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liesoverthec · 3 years ago

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Eddie Diaz is the oldest child in his family.

Recently y’all I hit a follower milestone (I’m not gonna say which one cuz it wasn’t THAT big but it felt big to me! Hello everyone 🥰) So to celebrate we’re going to talk about my favorite controversial topic - Eddie Diaz and his birth order in relation to his sisters.

At this point, I KNOW y’all know how much time I have spent watching this show at a microscopic level so if you want to argue with anything here, you have to bring me something better than “he has the vibes”. No, nuh uh, not gonna cut it buddy 😂

The hardest of hard evidence for Eddie being the oldest.

This quote from Eddie Begins - it’s Helena, talking at first to Eddie and then to Ramon in the last two sentences. She says -

“Your dad wasn’t there, he was in - Galveston? When you were born. And then Sophia, that was - you were in Gulf Port, and then Adriana was an emergency C-section. So you dodged that bullet 3 times.”

I hate to break it to yall, but “and then” is a chronological indicator. If she had said, “and Sophia…” or “with Adriana…” there could be wiggle room. But by saying “and then”, Helena is indicating a specific order that those events happened in. Which puts Eddie firmly as the oldest, with Sophia next and Adriana as the baby.

Also I’ve seen many people use Adriana as the oldest for fic purposes, so even if you ignore absolutely everything else I say - Adriana is the baby. Most women have c-sections for all following babies once they have their first c-section. It’s definitely possible for them to have natural births following a c-section according to my research, but whether or not that’s possible depends on how traumatic the c-section was for the body. And an emergency c-section which cannot even be held off long enough for her husband to come home screams “traumatic” to me. Which is also probably a part of why they just stopped having kids after Adriana was born.

Combine the two facts of “and then” and “c-section” and that already makes it pretty clear Eddie is the oldest, BUT THERE’S MORE!

We’ve MET Eddie’s sisters already.

What?!?!? You say. Uh YEAH! I say back. They’re in 2x18, both at Shannon’s wake near the beginning of the episode and then at Eddie’s ceremony at the end.

This is the actress who plays Sophia Diaz.

Does she look older than Ryan Guzman to you?? Cuz she doesn’t to me.

Here’s her in the show - which I’d argue actually makes her look even younger than her IMdB picture makes her look, which is obviously a choice made by the show involving the makeup department. There’s no way this woman is older than our dear Eddie.

And here’s Adriana Diaz.

The actress they hired to play her turned 20 this year, which is a whopping 13 years younger than Ryan Guzman. If they’d intended either of his sisters to be older than him, don’t you think they’d have hired women who were/looked older than him?

Here’s how Adriana looked on the show -

It’s clear they aged her up, but there’s still no way, with the c-section info and this photo, that she’s older than Eddie. It’s just not happening. In fact, she’s still young enough that at the wake, she’s obviously been put on babysitting duty (you can see her over Helena’s shoulder on the left here), and she doesn’t get to be part of the adult conversation like Sophia does.

And sure, I’ve had people try to tell me that this casting most likely isn’t set in stone, and if his sisters come back they’ll have new actresses, but don’t you think that when they made the decision to include his sisters on the show, they knew they had to make a decision they were sticking to? They’ve definitely changed some details before in the past, but moving Chim’s birthday from October to March is a VERY different story than changing whether Eddie has older or younger sisters. All of which is reinforced by the quote from Helena that’s above.

(Also if you wanna chat about what I think the girls’ personalities are like based off their two outfits we’ve gotten I HAVE THOUGHTS I’D LOVE TO DISCUSS!)

I got some counter arguments and character discussion now but this is already long so it’s going under a cut.

Information which could possibly point to other groupings, but can still absolutely be explained by the birth order for which there is CONCRETE evidence for.

The niece mentioned in 2x01.

Omg whenever I bring up Oldest Child Eddie, y’all LOVE to talk about the niece. Okay, go back to those pictures of his sisters - do either of them look old enough to have a daughter who is capable of working an iPhone to the extent shown in the episode? No, there’s no way, not without being an almost exact replica of Eddie’s story in which they got pregnant and married REAL YOUNG.

To be honest, I’m pretty sure the niece doesn’t exist anymore. I think the writers wrote her in for that one specific scenario and have since forgotten about her in blissful, blissful ignorance. But there are other possibilities for her existence - she’s a young woman he’s related to who is not actually his niece.

My father refers to his cousin’s daughter as his niece, and I call her my cousin, when in reality she’s my dad’s first cousin once removed and my second cousin. Yeah, who says that?!? No one, so it’s absolutely possible he has a cousin who is older than him who has a daughter who helped him with the photos. She could even be the daughter of a family friend, and Eddie just didn’t want to get into the details of it with Chim while his other hostile coworker is weirdly lurking in the gym on his very first day of work.

Also, that ep where we met Eddie’s sisters?? Don’t you think that if Eddie had an actual blood niece that age, she would have met and had fond memories of Shannon, and would have been at her wake, and then Eddie’s ceremony, since her mom was there? But the only other kid at the wake besides Christopher is a boy who looks to be around 8. No niece. And on top of that, neither of the sisters is ever seen with a man. If Eddie had an older sister who had a kid, it’s presumable that she also probably had a husband/bf who would have known Eddie even before Shannon was in the picture, and would have been at Eddie’s wedding, and therefore would have wanted to be there for Eddie after Shannon died?

I mean, that’s what I think. But at Eddie’s ceremony, the only person at the table with Eddie’s family who isn’t a known member of his family is a random LAFD firefighter.... who yeah, isn’t really a candidate for the husband of one of his sisters, ESPECIALLY since there’s a woman with him, and the only other person younger than 20 here is Denny.

So the absence of either husband or daughter makes me think neither exist.

Plus we get a good look at Sophia’s left hand here, and she’s definitely not wearing a wedding ring, so she’s not married at this point in time. (God she looks so young here also, tell me again how she’s older than Eddie?)

And if she’s not married with a kid, you really think Adriana is? If Adriana, the youngest, was married with a kid, you can bet she would have taken some of the pressure off of Eddie, so I really, really doubt she is.

And in addition, those pictures of Eddie had to be taken in Los Angeles, since he would have been in the fire academy for at least two months by the time the calendar would have even been mentioned. And we know his sisters live in Texas - otherwise we REALLY would have met them and had them have lines, plus Shannon says they live in El Paso in 3x15. So the niece what, comes out to visit Uncle Eddie before he even has an official stable job, but DOESN’T come for the wake and his official promotion?? No way. There is no niece. She’s either not his niece or she doesn’t exist anymore. Either way, she’s absolutely not evidence for Eddie having an older sister.

“I remember when my sister was applying to colleges, I think that’s half the reason I didn’t apply.” (3x09) + “If I hadn’t joined the army, I’d still be working with my pops.” (3x11)

So we know that Christopher was born when Eddie was between the ages of 21-23. So he would be 20-22 when Shannon got pregnant. So between the ages of 18 and 21-23, Eddie: graduates high school (and if he is born around when Ryan Guzman was, he’s probably closer to 19 when he graduates), works for his father, gets married, gets Shannon pregnant, joins the army and completes basic (2.5 months), then gets certified as an Army medic (another 4 months), and then gets deployed to Afghanistan all before Christopher is born. So to me, the timeline is - Eddie graduates high school and is not good at school and overwhelmed, so he takes a gap year to work for his father. During this gap year, Sophia is applying to colleges and Eddie watches her stress and decides it’s not for him, especially since he just got his girlfriend pregnant. They get married, he joins the army, does basic and medical training, and then he gets deployed, coming back home for Christopher’s birth before going back overseas. I think if he had known before graduating high school that he didn’t want to go to college, he would have joined the army then, because he clearly always wanted to do more than work for his father. I think working for his father was meant to be his stop gap/breathing room until the YOUNGER Sophia showed him that college wasn’t for him.

Character traits I think are better explained by Eddie being the oldest child.

No struggle with masculinity.

Despite all of the intense pressure they’ve shown us repeatedly that Eddie receives from his parents, Eddie doesn’t struggle with feeling like he’s not masculine, or even tries to assert his dominance over Buck/Chim/Bobby in a way you’d expect from someone like that (in fact we see that from BUCK, not Eddie.)

Because, I think, he’s an oldest child.

Eddie’s parents’ issues seem to stem more from their desire to control Eddie’s life than from any real obsession with him being the only boy in the family. If they were obsessed with him because he was the only boy, I think we would have seen that manifest somehow already, either from Eddie feeling like he has to be macho, or some comment from his parents about how Christopher is the family legacy. But we get none of that. And Eddie is fine being the butt of jokes, he doesn’t show off, he’s fine deferring to Bobby or Chim or Hen or Buck at calls if they know better than he does. He has decorations for every holiday and he cares about what his couch pillows look like (he even HAS couch pillows at all!)

In 3x01, Eddie specifically says, “Whenever stuff didn’t work out for me, my dad always told me to brush it off and keep moving forward, it wasn’t easy but he wasn’t wrong.” This is a perfect example of why I think his parents’ obsession with him comes from him being the oldest rather than the only boy, like it would be if he were the middle child. If it was about him being male, wouldn’t you expect a comment like, “my dad told me to man up” or that Buck just had to get over being benched and be a man? But there’s none of that.

The pressure to be perfect.

All of Eddie’s emotional issues stem from feeling like he can’t be seen as weak, rather than anything to do w/ him not wanting to be seen as less of a man.

For the first however many years of his life before his sister was born, Eddie would have been the sole focus of his parents’ attention, and I don’t think they ever let go of that.

In addition, as the oldest, Eddie would have been told he needed to be an example for his younger sisters.

All of which I think manifests itself in his struggle to be perfect, to hide his emotions when he’s feeling less than 100% (and maybe join a streetfighting ring), and not being able to ask for help from others - it has to be forced on him. He can’t show his emotions because his parents expected their oldest child to be perfect, not because he was a boy.

(Pressure to be perfect showing up as dating Ana, the ‘perfect woman’, anyone?)

The pressure to be a provider.

Ramon is obviously gone, A LOT - he literally missed the births of all three of his children. And parentification of oldest girls is much, much more common than the same of oldest boys. So if Sophia truly was the oldest, I think SHE would have been the one expected to step up and help around the house. And like I said, if they truly were obsessed with Eddie because he was the only boy, as would be the case if he was the middle child, don’t you think they would have wanted him to have every opportunity to succeed, and do a million sports and get a scholarship and be the bright shining heir to the family, while using their eldest daughter to keep the family/house in order?

But it’s obvious that’s not what happened, because Eddie really, really struggles with wanting to be the perfect provider for his family, in a way that screams “eldest child trauma” to me.

Baby Eddie, home alone all the time with his mother and his two younger sisters, expected to act like the man of the house because Helena was busy with the two babies, expected to help get his sisters’ lunch ready or help them with their homework.

And then when he (probably shotgun) married Shannon and she got pregnant, you can obviously see this trauma come into play, in two different ways I think. For one, part of the breakdown of their marriage was that I think Eddie didn’t know how to show love and care other than providing, which was not at all what Shannon needed. But then also, I think when Shannon got pregnant, Eddie saw back to his childhood of helping raise his younger sisters and he panicked. He wasn’t ready to be under all that intense pressure to provide for his family again and he ran.

And he’s STILL doing it, when he dates someone he thinks would be better for Christopher than because he really cares. He’s so used to sacrificing himself and his happiness to be able to provide for his family in a way that really truly rings as oldest child trauma to me. It being middle child trauma brought on by him being a boy just doesn’t ring as strongly to me, since if Sophia was older, she would have spend a least a good bit of time taking care of HIM, rather than vice versa.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Sure, some of his behaviors could be explained as middle child symptoms, (the jealousy I think I saw someone say?) But I think they’re much more likely just personality traits of an oldest child who finally feels comfortable enough to leave the strict roles set by being the oldest, and is allowed now to be petty during a treasure hunt, for example.

I do think his traumas/character was influenced by him being the only boy, don’t get me wrong, but I think that came after. I believe it started bc he was the oldest child, and then once it became clear that they were done having children after Adriana, they focused on him being the only boy, but his role in the family had already been set as The Oldest, so the way they treated him and pressured him was shaped by that more than it was by him being The Boy.

Also, y’all gonna tell me you don’t wanna see Eddie and Maddie bond over feeling like they were given parenthood roles over their siblings too early??? Cuz me, I wanna see it. 😂

I hope all of that made sense, and sorry it was so sassy - I just have SUCH strong feelings about Oldest Child Eddie, and I’m about 90% certain that canon is going to back me up on this, if they ever decide to handle it.

(Side note if y’all wanna like tag the official account in the comments or whatever, DO IT cuz I want the show to know we want to see the answers!)

Lots of love!

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

#911 fox #9-1-1 #911 on fox #eddie diaz #sophia diaz #adriana diaz #b discusses character details #oldest child eddie #hello this is a psa #if you try and argue against me using a point that i've discussed as being for oldest child eddie under the cut #and it's clear you didn't actually read my post #im gonna ignore/delete cuz im not doing that #i want oldest child eddie so bad #also i think adriana is at the right age where she could date albert #and wouldn't that BE AMAZING #maddie and adriana talking about what it's like to date a han #i'd watch the hell out of that #and maddie and eddie trauma bonding time #give them someone to talk to who completely understands #i think eddie is explained so much better by him being an oldest child than a younger one #i recognize so many of my own feelings and faults in eddie bc im also an oldest child #it just does things to you

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charlie-pippin-faraday · 3 years ago

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House of Anubis birthday headcanons

This is a branch off my previous post where I talked about birthdays and star signs. Now I’m gonna talk about more detailed and ~fun~ headcanons

They are the 1995-96 school year

Nina and Joy are the oldest (I’ve already had lengthy discussions about this, about whether they’re the oldest or youngest. I personally believe they’re the oldest, so that’s what I’m going with in my headcanons). Their birthday is July 7, 1995 (Cancers 🦀). And yes usually July birthdays are on the younger end, but the wiki says Amber’s September birthday and Eddie’s November birthday are 1995, and fall birthdays are definitely on the older end. This means that the January-June birthdays of that year are gonna be in 1996. It’s not totally out of the question for a summer/July birthday to be on the older end instead of the younger one. Because Eddie’s November��‘95 and he’s in their year, they kind of have to be the oldest. So, conclusion: Nina and Joy are the oldest ones in the house

Both Nina and Joy definitely had pool parties for their birthday as kids. One or both of them almost definitely had ice cream cake at least once. Nina also thinks the idea of being in school on her birthday is barbaric

Season 3 is their senior year, meaning it’s the year they’re all turning 18. This is part of the reason Amber was making such a big deal about her birthday in S3; 1) it’s Amber so of course and 2) it was her 18th birthday, so she absolutely wanted it to be special

Because they were all turning 18, Amber wanted to make everyone’s birthday special. She planned to throw parties for everyone’s birthdays (except Joy, RIP, who turned 18 in the summer before the school year started). However, Amber wasn’t actually around to throw any of those parties. But she did leave all her party stuff behind, so the rest of them use her party supplies for everyone’s 18th birthday parties

Amber’s birthday is September 9 (a Virgo 😘), so every year she sees her birthday as the celebration to kick off the school year. She wants a huge celebration and a party and cake and presents for her birthday every year. She’s also definitely the high school girl who had her friends decorate her locker and had birthday balloons tied to her bag that she carried around all day on her birthday every year. She also definitely wore like a birthday tiara

I believe that Mara is a Libra (⚖️), and that her birthday is in early October (my headcanon is Oct. 6). She likes having a fall birthday because she likes how cozy it is and she likes to indulge in a pumpkin spice latte. She doesn’t like to make a huge deal about her birthday, and whenever people try to make a fuss she’s like no no there’s no need to make a big deal. She doesn’t want like the world’s biggest party, however, if anyone tries to make her do anything she doesn’t want to do on her birthday, she gets very pissy

Eddie’s birthday is November 19 (fuckin Scorpio 🦂), meaning that it is very close to American Thanksgiving. As a child he would always say to his mother that Thanksgiving “got in the way” of his birthday

Patricia’s birthday is December 8 (Sagittarius 🏹), and originally she’s not a big fan of her birthday and it makes her angry because she has to share her birthday with Piper (obviously) like she has to share everything. Birthday parties as children were not fun for Patricia bc obviously there would be one party for the both of them and her parents would skew it towards Piper. Patricia resented her birthday for awhile. However, Joy, always tries to go out of her way to make her birthday special and just for her (“You will have a good time on your birthday, Patricia!”), and eventually she comes around to enjoying her birthday as long as it’s exclusively her birthday

Fabian is absolutely a Capricorn (🐐), everything about him screams Capricorn. Which means his birthday is anywhere from late December to mid-January, and I believe his birthday is definitely two days before Christmas. He gets really grumpy and bitter about his birthday because of that; his birthday constantly gets pushed to the side for Christmas, and he can never spend his birthday with his friends because it’s always over the holidays. He says it’s fine (“it’s fine”) and that he’s just not a big birthday person, but that’s a lie he’s just grumpy about it. He was gifted many combo birthday-Christmas gifts as a child which he was not a fan of. He also does a little bit of “i hate my birthday out of spite” in the vein of Chandler Bing and Thanksgiving, but like only a little bit [side note: my dad’s birthday is two days after Christmas, so I can confirm that people with Christmas-adjacent birthdays are absolutely grumpy and “woe is me” like this]

I believe KT is an Aquarius (🏺) and that her birthday is at the very end of January (my headcanon is Jan. 29). She was definitely that kid in school who brought cupcakes into school on her birthday, and she continues this tradition at Anubis House. She wakes up early on her birthday so that she can make cupcakes to bring to class. Alfie’s a big fan

Willow is for sure a Pisces (🐟), and her birthday is in late February (my headcanon is Feb. 24). The thing she wants the most for her birthday every single year is for it to snow on her birthday. She wants her birthday to be “a winter wonderland.” And whenever it does actually snow on her birthday, it’s the best thing to ever happen to her in her entire life, and she spends all day in the snow

I believe Mick is an Aries (🐏), and his birthday is in late March (my headcanon is March 30)

I believe Alfie is also an Aries (🐏), and in my mind is birthday is on April Fool’s Day. No one believes him when he tells them at first. His birthday is always a riot. Everyone feels bad about getting mad at his April Fool’s Day pranks because they don’t want to make him upset on his birthday, and because of this he goes just a little bit mad with power

Because their birthdays are 2 days apart, Alfie and Mick often had joint birthday festivities. Alfie loves sharing; Mick is not so keen about it. Alfie often takes over the birthday festivities and tends to make them more about himself, which steams Mick a little bit. However, Alfie also enthusiastically calls the two of them “birthday buddies” which Mick can’t help but like

I can totally see Trudy either A) making two cakes or B) making one of those cakes that’s split down the middle, like one half is chocolate/chocolate and one half is vanilla/vanilla or whatever. And she totally puts their faces on the cake (which they both would love) and puts the face on each respective half so they know whose is whose. “Whoever’s cake you pick is who you love more,” Alfie declares every year, making the whole house choose sides

Now Jerome, I believe, is a Gemini (👯‍♀️), and his birthday is in mid-June (my headcanon is June 11). This means he’s the youngest one in the house, which he absolutely fucking hates. He tries to keep his birthday a secret from everyone for the longest time. For awhile, they think that Alfie is the youngest, and he would prefer to keep it that way. He absolutely does not want anyone to know that he is anubis house baby. He declares the day they find out the truth the worst day of his life. Everyone makes jokes about it which angers him to no end. “I am the tallest one here!! Don’t disrespect me like this!!” “Yeah but you’re still the baby of the house. Have you hit puberty yet?”

Once Jerome’s 18th birthday hits and they have the final 18th birthday party, Trudy gets incredibly emotional because all of her babies are adults now. She definitely cries a little. Or a lot

#please enjoy my birthday headcanons #the headcanon that jerome is the youngest is so fucking funny and so important to me actually #house of anubis #nina martin #joy mercer #amber millington #mara jaffray #eddie miller #patricia williamson #fabian rutter #kt rush #willow jenks #mick campbell #alfie lewis #jerome clarke

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goldenslumbersfanfiction · 3 years ago

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If you're taking prompts, I'd love to see your take on Dani reuniting with Judy after Bly.

Read it here on AO3

It’s Carson who calls you first.

When you hear his voice on the other end of the phone, you feel like you could sing and cry at the same time. You feel like you should have called him ages ago, but you also feel like there never would have been enough time that would have felt right; too little time turning quickly into too much time between then and now.

Every time you’d think about him, you’d remember that the last time you saw him was about a week after the funeral. He used Eddie’s key to your house and found you right there on the couch. You hadn’t showered in five days, because he would always be in your bathroom mirror, and you couldn’t undress under his gaze. You weren’t making much sense, everything was a blur, but you must have gotten something across, because Carson came into the bathroom with you and held up a giant bath towel to block you from the mirror while you undressed and got under the hot spray, and he ordered pizza and a few penne vodka dishes that would heat up well for you for the next couple of days. He watched a movie with you, hugged you goodbye, and that was it.

But it’s years later, and you’ve traded one ghost for another, and he had asked your mother for your new number so he could call you for your birthday and catch up, because he just found a bunch of old photos from when you were all little, and he misses you.

So you talk, and it’s wonderful, and you missed him too. And he calls you again the next week, and it becomes a regular, beautiful thing you do every Sunday you can, and you talk about movies a lot, but you talk about everything. After a couple of months, you tell him about Jamie, and he tells you that he’s proud of you. He never asks you if you didn’t love Eddie, and you’re grateful, because he knows you did, so much, but he also knows that it takes time to learn who you are, and there shouldn’t be any guilt in that. He tells you about this guy that he recently broke up with, and you are shocked and delighted when he also tells you which presumed-straight boys from your high school he was making out with in the bathrooms during study hall.

It feels like something holy and uplifting, your phone calls with Carson. It feels like forgiveness and reconciliation and it feels like healing.

It’s an accident, one day, when Judy answers the phone.

You called Carson’s house to talk about My Blue Heaven which just came out last week. He told you that you had to go see it and call him back to talk about it. You were partial to Pretty Woman, which came out earlier that year, but you were ready to hear his tirade about how Steve Martin is the comedic genius of your generation, and how could it not be your favorite movie of the year.

This was the conversation you were ready for when Judy’s voice comes through the end of the receiver, and you feel as if you have been plunged into cold water at the shock of it. But her sweet voice still sounds like a particular kind of home, still holds your heart, even though she’s asking if anyone is on the line because you are silent, stunned by it, and it takes you a second to recalibrate, to find your voice again.

“Judy?”

“Yes?”

“Judy it’s...”

“Danielle?”

It surprises you how quickly she identifies you, because you don’t think Carson has told her about your phone calls. But you suppose, she did watch you grow, has known your voice as a little girl and as a teenager and as a woman, has heard it from across dinner tables, shouting on school playgrounds, has heard it through sore throats and through tears and through happiness.

Carson’s not home right now, but she tells you she just swung by to pick up some Tupperware that she sent him home with last week and needs back for a potluck tomorrow, but what a lucky coincidence, because she’s so happy to hear your voice. It strikes you how there she is, in his life, in his house, answering his phone, how close Carson has always been to her when he’s been talking to you. The idea of reaching out to her always seemed like something so far away, something so beyond what you were capable of reaching for, and so you lost all sense of what it might look like, sound like, feel like, to just tell her about your day and know she’s listening with all the love in her heart for you, even after all this time.

You talk to her for a little while. You tell her about The Leafling, about your business partner, about the Vermont winters and how she would absolutely hate them because she hates shoveling snow. She updates you on all of her sons and their new children or their new homes or jobs, and she talks about Eddie too, with a fondness that could only come with time.

But she tells you she’s planning a trip to New York with a bunch of her friends from church in a couple of months, just to see the sights and go to some Broadway shows, have Junior’s cheesecake, and a Nathan’s hot dog in Coney Island, but not to ride the Cyclone like some of her other crazy friends, her head would fall of if she did, she says, but she’d love to see you while she’s somewhat nearby.

You’d love to see her, too. You want to see her, need to, more than you ever thought you could need something that you didn’t know you needed just twenty minutes ago.

There’s a twinge in the back of your head, a tickle, a feeling, a sympathy, and perhaps, a jealousy, that you have not been forgotten by this woman who loved you a lifetime ago. That you have not been discarded or moved on from or buried. You’ve co-existed with this feeling for nearly four years now, and she doesn’t remember, but she feels, and you know her worries and her agonies well, and you know she was abandoned. But the lady from the lake is also you now, so she can feel what you feel as well if you let her, and so you share this with her because you think she might need it just as much as you do. You let her participate in this feeling of being missed and loved and remembered, and you let her run her hands along the fondness in your chest, let her wrap her arms around the way your eyes start to sting as you feel it fully.

Judy gives you her home phone number, just in case you forgot it, as if you ever could, like it isn’t burned into your memory, like the last four digits aren’t the PIN for your debit card. She tells you to call, and you can set something up.

You talk to Judy a few more times over the next couple of months, but unlike your conversations with Carson, you seem to have an unspoken understanding that you’ll share deeper updates when you’re face to face, heart to heart. You decide to meet her in New York in October. It’s Jamie’s favorite time to go on long drives, when the roads are surrounded with red, orange, yellow, green trees and blue sky for miles and miles, and she can let the windows down and feel the cool crisp air against her skin.

Carson jokes that you always liked Judy best, that of course you're seeing her first, when he’s been talking to you for months. You tell him it’s only because Judy agreed that Pretty Woman was better than My Blue Heaven, obviously, but that he is welcome to visit you in Vermont any time he wants. June, perhaps, and he laughs so loud, and tells you he’ll absolutely take you up on it, and you love this idea, of creating a new kind of life, an honest life, with Carson as your friend. You hope that Eddie would be happy, that he’d be as proud of it as you are, but it’s okay that you’ll never know.

You close the shop for the weekend and drive down to New York on a Friday, and when you get to the hotel, it all sort of starts to hit you a little bit more than it has before. Jamie can tell, and when you’re standing there in the middle of the room, between the crisp made bed and the window, unsure of what to do with any of your limbs or any of your thoughts, Jamie comes up to you and puts her arms around you, and you are so thankful that you have her. You are so thankful that Jamie is here for you, for this.

She had met your mother a couple of years ago, and it went about as well as you expected it to. But it’s Jamie, and she knows that Judy matters more, somehow. It’s Jamie, and she knows you better than anyone else, and the only other person you have ever been able to say that about, before her, was Judy.

Jamie takes you out, and your nerves about tomorrow aren’t forgotten, but they are at bay, and you have a beautiful night out with her. You go for a walk along the Hudson River after dinner, and you’re both tired when you get back to the hotel, but not tired enough to not take advantage of this king sized bed, and Jamie proves to you how much she loves you, how she’s right here for you, so close, and you prove it right back.

You sleep so well that night, curled up against Jamie’s skin, the only place you have ever truly felt like you belonged, aside from under Judy’s roof, and you know that the reason you are anxious to see her again tomorrow is only because you are worried she won’t be a safe place for you anymore. You had decided that you would be nothing but honest with her, and you are worried that she won’t recognize who you’ve become, will decide not to love you, will say goodbye to you after your lunch, disappear around a corner, and that’ll be the end of it.

When you tell all of this to Jamie in the early morning light, and she wraps her arms around your waist, kisses your neck where she’s tucked, and tells you that yes, it’s all possible, that this could happen, but that she knows how wonderful you are, how beautiful and perfect you are, and anyone who knows you a tenth as well as she does couldn’t ever turn away from you if they knew what was good for them. You’re blushing and smiling and hiding your face in the pillow, and you don’t know how it’s possible that Jamie can say things like that and make you feel so shy and freshly in love, when you’re lying here naked with her with a ring on your finger with years of nights and mornings just like this behind you.

You eventually get out of bed, and you dress, and the morning passes in a bit of a blur, and you kiss Jamie goodbye as you head out to lunch at the restaurant you picked near Judy’s hotel, and when you see her, she is standing alone on the sidewalk outside, looking up and down the street for you, excited and nervous like you are. She hasn’t spotted you yet, and you just take a moment to look at her, this woman who took you in and raised you like it was the easiest thing in the world.

You feel it again, that twinge, that tickle, in the back of your head, when you let the lady see that this woman is searching for you. It’s a mother’s love, and that impossibly never ending search for one more chance to hold her daughter close.

When you see her, it feels, at once, like no time has passed, and like you have both lived lifetimes apart, but she pulls you in to one of her too-tight hugs, and you sink into her and she smells exactly the same, and she feels just right, and you think, if you close your eyes, you might be eleven years old again, or nine, or twenty-two. You might be in her living room, or at your high school graduation, or at her son’s funeral, or here, on the corner of 24th and Madison after not having seen her for five years, but you know that you are home.

She holds your face between her palms, and gets a good look at you, runs her hands down your arms to your hands to squeeze them in hers, and she briefly falters when she feels the ring on your finger, looks down, and then back up at you with a surprised, but absolutely joyous smile.

“Oh...yeah.” You laugh a little, bring your hands up to your chest, fumble with the ring a bit. “I’m sort of...”

She looks at you with so much love, says, “Oh, Danielle. I can’t wait to hear everything.”

So you tell her, as much as you can, you’re as honest as you can be while leaving out the tickle in the back of your head, while omitting the last twenty minutes of her son’s life. Some information is best withheld, you think. Some lies spun out of love and protection. This lie, this omission, would have Eddie’s blessing, and so you feel no guilt.

You tell her about Jamie, and she is a bit surprised, but not upset. She’s so happy for you, and you can see it in her face, the truth of her joy when she asks to know more about her.

You tell her how you met, how after Bly you stuck together, travelled a bit, settled, opened a store together. When you tell her about the small ceremony you and Jamie had for yourselves on a trip to Utah, where you exchanged rings, just the two of you and the Trembling Giant at sunset, she says something you’ve never had the courage to voice, even after all your years thinking about it, after all the times you’ve dove deep into the pain of it with Jamie by your side.

“You never would have met Jamie, had he...you know.”

Had he lived.

Had he lived, you never would have been this happy.

She says it so matter-of-factly, so assuredly, but still so sad, and you think about something Jamie had told you the last time she grew a moonflower. How it’s meant to die, meant to break down and rise back up, but the memory of it...that’s what lasts. The work you put into it doesn’t go away, just because the bloom has wilted and crumbled. That’s why you grow a moonflower. To tend to it, to love it, for the brief time it’s here, because it’s worth it. You send that material back to the earth then, and you see what will grow next from its atoms.

“No, I...I probably wouldn’t have met her.”

“Well...” she sighs, “Maybe it was him you know? Maybe he...wanted to make sure you’d have someone. He would have wanted to make sure you were loved.”

“Maybe it was, yeah.” It’s a lovely idea, that Eddie might have guided you from another realm with a forgiving and loving hand right into Jamie’s embrace. You don’t have the heart to tell her that she isn’t wrong, that it was his gravity you were trying to escape when you found yourself in Jamie’s orbit.

“Danielle?”

“Yeah?”

She takes a deep shaky breath, and you feel like, maybe, she’s thought about what she’s about to say to you. Thought about it for some time.

“Honey, I want you to know...that you’ll always have a place in my family. But I don't want you to think that...that you owe me, or anyone, any sort of connection to Edmund. I really...I really just want you to be happy, and...I mean, he was my boy, you know? I think about him every day and I’ve got all of our memories, and that’s enough for me. I’m always going to be here to talk about him, if you want, but I don’t want you to think that’s the only reason I love you.”

Your throat is so tight, you can not possibly reply, but it’s Judy, and you don’t need to speak for her to understand you, so you just nod, and you wipe the tears that have fallen down your cheeks away with your napkin, and she reaches out and you place your hand in hers. You tell her that you love her, too.

It’s wonderful, getting to know her a little bit better like this. It’s beautiful, to learn about her as a woman, as a person, and not just as the mother who would always pack extra snacks in Eddie’s lunches because she knew he’d give them to you, not just as the women who always had the guest room made up for you, or who grounded her kids when they broke curfew, but as someone you can love outside of all of that, and for it all, too.

When you get home to Jamie, you are tired, and drained, but so full. You lie in bed and she lays behind you and you doze off at some point, but she’s still right there when you wake up, with her arm around you and her lips on your shoulder pressing kisses into your skin.

The rest of your time in New York is short, but lovely, and you go back home on Sunday afternoon, and it’s weeks before you realize that the tickle in your head has been oddly quiet, oddly introspective, and the lady has been much softer and kinder since you’ve reconnected with Judy.

You don’t know much, but you know she was left behind, by a daughter perhaps, and you hope you can show her that the world isn’t always cruel. That even when people do forget, it’s not because they really want to, but it’s always because people can only carry so much, and they’re making room for things. It’s always because they’re making space in their arms to hold other people close.

You think that the lady is contemplating this new idea that you’ve let her have these last few weeks. Reconnection. You think she’s learning that there’s forgiveness in it, that there’s undying love, and pain, and humility, and all types of wonderful things. You think she’s learning to be a little bit kinder, and with every batch of photos you exchange with Judy, every voice message you come home to on your answering machine, every time she makes you laugh and you feel like you’re fifteen again, you notice the swirling gravity of the lady stills, and you feel her rest, and inhale, and feel it all, too.

#jesus christ this just became 3k words #dani clayton #judy o'mara #the haunting of bly manor #dani x jamie #prompts #I haven't had my tea yet so if there's typos in this its bc I haven't coherently proofread

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princess-havok · 7 years ago

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Pop Kids Readthrough: Chapters 61-65

I’m gonna finish this and get a little farther into LFLA before I voice any opinions on it.

these five chapters are a whole eleven pages (288-299). And Score cries twice, because he’s a mess.

Chapter 61 contains what might be the saddest paragraph in the entire book:

“Eddie nudges my leg. I pick her up. I scratch under her chin. She purrs. starting with the fated Sparky Premiere, I begin to tell her everything. We haven’t spoken in a while.” (289)

This poor fucking kid, who hasn’t even been able to talk to his cat about what’s going on. See, I do have sympathy for Score.

Chapter 62 isn’t even a full page long and just consists of Score napping in Hess again and Mr. Snow waking him up to tell him the school knows about the video and not to say anything. To save his own ass obviously, not because he cares about Score.

(So here’s a kind of sad thing I just realized about Score, since I’m trying really hard not to hate him all the time: he may be only in anything for himself ever but of these kids, who isn’t? Shane (who we learn in Chapter 63 is an early favourite for valedictorian and I’m so proud), probably, but when Score considers shutting down the final party and ending it all he legitimately worries no one will speak to him again, like they’re all just interested in being his friend for the parties. It’s kind of a bummer.)

So anyway, Score gets called into the principal’s office but denies everything and basically gets let off the hook based on the fact that he’s never been in trouble and used to have a 4.0 GPA (which!! Score!! Buddy!! It’s only October!!! You can pull it together man!!!!).

Score’s birthday arrives. Joey calls him at midnight to sing happy birthday to him and impart some brotherly advice. It cheers him up.

At school the next day, Shane gives Score his birthday present - a new Zippo and a shitload of Sterno and lighter fluid: clearly enabling him at this point. Also, why does everyone in this high school have a nice fuckin car? Lynch has his Cadillac, Cruz & Volta have a classic muscle car (I straight up forgot what it is to be honest and don’t feel like looking it up), Holly has a VW Beetle, and we learn here that Shane drives a Mini Cooper. Is that just how well off this town is? Or does Davey just think it’s reasonable that The Average Teenager drives these cars? (We also don’t know of anyone but Holly and Score having jobs. I mean Lynch’s parents are rich so that kinda makes sense but... I digress).

Score, apparently on Joey’s advice, wants whole hog for one last party, including making sure Alvin is there to take more pictures, and still seems convinced it’s gonna make him famous.

Everything is gonna go even more horribly wrong in the last 13 pages though...

#pop kids #pop kids readthrough #davey havok

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blackkudos · 8 years ago

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Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and civil rights activist. She is perhaps best known for originating the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun (1961). Her other notable film roles include The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), and Do the Right Thing (1989).

For her performance as Mahalee Lucas in American Gangster (2007), she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Female Actor in a Supporting Role.

She was a Grammy, Emmy, Obie and Drama Desk winner. She was also a National Medal of Arts, Kennedy Center Honors and Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award recipient.

She was married to Ossie Davis, with whom she frequently performed, until his death in 2005.

Early life

Dee was born Ruby Ann Wallace on October 27, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Gladys (née Hightower) and Marshall Edward Nathaniel Wallace, a cook, waiter and porter. After her mother left the family, Dee's father remarried, to Emma Amelia Benson, a schoolteacher.

Dee was raised in Harlem, New York. She attended Hunter College High School and went on to graduate from Hunter College with a degree in Romance languages in 1945. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta.

Career

Dee joined the American Negro Theater as an apprentice, working with Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Hilda Simms. She made several appearances on Broadway. Her first onscreen role was in That Man of Mine in 1946. She received national recognition for her role in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story. In 1965, Dee performed in lead roles at the American Shakespeare Festival as Kate in The Taming of the Shrew and Cordelia in King Lear, becoming the first black actress to portray a lead role in the festival. Her career in acting crossed all major forms of media over a span of eight decades, including the films A Raisin in the Sun, in which she recreated her stage role as a suffering housewife in the projects, and Edge of the City. She played both roles opposite Poitier.

During the 1960s, Dee appeared in such politically charged films as Gone Are the Days and The Incident, which is recognized as helping pave the way for young African-American actors and filmmakers. In 1969, Dee appeared in 20 episodes of Peyton Place. She appeared as Cora Sanders, a Marxist college professor, in the Season 1/Episode 14 of Police Woman, entitled “Target Black" which aired on Friday night, January 3, 1975. The character of Cora Sanders was obviously, but loosely, influenced by the real-life Angela Y. Davis. She appeared in one episode of The Golden Girls' sixth season. She played Queen Haley in Roots: The Next Generations, a 1979 miniseries.

Dee was nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning once for her role in the 1990 TV film Decoration Day. She was nominated for her television guest appearance in the China Beach episode, "Skylark". Her husband Ossie Davis (1917–2005) also appeared in the episode. She appeared in Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing, and his 1991 film Jungle Fever.

In 1995, she and Davis were awarded the National Medal of Arts. They were also recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004. In 2003, she narrated a series of WPA slave narratives in the HBO film Unchained Memories. In 2007 the winner of the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album was shared by Dee and Ossie Davis for With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together, and former President Jimmy Carter.

Dee was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2007 for her portrayal of Mama Lucas in American Gangster. She won the Screen Actors Guild award for the same performance. At 83 years of age, Dee is currently the second oldest nominee for Best Supporting Actress, behind Gloria Stuart who was 87 when nominated for her role in Titanic. This was Dee's only Oscar nomination.

On February 12, 2009, Dee joined the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College orchestra and chorus, along with the Riverside Inspirational Choir and NYC Labor Choir, in honoring Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday at the Riverside Church in New York City. Under the direction of Maurice Peress, they performed Earl Robinson's The Lonesome Train: A Music Legend for Actors, Folk Singers, Choirs, and Orchestra, in which Dee was the Narrator.

Dee's last role in a theatrically-released film was in the Eddie Murphy comedy A Thousand Words, in which she portrayed the mother of Murphy's protagonist. Perhaps, her penultimate film role is in 1982, which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and was released on home video on March 1, 2016. It is unknown whether her final role will ever be seen, as King Dog was in production at the time of her death, and no release date has ever been announced.

Personal life and activism

Ruby Wallace married blues singer Frankie Dee Brown in 1941, and began using his middle name as her stage name. The couple divorced in 1945. Three years later she married actor Ossie Davis, whom she met while costarring in Robert Ardrey's 1946 Broadway play Jeb. Together, Dee and Davis wrote an autobiography in which they discussed their political activism and their decision to have an open marriage (later changing their views). Together they had three children: son, blues musician Guy Davis, and two daughters, Nora Day and Hasna Muhammad. Dee was a breast cancer survivor of more than three decades.

In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Dee's name and picture.

Dee and Davis were well-known civil rights activists. Dee was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Delta Sigma Theta sorority and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1963, Dee emceed the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Dee and Davis were both personal friends of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, with Davis giving the eulogy at Malcolm X's funeral in 1965. In 1970, she won the Frederick Douglass Award from the New York Urban League.

In 1999, Dee and Davis were arrested at 1 Police Plaza, the headquarters of the New York Police Department, protesting the police shooting of Amadou Diallo.

In early 2003, The Nation published "Not In My Name", an open proclamation vowing opposition to the impending US invasion of Iraq. Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were among the signatories, along with Robert Altman, Noam Chomsky, Susan Sarandon and Howard Zinn, among others.

In November 2005 Dee was awarded – along with her late husband – the Lifetime Achievement Freedom Award, presented by the National Civil Rights Museum located in Memphis. Dee, a long-time resident of New Rochelle, New York, was inducted into the New Rochelle Walk of Fame which honors the most notable residents from throughout the community's 325-year history. She was also inducted into the Westchester County Women's Hall of Fame on March 30, 2007, joining such other honorees as Hillary Clinton and Nita Lowey. In 2009, she received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Princeton University.

Death

Dee died on June 11, 2014, at her home in New Rochelle, New York, from natural causes at the age of 91. In a statement, Gil Robertson IV of the African American Film Critics Association said, "the members of the African American Film Critics Association are deeply saddened at the loss of actress and humanitarian Ruby Dee. Throughout her seven-decade career, Ms Dee embraced different creative platforms with her various interpretations of black womanhood and also used her gifts to champion for Human Rights. Her strength, courage and beauty will be greatly missed."

“She very peacefully surrendered,” said her daughter Nora Day. “We hugged her, we kissed her, we gave her our permission to go. She opened her eyes. She looked at us. She closed her eyes, and she set sail.” Following her death, the marquee on the Apollo Theater read “A TRUE APOLLO LEGEND RUBY DEE 1922-2014".

Dee was cremated, and her ashes are held in the same urn as that of Davis, with the inscription "In this thing together". A public memorial celebration honoring Dee was held on September 20, 2014, at the Riverside Church in Upper Manhattan.

Work

Filmography

Features:

Short subjects:

Lorraine Hansberry: The Black Experience in the Creation of Drama (1975)

The Torture of Mothers (1980)

Tuesday Morning Ride (1995)

The Unfinished Journey (1999) (narrator)

The New Neighbors (2009) (narrator)

TelevisionStageDiscography

The Original Read-In for Peace in Vietnam (Folkways Records, 1967)

The Poetry of Langston Hughes (with Ossie Davis. Caedmon Records, no date, TC 1272)

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (with George Grizzard. Caedmon Records, 1970, TC 1324)

Tough Poems For Tough People (with Ossie Davis and Henry Braun. Caedmon Records, 1972, TC 1396)

To Make A Poet Black: The best poems of Countee Cullen (with Ossie Davis. Caedmon Records, 1971, TC 1400

To Be A Slave (with Ossie Davis. Caedmon Records, 1972, TC 2066)

The Lost Zoo, (Caedmon Records, 1978, TC 1539)

Why Mosquitoes Buzz In People's Ears and Other Tales with Ossie Davis. Caedmon Records, 1978, TC 1592)

What if I am a Woman?, Vol. 1: Black Women's Speeches (Folkways, 1977)

What if I am a Woman?, Vol. 2: Black Women's Speeches (Folkways, 1977)

Every Tone a Testimony (Smithsonian Folkways, 2001)

American Short Stories, Vol 2: Various Artists(eav Lexington, no date, LE 7703)

American Short Stories, Vol 3: Various Artists (eav Lexington, no date, LE 7704)

I've got a name, Various Artists (Holt's Impact, 1968, CSM 662)

At your own risk, Various Artists (Holt's Impact, 1968, CSM 663)

Conflict, Various Artists (Holt's Impact, 1969, CSM 816)

Sight lines, Various Artists (Holt's Impact, 1970, SBN 03-071525-3)

Roses & Revolutions, Various Artist (D.S.T. Telecommunications,Inc. Production, 1975)

New Dimensions in Music (with John Cullum. CBS Records, 1976, P 13161)

Awards and nominations

Awards

1961: National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress – A Raisin in the Sun

1971: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance – Boesman and Lena

1971: Obie Award for Best Performance by an Actress – Boesman and Lena

1973: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance – Wedding Band

1988: Induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame

1991: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie – Decoration Day

1991: Women in Film Crystal Award

1995: National Medal of Arts

2000: Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award

2003: Women of Vision Award - Women in Film & Video-DC

2007: Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album – With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together (tied with Jimmy Carter)

2008: African–American Film Critics Best Supporting Actress – American Gangster

2008: Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role – American Gangster

2008: The Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal Award

2008: She was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP.

Nominations

1964: Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role – The Doctors and the Nurses: Express Stop from Lenox Avenue

1979: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special – Roots: The Next Generations

1988: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special – Lincoln

1990: Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series – China Beach: Skylark

1993: Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series – Evening Shade: They Can't Take That Away from Me

1995: Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program – Whitewash

2001: Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program – Little Bill

2002: Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Actress – Saint Lucy's Eyes

2003: Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program – Little Bill

2008: Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role – American Gangster

2008: Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture – American Gangster

2008: Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture – American Gangster

2009: Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance by a Female Actress in a Television Movie or Miniseries – America

2010: Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Event – America

Wikipedia

#Ruby Dee #10-27 #06-11

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bestfriendsonamission-blog1 · 7 years ago

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6 Month Update!

I know I’m a few weeks behind, but whats new?!?

This Spring/Summer has been quite the rollercoaster, I’m not exactly sure where to begin...since ya know, I haven’t been updating anything!! For starter, we will begin back in April; my birthday Month. Below is a photo of Holly and I. We went to the Melting Pot in Minneapolis for my Birthday Dinner. It was amazing - the fondue *see photos below*.

Please note, this is not my favorite photo of myself, but I am trying to be more positive about unflattering photos. It’s more about the moment anyways.

23 was a wonderful year. I couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful celebration. In addition to the Melting Pot, Holly surprised me with balloons and chocolate - WAITING AT THE TABLE when we arrived. Holly also bought me my favorite perfume and a donut! And during the week, my roommate Sharissa surprised me with balloons and a vegan donut from Glam Dolls. I have two wonderful friends. Furthermore, I spent a wonderful week with Eddie. He spoiled me rotten. We went trap shooting (my FIRST time ever), saw a movie - had sex in a movie theater. SHHHHHH!!! Went to MOA, played mini golf, went out to dinner, had great birthday sex, and went trap shooting again. It was such a relaxing week, spent with the most wonderful of souls. For my birthday, Eddie bought me a 90 minute massage, a candle, chocolate, and the most precious card I have ever received. He said that he loved me in the card. Lastly, Erikka and Alexis took me to see Magic Men for the birthday. What a funny show! Definately good entertainment.

Flash forward to May! Sharissa and I went to see Wicked at the Orpheum at Minneapolis.

Preface: The Wizard of Oz is a classic in my family household, greatly due to my GG-Pa. He loved the Wizard of Oz and he definately would’ve loved Wicked AND that it was on Broadway. He was a New Yorker, ya know! My GG-Pa, loved the story, simply because he believed that everyone has kindness in their hearts, no matter how evil. I am so grateful for the short period of time I had him in my life, he taught me so many valuable lessons that I will carry with me throughout my entire life. I feel like, although my GG-Pa is no longer with me, he was present during that show.

What a beautiful story. I loved every minute of it and would definitely see it again. It was so much fun to dress up and treat myself to something, extraordinary!! I cannot wait to see Aladdin at the Orpheum in October with Sharissa, Alexis and Erikka. <3

Shortly, a few weeks later, Sharissa and I played hooky from work for 1hr on a Friday afternoon and went to Glam Doll Donuts in Minneapolis to get their one of a kind Mac & Cheese donut. I would highly recommend!

Here is a cool picture of Holly and I. We went to the Largest Candy Store in MN. It was fucking huge. It was very overwhelming and I probably would not go back. Unless it’s for pie. Their pie smelled amazing. There were just too many people and annoying children and so much fucking candy. I’m not a vintage, classic, flavor extravagant, exotic and rare exported candy type of gal. But if you are, you should check it out. The sign was cool!

Let’s talk about Olive. One of my goals for this year was to achieve potty training. Well, that’s achieved!! Olive is such a wonderful support. It’s such a wonderful feeling to come home to a pet that loves you unconditionally.

Other than the potty training, not much has changed wit her. She is still a complete badass - see image above. She loves playing at the dog park, playin’ with toys, eaten’ food, treats, and poop, and cuddlin’ with her Mama. Olive can shake, sit, catch, drop, roll over, lay down, speak, and stay. She is quite the catch!

In late May, I went back to Colorado to visit my sister and nephew for the first time since his birth in December!

We didn’t do too much on this trip for tourism, other than visit Garden of the Gods. See images below. It was such a wonderful trip to spend time with family and bond with my sister and nephew. It was a trip full of laughs, food, and marijuana. I am so blessed that my sister came into my life. My nephew is such a (cliche) bundle of JOY!

WOW! I am just realizing how far behind I am on documenting my goals and adventures. This is a lot.

In early June, Eddie and I went to a Twins Game at Target Field. I had an absolute blast. The game went into the 15th inning. We definitely got our moneys worth, that’s for sure! It was so fun to laugh, cuddle, eat nachos out of a baseball hat, attempt to caught foul balls (There was at least, AT LEAST, 20 foul balls during that particular game), and yell at the refs and teams. It was fun to go to the game with someone that actually appreciated baseball and could get into the game with me. I cannot wait to go again! We are trying to plan another time to go. Maybe in September... I cannot believe that we will have been dating for a year come September 8th!

A few weekends later, Eddie and I went to my cabin in Stockholm, Wisconsin TWICE in June. It’s along Lake Pepin. If you haven’t ventured down to that area to complete the River Scenic Drive along the St. Croix, I would HIGHLY recommend you complete it ASAP. It is absolutely breathtaking in the summer and fall, plus it is only a 45 mins drive from the Twin Cities. As an added bonus, you can stop by the Stockholm Pie Shop. Its one of the 100 best restaurants in the United States. You heard that right, one of the one hundred best restaurants! Here are a few pictures I took from our weekend together. See below. It was so amazing to have a *normal* date with Eddie. We cooked together, watched movies, went around Lake Pepin exploring the nearby cities, went for walks, ate pie, etc. I would classify it as he most normalized date we have ever had, just considering that he has a child and we usually are doing things around the cities; like baseball games. It was a nice reflection as to what could come if we ever choose to live together or go on trips in the future. I cannot wait to spend more time together in Stockholm!

Here is a photo on me, stepping out of my comfort zone! See the swimsuit image below. I was super shy and mortified to wear this swimsuit in public for fear of looking fat or not fitting into my “mold of fashion”, but I wore it and I ROCKED it. This is a swimsuit piece that I never would’ve bought, but besides for the fact that I convinced myself that I need to step out of my comfort zone this year and try new things, which includes edgy clothing. I must admit, I still feel shy rockin’ that swimsuit in public, and this photo is somewhat posed, but in my opinion; this photo represents a girl who is taking a risk and loving what she is and what she has. I was to see her more often.

Furthermore...haha. I got a new tattoo on my hip. See the image below. I’m not in love with it, but I am getting there. I don’t feel like going into the long details of what happened, because then I get all worked up *arms flailing*, but long story short; the guy didn’t do exactly what I wanted him to do in terms of shading the pieces, but I have decided that I am going to let the piece heal and then determine my next steps of action.

My current thoughts: I would like to have the bottom two leaves removed and potentially attempt to correct some shading to make it more gradual and then add more - different - flowers in the future to make it a huge piece. I am trying to let this *mistake* build character. Is it working? I’m not sure, ask me again in six months. I think this piece has potential, in many different aspects of life: healing, removal, character, adding, beauty.

Lastly, I have been researching Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. I was dx at the age of 15yrs old and placed on birth control because I wasn’t getting a regular period for over a year and when I did get my period it would be incredibly painful. Unfortunately, PCOS is a very rare disease and many women live with it. And even more unfortunately, it is the number one leading cuase of infertility in women. At the age of 15 I didn’t care. I thought birth control was a magic pill. I thought it solved all my issues; I was getting a normal period again. I was fine, right? No!

I had never once thought that PCOS could be the leading cause of my weight gain, until about 3 months ago when I watched an instgramers youtube vlog, which detailed her life long struggle with PCOS and weight loss. It was very eye opening, enough so much so that I began to research PCOS day and night. In women with PCOS you can develop cysts on your ovaries, have irregular periods, have increased testosterone (all the reasons I was placed on birth control to begin with - to manage those symptoms), acne, weight gain, hair loss, mood swings, depression, and increased risk for diabetes and cervical cancer. Luckily I do not carry too many symptoms, but from my personal research I discovered that cutting out dairy (which I did back in October - fully) and gluten can really assist in managing symptoms of the syndrome. So, since mid-June I have been dairy, whey, soy, and gluten free. Obviously, this is incredibly difficult, but I really try to eat clean and eliminate those ingredients as much as possible.

Furthermore, I even went to see a doctor. Luckily all my labs and ultrasounds came back positive, except for the A1C - which looks at you blood sugars for the last 3 months and my fasting blood sugar. Unfortunately, this syndrome has a genetic link to diabetes. I do not know anyone in my family that has this syndrome, but there is a possibility. So, going forward, after I complete one more lab, my PCP has determined that he is going to put me on metformin to assist in managing my insulin resistance, because I am on the boarder of being pre-diabetic. I am not thrilled about being on a long-term medication, but if it’s going to keep my insulin levels regulated and assist in my weight loss and overall healthy journey; then I am interested. At this time I am not diabetic or even pre-diabetic, but the medication will assist in helping me lose weight by managing my insulin - as my body cannot do it due to PCOS. Furthermore, I must take a daily multivitamin, Calcium Cirtate - as I don’t eat dairy, and a probiotic - digestion issues. In the future I may also take Fish Oil to assist with my omega-3, which can also assist with my insulin and blood sugar levels, but I would like my body to acclimate to the other medications and vitamins prior to introducing more. I really have high hopes for this medication, food lifestyle change, and clinical monitoring. (If you have any further questions about PCOS, my labs, blood test results, how to diagnose, etc. Please ask. That was an incredibly shortened version and really was stretched out over 2 months as I am still completing lab work) :)

Now, I just need to reintroduce exercise. I have decided that I am going to complete the 21 Day Fix exercise videos for the next 21 days. After I complete that, then I will decide what I need to do next. But for now, its the 21 day fix videos. I plan on waking up at 6:15am to complete the videos. Here are my before photos:

I am currently weighting in at 196.4lbs. This year I started at 209lbs!! My current measurements:

Waist: 37 inches

Hips/Butt: 46inches

Bust: 43 inches

R Arm: 15 inches

L Arm: 14inches

R Calf: 16.5 inches

L Calf: 16.5inches

R Thigh: 25 inches

L Thigh: 24.5 inches

Neck: 15inches

Fun fact: I started therapy! I love it an plan to continue going throughout the rest of the year. I do not plan on disclosing any personal information about my sessions on this page.

Flashback to my goals - I have revised again:

-Continue to lose weight - goal 170lbs. I have lost 12.6lbs this year. I would like to weight 188lbs by the time Holly and I go to Italy.

-Olive should be potty training by the end of the year - complete

-Stop biting and picking my nails - complete (Always on going)

-Save Money - ongoing. I would like to have $3000 in the personal saving by the end of the year. (All together, personal, HSA, paying for Italy, etc. I have saved, roughly $3000 this year)

- Eliminate Credit Card debt - I suck at this. It is back up. I am disappointed in myself. But I haven’t spent on it in over 1 month and have a plan to pay it off. I’m not worried. Although I am worried about that health bills I will accumulate from the doctors visits that I had these past two months. I am hoping the amount of money that I put in my HSA will cover the entire cost.

-Read 12 books this year - HA! I will read as I fucking please. I don't like this goal.

-Research grad schools - I don't feel ready for Grad School. I feel stuck. I want more time to determine what I would like to study. I want more field experience, I NEED more money. These are all things I can work on in the next year. My original original original goal was to apply for grad school in the fall of 2018, which is still achievable, soooooo lets start there. This subject stresses me out and it shouldn’t it; it should feel fun!

-New goal: drink more green tea with cinnamon - it’s good for my syndrome!

I can't remember any of my other goals.....I will need to look back and refresh this update once I have revisited my first post. Obviously they were not as important as the ones listed above...hahahaha!

Until next time....I’ll be back!

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bethgreeneishopeunseen · 8 years ago

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Emily’s GA Apartment

For future reference, I have compiled pictures of Emily’s apartment in Georgia. She had purchased it by March 30, 2014, going by this (X):

“Kinney’s gotten comfortable in Georgia for now, having bought an apartment in what she calls a “golf cart community” in a town next to Atlanta.”

(It should also be noted that Gimple said he’s had Beth’s death planned since season 4, so he would have cautioned Emily from buying a place: X.) Anyway, this post was prompted by @emilysnorman. In a post I made about Emily’s tweets early in season 5 filming, emilysnorman pointed out that Emily’s New York apartment has wood floors while her Georgia place has carpeting: (X).

The second part of this meta is also based off a post I read over a year ago. I can’t find it now, but I remember the pertinent information, so I researched it myself. If any of you know about the original post, please let me know.

Under a read more because it is picture heavy.

Emily had the place as early as the summer of 2013, as she posted this picture on July 13th, 2013. (The white bed frame appears in another picture which matches her Georgia place.)

Source (X).

Source (X). Posted on October 4th, 2013.

Source (X). Posted October 24th, 2013.

Source (X). Posted October 31st, 2013.

Source (X). Posted November 8th, 2013.

Notice the white bed frame in the upper righthand corner.

Source (X). Posted November 16th, 2013.

Source (X). Posted November 23rd, 2013. Emily’s show was November 25th (X).

Source (X). Posted March 17th, 2013.

Emily’s show was that night (X), and this picture was not a latergram, going by her nail polish.

Source (X).

Source (X). Posted May 6th, 2014.

I was discussing all of this with @bethgreenewarriorprincess, and she pointed out that around this picture Emily started getting fancy with her Instagram posts, in retrospect.

Source (X). Posted on May 24th, 2014.

Source (X). Posted on June 14th, 2014. (My birthday btw.)

Source (X). Posted on June 21st, 2014.

Source (X). Posted on July 31st, 2014.

This is Emily’s apartment. In a latergram she posted late that year, she wore the same black-shirt with the fur-like fringe. That latergram is definitely in her Georgia apartment.

Source (X). Posted on October 31st, 2014. Emily hosted the costume contest at Eddie’s Attic that night (X).

Source (X). Posted on November 16th, 2014.

Source (X). Posted on December 4th, 2014.

This is the latergram. You can see she’s wearing the same outfit, and she also has the mug. She probably took both pictures at the same time. She likely has many pictures saved on her phone so she can latergram.

Between the end of season four filming and the end of season five filming, Emily performed at Eddie’s Attic three times. She first performed on November 25th. On the 16th, she was in Georgia for the wrap party, and she didn’t post on Instagram between those dates except once on the 21st. She likely was in Georgia that entire week.

Source (X).

By the 27th, she was with her family for Thanksgiving (X).

She was at Eddie’s Attic again on March 17th to promote the rerelease of Expired Love, which came out the following day (X). She didn’t post about her location again till the 20th, confirming she had been Georgia.

Source (X).

She then went to Orlando for MegaCon the weekend of the 21st to 23rd (X). But she missed New York so much that she rushed home the night of the 23rd.

Source (X).

If you were already in Orlando for work, wouldn’t you stay an extra day to rest up and to enjoy the weather? It indicates that she hadn’t been in New York for a while. On March 5th she was still in New York as she was on CBS New York (X) (X). On the 6th, she recorded her interview with MTV.com, which was later posted on the 11th (X).

Source (X).

The following day, she performed in Cherry Hill, New Jersey at Monster Mania (X) (X). This was also posted by delawareonline, one of my local papers, and Emily was so close what the fuck. Why didn’t I know about this? On March 9th, she posted a latergrammed picture.

Source (X).

Then she performed threes from March 11th to the 12th at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas (X). On the 13th, she was in Chicago for an interview (X), before she appeared at the first WSC on the 14th.

Source (X).

She disappeared on March 15th and 16th, so she was likely in Georgia, as she would have mentioned getting back to New York. If she had a few days off before MegaCon, wouldn’t she just fly back to New York? Why would she stay in Georgia if she had no other gigs?

Emily likely had her three Eddie’s Attic performances to justify her being in Georgia. Her Halloween performance would have obviously been as a cover while she filmed post-Coda. I think in November 2013 and March 2014 she was meeting with TPTB in Georgia. The meetings would have been focused planning and preparing for Beth’s arc. Such preparations would include the rigorous filming, her social media activity, and her answers to interviews she would be asked leading up to and post Coda. They needed to coach her sometime. They probably took her to the studio and put her through secret arc boot camp, which would include getting into a van from her trailer without being seen, tilting her hat the right to hide the bullet scar, saving pictures to latergram, etc. It’s plausible. Writers and actors communicate about their characters and upcoming arcs. She even met with the writers that April 11th.

Source (X).

So now we come to the second part of this piece. On the afternoon of November 16th, 2014, Emily posted a picture from her Georgia apartment. It was in support of Consumed, which aired that night.

Source (X).

Later that day she posted twice about filming the Bulletproof Picasso video:

Source (X) (X).

I remember the post talking about how cold it was that day. I researched the weather for Los Angeles, and the mean temperature that day was 65 degrees.

Source (X).

So on the 16th, the temperature ranged between 55 and 74 degrees, with an average of 65. That water would have been too cold to splash around in, especially since it was the Pacific. I grew up with a pool. It takes a long time for water to heat up, and even if the general temperature is warm, the water will feel much colder than the air. The Bulletproof Picasso was not filmed in mid-November. Its album, also called Bulletproof Picasso, came out in September of that year, and the album’s first single came out in June. With how in-depth the planning and marketing have been for this arc, I would not be surprised if TPTB set this up. They wanted Emily’s first non-music project to be a music video referring to a bulletproof artist. The theme song played; “Beth” was first seen afterwards with the music playing. Since the video also has so many Beth parallels (X), TPTB likely reached out to Train and worked out a deal. The bum pic is in Emily’s apartment, and since the Train pictures are latergrams, that would mean her bum pic isn’t. She was in her apartment, and considering her last scenes were filmed in late August, she would have sold her apartment by then. On the 15th, Emily was in California. She reunited with a friend of hers (X) (X), and she was wearing blue nail polish. TDers later figured out that she was filming her Rockstar video out there (X). It should be noted that the season 5 wrap party was on the 16th (X), and that filming finished right after midnight on the 22nd (X). Beth foot was spotted on the 17th, the day Emily posted from her trailer. She was holding a polaroid of the Bulletproof Picasso shoot, and she wasn’t wearing nail polish. What likely happened is Emily arrived in Georgia on the 16th and spent the better part of the week filming before she finished the Rockstar music video.

Emily still has her apartment in Georgia, because Beth is here to stay. For a long time.

#team delusional #filming spoilers #emily kinney + georgia #bulletproof picasso

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curiouskarenscapers2017 · 7 years ago

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Volume Three – October 2004

The 1st of October, no ways!!!! It’s nearly my birthday!!! All gifts can be sent to Sesame Street School, No 2-1 Chung Yang Rd, Changhua. Thanx!

Anyway, miss everybody and will think of you as I party it up in Taiwan…..hey, I never had a birthday in the East before!!! Coooollll!!! I think I’ll buy a few fire crackers and set them off on the roof!! Payday is only the 10th….Go figure! I’ll have to party after then.

So my birthday came and went silently. Got little gifts from two Chinese teachers and then had a bottle of wine with the girls after work at our place, and everybody was so tired that we all crashed by 11pm. Plenty of time to party this weekend!

On Sunday they had their National Day celebrations and once again the crackers tore through the night air on Saturday. A massive procession was heard coming up the road on the side of the complex. The next minute at an intersection I saw the dancers in uniform pass with flags flying, the next two dragons of two people long. The next minute a huge float (which is just a truck exquisitely covered in a pattern of lights) the lights were actually quite blinding until I saw the second truck, I needed my shades!!! Beautiful. Followed by boxes of those flying crackers! Hectic but stunning and you could hear the music and crackers for miles to come! Wish I was closer to take pictures.

After a while we went to the girl’s place (Neps and Kim’s) I’ve never been there and it is quite impressive. Gardens, small pools and little wooden decks between the plants. They stay on the 10th floor….surprise! Stunning setting. Very upmarket. So naturally we braaied on the stoep!! Someone did stick their heads out to see what all the smoke was that came from apartment 10J but we smiled and cheersed them with our plastic cup wine glasses and had an excellent braai! The braais here are quite interesting and extremely cheap. I think people don’t have place to keep a braai so they literally have disposable braais. So when you go to the supermarket you buy your meat, bread and ‘n braai….every time. They cost less than R20 for a tin foil looking braai. It works!!! That’s what counts. We walked back at about 12pm and got home in about 10min.

I decided today was the day to bath Draco. Come here kitty, I won’t hurt you….really!! It was great fun though, he went all rigid but I’m sure after the clawing and crying he actually enjoyed it! I spent the rest of Sunday sleeping and felt a cold slowly get hold of me! Monday was payday! So we got up and went. Tuesday we hit Carrefour, to buy the monthly groceries and a few things. What a pleasure to shop on a Tuesday, the aisles are yours!!!!!!! Carrefour is yours!!!!!! Stunning! We got hold of our taxi driver and dubbed him Eddie!! He was very impressed with his new name and kept pretending to talk on a cellphone saying “Eddie, Long chia tsue” meaning Eddie pick us up at Long Chia Tsue…our building’s name. Ok then!! We’ll call him again to take us to Taichung on Saturday for our party….did I mention we’re having a party on Saturday evening?? Really?? Strange……. Anyway, we’re having my birthday party on Saturday at about 7pm……can’t wait!

And then it happened! The earth shook and my ears rang! My first earthquake! This is a phenomenon we are TOTALLY not prepared for if you’re from SA. Maybe once or twice in your entire life you feel a slight shudder in Jo’burg and then you don’t really know whether you did or not!

Myself and Abby were on the 2nd floor in kindergarten marking our kid’s books on Friday, chatting away when I suddenly felt a weird sensation and it felt like somebody jumping up and down next to you at first, or when you stop on a bridge and the trucks go by, a slight up and down movement. We looked at each other and Abby said “Did you feel that?” as I agreed the shaking got slightly worse and it actually pulsed. We were sitting there bobbing up and down for over a minute. I remember looking down the hall at one of the Chinese teachers talking to someone and when she noticed it she put her arms out and told the children to stay put. I remember wondering what I would do now if the roof started flaking and things started falling on the floor all around us…like in the movies you know. The weirdest part of this is that until you feel it you never really experience the fear that goes with it when you see it on TV or in the movies…you know!!! Suddenly that realization sets in that the earth and its movements don’t have a conscious. You are the proverbial ant making your way to your destination while the earthmover/bulldozer clears a field. No ones fault or no one doing anything on purpose. You are at the total mercy of what ever happens next. Totally out of control. The shaking continued a bit and then slowly subsided between bouts of starting up again.

We then heard on the news it was a 7 on the Richter Scale, 109km of the east coast of Taiwan, next to the county of Ilan. They felt it as a 5 and we got it as a 2, Taipei experienced it as a 4. I watched the news and it looked worse there with things literally falling to the ground off the shelves in shops etc.

After that, as we saw people, we asked, where were you when the earthquake happened? Poor Melissa, my roommate, was in our flat on the 10th floor. Quite the swaying she got! But we survived and will live to tell the tale…….this time! They said we should expect another within 4 weeks…great!!! Something to look forward to! There hasn’t been one for a long time and people were expecting it. Apparently it releases the tension in the plates if it moves every few months, it hasn’t happened for over 5 months, so it was due. Stunning!!

Anyway, at least we were going to a party soon. So Saturday came and dragged by after our meeting about Halloween and Xmas activities. Halloween is big here, we will be dressing up and getting the kids to do the same, they have to chant songs and do decorations. Quite the vibe here! So the evening came and we all got dressed up! In our party gear that is….not Halloween outfits. We were all in our flat chatting with a friend of Kim’s that arrived from the Tainan province. Her name was Alicia and she has been there for 5 months now. The only foreign teacher with one other Chinese teacher in her school. Very rural!! Jane, my Chinese friend and Celine who is one of the ladies from the school were also there to drop off my birthday presents. Jane gave me a stunning Chinese material purse. Light blue and silver with dragons on and Celine got me a stunning emerald green top with, you guessed it, dragons on. Too beautiful!!!

I had my new black and white slightly glittery top on with the usual black pants and high platformish shoes. I was the party girl after all you know!!!! Anyway, we got hold of Eddie and he brought another driver and off we went. Eddie even had the party music going in the car. Myself, Melissa and Ryno were in our car and Kim, Neps and Alicia was in the other. We got to Taichung and it looked like Vegas, so many lights and flashing billboards. We passed a massive department store called SOGO, apparently, Ryno told us, it has 12 floors….so we will obviously go checking that one out for sure!!!!! So we arrived at FM bar, a quaint little hidden in a side street kinda bar with lots of foreign people at the tables.

Very nicely set out and the waiter’s English is remarkable! We had drinks and I tried their Long Island Ice Tea (as usual actually). Quite potent, they are not shy on the tot servings here! Anyway, the menu looked exceptionally good and there was even “Boerevoers” on the menu….no ways!!! We were going to suggest a spelling change but thought it added to the Taiwanese look and feel of it! Melissa and I had a lasagna to die for, we’ll have to come back to try some of the other dishes! They looked very good, nobody complained and the food was well priced. Our lasagna was NT$270 which is R54 for a good portion! So the people added to our party and we were 12 people! We called different taxis and via scooter a Taxi and someone’s car we all went to Pig Pen…the London pub club. We got there at about 11pm and started partying immediately! There were so many foreign people there compared to the previous time I was there….oh wait yes my first night in Taiwan!!! Nothings changed, except for some groups of people that were obviously there as a company or on business etc. And we spotted a group of Nigerians as well….wonder what contract they are here on……..yeaah right!!! Anyway, the one was very interested in Neps and Melissa and we had to step in a few times and rescue them from deep conversations…….shame! The night carried into the morning and we had a blast. The local stage act…same as the night I was there before…were strutting their stuff on the stage. They also have a pole on the stage and every guy in the club at one stage or another according to how many drinks they had, climbs it!!!!! Amazing! Great fun to watch!

So at about 4am we left and waited for our taxi until about 5am. We slept all the way home although Eddie prided himself in getting us there in 10min! Same price though…..hmmmmm! Got to bed at about 5:30 and slept until about 10, woke up and cleaned our flat. We phoned Jane at about 4:30 and she took us to Rose records, which is a CD shop. Had a ball in there!! New CD’s are priced at about NT$ 350 = R70. So obviously I got a few. They sound stunning on my HI FI!!! We got pizza’s at Napoli’s on the way. And all met up again in our living room and had a quieter chat this time…the girls still had babalaas from the night before and started partying again during the day…easier than to deal with the headache!! Everybody went to bed early….we are definitely getting older!!! My neck was sooooo sore from the head banging!!!! This time I only did it for a few seconds…..!!! I’m getting old!!! Stiff neck for about two days already.

Kim is a dancer and said she’ll start a Salsa class next week. Obviously I agreed to join so Wednesday at 11am in the Kindergarten exercise room we gathered. Myself, Stacy, Monica and Winnie were here first students. Great to do something different and I’ve always wanted to take dancing classes. Going to get bored in the mornings I don’t have Kindergarten. Monday’s and Thursday’s I’m going to start swimming at the splash pool place. They have calmed down on the hours a bit. But the problem with that is that my money goes with it!!! So I need a happy medium where I can, do my own thing but also have enough money to make it worth my while here. We’ll see what happens.

Lukang is next on our list for this weekend. It is an ancient city and has over 150 temples. And then we were off. We phoned Eddie and got transported to Lukang. NT$300 later we decided to go back by bus…besides we haven’t done that before.

We were dropped off at the cultural art museum and found we didn’t want to go in, you had to pay anyway…….So we started walking around and exploring Lukang. I was a tad disappointed. I was expecting the open rice paddies and a few houses and shops and lots of temples, instead we got another suburb of Taichung with normal buildings and shops and in between hidden beneath the usual scurry of a town lay the hidden world of Lukang. We discovered tourist friendly signs all over the city, directing us to temples and walkways.

An interesting looking plaque said Nine Turns alley and we went down that road…..suddenly it was like being in an ancient little village, you are not aware of the noise of the cars down the road or the shining glass window shops down the main street. A small winding cobble stone road took us through a section that used to be a residential area, with a “wall of jars”. The wall was literally put together out of old, seems to be wine jars, made out of a terracotta. Only the top of the wall was left in tact as the rest was probably pillaged a bit by tourists or passing traffic those days.

The walkway was cool and peaceful with high walls keeping you on the path. The width was about that of a small car. Every say about 10 paces you had a small doorway indenting the wall. The doors were either made of old wood, painted a pale flaking blue or a bleached green. Here and there modern art made its presence felt in a metal door with the usual decorations etched on it but mostly it was wooden and small and hidden.

We came across a small temple in a dead end and explored it.

We made our way through the maze of turns and alleys and came upon an old original hand water pump, and it was in working order! Stunning. We explored, got lost and eventually ended back on the main road. Our search was actually to find the Holy Grail ….it seemed, we were looking for the Arts and Craft market and ended up coming full circle to the place we were dropped off. We asked the guard at the gate to the museum where the arts and crafts centre was and he quite casually informed us that it no longer exists. This is about 4 hours after we started on our quest! Anyway, all worth it in the exploring sense for sure! We also came across a lantern maker’s shop where they paint the lanterns to your request and the famous shoe shop. I obviously had to visit that as they made the shoes while you wait. Really?? You might ask flabbergasted, yes. They have the base of the shoes in sizes and you just add the material you want to. So here goes, all the shoes are solid wood of different wood colours and styles. So you pick the sole, then you pick the materials they keep in drawers, all stunning Chinese designs and colours. You then take these two pieces of shoe and give them to the man at the table where he then subsequently puts the two together. You try one on for size and then he adjusts it accordingly or then carries on with the next shoe. They are only slip-ons so it works well for them and the tourist, just waiting patiently for your own design shoe. I got a dark wood with a silver and dark blue dragon design material together…beautiful! And they had my size…kinda!

On our exploration we stepped into a small painting shop. I wanted to get some things for my mother, to get her doing some Chinese painting…..have you tried that yet????? We walked around and they had brushes everywhere and stunning Chinese writing hangings. The two gentlemen came over and introduced themselves as the owner and a 2nd gentlemen who looked older. He could speak English and it turned into a photo session within minutes. I looked around for some gift sets, although it wasn’t the kind of shop that would keep gift sets etc. More of an artists shop, with canvas and paper and ink and brushes. I saw a small brush box and asked him how much, and he wiped it off carefully and smiled at me and said it’s a gift! I was dumbfounded! I couldn’t believe people were still like this in the world. We thanked them profusely and left the store with me grinning from ear to ear!!!

We entered a huge red and gold coloured store and it turned out to be a famous shop in Taiwan that serves traditional pastries. Called “Nayoshupie”. A circular flat bread looking pastry, but made out of flaky pastry. The size of a saucer. The centre section of it was a sweet taste while the rest of the bread falls apart as you eat it….my favourite pastry here. The most amazing sweet taste. Difficult to explain, not quite a jam taste, but just slightly sweetened dough for 90% of the circle. This is a very traditional pastry and Lukang is famous for getting it at this shop! People come from all over the world, when traveling Taiwan, to buy this at that shop. We finally entered a walkway, with a huge Lukang sign arch across it.

This was like a flea market with many food stalls on both sides of the cobble road. Jade, stone, paintings, food smells, cheap gadgets, expensive red gargoyle looking tigers laughing at you as you pass an ancient antique shop. This is like in the movies. We walked into an antique looking shop, the musty smell and old paintings confirmed that, stunning boxes, with woodcarvings and inlaid mother of pearl designs, adorned the small crevices. Black jet figurines of ancient god and deities peered at you from between other small boxes and trinkets. Silver chalices and weird designs complemented the dark wood of the walls. Scrolls lay loosely in a large terracotta jar tied with a velvet ribbon. We opened them reverently and saw the old paintings of country sides and peacocks in green fields. Mountains with a temple nestled in it. How much? Only about NT$15 000 / R3 000 and those were the cheaper ones. We left quietly!

What a town! The festive feeling and the streets lined with shops of all sizes and crafts and things! We entered into a small square with vendors on either side surrounding the entrance to a huge temple. By this time it was getting dark and the half moon glowed above the dark ornate temple roof. People were buying fake Chinese money to burn in the temple as an offering and incense to pray with. Exciting and beautiful!

We made our way to the bus station and figured out how the system works. We could either go to an electronic board and guess the symbol for Changhua press the button and get a ticket or ask the bus conductor behind the bars at the station and be sure we’re going home! So we did the later and got our tickets waited 5 minutes and got on our first bus ride in Taiwan. We waved goodbye to Lukang with a promise to return soon. Cool!! Their buses are definitely not our low budget set ups, even for local transport between towns or suburbs. With soft leather seats and even a TV in the bus, although it wasn’t on. The bus ride was only about 20min back to Changhua. The bus stopped a few meters away and we walked wearily home. What a day!

The following week went passed so quickly and the weekend dawned on us again. This time with a bit of a twist, it’s Halloween!! The school has been gearing up for Halloween for about two weeks before. We got the kids in our different classes to memorise a song for a competition and they had to make decorations, like either cats, witches, pumpkins or spiders. The kids love it! So the school slowly changed into a ghoulish environment and we got into the Halloween mood. We as South Africans are not used to Halloween and all the things and excitement that goes with it. The costumes, the candy, the trick or treating, the Halloween songs….cool!!!! The kindergarten kids dressed up on the Friday evening…what a sight…what money the parents spent to make their kid look the best!!!

We had a hoard of Spidermen…definitely the thing these days, we had fairies, dracula’s, spiderwebbed people, scary movie masked people, traditional wear etc. etc. Then we were bundled into the kombi’s and went trick or treating with the kindergarten at about 7:30 with designated restaurants and places. The list included three stores, King Stone restaurant, Mac Donalds and Le’ Enfants (baby clothing). The kids arrived and the managers dished out candies into their little handbags and pumpkin bags…too cute!!

The teachers were dressed as well in our full witches regalia and Abby went as a pig!! The restaurant clients were offering the teachers, wine instead of candy!!!! We finished off at about 9pm, the kids were tired and half asleep in the back seat of the kombi. As I turned around to check on them from the front seat, I had the most Anne Geddes Halloween picture presented to me. A small pumpkin lying on Spiderman’s shoulder with a lion holding on to his candy! Too cute for words!!! Well, Halloween was definitely a highlight for me this year.

On the Saturday we were to go to Taichung for training again and supper on the school at the Taichung Steak House! That should be a good experience! We were all craving steak! The training went by and I bought a book at there bookstore, the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. We got discount ok! And we arrived at the steak house…..or rather it didn’t look like a steak house, it looked more like a fast food outlet all though it was huge with different counters in the centre for the different foods you wanted. All the South Africans and Canadians went straight to the steak/meat counter. You had to take a wooden tray, the type they put under your iron steak plate at the Spur, and place it in front of the grill. You could then leave and go get other food if you wanted to. I immediately felt some apprehension as to the quality of the steak, when do they ask me how would you like it????? What steak do you want? Sirloin, fillet or even beef or lamb??? Then we got the steak…….anyway, next on the food list was stir fry, good selection and they had two chef’s doing your bowl of stir fry you accumulated from the rows of metal dishes. Very effective and efficient. There was Sushi, seafood etc etc etc. Eat as much as you want for about R70. Then we found the oysters, and we ate our R70 worth!! They were huge! Probably double the size of the larges at home or in Cape Western Fisheries!!!! The evening was good and we went home, watched movies and went to bed. The following week we managed to book a massage….finally!!!! So Sunday 11/7 is our day for being pampered! The dates are all being written the American way, you get used to it, eventually!!!! 7 Nov. for the people back home! Will tell you all about that!!

So , miss you all!

Taiwan Times vol 3 Volume Three – October 2004 The 1st of October, no ways!!!! It’s nearly my birthday!!! All gifts can be sent to Sesame Street School, No 2-1 Chung Yang Rd, Changhua.

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eddycurrents · 6 years ago

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Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels - “Murderous Intent” & “The Burial of Katharine Baker”

“Murderous Intent” - Words: Mike Mignola | Art: Ben Stenbeck | Colours: Dave Stewart | Letters: Clem Robins

Originally serialized online by Dark Horse in MySpace Dark Horse Presents #16 | November 2008 & published in print by Dark Horse in MySpace Dark Horse Presents #3 | August 2009

“The Burial of Katharine Baker” - Words: Mike Mignola & Scott Allie | Art: Patric Reynolds | Colours: Dave Stewart | Letters: Clem Robins

Originally published by Dark Horse in Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #7 | October 2009

Collected in Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder - Volume 1: In the Service of Angels

Plot Summary:

"Murderous Intent” - On 6 February 1879, a trio of witches conspire to murder Queen Victoria.

“The Burial of Katharine Baker” - In 1646, Henry Hood deals with the burial of Katharine Baker, a woman tried and hanged as a witch.

Reading Notes:

(Note: Pagination is solely in reference to the stories themselves and is not indicative of anything within the issue or collections.)

pg. 1 - Love this establishing shot of the manor. Nice and creepy. I suppose this also sets the visual tone for what would be the first story arc with the grey wash from Dave Stewart.

pg. 3 - Puziel, Guziel, Psdiel, and Priziel are all in Gustav Davidson’s A Dictionary of Angels as being fallen angels invoked for protection originating in Moses Gaster’s The Sword of Moses.

pg. 4 - The hand out of the cauldron is pretty creepy. Also, the layouts for this story feel much more like traditional Mignola-style than what we see in In the Service of Angels itself.

pg. 5 - Turning into ravens is pretty neat.

pg. 6 - And that hand just becomes creepier with teeth. I’m sure getting bitten by an evil witch hand out of a cauldron is not a good thing. You’ve got to wonder what kind of eldritch diseases that thing carries.

pg. 7 - The explosion of colour as the witch in harpy form tries a further incantation and then is abruptly halted by Grey and the scene turns back to grey is interesting. The quick turn to ash as well.

pg. 8 - Queen Vic almost always seems to have resting stinkface in many of her pictures.

pg. 9 - The reasons for many women to be tried as witches always seem ridiculous today. Often accused out of political or social malice, although in fiction they usually tend to actually be stereotypical cackling “witches”.

pg. 10 - It’s interesting that Henry Hood, while alive, seems a bit more compassionate that the stories about him later.

pg. 11 - I think it would be really weird to find another person digging up the body of your daughter claiming to be her father. Obviously we’re meant to believe that this second “father” is the Devil. Especially with that hint of red in the eyes.

pg. 12-13 - This is kind of a weird action sequence.

pg. 14 - And having the devil here reveal himself as such is an interesting turn. That the accusation of witchcraft turns out to actually be the case.

Final Thoughts:

See, even in fiction crappy things happen on my birthday. I like these little stories. In the case of the first one, it lays out the explanation for how Sir Edward Grey became knighted and his service to the Queen, as well as gives a kind of proof of concept for the visual tone and appearance that would come later in the series itself.

And, for the second one, it gives us a bit of insight as to what Henry Hood (from Darkness Calls) was like during life. I think this may have also been the first time Patric Reynolds worked on a Hellboy property, though he’s gone on to do many more collaborations with Mike Mignola. His style is somewhat reminiscent of Michael Gaydos, shadowy and scratchy, and it works very well both for the Hellboy universe and for a horror period piece.

d. emerson eddy is not a witch, but is fairly certain he would also fail a ducking.

#Give 'em Hellboy #Hellboy #Witchfinder #Mike Mignola #Scott Allie #Ben Stenbeck #Patric Reynolds #RaisingHellboy #116

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charlie-pippin-faraday · 3 years ago

Note

School is still in session on the 7th of July in England, the youngest in the year are usually people born in late August, so Nina/Joy are definitely among the youngest, because the cut off is the beginning of September. The UK is weird about people with bigger age gaps being in the same year, which is why people aren’t often held back as they are in the US. Oh! And also, what are your birthday/star sign head canons?

First of all, being in school during the month of July sounds like a cruel and unusual punishment and no one should be subjected to that. Second of all, listen, I'm just going off the information that was given to me. And clearly someone messed up because given what logically makes sense, if Nina and Joy should be the youngest, then Amber and Eddie should not have 1995 birthdays, and yet they do. So those fall birthdays should probably actually be 1994, however, they're not, so I'm gonna go with the unlikely-yet-plausible theory that somehow Nina and Joy got held back as like kindergartners and are actually the oldest. Yes, I know, doesn't make the most sense in the world but I'm working with the information I have. You may disagree, but I am holding firm because it's how my brain can make sense of the information I have been given.

And I have more detailed and fun headcanons about birthdays upcoming in a later post that I'll do in just a bit, but I will totally give a quick overview of my birthday/star sign headcanons for everyone. I've posted about the characters and what I think their astrology is before, but I will happily do it again. Along with star signs I've actually picked out specific birthdates for everyone, too, just for the fun of it because I wanted to.

Canon birthdays: there are 4 of them. I didn't choose these, they're canon, that's just what they are. Nina and Joy's birthday is obviously July 7, which makes them Cancers ♋. Amber's birthday is September 9, which makes her a Virgo ♍ (which btw is what I would've picked for her even if they didn't tell us her canon birthday). And Eddie's birthday is November 19, which makes him a Scorpio ♏

Patricia's birthday is either August 12 or December 8, which means she's either a Leo or a Sagittarius (both of which are fire signs, appropriately). As a Leo, I can tell you she is absolutely not a Leo, she is definitely a Sagittarius ♐ and her birthday is December 8th

Now we get into my headcanons. This is just what I personally believe all of them are, along with the birthdays I gave them just because. All based on ~vibes~. I'm gonna list these in age order. Also if any of you want specific reasons for why my choices are what they are, do feel free to ask, but I'm not gonna do it in this post

Mara is a Libra ♎. She definitely got fall vibes to me. Specifically October vibes, which is why I've made her birthday October 6th

Fabian is absolutely a Capricorn ♑ and everything about this boy just SCREAMS Capricorn. And he's totally one of those people that's born around Christmas and is really grumpy about it, so I've made his birthday December 23rd

KT is an Aquarius ♒ and her birthday is January 29th. She's definitely a January Aquarius and not a February Aquarius

Willow is 1000000000% a Pisces ♓ and for whatever reason she has winter birthday vibes to me so I've made her birthday February 24th

Mick is an Aries ♈ and he was giving me March vibes so his birthday is March 30th

Alfie is also an Aries ♈. And once I realized he was an Aries, I knew I absolutely had to make his birthday April Fool's Day (April 1st). I mean, it's fate

Jerome is definitely for sure a Gemini ♊ in my book, 100%. I gave him the birthday of June 11th, which funnily enough is also Eugene Simon's actual birthday, and I swear I didn't know this when I picked it, I swear, the cards just landed perfectly

Now, a confession...tbh one of the reasons I firmly believe the "Nina and Joy are the oldest" theory is because the idea of Jerome as the youngest is so incredibly fucking funny to me

Full post of birthday headcanons coming shortly

#lots of birthday talk happening with me today #anon #asks #house of anubis #astrology #nina martin #joy mercer #amber millington #eddie miller #patricia williamson #mara jaffray #fabian rutter #kt rush #willow jenks #mick campbell #alfie lewis #jerome clarke

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