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lawless-walrus · 13 days

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NUCLEAR YAP

spoilers for S3E12 of midst

Weepe and Saskia’s relationship has occupied my damn brain space since inside, and their reunion has been my most anticipated event to happen in ANY media since we learned in breakfast that Saskia was going to the light with Harry. One little pet peeve I’ve had with not writing this sooner is seeing people be very reductive with what’s gonna happen, or even their relationship. Which is easy to fall into, considering weepe doesn’t seem to be anything other than an opalescent, weird, evil bastard when you shine a light on him. But just like his body, there are very dark things hiding within his character. And a big part of season 3 has been seeing those dark things finally begin to show. So let’s get inside these 2 characters heads fully and completely, to understand their relationship with eachother.

Both Saskia and weepe are mysterious characters at first, on the second episode the only thing we are sure of either of them is that they run the black candle, are criminals, and are a bit quirky. Concord is even initially taken aback by the funky dynamic they had. Let’s start with Saskia, who, for all that she has to hide, is much more clear to us as a character than Mr. Moc Weepe. She was the owner of the black candle cabaret, which weepe says in was kind of crappy when he first saw it, before he stepped in to help make it the very successful business it is. And she’s also a valorous trustee, which means she immigrated to midst from the Un before weepe did. She’s been in midst for a very long time. Infact, she was one of the first settlers of stationary hill back in 598. Judging that she’s in her early 40’s according to Sara in the tumblr AMA, Saskia would be at most 18 when she arrived at stationary hill, meaning that she has been a part of Stationary hill and midst for both the entirety of its life, and for the entirety of her adult life. She would die for this place. Twice. She’s been shown time and time again to be an idealist and someone who deeply cares about each and every member of this community. And that extends to Mr. Moc Weepe. To quote her in Coda “See, I told you! I promised I was gonna work on him.”. What this line implies is that upon arriving on stationary hill, people were quick to assume/realize that Moc Weepe is kind of a freak. He’s not someone anyone would like working at their place of business based on first impressions. But Saskia is an idealist, and partnered with weepe anyway. And he seems to have been a very good bet, as he has transformed the black candle cabaret into an enviable establishment across the cosmos. Weepe was an exceptional justification of her idealism.

Was.

Saskia was disappointed when Weepe betrayed her. Not shocked. Disappointed. She was so upset that the man she helped get better, the person who helped her in-turn turn the black candle cabaret into something special, someone who, like Saskia, had gotten involved in the community enough these last 6-7 years to earn the nickname the mayor of stationary hill, would fuck her and everything else over. She thought, hoped, he had changed. And Moc Weepe seems to believe in interest that he’s incapable of that. That he is a man who cannot do good. But moving beyond business partners for a second. In the quote I’m pulling from coda early on in the last paragraph, just before weepe mentions that Saskia really had to pull his leg to come on stage and sing with her. Which begs the question, why does she want to sing with him? An answer so easy it’s almost a no brainer to bring up. Saskia wanted to sing with weepe because she likes singing with weepe, because she cares about weepe. And weepe tore out her heart not just by betraying everyone, to the trust, but by proving Saskia wrong. That being patient with him, that loving him (whatever form that love may be), was an unwise decision. In episode 16 of season 2, she through away the nutcracker for 2 reasons. 1 to not give Meryl any hints that it was weepe or someone involved in the cabaret who killed Atticus (which she instantly realizes and suspects when she learns he is dead), and to remove any trace of weepe from her life. Helping that man may still be in the cards, Saskia isn’t a spiteful person. She could’ve killed weepe in the tearorr if she wanted to. She is still an idealist. But being close with him again. Him becoming a part of her life again. That is something she does not want. Unfortunately for her however. She is now in a city ruled by him, a fact that she brings up twice in episode 3x10. And yet she stays behind to help lark and Phineas. Even though she is determined to keep weepe out of her life. She will not run.

Moc Weepe was someone else once. Maybe we’ll never know who exactly that was. But we do know that he was the Baron of Fold Shallows before Kozma. He too would’ve been young when midst was founded. Quite young when he was put in a mica maiden and dropped into the fold abyss. A boy you could say. And ever since then, he has stated that the only thing keeping him together was the thought of seeing Kozma Lazlo again and turning her into a nice damp puddle. In interest, he states that midst was supposed to be a quick pit stop. But he ended up staying there instead. For up to 7 years. She made him stay. Weepe is an incredibly cynical person. Weepe has rarely a nice thing to say about any character he interacts with in the entire series. He has never, not even once, been interested in one of Imelda’s speeches about doing the right thing. And he has a very nihilistic attitude about doing what he has to to survive. But while he certainly took a radical business minded, capitalist, hustle grind mindset while running the black candle cabaret, he seemed to start doing more than just surviving. He accidentally made a home there. He stayed in one place for too long, and put down roots without meaning too (sound familiar Lark) He usually doesn’t give a shit about consequences, but he cared then. He cared about Saskia’s opinion of him. Because she believed in him. In the Arca chamber, in what he perceived to be potentially his final moments, he called out to her, as if in his deluded state, Saskia would be the one to save him from the other side. And in some ways she did. She gave him a place to stay, a business partnership, an opportunity to do good. And he was doing it.

Despite what weepe says about that he would’ve fucked the black candle over later if he didn’t do it now, he didn’t fuck the black candle cabaret over for 4 years. In fact, when it was raided, it was in the best state it had ever been in. And when he ran out of the cabaret with only his medical case, he almost cried because he was leaving her and this wonderful place behind for good.

Weepe is now tripotentiary, and has killed Kozma Lazlo. He is the richest person in the entire cosmos. And yet Saskia Del Norma still keeps coming up, even though she is not there. In his mind and everyone else around him, she is gone forever. He left her, and she will never come back. We’ve talked before how cult psychology works best without other relationships outside the cult. Weepe only became forced to be a trustee because the islet of midst, the black candle cabaret, and Saskia del Norma, are all gone forever to him. He has no one but Imelda (who is a whole can of worms I’ll get into some other day). And like Saskia, we get to contrasting reactions from weepe about the other. When weepe is dying in the Arca chamber, he reaches out to Saskia. When he’s at his lowest, when all is lost, he turns to the one person who believed in and cared about him. But when he’s reminded of her or the ruin of midst, like in episode 5 and 12 of season 3, he gets anxious, and steers the conversation elsewhere, rather aggressively in interest. He physically reacts to both times it’s brought up. In his new life as leader of the trust, as that old him who ruled over a vast number of islets with an ironfist, that opportunity he once had to be a good person in his and others eyes makes him very uncomfortable. He doesn’t want that reminder of when his cynicism weakened, the reminder that he gave up on being good, to come with him into his life as Baron again. But, in inside he still called to Saskia in that chamber. And he doesn’t know she’s alive. He doesn’t know that the person who once cared for him is in the light right now. And if he meets her, if he sees that she is there and real, he will not run.

(I’m still working on my essay for Imelda, I’ve been working on it for 2 weeks.)

#midst #midst podcast #moc weepe #saskia del norma #Most sane Moc Weepe fan #midst spoilers

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avatar-news · 3 years

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The Fire Nation Awaits 🌺 An in-depth look at the ever-elusive islands in the era of Korra and when we will finally pay them a visit

[Artwork by Avatar News; not official.]

Note: This article was published before the official announcement of Avatar Studios at the Paramount+ investor day.

“Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.” We’ve all heard those words a million times. The four elements, and the power to control them bestowed by four subspecies of giant lion-turtles, are at the very heart of the world of Avatar. The balance between them was once upon a time broken by one of the four, the Fire Nation, forming the main conflict of Avatar: The Last Airbender. For much of Aang and the Gaang’s quest at the close of the Hundred Year War, the Fire Nation was a forbidden, far-away location, until the curtain was finally drawn back in the aptly-named Book Three: Fire when our heroes entered the inferno, undercover behind enemy lines. A dramatic tropical destination! New outfits! Culture shock! Needless to say, it was a big deal.

→ 🌺 The big reveal of the Fire Nation in Book Three: Fire had its own marketing push, matching public anticipation.

When the Hundred Year War ended, the newly-instated Fire Lord Zuko dedicated his life to righting the wrongs of his forefathers and working with Avatar Aang to bring the Fire Nation back into the fold under peace. By the time Aang’s successor debuted as the next Avatar in the titular The Legend of Korra, Zuko had abdicated the five-pointed crown and his daughter, Fire Lord Izumi, took the stage leading a reformed, rebalanced Fire Nation.

There was no more war, no more enemy lines, yet the Fire Nation became more distant and mysterious than ever before.

Korra’s close encounters with the land of fire

To this day, Korra has never visited the Fire Nation, nor has it been seen at all, nor do we know anything about it in her era. In fact, practically the only thing we do know is that its leader is a noninterventionist, which conveniently gets it out of the way of making an appearance in Korra’s journey as the Avatar so far.

The closest we have come to seeing the Fire Nation in The Legend of Korra was in Book Two: Spirits, Chapter Five: Peacekeepers. In the midst of the Water Tribe Civil War, Korra sets out across the sea to get help from the royal family, however, she is intercepted by a dark spirit and never makes it to her destination. In the next episode, she washes up on a secret island home to the Bhanti sages, which probably technically counts as Fire Nation territory, but as we know from The Shadow of Kyoshi (more on that later), this faction predates the Four Nations themselves so it doesn’t really count.

→ 🌺 Korra washes up on the beach of Bhanti Island in Book Two: Spirits, Chapter Six: The Sting.

No, as cool as that location and the events of the Beginnings two-parter that happened there were, it wasn’t the main draw of seeing the Fire Nation that we’re still waiting for: seeing how the Fire Nation, which was already industrializing in Aang’s time, changed over the decades, compared to places like Republic City and Ba Sing Se; meeting new characters; visiting new and familiar locations; worldbuilding both new and expanding on what we already learned.

After this aborted tease in Book Two, we never come close to the island country again (at least not with this Avatar and in her era; yes I’m leading up to something...). Instead, the focus turns strongly to the Earth Kingdom in the third and fourth Books, and beyond.

Keep in mind that The Legend of Korra aired for about two-and-a-half years total from 2012 to 2014. Since then, the story has continued in comics. The comics era has lasted from 2015 to present-- seven years to the animated series’ two. In that time, there have only been two comic trilogies due to various production troubles, and neither have touched the Fire Nation. Instead, they directly continue the Earth Kingdom-focused threads started in Books Three and Four of Korra, both originally airing in 2014. Or, in perspective: we had a focus on Republic City in 2012, the Water Tribes in 2013, and the Earth Kingdom from 2014-2021.

Will we finally see the Fire Nation in the next graphic novel trilogy?

This question comes to mind every time new Korra content is supposed to roll around, and the powers that be know it-- it’s a pretty obvious gap in the world of Avatar right now. This franchise is iconically built around four elements and the Four Nations based on them, so one of them being MIA is quite glaring, and for that reason everyone is understandably always asking about it.

The most concrete confirmation we’ve gotten was this AMA answer from franchise co-creator Michael Dante DiMartino in 2016, two years after the show ended and a year before the first graphic novels did come out:

“Yes, hopefully in the [Korra] comics, we’ll have a chance to go to the Fire Nation and see how it has changed since A:TLA.”

Since then, as previously discussed, two comic trilogies have come and gone, obviously not getting closer to the Fire Nation-- and I would actually argue entrenching themselves further away from it.

I want to make it clear that I’m against fan entitlement. Creatives telling the tales they want to in service of the story and the artform is how the industry should run. I’m just hoping to offer some perspective on how we got to where we are almost a decade into the era of Korra and the metatextual pacing of the franchise itself.

Either way, the next Korra comic trilogy has been official confirmed by the editor for Avatar at Dark Horse Comics in this informal statement on Twitter:

We’re not ready to announce any details yet, but we are working on the next trilogy. I really appreciate your patience and hope it’s worth the wait! ✨

There’s currently some kind of holdup for which we really have zero context or information, and we of course have no idea what this next trilogy will be about. (I do speculate a bit on what it could be a few paragraphs down.)

But, like what turned out to be Ruins of the Empire before it, I faithfully made a mockup graphic for my post announcing the confirmation of the next The Legend of Korra graphic novel trilogy. And like before, I chose to completely speculatively and blindly make it Fire Nation-y, as if the next comic could/would(/should?) feature it. This is mainly because I feel like that’s what most people’s eyes would be caught by and thus result in the most successful post (hey, at least I’m honest), but also because it’s just fun.

Here are both images, from 2018 and 2020 respectively:

→ 🌺 Speculative edits I made for my posts on the announcement of previous and upcoming Korra comics before we knew anything about them.

In both cases, the response was huge, and people were super excited about the prospect of Fire Nation content just from my quick speculative mockups. I am of course hoping that the new artwork I made of the Krew for this post will have a similar effect (it’s the first time I just straight-up drew it instead of editing existing images) but again it’s really mostly just for fun.

Anyway, until the next trilogy is properly revealed, we’ll just have to wait and see.

However, that’s not the only place this could happen.

Are they saving the Fire Nation for an animated movie?

With Avatar’s HUGE success on Netflix last year, interest in the franchise rocketed to an all-time high. The streaming wars have begun, and Avatar’s owner and its parent company, Nickelodeon and ViacomCBS, have finally started to notice.

ViacomCBS is launching Paramount+ on March 4th, a relaunch of its existing streaming service CBS All Access. Paramount+ is meant to be a big expansion and refocus to compete with the big hitters: Disney+, HBO Max, and, yes, Netflix. (There’s quite an entanglement there, with Netflix being the home of Avatar’s big year and the upcoming live-action series.)

One of the keys to a successful streamer today is high-profile originals to drive new subscribers. ViacomCBS knows this and they know Avatar has just become among the highest profiles a property can have, breaking records and going toe-to-toe with other big-hitting sci-fi/fantasy/genre franchises. This knowledge goes right to the top of the food chain: the CEO of ViacomCBS mentioned Avatar by name when discussing potential originals for Paramount+.

I have previously discussed how The Search relates to this. The Search was the second ATLA comic trilogy, focused on the search for Zuko’s mother in the thick of the Fire Nation, and if you didn’t know, it was originally pitched by Bryke as an animated movie after the original series ended.

I just want to be clear that what I’m discussing here is purely speculative, but this is the only other piece of the Avatar franchise that we know was optioned for animation besides the shows themselves. It’s possible they would be interested in going back to this idea as a Paramount+ original (and it would certainly be popular among audiences), but it is of course set during the era of Aang and thus covers both a time period we’ve already seen, and also by nature of already being released as comics, events we’ve already seen too.

However, the whole point of this article is that there is one major, huge thing we haven’t seen yet, with massive anticipation building for a decade behind it: the Fire Nation in the era of Korra. So, again, this is just speculation, but it’s also possible that they could return to the very smallest seed of the original idea for a The Search movie, and do a Fire Nation-focused Korra movie now.

→ 🌺 ATLA’s Fire Nation-focused The Search was originally pitched as an animated movie.

You can skip this next part if you don’t want to see me embarrassingly promote my fan idea 😆 but this is where the artwork I made for this article comes into play. The general idea for it, and the reason I tried to replicate the show’s style as much as possible, is that it’s what a Fire Nation-focused movie could maybe look like. Something as standalone and unrelated to Earth Kingdom drama as possible, with fresh new looks for the Krew to get people excited for something fresh and new! I really feel like the Avatar franchise has so much potential for expanded content like this, that’s why I have high hopes that Paramount+ will make the most out of it! You can see the individual characters’ artwork in larger size here. Ok I’m done back to business.

If the idea of a movie seems too impossible to you, we can also take a deeper look at Bryke’s involvement with upcoming comics instead.

After Korra ended, they officially each went their separate ways. They vaguely consulted on Avatar stuff, and Mike of course wrote the Korra comics, but Bryan was planning on writing and drawing his own original non-Avatar comic series and Mike was releasing his own non-Avatar novels. This all appears to have come to a stop when they signed on to showrun the live-action retelling of ATLA at Netflix, officially reuniting the partnership and committing to Avatar again in a big way. Of course, they ended up leaving that project over creative differences, but it did result in a big, lasting change: this time they remained official creative partners and have indicated they’re still working on Avatar now, together. This is a far cry from the official breakup after Korra, so it begs the question what exactly they’re working on. I of course have my fanciful predictions of a sprawling expansion of the Avatar franchise at Paramount+, but what if it’s actually a combination of the ingredients from before the live-action series...

More speculation, but what if the reason for all the mystery behind the next Korra comics is because they will be made by Bryke, with the two of them co-writing and Bryan doing the art for the first time? If that’s the case, they could want to make them a bigger deal than the other Avatar comics have been so far, and maybe that’s why it’s taking so long to iron everything out, have a more significant story, have more of a marketing push, etc. If they’ve been saving the Fire Nation for something big, this could be it.

I personally think this is less likely than a show or movies or something, but it is possible. Anything is possible right now since we know so little about the large-scale direction of the franchise moving forward, just that it’s gonna get big.

⛰️🌋 The Fire Nation in the era of Avatar Kyoshi

We’re not done! Despite everything I’ve written here, believe it or not, the Fire Nation was actually the star of the show in the last year.

With the debut of the Avatar franchise’s first original novels, Kyoshi made a huge splash (in a way only she can). If you haven’t read them yet, you NEED to-- they’re some of the best Avatar content EVER. The Rise of Kyoshi hit shelves in 2019 and The Shadow of Kyoshi followed in 2020. The latter is of particular interest here, because it was almost entirely set in the Fire Nation and featured practically everything and anything you could want from a visit to elusive islands. Though obviously set in a historical period some four hundred years before Aang’s time, Kyoshi’s sojourn in the Fire Nation gave us a huge amount of new information, a depth and breadth of worldbuilding, culture, and character we’ve never really seen in Avatar before. It truly makes the most of the literary medium, so hats off to author F. C. Yee for the passion and effort he put in.

In The Shadow of Kyoshi, we learn about the era of the previous fire Avatar before Roku, Avatar Szeto. Through Kyoshi and her own Team Avatar, we learn about the different clans and islands of the Fire Nation, as they experience the fraught early reign of Fire Lord Zoryu and the conflict between the Keohso and Saowon clans, culminating in the Camellia-Peony War. We get a multitude of fleshed-out perspectives from the upper crust to the flea-bitten underworld, matching the heights of the worldbuilding quality of Republic City. It’s such cool, intricate stuff, and really shows Avatar’s potential (and that’s all just the worldbuilding-- the character work is also top-notch).

That’s not the only place the Fire Nation has shone recently. One of Insight Editions’ awesome scrapbooks, Legacy of the Fire Nation, gave us a tour through the royal family’s history, including never-before-seen looks at young Iroh and Ozai and much, much more.

All this just goes to show that the Fire Nation has been a hot ticket throughout the ages and there’s one conspicuous gap in that history: the era of Avatar Korra. With so much recent expansion and development of the Fire Nation in our world, it would be perfect to see the culmination of it all in the current time period in the world of Avatar too.

If this made you excited for the potential of what the Avatar franchise could look like in the coming years, same boat!

The next concrete date where something could be announced is February 24th, when ViacomCBS will host their investor day and present their streaming strategy, including Paramount+ originals. There’s no guarantee Avatar is mentioned, but I’m keeping a hopeful eye out.

As for comics, Dark Horse’s schedule marches to its own beat, so there’s no way to know when the next drop of information is coming our way.

Could this finally be the comics that take us to the Fire Nation, or could the much-anticipated visit be in another medium like animation? Stay tuned-- as always I’ll post as soon as we learn anything new!

#korra comics #paramount plus #the fire nation awaits

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luimnigh · 3 years

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So, I’m just gonna go through the Reddit AMA that happened today (December 2nd 2020), and compile the answered questions that I personally find interesting

Taking part in this AMA was Eddy Rivas, RWBY co-writer; Eugene C. Myers, write of After the Fall, Before the Dawn and Fairy Tales of Remnant; and Violet Tobacco, illustrator on Fairy Tales of Remnant.

(Not all questions and answers are repeated here verbatim, if you want to check the exact wording, please use the link above.)

This is gonna be long, so I’ll place a cut here:

Eddy Answers:

JNPR Birthdays: Someday. They’d rather reserve that information for the show or other materials, but they felt it was well past due to learn RWBY’s birthday.

Who is the girl in the photo in Theodore’s office?: “That’s something we’ll come back to later.”

Mercury Thoughts: He’s reserving them for later in the Volume, though he does find some people’s takes on his character “interesting”, but can’t say why just yet.

Thoughts on the Em/Merc/Hazel dynamic: “As for the Merc/Em/Hazel dynamic, moooooore to come. I've always enjoyed that little trio in the midst of these bananas villains.”

Are we ever gonna get an origin for Dust, even a biased one?: “Yes, more than likely.”

Are Ghira and Kali’s bands in each other’s colours “wedding bands”, and is this a faunus/huntsman tradition? (The asker also notes that Tai has a red armband): “Different cultures/kingdoms have different ways of expressing their bonds to other people, and there's not even really a set standard for that across the board. Most often it comes to incorporating it on their clothes/person in some way, usually through color.”

Do the Gods have actual names, or are they only known by their titles as God of Light and God of Darkness?: “Certainly the Two Brothers might have other things that they are known by!”

Does the women who first followed the Infinite Man have a name as well? “Ozpin was choosing in the re-telling of that story to keep those things pretty general/vague -- more than likely to keep it from being perceived by the audience as truth.”

Things created by the Staff of Creation have no ontological inertia: a created object will disappear once the Staff is used again.

The Grimm in Before The Dawn were attracted to the amped Auras because “large flare-ups of Aura (the soul, which goes hand in hand with emotions) would read similarly to the emotions that Grimm are naturally drawn to.”

Remnant Holidays: “There are certainly different holidays in Remnant, many of them similar to our own. This is the kind of thing we always want to save for the screen or other materials if we can help it!”

Semblance Rules: “Semblances can basically be anything, we just make sure there is some kind of check on it -- take Tock, for instance, who could become invulnerable but it's going to lead to her Aura breaking. I wouldn't say there's a hard and fast rule against a Semblance being transformative, but it certainly would be uncommon.”

It seems Ironwood did issue an arrest warrant for Robyn, but the Council offered her safe passage to Atlas and Schnee Manor, in order to put Ironwood off-balance.

Is Nicholas Schnee dead or is he still alive?: “Yes.”

Production of the 2D shorts on various Fairy Tales has been impacted by the pandemic, but more details are “hopefully coming soon”.

Sage is not connected to the AceOps, despite being based on an Aesop. There are more characters based on Aesops besides them.

Beacon’s Academic Year: “It's fairly similar to our own semesters.”

The events of the books will impact the main series, but they want to fit them in in such a way that non-readers won’t feel like they’re missing out.

Will we ever find out more about Summer/how she died?: “It certainly seems like a pretty important thing for the show to touch on :)”

RWBY’s favourite fairytales: “We'll get to this.”

Eddy says we will learn more characters’ sexualities.

Will We Ever See Roman Again?: “I will say that Roman is a very fun character who has obviously made an impact on everybody. There will always be a desire to go back to that well.”

Aura would block a Lightsaber.

Cinder did not get any of the Spring Maiden’s power when she used her arm on Raven.

Is there is a link between semblance and magic?: “Yes.”

Are the Gods All-Powerful?: “This is a tough question to answer, but a very good one. I think it's something we'll actually learn more about... later.”

THE GOD OF LIGHT ALONE MADE ALL FOUR RELICS.

Eugene Answers:

At one point, Eugene, not knowing the ships of the fandom, named a location “Arkos”. His editor had to tell him why he couldn’t use it.

What inspired you to choose memory erasing and telepathy for Yatsu and Fox respectively?: “For Fox, it came about honestly because he had never spoken on the show, and I wanted to provide a canon reason for it, and then it just opened up so many interesting possibilities. For Yatsu, it probably started as I thought about Edward and Augustus and what might fit in thematically; and again, it fits in with Yatsu's more meditative nature, and I like the fact that his Semblance isn't based on physical strength.”

“”From my perspective, it was very important to me to not contradict anything in the series past or future, help expand on things that haven't been covered in the show yet, and help lay the foundation for things that may appear in later volumes. The RWBY writing team is terrific to collaborate with, answering all the questions I had as much as they could, and of course they review, approve, and correct anything needed to fit the show's continuity and its tone.”

Does the Chill have a physical form?: “I envisioned the Chill as being incorporeal, living in the shadows.”

Can you save someone from the Chill?: “You could save someone from possession, if you acted quickly.“

The books tell us Coco has an older brother, Toma; and a younger brother, Mate; as well as a third brother, Van. Eugene confirms Van to be younger than Coco.

He wishes he could have spent more time on Scarlet and Sage.

Favourite OC: Rumpole. Favourite Show Character: Penny

Fox’s Personality: “People often compare him a bit to Toph, who is my favorite Avatar character, so I think that influenced his character. Plus, the voice in your head would have to be the one that says things you shouldn't say aloud. That's Fox.”

If he gets to make a third novel, it would be SSSN-focused.

“I believe it took SSSN several months to reach Vacuo from Haven, partially because they weren't in any hurry, and it's a long way. And then the main events of BtD take place a month or so after AtF.”

Before the Dawn takes place before Volume 8.

Violet Answers:

What are some of your artistic inspirations?: “Arthur Rackham was the biggest inspiration throughout. The grungy, rough nature of his work was very helpful in merging my style with something more traditional to match the fairytale feel needed for this book.“

#rwby

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fyeahnix · 3 years

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Bangalore/Wraith Season 10 Predictions

Now that the Legacy Antigen is complete, I wanna talk about a little mini theory that's kicking around my head regarding where Bangalore and Wraith stand in their dynamic. I wanna make this clear—this is NOT a shipping post!! Stuff under the cut in case of spoilers for anyone.

As we've seen in the finale of the Legacy Antigen (LA), Anita and Loba seem to have feelings for one another in some capacity. However, Anita made the point of "just being friends" with Loba to her other fairly close friends. I'm not going to go into depth about Lobalore, so don't expect that here on this blog. Plenty of other people who can discuss that.

No, what I wanna talk about is Anita and Wraith's relationship. Just to be crystal clear, when I say "relationship" from here on out to describe these two, I'm using that term VERY loosely—I basically mean their entire dynamic and how they'll play off each other and interact post-LA.

These two started off barely acknowledging the other's existence in canon, tho whether that was due to story/content limitations or not, I obviously can't say for sure. As I've mentioned many times previously, these two have the most glaring ties to the IMC out of the rest of the cast. However at the end of Season 8, we got a radio play of these two on Twitter where Anita gets really fucking pissed about Wraith asking about her heirloom Pilot's knife.

That was followed up with the interaction they had in the comic where Anita was just overall very angry that Voidwalker, who she understandably assumed was our Wraith, found the thumb drive Anita used to access the IMC terminals in the labs and just took it without thinking.

After a quick chat, they squashed their beef and promised to help the other find out more about their missing families and whatnot. Cool.

So fast forward to the end of LA. Anita says she and Loba are just friends and Loba runs off pissed about it and eventually finds some companionship with Valk. This may end up being what strengthens Anita and Wraith's relationship. Let me explain why:

Loba and Anita have grown closer over the last several seasons to the point where Loba is the person Anita is closest to as confirmed by a writer (Tom or Manny mentioned this and frankly we all know and I don't feel like finding the tweet just go with it). Now that Loba is off getting to know Valk, that leaves an opening in Anita's case to grow closer to someone else.

Right when Anita says the dreaded "we're just friends" thing at the end of LA, the only people in the room with her at the time are Gibby and Ramya. So my question here is....why did Anita call Wraith out of anyone else to complain about her problems? They aren't even remotely close.

Gibby and Ramya both have their own lives, sure, but so does Wraith? I doubt either of them are so busy that they can't listen to their friend rant a bit. Is it because Wraith is tight-lipped about stuff or is it because Wraith is an objective third party and Anita used Jackson as an excuse to come clean about her worries/feelings regarding Loba?

Now that Anita and Loba may potentially not be on speaking terms for a little, or rather Anita needs someone else to vent to/bond with that isn't Gibby or Ramya, in comes Wraith at the perfect time. A little convenient ain't it?

I'm predicting that starting Season 10, Anita and Wraith will actually start to talk a bit more and really get to know each other and open up, mostly through voicelines. Anita's opened up to Loba quite a bit and she may be easier to get through this time, but obviously still hurting about Valk swooping in to start talking to Loba. Wraith will play the part of good listener/confidant while they search around for answers of their respective problems together. And I predict they'll realize, just as Pathfinder said in Pathfinder's Quest, that they actually have quite a bit in common and WILL become best friends over time.

I keep bringing this AMA answer up from Manny from a year ago too:

Their relationship, whatever that entails, will be a slow build. And it's possible they'll have a moment. Granted any of this can/may change but it's a good reference point to realize that their relationship is only just starting. We don't know what type of moment that'll be—falling out, friendship deepening, romantic—anything. But we've yet to reach the point of them learning so much more. I suppose we COULD count their scuffle in the comic as this "moment," but given how they've just started a relationship, I see that as extremely doubtful. Neither of them have learned very much of anything they didn't already know from before.

I think there's a lot these two will end up learning together over the next couple seasons and we'll see that play out in the midst of the Anita/Loba/Valk dynamic.

I'm not saying this from the perspective of "I HOPE THEY BECOME CANON" because.....lmao ew. I unfortunately don't trust the writers to write a legit canon relationship because there's a million and one ways to fuck it up and even those who wanted a canon ship will have to deal whatever bullshit they pull. This is just from my perspective of how they could be moving forward based on what we know from canon. Again, I honestly believe that these two have the potential to have the strongest/closest built friendship in the game and I think that point of Pathfinder saying "you should be friends/I thought you were best friends" wasn't just bullshit—it was full-on foreshadowing.

#Apex Legends #Bangalore #Wraith #Voidstrike #theory #I bet people are like wow here's nix again with another bullshit Voidstrike theory and yes I have returned with more bullshit #that probably won't come true

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jnnmtl-blog · 7 years

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U N T I L T R I L O G Y -- a must read book 💕

Until He Was Gone

Until He Returned

Until Forever

The Until Trilogy which was written by the amazing and incredibly awesome Jonah Pacala or was known by her pen name jonaxx in the world of wattpad. Her fans gave her nicknames such as “The Royal Writer”, “Queen J” or “Ate J”and she was the first Filipina wattpad writer to gather more that three million votes.

Being friend-zone sucks, being seen-zoned hurts but being cousin-zone is a different story.

Have you ever thought of you falling to your cousin? Or sometimes the thought of you falling to your cousin passed through your mind? Well, if yes, start having goosebumps.

Incest is, according to wikipedia, and has been one of the most widespread of all cultural taboos, both in present and in many past societies. It is some sort of attraction between your family members or any close relatives. It remains one of the sensitive issues in our society until today.

The Until Trilogy has a ‘incest themed story’. But aside from that, many revelations,realizations,life lessons,heartbreaking scenes,twists of events that will make you thrilled happened. You will got swayed from all the romantic excitement and you will wish that you want to be Klare, that you want to have an Elijah in real-life. You will experience all the ‘demons in your stomach’ as said by Klare, the protectiveness of your cousins, the happiness being a Montefalco, enjoyment everytime you and your cousins bond at your house or sometime at Lifestyle District. But of course, you will cry a lot to the heartbreaking scenes, like you are the one feeling the pain, and swear it will be worth reading the trilogy.

I’ll just tell a summary so that you’ll have a prior knowledge.

Klare Montefalco was born in well-known family. Everything was perfectly fine. She loves her famile, and her family loves her so much.She lives a simple life, away from the dramas, having an ultimate crush which is Eion Sarmiento.She does everything to notice her. Before her debut, he asked Eion if he can be her escort and he agreed. Debut came, Eion became her escort. After her debut, Elijah acts so weird in front of their cousins. He knows why is that, and he’s just keeping it to himself.But the time he can’t contain his jealousy against all the guys around Klare, he confessed to her. Klare is shocked by the confession.Starting that day, she’s confused on her feelings towards Eion and Elijah. But she decided to let go of Eion cause she already fall to Elijah to. They dated secretly until their cousins came to know their doings.They resented them,and the time came that their parents also came to know what they’ve done. The parents of Elijah want to sent him to New York, to forget and separate him with Klare. But he was eager and determined enough to not give up Klare. But Klare made her choice, he pushes Elijah away, and she chose her family and their reputation over him. He was hurt, really hurt but what can he do? The one he love was the one who pushes him away and give up on him.He went to New York for 2 years.

After 2 years, finally he came back to Philippines. But with a girl named Selena. They were in a relationship,that’s what they know. And that news broke Klare into pieces. Finally he came back, but with another girl. Little did she know, Elijah came back because of her. He just used Selena so that her dad will let him go back to the Phil. He knows what happened to Klare, of what struggles she overcome. After Klare pushed Elijah away, she was shocked of the damn reality. She was not a Montefalco. She find out that she was child out of wedlock and she thought that she was a mistake but her mother insisted that she was the fruit of their love from another man, Ricardo Ty. Her biological father wants to have a quality time with her so temporarily, she stayed on her father side, meeting her 2 brothers, Hendrix and Pierre Ty. Until she decided to change her surname to Ty. That time, she was now Klare Desteen L. Ty. And because of that, their cousins hated her for doing that. But as time passes by, they actually accepted it but still considered her as their cousin. But another problem came, and that is her ama(grandmother) on his father side. Her Ama don’t want to accept her in the family. Klare also come to know that Selena is her relative and her Ama match-make Selena with Elijah and it’s fine to her if he is not a Chinese because of his family,which is rich.

Then the last book, Until Forever, half of the book is the POV of Elijah. It was a flashback. On how he fell for Klare. On what his thoughts are. Not to mention it above but the whole two books were in the POV of Klare. Then on the last half of the book is Klare’s POV. There’s one problem again that almost destroy their relationship and that’s because of her Ama. She wants Klare to at least date or get along with Gavin, a son of a Chinese businessman who is close to Ama. Ama was too strict to their traditions. ‘Chinese is only for Chinese’. She wants Klare to marry a Chinese also. Gavin and Klare have a deal. Klare will help Gavin because he have a girlfriend but he is too scared to disappoint his father so he kept it. It went well, at least. Then on Ama’s birthday, the Montefalcos were invited, including Elijah’s dad. In the midst of the celebration, Ama introduces Klare in front of the father and grandfather of Gavin. But Klare cut it out and said that she have a boyfriend. When they ask who it was, she answered with all bravery “ Elijah Montefalco po”. That’s the cue. She pulled th e trigger. The tension was too strong. She stand up on her decision and no one can changed that. She said it in front of everyone and to Elijah’s dad. Elijah stand behind Klare and nod to Klare’s parents, brothers, to his parents and to his cousins. After that, he kneeled in front of Klare, not minding Ama, and showed the red box with a diamond ring. Klare gasped. She’s not moving nor talking so Elijah was the one who put the ring in her fingers. Then they moved out of the venue with their cousins. After that incident, their parents want them to go abroad because they know that the news will spread and the society will judged. But they insisted to stay until Klare will graduate. The end.

1. What life lessons can be learned?

*”We don’t always like their decisions but as their family,the best thing we can do for them is to support” as said by the father of Elijah which is true. Our family is the only one we know who can understand and support us all the time.

*”The world is a cruel place. You don’t just get what you want immediately, you will need to break some principles, break some people and even break yourself” as said by Klare and again true. World is cruel place, not all people can understand you unless they will be in the same situation as you are.

*Don’t let society dictate your decisions. They’re not the one who will suffer all the pain in the decision they want you to do. You have your own principle. Don’t mind them.

*you two are going to be together if it’s meant to happen. That’s right. If you are meant to be, then don’t rush it. Destiny will be the one in charged of that. Go with the flow. Think of the positive side.

2.What part was the most powerful and enduring?

* It is when all the secrets are revealed. When the two of them suffer a lot and needs to push each other in the name of their reputation as a Montefalco just to find out that the’re not blood related. But it was too late.

3. Who was your favorite character?

*Klare Ty and Elijah Montefalco. Why? Because even though I didn’t experienced such, if I am to wear their shoe, I know to myself that it’s so painful. If I were to be Klare, maybe I’ll get depressed and decided to end my life. But she still fighted for their love. Anf to Elijah to surpass all their hardships just to prove theirlove to everybody is such a bravery.

4. Did anything happened in the book remind of something similar?Cite this event.

*Nothing in the book remind me of something similar. I swear guys, read the Until Trilogy of jonaxx, and it will be worth that you spend time readig it because of the plot/story. It will bring you the ultimate romantic excitement but also tickle your tears to flow.

5. If you had a chance to ask a character from the book a question, what would it be?

*To Klare and Elijah, what happened after that?That was sooooooo cliff-hanger, I can’t think of what happened after that huhu. Did you have a child? Was it a girl or boy? Does it looks like Klare or Elijah? Ugh, one question is not enough for me. Sorry for that.

#until he was gone #until he returned #until forever

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studyinglogic · 7 years

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Rob Goodman and Jimmy Soni have published a biography of Claude Shannon entitled A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age. They recently conducted a Reddit AMA; I have excerpted parts I found personally interesting and left their punctuation intact.

Q: What can I take away from how Shannon thinks, works, and lives and apply today to think, work, or live better?

That's actually one of the most interesting things about his life and work: There's a lot for us to take away from it. Sometimes when you're think of figures like Einstein or Turing, they seem like they're on Mount Olympus--and that all of us mere mortals can study them from afar but not embrace the way they did their wok because it was so unique.

Shannon's work had similar scientific force and impact, but he was also down-to-earth. A few of the lessons that stood out to us:

1) Learn to be by yourself and in quiet places -- Shannon was an introvert, but we think contributed to his scientific imagination. He was comfortable being alone and thinking hard for long stretches of time. He also did this in places that lent themselves to that kind of thought: spartan bachelor apartments, an office whose door was usually closed. We can't imagine him trying to bang out information theory at Starbucks.

2) Study many disciplines -- Yes, Shannon was a train mathematician and engineer. But he was an equally skilled machinist and gadgeteer, one of the early pioneers of artificial intelligence, a unicyclist, a juggler, and a lot of other things. He had an omnivorous curiosity and it served him well. He was able to use all these disparate things to create the work that he did.

3) Don't worry about external recognition so much -- Shannon could barely be bothered about awards and honors. He found them amusing diversions from the work. Sometimes his wife or a mentor had to force him to actually go to the trouble of accepting awards. And even when he did, he did it with levity. (For instance, he hung all the honorary degrees he won from a rotating tie rack!). Why does this matter? Because he was running his own race. He wasn't trying to go after a specific award or honor, so he was free to do what he did his entire life: let his curiosity wander to the places it wanted to go.

That's just some of the lessons. We wrote more of them up here, and happy to go into any of these in further depth .

Let me add one more that I think about a lot: work with your hands. This was something Shannon did for basically his entire life. He would take things apart, put them back together, and see if he could improve on how they worked. Even at the very end stages of his life, when he was in a nursing home battling alzheimer's, he would take apart his walker and try to imagine a better design for it.

Why does that matter? Because I think it gave him a quality that one engineer described as "not only the ability to think about things but through things." It was a powerful part of his work--and I think it's something we might take for granted in our own.

My guess is that the problem-solving and tactile pieces of working with your hands offer some brain-enhancing effects. But I also think there's a broader point about appreciation and craftsmanship. There's a great book on the topic called Shopclass as Soulcraft that's worth checking out.

I think Shannon could anticipate future robotics because he didn't just write papers, he built robots. He could imagine an artificially intelligent world because he built an artificially intelligent mouse. I don't know how to reclaim that sort of thing exactly, but I know it's a powerful part of what made him who he was.

Q: Are there any big misconceptions about Shannon's life that this book dispels?

I think one major misconception about Shannon's life is that the second half of it didn't amount to much, or was even some kind of waste of talent. It's true that Shannon's most groundbreaking work was done at an early age (so early that it makes me wince when I compare my own 20s and 30s). At 21, Shannon's master's thesis explained how binary switches could perform Boolean logic, and laid a key foundation for digital computers. And at 32, of course, Shannon's "Mathematical Theory of Communication" inaugurated information theory and won him international fame.

I've heard Shannon compared to a professional athlete in this regard--his key accomplishments came in his relative youth, and then there was a long stretch of time in which he lacked direction by comparison.

But there are three reasons why I think this is a misconception. First, Shannon helped to set the agenda of a wide range of emerging fields even after his work on information theory. He developed (along with his colleague Robert Fano, and followed by Fano's student David Huffman) some pioneering digital codes for compressing messages. He was a pioneer in early thought about artificial intelligence. He developed one of the first chess-playing computers (which could handle six pieces in the endgame), and wrote a paper on computer chess that was influential in the field for decades to come. Along with Ed Thorp, he built arguably the first wearable computer (used to beat the house at roulette).

Second, the methods that Shannon used to do this later work weren't that distinct from the methods he used in his earlier work. His interests were consistently promiscuous. He loved thinking with his hands, and not just abstractly. He loved picking up on strange and playful analogies. He asked questions that others were liable to dismiss as unworthy of a serious scientist. It's true that nothing Shannon did in his later life lived up to his "hits." But I think it's important to judge process, not results--and we can learn a lot from Shannon's process even later in life. He outlined a lot of his key insights in that regard--like the virtue of simplifying problems--in a talk he gave to Bell Labs employees on creative thinking, which we dug up from the archives and discussed in our Shannon book.

Third, Shannon's later life is worth knowing about because it was just fun. Here's a guy who could have gone on pursuing the trappings of scientific celebrity and pontificating on whatever he felt like--but instead, given that kind of freedom, he tinkered in his two-story workshop and followed his curiosity wherever it took him. Things like Shannon's flaming trumpet, customized unicycle fleet, or juggling robots aren't of huge scientific interest--but they tell you a lot, in my opinion, about the kind of mind that's capable of Shannon-sized breakthroughs.

Q: Would you describe Shannon as someone who was hard on himself with a tireless work ethic? Did he want to always be productive every moment of the day or did he let himself relax and do nothing in particular if he felt like it?

Almost always the latter.

I don't mean to suggest that Shannon was lazy--like lots of remarkably successful people, he had his bouts of intense and concentrated activity. This was especially true in his younger years--we discuss some accounts from an acquaintance of his at the time he was working on his information theory paper, who says that Shannon would compulsively scribble ideas on napkins, or stare into space in deep concentration, or mention getting up in the middle of the night to work when struck by an idea. So when Shannon was in the midst of one of his highly creative periods, he certainly had a capacity for work to match anyone.

But what really distinguished Shannon was that he didn't try to force it. We called our book A Mind at Play because we think that captures Shannon so well. He asked silly questions, loved tinkering in his workshop, and was often seen unicycling down the hallways of Bell Labs. He had a folder of "Letters I've Procrastinated on for Too Long." And he approached his work in just the same spirit--we called it "play of the adult kind," or play with ideas and concepts.

In other words, the main lesson we take from Shannon's life in this regard is that the people who are most productive on the scale the matters--like, world-changingly productive--don't worry about being productive every single hour. They can work intensely when they need to, but they also know how much is to be gained from letting the mind wander.

Q: What's the biggest difference in the way a genius approaches the world versus the way a merely very intelligent person does?

It's a really interesting question, and one we had in the back of our head as we were working on this project. I'm not sure how valuable our thoughts on the subject are, but fortunately we have Claude Shannon's thoughts!

During our research, we found the transcript of a 1952 speech he gave to his fellow Bell Labs scientists on the topic of "Creative Thinking," and it's the best account we came across of Shannon describing how his own mind worked. He spoked about the need for a fundamental drive "to find out what makes things tick." That drive was indispensable: "If you don’t have that, you may have all the training and intelligence in the world, [but] you don’t have the questions and you won’t just find the answers." Shannon was choosing his words carefully when he said that you have to "have the questions." The greatest reward in his line of work may be the satisfaction that comes with resolving intellectual puzzles: "If I’ve been trying to prove a mathematical theorem for a week or so and I finally get the solution, I get a big bang out of it."

So where does that drive come from? Shannon's most interesting formulation of that quality put it like this: it was "a slight irritation when things don’t look quite right," or a "constructive dissatisfaction." For Shannon, an original thinker--or even a genius--is simply someone who is usefully irritated.

Shannon left his colleagues with a final, particularly challenging thought: "I think that good research workers apply these things unconsciously; that is, they do these things automatically." In other words, Shannon didn't expect geniuses to sit around waiting for bursts of inspiration--he was much more interested in how to cultivate the right habits, until "constructive dissatisfaction" becomes a kind of second nature.

#Claude Shannon #information theory #biography #science #mathematics #quotes #quote #Rob Goodman #Jimmy Soni #light

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kuwaiti-kid · 4 years

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Vagrant Queen Star Adriyan Rae Discusses the Season Finale and Behind the Scenes

Adriyan Rae is the Vagrant Queen in SyFy's hit series based on Vault Comic's story Vagrant Queen.

It was divine intervention that led Adriyan Rae into a career in film. She attended the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and became a certified Medical Laboratory Scientist, before moving to Atlanta where she found her passion for performance. She landed her first role in Burning Sands, an independent feature that was produced by Netflix. You can catch her in roles on Donald Glover's Atlanta, BET's American Soul, and Hulu's Light as a Feather.

But lately, she's been playing a child-queen-turned-outlaw on the run from a galactic government as Elida Al-Feyr in SyFy's Vagrant Queen.

Credit: Diana Ragland

Maggie Lovitt (ML): How have things been going with quarantine?

Adriyan Rae (AR): Quarantine, for me, wasn’t really much of a difference. I am very much a person who is in my house all the time. It was just that all my favorite stores were shut down and they still are. It was just converting to home workouts that was the most difficult.

ML: Have you been bingeing any TV shows?

AR: Yes, prior to the last week I’ve been bingeing Avatar: The Last Airbender for the fifth time. Which I just absolutely love. It’s so deep. Since March I’ve watched Succession, The Outsider, and Killing Eve. I’m waiting for the last episode of that.

ML: Oh yeah! I think the finale is this week, isn’t it? I’ve lost track of when shows come out.

AR: I’ve been a part of the Black Lives Matter movement for the past week, so I haven’t really been watching much TV. I’ve been researching and fighting the good fight.

ML: So have you been out protesting?

AR: I have indeed.

ML: You went to school for Medical Laboratory Scientist, how did you get into acting?

AR: And Physician Assistant Studies. I got into acting by divine intervention. I swore I was going to be a surgeon since I was like five. I went to school for science and I was doing great and loved it. I graduated and I went to Atlanta, which is the black entertainment capital. While there, I was like, “Alright I want to sing.” In the midst of trying to get on with singing, I met with Epic Records and things like that.

I was introduced to acting on a video set. Where they were like, “Do you want to be the lead (in the music video)?” I was like, “Uh, I don’t know. No.” They told me I just had to act like this was my boyfriend and I was like “Alright!” I tried it and they told me I was pretty good at it and suggested I try acting. Literally, everything just aligned. I found a mentor who taught me Stanislavski and Stella Adler methods. And trained me in the fundamentals. And then I got on set and I was like, “Oh! This is what it’s like to be at work and have it not feel like work. To really love your job.”

youtube

ML: And then to jump into Vagrant Queen which is such a huge role. What was the audition process like?

AR: The audition process was a self-tape which is really cool. I love doing self-tapes. I got the audition and I was like “Oh! This is cool. It’s comedy, action, and drama. It’s like Guardians of the Galaxy!” I remember we got feedback pretty fast. I had just done another audition and I got an email and I swore it was going to be for that audition. But my manager was like, “No it’s for Vagrant Queen! Wow. They must really like you.” They had some notes, so we redid the take with the notes. And I remember not really liking that tape that much. I cried. I was like, “I really loved that one and now I’m not going to book it.” But then four days later I got an email that said I had booked the role.

ML: That’s amazing that you found out so quickly!

AR: Hollywood is a fast yes and a slow no.

ML: With the role of Elida, how much of your portrayal is comic-based and how much is a collaboration between you and the showrunner?

AR: Initially, with my audition, it was based on what I had available. I had the pilot and I had the comic book. It was really cool, because Jem (Garrard) merged the worlds really well. Because she merged it and I had the visual of what the world looked like, it was really easy. Once I was on set I really relied on Jem. I had built Elida from child all the way to the present, because I also had to play teen Elida. Everything from her favorite colors and foods. What she’s eating right now. What she used to love. All those things I’ve built. So I would talk to Jem and make sure that’s what she wanted and what was in the comic, because she loves the comic. That’s more so how we made the character and her arc.

ML: Were there any challenges during filming you weren’t expecting?

AR: Heck yeah! I was in South Africa, which was completely different than my normal life. I had never been outside of the country before. It was a challenge because of the time difference with family being so far away. It was a challenge of learning stunts. I did like 98% of my stunts.

Sometimes with the schedule, we’d have six-day work weeks. So we were working for six days a week, twelve hours a day. It seems like you’d have twelve hours, but that’s really seven hours to yourself for sleeping and showering. Sometimes you have to figure out if you can just eat at another time. You have to study and work out. It’s a lot of that. That was the challenge. Working that schedule. And making sure I had time for my mental health, for Elida, for stunts, for personal development, and working on auditions that were still coming in. Juggling it all was the challenge.

ML: What is your process for getting into character as Elida?

AR: Are you an actor as well?

ML: Yes!

AR: Then you’ll understand. By episode three or four it was really easy to jump into Elida. When I first got on set, there were those first day set jitters. Music is my sanity. So I started listening to music. Empowering music. That’s what really helped me get ready for Elida. It really set the tone for her confidence and abilities. It got me out of my head of being scared or worried. Elida doesn’t worry about that stuff. I would start my day off with eating my food, listening to my music. Then when I had to get my ears put on I’d take my music off, but once they were dry I put it right back in. Journaling also really helped me.

ML: Did you have a playlist for Elida?

AR: I have a playlist for every character I test for.

ML: I do the same thing!

AR: It’s really helpful. Especially when you’re testing. It’s just so hectic. You get there and there’s other people there and you’re like, “Wait, what are they doing here? I thought they liked me.” It’s a lot so it helps me focus on who I was trying to be.

Credit: SyFy's “Vagrant Queen”

ML: Looking online, I found that Vagrant Queen has a really solid fanbase. I asked some fans about their burning questions.

AR: Oh, I love them!

ML: Their number one question was about this burgeoning relationship between Elida and Amae. At the time of this interview, they just shared their first kiss. So, what can fans expect from that relationship in the finale?

AR: Some wild things happen in the finale. What’s coming is a possible strengthening of their bond. They both know where they’re at now. They both know exactly who they love, who they care about, and what’s important. They’re both in a good space. That is a trying time for interpersonal relationships to thrive.

ML: There have been several betrayals and twists with Elida's allies and close friends. How do you approach these emotional scenes?

AR: I approach them as human as possible. I take out the themes of Vagrant Queen. Take it out of being in space or about a monarchy. I make it as human as possible. It became more about “How does betrayal feel? What does betrayal look like? What are the different layers of feeling betrayal? What are the different layers of actual betrayal?” Since many of them are happening. I just went from there and really allowed those to be natural reactions to what was happening. I thought that would resonate the most, as it resonated most with me.

ML: Focusing more on the human emotions, rather than the epic space drama.

AR: Exactly! If you focus on, “My loyalists did this.” It’s not going to resonate as much as, “My father figure did this.”

ML: Do you enjoy shooting the fight scenes?

AR: Oh, I love it! Literally my team would be like, “It’s an action day!” I love the fight scenes. It’s so invigorating and cool to learn these choreos and see how they come out on screen. With this last episode, we worked so hard. With a lot of the fights, I didn’t have time to learn. With the karaoke fight, I had learned that in five or ten minutes. The port fight I learned in probably a half-hour. With the finale fight, I had like a week. I got to practice with Paul (du Toit) and really worked it out. It’s awesome, I love it.

ML: Do you have a favorite location or planet that they visited this season?

AR: I loved the aesthetic of the dunes. It was absolutely beautiful. It was hectic to shoot it because it was sand dunes. It can be really windy. It was a desert so it was hot and it was cold. But aesthetically it was beautiful. I really love the Winnie. It was an actual ship with an upper and lower deck. I used to hang out in my room and kick people out of my room.

ML: Speaking of rooms, what’s something you always have to have in your trailer?

AR: A candle. It’s so weird, but I always have to have a candle. I always have to have tomatoes. I have tomatoes on every set.

ML: Is that your go-to snack?

AR: Yes! Tomatoes and vinegar. It would be like one o’clock and I’d be hungry and they’d be like, “Do you want your tomatoes?”

ML: Well, that is a perfect segway into catering. I’ve always said I got into acting for the catering.

AR: Isn’t it great? You get to try something new. And I don’t feel bad for wasting if I don’t like it.

ML: What’s the best meal you’ve had on the set of Vagrant Queen?

AR: I didn’t really eat much at catering. I had a snack pack. I was in so many scenes and our schedule was so fast, I hardly had time to walk over to catering. They got me this snack pack that would go with me to each scene. I’d probably say chips were my favorite snack. In Cape Town, they have these different flavors of Lays chips. They had this chili flavor that was my favorite.

ML: What is something you always have to make sure you have with you on set?

AR: I have this book of Elida. That is like my Bible. It is with me everywhere I go. I always have to have that and my Air Pods. It’s her journey, I mark her out. It has everything she loves and doesn’t love. If there’s a scene where some food pops up that’s blue, but she hates blue food. I don’t want to miss that. It’s written down in my book. I need that so I can hit that beat and to incorporate that nuance. I can’t go anywhere without that book. The crew used to find my book and move it. I’d be like, “Someone has lost my book!” My blue book was a big thing.

ML: Did you come across any restaurants in Cape Town that you loved?

AR: Elida is vegetarian, so when I’m filming I’m vegetarian. It changed the restaurants that were available for me. Cape Town is known for their barbecue and really good meats. But they had great restaurants like Nü. I ordered from them a lot. They also had Nobu, which was right by the water and they had fresh food. It’s hard to find vegetarian sushi.

ML: So you’re very method when it comes to Elida.

AR: It’s a balance of being method, but being able to come out of it. When there’s episodes like five or six where she’s going through tumultuous emotions of loss with people dying, I have to be able to come out of that when I go home.

ML: Before we wrap up, what can you tease about Elida’s own personal journey in the finale?

AR: Elida finally finds her voice and shuts up other people.

You can watch the full season of Vagrant Queen on SyFy. Be sure to follow Adriyan on Twitter and Instagram.

The post Vagrant Queen Star Adriyan Rae Discusses the Season Finale and Behind the Scenes appeared first on Your Money Geek.

from Your Money Geek https://ift.tt/2YckJF6 via IFTTT

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thequietissoloud · 5 years

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weightless

I think it’s funny that I’m always trying to listen to that song, especially on January 1st. I haven’t even done my year reflection yet, but I truly think that this year was divided into three years. Nevertheless, let’s reflect.

January: It’s so weird thinking about this exact time last year. I remember coming back from Pahrump, exhausted as hell and disappointed as hell. We knew it was a long shot to get everyone to fake the road trip, but I really thought everyone would have blind faith and trust in me. On January 1st, 2018, I woke up next to my dad in a motel room. This year, I woke up at Emily’s place. Next year, I’ll be waking up at my own place.

February: Honestly, pledgeship really is a blur to me. I vaguely remember just skipping out on everything: school, family events, friend hangouts. What broke me at the time was when Phillip said “Dude where have you been.” Such a rough month.

March: Like I said, pledgeship was a blur. I don’t remember anything, just being sad and stressed all the time.

April: I’d like to call this the prequel to my breaking point trilogy. It was a month of me excessively partying and letting my demons get to me. With my newfound knowledge that I have the addictive gene, I understand why I did the things I did and why I was the way I was.

May: ‘Twas when I finally had my installs. I literally became a new person, someone I wasn’t sure I had in me. Used a fake ID a handful of times and got a little too drunk. Again, the honeymoon of partying got to me, and I got a bit too cocky. Not confident, cocky.

June: I remember this was when I was really lost: I didn’t remember what or how my life was before DPG. This was the moment I really had to choose too. Nadine’s birthday stressed me out more than it should’ve, especially since I never thought I’d have to choose between my home friends and them. Actually, I always knew I would have to, I just didn’t think I would be so pressured into it.

July: I honestly don’t remember much about them, except for waking up in the midst of the day and realizing that I, yet again, wasted a day because of my excessive indulgence in alcohol and partying. This was the comedown. This was a low. This was when I found out how self destructive I was. To myself and to others. This was the most I wanted to really just be alone and not alone at the same time.

August: This was when I started “Virgo SZN thoughts” I think. Here are some excerpts from that:

“I’ve been feeling really off lately, like you know when your vibe’s just not right? Don’t really know how to explain it... I’m overthinking more than I should. I hate when people constantly ask if I’m okay because I’ll say I’m not but I don’t know how to explain why I’m not.”

“I’ve never been so bad to the point where I have to leave, literally exit the premises, because the walls felt like they were caving in on me, as cliche as that sounds. I’ve just been so OFF... I’ve been participating in countless forms of escapism and nothing is working!!! I need to stop focusing on fantasy lives and start figuring out the one that I have. I feel so weak because I ain’t ever been a bitch who’s in her feelings, much less one that lets her feelings completely take over her life and hinder her from doing shit she needs to do!! IT’S ALWAYS BEEN LOGIC OVER FEELINGS, THIS IS A NEW CONCEPT RIGHT NOW AND I DON’T LIKE IT. There’s just this cloud of disparity, uncertainty, and uneasiness that’s glooming over me. Maybe I’m just being dramatic, or maybe my emotions have just been dormant for too long. This time around just feels more end-of-the-road than ever.”

Finding out that the ones that you’ve sacrificed everything for put you on the backburner really fucking hurts. Turned 21 and spent it with good company, but not the company I relied on for half a year. Upsetting how it is that the good ones usually let me down.

September: This was when I started to get my shit together. I have NBC to thank for that. I needed to detox, but also. I really overbooked myself this month. However, I did it. Looking back, I fucking did it.

October: Rush week was fucking exhausting, but I did the AMAs and rushed over to Wing Night. W I L D. Got to experience so many things I never thought I could (ex. riding a golf cart down New York street at Universal #unreal) but I also started feeling like the old Jenny again. Sidenote: Sisterhood night? Fucking poetic how we enter the sisterhood with a circle, and cross into it with a circle. I love Founding Moms.

November: Most memorable moment was when I saw Ally again at the ALMAs. “Sweetie, I really love seeing you at these events!” It’s just crazy because I got to thank her finally for getting me into the industry. She literally recognized me and we had a conversation, professional to professional. This was when I learned how to take breaks.

December: This has been a month full of reflection and self awareness. I realize now that I can do it all, I just have to truly immerse myself and believe that I can. Retreat? Eye opening. That was when I realized how much I’ve actually grown this year. Rewind to last year, I definitely would not have ever had a mental breakdown, let alone in public -- like wtf? That is not Jenny. It’s still not Jenny. Technically. Anyways, it was also literally the epitome of “when one door closes, another opens.” Got the call for Paramount at 2:41 P.M. on 12/12 and it was my last day at NBC. Things truly do happen for a reason. Things started to look up from then on out. Started spending way more time with family than I usually do. Also loved spending time with old friends. There’s nothing like old friends.

In 2019,

I will focus on myself more.

I will know when to rest, and differentiate that from quitting.

I will let myself take more risks.

I will be financially stable.

I will find stable housing, whether it’s in LA or OC. I will find a place I can finally call home. (Sidenote: Haven’t been able to find a place to call home for a few years now. I understand home is not a place, but none of the places I’ve stayed at these past couple of years have felt like home.)

I will know my worth.

I refuse to let myself down.

There will be positive vibes only, especially in my circle that I’m with.

There will be more self-awareness, and more self-celebration.

There will be more self control.

I will be the role-model I was meant to be, for me and for others.

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chocolate-brownies · 6 years

Text

Spiritual Leader Ram Dass on Zen and the Art of Dying

Spiritual Leader Ram Dass on Zen and the Art of Dying:

Be Here Now author, Ram Dass, teaches us about gracefully embracing death in his new book collaboration, Walking Each Other Home.

Ram Dass meditates in his RV beside a photo of his guru, Neem Karoli Baba (whom he refers to as Maharaj-ji) during the summer of 1977.

On my way to Maui from Western Massachusetts to meet my spiritual teacher Ram Dass, I am sitting in the cramped space of a Delta flight eating cookies and reading a book by the poet and philosopher John O’Donohue, a friend who had died a few years before. He wrote that paying attention to death reminds us of the incredible miracle of being here, where “we are all wildly, dangerously free.”

As I embark on my own journey to explore and write about death, I think that it will be challenging. Death relates to all of life, so when exploring it, which paths should we take? Which stories should we tell? Which questions should we pursue? We want to ask questions that will lead to a process of opening and deepening, and to an appreciation of how facing death can alter life in helpful and maybe even amazing ways.

Right now I am asking, What do we really know about death, in the midst of this wildly, dangerously free life that we are living? I am not sure, but I know I’ll learn a lot from sitting with Ram Dass.

I arrive in Maui late at night. Ram Dass lives in a sprawling house on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. His caregivers live there, too, and usually old friends are staying as well. Its open floor plan and staircase elevator make it easy for Ram Dass to move around in his wheelchair. There are always fresh flowers—hibiscus, ginger, protea, and birds-of-paradise—and napping cats. Everyone is asleep, and I go right to bed. As I doze off, I can hear the quiet whooshing of the ceiling fan and feel the trade winds blowing through the window, ruffling the batiks depicting Hanuman and Ganesh.

To see Ram Dass the next morning after some months away is a return to the home of my heart. As he arrives at the breakfast table, he looks at me from his wheelchair with eyes I have known for so long and through so much. I fall into them and immediately feel happy throughout my body. We hug and then hug more deeply. Beaming. Yes, yes, yes.

Over eggs and toast, he asks about my husband, E.J., and his godson, my son Owen, and my granddaughter, Dahlia, whom he blessed soon after she entered the world. “They are all well. My hip has been bothering me.” And I tell him what Dahlia told me: “Ama, you’re not old. Old is when you get broken and you can’t get fixed.”

Ram Dass laughs. As he downs his vitamins and medications, he says, “I guess we’re not old. We’re still getting fixed.”

See also 5 Lessons I Learned on a One-Day Retreat

Going inward

After breakfast, we go upstairs, where Ram Dass has his bed, a bathroom, his office—a wall of books; photos of friends; an altar with a picture of his guru, whom we call Maharaj-ji; a phone; an intercom. Lakshman, who helps care for Ram Dass, moves him from his wheelchair to a big, comfy reclining chair and covers him with a blanket. The scent of sandalwood from incense burned at the morning chant downstairs floats up into the room.

I jump right in and ask, “You’ve written and spoken so much about death before this. Do you have a new understanding about death now that you’re getting closer?”

Ram Dass closes his eyes and is silent for a long time. I have no idea what he will say. “I snuggle up to Maharaj-ji. I distance myself from the body, my body.”

“How do you do that?”

“Identify with the witness, with awareness, with the soul. The body is ending, but the soul will go on and on and on. I keep going inward to the soul.”

“Is that different from before?”

“My body is dying now, but I don’t feel like I’m dying. I’m fascinated with how my body is … doing it.”

We both laugh.

Then he says: “For many years, I’d been thinking about the phenomenon of death, but not my own death .… Now, when I piece it together with my heart, not with my intellect, I find nothing to fear if I identify with loving awareness. Death becomes simply the final stage of my sadhana … ”

Ram Dass is quiet for a long time, looking out at the sea. We’ve talked about death before, but not so directly and so personally. Saying it aloud changes things.

See also 16 Poses to Instantly Boost Your Confidence

Walking Each Other Home by Ram Dass & Mirabai Bush.

Swimming in love

Another day begins, and we are sitting at the breakfast table, although we have finished the oatmeal and mangoes and cleared away the dishes. Kirtan artist Krishna Das is visiting, and we are having a conversation that started 40 years ago in India. Krishna Das has recently read a letter written by Vivekananda, a disciple of Ramakrishna—an Indian mystic and yogi who spoke at the first World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 and introduced Hinduism and Vedanta to the West. This letter was written when Vivekananda was near the end of his life. Krishna Das says he was moved by Vivekananda’s wondering whether he was teaching and speaking as a way of supporting his ego, whether he was attached to his fame and his students’ appreciation, and whether that was actually keeping him from coming “face to face with God.”

Ram Dass says he also worries about this. And Krishna Das has struggled with it for years. Then Krishna Das says what we know but keep forgetting:

“I saw that people who were attracted to me weren’t really attracted to me at all. They wanted connection to that place of love that I also wanted to be connected to.” The place we had discovered through Maharaj-ji. So what to do? If there is a relationship between what we do in the world, our dharma, and what we need to learn before we die, what should we be doing now?

“It’s all about love,” Ram Dass says. “It’s about becoming love. You start out with ego and become a soul.

Maharaj-ji was a soul lost in love. That’s what he was telling us. Sadhana … spiritual practice. Your work is your practice. If it’s not taking you into love, it’s not right for you.

“Fear is the problem, and the root of fear is separateness. We transform separateness through compassion and love. So fear is an invitation to engage in practice and to be more loving.”

There it was again. So simple.

The answer to what we should be doing and how to avoid attachment to it before we die—or as we are dying: sadhana and love. We had gone from oatmeal and mangoes to love and death in a very short time.

We all drop into silence.

See also Sequence for Overcoming Fear with #YJInfluencer Denelle Numis

About the Author

Ram Dass is an American spiritual teacher, former Harvard academic and clinical psychologist, and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now and the subsequent Be Love Now. Mirabai Bush is senior fellow at the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. She has led mindfulness training for lawyers, judges, educators, environmental leaders, activists, students, and the army, and was a key developer of Search Inside Yourself at Google.

0 notes

krisiunicornio · 6 years

Link

Be Here Now author, Ram Dass, teaches us about gracefully embracing death in his new book collaboration, Walking Each Other Home.

Ram Dass meditates in his RV beside a photo of his guru, Neem Karoli Baba (whom he refers to as Maharaj-ji) during the summer of 1977.

Ram Dass laughs. As he downs his vitamins and medications, he says, “I guess we’re not old. We’re still getting fixed.”

See also 5 Lessons I Learned on a One-Day Retreat

Going inward

I jump right in and ask, “You’ve written and spoken so much about death before this. Do you have a new understanding about death now that you’re getting closer?”

Ram Dass closes his eyes and is silent for a long time. I have no idea what he will say. “I snuggle up to Maharaj-ji. I distance myself from the body, my body.”

“How do you do that?”

“Identify with the witness, with awareness, with the soul. The body is ending, but the soul will go on and on and on. I keep going inward to the soul.”

“Is that different from before?”

“My body is dying now, but I don’t feel like I’m dying. I’m fascinated with how my body is … doing it.”

We both laugh.

Ram Dass is quiet for a long time, looking out at the sea. We’ve talked about death before, but not so directly and so personally. Saying it aloud changes things.

See also 16 Poses to Instantly Boost Your Confidence

Walking Each Other Home by Ram Dass & Mirabai Bush.

Swimming in love

Ram Dass says he also worries about this. And Krishna Das has struggled with it for years. Then Krishna Das says what we know but keep forgetting:

“It’s all about love,” Ram Dass says. “It’s about becoming love. You start out with ego and become a soul.

Maharaj-ji was a soul lost in love. That’s what he was telling us. Sadhana … spiritual practice. Your work is your practice. If it’s not taking you into love, it’s not right for you.

“Fear is the problem, and the root of fear is separateness. We transform separateness through compassion and love. So fear is an invitation to engage in practice and to be more loving.”

There it was again. So simple.

We all drop into silence.

See also Sequence for Overcoming Fear with #YJInfluencer Denelle Numis

About the Author

#sleep sounds #sleep music #white noise app #nature sounds #relaxing sounds #rain sounds for sleeping

0 notes

amyddaniels · 6 years

Text

Spiritual Leader Ram Dass on Zen and the Art of Dying

Be Here Now author, Ram Dass, teaches us about gracefully embracing death in his new book collaboration, Walking Each Other Home.

Ram Dass meditates in his RV beside a photo of his guru, Neem Karoli Baba (whom he refers to as Maharaj-ji) during the summer of 1977.

Ram Dass laughs. As he downs his vitamins and medications, he says, “I guess we’re not old. We’re still getting fixed.”

See also 5 Lessons I Learned on a One-Day Retreat

Going inward

I jump right in and ask, “You’ve written and spoken so much about death before this. Do you have a new understanding about death now that you’re getting closer?”

Ram Dass closes his eyes and is silent for a long time. I have no idea what he will say. “I snuggle up to Maharaj-ji. I distance myself from the body, my body.”

“How do you do that?”

“Identify with the witness, with awareness, with the soul. The body is ending, but the soul will go on and on and on. I keep going inward to the soul.”

“Is that different from before?”

“My body is dying now, but I don’t feel like I’m dying. I’m fascinated with how my body is … doing it.”

We both laugh.

Ram Dass is quiet for a long time, looking out at the sea. We’ve talked about death before, but not so directly and so personally. Saying it aloud changes things.

See also 16 Poses to Instantly Boost Your Confidence

Walking Each Other Home by Ram Dass & Mirabai Bush.

Swimming in love

Ram Dass says he also worries about this. And Krishna Das has struggled with it for years. Then Krishna Das says what we know but keep forgetting:

“It’s all about love,” Ram Dass says. “It’s about becoming love. You start out with ego and become a soul.

Maharaj-ji was a soul lost in love. That’s what he was telling us. Sadhana … spiritual practice. Your work is your practice. If it’s not taking you into love, it’s not right for you.

“Fear is the problem, and the root of fear is separateness. We transform separateness through compassion and love. So fear is an invitation to engage in practice and to be more loving.”

There it was again. So simple.

We all drop into silence.

See also Sequence for Overcoming Fear with #YJInfluencer Denelle Numis

About the Author

0 notes

remedialmassage · 6 years

Text

Spiritual Leader Ram Daas on Zen and the Art of Dying

Be Here Now author, Ram Dass, teaches us about gracefully embracing death in his new book collaboration, Walking Each Other Home.

Ram Dass meditates in his RV beside a photo of his guru, Neem Karoli Baba (whom he refers to as Maharaj-ji) during the summer of 1977.

Ram Dass laughs. As he downs his vitamins and medications, he says, “I guess we’re not old. We’re still getting fixed.”

See also 5 Lessons I Learned on a One-Day Retreat

Going inward

I jump right in and ask, “You’ve written and spoken so much about death before this. Do you have a new understanding about death now that you’re getting closer?”

Ram Dass closes his eyes and is silent for a long time. I have no idea what he will say. “I snuggle up to Maharaj-ji. I distance myself from the body, my body.”

“How do you do that?”

“Identify with the witness, with awareness, with the soul. The body is ending, but the soul will go on and on and on. I keep going inward to the soul.”

“Is that different from before?”

“My body is dying now, but I don’t feel like I’m dying. I’m fascinated with how my body is … doing it.”

We both laugh.

Ram Dass is quiet for a long time, looking out at the sea. We’ve talked about death before, but not so directly and so personally. Saying it aloud changes things.

See also 16 Poses to Instantly Boost Your Confidence

Walking Each Other Home by Ram Dass & Mirabai Bush.

Swimming in love

Ram Dass says he also worries about this. And Krishna Das has struggled with it for years. Then Krishna Das says what we know but keep forgetting:

“It’s all about love,” Ram Dass says. “It’s about becoming love. You start out with ego and become a soul.

Maharaj-ji was a soul lost in love. That’s what he was telling us. Sadhana … spiritual practice. Your work is your practice. If it’s not taking you into love, it’s not right for you.

“Fear is the problem, and the root of fear is separateness. We transform separateness through compassion and love. So fear is an invitation to engage in practice and to be more loving.”

There it was again. So simple.

We all drop into silence.

See also Sequence for Overcoming Fear with #YJInfluencer Denelle Numis

About the Author

from Yoga Journal https://ift.tt/2C1dyYf

#Yoga Journal

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thesilvrlining · 7 years

Text

2016 Reflection

Three words that sum up my year: adventure, growth, and love.

2016 was filled with many highs and lows. I graduated from UCLA - received visits from my best friends and family, spent the entire night reminiscing and decorating our caps. I rented my second apartment and spent the summer in it too. I turned 22 - celebrated with cake and flowers from friends, going clubbing and kayaking, a KBBQ outing with cousins, and a sushi dinner with a dear friend. I made it onto the Dean’s Honor’s List. I went on my first spring break road trip with the greatest friends - Monterey, San Francisco, and Yosemite for the first time and fell in love with it. I went to San Diego for the first time - Balboa Park, Coronado Beach, and Cuyamaca Peak (the greatest friends planned the entire trip). I attended my cousin’s wedding, and it was absolutely lovely. Spent fourth of July with the entire family in Minnesota. I started driving again. Went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with my dad and little sister after so many years. I took part in Foundations, Dance Marathon, Bubble Run, UCLA’s Undergraduate Research Week, SPCN, Undie Run.

I was actively involved in TEACH - learned the ins and outs of administrative work and helped kiddos be the best and healthiest they can be. I joined Best Buddies and met some of the most accepting and resilient people who refuse to let their disabilities and others’ opinions dictate their potential. I was blessed to be paired with a remarkable woman who has endured so much, yet always finds a reason to smile. I spent most of my summer working with UCLA’s FSP Program - I got to facilitate learning, mentor inspiring incoming college freshman, and feel like I made an impact in their college experience. I partook in research and learned the importance of communication both in the healthcare setting and in my own work. I spent time volunteering and learning and fell more in love with the idea of becoming an OT. I started working as a substitute teacher in my old school district - I got to experience education from the other side and what it feels like to really pour your heart into your work, and in the people you work with. I got more comfortable with being an authority figure and have continued making progress growing into that role.

I flew out to Minnesota for grandma during winter quarter in February and then for grandma’s funeral in November (you are dearly missed). My apartment mates and I were almost evicted from our apartment because of my subletter, and one of my FSP students happened to be one of the other subletters who ended up moving out. Although these are the lows of my year, I’ve been able to take away important lessons from each of them - the impermanence of life, importance of good friends and family, and to listen to others when it comes to the small details, and to always take precaution when it comes to new people and serious matters.

2016 taught me a lot. I spent the entire school year prepping myself for graduation and finally learned how to manage my time better so that I could make time for the things and people that mattered. I had so many adventures in LA. From spontaneous outings to lunch/dinner dates to actual dates, shows (EHLAE and Blue Oyster Cult), DineLA, museum days, the beach, kayaking, night time pier, morning and night time runs, boba runs, movie nights, apartment bonding nights, photo shoots, banquets, visits from friends, parties, clubbing, even study sessions became an adventure, hiking trips, yoga and gym sessions, cooking adventures.

Making room for this quality time helped me grow personally. I discovered new interests, met incredible people, made connections, and strengthened existing friendships. I learned to be more open with others and myself. As a result, I started accepting myself more, which led to me feeling more confident and comfortable in my own skin. This year, the people I’ve met and the experiences I’ve had (both good and bad) have all influenced my taste in the type of friends I want, as well as to my evolving outlook on love and relationships.

As I enjoyed all these adventures, post-grad life was always on my mind. I prepared myself by reflecting on my goals and outlining the specifics. I sought help and advice from those wiser and more experienced than I am. I confided in those who were going through this process with me, making it seem less scary. I formed relationships with others aiming to go down the same path as me. I made connections with professionals who could help me. I put in effort to nourish these relationships, as they take time and effort too. I started reading about life skills that one should possess and practice - it’s the little things that can make a big difference and leave a lasting impression on others. I realized that as much as it helps to be professional and polished, it is also just as important to be yourself. Your authenticity is what makes you memorable, and a lot more fun :)

2016 filled me with so much love, in so many different forms. I spent the year single, but I don’t say this with embarrassment or disdain. I had my fun, as well my not so glamorous moments - just as any hopeless romantic would, especially during the holidays - but at the end of the day, I know there is so much in store for me even if it’s not at this very moment. I also know that love doesn’t only exist in the one person that I decide to be with. It exists all around me in various forms - in my friends, my family, my community, and even in myself.

I’ve met some of the best people in college. After graduating and moving home, I wasn’t really sure who I would actually still stay in contact with, and vice versa. It’s one thing to say we’ll still talk, but it’s another to actually do it. I’m thankful that my friendships have survived the time and distance post college. Perhaps distance makes the heart grow fonder. I can also say the same about my high school friends, whose friendships have lasted all throughout college. I feel loved and supported by them, and I hope that I make them feel the same way.

This year, I experienced the strength of family. We lost our glue, our stronghold, the woman who has left her legacy in each of us. Upon learning that my grandma had gotten sick and wanted to be with her children/grandchildren, my entire family dropped whatever we had going on and went to be with her in Minnesota. We stayed for a week. We took over the entire hospital lounge. The nurses said they’ve never seen so many people visit one patient before. My grandma seemed to be recovering from her pneumonia, but overall she had become weaker than before. My entire family sat down to discuss the following steps in terms of my grandma’s care. I remember lots of crying and emotions. We put my grandma on hospice care and she remained with us for nine months after. She was able to attend my cousin’s wedding. I remember the day we had to leave. I gave my grandma a hug, bid her farewell - “Bye Ama!” - and gave her a kiss on the cheek - the same ritual I had always done whenever it was time to leave Minnesota. I then realized that this might be the last time I got to see her while she was still with us. I got scared and my heart broke, but I tried to keep hope alive. In November, I learned that she had passed away. That day was so empty. Everything felt strange. That night, I broke out in hives. I still don’t know why, but that’s the first time it’s ever happened to me. We flew out to Minnesota for my grandma’s funeral the following night. It was a tough time for us, but the love amongst all of us was strong. I like to think that my grandma lived a full life and got to feel the love our family has for her and for each other even during the moments when her health was deteriorating. I will never forget seeing my grandma for the last time, kissing her cold cheek one final time, and placing a rose down for her in honor of her life that has touched so many people. She gave and loved unconditionally, and that’s something she’s taught the rest of us. My family has given me the greatest love of all - it’s unconditional and everlasting.

2016 has been tragic on a personal, as well as a global scale. The world is suffering. The amount of shootings, bombings, natural disasters, racist acts, etc., has been happening at an alarming rate. The political landscape of our country is becoming more divided and poses a threat especially to minorities, women, and LGBT/Q communities. In the midst of all the chaos, communities have rallied together to make their voices heard and fight for change. I’ve seen and felt the love and support of the community. Times like these remind me of Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Rosa Parks, and all these figures who have fought for social and political change despite all the powerful forces against them. Now, it’s up to us to make change happen. In her concession speech, Hillary Clinton said, “And to the young people in particular, I hope you will hear this. I have, as Tim said, spent my entire adult life fighting for what I believe in. I've had successes and I've had setbacks. Sometimes, really painful ones. Many of you are at the beginning of your professional public and political careers. You will have successes and setbacks, too.This loss hurts, but please never stop believing that fighting for what's right is worth it. It is -- it is worth it. And so we need -- we need you to keep up these fights now and for the rest of your lives.” (November 9, 2016). 2017 marks the beginning of Trump’s presidency in this already unstable world. I can only hope he doesn’t destroy us, but if he starts his demolition, I am ready to stand by those in my community to fight for what’s right.

This year, I really embraced the concept of loving myself: self-love. I’m not perfect. Being called perfect is actually pretty frightening to me. I’m allowed to make mistakes, to have my days, to not have to please every single person. I’m allowed to say no. I started giving myself credit for being a good friend, a good daughter, a good student, etc. But I know that self-love does not mean ignorance. I was critical of myself when I was not these aforementioned things, not in an attempt to put myself down, but rather in an attempt to reflect and become a wiser, more mature version of myself. To me, self-love means accepting who I am in the moment, but adapting and evolving as I learn and experience more in order to be the best me I can possibly be. It also means having patience with myself to get there. I also started appreciating my body more -- aesthetically, physically, and biologically. My body is a temple ;) I only have this one life to live and this one body to experience it all with. It amazes me. We can do so much; we are capable of so much. We just need to believe it and start loving who we are. I’m still on a journey, but I think I’m going in the right direction.

2016 has been a roller coaster. It’s time for this ride to end and a new one to begin. Here’s to everything I got out of 2016, and here’s to what’s to come in 2017, like more subbing experience, taking the GRE, graduate school applications, acceptances (crossing my fingers), my first trip outside of the country with friends, more travels and adventures, more good food, and many, many more. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see ;)

Let’s do this.

#2016 #reflection #2017 #newyear

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chocolate-brownies · 6 years

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Spiritual Leader Ram Daas on Zen and the Art of Dying

Spiritual Leader Ram Daas on Zen and the Art of Dying:

Be Here Now author, Ram Dass, teaches us about gracefully embracing death in his new book collaboration, Walking Each Other Home.

Ram Dass meditates in his RV beside a photo of his guru, Neem Karoli Baba (whom he refers to as Maharaj-ji) during the summer of 1977.

Ram Dass laughs. As he downs his vitamins and medications, he says, “I guess we’re not old. We’re still getting fixed.”

See also 5 Lessons I Learned on a One-Day Retreat

Going inward

I jump right in and ask, “You’ve written and spoken so much about death before this. Do you have a new understanding about death now that you’re getting closer?”

Ram Dass closes his eyes and is silent for a long time. I have no idea what he will say. “I snuggle up to Maharaj-ji. I distance myself from the body, my body.”

“How do you do that?”

“Identify with the witness, with awareness, with the soul. The body is ending, but the soul will go on and on and on. I keep going inward to the soul.”

“Is that different from before?”

“My body is dying now, but I don’t feel like I’m dying. I’m fascinated with how my body is … doing it.”

We both laugh.

Ram Dass is quiet for a long time, looking out at the sea. We’ve talked about death before, but not so directly and so personally. Saying it aloud changes things.

See also 16 Poses to Instantly Boost Your Confidence

Walking Each Other Home by Ram Dass & Mirabai Bush.

Swimming in love

Ram Dass says he also worries about this. And Krishna Das has struggled with it for years. Then Krishna Das says what we know but keep forgetting:

“It’s all about love,” Ram Dass says. “It’s about becoming love. You start out with ego and become a soul.

Maharaj-ji was a soul lost in love. That’s what he was telling us. Sadhana … spiritual practice. Your work is your practice. If it’s not taking you into love, it’s not right for you.

“Fear is the problem, and the root of fear is separateness. We transform separateness through compassion and love. So fear is an invitation to engage in practice and to be more loving.”

There it was again. So simple.

We all drop into silence.

See also Sequence for Overcoming Fear with #YJInfluencer Denelle Numis

About the Author

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krisiunicornio · 6 years

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Be Here Now author, Ram Dass, teaches us about gracefully embracing death in his new book collaboration, Walking Each Other Home.

Ram Dass meditates in his RV beside a photo of his guru, Neem Karoli Baba (whom he refers to as Maharaj-ji) during the summer of 1977.

Ram Dass laughs. As he downs his vitamins and medications, he says, “I guess we’re not old. We’re still getting fixed.”

See also 5 Lessons I Learned on a One-Day Retreat

Going inward

I jump right in and ask, “You’ve written and spoken so much about death before this. Do you have a new understanding about death now that you’re getting closer?”

Ram Dass closes his eyes and is silent for a long time. I have no idea what he will say. “I snuggle up to Maharaj-ji. I distance myself from the body, my body.”

“How do you do that?”

“Identify with the witness, with awareness, with the soul. The body is ending, but the soul will go on and on and on. I keep going inward to the soul.”

“Is that different from before?”

“My body is dying now, but I don’t feel like I’m dying. I’m fascinated with how my body is … doing it.”

We both laugh.

Ram Dass is quiet for a long time, looking out at the sea. We’ve talked about death before, but not so directly and so personally. Saying it aloud changes things.

See also 16 Poses to Instantly Boost Your Confidence

Walking Each Other Home by Ram Dass & Mirabai Bush.

Swimming in love

Ram Dass says he also worries about this. And Krishna Das has struggled with it for years. Then Krishna Das says what we know but keep forgetting:

“It’s all about love,” Ram Dass says. “It’s about becoming love. You start out with ego and become a soul.

Maharaj-ji was a soul lost in love. That’s what he was telling us. Sadhana … spiritual practice. Your work is your practice. If it’s not taking you into love, it’s not right for you.

“Fear is the problem, and the root of fear is separateness. We transform separateness through compassion and love. So fear is an invitation to engage in practice and to be more loving.”

There it was again. So simple.

We all drop into silence.

See also Sequence for Overcoming Fear with #YJInfluencer Denelle Numis

About the Author

#sleep sounds #sleep music #white noise app #nature sounds #relaxing sounds #rain sounds for sleeping

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