#is a 9-5 job really all there is to life the earth will be inhabitable by 2030 i didnt get a graduation i wont get to have a fucking life

[gayf1hoe]

Part 18

The famous poet Oscar Auliq-Ice once said "Things don't always go as planned, but it's when you make a plan out of the unplanned and make the best of the unlikely things In life."

I guess that's how I would describe the trajectory of my life, nothing ever goes to plan, as a child I used to wonder what my life would be like when I grew up and I would draw photos of what I envisaged. A house, with a dog, a regular 9-5 job, lots of friends and all my family together. But growing up I have realised life isn't a destination you can just plan a journey to there is always going to alterations and things that change the way things work out.

Stepping into Formula 1 I never imagined I would be the first openly gay driver, the first gay world Champion in F1, the first rookie World Champion since the sport started.

Marrying the most kind, thoughtful, intelligent and selfless man I have ever met.

Moving away from the country I called home for so long leaving behind my family to start a new life.

None of this was part of my life plan but it goes to show you don't need to enter life with a preconceived idea, you just need to live in the moment and take whatever life throws at you and make the best of it with a positive outlook because at the end of the day we are human and we are merely guests on planet earth not immortal inhabitants.

"Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the final race of the formula 1 season for this year, Aston Martin have had a strong neck hold on the championship standings M/N Leclerc is top of the standings for the second year running and no matter what the result today he will be the World Champion he is 29 points ahead of his teammate Lance Stroll who is in P2. Now we will head down to the paddock where the drivers are gearing up for the season finale here in Monaco".

Reporter: M/N it's been a great season for you, you have a 29 point lead so no matter who wins today you are the World Champion how does that feel?

M/N: It feels great, you know the team has worked so hard this year and I don't think we could have done anything more and I think that our performance has been really strong.

Reporter: So we saw the team have added a 4 year extension to your contract. Are you planning on staying at Aston Martin for your entire career?

M/N: At this moment in time Aston Martin is where I feel most comfortable, I really like having Lance as a teammate and I think the team has a great camaraderie.

Reporter: Lastly before we let you go, you and Charles announced you are in the process of adopting a child, would you want him or her to follow in both of your footsteps?

M/N: Of course we will give him or her the opportunity to go into karting and let them decide if they like racing or not, we aren't going to force them to do anything they don't enjoy.

Walking away from the reporter I go over to my car which is surrounded by engineers who provide me with a few last words of encouragement.

"Fucking smash it".

I lift my legs over the halo and slide into my seat, this season has been great not just for me, Lance has won a few races and so has Charles which has been great for their self esteem but the same can't be said for their egos which received a much to big of a boost.

I am sitting in pole position for the final time this year, and the anticipation around Monaco intensifies.

"5 lights out and away we go, Leclerc gets a great start and leads going into turn 1 Lance Stroll is fighting off Charles Leclerc for P2 it's neck and neck as they go into turn 3 but Stroll just manages to get ahead."

Monaco has always been the place which holds the most memories and I have learnt to call it home, leaving behind Italy very prematurely and relocating to the dazzling streets of Monte Carlo felt appropriate, and me and Chalres decided Monaco is the place that is best to raise a child, that too was not part of my life plan, up until about a year ago I couldn't look after myself let alone another human being.

The meandering track of Monaco has always been the most difficult and annoying because as a racing driver I have the urge to push the accelerator flat out but this track makes it impossible to do that. Lap after lap I increase the gap to the cars behind and I'm totally unaware of who is actually behind me.

All I know is I'm in the lead and I want to win, race by race my statistics have been getting better and better and I feel happy to know that I'm doing Fernando justice in replacing him.

Crossing the line for the last time for this year in P1 I feel elated, proud and indescribably relieved that I have bagged another championship.

"M/N that's P1 for the final time this year, Lance was P3 and Leclerc P2"

I couldn't have asked for a better result a 1-2 for me and Charles, I'm happy that we get to share the podium on the final race in his home country.

Jumping out of the car, Charles and Lance all embrace each other in a hug before removing our helmets and desperately trying to catch our breath. "You just had to beat me didn't you" Charles says whilst pulling off his balaclava.

"Well I couldn't just go easy on you it would have been cheating" I say, placing a quick kiss on his lips before walking to the cool down room. As I enter I see Lance sitting on one of the chairs. I congratulate him one more time and he congratulates me in return and we speak about our team's performance this year and how his dad is really happy with our results this year which is really good because I'm still petrified of his dad despite getting to know him over the year.

Reporter: So M/N Leclerc 2 time world Champion, How does it feel?

M/N: It feels great to add another championship to my collection.

Reporter: How was your car performing out there? We saw you fighting the urge to push flat out.

M/N: Yes the car had a lot of energy today which is a shame it was wasted but it felt great to have that power.

Reporter: Now Aston Martin are constructors champions you are Champion Lance is P2 and your old Team Mercedes are P3 in constructors and George is P5 Kimi P7. Do you think you made the right choice to move teams?

M/N: I believe I did make the right choice but it was always going to be a gamble and I think it paid off.

Reporter: What do you think the team did well today and what could you have done better?

M/N: We really capitalised on tyre management in terms of things to improve on better strategies. Maybe with a better strategy it would have been a 1-2 podium for us but nevertheless a great result today.

Reporter: Now before we let you go and celebrate on the podium, what advice do you have for the young people out there who aspire to be like you or get into racing?

M/N: Firstly be who you are, don't try and be something you're not, don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something and have patience good things don't come right away.

The podium ceremony feels more special than any other with both mine and Charles' family in the crowd cheering us on.

As I step down from the podium I head back over to my garage and start packing all my belongings from my room and shift through all the photos from the season when there is a light knock on my door. "Come in" I called out, I turn around to see my mum, Danill and Mick all standing there with gift bags.

"What's all this?" I ask

"Well they are congratulatory gifts for winning a second world championship and your upcoming fatherhood" Mick says.

I invite them all in and they place the gifts on my table next to the boxes of my personal belongings and I hand them the remaining drinks from my fridge and get them to help me take all the stuff out to my car.

Carrying all the stuff out of the garage Charles spots us and comes running over "here comes your husband" Danill says in a childish tone. Charles immediately takes a bag off my hand and helps us carry the stuff to the car.

"So there's a party tonight to celebrate the last race of the season. Are you going?" he asks.

"Of course, I have just got to go home and get changed into more appropriate clothes and then I will be there". Upon reaching the car we place all the items on the back seat and I say goodbye to them all including Charles and say I will see them at the party and start to drive back to our apartment.

I somehow manage to carry all the stuff up the stairs with the help of one of my neighbours, I fumble around trying to find the right key and eventually manage to swing the door open.

I place all of the stuff in the office and quickly place the stuff for the child in their bedroom which is almost complete.

I rummage around the closet trying to find formal attire and decide to wear a white shirt with navy blue trousers and no sooner that I arrive I'm heading back out and fast walking to the bar which is only down the road.

It isn't hard to find, the parking lot full of expensive flashy sports cars is a massive giveaway. I manage to push past the thick line of people by the entrance and make my way to the bar where Charles is standing with Pierre.

As I approach the smell of alcohol and sweat intoxicates me and I manage to eventually get to the counter avoiding any injury.

Everyone is here from the engineers and strategists to the drivers partners and family. The only people not here are the team principals which is just as well because I don't think I could have fun if Mike or Toto was here watching what we were doing.

Mick and Danill are also here which is a massive relief because I know Charles will be with Max for half of the evening so it means I won't be alone, I would speak to Yuki but he wasn't feeling well after the race so he decided to go back to his hotel room instead.

Most of the drivers are downing shots and are pretty drunk.

I on the other hand have to be the "responsible parent" for around 15 grown children.

A few months later:

"Jules be careful" I say running over to him and pulling him away from the edge of the pool for a 5 year old he is so curious and adventurous that if you don't watch him for a split second he's off doing something he probably shouldn't be.

For the past few months mine and Charles' time has been devoted to caring for Jules. We adopted him about 3 weeks after the season came to an end and we thought it would only be right to call him Jules for obvious reasons and I was never going to contest such a thoughtful name.

We have been dividing our time between training and having fun with him, luckily when we go to the gym Jules enjoys playing with the exercise balls or playing on the gymnastic mats which puts both me and Charles at ease.

The Formula 1 season starts later next year which plays in our favour as we can spend more time with Jules, he has already shown an interest in racing. He has so many toy race cars and he loves sitting down and watching them. We also took him to the Silverstone museum when we went to England and he got to sit in the Mercedes that I won my first World championship in and he was fascinated by the whole thing.

It feels weird being someone's parent, I was scared going into it. I always wondered what could go wrong but as all my family said with being a parent "you just have to go with the flow" and apparently there is no so called right way of being a parent which makes the whole experience very daunting and very vague.

Everyone has met Jules and they have loved him and he loves Yuki the most. I think it's because they have so much in common and Yuki Is trying to already turn him into a Red Bull supporter. I suppose it's all very conflicting when his parents race for two opposing teams.

I'm packing a bag to head to the beach, living in Monaco is great for getting out and not being stuck in the house. Having 2 parents who love to be on the beach has started to rub off on Jules and he now loves going to the beach and building sand castles and dipping his feet into the ocean.

We walk down the quiet streets of Monaco, me and Charles holding each of his hands and eventually we reach the beach and we sit down on the sand.

Jules insists on getting some water so he can make sand castles so we let him go up to the shore line where we can see him and watching him run back and forth from the sea with his small red bucket of sea water is an adorable sight for me and Charles.

"He's so adorable" Charles comments "He really is" I reply in admiration.

We help him build plenty of sand castles and go into the sea with him and play a splash war on Charles but Jules betrays me mid way through and joins Charles' side causing me to be defeated.

We decide to dry off the salt water so me and Charles are sitting on the sand with our towels wrapped around our shoulders whilst Jules is still making stuff out of the sand with his multicoloured shapes.

"How is it that I ended up with such an amazing husband and child?" Charles asks.

"I guess it was just a curve of fate"

[epaily]

my mental state is as frail as glass

[texanredrose]

Okay, to put some limitations on this, I’m only including the WIPs that I’ve done more than a synopsis for... that I can remember... that’s on Google Drive... that I actually think I might post one day... but haven’t posted yet because my posted WIPs are fairly easy to identify... okay... I got tagged by @unsteadyshade and I’m tagging @faunusrights and @alexlayer69

1) Across Time - Inuyasha AU where Weiss gets thrown back in time to the ancient past, where she meets two demons (Yang and Blake) warring against each other over a misunderstanding.

2) Alpha’s Devotion - Omega’s Strength, but from Winter’s POV.

3) Bears, Oh My - An exhausted Winter, lost on a hike, comes across a cabin where Yang lives with her three pet bears.

4) Brave New World - Continuation of the Dishonored AU where Ruby and Winter reflect on the new Mantle.

5) Bruised - Third installment to the ace!Yang AU. 

6) Coming Home - Based on Dash’s Tiny Knight AU, Princess Blake is betrayed and stranded far from home and must rely on a reticent knight named Weiss to return to her kingdom.

7) Complications Always Arise - Papa Schnee is demanding Weiss marry before he’ll allow her to take his place as head of the SDC, so Yang volunteers to pretend to be Weiss’ beloved. No one else knows the relationship is fake, least of all Blake and Winter, and it’s just a bunch of pain.

8) Divided - Continuation of the By Moonlight AU where Whitley returns to the castle and Winter’s not upset by that- and Winter’s upset by the fact she’s not upset and has to figure out why her inner wolf is cool with this when she should, by all rights, be furious.

9) Dragonsbane - Mage Knight Winter hears tale of a dragon in the countryside that the local villages wish to see vanquished. Winter, however, has other plans.

10) Eye of the Beholder - Blinded and near death after a battle, Winter is rescued by the mysterious Yang and is nursed back to health despite her protests otherwise. (It’s a Medusa!AU.)

11) Fabled - Fable 3 AU where Princess Ruby and Princess Yang are forced to confront the fact that Queen Raven has lost her fucking mind, only to discover that fear drove the woman insane- a fear they must confront themselves.

12) Fields of Love - Farmer Yang offers a job and housing to apparent single mother Winter and her young daughter Penny. What starts as a kind gesture grows into something so much more.

13) Full Circle - Van Helsing (2004) AU, Winter and Weiss, amnesiacs employed by the church to handle all manner of unholy problems, are sent to discover what happened to King Taiyang. Along the way, they become wrapped up in a centuries spanning prophecy and a bloodline hanging in the balance.

14) High Bar, Low Blow - Yang owns a bar where the gimmick is that everyone’s an out of work actor and the staff is staging an ongoing drama on par with a soap opera to keep their customers coming back. Winter joins the staff and then things get a bit real.

15) Hoodlums and Hijinks - Robin Hood AU where Princess Winter and Princess Weiss are just as in favor for overthrowing the king as the group of bandits run by Ruby, Yang, and Blake. 

16) Last One 2: Electric Boogaloo (title subject to change) - a sequel to Last One where the haunt continues.

17) Lexical Access - Sequel to Tip of the Tongue, where Yang gives her girlfriend a bit of roleplaying payback.

18) Little Red - Carmen Sandiego AU where Ruby was kidnapped adopted by a group of thieves and raised to become the world’s greatest thief, but a chance meeting with Penny via a stolen phone opens her eyes to the wider world, and she meets the rebellious heiress Weiss, street smart Blake, and brawler Yang, creating a team that works to foil Ruby’s former friends while eluding capture by mysterious operatives with a somewhat familiar white color scheme...

19) Long Term Investment - Yang, a fae who lives in the woods, makes a deal with Princess Winter to save the Queen. The price? Winter’s firstborn. Winter misunderstands how she’s expected to get pregnant and Yang’s never actually intended to collect. Next thing Yang knows, Winter’s moving into the clearing beside her tree home.

20) Miscalculation - Another Omegaverse AU where Weiss is an omega and Blake and Yang are alphas, except Weiss lied and said she was an alpha when enrolling in Beacon and now she’s locked in a room with Blake and Yang on the verge of starting her heat. Sharing is caring.

21) More Than Words Can Say - Winter, rendered mute by a military accident early in her career, is honestly the best girlfriend Yang’s ever had. However, tonight’s the night they’ve decided to get intimate, and that includes showing some scars that they don’t show often. It’s less about sex and more about trust and intimacy.

22) Music of the Night - Phantom of the Opera AU where the mysterious, disfigured shade of the opera house, Weiss, finds herself at odds with the rich, jovial Yang in a competition for Blake’s heart. Then there’s Adam being a dick, too, and the opera house has never seen so much drama.

23) My Heart Will Go On - It’s the Titanic, but double the rich, unwilling-to-marry ladies and triple the won-a-ticket-to-a-ship ruffians. Penny’s there too; she, like Ruby, just really likes ships.

24) One Fucking Favor - Winter’s due for a long assignment and wants to make a sex tape for stress relief purposes. Yang doesn’t ask questions; she’s just the one with the camera. But then, Winter’s partner for the vid doesn’t show up. What’s Yang going to do about it?

25) Prophecy - Star Wars AU where Ruby, Yang, and Blake are trained as Jedi, Winter and Weiss are part of the clone army, and Ruby’s the chosen one. That’s a lot of pressure to put on someone, but Senator Salem is there to lend a helping hand...

26) Propositioned - Faunus experience bouts of heat; sometimes, they can safely ignore it and go about their lives, but every now and again, they really can’t. Concerned for Blake’s health as she’s skipped too many heats to be healthy, Yang sets up a partner for Blake’s heat. Blake’s not a fan but she does like the idea of banging Weiss Schnee.

27) Proven - ARK: Survival Evolved AU where Winter, after being ‘won’ by Yang, is taken into the bowels of the earth to learn how the underground tribes who inhabit the area survive in such an unforgiving environment. As she acclimates to the tribe’s ways, she finds herself carving out her own path, culminating in facing off against the Queen and proving herself worthy.

28) Reaping What You Sow - When Winter escaped to the countryside with Penny to start a farm, she knew she had her work cut out for her. In need of help and facing a harsh cold season, she hires Yang, a one armed drifter, to help her. The two end up needing the other more than they could’ve imagined.

29) Tear My Heart Open - Blake thought she understood how the world worked. As a member of the White Fang Gang, all she needed to do was keep everyone motivated to continue their ongoing street war against the police and authorities bent on keeping them down. But while running from the cops, she’s offered sanctuary in the home of one Weiss Schnee and her girlfriend, Yang. From there, her perception of the world is completely upended.

30) The Duel - After her father offered her hand in marriage to the winner of a tournament, Winter opted to assume a disguise and fight for the prize herself. In the final match, she faces Yang Xiao Long, a competitor she’s come to know quite well, and she finds her conviction to win wavering slightly. Is it enough to lose her the fight?

31) The Lies We Tell Ourselves - Weiss has made it; she’s opened her tattoo shop in Vale, well away from her father, and aside from a bad first impression with the florists across the parking lot, everything’s looking up for her- until her father finds her. Luckily, Blake’s been through some shit and doesn’t mind helping Weiss drive daddy dearest up the wall, even if it means letting her own parents think she’s dating Weiss. It’s not like either of them is going to catch feelings... unless...

32) The Princess’ Bride - After losing her fiancée to the dreaded White Fang Pirates, Yang vows to take to the sea herself and exact her revenge. Princess Weiss finds herself falling madly in love with Yang, who still loves Blake, and all this is thrown into even more chaos when Yang gets kidnapped and Blake comes back from the dead! 

33) Two for One - Yes, another Omegaverse AU. Five years after the fall of Beacon, Yang and Blake cross paths, each believing the other has spent the time keeping their mutual mate, Weiss, safe. When they realize Weiss is with neither of them, old wounds are torn open, but before they can resolve their dispute, Winter captures the both of them and hauls them to a remote part of Atlas where an SDC facility has been turned into a fortress. There, they find a mortally wounded Weiss clinging to life and raising twins daughters; she gives her mates until her death to endear themselves to their children, else the twins might opt to stay with Winter and be kept from Blake and Yang for good. Between learning about their kids, Blake and Yang navigate their complicated feelings and try to reconnect with Weiss, all while a sinister force gathers to destroy the fortress and steal the prize within.

34) Weaknesses - Loosely set in the Glamour AU, Yang is being forced to assume her mother’s position as leader of their vampire coven. Her fellow vamps disapprove of Yang’s werewolf girlfriend. Winter, of course, doesn’t care.

I got lazy and cut a bunch out. No, fuck you, I don’t have too many AUs, I will add more if I want. Also, some of these, the first chapter is posted on my Patreon. Don’t ask me which ones; I genuinely have no idea. I’m bad at this, y’all.

[freetenshi]

What Is Sin?

“There is no man righteous in the earth that keeps doing good and does not sin.”—ECCLESIASTES 7:20.

A GOOD person wants to think, feel, and act properly at all times. Sin means failing to achieve that goal perfectly. It is like missing the mark when throwing darts.

Does sin include only serious crime?

Any bad action, feeling, or thought is a sin. That includes such things as uncontrolled anger, cursing at one’s mate or children, nurturing a wrong desire, or giving in to a selfish impulse.

Could anyone go through life without ever sinning?

Can anyone honestly say, for example, that he has never violated the tenth commandment: “You must not desire . . . anything that belongs to your fellowman”? (Exodus 20:17 [20:14, TNK]) Realistically, we know that “there is no man that does not sin.” (1 Kings 8:46) Completely avoiding all sin, even for a day, is beyond our ability.

How deep-seated is sin?

Our inability to avoid error shows that sin is a deeper problem than simply committing wrong acts. We all inherit sin. We get sick, grow old, and die, not because we choose to do bad deeds, but primarily because we are born imperfect, inclined to error. We cannot rid ourselves of this inclination by our own efforts. “Who can produce someone clean out of someone unclean? There is not one.”—Job 14:4.

Adam and Eve were created perfect—not inclined to error. When they chose to sin, they became like a dented cake pan that could produce only a dented cake. Thus, we have no choice in the matter. We all carry a dent like theirs—various imperfections and wrong inclinations. In a word, the sin we inherited from Adam and Eve. But does that really matter?

How Does Sin Affect Our Relationship With God?

“You are not a God taking delight in wickedness; no one bad may reside for any time with you.”—PSALM 5:4 [5:5, TNK].

BY SINNING, Adam and Eve severed their relationship with God. So too our sin separates us from God. “The very errors of you people have become the things causing division between you and your God, and your own sins have caused the concealing of his face from you to keep from hearing.”—Isaiah 59:2.

When Adam and Eve rebelled, did God abandon his original purpose?

God has never abandoned his purpose. He still wants the earth to be a paradise, inhabited by happy people. Nothing can prevent Almighty God from reaching his objective. “God is not a man that he should tell lies, neither a son of mankind that he should feel regret. Has he himself said it and will he not do it, and has he spoken and will he not carry it out?”—Numbers 23:19.

How does God feel about our plight?

Just as a caring human father feels pain when his children suffer—even for their own mistakes—it distresses God to see us suffer. (Isaiah 63:9) God feels deeply for us, and he promises that he will eventually remove all evil from the earth. But how, and when?

Disclaimer: The articles I post are not mine. I am merely sharing them to those who really want to learn about the Bible. Please visit JW.ORG for more Bible topics that might interest you.

https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/happy-life/what-is-sin/

https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/happy-life/how-does-sin-affect-our-relationship-with-god/

[yahwehscholar]

Proverbs Chapters 1-5

Hello friends. I started reading Proverbs this morning, and would like to share a few points and a few scriptures with you, if you'd like to take the time to read.

Wisdom is the first word that stands out to me, in Proverns 1:2. Wisdom is given a voice, and is trying toge tevwryone's attention. Wisdom is why the woman let the serpent deceive her, because she came to the conclusion that it would make her wise. Look at Genesis 3:6. Wisdom is a keyword, and this bible groups it with insight. "To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight." We should pay attention. Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of Yahweh is thw beginning of knowledge, fools despise wisdom and instruction." So that's where we need to start, with his great name יהוה.

Verse 8 continues, listen to your father and mother. Good advice. Proverbs 1:19 "Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain, it takes away the life of its possessors."

Wisdom is personified here, and she is crying out in the street. She wants to be heard. She's looking for people to listen to her. Proverbs 1:23 "If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you, I will make my words known to you." Spirit is another keyword for me. What this is saying though is to be humble and accept discipline and use it to improve yourself, not to become bitter. We all are imperfect. But we can improve, if we listen, and it goes on to describe what will happen to those who do not listen.

Chapter 2 starts out by telling us that we need to listen to wisdom, if we seek insight and understanding diligently, good things will happen. Proverbs 2:6 "for Yahweh gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." Wisdom comes from Yahweh, along with all other good things.

My ex who I parted ways with recently was my spiritual advisor, and he didn't like the word wisdom very much. He associated it with the choice to eat the fruit, and that both were bad. I disagree. He'd say "Don't eat the fruit!" When I tried to weigh the options to make my decisions and look at it from all the angles. Which I encourage everyone to do, to think things over and make the choices for yourself of what is good.

Proverbs 2:9-11 "Then you will understand righteousness and justice, and equity, every good path, for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul, discretion will watch over you, understanding will guide you." These things are what is good, and we should strive for them. Equity, discretion, righteousness, and understanding. Even if everyone else in the world is living however they want, I will keep these with me. The reward or the consequence, hopefully at the end of the days, is recorded at Proverbs 2:21,22 "For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it, but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it." It's about our life, and the quality of it. It's our decision what side we're on.

Chapter 3 brings up steadfast love and faithfulness as being important enough to "bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3:5-7 "Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear Yahweh, and turn away from evil." Theae are some well known verses. Trust is very important, almost another keyword but I haven't really looked for it much before.

I like the scripture at Proverbs 3:11,12 "My son, do not despise Yahweh's discipline, or be weary of his reproof, for Yahweh reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights." We need to be able to accept criticism and le tit make us better. We can't see ourselves as clearly as other people can. Think about it for yourself always first, but be willing to listen to the advice of others. It doesn't mean you have to act on it. Knowledge is power, right?

Chapter 3 goes on further to discuss wisdom. Proverbs 3:18-20 "She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her, those who hold her fast are called blessed. Yahweh by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding he established the heavens, by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds dropped down the dew." A tree of life, how could this not be talking about rhw end of the days? It brings up a "tree of life" also in Genesis and Revelation. And that's basically the end reward, to have a land to inherit and a life to live. Yahweh is the one who has the power to give us those. Which we have know, sort of, but I want things to be so much better than they are now. It starts with us all as individuals, though.

Proverbs 3:27 "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it." That's good advice. I am a giving person, and I believe that's how God-fearing people should be. Do what's right because it's the right thing to do. Proverbs 3:29-32 "Fo not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you. Do not contend for a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm. Do not envy a man of violence, and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to Yahweh, but the upright are in his confidence." A few "Do Not"s, which make complete sense to me. Don't stir up trouble for no reason. Don't be devious.

Chapter 4 starts off with more exhortations to listen. Proverbs 4:18,19 "But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until fully day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness, they do not know over what they stumble." That's the truth. Proverbs 4:23-25 "keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you." Jesus also talked about the spring of life welling up inside of us, when he talked to the woman at the well in John chapter 4. Don't lie, Yahweh is the God of truth. He expects us to live in the truth and to be honest in all our dealings. Don't try to make people believe things that aren't true, don't be devious.

Chapter 5 gives a good explanation against adultery, Proverbs 5:20-23 "Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman, and embrace the bosom of an aduleress? For a man's ways are before the eyes of Yahweh, and he ponders all his paths. The inequities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast on the cord of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray."

There's another verse in Proverbs 6:32 "He who commits adultery lacks sense, he who does it destroys himself." Isn't that the truth. But I don't want to go into chapter 6 yet. I will later.

I pray that if you don't already, you know the difference between Jesus, who called himself the "son of man," and Yahweh, who is God and the one who sent Jesus to save the world from sin. The name Jesus even means "Yahweh is salvation." Why would God name himself after himself? The trinity does not make sense, it only causes more problems trying to make Jesus, who was a man (even though he had a prior existence), into God.

Yahweh is the only one I pray to. And I know he answers my prayers, like with this job. Maybe he doesn't answer all my prayers right away, but that's why I try not to ask for much, just to have his help doing what needs to get done. It's a struggle out there, life is complicated, this world is still upside down. We need all the help we can get, and the cool thing is Yahweh wants to help us. I pray for wisdom for all of you, and myself. Each of us individually has to seek it though. Don't be quick to judge other people ad treat thwm harshly, but judge for yourself what is right and wrong and hold yourself up to high standards. Live like you're the example, the one doing g a good job.

Depression is hard to handle, I know. I've been there, I'm still kind of in a funk. Writing this is really helping me focus on that good things of Yahweh, and I can't wait for the promises to be fulfilled. To live in a world cleansed by Yahweh the One True God of love, truth, justice, righteousness, and wisdom. To have his blessing back on this world. I'm looking forward to that.

[tinyshe]

Story at-a-glance

Technocracy is not based on common pricing mechanisms such as supply and demand or free commerce. Instead, the economy of technocracy is based on energy resources, which then dictates the types of products being produced, bought, sold and consumed

Technocracy, the brainchild of which were scientists and engineers, requires social engineering to keep the system working; hence the need for massive data mining and surveillance

Many of the terms we’ve heard more and more of in recent years refer to technocracy under a different name. Examples include sustainable development, Agenda 21, the 2030 Agenda, the New Urban Agenda, green economy, the green new deal and the global warming movement in general. The Paris Climate Agreement is also part and parcel of the technocratic agenda

Other terms that are synonymous with technocracy include the Great Reset, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Build Back Better

The common goal of all these movements is to capture all the world’s resources for a small global elite that have the know-how to program the computer systems that will come to dictate the lives of everyone. It’s the ultimate form of totalitarianism and the absolute destruction of personal freedom and privacy

In the video  above [go here], James Delingpole interviews Patrick Wood, an economist,  financial analyst and American constitutionalist who has devoted a lifetime to  researching and understanding technocracy — a resource-based economic system created   from scratch that really has no equal in terms of what the average person has  any understanding of.

Wood has written two fascinating books on this topic: “Technocracy  Rising: The Trojan Horse of Global Transformation”1 and “Technocracy: The Hard Road to World Order.”2

As explained by Wood, this new  economic system — which is not a natural one — is not based on common pricing  mechanisms such as supply and demand or free commerce. Instead, the economy of technocracy  is based on energy resources, which then dictates the types of products being  produced, bought, sold and consumed. In essence, energy replaces the concept of  money as a commodity.

That’s strange enough, but it gets stranger still. Technocracy, which emerged  in the 1930s during the height of the Great Depression, the brainchild of which  were scientists and engineers, also requires social engineering to keep the  system working.

Sustainable Development intends to take control  of all resources, all production and all consumption on planet earth, leaving  all of its inhabitants to be micro-managed by a scientific dictatorship. ~  Patrick Wood

If people are allowed to do what  they want, consumer demand ultimately drives commerce, but that won’t work  here. Instead, consumers need to be directed, herded if you will, to consume  that which the system needs them to consume, and in order for that to happen,  they need to be more or less brainwashed. As a result, the technocratic system  requires extensive surveillance and artificial intelligence-driven technologies  to keep everyone in check.

Technocracy Is Not a  Political System

What’s more, technocracy seeks to  eliminate elected officials and government as a whole. They have no place in  this system which, when fully implemented, would run itself more or less  automatically, with input at the top by the technological masterminds. There’s  also no room for nations or nationalism that might influence behavior.

As noted by Wood, Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel “Brave  New World” offers a compelling glimpse into technocracy. There’s no political   system. It’s all run by engineers and scientists, and the algorithms they  create. As noted in the description for “Technocracy: The Hard Road to World Order:”3

As a resource-based economic system, Sustainable  Development intends to take control of all resources, all production and all   consumption on planet earth, leaving all of its inhabitants to be micro-managed  by a Scientific Dictatorship.

While  the technocratic plan has been underway for decades, things have been rolled  out in rapid succession this year. If you’ve formed the impression that we’re  all suffering from some sort of “boiled frog” syndrome, you’d probably be  right.

Self-evident  rights have been stripped from us and people have more or less grown to accept  situations that would have been unthinkable a year ago. We’ve been told to work  from home and avoid going anywhere. Our businesses have been shuttered “to  protect public health.”

We’ve  been told to wear face coverings even while outdoors, while eating and in our  own homes. We’re now told we’ll have to have vaccine  passports if we want to get on a flight in the future, and world leaders  are openly talking about the  Great Reset.

Now,  the central banks were obviously part of this plan too, from the very  beginning. The central bank system is crashing as we speak, having reached the  end of its functional life as the global debt burden exceeds countries’ ability  to pay the interest, but the reset they’re talking about is not another central  bank system.

It  will be centralized, yes, but again, the very basis of the global economy will  shift away from the commodity of money to the commodity of energy. In the  interview, Wood explains how the technocratic elite, members of the Trilateral  Commission in particular, have influenced and manipulated economic regulations  to ensure their success.

Sustainable Development,  Agenda 21 — It’s All Technocracy

As explained by Wood, many of the terms we’ve heard more and more of in recent  years refer to technocracy under a different name. Examples include sustainable  development, Agenda 21, the 2030 Agenda, the New Urban Agenda, green economy,  the green new deal and the global warming movement in general.

They all refer to and are part of technocracy and  resource-based economics. Other terms that are synonymous with technocracy  include the Great Reset,4 the Fourth Industrial Revolution5 and the slogan Build Back Better.6 The Paris Climate Agreement is also part and parcel of the technocratic agenda.

The common goal of all these movements and agendas is to capture all of the resources of the world — the ownership of them — for a small global  elite group that has  the know-how to program the computer systems that will ultimately dictate the  lives of everyone. It’s really the ultimate form of  totalitarianism.

When  they talk about “wealth redistribution,” what they’re really referring to, Wood  notes, is the redistribution of resources from us to them. My previous article, “The  Global Takeover Is Underway,” features a video by the World  Economic Forum where they straight up say that by 2030, you will own nothing.  Everything you need you will rent.

Technocracy 2030 — A Glimpse  Into the Future

A glimpse  into this future was also offered in a November 2016 Forbes article written by  an unnamed person from the World Economic Forum Leadership Strategy team. It  reads, in part:7

“Welcome to the year 2030. Welcome to my city — or should I say,  "our city." I don't own anything. I don't own a car. I don't own a  house. I don't own any appliances or any clothes.

It  might seem odd to you, but it makes perfect sense for us in this city.  Everything you considered a product, has now become a service. We have access  to transportation, accommodation, food and all the things we need in our daily  lives …

In our  city we don't pay any rent, because someone else is using our free space  whenever we do not need it. My living room is used for business meetings when I  am not there.

Once in  a while, I will choose to cook for myself. It is easy — the necessary kitchen  equipment is delivered at my door within minutes … Shopping? I can't really remember what that is. For most of   us, it has been turned into choosing things to use. Sometimes I find this fun,  and sometimes I just want the algorithm to do it for me. It knows my taste  better than I do by now …

The concept of rush hour  makes no sense anymore, since the work that we do can be done at any time. I  don't really know if I would call it work anymore. It is more like  thinking-time, creation-time and development-time …

My  biggest concern is all the people who do not live in our city. Those we lost on  the way. Those who decided that it became too much, all this technology. Those  who felt obsolete and useless when robots and AI took over big parts of our  jobs.

Those  who got upset with the political system and turned against it. They live  different kind of lives outside of the city. Some have formed little  self-supplying communities. Others just stayed in the empty and abandoned  houses in small 19th century villages.

Once in  a while I get annoyed about the fact that I have no real privacy. Nowhere I can  go and not be registered. I know that, somewhere, everything I do, think and  dream of is recorded. I just hope that nobody will use it against me. All in  all, it is a good life.”

However, if you rent everything and have no  private property of your own, then who does  own all of those things? The technocratic elite that owns  all the energy resources does. Disturbingly enough, one form of energy resource  that modern technocrats apparently intend to harvest, if patents are any  indication, is the human body.

Human Body Activity as an  Energy Resource

Microsoft’s  international patent8 WO/2020/060606 describes a “cryptocurrency system using body activity data.”  The international patent was filed June 20, 2019. The U.S. patent office  application,9 16128518, was filed September 21, 2018. As explained in the abstract:10

“Human body activity associated with a task  provided to a user may be used in a mining process of a cryptocurrency system.  A server may provide a task to a device of a user which is communicatively   coupled to the server. A sensor communicatively coupled to or comprised in the  device of the user may sense body activity of the user.

Body activity data may be generated based on  the sensed body activity of the user. The cryptocurrency system communicatively  coupled to the device of the user may verify if the body activity data satisfies  one or more conditions set by the cryptocurrency system, and award  cryptocurrency to the user whose body activity data is verified.”

The  U.S. patent application includes the following flow chart summary of the  process.11 This patent, if implemented, would  essentially turn human beings into robots. If you’ve ever wondered how the  average person will make a living in the AI tech-driven cashless world of the  future, this may be part of your answer.

People  will be brought down to the level of mindless drones, spending their days  carrying out tasks automatically handed out by, say a cellphone app, in return  for a cryptocurrency “award.” This kind of merging of digital and biological  systems is ultimately what “the Fourth Industrial  Revolution” is all about.

Who Are the Technocrats?

While technocracy used to be an  actual private club, the technocrats of today do not necessarily have membership  cards, so it can be difficult to correctly identify them all. Key players,  however, are the members of the Trilateral Commission, Wood says.

You cannot simply join the  Trilateral Commission. They select their own members, and it’s by invitation  only. A list of the members as of 2020 can be found on FredDonaldson.com.12 Well-known names in the U.S. Trilateral group include David Rockefeller, Henry  Kissinger, Michael Bloomberg and Google heavyweights Eric Schmidt and Susan  Molinari, vice president for public policy at Google.

Recognizing the necessity of the media, there’s also David Ignatius, a  columnist for The Washington Post; David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent  for The New York Times; and Gerald Seib, executive editor at The Wall Street  Journal.

It’s an interesting list of  individuals that can be worth reviewing to get an idea of where, how and  through whom technocracy is gaining ground and being implemented. Other groups  to look at include:

The Club of Rome

The Aspen Institute, which has  groomed and mentored executives from around the world about the subtleties of  globalization. Many of its board members are also members of the Trilateral  Commission

The Atlantic Institute

The World Economic Forum

The Brookings Institute and other  think-tanks

Certain individuals can also be  identified by their actions. Examples given in the interview include Bill Gates  and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Once you become familiar with the  technocratic agenda, you can start to recognize the players rather easily.

The Pandemic Is Part of the Technocratic Takeover Too

Last  but not least, the pandemic is part and parcel of the technocrats’ Great Reset  that will usher in a whole new world of unimaginable restrictions on freedom. It  has already accomplished a massive redistribution of wealth — again, from the  middle class, from small business owners, to large multinational companies such  as Amazon.

Eventually,  don’t be surprised if you hear talk about providing everyone with a basic  income — a step toward the 2030 cashless “utopia” where you own nothing — and  universal debt forgiveness in return for the forfeiture of all rights to  private ownership going forward.

The  lockdowns also had the effect of demolishing local economies around the world —  an entirely needless manmade situation that is now used as an excuse for why we  so desperately need to “reset” the economic system, and while we’re at it, we  should “build back better.”

Lockdowns  and school closings have ushered in calls for more online learning, which locks  youths into the digital surveillance matrix to an even greater extent than  before, and as the COVID-19  vaccine is being rolled out, it sets the stage for biometric surveillance,   tracking and tracing, which will eventually be tied in with all your other  medical records, digital ID, digital banking and a social credit system.

All  of this in turn requires 5G,  which just so happens to be rolling out in the midst of this pandemic. Again,  once you become more familiar with the technocratic agenda, you’ll see how all  these seemingly random events are not particularly random at all, but weave  together, forming a grand net — and we are what’s for dinner.

The  answer is to, first, educate yourself and others. I urge you to listen to  Wood’s interview in its entirety, as he goes over a lot that I have not  summarized here. Once you can see the plan, the next step is to resist and  object to any and all implementations of the technocratic agenda. We can win,  for the simple fact that there are more of us than there are of them, but we  have to be vocal about it — we need to join forces and present a united  front. 

+ Sources and References

source

  Study Feeding Pigs Human Food Canceled for Cruelty

[fluorescencefish]

Thank you for tagging me @1havenoidea 💞

1) Do you make your bed? - I don’t really see the point tbh since I have a loft bed and you can’t see the bedcover/pillow anyway when entering my room lol

2) What’s your favourite number? - seven

3) What’s your job? - I’ve done tutoring for a couple of years and am still doing it currently, but I’m in the middle of applying for a more stable job at a grocery store or gas station

4) If you could go back to school, would you? - For a short period of time for nostalgic reasons only, I loved school but I gotta move on with my life lol (I also want to become a teacher so I’m kinda coming back anyway, but I’m talking about being a student), also I’d wait until more time has passed bc I’m still kinda tired of studying atm

5) Can you parallel park? - I’m bad at estimating the correct angle at which to turn the wheel into the other direction, so it’s often a coincidence if it works tbh. And I think it’s the worst type of parking and also the worst element of driving in general

6) A job you had that would surprise people? - I don’t think anything I did as a job was particularly surprising

7) Do you think aliens exist? - I have no idea tbh but it does seem unlikely that the earth would be the only inhabited planet in the whole universe

8) Can you drive a manual car? - I can drive one, but I don’t have a license yet since I failed the test four times (mostly bc I was extremely nervous, but I’ve also taken way more driving lessons than what is the average amount so it’s probably safe to say I’m not a natural behind the wheel)

9) What’s your guilty pleasure? - Probably listening to 6ix9ine’s “Gooba”, he sucks as a person

10) Tattoos? - I don’t have any but I’d like to get a small one sometime

11) Favourite colour? - Blue and green

12) Favourite type of music? - Mostly pop, also a little r’n’b and rap

13) Do you like puzzles? - It’s been a long time since I did a jigsaw puzzle. I like other types of puzzles

14) Any phobias? - Humans lol. Well, idk. I used to be really scared of the dentist and heights but both of these fears have decreased a lot

15) Favourite childhood sport? - I did like every sport for a short time in my childhood but didn’t and still don’t like most of them. Swimming was the best, though, and football was also sometimes fun

16) Do you talk to yourself? - In my head, all the time, out loud, not that often but it happens

17) What movie do you adore? - All the HP movies, more specifically poa

18) Coffee or tea? - I’ve never had coffee in my life so definitely tea

19) First thing you wanted to be growing up? - I first had the idea of becoming a teacher in fifth grade, but honestly can’t remember any wishes earlier than that. Probably didn’t think about it a lot

Tagging: @reijnerskeijser @lalle-maury @lamonnaie @kwazypotterhead @viri-in-pink @wanderlxsting @uptonhailey (feel free to ignore if you’ve already done this or just don’t want to do it)

[ruffiorocks]

Long post on people's misconceptions about Lena.

Sooo I'm reading a pretty good fic on AO3 but some of the comments people leave are just as bad as the stuff posted on here, Twitter and Instagram. It's mostly people hating on Lena, but they are so hypocritical about it and they make stuff up. I'm honestly convinced that half of them didn't watch the show and only go off of what haters have said happened. Either that or they have regurgitated the same nonsense for so long they have convinced themselves it actually happened.

1. Lena did NOT steal Harun El! Please go back and watch the show, listen to the dialogue and try and watch it without instantly waiting for Lena to be bad. I saw a comment that said that Alura requested all the Harun El back after they defeated Reign. Yeah, whoever commented that didn't watch the show. Kara and Mon El were given a small percentage of Harun El, it was used against Reign. Lena then MADE more Harun El. She figured out how to do something an advanced society of alien scientists weren't able to do. RAO the bloody witches were able to create Reign but not Harun El?? Anyhoo, Lena then produced enough to keep Argo City functioning for a long time and for good measure she threw in the recipe. Alura did NOT request all of it back because what Argo gave was gone. Alura did state that she was glad none would be left on Earth because they didn't know the extent of what it could do, but she didn't explicitly forbid Lena from making more and there was no law in place saying she couldn't. The same commentor even said Lena should have some kind of galactic authorities on her ass, for what? Creating a substance that will keep an entire planet and it's inhabitants alive and then using some herself? Yes I can see how that is a terrible crime.

2. Lena is fully entitled to feel pissed at Kara for not telling her her secret. All I see is the comments saying that Kara did it to protect her, she can't tell the people she cares about in case they get hurt. Yeah... That excuse only works if other people don't know. But the fact of the matter is EVERYONE but Lena knows. If you go back and watch it all you'll notice that a lot of problems could have been avoided if Lena knew. In fact her not knowing Kara's secret is neither here nor there since she's always in danger anyway. So that excuse is redundant.

3. People are still harping on about the alien detection device. RAO, wasn't that like in her second episode? Kara made the decision to destroy that device and probably millions of dollars and a long times worth of work because she didn't like it. I get why, but she could have just refused to use it. Kara already made it clear she didn't agree with it, anyone who doesn't agree with something would just say the aren't using it on principal. Kara even changed her stance a bit and began to see Lena's point of view at the end of the Episode. Plus if that was still an issue Kara wouldn't still be friends with her 3 years on.

4. Lena is still being called xenophobic and that's a reason Kara shouldn't of told her. oh all that xenophobic behavior of hers. Outside of the alien detection device, something that was addressed in the Episode where is this so called Xenophobic behavior? Do you know what I remember?

. Lena gave Kara the location to the fight club and stated very clearly she had no interest in that sort of entertainment.

. She directly requested help from Supergirl at the Gala and was really happy about a Luthor and Super working together.

.She screamed at her mother not to hurt Supergirl.

. She switched the isotopes saving all of the aliens in National City, including Jonn and Kara from choking to death.

. She helped Kara track down the aliens that were about to be shot into space by Cadmus.

. She helped and developed a bond with a Daxamite queen who convinced her all she wanted to do was get back to her home

. She left the choice to poisen the Daxamites completely in Supergirls hands.

. She saved Supergirls life more than once.

. The moment she found out one of her closest friends was an alien and didn't know it she didn't immediately turn her in out of fear for what would happen to her. She immediately set about trying to help and cure her dear friend.

. She had an anti Kryptonite suit ready to go the moment she was called and told Supergirl needed help.

. She was immediately against Lockwood and his xenophobia. She didn't want her company associated with them and was pissed James was giving them the time of day.

. She created image inducors to protect aliens

. She saved all of Argo City from extinction by manufacturing Harun El.

. She saved Argo City again when she stopped Lex.

So tell me where her xenophobic behavior is? Tell me why Kara couldn't tell her because Lena is apparently against aliens?

5. Lena has no right to be mad at Kara and she should remember all the times Kara has saved her and should be grateful. OK, but that goes both ways, Lena saved Supergirl several times, and at times thought she was protecting Kara. So yeah it wasn't just Kara doing the heroics here.

6. Lena created Kryptonite doesn't she know how much it could hurt Kara? She should have told her! Ok, but you're all convienently forgetting why she made it. She had it to keep Sam contained while she tried to cure her. She didn't tell Supergirl because then she would have had to explain why she had it leading to exposing Sam and given the DEO track record and the fact Sam was Reign I wouldn't have wanted them to know either. Lena didn't think about Supergirl when she made it because Supergirl was never meant to be in contact with it. Why does everyone including Kara forget that this was all for Sam? It wasn't just a Lena and Kara situation. Sam was the important one here, even Kara failed to give much though to her.

7. Lena made anti Kryptonian tech. So we're all just going to convienently forget the power ranger suit? That cell she kept Reign in and the forcefield were once again to keep Reign from killing people and to help Sam. Kara got pissed Lena dared to make something she couldn't see through. Lena even told her she couldn't see through it, it was to keep Reign from knowing what was going on a s it would hurt to use X Ray Vision. So the very first thing Kara does upon being told this is try to look through it.

8. Lena lied about the Kryptonite. Well I would have as well, look at Kara's reaction when she thought Lena only had left over Kryptonite. Imagine walking into a secret government facility and revealing you know and have made the one substance that can hurt their most important asset? Add the Luthor name to that and you're already f**ked regardless of reason. Turns out they needed Lena's expertise in making Kryptonite anyway.

9. Lena and Kara only ever talk about Lena and her issues. Ok this the fault of the writers. But the fact is Lena talking over her issues is what drives her arc forward, we need to know her inner thoughts and circumstances. We already know Kara's, we as the audience know what she's been through, what she's thinking. The fact is Kara can't talk to Lena about her issues because she hasn't told Lena she's Supergirl so what issues would they discuss that are relevant to the plot moving forward?

10. Lena did NOT take advantage of Kara. If you watch it properly, you should notice that it's actually Kara that comes to Lena whenever she needs information or if she needs her to spend millions of dollars to keep her job safe. Lena asked Kara for stuff friends do, like asking her to go and see Jack. Lena didn't abuse her position as Kara's boss, she was actually way more tolerant with both Kara and James than what they deserved. Rightfully she could have (and in James' case) should have sacked them.

11. People say that Lena didn't tell Kara and the others about her experiments so why should Kara tell her about the super secret? Well basically because Lena was directly involved in regards to the super secret. Kara and the DEO actually didn't have any right to know what Lena does at L Corp. The writers glossed over a lot of the process on the Harun El experiments, but that didn't directly concern them. Actually Lena already told the gang at Thanksgiving her ideas and they were immediately shot down without any consideration. But just because they don't approve doesn't mean Lena has to stop, the super friends aren't in charge of Lena and what she does. Let's not forget that James was against it the first time, convienently when he was pissed at Lena, then he was for it when he realized she had nearly figured it out, then against it again when the government got involved. Lena's Harun El experiments weren't actually illegal, she had a government contract. Where Adam is concerned is a moral grey area, but it still isn't anything to do with Kara.

12. Lena's killed people? Lena only shoots people to protect herself or others, same as Alex. Plus Alex, Jonn and Kara have all killed to.

So yeah, don't make stuff up. If you're going to hate on Lena at least let it be for legit reasons and not just ones you've regurgitated from haters on here and convinced yourselves actually happened. Lena isn't perfect, she makes major mistakes but you know who else does? Kara does! Jonn does! They all do.

Lastly fanfiction is someone's version of what happened, they can change it all they want. You don't have to like it, you can say you don't like a direction a character is going in. But dont comment essays on stuff that you think happened in the show and start massive debates about it when it has nothing to do with the fic.

[madewithonerib]

Sheol (/ˈʃiːoʊl/ SHEE-ohl, /-əl/; Hebrew: שְׁאוֹל Šəʾōl), in the Hebrew Bible, is a place of darkness to which spirits of the dead go. Under some circumstances they are thought to be able to be contacted by the living.

1a] OT: The Hebrew word seol [l/a.v], "Sheol, " refers to      the grave or the abode of the dead      [Psalm 88:3; Psalm 88:5].

     Through much of the OT period, it was believed that      all went one place, whether human or animal      [Psalm 49:12; Psalm 49:14; Psalm 49:20],      whether righteous or wicked [Ecclesiastes 9:2-3].

Psalm 49:12 | But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish.

Psalm 49:14 | Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, & their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.

Psalm 49:20 | A man who has riches w/out understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 | It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous & the wicked, for the good & the bad, for the clean & the unclean, for the one who sacrifices & the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow. This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil & madness while they are alive, & afterward they join the dead.

     No one could avoid Sheol [Psalm 49:9; 89:48],      which was thought to be down in the lowest parts      of the earth

Psalm 49:8-9 | For the redemption of his soul is costly, & never can payment suffice, that he should live on forever & not see decay.

Psalm 89:48 | What man can live & never see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

     [Deuteronomy 32:22; 1 Samuel 28:11-15;      Job 26:5; Psalm 86:13; Isaiah 7:11;      Ezekiel 31:14-16; Ezekiel 31:18]

Deuteronomy 32:22 | For a fire has been kindled by MY anger, & it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth & its produce, & scorches the foundations of the mountains.

1 Samuel 28:11-15 | “Whom shall I bring up for you?” the woman asked. “Bring up Samuel,” he replied. But when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out in a loud voice & said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” “Do not be afraid,” the king replied. “What do you see?” “I see a god coming up out of the earth,” the woman answered. “What does he look like?” asked Saul. “An old man is coming up,” she replied. “And he is wearing a robe.” So Saul knew that it was Samuel, & he bowed face-down in reverence. Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am deeply distressed,” replied Saul. “The Philistines are fighting against me, & GOD has turned away from me. HE no longer answers me, either by the prophets or dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”

Job 26:5 | The dead tremble—those who dwell beneath the waters.

Psalm 86:13 | For great is YOUR loving devotion to me; YOU have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.

Isaiah 7:11 | “Ask for a sign from the LORD your GOD, whether from the depths of Sheol or the heights of heaven.”

Ezekiel 31:14-16 | This happened so that no other trees by the waters would become great in height & set their tops among the clouds, & no other well-watered trees would reach them in height. For they have all been consigned to death, to the depths of the earth, among the mortals who descend to the Pit.’ This is what the LORD GOD says: ‘On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I caused grief. I covered the deep because of it; I held back its rivers; its abundant waters were restrained. I made Lebanon mourn for it, & all the trees of the field fainted because of it. I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I cast it down to Sheol w/ those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest & best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were consoled in the earth below.

Ezekiel 31:18 | Who then is like you in glory & greatness among the trees of Eden? You also will be brought down to the depths of the earth to be w/ the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised, w/ those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh & all his multitude, declares the LORD GOD.’”

     Unlike this world, Sheol is devoid of love, hate, envy,      work, thought, knowledge, & wisdom      [Ecclesiastes 9:6 Ecclesiastes 9:10].

Ecclesiastes 9:6 | Their love, their hate, & their envy have already vanished, & they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 | Whatever you find to do w/ your hands, do it w/ all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

     Descriptions are bleak:

     There is no light      [Job 10:21-22; 17:13; Psalms 88:6; 88:12; 143:3],      no remembrance [Psalm 6:5; 88:12; Ecclesiastes 9:5],      no praise of GOD [Psalm 6:5; 30:9; 88:10-12; 115:17;      Isaiah 38:18] — in fact, no sound at all      [Psalm 94:17; 115:17].

     Its inhabitants are weak, trembling shades      [Job 26:5; Psalm 88:10-12; Isaiah 14:9-10] who can      never hope to escape from its gates      [Job 10:21; 17:13-16; Isaiah 38:10].

     Sheol is like a ravenous beast that swallows the      living without being sated [Prov 1:12; 27:20; Isaiah 5:14].

     Some thought the dead were cut off from GOD      [Psalm 88:3-5; Isaiah 38:11]; while others believed that      GOD's presence reached even to Sheol [Psalm 139:8].

Psalm 88:3-5 | For my soul is full of troubles, & my life draws near to Sheol. I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man w/out strength. I am forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom YOU remember no more, who are cut off from YOUR care.

Isaiah 38:11 | I said, “I will never again see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living; I will no longer look on mankind w/ those who dwell in this world.

Psalm 139:8 | If I ascend to the heavens, YOU are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, YOU are there.

     Toward the end of the OT, GOD revealed that there will      be a resurrection of the dead [Isaiah 26:19].

     Sheol will devour no longer; instead GOD will swallow      up Death [Isaiah 25:8].

     The faithful will be rewarded with everlasting life while      the rest will experience eternal contempt [Daniel 12:2].

Daniel 12:2 | And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame & everlasting contempt.

     This theology developed further in the inter-testamental period.

The New Testament

     By the time of JESUS, it was common for Jews to      believe that the righteous dead go to a place of      comfort while the wicked go to Hades

     ["Hades" normally translates "Sheol" in the LXX],      a place of torment [Luke 16:22-23].

           Luke 16:22-23 | One day the beggar died & was            carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the            rich man also died & was buried.            In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up            & saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side.

     Similarly, in Christianity, believers who die go      immediately to be with the LORD

     [2 Corinthians 5:8 ; Philippians 1:23].

     Hades is a hostile place whose gates cannot prevail      against the Church [Matthew 16:18].

           Matthew 16:18 | And I tell you that you are Peter, &            on this rock I will build MY Church, & the gates of            Hades will not prevail against it.

     In fact, JESUS HIMSELF holds the keys of Death &      Hades [Revelation 1:18].

           Revelation 1:18 | the Living One.            I was dead, & behold, now I am alive forever & ever!            And I hold the keys of Death & of Hades.

     Death & Hades will ultimately relinquish their dead      & be cast into the lake of fire [Revelation 20:13-14].

           Revelation 20:13-14 | The sea gave            up its dead, & Death & Hades            gave up their dead, & each one            was judged according to his deeds.            Then Death & Hades were            thrown into the lake of fire.            This is the 2nd death—the lake of fire.

     The fact theology develops within the OT &      between the O&NT does not mean the BIBLE      is contradictory or contains errors.

     It only indicates progressive revelation,

     that GOD revealed more of HIMSELF & HIS plan      of salvation as time went on.

     Some OT saints believed in Sheol, while the NT      teaches clearly about heaven & hell, is no more      of a problem than that the OT contains a      system of atonement by animal sacrifice

     Now made obsolete in CHRIST [Hebrews 10:4-10]      or the OT teaches GOD is one [Deuteronomy 6:4]      while the NT reveals a Trinity. #TrinityofGOD

William B. Nelson, Jr. | biblestudytools.com/dictionary/sheol/

Easton, Matthew George. "Entry for Sheol". "Easton's Bible Dictionary" Encyclopedias - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Sheol

SHEOL

she'-ol (she'ol):

1. The Name 2. The Abode of the Dead

         (1) Not a State of Unconsciousness          (2) Not Removed from God's Jurisdiction          (3) Relation to Immortality

3. Post-canonical Period

1. The Name:

     This WORD is often translated in the KJV "grave"      [e.g. Genesis 37:35; 1 Samuel 2:6; Job 7:9; Job 14:13;      Psalm 6:5; Psalm 49:14; Isaiah 14:11, etc.]

     or "hell" [Deuteronomy 32:22; Psalm 9:17; Psalm 18:5;      Isaiah 14:9; Amos 9:2, etc.];

     in 3 places by "pit" [Numbers 16:30-33; Job 17:16].

           It means really the unseen world, the state or            abode of the dead, & is the equivalent of the            Greek Hades, by which word it is            translated in Septuagint.

     The English Revisers have acted somewhat inconsistently      in leaving "grave" or "pit" in the historical books & putting      "Sheol" in the margin, while substituting "Sheol" in the      poetical writings, & putting "grave" in the margin

     ["hell" is retained in Isaiah 14].

     Compare their "Preface."

     The American Revisers more properly use      "Sheol" throughout.

     The etymology of the word is uncertain.

     A favorite derivation is from sha'al, "to ask"      [Proverbs 1:12; Proverbs 27:20; Proverbs 30:15-16;      Isaiah 5:14; Habakkuk 2:5];

     others prefer the sha'al, "to be hollow."

     The Babylonians are said to have a similar word      Sualu, though this is questioned by some.

2. The Abode of the Dead:

     Into Sheol, when life is ended, the dead are gathered in      their tribes & families. Hence, the expression frequently      occurring in the Pentateuch, "to be gathered to one's people,"

     "to go to one's fathers," etc.

     [Genesis 15:15; Genesis 25:8, Genesis 25:17; Genesis 49:33;      Numbers 20:24, Numbers 20:28; Numbers 31:2;      Deuteronomy 32:50; Deuteronomy 34:5].

     It is figured as an under-world      [Isaiah 44:23; Ezekiel 26:20, etc.],

     & is described by other terms, as "the pit"      [Job 33:24; Psalm 28:1; Psalm 30:3; Proverbs 1:12;      Isaiah 38:18, etc.],

     ABADDON [which see] or Destruction      [Job 26:6; Job 28:22; Proverbs 15:11],

     the place of "silence" [Psalm 94:17; Psalm 115:17],

     "the land of darkness & the shadow of death" [Job 10:21].

     It is, as the antithesis of the living condition, the      synonym for everything that is gloomy, inert,      insubstantial [the abode of Rephaim, "shades,"

     [Job 26:5; Proverbs 2:18; Proverbs 21:16;      Isaiah 14:9; Isaiah 26:14].

     It is a "land of forgetfulness," where GOD's "wonders"      are unknown [Psalms 88:10-12].

     There is no remembrance or praise of GOD      [Psalm 6:5; Psalm 88:12; Psalm 115:17, etc.]

     In its darkness, stillness, powerlessness, lack of knowledge      & inactivity, it is a true abode of death [see DEATH];

     hence, is regarded by the living with shrinking,      horror & dismay [Psalm 39:13; Isaiah 38:17-19],

     though to the weary & troubled it may present the      aspect of a welcome rest or sleep      [Job 3:17-22; Job 14:12].

     The Greek idea of Hades was not dissimilar.

   (1) Not Removed from GOD's Jurisdiction.

     It would be yet more erroneous to speak with Dr. Charles      [Eschatology, 35] of Sheol as a region "quite independent      of YAHWE, & outside the sphere of HIS rule."

     "Sheol is naked before GOD," says Job,      "& Abaddon hath no covering" [Job 26:6].

     "If I make my bed in Sheol," says the Psalmist,      "behold thou art there" [Psalms 139:8].

     The wrath of YAHWE burns unto the lowest Sheol      [Deuteronomy 32:22].

     As a rule there is little sense of moral distinctions      in the OT representations of Sheol, yet possibly      these are not altogether wanting

     [on the above & others points in theology of Sheol].

     See ESCHATOLOGY of the OT.

   (2) Relation to Immortality.

     To apprehend fully the OT conception of Sheol one must      view it in its relation to the idea of death as something      unnatural & abnormal for man; a result of sin.

     The believer's hope for the future, so far as this had place,      was not prolonged existence in Sheol, but deliverance      from it & restoration to new life in GOD's presence      [Job 14:13-15; Job 19:25-27; Psalm 16:10,11;      Psalm 17:15; Psalm 49:15; Psalm 73:24-26]

     see IMMORTALITY; ESCHATOLOGY OF THE OT;      RESURRECTION].

     Dr. Charles probably goes too far in thinking of Sheol      in Psalm 49 & 73 as "the future abode of the wicked only;      heaven as that of the righteous" [op. cit., 74];

     but different destinies are clearly indicated.

3. Post-canonical Period:

     There is no doubt, at all events, in the postcanonical      Jewish literature [the Apocrypha & apocalyptic writings]      a very considerable development is manifest in      the idea of Sheol.

     Distinction between good & bad in Israel is emphasized;

     Sheol becomes for certain classes an intermediate state      between death & resurrection;

     for the wicked & for Gentiles it is nearly a synonym for      Gehenna [hell].

     For the various views, with relevant literature on the      whole subject, see ESCHATOLOGY OF THE NT;

James Orr

[letmelookatyouagain]

@bluespacetoucan said if anyone wants to do it, they can. So here is me doing it :)

1. Do you make your bed?

I straighten out my duvet every morning, but that’s about it. To be honest, there’s not much more I can do, really.

2. What’s your favourite number?

I don’t really have one. I use a range of different numbers that have meanings attached to them for me, but not one that I immediately go to.

3. What’s your job?

I currently work part-time in a supermarket, mainly so I can afford to live and pay rent whilst I’m at uni. I only work eight hours a week. I’ve worked for them since 2014, two years before I even went to uni, so it’s more out of convenience and the desperate need for money (because my loan from SFE does not, and has never, covered my rent).

4. Can you parallel park?

Really, reeeeaaallllyyy badly. 

In my defence, I passed my driving test in 2016 and then a few months later went off to Uni where having my car made no sense. Parking in Brighton is shit and very expensive, too! I sold my original car in 2017 as well and only got a new one July 2019, so, although I’ve had my license for nearly 4 years, I certainly don’t have 4 years worth of driving experience.

That’s my excuse, anyway. 

It might also just be that I’m shit at parallel parking (it was never my best manoeuvre).

5. A job you had which would surprise people?

I don’t think I’ve really had one. People always seem quite surprised when I say that I did work experience with Penguin Random House, but I don’t necessarily think that’s surprising myself. 

6. Do you think aliens are real?

100%. 

They’re probably nothing like what we depict on sci-fi shows and that, but I do think they exist. The universe is a huge place, I highly doubt that, with all those planets out there, Earth is the only one that inhabits intelligent life forms. 

7. Can you drive a manual car?

Yes. In fact, I have never driven an automatic. In Britain, it’s actually much harder to find a driving instructor or driving school that teaches you to drive automatic. The default is learning manual. 

8. What’s your guilty pleasure?

I’m not sure. It’s not something I really think of. I suppose it would have to be all the clips of old Disney Channel shows I’ve watched that keep coming up on my YouTube recommended list. 

9. Tattoos?

I don’t have any, but I want one. However, where I want one, I regularly get eczema, so it might not be a wise decision. It’s something I definitely need and want to look into at some point.

10. Favourite colour?

Blue. I recently got a new bow for archery and was incredibly excited to finally be able to get a blue riser (and bag, and string!). It’s quite well known that blue is my favourite colour, so much so that when I got my current car, my parents were like “sorry we couldn’t find a blue one” (my car is black).

11. Things people do that drive you crazy?

Oh boy...where do I start. I might just list some.

- talking on the phone whilst I’m trying to serve them at work

- slow walking and taking up the entire pavement!

- lack of spacial awareness (seriously, you’re not the only person trying to get somewhere!)

- tailgating when I’m doing the speed limit

- using mobile phones when driving (it’s also illegal and highly dangerous, so you can see why it pisses me off)

- People saying ‘British, Scottish, Welsh’ when they really mean ‘English, Scottish, Welsh’. It’s mainly when people talk about accents. Like, a Scottish accent is a British accent. It’s just a different British accent compared to a Standard Southern English accent, so to speak.

- just people generally being arseholes, tbh. I’m generally quite a tolerant person, but there are certain things that really irk me. There's probably loads more in addition to what I’ve mentioned here, but those are the ones I’ll put down for now (otherwise, this could get very long, very quickly)

12. Any phobias?

Spiders. I didn’t realise how bad it was until recently as well. At home, we very rarely get big house spiders (I saw one back in September last year in my room and was shaking for quite some time afterwards), but here in my uni house, it’s ridiculous how many we get. I can’t go near them and always have to get someone else to deal with it. Last time I had one in my room, my housemate got it and I landed up having a full-on break down afterwards and didn’t turn off my light for a good couple of hours afterwards. It’s really bad.

13. Favourite childhood sport?

I played cricket when I was in primary school, but didn’t carry on when I reached secondary school because they didn’t have a girl’s team and I felt a little intimidated at 11 with a whole bunch of guys who were a lot better than I was. Also did netball as a kid, too, but annoyingly the one time I got to go and play for the school, it was rained off! 

I do archery now, but only picked that up when I was 19.

14. Do you talk to yourself?

Not in the sense that I have full-on conversations with myself. Words of encouragement or asking where I put something, yes, all the time.

15. What movies do you adore?

I’m not a big film buff, but here are some I love:

- Kingsman

- St Trinian’s (2007) St Trinian’s 2 (2009) 

- The Lion King (the original!) / The Lion King II / The Lion King 3

(can’t think of any more right now...)

16. Do you like puzzles?

I have to be in the right mood for them, but yeah, I don’t mind them.

17. Favourite kind of music?

My favourite band is Take That. I love their music. But I’m also a big fan of both the Lucifer soundtracks and the Doctor Who soundtracks (particularly Murray Gold’s music from 2005-2017). Also love the Script an the Killers, so I feel there’s a wide range. Don’t really have a particular genre, really. If I like it, I’ll listen to it.

18. Tea or coffee?

TEA!! (I’m incredibly English). I actually really hate coffee.

19. What’s the first thing you remember you wanted to be when you grew up

I’ve wanted to be many things, tbh. I think I first wanted to be a singer (as many young girls do, let’s be honest). It’s definitely changed over the years because now I’m thinking about going into publishing :D

Consider this an open tag! if you want to do it - go for it!

[rhetorical-ink]

Rhetorical Ink Reviews: Venom

**SYMBIOTIC SPOILERS BELOW**

This is surprisingly a movie I’ve been looking forward to seeing, especially since my brother is a HUGE Venom comic book fan -- he was so giddy seeing it alongside my dad and I tonight. Here are:

My Top Ten Thoughts on Venom:

10. The movie wastes no time setting the stage for the symbiotes coming to Earth and the initial process that the aliens move “through” their hosts is jarring and a bit unsettling -- especially as one particular symbiote “moves” from host to host throughout the movie.

9. To contrast, it does take a little bit of set up before we actually get to Eddie Brock “becoming” Venom. My dad said afterwards that was his only complaint about the movie, but I would disagree. Yeah, it does feel like it takes a while before we see Venom in full, but I really appreciate all they set up for us:

Eddie Brock is a loser, and probably a terrible “shock jock” reporter.

Michelle Williams is his lawyer girlfriend, Annie, who is great at her job and who Eddie accidentally gets fired, causing her to break up with him.

There are a lot of little nuances and hints at Venom, and its “likes vs. dislikes,” and about the symbiotes and our villain as a whole. I appreciated it.

8. Riz Ahmed plays a GREAT villain -- his character is basically a 90′s villain with his plan, but Ahmed chews the scenery and actually does a great job of being convincingly charming to the public, while being menacing as well.

And then, when he bonds with the symbiote Riot, it just makes him more threatening!

7. There are a lot of surprisingly scary, tense shots -- from a little girl that gets creepily used as a host, to Isaac -- a poor man who loses his life being an experiment -- the CGI of the symbiotes looks grisly, ugly, and intentionally rubbery. It reminds me of a 90′s film’s CGI (more on that below), only done well.

6. Once the movie DOES get going, and it really does after setting Brock’s character and woes up for us the audience, then there is a great action chase and set of scenes involving Venom afterwards. I thought the chase scene was a lot of fun, and there are several creative decisions that come from the use of Venom alongside Brock.

5. The side characters do a great job throughout this too -- Jenny Slate actually nails a dramatic role in Dr. Skirth and Dr. Dan -- Dan, man -- Dan is the surgeon that Michelle William’s character, Annie, starts dating after Eddie Brock and her break up. While Eddie is inhabited by Venom, Dr. Dan urges Annie to get Eddie to come back to the hospital and tries to treat him -- he basically is our dues ex machina of the movie! Plus, much to Annie’s chagrin, Dr. Dan is an Eddie Brock reporter fan. I mean, who wouldn’t be?

4. The movie really knows how to work with its budget to keep the effects good for what they can do. Yeah, the CGI doesn’t look flawless, but it’s not distracting -- they do a lot of subtle things to hide Venom when his CGI is not needed, through smoke bombs, Tom Hardy’s acting (especially this), and other movements that don’t spoil us -- we do see Venom, but not so much that he seems too artificial. I thought it struck up a good balance for the most part.

3. Part of what makes this work so well is the casting of Eddie Brock: Tom Hardy just NAILS this role. His acting is top notch -- his accent is weird, his actions are sporadic, he has no luck with relationships, or control on keeping himself in check -- he. is. a. loser.

But that is the point. Eddie Brock is a loser ... until he meets Venom.

The humor that takes place between these two characters is a lot of fun, and the creative choices on how they interact was visually intriguing as well. Man, Tom Hardy just acts the crud out of this role, and I hope it’s one he can keep coming back to -- now, to get Tom Holland to team up for a Spiderman crossover!

2. If I have one complaint about the film, it’s that the third act’s climax happens very quickly -- although, that being said, the resolution is worth it and Michelle Williams...Michelle Williams gets to basically bond with Venom briefly to get him closer to Eddie. My brother was all excited, because apparently that happens in the comic and he said it was similarly done --

-- and that is probably what I like best about this movie: It plays like what I always wanted a 90′s comic book movie TO be like. A character study of Eddie Brock, a loser reporter who bonds with a “loser” symbiote to become better than they were before -- and somehow become heroes. Anti-heroes, whatever.

1. This film is the 90′s comic action flick we needed, done RIGHT.

I actually enjoyed this film a lot -- definitely a popcorn flick that you can sit back and enjoy! Venom was just like the comic book, and I found myself invested in Eddie Brock, Annie, hey, even Dr. Dan, who I hope sticks around!

Venom is a fun blockbuster in October -- if you’re a comic book fan, and want just a fun romp, I recommend it!

[butwhyduh]

I'll Be Home for Christmas

Warning: it's long and sad.

Word count: 2150

Summary: basically what would happen if Tony Stark died instead of Peter Parker at the end of infinity war. Basically my one chance to write a space odyssey. For @naturallytom challenge. Part 1 of 2.

Peter sat in the cold chair overlooking space. Colors he couldn't describe flew by and he felt so lost. Nebula knew where they were. She could get them home. She got them to a inhabited galaxy and they were rescued by a people Peter couldn't even name. But the price of going to safety only days before they would have died was going farther from earth. Farther from his life. And no one to know he was alive.

"Kid, eat," Nebula said handing him a fruit. Peter nodded before taking a bite. He ate but had no hunger. Nebula assured him that it was from almost starving but Peter thought it was probably because he watched his mentor die in front of him.

"How long do you think it'll take to get to earth?" Peter asked.

"About a month," Nebula answered as she ate. Her knife sliced the fruit in her hand before eating.

"So Christmas," Peter said. He'd kept up with the dates. They were saved right around thanksgiving.

"What's Christmas?" Nebula asked. The pair talked about many things on the journey. It wasn't like they could do much else besides listen to Starlord's music.

"It's a holiday. Family gets together and gives each other gifts. There's food and lights. Its-it's nice," Peter said.

"That sounds... nice," Nebula struggled to say something nice. She wasn't used to being around someone as kind as Peter.

"I wish we could decorate in here. Or make some real food," Peter said wistfully. The ship felt colder than before and Peter pulled his boroughed clothing tight.

"Get some sleeps. Its been 22 hours since your last cycle," Nebula said looking at a monitor. Peter nodded and went to the back. He laid on a cot and strapped in to sleep. It wasn't long before he drifted off.

Nebula stared out. The people had been decimated by Thanos. His snap had killed half of them. She knew Peter was only holding on to get back to his aunt. What if she was dead? Would he lose his mind?

9 hours later Peter woke. Nebula was holding small swords in the middle of the room. Peter sat up quickly.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing. I think you need a hobby," she said practice swinging the swords.

"Knives?"

"A useful hobby," Nebula said handing Peter a sword. "These aren't dull. You can cut yourself. So don't."

Peter held it awkwardly. Nebula rolled her eyes.

"Earthlings are so weak. Hold it like this," She said handing him the sword correctly. "Turn your body sideways. Smaller target."

Peter turned and opened his legs hips width apart, mimicking Nebula. She nodded. She put her hand behind her back and Peter copied. Nebula held the sword out with her elbow slight bent. Peter made the same motion to have the sword hit from his hands by Nebula. Peter gasped.

"Hold it tightly. You're strong," she said. Peter picked up the sword and moved back to stance. Nebula hit it again and he held it tightly. She hit him from another side and he barely smacked it away. This went on for a minute.

"Hit me," Nebula said. Peter widely swung the sword and Nebula easily blocked and tapped him with the flat side. The rest of the session consisted of Peter trying to deflect and hit as Nebula easily bounced around him. By the end he was smiling, sweaty, and bruised. It was the first time he'd smiled in a long time. Nebula hid her smile as she took a drink. Peter greedily gulped his water. When they landed on the planet, Peter had drank so much fresh water that he literally threw up, much to his embarrassment. On the ship that only recycled water and towards the end, it was only a cup a day.

"Eat," Nebula said tossing him a bar and a fruit.

"What's that?" Peter said looking the colorful fruit over.

"Food. Eat. It'll make you strong," Nebula said. She viewed his collar bone and wrists being more defined. His high metabolism had made him skinny.

Peter tentatively tried the fruit before devouring it. "It tastes like a fruit roll up! Do you have more?"

"You'll only get 1 a day to make it last," Nebula said. "Watch out. I'm going to sleep. Don't touch anything. Wake up if you see anything."

"Oh-Okay," Peter said moving to the seat.

"I counted the fruit," Nebula said before laying down. Peter snapped his fingers in defeat. She was clever.

Peter watched as he saw nothing. But also He saw everything as they sped along faster than he scientifically understood. Which is a lot to say about a genius. He stared for hours as Nebula slept. Peter's eyes got heavy and he drifted off.

Peter woke to Nebula gripping his shoulder. He jumped up.

"Fell asleep on the job? You didn't do that when you were starving. You can clean the toilet when we next land," Nebula said pushing Peter out of the chair.

"Aw man," Peter said.

"No sleeping next time," she shrugged.

And for the next 5 days they followed this pattern. Peter sleeping, training with the sword, eating, bothering Nebula, and watching out as she slept. Finally Nebula wakes Peter during his sleep time to tell him that they were landing on a safe planet.

Peter wiped the sleep from his eyes and grabbed his iron spider suit. He snapped it on over his clothing. Nebula seemed relaxed but Peter was nervous. Any place could be dangerous. The sky was blue and the visible dirt poking through the dense foliage was pink. When Nebula opened the door, a wave of heat hit Peter and he put his mask on.

"Guard the ship. Turn on the incinerator," Nebula said.

"Really?" Peter protested. "I can't leave?"

"We're here just to buy supplies. Don't do anything until I come back. I'll bring more fruit," she said. Peter groaned before sitting in the pilots chair.

Nebula rolled her eyes as she left. She didn't know why she kept the Stark boy. She could have left him on Titan, or planted him back on the first planet they landed. But she felt she owed him a ride back. She had helped Thanos for years towards his goal. And if she hadn't told Gamora where the soul stone was, Thanos would never know.

She met the people outside her ship. They were primitive small people that barely fit the shape of humanoid. They were purple-ish brown with snouts and arms that closer resembled flippers. Nebula held her communication device close to her face and announced her wish to trade. The people parted and a leader came forward. Nebula began offering what she had for trade and the leader agreed.

On the ship Peter sat with his feet on the console. Nebula never let him. He was also eating some kind of sweet bread. Music played in the background. It was under the name sTarLLord89. Whoever it was, had tons of 80s earth music.

Peter was softly bobbing his head when Nebula ran in with a crate of food. Peter quickly flopped his feet to the floor. "What's going on?"

"Not. A. Peaceful. Planet," she said smashing the buttons to fly the ship away. Peter hopped ftom the seat and sat in his usual chair. Nebula roughly lifted the ship off the ground.

"What happened?" Peter asked after they escaped the planet. The ship survived with only a few scratches from spears thrown at it.

"They were cannibals. That's why you couldn't leave the ship with me. You would have been eaten," Nebula said.

"Eaten?"

"Yeah, kid. Inventory the box," she said.

Peter opened the crate to see a few boxes of the food bars, some fruit, and bread. A bundle of rags sat underneath. Peter pulled them away and shrieked.

"What?? What?" Nebula asked from her seat.

"There a spider?"

"You don't know?"

"It's kinda like a spider. In a cage. It looks like a pet or something," Peter said keeping his distance.

"Wait, Spider-Man is scared of a spider?"

"Maybe. You can look at it yourself," He said pouting. Peter grabbed a fruit and sat down. "I'm not dying from space spiders. I've seen that movie."

"What?"

"It's an earth thing. I'll show you," Peter said watching the box suspiciously. Nebula walked over to the box and laughed. A deep belly laugh of joy. It was jarring to Peter. He had never heard that in the weeks they've known each other.

"It's just," she resolved into laughter. "It's harmless. Come here," Nebula said opening the cage. Peter jumped back as it scurried up her arm.

"What should we name it? I had one as a child. I snuck it aboard a ship, just like this," She said smiling.

"You stole it??" Peter said.

"No, this was luck. I'm not turning around to bring it back. Here, have a pet," Nebula said placing the creature on Peter's shoulder. Peter shrieked.

"Take it back! The fuck! No! No. No," he said as she took it back. "I don't want a mutant spider on me."

"That's just ironic," she said sitting back in her chair. She pet the monster under the chin and Peter shuttered as it purred. "I had one until Thanos found it and killed it. Said it was a waste of air."

"He's just a horrible person," Peter said used to her talks about the horrors that Thanos had done to her.

"And I'm going to rip his throat out," she said roughly before going back to petting the animal. "It's your sleep cycle."

"Don't let that beast go. I don't want it laying eggs in me," Peter said suspiciously.

"I'm going to name it," she announced. Peter laid down to sleep. It took him longer to go to sleep after knowing the little monster onboard.

Peter didn't sleep any better. He often had bad dreams. He had dreams about Mr Stark turning to dust. The way he smiled and told Peter that it would be okay before he dusted.

This dream was the last few days before they were rescued. When they had run out of food and water and the air was going turn off soon. Peter felt the cracks on his lips. His throat painful to swallow. Nebula had gone a few more days without food. She could survive longer hungry with all of her mechanical parts. She was worried about Peter. He was laying around now. His skin thin and body bony. Peter could see the worry on her face.

Her hands ghosted over his face. His core temperature was dropping. He couldn't thermo-regulate any more. His lips cracked. Peter watched her in a haze. Peter couldn't understand why he lasted shorter as super human. He was supposed to be strong.

"Why," he crooked. Nebula moved over to him. "Why am I dying?"

"We have no food, kid. I'm going to get us saved. Okay? We'll be fine. You'll eat till you pop soon enough," she said with a false smile. The past few weeks she'd grown pretty attached to the kid.

"But I'm a superhero," Peter said softly with a weak smile.

"Still a human. I think your metabolism is super too. You have to eat a lot. We ran out a little early," she admitted. She clenched her jaw before releasing another smile.

"Makes sense. Yeah. Sorry about that," Peter said.

"No. Its Thanos fault. He's the bad guy here. Don't forget that," She said. She turned away and went back to the front.

--------------------------------------------

Peter woke up panting. He looked at his hands before relaxing. They survived. He was on the way home. He was okay. Nebula looked over at him before turning back.

"This planet you can get out," she said. Her own way of comforting Peter.

"I can?"

"It should be fairly safe. We'll be there shortly."

Peter hopped up and looked out the window. They were above a large metropolitan. Gleaming sliver and bronze buildings we're buzzing with creatures of all kinds. Peter slipped on the iron spider suit with the mask on.

"Smart. Earthlings would get attention," Nebula said. She was kinda proud of her companion. She had started to regard him as almost like a little brother. Peter waited for Nebula to walk out first. She grabbed her little monster before leaving. Peter was nervous after the last cannibal world. 2 tall elegant light green persons met the pair. They welcomed them to the world. Nebula paid them units and they motioned for a crew to do a tune up on the ship.

"We're going to sleep here tonight," Nebula said smiling. Peter gulped nervously. Was he going to be wearing a mask overnight? That wasn't super great for his skin. Nebula walked away from the landing pad and into the city.

"So you know this city?" Peter said following her.

"Oh yeah. I ran away as a kid and lived in the streets for a few months before I was caught again," Nebula said smiling.

"I don't want to be rude," Peter said ducking around a street cart. "But you need serious therapy."

"A what?" She said stopping before a stall making food. It smelled wonderful.

"Nothing."

Nebula ordered for them both. When the food arrived she was on the move again. Peter looked at the foreign food in front of him as he hurried to catch up. Nebula ate as she walked. Peter followed her lead. The flavor was unique but not a pre-made squished bar. In front of a modest building, Nebula stopped. She pulled out her purse and walked inside. Peter followed as she ordered 2 beds at a hostel. Peter sighed. He was sleeping in a mask.

Nebula laid down in her bed. Peter could see the damn little monster snuggling her. It took him a second to realize that this was her sleep cycle. A few other beds had people sleeping. Peter sat on his bed bored.

"Here, don't get in trouble. And don't get drunk," Nebula told him handing Peter some units. "Stay in the market and don't get lost."

Peter smiled. "I won't."

Permanent tag list

@meg-holland @smexylemony @flashgunashton @calum-hoodwinked-me @laucontrerasv @courtneychicken @beeloverqueen @imahoformarvel @joyfullyje @jiminiecricketz @cassiopeia-barrow @caterina4304 @nefelimalfoy

[disappointingyet]

The Dead Don’t Die

Director Jim Jarmusch Stars Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Tom Waits USA/Sweden 2019 Language English 1hr 44mins Colour 

Jim Jarmusch has a go at a zombie movie, with uneven but enjoyable consequences

1. I enjoyed The Dead Don’t Die, but don’t feel compelled to treat me as a reliable witness – I really liked the one Jim Jarmusch film that has an even worse score on Metacritic than this one: The Limits Of Control.

2. I think Jarmusch has three main things he’s trying to do here, and they don’t all mesh. The one I didn’t expect, the one I don’t think you’d get from the trailer or the poster, is the yowl of the broadly progressive baby boomer faced with the state of the world at the end of this decade. I get angry when critics discussing any form of art or entertainment act as if everything made right now either is or should be about the current political arrangements, but with a film in which the camera repeatedly shows that a character is wearing a cap that says, ‘Keep America White Again’, you know where you are. The terrible events in the story are caused by polar fracking, and the characters with the clearest grasp of what is going on are a trio of bright minority teens in a young offenders institution ruled over by big white dudes with shaved heads. Adam Driver’s character repeatedly says, ‘This is all going to end badly,’ and he doesn’t just mean the fate of these characters.

Horror movies have a long and distinguished history of dealing with social and political issues, but I’m don’t think this unsubtle and at times surprisingly bleak tale does a good job of that.

3. The next aim, then, is to make a zombie movie, and more precisely one in the tradition of George A Romero (Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, etc), who is repeatedly namechecked during the film. Unlike Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive, which was a film whose characters were vampires but wasn’t what you’d usually think of as a vampire movie, TDDD plays by zombie genre rules, which are explained several times. It is also, though, undoubtedly a Jim Jarmusch film – slow, obsessed by details and its offbeat characters and wheezy jokes – so if you are looking for a heart-raising action horror movie featuring zombies, please watch Train To Busan instead (and if you’ve already seen it, watch it again).

4. What you will definitely learn from the trailer and the poster is the director has assembled the ultimate Jim Jarmusch cast, even if some of them appear fairly briefly. The every one of his feature films has at least one cast member represented, from Eszter Balint, who was in Stranger Than Paradise (1984) to Adam Driver (Paterson, 2016), via Tom Waits (Down By Law, 1986), Steve Buscemi (Mystery Train, 1989), Rosie Perez (Night On Earth, 1991), Iggy Pop (Dead Man, 1995), Rza (Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, 1999), Chloë Sevigny (Broken Flowers, 2005), Bill Murray (The Limits Of Control, 2009) and Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive, 2013)*. What about Jarmusch’s full-length student film Permanent Vacation, the completist asks? Jim’s partner Sara Driver was in that, and she plays a zombie here. Plus, there’s Selena Gomez for the young folks (and the dirty old men), and Danny Glover for the old folks. 

5. As a collision of pressing current issues and what I tend to think of as ‘I like cool old stuff and eccentric people, hope you do too’ filmmaking, Jim’s chum Aki Kaurismäki’s The Other Side Of Hope works better.

6. The plot: Adam Driver, Bill Murray and Chloë Sevigny are the cops in a very small town where strange things start occurring. It’s a place whose inhabitants have a long-earned, grouchy fondness for each other, except maybe Trump-supporting, racist Farmer Frank Miller (Steve Buscemi). He has a particularly antagonistic relationship with Hermit Bob (Tom Waits), who lives in the woods and acts as a kind of Greek chorus. If you like Waits being Waitsian, which I surely do, he’s one of the treats of the movie.

7. Waits also played a loner in the wilderness in the Coen Brothers’ The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs – his film roles belatedly reflecting his life and music, which left downtown dives for rural parts some time back.

8. One thing that doesn’t work is a meta-riff in which - seemingly only when they are in the patrol car – Driver and Murray know they are in a movie. It starts with Murray remarking that Sturgill Simpson’s The Dead Don’t Die, playing on the car radio, sounds familiar. ‘It’s the theme song,’ Driver explains. 

9. Watching the film, I was bothered by Sevigny’s character, who throws up at the sight of dead bodies, is anxious and then terrified. I wondered if Jarmusch was being sexist. In movie terms, we expect characters we’re meant to like to respond more robustly faced with danger, to – as her colleagues do – load up with guns and axes and assorted weaponry. But thinking about it beyond film convention, she’s behaving as most of us would – if you saw the savaged body of someone you knew and liked, you would be completely traumatised. In retrospect, I think she is the key character in this film, in a good way.

10. But if you do want to see a woman who is more formidable than any of the men, you’ve got Tilda Swinton elegantly and effectively wielding a samurai sword.

11. So while I think The Dead Don’t Die fails as a political fable**, and won’t satisfy horror fans, there are plenty of things that I liked about it. There’s a good sense of place – established in fairly long pre-zombie part of the film – and appealing characters, even if you have to reckon a number of them are doomed. It’s atmospheric, helped by a good score by Jarmusch’s band Sqürl and that terrific country theme song. Along with some bad jokes, there are some excellent ones. And it’s a movie that has lingered nicely in my mind, always a good sign.

*Some of those people are in more than one Jarmusch film, but you get the idea. The cast of TDDD are also well represented in Coffee And Cigarettes, Jarmusch’s collection of short films.

**Though it’s no more clangingly obvious than George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which for reasons that have always eluded me is regarded as a masterpiece.

[theemichelleb]

The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu Original) - Series Review

What on Earth did I witness in this 2 and half seasons of New Age Gilead/Old Age United States fortune telling horror reality on Netflix?

Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu is definitely a series that will make you open your eyes to the injustices against women happening in real life today and the battle we fight daily to have ownership over what happens to OUR bodies.

I appreciate the men in my life that are horrified by what happens in this show, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are so many more men out there that are fighting to have our real world turn into the fictional world of Gilead from this series. These are the same men that ripped my ancestors from their homes, built America on their backs, and had the nerve to credit themselves as our saviors because of their diluted perspectives of who we are as PEOPLE. Black people are not savages and women are not baby incubators or sex toys created for the pleasure of men!

If you don’t understand how this ties into the real world, look at the abortion laws being passed to control what we do with our bodies. I know I’m late on the topic and it’s because it’s a sore spot for me, but all of these laws passing taking our rights away that help us have a say in when and if we push out human beings no matter the circumstance is for the birds.

When I was a senior in high school, I remember a being in this meeting of sorts with people talking to us about college life and things to look out for or to expect when entering into any institution of high learning. In that meeting, we were informed 1 in 4 women on college campuses are raped and/or sexually assaulted within their college career. ONE IN FOUR! After successfully graduating, being a Resident Assistant for 3 years, and having a multitude of involvement on campus through different organizations and groups, I’ve had my share of experiences with this statistic; which I’m sure is a very different ration now. Unfortunately, I’m pretty positive I can say anybody reading this knows somebody (whether in your knowledge or not) that has been a victim of sexual assault and/or rape.

It took me a while to sit down and watch the Handmaid’s Tale series, not for lack of interest but because of time. I wanted to commit the time to watch it all, digest it all, and allow myself to be angered by it the way I knew I would be. These laws passing and seeing comments referencing them to the show was the catalyst to me getting my time together to truly understand why anybody would suggest that.

If you haven’t seen it and don’t want spoilers, this is where you may want to stop, but if you have seen it or it doesn’t bother you to know the plot in advance come on down this rabbit hole with me then.

WARNING: Spoiler’s below!

June (Elizabeth Moss) is an amazing character that was developed so perfectly for this story. I appreciate the adaptation from the book although I have not read it yet, and I know this story was one that definitely needed to be brought to the big screen. June lives under a totalitarian government which is now known as Gilead, in a time where the human population is in danger of extinction due to a dramatic decrease in births; the future of the US. Women aren’t allowed to own property, work regular jobs, and are themselves considered property of the state to men. The few remaining fertile women are placed in sexual servitude to the commanders of this government and their wives to reproduce and provide these barren women with the children they are unable to bare themselves; they are known as handmaid’s. The remaining women, that are acknowledged as such, play specific roles in the day to day lives of the men in this world; Wives - typically barren women that handle the inner workings of the house hold and take care of their men, Martha’s - barren women that cook and clean, and Aunt’s - barren women that prep monitor and assign handmaid’s into their servitude. But of course there are women that cannot be controlled and are punished for their uselessness and or treason to the society. They… are unwomen; stripped of their dignity and thrown to the colonies to shovel toxic man-made disease filled dirt and die on the outskirts of each city.

How disgusting!

June and her Best Friend, Moira (Samira Wiley - Orange is the New Black), show us two different perspectives in this world. Although, they are different, they are both rebels in their own ways, and help this story unfold to show us just how hard these women have to fight to be considered human; and even then they’re still treated like cattle only destined to serve man. Handmaid’s undeniably have it the worse, however. They are beaten when they step out of line, tagged with a metal clip presenting their serial number, have had their biological children ripped away from them upon being thrown into this slavery, are stripped of their identity to be given a name created from that of their commanders first name to show whom they below to (Of-Fred, Offred), must participate in ceremonial rape once a month to conceive a child for their host home at that moment (as though artificial insemination isn’t a thing we’ve already discovered), complete grocery shopping needs for the home, and stay locked away in a room prepared just for them away from the rest of the inhabitants in the home. Then, on top of all that, if they are so “blessed” to conceive, after carrying a child for 9 months they watch their child be ripped from their arms, placed into the hands of the wife they are handmaid to, and then they’re shipped off to their next posting to do it all again for another family and never see that child again (preferably) either.

I went through so many mixed emotions watching this show, and honestly it’s not a series that I could re-watch. It hits hard, and you have to make it personal because it’s a personal attack on everything we are trying to preserve. It also got me hot to see the blacks and how they react in the show. To be clear, Gilead is a fairly new concept and the American government is still active and trying to regain control over US land from their embassies around the world. June has been in servitude as a handmaid for 3 years, I believe. This isn’t something that’s 100 years down the line and people have only read about slavery and the time before… the time before was literally 2 seconds ago and some of the blacks participating in this tom foolery as though they’ve forgotten what our people already endured in this country.

I’d especially love to slap the little black girl know as Ofmatthew (Ashleigh Throp) in Season 3. I loved her as Delilah in the 100 (another must watch) but this little girl is running up my blood pressure, and I just want her to get her life together! It looked like she may be coming to her senses now that she’s pregnant AGAIN, at the end of Season 3 Episode 5, but who really knows.

Well, there’s not much more to say other than watch this show and start/continue your fight to protect the women you love in this world TODAY, before we make our way to Gilead tomorrow.

Praised be… may the Lord open.

Be D.O.P.E. America… and protect your valuables, stop being children and breaking everything God blessed you with!

Series Premiere Date: April 26, 2017 Where I watched: Hulu

[grillmethatcheese]

Rules: answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you would like to get to know better  

Nickname(s): I really don’t have any? It was a high point of my life when my residents called me “the red dragon”

Gender: Female    

Sign: Scorpio

Height: 5 feet 3 inches

Time: 6:48 pm

Fav band(s): The Rolling Stones, The Decemberists, The Black Keys, Florence and the Machine, The Lumineers, The High Kings, Fleet Foxes, The Shins, Gaelic Storm, Fall Out Boy, The Pogues, alt-J, Mumford & Sons

Fav solo artist(s): Bruce Springsteen, Hozier, Iron & Wine, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Jack White, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, The Weeknd

Song stuck in my head: "Lost in the Flood” by Bruce Springsteen

Last movie I saw: The Winter’s Tale

Last show I watched: The Handmaid’s Tale

When did I create my blog: 2013, I think? I had another blog before this that I abandoned

What do I post: oh man it’s a hodgepodge. Mostly fandom-related stuff, with Outlander, Star Wars, and Peaky Blinders reigning supreme. Also a good bit of history and language geekery, feminism/current events, books, dogs, cats, flowers, delicious looking food, as well as the occasional self-deprecating post about Catholics

last thing I googled: how to cite an illustrator in a bibliography using Chicago style

Do I have any other blogs: god no I can barely stay on top of this one

Do I get asks: sometimes

Why did I chose my URL: it was an inside joke from undergrad -- when I started this blog I spent a ton of time tagging @injoyfruit in grilled cheese posts

Following: Fandom blogs, historical/vintage dress blogs, food blogs, and the blogs of irl friends <3

Followed by: some very lovely people and a bunch of bots

Average hours of Sleep: I’m happiest when I have between 7.5 and 9 hours of sleep, but I usually average about six

Lucky number: 14

Instruments: I learned to play the fiddle when I was in grade school, but was very mediocre at it. I do play the bodhrán and I’m slightly better at that.

What I am wearing: red flannel shirtdress, ribbed black leggings, and my comfiest pair of trainers

Dream job: Oh man, I already have my dream job! I will only be happier when I run my own department and can tell people exactly how I want things done/be an expert in all things relating to the management of paper-based collections #TypeApersonality

Dream trip: right now, I am dreaming of exploring the Canadian maritime provinces. I’ve only visited Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Montreal, and there is so much more to see in Canada. Also, I’ve been an Anne of Green Gables nut my whole life, so a trip to PEI has to happen sometime.

Fav food: anything carb heavy. also stinky cheeses and mangoes (experienced separately, not together)

Nationality: American and Irish

Fav song: I have so many, and the roster changes constantly. “Quizas,  Quizas, Quizas” by Nat King Cole is a perennial favorite of mine. Raising Jane’s rendition of “Leatherwing Bat” is the most played song on my phone, with the Beatles’ “Blackbird” as a close second.

Last book I read: lololololol the last book I read was Pig the Winner by Aaron Blabey, but the last grownup book I read was The Romance of China: Excursions to China in U.S. Culture, 1776-1876 by John Rogers Haddad

Currently reading: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed

Top 3 fictional universes I wanna join: Middle Earth (but really, just the Shire -- I don’t need the rest of that world), Artemis Fowl -- also I like to think that The Mummy/the Amelia Peabody series inhabit the same universe, and it is a universe that I am ready to be a part of

I was tagged by @butw0rldenough (and I totally left some of your answers up, buddy, because they still applied to me -- clearly there’s a reason we are friends!)

Twenty people is a lot to tag and I don’t even speak to that many people in a week, I don’t think. But @krystallizeart, @love-family-whatever-it-is, @zinjanthropusboisei, @dandelionchick, @vangoghfangirl, @meganin are welcome to give this a go, as is anyone else. <3

[dlewrambo]

Reasons to visit Israel

First and foremost, I really love travelling. Going to other places, seeing beautiful creatures especially to places that are rich in culture and heritage. I haven’t been to Israel before but when I finish my studies ang get a nice job, I’ll save money because I really want to visit Israel, especially to the places where Jesus was crucified. There are many Biblical sites or places in Israel and I would love to visit those places soon, in the right time. Israel is a complex, intriguing, and significant state to visit no matter your background. The region draws travelers worldwide who come out of interest, religious pilgrimage, or to simply have a luxurious vacation. From desert to sea, Israel is anything but boring. Those who visit gain a deeper understanding of life in one of the world’s most complicated places, and are sure to have an experience of a lifetime. Adventure travelers will feel a thrill exploring Israel’s vast range of natural features, history buffs will get their fix among ancient ruins, foodies must try hummus flavored ice cream, and religious travelers will find deeper meaning.

 But before that, I will be listing the places that you should or you must visit in Israel:

 1. “Acre – North Israel”

-   A variety of different cultures have inhabited Acre throughout its history, including the Crusaders and the Ottomans, each leaving their mark on this region. With interesting, culturally molded buildings, ruins and sights around every corner, Acre is a must-visit location in the north of Israel. Enjoy a romantic evening walk along the port, have a meal at one of the local restaurants or take a relaxed stroll through Acre’s markets. A rarely visited site in Israel, this amazing old city offers the best of the old and new world: great restaurants perched on its seaside cliffs and even a world-class hotel alongside all the fun of a classic Arabic market.

 2. “Sea of Galilee”

-   The Sea of Galilee, or as Israelis call it, the Kinneret, is a major water source, as well as the largest freshwater lake, in Israel. The history of the lake goes way back. According to the New Testament, many of Jesus’ miracles occurred here, including his walk on the water. Today, tourists visit The Sea of Galilee to enjoy the relaxing lake, have fun building rafts, or practice various water activities. Called the Sea of Galilee by Israelis, Lake Kinneret is the site where Jesus is said to have walked on water. It’s also Israel’s main reservoir and a favorite tourist attraction for locals, who can regularly be found basking along its beaches.

 3.     “Golan Heights”

-   In the north of the country you can find Golan Heights, a mountainous region with breathtaking landscapes, wonderful nature reserves and intriguing historical attractions for the whole family. If you’re interested in hiking, the Golan region offers a variety of different paths with varying levels of difficulty, dependent on the time of year. It is especially impressive during spring, when flowers are blooming and the fields are green. In wintertime, the Hermon Mountain, located in the Golan Heights, is an ideal destination for skiers.

 4. “Masada”

-   This mountaintop fortress in the Israeli desert was once the last holdout for the     members of the Jewish revolt against the Roman empire. Their fate was a bitter one after a lengthy siege they decided to take their own lives rather than surrender but visiting the site is anything but bitter. Wake up extra early and hike or just take the tram and enjoy this amazing historical site. Masada is an ancient fortress in southern Israel’s Judean Desert. It's on a massive plateau overlooking the Dead Sea. Among the ruins are King Herod's Palace, which sprawls over 3 rock terraces, and a Roman-style bathhouse with mosaic floors. The Masada Museum has archaeological exhibits and recreations of historical scenes.

 5. “Dome of the Rock”

-   The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock is in its core one of the oldest extant works of Islamic architecture. Its architecture and mosaics were patterned after nearby Byzantine churches and palaces, although its outside appearance has been significantly changed in the Ottoman period and again in the modern period, notably with the addition of the gold-plated roof, in 1959 to 1961 and again in 1993. The octagonal plan of the structure may have been influenced by the Byzantine Church of the Seat of Mary built between 451 and 458 on the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The Foundation Stone the temple was built over bears great significance in the Abrahamic religions as the place where God created the world and the first human, Adam. 

 6. “The Israel Museum”

-   The Israel Museum was established in 1965 as Israel's foremost cultural institution and one of the world’s leading encyclopedic museums. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, adjacent to the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Its holdings include the world’s most comprehensive collections of the archaeology of the Holy Land, and Jewish Art and Life, as well as significant and extensive holdings in the Fine Arts, the latter encompassing eleven separate departments: Israeli Art; European Art; Modern Art; Contemporary Art; Prints and Drawings; Photography; Design and Architecture; Asian Art; African Art; Oceanic Art; and Arts of the Americas. Among the unique objects on display are the Venus of Berekhat Ram; the interior of a 1736 Zedek ve Shalom synagogue from Suriname; necklaces are worn by Jewish brides in Yemen; a mosaic Islamic prayer niche from 17th-century Persia; and a nail attesting to the practice of crucifixion in Jesus’ time.

 7. “Dead Sea”

-   It is also called Salt Sea, landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan in southwestern Asia. Its eastern shore belongs to Jordan, and the southern half of its western shore belongs to Israel. The northern half of the western shore lies within the Palestinian West Bank and has been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The Jordan River, from which the Dead Sea receives nearly all its water, flows from the north into the lake. The Dead Sea has the lowest elevation and is the lowest body of water on the surface of Earth. For several decades in the mid-20th century, the standard value given for the surface level of the lake was some 1,300 feet or 400 meters below sea level. 

 8. “Mount Zion”

-   Mount Zion is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew Bible first for the City of David and later for the Temple Mount, but its meaning has shifted and it is now used as the name of ancient Jerusalem's Western Hill. Mount Zion has been holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims for hundreds of years. The people who live and work here represent the cultural diversity of the area and of Jerusalem as a whole. The Window to Mount Zion site created an interactive, online communal guide that features local people telling the story of Mount Zion from their perspective. In addition, you can find useful and historical information about Mount Zion.

 9.    “City of David”

-   The City of David, a neighborhood of Silwan, is a Palestinian Arab village intertwined with an Israeli settlement, and the archaeological site which is speculated to constitute the original settlement core of Bronze and Iron Age Jerusalem. The international community regards Israeli settlements illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this. Archaeologically it is best known for its Canaanite infrastructure dated to the Middle Bronze Age, and its newer structures from the Iron Age, built by Judean kings. Organised as an Israeli national park, its management was taken over in 1997 by the Ir David Foundation.

 10.  “Al-Aqsa Mosque”

-   Al-Aqsa Mosque, located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is the third holiest site in Islam. The mosque was built on top of the Temple Mount, known as the Al Aqsa Compound or Haram esh-Sharif in Islam. Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Great Mosque of Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the 17th month after his migration from Mecca to Medina, when Allah directed him to turn towards the Kaaba in Mecca. Another earthquake destroyed most of al-Aqsa in 1033, but two years later the Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir built another mosque whose outline is preserved in the current structure. The mosaics on the arch at the qibla end of the nave also go back to his time. 

These places are very worth it to visit, because you will see the Biblical sites in real life and you can see that God is really good and very imaginative and creative. If you love travelling, I encourage you to visit first these places in Israel before visiting other nice places because we don’t know when we will die and you will miss the opportunity to visit those holy places and to know and to witness what happened in those places before.