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gothic-safari-clown · 4 years ago

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The Mind’s Power Over the Body

PART SEVEN: CONFESSION

Story Summary: They only ever had each other. It had been that way since high school, ever since Elianna transferred to dreary Arlen and took Jonathan under her wing. They go separate ways for college, and when they’re reunited at Arkham Asylum professionally, Elianna comes to find that they’ve both changed during their time separated. Can she look past the promise of danger and stay by Jonathan’s side as they slide further and further into the darkness while she grapples to come to terms with the truth about herself? Can she accept what needs to be done in order to hold onto the only person who holds any meaning in her life? This is a very self-indulgent AU that draws from several different canons of the DCU and ignoring others, starting in the Batman Begins Nolanverse. This will follow the plot of the movie, although the timeline has been very slightly tweaked.

Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four / Part Five / Part Six

Words count: 3235

Elianna, generally speaking, was extremely stubborn by nature. As such, the more people told her that she couldn’t do something, the more she resolved to do it. She had been like that for her entire life, and very rarely was she convinced to concede.

However, she no longer had any qualms about passing off the Zsasz case. The day before, she had been pretty insistent upon keeping Victor as a patient, but that had been before he had not only escaped what was supposed to be a very secure institution for the fourth time, but had also found out where she lived. Unless he had somehow already found out from whoever must have helped him after their first session. God, had he been planning that from the beginning? El thought back to what he had said when he had passed her and Jonathan in Arkham as he was being escorted back to his cell.

“Leave your door unlocked for me.”

She shivered at the memory. In hindsight, she couldn’t believe how stupid she had been to have still gone to her apartment after that. While she wasn’t unintelligent, it was true Jonathan had always been the smarter one. But, Jesus, that was the worst thing for her to have done in that situation. I guess I’ll blame that on being stubborn too.

She pondered all of this, still in bed next to a restfully sleeping Jonathan, hours before she even needed to be awake. After sleeping for only a few an hour or two herself, she had woken herself out of a nightmare and had been unable to fall back asleep despite how tired she felt. It seemed that all of her sleep lately had been cursed by restlessness.

Suddenly, she was struck by the memory of the strange, shadowy figure that had saved her life in the parking lot. What was that thing? It had been man-sized and shaped, but she clearly saw pointed ears on top of the head in her memory. Even after being in Gotham for such a short period of time, El was acutely aware of the masked criminals that ran the streets. Still, in her tired haze and confusion surrounding the whole situation, she couldn’t recall having heard of a man dressed as a…a dog? Some kind of bat, maybe? Either way, it seemed a very poorly made costume.

The fact that whoever it was had attacked Zsasz was somewhat comforting, she supposed. But the question remained, was this person malevolent and just happened to have a personal vendetta against Zsasz, or was he some sort of vigilante that no one had heard of yet? Assuming this is a new development, I imagine we’ll find out over the coming months.

In the meantime, El was plagued by the feeling that she was being watched, despite being several stories high in a relatively safe part of the city, not that anywhere in Gotham could truly be considered safe.

Despite the knowledge that nobody could be watching, she shifted closer to Jonathan and cast a wary look around the room to identify the source of her discomfort, finally deciding that there was something about the window that made her uneasy. It seemed too dark outside, given that they were in a large city, but she knew better than to get up to close the curtains. She had seen enough horror movies to know that when she did, there would be a face pressed against the glass, watching her sleeplessness.

The image in her head of a person waiting on the ledge outside, waiting for her to fall back asleep scared her, even though she knew it was impossible. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself not to think about it. It’s amazing the things almost being murdered will do to your brain.

Jonathan shifted in his sleep suddenly, effectively taking her mind off things for a few seconds. She could tell that he hadn’t gotten enough sleep the previous few nights (she blamed Scarecrow) and made an effort hold still, hoping that she hadn’t woken him up. After a few seconds, he settled back into his pillow. She sighed and allowed herself to relax as well. I should try to get back to sleep before work. She would be damned if she had to stay home, even after everything that had happened. She needed the people she worked with to take her seriously. Going about a normal routine after almost dying twice seemed a good way to establish rank. Maybe stubborn and stupid, but what was the worst that could happen at that point?

All things considered, she felt surprisingly stable for someone who had had three near-death experiences in the past few years. Maybe there was something wrong with her that just hadn’t manifested yet? Thinking about that possibility, she wouldn’t be surprised. It might explain how she was finally on the verge of falling back asleep.

Eventually, her exhaustion got the better of her. Jonathan’s building had much better security than hers; surely, she would be fine to sleep those last few hours away…

.xXx.

Four hours later, El’s phone alarm sounded, blaringly loud in the previously silent room, and she scrambled to turn it off while Jonathan rolled onto his stomach and groaned into his pillow.

“Why do you wake up so early?” His voice was muffled.

“It takes longer for me to get ready than you. It’s nothing new. Go back to sleep.” El yawned and patted the back of his head before standing up, stretching and cracking her back.

He seemed to take her advice, and his breathing evened out again as she retrieved her duffle bag from the living room and headed to the bathroom to get ready for work. She had just finished washing her face and brushing her teeth and was starting in on her makeup when Jonathan walked in, looking tired.

“I’m awake now.” He yawned as he leaned back against the counter next to her and rubbed his hand down his face.

“I can see that. I’m sorry,” El replied genuinely—if a bit distracted by her foundation.

“It’s fine; I was starting to dream about Granny again,” he dismissed; El nodded and continued her routine as he watched.

“Can I help you?” She asked, slightly perturbed by the attention. He shrugged.

“There’s nothing better to do at the moment. Besides, I want to find out how it’s possible that you actually use all those brushes every day. It seems like overkill.”

“They’re all good for different things, now hush,” El mumbled in response, trying not to let him distract her from her eyeliner. “You know, if you talked to more women, you might be able to see them put on their makeup, and maybe even naked sometimes.” Now she was actively trying to get him to leave her alone; it was far too early not to be annoying about it, though. Sometimes she just couldn’t resist embarrassing him.

“Don’t give Scarecrow any ideas this early in the morning, or he’s going to think about you like that all day, and I have to hear it,” Jonathan said in mild disgust and shut his eyes in exasperation.

“Ooh, gross. Really?”

“Yeah. Breakfast?”

“No, thanks, love.”

“You should eat.”

“I should, but I’m not hungry, and you’re distracting me. Thank you, though,” she replied more forcefully. He shrugged again and meandered toward the kitchen. “Tell him to behave!” She called after him.

No longer distracted, El finished up and picked an outfit for the day, getting dressed quickly and walked out to the kitchen where Jonathan had already dressed and was making his way through a bagel while glancing over the newspaper. “They didn’t know your name. Would you mind if I started calling you ‘lucky woman?’”

“Sure! Would you mind if I start 'giving Scarecrow ideas’ every morning?”

“Still not a morning person, I see.”

“Nope.” El stole a quick sip of his coffee before grabbing her purse. “Carpool?”

Jonathan agreed, finished his bagel and coffee, and they walked to his car. In a few minutes were on the road sharing comfortable silence. El found herself reminded once again of the stranger that had saved her the night before. She decided to ask Jonathan about it; maybe he’ll know more than I do.

Then again, what if he thought she was crazy? A man dressed up like…oh, who could tell? What if it had been an adrenaline-fuelled hallucination? Jonathan wouldn’t turn her in, would he?

Of course not. The personality with whom he shared a mind was violent and murderous and had convinced him to kill his great grandmother—although, the old crone had it coming. Where the hell did that thought come from? That’s a horrible thing to think.

Either way, compared to that, seeing a man dressed as a…as something while fighting crime seemed perfectly sane, especially in Gotham. Not to mention the fact that whoever it was had definitely tackled Zsasz. It had to be real, or she wouldn’t be sitting there in the car.

“Jonathan?”

“Mm?” He responded right as they pulled up to Arkham. Damn, she had thought for too long; she didn’t feel comfortable talking about this where other people might hear. Jonathan might not think she was crazy, but someone else might.

“Remind me to talk to you about something later,” she conceded with a sigh and waited for him to park so that she could get out of the car. He caught up to her a second later.

“Why not now?”

“Because you already know I’m not crazy.” He looked at her pointedly but didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Do I?”

“Oh, shut up,” she smiled and elbowed him gently as they walked inside. Jonathan allowed himself a soft smile.

“I have to stop by my office for a minute, but then I’ll meet back up with you in your office before your first appointment. I have to talk to you about something.” El nodded.

“See you in a few minutes, love.” She walked herself to her office, stupidly worried now that she was alone. She knew that she relatively safe with security everywhere, but even so, she pulled on the door after it closed to ensure that it was locked. Paranoid. Zsasz wasn’t even there. She had seen in Jonathan’s newspaper in the kitchen that Victor was facing trial that day.

Not to mention whatever it was that Jonathan had to talk to her about. Knowing him, El didn’t even want to try to guess what that discussion would be like.

She killed a few minutes organizing paperwork that she had allowed to pile up, realizing that she would need to stay late to file that night and reviewing her schedule. Her first session wasn’t for a few hours yet, which gave her time to stave off the fear that another of her patients would attack her. I just got off to a bad start. A really, really, really, really bad start.

A knock on the door made her jump and then roll her eyes at herself. “Who is it?” Seriously? Nobody that would knock wants to kill you, El.

“Three guesses who.” Came Jonathan’s response, and she pressed the button to open the door for him. “I’m gonna have to stay a bit late tonight.” He informed her as he walked in.

“That’s alright, me too.”

“Well, that works out.” He sighed, pausing in the middle of the room for a moment. “I also need to leave for a while right now, but first, there’s a lot that I need to explain to you, and it can’t wait, so I need you to listen.” What?

“O-okay.” She nodded slowly. “What’s up?” She leaned back in her seat as Jonathan came around and leaned back against the desk in front of her, setting his briefcase next to him.

“Alright, there really isn’t a good way to ease you into this given the time crunch, so I’m just going to tell you all at once, okay?” Still confused, El nodded again. “First of all, I’ve been conducting experiments on patients here, research not sanctioned by the asylum.” He paused for a beat, giving her a chance to think about the confession. “A while ago, I perfected a recipe for what I call a 'fear toxin.’ In short, it causes the subject to hallucinate whatever they fear most, which allows me to study the effect of fear on the human mind.”

“What the fuck?” The question escaped El quietly as she closed her eyes in an attempt to help herself process the information that her friend was offering up out of the blue.

“I know, but I’m not finished yet, okay? Stay with me.” El found herself nodding on reflex. “The key ingredient that I need for each version comes in from overseas, it’s shipped here, and I’ve been working with Carmine Falcone, the mob boss, to bring it in.”

“Wh-what does this have to do with me? Why are you telling me this?” El asked in a panic, shaking her head, her eyes still shut. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing or how easily Jonathan said it. He was lucky that the security system was video only, no audio. Or maybe she was unlucky; it all depended on what his motivations were for sharing this information.

“Because Zsasz used to work for Falcone, but Falcone won’t risk Zsasz going to prison and leaking the secrets of the organization; as long as he’s here, regulations dictate that he has to be kept relatively comfortable and isolated, so he has no reason to leak information. I’m going right now to testify on his mental state so that he gets admitted back here.”

“Stop-stop talking for a second, hold on.” Elianna lifted a hand and tried her best to control her breathing. Jonathan did as she asked and waited while she began to gather her thoughts. “Just please, please tell me that you aren’t the one who’s been helping him escape.” She demanded quietly, finally opening her eyes but staring at the carpet. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him until she knew that he wasn’t the one to put her life in danger. She had never before felt unsafe around Jonathan. Scarecrow, yes, but never Jonathan, but this sudden dump of information had her suddenly questioning everything that she knew.

She should never have come back to the east coast. She should have stayed bored in California and just contented herself with their long-distance friendship.

Jonathan lifted off the desk and crouched down in front of her, making her look at him, however reluctantly. “Listen to me, El; I know that I’ve done a lot of horrible things, okay? I can admit that. But one thing that I could never do is put you in danger on purpose.” In a calm voice, he spoke slowly, and against her better judgment, Elianna found herself believing him. She nodded.

“Okay,” she said quietly. “Alright, I trust you, but I still don’t understand why you’re telling me any of this.” Her mind was still racing to make sense of anything that he had said in the last few minutes, although she began to realize that she shouldn’t really have been surprised. From the second that she had found out about Scarecrow, El had known that there was something—someone inside him that was more than capable of horrific things.

She found herself wondering, not for the first time, how Jonathan would have ended up if Scarecrow had never come along. Granny Keeny should have been the only warning that she needed to stay away from Jonathan, starting years ago.

Then again, if she had managed to look past and even help him cover-up the “accident,” the strange circumstances of the old woman’s death (or so they had passed it off), then she could find a way to look past this. There had to have been a reason he was telling her any of this, besides making her an accomplice. There needed to be.

“Okay,” she took a deep breath. “Tell me.”

“If I’m going to get Zsasz back here anyway, then I can get him transferred to my caseload, which puts us in the perfect position to make him regret coming after you.”

“Whoa, hold on,” El lifted her hand again to interrupt him. She almost felt bad for interjecting so often, each time having to remind herself that she wasn’t in the wrong this time. “I’m assuming that you mean you would use this 'fear toxin’ on him? In which case, he could have a full metal break, and then they would have to investigate you, so won’t they be able to trace it back to us?” Jonathan shook his head.

“They won’t find anything. I already have it all figured out. It’s an original formula, if they examine him, they may find severely elevated stress levels, but unfortunately, that kind of break happens to people all the time in here; as long as he’s alive, anyone looking into Zsasz won’t bother to test for any externally administered chemicals.”

“I-” El found herself at a loss for words by how quickly Jonathan had worked this out. “F-fine, just…give me another minute.” She stood from her office chair and began to pace, suddenly feeling claustrophobic, trapped in by the sudden wave of disturbing new information.

She couldn’t deny that the thought of mercilessly dealing revenge upon the man who thought that he could get away with killing her sounded incredibly satisfying. It was a natural desire to exact one’s pound of flesh, and even before her involvement Victor Zsasz was a murderer. A deranged serial killer that had killed how many women before she had even thought of moving to Gotham?

Elianna began to realize that she could remain in denial about what had happened to her for as long as she wanted, but she would never feel truly safe again until something was done about him.

She knew it was technically wrong, but she wanted Victor Zsasz to feel the terror that she did when she pictured his face—Lovecraftian, skeletal, bathed in yellow light—and if Jonathan’s toxin could do the job, then she wanted to do it.

Before her logical mind had time to talk her out of her resolve, she stopped pacing and looked at Jonathan. He looked back expectantly, sitting on the edge of her desk again. With an air of finality, she nodded. “Let’s do it.”

“Good.” He checked his watch and stood, taking his briefcase. “I need to leave now, but I’ll be back in a few hours. Just go about your day like normal, and we can talk semantics tonight.” El nodded in response in a stupor over everything that had happened in only two short days. She wasn’t even aware enough to be surprised when Jonathan kissed her head as he left her office, instead returning trance-like to her seat and wondering just the wrong side of too late, did I make the right decision?

#the mind's power over the body #jonathan crane #scarecrow #batman begins #nolanverse #elianna montgomery #jonathan crane x ofc #slight au #fanfiction #multi chapter fic #attraction to the insane #cillian murphy #cillian murphy scarecrow #tmpotb chapter 7

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echoeternally · 5 years ago

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In the 'recent' mario RPGs (Color Splash and the remakes of Superstar Saga and Bowser's Inside Story) they decided to 'dumb down' Morton's dialogue, MAKING HIM TALK IN ALL CAPITALS AND REFER TO HIMSELF IN THIRD PERSON. What did you think about the change? Of course it is too late to incorporate it into your fic, but do you think Morton could have sat down and studied up on language a bit since those titles?

Short answer: sure, if it helps, Morton was told by his parents to do better and they forced him to go into more schooling, so he built brains.

Long answer, because I’m very opinionated about this topic, is below.

...

See, that has been grating on me for the longest: Morton’s inconsistent character development.

In his introduction back in Super Mario Bros. 3, the manual’s flavor text treated Morton as cautious and perceptive, assessing Mario’s skill and making sure that it was reported. He was strong, but careful.

Next was his appearance in the cartoon, where he was a blabbermouth, so that scrambled around what he might function well as.

This all changed on Morton’s return with the New Super Mario Bros. series, where he’s most definitely bulked up. He’s not just big, he’s definitely powerful with his more recent appearances. Nothing otherwise was suggested at the time.

His appearance in Paper Jam defined the interpretation that I have a stronger preference for: mostly strong, but enough wits about him to handle his opponents, and above all else, caring towards his family. He battles alongside Lemmy and Iggy, and gets furious when the Mario team defeats them. At the time, this interpretation best balanced Morton’s previous established traits and made him what I thought was a fully developed character in his own right, perhaps the most natural progression for his development.

Annnnnnd then Color Splash happened. I guess the writing team was so focused on other aspects that they just considered Morton would be best described as “dumb muscle.” I suppose that’s a viable approach, but given how he had been developed in the last game, and his various personalities previously, they could have picked anything more exciting. But no, he was made into mostly a witless fool.

Now, it could have been considered that Paper Morton was different from regular Morton, in which case this would have been fine. I guess someone on the writing team thought that Color Splash’s interpretations were the correct to follow, however, and no one else questioned that, so his return appearances in the Mario & Luigi remakes had him follow his, uh, Paper personality to a tee.

More personal stuff is below, but you can kind of see my point.

...

With my personal tastes, I can’t deny that I dislike characters being rigid in their development, and I do my best to make sure characters aren’t thrown in a rut with how they’re written. I don’t like them being shallow, especially if I intend on using them repeatedly. Even my lesser characters, I do my best to make sure they have SOME kind of development.

Most especially, I get rather annoyed at worn archetypal character tropes. For too long, I’ve always thought of muscular characters as unintelligent. And that’s predominantly because of how the media portrays them, more often than not. Even when I write characters, it’s rare that a powerhouse character is the smartest in the room. To play advocate, it is fair, since it allows characters with more intelligence focuses to shine, and balances character rosters.

Morton never needed that, however. Roy was also previously considered a strong character, even being known as the “bully” of the Koopaling bunch. There was no need for the dynamic to be thrust upon Morton. The way that Roy developed in later games does keep him as a strong Koopaling, but balances it with a certain “cooler” edge, which I also like for Roy. He’s mostly brawn, but can be surprising with a few lines. That’s a developed character.

The thing about that, though, is that Roy is fairly popular and can hold his own better among the Koopalings. Ludwig and Wendy tend to stand out the best, but Roy’s usually on their heels. Iggy, Lemmy, and Larry can duke it out below them, and who usually ends up on top between those three mostly varies by which fan you approach. Morton, on my assumed average, doesn’t really do well with popularity compared to his counterparts.

This is possibly because Morton has never really had a solid character interpretation prior to what Color Splash decided to establish for him, so people were never positive how to handle him. Now he will have a consistent personality, but it’s not exactly something that will really draw fans in, or at least, I don’t believe it should. If it does, well...simple approaches do work nicely at times, I suppose.

Personally, I’m elated that I had written my fanfic prior to Color Splash and Morton’s massive downgrade. Even I didn’t know how to approach him immediately, and I left him quieter early on, falling back more on his muscle more than his other traits.

But I refused to let that entirely define his character, and I think Paper Jam was really what pushed me into finalizing how I wanted Morton: mostly uses his strength, but arguably has the biggest heart among his siblings, and is entirely devoted to them above all else. THAT is a strong character, and that was his sharpest that he’s ever been. I have zero regrets following that, even as the future installments will continue to absolutely tarnish him repeatedly.

it’s mostly a non-issue to Mario fans on average, because most of them could care absolutely less about Morton as a whole, much less as anything memorable between the Koopalings. I think that’s precisely why I get so defensive of him, though, because he’s not even my favorite Koopaling, but I feel bad that no one really likes him much, and he deserves to be at least balanced out a lot better with his siblings than he ever is.

On average, I worry about him and Larry more than the others, but because Larry is usually the first fought Koopaling, fans remember and attend him better than Morton. So, that’s where I’ve started paying more attention.

Anyway, thank you for the ask! I’ve actually being holding this in for a while and wanted a good place to write such feelings on the least popular Koopaling. I do hope that he either gets another rewrite, or at least manages to gain more fans regardless of how he’s written.

#morton koopa jr #koopalings #opinions #paper mario #mario & luigi #super mario bros #character development #character interpretation

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worryinglyinnocent · 7 years ago

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Fic: The Darkness Within (11/?)

Summary: When washed-up paranormal investigator Rum Gold meets Belle French, he does not quite know what to make of her claim of a supernatural presence in her life, but sensing her genuine fear, he begins to investigate. What he uncovers shakes the cynicism he has so long held to its very core, and he calls in the help of disgraced ex-priest Father Macavoy to help him lay some demons to rest…

A slow burn, eventual rumbellavoy. The rating may increase in later chapters.

Rated: T

[One] [Two] [Three] [Four] [Five] [Six] [Seven] [Eight] [Nine] [Ten] [AO3]

====

Eleven

Gold was not expecting the phone to ring and when it did, he almost jumped out of his skin. Although it was ringing in exactly the same tone as it always did, there seemed to be an electric urgency to it this time that prickled through the air, demanding his attention immediately. He snatched up the receiver with unanticipated nervousness.

“Gold.”

“Hi Rum. It’s Belle.”

She sounded shaken, her voice quiet and a little wobbly, and immediately Gold was set on edge.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m ok. We’ve had a breakthrough, I think.”

“You think…”

“Yeah… I can’t really make head or tail of it.”

“Ok, we’ll cross that bridge in a minute. You sound very shaken up, are you sure you’re all right?”

“Yes, I mean, well, I’m all right physically.” There was a long pause, and in that moment, Gold wasn’t at all concerned for solving the mystery surrounding Belle as long as she was all right in herself. “It’s just that the whole thing’s a bit unnerving. It’s one thing having this thing sharing my head but another thing actually communicating with it.” She paused again, and Gold could almost see her biting her lip on the other end of the phone. “Would you… Could you come over please? And perhaps help me process what it is that I’m seeing here before it starts freaking me out any more?”

“Of course.” He was practically out of the door already. “I’ll be right there.”

The walk to Belle’s apartment from his was not a long one, but despite his hurried steps Gold felt like he was walking through treacle and he couldn’t get along the ground fast enough. Belle was waiting for him at the top of the stairs to her apartment, the door already open, and Gold could see that she was definitely unnerved. Her bottom lip was worrying between her teeth and she was hugging her chest tightly, a kind of unconscious protection against whatever it was that had frightened her when she had first woken up.

“What’s happened?” he asked as she closed the door behind him. The sheet of questions was still tacked up there with no visible changes, and Belle indicated for him to follow her through to her bedroom.

“It woke up again last night,” she said. “I came to on the kitchen floor, so I knew that it hadn’t been stopped in its tracks by the questions on my bedroom door, but at least I hadn’t wandered too far. Then I came back in here and well, you can see for yourself.”

The sheet of questions on the back of Belle’s bedroom door was covered in pencil scrawls. The writing was recognisable as Belle’s own, but only barely, the letters were spiky and half-complete, as if it had taken a lot of effort for her to write them. Perhaps because she was being controlled by an entity that was not used to performing such delicate tasks as writing?

“I don’t remember writing any of that,” Belle said. “And none of it makes any sense to me at all. Last time, I got the impression that this thing was very old, and what it’s saying seems to corroborate that, but I still can’t make sense of what it’s trying to tell me.”

At first glance, the scrawlings around the edge of the paper were pure gibberish; perhaps the entity was trying to get to grips with using a pencil and was practising before it actually put down any answers. Beneath the questions were coherent words, but for all they made sense, they might as well have been another language. Gold sat down heavily on the end of the bed beside Belle as he read.

What is your name?

I have had many but none are my own.

How old are you?

I have no age I have always been here.

What are you looking for?

The bloodline was broken I need the connection I NEED THE CONNECTION this is a mistake I NEED THE CONNECTION.

After that, everything just became scrawl again until one word that was written so heavily that the point of the pencil had gone through the paper at one point.

NIMUE

It was chilling to look at, and Gold could quite see why Belle had been so unnerved by it. He made the executive decision to remove the sheet from the door, quickly untacking it and taking it through to the kitchen, laying it out on the table. The simple act of having it horizontal rather than vertical helped to make it seem less scary, and as Belle set about making tea for them both, he sat down at the table and tried to make some sense of the scrawls. The unintelligible scribbles meant nothing to him, but that might just be because they were in a different language or a different script. He’d come into contact with people sprouting various brands of gobbledegook in his time, but the fact that there was plain English mixed in with it gave it a much more sinister feel.

He grabbed his phone and took some pictures of the sheet with the intention of sending them to Joseph later. If anyone in Gold’s acquaintance could make sense of these, it would probably be him, and Joseph had asked to be kept in the loop, after all.

“So, what do you think?”

Belle brought their tea over and sat beside him, and Gold traced his fingertip over the word at the bottom of the sheet, the one that the entity had obviously wanted the reader to pay the most attention to.

“Nimue. That’s got to have some significance.”

“In Arthurian legend, Nimue was Merlin’s apprentice and lover,” Belle said. “Some interpretations have her as the Lady of the Lake, protector of Excalibur as well. Most versions cast her as a villain, enchanting Merlin and trapping him in a cave. Or a tree.” She paused. “Maybe I’ve got Merlin in my head, and this is him trying desperately to get a message out.”

“Perhaps,” Gold said. At this stage he wasn’t going to rule out anything. “But then surely the answer to the question ‘what is your name?’ would be ‘Merlin’, rather than this cryptic spiel.��

“True.” Belle sat back. “I don’t know. None of it’s making any sense. When I woke up and saw it, I thought that perhaps we’d had a breakthrough and it could help us, but now I’m not so sure. It seems to have thrown up more questions than answers.” She looked down at the sheet and gave a shiver; Gold hastily folded it up so that they didn’t have to look at it any longer. Out of sight, out of mind, although it was clear that neither of them were going to forget what they had seen for a long while yet. Hopefully Joseph had some inside knowledge that might help them. In the meantime, perhaps brushing up on his Arthurian legends and stories wasn’t too bad an idea.

The shrill sound of the doorbell cut through the tense atmosphere, making both of them jump, and Belle giggled when she saw that he had been just as disturbed by the completely innocuous sound as she had. She went over to get the door and Gold heard her exclaim with happiness and gratitude. She was smiling when she returned carrying the package that she had signed for, but he couldn’t help noticing that there was a touch of steel in her expression; the smile was a determined one, but not necessarily one of happiness.

“Something you’ve been expecting?” he asked.

“Yes.” She wasted no time in ripping open the package, and since she was making no effort to be furtive about it, Gold leaned over to see what was inside. It was a box full of small home CCTV cameras. He raised an eyebrow.

“I’m assuming there’s an explanation for this?”

“When I first started having episodes, my dad installed some cameras in the house to catch what I was doing when I was sleepwalking,” Belle said. “It was to try and keep me safe more than anything, and it was interesting to try and pick up patterns in what I did and where I went when I wasn’t myself. In the end, though, they didn’t really help; it wasn’t like they could stop me from leaving the house or doing other random things, and they don’t record sound, so if I was muttering anything that might have had any significance, then it was lost. So in the end, we stopped using them. It was a bit creepy being watched all the time, at any rate.”

She picked up one of the little cameras and turned it over in her hands, looking for the on switch and all the settings. “Now though, since I’ve come here and everything’s suddenly been dialled up to eleven, I think I want to see for myself what happens when I’m asleep. Perhaps they could have been useful last night, to see what was going on when I was writing all of that.”

Gold nodded, it was a good idea and he didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of something similar in terms of surveillance. Despite all the stigma surrounding found footage horror films, cameras, especially night vision and heat-sensitive, were a staple in any paranormal investigator’s toolkit, whether they were looking to prove or disprove the existence of spirits in unoccupied places.

“I should probably get these set up as soon as I can,” Belle said. “I mean, it’s normally when I’m asleep that things happen, but I have been known to drop out in the middle of the day before. And since the episodes are happening more frequently now, I want to be on my guard.”

“Yes, I’ll let you get on with that.” Gold drained his tea and looked again at the folded paper. “Do you want to keep that?”

Belle shook her head. “Not really, it creeps me out just looking at it. If I can’t make any sense of it now then I don’t think that staring at it for any length of time is going to help. Most of it’s imprinted indelibly on my brain anyway; but if I have any flashes of inspiration then I know where to come.”

Gold slipped the paper into his jacket pocket without another word, and they said their farewells, making plans to meet up for coffee the next day. No mention was made of them making some kind of progress report when they met; it was an unspoken surety that unless something incredibly strange happened overnight then their next meeting would be thoroughly devoid of paranormal discussion. As much as Gold wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery, and as much as he knew that Belle wanted the same, even more so than he did, he knew that to immerse her in that world constantly was probably not going to have the desired effect. Gold knew all too well the way that he could get lost in his work, and perhaps they both needed a reminder that there was a good life out there that awaited them once all this suspense was over. It still felt strange to think of them as dating, considering how their acquaintance had begun, and Gold wasn’t quite sure where they stood in terms of their relationship. The sooner they could sort out the elephant in the room and have some hope of a normal courtship, the better.

He fingered the paper in his pocket as he made his way back to his own home, thinking about all the things that he had encountered over his career and whether any of them could be applied in this situation, finally giving it up as a bad job and accepting that he was going to need help. It wasn’t too late to call Joseph over in England, and he settled himself in his study, spreading the paper out on his desk and emailing the photographs of it over to his friend. The word NIMUE still stood out at him, mocking him almost, daring him to try and make some sense of its inclusion on the page, and he spent the next few minutes looking through various online articles trying to get a picture of the woman behind the name. Still nothing that could link her to Belle’s current plight, and it was research that could be done later.

He set his computer to snooze and dialled Joseph’s number.

“Hello?”

“Joseph, it’s Rum Gold. We’ve had some developments in the case.”

#rumbelle fic #rumbelle #Belle French #Mr Gold #Fic: The Darkness Within #paranormal au

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marziyoudumbass · 4 years ago

Text

sweetener

chapter 2: the final days

pairings: Haikyuu!Various x Reader

synopsis: Y/N spends her final day before school with friends and famiky, she contemplates the changes that will occur no a that she's moved to Miaygi. Y/N finds herself bitter, how will her first day of school go?

You and Ayame had decided to spend both of your last days before school together. You were going to hang out in the park by your old house. You wanted to spend your last day goofing off with your friend.

You stood by the fountain at the center of the park, waiting for Ayame to show up. As you waited, she ran up behind you and slung and arm over your shoulder.

“Hey, Y/N/N-chan!” she said. You were relieved at the sound of her voice. It was so stressful, moving so suddenly. You were so happy in Hyōgo, and so set on going to Inarizaki. Now you were in Miyagi, going to Karasuno.

“Ayame! It’s great to see you.” You greeted.

“How’ve ya’ been?” She asked as you began walking.

“I’ve been doin’ okay, it’s been a bit hard with the move and all.” You said.

“I get it, how’s the new house?”

You sighed, your new house was greatly smaller than your last--though it made sense, there were only four people living there. Your room was cramped, it was right on a busy street (making it hard to sleep), and you were still sleeping on the floor. So how was your house? Horrible.

“It’s different. Kinda cramped.” You said.

“Yeah… Is it nice, though?” She said.

“Well, we haven’t fully unpacked yet.” You replied, rubbing your neck and hoping to dodge the question.

“Right.”

You walked in silence for a moment longer, though your brain was racing. Being in the park where you practically grew up really reminded you of all the things you were leaving behind. Your childhood home, your old friends and teammates, the park you used to practice in, even your brother’s bakery (though you wouldn’t completely be leaving that behind). It made you upset, you’d have to rebuild every aspect of your life in a new place.

“-N/N? Ya’ there?” You heard Ayame say, nudging you.

“Wha- Oh, yeah.”

“Okay, just making sure, you seemed to get a little spacey.” She said, finally dropping her arm from your shoulder. “So… What d'ya wanna do?

“I don’t know, what do you wanna do?” You asked

“I dOn’T kNoW, wHaT dO-”

“I get it, I get it.” You said, lightly swatting at Ayame. “Hey, remember that tree from when we were kids?

“Oh, yeah! Where is it anyway?” Ayame said.

“You don't remember?” You gasped dramatically.

“Oh come on, it's been years!” She said, laughing. ‘It has been years, huh?’ You thought. You and Ayame had practically grown up in this park. You were always running around, playing, climbing trees, doing kid stuff. When junior high started you got busier, with volleyball practice and everything. You hadn’t visited the park throughout your entire junior high life. It was so nostalgic being here, it brought back so many memories. You knew for a fact your new home could never compare.

“-over there!”

“What?”

“Y/N/N!” Ayame said, “You’re really spacey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, what were you saying?” You asked, waving off her worries.

“Okay… But I see the old tree.” She said, pointing off in the distance. You spotted it. It had a thick trunk, and the branches made a little nest-like area that you used to sit in all the time.

“Well what are we waiting for?” You said, taking a step towards the tree. Ayame took a step. You started walking, then she started walking, then you started running, and Ayame followed suit. It turned into a full on race by the time you got to the tree.

You both climbed up in the tree, sitting in the little nest you used to sit in. Since you were both older, you found yourself a little cramped. You were laughing and giggling as you both tried to get comfortable. Then Ayame leaned on one specific branch, and you both hear a snap. You stared at each other while Ayame tried to slowly lean off of it, but it completely broke and half her body hung out of the tree, the only thing saving her being you, grabbing her legs.

“...”

“...Jesus christ Ayame, are you okay?” You said, having a hard time stopping yourself from laughing.

“Don't laugh! Help me up!”

Eventually, you saved Ayame and continued to goof off. You and Ayame bid farewell after a bit, Aiya picking you up and driving you home.

Walking in the house, you dodged boxes as you walked to your room.

“Ah-ah-ah, you’re not locking up in your room again.” A wild Etsu appeared. Etsu said, turning the corner and stopping you. “It’s your last day before school, let’s have some fun!” She dragged you into the backyard. One of the only upgrades to your new house was the large backyard. One corner was taped off, your mother planned to build a zen garden there, with a nice fountain. There was a small uncovered patio, but the rest of the yard was grass.

She pulled a soccer ball out of a small plastic tote. Walking towards the center of the yard. You stood at the door, staring at your sister. She waved you over, and you slowly walked towards her.

Sighing, you stood opposite of her as you began passing the ball back and forth.

“So, how ya’ liking it here?” She asked, you groaned. Ayame asked basically the same thing--they really are similar, huh?

“It sucks.” You said. You were seriously upset about having to move. You didn’t want to move at all, and having to change schools? Awful! You really didn’t even want to go to school at Ka-whatever-the-name-is. “I especially hate having to change schools.”

“C’mon, it's not that bad. I’ve heard Karasuno had a pretty good volleyball team.

“Male team. I haven't heard anything about the female team.”

“Tomato, tomato.” She said, kicking the ball past you. You dragged yourself over to it. “C’mon, try harder! You let that slip past you, how are you gonna stop a spike-y thing?” She said.

“This isn’t even fun, Etsu. Why should I try if we’re just messing around?” Etsu sighed.

“Putting in 100% of effort at all times will help you improve, even if this is just for fun. If you’re not even trying, how are you gonna get better?”

“Whatever.” You said, passing it back to her.

“Kick with the inside of your foot, not your toes.” She said, you grumbled.

“I know.”

“Then why didn’t you do it?” Etsu teased. She knew how to push your buttons.

“Shut up!” You yelled at her. She laughed. You couldn’t help but smile, even if she annoyed the hell out of you, she was your older sister. She sighed, picking up the ball.

“Let’s go inside, I think mom’s gonna be home soon.” Etsu said, walking towards the house and tossing the ball back in the tote. Upon entering, you were met with your mom. She turned to you and smiled.

“Hey. How was hanging out with Ayame, Y/N?” She asked.

“Great!” You said, giving her a quick hug before Etsu and Aiya greeted her aswell.

“That’s nice. Well, I’ll cook and we can eat, yeah?”

You never realized how annoying alarms were until this morning, being woken up by it for the third time, and all. You fumbled to lightly press the stop button on your alarm (because slamming on it is unrealistic, you don’t want to break it, lest you have to spend your own money on a new one). You looked at the alarm, realising that you would be late. You groaned, maybe snoozing it so much was a bad idea.

Sitting up, you turned to drop your legs over the edge of your bed, only for your feet to immediately hit the floor and your knees hit your nose. You made an unintelligible noise of annoyance, before getting up, now wide awake. You looked at the alarm, realising that you would be late. You groaned, maybe snoozing it so much would be a bad idea.

You snatched up your uniform off of a box acting as a table, changing, and grabbing your shoes and bag from your closet. You walked out into the hall and towards the kitchen. Upon entering, you saw Etsu eating at the table and Aiya preparing something on the counter. You assumed your mother was already off to work.

“Hey, W/N/N (worst nickname, something you hate being called).” Etsu called out.

“Don’t call me that.” You groaned, sitting next to her. She handed you a slice of milk bread. You stared at her.

“You’ll be late if you eat a normal breakfast.” Aiya said, handing both you and Etsu a bento. “Just eat it.” You nodded, wondering where they even got the milk bread, and why it was your sisters’ first choice for a quick breakfast.

You finished the bread, Etsu standing up and handing you a jacket.

“We should get going.” She said, grabbing her own bag. “Aiya is driving us. ...I guess both of us snoozed a lot, huh?”

“You two are idiots.” Aiya said, pulling on her blazer. Her hair was in a tight, low bun, glasses resting on her nose. She wore a button up shirt with a pencil skirt and heels--she looked like she was going to work at an office job (even though she was just taking you to school and maybe getting coffee).

Looking at Etsu you took note of how she pulled off the uniform. Her expertly highlighted hair put up in a curled pony-tail.

You looked at yourself. The uniform was disheveled, and you didn’t even fix your hair.

“Come on.” Aiya said, walking towards the front door. You followed her and Etsu, pausing at the doorway. Were you really gonna do this? Walking through that door was like walking into a new life, leaving everything else behind. Were you ready for a new school? For a life you’d probably hate? Were you-

“W/N/N! Stop stalling!” Etsu snapped you out of your dramatic thoughts, you glared at her.

“I said don’t call me that!”

Points for Explaination:

1. A plastic tote is a container. Like this. I had to look up the 'proper term' and plastic tote came up.

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #hq #HQ!!#hq x reader #sweetener #sweetener: chapter 2

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holytheoristtastemaker · 5 years ago

Link

Taking your first steps in programming is like picking up a foreign language. At first, the syntax makes no sense, the vocabulary is unfamiliar, and everything looks and sounds unintelligible. If you’re anything like me when I started, fluency feels impossible.

I promise it isn’t. When I began coding, the learning curve hit me — hard. I spent ten months teaching myself the basics while trying to stave off feelings of self-doubt that I now recognize as imposter syndrome. It wasn’t until I started going to beginner-friendly meetups that I realized how coding collaboratively opens up amazing possibilities. You just need the right community of people to practice with.

For me, that community was Founders and Coders, the free JavaScript bootcamp that helped me to switch my career from copywriting to coding. Even now, less than a year after completing the course, I can hardly believe I’m being paid to develop software.

Collaborative coding is all about tackling problems and discovering solutions together. It encompasses techniques like pair programming, which several tech companies take seriously enough to screen for during their interview processes. It also cultivates useful skills that are tough to learn if all you’re doing is coding alone at home.

Whether you’re just starting out in the tech industry or you have several years of experience under your belt, collaborative coding never stops being useful. In this article, we’ll look at how these evergreen skills equip you for a long and successful career in software development.

Perfect Pairing

My first experience of pair programming was at a meetup for beginners called Coding For Everyone. Here’s how it works: people pair up, often with people they’ve never met, to solve JavaScript challenges together at the same laptop. One person assumes the role of the ‘navigator’ and proposes the code they think should be written. The other person, the ‘driver’, types out their suggestions on the laptop and asks questions whenever something isn’t clear. You continue doing this, swapping roles frequently, until the end of the two-hour session.

In theory, it was simple. In practice, not so much.

I found it quite distracting to have someone I didn’t know watching my screen while I typed, and I was reluctant to hand over control when it was time to swap roles. I found navigating even trickier. When an idea cannot go from your head into the computer without first going through your partner’s hands, every word that you say matters. It demanded a degree of communication from us both that we simply weren’t used to, and I felt sure we’d both learn more if we split up to work separately.

Fortunately, we stuck with it; I went again to the meetup the following week. I’ve since spent hundreds of hours pairing with dozens of developers, and I’ve learned more than I initially thought possible.

Pair programming is an incredibly fast way to learn. The magic of the method — once you get over the initial awkwardness — is that it yields immediate results. Some feedback loops, like bubbles in the stock market, can take hours, days, or even months to produce a correction. Pair programming takes minutes, if not seconds. When you misplace a semicolon, two pairs of eyes can spot the mistake faster than one. Need to search StackOverflow for clues about a rogue error message? You and your partner can each read different threads, halving the time it takes to find an answer.

The pair programming feedback loop (Large preview)

For even trickier problems, mob programming can be a further step up. This method requires a cross-functional section of a team to gather around the same computer screen and brainstorm solutions in realtime while one person types.

“All the brilliant minds working on the same thing, at the same time, in the same space, on the same computer.” — Woody Zuill, Agile Coach and Mob Programming Trainer

While it might seem like an inefficient way to work, mob programming advocates such as Woody Zuill say it can actually save time by eliminating the need for individual code reviews because everyone reviews the code in realtime as it’s being written. Productivity aside, I think mobbing is a fantastic way to learn not just about the code, but about how other people approach problems. If pair programming doubles the number of perspectives you’re exposed to, mob programming yields even more insights.

Sometimes, ten heads are better than two. (Large preview)

That’s not to say that pairing — or indeed mobbing — is plain sailing. Something I struggled with initially was putting my ego to one side to ask questions that I thought might sound stupid. In these situations, it’s good to remember that your partner might be having the same thoughts, especially if you’re both just starting out.

If you find yourself pairing with someone more senior, perhaps at work, don’t be afraid to pick their brains and impress them with your inquisitiveness. Even someone who is only a bit further ahead than you might think of things that wouldn’t occur to someone more senior. Some of my favorite pair programmers only have a few months more experience than me, yet they always seem to know exactly which mistakes I’m about to make and how to steer me in the right direction. When these developers say there’s no such thing as a silly question, they really mean it. The best pair programmers speak freely, without the need to appear fantastic or the fear of looking foolish.

Pair programming takes practice, but it’s worth perfecting. Studies show that programmers who pair to solve problems tend to be more confident, productive, and engaged with their work. Whether you’re looking for your next job or you’re onboarding new hires, pairing is caring.

Resources And Further Reading

“Pair Programming Roles,” Jordan Poulton, GitHub

“The Friendship That Made Google Huge,” James Somers, The New Yorker

“Mob Programming: A Whole Team Approach,” Woody Zuill, YouTube

Engineering Empathy

When I started teaching myself JavaScript, my code looked a lot like my bedroom floor: I’d let it get messier and messier until I had no choice but to tidy it. As long as my web browser could understand it, I didn’t care how it looked.

It wasn’t until I started reviewing other people’s code that I realized I needed to show a lot more empathy for the people reviewing mine.

Empathy might be the most underrated tool in any developer’s arsenal. It’s the reason why IDEO puts user research at the center of their design process, and why Etsy asks their designers and product managers to do an engineering rotation. Empathy emerges when we have the opportunity to see how our work impacts other people. No wonder collaborative coding is such a great way to build it.

Peer code review — the act of checking each other’s code for mistakes — calls on us to exercise empathy. As the reviewer, it’s important to recognize that someone has gone to considerable effort to write the code that you are about to critique. As such, try to avoid using phrases that might imply judgment or trivialize their work. When you refer to their code, you want to show them the specific functions and lines that you have questions about, and suggest how they might refactor it. Sharing learning resources can also be more helpful than spoon-feeding a solution. Some of the most useful feedback I’ve received from code reviews has come in the form of educational articles, videos, and even podcast recommendations.

Writing good documentation for your code also goes a long way. An act as simple as creating a readme with clear installation instructions shows empathy for anyone who needs to work with your code. GitHub founder Tom Preston-Werner advocates a readme-first approach to development.

“A perfect implementation of the wrong specification is worthless. By the same principle, a beautifully crafted library with no documentation is also damn near worthless. If your software solves the wrong problem or nobody can figure out how to use it, there’s something very bad going on.” — Tom Preston-Werner, GitHub Founder

I’ve also spoken with tech founders who treat documentation as an essential part of successful onboarding. One CTO said that if a junior developer struggles to reach a level of productivity within six months of joining his team, it points towards the codebase not being well documented enough. It only takes a few seconds to add an explanatory comment to a complex function you’ve written, but it could save the next person who joins your team hours of effort.

Resources And Further Reading

“On Empathy & Pull Requests,” Slack Engineering, Medium

“Readme Driven Development,” Tom Preston-Werner, GitHub

“What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team,” Charles Duhigg, The New York Times Magazine

Agile Achievement

From the millions of man-hours that go into making CGI movies to the intense development crunches leading up to big-budget video game releases, towering technical achievements take a mind-boggling amount of effort. The first time I saw my current employer’s codebase, I was floored by the enormity of it all. How on earth did anybody build this?

The answer is that everybody can build a lot more than anybody, given the right collaborative framework. In companies that encourage collaborative coding, the software doesn’t emerge from the efforts of a lone genius. Instead, there are ways of working together that help great teams to do amazing work. Developers at Founders and Coders practice a popular software development methodology known as ‘Agile’, and in my experience, it puts the ‘functional’ in cross-functional development teams.

Entire books have been written about Agile, but here is a summary of the core concepts:

A product development team breaks down large pieces of work into small units called ‘user stories’, prioritizes them, and delivers them in two-week cycles called ‘sprints’.

For as long as the project continues, the cycles repeat, and new product requirements get fed into a backlog of tasks for future sprints.

The team holds daily standup meetings to discuss their progress and address any blockers.

The process is both incremental and iterative: the software is built and delivered in pieces and refined in successive sprints.

A typical Agile workflow (Large preview)

As a chronic tinkerer whose solo hobby projects often succumb to ‘feature creep’, I know how easy it is to waste time building the things that no one ever uses. I love the way that Agile forces you to prioritize user stories so that the entire team can focus on delivering features that your users actually care about. It’s motivating to know that you’re all united around the common goal of building a product or service that will continue to have a life after you finish working on it.

Splitting tasks into small user stories also happens to be a great way to timebox pair programming sessions. No matter how deep in the zone you find yourselves, finishing up work on a key feature is always a nice reminder to step away from your desks and take a break. Agile lends structure to collaborative coding where it could otherwise be lacking.

Meanwhile, daily standups give you the freedom to talk about anything that is holding you back, and sprint retrospectives provide space to share key wins and pinpoint where the team could improve. These ceremonies foster a sense of collaboration and accountability, and help us to learn more together than we could by ourselves.

Putting all of these Agile principles into practice can be challenging, especially when no one in a team is used to this way of working. At Founders and Coders, it takes most students a while to get into the habit of doing daily standups. However, after 18 weeks of project-based practice, you find that your processes and communication skills improve immensely. By the time you take on your first client work, you’ve formed a much clearer mental model of how to approach building a full-stack web app in a team.

The best way to learn Agile is to build interesting projects with other people. Attending hackathons is an excellent way to connect with potential collaborators. Many open-source projects make their kanban project boards public, so you can see which GitHub issues different contributors are working on. Several welcome contributions from beginners, and you can often assign yourself to open issues and begin raising pull requests.

Since most tech companies subscribe to some form of Agile, it’s not uncommon for employers to ask about it in interviews. Any experience you have can set you apart from other applicants who may never have coded collaboratively, let alone with Agile in mind.

Resources And Further Reading

“What Is Agile?,” Steve Denning, Forbes

“Embracing Agile,” Darrell K. Rigby, Jeff Sutherland, Hirotaka Takeuchi, Harvard Business Review

“Awesome First Pull Request Opportunities,” Shmavon Gazanchyan, Deloitte Digital

Remote Collaborative Coding Tool Recommendations

In the last several years, remote working tools have advanced to the point that prominent companies like Gatsby and Zapier are now “remote first”. While it remains to be seen whether this will turn into a trend, it’s safe to say that remote development teams are here to stay.

In that spirit, here are some tools that can help you and your team code collaboratively from afar:

Markdown Editors HackMD The killer feature is that you can turn markdown documents into slideshow presentations with next to no effort. Borrows from the popular reveal.js library. StackEdit A collaborative online editor with a clean UI and lots of file export options. Code Editors CodeSandbox A fantastic collaborative cloud-based code editor that you run in your browser, with no installation needed. Live Share A neat extension for the popular Microsoft Visual Studio Code editor that supports real time editing and debugging of files inside the same workspace. Video Conferencing Solutions Google Hangouts Superb Google Calendar integration makes it a cinch to schedule video calls. Microsoft Teams Video conferencing software that offers really good call quality (1080p video), and supports up to 250 simultaneous participants.

If you take one thing away from reading this article, I want it to be that team players trump individual contributors. In a field where there seems to be a hot new framework to master every other week, our technical skills age in a way that our soft skills don’t. The upshot is that developers who can work well with other people will always find their abilities are in demand. Collaborative coding isn’t just an effective way to learn; it’s a sought after skill set that anyone can develop with enough practice and patience.

0 notes

riichardwilson · 5 years ago

Text

Why Collaborative Coding Is The Ultimate Career Hack

About The Author

Bobby is a software developer at Flourish and a fan of data-driven storytelling. He loves no-code tools that help people tap into the web’s creative potential. … More about Bobby …

Whatever stage you’re at in your career, coding collaboratively is one of the best uses of your time. With remote working on the rise, there’s never been a better time to practice pair programming and embrace Agile development.

Perfect Pairing

In theory, it was simple. In practice, not so much.

The pair programming feedback loop (Large preview)

“All the brilliant minds working on the same thing, at the same time, in the same space, on the same computer.”

— Woody Zuill, Agile Coach and Mob Programming Trainer

Sometimes, ten heads are better than two. (Large preview)

Resources And Further Reading

Engineering Empathy

It wasn’t until I started reviewing other people’s code that I realized I needed to show a lot more empathy for the people reviewing mine.

— Tom Preston-Werner, GitHub Founder

Resources And Further Reading

Agile Achievement

Entire books have been written about Agile, but here is a summary of the core concepts:

A product development team breaks down large pieces of work into small units called ‘user stories’, prioritizes them, and delivers them in two-week cycles called ‘sprints’.

For as long as the project continues, the cycles repeat, and new product requirements get fed into a backlog of tasks for future sprints.

The team holds daily standup meetings to discuss their progress and address any blockers.

The process is both incremental and iterative: the software is built and delivered in pieces and refined in successive sprints.

A typical Agile workflow (Large preview)

Resources And Further Reading

Remote Collaborative Coding Tool Recommendations

In that spirit, here are some tools that can help you and your team code collaboratively from afar:

(fb, ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/why-collaborative-coding-is-the-ultimate-career-hack/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/616321323350851584

0 notes

laurelkrugerr · 5 years ago

Text

Why Collaborative Coding Is The Ultimate Career Hack

About The Author

Bobby is a software developer at Flourish and a fan of data-driven storytelling. He loves no-code tools that help people tap into the web’s creative potential. … More about Bobby …

Perfect Pairing

In theory, it was simple. In practice, not so much.

The pair programming feedback loop (Large preview)

“All the brilliant minds working on the same thing, at the same time, in the same space, on the same computer.”

— Woody Zuill, Agile Coach and Mob Programming Trainer

Sometimes, ten heads are better than two. (Large preview)

Resources And Further Reading

Engineering Empathy

It wasn’t until I started reviewing other people’s code that I realized I needed to show a lot more empathy for the people reviewing mine.

— Tom Preston-Werner, GitHub Founder

Resources And Further Reading

Agile Achievement

Entire books have been written about Agile, but here is a summary of the core concepts:

A product development team breaks down large pieces of work into small units called ‘user stories’, prioritizes them, and delivers them in two-week cycles called ‘sprints’.

For as long as the project continues, the cycles repeat, and new product requirements get fed into a backlog of tasks for future sprints.

The team holds daily standup meetings to discuss their progress and address any blockers.

The process is both incremental and iterative: the software is built and delivered in pieces and refined in successive sprints.

A typical Agile workflow (Large preview)

Resources And Further Reading

Remote Collaborative Coding Tool Recommendations

In that spirit, here are some tools that can help you and your team code collaboratively from afar:

Markdown EditorsHackMD The killer feature is that you can turn markdown documents into slideshow presentations with next to no effort. Borrows from the popular reveal.js library.StackEdit A collaborative online editor with a clean UI and lots of file export options.Code EditorsCodeSandbox A fantastic collaborative cloud-based code editor that you run in your browser, with no installation needed.Live Share A neat extension for the popular Microsoft Visual Studio Code editor that supports real time editing and debugging of files inside the same workspace.Video Conferencing SolutionsGoogle Hangouts Superb Google Calendar integration makes it a cinch to schedule video calls.Microsoft Teams Video conferencing software that offers really good call quality (1080p video), and supports up to 250 simultaneous participants.

(fb, ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/why-collaborative-coding-is-the-ultimate-career-hack/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/04/why-collaborative-coding-is-ultimate.html

0 notes

scpie · 5 years ago

Text

Why Collaborative Coding Is The Ultimate Career Hack

About The Author

Bobby is a software developer at Flourish and a fan of data-driven storytelling. He loves no-code tools that help people tap into the web’s creative potential. … More about Bobby …

Perfect Pairing

In theory, it was simple. In practice, not so much.

The pair programming feedback loop (Large preview)

“All the brilliant minds working on the same thing, at the same time, in the same space, on the same computer.”

— Woody Zuill, Agile Coach and Mob Programming Trainer

Sometimes, ten heads are better than two. (Large preview)

Resources And Further Reading

Engineering Empathy

It wasn’t until I started reviewing other people’s code that I realized I needed to show a lot more empathy for the people reviewing mine.

— Tom Preston-Werner, GitHub Founder

Resources And Further Reading

Agile Achievement

Entire books have been written about Agile, but here is a summary of the core concepts:

A product development team breaks down large pieces of work into small units called ‘user stories’, prioritizes them, and delivers them in two-week cycles called ‘sprints’.

For as long as the project continues, the cycles repeat, and new product requirements get fed into a backlog of tasks for future sprints.

The team holds daily standup meetings to discuss their progress and address any blockers.

The process is both incremental and iterative: the software is built and delivered in pieces and refined in successive sprints.

A typical Agile workflow (Large preview)

Resources And Further Reading

Remote Collaborative Coding Tool Recommendations

In that spirit, here are some tools that can help you and your team code collaboratively from afar:

(fb, ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/why-collaborative-coding-is-the-ultimate-career-hack/

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coin-river-blog · 6 years ago

Link

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, possibly the most overrated politician in U.S. history, is nothing new to politics and she’s no reformer either.

She is supposed to represent hope and reform and millennials bringing some of their warmth and earnestness to politics, but she is actually politics as usual.

inb4: “what does this has to do with cryptocurrency”

Join CCN for $9.99 per month and get an ad-free version of CCN including discounts for future events and services. Support our journalists today. Click here to sign up.

I don’t know about you, but when I see Washington politicians like AOC and like Donald Trump saying they want the Fed to keep “printing” even more money, and then go and call themselves the servants of the people or whatever — it just reminds me I need to make some more cash fast to buy crypto quick before these pols loosen the Fed’s sphincter so wide the entire monetary regime slips through their fingers.

Sorry for the visual.

I’d like to have both feet in the rocket ship before it starts flying to the Moon. That’s not to be read as advice. I’m just telling you how I connect the dots since many of you have asked.

“This is just blatant character assassination.”

No it’s not. Below is a list of facts about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Mostly it’s AOC in her own words, her own tweets, her own interview answers. How can sharing someone’s own words be character assassination?

Or assuming it can be, those most be some pretty damaging things the politician said!

And people have a right to talk about it. Especially since AOC has been delegated the power to vote over people’s finances and how markets are governed.

Something many of us are watching very closely.

Thanks for all the great comments on my articles everybody.

Here are 10 Ways Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is Bad to the Bone:

1. Shady

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is doing what Washington’s been doing for decades. | Source: Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP

The shady or crooked politician is one of the oldest tropes in politics.

Think of Hillary Clinton who cheated at the DNC primary contest and in the general election, or Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz whose close friend and staffer stole from Congress. Think of crooked Richard Nixon, and Alexander Hamilton with his shady financial schemes.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fits into this mold, just another shady, crooked politician.

Her henchman is about to get away with a $1 million finance scandal.

Experts are saying it wasn’t illegal, but it was shady.

2. Clueless

youtube

Politicians are often clueless about the real world.

The way they view the world every problem needs a legislative solution.

They think they can centrally plan the world. But they often know every little about what they think they can design better by force of law.

Vacuous, ill-informed statements Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has made on a number of subjects ranging from Israel and Palestine, to proposals in her Green New Deal show how little Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez really knows about what she imagines she can design.

3. Elitist

One of the things people like least about powerful federal politicians like President Barack Obama, State Secretary Hillary Clinton, and President George H. W. Bush is their elitism.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s elitism and privilege has been conspicuously on display since her shock win of the Democratic primary against Rep. Joe Crowley. It’s tweets like this:

Yup. If you don’t like the #GreenNewDeal, then come up with your own ambitious, on-scale proposal to address the global climate crisis.

Until then, we’re in charge – and you’re just shouting from the cheap seats. https://t.co/h3KSJhHqDN

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 23, 2019

4. Alarmist

Still from V for Vendetta / Warner Bros.

Politicians are inveterate alarmists, always with their hands full of costly, radical legislative solutions in search of problems. They tell us the big lie to get us to give up our freedoms.

The big lie is the super exaggerated threat that people are too embarrassed to believe anyone would lie about, but it’s pretty worn out in 2019.

That hasn’t stopped AOC from making dire global warming predictions.

She says, “The world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.”

5. Dishonest

“I always thought that if more good people had concealed carry permits,then we could end these Muslims before they [unintelligible].”

This was just this weekend at CPAC, the conference attended by the President and members, to 1000s.

Where’s the resolution against Islamophobia? https://t.co/eXA9F1fezI

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 5, 2019

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a sitting U.S. congresswoman who recently got into a public spat with a private citizen, Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr. on Twitter, something Democrats considered unseemly of Donald Trump after becoming president.

Amid her skirmish with the pastor and private university owner, the congresswoman tweeted a link to a video of Falwell speaking at a conference with the year wrong which completely changes the context for what his remarks were referencing, a dishonest tweet.

I thought @AOC was just dumb but she is a liar too. She claims this was @CPAC last week when it was actually in 2015 the day after the deadly CA attacks by radical Muslims (“those” Muslims I referenced) She also deleted the last part of my quote “before they walk in and kill us”. https://t.co/lIw4V4BaVj

— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) March 5, 2019

6. Ridiculous

Just like catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions.

And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one. pic.twitter.com/rsD17Oq9qe

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 10, 2018

One of the things that never ceases to amaze news junkies is how ridiculous politicians can be. Things like Nancy Pelosi saying they would have to pass the bill so we could find out what is in it. Or Elizabeth Warren triumphantly releasing that DNA test.

When Ben Shapiro challenged Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to a debate, she ridiculously compared it to cat calling a woman on the street. Hilarity ensued:

"Hey, girl — want to have a public one-hour discussion on the intricacies of trade policy, deficit spending, and the value of the profit motive? I'll even donate a bunch of money to charity or your campaign to make it happen." — Construction worker in Queens, apparently

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 10, 2018

7. Unscrupulous

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants to run up the planet’s credit cards to pay for her plans. | Photo: REUTERS / Joshua Roberts

One of the worst things about politicians is how unscrupulous they are. They are so ambitious, so power hungry and glory seeking.

They’ll run over anyone to accomplish their ambitions.

They seem to have very little regard for the seriousness of the measures they take and the often devastating unintended consequences of their half-baked interventions.

It’s ironic because they’re always saying to think of the children, but that’s exactly who they kick the can down the road to, the children who grow up in greater debt each year. That’s why politicians kiss babies. They know that’s who’s paying for all their bright ideas.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is no different than these unscrupulous politicians, only she’s worse. She wants the government to print even more money to saddle the children with even more debt to pay for her pet programs.

8. Menacing

I have noticed that Junior here has a habit of posting nonsense about me whenever the Mueller investigation heats up.

Please, keep it coming Jr – it’s definitely a “very, very large brain” idea to troll a member of a body that will have subpoena power in a month.

Have fun! https://t.co/oQ6MsdJYCk

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 7, 2018

Politics is a very dirty, very predatory business full of threats and warfare.

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez wasted no time showing her threatening side to Donald Trump Jr.

It reminds me of when President Obama menacingly told Rep. Peter DeFazio, “Don’t think we’re not keeping score, brother,” after DeFazio voted against Obama’s spending bill.

9. Arrogant

youtube

There’s something about politics that attracts extremely arrogant people.

I can see why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be arrogant, beating a senior U.S. congressman for his seat in his own primary before the age of 30, but boy she sure is.

10. Meddling

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders’ telegenic protégé, has won near Trumpian levels of attention | Source: Win McNamee / Getty Images / AFP

Meddling politician is a redundancy.

It’s what politicians in a democratic society exist to do. They meddle in other people’s business. They take up other people’s time and money. They fix things that aren’t broken until they’re very badly broken. That’s pretty much what socialism is.

The saga of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez epic meddling in Amazon’s HQ2 resulted in billions of dollars to her community lost and now she’s hard back pedaling from the meddling.

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hoodpsychics-blog · 7 years ago

Link

The Hood Psychics: Episode 1

Produced by Javi and Malik

Transcription by Noelle Ware

[Intro music]

Javi: Basically, this is our first episode of The Hood Psychics! So, my name is Javi of you who don’t know.

Malik: My name is Malik, for a while I went by Anova, but it’s now Malik. Again.

Javi: [Laugh] Right. And I’m cool, as you went through that whole transformation, you know what I mean? So, yeah this is weird because this is actually an extension of the conversations that we usually have anyway. So, this is, like- let’s pretty much talk about the show. Let’s talk about the show and how we came up with it. ‘Cause it was actually your idea as far as The Hood Psychics and stuff like that.

Malik: Right. Well, we were having a conversation. I told you- maybe we should backtrack. I had what’s called “The dark night of the soul” the year I turned 21. Essentially, I lost my damn mid. I was being completely untrustworthy, being completely ain’t shit, had a lot of inhibited anger and just a number of issues. Both mental issues and physical issues. I had a brain injury, so I was still in what’s called “post-concussive syndrome.”

Javi: Mmmm.

Malik: Did I ever tell you about that?

Javi: You told me about the brain injury, but you didn’t tell me about- it didn’t have a name, just a brain injury. You know what I mean?

Malik: Yeah, nah, it’s called post-concussive syndrome when you get a brain injury and there’s long-lasting effects like memory loss. Inability to focus, depression, anxiety, increased irritability, anger- like all types of shit. And I was dealing with all of that. Sleep cycle was fucked up. So, this happened in context of my job, my former workplace. Which I’m not going to name, it’ll come up.

Malik: So, at my former workplace I received a brain injury that was never taken care of, and there’s a whole bunch of other shit going on, which I’ll get into. So Essentially, I lost my mind, became extremely untrustworthy. My abilities- my psychic abilities- So, I’m a claircognizant. Which means clear-knowing. And essentially, I pick up on everything in my environment to the point where I can read the atmosphere of the geography. Meaning, there’s a certain atmosphere for every place. And from my experiences in Rochester, New York, it’s a very anti-Black place.

Javi: Mmmm.

Malik: Like, there’s just something in that atmosphere that just hates Black people. And the white people are very comfortable, they’re very racist, they don’t want to deal with the realities of racism fully. And it’s just a very dangerous place to be Black in Rochester. So, especially coming from Washington D.C., you know, the original Chocolate City where Black people run this shit. Have been running this shit since ’68 when MLK was assassinated.

Malik: I’m very attuned to location and how my Blackness is held or not held in spaces. And I only came to that realization at the end of my time in Rochester when I literally- due to trauma: both my developmental trauma and the trauma I was subjected to at my workplace, I was severely vitamin D deficient- so just a whole host of things. And I was just very psychically open, which can be very dangerous. To have such porous boundaries and seeing very deeply into people’s lives and seeing things I don’t necessarily need to know or want to know about people.

Javi: Right, right.

Malik: You know. So, we were having a conversation. So, back tracking. We were having a conversation and I was telling Javi, “Hey, I think I need to seal my powers, they scare me. I feel like those powers are too powerful for my body.” And Javi was telling me, “Yo, that’s a part of you, why would you seal those? That’s not what needs to happen, you have those abilities for a reason.”

Malik: So, I realized that I just needed space to conversate, to discuss these things openly. Because if I talk to most people, I’m talking about, “Oh, I’m a telepath, I’m a claircognizant, I’m a clairvoyant-“ A lot of people just think I’m bathshit crazy. I am crazy. But I’m not unintelligent, so… [Chuckle]

Javi: And to tell you the truth- just to tell you a little bit about that conversation to jump in it a little bit. I just felt like- when you were talking about sealing your powers based on what happened, I kinda felt like, why? Like why do that to yourself? Because yeah, that is a part of you, and secondly, what would that do? What would that actually do to anybody who has the gifts that we have?

Javi: So, for me, I’m a card reader, but I’m also an intuitive medium. I’m an empath, meaning whatever emotions you are going through, whatever physical ailments you’re going through, I’m gonna feel it. And I’m also an intuitive medium, if I didn’t say that before. So that means that I have a direct contact with spirits and I sometimes hear spirits, in my third eye I see them as well.

Malik: Right.

Javi: So, it’s like I’ve had these abilities since I was a child. I had people- I would hear voices and turn around, no one was there. I personally thought that I was out of my mind or I was the only one who can hear these things. And no one- I’m the only, as far as I know, I’m the only non-Christian in my family. So, who was I gonna tell? You know, who was I gonna tell in my family? I was the only one who was having these experiences.

Javi: My grandmother would tell me stories as well, about seeing things herself. She wasn’t my maternal grandmother, but she was my grandma. She was always talking about how she was seeing her mom, how she was seeing family members, so I think a lot of Black folks see things and experience things, but because of- and not to put down Christianity. But because a lot of us have a Christian upbringing, they shut that part of themselves down, not even realizing that many of us, many Black people from generations prior to ours have had these abilities. They’ve had African culture infused with Christianity.

Javi: Spiritual practices, you know, mixed in with Christianity like the laying of the hands and talking to spirit, saying you see God, no you’re seeing your spirit guides basically. So, you’re basically- you’re doing everything many African cultures have done, but because it was pretty much beaten out of us, we had to find some way to incorporate it into what we’re doing. So, what you’re saying makes absolute sense to me, simply because we have people thinking we’re all kinds of nutty. It’s like no, that’s not the case at all. That’s not the case at all.

Malik: Well, so, I think there’s like a correlation between mental illness and these abilities though.

Javi: Mm-hm.

Malik: I come from a long line of mixed race people on both my matrilineal and patrilineal side, so my mother’s side and my father’s side. And when you think about the experience of being mixed-race today, right? Like it’s just- based on- like I’m not mixed. People often assume I am. But I’m not. Like I know both my parents are Black, I grew up in a Black city, so that’s not a reality I experience internally.

Malik: But when I think about what it was like to be half-Black, half-white; half-Black, half-indigenous back in like the 17th century, the 18th century, the 19th century, that- the trauma one undergoes due to not really having a place or a home, that can contribute to- well A. Developing, due to not feeling or having a sense of belonging, sort of mental issues or mental issues, whatever you want to call them. Some people don’t like the term mental-illnesses. I don’t personally find it negative or pejorative thing. And B. When one is in a constant state of survival, you develop abilities to help you survive. Other- right?

Malik: So, like, when we talk about Black people having these abilities, I think about how, on the plantations, you had to learn how to read body language. You had to learn how to decode what people within slavery was saying. You had to develop these abilities in order to survive. And I think about my own experiences. I’m pretty open about the fact that I come from a lot of trauma. Poverty, homelessness, there’s a history of mental illness in my immediate family deaths, I mean just growing up in the hood and the sort of violence that one sees on a day to day basis. And the need for the system to avoid this type of violence that happens.

Malik: Like I’ve been bullied, I’ve been a bully, and I think in order for one’s system to survive the traumas, it goes elsewhere. I think about the poet, Allison C. Rollins. She won a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent poetry fellowship, I believe in 2016. And she wrote in a piece, How an Antihero Learns to Die- I’m paraphrasing, but something like a body constantly in a state of subjection learns to move into different realms. Something along those lines, I need to read the essay to get the full quote. But essentially, I get what she’s saying. What I’m getting from that is how when one is consistently exposed to violence upon one’s system, you go elsewhere. You go into otherworldly spaces, you develop a relationship to the astral plane, you know? To get through it.

Javi: Mm-hm.

Malik: And you begin to see things, and you begin to read things, and you learn how to out-maneuver- right? Because as a child, as someone who doesn’t have the physical strength or material resources to get oneself out of those situations, you learn to read and out-maneuver the people who are harming you.

Javi: Right, right.

Malik: And I think about, again, talking about my episode that’s called the “Anova Incident” in Rochester, where I had changed my entire name, it felt like someone else was living in my body. I’ve been having symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder, just outbursts of anger, and sort of all over the place. And I realized that that was a result of dissociating from my own developmental trauma as a child, so just not processing those emotions, or keeping those bottled down, and turning my workplace into a dumping ground for that trauma, just talking about it very openly there.

Malik: And then, being in a toxic community, you know? For someone who is potently claircognizant or telepathic or whatever the case may be, who also doesn’t possess- who also possesses porous boundaries, people- [sigh] you become the company you keep, in ways that are extremely subtle. So, if you are surrounded by- if one- let me speak for myself.

Malik: When I’m surrounded by people who are untrustworthy and negative, and just inauthentic and fake? It’s highly likely- well, it was- I became that, in the environment I was in. And when I had gotten home, it didn’t hit me. Like the toxicity and how much I had been hurt in that environment didn’t hit me until I had gotten home. Until I literally had to change landscapes. That’s when it all set in, like “Whoa. These people are fucking demons.” You know? And, saying that like, after becoming a demon myself, I’m learning the importance of banishing them.

Javi: That’s a thing too. There are people- because we talked extensively about what happened at your job, and what happened with folks at your job, and I’m glad you actually- you’re not just blaming them and saying it was their fault. But what I’m hearing too is that you’re taking responsibility and holding yourself accountable for what’s going on. Even though you’re claircognizant, you’re also a human being and a soul and you have this vessel and you have to have free will. And that’s important to consider, that a lot of folks feel like they’re powerless and do not have free will.

Malik: Yes.

Javi: And what they don’t realize is that spiritually, you are the master of your domain. Your life does not run you, you run your life, know what I’m saying? So, it’s very important that you ground yourself in situations like this or find some way to ground yourself spiritually, or you’re going to get caught up. I know for me, back in the day, I was easily influenced. Because I’m an empath and empaths actually, like, you can feel energy. You can feel the energy of the room and sometimes if you’re not protected or if you did not put yourself in a position to protect yourself, you put yourself in the position to get caught up.

Malik: Yep!

Javi: And so there were many times when I was caught up in a toxic situation or caught up in someone else’s emotions, not knowing whether or not they were mine. And I had to learn very quickly to- after being hurt so many times, to protect myself and realize, “Look, all this arguing that’s going on? That has nothing to do with me.”

Javi: You know? All this arguing, all this stuff that’s going on with me, that has nothing to do with ME or didn’t until I went into the room and got caught up in someone else’s stuff. Like there was one time when I was, what, this happened in 2016? A lot of shit happened in 2016. [Laugh]. But the crazy shit- a lot of silly shit happened in 2016. So, what happened was I wanted to be a part of an organization that was really prominent here in Rochester.

Malik: Right.

Javi: And so, it was supposed to be like a meet-n-greet for members of this group and people to find out more about this group. I walk in, and everybody’s fighting over politics because another group, another faction organization- excuse me, members of another organization came into this meeting, so they started talking about stuff that had nothing to do with the event in general! It was just a bunch of Black folks in the same room just straight up arguing over politics and their role in politics and what we need to do to become the stronger people- it was a mess.

Javi: And I could feel the tension in the room: all this chaos and all this anger in the room. And because I wasn’t protected, I got caught up in it. And so, it’s like, I look back on it and I’m like, “Wow, that had nothing-“ I came in to support this particular group, and to actually learn more about this group and what they were about, and I get caught up in some stuff that has nothing to do with me. I’m like, it was a Black Panther Party in there! So bad.

Javi: Like everybody was arguing over tactics, what they need to do, what would they- who they needed to trust- it was bananas! It was bananas. And I look back on it like “Yo, I can’t.” That’s why when I’m in a crowded room, I get so anxious. Because it’s not me being anxious, it’s me being around all these elements that have nothing to do with- with a lot of energy. And there’s a lot of people who are spiritually asleep. No offense to them. They’re walking around with a lot of chaos attached to them.

Malik: Yes.

Javi: And I can feel that.

Malik: Right. And I think that speaks to the importance of me being very intentional about the spaces you enter and how one enters them. And I’m glad that- so, when I think about my former workplace, I think about the person I became when I entered that space, and the person I became when I left. The person I was when I left. And that just speaks to me how deeply one can- and again, it’s difficult for me to talk about this, not because I’m afraid of them or something, but I’ve gotten to a place where I’m so deeply situated in my own power again.

Malik: I’m able to recognize the ways in which that environment influenced me and the fuckery that other people were doing. At the same time, I’m more interested in my own behaviors and how to prevent that. Right? When you talk about free will. And I think that’s a part of healing- to return to a space of: That person hurt me. That person did this, that person did that, and yet let me get in my bag and think about myself. Know what I’m saying?

Javi: Mm-hm.

Malik: And that agency- like the importance of recognizing that we are always in choice. We do not have control of how people act, but we do have control of how we respond. Which isn’t to say that- recognizing anger, or frustration or any whole host of emotions isn’t unimportant. But it’s also important to recognize, “Am I going to give power and energy to this?”

Javi: Right.

Malik: And so, walking into a space where people are having these battles or doing a whole host of whatever, that speaks to a toxic environment where people are more concerned with their egos and establishing dominance than productivity and accomplishing a goal. And again, I’m talking from personal experience of being that person who was very interested in demonstrating how much more intelligent or how much more this or whatever I am. And just learning how unproductive that is.

Javi: And you are also, like, as we all are, we’re just spirits stuck in a human body. And we have to navigate the system. Because, quite frankly, unless you’re in-tuned to your abilities and in-tuned into yourself spiritually, you’re not going to recognize any of what’s going on with you. You’re going to get caught up in all these systems, especially if you’re living a human existence. You know, so it’s like you’re doing the best you can under the circumstance. We all are doing the best we can under the circumstances. You’re gonna make some fucked up decisions, you’re gonna make some poor decisions in your life, know what I’m saying? So now that you know and you’re starting to realize what’s going on- I had to put myself in check too.

Javi: I was just reading something on Facebook. It happened around this time, around the same time as the election. And I was just reading this particular thing and I’m like, “Wow, was I really that deep? Was it really that serious?” Like, yo, was I really that angry about some bullshit? I think it had something to do with people coming at me over this voter suppression because- it was just bad. I was just looking at this like, “Wow, for real? Was it really- it wasn’t even that serious.” What I think happened as me and some lady got into it because I wouldn’t vote for Hillary or something like that. We went off on each other because they were really trying to push, “vote for Hilary, vote, vote, vote-“ I’m like, “Look, I’m not trying to be part of that system.” So on and so forth.

Javi: We got into it somehow via messenger to the point where I had ended up blocking her because she was just doing a lot. So that memory came up via Facebook today, where I was pretty much like, “Fuck everybody. Fuck this person, fuck- She not gonna tell me- no one gonna tell me what to do on my page!” [Laugh] That type of shit. And I look back on it now because I’m no longer that person. I’m no longer that individual that would just go off on people, at least not as much as I used to. I say what I need to say and go, know what I’m saying?

Malik: Right! Yes, yes.

Javi: Like I said, long story short, I was looking at it and I’m like, “I’m a whole different person now.” I think it happened too- we need to talk about this. It’s like 12:15 now where I am now. Should we take a bit of a music break and go on about our business, keep going after that music break?

Malik: Yes. That sounds good.

Javi: alright, so we should go ahead and do that. We still need to talk about what the show is about, we’re just talking [laugh].

Malik: [Laugh] It’s just so fun to talk to you, I can’t help it!

Javi: So, we’ll take a little bit of a music break and we’ll be back after those messages. So, alright!

[Music plays]

Javi: So, we are back with the show. This is called The Hood Psychics for those who don’t know what’s going on. So, Malik and I are talking about our experiences with our abilities and being souls and living a human experience and basically navigating through toxic systems. Whether it be the workplace or whatnot, and just to give you a little synopsis of what the show is about and then I’ll finish off the story I was telling.

Javi: Basically, we’re doing this to talk about our abilities, our individual abilities as light workers. But we’re actually talking about different topics as far as spiritualism and stuff like that. Also, are we giving readings to people or no? Are we going to be opening ourselves up to that?

Malik: Personally, I don’t want to open myself up to that, but… Yeah.

Javi: That makes sense. Yeah, ‘cause it’s a lot. Hooo, that’s a lot! So that’s something that I will not be doing as well. And that’s another thing: This is for entertainment purposes only. Even though we are very much who we say we are, to protect ourselves let’s not give readings or anything like that, because it’s a lot. And it’s very draining. I personally need energy to do the show, or to do the podcast and to live my life [laugh]. So, it’s a lot.

Javi: It’s a lot of work to take on someone’s energy and I do that on the regular anyway through my stuff. In an establishment I’m very much a part of and- so yeah. Shout out to The Spirit Room. I love The Spirit Room, so shoutout to the Spirit Room here in Rochester! But yeah. Yeah, I really just like talking about psychic abilities and sharing stories about all the stuff we’ve gone through and actually talk about different types of religions too. And how people need to be careful and to protect themselves. Just talkin’ right?

Malik: Yeah, just talkin’.

Javi: Yeah, pretty much.

Malik: So, I think that- you were telling a story, right?

Javi: Yeah, I was, I was. Basically, I’ve been going through a lot of spiritual changes since- basically since I had my hysterectomy. I had a hysterectomy back in August of this year. And it’s as if something in me clicked or something. I don’t know how else to explain it, but it’s just emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, and even physically I became a whole different person. I was no longer willing to argue. I was no longer willing to put up with a lot of things.

Javi: It’s as if what I used to do on Facebook and social media- pretty much battling it out with people and going off and going in on people for doing something that made no sense, I was just leaving it alone. I’m serious, since my hysterectomy, I don’t have the energy to just go off on someone as far as their political stuff. Unless I feel like I have to say something, I don’t. And I never used to be that way, I always had to have the last word. And it’s as if whatever toxicity- and there was a lot of toxic sexual energy I had too.

Javi: So, the moment that my reproductive system was removed, it’s as if all that toxicity went along with it. And I just became somebody completely different. You know, it was pretty much bizarre, to be honest with you. It’s very bizarre and I don’t know what happened. The passion and the fire that I had as far as doing for others, fighting for others, advocating for others- a lot of that fire went away. And it’s to the point where I’m like, what else can I do to be of service to others? Because I feel like a lot of the anger, a lot of the pain I went through was pretty much clogged by a lot of the trauma.

Javi: Yeah, everything I went through as far as my trauma, it definitely clouded my mind, it clouded my perception of self. And I find myself apologizing to a lot of people because of my toxic behavior. And I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I wasn’t working with a spiritual mentor by the name of Nikeela Asha. I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’m doing now if I didn’t have that surgery. I just feel like there’s a lot of things that needed to be changed within me, and I was able to make those changes after I had my surgery.

Javi: So, to circle back to what I was saying, I am not- I’m just not in the mood to like- for some reason that whole part of me is gone as far as arguing with people and trying to police their language or police what’s going on. I don’t have the spoons to do it anymore.

Malik: And I think that- you describing that? It just sounds incredibly healthy to let go of that impetus to control.

Javi: Right.

Malik: Because like you mentioned you don’t have the spoons? It’s exhausting to try to police or control or to nitpick or to micromanage other human beings who have their own whole host of issues and do whatever they want to do. So, I’m really glad you’re in that space of coming to a place of peace and harmony in yourself to focus more so on your own endeavors, your own projects, your own base and foothold to propel you into all of your blessings that are lying in wait.

Javi: Right. Have you- I know you talked a little bit about- oh! Oh. When we were talking about what we were going to be talking about today, you mentioned an article-

Malik: Ohhhh! Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Javi: Listen, I was actually reading that, and it actually plays into a lot of what we’re talking about as far as being careful about your power and using it unwisely, basically.

Malik: Yeah, yeah.

Javi: So that’s something I wanted to talk a little bit about because-

Malik: I need to get my charger.

Javi: Yeah, so go ahead and get your charger. Basically, while Malik is getting his stuff together, I just wanted to let people know that there’s a particular article that he posted- or he sent me, rather. It’s called- it’s something like, “Everybody wants to be a bruja, but not everyone’s about that life?”

Malik: Nope!

Javi: So, it was written by a bruja, for lack of better terms. And she was basically saying that Beyoncé, for this whole thing surrounding Lemonade, basically awakened, for lack of better terms, people’s curiosity about African deities and African spirituality. So, she was like, “Look it’s cool, I’m glad that that happened, but y’all need to know what y’all doing.” Pretty much. And this shit- not everything is sexy about it. Being a clairaudient, being a clairvoyant and all that other stuff, it’s cool and everything.

Javi: You can do what you need to do, but at the same time, you have to be careful and be responsible about what you’re doing. So, I really thought that that’s what needs to happen. Because I feel like Lemonade in general opened up- because Beyoncé used a lot of African spirituality through Lemonade. It’s like, this is not just church! This was like, Black power, African spirituality, I’m gonna find myself, I’m gonna find my people type of stuff. She- look, she anointed everybody with Lemonade. Listen, I’m on the verge of being part of the Bey-hive. Like seriously, it changed- I remember when we had our radio show, The Bonfire Talks, the first thing I talked about was how Beyoncé anointed everyone with Lemonade. You know what I mean?

Malik: Yeah.

Javi: And the visual effects were just phenomenal. But it had people thinking like that’s what that was. It was basically just- The Orishas were basically walking around, busting windows with baseball bats, you know what I mean? No, like, no it’s a great responsibility, because depending on your level of power, you may see some shit that you’re not ready for. Depending on what you do and how much history in your own family that you have as far as certain spiritualities, you have to go through rituals, you have to go through ceremonies- it’s a lot of work and there’s a lot of steps that you have to go through in order to be initiated in certain religions.

Javi: So, you have to be careful. You cannot skip steps at all, because you’re going to end up running into some issues that you are not ready for. So that goes back to what we were saying about self-care. And that’s another thing too- when it comes to self-care and when it comes to having the knowledge, you have to do some studying and be knowledgeable because if not, you’re going to run into some issues and problems.

Malik: I also think about the importance of listening to one’s body.

Javi: Right.

Malik: Right? And when you are in a precarious situation- when I am in a precarious situation, when I am around people who are untrustworthy, I can feel it. Like, the water, you know our bodies are largely composed of water. The water in my body tells me. There’s a certain weight and gravity in different areas of my body that- and I’m thinking about when I was 19 and had this traumatic experience and was racially traumatized by one of my former colleagues, and another one of my former colleagues tried to tell me I was responsible. And he used the words, “I care about you,” when trying to tell me, and my body was in pain. But instead of listening to y body, I chose to listen to his words.

Javi: Mmmmm.

Malik: Which was foolish. Again, 19. But that was foolish for my part. And I’m realizing after having a breakdown in Toronto, and then my third eye wakening fully, the importance of trusting my own perceptions and realizing my readings are accurate. And therefore, when demons manifest, when someone’s intention is to hurt me, when they’re not even aware of their own intentions, it is not my battle to fight. Like, protecting oneself is key and it’s knowing when to choose your battles. When to leave, when to fight- when to leave or when to fight, that’s for me.

Malik: And I think that representation of Oshun, like you mentioned it’s awakened curiosity, Beyoncé’s Lemonade, into the African spirituality, Yoruba specifically. And it’s complicated because people are now jumping into this sort of trendy, bruja thing or trendy psychic thing, but without any comprehensive or in-depth understanding of what those systems of thought and of being constitute. At the same time- like watching the notion of Oshun’s wrath, right? Like she’s supposed to be the Yoruba that oversees beauty and love and relationships, romance, sex, but she has a fiery ass temper. Like Oshun is not the Orisha you want to piss the fuck off.

Javi: Right.

Malik: And I think about that within myself, right? I once made an Instagram story talking about how I’d become back in connection with my inner goddess of war. Which I have, like- okay. I like fighting. I like arguing. No, I like fighting, I like arguing, you know I will cut somebody real quick.

Javi: [Hysterical laughter] We talked about this!

Malik: I’m learning- Like I will knock someone’s fucking teeth out. People assume that I’m some- I’m very approachable, I’m very soft, I’m very kind, all those things are true. But there’s an edge which comes from the hardships I’ve experienced. You know, that inner steel I’ve needed to develop in order to survive. And having allowed someone to compel me to let go of that? Right, to let go of that fire, to inhibit it, I’m learning that’s something I need to retain. That fire is what helps me draw boundaries. It helps me protect myself.

Malik: And there’s an edge to it, right? There’s a very dangerous edge to it. After becoming a dark psychic- and telepathy can be a beautiful thing. You pick up on things, you read people, you can help people out. It also has a dark side to it where one can do serious damage to another person’s mind through their abilities. And I’ve been on the giving end, receiving end of that multiple times.

Malik: The last time, towards the end of my time in Rochester, there was a woman who I betrayed in my episode, and we had a sit down here I thought we were going to talk things out. But it turned out she just wanted to hurt me, and she did some serious damage to me in that conversation, psychically. And I’m realizing it’s very important to know who to put your body in front of, who to put your body around. You never know people’s intentions, you never know what kind of energies they’re carrying, you never know what kind of powers they have or what they can do to you.

Malik: And had I been myself, that wouldn’t have happened. Like I was not myself until I had gotten home. Had I been myself, that interaction would have ended very differently. I’m definitely not the one who would have walked away hurt, but I’m also not the type of person- well I am. But I’m also learning not to be the person that just goes into a situation for the sake of combat and to salvage my wounded ego.

Javi: Mm-hm. Right. I’m learning- Listen. Back in the day, I was all about that revenge, man. I as in revenge mode all day, every day if I was hurt. And there were many times here I’m now learning to step back from that because I still have, “Oh okay, since you want to-” I just- like there was a time when I was practicing, and this was ay before my surgery. But there was a time when I was practicing Hoodoo of some sort and I can’t- unless you go on the internet or talk to other people, there’s no other way to find out about Hoodoo because there isn’t a lot of information about it. And the information that is available is written by white practitioners, which is a whole ‘nother conversation altogether.

Javi: But I remember just asking for spirits to basically go after my perpetrator. To go after my perpetrators and to hurt them as much as they possibly can. I definitely wanted them to hurt as much as I was hurting, and I’ll definitely talk about that in another episode. But basically, I was like, “they need to die. They need to die, they need to die, they need to die.”

Malik: Yep.

Javi: I also wanted to go after the perpetrator of another friend who has since passed on. I feel like it was his fault. He indirectly killed my friend, I feel. So, I was ready to go into dark magic, I was ready to do all kinds of shit to this man. And I was so- I remember being so spooked. I just remember distinctly being so spooked about not being able to protect myself, not being able to protect my cat and my housemate, I as like- because this is not my space that I’m living in, I’m not the only one here. I can’t do this to somebody else. There has to be another way, know what I’m saying?

Javi: And so it- I found myself, “Am I a good practitioner because I’m not able to hurt his person?” Because that’s going to be on me. It’s going to come back on me regardless. Because in the practice of Hoodoo, depending on the offense, you’re not- supposedly nothing is supposed to happen to you based on if what you do is justified.

Javi: You know, if somebody rapes you or steals your money, or breaks up your family, you have every right to go after them and not care or not even think about not being protected about by a spirit because it’s justified. But the more I think, I’m like, “No, I can’t do this.” Because that’s me, that’s pretty much me getting it from a spirit. If something were to happen to me, you know. It’s more about protecting oneself as far as that.

Malik: You know, I’m a huge, huge, believer in karma. The energies e emit to the universe will eventually circle back to us. And moving into dark magic, there is a price to pay for that. And I know talking about my Dark Night of the Soul? It took me time when I had gotten home to recover fully from that entire episode from everything that happened at my former workplace. The transference of the trauma, the betrayals on multiple sides, all of that.

Malik: And I’m learning- like when I first got home, I was like, “Oh, I’m gonna go back up there, I’m gonna get this person, gonna get that person, gonna blow that shit up.” Which I would do, I would literally blow it up. But I’m learning to be… I’m learning that in order to heal, I need to situate myself in the present and build for the future. Continuing to reread the chapters of the past will only repeat it, right? And the universe, I think, made me go through that in order to learn things about myself. About how I relate to others, about cherishing the relationships.

Malik: You know, one of the things I really feared was that I was some monster, that the people around me will reject me, which some of the people did, you know. Some people rejected me. There’s only one person I’m in connection with in that community, but I learned to find community elsewhere and find people like you, Javi. And then others who still will love me unconditionally. Know what I’m saying?

Malik: And there needs to be spaces for accountability within love. Otherwise it becomes leniency and things get built up and that’s how toxicity manifests, when people aren’t communicating their frustrations with one another. But, you know, when I told you what I’d done to a particular person, you were saying, “That’s fucked up and people have done way more worse shit under less stressful conditions.” Know what I’m saying? And I needed to hear that. I needed to have that external affirmation that yeah, that was fucked up. And that you were also going through it. Know what I’m saying?

Javi: That’s another thing too. Just because you’re hurting, doesn’t mean that- and that’s what I’m learning, as far as the revenge thing. Just because somebody hurt you, there’s no excuse to go after somebody else. There’s no excuse to take it out on other people. Because it’s going to burn you in the end, it’s going to affect you in the end, it’s actually going to block your blessing in the end. Because Spirit is there, Spirit is watching us, Spirit is watching what we’re doing. And I’m not saying Spirit is this omniscient present, because it’s nothing to worship is what I’m saying. We work with Spirit and Spirit works with us.

Malik: Right-

Javi: I’m sorry?

Malik: it’s a synthetical relationship.

Javi: Right, it’s just very cyclical. There’s reciprocity there, you know?

Malik: Yes.

Javi: And your spirit guides are there, they’re watching you, they’re watching what you’re doing. And regardless of what you believe or not, you have to have a moral compass. And your moral compass basically teaches you right and wrong, and it’s wrong to go after somebody, for me, I don’t think it’s healthy. It’s not right or wrong, it’s healthy or unhealthy. What is it doing? What is it doing for you when you are going in on somebody like this? Know what I’m saying, what are you getting out of it?

Javi: Because, what if something were to happen to that person. Are you gonna- like, they still did what they did. So, it’s- the only difference between them, the way they were now and the way they were back them is they would no longer be here, or something happens to where they’re significantly harmed. You’re still going to feel the same about it. At least I would anyway.

Malik: It also demonstrates the level of power that person has over you when- When one is going out of their way to inflict pain, you know, re-inflict pain upon this person to massage their ego or whatever, it demonstrates the low vibration that the person who’s seeking revenge is.

Javi: Right.

Malik: And, so… [Sigh] So when I got home, I was very afraid of coming home. Like I didn’t know what was to expect, I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a job, I wasn’t sure where I would be living, I thought I was going to stay with my mother, my mother’s house is a toxic environment for more reasons than one. But now, I’m staying in the house of my sister’s and brother’s diseased father.

Malik: Living here, it’s a really nice house in south-east D.C. I’m living here rent and utility free, thank you to my brother for paying the utility bills. I have a job, I’m in the arts community, I’m back with family, I’m back with friends, I’m back in a community of people who love me. They all know I’m crazy. [Laugh] They all know I’m crazy. So, the universe, I feel, required me to go through that experience so I could return back to my community of origin and gather abundance.

Malik: And so, I think that we go through what we go through, the hard things, to learn lessons. And then it’s our responsibility to put those lessons into practice once we’ve entered the new chapter. Which is hard. There are some days where I definitely fall back into unhealthy patterns like procrastinating, ruminating upon things, et cetera, et cetera. No, though, I have the knowledge and I have the information so that I can make informed choices. I can recognize when to rule back.

Malik: I think about trauma a lot. And I think about how when trauma is unprocessed, it sort of repeats itself. And I think about this in relation to people’s sexualities, people’s identities, racial, gender, and I think that the avoidance of trauma and avoidance of processing our trauma is essentially what prevents us from growing.

Javi: No, like what you’re saying is absolutely true. I feel like people who cannot process trauma will take it out- people who have not gone through the channels and gone through the journey of healing themselves or getting help in order to start that process, they’re going to find some way to either take it out on others or self-medicate. Know what I’m saying?

Javi: There’s a lot of- I noticed that that’s one of the reasons why- I was part of Hoodoo group and I was okay until I was starting to see a lot of revenge stuff. And wanting to go after the person that hurt them or who hurt them or put love spells on people to keep toxic relationships. Oh yes, yes, that type of stuff. It’s like even I got caught up in- ‘cause one of the reasons I got involved in Hoodoo or was practicing at that time as because it gave me a sense of justice. That sense of justice is what I felt I needed in order to fix whatever was wrong. Because believe- the cops weren’t doing it. The leftist community couldn’t do it. No one else could do it but myself.

Javi: Like, a lot of people, until I said something, didn’t even know I was sexually assaulted. So, I needed to have some sort of- I needed something to get justice for myself. Because the industrial complexes that we are dealing with weren’t going to do anything.

Malik: Nope.

Javi: They were not going to do anything. So, that’s one of the reasons I went that route. But what I’m noticing is that there’s a lot of hurt people that are just plotting anything that is considered justifiable, me being included, just to go after somebody or use a spell to go after somebody. And to me being kicked out of a group- and that’s a whole ‘nother thing altogether, but I ended up getting kicked out of an online Hoodoo group. And I realized like, “Look, this is not for me, then. It’s not for me, there’s a lot of darkness here.” And the reason why that darkness exists is because a lot of women in that group- a lot of cis women in that group were very, very hurt and they were traumatized by what was going on.

Javi: Like what you’re saying is very much true. When you don’t take the time, or feel like you don’t have the time to process trauma and how it affects you, affects every aspect of you in your life, of course you’re going to go off on somebody. Of course you’re going to do something or use your spirituality or use your spiritual practices to hurt somebody. And I fall into that category as well. At least I did, anyway.

Malik: Right! No, and I think that when one is working so intimately with people, so talking about intimacy, that opens one up to secondarily- to receive secondary trauma. Right?

Javi: Mm-hm.

Malik: Like taking on people’s stuff. And allowing people to put things in your system that didn’t belong there, right? I think about how I allowed someone to put this fear of white men in my system. Whereas before that person made this request of me, before that person put that in my system, I did not fear any goddamned body. I’m sorry, I’m not afraid of- like the only person who scares me is myself, fundamentally.

Malik: And recognizing how I’d then traumatized someone else secondarily, you know, transferring my trauma onto them, and how when one notices that a person is not processing trauma- when I see someone literally not dealing with their trauma, it’s important for me to just move away. Or just say, “Hey, I’m noticing this thing, are you working on that?” And depending upon their response, moving away.

Malik: Being able to see so deeply, or having been able to see deeply into people’s minds or whatever, you just realize what people are working on, what people are not working on. And I just have this belief that I could somehow force people to work on their stuff, force people to recognize who they are, but that’s impossible. A person isn’t going to deal with things until they wish to do it.

Javi: Mm-hm.

Malik: You know, I think a lot about the men who I’ve been in relation with who are gay or bisexual or whatever have you, that don’t want to acknowledge that part of themselves. And I can see the effects of it on their lives. They’re very closed off on it emotionally, they’re abusing substances, they’re in these relationships with women that are unfulfilling for both parties.

Malik: And it’s just like, be honest with yourself. Let it go. You’re into men. Hey, welcome. Welcome to the club. But also realizing that’s not my battle to fight. Like if you can’t come into a space of acceptance with parts of yourself that are there, I don’t know what to do for you. I don’t have to do anything for you. It’s not a matter of whether I know or not. It’s just that’s not mine to take on.

Javi: Yeah.

Malik: And having been that person, it’s crazy-making.

Javi: Right. I know that being an empath, I have to learn that I can’t save the world. I can’t save the world at all. I could be an influence, but I cannot save the world as if- it’s just not my role. It’s not my role to basically do everything in my power to make sure that someone else is okay. And I used to do that in the past. I used to do that in the past to the point where I literally would become sucked into whatever is going on in that person. If I couldn’t make them feel better in some way, shape or form, especially if it were somebody I was dealing with sexually or whatnot, I would become extremely upset. I would become extremely upset and I would literally take it personally like “What did I do? Did I not do a good job?”

Javi: It’s almost like being a psychic prostitute almost. That’s what it felt like. I was prostituting my energy, I as prostituting myself to these people who are just using me, and I would also try to use somebody else for something. So, when- it definitely went both ways. And I just felt like I was doing all that to find a connection with someone and I wanted that. I wanted, basically what I didn’t get in my childhood and I was basically reliving trauma. And I just so happen to be an empath using my energy to do this. And it was just the most unhealthy thing I would do to myself. And after a while I was just so glad that that’s over. I’m glad that’s over, you know what I’m saying?

Malik: Yep.

Javi: And I hate to cut this short, but I have to buy my cat some food [laugh]. So, we have to end for this week.

Malik: Okay.

Javi: But we’ll be back every other Monday. We’ll be on MixCloud and YouTube. The video that you’re seeing, that everyone’s seeing will be on YouTube and the audio will be on MixCloud. So, if you like this episode, follow us and we definitely want your support, man! Seriously, this was really fun. I’m glad that we were able to have these conversations. We need to talk about how spirituality fits into our everyday lives, especially if you are a person out there who feels like, “I’m losing my mind. I don’t know what I’m seeing. I’m seeing all these ghosts. I’m seeing all these spirits, I’m seeing all this stuff.” [Laugh]

Malik: That’s real!

Javi: We’re definitely here for- and I don’t want to speak for you, but I’m hoping that with this platform, we’ll be able to connect with people who also had similar experiences and are able to talk about those experiences and know that this is a platform we can use to support people.

Malik: Right.

Javi: That’s our way of giving to the world.

Malik: Everything Javi said. Everything Javi said.

Javi: But anyway, we will see you- what, let me look at my calendar real quick. Daylight Saving’s time had everybody messed up.

Malik: Mmmmm.

Javi: So, it’ll be on the twentieth that we’ll have our next episode. So, in the meantime, you’ll be able to listen to the podcast on MixCloud, you’ll be able to watch it on YouTube. So, is there anything you want to say before we…?

Malik: Nope, everything you said. Thank you all for listening, thank you for supporting. This is an exciting endeavor-

Javi: Alright, on that note- oh yeah, yeah yo! I’m sorry I’m just cutting you off. Yeah, right! You know what I mean!

Malik: “Ah! Ah! I gotta go feed my cat!”

Javi: Yes! Cause he’s been running me crazy, trying to jump on my head at like 4 in the morning. He’s my familiar. My little boy, Tobias is like- he’s literally lying on my foot, so I can’t go anywhere right now. But again, this is awesome, and we will definitely see y’all next time on the 20th. So, mark your calendars. And oh! I meant to tell you too- we have a transcriber person!

Malik: Yes!

Javi: Thank you, Noelle!

Malik: Thank you!

Javi: Yeah! So, the deaf and hard of hearing will be able to enjoy our episodes as well. We definitely want to be as inclusive- we want The Hood Psychics podcast to be as inclusive as it can be. So, we’re going to provide our show for the deaf and hard of hearing thanks to Noelle.

Malik: Thank you.

Javi: Yes! So, on that- Oh, real quick! Sorry, I know I’m like- all these announcements! But outside of here, I have a project called “And Let There Be Light” And that’s basically focusing on educating parents and children on how to use their spirituality and using their intuition to communicate with one another, and build better relationships with one another as an alternative to corporal punishment. So, studies have shown that corporal punishment is actually psychologically and spiritually damaging to children.

Javi: So that- we didn’t start doing that until slavery period where Europeans would actually like beating they’re children and actually beating us. So, it’s been passed down from one generation to the next and it’s to the point where it’s very commonplace in the African American community. It’s commonplace in many cultures, but it’s very prominent within our community enough.

Javi: So, “And Let There Be Light” is actually anting to change that narrative so parents can actually connect with their children and learn how to communicate with their children in an effective manner that has nothing to do with corporal punishment. So, I’ll be posting information about that on our platforms as well. And on that note, that’s all I have. Do you have any announcements?

Malik: I have no announcements.

Javi: No announcements at all?

Malik: No, I’m chillin’. [Laugh]

Javi: [Laugh]

Malik: When things are in the works, I’ll give y’all a head’s up.

Javi: Alright! So, on that note, we will see you next time. Peace!

Malik: Peace!

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