#written with actual punctuation for also clarity

[dedmau]

there is literally a built in feature where you can use someone elses gif and it !! links back !! to the post !!!! it credits op!!!!! on the gif!!!!!!!! if you MUST reuse someones gif that was originally posted here, use that.

_____________________________________________

I'm sorry I'm new here could you please show me the feature? I don't want to offend anybody or steal someone's work.

Also, if I can't find the original creator (I found it on another social media) what should I do?

I know you have no obligation to explain these things to me but it would be incredibly helpful. Thank you in advance

Ah! No! You're very much allowed to ask these things :)

Firstly, the other site option. A few gif makers do leave a watermark, so check for one of those first. If not, try actually following this tutorial and you might find the gif you saw there on here! I've tried that a few times and it's worked wonders I tell you. If you really cannot find a source, then I think you might have to find a different gif to use :(

Now, I'm gonna show you how to do this on desktop, but if anyone who's a mobile user wants to reblog this with an app tutorial please don't feel afraid to.

Do you see this saultry little binch on the bottom lsft

It opens:

THIS bad boy. (Ignore every single gif loading, something something stereotypical Australian wifi bad whatever. It doesn't matter because they'll load for you.)

All you have to do to find the gif you want is to search what you think it'll be tagged as. For example:

ghouls !! so many ghouls :)

click on whatever one your heart desires, and the gif will open on your post where you opened the menu originally.

The OP should appear on the bottom right, as you can see here, and you, my friend, will have a credited gif !!

[nogoodanswers]

piggybacking off of what i wrote yesterday about how i tend to write "two people talking" scenes

i've found that how i actually write outlines can vary

as in, sometimes i write an outline

sometimes i write "outlines" aka lots of dialogue

and sometimes i just write a first draft bit by bit without having an outline to follow first lol

for my actual outlines, it's usually a lot of sentences describing things i want to happen in the scene/chapter

basically a checklist, though i rarely actually use it as a proper checklist lol

but far more often, i write "outlines" (which im going to call dialogue outlines for clarity bc that's definitely going to help)

usually starting with some short lines describing like the general what's going on at this point in time before the conversation starts

and then i just start spewing out dialogue like there's no tomorrow

often i'll have a bunch of sentences of dialogue split up into multiple lines to help me figure out how best to pace the dialogue

and i often make mental notes about what the the space in between each bit of dialogue will likely turn into, typically some sort of description of what the character's doing as they're talking or a bit of internal monologue

sometimes i do just write out those in between the dialogue, but not all the time

for an example i'll pull up my dialogue outline for the dream section of chapter 1:

“Mom?”

“Yes, dear?"

“What am I?”

“You’re my daughter, silly”

“My precious little Ruby”

“And one day, when you’re older, you’re going to be a huntress, protecting remnant from all the nasty grimm that are out there”

“...but what if I'm not?”

“What do you mean?”

“How are you so sure that I'm your daughter, that I'm even a person?”

“What if deep down, I’m just a grimm?”

“...”

“Well”

“I’m a mother, but I’m also a huntress”

“And you know what huntresses do to grimm”

the first thing i want to mention is actually the use of bullet points, which i use bc otherwise it's too hard for me to tell at a glance when something is a new line or a continuation

second, if you compare the dialogue here to chapter 1, it's actually pretty similar, with only a few changes total

that's not nearly that common tbh, and i suspect that it's more similar in this case bc it's such a short scene (at least in comparison to other scenes i've written)

third thing is that basically every gap between dialogue in the dialogue outline ends up having at least a sentence of non-dialogue in the actual chapter

and there are even instances where i split up a line of dialogue even more to add more detail

when i'm writing the dialogue outline, i usually have some semblance (ha) of an idea as to how characters will deliver certain lines, and how they might look or act as they do so

but actually writing those descriptions is effort

and i can (for the most part) tell what i was going for with a line, so when i reread the dialogue outline i don't have to question what my intentions were, since i wrote it such that simply by rereading it i'll be able to tell without thinking too hard

that being said, now that i have the actual chapter to compare with the dialogue outline, i'm not as sure about what my original intentions may have been, since if it was different then that means i changed it while writing to something i like more

and if it was the same, then, well, it's the same

it might be more accurate to call this way of outlining a first draft, but when i have actual first drafts, there's usually more detail, and like, proper grammar and punctuation and sentences

my dialogue outlines don't care about any of that lol (though sometimes I might use full sentences, but that's usually in order to create a particular kind of emphasis)

so for me at least, there is something of a meaningful distinction between the two

anyways, none of this has touched upon the dreaded second+ drafts that sometimes occur when i only have a vague idea of how the chapter/scene should go

When that happens, i usually pull up the first draft on one side of my screen and my doc on the other and just retype it until i reach points where im like "okay no this bit sucks im gonna rewrite it instead of copying it"

and typically that leads to the conversation shifting away enough from the previous draft that having it up isn't useful anymore, and i close it to focus on the new thing i have

doing this more than once for a chapter is a pain and a half bc of all the retyping that I can't mindlessly do, but if it gets me there, then it gets me there

Okay that was a lot of words, and I'm sure I do things while writing that aren't 1:1 accurate to this, but that's sort of an overview of some common things I do while writing

[cryingoflot49]

Book Review

Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.

This neighborhood in Brooklyn is a vision of Hell that could torment Dante Alighieri. It’s just as poetic too. Hubert Selby Jr.’s notorious Last Exit to Brooklyn takes its readers to rock bottom levels of social depravity. This isn’t a book that utilizes shock value solely for the sake of controversy though. It is animated by an unspoken compassion and righteous anger that would ruin the book’s impact if it were stated explicitly.

Last Exit to Brooklyn isn’t a novel in the conventional sense. It is actually written like the past-together pulp science-fiction novels of the 1950s and done so for the same purpose. It is a series of short stories with overlapping characters and themes, some of which appeared in literary publications before being strung along as a continuous narrative here in novel form. This might cause some confusion to the reader who doesn’t know this beforehand. Once you realize it is constructed like a symphony or a work of modal jazz, it is easier to understand. Maybe that is one good reason to read it twice.

The first thing you might notice from the start is Selby’s unconventional style of writing. He uses Jack Kerouac’s style of spontaneous prose as a springboard and launches into paragraphs with minimal punctuation that follows the author’s own rules. Selby wrote this way so his typing fingers could keep up with his rushing mind since the language traveled at speeds too fast for his body to keep up with. The result is a fast-paced flood of language that resembles the delirium of Arthur Rimbaud’s Symbolist poetry only it is without so much symbolism and maintains a vivid clarity all the way the way through. It makes you feel like you’ve just stolen a car and as you accelerate and drive away at high-octane, speed you suddenly realize that the brakes don’t work and it’s too late to do anything about it. You can risk jumping out, you can keep driving until the gas tank is empty, or you can continue on until you crash and burn, living in the fleeting thrill of the wildest ride in your life.

The first chapter opens by introducing a blue-collar neighborhood in Brooklyn. There are no main characters in the novel; you could actually say the neighborhood itself is the main character. Populated by a gang of hoodlums, drag queens, cops, soldiers, working class men, and anybody else unlucky enough to wander into this rough side of town, it also houses a Greek diner, a dive bar, a labor union headquarters, a factory, and a military base. Nearby is a housing project which enters the narrative in the last chapter.

This first chapter introduces a young thug named Vinnie and his friends. They get their kicks by committing petty crimes, mostly shoplifting and mugging soldiers from the military base who are out on leave. When these kids aren’t beating someone up, they take turns beating each other up. That’s just the kind of world they live in and they live in it with confidence and comfort. The character of Vinnie returns after the next section which simply describes a working-class family party celebrating a shotgun wedding and the birth of a child with the subplot of a guy whose only ambition in life is to buy a motorcycle. In the third chapter, Vinnie is the object of Georgette’s desire. Georgette is a drag queen who turns tricks uptown for money so she can buy drugs and liquor and live the life she wants. In a brutal twist of symbolism, Cupid’s arrow hitting a smitten lover’s heart becomes a weapon of senseless cruelty, Vinnie and his friend torment Georgette by throwing a knife at her over and over again in front the the Greek diner. The fun ends when the knife gets stuck in her leg. Georgette goes home where her brother assaults her for being gay rather than helping her with her wound. Georgette gets through her trauma by desiring sex with Vinnie. A couple days later, she goes to a party with several other drag queens and prostitutes and Vinnie shows up with his friends. They stay up all night eating benzedrine tabs like popcorn and getting drunk. When dawn approaches, it turns into an orgy. Georgette gets what she wants from Vinnie, but is disappointed since it doesn’t turn out the way she wants it to. The end is a spiral into self-destruction that is a precursor for the way the following stories end.

This whole section is beautifully written, almost more like a work of poetry. It is a lot like a literary rendering of The Velvet Underground’s “Sister Ray”, though maybe a bit darker. And on a Velvet Underground record, you get seedy lyrics along with rough, sometimes poorly executed music recorded on lo-fi technology, yet the passion of the music is what matters and it stimulates strong emotions. That is how Hubert Selby Jr. writes and it reflects the kinds of people he writes about. It’s no wonder that Selby had such a big influence on punk rock.

Next up is the story of “Tralala”. The titular character is a prostitute whose johns tend to be soldiers from the nearby military base. When an officer on leave takes her to an upscale bar on Times Square, she goes on a rampage selling sex for money and rolling passed out drunks, but mostly just selling her body. After getting kicked out of that bar, she starts heading downtown, frequenting lower class places rapidly descending downmarket towards sleazier and dirtier drinking holes until she ends up back in Brooklyn. Tralalala does little thinking and any thoughts that enter her head are subservient to her intuition. Her intuition doesn’t do her much good as her purpose in life ends up being nothing but screwing losers for money without even knowing why she does so. Tralalal crashes hard in the end when she consents to pull a train in a parking lot next to a junked, abandoned car. It doesn’t stop there. She pulls every train that passes through Brooklyn and then some until she is abandoned as nothing but a piece of rancid meat in a pile of garbage.

Does this make you uncomfortable? It should and not for the obvious reason. Tralala does everything she can to get herself into such a wretched fix so it is difficult to sympathize with her. This is what is clever about the story: it pushes you to the limits of your empathy and makes you confront the possibility that you may not be as kind-hearted as you think you are. It’s like having an angel on your shoulder saying “Don’t worry about her. She’s a trashy girl who got herself into that mess” while Hubert Selby Jr. wearing a devil’s costume, sits on your other shoulder saying with a lower-class Brooklyn accent, , “Of course you should pity her, you asshole. She’s a human being just like you are.” (Now it’s time to take a break and re-read William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.”)

By this point you might see a pattern emerge. Selby writes about people who are trapped in a nightmare world they didn’t create. With limited psychological, social, or economic resources, they don’t have the means to escape so they take whatever path they think is open to them. Just because they make the mistake of choosing the wrong paths doesn’t mean they aren’t striving to be something better. Saint Selby mercilessly challenges you to sympathize with the least desirable people in American society.

So Georgette seeks liberation in romance with a thug who doesn’t respect her and Tralala pursues transcendence by immolating herself in the self-destructive life of prostitution. Now Harry enters the novel in “Strike”, the longest and most developed passage in the book.

Harry is an odd character. From the opening paragraph, we learn that he is more sexually attacted to his infant son than he is to his wife. Nonetheless, every night he has sex with her and then sleeps fitfully while being tormented by nightmares that symbolize his feelings of entrapment. In the daytime, he works as a lathe operator in a metal working factory. He is also the union’s shop steward. As an apathetic worker, he does the bare minimum of labor and spends the rest of his time either doing nothing or stirring up trouble over union rules. The union leaders know he is a fool, but they keep him on as shop steward because he is such a thorn in the side to the factory managers.

When the union contract comes to an end, a strike is called. Harry is put in charge of “managing” the strike although his duties are little more than sitting in the headquarters, stamping the striker’s union books, and getting drunk while listening to the radio. The union leaders give him carte blanche with an expense account and most of the money he spends is on beer and junk food for the strikers. Really, he is being set up as a fall guy in case the union gets into any trouble, legal or otherwise.

The strike grinds on for a long time. While the strikers morale sinks lower and lower, Harry’s sense of self-importance grows. Being the nominal boss of the strike makes him feel like a big shot even though he contributes nothing of any value to the cause. Then he befriends Vinnie and his gang of hoods. They take advantage of him, drinking up all the beer Harry pays for with the expense account, but Harry naively thinks they are his friends. They mark a turning point in the story when the union president hires them on the sly to blow up the trucks of a shipping company that broke the picket line at the factory. More importantly, they introduce Harry to a drag queen who he later pursues in a gay bar. Harry comes out and begins leading a double life that involves gay relationships. You can almost feel happy for him since his nightmares end and begins feeling good for the first time in his life. But this is undercut because at the same time he begins beating his wife who has no knowledge of his alter-ego. Harry thinks he has found his true self and then the strike ends; he goes back to being a mediocre lathe operator while all the elation he felt while being the boss of the strike wears off like a magic spell that has run its course. For Harry, it all ends in tears. Those tears are bloody tears too.

What makes this story so great is hard to explain, not because an explanation is beyond description, but because the story really speaks for itself. Harry runs the course from being an unsympathetic character to someone you can begin to cheer for and then falls back into being a sad and lonely loser in the end. At the peak of the story, you hope that his liberation will help him work out all the anger that makes him violent and irresponsible if he is just given enough time. Harry gains your sympathy and understanding, then while some of that lingers his life descends back into a nightmare existence. He isn’t a great person but that is the whole point. Hubert Selby Jr. isn’t concerned with portraying heroes. He is concerned with portraying the kinds of troubled people we don’t like and asking us to re-evaluate them in terms of the rotten situations they live in.

Finally, the last chapter is not so much of a story as a weaving of narrative threads and vignettes all taking place across the span of a day in a low-income housing project. As all its inhabitants cross paths, we get a picture of a concrete hive in Brooklyn like the inner circle of Dante’s Hell. It’s filled with fighting couples, domestic violence, adulterers, neglected children, alcoholics, delinquent teenagers, snobs, bums, alcoholics, and all around inconsiderate people. To top it all off there is an elderly Jewish woman, living a life of quiet despair in her loneliness, running on the fumes memories she has of her dead husband and a son who got killed in the war. She anchors the narrative by showing us how alone in the world all of us really are and how painful that loneliness is. Under the worst circumstances, we could all end up being just like her. Reading this passage is like listening to some melancholy musical suite in its execution. It brings you into a world that you would rather not be in. Doesn’t that just re-enforce the point that none of these characters want to be where they are anyways? You, the reader, can always close the book and refuse to finish reading. Like the guilty being punished in Dante’s Inferno, these characters don’t have the luxury of escaping. For you, this is the last exit TO Brooklyn; for them there is no exit FROM Brooklyn or at least, they don’t have what it takes to find an way out.. You may not like these people but the least you can do is have some understanding of what they are struggling with. After all, they might be better people if they were thrown into a kinder world.

Last Exit to Brooklyn is crude in its content, style, and execution and that is the point. There are times when it makes you feel like you’re being punched in the head while throwing up and having diarrhea at the same time. Hubert Selby Jr. has commented that he wrote this novel to portray a world without love. He actually said that he wrote about each character out of love. Selby wasn’t a mean-spirited or a sadistic man; in actuality, he was a gentle soul who felt a lot of anger over the human condition. A lot of this resulted from the absence of his irresponsible and alcoholic father and this can be seen in the consistent theme of terrible fathers in this novel. This novel is a picture of city life that he holds up in our faces as if to shout at us about how our society has taken a wrong turn. Along the way he dares us to find it in our hearts to have compassion for those we think of as irrelevant, unimportant, uninteresting, or worthy of our scorn. As repulsive as this novel is, it was written out of courage and we as readers need to be courageous enough to read it.

[firstediting]

How Research Paper Editing Services Can Enhance The Impact Of Your Research

Are you a graduate student or academic researcher struggling to get your research paper published? Do you find yourself spending countless hours re-reading and revising your work, yet still not satisfied with the final product? It's time to consider the benefits of research paper editing services. These services can provide a fresh perspective and professional touch to your work, ensuring that it is free of errors and presented in the best possible way. By working with an experienced editor, you can enhance the impact of your research, increase your chances of publication, and ultimately achieve your academic goals. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of research paper editing services and how they can help you take your research to the next level.

Research paper editing services can be game changers for students and researchers who want to publish their work. Submitting a research paper with grammatical errors, inconsistent formatting, and spelling mistakes can weaken the impact of your research, which is the opposite of what you want to achieve. Research is about making an impact, and to do so, you need to make sure that your research is presented in the best possible light. That's where research paper editing services comes in. These services can help you make sure that your research paper is consistent, polished, and error-free. A thorough edit from a professional editor can enhance the credibility of your research and ensure that your message resonates with your intended audience.

Paper editing services can be a valuable resource in enhancing the impact of your research paper. You have been working diligently on your research paper for days, weeks, and even months. You know that your research is impressive and innovative, but you worry about the actual presentation of it. When it comes to submitting your paper for publication, clarity and accuracy are crucial. This is where paper editing services can help. They can help improve the language used in your paper, make it more coherent, and ensure that your ideas are clear and properly presented. With their assistance, your research paper will make a much stronger impact on readers, which can ultimately lead to greater success for you as an author.

Editing services are an excellent way to ensure that your research paper is polished and impactful. When it comes to making an impact with your research, the importance of editing can never be underestimated. Editing services can help you improve your paper by making it more concise, clear, and readable. They can also help you catch errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling, ensuring that your paper looks professional and well-written. With editing services, you can be confident that your research paper will stand out from the rest. They can help you refine your language and tone, making sure that you get your message across effectively. Moreover, they can also help you organize your thoughts and ideas better, making your paper more engaging and persuasive. Overall, if you want to make the most impact with your research paper, it's important to invest in editing services. They can help you make your paper more professional and effective, grabbing your target audience's attention and getting your message across in a clear and concise way.

So, there you have it—the importance of editing services when it comes to your research paper. Not only will they make your paper stand out from the rest, but they'll also help you communicate your ideas better. Remember, first impressions are everything, and investing in editing services can make all the difference. So why not give your paper that professional touch and take it to the next level? It's a small investment that can yield big results.

[adorethedistance]

READING MY BOYFRIEND’S FANFICTION?? - Owen Joyner x Influencer!Reader

JATP masterlist

Requested: OMGGG!! Could you do a an Owen fic based around his girlfriend being an armature youtuber/social media influencer (shes also an actress and they met on set and have been dating for a while) and it’s “reading/reacting to my boyfriend’s fanfiction” ? You can do whatever you want with the fanfic part it’s just a concept that has been running around in my head for a while. LOVE ALL YOUR WORK!!

Warnings: swearing, allusions to sex, very mild

Words: 1460

A/N: A fic?? From Ace?? Hi. I’m off spring break officially and so my stress has dissipated immensely. School was becoming so much these last two weeks and I thought I’d be stressed or worried, but I’m actually fine? It’s weird lol so I decided I could be productive with my stress-free moment and post a little fic for y’all. I love this prompt, and before any of you writers panic, I’m using my own fics for the fanfictions because I wouldn’t want to put y’all on the spot like that. Also this is my 3000 post! thought that was cool lol

“Do you wanna do the intro?”

“I think I have to do the intro.”

“Okay, go for it.”

“Alright,” Owen sighs out a heavy breath in exaggerated preparation for my (some would say lengthy) intro. “Hello, hi. Yes, okay, this is Y/n Y/l/n vlogs, welcome or welcome back to my channel!” Once Owen finishes his statement I’m so stunned I can’t generate any sort of response other than a slacked jaw semi smile.

“That was not even close. Do you know my intro?”

“I got the first part right!”

“You’ve lost intro privileges,” I turn back to the mess of lights and tripods in front of me and ignore the disaster of an intro Owen offered. “Oh, hello, hi! I am Y/n and this is: Reading My Boyfriend’s Fanfiction!”

“That’s basically what I did.”

“No, it is not! It’s ‘oh, hello, hi. I am ‘name’ and this is: ‘title of video’.”

“You don’t ‘welcome to my channel’?” Owen’s voice has dropped to a hushed volume as he genuinely inquires about the segments of my usual introduction.

“I do not.”

“Don’t use any of this,” he pleads when making direct eye contact with the camera. “Mister Sid. Editing Sid, please don’t embarrass me.” His pleas fall on deaf ears, knowing that I’ll be using the footage in full.

“Anyways. Butchered intro aside, I am Y/n and today I am here with my lovely “So Many Stars” costar and scene partner, Owen Joyner!”

“I’m also your boyfriend.”

“That too,” I give Owen’s pointed comment a soft place to land, “So, yesterday--it was actually like, two weeks ago, I don’t know why I said yesterday--a little while back, I came across a tweet telling me someone had written a fanfic about us-”

“Did you read it?”

“On Wattpad. Of course, I read it. There are only three chapters up right now and they’re all in the 2-3k range so it was a quick read.”

“2-3k?”

“Words,” I reply nonchalantly as I unlock my phone. I bookmarked a few one-shots beforehand for us to read, and I’m slightly cocky about my selections. Owen then responds with an outburst of shock.

“2-3 thousand words is a short read?” I merely give him a blank stare.

“Judging by that reaction, Owen hasn’t read any fanfics in his life.”

“Is that not long to you- That’s what she said.” Owen cuts me off with his own stupid joke and I briefly sigh before answering.

“No, that isn’t long. Baby, I’m here for that 130k slow burn enemies to lovers on AO3 with the ‘only one bed’ and ‘locked in a closet’ tropes.”

“The what?”

“Oh, we have so much to catch you up on.”

__________________________

“So I saved three fics, an angst, a fluff, and a smut. Which do you want to read?”

“Wait, what does that mean?”

“Oh my- okay. Angst is the sad shit, it’s what you read when you need your heartbroken and a good cry. Smut is pretty much in the name, it’s explicit content that will undoubtedly get this video demonetized, but that’s okay because we do have a sponsor. And fluff is the cute moments, domestic and sometimes mundane romance that makes you smile like an idiot and put the device down to screech into a pillow.” Throughout my whole explanation, I can tell Owen was becoming more and more lost, so I opt to give him a few moments to collect his thoughts.

“Let’s start with the fluff just to ease into things.”

“Smart choice. This fic I have saved is called ‘Baby Fever’ and the summary says ‘you and Owen spend a day at the zoo babysitting Baby Shada, and her presence sparks conversation about adding a new presence of your very own’.”

“That sounds so ominous.”

“Here, I’ll read the narration and reader’s POV, and then you’ll read your own dialogue.” Owen nods and leans over my right shoulder to read off of my computer screen.

“You actually start the fic.”

“‘You ready, little one?’” The instantaneous actor mode Owen slips into has me howling with laughter at which he looks at me confused. My gasping for air makes Owen laugh empathetically despite still being unsure as to what’s killing me at the moment.

“Why are you laughing?!” He yells, dramatically shaking my shoulder.

“Just the way you jumped into that, I wasn’t prepared for you to turn on the acting charm. Okay, uhhhh, ‘I bite back a laugh when I hear Owen’s voice coo from the back seat’.”

The two of us go back and forth between reading the narrative, bouts of laughter, commentary on the accuracy of Owen’s character, and we finally manage to finish the 2.5k fic in about forty minutes.

“‘When he looks up from CJ’s tiny body and recognizes the familiar ‘baby fever’ look in my eyes, he smiles and utters a simple-’.”

“‘I told you so.’”

“That was cute! I like the tie-in of having us watching over Baby Shada- or, sorry, you and ‘y/n’ watching over Baby Shada.”

“They wrote me kinda funny, I don’t think I’d ever fabricate a life to make conversation with a stranger due to baby fever.” My jaw drops slightly and before Owen can respond to my reaction, I cry,

“That is such a lie!”

“What?”

“You absolutely would do something like that, are you kidding me?!”

“No, I would not!” Owen punctuates every word with the utmost offense. He has the same look in his eye as when he was proving himself to be the cleanest phantom of the three on the Sunset Drive podcast.

“You literally told the guy at Home Depot yesterday that we were buying plants for our child’s nursery!”

“Okay, that’s different-”

“How is that different? That’s the exact same thing as fanfic you!” Owen’s furrowed brow and dropped jaw are a sight to be seen as he leans away from me, bending at the waist to stare at me with defiance. I raise my eyebrows pointedly as I await a response. Instead of actually producing a response, Owen lunges forward, grabbing my waist in his hands and squeezing gently. The feeling makes me screech and gasp of laughter from surprise and also being ticklish.

“Owen! Owe-STOP, I’m gonna drop my laptop!” I manage to say through my laughter and with one final grab, he releases me from his hold. It takes a minute for my laughter to settle but once I do, the two of us are simply breathing heavy and staring at one another with giddy smiles on our faces. In a moment’s clarity, I turn to look into the camera lens to talk directly to my editor,

“Sid, don’t use any of this. And please don’t cut to this after we finish reading to make it look like- things were happening.”

“Actually, I think you should, Sid. Just cut to right there and make the world think we-”

“OKAY, thanks for watching, bye!” I quickly stop the recording before Owen says something we’re unable to recover from. I hear him laugh gently behind me as I set my laptop down on the coffee table behind the tripod. Coming back to the couch, I move to plop down but before landing successfully on the cushion next to my phone, Owen grabs my body and moves me to sit on top of him.

“You are crazy, you know that?”

“Hmm. Crazy for you, maybe.” His cheesy line makes me scoff but smile nonetheless. I reach my right hand up to caress the side of his face as we sit cheek to cheek.

“Remind me to never film with you again.” The gesture is sweet and the sentiment is not which makes Owen laugh and he presses a soft kiss to my cheek. I lean back into him so my back is pressed flush with his chest as he lazily wraps both arms around me.

“You say that now but you’ll regret it when you wanna do a ‘boyfriend does my makeup’ challenge video.”

“Nah. I’ll just call Charlie to-” Without allowing me to finish my sentence, Owen is digging his fingertips back into the tissue of my sides and I squeal with laughter once more. This time the torment is short-lived and Owen releases me after a sweet, reconciling kiss. “Do you have baby fever now?”

“It was cute and all, but not really, no.”

“That’s too bad,” I stand up from my spot on his lap to grab my computer and hold it to my chest, “I was gonna say we could practice some baby-making.”

And with that, I turned on the balls of my feet, heading for my bedroom when I heard Owen stand up eagerly, quick to follow.

***

Taglist: @caitsymichelle13​ @kaitlyn2907​ @itz-jas​ @crybabyddl​ @kcd15​ @kinda-really-lost​ @calamitykaty​ @morganayennefertyrell@n0wornever​ @dream-a-little-bigger-x​ @mrstodorooki@vicesvsvirturesfanfic @curlybrownhairedboys​ @amazinggracy​ @kaitieskidmore1​ @asdfghjkl-fanfics​ @ghostlygreenbean​ @juliefromaustralia @merceret​ @jemimah-b99​ @ifilwtmfc​ @thesweetestsinner​ @imsydneywalker​ @lovesanimals​ @thebloodthirstyvampress​ @bumbleberry-pie​ @losers-club6​ @tefilovesreading​ @dmcfarland1​@joynerxmercer @kexrtiz​ @talk-on-the-street​ @phantompogues​ @konciousdreamer​ @sunsetcurvej​ @warmnesss0ul​

[doks-aux]

That’s Right, It’s More Grammar Help!

Thank you for the responses to my last post! I’ll be responding to them individually soon. I now come seeking second opinions on bits from another work. This is a long one, so most of it will be under a cut.

--

First is this sentence:

This time, when Mac wakes in the middle of the night, the cold is so much harsher than before.

I’m trying to decide if that comma before “when” is needed. Theoretically, you could take that clause out and the sentence would make sense structurally, but it feels like important contextual information would be missing. My instinct is that the comma can and should go, but I’m not certain.

--

Then this one:

Mac drops into the other lounge chair, pulling his socks up with him.

For context, the author originally had written “socked feet,” but Google suggested changing it to “socks.” I think either one is fine depending on the exact imagery you’re going for. The first just brings to mind the character drawing his feet into the seat of the chair, while the second suggests he’s actually tugging his socks up as he also brings his legs into the chair.

The thing that’s actually tripping me up is one I’m not sure is an actual problem. For some reason, I can’t reconcile the use of “drops” in the first part of the sentence with “up with him” in the second. The first obviously and correctly describes that he is moving downward into the chair, but the second then suggests an upward motion. I think it’s just the “with him” part that’s doing this, as if it instead said something like “pulling his feet into the seat,” it wouldn’t sound off to me. Is this a personal hang-up (entirely possible) or something that actually needs clarity?

--

The next is actually a few sentences all dealing with the same/similar issue, namely the use of “as if” in a sentence and how it should or should not be punctuated:

Swirls of green float among the stars, as if someone took a paintbrush and scribbled across the sky.

The other couple’s eyes flick between them as if to say: “He was yours?”

Murdoc parts and licks his lips, as if in reflex.

Maybe he just traded his rational fear of Murdoc for an irrational one, as if life surrounding Murdoc was never destined to be easy.

I’ve had difficulty finding information about this. As far as I know, “as if” is a subordinating conjunction and shouldn’t be preceded by a comma unless they’re being used to contrast, which none of these examples are. But the comma in the first and last examples… just feel right? The second example appears correct without one, and the third similarly looks like it would be better without one. But I cannot articulate why the other two seem like they need the commas. Do the commas need to be ditched in all of them? Please help, my crops are dying.

--

Here’s some fun with quotes:

“Sounds like I know your boss better than you do. Or should I say our boss?”

Should “our boss” in the second sentence take quotation marks on its own? Would it be “Or should I say ‘our boss?’”

--

This is some wording that’s tripping me up:

Murdoc weaves through the crowd like he belongs here, pink and blue lights reflecting off his big TV-screen eyes and the fangs of his smile.

Something about “big TV-screen eyes” bothers me, but it might just be that I’m more used to those words in a different word: “big-screen TV?” Is it actually fine as is?

--

Another comma-related issue:

His eyes, half-lidded, study Mac—like Mac is a textbook and Murdoc is still too drunk to read.

Should there be a comma after “textbook?” I’m unsure about situations like this because while “Mac is a textbook” and “Murdoc is still too drunk to read” are both complete sentences which would normally need a comma and conjunction to connect them, they’re both part of the comparison that follows that “like.”

--

Related to the above:

Maybe Bozer is right and the undercover work really is just messing with Mac’s head.

Should there be a comma after “right?” I’m once again doubting my knowledge of compound sentences here because of that “maybe.”

--

Another comma one:

It occurs to Mac that he hasn’t had a real conversation with Bozer, or any of his actual friends, in a while.

Am I correct in thinking that “or any of his actual friends” can take or leave those commas off-setting it depending on how the author would like to emphasize it?

--

Oh, goody. More commas:

Maybe Mac will step off the ship and back into his life and never look at a man the wrong way again—well, not wrong, but wrong for him.

“Not wrong, but wrong for him.” I think in most instances of a “not this but that” situation, you wouldn’t separate with a comma? It doesn’t look wrong there though.

--

Another comma, I’m so sorry:

He comes back out in sweatpants and a UCLA t-shirt, wet around the collar from his still-dripping hair.

At this point I have just completely forgotten how commas work. Does the comma after “t-shirt” indicate that “wet” is describing “he,” whereas removing the comma would have “wet” describing “t-shirt?”

This was a lot. I’m definitely rusty after not working for so long, and I’d appreciate any help making me word-smart again.

(All snippets shared with permission of the author.)

[sister-claire-critical]

I've caught up on the MIMOs and I'm not that good of a writer but I have to criticize Ash and yamino's writing. The MIMOs aren't in chronological order and the sudden jump in timelines and arcs really throws me off. Even with the timeline links they have it's hard to keep track of what is happening in the past and present and creates many plot holes that make you go "how did we get from here to there."

Also during serious scenes with "adult themes", the writing comes off as a childrens book. Like the way they repeat words all the time with shard speech and rosie and Marie's thoughts, and making clementine's stuttering over the top to the point where it hinders the atmosphere of scenes that are meant to be taken seriously. I also have a copy of their first print of MIMOs and they even made it look like a children's golden book so the theme was intended for fluff and a younger audience. But as the age rating went higher and the themes became more mature with cursing, the writing style didn't mature with the new themes and now infantilizes these serious moments. That's why it has that "look I can write edgy stuff too!" feel to it.

They also focus too much on poetic words and fails to clarify things (I'm autistic so I kinda need clarity when it comes to what exactly is happenning) . Like the recent MIMO made no sense to me because it didnt describe what was a "red one", what exactly Sabine saw outside (it just showed a pic of a red wasp.) And what it had to do with mother abraham to begin with, it just vaguely quoted what abraham had said to claire in the past, left it like that and didnt answer a damn thing. Same with Myr. Like, instead of saying where Myr exactly came from or how helped the people from their illness (no word of what illness it was period) it just kept things vague with sabine saying all nurturing that she let Myr into her heart. I scrolled to the comments and someone actually connected the dots for me to say it was the shard kaiju 'Welcome' from a past MIMO.

Their writing tries to be nuanced to let the readers connect the dots and feel surprised at plot twists, but it's not nuanced. Its too VAGUE. I'm not asking for bluntness. I'm asking for more details and less fancy word weaving that only obscure and confuse the readers on what is HAPPENING.

I'm sorry for the essay on this but this has been a major pet peeve of mine and with your blog it finally feels safe to talk about it and not feel like it's just me that has this issue.

Oooooh, I love long critiques! Thank you so much!

You've said it all, really. I agree that the writing can seem...Infantilized, at times. The way Claire/Clementine's stutter is written has always bothered me. It seems offensive to people with stutters! I feel like they should just write the words with no repeated letters. Or research how actual people stutter, which is to repeat whole words or rephrase sentences. It doesn't make them seem like they're stuttering, it makes them seem like Porky Pig.

The way the "thought" speech is phrased seems more like a proper stutter but the way it's written without any punctuation makes me wonder about how Ash thinks. Maybe it's just me, but I tend to think in sentences rather than just...Words, though I know different people tend to think on different levels? I don't know. It would be better if that was written normally. Really- that's just the main critique with the way dialog and pseudo-dialog is written. Just use sentences. Write normally. It comes off more cohesive that way.

[gormengeist]

Jackie Chan: It Speaks For Itself

    The works of Jackie Chan are so numerous and so often praised that it can be easy to get lost in the sheer number of titles under his belt. You might have seen a couple and been amused by them (likely, if you’re reading this, some of his forays into English-speaking Hollywood), or perhaps you’ve only seen him through clips and- I don’t know- memes or something. But I am here to tell you that you have probably not seen Jackie Chan at his best. At his hungriest and most animal. A feral and rabid Jackie let loose on an unsuspecting moviegoing audience, getting within a hair’s breadth of, indeed, killing himself in front of them in order to change their lives forever.

    I am here, in so many words, to tell you that Jackie Chan has made at least 3 of the best action movies, period. One of which is a work of art so staggering in it’s singular ideological clarity and execution, that it frankly escapes my comprehension sometimes. It makes me feel like staring at the sun.

    Statistically speaking, you (the average English-speaker) have almost certainly not seen any of these 3 movies. Together, they form a triptych that shows us not only what Jackie at his peak stood for, but how he came to become the man we know him as today. The first of these goliaths is Project A.

    Project A is an action adventure movie about the Hong Kong navy of the late 1800s trying to stop a gang of pirates from doing piracy, made difficult by the fact that the Hong Kong police are incredibly corrupt. It was written, directed, and led by Jackie, and came out in 1983. If you want the long and short of it: Project A is the most of these three movies. At this point in his career, Jackie had been directing for 4 years (and directing action for 10) so he knew what he was about. But he had yet to refine it. Project A is everything the others will be, but more.

    Like his others, it’s fast. Blisteringly so. It is incoherent mostly because of this speed, but also because of many strange editing decisions that make it a real challenge to keep up with. Speed in action, speed in pacing, speed in delivering exposition for it’s surprisingly convoluted plot. It exemplifies the sort of excited rambling quality that makes these movies special. Like someone who only has one real shot to make it work just putting everything into making something that is everything.

    But it’s action is also at it’s most creative. It’s setpieces, taken as an aggregate, are some of my favorites. The navy/cop tavern brawl, the mob-sting club raid, the bicycle chase and- by god- the clock tower sequence, are all stone cold classics that live inside my brain now and forever. The stunts are at their most ridiculously, comically acrobatic, and the ending pirate cove massacre (in which they, to the audience's sure delight, actually begin murdering their adversaries) is his most drawn out and large-scale of the three final showdowns.

    Project A is also incredibly under-discussed for how influential it is to pirate media in general. I see it like a forehead tattoo on Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (unarguably the most important piece of pirate media in our time). It’s blacksmith fight is as close as a direct homage to Project A’s clock tower scene as Project A’s clock tower scene was to Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last’s clock tower scene. It’s dynamic of a ‘lovable rapscallion with dual loyalties just out for gold’ played against a ‘goody two shoes trying to reconcile their belief in the system with their need to work outside of it in order to enact justice’ is taken straight from the dynamic between Dragon (Jackie) and Fats (Sammo Hung). It’s final showdown in a secret pirate cave filled with riches is an obvious note for both to hit, but they’re both punctuated with their respective rapscallions getting on a boat loaded with treasure, ready to leave. Until- what’s this? They both decide that perhaps friendship is the real treasure and turn back. Aww.

    Project A is to action adventure pirate media as Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 classic House is to horror media. Influential by way of maximalism. By cramming all of their possible ideas about their respective genres and what a movie like that could be into just one insane movie, they actually end up predicting all following movies of that genre in bite sized chunks. Project A and House both have an incoherence and scope that cast a wide shadow over future movies. It is a challenge and a cry:

    “Take some of these ideas. Make them make sense.”

    Though, looking into the future, we see that this was never a cry from Project A. It was a prophecy. The weaver was coming- the movie that would take all of these ideas and tie them into one perfect gordian knot. The next movie is not the weaver. But it calls it’s name from the hilltops. In spectacular fashion, Spartan X shows the template that the opus will iterate upon.

    Released the very next year, Spartan X (Called Wheels on Meals in America), is led by and action directed by Jackie Chan, with the overall director being Sammo Hung. But don’t let that fool you- Jackie was clearly a major collaborator and influence on the final cut of the movie, and to ignore Spartan X in his arc as a director and storyteller would be tantamount to spitting in my face. Anyways.

    Spartan X is about two gay (but the movie doesn’t know that) food truck operators who, despite being activley hostile to almost everyone besides themselves, happen to thwart a Baron’s evil plot to murder his own daughter. If you want the long and short of it: Spartan X is a comedy made by people whose primary instinct to entertain is to give themselves concussions. It’s the funniest of the three, and is notably more sensical than Project A while also maintaining that quick, almost stream-of-consciousness pacing. This seems natural, being that Sammo Hung is at the helm this time, but Jackie’s particular comedic timing can’t be understated. Nor can his chemistry with his co-star Yuen Biao, the Luigi to Jackie’s Mario. They even have green and red outfits for the finale. Unreal.

    Spartan X is special as an action comedy (and as a movie in general) in the way that it belligerently refuses to be normal. Anything you bring to the movie in terms of expectations for what such a movie should be like are shackles for you as the viewer. To cling to them during your viewing will only serve to confuse you.

For an example of its strangeness, the main duo are casually callus in a way that I can only liken to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. If it were intentional representation I would probably call it bad, the sort of ‘only nice to one another’ trope. But as is, we have a movie about an aspiring detective who, despite his best efforts, is mercilessly tormented by the main duo who are ‘helping’ him. We have them begrudgingly housing this woman, seemingly under the pretense that one might get to sleep with her, but as soon as she offers the very thing they want- they lock arms and head back to their shared room. What are we to make of that?

    But in this we find Spartan X’s point. And, by extension, Jackie’s point. We find the template for his magnum opus. He is not interested in giving you the movie you expect to be given. He’s interested in giving you the movie you really, truly wanted to be given. It does away with the tropes that only serve some broader societal good. You expect there to be a romance subplot with the woman where at the end they kiss, and that by the end the duo will have come around on the wacky detective they were being mean to, and the food truck will be shown to have been renovated with the reward money and a sequel will be dangled in front of you like you’re a starving hyena and they’ve got a strip of raw flesh. But Spartan X spurns these things. It knows why you’re here. To see jokes at the expense of decent people, to see unrestrained martial prowess and car chases, to, perhaps, let loose for once.

    This deceptively hidden iconoclastic attitude comes across as confused to the initial viewer, but over time, the intention becomes crystalized. They knew it was like this, and that’s the point.

    Thus approaches the last movie. Not just the last of these three, coming out (again) the very next year, but also sort of the final action movie. The end of all action cinema. The conclusion to a sentence one hundred years in the writing.

    The final movie is Police Story. It was written, directed, and led by mr.Chan. 

    The first time I saw Police Story, I only knew it's vague reputation as a Jackie Chan classic. I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen at a local theater. Small room. Front row. Fully reclined in a velvety red seat. No popcorn or soda- I couldn't spare the change. And I was lucky for that, because I might have spilled it when the movie began, and I felt as if I had been fired from a cannon.

     Some will tell you that there are movies- usually classic movies- that are a must-watch on the big screen. Movies that demand the full breadth of your vision and attention. David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira. I can tell you they are right; those movies are better on the big screen. But there is no theater going experience in my life that compares to seeing Police Story at 9:15pm on August 17th, 2019. It was a cloudly. It was exactly 74 degrees, fahrenheit. It was like getting hit with a wrecking ball.

    It has an unmistakable gravity and an unstoppable momentum as it hurls itself through the air and brings down the house. It's an action movie that renders others obsolete, disposable, unworthy of time. It is as Wong Kar Wai's In The Mood For Love is to realism and romance. An entity so pure- so focused- so singular in it's approach and casually brilliant that it recalibrates the standard for greatness.

    If you want the long and short of Police Story, tough luck. It is the long and short of itself. To watch Police Story is to watch a master grab a familiar genre (the copaganda action romp), and wring it so hard that it's bone dry by the second turn. Looking back upon each beat it hits, one finds that there’s no juice left for anything else. It takes all of the best ideas for coming at everything it tries. It is at once hilarious and tense. Incredibly brutal and spiritually uplifting. Unassuming- so very mischievously unassuming- but fractal in its excellence. The more you look, the more clear the genius becomes.

    Like Spartan X before it, Police Story appears like a drunken fool to the untrained eye. It serves and dodders and speaks unintelligently, yet with great passion and magnetism. That magnetism to those viewers is only explicable in the way that good-bad movies are explicable. It must be the same muscle, they think, because they've only felt so much unfettered joy and guiltless pleasure in those kinds of movies, where the joke is a pervasive meta-gag laughing at the movie. But the thought gets stuck on something: if they didn't mean for it to be this way, then how on earth is it so deliberate?

    How are the fights so intricately choreographed (my vote for the best that have ever been put to screen). How are the small physical gags so well rehearsed? How are the sets so wonderfully designed to be obliterated?

     The answer comes in a resounding crash: Police Story is not a drunken fool. It is a drunken master. It is in full control of every swing and sway, of every odd blink and slurred word. You think you’ve been laughing at it, but it’s been in on the joke the whole time. It tricked you into thinking you were the funny one.

     Police Story shows us it's entire hand- lays it's cards like a military graveyard on the table for us to see- when it rolls the credits the moment the final fight has concluded. For real.

     You expect the epilogue about how they’ll all pay for this- you expect it to be like the movies you've seen before. The ones that go through the motions because they feel they must. That audiences prefer when they cover the tracks of their operatic melodrama with vague notions of realism and accountability.

    No. Police Story ends when Jackie Chan beats an evil old rich man the fuck up, along with his lawyer. We understand this is not legal. The cops don't seem to care. Credits fucking roll. What more did you really want?

    It feels like being given permission to breathe. Like a final honest notion of an action movie; it knows what it is and it's excited to show you. Because every other action movie you've seen has been Police Story in disguise. They've been grasping at some Platonic ideal of action cinema: The stationary King-Da-Ka. How to launch you from a cannon on your couch.

    Police Story is in many ways the inverse of Project A. Where Project A is confused and wide, Police Story is focused and razor-thin. Where Project A projects a challenge into the future, Police Story answers a challenge. Not just from Project A, but from all action movies that came before it. Police Story gathers the tangled webs of all moviegoing exercises in action-making. It weaves them into the whole that they are each revealed to only be a thread in. It completes the portrait and training of a man who will never know a true equal in his craft. It speaks for itself.

[yogaadvise]

The Meaning of Om

Many recognize with the "Om" shouted at the end of a yoga exercise course. But what is Om, what does it imply, and also why is it so important in yoga? Om is referred to as a magical incantation, vibration, syllable, and rule. Many think chanting the syllable "Om" has wonderful spiritual as well as emotional impacts. It is called the "sound of deep space". Om is also stated to be a sign of the Divine and ground the chanter right into a planetary energy.

Om is not just an audio or vibration. It is not just a symbol. It is the entire universes, whatever we can see, touch, hear as well as really feel ... It is the core of our really existence. Amit Ray

Beyond this magical side, however, Om is likewise vital because it is a global conjuration that any individual can make use of, any time. Chanting the syllable "Om" can appear much a lot more accessible than exercising typically complicated asanas (yoga postures). This universality makes Om a method of link. When chanted in a team at the start or end of a yoga exercise course, Om links the trainees and also educators, not simply to each various other but likewise to deep space around them and also the spiritual history of the yoga tradition.

History of Om

Om is an old principle that is likewise referred to by some as pranava, or cosmic noise. Om is essential to yoga, and came from the Sanskrit language as part of the Upanishads. Om is considered a spiritual sound, and scholars also see responds to Om in various other faiths such as Islam, Christianity, as well as Judaism. There are numerous historic messages which discuss the relevance of Om. One of these is the Mandukya Upanishad, a sacred Hindu text dating back countless years.

Here, Om is illustrated as at once superseding time, and including perpetuity. An additional sacred Hindu message that is central to yoga is the Bhagavad Gita. In this message, Lord Krishna (a sign for the Divine) defines the chanting of Om as,

Uttering Om, the single-syllabled Brahman, meditating on me, leaving thus from his body, he attains the Objective Supreme. Bhagavad Gita, 8(13)

So not just does Om connect all time, however it likewise connects the chanter with the Divine. It is claimed that Om is the initial audio of the universe, a primaeval sound that brings the chanter back harmonic with the Divine. In contemporary times, Om is popularly shouted in unison at the start and also end of yoga courses. This is a long-standing custom and to lots of yogis it is an essential nod to the sacred background of the yoga technique. However, for others Om has actually become a fashionable icon, with its written kind frequently made use of in jewelry and on clothes. Since Om lugs such a heavy spiritual history, it should only be worn or chanted in utmost respect. When taking a trip to India the Om symbol must just be put on attentively, and with acknowledgement of its spiritual meaning. The modern popularization of the Om symbol has actually been described as comparable to using the Christian cross without understanding or valuing what it indicates. When real history as well as definition of Om is understood, it can be an effective practice.

Pronunciation: Om or Aum?

At this point, it is crucial to mention to phonetics and also punctuation of Om. Because Om was initially a Hindu concept as well as composed in the Sanskrit alphabet, the punctuation "Om" is a Westernized modernization. Lots of individuals say that Om should be meant "Aum" because, when shouted, there are actually 3 separate noises: A, U, M. In Sanskrit, the "O" is actually noticable as a dipthong, or an audio composed of two vowels, in this instance "AU." Each sound stands for a distinct state, discussed below.

It is stated that Om is composed of every component of speech for all languages. In every language, despite alphabet or pronunciation, there are the "A," "U," as well as "M" noises. A stands for the throat sounds, U is the moving audio, as well as M is the closed-lip sound. Each of these three sound types are made use of in every human language. It is not surprising, then, that Om is an appropriate audio to stand for the original sound of the universe.

A-- syllable significance: Waking state

When chanting Om, the initial audio said is the "A" sound, pronounced as "Ahhhh". This is called the waking state. Simply as "Ahhh" is the beginning of chanting Om, it also stands for the start of the universe, as well as the creation of whatever within it. Assume as well as "A" as the start of the alphabet, just as waking is the start of consciousness. The waking state represents a person's recognition, when the mind regulates activity as well as the person determines with "I." The size, top quality, feeling, as well as convenience of the "Ahhh" syllable when shouting Om can use an insight right into an individual's waking state, their 5 detects, and their self-awareness or feeling of self.

U-- syllable meaning: Fantasize state

The 2nd state (U) is the desire state, articulated as "Oooo." The dream state is a balance between internal and also exterior emphasis, just as it is the connection between the waking state and deep sleep state. When shouting "Oooo," focus is attracted internal, yet it is still impacted by the outside world and the experiences of the "Ahhh," or waking state. The desire state is a giving up to the cosmos and also the Divine, as the chanter starts to draw away from external developments, the self, as well as the detects. To the waking state, the length, clearness, as well as top quality of the "Oooo" syllable will provide insight to an individual's dream state, knowledge, sense of clarity, and also connection with the bigger universe.

M-- syllable significance: Deep rest state

The last audible syllable is the M (obvious "Mmm"). This is known as the deep sleep state. This last audible syllable is identified as the transformative sound of deep space. The deep sleep state is the state of the gap, or simply put it is the state where all the detects and wishes of the waking state, and even the wisdom as well as representation of the desire state, and also launched. In the deep rest state, the individual will find tranquility, happiness, and replenishment via getting in touch with an universal awareness. The quality and size of the "Mmm" noise in Om will certainly offer insight to a person's deep rest state: Whether they are at tranquility, non-grasping, euphoric, and also more.

Importance of silence: Turiya

There is a last state of AUM that is not as well known. This finale state is called Turiya, as well as it is the silence following the last syllable. In this silence, the audible resonances of AUM have ended, yet they are still really felt in the throat, the mind, and the room.

[Om] is an everlasting tune of the Divine. It is continuously resounding in silence on the history of every little thing that exists. Amit Ray

Many people forget the presence of Turiya as a state, yet it is one of the most informed as well as pure of all the states. Nevertheless, without silence there can be no audio. Each state exists in contrast to the others. Unlike the other states, in Turiya there is no duality of sleep or wakefulness, Instead, there is just experience of pure awareness. This 4th state is elusive, yet constantly there complying with every AUM. The difficulty exists in genuinely feeling it and releasing all outside artifice.

Benefits of chanting Om

In enhancement to appreciating the lengthy as well as sacred background of Om, there are several advantages to shouting Om. Below are just a few benefits to chanting Om:

The gentle vibrations bring an euphoric feeling. Anxiety and also depression are reduced. Chanting enhances the voice and the throat chakra. Regular shouting brings a sense of health and wellbeing and also balance. The U (dream state) vibrations benefit the thyroid in throat. The resonances clear your sinus. Endorphins are launched and also hormones are balanced. Your concentration and also capacity to focus longer will certainly improve.

These advantages span the physical, emotional, as well as spiritual planes. They can be also more magnified by shouting Om within a group.

Science of Om

Behind the benefits of chanting Om exist the science behind it. Regardless of shouting Om being a thousands year old technique, it is only lately that it has been investigated by scientists. Currently, there is a lack of study on the benefits of chanting Om, nevertheless this is much more reflective on the absence of scientific research than the absence of benefits.

All that is the past, today and the future, all this is only the syllable Om. Mandukya Upanishad, 1

Many scientists rely upon the theory that the power of Om depends on its vibrations. In Quantum Physics, the study of the smallest bits of deep space, there is String Theory which proposes that matter is composed of miniscule string-like particles vibrating at various frequencies. It is these resonances that hold with each other all issue, and also consequently the world. Shouting Om produces a vibration in the body and also the surrounding environment, which when chanted repetitively can unite all bordered issue in the same frequency of vibration. With this vibration, the chanter is essentially unified with deep space via Om.

Furthermore, these resonances can awaken and energize areas of the body such as the pineal gland (recognized as the pineal eye), pituitary gland, and sinuses. This, consequently, can manage hormonal agents, boost mood and also rest, as well as more.

How to chant Om

Om can be shouted individually or in a group. When shouted in a group, the resonances are really felt and also sent out manifold, and will produce a much more profound sense of wellbeing.

Most individuals shout Om from a cross legged seated setting, or lotus present. Any type of mudra (hand setting) can be used, however a typical one is to attach forefinger and thumb and also extend other fingers, with arms expanded as well as hands facing upward on the knees. This is understood as Gyana Mudra.

Gaze must be cast downward, with the eyes shut. Take a deep breath in, expanding the diapgragm and filling the lungs, before shouting Om (or AUM) on the exhale. Do not overthink the pitch or tone of your Om. Instead, choose the most natural pitch for you. This might change with each Om and also may alter as you adapt to the other individuals in the room.

Exercise: Examine your AUM state

Once you fit shouting Om, a good workout is to periodically asses how your chant. To do this, you require to have expertise of the three states of AUM (waking state, dreaming state, and deep sleep state), which are reviewed previously. As you chant, either by yourself or within a team, bring understanding to each syllable you articulate. Some concerns to ask are:

Which syllable is longest? Which syllable is shortest? Which syllable feels the most natural/comfortable? Does any type of syllable bring stress to the throat, tongue, or third eye? Are there any feelings that emerge with a particular syllable? Are any one of the syllables skipped?

Thinking of these concerns, as well as just typically understanding exactly how you chant AUM will bring clearness to your own state of being. Shortages in one state will certainly bring understanding to other areas of your life. Do you skip over the U syllable, or dream state? You might not be taking adequate time to review life, or you might be experiencing a psychological block. Do you spend the most time on the A syllable, or waking state? You may be extremely connected to product possessions, or stressors in your life. Asking concerns as well as taking into consideration each syllable in connection with your life will certainly give you insight to yourself. By knowingly extending specific syllables, or balancing each syllable, you can bring much-needed equilibrium to your life.

Understanding the Om symbol

The audible noise, the vibrations, and the act of shouting are all important to the power of Om. Nonetheless, Om is additionally a composed Sanskrit sign. This symbol is sacred, and as reviewed formerly, must just be used by an individual that understands the history as well as power behind it. The Om composed sign reflects the top qualities of Om, consisting of the 3 audible states, and also the silent state.

The waking state is signified by the largest, bottom, left-most curve. The dream state is signified by the right-most curve which is virtually a circle. The deep rest state is represented by the left top contour (over the waking state). Maya, or lack of knowledge, is signified by the little, detached contour beneath the dot. Turiya, or unlimited awareness, is represented by the uppermost dot.

The icon of Om is greater than just a written personality. It is the representation to enlightenment. The three states of waking, fantasizing, and deep rest are attached, with deep rest climbing above. It is the ignorance as well as impression of Maya that stands in the method of pure enlightenment, or Turiya. Just once illusion is gone beyond knowledge be reached.

Conclusion

Just similar to all aspects of yoga, the significance of Om is complicated, historic, spiritual, profound, and also clinical. Its true advantages as well as significance can only be understood if it is exercised on a regular basis and with fantastic respect.

[jacobnoah0305]

Learn How to Become a Good Writer and Have a Steadfast Career

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit” _ Richard Bach

Nothing comes easy. We all have to work hard in order to achieve success. Being an amateur, you have to be consistent and passionate while writing. If you are the one who wants to learn how to become a good writer then you must be focused. You may not finish your writing in one go because writing is an on-again-off-again process. It’s a long tough grind with a lot of amendments.

If you want the world to listen to your words, then keep on reading to know about tips for writing a book.  

Brainstorming

Think about the topic you want to write about. Select the genre, whether it is a fiction or a non-fiction book. Set the table of contents and then break each chapter into sections as beginning, middle, and end. Focus on the current section you are working on otherwise it will get complicated for you to write.

Maintain the Wordcount

Sometimes we forget how long our writing could go. Always keep the word count in mind while you start writing. For example, the length of the article will be shorter than a novel. Build energy by having a precise daily word count goal that will keep you focused so you won’t get tired.

Set timer

“your mind is not a Storage device” _ David Allen

Let’s say you forget about writing while you were working on something else. You become tired and will skip writing that will cause you to delay. Make a schedule so you don’t forget when to write. Stick to your writing daily by setting up a timer so you don’t have to worry about when to write.  

Accept the failure

You may have written some masterpiece in your head, but it will not look like one to the people reading it. Life is complicated, so our minds. Everyone perceives life differently, so learn to accept another person's points of view as well. Nothing is perfect so embrace failure and learn how to better than before.

Write with Actuality

Just write with authenticity when writing an article. Mention the evidence-based advice that should be your own experience. Well, a 17-or the 18-year-old person telling a story about life long experiences doesn't make sense, right? Becoming a good writer demands clarity in writings as well. The person should have a clear understanding of the topic while reading it.

The internet provides various kinds of resources that can make you better at submissions. You can get the idea for the topic from their blogs to enhance your writing skills. Moreover, there are also resources present with free grammar and punctuation checkers to correct mistakes in your writings. It will give you an idea of how to use figures, metaphors, or hyphens in your writing. There are also several podcasts available on these platforms to help you become more careful with your work.

Well, if you want to gain publicity and attention to your writings then try to write short stories and poetry. You can also enter free writing competitions on various online platforms. It’s better to focus on the quality of your writing rather than the quantity before submitting it. Different websites provide online courses on becoming a good writer and help their members with professional training and advice on the go. They provide online job opportunities for their members as well. It may be hard to kickstart a writing career. Keep these points in mind and hit the spot in the right direction. And best of luck in your endeavours.

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Nampō Roku, Book 6 (11.2, part 3):  the Details of the Go-daisu-sho [御臺子所] in Ashikaga Yoshimasa's Shoin.

11.2 continued) [The arrangement of the room] was just as [illustrated] previously¹.

    As for further details related to this sketch that was in [Ri]kyū's possession², here will be [added certain] comments that relate [specifically] to the go-daisu-sho³:

◦ On occasions when the daisu will be displayed, [the members of the court] will descend onto the mats that were spread out in rows on the lower level, as shown [in the sketch], and there partake of the tea.

◦ Speaking of the mo-biki [no] ōdo, one panel of this door is opened, and the tea utensils are carried [to a place] just outside of [this door], where two yoryūdo [寄人] are stationed⁵ for the duration [of the service] -- to receive and take charge of the tea utensils.

◦ At this time, the official who will be in charge of [preparing and serving]⁷ the tea should lower the ties that bind [the legs of] his hakama [from above the calves to a point just above his ankles]⁸; and, if an enclosure is provided at the edge of the veranda for ablutions, he should wash his hands⁹.  After doing so, he receives the utensils [from the yoryūdo] and carries them to the daisu.

◦ On the other hand, if, on this occasion, the arrangement requires nothing to be carried, then, after lowering the kuguri, and washing his hands, [he] approaches the daisu just as he is¹⁰.

◦ Also, if the place for washing the hands can be seen from the lord’s seat, [the person who will prepare the tea] should be careful to behave appropriately¹¹.  And all the more so when serving [the tea], [one] must know what is appropriate¹².

◦ From the [mo-biki] ō-do to the daisu is [a distance of] more than 3-ken¹³.  The way that one carries ones mo [裳], ones footing, the foot with which one steps through the ō-do, an understanding of what is auspicious and inauspicious, and so on:  the way to do all of these things is very strictly defined¹⁴.

_________________________

◎ This final section deals with certain rules of deportment that it is essential for the person who will be serving tea in this setting to adhere.  While I have divided the list into individual points (for the sake of clarity), in the original this passage is written as a single unit, with minimal punctuation.

    Rather than being points extracted from an otherwise unknown document in Rikyū’s possession, this material seems to be excerpted from the rules for the service of the shōgun, that were issued by the Tokugawa bakufu (the language is as of a code of rules, rather than a narrative that would accompany an illustration).  For the reader’s convenience, a simplified sketch of the shoin has been added, below.

    The nobleman would be seated on the o-age-datami [御上疊], a raised platform on which two tatami mats were placed.  Other guests (or, more likely, the nobleman’s attendants) would presumably be seated on the mats of the veranda room in which the daisu had been set up.

    Two yoryūdo [寄人] (assistants) would be stationed outside of the mo-biki no ō-do [裳引ノ大戸], to assist the person who would be serving tea -- by handing him utensils that had to be carried out into the room, or to receive from him things like the koboshi, so they could be taken out to the mizuya.

    After preparing himself, the cha-sahai [茶差配] (the person charged with performing the temae) would enter through the mo-biki no ō-do and walk the length of the veranda room*, to take his seat in front of the daisu. ___________ *The veranda was covered with 12 tatami mats, arranged in four rows of three.  According to other period texts, this person would walk across the lower three rows of mats, and then sit down on the far end of the daisu-tatami.  He would advance toward the daisu on his knees.

¹Ō-yō migi no gotoshi [大ヤウ右ノゴトシ].

    Literally, “[it is] wholly as on the right.”

    The original was written from right to left, as usual, and the drawing was positioned between the two blocks of text.  The remarks translated in this post are found to the left of the sketch.

²Kyū shoji no sō-zu ha nao kuwashi [休所持ノ惣圖ハ猶委].

    Kyū [休] is the usual abbreviation of the name that Rikyū was using during the last five years or so of his life.  It is unclear when this particular incident was supposed to have occurred (though “Rikyū” was, of course, the name best known to the chajin of the Edo period).

    Nao kuwashi [猶委し]:  nao [猶] means still, more, further, additional; kuwashi [委し = 詳し] seems to mean details, particulars*.  In other words, additional details (on how tea was served in this room) will be presented in the passage that follows†.

    The author appears to be intent of solidifying the connection between Rikyū and this sketch, and the various details that will follow. __________ *The word is usually used in the adjectival form kuwashii [詳しい, 詳しい] today, which means detailed.  The noun form, “details,” is kuwashii-koto [詳しいこと] -- in the modern language.

†The implication is that Rikyū was in possession of a secret document (something along the lines of the O-kazari ki [御飾記]); though, for that reason, he is being careful only to share carefully selected passages with Nambō Sōkei, only those that will throw some light onto the way in which this kind of room was used.

    In fact, this seems to narrate details of the way that tea was served at the Tokugawa court (which is exactly the point -- to make it seem that the Tokugawa system was a direct extension of the earlier bakufu, of which the best documented, in cultural terms, was the court of Ashikaga Yoshimasa).

³Kore ha go-daisu-sho made no kaki-nuki nari [コレハ御臺子所マデノ書拔ナリ].

    Kaki-nuki [書拔] means an excerpt, extract, or selected remarks.  The implication seems to be that the document purportedly owned by Rikyū contained additional details that will not be quoted -- the author's intention being to limit these remarks very specifically to the particulars related to the go-daisu-sho.

⁴Go-daisu kazareruru toki ha, zu no gotoku ge-dan no kasane-tatami ni ide tamahite o-cha mesareshi to nari [御臺子カザラルヽ時ハ、圖ノ如ク下段ノカサネ畳ニ出玉ヒテ御茶メサレシト也].

    Kasane-tatami [重疊] means tatami mats spread out row after row (as was illustrated in footnote 14 of the previous post).

⁵Yoryūdo futari koko ni arite [寄人二人コヽニ在テ].

    A yoryūdo [寄人] is a sort of assistant, a low-level functionary who can be asked to perform various menial tasks.  Persons of this sort were employed at the Imperial court, as well as in the shōgun's offices and residences.

    In this case, their job would be to keep watch over the utensils that were deposited on the outside of the mo-biki ōdo, as well as assist the person who was performing the temae -- doing things such as taking the koboshi to the mizuya, to be emptied, and then returning it to the host so that he could restore it on the daisu at the end of the temae.

⁶Shibaraku o-chagu wo uketorite motsu [シバラク御茶具ヲ受取テモツ].

    Shibaraku [暫く] means for the time being, for the duration.  In other words, while tea is being served.

    Ukitorite motsu [受取て持つ]:  uketoru [受け取る] means “to receive (the tea utensils);” and motsu [持つ], “to hold” -- in this case, having the nuance of taking charge of (the utensils).

    The two yoryūdo receive the utensils (from the person conveying them from the mizuya; and, later, from the host, when he brings things back from the daisu).

⁷Cha-sahai no hito [茶差配ノ人].

    This is the title* of the person whose job is to perform the temae at the daisu.

    This designation (which probably referred to one of the dōbō-shū [同朋衆] at Yoshimasa's court) would not be used of Yoshimasa were preparing the tea with his own hands. __________ *If the person performing the temae was, indeed, one of the dōbō, then the title would presumably be temporary -- indicating the person who had been ordered to prepare the tea.

⁸Hakama no kuguri wo oroshi [袴ノクヲヲロシ].

    A kuguri-bakama [括り袴]* is a kind of split-legged hakama that has a drawstring inserted into a hem that runs around the lower edge of each leg.  The ends of the drawstring protrude through a pair of holes located on the inner side of the legs, as shown below.

    Depending on the activity in which the wearer would be involved, the hakama could either be tied “high” (just below the knees, above the calves), or “low” (at the narrow point of the lower leg, just above the ankles).

    Since the cha-sahai will be performing the temae seated in seiza, the tie is lowered to the ankle, so it will not restrict the flow of blood to the lower legs (as it might when tied just below the knees).

    In all but the Enkaku-ji version of the text, the first wo [ヲ] (which functions as the particle that indicates the direct object) is missing. __________ *Or kuguri-o no hakama [括り緒の袴].

    Korean traditional trousers are also tied to the legs in this way -- though, at least in the present day, this is done using ribands that are not attached to the garment.

⁹Sono en ni aru o-chōzu-gamae ni te chōzu wo shite [其緣ニアル御手水ガマへニテ手水ヲシテ].

    O-chōzu-gamae [御手水構] refers to the installation of a chōzu-bachi [手水鉢] at the edge of the veranda.  Sometimes the user must descend down an incline to make use of the basin, and sometimes the person may sit or squat down on the veranda, allowing the wash water to spill down between the front edge of the basin and the edge of the veranda.  There is no actual indication of what form the o-chōzu-gamae took at Yoshimasa’s shoin, though possibly the latter might be implied.

    A wall or other sort of screen* was sometimes erected around the chōzu-bachi in order to hide the ablutions from the sight of other people in the area (since part of the process consisted of rinsing out the mouth), though this screen is not always present. __________ *Kamae [構] usually means a structure or construction that encloses something.  Though it can also be used to mean “arrangement” -- the way something is arranged (in other words, in this case, whether the chōzu-bachi adjoins the veranda, or is separated far enough that the person who wishes to make use of it is required to descend to ground level).

¹⁰Mata hakobi-mono naki kazari no toki ha, kuguri wo oroshi, chōzu-shite sono-mama daisu [h]e kakaru nari [又運ビ物ナキカサリノ時ハ、クヽリヲヲロシ、手水シテ其マヽ臺子ヘカヽルナリ].

    Hakobi-mono naki kazari [運び物なき飾] means an arrangement that requires nothing to be carried out from the preparation area.  For example, an arrangement where the chakin, chasen, and chashaku have been arranged in the dai-temmoku, which is displayed on the ten-ita together with the chaire.

    Kuguri wo oroshi [括りを下ろし]:  kuguri [括り] refers to the cords that tie the lower ends of the legs of the hakama to the wearer’s legs; oroshi [下ろし] means to lower -- see footnote 8.

    Chōzu suru [手水する] means to wash ones hands; perform ones ablutions.

    Sono-mama daisu [h]e kakaru [其の儘臺子へ掛かる]:  sono-mama [其の儘] means as [he] is, the way [he] is, without change -- that is, without picking up or doing anything else (after washing the hands); daisu [h]e kakaru [臺子へ掛かる] means “[he] sets out for” (or, perhaps, “arrives at”) “the daisu.”

¹¹Chōzu no tokoro mo gozen yori miyuru yue, sono kokoro-e aru-beshi [手水ノ所モ御前ヨリ見ユルユヘ、其心得アルベシ].

    Gozen [御前] more literally means "the presence."

    Sono kokoro-e aru-beshi [其の心得あるべし] actually means “(you) should be aware of that.”

¹²Sara-sara to tsukau kokoro-e shikaru-beki to nari [サラ〰トツカフ心得可然トナリ].

    Sara-sara [更々] means more and more, all the more.

    Tsukau [使う] means to handle, manage, perform (the temae).  Hence, “serving [the tea].”

    Kokoro-e shikaru-beki to [心得然るべきと] means “to know what is appropriate.”

    Both Shibayama Fugen and Tanaka Senshō give this sentence as sara-sara to tsukau kokoro-e shikaru-beki-koto nari [サラ〰トツカフ心得可然事ナリ], which means “all the more, when handling the utensils], it is a matter of knowing what is appropriate” (rather than “...[one] must know what is appropriate,” as in the Enkaku-ji manuscript).  Ultimately, the meaning is very similar.

¹³Daisu made ō-do yori san-ken yo [臺子マデ大戸ヨリ三間余].

    San-ken yo [三間余]:  san-ken [三間] is equivalent to 18-shaku; yo [余] means “more than,” “over.”

    As mentioned above, the mats in the room were arranged in four rows of three, and the cha-sahai (the person who would perform the temae) would walk across the lower three rows of mats, and sit down on the far end of the daisu-tatami.  He would then advance toward the daisu on his knees.  This means that he would walk a distance of 3-ken after he stepped across the threshold of the mo-biki ō-do.

    The word yo [余] could be taken to suggest that the intended meaning is that the cha-sahai walks onto the daisu-tatami, and lowers himself directly into the seat he will occupy during the temae.  If this is the preferred interpretation of the significance of yo, then this statement is further evidence that these passages were written around the middle of the first century of the Edo period -- when the way one entered the room and approached the daisu was based on Sōtan’s way of doing things.

¹⁴Mo no hiki-yō, ashi no hakobi, ō-do [h]e iri-toki no ashi, kikkyō no kokoroe nado, mina sahō genjū nari [裳ノ引ヤウ、足ノハコビ、大戸ヘ入時ノ足、吉凶ノ心得等、ミナ作法嚴重也].

    Mo no hiki-yō [裳の引様] means “the way that the mo is carried” -- that is, it is at this point, just before entering the room, that the mo* is carefully tied on to the waist, so that it will flair outward and extend backwards in a straight line.

    Ashi no hakobi [足の運び] refers to the correct way to walk across the length of each mat (so that one always crosses onto the next mat with the same foot)†.

    Ō-do [h]e iri-toki no ashi [大戸ヘ入時の足] means the foot with which one crosses the threshold when entering through the ō-do‡.

    Kikkyō no kokoroe [吉凶の心得など]:  kikkyō [吉凶] means “good fortune and bad fortune;” kokoro-e [心得] means to understand, to know.  Doing certain things will be appropriate to a given occasion, while doing them in the opposite way would be inauspicious.  Thus is it not just a matter of knowing which is which, but of understanding which is most appropriate on the present occasion.

    Mina sahō genjū nari [皆作法嚴重なり]:  mina [皆] means “everything,” “all of these (things),” “in every situation;” sahō [作法] refers to manners, the correct way to do something; genjū [嚴重] means things like stringent, rigorous, hard-and-fast, strict -- here referring to the rules of correct deportment.  Especially when performing before a nobleman, one must be especially careful to perform each and every action correctly.  In this setting, there is no room for mistakes or missteps.   __________ *The mo is a formal train (of white gauze) which indicates that the wearer is of lower rank than the people being attended.  The meaning of the phrase is that one must be careful (from this point onward) that the mo extends backwards in a straight line, and not be wrinkled or off-center.

    No mention is made (and, in fact, it is very unlikely) that women ever served tea to Yoshimasa.  The conventions, however, had changed drastically by the Edo period.

†This is something that beginners also study during their wari-geiko phase of training for chanoyu -- and something to which everyone must always pay attention.

‡In chanoyu, for example, one of the major schools states that a person should cross the threshold of the sadō-guchi with the left foot; another school teaches that this should be done with the right foot.

    Rikyū, on the other hand, taught that one should cross with the foot on the side closest to the wall that adjoins the sadō-guchi.

[thebeautyofdisorder]

The Undone & The Divine (BBC Dracula) - Chapter 8

A/N: Okay, sorry it’s been like two weeks since I posted the last chapter. I am such a mess. This is a bit shorter, more of a set up than anything, but informative? I have so many ideas for this, that it took me a minute to figure out in sequence what’s going to happen when.

Pairing: Dracula & Agatha/Zoe, off and on Dracula/OFC

Rating: M, for blood, language, and mercenaries with guns.

Chapters 1-2 Here - Chapter 3 Here - Chapter 4 Here - Chapter 5 Here - Chapter 6 Here - Chapter 7 Here

Can be found on AO3 - Right HERE - or enjoy below the cut

Chapter 8

By all accounts he appears as a human man, at varying states of age depending upon how regularly and well he is fed, lingering even at his most satiated at around 45-50 years – presumably the age of his death. His hair is thick and inky black, kept shorter and slicked back when in public view; his nose aquiline and aristocratic; his eyes appear black at a distance but in close quarters and lighting seem to have a dark mossy-brown hue; admirable bone structure, and a mouth that is at times both harsh and jovial depending upon what impression he wishes to put across at the time. His accent is tainted by those of his victims, but always holds a slight thickness and gravel, reminiscent of his native tongue. His teeth, even when not in the state of blood frenzy, still seem longer and sharper than normal, particularly the canines. His fingernails also are long and honed to a point, and seem to be of inhuman durability and sharpness. He is excessively tall and somewhat broad, though of a generally slim build regardless of his bestial strength. No physical deformities upon the rest of his body when in his humanoid state, though his eyes can seem to gleam in the darkness like those of other nocturnal beasts.

When in the presence of human blood, those eyes dilate and become ringed in crimson, and all blunt edges of his teeth sharpen to slight but lethal points. Animalistic tendencies manifest – hissing, snarling, growling, the hunched stance of a predator, etc. Interestingly, he also seems to bare all the normative signs of the common morphine addict – tension, restless movements, irritability, the inability to control his emotions and behavior. He possesses speed the likes of which the human eye can barely detect, but only in small bursts in the midst of attack, by my witness. He was able to manifest a continual fog, as stated earlier in my narrative, and could very well be at fault for the storm swirling in the seas now, as I write. He can deform himself to fit into any small space, one could assume, though I have only seen him do this by defiling the physical forms of other living beings – notably a wolf at the convent, and the late Jonathan Harker, who was also undead at the time. Whether that’s relevant to this ability, I don’t particularly know. He can call wolves and bats to his service, and possibly flies – whether this works with all creatures and he’s merely chosen these for theatrical purposes, or if he’s limited to creatures of darkness and decay, I have yet to discover.

The ‘kiss of the vampire’ is a strong opiate, meaning most victims are often unaware of his bite or the danger they are in until it is too late. He can create and control the dream state in which they enter, often choosing scenarios of an erotic nature. Whether this is for his own amusement or because of the effect it has on the blood, I can only deduce. This method seems to be equally employed through both sexes though I have yet to see any direct indications of intercourse, willing or unwilling. If he possesses a sex drive at all, it is seemingly outranked by his desire to feed.  

He is highly intelligent and possesses a biting wit, which in another context might even be endearing, and his charm is carefully honed to attract potential victims. Though his mental weaknesses are notable, including his arrogance, lack of self-awareness, and dependence on his victims to take in and retain key skills and information. As opposed to learning the language of a new land through study, he merely drains one of its countrymen and absorbs their inherent knowledge. This leads to a flurry of unpredictable behavior and reckless death, and also speaks of his impatience and lack of discipline, which has undoubtedly lessened with age. He was, in life, an excellent ruler and even better general with a skill for strategy currently wasted on petty mind games. If he could ever reach a point of managing his appetite for blood and destruction, he could be an invaluable resource - a first-hand witness to the last four hundred years of European history.

I’m sure you will, dear brother, quickly dismiss this as folly, but however much you would like to categorize him as yet another mindless demon from the pit, I assure you he is anything but. He may fear the cross, but don’t think there is a heavenly power that instilled that fear. It reeks of an entirely human weakness. You would do well to remember that, should you run across him or any of his kind in the future. While his existence seems to have been very luck of the draw, it’s nowhere near as anomalous as Dracula himself would like us to believe. Others could have survived and done what he has done. In fact, I could almost guarantee it.

Zoe read through Agatha’s words again, this particular afterward for maybe the twentieth time since she’d found it. Not for any particular information, more over just marveling at the clarity, simplicity, and dare-she-say fondness with which it was written, in comparison to the information she’d been brought up with. Shockingly, the nun was able to more realistically sum up the vampire than any other Van Helsing before or after her (granted, she had the firsthand experience), and with so much less fire and brimstone, religious nonsense. It was half of why she’d spent so long away from ‘the family business’ as it were, until she’d had to take over the institute. Science had always been the only god she would acknowledge.

Whatever logic Agatha had administered from across the pond however, while well used, had been entirely riddled with her elder brother’s showmanship and particularly Catholic brand of fending off the forces of darkness. Agatha may have seen him as the devil incarnate, but that didn’t stop her from acknowledging his humanity – and in that, Zoe couldn’t help but agree. Dracula was very much still a man, no matter how immortal or powerful, and he still had all of man’s other weaknesses, sans physical vulnerabilities. Minor detail.

She supposed it had made it easier for both the zealot and the scientist to see their subject of animosity as no better than a rabid dog that needed to be analyzed and destroyed. But that had never been the case at all. A self-serving lesson to learn, she had to admit, but an important one. So long as he had retained some of his humanity, there was certainly hope for her.

It was the only thing keeping her sane through the mock trial this experiment had turned into. Every turn she was being questioned and analyzed harder than she had since grad school, and yet still regarded as the antagonistic and dangerous party. It was a contradiction that made her genuinely question the mental capacity of her colleagues.

Yes, let's aggravate the person we're terrified of. Honestly.

Their latest critique, however she loathed to admit it, was actually sound. They needed a control. A 'direct contact' feed to compare to her bottled one, and they all knew there was only one vampire to compare to. Clearly they didn't actually expect him to participate, they only wanted to de-legitimize her process.

But it would make an impact, wouldn't it?

-----

It was just before sunset, traces of red just beginning to seep onto the surface of the sun, and for the first time in a great while, Count Dracula was unenthused. He was beginning to be rather fond of daylight, even if it came with certain disadvantages, as he was beginning to discover. Perhaps vampires were better off as creatures of the night after all.

Most if not all of his preternatural abilities were greatly weakened by the sun, though why he wasn't sure. It made him feel languid and slow, which was perfectly fine for an afternoon on the beach, but highly inconvenient when he got hungry and none of his more willing resources were available. Physical conditioning or a lesser reality of the lore he'd always accepted, who was to say?

Who indeed.

He had given Zoe plenty of space to run her little experiments without interference, aside from keeping an 'eye' out to ensure she wasn't in any immediate danger. But there was only so long that would last, and despite having ample opportunity to create more brides...he felt like he needed more answers before that inevitability occurred.

Agatha had been right, annoyingly, as usual. Lab rats were not something he needed, especially ones who could question him on topics even he didn't fully understand anymore.

If the Van Helsing women were good for anything, aside from healthy competition, it was certainly bluntness and clarity. Being the only thing close to another vampire of any mental capacity to be in his proximity for over 300 years certainly didn't hurt.

Zoe Van Helsing was someone he needed, a concept he could scarcely understand and wasn't entirely fond of, but if he wasn't mistaken, she needed him as well - and hated it even more.

----

"Dr. Helsing, is this really necessary?"

Zoe found herself staring at the younger but far more egotistical doctor through the glass that separated them with an expression not unlike one would give a particularly frustrating insect who refused to die as fast as she wished it would.

"Is what necessary?"

The man, Dr. Connors, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, punctuating his next words with unnecessary flare.

"Well, our sponsor doesn't understand the necessity of this trial, when it cannot possibly prove anything. All of our intel on the 'vampiric condition' states simply that they require blood to sustain life, but also that it's nearly impossible to kill them. Surely your continued …  existence without blood doesn't fully prove or disprove anything. And without anything to compare it to…"

"For now," she interrupted stubbornly, attempting to ignore his tendency to discuss her as though she were a theoretical construct.

"Even so," he continued blandly, "There are surely better uses of our time, in the face of an increasing number of...undead. Preventative measures, protection for the innocent. Unless you can get some sort of control data…"

Their 'sponsor' had sent this idiot to report back on how his precious money was being spent,  and it had become an increasingly infuriating thorn in her side. Or stake in her heart, she was sure he hoped. Zoe had just begun to second guess her tendencies toward homicide, when she felt the tell-tale hairs begin to rise on the back of her neck.

"Oh fuck me," she cursed aloud, completely indifferent to the confused looks of those observing her. They wouldn't be confused for long.

"Careful what you wish for Doctor."

Everyone but Zoe took a startled glance around. She turned around, eyes directly finding the dark ones on the outside of the glass, quirking a stern brow despite the relative chaos of everyone else receding into the corners in panic.

Count Dracula merely flashed her a shit-eating grin in response, relishing her disapproval in equal measure to the human fear beginning to fill the room. Pungent and yet satisfying, she noted, rather unhappily.

"Oh Zoe how the tables have turned," he couldn't resist prodding at her through the encasement, ignoring the guns pointed at his back in favor of taunting her, hands in his pockets. The picture of malicious nonchalance.

She wasn't trapped, as he had been. They'd learned their lesson in that regard at least, but it was a barrier she'd permitted for her own sanity. Watching everyone walk on eggshells around her was grating, and it ruined her focus. Plus, it helped with the sensory overload until she got more accustomed to it.

"And yet you're still the one at gunpoint," Zoe shot back with a hint of a blithe smile.

He turned and directed his overly fond smile towards the tattooed gentleman with the over-sized assault weapon, greeting him like an old friend. The man that Zoe had never seen with a single facial expression looked so dumbstruck that she had to fight down a laugh. This was apparently the last straw for their visiting dictator.

"Count Dracula," came more of a squeak than a shout from the bespectacled doctor's mouth, with such a forced amount of distaste that Zoe was now certain he had lost his mind entirely. "You will not be permitted to attack anyone here."

Shooting Zoe an incredulous look, mostly as she could read translating to ‘Is he serious?’, the vampire watched her answering eye roll very obviously telling him ‘He's an idiot, but reports to the money’.

Dracula finally looked away from their silent exchange, and took out a small pocket flask, not unlike the one he'd left her before, and shook it in the other man's general direction as he passed by him with total indifference.

"Not to worry, I brought my own," he stated, opening it and taking a long swig. It cleared a direct pathway for him easily, bee-lining for Dr. Bloxham who sat at the control panel. She naturally flinched on his approach, despite trying to hide it. He noticed and flashed her a charming smile, to his credit only showing the slightest hint of fang.

"Terribly sorry about the finger," the Count apologized humbly, almost convincingly sincere as he draped a long arm over the back of her chair. "...But would you mind letting me in?"

Bloxham looked somewhat confused. "You want to go in there?" Her eyes shot up to the ceiling. The sun had not completely set. He gave her an encouraging smile with a faint trace of pity.

"I would love to go in there."

Zoe merely rolled her eyes and tapped on the table with relative impatience, as he paced through the parted seas of scientists and interns alike to join her in the completely ineffective glass prison.

"You evil little thing, you didn't tell them," he accused with quiet glee as he approached her from the opposite side of the table.

"If their superstitions help them feel safe, then all the better for me," she excused in a murmur, hoping he hadn't just given the game away completely.

His grin was one of near pride, as he bent his tall form forward to rest his hands on the table. "I can go slit his throat if you want me to. Heaven knows you won't."

She sighed, not trusting herself to answer. "Why are you here?" she asked instead.

"You needed me, didn't you?"

------

Okay, so this could go really amusingly or very terribly - we’ll see what I come up with, eh? Shouldn’t be as long of a wait this time, fingers crossed.

Tag List: @break-free-killer-queen @mephdcosplay @charlesdances @punk-courtesan  @crowley-needs-a-hug @hoefordarkness @bellamortislife @malkaviangirl @imagineandimagine @chelsfic @dracula-s-bride @my-fanfic-library @hyacinth-meadow @mymagicsuitcase @littlemessyjessi @desperatefrenchwriter @ss9slb @crazytxgradstudent @claesbang @mr-kisskiss-bangbang @gettingcrazyforlife @carydorse @dreamerkim @gatissed @alhoyin @girlonfireice @festering-queen @jangleprojet  @guardianbelle @vampiregirl1797

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[writinggeisha]

We’ve got rules and standards for everything we include in our novels—how to start those novels, how to increase tension, how to introduce characters, how to format, what to include in dialogue, how to punctuate dialogue, what to exclude from the first chapter. And we have rules for numbers. Or maybe we should call all these rules conventions.

This article covers a few common specifics of using numbers and numerals in fiction. I’m just going to list the rules here, without much explanation, laying out those that you’ll typically make use of in a novel. Keep in mind that there are always exceptions. For the most part, you’ll want to stick to the standards to make the read smooth and easy for the reader and create consistency within the manuscript.

Yet we’re talking fiction here, not a treatise or dissertation or scientific finding. You have choices. And style choices sometimes get to stomp all over the rules. If you want to flout the rules, do so for a reason and do so consistently every time that same reason is applicable in the manuscript.

For a comprehensive list of the rules concerning numbers, check out the Chicago Manual of Style or another style guide.

______________________

General Rules

__ Spell out numbers from zero through one hundred. You could argue for zero through nine, as is recommended for AP style, but do note that the recommendations in the Associated Press Stylebook are primarily for newspaper and magazine writing. Some rules are different for fiction.

You could also make a style choice to spell out almost all numbers, even if that conflicts with this and other rules.

Use numerals for most numbers beyond one hundred. While this is the standard, there are definitely exceptions to this one.

The witch offered Snow White one crisp, dewy apple.

Bobby Sue sang thirty-two songs before her voice gave out.

The rock-a-thon lasted for just over 113 hours.

The witch offered Snow White 1 crisp, dewy apple. Incorrect

__ Spell out these same numbers (0-100) even if they’re followed by hundred or thousand. (Your characters may have reason to say or think all manner of odd numbers, so yes, zero thousand might come up, even though this isn’t a common usage in our 3-D lives.)

The forces at Wilmington were bolstered by the arrival of ten thousand fresh soldiers.

The knight had died four hundred years earlier.

But—The knight had died 418 years earlier.

“How many thousands of lies have you told?” “I’ve told zero thousand, you fool.”

__ Spell out ordinal numbers through one hundred as well—even for military units and street names. Ordinal numbers are often used to show relationship and rank.

We’d write the Eighty-second Airborne Division but the 101st Airborne Division. (Newspapers and military publications may have different conventions.)

A restaurant would be on Fifth Avenue, not 5th Avenue. Or the restaurant is on 129th Street, not One hundred and twenty-ninth Street.

A quick guide to ordinals—

no ordinal for zero      twentieth first                            twenty-first second                        twenty-second third                           and so on . . . fourth fifth* sixth                           thirtieth (thirty-first, thirty-second, and so on) seventh                       fortieth eighth                         fiftieth ninth                           sixtieth tenth                          seventieth eleventh                     eightieth twelfth                       ninetieth thirteenth fourteenth                                               one hundredth fifteenth*                                                 one thousandth sixteenth                                                  one millionth seventeenth eighteenth nineteenth

The only odd ordinals are those using fives—fifth and fifteenth. Note the letter D in both hundredth and thousandth.

__ Use full-size letters, not superscript, to mark ordinal numbers (st, nd, rd, th) written as numerals.

__ Use first, second, third and so on rather than firstly, secondly, thirdly unless your character would use this odd construction as part of her style.

__ Spell out numbers that start a sentence. If spelling creates something awkward, rewrite.

One hundred and fifteen [not 115] waiters applied for the job.

__ Hyphenate compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine. Do this when the number is used alone and when used in combination with other numbers.

Louise owned forty-one cars.

“I heard she owned one hundred and thirty-five diamond rings.”

__ For an easier read, when numbers are written side by side, write one as a numeral and the other as a word.

He made 5 one-hundred-pound cakes.

We lashed 3 six-foot ladders together.

__ Spell out simple fractions and hyphenate them.

He took only one-half of yesterday’s vote.

He needed a two-thirds majority to win the election.

__ For the most part, treat large numbers, made large by being paired with the words million, billion, and so on, just as you would other numbers.

Some nine [not greater than one hundred, so spelled out] million years ago, the inhabitants of Ekron migrated to our solar system.

The family had collected the pennies, 433 [greater than one hundred] million of them, over eighty years.

But for large numbers with decimals, even if the number is less than 101, use the numeral version.

The team needed 10.5 million signatures for their petition.

Yet since we want to hear the words, you could just as easily write—

The team needed ten and a half million signatures for their petition.

This last example works both for narration and dialogue. But for dialogue you could also write—

“The team needed ten point five million.”

__ Use words rather than symbols and abbreviations in dialogue and in most narrative. Symbols are a visual representation, but characters need to think and speak the words.

Use the words rather than the symbols for degree (°) and percent (%) and number (#), both in dialogue and narrative. Use the word dollar rather than the dollar sign ($) in dialogue. Do not abbreviate the words pounds or ounces, feet or inches (or yards), hours or minutes or seconds, or miles per hour (or similar words) in dialogue or narrative.

An exception might include something like stretches of text where you note the changing speeds of a car but don’t want to repeat miles per hour again and again. Your use of mph becomes a style choice.

You might find other exceptions in headers and chapter titles. You can, of course, use symbols in titles and headers if you want to. For example, in geo-political thrillers, stories that jump all over the world and back again, headers might show longitude and latitude and the degree symbol would come in handy.

If you do include full compass coordinates in the narrative, using numerals and the symbols for degrees, minutes, and seconds might be the best choice in terms of clarity and ease of reading.

“But I don’t have a million dollars.”

“Nobody gave a hundred percent.”

“The baby weighed seven pounds eleven ounces.”

“It’s fourteen degrees out there!”

The # of crimes he’d committed kept rising. Incorrect

The chasm looked at least 40 ft. wide. Incorrect

The roadster crept along at no more than 28 mph. Incorrect

Note: You’re writing fiction. Think flow in the visuals as well as in the words. What will make sense to the reader and keep him from tripping over your style choices?

Time

__ Use numerals when you include a.m. and p.m., but you don’t have to use a.m. and p.m.

It was 5:43 a.m. when he got me out of bed. Correct

It was five forty-three a.m. Incorrect

__ Use lower case letters with periods or small caps without periods for a.m. and p.m.

__ Include a space between the numbers and a.m. or p.m., but no space within a.m. or p.m.

__ Spell out numbers when you include o’clock.

But he did wait until after five o’clock to call.

__ Use numerals to emphasize exact times, except in dialogue.

She pointed out that it was still 5:43 in the morning.

“It’s four forty-three.” She looked out into the darkness. “In the morning!”

The robbery took place at 2:22 a.m.

__ Spell out words for the hour, quarter, and half hours.

The hall clock was wrong; it showed eight thirty. No, it showed eight forty-five.

__ Do not use a hyphen to join hours and minutes. I have seen advice on several Internet sites that says you do use a hyphen in such cases, except when the rest of the number is already hyphenated.  So they’d have you write two-twenty but two twenty-five. This doesn’t make much sense, although there may be a style guide out there recommending such punctuation (and may provide a valid reason for it). The Chicago Manual of Style, however, does not use a hyphen (see 9.38 in the sixteenth edition). Their example is “We will resume at ten thirty.”

It was four-forty-five. Incorrect

It was four forty-five. Correct

The bomb went off at eleven-thirty. Incorrect

The bomb went off at eleven thirty. Correct

__ While we normally would never use both o’clock and a.m. or p.m. and typically don’t use o’clock with anything other than the hour, fiction has needs other writing doesn’t. The following might very well come out of a character’s mouth or thoughts—

It was five o’clock in the a.m.

“Mommy, it it four thirty o’clock yet?

Dates

__ Dates can be written a number of ways. The twenty-fifth of December, December 25, December 25, 2015, or the twenty-fifth are all valid ways of referring to the same day.

December 25th and December 25th, 2015 are incorrect. Do not use ordinal numbers for dates that include month, or month and year, written in this format. You can, however, write the twenty-fifth of December.

December 25 and December 25, 2015 would both be prounounced as the ordinal, even though the th is not written.

The exception is in dialogue.

“Your kids can’t wait for December twenty-fifth.”

__ Do not use a hyphen (actually, this in an en dash) for a range of dates that begins with the words from or between. (This rule is true of all numbers, not just dates, arranged this way.) Use the words to, through, or until with from, and and with between.

He planned to be out of town from August 15-September 5. Incorrect.

He planned to be out of town from August 15 to September 5. Correct

He planned to be out of town between August 15-September 5. Incorrect

He planned to be out of town between August 15 and September 5. Correct

He planned to be out of town August 15-September 5. Correct

__ Decades can be written as words or numbers (four- or two-digit years). Unless it’s in reference to a named era or age—the Roaring Twenties—do not capitalize the decade.

The cars from the thirties are more than classics.

Cars of the 1930s were my dad’s favorites.

The teacher played songs from the ’60s and ’70s to get the crowd in the right mood. (The punctuation is an apostrophe, not an opening quotation mark.)

__ There is no apostrophe between the year and the letter S except for a possessive.

The doctor gave up smoking back in the 1980’s. Incorrect

The doctor gave up smoking back in the 1980s. Correct

The doctor gave up smoking back in the ’80’s. Incorrect

The doctor gave up smoking back in the ’80s. Correct

BUT—She was the fifties’ [also the ’50s’] most glamorous star.

An earlier example was incorrect—She was decked out in cute 1950’s clothes, but the haircut was atrocious. Incorrect

__ Spell out century references.

He wanted to know if it happened in the eighteenth or the nineteenth century. When the guide reminded him it was the seventeen hundreds, he was even more confused.

__ Adding mid to date terms can be confusing. The general rule is that mid, as a prefix, does not get a hyphen. So midyear, midcentury, midterm, midmonth, and midthirties are all correct. (The same rules apply for other prefixes, such as pre or post, that can be used with date words.)

There are, however, exceptions—

Include a hyphen before a capital letter. Thus, mid-October.

Include a hyphen before a numeral. Thus, mid-1880s.

Include a hyphen before compounds (hyphenated or open). Thus, mid-nineteenth century and mid-fourteenth-century lore.

Note: The Chicago Manual of Style has a wonderful and comprehensive section on hyphenating words. I recommend it without reservation.

Dialogue

__ Spell out numbers in dialogue. When a character speaks, the reader should hear what he says. And although a traditional rule tells us not to use and with whole numbers that are spelled out, keep your character in mind. Many people add the and in both words and thoughts. Once again, the rules are different for fiction.

“I collect candlesticks. At last count I had more than a hundred and forty.”

“At last count I had more than one forty.”

“She gave her all, 24/7.” Incorrect

“She gave her all, twenty-four seven.” Correct

One exception to this rule is four-digit years. You can spell out years, and you’d definitely want to if your character has an unusual pronunciation of them. But you could use numerals.

“He told me the property passed out of the family in 1942.”

“I thought it was fifty-two?”

A second exception would be for a confusing number or a long series of numbers. Again, if you want readers to hear the character saying the number, spell it out. Even common numbers might be spoken differently. One character might say eleven hundred dollars while another says one thousand one hundred dollars.

If you have to include a full telephone number—because something about the digits is vital—use numerals, even in dialogue. (But if you want to emphasize the way the numbers are spoken, spell out the numbers.)

You’d use numerals rather than words because writing seven or ten words for the numbers would be cumbersome. But most of the time there is no reason to write out a full phone number.

__ Write product and brand names and titles as they are spelled, even if they contain numbers—7-Eleven, Super 8 hotels, 7UP.

Heights

__ Heights can be written in a variety of ways.

He was six feet two inches tall.

He was six feet two.

He was six foot two.

He was six two.

He was six-two. (a recommendation from some sources, although not one I’d make)

Money

__ Do not hyphenate dollar amounts except for the numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine that require them. Don’t use a hyphen between the number and the word dollars (except as noted below). Note the absence of commas.

two dollars

twenty-two dollars

two hundred dollars

two hundred twenty-two dollars or two hundred and twenty-two dollars

two thousand two hundred and two dollars

But—

a two-dollar bill

a twenty-dollar fine

a two-hundred-dollar fine

a two-hundred-and-twenty-two-dollar fine

Punctuation

__ No commas or hyphens between hours and minutes, feet and inches, pounds and ounces, and dollars and cents that are spelled out. If the meaning is unclear, rewrite.

Ben promised to be there at four thirty, but it was six twenty when he pulled into the driveway.

At seven feet three inches, he was the shortest of the Marchesa giants.

The piece of salmon weighed one pound eleven ounces, but they charged the rude customer the price for three pounds.

He owed his boss forty-two fifty.

He owed his boss forty-two dollars and fifty cents.

__ Use hyphens for compound adjectives containing numbers the same way other compound are created. They are almost always hyphenated as an adjective before the noun. Age terms, both nouns and adjectives used before nouns, are hyphenated. (Noun forms of compound words paired with the word old are hyphenated, as are adjectives paired with old that are placed before nouns.)

A two-inch hole in the street became a six-by-six-foot crater.

My two-year-old loves puppies.

My son has a two-year-old puppy.

But—My puppy is two years old.

__ No hyphen between numbers and percent.

The drink was only 60 percent beer. The rest was water. Correct

The drink was 20-percent beer. Incorrect

__ For multiple hyphenated numbers sharing a noun, include a hyphen and a space after the first number and hyphenate the last as usual.

Our Johnny couldn’t wait to tell us about the ten- and twenty-foot-tall monsters in the yard.

His sister shared details about the two- and three-headed versions that lived under her bed.

__ For the words half and quarter, use the hyphen for adjectives but not for noun forms. (Some words with half are closed compounds—halfway, halfwit—so check the dictionary.)

“Join me in a quarter hour or join me in a half hour; it’s your choice.”

Join me half an hour from now.

The half-price items were poorly made.

__ For compound words made with odd, always use a hyphen.

Thirty-odd hours later, my son finally returned home.

He’d saved some 150-odd comic books.

__ For numerals greater than 1,000, include commas after every three digits from the right (for American English). For fiction, it’s likely you’ll often round off these numbers and/or write the numbers as words, but the rule is good to know.

1,000

10,525

10,525.78

953,098,099

__ For dollar amounts written as numerals, use the period to separate dollars and cents, and include the dollar sign. But you could spell out the amount, especially if you’re rounding the number.

He needed $159.75 for the bar tab.

He needed a hundred and sixty dollars for the bar tab.

You may have been advised to always write one hundred rather than a hundred, but for fiction, we want to reflect a character’s words and style.

__ Do not add a period if a.m. or p.m. comes at the end of a sentence. Do use a comma midsentence if that is necessary.

The fire alarm was pulled at 11:58 a.m.. Incorrect

The fire alarm was pulled at 11:58 a.m. Correct

The alarm was pulled at 11:58 a.m., just before lunch. Correct

Weapons and Guns

For the most part, stick with the rules governing numbers when you write about weapons. A publisher’s style guide may overrule your choices, but you’ll want consistency either way. Keep in mind your speaker’s or viewpoint character’s familiarity with weapons. One character might know every detail about a weapon while another calls every weapon a gun.

Use only the necessary detail. For example, in fiction you might not often have cause to write The AH-64D Apache Longbow was the team’s first choice. Instead, you might write, The Longbow was the the team’s first choice. Yet before this moment in the story, you might have needed to list the equipment available to them, writing out the full name of several helicopters.

__ In both narrative and dialogue, if you use the name of the gun or ammo, spell it as the manufacturer does, including numerals and capital letters. Do the same for military weapons and tanks. Spell out the word caliber.

If you don’t use the full name, still capitalize brands and manufacturers. The designation mm is accepted in narrative.

He eyed the .357 Magnum in the loser’s shaky hand.

Anderson’s Colt .38 was under his pillow, two rooms away.

Both the Browning 9mm, his favorite, and his stacked salami sub, another favorite, were destroyed by the car crusher.

I knew she lied when she told me the M1 Abrams had been named after her father; she was much too young.

__ In dialogue, if the character is saying a variation of the name but not the name itself, you have options. Use words when doing so isn’t convoluted or cumbersome or unclear.

“Dirty Harry used a forty-four, not a three fifty-seven.”

“How would I know? Thirty aught six, thirty aught seven. What’s the difference anyway?” Deke back-whistled through his teeth. “You’ve never even picked up a rifle, have you?”

“What was it? A nine millimeter?” “A Glock 17 Compensated. New and shiny.”

Contradictory Rules

If you’ve got rules that conflict, you have a few options.

Rewrite.

Choose the option that gives clarity to the reader.

Remember that in fiction, words can almost always be substituted for numerals. When in doubt, write it out. Yeah, corny and elementary, I know. But it’s advice that’s easy to remember.

______________________

Keep in mind that characters don’t all speak or think the same way, with the same words. Let your choices reflect your characters and not only the rules. That is, sometimes the rules are less important than the way the characters express themselves.

As an example, the rules (for American English, not British English) tell us not to write years in this manner—fourteen hundred and ninety-two, with the and. But your character just may think or say a date with the and. Be true to his voice and style.

And be consistent. Create a style sheet and stick with it. Know what choice you made for your numbers in chapter six and do the same in chapter fifteen.

Fiction is different from other writing styles. We use words rather than symbols, abbreviations, and images. If you’re unsure, spell out the numbers. Put it in words.

~~~

LG’s Note: These are just conventions, not “must do’s”. I’m only posting these as guidance for myself as someone who prefers writing out numerals or anyone interested in seeing the explicit difference between the two styles - numerical and textual - laid out cleanly.

[breathe-smiles]

pt i. fragile notes

prologue:

i hope you’re not reading this. you know who you are. i can’t think of a reason why you would be [reading this], but in the slightest chance that you are, i hope you stop eventually (or at least come to an understanding of why you do continue to).

this piece is all about you. you’re enlaced in every word and punctuation. but i promise that it’s for me and i’m the reason i’m writing. i forget that this blog is my space - the only space i let myself be unapologetic, completely honest, and brutally real. so if you’re looking for something written to and for you, open any of #s 1 through 10, even if you’re still afraid to.

this piece is a collection of things i’ve jotted down over this period of time in between my last letter to you and now. these are feelings and emotions and thoughts that i have not been able to address, process, comprehend, or make sense of. these are things i’ve put on hold.

i’m in a headspace i’ve never been in before. i am encountered by circumstances i don’t know how to overcome. i actually thought i knew it all this time around - how to deal with any insecurity, separation or loss, heartache, growing pain, or communication issue. but once again, my fate has taken me on a path that is so indecipherable. what’s guiding me? where does it want me to go? is it taking me somewhere? where do i turn?

my sense of direction is pretty skewed to be upfront. i haven’t had to deal with a curve ball in quite some time. i’ve been meticulously in control for a long while. and it’s been great paving my own path; in the past 2 and a half years, i’ve learned a lot about the kind of person i want to be and how to potentially get myself there.

but now life’s in flux again. i’m feeling things that contradict each other; my thoughts are so mixed up i almost feel numb. i feel so much that i feel almost nothing. i wonder if this is a product of your departure or the arrival of a new period of growth - perhaps both (because they’re separate, but not mutually exclusive).

so, here are some fragile notes. my goal is to sort through them until i make sense of them. i want to reestablish my grasp on my being and my journey, because my life at the moment feels all over the place. i’ve always strived to create a world for myself that’s black and white, a place where everything has its boundaries and is clear. now that i’ve been in gray zone for a while, i want to gain a better understanding of where i’m headed and where i’d like to be headed. because the future’s in my fate, but it’s also in me. the roads are paved, but i’ve got the steering wheel. i’ll buckle up, i guess.

revisitings + expansions of already written words

i’ve been trying to convince myself that you don’t mean the world to me but you do, and you might always will. at least a little bit? you walked into my life and demonstrated to me what love could be (even redefined what i wanted it to be). despite knowing that there’s always going to be somebody better, you are, quite simply, all i really need.

i want to apologize to myself every time i choose to love you more than i love me. that’s every time i hold back from calling you drunk, every time i stop myself from asking you to be in my life again, every time i feel like i’m falling apart and i know you know how to fix me - but i know i’d never let my broken parts get in the way of you being absolutely carefree and happy. i apologize to myself that i can compromise giving in if it means something better for you, if it means giving you a better chance at being content. i apologize to myself for all the little times i put you above me, even if it only proved to me that my love for you was genuine.

why do we let beautiful things die?

they do say if you love something, let it go - and if it comes back to you, it’s yours.

i’ve recently come to the conclusion that it’s been difficult not saying your name out loud because you’re relevant in so many contexts. i don’t think i’ve stopped talking about you since we’ve broken it off, and not even on purpose. i wrote you into my future; i talked about you because you were in the infrastructure of so much of my life. i didn’t do it on purpose, that much is clear to both of us. we tried so hard not to do it when we were together, but i guess i did subconsciously because it was so easy to. you made sense with me. you made a place for yourself in my universe so effortlessly. you became embedded into my world. my future entwined itself with parts of you so much so that my future became you, even though it wasn’t supposed to. upon your departure, it took me a long time to understand why i wasn’t in pain. i understand now it’s because it didn’t even feel like you were gone (but now it does, and i think you really are gone). my future was you but it’s supposed to be me. isn’t that what you always believed? that your future was and will always be you? perhaps there was never even a place for me.

as i was assembling all of your things into a box, something i didn’t get to do until thanksgiving, i realized there were just too many pieces of you in my surroundings. objects of utility that have become a part of my daily life, small tickets from places we had gone that i had superglued to my door, my toothbrush and turtle anklet and that gigantic plush bunny you helped me carry back to my house. there are parts of you in my life i still don’t quite know how to delete. there are objects i don’t know how or where to put away. you’ve left your mark. some days i can still feel you sitting on my bedroom floor, and other days i can’t shake the image of us laying on my bed crying on our last day together. man, that shit makes my heart drop.

i’ve said goodbye to you more times than i can count. i’ve said goodbye to you so many fucking times and it jeopardizes my need for ultimatum, something i’ve always achieved with my last letter. unfortunately, it’s not been the same in your case. i’ve declared that i’m over you, still in love with you, angry at you, sulking over you, again and again in cycles that it stopped making sense to me to declare anything at all. do i love you? do i hate you? do i blame you or do i blame myself? am i over you? am i not? maybe that’s just how this life thing works - you can’t always be sure i suppose. i just wish i didn’t feel like i needed clarity to properly function and exist.

i don’t know if you ever really understood how you made me feel. the security and comfort you brought into my life, like i could see everything in a blink finally working out, like years of floating not knowing where things were going finally pulled down with gravity towards reality. you made me feel like everything was coming together. you made me feel okay, merely solid for once in my life. i’ve never ever felt as okay as i did with you. maybe i don’t feel quite okay right now, but i know i will be. because i have to be eventually, right? or at least that’s what my best friend tells me when i ask him if i’m going to be alright.

your departure feels like a slap in the face, a reality check, that things don’t work out like they feel like they’re supposed to, that your fate and your growth and your life may very well have always been separate from mine. maybe we are no longer together because we were never a unit. we were two distinct beings tied in pinky promises and interlocked hands, like a string tied in a knot eventually coming loose.

now that you’re gone and you love another and you’re growing with somebody else, i feel an odd sense of separation and distance that i don’t know how to explain. it’s like a discrepancy that i can’t make up for, like you are morphing into a person that is unfamiliar to me, a person different from the one i remember and held close and adored, like i don’t know you like that anymore. and though it’s not surprising that you’ve moved on to somebody else, it’s somewhat unsettling because you were somebody i was committed to knowing forever. one sided things have never been my groove, and maybe here knowing that you’re holding somebody new so close, you really did lose me.

maybe you’re still you, and i’m sure you’re still you. you’re just taking on parts of yourself that you have yet to find and keep finding. that was the agenda, wasn’t it? so perhaps i am overthinking and perhaps i am doing the same. perhaps i am doing everything you’re doing - growing, discovering, creating, and attempting at loving - but my brain is villainizing you because i feel like the stupid one. for believing that we were something so incredibly irreplicable and special and unique, that our love was something maybe so extraordinary that it was all only in my head and not yours. my anxieties always try to discredit the love i experience through my relationships, like these loves are not as grand as they might’ve felt. and i wonder if that holds true for our love, too: was it just as ordinary as any other?

we are not a fairytale. while i’ll care about you forever, i’m the only one in this world that loves me more than anyone else could. that means doing what’s best for me, understanding you don’t love me like i always thought you would. the dreams and the fantasies and the idealizations and the pedestal i put you on - it’s all in my fucking head. and i need to throw that shit out if you’ve moved on, you know? i don’t sulk on what’s not mine.

i’ve been unsettled with the idea of losing you for a long time but i find a slight comfort, something eerie inside of me, simultaneously making me want to fly and glow and shine, but also very sick to my stomach, that maybe i’ve already lost you. here i am holding onto the slight intuition that you’ll be here again one day, something that we said we could feel in our stomachs, something like a 6th sense. months of fluctuating between knowing you’re gone and knowing you’ll be back, counting on the fact that you are something so amazing that i’ll probably never be able to replicate, comparing everybody i could love to you and saying how could this person ever measure up. but who am i kidding? you’ve long moved on. you left and you found a new world where there’s no place for me. and maybe deep inside of me, i always knew there was no place for me, that maybe i was never essential, never needed, and i know still very clearly i am not - and it’s never hurt me because i know you and how you are. i was an episode and a companion for only a period of time, a character that only made sense in part of the plot. but i also know, as perfect as i make you out to be, that this is not what i want out of a lover or a partner. i shouldn’t feel unnecessary. i know i deserve better. i know i deserve more.

when have i ever been afraid of loss? when have i ever not known what to do with a vulnerable heart and some disappointment? i have navigated through these emotions prior to this. every healing journey is different and so is every period of growth, but i can hold onto where i’m heading. i know where my hope and my faith can take me. i know fate’s doing its thing. i know there’s something bigger and brighter and better out there calling my name, pulling me towards it - even if i don’t know what it is right now.

and i’ve spent these past few months hoping the prettiest things for you, the most beautiful moments and experiences, the happiest and most enlightened you could be. but i need to start wishing these things upon myself. i’ve given you every last bit of love i wouldn’t feel guilty giving you. it’s time for me to love me. what do i want? how do i get there? what bits about myself are in for reform? is this a solo journey or do i let people in? it’s in flux. maybe gray zone is not so bad. i feel myself growing. i just want a sense of direction.

i’m going to be patient with myself because i always am. i will not let anything even scratch my well-being. so that’s that, right? detox, breathe, and feel again. rebuild, construct, create, and rise. isn’t that what i do best?

to you: i hope you find what makes you weak. i hope you find what makes you crazy. i hope you find what you can’t live without and i hope you find what has the power to kill you. you’ve never had weaknesses to me; nothing could ever make you soft. but there’s strength in letting things make you soft - and i hope you find that.

there’s beauty in coexisting between the delicate and the indestructible. i know who i am and i know what i can do and i know as shaky as i may be, i am capable of shaking the world. i am a powerhouse even if i don’t believe it sometimes. so what’s a loss of a boy that i loved gonna do to me?

i find it interesting that our breakup was essentially us moving to different cities and turning off love switches for the other person. needless to say, i never knew love worked like that. but i guess since i’m writing this, it doesn’t work like that (at least not for me).

i knew it was over when i listened to the way you talked about her. it’s okay; i know how to stand on my own two feet. you’re not holding me up anymore but i’m still steady.

what i’ve learned from our breakup is that your dreams and your goals can exist at the same time as people you love. you can grow as an individual despite being with somebody you love. i didn’t do what was true to me when it came to our breakup and loving you. my truth is that love is stronger than anything else. i didn’t stick around to prove that. i didn’t give it my best shot. and for a little bit, i think i hated myself for it. but i remember that i am only one half of me and you, so maybe we just weren’t meant to be.

something has to fucking change.

i am having trouble processing our breakup because it’s filled with contradictions. why did i let you go when i knew i loved you? was my love for you really the reason i let you go? who would i be if you were still in my life? just how sure was i about you? why do i find it difficult to open up after you? why do i constantly remember all the ways you took care of me so perfectly? am i really not ready to move on? where do i stand emotionally? am i over you or not? i know you prioritize yourself more than anything, but were we really something you could let go of so easily? do we have different perceptions of our relationship? why do i feel like i’ve always been on the same page as you, but i’m trailing behind so far now? did i believe in us more than you did? was i the only one that thought our love was so special? was that discrepancy always there? did months of mental preparation for our breakup do anything for me? these questions fucking suck.

i have to remember that every period of growth is different and i can’t expect the same things to happen in cycles. just because i know how a breakup goes doesn’t mean it’s going to feel the same every time. it’s scary because it’s unfamiliar. it’s scary because you don’t know what’s gonna happen. breathe. take it easy. (i sound like jay but these are honestly probably his words.)

i guess we didn’t have as coherent as a partnership as i thought if we just gave our relationship up so easily. we didn’t even put up a fight. we didn’t even try. i’m ashamed i thought we stood a chance against forever.

i guess we let this go because it wasn’t good enough to keep around. our love felt like something else, but it still wasn’t enough to stay.

the amount of growth i’ve experienced in the past decade has morphed me into completely different people at different points in time. but i somehow feel like i’ve always been consistent in lots of ways. i wonder which parts of me have been held constant and which parts of me have continued to change. will these parts always stay the same and will these other parts always be temporary?

there are moments where i’m taken over by memories of us in all the places we got to see together. i don’t even try to think about them, but they just reappear in my mind. living with you, being on a plane with you, figuring out maps with you, learning about the world with you. philadelphia and los angeles have taken on new meanings for us, but upon revisiting these memories, i realize i lost my most intimate companion. i don’t think i can call you my best friend, nor were you simply my lover, but i did lose my most immediate connection in proximity. i was supposed to do so much with you. i guess the worst part is knowing very well we were capable of it.

i let you define home and now new york city is just you everywhere i go. fuck that shit. this is my city. i’m reclaiming my space. my bed. the 7 train. the church we’d volunteer at. central park. college point boulevard. driving lessons. your parking spot. my sheets. the front porch. new york is mine. i can’t let you define what new york is to me. i shouldn’t be afraid to come back to my city just because you exist in its crevices. this is my home. our last memories here are not. you are not.

[ideiasstorm]

6 Must-Follow Tips for Editing and enhancing an School Paper

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6 Must-Follow Tips for Editing and enhancing an School Paper

Editing an academics paper are different from regarding work definitely going for a blog site or submitting a novel. Because school and scientific papers are generally written inside a formal type, they need to possibly be carefully edited to ensure the connection of concepts in an unambiguous way, having clarity in addition to solid design from beginning to end.

An academic work is supposed to be taken practically, so why don’t explore these 6 guidelines for editing.

1 . Make sure style will be consistent throughout.

There are many codecs for publishing an educational paper, and so choose that style will best suit work and ensure that it can be applied constantly throughout.

Often the APA composing format (American Psychological Association) was designed for publication throughout psychological publications, but is usually widely used in several scientific grounds. Whatever model you choose, keep essay writers to the appropriate shapes and format structures for that greatest good results.

Some common guidelines to check out are:

Maintain persistence with margin width: top rated, bottom and both sides.

Font size needs to be used continually.

Double space text, which include references along with bibliographies.

Written text should be in-line to the left markup.

If your do the job is to be posted, use a Managing Head (a short subject no longer when compared with 50 characters) at the top of each one page, in-line flush remaining.

Use the energetic voice. This is an area of alter from the past everywhere an impersonal form is the traditional tip, and personal pronouns weren’t made use of.

Pagination as well as order regarding pages. Often the page range should appear at the top of each page, often centered as well as at the proper margin. As well as the order regarding pages ought to be as follows:

headline page

fuzy

body

personal references

appendices

footnotes

tables

figures

2 . Evaluate your personal paper for supporting parallels.

When producing a paper it’s easy to easily jot concepts down when they pop into your head without concern for their relationship towards your main matter. When editing, you need to make certain that all of these ideas marry up and; similar one another. For instance , does your thesis parallel the particular concluding sentences? The conclusion needs to support the actual position of the thesis without having conditions or even qualifying phrases.

Also, your own topic sentences should reveal the details in your thesis. If your thesis states a, B, as well as C are qualities found in D (D being your own personal thesis), then you definately need to squander the appropriate area to investigating A, Udem?rket, and M in order to assist your states.

And, any quotes used within your paper need to be scrutinized to ensure these people supporting your own topic phrases, which in turn assistance your thesis. The thread of your topic needs to work all the way through the content of your pieces of paper.

3. Imagination your terms.

An school paper is intended to be study by peers and pros within a given field, therefore the use of technical terms and industry verbiage is undoubtedly an encouraged along with accepted process.

Avoid the frequent mistakes that detract out of your authority or maybe professionalism instructions spellcheckers will miss homonyms and the significance behind your word selection, so take time to edit very carefully for; Typical Errors in English Utilization; (Paul Brians).

Some of them are generally:

Inappropriate use of plurals and possessives.

Confusing; effect ; in addition to; influence.

Getting back together words when there are plenty of very good ones offered.

Not knowing the actual accurate which means of the phrases you speak.

Use of slang or vocabulary.

Not using appropriate complex words and also terms.

Make use of contractions.

Abbreviations. Avoid them in addition to spell out your words. Still acronyms usually are preferable immediately after they’ve been spelled out the very first time that used.

This article; in the University involving Pennsylvania is actually well worth reading, covering these kind of points and even more, in detail.

4. Cut down on wordiness.

An academic paper is actually formal inside nature, nonetheless it doesn’t have to become stuffy or even boring. Utilize the following publishing and enhancing principles intended for effective interaction of your tips.

Produce from an outline. This gives construction to your thought processes, so your writing is always in topic. And also having construction means a person use fluff words as well as try to “fluff” your paper.

Stick to one particular idea each paragraph. And idea ought to be clearly related to the main perception of your thesis.

Rework any kind of lengthy phrases into obvious and compact constructions.

Use innovative nouns as well as verbs to show your ideas and steer clear of trying to invigorate your producing with unfilled adjectives and adverbs. Read your written text out loud to figure out where your own prose could be made considerably more direct and vivid.

5. Infractions

Bibliographies, recommendations and citations. There’s no making your way around it, they want to be included in your work. A variety of formats can be utilized for referencing the reference material utilised in a document, so it’s best to pre-determine the actual preferences as well as guidelines are usually for each 1.

In essence, they all require a minimum information permitting others to get the source content you’ve offered:

A new bibliography demands the author’s name, headline of the reserve and day of distribution.

A diary article have to include level and web page numbers.

Seminar papers want the title of the conference, web page numbers along with details of distribution.

Your personal paper will need to have a reference for every resource you refer to so that expert reviewers and people who tag your work can easily access your assist documentation. With out them, your reliability and signifies will suffer. It’s a valuable depth that needs to be well known.

6. Check

To be effective, your personal academic papers should be lustrous and specialist in every feature. And nothing affirms “amateur” quite like misspelled words, sloppy punctuation and grammatical mistakes. Have a tendency count on some sort of spellchecker to do this for you as there are simply too many circumstances where thoughts and errors are overlooked for any range of reasons.

And also there you will have our six best strategies for editing a great academic paper. Use all these ideas to offer a work each opportunity to get noticed and be observed amid your competition.

The post 6 Must-Follow Tips for Editing and enhancing an School Paper appeared first on Ideias Storm.

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Nampō Roku, Book 5 (17):  the Gokushin Arrangement of Three Utensils on the Nagaita [長板]¹.

17) San-shu gokushin nagaita kazari nari [三種極眞長板飾也]².

[The writing (between the ten-ita and ji-ita) reads:  kaku no gotoki (如此)³.]

    The kaki-ire [書入]⁴:

① [This temae uses] the Gassan-nagabon [月山長盆]⁵.

◦ Among the [various] temae⁶, this one shows the highest degree of appreciation for the utensils⁷.

◦ Certain details dealing with the performance of this temae are ku-den [口傳]⁸.

◦ [One] should be mature in [ones] practice [before attempting this temae]⁹.

② In this case the hoya should be placed so that it overlaps [its kane] by one-third.  This is only [done] during the san-shu [gokushin-temae].  The reason is to emphasize the appreciation of the three utensils¹⁰.

③ With respect to this tray,  on an occasion when this arrangement [is being utilized] -- and also when two utensils are displayed on the Rai-bon [雷盆]¹¹ -- the tray [should rest] on a fukusa-mono¹².

_________________________

¹Nagaita [長板], in this context, refers to the ji-ita of the daisu.  The Gassan-nagabon is arranged on the ji-ita, in the place usually occupied by the mizusashi. ___________ *Nagaita [長板] means “long board.”  The implication is that this is the entire board.

    In contrast with this idea, the board that is usually called a naga-ita today is referred to as the naka-ita [中板] (“the center of the board”) in the Nampō Roku.  Etymologically speaking, this board was made by cutting away the edges of the ten-ita of an old daisu, hence it literally was the middle, or inner, part of the board.

    It is entirely possible that these terms (which diverged from conventional usage even in that period) were deliberately chosen to make the contents of the Nampō Roku unintelligible to tea people who had not been initiated into the secrets of its usages.  (In the classical documents, and poetry, the dakuten [濁点] that differentiate the sound ga [ガ] from ka [カ] were not used except when absolutely necessary:  thus naka-ita and naga-ita might be written in exactly the same way as “ナカイタ.”)  This could have been done by Tachibana Jitsuzan, but both the Sen family, and the Tokugawa bakufu, would have had their reasons for wanting to dissuade contemporary tea society from considering the documents that Jitsuzan forged into the Nampō Roku to be anything but antiquated gibberish.

²San-shu gokushin nagaita kazari nari [三種極眞長板飾也].

    This means that the Gassan-nagabon, on which the meibutsu temmoku and meibutsu chaire are arranged, is displayed on the ji-ita* of the daisu.  The tray is placed there because it is safer -- the tray and the other utensils do not need to lowered to the mat from the ten-ita†.

    Because the nagabon is displayed on the ji-ita, a mizusashi cannot be placed there before the temae begins‡ -- and this issue is the subject of the major ku-den associated with this temae (this is the matter that is referred to in the first kaki-ire, as the “temae sabaki” [手前サバキ], “the actions involved in the performance of the temae”).  Briefly, since, in the gokushin-temae**, the mizusashi is not needed until the end††, in this case it is not brought out until after everything else has been finished (when the host is going to start removing utensils from the room); and, after lifting it onto the ji-ita, it is used only to add two hishaku of cold water to the kama. ___________ *As I mentioned above, in the Nampō Roku, the ji-ita is frequently referred to as the naga-ita [長板] -- “long board.”  However, in the interests of clarity, and to prevent the modern reader from being confused, I will try to use “ji-ita” wherever possible.

    The etymologies of the terms nagaita [長板] and naka-ita [中板] are discussed above (in sub-note “*” under footnote 1).

†While it seems that, in the early days (at least in Japan) daisu were often custom-made (and so were able to take into account the host’s stature), this did not mean that every time the temae was performed, it would be in such an ideal setting.  Often the height of the daisu would make lowering things to the mat difficult; and the more difficult things are, the easier it is to drop something -- which would be catastrophic, in this case (if not to the object that was mishandled, to the host’s reputation, which would be “ruined forever” -- as the old documents warn).

‡And once the temae has started -- the first step of which being the lowering of the Gassan-nagabon to the mat -- the presence of the nagabon in front of the right half of the daisu would preclude (or make extremely difficult -- which, in this case, is the same thing, since we are dealing with the highest class of the meibutsu utensils -- pieces, in this case, that had been treasured by the Emperor, and then presented to the shōgun) the task of lifting the mizusashi onto the ji-ita.

**To what extent the present temae (and the others in which the tray bearing the dai-temmoku and chaire is displayed on the ji-ita) can be considered a gokushin-temae is subject to debate.  Technically, the gokushin-temae follows the formula futatsu-gumi・nanatsu-kazari [二ツ組・七ツ飾] (according to Rikyū, kumi [組] refers to things displayed on the ten-ita, while kazari [飾] defines those arranged on the ji-ita:  futatsu-gumi means the dai-temmoku and chaire are grouped together on a tray of some sort, while nanatsu-kazari refers to the classical arrangement of the furo-kama and kaigu on the ji-ita, as per Rikyū’s Shin no dai-temmoku, onaji daisu no koto no densho [眞の臺天目、同臺子の事の傳書]) -- which this temae does not (even though it uses the three utensils that were employed during the san-shu gokushin temae).  According to this, even the san-shu gokushin temae [三種極眞手前] is, in truth, a temae performed in the gokushin manner, rather than the actual gokushin-temae.

††Some argue that the mizusashi should be opened after the host drinks the cha-no-ato, following the service of koicha, even during the gokushin-temae.  However, in the case of this particular temae, there is no way that the mizusashi could be brought out and lifted onto the ji-ita of the daisu at that time (or, indeed, at any point between the beginning of the temae and this).

    Alternately, some suggest that the mizusashi should be brought out at the beginning (as in the previous temae), and placed on the left side of the mat, adjacent to the furo -- and then left in that place throughout the temae (with the mizusashi either lifted onto the ji-ita at the end of the temae, or taken back to the katte as would be the case with any other “hakobi-mizusashi”).  These possibilities are considered (albeit with no reference to a meibutsu mizusashi like the seiji unryū) in the Izumi-gusa [和泉草], which collects together many of Katagiri Sadamasa’s teachings.  However, it must be remembered that Sekishū was not really concerned with the original forms of the various temae that are described in his writings, but with what he perceived to be the usages unique to Jōō’s period.  Yet, his intentions aside, his basic temae remained a variation on Sōtan’s temae, and everything that he discovered about Jōō’s period was interpreted through that temae.  Furthermore, the incorporation of what has to be considered a decidedly wabi variation into the gokushin-temae must be viewed with skepticism (at least if we wish to consider things in a historically appropriate manner).

³Kaku no gotoki [如此] means “as usual.”  In other words, the artist did not feel like drawing the kama and furo.  Nevertheless, these things were arranged, as usual, on the left side of the ji-ita.

⁴The original texts of the three kaki-ire are:

① Gassan-bon nari, temae no naka no dai-ichi no shōgan nari, temae sabaki ku-den, te-juku subeshi [月山盆也、手前ノ中ノ第一ノ賞玩也、手前サバキ口傳、手熟スヘシ].

② Hoya san-bu-ichi ni kakete-oki koto, kono san-shu no toki bakari nari, hanahada san-shu shōgan no kokoro nari [ホヤ三步一ニカケテ置コト、コノ三種ノ時ハカリ也、甚三種賞玩ノ心也].

③ Kono bon, kono kazari no toki, mata ha Rai-bon ni-shu nado no toki, bon fukusa-mono ni te [此盆、此カサリノ時、又ハ雷盆二種ナトノ時、盆フクサモノニテ].

    It seems better to explain the first kaki-ire using several different footnotes -- since this entry consists of four independent statements that were simply linked together using punctuation marks.

    The other two kaki-ire are more homogeneous in their contents, and so each of them will be discussed in a single footnote.

⁵Gassan-nagabon [月山長盆].

    This was the highest ranked of the six meibutsu trays that were selected by Nōami for Ashikaga Yoshimasa to use when preparing tea with the daisu.  The reason for its high ranking is because it allows a set of meibutsu utensils to be aligned with their kane (as mine-suri [峰摺り]), as a matter of course, when distributed equidistantly, or aligned with the decoration that was painted on the tray.  In other words, everything comes into its correct place (with respect to kane-wari) quite naturally and easily.

    The original Gassan nagabon [月山長盆] featured a night scene, executed in colored lacquer, maki-e, and mother-of-pearl inlay; but, since the original was destroyed during the Ōnin wars, the tray that came down to Jōō was the copy that Haneda Gorō made for Yoshimasa.  This version was painted with kagami-nuri [鏡塗] (black lacquer with a mirror-like brilliance), without any other sort of decoration.

    The face of this tray (as well as the outer dimensions of its foot) measured 1-shaku 2-sun by 8-sun; while, measured across the rims, it was 1-shaku 3-sun 2-bu by 9-sun 2-bu.

⁶Temae no naka [手前ノ中].

    This means “among [all of] the temae” -- in other words, the san-shu gokushin temae is regarded as the highest way to do honor to these special utensils, among all existing temae (including both daisu temae, and those of a more wabi character).

⁷Temae no naka no dai-ichi no shōgan nari [手前ノ中ノ第一ノ賞玩也].

    As mentioned in the previous footnote, this temae is the most respectful to the utensils. 

    Apparently this sentiment was intended to extend to all the variants where the dai-temmoku and chaire are displayed on the ji-ita of the daisu -- not just the version using the Gassan nagabon.

⁸Temae sabaki ku-den [手前サバキ口傳].

    This ku-den refers to the way that the mizusashi* is gotten onto the daisu.  Since it cannot be brought out earlier, the entire temae (including the cleaning of the chasen in the kae-chawan at the end of the temae†) is performed without the mizusashi being present‡.  After the Gassan-nagabon has been removed from the temae-za, the mizusashi is brought out and lifted onto the ji-ita.  Then, without bothering with the kata-kuchi, the lid is opened, and two hishaku of cold water are added to the kama.  This is followed by a yu-gaeshi, and the closing of the lid of the kama.

    The mizusashi remains on the daisu when the temae is concluded -- and, contrary to the teachings of many of the modern schools, the mizusashi is not refilled at the end of the temae**. ___________ *The “san-shu” [三種], or “three [meibutsu] utensils,” in the expression san-shu gokushin [三種極眞] refers specifically to the Kamakura nasu chaire [鎌倉茄子茶入], the Kazan temmoku [花山天目], and the seiji unryū-mizusashi [青磁雲龍水指].  Thus, for the temae to be an authentic “san-shu” version of the gokushin-temae, the seiji unryū-mizusashi must be included in the temae somehow (yet, because it was forbidden to arrange a ceramic mizusashi on the ji-ita from the first, the only time that the guests could approach the daisu to inspect and appreciate the seiji unryū was after the temae had been concluded).

†After the final chasen-tōshi, and the concluding actions of the temae, the lid of the kama remains open. And it remains open until the mizusashi has been brought out, and two hishaku of cold water are added to the kama.  Only then is the lid of the kama, and that of the mizusashi, closed.

‡In Book Six there is a wabi-temae where a kuguri-bon [潜り盆] -- a tray that crosses more than one kane -- is displayed by itself next to the mukō-ro, and a mizusashi is not used.  That temae was derived from this one.

    There are also very tiny mizusashi that were made for this kind of usage (these pieces often resemble a kashi-bachi with a lacquered lid -- and are sometimes assumed to be kashi-bachi by modern chajin).  They are brought out at the end of the ro-temae, and used to add two hishaku of cold water to the kama.  This -- and the fact that the black lacquered kata-kuchi is used as the mizutsugi during the ro season -- is why it is said that the ro-temae is derived directly from that of the daisu.

**According to Rikyū’s densho, water is added to the mizusashi after it has been carried out to the utensil mat (so that it will be full when the host begins his temae).  At the end -- and this is especially true with respect to the daisu -- there is no reason to refill it, since tea will not be served again afterward.

    In the san-shu gokushin temae, the guests inspect the seiji unryū-mizusashi only at the end of the temae because (irrespective of the format) this mizusashi is never present on the daisu when they enter the room at the beginning of the goza.  Only bronze mizusashi were traditionally placed out when the daisu was being set up.

⁹Te-juku subeshi [手熟スヘシ].

    As was explained in the previous post, te-juku [手熟] literally means that “(ones) hands have ripened.”  Te-juku subeshi means that the host's hands (in essence, his abilities and learned dexterity) should be mature (before he attempts to perform this temae).

¹⁰Hoya san-bu-ichi ni kakete-oki koto, kono san-shu no toki bakari nari, hanahada san-shu shōgan no kokoro nari [ホヤ三步一ニカケテ置コト、コノ三種ノ時ハカリ也、甚三種賞玩ノ心也].

    “The hoya is placed so that it overlaps [the kane] by one-third.  This is done only on an occasion when the san-shu [are being used].  This is intended to show greatest respect* for the san-shu.” ___________ *Because the ten-ita is usually considered the more honored place vis-à-vis the ji-ita, placing the hoya on the ten-ita, but oriented so that it overlaps its kane by only one-third, is like treating it as an ordinary utensil.  Thus, this gesture shows great deference to the meibutsu pieces that have, most extraordinarily, been arranged on the ji-ita.

¹¹Rai-bon [雷盆].

    This tray is more fully named the Chō-shō rai-bon [趙昌雷盆], Chō Shō being the Japanese reading of the name Zhào Chāng, a celebrated Chinese artist of the Song period, who was supposedly responsible for its painted decoration*.

    The tray had a design of grassy flowers, in maki-e (with mother-of-pearl highlights) on the face.  The painting was attributed to Zhào Chāng by the dōbō-shū (perhaps on account of a seal or signature on the underside).

    The designation “rai-bon” [雷盆]† actually is a classical name for a suri-bachi [擂鉢], a bowl with incised ridges used to grind things like sesame seeds into a paste.  It was applied to this tray because the edge of the tray was scalloped, with the inner corners giving a fanciful impression of the incised ridges of a suri-bachi.

    This tray was 1-shaku 1-sun in diameter, and so could be used for gokushin arrangements‡. ___________ *From Wikipedia:  Zhào Chāng [趙昌; 959年 ~ 1016] “was a Chinese painter during the Song dynasty. He was a disciple of flower-and-bird painter Teng Chang-you (滕昌祐).  He also used the methods of the Southern Tang painter Xu Chong-si.”

    This is a detail taken from of one of Zhao Chang’s paintings, also from Wikipedia.  Presumably the flowers painted on the tray were rendered in a similar manner (albeit as a circular, rather than linear, composition).

†Rai-bon [雷盆] means “thunder tray.”  Perhaps originally a corruption or mistaken rendering of the kanji rai [擂] (the first character in suri-bachi [擂鉢]:  “rai” is its on [音] pronunciation), some scholars suggest that this name was used because grinding things in a large suri-bachi makes a thunder-like sound.

‡Albeit with the spacing between the utensils and the rim reduced to 1-sun 5-bu, rather than 2-sun, as on the Gassan-bon).  Because of this, the Rai-bon was considered inferior to the Gassan-bon, and the arrangements executed with it “not quite” as indicative of the highest level of appreciation.

    In the next post, we will look at another case, where the dai-temmoku and chaire are displayed on the naka maru-bon [中丸盆].  In that case, while the separation between the utensils, and between them and the rim of the tray, is 2-sun in every case, the fact that the rim of the tray had a raised band that increased its diameter to 1-shaku 2-sun 3-bu meant that it, too, was not considered to be of the highest rank.

¹²Kono bon, kono kazari no toki, mata ha Rai-bon ni-shu nado no toki, bon fukusa-mono ni te [此盆、此カサリノ時、又ハ雷盆二種ナトノ時、盆フクサモノニテ].

    When the Gassan-nagabon, the naka maru-bon, or the Chō-shō rai-bon are displayed on the ji-ita of the daisu, the ji-ita should first be covered with a piece of cloth* -- for protection.

    Displaying these trays on the ji-ita was much safer (for the utensils that were arranged on the trays), because the tray would not have to be lowered from the ten-ita at the beginning of the temae.

    Nothing is said (in any of the manuscripts) regarding how the Gassan-nagabon is to be oriented on the ji-ita.  Indeed, contrary to what one would expect, the kane are not even marked on the original sketch -- and, considering that this temae is regarded as being the most deferential toward the utensils that are being used, one can only wonder why this is so, since the absence of any sort of commentary on such an important temae is a real hardship for the scholar and reader alike†.  

    Shibayama Fugen speculates‡ that the dai-temmoku and chaire are placed on the yin-kane, while the chashaku rests on the yang-kane that is found in between them.  This is impossible, however, because, if the two principal utensils were oriented in that way, the left rim of the Gassan-nagabon would  touch the furo, which is -- of course -- not permissible (if, for no other reason, that the possibility raising the kan at the beginning of the temae would endanger the temmoku).

    Tanaka Senshō (ever the businessman), only bothers to say that this temae is demonstrated every year during the Dai Nihon Sadō Gakkai’s ka-ki kōshu kai [夏期講習会]** (though one would have had to study with his school for many, many years before receiving an invitation to participate in that event:  the purpose was to produce Dai Nihon Sadō Gakkai teachers with close ties to the iemoto, not assuage the curiosity of Nampō Roku scholars).  Furthermore, we must remember that this is the Dai Nihon Sadō Gakkai’s temae (which was created as an analog of Urasenke’s high daisu-temae -- which, in turn, were fabricated in the nineteenth century based on Katagiri Sadamasa’s speculations), rather than an approximation of the original that would have dated from the fifteenth or sixteenth century.

    The above sketch makes clear the details of the arrangement, and shows the relationship between the utensils and the various kane (the purple edge around the nagabon is supposed to represent the fukusa-mono†† that is mentioned in this kaki-ire).  

    It will be noticed that the chaire is immediately to the left of the first kane (and so, because it is 2-sun 2-bu in diameter, it is wholly situated between the yang and yin kane, while coming into contact with neither), while the temmoku touches both the second yang kane and the third yin kane (and so is, likewise, associated with neither of them -- since the foot of the temmoku has no association with either kane).  The chashaku, likewise, is located between the yin and yang kane.  The tray, however, is a kuguri-bon [潜り盆] (since it crosses more than one kane), and so the Gassan-bon (and everything on it) counts as han [半] (yang), as does the furo‡‡.

    In the case of this kind of temae, the chashaku would almost always*** be enclosed in a shifuku. ___________ *Irrespective of its actual dimensions (which were probably based on the native width of the cloth that was being used to make it, rather than following the 8-sun by 8-sun 2-bu format of the “temae-fukusa” preferred by Furuta Sōshitsu -- notwithstanding the fact that Tanaka argues that this is precisely what is used), this piece of donsu was usually sewn like an over-sized fukusa -- the three open edges being closed with internal hems.  This is why it is referred to as a fukusa-mono [フクサモノ =  袱紗物] in the kaki-ire.

    Once the tray had been removed, the fukusa-mono was folded up and put into the host’s futokoro (or possibly his right sleeve).

†There are two possibilities:  secrecy, or ignorance.  We must remember that apparently Jōō never attempted to perform any of the temae that utilize the Gassan-nagabon -- perhaps because the correspondence to the kane in this variation nonplussed him (or because he was unable to add the original utensils, upon which this temae was based, to his collection -- the original nagabon, dai-temmoku, and chaire were all destroyed during the Ōnin wars).

‡Unfortunately, we can call it nothing more than speculation, since it precludes an actual understanding of the dimensions of the Gassan-nagabon vis-à-vis the space available on the ji-ita of the daisu between the furo and the hashira on the right.  Shibayama seems to be playing mind games, rather than attempting to manipulate the objects on the ji-ita of an actual daisu.

**The ka-ki kōshu kai [夏期講習会] is one of two special training sessions (with access usually restricted to high-ranking teachers) during July and August (in most schools, it generally ends just before the O-bon festival on August 16) -- the other, the tō-ki kōshu kai [冬期講習会], is held during the winter (usually beginning after January 15 -- the end of the New Year’s holiday season -- and sometime in February).  The tea world borrowed this idea from the Zen temples, where a special intensive meditation session (usually lasting 90 days) was held twice a year, in the summer, and in the winter (during the months when intensive farm work in the temple’s agricultural fields was not necessary).

††Tanaka Senshō interprets the word fukusa-mono to mean the modern day temae-fukusa, and he states that two fukusa are placed side-by-side on the ji-ita, with the nagabon placed on top of them.  The modern temae-fukusa, however, did not exist during Jōō’s lifetime (it was created by Rikyū, not as a fukusa, but as a miniature furoshiki in which a lacquered container of matcha was tied when it would be sent to someone as a gift in a sa-tsū-bako; Furuta Sōshitsu is the first one to have actually used it as a temae-fukusa, and this was, on the first attempt, out of duress -- he received a sa-tsū-bako from Rikyū while hosting a gathering and decided to share the tea with his guests, but, lacking a new fukusa, he decided to use the little furoshiki as the temae-fukusa when serving the gift tea:  only later did he start to have his temae-fukusa deliberately made like this, rather than out of Chinese donsu).

    Originally, fukusa were made out of Chinese donsu [緞子], and their size was determined by the native width of the cloth:  a piece twice as long as the native width was cut off of the roll, folded in half, and stitched with internal hems around the three open sides.   Most Chinese cloth was around 1-shaku wide (Japanese cloth, on the other hand, was usually 9-sun wide, and it was this that determined the dimensions of Rikyū’s little furoshiki that became the prototype of the modern temae-fukusa).

    In this instance, a special fukusa-mono would naturally have been made for the occasion -- probably by cutting a length of donsu a little over two and a half times as long as it was wide, and then sewing this into a rectangle by means of internal hems on the three open sides.  This piece of donsu was then spread on the ji-ita, and the Gassan-nagabon was placed on top of it.  The fukusa-mono was probably just slightly larger than the foot of the tray, and so may not have been obvious to the guests (I made it obvious in my sketch because otherwise nobody would have known it was there).

    At the beginning of the temae, after the nagabon had been moved onto the mat in front of the daisu, the fukusa-mono would have been folded up and inserted into the futokoro of the host’s kimono (or, possibly, into his sleeve).

     In point of fact, though, fukusa were always specially made for each chakai since, unlike now, it was a strict rule that the fukusa could be used only once:  people like Rikyū would have always had a ready supply available to them (probably produced by a special seamstress, employed for just this purpose); but most chajin only had a fukusa made when they would be hosting a gathering (so that the cloth would be clean and dust-free on that occasion).

‡‡The furo is han, and the Gassan-nagabon is han [半].  On the ten-ita, the hoya is han (because it overlaps the central kane by one-third), while the hishaku is associated with neither the left-most yin, nor the left-most yang kane, and so is considered to be neither (it is, therefore, ignored, for the purposes of kane-wari).  Thus, the daisu is han [半], for the purpose of kane-wari.

***The host would probably not make the chashaku himself unless that could not be avoided (a chashaku made by the host would not be enclosed in a shifuku, even if the host was considered to be a meijin by his contemporaries).

    Nevertheless, given the high quality of the other utensils, if the chashaku were made by someone else, then it would be incumbent upon the host to try to get one that had been made by someone of high standing (at least, in the eyes of the world of chanoyu) -- in other words, a meijin [名人].

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◎  Analysis of the Arrangement.

    The orientation of the Gassan-nagabon (and the utensils placed on it) on the ji-ita of the daisu was described above (under footnote 12).  The complete arrangement is shown below.

    The actual temae is essentially the same as the previous temae -- though, in this case, after the chashaku has been placed on the kae-chawan, the dai-temmoku is moved directly from the nagabon to the mat (in front of the furo); and then the chaire is centered on the tray, and it is lifted down to the mat (and oriented on the mat as was explained during the previous temae).  Then the hoya would be lowered to the ji-ita (with the lid flipped over in the process), and then the hishaku would be rested upon it*.  The service of tea would proceed as always.

    At the end of the temae, the host arranges the dai-temmoku, chaire, and chashaku on the Gassan-nagabon, and places it on the mat next to the utensil mat†, and the guests come forward from their seats and inspect the utensils.  

    While this haiken is taking place, the host cleans the chasen in the kae-chawan (using hot water, on this occasion, since there is no cold water available at this time).  When he is finished, he dries the kae-chawan by draping the chakin over the side, and rotating the bowl through four half-turns‡, and then places the chakin and chasen into the kae-chawan, and lifts it to the katte-side of the mat.  He leaves the lid of the kama on the hoya, and the hishaku resting on the mouth of the kama.

    When the guests are finished with their haiken, the host takes back the Gassan-nagabon and places it on the mat in front of the daisu (in the center of the mat).  After lifting the dai-temmoku off and placing it on the mat in front of the furo, the host ties the chaire into its shifuku (tying the himo with a locking knot), places the chaire in the middle of the tray, and then lifts the Gassan-nagabon up to the ten-ita of the daisu**.  Then, after moving the dai-temmoku in front of his knees, the host also ties it back into its shifuku (using a style of knot that is complementary to that used in the beginning), and then lifts the dai-temmoku up onto the ten-ita, to the left of the tray.  Moving the chaire toward the right (so it is 2-sun from the rim), the host lifts the dai-temmoku onto the tray, and then moves the tray backwards and to the right, so that the dai-temmoku is located in the middle of the ten-ita††.

    The host removes the koboshi, and then the kae-chawan, and returns to the utensil mat with the seiji unryū-mizusashi.

    The host lifts the mizusashi onto the ji-ita in the same manner as was described in the previous post (though this time he does not bring out a kata-kuchi to add more water to the mizusashi). Then he opens the lid, and dips two hishaku of cold water into the kama, followed by a yu-gaeshi.  Then he closes the lid of the kama.  The hishaku is placed on the left side of the ten-ita, and the lid of the hoya is flipped over, and it is set down on the ji-ita, between the furo and the mizusashi, forward from the midline of the ji-ita.  Finally, the Gassan-nagabon is lifted off of the ten-ita and placed on the shelf underneath the chigai-dana. ___________ *This will be explained in detail in the text accompanying the entry that deals with the Rai-bon [雷盆].

†The tray is turned so that the side that touched the front of the daisu is parallel to the heri of the utensil mat.

    When the guests approach the Gassan-nagabon, they should generally look at the utensils without touching them.  Only an extremely experienced chajin should presume to pick them up -- and then, care must be taken to return them to the same place afterward.

    If, however, the shōkyaku is someone of extremely high rank (and so seated on the jōdan [上段] of the room), and he expresses a desire to inspect the utensils (the original temmoku-chawan and nasu-chaire that were used during this temae came from Emperor Go-komatsu’s personal collection of treasures, thus even an emperor would probably experience a desire to look at them carefully), then the nagabon will be conveyed into his presence by his attendants, and returned by them to the mat adjoining the utensil mat afterward.

‡This is the way most schools teach their students to dry the chawan on every occasion today -- though originally things were done this way only when drying the kae-chawan. (The confusion came about when the bowls originally used as kae-chawan came to be used as omo-chawan during the first decades of the sixteenth century, and this practice was perpetuated by some of the machi-shū:  it became the usual way to do things under Sōtan).

**The extreme deference accorded the utensils is focused on the beginning of the temae. Once the service of tea has been concluded, they should be handled as usual (their usual treatment was described in the previous temae).

††This is an acknowledgement of the high rank of the shōkyaku.