#the urge to start the tenth project this year is real

[whothehellisspock]

Me, to my partner: See, I have this idea for a fan fiction… *monologues for a while* Like I’m not gonna write it, it’s just cool to think about.

Me, a day later: So, here are some more ideas for the fanfic that I’m not writing.

Me, another time: Maybe I could like, make it into a prompt/request?

Me, again: So, remember the fanfic I am not writing?

My partner: *gives me a very dubious look*

Me, the hundredth or so time: So, I wrote this bit for the fanfic I’m not writing, do you want to read it?

My partner: *exasperated*

Me: So, about that fic I’m not writing…

My partner: …

Me: …

Me: So, I’m writing this fic…

[and-then-there-were-n0ne]

Chinese Footbinding

Instructions Before Reading Chapter

Find a piece of cloth 10 feet long and 2 inches wide

Find a pair of children’s shoes

Bend all toes except the big one under and into the sole of the foot.

Wrap the cloth around these toes and then around the heel.

Bring the heel and toes as close together as possible.  

Wrap the full length of the cloth as tightly as possible

Squeeze foot into children’s shoes

Walk

Imagine that you are 5 years old

Imagine being like this for the rest of your life

The origins of Chinese footbinding, as of Chinese thought in general, belong to that amorphous entity called antiquity. The 10th century marks the beginning of the physical, intellectual, and spiritual dehumanization of women in China through the institution of footbinding. That institution itself, the implicit belief in its necessity and beauty, and the rigor with which it was practiced lasted another 10 centuries. There were sporadic attempts at emancipating the foot — some artists, intellectuals, and women in positions of power were the proverbial drop in the bucket. Those attempts, modest though they were, were doomed to failure: footbinding was a political institution which reflected and perpetuated the sociological and psychological inferiority of women; footbinding cemented women to a certain sphere, with a certain function — women were sexual objects and breeders. Footbinding was mass attitude,  mass culture — it was the key reality in a  way of life lived by real women— 10 centuries times that many millions of them. […] 

The physical process which created this foot is described by Howard S.Levy in Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom:

The success or failure of footbinding depended on skillful application of a bandage around each foot. The bandage, about two inches wide and ten feet long, was wrapped in the following way. One end was placed on the inside of the instep, and from there it was carried over the small toes so as to force the toes in and towards the sole. The large toe was left unbound. The bandage was then wrapped around the heel so forcefully that heel and toes were drawn closer together. The process was then repeated from the beginning until the entire bandage had been applied. The foot of the young child was subjected to a coercive and unremitting pressure, for the object was not merely to confine the foot but to make the toes bend under and into the sole and bring the heel and sole as close together as physically possible.

A  Christian missionary observed:

The flesh often became putrescent during the binding and portions sloughed off from the sole; sometimes one or more toes dropped off.

An elderly Chinese woman, as late as 1934, remembered vividly her experience:

Born into an old-fashioned family at P’ing-hsi, I was inflicted with the pain of footbinding when I was seven years old. I was an active child who liked to jump about, but from then on my free and optimistic nature vanished. Elder Sister endured the process from six to eight years of age [this means that it took Elder Sister two years to attain the 3-inch  foot]. It was in the first lunar month of my seventh year that my ears were pierced and fitted with gold earrings. I was told that a girl had to suffer twice, through ear piercing and footbinding. Binding started in the second lunar month; mother consulted references in order to select an auspicious day for it. I wept and hid in a neighbor’s home, but Mother found me, scolded me, and dragged me home. She shut the bedroom door, boiled water, and from a box withdrew binding, shoes, knife, needle, and thread. I begged for a one-day postponement, but Mother refused:  “Today is a lucky day, ” she said. “If bound today, your feet will never hurt; if bound tomorrow they will. ” She washed and placed alum on my feet and cut the toenails. She then bent my toes toward the plantar with a binding cloth ten feet long and two inches wide,  doing the right foot first and then the left. She finished binding and ordered me to walk, but when I did the pain proved unbearable. That night, Mother wouldn’t let me remove the shoes. My feet felt on fire and I couldn’t sleep; Mother struck me for crying. On the following days, I  tried to hide but was forced to walk on my feet.  Mother hit me on my hands and feet for resisting. Beatings and curses were my lot for covertly loosening the wrappings. The feet were washed and rebound after three or four days, with alum added. After several months, all toes but the big one were pressed against the inner surface. Whenever I ate fish or freshly killed meat, my feet would swell, and the pus would drip. Mother criticized me for placing pressure on the heel in walking, saying that my feet would never assume a  pretty shape. Mother would remove the bindings and wipe the blood and pus which dripped from my feet. She told me that only with the removal of the flesh could my feet become slender. If I mistakenly punctured a sore, the blood gushed like a stream. My somewhat fleshy big toes were bound with small pieces of cloth and forced upwards,  to assume a new moon shape. Every two weeks, I changed to new shoes. Each new pair was one- to two-tenths of an inch smaller than the previous one. The shoes were unyielding, and it took pressure to get into them. Though I wanted to sit passively by the K’ang, Mother forced me to move around. After changing more than ten pairs of shoes, my feet were reduced to a little over four inches. I had been in binding for a month when my younger sister started; when no one was around,  we would weep together. In summer, my feet smelled offensively because of pus and blood; in winter, my feet felt cold because of lack of circulation and hurt if they got too near the  K'ang and were struck by warm air currents. Four of the toes were curled in like so many dead caterpillars;  no outsider would ever have believed that they belonged to a human being.  It took two years to achieve the three-inch model. My toenails pressed against the flesh like thin paper. The heavily-creased plantar couldn’t be scratched when it itched or soothed when it ached.  My shanks were thin, my feet became humped, ugly, and odiferous; how I envied the natural-footed!

Bound feet were crippled and excruciatingly painful. The woman was actually “walking” on the outside of toes which had been bent under into the sole of the foot. The heel and instep of the foot resembled the sole and heel of a high-heeled boot.  Hard callouses formed; toenails grew into the skin;  the feet were pus-filled and bloody; circulation was virtually stopped. The foot-bound woman hobbled along, leaning on a cane, against a  wall, against a servant. To keep her balance she took very short steps. She was actually falling with every step and catching herself with the next. Walking required tremendous exertion. Footbinding also distorted the natural lines of the female body. It caused the thighs and buttocks,  which were always in a state of tension,  to become somewhat swollen (which men called “voluptuous”).  A  curious belief developed among Chinese men that footbinding produced a most useful alteration of the vagina.  A Chinese diplomat explained:

The smaller the woman’s foot, the more wondrous become the folds of the vagina. (There was the saying: the smaller the feet, the more intense the sex urge.) Therefore marriages in Ta-t’ung (where binding is most effective) often take place earlier than elsewhere. Women in other districts can produce these folds artificially, but the only way is by footbinding, which concentrates development in this one place. There consequently develop layer after layer  (of folds within the vagina); those who have personally experienced this  (in sexual intercourse) feel a super-natural exaltation.  So the system of footbinding was not really oppressive.

Medical authorities confirm that physiologically footbinding had no effect whatsoever on the vagina, although it did distort the direction of the pelvis. The belief in the wondrous folds of the vagina of footbound woman was pure mass delusion, a projection of lust onto the feet, buttocks, and vagina of the crippled female. […] Bound feet, the same myth continues, “made the buttocks more sensual, [and] concentrated life-giving vapors on the upper part of the body, making the face more attractive.” If due to a breakdown in the flow of these “life-giving vapors, ” an ugly woman was foot-bound and still ugly, she need not despair, for an  A-1 Golden  Lotus could compensate for a C-3 face and figure. […] 

The upper class bound the feet of their ladies with the utmost severity.  The Lady, unable to walk, remained properly invisible in her boudoir, an ornament, weak and small,  a testimony to the wealth and privilege of the man who could afford to keep her - to keep her idle. Doing no manual labor, she did not need her feet either. Only on the rarest of occasions was she allowed outside of the incarcerating walls of her home, and then only in a sedan chair behind heavy curtains. The lower a woman ’s class,  the less could such idleness be supported:  the larger the feet. The women who had to work for the economic survival of the family still had bound feet, but the bindings were looser, the feet bigger— after all,  she had to be able to walk, even if slowly and with little balance. Footbinding was a visible brand. […] 

Women were perverse and sinful, lewd and lascivious, if left to develop naturally. The Chinese believed that being born a woman was payment for evils committed in a previous life. Footbinding was designed to spare a woman the disaster of another such incarnation. […] 

In arranging a marriage, a male’s parents inquired first about the prospective bride’s feet, then about her face. Those were her human, recognizable qualities. During the process of footbinding, mothers consoled their daughters by conjuring up the luscious marriage possibilities dependent on the beauty of the bound foot. Concubines for the Imperial harem were selected at tiny-oot festivals (forerunners of Miss America pageants). Rows upon rows of women sat on benches with their feet outstretched while audience and judges went along the aisles and commented on the size, shape, and decoration of foot and shoes. No one,  however, was ever allowed to touch the merchandise. Women looked forward to these festivals, since they were allowed out of the house.

The sexual aesthetics, literally the art of love, of the bound foot was complex. The sexual attraction of the foot was based on its concealment and the mystery surrounding its development and care. The bindings were unwrapped and the feet were washed in the woman ’s boudoir, in the strictest privacy. […] The physical process of washing helped restore circulation. […] The rest of the body was never washed at the same time as the feet,  for fear that one would become a pig in the next life. Well-bred women were supposed to die of shame if men observed them washing their feet. The foot consisted, after all, of smelly, rotted flesh. This was naturally not pleasing to the intruding male, a violation of his aesthetic sensibility. […] 

When she entered her husband’s home for the first time, her feet were immediately examined by the whole family, neither praise nor sarcasm being withheld. […] 

Certain feet were better than other feet, more beautiful. Perfect 3-inch form and utter uselessness were the distinguishing marks of the aristocratic foot. These concepts of beauty and status defined women:  as ornaments, as sexual playthings, as sexual constructs. […] The natural-footed woman generated horror and repulsion in  China. She was anathema, and all the forces of insult and contempt were used to obliterate her. Men said about bound feet and natural feet:

A tiny foot is proof of feminine goodness… Women who don’t bind their feet, look like men, for the tiny foot serves to show the differentiation… The tiny foot is soft and, when rubbed,  leads to great excitement.… The graceful walk gives the beholder mixed feelings of compassion and pity… Natural feet are heavy and ponderous as they get into bed,  but tiny feet lightly steal under the coverlets… The large-footed woman is careless about adornment, but the tiny-footed frequently wash and apply a variety of perfumed fragrances,  enchanting all who come into their presence… The natural foot looks much less aesthetic in walking… Everyone welcomes the tiny foot, regarding its smallness as precious … Men formerly so craved it that its possessor achieved harmonious matrimony … Because of its diminutiveness,  it gives rise to a variety of sensual pleasures and love feelings…

Thin, small, curved, soft, fragrant, weak, easily inflamed, passive to the point of being almost inanimate— this was footbound woman. […] 

This fetish became the primary content of sexual experience for an entire culture for 1,000 years. The manipulation of the tiny foot was an indispensable prelude to all sexual experience. Manuals were written elaborating various techniques for holding and rubbing the Golden Lotus.  Smelling the feet, chewing them, licking them, sucking them, all were sexually charged experiences. A  woman with tiny feet was supposedly more easily maneuvered around in bed and this was no small advantage. Theft of shoes was commonplace.  Women were forced to sew their shoes directly onto their bindings. Stolen shoes might be returned soaked in semen. Prostitutes would show their naked feet for a  high price  (there weren’t many streetwalkers in China). Drinking games using cups placed in the shoes of prostitutes or courtesans were favorite pastimes. […] Some men went to prostitutes to wash the tiny foot and eat its dirt, or to drink tea made from the washing water. Others wanted their penises manipulated by the feet. Superstition also had its place — there was a belief in the curative powers of the water in which tiny feet were washed. Lastly, footbinding was the soil in which sadism could grow and go unchecked —in which simple cruelty could transcend itself, without much effort, into atrocity. These are some typical horror stories of those times:

A stepmother or aunt in binding the child ’s foot was usually much harsher than the natural mother would have been.  An old man was described who delighted in seeing his daughters weep as the binding was tightly applied… In one household,  everyone had to  bind. The main wife and concubines bound to the smallest degree, once morning and evening, and once before retiring. The husband and first wife strictly carried out foot inspections and whipped those guilty of having let the binding become loose. The sleeping shoes were so painfully small that the women had to ask the master to rub them in order to bring relief. Another rich man would flog his concubines on their tiny feet, one after another, until the blood flowed… about 1931… bound-foot women unable to Bee had been taken captive. The bandits, angered because of their captives’ weak way of walking and inability to keep in file, forced the women to remove the bindings and socks and run about barefoot. They cried out in pain and were unable to move on in spite of beatings. Each of the bandits grabbed a woman and forced her to dance about on a wide field covered with sharp rocks. The harshest treatment was meted out to prostitutes.  Nails were driven through their hands and feet; they cried aloud for several days before expiring. One form of torture was to tie-up a woman so that her legs dangled in midair and place bricks around each toe, increasing the weight until the toes straightened out and eventually dropped off.

End of Footbinding

How could men idealize the bound feet of crippled women? How and why? The bound foot existed for 1,000 years. In what terms, using what measure, could one calculate the enormity of the crime, the dimensions of the transgression, the amount of cruelty and pain inherent in that 1,000-year herstory?  In what terms, using what vocabulary, could one penetrate to the meaning, to the reality, of that 1,000-year herstory? […] 

Here one sex mutilated (enslaved) the other in the interest of the art of sex, male-female harmony, role-definition, beauty. Consider the magnitude of the crime. Millions of women, over a period of  1,000 years, were brutally crippled, mutilated, in the name of erotica. Millions of human beings, over a period of 1,000 years, were brutally crippled, mutilated, in the name of beauty. Millions of men, over a period of 1,000 years, reveled in love-making devoted to the worship of the bound foot. Millions of men, over a period of 1,000 years, worshiped and adored the bound foot. […] 

But this thousand-year period is only the tip of an awesome, fearful iceberg: an extreme and visible expression of romantic attitudes, processes, and values organically rooted in all cultures, then and now. It demonstrates that man’s love for woman, his sexual adoration of her, his human definition of her, his delight and pleasure in her, require her negation: physical crippling and psychological lobotomy. That is the very nature of romantic love, which is the love based on polar role definitions, manifest in herstory as well as in fiction —he glories in her agony, he adores her deformity, he annihilates her freedom, he will have her as sex object, even if he must destroy the bones in her feet to do it. Brutality, sadism, and oppression emerge as the substantive core of the romantic ethos. That ethos is the warp and woof of culture as we know it. Women should be beautiful. All repositories of cultural wisdom from King Solomon to King Hefner agree: women should be beautiful. It is the reverence for female beauty which informs the romantic ethos, gives it its energy and justification. Beauty is transformed into that golden ideal, Beauty — rapturous and abstract. Women must be beautiful and Woman is Beauty. Notions of beauty always incorporate the whole of a given societal structure, are crystallizations of its values. […]

Standards of beauty describe in precise terms the relationship that an individual will have to her own body. They prescribe her mobility, spontaneity, posture, gait, the uses to which she can put her body. They define precisely the dimensions of her physical freedom. And, of course, the relationship between physical freedom and psychological development, intellectual possibility, and creative potential is an umbilical one. In our culture, not one part of a woman’s body is left untouched, unaltered. No feature or extremity is spared the art, or pain,  of improvement. Hair is dyed, lacquered, straightened, permanented; eyebrows are plucked, penciled, dyed; eyes are lined, mascaraed, shadowed; lashes are curled,  or false — from head to toe, every feature of a woman’s face, every section of her body, is subject to modification, alteration. This alteration is an ongoing,  repetitive process. It is vital to the economy, the major substance of male-female role differentiation, the most immediate physical and psychological reality of being a woman.  From the age of 11 or 12 until she dies, a woman will spend a large part of her time, money, and energy on binding, plucking, painting,  and deodorizing herself. […] 

Pain is an essential part of the grooming process, and that is not accidental. Plucking the eyebrows, shaving under the arms, wearing a  girdle, learning to walk in high-heeled shoes, having one’s nose fixed, straightening or curling one’s hair —these things hurt. The pain, of course,  teaches an important lesson: no price is too great, no process too repulsive, no operation too painful for the woman who would be beautiful. The tolerance of pain and the romanticization of that tolerance begins here, in preadolescence, in socialization, and serves to prepare women for lives of childbearing, self-abnegation, and husband-pleasing. The adolescent experience of the “pain of being a woman” casts the feminine psyche into a masochistic mold and forces the adolescent to conform to a self-image which bases itself on mutilation of the body, pain happily suffered, and restricted physical mobility. It creates the masochistic personalities generally found in adult women: subservient, materialistic (since all value is placed on the body and its ornamentation), intellectually restricted, creatively impoverished.  

- Andrea Dworkin, Woman Hating

[theskzvibe]

[9:24]

y/n laid on her dorm floor, covering her mouth, afraid that she would make a sound as the tears trailed down her face. She is used to her boyfriend Jae neglecting her and appressing her, but since the summer, he has been tainting her. He has been coloring her skin with purple marks. Marks not from love but from anger. Bruises on her hips and arms dance across her skin. She still loved him and tried her best to be the perfect girlfriend for him, but apparently that wasn't enough. Yesterday she saw him go into another girls dorm room, when she asked him about it, he started to get physical towards her and ended up breaking up with her.

Her phone vibrating next to her caused her to jolt up. It took her eyes a couple seconds to adjust to the bright light of her phone. It was a text message from Hyunjin. 

—

Hyunjinnie

One of Woojin hyung's friends is throwing a party at his apartment tonight, wanna come?

—

y/n's eyes filled with sorrow, she hated to decline Hyunjin's offers, but recently it has been harder for her to go out and have fun. She didn't want Hyunjin to see her this upset, or ruin his night. She didn't want him to worry about her, even though he does anyway.

—

y/n

No I'm not really feeling up to it.

Hyunjinnie

oh okay

is Jae coming over then?

y/n

No he isn't

Hyunjin

Is your roommate there?

y/n

Bora is always at her boyfriends place, I haven't seen her in months

Hyunjinnie

So you are alone?

y/n

yeah but its fine don't worry

—

As y/n typed that, her eyes welled with tears. She wasn't fine. But Hyunjin deserves to go out and have fun, not worry about her. She put her phone down, and hugged her knees. She hated feeling so powerless and sad. She is such a bubbly person, but she has lost her true self since she started dating Jae when she started college two years ago. y/n picked up her phone, in hope of getting a text from Jae, but she didn't. Hyunjin didn't even respond, but he was probably driving to the party. 

Tears started to stain her cheeks, and she just let them flow. She has lost the urge and strength to stop them from falling. She hope Hyunjin has fun at the party, he has always been a great friend towards her, since they became friends in the eighth grade.

y/n huffed a breath out, that made her bangs fly upwards and quickly fall back down. She has been in the library for ten minutes now, waiting for her english project partner to show up. The teacher assigned partners for a project due the next day. A boy sprinted into the library, his sneakers squeaking against the floor caused a teacher to stop him and yell at him for running. y/n laughed at the boys foolishness. Hyunjin sat down across from y/n and gave a boyish smile. "You must be quite the athlete. I bet you have a fast mile." y/n teased. That caused Hyunjin to blush. "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting, I had to finish up my math test." The look in his eyes was so sincere, y/n almost melted. She never met a boy this mature in her grade. "Don't worry about it. It is just so inconvenient that Ms.Song only gave us one day to work on this book report." 

"Yeah sometimes she can be a real-"

"Bitch" y/n cut him off.

y/n's vocabulary that she used to describe their teacher had Hyunjin laughing so hard he was gasping for air. Seeing him like this sent y/n into a fit of laughter. Hyunjin found y/n's little giggle adorable. Hyunjin took a deep breath and wiped his eyes. "You are hilarious."

"Hey I try. But I liked your reaction. First you gasped and your eyes went wide and then you started laughing so hard you almost cried." y/n smiled. "Those are the best kinds of laughs, the ones that make you cry and giggle so hard that you stomach hurts, and you gasp for air and you can't stop laughing." Hyunjin stated. y/n found his way of wording things very charming. She knew she wanted to be friends with him.

She smiled to herself while thinking about that day. The day she got to know Hyunjin. The day that started their friendship. As much of a bitch Ms.Song was, y/n thanks her for pairing them up, because y/n doesn't know what she would do if it weren't for Hyunjin. Back in 8th grade, she never would have guessed that her and Hyunjin would be as close as they are today. As each year went by, her and Hyunjins friendship grew more and more.

A soft knock on her dorm door caused her to jump out of her thoughts. "I guess Bora came back. Or maybe just to collect all of her stuff and move in with her boyfriend." y/n whispered to herself. She quickly wiped her tears and opened the door. The person who was standing on the other side of the door was someone unexpected. Their facial expression changed from a positive one to a worried one once they made eye contact with y/n. They quickly, but gently grabbed y/n's face and starred into her eyes with concern. "Why are your eyes red and puffy?" They then gasped, "have you been crying?" 

"I'm fine don't worry about it Hyunjin" y/n then dropped her head and broke eye contact. 

"y/n please look at me." Hyunjin raised her chin up with his pointer finger. "Why are you upset?" This question made y/n's eyes get foggy, and a tear slipped out. Seeing y/n like this made Hyunjin's heart ache. Hyunjin fully came into her room, and quietly closed the door, and wasted no time in taking y/n in his arms and embracing her in a hug. Hyunjin's hugs were the best, and they always made her feel safe, and made her feel at home. She rested her head on his shoulder and passed more tears. The quiet sound of y/n's weeps made Hyunjin upset, and feel useless. He wanted to make everything better, but he didn't know why she was upset. 

y/n took a deep breath, and grabbed Hyunjin's hand and brought him towards her bed. They sat across from each other on the bed, Hyunjin not releasing his hand from her grip. y/n wiped her tears, and hiccuped. Hyunjin squeezed her hand, a gesture so common to her, it made her feel warm. "Yesterday I saw Jae go into Rin's dorm" she huffed out. "Wait isn't she the dorm next to yours?" 

"Yeah, and they were loud. He slept with her." y/n looked down at her lap in shame. "And when I questioned him about it, he um broke up with me." y/n said, as her eyes started to water again. Hyunjin jumped over and wiped her tears and gave her a bear hug and rubbed her arms. y/n winced in pain from the slight action. Hyunjin quickly backed up and looked into her eyes, "are you alright?"

"Yeah its nothing, I walked into the door the other day." y/n said while looking at the door. Hyunjin could sense she was lying, he had known her for six years. He softly rolled her sleeves up and inspected her arms. She had bruises on her arm, in the shape of fingers, someone bruised her. y/n quickly looked away. Hyunjin delicately traced the bruises with his finger, and y/n scrunched her face in pain. "Did he do this to you?" The anger in his voice was evident, and it surprised y/n because Hyunjin rarely got angry. As a response, y/n just lowered her head. "You told me he stoped hurting you." Hyunjin couldn't stop the water building up in his eyes. "Its okay, we aren't together anymore so he won't do it anymore" She tried to reassure him. "It isn't okay. Stop saying that. y/n you don't deserve this abuse, it should have stopped. I should have stopped it." Hyunjin let a tear slip, but he quickly wiped it. "Please don't beat yourself up over this, it's not your fault, it's mine. It's my situation." y/n exhaled. "but it's not your fault, it's that assholes fault. He was never a good boyfriend, he didn't cherish you. You are an amazing woman who deserves better." Hyunjin caressed y/n's cheek. "No I should have been a better girlfriend, maybe then he wouldn't have cheated, or hit me. He said I dressed ugly and I wasn't sexy." 

"What the actual fuck. y/n, every guy that sees you does a double take. You are absolutely stunning and have an amazing personality, you are my favorite person to be around. He ruined your confidence, that isn't what a good boyfriend does, he didn't love you. You deserve real love. You deserve a guy that tells you that you look amazing. A guy that is absolutely whipped for you and doesn't take you for granted. A guy that loves you and cherishes you." He had pure passion in his eyes. 

y/n locked eyes with him and couldn't look away, it was as if she was in a trance. No one has ever said something like that to her before, and it made her feel special. She started feeling a foreign warm feeling towards Hyunjin in this moment. She only felt this feeling twice before and it was after the summer of tenth grade when Hyunjin came back from camp and he was 4 inches taller than y/n. Also when they first started college last year and Hyunjin decided to dye his hair a light brown, she couldn't deny that he looked very handsome. y/n felt her lips getting dry, and so she licked her lips which didn't go unnoticed by Hyunjin. 

Hyunjin felt himself leaning closer to y/n, and she copied his actions. They soon got so close that Hyunjin could feel her breath on his chin. He dipped his head down and tilted his head. y/n moved in closer and she slightly bumped his nose with her own. Hyunjin felt as if his heart will burst out of his chest. They both lean in until their lips connect. Hyunjin takes control, and y/n picks up his pace. Their lips mold perfectly together, and the kiss was slow but full of passion and love. finally, she felt real love.

[bearingwater]

May Forecast for Aquarius

Cozy up, Aquarius. You’re on a belated hibernation schedule until May 21 while the Sun pays its annual visit to Taurus and your domestic fourth house. Bask in some relaxing spring vibes by nesting and resting, booking ample quality time at Chateau Aquarius. With el Sol moving through the base of your chart, you’ve got planetary permission to tend to home, family and personal matters—all the stuff that makes you feel anchored. Catch up on self-care, especially since this year’s social starmap has probably spread you thin!

On May 4, the annual Taurus new moon brings fresh-start energy to your emotional fourth house. This heart-opening day could help you articulate feelings you’ve been keeping inside. You might also be called to support a loved one who needs an empathic ear and a non-judgmental person to “hold space” for them. (Who better for that job than you, Aquarius?)

This new moon could spark a change to your living situation. Maybe you get inspired to redecorate, start paging through listings or go all in and put your home on the market. Your inner Martha Stewart could be elbows deep in planting a veggie garden (or an herb box for the windowsill) and switching to seasonally appropriate linens. Whatever your concept of “home sweet home” looks like, don’t rush to pull up roots or turn a flurry of paint and fabric swatches into an overnight masterpiece. This new moon will unfold over six months’ time, culminating at the November 12 Taurus full moon. Map a plan for how you’d like your personal life to look and feel before the holidays, then work backward from there.

Besides, spring fever is nipping at your strappy heels for the first half of the month as energizer Mars rounds out a lusty visit to Gemini and your passionate fifth house through May 15. An attraction might quickly spark into a sexy spring fling while couples could feel that wild attraction ramping up again. At the same time, intense Mars in your dramatic fifth house can also activate knee-jerk reactions and drama, so try to keep your seldom-seen temper in check, even with Mars pushing your buttons.

While May’s emphasis is on your personal life, there’s one day where professional achievements take the crown. On May 18, the year’s only Scorpio full moon beams into your tenth house of ambition and success, bringing your hard work to a triumphant peak.

A project or goal you’ve been working toward all year (and specifically since the November 7, 2018, Scorpio new moon) reaches a decisive moment now. What’s your next move, Aquarius? Will you go forward and take this to the next level—or call it a day and move in a new direction? If you’ve been thinking about a career change, this full moon might be your exit point. You could also go after a choice client, get a promotion or step into a leadership role. Diligent effort may be recognized with an award or some flattering media buzz!

If you’ve got a big project to wrap, roll up your sleeves and finish it NOW. Then get out and paint the town. Starting May 21, the Sun takes a monthlong spin through Gemini and your fifth house of love and creativity. In addition to getting some fun-filled and decadent dates on the calendar, the muse pays a visit, sparking some artistic notions. Let yourself play—and if you’ve got a performing streak, take to the stage or studio during this richly expressive time. With action planet Mars in your get-‘er-done sixth house, it won’t be long before you’re crafting some kind of business plan to monetize your creations. But try making “art for art’s sake”—or at least to allow your imagination to fly at full wingspan before you whittle it into anything concrete. Pleasure and play are your guiding principles now!

Love & Romance

With amorous Venus and lusty Mars orbiting your most outgoing, passionate chart sectors, your love life—and maybe your entire life—will be packed with lighthearted fun, flirtation and limitless options for the first half of the month. Social Venus is in Aries and your everyday-people sector until May 15, which could send sparks flying with a neighbor, colleague or friend-of-a-friend. With red-hot Mars in Gemini and your lusty fifth house until May 15 as well, an attraction could progress quickly.

For couples, this is a great time to hang out with your common crews or host a party together—and of course, to put a few glamorous date nights on the books. With your naturally flirtatious side turned up to max, jealousy and drama could spike. While nobody puts YOU in a corner (or on a leash), be sensitive to your partner and make sure no lines are crossed.

If you’re looking for something real, don’t let the distractions take you “off-task.” It’ll be easy to lose yourself in the whirlwind of attention, but you can channel that intense energy into getting to know one certain someone deeply. But don’t be SO focused and fixated that you forget to prioritize pleasure or enjoy the process of getting to know each other.

Red-blooded Mars could bring a no-strings spring fling and, during the rare Venus-Jupiter trine on May 9, chemistry could unexpectedly ignite with a friend or an online match. You’ll be looking at the whole world in a new light under this expansive alignment, so keep an open mind and see where things go.

But just when you’re really warming up, you could switch into a totally different groove during the second half of May. The love planets both lunge into another sign on May 15: Venus into Taurus and your sentimental fourth house through June 8 and Mars into homey Cancer and your analytical sixth house until July 1. Now decisions seem to carry more gravitas, and you’re less willing to rush in and let the chips fall just anywhere. Top priorities will be nesting and finding the right person to hunker down with—for more than just one memorable night. Mars in your persnickety sixth house can make you analytical and critical—about them AND you. Watch for body image issues and unrealistic (and unloving) “swimsuit-season” perfectionism. You’re a lot more than a dress or pant size, Aquarius!

Key Dates

May 7: Venus-Saturn Square Walking on eggshells is not the path to a deeper connection. If you can’t speak honestly to someone you care about—or want to care more about—then you might want to examine what this connection is built on (e.g., terra firma or quicksand). This isn’t the same as blurting out the first thing that pops into your head. In fact, structured Saturn can lend some discretion and restraint to the excitable love planet.

Money & Career

We’ll be honest: May is one of those months when work might be the furthest thing from your mind. As the Sun travels through the bottom of your chart, it’s heating up the more personal zones of your life. But there’s nothing like stepping away from the grind to get a fresh perspective on it! While the Sun is in Taurus and your domestic fourth house through May 21, prioritize self-care and tune in to your emotions. We get so caught up in the “doing” that we forget to just let ourselves be, connect and savor the present.

And how about tending to your creativity? Until May 15, energizer Mars is in Gemini and your passionate fifth house, handing you the mic. The urge to express yourself artistically in some way could strike—carried out even more when the Sun and communicator Mercury move into Gemini on May 21.

That said, your busy-bee side makes a comeback from May 15 to July 1, when Mars revs its engines in Cancer and your sixth house of work, health and organization. You could get pumped to make detailed plans, crafting the master agenda (complete with spreadsheets) for one of your big ideas. This is an ideal time to get all your behind-the-scenes projects squared away, from filing paperwork to decluttering to delegating tasks. There’s one day this month when your inner mogul WILL show up hardcore. Circle the May 18 Scorpio full moon, which will illuminate your ambitious tenth house of career. A project or milestone you’ve been steadily working toward for the past six months could finally come together. Don’t be surprised if you’re offered a leadership role or finally granted well-deserved recognition for your accomplishments.

Key Dates

May 2: Mercury-Pluto Square No matter how clearly you present your case, someone’s sure to misconstrue your message or twist your words. If the prospect of banging your head against another brick wall doesn’t appeal to you, fly below the radar and put off anything interactive until folks are more receptive.

Love Days: 7, 11 Money Days: 18, 27 Luck Days: 15, 24 Off Days: 9, 13, 22

[willaimbyers]

half doomed and semi-sweet

The fic where Richie Tozier models nude for a university art class for some extra cash and effectively gives Will Byers a heart attack in the process.

PROLOGUE

To some extent Will had always considered himself an optimist. Even when things were bad, like, ‘his father walking out on his family, his mother barely making ends meet, and him getting bullied so consistently in school he almost forgot his name wasn’t fairy boy’ bad, Will almost always found a way to look on the bright side. Like yes, his father sucked but at least he had Jonathan, and later, his lovable step-father Hopper. And yes, his mother worked at a supermarket and they couldn’t afford a lot of things growing up, but at least she loved him enough to take care of him and try her best. And yes, some kids at school bullied him, but it was almost because of that ridicule and alienation that Will made some of the best friends he’d ever had.

See? Bright side.

As far as Will was concerned there always was one as long as you put in the effort to look for it.

So, when Will moved away from the only home and friends he’d ever known, by himself to go to art school in Maine Will determinedly looked for the bright side.

Honestly, it took a while, but Will is almost sure he’s pinned it down.

A fresh start.

See, when you grow up in a small town where everybody knows everybody, and you’ve known literally every person you’ve ever met since probably about kindergarten, there are very limited (read: absolutely no) opportunities to reinvent yourself. Of course, there are exceptions. Like Dustin, for example. Dustin had almost completely reinvented himself after his growth spurt in tenth grade. He got taller and broader, and got his braces off and cut his hair, and joined the football team, and suddenly, he wasn’t Toothless Henderson anymore. He was Dusty Henderson, the guy who half the girls tittered about in the hall and the half the guys were kind of a bit jealous of. He was the guy who actually had a real chance of being prom king, the guy who people always wanted to invite to their parties, the guy who from an outsider’s perspective, didn’t really fit in with The Party anymore but for some inexplicable reason hung out with them anyways. This was a rare and extreme case in which people would look back on the Dustin of the past and laugh and tease and say things like ‘wow, I can hardly believe that was you.’

This is once again, an exception, in which all the embarrassing and nerdy things that Dustin previously did became cute little anecdotes for people to look back on and reference to be cheeky.

Will was not apart of that exception.

He’s been fairy boy since Troy Keaton crowned him so when they were four and Troy made Will cry by stomping all over his drawings. He was fairy boy in elementary school when he made the mistake of letting his teacher show his drawing of his rainbow ship to the class. He was fairy boy in middle school when all the other boys had buxom feminine celebrity crushes and Will couldn’t name one when put on the spot. And he was fairy boy in high school when he fell in love with his best friend and finally accepted that Troy, as cruel and childish as he was, may have been on to something.

And he hasn’t been able to shake the identity even once.

Until now.

+

So, on his way to his fresh start, as his brother drove and the blasted The Clash on the stereo, Will wrote a short but concise list on the very back page of his sketchbook and vowed to follow it.

At the time, he honestly didn’t expect that simply attempting to follow this list would change more than the perception people had of him. But it did.

It changed his life.

CHAPTER 1

In Will’s opinion, the best thing about going to school for art was the art class was pretty much every class. He no longer had to trudge through gym or sit impatiently through English. He no longer dreaded his homework or procrastinated on his projects and he didn’t even have the urge to entertain the idea of skipping. Every class was his favourite class, every class featured something exciting, and all his teachers were wonderful and talented and passionate. Will was honestly still getting used to that, to the fact that he was surrounded by artsy Mr. Clarkes. However, he could admit it was something he could get used to.

So, when Professor Turner ended the previous class with a conspiratory wink and a promise for something interesting their next workshop, Will sincerely felt a jolt of enthusiasm. And, like clockwork, when he woke up on the day of the aforementioned workshop a week later he was just as excited. He went around for most of his morning off with his heart beating too fast and his lips sporadically curling into a smile he couldn’t quite keep at bay, and it seemed that the closer he got to the time of his art workshop the giddier he got.

But the moment Will actually enters the studio and spots a figure sporting a fuzzy white robe, a wild head of curls, and a face that makes Will’s heart ache for the boy he’d loved for a large majority of his formative years, Will swears his heart stops. He swears the world stops.

“…Mike?” Will breathes softly, his eyes glued to the tall as he watches him move to the craft table, pick up a piece a cheese and sniff it curiously. Will blinks once and then twice when that does nothing to make the image before him any more comprehensible, his lips parted in his shock as his eyes drink in every freckle and curl of the boy inexplicably standing a few feet in front of him. As his mind hits a snag his eyes unintentionally wander, his soft hazel eyes inadvertently tracing the v that the robe makes over the bare expanse of Mike’s chest, and that just makes the struggle for coherent thought even harder, because it’s almost impossible to think when his eyes are flicking over the way the material hangs on Mike’s shoulders or the way terrycloth material frames his pale collarbones—

All unproductive thought is halted when someone unceremoniously bumps into him from behind and breaks him out of his reverie. He quickly stutters out an apology to the girl behind him, swallowing thickly as she waves the apology off with a smile and squeezes past him into the classroom. He blinks after her for only a second and even manages to get his feet to follow her lead and begin moving towards one of the many seats the art class has to offer. But it’s not long until his eyes are drifting back towards the lean figure of the mysteriously present Mike Wheeler, to the long line of the other’s neck and the almost elegant cascade of his curls as he tilts his head back and casually tosses grapes past his full lips.

Will swallows so hard it almost hurts and forces himself to look away as he settles into his seat, as he forces his fingers to occupy themselves with setting up his art supplies by his easel. Yet, even as he arranges his paints according to the order rainbow, even as he sharpens his pencils and sets out his charcoals, he can almost feel Mike presence like a physical thing. What is he doing here? And why was he in a robe in the middle of Will’s art class room? Last time Will checked Mike should have been in Chicago, travelling with El and visiting Kali. All it took was a cursory glance around the classroom for Will to gather that his step-sister wasn’t here too, and while it didn’t make sense that Mike was here, it made even less sense that he was here without El.

So, what was going on?

Will licks his dry lips as he stares at the blank paper before him, mind running over all the possibilities and yet still finding nothing that could possibly make logical sense. As he sucks thoughtfully on his bottom lip Mike’s presence is almost like a persistent buzzing in the back of his mind, a weight he can’t shake and a temptation he can’t fight and before Will can stop himself his eyes have flicked back up again, right into the dark eyes of one Mike Wheeler.

Will’s heart skips a beat as their eyes meet, as he looks unflinchingly back at Mike in more shock than anything. The dark-haired male raises a curious brow at him and Will only feels his heart race faster with his slow flush as time seems to slow oddly around them until the sound of the classroom door crashing open startles him into breaking the eye contact.

“Good morning class!” His professor calls out as she enters the small classroom, a mess of papers in her arms as she moves towards her desk with her usual cheerful confidence. “I see you’ve all met our guest for the day.”

Professor Turner sloppily drops her materials onto her desk before she turns to them, her eyes glittering in a way that has Will almost cautious as he looks between her and the now distracted Mike. Mike’s attention has drifted to the crackers decorating the table and Will eyes fall to the other boy’s angular fingers as Mike deftly shuffles the crackers like playing cards in between sliding them distractedly into his mouth. Will catches himself staring at the way Mike’s lips form around the crackers for a few moments longer than would be deemed appropriate before he swallows thickly.

The sound of Professor Turners’ hands clapping together breaks Will out of his trance long enough for him to realize he likely just missedeverything she just said because he was too busy ogling Mike Wheeler. She waves her hand in Mike’s direction in a grand dramatic gesture as she beams and theatrically says, “Now, young man, if you would please get us all started.”

Will’s brows furrow at the statement initially, and they’re still puckered in confusion even as his eyes naturally flick to Mike’s movements. Mike gives the professor an amused but silent salute before he casually makes his way over to the foot stool in the middle of the class. Will watches in continued bewilderment as Mike dramatically steps onto the podium, dusts the crumbs off his hands, grips the lapels of the robe and unceremoniously just…drops it.

Will eyes focus on the inane flapping of the robes material as it falls through the air, watching it land in a clumsy heap on the linoleum for a moment before he glances back up, fully absorbs what just happened, and promptly stops breathing.

Jesus.

All he can see are the stars that Mike’s freckles make against his pale skin, against every inch of his exposed skin, from his strong shoulders to the firm line of his stomach to his calves. That alone holds his focus for a few moments until he’s distracted by the almost palpable softness of things that Will is quite sure he’s never seen, like Mike’s inner thigh and soft curve of his ass. Then, of course, there is the utter unfathomability of other parts of Mike, not unfathomability that they existed, of course, Will had always known that Mike had a penis, he’d just never thought that he would see it in anything more than humiliating teenage wet dreams and purely accidental glimpes in the locker room. But there it was. Topped by a curly brush of dark hair that almost looked soft to touch.

Will is absolutely sure that he’s never seen this much of anybody in his life, other than the pathetic exception of himself, and he feels almost heady with the suddenness that he was exposed to it all.

And the moment his eyes trail up the body before him and once again meet that pair of dark eyes, the painful pound of his heartbeat in his chest stutters.

Because the boy before him has eyes that are twinkling with a wicked glint something close to smugness as the corner of his lip pulls up into an attractive smirk, a combination of features so alarmingly and alluringly foreign that they force Will to realize that this—this person before him is not Mike.

And yet Will still can’t manage to move in his shock, can’t manage to look away as his dry tongue moves to flick over the seam of his lips. The other boy follows the movement with a look so blatant that Will can feel himself tingle with the force of his blush, can feel his breath finally hitch with it and it is that surge of oxygen that prompts Will’s eyes to finally drop to his easel in a small internal panic.

Very much not Mike.

What was happening?

Who was this person and why did they look so much like Mike?

Because he wasn’t Mike. Right?

Right.

Will was almost one hundred percent sure he wasn’t Mike. Because… he didn’t feel like Mike, when he looked at him. And because Will is absolutely sure he’s never seen such a… seductive expression on Mike’s face, let alone directed at him.

So, he wasn’t Mike.

But who was he?

Will glances around the class subtly for an answer to that question and he’s slightly surprised to see everybody hard at work. His classmates are glancing indifferently at the nude man in the middle of their classroom as they work with charcoals and pencils and paints, and Will is slightly startled to realize that he’s expected to do the same. His mouth works open and closed for an awkward moment as he glances at Professor Turner only to see her working through the mess of papers on her desk with her lips moving silently in thought. Their art workshop is an hour long and a quick glance at the clock tells Will that he has at least fifty minutes left, and it is with slight horror that his eyes flick back to the man in the middle of their art room, their model.

The Mike lookalike is staring distractedly at wall adjacent to him now, silent but subtly fidgeting as the sounds of drawing fill the room. Despite the fact that Will now knows it’s appropriate to stare, that that is what they’re practically here to do, he still finds himself stealthily tracing the hinge of the Mike lookalikes jaw with his eyes, quietly admiring the length of the other’s eyelashes and the otherworldly way his hair frames his face.

Will once again gets caught up in drinking in sight of the male before him and this time, when the other turns to him Will hesitantly stands his ground despite the lightning he feels jolting his gut. He carefully wets his lips and picks up a thin pencil, his eyes never swaying from the curious glint of the pair looking back at him as he inhales subtly and finally puts lead to paper.

+

This Mike’s hair is a little longer, Will acknowledges as he draws it with gentle swoops of his pencil, as he perfects every curl, and details every wave. And the bags under his eyes are darker, Will notes as he smudges the darkness of them in with gentle fingers. His lips are more chapped and ragged, as if they’d been bitten raw, as if they’d been picked at and torn nervously, and Will depicts the dry skin with faint lines. There are light marks on the bridge of his nose, almost symmetrical in their placement and so faint you can barely see them, and Will fleshes them out those light marks with delicate movements. The swell of his biceps is slightly larger than Will remembers Mike’s being, slightly enough that Will wonders if the observation is more of a testament to the length of time it’s been since Will has seen Mike’s bare arms than anything. He carefully outlines them before methodically going about bring them to life.

Honestly, Will has drawn Mike so many times that he almost expected this process to be familiar. But eerily enough it wasn’t. There was something slightly off about it, and every time Will noticed a subtle difference between the boy before him and Mike, his Mike, it was almost as if he was affirming that the two were separate.

But for every difference there was one glaring similarity between the two that could not be ignored: this boy beautiful. Beautiful like Mike has always been beautiful to Will.

But this boy’s beauty strikes Will in a slightly different way.

Will is engrossed in putting this beauty to paper, in doing it justice in he’s interpretation but his breath still catches whenever he glances up to see the other boy’s gaze directed at him. Will doesn’t know what it is, but every time his gaze flicks up to the other’s eyes they’re looking back at him without shame, with a glint of something heated and a bit of something mischievous. Will’s heartbeat races faster each time their eyes meet, and he swears that his blush deepens by the second, but he doesn’t look away. He doesn’t back down.

Be more confident.

Will purses his lips at that thought a moment before he straightens on his stool, momentarily abandoning his sketch in favor of almost boldly looking the other male directly in the eye. The other’s brow arches at that, his gaze a question in itself and Will swears that he can feel his pulse in his fingertips as he nervously taps his pencil against the wood of his easel. He anxiously flicks his tongue over his lips as he allows his eyes to travel down the form of the other slowly, in a suggestive way that teeters between deliberate and hesitant. He tries to infuse the same amount of confidence in his eyes’ path back up to the other’s face, tries to fight the urge of flight in the back of his mind and honestly he’s even surprised with himself when he manages to regain eye contact with the other without chickening out. As he meets those eyes again and he’s met with the dilation of the other’s pupils and the slight flare of his nostrils, Will feels a spike of heat in his stomach intense enough to make him squirm. He’s able to inhale a shaky breath but unable to look away, his piece abandoned in favor of staring back into the raven-haired boy’s eyes with a match in intensity, and it is for the second time that day that the clap of Professor Turner’s hands nearly makes Will jump out of his skin.

“Alright! Pencils down, artisans.” Professor Turner says with an amused curve to her lips before she turns to the Mike lookalike and cordially says, “Thank you, Mr. Tozier for your hard work, you can feel free to put your robe back on now. For the rest of you, please make sure your pieces have your name and student number on them before you submit them to me for evaluation. I repeat, please make sure—”

Will’s eyes unconsciously follow the movements of the other male for another few moments before he catches himself and looks down at his lap, his heart racing as his mind remains fixated on one word.

Tozier.

Tozier.

Very much not Mike.

Will is both glad he was right and very bewildered all at once, his brows puckered as he wonders how two people can possibly look so alike and notbe the same person or related in anyway. Unless they were related? By blood? Maybe—

“Hey.”

Will glances up in surprise at the sound of a voice above him, his green eyes widening at the sight of Tozier, clad in his robe once again and sporting that unnamable glint in his eye paired with his smirk. Will’s mouth goes a bit dry.

“Do you want to…hang out or something?”

And suddenly all of Will’s questions have gone out the window as he stares back at Tozier, as his heart races to the beat of a consistent echo in the back of his mind.

Be more confident

Be more confident.

Be more confident.

“…Or something?” Will finds himself saying quietly, his eyes meeting the boy above him with quiet hesitance and something just as unnamable as the other’s lips pull up into a grin as he shrugs.

“Or something.”

+

“What’s your name?” Will finds himself asking breathlessly against the other’s lips in between dizzying kisses that are hastily resumed sooner than Will can catch his breath. He makes a noise that’s somewhere between a moan and a gasp of surprise as he’s lifted by his thighs, tightening his legs around the other’s waist as his back is press into one of the shelves of the supply closet. He can’t even focus on the fact that a shelf is jabbing uncomfortably into his spine when those lips travel over his jaw, when they trace a path to the sensitive spot behind Will’s ear and suck hard enough to make Will’s eyelashes flutter. “Y-Your first… name.”

“Well, I’m glad you asked, beautiful, considering you’re going to be screaming my name in the next few minutes.”  He says with a wicked grin that Will can feel against his skin. He nips at Will’s earlobe with absolutely no warning, the bite of the sensation making Will gasp again. “Richie Tozier, at your service, gorgeous. I am here to tend to all of your x-rated needs, from exhibitionistic eye fucks to giving you the orgasm of your life in approximately five minutes. It’s a pleasure. Or, well, it will be.”

And Will huffs a disbelieving laugh at those words despite the flush of his skin, a laugh that quickly morphs into a groan as Richie – Richie – grinds against him firmly, the fluffy fabric of his robe only adding to the friction between them as Richie captures Will’s lips again.

“What’s your name, cutie?” Richie asks after kissing Will so deeply, so filthily that he honestly sees stars.

“Will.” Will replies as he gasps for breath. Will’s hands move from gripping firmly at Richie shoulders to securely anchoring themselves at the back of Richie’s neck as the other grinds into him with just enough pressure to tease Will into moaning at every other breath. “Will Byers.”

And Richie grins so wickedly that Will feels his poor heart skip a beat for the umpteenth time, his eyes crinkling as he smoothly sets Will back down on his feet.

“Well, Willy B, forewarning, I am about to ruin blowjobs for you forever. Nothing will ever compare to this. You’ll either have to fuck me forever or become a goddamn priest.” Richie says as he smoothly slides down Will’s body onto his knees, his hands easily undoing the button and zipper of Will’s pants as he says, “You’re welcome.”

“What? You—…” Will tries to interject, he really does, but the only coherent sound that ends up coming out of his mouth is an awed, “Oh.”

Because Richie’s promise wasn’t empty.

[thezodiaczone]

June Forecast for Libra

Open your GPS and drop a few pins on the map, Libra. As the Sun bounds through Gemini and your adventurous, worldly ninth house until June 21, you’ve got an appetite for adventure—the farther from home base, the better! With on-the-go Mercury also in Gemini until June 12, short getaways and staycations can break up the monotony if you can’t log out for longer. Whatever you do, swing as far out of your comfort zone as you can. From long-distance business opportunities to cross-cultural connections, mixing it up is your M.O. this month.

The June 13 Gemini new moon could bring an exciting entrepreneurial opportunity or the urge to broaden your horizons. You’re hungry for new experiences and knowledge, so tap the hivemind for book, podcast and workshop suggestions. Can you add more flexibility to your work schedule or carve out time for an indie project? This lunar lift will be in effect from now until the corresponding Gemini full moon on November 23. Plan a bucket-list trip, apply to an educational program or start planting the seeds for growing a business that has YOUR name on it.

Father’s Day is June 17, and the moon will be in Leo, energizing your eleventh house of group activity. Adopt a “more the merrier” approach if you’re celebrating a special guy or favorite father figure, and maybe blend a few families for the occasion. Keep plans loose and casual. If anything formal (and never-ending) gets scheduled, prepare your alibi for dipping out after a while or suggest an outing—you won’t have the patience to sit around all day doing nothing!

The rest of the month takes a different tone as Neptune and Mars turn retrograde, bringing the total retrograde planet count to five. (Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto are already in their slowed-down cycles.) This is a time best used for reflection and behind-the-scenes planning—and taking things one careful step at a time, the preferred Libra way!

But don’t get TOO summer-casual just yet. On June 21, the Sun starts a monthlong march through Cancer and your professional tenth house, setting your career on fire. While others are cooling down at the beach, you may be heating things up in the air-conditioned office, toiling away on a big project or deal. Of course, if you can make power moves while mingling at a beachy “white party” or email that proposal with your toes in the sand, by all means, do!

Back to those retrogrades: The first planet to reverse will be Neptune, from June 18 to November 24. Neptune makes this U-turn at roughly the same dates each year and, for the eighth summer in a row, it will back through Pisces and your sixth house of health, service and organization. With muddled Neptune pivoting here, be mindful of your whereabouts, as you could be accident-prone or make careless mistakes while multitasking. Slow down and do one thing at a time. If you get lost in your head with over-planning and overthinking, remind yourself to tune in to your surroundings and be fully present wherever you are.

In some ways, Neptune’s retrograde can actually thin the fog, helping to clarify an issue you’ve either avoided or been in denial about. If you’ve had a mysterious nagging ache or pain, get it checked out—but solicit a second or third opinion if need be. The sixth house rules the digestive system, and Neptune’s retrograde is a good time to check on your “gut health.” From popping a probiotic to taking a microbiome test to (if you’re of the age) getting a colonoscopy, it may not make for fabulous dinner-table conversation, but keeping those intestines healthy and functioning can be a huge vitality boost.

On June 26, energizer Mars will join the retrograde brigade, downshifting until August 27. Mars is in Aquarius and your passionate fifth house from May 16 to August 12, so the bulk of the backspin will rattle your romantic and creative quarters. Chemistry that sizzled could fizzle—or at least sputter—as hasty Mars slows his roll. Some couples might take a break or even call things off if you can’t control your stormy reactions. This Mars cycle could stir up drama, and you may have to do battle with some outsized egos, in both work and love.

Home takes center stage on June 28, when the year’s only Capricorn full moon illuminates your domestic fourth house. Step back from your busy schedule to connect with close friends and family—and to treat yourself to some well-deserved self-care. With structured Saturn hovering close to the moon, you may be signing a lease or mortgage, planning a move or helping out a relative in need. An elderly loved one, possibly a maternal figure, might need your support near the end of the month. If you’re planning to change your living situation, cautious Saturn urges you to check references and conduct due diligence—from roommates to renovation contractors to real estate listings. Read the fine print, and don’t settle!

Love & Romance

With your ruling planet, amorous Venus, sailing through Cancer and your tenth house of long-range goals until June 13, you may be more focused on “where’s this going” than “how does it feel?” While there’s nothing wrong with planning ahead, you want to be sure you’re not putting the cart before the horse. Make sure you enjoy the ride before you start building a stable!

On June 5, Venus swings into her annual opposition with shadowy Pluto, who’s holding down the fort in Capricorn and your domestic quarters. You may feel pressure from your family to act a certain way or go along with something that isn’t in your heart. While you can’t just ignore these people, you do have the right (and the responsibility!) to stand up for yourself. This transit can also issue a warning about any plans to meet a new interest’s parents or relatives. Brunch is fine but think twice before you agree to a full weekend at the family retreat (and that advice also goes for longtime couples).

Meanwhile, the other cosmic lovebird, passionate Mars, is marching through Aquarius and your romantic fifth house all month, dialing up the passion and inciting you to a take a risk in the name of love. But when the red planet turns retrograde for two months starting on June 26, watch for drama or the (unexpected) return of an old flame. You know what they say: Play with fire, and you CAN get burned. Drama and discord could surge up once Mars goes rogue.

On June 13, Venus enters Leo and your social sector, which should lighten things up a bit and allow you to enjoy friends and activities without feeling the need to advance your agenda or stress about the future. Leo energy reminds us how much fun it is to simply play and laugh and not worry about looking silly!

A pair of time-outs could come on June 14 and 25, when Venus squares off first with unpredictable Uranus, and then with supersizer Jupiter in your finance-related sectors. This could ratchet up tension over money and shared responsibilities that aren’t being equally distributed. As much as you’re trying to be in the “now,” it could get challenging if you feel like things aren’t being handled fairly. Speak up—but lean in to that Libra diplomacy! Take a step back from any heated emotions on June 21, when Venus and Mars clash in an opposition, pulling you between head and heart.

Key Dates

June 14: Venus-Uranus Square Too close for comfort? Today’s cosmic clash between the love planet and disruptor Uranus finds you craving space in a relationship. Don’t make any sweeping changes when your emotions are all over the map. Clandestine thrills are tempting—you miss the rush that comes from feeling desirable and sexy. As long as you don’t violate trust or boundaries, a little harmless flirting can be fun. Watch your own jealousy or urge to snoop today.

Money & Career

Blue skies ahead! With the Sun sailing through Gemini and your expansive ninth house until June 21, you’ve got your sights set on the big picture. Don’t squander this time dealing with minutiae. Brainstorm, network, attend conferences or workshops that not only boost your savvy but get you inspired. Mingle with thought leaders and influencers, and you could soon become known as one yourself, especially near the June 13 Gemini new moon.

With energetic Mars in your creative and passionate fifth house all month, you’ve got the vision AND the enthusiasm to make your brilliant ideas sound irresistible. Fame could even come knocking—just make sure you’re attracting the right kind of attention. Contrary to the popular saying, there IS such a thing as bad publicity, Libra—and when Mars is retrograde from June 26 to August 27, dial back the promotions and put your head down. What do you want to be known for? Ponder that question and tighten your game. You can come back with a vengeance in the fall once Mars is direct.

When the Sun enters Cancer and your professional sector for four weeks starting June 21, put the whiteboard and dry-erase markers back in the supply closet and get down to business. It’s prime time for hashing out a master plan, talking to decision makers and putting those visionary ideas into concrete form.

Work-life balance could get challenged at the June 27 Sun-Saturn opposition, a tough once-a-year face-off that can test your patience and bring out a pessimistic streak. With emotions clouding your judgment, you could be torn between head and heart. Family or personal life demands may cut into work, leaving you feeling like you’re failing on all fronts. This, too, shall pass, Libra—do your best not to get sucked into a melodramatic spiral. The next day’s Capricorn full moon could bring resolution to a personal matter, helping you clear the way for more productivity.

Key Dates

June 27: Sun-Saturn Opposition Optimism aside, do you and your colleagues have the same goals for this project? Is someone trying to hog the credit instead of showing their team spirit? You have a chance to advance professionally, so don’t stay in the wrong place out of a misplaced sense of loyalty.

Love Days: 4, 8 Money Days: 15, 23 Luck Days: 13, 21 Off Days: 19, 11

[kaylmurray]

BELOW IS A TRANSLATION OF AN INTERVIEW I CARRIED OUT IN SPANISH WITH  http://madridistareal.com

THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE INTERVIEW IS THE POST PREVIOUS TO THIS ONE.

Tell us a little about your new adventure in Miami.

I came to Miami from Spain to work for beINSPORTSUSA 5 years ago. I came to take on a new challenge and to helpwith the growth of LaLiga in the USA. The channel also has the rights to Serie A, Ligue 1 and many other sports.

Madridismo remembers you as one of the well-known faces from the international version of Real Madrid TV. How do you remember this time?

It was one of the best experiences of my life, I lived there for 6 years. Everything changed for me, not only in my professional life, but on a personal level too.

With Real Madrid, I travelled to many places around the world and I experienced some very special things.

My first season was the “Juntos Podemos” **  and my last season was the final season of Mourinho.

I missed the tenth, eleventh and twelfth Champions League wins but I was there for three Liga title wins, a Copa del Rey, Cristiano’s arrival, the return of Florentino Perez and the final year of Beckham, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo. It wasn’t such a bad era.

**Juntos Podemos “Together We Can’ was basically a promotional campaign from the local media the club and the fans to urge everyone to unite in the final stages of the season to garner the belief that Real Madrid could beat Barcelona (and Sevilla) to the league title. Real Madrid won the title on the final day of the season. Real Madrid finished level on points with Barcelona but had a better head to head record (2-0 at Bernabeu and 3-3 at Camp Nou).

How does a girl from Middlesbrough end up at the Santiago Bernabeu?

I started my career on Boro TV, the official club channel of my hometown team, Middlesbrough.

After that I studied journalism and during my studies, I saw a casting for the international version of RMTV, which back then was a new project. I screen-tested but I didn’t get the job. A year later, another position became available and this time, I did get it!

Were you already a Madrid fan before you worked at RMTV or did you become a Madrid fan during your time in Madrid?

Before working at RMTV, I wasn’t really a Madrid fan but I remember reading the press when Beckham was going to leave Manchester United and back then, no one was sure whether he’d go to Madrid or Barcelona, and I remember thinking, ‘It has to be Madrid,’ and I don’t know why I thought that.

At that time, I had no idea that one day I would be working at RMTV. But it was impossible not to fall in love with the team after a season like that of 06/07.

What was it like for you as a club insider to experience those team triumphs?

Incredible and unforgettable! I have wonderful memories. Memories like running onto the pitch in Pamplona to interview the players after winning Liga number 31, with security guards chasing me! Celebrating in the mixed zone with the players while they sprayed champagne all the journalists with champagne. I returned to Madrid that night (on a bus)  with my friends from “Cinco Estrellas” (one of the well-known Madrid fan clubs).

The journeys back on the team plane after a victory were always a lot of fun too. The memories of the parties with my colleagues in Madrid and Valencia after winning a league or a Copa will also live with me forever.

During the 7 seasons you spent with RMTV, you shared some special times with players an coaches from the first team. Do you have any interesting anecdotes you can tell us?

Many! There were times when some of the Spanish players had to speak in English for promotional campaigns or video messages. It was always fun to teach them to speak English. On the away trips, the players were always telling jokes between themselves and my colleagues at RMTV. I even remember Cristiano putting on the Manchester accent, which made me laugh!

The worst memories were in my first few months in Valdebebas (Real Madrid’s training ground), where Cassano would try and strike the football at me. Back then I didn’t know a lot of Spanish and I didn’t know how to ask him to stop doing it! But guess what? He missed me everytime!

Who is the player or manager you had the best professional/working relationship with?

I’m clear on this one - Ruud Van Nistelrooy. We arrived at the club in the same season, he spoke English and he always had time (he was very kind) for the international version and for our families and friends.

Once Mourinho came in, the Spanish press were at first very belligerent. What do you think this animosity was down to in the pressrooms?

Perhaps it’s because his style as a manager was very different and they weren’t used to a manager like him, especially because the access to the players had been very easy before his arrival. I had never seen journalists with such free access to the players like I had in Spain. But Mou’s mentality to convert the training ground into a “bunker” didn’t go down well.

I know that Mourinho’s era didn’t end well and that there are many people who speak negatively of it, but it’s also worth remembering that he also changed a lot of important things, like the mentality of the team to believe that they were capable of competing with Pep’s Barcelona and he also brought an end to the curse of the Last 16 in the Champions League. *

* For six straight seasons, Madrid did not get past the Last 16 of the tournament.

What’s your opinion of Mourinho of a manager? What was it like to work with him? And with Cristiano Ronaldo?

At first, it was very easy to work with Mourinho, he was very kind with everyone working in and around the club, including those of us from the official channel. In his last season, it was a little different, due to the atmosphere surrounding the club.

I only have good memories of Cristiano. Never in my life had I seen so many people demanding the attention of one single person. But despite this, he was always very kind to us, speaking in English and even on the days when he didn’t have time to speak with us in the mixed zone, he would always say: “I’m sorry! Not today but for sure we can do it next week!”

You presented the Ballon D’Or twice. Was that a lot of pressure?

A lot of pressure, but a huge honour too, one of the biggest honours of my professional life. However, it’s better for Cristiano that I’m not the one presenting the Ballon D’Or because on the two occasions that I did, Messi won! In my defense, I will say that I was the presenter on the ‘Green Carpet’ for the FIFA THE BEST awards last year and Cristiano won, so I’m not the jinx anymore!

I was asked before the second-leg semi about Bayern as a rival.

It won’t be easy, but the Champions League for Madrid is like spinach to Popeye….it makes them stronger!

Do you think Madrid have the chance to win their third consecutive Champions League this season? What percentage? Knock yourself out!

Of course I think there’s a chance but I don’t want to tempt fate. I’ve seen so many strange and unexpected things this season that you never know. Anything can happen!

Recently, Real Madrid have started to find their stride. There are players like Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez and Mateo Kovacic, who began as fringe players/subs and are now taking important steps forward in recent months. What quality would you highlight for each one of them?

I’m a big fan of the three��and who said that Real Madrid did not have a Plan B?!

MARCO - A golden left-foot

His confidence is not for nothing. It’s because he knows better than anyone else just what he is capable of.

LUCAS -  Very, very dependable.

The fact that he asked to take the penalty in the shootout in the second final against Atleti and also that he was the first to take it - and scored,  tells you everything.

MATEO - His through-balls. For me, he’s very underrated.

Has the fact that you’re a female sports journalist specializing in football presented any kind of handicap for you. Throughout your career, have you had to prove yourself more than a male in your profession might have to?

Sometimes, but a lot less these days. Spain gave me more opportunities as a female in football than my own country did. I am eternally grateful for that.

Finally! Do you miss living in Madrid?

Very much so! And even more so recently because over here everybody’s obsessed with “Money Heist” (a Spanish show, based in Madrid, on Netflix) and when I see Madrid and hear the accent, it makes me really want to return! I’ve always felt at home in Madrid. I’ve been back a few times in the last few years and I am going to keep on doing so.

Thanks for your time, Kay.

Thank you to all of you.

[one-of-us-blog]

The Lie of the Land (Doctor Who S10E08)

Today Drew is forced to watch and recap “The Lie of the Land”, the eighth episode of Doctor Who’s tenth series and the third and final episode in the series’ Monks Trilogy. The Monks have been welcomed in, and in a very short amount of time they’ve completely taken over Earth and convinced humanity that they’ve always been here. Can Bill find the Doctor before she succumbs to the Monks’ false memories? Can the Doctor liberate humanity from the Monks’ control? Does he even want to?

Keep reading to find out…

Eli, I’m sorry you had such a bad experience with “Miles to Go”, but I definitely see where you’re coming from. I know you prefer when the show keeps out of wackier, less believable territory, and the sudden revelation that Miles is actually a rat on the run is pretty darn wacky. I think I’m such an apologist for the show that I’m willing to accept this abrupt, seemingly random character change and I don’t dislike the episode as much as you did, but even I’m left with questions that I don’t think can really be answered. Is Caroline really Miles’ daughter? Is her identity false, too? How did Miles get the credentials to become a university professor when he worked as an accountant in his original life? Why was Miles a fraidy cat in “The Bloom is Off the Rose” given everything he’s been through? Surely skydiving must seem like a walk in the park after fleeing for your life from a guy named the Cheese Man. We need answers, dammit! But speaking of made up histories, it’s time for me to get to my recap!

Buttocks tight!

Episode directed by Wayne Yip and written by Toby Whithouse

We start off with an explanation that the Monks have always been there for humanity. From the days humans crawled out of the primordial sea, the Monks have been there to guide them. The Monks have been responsible for every technological advancement humanity has made, and they’ve defended Earth from everything from Daleks to Weeping Angles and sexy, sexy Cybermen. The Monks and humans share a perfect, symbiotic relationship, the Doctor explains in a video. The Monks are humanity’s best friends, and all they ask for in exchange for their help is obedience. A family watching the Doctor’s video explaining all of this is suddenly startled by a loud knock at their door. Soldiers pour in, and the woman of the house is charged with spreading false propaganda about the Monks and their time on Earth. She claims the Monks have only been on Earth for a few months, but this contradicts the established history of the planet. She’s sentenced to years of hard labor in a labor camp, and as she’s dragged away she screams at people to accept what they know to be true and reject the false history established by the Monks. Bill watches this unfold, but, unable to help the woman on her own, she turns and walks away. We get a final shot of the Doctor urging humanity to relax because the future of the human race has been taken care of, and then we head to the opening credits.

With those out of the way, we return to Bill, sitting alone at a table set for two. She relaxes her guard for a moment, and almost accepts the Monks’ false history. She focuses, and sees a vision of her mother sitting across from her. She explains to her dead mother that the Monks have been in power for six months, and she has no idea how she escaped from that pyramid after she asked them to give the Doctor his sight back. She doesn’t understand how everyone has just accepted the Monks’ presence; people, for the most part, love the Monks and celebrate when they administer lethal punishments against those who rebel against their will. Bill knows she traveled with the Doctor and doesn’t know why he’s making those videos telling people to accept the dominion of the Monks, but she knows he has a plan and somehow, some day, he’s going to save them.

Bill is startled out of this hallucinatory conversation by the sound of someone entering her apartment. Turns out it’s good ol’ Nardole, or Nardy, though Bill’s not sure it’s really him at first. He’s able to prove himself by citing some trivia about their first adventure together. Bill’s relieved to see him, because now she has some proof that her time with the Doctor was real, but she’s also mad that he left her alone for six months. He explains that he was contaminated by the bacteria spawned in Agrofuel, and it’s taken him a while to recuperate. Bill and Nardy discuss the sitch; she explains that every day it’s harder for her to remember that the Monks haven’t always been here, and every day she has to fight to hold onto her memories of her time with the Doctor. She doesn’t understand what the Monks hope to achieve; they’ve gone through the trouble of conquering the planet, why all this revisionist history? Nardole explains that if you can make someone think that a situation has always been as bad as it is, it’s easier for them to accept it and harder for them to rebel.

Bill wonders what Nardole’s been up to; it took him six weeks to recover from his exposure to the bacteria, but what else has he been doing for the last four and half months? Nardy explains he’s been looking for the Doctor. All anyone’s seen of the Time Lord is those pesky broadcasts, but the signal of the broadcasts is scrambled so no one can trace them. Using some tech he found in the TARDIS, Nardole was able to overcome this and trace the signal to an old prison ship. Nardole’s made an ally of the captain of the supply ship that brings food to the prison ship, and he agrees to get Bill and Nardole onto the prison ship. It seems the Monks are more worried about the Doctor getting off the ship than anyone getting onboard, so the only potential problem is the possibility that the crew of the prison ship checking their IDs. This almost happens, but luckily a ship of Monks arrives in time to distract the crew. A Monk looks over Nardole and Bill, but leaves them in peace and everyone’s eager to get the supplies onto the ship. Just like that, Bill and Nardole are in.

They make their way through ship, and hear the sound of the Doctor’s voice. They meet up with the Time Lord himself, but at the sight of them he calls for guards. He says they shouldn’t be here, and he’ll have to discuss this with the Monks. Bill is horrified to see the Doctor actually working with the Monks, and the Doctor says she deserves an explanation. He says humanity is stagnating, even regressing, and the way the Monks are running things is better. Humanity had freedom and their history, but did they learn from it? Did they stop fascism or fundamentalism from coming back? Nope. With the Monks here, at least things are safer for the majority of humanity. The Doctor goes for the jugular, flatly telling Bill that this is all her fault for making a deal with the Monks to begin with. He never asked for his sight back, after all, and Bill did what she thought was best. Here are the results. The Doctor’s not thrilled with the way the Monks distort history, but they’ve brought peace and order and that’s good enough for him.

Still clinging to hope that this is an act on the Doctor’s part, Bill tries to send him a coded message about the time they found a giant fish thingy in Paris. The Doctor calls her out on this, destroying the last bit of hope she had. Bill, tears in her eyes, realizes that the Doctor really is on the Monks’ side. She lays into him about how hard the last six months have been for her, and how hard she’s fought to hold onto the hope the Doctor represented to her. Enraged at the Doctor’s betrayal, she grabs gun from a guard and points at the Doctor. She demands he tell her the truth; if he’s not working with them then he needs to tell her, or she’s going to shoot him. He insists this isn’t a trick, and he really is on the Monks’ side. Furious, Bill shoots him and he regenerates.

Or, well, no, he doesn’t. The regeneration stops, and the Doctor cheerfully congratulates Bill. He explains to her that this was all a test to make sure Bill wasn’t under the control of the Monks. All of the guards and soldiers (and Nardy) are on the Doctor’s side, and for the last six months he’s been planning and plotting on ho to overthrow the Monks’ regime. Bill is surprised by all of this, but the Doctor’s glad to have the old gang back together again. He says it’s not enough though, and they need some more help. The Doctor has the prison ship steered right into the mainland, and the squad heads to the university. The Monks are waiting for them, but Bill and the Doctor manage to sneak down into the basement and the Doctor opens the vault. Inside the vault, Bill is surprised to find the Mistress. She wasn’t sure what was in the vault, but she wasn’t expecting to find a woman sitting inside. The Doctor explains that the Mistress is in the midst of rehabilitation, and she’s working on being good.

The Doctor asks if the Mistress has dealt with the Monks before, and she says she has. She’s had her own adventures over the years, you know. She’s willing to explain how she overcame the Monks before, but she wants some new stuff (including a pony) to keep her busy in the vault. The Doctor explains that part of being good is helping free planets without making demands, much to the Mistress’ annoyance. The Doctor explains how the Monks are keeping humanity in check, but he doesn’t know how they’re messing with the memories of an entire planet. The Mistress walks him through figuring it out; this whole thing started with one person inviting the Monks in, and that one person (Bill) is the catalyst for their control. The Monks build statues all over the world when they moved in, and the statues are projecting Bill’s original consent to the Monks into the minds of people all over the world. The Mistress congratulates him on figuring it all out, and says all he has to do now is kill the person who originally gave the Monks consent (Bill) and that will weaken the Monks’ control.

Bill admits to the Mistress that she’s the lynchpin in all of this, and the Mistress callously lays out some facts for her. If Bill were to die it would take time for the residual psychic force of her consent to ware off, but if she were still alive but rendered irrevocably braindead, that would put an end to all of this. The Doctor sternly tells the Mistress that she’s failing his course in goodness, but she insists that she can be good without being vain, arrogant and sentimental like he is. She says she’s laid out a way to save Earth, and that’s serving the greater good. Bill and the Doctor regroup with the squad, and the Doctor insists they’re not going with the Mistress’ plan. Bill says the Doctor knew she was the key to all of this in the first place; that’s why he wanted her back at his side to begin with. He counters and says he wanted her with him because that’s the safest place for her to be.

The Doctor comes up with an alternate plan. The Monks’ HQ is a pyramid in the middle of the city, and he reasons that their must be some kind of machinery in there that’s broadcasting the Monks’ false history. He plans on getting in there and plugging himself into the machine, using it to broadcast Earth’s true history into the minds of humanity. Heck, while he’s in there he might even get rid of racism, just for the fun of it. The Monks’ signal gets stronger the closer they get to the pyramid, and as the Doctor’s soldiers move in it gets harder for them to reject the Monks’ false history. The Doctor has Bill record a message reminding everyone what they’re doing here and that the Monks aren’t humanity’s friends, and everyone listens to the message while they invade the pyramid. The anti-Monk squad tangos with some Monks inside the pyramid, resulting in some soldiers and a few Monks getting killed. The recorder one of the soldiers is wearing is damaged, and he can’t hear Bill’s message anymore. He pulls a gun on the Doctor and insists that the Monks are, in fact, humanity’s friends, but Nardy’s able to knock his lights out with an alien neck pinch.

The squad makes it to the control room where the Monks’ signal originates (and we get a nice #FakeNews jab from the Doctor) and the Doctor plugs himself into the seemingly dormant Monk sitting at the controls. The Doctor begins to dismantle the Monks’ signal, but the not-so-dormant Monk fights back and counters his every move. The Doctor is overpowered and thrown aside, with the Monks’ signal still intact. The Doctor wakes up later, tied to a column by Bill. She insists that if he tries that again his big ol’ brain will be fried, and she knows what she has to do. He tries to talk her out of her plan, but her mind is made up. She gives him a kiss on the cheek and thanks him for their time together. She gives Nardy a hug while the Doctor protests, and hooks herself up to the Monk at the controls. The Doctor just manages to untie himself as Bill’s mind is taken over by the Monks. The Monks insert themselves into her memories, but Bill’s feelings for her mother and the love she feels for her is so strong that the Monks can’t overpower it. The Doctor tells her to focus on the love she feels for her mother, and the Monks’ signal is overridden by Bill’s pure love and trust for her mother.

All around the world, people begin to remember the world without the Monks controlling it, and the Monks’ spell is broken. The squad, including an unfried Bill, head outside in time to see humanity turning on the Monks. The Doctor says they’re going to do what all oppressors do when they can’t oppress anymore; they run away. Bill says this is a turning point for humanity. They now know they can overthrow dictators and live freely, but the Doctor demonstrates that the Monks have erased themselves from humanity’s collective memories and no one remembers anything about the last six months. He says humanity’s habit of never learning from their mistakes is pretty annoying, and Bill asks why he puts up with us. He explains that out of seven or so billion humans, every once and a while there’s one like Bill. The people like her make it worth it to put up with the rest of the species.

Back in the vault, the Mistress reflects on all the people she’s killed. She didn’t anticipate being hurt by the regret she’s feeling, and says the Doctor didn’t prepare her for his aspect of her rehabilitation. He says he’s sorry, but this is a good thing. The Mistress accepts this and continues to quietly cry.

The End

~~~~~

What a roller coaster! I wasn’t sure what was going on with the Doctor there for a minute, and I’m glad the show was able to keep me guessing. It felt weird to me, though, that the Doctor would be so pleased that Bill would lash out in anger like that, literally trying to shoot him to death, when she thought he was a traitor. That seemed to go against the Doctor’s way of thinking, and if anything I would have expected him to be disappointed that she had the capacity to shoot someone like that out of anger. I get needing to make sure she wasn’t under the control of the Monks, but dang. I feel like the thing about Bill being the lynchpin never quite paid off, and the idea that her being braindead was the only way to stop the Monks really sizzled out. I’m glad we got to see the Monks’ version of Earth, though, and that made it feel like the last two episodes had some payoff. I liked that the recurring element of Bill’s late mother played such a big role in the resolution after we’ve spent so much time seeing her focus on her mom, though all of the Doctor’s puns (the line about fake news and the quip about Mill’s mom going viral) seemed a bit forced. Overall this felt like about as satisfying of an ending as we were going to get from this arc, and I’m glad the writers managed to put in some morals about the dangers of not learning from history and allowing things like fascism and nationalism to creep back into every day life.

Overall, I give “The Lie of the Land” QQQ on the Five Q Scale.

We’ll see you again soon as Eli will have to cope with the possibility of one of the Girls leaving the show forever with his recap of the next episode of The Golden Girls, “There Goes the Bride, Part I”, and after that I’ll post my recap of the next episode of Doctor Who, “Empress of Mars”.

Until then, as always, thank you for reading, thank you for revising and thank you for being One of Us!

[oliveratlanta]

In Midtown, boutique apartment building flip is inspired by—of all things—Studio 54

Mix of Piedmont Avenue rentals will actually encourage Airbnb use when tenants are away

The borderline NSFW motto—“It’s not the size of the unit, but what you do with it”—is the first indication this might not be a humdrum apartment building renovation.

An aging, small rental community at 940 Piedmont Avenue, about a block south of 10th Street’s rainbow crosswalks, has been transformed into a decidedly more fabulous venture called Studio 9Forty, now pre-leasing.

The concept by Tenth Street Ventures is inspired by—of all things—the art and culture of Manhattan’s legendary Studio 54.

As such, renting here will apparently be like “VIP access beyond the velvet rope of the most exclusive club without the noise and the crowd,” in the words of marketers.

The building’s 24 swingin’ units will start at just 500 square feet, a rep tells Curbed Atlanta. (Exactly how big they’ll swell wasn’t specified). All are studios or one-bedrooms, and rents start at $1,500 monthly.

Google Maps

The building undergoing renovations in December.

They’re aimed at art-loving city dwellers who might frequently be traveling and want an Atlanta “jewel box home crafted with efficiency and technology in mind” to come back to.

Interestingly, project leaders will urge tenants to Airbnb their rentals while out of town, earning side income from flats they don’t own, per an announcement.

Decatur-based Office of Design architect firm led the “glamorous” makeover, while LC Design handled interiors, with décor inspired by artist Srinjoy Gangopadhyay of Deljou Art Group, officials noted.

City records indicate the apartment property was bought for about $1.5 million a year ago.

What the project’s website offers as a preview of finishes.

Elsewhere in Atlanta, Tenth Street Ventures recently converted the 1920s rental community Park at Peachtree Memorial into refurbished condos called Portico Buckhead.

It marked one of the first condo conversions in Atlanta’s current real estate cycle.

Portico Buckhead’s 50 offerings begin in the high $200,000s and top out in the $450,000s for the largest condos with all upgrades.

The team describes itself as “a young group of developers, designers and builders who want to bring a more affordable product to the market, while still using high design concepts inspired by art and music.”

Photo courtesy of Tenth Street Ventures; Ansley Atlanta Developer Services; photography by Mike Smith

An updated kitchen in Portico’s 1,357-square-foot model unit.

Below is the rest of the fabulously named floorplan mix in Midtown:

source https://atlanta.curbed.com/2019/5/3/18528265/midtown-apartments-for-rent-atlanta-studio-54

[temperkitten7-blog]

2018 Review Thingo

Belated happy new year to you! For the tenth year on the trot, here is the Annual Review Thingo. Previous episodes: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009.

1. What did you do in 2018 that you’d never done before?

made two new friends who live in the next village. Walking distance pals: the holy grail!

took a beginner’s sewing class (swore a lot)

consistently attended both Pilates and yoga classes… after years in the exercise wilderness I’ve found some love again!

had a brilliant trip to Green Mountain in Vermont as a guest blogger to work on my binge eating stuff.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for this year? I chose a word for the year, Outside: “I literally want to get more fresh air, but also looking to get outside of my head and outside of my comfort zone”. This turned out to be a handy anchor and it was an adventurous (for me!) 12 months.

I haven’t felt drawn to any words or particular plans for 2019 thus far. I’m happy to just rattle along for now and make sure I keep the twinkle lights twinkling.

3. Did anyone close to you die? No.

4. What countries did you visit? USA and Australia.

5. What would you like to have in 2019 that you lacked in 2018? A stronger lower back and more blogging.

6. What dates from this year will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

February 8 – Snowshoeing in the dark at Green Mountain with all senses singing and an overwhelming feeling of being in the right place.

April 28 – Gomez concert. Closure for my 2002 self who accidentally chucked out Sydney tickets! #dumpsterdivingfail

May 3 – Day of the Missing Ziggy. My heart sinks to my shoes just thinking of that horrible long empty night she went AWOL, both G and I worried what we’d talk about without that furry grump in our lives. Lucky for us she was only trapped in a garage, four doors down.

Gomez at the Barrowlands, April 2018

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year? On paper it would have to be my positive progress on the BED recovery stuff. – I’m chuffed with how much has changed for the better. But sewing that bloody zipper bag really felt like a triumph 😉

I’d set a goal to make six crafty projects in 2018 – an attempt to try something new that had nothing to do with work or “self improvement”. At the time I mentioned on Insta my stages of learning:

wild enthusiasm

overwhelm

panic

thinking up excuses to run away (cat emergency? credible?)

small moments of success

mistakes

swearing that you think is only in your head but actually out loud

un-fecking-picking

grim determination

starting over.

Despite all that, by December 30 I had six small objects that didn’t exist before, that look alright from a distance!

I’m still working on a scarf that I started knitting over Christmas 2017. Once I’d used all the yarn up it didn’t feel long enough, then it took a few months to track down more. Now it’s too long, but I feel compelled to get through this extra ball so I’m just carrying on! I reckon Lenny Kravitz might like it when it’s done.

Newbie projects: drawstring bag, 2 x cushion covers (one patchwork; one origami style where I did half the folds the wrong way round), sunglasses case, lavender eye pillow and the zipper pouch.

8. What was your biggest failure challenge? Righto, questionnaire whose origins I can’t remember, I’ve changed that word above because language is important 😉 The biggest challenge by far was #9 below.

9. Did you suffer illness or injury? A month after returning from Vermont, buzzing with rediscovered exercise joy, I injured my lower back on a hike that was in retrospect too lengthy for my fitness level. For the next six months I couldn’t walk, sit, or stand for longer than five minutes at time without unleashing a world of teary agony. So I rotated between the three like the world’s most BLOODY BORING triathlon.

I’ll spare you the details but it made things, especially work, quite difficult at times and my mental health got wobbly. But after much trial, error and super strong painkillers, I got in with an awesome NHS physiotherapist and we’re now on a good plan for healing!

It’s been an exercise in patience and acceptance and prioritising, I tells ya. I’m in the midst of Project Strengthen Back, Butt and Hips – and unlike with my dodgy knee ten years ago, I’m actually doing the physio exercises religiously! I’m now back up to walking a good 20 minutes without pain and feeling much more chirpy.

10. What was the best thing you bought?

Cabin Zero carry-on backpack – I got this in 2017 and after a year of regular use I still love it. On short trips I find a small wheelie suitcase can be more trouble than it’s worth. Best example, when in London visiting my sister, it’s easier to squish this bag onto my lap on a busy bus than wrestling a suitcase. It fits heaps inside it, has a laptop bit, is comfortable on your back when walking around, and tucks easily into the overhead locker on the plane.

Fleece leggings – my Canadian pal Jilanna got me onto these – like trackydacks/sweatpants, but leggings so it’s like getting the warmest, cosiest hug for your pins on a super cold day.

Leuchtturm B5 dotted notebook – bigger than a pocket notebook but smaller than A5, this is a brilliant size notebook for random lists. The soft cover makes it light to tote around (every gram counts with a dodgy back, mwahaha.)

Lisa Eldridge Velvet Morning lipstick – my favourite orange-red since Lady Danger

3 metre USB cable – so I could charge the phone and use it at the same time without acrobatics. Genius!

11. Where did most of your money go? Airfares.

12. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The Americans final season. What a masterclass in TENSION! The brilliant series finale was so stressful my teeth were actually chattering. As handsome as Mr Bodyguard was, I think Matthew Rhys was ripped off for the Golden Globe for Best Actor the other day!

I love character-driven shows where people grow and change over a stretch of years – the kind of shows that invite deep obsession. I love the routine of watching each episode, poring over online recaps and discussions and podcasts afterwards, dreaming about the characters, and of course, worrying about them years after the show has ended, as though they were real. This show gave me six years of quality obsession and it’ll be hard to ever find that kind of love again. 😉

13. What song will always remind you of this year? Fitness by Lizzo. She would have been my most-played artist on Spotify in 2018, if not for Gareth’s prog and 80s metal cluttering up the mix. We have started the new year with separate accounts, as painful as that was for his thrifty sensibilities!

14. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? Happier.

b) richer or poorer? About the same.

15. What do you wish you’d done more of? Fiction reading.

16. What do you wish you’d done less of? Staying up too late on a school night.

17. How did you spend Christmas? Quietly, in London with the nearest and dearests. Festive dining while watching Home Alone and Jaws on the telly. We did venture out for a walk at one point, then came back for trifle and Home Alone 2!

18. Did you fall in love this year? Oh aye… with these Ottolenghi oven chips with Greek oregano and feta! I first saw these on Nigella’s Instagram a few years ago (they hark from Australian chef George Calombaris) but it wasn’t until I borrowed Simple from the library that I made them. SO GOOD. Crispy in a way I’d never known oven chips to be before.

Ottolenghi chips with feta and oregano

19. What was your favourite TV programme?

Halt and Catch Fire – I watched the first season a couple of years ago after Jason Kottke wrote about his love for it and how he got to be an extra. The first season didn’t grab me so much, but then I saw a few articles that urged to stick with it, for it gets goooood. And it did! It zoomed right into deep obsession and my top 5 series of all time. You may start watching HAFC and think, this is just about two geeky dudes building a computer. But it blossoms into soooo much more. If you grew up alongside the internet it’s cool to watch a show that covers that evolution, but really it’s the characters that got me laughing and crying and utterly hooked.

The Americans – as per joyous ramblings above.

Salt Acid Fat Heat – Unbridled enthusiasm is by far my favourite quality in a person and I could watch the luminous Samin Nosrat talk about food all day. I really hope she makes more programmes soon. If she made one episode per every good thing to eat in the word, I’d tune in. We could start with Cake Laksa Chocolate Bagels!

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing – this was such a funny wee series in which comedian Bob Mortimer (who I crush madly on) is introduced to fishing by comedian Paul Whitehouse. Both of them had recently experienced heart conditions. Each episode has them go for a fishing lesson where they muse on both life’s big questions and minutiae. It’s addictive and touching. My favourite moment was when they cooked dinner for a cardiologist and asked him, “Which one of us do you think is going to die first?”

Billy Connolly: Made In Scotland – in this brilliant two-part documentary Billy talks about his early life in Glasgow, his career, growing older, and his Parkinson’s. It’s hilarious and poignant without ever being sentimental.

Also enjoyed: Sharp Objects, Spiral, Press, Killing Eve, Queer Eye, Feud and Mozart in the Jungle. The latter is one of those shows that I forget about between seasons but always enjoy when it pops up. Classical music, New York City, and Gael García Bernal – you cannae go wrong!

20. What was the best book you read? The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser. It follows the lives of five Australians, their lives entwining or briefly brushing past over time. I cackled and/or squirmed at the savage observations about writers and expat Australians. Cheers Kim of Reading Matters for the rec!

21. What was your favourite film? I watched Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri on a plane and loved it. I probably should watch it again though as I’ve found when I rewatch films I saw on planes they’re often not as good on the ground, because I’m always a bucket of feelings on a plane. Anyone else get like that!?

Catching up on older films: I enjoyed Arrival and Grand Budapest Hotel.

22. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 41 and it was a quiet and unremarkable day. But the following weekend I went out for tapas with two dear pals and that was spectacular.

23. What kept you sane? Ziggy pats and funny friends.

24. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Lee Pace in Halt And Catch Fire. Even in the 1995 episodes with his terrible hair and glasses that reminded me so much of dot com folks from back in the day.

25. Who did you miss? In June I had an all-too brief trip to Australia. It had been over five years since the last one, and that was too long! I want to prioritise getting back more often because it’s so bittersweet seeing people after such a long gap and realising so much has happened since the last catch-up.

Source: https://www.shaunareid.com/2019/01/2018-review-thingo.html

[ladeeheroine]

The Traditional Snow White Story as Emma’s Story...With a Twist.

So, it’s pretty obvious that Emma has a problem and there is a lot of evidence that points to Snowing (and Hook) as being a large part of that problem. This made me think about the psychological meaning behind Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs and I came across an analysis by Stephen Flynn that was very interesting.

Flynn uses Jungian psychology to suggest that the story of Snow White is really about the immature female psyche. Although Flynn’s analysis is about the traditional Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story, the points he makes fit more with what we are seeing from Emma on OUAT. A lot of Regina’s journey can be seen in the analysis as well.

To start my analysis of Snow White, I will assume that the whole of the story to date describes a state of the immature feminine psyche. For instance, there are three women in this story, and the first, the caring mother soon dies leaving our heroine Snow White with no psychological mother.

@anothershadeofgreen made the point that when Emma realizes that Snow and David are her parents, symbolically, this is Emma being born. So the behavior we see from Emma now represents her immature female psyche.

Generally speaking, fairy tales are looked at as childish stories that are told to little girls, in particular. Even Emma thought it was ridiculous at first, too, but as she came to realize it was true, the urge to identify with these people, who were the quintessence of love, grew stronger.

Love is all Emma has ever wanted throughout her entire life (same with Regina), so as she sees all of these happy endings and true loves, she wants it, too, and she especially wants it in the way that her parents have it because those are the people she wants to identify with more than anything. When you’re a kid (and remember, psychologically speaking, Emma sort of is) you think your parents are the greatest and you want to be just like them.  

…these stories tell us how to develop and integrate conflicting aspects of our selves as our personal unconscious map unfolds. At the start of the story Snow White, or the anima, is far from complete as she is both innocent and immature and lacks a caring mother figure within.

Flynn’s analysis also discusses the development of the masculine and the feminine. 

There are ten men in the story of Snow White and nine represent weak or inadequate father figures within Snow White. These ten men can be broken down into four stages of development of the masculine within the development of the female in her striving to become a fully mature woman at the end of the story.

When relating this to Emma, all of the relationships she has had with men have been unhealthy and that more than likely stems from her lack of father, i.e. lack of positive animus. Regina had a father, but he still wasn’t a positive animus because even though he loved her, he was weak and he didn’t protect her. 

Regina also had a severely negative anima in her mother. However, Regina was able to see both of her parents in the Underworld and the closure she was able to have with them greatly affected her ability to find balance within herself. I would say that, in the end, they were a positive animus and anima for her.  

Uniformity starts to emerge when we read how the queen died at the birth of her child and after her death her husband, '..the king took another wife'(Grimm 1984:188). This is the only mention of Snow Whites' father. He is an indolent father because he utterly fails to protect his child from the murderous hands of his new wife. This indolent father figure is also shared with Cinderella and perhaps Little Red Riding Hood who does not seem to have a father at all. Common to all these tales is the fact that the negative aspect of the masculine (indolent father) cannot be integrated and this can result in a denial of the masculine. These maidens are always doomed to die, because their exclusive domination of the feminine psyche hinders the individuation process, that is, the maturation of personality'(Jung and Kerényi 1989:172).

When relating this to Emma, we can see that she falls under the same category. Unfortunately, Charming can be considered an indolent father, too, because he was absent from Emma’s life and as we just saw in the last episode, he and Snow chose not to save Emma when they had the chance, which adds to his indolence. He desperately wanted to, but ultimately, he followed Snow’s lead and once again Emma was left alone.

Right now, we are also seeing Emma “doomed to die” just like the other character’s mentioned above. Emma isn’t that dynamic person we saw in the beginning because the “maturation of her personality” has been halted due to the imbalance of her anima and animus.

The counter balance to the weak Animus is an inflated negative feminine 'shadow' which is totally unconscious.

In the traditional Snow White story, the evil step mother is the negative feminine shadow, but in OUAT Emma’s negative feminine shadow would be Snow.

The whole story seems to be about Snow White eventually finding her prince, the tenth male figure, before she is able to face and tame the rage within. 

If we replace Snow White with Emma and Prince Charming with Hook, then it would suggest that Hook is the positive male figure (animus) who is going to help Emma “face and tame the rage within”, but supposedly he has already been established as her true love…twice! So if he is that positive figure that is going to help Emma balance herself and mature (psychologically speaking) then how come it hasn’t happened yet? They are already true loves…right? We see Hook and Emma kiss all the time, but it’s never TLK. Belle kissed Rumpelstiltskin and it began to break the Dark One curse, so how come the same isn’t happening with Emma…and there is strong evidence to suggest that she is being influenced by a curse or curses.

I suppose they could be holding off on showing Hook & Emma share a TLK for the wedding, but that would incredibly redundant considering they have already tried to convince us twice that they are TL. Shouldn’t once have been enough? No one else has had to confirm their TL so much.

Flynn describes Snow White as a mess because of her inability to recognize the danger around her, which is why her step mother was able to trick her into biting the apple. Emma could certainly be describes as a mess at this point in the story. She is a shell of the person she used to be and she continually excuses the destructive behavior of Hook and her parents.

If she were a patient at this stage of development, she would appear hysterical, have a terror around freedom and at the same time be dependent on whoever was available. 

Again, this is clearly seen in Emma’s behavior with Hook. They are melodramatic, depressing and codependent. Emma has become incredibly attached to him to the point of it being sickening to watch. Her dependency on Hook is unhealthy to the point that lies and deceit is readily excused and she even takes the blame for some of his behavior. “I didn’t exactly make it easy for you...”

The ego began its own development when Snow White was seven years old, and it was then we find terror expressed by our Queenly step-mother. This terror can also accommodate jealousy, a lack of love for the child within, which then becomes hateful and murderous '...she would have been ready to tear her heart out of her body'(Grimm 1984:189).

The section above actually reminds me of Regina more than anything, especially the tearing the heart out.

Concerning the traditional Snow White story, her awakening happens in four stages. I’m not sure if Emma’s story is following these stages exactly, but parts of her story can be recognized within each stage. For example, Snow White starts to become aware when she encounter’s the Huntsman. He doesn’t do any harm to her, but he isn’t able to protect either and she becomes lost in the woods.

The Ego at this stage is under the spell of unknown forces within and is restricted in freedom being alienated from normal life where she continues hiding in the woods.

Not completely sure this fits, but the Huntsman actually reminds me of August when it comes to Emma. He did the best he could as a child to protect her, but she still ended up alone. This might also include Neal, who made promises to her and then abandoned her with a child and let her go to prison.

And of course, she [Evil Queen] had the magic mirror. It was magic because the reflection looked into the mirror and saw the real self looking back from within the mirror. This is indeed a symbol of one aspect of feminine beauty. Jung says of such a woman that they have '..artistry in illusion being a specifically feminine talent.. However, it seems if a woman remains '...content to be a femme a' home, she has no feminine individuality. She is empty and merely glitters-a welcome vessel for masculine projection.

Emma has lost her feminine individuality. Her style has become duller and it can even be compared to Snow’s, which is drastically different from how it was when she first came to Storybrooke. Is this the version of herself that she subconsciously thinks is more acceptable to Hook and her parents?

The quote can also be compared to Regina’s story as the Evil Queen. We recently saw her looking into the mirror and it wasn’t Sydney telling her what she wanted to hear, it was finally a reflection of herself and there was no more denying the hatred that she had for herself.

As Snow White encounters the Dwarfs, she continues to build a more positive animus. Even though the dwarfs foolishly leave Snow alone in their house, once again leaving her unprotected, they are helpful to her. Flynn states:

Snow White has been pursued, robbed of her rights, been misunderstood or failed in her understanding, and yet she has shown few emotions.

Flynn also states: I am often astounded when working with some women that they do not realize that what is going on in their lives is 'not right.' They have come to accept the unacceptable. 

This reminds me of Emma one hundred percent right now. It doesn’t matter what Hook or her parents do, she makes excuses for them. She showed emotion when she caught Hook trying to burn his memories, but she was quickly closed off again and then forgave him immediately when he came back, as did David, her indolent animus. Regina tried to get her to open up at Aesop’s Tables and she remained closed off except for a few tears when speaking to Aesop/Gideon. Snow revealed that she and Charming had a chance to save Emma when she was a girl and they chose not to for the greater good and Emma immediately forgave them. Emma’s only real emotion is shown when she is with Hook, whom with she is clingy and dependent upon.

The Prince comes into her world only when she is unconscious…

So, I think this is the point where it might get tricky because we leave the traditional roles of male and female.

As we all know by now, when Emma was sent to the Wish Realm, Regina wished to be where she was and she was CLEARLY dressed as a prince, complementing Emma as a princess.

So even though Regina is female, does she represent the positive example of the animus (male) that Emma needs in order to find her balance, similar to what Prince Charming was for Snow White in the traditional story analyzed by Flynn? Regina woke Emma from her unconsciousness so that she was able to remember who she really was. Prince Charming kissed Snow White, waking her from her unconsciousness.Only Snow White’s true love could wake her. So how did Regina wake Emma if she isn’t her true love?

Is this foreshadowing for what’s to come? It makes sense if you consider that Regina & Emma sharing True Love might be the twist in the plot. It would certainly be a modern fairy tale and a lot more original that what we are seeing now, which I discuss a bit more here.

Couldn’t it have been written to send Hook to the Wish Realm to wake Emma if he is supposed to be her TL? Why dress Regina as a prince at all or have Emma humming Someday My Prince Will Come if it’s not supposed to mean anything? Those were very specific choices.

The negative aspect of the feminine has to be silenced before the Prince can arrive.

In the Wish Realm, Snow & Charming were killed before Regina was able to wake Emma. Snow represents the negative anima for Emma (and Charming always supports whatever Snow decides), so they had to be silenced before Emma could wake up.

This isn’t to say that Snow (or Charming) is bad, it’s just that she is not who Emma is and there is always going to be a problem when you try to be anyone other than your self.

Flynn discusses all of the different animus that were shown to us throughout the story and to what degree, if any, they helped Snow White. He states:  

The tenth male figure represents the symbol of completion of unification with the masculine.

Regina is the only character that has been blatantly shown to be a prince to Emma’s princess. Hook has been shown to be the opposite of what a prince represents. He is a negative animus who does not contribute to Emma’s growth.

Lots of people have commented on the fact that Regina is acting like a savior more than Emma is and I agree. She was set up as being a savior in season 5 when Emma gave her the dagger...

...when she stepped in as the savior in Camelot...

...and when Leroy said if anyone was going to save them it was her.

Regina is also the only person we have seen have a complete arc to become a balanced person and she did it on her own, which shows her strength. She’s the only one who is qualified to help Emma at this point. I would say that maybe Emma could save herself like Regina did, but she seems, too, far gone at this point.

Our heroine was unable to seek out what is useful from the unconscious…people in this state lack power.

Regina and Emma are two damaged people who want the exact same thing, which is to be loved. Regina went to one extreme and raged externally. Emma went to opposite extreme and internalized her pain.

We’ve already seen Regina face and tame her rage.

Now we need to see Emma do the same.

She hasn’t been able look inside of herself to find balance, which means she lacks power, which means she needs a savior of her very own.

Also...

Emma told Regina she would fight for her happy ending. Even though Regina has found peace within herself, she still doesn’t have a happy ending yet. Emma & Regina’s story is unfinished.

[myuntoldstory]

[Mystic Messenger] Moments 78: Scarf

“Next are the investment negotiations that are currently underway with E Global…”

Assistant Kang’s voice fades into a monotonous buzz, but Jumin can still glean important details from her report. He reads through the contract before him without pause, long fingers flipping and lifting each page with flying speed before scratching his signature without hesitation on the bottom of the last page. Without missing a beat he reaches for the next one. This time it is a business briefing for the new branch of luxury hotel his father plans for the next year. He skips over the objectives and predicted profits, going straight for the potential challenges such a project will entail. This particular chain’s target is the upper class and that has not changed since its inception. With this new project, however, his father decided on a location frequented by the middle-lower class. Obviously, this decision will come with many hurdles and Jumin would like to curb them now rather than later, when damages are more troublesome to control.

Assistant Kang has now moved on to the next item in her report. Jumin continues to listen and read. He has reached the tenth page when his phone rings. His heart jumps in his chest, recognising the tone immediately. Dropping the pages, he takes the phone and reads the message on the screen. A warm feeling spreads throughout his body and the smallest of smiles breaks through his stoic expression. He stands. “Assistant Kang, we will continue this tomorrow.”

“Of course.”  Assistant Kang stops talking.

Jumin nods and begins to sort the papers in his desk by priority. “You’re also done for the day.”

“Ah… yes. Thank you, sir.”

“Lux would like to say hello. So I’ll meet you at the elevators in fifteen minutes.” Jumin glances at Assistant Kang. She nods and walks out of the office. He continues to prepare his space for tomorrow—sorting documents, double and triple checking his planner, and writing down a priority list. There is nothing worse than time wasted fumbling around with organisation. Doing it now will increase efficiency for the next day. More importantly, he’ll be able to spend a few more precious minutes with Lux in the morning.

Oh… thinking about her now makes him desperate to see her. The desire to hold her and keep her close overwhelmed him suddenly. Urgency made him complete his tasks with seven minutes to spare. Not keen to waste more time, he quickly grabs his things and strides out of the office to the elevators. To his satisfaction, Assistant Kang is already there. He nods at her and she presses the button. The doors slide open noiselessly. Jumin lets Assistant Kang go in first and follows her; she presses the ground floor button and the two remain in silence as the doors slide closed.

“The first meeting is with the chairman of H Corporation tomorrow.” Jumin says

“Yes, sir.”

“What time is that?”

Assistant Kang digs her planner out her bag and flips through it. “Ten.”

Jumin nods. “Have Driver Kim pick me up at eight-thirty.”

“Eight-thirty, sir?”

“Yes.”

“… Understood.”

Fortunately, the elevator does not stop for anyone else and arrives at the ground floor within minutes. Jumin follows Assistant Kang out of the elevator, trailing behind her and seeking out Lux. Once he catches a glimpse of her, however, he speeds up and overtakes Assistant Kang. Seeing her beam at him is like ultimate relief, as if he’s been struggling to breathe for so long and only she can give him the air he needs. His chest twinges in that familiar sensation of pleasure-pain and he walks into her open arms.

“I missed you,” he whispers in her ear, wrapping his arms around her waist and squeezing.

“I missed you,” she replies. A shiver runs down his spine as she kisses his cheek.

They’re in public. After the fiasco he’d caused during the RFA party, he’s become aware that any prolonged display of affection will attract gossip… but he wants to steal a couple more minutes. Just a couple more. He can hug her as long as he wants when they return home, he knows that, but right now he can’t wait to be close to her. Nuzzling her neck, he counts the seconds in his head and lets her presence comfort him. Once he hits two minutes he releases her and steps away.

“Jaehee, hello!” Lux goes to Assistant Kang and hugs her. “You did well today.”

“Lux.” Assistant Kang returns the gesture. “Thank you. I appreciate you coming tonight.”

“Well, I can’t very well leave him alone, can I?” Lux jokes, stepping away from Assistant Kang.

“I suppose not,” Assistant Kang laughs.

‘He’? Who are they talking about? Is it him? They are laughing, however… is it really humorous, what they’re discussing? Is it a joke about him? He can’t really understand, but Lux is laughing and he is fine with not knowing. He gives into the urge to smile as he watches her. He reaches out when she returns to him and savours the warmth from her hand as she threads her fingers through his. He looks to Assistant Kang and catches her still smiling. Even this is novel to him. She’s not really the type to smile, but with Lux she seems to be… freer, somehow.

“Have a good night, Assistant Kang,” he says. “Good work today.”

“Thank you, sir. Please be careful on your way home.”

Jumin nods and leads Lux out of the building. Looking back over her shoulder, Lux beams and waves. Jaehee’s smile widens and she waves back, her affection for Lux warming her chest. Her hand lowers once the couple goes out the doors and into the sidewalk. Her smile turns a bit wistful. If someone were to tell her that her boss would fall in love with someone and dedicate his whole life to her six months ago, Jaehee would have been convinced of their insanity. Han Jumin never falls in love… unless one counts Elizabeth the 3rd. There’s a reason why Seven teases his robotic mannerisms and Zen confidently labels him as one.

But here she is… witnessing how wrong they all were. Perhaps all Mr Han needed was the right person. Maybe deep down he was just waiting for that one person who understands him completely out of everyone else—even despite having his father or V. Personally, she’s never been gladder that Mr. Han found someone just for him—a strange thought, but over time she has come to appreciate her boss’ hard-to-see good points.

Although… she has to admit that she’s now getting more free time because of Lux. If her luck holds and things go on like this then perhaps she’ll be able to watch Zen live one day. It’s been so long since she’s see him perform in real life, only having her DVD collection to accompany her. As such, not even high quality recordings can compare to the real thing.

“Oh, wasn’t that Mr. Han?”

“I think so. That’s his girlfriend, I think.”

“He doesn’t usually go home this early, does he?”

“No. Everyone knows he usually goes home well after midnight. From what I hear, recently he’s been going home at this time.”

“Do you think his girlfriend nags him for coming home late?”

“Without a doubt. People have been talking about how she picks him up all the time and making him walk back home.”

“Walk back home!? Really?”

“Yeah. Lovers of rich men are always demanding like that.”

“God, the poor thing. Can’t he see he’s just being scammed?”

“Blinded by love? Like father like son, after all.”

The sound of laughter grated on Jaehee’s nerves. She gripped the strap of her bag tight as two women walked past her and towards the doors. Really, she ought not to butt into the idle gossip of simple people, but somehow she couldn’t let such irresponsible beliefs go. “Ladies,” she called, making the two stop. Her shoes clicked sharply against the tiled floor as she approached them. “Mr. Han appreciates staff feedback on his performance as director of C&R so I am certain he will appreciate your concerns for his well-being.”

Both of them blanched. “C-Chief Assistant Kang!” they both exclaimed.

Jaehee smiled at them politely and walked past them. “Good night.”

*

Jumin opens the door for Lux. She goes out first, but does not let go of his hand. He follows her as she leads the way back home. They manage to cover a few metres before a gust of biting wind hits them. Jumin frowns as the cold nips at his face and neck. Reluctantly, he releases Lux’s hand so he can close his coat, turning up the collar to shield himself from most of the wind. Damn, he was negligent; in his hurry to see Lux he had forgotten his scarf. He does not usually forget such things, but somehow whenever it comes to Lux nothing but her matters to him.

“What happened to your scarf?”

At Lux’s concerned voice, Jumin turns to her and smiles in assurance. “I was so eager to see you I seem to have forgotten it.”

“Oh.” To his pleasure, her cheeks pinked, but he’s not too keen on her apologetic look. “I’m sorry.”

He takes her hand and squeezes gently. “It’s not your fault.”

“Shall we head back and get it?”

“That’s not necessary.”

“But…” Lux tugs gently and he bends down, starting as her hand sears its warmth into his cheek. “You’re chilled.”

“I’m… okay, really.” Heat seems to transfer from her hand to his cheek.

“Still. I can’t leave you like this.” Lux takes them both aside before releasing his hand. He watches her, eyes slightly wide, as she bowed her head to uncoil the large, baby pink coloured scarf from her neck. She rises on her toes and automatically, Jumin bends further down. Warmth envelops his chin, jaw, and neck as she winds the scarf around his throat. With a gentle smile, she tucks the edges under the collar of his coat before loosely knotting the ends together. Her eyes meet his and her smile widens. “Better—oh, but it’s pink.” She winces. “I hope that’s okay.”

“It’s just colour.” He touches the scarf. It’s soft. Traces of her perfume clings to it.

She chuckles. “True. You feel warmer now, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“But what about you?” he asks, now eyeing her bare throat.

“No problem.” She mimics his previous action by closing her coat and turning up the collar. She then undoes her hair, letting the locks fall in gentle curls around her shoulders. Jumin’s breath catches and overwhelming desire flashes in his abdomen. “I’ll leave my hair down like this and it’s enough.”

He heard every word she said… but he just can’t seem to find the words to reply.

“Jumin?”

He blinks and sees her staring worriedly at him. He smiles and tucks a lock of stray hair behind her ear; he did not drop his hand, choosing instead to caress the shell of her lobe and enjoying her shiver under his touch. “I’m sorry. If you are sure… then I am grateful for your kindness.”

“Not at all. Are you all right?”

“Yes.” Finally, he lowers his hand. “I am simply struck by how much I want to eat you up right now.”

She blushes again—pinker, this time, vibrant and positively glowing. “Wow.”

He smiles at her, taking her hand and slowly rubbing the pad of his thumb on the inside of her wrist. “May I when we go home?”

Lux is a strange person. It’s an assessment Jumin concluded back when they first met and reaffirmed as they continued their relationship after the party. Usually, she is like this: kind, sincere, loving… and the most frightening of jokesters with her penchant for teasing him, using his lack of experience against him in the most playful of ways. More than once he wonders if she’s related to Luciel in some way. But then when he says the simplest of truths such as how her clothes matched her perfectly or how beautiful she looks under the moonlight she would always, always avert her eyes from him and either deflect, reject, or reluctantly thank his words. But there are times, like now, when after he so boldly expresses his desire with her she meets his eyes steadily. He wonders why that is.

“Yes,” she says, manoeuvring her hand so her fingers threads with his.

His smile widens slightly. “Good.”

“In return I get to eat up whatever part of you I choose.”

There it is. That sparkle in her eyes. That mischief. “We have a deal.”

She gently tugged and lead the way again. “Then let’s go home quickly.”

Oh, wow. Look at me posting something.

This snippet was made when the Mystic Messenger hype was going strong with its Christmas DLC... and somehow Cheritz managed to show me a side of Jumin that was more palatable than his deep story side.

Aaand that’s where I’ll leave it. My feelings for this character is a big, complicated mess embedded deep within shattered expectations and suffocating disappointment—better off not revisiting it. Anyway. I responded well to his DLC story—so well, in fact, that I made this snippet. I suppose this is me officially rejecting the canon of his deep story and substituting it with my own canon hence why he’s not as pushy in here.

Anyway. I hope you enjoyed this!

[thisdaynews]

Future Of Nigerians Can No Longer Be Entrusted With APC-Wike

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/future-of-nigerians-can-no-longer-be-entrusted-with-apc-wike/

Future Of Nigerians Can No Longer Be Entrusted With APC-Wike

Nigeria – Delta State lead representative, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa, has upbraided pundits of southern lead representatives on the boycott of opening nibbling of cows and the call for public exchange to rebuild Nigeria.

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These were essential for the choices taken when he facilitated his 16 associates on 11 May, 2021 in Asaba where they likewise called for state police and devolution of forces from the Federal Government to the States.

“We owe no conciliatory sentiments, since we talked reality and we imagined that reality we talked was to the greatest advantage of this country.

Okowa communicated shock that a few components in the Presidency are as yet pushing for the maintenance of open munching of cows.

“Will we really right now be advancing open touching? Say thanks to God that the President was distorted, on the grounds that I have seen news features that the President isn’t against the prohibition on open touching.

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We need to start to investigate what is best for us. Where we were 50 years prior ought not be the place where we ought to be today and tomorrow.”

He recognized that it probably won’t be a one-day issue. He said: “It may not be nevertheless the cycle needs to begin and there mustWorried that uncertainty is spiraling wild, Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike has advised Nigerians to dismiss the All Progressives Congress (APC) that just has stories of killings and kidnappings come 2023.

The lead representative gave the charge at the banner off function for the development of Etche Campus of Rivers State University in Abara Town of Etche Local Government Area, yesterday.

Wike said with the complete breakdown of safety in pieces of the country, clearly the APC Federal Government can’t be trusted with the fate of the country.

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“Try not to tune in to those individuals who lie to you. The individuals who can’t give security to Nigeria. Is it true that you are seeing the killings ordinary at this point? Are you not stressed over this country. Is there any expectation that they can offer to this nation once more?”

Lead representative Wike flaunted that not at all like APC, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) makes guarantees and focus on satisfying them without giving reasons.

As per him, his organization is on the main period of a 45 days of venture banner off and authorizing that is extraordinary throughout the entire existence of the country.

“You know the distinction among us and them, is that you can see us regular, moving starting with one nearby government then onto the next. It is it is possible that we are hailing off or charging projects.

“They are not doing so on the grounds that there’s nothing for them to do. They don’t have anything to show as well. We began the 27th of May, 2021 and we will end the main stage on tenth of July, 2021.

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That is over a month of hailing off or dispatching projects. Who has at any point done as such in this country? Have we not gotten a spot effectively in Guinness Book of Records?”

Talking further, Wike encouraged Etche individuals not be hesitant in their purpose to set up shelter with PDP and convey more votes to the gathering that carried improvement to them.

“Presently, we will commission Odofur street, however with what number of votes, simple 7,000 votes? You need something yet you will not come out and give the votes.

At the point when we make guarantee, we satisfy it. You as well, satisfy your own guarantee. It ought to be two different ways, the gathering, PDP and you.”

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Wike demanded that the Rivers State University should deliver more assets to, and furthermore direct the project workers taking care of the development work at the Etche intently.

He said his organization won’t bargain quality work and proclaimed that 40 plots of land will be gained inverse the grounds for the sitting of police headquarters.

“We need quality occupation since we are known for quality tasks. From this point until May 2022, economy exercises will increment here, thus, please, Etche individuals, attempt and backing the project workers to ensure they finish this work.”

Playing out the banner off, previous Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Wear Baridam thought that lead representative Wike is spreading improvement utilizing sitting of grounds of the state college in other nearby government regions.

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Such move, he noted, settles the standard gripes of congestion of homerooms, builds the conveying limit of the organization and takes care of the issues of deficient lodgings for understudies.

“Anyone watching Governor Wike’s rankling formative speed, particularly lately, will be enticed to accept that the man is simply expecting office. However, we as a whole realize that Governor Wike is setting out on more formative activities even as he denotes his 6th year in office as our Chief Servant. As opposed to what his unyielding pundits may say, Governor Wike’s strong mark is in plain view in each edge of Rivers State for even the heedless to see. The great individuals of Etche can vouch for this certain reality today.”

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In his comments, the Commissioner for Education, Prof Kaniye Ebeku noticed that when Governor Wike initially made the profession and followed by the arrival of N16billion to guarantee that the three grounds are set up, the vast majority excused it as simple governmental issues.

As per him, cynics will currently have no motivation to question the genuineness of Wike any longer in light of the fact that up until this point, two grounds have been hailed off for real development work to begin.

Likewise speaking, Vice Chancellor of the Rivers State University, Prof. Nlerum Okogbule, said the Senate and Council of the University have supported that that the Faculty of Agriculture which has the accompanying divisions; Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Crop/Soil Science, Forestry and Environment, Food Science Technology, and Fisheries and Aquatic Environment, will be situated in the Etche grounds.

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He clarified that the choice was taken perception of the recognized agrarian economy of Etche as the acclaimed food crate of the state. be a program that should become apparent, a program in which we will start to see moves being made.”

He cautioned that Nigeria’s developing food frailty may before long twisting to a tipping point by virtue of the danger presented by open nibbling of dairy cattle.

“Today, a great deal of cash is being spent by the Central Bank of Nigeria to urge ranchers to guarantee that we are food adequate however a ton of these endeavors are lost, as a result of frailty. Ranchers can’t go to cultivate, their harvests are obliterated, they are disfigured and assaulted and some are even murdered. We can’t proceed with this way, since, in such a case that you have a program you are burning through billions on, we should get it and we should guarantee the food security of this country.”

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“It is significant and it will assist with improving the harmony and reproduce trust among our kin that genuinely we are in an organization that is joined to the greatest advantage of the combining units. I don’t perceive any reason why individuals should scrutinize that”

On state police, Okowa said the manner in which the government police is organized “is to such an extent that they will not have the option to police this country, it’s incomprehensible. We are not saying that they are uncouth.

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“Be that as it may, when the police chain of importance is calling for vigilantes, they are calling for state police. So the state police can be coordinated in such a way that it helps the government police, on the grounds that the degree of frailty in this nation presently is excessively high and we need to take care of business.”

[raystart]

Technology, Innovation, and Modern War – Class 10 – The DOD and Modern War –– Michèle Flournoy

We just held our tenth session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Joe Felter, Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy.

Today’s topic was The DoD and Modern War.

Catch up with the class by reading our summaries of the previous nine classes here.

  Some of the readings for this week’s introduction to AI and modern war included: War on Autopilot? It Will Be Harder Than the Pentagon Thinks, Considering Military Culture and Values When Adopting AI, Swarms of Mass Destruction, Joby Aviation raises $590 million led by Toyota to launch an electric air taxi service, Linking combat veterans and Valley engineers.

With Michèle Flournoy, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy joining us, we also assigned her recent article in Foreign Affairs, “How to Prevent a War in Asia”and CNAS report “Sharpening the US Military’s Edge: Critical Steps for the Next Generation”

Michèle Flournoy is rumored to be Joe Biden’s candidate for Secretary of Defense.

She served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from February 2009 to February 2012. She was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations; and led the development of the Department of Defense’s 2012 Strategic Guidance. She’s currently Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors, and former Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a bipartisan national security think tank.

I’ve extracted a few of Michèle’s key insights and I urge you to read the entire transcript here and watch the video.

—

On China Throughout the 1990s, we were focused on how to integrate China into the global system so that it would become a responsible stakeholder.

And we did everything we could, WTO membership, all kinds of collaborative efforts. That worked for a while, but at a certain point, particularly under President Xi, China decided that the hide-and-bide strategy was over. It was time to take their claim, their rightful place in the international community. Be more assertive in pursuing their agenda in an international forum. And in particular in the Asia Pacific. And it became clear then that we have a number of areas where we really don’t see eye to eye – our interests and objectives are in conflict. Whether its economic, technological, military there are very important competitions that we’re going to have with China over the coming years that will determine the US ability to protect its own economic vitality, but also our security and that of our allies.

That said, there are also problems when you look around the world, whether it’s the next pandemic or climate change or Non-Proliferation where if the United States and China don’t figure out how to cooperate with one another we will both be in deep trouble. So there has to be a cooperative element of the relationship as well. And so that’s why I don’t like the Cold War frame. I think the name of the game is managing this competition, fostering cooperation where we can. Really focusing on deterring conflict between two nuclear powers, which by definition would be a disaster.

Is China becoming more confident in their capabilities and doubt of our own? They definitely are becoming more confident in their own capabilities. They’ve invested a lot in an anti-access/area denial strategy. And you see thousands and thousands of different kinds of precision munitions, rockets and missiles. They are doing a pretty good job of trying to create a situation where it will be very costly for us to go inside the first island chain or even a second island chain. But they’re not 10 feet tall; they have a lot of challenges as a military as well.

But the thing that worries me most is the narrative that’s taking hold in in Beijing about the United States, particularly in the wake of our mishandling of the pandemic, the onset of another recession, the sort of divisions and protests you see on the streets. It’s given rise to a narrative of US decline. US self-preoccupation. US turning inward. And to the extent that Chinese leaders start to believe that and really believe that we have not done what is necessary to counter their A2/AD system, they could gain a sense of false confidence that might get them to take more risk-taking behavior. To push the envelope a little too far. A little too fast. Maybe cross some red lines they don’t know they’re crossing.

So it’s on us to be very clear – the United States – about our resolve, our commitment to defending our interest and allies, and how we define those. And to make really clear investments in the capabilities that will ensure our ability to project power and protect those interests in the future.

How Should the DoD Spend Smarter? I think the real long pole in the tent is in developing new operational concepts, in light of a clear-eyed assessment of what we’re going to face from either China or for example Russia’s A2/AD network in Europe.

It forces us into an uncomfortable position. We like to be dominant in every domain. We like to be the one to beat. Here in every case, we’re going to have to be the asymmetric challenger. You’ve got a resident power with a huge set network of capabilities. They’re going to have more quantity than us. We’re going to have to figure out how to fight it asymmetrically for our advantage.

And so that means, first and foremost, that we really do have to think about new concepts. We have to have much more competitive processes for developing those concepts. Not sort of building consensus on lower common denominator, concepts where everybody gets an equal share of the pie. Not interested in that. We have to link that to a lot of prototyping of new capabilities, experimenting with those new capabilities. See how they can inform the new concepts and vice versa.

And so this very agile, iterative process of bringing new technologies and prototyping systems. Playing them in war games, playing them in simulations, playing them in different experiments taking that feedback, those learnings. Bringing it back to inform the next iteration of the design and so forth. This is the process that’s going to get us to the right place. And it’s something that’s just really, really hard for the Department of Defense to do. We’re not set up to do that quickly or well or at scale.

How Should the DoD Realign its Concepts, Culture, Programs and Budgets? Well first, the sense of urgency you do hear at the top among the Pentagon leadership is not necessarily fully shared throughout the bureaucracy – surprise, surprise. We’ve started to adjust our acquisition approach. And the departments have put out some very useful new guidance on how to approach software acquisition in a very different way than hardware acquisition. But we haven’t necessarily trained our acquisition people, incented them to have a greater risk tolerance that’s required for this agile development of emerging technologies. Nor have we created real rewards promotion paths career paths for that.

And so there’s a huge human capital effort to be done here to raise the overall tech literacy of all of the folks- from the program managers to the operators. But also, to bring more tech talent into government to really help speed the transformation process.  And that requires again some culture change. You’re not going to keep tech talent if they walk into a typical Pentagon office today. You got to create a different operating culture. And I do think there’s some great examples – Kessel Run in the Air Force or the Joint AI center and parts of SOCOM. These are pockets where they’re trying a different approach, different culture, and having some success attracting the kind of tech talent the department needs. We just need to do all that at a much greater scale and with greater urgency.

Innovation Versus Innovation Adoption Thanks to organizations like DIU we’ve gotten much better at tech scouting; finding promising technologies that might have a military application, getting them on that initial contract – on a SBIR contract or an OTA prototyping contract.

But the real problem is that almost everybody hits the famous “valley of death.” So you’ve done a great prototype, you’ve won the demonstration, everybody loves you. And then they say, “Well, the next time we can actually insert you into the program and for a production contract is 2023, two and a half years from now.” And for a startup that’s like, “What do you mean? I’ve got to have access to recurring revenue to survive until then.” And so they get pressure from their investors to forget the national security side, just go commercial. It’s this terrible situation. So what do we need to fix that?

Number one, you need a more flexible set of funding authorities to bridge that gap. One idea is to allow the services to have some greater reprogramming authorities within mission areas or across portfolios, so that at the end of the year, when they’d have something that didn’t work, they can scrape up money there and put it into the next iteration of development for the thing that does work, and maybe get another year of bridge funding to get to that production contract.

That obviously requires some working with Congress to get them comfortable that they’ll have the transparency and oversight, but they need to give the department that kind of flexibility. I also think it involves bringing the ultimate end user into the earliest contact. So you have a program manager who’s watching this thing like a hawk from the beginning. And is already thinking about how it’s going to disrupt and be integrated into something he or she is responsible for. And you have to incent that. Rather just rewarding this rigorous, we only care about cost and schedule. You’ve got incent program managers if you can get better performance at lower costs, you got to be a disrupter yourself. You got to bring new ideas into what you’re managing to do that – which is a very different approach. It’s not easy to do. But we have to try to figure that out.

How Can We Work More Closely with Allies and Partners? For each of the key priority areas, whether it’s AI or robotics or Quantum or hypersonics, whatever it is, we could do some mapping of which of our allies really has cutting edge work going on, either in their research universities or in their innovation base. And look for opportunities of where we perhaps get farther faster by sharing some of that. There are all kinds of ways to do this. One is to cross invest. I know In-Q-Tel has started investing in UK companies, Australian companies, for example, with certain priorities in mind. I would love to see DIU get into the business of starting to bring some of those allied companies in.

I think this needs to be a topic of policy discussion of where we collectively go after some of these areas with joint ventures or joint technology development and more efforts like that at scale. It’s a very important area. Particularly given that both China and Russia are going to be leveraging these technologies in ways that are really counter to our Western values in terms of surveillance systems and without respect for personal privacy and all kinds of things. And I think the more we have a common values-based approach to technology with our allies, the stronger we can be in showing up at an international forum where standards are being set or norms are being set and so forth.

What Legacy Programs Should be Downsized to Fund Investment in Emerging Technologies? It’s a great and necessary question, because the DoD always has more programs than budget. But I think with COVID and with the recession whoever wins the White House in November, you’re going to see a flattening of the DoD budget. The sort of assumptions of 3% to 5% growth over and above inflation, that’s not going to hold no matter who is in the White House. So you’re going to have to make some tough tradeoffs. I can’t give you an answer off top my head, but I can tell you how I would think it through.

I think we need to look mission area by mission area and look across services at portfolios of capabilities to ask, “What is the mix that we need so that we have the platforms we need, but also the money to invest and incorporate the emerging technologies that will make those legacy platforms survivable, relevant, combat effective in the future?” And so it really has to happen on a mission area basis.

I think in some cases you may find redundant capabilities within or between services. Sometimes you’ll say, I don’t want that redundancy. I’m going to make a determination and one is going to be a winner and the other is going to be a loser. But sometimes, for the sake of resilience, for the sake of complicating adversary attack planning, you may want redundancy. You may want multiple different ways to accomplish a particular task. So this has to be done with very strong analytic grounding. Looking at both performance and capability, but also cost, and so forth.

My bias is that we have to be much more aggressive in going down the road of human/machine teaming and in gaining mass, gaining capacity and complicating the other side’s planning process by incorporating unmanned in all domains. More unmanned undersea, on the sea, in the air and beyond. If we can crack the code on that integration that is going to give us for the cost of the system a lot more capacity and capability.

What Should be Done to Enhance the Recruitment and Retention of a Technologically Superior Defense Workforce? We’re finding one of the most important things we’re doing – who knew – is creating a handbook for the DoD folks to say, “Here are all the authorities, you may not know you have for bringing tech talent is. Here are the best practices in terms of how to approach the hiring process. Here are the kinds of things you need to have in place to make those folks successful.” And give them the tools they need to really contribute. So trying to take all the learnings of where it’s been tried and failed, or where it succeeded and why. And put it in a handbook for the DoD hiring authorities to say, here’s your own learnings that you can build on to get that tech talent in at greater scale and with greater speed.

One of the key barriers is still the clearance process. That seems to hold people up for a bit. But I think the department is seriously working on trying to reduce some of those barriers. Then the second piece, I would say, is career path. The services are actually sitting on a lot of STEM talent, but they don’t manage them as STEM talent. You know they forced the young captain who is the Air Force AI specialist to leave and go out and be on a squadron staff in order to check the box, so he can get his next promotion. The services need to design career paths for technologists, so that they can get rewarded, promoted, and reach leadership positions as technologists. Otherwise, we will under leverage the people who are already in the force.

What are Some Potential DoD Problems or Operational Concepts That You Would Like Our Best and Brightest Here At Stanford’s Address in Class – Now and in the Future – and Why? I think the long pole in the tent is this notion of joint all domain command and control in an environment that will be constantly contested. So the analogy is how do you build the equivalent of a resilient electrical grid as your command and control network? So that if on part of it you have an electronic warfare attack and one end of it goes down, the system automatically reroutes and is connecting shooters and sensors in a different way that allows them to keep operating without missing a beat.

So it’s coming up with how the key elements of stitching together a network of networks that has that resilience and an ability to connect and operate at the edge, even during periods where there’s disruption and you can’t call back to headquarters. That to me is the long pole in the tent for  future multi-domain operations this very distributed approach to warfare, that will be necessary.

The second piece is the technical aspects of human machine teaming, and how that really works – and again, in multiple domains, whether it’s undersea or on the sea or in the air or above. That is another key point. And then just lots of applications that can increase the accuracy and speed of our decision-making faster than that of the other side. Just humans still making the decisions, but getting the right information, the right analysis to them at the right moment in time, where we can make the decision and gain that advantage in the cycle of competition.

How Can the Defense Department, and Our Leadership Unify the US Against These Threats in a Highly Partisan and Divided Political Environment? It’s a great question, and it points to this question of leadership. We need a president and a commander in chief to step forward and provide a vision to make the case, to provide the sort of nature of the challenges, the threat assessment, why it’s important to the prosperity and security of Americans at home. And what we need to do to go after it. I would love to see a moonshot moment kind of speech, a Kennedy speech that sort of says, We’re in this competition, and this is really going to matter to our way of life. But we’re America, we know how to do this. We came out of the Great Depression. We came out of World War Two. We came out of Vietnam. And we have good done this before. We are we are in crisis. We’re going to come out of this, and we’re going to be stronger and all of us need to help. So how are you going to help drive investment in the drivers of American competitiveness?

And some of it will be by doing great work in STEM in our research universities. Some of it will be investing in 21st century infrastructure. Some of it will be developing these new technologies that can transform both our society and our economy and our military. But really inspiring Americans to say, we need your talents. We need everybody to step up and help. That’s what I’m looking for. And, and I haven’t seen it recently, but I’m looking for that kind of leadership.

What Advice Would You Give America’s Best and Brightest, at Universities Across the Country on How They Can Serve and Make a Difference – Short of Joining the Military or Other US government Organizations? I think we should all feel some desire, but also an obligation to serve. I mean, to be partaking of all the incredible freedoms and benefits of this country. What can we give back? For some of us, it’s going to be going into government service or serving in the military.

But there are ways to serve in other parts of the US government. There are ways to serve in nonprofits. There are all kinds of ways to get involved in enriching society and helping to serve the United States. And so find whatever that area of passion is for you, find the time to do that. Maybe it’s going to be through your work, but maybe it’s going to be through some of the activities you do when you’re not at work. If we all stepped up to that, sort of drive to serve, it doesn’t have to be in government, we’d enrich our society so greatly.

So the homework assignment is – find that passion and that path to service, whether it’s going into government for a stint, advising or helping or investing in some other way that’s going to make your community or the country or the world a better place.

Read the entire transcript of Michèle Flournoy’s talk here and watch the video below.

  If you can’t see the video click here

Lessons Learned

Michèle Flournoy is an experienced former senior defense official who is thinking deeply and critically about how to best address emerging national security challenges

She would be a great SecDef

[weownthenitenyc]

The BUKU Music + Art Project today announced the artist lineup for the two-day festival taking place on March 20 and 21, 2020 in New Orleans. One year shy of its tenth anniversary, BUKU will return to the iconic Mardi Gras World grounds after back-to-back sold-out events. The 2020 festival will also continue its support of the Upbeat Academy Foundation, a non-profit organization providing New Orleans youth with opportunities to study hip-hop and dance music production, as a portion of ticket proceeds benefit the local arts initiative.

BUKU 2020 Trailer

The official 2020 BUKU Music + Art project trailer can be viewed here.

The festival, known for its strong support of local talent, will showcase the following New Orleans artists: Bouffant Bouffant; Treety; Mhadi G; Malik Ninety Five; Raise the Death Toll; Lady Lavender B2B Edgar Allan Po’ Boy; DJ Heelturn; and a showcase from Upbeat Academy student-artists.

BUKU Music + Art Project 2020 Lineup:

Inspired by the artistic subculture of New Orleans, BUKU is the creative intersection of an underground warehouse party and major urban music festival fusing a progressive and diverse musical lineup with: a real-time Live Graffiti Gallery featuring local painters, one-of-a-kind industrial art installations, celebrated local cuisine, and “pop-up” street-style performances. The event features five stages, each with its own unique vibe ranging from a projection-mapped dilapidated “Power Plant” to the “Float Den” housing the city’s signature Mardi Gras parade floats, and sits on a unique festival site along the Mississippi River just a short distance from New Orleans’ famed French Quarter.

In addition to showcasing the vibrant culture of New Orleans, BUKU is an inclusive celebration of acceptance, compassion and encouragement. The organizers and the BUKREWE community practice a zero-tolerance policy for: “sexual harassment, acts of aggression, racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, religious bigotry… or any other form of hatred or discrimination. BUKU is intended to be a safe space to enjoy music, art, expression and community in complete freedom from any harassment or discrimination. BUKU has stated the following ethos on its website: “We Believe in Those Who Strive to be Dope. Originality, Creativity, Freedom and Community is Our Anthem.”

BUKU Music + Art Project 2019 (Album)

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Photo Credit @Live Coverage

Tickets go on sale Friday, December 13, 2019 at 10 AM CT and include a variety of options for general and VIP admission as well as travel packages. VIP ticketing provides a host of special amenities that include premium viewing areas, access to the BUKU Rooftop, a quicker entrance lane, VIP restroom stations, as well as an open bar for guests 21+. The festival will again offer payment plans for all ticket types, allowing fans to pay for their tickets in four installments with a 10% down payment. The 2019 event sold out well in advance of the festival; event organizers are expecting the 2020 iteration to do the same and urge its diehard fans to buy early. When purchasing tickets, patrons should be mindful that BUKU is a 17+ event. More information on tickets offerings and pricing can be found at thebukuproject.com.

Fans have the opportunity to purchase presale tickets via American Express or Tunespeak. The AMEX presale starts Thursday, December 12 at 8AM CT and is open to all American Express Card Holders. The Tunespeak presale starts Thursday, December 12 at 10AM CT and customers can sign up for access at thebukuproject.com. Both presales end Friday, December 13 at 9:30 AM CT prior to the general on-sale beginning at 10 AM CT.

BUKU 2019 RECAP VIDEO

For additional info, visit BUKU Music + Art Project online or on the following platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @thebukuproject.

SPRING BREAK 2020: Buku Music + Art Project PHOTOS: Lana Del Rey, A$AP Rocky, Kevin Gates, Playboi Carti + More. #BUKREWE #TOOBUKU #BUKU2020 #NOLA #NewOrleans #SpringBreak The BUKU Music + Art Project today announced the artist lineup for the two-day festival taking place on March 20 and 21, 2020 in New Orleans.

[fuckedupandteenaged]

Month of JANUARY 2019// Horoscope

Here we go! 2019 is off to a Ram-roaring start, and the adventures are only bound to snowball. It all started on New Year’s Eve, when your ruling planet, Mars, made an eager homecoming, landing in Aries at 9:20 pm EST. The ambitious red planet only visits your sign every two years, and it will be here until February 14. Between now and Valentine’s Day, your solo missions will shift into the fast lane. Then on January 6, radical changemaker Uranus—which is also in Aries—will end a five-month retrograde, speeding into direct (forward) motion. This is a major moment because on March 6, Uranus will exit your sign, not to return again until the 22nd century. The next two months are crucial catalysts for your most cutting-edge ideas. And motivator Mars makes you especially poised for a memorable launch or a jaw-dropping debut. Heads up: With both Mars and Uranus in your sign, your legendary impatience may be at an all-time high (along with your temper and volatility). Reckless emotions could thwart an important mission! Instead of locking horns with an opponent, opt for smashing through obstacles and shattering glass ceilings. This planetary pairing will rev up your resolutions, so tap into that fearlessness and leap into something new. Luckily, some cosmic counterforces will keep your feet (or at least a couple toes) on the ground. The Sun is in steady Capricorn until January 20, heating up your tenth house of structure and long-term goals. And on January 5, the year’s first new moon lands in Capricorn, in close proximity to regimented Saturn. There will be an air of gravitas to anything you do, especially around your career. This new moon is also the first of January’s TWO eclipses, which will add even more dramatic flair to the month. The January 5 event is a solar eclipse, which brings a turbo-charged fresh start. Solar eclipses can catapult you into a wildly different path, and since this one is in Capricorn and your career corner, it could involve a major professional change. You may need to make some quick decisions since eclipses can sweep in and demand sudden action. An offer might come out of the blue, possibly for something more serious than you expected or with a higher degree of leadership and responsibility. But don’t leap in unless your heart is 100 percent in this, Aries. On January 11, the bold Sun and deep-diving Pluto will make their once-a-year conjunction (meetup), melding their powers in Capricorn and your ambitious tenth house. You could have a clarifying epiphany about the path you truly want to follow. As tempting as an offer or project might be, make sure it speaks to your spirit, not just your ego. Prestige and perks are great—but will they come at the expense of your happiness? You could hit a soul-searching snag on January 13, when the first of this year’s three squares forms between expansive Jupiter and nebulous Neptune. Jupiter is spending nearly the entire year in Sagittarius and your risk-taking ninth house, urging you to throw aside caution and follow your loftiest visions. But this right hook from hazy Neptune in Pisces and your emotional twelfth house could interrupt your wanderlust with everything from guilt trips to a loved one’s confusing S.O.S. You don’t have to let it put a total damper on your spirit, Aries, but DO tune in to the deeper message of any “issues” that crop up. Is there something you’ve overlooked in your eagerness? Are you trampling people’s feelings by being too blunt or rushing the process? You’re also potentially at risk for falling under the spell of a charismatic guru figure or getting so swept away in a big dream that you stray too far from reality. There will be two more Jupiter-Neptune squares—on June 16 and September 21—but you’ll feel their tug of war for the better part of 2019. Prepare to wrestle with an urge to escape reality in the coming months as you find your visionary groove. Some lightness arrives on January 20, when the Sun moves into Aquarius for a month, charging up your eleventh house of groups and friends. Run some of your wilder ideas by your tribe—especially the friends and mentors who always keep it real. Collaborations could heat up now, too, so look for people whose contributions can take your concepts to new heights. But save some spotlight moments for yourself! On January 21, the Leo full moon arrives—bedecked as a supermoon AND a total lunar eclipse. It lands in your fifth house of fame, romance and creativity, a rare and showstopping moment. This is THE day to put your talents on display or to wear your heart on your sleeve. Since lunar eclipses can bring abrupt transitions, this one could spark an unexpected shot at fame, a shocking confession or, for some Aries, a surprise pregnancy. If you’ve been holding back any feelings, they might all come rushing out rather dramatically. Careful what you unleash, though, because once it’s out in the open, it will be hard, if not impossible, to take it back! This is an especially significant eclipse because it’s the grand finale in a lunar series that’s been touching down on the Leo/Aquarius axis since February 2017. Your entire approach to love, creativity, friendship and collaboration has been radically revamped over the past two years. You’ve learned how to play well with others, and also how to put your unique gifts on display when it’s time for your solo star turn. Now you’re ready for the world to meet Aries 2.0—in vivid, saturated color! But is your public ready for YOU? The same day as the lunar eclipse, assertive Mars in Aries will lock horns with uptight Saturn in your stuffy tenth house. The “parent figures” in your life (whether your actual parents or just the more conservative members of your circle) may be a bit taken aback by your unfiltered persona. One solution? Don’t invite them to the viewing party! Or at least give them fair warning that things could get racy. It may simply be that you’re tired of biting your tongue, and you NEED to speak your truth, even if it flies in the face of other people’s “should”s and conventions. Some Aries may feel like they can’t be themselves, especially at work or in your public life. You don’t like being disingenuous, but at the same time, what are you trying to accomplish here? Maybe you don’t have to jeopardize your reputation or alienate important colleagues in order to “do you.” Or maybe you just have to start caring less. Either way, you’ll get a much warmer reception if you wait until January 25, when Mars in your expressive first house will form a harmonious trine to jovial Jupiter in your outspoken and worldly ninth house. Your fearless energy will translate as radiant rather than rebellious. You’ll be exuding so much optimism and positive energy that your big ideas will seem irresistible. So maybe give that January 21 eclipse a few days to settle and save the grand declarations or life-altering decisions for the end the month. LOVE & ROMANCE: With your galactic guardian, magnetic Mars, in your sign all month (until Valentine’s Day, in fact), you’re the hottest catch in town. This is a wonderful feeling and certainly motivation for single Rams to present yourself with sexy swagger. People will be drawn to your authenticity and charisma like moths to a tiki torch, but on the flip side, you could come on a bit too strong at times. So check your ego in the mirror and dial it back a little if you notice that you’re overwhelming your audience. A little bit of Aries goes a long way! Attached? While this is a great transit to restoke the passion in your union, make sure you’re listening to your partner and not just having it be all about getting YOUR back scratched. This is most likely to happen the first week of January: Amorous Venus wraps up her annual visit to Scorpio and your erotic eighth house on the 7th, cranking up your intensity. If you’ve got a consenting partner, the world might not see much of you that week since you may barely venture outside of the bedroom. Singles could become engaged in a Olympics-worthy flirt-fest, which is fine and good as long as you’re clear about your intentions. Then, on January 7, Venus will decamp to Sagittarius and your frisky ninth house. She’ll connect with lusty Mars in an exact fire trine on January 18—definitely a night to throw caution to the wind. Under this excitable alignment, you’ll be attracted to people from different walks of life—possibly hailing from another country or culture. Traveling will keep the flames hot for couples, even if you can only swing a weekend getaway or a sexy staycation. There’s hardly a better moment to slip off on a romantic adventure or to meet someone while traveling than January 22, when Venus and worldly Jupiter unite. These planets are called the “benefics” because of their positive, helpful influence—and during their rare (once-a-year) conjunction, you get deluged by a flood of optimism and positive vibes. In Sagittarius and your upbeat, open-minded ninth house, your romantic options know no bounds. Seek and you WILL find! Love Days: 21, 25 Money Days: 14, 5 Luck Days: 13, 2 Off Days: 23, 27, 10