#she walks barefoot through the city's fever

[beedreamscape]

The post-Blight encounter shortly rewritten and fluffed up with Loquaerryn angst and well... fluff.

Laerryn's head pounding hard enough that she doesn't hear them walking in.

She feels sick to the point of throwing up — which she did already, nothing but the bile of her empty stomach — which comes with a hunger she has successfully ignored up until now. Wetness on her nape and chattering teeth accuse a high fever, even in the stale cold of the labyrinth, sucking all of her energy, but damn it if she isn't gonna drag her burning and exhausted body to try and do something to stop the city she- they love from damnation.

She looks through notes, maps, prototypes, and manuals with blurry wet eyes looking not for answers — not even the most deranged minds could've predicted a situation such as theirs — but for a flick of inspiration that'd guide her through the pitch darkness she finds herself in. She's trying her best to recall what the betrayer god had said, but all her thoughts are stained with the image of Loquatius' body at the foot of the tree laid over a pool of his blood. Tries to focus on something anything other than the guilt of leaving him behind, other than the emptiness she felt the second he truly died, other than this excruciating pain.

She doesn't have much time left so from the suffering and the remnants of her sense of duty she harvests motivation. She's doing it for him, for her own heart, for his heart.

Just once, Laerryn, don't fuck up, she cries to herself. This one time try and do it right.

Extremely hazed out in grief and heat, she doesn't even budge at the soft-spoken "Darling" that comes from behind her, quite certain her mind's playing tricks on her.

It's only when Patia's clear and sonorous voice calls for her that she believes this isn't just an illusion. She turns at once, aware of all of them on the peripheries of her vision but laser-focused on Loquatius and his grey-white glow.

She barely breathes as she runs into his arms, can barely maintain her knees straight as their mouths meet in a soft kiss.

She holds his face, the distinguishable silky softness of his skin against her palm. "You're alive..."

A half-smile appears under his glittering tears. "I guess."

She steps back to see that, not only is he still as naked and barefoot as when the tree exploded, his blood's still leaking from hundreds of paper-thin cuts, now equally smeared all over her. The sight doesn't horrify her as much as imagining his pain does, and as much as it makes her shiver, the deeply metallic smell of it keeps her grounded in reality. He's alive, barely but nonetheless.

Her sobs return in full force. "I'm sorry. What have I done? Then I left, I left again! I'm so sorry."

He holds her face, making her look into the deep blank of his eyes. "Shush, no, no! You had no idea! I don't know how— I don't know what happened..."

Patia's voice is gloomy when she speaks again. "Zerxus brought us back."

Laerrynn feel out of sorts when she turns to see them, yes, Patia and Nydas are both covered in their own blood, thick dark red blotch on the side of his stomach and half of her arm missing magically stitched together at the elbow, but it's Zerxus in the pristine of his armor and the thick curled horns on his head that make her wrathful.

There are punches thrown and discussions that steal her attention for those precious minutes, but nothing she can't participate in while minimally tending to Loquatius.

She removes her deep purple wrapping cape and helps him cover himself, careful with his cuts, then searches her drawers for a vial of healing potion, nothing potent, just enough to rescue her in a minor emergency, and turns it into his mouth — all the while fervently discussing with Zerxus. It'd be funny if it wasn't tragic, somehow the scenario feels familiar from a few in happier days when her dear friend was still around.

///

She's used to holding the world up on her shoulders, yet at this moment the world is burning against her back and thoughts are darting left and right in her head, ramifications of possibilities branching out to all sides in an entanglement she's trying to undo as the prophecy is spoken and ideas emerge and die down again.

She's facing the waterwall where Zerxus claims to have seen the Lord of Hells earlier that day when she feels Loquatius' hands massaging her shoulders. "I don't mean to put any pressure on you, dearest, but you're the heart and brain of this city, and if you don't... I'm sorry, that didn't come out very encouragingly."

"It did, it did." She inhales deeply.

"You're burning," he says in her ear, massaging her harder.

"I'll be fine in no time. Losing you all did an instant number on me."

His breath smells sweet and coppery. "Are you hurt?"

"You died, Lo-"

"Are you hurt?"

"I got knocked back but nothing I can't handle."

He rests his head on her back. "I wish we could just... a selfish part of me wishes we could just disappear from all of this."

"But we can't... we can't..." Even if she were to take the world itself and transport it across dimensions, the demons and Betrayers would still be stuck onto them like leeches. Maybe the world didn't have to be hurled away, perhaps— "...but they can!"

She turns to him, to them. "I'm getting a really bad idea."

And in this mix of arcane inspiration, backed confidence, and perhaps a hint of arrogance, they lay out a plan or a resemblance of one. She is a capable woman, overqualified even, and her great machines still live and thrive, loaded with seven years worth of arcane energy. But she's also confident in the people surrounding her in their capacities, each crooked yet fitting each other like bizarre cogs in a well-oiled machine.

And the most indispensable piece, glowing with magic, overflowing her system with power:

Loquatius' hand never leaves her waist. "I have no clever plan to solve anything, but I do have a duty to our people, to report what's happening. I can get word down to Cathmoíra." A gleam of hope burns in his eyes. "We can save a lot of lives. If I—"

He doesn't get to finish and barely sees Laerryn coming his way before their lips are already on each other. For a few seconds, in the intensity of their kiss, in the high of her taste, he can pretend the world isn't ending, their friends aren't watching, and there's no duty to fulfill — there's just a man and his wife kissing, lithe tongues, bodies pressed together, arcane energy in a natural flow between them. Natural yet intentional, as a pleasant heat sparks within her flesh, she becomes aware of the spell he cast on her and moans into his mouth.

Zerxus clears his throat a second time which drives Laerryn to press Loquatius a little harder against herself, a mixture of laughter and a grunt comes from his lips. He's amazed at himself for wanting her at a time like this, but not enough that he perplexes himself, seeing as the desire haunts him since the first time he laid eyes upon her.

When they're done, Zerxus proceeds talking but neither of them looks.

Loquatius rests his forehead on hers. "When we're done saving Toramunda, I'll take proper care of you."

"And I'll let you."

Which would be odd an answer were they anyone else, but he understands where she comes from and smiles.

"I would appreciate that. I fell for a force of nature, foolish of me to believe I could ever tame it."

[sun-stormz]

Genshin Impact Visions & Gods

This has been bugging me since i started playing in mid november, but what makes a certain Archon give a Character their Vision. Considering i couldnt find any official info, I decided to do some research on each Archon and then on the player Characters we have of each element as of beginning of December 2020.

This will contain spoilers on characters & story!

Note: The travelers will not be included due to them not having Visions and having more then one Element.

I am basing this on overlaping themes and not on anything related to the actual Archon. I did add some info on the archons tho, due to this being about Visions and archons

“It is unclear whether Visions are directly granted by its element's corresponding Archon or by the nation's Archon. There is also the possibility that granting a Vision requires approval from both Archons. Yet another possibility is that they are granted by neither, and are instead given by the gods on Celestia.”

-Genshin Wiki on reciving Visions

Starting with my Favourite Element, Electro.

Electro wise, We have five Characters as of right now: Kequin, Razor, Beidou, Fishl and Lisa. The Electro Archon, God of Eternity, Baal, is the ruling Archon of the Area, Inazuma, whitch is the area we are getting in the 1.4 update in 2021.

To start off i read into any info i could find on Baal and i gotta say, she is a interesting Fellow. As of right now we know that Baal has locked Inazuma down and has initiated a Vision Hunt Decree, due to her thinking Visions should be under the sole domain of divinity. She also hasnt handed out any Visions since this decree which means all Electro characters we know have gotten theirs before this drastic change.

Now, why did these 5 characters get their Visions? Well each character has a different reason, from Razor wanting to protect those he calls friends to Lisa simpley saying it would be of use to her and just getting it. From what I've found there isnt really a big overlap in the reciving of the characters, but what is overlaping is their fixation on something.

Razor recived his vision due to him being fixated on getting stronger to protect his friends after he failed to while being dragged away by an abyss mage

Kequin was fixated on sharing her beliefs, that the people of Lyiue shouldnt rely on Rex Lapis and have their Pride and that their views are of Equal importance

Fishl was so fixated on a book series she changed herself to be like the main character, fishl and her Vision manifested in the form of Oz, one of the characters from said book

Beidou was fixated on killing Haishan, a sea monster, from a young age and recived her vision when she did so

Lisa is pretty much fixated on understanding magecraft and the cost of reciveing a Vision.

Now onto a easier Element, Geo

The Archon of Geo and Contracts, Morax, Archon of Lyiue.

Morax or Rex Lapis, was one of the oldest gods, defended Lyiue in the Archon war, the Currency in Teyvat, Mora, is named after him and as of Chp.1 Act 3 we know that he has taken the form of Zhongli and has retired as the Geo Archon.

Morax, Along with Barbatos, are the only two Archons of the Original Seven that havent been replaced.

Now, who are our Geo Characters? Noelle and Ningguang, two dedicated powerhouses! This one is fairly simple, thanks to voicelines we have of Zhongli since he came out as a player character (Bless the pity pull for giving me this man)

In his “About Ningguang” Voiceline he says: ”Despite the multitude of affairs she deals with in a day, Ningguang always continues to press on. A rare gem indeed. I'm reminded of the time that she used to walk barefoot from Yaoguang Shoal to the south wharf, trying to sell her wares as she went. Time is cruel to humans.”

Noelle recived her vision when Jean Acknowledged her hard work when she tried to get into the knights of favonius. in her “Vision” story it states: This was a lucky day that she would always remember, for she would receive recognition from two all-important sources this day: once from Jean, and the other from the gods. Her hard work has been remembered after all.

So for short: Hard working and dedicated = Geo Vision

Next up we have Anemo

Our wonderful Tone deaf bard, Venti or otherwise known as the Archon of Anemo and freedom, Barbatos, the not really ruling Archon of Mondstadt.

Barbatos is a freedom loving guy and refuses to rule over Mondstadt, the city of freedom and is by far the weakest of the Archons, despite this the people of Modstadt still love and adore their windy God.

I went into this one thinking “Oh this is easy, itll be love for freedom or something!” Nope, it surprisingly wasnt. Jean and sucerose recived their visions through their Determination it seems. Sucerose from doing her 159th Dandilion seed Simmering experiment and Jean seemed to be determened to be a good grandmaster and to protect Mondstadt.

That aside, i couldnt find many overlaps with the two, they are both free spirited and love what they do.

Now on to Pyro

Pyro, the Element of the Archon Murata who is also the god of War, is wielded by the fan fav Diluc, as well as Klee, Xiangling, Amber, Bennett and Xinyan.

Not much is known about Murata, Venti describes her as a “ wayward, warmongering wretch” and thats about all we know. She presides over Natlan.

Now to the characters, this was acually the easiest of them all: Passion.

Every Pyro user has a huge amount of passion that a rolemodel or Loved one ignited within them.

This one definitly surprised me the least and i am really excited for when we meet Murata and Natlan.

Diluc has the same passion his father had

Klee has a passion for Explosives that her mother ignited

Xiangling has a passion for food and cooking she got from her father

Amber got her Passion for Mondstadt and the outriders from her grandfather

Bennett got the Passion for adventure from all the old adventurers he calls dads, yes Dads as in plural, that raised him

Xinyan has a passion for Rock, tho i havent found out more of her story due to her being so new.

Now heading onto Hydro

Hydro, along with Dendro, is the only element where we do not know the name of the Archon. All we do know is that they are the Archon of Hydro and Justice and rule over Fontaine.

So straight to the Hydro characters: Barbara, Mona and Xingqiu.

I dont really count Childe due to the only thing talked about is his dilusion and i am rather confused on if he even has a real vision but i still love him lots

Im going to be honest this one really had me running the brain gears for a while.

All three recived their Vision as an extension of the self.

Barbara  got hers after helping a sick boy by singing to him to help him sleep through a fever, Mona rekindeled a learning aid to her vision, to aid her with her search for the truth of the rules of the world and Xingqiu got his after he explained the principles of his clans martial arts anew, litterally saying that martial artists should see Visions as a extension of the self.

Last but definitly not least, Cryo

Cryo, the Element of the Archon know as the Tsaritsa. We acually dont know her corrisponding ideal nor her acual name and this one was just as geargrinding as Hydro.

The Tsaritsa, Ruler of the fatui and the one that gives them their Dilusions, is one interresting lady. We get a description of her from Childe: “Her Royal Highness the Tsaritsa is actually a gentle soul. Too gentle, in fact, and that's why she had to harden herself. Likewise, she declared war against the whole world only because she dreams of peace. Her gaze was cold but pure, arrogant yet sharp. She was not only the sacrosanct Cryo Archon but a true warrior also.”

Kaeya, Chongyun, Diona and Qiqi, our current four Cyro userer, all have rather interesting storys when it comes to how they got their Vision.

All dont accept something

Kaeya felt guilty about hiding who he was from the family that adopted him after his father abandoned him to be a spy in Mondstadt, and told Diluc, someone he used to be very close with, the truth, since then he sees his vision as a stern reminder that he must live his life under a heavy burden of Lies. He pretty much doesnt accept the truth of his situatin and would rather live with that heavy burden

Chonyun is surpressing a part of himself, the condition he has, and as Xiangling says in Chongyuns stories, is denying a part of him. He trys to work around his condition and wont accept it as the way to go about how he practices exocrism.

Diona wont accept the truth about her father being a Alcoholic, and places the blame on the Alcohol industy instead of accepting that he isnt as high and mighty as she thought. She wont accept that her fathers bad control over his drinking habits is the reason he acts as he does and instead blames the alcohol industry.

Qiqi didnt want to accept her death nor does she really accept her Zombie like traits and only uses them when she needs to defend herself.

My theory is the Cyro Visions are recevied when you wont accept the grim reality as it is, if this is positive or negative variates

When it comes to the last element, Dendro, we sadly know nothing nor have we seen any dendro character in action. So that might be a addition later on.

I’m really interrested if we find out the actual criteria for reciving each Vision one day

[helloyellowwords]

continuous themes on lover, the album, by taylor swift (not exhaustive, but I TRIED)

colours (obviously, lots of blue):

London Boy: show me a gray sky // faded blue jeans

Soon You’ll Get Better: holy orange bottles // i'll paint the kitchen neon

Afterglow: blew things out of proportion, now you're blue

ME!:but one of these things is not like the others like a rainbow with all of the colors

Lover: my heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue

Cruel Summer: it's blue, the feeling i've got

I Think he Knows: indigo eyes

Miss Americana: we're so sad, we paint the town blue

Paper Rings: i'm with you even if it makes me blue which takes me back to the color that we painted your brother's wall

Daylight: i once believed love would be black and white but it's golden // i once believed love would be burning red but it's golden

It’s Nice to Have a Friend: Light pink sky

night/dark:

I Forgot That You Existed: but then something happened one magical night

The Archer: i wake in the night, i pace like a ghost

Daylight: i've been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night // Or the things that haunt me in the middle of the night

I Think He Knows: i whisper in the dark// go there every night

Cruel Summer: Fever dream high in the quiet of the night// every night that summer just to seal my fate 

Paper Rings: now i wake up in the night and watch you breathe // kiss me once 'cause you know I had a long night (Oh)

Death By A Thousand Cuts: Flashbacks waking me up

light:

I Forgot That You Existed: lived in the shade you were throwing 'til all of my sunshine was gone, gone, gone

Cruel Summer: so cut the headlights

Afterglow:this ultraviolet morning light below // Meet me in the afterglow

Daylight: everyone looked worse in the light // and now i see daylight, i only see daylight

Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince i'm lost in the lights

it's brighter now, now

Cornelia Street: as if the street lights pointed in an arrowhead

Lover: we could leave the christmas lights up 'til january

Death By A Thousand Cuts: Chandelier's still flickering here

Soon You’ll Get Better: doctor's office lighting

YNTCD: Sunshine on the street at the parade

uhm, drinks and being...not sober:

Cruel summer: i'm drunk in the back of the car and i cried like a baby coming home from the bar 

Paper rings: the moon is high like your friends were the night that we first met // the wine is cold

Cornelia Street: drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar

Death By A Thousand Cuts: I get drunk, but it's not enough // Gave up on me like I was a bad drug

London Boy:Tennessee whiskey // Drinking in the afternoon (Yeah)

False God: Got the wine for you

YNTCD: But you're takin' shots at me like it's Patrón

seasons/weather:

Lover: i've loved you three summers now, honey, but i want 'em all

Cruel Summer: every night that summer just to seal my fate (oh)

ME!: livin' in winter, i am your summer // And when we had that fight out in the rain

Cornelia Street: windows flung right open, autumn air

Miss American: and now the storm is coming

Paper Rings: in the winter, in the icy outdoor pool //i want your dreary mondays

towns/places:

I Forgot That You Existed: free rent, living in my mind // would've fought the whole town, so yeah

Miss Americana: american glory faded before me // we paint the town blue

Cornelia Street: and baby, i get mystified by how this city screams your name

Daylight: maybe i've stormed out of every single room in this town // my love was as cruel as the cities i lived in // back and forth from new york (sneaking in your bed)

Death By A Thousand Cuts: our country, guess it was a lawless land // the only thing we share is this small town

London Boy: I love my hometown as much as Motown (and basically the entire song)

False God: Staring out the window like I’m not your favorite town // I'm New York City you're the West Village

home: 

Cornelia Street: as if the street lights pointed in an arrow head leading us home // memorize the creaks in the floor // walk me back to that apartment

London Boy: They say home is where the heart is But that's not where mine lives

Its Nice to Have A Friend: Feels like home

False God: years ago, we were just inside barefoot in the kitchen

Lover // and this is our place, we make the rules // Take me out, and take me home

Death By A Thousand Cuts: I take the long way home

I Think He Knows: When we get all alone, I'll make myself at home

Paper Rings: Went home and tried to stalk you on the internet

death/blood/fighting/conflict:

The Archer (obviously): combat, i'm ready for combat // i've been the archer, i've been the prey // i pace like a ghost

Cruel Summer: what doesn't kill me makes me want you more // summer's a knife// and if i bleed, you'll be the last to know // i'm not dying // killing me slow, out the window

I Forgot That You Existed: and i thought that it would kill me, but it didn't

and ran for my life 

Afterglow: I pinned your hands behind your back, thought I had reason to attack, but no// Fighting with a true love is boxing with no gloves// Tell me this love is worth the fight, oh

Death By A Thousand Cuts

conflicting emotions/ secrecy:

The Archer: I've got a hundred thrown-out speeches i almost said to you // I say I don't want that, but what if I do?

Cruel Summer: and if i bleed, you'll be the last to know // i don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you // and i snuck in through the garden gate // said, "i'm fine," but it wasn't true

daylight: sneaking in your bed

Death By A Thousand Cuts: ’Cause I can't pretend it's okay when it's not

Soon You’ll Get Better: I just pretend it isn't real // I didn't tell you I was scared

childhood/youth:

The Archer: i never grew up, it's getting so old // All the king's horses, all the king's men couldn't put me together again

I Think He Knows: it's like i'm 17, nobody understands // He got that boyish look that I like in a man

London Boy: like a child when our eyes meet

Miss Americana: I'm crazier for you than I was at 16

rules/games

Cruel Summer: devils roll the dice // no rules in breakable heaven

Daylight: there are so many lines that i've crossed unforgiven

Miss Americana: you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes // voted most likely to run away with you // my team is losing, battered and bruising // i see the high fives between the bad guys

Lover: and this is our place, we make the rules

spiritual

Cruel Summer: he looks up, grinning like a devil // devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes // no rules in breakable heaven

Soon You’ll Get Better: Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus too

False God (the whole song): Religion's in your lips even if it's a false god // We'd still worship this love // The altar is my hips // I know heaven's a thing I go there when you touch me, honey

Hell is when I fight with you // Make confessions and we’re begging for forgiveness

Cornelia Street: Sacred new beginnings that became my religion, listen

school/classrooms:

I forgot that you existed: laughed on the school yard as soon as I tripped up and hit the ground, ground, ground.

miss Americana: they whisper in the hallway, "she's a bad, bad girl" // the whole school is rolling fake dice

It's Nice To Have a Friend (the entire song, but specifically:) school bell rings, walk me home

London Boy: we are watching rugby with his school friends

Stories:

Cornelia Street: We were a fresh page on the desk Filling in the blanks as we go

Death By A Thousand Cuts: But if the story’s over, why am I still writing pages?

driving/car/streets:

Paper Rings: I want to drive away with you

The Archer: I jump from the train, I ride off alone

I Think He Knows: His footprints on the sidewalk lead to where I can't stop // He got my heartbeat skipping down 16th Avenue // hand on my thigh we could follow the sparks, I'll drive 

Cornelia Street: We were in the backseat // I say casually in the car // You hold my hand on the street

Death By A Thousand Cuts: I ask the traffic lights if it'll be alright they say, "I don't know"

London Boy: a rainy cab ride

False God: They say the road gets hard and you get lost

It's Nice to Have A Friend: Sidewalk chalk covered in snow

burn/fire:

The Archer // The room is on fire, invisible smoke

Afterglow: Chemistry 'til it blows up, 'til there’s no us // I'm the one who burned us down

Miss Americana: American stories burning before me

Daylight: Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke

Taylor just being so, so in love

Can I go where you go? Can we always be this close? 

It's you and me, that's my whole world // It's you and me, there's nothing like this

you are the only one who seems to care

Three times 'cause I waited my whole life

Darling, you're the one I want

Just wanna be with you, wanna be with you

You're the only one of you, baby, that's the fun of you

I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you. I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you

I want you, bless my soul

You know I adore you, I'm crazier for you

I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover

All's well that ends well to end up with you

Swear to be over dramatic and true to my lover

This originally started out as 3 subtitles and then as I was going through the lyrics I found SO MANY THEMES and i was like “???” because I had never even picked up on them before. So before I knew it I was going through the lyrics for the 3rd time and being mind blown. There’s still some more subtle themes I didn’t list (for e.g hopelessness, fear and more!) but I did a lot!! Hope you enjoyed, this took forever!!

p.s do I want to make one of these theme lists for every song Taylor has ever written...mayhaps. It would simply be so interesting because Taylor constantly refers to old songs and !! but I know it would take forever to go through her whole discography :(( Perhaps I’ll do this with some other albums separately though!

[the-pisciest]

PISCES RISING “Go with the flow” seems to be a Pisces rising motto. They move about the world in a vaguely directionless, gentle manner. They come across as artists and lovers of peace; but their open minds and hearts can give them a chameleon-like persona. Others are not always sure who they’ll meet from one day to the next with a Pisces rising person. Although often quiet and shy, another day may find them talkative and passionate. They are hugely impressionable, have a dreamy disposition, and project a soft-hearted personality. Pisces rising sees the world the way they want to see it at any given time, so objectivity is not necessarily a strong point. Neither is decision-making!“ Northern Wind by City in Color “You are all four seasons Rolled into one You're like the cold December snow In the warm July sunI'm the jet black sky That's just before the rain Like the mighty current Pulling you under the waves.” Simple Song by the Shins “My life in an upturned boat, marooned on a cliff You brought me a great big flood And you gave me a lift To care, what a gift You tell me with your tongue And your breath was in my lungs And you float over the rift.” Daydream by Milk and Bone “Touch me Your words are like a symphony Your eyes are nothing short of dreamy You give me fever.” When I was Older by Billie Eillish “When I was older I was a sailor on an open sea But now I'm underwater And my skin is paler than it should ever be HmmI'm on my back again Dreaming of a time and place Where you and I remain the best of friends Even after all this ends Can we pretend?” This is What Makes Us Girls by Lana Del Rey “There she was, my new best friend High heels in her hand, swayin' in the wind While she starts to cry Mascara running down her little Bambi eyes.” Strawberry Blonde by Mitski “I love everybody Because I love you When you stood up Walked away, barefoot And the grass where you lay Left a bed in your shape I looked over it And I ached.” He Doesn’t Know Why by Fleet Foxes “Penniless and tired, let your hair grow long I was looking at you there and your face looked wrong Memory is a fickle siren song I didn't understand.” Dissolve Me by Alt J “I am see-through, soap sliver you're so thin As I begin rubbing lathers up your state worsens on my skin And gold, fatless finger to lip, one two three four hushAnd pulse to pulse, now shushShe makes the sound, the sound the sea makes to calm me down.” Over the Love by Florence and the Machine “Now there's green light in my eyes And my lover on my mind And I'll sing from the piano, tear my yellow dress and Cry and cry and cry Over the love of youOn this champagne, drunken hope Against the current, all alone.” Crystals by Monsters and Men “Cover your crystal eyes And feel the tones that tremble down your spine Cover your crystal eyes And let your colours bleed and blend with mineMaking waves in pitch black sand Feel the salt dance on my hands Raw and charcoal coloured thighs Feel so cold and my skin feels so paper-thin.”

[just-another-obsessed-fangirl]

Lover (2019) Sentence Prompts

feel free to change pronouns and other specific details

How many days did I spend thinking ‘bout how you did me wrong?

Lived in the shade you were throwing ‘til all of my sunshine was gone

I couldn’t get away from you

In my feelings more than Drake

Your name on my lips, tongue-tied

Free rent, living in my mind

But then something happened one magical night

I forgot that you existed

I thought that it would kill me, but it didn’t

It isn’t love, it isn’t hate, it’s just indifference

Got out some popcorn as soon as my rep started going down

Laughed on the schoolyard as soon as I tripped up and hit the ground

I would’ve stuck around for you, would’ve fought the whole town

Would’ve been right there, front row, even if nobody came to your show

But you showed who you are

Sent me a clear message

Taught me some hard lessons, I just forget what they were

Fever dream high in the quiet of the night

Bad, bad boy, shiny toy with a price

You know that I bought it

I’m always waiting for you to be waiting below

Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes

What doesn’t kill me makes me want you more

It’s new, the shape of your body

It’s blue, the feeling I’ve got

It’s a cruel summer

It’s cool, that’s what I tell ‘em

No rules in breakable heaven

Hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine

We say that we’ll just screw it up in these trying times

We’re not trying

Cut the headlights

Summer’s a knife

I’m always waiting for you just to cut to the bone

If I bleed, you’ll be the last to know

I’m drunk in the back of the car

I cried like a baby coming home from the bar

Said, “I’m fine,” but it wasn’t true

I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you

I snuck in through the garden gate every night that summer

Just to seal my fate

I love you, ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?

He looks up grinning like a devil

We could leave the Christmas lights up ‘til January

This is our place, we make the rules

There’s a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear

Have I known you twenty seconds or twenty years?

Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close?

Take me out and take me home

You’re my lover

We could let our friends crash in the living room

I’m highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you

I’ve loved you three summers now, honey, but I want ‘em all

Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand?

With every guitar string scar on my hand

I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover

My heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue

All’s well that ends well to end up with you

Swear to be overdramatic and true

You’ll save all your dirtiest jokes for me

At every table, I’ll save you a seat

I would be complex

I would be cool

They’d say I played the field before I found someone to commit to

That would be okay for me to do

Every conquest I had made would make me more of a boss to you

I’d be a fearless leader, I’d be an alpha type

When everyone believes you, what’s that like?

I’m so sick of running as fast as I can

I’d get there quicker if I was a man

I’m so sick of them coming at me again

If I was a man

I’d be the man

I hustled, put in the work

Shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve

And they would toast to me

What’s it like to brag about raking in dollars and getting bitches and models?

It’s all good if you’re bad and it’s okay if you’re mad

I’d be a bitch, not a baller

They paint me out to be bad

It’s okay that I’m mad

I’m ready for combat

I don’t want that, but what if I do?

Cruelty wins in the movies

I’ve got a hundred thrown out speeches I almost said to you

I jump from the train, I ride off alone

I never grew up, it’s getting so old

Help me hold on to you

I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey

Who could ever leave me, darling, but who could stay?

I search for your dark side

What if I’m alright right here?

I cut off my nose just to spite my face

I hate my reflection for years and years

I pace like a ghost

The room is on fire, invisible smoke

All of my heroes die all alone

They see right through me

Can you see right through me?

I see right through me

All the king’s horses, all the king’s men, couldn’t put me together again

All of my enemies started out friends

His footprints on the sidewalk lead to where I can’t stop

His hands around a cold glass make me wanna know that body like it’s mine

He got that boyish look that I like in a man

I am an architect, I’m drawing up the plans

It’s like I’m seventeen, nobody understands

He got my heartbeat skipping down 16th Avenue

Wanna see what’s under that attitude

I want you, bless my soul

I ain’t gotta tell him, I think he knows

I’ll make myself at home and he’ll want me to stay

He’d better lock it down or I won’t stick around

Good ones never wait

He’s so obsessed with me and, boy, I understand

Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh

We could follow the sparks

I’ll drive

Where we gonna go?

You know I adore you

I’m crazier for you than I was at sixteen

I’m lost in the lights

Ripped up my prom dress

Running through rose thorns

I saw the scoreboard and ran for my life

No cameras catch my pageant smile

I counted days, I counted miles 

It’s you and me, that’s my whole world

They whisper in the hallway, “She’s a bad, bad girl”

The whole school is rolling fake dice

You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes

We’re so sad, we paint the town blue

Voted most likely to run away with you

My team is losing, battered and bruising

I see the high fives between the bad guys

You are the only one who seems to care

The damsels are depressed

Boys will be boys, then where are the wise me?

Darling, I’m scared

No cameras catch my muffled cries

I don’t really wanna fight, ‘cause nobody’s gonna win

I think you should come home

I’ll never let you go, ‘cause I know this is a fight that someday we’re gonna win

She’s a bad, bad girl

High, like your friends were the night that we first met

Went home and tried to stalk you on the internet

I’ve read all of the books beside your bed

Cold, like the shoulder that I gave you in the street

Cat and mouse for a month or two or three

Now I wake up in the night and watch you breathe

Kiss me once ‘cause you know I had a long night

Kiss me twice ‘cause it’s gonna be alright

Three times ‘cause I waited my whole life

I like shiny things, but I’d marry you with paper rings

I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

You’re the one I want in paper rings, in picture frames, in dirty dreams

In the icy outdoor pool, when you jumped in first, I went in too

I’m with you even if it makes blue

Takes me back to the color that we painted your brother’s wall

Without all the exes, fights, and flaws

We wouldn’t be standing here so tall

I want to drive away with you

I want your complications too

I want your dreary Mondays

Wrap your arms around me, baby boy

Drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar

I rent a place on Cornelia Street

We were a fresh page on the desk, filling in the blanks as we go

As if the street lights pointed in an arrow head leading us home

I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends

I’d never walk Cornelia Street again

That’s the kinda heartbreak time could never mend

I get mystified by how this city screams your name

I’m so terrified of it you ever walk away

Jacket ‘round my shoulders is yours

Memorize the creaks in the floor

Back when we were card sharks

I thought you were leading me on

I packed my bags, left Cornelia Street, before you even knew I was gone

You called, showed your hand

I turned around before I hit the tunnel

Sat on the roof, you and I

You hold my hand on the street

Walk me back to that apartment years ago

We were just inside barefoot in the kitchen

Sacred new beginnings that became my religion

Saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts

Flashbacks waking me up

I get drunk but it’s not enough

The morning comes and you’re not my baby

I look through the windows of this love even though we boarded them up

Chandelier’s still flickering here

I can’t pretend it’s okay when it’s not

I dress to kill my time

I take the long way home

I ask the traffic lights if it’ll be alright, they say, “I don’t know”

What once was ours is no one’s now

The only thing we share is this small town

It was a great love, one for the ages

If the story’s over, why am I still writing pages?

My heart, my hips, my body, my love

Tryna find a part of me that you didn’t touch

Gave up on me like I was a bad drug

Now I’m searching for signs in a haunted club

Our songs, our films, united we stand 

Our country, guess it was a lawless land

Quiet my fears with a touch of your hand

Paper cut stings from out paper-thin plans

My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust

Tryna find a part of me you didn’t take up

Gave you so much, but it wasn’t enough

But I’ll be alright, it’s just a thousand cuts

I love my hometown as much as Motown

Something happened, I heard him laughing

I saw the dimples first and then I heard the accent

They say home is where the heart is, but that’s not where mine lives

You know I love a London boy

He likes my American smile

Like a child when our eyes meet

Darling, I fancy you

I guess all the rumors are true

Boy, I fancy you

Now I love high tea

You can find me in the pub

We are watching rugby with his school friends

Show me a gray sky, a rainy cab ride

Babes, don’t threaten me with a good time

God, I love the English

Doesn’t have to be Louis V up on Bond Street

Stick with me, I’m your queen

The buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair

I didn’t tell you I was scared

That was the first time we were there

Holy orange bottles, each night I pray to you

Desperate people find faith

Now I pray to Jesus too

Soon you’ll get better

You’ll get better soon ‘cause you have to

I know delusion when I see it in the mirror

You like the nicer nurses

You make the best of a bad deal

I just pretend it isn’t real

I’ll paint the kitchen neon

I’ll brighten up the sky

I know I’ll never get it, there’s not a day that I won’t try

I hate to make this all about me, but who am I supposed to talk to?

What am I supposed to do if there’s no you?

This won’t go back to normal, if it ever was

It’s been years of hoping

I keep saying it because I have to

You’ll get better

We were crazy to think that this could work

Remember how I said I’d die for you?

We were stupid to jump in the ocean separating us

Remember how I’d fly to you?

I can’t talk to you when you’re like this

Staring out the window like I’m not your favorite town

I’m New York City

I still do it for you, babe

They all warned us about times like this

The road gets hard and you get lost when you’re led by blind faith

We might just get away with it

Religion’s in your lips

Even if it’s a false god, we’d still worship

The altar is my hips

We’d still worship this love

I know heaven’s a thing, I go there when you touch me, honey

Hell is when I fight with you

We can patch it up good

Make confessions and we’re begging for forgiveness

Got the wine for you

You can’t talk to me when I’m like this

Daring you to leave me just so I can try and scare you

You’re the West Village

You still do it for me, babe

You are somebody that I don’t know

Taking shots at me like it’s Patrón

Damn, it’s 7 AM

Say it in the street, that’s a knock-out

Say it in a Tweet, that’s a cop-out

I ain’t tryna mess with your self-expression

I’ve learned a lesson that stressing and obsessing ‘bout somebody else is no fun

Snakes and stones never broke my bones

You need to calm down

You’re being too loud

Can you just not step on my gown?

You’re coming at my friends like a missile

Why are you mad when you could be glad?

Sunshine on the street at the parade

You would rather be in the dark ages

Making that sign must’ve taken all night

You just need to take several seats

Try to restore the peace

Control your urges to scream about all the people you hate

Shade never made anybody less gay

We see you over there on the internet

Comparing all the girls who are killing it

We figured you out

We all know now we all got crowns

I blew things out of proportion, now you’re blue

Put you in jail for something you didn’t do

I pinned your hands behind your back

Thought I had reason to attack, but no

Fighting with a true love is boxing with no gloves

Chemistry ‘til it blows up, ‘til there’s no us

Why’d I have to break what I love so much?

It’s on your face and I’m to blame

It’s all me in my head

I’m the one who burned us down

It’s not what I meant

Sorry that I hurt you

I don’t wanna do this to you

I don’t wanna lose this with you

It’s all me, just don’t go

Meet me in the afterglow

It’s so excruciating to see you low

Just wanna lift you up and not let you go

This ultraviolet morning light below tells me this love is worth the fight

I lived like an island, punished you with silence

Went off like sirens

Tell me that you’re still mine

Tell me that we’ll be just fine even when I lose my mind

Tell me that it’s not my fault

Tell me that I’m all you want even when I break my heart

I promise that you’ll never find another like me

I know that I’m a handful

I know I never think before I jump

You’re the kind of guy the ladies want

There’s a lot of cool chicks out there

I know that I went psycho on the phone

I never leave well enough alone

Trouble’s gonna follow where I go

One of these things is not like the others

When it comes to a lover

I’m the only one of me

Baby, that’s the fun of me

You’re the only one of you

Baby, that’s the fun of you

I promise that nobody’s gonna love you like me

I know I tend to make it about me

I know you never get just what you see

I will never bore you, baby

There’s a lot of lame guys out there

We had that fight out in the rain

You ran after me and called my name

I never wanna see you walk away

Living in winter, I am your summer

Hey kids, spelling is fun!

There ain’t no I in “team���, but you know there is a “me”

You can’t spell “awesome” without “me”

School bell rings, walk me home

Sidewalk chalk covered in snow

Lost my gloves, you give me one

“Wanna hang out?” Yeah, sounds like fun

Video games, you pass me a note, sleeping in tents

It’s nice to have a friend

Light pink sky, up on the roof

Sun sinks down, no curfew

20 questions, we tell the truth

You’ve been stressed out lately, yeah, me too

Something gave you the nerve to touch my hand

Church bells ring, carry me home

Rice on the ground looks like snow

Call my bluff, call you “Babe”

Have my back every day

Stay in bed the whole weekend

My love was as cruel as the cities I lived in

Everyone looked worse in the light

There are so many lines that I’ve crossed unforgiven

I’ll tell you the truth, but never goodbye

I don’t wanna look at anything else now that I saw you

I don’t wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you

I’ve been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night 

Now I see daylight

Luck of the draw only draws the unlucky

I became the butt of the joke

I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked

Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke

Maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down

Maybe I’ve stormed out of every single room in this town

Threw out our cloaks and our daggers

Because it’s morning now

It’s brighter now

I can still see it all in my mind

All of you, all of me, intertwined

I once believed love would be black and white (but it’s golden)

I can still see it all in my head

Back and forth from New York, sneaking in your bed

I once believed love would be burning red

It’s golden like daylight

You gotta step into the daylight and let it go

I wanna be defined by the things that I love

Not the things I hate

Not the things I’m afraid of

The things that haunt me in the middle of the might

You are what you love

[imbricare]

[mcgraw @ miranda] "The enormity of my desire disgusts me." [ screams ]

“Come with me.”

Her hands were cool to the touch – perhaps because it was night, perhaps because his own skin was boiling with a shame that, like most fevers, was not of his making. 

Hippocrates already discovered that the fever as we know it is to be treated as a symptom of disease, rather than disease in and of itself. It came to her all of a sudden, that whiff of recollection of some medical lecture or another in St Mary’s auditorium. No doubt, she had walked to their seats with her gloved hand in the crook of Thomas’ arm; now, the same such hand slipped into James’ with the ease of familiarity, and she gently tugged him from where he was seated, by the corner of the bed, across the room and out into the hallway, into the parlour – 

She was but in her gown, haphazardly thrown over her nightly dress, when she opened the heavy oak doors herself, and toed the marble doorway of the Hamilton house, barefoot against the colourful, crisp bite of autumn come. “Come,” Miranda said again, and bade James come, an impatient flick of her hand. She pulled on his arm when he hesitantly came closer, and brought him out past the threshold with her. 

The night was clear, much clearer than it ever could be around St Paul’s or down Fleet Street with all that light and capering. Here, up north, tucked away between gardens and estates, the city was like the presence of an outstretched palm: there-not-there, and it let the stars shine through. They danced in Miranda’s open hair when she looked up to James and took his hands between her own again, and held them resolutely over the stairs leading up to her husband’s house. 

“There.” And quite suddenly, she unclenched her hands, let loose of whatever tension she had been holding between them. Her eyes bore into James’. In the dark. In the night. “I bid you do the same, Lieutenant. This is where you leave your disgust and your shame.” Her hand to cup his cheek. “And when you have buried them, come back inside. But leave them here.” Her smile was soft, soft and true. “Lord Hamilton does not abide them in his house.” 

[rhiezus]

                                 Lover As Our Ships.  

I Forget That You Existed.

Literally Nayoung to everyone in her life before, including mostly SPB, the Nameless and even Kim Yura. 

How many days did I spend thinking 'Bout how you did me wrong, wrong, wrong? Lived in the shade you were throwing 'Til all of my sunshine was gone, gone, gone 

Also Keun to SPB... Everyone to SPB, that company is trash. But look:

Sent me a clear message Taught me some hard lessons I just forget what they were It's all just a blur

And don’t even get me started on the chorus. 

Cruel Summer

At first, I thought, damn, I don’t have any ship for that because it’s about a breakup and stuff... But then it cleared my mind and now I think it’s two at the same time. First, Minhye and Jukan at college times.

Fever dream high in the quiet of the night You know that I caught it (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it) Bad, bad boy, shiny toy with a price You know that I bought it (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it)

[...]

Hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine I'm not buying (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it) You say that we'll just screw it up in these trying times We're not trying (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it) 

But it just doesn’t stop there, it also gave me little hints of Anna and Kuen.

I'm drunk in the back of the car And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar (Oh) Said I'm fine, but it wasn't true I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you

[...]

And I screamed for whatever it's worth "I love you, " ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?

Lover

We got mixes feelings about this one, it literally could be any ship at some specific moment, so I really don’t know. However, I still keep my word that Hana and Mark were the first one that came to my mind when i listened to this song for the first time, probably because of The Archer and because of the state they are in right now that makes it easy for me to see Hana listening to this one right now and thing “Have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years?” and “All's well that ends well to end up with you”. Anyways, it also reminds me of Nayoung and Keun because of tHE MAGNETIC FORCE OF A MAn, and for the same reason, I can imagine Bonghu and Sanchan. And let’s not forget of Julie and Valak, they also marked this song as theirs. Oh my god, it also reminds me of Minhye and Jukan, for christ's sakes.

The Man

Speaking of her, that’s very Minhye. And nAYoung TOO. Actually, Nayoung seems like the type that would pick a lyrics from this song and posts on her stories, she is that kind of person right now. That’s official I even put on yes girl, there is no going back. But just... look:

Would you like to worry about drinkin' and dollars? And getting bitches and models? And it's so good if you're bad And it's okay if you're mad If I was out flashing my dollars I'd be a bitch, not a baller They'd paint me out to be bad So, it's okay that I'm mad

The Archer

To all the Hopeless Romantics I did before. I’m serious, this song is every single little bitch that's too hopeless romantic. It started with Hana, then I thought of Haneul, probably Kim Yura too, Anna & Clay. 

'Cause cruelty wins in the movies I've got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you

(JUST LOOK AT ANNA AND KIM YURA RIGHT THERE)

And I cut off my nose just to spite my face Then I hate my reflection for years and years

(HANEULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL)

I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost The room is on fire, invisible smoke And all of my heroes die all alone Help me hold onto you

(CLAY)

I Think He Knows

Speaking of Clay, this song radiates Allen and Clay. But before that, I totally thought about Yehjin and Chang too. So well, probably both.

He got that boyish look that I like in a man I am an architect, I'm drawing up the plans It's like I'm 17, nobody understands No one understands

Seriously? That’s Clay about Allen.

Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh We could follow the sparks, I'll drive Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh We could follow the sparks, I'll drive "So where we gonna go?" I whisper in the dark "Where we gonna go?" I think he knows

And this is so Yehjin and Chang, hell yes.

Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

Chines & Chihye. There is none else for this, I swear because I’ve looked up.

You know I adore you, I'm crazier for you Than I was at 16, lost in a film scene Waving homecoming queens, marching band playing I'm lost in the lights 

YES, SHALL WE ALL BE SAD ABOUT THIS?

I'm feeling helpless, the damsels are depressed Boys will be boys then, where are the wise men? Darling, I'm scared (Ah)

Keep listening...

No cameras catch my muffled cries I counted days, I counted miles To see you there, to see you there And now the storm is coming, but

And finally...

It's you and me, that's my whole world They whisper in the hallway, "She's a bad, bad girl" (Okay) The whole school is rolling fake dice You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes [...] We're so sad, we paint the town blue Voted most likely to run away with you

Paper Rings

Oh my god, the first time I listened to this song I was “maybe it’s Bonghu and Sanchan”. bUT reading the lyrics I’m so shocked because it’s Raye and Kaili, and fuck this song is very them... From the instrumental to the lyrics, everything.

The moon is high Like your friends were the night that we first met Went home and tried to stalk you on the internet [...] Now I wake up in the night and watch you breathe

Shut up, this is totally about the beer pong! And then suddenly by the end of the year the fact they are together... 

I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings Uh huh, that's right Darling, you're the one I want, and I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

Shut UPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Honey, without all the exes, fights, and flaws We wouldn't be standing here so tall, so

Cof cof, that’s for Julie. Costance said, “suck it”. 

Also, let’s not forget the part she keeps referring to him as “Baby Boy”.

Cornelia Street

Listen to me, I get the feeling this is Jinhyung and Kyungri. There is no further explanation on how I get to this conclusion, I just felt like it. 

We were a fresh page on the desk Filling in the blanks as we go As if the street lights pointed in an arrowhead Leading us home 

Hm??

And I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends I'd never walk Cornelia Street again That's the kinda heartbreak time could never mend I'd never walk Cornelia Street again And baby, I get mystified by how this city screams your name And baby, I'm so terrified of if you ever walk away 

I had to do a whole specification about this, but can you get the feeling that when they finally realized that they didn’t want to cheat or be with anyone else just because what they had was enough? That’s the feeling. Perhaps it’s also about the fact that they were falling so hard that they just suddenly were like ‘that’s true, i don’t want anyone else besides you and this thought kind of terrifies me a little bit’, you know?!  

You hold my hand on the street Walk me back to that apartment Years ago, we were just inside Barefoot in the kitchen Sacred new beginnings That became my religion, listen 

Totally talking about they sneaking wndr’s dorm to be together.  

Death By A Thousand Cuts

I never had this vision about this breakup until reading this song’s lyrics, but this is probably Seulgi when Hailey and she broke up. Yes, very random, yes, you probably didn’t expect this one but it’s true, let me show you.

Saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts Flashbacks waking me up I get drunk, but it's not enough ’Cause the morning comes and you're not my baby I look through the windows of this love Even though we boarded them up Chandelier's still flickering here ’Cause I can't pretend it's okay when it's not

Very weird seeing Seulgi demonstrate any type of feeling, she probably felt this because they were together for a significant amount of time and Hailey traveled back to her country to sort her things out so... You can imagine how lonely Seulgi must have felt for a while. 

I dress to kill my time, I take the long way home I ask the traffic lights if it'll be alright They say, "I don't know" And what once was ours is no one's now I see you everywhere, the only thing we share Is this small town You said it was a great love, one for the ages But if the story’s over, why am I still writing pages?

Seriously? This is totally Seulgi trying to figure out where to move from aside WNDR and Hailey, although she did figure it out somehow I can see why she was confused and a little upset even though she totally agreed with Hailey that the best thing was to break it off. 

Tryna find a part of me that you didn't touch My body, my love, my trust (It's death by a thousand cuts) But it wasn't enough, it wasn't enough, no, no

And with that, I rest my case.

London Boy

This would be Nayoung if it was called “Jeju Boy”, also Linlin would take a ride and sing it too if that was the title. Throwback that this is also Taewoon and Hojin (screams and sobs at the same time). If it was “Canadian Boy”, it could be Clay. Wait is Allen from where? IS HE BRITISH? I Thought hE Was AmeriCAn. And finally, if someone does a cover saying “London Girl”, then it’s definitely Evie and Sunny, or even me for wolfie. Yes. I love this song is so catchy, could be anyone talking about their crush, it’s really cute.

Soon You’ll Get Better

You know what this song it's about, let’s skip the crying. 

False God

Haneul & Hyuntae. FUCK THIS SONG I SWEAR, IF IT WAS KOREAN I WOULD SAY HANEUL WROTE IT AND GAVE IT TO TAYLOR. SERIOUSLY JUST LOOK AT THE DESCRIPTION BY GENIUS: ”False God” uses heavy religious imagery to compare Swift’s relationship with current boyfriend Joe Alwyn to something all-powerful and greater than themselves.”

We were crazy to think Crazy to think that this could work Remember how I said I'd die for you? We were stupid to jump In the ocean separating us Remember how I’d fly to you?

Oh, boy, shut up Haneul.

They all warned us about times like this They say the road gets hard and you get lost When you're led by blind faith, blind faith 

Also laughing about the part she says: “ You're the West Village”, change it to UN Village and it’s good to go.

You Need To Calm Down

That's us. And also Hailey. And also sweetpea.

Afterglow

Oh, here we go. Okay, this song is Linlin and Mingyu. I still can’t get over how much this song is them, seriously, I’ll just show the lyrics and let us be sad for the time being.

I blew things out of proportion, now you're blue Put you in jail for something you didn’t do I pinned your hands behind your back, oh Thought I had reason to attack, but no 

[...]

Hey, it's all me, in my head I'm the one who burned us down But it's not what I meant Sorry that I hurt you I don't wanna do, I don’t wanna do this to you (Ooh) I don’t wanna lose, I don't wanna lose this with you (Ooh) I need to say, hey, it’s all me, just don't go Meet me in the afterglow

[...]

I lived like an island, punished you with silence Went off like sirens, just crying Why'd I have to break what I love so much? It’s on your face, don't walk away, I need to say

[...]

Tell me that you're still mine Tell me that we'll be just fine Even when I lose my mind I need to say Tell me that it's not my fault Tell me that I'm all you want Even when I break your heart

Yeah, I KNOW.

ME!

I hate that song, next. 

I’m kidding, this actually brings me good memories even though it’s kind of insupportable. As for a ship, this is Kim Yura and Abe Chiyo. Eleanor and Zeev!!! And WNDR when they are getting ready in the dorm.

I know that I'm a handful, baby, uh I know I never think before I jump And you're the kind of guy the ladies want (And there's a lot of cool chicks out there)

[...]

I know that I went psycho on the phone I never leave well enough alone And trouble's gonna follow where I go

I underestimated how much of Eleanor and Zeev this is.

I know I tend to make it about me I know you never get just what you see But I will never bore you, baby

YeAH, BoY.

It’s Nice To Have A Friend

Me to You, until I realized this was a romantic song and went all “well’... So, to sum up, as a ship this is straight-up Gok Inna and Pyongho. Just check out the genius description: “ Infused with steel drums, It’s Nice to Have A Friend is a dreamy ballad about two friends meeting in school and ending up getting married. It recalls the similar love story of children growing up together and falling in love.” We don’t even need to read the lyrics after that, I agree. 

Daylight

This is another song with different ships to different situations. First, it’s Yohan and Sebin. Jinah and Bokyum. Danbi and Daehyun... Basically, everyone that went through a lot before finding their true love. Again, let’s take a look at the Genius description: “In the final song on her album Lover, Taylor Swift sings about struggling through previous relationships, beginning to doubt her ability to find true love, until she meets someone who brightens her life in a new way. She refers to being unlucky in love in the past, but when she meets her new partner, she only wants to focus on them and their happiness together.” Gotcha?

I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you I've been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night And now I see daylight, I only see daylight

I can only think of Yohan and Sebin finding each other, but you could also see where I thought about there other two here too. Jinah and Bokyum? Totally random but totally meant to be. And Danbi and Daehyun were both like in a love maze thing until they realized how stupid they were since the start. 

Luck of the draw only draws the unlucky And so I became the butt of the joke I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke Maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down Maybe I've stormed out of every single room in this town Threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it's morning now It's brighter now, now

I swear TO GOD, THIS SONG!!!!! What a great way to finish an album and my thread... *heart emoji*

[thecryingcryptid]

Hey ive been following you for a while and im not sure if its just my bad memory,but I haven't really seen a post about your ocs? They sound really fun from what I can tell from the tags of that last post. Id love to know more about them?Hope Im not bothering you! 🌟

not at all! yeah idk i have a couple sideblogs for them (but it’s more of a what their tumblr would look like not so much things specifically about them if you get what i mean). you precious monarch butterfly have some lil quick bios bout my top 3 girls

Reywynn Nightstar | D&D | rogue + warlock | Queer Table Universe

- Chaotic neutral/good moon elf who is an arcane trickster. She has ginger hair and one green eye, she lost the other eye to a cursed beholder eye charm thing. She is hella chaotic and loves lame jokes and pulling pranks. She is also hella pansexual and is drawn to lovers who are fun and know how to have a good time. She worked for a rogue organization in the Feywild traveling the wilderness to ruins and shit (and sometimes cities) to...reclaim items of arcane and cultural value. On one mission she tripped a plane shift trap and was sent to the Material Plane. She is not educated on inter-planar travel so she had no fuckin clue how to get back, she just kinda travelled around Faerun taking up odd thieving jobs until she teamed up with the group to work a bigger job with more pay.  She is the SMOLEST bean (next to our gnome ranger) at 5ft tall. FUN FACT: that was 100% not her original height but when the DM asked me how tall she was at like level 6 I realized I had not written it down anywhere so randomly rolled for it right then and there. Rey is a smol rage bean with the lamest sense of humor AND I LOVE HER. She has also written a romance novel based on the group’s adventures! It’s not like the penny smut novels she favors but more of a dramatic love epic. I have not actually written out the novel, and probably never will, but I DO have a basic plot outline written if anyone ever wants to see it (you won’t understand how the plot relates to in-game events but it still might be interesting).

Likes: bad jokes, smut novels, and stabby things

Amaris | D&D | wizard | (future) Empire universe

- Neutral good tiefling with moonstone skin and black antlers. 6ft tall with wavy silver hair and bright purple eyes against black scleras.  She is probably my bean with the saddest backstory. Her father travels as a fortune teller, though he was more interested in using his good looks and mystic background to seduce women (especially wealthy women). On one such occasion his affair with a local landowner’s human wife resulted in a child that was very obviously not her husband’s. For whatever reason, maybe he really did care for her, he agreed to raise Amaris and keep her away from the anger of the husband. That being said, he was NOT a good father. It was very obvious from a young age that Amaris had a talent for learning magic that he did not, and he greatly exploited that to make his life easier and help him make more money as they travelled. He was very emotionally and verbally abusive and it wasn’t until her mid 20s that she gained the courage to run away from him. She left with some fancy arcane armor she was supposed to be making for him, but now it helps keep her safe as she explores the world on her own terms. She also has the mystic background, but to her father’s annoyance, she doesn’t flatter patrons and tell them what they want to hear instead choosing to give the blunt truth. Sometime in her teens they were close to the town where her mother lived and she went to try and see her, but was discovered by the husband and was chased down and attacked with scythes/sickles. Her back now has a thick scar from the base of her skull all the way down her spine. 

She HAS made a cameo in the Queer Table universe as an npc and is married to a nice (and hot) water genasi smuggler and they have a daughter. In that universe she also has a half-brother, Rexes, who is a Monster Hunter ranger.

Likes: books on arcane theory and astronomy, cinnamon rolls, and lavender

Nalaia | D&D | druid | (current) Empire universe

- Neutral/chaotic annoyed 6ft tiefling with green and peachy skin and short-ish horns (think typical devil horns). Long ass denim/blue hair that really needs cut (it’s almost to her knees) and is grumpy AFFFFFFF. Her mother died shortly after giving birth to her so her father raised her himself in the underdark. He was also a druid and took a lot of joy in helping her develop her abilities. When she was about 17-18 he died of a fever and urged her to explore the above world and all nature had to offer there. She set out and ended up staying at a smallish town and falling in love with townmaster. Lots of backstory plot I haven’t FULLY worked out but the townmaster pressured her into focusing more on healing magic and only growing crops the town needed BUT THEN some shit was happening in the forest and despite Nalaia’s pleading the townmaster had the forest burnt down. Being fucking distraught and betrayed by people she thought cared about her she ran off to The Mist Moors and lived as a hermit in a secluded cabin in the swamp. Occasionally people would find their way there if they needed potions or something and sometimes she would help, if only to get them to leave her alone. She couldn’t stay secluded in the swamp though after ALL the dragons rose from the dead AND ATE THE SUN. So now she travels with some cool people to help restore the sun and save The World Roots which are responsible for all the growth of nature. She still generally does NOT like society as an organized concept and gets really uncomfortable and clingy to the paladin when they have to be in whatever post apocalyptic towns they come across. She is (at this point in her life/adventure) very likely to choose nature over people.

Likes: moss, walking barefoot through the mud, banjo music

[dfroza]

He refused to do what the lying dragon told Him to do.

and He offended others to the point of them seeking to kill Him by throwing Him off the side of a cliff.

and He fulfilled the ancient Scriptures, being known as the very Word of God.

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 4th chapter of the book of Luke:

From the moment of his baptism, Jesus overflowed with the Holy Spirit. He was taken by the Spirit from the Jordan into the wilderness of Judea to experience for forty days the ordeal of testing by the accuser. He ate no food during this time and ended his forty-day fast very hungry. It was then the devil said to him, “If you are really the Son of God, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread for you.”

Jesus replied, “I will not! For it is written in the Scriptures, ‘Life does not come only from eating bread but from God. Life flows from every revelation from his mouth.’ ”

The devil lifted Jesus high into the sky, and in a flash showed him all the kingdoms and regions of the world. The devil then said to Jesus, “All of this, with all its power, authority, and splendor, is mine to give to whomever I wish. Just do one thing, and you will have it all. Simply bow down to worship me, and it will be yours! You will possess everything!”

Jesus rebuked him and said, “Satan, get behind me! For it is written in the Scriptures, ‘Only One is worthy of adoration; therefore, worship only the Lord your God and love him supremely.’ ”

Next, the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, set him on the highest point of the temple, and tempted him, saying, “If you really are the Son of God, jump down in front of all the people. For it is written in the Scriptures, ‘God has given his angels instructions to protect you from harm. For angels’ hands will hold you up and keep you from hurting even one foot on a stone.’ ”

Jesus replied, “It is also written in the Scriptures, ‘How dare you provoke the Lord your God!’ ”

That silenced the devil’s harassment for the time being. So he retreated until an opportune time.

Then Jesus, armed with the Holy Spirit’s power, returned to Galilee, and his fame spread throughout the region. He taught in the synagogues and they glorified him.

When he came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, he went into the synagogue, as he always did on the Sabbath. When Jesus came to the front to read the Scriptures, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found where it is written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has anointed me to be hope for the poor, healing for the brokenhearted, and new eyes for the blind, and to preach to prisoners, ‘You are set free!’ I have come to share the message of Jubilee, for the time of God’s great acceptance has begun.”

After he read this he rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone stared at Jesus, wondering what he was about to say. Then he added, “Today, these Scriptures came true in front of you.”

Everyone was impressed by how well Jesus spoke, in awe of the beautiful words of grace that came from his lips. But they said among themselves, “Who does he think he is? Isn’t he Joseph’s son, who grew up here in Nazareth?”

Jesus said to them, “I suppose you’ll quote me the proverb, ‘Doctor, go and heal yourself before you try to heal others.’ And you’ll say, ‘Work the miracles here in your hometown that we heard you did in Capernaum.’ But let me tell you, no prophet is welcomed or honored in his own hometown.

“Isn’t it true that many widows lived in the land of Israel during the days of the prophet Elijah when he locked up the heavens for three and a half years and brought a devastating famine over all the land? But he wasn’t sent to any of the widows living in that region. Instead, he was sent to a foreign place, to a widow in Zarephath of Sidon. Or have you not considered that the prophet Elisha healed only Naaman, the Syrian, rather than one of the many Jewish lepers living in the land?”

When everyone present heard Jesus’ words, they erupted with furious rage. They mobbed Jesus and threw him out of the city, dragging him to the edge of the cliff on the hill on which the city had been built, ready to hurl him off. But he walked right through the crowd, leaving them all stunned.

Jesus went to Capernaum in Galilee and taught the people on the Sabbath day. His teaching stunned and dazed them, for he spoke with penetrating words and great authority.

In the congregation, there was a demonized man, who screamed out with a loud voice, “Go away and leave us alone. We know who you are. You’re Jesus of Nazareth, God’s Holy One. What do you want with us? Have you come to destroy us already?”

Immediately the demon hurled the man down on the floor in front of them. But Jesus rebuked the demon, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And without causing him any harm, the demon came out of him.

Great astonishment swept over the people, and they said among themselves, “What kind of man is this who has such power and authority? With a mere word, he commands demons to come out, and they obey him!” Reports about Jesus spread like wildfire throughout every community in the surrounding region.

After leaving the synagogue, Jesus went into Simon’s house, where Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever. The disciples begged Jesus to help her. Jesus stood over her and rebuked the fever, and she was healed instantly. Then she got up and began to serve them.

At sunset, the people brought all those who were sick to Jesus to be healed. Jesus laid his hands on them one by one, and he healed them all of different illnesses.

Demons also came out of many of them. Knowing that Jesus was the Anointed One, the demons shouted while coming out, “You are the Messiah, the Son of El Shaddai!” But Jesus rebuked them and commanded them to be silent.

At daybreak the next morning, the crowds came and searched everywhere for him, but Jesus had already left to go to a secluded place. When they finally found him, they held him tightly, begging him to stay with them in Capernaum. But Jesus said, “Don’t you know there are other places I must go and offer the hope of God’s kingdom? This is what I have been sent to do.”

Jesus continued to travel and preach in the synagogues throughout the land.

The Book of Luke, Chapter 4 (The Passion Translation)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 12th chapter of the book of Job with Job’s response to his friends:

In responding to his friends’ collective accusation of his guilt, Job finally spoke.

Job (sarcastically to his friends): Surely, surely, my discerning friends, you are the ones!

And when you pass away, the sum total of all wisdom will perish from the earth.

I have a mind as good as yours.

Don’t think I am so far beneath you!

After all, who doesn’t know all about these things?

Who isn’t acquainted with the pedestrian platitudes you’ve trotted out?

As for me—the one who called upon God and whom God answered—

now, I am pitiful, laughable, a just and upright joke.

Those who have it easy may easily scorn the unfortunate;

they have their contempt already prepared for those whose feet slip.

Ironically, there is peace inside the tents of the raiders,

and those who upset God seem to live safe and secure;

They carry their gods around in their hands.

However, call on the animals to teach you;

the birds that sail through the air are not afraid to tell you the truth.

Engage the earth in conversation; it’s happy to share what it knows.

Even the fish of the sea are wise enough to explain it to you.

In fact, which part of creation isn’t aware,

which doesn’t know the Eternal’s hand has done this?

His hand cradles the life of every creature on the face of the earth;

His breath fills the nostrils of humans everywhere.

Listen! Aren’t we made to be discriminating:

our ears testing wisdom, our mouths tasting food?

But you tell me, “With age comes wisdom,

and a long life grants understanding.”

With God is the sum total of all wisdom and of all power;

His is the greatest of plans and the deepest of comprehensions.

So, then, what God tears down cannot be built back up;

the man He shuts up cannot be released.

If God withholds the rains and stops the streams from flowing, the earth suffers drought;

if He unleashes too much, the lands are ravaged by flood.

He is strong, and sound wisdom belongs to Him:

whether one deceives or is deceived, he is under God’s control.

He leads the counselors off as captives, barefoot and stripped;

He makes a mockery of judges.

He strips off the royal sashes of kings

and ties them at the waist, making them slaves as well.

He leads the priests away barefoot

and defeats the long-incumbent men of power.

He robs trusted advisors of speech;

He steals discretion from elders.

He heaps contempt on rulers,

and loosens the bind of alliances among world powers.

Aspects of His deep wisdom that were hidden away,

He shows in plain sight;

darkness is brought into the light.

He builds the strength of nations, only to crush them—

increases their population across the earth, only to scatter them again.

He divests each nation’s leaders of understanding,

and causes them to wander aimlessly with nowhere to go,

Until finally they grope in the dark, the light having departed,

and He lets them stumble and stagger like drunks.

The Book of Job, Chapter 12 (The Voice)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for monday, April 19 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A post by John Parsons about “worship”

We all struggle with sin in our lives, and each of us needs deliverance from various attachments and fears that keep us from the deeper life... The problem is within ourselves, that is, the contradiction of heart we experience in our double-mindedness, our ambivalence, and our unbelief (Jer. 17:9). We may recite the "Shema" every day and say that we love God with all our being, but in the ordinary moments of daily life we are drawn to other concerns, alien affections, other “gods.” Indeed, whatever matters most to us, whatever consumes our attention, time, resources, and our interest, is something we “worship,” that is, something we esteem as worthy and valuable...

People necessarily value things, and therefore every person alive is a “worshiper” (i.e., a person who finds “worth” in something). This applies equally to a devout atheist or pious skeptic as much as it does a deeply religious person... The question that matters, however, is what is your ultimate concern? What do you really want? Only when we begin to understand what draws and attracts us can we begin to discern what we really need. Therefore we must first acknowledge our false worship, our radical selfishness, and our sundry attachments in order to be set free. We must confess the truth that we are slaves.

Pride blinds us to the truth of our sickness of heart, persuading us to deny our problems, to cover them up, and to try harder and harder to “control” ourselves. This is a spiritual dead-end, a vicious circle, the “law of sin and death.” We are set free, however, when we die to ourselves, that is, when we surrender to the love of God and receive the miracle of promised deliverance. Since we are powerless to change ourselves, to reform our lower nature, and to be healed by our own best efforts, we must abandon our “religion” and rely entirely upon the God for the power to heal. This is an ongoing venture: We die daily; we take up the cross daily, we walk with a limp from our inner struggle, and we cling to God alone to show us the way and to guide our steps. Beloved, we have been crucified with Messiah and the old nature has lost its power over us; we are alive by the miracle of God’s power. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). [Hebrew for Christians]

4.19.21 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

April 19, 2021

God Is Spirit

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)

Mankind has always struggled with this aspect of God. The Second Commandment prohibited any attempt to represent God by any physical shape (Exodus 20:4-5). The triune God cannot be contained by finite attributes.

“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17)

“Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:16)

Were it not for the Second Person of the Godhead, He whom the apostle John identifies as “the Word,” we would have no possibility of knowing God (John 1:1-14). Philip asked to see the Father, and the Lord Jesus replied: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).

But how can this be? Paul explained to the Philippian church that Jesus Christ emptied Himself, took on the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7). Our Lord Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior, the same Creator who spoke the worlds into existence, “was made flesh” (John 1:14) in order to provide all that was necessary for the thrice-holy God to “be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

Jesus insisted “no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44). Salvation is not possible unless “he that cometh to God [believes] that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Jesus Himself told the Samaritan woman, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” HMM III

[riverdamien]

Tenderloin Stations of the Cross, 2021

Tenderloin Stations of the Cross

Twentieth Anniversary

April 2, 2021

In Memory of

Philip Workman

Philip Workman was executed on May 9, 2007,  in Tennesee. During his imprisonment, he had a religious experience and found  Jesus. He lived a life of service during his remaining time in prison. There is some doubt around his conviction. His final request was to give out his last meal of a vegetarian pizza to homeless people.

California is a death penalty state. The death penalty is still legal and is subject to the control of each administration. Today we pray that the legality of the death penalty is removed from the State of California. As long as it stands, we as citizens, stand as supporters of the death penalty.

"Courage ultimately means to let our hearts be broken." Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ

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

Christ Be My Portion

Christ, be my joy in sorrow.

Christ be my love in loneliness.

Christ be my rock in trembling

Christ be my anchor in the deep.

Christ be my calm in fury.

Christ be my power that crushes fear.

Christ be my peace in waiting.

Christ be my justice in the fight.

Be my portion, Jesus.

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

Station 1: Jesus In the Garden of Gethsemene

A homeless man walks by a restaurant. He is barefoot, dirty, and unshaven. As he walks people eating seem uncomfortable, or simply do not see him. Like Jesus he feels totally alone, and in doubt.

Philip Workman, sits on death row, sweating, and looking at the road that has brought him to this point, and prays the road ahead to be blessed by God.

Christ, be my joy in sorrow.

Station 2: Jesus Betrayed by Judas, and Is Arrested

Sean is promised a place to live, food to eat, and given a job at a store by a local agency. He was paid $15.00 an hour. He was also given a place to live for a time, with the promise of helping him find his own place in San Francisco.  After several months Sean was told he would have to leave the area because it would be too high for him to rent a place in the City.  In Judas, Jesus was betrayed by the system, by a friend.

Philip Workmen's best friend testified  Philip had confessed to him the murder, in order to receive a reduced sentence. He lied.

Christ be my love in loneliness.

Station 3: Jesus Is Condemned by the Sanhedrin

Twenty-one-year-old Jay is given housing in a local shelter and the support of a social worker. The agency receives a report that four years earlier he had been a member of a white supremacist gang. Jay is now considered a racist, and his services are removed. Jay simply hung out with them because he was lonely and was given a place to sleep. Jay is not a white supremist.  He is sent back to the streets.

During his trial, Philip had people testify of minor crimes he had committed as a youth. None violent.

Christ be my rock in trembling.

Station 4: Jesus Is Denied By Peter

Jessie, a minister, working with people who are homeless has a portion of her funding withdrawn by a local church for the reason; "she is putting a bandage on a wound, not fixing it." Ministry means letting our hearts be broken.

Philip had six friends who simply refused to testify in his support.

Christ be my anchor in the deep.

Station 5: Jesus Is Judged by Pilate:

James receives ten loitering tickets for "panhandling" and a local judge sends him to jail for six months.

Philip Workman is denied appeal when new evidence surfaces that he is innocent.

Christ be my calm in fury.

Station 6: Jesus is Scourged and Crowned With Thorns:

Michael, a young transgender man, is beaten, stripped of male apparel, dressed in women's garb, and has lipstick smeared across his face.

Philip Workman was beaten and scorned for sharing his experience knowing Jesus.

Christ be my power that crushed fear.

Station 7: Jesus Bears the Cross

Sixteen-year-old Carlos, a non-documented immigrant, walks out from behind some bushes where he and his dad are hiding and tells a border guard he is alone. Carlos is taken in, as his dad remains hiding and makes it across the border.

Facing the death penalty Philip Workman continues to love and refuses to blame others for the results of his actions.

Be my peace in waiting.

Station 8:  Jesus Is Helped By Simon the Cyrene

Greg, 16, who is homeless, burning up with a fever on a late rainy night, walks to the apartment of a minister, who allows him to stay for several nights and provides care. 

Sr. Helen Prejean and others help to carry  Philip emotionally as he walks to his execution.

Christ be my justice in the fight.

Station 9: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem:

Every evening one sees a white-haired lady walking down Polk Street, passing out day-old pastries she receives from donut shops. She gives them to homeless individuals in the area.

Philip Workman meets with women from churches to talk of the death penalty and his service for Jesus.

Be My Portion Jesus

Station 10: Jesus is Crucified.

Shane, 17, has been told to leave his home by his parents,  because of being gay. He feels rejected and starts talking to a minister on zoom, and suddenly he says: "Goodbye" and puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger, leaving blood spattered all over his computer screen.

Philip Workman, too, considers suicide, but his faith in Jesus gives him hope.

Christ be my joy in sorrow.

Station 11: Jesus Promises His Kingdom to the Good Thief:

Carter lays dying from being stabbed in a fight, and says: "God loves me and I am going home to be with Jesus," telling a friend near him, "I will see you soon."

Philip Workman  promises a guard who has been truly compassionate with him, "We will meet again in the Kingdom!"

Christ be my life in loneliness

Station 12: Jesus Speaks to His Mother and Disciples:

As Sam lays dying on the corner of Polk and Sutter,  a woman sits beside him with her son. He says to her, "All will be well!"

As Philip Workman walks towards his execution, he gives a group of notes to the chaplain to be given to friends who have supported him through the years.

Christ be my rock in trembling.

Station 13: Jesus Dies on the Cross

Zack, 16, dies at the hands of his drug dealer; Philip Workman dies by drug injection at the hands of the State of Tennessee.

Christ be my anchor in the deep.

Station 14: Jesus is Placed in the Tomb:

Zac's ashes are placed in the Neptune Society Columbarium. He is no longer homeless.

Philip's body is buried near his dad in the family cemetery.

Courage Means To Let Our Bones Be Broken!

Christ Be My Portion

Christ, be my joy in sorrow.

Christ be my love in loneliness.

Christ be my rock in trembling

Christ be my anchor in the deep.

Christ be my calm in fury.

Christ be my power that crushes fear.

Christ be my peace in waiting.

Christ be my justice in the fight.

Be my portion, Jesus

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

Join us at Noon, on April 2, 2021, in front of City Hall, Polk side. I will walk leading those who wish to walk, with the  van being driven by David Alben with the pizza to be handed out and leading cars,

We need participants to read, and we will be socially distant on our journey. If you can not participate in person, follow us slowly at home reading the Stations at noon in prayer.

We invite you to send letters, emails, or Twitter messages to the Governor urging him to work to fully remove the death penalty from the constitution.

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

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

www.temenos.org

415-305-2124

[newstfionline]

‘Blood flowed in the streets’: Refugees from one Rohingya village recount days of horror

By Annie Gowen, Washington Post, September 16, 2017

UKHIA, Bangladesh--The soldiers arrived in the Burma village just after 8 a.m., the villagers said, ready to fight a war.

They fired shots in the air, and then, the villagers claim, turned their guns on fleeing residents, who fell dead and wounded in the monsoon-green rice paddy. The military’s retribution for a Rohingya militant attack on police posts earlier that day had begun.

Mohammed Roshid, a rice farmer, heard the gunfire and fled with his wife and children, but his 80-year-old father, who walks with a stick, wasn’t as nimble. Roshid said he saw a soldier grab Yusuf Ali and slit his throat with such ferocity the old man was nearly decapitated.

“I wanted to go back and save him, but some relatives stopped me because there was so many military,” Roshid, 55, said. “It’s the saddest thing in my life that I could not do anything for my father.”

The Burmese military’s “clearance operation” in the Maung Nu hamlet and dozens of other villages populated by Burma’s ethnic Rohingya minority triggered an exodus of an estimated 389,000 refugees into Bangladesh, an episode the United Nations human rights chief has called “ethnic cleansing.” The tide of refugees is expected to grow in the coming days. The newly arrived refugees--dazed, clutching their belongings, some barefoot in ankle-deep mud--have crowded out an existing camp and put up makeshift shelters. Others simply sit on the roadways, fighting crowds as large relief trucks fling down bags of rice or water.

Rights groups say it will take months or years to fully chronicle the devastation they are leaving behind. Satellite photos show widespread burning, witnesses recount soldiers killing civilians, and the government itself said 176 Rohingya villages stand empty. No total death toll is yet available because the area remains sealed by the military.

Nearly a dozen villagers from the Maung Nu hamlet who escaped recounted their last hours in their homes and the long journey that followed. They were interviewed for two days in Kutupalong refugee camp near the Bangladesh border, where they arrived last week. Fortify Rights, a Southeast Asia-focused human rights organization, estimates the death toll in Maung Nu and three nearby villages to be 150.

“I can’t count how many,” said Soe Win, a 10th-grade teacher. “We were all watching what the military did. They slaughtered them one by one. And the blood flowed in the streets.”

The latest wave of violence began Aug. 25, when an emerging group of Rohingya militants, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, attacked dozens of police outposts across Rakhine state, killing 12. The subsequent military crackdown has prompted hundreds of thousands of refugees to leave Buddhist-majority Burma, the Southeast Asian nation until recently ruled by a military junta where Rohingya have long faced denial of citizenship and other rights.

The International Rescue Committee estimates that eventually 500,000 will flee to Bangladesh, half of the known Rohingya population in the country, most of whom live in troubled Rakhine state. The area has long been riven by tensions between Buddhist villagers and the stateless Rohingya, who have been there for centuries but who are still considered by the government to be illegal immigrants, “Bengalis” from neighboring Bangladesh.

The crisis has prompted widespread outcry and condemnation of Burma and its de facto leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. She and her government have said little about the plight of the Rohingya, except to reframe it as a national security matter as the new militancy has coalesced. On Monday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, called the exodus “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

In Maung Nu, a tiny hamlet of about 750 houses that sits along a narrow stretch of the slow-moving Mayu River, the Rohingya had long lived in relative calm, sipping tea with their Buddhist neighbors, villagers say.

But their peaceful coexistence ended on when Rohingya insurgents launched their attack on police posts. The military crackdown has continued unabated since then, black smoke scudding across the skyline visible in southern Bangladesh even this past week.

Mohammed Showife, 23, an auto mechanic, said on the first day of the assault he and his family had just finished their morning prayers and were preparing rice when three soldiers appeared in the yard, announcing their arrival with a strafe of machine-gun fire and telling them they had to leave their homes immediately.

“They said, ‘You Bengalis come out from the house. You can go anywhere you want, but you can’t live here,’ “ Showife recalled.

He and his family members scattered, and he stopped to help his neighbor Mohammed Rafique, 17, whose right hip had been run clean through by a bullet, back to front. They ran through a mob looting homes and soldiers setting fire to other dwellings with shoulder-fired rocket launchers. Many took refuge in the jungle, where the dense foliage, thick after the monsoon, provided cover.

Once there, some of the women sat silently weeping. Others just looked at each other: What would they do now? They tried to attend to Rafique’s wound with boiled water and torn strips of clothing.

The first night came, an uneasy darkness settled in, the sky flickering with fire and shadows. They did not know then there would be five nights more.

On the second day, a businessman hiding in his house got a call from a tall, skinny Army sergeant they all knew and called “Bajo,” who had often dined in his home.

Bajo said the military was going to be requisitioning one of his passenger boats. Given the circumstances, Mohammed Zubair, 40, felt he had no choice but to give it to them. He sent the boat with the captain to the jetty at the nearby army camp. The officers accepted the keys with the warning for the captain: “You will also be killed.” The boat driver eventually escaped unharmed with the others.

Zubair said he had followed to see what was to become of his vessel. He says he watched in horror as the military began stacking dead bodies on the boat, one after the other, like lumber, including two 13-year-old boys he knew well.

“I fainted from seeing this,” Zubair said. He believes they were dumped in the river.

On the third day, Rafique’s mother, Khalida Begum, 35, had grown tired of moving from house to house with her four other children, desperate for news of her son. She raised them on her own on a tailor’s salary after her husband died years ago, so she and the children are unusually close. They managed to make it to the jungle, where she saw Rafique lying motionless underneath a tree.

She ran to him and covered his face with kisses, joyfully, as he emerged from his fevered haze. At first he was so disoriented that he did not recognize her. But soon they were both crying.

On the sixth day, the residents of Maung Nu decided as a group they would start walking north to the border with Bangladesh, fearing the danger was growing.

They walked for eight days with few provisions, eating banana leaves and drinking water from streams. The children whimpered. Showife carried Rafique on his back, the teen drifting in and out of consciousness. After a while, their legs began to swell.

Finally, they reached a crossing high on a hill marked by a simple pillar that they understood meant they had arrived in Bangladesh. It was 4:30 in the afternoon. It was raining. Before them was a new city of refugees, thousands of temporary tents, bamboo poles covered in black plastic sheeting.

The villagers knew there would be tough times ahead as they descended the hill, slipping a little in the mud. For days afterward, when some of them closed their eyes, they could see the lifeless bodies of their neighbors and hear the ring of gunfire in their ears.

But at the pillar, a little cheer went up.

“I was very happy,” Khalida Begum said. “I was crazy, I was excited, I thought--now we are safe.”

[travelworldnetwork]

By Kamala Thiagarajan

8 March 2019

As an Indian, I’ve always been comfortable with the notion of bare feet. Over the years, I’ve grown accustomed to slipping out of my shoes before stepping into my own home (to not bring germs indoors with me), when I visit friends and family, or during prayers at Hindu temples.

And yet, despite this conditioning, even I was unprepared for Andaman.

View image of The village of Andaman in Tamil Nadu, India, has banned shoes from being worn within its limits (Credit: Credit: Kamala Thiagarajan)

A village in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Andaman is 450km (and around a 7.5-hour drive) from Tamil Nadu’s capital city of Chennai. Around 130 families live here, many of whom are agricultural labourers who work in the surrounding paddy fields.

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I met 70-year-old Mukhan Arumugam just as he was offering his daily prayers under an enormous neem tree at the entrance to the village. Dressed in a white shirt and a checked lungi (sarong), his face was tilted to the sky. Even in late January, the midday sun was blindingly bright.

It is under this tree, he said, adjacent to the sparkling waters of an underground reservoir and engulfed by lush green paddy fields and rock-strewn roads, that the story that defines his village begins. For this is the exact spot where villagers take off their sandals or shoes and carry them in their hands when they enter the village.

No-one in the village of Andaman, except the very elderly and the infirm, wears shoes, Arumugam told me. He was barefoot himself, even though he says he does intend to wear sandals soon, especially in the hot summer months ahead. As I walked through the village in my thick dark socks, I was astounded by the sight of children and teenagers rushing to school and couples strolling to work, all nonchalantly carrying their shoes in one hand. It was almost like they were another accessory, like a purse or a bag.

View image of People entering Andaman usually remove their shoes at the neem tree that marks the entrance to the village (Credit: Credit: Kamala Thiagarajan)

I stopped 10-year-old Anbu Nithi who whizzed past me on his bicycle in his bare feet. Nithi studies in standard five in a town 5km away, and he grinned when I asked him if he’d ever flouted the barefoot rule of the village. “My mother told me that a powerful goddess called Muthyalamma protects our village and so we don’t wear slippers here out of respect for Her,” he said. “If I wanted to, I could, but that would be like insulting a friend that everyone adores.”

I quickly find that it’s this spirit that sets Andaman apart. No-one enforces the practice. It isn’t a stringent religious code, rather a time-worn tradition that is steeped in love and respect.

“We’re the fourth generation of villagers to live this way,” explained Karuppiah Pandey, a 53-year-old painter. He was carrying his shoes, but his wife, Pechiamma, 40, who works in the fields to harvest rice, says she doesn’t bother with footwear at all except when venturing outside the village. When someone visits the village wearing shoes, they try to explain the rule, she says. But if they don’t comply, it’s never enforced. “It’s purely a personal choice that’s embraced by all who live here,” Pechiamma said. And though she’s never imposed the rule on her four children either – who are now adults and working in nearby cities – they all follow the custom when they come to visit her.

View image of Around 130 families live in Andaman, many of whom work in the surrounding paddy fields (Credit: Credit: Kamala Thiagarajan)

But there was a time when fear propelled this practice.

“Legend has it that a mysterious fever will strike you if you don’t heed the rule,” said Subramaniam Piramban, 43, a house painter who has lived in Andaman all his life. “We don’t live in fear of this prophecy, but we’ve grown accustomed to treating our village like a sacred space – to me, it’s like an extension of a temple,” he said.

We’ve grown accustomed to treating our village like a sacred space

To find out how this the legend evolved, I was directed to the village’s informal historian. Lakshmanan Veerabadra, 62, is a success story of staggering proportions for this little hamlet. Today, he runs a construction company in Dubai, after having travelled overseas as a daily wage labourer nearly four decades ago. He returns to the village often, sometimes to recruit personnel, but mostly to keep in touch with his roots. Seventy years ago, he said, villagers installed the first clay idol of Goddess Muthyalamma under the neem tree on the outskirts of the village. Just as the priest was adorning the goddess with jewellery and people were immersed in prayer, a young man is believed to have walked past the idol with his shoes on. It’s not clear whether this man viewed the ceremony with any degree of scorn, but legend has it he slipped and fell mid-stride. That evening, he was struck with a mysterious fever, and it took him many months to recover.

“Ever since then, the people in the village don’t wear any kind of footwear,” Veerabadra said. “It evolved into a way of life.”

Every five to eight years, during March or April, the village hosts a festival during which a clay idol of Muthyalamma is installed under the neem tree. For three days, the goddess stays to bless the village, before the idol is smashed to pieces and returned to the elements. During the festival, the village is filled with prayer, feasting, pageantry, dance and drama. But because of the huge costs involved, it isn’t an annual affair. The last festival was in 2011, and the next event is uncertain, depending as it does on donations from local patrons.

View image of The practice of not wearing shoes in Andaman is a time-worn tradition that is steeped in love and respect (Credit: Credit: Kamala Thiagarajan)

Many outsiders tend to dismiss the legend at the heart of this village as a kind of odd superstition, says Ramesh Sevagan, 40, a driver. At the very least, he says, the legend has helped carve a strong sense of identity and community. “It has brought us together, made everyone in the village feel like a family,” Sevagan said. This sense of kinship has bred other local customs, too. When someone in the village dies, for instance, regardless of whether the deceased is rich or poor, villagers gift a modest sum – Rs 20 each – to the bereaved family. “Apart from wanting to help our neighbours, to be there for them in good times and in bad, it has made us feel that we’re all equals here,” Sevagan said.

I wonder if time, travel and global exposure can dent this feeling. I asked Dubai-based Veerabadra whether he still feels as strongly about the shoe ban now as he did as a young boy. He says he does. Even today, he goes barefoot in the village and the years away haven’t dampened his enthusiasm for following the legend that lies at the heart of Andaman.

It has made us feel that we’re all equals here

“Regardless of who we are or where we live, all of us wake up every morning believing that we will be well,” he said. “There are no guarantees, but we still go about our day. We make plans for the future; we dream, we think ahead.

“Life everywhere revolves around such simple faith; it’s just another version of this that you see in our village.”

The Customs That Bind Us is a series from BBC Travel that celebrates cultures around the world through the exploration of their distinctive traditions.

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[autolovecraft]

The Goat with a Thousand Young … They found Gilman on the floor.

The old woman always appeared out of thin air near the corner where the downward slant met the inward-slanting wall. At last he woke in his bed in the crazily angled garret of the eldritch old house. Then he gave a start. This fusion of dream and reality was too much to bear.

The urge to walk was gradually changing to an urge to leap mystically into space, and by noon he had conquered the impulse to stare at vacancy. He was half lying on a high, fantastically balustraded terrace above a boundless jungle of outlandish, incredible peaks, balanced planes, domes, minarets, horizontal disks poised on pinnacles, and numberless forms of still greater wildness—some of stone and some of metal—which glittered gorgeously in the mixed, almost blistering glare from a polychromatic sky. As he listened he thought a rhythmic confusion of faint musical pipings covering a wide tonal range welled up from the ground floor. As for a plan of action—Gilman had better move down to Elwood's room and avoid sleeping alone. They were telling each other how badly they dreaded the coming of Walpurgis Night, now only a few days off; and were exchanging pitying comments about the poor, doomed young gentleman. How could he be sure he would not land on that green-litten hillside of a far planet, on the tessellated terrace above the city of tentacled monsters somewhere beyond the galaxy or in the spiral black vortices of that ultimate void of Chaos where reigns the mindless daemon-sultan Azathoth?

Gilman felt that they must be a result, jointly, of his studies in mathematics and in folklore. Ahead raced the small, furry, sharp-toothed thing which haunted the moldering structure and the town and nuzzled people curiously in the black hours before dawn, he resolved to reply in kind, and his own hands reached out for the creature's throat. In another column it was stated that no trace of the missing child Ladislas Wolejko had been found vacant, though with all his clothing in place. How could he be sure he would not land on that green-litten hillside of a far planet, on the tessellated terrace above the city of tentacled monsters somewhere beyond the galaxy or in the spiral black vortices of that ultimate void of Chaos where reigns the mindless daemon-sultan Azathoth? Dombrowski left it the pall of its final desolation began to descend, for people shunned it both on account of its old reputation and because of the new foetid odor. Also, Dombrowski must attend to the poisoning of those rats in the walls. She could not tell the police, for they never believed such things.

This was April thirtieth, and with the dusk would come the hellish Sabbat-time it always mounted and reached through to the worlds to certain dreaded periods. For the moment his recollections were hopelessly hazy, but he recognized them none the less formed an additional count against the place.

It was also possible that the inhabitants of a given dimensional realm could survive entry to many unknown and incomprehensible realms of additional or indefinitely multiplied dimensions—be they within or outside the given space-time continua—though of course there must be vast numbers of mutually uninhabitable even though mathematically juxtaposed bodies or zones of space. He argued that the fever alone was responsible for his nightly fantasies, and that when the touch abated he would be free from the monstrous visions. On the morning of the twenty-ninth Gilman awakened into a maelstrom of horror. He seemed to know what was coming—the monstrous burst of Walpurgis-rhythm would be vibrating, and at last he would have to be done about those rats. He had better, he thought, sprinkle flour within the room as well as walked around the house in his sleep was plain, and it was by no means vacant, being crowded with indescribably angled masses of alien-hued substance, some of which appeared to be organic while others seemed inorganic. Braced up by Elwood's companionship, Gilman attended classes that day. She had told Judge Hathorne of lines and curves were frequently used at certain midnight meetings in the dark. Everybody shrieked when a large rat-like form suddenly jumped out from beneath the ensanguined bedclothes and scuttled across the floor to a fresh, open hole close by. Utter bewilderment and the fear of madness racked Gilman as he staggered to the door and saw that Brown Jenkin had not been sleep-walking was needed.

It had looked very queer to her, but of course the young gentleman had better be sure to wear the crucifix Joe Mazurewicz had given him. That the influence of the old house and up the rickety stairs. He was writhing under the bedclothes, and a moment later he had tightened it enough to cut off her breath.

Elwood.

Each of these knobs was the hub of a system of five long, flat, triangularly tapering arms arranged around it like the arms of a starfish—nearly horizontal, but curving slightly away from the central barrel. After about an hour he got himself under better control, and saw that there were no muddy prints outside. To some, though, had Gilman been there; and when told of the matter he wondered where he could have been wandering, barefoot and with only his night clothes on. At the same moment the disgusting form of Brown Jenkin in the gulf below he thought he heard rats in the wormy partitions, and the tiles were cut in bizarre-angled shapes which struck him as less asymmetrical than based on some unearthly symmetry whose laws he could not comprehend.

Still others, including Joe himself, have theories too wild and fantastic for sober credence. Nor was any spot in that city more steeped in macabre memory than the gable room which harbored him—for it could not stand up alone—was the exotic spiky figure which in his monstrous dream he had heard a terrific clattering overhead in the dark fighting to keep awake when a faint lambent glow would seem to shimmer around the centuried room, showing in a violet mist the convergence of angled planes which had seized his brain so insidiously. She was intoning some croaking ritual in a language which Gilman could not be very clear about his reasons for this last assumption, but his haziness here was more than the honest physician could say. No amount of persuasion, however, that it was like an ancient crone whom he had twice actually encountered in the dark.

What made the students shake their heads was his sober theory that a man might—given mathematical knowledge admittedly beyond all likelihood of human acquirement—step deliberately from the earth to any other celestial body which might lie at one of an infinity of specific points in the cosmic pattern. In the evening they drowsily discussed the mathematical studies which had so completely and perhaps harmfully engrossed Gilman, and speculated about the linkage with ancient magic and folklore which seemed so darkly probable. He would speak to the landlord about them. There was much in the Essex County records about Keziah Mason's trial, and what had been near her rattling the tin can in a rubbish-heap at the mouth of the gangway just after midnight. Lying on its side—for it could not stand up alone—was the exotic spiky figure which in his monstrous dream he had broken off the fantastic balustrade.

Gilman's dreams, nothing filled him with greater panic and nausea than this blasphemous and diminutive hybrid, whose image flitted across his vision in a form a thousandfold more hateful than anything his waking mind had deduced from the ancient records and the modern whispers. That was in 1692—the gaoler had gone mad and babbled of a small white-fanged furry thing which scuttled out of Keziah's cell, and not even Cotton Mather could explain the curves and angles smeared on the gray stone walls with some red, sticky fluid. She could not tell the police, for they never believed such things. How long would it last? He saw that Elwood had dropped asleep, and tried to call out and waken him.

Elwood in his chair. This fusion of dream and reality in all his experiences. Elwood canvassed the local museums in an effort to identify the strange spiky image on the table, while the low ceiling slanted gently downward in the same direction.

They were telling each other how badly they dreaded the coming of Walpurgis Night, now only a few days off; and were exchanging pitying comments about the poor, doomed young gentleman.

Of his own condition he could not well judge, for sight of his arms, legs, and torso seemed always cut off by some odd disarrangement of perspective; but he felt that he must have been half drunk when he came home the night before; yet the mention of a violet light in the garret chamber, were wholly beyond the pale of sanity, and Gilman waited up for him. A definite point among the stars had a claim on him and was calling him. During a free period he showed the queer image to several professors, all of whom were intensely interested, though none of them could shed any light upon its nature or origin. He awakened on the morning of April twenty-seventh a fresh rat-hole appeared in the room below.

No, he had not seen that thing before and did not know, but he had needed the help very badly and thought that someone fumbled clumsily at the latch. Time could not exist in certain belts of space, and suddenly he realized just where the source of the pull lay.

Ahead was the robed black man he had seen the faint violet glow within. For three days Gilman and Elwood exchanged whispered theories of the wildest kind. He would speak to the landlord about them. Life had become an insistent and almost unendurable cacophony, and there was a discussion of possible freakish curvatures in space, and of the violet dream-light had got abroad. This time they actually reached him, and he looked back across the level terrace.

[sight-seeking]

Day 6

June 27th, 2017 Tuesday

Note: After this day everything kind of starts to fall into a routine so I’ll only record moments that are particularly interesting.

7:00am: Wake up.

7:30am: Breakfast.

8:20am: I still have time before class t do some sight-seeing. I say ado to the other student and for a stroll into the town.

9:00am: I am irrevocably lost, but undaunted. As I try to navigate my way through street corners, I wonder if I’ll get back to campus on time. I can’t remember if classes are at 9:00 or 9:30.

9:12am: I get back to the campus and look at my schedule. I realize that my class does not start at 9:30. It starts at 9:00.

*cue panicked violin music*

9:20am: I anxiously run from my room to the classroom. The door is locked, but the teacher’s aide opens it. I walk in shame-faced and embarrassed. Late on the very first day.

10:00am: We go through the motions of a usual class. A lot is expected of us and we have to do a lot of reading, but I look forward to the guest lectures and excursions we will be going on.

10:50am: I wait by the blue front gate to be ready for our tour of the city. While me and some other students gather there, cars enter the campus. Alumni of the college were being invited to a luncheon, so we had to move over to the side for them to try to squeeze their fancy cars into the tiny college driveway.

Our tour guide’s name is Debbie and she’s my new favorite person. She’s a native of Oxford, very quintessentially British. She very knowledgeable about the city’s traditions, but she also cracks a lot of jokes. She pointed out a statue of a naked man standing on the building of the college across from ours. Naked man overlooked the street. She said to keep a sharp eye on him, because sometimes the students would dress him in differing outfits.

11:00am: Our tour of Oxford begins. Moments before, Debbie was yelling at student’s to keep off the front lawn. She later on explained that old Alumna would request to have their ashes sprinkled on the front lawn when the died. So it was a burial ground (and walking place) reserved only for the most distinguished members of the college. Debbie said she told one old gentlemen to keep off, and he very angrily said that he "had the right."

She explained that the reason most of us had sniffles was because of hay fever. She also brought mints for students who were either till suffering from jet lag, or had gone out drinking the night before. One boy in particular, she nicknamed “Jaeger Boom” because he was nursing a particularly bad hangover. She tells us the difference between a scon and a scone. She pointed out where Tolkien lived in Oxford and where Rowling got inspiration for Harry Potter's scar. If you want to know this, I recommend you get Debbie as a tour guide yourself.

When we walked through the back lawn of the college, she stood barefoot in the grass and remarked about how much of a nightmare the ball must have been for the gardeners. She used a lot of cute words, like “squishin” and “bril” and “kiddiewinkles,” (whenever children would pass by.) she pointed out her favorite restaurants and gave great advice for getting clothes for the formal dinner that night.

She walked us past some of the colleges and talked about how they were putting up signs for prospective high school students. She said she would be made scarce because the following day would be filled with them. She also pointed out college students who had just finished their last exams. First years wore a white rose in their lapels, second years a pink rose, and third years a red rose. The third years were covered in shaving cream, as it is a tradition in Oxford to completely trash your friend when they finally graduate. Some years it was confetti, other years it was cheese.

All of the college students that we walked past were in professional dress and long black robes. Because the colleges were originally monasteries, this was the norm. Regular student had them about the knee, honor students at the knee, graduate students past it, and distinguished members of the college, like the presidents, had long, draping robes.

1:00pm: Me and some of the students go to the shops and look in Pikamen at the recommendation of Debbie. All the clothes are cute, but not my style. I buy a set of earrings though, so that’s good. We leave and head back to the college. 

3:30pm:  I eat a muffin in my room and look over my syllabus. I buy a e-book of my textbook that I need for class. The first chapter is twenty pages long. I plow through the first few and resolve to finish it later.

4:30pm: I FIND PIZZA HUT

4:34pm: I GO BUY A PIZZA AND SAVE IT FOR LATER

5:00pm: I start getting dressed for the formal dinner. I wear my dark blue dress, black wedges, and silver flower earrings. I don’t know how everyone else will dress. I’ve never been to a formal dinner before.

6:30pm: We have our Introductory meeting for tutors and students, in the Danson Room. Everyone is dressed similar to me, so I don’t feel over or under dressed. I talk to my abnormal psychology tutor, and she gives us our first assignments. We need to do a lot of work before our first tutorial.

7:30pm: Reception. They pass out glittering white champagne glasses and sparkling water. I grab a glass of champagne. I take a sip and internally groan. I don’t like the taste, like, at all. Maybe I’m just partial to juice and soda, but non-sweet drinks don’t appeal to me. I hold the glass in my hand and talk to some of the girls for a while.

8:00pm: We all walk over to the dining hall for the formal dinner. Instead of waiting in a line, the tables are already fully set. They look extravagant! Everything is white and silver. There are candelabras at the ends of the tables. The facualty sit at the high table at the frnt of the room. One of them asks us to rise. They say a latin prayer, and we sit down.

We have Caesar salad with bacon served with white wine for the first course. Once again, I sip the wine, immediately regret it, and instead go for the sparkling and still water already sitting on the table. The next course is dressed chicken and mashed potatoes with red wine. The food is very good. I admit the wine improves on it. But I don’t like the taste of the wine itself, and chase it with the water. I start to feel its effects and make a mental note to go to home after dinner.

Finally, they serve Crème Brule with strawberry ice cream and passito wine. This one is sweeter, I like it much better than the others. By this point, many people are buzzed. Some of the guys start asking other people for their untouched glasses. I keep drinking water to draw the taste of the wine out of my mouth. I notice that my face crackles as I eat my dessert, and I wonder if they put pop rocks in it. Other students think so too.

10:00pm: After the dinner, a lot of students go down to the Beer Cellar in the basement of the Dining hall. I check it out. It’s pretty much an on-campus bar. There’s a pool table and a foosball table, and plenty of couches. I sit down with a bunch of friends. One guy turns on a digital jukebox, and students and faculty alike start pouring in. We sit and listen to Debbie some more, the guys in the background play drunk foosball. Some students get more drinks, but then note that they’re very expensive. Debbie berates us for using our phones in a social setting. But the music is too loud to talk to each other, so we just kind of hang out for a while. There’s a piano down there, but no one knows how to play it.

11:00pm: I decide to go to bed. I leave the beer cellar and go straight back to my room. I remember that I should finish the first chapter for my class, so I’m resolved to wake up early, despite whatever I feel the next day.

[pagedesignhub-blog]

Letter from... A sports activities studying listing

New Post has been published on https://pagedesignhub.com/letter-from-a-sports-activities-studying-listing/

Letter from... A sports activities studying listing

A college classmate and I have been discussing what number of unread issues we had of the magazine The Sportstar. We have been invested deeply in the game and the mag was our window into the world of Steffi Graf and Mohammad Azharuddin, my favorites then. If I had extra unread issues of the magazine, it intended I had spent longer reading for the assessments—and for this reason destined for better outcomes. The other day, brought about with the aid of a Facebook put up, I certainly recollected this conversation, which befell many years in the past.

The submit soliciting for recommendations for sports books got me questioning: As adults, we equate the summer season with heat, fatigue, inflammation, mangoes, and a lack of urge for food. But as youngsters, summer became a completely satisfied time of vacations and game—playing and reading about it (especially, in case you grew up in small-city India). In the olden days, television showed you what took place in suits, but newspaper and magazine articles informed you what happened off the sphere as well. I binge study Sunil Gavaskar’s Sunny Days one summer time vacation, fascinated to have got admission to a participant’s non-public thoughts within the days earlier than sanitized syndicated newspaper columns and Instagram.

What makes books on or through sportspersons or books on recreation itself exciting? While the rest of us mortals are nonetheless handling homework and what to do for the duration of vacations, pinnacle athletes are already single-mindedly pursuing excellence. Nadia Comaneci, for example, became an Olympic champion in gymnastics at 14.

While the relaxation people are starting to select careers or chase promotions, sportspersons are already “retired”. They tour the world, cope with a huge variety of human beings, undergo more ache and ecstasy and develop up faster than the rest folks—Sachin Tendulkar is a working example. Their lives are tales of persistence, dedication, and complications, which can be motivating and heartbreaking and oh-so-authentic. It takes passion, and pain, to get to the pinnacle of the wearing global. For instance, while jockey Pesi Shroff, who had retired after a protracted, illustrious career, become asked in an interview what he might do next, he stated, “eat”. Jockeys should maintain their weight strictly below control, which restricts their weight loss program.

Sports books combine the first-rate attributes of fiction and non-fiction. I am a mean—and pretty gradual—reader. But the buddy’s put up reminded of some books I even have examined and hints from different friends allowed me to feature to a developing reading wishlist. I am simultaneously reading Joe Moran’s Shrinking Violets: The Secret Life of Shyness, which although now not a sports activities e-book, has a bankruptcy analyzing the reticence of George Best and Bobby Charlton and how it manifested in their video games. Comaneci’s visit to India recently sparked my interest in Lola Lafon’s The Little Communist Who Never Smiled, which tells (and reimagines) her life as a young female in a rustic below a totalitarian government, detailing the rigors of a tough sport like gymnastics and indicates us how truth may have so many versions. Coincidentally, my previous couple of books has been sport-related. Like the Manchester United footballer’s autobiography, I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, which is brutally honest, as is to be expected. Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football by using David Winner is an older ebook that unravels the u. S . A .’s dominance in the sport in the nineteen seventies. Peter Oborne’s Wounded Tiger: A History of Cricket in Pakistan is a great nostalgic journey and solutions that everlasting question: How did Javed Miandad play beneath Imran Khan with out rebelling?

A cinematic e-book is The Boys inside the Boat by way of Daniel James Brown, that is the proper tale of the University of Washington rowing crew that received a gold medal at the 1936 Olympics—watched by way of Hitler. Not extraordinarily, the rights to produce a movie were bought by way of a first-rate Hollywood studio, in line with news reviews. One of the maximum entertaining books you will locate is Andre Agassi’s Open, a sincere, brisk autobiography of a witty and interesting tennis player. Nick Hornby’s a whole lot-acclaimed memoir Fever Pitch—which has when you consider that its launch in the early 1990s grow to be conventional—gave a start to a generation of Arsenal fanatics. The over a decade-vintage Mumbai marathon has produced a generation of runners, and wannabe runners, in Mumbai as a minimum. I become one in all them a few years ago and found, continuously, books which can be most encouraged. One is the charming Born to Run: The Hidden Tribe, the Ultra-Runners, and the Greatest Race the World Has Ever Seen with the aid of Christopher McDougall. I am reminded of the ebook whenever (befell extra than once) I see actor-became-full-time runner Milind Soman pounding at the chaotic streets of Mumbai on steaming afternoons, running barefoot. The other is the extra reflective What I Talk About When I Talk About Running through Haruki Murakami. He makes you experience like getting up and placing off for a run right then, ideally whilst persevering with to study.

The moment you Google a listing of incredible sports books or ask for hints, a few names crop up robotically. Some of them are Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by means of Michael Lewis (no longer study it, but I actually have seen the film); Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance by means of David Epstein (in ownership, but yet to begin); and the award-triumphing ebook on Muhammed Ali called King of the World by using David Remnick. All this studies and “Facebooking” has given me a few stable hints for the next few months (or years). These at the moment are brought to my Amazon/Flipkart wishlists—it does not always suggest I will buy them but lets in for the choice of getting some as presents. They encompass Jon Krakauer’s actual tale of an Everest expedition Into Thin Air; A Good Walk Spoiled through John Feinstein on golf; some other award-winning biography Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life via William Finnegan; and Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life by Alex Bellos.

Upon a relative’s insistence—she has requested me numerous instances if I even have examined these—I am also considering books on Nike—Shoe Dog: A Memoir by using the Creator of Nike via Phil Knight and Swoosh: Unauthorized Story of Nike and the Men Who Played There by using J.B. Strasser—and Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and The Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sports by Barbara Smit. The flipside of getting a virtual wishlist, though, is that you add to it recklessly. I even have had String Theory: David Foster Wallace on Tennis in my listing for 3 years now—it’s long past thus far down that I don’t see it anymore. Frank Brady’s Endgame is accumulating dirt in our bookshelf—now not intentionally, of course. I was magnetically pulled toward the ebook—it lines the upward push and fall of the enigmatic chess champion Bobby Fischer—after analyzing its evaluation with the aid of Garry Kasparov some years ago. I will get thru them, at some point. What sums up my reading is a small, approximately ninety-page, e-book I bought in 2012 and also have now not study. It’s called Don’t Buy This Book Now! The Art of Procrastination by way of John Perry. But allow’s live fine. Summer’s simply all started—there’s plenty of warm wearing movement but to come. In between that movement, maybe a touch reading can assist inspire—genuine existence tales of valor can be so much extra uplifting than fiction or Marvel Studio releases. Like me, you can make up for the dearth of carrying skills with the aid of analyzing approximately others who have an abundance of it. Maybe there are a few suggestions here to get commenced with.

Letter From… Is Mint on Sunday’s antidote to boring editor’s columns. Each week, one in every of our editors—Sidin Vadukut in London and Arun Janardhan in Mumbai—will ship dispatches on places, humans, and institutions which can be really worth ruminating about at the weekend.

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Letter from... a sports reading list

You’re really going to do better within the checks, he instructed me. A school classmate list and that I have been discussing What number of unread problems we had of the magazine The Sport Letter 

  We had been invested deeply in the game and the magazine became our window into the world of Steffi Graf and Mohammad Azharuddin, my favorites then. If I had extra unread issues of the mag, it meant I had spent longer analyzing for the tests—and consequently destined for higher results. The other day, brought on via a Fb submit, I truly recollected this conversation, which passed off many years in the past. The post inquiring for pointers for sports books got me thinking: As adults, we equate the summer season with warmness, fatigue, irritation, mangoes, and a loss of appetite. But as children, summer season became a happy time of vacations and game—playing and analyzing about it (mainly, if you grew up in small-city India). inside the olden days, television showed you what befell in matches, However, newspaper and mag articles advised you what happened off the sphere as nicely. I binge examine Sunil Gavaskar’s Sunny Days one summer excursion, interested in having to get entry to a player’s non-public thoughts within the days before sanitized syndicated newspaper columns and Instagram. What makes books on or with the aid of sportspersons or books on the sport itself thrilling? While the rest people mortals are still dealing with homework and what to do all through holidays, pinnacle athletes are already single-mindedly pursuing excellence. Nadia Comaneci, for instance, turned into an Olympic champion in gymnastics at 14. At the same time as the rest people are starting to pick careers or chase promotions, sportspersons are already “retired”. They tour the world, address a large variety of people, endure extra ache and ecstasy and grow up faster than the relaxation of us—Sachin Tendulkar is a working example. Their lives are tales of persistence, determination, and headaches, which can be motivating and heartbreaking and oh-so-real. It takes ardor, and pain, to get to the pinnacle of the sporting global. for instance, whilst jockey Pesi Shroff, who had retired after a protracted, illustrious profession, changed into asked in an interview what he would do next, he said, “devour”. Jockeys have to keep their weight strictly underneath manage, which restricts their food regimen. sports books combine the nice attributes of fiction and non-fiction. I’m a median—and quite gradual—reader. However, the buddy’s post reminded of some books I have examined and hints from different pals allowed me to add to a growing studying wishlist. I am concurrently reading Joe Moran’s Shrinking Violets: The name of the game Life of Shyness, which even though no longer a sports e-book, has a chapter analyzing the reticence of George quality and Bobby Charlton and the way it manifested in their video games. Comaneci’s visit to India currently sparked my interest in Lola Lafon’s The Little Communist Who Never Smiled, which tells (and reimagines) her Life as a younger female in a rustic below a totalitarian authorities, detailing the rigours of a difficult recreation like gymnastics and suggests us how fact can have such a lot of versions. Coincidentally, my last few books have been recreation-associated. Just like the Manchester United footballer’s autobiography, I’m Zlatan Ibrahimovic, that is brutally sincere, as is to be expected. Splendid Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer with the aid of David Winner is an older book that unravels the country’s dominance in the game in the 1970s. Peter Oborne’s Wounded Tiger: A History of Cricket in Pakistan is a terrific nostalgic journey and solutions that eternal question: How did Javed Miandad play under Imran Khan without rebelling? A cinematic e-book is The boys within the Boat by means of Daniel James Brown, that is the proper story of the University of Washington rowing group that won a gold medal at the 1936 Olympics—watched by using Hitler. not fairly, the rights to supply a film have been sold by means of a primary Hollywood studio, consistent with news reports. One of the most pleasing books you’ll find is Andre Agassi’s Open, a sincere, brisk autobiography of a witty and interesting tennis player. Nick Hornby’s plenty-acclaimed memoir Fever Pitch—which has on account that its launch within the early Nineteen Nineties become a classic—gave beginning to a generation of Arsenal fans. The over a decade-old Mumbai marathon has produced a technology of runners, and wannabe runners, in Mumbai as a minimum. I have considered one of them a few years ago and discovered, perpetually, two books which can be maximum recommended. One is the captivating Born to Run: The Hidden Tribe, the Extremely Runners and the Finest Race the arena Has Ever Seen with the aid of Christopher McDougall. I’m reminded of the ebook each time (happened extra than once) I see actor-turned-full-time runner Milind Soman pounding at the chaotic streets of Mumbai on steaming afternoons, walking barefoot. The other is the extra reflective What I Talk approximately After I Talk approximately running by Haruki Murakami. He makes you experience like getting up and setting off for a run proper then, preferably At the same time as persevering with to read. The moment you Google a list of super sports activities books or ask for pointers, some names crop up robotically. Some of them are Moneyball: The Artwork of Winning an Unfair Sport by way of Michael Lewis (no longer examine it, However, I’ve Visible the film); sports activities Gene

: Inside the Technological know-how of Exceptional Athletic Overall performance by means of David Epstein (in ownership, However but to start); and the award-Winning ebook on Muhammed Ali known as King of the world by means of David Remnick. All this research and “Facebooking” has given me a few solid guidelines for the following few months (or years). Those at the moment are introduced to my Amazon/Flipkart wishlists—it does not necessarily imply I can purchase them But permits for the option of getting some as items. They consist of Jon Krakauer’s real tale of an Everest day trip Into Thin Air; A good Stroll Spoiled by John Feinstein on golf; every other award-Triumphing biography Barbarian Days: A Browsing Lifestyles via William Finnegan; and Futebol: The Brazilian Manner of Life by Alex Bellos. Upon a relative’s insistence—she has requested me several times if I’ve examined Those—I’m additionally considering two books on Nike—Shoe Dog: A Memoir by means of the Writer of Nike by way of Phil Knight and Swoosh: Unauthorized story of Nike and the Guys Who Performed There with the aid of J.B. Strasser—and Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Based Adidas and Puma and The Circle of relatives Feud That For all time Modified the Enterprise of sports via Barbara Smit. The flipside of having a digital wishlist, although, is which you add to it recklessly. I have had String Idea: David Foster Wallace on Tennis in my listing for 3 years now—it’s long past so far down that I don’t see it anymore. Frank Brady’s Endgame is gathering dust on our bookshelf—now not deliberately, of direction. I was magnetically pulled towards the e-book—it traces the upward thrust and fall of the enigmatic chess champion Bobby Fischer—after analyzing its review by using Garry Kasparov a few years ago. I can get via them, at some point. What sums up my analyzing is a small, approximately 90-page, the book I purchased in 2012 and also have now not read. It’s referred to as Don’t buy This e-book Now! The Art of Procrastination with the aid of John Perry. However, allow’s live effectively. summer season’s just started—there’s lots of hot wearing motion yet to come. In among that action, maybe a little reading can help inspire—true Life stories of valor can be so much more uplifting than fiction or Wonder Studio releases. Like me, you may make up for the lack of carrying talent with the aid of studying about others who have got an abundance of it. perhaps there are some tips here to get started with. Letter From… Is Mint on Sunday’s antidote to dull editor’s columns. Each week, one of our editors—Sidin Vadukut in London and Arun Janardhan in Mumbai—will ship dispatches on places, people, and establishments that are really worth ruminating approximately at the weekend.

Building Your First List Building Funnel

    The first few steps you take when building a list will lay the foundation for your business. Once you have these things in place, you can then focus on other things such as driving traffic to your squeeze pages and product offers as well as editing your sales messages in order to improve your conversion rates.

1. The first step you will need to take is to create a lead magnet, also known as an ethical bribe. This could be a PDF report, a video, audio, cheat sheet, mind map or anything else that will be desirable to your future subscribers.

2. You next need to set up your opt-in form. This could be on a squeeze page, a blog, on your content site or even on various social media sites. However, the best one to use is a squeeze page although you should include all of these methods plus more in your list building endeavors. This is where you’re going to be giving away your ethical bribe in exchange for your visitors’ names and email addresses.