#lived enough in service to others if we want to work together we're being ourselves and ima throw down

[startacker]

What's the last piece of art you've seen that you would genuinely, comfortably, label as liminal and brutalist

Well then! This is a longer one but it was fun to write.

I think something that's important is what you generally define as "liminal" and "brutalist." There's also a level of care that I have towards others works to not lump in with trends that they wouldn't want to be thrown into. I think how I genuinely define both to ourselves is good enough though.

Liminal to us refers to a transitional place; a hallway, bus stop, something you use to get from one place to another, and instead just being within it without using it for that. There's another defining way to us is being within a space that you're really only in at certain times, such as a park in the day, and then being in it at say, night time. There's folks that'll probably disagree with how I'm defining it for ourselves but the term is so loosely defined as-is that there's a good amount of nuance you can have on it.

Brutalist is Brutalism. Whether it be that its an actual brutalist building or if it has the essence of one: large, towering structures or constructs with relatively geometric shapes, bare materials holding it together with huge supports, and a size that easily dwarfs a person. Good example to me is Dallas City Hall, which I don't even think images get across how massive it is.

There's also the question of what you consider art but that's an entirely different subject that we are not qualified at all to even think of discussing, so!

We've been on a kick recently of revisiting old Map Labs competitions, in particular Eye Candy, and even more particularly, Monastery, from Ian "Idolon" Spadin. It's a huge brutalist monastery on the beach, without anyone home in it. I always really liked its indoor spaces as it feels tidy and lived in, but with nobody there anymore.

It feels "liminal" in the way that some of these spaces weren't in use when they were left. Chairs and tables are put away, small items are placed neatly away, and anything that looks off is amplified because of it. It looks like it's still in use, but no one is there.

There's a very implied story behind this entry, not one that is directly given to the player but one that can be gleamed from as you look around and pick up clues. It's very background in the service of having you figure it out yourself as a complete outsider.

It's also just pretty. The sound design is phenomenal and clever to grab your attention. It's hard to get across that through images so I really implore folks to give it a look (and at the other entries in Eye Candy!)

You can take a gander at this and Eye Candy here and Idolon's website here. I know they follow us here so if you see this then we're sorry. I think.

[oldwaysofknowing]

Being forced into society is ruining everybody's lives.

There are a ton of problems with community living. There's also a shocking lack of research into how being forced to live around others might be detrimental to our health (mental or otherwise). If you do an internet search right now with something like "negative effects of living around other people," all you'll find are articles about how self-isolation leads to depression, how friendship is one of the keys to happiness, and so on. The internet seems to be bought and sold by extroverts.

So, since no one else is addressing it, I'll get the ball rolling: Living around other people fucking SUCKS.

Because according to the subliminal-not-so-subliminal rules of living around others, you owe something to everyone else. That's 8.2 billion people whose feelings you're supposed to consider before making any statement or taking any action. Ever.

Before you skim past what I just said, read it again. And if you're still so conditioned as to think it's normal to owe your life to people who aren't you, I invite you to slow down and consider the contrast to how it once was:

Humans once lived miles away from each other, with vast spaces in between us. We went days, weeks, months without seeing another human being. Though families/clans/what have you traveled together for safety in numbers, that is still not a society. And it's definitely not society as we're enduring it today.

Fast forward: Camps became villages, villages became townships, townships became cities. Industrial Revolution, blah blah blah. What we're left with is a batshit crazy number of people forced to live together and get along because...?

It used to be you lived and died with your inner circle. If you wanted to be social, you left your house. Now, everybody's life belongs to everybody else.

Except the way they've taken your life in this universe is by domesticating the generations before you, then making basic necessities so unaffordable that they can corral you into living in a city with hundreds, thousands, millions of strangers, who deep down don't want anymore to do with you than you don't want with them. But you try to make the best of it because you have no other options, so you go to Target, blow money to make your apartment/house (pen) look pretty, turn on your streaming service, and try to turn off the fact that you're stressed as fuck, overstimulated as fuck, worked hard as fuck, and that there's seemingly no end in sight.

Except get this: Even once you have a place of your own, it's not your own. You either owe someone for it, are forced to share it with others, or both. Nowadays we only experience the illusion that any of us have a place to ourselves. Humanity used to have peace and quiet in spades; now our sanity is as thin as the walls between us.

With the right to privacy gone and society becoming more and more emotionally interdependent, our health is plummeting from getting no true aloneness. Even when we're alone, the noises created by others negate the feeling of true separation. The constant sound of other peoples' existence... the constant anxiety that any brief peace we find will soon end... It's enough to drive you out of your mind.

Here are statements from real human beings who are also bowing under the weight of living in a society:

"…there were times I would just sit in my car and cry because it was the only place I could go that was quiet."

"I ended up in a straight up abusive situation with a former housemate...as they felt entitled to every ounce of my time and energy while also thinking they could treat me like garbage."

It's no wonder we're at war all the time: the love of money and the modern inability to be able to ignore each other. That's one of the skills we've lost, one of the things we now suck at the most, being able to ignore each other. And how can we be good at it? We've been conditioned in the other direction for so long, taught to fake our way through interactions rather than honestly disagreeing or ignoring.

Once upon a time, you might've only seen another person once a week, passing each other on your buggies. A tip of the hat, a smile, maybe a polite word, and that would've been it. Now, we're not only navigating basic human interaction, but we're expected to know about, care about, and participate in overblown, overthought, social propaganda practices such as "the female gaze," "microaggression," religion, political correctness... We've created a collective consciousness. And we have only to look at basically any dangerous uprising throughout history-- think of the throngs that showed up to chant in support of Hitler's plans to "bring people together in harmony"-- to see where this is heading.

It's enough to paralyze you. And doesn't that sound a little too similar to sitting in your apartment building, which you share with a hundred strangers, tuning out your own emotions, needs, desires, life, to the newest "Most Watched" show on Netflix?

One of my good friends is a guy with what many people would call a "cold" mindset. Picture the rage of George Carlin coupled with the stoicism of Marcus Aurelius, and you've got an image you can go by. Despite this (actually, because of this), he has a great sense of humor about life. Once he laughs off a problem or a person, he's truly done with it. No matter that we're living in an age when every one of his words and actions is being micro-scrutinized. Unless he's truly made a mistake (that's an important caveat) or unless something affects him (or his inner circle) personally, he doesn't give a flying fuck.

I once heard him say something, and though it wasn't directed at me, his words have been changing my life:

"Why do I have to like you?"

I believe the silence with which most people would answer this question is evidence enough of how unsustainable it is as a basis for social behavior and societal construction. I plan on writing a second part to this essay which will focus on this question and how it ties into the problem of societal living.

As for me, if you haven't guessed, I've said, "Fuck being part of society" already. As much as I can right now, at least. And you can too.

But I'm telling you: If you think like this as well, and if you want to start living it, you're gonna make some enemies, and you'll also have to make some sacrifices. For one, you'll have to unplug. Completely. Unplug from the power source and stop downloading what everybody else is about. Get as far away from society as you can get, somewhere where you can remember what you are about. What was it you thought, again? What was it you wanted from your life? Go out there and remember.

And for the love of god, stay away from me.

Resources:

[the-firebird69]

There's some oxygen deprivation going on You need to get the mall air going and yes vital and dryness wife and water Ariana was listening and it kind of teamed up and found out what it was it's blocked up and it's because it's full of dirt so we're going to try and fix it and get the AC guy there and people are trying That's taking all morning and people are calling and calling and just has not done anything and the guy is not showing up and it's a major client and it's supposed to be doing a service agreement and they find out they're being rook and they are deciding on what to do about it and it's been months and our son said Jesus could be molding detectives and it's not moldy but they want to remove the filters say it's better to put air in the nun and our senses of course it's requirement and they don't say you have to filter the air they just say you have to have air it's actually true in the air is not dusty out here right now so they took it out on a couple of them and tried it and it works and it gets the size of the filter and our senses any filter will work until you get the filter required as long as it fits and doesn't have to actually fit snugly because the air pressure keeps it there and so they're putting something in and it's going to work and back as though export and he knows what he's saying they have ones to do it with static and they work a little and they catch things that are pretty big there are others that work pretty good and they fit a little turn it on and it sucks it and it filters so people hoping to have air and there's 10 units but the two that they took them out of huge some people will be encouraged and they're going to check on it

-one thing is that they're doing this to people the whole time and it's a whole bunch of them and they're just stupid so it's not very good and it's a hateful thing and people are angry about it and we are getting them there's other things happening here these pseudo empire is slowly taking over and these guys are going away even though they have a lot of people left in the general population and still 12% and they are not interested in coming here as much and their generals are dying and regents are almost gone and they're in these areas getting beat up you think they'll be losing 2%, I think we're at 11.5% and we're in this thing 2% is going down so it'll be 9.5% this morning if they don't come back and more later that's a lot and it's starting to get you know smaller but they're not small and they're aggravating they don't want to breathe they don't want money they don't want businesses that's changing a little too and people will probably take from them. It is going on that they're infighting quite a bit and at 20% and that's globally there's a lot of it a lot more than they thought and they're actually trying to start more and fighting over it clones are fighting them too and taking stuff so they're getting it from all different directions but even when occupied they are quite annoying and is it disgusting scene here it doesn't look normal at all

-and minority morlock are trying to fight them but can't there's not enough of them all together they're about 5% versus 11% and it's time it's tough and so they're moving out more shortly but the odds are going to change today a little bit it'll be 9.5% versus 5% and it will start shifting quite rapidly towards the end of the day we believe because of their plan to go after small Stone ships that Max owned and the max will probably reprise and they're in different areas so I thank you for listening and let's have a positive day

Thor Freya

So his son says yay and we know the reaction is here

Olympus

Hahaha there's a lot of fun he does that and it's a pain in the ass. But we're building these vehicles for ourselves and a lot of people are starting to see some of the places where and we're fighting and it's mostly these s*** heads and their lives and we're hitting tons of them and it's happening to other groups and they're hitting them too and they're going after the factories and they're getting hit and the numbers are going to go off of their losses exponentially and it will increase because of the ships too and their idea there's more to it too there's huge groups going after them all over the world and for stuff and their stashes and caches in the Parks and cities and the cold in the conduits huge wars and huge battles and the warlock Mack are in there first and they're going to pay and they're going to lose and we do estimate that's why it's going down to clarify

Hera

[terubakudan]

This may be an old article from 3 years ago, but these cultural aspects/observations still apply even today. And though this is strictly a Chinese perspective, a lot of these everyday life bits are observed in Overseas Chinese communities in countries such as The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. as well as countries heavily influenced by Chinese culture like Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.

I've always liked learning about other cultures and making comparisons between how things are done East vs West. Which probably stems from growing up with two cultures and Mom raising me on American movies xD

So the irony is if you asked me how many Chinese, Taiwanese, or Hong Kong actors I know, chances are I know as much as you do xD Like Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, and that's about it. But if you asked me about Western (specifically American and British) actors, then I have a useless brain dump of movie trivia and who was with who in what movie xD

Hmmm, both Taiwan and the Philippines are two distinct cultures but both look up to a certain country and are fascinated by that. In Taiwan's case, Japan and the US for the Philippines. In both cases, this is due to being under the rule of those countries in their history. Taiwan being under Japan for 50 years, and the Philippines being under Spain for 300+ years, followed by periods of American and Japanese rule. To put it simply though:

Taiwan is "mini-Japan with a very Chinese culture".

The Philippines is "former colony of Spain with lots of American influences".

But unlike the author, I've never set foot in any Western country, so my understandings are strictly what I've observed in media, which while it can be accurate, doesn't compare to actually experiencing the culture.

Some further elaboration on most points:

#1 We quite literally use chopsticks for everything. We use it to pick rice, viands, vegetables, fruit, smaller desserts, almost all the food you can think of.

But where do you put your chopsticks when you're not using them? Just put them on top of your bowl or flat on your plate. But do not ever stick them vertically. It's taboo, since it looks like incense sticks, which we use to pray for those who have passed, like our ancestors or during funerary services.

#3 The majority of Asia is obsessed with fair/white skin. In my time at the Philippines, I grew up watching all these Dove Whitening commercials and my classmates often commented on how fair my skin was, how they envied it etc. In Taiwan, girls often say they don't want to 變黑 (biàn hēi) 'become dark'. Japan and Korea too are not innocent of this either (if their beauty/skin products weren't a dead giveaway).

People here at Taiwan often mistake me for being from Hong Kong or Japan (as long as I don't speak Mandarin with my heavy accent xD). A Taiwanese classmate of mine joked that she often gets mistaken for being from Southeast Asia due to having a darker complexion. And while I laughed it off with her at that time, looking back, I now realize she was lowkey being racist. xD

And believe me Filipinas have mentioned literally being told 'your skin is so dark' here in Taiwan, or being given backhanded compliments like 'you're pretty despite having dark skin' and...*facepalms*

My point is, beauty is not exclusive to skin color. People who still think that are assholes.

#5 Not to say we don't have salt and pepper, but yes soy sauce and vinegar are the classic condiments you see on the table, be it at home or at a restaurant.

And if I may add, Taiwanese love their pepper. xD If you ever get to eat at a night market or a smaller "Mom n' Pop-style" restaurant here, some dishes/soups tend to add quite an excessive amount of pepper. Not like anthills, but quite liberally and way more than average. Enough that you see traces of pepper at the bottom of the food paper bag or swirling in your soup. xD

#6 I know this all too well from personal experience. In my years of studying at Taiwan, I always had roommates. 3 in my first school (I graduated high school in the Philippines pre K-12 so I had to make up 2 years of Senior High), followed by 2 in college, with the exception of 1 in freshman year.

My college did offer single person dorms but at around 9000 NTD ($324) per month compared to around 6000 NTD ($216) per semester. Because I wanted to save, the choice was obvious for me xD. But ah, this doesn't mean I don't value personal space, in fact I love having the room to myself, and since both my roomies would go home to their families every weekend, weekends were bliss for me xD

And you don't have to be friends with your roommates (that's an added bonus however), you just have to get along with them. I was quite lucky to have really great roommates all throughout my schooling years.

#9 In the Philippines, we do. Owing mostly to American influences and maybe being predominantly Catholic? xD

#10 *sigh* Chinese parents and parents from similar Asian cultures tend to put too much emphasis on grades, so much that kids could get sent to cram school as early as elementary. This is because what school you get into could literally affect your future job opportunities, and while that's not exclusive to any particular country/culture, I feel it's especially pronounced here in Asia. I'm really lucky my own parents weren't that strict about it. However, if your parents don't point the mistakes out to you, chances are you'll do it yourself, if you're an Asian kid like me anyway. xD It just becomes a habit.

#11 My family is an exception to this. xD We do say 'I love you' directly, but complete with the 'ah eat well ok?', 'don't scrimp on food', 'sleep well' and similar indirect words/actions of affection. We were doing 'Conceal, Don't Feel' before it became popular. xD

#13 I'm kind of confused about this but this has sort have changed over the years in which eye-contact is now more encouraged. But don't stare, especially at elders and authority figures. Sometimes it's just shyness though. xD And I've observed this with my own Taiwanese friend, especially when I'm complaining or ranting to her about something. xD I'm a person who likes to express my opinions strongly, which tends to scare/alienate some of the locals here, as doing so is kind of frowned upon. Thankfully, she does listen and offers her take on things.

#14 Ah this. xD In the Philippines, this is a common greeting known as beso-beso, and I freaked out too when an auntie did that to me. xD Needless to say, Mom lectured me later on what that was. ^^"

#16 Along with #3 another crazy beauty standard. In my view, people always look better with a little meat on them and when they're not horribly thin. Asia still has a loonng way to go with accepting different types of bodies if you ask me. This combined with modern beauty standards has made the pressure for women especially to 'look beautiful' higher than ever.

I know many people love them but please, starving yourself or glorifying eating disorders is never OK just to get this kind of 'ideal' body. I'm not part of the Kpop fandom, but even I think when idols get bullied just for gaining the least bit of weight among other insensitive comments, that's really going too far.

#17 'If you want to make friends, go eat.' <- I couldn't agree more. In the Philippines we have a greeting: 'Kumain ka na ba?' (Have you eaten?) . Similarly in Taiwan, we have 吃飯了沒? (chī fàn le méi), both of these can mean that in the literal sense but are often used as greetings instead. By then which invitation to having lunch/dinner together may or may not follow. Food really is a way for us to socialize and to catch up with what's going on in each other's lives. Not to say we don't have regular outings like going out to the mall, going shopping, etc. but eating together is a huge part of our culture, be it with family or friends.

And while I'm at it, some memes that are way too accurate good to pass up xD

Parents, uncles, aunties alike will fight over the bill xD

Alternatively:

You just space out until your name is called xD

My parents are guilty of the last one. Logic how? xD

#18 True. xD I like giving compliments out to people but I have a hard time accepting them myself, though I've learnt how to accept them much more now than before. We're kind of raised to constantly downplay ourselves so we often say things like 'ah no no' or 'I'm really not that good'. The downside of this of course is that it can come off as somewhat fake. xD

Again from personal experience, that same classmate who made the lowkey racist remark, she was good, she was on the debate team, was a honor student, knew how to mingle with people, but she downplayed herself way too much, while praising me but I honestly thought that she never really meant it from how she treated me. She wanted to keep me around her yet make backhanded compliments at me and she didn't want me socializing with my other classmate who is now my friend. *sigh* It was only after discussing this with one of my roomies did I realize how this 'excessive downplaying' might come off to people like me who more or less grew up with a more 'Westernized' mindset. I'm not saying brag about your achievements but don't be overly humble about them either, which can also be a turn off.

#20 We do tend to be a lot more realistic on how we view things, neither entirely optimistic nor pessimistic. We try to think of things practically and often analyze things on pure logic. A downside of this however, is that Chinese people can be overly practical. Taiwanese for instance don't like to 'find inconveniences' and generally keep to themselves, meaning, they won't help you in your hour of need even when they do have the capabilities. Sounds really harsh I know, but in my 6 years of living in Taiwan, while this doesn't apply to all the people, a lot of them really do only find/talk to you when they need something.

So for some people saying Taiwanese are 'friendly', that's BS xD If you ask me, Filipinos are infinitely more friendly, and again while not all, generally make more of an effort to help you when you need it. I really felt more of a real sense of community during my years growing up in the Philippines compared to Taiwan.

#21 Children do tend to stay with their parents well into college and adulthood, since Chinese families are indeed very family-oriented, in a lot of cases, grandparents often live under the same roof as us as well! And it really does save a lot of money. I see there's a real stigma in the US when it comes to "living with your parents", but that's starting to change especially because of Covid and having more and more people move back in with their parents.

Housing unfortunately is pretty much hella expensive no matter where you go, and Taiwan is no exception. Steep housing prices and the very high cost of raising a child (schooling + buxiban fees, etc.) contribute to a very low birth rate and thus an aging population like Japan. It's not uncommon to see both parents working in Taiwan.

#23 I'm an overthinker myself, but I totally agree with the author that the best is to strike a good balance between these two. Which I guess is why I love drawing or any other related creative attempts, it helps me be more spontaneous or well, creative! I like to remain intellectually or artistically inspired.

#24 Is French high school really like that? xD My friend did watch SKAM France and more or less got a culture shock from what was depicted on the show. I can confirm however that most high schools both in the Philippines and Taiwan require students to wear a uniform, only in college is everybody free to wear casual/civilian clothes.

#26 Ah this is part of our Asian gift-giving etiquette xD We always open gifts later after the event/meeting and in private. Never open them in front of the person who gave it to you or in front of others. This is to prevent any 'shame/embarrassment' that may result both to yourself and to the gift giver. I know this may come off as something weird since some people may want a more honest response or immediate feedback when it comes to gift-giving, but that's just how it is in our culture. You're always free to ask us though (in private) if we liked the gift or not ^^"

#28 I want to say the same goes to drinking, partying, and drugs however xD Those are things which are still frowned upon in our culture. And to be honest, whenever I see those in movies, it does kind of turn me off xD It doesn't mean that we're "uncool" or "boring", we just think that there are much better or healthier ways of "having fun".

#31 Is this true in France?! Man I would kind of prefer that instead of people being on their phones all the time xD This kind of goes with #20 in that Chinese are overly practical or logical, and don't read fiction as much as nonfiction. My Taiwanese friend is an exception though, she's a bibliophile who loves the feel of paper books compared to e-books, and it's a trait of her that I like a lot. Both the Philippines and Taiwan however have a huge fanbase when it comes to manga and anime though.

I'm all for reading outside of "designated reading" at schools especially. Reading fiction improves your vocabulary too, and can be quite fun! It helps you imagine and really invest in a world/story, and if you ask me something that I feel Westerners are better at, they're more in touch with their emotions and creativity, and are thus much more able to write compelling or original stories. Believe me, I've seen a fair amount of Chinese movies that rip off Western movie plotlines xD

#33 Nothing much to add on here..except that since I'm a "weird" person, Mom often jokes that she got the wrong baby from the hospital. xD

#35 True. While I agree with the care and concern that your fellow community can give you, the downside of this is we tend to only hang out with our own people, e.g Chinese with Chinese, Taiwanese with Taiwanese, etc. I've seen too that it's especially hard to make friends in Japan and Korea as a foreigner. Not only is there the language barrier, but the differences in culture too. In a way, Asians can be pretty close-minded on getting to know other cultures or actually making friends with people from other countries. I know this all too well being half-Taiwanese/half-Filipino, being neither "Filipino" enough nor "Taiwanese" enough. xD It's more of people here being too used to what they're comfortable with.

#36 Oh this is something I feel that Chinese students and other students from similar cultures should really improve on. xD How will people respect you if you don't speak your mind?

I felt bad especially for my Spanish teacher in college, granted it was an introductory course (Spanish I and II) but the amount of times that our teacher had to prompt a student to recite/speak even with clear hints already made her (and me too) extremely frustrated. The thing is, these are college students, I personally feel they don't have any reason to be so shy of speaking and technically by not doing so they're slowing the pace of the class too much and a lot of time is wasted.

Unfortunately you can't always be very vocal with your thoughts and opinions in most Asian cultures. I would say strive for that, but at the same time, play your cards well, especially if you're in a workplace setting.

If you made it to the end, thank you for reading and here's a cookie! 🍪 I'm not perfect and there's bound to be something I missed so please let me know if you spotted anything wrong. Feedback/questions are very much welcome and please feel free to share about your country/culture's differences or similarities!

[onebangtanstan]

Power Style - Chapter Twelve : The group

I am in shock. Everyone is turning to me, following his gaze. They're starting to understand what is going on.

"KIM NAMJOON ARE YOU SERIOUS???" I'm yelling.

Yoongi tries to catch me as I start walking angrily towards Namjoon. As I'm arriving near him, I extend my arm and point my finger at him.

"You and me. Outside. Now."

He follows me out, and we're now facing each other once again. This is starting to become a habit. The cold doesn't even bother me at this point, my body is so hot from the rage.

I put a distance between us to be able to fully look at him while I spit my anger. He's standing as if nothing was wrong, with his hands still in his pockets, smirking at me.

I start scolding him.

"How could you do this?! You know how photoshoots work. And you just randomly decide to change your whole aesthetic?! As if it couldn't have waited until tomorrow?!" I am telling him off as if we was my child. I barely see the boys come out, I am too focused on him. "This is my job, and probably the biggest account I've ever done, and the only thing you seem interested in is how to fuck it up for me! What the fuck did I ever do to you?!" I can't see anything but his smirk at this point, which only enrages me more. I can't stop. "You are the most arrogant, annoying, disrespectful, ungrateful-" I vaguely hear someone call out my name "-cockiest piece of-"

"GINA!" I finally turn around to the sound of Jin calling me. He's standing right beside me. "Don't give into him." He whispers, looking deep into my eyes. He's right. I start to realize what I've just done.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. No. What did I just do?" Jin takes me in his arms, which instantly heats me up. I didn't realize it but my body is numb from the cold.

"Breathe, Gina, breathe." Tae and Kook are beside us now too.

"Dude, even I wouldn't have went that far, and that's saying something." I hear Jimin talking to Namjoon.

Hobi is on the phone and soon hands his phone to Namjoon. Someone is obviously on the line, because I immediately hear a voice coming out of the device. Given the look on his face, he's probably being told off by someone above him, and he doesn't seem happy about it.

"Are you okay?" Hobi asks, arriving near our little crowd. "Do you need anything?"

I think of something. Something I haven't done in a very long time. But it's the only thing I can think of right now.

"Um.. I don't know.. I think I.." Why am I embarrassed? "To be honest I thinks I need a cigarette." I can tell that they weren't expecting this, but I see no judgement on their faces.

"Don't move." says Kook before running off to the parking lot.

He's back a few seconds later with a packet of cigarettes and a lighter.

"They're all yours. My drivers treat." I smile at him.

"Could I have some time alone guys?" They all nod, Jin takes me in his arms once again and proceeds to give me his coat.

As they walk back inside, I start looking for a place where I can sit down. Once that's done, I hold the packet in my hand and stare at it for a long time. Fuck it. I take one out and light it up, feeling the nicotine spread to my body.

I sit there and smoke my cigarette while staring ahead of me, contemplating what I just did. I hope this doesn't cost me the account, or even my job. I royally fucked up on this one, I never should have snapped that way at him. He's my fucking client.

I hear footsteps coming towards me, making my eyes focus again. I see Namjoon walking towards me.

"Please, just go." I tell him.

"I just want a light." What? He smokes? "Don't make that face, it's one cigarette here and there. Plus, I don't owe you anything. Give me the lighter."

"You do owe me this campaign." I start. "As for the rest, I agree. But it's not an excuse to treat my like shit."

"Please may I have your lighter?" He says ironically.

I simply lift my eyes up, handing him it. I can't get mad again.

I look up at him while he takes his first puff. Ok, he's hot. The hair colour really suits him, but it doesn't excuse the fact that he did it in the middle of shooting a campaign.

"Gina," The tone he's using startles me. I've never heard him talk to me like that, calmly, no anger in his voice. "I was just on the phone with my boss. I would like to apologize for what I did. I know it could have compromised all the work you've done." Sounds like a fake apology, but ok I'll take it.

"Look, Namjoon. We don't have to like each other. It's what I told you yesterday. But we are going to have to find a way to work together. We'll be seeing each other everyday for the next 6 months or so, and I can't be in this state of mind every time we see each other. And I most certainly can't fuck this account up, if I didn't already, it would jeopardize my entire career."

"Don't worry about that, the blame is on me." This feels weird. It's the first time we're talking without fighting. "As for work, I agree. What if we don't talk unless it's about Fila and the promotion? Would that work out?"

"Yeah I guess. We don't have a reason to talk other than that so yes." Wow. That was mature of him. "But it doesn't fix your hair problem."

"I'm an ass, I'm not stupid. I had a wig made exactly like how my hair looked yesterday."

That fucker. So it really was just to piss me off. He wanted to make a grand entrance, and he wanted that reaction of me. I swear t- Stop. Don't start again.

I simply stand up, finish my second cigarette -that I lit up unconsciously- and head back inside.

The atmosphere is tense when I walk in, and all heads turn to me. I sense a general relief when they see that I have calmed down.

"All right guys, we're shooting today. We've lost enough time, so let's speed everything up to finish in time." I direct to my staff.

The boys are almost done with makeup, while Namjoon is heading towards them, his wig in his hand.

"You are such an asshole." Jimin snarks

30 minutes go by, and we are all set to go. We start shooting, but we can still sense the tension in all of their faces.

"Guys, it's not working." I let them know. "Let's take a 15 minutes brake, have a coffee, some food, some air, I don't know, but let's all come back with a good energy, okay?"

Everyone scatters around the room. I sit down on my chair and just stare vaguely at the set up. A cup of coffee appears in my vision. The hand holding it is attached to Jin. He's standing beside me, Yoongi, Hoseok, Tae and Kook around him.

"Thank you" I smile at him as I grab the cup.

"What do you need Gina? We'll do anything to make your life easier." Jin is now kneeling down beside me.

I think for a bit but know exactly what has to be done. "Could you make us laugh?"

"WorldWide Handsome, at your service, you know?" I giggle. I knew this could lift my mood.

For the rest of the brake, I just watch Jin head over to each crew member, asking them if they know BTS. Kook is back to being the carefree boy he usually is, Tae and Hobi are having a dance battle with Yoongi as a judge.

From the side of my eye I can Jimin and Namjoon near the toilet, but don't pay too much attention to them. I focus on the others.

"All right people, let's get back into it!" Everyone takes their places, and we can already feel the mood has lifted up. Jin keeps telling jokes the whole time we shoot, making everyone relax as time goes by.

We take all the pictures we need before lunch. The company has ordered a bunch of food for us, and while we're waiting for it to arrive, I have a look at this mornings' shots. They are very good. I can see each of their personalities in them, but also their complicity. I stare at one particular pictures of them, and I think it will be the main visual for the campaign. I guess Jin had just made a joke, making Jungkook and himself laugh. The others all have a little smile on their faces. They look really cute.

"Hey, they're good looking men." Jin is looking over my shoulder. He points at himself. "Especially this guy."

"He's Jin from BTS, do you know them?" I smile at the sound of his laugh "He's known as WorldWide Handsome."

"I can see why." He answers.

The food finally arrives, and we all dig in. Well, almost all of us. I see Jimin roaming near the buffet, trying to decide what to go for. He ends up putting his plate back down and grabbing a apple and a bottle of water.

We finish eating and start cleaning up behind ourselves. I notice the apple on the table, half-eaten, and no Jimin. This is fucked up. He looks great, why does he do that to himself? I shouldn't say that, I know why he does that. Part of the reason I became an addict in the first place was because I thought I was fat. Nope, not going to think about that. I quickly clear my mind and focus on the filming part we have to do this afternoon.

The boys get changed while we arrange the set for the filming. I gather everyone around, staff and band, to give my directions.

"Okay everyone, we don't have much time to do this, and we will most likely have to do only one take per person. I'm gonna need everyone to put out their best work in order to make everyone else's lives easier. Do we all know what we have to do? Okay perfect, we can do this guys!"

Everyone rushes to their place, while I fill the boys in on what I'm going to need from them. They take place in front of the camera.

"Are we all ready? Aaand Action!"

We film all afternoon. Everything goes smoothly and I feel very relieved knowing we'll be done today. The only thing left will be the editing, and we'll be spending all weekend on that.

"We have everything we need guys! Thanks so much everyone, it's wrap!" I start clapping at my team, and everyone tags along.

I then head to the band.

"Thank you, you were brilliant today." Well almost. Thanks Namjoon. "I'll keep you updated during the weekend on how the editing is going. You can go now, thanks again."

As they head back to the dressing room, I start helping my team pack everything up. We have to empty the whole place since we won't be needing it anymore. I notice Namjoon and Jimin leave, but to my surprise, the others are helping out.

"Hey, no you don't have to do that."

"We said we wanted to make your life easier. This helps you all leave sooner." Jin says, as he picks up a cable.

"Yeah, and you and I have plans, so I'm staying until you're done. Might as well help out." Hobi tells me.

"Thank you guys, I really appreciate it."

We all get back to cleaning up, and we're done in about 30 minutes.

The crew leaves one by one with their respective equipment, but I have to stay until everyone is gone.

Jin comes up to me. "I have to go, but call me tonight?" He's holding my face in his hands. I nod and smile back at him, he answers with a kiss on my forehead. Yoongi leaves with him, and simply waves goodbye at me from afar.

Tae and Kook both give me a hug goodbye not long after Jin left. "Dinner at mine on Monday? To celebrate the launch." Tae asks.

"Absolutely!" I tell him.

Everyone is gone now, expect for Hobi who is just sitting on the floor. "Are we good to go?"

I check one last time if everything is in order, grab my stuff, and head out the door. I lock it behind me and turn to him, a smile on my face. "Let's go."

[sirro85-blog]

Humans are Space Orcs

Part 2

When Major Kovac returned to the accommodation his mercenary unit the "Dark Horses" were currently occupying his injuries, the attack by the Flet and his survival via an item of fruit seemed for some reason to cause a broad range of reactions.

His lover Captain Becca first looked nauseated when seeing him bleeding, then embraced him fiercely and then slapped him for getting hurt.

Captain Wolf seemed shocked more that Kovac was slowed by his blood loss than that he had overcome three "winged fucking puma" before joining in with Captain Dorman who both laughed and mocked while Kovac's wounds were cleaned, sterilized and dressed - this appeared to be a painful process.

Captain Gillespie was concerned for the safety of the Major and the rest of the unit.

Various riflemen in Kovac's service took moments to visit their commander and confirm he was ok, some like Knickers and Sergeant "Panther" both spoke of seeking immediate vengeance, others wanted to know how soon he would recover. Different human responses to the same event is something I've never fully understood.

Finally Kovac called a meeting of his commissioned officers. I was allowed along to witness.

"So if it's not personal and Kovac is adamant he hasn't stuck his bellend in a Flet, it can't be to stop us taking a contract as we have one lined up it must be professional, something from back in the day." Captain Becca said.

"That is a lot of history, we all served together in the United Nations Galactic Defence Force, the Galactic Defence Force and we've had 3 years as the Dark Horses, I can count a dozen conflicts with the Flet as primary antagonists and perhaps another dozen where they've been involved to some degree." Wolf looked at Kovac, "brother I love you but you picked a few fights in your time."

Captain Dorman shook his head, "It could be any of us or all of us, take out the Major and we're gonna find ourselves rudderless, we need to find an answer."

"If we are all at risk we need to look to our defences and I hate to say it but my troops are the weak link, medics are good soldiers but they aren't combat specialists like the rest of you, neither are the rest of my troop." Captain Gillespie gave a sigh, "we may have to confine them to lines."

"Good point Gillie, Bex 2 troop are gonna be in charge of keeping 4 troop safe; Dorman 3 troop sweep the lines, find any weak links, Wolf the whole of 1 troop are now on guard duty, have a roster drawn up and let the sergeants work out a routine between the troops." Kovac looked at his officers, "nobody goes off base alone, we travel in fire teams at least."

"Alright, and the Major has two guards at all times, I'm pretty sure I have the volunteers," said Becca, her tone brooking no argument.

An hour later Kovac was sitting in a chair facing an irate Becca flanked by the raw-boned, taciturn Knickers and the vociferous Cassidy, better known as Barbie his body guard.

"No, damn it Rad you're injured, you're not going out as bait now; or ever!" Becca said, her voice shaking.

"Im not waiting for them to come here, besides this time I'll have Knickers and Barbie watching my back," Kovac said calmly.

"Hey now Captain, I know you're worried but it may have all been a case of mistaken identity, perhaps they never wanted the Major." Barbie suggested, smiling sweetly.

"Yeah they no doubt saw him, and thought 'Oh hey, that 6'6" human built like a brick-proverbial with the white hair of an octogenarian he's close enough to our target' the Major is pretty damn unique looking." Knickers said with her usuall ascerbic tone.

The two women shared a glare as Kovac laughed, "look I trust these two with my life, more importantly I trust them with each other's lives, we'll be fine and if we get a bite and land something then we will have some answers."

Becca scowled a moment but finally nodded and the three left the fortified accommodation and returned to the market, Kovac shopped for a few hours, organising supplies and delivery, Knickers and Barbie sat at a table in the centre of the market, ostensibly sharing a meal but their eyes never stopped scanning the crowds. Kovac finished his errands and then stopped one merchant and asked for directions, once he received them he set off out of the market. The planet they were calling home was designated "Pelcar-3" and was known as the way station of the system, almost all trade routes went through Pel3 and as a result there were many storage districts, one of which Kovac entered now.

The warehouse was mostly empty but waiting inside was a Ditiri, humanoid in shape Ditiri were covered with a fine fur that gave them a "fluffy" appearance, they had a trader society and were not above working in less than reputable circles. Physically they were no threat to a human, moving significantly slower than most space faring species they did however have remarkably sharp minds and were considered cunning to the extreme.

Kovac and the Ditiri spoke for some time before the Major gained some information he was looking for.

"Flet will work for anyone, not like the Rhul, they are like humans in that respect, more so unlike Burtuq and Garax, Flet will work independently and not insist on being hired as a group, those three may have only been together for that job." Yellow eyes regarded the Major, "you are known Major Kovac, your achievements are known, past exploits may be coming back to haunt you."

Kovac nodded his thanks and the meeting ended, for the first time since I had met Kovac I feared for his safety. Kovac had fought in multiple wars if a former enemy was targeting the Major then entire star empires could be focusing their revenge on him and while the Dark Horses were good, they were not enough.

I don't know if Kovac heard the attackers, Flet are as silent as the earth felines they were nicknamed for but he threw himself to his left as a clawed paw lashes out at him, he landed heavily and rolled over coming to rest on his back, one foot planted on the floor with his knee bent and one leg raised off the ground with his knee pulled up to his chest, both arms bent so his hands were either side of his head, the largest Flet I had ever seen lunged at Kovac who raised his elevated foot higher.

The Flet was centimetres from Kovac when it dropped like a stone, behind it stood Knickers with a large club. She stared down at the motionless beast for a moment then nodded at Kovac, "plan worked," she said.

Barbie hurried to help Kovac up, "are you ok? Did it catch you? I forget how damn quick they are, thank God you're quick like a freak." She gave a small grunt as she pulled Kovac up, "you're not hurt are you? The captain would stab me in the tits if you got hurt...so would Knickers mind."

Kovac was adjusting the Flet on the ground and with a single movement heaved the 9 foot creature onto his shoulders with a slight grunt. "Gnnh I'm fine Barbs, really I am, thank you Knix, I owe you."

"No you don't" replied Knickers, she gestured and led the odd looking trio forward.

At the horses headquarters Wolf and Kovac had tied the Flet to the chair, while Wolf hummed a child's tune "pussy cat, pussy cat" a nursery rhyme that was fast becoming an abusive and xenophobic anthem when sung near Flet; Kovac left the room and returned with a bag, he crouched infront of the Flet and stared at the prisoner for a while. Then he spoke.

"Did you see the others?"

The Flet stared back for a long moment before giving the human "nod".

"Good," Kovac stood and walked to a low table, he set the bag down and reached inside. The first thing he pulled out was a pineapple, the kitty flinched at the sight of it, Kovac set it down on the table, then he reached into the bag again, he pulled a bunch of bananas out held them up while staring at the Flet before setting them on the table beside the pineapple, he followed this with an orange and then a yellow fruit that was oblong shaped the size of his fist, he paused for a moment looking first at the fruit then at the Kitty with an appraising look, finally he pulled out three limes individually setting them on the table before returning his focus to the agitated looking Flet. He looked in the bag and then at Wolf who gave a grin while producing a knife seemingly from nowhere, Wolf nodded encouragingly. Kovac seemed to hesitate before finally plunging his hand into the bag and placing at the end of the fruit chain a single kumquat. Wolf picked up the pineapple and spun it on the palm if his hand, his knife caught the light and glittered.

"Stop" squeaked the Kitty.

"Talk!" Yelled Becca from behind him.

Something that isn't understood by many is that the Flet are a matriarchal culture, the males may be the face of the military arm of their society but their females run the rest, so for the already intimidated Kitty having a female scream an order at it had a profound effect.

The Kitty talked he gave answers to all the questions he was asked only once did hesitate but Captain Becca's threat to "fuck him up with a kumquat" was enough to break his final resolve.

After the Flet was thrown out Kovac called an assembly, soon 150 men and women were assembled and Kovac spoke to them. He told them he was the target of the Flet Cosmic Imperium, it seemed he had been deemed responsible for the death of the heir to the throne and so was now sentenced to death. He informed them that there was no help to be called on and it was him against the Imperium, all of them were free to leave with his blessing, not a single soldier left there seat.

Some would tell you that this was human loyalty but they would be wrong, this was human insanity. Most of those thought Kovac stood a chance and those that didn't were so stubborn they wouldn't back down from intimidation.

In my fibres though I must admit that Kovac of all the humans I've known did make me wonder if he could achieve the impossible and defeat the Imperium with only 150 soldiers.

[gefuhl-des-zweifels]

Brian May: Enlightened Monarch

Author: Sacha Reins (Best, №118, May 1978)

It's no secret I'm a Queen fan. So I volunteered for an interview. Now, after a few weeks, when the interview took place, I admit the obvious: these young people have their own cockroaches.

[Sacha Reins, 70s]

It was a series of last-minute and appointed interviews that were cancelled under strange pretexts.

The sirs took a star. On the Sunday before the concert in Paris, their press agent told me to stay at home on the phone, and as soon as one of these gentlemen is ready for an interview, I will call, and I will immediately have to come. What was I supposed to do, send them away?

Then there's this ridiculous party. On the night of the second concert in the hall of a chic restaurant in their honor was a party where they were handed gold discs.

The group arrived ... and locked in a private office, so they wouldn't be disturbed.

Queen is constantly surrounded by a team of security guards-bodyguards-managers who systematically block the group.

As soon as you manage to overcome this dam, you come across charming guys who pretend to be surprised to see you furious at being treated like pigs. They know nothing! I don't believe that.

Queen, in fact, suffer from a complex of Rolling Stones. Like the Stones, they want to be chased by hordes of crazy fans. Alas, this is not so, they are part of a well-known group, but individually do not cause delight in the crowd. And so to create an illusion ... they surround themselves with a whole retinue and security service, as useless as grotesque.

An interview with Brian May took place one day in Zurich. In the evening I had to attend their concert and then have dinner with them. The interview ended, I took my things, called a taxi and went to the airport to go home. I'm tired of their antics. Brian May was very courteous, but his entourage certainly sucks.

Monarchy

– Are you satisfied with your Paris concerts?

Yes, very. For us, these shows were held in a very special way. We were beginning to think we were banned from France. None of our recordings were sold here until We Are The Champions. And as soon as this single was a success, we said, well, it's time to go. The first night we were very nervous. We have been told so many times that the Paris audience is one of the most difficult in the world! We were very careful the first night, almost closed, and I think the audience felt it. The second night was completely different: contact had already been established.

– I attended this concert, and several times you made me think of Led Zeppelin because of the music and the peculiar interaction between you and Mercury.

– This is not the first time when we are compared with LZ in one or another plane. In fact, I think there was a lot more common ground between Queen and LZ a few years ago when we started. But now we have moved away from this form of hard rock, we have developed our own harmonies, a style that belongs only to us. However, LZ and we follow similar routes because, forming as musicians, we were influenced by the same people.

– Is there any stage rivalry between you and Mercury?

– No, we are too close, we know each other too well, we had too many common problems. Freddie is the natural point of attraction of the group, and it's good that he realizes his charisma in this way.

The first person the viewer watches will always be the lead singer and then the guitarist. Therefore, it would be foolish to try to fight with Freddie for power on stage. Especially since he's a fantastic showman.

– No leader in the group?

– No. Whenever we make a decision, whether it's our business or music, we meet all four of us together, have a long conversation, and then decide what we're going to do.

We complement each other. Specifically, John Deacon deals with money. Roger Taylor is responsible for our communications with the outside world, I mean the outside world in relation to Queen.

– In this sense, I found that your behavior in Paris was a little strange. All of these appointed and revoked by the miserable occasions interview. This ultra-twitch security that has built a wall around you. This ridiculous party, when you took a private office with a thug at the door, which blocked access to other guests. As if journalists or promoters were going to attack you! It was all very strange.

– For our image well, that we look as excessively guarded and hard-to-reach group. So even more people will be interested in us. As for the party, I don't remember it very well.

Equipment

– Keep going. Who gave you the idea of this light installation?

– Nobody, we developed it a year ago with the help of our engineer Jerry Stickels.

– So she came before «Close encounters of the third degree»?

– Long time. So this similarity between the spaceship from the movie and our glowing crown is very strange. Americans were struck by this similarity. We receive many letters on this subject.

– You have a lot of stage equipment. This is a device that endlessly reproduces the sound of the guitar, have you been using it for a long time?

– Since 1972. It was necessary for us from the very beginning, but we had no money, we were able to buy it only in 72-m. This is a rather complex device. It took me a long time to learn how to handle it properly, and I also changed it so that it could play two different sounds indefinitely. Now I know it perfectly and can use it to play harmonies, counterpoints, chords.

[Vintage 1970's Maestro Echoplex EP-4 Solid State Tape Delay]

The trickiest thing is to perfectly tune the scene so I can hear exactly how the sound goes and comes back. If for some reason it is hard to hear what is happening, it is a disaster because I do not know how often to put a refund. But this has not happened for a long time, because now we have everything we need on stage.

We are sometimes criticized for the fortune we have invested in our equipment. This kind of criticism is quite inappropriate, because if we spend so much money on equipment, it's all for the audience to be satisfied, both visually and musically.

You see, we're interested in being able to play back what we're doing on the record. Complex harmonies and all that. But there are only four of us. We need the help of electronics, so Freddie and I are using these devices with endless echoes. We don't want to play pre-recorded tracks like some bands do. We don't think it's fair.

– But you use the entry in Bohemian Rhapsody…

– Yeah, but that's different. The BR passage you are referring to is a complete reproduction of a studio recording. We recorded this song as an Opera. Each of us sang about twenty different parts to reproduce exactly one big classical choir. It is absolutely impossible to perform on stage. We tried it a few times, but it sounded really bad compared to the album version, so we decided to play a pre-recorded Opera passage. But to avoid any doubts or misunderstandings, we give these recordings in complete darkness and do not appear until the hard rock part, which we play live. It's more honest.

– Where do you get all these classical and Baroque allusions that your music is filled with?

– I don't know, because none of us have any real classical foundations. I think that all this comes from the depths of our childhood memories, when our parents listened to waltzes on the radio, brass bands in parks on dundays. It must have come from there.

– Your latest album, News Of The World, doesn't have enough references to Baroque.

– Yeah. We went back to pure hard rock. Without excesses. We've come a long way in the Baroque style, a cross between Opera and rock, and I don't think we could have been more successful than with A Night At The Opera. That's why we came back to more unpretentious music.

– A Night At The Opera sold best, so don't you think you've disappointed a large audience who liked these musical tricks?

– We always disappoint someone, no matter what we do. When we started working with the Baroque style, we disappointed our first fans who loved us for our pure hard rock.

– They say you don't take vacations.…

– Yes, we work hard. Every year we lock ourselves in the studio for two or three months, then we go on a two-month American tour, then we spend two months in Europe, two months in Japan and Australia, and when it's over, it's time to go back to the studio for the next album. We have been living in this rhythm for five years.

– Bands like Queen and all the major British bands we've seen in recent years have been getting more and more stage equipment. Now everyone has lasers, bizarre scenes, smoke generators, etc. When will this arms race end?

– Never. Show business will always follow with interest the development of technology in all that relates to audiovisual information, and use it to create even more pompous, beautiful and impressive shows. However, there is a very clear reaction from part of the public (I'm talking about the rock audience), especially in the UK, where most young people want the bands to return to the adequate stage art as it was ten years ago.

I don't mind, but here we are faced with a mathematical impossibility. To play without assistive devices, you will have to work in small halls, even in clubs where your creative energy is in direct contact with your audience. There really is no need for a rotating stage and smoke, everyone is in direct contact with the music. But the famous band will no longer be able to play in small halls.

[News Of The World Tour]

Look at Paris, in two days we performed in front of 18,000 people. In a hall with two thousand seats we would have to play for everyone nine days in a row and eighteen days – in the club. At this rate, it will take us ten years to travel around the world, it is unthinkable. That is the only way to have time everywhere – to play in the huge halls (and believe me, Pavillon de Paris – not the biggest).

[Pavillon de Paris (aka Les Abattoirs de la Villette – "Slaughterhouse in La Villette"); as a concert hall for about 10,000 spectators, the building was used from 1975 to 1980.]

Now, about the question you asked me. I don't know how or when it will end, but I know what the next step is: holography. A hologram is a three - dimensional photo projection in space. It will be possible to create incredible scenery, in a second to project the Grand Canyon of Colorado or skyscrapers of New York in 3D, creating the illusion of full presence. The basic principles are developed, but everything else is still in the process of testing for wide application.

Fantasia

– What about Sex Pistols?

– It's a band that we really like ("we" means Queen) and I'm really sorry that they broke up. But it was almost inevitable.

– Why?

– They were under too much pressure. The British music press (the worst in the world) has made the lives of these guys unbearable, making them both heroes and scapegoats. The British press, to keep circulation, so needs in stars, that fabricates new names for couple of months. And an ordinary boy is not easy to survive the rapid transformation from a young nerd to a star. Most young talents don't know how to handle it. If by a Fluke they stay on the horse and become really popular stars, then the same press that inflated the whole story, smears them on the wall, because it feels that they are out of control and will be able to do without her support.

The British press is destructive, and Sex Pistols is not the first victim. We had a chance to succeed without the press. When we started, we were not written about, and when it did happen, the whole thing was limited to three contemptuous lines. As a result, we were able to gradually and without their help to gain the trust of the public.

– How long will you stay together?

– Hard to say. At the moment, everything is fine, we get along well, we are famous all over the world. Why run away?

– Do you see yourself on the rock scene in forty years?

– Perhaps by that time our music will develop in another direction. Maybe we'll have other ambitions. Personally, I am always guided by some achievable goal, to conquer France, for example. Or something like that. Make a full house in Madison Square Garden or Earl's Court.

If one day we reach the point where all desires are fulfilled, because we have already achieved everything, it will become a serious problem. That's what happens to Elton John.

Everything he could wish for, he had already received. He was not destined to become more famous or rich. He can only go down, because already at the top. He is unhappy because life cannot give him anything new. I don't want to be in this position.

– You wanted to conquer the French public, and you did it. Got a new target?

To lose the French public, so that there is a goal to return it. No, I'm kidding, to compose music so beautiful that animators could create on its basis at least the same beautiful cartoon as Fantasia. And finally take a vacation. Long vacation.

Source: http://queenfrance.online.fr/htm/presse/article3.htm

Translated from French: @gefuhl-des-zweifels

[reading-writing-revolution]

“Think of the strange position Americans are in right about now. They’re being ravaged by a pandemic — but nobody much is calling for universal public healthcare. That debate was settled just before the pandemic hit — when Americans rejected better healthcare from Bernie and Liz, and instead chose Biden’s non-plan to continue the failed status quo of Obamacare. In other words, Americans rejected public healthcare…during the beginning of a global pandemic. What the?”

by https://link.medium.com/OdYBsIfWX6

Americans, so busy worrying about their individual selves, that they can't even conceive at the idea that everyone can be taken care of. And the richest society in the entire world, on the entire Earth, we can't even come to the realization that we have enough money to take care of our own selves. We can go make wars and spend money endlessly rebuilding other countries, but we can't take care of ourselves. We can send money across the globe, for example to the World Health Organization (and I am in no way knocking that, it's just currently on everyone's lips), but we can't spend a dime to take care of each other. We can't even conceive of it.

And the few people who can't, they're very few people, like the Elizabeth Warrenses and the Bernie Sanderses of the United States of America, are voted away without barely a second thought.

Why? For two main reasons.

First of all, the people with all the power and the money have enormous influence in politics in the United States, especially at the national level in the White House and in Congress, and they are not playing on giving any of that money and power up. This includes the insurance industry, big pharma, and loads of other lobbyists and special interest groups that spend a lot of money to make sure that your senator or your congressman votes how they want. Everyone knows this is true. Don't even have to look it up, but the information was all out there on donor lists, etc. And Citizens United made it even worse. No one makes any money if everyone gets better, and I'm not saying there's a conspiracy to keep everyone sick because that's a little crazy, but the system is in place that makes a lot of people a lot of money, and therefore there's no incentive to change it.

The second reason should also be very apparent. Americans, as I've said often enough, are locked in survival mode. Everyone is scraping by. Most of us are a paycheck or two away from devastation. No one's wages go up, health care is unbelievably expensive for the majority of us, many of us have no health care whatsoever, and therefore we are always in danger. We are in danger of losing everything. Survival mode instinctively drives us to compete, to work harder, to cheat if we can to get ahead, which also means always being in competition with everyone else. The competition is clearly outlined in our value system, which is based heavily on our purchasing power. We flaunt our ability to purchase things that make us look terrific in the eyes of everyone else. Even people who don't have two pennies to rub together for a loaf of bread will have the latest phone, the latest pair of shoes, and a nice ride, if they can come up with the cash. No bread, no cereal, no milk, but a great pair of shoes. We're always in competition. And in survival mode and in competition mode, we do not have the capital to invest in the people around us, and certainly not in the people that we don't know - those people over there.

So we invented this idea, an idea that was hatched 300 years ago but is no longer true, that every American can achieve anything if they just work hard enough. We killed that dream and turned into a lie about 40 years ago when we chose money over that social contract, that public service or public good, when we chose cash and prizes and an easy retirement on the beach somewhere with our riches and our yachts, over a simpler life of ease and happiness with those around us also living that same life. We don't have $25 to give to the local charity or the local food bank, because that money has to go to our survival.

Ironically, if that social safety net existed, even just a healthcare piece - if everyone had health care, then our ability to become whatever we want to become as Americans would be more possible because we wouldn't have to be nearly as focused on survival.

[powerfultears-blog]

Act like a man !!!

No disrespect to Steve Harvey as my mind goes back to the movie that was inspired by his book "Think like a man". He was correct in his assessment of men, but I would like to direct your attention to the best selling book of all time on how a man should act. In this best selling book one of its many authors wrote, "Therefore, be careful how you walk, Not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:16-17). The same author wrote to a particular group of men where he said, "Be on alert, stand firm in faith, act like men , be strong. Let all that you do be done in love." (1 Corinthians 16:13-14)

Yes, the most important aspect of acting like a man is LOVE... We think things are messed up now in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he addresses one really messed up Church. The members of that church had divided themselves into cliques. They were going back and forth with each other about who was and who wasn't really godly. The Spiritual gifts God gave to unite the church were, instead, being used to tear the Church apart. It didn't help that church members didn't know God's word well enough to discern between true and false teachers.

Their behavior was atrocious. Some of the brothers and sisters got drunk on communion Sunday. Others were sleeping around. One guy was even shacking up with his step-mother and the church didn't seem to care. Despite the fact that Paul (an apostle of the Lord) had personally, led them to Christ, many refused to submit to his authority. After all, what right did Paul have to tell them what to do?

Now, put yourself in Paul's place. What would you say to a church like that? What would you tell them to do? What challenge would you offer them? What command would you call them to obey? How about this -"Act like men!!!"

Excuse me? say that again, I'm not sure I understand. Paul, our church is divided some of us here don't like each other very much. The worship service is chaotic and some of the brethren are going home drunk. Immorality is taking hold and false teachers have found a home. So tell me once again - What are we supposed to do? At the end of Paul's letter, in 1 Corinthians 16:13, here's what he tells the messed up Corinthian church to do. Here's how he tells them to get their act together. He say's "Act like men!!!"

What does it mean for a church family to "act like men?" There's only one way we can answer that question. The only way we can know what it means for a church to act like men is to first know what it means for men to "act like men!!!" And that's what I want to show in this blog...

Father's, sons, husbands, bachelors- We need to know what it means to act like men? What did God have in mind for you and me when he made us to be men instead of women? And, make no mistake about it God had something specific in mind when He made men to be men and women to be women !!!

So what's it mean to be a man??? The bible says in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, "Be on the alert, Stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love." Paul challenges a self-absorbed, struggling church to turn itself around by obeying these fine commands, Be on the alert, stand form in the faith, act like men, Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

I don't believe any of those commands stand alone. All five commands relate to each other. All five are connected to another. In other words, in order for us to obey one of those commands we must obey them all !!! So-fathers, sons,husbands,bachelors-what does it mean to "act like men"??? The essence of obeying that command is found in obeying the other four. let's start with verse 14. As part of his instruction to the Corinthians church to "act like men" Paul writes, "Let all that you do be done in love"!!!

So, what does it mean to act like men? First, acting like a man means being a lover!!! Now, before you get all excited about that, let's make sure we understand what kind of love we're talking about here. The love being spoke of here is the same love God offers us in Christ. The love God demands of men isn't a love defined by feelings. It's not the kind of love offered because of the pleasure we get in return. No loving like God loves means seeking what's best for the other person-even when you have to pay the price!!! 1 John 4 : 9-10 makes it clear. God's love is sacrificial love "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." Do you understand what it meant for God to love you???

It meant sacrifice !!! It meant God suffering for your benefit. It meant God enduring pain for the sake of your Salvation. So let me ask you- Fathers, Sons, husbands, bachelors - do you act like men? Have you ever- do you Now- Seek what's best for others? Even when you have to pay a price??? Are you man enough to be a lover when loving means paying a price???

Someone in the church needs to act like men!!! Maybe it should be the men. Are we ready? Are we willing ? Then let's choose to love our wives, Our children, Our church and, each other like God loves us in Christ !!!

Paul instructs us to act like men. let all that you do be done in love. Then because of your love, be on the alert (be watchful). The first command of 1 Corinthians 16:13 says, " Be on the alert (Be watchful)!!. That shouldn't surprise us. It shouldn't surprise us because God specifically calls men to be providers for and protectors of their families and their communities. It's not politically correct to say that. But its true !!! Being a man means being a protector. And being a protector means being vigilant!!! It means being alert so what does it mean to be on the alert? It means staying awake. It means always being alert so you can instantly respond to changing circumstances or the approach of danger !!!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Said, " The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands at moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at time of challenge and controversy. " For me, I understand that controversy is my friend, for when I address it , my character develops !!! As a man, do you understand the dangers that threaten your own life and eternity? How about the dangers that threaten your church? How about the dangers that threaten your wife, your children, your family? Satan wants to destroy you. Satan wants your children in hell. Satan wants your churches divided men !!! What are you doing about it? are we on the alert? Are we awake???

Do you know where being on the alert starts? It starts with us being watchful over our own spiritual lives !!! men, if you won't guard your own spiritual life, how can you protect your family's? Can I ask? how alert are you to your own pride? How watchful are you when it comes to your own covetousness and materialism? Are you awake to the destructive power of your own lust? What are you willing to do to get pornography out of your life? What sacrifices are you willing to make to spend time in prayer and in God's word? Do you test your beliefs, your thoughts, your opinions, your attitudes and your actions against the plumb line of scripture? men, you cannot protect your family if you will not first protect yourself!!!

And what about your family? what about your home? Are you watchful? Are you alert to what Satan is trying to do? what does your family watch at home? what do you allow your children to read and see? Are you awake? Are you living for eternity? Do you see Jesus standing at the door? Are you teaching your children to do the same? And, do you pray while you watch? In the New Testament, watching and praying go together. In watching we see the danger. In prayer we cry out to the only One who can deliver us from the danger we see!!!

Men, do we understand the danger at hand? The enemy is engaged, Our culture has given itself over to deception!!! Eternal destinies are at stake. It's not time to give ourselves over to self-absorption and lust. It's not time to drift with the current of our day. Satan is very much at work now ! He wants you to be useless to God !!! He wants your marriage in chaos. He wants your children dead-for ever. We're not at picnic. We're in a war- and the casualties are real. He tried his best to make me a casualty in this war !!! To bad for him, I'm engaged, I am on the alert, I am awake !!!

God is calling us to lay or lives down in love. He's calling us to be watchful, And third, In 1 Corinthians 16:13, God's calling us to stand firm in the faith. Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men... What does it mean to stand firm in the faith. Standing firm means holding to the truth when truth isn't Convenient!!! It means refusing to compromise when the Bible is clear. It means forgiving people when they need to be forgiven. It means confronting people when they need to be confronted. It means reaching out to people who need to be reached out to. In other words, standing firm in the faith means being a doer of the word and not just a hearer!!!

Can I ask you a personal question? Fathers, have your children ever seen you stand up for Jesus? Have they ever seen you stand firm in your faith when the pressure to compromise was on? Have they seen you obey God when obedience cost you something? Does your family know that you love God more than your own comfort? your own convenience? Do they know that, in your mind, Jesus is worth dying for? By your own example, are you teaching your children that the greatest life there is, is a life lived for God? I remember when my Something Special, my baby girl, Wisdom Joanna Lynae Powell confronted me on compromise when she asked me "Daddy you didn't love me enough not to rob a Bank, you knew I was going to be born???" To explain to my Nine year old daughter that by not acting like a man, has caused her to be deprived of the protector and provisions God intended for her a most challenging and difficult thing to do. It had lead me to live Incarcerated these past ten years with a broken and a contrite heart that God hasn't despised !!! It has caused me to truly take a stand for Christ. Not only do I speak absolute truth in a world that say's there no absolute truth, I live that very truth daily standing firm in the faith !!!

Where do we find the strength to stand firm in the faith? We find the strength to act like men in our personal knowledge of who God is and what He's done for us in Christ. Do you have that knowledge? Have you experienced God's grace in your life through faith in Jesus Christ? Do you believe that when Jesus died on the cross he died for your sins? Do you know that He lives today as your risen Lord? Do you have a saving relationship with Him? Are you growing strong in that relationship?

Finally back in 1 Corinthians 16:13 finds one last command associated with Paul's instruction to "act like men". It's his command to "be strong". acting like men means being strong. So what kind of strength is Paul talking about here? Is Paul calling us a men to become physically strong like I see males doing everyday all day long in this environment? No !!! Luke 1:80a Say's "And the child continues to grow and to become strong in Spirit." Luke 2:40 say's, "The child continued to grow and become strong increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him." Do you see what kind of strength God looks for in us? God is looking for Christian men (Women too) who are Spiritually Strong !!!

Men, you'll never become strong in the Lord until you discipline yourself to become strong. We'll never act like men if we just drift through life. you must decide to commit yourself to the word. You must decide to commit yourself to prayer. Being strong doesn't happen any other way.

Act like men !!! This world already has too many soft,neutered,self-absorbed spiritual wimps. Act like men !!! Be what God made you to be when He decided Not to make you a woman. Pay the price to love your wife and your children like God love you in Christ. Wake up and be on the alert. Guard those whom God has entrusted into your care. Model what it means to stand firm in the faith. Invest yourself in God. Be disciplined. Then you will become stronger and stronger in Jesus. The world needs men who act like men. The church needs men who act like men. Your family needs men who act like men. So men-act like men!!!

[nemesis-nexus]

AVE NINGIZHEDA, keeper of the Caduceus of Life and Death we call to you! On this date we celebrate Longest Night of the Year when the Sun is reborn and begins to make the transition back towards the Earth and the days begin to get longer! The Season of Death reigns supreme on the surface freezing everything in an ethereal suspended animation while the Season of Rebirth prepares itself in the darkest recesses of the underground! As the Guardian of Life and Death as well as the Lord of the Good Tree, your knowledge of the intricate Dance that is Creation and your relentless protection of Tree of Life grants assurance that Existence will go on Eternally so long as those who dwell within this space uphold their duties to Protect and Defend this planet in all its glory as we were created to do!

It is during this time that we gather our Family and Friends together and we appreciate the company of those we care for the most! Since the Ancient days the one thing that every Human on this planet has always shared is our need to survive utilizing that which nature gives us and to have the respect and conscientiousness to replace that which we take so that those who come after us will not be deprived and to never use more than we actually need as that is wasteful and destructive!

During the Season of Death that we call Winter the Earth puts itself to bed so that it may prepare itself for the Season of Rebirth that we call Spring! Nothing can be seen except maybe snow; the trees are barren, the animals are hibernating or have gone south for the winter to warmer climates! Nature keeps the ecosystem in balance by doing this so that the Earth has a chance to heal itself and regenerate the flora and fauna that is so needed for the survival of the Human and Animal Kingdoms. Because nothing is here we must take it upon ourselves to prepare for the coming months but we cannot do this if our resources are contaminated, corrupted or destroyed!

They say that we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children and they are right! What we do today will affect what they are able to do tomorrow. What we squander today through petty selfishness and greed will determine what they have left to work with tomorrow. The responsibility of every member of the Human race is to try to leave the world, if not in the same condition in which it was presented to us at birth, slightly better! We must always keep in mind that is it NOT enough that we make sure people are able to endure while we are here, we must also do our part to make sure those who come after us are not shortchanged! When people say “it doesn’t matter what happens x amount of years from now because I’ll be dead…” it is an AFRONT to YOU Ningizheda because through Ururu and Enki/Ea we were provided with everything we needed to survive, through you these gifts are safeguarded so that they are able to replicate themselves with each passing season with enough to go around forever so long as Humans did their part with balanced cultivation! The problems arise because many Humans have this attitude that those who live RIGHT NOW are the only ones they should be concerned about! This attitude leaves future generations to fend for themselves rather than pick up where the previous generations left off and if these Humans just IMAGINED for a moment the situation THEY would have been in had Ururu, Enki/Ea and yourself decided that was YOUR attitude towards the Human race since the beginning! The Humans sure as hell would not have lasted as long as they did because, as future generations are being robbed of their right to exist, so too would all those who think nothing of this thievery!

This is an even BIGGER insult if the people with this attitude have children and grandchildren because they are insinuating that they don’t care how badly damaged they leave the world for their own human relations! Again we don’t even want to THINK about just how much of a disadvantage that would put US in had the Human race not been provided for so well since the beginning, so why are some people all too willing to do that to their own children and grandchildren? You didn’t do that to us and we certainly should not allow it to be done to our future generations, which is why all Earth Guardians need to rise up and resist the selfishness and greed that is threatening not only the future existence of the Human race, but ALL life forms INCLUDING the planet! It’s not too late, we CAN still put the wheels on this runaway train in reverse if we band together and fight back! HAIL SATAN!

One of the running stereotypes about Satanists and Satanism is that we're supposed to be these aggressive, evil people hell-bent on destruction and this is not true. If anything Satanists are the adversaries to the general population because the general population (especially nowadays) is exactly what you see on TV, a mindless cacophony of self-centered and shallow brain dead people who think that what's on the outside is the be-all end-all and that money is everything. They are the ones who are incapable of original thoughts or ideas and rely on whatever the TV or idiot box tells them because they are unable to think for themselves! This is how we ended up with quote-unquote 'reality TV' and celebrity worship. The true Satanist is an independent and proactive member of society, we take care of our own and we do what we can to help take care of our communities because we live here too! We are not the antisocial hate-mongering miscreants that Hollywood and the abrahamic faiths claim us to be, many of us are very social and willing to talk at length with just about anyone so as to help reach a new level of understanding and respect.

In fact it is my contention that we are more likely than anyone to look beyond what religion a person follows and treat them as the Humans beings that they are without conditions of needing to convert or worse, leaving them to suffer and possibly die if they don’t! We also don’t take it upon ourselves to set sail to another part of the world, land in a remote location then proceed to tell the locals who have existed there for thousands of years that they’ve been doing it wrong the whole time and that if they don’t convert that they are going to this special place of eternal torture and agony and if they still don’t convert then we will simply just have to kill them. We also don’t draw up Doctrines that entitle us to be able to go around the world and slaughter the people, steal the land and rape the women in the name of our church and god!

We also do not go around claiming to be anything other than Human - our Spirits are multifaceted but we are in form Human - we do not claim to casually work with or summon demons because we know how much ACTUALLY goes into both of those endeavors and they should NEVER be taken lightly nor should such claims EVER be used to validate ones walking this Path because eventually a charlatan will run into one of US and when they do and are unable to perform either of these actions, their already non-existent credibility will be shot! We also do not claim to be protected by “guardian demons” because they don’t exist! The truth about that is that no demon anywhere gives a damn about what happens to any human short of drawing up a contract for services and payments for services rendered! Again these contracts are VERY costly and the price you will be required to pay will have NOTHING to do with Human currency! Anyone who claims otherwise is completely full of it and should be forced to perform this activity IMMEDIATELY and in front of everyone in attendance, their refusal or failure to do so only further proves their claims to be fraudulent and deceitful!

We stand in opposition to these ‘storytellers’ because they are a big contributor to the current problems, the problems being the inability to deal with reality and taking responsibility for their actions! This self-righteous attitude DIRECTLY contributes to the consistent internal destruction of the Human race, the raping and pillaging of the Earth which in turn creates cause and effect disasters such as deforestation of hillsides and blasting craters into the Earth that results in erosion and landslides. How so? Because when you have a person who is coming from a bad situation looking for guidance only to come across someone preaching from on high that self-importance and self-indulgence is the way to go, you take an already volatile situation and make it THAT much worse! These people are the textbook definitions of false prophets and serve no purpose other than to make a name for themselves by telling others what they WANT to here and playing and preying on people’s fear and sense of vengeance rather than helping them deal with their past trauma and seeking strength and help from Father so they can get on with their lives!

Our Deity did not just Guard and Guide the Human race, nor was it EVER his, Ururu’s or Enki/Ea’s intention for this planet to ONLY cater to the Human race, they all worked together like Interdimensional Parents creating a Home and instilling values in all their Children to ensure that we could stand on our own without them needing to get directly involved with every little thing, this is why we were given Free Will, because they had the Faith in us to get the job done! The truth is that Humans are neither above nor below any aspect of Nature, we are part of the Hoop that makes up the Natural Order overall and as such we need to remember that we are NOT the only ones who live here so if we want others to respect OUR space, then we need to demonstrate that same respect ourselves!

Humans want to keep cutting back the woods to build businesses, apartment buildings, parking lots and whatever else, but then they want to get all upset when big cats, wolves, bears, coyotes and other such wildlife are seen on the streets or hunting in their backyards! Where do these people think wildlife is going to go when their homes and hunting grounds are stolen from them and their food has moved on to other areas or just dies off due to the lack of vegetation? They're not going to just disappear and no one reserves the right to kill anything just because it is living by its instincts and trying to adapt to its new habitat! It is not their fault if their new habitat happens to be your backyard because your backyard used to be their den! Our Father does NOT approve of MURDER regardless of who’s doing the killing or who is being killed and SLAUGHTERING an animal just because it, like us, is trying to survive in this world is UNJUSTIFYABLE! If we can’t walk over to our HUMAN neighbors house, claim it as an addition to our own then shoot them for refusing to leave, then why do Humans think we can treat our Animal brethren with such arrogant disregard?

One of the core values of Satanism is to stand against injustice no matter who the aggressor is or what form it takes even if what is happening does not affect us directly. It is absolutely necessary to do this because directly or indirectly we were put here for a single purpose and that purpose is to protect the Earth and all life forms on it, to keep the Balance so that life and existence may continue unhindered! Also the day will come when we may be in a position where we need help and if we are unwilling to give it to others, to stand with others when their lives and ways of life are threatened, then we have absolutely no business expecting them to stand by us! Being an Adversary does not mean going out and looking for a fight just like being a Warrior does not mean going around challenging people to prove how strong you are; being an Adversary means rising to the occasion and not backing down no matter what; being a Warrior is not about attacking what is in front of you, it is about defending what is behind you!

This Winter Solstice while you are celebrating, however you celebrate it, whether it's with Family and Friends or by yourself please keep in mind that there are several people who are not able to celebrate with either their Family or Friends because they are deployed all over the world standing strong with weapon in hand ready to fight on foreign soil so that the battle does not come to domestic soil! These brave men and women decided that they were more concerned about what happened to the rest of us than what happens to themselves so they enlisted, trained and are now putting themselves in harm’s way so that we don’t have to! Please leave an empty chair, plate and cup and raise a toast to our Fighting Forces to remind everyone that we are able to enjoy this time with relative ease (it is also very stressful for Military Families to enjoy the Holidays especially if they have not been in contact with their deployed loved ones) because someone else has taken it upon themselves to stand at post miles from Home!

Also keep in mind all those who came back stateside and are enduring the most difficult time of the year for themselves due to homelessness, loss of Family and/or Friends either at home or in combat and the mental illnesses including but NOT limited to PTSD that renders them unable to return to Civilian Life. The fact is that MANY of our Veterans come back home and are STILL fighting the war in their own heads, certain noises and visuals can cause psychotic breakdowns that may result in aggression or depression and in the worst case scenarios, suicide. When it comes to our Soldiers, regardless of age or experience, war is hell and regardless of whether we agree with the politics behind it, that they are STILL HUMAN and the things that they are subjected to in a combat zone or ambush or sniper attack has a detrimental effect on their psyches! They need attention, medical care and a place to live, this is the VERY LEAST our government can do for them after all THEY were willing to sacrifice for our government! ALL GAVE SOME, SOME GAVE ALL! RESPECT!

Glorious Ururu we ask also that you watch over the children of the world especially those whose parents are all too ready and willing to sacrifice their own blood via suicide missions, abuse of any and all kinds, selling them for drugs or prostitution etc because they are that messed up in the head! I don’t care what you believe in, if you can justify murdering or exploiting a child you have forfeited your right to exist in any capacity! May all those who would ever use, abuse, or kill a child meet with an even deeper level of apathy and cruelty! May they know all the suffering and more of the child/ren they are harming! May they be met with the same disregard to their lives as they have towards the life/lives of the child/ren they are too willing to end! May the children be freed from whatever viciousness they were forced to endure and may they grow up and put an end to child abuse of ALL kinds for good so that future generations never have to endure what they did!

Blessed Ningizheda, this Yuletide please help people remember in the midst of all the revelry that it’s not just about us but about what we can do for other people, especially those who do not have a home or anything to eat! Another Core value of Satanism is to assist those who genuinely need it; we will not enable those who refuse to help themselves but we will aid those who have simply fallen on hard times to get back on their feet! It’s not how we fall, it’s how we land and sometimes we need a hand getting back up on that horse! When we do we can better assist others who may be in the situation we once were and help them to also get on with it, so forth and on!

Most of all we wish to express our deepest gratitude for all that has been done from the Inception of the Multiverse to the Creation of this Layer and all the effort that went into the extensive catalog of life in all its forms! We appreciate not only being a part of it but we also appreciate all that has been given to us so that we may continue, we may have strayed from our deeper spiritual connection however we are working on it, we are striving to reconnect and the evidence is all around even amidst all the violence and corruption!

AVÉ URURU! AVÉ NINGIZHEDA!

Winter Solstice Prayer

May your cup runneth over

May your plate never be bare!

May you never stray too far

From those you know care!

May you know just enough pain

To truly appreciate pleasure!

May you have genuine success

Finding that which you'll treasure!

May you face every opponent

And never be caught off guard!

For every blow that you receive

May you strike back twice as hard!

May the Darkness of the Longest Night

Be a time for pause and reflection!

May you be granted the most profound insight

To help you move in the right direction!

May the bone-chilling Wind remain outside your door

And the warmth of Heartfire keep loved ones secure!

More than anything I wish for my Family and Friends to have a safe and Happy Winter Solstice and a Blessed Yuletide!

To those of other denominations I wish you Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

ZI ANA KANPA! ZI KIA KANPA!

MAY THE DEAD RISE AND SMELL THE INCENSE!

Etiamsi MULTA Et Nos UNUM Sumus Nos Sto Validus Ut Nos Sto Una!

Semper Veritas, Semper Fideles, In NINGIZHEDA Nomen Nos Fides! AVE NINGIZHEDA!

(We Are ONE Even Though We Are MANY And We Stand STRONGEST When We Stand TOGETHER!

Always TRUTHFUL, Always FAITHFUL, In NINGIZHEDA'S Name We Trust! HAIL NINGIZHEDA!)

AVÉ URURU! AVÉ ENKI/EA!

AVÉ NINGIZHEDA! AVÉ NINHURSAG!

AVÉ ININNI! AVÉ DIMUZI!

AVÉ IGGIGI! AVÉ ANUNNA!

AVÉ DRACONIS! HAIL THE GREAT SERPENT!

HPS Meg “Nemesis Nexus” Prentiss