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Mental Crop Rotation

When farmers grow the same crop too many years in a row, it can leave their soil depleted of minerals and other nutrients that are vital to the health of their fields.

To avoid this, farmers will often alternate the crops that they grow because some plants will use up different minerals (such as nitrogen) while other plants replenish those minerals. This process is known as “crop rotation.”

So the next time you find that you need to step away from a project to work on something else for a while, don’t beat yourself up for “quitting” that project. Give yourself permission to practice “mental crop rotation” to maintain a healthy brain field.

Because I’ve found that when that unnecessary guilt and pressure are removed from the process, a good mental crop rotation can help you feel more energized and invigorated than ever once you’re ready to rotate back to that project.

#making art #fandom #art

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Noncanonicals Tournament Round 1, Match 7

Match 7 is between John 'Jack' Seward from Dracula (shizun/mentor: Abraham van Helsing) and Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars (shizun/mentor: Qui-Gon Jinn)

Propaganda under the cut! (Warning: Propaganda may include spoilers about the characters and their media)

John 'Jack' Seward:

Actual quotes from the letter in which John Seward introduce Van Helsing:

"I am in doubt, and so have done the best thing I know of. I have written to my old friend and master, Professor Van Helsing, of Amsterdam, who knows as much about obscure diseases as any one in the world. [...]

Van Helsing would, I know, do anything for me for a personal reason, so no matter on what ground he comes, we must accept his wishes. He is a seemingly arbitrary man, this is because he knows what he is talking about better than any one else. He is a philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day, and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, and indomitable resolution, self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the kindliest and truest heart that beats, these form his equipment for the noble work that he is doing for mankind, work both in theory and practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy."

I feel like this speaks for itself tbqh.

Also, here's Van Helsing's answer to Seward's offscreen summons:

"When I received your letter I am already coming to you. By good fortune I can leave just at once, without wrong to any of those who have trusted me. Were fortune other, then it were bad for those who have trusted, for I come to my friend when he call me to aid those he holds dear. Tell your friend that when that time you suck from my wound so swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that our other friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when he wants my aids and you call for them than all his great fortune could do. But it is pleasure added to do for him, your friend, it is to you that I come.[...]"

The Gangrene Incident is never explained beyond this. Just. Jack sucked Van Helsing canon and real

Rest assured that they are like this from here to the end of the novel

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See above; also, let's remember the fact that Jackie can apparently do a bang up Dutch accent to give full bodied performances mimicking his professor. Van H also implies that he and Jack are blood-married.

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Even though they are mentor/student, Van Helsing strongly believes Jack is his equal in many ways and confides in him just for emotional stability. Stereotypically the mentor pushes the student outside of his comfort zone, but it is Jack who introduces the professor to everyone else in the story. Van Helsing tells another character that Jack helps alleviate his loneliness. He writes his "in case I die" memos to Jack specifically, because there is no one else who would understand him better.

Oh also Van Helsing has a running theme of barging into Jack's room unannounced, waking him up gently from his sleep, invading his personal space with little protest.

Obi-Wan Kenobi:

None submitted

#reblog for perfection #VanSeward #my current brain rot #Dracula

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I found a Spotify playlist of (most of) the set list!

Purple Tuesday

I was home watching TV and cutting up a steak when I got the call at 8PM. A friend of mine worked at a famous hotel in LA and one of the guests made a last minute request for a DJ to play the hotel bar. Someone that could get there and start playing in an hour. The bar frequently had live bands play, but never a DJ. So with little to no time, my wise and generous friend thought to throw a gig my way.

“Yeah, I can get there in an hour. Am I getting paid?”

“Yes, you’ll get paid.”

“What kind of party is it? What am I playing?”

“Someone’s renting out the bar for a private party. And that someone is… The Artist… formerly… known… as… Prince.”

That sentence was not real to me. Still not real. I had no time to really think or say anything but, “What? You serious? Yes. Be there as soon as I can.” Got off the phone and my stomach turned. Only a handful of people in the world have imprinted their music that much in my brain. And couldn’t he just call up any of the best DJ’s in LA to come play for him? Why’s he gonna trust someone who is by all means an unknown? I’d been DJing parties and bars for years but going from that to Prince is an Olympic leap.

The next half hour felt like a panic attack. I made a list of songs to play for Prince and his private Prince party. Ok, no Prince songs. He doesn’t want to hear himself. No MJ. I don’t want to insult him or anything. Didn’t they have beef in the 80’s? No hip hop. Can’t picture him rocking out to Kendrick. I thought of who he was influenced by and dragged some James Brown and Stevie songs into the playlist. Isley Brothers, Curtis. Great. 8:20PM. I still have to get ready even though I could spend the next month picking songs. I quickly close my laptop and get dressed. Pack up my turntables, mixer, cables and run them all to the car as I’m sweating through this black suit.

I get to the hotel with about five minutes to set up. The bar is completely empty aside from a couple of servers and my friend who made the call. And the room is almost lit exclusively by candlelight. I’m told to set up my turntables on the grand piano, which is also covered with candles, making me feel like hip hop Liberace. A waitress tells me there’s like an 80% chance Prince doesn’t show up. He just likes to rent out the bar in case he and his friends wander through the hotel and feel like stopping in. “But you should start playing music anyway in case he comes in. Who knows.” So I start playing songs to the very empty bar. The anticipation is a killer. My friend gives me a much needed glass of whiskey before taking off.

A giant spread of appetizers is covering the bar and getting sweaty. Spring rolls, cheese, orange juice. An hour goes by. Then another hour. A no-show. I’m kind of bummed out but also very relieved. I don’t know how I’m going to react if he walks in that door. So I’m just playing the set of my life to nobody. It’s like I’m getting paid to practice and listen to whatever I want on the bar’s sound system.

At 12AM the door opens and some guy walks over to me and without a greeting he says,

“Hey man. He’ll be here in 15 minutes. What are you gonna play when he walks in?”

“Oh I got some stuff lined up. Some older Stevie Wonder, the JB’s.”

“Yeah. Yeah, he likes that. Anything like that, Earth Wind & Fire, Chic.”

“Yeah I got Chic! I’ll play that.”

“And he wants to hear Janelle Monáe when he walks in. You got that?”

“Yup. Yup. Janelle Monáe.”

“Cool, he’ll be here in 15 minutes.”

I didn’t have any Janelle Monáe. I ran out to the concierge desk in the lobby to get the wifi password, ran back and started downloading a bunch of Janelle Monáe off of iTunes. Right on time as I cue up the track, the door opens and I catch a quick glimpse. Full on afro, turtleneck and a gold chain. I want to say he had a cane, but I was trying not to look directly at him. I didn’t want to throw him off or maybe infuriate him by making eye contact. Prince was in the room. I was just musical wallpaper. He and a friend sat down at a couch about fifteen feet away from me.

The grand entrance song blended straight into James Brown’s Talking Loud and Saying Nothing. I played Ike & Tina Turner, Charles Wright, Omar’s The Man, and Gust of Wind by Pharrell. My head was pretty much glued to the turntables, sticking to my no look philosophy, but I could hear bits of conversation. Hearing that Prince voice in person was something strange. It just belongs on record or on microphone. I start dishing out some other favorite tracks of mine, Think Twice by Jay Dee and Alicia Myers I Want to Thank You. There’s zero reaction to the songs I play. I’m still worried I’m not playing what he wants to hear. Is he gonna throw a spring roll at me?

A little later that guy from earlier comes back into the bar and walks straight over to me.

“Hey man. Just want to let you know, they love your music.”

“Oh really? Thanks. Do they want to hear anything in particular?”

“Nope. Just keep playing what your playing.”

Oh it’s on now. I can finally breathe and I’m getting props from the man himself, or from the middleman himself. And then it hits me. There’s only two people in there. Prince and a girl. I’m not there to DJ a private party. I’m there to DJ a date. Prince is on a date and I’m the entertainment.

I saved my set list from that night and I don’t remember playing half the songs on it. All I know is I was in deep concentration, mixing out of my mind. Messenger man came in one more time and said Prince might try to play the piano. When it was time, he would pop his head in the door and give me the cue to stop DJing. I had never seen Prince perform, so a private piano ballad to his woman and myself sounded alright. I stayed looking at that door for a while until Prince’s date walked over to me.

“Hey, so what’s the name of this song? He likes it and wants to know.”

“It’s a Smith’s cover. This Charming Man by Stars.”

She sat back down and relayed the info, to which he nodded his head. Now I’m stumping Prince with cool music. I play another track. She comes over to me again and asks, “What’s this one? He wants this on repeat.” Blacker 4 The Good Times by Ballistic Brothers. So I play that song a couple more times in a row. It’s now 4AM and I’m just a little delirious from being on my feet DJing for 7 hours. And I’m running out of music. My song selections are all over the map at this point. Esperanza Spalding, ESG, Broken Bells.

At around 4:30 Prince gets up off the couch and walks floats right over to me. He looks me in the eye, starts shaking my hand and says in a deep Prince voice,

“Thank you. That was very enjoyable.”

“Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.”

In my mind it was that smooth but there’s no doubt I was speaking gibberish.

And just like that he left the room with his date. He didn’t put any moves on her in the bar, but I like to think I helped him out by setting the mood for whatever happened next. I stopped the music and the lights went on.

And that was the best night of DJing I ever had or ever will have.

Playlist from that night.

Janelle Monáe - Q.U.E.E.N. ft Erykah Badu James Brown - Talking Loud and Saying Nothing Billy Gardener - I Got Some J.B.’s - Givin’ Up Food For Funk Ike & Tina Turner - Bold Soul Sister Charles Wright - Express Yourself Johnny Hammond - Tell Me What to Do (Whiskey Barons Rework) Pharrell Williams - Gust of Wind Omar - The Man Steve Arrington - Weak at the Knees Belle Epoque - Miss Broadway Chic - I Want Your Love (Todd Terje Edit) Ethel Beatty - I Know You Care (U-Tern Edit) Curtis Mayfield - Give Me Your Love Mayer Hawthorne - Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out Jay Dee - It’s a Man’s World Jay Dee - Think Twice Alicia Myers - I Want to Thank You Positive Force - We Got the Funk (Larry Levan Re-Edit) Rene and Angela - I Love You More Stevie Wonder - That Girl The Isley Brothers - Tell Me When You Need It Again N*E*R*D - Run to the Sun Beyonce - Blow Hall & Oates - I Can’t Go For That St. Germain - Sure Thing ft John Lee Hooker Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love Bernard Wright - Who Do You Love Tina Turner - What’s Love Got to Do With It George Benson - Give Me the Night Junior - Mama Used to Say Stevie Wonder - Do I Do Fela Kuti - Opposite People Claudja Barry - I Wanna Dance Janelle Monáe - Dance Apocalyptic Joe Coleman - Get It Off the Ground Flight Facilities - Crave You Nu Shooz - I Can’t Wait Stars - This Charming Man Aretha Franklin - Rock Steady Edwin Birdsong - Rapper Dapper Snapper Ballistic Brothers - Blacker 4 The Good Times Ballistic Brothers - Blacker 4 The Good Times Ballistic Brothers - Blacker 4 The Good Times Esperanza Spalding - I Can’t Help It ESG - My Love For You Jimmy Bo Horne - Is It In Floating Points - Love Me Like This Broken Bells - After The Disco Tornado Wallace - Don’t Hold Back The Mohawks - Champ

(story continued HERE)

#added Spotify link #music #Spotify

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i hope you write (i hope we both write)

#plan in unlovable plan #<- prev tags #writing

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Rukiye Garip,B. (1964) Turkey

Watercolor on Paper 22 W x 29.9 H x 0.1 D in

#holy crap #art #watercolor #paging @thistleburr

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reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something

#fanfic #fandom #truth

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the ghost of one specific homosexual cowboy regularly possesses Tumblr gays

#laugh rule #cowboys

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#art

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They need to invent more fake celebrities like Hatsune Miku and Gorillaz and the Muppets because it's genuinely the most sustainable way to maintain a parasocial relationship with the entertainer class.

#laugh rule

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no ive never seen that movie but ive been on the rollercoaster themed after it so really which of us has known cinema more intimately

#laugh rule

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How DARE Tolkien omit in the final draft the information that the traditional hobbit marriage custom is to have unspoken vibes for years and then disappear without explanation for an indeterminate length of time!?

#lotr #hobbit life

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the people of new orleans are losing it

#laugh rule #nola

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our flag means death + onion headlines (part 3)

#ofmd spoilers #ofmd #onion headlines

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#laugh rule

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i know we all laugh (mostly fondly) about the paper-thin plots in porn that only exist to make the sex happen, but i was reading some old stargate fic over the weekend, and i really think we're sleeping on the paper-thin hurt/comfort plot that only exists to force the characters to FEEL THINGS.

like, is this scenario realistic? no. does it make any rational sense? no. does it provide a built-in excuse for a character to collapse, bloody and disoriented, into the arms of his beloved/friend/partner? obviously, that's the whole point of this exercise.

i love it. it's my favorite thing in the world.

#fandom #agreed #prev tags: #much like smut it operates on the assumption that we all know what we're here for #and those are lovely too #but there's something so charming about fics that are like

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source

#mental health #memes

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Happy Ace Week!!! 🖤🤍💜

#ace #asexuality #lgbt