#i saw some post about lol the manufacturing place i work for is full of trumpies and they were surprised they wouldn't get their bonuses

[totalspiffage]

I do need to stress the importance of checking your sources and not taking anecdotes as factual evidence because I've seen several posts today of like, screenshots of reddit comments that are pure feel-good hearsay and we do NOT need to succumb to using hearsay when there are real issues to be dealt with. This can honestly be true of anything. Search it. Double check. Then post about it. Killing misinformation should be a priority.

[marimo-o]

ok so im making a long ass post about Abzu (the game) within the context of mesopotamian mythology because I'm insane. It's gonna be a doozy and likely incomprehensible so <3 below the cut it goes! There's gonna be TONS of spoilers for the game, and, like, I guess for the mesopotamian creation epic, so. Play Abzu if you haven't and if you wanna read the Enuma Elish that's also cool. Good for u

(a note from afterwards: it's long. like, REALLY fucking long, holy shit. if you actually want to read the whole thing, be. prepared or something idk take breaks! the last two paragraphs (i know they're walls of text pls bear with me) contain most of the important information. like, the final hurrah of my brain after working on this for multiple hours! So if u wanna save time and avoid some of the redundancy, just skip to those last two <3)

So "Abzu" referred to two things; the fresh water people got from underground aquifers (also as the void-sea which was underneath the Sumerian underworld, Kur), and the deity; he only appeared in the creation story, Enuma Elish, because a big part of that whole thing was that oh no! He dies! And that's also a thing I'm gonna touch on (sorry about the lack of accent marks in advance, it's not available on my current keyboard^ ^;)

I'm gonna start off with a brief tale of what happened with Abzu the deity, and then move onto how both the deity and the concept relate to the game!

So like I mentioned, Abzu the deity only really appears in the creation myth. The story goes that the Primordial Soup divided into two beings, with Abzu representing the freshwater and Tiamat being the saltwater. They were married, and together birthed some of the first formative gods! Some of these gods, jealous of Abzu's power convinced Tiamat to kill him (or, I thought it was started by Tiamat growing resentful of the younger gods, one of those). Either way, Abzu was killed, and Tiamat ended up lashing out, creating the first "dragons", or perhaps becoming one herself; with "poison instead of blood". She is killed by Marduk, the god of storms and the child of Enki (one of the first gods created by Abzu and Tiamat), and from her body the heavens and the earth are formed. Imagine getting killed by ur grandson lol cringe /j

Now! The waters itself! This also brings Enki into the equation, who kinda took over as god of the waters in place of his dead father. He's also the god of creation, intelligence, crafts, mischief, and more! Very important guy.

Abzu refers to both the groundwater reservoirs that people depended on for both accessible clean water and for some agricultural work, and also to the void-sea beneath the underworld, where it is said that Enki rests. He had a temple at Eridu, a now-ruined city, and I remember hearing somewhere that he lived in a temple in an underground aquifer? But I can't find wherever I read that anymore so don't take my word for it. Anyway, the basics of Enki as a deity is: child of Tiamat and Abzu, widely worshipped in his time, god of the waters, generally a cool and important dude.

And now. Finally. We move onto the game. My head hurts.

So, for a quick (post-writing: lol it's not quick) overview of the game; you play as a funny little diver, who woke up in the middle of the ocean and, as the player, are given no clues as to who or what you are. You explore through the ocean levels peacefully at first, and with the guidance of a scarred shark (painted as a bit of an antagonist at first with the audio cues) you make your way to wells at the bottom-center of each level that revitalize the space around them; as they progress, many levels start out as barren, empty landscapes that give you a foreboding, nervous feeling going in, before using an energy from yourself to rekindle the life. Huge coral growths, seaweed, and a myriad of ocean animals spring to life. The player character can also ride on the sides of the bigger ones! The game also puts a big stress on unity between yourself and the environment; there's not a whole lot you can physically interact with, but you can play with the animals there and, like I said before, ride on some of the larger animals. There are also "meditation spots", statues where you can sit and explore the wildlife from more of their point of view, able to follow them seamlessly and see what the different kinds of fish and such are called. It's a calming experience, and really the most interaction you get with some of the more timid animals, letting you still see them up close even if you can't get there as the player character.

The story of the game is told via writings on the walls, which you can light up and access by solving small puzzles regarding connecting reservoirs of glowing waters, similar to that of the almost cosmic area you go to between levels; one thing I read described it as a kind of "rebirth area", which I can definitely see hehe!

At the end of the game, you've held the shark in its dying moments, you've discovered a strange factory that builds the weird triangular prisms that deliver anything that touches them a shock, the little flashlight dudes that you've found over the levels, and little divers that uncannily resemble yourself, and you've seen yourself disassembled to your funny little mechanical skeleton, weak and slow as you try to walk on land, before you are rebirthed from the void-cosmic-water area once again, fully yourself. There's a wonderful ending sequence where you swim through all these rivers, bringing life with you as you go, with the shark once again by your side. The whole game, you saw no land when you poked your head above water, just miles and miles of water, but you've travelled far enough to reach a reservoir. You cut the chains to a central triangular prism, and it grows over with moss. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it, really, it feels like such a... grand gesture as you play through it. It feels personal.

Okay. Theory time. Finally, we're getting into the meat of it. Fucking hell.

So, imagine that you are this being. You're wandering an oceanic wonderland, observing and caring for what you need to, doing as any good little diver should. After a bit of poking around, you discover the start of the engravings on the walls; they tell the story of the people that were here before you, who built these temples and halls and used, or at least stored, the strange blue glowing "water" that you connect and move. It's a water of life, of sorts, one that they truly valued. You come to an impasse between areas, and this massive, scarred-up shark cuts in front of you. You're gonna stay hidden, that thing is terrifying! You try not to move. It doesn't spot you, or at least doesn't move to attack you. However, once it's safely out of view, you do follow it, and it leads you to a dark, desolate, empty chamber. This is wrong, you think to yourself. This isn't how it should be. There's a well, towards the bottom, and you approach it, taking... a fragment of light, from your chest, and imbuing that spark of life into the well. And, lo and behold, that intuition proved helpful, because the world around you springs back to life. Congratulations! You did it! And you continue to, as you work past puzzles and challenges and the appearance of these strange triangular mechanisms, that shock you when you get too close. These people worshipped a shark, as well, likely the same as the one you saw; the guide, now old and scarred, that brings you to where that spark is needed. Even later in the game, you see depictions of the triangular mechanisms, at first heralded as a positive, before these things are found to be the reason for this society's collapse. As if that wasn't perplexing enough, you see a depiction of a being that appears suspiciously similar to yourself, once again treated with reverence from the past civilization. In their hand is a ball of light, similar to the one shown when you revitalize the oceanic chambers. Well, that's certainly odd, you think to yourself. Perhaps this was a being that postponed the death of the civilization, or first allowed for those small chambers of life to exist in captivity instead of the open, natural landscapes you explored at the start. Regardless, it's now a relic of something long gone; but it still gives you something to think about. Later on, that strange coincidence of your similarities to that person are explained; you find a manufacturing plant, full of the vicious triangular mechanisms in each tight hallway, and right at the center of it all... multiple iterations of yourself, running down an assembly line, a spark not unlike what you saw before imbued into each of them. My, look at that; you've been responsible for part of this destruction all along, haven't you? Borne from that same ill that has been forcibly removing that spark from each of the places you've gone to. A bit inconsiderate of you, no? And yet... look at all the good you've done. You've rebirthed, revitalized, purified these ocean fragments, is that not enough? You are the keeper of these waters, regardless of the evil you had come from, despite the terrifying empty things may have reverted to. You, who trusted and followed the shark that seemed so scary at first. You, who followed it as it tried to attack a source of the evil, of the thing that was draining the oceans of their life. You, who held and comforted that shark as it lay dying, despite any fear you may have had. You, who attempted to traverse a minefield of those triangular machines, shocked over and over again and at the final moment, unable to make it to the finish line. You, who was rebirthed in full regardless by the oceans you'd cared for, by the void-sea you always returned to, to rest. You, who traversed a now-ruined citadel, temple, all of which had been flooded and had been dedicated to you. You, who brought life with you.

I hope you see what I'm getting at here. You're serving as a figure not unlike Enki, god and guardian of the waters. In the wake of Abzu, the avatar of the fresh waters, now confined to irrigation canals so as not to kill the younger gods, Tiamat lashes out. Her husband is dead, as far as she is concerned, and she goes to those younger gods to seek her revenge. The dragon, that which sucked the life from the seas and poisoned the waters. That which Marduk killed, to carve new life from. I would say that the shark is Marduk, even; given how the shark is the only one who is openly on the offense to those mechanisms, and who comes in at the endgame to finish them off, bringing new life with it. Even in how it all shapes up with the civilization before, in connection to the constructs; Tiamat was the mother of all in existence at that time. She was surely loved; but she turned hostile and violent. She could no longer be safely loved. And Abzu, both the glowing water we use to open doors and the light that we hold and the deep void-sea we enter between levels and father to all in existence, he was confined to small canals and reservoirs and put in a deep sleep so that he would not kill his own children. And by you, no less. Enki put him there. That is why you can use that water from the start; you lived in the Abzu, you came from it, and each time, that is where you return. That temple, now submerged and decrepit, is Eridu; the place where Enki was most worshipped. The other diver clones are the other gods, or perhaps the "dragons", now, that Tiamat had mothered. The smaller prisms definitely count in that "dragon" category; purely harmful beings that seek to destroy life. And in the end, indeed, you restore life; you and your son, upon killing Tiamat, return life to the world from her body. Perhaps you could not save those who once worshipped you, perhaps those structures will forever be in ruin. But there is no more danger, now; there is space to build and replenish. There is space to grow.

Fuck ok that was long as hell. Hi if u made it this far i love u. god fucking damn im never writing anything again after this. it took about as long as a full playthrough of the game, coincidentally!!

[foolgobi65]

yeh rishtaa kya kehlataa hain

@allegoriesinmediasres asked for: Rama/Sita, travel!AU, friends to lovers, “you confuse me”

as usual, this is completely unedited and thus is probably chock full of grammar errors, bad characterization, and terrible pacing. but! it was fun to write on my end so as always if u want me to rewrite it I’d be glad to lmaoo. it’s super super super cheesy at the end...like the whole third bit is just super cliche but w/e i love cliche romance its all good lol. anyways, i hope you like it at least a little!! thank you so much for the prompt <3 <3 <3 

if you’d like to send me an au prompt from this list, please do!! 

(title is from a lovely ar rahman song from the movie meenaxi, and also apparently a hindi soap, meaning “what is this relationship called?” )

---

It’s been two weeks since the Raghuvanshi Group put out a notice that nearly brought the Indian manufacturing industry to its knees: Ramachandra, eldest son of Dasaratha Raghuvanshi and anointed heir since his very first breath, has been stripped of his VP positions within the company, his stock options, even his entrance card. The gossip blogs report that Ramachandra has lost access to the family accounts and family property, have posted pictures of the young man once posed to be the next titan of Indian Industry at a local branch of the Bank of India, handing over what is rumoured to be his great-grandfather’s watch as a starting sum so that he can get his own personal account.  

Bharata, three years Rama’s junior, is still in the United States working on his MBA: he has not yet been told of his brother’s effective exile from the family, nor of his own subsequent ascension to the position of CEO-in-waiting. Twins Lakshmana and Shatrugana, five years younger, are in London having just begun their undergraduate degrees. It was interesting, people used to say, that of the brothers it was only Rama who stayed in India. Rama who attended every company party and toured factories, solemnly noting down worker complaints on the weekends he could spare from his studies, in all respects the near exact opposite of his father whose four children are the sons of three women. 

Four days after the company announced its decision, Ramachandra disappeared from the public eye. It takes ten days, but Janaki eventually tracks down enough public and private conjecture to find him in a housing colony nearly an hour long ride from Ayodhya, the Raghuvanshi family home in the center of the city. The door opens, and Janaki greets the man who can only be Sumantra, Dasaratha’s long-loyal driver who had apparently left the same day as it’s once shining son. 

“Hello!” she says, palms folded and motorcycle helmets dangling by their straps from her wrists, “I’m a friend of Ram. Is he at home?” 

The door closes almost entirely. “Why would sir be found here,” Janaki hears from the gap, as Sumantra hooks the metal chain that would prevent her from barging in even if she was strong enough to shove aside a man nearly 50 pounds heavier than herself. “He is a very rich man’s son, and I am only a driver.” 

Janaki frowns. “No one is ever ‘only’ anything Sumantra-ji, we all do some type of work in order to live, and not one of these jobs is better or worse than another.” 

From behind the door, she hears the sharp exhalation that could almost be a snort from someone more given to expressing his own feelings. Janaki was right, then, Ramachandra Raghuvanshi who grew up on one of the most expensive properties in India has sought refuge in a home he could have bought on a moment’s whim only two weeks before. The chain rattles, and the door opens wide. 

“Janaki Videha,” Rama says, and suddenly it is four years ago and Janaki is again a student politician stuck in a hospital bed after a bad encounter with the police, flipping through notes meticulously taken by a classmate who insists on anonymity but could only possibly be the lanky, nearly silent boy that everyone knows will one day be one of the richest men in India. 

Normally, a person seeing an old acquaintance after a few years would speak their name, then utter some platitude about how long it has been since they last met and invite them inside to catch up. Rama, who is only capable of erudition in front of men his father wants him to impress, conveys the implication that all of these social niceties have been uttered without saying anything but her name. Janaki smiles, takes off her shoes, and walks in. 

---

“What are you even doing here?” 

Janaki raises an eyebrow, pouring a little more soap into the bucket they were offered to use for clothes washing. It has been a month since Janaki found Rama and told him that she was going on a trip, and that she needed male company to keep her safe. A month since she handed him one of her motorcycle helmets, helped him pack his single spare change of clothes and toothbrush, and directed him to sit behind her and hold on tight so that they might make it to another friend’s village by evening and have a place to spend the night. Together, they have followed the western coastline, trading off who drives when Janaki realizes that not only does Rama have a deft hand at the wheel, but in the proper circumstances can coax thrills out of her old bike that she hadn’t even thought possible. 

“What do you mean,” she asks, grabbing his kurta top from the pile of clothes he has slowly gathered from the families he has inadvertently charmed over their travels. He’s standing off to the side, hanging their host family’s saris to dry in order of color, taking the pains to smooth each piece of fabric and making sure none of them touch. In exchange for doing the family’s laundry today, Janaki and Rama are allowed to do their own, an exchange of goods and services that has served them well so far. 

“We both know what I mean,” she hears in response. “You’ve just been elected President of the University Student Union, your father is up for election this year, and even if neither of those things were important enough you must have research you should be doing instead of traveling the coastline with the penniless, disgraced son of an industrialist.” His voice is as matter of fact as it always seems to be with him, but Janaki feels an undercurrent of self-hatred at the core of his little speech. Still, she thinks with a faint flush, it’s nice to know that he has kept up with her just as closely as she had him -- though of course it was much easier to find information about Ramachandra Raghuvanshi, always in the papers at exact, two week intervals so as to prevent the creation of scandals to amuse the public with during a news drought. 

“I’d call your father a capitalist if I was really embarrassed to be seen with you,” she says back, “and there is more to be ashamed of in becoming rich through exploitation than in being poor through no fault of your own.”  

Janaki hands over his kurta, and watches him wring it out one more time with hands stronger than her own. He smiles slightly. “The revolution never stops, does it?” 

“No,” she smiles in return. “Not with me, and not, I think, with you either.” 

Rama looks away, walking back to the rope to hang up his shirt. “What do you know about me that makes you so confident?” He pursues his lips briefly. “We weren’t even friends, and still you’re here with me.” 

Why are you here, Janaki hears go unspoken, why haven’t you abandoned me as well? 

When Janaki arrived on campus all starry eyed at 17, she had taken the student body by storm. Blessed with a vibrant personality and the natural pull of a gravity well, she brought people into her orbit effortlessly, rising up the university party ranks within months rather than years of her peers. Academically, she was registered as an economics student, a category the papers said she shared with the Raghuvanshi heir who had created quite the stir when he took his place at an Indian University instead of going abroad. She had been doing quite well, she thought, until the exhaustion after her first collection drive in support of a local workers’ strike fund had caught up to her and she had slept through a full day’s worth of classes. Just when Janaki had been about to call up an acquaintance in their batch she thought might lend her notes, a folder had been slipped underneath her dorm door. Inside, a set of meticulous notes, and a 2 lakh check. 

“Isn’t the factory a subsidiary of the Raghuvanshi group?” Janaki’s roommate asked, turning over the check as Janaki flipped through the notes. Thank you for your work, they said at the top. Please let me know if the workers need more. 

“Yes,” she had said, “but we can’t tell anyone about this.” For four years she had kept his secret, waiting for his packages whenever she was detained, or ill, or beaten up and could not attend the day’s lectures. More than just a copy of the class outline, Rama’s notes were full of asides, connections, slips of paper clipped with outside citations when he saw something that could be countered, or expanded on. When the party canvassed for funds, her notes would arrive with another check, no demands made in exchange except a humble request to let him know if they ever needed more. 

Janaki looks at Rama now, hair growing long to match his new beard. Ramachandra Raghuvanshi had always been clean shaven, hair short and neat and slightly parted to the side in a way every girl instinctively knew must have been how his mother told him would suit. Her eyes soften. 

“You used to take notes for me,” she says, “Why?” 

His lips turn down just slightly. “It helped me study, to transcribe them again.”

Janaki raises an eyebrow. She remembers that the notes had always focused especially on areas she was known to be weak in, but she lets his half-truth slide. She has a better arrow in her quiver. 

“And the money?” 

His eyes are trained to the ground. “It wasn’t my money.” Well, certainly the last six weeks have made that much clear. But Janaki did not remember Rama spending exorbitantly in school: his largest expenses seemed to be the checks he sent her. 

“We weren’t friends,” Janaki agrees, “But I knew that you were a good man,” Janaki says, “even if you’ve had to hide it from your family your whole life.” She snorts. “And if we weren’t friends then, we certainly are now -- look, I’m washing your underwear right now, and if that isn’t friendship I don’t know what is!” 

The joke isn’t really that funny, but suddenly Rama bursts into laughter, loud and deep in a way Janaki doesn’t think she’d ever heard from him in class, on campus, even in the videos posted by the gossip rags online. 

“I’ve never had a friend before,” he finally says, and Janaki tries not to show her surprise or the way that makes her hurt on his behalf. “But I would be grateful to be yours.” 

--

Another two months pass, Janaki and Rama journeying up and down and around the west coast. Slowly, Rama starts to gravitate towards the work that he seems suited to do in trade for the day’s food and shelter, and Janaki watches as he seems to blossom in front of her eyes. Every place they drive into, Janaki begins to ask around and invariably there is a person who, more than needing wood split or clothes washed, is in need of a good scribe to write, in English, the details of their grievance against someone with more power than them. Rama listens, and writes, and accompanies men and women to go see a lawyer, or their landlords, and stands behind them speaking in that perfect colonial era British Indian accent he says he picked up at boarding school, making even Janaki squirm when she hears it. 

Janaki’s ideology does not allow for her to venerate colonial markers of class, so that squirm must be one of discomfort, rather than, well, --

It has been three months since Janaki and Rama set out on their travels, and time is running out for Janaki who really does have things she has to get back to: a student union to run, a doctorate to work towards, a father’s election campaign to help out with. But everytime Janaki thinks about waking up one morning without seeing him when she turns her head, the pit in her stomach grows larger and more snarled. She doesn’t know how it happened but somehow Rama has gone from acquaintance, to friend, to....to something Janaki can’t even describe beyond simply laying claim to the person at her side. He has become “her” Rama, even though she knows you can’t own a person -- yet Janaki is greedy, and when she watches the small smiles that their trip has coaxed out of his mouth, watches him bargain with their host so that she can eat her favorite vegetable at dinner, watches him finally fall asleep after talking to her for hours into the night and finally look like the youth he is, Janaki knows that she can’t bear to leave. 

“Are you angry,” she asks one day, passing him the newspaper cone of roasted peanuts they’ve been trading between themselves while they sit on the sand of an empty beach. There is no need to clarify what he possibly could be angry about. 

“No,” he says, taking the cone. “I obey my father’s will.” 

From anyone else, Janaki would laugh, but she knows that he speaks the truth as he sees it. The Raghuvanshis raised the perfect scion, a boy right out of those terrible 90s Hindi films who saw their parents as God and venerated at the altar of increased profits. Yet, they chose to throw him like yesterday’s trash -- but no matter, because their loss is Janaki’s gain, and she knows him, knows what makes him happy and sad, and glad and mad.

She knows, for one, that he is angry and that he needs to acknowledge it before she can ask him to come back with her and start over. 

“Yes,” she says, “you obeyed quite beautifully. That doesn’t mean you aren’t upset.” 

“Don’t -- I know what you’re trying to do, and it won’t work.” 

She turns to look at him, jaw already clenched where usually it would take five times as long to get him to this state. He’s furious. Janaki’s heart aches in sympathy, longing to gather him up in her arms and tell him that it’s alright to be upset, that it would even be right to feel so, to kiss away the furrow in his beautiful brow and brush his curls behind his ear. But that would only make him close up, so instead -- 

“Don’t what?” she asks. 

His entire body tightens, like a screw wound one turn too much. “I’m not upset,” he hisses, eyes flashing. “I’m fine!” Janaki brushes her hand over the one of his currently crushing the newspaper cone. As if burned, he lets go.

Sita sighs. “We don’t have to talk about it, but you’re clearly angry and it really isn’t healthy to keep it all in. There’s no one here at the beach, so I think you should just scream it out and try to move on with your life.” She’s not being entirely truthful, since she really does think he should talk about his family’s sudden and entire abandonment after years of encouraging near insane amounts of familial loyalty and emotional repression, but even this journey started out with a single step. 

“You think I should... scream,” Rama says, eyebrow raised in perfect, aristocratic, condescension. Janaki nods. 

“Just go out into the surf, scream at the top of your lungs for 20 seconds, and then we can leave no questions asked. I promise.” 

“You won’t bring this up again,” he asks as if to confirm the terms of a business deal. Perhaps that’s what this is to him, finally back on familiar territory. Janaki shrugs, ignoring how her heart sinks to think of him seeing her care as nothing more than something to trade in order to keep away. 

“For now.” At his frown, she shrugs again, allowing herself to smile a little. “If it looks like you’re struggling in the future, I’m definitely going to ask again.” 

For a moment, Rama’s eyes widen in ...shock? Surprise? Was he not expecting for them to remain in each other’s lives? Janaki can’t allow herself to think too hard or long on the subject, especially since Rama has, without a word, risen and walked over to the surf. 

He glances once over his shoulder, and Janaki waves in encouragement. He begins to scream. 

20 seconds pass, and Janaki really does think he will stop and walk back, brushing off any questions and wandering back into the village they’ve decided to stay in this week. But then 30 pass, then a minute, and suddenly Rama is just screaming, knees falling into the waves and hands coming up to clutch and pull at his hair and Janaki is running as fast as she ever has to crash next to him in the wet sand. She shifts sideways, putting her body perpendicular to his so that her back is not to the waves but she can still look at his face -- he’s still screaming, doesn’t seem to have noticed her body next to his, tears streaming down his face. Janaki’s hands flail, but finally she realizes that she can only rely on the instincts that have led her the past few months to find him, to drag him on the back of her bike, to tell him to scream. 

Janaki pulls Rama into her chest, her arms around him as she begins to weep along with him. Every time she tries to grasp the scale of the injustice done to him, she finds that her mind is too small. He was raised with every luxury, but with a conditional love that demanded a machine instead of a man. He’s stopped screaming, but has replaced it with gut wrenching sobs, hoarse from when his throat seems to have finally given out -- Janaki wonders when he last wept.

She loves him, she realizes, pressing an absent kiss into his hair. That’s what this feeling must be. 

“You what?” 

Oh, Janaki thinks, did I say that aloud?

“Ah,” she hears, “yes you did.” Rama raises his head, both of them still kneeling in the surf, tear tracks glistening down the cheeks he had just shaved at the request of an older lady who offered to house them if only he would look respectable. “Do you mean it?” 

Janaki swallows, the pit in her stomach as large as it ever has been. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be -- she was supposed to convince him to come back with her, and then later talk about how she wants to kiss him silly. 

“You want me to come back with you?” Oh for--

“Yes,” she says, confident that nothing she thinks now will remain within the privacy of her mind. “I want you to come back with me, and study to become a lawyer, and live with me as we try to make the world a better place.” 

Rama’s eyes are wide, and Janaki wonders if she’s ever seen him look so fragile. He sputters. 

“Fragile? I don’t look frag--” 

Janaki laughs, bringing her hand up to cradle his cheek, right thumb brushing gently against his cheekbone. “Alright?”

Rama swallows, blinking his assent as if he suddenly can’t speak. A minute passes where the only sound is of the ocean waves crashing gently in front of them, water periodically flooding them up to their hips. 

Rama clears his throat. “Do...” he takes a breath, “do you really think I could?” 

“What,” Janaki asks, “become a lawyer?”

He nods. “Everything. I...” he looks away, and Janaki feels the beginning of euphoria. In his eyes there is fear, but not dread -- he wants what she wants, wants it bad. “My entire life I was trained to bring honor to our family name, to do that by making money and keeping my family members happy. I don’t--” Janaki’s thumb moves from his cheekbone to his lips, before he can say something idiotic like ‘I don’t know how to keep you happy.’ Rama laughs, eyes glistening with hopefully something other than tears. 

“But I don’t know! Your needs are so different from the people I grew up with!”

Janaki leans forward until her forehead rests against his and their lips nearly touch. “I love you as you are,” she says, “the things I want, you’ve already given me.” 

She can feel his brow crinkle, pressed as it is against hers. “I don’t own anything to give you!” 

Janaki laughs: only the hideously rich could think so. 

“I’m greedy,” she says, eyes closed as wave after wave of happiness floods her exponentially like the way the water of the high tide touches further and further parts of the land. “I want things that you’ve given no one else -- your grief, and joy, and triumph, and failure. I want to wake up with you, and go to sleep with you, and make breakfast with you, and dinner too. I want--” 

Rama bridges the gap, and Janaki says no more. He gasps when they break apart, and a vicious part of her wants to ask if he’d kissed any of the high society women he’d been photographed with like that. 

“No,” he laughs, and Janaki feels another thrill to see it. “It wouldn’t have been polite.” He leans back, bringing up his own hands to cup her entire head in his palms, lips curved in a wistful smile. “Everyday you confuse me.” 

Janaki bites her lip when he doesn’t continue. “Do you like that?” 

He shakes his head, and suddenly the pit comes roaring back. “I think I love it,” he says instead, smiling still. “I think I love you, Janaki.” 

His smile widens, almost a full grin now. “My Jaan.” 

[ladybalem]

Hollywood - a Confession about Eddie Kreezer

Yayo! Here it is another request successfully delivered! (or so I hope, lol) I need to confess I love writing on Eddie Kreezer, it's so much fun, although he's actually a jerk. Well, maybe it's precisely because of this that it's so fun, lol. Check the request: https://ladybalem.tumblr.com/post/183522911628/one-imagine-where-you-are-from-the-city-and-your And here we go! * * *          (***) had been driving through the north American roads for many days now. To decide to trip from New York to Los Angeles, all alone and in a car, it's an  adventure, let's stipulate. To cross the whole country and, more than that, a whole continent, from east to west, isn't an easy task. When (***) decided to do this, she knew it wouldn't be easy, but she wanted to see Hollywood, she wanted to know the place where all dreams are manufactured, she wanted to know the most magical place in the world, cause it had been her dream for her whole life. So, as soon as she had the opportunity, (***) left New York, where she had been born and lived her entire life to leave tacking to the west coast, tacking to California. What she couldn't expect it was that, before reaching her destination, that it was the fantasies world, she would find a sampler of the most raw of realities.                    Going through Kansas, some  kilometers after the small city of Hays, leading into Denver, Colorado, in the middle of nowhere, (***)'s car broke. Just broke down. It wasn't gasoline missing, not even water, not even oil or anything else, even because she had been quite worried and heedful to all of these details. That is, it wasn't nothing that it could be predictable, nothing to which she could control. The uncontrollable, something that (***) always feared a lot, was finally showing itself to her in her dream trip.          As soon as her car simply choked and after some few meters just stopped giving no sign that it would restart again, almost in despair (***) looked around, seeing not even a single living being in the distance. The road was desert and the sun was starting to show that it was about to descend into the west, ceding place to the night, and not knowing very well what to do, she opened the door, getting out of the vehicle, lifting up the engine's hood. Nothing. Apparently nothing wrong. Any way, she didn't knew a thing about engines. It was there a single thing to be done: To wait for someone to come along the road, and ask for help.          It was already end of summer but the sun it was still scalding, and inside the car it was like a real oven, so the new yorker girl searched for the shade under a solitaire tree that grew a bit aside the road, letting the car hood lifted so the people would see she was in need of help. And this way (***) sat under the tree, looking into the nothing and awaiting for a car to make its appearance. It passed many hours and nothing, and (***) began to really fear that no one would come and she would have to spend the night right there, and it was an idea that really scared her. It was already getting dark when she returned to the car, turning on the emergency lights, leaving it with its doors opened so its interior could refresh and she came back to stand next the tree, this time sitting on a stone. And it passed hours until she finally could see a pair of headlights to arise in the distance.          Soon the white pick-up truck appeared, lifting a cloud of dust behind itself, and (***) got up from where she was, anxiously. But the pick-up didn't stop. It just passed by her car having not even diminished its speed, simply going ahead, and (***) jumped to the dirt of the road, shaking her arms in the air just like if gotten crazy as crying for help, hoping she would be seen. And she was. Through the rear mirror the truck's driver saw her shaking her arms up, and pulling a deep drag of his cigarette he thought for a second before to stop and start the reverse gear. Smiling relieved as she was seeing the pick-up to come back, (***) coughed a bit because of the dust, rubbing her eyes as the pick-up stopped towards her.          - Please! My car is broken, and I've been left here for hours! Do you know something about engines? I need help! - still rubbing her eyes she was talking in a hurry, having not even still looked to the driver through the opened window right in front of her. And when (***) finally managed to open her eyes and look at him, it was swallowing that she saw right before her a quite attractive man around 25 years old, green eyes and full lips that was smiling openly, peacefully smoking while looking at her and patiently waiting for her to stop, when he told:          - It may be, I know a little, yeah. Where's your car? - the man asked her still smiling, and feeling confused (***) pointed at the car that was left right back there.          In an extremely sympathetic way the unknown man smiled, opening the door and getting out of the pick-up truck as soon as he took a flashlight from inside the glove compartment. And as he got down to the road, (***) could see how he was tall and lean, but of a defined leanness, and she couldn't avoid to notice how he limped with his right leg, thinking within herself that he had surely been into some sort of heavy accident. Arranging on his head to the black cowboy hat he wore, the unknown man seemed to study attentively to her car's engine under the flashlight with his cigarette balancing at the corner of his lips lábios and an attentive expression, until finally to give a step back, lowering the car hood.          - Well, sweetheart, there's nothing I can do. Your car will need to be towed. The engines just stopped working.          Suddenly frightened (***) looked at the unknown man with supplicant eyes:          - But what am I going to do? I just can't spent the night right here!          - And you won't, sweetheart - the man smiled, finishing his cigarette and throwing the tip away - From a distance we can notice you're a lady, a family girl, you can't spend the night on the road like this. I'll take you in my truck to a motel to which I know. There, you can spend the night fully protected and, tomorrow morning, you make a call to the tow truck - and he smiled once again - Take your things and come - and without anything more he just turned her his back and retirned to his pick-up, limping tranquilly.          - But wait... I not even know you - she said.          - I'm Eddie - he said, smiling and taking off his hat, courteously introducing himself.          Being still suspicious, (***) gave the unknown man a look. A name it didn't mean nothing, he could be just lying. Never in New York she would get into an unknown man's car... But there it wasn't New York, she thought. He was just a hick. What evil could she do to her? It was just a hitchhike to the motel and nothing more. And it was an emergency.          - Ok - she said - I'll take it. *          As soon as they entered the roadside motel, at the reception (***) looked around suspiciously. It there was something wrong in the air, but something to which she couldn't precise what it was.          - Here, my friend - Eddie said to the receptionist, an old man wearing a white shirt still dirty from the sauce of the midday lunch - A room for me and another for my respectable (***), please.          - Unfortunately he have a single room available by now - the old man responded, and suddenly (***) turned herself to the key's board, seeing that it was at least ten keychains hanging there.          - But and what about all of these keys? - she asked - It there are a lot of available rooms, yes.          - They're all reserved - the man answered without looking her in her face, and it was obvious he was lying, (***) just couldn't know why.          - I would tranquilly cede the room for you, miss - Eddie said - if it there was another motel in these environments, but it there's not, in many kilometers from here. So, I guess we'll have to share it.          - I won't sleep at the same room than an unknown man - she said quickly, shaking her head.          - The best way to know someone is to sleep with them, don't you never hear it before, (***) darlin'? - Eddie winked at her with a smile before turning into the counter and take the bedroom's key, discretely giving to the old man a well rolled note of 50 dollars, without that (***) could notice, just taking his way upstairs and leaving her behind.          For an instant (***) looked around, holding her purse close to her tightly. She had no way to go away, she had no way to get into another motel not even how to get back to her own car, and she found herself in a dead end. And calling herself crazy, (***) finally turned and started to go upstairs quickly, going after Eddie.          He had left the bedroom door opened, and apprehensively (***) spied to the inside, noticing with displease that it there was just a large couple bed right in the middle of the room. And swallowing she gave a step to the side as she heard a noise coming from the bathroom, opening her eyes wide as she saw Eddie coming from inside there already shirtless and in barefoot, wearing only his tight jeans and nothing more.          - Come, sweetheart, come in, feel yourself at home. The bed is large enough for the two of us, and I promise I won't do not anything to which you don't want - he said while taking his belt off, (***)'s eyes following the movements of his hands in a tense way.          - Eddie, I didn't know we would stay at the same bedroom, or I wouldn't have accepted to come - the girl said under a breath, still holding her purse close and not managing to get out from place.          - And would you stay all alone in the road in the middle of the night left to the hazard to be attacked by an insane one? No, darlin'. Here you'll be safe - he said seriously, coming back to the bathroom and leaving the door open, and soon she could hear he was peeing - Of course you would come, in a way or another.          Slowly (***) entered in the bedroom, leaving her purse on the bed stand, completely tense sitting at the edge of the bed, and as Eddie came out of the bathroom again, he smiled at her, going into the exit door and closing it.          - Go prepare yourself to sleep - he said - Feel at ease. Here it mustn't be like the places to which you're used in New York, but you can get surprised.          - Are we going to sleep? - she asked, feeling not quite sure.          - Scout's word - Eddie responded. *          (***) delayed a lot in the bathroom, under locked door. Actually, she was afraid of getting out from there. But, at the end, she thought, what Eddie could do against her? It would be an hypocrisy she behaving like a scared little virgin girl, a thing that she wasn't for a long time now, as it would be as well to say that the cowboy wasn't attractive, because he was. When he had got out shirtless from the bathroom (***) just couldn't not notice his defined abs. And after all, maybe he was just only a hick guy, who would not even try anything, and in case of him trying she would just say no. He wouldn't be crazy to attack her in a place in where she could cry for help. And believing this way it was that (***) finally got out from her hiding place. There he was, lying on the bed, smoking a cigarette and watching tv, opening a smile as soon as he saw the door being opened.          - Sweetheart, I was thinking you would sleep inside there. It just wouldn't be comfortable at all.          (***) tried to smile, but the smile came out so half-hearted as it could be, and sitting at the edge of the bed with her back turned at him  the girl awaited for a while before to bend over and start taking her shoes off.          - Will you sleep all dressed this way? Don't you have a nightgown? - Eddie asked, and still with her back turned to him she answered with another question, from which she quickly got regretful:          - And do you always sleep wearing jeans?          - I didn't take it off to don't be impolite to you, but I can take it off, if you don't mind, (***).          - But I do - she said quickly, laying down still with her back turned to him and turning off the bedside light at her side - And, if you could to turn off the tv before falling asleep, I would be thankful. Tomorrow morning I'll call the tow, thank you very much for the hitchhike - she said mechanically - And be at ease, cause I insist on paying half the price of the bedroom.          - I insist on paying it for whole, I know how to be a gentleman.          Only breathing, (***) stayed there, with eyes open, the seconds seeming like minutes and these like hours, until Eddie finally to move over the bed, lifting himself up over an elbow into the way of her back, taking still some more time to finally take a handful of her hair and lead it into his nose, breathing in its perfume. Closing and tightening her eyes (***) got struck into the dilemma of asking what the hell he was doing or not, trembling as she felt his hand to ground on her hips, when she decided to talk:          - Eddie... What are you doing?          - I can't believe that in New York you don't know what's it - he laughed.          - I didn't come here for it, Eddie - (***) said, but having not much conviction in her voice, and as he noticed it, Eddie laughed, his large hand sliding down along of her thigh.          - And then you say the hick here it's me? - he laughed - You came into a motel's room to lie in a bed besides a man and will you tell me that you don't want it?          - Eddie... I'm going to scream.          - Do this. I love screaming women - he said, this time seriously, using the hand on her thigh to make her to turn and lie on her back with a single and quick movement, with agility getting atop of her, who panted in fright.          - Eddie... Really, I'm going to scream!          - I just can't wait for the moment that you'll start to scream, darlin' - he said, having a weird smile on his face as he grabbed both of her wrists, lifting her arms over her head, then descending upon her neck hungrily, biting and sucking, (***) feeling her heart to discharge and her breathing became cut - Come, I'm waiting.          - You're crazy - (***) said with a panting voice, trembling under his weight over her.          - And aren't you? - and leaving her arms, to which (***) obediently kept at the same place, Eddie quickly led both hands to the jeans he wore, opening his pants quickly before to pull her dress up and ripe off her panties, once again grabbing her wrists - You didn't think I was helping you for nothing, don't you? Or are the city girls so ingenuous like this, sweetheart?          - You are crazy!          - But you find me exciting, don't you? I excite you.          Closing her eyes (***) moaned when Eddie finally kissed her, her legs automatically spreading apart for him, her hips arching up into his. It was true. He excited her. It there was no way to deny it, it was a fact. *          The following morning (***) didn't call the tow truck. She left her car where it was, she left behind her plans of visiting Hollywood, she abandoned everything she had been before having met him. And she continued on her way with Eddie Kreezer.         * * ****************************** MY CONFESSION TO PRIOR PHILIP:       So, my present day's confession goes as it follows: As a big city girl, I'm going to say that, no, we're not ingenuous, no... But crazy people can be found everywhere, not only in the big cities. Cause, isn't, let's stipulate that to abandon everything to go along this boy it's to be crazy, prior, like, VERY crazy. Wait until she has the surprise of seeing the handsome causing confusion at the bar. Starting fights. Breaking everything around. Drinking it all. Sniffing it all too, cause everyone knows he sniffs it, prior, what an absurd. Wait until her seeing him spanking the other boys to death. Wait until he sells her in payment of coke debts. Yeah, my love, then the person will learn in the worst way that you shouldn't take hitchhiking from strangers, just like grandma used to say. For the most pretty handsome the driver may be. What, prior? Am I today quite moralist? In wise of passing forward the morals of the story, I shall really be. Cause every story has a moral and this one's is: Listen to what your grandma used to say. And don't make crazy things. Like, stay in New York. And be a good girl. It's that, children. AMEN, LORD BALEM!

[transkurootetsurou]

I saw your tags on the post about allergens in medications. Do you know how I could find out if there's allergens or cross contamination in my meds? My pharmacist said they can't find out

i dont really know how normal pharmacies work because i work at a compounding lab in an independent pharmacy, & we tend to work very closely with patients. so ur pharmacist saying that they cant find out about allergens in ur meds is a little frustrating to me. it might simply be because they dont have the time; manufacturers tend to be difficult to get a hold of, & from my experience, ur pharmacist is probably trying to juggle five things at once. still, if ur telling them that u have an allergy & u want to be sure that ur meds dont contain that allergen, they should at least be able to do that. i know a lot of ppl dont want to bother, but if ur insistent & u annoy ur pharmacist enough, theyll do it to get u off the phone/out of their face.

anyway, if u want or end up having to figure it out urself, u should be able to look up inactive ingredients online (i actually found this out a few months ago, when my pharmacy switched up the manufacturer on one of my prescriptions, & i discovered that it doesnt work as well 😔 inactive ingredients can be different for each manufacturer, & a phrase we repeat often to our compounding patients is “every patient is different!” ur body might just absorb things differently & its okay to make sure ur pharmacist accommodates u). on the label for ur medication, there should be a line that says “mfg” or “mfr.” something like that. ill use an old cvs pill bottle i happen to have as an example.

this is for my promethazine tablets. it doesnt have the full manufacturer name, but thats okay. even if u only type in a partial name, google will figure out the rest.

(u can already see where ive ended up lol but let me tell u, this one took a little more digging. promethazine dm is a cough syrup, which is obv not what im looking for, but its a more common search than the tablets.)

the nih website is actually a good place to end up, but lets start at the first link, which goes to the manufacturers website. unfortunately, on mobile, whatever page that link goes to doesnt show up. however, in a drop down menu at the top, theres a section listed “products” & in that category is “product catalog.” that leads me to the list of meds they make. click on the drug ur looking for to get the details

it has a small list of common allergens. if u have a lactose allergy, dont take this drug!

lets go back to the nih link. i checked a few other manufacturers for my meds, & most of them actually linked back to the database on nih for info!

if the link google provides is not the correct medication, u can use dailymed’s search function. i had to use it for this example.

click on the one ur looking for (im making sure its a tablet by amnesl, in my case), then scroll to “ingredients and appearance”

voila! inactive ingredients! if ur concerned, u can google what each ingredient technically is, but the cellulose is just wood pulp. its a common filler in meds (we use it for some of our capsules in the compounding lab, as well as avicel which is also wood pulp. i will say, we have wondered if ppl allergic to pollen or grass would be affected by the filler, but the consensus is no. my manager has been compounding for 17 years & hasnt heard of any reactions). the lactose is also a filler, & the other ingredient is just a binding agent im pretty sure.

im sure u can also look these up by ndc, which would probably be easier because itll lead u to the exact drug from the manufacturer. those are usually on the info slips that tell u all about side effects, but i always just shred those LOL

the database has specialty meds as well, but if ur getting anything compounded, its not going to be on there. just ask the compounders! part of the reason why they compound is to accommodate for allergies, so theyll go through the ingredients for u (including tablets if they use them!)

edit: i realized that u also asked about cross contamination! sorry to say, i dont know how to go about getting that info besides contacting the manufacturer 😣

[menswearmusings]

If You Think You Should Never Meet Your Heroes, You May Have the Wrong Heroes

One of my favorite bands, Metric, sings “They were right when they said/ we should never meet our heroes.” I have to say, in my case, I unequivocally disagree.

Two weeks ago I took the opportunity to meet one of my heroes, Antonio Ciongoli, creative director of my favorite menswear brand Eidos. He was going to be in Michigan for an event at AK Rikks, a very well-appointed menswear shop in Grand Rapids that carries the brand. Glen Allsop, the photographer who has worked with Eidos from the beginning, was the main draw. He was selling a collection of prints and photo books from the trip to India that served to inspire the Spring/Summer 2017 Eidos collection. Much of the proceeds from each sale would be going back to the village in India they visited. Antonio and the other man behind the brand, Quentin Clemm, were on hand to tell the stories behind the collection and show off the clothes.

I waffled back and forth for a long time on whether I’d go. From Nashville, it was way too far. But it happened to be during a week when I was in Cincinnati for work, so I was faced with a 5.5-hour drive instead of an 8.5-hour one. Still, an 11-hour round trip was a big proposition for what I feared might only be 20 minutes of small talk and a handshake. “Would there be a ton of people there, I’d be one face in a crowd, we’d shake hands, and then he’d move on? Or worse, if I’m one of only a few, would we run out of stuff to talk about after half an hour?” Antonio himself finally convinced me after some back-and-forth on Styleforum. 

The event itself was simply an afternoon meet-and-greet opportunity—see the beautiful photos, meet the man who shot them, enjoy the beautiful clothes, meet the man who designed them, enjoy a glass of wine, shot of espresso, or cocktail on the house, and oh yeah buy something, too. My wife and I arrived around 1p.m. My close friend from college Adam works at the store, but he was getting tech support at the Apple store so he wasn’t there. We thought, “should we wait until the event officially starts at 2 to go in?” Without my friend as a crutch, we were nervous. But we went inside anyway, and of course there was nothing to worry about. Small plug for AK Rikks here: their hospitality is exceptional. Immediately we were greeted, offered a drink, and asked what they could help us with.

Antonio, Quentin and Glen were getting a tour of the place, Tom the sales associate told me. In the meantime, he showed me around. I told him I was interested in Ring Jacket, which nobody near me in Nashville carries. So we went upstairs, walking right past where the VIPs were. I casually waved at Quentin and Glen, but Antonio’s back was turned, talking to the store’s manager. I tried on some jackets, trying hard to play it cool. My menswear idol was literally 10 feet away from me, but he was engaged in conversation. Finally the whole group stood up and walked towards me, and we were introduced. It was somewhat surreal. Here’s a guy whose work is so important to me, and whose personal style influenced my own tremendously, in the flesh! It had the potential to be one of those moments like when you feel you know someone you’ve seen on TV because you watch their show every night, but of course meeting them in person is bizarre because you are just one of unnamed multitudes who watch them.  

So this moment, pregnant with potential for elation or disappointment, for personal connection or alienation, for making the 11-hour-round-trip worthwhile or not turned out to be pretty… normal. Antonio is just a good-natured guy. He’s energetic and enthusiastic about what he does. He is easy to talk to. He is relatable. And of course I should’ve known that. He regularly posts on Styleforum, and he and I have in fact communicated there more than a few times. He gave me great recommendations for places to eat, shop and sightsee in Italy 2 years ago. When the buyer at my local Nashville menswear shop Haymakers saw him during the market buying season a year ago, he asked about me (she related to me later). And even more monumentally, just a few weeks ago, he sent me a video wishing me a happy 30th birthday at my wife’s request.

Maybe if my hero were Ralph Lauren, the moment would be different—after all, neither Eidos nor Antonio Ciongoli are household names. But as it was, he was excited to meet me in person, too.

After we shook hands and talked for a minute, he and Glen continued on the tour, but Quentin stopped to talk. “Love the ‘gram, by the way,” he said half-ironically. Now there’s a compliment. Quentin is not the face of the brand as much as Antonio is—but he’s a very stylish guy, with handsome features and a great personality. To be recognized and appreciated by him is huge to me. We talked for the next 45 minutes or so until the other two were done with the tour. He gave me a peek into their world of suppliers, buyers, designers, and manufacturers; the relationships, the challenges and the personalities. At one point he responded to a question I asked (I can’t remember what), “Well it’s kind of a long, complicated answer; not sure if you want to hear that.” Dude, I drove 5.5 hours to hear this story, lol, I have nowhere else to be.

The rest of the afternoon flew by. I worried it would be a crowded event with many guests for the hosts to attend to. It turned out that we had several hours of one-on-one time to get to know them, hear their backgrounds, ask questions and share in our common enjoyment of menswear. Antonio told the story of their trip to India, explained his thinking behind some of the seemingly more bizarre aspects of the collection and made me excited for the future of the brand. 

Glen is an absolute pleasure as well—a very relaxed, congenial guy who instantly relates to everyone. We talked photography, print making, religion and art. We determined that Antonio should do a “greatest hits” collection some season instead of designing all brand new stuff, so I could get my hands on my personal white whale—the perfect denim workshirt from the SS2015 collection.

I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. It was well worth the 11-hour round trip. If there’s an event near you where you’re able to meet these guys, I encourage you to do so—they are very interesting to talk to, friendly, and highly engaging.

One more thing: when Antonio finished with his tour, he came down to where I was talking with Quentin, looking at Glen’s photo books. Antonio reached into his bag to get something—a gift he had promised to bring me if I came to the event. I said earlier that he explained to me some of the more bizarre things in the collection this season. He told me that he hasn’t lost his mind, that he too is a normal guy who wants clothes he can actually wear, and so if there are clothes that seem odd, know that he wouldn’t have included them in the collection unless he had a good reason. A few weeks ago I had lightly ribbed him in a blog post I wrote on Styleforum, saying: “I was lucky to get on the Eidos train before it became more about Indian pajamas or whatever […] (and thankfully, Antonio still throws us tailoring fans a bone).” He good-naturedly responded, “You really need a pair of Indian pajama pants to round out your wardrobe…” 

So of course the gift he brought me was a pair of the Indian-inspired “Agy” pajama pants. He told me he wanted me to have them because they’re so comfortable that I would become a believer—to illustrate his point that bizarre as they may seem, they have a place in the collection. He explained that Eidos began with Napoli attached to the name, but he intentionally decided to drop that a year ago or so. The suits and sportcoats Eidos makes showcase what he feels is the best tailoring tradition in the world, which he believes every guy should have: that of Napoli; soft-shouldered, relaxed, stylish and comfortable.

In the same way, he knows there are other parts of the world with equally historic clothing and style traditions that he wants to discover and share. This collection draws a line between the Neapolitan foundation of Eidos and the culture and traditions he witnessed in India. I can dig it.

I guess to recap for full disclosure, I was given free Indian pajama pants from my favorite brand. Does this make me a shill now? So much for journalistic integrity, I suppose…

My outfit that day includes: Propercloth linen-cotton stripe shirt; American Eagle selvedge jeans; Eidos sportcoat (similar); Meermin chukkas

Photography by my wife, Dana Moss.

[zalrb]

TVD 1x04 Review

Hi all! Welcome to the fourth review of TVD season 1. Considering that I haven’t like sat down to watch a full episode of the past seasons of TVD in a few years and my memory might not be the greatest I think I will start with my usual disclaimer: I write my thoughts in real time so if I make a mistake at the beginning of this post, it will be corrected by the end. There will be anti-Damon and anti-Delena sentiments (I’m only mentioning these two because it’s the beginning of the series), and in light of recent events I feel the need to say that there may be some anti-Jenna sentiments too. I will probably bring up other shows and call attention to misogynoir, racism, anti-blackness etc. Ready? Let’s go.

1. I always wonder how these dreams work, like how much detail does Damon have to put into it? He has Elena wearing the necklace, Logan Fell is on the TV, he has the details of her room and her kitchen, like how does he create these dreams to terrorize Stefan with? Or does he go into Stefan’s head and Stefan has all these details already there so then Damon just manipulates his memory?

2. You know, sometimes I watch teen shows I watched when I was younger and I can go, yeah I can see why people went crazy for this guy even though he’s a dick. I don’t get that, I cannot see why with Damon.

3. His hair is back to be thoroughly offensive. When do they fix it for good?

4. Stefan throwing a knife at Damon’s chest is still, like, my favourite Defan moment.

5. Damon is so petty, like all he does is hangout in Stefan’s room and terrorize him!

6. “Believe it or not, Stefan, some girls don’t need my persuasion.” Damon, you compelled Caroline, you compelled Andie, and it took a sire bond for you to actually get Elena. Who are you fooling, fam?

7. Another Stefan shirtless shot! Seriously, they totally exploited his abs in season 1. Lmao.

8. OH MY GOD, STEFAN STOP WITH THE VOICEOVER.

9. Lol Jenna and Jeremy are in the other room and Elena just grabs Stefan and kisses him like ok my room upstairs RIGHT now.

10. And I didn’t realize Stefan’s reaction, he has a grin on his face but he’s lookng around like ... Really? Omg they’re adorable.

11. In every makeout/sex scene SE do there’s always a moment where Stefan or Elena pause to look at each other, even if it’s brief, just to have that eye contact.

12. Nina’s sighing pretty hard.

13. I also like how when Elena is like “Maybe we should press pause” and Stefan agrees, he has to go and sit on the other side of the room, like they cannot be on a bed together because it’ll just get that intense again.

14. Also an anon was talking about how they find it interesting the psychology behind a vampie who is in love with someone but still has the urge to feed on them and I responded that Paul was really interested in that dynamic with SE as well and you really do see it in this scene. They’re getting to a very visceral place with the physical contact so that viscera shifts into his vampirism and hunger so he has to press pause, it just adds to a whole other level of angst.

15. “I would be honoured to accompany you, Miss Gilbert.” 1864 Stefan making a comeback.

16. And Elena is fucking loving it.

17. “No yellow, jaundice go for the blue.” “I don’t like the blue.” “Well, I do.” The problem with Damon is that he doesn’t come across as a vampire, he comes across as an abusive boyfriend. With Stefan, he’s a vampire in the simplest things like the fact that he can become a fucking statue when he’s angry or the fact that he will speak a little old-fashioned and of course the fact that his veins appear when he gets too close to Elena, showing that he hasn’t mastered being in society that well. Damon just has the dialogue and the fog and the crow, he just seems like a guy who has a bunch of tricks and murders people because he feels like it so the Daroline dynamic doesn’t even feel like a predator playing with his prey, like it doesn’t feel non-human and human, he’s just abusive.

18. It’s also really sad watching Caroline look at Damon’s bite marks in the mirror. 

19.  “You can be very sweet when you want to be.” This is legit just an abusive dynamic, I don’t even want to say relationship anymore because Caroline has no free will.

20. “And Damon’s not dangerous, he just has a lot of issues with his brother, like major, deep-rooted drama” listening to Caroline speak is like listening to Delena stans.

21. “This country’s dumbed down in the last hundred years.” Oh yeah because enforcing enslavement was the pinnacle of American genius. Fucking writers.

22. Zach was unnecessary and the actor is AWFUL.

23. “I got your punk.” What does that mean exactly, Jeremy?

24. I like how everyone is blaming Stefan for Katherine when Damon is, like, 23 or 25.

25. Elena being like hmm, how do I know if Stefan is a calculating, manipulative lying and Damon is the victim, maybe Bonnie is right, is ridiculous considering that Damon tried to kiss her last episode and she experienced Damon being manipulative and called him out on it saying that it was his intention to make her feel uncomfortable. Like this is so fucking manufactured.

26. Paul’s arms though. And then Ian walks in topless like ... *rolls eyes* put your shirt on.

27. Damon, you would drive anyone to drink, you’re annoying and homicidal.

28. "If I go online will I find it [the pocketwatch] on ebay? Is that how you pay for your pot?” I know she was making a point but like how expensive does she think weed is?

29. “Yes, being a 150 year old teenager has been the height of my happiness” lol Stefan’s dry wit kills me each time.

30. “I’m not some drunk sorority chick, you can’t roofie me” that is a seriously disgusting line. And people want to argue that Damon isn’t a sexual predator?

31. Ian’s hair is OK again, I guess he, like, brushed it.

32. Tyler legitimately brought Vicki into his house through the back. Like that’s rude.

33. Caroline is rude to Liz for no reason, which is why in the later seasons, when they tried to act like she and Liz always had a wonderful relationship I side-eyed it.

34. Elena reading the registry makes me laugh because I remember the bloopers when Nina couldn’t get one name, like she just couldn’t move past it so Paul and the crew made a joke like, think of it as gonorrhea. And that name isn’t in the final cut.

35. “My therapist says I’m acting out... trying to punish Stefan” are you 16?

36. See Damon telling Elena how he and Stefan died without saying how they died and his clear pain over what they did to him and to Katherine would’ve been a storyline I would like to follow more. If he came back to MF to destroy it because of how much he hated it and he chose Caroline to get back at the Founding families, if he was still devastated by what they did but then throughout the season started realizing that Caroline and Tyler and Jeremy and Elena, essentially the descendants of these families, were actual people and developed from that, I think they could’ve had something interesting. And the show has like remnants of this idea throughout season 1 but it isn’t an actual arc for Damon because his arc is supposed to be Elena and he terrorizes the town because he feels like it, it isn’t a statement so he’s just a dick.

37. “Doesn’t it always come down to the love of a woman?” No. And this is Damon’s entire problem.

38. “That’s what you get when you bring the trash into the party” ... Carol, what? Vicki actually did nothing a “respectable” young woman wouldn’t do. Like it just doesn’t even go.

39. Yeah Bonnie is hardly in this episode. Shunted to the sidelnes for no reason. Caroline and Elena haven’t even gone over to her table to see what’s happening. Caroline I forgive because she’s Damon’s puppet right now but Elena, really?

40. I love the way Elena stares at Stefan when they’re dancing and then she giggles to herself because she’s just so happy being with him.

41. “I hope Damon didn’t drive you too crazy.” “No actually, he was on good behaviour” manipulation, Elena, that is what manipulation looks like.

42. Yes, Stefan, Damon is trying to get Elena to turn against you but you not saying anything about yourself isn’t helping matters either. I mean, it makes sense because you’re still fucked up about what Katherine did to you but you gotta budge a little, honey.

43. Oh hey Elena, talking to Bonnie who you left alone all night to bitch about your boy problems?

44. Carol didn’t even say hi to Bonnie.

45. There’s actually no reason why Damon had to bring Caroline to this.

46. I also don’t care at all about Jenna and Logan.

47. “I’m sorry, I take it all back, you are completely right about Damon”, but like Elena wasn’t even defending Damon in the previous scene, so ... what? 

48. “I’m handling it.” “Handling it? Stefan, you should be having him arrested.” Elena, why don’t YOU have him arrested? You saw the bite marks and you told Damon to stay away from her OR you’ll tell her mother, what is with the show and having characters threaten to do something they should just DO? Like, I would understand it if Elena doesn’t quite know what to do in the situation and thought she did a good job by telling Damon to stay away from Caroline because she IS 16 but her getting mad indignant at Stefan is like ... or you could do what you’re telling him to do?

49. Vicki and Jeremy, is just. Ugh.

50. Seriously this scene between Damon and Caroline is fucking terrified, rewatching it really just emphasizes just how awful the show is for the Daroline friendship.

51. And Damon being broken hearted over Katherine does not excuse this behaviour.

52. I just, how does Elena not remember hugging Caroline who was breaking down in her arms saying “I’m fine, I’m fine” every time she’s with Damon? Like how she does she just block that out?

53. Oh, ending it on the utterly useless council.

I don’t know, man, these early episodes just reaffirm my hatred for Damon.

[topweeklyupdate]

TØP Weekly Update #29: Concert Withdrawal Week 1 (3/12/17)

The American leg of the Emotional Roadshow might have wrapped up last week, but that’s ok. We persevere. Thanks, Mark.

This Week’s TØPics:

US Emo Show Wraps

New “Sleepers” Video

Community Spotlight: Old Concert Pics Hit to Hit You Right in the Feels

BLIND SPECULATION About How This Concert Cycle Will End

Major News and Announcements:

Our only major release this week was the second installment in Mark’s “Sleepers” series. This episode confirmed that each installment in the series will focus around an acoustic soundcheck version of a non-single off of Blurryface, in this case “Message Man” featuring a great key escalation in the last chorus. The video was about much more than that, of course: we had more footage of the indoor football game between the TØP and Bellion crews, some great #aesthetic shots of Tyler in the red suit in the snow, and, yes, Tyler and Josh “kissing”.

Oh, and they won a Kid’s Choice Award for Best “New” Artist. Which is great. Sadly, neither of the boys were in attendance to get slimed accept the blimp in person.

Performances, Interviews, and Other Shenanigans:

The Emotional Roadshow wrapped in Louisville with a show just like any other, without any big speech about Blurryface beyond the normal promises to come back with new music some time (minus the above-pictured underwear message that caused Tyler to bust up at the end). It remains to be seen if we’ll get anything more final when they finish their last headlining show in Perth next month (possible), for their last festival show in the summer (unlikely), or if Tyler and Josh might sneak a finale show into Columbus, where they haven’t played a full show since 2015. 

A bunch of from the last week of touring all made their way online over the last week. Let’s cover ‘em and get it dun.

Michelle Lewis, Somewhere (?)

No idea when/where this interview took place (other than that it was post-Grammys).

Apparently the idea for giraffes in a show came from something Tyler overheard Josh say in his sleep (fanfic, go).

When asked if there was anyone they saw at the Grammys they might want to do a collab with, Tyler said bluntly, “Musically, no,” before adding with his stupid smile “Socially, yes.”

Tyler says that its important that they continue to involve their families in their lives because, when this moment inevitably ends, it will be more special because they shared it with others.

Josh says that they are able to stay humble because they make fun of each other so much whenever they do something dumb. Tyler absolutely loses it, laughing “You’re saying it’s like it’s my goal to make you feel like dirt.” “Two dumb dirt boys.”

Alt 94.9, Birmingham

This interview’s questions are chosen by the reliable method of cootie catchers.

When asked what they were like in high school, Josh says that he “rebelled against authority but also was interested in people caring about me”. Tyler “rebelled against people and cared about authority”. That sounds about right.

They tell a Meet Cute story involving working in Best Buy and electric toasters that I think went right over the head of the interviewer.

When asked about the underwear they wore at the Grammys, Josh claims that they were his friends’ and it ended up in his bag in Europe (ok), while Tyler goes in-depth on the exact type of underwear he wore, which again goes right over the interviewers head, poor lady.

Some Station, Charleston

One of the interviewers is very interested in Tyler’s opinion on college. Tyler states that time dedication can only cover two things- he had to do music and earn money to live, so he couldn’t keep up with his grades. Tyler states that he knew he had to drop out when he had to read the syllabus for his Spanish class and knew he had zero chance of passing and still doing everything else. He also says that he’s grateful that they had jobs that allowed them to schedule around their music interests.

They talk about Paramore and Panic��s friendship and mentorship a bit, which is fun.

106.1 The Underground, New Orleans

Nothing much to say about this one, other than that they both agree that they have no advice they’d like to give to their younger stuff, because they just got crazy lucky with everything falling into place for them.

The Q 107.5, Memphis

The band has learned in their travels to always order breakfast food at late-night diners. Sound advice.

The interviewer has one really great question about what songs they’ve made that they wish had gotten more exposure on radio after so many listeners demanded they play “Car Radio”, and even encourages Tyler to be honest. Tyler says that he understands the standard radio “formula” that makes sense for the radio, but he also says that he really enjoys how the Clique has picked their own singles that are utterly necessary for their shows in the same way the radio stuff is. The radio host quotes Childish Gambino about how his singles are always the ones he gets annoyed by first, and Tyler and Josh just chuckle knowingly.

The MAX 102.3, Louisville

This one’s a game of This or That. For brevity’s sake, I’ll post the stuff they have in common and differ on in different categories.

Same: Eggs (scrambled), bread (white), soft drink (Coke), frozen dairy (ice cream), M&Ms (plain), pizza/sushi (pizza), footware (sneakers), thrill-seeking (skydiving), vacation (beach), social media (Twitter), holiday (Christmas), sport (football), time of day (night), fun sport (both bowling and putt putt), console (Nintendo).

Different: ‘Merica food (Josh: hamburger, Tyler: hamburger or hot dog, depends on the day), transportation (Tyler: car, Josh: “I feel like there’s stuff involved”), carnival or circus (Josh: circus, Tyler: carnival “for people watching), weather (Tyler: storms, Josh: sunshine, because of course), dog/cat (Josh: cat, Tyler: humans).

99.7 DJX, Louisville

As Tyler says at the end of the interview, the guys have been promised a lot of original questions before by dozens of interviewers, but these guys actually managed the feat of asking nothing but original questions. Maybe not the most “deep” questions, but definitely original.

Asked if they’re hunters or gatherers, Tyler definitely gathers.

If a penguin walked through the door wearing a sombrero, Josh guesses he’d be searching for his vacation identity far from home.

A movie of Tyler’s life would be an action film starring Josh Dun in his film debut.

The 22nd Pilot (har-har) is Tyler’s dad.

If Tyler was a new crayon, he would be “Brand New Ballpit”, a crayon made up of every color.

Josh plays Monopoly with friends, not enemies, because he doesn’t have enemies.

Tyler prefers pirates to ninjas. “It’s a deeply personal story, and I don’t want to get into it right now.”

Josh’s autobiography title: “Tyler Joseph”.

98.9 Radio Now, Louisville

The interview starts out great, with Tyler and Josh looking over the interviewer’s shoulder and seeing that her phone wallpaper is a picture of them. This amuses them both to no end, but it bodes well for the rest of the interview.

Unlike the Birmingham interviewer, this one is all too aware that she won’t get a straight answer about how they met, so she just seizes on the opportunity to hear a great story from TyJo about interdepartmental conflict at the General Mills plant between the Rice Krispies and Rice Krispie Treat manufacturers (which is strange, because I’m pretty sure they’re made by Kellogg’s... lol).

Josh admits that the Mario Kart stuff was put into the show for two reasons- to show Tyler’s dominance at his favorite game and to give them a break after the ball run (which “kinda sucks”).

Tyler acknowledges that he probably should be grateful to the guy who stole his car radio, but just can’t bring himself to- that cost money.

Tyler and Josh get underwear gifts for their next Grammy- Tyler gets Pikachu, while Josh gets “a cat riding a unicorn in space firing a laser”.

Community Spotlight:

This week’s spotlight goes to Dana Greene, who has more claim to the title of Tru Fan than most. Dana was a concert photographer in Columbus who took tons of photos of the band at local gigs during the Self-Titled and Regional at Best eras. She took the above photo, which dedicated fans might recognize as the interior of the Regional CD case, and has been posting HD scans of a bunch of old photos that are sure to hit ya right in the feels on her Twitter. She also posted this sick video that shows us why Tyler started using that wood piano case for his keyboard... I’ll just leave it at that.

BLIND SPECULATION OF THE WEEK:

I already brought up the question of how Twenty One Pilots will put a pin on the Blurryface Era. I’m still hopeful for a surprise small show in Columbus, but they didn’t do any such thing for Vessel- the last show in 2014 was in Mexico City without any big party or anything. What they did do to cap off the album cycle, you’ll remember, is release the “Ode to Sleep” music video; if we’re getting anything to put Blurryface to sleep for awhile, I think it will come in that format. 

There were roughly three weeks between the first two installments of “Sleepers”; if that pattern continues, we’ll get acoustic covers of “Hometown”, “Not Today”, and “Goner” between now and mid-May, right before the summer festival season. Because they still have at least three more shows to play after that point, I’m betting Mark will throw together one more treat for us before we start getting stuff from the next album- here’s hoping it doesn’t have the same release date as “Ode to Sleep” and we don’t have to wait until 2018 to see it.

Power to the local dreamer.

|-/

[garyh2628]

Chairman and Managing Operational CEO (Global Legal Authority Quasi-Judicial)

(Finance, planning, industry and foreign trade portfolios) Private

Head of Human Resources Finance and People and Global Head of Corporate Responsibility

Investments/Contracts/Superior/Technically Competent and Right-Hand Men

NGO - (Finance, planning, industry and foreign trade portfolios) Private

To my Pharma Hubs, Technology Hubs, Social Creative/Personal Hub, My Private Hubs, My Financial Hubs and my Health and Wellbeing/Scientific Hubs, Legal and Innovation Hubs, Hinterland Hub and to my Eastern Caribbean Hub, Linguistic/Psychology Hub, to my beloved additions and to my Institutions and Partners and Team, Pool of Potential Personal Assistants and Private Secretaries and Business Managers and also to my Fitness Hub which is an extension of my Health and Wellbeing Hub and not to forget my beloved Brooklyn Hub and my Wine/Adviser Hub, Influential Legal Cashier, Strategic Partnerships, STATEMENT OF INTENT, MY WEALTH FUND AND PERSONAL ATTORNEY and PROPERTY EXPERT GUY and THE ATTACHMENT AND MY PERSONAL BOARDROOM AND MY CHIEF STRATEGY AND INNOVATION OFFICER. The core founding support regions of this Network and Global Structure.

All Options remain on the Table applying the finishing touches to our Genius and my Genius and the Network and this Global Structure Genius. DRAFT

The Network, Strategic Partnerships and Global Structure is hot–but watch the margins

What is Gary to do wit the Network and the Economic Community and the Statement of Intent and the Team and the Suite of Companies and the attachment?  In some cases I am the legal owner, in some cases I am the Co President, in some cases in all cases I am the Legal Authority, in some cases I am the Strategic Partner  and in all cases I am the Operational CEO and I operate in a Quasi Judicial Capacity and I do not delegate.  I am the authority on Intellect and I cannot be at fault.  All of the Global Portfolios will be delivered to be across the board (Property and Officers and Private Residences) for my perusal and in order for privacy and for the requisite planning and meetings to go ahead.  Agreement has been reached in relation to a purchase that I was referring to earlier in one of my postings. All purchases will need to be delivered to me prior to payment for perusal and forensic regulatory audit and the Offices of Budget and Management will proceed further.  I only approve payments and I do not delegate.

My Personal Wealth Fund CEO and my Influential Advisers and my CEOs have given assurances about the Stimulus but the analysis and the details in relation to the Stimulus needs to be prepared for delivery to me for perusal and approval et al. We are tipping over with cash and I'm delighted with the extra assistance I am getting from the Eastern Caribbean Law Offices and Management Consultancy which will merge and have a presence in every region after perusal and ratification. Great work Strategic Partner.  I look forward for the details to be delivered to those immediate effective public Portfolios but will only become Public after ratifications.  This goes for also for my Private Hubs and the Classified Strategy Regions. The suite of subsidies we acquired in North America and in the other Strategic Regions I am looking forward for those details to be delivered to me in its entirety.  I'm looking forward to my Intellectual Carnival/Retreat.  Quest means Business.  We have eliminated the intermediaries and I am looking forward to my meetings with regards to all of the particulars that live behind the scenes.  I love you more.

This Network and this Global Structure and this Industry and I in my Public Capacity does not allow for spin off.  We are the authority on Intellect, my Quasi Judicial and Legal Owner capacity and my Official Portfolio does not allow for such.  I'm delighted that those on-towards antics were prevented.  Those associated protection, when developed and ratify by me will be extended to the relevant people via CIM.  We are  doing some great things with the Network and by the Network and for the Network.  Together we are achieving and succeeding.  Under my leadership and the prediction across the board, this Economic Community, Industry and Global Structure have grown as those completed particulars are ready for delivery to myself,  into an expansive market place, on the cusp of becoming a formidable Intellectual Institution the world over.  All of this is directly attributed to me as you view the contents of the classified bag and further attributed to the suite of programs in the pipeline.  Talk about work needs to be done, talk about achieving and talk wit Intellectual excitement about delivering the Philosophy on the further responsibility to the Environment, Health and Living your best life and we have a few intellectual tricks just for my tr4usted CEOs.  We are all going to be like kids in an Intellectual Candy Shop.

Investors reject a bid for one of my already acquired Property today and rejected access to my private attachment family home.  That's excellent work family.  It's just to be accessed by family and the processes will be developed once delivery and perusal is completed by me.  Didn't he did well.  We are winning for the set of Programs we are working on for the attachment.  I really really do love Gary and over the years I've never seen a more technically Competent Analyst and linguist or more humbled Individual.  I am on my toes with excitement for the region and its going to work big time for that Strategic Partnership, talk about Economic Prominence for the Statement of Intent and a few other regions.  It's like divinity, but in the Intellectual capacity.  Have you heard about data being added value, well the work on that has begun with earnest for my perusal, well one expert said, well what do you expect, He's a Foundation Man they are the original money people, they are serious about Intellect and the value the cost of money. Let me read you an excerpt from the archives. He's the Global legal Authority and those suite of Corporations, yes he's indeed the legal owner. Look, in a few short years, you will look back and say what was the furore all about. It's not animosity, it's Intellectual excitement lol.

Today and the future is a good time to call yourself an Intellectual. Unlike typical Networks and Economic Community of Companies that deal only with one Sector, ours is across Sector and we operate through a vast network of local regional and International offices Globally — a business model that has attracted some very large Companies and as such when the Offices are ready, we will be forging additional Strategic Business tie-ups.  Our model saved not only my Corporations but those of my Investors and additions.  As a result of our model and these strategic coupling and team and Partnerships and Institution  and those obstacles were seemed too big to handle and now being dealt with to make way for the delivery of the Global Particulars to myself. All of the stakeholder has now seen through the manufactured environment created by those mediocrity sympathisers and those of that order. Logistical challenges, language barriers, insufficient infrastructure, limited access to smartphones and high delivery costs are all factors we are dealing with and formidably so in order to cover the “last mile” to doorsteps.  We will win the Election, we will win for my CEOs and we will win for the delivery of winning your best life!  We will deliver for the Environment and we will deliver for this Sector and Industry.  Statement of Intent- It’s time to live your best life!

We are making structural decisions, we are not just looking at the details we continue plugging the future tranches of additional capital said my Biggest and most Influential Investor. We are making this final mile our priority across the Network and across the Global Structure and also with the Strategic Partnership and the local Statement of Intent team. We were disappointed [last year] and. . . we now also have better visibility on an environment that will be more susceptible to us,” my Intellectual Investor. “What we have seen, clearly, is a change in our perspective on the political, financial, economic environment. It is today, across all of these lines, more favourable than months ago.”  This Network and my Personal Attorney and my Personal Global CEO  expects “the revision and additional Intellectual Capital and the assumptions used in our estimates to have an impact on the ground with regards to first the delivery of the simple and most straight forward details and corroborating particulars which will be the local portfolios and Offices and also the domestic tool kits in preparation for the Strategic Partnerships and Statement of Intent, Finance Districts and Private Hubs and CEO dinner/drinks and to begin the planning for the delivery of HQ1 and Q2. Further to push back on those anomalies that is creating the appearance of chaos and uncertainty. The announcements were made as part of full-year results that saw the audit report falls in line with expectations according to my Personal Attorney and Global CEO and Property Expert Guy. We will deliver for the Economic welfare of this Economic Community of this Sector and Industry and also for all of the Companies and Corporations and Institution and Partnerships that is owned by me.  We will make a clean sweep for the Statement of Intent and we will deliver for the Strategic Partnerships and we will deliver for the Environment and Intellect.

I love you, I love you, I love you!  You and I have a rendezvous to deliver for Finance, you and I have a rendezvous to deliver for this family, you and I have a rendezvous to deliver the Environment that will stand Humanity in the best Stead for hundreds of years to come. We will win, we must win!  This family hears you, Tis Family Understand You and this family will deliver so that you can live your best life!

QUASI JUDICIAL

Chairman and Managing Operational CEO Global Legal Authority Quasi-Judicial

(Finance, planning, industry and foreign trade portfolios) Private

Head of Human Resources Finance and People and Global Head of Corporate Responsibility

QUASI JUDICIAL

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Dealing with sexual performance issues is already challenging enough. The last thing that you should have to deal with is people trying to scam you out of your money. This is a serious issue that should be addressed in a professional manner, but unfortunately there are scammers out there who just see the demand as an opportunity to make a buck. Luckily, once you have taken the time necessary to really look into the product reviews, you will be able to decipher the fakes from the real contenders. No one has money to throw out the window on ineffective products, so any time that you spend researching something before you buy it will be time well spent.

It used to be that in order to get help with sexual performance issues, you had to go visit a doctor and talk explicitly about your problem. This is why most men avoided seeking help in the first place. It is uncomfortable to talk about this issue with others. However, now that there is an increasing amount of natural male enhancement products available, men are able to get the help that they need by ordering products online without a prescription. This is an exceptional breakthrough, because now you can order the products that you need from the comfort of your own home, in complete and total privacy. Even the packaging that the companies use to send you their products is almost always going to be discreet, so you can comfortably purchase these products without having to worry about anyone finding out.

There is a huge amount of men who are looking for the most effective male enhancement products, so you should never feel like you are alone. This is a perfectly common problem, and the solution can easily be found online when you put forth the necessary effort to research the products before you buy them.

Next, learn more about Male Enhancement products and the added nutritional benefits they supply. You won’t get the same experience with other brands! There are numerous testimonials and customer reviews online; so choose wisely before you buy any Male Enhancement product.