#I was watching Bambi and Thumper inspired this | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

squeakysannie · 4 years ago

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✨Sannies Nicknames for Everyone!!✨

Henlo henlo henlooooooooooooooo friendos!

Inspired by @wooyoungleeeeeex I'm also doing this! (✿◠‿◠)

Hongjoong Hyung (@joongielee)

🐨 Koala Hyungie - we snuggle a lot and he grips on like a koala so ye. Koala hyungie.

🐨 Jerry - Mostly use this when he's bickering with Mingi because they're like Tom and Jerry!!🐨 Genius Hyung - Aurora speaks for itself people

🐨 Blueberry/Strawberry Hyung - depends on his hair colour but it's a cute fun nickname!

🐨 Tough Love Hyung - He pretends he doesn't but he loves us and we know it.

🐨 Papa Bear - He's very dad like in how he takes care of us. I lub you hyung!

Seonghwa Hyung (@hwaseongler)

🐼 Panda Hyungie - this started when his hair went from black to white blond and his roots started showing so I called him Panda Hyungie. It didn't really stop.

🐼 Chef Hyung - He can cook! And he's very good at it! Gordon Ramsey beware!

🐼 Guardian Hyung - Nightmares who? Seonghwa hyungie always fights them off!

🐼 Maknae Hyung - He acts like one of the kids sometimes and he's a lot of fun so he's the Maknae Hyung!

🐼 Quilt Stealer - Hyung gib the covers back I get cold easily.

🐼 Mummy Bear - He's very soft and sweet with me. I lub you hyungie!

Yunhoooooooooooo (@yungiggle)

🐶 Pupper - Everyone knows Yunhos a dog in human skin OK hes a big puppy.

🐶 Snuggle Dispenser - He gives out hugs like they're going out of fashion and I cannot get enough they're so WARM and COSY

🐶 Slippers - He's always wearing socks or slippers. ALWAYS. I don't know how, the carpets so soft I walk around barefoot a lot of the time but Yunho says it's scratchy.

🐶 DDR - HOW ARE YOU SO GOOD AT THIS YUNHO I WENT AGAINST YOU ONCE AND I'M STILL EMBARRASSED AT HOW BADLY YOU BEAT ME

🐶 Stubs - Maybe this is why he always wears slippers? Anyway Yunho constantly stubs his toes on the kitchen table so I call him Stubs to tease him while we ice it.

🐶 BFG - BIG FRIENDLY GIANT BY ROALD DAHL SLAPS I'M NOT TAKING ANY CRITICISM

Yeosang (@yeoswitch)

🐱 Silent but Deadly - Yeosang Ninja

🐱 Siamese - He's pretty like a Siamese cat! He very pretty, as pretty as Byeol!

🐱 Defiance - I love him but he denys and defys like everything anyone says. A lot of the time it's funny but like, sometimes you don't need to argue yannow?

🐱 Dolly - He's like a little doll, he's very cute and just oof

🐱 Sarcasm - Does this need explaining?

🐱 S&S - Shy and Sweet, he's so soft out in public my heart melts.

Mingi (@cockyswitchsong)

🦒Giraffe - He's tall like a giraffe! Big long boi

🦒Mingles - He had a jingling ringtone for a while so I called him Mingles and when his phone went off it was 'Mingles Jingles' hehehe

🦒Cowardly Lion - He's a bit like the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz, scared at first but gets braver and braver despite still being soft. He looks after me when we watch horror films despite being just as scared which is big Cowardly Lion energy.

🦒Elsa - I think we all know what I'm referring to

🦒Sleepy - We nap together a lot and he always comes to me when he's sleepy and is cute.

🦒Bambi - he trips over his own feet a lot and his legs are so long they kinda SPLOOT out like Bambi on the ice.

🦒Eminem - He is adamant that he'll learn to rap Rap God without struggling. He's nearly there tho, just to give him the credit he deserves.

Wooyoungieeeeeee (@wooyoungleeeeeex)

🐥 Soulmate - platonic soulmates forever and ever and ever and ever and ever

🐥 Scarecrow - he's like the scarecrow from Wizard of Oz! He pretends to be dumb for funsies but he is smarter than he appears and cares a lot.

🐥 Woohoo - I've heard it's an expression of like energy and excitement in England/America, and I thought it fits him!!

🐥 Chick - he's soft and fluffy and excitable like a lil chick and he's also just as cute. I started calling him this when he went blonde and I never stopped.

🐥 Stubborn - I love him but he's a Stubborn brat sometimes. Most of the time he's a funny Stubborn brat but sometimes...

🐥 Tinie - he exude tinie energy every once in a while.

Jonghoooooooooo (@jonghosofthours)

🐻 Hyung Maknae - Jongho acts like the hyung sometimes and its really appreciated. I lub him.

🐻 Teddy Bear - he hates physical affection... Except when it's me!

🐻 Adele - He's got such a powerful voice be reminds me of Adele. Trying to convince him to cover Rolling in the Deep but it isn't going well...

🐻 Baby Bear - We have Mummy Bear and Papa Bear someone had to be Baby Bear OK?

🐻 Pouts - He pout. A lot.

🐻 Thumper - He reminds me of Thumper from Bambi. I don't know why. He just does.

✨Thank you for listening! (✿◠‿◠)✨

#ateez san #interaction #ateez yunho #ateez hongjoong #ateez wooyoung #ateez mingi #ateez jongho #ateez yeosang #ateez seonghwa

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flickhole-blog · 6 years ago

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Happy Anniversary: We Haven’t Posted This List of Stanley Kubrick’s Favorite Disney Movies in Almost a Year

5. BAMBI

This 1942 classic was only Disney’s fifth film, but according to director Stanley Kubrick, it was the first time he remembered being “twitterpated” by the House of Mouse! Watching Thumper and the gang, we’re reminded of the time we first fell in love with cinema, and reminded of the last time we wrote about this list in September 2017.

4. PINOCCHIO

Throwback much? Many have speculated that this film was a direct influence on the script for A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, which began as a Kubrick project before being taken over by that cinematic titan Steven Spielberg. Specifically, we speculated that in our spring 2017 post that also contained this list of Kubrick faves.

3. THE ARISTOCATS

Me-ow! Controversial pick? Although it’s not typically seen as the House of Mouse’s finest hour, THE ARISTOCATS was one of the first films Kubrick would have taken his daughter Vivan to see in theatres. A little Flickhole behind-the-scenes trivia: we spoke to Vivian Kubrick for the first iteration of this list when our site went live in 2012! This was the best bit of information we got before the call was disconnected. 2. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

It’s a landmark, to be sure: the House of Mouse got its start here in this classic tale of a runaway princess and the diminutive household that takes her in. Although it’s no surprise that Kubrick would be fond of one of the greatest innovations in animation history, we *were* surprised to learn that this information was publicly available on the internet when FlickHole launched its Geocities page with this list of Kubrick faves. 1. MULAN

Surprised? So were we, but it’s clear that Kubrick loved the film and watched it endlessly for inspiration during the prolonged editing period of EYES WIDE SHUT. How do we know? He told us so, in the handwritten note on a scrap of paper that contains this list. When we visited his studio in January 1999, hoping for an audience with the great man, he only offered this list, slid underneath the door of the editing bay, with his favorite ‘toons from the House of Mouse. Even now we remember rapping on the door, pressing an ear to the wood. “Mr. Kubrick,” I whisper, “Mr. Kubrick? Are you there?” No reply comes. I clutch the paper to my chest, and lower my head, muttering only, “I came all this way...” The paper nudges at my shoe. I pick it up, unfold it, read its contents, like a map to a secret location only he and I know. I put the paper in my pocket and shuffled away, my footsteps echoing down that long forgotten corridor.

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jerepars · 7 years ago

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I Dare You Extended Chapter Notes

Hyperlinks appear in blue (underlined on mobile). The story is posted here.

Sometimes you set out to write a one-shot and as you go on and write new scenes, you realize you like the flow of the story better when they're broken up into their own individual chapters. But not long chapters in the same vein as your usual chapter length. You just want that distinct separation of the scenes. You fight yourself the whole way but succumb to what was probably the inevitable.

So here it is. SweetE: a mini fic with mini chapters.

This serves as a follow-up to the SweetBee friendship fic, Know Who You Are. It is not an absolute must-read to understand this story, but it does provide context.

Eyes wide and smiles bright – those were sure signs of being impressed. Those were the reactions that made sacrificing Sunday afternoons to tutor neighborhood kids at the local library worthwhile for Sweet Pea. It had taken a while to earn those reactions, too. For the first few weeks, it seemed to Sweet Pea the kids only listened to what he said because they knew of his reputation on the south side. After doing things Betty’s way and sticking to the script for a month, Sweet Pea finally got her to talk to Ms. Turner, the librarian in charge of the tutoring program, about a science demonstration relevant to the curriculum of his group. Betty had to be his go-between because it would be a cold day in hell before Ms. Turner would go for anything he suggested after she’d caught him with his hand up a girl’s skirt in the aisle with gardening books last summer.

The name Ms. Turner is an ode to the librarian in the PBS animated TV series Arthur (originally based on the books written by Marc Brown, of course). I've talked about my love for this particular kids' show and how I've come to appreciate it even more as an adult than I did when I was a kid. My favorite episode of Arthur ever is the musical episode, "Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival", which is centered around the library.

Sidenote: I feel like this is more Jughead's style of musical and perhaps he would have been willing to participate if the production Kevin had put on had been more like this.

With Betty’s help, Ms. Turner reluctantly allowed the demonstration with a condition—it would have to be done outside. The weather had turned a corner in Riverdale and it was early spring, just chilly enough for light jackets and sweaters. Sweet Pea’s tutees stood around him in a circle on the front lawn of the library. All week long leading up to his demonstration, he’d troubleshooted the formula in the alley behind his grandmother’s corner store and apartment. Although the demonstration wasn’t very sophisticated and at a lower level than the seventh graders he tutored in terms of educational value, he still thought it was worth it to garner their reactions. The kids in his group were learning about plate tectonics and natural disasters caused by the movement of the earth’s crust. Sweet Pea believed he would be remiss if he didn’t present them with a demonstration of a volcano eruption using baking soda and vinegar. Violent explosions were his specialty, after all.

So sticking with the PBS theme...a month or so ago I noticed the entire Bill Nye the Science Guy series was made available on Netflix. Naturally I rewatched the first few episodes, which I don't think I've seen since early childhood. One of the first episodes was earth science related, with the overall topic being the earth's crust. Bill does his own volcano demo in the episode, and yeah, that's probably something typically encountered before the seventh grade, but it was so obvious to me that it would be what Sweet Pea would choose for his demo.

Thinking about earth science got me thinking about "Geography, Vonnegut, and Me" by Fireworks (I may have added the Oxford comma into the title of my own accord, ha) because of the mention of tectonic plates (there are three instances!) in the song. I almost named the chapter after that but I couldn't account for all the metaphors that are made in the song so I held off and stuck to just mentioning it here.

At minute three, the door opened from the inside and out scurried a figure who prompted Sweet Pea to lock his knees and stand up straight. Ethel Muggs glanced at the students sitting on the stairs with their notebooks in their laps, then took the steps two by two and spoke once she was halfway to Sweet Pea.

There's a line in Daphne Loves Derby's "Sundays" that goes: Oh, even when the sky is crashing down. You, you locked your knees and stood up straight.

Sweet Pea and Ethel had spoken to each other sparingly since they began tutoring together on Sundays – casual hellos and goodbyes, and nods of acknowledgement in the hallways at school, but nothing to write home about. On Sundays, Ethel had a calmness in her voice when she explained math or talked to Betty, and it put Sweet Pea’s stomach into knots. He thought Ethel was extremely intelligent as well as interesting—definitely more than met the eye. Definitely so much more than someone who could be pigeonholed as ‘the nice girl’ and nothing more. Sweet Pea feared she merely saw him in a pigeonhole, as the gang kid making reform too little and too late. It was daunting for him.

There's another line from "Sundays" that goes: You enjoy coffee and Debussy. I can't believe the calmness in your bones after everything. So another slight/partial reference. Truth be told, when I first heard the song years ago, I misheard the singer and based on his pronunciation thought he said "voice". When you've heard a song so many times and have already convinced yourself what the lyrics are, it's hard to break the habit of how you learned them.

If my memory serves me correctly, the song is actually about his (the singer's) mother. But I was already thinking about the song because of tutoring on Sundays and the lines I worked in are the ones that have always stood out to me.

So when Sweet Pea voiced his thoughts on what Ethel called him, his cheeks burned, and he addressed the seventh grade troublemakers in his tutoring group, but his eyes remained locked with Ethel’s.

“That’s okay,” Sweet Pea said gently. “She can call me ‘Martin�� if she wants to.”

Many thanks to @myrmidonofmelodrama who inspired me to write the first scene of the story this way after reminding me about the scene in Bambi where Bambi meets Flower. Before Thumper can explain that Flower is a skunk, Flower says, "That's all right...he can call me a flower if he wants to...I don't mind."

I can just imagine Sweet Pea (let's not forget: sweet peas are flowers) getting all bashful when Ethel calls him by his real name.

My only regret is that I didn't make Sweet Pea's last name Flores. If only I'd known when I was writing Know Who You Are where I'd be drawing inspiration from right now.

“No, Eli,” Sweet Pea said firmly and added a scowl for good measure. “You’ll call me ‘Sweet Pea’ or you won’t address me at all.”

If you read Know Who You Are and the story notes associated with it, you may know that Weevil from Veronica Mars was someone I associated with my headcanon of Sweet Pea. In the VM universe, his real name was Eli Navarro, so I thought it was fitting to name one of the kids after him.

#je repars notes

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jfastereft · 5 years ago

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"LOVE HARD SOFT WIRED" a poem a.k.a.: "With Thumper and Bambi In Mind." Sept. 18, 2019 (Odin's Day)

Don't worry so much [then] about getting tired;

You might run ALL DAY and then be inspired,

To run all the next day too Oh, JOY;

Then, fall asleep in my arms, my precious toy.

You're my EverReady Bunny, and you can go on all day,

And THEN AT NIGHT, WE BOTH WILL PRAY,

For a nice day for THE NICE nextDAY to come;

You'llFallAsleepBeforeThePrayerEnds, and I'll pat your precious bum,

And whisper so nicely: "I LOVE YOU,"

And you'll dream of running or jumping or being on The Crew,

Of an animal rowing team, zipping through the sea!

AndYouMust[ABSOLUTELY] LoveTheSea, whichIsYou&Me,

Giving OUR ALL, never worried about getting tired,

'Cause we're so excited with our LOVE;

We are HARD WIRED,

With 1000 volts surging through

AND A THOUSAND THOUSAND MORE;

LIFE'S EVER NEW.

Sometimes, of course, the body will say: "OK; let's rest,"

And you'll fall asleep on my shoulder. I tell you, it's The Best,

KIND OF TIRED YOU'LL EVER KNOW,

I love you; I love you; I love you I LOVE YOU SO.

We'll dance through the fields in our dreams,

OUR FIELD OF DREAMS, where we'll romp in the streams,

And climb every mountain. Deer Bunny are we,

Never getting tiredOfDancing inTo Eter-ni-ty.

fin ♥

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7vvMAPeP_I

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simba-bonfamille-lyons · 7 years ago

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☾ ♥ ● ♦

I put this under a readmore bc it’s LONG AS FUCK im sorry

☾: Favorite moment from your Muse's canon, and why. (If your Muse is an OC, then favorite aspect of their story.)

i love this question.

Belle: my fave is def the scene where she’s taking care of the Beast after the wolves attack them and he gets all grumpy and she Shuts That Shit Down. i take so much of my inspo for belle from that scene alone tbh--but i also do love the opening sequence and how could you not love I WANT ADVENTURE IN THE GREAT WIDE SOMEWHEREEEE

Simba: ugh, so many good moments, but the best scenes in the whole movie are def the stars scene with mufasa and when simba sees rafiki. i also LOVE LOVE nala and simba’s reunion. also, ofc, okay this part is def my fave: the running back to pride rock UGH THAT SCENE

Toulouse: FFT FFT FFT!! that was legit the only part of the movie i remembered from watching it as a little kid. also when he and ber are fighting on the piano, i love that scene, it’s so cute.

Bambi: the part where thumper and bambi are like hanging out and thumper is teaching bambi to say shit. and he’s like BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD and he’s walking along following this lil butterfly, ugh so precious my darling.

Perdita: gosh there is not a lot of canon perdy tbh but i do love her and anita’s relationship. also when she’s kickin ass and taking names to save her babies. also how she really doesn’t want to get covered in coal and pongo says “c’mon perdy time to put on your make up!”

Sweet: everything?? about him??? he’s so great?? all his lines?? but i love the part where he’s taking care of the old king the best bc before that moment he’s kind of been liek quippy and comic relief but u get to really see his compassion and strength and steadiness in that scene and i love it.

Maui: his backstory, definitely. that was what made me really interested in playing him bc he totally models slyth but is actually a big ole puff and just wants people to love him. also i like the scene where he leaves moana after she Fucks Up (tm) i know that’s probably a weird scene to love but idk i thought it was super interesting.

Hercules: alskdjfladjkflaskjdfljfl EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM?? herc is just my precious darling. but i love how awkward he is but then how FIERCE he gets when he’s protecting people. like you think what a soft marshmellow how is he a hero and then when faced with danger he RISES and it just always warms my heart. my fave is the hydra scene bc that’s the first time he’s like rly sUCCESSFUL as a hero and it’s such a good fight and he uses his strength to his ADVANTAGE ugh i lvoe hercules.

Attina: ahaha she also doesn’t have a lot of canon, but def my favorite is when they find out that ariel has been #gettindown at the club and attina is like NO ABSOLUTELY NOT and hten everyone makes puppy faces at her and she caves so easily. i based a lot of her character on that. like she seems like a hardass but she’s rly not she wants her sisters to be HAPPY

Akela: gosh, he really does not have a lot of canon to go off of at all, in either movie. i’m gonna say the Law of the Jungle. That’s really important to his development in my head. also the scene in the live-action with grey where he tells him that the runts get eaten sometimes bc it’s like the only time he’s not the Serious Alpha but to me it just showed this like softer side to him? that was playful--and i based a lot of his character on that.

♥: One thing you love about your Muse.

Belle: laksdjflkajdf what don’t i love about belle? i mean as a character as a whole i love how inspiring she was to all young girls who loved to read and encouraging girls to be SMART and not be SHY about it. to EMBRACE their bRAINS which is such an important lesson for young girls. and i really love that about my belle too. that she is very demure about a lot of things but DO NOT QUESTION HER INTELLIGENCE. it is the one thing she will unflinchingly defend about herself and i don’t think we see that enough in female characters.

Simba: i love how much simba loves himself. i make fun of it quite a bit, bc he can be so over the top with it, but i really appreciate his level of self-care because that’s something i struggle with. like--not so much confidence, i have a decent amount of that but just, he really does take care of his overall physical health. he exercises, he showers, he eats properly (tho i mean he eats a lot too and lets himself indulge which is important). but he like idk keeps his beard trimmed and takes care of his skin and this sounds like a really weird thing to admire but since i struggle w depression, it’s nice to see ppl who function normally even tho he also struggles w depression. ALSO i love his flirting. haha. inspires me to be a better flirt.

Toulouse: kind of self care too, in a way? i love that lou is unapologetic about who he is, even when he doesn’t like himself. and he really does take care of himself before anyone else. like he does not let other’s opinions (except his siblings) influence his decisions and that’s something i struggle with. it actually makes lou one of my most genuine characters, because if he is sweet to you, if he helps you, if he protects you, he’s doing it because he wants to, not out of any obligation. as someone who struggles to say “no” to people, it’s admirable.

Bambi: ahaha honestly there isn’t much i admire about bambi. not because he’s a bad person but because he’s a teen who is still finding himself and struggling with a lot of self loathing and is in that place in his life where he is making mistakes. but, i do like that, writing him, im getting a--chance to look back and rexamine teenhood from a new perspective which is interesting and fun.

Perdita: i love how FIERCE she is. i always say perdita’s attitude is mine if i didn’t care about what people thought of me and that’s definitely true. i love that the first impression that paul got from her was she didn’t care what anyone thinks BUT i love that she really actually does too bc it just adds so much dynamic.

Sweet: gosh i love how level-headed he is. as someone who is temperamental i really appreciate characters like sweet and poca and haku who are very centered and strong and sturdy. i appreciate their calm presence in my head. i also LVOE how poetic writing him is. he’s one of my characters i feel like i can indulge lyrically in my words with the most.

Maui: i love how conflicted maui is. i love that he has this really stark duality to him and is much more than his cocky exterior and he genuinely really does care about people, not just about the attention, though that is a big draw. i also love what a BOY he is. it’s really fun to play him walking that line of fuckboi and genuine person.

Hercules: what a PRECIOUS MUFFIN HE IS. i just love the whole super strength but has no way to control it thing. it’s just a great duality to play with. like he is so gentle and so afraid of hurting people but has this awesome power. he’s just very precious to me just so sweet and good and pure.

Attina: my self indulgent bae ahaha. i love that she’s a MERMAID i love that she’s so bubbly. i don’t have any BUBBLY characters. and she’s so happy and smiley. i mean, simba is kinda like that both of them just Radiate Joy. and i also love playing sisters. i love love the family dynamic and the fact that there is so many of them, because it just leads to such RICH character development. i love what a romantic she is. i love how soft and kind but how protective. how scared but how brave. ugh my beeb

Akela: he’s another really calm person. i love that akela doesn’t linger on his mistakes. he has regrets. he acknowledges when he’s done something wrong and then--wait for it--HE MOVES ON. he doesn’t dwell. he doesn’t beat himself up. he picks himself up and dust himself off and moves on. which is so refreshing bc most of my characters are wallowers ahhaa

●: If you could say just one thing to your Muse, what would it be?

Belle: GIRL I S2G GET SOME FUCKIN SELF CONFIDENCE it just really annoys me that she needs to be poked and prodded into feeling good about herself bc she’s so BRAVE AND STRONG AND KIND AND WONDERFUL she’s perfect and she SHOULD KNOW THAT SHE IS WORTH GOOD THINGS

Simba: honey, stop, trying, to, please, everyone,, it’s not gonna work and you’re just gonna wind up making a mess of things. also i love you /pets

Toulouse: i s2g i have so many things that i could say to toulouse but if i could ever interact w some real form of him u know what i would do? i would give him a goddamn hug. just a good, long hug where he can put his lil head on my shoulder and just relax. he craves physical affection ppl

Bambi: i would give him support about his choices and tell him it’s okay to be afraid but he should be brave too bc being brave is the best fuck u to all the people who want to scare you.

Perdita: i understand why you did what you did and i don’t blame you for it.

Sweet: keep doin you babe

Maui: IT’S OKAY YOU CHEATED JUST LIVE UP TO IT NOW (also you are real hot and we should date)

Hercules: embrace ur powers lil honey u are wonderful

Attina: relax babe you should take care of YOURSElF (she won’t listen to me)

Akela: i’m sorry about your family *gives him snuggles*

♦: Relationship with your Muse.

im gonna answer this like “how does the muse come about” kinda deal bc this question is weird

Belle: well her voice comes so easily to me i love it except it’s SO thinky. she is always who i write the longest posts on bc she just examines everything but i love it bc i so do not think like that but it opens my mind to interesting thought processes i haven’t explored myself before. though i also edit her the most bc her dialogue is SO HARD. it’s getting better tho as she gets more confident but it only takes one set back to go back to stuttering and holding her tongue.

Simba: gosh. i love his voice. it’s so COLORFUL. i can write simba all day because even in his darkest moments he is so BRIGHT and he feels everything so deeply. i love his background. i love writing about africa and islam and how he is bisexual and his race (but in the little things like how he has sensitive skin and likes movies like Hairspray lol). he’s really so different from me in so many ways, but he’s also an accumulation of like all the men in my life i’ve admired so he has a v special place in my heart.

Toulouse: gosh i love toulouse. idk his voice comes SO naturally to me. he is, without a doubt, the character i just instinctually know the best. i can’t even explain it but he just popped into my head completely formed. i knew everything about him almost immediately and even the things that came later just fell into place so easily. i just love him because he is so complicated and dynamic and feels so deeply while also having a really complicated relationship with those emotions. writing him is both frustrating bc he always makes the same mistakes, but very easy for me.

Bambi: ugh i love bam. he’s another one that i just loved from the start. i wanted him for so so long before i actually got him and he just mad sense to me. i love his shyness. i like writing his view of the world since he def has so much influence from books and movies and he thinks in like tropes a lot and i’ve never written like that before and it’s super fun.

Perdita: i love how concise she is. i love all the sharp language i get to use with her. how every sentence i feel like i hit the period mark really fiercely. every sentence is important and to the point. she doesn’t like meander and as someone with flowy writing it’s nice to be able to know that i can do shorter stuff.

Sweet: UGH i love the poetry to his voice. making him a poet was a great move on my part bc i just looooove it. i love his voice. how calm. how gentle. how wise. and beautiful tbh. also all his experience is really fun to write. he’s like a fully formed person.

Maui: i think i mentioned this but what a BOY he is. i love it. i love being able to play with the line between saying shitty sexist things but not knowing they’re shitty and sexist and really being a (mostly) genuine person but not always kosher or PC or anything like that.

Hercules: im still getting used to his voice but i really like how much he curses lmao he is like FUCK FUCK FUCK in his head at all times and i love that bc he’s so soft and smol and it’s such a funny contrast. also i get to play with humor and irony a lot with him and that’s fun. hopefully i can do more allusions to mythology once i start working with his powers more and that’ll be fun

Attina: i love her OCD. i think it makes for really interesting writing because people with OCD repeat phrases and stuff a lot and always having to be hyperaware of her actions like--remembering she doesn’t like to touch people and remembering that she locks the door nine times and that she doesn’t eat food from public places. it just really plants me in her head every time i write her.

Akela: his connection to nature. tbh being able to play as a wolf im ngl. but also a LEADER that people RESPECT AND LISTen TO. also i love how his voice is sad but not depressingly so. so it makes it really interesting to write like balancing all that emotional with his cool, level-headness.

#asks #headcanons #personal #calliope-hesiod

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ofimaginations-blog · 8 years ago

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♋ What drew you to this muse? for all of them!

❧ meme - @sebastianshaw❧ accepting

askfrihguhd 90s! You love to make things hard don’t you? XD

ADELLA

Adella was actually my second ever muse I played. She’s originally from a Disney group I was in when I first started RPing and a few of my friends that I still have from that group encouraged me to put her on here when I made this blog (especially considering one of them had her old boyfriend from that group on their blog as well. love you forever alex

ASHLEY SEAVER

So I kind of really love Criminal Minds tbh. I used to watch CSI when I was little with my mom, but sometimes that show could get a bit too graphic or disturbing in the forensics for me. When my mom started watching Criminal Minds though, I latched onto it very quickly. While there is still some graphic stuff, I liked that it went more into the minds of criminals than the forensics stuff. Plus, I just love the characters and their dynamic. My family has almost every season of the show on DVD and I have watched most of them several times.

As for why Ashley Seaver specifically, well – consider this: she’s the daughter of a criminally insane person that was removed was from her life as a teenager and that has shaped her a lot. She has dedicated her life to stopping people like her dad and helping people like her, but the experience has also made her a bit snarky and cynical and given her a tendency to to distance herself from others. She is brought onto a team that initially has trouble trusting her as a probationary member that later becomes accepted as a full member and in being with this group, she begins to realize that they all really care about her and starts to learn to open herself up more.

She is also an underrated character with an extremely interesting set up who was cast aside and largely forgotten way too soon.

I have two main types for characters, my friend. And she hits both of them.

BUTTERCUP

There isn’t really a whole lot to say for Buttercup besides that she is the titular character of my favourite book and movie of all time. She’s the reason my dad calls me princess and says as you wish to me a lot. She is the reason I tried to crimp my hair (with very stupid looking results that thankfully are not photographically preserved) as a kid. She’s a character I’ve had a strong attachment to for as long as I can remember, so I couldn’t not put her here honestly.

EMMELINE VANCE

Emmeline is another character I wrote previously in an RP group. I love Harry Potter and I love the unexplored possibilities of the Marauder’s Era. While I was in this group, I grew very attached to Emmeline and she quickly became one of my favourite muses to write, so when I made this blog it was an easy choice to bring her back here.

FAWN

Yet another former group RP character (a lot of those are/will be on this blog. They’re about half the reason I made it tbh. The other half is characters I wanted to play but didn’t feel I could handle more separate blogs for). Tinkerbell is one of my favourite animated characters, but when I started watching some of the disney fairies movies, Fawn interested me a lot. Her love of animals is something that I shared and is a character that I saw quite a bit of myself in. When we were developing some of the disney fairies for our group rp, my friend and I cowrote Fawn’s bio, taking a lot of inspiration from the area I grew up in and some of my personality traits. We’re far from the same person, but there’s a lot of similarities between us that were used in developing her background for our group universe, which basically meant I had to play her after that and, like Adella and Emmeline, she was one I became very attached to wanted to revive here.

FELICIA HARDY

One of my earliest introductions to Marvel was this Spider-Man video game my dad had and there were a few levels in it that featured a lot of Black Cat. She is basically my first memory of female marvel characters so there’s a lot of love and nostalgia there. Also, I have a thing for morally grey revolving door type characters apparently. It’s not a problem….

HATTER

Another former RP group character. Hatter was the first of the small handful of male muses I have written. Alice in Wonderland has always been one of my favourite stories, I have seen countless adaptations of it, and the many different approaches you can take to these characters intrigue me and make Hatter a fun person to write and develop.

KAREN PAGE

So I never read a whole lot of Daredevil before. It wasn’t that I didn’t like DD, it’s just that he didn’t appeal to me as much as the various X-Men groups, Cloak & Dagger, and some of the other series I read. However, when the Netflix show came out I just fell in love with Karen Page! She’s a character I’d been wanting to try out writing for a while but since I had so many blogs, I didn’t want to start a new one. Then I made this blog basically for the reason of being able to try out a bunch of muses I wanted to play so she was added here!

OSWALD

Another damaged, underrated character! Wow! Are you shocked?! (Also another former RP character).

Wanting to play Oswald came a little bit from Disney Nerd-ness. Does it get much more underrated than Walt’s forgotten first major character?

Plus, I just really loved Epic Mickey and yeah. He’s my type obvs.

ROSALIE HALE

The Twilight novels are my guilty pleasure, okay? I will freely admit this. Also continuing the trend of the damaged. Rose is one of the example I point to when it comes to the side characters in Twilight being more interesting than the main characters. Her history is sad, her love with Emmett is beautiful, and I just love her.

Also fun fact: my cousins and I did a play of Twilight for our families when the first movie came out because we were that freaking lame and I played Rose in that. Why do some of these characters have such embarrassing stories attached to them??

TESSIE

Another former RP character I was very fond of. Tessie is based off of one of Thumper’s sisters from Bambi (underdeveloped side character trend returns) so she’s a little bit more of an OC, but she has been fun to develop. She’s sweet and softspoken and probably a lot more like me than a lot of my other muses.

WANDA MAXIMOFF

Wanda is my favourite Avenger and favourite technically non x-men marvel character (though lbr, axis didn’t happen and she’s still a x-affiliated character). She fits My Type that I described with Ashley, and she’s a characted I relate to a lot for one reason or another even though we come from very different backgrounds. I currently write her as part of an RP group as well and I enjoy playing her there, but as much as I love group RPs and establishing a connected universe, I love the freedom of Indie RP a lot too and wanted to be able to play around with her more in an unlimited setting so….she’s here now too.

#sebastianshaw #answered ( ooc )#ooc ( munday )#so many patterns here omg

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placetobenation · 5 years ago

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Bambi

Release Date: August 13th, 1924 (released August 21st nationwide)

Inspiration: “Bambi: A Life in the Woods” by Felix Salten

Budget: $858,000

Domestic Gross: $102 million

Worldwide Gross: $267 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

IMDB Score: 7.3/10

Storyline (per IMDB): It’s spring, and all the animals of the forest are excited by the forest’s latest birth, a buck fawn his mother has named Bambi. The animals are more excited than usual as Bambi’s lineage means he will inherit the title of prince of the forest. Along with his mother, Bambi navigates through life with the help of his similarly aged friends, Thumper, a rabbit kit who needs to be continually reminded by his mother of all the lessons his father has taught him about how to live as a rabbit properly, and Flower, a skunk kit who likes his name. As different animals, they have their own issues and challenges which may not translate to the others. Being similarly aged, Bambi, Thumper and Flower may have to experience the uncharted phases of their lives without the knowledge or wisdom unless gleaned from those who have gone through them before. Bambi has to learn early that the lives of deer and of many of the other forest animals are not without their inherent dangers, for deer especially in the beautiful albeit exposed meadow. Bambi will also find that his ascension to prince of the forest is not a guarantee as other buck deer and situations may threaten that ascension.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We continue on through this trek with a pretty interesting film here in Bambi. This is one that I have seen a few times when I was younger, but it was never one of my favorites and this is another one that I have not seen in quite a long time. This film is unique because it is pretty beloved and considered by many to be one of the best in Disney’s film canon, but we will see if this can live up to that hype and if I end up enjoying it more than I ever remembered.

Voice Cast: For the first time and what might possibly be the only time though we will have to see as we keep going forward, we have multiple actors voicing a character at different points in their life. To start things off, we have four different actors voicing Bambi at different stages of his life and they are Bobby Stewart, Donnie Dunagan, Hardie Albright, and allegedly John Sutherland though there is some debate as to who was the actual voice of Bambi as an adult. For the character of Thumper, we had Peter Behn, Tim Davis, and Sam Edwards provide the voices and they were a solid trio for such a fun character, and for Flower we had Stan Alexander, Tim Davis also voicing this character, and the returning Sterling Holloway as he starts to become a fixture for Disney. The only other character to have multiple voices is Faline as she is voiced by Cammie King and Ann Gillis, and then we have Paula Winslowe in one of her final roles as Bambi’s mother as well as one of the pheasants. We then have Will Wright as the voice of Friend Owl as he acts as the grandfather figure in a way to the animals, and then we have Thelma Boardman who at the time was the voice of Minnie Mouse providing voices for various animals. Finally, we have Fred Shields voicing Bambi’s father and Disney writer and producer Perce Pierce voicing Mr. Mole, and even though the dialogue for this film was fairly limited these actors were good fits for these characters.

Hero/Prince: After the last three films where we had a hero and no prince, that changes here as Bambi is technically called a prince by the animals when he is born. His father is the protector of the forest and is referred to as the Great Prince, but it would make more sense for him to be called a King since Bambi is called a prince. While it does seem kind of weird at first, it would make sense that the animals of the forest would organize into a sort of kingdom and the deer would be considered the highest order in the kingdom. We see Bambi clearly being groomed to take over for his father and he proves his worth by saving Faline from Rollo, and then he helps his father save the animals when the forest is burned by Man. While he probably won’t rank high amongst human princes in the canon, Bambi is worthy of being included as a prince.

Princess: Obviously with Bambi being called a prince, whomever he ends up being with would become his princess of the forest and in this case that is the doe Faline. While we don’t see much of their relationship play out on the big screen, we know that Bambi is not real fond of Faline when they are young and it isn’t until they are older that he becomes attracted to her. He even goes as far as to fight with another buck for her affections and then he helps save her from the dogs before the forest burns, and she ends up being his wife and they give birth to twins who will take over for them. Much like how Bambi will rank pretty low amongst the princes, Faline will probably rank very low amongst the rest of the princesses though she does deserve to be recognized here.

Villain: This is an interesting one since this is the first film to come out that features all animals as the characters and we don’t see any humans at all, but we do hear reference to what the animals simply call “Man” and he is the villain of this film. “Man” is a hunter who hunts the animals and at one point ends up killing Bambi’s mother, and then he returns with more hunters along with a pack of dogs who go after Faline and Bambi has to save her. They then indirectly lead to the forest being set on fire due to their campfire and while nothing ends up happening to them, they end up being one of the more memorable villains in Disney history. We do have to make mention as well to Rollo, the buck that fights Bambi for Faline’s affection and while he makes a very brief appearance, he does give Bambi a good fight only for Bambi to vanquish him and win Faline’s heart. In the end, “Man” will definitely rank higher than Rollo on the list of villains and it will be interesting to see where “Man” ranks amongst the other villains in the Disney canon.

Other Characters: This is an interesting film in that there are a lot of characters involved, but the majority of them are simply background characters to fill out the space while there are only a few that have a larger role in the film. Obviously, we start out with both of Bambi’s friends in Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk, and Thumper is a lot closer to Bambi than Flower is though both of them remain close to Bambi as they grow up and become adults. We then have Bambi’s parents with his mother raising him by herself for most of his early life until her tragic death at the hands of hunters, and then his father who is the Great Prince of the forest taking him under his wing and grooming him to take his place. Finally, we have Friend Owl who as mentioned serves as a grandfather figure to the forest, and while all he wants to do is rest he is always there to help his fellow animals. The rest of the animals in the forest as mentioned are just background characters to fill out the space and they live out their own lives while Bambi grows up by them.

Songs: For the first time in the Disney canon and potentially the only time though we will see going forward, the songs that are performed in this film are not sung by any of the characters and are done by a mysterious chorus to serve as background noise. We waste no time as we start with “Love is a Song” which we hear during the opening credits to set the tone, and then we have “Little April Shower” which is a nice song to listen to during a rainstorm. Next we have “Let’s Sing a Little Gay Spring Song” to celebrate the arrival of spring, and finally we have “I Bring You a Song” which is essence a love song to celebrate Bambi and Faline’s relationship. While these songs probably won’t rank high amongst the other songs in the canon, they are fine songs nonetheless and are fitting for this film.

Plot: The plot of Bambi is about as simplistic as you can get as we see Bambi grow up to become the future Great Prince of the forest, and we see him as a young deer before becoming a stag and an adult deer. The beauty of the film is watching Bambi grow up as he learns about the world around him as well as the danger of man, and he gets a sobering dose of reality when he learns that his mother was killed and his father looks after him. We see him fall in love with Faline and fight off a challenge from Rollo before man returns to the forest, and he saves Faline from a pack of dogs before he and his father save the rest of the animals from the fire. We close out the film with Faline giving birth to twins as Bambi officially takes over as Great Prince of the forest, and while again the plot is pretty simplistic it works in this film and it is unique seeing this kind of film especially after what we have seen prior to this.

Random Watching Thoughts: I’m anxious to see when we stop seeing Radio RKO Pictures; So if you are wondering who Sidney Franklin is, he is a director and had originally purchased the rights to do Bambi as a live action film which would’ve been wild, but he ended up selling it to Disney which in retrospect was probably the right decision so that’s why he’s recognized; This was originally set to be released after Snow White, but it was shelved due to the difficulty of adapting a novel aimed at adults into a film aimed for children; Reading up on this film, it is amazing how many ideas that they had for this film and also interesting that Disney had to cut 12 minutes from the film due to production costs; Poor Friend Owl looks like he just wants to relax but can’t because of all the hustle and bustle of Bambi’s birth; That was one hungry baby bird as he ate all the fruit and left none for his siblings; Could you imagine what’s going on in Bambi’s mind when he wakes up and all these strange creatures are looking at him with awe?; He got tired awfully quick after waking up which I get because he’s still a baby essentially; I wonder what name Thumper was thinking of; Thumper is clearly someone that just speaks what’s on his mind without thinking first; So in what ended up being an oversight, if you pay attention when the bunnies run with Bambi you see Thumper because he is grey but when they slide down the little hill, he becomes the same color as the other bunnies; He let that “bird” out loud if he blew away all the animals; Considering that Flower is a male skunk, he is pretty effeminate; So a fun anecdote, in my Senior year of high school for Drama class we had to reenact a scene with at least three different characters and one of my classmates chose the scene where Bambi and Thumper meet Flower; It is real talent of the animators to match up the raindrops and the sounds of the storm with the song as it is being played; That’s a pretty thick thicket that Bambi and his mother are in if they are not getting wet by the rain; I do wonder where this forest would be located in real life; Bambi’s mother says that the meadow is a wonderful place and gets him so excited, but then freaks him out when she says that it is dangerous as well; It would be like Thumper to only eat the blossoms of the flower and leave the greens; We always hear Thumper’s mother tell Thumper what his father would say though we never see his father; Faline is clearly smitten with Bambi and it is love at first sight for her at least; I love the majestic music they play when the bucks come through the meadow; I wonder why Bambi’s mother didn’t tell him right there that the Great Prince was his father especially after he looked at him; So reportedly hunters spoke out against the film saying that it was an insult to sportsmen; I do love the crows that appear before “Man” does as they are a great foreshadow; That was a quick jump to winter and I assume it is still the same year; I will admit if I was little and watching this in the theater, I probably would start getting a bit bored by this point; So instead of being frozen, the water in the pond is stiff according to Thumper; It is pretty funny watching Bambi try to stand on the ice and Thumper trying to help him; So Flower is trying to hibernate and Bambi and Thumper decide to wake him up for a brief time; The deer cleared the bark off of those trees pretty quickly and left themselves nothing for the rest of winter; So apparently Disney wanted to show Bambi’s mother being killed by “Man” on screen, but they decided against it which was probably smart since you didn’t want to traumatize the children watching it; I still wonder why the Great Prince now decides to take Bambi under his care only after his mother is killed and acknowledges that he’s his father; Again, is this the spring immediately after winter or did we jump ahead a few years since Bambi grew up fairly quickly; Once again, poor Friend Owl just wants to sleep and is bothered by the racket, but if he knows this keeps happening how does he not just block it out?; So leave it to Friend Owl to tell Bambi and his friends about love or as he calls it “twitterpated”; I love how Bambi and his friends are confident that they will never fall in love, but then they quickly fall head over heels for their female counterparts; That’s a pretty intense fight between Bambi and Rollo especially since it is in the shadows; So they wouldn’t show Bambi’s mother being killed on screen, but they have no problem showing the pheasant falling back to the ground after getting shot; I wonder if those hunters are actually poachers since they are pretty much firing at anything that moves; What did those hunters do to those dogs to make them so aggressive?; Bambi does a great job in taking out all those dogs by himself; How many gasps were in the crowd when they saw Bambi jump across the gap and then you hear the gunshot, thinking that Bambi has been killed?; So in another interesting fact, they originally wanted the men to be killed in the fire that they in essence started, but that was changed when no humans were shown on screen; How dry was the forest that the fire was able to spread so quickly?; Quite handy that there is a small island in the middle of a lake that the animals can take refuge at; It is a beautiful metaphor that despite all the damage caused by the fire, the forest was able to recover and bloom once again; Did Friend Owl stay in his tree throughout the whole fire?; That is cute that Flower named his son Bambi after his best friend; I wonder if Bambi and Faline’s children were fraternal twins or identical twins because if they were both boys, that would be a good plot for a sequel to see which one would become Bambi’s successor; Considering that 12 minutes were cut from the film, I can’t imagine what those 12 minutes would’ve really added to the film.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, the film ended up being a pretty decent little film though it was a bit weaker than the other films aside from Fantasia. This was an interesting film in that it was almost in essence a nature film about the lives of deer, and when it first came out it was not well-received as many felt Disney had finally lost a step and apparently even his own daughter did not like it. It also didn’t do well at the box office though again that was more due to World War II going on, but the reception of the film has gotten more positive as the years have gone on with many considering it a classic. I don’t completely agree with that because I do feel it can be a bit boring and slow in some spots, but that doesn’t take away that it is well done in terms of a story and in the animation. We are now five films into the canon and all these films have been pretty solid, but it does feel we have been on a bit of a downswing since Pinocchio and we will see how that continues to pan out. As for Bambi, it is a solid film that may not be one of the greatest in the Disney canon, but it is still a pretty good film.

Final Grade: 7/10

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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themindfulword · 8 years ago

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THANKING ANNE LAMOTT: How the author helped save a reader from the throes of addiction

The following has been excerpted from Watch My Rising, an anthology that contains inspirational stories and poems, written by various individuals, about recovering from alcoholism and/or drug addiction.

A now-or-never situation

“Shit or get off the pot!” I knew that my daughter was right. I’d almost forgotten that she and her husband were in the front seat as I sat in the back trying to slow my racing heart. My daughter made it clear that if we were going in, we needed to do it now. I could only imagine what my son-in-law was thinking. Time was running out and so was patience in the front seat. I’d been planning and picturing this for months. I was visiting California for a week and would be returning to Illinois soon. This was a now-or-never situation. There was a part of me that had believed all along that, even if we got here, the church or the woman wouldn’t be real. But I was looking at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. It was real. So was the green Subaru that pulled in and parked next to us and so was the woman who emerged from that Subaru. There was no mistaking those blonde dreadlocks—Anne Lamott had just arrived. Seven years before I’d sat in a different parking lot, one that was, literally and figuratively, thousands of miles away from where I was now. As police cars screeched into that parking lot and blocked me in, I knew I’d been caught. Unexpected relief washed over me and I thought, Maybe this is the thing that’ll keep me from killing myself. It’s not like there hadn’t been other events and circumstances prior to that which should have put a stop to my drug use, but so far ... nothing had. I’d started drinking and using at 15 and had continued for the next 27 years despite the countless negative consequences. And then, there I was, getting arrested for calling in a prescription for Vicodin. I’d like to say that starting at that moment a light went on, a switch flipped, and I never touched another drug, but that wouldn’t be true. It took me another five months, a nearly fatal overdose, and being put on probation before I would, for the first time in my adult life, spend 18 months free of any drugs or alcohol.

Finding the answers through books

As part of my probation I’d been ordered to attend 12-step meetings, have the leader of each meeting sign a paper proving that I’d attended, and bring the paper to my probation officer once a month. The people in the meetings went out of their way to make me feel welcome and I saw that their program worked for them; however, I wasn’t convinced that it was going to work for me. Knowing that I needed something more, I turned to a thing that had, so often throughout my life, offered me entertainment and escape as well as answers: books. I read everything I could get my hands on that was written by or for addicts. One Friday night when I had three or four months clean, I left a meeting feeling restless and unnerved. I’d gotten through the worst of the physical part of getting clean, but now I was being forced to live without the one thing that I believed made life possible for me to deal with. The one thing that made me a fun, interesting person. The one thing, other than my children, that I couldn’t imagine living the rest of my life without. Not ready to go home, I went to Barnes & Noble instead. On the outside, I looked fine, but my brain felt like Bambi on that frozen pond. Thumper might be laughing, but I wasn’t. I headed directly to the shelves of books on addiction. As my eyes scanned the books, my brain ticked off: I’ve read that one, I’ve read that one, I’ve read that one. I started to panic. How could I have read all of these books and still not found an answer? What if I read everything there was to read and I still didn’t have this shit figured out? Just as I reached a point where I either needed to find a book I hadn’t read or find a paper bag to breathe into, a title caught my eye. The Harder They Fall: Celebrities Tell Their Real-Life Stories of Addiction and Recovery. I snatched it off the shelf and read the back cover: Alice Cooper, Steve Earle, Mariette Hartley, Richard Lewis, Malachy McCourt, Chuck Negron, Richard Prior and Grace Slick were among the people whose stories were included inside. Alice Cooper and Grace Slick and Richard Pryor—oh my! It didn’t get any cooler than that. I bought the book and cracked it open as soon as I got home. I started with the essays by the people I was familiar with, and then proceeded on to the essays by people I hadn’t heard of. All the stories had different characters, different settings, different details—yet the journeys were the same. Each one was inspiring and spoke to me, at least on an intellectual level.

Anne Lamott I finished reading about Dock Ellis at around two in the morning. One side effect of removing opiates from your system is a difficulty in being able to sleep. I was finally tired, but as I put the book down, the page turned and there, with fabulous blonde dreads and eyes of pure understanding, was Anne Lamott. It looked like an essay I’d like to read at some point, but not tonight. Then the William Cowper quote that she’d chosen for the beginning of her piece caught my eye: "The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head." The.clouds.ye.so.much.dread.are.big.with.mercy.and.shall.break.in.blessings.on.your.head. I read it. Over and over. And I wept. It was the first time since getting clean that words had made their way around my brain and into my gut. I was terrified of what the clouds of a future without an anesthetized brain held for me. I’m not a person who romanticizes events. I believe in coincidence, but not fate. I don’t believe that everything happens for a reason. But in that moment, I believed that Anne Lamott had left me a note—much like a note from a mother sent in a lunch box on the first day of school—an assurance that I could do this. And for the first time, I believed it.

First glimpse of Anne

My son-in-law had opted to sleep in the car during the service, but my daughter and I made our way into the church and found seats on the far right side. Anne sat in the section that mirrored ours. Had the sanctuary been a scale, she would have been my counterbalance. Partway through the service Anne left with a few teenagers. I knew from reading her essays that she taught Sunday school classes and assumed that’s where they were headed. I held a card on which I’d written the things I needed to tell her and planned to leave it with someone if I didn’t get the chance to meet Anne. I also brought a copy of her book, Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life for her to sign and a camera so I could have a picture of myself with her. There was nothing to do now but sit back and wait, politely, while the pastor gave the sermon. I anticipated a sermon that would be full of “Jesusy” things that I, as an atheist, wouldn’t agree with and didn’t want to hear. It remains a mystery to me why I doubted that I would find inspiration and wisdom from a source where Anne had clearly gained so much of her own. As I listened to the sermon, I was moved by words that were, like the “clouds ye so much dread” quote, not written by Anne, but words that she was responsible for my having heard. I didn’t doubt that the universe knew I was coming and knew what I needed to hear. “Although we'd lost contact, my brother and I were once close,” the minister was saying. “I was at a culinary store that’s a couple hours from my home. An employee was demonstrating a cooking technique using salt blocks. I remembered that my brother fancied himself an amateur chef and thought it would be a great gift for him.” She went on to talk about how, even though she thought about sending the salt block to her brother, she didn’t do it because they didn’t have much of a relationship anymore. She returned home, but couldn’t get the salt block or her brother out of her head. A few days later she made the two-hour drive back to the store, bought the salt block and shipped it to her brother. “He called to thank me and we ended up spending several hours on the phone: laughing, crying, apologizing, and forgiving. That was five years ago and we’ve rebuilt our relationship. I almost didn’t send that salt block. I learned that day that if there’s something that you feel the need to do for someone, by all means, you should. Don’t let yourself ‘think’ away the ‘feel’ of it.”

Nutty and fabulous and crazy as shit

I’d had doubts about making this trip from the first time the idea went through my mind, up until this moment. Sometimes it felt like a divine mission, other times it felt stalkerish. However, during the sermon, any doubt I’d had about my quest to thank Anne Lamott disappeared. Even if she ran away screaming, I needed to see this through. After the service, I approached one of the women who’d gotten up and spoken and was clearly also a recovering addict. I explained that Anne Lamott’s words had probably saved my life and had definitely saved my sanity. “I have this card for her,” I said, as my courage and resolve began to flounder. “Could you give it to her, please?” “No,” said the woman with a facial expression that gave nothing away. “You need to give it to her yourself.” With that she turned and walked out the sanctuary door and into the courtyard. My daughter and I followed. After finding Anne’s essay that night, and being rocked by the quote she’d selected, it had taken me a few days to pick the book back up. At the time, I didn’t know what my hesitation was, but looking back, I think I feared answers as strongly as I craved them. It wasn’t going to be easy. I’d been lying to everyone for my entire life. What she showed me through her truth was that the person I’d lied to the most was myself. Being radically honest with myself would be my salvation. It was, and always will be, the biggest factor when it comes to keeping myself from going down the path of self-destruction, no matter whether that path is paved with drugs or men or self-centeredness or any of the other things I’m capable of using to run my life into the gutter. The churchgoer who’d decided not to be my personal U.S. Postal Service led us across the courtyard and into a small room where the Sunday school class was wrapping up. Everyone in the room, Anne included, stopped what they were doing and stared at us. Fortunately, our guide gave a brief synopsis of what was going on. I was at a loss for words. How do you thank a woman who, without any knowledge of it, went from being a stranger to a saviour? How do you thank her for finding the way, sharing her story, and in doing so convincing you that life could be a thousand times better without drugs? How do you thank her for leading you and your estranged daughter back to each other?

How do you thank her for writing the words that provided a light at the end of a dark, hopeless tunnel and inspiring you to do the same for others? You just do. I don’t remember exactly what I said to Anne or all of what she said to me. I do remember her introducing me to a couple who was in the room. “This is Barb and Kevin. They’re like us. Crazy as shit.” Who says that? Someone who's fabulous and nutty and maybe a little awkward in the wake of a grateful stranger showing up to thank her. Someone who's going to be just fine with the fact that she didn’t, in that moment, have something profound or eloquent to say. Someone who taught me that it’s okay for me to be imperfectly myself, too. I made the decision to leave my camera and my copy of Bird By Bird in my purse. I don’t have a picture with her or an autographed copy of her book, but it didn’t feel right to ask for either. I was there to say thank you, not to ask for more than she’d already given me.

A monumental date

As we were saying our goodbyes, Anne mentioned that she’d recently celebrated the anniversary of her clean date. I knew that she started her journey many years before I did. What I didn’t know until that moment was that both of us celebrated the anniversary of that beginning every year on July 7. Read more about addiction in AMERICA THE ADDICTED: Must we wait until we hit bottom?» image 1: Max Pixel; image 2: Zboralski via Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons BY-SA / Cropped from original); image 3: Sandro Kharazashvili via Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons BY-SA) Click to Post

#addiction #alcoholic #Anne Lamott #books #celebrities #drugs #substance abuse

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