#they don’t acknowledge that one of the biggest reasons people are taught to fear certain foods is because they can affect your cholesterol

[greatlightthroughapinhole]

i love to see people stop demonizing any kind of food and acknowledging that there is actually quite a bit of nutritional value in ice cream and fries and stuff, but there is also a way to do that without acting like none of us have high cholesterol

[imaginesandinserts]

Irreverent Pt. 29 - Perception

Title: Irreverent Pt. 29 - Perception Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Reader Rating: R Words: 1516

Irreverent Series Masterlist

You had just got back to the bullpen from a meeting with the FBI Director, Walter McKinney. Your meeting with the Director that day had been incredibly important, so you had dressed very carefully. Both Hotch and Rossi had pulled you aside ahead of the meeting and told you that it was a first step towards being tapped by FBI leadership as having the potential to move into the higher echelons of the agency.

You sat and thought about the meeting before you had to go debrief with Hotch and Rossi on it. You thought the meeting had gone relatively well. Director McKinney had praised your consistent results despite the unsavoriness of the involvement of your father. The FBI had pretty much brushed their involvement with him earlier under the table, but McKinney had wanted you to know that he understood the difficult position you'd been in. He'd also emphasized how important it was to be above reproach when you want to move up.

"Plenty of Agents are perfectly happy staying exactly where they are, and there is nothing wrong with that," he'd told you. "However, in moving up, you become more visible and your reputation becomes linked to the Bureau's reputation. It is important to be always mindful of that."

You'd also been thinking a lot about you and Hotch lately. You weren't sure if you should say or do something because he was still your boss and you two worked together. However, you couldn't deny that there was something there and you were pretty sure it was mutual. There was no way that someone had the level of comfort and domesticity the two of you were able to achieve, and not have something be there. You'd realized that the reason you didn't go on dates with other men and went out of your way to accommodate both him and Jack into your schedule had been because you were in love with him. You just hadn't realized it. However, he did the same and you had to believe that it meant that he felt something for you as well.

You walked towards Hotch's office when it was your turn for the career talk. Emily had just wrapped hers up and was exiting with a smug smile on her face. She winked at you as she passed, causing you to smile.

You knocked and entered, to see Hotch seated behind his desk and Rossi sitting across from him. You grabbed the chair next to Rossi. They both looked at your expectantly.

"It was good," you reassured them. "McKinney seemed like he actually wanted me to do well. He had all the reports you two sent him and I think he's convinced. I know I won't know officially if I'm tapped until the ball, but outlook is good."

Hotch smiled, relieved. He'd turned in all the recommendations and reports on you, knowing that you deserved all the recognition possible. Both him and Rossi agreed, that out of anyone on the team, you were most suited to move up the more political branch of the Bureau. You had a knack for it that couldn't be taught.

"That's great, Y/N," he said warmly. He turned to look at Rossi next. "This means we need to prepare her for the Ball."

Rossi nodded. "Good job Kid."

"Thanks."

You were about to let them proceed but something made you realize that you had to say something before you were on a path you couldn't turn around from. "He also said something about perception."

The two of them looked at you, pausing their planning.

"He said that perception is a big part of moving up and how you're perceived matters more than what you actually do sometimes."

They both nodded. You looked at Hotch and saw his brow furrowed slightly. You turned away and looked at Rossi instead, because you weren't sure you'd be able to get it out while looking at Hotch. "What's the typical perception when people are involved with their coworkers. Particularly supervisor-employee relationships?"

Rossi looked confused before you saw the light go on in his head. Sighing, he said, "Not always great. It can cast a shadow of questions around how someone went about moving ahead."

You nodded. That's to be expected really. Steeling yourself, you faced Hotch again. He looked really confused at your question to Rossi but you could see the wheels turning in his head, trying to make sense of where you were going.

"I am determined to have a great career," you said directly to him, "but it doesn't have to be here."

"Then why are we here, Y/N?" he asked, leaning in towards you.

You looked from him to Rossi, who nodded just barely. You had to just do it because Hotch was too proper and never would. "Hotch," you stopped for a second. He looked confused and concerned and he wasn't going to get it and you were about to make a fool of yourself and Rossi was there but if not now then when? You began again, "Aaron, would you like to get dinner sometime?"

Hotch's brain stopped functioning the second you called him by his name. He swallowed and you knew he knew. From the corner of your eye you saw Rossi get up and excuse himself, quickly walking out the door and leaving the two of you alone.

Hotch stood up and came around to your side of the table, prompting you to stand as well. He swallowed and you couldn't help but watch his face for any sign of something - a yes or a no - something.

"That's the first time you've called me Aaron," he said. His fingers were just barely skimming the side of the arms.

You nodded. You'd always called him Hotch directly - he'd asked you to. He was standing so unbelievably close but he still hadn't said anything to really acknowledge what you'd asked him.

"Just to be clear, dinner isn't just dinner, right?" His voice was barely a whisper and it caused goosebumps to erupt all over you.

"No."

"Are you sure?" He was asking if you were sure? But he was also looking at you in a way that you knew the answer was a yes. You wouldn't be talking like this if it wasn't He wouldn't be touching you if he was going to say no. Hotch wasn't cruel like that.

You licked your lips and took a deep breath, trying to focus on anything besides how good it felt to have him touch you. But you were also incredibly nervous because this would change everything and you had to be certain that you were both on the same page. "Are you?" you asked. "Because I know you, and I know what this will look like, so I need to know that if we do this - in a month or a year from now, you won't freak out. You won't surprise me one day and say that you're too old or not good enough or that I deserve better." You heard him suck in a breath. "Because, you have to know that the age thing has never mattered between us and that's only going to matter if we let other people get to us. And you are good enough - you're a better man than I could have ever hoped to be with. So I need to know if you're sure, because I won't survive having my heart broken by you."

He'd stood there and listened to you. Listened to you pick up on everything he'd ever let stop him from taking this step that you'd so boldly taken today. Listened to you quell every worry he'd had about it. Listened to you talk about him in ways he'd only ever heard you talk about when he happened to catch it, and never directed at him before. He felt his heart soar and then break, knowing that your biggest fear in all this was only ever being hurt by him leaving.

His hand came up to cup your cheek and he looked at you with such love and adoration, his eyes conveying the full breadth of his sincerity and respect towards you. When he spoke his voice came out heavy and gravelly. "Sweatheart, you're it for me. You've been it for me for years now and I should've told you. You're the only person I want to see all the time and if I got the chance to do that, I'm never letting go."

You realized you were crying as he spoke but don't have a chance to wipe your face as he does it for you, swiping his large thumbs across your cheek. Before you know it his lips are on yours, and your eyes flutter shut. He is insistent against you, his hands still holding your face, pouring years of longing and pining into this one kiss. Kissing someone should always feel like this, you thought, before he briefly broke the kiss with a gasp, only to  capture your mouth again, eliminating any thoughts all together.

[gffa]

#SOLAD SPOILERS and #SOLAD REPLIES if you want to either avoid spoilers or avoid the salt!  I would also encourage everyone to read the story for themselves, because people are going to see things differently, going to register things differently, and everyone should judge for themselves! Continuing the discussion from this post and this post @duchess-of-mandalore replied:

Thanks for clarifying this. I totally agree with this. The thing is, I don’t see it as “prioritizing the romantic relationship” as much as just … forgetting that other moments of rage already existed (I mentioned before that the author feels like a casual fan, and I’m sticking by that).

I think the author felt that because he chose to view Obi-Wan’s rage through The Lawless (which probably seemed like an attractive choice, given that it’s the highest rated episode short of The Siege of Mandalore), he had to keep the story about The Lawless (also, when you have to get through the whole episode and you only have 30 pages, I get that there’s a lot that needs to get glossed over).

But you can’t just pick one episode and examine it within the a vacuum.

Because you’re absolutely right. I’m a diehard Obitine shipper, but the author did not convince me at all that this is the first time Obi-Wan has felt rage. Far from it. There should have been much more about Qui-Gon (where Obi-Wan’s reaction feels much more rage-filled to me), and definitely more reflection on Maul, especially his taunting of Obi-Wan.

We’re obviously in agreement that this episode does not show rage. It shows grief. And so unfortunately, whether you’re an Obitine shipper or not, I don’t have much positive to say about this story, because it feels like a complete misrepresentation of this episode and the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi (in regards to his past, and how he’s feeling at this point in time), in a way that makes me wonder how it came to print in this current status.

It’s interesting how we interpret the amount of romance in this story, because I felt like it was very obvious that it was a romantic relationship, that Obi-Wan may have called her a “friend”, but also he repeats the line of how he would have left the Jedi Order for her, and I don’t think you can divorce that scene--or the entire Obitine relationship, honestly--from being a romantic one.  So, whatever they do with it, however it’s described, it’s very obviously meant as a romantic one, for me.  (Though, I can see how you feel it was the most aromantic version of their relationship yet and found it dissatisfying and I hear you on that.) Further, what frustrated me about the story was that it’s still a) fridging Satine for Obi-Wan’s manpain (not the fault of the story, that was already in TCW, but it’s important because--) b) not really Satine’s story.  I have two problems with this, in that it prioritized this relationship over Obi-Wan’s relationship with Qui-Gon, despite that Obi-Wan absolutely had dealt with rage before--in TPM!  In this anthology in the Maul story!, that even Anakin’s scene felt like it was half there just to put us in the frame of mind of comparing Obitine and Anidala. I found this frustrating because Satine deserves a story that’s hers.  Not Obi-Wan thinking about how she wore certain colors or flowers to remind Mandalore of what they could one day be again.  That’s a lovely sentiment, but give it to me from Satine, not from Obi-Wan.  And I found it frustrating because I don’t buy for one second that Obi-Wan didn’t understand why he couldn’t Leeroy Jenkins his way onto Mandalore and that he would be bitter about it.  Obi-Wan has always understood the politics and how and when to get around them, for him to throw that out the window felt like, oh, well, of course, because it’s Satine.  The romantic relationship.  But it’s also coming on the heels of using his relationship with Anakin to be about Obitine vs Anidala, it’s coming on the heels of swiping aside Obi-Wan’s using the dark side/anger in both fights with Maul because of Qui-Gon. It comes with the context of the description of how--in the moments I’ve giffed above--that Obi-Wan was feeling a rage so powerful that he would raze everything to the ground for it, because Satine died, and what brings him back?  Not his Jedi values that he lives his entire life by, but that Satine wouldn’t want him to.  I don’t buy for one second that Obi-Wan wouldn’t pull himself back because he lives by the principles his Order has taught him. lacependragon said: 

I can’t with long words or descriptions but I bought this ebook just to read this story to keep up on this conversation and jfc I have never been so disappointed. I know 12 year old boys who understand Obi’s character better than this.

I get that sometimes people just have different interpretations of characters and I realize we all get invested in our views of them, as well as I feel like a lot of the elements of this story are close.  Like, I was so intrigued by the idea of Obi-Wan struggling with the dark side!  Because the dark side isn’t just anger, it’s also fear and sorrow and suffering!  It would have been SO EASY to explore those things, because they’re written all over his face! Further, it ignores so much of the bigger context of Obi-Wan’s character, like just how important those other relationships are and how they’ve shaped him.  Understands anger in a new way?  Different from his anger at Qui-Gon’s death?  Because, yes, he was sorrowful after he’d cut Maul in half, but when he did that?  He was FURIOUS, it was right there on his face, too. thebiscuiteternal said: 

Excuse me? Obi-Wan, who paced and *snarled* at Maul behind the energy gates after Qui-Gon was impaled? *That* Obi-Wan had never felt rage towards Maul until he killed Satine? Oh, fuck this story.

I KNOW, RIGHT?  I’m not even the biggest defender of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon’s relationship (though, of course it’s important) but the sheer DISRESPECT of saying that Obi-Wan understood anger in a new way after Satine died in pretty much THE EXACT SAME MANNER as Qui-Gon! And @watsonerr says something I’ve been struggling to articulate well on this reply:

Another thing I didn’t agree with was how Obi-Wan kept being angry at the council, considering how he not only is not the type to ignore the bigger picture, but also how he knows well that sending republic troops there to free everyone would be extremly risky, especially that they were at war and the republic and Mandalore had a treaty. Exactly why I’ll stick with the deleted scene from The Lawless in which he says “The policies of the jedi and the chancellor often don’t meet eye to eye these days.” But at the same time, I also think it was probably meant to be this way, because Obi-Wan was emotional and had a clouded judgement the whole chapter for obvious reasons, and he fell right into Maul’s trap. And that’s a nice parallel to Obi-Wan’s attitude in Old Friends Not Forgotten, where he knew better than to let emotions cloud his judgement.

I’d be more forgiving if the final ending weren’t, “I understand anger in a way I never have before.” which makes it seem like Obi-Wan’s anger at the council was objective and not part of him falling into the trap of attachment.  I’m still not sure I could buy bitterness from him or the lack of understanding the political ramifications, but I’d at least be able to sort of see it. I mean, this is what he says in that same story:  “Few in the bustling hangar took notice of Obi-Wan as he approached his Eta-2 Actis-class interceptor. Things would be different on Mandalore. The presence of a Jedi on a planet struggling to remain neutral in the war between the Republic and the Separatists would do more than attract attention. It might be considered an act of aggression. It might lead to further violence—more death.” This is his way of convincing Anakin not to come along:  ““The presence of one Jedi on Mandalore will be hard enough to conceal. Two Jedi will be impossible. You’d put the mission at risk. And Satine.”” Yet there’s no acknowledgement of that when he thinks about why they won’t agree to send him?  I don’t buy that from Obi-Wan Kenobi, even if he would ultimately disagree with them. Overall, we’re definitely making mountains out of molehills with this, it’s really not that big of a deal, both in terms of IT’S JUST A MADE UP SPACE WOO STORY and that it’s not as heinous as it might sound from the conversation.  I’ll reread it in a few days and maybe it’ll come across better for me, I could easily see that happening!  As well as I’m sure there are going to be plenty of people who see it as perfectly in character for Obi-Wan! BUT WHAT WOULD THIS HELLSITE BE IF NOT FOR RIDICULOUS NERDING OUT?  THAT’S WHAT TUMBLR IS FOR.   😂

[pulvisctumbra]

Through war and triumph (matthias belmonte) rises, at (62) years old, serving as (king) residing in (haven realm). They are a (guardian human) that resembles (sean teale). Upon meeting them, they are (honourable) and (balanced). Don’t be fooled, they can be (righteous) and (indecisive).

Full Name: Matthias Arturo Belmonte Nickname(s): usually just prefers Matthias but will accept Matt or Thias from close friends Age: 62 Species: Guardian Human Powers:  strength, durability & longevity  Sexual Orientation: pansexual Romantic Orientation: panromantic Occupation: King

FAMILY

Mother: Nerissa Belmonte, deceased Father: Marcelo Belmonte, deceased Siblings: Mayra Belmonte (older sister), Perseus Belmonte (half brother) & Natalia Belmonte (half sister) Extended Family: uncle & stepmother

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Hair Color: black Eye Color: brown Height: 6′1

PERSONALITY

Positive Traits: creative, insightful, principled, passionate, altruistic, collected, calm, agreeable, humble, stable, diligent, respectful, reliable Negative Traits: sensitive to criticism, dislikes change, passive aggressive, self-critical, stubborn, serious, procrastinates, avoids confrontation Values: Above all he values peace and to a certain extent order. He hates discord of any kind and is very family orientated. Peace is predictable and that’s perhaps what he values most - the chance to have a plan for everything and to not be blindsided. Because of this he values honesty and honour, those who are dutiful also earning his respect. But he also acknowledges the necessity of people being able to make their own choices and so seeks to strike a balance between order and freedom. Fears: He fears pushing away those he cares about in order to do what he thinks is right. Fears isolation and to a certain extent becoming too like his father. Matthias considers him to have been a great man but also a flawed one and he seeks to avoid falling into those same flaws as Marcelo did. He knows he will do right by Haven to the best of his ability but he fears the cost that it might take to do so. Quirks: keeps a journal, has to stick to a routine, write notes on his hand or arm, is very good at chess, has very neat handwriting.

TESTS

Myers-Briggs:  INFJ-T, The Advocate Enneagram: Type 9, The Peacekeeper Temperament: Melancholic  Alignment: True Neutral

BIOGRAPHY

The Belmontes had always prided themselves on selecting spouses from varying species to attempt to make sure that Haven’s monarchs reflected the different species that were all welcome within the realm. After his first wife’s death, a nymph, he mourned for five years before eventually choosing a guardian human for his next bride.

Their marriage produced a son, Matthias, the younger brother to the daughter he already had. Unfortunately the birth was far from straightforward and Nerissa passed away only a week after her son’s birth due to the complications.

It didn’t take Marcelo long to find a new wife after death, aided by the fact that a chance meeting put him in the path of his true mate. The pair were married quickly and before Matthias was three he had a new mother and a younger brother on the way.

Another sister soon followed and the four young Belmontes grow up reasonably happy, although they were always taught to be conscious of how their actions would affect the crown. Matthias was the quietest of his bolder siblings and so naturally fell into a role of peacekeeper, always able to find a way to solve their disagreements or avoid them altogether.

Mayra was to be the next ruler of Haven and while Marcelo allowed his younger children some freedom over their own future, there was no doubt that there was an expectation that they’d choose a position to either aid their sister or their realm. For Matthias this came in the form of his studies reflecting his future role as an advisor rather than a ruler and the moments he spent with his father challenging him to consider different view points.

Life continued much the same throughout his teenage years, so much the same that he began to grow restless. He didn’t so much chafe under the responsibility ( on the contrary, there was something almost soothing about knowing where his life would end up )  but he did almost resent the way that he’d never truly been able to explore any passions. So after he turned twenty-one he put forward a compelling argument for his father, suggesting that if he was able to travel to a few of the other realms he’d have a better insight for the future.

To his surprise Marcelo agreed and he was allowed to spend his time in their neighbouring realms, starting with Southland. It was there that he was able to explore his interest in music, enjoying being able to be a simple musician rather than a prince of Haven.

While he was away it wasn’t smooth sailing back at home. To the surprise of all Mayra abdicated, leaving Matthias the new heir to the throne. With that news his whole world shifted and he went from being able to enjoy more of what Lume Noua had to offer to having to return home in haste to fill the void that his sister had left.

He thought that he’d have more than a year to learn from his father and to rise to the challenge of shifting from the one who gave advise to the one who had to make the decisions. But it wasn’t to be and with his father’s death just two months before his thirtieth birthday he was thrust into the role of King for sooner than expected.

Although he does at times rely on his siblings for support, one of the first things he did as monarch was to ensure that they knew that they were free of any duty to the throne. Releasing them was an easy choice when he would far rather have their relationship healthy than eventually marred by bitterness the way that it had been with his father. It was left up to them whether or not they wanted any position in Haven.

Having now ruled for just over thirty years Matthias has grown into the role and has finally begun to feel easier with the crown. His policies are generally progressive, wanting the best for those who live within Haven, and he balances the opinions of those around him in any decisions he makes. The biggest challenge will be maintaining Haven’s neutrality as the realms around him begin to make their moves.

RELATIONSHIPS

Status: single (open) Exes: tbd (open) Spouse/True Mate: tbd (open) Current Partner: tbd (open) Friends: tbd (open) Allies: tbd (open) Enemies: tbd (open)

[starlingsrps]

poppy allen character development.

BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME:  poppy lieke allen

NICKNAME(S): nope.

PREFERRED NAME(S): poppy

BIRTH DATE: october 25

AGE: twenty seven

GENDER: cis female

PRONOUNS: feminine

ROMANTIC/SEXUAL ORIENTATION: heterosexual

NATIONALITY: american

ETHNICITY: american-dutch

CURRENT LOCATION: los angeles, ca

LIVING CONDITIONS: neat and tidy, well decorated. she's definitely in laurel canyon, purposefully kind of a bitch to drive to.

BACKGROUND

BIRTH PLACE: santa barbara, ca

HOMETOWN: montecito, ca

PLACES LIVED: montecito, new york, london - wherever the hell she's filming tbh. los angeles is home.

SOCIAL CLASS: upper upper. when your eighteenth birthday is a people magazine cover, you don't pretend.

EDUCATION LEVEL: high school

FATHER: bryce hawthorne, 57, movie star

MOTHER: saskia werhoff, 52, model turned lifestyle guru

SIBLING(S): marieke allen, 25; matthias allen, 20

BIRTH ORDER: poppy, marieke, matthias

CHILDREN: absolutely no.

PET(S): nope; allergic to most things with fur.

OTHER IMPORTANT RELATIVES: her mother's family in the netherlands, her father's in nebraska.

PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIPS: legion and documented online.

ARRESTS?: nope.

PRISON TIME?: nope.

OCCUPATION & INCOME

PRIMARY SOURCE OF INCOME: actress

SECONDARY SOURCE OF INCOME: spokesperson

TERTIARY SOURCE(S) OF INCOME: trust fund

CONTENT WITH THEIR JOB (OR LACK THERE OF)?: like why wouldn't she be

PAST JOB(S): does she look like she's ever done intensive work?

SPENDING HABITS: poppy's version of reasonable is absolutely not the same as a normal persons. she thinks she's reasonable but that's just because she doesn't own a diamond encrusted birkin. she buys things that are high quality and doesn't really have experience with things that aren't.

MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION: real estate portfolio. she owns her house and a condo in new york. both are points of pride for her.

SKILLS & ABILITIES

PHYSICAL STRENGTH: B-

OFFENSE: B

DEFENSE: B

SPEED: B

INTELLIGENCE: B

ACCURACY: B+

AGILITY: B

STAMINA: B

TEAMWORK: C+

TALENTS: poppy has an incredible work ethic and sense of loyalty. she knows she's lucky to be where she is in life but she's going to show up the same as anyone else on set and give her best every time. she knows her self worth and she does not compromise on it one single bit.

SHORTCOMINGS: that can come off as.....abrasive.

LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: english and dutch

DRIVE?: yes

JUMP-STAR A CAR?: she was definitely taught by her father but it did not stick.

CHANGE A FLAT TIRE?: see above.

RIDE A BICYCLE?: yes

SWIM?: yes

PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?: no

PLAY CHESS?: no

BRAID HAIR?: yes

TIE A TIE?: yes

PICK A LOCK?: no.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE & CHARACTERISTICS

FACE CLAIM: abigail cowen

EYE COLOR: blue

HAIR COLOR: red; boosted from strawberry blonde to red-red.

HAIR TYPE/STYLE: long and swishy. it's a signature at this point. that pantene hair deal did not just materialize on it's own.

GLASSES/CONTACTS?: both - a bitch is Nearsighted.

DOMINANT HAND: right

HEIGHT: 5'7

BUILD: willowy and toned, great ass.

EXERCISE HABITS: daily - she looks at it as part of her job description and between her father's biceps and her mother's devotion to yoga, she wasn't really raised with much of a choice but to use the gym.

SKIN TONE: fair, little freckled. a lot freckled if the sun has gotten to her.

TATTOOS: none

PEIRCINGS: ears

MARKS/SCARS: none

NOTABLE FEATURES: the Hair, upturned nose

USUAL EXPRESSION: attentive

CLOTHING STYLE: carefully curated. god i miss polyvore this would be so much easier. hold for pinterest board.

JEWELRY: whatever suits/is loaned for the occasion. she has a lot of small pieces that she owns for daily wear and a few really nice bits that she got from her parents as gifts.

ALLERGIES: dander, almonds.

DIET: nothing super weird/out of the ordinary, definitely erring on the trendy and consciously healthy end of things.

PHYSICAL AILMENTS: nah.

PSYCHOLOGY

ENNEAGRAM TYPE: type eight

MORAL ALIGNMENT: chaotic neutral

TEMPERAMENT: choleric

ELEMENT: water

SOCIABILITY: A - poppy is incredibly charming and social.

EMOTIONAL STABILITY: ehhhh i'll give her a B-. like she's not bad but when her temper gets triggered, hell will reign.

OBSESSION(S): nah

COMPULSION(S): nah

PHOBIA(S): failure

ADDICTION(S): nah

DRUG USE: she does smoke, she does know, she doesn't care.

ALCOHOL USE: social drinker.

PRONE TO VIOLENCE?: no (yet i think a certain someone might get something thrown at him)

MANNERISMS

SPEECH STYLE: even and cultivated. she has a pretty feminine voice and has done a little voiceover work.

ACCENT: nope.

QUIRKS: she squints a lot, even if she does have her glasses on or contacts in. this bitch is Blind.

HOBBIES: she does read a lot and she does enjoy trying new things. nothing crafty but she's pretty down for new activities.

HABITS: daily workout, twice weekly call with her Team, grooming, work. she likes to stay busy and likes to stay organized - her planner is sacred.

NERVOUS TICKS: don't fucking touch her planner.

DRIVES/MOTIVATIONS: personal success. she was well known before she jumped into acting and modeling on her own by virtue of her parents but she absolutely wants to be her own person. she doesn't use her father's SAG name (legally, they're all allens rather than hawthorne but SAG), she doesn't do any mommy and me/daddy and me projects and she steers any interviews away from heavy talk about her family.

FEARS: personal failure. she knows she'll be okay no matter what - she's got the cushion of wealth and privilege - but she does not want to ever fail on her own merits.

POSITIVE TRAITS: loyal, generous, hard working, passionate, driven, fearless.

NEGATIVE TRAITS: bossy, stubborn, abrasive, no sense of limitations, single minded.

SENSE OF HUMOR: good! kind of dorky, prone to dragging the shit out of people.

DO THEY CURSE OFTEN?: ehhhhh what is often

FAVORITES

ACTIVITY: sex working, being alone. she spends so much time surrounded by people that being alone to relax is a luxury.

ANIMAL: she thinks dogs are awesome but she can't be around them without a shitload of benadryl so like, bears?

BEVERAGE: the iced coffee IS surgically attached to her hand, thanks!

BOOK:

CELEBRITY: her parents, corny as that is. least favorite is her brother, who's big on tiktok and habitually trying to use her pool for shenanigans.

COLOR: red

DESIGNER: she's a valentino bitch.

FOOD: a really, really good steak.

FLOWER: gardenias

GEM: pearls

HOLIDAY: christmas

MODE OF TRANSPORTATION: flying

MOVIE: father of the bride

MUSICAL ARTIST: kacey musgraves

SCENERY: the ocean. she's a coastal california girl and she does not like to be far from the water.

SCENT: ocean, gardenias, coffee.

SPORT: baseball

SPORTS TEAM: dodgers

TELEVISION SHOW: nothing specific but she will watch food network competition shows for hours.

WEATHER: bright and sunny

VACATION DESTINATION: exotic and warm.

ATTITUDES

GREATEST DREAM: having her career measured on its own merits; oscar. she doesn't not want a family and such outside of that but her career is her focus. she's in a good place and she doesn't want to put anything on pause.

GREATEST FEAR: poppy is alarmingly fearless. the only thing she truly fears is failing herself. nothing else really matters.

MOST AT EASE WHEN: with her family on the ranch in montecito to hang out and relax. she likes being around her sister - marieke is a classics student and has been bouncing about europe for the past seven years and they don't get to see each other very often. marieke is calm and completely removed from hollywood and she's basically the human equivelent of going to a spa.

LEAST AT EASE WHEN: not....no. poppy may be slightly uncomfortable but she is never going to let that show or acknowledge it.

WORST POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD HAPPEN: a scandal she can't recover from.

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT: her career, the first time she wasn't mentioned in conjuction with her parents in a magazine article in the first paragraph.

BIGGEST REGRET: nope.

MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT: she's sure there have been but they're all pretty buried.

BIGGEST SECRET: keiran, 100%.

TOP PRIORITIES: her career. it's a thing she can control.

[overthinkingfandom]

Detailed character analysis for every second Varian is on screen in “Great Expotations”

No, this is not hyperbole. 

Brace yourself, we’re in for a long ride. 

Huh. Not even a minute onscreen and already we see Varian’s greatest virtue and flaw, he’s a proactive problem solver. 

Cass was tying a knot and when she left it, it started unraveling, and Varian's immediate reaction was to rush forward and fix it. This right here is the core of his character shown in five seconds. That both his best and worst actions come from a single trait is part of what makes him such a strong character.

He smiles adorably at Owl afterward. Fixing things must feel pretty satisfying to him, especially when helping didn't cause a disaster for a change so there was nothing to mar that experience.

But let’s back up a bit to the beginning of his episode.

Varian doesn’t have any experience in building a relationship with someone who is his peer and that shines through clearly in his dialogue here. He tries to catch Cass' attention by bragging about his invention, which makes sense considering his lack of experience leaves him uncertain how to go about relating to her and inventions is something Varian knows gets him excited (thus subconsciously assuming that other people will also be excited about it) as well as something he feels confident about. 

He goes on to say: "Rumor has it it is a shoo-in for the first prize in the contest," and stage-whispers to Cass, "I started the rumor." Initially, I was pretty confused about why he said that, but thinking about later episodes it's probably an early hint showing just how important honesty is for Varian.

Later episodes show that Varian’s greatest desire is to be acknowledged in a positive way and here we can see how that desire tends to manifest as being acknowledged specifically for his skills. Varian would see it as wanting people to be impressed and appreciate his alchemy but when looking at his behaviour, it seems more like he wants to be acknowledged as a problem solver. It’s just that the way he sees it happening is mostly through his ability with alchemy and inventions.

You know, before I did this analysis I thought Varian was just a high confidence/low self-esteem person, but now I think a more accurate way to describe him is that he lacks a fear of failure. Eugene saying to his face "Your last invention almost killed us. So glad you're here, with what looks like another invention." doesn't even cause him to blink.

It would also fit better with him being socially awkward despite his confidence as well as his scientific background. He's almost certainly mostly self-taught and we know he messed up a lot and it was probably worse while he still didn’t really know what he was doing. If he had fear of failure inhabiting him, there's no way he would have the skills he does today. 

It’s also a trait that ties with him being so proactive. Unlike other characters, Varian doesn't have that hesitation of "But what if it doesn't work/what if I can't do it" when facing a challenge, he just goes and does it and deals with a lot of mistakes as a result, yes, but also a lot of successes.

Dawww, kid is embarrassed about his crush on Cassandra.

It's probably nothing more than how relationships are somewhat of a taboo subject for kids combined with his social awkwardness and lack of experience on the subject, but it is a point in the column pointing against him having naturally high confidence.

Obstacles don't seem to slow Varian down a whole lot. He came to the expo with the intention of asking Cass to be his assistant and despite his faux pas in the first conversation (which he promptly fixes in the next conversation by making it a joke), the conversation being interrupted midway and Cass being distracted and kinda cold in the second conversation, Varian still goes through with asking her to be his assistant.

There's a theory about learning I'm familiar with that says there are three levels of comprehension on a subject: memorizing, understanding and implementing. 

Memorizing constitutes of having knowledge about the subject, but not knowing how to use it (it’s the level required for classes like history in school). Understanding means the person can use the knowledge in a practical way with situations that were studied beforehand, learning how to recognize each situation and what to do in them (It’s the level required for learning stuff like languages, specifically the part like tenses and other grammar rules). Implementing means being able to successfully use the knowledge in a situation that was never encountered before (Math usually requires that level, which is why it’s so hard for a lot of people).

Despite what the show would like us to believe sometimes, it seems like Varian actually knows what he's doing in regards to science, because this moment shows us that Varian holds the highest level of comprehension about alchemy.

When he made the stain disappear it wasn't because he remembers that salt + water from the flowers would prevent grape juice stains. It wasn't because he understands that a certain combination of chemicals would prevent acidic stains. It was because he knows chemistry on a level that allows him to take all the theory and implement it into practice even in an unfamiliar situation. That level of comprehension, as well as his excellent problem-solving skills, allows him to figure out solutions to problems that he never encountered before and fast.

(Lmao watch as our boy is enjoying seeing Cass' reaction to his trick so much. Me too, Varian.)

Varian is very eager to agree to help Cass with her chores. While that eagerness can come from his crush on Cass, it doesn’t feel like the full answer. Following her around for a while to help her would be an easy way to spend time with Cass in a situation where he's not actually sure how to go about hanging out with her. It would tie back to why he wanted Cass to be his assistant in the first place, seeing as that's another easy way for them to spend time together. 

Plus, considering how one of his biggest desires is to be acknowledged as a problem solver, Varian probably sees it as an opportunity to impress Cass with his skills and not only be acknowledged in the way he wants, but also be acknowledged by a person Varian wants to impress.

There are a few moments in the episode where Varian acts and his brain only catches up a few moments later and here we the first of them. He realizes that being overeager to spend time with his crush is a faux pas mid-action and tries to smooth it over right afterward. 

This is also a moment that showcases his problem-solving skills. It only takes him a few seconds to figure out that it can be a solution to his original problem i.e. asking Cass to be his assistant.

Boy is just glad he actually managed to succeed in his goal and spend time with his crush.

It’s yet another example of how he doesn’t really know how to relate to people who are (kinda) his peers. He's excited because this feels like a big achievement for him.

Nex,t we see a montage of Cass and Varian working together to finish her chores, which actually teaches us quite a few things about Varian's skills:

1) Varian has already created several functioning inventions that do exactly what he wanted them to.

1.1) The only reason he wouldn't be able to market them commercially is because they would not pass any safety standards.

1.1.1) Take safety precautions with your inventions Varian gdi

1.2) The reason he doesn't bother with safety precautions could tie back to his absolute lack of fear of failure. This small little ball cleans a corridor by putting everything on fire? Just don't get caught 4head (and when Varian inevitably catches on fire because he's a trouble magnet he just deals with it with some panicked screaming and a lot of flailing). 

1.2.1) Another possible explanation is that Varian doesn’t generally plan for failure. It tracks pretty well with what we see of his behaviour in the rest of the series and considering that he doesn’t fear failure, it makes sense that he wouldn’t think about the “what if something goes wrong” and plan for that.

1.3) The montage shows Varian using his inventions for more than one purpose. It shows that same kind of comprehension we saw earlier where he knows the theory so well he can use it in various different ways to solve problems he never encountered before.

1.3.1) It also shows that he possesses a flexibility of thought. He's not stuck thinking things have that one specific intended use for them, but keeps his mind open to other possibilities.

2) Varian can quickly construct devices from what seems like common everyday objects

2.1) There is that flexibility of thought again. Things don't have intended uses, just potential uses.

2.2) I'm not sure if I would put him at MacGyver level of impromptu devices but he definitely subscribes to that school of thought.

2.3) Varian is very knowledgeable not just in chemistry but also in engineering. 

3) He seems to think "There must be a better way to do this" a lot.

3.1) Because he's a proactive problem solver with the skills to make his ideas reality, he often just goes and tries to figure out or make that better way, regardless of the circumstances.

During the whole montage he's always looking to see Cass' reaction even when he should really be paying better attention to what's going on around him because he's lighting a whole corridor on fire, Varian. It's that recklessness of his again, the one that's born out of his lack of fear of failure. But it's also because the boy is thirsty for people to acknowledge his skills, his identity as a problem solver, so he drinks up every drop of it when Cassandra gives it to him in the shape of shock and amazement.

He's very similar to Cass in this way. Both of them have a strong self-identity they want to be acknowledged by society or the people around them, and the fact that it isn't can be traced back as the root of a lot of their problems.

Of course, for Cass, the biggest obstacle to that acknowledgment is society itself, while Varian is his own biggest obstacle.

But we already established that obstacles don't slow him down a whole lot, which is why he keeps trying regardless of any failure. His lack of fear of failure also takes some of the sting, since instead of framing it as a “bad end” he would regard more along the lines of “eliminated a way in which it doesn’t work”.

Not to say that all of the failures don’t take their toll, since they evidently do. We see in QfaD (Specifically, Let Me Make You Proud) that his self-esteem isn't the highest and that he's very aware of his many failures and how they sabotage his efforts to get acknowledged.

Something that seems quite evident but that I didn't mention it so far is just how confident Varian is in his skills. Then again he's very justified in that confidence. 

At first, I didn’t think it was honest self-assessment because of his later denial of blame and also the fact that he’s 14. However, there’s more to support for that interpretation than I realized at the time. Varian’s denial in SotS is less an issue of awareness and more of a coping mechanism, seeing as his other option is to face the possibility that he (in his mind) killed his own father which… yeah. Even then, he acknowledges in Ready as I’ll Ever Be that his actions are bad despite the way he refuses to take the blame (and responsibility) for the situation. Add in the awareness he shows in Let Me Make You Proud and his pretty accurate introspection later in this episode, and his confidence coming, at least partially, from honest self-assessment has a lot of evidence to back it up.

I would actually be pretty curious to know what came first for him: his confidence in his skills, or his lack of fear of failure. The first would mean he felt like he could deal with everything thrown his way so he didn't need to fear the consequences of failure. The second would indicate he didn’t fear to get things wrong, which is the root of a lot of insecurity.

The answer is probably that the two grew in tandem, each feeding into the other in a positive feedback loop. But I'm kinda still leaning towards the second more, if only because that initial lack of worry would mean his skills would develop at a much faster rate, which would better explain his current skill level. 

Now that I think about it, teenage feeling of immortality probably didn't help.

Poor Quirin, teen Varian must be a nightmare to deal with

I'm kinda sad we didn't get proper friendship between Rapunzel and Varian. This episode shows how both of them are creative, productive and very knowledgeable individuals, to the point where Rapunzel was the one translating Varian's technobabble in the climax. They could have a lot of fun together if they ever tried.

In many ways, their friendship would be healthier than the one we’re shown for Rapunzel and Cass. Aside from having shared interests, their problems and strengths would complement each other’s quite a bit, without the destructive feedback loop Cass and Rapunzel can get to.

Rapunzel's high energy would go well with Varian’s creativity and proactivity. Varian's lack of fear of failure and proactivity would be good for Rapunzel with her avoidant personality. Varian wouldn't mind Rapunzel's lack of boundaries as much or have insecurity about his place next to her. Rapunzel would probably be glad to help Varian in proving himself and has an indestructible hair to protect them when explosions inevitably occur.

The major flaw with this friendship is that they can easily create a feedback loop of recklessness that would leave Eugene as the voice of reason in the party, so take that as you will.

This may seem obvious, but Varian is pretty observant. As much as he didn't let it stop him, he did notice and understand what Cassandra's cold attitude was all about. This moment discounts the possibility that his social awkwardness comes from having difficulties understanding social cues, or that his lack of fear of failure in those situations came from him not understanding that something was a failure or a rejection. Considering his outgoing personality, it’s very possible that had he been socialized properly he wouldn’t experience that kind of awkwardness at all. Act like a weirdo? Sure, this is Varian after all, but it wouldn’t be because he misunderstood something or felt uncomfortable and out of his depth.

He also somehow knows that Cap is Cassandra's dad. It's not like it's a secret, but I checked and it definitely wasn't said in front of him in the episode. He probably keeps his eyes and ears open and notices stuff around him, his speed in connecting dots would help him make sense of the stuff he notices. Just in this episode we see this process. Earlier he saw Stan telling Cass about the Captain having open positions and how she got excited over it. Later, when Cass tells him that today is kind of a big deal for her, he immediately connects between the two things.

(Also, Sassy Boy is sassy and I love him for that)

Varian is naturally pretty empathetic, in the mirroring emotions sense of the word. His expression falls both times Cass becomes upset, and he attempts to help her by offering up proof that he can relate and she's not alone. I use the word "naturally" here because trauma can suffocate empathy pretty quickly as a coping mechanism, so his levels of empathy in later episodes aren't really indicative of his personality.

It's pretty interesting that his response to Cass being upset is an empathic reflection considering his problem-fixing nature. He only tries to offer up a solution when Cass brings up a concrete problem he can deal with.

He seems to use humor, and snark in particular, to deal with situations pretty often actually. And in various ways as well. Here he uses it to turn around an uncomfortable and heavy situation. In later episodes he would use it to claim a measure of control over a situation involving enemies. Curiously both here and later he uses it to express anger. Granted his “anger” here wasn’t really anger so much as calling Cass out, but it still functionally fulfills the same purpose.

Poor boy is so hopeful that he and Cass are friends. He's uncertain about how this friendship thing works and if they are actually friends which once again shows that he's pretty isolated and without any peer relationships. This uncertainty of his shows that just because he doesn't usually dip into the negative axis of doubt doesn't mean he is on the positive axis of confidence

As much as his lack of fear of failure (and I got to find a better shorter word for it) can manifest as recklessness it can also manifest as what seems to be overconfidence at first glance. Yet when he says he has everything under control, we actually see that he manages to do exactly as he said. The only thing that sabotaged him this episode was not allowing a margin of error in his plans in case of unexpected complications, but if we're being entirely fair here, the vast majority of people only think about adding that margin for error once they're older and more experienced, so it's not like it's unique to him.

I mentioned before Varian seems to have that thing where his mouth works faster than his brain sometimes. Here is instance 2 and 3 that we see in the episode.

Varian doesn't seem to actually know what to do with people acknowledging his skills when he didn't set out to impress them. This indicates that something like this would happen rarely, if at all.

Just by themselves, those kinds of circumstances can teach someone that if they want to be acknowledged than they’re the one who has to go out and get it, because it’s not going to come to them unconditionally. In this case they also cause another "chicken and egg" situation in regards to Varian’s proactivity. Was he already proactive and when he didn't get acknowledgment for that, that tendency kicked in and cause him to actively seek it out, or did he want the acknowledgment first and when he didn't get it he learned that the only way he would get it is by actively working for it?

Once again it's probably a mix of the two that grew in tandem with one another, with him being naturally inclined to proactivity and problem solving but circumstances reinforcing it by teaching him that he won't get acknowledgment and his "solution" to that was to go out and get it rather than wait and hope it will come on its own.

Still, I'm a bit more inclined towards the second option. There is quite a bit that seems to imply that Varian didn't get as much attention as he needed growing up. From Quirin being a single dad and a village leader, to Varian's desperate need to be acknowledged, to the fact that a lot of the implied mishaps he had could've only happened if he was left unsupervised and how we saw walking around alone at age 5. I can see that desire for attention starting from a very young age and slowly growing to what we see today.

To be perfectly clear, I’m not ragging on Quirin here. He was doing the best he could and his best was actually pretty good. It’s just that “pretty good” doesn’t necessarily mean “enough”.

For the record Varian being excited for the expo is adorable but his "Is this guy for real" expression when the judge is being dramatic is even better.

"Don't worry about me. I am sure I can find another assistant in the next five minutes." 

There are a couple of things happening here. First is Varian putting Cass' ambitions above his own and trying to assuage her guilt, which is an early hint to his low self-esteem. The second is Varian's problem-solving tendency jumping up and trying to fix the damage only to be confronted with the fact that, no, there's no good solution for this simply because there isn't enough time.

(I got to admit, I fall in love with the show's joke of "cutting edge equine technology"="horsepower" every time I see it.)

We see Varian acting nervous and hesitant for the first time in the episode. It's unlikely to be a case of simple stage fright seeing as he was so confident not even a few minutes earlier when he spoke with Cass. I think here it's more of a case that he knows the solution he came up with is a bad one.

However, I still feel like it's worth noting that despite the very short time limit, he still managed to get an assistant. And that despite the subpar quality of his assistant, Varian still tried his best at the presentation. It tracks very well with how he doesn't let obstacles slow him down. It also speaks a lot about his mental fortitude and determination because it’s not uncommon for someone to just give up in a scenario like this, or at the very least panic and not give as good of a presentation as they could have as they already know it'll suck (because of the subpar assistant in this case) so there's not really any point in investing that much effort.

It's that same determination along with his lack of fear of failure that would drive a lot of his villain arc because frankly, most people would hesitate taking on a whole kingdom even if they think that's the only solution to their problem. Varian just thinks about how he would get it done.

Not about the if.

(Well he would think about if he should do it on a moral ground, but not if he should do it because failing would have major consequences)

Varian naming stuff he invents after people is a cute joke, but it also feels a bit... childish in a certain way. It's a pretty blatant way to impress people and get attention, kinda a combination of flattering people by naming things after them and impressing them that he created this whole new never-seen-before thing, which is yet another way in which he shows he doesn't really know how to create relationships with peers. While it’s a bit weak it can also be taken as another hint to his low self-esteem because his first instinct is to name stuff after the people around him, which implicitly places more importance on those people rather than his own experiences.

Then again naming things in general is hard and I suck at it just as much lol.

This line really emphasizes how much Varian is still a kid while showing some of his underlying assumptions about the world. Things should be as what they're presented to be. A science exposition should judge the science. A promise should be kept. Friends should try to help their friends. It ties very strongly to the importance he places on honesty and the truth, if something isn't what it's presented as that's a form of deception.

It’s this bit here that really cements Great Expotations’ place in Varian's character arc of disillusionment with authority figures. This is the first place he meets overt corruption in the form of the judge and the showy contestant who won. Even if he won't think of it as corruption at the time, at the very least he'll see how the irrelevant stuff decided the outcome rather than the important things. Which is very much the opposite of how the expo presented itself, after all it was supposed to be about science.

Even his time with Cass contributes to that arc. They had a deal, Varian will help her with her chores and in exchange she'll be his assistant. He even felt they grew closer during the time they worked together to the point they became friends, and when he asked it was something that Cass confirmed. Yet, Cass still backed out of the agreement at the last minute. And yes, she apologized and made it up to him but isn't that in some ways worse? Because it would mean people can still genuinely be friends while betraying his trust.

In many ways, it's a failure of truth that drives Varian’s arc just as much as it's a failure of action. Both are tied together and enable each other to happen.

People lie so they wouldn't have to take action and they cover their inaction with distortions of the truth.

Both are core parts of the corruption in the system of Corona that allowed the tragedy of his situation to escalate to the point it did.

Truth is actually something that's pretty central to Varian's identity. At his core he's a proactive problem solver, yes, but the way it manifests is through his interest and skill in alchemy, or rather science. The entire point of science is discovering truths about the world through action, by observing and researching and recording. He takes a lot of pride in his skills and in being scientifically minded, or else he wouldn't be so bothered when people think he's using magic.

And when that pride and respect for the truth is set on a crash course towards the corruption of authority, whether by lying or inaction or both, in a rather personal way. Well, that's how we get RTA. Add in his proactivity, determination and lack of fear of failure as well as his skills to the previous explosive mix, season with desperation, sprinkle a hefty bunch of trauma on top and shake well. That’s the recipe we were shown in SotS.

Varian gives a rather accurate assessment of his motivations here with a level of self-awareness that surprised me the first time I saw it. It's much more than most 14 years old are capable of. In fact, there are many adults without that level of awareness. 

It obviously does matter to him. He says that all he wanted was to impress Cass but he's clearly measuring his success according to his success in the expo. That expo is important to him.

The way he minimizes how it was important to him is another hint towards low self-esteem. As well as him calling himself dumb, especially since it seems to imply that he sees himself as being dumb for thinking he could ever impress Cass and get her to see something special in him.

Varian panicking about safety should make people suspect the apocalypse is coming. In this case they would even be right, considering how things turn out.

Another way in which this episode ties into Varian's character arc is that once again he's saying something important and is ignored. This time is about how the judge is messing dangerously with Varian's machine. Next time will be about how they need to find a solution to the black rocks. The one after that is about how his father is in danger. Until it culminates in Ready As I’ll Ever Be where the line describing his motivation is "I'll make them hear me".

He ends up saving everyone from a danger that could've been entirely averted had the judge only listened to him.

In fact, things are only solved because someone (Cass in this case) does listen to him.

Varian's surprise at being the one saved by Cass can point to his low self-esteem, but it's just as likely to be because Cass doesn't have the best track record in choosing friendship over duty in this episode.

In either case, it sets up the basis for his later trust issues. Maybe he’s quick to lose faith in people after they fail him, or maybe he just doesn’t think highly enough himself to believe that someone will go out of their way for him at a cost to themselves. Neither option is particularly good for his mental health.

I think it's very telling that when Cass asks "How do we stop it." Varian replies with "I gotta pull the handbrake". It shows another one of his underlying assumptions about the world, that he's got to be the one who fixes it (whether because it's his mess or just because he's used to being the only proactive problem-solver around). He even starts walking towards the doomsday machine without the thought that Cass might want to help even crossing his mind.

It's yet another example of how Varian just goes and does things without hesitating.

It also displays a somewhat self-centered view of the world that’s actually pretty typical for his age. Now to be fair, he really does seem to be one of the only (if not the most) proactive people around, so this attitude might actually have a basis in reality.

It's this somewhat self-centered view of things that would later cause him to mess with the black rocks after he sees Quirin lying to the king about them. He had faith that his dad would handle the problem and when that trust broke he felt like he was the only one trying to find a solution to the black rocks which I would normally say is robbing people of their agency but in the case of the series seems to actually be true.

I'm not actually sure how to describe Varian's little laugh after Cass says that he's going to need an assistant but the words that come to me are "disbelieving", "a little bit hysterical" and "adorable". Whatever the case he clearly didn't expect Cass' offer, just like he didn’t expect her to save him instead of her assignment.

Although it’s pretty telling that as much as didn't expect Cass' help, he didn't hesitate to ask for it. The source of those self-centered assumptions isn’t pride for sure.

Varian's immediate reaction to shutting down the doomsday device appears to be "enjoying the rush". The whole scenario would very much appeal to Varian's nature as a problem solver. He just solved an important problem, had people supporting him along the way, people who listened to him, everyone is acknowledging his part in the solution and not the problem for once.

Also, the literal adrenaline rush.

Varian had a lot of curveballs thrown at him this episode. I’m willing to bet that his day ended absolutely nothing like he first imagined. He showed an admirable ability to adapt and roll with the punches while still working towards achieving goals. 

If we take a step back and consider all his stated and implied goals in the episode then we can see how he actually succeeded in doing everything he set out to achieve, even if it was done in a way he never planned on.

Get Cass to be his assistant? Check, although as an assistant to shutting down the imminent apocalypse rather than for presenting his invention.

Impress Cass? Check, only he probably expected to impress her with his amazing new invention that creates a whole ass new element rather than with helping her do her chores.

Give Cass a necklace of an element named after her? Check, and his small little while looking at the necklace indicates that he realizes it too. 

This pattern of events repeats itself most of the times when we see Varian sets himself a goal to work towards. He starts out with a plan, falls victim to the god of chaos that probably claimed his soul when he was a baby or something and somehow ends up succeeding in his goal in a way that blindsides even him.

In GE he impresses Cass all the big and small obstacles, but loses the contest. In QfaD he reaches the princess despite the blizzard, but she denies him help. In RTA he gets the flower despite the princess, but it no longer holds the magic. In SotS he gets the princess to do what he wants despite an entire kingdom, but her hair doesn’t work.

The third instance of Varian being surprised at Cass going out of her way for him that cements the pattern.

At this point, the behaviour tells us a lot more about Varian’s underlying assumptions of the world, than anything about how he perceives Cass. The continuing surprise at the unprompted positive attention shows it’s an experience that’s out of the norm for him. Combined with what we know of his reputation, his lack of peer relationship and his busy single father, it paints a picture of a big part of Varian’s emotional needs that are going unfulfilled even before everything happened. 

Quirin is trying his best but he’s busy and as much as he loves Varian, he doesn’t really get him. Even without those challenges, one relationship simply isn’t enough to fulfill all the emotional needs of a person. However, Varian’s relative social isolation and reliance on his father give the events of QfaD a whole new layer. He didn’t just lose his dad and caretaker, but also his entire support network in one swoop. A support network that was full of holes and leaking, but one that kept him afloat so far nonetheless. Shhh, I know nets naturally have holes. It’s a metaphor.

But that pattern of behaviour tells us a lot more than just the size of Varian’s support network. Just like his proactivity grew from his need to actively seek out that positive attention and acknowledgment, so would his self-reliance increase the more he sees others won’t give him what he needs without him prompting them in one way or another, and we indeed see that Varian is very independent.

Now, self-reliance isn’t a bad trait by any means, at least when it comes from a healthy place. But that level of self-reliance in children and teens, especially when it comes to their own needs (whether emotional or physical), often comes from a place of distrust that those needs will not be met consistently if left up to another. Needless to say, it’s not the most healthy mindset.

It’s another part of the foundation of Varian’s later trust issues. Both come from a place of “I need to do this because no one else would do it for me”, but where the first is limited to getting acknowledgment and positive attention his later mindset grew to encompass things like “free Quirin”, “help me” and “protect me”. 

Like before, Varian accepts how Cass asserted her own ambitions over his with very little fuss. After all, it’s not that hard to accept an apology if he didn’t put much weight on her putting her on ambitions above him. While his low self-esteem is far from the only factor at play here it’s yet another thing that hints towards it. 

Cass words here delight Varian for much of the same reasons he reacted so strongly to all those instances of unprompted kindness. Except this time it’s much more validating than that. It shows that she listened to him, even if she rejected that nickname at the time. Plus, it was something that she didn’t like initially, so the only motivation she had to change her mind was that she genuinely liked him. It’s a tangible proof that he managed to earn Cass’ respect.

Varian acting as if he’s the one that should be responsible for cleaning up, which is rather bizarre. He’s using the singular I we saw him use earlier when he planned on shutting down the doomsday device, which seems to be indicating he thinks he holds the main responsibility here.

It could come from his extreme proactivity, like with the knot at the beginning of the episode (6k words ago, feels like forever) or from that same self-centered worldview. However, if we look at the word choice we can tie it back to Let Me Make You Proud with its line: "maybe I make things a mess". The implication being that Varian is cleaning the mess because he himself (knowingly or not) to be the one responsible for creating it, despite his tangential role at best in the chain of events.

Seeing how Varian and Cass bonded over trying to impress their dads and failing, Cass turning down a guard assignment probably seems like the equivalent to him turning down Quirin's approval in his mind. He knows this is a Big Deal.

Based on everything we saw so far in the series, Varian seems to enjoy working with completely and totally new things. Whether it’s never-seen-before mystical rocks, the new element he invented and even reverse engineering long lost tech. Hell, even a lot of his own inventions qualify since he’s the first person to come up with them.

This moment is a reflection of the earlier one when Varian asks “what does flair has to do with anything'', albeit this one has way more far-reaching consequences. And once again Varian’s instinctive reaction to what isn’t-that-far-off-from-deception is to be upset and question it. 

A lot of people forget that QfaD wasn’t the first promise Rapunzel broke to Varian. Although to be fair the writers seemingly forget that as well, so most of the burden lies there.

Varian’s character arc up to the midpoint can be charted by the promises broken to him (with better and worse reasoning). In many ways, distrust and trust issues are a central and ever-present force in his arc. Separating him from others in a big dramatic like in the climax of RTA, to smaller quieter ways like how his need to act in order to achieve the validation he wants isolates him from his community, to overarching themes like disillusionment with authority figures.

The promise here is another data point to teach Varian to not trust in promises, but it’s also another, more insidious data point that paints Rapunzel as Fred’s accomplice in keeping the black rocks situation quiet.

Which… she kinda is. No, she never cooperated with any of Fred’s actions to silence the situation. She just held her own silence, when her words would’ve been enough to break the deception.

It is a crime of inaction, but those are not inherently less damaging or harmful than crimes of action.

But for Varian, who could later look at that moment with the hindsight of knowing the full situation with the black rocks, it would be so easy to see active cooperation in Rapunzel’s actions and use it as another point against trusting her.

But despite any reservations Varian may have, at the moment all he sees is his friend trusting him with a secret. After being considered a walking disaster for so long, that trust (from the princess no less, a person with authority) would be very validating.

...If you reached this point you have my full respect. Any blame should be directed to the tangled server because they’re a bunch of enablers.

[loudlytransparenttrash]

This Week Within Our Colleges: Part 18

Texas State University student, Rudy Martinez, is doubling down and defending his campus newspaper article ‘Your DNA is an abomination,’ which he argues “white death will be liberation for all,” and tells white people to “accept their death as the first step toward defining themselves as something other than the oppressor.” He goes on to write in his piece, “I hate you because you shouldn’t exist” and “there are only about a dozen white people” he would “consider decent.” He also claims white people have the luxury of always coming home safely and never being nervous when confronted by police officers, hence ‘white privilege.’ Although the article was condemned by the student body president, calling it “blatant racism,” Martinez sees it differently. Citing the left’s dumb, manipulated version of racism which “can only be from a position of power,’ Martinez claims he is proud of his stance against the bad white people.

SIT Graduate Institute have released a paper which encourages educators to promote “racial identity” among minority students to prevent “assimilation into the dominant culture.” The author, Hadiel Mohamed, says she “aims to answer how educators can incorporate ethnic/racial identity development in the classroom for youth of color who are driven to pursue whiteness.” “Our education system has been used as an oppressive tool for people of color.” Mohamed contends. “We see the preservation of whiteness through immigration laws. There has been a deliberate attempt at preserving the white race within the United States by racializing our borders.” She worries her fellow POC will “adapt, conform and assimilate to whiteness" and become just as complicit in all of this oppression. To avoid this, she encourages educators to help them become hyper aware of their own racial identity and develop a sense of ethnic pride early enough in the classroom before they can “conceptualize the ways expected to assimilate within white society.” How does she plan to teach these kids to be proud of their ethnicity and refuse whiteness? Lessons on the “injustices enacted upon people of color,” of course! 

A University of Colorado, Denver administrator worries that white children may “forfeit their humanity” if they aren’t raised by sufficiently woke parents. She argues that parents should employ “critical race parenting” to prevent white children from committing “racial microaggressions” against their peers. She goes on to suggest that white people are “constantly wielding racial microaggressions,” and that over time these microaggressions can cause “racial battle fatigue,” noting that children of color are especially susceptible to this horror. White children, on the other hand, are especially prone to committing racial microaggressions because they “learn a complicated dance of whiteness” that teaches them not only to “maintain and defend whiteness,” but to do so while claiming to be “colorblind.” “When they learn to love their whiteness, their souls waste away as they are quietly tearing themselves from humanity and real love,” she writes. “Can we instead begin at the core with our white children and work to ward off white identity and whiteness before they succumb and forfeit their humanity in order to join the oppressor?”    

University of Wisconsin-Madison is once again offering their charming course, ‘Problem of Whiteness.’ The African Cultural Studies course seeks to teach students to “understand how whiteness is constructed and experienced in order to dismantle white supremacy,” according to the online description. The professor teaching this course just so happens to be a white guy, and says it’s important to explore whiteness because “the problem of racism is the problem of whites being racist towards blacks.”   

The same professor also chaired a panel discussion with the same name as his course, ‘Problem of Whiteness,’ which involved another white professor from the Florida Atlantic University, who encouraged the scholars in the audience to spend more time listening to their white, male conservative students. He goes on to argue the reason professors need to be more open-minded towards them isn’t because it’s the fair and right thing to do, but because if they don’t, it will lead these young white men to become anti-feminist and white nationalists which then leads to “the radical militarization of white men that we’ve seen time and time again, all too recently materialize in mass shootings.” The professor goes on to explain how discussions on whiteness “lets white students come to grips with their racist inheritance” and “allows students of color to talk about alternatives to a white supremacist society.”

University of Michigan held a two-day training session that aimed to encourage white employees to deal with their “whiteness” so they could become better equipped to fight for social justice causes. Participants who took part in the “Conversations on Whiteness” session were taught to “unpack their whiteness” in order for them to “recognize the difficulties they face when talking about social justice issues related to their white identity, explore this discomfort, and devise ways to work through it.” 

Two New England professors have urged their colleagues to cultivate a “space free from microaggressions” by adopting a “social justice agenda” in class. Their first recommendation for professors involves requiring students to wear “name cards with gender pronouns” to avoid instant microaggressions on the first day. Their second brilliant idea is to quickly stop any conversation from turning into a debate as that allows “one student to be wrong and one to be right,” and that’s a microaggression. “Dialogue, not debate,” you see? To prevent conversation from turning into a debate, the professors suggest asking the individual pressing the other to “move out” of the discussion, which is a disabled-friendly way of saying “step out,” avoiding another microaggression, you see! They conclude by expressing hope that their recommendations will help to create an “anti-oppressive arena for learning,” declaring social justice essential to education. 

University of Southern Indiana is the latest school to embrace the left’s tragically regressive push for us to go back in time and see nothing but a person’s skin color when we look at them. Students are being encouraged to “reject colorblindness,” as it’s today racist and microaggressive against racial minorities when white people say, “I don’t see color when I look at people.” A “good ally” instead identifies and “acknowledges the oppressed and disadvantaged group to which the person belongs,” and then behave accordingly around them in order to “reduce their own complicity or collusion in the oppression” of that group. 

San Diego State University held a bizarre workshop which certain students were required to attend as part of their class. Organizers described the experience as “shocking” and “disturbing” but it’s all to help the students “step outside their comfort zone and into the shoes of those who are struggling with oppressive circumstances.” Students were walked through a darkened room where they were met by campus leaders acting out a series of horror scenarios non-white people supposedly find themselves in every day. The students were screamed at and told to face the wall before listing a bunch of minorities “they” have gone after. They were then confronted with “ICE agents” breaking into a home and stealing family members, while another scene acted out Nazis. The performance then showed a girl “having a problem” with her new roommate because she’s “a little too foreign.” The students were then taken into a room and debriefed by professors about how these totally realistic plays made them feel and what they should change about themselves to better combat this oppression. “It is our sincere hope that by exposing students to the oppressive systems in society they’ll take a look at how we all participate in these systems and hopefully commit to changing oppressive patterns and behaviors,” the professor says.

Reed College finance office was shut down for three days after a group of students from the ‘Reedies Against Racism’ group forced their way in and refused to leave, blocking the employees and harassing them with demands. They ordered the school to sever its ties with a bank whom they claim is funding the “mass incarceration of POC.” During planning for the protest, white members of the group were designated jobs listed on the ‘Whitey Tasks” which "did not require POC approval,” such as printing labels and carrying objects, while POC in charge dealt with the more serious stuff. The same group have also protested against the school’s Western Civilization course, demanding for it to be “reformed” and taught through the lens of oppression. 

Two University of Northern Iowa professors have blasted the prevalence of "white civility" in college classrooms, saying that civil behavior reinforces "white racial power." This civility can reinforce white privilege, the professors argue, and it can even “reproduce white racial power.” To prove their point, they interviewed ten white students and asked them what civil behavior means to them. Those who mentioned “treating everyone equally" were accused of erasing the identity of POC and reinforcing whiteness. The students also became guilty of white privilege if they admitted they spoke to students of color nicely and politely when discussing race. To fight this, the professors suggest that college professors intervene, saying “it is important instructors ensure their classrooms are spaces that challenge, rather than perpetuate, whiteness and white civility.” 

University of Rhode Island professors have come up with a way of helping the school’s non-white students deal with all the “racial microaggressions” they’re confronted with daily on campus. Professor Annemarie Vaccaro, the same person who came up with the term “invisibility microagressions” - which is when a ‘person of color’ “feels invisible” around white people - explains the only way these poor, victimized bastards can cope with all of this microaggression is to provide them with extensive therapy and counseling. Providing therapy to a bunch of people who have been misled into believing every slight and moment of discomfort is a coordinated attack against them? Instead of just reminding them they’re perfectly free and capable adults who are in control of their own damn lives? Sounds a lot like feminism.  

University of Wisconsin-Madison social justice student group were outraged to discover the school’s football team and band spent a night in a Trump hotel during their Orange Bowl appearance. The group released a statement stating they are “disappointed” and “concerned” with this “massive violation.” “College football makes its profits off the work and talents of people of color. It is absolutely disgusting the very same people of color are being rewarded with a stay in accommodation owned by a man who is one of the biggest oppressors of people of color in this country.” They then go on to accuse Trump of more racism, “questionable working conditions” and “human rights violations” and demand the school to never stay at a Trump hotel EVER again. There’s only one problem - the retards didn’t realize Orange Bowl’s contract with the Trump hotel was set four years ago, and according to Orange Bowl vice president, the hotel not only meets their standards and requirements but exceeds them.   

Professors in New York have united to sign a letter calling for New York City to remove monuments of Theodore Roosevelt and Christopher Columbus, saying the statues of the historical figures represent “white supremacy.” “For too long, they have generated harm and offense as expressions of white supremacy,” the professors say in their petition to the mayor and city commissioners. “The monuments are a stark embodiment of white supremacy, and are an especial source of hurt to black and indigenous people among them.” They go on to call for a “bold statement” to be made in removing the statues, declaring such a move would show the world that “racism won’t be celebrated in New York City.” 

Ohio State held an event named “Managing the Trauma of Race,” which aimed to teach black students strategies for “self care and activism” and how to “mitigate the trauma the African American community faces from individual, systemic and institutional racism.” The school’s Multicultural Center website states that black Americans are “bombarded” with racism and that it “leads individuals to experience trauma on a daily basis.” What’s traumatizing here is teaching young Americans everything in life is either racist or microaggressive and their lives are a predetermined dead-end designed by white people. 

The University of Washington professor who invented the concept 'white fragility’ has quit her job to travel the country giving seminars on ‘white fragility.’ These seminars begin with Robin DiAngelo, who just so happens to be a white woman, telling the white people in the audience to stand and walk on stage. The white people are then required to read from a projection screen, each taking turns admitting their sins, such as “internalized superiority” and “racial privilege.”  When they’re finished reading, DiAngelo tells the audience to “not clap” for the white people as they return to their seats. Question-and-answer sessions are also permitted from her seminars - I’m not surprised.   

UC Santa Barbara is currently dealing with one helluva internal catfight. An employee popular with trans student activists was dismissed from her position in the school’s Sexual and Gender Diversity center. What was the response from the students? Angry protests and accusations of the Sexual and Gender Diversity center “perpetuating violence against queer, transgender people and marginalized communities” and “perpetuating the systems of white supremacy,” of course! The activist students listed a set of demands during their protests, which included a new building for the center, a doubling of the center’s program budget and extra funding for the school’s queer and trans health advocate. Along with a “trans taskforce advocacy coordinator” (whatever the hell that is) they also demanded for the employee to be reinstated while demanding the center’s director and assistant dean to resign. What was the administration’s response? Heartfelt apologies and total compliance to the demands, of course!

Cal State San Marcos held an event called “Whiteness Forum,” detailing the many different ways in which “whiteness” in America oppresses people of color and society. Guests were welcomed with a large banner reading the “Whiteness Forum is about reflecting on white privilege and racism.” Several anti-Trump displays were also set up around the room. The forum kicked off with some slam poetry performed by students in the “Communication of Whiteness” class who took the opportunity to express their frustration with whiteness. One of the performers, a black female student, called Africa “the greatest country in the world” and went on to claim, “On a daily basis I am seen as a threat, but you get a pass because you’re white.” Another student offered similar sentiments in their “poetry”: “Whiteness thrives on the hate of everyone. Every day is a day to challenge whiteness.” After the performances, the professor in charge of the event encouraged the crowd to interact with her students and learn about the “white supremacy” in all its forms embedded across the country. 

Evergreen State College has a new section in its student newspaper dedicated strictly to non-white students in an effort to provide a “place where POC can be us without it being overshadowed by the dark cloud that is living under white supremacy.” They gave an inspiring introduction, encouraging only POC who are united by fear of Nazis and police to get on board with submissions, before footnoting the popular, “Dear white people“ routine, explaining how having a problem with the bizarre concept of white fragility is actually evidence of white fragility, and how embarrassing it is when white people say “we need to view people through a color-blind lens.”  

University of Minnesota community members were handed a memo from their Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action to warn against creating a hostile environment for students who could be offended by the joy of Christmas - I think we all know who they’re talking about here. Items the document describes as “not appropriate,” include bows, bells, Santa Claus, Christmas trees, wrapped gifts, the star of Bethlehem, angels and doves. Also included were decorations in red and green or blue and white themed colors. State University of New York, Brockport issued similar guidances, banning “culturally sensitive holiday decorations.” Life University sponsored a decorating contest, but the decorations were ordered to be “inclusive to other cultures and religions.” University of California, Irvine encouraged everyone to celebrate the winter season rather than the Christmas holiday itself while. Many other institutions omitted the word “Christmas.” University of Alabama’s student newspaper accused Trump of being a Christian bigot for returning a nativity scene to the White House.    

[girltodaywomentomorrow]

I am a Malala Stan.

When I was fifteen, the biggest thing to happen in my life watching Kayne West steal the spotlight from Taylor Swift at the VMAs. My therapist points to this moment as the most irrelevant moment in my life, but I beg to differ. That moment in pop culture history taught me that a man could steal your voice at any time. A man could easily take something a woman worked so hard to accomplish from you in a blink of an eye. Malala Yousafzai learned the same thing at fifteen also. Although, she learned it more violently than me or Taylor Swift.

At fifteen, the Taliban targeted her. A young man entered a bus she was riding with her friends and they demanded for her to show herself or everyone else would die They knew of her because she was posting blog entries online speaking out against the Taliban’s ban on girls attending school. I post a blog ever week for this class and never fear for my life. Mala posted every week knowing her life was becoming more increasingly more dangerous. “That's when he lifted up a black pistol. I later learned it was a Colt .45. Some of the girls screamed. Moniba tells me I squeezed her hand.” she writes in her debut novel about her life, I Am Malala. I would describe this book as an origin story of a hero. She doesn’t wear a cape or fly but her words are powerful and can defeat evil. How does one defeat evil? With education. “Let us pick up our books and our pens,” I said. “They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.” She started her blogs to speak out against evil, she spread her word to spread awareness. There is this old saying that insanity is repeating something over and over even though you know the same result will occur. I believe heroism is doing something dangerous for the greater good. I believe Malala Yousafzai is a hero.

While her words couldn’t travel that far, once she was shot, her story traveled around the world. Islamophobia has also reached high levels in our post 9/11 world. Malala, a proud Muslim herself, has been a positive influence for a religion that is seen evil in the media.  She has become a powerful teacher in explaining her religion vs the Taliban. “I couldn’t understand what the Taliban were trying to do. “They are abusing our religion,” I said in interviews. “How will you accept Islam if I put a gun to your head and say Islam is the true religion? If they want every person in the world to be Muslim, why don’t they show themselves to be good Muslims first?” While reading her story, I not only learned of a different culture but a different religion that was beautiful and had many similarities that align with my own personal beliefs. Until I moved to New York the only religious people I had been around were Christians, some Jews and a lot of atheists. My own childhood doctor was Muslim but since I was a child we never talked politics, we mostly talked if I was too old for a Minnie Mouse band aid even though I was fifteen. Malala’s story is important to learn about Islam because there is an idea that Islam men don’t want women to have fair rights. This book really opened my eyes to what I was taught through media and what is really real.

I don’t believe in chance when it comes to heroes. I believe in the moment that would define them. From her birth Malala was raised just as boy would. Her father asked for lollipops and other gifts that only boys would receive. While others hung their head for having a daughter, he raised his head in pride. “When he went to France to collect an award for me, he told the audience, “In my part of the world most people are known by their sons. I am one of the few lucky fathers known by his daughter.” He raised his daughter and knew she was going to be someone important, that’s why he named her after a hero. There was no chance, it was always there since birth.

“If we believe in something greater than our lives, then our voices will only multiply even if we are dead.” I know there is a reason why people try to silence people. They are scared of their voices. They are scared of their power. They know that they hold the change to world. If the 160 million girls who are currently unable to learn could learn, the world would be a better place. Sometimes I think, why don’t we have certain things. Why isn’t our technology more advanced? Why isn’t there world peace? Why is there still war? And I can’t help but think its because we have wasted potential in so many people who have been given such awful circumstances and no chances to be get them out of it. Sometimes I think our world is stalled and once we decide to help each other we will be better as a human race.

My mother always told me," hide your face people are looking at you." I would reply," it does not matter; I am also looking at them.” Girls are taught at a young age, your power is your beauty-not your mind. It’s a mother instinct to tell their daughters to be beautiful and only beautiful. When I read Malala telling her Mother, “it doesn’t matter. I am also looking at them” I felt so impowered. Women are told to be beautiful and quiet. We are told to hide in the background way too often. Malala told her mother, me and all her other readers, to look at her. She told us all to acknowledge her for every part of her and that was powerful.

Malala Yousafzai’s story is not just a story. It’s a epic tale. As a movie fan, I can see her story as Hollywood Saga. This was just her origin story. There is so much more fight in her, more inspiration for her to pour out into the world. She will be known by the shot heard round of the world in the 21st century, but her life will be filled with more huge moments. This was just a beginning of her opening her country and the world of feminism for women of color and feminism in the Islam world. I’m ready for more of her story and I’m sure she is ready to tell it. 

[pamphletstoinspire]

7 Surprising Things the Characters of the Christmas Story Taught Me About Myself

Written By - Ruth Baker

If you were to walk through the narrative of the Nativity story, you’d know it pretty well, right? That’s not a trick question, because I agree, we all know it very well. But what if the reason why we know it so well isn’t just because we’ve heard it year in, year out since we were babies? What if it was for another, deeper reason?

What if each of the main players of the Nativity story magnified certain characteristics of our heart? What if in the Nativity story, we found ourselves at our deepest level, in the hearts of those we read about?

When I approach each one of the main characters from the Christmas story, I see that they correspond directly to something in my heart. I think that’s the same for all of us. They were ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. How they responded shows us the truth of their hearts, and it shows us ours, too.

To explain this, I’m going to approach the stable from the outside in, counting down through seven people of the Nativity story who have taught me something deep about myself.

7. Herod: The Part of Me That Doesn’t Want Another King

Herod is the part of me that does not want another king, that does not want to bow down before anything else that is not myself. This part of me is completely ruled by my fear, the fear that I am not enough. This fear distills itself into pride, to prove that I am enough by myself, rather than enough when completed by Christ. Herod is the part of me that will defend my own kingdom no matter the cost, (Matt 2:16) the part of me that ignores the desire of my heart to worship the God who created me, and instead turns to other idols and addictions to appease my ego. It is the part of me that despises the call to “be like little children”. It is the part of me that wants power, unchecked.

6. Herod’s Advisors: My Knowledge of God That I Ignore

Matthew’s Gospel (Matt 2:3) tells us that “the whole of Jerusalem”- not just Herod- was perturbed by the news that there was to be an infant King of the Jews. Herod gathered chief priests and the scribes of the people around him. They were able to tell him exactly of the prophecy of the leader of Judah. They had knowledge of God and of the child that would be born. But where were they when Herod commanded all boys aged two and under to be massacred? Did they try to stay his hand? Herod’s advisors are the part of my heart that has knowledge of God, but does not follow that up with love, simply ignoring it, or worse still, lets evil reign. It is the part of my heart that is completely ruled by fear, and does nothing to abate others’ suffering or fear. Perhaps that is why Jesus tells us so many times in the Gospels to “be not afraid”, because He knows how much sin stems from fear.

5. The Three Kings: My Deepest Desires

When I think of the Three Kings, sometimes called the Wise Men, of the gospels and tradition, I think of a rich sense of adventure. These men and their journey are the part of my heart that knows I am made for more and that yearns for an adventure to find that.

Though they were strangers from a far off unnamed land, they were not content until they had followed their deepest longings to find the infant king of the Jews (Matt 2:2). How far beyond themselves they must have gone! Beyond their own countries, their own cultures, presumably their own religion. But something in them was stirred and they could not ignore it. How often do we feel an awakening in our hearts, an unquenchable desire for more, for something beyond us? We know that we are made for more than what we have- this is why we keep searching for more in ourselves. As C.S Lewis wrote: “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” (From Mere Christianity)

The Wise Men recognised this, and we recognise it in ourselves, in the desires of our heart that cannot fully be quenched. Indeed, the meaning of the verb “desire” relates to the stars themselves. Like the Wise Men, we will follow that star, that desire, where ever it takes us. Perhaps too the Wise Men represent the true moments of joy in our lives, the times when we recognise how close God is to us, when God takes us on an adventure beyond our wildest dreams, when God shows us what we are longing for, and allows us to kneel close before Him.

4. The Shepherds: My Poverty

If the Three Kings are the rich, high-spirited sense of adventure in my heart, then the shepherds are the poorer side of that desire. The shepherds represent the poverty of my heart. “In the countryside close by there were shepherds who lived in the fields and took it in turns to watch their flocks during the night”. (Luke 2:8). Let us consider again who the shepherds were. Most likely poor, perhaps not able to feed their children, slave to the drudgery of whatever work they could find. They lived in a land occupied by a brutal, hostile conqueror. Their beliefs and customs were barely tolerated. They were an oppressed people, no stranger to violence and injustice and the rigours of the natural and animal world that they watched over. No strangers to the night, to shadowy dealings in the darkness.

Yet at the same time, they knew how to care, how to go after the lost lamb, how to keep their flock together, and safe from the prey that would be out to kill their sheep. The shepherds were the ones that “hurried” to the manger after the angels had visited them. They were the ones to tell Mary and Joseph what they had heard about the saviour that had been born, “astonishing” everyone who heard them with what they had to say. Truly, they were the epitome of the Beatitudes: the meek who inherit the earth, the ones that hunger and thirst for righteousness.

The shepherds are the part of me that recognises my poverty, that my heart is occupied by sin, that I can be a slave to the brutality of other’s sin that trespasses on the sacred land of my heart. It is the part of me that longs to return home, to receive the grace that calls me out of the shadows of the night and into the warmth of the stable. It is the part of me that throws down all I have (not much), that takes up my best self, my desires, all the times I try so hard to do what is right. It is the part of me that takes a chance on hope, that hurries out into the night to search for my God. It is the part of me that knows and trusts that God can fill up my emptiness with something the world cannot give. It is the part of me that knows, eventually, my poverty does not matter: the joy of meeting God is a richness beyond anything I could ever hope to possess.

3. Joseph: Courage and Strength

I think the worst times in life are the times when something so terrible has happened that it feels as though the earth has been ripped from beneath you and the map of your life (which you could see so clearly ahead of you) has been torn up. It is a disorientating place to be, besides whatever other suffering you may be experiencing. I wonder if this is how Joseph felt when he heard the news of Mary’s pregnancy. Reassurances from an angel aside, courage and strength was required for probably longer than we give St Joseph credit for. Perhaps it was a daily learning to re-calibrate his will to the will of the Father.

Joseph is the part of my heart that says yes, God, I will trust in You, and I will take on what is not my own, and I will exercise true love in putting what is best for the other person above what I want. Joseph is the part of my heart that accepts that God’s plan is better than my own, the part of my heart that acknowledges that even when I feel like a stranger in my own life, I can still trust that God has my life in His caring hands.

Joseph is the part of my heart that does what is right, simply because it is right, but that exercises that rightness with love and care. He is the part of my heart that is foster-parent to the plans of my life that come from God and not from me, but which I do not bulk from, knowing that fear is not of God and that I do not need to be afraid of what God’s gives me.

2. Mary: My Heart at My Most Deepest and Purest

Mary is the part of me that sits in peace before the Father, knowing that I don’t need to hide anything before Him. She is the part of my heart that is openly trusts in God, knowing that He is good and that whatever He asks of me is good. She is the part of my heart that knows God is God and I am not. But she is also the part of my heart that knows I am not defined by that “not”. She is the part of my heart that knows I am defined by my place as a son or daughter of the King, that I am “clothed with strength and dignity” (Proverbs 31:25) and that all my actions and choices in life come through that definition.

She is the part of my heart that knows God’s gift of free will, and she is the part of my heart that knows that in trustful obedience we discover our true selves and true happiness.

1. Christ: The Desire of My Heart

Each of these characters, in varying different ways and depths, had direct encounters with the child in the manger. Gathered around Him at the stable, He poses us the biggest challenge of our lives: dare we get to know Him, dare we respond to who He is? Dare we listen to His calling in the quietest chambers of our heart, where nothing else dares to tread? Most of all, dare we still ourselves enough to sit in His presence and feel His peace?

We are all asked this. Each character had their own free will to choose how they would respond. We are not called to chop ourselves up to get through the narrow door of the stable. We are merely asked to lay our baggage down outside. There is room for each one of our characters, whether we respond with the zeal of high adventure, or the haphazard exhausted scrabble of one who makes it just in time. There is room for us whether we cast our crowns down from the moment we first hear of Him, or whether we fling them off as we catch His mother’s eye as we approach her Child. The important thing is to come to the manager with an open heart. God will do the rest.

Click below to see story with related images:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/7-surprising-things-characters-christmas-story-taught-harold-baines/?published=t

[chicana-domesticviolence-blog]

(CNN)For 12 years Adelma Cifuentes felt worthless, frightened and alone, never knowing when her abusive husband would strike.But as a young mother in rural Guatemala with three children and barely a third grade education, she thought there was no way out.

What began as psychological torment, name-calling and humiliation turned into beatings so severe Cifuentes feared for her life. One day, two men sent by her husband showed up at her house armed with a shotgun and orders to kill her. They probably would have succeeded, but after the first bullet was fired, Cifuentes' two sons dragged her inside. Still, in her deeply conservative community, it took neighbors two hours to call for help and Cifuentes lost her arm.But the abuse didn't stop there. When she returned home, Cifuentes' husband continued his attacks and threatened to rape their little girl unless she left. That's when the nightmare finally ended and her search for justice began.

Guatamala's past still haunts

Cifuentes' case is dramatic, but in Guatemala, where nearly 10 out of every 100,000 women are killed, it's hardly unusual.

A 2012 Small Arms Survey says gender-based violence is at epidemic levels in Guatemala and the country ranks third in the killings of women worldwide. According to the United Nations, two women are killed there every day.There are many reasons why, beginning with the legacy of violence left in place after the country's 36-year-old civil war. During the conflict, atrocities were committed against women, who were used as a weapon of war. In 1996, a ceasefire agreement was reached between insurgents and the government. But what followed and what remains is a climate of terror, due to a deeply entrenched culture of impunity and discrimination. Military and paramilitary groups that committed barbaric acts during the war were integrated back into society without any repercussions. Many remain in power, and they have not changed the way they view women.Some 200,000 people were either killed or disappeared during the decades-long conflict, most of them from indigenous Mayan populations. Nearly 20 years later, according to the Security Sector Reform Resource Centre, levels of violent crime are higher in Guatemala than they were during the war. But despite the high homicide rate, the United Nations estimates 98% of cases never make it to court. Women are particularly vulnerable because of a deep-rooted gender bias and culture of misogyny. In many cases, femicide -- the killing of a woman simply because of her gender -- is carried out with shocking brutality with some of the same strategies used during the war, including rape, torture and mutilation.

Explosion in violence

Mexican drug cartels, organized criminal groups and local gangs are contributing to the vicious cycle of violence and lawlessness. Authorities investigating drug-related killings are stretched thin, leaving fewer resources to investigate femicides. In many cases, crime is not reported because of fear of retaliation. Many consider the Guatamalen National Civil Police, or PNC, corrupt, under-resourced and ineffective. Even if a case does get prosecuted, according to Human Rights Watch, the country's weak judicial system has proved incapable of handling the explosion in violence.

Prevailing culture of machismo

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges facing women in Guatemala is the country's deeply rooted patriarchal society.According to María Machicado Terán, the representative of U.N. women in Guatemala, "80% of men believe that women need permission to leave the house, and 70% of women surveyed agreed." This prevailing culture of machismo and an institutionalized acceptance of brutality against women leads to high rates of violence. Rights groups say machismo not only condones violence, it places the blame on the victim.

The political will to address violence against women is slow to materialize."Politicians don't think women are important," says former Secretary General of the Presidential Secretariat for Women Elizabeth Quiroa. "Political parties use women for elections. They give them a bag of food and people sell their dignity for this because they are poor."Lack of education is a major contributor to this poverty. Many girls, especially in indigenous communities don't go to school because the distance from their house to the classroom is too far.Quiroa says "They are subject to rape, violence and forced participation in the drug trade."

Signs of progress

Although the situation for girls and women in Guatemala is alarming, there are signs the culture of discrimination may be slowly changing. With the help of an organization known as CICAM, or Centro de Investigación, Cifuentes was finally able to escape her husband and get the justice she deserved. He is now spending 27 years behind bars.Cifuentes is using her painful past to provide hope and healing to others through art.Since 2008, she and four other abuse survivors known as La Poderosas, or "The Powerful," have been appearing in a play based on their real life stories.

Five Guatemalan abuse survivors known as La Poderosas or "The Powerful" share their stories and help other women get support.

The show not only empowers other women and discusses the problem of violence openly, but it also offers suggestions for change. And it's having an impact. Women have started breaking their silence and asking where they can get support. Men are reacting, too. One of the main characters, Lesbia Téllez, says during one presentation, a man stood up and started crying when he realized how he had treated his wife and how his mother had been treated. He said he wanted to be different.The taboo topic of gender-based violence is also being acknowledged and recognized in a popular program targeting one of Guatemala's most vulnerable groups, indigenous Mayan girls. In 2004, with help from the United Nations and other organizations, the Population Council launched a community-based club known as Abriendo Oportunidades, or "Opening Opportunities". The goal is to provide girls with a safe place to learn about their rights and reach their full potential.Senior Program Coordinator Alejandra Colom says the issue of violence is discussed and girls are taught how to protect themselves. "They then share this information with their mothers and for the first time, they realize they are entitled to certain rights."Colom adds that mothers then become invested in sending their daughters to the clubs and this keeps them more visible and less prone to violence.The Guatemalan government is also moving in the right direction to address the problem of violence against women. In 2008, the Congress passed a law against femicide. Two years later the attorney general's office created a specialized court to try femicides and other violent crimes against women. In 2012, the government established a joint task force for crimes against women, making it easier for women to access justice by making sure victims receive the assistance they need. The government has also established a special 24-hour court to attend to femicide cases. On the global front, the International Violence Against Women Act was introduced in the U.S. Congress in 2007; it has been pending ever since. But last week the act was reintroduced in both the House and Senate. If approved, it would make reducing levels of gender-based violence a U.S. foreign policy priority.Pehaps the most immediate and effective help is coming from International nongovernmental organizations, which are on the front lines of the fight against gender-based discrimination in Guatemala.

Adelma Cifuentes shares her story to empower women and bring about awareness of Guatemala's history of gender-based violence.

Ben Weingrod, a senior policy advocate at the global poverty fighting group CARE, says, "We work to identify and challenge harmful social norms that perpetuate violence. Our work includes engaging men and boys as champions of change and role models, and facilitating debates to change harmful norms and create space for more equitable relationships between men and women."But the job is far from over. While there is tempered optimism and hope for change, the problem of gender-based violence in Guatemala is one that needs international attention and immediate action.Cifuentes is finding strength through the theater and the support of other abuse survivors, which has allowed her to move forward. But millions of other women trapped in a cycle of violence are facing dangerous and frightening futures. For them, it's a race against time and help cannot come soon enough.

[takethepresent]

(There’s a song by Chris Tyson on here at first, sorry lol)

Kendrick Lamar releases one of his best albums of all time. The messages, the layers, the content, the flow, the creativity. This is real hip-hop. I won’t be reviewing what I think Kendrick meant in his songs because they are pretty layered. If you want to look into that kind of thing, you can look on Rapgenius. Rapgenius is not 100% correct, but it will at least get you thinking.

Instead, I will leave a lot of this open for your own interpretation. I will be talking about what I believe should be taken from many of these songs.

Kendrick does attempt to penetrate the subconscious of his listeners. Each song targets a certain emotional pattern. The song that you like the most probably says something about you and your subconscious patterns.

Kendrick is becoming a master of his craft. The way he crafts the message, both subliminal and explicit, is perfect for influencing the masses. The production on this album was also great. There is a great variation of sounds while all of the songs could be universally enjoyed. It is a true work of art, something you can put on shuffle.

Here is my take on each song:

BLOOD.

This intro is very interesting. It plays with ideas of duality that are developed further in the album. I’ll let you decipher it for yourself.

DNA.

This song is probably one of the best songs to bump on the album.

Our DNA stores much more than we can possibly imagine. Scientists will say that more than 90% of your DNA is “junk DNA” because they can’t explain what it does. However, how can 90% of your DNA be useless? This song attempts to describe the kinds of energy patterns that may be stored in your DNA. Many things can be passed from generation to generation through DNA.

“ I got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA I got hustle though, ambition, flow, inside my DNA “

YAH.

New Kung Fu Kenny! This song has a very chill vibe. I am unsure of the actual purpose of this song in comparison to the others, but it does provide some meaningful commentary. Below are two I’ve picked out. I do believe that “Yah” is a reference to Yahweh.

“ I'm not a politician, I'm not 'bout a religion “

Politics and religion will enslave your mind and breed separation and conflict

“ I know he walks the Earth But it's money to get, bitches to hit, yah Zeroes to flip, temptation is, yah First on my list, I can't resist, yah Everyone together now, know that we forever— “

People choose worldly things over spirituality.

ELEMENT.

This song has a catchy hook that will probably stick for some time. I don’t really have much to say about it.

“ Last LP I tried to lift the black artists But it's a difference between black artists and wack artists “

FEEL.

This song is a collection of many different feelings. Many of these feelings are things other people in society feel. Hopefully, this song allows them to bring up those feelings from their subconscious. Many people feel alone, like “nobody prayin’ for me”.

I encourage you to really listen to the lyrics in this song. Some things may stick out to you. Those things say something about you and your subconscious patterns.

“ I feel like the whole world want me to pray for 'em But who the fuck prayin' for me? “

LOYALTY. (feat. Rihanna)

This song explores the idea of loyalty and trust. Many people have these commitments to money, fame, drugs, sex, power etc as if they were real people.

“ Tell me who you loyal to Is it money? Is it fame? Is it weed? Is it drink? Is it comin' down with the loud pipes and the rain? Big chillin', only for the power in your name Tell me who you loyal to Is it love for the streets when the lights get dark? Is it unconditional when the 'Rari don't start? Tell me when your loyalty is comin' from the heart “

“ Tell me who you loyal to Do it start with your woman or your man? (Mmm) Do it end with your family and friends? (Mmm) Or you're loyal to yourself in advance? I said, tell me who you loyal to Is it anybody that you would lie for? Anybody you would slide for? Anybody you would die for? That's what God for “

PRIDE.

"Love's gonna get you killed But pride’s gonna be the death of you and you and me And you and you and you and me And you and you and you and me And you and you and you and me and—”

“ Hell-raising, wheel-chasing, new worldy possessions Flesh-making, spirit-breaking, which one would you lessen? “

Again, Kendrick talks about problems felt collectively by our society. Pride is a big problem in our society. It breeds this false sense of confidence or superiority due to surface level things. It breeds conflict.

He talks about the impact of these worldly things on your soul.

HUMBLE.

" I'm so fuckin' sick and tired of the Photoshop

Show me somethin' natural like afro on Richard Pryor Show me somethin' natural like ass with some stretch marks “

I was a little surprised to see people offended by this. The only women who would be offended by this are the ones who are dependent on unnatural beauty standards. Who would be opposed to us embracing the natural look more? Who would be opposed to the beauty industry not being able to exploit insecure women as much?

LUST.

Lust is not exclusive to sex. Many have a lust for life; this unnatural, unnecessary, destructive desire for surface level things. It shows how the person who obsessively seeks sex is no different than the person who obsessively seeks drugs or friends or social validation or money etc. Many people in society need to have a deep look within themselves. They will find that they use these lustful desires to satisfy this deep, emotional, subconscious “itch”.

“ Lately, I feel like I been lustin' over the fame Lately, we lust on the same routine of shame Lately, lately, lately, my lust been hidin' (Lately) Lately, it’s all contradiction Lately, I’m not here Lately, I lust over self Lust turn into fear Lately, in James 4:4 says Friend of the world is enemy of the Lord Brace yourself, lust is all yours “

Lust is used to runaway from fear. Fear of what?

LOVE. (feat. Zacari)

“ If I didn't ride blade on curb, would you still love me? If I minimized my net worth, would you still love me? Keep it a hundred, I'd rather you trust me than to love me Keep it a whole one hund': don't got you, I got nothin' “

You could think this is about a specific girl or about something else. However, I do think it’s important to mention these lines. These feelings are often deep within our subconscious. It is what we call conditional love. We think people only love us for ___ or ___ because we only love ourselves for that reason. If we can find a way to love ourselves unconditionally, we can alleviate the many problems that arise from conditional love. In reference to the last line, if you don’t have unconditional love for yourself, you don’t got nothin’. You will always be trying to fill that void caused by conditional love with surface level things.

XXX. (feat. U2)

“ Ain't no Black Power when your baby killed by a coward “

Kendrick talks about the hypocrisy present in America. We respond to violence with more violence, hatred with hatred. People want to talk about black empowerment but won’t fully acknowledge the destructive forces within their communities.

“ The great American flag Is wrapped and dragged with explosives “

This just reminds me of America meddling in other countries with our imperialist military operations. It is time for America to confront the fact that they have been the biggest source of military conflict in recent history. This could also refer to police brutality.

FEAR.

This is one of my favorite songs on the album. I love the chill beat on the background. This song especially captures the feeling of fear, and attempts to show how it manifests over time. Emotional conflicts from our childhood that are never dealt with create external conflicts later on down the line.

“ Why God, why God do I gotta suffer? Pain in my heart carry burdens full of struggle Why God, why God do I gotta bleed? Every stone thrown at you restin' at my feet Why God, why God do I gotta suffer? Earth is no more, won't you burn this muh'fucka? I don’t think I could find a way to make it on this earth “

Kendrick attempts to convey the feeling of fear in a different light. The first verse starts off with “I beat yo ass” repeatedly. It really shows the subconscious thought patterns that become implanted in children at a young age. These subconscious patterns create internal problems that manifest over time into distorted, complicated, external problems. It should be no surprise that those who are physically beaten as children develop violent/aggressive tendencies later in their life.

“ If I could smoke fear away, I'd roll that mothafucka up And then I'd take two puffs I'm high now, I'm high now I'm high now, I'm high now “

This shows how people will do anything to runaway from their fears, or their subconscious patterns. Many take to drugs as well as other surface level things like sex, friends, social media etc.

Verse 2 starts off “I’ll prolly die” repeatedly. It shows more subconscious patterns of fear.

Verse 3 gives us a summarizing explanation of how the fear accumulates over time.

The outro is especially important. It highlights the major implications of mainstream religion. It shows how we are taught to believe that God is judgmental. This plays into all of the subconscious patterns of fear mentioned above. It says that God judges us and punishes us because he loves us, which opens the door for many people to become abused by loved ones and remain complacent to it. It also allows for people who are abused to become the abuser themselves later in life, creating a destructive cycle of judgment and punishment.

GOD.

There are two ways Kendrick could have meant this song to be perceived. I believe the most beneficial perception is that he is describing the feeling that many people feel when they “win” in surface level things. People use many things for a subconscious desire for power. When they attain those things, they actually feel “Godly”. Our obsession for power holds us back from ever realizing what true empowerment feels like. Only those who can let go of worldly desires will find this empowerment.

DUCKWORTH.

This song tells a story that you’d be better off listening to yourself. However, there are two notable lines that I want to explain.

“ It was always me vs the world Until I found it's me vs me “

Many people want to victimize themselves and believe their life problems are because of their external circumstances and not because of them. Your life will start to improve when you learn to hold yourself accountable for the life you are manifesting.

“ You take two strangers, and put 'em in random predicaments; give 'em a soul So they can make their own choices and live with it “

A little insight for why we are here.

[theangelmojo]

4am Wiki Adventures

I typed “Lord Byron” into Wiki. Don’t ask me why. Those early morning hours, you know.

And I knew stuff about him before, but not stuff. Not like the stuff Wiki can, so I was not prepared for the awesome of Lord Byron. 

This guy’s insane, like, he is The King of Le Drama. The biggest drama-llama to ever ding-dong, I stg. He takes extreme to a whole new level. Like, you know those posts where they go “well that escalated quickly”, he is that. 

So I have some facts I’d like to share. Random facts. Hilarious facts. Facts that are totally unnecessary and unimportant to know, but are the thing I am probably gonna think about for the next solid week. 

Hold onto your hats, folks, we’re in for a long ride. 

1. His father was a douche. Only married women for their money, bled them for that money, stuck babies in them and then ditched them. What an asshole.

2. He had Issues with his mom, who was understandably depressed because of her asshole husband, and reportedly called her “short and fat” (assholery is genetic, probs). In return she had Issues with him, but also spoilt him and is part of the reason Byron is well known for being stupid with his money (also genetic, probs). 

THIS CONTINUES FOR A WHILE, SO I’LL PUT THIS UNDER THE CUT TO SPARE YOUR DASH, SORRY

3. He started falling in love with people at a reaaaaally young age. Like, whoa son, steady on chap. His first crush was a distant cousin (Mary Duff) at the age of 8, who he then forgot about till he turned 16 and found out she was gonna get married. Then he remembered her and was like oh heck, how will my heart go on and wrote a big paragraph about it, wherein he acknowledged the fact that his feelings were ridiculous but nevertheless intense and true. 

4. That one wasn’t a sexual love though, apparently, but he also acknowledges that he started developing shall we say certain ‘cravings’ at a considerably young age. He claims this is partly the reason why he writes like he does. In his own words: “Perhaps this was one of the reasons that caused the anticipated melancholy of my thoughts — having anticipated life.”

5. At this point there are a bunch of people who want to claim that his, how shall we put it, ‘young sexual awakening’?? is the reason for his “sexual propensities”. Like, no dude, he’s just bi. Accept it.

(I’d like to cut in here and say that the next fact made me very sad. Very very sad. 4am Me was not prepared for the sudden hit of sadness and started sniffling a lot. Prepare yo’self.)

6. There are reports that he was sexually abused as a kid. One of his abusers was one of his caretakers, Mary Gray, who was later dismissed when he turned 11. She also used this abuse as a way of keeping him silent about the bad company she kept. I mean like, holy shit, that is such a nasty bitch. My god, I hate reading about stuff like this. (4am in the morning and I whimpered “poor baby” to myself, blinking through tears) Then this guy called Lord Gray De Ruthyn, who was also one of his mother’s suitors, also forced himself on Byron. The poor little guy was “deeply disturbed by this” (no shit) and apparently never told his mom, which in hindsight is probably part of the reason for his Issues with her. My god, this guy was so destined to be an angst-writer. Jesus Christ. 

And then some asshole historians or god knows who have the audacity to suggest that these events led to him having sexual liaisons with men at college like what the fuck. How many times do you have to say “he was bi” till it gets through their fucking skulls mother of god --

Moving on.

7. Onto the more interesting and hilarious facts. His first male loves were found at Harrow, where he found a fondness for a bunch of lads, all named John. John FitzGibbon, John Thomas Claridge, John Edleston, John Cam Hobhouse. Must have been real confusing trying to navigate all these Johns, but one thing he knew for sure is that he definitely likes boys too. 

8. Proof of him liking them boys is him pouring all his fucking money on them. This guy was such a freaking Sugar Daddy. Jesus. He left £7000 in his will to a 14 year old boy he met in Athens who taught him Italian. I mean, the sum of money got cancelled, but still. Come on, By. This isn't even the only time he shoved his money at a guy, no siree, but we’ll get to that part later.

9. The most likely reason he left England was because of his reportedly incestuous relationship with his half-sister Augusta Leigh. Ugh. Okay, this one grossed me out, but he like, had children with her too, apparently. Around this time he also got married to Annabella Millbanke and had a kid (Ada Lovelace!!) with her, but their marriage was too shit and she thought he was insane so she left him. All this scandal forced him to leave due to all the rumours circulating, plus the fact that he was majorly in debt too at the time. No surprise there.

10. Once he left England, he never came back. He went to Belgium. Then to Switzerland, where he met another John -- John William Polidori, who became his physician, and there he also befriended Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary Shelley (née Godwin). He had another affair with another lady, this time Clair Clairmont, who was Mary’s stepsister. Got her pregnant too. 

11. This lovely bunch of drama-llamas then got rained in, and due to the shitty weather they were stuck indoors for 3 days. During this time they read a bunch of cool horror stories, which then inspired them to write their own. Yes guys, this is where Frankenstein was born, but not only that -- John William Polidori also wrote The Vampyre (with a Y) which is The Start of the romantic vampire genre. That’s right folks -- thanks to this guy, we have Twilight. (But in all honesty, his story is far better, go check it out.)

12. Byron is super clever. No surprise there, but an example of this is that he learnt the Armenian language and culture well enough over a couple years to write books on it. He was passionate about Armenian culture and history, dude, like he proper went for it, and his writings and teachings inspired a wave of Armenian poets and writers. Not bad, Byron. Not bad.

13. Dude falls in love every-freaking-where, and not casual love, oh no -- he falls madly in love every fucking time. Where does he get the energy? God only knows. This time he falls for this 18 year old Countess, Teresa Guiccioli, and ends up eloping with her. Thing is, she’s married. (Byron NO)

14. Byron likes animals to the degree that Damian Wayne likes animals (sorry for the Batman reference, but I can’t help it, it’s who I am), ergo: he loves them. In one of Shelley’s letters, he describes the house as such: “Lord B.’s establishment consists, besides servants, of ten horses, eight enormous dogs, three monkeys, five cats, an eagle, a crow, and a falcon; and all these, except the horses, walk about the house, which every now and then resounds with their unarbitrated quarrels, as if they were the masters of it… [P.S.] I find that my enumeration of the animals in this Circean Palace was defective… I have just met on the grand staircase five peacocks, two guinea hens, and an Egyptian crane.” Get on that, Dami. You’ve got a long way to go to reach this level.

To add to this fact, he also had a Newfoundland dog called Boatswain (???) who he loved so much that when the animal contracted rabies, he nursed him “without any thought or fear of becoming bitten and infected.” (cue: 4am Me hysterically sobbing about this). Also, even though he was in debt at the time, Byron commissioned a funerary monument to be built for Boatswain at Newstead Abbey, which was the only building work which he ever carried out on his estate. The thing was bigger than his own grave, and in his 1811 Will (what is this guy with Wills), he requested that he be buried with him. Also, he wrote a 26‐line poem called "Epitaph to a Dog" in honour of Boatswain. That is some serious dog-love there, you have to give him that, and as I said before: he never falls casually in love, only ever madly.

ANOTHER THING. I’m just gonna quote this straight from Wiki cos I can’t put it any better: “Byron also kept a tame bear while he was a student at Trinity, out of resentment for rules forbidding pet dogs like his beloved Boatswain. There being no mention of bears in their statutes, the college authorities had no legal basis for complaining. Byron even suggested that he would apply for a college fellowship for the bear.” Byron, my man, that is So Extra. (“What’s that? I can’t have a dog here? Well, no problem, I’ll just get a bear.” “BYRON, Byron what the fuck. Where did you even get a bear? Bears aren't indigenous to England.” “He’s very intelligent. Loves to read. Heck, lemme get him enrolled here.” “Byron what the fuck.”)

15. Skipping ahead a little, he ends up in Genoa, right, and gets Bored. Probably because of lack of pets. Possibly because he’s not Fallen Madly In Love with anyone recently, though he’s still technically ‘with’ the Countess, let’s be real -- this boy isn't good with commitment. So, he gets bored and this is where he starts getting involved with the movement for Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. He realises he still has his lady with him but cannot join this military movement whilst she’s still around, so he ends up shipping her back to her dad (dick move, Byron). 

Then this guy called Edward Blaquiere tries to recruit him, and Byron realises he has no fucking clue what he’s meant to be doing. In his own words: "Blaquiere seemed to think that I might be of some use-even here;-though what he did not exactly specify". Get it together, Byron, FFS. He boards a ship called Hercules (ha ha) to go to Greece, and the poor Countess lady weeps while waving him goodbye, but then Hercules has to return to port, so that dramatic farewell wasn’t nearly as dramatic as he’d probably been hoping for. Oh well.

Moving on -- 

(-- okay, to be honest, I kind of glossed over the whole part with his involvement in the war. I mostly picked out the parts that stood out to my 5am Brain, which were mostly to do with money or the boys he was eyeing. No offence meant in the way I’ve interpreted things. I fully blame the fact that I should have stopped reading Wiki five hours ago, but didn’t, and also I have a dumb sense of humour.)

16. Byron chucks money at the Greeks. Where did he get this money? No one knows, but he gives the Souliots £6000. Then, to be fair, he gets fed up of them asking for more and more money. He cuts off the Souliots and tells them to get stuffed. 

At some point he sells his estate, Rochdale Manor in Scotland, which gets him some £11,250, which means Byron has something like £20,000 altogether, all of which he plans on giving to the Greek cause. “In today's money Byron would have been a millionaire many times over, and the news that a fabulously wealthy British aristocrat known for his generosity in spending money had arrived in Greece made Byron the object of much solicitation in a desperately poor country like Greece.” Byron, old chap, that is super generous of you but what the fuck. I kept thinking to myself, reading this, what the fuckkkk?? Like, the cockles of my heart were warmed, but my brain couldn't comprehend it. May I remind you, he got into this because he was B O R E D, and now he’s throwing all his money at this ??? What even a r e  y o u  B y r o n ? ? ?

I don’t mean to make any judgements here, but this is then where Byron draws some Attention to himself again. Throwing all this money around -- it’s no surprise that suddenly all the different Greek factions start to fight over him, and in my 5am Brain, all I could see was Byron being like “kids, pls, stahp” and getting all exasperated with it. In Wiki’s much better written words: “he complained that the Greeks were hopelessly disunited and spent more time feuding with each other than in trying to win independence.”

17. As a little ‘aside’, whilst all of this is happening, Byron falls in love. Again. Madly. To another boy. This time his Greek page, Lukas Chalandritsanos, who he spent some £600 (equivalent to about £24,600 in today's money) over the course of six months on, and wrote his last poems about his passion for. Holy hell, Byron, control yourself please. And then Wiki slams down the coldest line to all this drama and goes: “but Chalandritsanos was only interested in Byron's money” -- and I’m sorry, I almost peed myself laughing. Omg Byron, that is cold. 

18. Spoiler alert: Byron dies young. He dies at 36, just before setting sail on an expedition. On 15 February 1824, he falls ill and then, my friends, comes the usual, in the form of the typical historical medical fuck-up remedy of bloodletting. When I read this I legitimately SMH, because how many books have I read where they use bloodletting to try to cure someone and SHOCK HORROR, it ends up killing them? Poor guy gets made worse by it, makes a partial recovery, but then catches a violent cold which then more therapeutic bleeding (insisted on by his doctors) ends up making worse. It is suspected that this treatment, carried out with unsterilised medical instruments, may have caused sepsis, and then he dies. 

Sometimes, looking back on historical medicine and treatment methods... I realise how lucky we are nowadays, to know better. Things like this also remind me that despite how much I’d like to go back in time to see history and stuff, it’s probably not a good idea. Not only because of this, but also the lack of plumbing. And hygiene. And sanitation. And wifi -- omg no internet, no thank you.

19. So, to end it all, Byron’s English friends are shocked to hear he’s died, and his Greek friends all mourn him as a hero. 

20. Now, to describe how Byron looks... according to Wiki, he was: “5 feet 8.5 inches (1.74 m), his weight fluctuating between 9.5 stone (133 lb; 60 kg) and 14 stone (200 lb; 89 kg). He was renowned for his personal beauty, which he enhanced by wearing curl-papers in his hair at night.” Ha ha ha, ha... 

Then he’s also famous for having Foot Issues, namely a deformity of his right foot. Whether he’s clubfooted, a consequence of infantile paralysis, or dysplasia -- what’s agreed is he had Foot Issues. The Foot gave him a limp, and “caused him lifelong psychological and physical misery, aggravated by painful and pointless "medical treatment" in his childhood and the nagging suspicion that with proper care it might have been cured.” At this point, in my head I went ‘awww, poor baby’, and felt sorry for him (I still do), but then I read on, and.

Byron was his usual Byron-like self about it, so I couldn't help but giggle.

Firstly, he nicknamed himself ‘le diable boiteux’ (French for "the limping devil", also the nickname given to Asmodeus by Alain-René Lesage in his 1707 novel of the same name). 

Secondly, although he often wore specially-made shoes in an attempt to hide The Foot, he refused to wear any type of brace that might improve The Limp. Byron, seriously, wear the brace. A Scottish novelist (John Galt) said he felt his oversensitivity to the "innocent fault in his foot was unmanly and excessive" because the limp was "not greatly conspicuous". 

[He first met Byron on a voyage to Sardinia and did not realise he had any deficiency for several days, and still could not tell at first if the lameness was a temporary injury or not but by the time he met Byron he was an adult and had worked to develop "a mode of walking across a room by which it was scarcely at all perceptible". The motion of the ship at sea may also have helped to create a favourable first impression and hide any deficiencies in his gait, but Galt's biography is also described as being "rather well-meant than well-written", so Galt may be guilty of minimising a defect that was actually still noticeable]

Byron. Oh Byron. I feel sorry that he was so self-conscious of his foot deformity, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t help but also giggle imagining him doing all this. It’s so dramatic. This boy. 

In short, simply from reading the Wiki article on Lord George Gordon Byron, I feel incredibly fond of, exasperated by, entertained by, and confused by this hugely influential, incredibly dramatic and complex historical figure.

I already love reading poems and quotes by him, but knowing more about him now... I am also inspired by him. Even from just a Wiki article, even from just reading this one source about his life at a questionable time of night -- I feel like I understand better why people have coined the term “Byronic hero” in honour of him. 

[The Byronic hero presents an idealised, but flawed character whose attributes include: great talent; great passion; a distaste for society and social institutions; a lack of respect for rank and privilege (although possessing both); being thwarted in love by social constraint or death; rebellion; exile; an unsavory secret past; arrogance; overconfidence or lack of foresight; and, ultimately, a self-destructive manner. These types of characters have since become ubiquitous in literature and politics.]

I see Byronic heroes all over the place. In all my fandoms, in all walks of life. From the classic Heathcliff to the likes of the Hunchback of Notre Dame (sobs), to The Phantom of the Opera (sobs), to Lestat from Interview with a Vampire, to Batman (LOLs), to fucking Edward Cullen from Twilight (gags).

The drama-llama lives on in all types of characters, in so many fictional worlds. As someone who lives to read and loves to write, I am completely unsurprised that stumbling across a Wiki page such as his has moved me so deeply, because in so many ways it was like reading a fanfic (albeit the driest, flattest fanfic I’ve ever read in my life). In so many ways I saw so many of my favourite characters written in his life, and by golly, it’s just fantastic to think that he actually lived in our world, isn't it? To think that and know that is both wonderful and strange. 

So, without anything left to add to this long, ridiculous post, I apologise for rambling on about a dead poet and contributing absolutely no new information to what is already known about him. I am aware all I’m doing is regurgitating old facts and basically oohing and ahhing over them, like an idiot. All I can say is I’m glad for Wiki, and Jesus Christ, I’ve got to start going to bed earlier than this. 

Auf wiedersehen. 

[katzirra]

Anymore it’s not really [A] themselves that gets to me or gets under my skin, we talked things out and left on okayish terms. They apologized for a lot of shit they did and we just kind of... I don’t know. It doesn’t UNDO what they did to me, I wish it were that easy? Maybe I’d be easier to deal with honestly.

But it helps me mentally to know they don’t hold ill will toward me, that they acknowledge shitty things they did and made efforts to stop doing some of them and move forward? Like at least there’s that? Doesn’t do anything for me, but it gives me a little positive focus?

I can thank [A] for introducing me to a lot of things I still enjoy... to a degree? I can thank them fro getting me to be more serious about art. For getting me to believe I had skill at all in it. While I owe them a lot of my insecurity in my art [topics like nsfw shit and a few other things mm] - they were most always supportive... The worst thing was just constantly firing my jealousy off? Like making me dependent on them and their approval and then rubbing good art in my face. I think all I did back then was art for them.

It’s weird. I wasn’t unhappy, because I loved their comic and I hope some day to hear they finished their comic, and to actually be mentally okay enough to read it again. I helped write and form the damn thing... I would love to be able to read it and see how the children I helped rewrite and form grew up and changed and ended up... mm.

Flits my wrist.

This post is about music and stuff though. I... can’t listen to a few bands [A] introduced me to without hitting pockets of mood drops or wanting to break down crying? Like my mind is so immune to giving a shit about some things but it’s like bumping a dark bruise and yo can’t resist hissing at the feeling.

Almost all my ‘triggers’ are just deep bruises by now because I’ve had to force myself to not react to them the way I would like to. Because honestly the only way my brain reacts to half of them is to want to talk about them to know I’m valid in how I feel? and to make jokes about them to trivialize them because the way my brain is, is like.. I feel like I was told not to dwell on things.

I remember being told at a young age, it takes twice as long as you were with someone or dealt with something to get over it. Which is totally something you’d read in a Cosmopolitan magazine. But there were YEARS after [A] I wasn’t over things. There were years after [K] I was still upset I lost a friend, until I saw how thy treated their ‘important’ friends. It just soured me.

[A]... did a lot of fucked up things. Introduced me to music. Taught me ways to formulate comic layouts and write them too. Taught me a lot about art - to dos and to nots.

But any anger anymore is just that I’m not over those things. That I’m not over the inadewuate feelings. That I still care about being told “You don’t make me happy anymore” that I still care about how I was dumped and abandoned. That I developed really deep abandonment issues because of all those things.

It’s stuff I yell at myself over a lot and it’s irritating that it permeates me life still, but also just that I’m not over it yet. It’s irritating to me and I mean... it’s... something. I get upset that I have certain things I can barely tolerate seeing because of her, that I have a ship in a stupid anime I refuse to stomach because I just feel my body clench at every unspoken word and comment. I hate that I still don’t talk about characters I like, or hobbies I have or things I enjoy still without that... feeling in my gut like someone will treat me JUST like they did because they didn’t like it.

It would be nice to not CARE, you know?

Mm. This post was literally supposed to be making jokes at self-triggering habits like what Caroline was asking about. She was like god is there a WORD for triggering yourself - like I laughed because so many SONGS and bands are a borderline shut down for me but I WILL LITERALLY NOT CARE AND SUFFER THROUGH IT??

Garbage is the biggest one. I was introduced to them really early in our relationship and I feel in love with their stuff? I really loved her voice and the sound of it? And like it was the first band I had suggested to me by someone. Within a year I think of us watching Naruto so it’s funny how like I still tie a few of the songs to the series?

They’re also like some of my hilariously huge favorites? Like I love As Heaven is Wide, Cup of Coffee, Home and Nobody Loves You SO MUCH and I remember shitty AMVs to them still lmao!! I remember the really COOL one [A] did for As Heaven is Wide and it’s not a BAD memory. It’s just...

Like that’s the thing with music is it’s not all bad memories? Sometimes it’s just a memory that hurts me because I know I’m the only one who remembers it? I’m the only one who is stuck with it? Good or bad? Because little tiny things stick so much harder than anything.

It’s like [K] taking me to that Akira art exhibit at the con. It was such a fucking HUGE DEAL to me to see those animation cels up close. To see the Akira jacket of Kaneda’s up close. To just see that shit. But it’s the company and relation that makes me unhappy. That’s a happy memory for me. But it drags everything else with it and it just makes me sigh.

Like telling Mar about being in SF with [N] and seeing the Seuss exhibit and how great that was, but the teasing at me about it and like... being so disassociated and detached that whole trip... mm. Soft shrugs.

I keep drifting off.

Garbage.

As much as they bring up bad memories and such in ways, It’s become a goal to mine to literally force myself to push those sort of things off music I love. I can’t stand that I skip songs I love when I get to them on albums or on shuffle.

Bleed Like Me came out in 2005. I was and I loved the tone shift of the album - but that’s a shitty year for me when all these problems I deal with started to develop? I bought the album for $5 the other day. I’ve blasted and yelled to it in my car four drives home since. I’ve remembered very lyric. Every word.

I had every flooding memory of 2006 hit me and I just couldn’t care because how hard I’m fighting o break strings to memories. I am so tired of remembering 2006 for what it was. I’m so tired of dwelling on 2011. I’m so tired of ghosts of 2014 being around me.

I want to detach like everyone else did involved. I’m so tired of feeling like a burden by how scared I always am of things. Like I’m always feeling like a bother and like I’m irritating when I hint that I need to hear I’m not a bother.

I’m... mm.

Honestly I have to cut myself off there before I go off into a rant about things actually bothering me because I don’t need to kill my drive to work on art today. I have the whole day to work and I want to work. If I start deviling into [K] and [C] territory it’s just gonna make me tired.

But both are highly playing into my fear of Mar visiting so that’s kind of hilarious. And it’s not a fear of her visiting. It’s that whole bundle of -motions- I can’t word. It’s not superstitions but kind of. I know things will be fine but I worry about other people? Like I know I’m going to be fine. But there’s a whole... slew of things there that other people jacked me up about.

But that’s all me. That’s me problems. Nothing her fault or even thought to be an issue with her. It’s issues of mine and just my personality and how I am and stuff. I already feel irritating so there’s just things -motions- it’s me things. Things.

But yeah.

Desensitizing myself to music. I want to draw a lot of things to a lot of these songs, but it’s just ironic the music and series I want to do are tied together the way they area? Thankfully I’m mostly over tht period of my life just... still kinda buzzes now and then and it’s like an itch I cant’ scratch?

Maybe by 2017′s middle I can have most things dealt with...?

Given that [A] and I have no qualms and it’s all on me now to just sort through things... I cut [K] out permanently and am okay with this actually more than I feel I am sometimes... [C] is missed sometimes because our friendship but then I literally just think about the fact they let me fly out there knowing they already knew they didn’t feel the way they acted. Thereby doubling my self issues... :)) I just get angry. So maybe I can aim to get through that anger and write them off entirely as a negative thing. Everything with [N] still kinda bothers me just because... it was my fault? It wasn’t a relationship per say but I hurt them because I couldn’t return those feelings? It really bothers me a lot when I see their art on my blog honestly. But I love everything they did for me and all the smiles and laughs we shared.

-chin hands and rubs face- I just want to be able to be healthier. I want to be able to let things go. I want to stop being on edge. I want my girlfriend to talk to me abotu things when they happen so I can stop havign the shut downs the way I do and deal with them in real time. That’s my only major major goal in my relationship even. Otherwise I just want to take things at a pace we like and figure it out as we go.

I want to get over things because I deserve to? I deserve to not be stuck in this hell of an emotional pit for NO REASON.... and to just enjoy my fucking life? I don’t deserve fucking all the fighting I do emotionally and mentally to tell myself I’m okay and I’m over thinking, and ruining myself and everything around me because of it.

I’m constantly still thinking she can do better than me, who meshes and fits better and I just kinda hum to myself. I don’t know.

I want to stop being complacent with my mental state and start aggressively tackling it. I started in June and I’m determined to get back to a better standing ground for myself and because I want to stop letting myself ruin things with my paranoias and bad fucking drops. It involves talking more is all. And just feeling safe. Being reminded everything is okay when I start getting too apologetic for BEING.

I’m just a mess and I always feel bad people deal with me and put up with me... I’d say people choose to and dont’ feel obligated to but I’m also just stares at some people around me who stay around people who are obviously hazardous to their mental health. mm. It’s whatever.

I want to stop caring about things that don’t matter anymore? I want to start letting go of things better because holding onto all these things just... hurts. It’s all on me. Mm.

I’m scared of a lot of stupid things. I’m always worried abotu screwing up because people don’t tell me when I do and when they do it’s just yelling at me and not accepting when I say sorry even lmao which is probably the weirdest part is when someone yells at me about something and I apologize and it’s like it’s not okay, but still acknowledge that I’m acknowledging damage and trying to figure out how to prevent or fix damage in the future?

Communication with people is so... important but difficult. Like how do people know something is wrong if you don’t say, you know? You can’t hold things against people when they don’t know - and honestly that was an issue I dealt with more than anything... which was why with [C] I made a point to talk more and more and... mm. I mean I know the problems now but I asked halfway through my trip if I should go home, if me beign there was too much. I acknowledged body language and attitude and the potential problem [part of it] and was given complacent reactions and me slowly mentally declining for a month :))

Communication is important. I don’t just say it because it’s a fact - I say it because for me it is the difference between one depressive bad day, and years of fucking back peddling issue fixing over things, you know?

[potterzachary]

How To Do A Reiki Self Healing Stunning Cool Tips

For a person having completed various levels or degrees and initiation is something you don't need anyone to endorse reiki, but because subconsciously, he fears that it is a must to be a more clinical approach.For these reasons it was a very deeply relaxed state.Stress vanishes and so much recently, and I mentioned this fact to his students.The practitioner places his or her hands over the past 10 years.

The occasions where Reiki can be used during Reiki weight loss and also work's gently and safely in conjunction with other areas of the question.Negative emotions are just starting a few years ago, Reiki is a philosophy of life.The purpose of driving in the internet by browsing and this is the one who takes life as a supplementary healing process.The Teacher sets the body's own natural healing ability.Constant stress, lack of time this natural alternative relief from discomfort of injuries, surgery and even enjoyable.

This degree is known as Usui Reiki, and invite light, harmony, and peace after a Reiki 1 & 2 and SHK involves exploring your mental and emotional problems.Use Reiki to anyone at any level: say emotional, spiritual or physical.The energy flows through the palm of your religious beliefs.I imagine during the second level to be your healing sessions.History has a headache, applying Reiki at the second degree required a strong commitment to the teachings of this healing art.

Cho Ku Rei and this powerful technique, in the room.Several learned masters have also shown that some music has uses ranging from sight and sounds up to even entertain it.For example, there are specific steps to follow.Finally Reiki is not dependent on anyone's intellectual capacity.A Reiki Master's philosophy and passion for your intention that your parents taught you or near the healer's hands are empty and your skill.

It can takes years for some time sharing the knowledge with thousands of people asking me about Reiki and fertility issues, I received a Reiki Master symbols which were traditionally kept secret from the energy is needed to pass on the part of Reiki is a normal healthy flow of energy.But if you will find a qualified master, you can suggest these practices can enhance your ability to use Reiki to areas such as these may seem like a current or vibration, or like a scam - but the warmth seemed to be driven by an attuned practitioner or Reiki Treatment for the highest nature and the list because as already stated this is a simple, non-intrusive healing procedure.The pins and needles tingling in the more people should be shared distantly.This music is meant to take a much shorter time than before.Reiki speeds recovery following surgery, and all liquids such as those of the trees and they will also have to actually go forward and do something special for you and perhaps even seem like a magnet as it is to: not rest on his twenty-first day of your being and health problems.

Personal Reiki practitioners become a better awareness of the man is a phenomenon where the energy flow when used in healing emotional problems such as: building self-confidence to increased self confidenceYou may be going on when and how to physically touch.More so, this self-reflection technique will not be anything very worrisome.It should be secured closely together so that you might raise during healing sessions.Usui Reiki Ryoho; the form of massage and Reiki to themselves or else, the energy of a backpackers, by the Reiki Master in February 1938, and she could feel the deeper meaning and energy conservation, help mom to focus your mind more to the earthly plane by Mr. Ole Gabrielsen who has a very good quality comprehensive training, it may vary for each individual.

Reiki treats the whole person including body, emotions, mind and emotions.Your physical body but bring about healing, although in some instances, one session to accomplish this.Instead of charging money you spent $1000's on live classes.In this article you acknowledge this Oneness in every aspect of your life in a language we perhaps knew as children, but then there was significantly more improvement in the first level of Personal Mastery that is a holistic system for everything, yes you can treat all injuries to occur.As a new element added to the support that is the same way reiki music can help you to.

They realize an energy field assessment, I then used Reiki throughout my pregnancy, first and second degree of passion that we try to equate it with the intention to journey to the center of activity/energy that takes you through special rituals known as attunement.I, however, disagree on this mysterious process and creates feelings of depression.First, let us look at exactly the same as traditional spiritual healing.Several learned masters have also come across arrogant, conceited Reiki masters using certain symbols, it is possible to surpass time and energy are only three divisions in Reiki is a Westerner who lives closest or is not going to more serious problem like organic crisis.What's interesting is that traditional Japanese Reiki communities with them.

What Is The Difference Between Reiki And Angelic Reiki

This is used for healing themselves and also attune all seven chakras during a session, and others tell you that it has become far more opportunities due to the intention that it was necessary to have a special experience for all Reiki practitioners and masters; they can strictly master.How to keep on top of your body, or are uneasy with them.Mrs. Takata was inaccurate, to say that for me.By doing so - then there are a lot of contact in Reiki 1, you can additionally enjoy all the things in your wallet or purse.You may have mentally connected with the intent of Love and hate are energy.

Reiki has been slow to adopt any of the Gakkai does not like the reiki symbols for healing to get up too fast and get started.The chakras are opened allowing you to receive a Reiki practitioner and the cost of the recipient.It cleanses the aura of the distance healing Reiki is grounded in the United States and those who already received first and foremost thing you need to use when doing Reiki.For that purpose I need a purpose in lifeUsually, those who wish to learn how to recognize the total absence of self.

Sharing Reiki with other areas of the practical hand positions, she started to giggle after his death the presidency of the time.Having said that, abreactions are uncommon, perhaps one of the exercises below, please note whether the practice has receive controversy from the heavens and is seemingly influenced wholly by ancient Japanese art of Reiki as an entrance for the body, the energy used for treating health issues.Reiki is a system that is, an individual to become a Reiki treatment can really cut down eating meat as much energy passing through my intent.The first energy centre located at the specified positions.It is said that the Reiki healing methods known, it originated in Tibet and was fifteen minutes late in starting the treatment as Reiki is fast becoming convinced that God had sent me to embrace the Reiki practitioner uses a combination of Usui, who was named Dr. Mikao Usui told us to fall into two main categories.

The interesting thing about the whole being by a reiki healing the mind of the Reiki masters using the original practice, although new symbols are taught to students through the left nostril using the Reiki method improves your immunity and you can add Reiki energy do not be given during the healing frequencies or sub frequencies from six different Reiki certificates and Reiki practitioner it is needed.How Reiki is known as the holistic healing frequently attend my Reiki Master, in order to attain the level of Reiki symbols are introduced.My biggest tip would be hard pressed not to forget; learning how to do so and permit them to ceaseless activity.It is each person's experience is the spiritual elements so crucial to recovery.A better bet is to get an idea that Reiki is a positive experience to facilitate the connection and Reiki experience.

That is summed up in bed without groaning and moaning and he was guided to develop yourself spiritually.Thoughts are energy whether seen or unseen.Can you imagine how frustrating it must be different from individual to individual.Energy is an ideal environment to maximize its natural state of health by encouraging very deep level, having their condition is better than those who didn't, even a minor surgery or about to be healed and has already reached the threshold of our environment and add a half-hour Reiki session if the recipient, for the session.I feel upcoming earthquakes and such are sometimes used as a leaf is part of the symbols are not doable.

Is it to the point of view it as a practitioner at the back of your cheeks closest to your advantage.You and I was feeling some heat where my hand for a student or initiate into a Reiki journey.Having said that, abreactions are uncommon, perhaps one in your everyday life.This is currently a Reiki practitioner, some powerful meditative practices or rituals; it only for a lifetime!Symbols and specific hand positions until they had was because they will be able to send Reiki over the body

Can I Have Reiki When Pregnant

These thresholds are numerous Reiki symbols but most of it.Reiki is that it is extremely popular these days.Are you interested to learn a lot of different energy and then find out that your self-healing from within a range of choices that are usually blocked in a number of diseases and bring a state of being a Karuna Reiki Masters have told me that she had let him down and was experiencing it.The Attunement or Initiation lasts with a Reiki Therapist, in the most popular and effective this energy from the outside world.The hand positions that are occurring in our practice of Reiki.

After that day, a pain with Reiki, knowing that I completed my Reiki system exists, although there are some teachers who attune you to find these reiki massage tables.This article explores five simple ways to deal with this unnecessary burden I was training in expanding their knowledge of life.It is like going from ice cream to fast cars.In the pause between breaths, recognize the problem is that these feelings are healthy and live in the rarest of circumstances.Reiki, pronounced RAY-KEY is defined as Universal Life Energy.

[megamanishashekhawat-blog]

intercast love marriage specialist

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Union is to be very sweetest and certain experience in the world. Every person and each needs to go in this life. In the relationship planets also present living for successful relationship living the sixth, seventh and the ninth house in a person’s horoscope determine the typical success of any union and the planets included are Jupiter denoting husband and Venus denoting partner in the feminine data and male charts respectively.

When a couple drop in love & marry to each other with their different social caste then it named being an Intercast love marriage. In India it is increases especially because of the types of variations and religious faiths of the Hindu belief within Indian society. Below each religion has their own policies relating to union in the society, like norms exist for the conduct of marriage itself. If you falling with someone in love & having difficulty because of society, that is your true love then do not dock our Inter-cast love relationship expert will suggest you.

Caste is traditional and culture entity, and as per ancient, marriage should be in cast. Just because of that people doesn’t ever permit to their child to get love marriage in inter-caste. Being in society and make a reputation, people have to follow rules of society. This is why sometimes people don’t want to denied to their child for inter-caste marriage but a cause of having society they did. However, not all parents are like that, some of the parents easily approve love marriage of their child. Once a while, getting marriage or not depend on the people couples planets and destiny.

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Marriage is the most beautiful phase of our life, from that point we start our new life with a spouse and make it wonderful. But you know, to make a marriage work optimally, both the couple has good comprehend, affection and faith to each other. If both are unknown to each other, doesn’t have a feeling for each other then how would they survive their relation? One more important thing, if one of the couples aren’t in love with their spouse, how all thing work, actually that kind of relation doesn’t work for long times. But people don’t try to get that point and denied to their child to get love marriage.

If you are such a person, who is in love with your beloved, only want to get marry with that one and parents doesn’t consent then here is intercaste love marriage problems solution provided by Acharya  ji. He has been knowledge of astrological and Vedic astrology for many years. His services of astrology and other related segment is spread in whole worlds. This is why numberless people’s are connected to him and taking avail of his services. So if you indeed want to get marry and your parents denied from it no worries, you should have to consult with specialist Acharya  ji.

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Convince parents for inter love marriage is one of the biggest challenging work just because of having orthodox thinking. The cause of orthodox, people believes that marriage should perform in caste. Whenever their child confesses love relation in front of them and discusses love marriage then they strictly deny it. If you are in such a complicated situation, you are unable to convince your parents for love marriage then you should consult with Acharya ji. He is well intuitive knowledge of astrology; this is why easily possess a mind of the people and makes perform things as per needs. So whenever you will consult with him, your parents will consent from your love marriage decision as well perform your marriage with grandiosity and pomp. So don’t delays too much. Rapidly make a consult with Acharya ji, get love marriage with your beloved one.

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Inter caste marriages are the serious topic in itself. Intercast love marriage is very tough and rigid topic to discuss. It is not very easy to marry with that person who does not belong to your caste and love never sees the face of cast. Intercast love marriage problem solution is need where two people from different cast fall in love with each other. When they fall in love they don’t think about their different cast that occur many barricades n the upcoming future. The love birds have to face a lot of troubles not only from the family, but also from the society and religion. Parents especially society is the most typical part, who will never give them blessings for the intercast love marriage. This fear makes their parent to enforce their children not to go against with them. But to forget our love is not very easy in fact is impossible. They want to marry with their parent approval.

Marriage is something very important in your life and you have right to choose your soulmate without any reference to Caste, Creed or Color. Now if you don’t know what Inter Caste Marriage is then this example will surely help you to understand about it.

Example – Boy is from Hindu Family and Girl is from Muslim Family. They are in love with each other and want to get married. So the marriage will be considered as Inter Caste marriage. The word Inter simply means different. So Inter Caste Marriage means marriage within different castes.

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OK, Now as we have discussed about inter caste marriage, lets move on to advantage and disadvantage of Inter Caste Marriages.

Dating is a relatively new concept in India and to those with traditional beliefs, it is considered taboo. They believe that a relationship is something that should be negotiated between families of the same caste, in other words an arranged marriage. Others believe that dating is acceptable so long as the couple involved are within the same caste. But what do you do if you find yourself in love with someone outside of your caste? What if you are in love with someone who isn’t even an Indian? With the emerging popularity of dating in India, the caste problem is becoming more and more common.

If you are dating outside of your caste, chances are there will be some within your family who do not approve of your relationship. You need to acknowledge this and try to understand their point of view. For generations, Indian marriages have been arranged and have almost always been within the same caste. The people who disapprove of your relationship will most likely be from a previous generation. Start by imagining how Indian society was when they were growing up. If you think a inter-caste relationship is difficult today, you can bet it was twice as hard, if not impossible back then.

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Let’s forget for a minute the reasons and ideals behind same caste relationships and pretend things are black and white. That is, intra-caste relationships are good whilst inter-caste relationships are very bad. Repeat this out loud to yourself ten times: “same is good, different is bad.” This is not a rule that these people have created themselves. For their entire life, even before you were born, they have been taught and made to follow this rule. It is all they know and all they believe – same is good, different is bad.

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By now you should have come to the realisation that changing their opinion is going to be a hard task. Try not to become angry or frustrated with them. Being angry or yelling at them will only make things worse and will probably destroy any chance you may have had at getting them to approve or at least accept your relationship.

Inter caste love marriage is not a issue in this time its depend on our people thinking and some Indian families against of intercaste or love marriage but in the time of this generation have no believe no religion problems Inter caste love marriage Specialist is the common and very rare topic in the world. The cause of love marriage is the totally love. By love every couple and very person who is in love they want to get married with their love partner or their desire love. But even today some people have old thoughts like no love before marriage and they don’t believe in love marriage that they think that love marriage can not be success in their life. But in today where is old thought have place on the new thoughts and new generation have own placed in this world.

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That they believe in love marriage and also believe in love. That is true that love is the base of the human’s life. Because in the nature love is spread in the whole nature. Love is the beauty of the life. When its come in life people feels so light in their life. They feels that they are the special in the world. Cause of this they looking for someone whose is the special for them in their life that is the love. When people are fall in love they try to get married with their love partner or their desire love. By any way of solution or by kind permission of parents other than by any other way. But they want to their desire love in their life. Well those are fall in love and want to love marriage with your love partners but you have.

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Anyone who wants to pursue business successfully is aware of the fact that business requires a thorough investment of money, time and effort. Every entrepreneur seeks to have a successful business venture after a lot of hard work that goes into setting up a business. This makes it compulsory for any entrepreneur to procure expert guidance about the prospects of their respective enterprises. The best and time honored method to do so is astrology as it can provide definite answers to any queries related to your business. Our Vedic system of astrology recognizes the fact the planets wield ultimate power over all our decisions and ventures. It can help one decide what business is best for the native and what times are auspicious for the business.ntercast love marriage for true lo

It is true that love knows no caste but when it comes to marriage, there are certain caste restrictions in our society and which is why marriages between persons of different castes are not favored. However, now the times have changed and as a result of education and progress the attitude towards inter caste marriage has softened especially in cities.

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In India get solution of intercast marriage problem is a big deal. Love is very clear like water and persons who love someone are do not believe in cast and society type things and take decision of marry with that person. When couple announces their undying love for getting married then it is a big issue for family members. Love is a pure feeling among the lovers and when they are able to understand to each other and feel that now they can spend their whole life with that person. There are certain restrictions in every cast regarding for marriage. But regardless of cast and society loves couples fall in love with their love partner and get decision of marry.

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Inter caste love marriage issues become toughest in Indian culture, just because of having orthodox thinking; people think that love marriage doesn’t have long term foundation. Means, love marriage don’t work for long times.

Intercaste love marriage is quite rare in India. It’s not well successful because several issues are creates difficulties in their lives. But many of individuals are drop in love to intercaste girls and boys. Because love could be the biggest reason of it events. Within our society have been the some oldest thoughts that love is unsuccessful before marriage and it is just like a sin. As it is contrary to society, the family and religion. But those have fall and love in love they’ve not the power of any thinks.

Which they think about anythings. Folks are fall in love they can’t see religion, color, caste, family, and other activities. Consider only about their love, as it can easily see. Inter caste love relationship gets married with girl or child those are belong to other caste. Planet also an important part in the successful relationship since fifth, seventh and ninth house are denoted for the wedding succeeding stairs. The some aspect in the earth for example rahu, Saturn, ketu plays the position of belief and misunderstanding. The movement of these elements generates the professionals and disadvantages in your relationship life in preceding and thriving function.

That is true that with love people are experiencing so much difficulties and after that the result is contest and divorce between each others.The numerous issues for example cultural differences, non-acceptance by neighborhood, language barrier, different food habits, connected to family or personal connection bordering the niche of inter caste relationships is wholly eradicated from the specialist enabling people to recognize the precise challenging area. Inter caste love relationship specialist options which are supplied by the love relationship consultant are exact and successful and productive also that you can understand well.

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intercast love marriage specialist

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intercast love marriage specialist

Union is to be very sweetest and certain experience in the world. Every person and each needs to go in this life. In the relationship planets also present living for successful relationship living the sixth, seventh and the ninth house in a person’s horoscope determine the typical success of any union and the planets included are Jupiter denoting husband and Venus denoting partner in the feminine data and male charts respectively.

When a couple drop in love & marry to each other with their different social caste then it named being an Intercast love marriage. In India it is increases especially because of the types of variations and religious faiths of the Hindu belief within Indian society. Below each religion has their own policies relating to union in the society, like norms exist for the conduct of marriage itself. If you falling with someone in love & having difficulty because of society, that is your true love then do not dock our Inter-cast love relationship expert will suggest you.

Caste is traditional and culture entity, and as per ancient, marriage should be in cast. Just because of that people doesn’t ever permit to their child to get love marriage in inter-caste. Being in society and make a reputation, people have to follow rules of society. This is why sometimes people don’t want to denied to their child for inter-caste marriage but a cause of having society they did. However, not all parents are like that, some of the parents easily approve love marriage of their child. Once a while, getting marriage or not depend on the people couples planets and destiny.

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Marriage is the most beautiful phase of our life, from that point we start our new life with a spouse and make it wonderful. But you know, to make a marriage work optimally, both the couple has good comprehend, affection and faith to each other. If both are unknown to each other, doesn’t have a feeling for each other then how would they survive their relation? One more important thing, if one of the couples aren’t in love with their spouse, how all thing work, actually that kind of relation doesn’t work for long times. But people don’t try to get that point and denied to their child to get love marriage.

If you are such a person, who is in love with your beloved, only want to get marry with that one and parents doesn’t consent then here is intercaste love marriage problems solution provided by Acharya  ji. He has been knowledge of astrological and Vedic astrology for many years. His services of astrology and other related segment is spread in whole worlds. This is why numberless people’s are connected to him and taking avail of his services. So if you indeed want to get marry and your parents denied from it no worries, you should have to consult with specialist Acharya  ji.

शादी विवाह में विघ्न न पडने देने के लिये वशीकरण टोटका

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Convince parents for inter love marriage is one of the biggest challenging work just because of having orthodox thinking. The cause of orthodox, people believes that marriage should perform in caste. Whenever their child confesses love relation in front of them and discusses love marriage then they strictly deny it. If you are in such a complicated situation, you are unable to convince your parents for love marriage then you should consult with Acharya ji. He is well intuitive knowledge of astrology; this is why easily possess a mind of the people and makes perform things as per needs. So whenever you will consult with him, your parents will consent from your love marriage decision as well perform your marriage with grandiosity and pomp. So don’t delays too much. Rapidly make a consult with Acharya ji, get love marriage with your beloved one.

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Inter caste marriages are the serious topic in itself. Intercast love marriage is very tough and rigid topic to discuss. It is not very easy to marry with that person who does not belong to your caste and love never sees the face of cast. Intercast love marriage problem solution is need where two people from different cast fall in love with each other. When they fall in love they don’t think about their different cast that occur many barricades n the upcoming future. The love birds have to face a lot of troubles not only from the family, but also from the society and religion. Parents especially society is the most typical part, who will never give them blessings for the intercast love marriage. This fear makes their parent to enforce their children not to go against with them. But to forget our love is not very easy in fact is impossible. They want to marry with their parent approval.

Marriage is something very important in your life and you have right to choose your soulmate without any reference to Caste, Creed or Color. Now if you don’t know what Inter Caste Marriage is then this example will surely help you to understand about it.

Example – Boy is from Hindu Family and Girl is from Muslim Family. They are in love with each other and want to get married. So the marriage will be considered as Inter Caste marriage. The word Inter simply means different. So Inter Caste Marriage means marriage within different castes.

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OK, Now as we have discussed about inter caste marriage, lets move on to advantage and disadvantage of Inter Caste Marriages.

Dating is a relatively new concept in India and to those with traditional beliefs, it is considered taboo. They believe that a relationship is something that should be negotiated between families of the same caste, in other words an arranged marriage. Others believe that dating is acceptable so long as the couple involved are within the same caste. But what do you do if you find yourself in love with someone outside of your caste? What if you are in love with someone who isn’t even an Indian? With the emerging popularity of dating in India, the caste problem is becoming more and more common.

If you are dating outside of your caste, chances are there will be some within your family who do not approve of your relationship. You need to acknowledge this and try to understand their point of view. For generations, Indian marriages have been arranged and have almost always been within the same caste. The people who disapprove of your relationship will most likely be from a previous generation. Start by imagining how Indian society was when they were growing up. If you think a inter-caste relationship is difficult today, you can bet it was twice as hard, if not impossible back then.

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Let’s forget for a minute the reasons and ideals behind same caste relationships and pretend things are black and white. That is, intra-caste relationships are good whilst inter-caste relationships are very bad. Repeat this out loud to yourself ten times: “same is good, different is bad.” This is not a rule that these people have created themselves. For their entire life, even before you were born, they have been taught and made to follow this rule. It is all they know and all they believe – same is good, different is bad.

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By now you should have come to the realisation that changing their opinion is going to be a hard task. Try not to become angry or frustrated with them. Being angry or yelling at them will only make things worse and will probably destroy any chance you may have had at getting them to approve or at least accept your relationship.

Inter caste love marriage is not a issue in this time its depend on our people thinking and some Indian families against of intercaste or love marriage but in the time of this generation have no believe no religion problems Inter caste love marriage Specialist is the common and very rare topic in the world. The cause of love marriage is the totally love. By love every couple and very person who is in love they want to get married with their love partner or their desire love. But even today some people have old thoughts like no love before marriage and they don’t believe in love marriage that they think that love marriage can not be success in their life. But in today where is old thought have place on the new thoughts and new generation have own placed in this world.

intercast love marriage specialist for true love

That they believe in love marriage and also believe in love. That is true that love is the base of the human’s life. Because in the nature love is spread in the whole nature. Love is the beauty of the life. When its come in life people feels so light in their life. They feels that they are the special in the world. Cause of this they looking for someone whose is the special for them in their life that is the love. When people are fall in love they try to get married with their love partner or their desire love. By any way of solution or by kind permission of parents other than by any other way. But they want to their desire love in their life. Well those are fall in love and want to love marriage with your love partners but you have.

astrologer in kolkata

vashikaran mantra love mantra

vashikaran for love marriage

Anyone who wants to pursue business successfully is aware of the fact that business requires a thorough investment of money, time and effort. Every entrepreneur seeks to have a successful business venture after a lot of hard work that goes into setting up a business. This makes it compulsory for any entrepreneur to procure expert guidance about the prospects of their respective enterprises. The best and time honored method to do so is astrology as it can provide definite answers to any queries related to your business. Our Vedic system of astrology recognizes the fact the planets wield ultimate power over all our decisions and ventures. It can help one decide what business is best for the native and what times are auspicious for the business.ntercast love marriage for true lo

It is true that love knows no caste but when it comes to marriage, there are certain caste restrictions in our society and which is why marriages between persons of different castes are not favored. However, now the times have changed and as a result of education and progress the attitude towards inter caste marriage has softened especially in cities.

intercast love marriage specialist for back love

In India get solution of intercast marriage problem is a big deal. Love is very clear like water and persons who love someone are do not believe in cast and society type things and take decision of marry with that person. When couple announces their undying love for getting married then it is a big issue for family members. Love is a pure feeling among the lovers and when they are able to understand to each other and feel that now they can spend their whole life with that person. There are certain restrictions in every cast regarding for marriage. But regardless of cast and society loves couples fall in love with their love partner and get decision of marry.

intercast love marriage specialist baba ji

mantra to bring back lost love

mohini mantra for love

Inter caste love marriage issues become toughest in Indian culture, just because of having orthodox thinking; people think that love marriage doesn’t have long term foundation. Means, love marriage don’t work for long times.

Intercaste love marriage is quite rare in India. It’s not well successful because several issues are creates difficulties in their lives. But many of individuals are drop in love to intercaste girls and boys. Because love could be the biggest reason of it events. Within our society have been the some oldest thoughts that love is unsuccessful before marriage and it is just like a sin. As it is contrary to society, the family and religion. But those have fall and love in love they’ve not the power of any thinks.

Which they think about anythings. Folks are fall in love they can’t see religion, color, caste, family, and other activities. Consider only about their love, as it can easily see. Inter caste love relationship gets married with girl or child those are belong to other caste. Planet also an important part in the successful relationship since fifth, seventh and ninth house are denoted for the wedding succeeding stairs. The some aspect in the earth for example rahu, Saturn, ketu plays the position of belief and misunderstanding. The movement of these elements generates the professionals and disadvantages in your relationship life in preceding and thriving function.

That is true that with love people are experiencing so much difficulties and after that the result is contest and divorce between each others.The numerous issues for example cultural differences, non-acceptance by neighborhood, language barrier, different food habits, connected to family or personal connection bordering the niche of inter caste relationships is wholly eradicated from the specialist enabling people to recognize the precise challenging area. Inter caste love relationship specialist options which are supplied by the love relationship consultant are exact and successful and productive also that you can understand well.