#Sensory gym Long island

[theralympicspeech]

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[soranihimawari]

...Chimera & Jackal...

@m0nstergeneration20xx & @sakuric bc my brain said let’s do a sakusa story at midnight.

There is an album in your gym neighbor’s hands. He is clutching on to it like a landline; there is an audible hum rising around him and the scowl he wears deepens.

“If you stare long enough you might turn to stone.”

Your voice crescendos around his aura and he finds himself visibly relaxing. You’ve been in enough classes with him to know the visible signs of a sensory overload break coming through, so you walk toward the information desk in the concourse you’re in, passing the venue banner. you maneuver through the crowd like the worker bee and pretty soon, he understands what you were doing.

When you reach the other side of the concourse, you turn around with an approving bop of your head when your eyes meet. You flash a toothy grin at him and he momentarily blinks. The hands on the album becomes ironclad as he begins the arduous journey to meet you.

“Miss me already?” you chuckle at the way his brow furrows when his cousin snickers at the way you’re slowly changing each other for the better. You let the cousins know you’re heading out after Komori suggests you join them for dinner at the family estate.

“It’ll be fun. It’s scrabble night,” komori informs you. His cousin on the other hand, yells through his eyes at his ex-captain. You entertain the idea of attending, but at the same time, you are considerate to the pillar who seems like he’s about to die of you accept, so you do what you do best: you say a word which is recognized with the scrabble dictionary.

“Adipopexia,” you say the word with ease. Your tone is warm and vibrant, thus causing a small change in tone. You don’t know what kind of game Komori is playing, but you feel he loves to make his cousin a little more accepting of the general public.

“If you’ll excuse me boys, I have a meeting with my thesis sponsor. Text me later if you need me!”

What you don’t see if the way Komori chuckles at how flushed his cousin’s cheekbones turn as you wave from across the promenade on your way to the liberal arts office building.

☆+ ﾟ. ꕤ.+ .ﾟ*.ﾟ｡ ﾟ ♡｡. +ﾟ ｡

A month passes and finally you stare at the giant iron gate in front of the largest estate you have ever seen. You had half a mind that this was a prank and the tiny houses in the surrounding neighborhood was where the Sakusa/Komori residence truly was. Then you decide to take out your phone from your purse thereby tempting fate when you press the sequence of digits both of them send you (the first time, you thought Komori was really joking, but when your phone receives a confirmation from the other, you close your eyes and pinch the bridge of your nose.)

Currently, it is eleven thirty on a Saturday morning. You mutter a curse as the gates truly do open before you and you follow the path through the front lawn. In your hand, you hold a congratulatory card for your fellow (thesis candidate partner) classmate after news traveled he was signed to a professional team. An accidental panic sets in because of your simplistic style choice of tapered indigo pants and graphic tee (paired with ballet flats). Your hair was pulled back into place with a banana clip, so you weren’t expecting the house door to be answered by a professional housekeeper whom you mistake for a family member.

“Who are you?” Her voice is a mixture of annoyance and false kindness.

“I’m a friend of Komori and Sakusa? From the university down the road...?”

Invoking the name of the young men of the house did not dwell well with this lady. You were still denied entry, so you apologize a first time after the third attempt. You extend the card in your hand sighing with as you turn on your heels to leave the premises leaving it in her care.

Inside, the first floor is filled with a few sponsors along with fellow members of the team are seen conversing with their new player who remains oblivious to your sauntering off his father’s home. Komori sees the house keeper holding a card which she is abut to place in the recycle bin, he asks her why she turned away the celebrant’s friend at the door. He takes the card from her and works his way to where his cousin stands in his business-casual attire.

“Excuse me,” Komori interjects. “I need to borrow Omi, for a second.” He explains what happened on the way to the garage entrance reassuring him he’ll bring you back and clear up the misunderstanding.

“In the mean time, you should read the card they got you, ‘Snake-Eyes.’”

Sakusa Kiyoomi only allowed one person to call him that when they met him on orientation day; they were the same one who taught him what adipopexia meant. And when his phone rings, Sakusa hears your voice through the receiver.

“I’m with Komori-San right now, but he wanted me to tel you our eta is ten minutes. Is that ok with you?”

That question was the first easily answered one in a long time for him.

When Komori walks back into the main house, you have to do a double take. You’re a few paces behind him before you hear a rather rambunctious group of voices around the corner.

“Komori! There you are! We were looking for you,” his aunt greets. “Seems like you forgot to introduce us to your friend there.”

You straighten your back and relax your shoulders a bit before sticking out your hand which goes unshaken, so you smile as you play with your own wrist.

“My classmates call me Chi.”

“Ah like the auras?”

You walk past her after Komori stares at his parent for their rudeness. Sakusa and the other players see you and judging by the angered expression on his face, you weren’t going to back away from this woman.

“Mother, please. Not now.”

“My name is Chi, ma’am. It’s short for Chimera, the Greek monsters which breathe fire and traditonally are depicted in the arts with a lion’s head, goat’s body, and serpent tale.”

Sakusa looks to Komori who just shrugs it off like it’s the best damn thing he heard all week.

“You’re a rude little thing, aren’t you?” she seethes as you keep your composure. “Where did you learn to speak like this to someone above your station?”

“The moment you brought down the collective intelligence quotient of the entire neighborhood ma’am. Maybe we’ll meet again on scrabble night when you’re done day drinking to your success.”

Komori has a hard time keeping a straight face while Sakusa’s expression is hard to read, you could tell he was trying not to chuckle at your clever wit.

“I should of recorded that,” Komori says. “It’s about time someone else put that woman in her place.”

“Your mother is wild,” you chide. “Is that why you asked me to come to scrabble night?”

“Nah,” Komori answers. “I was just tired of hearing Omi talk about you like you’re the only one he cannot function properly around.”

“I like him too,” you say as Sakusa starts walking toward you with the newer members of the MSBY team. Everyone on the rookie and senior roster were eager to introduce themselves to the outspoken student with a mighty name.

☆+ ﾟ. ꕤ.+ .ﾟ*.ﾟ｡ ﾟ ♡｡. +ﾟ ｡

You don’t often find yourself inside the MSBY training grounds, but this was at the request of the captain and the manager. Apparently their starting setter called out Sakusa for not being able to hit his sets and somehow that spiraled into the two of them not syncing up the rest of practice. From what you gather with the information presented, you knew the setter would bounce back first the following day, but Sakusa, who still keeps mostly to himself, does not budge. He elected to stay behind for a little while after to collect his thoughts.

You are given a family and friends badge to clip on the collar of your jersey styled dress (you had a dissertation presentation to attend earlier that day, so here you arrive with a metallic jumpsuit and jacket). You sent a text to Sakusa’s phone letting him know you were invited to come. You hear the rhythmical combination of plays being made in center court. You arrive in time to see your classmate nail an close cross-shot with a loud thwack!

Presently Sakusa walks side by side with you back toward his apartment. You think nothing of it when you ask him to come inside when you reach the fancy building in this district. You listen to him complain about everyone including the damning things Miya had said to him during practice. You figured you let him vent as you were recently still getting better acquainted outside of academia as a whole. You switch the conversation topic to a foolish once:“Mmhm,” you muse. “You do like my company Omi.”

Instead of a proper answer, Sakusa Kiyoomi opens the door of his home behind you as you step back into his home. It takes an insane amount of control on both of your parts before you see the athlete pull down his mask to finally act out what he was feeling since he had properly been introduced to you on campus in your joint third semester. His lips touch your Cupid’s bow first because of your height difference, but you shake your head with a soft smile.

“Care to do that again?” He asks you in a playfully menacing way.

His bag lands in the floor prior to leaning forward again and he drops his center of gravity as though he’s about to receive a serve from his captain.

“Sakusa, I swear to you if I—ack!”

The surprise lift he has you secured in was irratic on it’s on accord, but when you adjust your arms and place them against his shoulders, Sakusa nearly growls at the contact.

“My lips are right here,” you chide. Tilting your face to your left, Sakusa manages to successfully kiss you this time.

First kisses are a difficult thing for anyone to navigate, yet there is a veil of innocence surrounding you both since you teach him that showing displays of affection is a love language you are fluent in and his, on the other hand, is touching the subject of desire aka you. And so one kiss turned to two, which turned to three as you let him walk you to the kitchen that has an island counter and he tells you to sit still for a moment.

“You’re being awfully affectionate today,” he tells you this in confidence. You sit atop the granite surface expecting him to kiss you senseless, which he does the moment your hands bring him down to press chaste kisses up and down your collar bone.

You accidentally moan his name into his ear when his nose tickles the nape of yours neck.

“I’ll kiss you for real princex,” the slight growl is there again. “I’ll kiss you until you’re breathing stops.”

If anything, you relearn a few things: one, Sakusa Kiyoomi comes from a successful family; two, he’s insanely dedicated to playing volleyball ; and right now, he’s thoroughly enjoying kissing you in the comfort of his own home.

“Sakusa, is~ahh~ are you formerly asking me to be your lover right now?”

Sakusa pauses his onslaught of wanting to mark you with his lips for a moment, so he nods sheepishly. Your smile is radiant the moment you accept his proposal he almost loses his composure entirely. There is time for that too, but for now being drunk in love in his kitchen is a good start.

[anastasiaskarsgard]

Hydrangea - Chapter 1

The home was large and imposing. Located on the second largest island, in the Stockholm archipelago, it was connected to Stockholm by a bridge, which meant it was in the perfect location to quickly reach the rest of civilization whenever the moment was required -- but was enough out of the way that I didn't have to be bothered by anyone. The quiet location of the home allowed me the peace and privacy recent events, had made so valuable.

Upon stepping inside, I noted the dust that covered every single surface within the home; and on the kitchen table -- sat a magazine from six years ago. It had been a while since anyone used this place. It had been in our family for several generations, and although it was grand and beautiful in the summer, it was a hard place to live in the winter. Just heating it, was a small fortune, especially considering it had no protection or barriers to help shield it from the ferocious frozen winds, that relentlessly lasted the coldest months of an already savage cold.

 My tiny Pomeranian, Max, took a moment to sniff around. He was as fearless as he was adorable, and I could only pray that he managed to stay out of trouble. Max was my loyal little man, and when i was at my lowest, he really helped me keep going. I had given up on myself, but I couldnt let my little Max down. I leaned down and gave him a quick back rub, before he trotted off to sniff around some more. I could only imagine the sensory overload all this was to a little city dog, that now had an entire new world to investigate.

I walked around the house, going from room to room, opening up windows to let in the fresh air. I peeked over at my neighbors house, and was pleased to see people were there.

Back when I was growing up, I would come here every summer, without fail. During that time, I had managed to develop amazing friendships with the children who had lived next door -- Bill and Eija Skarsgard. Bill was the tall and lanky boy who would always have scrapes and bruises, and absolutely zero fear whatsoever. Eija, was just as bold as her older brother. She never failed to be confident in any situation -- even when I was hesitant about something. In fact, if I tried to chicken out, or god forbid, not even try, she always found a way to change my mind. I was a naturally timid child, but they would have none of it. There were 3 older brothers, and although theyd often humor us, they were too old to play our silly games of pretend.  But looking back on the events that led me here, I couldn't help but wish I’d stayed that sweet timid girl, that cried when i caught a fish, because id made its mouth bleed. Being fearless and passionate hadnt gone well for me.

These days, from what I'd seen online and read about in articles, it seemed that almost all of the Skarsgard brothers were actors. I remembered the father was some sort of artistic type, and was shocked his sons had followed suit, all but one of them, got so embarrassed by his unapologetic nudity. The boys I grew up playing "make believe" with as children, were now critically acclaimed actors. Not only that but beautiful ones at that! Bill had grown into quite the looker. He was handsome by anyone's standards,  with his rich and dark brown hair, sinful full lips, chiseled facial features and penetrating green eyes. Looking at him in magazines, it was mind-blowing that this was the same boy that helped me build dams out of stones, or dig in the dirt for hours. I was sorry I'd lost touch with them but was too shy to reach out to them now that they were famous. That wasn't why I missed them, although I'm sure that's what they'd think. I hoped that the fame hadn't gone to their heads and that they were still the friendly, free-spirited family that I had always remembered them to be before I couldn't find the time to come back to this place.

When you're a teenager, you don't want to escape the rat race; you want to be in the thick of it. I was by no means a party girl, but I did enjoy an active social life in my teens, and all through college. I was obsessed with getting good grades and was a bit of an overachiever, so I kept myself busy. I was always aloof with boys because frankly, they all seemed more trouble than they were worth. I had high standards and was of the mindset that I would rather be alone than settle for someone perfect for me. Then I met Adam.

Adam appeared perfect, at least at the surface. He was naturally athletic and tall, attractive by conventional standards; and very funny -- as well as charismatic and successful. He honestly had it all, or so I thought. People, myself included, were instinctively drawn in by him. Adam could always be counted upon for a good time with a great story. He was your typical all-american boy next door that you wanted to do bad things with. It’d actually flattered me, when he took an interest in me, and tirelessly pursued me.

If I had to describe myself, physically, I was fortunate enough to be naturally conventionally attractive as well. However, I had a standoffish vibe. In my defense, resting bitch face is a thing that can’t be fixed for some people, but with every cloud, there's a silver lining. Especially since it's saved me from numerous creeps approaching me, and at least gave me the illusion that I blended in, and didn't draw much notice. ��I HATED being the center of attention. On a Friday night, you're more likely to find me at home curled up on my couch engrossed in a good novel -- rather than dealing with strangers and drunk people.

I had a very secure career as a  business analyst, for a big utility company; so I was not the person you ever wanted to see. I analyzed our various departments and employees, to always be sure, we work at our most financial efficiency, and if I did come to see you, it wasn’t because to give you a high five. As long as I kept us out of the red, and looked professional and clean, they really couldn't have cared less about aging or being fashionable.

As time progressed within our relationship, I thought nothing of it when Adam got a new assistant at work named Alexis. Alexis had a lovely face and Victoria's Secret body. She was slender, and never appeared to have a single strand of hair out of place. A few friends made comments, but I defended her, annoyed people only looked at her superficially, and didn't take her seriously. I had suffered this same plight, my entire life, so I refused to acknowledge her beauty as anything suspicious. She was brilliant and tenacious, and her organizational skills were spectacular, and coming from me, that's quite a compliment.  She also knew a lot about healthy eating habits and managed to share diet and exercise tips with Adam when he started to find it difficult to fit in some of his suits. I thought it was sweet of him to make a new friend, and treat her like a peer and looking back, I want to choke myself.  I was, quite frankly, the most naive, trusting idiot on the planet.

It started simply; she would occasionally "forget" to give him some messages from me and once in a while laughing a little too much at one of his jokes that just wasn't as funny, or always would touch his arm or back or shoulder. Honestly, it was a tint bit annoying, but he had always been a handsome, charming guy, that made people feel comfortable. She wasn't the first one to be a bit too familiar, but at the end of the day, he loved me and wanted to marry me. I had no reason to not trust him because of her actions. If I'm honest, I probably should confess I am a bit of a reclusive type and am not very attentive or needy. Alone time is right up there with oxygen, for me, so I have to trust completely, or I’ll drive myself nuts.

If I’d paid closer attention, id have questioned why he started staying later and later at the office. I just assumed he was taking on more cases, that he had gained from all the free publicity when he had represented a notorious South American cartel crime lords son, and saved him from what was thought to be a certain a guaranteed death sentence. He’d still received a life sentence, but considering the 74 crimes had been guilty of, that was damn near a miracle! So, I didn’t mind when he had to cancel several dates with me. In fact, I was proud of him for getting more work, rising in the ranks of the legal hierarchy as well. Then there was his sudden disinterest in looking at houses with me. One of the most significant conflicts in our relationship had always been that I refused to move in together until we were married. Since we were going to be getting married at the end of summer, he had been foaming at the mouth to pick out our future home, but now it was like he planned on buying a house after we were married. I didn't let it bother me though, I figured that because of his busy work schedule, it would just be easier for me to take photos of the houses for him, and put them all in an online portfolio for him to review at his convenience. I even went as far as completely buying his bullshit excuse of "needing something to hold back his hair out of his eyes, while he was at the gym" when I found a woman's hair tye in his fucking bathroom. (Believe me, if I could go back and slap the shit out of myself --) :

It wasn’t until I received a call from my gynecologist with the results from my yearly pap smear -- that I was doused in the cold hard reality of what was going on. I had chlamydia, and quite frankly -- I wanted to cut his manhood off and make him eat it, I was so mad. I stormed into his office and burst through the doors dramatically slamming the test results on his desk in front of him. And you want to know the embarrassing part? I still didn't think it was Alexis.

“What dirty ass whore, have you been sticking your dick in? Who was worth throwing us away, because its fucking over.” I said menacingly enough, he scooted back a bit.

“I dont think you should talk about her like she cant hear you, for fucks sake,” he said looking over at Alexis who continued to work quietly and avoid eye contact with me; almost pretending as if nothing were wrong and she could not in fact hear me.

I was at a complete loss. I stood there with my mouth agape, trying to process this information, and when I could feel the lump in my throat rise, and the tears threatened to fall, I turned on my heel and left, without saying another word.

Looking back, I should have noticed several signs that something was amiss.

About six months ago, he became very concerned with his appearance; hitting the gym, eating healthy, buying anti-aging products, investing in several expensive wardrobe pieces, getting a new hairstyle. I had found it funny that at 30 years old, he was having a mid-life crisis. I’d tease him about it a little bit, and he’d just roll his eyes and say he wasn’t a natural stunner like me.

I’ve always been very low maintenance, but that’s because my body knows it has to keep it together because I’m not doing a bunch of crazy stuff to stay young. I’m totally fine with gray hairs, wrinkles and wearing my Juicy tracksuits that haven’t been in style, for a decade. There were better odds that I’d get superpowers than I’d get Botox.

I had been so blind. Such a fool.

When Adam came by my home to pick up his possessions he’d left there over the years, she came along and even had the audacity to come inside with him. She had this smug look on her face, and kept whispering to Adam and giggling. I knew she was trying to get a rise out of me but was a lady dammit... I held it together until they finally left, and as I closed the door and locked it behind them, I pressed my forehead to the door, willing myself to stay strong, but my legs got so weak, and the air felt like it’d been knocked out of me. And I suddenly felt far too heavy to stand. I crumpled to the floor, and curled myself into the fetal position, and cried like I, ve never cried in my entire life. Hysterical, slobberyface, sobbing with boogers, till my throat and diaphragm hurt, and then I cried some more.

My heart was broken. I felt like my life was over, and my chance at happiness had left with him. I sunk into a pretty deep depression and stopped cleaning the house and speaking to anyone outside of work. If it hadn't been for my loyalty to Max, I don't know if I would of left my house. I had to take care of Max tho, so I pressed on although I was a shell of my old self.

I’d torture myself looking at their social media accounts, with all their cute little pictures and sappy comments. I’d never been one to post 1000 pictures of my life or write to my boyfriend. I saw every day, professions of my love for all the world to see. I updated my Instagram maybe once a month, unlike Alexis, who seemed to update hers about once an hour. It was disgusting.

That’s how I saw the hydrangea bushes.

I always loved hydrangeas and had asked Adam if I could plant some at his office, and he’d always said they were too problematic. I’m an analyst, so rather than argue, I gathered various varieties and strains, what their strengths and weaknesses were, what colors were offered, how often they bloomed and what was required to keep them alive. I had presented Adam with the top 3 hydrangea candidates in folders that were the color they’d bloom to be, and was rather pleased with myself. He’d been busy at the time and handed the folders off to Alexis, promising to look them over later. I asked him a few times if he’d gotten a chance to look them over and he’d get annoyed, so I just let it go.

Now I was sitting here, seething with rage, looking at Alexis, posing next to a sizeable Bloomstruck hydrangea bush holding my motherfucking folder.

I don’t know what came over me, but I had to destroy that bush.: I stayed up all night, figuring out the best strategy. Finally, I decided to go by his office before sunrise, since no one would be around, for me to douse said bush in lighter fluid and walk away to let it soak in. Eventually, once they had arrived at the office a little bit later, I would wait for them to all be inside and then casually stroll on by and toss a lit match in the bush.

 Burn baby, burn! 

His office building was made out of bricks and the flowering bed was also encased in bricks; there was no risk of it getting out of control.

I jogged by, splashing the contents all over the bush, and then crossed the street to the parking garage, where I took the stairs up to the sixth floor, where I could see them arrive without being seen. People never look up.

It didn't take long before I saw Adam’s shiny black Mercedes pull into his reserved parking space, and imagine my surprise when Alexis got out the passenger side. I guess he was giving her rides to work now too, or maybe they even lived together. Frankly, I didn't care, but they were not getting happily ever after, with my favorite fucking flowers!

They kissed and held hands, in front of God and everybody. It was repulsive and so unprofessional. He pulled her into a deep kiss and then went inside, leaving her outside. What was she doing? I bet she was going to take some fucking selfies. She walked over to MY bush, digging in her purse. More pictures with the bush, but when she pulled something out of her purse, my stomach dropped. In her hand, she had a cigarette and a lighter. She tried to light her cigarette, but it was a windy day. Thank God, I breathed a sigh of relief until she huddled down into the bush, using it to block the wind and lit her cigarette. I'm not exaggerating when I say; she quite literally burst into flames.

 I watched in horror, as she ran around flailing her arms and screaming completely engulfed in flames. Then I turned around, and I ran as fast and as far as my legs would take me in the opposite direction.

I want to give a huge thank you for helping me with editing @imaginationlane. She is such a good writer, and she took the time to help point me in the right direction and I'm very thankful. I actually edited something!!!! Yeah!!!

If I should keep going, like or comment or reblog. I welcome any comments, good or bad.

[mebutanotherme]

Incoming 2019 Post

"My 2019 was tragic." "My 2019 was full of love." "I accomplished my biggest goal in 2019." "I lost someone very dear to me in 2019." "2019 was a rollercoaster ride, a tornado, and full of storms." Said the people I see posting on their social networking accounts. I wonder how my 2019 was. My 2019 started when I was halfway from my university graduation, and almost done with our group thesis. I remember that we were just calm about our thesis. I remember how our professor was very supportive of it, and was hopeful it would get published. The thesis and the process was memorable. I remembered how in midterm I failed in one subject, but passed with a very good rating by the final term. I remember how I was one of those who got the highest rating in a particular subject. The ratings I graduated with were excellent. It was my last year in university, and I finished excellently. After all academic work was done, I had the whole month of March free before graduation. My aunt from New York was home, and the family went on a vacation. We first went to Cebu, and visited my grandmother and cousins. Then we went to Bohol. We toured almost half the island, met the family of our origins, and stayed for one night in one of the most expensive resorts in the island. The next day, I'd be flying home alone for a graduation ball, while my family carried on with the vacation. It's always memorable to travel alone whether it be riding a bus, a boat, or an airplane. After a few days of April, graduation day finally came. I told myself months before that I'd cry on this day. The program was on time, but the speaker was late because of a delayed flight. Thus, I was just sleepy and exhausted that day, and I didn't cry. I remembered I vlogged on that day, just a simple snippet of how the program was, and where we ate after. I slept all afternoon, and the electricity went out all over the city. I don't know the reason though. I remember how my brain can finally rest from academic works, so I uninstalled academic apps on my phone. I then installed new apps, and I got hooked on webtoons. I read like a monster. I was binge-reading one webtoon to another. I was very complacent. I didn't care if I slept late or woke up late. I remember that I would take the board of licensed professional teachers by September so I enrolled in a review center where they produced board exam topnotchers. I also enrolled there because they praised God while orienting us about them. By June, I remembered that for the next 4 months, I'd be reviewing. I remember how I wanted to work while reviewing because I felt it wasn't my parents responsibility anymore to provide for me. However, I wasn't victorious in working. I wasn't able to sign up for it because the time they wanted me to sign up, I had only little time left for reviewing for the board exam. I remember I signed up in a gym for a lifetime membership. I've done only a month because I ran out of funds, and I had no means of earning because I was still reviewing. I borrowed my cousin's money, which I later on paid after how many months. I remember how I wanted to be fully devoted and determined in reviewing, studying, and learning new things from my review. Those weren't really achieved. I was out on weekly Friday fellowships, did art therapy, joined a gig, and spent deep time with God through prayer, journaling, and devotion. I was successful in abstaining from Twitter, Instagram, Webtoons, and YouTube by June to October. I couldn't give up Facebook for a long time because there were online reviews that I could watch. I remember how I really got into OPM indie because I made a friend who had an indie-folk band who was rising to fame. I discovered lots more of these amazing bands and artists, and started following them on their social networking accounts. I remember how this new friend I made was a bet of a friend for me. Yet thank God I didn't take her bait. I remember how my UNITE this year, which was on July, was super spiritual. My obedience was rewarded by God. It was like an Abraham-Isaac moment for me. It was a spiritual breakthrough not only for me but for almost all who served that day. I remember how my big sister and I became closer and closer this year. I pray for her all the time. I ask her how i can pray for her. I'm so touched how she tells me things that she hasn't shared to others yet. The most touching part was when she took down her strong front, and asked me how I was able to persevere with all the issues in our family. I really love her, and also my big brother! I remember how I was 101% confident that I will pass the board exam because I had confidence and trust in God. When the day of the exam arrived in late September, I was still in that constant state of trust and confidence. The general education subject was a piece of cake, but professional eduaction subject was hard, I admit. Then we went to a city nearby, and unwind there. My brain was finally at rest again, and I no longer thought of the exam. I was officially part of the unemployed, but only for a month. I got a job at a tutorial center by November. My tutees were regular students, some had adhd, mild autism, sensory disorder, and a slow learner. I was given allowance weekly. It's good enough for me since I don't have a family to feed, and a house piled with bills. I remember I joined Multiply Leadership Training, and Selah Retreat at the end of October and early December respectively. Selah was a retreat wherein God revealed a lot from my heart. I remember how after Selah, I went to attend Sunday service. Then when the service started, my aunt called me and congratulated me. I passed the national board examination for teachers. I was a bit emotional. Greetings were flooding online. I remember how I started reading webtoons again in December. I read complete stories, and in this one particular story I met my gorgeous and princely plot twist or my 2019 year-ender surprise. I went to this author's Instagram, started commenting just as usual fans would with a thick face, and reacted to a highlight. As a fan, I didn't expect anything but my comment was replied to and received, and my reaction was replied in the dm's. The simple reaction was then transformed to a whole conversation that lasted for almost a fortnight. It was fun while it lasted, and kept my spirits up. I remember how I barely went out to eat after work, hanged out less with friends, and bought less to zero things that I don't need. All these just to save money so I can buy presents for my family, my spiritual daughters, and a few very important people in my life. The presents weren't very expensive and fancy, but they were all from my heart and out of appreciation for these wonderful people. My 2019 was full of blessings. There were trials and challenges, but I guess this year I became more optimistic and positive about life and people. I wonder how my 2020 will be. I'm officially part of this market of professionals. I wonder if I'll be able to get my passport and have my first "out of the country" trip. Maybe a boyfriend perhaps. I'm very excited for my first times next year. I'm also excited for the trials that I'll be learning from, and how God will be molding me more. See you, 2020!

[omegaplus]

# 2,660

This year was the busiest by far. One like no other in such a colorful, sensory, and vivid way. Never had I imagined it would be this intense. It made me feel to the extremes, had me see and imagine some wild things like never before, and realize where I stood.

The good? It’s celebrating the end of the fiscal year with the camaraderie of successful winning associates at the local arcade where you live. It’s taking time out of your element to be where you always wanted to be and joining up with long-lost key players in family. The push to attain anything and everything as much as possible, and the urgency of having something to look forward to in chilly April skies. And, finding the right mode or aesthetic that you finally belong and feel comfortable in.

The real ugly? Finding yourself isolated in dense festive crowds, feeling blank and confused because you don’t know what to do in another world. Getting to know that essential someone who’d bring you and your hopes up to shut you down, taking all those promising possibilities away. It’s wondering if you should just hang in there as the snake which slithers out from the very apple you’re holding drives its’ fangs deeper into your skin, testing your total will. Panic that feels so alive that you scramble to find shoulders to lean on. Running the risk of ruining those friendships because you roll the dice on them to listen to your labyrinthine problems.

As you see, it’s become a pivotal year for me. The last few months were severe and violent enough for me to take a step back, assess the unstable background world, and make a much-needed call for my own self-being; maybe the most important decision I had to make. No other year re-affirmed me to make it happen. Go for those payouts because if you don’t play, you don’t win. It’s the only way to achieve results. Without that hustle, I wouldn’t have that burning drive to attain new reaches of photography, celebrate holidays, or travel as much I had.

Musicwise, I can’t even calculate how much in sound I discovered personally. All the finds made all the good and bad mean something, as if it all happened yesterday. That’s how fresh the events still are.  Everything I found created that natural season soundtrack for all the train rides, walks through the city, photoshoots, grueling gym sessions, and everything else. Back at Omega WUSB, special attention was made to some of our bonus shows in the second half of the year which made for some of our best broadcasts ever. A visit to both the Warsaw and Irving Plaza had me see some of my all-time favorite acts in Cold Cave and Killing Joke.

As we always mention on Ω+, it’s those finds that define what goes on around us. Black Marble reminded me that there was always a special place to go and a specific feeling to have. Nine Inch Nails’ “Over And Out” signified the personal upside-down dystopia I was dealing with. Indie sounds from Basic Nature’s “Love Won’t Always Be There”, Preoccupations’ “Disarray”, Water From Your Eyes “We’re Set Up”, Camp Cope’s “Anna”, and so on showed the importance of indie which presented a specific vision I neglected to see. Finds of industrial and the new wave of darkness of last winter made me think of some of my friends who enjoyed a more serious side of the counter-culture. Works of Cabaret Voltaire (Extended Play), Keiji Haino’s “See That My Grave Has Kept Clean”, Joanna Brouk’s “The Space Between”, and Thomas Leer’s “Saving Grace” supplemented the cold Spring days of promise. There’s the ultra-sweet sounds of Free Love’s “Pushing Too Hard”, Negative Gemini’s “Bad Baby”, and The Holydrug Couple’s “I Only Said”; with urban finds in Eyedress, Ta-Ra’s “L’il Bit”, and Oldbill$ which meant everything to me on all the summer city rail rides I took.

But nothing would even compare in receiving a surprise bonus that sparked an island-wide tour of all Long Island record-stores and the feeling of spending money freely without care or worry of going broke. It’s a promise I made to myself when I recovered from post-surgery and that’s now fulfilled. Finally, there’s the people I interacted with and the sounds occurring simultaneously. All the top-ten lists, the music trades, book clubs, and suggestions we given each other that defined the hours, days, moments, and themselves in my eyes. The leads which I received from my friend and allies made me see them in specific ways and even made me feel like I was not up to standard where I should be. The contents of the back-and-forth and everyone involved were the catalysts in changing the way I see and conjure up ideas which I never realized, even if they were damaging and detrimental.

It's been a wild ride. I can’t thank you all enough for supporting what I do. For those who took a minute to listen and give a damn, thank you again and it’s all yours. I’m going to make the new year even better than the last. I’m looking to repeat all the wins and correct the losses I should’ve never been through. I’m going to be more creative and find the time to go all out to make these ideas come to full fruition. Whether it’s in my broadcasts, photography, design, or my words, it’s about time to explore and examine my full potential. Rest assured we’re not done yet here; we’ll keep on going because we’re not leaving.

Who knows what deck we’ll be playing from starting Tuesday. It’s a new game, a new hand. Deal me in.

[i-jus-wanna-writehappy]

Bad Mood

Pairing: Erik Killmonger x black!fem!Reader

Warnings: a whole lot of cursing, a tad of steam

Author's Note: The shit-damn story is from Cedric the Entertainer's Netflix special, which is hilarious, and I simply could not resist using it. Let me know if there's anything you want me to incorporate into another character (show, song, story) and hopefully, enjoy this piece :)

Masterlist Black Girl Insert Series

*          *         *          *

Seeing as your son is at school and you have the day off, you tell Erik that you'll make him lunch. You shower together in the morning, Erik massages your back while you watch a little television, and now, he watches as you dance and sing at the stove from the island in your kitchen.

Erik makes his way behind you, his hands on your hips and his lips on the side of your neck as he speaks, "I can't believe we finally have a day to ourselves again to do whatever we want." The smell of the sweet potatoes - a baby-making food if you ask Erik - cooking in the oven and the feel of your curls brushing his face are all sensory overload for him.

He's just getting your legs pushed open and robe pulled up when the house phone rings. If it was his cell phone, he'd leave it, but only doctors and your son's school call the house phone anymore. Growling in frustration, Erik gives your butt a quick nibble before grabbing the phone.

"Hello?" Erik answers, taking the call in the front room. It isn't long before Erik comes back, his jaw clenched tightly, "We have to go and get your son from school. He's been suspended for the next two days for cussin." Your eyebrows crease tightly as you turn off the stove and pass Erik, "So when he's in trouble he's my son? You're the one who doesn't mind his language around our child. Now come put some clothes on so we can go get your son."

The entire drive to the middle school, Erik is grumbling about the time you aren't going to have alone. "What we should do is have sex tonight as loud as we'd like, since the lil nigga wanna get suspended." He decides as you walk up to the school. You snort softly before looping your arm through Erik's, "We're not doing that Erik. Maybe he was cussing at a bully and we won't even be mad."

This just makes Erik huff, his nose wrinkled. When you walk into the office, your son is sitting there, the principal waiting at the secretary's desk for you. Erik walks over to your son and you walk up to the principal, "Hi Mrs. Jones, I am so sorry for my son's behavior. As I'm sure you know, he's usually an exemplary student."

Mrs. Jones nods, grabbing his suspension slip for you to sign, "Oh, I know Mrs. Stevens. That's why I was so surprised by his outburst." Pulling a pen from your purse, you spare a glance up your husband and son, "If it isn't too much trouble, Mrs. Jones, would you mind telling me who it was my boy cursed at and what he said." Erik is speaking to your son in a hushed whisper until he hears what exactly it is his son said, "I am not quite clear on the circumstances, but more than once, Mr. Stevens used the phrase 'shit damn'."

Your eyebrows raise in bafflement, but Erik looks from the principal to your son, "What the fuck?" Before he can get your son or himself in any more trouble, he grabs your son by his arm and drags him outside. "Oh. Shit damn. Um, again, I am so sorry for him."

When you get outside, the first thing you can hear is Erik yelling at your son beside your car. "Really? You the son of Erik Motherfucking Killmonger and you get suspended for saying some shit like 'shit damn'? I should beat yo ass right now." Erik notices you walking up and turns to you for aide, "Baby, can you believe this shit? I bet you he got that shit from that white boy that's been hangin out with him and his friends, Shiloh."

The irritation and ranting doesn't stop there though. Erik is still rambling when you get into the car, "I can't fucking believe yo ass, embarrassing us like that. Can you hear me talkin right now? The fuck, you know how to cuss! I cuss all the fucking time, have you ever heard me say some stupid shit like shit damn?" Your son knows better than to answer, opting for keeping his eyes down instead.

When you get home, Erik is still going. "Get yo ass upstairs and out of my fucking sight. Shit damn, I should have pimp slapped yo ass in the office." Erik calls up the stairs angrily.

By the time you're all eating dinner, both of your boys are sitting in a tense silence. Your son kisses your cheek right after dinner, declaring he's going to bed, all the while, keeping his eyes from his father. "Come on, baby, we should head in early too. Maybe you'll feel better after getting some rest." You say to Erik as you pull him up the stairs and to your bedroom.

Once you're both showered and lying under your comforter, Erik sighs, "Y/N, he got suspended. And not for calling his punk ass gym teacher a bitch, but for yelling out the words 'shit damn." You try rubbing his scarred chest to smooth his emotions, but Erik can barely pay attention, his disappointment taking up the singular track of his mind.

Straddling his hips, you look down at Erik, "At least we get more time with our boy, right?" Erik places his hands on your thighs and rubs the skin there, but he still isn't focusing, and his bad mood is putting you in a bad mood and you hate going to sleep in a bad mood. "Yeah, more time for us not have sex because he wanted to act like he don't have a black dad at home cussing right."

Again, Erik begins rambling about his frustrations. He doesn't even notice you slip from beneath his fingers and to the top of his pajama pants beneath the comforter. It isn't until the knuckles of your cold hands touch his hips as you're pulling his pants and boxer-briefs down that Erik realizes what's going on. Lifting the comforter a bit and peeking at you from the open area, Erik finds himself groaning softly.

"I hate when you drift off in a bad mood." You say quietly before draining your husband of his disappointment.

[tonystarktogo]

Tiny Tony Overlord Part 8

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Read on AO3

Betaed by the amazing @folklejend. All remaining mistakes are my own.

Summary: In which Clint is frustrated, Natasha is frustrated, Steve is very frustrated, and the three of them handle it as well as you’d expect them to, Jarvis is sarcastic, and Tony wants to take things slow for the first time in his life.

Please enjoy :)

Chapter 8: Restlessness

.Avengers Tower, New York.

Cap’s training. Again. If you can call systematically destroying their private gym “training,” that is. Clint winces as he watches yet another reinforced punching bag sail through the air and hit the wall with a loud snap. At this rate, they’ll be running out of bags for Steve to demolish before the week is over.

Suffice to say, Steve hadn’t taken the disappearance of one of his team mates well. Clint has a suspicion that the whole situation hits a little too close to home. It hasn’t been long since Cap’s lost his entire team—to old age and a certain train none of them talk about—or at least, it hasn’t been long for him. Not that Clint is stupid enough to say something, but he knows Natasha suspects the same.

It’s why neither of them has breathed a word to Steve about it. That, and the fact that even Clint, who likes to think of himself as fairly level, is about ready to join the guy.

To say that their search has been fruitless would be an understatement. And there’s nothing more frustrating than hitting a wall in the middle of a mission. Especially when a man’s—Tony’s—life may well depend on it. Clint knows the statistics as well as any field agent. It’s true that the first twenty-four hours of a kidnapping are the most important; they set the tone for the investigation—and finding the victim after becomes increasingly unlikely.

Of course, they aren’t talking about just anyone. They’re talking about Tony Stark, who blew his way out of a freaking cave in the desert. It’s the main reason none of them are willing to give up. That, and in their line of business, you don’t assume someone’s death. No one is dead unless you’ve gotten hard proof—and sometimes not even then.

But none of that changes the fact that they don’t have a clue about Tony’s whereabouts. And when Clint says “not a clue,” he means not a clue. As in nada. As in not a single one.

[continues under the cut]

Staring at the walls and screens covering the common living room area, at all the data they’ve amassed that still isn’t telling them a freaking thing, Clint rubs a tired hand over his eyes. He’s been going over the same security footage for the fifth time and has no results to show for.

“JARVIS?” he questions without much hope. The AI has been quiet since its creator’s disappearance, but Clint is pretty confident that it would speak up the moment it caught anything regarding Tony that they’ve missed. If there’s one thing Clint has learned after months of jumping off buildings and having Iron Man catch him without fail, it’s to trust in Tony’s creations. They’ve yet to let him down.

“I apologise, sir, no new information has come to light since you last asked two minutes and forty-seven seconds ago,” the AI responds with a sarcastic drawl that sounds disturbingly real. Clint loves it.

“I know, J-man, I know, sorry,” he mumbles. Clint isn’t sure exactly where the “artificial” part of the intelligence ends—knowing Tony, probably not where it should—and he doesn’t need to be a tech-whisperer to know that JARVIS is doing everything in his power to find Tony. Pressuring the guy, system, whatever, isn’t going to help anyone.

At the tip-tap sound of Nat’s high-heeled boots against the floor, Clint jerks around hopefully. Unlike himself, Natasha tends to get her best results when she’s pissed. It makes her more vicious, causes her to use sources agents with more scruples wouldn’t, makes her dig deeper until she hits a bone.

Her hair and makeup is impeccable as always, but they don’t quite cover the dark circles below her eyes, nor the tension around the corners of her lips. No success then, at least not yet.

“Alright, this is disturbing.”

“What do you mean?” The question comes from across the room, where Cap walks in, still wearing his training shorts and covered in sweat. Clint would whistle and make a crack about those abs, were he in a better mood. Right now though, all he can muster up his a shrug.

“All of this.” Clint gestures at the maps. “I mean, there is nothing here. It’s not that we don’t know how to interpret the data, it’s that there is no data to begin with. How do you kidnap anyone, let alone Tony Stark, in the middle of New York City without leaving a trace?” he exclaims. “I get Afghanistan, okay, but this is New York. Even with the electrical shortcut, there should still be something, anything, outside that radius. People don’t just disappear. We’ve got SHIELD, we’ve got the three of us, and we’ve got the best AI we know, and still we got nothing ? Nobody is that good!”

“Correction,” Natasha interrupts with a displeased frown, “nobody was that good. Doesn’t mean it’s impossible. So I suppose the question becomes, who do we know who might be capable of such a feat?”

A heavy pause—no, hesitation. Clint grimaces. When Natasha hesitates, it never means anything good.

“Or what. ” she finishes grimly.

* * * * *

.Somewhere on a tiny blot of land in between lots of small islands.

It’s surreal, Tony decides. The last two days have been nothing but surreal.

When he had thought about how his trip to the past would go, he had never imagined it would be like this. Granted, he hadn’t thought about it much at all. At the time, thinking about it had inevitably lead to excitement, to doubt, to heartbreak. Because the thought that this insane idea might actually work—it had always been a little too good to be true. Tasted a little too much of hope.

Still. Sometimes, when his mind had begun to wander, Tony remembers imagining it. No retelling of the story as it should have gone, no rewritten scenes, nothing concrete. Just… flashes. Of a general idea that had been all the more powerful for it. The thought of seeing Pepper again, her face unblemished by the attack that had cost them Happy. The faint sensory memory of being pulled into a hug by Rhodey. The warmth, the security, in fighting side by side with the deadliest people he knew—

Tony frowns. This, how it all actually went down, it’s not how he’s ever pictured it. It’s not how he would have wanted things to go. But his wants haven’t mattered in forever, and as much as Tony would like to gripe and whine, the truth is, he’s fine with it. He’s fine with running around like a headless chicken, without resources or a plan, moving further and further away from the people for whom he’s sacrificed everything. Because they’re alive. He gets to fall asleep at night, knowing they’re here, in this world, drawing breath, and that’s more than he’s had in a long a time.

“That’s all nice and well, darling, but it’s not gonna get shit done,” a sarcastic voice drawls in the back of Tony’s head. It sounds disturbingly like Vic. Damn, but he misses that woman. “How much more time are you gonna waste lounging on a bloody beach watching waves crash before you finally get your arse moving?”

And, well, imaginary voice or not, she’s got a point.

Despite his unnerving encounter with that strange old lady, the past two and a half days have been peaceful, of all things. It’s a foreign sounding description, the kind that itches because there has to be something wrong with it, you just can’t put your finger on it. It’s strange enough to freak Tony out, if he allows himself to ponder these thoughts for too long. So he doesn’t.

Really, he can’t afford to. Being on the move is all well and good—and Tony is well aware that he’s on a clock—but a race is hard to win when you don’t even know where the finishing line is. That’s never stopped Tony before, of course, but he can still be smart about it. It’s kind of his thing, being a genius and all.

“Yeah, well, all those smarts didn’t make a damn difference in the end, did they? You know, Stark, if you really were as clever as you think you are, you’d have found a way to stop this. You’d have found a way to end this.”

“I did end it!”

“Did you really? Or was there just nobody left to die in your stead?”

Tony flinches. The pain these words bring is distant, a wound that’s already scabbed over. He rubs a small hand over his forehead, a useless attempt to soothe the echo of an old hurt.

Footsteps to his right have Tony angle his body reflexively towards Dead-Eyes—an instinct he doesn’t completely understand but is slowly getting used to. Dead-Eyes is just there. A silent presence by his side that only leaves when Tony tells him to.

Should be wrong, probably. Messed up, certainly. Yet, at the same time, it’s not. It feels normal, natural even, and the more Tony gets used to all these memories, the more he understands why. Dead-Eyes is safe because Dead-Eyes is one of—perhaps even the only thing—that hasn’t changed.

“Who’s your watchdog, anyways?”

Stark blinks, follows the woman’s gaze towards the corner of the ruined farmhouse-turned-bar, where Barnes lurks. He’d call the man out on his dramatic act, except Stark is pretty sure the man doesn’t know how to do anything but lurk. It’s his natural state.

“Old friend,” he answers with a shrug.

That piques the woman’s interest, like he knew it would. “There is no such thing as friends,” she states, her eyebrows raised in disbelief.

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Stark smirks, dares her to speak against him. “First time I met him, I tried to kill him. What better way to start a relationship?”

“You must have lots of old friends then,” the woman mutters drily. Shakes her head. Then, “What changed?”

Stark lifts his eyes from where he’s been watching Barnes glare a couple of wannabe Cleaners into submission. “Hm?”

“What happened, I don’t know, the second time you met? How did you become friends?” There’s a curiosity in the woman’s voice that’s hard to find these days. Something that goes beyond the steely determination to survive. It makes Stark hope she’ll live through this, even as his gut tells him she won’t.

“Oh, the second time?” he answers despite himself, all charm and nonchalance. “The second time I met him, he was already dead.”

Tony blinks the fake smile and honeyed sweetness away, but the scene is… sticky, like gum stubbornly clinging to your hair, and it takes him a long moment before the sight of dirty tables and war-hardened people fades into the bright hues of endless blue that surround them.

Dead-Eyes is watching him, expressionless as always. He’s wearing long, sand-coloured pants and a washed-out shirt, and despite the soft clothes and metal arm hidden under a thick bandage that Tony had spent the better part of the morning covering it with, he still looks—well. Like you’d want him on your side in a knife fight.

There’s no hiding the jagged edges when that’s all that’s left of a person, Tony thinks. Remembers thinking. Whatever.

This is exactly why he’s still here. Why he’s spent the past two days clinging to Dead-Eyes’ flesh hand, pickpocketing tourists and generally doing his best to get lost in the crowd. Why he watches little kids splashing in the water with shrieks of delight instead of breaking into the best lab he can get his hands on.

Sure, the knowledge isn’t trying to tear his head open from the inside out, and, yeah, Tony has a fairly good idea of what happened in that messed up future of his. None of that changes the fact that he got a good decade worth of memories downloaded into his brain within a couple of hours. That kind of transfer—he’d speculated about the consequences, they all had. As it turns out, Strange was right. The human mind can’t handle that kind of data input. Honestly, Tony is sort of glad the sorcerer isn’t here right now. He’d be unbearable if he knew, the bastard.

Thankfully, he was also wrong; Tony has yet to go insane from the overload. At least, he assumes he hasn’t. He’d have noticed that, right? Right.

Anyways, the closest Tony has come to describe the weird sensation of knowing-but-not is to compare it to a software update on a computer. The data is all there, but it takes the system time to sort through it and store the relevant information in the right places. And the system—it’s not dumb, it learns from its mistakes, but it still makes them. It misfiles certain data bits, can’t properly transfer some, has to change pieces, even loses some of the information. It learns, but it’s an ongoing process.

As a programmer himself, the inaccuracies rankle him a little, but computers aren’t meant to be human; the comparison is bound to fall short. That doesn’t make it useless.

So, yes, Tony remembers. He knows who he is, he knows why he is where he is, and even though he currently can’t recall what his exact mission is, he gets the general idea. Save the cheerleader, save the world, the usual.

But until the flashbacks—and that’s not quite the right word for it, but Tony can’t think of a better term—stop overwhelming him every time a new memory is triggered, he needs to remain on standby. Despite the restlessness twisting and snarling under his skin, like a second layer that wants to break through. Tony can rush many things, but he can’t rush this. He can’t rush his own mind, not when he needs all the information he has before he can make a plan.

He only has one shot at this. He’ll have to get it right on the first try.

So he’ll wait. With gritted teeth and nervously drumming fingers, but he’ll wait.

It’s a decision that goes against everything Tony believes in, but so far it has payed off. They’ve spent the past two and a half days slowly traveling from one island to the next. Always on small tour boats, mingling with other tourists. With their borrowed clothes and the meticulously placed bandages on Dead-Eyes’ arm, they don’t do too bad of a job at blending in. Tony has settled on a house fire to explain the “injuries,” as well as his “mother’s tragic death.”

Movements like these, where everything is paid in cash and two American tourists get lost in the crowd, are as good as untraceable. It’s enough to appease the restlessness, for now. And well, it’s helping. The clear sky, the see-through water, the gentle breeze. The heat and the sand under his feet that has finally stopped sending cold chills down his spine.

With every passing hour, every deep breath Tony takes, the events of the past—future—years become clearer. He recalls, with a clarity only life-changing moments hold, the desperation that fuelled him, controlled him, ever since he made it back out of that damn wormhole. The deep-seated certainty that they were on the brink of another war, one humanity was woefully unprepared to handle. The frustration and clawing fear when no one listened.

Tony had been right, but that revelation hadn’t brought him any satisfaction. Had come much too late to save the family he had already lost. They had been unprepared for Thanos’ attack, broken and scattered and divided. Of course, that hadn’t stopped them. Enemies and friends and strangers alike, they had risen to Thanos’ challenge and they had answered it the only way they knew how to: they fought.

And maybe they hadn’t won—it had never felt like a victory; too many good people had been lost to them, too many innocents had died—but they had survived. That should have been the end of it. It should have been enough.

Six months later, whilst Tony was still practicing a genuine smile in the mirror, Namibia had been razed to the ground. An entire country was wiped off the map of Earth from one moment to the next, and nobody knew how.

The timeline after that gets a bit spotty, mostly because Tony himself doesn’t know exactly how things went. Too much happened too quickly, and there weren’t enough people around studying the phenomena and collecting data for them to tell how things proceeded. But, from what he remembers, there had been health hazard warnings going out from places like Monaco, Singapore, and Macao before people had time to panic—and then they did panic.

Sand grains rub against Tony’s palms as he curls his fingers into tight fists. From the way he thinks about it, it could have been a sickness of some kind, maybe even a plague. All these words swirling around in his mind, about a cure, about infections, health and aggressive viruses—it fits.

Doesn’t mean it makes sense though. An illness that kills, a new one, maybe even biological warfare, alright. Tony can easily imagine the devastation it caused. But more than people dying, he remembers fighting, remembers living with guns and knives strapped to his every body part, remembers being covered in blood more often than not.

There is more to it than a mere virus, and yet, for some reason, the answers refuse to come. Are silenced by an impenetrable bubble that keeps parts of his newfound knowledge huddled away, beyond his reach. Tony, being Tony, prods and pushes and shoves, but so far the bubble hasn’t given an inch.

Half the time Tony thinks he should be glad for that small mercy. Maybe he doesn’t want to know how bad things had really gotten. Maybe he doesn’t want to remember all those terrible acts that tore him apart, turned him into a man capable of—

His delicate sensibilities don’t matter though. He can’t allow them to matter, can’t spare himself from whatever minefield lies hidden in his own mind. Peace and innocence are luxuries Tony can’t afford right now. Not when knowledge is the only advantage he has.

Tony reaches out and isn’t surprised in the least when Dead-Eyes meets him halfway, having already gotten used to being led around on Tony’s hand. It’s part of the cover, but Tony isn’t entirely sure Dead-Eyes realises this. Realises that hand-holding would be frowned upon if they weren’t playing a family. Actually, Tony has no clue exactly how much of the world Dead-Eyes even processes.

Dead-Eyes isn’t stupid, of that Tony has no doubt. There’s a calculating intelligence in those blue eyes, an awareness that serves as much as a weapon as everything else Dead-Eyes wields. But social norms? Human interaction? Hell, even prejudices of some sort? Tony hasn’t seen any of it, and that’s just not normal. Of course, Dead-Eyes always was the exception, wasn’t he?

“You found him,” Natasha states, an air of disbelief around her. “After all this, you finally caught up with Bucky Barnes.”

Tony turns back towards their prisoner. Stares at the man’s blank face, an eerily familiar emptiness in his eyes. Tony has seen it many times before, too often not to recognise it on first sight. And really, there is only one answer he can give her.

“No. I didn’t.”

Natasha purses her lips. “No,” she agrees. “You didn’t.” Then. “We’ll have to test him.”

Tony doesn’t even flinch. “I know.” No exceptions. It’s a rule for a reason—this they learned the hard way.

“Are you prepared to do what is needed if he fails?”

It’s a question Tony wishes Natasha hadn’t asked, though he understands why she needs to know. Guilt is a powerful motivator, and they don’t have any room for errors.

He looks her straight in the eyes when he replies. “Yes.” It’s not the first time they’re lying to each other. Or themselves, for that matter.

Tony swallows the sudden urge to throw up. An ill sensation that makes no sense, doubly so because this is hardly the worst memory he’s received. Certainly not the bloodiest.

He clings to Dead-Eyes’ flesh hand uselessly, as Vic’s voice rings mercilessly in his head. “Go on, take your time figuring out that sick, co-dependant mess you call a relationship. I’m just gonna lie here and quietly bleed out in the mud while you get your bloody act together!”

Tony can’t remember the exact fight where it happened, there were too many to tell, but he remembers Vic’s acidic words clearly because even riding the high of a battle won and covered in entrails he didn’t care to identify, they had made him snort with laughter. Vic had never done anything quietly in her life. She had also had a knack of getting her point through Tony’s thick head.

The situation is a different one now, and the truth is, there is no telling what Vic would say if she were here now, because she isn’t. Vic, wherever she is, doesn’t even know Tony. Will never have to know him, if he has anything to say about it. Will never have to kill her own mother, will never carry that wounded, shattered look in her eyes.

If he can keep that from happening, then it will be worth it. That Tony is sure of. But he’s going to be smart about this, not gonna take any unnecessary risks. No half-assed preparations and improvisation.

“Two more days,” he says out loud, even though he’s really addressing the voice inside his head that sounds so much like Vic. It’s a plea and a promise in one. “Two more days, and then I’ll start.”

He should have known that Fate would take that as a challenge.

* * * * *

Tony drags Dead-Eyes onto a small tour boat—because a whole island inhabited by iguanas sounds intriguing, and because he feels too restless to stay in the same place any longer. The boatsman is a small man with a booming voice who keeps ruffling Tony’s hair, much to his annoyance.

He would have sworn Dead-Eyes was amused by the treatment, except when he catches Dead-Eyes staring, it isn’t with the familiar smirk he half expects to see. Instead, Dead-Eyes wears a puzzled expression, a furrow between his eyebrows that says he’s struggling to work something out.

Tony decides he really doesn’t want to know. Thankfully there’s an uncomfortable sensation distracting him, like a small weight pressing gently down on the back of his neck. It’s a feeling Tony recognises from dozens of missions, that prickling knowledge dancing on his nerve endings, telling him he is being watched .

It should be ridiculous. There are only twelve other passengers on their tiny boat, none of whom carry a concealed weapon larger than a switchblade. A group of college students, half of whom are currently posing for Instagram pictures. Two pairs who look sickeningly romantic—seriously, all these forehead kisses and soft smiles are going to give Tony hives. And three older men who haven’t stopped arguing about some foreign policy since they’ve stepped onto the deck. None of them look like an assassin waiting to strike. Of course, the whole point of being an assassin is that you never look like one, so that’s a cold comfort.

Tony leans over the railing of the boat for a moment, pretending to take in the beautiful sight of an endless horizon, only occasionally disrupted by a tiny blot of land. When he turns to look at Dead-Eyes over his shoulder, he uses the position to observe everyone else. The boatsman is explaining something to one of the college students, all wild gestures and deep-throated laugh. The younger pair is making out full-time, and—there.

One of the students is standing slightly separated from her friends, gaze fixated on them. Or, well, not them, Tony realises after a moment of carefully suppressing the urge to tell Dead-Eyes to shoot now, ask questions never. She’s watching Dead-Eyes, not him.

Some of the tension in his back uncoils at the realisation. Alright, maybe he’s a little paranoid. Not that anyone can blame him—it’s not paranoia when you’ve got an entire secret spy organisation on your ass—but killing some kid for eyeing up his unfairly attractive shadow might be a slight overreaction. Even by his standards.

Despite the stress and general uneasiness though, the trip is absolutely worth it. Tony hadn’t given iguanas much thought before, but they’re so freaking cool. And loud. Who knew reptiles could make so much noise? Two of the college girls make a show of shuddering in disgust, which Tony doesn’t get at all. Iguanas aren’t slimy or glittery—they look like miniature dragons.

“I want one,” Tony breathes in reverence.

He’s watching a couple of them rhythmically wiping their heads, and he can almost hear “Highway to Hell” playing in the back of his head.

“Understood,” Dead-Eyes replies with a small incline of his head.

It’s pure luck that Tony pays enough attention to him to reach out and grab Dead-Eyes’ arm before he can jump overboard, probably to catch Tony an iguana. Awesome as that would be, it would probably get them into trouble with the local authorities.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the thought, but really, don’t,” Tony mumbles just loud enough for Dead-Eyes to hear. “It would draw attention and we really don’t need that.”

And if Tony is still humming AC/DC under his breath? Well, nobody save Dead-Eyes is gonna know—and it’s not like the guy will talk.

Tony is still humming the song half a minute later, when he suddenly realises that the rhythmic dum-dum-dum he’s been hearing in his head actually sounds more like a rumpa-rumpa-tap. And it’s not as much a part of his imagination as he would have liked.

Taking a deep breath and forcing himself to realise it with a soft swish between his teeth, Tony closes his eyes and says to no one in particular, “Please tell me I’m not hearing a chopper.”

“I’m not hearing a chopper,” Dead-Eyes repeats obediently.

“Me neither,” the blonde who’d been eying Dead-Eyes up calls out from where she’s standing near the tail of the boat. “I count three.”

I hope you like this slightly longer chapter! If you have any thoughts, questions or ideas, please leave me a comment or a message, I’d love to hear them! And merry Christmas, everybody!

[floresgavriil-blog]

Where is the most beautiful place you have ever visited? We were asked this the other day, and as two people who have traveled to over 80 countries I must admit it was a tough question to answer.

A few places came to mind: The Seychelles, Canada, and Namibia are certainly up there. However, nothing has blown me away as much as the views that Jade Mountain in Saint Lucia had.

The whole resort is straight out of a honeymooners magazine. Every little detail has been meticulously planned out to create the ultimate getaway. It’s hard to put our whole week there into words, but here is our best attempt!

A Review on Jade Mountain Saint Lucia

Getting to Jade Mountain Saint Lucia

There are two main airports on Saint Lucia. George FL Charles Airport (SLU), which is near Castries and Hewanorra International (UVF), which is near Vieux Fort. Coming from Puerto Rico we landed at SLU and it took almost two hours to get to Jade Mountain Resort, with a pretty windy road.

We flew out of UVF, which is the more popular international airport and where you can catch flights with larger carriers like Air Canada. UVF is only one hour from Jade Mountain and the much easier airport to get to. I would recommend trying to fly into UVF to avoid wasting more time on a car transfer once you arrive.

It’s a bit of a rough road in for approximately 15 minutes, but once you arrive it is all bliss!

You can either rent a car, arrange your own cab, or Jade Mountain will happily set you up with a private transwer that aligns with your flight times.

The Property

Jade Mountain sits high on Morne Chastanet, completely overlooking the famous St. Lucia Pitons and the beautiful Caribbean Sea. Every room looks out to the Pitons and is completely secluded away from other guests.

The whole resort design is an architectural masterpiece, which you can try and see from the included photos. Long walkways come out from the side of the mountain to lead guests to their rooms as well as the bar, restaurant, and common area.

The whole design concept was dreamt up by owner Nick Troubetzkoy when he visited Saint Lucia in the early 1970s. Since then he has turned his dream into one of the most amazing properties in the world.

The Sanctuaries

Rooms at Jade Mountain are not rooms at all, but are referred to as Sanctuaries and have all been individually designed with the utmost attention. When we were first walking to our room on our private walkway we knew we were in for something special.

All the rooms at Jade Mountain are nothing short of amazing with a bedroom, living area, and private infinity pool. The fourth wall of each sanctuary here has been essentially removed so that all guests can have amazing open views out to nature. That means that little birdies will be singing in your ear in the morning and have easy access to your room – which we loved, but it may not be for everybody.

Each sanctuary has an infinity pool or a sky jacuzzi overlooking the Caribbean landscape. We stayed in room JE1, or in other words the “Galaxy” sanctuary and the highest level room at Jade Mountain.

Our sanctuary was breathtaking and provided us with full panoramic views out to Saint Lucia’s twin Pitons at all times.

In addition to the views, we were provided with a comfortable king-sized canopy bed, huge living space, jacuzzi, infinity pool, fast WiFi, a Major Domo (butler), and full room service on request.

There are no televisions or radios at Jade Mountain, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s so easy to forget about real life here and delve deeper into Saint Lucia.

Seriously there was nothing better here than waking up to the sound of the ocean and singing birds, ordering a healthy breakfast, and looking out to the most stunning mountains in the Caribbean. It was honestly hard to ever want to leave our sanctuary!

The Food

We did our research and read reviews about the food at Jade Mountain before we were visiting so we knew it would be delicious. However, what we experienced blew us completely out of the water!

Jade Mountain itself has one main restaurant called the Jade Mountain Club. The Club serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and is one of the nicest places to have dinner in the area. Meals here are typically elaborate and multiple courses with all the wine you could want.

Jade Mountain guests also have Suite Service at any time which we definitely made use of multiple times while staying here.

A lot of the food is homegrown at Jade Mountain’s very own garden, while the items they can’t grow are typically sourced locally to benefit the community.

Guests at Jade Mountain also have full access to Anse Chastanet restaurants, which is their sister property down the mountain. Anse Chastanet has more than five restaurants to choose from and most are beach front. It’s great to have the best of both worlds here.

I should also note that all the food, wine, beer, and cocktails you could possibly want are included in the all-inclusive plane at Jade Mountain. However, it’s also possible to book plans without alcohol or half board meal plans OR just book breakfast only and eat the rest of your meals in town if you really prefer. I would suggest at least going with a half board option as I think it would be too much of a pain to always have to leave the resort for food. It’s at least a 15 minute drive to town from here.

The Staff

Just like everything else at Jade Mountain, the staff never disappointed. At all times the staff was courteous, prompt, and so helpful and polite. I loved seeing their smiling faces every day.

We also learned that almost all staff at Jade Mountain are local Saint Lucian’s and that they have one of the lowest turnover rates for jobs on the island. Yes, we truly felt that everyone loved their jobs and their lives here!

Our favorite staff members were the attentive manager, Jonathan, who always made sure we were accounted for. Also, our Major Domos, which were our personal room butlers for the duration of our stay. They were always on call for guests and happy to attend to the needs of visitors. They even brought me ear drops at 11 pm as I could sense an ear infection coming on. Hard to get that kind of service anywhere!

The Scuba Diving

Of course, we have always wanted to travel to Saint Lucia for the views and beauty, but the biggest reason we were so keen was to go scuba diving.

We just recently completed our open water course in Bali and were absolutely hooked on diving. Since then we’ve been seeking out the best dive sites in the world, with our last big trip being in the Maldives.

Saint Lucia actually ranks pretty far up there in terms of diving in the Caribbean and you can jump right into the ocean from Jade Mountain resort to experience it!

Scuba St. Lucia is headquartered at Anse Chastanet and is a five-star dive center that operates dives three times a day as well as two-night dives a week.

We went diving with Scuba St. Lucia a total of six times including a night dive and every time was exhilarating. While we didn’t find any large marine life we couldn’t get enough of the colorful fish, and even saw a sea horse, frogfish (our second since the Maldives), and a turtle!

The staff at the dive shop were all friendly and helpful. As new divers, we felt completely comfortable at all times.

The Activities

There are so many activities at Jade Mountain it’s nearly impossible to ever get bored. We had five full days here, but honestly, even with 10, you would not have found us complaining about boredom.

While we spent many hours under the water scuba diving there are also many other things to do.

Snorkeling around the house reef, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, and sugar plantation tours are all free activities to take part in. There’s also a gym and daily complimentary sunrise and sunset yoga at Jade Mountain at Anse Chastanet.

In addition, there is an event on offer every single day whether that be a Chocolate Sensory Tasting or Saint Lucian Mixology class.

A few times a week you’ll even find live entertainment at the bar – we loved the Saint Lucian steel drum band!

In addition to these complimentary activities, there are also many excursions. Things like hiking the Pitons, zip lining, champagne sunset cruises, mountain biking, deep sea fishing, rum tasting, bird watching, or really anything is on offer at Jade Mountain.

Or you can always do absolutely nothing at all – Jade Mountain is the perfect place for that.

The Wellness

Being a fancy resort, I knew that Jade Mountain would have plenty of spa services on offer, but I was shocked by the sheer amount of different treatments to have.

It’s easy to indulge here and get lost in the many spa packages. Just to name a few are the Summer Skin Cooler, Chakra Balancing Massage, the Sea Salt Body Scrub, or a Saint Lucian Chocolate Massage.

We decided to go with a couples massage in the privacy and comfort of our room and never wanted it to end!

The Overall

I wouldn’t hesitate to book an amazing vacation or honeymoon at Jade Mountain. The views are to die for and I can assure you that you will never get sick of them.

On top of the views, everything from the food, to the beautiful Saint Lucian staff, and all around beach fun in the sun is top notch. I doubt we’ll ever stay at a resort quite like this one!

See the rates here!

Booking.com

Hotels.com

An Alternative Option to Jade Mountain: Anse Chastanet

I also want to take a moment to mention an alternative, but just as amazing option to Jade Mountain, and that’s Anse Chastanet. Anse Chastanet is the sister property to Jade Mountain and is located just down the hill.

Our first two nights in Saint Lucia were actually spent in the Beach House suite at Anse Chastanet – just steps away from the ocean. During the day we didn’t have to walk far to jump in the water and at night we could be whisked away to sleep by the sound of the waves.

Anse Chastanet is the more affordable resort, but it is still mega luxurious. Rooms are tastefully decorated and comfortable and the resort itself is well situated.

Anse Chastanet guests always have a plethora of restaurants to choose from and activities to take part in. Actually, all the activities that Jade Mountain guests get to experience are also available to Anse Chastanet guests and all of the same restaurants are on offer besides the Jade Mountain Club.

It’s worth noting that many of the rooms at Anse Chastanet still provide astonishing views of the Pitons as well.

I’m so happy we were able to get a feeling of both resorts as both were simply unbelievable. While Anse Chastanet is marketed as the slightly less exclusive (and less expensive) resort this property is by no means a poor choice to stay at in Saint Lucia.

See the rates here!

Booking.com

Hotels.com

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The post Jade Mountain Resort Review • Stepping into Paradise on Saint Lucia appeared first on The World Pursuit.

[theralympicspeech]

Nassau County Early Intervention: Caring for Our Youngest Residents

Nassau County Early intervention is a crucial aspect of ensuring that children with developmental delays or disabilities receive the support they need to thrive. A unique program provides parents and caregivers with access to early intervention services throughout New York State. To know more about us visit our site at theralympicspeech.com.

[nyutheatrepractices]

Sunday, January 13: Colors, Community, and Creativity! (By Lauren Extrom)

And the adventure continues, this time with more community collaborations! Since there are two posts for this day, my post will focus mainly on our first half of the day (see Si Yeung's post below for more specifics on our workshops with the local students in Yauco!)

On Sunday, January 13, our group woke up extra early to board a bus to Ponce, which is about an hour and a half drive from San Juan. On our sleepy and slightly bumpy ride up through the mountains, we watched through our windows as the terrain changed from tropical and humid to mountainous and...well, it was still very humid (I have photos of my poofy hair to prove it!) Regardless, we mentally and emotionally prepared ourselves for what we expected would be a very long but incredibly rewarding day full of art, conversation, learning, and fun (and indeed it was!).

At 10:30 am, our bus pulled up to Antonio Martorell’s studio. As soon as we walked inside, we all began to express our collective awe and wonder of the space before us with gaping mouths, as we were quite speechless (Sidenote: for those of you who aren’t familiar with him, Antonio Martorell is an interdisciplinary artist who is quite famous in Puerto Rico--he does mostly visual work, but has also written plays and has done some work with documentaries, too. In short, he is incredible and an inspiration to all of us!).

I have seen works of art at museums and art galleries before, but never in my life had I seen what I saw on this visit. My surroundings became full of colors, ideas, and even physical manifestations of feelings. There were so many shapes and patterns and textures—it was a full-on sensory experience.

As we walked through the space, Antonio encouraged us to simply observe and take everything in for ten minutes before taking pictures, so that we could take advantage of the present moment and of the experience. As I did so, I was reminded of an earlier time in my life when I allowed myself to take the time to fully observe my surroundings, and to let my curiousity take over and not feel guilty about it; spending a few extra minutes lingering behind on class trips to museums and zoos as a child allowed me to absorb more information and be more connected to the exhibits. By allowing my curiousity to take over in Antonio's studio, I could feel myself becoming more connected to the space and to the works of art, too.

After familiarizing ourselves with the space, Antonio invited us to gather around in a circle to have a conversation together, and to ask him questions about his work and his life. Though I am sure each one of us has many pages of wisdom and quotes written down from that conversation, I am aware that I can't include all of that information into one blog post. However, there are a few pieces of information that I think should at least be highlighted here. The first involves Antonio's description of his view on the purpose of art, and how we, as artists, can be affected by it. He reminded us that art should be enjoyed, and that the experience of engaging with art involves learning. So, when we create or engage with art, we should try to remember to not treat it as work or a struggle, but instead as an opportunity to gain new perspectives and take in the beauty and sensation of an artistic work. In other words, "knowledge is pleasure."

Another takeaway I have from our conversation with Antonio involves his advice for us on following through with our artistic dreams and endeavors. He reminded us that the "most important quality in an artist is awareness." He believes that art arises when people start to become aware of their surroundings and of happenings in the world, and that art is a way to communicate one's responses to all of these things. He also emphasized an important note on the connection between an artist and their work: "you transform the object, and the object transforms you." According to Antonio, it is almost as if the artwork's purpose is to inspire change and introspection within the artist. There is no need for the artist to impress or compete; there exists a beautiful and honest relationship between the artist and the artwork, and it is that relationship that brings out the beauty in both of them.

After our heartfelt conversation with Antonio, we proceeded to the next phase of our visit, which involved a tour of his studio and a workshop. As we passed through the space, we learned a bit more about our host and about his projects. A few pieces that come to mind include his collection of pieces commemorating the 2,975 people who died in Hurricane Maria, in addition to the numerous masks and portraits that filled the space on the walls and on the ground.

Once we finished the tour, we headed outside to his backyard and workstation, so that we could begin our workshop. He demonstrated to us our task: roll paint onto the designated recycled objects, and then stamp/stomp the object onto the fabric squares that we were each given, either using our hands or our feet. Though things certainly got a little messy, the stains on our clothes were well worth it! We took turns rolling the red, black, and white paint onto squished water bottles, paper cups, and metal-like cursive letters (and for some of us, our gym shoes!), and then stamping the objects onto our pieces of fabric.

We also created a group mural together, each adding our own personal touch to the work. Antonio helped us figure out where to add certain colors and shapes, and even had the idea for Asha, Quenna, and Kate to stamp the bottoms of their shoes as a way to frame the entire piece.

After taking a few group photos and exchanging final thoughts and hugs, we said our goodbyes to Antonio and his studio assistants as we boarded the bus to head off to our next activity of the day in Yauco.

About a half an hour drive from Ponce, Yauco is a small yet vibrant city closer to the west coast of the island. As we arrived, we were greeted by Rafael Mejía, Executive Director of Art, Culture, and Tourism of the City of Yauco and Director of Teatro Ideal. Rafael and a few other community members gave us a tour of Yauco, stopping at community hotspots such as the set of stairs painted by students from the Magnet School of the Arts Ernesto Ramos Antonini, and a strip of homes that were painted in bright colors by the community and by local commissioned artists. We learned that the community in fact plans to continue painting more homes in bright colors, as it has become a way for the community to come together and curate their own space.

Following the tour and a short stop at a local historic site/museum, we then made our way over to the local theatre to greet the students from the Magnet School who we would be working with that afternoon. The workshops we led were based off of themes that we have learned from our puppetry, physical theater, and Theater of the Oppressed work with Alejandra, Rosa, and Deborah. We spent about two hours interacting with middle school and high school students through these activities, and we enjoyed every single minute of our time there (Amy pointed out in a later conversation that we all were smiling and very joyful the entire time...I think it is safe to say that we enjoyed pretending to be animals just as much as the students did!). In this space, we not only were facilitators; we were also learners, and we did our best to give each other the space to facilitate and learn simultaneously, so as to avoid creating unnecessary power structures in that environment.

After the workshops ended and we took our final group photo, our NYU group and the community members from Yauco all headed over to a local restaurant to celebrate a successful day of arts learning and educating.

All in all, Sunday was a day certainly full of colors, community, and creativity (not to mention a two for one sangria deal to top it all off!). I cannot wait to see how else we engage with and learn from our collaborators here in Puerto Rico.

¡Hasta la próxima!

[vivianrhopper85]

5 Toronto’s Most Unusual Restaurants

The Internet loves lists: the top 10 action movies, the worst 10 football fumbles, the 10 most watched Oscar moments, and six easy weight-loss secrets of the rich and famous. The list goes on.

Well, here is yet another list, but with a caveat; when you're dealing with a place as large and diverse as Toronto, titles like 'best' and 'worst' are even more troublesome than usual. Given that,  the places below aren't the absolutely, no-doubt-about-it strangest restaurants in the city. But they are pretty darn unusual.

O.Noir

Location: 620 Charles St. Website: www.onoirtoronto.com

Following the success of its Montreal branch, Canada's first dining-in-the-dark restaurant opened a second location in Toronto in 2009. The idea is to heighten the sensory experience of eating by completely removing the visual element: patrons eat in pitch darkness, served and assisted by visually impaired waitstaff.

Let the 'blind date' jokes begin...

Typically, all food selections are made in the lit area of the restaurant. Orders placed, diners are then led into the darkened dining room, where, apparently, eating without seeing isn't as difficult as one might think, although you may have trouble recognizing what you're eating at first—so thoroughly have many of us come to rely on visual cues. For added mystery, you can order the 'surprise' option for any of the three courses O.Noir operates entirely on a prix fixe basis.

Those with a more restrained sense of adventure can sightlessly savour dishes such as filet mignon, pesto chicken, arugula salad, and chocolate mousse. A two-course meal is just over $30, not counting tips and taxes, while the three-course version is just under $40.

See more photos and read our full review here.

Figures

Location: 137 Adelaide Road Website: figuresto.com

These are the figures that shaped us is scrawled above the secret entrance to what has to be one of the coolest theme restaurants in the city. These figures the wall speaks of are comic book characters, cartoon personalities, movie idols, and pen & ink superheroes which adorn every corner of the space.

Figures is a full blown homage to your favorite comic book heroes, all with a secret entrance to the restaurant masked like a comic book and memorabilia shop. 

    Their menu consists mostly of sharing plates or Canadian twist on tapas both with vegetarian options, sea food and meat. Most desserts are also meant to be shared, so they cover things like mini ice-cream cones, do-it-yourself s'mores and other fun treats that can evoke a nostalgic feeling of your childhood. 

As for their drink menu, if you only decided to go to Figures for a cocktail, you won't be disappointed. Clearly their main creative focus went into creating and naming all of their cocktail combinations. They have a huge wine list and a very extensive cocktail menu, with 10 comic-inspired choices like Johnny Blaze or Dumb Grandson Pep Talk, as well as 10 classics with a twist.

See more photos and read our full review here.

Sultan's Tent & Café Moroc 

Location: 49 Front St East Website: thesultanstent.com

This one's the winner for ambiance, hands down. We have rich colours, a wooden floor, ornate hanging lanterns, elegant onion-dome archways, potted palm trees (which may not be real, but still), and booths hung with shimmering curtains to mimic the walls of the particularly sumptuous tent. In the evening, belly dancers come out to shimmy and wiggle.

There's also food, if anybody cares. 

The first Sultan's Tent existed for many years at Yorkville and Bay, before having to relocate in the face of an up-and-coming development in 2002. The new location at 49 Front St. E. is not only larger and more luxurious, but is also a historically notable building in its own right.

The Dixon Building (as 49 Front is known) was built in the 1870s, and originally used as a warehouse. It is—according to the Canada's Historical Places—one of the few buildings in the province with a cast iron facade, which was apparently all the rage back then.

The Sultan's Tent falls under the broad heading of 'ethnic', based as it is on French Moroccan culture and cuisine (or a romanticized Western version of it, anyway). The Café Moroc is apparently based on Rick's Cafe from the movie Casablanca.

This means that you can order Harira soup, lamb provençal, escargot, and pistacchio strawberry cake for dessert. I admit, this doesn't sound very Arabic to me, but the focus here is on French Moroccan dining. If you want something really exotic sounding, order the Casablanca Burger and be done with it. Appetizers range from about $6 to whatever the market price for oysters is at the moment. Entrees hover between $17 and $39 (for the lamb), at least in the case of the dinner menu. Lunch and brunch are a little bit less demanding on the wallet.

See more photos and read our full review here.

360 Restaurant

Location: 301 Front St West Website:  cntower.ca

Who would have thought that inside the most tourist-infested place in Toronto, one could find a fine dining spot with a definite focus on Canadian ingredients and dishes. Right inside the CN Tower, there's 360 Restaurant, providing it's guests with magnificent views and great food. 

The restaurant is named after the fact that in rotates  full 360 degrees every 72 minutes giving spectacular views of the entire city from over 1,000 feet above.So if your business dinner is too long, at least you have a new scenery to look at every few minutes. 

The menu is strongly Canada-centered, with many local dishes that don't seem much adventurous. It is a prix fixe menu where you can choose from a 2-course or 3-course options for $65 or $79 respectively. There is an a la carte menu as well for grilled meats and seafood. 

There are 7 desserts to pick from, or add onto your a la carte order for $14. They are more creative, more Canuck takes on typical fine dining desserts with ingredients that we have come to understand as purely Canadian.

They also have an extensive wine list and classic cocktails with Canadian names like Gord's Last Word, Toronto Islands, or CN Spritz.

See more photos and read our full review here.

SPiN

Location: 461 King St. West Website: toronto.wearespin.com

Like gym, but with beer - that's how Spin Toronto, a beer and food serving ping-pong lounge self-identifies. Hidden among pretentious club vibe of King Street West, spin is simply a big space crowded by ping-pong tables and a bar, where groups can come and enjoy a game or two with something tasty and a drink in their hand.

With beer, cocktails, and munchies, SPiN is anti-highstyle and very much like a frat party pub, but with much more interesting food combinations. Their menu consists mostly from pub favorites with a special twist. So you can find stuff like panko-crusted deviled eggs or potato rosti salad. You can top your meal with a fancy pop tart. In all honesty, this is not a dining destination. Nobody is coming here for the food.

It's the ping-pong tables and drink menu they are after. Because apparently enjoying a game of pong with a boozy drink in your hand is a very popular combination. With a pretty decent cocktail list, beers and special drought cocktails as well, there seems to be a choice for everybody to enjoy.

See more photos and read our full review here.

KV00KV

from News And Tip About Real Estate https://jamiesarner.com/toronto-life/2018/05/toronto-unusual-restaurants/

[healthylifepage]

THE BIG ACTIVE ESCAPE: AUSTRALIA

Happy New Year dear reader; I shall kick off 2018 with some travel-related food for thought… Australia has long been at the top of my bucket list, kept on that list thanks to the mammoth pilgrimage required to reach the complete opposite point on the planet. For many travellers in the Western hemisphere, it’s a trip you might only ever make once (if perhaps at all); for others, a single visit and they decide to undertake the permanent move East. It is an enchanting and diverse land, but there’s too much to cover in a single post, so I’ll break it into two digestible bits; this is Part 1, and recounts a sublime week at Qualia on Hamilton Island, part of the Whitsundays, blessed with turquoise crystal waters, dusted with powdered white sands, and fringed by lush tropical forest. Totally repaired since a dreadful tropical cyclone wrought devastation upon the islands some 7 months earlier, The Whitsundays are Australasia’s answer to The Maldives, but with one unbeatable competitive advantage: the Great Barrier Reef. Click MORE to see what exotic treasures I found there…

My destination resort came extremely highly recommended by the ‘Antipodean cognoscenti’, of which there are MANY. If you’ve been, you have a view; and so I’m now one of those people! Qualia was the name of my hotel, and the word itself describes those individual, personal sensory perceptions which unfold within your mind, and which define your reality and existence. I like this name, as it says something about what the resort evokes. Oh yes, and I say ‘resort’ with caution, as it conjures ancient images of British package holidays in Benidorm… this is a far more subtle a kind of resort, which sits on Hamilton Island, at the beating heart of the Whitsundays and is one of 74 tropical islands that lie between the Queensland Coast and The Great Barrier Reef.

This is *the* destination to experience Australian health and vitality along this gleaming stretch of the coast. Here’s why…

SOME CONTEXT ABOUT THE ISLAND…

The entirety of Hamilton Island is owned by the Oakley family, as indeed is Qualia, the flagship hospitality destination. Visiting a large island which is owned by one family is a totally unique experience; their passion and significant investment into world-class infrastructure means the island is superbly well groomed, beautifully maintained, is very clean, feels safe and is utterly stunning. The family even built a commercial airport to ensure the throughput of tourism, which is a staggering undertaking when you sit back and think about it! Everywhere you go, you command your own Club car Buggy which is supplied by the hotel to each of its guests, but which are also used by residents across the entire island. If you go to a restaurant or bar outside of the hotel, or indeed if you undertake any other activities on the broader island, you still sign the cheque onto your hotel room. That effectively means that the whole island is your resort, and that is quite distinct from my experience of travelling anywhere else in the world. It is totally liberating!

Every year there’s a Triathlon, a Marathon, an annual long-distance swim along Whitehaven beach, canoe races, and my personal favourite, the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week for sailing!

QUALIA ITSELF

The hotel comprises dozens of structures, all discretely woven into the cliff face at the northern-most tip of the island, and is architecturally modern and discreet, in keeping with the colours of the granite lithology and the forestry around it. This was very important to the owners, and as a guest, I feel it speaks to their respect for this protected landscape. Having been directly hit in April by Cyclone Debbie, the owners were super keen to refresh the whole resort so that they were 100% ready for their summer season (December), and they did a superb job of it; I would have and no clue that 260 kph winds were levelling this tropical paradise just 7 months prior to my visit, such was the resolve of the local people who all waded in to fix it up.

SERVICE

Having endured a 30-hour voyage to get here, Qualia was the first example of Australian hospitality I’d experienced, and I found it characteristically friendly, warm and welcoming. Staff genuinely seem happy to work here; you’re greeted with a real smile, (living in London that’s a rarity) as the pace and flavor of Island life seem to instill a contented tranquility amongst the c.2,000 locals. By the end of the trip, this becomes somewhat infectious…

WELLNESS

It’s an outdoorsy, beautiful, and most immersive venue for a wellness escape in the midst of the beauty of nature…

I started each day with an hour-long 07:30 yoga class in their beautiful open-walled pavilion, followed by the healthiest breakfast whilst surveying the Coral Sea below.

I left each session feeling utterly recharged, emotionally contented and totally compelled to return.

THE FOOD

Given the closeness to the waters, you’d be right to expect the freshest of fish, which for a pescetarian is a dream. However, there’s also plenty of chicken and red meat on the menu, sourced locally in Australia. You’ll get the opportunity to try some new fishes for the first time, such as a Humpty Doo Barramundi, as well as a host of golden reef fish that are in bountiful supply here.

Whether by the pool, on the beach, or in the open air restaurant, Qualia’s cuisine, is accompanied by endless views across the tranquil waters, which instantly renders any meal that little more inspiring. This little Pied Currawong joined me for breakfast every day to admire that vista!

Breakfast – my favourite meal – was afforded a lengthy menu including my daily regular, egg white omelet with shavings of parmesan cheese, rocket and a pesto-herb dressing, plus a small exotic-fruits chia porridge. Every morning a two juice power shots would appear along with a small fresh fruit platter. The quality of the food was high though perhaps not in comparison to what Italy / France is capable of conjuring.

WELLNESS FACILITIES

Activities are somewhat of a speciality for Qualia. There’s the Spa, Yoga, charters, cruises, Golf, guided walks, local food tasting classes, Rib tours, jet ski tours, seaplane/helicopter tours, wildlife tours, naturopath discussions, gymming, and sailing, amongst many others.

There’s an indoor/ outdoor gym which is adequately equipped with Technogym machines and a selection of sufficiently heavy free weights (mostly dumbells, though some kettlebells and bars too) with bi-fold doors leading to a terrace looking out onto the sea, and steps down to a white sand training area. Serious viewspo and extremely motivating and the great outdoors is indeed the best gym on offer here, with an external rowing machine to benefit from the above.

Water sports included my favourite, sailing, alongside a superb Rib tour of the island, though there were cruises, dinghy’s, jetskis, paragliding, kayaking, paddleboarding, wakeboarding  (etc) on offer!

THE SPA…

This was such a gorgeous spa, nestled high on top of Qualia, with many of its pavilions designed in such a manner as to feel that there are no walls (clearly there are), yet it feels completely hidden away from the rest of the world. It’s an open-air sanctuary where you instantly relax. You often feel a soft warm sea breeze whilst gazing out over the ocean. Wonderful toiletries from Aesop adorn every part of this complex, which benefits sauna and steam facilities, outdoor showers, endless spa treatments including deep tissue, reflexology, reiki, naturopathy, and personal training. I visited daily for a dose of invigoration. Away from the spa complex, THIS infinity pool…

YOGA

Every morning there’s a complimentary yoga class on offer, hosted by the lovely teacher (and island local) Damien Evans who is a distinguished Naturopath and Iridologist; his energy and spirit are a superb accompaniment to the day’s beginning, so I could not recommend this daybreak activity more strongly. He is only too happy to help you feel better on your trip, and strikes a great balance to get you there.

HIKING

There are several mildly demanding routes available to walk, stretching to 20km of trail. I found them to be better for taking in the scenery than executing a punishing workout, though the island is most certainly blessed with some interesting hilly relief!

THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

Invariably the star attraction in this part of the globe, it is the single biggest structure made by living organisms in the world. It’s also the world’s largest coral reef system, composed of more than 2,900 separate reefs & 900 islands, which stretch for 2,300 kilometres over an area of around 350,000 square km. It is vast. And it just happens to be a 30min chopper trip away from the hotel, which has its own Helipad. I undertook the ‘Best of Both Worlds‘ excursion, which involved departing at 08:30 from the helipad, snorkelling in the reef before anyone else has arrived, then hot-tailing over to Whitehaven beach for a private picnic on the untouched white sands. Rather than talk about it, here’s a little picture montage to tell the story…

This half-day heli-tour was undoubtedly the coolest thing I’ve done all year, possibly in many years. Whilst it was expensive, it was totally worth it, as a once in a lifetime experience that has indelibly etched images of exquisite natural beauty on my retinas.

THE ROOMS

There are 60 pavilions, all of which offer huge floor to ceiling windows, and all with their unique sea views. The rooms are light and airy with high ceilings using solid natural materials like wooden floors, slate tiling, white linen, and 100% cotton fibers which I always find ease my sleep. The huge, plush and perfectly made-up beds ensure you get the high-quality restorative sleep that’s required on an escape. Plus, this was the sunrise view from the balcony each morning, when jetlag gets you up at 5:30 in time to see the sunrise, and nature awakens with a stunning aviary chorus…

IN CONCLUSION

If you’re used to Europe, this is not another cultural experience filled with the heritage or artefacts of ancient civilisations; the island is new in its construction (having been founded in the 70s), but loses nothing for this. The raw natural beauty is the real ancient civilisation here; Hamilton Island is a highly polished destination for an indulgent wellness retreat, promoting cognitive ease at every turn. A visit to Qualia absolutely restores and refreshes, time both stands still and runs rampant, the senses are delighted by the finish, and it’s not at all stuffy in the mind’s eye, but rather, characteristically casual and altogether sumptuous.

If you’re contemplating making a big trip in 2018, then you’ve plenty of time to plan for this one, as their summer kicks off on 1st December (though the weather is frankly pleasant all year round for this pseudo-tropical island).

More to follow… Faya x

The post THE BIG ACTIVE ESCAPE: AUSTRALIA appeared first on Fitness on Toast.

THE BIG ACTIVE ESCAPE: AUSTRALIA posted first on yummylooksbest.blogspot.com

[yolandadsims]

THE BIG ACTIVE ESCAPE: AUSTRALIA

Happy New Year dear reader; I shall kick off 2018 with some travel-related food for thought… Australia has long been at the top of my bucket list, kept on that list thanks to the mammoth pilgrimage required to reach the complete opposite point on the planet. For many travellers in the Western hemisphere, it’s a trip you might only ever make once (if perhaps at all); for others, a single visit and they decide to undertake the permanent move East. It is an enchanting and diverse land, but there’s too much to cover in a single post, so I’ll break it into two digestible bits; this is Part 1, and recounts a sublime week at Qualia on Hamilton Island, part of the Whitsundays, blessed with turquoise crystal waters, dusted with powdered white sands, and fringed by lush tropical forest. Totally repaired since a dreadful tropical cyclone wrought devastation upon the islands some 7 months earlier, The Whitsundays are Australasia’s answer to The Maldives, but with one unbeatable competitive advantage: the Great Barrier Reef. Click MORE to see what exotic treasures I found there…

My destination resort came extremely highly recommended by the ‘Antipodean cognoscenti’, of which there are MANY. If you’ve been, you have a view; and so I’m now one of those people! Qualia was the name of my hotel, and the word itself describes those individual, personal sensory perceptions which unfold within your mind, and which define your reality and existence. I like this name, as it says something about what the resort evokes. Oh yes, and I say ‘resort’ with caution, as it conjures ancient images of British package holidays in Benidorm… this is a far more subtle a kind of resort, which sits on Hamilton Island, at the beating heart of the Whitsundays and is one of 74 tropical islands that lie between the Queensland Coast and The Great Barrier Reef.

This is *the* destination to experience Australian health and vitality along this gleaming stretch of the coast. Here’s why…

SOME CONTEXT ABOUT THE ISLAND…

The entirety of Hamilton Island is owned by the Oakley family, as indeed is Qualia, the flagship hospitality destination. Visiting a large island which is owned by one family is a totally unique experience; their passion and significant investment into world-class infrastructure means the island is superbly well groomed, beautifully maintained, is very clean, feels safe and is utterly stunning. The family even built a commercial airport to ensure the throughput of tourism, which is a staggering undertaking when you sit back and think about it! Everywhere you go, you command your own Club car Buggy which is supplied by the hotel to each of its guests, but which are also used by residents across the entire island. If you go to a restaurant or bar outside of the hotel, or indeed if you undertake any other activities on the broader island, you still sign the cheque onto your hotel room. That effectively means that the whole island is your resort, and that is quite distinct from my experience of travelling anywhere else in the world. It is totally liberating!

Every year there’s a Triathlon, a Marathon, an annual long-distance swim along Whitehaven beach, canoe races, and my personal favourite, the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week for sailing!

QUALIA ITSELF

The hotel comprises dozens of structures, all discretely woven into the cliff face at the northern-most tip of the island, and is architecturally modern and discreet, in keeping with the colours of the granite lithology and the forestry around it. This was very important to the owners, and as a guest, I feel it speaks to their respect for this protected landscape. Having been directly hit in April by Cyclone Debbie, the owners were super keen to refresh the whole resort so that they were 100% ready for their summer season (December), and they did a superb job of it; I would have and no clue that 260 kph winds were levelling this tropical paradise just 7 months prior to my visit, such was the resolve of the local people who all waded in to fix it up.

SERVICE

Having endured a 30-hour voyage to get here, Qualia was the first example of Australian hospitality I’d experienced, and I found it characteristically friendly, warm and welcoming. Staff genuinely seem happy to work here; you’re greeted with a real smile, (living in London that’s a rarity) as the pace and flavor of Island life seem to instill a contented tranquility amongst the c.2,000 locals. By the end of the trip, this becomes somewhat infectious…

WELLNESS

It’s an outdoorsy, beautiful, and most immersive venue for a wellness escape in the midst of the beauty of nature…

I started each day with an hour-long 07:30 yoga class in their beautiful open-walled pavilion, followed by the healthiest breakfast whilst surveying the Coral Sea below.

I left each session feeling utterly recharged, emotionally contented and totally compelled to return.

THE FOOD

Given the closeness to the waters, you’d be right to expect the freshest of fish, which for a pescetarian is a dream. However, there’s also plenty of chicken and red meat on the menu, sourced locally in Australia. You’ll get the opportunity to try some new fishes for the first time, such as a Humpty Doo Barramundi, as well as a host of golden reef fish that are in bountiful supply here.

Whether by the pool, on the beach, or in the open air restaurant, Qualia’s cuisine, is accompanied by endless views across the tranquil waters, which instantly renders any meal that little more inspiring. This little Pied Currawong joined me for breakfast every day to admire that vista!

Breakfast – my favourite meal – was afforded a lengthy menu including my daily regular, egg white omelet with shavings of parmesan cheese, rocket and a pesto-herb dressing, plus a small exotic-fruits chia porridge. Every morning a two juice power shots would appear along with a small fresh fruit platter. The quality of the food was high though perhaps not in comparison to what Italy / France is capable of conjuring.

WELLNESS FACILITIES

Activities are somewhat of a speciality for Qualia. There’s the Spa, Yoga, charters, cruises, Golf, guided walks, local food tasting classes, Rib tours, jet ski tours, seaplane/helicopter tours, wildlife tours, naturopath discussions, gymming, and sailing, amongst many others.

There’s an indoor/ outdoor gym which is adequately equipped with Technogym machines and a selection of sufficiently heavy free weights (mostly dumbells, though some kettlebells and bars too) with bi-fold doors leading to a terrace looking out onto the sea, and steps down to a white sand training area. Serious viewspo and extremely motivating and the great outdoors is indeed the best gym on offer here, with an external rowing machine to benefit from the above.

Water sports included my favourite, sailing, alongside a superb Rib tour of the island, though there were cruises, dinghy’s, jetskis, paragliding, kayaking, paddleboarding, wakeboarding  (etc) on offer!

THE SPA…

This was such a gorgeous spa, nestled high on top of Qualia, with many of its pavilions designed in such a manner as to feel that there are no walls (clearly there are), yet it feels completely hidden away from the rest of the world. It’s an open-air sanctuary where you instantly relax. You often feel a soft warm sea breeze whilst gazing out over the ocean. Wonderful toiletries from Aesop adorn every part of this complex, which benefits sauna and steam facilities, outdoor showers, endless spa treatments including deep tissue, reflexology, reiki, naturopathy, and personal training. I visited daily for a dose of invigoration. Away from the spa complex, THIS infinity pool…

YOGA

Every morning there’s a complimentary yoga class on offer, hosted by the lovely teacher (and island local) Damien Evans who is a distinguished Naturopath and Iridologist; his energy and spirit are a superb accompaniment to the day’s beginning, so I could not recommend this daybreak activity more strongly. He is only too happy to help you feel better on your trip, and strikes a great balance to get you there.

HIKING

There are several mildly demanding routes available to walk, stretching to 20km of trail. I found them to be better for taking in the scenery than executing a punishing workout, though the island is most certainly blessed with some interesting hilly relief!

THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

Invariably the star attraction in this part of the globe, it is the single biggest structure made by living organisms in the world. It’s also the world’s largest coral reef system, composed of more than 2,900 separate reefs & 900 islands, which stretch for 2,300 kilometres over an area of around 350,000 square km. It is vast. And it just happens to be a 30min chopper trip away from the hotel, which has its own Helipad. I undertook the ‘Best of Both Worlds‘ excursion, which involved departing at 08:30 from the helipad, snorkelling in the reef before anyone else has arrived, then hot-tailing over to Whitehaven beach for a private picnic on the untouched white sands. Rather than talk about it, here’s a little picture montage to tell the story…

This half-day heli-tour was undoubtedly the coolest thing I’ve done all year, possibly in many years. Whilst it was expensive, it was totally worth it, as a once in a lifetime experience that has indelibly etched images of exquisite natural beauty on my retinas.

THE ROOMS

There are 60 pavilions, all of which offer huge floor to ceiling windows, and all with their unique sea views. The rooms are light and airy with high ceilings using solid natural materials like wooden floors, slate tiling, white linen, and 100% cotton fibers which I always find ease my sleep. The huge, plush and perfectly made-up beds ensure you get the high-quality restorative sleep that’s required on an escape. Plus, this was the sunrise view from the balcony each morning, when jetlag gets you up at 5:30 in time to see the sunrise, and nature awakens with a stunning aviary chorus…

IN CONCLUSION

If you’re used to Europe, this is not another cultural experience filled with the heritage or artefacts of ancient civilisations; the island is new in its construction (having been founded in the 70s), but loses nothing for this. The raw natural beauty is the real ancient civilisation here; Hamilton Island is a highly polished destination for an indulgent wellness retreat, promoting cognitive ease at every turn. A visit to Qualia absolutely restores and refreshes, time both stands still and runs rampant, the senses are delighted by the finish, and it’s not at all stuffy in the mind’s eye, but rather, characteristically casual and altogether sumptuous.

If you’re contemplating making a big trip in 2018, then you’ve plenty of time to plan for this one, as their summer kicks off on 1st December (though the weather is frankly pleasant all year round for this pseudo-tropical island).

More to follow… Faya x

The post THE BIG ACTIVE ESCAPE: AUSTRALIA appeared first on Fitness on Toast.

from Health And Fitness Updates http://fitnessontoast.com/2018/01/02/the-big-active-escape-australia/

[muscledemandsrespect]

THE BIG ACTIVE ESCAPE: AUSTRALIA

Happy New Year dear reader; I shall kick off 2018 with some travel-related food for thought… Australia has long been at the top of my bucket list, kept on that list thanks to the mammoth pilgrimage required to reach the complete opposite point on the planet. For many travellers in the Western hemisphere, it’s a trip you might only ever make once (if perhaps at all); for others, a single visit and they decide to undertake the permanent move East. It is an enchanting and diverse land, but there’s too much to cover in a single post, so I’ll break it into two digestible bits; this is Part 1, and recounts a sublime week at Qualia on Hamilton Island, part of the Whitsundays, blessed with turquoise crystal waters, dusted with powdered white sands, and fringed by lush tropical forest. Totally repaired since a dreadful tropical cyclone wrought devastation upon the islands some 7 months earlier, The Whitsundays are Australasia’s answer to The Maldives, but with one unbeatable competitive advantage: the Great Barrier Reef. Click MORE to see what exotic treasures I found there…

My destination resort came extremely highly recommended by the ‘Antipodean cognoscenti’, of which there are MANY. If you’ve been, you have a view; and so I’m now one of those people! Qualia was the name of my hotel, and the word itself describes those individual, personal sensory perceptions which unfold within your mind, and which define your reality and existence. I like this name, as it says something about what the resort evokes. Oh yes, and I say ‘resort’ with caution, as it conjures ancient images of British package holidays in Benidorm… this is a far more subtle a kind of resort, which sits on Hamilton Island, at the beating heart of the Whitsundays and is one of 74 tropical islands that lie between the Queensland Coast and The Great Barrier Reef.

This is *the* destination to experience Australian health and vitality along this gleaming stretch of the coast. Here’s why…

SOME CONTEXT ABOUT THE ISLAND…

The entirety of Hamilton Island is owned by the Oakley family, as indeed is Qualia, the flagship hospitality destination. Visiting a large island which is owned by one family is a totally unique experience; their passion and significant investment into world-class infrastructure means the island is superbly well groomed, beautifully maintained, is very clean, feels safe and is utterly stunning. The family even built a commercial airport to ensure the throughput of tourism, which is a staggering undertaking when you sit back and think about it! Everywhere you go, you command your own Club car Buggy which is supplied by the hotel to each of its guests, but which are also used by residents across the entire island. If you go to a restaurant or bar outside of the hotel, or indeed if you undertake any other activities on the broader island, you still sign the cheque onto your hotel room. That effectively means that the whole island is your resort, and that is quite distinct from my experience of travelling anywhere else in the world. It is totally liberating!

Every year there’s a Triathlon, a Marathon, an annual long-distance swim along Whitehaven beach, canoe races, and my personal favourite, the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week for sailing!

QUALIA ITSELF

The hotel comprises dozens of structures, all discretely woven into the cliff face at the northern-most tip of the island, and is architecturally modern and discreet, in keeping with the colours of the granite lithology and the forestry around it. This was very important to the owners, and as a guest, I feel it speaks to their respect for this protected landscape. Having been directly hit in April by Cyclone Debbie, the owners were super keen to refresh the whole resort so that they were 100% ready for their summer season (December), and they did a superb job of it; I would have and no clue that 260 kph winds were levelling this tropical paradise just 7 months prior to my visit, such was the resolve of the local people who all waded in to fix it up.

SERVICE

Having endured a 30-hour voyage to get here, Qualia was the first example of Australian hospitality I’d experienced, and I found it characteristically friendly, warm and welcoming. Staff genuinely seem happy to work here; you’re greeted with a real smile, (living in London that’s a rarity) as the pace and flavor of Island life seem to instill a contented tranquility amongst the c.2,000 locals. By the end of the trip, this becomes somewhat infectious…

WELLNESS

It’s an outdoorsy, beautiful, and most immersive venue for a wellness escape in the midst of the beauty of nature…

I started each day with an hour-long 07:30 yoga class in their beautiful open-walled pavilion, followed by the healthiest breakfast whilst surveying the Coral Sea below.

I left each session feeling utterly recharged, emotionally contented and totally compelled to return.

THE FOOD

Given the closeness to the waters, you’d be right to expect the freshest of fish, which for a pescetarian is a dream. However, there’s also plenty of chicken and red meat on the menu, sourced locally in Australia. You’ll get the opportunity to try some new fishes for the first time, such as a Humpty Doo Barramundi, as well as a host of golden reef fish that are in bountiful supply here.

Whether by the pool, on the beach, or in the open air restaurant, Qualia’s cuisine, is accompanied by endless views across the tranquil waters, which instantly renders any meal that little more inspiring. This little Pied Currawong joined me for breakfast every day to admire that vista!

Breakfast – my favourite meal – was afforded a lengthy menu including my daily regular, egg white omelet with shavings of parmesan cheese, rocket and a pesto-herb dressing, plus a small exotic-fruits chia porridge. Every morning a two juice power shots would appear along with a small fresh fruit platter. The quality of the food was high though perhaps not in comparison to what Italy / France is capable of conjuring.

WELLNESS FACILITIES

Activities are somewhat of a speciality for Qualia. There’s the Spa, Yoga, charters, cruises, Golf, guided walks, local food tasting classes, Rib tours, jet ski tours, seaplane/helicopter tours, wildlife tours, naturopath discussions, gymming, and sailing, amongst many others.

There’s an indoor/ outdoor gym which is adequately equipped with Technogym machines and a selection of sufficiently heavy free weights (mostly dumbells, though some kettlebells and bars too) with bi-fold doors leading to a terrace looking out onto the sea, and steps down to a white sand training area. Serious viewspo and extremely motivating and the great outdoors is indeed the best gym on offer here, with an external rowing machine to benefit from the above.

Water sports included my favourite, sailing, alongside a superb Rib tour of the island, though there were cruises, dinghy’s, jetskis, paragliding, kayaking, paddleboarding, wakeboarding  (etc) on offer!

THE SPA…

This was such a gorgeous spa, nestled high on top of Qualia, with many of its pavilions designed in such a manner as to feel that there are no walls (clearly there are), yet it feels completely hidden away from the rest of the world. It’s an open-air sanctuary where you instantly relax. You often feel a soft warm sea breeze whilst gazing out over the ocean. Wonderful toiletries from Aesop adorn every part of this complex, which benefits sauna and steam facilities, outdoor showers, endless spa treatments including deep tissue, reflexology, reiki, naturopathy, and personal training. I visited daily for a dose of invigoration. Away from the spa complex, THIS infinity pool…

YOGA

Every morning there’s a complimentary yoga class on offer, hosted by the lovely teacher (and island local) Damien Evans who is a distinguished Naturopath and Iridologist; his energy and spirit are a superb accompaniment to the day’s beginning, so I could not recommend this daybreak activity more strongly. He is only too happy to help you feel better on your trip, and strikes a great balance to get you there.

HIKING

There are several mildly demanding routes available to walk, stretching to 20km of trail. I found them to be better for taking in the scenery than executing a punishing workout, though the island is most certainly blessed with some interesting hilly relief!

THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

Invariably the star attraction in this part of the globe, it is the single biggest structure made by living organisms in the world. It’s also the world’s largest coral reef system, composed of more than 2,900 separate reefs & 900 islands, which stretch for 2,300 kilometres over an area of around 350,000 square km. It is vast. And it just happens to be a 30min chopper trip away from the hotel, which has its own Helipad. I undertook the ‘Best of Both Worlds‘ excursion, which involved departing at 08:30 from the helipad, snorkelling in the reef before anyone else has arrived, then hot-tailing over to Whitehaven beach for a private picnic on the untouched white sands. Rather than talk about it, here’s a little picture montage to tell the story…

This half-day heli-tour was undoubtedly the coolest thing I’ve done all year, possibly in many years. Whilst it was expensive, it was totally worth it, as a once in a lifetime experience that has indelibly etched images of exquisite natural beauty on my retinas.

THE ROOMS

There are 60 pavilions, all of which offer huge floor to ceiling windows, and all with their unique sea views. The rooms are light and airy with high ceilings using solid natural materials like wooden floors, slate tiling, white linen, and 100% cotton fibers which I always find ease my sleep. The huge, plush and perfectly made-up beds ensure you get the high-quality restorative sleep that’s required on an escape. Plus, this was the sunrise view from the balcony each morning, when jetlag gets you up at 5:30 in time to see the sunrise, and nature awakens with a stunning aviary chorus…

IN CONCLUSION

If you’re used to Europe, this is not another cultural experience filled with the heritage or artefacts of ancient civilisations; the island is new in its construction (having been founded in the 70s), but loses nothing for this. The raw natural beauty is the real ancient civilisation here; Hamilton Island is a highly polished destination for an indulgent wellness retreat, promoting cognitive ease at every turn. A visit to Qualia absolutely restores and refreshes, time both stands still and runs rampant, the senses are delighted by the finish, and it’s not at all stuffy in the mind’s eye, but rather, characteristically casual and altogether sumptuous.

If you’re contemplating making a big trip in 2018, then you’ve plenty of time to plan for this one, as their summer kicks off on 1st December (though the weather is frankly pleasant all year round for this pseudo-tropical island).

More to follow… Faya x

The post THE BIG ACTIVE ESCAPE: AUSTRALIA appeared first on Fitness on Toast.

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[youngelders]

YLC Medicine Harvest

Evaluation Process for Thunder Bay Art of Hosting Training

From Dec 9-11 2016

Led by YSI’s Youth Leadership Circle

Purpose of the evaluation: gain an understanding of the impact of the gathering on people who have been there.

What we want to know: Does any of this learning this weekend help you unload the baggage you’re carrying, help you re-calibrate yourself so that you’re able to do the work you want to be able to do in the way you think is best for your community?

Candace’s tool Kaanaamodmii: Finding out where people are at with physical, spiritual, mental, emotional health and what they need for their learning journey.

We asked participants on Friday which area they felt most needed attention. On Sunday we asked them when they felt activated in a particular area.

Friday, December 9 responses:

Emotional/ East:

Balancing physical and emotional self in order to give support to others

Putting others before myself - need self care

Self care makes me emotionally stable - need it

Mental and emotional - drives me to participate more, channel emotions and drive change

Making me seek deeper and more impactful work, no settling!!!

Not taking care of emotional - skipped counselling to come here

Compassion fatigue - allows me to add high professional value to community, good resources, draining sometimes because I overwork and don’t take care of myself, the more I learn the more I want to fill

How do I support and take care of my community while taking care of myself?

Need self care and self love

Sunday, December 11 responses:

Emotional/ East:

When I was able to connect others in the room to new resources

HEART, “Every heart needs glue.” It’s okay to make mistakes and be vulnerable… but always keep going.

Our truth was made a lie. Water is purple.

FLYING

Connecting with elders, grandmothers, hearing them say how we collectively bring them hope for their grandchildren

I connected to emotion when hosting a pro-action cafe and it changed my project.

Listening to the grandmothers.

Coming to the training on the 1st day and seeing some familiar faces who I know are doing good, important and valuable work.

Walking alone, time for reflection

It is important to make people comfortable with real emotion

When grandmothers spoke about truth

When Tim and Tuesday shared their teachings

How can I plan to help each person?

Tears healing and cleansing

Reality checks

How opening and caring people are

“Indigenous peoples have so much to give to all nations on Turtle Island”

Letting my tears go. Finally.

Hearing about everyone’s personal experiences and how it gives the passion to do even the most difficult of work.

Listening to student who got emotional - it touched me

Holding the memories and mourning for my friends and community members stolen by the state

Michelle’s words, openness and honesty in welcoming us, reminded me to be open and humble. I was touched.

“Why is this important?” “Time is now.” Candace. Deep reaching questions, to help surface reality.

Debwewein - truth

Sharing lived experiences, and heart healing, songs from different languages and hearing the language

When I used my voice to tell those listeners what is really important to me and youth like me.

Sharing trauma to contribute to the meaningful conversation

Connected to emotion in the interview when I was asked what I was going to take away from this weekend

Getting to know people at meals and various adventures

Gerards talk

I felt connected to (and overcome by) emotion when I shared what gifts I received during this experience, this gathering.

Expressing care and love for Indigenous people. Expressing this was challenging because I feel it is met with skepticism. I felt sad but I know overall this is a good step.

Speaking about the pain and struggle of my Indigenous friend.

Hug Fest 2016, telling Lacey and Nikeeta about my “news”

I connected with my emotions when we shared after the pro-action cafe exercise. Laughter and sadness.

Morning ceremony.

Meeting Quinn and connecting with Cliff

Gratitude of sharing with photographer

When one of the grandmothers talked about everyone being born pure. I teared up because I was taught the opposite.

Emotional trust

Pro-action cafe closing

Feeling others around me and how vulnerable people were. I could feel emotion because they were almost mine too.. But not quite.

I felt emotion when Laura taught me to slow down and take time to understand

When I opened my eyes on Sat & Sun morning

Feeling valued in the action planning cafe

Friday, December 9:

Physical/ South:

How does it affect your work? Physical - fuelling my body with nutrients to push myself to be present

Move with the movement

Home? Unsure of my sense of home. But home is also where the heart is. My heart is in my home. My home is in my heart. My home is also in your heart.

I’m trying to find a place of balance so I am tracking the moments when I feel and don’t feel in balance. Makes me more thoughtful, quieter and more deliberate

I am moving out of extreme physical challenges, into a place where spiritual strength is building and leading me

I’m tired, maybe not as present in the work

Didn’t work out today

Sunday, December 11:

Physical/ South:

From the moment I felt my senses came when I woke up Saturday and Sunday morning

When Jermaine led in exercise stretch

The exercise with rubbing hands together and sending energy inwards to our fabulous group

Breathing exercises

The sensory activity on Sunday

Flocking

My walk outside on Saturday, feeling the sun and crisp air against my skin

I connected with my physical self when I stepped and pounded on my chest to connect to poetry

Freezing outside

Playing with the kids, learning gymnastics from Bryton, making a 2 minute handshake with Eddie and dancing Saturday after supper with friends

Reminder when we use our feet, to find and keep rhythm, to move forward, to step back, to walk together

Getting up after supper to dance

I connected with my body when I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill with Eddie

Walk outside

Feeling emotionally drained leading to physical fatigue

Bringing Gerard home :)

Nourishing lunch, good meatballs. Yummy.

During the closing/ harvest poem. Feet and heart.

I felt connected to my body during the harvesting poem. It was challenging at first but then it felt completely easeful.

Feeling really tired from all of the reflection and sharing

Baapi (laughter)

Knowing when my body has hit it’s limit

The call of the people - the call of the drum

Super good food and laughter

Meditating

Walks in the cold, be in the now and present

Delicious meatballs, cold outdoor air and spirit fire

The fire outside and the cold of the fire outside, feeling my knees bend in the cold

Physical wholeness

Play, swim, sauna

Taking off my shirt and swimming in a pool… never happens

Dancing with everyone during Naty, Krista and Hannah

Dancing after the heart work, just dancing with my favorite people #danceparty

Listening to my body and following it. Not ignoring it and letting it flow. Through listening to body.

Dance parties with Robin, Naty, Lyric, Adam, Tues and Quinn

I need to think more about hosting my body. It is uncomfortable in my skin.

Friday, December 9:

Spiritual/ West:

Transparency with the struggle

Spiritual purpose - how to stand on my own and how do I help my community stand on their own?

I cannot care for my community if I am not caring for myself. I need to nourish myself so I can nourish others.

Learning that happens both ways - in often unexpected ways

I am able to give less of myself than I would love to give right now

Feeling disconnected from western, social “normal” groups/ initiatives and spaces. Also feeling energized by empowering youth identity through cultural and spiritual spaces

The fire I feel which motivates me is largely spiritual which doesn’t fit into our society very well. I have spent a lot of time in a mental space (school), but looking for tools and techniques to fit the spiritual into the physical and mental spaces of society

Being here is reminding me why I am where I’ve found myself. Why creation needs me to do my best work.

I close up/ communicate less/ I hide a little / I carry that burning empathy. I connect with my heart’s voice. I am forced to slow down.

Balance between both worlds

Have not prayed today

I want to connect with people who have the same spirit fire, with people who want to be ignited and I am ready to seek them out

Positive hope, faith, positive belief

It drives me to do more

Self-care is helping me push to becoming a youth worker

Moving from mental to spiritual makes me feel better so I can do better for my community

More committed to serve my community as spiritual healing

Sunday, December 11:

Spiritual/ West

The harvest poem

Telling stories of my community and our issues made me feel like I was home

I felt connected to spirit when Candace shared deeply with all of us

Songs by the firepit

Feeding my spirit while talking to youth and elders while having lunch

Spirit connection

When grandmothers shared

When we sat around the fire and shared song & story of grief - healing turned into sacred

Listening to the words and teachings of the grandmothers

Moment I connected with spirit was this morning when I intended to be a witness, however I felt spirit lead me to participate in the proaction cafe

When Cliff shared his life path and dreams with me

Felt spirit from the moment I opened my eyes on Sat & Sun morning

I felt connected to spirit in between - I felt spirit and love in conversations with Adam. When Tina & Laura opened up with song

Spiritual - song, expression, singing, don’t hold back

Magic unknown

Finding out where you are Indigenous and what is your teaching?

Being brought back to myself, my purpose, after a long spiritual drought, by the spirit of YSI circle and family

Prayer, song and sacred fire

Prayer, round dance songs, under the moonlight

Spirit - I am listening!

Dancing to grandmothers songs

I connected with my spirit during open space technology when I shared how I care for my spirit and my aha moment that helped me find my spirituality

When hosting open space, feeling confident that everyone was open and listening to what I was saying

Sunday morning ceremony

Sunday morning ceremony

Sharing my tweet from my open space discussion

Being surrounded by nature vs. the city

Ceremony felt the Thunders move within - gift and voice

Ishkode - fire

Being around the elders and finding connections

Feeling supported by such good people

Opening with Gerard

Food to spirit, sema to land, songs to hearts

Bravery - getting dirty

Singing by the fire

Seeing my feelings expressed by others from different spaces

Fire keeping

Singing at the fire

Songs around the fire

Even though I felt uncomfortable as a non-Indigenous person and very emotional, I felt my spirit strongly telling me to persevere in what I am passionate about and learned that discomfort is positive.

When we sang in the circle and were invited to join in

Being able to join in this space and saying hello, welcome in my language

Always looking for the stars, when I see them I remember how small I am and all the skies I have been under and I feel home

Through medicine and ceremony. When the elders offered their words. Through being in a safe space and feeling the outside through medicine.

Songs and teachings shared, especially at the spirit fire

Sunrise ceremony and prayer - surprise visit from Manee - giving tobacco and asking for my spirit name!

On sunday morning when we discussed how truth and empathy are a part of reconciliation

Making connections with loved ones I have known all of creation

Friday, December 9:

Mental/ North

My peers in the community inspire and motivate me

Logistics mid in planning and hosting this training

Between mental and emotional, allows me to be responsive, compassionate and intersectional

Mental intensity and emotional intensity are connected. It means I am not as attuned to conversation, more distracted. I’m also learning a lot of uncomfortable things about myself.

Education - it will make me eligible in regards to colonial systems to do what I do naturally - social work

Working for balance

If I forget my balance, 3 my inner work, I am of no use to my community

Makes me a tight and unbalanced loaded weapon

To approach and explore new concepts and ideas carefully, reflectively and with humility.

Limitless capacity for thought

Feeling called upon to help others in their journey on discovering their leadership capacity

All of Saturday

Clarifies my closest community and focuses my choices.

My intuition told me to use my own life experiences and learn tools and resources so I can further implement the help I’d like to promote.

Mental learning and my busy mind has made me want to do more, learn more and educate myself on things that matter.

Always doing brainwork, keeps my focus on mental work. Can limit my ability to stop and just be present when needed. To connect to a from a grounded, kind place

Working on spiritual is working on mental at the same time. To be mentally well, you godda be spiritually well

Sunday, December 11:

Mental/ North:

I used my mind all weekend while learning and retaining the information shared with me

Hosting an impromptu open space session

Inspired to think deeply about what work settler people can be doing to move ourselves toward truth so Indigenous folks aren’t always having to educate

Contentment and belonging

This is hosting, not facilitation

Living in the moment and not outside the room

Connected to mental self through conversations at cafe and action planning

Responsibility bestowed on myself

Smudge

Brainstorming

Humor and laughter - pray and smudge

Actively listening to the conversation

Taking breaks to ease the mind and not over think about all the stuff in the world

In moments where there was clear communication and what was communicated resonated with me through words.

Getting out of my head and letting my heart go with the flow.

The teachings from Tim and Tuesday.

Thinking through barriers to community engagement and transformative justice - articulating thoughts as questions rather than assertions - or trying to..

Tim and Tuesday’s teaches, felt my mind stretched. Logistics, logistics, logistics.

I connected with myself continually through the weekend. But especially at the observatory and during Gerard’s talk.

During the diverge/ converge teach

Going to pick up the elder from OLG

Listening and meeting Aviaq - possibilities of writing and reflecting on how writing helps to connect me to other people and myself

“There is no reconciliation without truth”, always checking back with the truth. CLARITY.

Diverge and converge teach

Advocating for 2 spirit - all aspects of self

Just moved… mental self is still back home

Reflecting on how I will change

Realizing that I am intelligent. I am good at other things that others aren’t. I can ask for help with things.

Thinking about reconciliation using diverge and converge

Proaction cafe

Sharing on Friday about current/ most connected to. I was in a focused work state.

Starting to understand my peers, myself and my intentions.

Hosting a conversation for world cafe

Indenamowin - thought and reflection

I didn’t experience mental very much. But this is good because was dominating me before. This weekend helped balance me.

Intellectual throughout

Fourfold practice and other teachings that help think about systems change work in a metaphorical way yet tangible and adaptable way

During each of the theory sessions at AoH

When I spoke of my hopes for a career to someone I had just met

Open space convo

Taking in the teaches

When I asked questions today

I feel connected to my mind when I reflected as a host on the questions and reflected on my/ our project

From the moment I opened my eyes to wake up on Sat & Sun

Talking to Naty about our work

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Suffolk County's Early Intervention Program: Promoting Developmental Milestones

Suffolk County Early Intervention is a program providing assistance and services for children aged from birth to three years of age with developmental delays or disabilities. We provide personalized interventions to promote the development and learning of a child, e.g. in areas like communication, motor skills or family interaction, through teams of professionals. It aims to provide children the best possible start in life through early identification and intervention. Get in touch with us at theralympicspeech.com & call us on 631-240-3579 for more updates about us.