#there is an episode he wrote where 12 calls monarchs:

[doctorwhoisadhd]

girl help the terfs were too effective when they decided to launch a massive smear campaign against steven moffat by dredging up every single poor choice he made and poorly worded statement he said, in order to get people to ignore his long term campaign to show cross-gender regeneration so that the doctor could be played by female actors, not just male ones. girl help people are forgetting that actually, he is absolutely capable of writing characters who are not Sad Pathetic Poor Little Meow Meow White Cishet Men, for example BILL FUCKING POTTS who almost could literally not be any further from that

[popsiclemania]

My 2020 in K dramas (+1 J drama)

I began watching k-dramas in 2018 but I’ve never watched as many shows, Korean or otherwise, as I have in this one. 2020 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I think what helps me really enjoy this over Bollywood+Malayalam+ American pop culture I grew up with is that a smirk on the wrong character’s face doesn’t make me seethe with rage and want to burn everything down. It’s not like growing up with SRK on screen and then having SRK wannabes leave you with lifelong trauma in reality. I can just move on. It’s removed enough from my everyday life but still familiar in a generic Asian family way. Does that make sense? It’s not perfect and it’s not free of its own harmful stereotypes and narratives, but there’s enough of the good stuff to make you stick around. This year I fell in love with Nana, Kim Hye Soo, Han Yeri, Park Eun bin, Ahn Eun jin, Kim Bum, Kim Yong ji, Flower Boy’s Go Dok Mi and Search:WWW’s Bae Tami. Cancelled Ji Chang wook (bye). Desperately missed Kim Jae Wook. Had thoughts on Hwang In Yeop, which were mostly heart eyes. Discovered J dramas and fell in love with Cherry Magic’s Adachi.

My year-in-review below:

LOVED

Into The Ring - I am so glad I saved this for a rainy day because it’s exactly the kind of upright citizen shenanigans my unemployed ass needed at the end of the year.

Goo Se Ra thinks the govt should work for the people but that doesn’t mean her own moral compass always points north. Her purpose is to make steady money, and I love seeing her go hard to survive and cobble together what she needs. The thing that really works for me is that she wants to be good, but she isn’t always. And you get to see her be disappointed, upset, embarrassed and hurt from being publicly kicked in the gut as she navigates a job where she appears, on the surface, to be a supremely confident, self-serving, accidental politician. What you see as her naiveté is mostly just her being a regular person in an environment dictated by backhand deals and rich people politics. She gets hit again and again, and you see what it does to her sense of worth to get back up again, how she grapples with her self. And through all this the show is funny?! Se Ra is what writers of manic pixie characters think they are doing and not doing at all. Love her friends, and Jang Hye-jin is *chef’s kiss*!

Hyena - Kim Hye Soo’s Jung Geum Ja is perhaps Se Ra’s older and darker contemporary.  Geum Ja is a survivor and will get what she wants and where she wants to, however many hells she has to cross. She’s single-minded about her success, ruthless and has no qualms about bending morals to get the outcome she needs. She’ll never compromise on who she is or justify how she lives, can build people up and also tear them down, but she also knows care and kindness.

I turned to Signal for more Kim Hye Soo but was disappointed in how the first few episodes seemed to shortchange her. May try again in 2021.

(Highly recommend @saltr0se​’s  fic series which just GETS Geum Ja so well. Fic writers are the best)

Search: WWW (Finished in 2020) - It took me half a year to finish this. I started watching Search in Oct 2019 and raced through the first 6 episodes because I couldn’t take my eyes off the rollercoaster of Bae Tami’s life. And then I had to take a break because it was a little too close to the frenetic pace of my own industry. As @drivingsideways wrote, a lot of Search is premised around ‘patriarchy? who dat?’, which is why watching its politics play out is so fascinating.  It’s also deliciously turmoil-y to watch a very clear-sighted, weathered Tami put on rose-tinted glasses for her romance and then frequently peer over them to evaluate whether it could actually meld into her life.

Catch The Ghost - Kim Seonho oozes charm and perhaps Startup was a showcase of how effectively he can be a typical male lead. But Catch is exactly not that. Go Jiseok and Yoo Ryeong have moulded their lives around to meet their most desperate wishes in life and in the process also left parts of themselves untended. There is guilt, pain and need. Now guess who will tend to whose wounds? Their dynamic is electric even when the central mystery flags towards the last few episodes of the show. I really hope Moon Geun Young is doing well and gets more amazing roles soon. She is so good here.

(Highly recommend @melonatures​‘s fic for putting that sizzling on-screen chemistry into words. HOW?!) Cherry Magic - Stories about painfully awkward people are my jam and Eiji Akaso gets Adachi’s shy, nervy energy so right. Cherry Magic is straight up just 12 hours of 🥺🥺🥺. 

Stranger/Secret Forest - I’ve been devouring the entirety of Agatha Christie’s work this year after Stranger reminded me how comforting murder mysteries can be. I love Bae Doona. I also love characters who don’t get social norms, not always because they are out to flout them but because that’s just not how their mind/brain works. (have to watch S2)

Flower Boy Next Door -  Honestly, the opening scene introducing Park Shin Hye’s character Go Deok Mi sold me on this immediately. An introverted, penny pinching copy editor living alone and working from home thanks to extreme social anxiety? Love. All the side characters are a lot of fun and I’ve never loved Kim Seulgi and Go Kyung Pyo more. It’s a warm show, slowly rounding off the sharp edges of every character.

JUST FUN

The Spies Who Loved Me -  It’s been a year of disappointing rom-coms and Spies kind of quietly turned it around for me. I want to be the fly on Yoo In Na’s wall as she figures how to play her characters. I’ve only seen her in 3 roles but somehow she always manages to be in character arcs that don’t short change her. Spies could’ve been and sometimes is the regular heterosexual fare, but In Na ups the ante over and over again, coming out on top as the smartest person in the room.

ENJOYED WITH *RESERVATIONS*

I have to watch A Piece Of Your Mind again because I don’t understand how Jung Hae In and Chae Soo bin built SO MUCH warmth and crackling chemistry with barely a kiss. I was iffy about how the whole AI thing started off and the tortured musician plotline (angsty male artists will forever be an eyeroll for me).

Park Min Young is a queen who never disappoints and When The Weather Is Nice is everything you want in a winter romance. My reservation was in how they explore so much of domestic abuse and the complex ways its traumatised the women in this family. I’m ok with the characters having imperfect ways of processing and understanding the violence, I welcome it. I’m not ok with the show dancing around whether the pivotal crime was justified/ self defence (it was).

A lot of dramas did this. I loved Han Yeri and Choo Ja Hyun in My Unfamiliar Family, I didn’t like the free pass the show gave their dad’s abusive character. 

Hwang Jung Eum’s comedy style is generally not my thing but she was pretty great in Mystic Pop-UP Bar. But I’m side-eyeing the sanctity surrounding motherhood. Maybe I should read more about babies and Korean folklore.

Hospital Playlist was my comfort watch through June and July. I think its wholesomeness and non-plot writing came at a good time for me. But I noticed then that the throughline for all main characters was moral superiority and hence what I then saw as *wholesomeness*. It’s kind of what makes it a grating rewatch in parts. Plus the real life of misogyny of Yoo Yeon Seok makes me want to push his angelic catholic character off a cliff. (For context, i was raised catholic). I want to continue loving Chae Song Hwa, and for that the showrunners need to stop cornering her with overbearing romantic interests (let that woman breathe! she literally ran away to another city!) 

Hospital is good at creating moments of comfort, so much so that I went to watch Reply 1988 after it, but had to drop it coz I couldn’t get into it. Maybe I’ll come back to it next year.

Once Again is what I call joint family propaganda. What it does well is lay bare the mechanics of living in a society that prizes the heterosexual family structure, the loops you have to jump through to hide when you break its rules and what happens when you are found out. I love the characters, their fights, their frustrations. I just don’t love the validation of joint families. (context: i grew up in an oppressive joint family lol). In my au, Nahee and Gyujin don’t get married again or immediately have children, but take the long route to figuring out how to love the person the other is. Gahee is openly dating Hyo shin and her parents have to figure out how to process her success and her romance. Young dal and Ok boon have to learn to stop dictating their children’s lives.  Joon sun runs his company from home, so his wife Hyun kyung can work on what she wants. Choyeon, Joori and Ga-yeon go back to being flamboyant AF and the market learns to not judge. Gyujin and Jaesok have to actually work on the relationship with their mother and what sent her into depression. Just a lot of learning involved.

Just Between Lovers was a nice watch, i just don’t get how Kang doo and Ha Moon So’s relationship will survive his constantly simmering anger. 

Crash Landing on You was so much fun until the main romance turned angsty, but it gave us North Korean soldier shenanigans and the epic romance of Seo Dan and Alberto Gu that we needed more of.

Tale of The Nine Tailed is probably what Goblin wished it was. I, however, will never be over Lee Rang. (Also, when can gods stop meeting their love interests as babies? Asking for my sanity)

I literally ignored everything in Oh My Ghost except Park Bo Young and Kim Seulgi and it was amazing. 

NOPE

Goblin, Dinner Mate, Oh My Baby and My Secret Romance were a whole lot of NO, NAHI, ILLAAA. 

I loved hate-watching The King:Eternal Monarch with the rest of k drama tumblr but someone please take away Kim Eun-sook’s access to gigantic budgets and all-star casts.

It was painful to watch Do You Like Brahms squander away its potential but I’m glad to be introduced to Park Eun bin. Age of Youth is next on watchlist.

More than Friends to me is only Ahn Eun jin. Someone give her amazing lead roles asap.

Why did Record of Youth do that to Park So Dam and her clothes? Just why

WANTED TO WATCH, BUT COULDN’T BECAUSE *INTENSE* 

World Of The Married, It’s Okay Not To Be Okay, Sweet Home, Extracurricular, Penthouse, Flower of Evil, Lie After Lie

WILL WATCH NEXT YEAR

SF8, Stove League, Birth Care Centre but I’ll start the new year with School Nurse Files coz it looks very good.

[alexandras-adventures]

Harry Potter Blog Post 12

Hi everyone! Episode 6 of The Pensieve Podcast is out now! You can listen to it @ https://anchor.fm/alexandras-adventures! It is all about book 6 of the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We had a great conversation about the Unbreakable Vow, the Malfoy’s, and Bill Weasley.

This week’s scholarly second is brought to us by Stacy Gillis, whose article is titled “Film Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”

Now for this week’s blog post:

What Makes Veela Angry?

We first see Veela in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the Quidditch World Cup. They are beautiful young women, and their beauty is astonishing, which can make men act foolishly. It is said that Veela can be quite jealous. In a famous Serbian tale, the veela Ravioyla warned Duke Milosh that if he sang on her mountain she would shoot her arrows into him. Ravioyla heard Milosh singing in a finer voice than her own, which made her angry, and she shot two arrows at him, one hit his throat and the other his heart. In the end, Ravioyla healed Milosh. Veela are also known to be gifted in the healing arts. They tend to be kind to humans and are known to marry mortal men. According to this chapter, the thing that upsets them the most is having their ritual dances disturbed. 

What Makes Harry a Universal Hero?

Harry is a very familiar hero to readers. He has many qualities that we see in other stories that we enjoy. Harry is what readers might call a “legendary Lost Prince or Hidden Monarch.” He can also be classified as an Ugly Duckling by the Dursleys’ strange standards. The Dursleys also treat Harry like Cinderella. His treatment is very similar to that of Cinderella’s tale. 

Because Harry is famous in the wizarding world, he begins to feel self-doubt. Additionally, other people who care about bloodlines would see Harry as inferior. 

Scholar Joseph Campbell wrote about “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” which is the common central character in many stories. Campbell explains that the hero’s journey has three stages: Departure, Initiation, and Return. We can see all three stages throughout the series. Each novel tends to start with Harry at the Dursleys’ house before he embarks on an adventure/goes to school. Although he is surrounded by people who are helping him, he often has to enter the final battle or fight alone. Harry faces a lot of trials throughout the series and has many companions that assist him. The hero takes a “magic flight” back to his original world. We see this in the Chamber of Secrets, when Fawkes rescues them. Harry also has difficulty adjusting to his original life, where people will not fully comprehend his experience. We see this all the time when he returns to the Dursleys’ house, but we also see this in the magical world more after the fourth book. 

The quest of our heroes stays the same. They have to battle the dark forces of the world, but they must face the dark forces within and rediscover that they are worthy of victory. Campbell says “we understand Harry because every one of us shares the supreme ordeal.”

Why Are Goblins Such Good Bankers?

The goblins in Harry’s world have rebelled against wizards in the past and have an uneasy truce with them. “Sometimes goblins are portrayed as more industrious than evil--adept at mining…” I thought this was an interesting fact, because when they go to Gringotts Bank in the films, they ride around in what look to be mining carts. The goblins in the series seem to be somewhere between good and evil. This “balance makes them perfect guardians for Gringotts Bank, a task that requires they be both trustworthy and ruthless.” It is important to note that you have to be careful when making deals with goblins. Bill Weasley works with them and warns Harry about making deals and being careful because the goblins can be ruthless. 

Source: Colbert, David. The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter: A Treasury of Myths, Legends, and Fascinating Facts. Lumina Press, 2001.

[kdramaanalyst]

THE KING: ETERNAL MONARCH REVIEW

EDIT: I AM SO SORRY, THIS IS A SECONDARY BLOG AND I JUST LEARNED THAT I CAN'T REPLY TO COMMENTS. PLEASE CHECK MY PINNED BLOG WHERE I WROTE ABOUT THIS PROBLEM. THANK YOU!

Spoilers ahead!!! Read at your own risk. Once again, I am not an expert and these are my personal opinions. If you have disagreements, let's talk it over. Don't judge me, let's judge the show together instead and have an understanding.

For the first drama that I am going to review, I chose The King: Eternal Monarch. A lot of viewers who supported the show with all of their hearts could still not get over its ending. Others who like to binge-watch are relieved because they can finally watch the entire series without waiting for a new episode to air. While some are still mulling over about watching it. Well, I hope I could help you with this review.

• Introduction to the Drama

Short gist:

The story revolves around Lee Gon, present King of Kingdom of Corea. He witnessed his father’s death when he was young, an incident that haunted him until he grew older. Due to unfortunate circumstances, a legendary flute with powers called Manpasikjeok that can open different worlds was cut in half. He was able to get hold half of the flute, while the other half was obtained by Lee Lim, his uncle who killed his father. Lee Lim had been going back and forth two different worlds, plotting foul pursuits to fulfill his evil desires, and disrupting the peace between the two worlds. In order to restore balance and order, Lee Gon also traveled between worlds, meeting Jeong Tae Eul who soon became a significant person in his life.

If you've been watching Korean Dramas for quite a while now, you must be familiar with some of the characters of The King: Eternal Monarch, especially the lead.

If you call yourself a k-drama fan and you don't know who Lee Minho is, give yourself a slap (just kidding, please don't take that seriously). Lee Minho has a good reputation because of his experience, acting skills and obviously, his gorgeous face. He has an impressive list of successful dramas and movies! Most of us probably knew him through his breakthrough role in Boys Over Flowers.

Meanwhile, Kim Go Eun, despite being fairly new to small screen (she first started appearing in movies), is also highly distinguished by a lot of k-drama fans. In all three dramas she starred in, including The King, she always got the lead role. His leading men are no joke either. And because of Kim Go Eun, many of us still wants to be the goblin's bride.

Among the cast also includes the familiar faces of Woo Do Hwan, Kim Kyung Nam, Jung Eun Chae, and Lee Jung Jin.

Anyway, I'll try to share every thought I have from the first time I watched it until it ended. I will also try not to give so much spoilers because the drama just ended. I will talk first about my experience watching it and then I will list at the very bottom some of the issues I have and that list contains major spoilers so watch out for that. As you notice, I always warn you with spoilers using red font color.

• The Experience

When I watched the first teaser of the drama, I got intrigued and a little confused. What worlds are they talking about? Do they have super powers? Is this a historical drama? Questions were instantly formed in my head.

It also reminded me of the drama Queen In Hyun's Man because of a similar scene where the leading man is riding his horse in the middle of the city and finding his woman. But that's just it, the two dramas are completely different. I just mentioned it because others may have felt the same way.

I don't usually watch dramas while it's still fresh. I wait for about two to three weeks before the schedule of the ending so I can binge watch without waiting so much. When I watched The King, there were already 12 episodes available on Netflix. Usually, I would finish 12 episodes in 1-3 days, and if the drama is really good and it's MY STYLE (i said that in an obviously fake Korean accent), I could watch it for an entire day.

However, I finished those 12 episodes in 2 weeks...

Why??? Why did it take me that long???

I wouldn't say I was bored, it's just that during the first few episodes, nothing caught my interest yet. I wasn't convinced that it was a good drama. There was nothing special and I didn't know what to look forward to that's why I couldn't watch it continuously. I got lazy. The pace was slow and the story build up was a little stagnant. It was too slow that I even started watching a long length saeguk just so I can watch something else.

I could have skipped some parts and dropped it but I continued watching and gave it a chance. Though it was a good thing that I didn't stop because as I watched more episodes, the story actually became more exciting. Finally, I saw some progress. I started to get invested in the drama after the eighth episode. That's when the story felt more alive. Finally, there were revelations, more conflicts arose, more emotions were shown, and the story got deeper. I began to appreciate the drama. However, I still don't like the fact that it took me 8 episodes before I started to like it.

• Points that I Liked About the Drama

1. The plot seemed like it's going to be too science fiction-y but it's just the right amount. I was worried that it might be too much for me to handle but it was just okay (i am a potato who dislikes thinking so much, but that depends on my mood lololol). I liked how there's a mix of history in the drama, as well as of politics but it still feels modern. There is a balance.

2. The distinction between the Kingdom of Corea and Republic of Korea is impressive. It's obvious that they put a lot of effort in building their vision of KOC to life.

3. Many people were saying that it's hella confusing and so much was going on. I don't think so. They actually made it easy for viewers to understand about parallel worlds. You don't have to study science facts just to get this drama's concept. I think the slow pace did its job well in this part.

4. The story is unpredictable. You never know what's going to happen next, that's the strength of The King's concept. Because of the two different worlds and the crazy number of characters, there could be a lot of possibilities and backstories.

5. The action scenes are commmendable. I liked the action scenes, the one during the last episode is probably my favorite.

• Points that I Didn't Like About the Drama

1. The slow pace. I don't think I still need to explain more but it totally ruined my whole experience of watching the drama.

2. Many characters didn't leave much impact. Their acting was great, however, I don't see a lot of personalities that standout. The most remarkable ones for me are the characters played by Woo Do Hwan. The other characters, especially the lead, the prime minister and the traitor were okay, too. The others were just bland and years from now, I probably won't remember most of them.

• The Ending (spoiler alert!)

The ending was good. It didn't feel rushed and everyone had a separate ending of their own. I just wished there was more Nari and Eunsup / Yeong and Seung A moment in the end, the conclusion was fine though. I don't like that Prime Minister Koo ended up in jail but Luna became a cop...

I just have one issue regarding the ending that they decided on. In the end they didn't show if Tae Eul became a queen. Well, it would be weird if she became one considering there is Luna in KOC. They can't be together in ROK, too because Gon's counterpart was able to live. So... what? They just kept traveling whenever they have time? Because if that's the case, doesn't that mean they will hide their relationship forever??? I liked that they ended up together but I wish they also kept this in mind. Because it kinda makes me sad. Lol.

• Final Thoughts

Overall, it was alright. It was over-hyped by netizens due to the amazing casting and promotions, but it's not bad at all.

Would I watch it again? No.

Would I recommend it? Yes. Give it a try! I honestly thought I wouldn't like it but I still did, even if it took me 8 episodes, I wouldn't say it wasn't worth it. If you enjoy fantasy dramas with complicated twists and conflicts, this drama is for you. Just have patience and prepare yourself mentally when you've reached the middle. This drama is gloomy and a little heavy, too. It was serious and has a very few humorous scenes.

I am giving The King: Eternal Monarch a 7/10. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

• The King: Eternal Monarch OST Top 5

There are 13 songs in total and everything is so good! I wish I got to hear more of the songs in the drama, some were just played briefly. I swear every song makes me feel things. Choosing just 5 songs is really hard. If you don't watch dramas but love music, give these a listen!!!

My Day Is Full Of You by Zico, Wendy

Orbit by Hwasa

I Fall In Love by Ha Sungwoon

I Just Want To Stay With You by Zion.T

Please Don't Cry by Davichi

Now I'll move on to some of my "issues". This section isn't really what you think. The word "issues" is just intriguing ㅋㅋㅋ but this is just a compilation of my opinions, observations, feelings and other stuff no one might care about in the series. If you have answers for my questions or if you can explain it for me, please enlighten me. Major spoiler ahead!!!

• Issues

1. During the time when Lee Gon was time traveling and finally got back to Repuplic of Korea, it probably took him a lot of time, right? He even took his time to take care of Tae Eul in the hospital. I wish they also showed what was happening in Kingdom of Corea during that time because he's a king and his absence might have caused a ruckus in his kingdom. I can even picture the palace lady Noh getting really worried as Lee Gon travels. The moment he came back, they only gave him updates as if everything was okay.

But since they didn't show it, I guess it is safe to assume that nothing much happened in his kingdom back then. 🤷‍♀️

2. When Gon and Tae Eul met again in Gwanghwamun, why did Tae Eul hug him? In my understanding, at that period of time, Tae Eul only met him twice—once when she was 5 and once when she was 27. So why did she hug him suddenly as if she knows he's going to be a significant person in her life? Their dialogue when they met again when she was 27 wasn't even enough for her to act that way.

3. I hope they also gave Nari more lines and importance. Maybe it's just me, but at first, I thought she and her KOC counterpart would have more significant roles. When I think of it, even without her, the story could still go on. Though this is just a minor issue. ✌

4. Prime Minister Koo. She was a villain, but I didn't really hate her until the last 4-5 episodes (can't recall the exact episode, sorry), though I wouldn't say I hated her so much. I actually liked her at first! She's ambitious, fierce, independent and intelligent. She just got blinded by greed.

My issue here is, am I really supposed to feel like that? In my opinion, her character has the potential to become more heinous and despiteful. I was wondering why they didn't turn her into someone like that? She was just greedy, bitchy, a little sly and annoying.

5. Lee Gon's and Tae Eul's love for each other was a little shallow. Sure, the man who saved Lee Gon when he was a child, had Tae Eul's ID. But how sure was Lee Gon that the woman who owns the I.D. is not a villain? The woman in the ID could lead him to the man who saved him, yes, but it still bugs me how easily they fell in love especially on Lee Gon's part. Maybe I'm just thinking too much. I am sorry. 😅

In spite of that, I still liked their love progression. I didn't ship them that hard but their chemistry wasn't cringey and forced.

6. The scene where Lee Gon gave Tae Eul flowers and then left, was a little confusing. It didn't break my heart, too. I just felt a little sad while watching that scene because Kim Go Eun's acting was good.

7. Who the f is thay yoyo boy??? My guts tell me he's a part of the flute or something because he knows a lot. But I wish it was explained more. It looked weird how he just suddenly appears sometimes and suddenly talks some sense. He remains a mystery.

8. Why the f is Jeong Tae Eul a flat earther??? Well, at least she had a character development in the end. It just annoyed me lmao

9. I don't get why people keep comparing The King: Eternal Monarch to Goblin. Why??? They don't even have the same plot or concept.

10. Court lady Noh was from Republic of Korea... What? Was that necessary?

Don't mind me. Don't mind me. Don't mind me.

Anyway I hate how tumblr wasn't able to save my draft when I was writing additional content. I lost half of it and it makes me furious!!! I had to redo the draft but I can no longer remember some of the things I wrote. I am sad because I lost something that can't be brought back again. This experience earned me a lesson.

That's it for my first review. What are your thoughts? I am a horrible reviewer, I know, but I will do better in the future. Thank you for reading!!!

[consciousowl]

Why Let Your Personal Story Define You?

You may, like me, find yourself thoroughly hooked on the personal story of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest lasting and greatest monarch the United Kingdom has ever known. Certainly, Elizabeth must be the luckiest woman alive. She was a princess with a loving father born in the largest economic-political empire the world has ever known. If you have royal blood in a country that honors tradition, and you are appointed queen by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and you get to occupy the throne and wear a crown worth millions in gold and diamonds, you most certainly have it made. Could anything be easier? As we witness on Netflix’s The Crown episode after episode, nothing could be further from the truth.

What Is Your Personal Story?

We all have a story. We all have a “past.” We grow up, fall in love, find a career and then grow old--with or without--a spouse. I came from a broken family with a sick mother and sister. My father went on welfare to support me. I was a loner and painfully shy as a kid. Not very promising! Queen Elizabeth grew up dealing with the fact that her uncle, King Edward, had abdicated the throne to marry an American divorcee. It precipitated a constitutional crisis where her father, Prince George, was suddenly made King of England to replace him. Elizabeth had reason to believe that King George would live long, and that she could enjoy a normal life with her Greek husband, Prince Philip. You may have had a sheltered middle-class life with loving parents and all the perks. You had a few traumas, but basically you came out sane and red-blooded. Or, you may have had a tough time in a broken home ending up on the streets. With any luck, you might pull off a rags-to-riches story.

Is it True? Are You Sure?

We all reflexively suppose our story is basically true, unless we have something spectacular to hide, such as our father was the attorney defending President Nixon in Watergate. We don’t want to dwell on how much of our life experience was extracted from our narrative, which only touches on the highlights. On closer inspection, we suddenly realize that we left most of our earlier experience out, and threw our own slant on it. We may have already chosen to see ourselves as losers and have had a brutal time getting through. We no longer try to win, just to break even. When we go back into our childhood, things get blurry. We may remember having made some early decisions and fought an impulse to run away. My parents don’t understand me. I will never fit in. No matter what I do, I can’t win. We learned to play the game early on, or we wouldn’t even be here to ask these kinds of questions.

What Made You Buy into Your Personal Story?

When you hit adolescence, you are halfway to adulthood. You are no longer a child. You are way too tall and awkward for that. You can no way pass for an adult. What do you do? To individuate and become your own person, you must stop imitating mom and dad. The only people you can identify with are fellow teenagers (or screenagers). You are smart enough to start thinking for yourself, but you lack all maturity and sufficient context to interpret your life. You know the facts fairly well, although the memory of early childhood is already starting to fade. So you make up a personal story that kind of makes sense. To gain sympathy, you will play victim. The only possible heroism is to rebel and do the opposite of what you are told. You see everyone around you doing the same. When I was 12 or 13, I hung around with a cop’s kid who loved throwing fire crackers and smoking. Fortunately, I took half a cigarette, and was done with it. I simply didn’t like the taste. Of course, it was only a matter of time that I would acquire other vices that would take decades to shake off.

Not So Much WHAT You Are, as WHO You Are

What we are can be defined by the givens of our life. Where we were born, from which parents, under which circumstances. They were of such and such an economic class, were happy or unhappy in their marriage, were intellectual or down-to-earth. My dad, being a chemical engineer, went to the library when he was upset with my mom. Out of this, I acquired a lifelong habit of being a bookworm. Who we are as an individual has to do with the soul, the character, the inner spirit shining through our circumstances. Although Queen Elizabeth received all the breaks from childhood, she was born at a time when the institution of royalty was increasingly questioned, and Mahatma Gandhi successfully brought down the British empire. Elizabeth could have sold out to win peer approval. Yet she made the hard choices, being fiercely loyal to her subjects regardless of any personal inconvenience. For example, she had to risk her marriage, and refuse her sister, Princess Margaret, marriage with a commoner. She had to ultimately answer to both God and Country. She stayed true to both. Not only has Elizabeth been a great queen, but a royal soul.

Your Vision Defines Who You Are

People still consider John F. Kennedy a great President, even though he was a hopeless womanizer, and didn’t even finish out his first term. Sure, they loved his crisp Boston accent and his Harvard credentials, and the mystique of being born wealthy. However, what made us all love him was his vision of the New Frontier of outer space, and his commitment to land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s. He was the first President to take a stand for the rights of Afro-Americans, and he introduced the Peace Corps to empower the new nations in Africa and Latin America. Everyone has some idea of what might make the world a better place. For me, at first it was ending the threat of thermonuclear war, then it was saving the dwindling tropical and temperate rainforests. Finally, after 9/11, I nursed a passion to eliminate forever people killing in the name of God. If they want to go wreak pain, havoc and misery on others, let them not use the Almighty to justify organized murder. I soon realized that I would need to find a unity that embraced all human beings on the deepest possible level. I found a partner, and out of our combined effort, wrote a book to introduce a new global context: Awaken Perfection. Queen Elizabeth envisioned a peaceful transition from an overt British Empire to an international community of people who shared the English language, along with faith in the Christian religion and eagerness for cultural and economic exchange. By and large, she succeeded spectacularly well. Twenty years after London was defaced by bombs, the Beatles emerged as the first true, global superstars. Elizabeth, herself, ended up knighting these stalwarts from Liverpool.

How Your Personal Story Fits the Big Picture

Your personal story is your particular piece in the puzzle that supports a much larger picture, including all people everywhere…past, present and future. Everyone you meet IS your mirror. You have multiple selves, and ultimately, you are all of them. Your personal story gives you a unique position on the game board from which to enjoy the action. Queen Elizabeth may be the last great queen the world ever sees. She was born into modernity, and saw the world change faster and faster. Two World Wars, revolutions on every continent, empires being broken up. Her family had German ancestry, and was actually brought in after the English Revolution to provide stability. Elizabeth was able to preserve elements of tradition that have lasting value, while deftly transforming, as a supreme actress, the meaning of the Crown both within and outside Great Britain. Your own story is indispensable to the great story. You were uniquely crafted to fit the big picture, even when you mess up. You play a unique role that no one else can play that makes a statement about the divine nature of humanity. Only human beings could relish in that essence which characterizes our Source. God is LOVE, and in LOVE He created the heavens and the earth as a perfect extension of Himself.

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What’s It All About?

Basically, we live in a divine love story. At least I choose to see it that way. You can see it any way you like, but nothing quite does it as stumbling upon that love that powers the stars. Christianity, more than any other tradition, taught us to stand in awe of that self-sacrificing love. Those who chose that path came to discover their own inner Christ, their own utter magnificence. On a higher level, this is a game of enlightenment, the only one worth playing. In order to enter this game, we had to choose to forget, so that we could again experience the supreme joy of waking up to Who we are. Even though human beings are infinitely small compared to the expanse of the galaxies, they have with them that Self in which the stars spin. On the highest level, we find ourselves in what the Hindus call Lila, the Play of God. We are here to celebrate, to make celestial whoopee. The glory of the Creator is everywhere. We are infused with it. When we realize we are created to create, we start to go about that creation in earnest. Perhaps more of us should be like Elon Musk, who already has carefully crafted plans to colonize the Planet of Mars. Why not?

Why Hold Back?

As you face the New Year, you see massive potential in all the new technologies, including artificial intelligence and virtual reality. On the other hand, you observe a never-ending stream of problems, from global warming to child abuse, from religious warfare to burning down the rainforests, from epidemics to diabetes. Pick one. Choose a cause and make it your own. In the coming year, endeavor to do one thing that might make a difference. It might be as simple as befriending a Russian, Persian or Korean and getting to know the other side. Forget the current campaign of bigotry and retreat. America may be going isolationist, but only for a short time. You can hold the torch of planetary citizenship, even if it is for only one person. Your story is beautiful. It is not over yet if you still are reading this text. In terms of our collective story, it has only begun. As you open your heart to humanity and to all sentient creatures, your story, and you, will grow bigger and bigger. In the process, you will walk into your True Self and find a way to live FOREVER!

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