#landlord solas

[thelittlestchocobo]

Skyhold landlord special: your room vs. your ex-gf's new bf's room

[bethrnoora]

he is very polite

[kissingwookiees]

rook getting back to minrathous after the ritual and meeting up with my canon inky who’s just like ‘so… is anyone going to explain? harding? rook? anyone?’

[tahopo]

the whole companion romance thing is still so unbelievably funny to me. solas relegated to the landlord of love island

[leastdatablebracket]

FINAL ROUND

Propaganda under the cut!

Solas

He believes all mortal beings deserve to die. He is bald but in a very unsexy way. He exudes zero chemistry and talking to him about romance is like talking to a boiled egg. 

Described by major media as "elf hitler," he dumps you to destroy the world

He is a smelly know it all, and that's before you find out he is a deity in disguise who caused the rift you spend the game trying to fix in the first place and he betrayed you and chopped off your hand

Breaks up with you, disappears without saying anything, plans to destroy the world

Look. I’ll admit I have not personally romanced solas. I am baffled that anyone would WANT to romance solas. I know we all love a waify little elf wizard with questionable motivations but jfc look at him like im trying not to say anything demeaning about bald dudes but he does not wear it well. Also iirc you can only romance him if you’re also an elf and then he’s weirdly rude and dismissive if your character is Into Elf Culture. Look im a huge lesbian but Iron Bull is RIGHT FUCKING THERE why would you do this.

Peter King

Oh I could go ON AND ON but here’s a list: He’s a stalker, he showed up late to a date HE REQUESTED, he killed either your landlord, roommate, or coworker (depending on route) and stuck them in a freezer, lied to the police about it, followed by a car ride either consisting of traumadumping about his family (valid tbh) or him talking about how much he wants to fuck your brains out, then you finding a bloody knife in his glove compartment, asking about it, and him smashing your head into the window to shut you up while he takes you to his house. He is The Worse Datable, as well as The Only Datable because well…he killed the others…and kidnapped you….

FUCK THIS DUDE!!! Country Human looking-ass bitch, I want him dead and obliterated

Many violence, Yandere behavior, cut your leg off in a semi-canon series of illustrations, smashed your head into the passenger side window of his creepy van, chloroformed you in your own house, brought you flowers that were probably tainted with his own blood, given context from another route. Generally a terrible person. Also just very strange to look at :/

He knows what he did….😒

He broke into Y/N’s house and chloroformed them. Generally a really creepy and perverted guy. TK is better :/

Send that man to Worst Datable Hell! Put him in the trash file (he’s a pseudo-sentient AI, similar to Monika, so this threat is valid)! He sometimes looks like a kicked puppy when talking to you, but with your small contributions, we can make him look even more like a kicked puppy! Vote Peter King for Worst Datable Datable Character today! Bonus: Funny canon facts about him! - He can’t swim - He’s allergic to peanuts - He has to wear glasses, but usually wears contacts - He had an emo/goth phase in high school - He’s a YouTuber; he does product reviews - He has very strong mother issues (understandably) - He will respond to and greatly enjoy the nickname “Cockbite” (there are many other names he enjoys, but this one’s the funniest to me)

[bossuary]

ugh, i spent all day talking about solas, who is now our testy disembodied landlord, instead of writing about the sad humps humping in the humphouse.

[planesofduality]

Weird Skyhold things

I am still wanting to know why a torn page from Shaper Valta’s journal turned up in Skyhold’s Undercroft.

I am still waiting for this note to be relevant:

Difficult. To be clear, we can add all the equipment our backs can bear, but structural changes are best avoided. With new walls and such, you need anchors to tie in new stone, which means excavation. And I wouldn't go messing with the Undercroft. Seems like it was built to purpose, whatever that was. The whole keep has settled on top of it. It's weathered some serious heat and pressure; there are spots that feel like the inside of a forge. Large spots. No idea what that means. It's as solid as you get, so fill it full of tools and toys. But there's a dwarven name for someone who tries to change an old build like that: sodding fool.

If it still retains some special connection to the Fade or to the formation of the Veil, I could see a certain wolf wanting his castle back for 'reasons'.

[verdandir]

Meet the Character: Verdandir Sadi

► Name ➔   "I use the name Verdandir, as I grew fond of it. And Sadi when traveling. Two names are important... I think? I’m still figuring that out. Apparently it was a clan expectation for the race... well, anyway.” ► Are you single ➔ “Yes.” ► Are you happy ➔   “Hm. I believe so. At this moment in time.” ► Are you angry? ➔   “...I try not to allow that emotion a hold in my heart. It has corrupted my people too easily. However justified it was.” ► Are your parents still married ➔   “Married? Oh, that is not a custom of our kind. So no.”

NINE FACTS

► Birth Place ➔ “You refer to it as the ‘Churning Mists’, I believe?” ► Hair Color ➔ “Um... This is white. Scales would be, are, white as well.” ► Eye Color ➔ “Silver.” ► Birthday ➔ “I don’t remember? But I have taken the 13th Sun of the 6th Astral Moon as a date to make things... easier while traveling.” ► Mood ➔ “Hopeful.” ► Gender ➔ “Female.” ► Summer or winter ➔ “Both, though summer is comfortable for sun-basking when napping... And easier these days when traveling.” ► Morning or afternoon ➔ “Morning, I enjoy watching the sun rise.”

EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE

► Are you in love ➔ “NO. Ah, I am... not sure I want to be involved personally with that. Though I enjoy watching others who are? If that makes sense...” ► Do you believe in love at first sight ➔ “Not really.” ► Who ended your last relationship ➔ “I have never been in one.” ► Have you ever broken someone’s heart ➔  “I hope not.” ► Are you afraid of commitments ➔ “...In a sense, yes? Amoung my own kind, no... there is an understanding? To others? To... landlord races... yes. Oh yes.” ► Have you hugged someone within the last week? ➔ “Aside from my fairy, Ephirim? No.” ► Have you ever had a secret admirer ➔ “Um... I do not... know? How would I, if it was secret...Though that is a bit worrisome now that I consider it. Hrm. Though I suppose it would be flattering...? Provided they were respectful about it?” ► Have you ever broken your own heart? ➔ “In a romantic sense? No. Failing others? Yes.”

SIX CHOICES

► Love or lust ➔ “Neith... fine. Love, if you must.” ► Lemonade or iced tea ➔ “Lemonade.” ► Cats or Dogs ➔ “Both! They tend to find me and I enjoy their company.” ► A few best friends or many regular friends ➔ “A few best friends... easier when time moves them on.” ► Wild night out or romantic night in ➔ “....neither. Fine, fine. Quiet night in. I just am not one for romance, but those who are... I’m sure are.” ► Day or night ➔ “Both, though night allows one to see the stars. They are brilliant up in the ‘Churning Mists’.”

FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS

► Been caught sneaking out ➔ “Yeeees... during the ‘Dragonsong War’, as it has been called, I would venture out. I still hold it was not a mistake and I bare my scars with pride, the help I offered was mine to give... accepted or not. I regret nothing. I will never deny my nature.” ► Fallen down/up the stairs ➔ “Yes... Look, you go from all fours to... never mind. Let’s just say it was trial and error for awhile.” ► Wanted something/someone so badly it hurt? ➔ “Yes. Well, not really a physical ‘thing’ so much as a concept. Being born into a war and being surrounded by animosity and hatred, even one that is ‘justified’ is a horrible thing. Wanting it to end, just to stop, so badly it hurt? Oh yes...” ► Wanted to disappear ➔ “As a whelpl... growing up, there were times. When I felt useless and drowning in the situations around me. I won’t deny that. I’m lucky for the understanding of my mother.”

FOUR PREFERENCES

► Smile or eyes ➔ “Eyes. They are the windows to the soul.” ► Shorter or Taller ➔ “I suppose for this ah... form... Taller.” ► Intelligence or Attraction ➔ “Intelligence. I don’t really care about the appearance of others, it’s easily altered, now isn’t it?” ► Hook-up or Relationship ➔ “...Nei- Well, Relationship since it doesn’t specify ‘romantic’, fine. I’m just being clear, of course.”

FAMILY

► Do you and your family get along ➔ “Of course. I am a little ‘odd’ given my purely pacifistic nature, but as a whole, we all accept each other.” ► Would you say you have a “messed up life” ➔ “...I’m not sure I follow? By whose standards?” ► Have you ever ran away from home ➔ “I suppose I have now, but as an adult, I doubt that counts. So no. I did sneak out several times and did pay for it, but I never intentionally ‘left with the intention of not returning’. And right now I’m just going on a journey which is perfectly acceptable.” ► Have you ever gotten kicked out ➔ “No.”

FRIENDS

► Do you secretly hate one of your friends ➔ “Gracious, no. Why would they be my friend if I hated them. I try not to ‘hate’ anyone... if I find someone distasteful for any reason I distance myself from them.” ► Do you consider all of your friends good friends ➔ “Yes, if I consider someone a ‘friend’ and not just an ‘acquaintance’ then they are someone I would trust. I have very few of them for that reason.” ► Who is your best friend ➔ “Well, I tend to be very private... for obvious reasons. So Ephirim. Yes, that’s my fairy. So?” ► Who knows everything about you ➔ “My mother. Ephirim.”

Tagged by: A general tag through @lordofcrowns

Tagging: Whoever would like to

[bethrnoora]

glad y'all enjoyed Solas Landlord phone contact

[5lazarus]

Hey Laz! I'm very curious a about Fire in the Empire and Josephine, Leliana, the panties 👀🔥

And also Hilda if you feel like it because I love the name ❤️

hey!! thanks for the ask :) Fire in the Empire is the next chapter of Fen’Harel’s Teeth, based off this song. I like it because I think it describes every character’s state of mind as they tear through the Exalted Plains--Briala, Lavellan, Hawen, Solas, Blackwall, and Iron Bull. Especially Solas, Blackwall, and Iron Bull. here’s a snippet. I’ve always been fascinated with how you find the Soul Canto in the trenches, so I opened the chapter with it:

The girl is bleeding out all over the table, but under her is a leatherbound book that remains dry. Imladris tugs it out from under her, gently pushing the still-warm corpse aside. She can see the girl’s eyes through the grill of her armor. “What was she reading?” Iron Bull asks. Imladris examines the title. “The Tome of Koslun. Is she viddathari?” “Nah,” Bull says. “We moved all our spies out when the demons came.” The book is battered and the pages are thin and cracker-hard; it’s been left out in the rain before, and carefully dried. Carefully Imladris turns the pages, staining them with the grime and blood of her gloves. She reads aloud, “You have seen the greatest kings build monuments to their glory, only to have them crumble and fade. How much greater is the world than their glory? The purpose of the world renews itself with each season. Each change only marks a part of the greater whole. The sea and the sky themselves: nothing special. Only pieces.” She snaps it shut, thinking-not-thinking where she has heard it before, a Qunari woman in prison once, intoning those four words like a prayer to an atheist god, nothing special only pieces nothing special only pieces. The sounds of the fighting stops abruptly, and Blackwall comes crashing into the barracks. “That’s the last of them,” he says, panting. “The last of the demons. And the fucking Orlesians. Are you alright?” Imladris glances at the corpse, who turns its sightlesss eyes to gape at her. She blasts it with fire, leaping back towards the stairs as Iron Bull cleaves it with his huge greataxe. When they are done the girl is eviscerated, but whatever took her has returned in tatters to the Fade. They leave the room behind, but Imladris takes the Soul Canto with her.

For the Josephine/Leliana story, I signed up for Sapphic Solstice and my girlfriend ended up getting assigned me. This is the story she’s not writing, because I decided I wanted to do it. I decided I wanted to write more femslash in DA after she told me it accounts for less than 10% of fanfic, and why not them? I have only one line: “The food was bad and the shoes were worse.” Hilda, though, is a short story I’m working on, loosely based off my own grandmother. It’s about a whole host of things--how Eastern Europeans assimilated into USA whiteness & thus respectability, the rage of older women who have cut themselves into pieces for an ideal that has always lied to them, the sex work of bad marriages. I’ll put the rest under a cut. My original work tends to be very, very intense, though I've written some sillier stuff ("Nice Try, FBI" is the fucking funniest thing I've ever written, and I'm very proud of it). This one, though, is very much serious. Probably one of the nastier things I've written about, though I hope the fact that I'm writing it with compassion comes through. (but that's another conversation--I don't believe in writing with dislike!)

My grandmother was a Czech and Russian Jewish woman whose first language was not English, who told everyone she was Irish Catholic like her first husband, my grandfather, who died when my mother was a child. She kept having children to try and get that boy, put kept pushing out daughters, even as the family fell more and more into poverty. They’d move every month to avoid avoid getting evicted by the landlord when the rent was due, for example. And then my grandfather died, and my grandmother put herself to work as a secretary to explicitly seduce and marry her bosses, and netted three of them. She once told my mother, “Some women are meant to be secretaries. Others are meant to be married. I’m meant to be married.” That was the only two options she presented, and the only two options she still considers acceptable.

So it’s about those angry, hateful old women who never had any chance to be anything besides a helpmate for a man, who refused any chance to be anything besides a wife, who actively sabotaged her daughters and granddaughters who tried to be anything besides wives. There’s been this tendency in recent family epics I’ve seen from other white Americans writing about their ancestors’ “immigrant & assimilation experience” in very romantic terms, though the Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna pushes back against that for the Italian-American experience, and was what made me think that maybe it’s time to tell these stories that before, only get whispered after a few drinks while the women are cleaning up after Easter dinner in the kitchen. It’s experimental, and I suppose it's a very USA story! I want it to be fully drenched in its time--a small town half an hour outside of New York City, from the perspective of a woman who was born a bastard in 1938, raised by drunks and who married drunks. I’m writing it in the 2nd person and in stream-of-consciousness, and I took a break before I get to the climax. Here’s a snippet, content warning for the protagonist’s memory of antisemitism:

You do the dishes and run the water too hot, and you think about how you want a new kitchen, with enamel finishings, and little hens to pretend you have the comfort of a country life. Your mother was from the country, in the old country, and she hated New York. Too dirty, too loud, too prying. The neighbors would listen when she cried, and the whole neighborhood knew about the traveling salesman, and that he was a Jew, too. She’d cry over your curls; she herself was a perfect blonde, just like Jayne Mansfield, with the swoop of hair and a birthmark too. You hated it, you hated your hair, and so did your mother and she burned you and the kitchen too when you were a girl, trying to iron it out. The fire department all came and they laughed and they were rude to your mother, and the neighbors heard, and all the girls at school did too, and even after the birth of your third daughter, the women would smirk when you’d go by. You’re angry, you’re angry that you bleached your hair and you’re losing it, you’re angry that Shirley Temple had those curls and she never straightened them, everyone loved them and you had the same exact curls and nobody loved you, did they? Except those men. They loved something. At least you kept them away from your girls. Better than your mother, that’s the truth.

[baejax-the-great]

Quarantine Day 8

Back at the flat with Lara and Solas... Read the other days here!

~~

Lara hung up the phone and turned to Solas.

“She’s not coming. She says she’s fine, she has enough food for a year, and she’s not lonely. The first thing she did when she learned about the virus was adopt a kitten, so she’s set.”

Solas didn’t change expressions, but Lara knew he must be relieved her sister wasn’t coming to stay with them for the rest of quarantine.

“Any other news?”

“I got a weird message from Hawke, but I think it means they are all fine.”

“What about your parents?”

Lara wrung her hands together. “They’re fine for now. But my mother… she’s a nurse. They put up temporary housing in the city so the medical staff wouldn’t bring it back to their families. I just…”

Solas took her hand and prevented her from breaking her own fingers in her tight, anxious grasp. Lara focused on trying to untense her jaw while taking what was seemingly her first breath in a month. Then she was in his arms as he pressed her to his chest. And it was rude, it was so rude of this stupid virus that she was pressed up against what might be the best chest in the world in the softest sweater, with the best arms holding her tightly, and she still just couldn’t quite enjoy it.

“Can’t you just fix it?” she asked pathetically. “Target every little virus and zap it out of existence?”

“I don’t think anyone has that power,” he said gently, “Viruses are too small, too plentiful. There would be too much danger for killing the host.”

Lara knew this. But she couldn’t stop thinking about her mother working 12-hour shifts in the hospital, or her father sitting alone in their house. Would he call for help if he needed it? Or would he stubbornly think he could just… She never should have come to Orlais. She should have studied virology instead of physics, or better yet, done what Deshanna always wanted and just stayed home. She should have—

The elevator dinged, disrupting her chain of thought, and Lara shifted within Solas’s arms to see the doors open.

“We’re here!”

Solas’s arms fell to his side, and the two of them stood in baffled silence while Hawke, Fenris, Bethany, and Varric poured into the flat with bags and suitcases in tow.

Varric was the first to notice their stunned expressions. “Didn’t you get our messages? Hawke said you talked to her…”

“I was on the phone with my sister,” Lara said stupidly.

“Our only toilet broke,” Bethany said, “And our landlord—”

“Is a prick,” Hawke cut in. “But anyway, I wouldn’t want to force a plumber to be out during this time. And I wouldn’t trust one who wanted to be out during this time, and my own efforts at plumbing…”

“Will make more work for whoever eventually shows up in the future,” Fenris finished for her. “We may have voided our lease.”

Solas took a breath, and for a moment Lara thought he might tell them to leave. But when she looked at him, he was gazing at her, almost smiling. “The guest room is open,” he said with a wave toward the door, still looking at Lara, “And the studio can be converted for sleeping space as well.”

After a day of quiet fretting, tense phone calls, and too much silence, the flat was now full of activity as people unpacked and poured drinks and started cooking. Hawke had already taken up a chair, her feet hanging over arm, and was calling Fenris to look at her phone. “You have to see this puppy.”

“Is he… covered in jam?” he asked, while they both cooed. Lara wandered over to see, too.

“I hope you brought a deck of cards,” Solas called to Varric in the kitchen.  Lara caught his eye, and he gave her a fond smile. “And money to lose.”

“I brought cards, board games, and Hawke brought her video games, so once we lose all our money to you at cards, we can win it back teaching you how to race go-karts.”

Lara laughed, and for the first time this week she had something to look forward to—Solas learning a video game.

[mistresstrevelyan]

Apologies for my absence

I’ve had a lot of pain attacks recently and with my GP refusing to prescribe pain meds that work (He point blank accused me of lying about my pain) I was sick for the last week until my GP back home took pity on me and fixed my prescriptions until I can get a new local GP.

That said, I AM BACK with GREAT NEWS.

My social worker called and told me that I’m now on the Council Housing list and qualified for HAP (Rent supplement) meaning once I and my landlord fill out the forms and the social worker mails them out my rent will go down from 740 Euro to around 250 Euro. Meaning my financial issues are over and I can focus on healing and getting back to work.

I’ll answer all the Asks I got now (Mainly OC related) and I’m glad to be back.

ALSO I’m playing DU LAC & FEY: Dance of Death and Solas is Du Lac and he’s making me MELT.

I’m LOVING IT and I hope I can save Mary (Jane Kelly) from Jack the Ripper, she’s another protag based on Jack’s final (known) victim.

FAVE DU LAC MOMENT:

*Gets propositioned by a male sex worker*

Du Lac: Nu Nuh.

Sex worker: You think it’s a sin for a man to lie with a man?

Du Lac: Nah, the sin is paying for the delight of doing so! (IN SOLAS’ GD VOICE)

Anyway, I’ll answer my Asks now (TY for asking about my daughters) and I missed you guys A LOT!

/Persephone out

[masterskywalkers]

20. What-ifs/Alternate Timelines for Oscar and anyone else of your choice!

Ooooh let’s see! It’ll probably just be Oscar since this response got really long, but that’s because I love his AU’s and wish I had the time to sit and write them all.

We know it won’t likely happen though, since many of these AU’s are huge things because I have no chill and can’t think on a smaller scale like, ever.

Oscar Trevelyan

Modern AU - Oscar works as a male nurse at a hospital alongside Anders and Wynne. He has magical abilities still but doesn’t really reveal them, but sometimes uses them to treat certain wounds and burns that patients might have. He lives in a tiny apartment which he shares with Varric, whose a writer. The landlord is Cassandra, and she’s always convinced that Oscar and Varric are up to something (they are. They have a tiny pet nug that they keep and look after, which disobeys the ‘no pets’ rule she has). Oscar still dates Dorian - who is a college history teacher in this AU. A few years into their relationship he ends up moving in with him. His brother, Stephan, is about and often turns up to embarrass and dote on his baby brother whenever he’s found the time to fly down and visit Oscar. Oh, and of course this is the AU where Cullen and Ellana are running around and joining in on the craziness too ;)

Hidden mage AU - Stephan finds out Oscar has magical abilities before their parents know, and both of the brothers work hard to keep it a secret between them (and their sister, Johanna, since the siblings are always looking out for one another).One evening at an event held in a Magister’s house, Dorian finds Oscar struggling with his suppressed magical abilities in an empty room away from the other visitors. After Stephan appears and helps Oscar and the two brothers realise Dorian isn’t going to tell anyone about what he saw, Dorian offers to help Oscar control his abilities more in a safe environment. All the three of them need to do is figure out a way for Oscar to stay with him, Felix and Alexius for a while in Tevinter without arising suspicion.

Companion Oscar AU - Oscar dies a few years after the events of Inquisition, and Dorian uses time travelling magic to return to the past in the hopes he can warn him about Solas before things escalate too far. Only … he ends up in a completely different timeline where Stephan is the Inquisitor, and Oscar is one of the his companions. Dorian has to deal with the grief he still feels of the Oscar from his timeline dying, whilst also falling in love with the Oscar from this new timeline. This time, without the responsibilities of the word on his shoulders Oscar is happier, and has more freedom - something Dorian always wished was an option for his own Oscar. Oh, and the Dorian of this new timeline died in the battle of Haven (since Stephan recruited the Templars before attempting to find and recruit some of the mages), so Dorian finds the life he knows is set for him has changed significantly also. 

There was also another Oscar AU that was born through a 1x1 roleplay I was working on with someone a few years ago, which included another OC a friend had made who was going to help teach Oscar more about magical abilities he wouldn’t have learnt during his days as a Circle Mage. The two of them were going to find happiness for the first time in their lives since their lives had been not so great up until that point, and I remember ideas for teaching Oscar how to morph wings with his magic since the other character could transform into animals and ... man. I miss that story, might have to go and reread the threads later.

[206hq]

welcome  to  seattle,  janet  robinson,  sadie  rivers  &  randy  choi  !!  don’t  forget  to  hand  in  your  rent  for  the  month  to  your  landlord  within  24  hours  or  your  role  will  be  reopened.  tessa  thompson,  zoe  kravitz  &  min  yoongi  are  now  taken  !!

( tessa thompson, thirty-four, she/her ) by chance have you met JANET ROBINSON yet? i hear SHE has lived in WEST SEATTLE for THREE YEARS and works as a NURSE. i’m surprised you haven’t met them yet but for when you do, i hear they can be quite OVERTHINKER but also LOYAL. for whatever reason they remind me of BLOODY HANDS, WARM HUGS, WAVES CRASHING, AND DANCING ON A SUNDAY. ( sola, 23, she/her, eastern) **jason vettori’s ex-fiancé(e) wc

( zoe kravitz, twenty-eight, she/her ) by chance have you met SADIE RIVERS  yet? i hear SHE has lived in COLUMBIA CITY for TWENTY YEARS and works as a MUSIC TEACHER. i’m surprised you haven’t met them yet but for when you do, i hear they can be quite INTROVERT but also PLACID. for whatever reason they remind me of SOFT SMILES, PIANO QUIETLY PLAYING IN THE RAIN, AND SMELL OF TEA. ( sola, 23, she/her, eastern) **taylor flemming’s ex-girlfriend wc

( min yoongi, twenty-five, he/him ) by chance have you met RANDY CHOI yet? i hear HE has lived in DOWNTOWN  for EIGHT YEARS and works as a COLLEGE BASKETBALLER. i’m surprised you haven’t met them yet but for when you do, i hear they can be quite VENTURESOME but also AMIABLE. for whatever reason they remind me of WINNING GRIN, KISSES FROM UNKNOWN LIPS, AND WILD DANCING. ( sola, 23, she/her, eastern)

[solatgif]

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY: WEEKEND ROUNDUP FOR SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Last week we announced this year’s SOLA Leaders’ Dialogue. We seek to equip pastors and church leaders to thrive and aim to address various aspects of becoming healthy leaders. Tim St. John from Lighthouse Community Church will be speaking on cultivating emotional health. Michael Lee from All Nations Community Church will be speaking on cultivating organizational health. And Harold Kim from Christ Central Southern California will be speaking on cultivating relational health. Mark your calendars for Thursday, October 24th from 9:30AM - 12:00PM at Living Hope Community Church in Brea, California. Register for free and RSVP on our Facebook event page.

Our month-long focus on college is coming to a close. Gabe Lee, college group pastoral intern from my home church, FCBC Walnut, shared 3 Lessons Learned as a Pastoral Intern at an Asian American Church. We also published a piece by Shades Valley Community Church pastoral assistant John Kegley: College Freshman, Commit to a Church.

Our monthly SOLA newsletter has been redesigned and relaunches this evening. We will share statistics from the website, behind-the-scenes resources, and announce a series of giveaways. Subscribe today to stay up to date so you never miss out. If you have any links or recommendations to share, please tweet me @musicgoon or email me at aaron@musicgoon.com.

LINK ROUNDUP

1. Frank Shyong: Chinatown without Chinese grocery stores, and the delicate balance of ethnic communities

Writing for the LA Times, Frank Shyong offers an intimate look at how grocery stores, owners, customers, and landlords shape the past and form the future of ethnic communities and urban culture.

2. Glenn Herr: Those Were the Good Old Days, Right?

Glenn Herr has 30 years of experience living and serving in Hong Kong and China. He shares his reflections after reading Rachel Kleppen’s article, "Netflix Is Making It Harder to Be a Missionary.”

3. Rebecca Randall: Digital Bibles Help Men Read More But Retain Less

Writing for Christianity Today, Rebecca Randall reflects on a new report from the Journal of Religion, Media, and Digital Culture. Personally, I love using both physical and digital Bibles. It is wise to know where and how to work on better Bible reading, comprehension, and application.

4. Esau McCaulley: Why it matters if your Bible was translated by a racially diverse group

Rev. Dr. Esau McCaulley is the assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and writes this perspective piece for the Washington Post. He tweets, “I do believe that it matters that we have women and people of color involved in Bible translation for the good of the whole church.”

5. Trevin Wax: Kanye West, Justin Bieber, and What to Make of Celebrity Conversions

Trevin Wax writes for the Gospel Coalition and shares how celebrities help us see ourselves.

WEEKEND RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Brett McCracken: The Best New Worship Songs of the 2010s

You can listen to Brett McCracken’s selections on the TGC Spotify playlist or Apple Music playlist. Many of my favorites are included: My Worth Is Not in What I Own, The Lord Is My Salvation, He Will Hold Me Fast, and Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor.

2. Nancy Gutherie: Stephen Um on Teaching Micah

“In this conversation, Stephen Um—senior minister at CityLife Church in Boston and author of Micah for You—helps teachers understand the legal setting of the book of Micah with its charges, witnesses, evidence, verdict, sentence, and mercy. Um explains the difference between biblical justice and modern understandings of social justice, as well as key themes and images in Micah such as shepherds, kings, and mountains.”

3. Won Kwak: When to Stop Counseling Someone

“FTC.co asks Won Kwak, Lead Pastor of Maranatha Church in Fort Lee, NJ: "How do you know when to stop counseling someone?"

FROM SOLA

1. Owen Lee: Work Life: The Redemption of Work

“The Gospel doesn’t just give you the power to be a “good person” at work. It also gives you the power to do your work in a new kind of way. In other words, the Gospel doesn’t just impact how you behave as a person at work — it also impacts how you actually do the work itself.”

2. John Kegley: College Freshman, Commit to a Church

“What I now realize, however, is that my faith wouldn’t have grown nearly as much if I’d church-hopped during my college experience. Committing to a church changed my life. God used regular, mundane, and unglamorous commitment to a church to grow and strengthen my faith in significant ways. And promises to do the same for you through your regular commitment to a church.”

3. Gabe Lee: 3 Lessons Learned as a Pastoral Intern at an Asian American Church

“I have been a pastoral intern at the church I grew up in for two years now . During this time, I have felt like a rubber band being stretched slowly. God is constantly challenging me, showing me just how powerful He is, how gracious He is, and how loving He is. God never stops working to display His glory. He just keeps on going — the Energizer bunny that never stops drumming. Here are three lessons God has taught me these past two years.”

4. Tim St. John: 5 Dangerous Demands of Anxiety and How to Defeat Them

“Giving in to the demands of anxiety is similar to telling someone having a panic attack to hold their breath. If we address anxiety in the wrong way, it could be deadly. In the end, all our anxieties want to deceive us into building our own kingdoms and pull us away from seeking the Kingdom of God. Thankfully Christ rescues us again and again. May we each see the active love of God toward us in Christ today and treasure the sufficient grace he promises.”

5. Thank God It’s Friday: Weekend Roundup

In case you missed it, here are some headlines from last week: Russell Moore on Pornography, 4 Reasons for Christians to Dance podcast episode with Irene Paek, Netflix is Making it Harder to be a Missionary, and What Does Your Dad Do?