currently learning. i’ve been eavesdropping to try and improve my listening comprehension and oh my god are you actually talking about how hot i am??” and Blaine speaking Dutch, because it’s an AU I’ve never seen before.

I’ll Wake with Coffee in the Morning by kurtsolos

“What’s wrong with the Lima Bean?”

“There’s nothing wrong with the Lima Bean, it’s your motive for going in the first place,” Sam says. Tina nods.

“Yeah, it’s just… again? This is the third time this week,” Tina prompted. “Blaine, you don’t even like coffee.”

Or an AU where Blaine is always looking for opportunities to ogle the cute barista at the Lima Bean.

It all began with bets by Biscuit

AU: Kurt’s working in a coffee shop in New York as a barista. One time Blaine wanders off to the part of the Big Apple that he’s never visited before and he discovers the coffee shop. He sees Kurt, falls in love and then keeps coming back until Kurt says yes to flirting. 

Jitters by whatiknew

Blaine Anderson gets up at 5am every day to serve coffee with Santana Lopez. And that is the easiest part of his day. As he starts his sophomore year at NYU, Blaine tries to navigate his inevitable conquering of Tisch while figuring out how to talk to the beautiful boy who’s started frequenting the coffee shop. There might be dragons involved.

Learning Who You Are by @whatstheproblembaby​

Boy band member!Blaine/not famous!Kurt. Kurt meets a cute guy in a coffee shop, and what happens next is a little more than what he was expecting.

Life Less Ordinary by dizzy and @savvymavvy

Blaine’s life is privileged, fantastic, and entirely routine until he changes things up and tries out a new coffee shop, where one struggling NYADA student named Kurt Hummel happens to work.

Like a Handprint on My Heart by @somethingfishyfan /morethanwords

Blaine is a NYADA student finding his way in the big city. Kurt is the 'feared’ owner of Blaine’s local coffee shop. We all know they’re perfect for each other - this is their journey.

Listen by @blainesdevon /hwespn

AU where you know someone is your soulmate when they make a certain noise. It could be laugh, a sneeze, a moan, or simply them talking. Whether you decide to listen to that noise is up to you.

Blaine Anderson is a 23 year old fresh-out-of-college music teacher. Kurt Hummel is a 25 year old barista and aspiring fashion designer. They hear each other, but will they listen?

Lost and Found by holdingdaylight

Kurt is the loneliest boy in the world on Valentine’s Day, until he stumbles into a quaint little coffee shop hosting an open mic night.

Love Shack by anythingbutplatonic

Coffee shop AU.

Love Soaked Lungs by @switch842

Blaine is annoying the shit out of Santana with all the whining he’s been doing about how lonely he is and how he hasn’t gotten any in forever. Okay, maybe not that last part, but she can tell it’s been awhile. He’s awfully tense. So, Auntie Tana decides it’s time to take matters into her own hands.

Maybe the star that shined before… by @hazelandglasz

Klaine Prompt : Mistletoe

Klaine AU First meeting

More than a non-fat mocha by @onceawarblette

Summary: So I was inspired by this perfect post http://shinnysarah.tumblr.com/post/36754871502 where Santana tries to help Blaine, a barista at the Lima Bean, to get a boyfriend by writing a rather blunt message on the board outside the shop. It does bring one particular customer by though, and they want a little more than a non-fat mocha.

Mostly Roastly by @fablewriter

Anonymous said: Cooper owns a popular coffee shop in NYC, Kurt is his new barista and Cooper’s brother, badboy!Blaine, takes an immediate liking to him? 

No Flirting by @klainechel

A cute lil’ barista!kurt besotted!blaine story inspired by this beautiful giftset. 

Number by @dont-stop-believin-in-klaine /blackrose1002

Day 14 of Klaine Advent Drabble Challenge

Coffee shop Klaine AU :)

on my way by @fearlesslysgleefics

From the day they started crawling, Kurt and Blaine were on their way to find each other.

Right in front of you by @munchkinpandas24

Blaine is a nerdy barista by day that is in love with his favorite coffee patron Kurt Hummel, the only problem is Kurt is not reciprocating the feelings.  But Kurt can’t think about anyone who isn’t this hot curly headed lead singer of his favorite band. Little does he know that the singer is the same barista that has been nervously flirting with him for weeks.

Roses in December by @ckofshadows (WIP, trigger warning: violence)

In a cozy coffee shop in a small town, a boy with beautiful blue eyes sits at the same table every day, as if he’s waiting for something, or someone. Blaine feels strangely compelled to sit down and talk with him… and discovers the unimaginable.

Santa’s Super Sleigh by @lilyvandersteen

Blaine is enchanted by the caroling elves in the mall, especially the boy elf.

Kurt keeps seeing the same cute boy in the audience when he is singing with Rachel and Santana.

Will they ever get the chance to talk?

Scenes from the Broadway Bean by @gleekto

Coffee shop AU. Kurt and Blaine. New York and a coffee shop.  

Kurt is a freshman at NYADA - top of his vocal class, stage combat superstar.  He’s busy becoming a star, so what if he scores a zero in coffee shop romance history? Or in romance history all together?

Blaine Anderson is a sophomore at NYADA. Song writer. Performer. Barista. Sworn off boys altogether. Though he really hopes Kurt Hummel will let him buy him a biscotti. What? White chocolate cranberry is seasonal. And delicious.

Secret Message by @whatstheproblembaby

Inspired by a picture I saw on hermioneclone’s Tumblr. 

Silly Love Songs by @hkvoyage

On Valentine’s Day, Kurt goes to the Lima Bean for his usual grande nonfat mocha. He meets a gloomy teenage boy who doesn’t believe in romance…or does he? An alternative meeting set during Season 2’s ‘Silly Love Songs’.

So I Need a Favor by @klainehugs

Blaine doesn’t expect anything when he walks into his favorite coffee shop. Kurt doesn’t expect anything either, but he’s got a lunch date with Rachel and Finn soon, and he’s promised to bring a boyfriend who doesn’t exist. Neither of them expected anything at first, but then Kurt saw the good looking guy sitting by himself in the corner of the coffee shop. So, “I need a favor…”

Somebody to Love by @bazllton

Klaine Coffee shop AU in which Kurt is a barista and Blaine is a dorky customer. Basically just lots and lots of fluff.

Sometimes, I Wish To Fall by MakerOfAnarchy

In a coffee shop, on a hot, humid day, Kurt finds him. That’s how it starts, and it does not end.

Soulmate Script by @sunshineoptimismandangels

Written for a Tumblr Prompt: “I wish you would write a soulmate fic for Klaine (there are loads of those already, but I’m sure you’d give it your very own unpredictable twist).”

Blaine and Kurt are best friends, living in New York and enjoying their lives. From the outside it looks like two good friends waiting to met their soulmates in the city of their dreams. The only problem is Blaine is in love with Kurt, who could never be Blaine’s soulmate. Kurt is waiting for the the person who’s name matches the script on his skin, waiting for someone other than Blaine

Soulmates & First Dates by alexwhitney

Kurt’s a 19 year old NYADA student; Blaine is an 18 year old who works at a coffee shop. Since their 18th birthdays, they’ve had their soulmates name on their right wrists, and they’ve been searching for that person ever since.

Summertime Blues by @somethingfishyfan/ morethanwords

Another coffee shop fic. Kurt’s reluctantly working though the summer. Lucky he likes his boss!

Starbucks Lovers by whoaaitsmichele

klaine advent drabble challenge day 17: rent

barista!blaine meets kurt

Sweetest Mistake by @hazelandglasz

Anonymous asked  > coffee shop au: Kurt gets his coffee everyday from the shop around the corner because he thinks the barista is cute even if he always screws up his order. Truth is, barista!Blaine is just too distracted by his stunning customer to make it properly. :D 

Sweet Like Coffee by Ellienerd14

Blaine is a blushing barista with a massive crush on a frequent customer.

And then one day, blue eyes are full of tears and they finally have a much needed talk.

Take All That I Am by becausehiships (please heed the warnings!)

In a world where extreme opposites can’t help but attract, never to leave one another alone again, rock bottom is just the beginning.

For Blaine, rock bottom turns him right side up and suddenly he doesn’t feel like running anymore. He finds a beautiful, ethereal, much-older man in Kurt, the owner of the coffee shop Blaine escapes to for shelter from the constant black cloud that follows him everywhere he goes.  The Lima Bean is, gratefully, within the boundaries of the allowed radius Blaine’s constricted to after stealing a thesaurus (of all things) and he falls into a routine with Kurt without effort, seamlessly inserting himself into the man’s life, forcing his way inside his heart.

The Boy from the Lima Bean by heystella

AU. There are three things he knows about Kurt. One, he’s a barista at the Lima Bean. Two, he does community theater. Three, he’s totally going to take Blaine out for a movie date this Friday. K/B. 

The Coffee Artist by glee-klaine-Dalton

Kurt owns a small coffee shop in the middle of New York. He makes it his mission to cheer up other New Yorkers by putting a small sentence on their cups to brighten their day. But what happens when a cute guy comes along? 

The Coffee Conundrum by @twitchysquirrel

Kurt just wants a %@! mocha.  Will cute barista Blaine give him one?  

A humorous and very short story that you can read on your phone while you wait in line for your own coffee.  

The French Connection by @goldenraeofsun

Blaine was perfectly satisfied as a barista/college student in New York working under Santana Lopez. Well, everything was fine until he developed an almost unhealthily obsessive crush on that cute French exchange student that kept coming by during his shift. 

The line between spontaneous and stupid by colferbird

Kurt is a barista. Blaine is charming. Can I make it anymore obvious? 

The Medium Drip Incident by zikwon

Klaine alternative meeting. That’s it, that’s the summary. 

The Most Beautiful Boy I’ll See All Day by @chatterboxrose

Kurt’s coffee machine breaks down, that’s how he ends up going to the little coffee shop Chae +, and meets the beautiful barista named Blaine. AU.  I thought of this little fic because of this photo. :)

The Shadowy Corners of Me by @switch842

There’s a new barista at the coffee house on campus who has Blaine intrigued.

Through the eyes of the observer by @klemonademouth

During the day, a barista saw a lot of things- people arguing on cellphones, sappy couples, people getting their heartbroken, people getting proposed to. All stages of love, out on display for the world to see, if it so chose. Klaine. Coffeeshop fic.

Tonight & Forever by raymykeller

AU in which broken, cynical Kurt meets optimistic, romantic Blaine at a coffee shop. Can Blaine win Kurt over? Can Kurt believe in love again?

Turn Around Bright Eyes by @lilyvandersteen

This is based on the following Tumblr prompt: you work in a coffee shop and are in the middle of a hella rendition of ‘total eclipse of the heart’ and get WAY too into it, and a (really hot dammit) customer tried to get your attention by singing “turn around, bright eyes” AU

I turned it into a fluffy coffee shop Klaine romance with bonus Cooper :-)

Wander by swallowthewhale

In the early 1990s, Blaine is an aspiring musician working in a coffee shop to make ends meet. There he meets Kurt, a fashion writer whose self-confidence makes Blaine wish he were brave enough to be himself.

warm coffee (do you love me?) by beanieklaine/ princeissy

In which Sage, the barista at the Lima Bean, watches Kurt and Blaine’s relationship develop.

Waste of Time by @istytehcrawk

When Kurt’s not working at the Vogue.com offices, he’s picking up shifts at a coffee shop, where he’s not the only one with his eye on a cute customer.

What He Wanted by DreamingKate

Blaine always got what he wanted but this new guy was ignoring him. That wasn’t okay.

Will you do the fandango by @hazelandglasz

Klaine Bingo : Disney / Dreamworks

Anonymous said: we live in halls opposite each other and i keep seeing you changing through your window.

You Remind Me Of Coffee by @misspelledideas​

Starring Barista!Kurt and High School Student!Blaine, and how they meet and get together. Completed one shot. Rated T for Santana and inappropriate language.

You’ll Add to the Local Color by HermioneGrangerTwin

“He’d expected Kurt to be seated with coffee in hand, so it comes as a shock to him when he comes into the coffee shop at 2:05 and Kurt is nowhere in sight.”

You’re The Cream In My Coffee by dontwantyourcrown

Here are some one-shots/drabbles of Barista!Klaine, all will probably take place in the coffee shop, but we’ll see.

[dwestfieldblog]

2018 - NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

(Solve et coagula)

Untying the Not and Never Was...back from Britain...Hello pagan heathens, welcome to the 14thyear of the blog and variations on the theme of transcendental dystopia in the key of F sharp. Feeling positivelypriapic today...with a private new list of  ancient sins that would make even a priest blush...in joyous celebration of Bacchus, Aphrodite and Apollo... I have my own morals, but morals they are and are followed as such. I don't remember what I am taught, I remember what I learn.

Within two minutes of walking past airport customs into the English speaking world, see a display of Newsweek magazines with the front cover blarting 'Putin is preparing for World War 3 -is Trump?' So good to be back so fast into the feculant nightmare. Great to hear the baldhead is running for yet another presidential term and barring his most serious rival from taking part in the lip-service of democratic process. And threatening him with imprisonment for daring to suggest the polls be boycotted. Wonder who will win? Here's hoping today's pig is tomorrow's bacon.

I watched no TV news at all but of course read the Daily Horrors with my breakfast every morning for three weeks...The Golden Reptile in the mickey mouse white house...he doesn't believe in exercise because it is unhealthy for the body and has a Very busy working day from 11am to 5pm...with 'executive time' between the hours.... a separate bedroom with 3 TV screens and cheeseburgers to lull him to sleep until he awakes to tweet his dawn chorus of mindless excremental bilge. Direct quotes from his twitter feed –'My two greatest assets have been mental stability andbeing, like, really smart'... 'a very stable genius...' America....truly serving as a genuine example to the world. How does it feel to be pitied by those you despise and despised by those you pity?

Trump has a 'much bigger and powerful' nuclear button on his desk than Cheese Boy in North Korea... 'and my Button works!'. (How would he know? Hard to test.) Penis measuring across continents. Mentally unstable is a very generous description of these child presidents....And speaking of dumber than paint leaders with bad hair (nice segway eh?) I heard a wonderful description of the lying wannabe UK prime minister Boris Johnson... 'like an arsonist pretending to be a fireman', returning to the Brexit crime scene to save the day...

Another foul/fowl pretender to the throne of PM in the UK, Mr Gove, coming out in sudden favour of chlorinated chicken from the USA and GM crops via the ever popular Monsanto corporation. Follow the lobbyists, follow the money trail. Ignore (or defenestrate) those who speak for corporate interests until you have checked whether their words are actually an opinion based on long running verifiable tests of good health or sound bites paid for by a wedge of serious wonga/moolah/cash into their bank accounts... and/or a future job when they leave politics. Shameless filth. Eg. David Cameron now accepting a role with the Chinese government's one and a half billion pound infrastructure programme.

China said recently that the 1989 British ambassador's claim that 10,000 students were murdered in Beijing is a little extreme. Well it was. Running tanks over unarmed students cannot said to be anything else. 200 has been given as a more realistic death toll. It took them 28 years to come up with this number.

'Oh Lord make my enemies ridiculous'. (Voltaire) Thank you lord...thank you lord.Hallelujah, to coin a phrase...

Pope Francis used his Christmas message to advise his masses to drop 'all sorts of useless baggage'...'the banality of consumerism, the blareof commercials, the stream of empty words and the overpowering waves of empty chatter and loud shouting'. This is the sort of stuff which should indeed be spoken by spiritual leaders but shame he didn't mention talking snakes, pregnant virgins, burning bushes, self inflicted guilt over original sin or the endlessly Unchristian behaviour by his flock. (And there is a special circle in Hell for priests of any faith who rape children.) 'Useless baggage' almost covers it all. As Francis said; '...rediscover what really matters'... Or discover what reality matter is made of..

.'A cross on every hill, a  star, a minaret, so many graves to fill, Oh love, aren't you tired yet?'Cohen, The Faith. Why not not eat pigs together?

The same evil government shit as ever after a massive storm destroying homes... Hurricane Irma wiped out almost every home on Barbuda (Caribbean) and as in New Orleans and dozens of similar cases after a force of nature, the greedpigs move in fast. Deals between the politicians and land developers overpower the rights of those who lived there, such is the freedom of a life without morality. Rebuild and replace communally owned land with dwellings for the wealthy and push aside all former residents. If ever a group of men deserved the force of nature/an act of the Goddess against them and their property, it is these swinefeed.

The West and the East, the East and West, condemning each others' subversions... What came first, the pot or the kettle?

Demonstrations in Iran by the lower classes of all generations across more than 100 cities and towns against the endless drift of power upwards to Khameni and the mullahs...and money outwards to various non charitable organisations (fill in the blanks with live ammunition, missiles, rocket launchers, suicide bombers etc.) the lack of hospitals and social support, the lack of aid after natural disasters, corruption and price rises. 40 percent of young people are unemployed and starting to wonder where the billions are going...or else knowing where. Most, if not all of the above bullet points (ha) are strong factors in the West too...but in America the tension implodes and is directed against ethnicitiesrather than those actually responsible.. and in Britain/ Europe... hmm...Civil unrest is contained in blaming foreigners, thus encouraging Nazi opportunist populists to manipulate the easily persuaded angry mass into voting for them. And the suckers fall for it everybloody time.

Issues of utterly irrelevant social media opinion, autistic entertainment saturating the global human mind to applaud the lowest common denominator, rocking back and forth with glee at the latest exploits of the hollow kardashians and their foul ego stroking ilk, famous only for being famous...a mass debate on the meaningless, billions of people being trained to focus their tiny, blurred attention deficit spans on a multitude of soul numbing emptiness. All looking in the absolute wrong directions while meanwhile....

The strong and immoral arise and laugh their arses off, stirring, provoking, initiating... and they prepare...America and Europe are weaker and weaker. A few computer viruses here and there, shared passwords, blackmail via disinformation,  man made disasters, plenty of random shocks, a constant underlying panic, threats and needling rhetoric result in.....on one side, an aggressive focused mobilisation of forces with intent and on the other, half a billion people with the spiritual bravery and intelligence of a pillow. At some Rubicon of a breakpoint, paranoia becomes common sense. The clock is now at two minutes to midnight. Be aware.

BE AWARE.

'The universe is a total construction of waves and vibrations whose inner content is 'Meaning', and Man is a micro system of the same vibratory nature, floating at some depth in the universal and meaningful wave system. The universal wave system is qualitative or value structured according to its vibration rate spectrum (faster frequencies have more informational capacity).David Foster

'Information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, wisdom is not truth, truth is not beauty, beauty is not love, love is not music, music is the best'.... speaking of which...Sufferers of schizophrenia with audio and visual hallucinations could be aided by learning an instrument or by listening to music, says new research... Musical aptitude has a strong effect on 'the white matter integrity of the corpus callosum', which protects against the disorder. Quite tempting to comment on the plethora of musicians of all creeds who are obviously unbalanced, unstable and dangerous to themselves and others. Maybe too much music eh? Arf. Never. Anyway, Love IS music and music IS love Sorry Frank.

'All lovers young, all lovers must, consign to thee and come to dust'. Shakespeare -Cymbeline.

'Micro dosing' is one of the 'new' trend things...(as opposed to non functioning overdose situations) brought to you all the way from Silicon valley. That's right... just one tenth of 150 micrograms of LSD will aid you in your chosen field (no pun intended, almost) to break through, focus, go within, go OUT and open neural pathways blocked by the mundane and logical. I have not tripped on acid since 1985 (and that last trip was just over 21 hours long before I took sleeping pills to make the galaxies stop flowing through my brain.) Have been very tempted over the years but truly didn't want or need such an eternity of multidimensional senses while still in flesh...(once the doorway is opened, it stays opened.) This micro dosing is highly interesting however and I will do this this as soon as the first possibility appears. Still think I prefer October mushrooms....Where the Heart Is, in a Halo of Stars.

Picked up a leaflet yesterday...Non stop erotic massages and hotel escorts in Prague... 'Your imagination has no limits'...ermmm...ahhh..hmmm...probably not, but there are laws and only so much available cash this evening..Or, as Alien Sex Fiend sang, 'Everybody's got what everybody wants and everybody wants what everybody's got.' Well, almost.

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.' So sayeth (saideth?) George Orwell. Doesn't seem to apply to British and American universities where the mind fecking 'Safe Space' ethic is rigidly enforced by the twenty something brain police. Anything which could be offensive or disagreed with, is banned.....That comedian who once made a joke ridiculing transgenders... REMOVE him from the list of those who should speak... that woman who said the holy land is bollocks because the old testament was just some non verifiable book which told the Hebrews what they wanted to hear? No platform for her, no stage for them unless it has a gallows pole upon it. (Yeah, self fulfilling propaganda works like a dream every time. Bullshit is half of the charm.) You university morons. You MORONS, working for the enemy, for ones who seek to bring YOU down. Who seek to cage and contain thee. To limit the horizons of creative expression and put a sterile tank around truth. Poor little fragile youth, too delicate to be offended, WHY AREN'T YOU ANGRY? The ancient schools of Sumeria and Greece would be disgusted at your level of human intelligence. 

You cannot make up your own mind until you have exposed yourself to all shades of opinion and distilled all. Read what you disagree with with, it is a fascinating comedy...and very often reveals that what you thought you know, you do not Feel.

The man of the crowd is a weakling; people who need people are the stupidest people in the world. Evolution requires individuals, a union of outsiders working in random harmony...or...'Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see'. Schopenhauer. I know some of this may seem like nonsense. But it's a discipline and I do it with purpose.

Meanwhile, remaining emotional attachments to the socially acceptable drugs...I Want a cigarette or a Strong Drink, or at least, at long last, a painkiller that actually works. Arnica Montana and DL-Phenylalanine don't quite cut the mustard. Thirty minute pause while I go for a walk in the cold dark park, come back home and cut my own hair for the second time in my life. (Not bad at all, just as good as all my last cuts by semi professionals...) One side is half an inch longer but WT actual F? Who cares? Fate is gonna find you with a glass of champagne? Make it a triple espresso and half a bottle of good whisky and then we can talk. And a cigarette...my lack of smoking is making me want to claw and bite this wood table into splinters. There...a normal paragraph of usual life...just in time for the end of a page.

Favourite depressing headline from the new year...'Couple who left son to drown in lake were poor parents, judge concludes.' The wisdom of Solomon. My favourite headline from last month has to be ;A fried egg has no place in the nativity, say 77 percent of parents”\ My first thought was, uff, so 33 percent think it is ok?? My second thought was, well, why not eh? Makes as much sense as anything else in that twisted story....I read a useful column in a newspaper last month, called 'Failsafe ways to spot a Liar'. Glad to see my instincts were right according to researchers and clinical psychologists. Some humans are bereft of as much emotional intelligence and morality as AI machines. Blame it on childhood trauma,always an easy way out. How was the first year of your life? Use trance hypnotism recall, recall and release.

'The key task of a muse is to allow the artist to see his own feminine aspect that is otherwise invisible to him and to be a screen that fits the artist's projections. What completes the artist isn't the intrinsic qualities of the romantic interest but the artist's own feminine archetype. So, to the extent that the artist's projections dominate or replace the muse's own qualities, the muse's soul is dissipated.' Allan Showalter, psychiatrist.

Time to go back to being oblivious to the 'news' again, in the two minutes which are left, there is space to become plenty of nothing and locate your Will. See you in a few weeks after my probable final birthday, which falls upon an Easter Monday this year. Too late for a resurrection (well, there are pills for that anyway) but in time for the beauty of rising Spring with the binary healing of cabala chakras...every man and woman is a star...Stay well....

[rusticrevivals]

Regular Readers may remember the story of the “Lucy” of Lucy’s Gulch, the admirable mid-wife who climbed a mountain path straight up into New Denmark every time a woman needed help with her birthing time.  Nonetheless, as explained previously, Lucy was considered the ‘2nd wife’ of her sister’s husband.  Each of the two sisters had their own house within 20 ft of each other, and the husband/brother-in-law travelled back and forth between the two, having had children by both women.  Pictures and story here:

https://bluebellmountainblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/26/fact-or-folk-lore-lucys-gulch

I got that out in the first paragraph, right away, because I don’t want anyone thinking I am now being ‘kept’ by my own sister’s husband.  Boyd did, however, invite me to tea in some of the many ‘shacks’ he’s built himself out of reclaimed materials, and as he is as adamantly eco-friendly as we are trying to be here (though Newfoundland is MUCH more ahead of the game in the recycling/reusing/ and making less of a carbon footprint than New Brunswick!) I thought it important to feature Boyd and his work/thoughts/ideas in this particular posting.

Mom/Joy and I spent the last week in St. John’s, Newfoundland. For those of you not familiar with our Maritime provinces, my sister has lived out there ‘on the Rock’, for about 25 years, while Richard’s BROTHER and mother live three hours away in Saint John (no ‘s’ on the end is the only difference when pronouncing).  They’ve been there for about 20 years, and are one of the reasons we moved to THIS province.  We went to St. John’s for a superlative concert put on by the Atlantic Boychoir, in which my nephew sings, and they were joined by the Grammy-and-Emmy-award-winning King’s Singers, from Cambridge, England.  On top of which my eleven-year-old nephew Sydney also played a ‘cello solo during this concert in the 2500-capacity, 160-year-old cathedral. So it was well worth burning up the air-miles and two days of travel time (even though they are so close geographically, it takes LONGER to get there from here, than from Toronto!) to hear the boy bring the house down at the end of his astonishingly professional with his choir.

This entire blog, however, is primarily supposed to be about trying to live self-sufficiently off the land, and about other rural goings-on in a community still clinging to the traditions of old. So I’m not about to expound further upon the particular virtues of that most-amazing event, but will simply get on with how I ‘shacked up with my brother-in-law’.

First of all, my brother-in-law Harold Boyd, is not what you’d expect from an accountant of many years, nor a staunch supporter of environmental issues.  He IS possibly, what some might expect of a native Newfoundlander, with the exception that he and my sister were the first to own an electric car (Toyota Prius) on the island.  Here he is about to drive it silently into the night:

Boyd has previously been mentioned in this blog when he and Richard spent some time this summer here at Blue Belldon, fending off bees as they moved the compost containers closer to the garden.  Having a family farm on the other side of the island (8 hours drive) but being happily ensconced in suburbanville in St. John’s has not deterred dear brother-in-law from setting up his back-yard like a scene from BBC’s The Good Life (also previously mentioned – and worth watching for anyone dreaming of that ‘off-the-grid’ life, but having no land to speak of:

First of all, Boyd and Jennifer have taken down the stereotypical suburban fencing that one finds surrounding most homes in ‘The Burbs’, and encourage all the neighbourhood children and pets to make a walking path, much like one would find in England and Europe.  Behind their house is a ‘green space’, which then leads to various community buildings (school, hall, churches, etc).  Boyd is adamant that Sydney walk to school most days even through deep snow, and tries by example to instigate others to do the same, thus taking a little journey through their farm-like back-yard and into the green space, which certainly cuts off at least 10 minutes of what it would be to walk via the roadways, not to mention opening up an entire ‘nature walk’ along the way.

For Boyd feeds the birds:

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Above, Boyd putting out two different suet blocks in his yard, one being ‘high energy’ to attract the bigger birds.  He climbs a ladder to put one of these up, to detract cats (esp. his own) from climbing.  And here he is filling all his bird-feeders with seed – he even puts perches out for the little beasts – ‘so they can queue up and wait their turn’!

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Boyd has built all the sheds, greenhouses, and raised gardens thus far in their yard, and has plans to continue expanding the garden portion (as well as tending garden in the summer months out on the ‘west coast’ of the island near Cartyville, where his mother still resides).

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Above, Boyd even has a burn pile, like we do here on the farm, although admittedly he can’t burn in the city limits.  See also, the fence he’s removed so that the green space behind it is open to everyone from the front.

Next, we go into Boyd’s favourite ‘shack’.  This is his self-made observatory (for the birds as well as the nature-enjoying neighbours).  Of course, ALL Boyd’s shacks are made from recycled/reclaimed materials.  The windows that make up most of this one were partly garnered from being found at the end of someone’s drive, and partly by patio doors for which his brother no longer had a use:

In this ‘observatory’, Boyd can enjoy the peace of his own mini-farm, watch the birds he is feeding and enjoy a cup of tea with the Kelly Kettle my sister bought for him, which he’s set up on an unused stainless steel garbage can. It doesn’t heat the room, but it DOES keep one busy and warms the hands whilst doing so.  And of course, Boyd does have plans for a larger stove in this shack’s future.

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Boyd also enjoyed putting out these large “Christmas lights” so that he could stand in the house and enjoy looking at them all season, knowing they are being run  by the solar panel he has on top of his sheds.  (When solar panels are no longer quite so expensive, he and Jennifer hope to run their Prius completely from the sun’s rays – we should ALL be looking to doing this, and thus neither electric vehicles NOR solar panels should be so ridiculously inflated in price… but don’t get me started on that right now!)

Boyd then pulls out his ‘survival kit’ (a pouch of dryer lint, shredded paper and an assortment of wood bits for small kindling).  He also proudly shows me a Lee Valley Swedish Firesteel which is impervious to all weather conditions and offers long-lasting sparks to start any fire:

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So, after crumpling in the bits of paper and lint into the bottom of the Kelly Kettle, and after having moved the ‘stovepipe’, he fills the kettle with water (which surrounds the inner heating section) and then keeps feeding the stove constantly, now with twigs from his burn pile in the back corner, a heap of which he is letting dry in a corner of the shed.

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And after only about 7 minutes – voila!  He pours us each a cup of lovely hot tea!

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Next, we wait to see what neighbourhood children and wildlife will begin to discover the joys of Boyd’s Ebullient Acres. To help the process along a little, Boyd pulls out his bird-caller:

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and we are ready with a full chart of Maritime birds posted on the shack’s wall.

It’s not very moments before one tree is full of juncos and a large flicker is tapping away at the suet block:

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Without the snow on the roof, Boyd even can enjoy looking out through the ceiling, as he’s added a long window above for bird or moon/star-gazing:

Although he didn’t set it up this winter, Boyd has experimented with hydroponic growing systems, which Richard hopes to do soon as well (right now we just have some lettuce growing in earth in the seed tables in the basement – set up for this was detailed here: https://bluebellmountainblog.wordpress.com/2017/03/21/blue-belldon-basement-grow-op/  and had the 2nd-largest reading of any of my blog postings, so there must be an interest for inside growing techniques during long winter months!)

For more on Boyd’s type of hydroponics using PVC, see this:

https://ca.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVrg4CmpajOYA1swXFwx.?p=hydroponics+with+pvc&fr=yhs-iba-1&fr2=piv-web&hspart=iba&hsimp=yhs-1&type=mchm_6047_CHW_CA#id=3&vid=5e2a6d8bf41fafd6b1722e877280d031&action=view

Boyd has this sitting in his shed, so it made me curious to investigate more:

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While I enjoyed watching the birds with Boyd, using camera, binoculars and my distance specs,  my vision was frequently impaired by the Coke-bottle eyeglasses my nephew caused me to wear several times – once when we were playing ‘spy’ and deciphering codes, and another time when I threatened to dress up as crazy “Eco-Aunt” and go to his aikido classes if he didn’t behave.   Eco-Aunt doesn’t waste water on hair-washing or bathing, applies makeup only using natural products, and wears only natural hair ornaments (feathers and wooden clothespins, etc). Once he saw me like this, Sydney decided to behave extraordinarily well, but I am thinking of offering Eco-Aunt as a main character to all marches for environmental issues. What do you think – is she memorable?

Shacking Up with Brother-in-Law Regular Readers may remember the story of the "Lucy" of Lucy's Gulch, the admirable mid-wife who climbed a mountain path straight up into New Denmark every time a woman needed help with her birthing time. 

[tocoworks]

Sweat Equity: How To Be More Efficient In 2018 ⏱ 🚀 🛠

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TRANSCRIPT BY DRAGON DICTATE

Who now are going I can see that face was live feeling good how are you feeling Eric Readinger real good yeah really it you get the show going on mean we gotta squeeze one last one in before 2017 goes out I know hopefully get the bonus content common when we pretend that where a dog is initiate next year and then get caught up in the life of your days later I hate New Year's resolutions I don't I don't like hey I don't like people telling me their words without me asking Jeff I mean II know I'm annoying I give out a lot of free device known as for but you do it all your law right Lisa consistent with the exact path but like the thing with plus I always heard here's a little here's a little advice sweat equity advice goals New Year's resolutions essentially goal right losing weight is a New Year's resolution but it's not a good goal July your lifestyle good goal do you know why though nonspecific will is you just write I'm girl and there's no light quantifiable thing is a need it so instead of going on the lose weight and 2018 have to go like by June I'll lose 25 pounds whatever is everybody's resolution should be understood actually be real with myself instead of I'm going to lose weight and then when people ask you about it like we some pictures at New Year's is get real talk when you get real lack landlady real talk in the pocket you just need to be real with yourself a 12 team you know that's what it is people tell themselves stories make it all good so everybody around them here's what their convincing themselves of how I like I been guilty of this as well where you go on the to do this to keep myself accountable right yeah have to sign works have timed doesn't sound like my dad take it all back as I've done that before to know me at what we all have its it's annoying if you 0400 for whatever 100 with your friends or family about it like I go on the run a marathon that I said that at one point last year think and then I didn't predict an injury and then once you got injured I just couldn't get back in it and so one of my I feel do she does like everybody listen to me on the road where the line but what was the entry I just bad hamstring pull which you as you know from some replace fantasy football if you draft any wide receiver yet having the same as a lingering IRA though never be hundred percent so I wait that out like you know it's not my favorite but let's get this ship going you ready for your Howdy toddy did you read it 321 God Almighty this is a sweat equity podcast come to you from cigar city Ybor city Florida beautiful enclave of the of the hood enclave enclave yeah I think I use that right in Tampa Florida we may be in Tampa but we were we keep it worldwide like pitbull but this advice as a business hustle advice I think a lot of people asked me what is the podcast they see my face popping up in their feed because were doing good with our targeted video ads that's something I love it if you hear little muffling the background that's a production meeting going on behind us of high level production film meeting made I might want to yell just a just have their meeting but what's on there I know I keep like going to the bathroom lexically go to get anything actors need a grant from you might grab any parts I again works like yeah but let's… Give a little love to her sponsor fresh books tax season is coming up my goal here you go here's my New Year's Gold pay your taxes pay taxes yes no I want to get taxes done by 15 January my business taxes that's the goal good luck I got a hustle but you know what it will you know I can cram yeah are you doing every three months yeah yeah quarterly is sure yeah they said we have to as an S Corp. you you know you have to with meeting minutes and all that stuff that we do all that go go fresh books.com/sweat and you get three a free 30 day trial but QuickBooks are not happy with zero there 00 at the next get out here go to that's that that's another song or no no no that's like a that's the vid me out of all these fresh books is the is the competitor to QuickBooks zeros, that the video drove off to the side there like third place probably for meals for me is good for what it is I mean I'm sure was writing books but look freshman and you need a bookkeeper we've got actual client that I can hook you up with if you want to email me at law@tocaworkslawtocoworks.com will show her love she's got a virtual bookkeeping business and it just ties it Sophie you go to go fresh books.com/what and then email us the double hook up you could really email us for anything business I think we got something in place right yeah and pleasure yeah sure you know you want to send some pleasure pics will do this 90 style yeah I'm sending over there sending them to us I mean that matters depends depends I'm not doing them independence depends on the map and you know see we want to go 2018 New Year's resolutions I mean these are do you have anything no but look you shouldest do these once a month really shouldn't be a year yeah it's weird it's it takes easier for people to grandma look at myself with it are things going good for Maren okay and by October your different person I will eat like a fat pig from Christy Easley from Christmas to New Year's like no big like Burger King all day son yeah everybody that is that's a pretty standard thing or is it yeah to go worse than normal now I do it to the holidays you you do ketogenic will I do but I don't Christmas hello I mean I Brian you get at Iquitos yeah but I can get my bag and okay it's a gimmick around our house these next day you're right Rita is mental but Seattle get the hang agrees like some people do I know I don't usually but I feel like anything I have so little to hold onto his advice that I feel like I would if I do right now you would have been angry as if you win and I dress Onassis yeah I have to do a blood test tomorrow for health insurance incentives which means you can't eat associate today and I isolate this morning because you got to get like a pure sample or whatever and and cholesterol so they give you incentives if you like a reward if you're decent I can't going all stressed out a is one time I failed and I to go back and do it I was like one of many to walk out what your blood pressure is yeah and I was like no Isaac as I rushed over here to get to this thing and went right into it and I'm thinking about work let me go outside only to walk in the hallway for like 10 minutes I came back fine and that weird that's weird I did that recently the doctors to had to get in there real quick and on-site and don't let yeah the Dilip having high blood pressure worry give you high blood pressure that's another contract so I try not to let it psyche out I assume you got into the cholesterol one which is you know I don't know what's good cholesterol bad cholesterol but are you going to do that task so you do bunch of those things which is actually interesting because they make you do this app called rally we go to we rally.com it's actually I wanted to shed all over it because I might man I want I don't want to have to have this thing you tracking stuff the health insurance companies making use that now make you it's it's what I'd like a strong incentive but that's how they measure stuff they think you have to do like certain certain things of the blight but I got to go to Qwest labs and that will knock out like four of the rewards you can get okay as you get likes I can get 600 bucks back basically one was like you get 50 bucks for filling out a survey that's just like how many drinks you have it's like the basic general practitioner you know little questions I would ask you do you sleep well do you eat well all that stuff this is also the app yeah you answering this question is cool but then I tied it you can tie it into your so I have the Apple watch yeah that's about that yeah while I don't know how to use it yet I got it and I haven't had time to like yeah get to know this baby you gonna love it will I just wanted just to be able to jog with and not I have the old iPod that I have to load manually nice real nice real nice right I write if I am ever like I am assuming those like 10 years and my yeah but it's so cumbersome that I forget like I don't when I get a chance to run it's like oh you got yeah I I'll get the kids for 30 minutes you go for running like okay what I need everything to stick 10 minutes that I just can change and get out the door yeah and then getting music ready to go to site and it's not happen so the reason I like this is just I'd have streaming stuff because it has its own phone number I guess oh you got the a data plan yeah oh nice yeah so you can do the air pod headphone yes I'm a good goalie asked well basically I have flown on my watch and I have my air pods that you can't see my ears which I wanted to hook up to this but I think it would ruin the Bluetooth with the video yeah that's that's that's what's future ship well it's only acyl because light to my wife because she won't know they're in now I used to keep it that the ones under my shirt the the corded headset right so at least you can see that a lot of the time but now you just you can't see it all you could use these giant headphones is like holders for your air pods cut the cords because they fall out of my ears hey what these are your pod covers I had to buy these so they don't break not I but I've been falling asleep of those things in which is not good probably for my ears because I feel like I mean Felix's summer jam to pencil in there if I sleep on my side but it doesn't wake you up when I when I go to sleep all hit it hard but I wake up really easily anyway the thing with that is like all this stuff is to be more efficient anyway because I can arty feel that your pods like you can get about 30 feet away from your phone and it still plays whatever podcasting listen to music whatever 80s background with new wrapper genre music I like to listen to like that Eminem song but it's that thing of you know saving trips from going back your phone for something what I can charge the phone or not tethered to or I'm not I'm not going without listening to something for 30 minutes which is trust that but I can make calls and still it's weird it's it's it shouldn't be that big of a difference but it's talking also in the the watch I when I had a Fitbit which were super ugly come like they're ugly they're ugly looking this I got a get a new band on it but I got that ship and you got the big boy version I got the lady lady says I actually pilot pulled my hair out on accident because the rubber because when it gets to that I was going like that I head back head head hair and ended if I took a few with it so not feeling good but what I'm saying is I like the tracking of the stats because I like how much do I stand up during the day how many I do like that stuff I don't care big brothers watch me yeah I've also noticed that the Stan Golson it is not that I can I reach my standing goal laying on my ass okay so does it mean stick to stand really mean are you up I don't know I I think it met like I think discounts if you're awake sell real okay is it going around yeah because right now price as I'm standing right in my heart rate a little bit because were trying to multitask on air oh that's the other job I loved going on stage doing standup and seeing what my heart rate would be while on stage yeah you could try check the time and stop it'd be lower way lower they just normal onstage you weird yeah but both euros off before would spike about 10 to not be three-minute more which isn't really a spike but it would it would get up because you can't anxious your light will bit smug and run over and then when I'm on stage at site cruise control cleared it weird and did did for stand up last Friday which felt good had a really good set which is I forgot how good of a feeling that is when you're so nervous about getting up because I'd been that nervous price seven years yeah dude I mean you and how many months for five months. This podcast helps the mean I tried it I I pitch a lot of podcasts to our clients go look it's a good way you gotta do it like we wish we've been shoehorning in episodes last couple weeks just because it's just been nuts around here holidays baba but we didn't plan ahead like we can plan ahead by the quarter kind of thing like we should but like it's a good cathartic it it's a little bit of therapy it's a little bit of like I try to write some jokes for it right ideas yeah like what is our creative outlet for sure it is him is sometimes the only time we talk during the day but also it's like it's it does have to be polished obviously and it it's another way to get her voice out there for people to digest when they can handle it now one thing I I did come up with while running the other day and this will tie into how to be more efficient is I got a term I want to coin officially calling on the go so we've got some lingering projects that just that become like big picture ideas I feel like a lot of people have this unit maybe you want to do in addition on your house were you know you try to figure out how to save enough money to buy a ring for your lady were you would don't do that though but stupid if she's in the wedding rings and she got the girl for you what if you have a family ring by all means do that whole you can do that yeah don't don't be full by tapirs okay it's at this so many diamonds out there manually many the world look at the history of all that she is talking crazy you know it's all made that's why like advertising yet will I mean it's going to its settings going away you think the holy I don't I think it's to both I think with a lot of things it's going down but the other sides can imagine will I think the wedding industry of like having bad ass wedding that's going up the ring with the precious stones is not as big a deal anymore speaker wedge event coordinators for weddings or secretly like the worst coordinator like of anything you know what a millionaire not about to let yeah I've dealt with a lot of event court wedding coordinators of the site you do this for a living right like wool I brought all I brought all the reclaimed wood like furniture and Mike Horton Mike hey yeah they always focus yet have one thing that's her focus and talk about the farm theme and then it's like okay that's one part you have a schedule of when the wedding starts will know you have to fires right back yeah we are our buddy Damien is what employer just left yeah why would she stay for the wedding that's crazy I mean it was just like what it was a point where it's like I shouldn't be the most organized person at this wedding for what's about to happen it was like it's so crazy how people do not take their job seriously like that's Ivan Mike seriously that's just like basic level stuff that's that I don't care how anxious you get or how you're worried you are like showing up is half the battle if additional forethought either live like maybe this will happen and I'll have to do this anyways I cut you off about being efficient while you're running or something oh so we think of like big ideas right now have the everybody goes I want to do this when you learn another language this year or some like that and then becomes is over you never get to start a lot a lot of that is to start just just go okay and turning everything off 20 minutes after to start and it doesn't matter when whenever that 20 minutes is over or I I find it a break then that'll be it but a lot of people don't do that part and so you get to this overwhelming idea you've had in your hand we've got to do a pitch deck that this is why this is where I came up with that window pitched Atkins become this this huge snowball] but what I don't want to be is a Florida snowball will eventually just melts you never do it that that's the terms the term is Laura snowball however bad okay for look for businesspeople it's like murders but but I have come join us for economy sake it's not that funny that that witty but I'm saying like find me a better term for that I got your diet is as we've had a lot of that we want we want to do a lot of improvements for the show and it's like yeah when we want to get a wife or behind us we would have a digital we want to have a screen over here we can see our live reads or any of that stuff and then have a playback monitor so we can see ourselves but like you don't have to redo the 1000 other Arabia comes this thing that you never get to and so it's it's tough yeah and the longer you go the bigger it seems in sunny bigger than exacerbated in the beginning exactly that's what the snowball and then support a snowball because it just it just don't do it ever yeah you know we we we get a lot of stuff done to all of say objectively we get a lot of stuff done that we do say working to try to do it takes a while but at the same time I listen to so many people because we have so many startups and immature businesses and people asking for advice on time wheat we did have a lot of people that just never ever never ever get around to it some more efficient so how do we do that just starting that are this that but that's my advice for a lot of stuff that you even if you're just curious about some just try to start doing it yet all be afraid of the unknown I think I think you don't know what's coming with their big project you may dislike off while I don't I don't need to know any of that because it's too scary but once you go get into it and you can lay it all out front yourself and you always know what you're up against yeah and and suck at something and try that light all the time right like I want it I do want to go shoot bows for some reason I think I'm going the opposite direction to some keyboards off now I know I've I have a hankering for I want to I want to race cars only not dry stick in a and I want I like to occur I want to go bow hunting like legit bow hunting one day like the shipper you have to be awesome shape to do it yeah like you have to run mountains carrier pack into the woods right right sleep there I don't know why though I've never done I've race like go carts when I was little but neither really I don't have any experience with I just really hit your primal instinct kicking in yeah because them the software I'm getting this note and paler as you can see on video sitting in the office you know of the more I want to go to the other thing yeah go play football now I hear you it's weird that you like I do feel like I do weightlifting for that sort of adrenaline's worship but even that's like wearing on me now righteously I get it done it does have the same endorphin rush that used to go it is used to it that would be the number one thing I'd say if you want to be more efficient you should try to get in shape just like whatever that is for you you want to get like talking II think people do the four snowball word you get this thing were like I've got to get to this kind of yeah body build and when you don't get there after March I think I think Jim's make most of their money in January February oh it's my favorite time of the year seeing all the new faces that come in next week and then by spring break their own, yet each way before that if you had a month yeah because I mean you know I I'm going to the same gym at the same time almost every day I see the same people would you go funk at 5 AM so it's like that that's us different commitment to like yeah but I just don't like being around it's only been in the crowded gym like having to wait on things really you know having a lot of people around yeah what's not really I mean if she if you want at 5 PM and be to be a zoo the worst yes you know and that's what a lot of people do the word about how they're looking at the gym but if you like as cheesy as it is it is good to throw down some goals and like really be specific about it like no for me I need to be able to get I need to stretch and I need to get more flexible and I need to do like yoga once a month at least yeah if not once a week yeah stretching is the number one thing for you making yourself feel good right and I that I know it and I don't do it and it's really it's a comedian self-destructive kind of mind to not go yeah I know but only to just sit in the chair all day yeah it's that they need the stretching desk used applicable to believe they got I think you got some bites I mean no just I just need to not be an acyl and then take 20 minutes and go do it I mean you've got the 20 minutes I know you are it's there the panic sets in I got to get stuff done I can get it while I would get everything done over the long haul if I feel better yeah Chris's days were your body hurts so bad that you're not it is not efficient yeah and the 20 minutes you're using to stretch is not necessarily productive 20 minutes maybe it's something that you're to mess around if you know you have 20 minutes I want to take this a bit picked that right right out due to many an afternoon of design if you get down that rabbit hole like just moving it up and down like to position something yeah with a layer on Photoshop or something you can do that for an hour I know I've been trapped in the matrix for a week on the same ship what I do now is I just go I Fokker what am I trying to do here and then will I been using my watch I literally got yes my doing put your timer on your watch then when it goes off will vibrate at the hands on that another thing I but I think one of the things to be efficient other sleep hygiene's huge I don't like calling it that what we do sleep hygiene I've never heard that oh yeah I've only heard it in my brushing teeth before bed is that of podcast commercials for Casper Leah has for what's up yes going on what you you and Squarespace need to get you should together special Squarespace, Squarespace clearly woo hoo leaving Unilever sites I can reel off right now maybe that's why the wood was pitch about them not being a spy know we never went out we got it to say what's up hey hey hey keep saying Squarespace over and over in the Dragon dictate will pick up on it yeah if you do like these episodes are try to find some keywords were we do try to drop the audio files in Dragon dictate and put in the blog post will get better at it one Suite 120 once we calibrate yes or floors leases it'll be a lot better but for now it is what it is anyway sleep hygiene that's a made-up term by right that's the old yeah that's marketing copy but it's now I've heard it I heard their first in the nets, sleep down well like that is it is it just get enough sleep is that what they're talking so with that rally app it has like little baby goals you can do and I will send you notifications like remember to have like a regular bedtime I will have that remember to shut off all devices like you can and you can check got away with it you can well it will keep you up and it's and I know like I'm trying to think about outside I wonder how many good hours I have in a day like what's my peak right six on like on my laptop you know firstly beer for work and like what's diminishing returns .0 yeah working so it's like if I'm on more than six maybe eight I'm probably it's probably not can work yeah get it in your brain will that's why I try to get on the spin bike or due or work out I'll try to answer emails because at least it feels like I'm doing some claim emails or can be asked anyway you know a lot of it's like yeah Guido hey were here whenever yes you want to meet up it's a lot of that kind of stuff that I try to follow up on but that I need to be more efficient that's one of my things like cluster all these nonurgent if you heard of I is I think Scott Eisenhower it may have to look this up Eisenhower matrix okay if I get this right out on the field very very very business smart basically you put things in the four buckets indigo is a real thing yeah sweet alright so I did learn some business school so you have important and urgent if you have non-urgent and important you have urgent not important which I don't one of those two I don't get in that urgent not important doesn't make sense like what would be urgent that you don't like the sun born that's I think that's when I get conversions of bathroom so my dad I thank you again for like listening to the price of examples and then not important not urgent and you I always forget like to state the power of note, stuff like you got put some stuff in that bucket right a lot of that stuff doesn't matter like trying to like trying to go on fiber and getting something we are done to embarrass my fantasy football friend yeah that I used to do this but is that not important for your mental health but it doesn't it's a waste of time a lot of the time it takes like an hour like a better hour I can spend in some else but doesn't make you happy marginally knows what's the risk reward right so this is all business, logic basic business logic basic pitch business logic real talk but but like it is doing some of the fight OMG I'm constantly, think about like am I wasting this is my best our right we always talk about with clients ago trite working try to get your whole group at the best dollar per hour the rat right right this does make sense for the boss to be doing some of these little things unless that's the only person you know that can really do you so like you have a small business the boss may be the person that actually comes in and cleans up stuff because they're managing everybody else doing the actual work you know I just think about that a lot I don't I don't I don't know the answer what I know that's up to can always come to think about what's my best dollar per hour in this discounts at home to like what's the but you know is it worth watching Netflix do I need to watch it right you know yet to fall asleep when I just turn off and try it out trying to sleep earlier yeah but then you won't know how picky blinders ends than what PT finds it's been on there forever unlike you all get to that year and I'll get to that now I'm still stuck on the punisher and I lie liked it the punisher of all my God I had a plan in the background for like a day and I was traumatized yeah the little violent exactly yeah yeah that's the punisher dialogue kinda sucks to it's and yeah it's a lot of cheesy ship yeah I mean it's going to be that the guy the guy who plays Frank Castle is pretty good yeah he's a good I didn't want to like him but he was on the walking dead so never so yeah don't that's this is my wife's litmus test for if you're a good judge of TV like the walking dead PCS really yeah dude it's not good anyways I out I want to see Dunkirk that's more me I want to see that stuff you haven't seen it real life stuff so be more efficient 2018 how about some productivity apps release can do that right some so you get the Apple Lodge maybe you got some, smartwatch I think Samsung has a good one now I don't know all the ins and outs of it if anybody does have any hacks send it our way or comment on this post I mean just the stuff that comes with the Apple watch timers and things for stretching I use the time countdown timer all the time yeah all that stuff masturbation right where you get caught kind of things conventional yeah oh you will get it to the point hold it building to something called hope it's like what's the is it I don't Braveheart hello Canada hello been doing a lot of war movies may be maybe Troy thinking of but either way like wheat we been doing you got a live scribe pen and notebook the other Bluetooth pen you like and it yeah is in the during the call we are on a day so my phone's dead so have you linked it up though so it can discover your text learn change your handwriting into text yeah it's all that's I mean mine is standard with that I guess here's a little bit older mines an older model but it the software doesn't now my handwriting's like a ransom note so it's kind of tough I got a calibrate that between Dragon dictate and that in in this because I do like right I like writing it will help me memorize stuff I don't I also don't want to write too much in a meeting because of not avoid paying attention so try to write like you know bullet points Rob Eli: let me write this down right now go yeah the writing of the net with your hands to even if I want to call Illinois like I have things I can write down Evernote you like I can write it that you type it in but is not the same as writing it with my hand for some reason and will not just for me either one thing I got back to is and this is a little bit duplicative and I need to figure this out is hey I want to find an app to do list app that my wife and I can see it just reminds us of certain stuff yet get wonder list W you and is not good you're so I don't so I don't know if that's good for home right will like we have our grocery list on there it's linked up if you have sent me an even bigger store but put it on there you have a referral code that's another thing for if were given out stuff you might as well you know if you go in your app the Avenue for a friend white check that out about our syllabus for you but you got all kinds of goods I want to get down to the point were nonessential grocery items I want those to come in automatically through we have shipped here I want my dog food baby formula I liked him diapers all these things that we know we need we could probably your mark every enough three weeks we need this and then I don't worry about it Lucian do you want to go the grocery store yeah you can do Amazon subscription services we do for diapers or yeah we we might we might do that just because it is like those things that set like milk those things that that site where symbols or kinases on me when I get or meat that you will look at if I go to the grocery store but yet all the other ship but it's yeah it's that when you don't have drivers it's T-shirt time yeah and the guessers T-shirts are using dads but I mean like it's that thing of okay what are these little hats I can do it at half at home in the office to help out I don't like the Alexa she oh shoot you she she will gotta pay Alexa baby she doesn't like ISR she's up to sleep with one eye open always you know I don't want one of those at my house honestly yeah how was freaking out my family over Christmas tone of my in like dirt there is already news articles that these things are orb taken the data of what you're saying to put into advertise hell yeah they are I mean if you think that if you think it doesn't listen until you say hey Lexa how did you hear you say hey Alexa it's listening before like what what yeah I'm here real talk pretend I'm truly been the we have back pain we even paid $50 for that it it's either that technology is either worth like a thousand to five straight up or it's like I did know Samsung phones the whole business model is so that Google can get all that data to try to target you yes that's what the phones are so cheap yeah all that technology so cheap yeah I heard I heard that on want to say Rogan's podcasts talking some someone with tech guys like this month but it was like oh yeah that makes perfect sense why would Samsung dominate the market for cell phones that's like the 660 6065% now between women Apple and like 00 they lowered the price in there to make it up in the backend and no one realizes yeah apples do the same thing but they they don't have the straight line date to Google you know apples they love the same infrastructure yet to capitalize on rule yeah right the immediate civilian way right today sent streamlined right into their own entity but anyways I don't have a wonder list referral sales then we give you I don't know all these hello anyway here's here's another little thing pretty much any app you use if you're given and now they usually have a refer a friend discount so if it's one of these monthly subscription you pay for apps I I had to train myself to do this but like all we oh for sales the business development if you want to like a good dashboard you should check out this Pipe Dr., Apple use it gives you visual kind of a marketing funnel that you know who's interested who you talk to you're trying to close on and I just like that visual and I got a hold on let me go get that referral code not send it out as it is being like yours that you know yeah and then you get a month off or whatever Lumley Weber will if we find one I'll put it in the notes a wonder list that's good for home I'd say because I rumor checking for business insight on the distal do what I needed to do yeah I mean it's it's a straightforward passage projects right yeah with before I forget with live scribe you can ping it to Evernote the idea was to take a bloop Bluetooth painter talk about correct thinking live scribe and then you and there's moleskin notebooks if you like those by the way the Bluetooth notebooks never thought about that the hardbound ones but I may have ever thought about if I like moleskin you don't pull some people like him I used to write all my jokes and those because they that they had the how many moles had to die a lot when cares man don't make don't make it what is it two don't make a molehill and no mountain mountain and moleskin sober song or draw an arrow to Evernote an elephant never forgets that's their logo so what you can do is it'll transfer your handwriting into text and you can make a punch list that can automatically go to is Indu which is our business test manager that we haven't been using this once I got offkilter at that it is hard to we can afford so they they do turn it it's you get ADD with apps is always one better well yeah if you never learn how to use more than 25% of then it's not really smart but then you can take that punchlist and you can also hit it over to our project management system which is right WRI K which also can communicate to all these can communicate slack because Slack isn't just for chatting that should be our communication hub notifications all that stuff you so now we have now rebuilding this kind of like coverage in case something messes up right see what I if I heard this I would think men adding four apps would be more efficient and it sounds like it's it's overwhelming itself is not efficient but if you spend a little bit of time and get it right then it's automated from there on out and your love what I write philosophically a look at this way right like we got to figure this out to get and I was talk that always tell us what clients were doing like operations permittivity stuff it's going to be a little bit harder before it gets easier right right so it's gonna suck right now what we should what you and I should be doing is creating a map over our whiteboard in figuring out this like efficiency I want to do it, right after we get off in a couple minutes so at least we just started the Sally called back later no doesn't the right it was amazing call back just start will just started her money word-of-mouth is that we can't be dispensing advice and disco funk it's theater of the mind law is a joke it do it anything else to be more productive in 2018 anything that's been on your mind yeah okay so the other app that I use a lot I used to wonder list for dislike my daily I got to do this today I have a today list do this this is right then I have an app called habit list and that one allows you to just put in something like stretching you put in stretching I want to do I want to stretch be very times a week yeah and then when you do it that they the little button and it's in there and it keeps track of whether or not you're you're keeping up with your habits so I use it for all kinds lifting weights running in all the stuff that it's like you can cut and get away from you to Billy was last time I did do that and then you might pray five times a day right things pop an awful time you know it's easy to get away from your habits and remembering what you what makes you feel good you know way if you can't quantify it really none I members I need to quantify I was thinking of anytime I sit here make me feel good that I think of a monstrous ball don't know you Halle Berry I remember telling Bob Thorton yeah maybe feel right yeah nailed it I hope that I hope that production meeting Ernest Billings brush notes in the tally very low what would what would you know that I don't know do it with a male voice like you don't know it's a like gritty draining yeah what habit list is good I I've tried that at one point again I need vocalize almost outside like externally and go okay I'll get it download this app only use it yet is almost like 19 knee was a 90% of apps or something that or downloaded open once never used again see the good thing about habilis I think it pay for things like two or three bucks even then should shoot in the sky man I was looking at all the subscriptions I had for here in home this week and was like on to here's a user one trim if you're that yeah it's not sample site but it is no it basically you know if you're comfortable with putting in if people like mint were you can kind aggregate all your transactions and it'll note, more or less over time as you check things off it's good for your taxes to it'll be like you're spending way too much in meals I and so that's a good kind – four for that trim will look up your cable bill in all your stuff so you got put in the your banking account I did from this place are checking in our credit card for here and it was little go oh you're paying too much for frontier yeah a little one we negotiate some better for you oh yeah and so dates for you so they make a little vague if they get that negotiation okay that's out that's how they make money and it does it all on its own how does it I don't know I haven't gotten to the point were were actually negotiating but that that's the big cell and apparently like you guys know the deal with all the cable or Internet providers you basically especially with cable TV you can basically talk a minute like given it to you for a dollar yeah if if use if you're tenacious enough and I guess this cuts, cuts that yes yours with I'm done with you and then the negotiations begin hey want one thing you should get from your Internet provider and that's on my punch list is better router because these things suck after like a year of use and they become outdated so you can call Bob Ingo hey I need to upgrade the router and the going anyone in the you be like well Wi-Fi is now a lot better yeah and they probably want that because they've got a deal with the router company Macon Chittenden Nate takers back recycle it yeah making money will the region have to ask is because you don't they don't want you to use more bandwidth than you have to probably so I would say the reverse I would say like because if you look at your upload download speed that states you pay for hundred and hundred whatever that deal is your upload speeds always a lot slower on Wi-Fi and most people on Wi-Fi free hardline that's the only way we get 100 hundred yeah so like so I don't think it behooves them to be able to move more data from here like net neutrality is, that the whole thing yeah but the new router might be more efficient on the island and they can listen to your calls bitter over where the hell yeah yeah that to thanks the dirty side of them probably want to stop greater routers yeah the mean there's there's this as it will never get the answer to that herself utilize 100 other stuff in coaxial cables that can listen you now you know that I didn't know the rest will have those yeah will you have to have the cable to get I guess at coaxial cable to get the Internet in your house a lot of time and then people either have like old ones left there from last person or but I don't know where that is in that I don't think it's around like very prevalent I just think it's a plague in South Korea where everything is technically and I terms and conditions man those things are to get something to happen with that because there's just too much sneaky ship that people are signing up for an advantage of everybody it's great that there needs to be a law enacted that says it can only be this long or whatever which I think they try to do a couple times and they work around it was too long with thrilling and that's about all politicians do they just go what is this you can you write you guys read this for me yeah you're right actually need law to make that will to make laws shorter and then once that's in than they do for some time as a country okay well look we had glory years here in the US this is a sad day for good we had a good run what's what's get some music going out Remer at tax time is coming up hit up hello freshman school fresh books.com/let like you sweat to get hooked up but you feel good and you want to say anything to the peeps have a happy new year people don't make a New Year's resolution just try to be good take a lifestyle every day wonder list habit list all that list we'll see Israeli