#can I respond to emails in a timely fashion and complete my daily notes on time without someone else also sitting down and doing their work? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

royallyprincesslilly · 4 years

Text

Title: Kismet {1}

Henry Cavill x Famous OFC Aliya Taylor

Warning: Plot, Slow Burn, Mild Cursing

Words: 3.9

Summary: Aliya is a singer turned model turned actress. Since she was fifteen, she’s been creating her empire in the entertainment world. As the daughter of a famous fashion model/designer and Hollywood director, you’d think life is easy for her, but her past has been anything but easy. Due to past trauma, she’s forever changed and no longer trusts any man that is not in her family and a select few in her team. She’s sworn off love and serious relationships and has planned never to fall again, but love isn’t something that can be planned. It just happens when it’s meant to. Can Aliya outrun a love that seems hellbent on holding tight to her, a love that is Kismet?

Note: Okay, y’all, this has been in my Word file for about a year and a half now, and I have no idea why I never posted it, but I’ve been inspired. It is mostly finished, but I will be tweaking it a little with each post. I hope you enjoy this. As always, thank you so much for reading. ❤️❤️

If you enjoyed this please LIKE, COMMENT, REBLOG!! 😘 As always, thank you so much for reading. ❤️❤️

***Loosely Edited/Proofread***

**Very Interactive**

“Everyone, welcome, Aliya Taylor!”

The clapping and cheers were deafening as you walked down the long corridor to walk through the set doors. Once in full view of the studio audience, they stood and cheered even louder. You took a few moments to wave at them before walking down the path that led to the talk show host. Once there, you hugged Wendy and prepared for the antics.

“They love you.”

“It appears that way. Thank you so much for having me.”

“Girl, everyone wants a piece of you. why is that?”

You shrugged and scoffed. “Hell if I know.” The audience erupted with laughter. They thought you were kidding. You weren’t.

“Are you being serious?”

“Absolutely. I have no idea why. I am just this normal girl. At home, I��m Liya, the baby, the one who wears sweats and high buns. I don’t get it.”

“Oh, so this that we see now is not how you are when the cameras turn off?”

Again you scoffed. “Absolutely not. Most days, unless I’m working, I don’t wear makeup and heels I try to stay away from,” you explained.

“Wow. I mean, I’ve seen plenty of paparazzi pictures of you, and you always look so put together,” Wendy complimented.

“They must photoshop,” you joked to the audience's amusement.

For the next several minutes, she asked you questions about your latest projects and what you had planned for the next few months. After pointing out you were seen as a fashion icon, she began inquiring about your fashion inspirations. That conversation almost went on for the rest of the segment, but like the pro she was Wendy roped it back in to the hard-hitting stuff.

“So, I have to bring this up,” she began giving the audience a look that had you giggling. “For the last few months, we’ve been hearing from a particular Hemsworth who has been preaching from every ledge how you are the love of his life. Anything to say about that?”

You were prepared for this, it was expected. It was Wendy Williams, after all. Shrugging, you have a clueless look. “Nothing to say. This is actually the first I’m hearing about that,” you lied.

Wendy didn’t buy it, and the look on her face said it. Holding your ground and tapping into that acting skill, you kept a straight face and let the stare down run its course.

“Wow, you have an unwavering poker face.” The audience laughed around you, but you still kept a straight face.

“I don’t know what to tell ya’, Wendy,” you responded with a shrug for emphasis.

“All right. So, are you single?”

“I’m single, not looking and very happy,” you announced. The cheers around you were unexpected, but you liked that they were on board with it.

“Any particular reason why?”

Sighing, you sat back in your seat. “Relationships are hard. They take a lot of work, and I require too much to be in a relationship.”

Wendy cackled, which sent you into a tiff of giggles. When the two of you settled down, she continued.

“What does that mean?”

“Not much really just relationships are distractions, huge, huge distractions, and I would just rather enjoy my time, my life and work which includes helping people, changing lives, making lives better and focus on me. Relationships are just not for me, so I don’t want em,” you declared.

Wendy looked shocked and speechless, but she began nodding. “I understand. After my highly publicized divorce, I am also in the mind frame of nothing serious. I’ll have my fun, but a serious relationship is a turn off for me.”

You raised your hands in the air to praise her statement. “So you’ve been traveling a lot, right? We see pictures of you with your two best friends Amaya and Alicia.”

Your smile was wide then. “Yes, yes. We’ve been traveling and enjoying life. I’ve worked so hard for so long, and rarely do I take a vacation, so I took a little time,” you explained.

“That’s good. What do you think about the polls fans have created about who they want to see you with?”

That was news to you. “What?”

“Yeah. There are so many polls that are fan-made asking who people want to see you date,” Wendy explained.

“Who are the contenders?”

“Zac Efron, Robert Pattison, Theo James, Michael B Jordan, the names are endless,” Wendy listed off. You could have laughed, but you kept it in and just decided to nod.

“Any preference?”

“Who am I to have a say?” The laugher erupted around you again.

Thankfully the conversation steered back to your work, and that was where it remained for the next five or so minutes until the end of the interview. After signing a few autographs and taking a few fan pictures, you made your exit and toward your next engagement. It was going to be another long day. This was the eighth straight day that began at four in the morning only to have your head hitting your pillow well after two in the morning.

After three more interviews and two meetings, you made it home at the time you expected. Sleep was not in the cards for you, especially since it had been years since you’d had a good night’s sleep without sleeping pills. Insomnia is what the doctors diagnosed you with. While everyone in LA slept or got six to eight hours of sleep, you rarely got four. It was a condition you’d managed to find a way to live with after all these years and resigned yourself to never being normal in that department. You didn’t dwell on it because that meant opening back up the box you’d neatly put away out of sight that was wrapped in pretty bows as tight as possible. You’d worked hard to keep your Pandora’s box bound tight, and it was an endless daily struggle to keep it that way.

-Two Weeks Later-

“I’m not used to be early,” you whispered to your assistant, who nodded. She knew it was true.

“What time is this supposed to be?”

“Two,” Pamela responded. Your golden Cartier watch said it was four till. Just as you were going to speak, the doors opened up and in walked three men, one of which was your manager Rob.

“Aliya, so glad you could make it.”

You shook their hands and exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes before getting down to the nitty-gritty. They spoke about a movie project that was planned for filming in the fall that they believed you were perfect for the lead role. As they described the plot and the intentions of the filming, you nodded along and took a few mental notes. As they spoke, several boxes on your list were checked off. You hated roles where black women were typecast, hated roles that degraded black women, and hated those cliché movies that were so predictable one usually regretted seeing them. These days you liked more adventurous roles, even roles that had you getting into the action genre. Why should men have all the fun of being action stars?

After a chat about the film, they gave you a rough draft of the script which you read through on the spot. It read like a classic action romance that had the lead female tackling female stereotypes of being the damsel in distress then turning around to being able to hold her own. You were intrigued and told them such. After asking your questions, the conversation turned to salary. You were prepared for them to lowball you because you were a woman and a black one at that. When they came in with five million, you didn’t bother speaking. Rob knew that you wouldn’t take it. You knew for a fact that other actresses would have been offered more. Their second offer of ten million sounded a lot more reasonable, and that was the contract you signed on for.

Three hours from the start of your meeting, it ended. As Rob finished up the details with the director and producer of the film, you made your way to the elevators with Pamela beside you. As you walked, your face was buried in your phone checking email after email and sending off message after message.

“The creative team is wondering if you’re still okay for the photos for the next publication,” Pamela inquired.

“Uh---was that the set that was done at the Botanical Gardens?”

“Yes.”

You stopped for a moment and thought about what she was asking while never taking your nose out of your phone. After a few moments, you nodded. “Yeah, tell them to send me the complete issue, and then I’ll get back to them in a few days,” you instructed.

You heard the “ding” of the elevator and waited the amount of time you expected it would take for the doors to open, then you stepped forward. Slamming into a hard wall, you began to fall backward with a yelp. “Oh my god!”

You prepared yourself to make impact with the floor, but that impact never came. Instead, you felt strong, muscular arms wrap around you. Those arms held you close, and you felt like nothing in the world would dare hurt you while there. When you looked, you were held captivated by the most intense pair of blue eyes you’d ever seen. They were eyes you’d seen in passing before, but eyes you must have overlooked until now. Henry Cavill.

The man was gorgeous. You’d always thought he was attractive the few times you’d see him in magazines or even watched his movies. It was a fact that you didn’t dare dispute. Why would you? With him, this close you couldn’t believe just how gorgeous he was. One man definitely had no business being this beautiful, you thought to yourself. You couldn’t believe his attractiveness. You should have been immune to it being an actress who’d dealt with some of the industry’s finest but here and now you felt like a fish out of water. You’d never had this strong of a reaction to a man before.

“Are you all right?”

You saw his mouth moving, but you couldn’t hear a word he said. His arms around your waist tightened. You now had a perfect view of his completely symmetrical face that had the most chiseled jaw you’d ever seen. His skin was flawless, and the stray curl on his forehead was calling your name, begging you to reach out and just touch it.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” His voice finally broke through the hormone-induced haze in your head.

“Oh my god. Yes. I’m okay.”

Henry’s eyebrows were etched together, giving you an inquisitive look.

“Are you sure?”

“No.” You sounded as if you were faint, and honestly, you kind of felt like it too.

“Let’s stand you up. Here we go.”

Slowly Henry set you up onto your feet before he let you go. Once he did, you wobbled, which had him reaching his arms out to you again to steady you. “I’ve got you.” His British accent was heaven. It was enough to have you staring at his mouth every time he spoke.

“Are you okay?”

Realizing how you were behaving, you remembered just who the hell you were and cleared your throat while straightening your back.

“Yes, I’m okay. I’m—I’m sorry,” you began.

“No, it was probably my fault. I was so wrapped up in my phone.”

“Me too,” you blurted out. The two of you smiled together, and it was right there you felt your heart skip a beat. Again, you cleared your throat and looked away from his hypnotizing eyes. “Uh, I’m sorry again. However, I am—uh—late for another meeting,” you finished.

“Absolutely.” Henry stepped to the side, giving you access to the elevator. After bending to retrieve your phone that had made its way into the elevator, you leaned onto the wall of the car, waiting for Pamela to file in. As she did, your eyes met Henry’s again, and that was where they stayed. It wasn’t until the doors closed, and you were somewhat alone, did your body begin to relax. Slouching back, you pressed your palm to your belly, hoping to calm the butterflies you felt fluttering away.

“Holy shit,” you whispered out loud while fanning yourself.

The remainder of the day, you were not your usual self. Normally you were a force to be reckoned with and able to charm any exec or paparazzi. That was not the case after you left the building. You were dazed and flustered. You even had a hard time following the meetings that followed. Your head just simply was not in the game, and that was a first for you. Your father had taught you long ago that keeping your head in the game was the best way to achieve all your goals. He taught you everything he knew, and your mother taught you then some.

You knew just who he was. Henry Cavill. You’d seen all the movies he’d been in regarding Superman because he was your favorite superhero. You’d seen his Mission Impossible movie and even his Man from U.N.C.L.E movie. He was all the buzz now because of his massive casting as Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher. Everyone had his name in their mouth.

At the most inopportune time, you found yourself thinking back to his face, his eyes, or his mouth and reminiscing about the feel of his arms around your waist. It was embarrassing. You felt like an amateur. You didn’t get starstruck. It wasn’t a thing for you because you’d been around celebrities since very early in your career. This was a first, and it was quickly getting old. Thanks to how long the day ran, you only had time to run home to quickly change your clothes in order to make your flight out of LA that night.

Once the plane took off, you were reclined back in one of the luxurious seats with a glass of fruit-infused Perrier water and a bowl of kettle corn. It was then you were finally able to catch your breath and relax for the first time for the day. Moments of quiet and slow were far and in between for you. For the most part, it was done purposely so you didn’t have too much time to think. You’d quickly learned that an idle mind invited painful memories.

Grabbing your phone, you snuggled in the seat and opened it up, ready to either scroll through Instagram or work a little bit. It didn’t take you long from unlocking it to realize this was not your phone. Once you unlocked it, the wallpaper was of an adorable dog on one side and a picture of a large family on the other.

“What the hell?”

Sitting up, you tucked your feet under you and continued to scroll through the phone. Immediately you went to pictures. The first few were interesting shots of pieces of tech and then several pictures of the same adorable dog. The more you scrolled, the pictures got more and more interesting. When you came across a picture of Henry audibly gasped.

“Oh shit! Shit, shit!”

Slowly you put the phone on the table before you and looked around the cabin to see if anyone was watching you. You felt as if you were doing something wrong. Realizing no one was paying any attention to you, you drank down the water and raised your hand for the stewardess.

“Yes, Ms. Taylor.”

“Have we taken off?”

“Yes, we’ll be landing in London in six hours,” the stewardess informed. Clenching your jaw, you nodded.

“Okay, can I have a bottle of champagne, please.”

“Absolutely. Any particular brand?”

“Surprise me.” She nodded and walked away. In her absence, your eyes stared at the phone on the table and contemplated your options.

A few moments later, the stewardess returned with the bottle and a filled glass.

“Thank you.” you dumped the fruit from the bottom of one glass into the champagne flute and gulped down half of the glass. Your eyes again landed on the phone.

“Don’t do it Aliya, don’t do it.”

Flexing your fingers, you tried to suppress the urge to go against your better judgment.

“It would be a major invasion of privacy, Aliya. Don’t,” you reiterated.

Before you even finished the sentence, your hand was reaching for the device.

“Oh, screw it.” Grabbing the phone, you unlocked it again, and while thanking the tech gods, there was no passcode on it. “Technically, I don’t know whose phone it is. I do have to get some information. Right?”

You nodded your head, accepting you were having a full-on conversation with yourself. You continued to scroll through his pictures. The majority of them are of him smiling, showcasing those perfect teeth and his perfect face. Some were him in makeup chairs, others in a house with perfect lighting, others were him at random times. After a few swipes of your finger, you’d entered pictures that looked to be of family. You could see the resemblance between him and the men and a little bit around the eyes of an older blonde woman.

Noting that they all looked happy and loving, you continued looking through more. Your finger stopped moving when you came upon a brunette with dark eyes and blonde with blue eyes. Both women looked relatively young but somewhat attractive in a simple way. You began to wonder who they were. After scrolling a little more, you got your answer seeing a few pictures of him kissing both women. That had you stumped and wondering who the women were and if Henry Cavill was a good-looking playboy.

You didn’t know how long you scrolled, but when you ventured into the shirtless ones, you scrolled a lot slower. The man was built like Greek God by Hollywood standards. He had like zero percent body fat and one hundred percent muscle definition. You didn’t even realize you were practically drooling until you got to a picture of him suggestively nude. He laid in a bed with a blanket aimlessly thrown across his groin, which left little to the imagination.

“Lord have mercy up in haven for all things that are holy.”

Pressing his phone to your chest, you closed your eyes and took a few deep breaths then continued. You quickly transitioned to his messages. Most were work-related. Six names down, you saw a woman’s name—Francesca. Not too far below hers was another—Abby. Though your curiosity was at an all-time high, you ignored it and exited his messages. For the next fifteen minutes, you scrolled through the remainder of his pictures until you dropped it back into your purse to alleviate any more temptation to ogle his body. That was when you used the champagne to distract yourself, but it was no use. All you could think about was Henry’s literal ten pack.

~~~~~~~~~~

-Henry-

“Bollocks!”

The flowery wallpaper that stared back at him was the only thing he needed to see to know this was not his phone. It was then he realized his phone must have gotten mixed up with yours due to the mishap in front of the elevator. Leaning back in his chair, he groaned and stared at the ceiling. The thought entered his mind to look at it, especially since there was no passcode on it.

“You can’t. That’s a massive invasion of privacy. She’s a lady,” he drilled to himself.

Raising to his feet, he paced the floor of his hotel room. Most days, he felt like he lived in hotel rooms rather than his flat in London. He groaned, feeling the ache to his muscles, he needed a vacation. Working every day, nonstop was staring to wear its toll on his body. He got lost in thoughts on a possible vacation for a few minutes before the light of your phone on the table brought his attention back. His struggle was something real. On the one hand, he wanted to look so badly, but on the other, he wanted to respect your privacy.

The battle waged on for an hour until he gave in to curiosity and delved into your phone. The first place he went was to your pictures. As soon as he scrolled, he was blown away. You were gorgeous. The first few rows of pictures had you all dolled up in makeup, lashes, lipstick, and all. He spent a lot longer examining those pictures than he should have. When he got to the ones of you fresh-faced, he found himself drooling. While you were gorgeous with makeup, you were breathtaking without. He marveled in the way your skin looked to be glowing, and the way your lips looked so supple—kissable. It took everything in him to move on.

There were pictures of you with who he assumed were your friends, in these pictures you looked happy and it wasn’t long before he found a favorite one of you.

“Christ, she’s too beautiful.”

As he scrolled, he stopped in his tracks at one of you in a bikini, and his jaw dropped. Every inch of you was perfect. You had not one flaw. When you bumped into to him earlier, he realized you were beautiful and that there was a draw between you that triggered a reaction for him, one that he hadn’t fully noticed until the elevator doors closed. Sitting here now, he was fully aware of his reaction to you. Quickly he scrolled on then dropped the phone when he came across a shot of you in heels with your back turned to the camera in your underwear alone. He found himself biting his bottom lip as his imagination took over. That was when he got out of your pictures.

When he got into your messages, he began admonishing himself for what he was doing, but he couldn’t stop. He wanted to know more about you—everything really. He scrolled through those messages that looked like work until he came upon two names, Liam, and Jesse. Though he was curious, he still decided against reading them. Instead, he slide the phone to the farthest corner from him and contemplated all he’d seen and the best approach to this situation. He had to get his phone back and give you yours, but he also was filled with an overwhelming desire to know you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lee’s Note: What do you guys thing? Continue?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ***If you want to be tagged please SEND AN ASK SO IT WILL BE EASIER FOR ME TO KEEP TRACK OF. Thank you for reading!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TagList:

@dangerouslovefanfic @jamesbarnesappreciationclub @momobaby227 @naturalthrone22 @emjayewrites @chaneajoyyy @caramara3 @sonjashuterbugjohnson @minton131 @aar-journey @theonewithherheadintheclouds @shar74nett @mrsbarnes-rogers @livinglifeformemyselfandi @night-of-the-living-shred @munteanhorewrites @kittykatlow @give-me-a-million-dollars-pls @simply-heaven @maximumninjavoid @offrostandstarlight @angrybirdcr @tenaciousperfectionunknown @bellaamor88 @alyxkbrl @kikimiyazaki

#kismet fic #henry cavill #henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill x reader #henry cavill x you #henry cavill x black reader #black fanfiction #angst fanfic #slow burn fanfic #henry cavill x ofc

247 notes · View notes

fyrapartnersearch · 4 years

Text

hey pardner, why the long face?

howdy, howdy friends! hope you're doing well in these scary times <3 shock and surprise, i am looking for a couple of writing partners c: i am 26, she/her, cst, and i work fulltime as well as go to school part-time, so while i cannot promise rapidfire posts, i am becoming better about daily posts! as long as they're relatively short, sweet, and to the point. so, limits/fun factoids about my style/"tl;dr are we compatible?" first: + when reaching out to me, please tell me your limits and any plot/character ideas! + addendum: i will not respond to messages that don't contain any information about you, your limits, and what you're looking to write or what characters you'd like to use! it doesn't need to be completely fleshed out, thanks in advance <3 + i'm adaptable and laidback! however, i do not write pedophilia, rape/sexual assault, incest, abusive relationships, romantic large age gaps, nor master x slave. + i will not write with minors either, strongly preferred that you are 21+ + quality is far more valuable than quantity regarding length. i prefer shorter nowadays! those tasty, 1-3 para potato chip rps, so to speak c: + third person only, please +i do like long-term! + i admittedly have a preference for m// lately, so i will likely turn some other pairings down depending on what i am currently already writing! + i prefer writing middle-aged to older farts! i wholeheartedly welcome the same! + note: i love writing with pretty boy archetypes!! but i have plenty with my current threads, bring me yer more grizzled and rough and tough boys! the two characters i have in mind are too old and boring to keep up with pretty, lithe youngins! + i love ooc chatter! i'd prefer it if you did too, but it's absolutely okay if you're just interested in writing! it is not a dealbreaker + if you're not feeling it or if life happens, that's okay. you are free to either tell me you want a change, drop altogether, or even ghost me! [cravings] + constantly changing! i have a couple of silly nuggets rolling around. mostly fluff with sprinkled angst. + post apocalypse slice of life is also great. with plenty of humor to spare. + something deeply silly about a witch and their familiar + anything with werewolves and their human beloved very concerned about the recent furniture chewing phase, and wow is frontline expensive for a 400lb beast. + something a bit more rocky, but an old fashioned western physician falling for an outlaw/ sheriff/ rancher, etc. bonus points for post-apoc and western themed. please, i got the perfect ole grizzled doc for this c: [modern] + i love modern, but i am not really looking too intensely for it right now c: i am happy writing about firefighters and lawyers, scientists, military readjusting to civilian life, boring divorced dads who find lifelong love with other divorced dads, fluffy slice-of-life, etc. [(somewhat) historic] + btw, i am not a history buff - so be prepared for anachronisms galore! c: which might mean plumbing and dental care centuries before it was introduced. + noire crime! old grizzled detectives and their partners in crime trying to figure out these gosh dang murders. dang killers, bringing down everyone's vibes. + a detective moving to a podunk old town, with a ~mysterious past~. however, there isn't any mysterious past, the locals just humor the guy and i have a soft spot for the detective falling for the sheriff while constantly heckling him for assistance. + western! please, just... anything western. i love cowboys, ranches, train robberies, just... i will maybe propose if you let me indulge this. [fantasy & monsters] + i am also happy to write fantasy! + fantasy can genuinely be blended into anything, into modern, sci-fi, post apocalyptic, etc. + i am also happy with pure, vanilla, cheesy fantasy - with kings, queens, beautiful warhorses and kingdoms by the sea, and conventionally attractive people with healthy teeth and... far less dysentery. + i am happy to write sci-fi into fantasy - hunters/mercenaries with eyes that can hologram maps and prey, platinum horses made of gaskets and titanium joints who breathe steam, a kingdom in the sky, anything! [... guilty pleasures] + i love the cheesy and humorous things to temper the chaos. love, love, love writing that domestic, usually peaceful, sweet life of two happy people who have been together for ages or just met in their golden years after struggle and just... working for their happy endings. + though i am not usually interested in cheesy, obnoxious tropes... i have a soft spot for two grumpy, gruff guys falling for each other c: [miscellaneous] + this is hardly an exhaustive list of ideas or themes that interest me! if you have something in mind that you do not see, or anything at all, please do let me know! i love brainstorming and hearing ideas c: what characters do i have in mind? plenty! craving two in particular, but i have plenty more in mind if the following two don't catch your interest: + one is svelte, aloof, posh, thoughtful. the very characterization of something like... a sleek, abyssinian cat playing the cello. intriguing, a little odd, an intimidating, coded villain - but really, just socially awkward, and a sweetheart. + the other is beefy, grumpy, and also... a goof at the core. the archetype of an ornery grandpa with the warmest heart and a distinguished grey streak in his hair. both are middle-aged men and adaptable to anything from old-fashioned fantasy, to modern, to sci-fi, to fantasy-modern hybrids, to post apocalyptic. they can be rogues, kings, survivors, lawyers, detectives, chefs, scientists, neighbors, loyal right-hands, anything from protectors and anchors to the village/office boob. i am preferring to write the former gentleman, but i am up to write either, or someone completely different! i am also happy to elaborate upon contact if you are interested! fortunately, each one is more complex than several adjectives and a stereotypical archetype. i'd also love to hear the characters you have in mind! are you interested? well, neat-o! dm me at howdy^3#6518 on discord or email me at [email protected] (however, i do not write over email. this is only so if you don't feel comfortable sharing discord names until after first contact c: )

#independent roleplay #oc rp #multiple paragraph #para #semipara #oneline #long term #messenger #submission

4 notes · View notes

gretchensinister · 6 years

Text

Operation Welcome Mat (preview)

I usually like to post a fic for my birthday, and well, this is a few days belated, but sometimes that’s how it goes. This is a preview of something I’m working on, now, and it’s a branching out of my usual fandom territory! I hope you’re curious, and I hope you enjoy!

It all stems from the question: Why does so much stuff that only Superman can deal with happen on the planet that Superman is on? That’s not the question that Lois Lane asks, but it’s the one she’s going to find an answer for.

Lois Lane always checks her spam folder. In fact, she always opens each individual message in there. Ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent of the time, what’s in there is garbage, but garbage is not synonymous with useless. Consider the journalists in Portland who went through the District Attorney’s garbage to make a point about privacy. Her daily ritual isn’t on that level of significance, but she feels the point still stands.

Today, she opens an email that isn’t promising free trials of herbal supplements, contact info for hot singles in her area, or insurance policies that will cover damages caused by any and all anomalous events for as little as $10 a month. (These last annoyed her enough to ask Louise in Business to do a small expose on such companies—turns out, the fine print stated that given the regularity of attacks on Metropolis by aliens, robots, metahumans, etc., etc., these events could not be considered anomalous. Fucking scammers. She’s pretty sure they’re involved in a class-action lawsuit right now.)

Instead, it reads thus:

I am sending this to you because I think you are the only person in the world who might have adequate protection after I tell you this. It is for my safety and yours that I have not used your name or described what that protection might be.

I ask you to use any and all resources you have at your disposal to investigate Operation Welcome Mat. I cannot tell you much more without compromising the slight chance this communication has of reaching you. However, I do not exaggerate when I say that the revealing—anything more I dare not hope for—of this operation will affect every human life on Earth.

Sincerely,

One who works in the organization that knows you always check your spam folder

The remaining message is a long and rambling series of testimonials for anti-aging and potency supplements, but Lois sees no reason to consider these as marks against the authenticity of the original message. Camouflage is important. As is covering one’s tracks. She opens her desk drawer and retrieves a high-quality digital camera that’s nevertheless old enough that it needs an actual physical cord to transfer the pictures on it to any computer. Lois has kept it in excellent condition, save for, oh, the pesky matter of the fact that the delete function doesn’t work on the camera itself, and that she just can never find the right kind of removable memory cards. Darn, what a problem! Fortunately the camera contains a 5000-image capacity non-removable internal memory. She takes a picture of the relevant portion of the email—well, ten pictures—and then sets about blocking every IP address that’s sent her something that ended up in her spam folder today and deleting every email indiscriminately. She’d like to perform a more thorough delete, but she never does that with any of her spam, and she’s got a feeling that now would not be a good day to start.

Amateurs might worry about how she deleted the original email, but Lois knows that if she finds anything, she won’t need that email, and for another thing, the writer of that email most certainly doesn’t want anyone to be able to analyze their word choices and phrasing.

She rests her arms on her desk and starts letting her mind work through everything the email told her. So, she’s the only person who “might have adequate protection” after learning about Operation Welcome Mat? The only unique protection she’s had under any circumstances is Superman. In a few well-known incidents, he’d appeared to give preference to getting her to safety before others. Lois isn’t one hundred percent sure that’s true, as she knows very well that she might’ve been the person in the greatest danger during each incident. Over her career, she’s tended to disregard danger for the sake of the story. And she can argue persuasively that in order to be a successful female journalist, she has to be prepared to face a certain amount of danger; she can argue that her years of experience have given her the ability to accurately evaluate the potential danger of a situation. These arguments have been, and are, vital to her public persona.

But under a few layers of “I have to do this” is the chewy center of “I want to do this.” It’s true! Believe it or not, Lois Lane, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, is a bit of a thrill-seeker!

Good thing that might be exactly what her email contact needs.

So. Back to the email. Back to Superman. She knows well enough that she doesn’t have a raven-haired alien angel at her beck and call, but, based on what the public has seen, is it more likely that she does than any other investigative journalist? Yes. So, if only Superman can offer her adequate protection, then—

“Hi Lois,” Clark says, setting a paper cup on her desk. “Two sugars, no milk—” He breaks off into an almost cartoonishly exaggerated yawn that Lois nevertheless is familiar enough with to know is genuine.

“You ought to buy some coffee for yourself,” Lois says, digging a few dollars out of her wallet and tossing them at him, which he barely catches. “I mean, if you’re going to volunteer to walk down to Reeve’s every day, anyway. And didn’t you grow up waking up at 4am to milk cows or whatever?”

Clark smiles shyly. Like he always does. It’s a good smile, and on a kid who’s six foot three and probably better built than any of the barns he ever helped raise, it could very well explain why he always seems so exhausted in the morning. Though if Lois’ theory is true, she hasn’t seen or heard any other evidence of it. A gentleman never tells, Lois thinks idly.

“I can and have milked cows in my sleep,” he says. “I can’t do anything in my sleep, here.” He looks down. “Uh, the truth is that I haven’t been sleeping well since the—what did they call it? The Chirauga Incident?”

Lois grimaces. Yeah, Clark and half of Metropolis. Including her. When an army of aliens that big showed up all at once, there was no way to avoid some level of freaking out, special protection from Superman or not. “Yeah, the Chirauga Incident. Ugly sons of bitches, in my opinion. I killed one personally, you know.”

Clark’s eyes widen in shock, and Lois grins. “What? I verified they weren’t bulletproof before going out to start, you know, researching my story.” But, because she is committed to the truth, even though Clark seems like he’ll believe anything she says, she has to add, “Well, okay. I’m pretty sure I mortally wounded it. Superman took care of it before I could find out for sure.” It had been clean. Heat vision through the Chirauga equivalent of the spinal cord. And Superman had turned to her with that red glow still shimmering in the back of his eyes. “Are you all right?” he’d asked, hovering a foot above the ground like it was nothing, looking at her like she was something. And she’d looked into the terrible weapon of his gaze and been stunned by the perfect surety that he’d never use it on a human being.

And for all that, she’d never seen him look so alien.

“Weren’t you watching? I had this one handled,” she’d said, with a rasp in her voice she hoped he’d attribute to the heavy dust and smoke in the air.

“Well, in that case, I guess all I can do now is tell you to be careful out there,” he’d said.

It would be nice if there was a discreet little jump cut in her memory right after that, but, unfortunately, Lois remembers with perfect clarity that she’d responded, “Sure thing, spaceboy,” like a complete and utter dumbass. But then Superman hadn’t laughed at her, no, he’d given her the smile and wink of an old-fashioned movie star before flying away to continue saving the world. She, on the other hand, had staggered off, feeling as emotionally churned-up as a teenager.

The worst part about it, in her opinion, is that she knows very well that Superman has this effect on almost everyone who encounters him.

“Ah, Superman,” Clark says, drawing her back to the present. His shocked expression has been replaced by the little smile she’s often seen him wear when talk of Superman comes up. She’s always thought there was something secretive about that smile, something notably different from the rest of his farm-boy guilelessness. (Though, she doesn’t quite believe he’s as transparent as he otherwise appears. And she doesn’t think that’s just her natural suspicion kicking in. For one thing, the Daily Planet is big, but not big enough that someone who was hired as a journalist could fall through the cracks and become nothing but a friendly coffee boy. She’s read some of his articles, the neighborhood news stuff he generally covers, and the writing is as solid as he is, with words chosen with care and sensitivity. There’s more to him than meets the eye, and if he ever decides to get ambitious, Lifestyle is in for a big surprise. For another thing, he’d moved to Metropolis during a metahuman surge, and that, frankly, was not what normies did, no matter how clueless they were.)

The running undercurrent of what she knows about Clark and the smile that’s the one noticeable discordant note in the melody of the person she works with suddenly gel into a possible conclusion, one that Lois could’ve kicked herself for not even considering earlier.

Talented kid moves from small-town Kansas, where he could’ve been a big fish in a tiny pond. And he doesn’t even move to a city in the same state or region, where he could have been a big fish in a medium-sized pond. Instead, he moves to Metropolis, where he won’t be a big fish at all, but where it’ll be a big project for anyone who knew him in Smallville to ever visit, or know anything about him he doesn’t want them to know. Metropolis, which, despite its dangers, still lives in the cultural mind as a place where the good kind of anything can happen. (Where Superman is often seen.) And when he’s here, he never, ever says anything about even going on a date with anyone, and mentions of Superman bring out that secretive smile. And he started off writing his articles with a clear awareness of issues that Lois has seen other straight white male coworkers fail to grok even after clear, baby-step-style explanations. And he’s never, ever tried to turn getting her coffee into something uncomfortable.

So, possible conclusion: Clark is some flavor of queer, and still closeted/uncomfortable about it. But he can’t completely hide his crush on Superman because, well. Superman. And the kid has an honest face.

Just goes to show, she thinks, how slow and unreliable gaydar can be, even if you are bi.

But this does give her an idea on where to send him as she starts her initial investigation of this Project Welcome Mat. If it is big, bad business like it seems, Clark doesn’t need to get mixed up in it, even to the point of overhearing a phone call. And besides, it might help him accept himself, if he needs that.

“You know what, Clark?” Lois says. “You need something to take your mind off shit like alien invasions.”

Clark grimaces. “I don’t know if anything can.”

“Yeah, it’s a toughie, but you’re a Metropolitan now,” Lois says, with more bravado than she feels. Some things you don’t get used to. But some of those things you have to at least pretend to get used to. “Get outside. Write your cat-up-a-tree article tomorrow. Do something completely out of the ordinary.” And then, as if she’s just thought of it, “Powtown Pride is going on today. Powtown’s a neighborhood. Pride’s something to write about. You could go there and see what you can see.”

“Powtown?” Clark says, raising his eyebrows. “That’s the metahuman neighborhood. That’s…a bit more interesting than where Rowlands usually sends me.”

Lois waves her hand. “Rita is seventy-eight and still thinks anything involving a metahuman is a front-pager. Perry can tell her otherwise when you bring back something nice.”

“Well,” Clark says, warming to the idea, “there are a lot of misconceptions about Powtown that ought to be worn away by a reliable source like the Planet. I mean—there probably are. I don’t know, personally. But if everything written about Powtown was true, no one could live there. It’d be a smoking crater in the ground.”

“So you see? Needs you,” Lois says. She smirks. “Be careful, though. They’ve got twinks down there that could rip you in half.”

“Says someone who just told me about personally shooting a Chirauga,” Clark says. “No, no, I know—you had it handled. Anyway. Yeah, I will go.” He looks towards the windows and sighs. “After all, it’s a beautiful day to be outside.”

Lois waves at him as he leaves, then glances towards the windows herself. It really is a beautiful June day, not too hot, vivid blue sky, puffy clouds slowly drifting by. Does Superman prefer days like this for flying? She wonders. Or would it not affect him at all? What would it be like to fly with Superman on a day like today—Lois sticks her tongue out in an exaggerated expression of disgust. She’s better than that! She has to be!

Anyway, she’s got something new to investigate. Before Clark interrupted, she was thinking of what things out in the world only Superman could be adequate protection from. Well, aside from horrible things from space, that leaves a very short list that prominently features a house of a certain color and a building of a certain shape. And the name—Operation Welcome Mat—it has a very particular ring to it.

But she’s still going to look into the rest of that short list. A direct assault isn’t the correct approach here, and besides, there might be connections, even if the person she’s going to call is officially blacklisted from government contracts.

She scrolls to the contact in her phone for “Louis L’Amour,” and reaches out to someone who definitely isn’t a dead writer of Westerns.

Notes: I’ve decided to have Superman’s code against killing be specifically about humans/earthlings because for one thing, I don’t have to answer to Standards and Practices, and for another, I don’t feel like having every alien army be robots (which with sufficiently advanced AI doesn’t help anyway), and what do you want me to do, have Superman knock all the aliens out? If they’re going down long enough to be essentially counted out of the fight, they’re getting life-threatening brain injuries anyway.

#superman #lois lane #fic #operation welcome mat #my knowledge of superman comes from the DCAU but this is kind of my own 'verse

38 notes · View notes

crazyblondelife · 3 years

Text

Life and Age...Redefined

As a woman in midlife, going through menopause, do you ever feel somewhat hopeless. Do you question your sanity when you can’t remember where you left your keys, or even worse, when you can’t remember your children’s names? Do you ever feel irrelevant and wonder what to do next. Everyone feels like this at times no matter their age but…

It doesn’t have to be this way and here’s why!

Your brain controls everything, clearly not just in menopause, but for your whole life, but if you haven’t learned this by now and are living on autopilot…letting life live you, it’s time to change a few things.

The thoughts you think today are creating your future. Every day you think thousands of thoughts and 90% of those thoughts are the same ones as the day before. How frightening?? Your brain is on autopilot causing you to live the very same day over and over…again…how frightening. I don’t know about you, but that’s not how I want my life to be. Thinking the same thoughts every day leads to the same choices and behaviors, and the same behaviors create the exact experiences and because of that, we expect the same feelings from those experiences. When we were hunters and gatherers, this is how our brain gave us protection, but we are evolving and this thought loop is no longer necessary, but…how can we change all of this?

Our hormone balance, our biology and even our gene expression (what causes us to be sick or not) will be equal to how we think, how we act and how we feel. Science is proving that genetic predisposition doesn’t have to be our reality. That’s good news because it means that you can creates your personal experience of health or sickness…and that’s it…even during menopause…even if your mother had a hard time…even if. Please don’t take my word for this, or stop reading because you don’t believe it…look into it yourself!

If you want to create a new life and redefine what this age means to you, you have to create a new personality and start becoming conscious of your unconscious behaviors and modify them. I realized this years ago when Baldy and I were going through an extremely hard time in our marriage and we had the same fight and the same pattern of getting mad and starting over every single time. It got to the point where it was almost daily and we lived apart for a while several times. It was making us both crazy, but we couldn’t seem to get out of the loop and we were both truly miserable. I will say that we were miserable for years before it all started to explode, but the explosion was what made me start searching for how to really make my life better. All of this probably would have, could have and should have happened sooner, but I was very busy being a mom and not paying too much attention to the fact that things were really bad. Woulda, coulda, shoulda…

Part of searching for ways to make my life better includes looking for new knowledge every single day and trying to better myself by learning about how to control my brain and therefore take control of my life and my destiny. If you don’t believe this is possible, look back at the patterns you have created in your life. You keep reliving those patterns because it’s how your brain has been programmed to behave and because that is what is familiar. And as I’ve said before, there is comfort in the familiar. The unknown can be a scary place.

Begin to look at the emotions that you live by every single day that keep you connected to your past and decide whether those emotions belong in our future. You can’t create a new life by doing the same things you’ve always done. I decided that I wanted things to change in many areas of my life and I knew that the only way those changes could happen was for me to be extremely conscious of my behavior and intentional in my actions. For example, I have learned that when I drink too much, for some reason, I pick a fight with Garrick. I go back to all the things he ever did that hurt me and I get mad all over again, just like it was yesterday. He always responds to me with anger and we start the same patterns all over again. These days before we go out, I make a plan in my head to only have 2 glasses of wine that I drink very slowly, or only one if we’re in a hurry. This saves us from having a fight and ruining a perfectly good night. You can do this in every area of your life. A good question to ask…”will this benefit me now, and will this benefit me later:. As a side note, I chose to stay in our marriage and because I made that choice, I have a responsibility to do my part and dredging up the past isn’t helpful.

The patterns in your life have become your identity. Not all of those patterns are bad…I’ve been working out for most of my life in some form or fashion and I’m very proud of that. Part of my identity is that I’m someone who exercises and takes care of my body. I have also, for most of my life, identified myself as someone with low self esteem who was angry because of things that had happened. This probably wasn’t apparent to people from the outside looking in, but that identity caused me to create similar experiences over and over again and kept me in an endless loop of unhappiness. Nothing started to change for me until I realized that I was capable of being aware of my thoughts and that I had the power to change them. It was the beginning my search for meaning…of realizing that I had a connection to the Divine. I heard someone say the other day that when you begin to change patterns in your life and become conscious of how you’re living, the Divine will leave breadcrumbs to guide you. I love looking for those breadcrumbs!

You are capable of changing your entire life no matter your age or anything else if that’s what you desire. You have to decide to do things differently….you have to decide that you will let yourself sit with the uncertainty of change and allow yourself to be uncomfortable at times. Everyone is afraid of the unknown but in order to redefine you life, you have to go there. You have to decide to no longer allow one period of time or one event shape the rest of your life. You can’t use a bad childhood or your husband’s affair to keep you stuck in the past…and really why would you want to relieve such unpleasant experiences? The memories of those events create emotions that keep you connected to them. Those events are over and it’s time to move on.

Are you uncomfortable with the silence of the present moment? Do you find yourself mindlessly picking up your cell phone to check your email or Instagram when you’re standing line or waiting somewhere. Do you fill you time with busy work because you’re not comfortable with just being? The present moment can be uncomfortable because we are programmed to go back to the familiar. Your brain will tell you how hard your life has been, how mean your parents were or how your husband treated you badly… it will constantly go back to those programs and impact everything you do…causing you to stay stuck in the past and not move on to something better. The simple but not so simple act of observing your thoughts can change them.

Meditation means - to engage in contemplation or reflection. The process of meditation makes you super aware of your thoughts and feelings. Many people think that when you meditate, you have to completely stop thinking for 15 or 20 minutes or you’re not doing it right. That is far from the truth. In meditation, you become the observer of your thoughts and that in turn, can make you more aware of your thoughts when you’re not meditating. There will be times while meditating that you get lost in your thoughts and when you realize that is happening, you come back to focusing on your breath. When you simply see a thought as something passing through (like a cloud) and don’t get caught up in it, you are being a conscious observer. With a regular meditation practice, because you’ve been the conscious observer, you begin to notice when your thoughts go back to past experiences and you can catch that and change them. The more conscious you become of those unconscious thoughts that have been programed into your brain, the easier it becomes to change your life. Your job is to take that state of meditation with you throughout your day and become the CONSCIOUS observer of your thoughts. Your life will begin to change…I promise because mine did. The Divine (God, Universe) will start to intervene and help you in ways that will seem unreal. You will see yourself change before your eyes. My youngest daughter told me the other day that I’ve changed because I don’t talk about people like I used to. It’s not that I never do anything wrong, or that I never gossip, but I will say that I do it much less often, and when I do gossip, or say something mean about someone else, it makes me feel so bad. I am also able to maintain a certain calmness when things around me are crazy. I’m also more able to respect the differing opinions of others and try to understand where they’re coming from. Admittedly, tall of his is much harder with my husband than with anyone else, because there are so many triggers, but we are working and learning how to strengthen our marriage every day.

What do you want for your future? If you’re not being defined by a vision of the future you desire, then you’re left with the memories of the past and you will stay the person you always were.

I knew after going through many horrible experiences in my life, that something had to change. My mental health was suffering and I had to figure out another way. This work is ongoing…not one and done…it takes perseverance but there is nothing more rewarding. There are very few days that go by when I don’t have an ah-ha moment…one of those moments when suddenly something makes sense that never did before. I am living proof that there is something on the other side of pain that’s better. If I were to sit down and write my whole story you would be amazed that I’m sitting here writing this today instead of crumpled up in a corner somewhere. I’m not saying that to make anyone feel sorry for me because I certainly do not feel sorry for myself and I know 100% that I’m not alone because we all have our stories…some worse than others. I can honestly look back and be thankful for everything that happened to me. Every time something bad happened in my past, I put a wish into the great Universe for things to be different. All of those experiences led me to where I am today.

I’m not telling you that you’ll never have a bad day, but when you begin this practice, you will be so hyper aware of your bad day and what you could have done differently that you’ll begin to figure out how to have less bad days because you are able to look back and see what happened. That’s what this work does for you…it causes you to be unbelievably aware of what’s not right. Before in my life, I just felt unhappiness. Now when I’m unhappy, I know I’ve caused it in some way and that I have the power to change it. You’re never too old or too anything to change. You absolutely can believe in a future that you can’t see or experience with your senses yet. That’s what it means when you hear that you have to believe it before you can see it. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my life will only get better and better.

It is completely possible to choose a new reality and begin to emotionally embrace that for your future. Your brain does not know the difference between now and the future you’re creating in your mind. I won’t get into it here, but there is scientific research to prove this…it’s not just airy fairy stuff. Every day you can condition yourself to the way you want your life to be and your brain doesn’t know the difference., so your life begins to change. Just follow the breadcrumbs…how cool is that? It becomes fun to see what you can magnetize into your life. Keep your energy connected to the dream of your future and don’t waste a precious minute reliving the past. Don’t be impatient but be super intentional and conscious of your thoughts and actions (like not having that last glass of wine that sends you over the edge).

Give yourself the gift of taking time out of your life to prove to yourself that you can be defined by your vision of the future and not live in the past. Your future can be what you choose and the unknown doesn’t have to be scary, although it will be uncomfortable at times. Sit in the discomfort when it comes instead of distracting yourself on your phone or with busy work. Catch yourself going into familiar patterns that no longer serve you and you’ll begin to overcome your old self and become the person you were always meant to be.

Let the magic begin, but remember that you MUST feel worthy of receiving your dream because the Universe only gives us what we think we’re worthy of receiving. This work you do for yourself is so important and not only changes you…it changes everyone around you!

I’ll end with this… ask yourself at the end of each day how you did. What caused you to go on autopilot. Begin to contemplate what pushed your buttons and, in your mind or your journal, rehearse how you could have changed that experience. How you will handle it the next time? Plan your behavior. Close your eyes and plan what you’ll do next time. Your brain will begin to transform and you’ll behave differently because you’ve already seen it in your mind. Like the wine…I saw a nice evening in my mind instead of a big fight because I was dredging up the past. You can change the hardware of your brain. Think about how you will live your life differently. Take some time each and every day to practice, to read and to learn. You’ll start to be aware when the fear and frustration want to take over and you’ll be able to self regulate. Connecting to the energy of your future takes energy and lots of awareness. Don’t allow people or circumstances to take away your power. . The times when you are able to correct your behavior are very valuable moments because that’s when you prove to yourself you can do it,…you are in control…your life will become better and you’ll want to do it again.

So…to tie this all together…there is so much talk about redefining how society views aging and this is how I see it. We age how we want to and we can and should be a living example of age and life…redefined.

Thoughts?…leave a comment below!

#inspiration #reprogramming your brain #aging #live your best life

0 notes

ycmiis-blog · 7 years

Text

now recording {chapter one}

When upcoming YouTuber Lucy Heartfilia finds herself collaborating with popular channel Fairy Tail, she ends up getting more than she bargained for. ( ff.net // ao3 )

aka the youtuber au no one asked for but i’m delivering anyway

Lucy presses the 'upload' button, then proceeds to fall face-first on her keyboard, her energy completely drained. "I never want to edit another video again in my entire life," she whines, turning her head towards her bed where her dog Plue is sitting. "Do you wanna learn how to edit videos, Plue? You could be my star editor."

Plue tilts his head for a total of two seconds before deciding the pain of editing isn't worth it and jumps off the bed.

"Yeah, didn't think so," Lucy sighs.

It's not that she hates her YouTube channel. Quite the opposite, actually. It's one of the only places she can truly be herself. She started it when she was new to her neighbourhood and didn't have any friends around to talk to, so she just sat at home and watched online videos all day. The combination of charisma and creativity had inspired her to try it out for herself, and now she's in deep with her subscribers in the hundreds of thousands. Why, exactly, she still doesn't know, but she's not going to question it. If people out there actually like her makeup tutorials and writing journals, then who is she to complain?

With her own video uploaded for the day, she ventures into her subscription box. There are plenty of new videos for her to watch, but she specifically looks for videos by the members of Fairy Tail, who are one of the biggest creators on the entire platform. They are her biggest inspiration, the main reason she started YouTube in the first place. They made her laugh when she felt alone being away from a home she couldn't (and still can't) return to.

One of her favourite members of the group is a girl called Levy, her personal channel named levyreads. It's not as wild as Fairy Tail's main channel gets, and is more about book reviews and tropes than anything else, which is why Lucy loves it so much. Books and writing are her life. Despite never having met Levy, she feels a connection to her just by their hobbies. It's astounding how easy it is to feel like you know a person without saying a word to them.

Levy's video today is a Q&A, so Lucy sits back and lets herself enjoy. It's mostly about either books or her personal life as well as a few out of the ordinary questions here and there. Everything is normal.

And then it happens.

"Alright, iheartmermaids from Twitter asked, 'If you could do a collab with any YouTuber, who would it be?' Oh, I know the answer to this one right away. Definitely Lucy from HeartxLucy! I watch her with Mira and Lisanna all the time, she's an aspiring author and she does book reviews as well, but she also has all these makeup tutorials and fashion videos that are fantastic. I don't know if she watches any of us, but if she does, she should definitely hit us up for a collab. I'll have her channel link in the description."

Lucy has to pause the video so she can scream for as long as she wants without missing anything. She's sure her neighbours think she's being murdered with how loud she's being, and Plue quickly rushes back into her bedroom at the speed of light, making whimpering noises. She stops so she can kneel down to pet him and assure him that she's alright.

"I didn't mean to scare you, Plue," she says, slowly regaining her composure. "I just can't believe Levy noticed me. Mira and Lisanna, too!"

This doesn't mean anything to Plue, who just rolls over for a belly rub.

Once Plue is satisfied with the attention he's received, Lucy returns to her computer, now much calmer than before. Rather than continuing the video immediately, however, she diverts her attention to the comments section and, after a moment of hesitation, starts typing.

'That moment when senpai notices you. (And I'd love to do a collab!)'

She presses send before she can convince herself otherwise, then pretends it never happened and presses play. She spends the rest of night watching videos until she's too tired to keep her eyes open, and even then, her last thought before her mind drifts into unconsciousness is whether she said the right thing. She quickly decides that even if she didn't, she's too tired to change it now.

Lucy wakes up with her face squished between her pillow and her phone. She can feel Plue lying on her back, and to this day, she still doesn't understand why he insists sleeping on top of her in some way. He's lucky he's cute. Still, she has to get up, and she gently pushes him to the side so he lands on a soft cushion. He doesn't wake, even when she slips out of bed to go to the bathroom and grab herself some cereal.

Once she's done both those things, she plops herself down at her desk and slides her mouse so her computer wakes from its sleep mode. The screen is, as always, on YouTube, and it's then that she remembers the previous night. She goes through her history until she finds Levy's video and quickly scrolls down to the comments section. To her surprise, her comment is the top-rated with over five hundred replies and counting. Most of them are positive words, saying that the two of them should definitely do a collab, even giving them some ideas.

The comment that really grabs her attention is the one from Levy herself. 'Well, I guess we have a collab to plan!'

Ecstatic, Lucy almost closes the entire browser while opening a new tab to get to her emails. The easiest way to get in touch with her is to send a message to her business email, and she's always said as much, so it's no surprise that Levy chose there to message her. She holds in an excited squeal as she opens the message and begins to read.

'Hey, Lucy!

I've always wanted to do a collab with you, though I didn't think it'd be happening this quickly! I didn't even know you watch my videos! But I have a few ideas on what we can do, and feel free to add some stuff.'

Below is a list of ideas Levy has, and she's indicated which are her own ideas and which are from the comments. Lucy thinks all of them are fantastic, but she eventually decides on one that catches her eye and types up a response, making sure she proof-reads before sending it.

'I love all these ideas, but I think maybe the Writer VS Reader one? We can make a script for all the different scenarios, things like that? I don't know where or when you wanted to do the collab, but I'm fine with just about any weekend, since I have work most weekdays.'

If there is one thing Lucy is unsatisfied with in her YouTube career, it's that she doesn't have the money to do it full time. Granted, she could if she sold her house for something smaller, but where she is has a lot of sentimental value, as well as being easily accessible to so many places in town. And there is never any guarantee that another place would let her keep Plue.

'You could always go back home,' a nagging voice in the back of her mind tells her, but she quickly pushes it away. That is not an option.

Levy responds within the hour. 'Great! Is this Sunday good for you? I don't know how much time we'll need to prepare, but if we need to extend it, we totally can. Actually, is it alright if we exchange numbers? It's usually easier for me to sort these things out via text than email. Only if it's okay with you, of course!'

Lucy doesn't respond right away. Instead, she grabs the nearest post-it note and writes down a reminder for Sunday. She's not missing this for the world.

Sunday comes quickly, but it seems that Levy's concern about needing an extension wasn't necessary. Lucy is more than over-prepared. It's a habit of hers, really. Unless she's doing a daily vlog, she doesn't really dive into things unprepared, or wing it. It's just not her style. Thankfully, Levy seems to be the same. The two have a lot in common, something Lucy was able to find out during their text conversations. It's nice to be friends with a fellow YouTuber (or anyone at all, really, because she hasn't made a friend since moving away).

The drive to Levy's place doesn't take as long as she initially thought it would. It's just under an hour, though it would probably take longer if there was the same amount of traffic on a Sunday as there is on a weekday. Levy's neighbourhood is colourful and bright with narrow streets and beautiful gardens. For someone like Lucy, who lives right by the highway, it's a nice change in atmosphere.

She parks in the driveway after checking the address for the tenth time, then grabs her bag and camera before heading to the front door. She knocks and waits, unable to stand still, and she keeps herself calm by shifting her weight from one foot to the other. The door opens a few seconds later, and she's promptly greeted by a light laugh and a camera in her face.

"Lucy, hi!" Levy says, tilting her head so she can be seen around her camera. "I'm just recording for the daily vlog while Jet and Droy are out. They went to film some Eat Droy at this new restaurant in town. So, tell us what we're doing."

The camera is more of a comforting presence than anything, so Lucy is completely herself as she says, "We're preparing that collab we promised you. I'm not telling you any more than that, it's a secret." She presses her finger to her lips and winks as Levy laughs again and turns the camera off.

"You really are a natural at this," she says, and Lucy realises for the first time how short she is in real life. "Alright, want something to drink before we get started? Or after?"

Lucy decides on after, and so they get to work. With the two of them so prepared, they make easy work of it, and they're done sooner than planned. It's nearing lunchtime when they decide to call it a wrap, and Levy insists that she stay and eat in thanks for doing the collab with her. Lucy protests, says that she should be the one thanking her instead, but Levy insists. That's how they end up sitting at Levy's kitchen island with a grilled sandwich each.

Levy turns her camera back on and turns it towards herself. "We've just finished filming, so now we're having some fantastic lunch made by yours truly. It's not as good as Droy's, I guess, but it'll do."

"What? I think it's fantastic!" Lucy says, quickly swallowing so she can keep talking. "It's better than the instant noodles I usually end up eating."

Levy gasps. "You dare diss the absolute art of the instant noodle?"

Lucy almost chokes on her food as she laughs, but she doesn't get the chance to reply as the door opens and a loud voice is heard from the doorway. "Oi, Levy! Do you have any old books I can blow up?"

The man that appears in the kitchen is just as familiar as Levy is. Natsu Dragneel (Salamander, for those YouTube watchers who don't care for learning real names) is another permanent fixture on the Fairy Tail channel, is one of the loudest of the group. He's very entertaining to watch. Lucy is subscribed to his personal channel, too, and loves both his gaming videos and the vlogs with his cat. The explosion portion of his channel isn't exactly her style, but the reactions his roommates have when he blows up their stuff is hilarious.

Levy's free hand is on her hip as she says, "No, Natsu, I still haven't forgiven you for when you blew up my spare bookshelf!"

"You weren't using it!" he defends.

"That's not the point. Besides, you can't just blow up books. They're sacred. Lucy will back me up on this."

Lucy is surprised at being dragged into the conversation, but considering it's about the protection of the written word, she doesn't mind that much. "It really is. You're destroying part of us when you destroy books."

Natsu turns to her, blinking as though this is the first time he's seen her. It probably is. She wouldn't be surprised if he didn't notice her before. "Oh, hey, I know you. You're that one chick that Levy and Mira and Lisanna watch, right? Uh, Luigi?"

Lucy narrows her eyes. "It's Lucy."

"Right, Lucy." He grins and strides over, taking the last piece of her grilled cheese and shoving it in his mouth before patting her shoulder. "Thanks for the food! I'm gonna go find that food magazine Droy promised I could borrow."

And with that, he saunters out the kitchen's other door. Lucy looks back at Levy, who's still recording, and shakes her head. Levy clearly thinks the whole situation is hilarious, if her giggles are anything to go by. Lucy just rolls her eyes and smiles.

Lucy leaves not long after Natsu does (he said something about not trusting his cat to be home alone for too long before disappearing out the door), and when she does, Levy tells her they should collab again. Lucy agrees. Even if their collab isn't that successful - though she thinks it will be, because it's Levy's channel, and Levy is amazing - she knows that she will. She and Levy have become such good friends within the span of a week, and she's not about to let that go.

After making Levy promise her to text her as soon as the video is up, just in case she's at work, she heads for home. She doesn't think she's felt so satisfied with a video in a long while.

She continues talking to Levy for the next couple of days, and she keeps an eye on the channel. More so than usual. Yet it's not the collab video that comes first, but the daily vlog from the day they filmed it. It makes sense, considering daily vlogs are, well, more daily than other content. It's still exciting regardless, and she makes sure to watch it when she's on a work break. She sits down in the break room, plugs her earphones into her phone, and presses play.

It starts with Levy being excited for the day, explaining that Lucy would be there later on before letting the usual Jet and Droy hijinks ensue. Lucy waits impatiently for her arrival, and she finally reaches what she's looking for halfway through the video, a grin on her face as she watches herself appear in Levy's doorway. It then transitions to their lunch before Natsu walks in like he owns the place. Lucy giggles as she watches her own reactions to his antics, and she keeps watching as she scrolls to the comments section.

'OMG LEVY AND LUCY COLLAB MY LIFE IS COMPLETE GOOD THING TOO CAUSE I'M GONNA DIE WHEN THE VIDEO COMES OUT HOLY SHIT.'

'natsu you can't just eat someone's grilled cheese oh my god.'

'LUIGI'

'#savelevysbooks2k17'

'natsu and lucy look so cute together? like i ship it so hard? tHEY WERE IN THE SAME ROOM FOR BARELY A MINUTE AND NOW LOOK AT ME I HAVE A PROBLEM.'

Wait, what?

She keeps scrolling, wondering if she'd read that wrong, wondering if that was a one-off comment. Spoiler alert: it's not.

'petition for lucy and natsu to be in more videos together pls.'

'THEY INTERACT LIKE THEY'RE FRIENDS EVEN THO THEY'VE JUST MET!'

'i know i'm jumping the gun here but natsu and lucy? yessssssss.'

Lucy screams so loudly that her boss kicks her out and forces her to get back to work.

#fairy tail #nalu #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #savelevysbooks2k17 #and yes eat droy is based on eat jin i'm not sorry #bUT YEAH REMEMBER THAT YOUTUBE AU I TALKED ABOUT #HERE IT BE #**myfanfic #**nowrecording

45 notes · View notes

jessicakehoe · 4 years

Text

Self-Isolation Diary: A Day in the Life of Amanda Brugel

As we complete Month 4 of self-isolation, and many parts of the country enter various phases of re-opening, FASHION is winding down its months-long self-isolation diary series, spotlighting how some of our favourite Canadians have been living their lives in lockdown. Rounding out the series featuring actors, designers, influencers and artists is actress Amanda Brugel, currently starring on The Handmaid’s Tale, Snowpiercer and Kim’s Convenience.

Amanda Brugel, actress

So, we are nearing the end of June and approaching Day 4768 of isolation. I’m kidding. Kinda. Two months ago, this would have been a much more depressing, wine-soaked journal entry, however, like many of you, I have finally stopped fighting this new normal and started to accept the unconventional and misshapen gifts it has offered.

6:30am I share custody of my two boys Jude (nine) and Phoenix (six) and since they’re with me today, my morning opens with Phoenix’s wet mouth pressed against my ear, whispering that he wants “a snack”. I don’t know why his mouth is wet and I do not wish to find out. I throw a croissant, apple slices and a gummy vitamin on a plate and turn on kid-friendly animal blooper videos. I then head back to bed, but can’t resist the urge to reach for my phone, where I inevitably fall down a news wormhole. Somehow the world has, yet again, changed within the seven hours that I was asleep.

7:30am Jude is awake now and it has been 60 whole minutes since Phoenix last ate, so I prepare breakfast and a bucket of coffee which I will put down somewhere and forget to consume. The three of us watch CNN for a bit and Jude grills me on what the journalists and guests are discussing. At the beginning, when the headlines were dominated by COVID-19, my boys were much more interested in their cereal, but now that the majority of news coverage hovers around police brutality and systemic racism, they are much more open to what Chris Cuomo has to say. My ex-husband is a police officer and my children are bi-racial. They have been exposed to these types of discussions since birth, but ALWAYS in private. I didn’t realize how much, they too, would be riveted by public conversations about race.

10am We now begin the excruciating task of homeschooling. My partner, filmmaker and actor Aidan Shipley, has been quarantining with us, so today, he works with Jude in the dining room and I cover Phoenix. We have discovered that the most effective way to get Phoenix to focus is to promise him full body ankle swings above the couch after every completed assignment. This morning we soared through “sh” words, so Aidan just sprinted over to our work zone, grabbed Phoenix by his ankles and swung him towards the ceiling ten times to celebrate. It’s bonkers, but it works.

11am Snack number 5.

image courtesy amanda brugel

12pm I have a Zoom read-through with the cast of Kim’s Convenience for our Season 5 scripts. It’s a very strange exercise to act alone opposite my laptop with zero physical human connection. Also, comedy requires laughter, however, in this medium, we all have to try to stay relatively quiet so that the writers have a chance to hear their work spoken out loud for the first time. So I wind up sitting with my hand clamped over my mouth for forty minutes in an effort to not ruin the read-through. I fail three times. Hopefully, I don’t get fired.

1pm I now have 45 minutes to respond to texts, emails, phone calls and article requests from allies. Wait. I should back up. About three weeks ago, I posted a few controversial messages on Instagram, inviting non-BIPOC to become more vocal about the Black Lives Matter movement and subsequently implored them to join the now viral, global conversation about systemic racism. I did not intend it to be contentious, however, maaaaany Black Americans did not approve of my willingness to answer questions or give suggestions. To be honest, this portion of my day has almost become a second job. And while, yes, it can be emotionally draining, it is also the moment in time that I have been waiting for my entire life. My theory; I have asked people for help. I can take 45 minutes out of my day to teach them how to do so.

2pm For the love of God; SNACK TIME.

3pm This is my favourite part of the day. Me and all of my boys head to a creek near my house for “Gym Class”. The boys take their scooters and race ahead, while Aidan and I saunter through a forrest decorated with painted rocks left behind by kind strangers. We read their messages that say “Smile” or “You Are Loved” and “Keep Going” and we proceed as instructed. We eventually end at a small beach beside the creek and skip stones, walk over fallen trees as if they were tightropes and the boys take a dip and search for sea glass. This part right here has been my greatest gift from COVID-19.

image courtesy amanda brugel

5pm NO YOU CAN’T HAVE A SNACK DINNER IS ALMOST READY. I’m mid dinner prep which is my second gift from COVID-19, because I did not cook before this mess. I would dabble. Reheat. Definitely dine out. Or, wait for my amazing mother to show up with foods. But, tonight I am making Butter Chicken with garlic naan and I haven’t set anything on fire and it smells almost good. We sit down to dinner and commence “Dinner Theatre” games, where we improvise scenes or pass silly questions around the table.

7pm The boys are in their PJs and we take a “night walk” around my neighbourhood. Now that summer weather is here and everyone has stepped a little further out of their homes, we take this time to scream talk at our neighbours from a safe distance and compare notes about the their isolation experience. It’s 28 degrees and smells like fresh cut grass.

8pm Phoenix is tucked in and now I am able to steal a private moment with Jude and allow him to watch the latest Daily Show or Shaun King post. Tonight we are discussing the disparities in African American healthcare in the US. I show him a Nat Geo video on the conditions in slave ships. We talk about how a bunch of K-Pop stans high-jacked Trump’s return to the campaign trail. I have a moment where I wonder if any other parents are having these quiet conferences with their nine year olds. Is this the new bedtime story? I hope so. I have learned more about systemic racism, slavery in Canada, accountability and even my own privilege as a fair-skinned person of colour in the last 18 days than I have in 43 years. I am heartbroken and emboldened, but mostly grateful to take my child along for the ride I didn’t have.

9pm Wine. A bit of news. And an episode of Legendary as a night cap. Aidan and I snuggle on the couch and I recognize that although I miss my old life, I would not return to it for a second. I have grown tremendously from this discomfort. As a mother, a partner, chef and activist. I am watching my world, in real time, attempt to do the same. I am tired. But emboldened. Good night.

The post Self-Isolation Diary: A Day in the Life of Amanda Brugel appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Self-Isolation Diary: A Day in the Life of Amanda Brugel published first on https://borboletabags.tumblr.com/

0 notes

heatherrdavis1 · 4 years

Text

Ethereum 2.0 Confusion BTC Hash Drop Bitcoin Going Viral Ethereum Like Facebook & Fixed Rates

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Low where everybody, welcome back for another video. Hope you’re all doing well and that you’re all having a great day to start things off in. Very confusing. Weird. Odd. Don’t really no news. With a newly launched multi-client test net Theorem 2.0 is on track to meet its phase zero pre launch requirements. In theory, I’m co-founder of Italic, Budarin said on Monday, kicking off Quoin Desk’s Consensus Distributed Conference Beta and discussed the latest progress. In particular, he highlighted the recent release of the first Ethan 2.0 multi-client test net. The launch of the new network, dubbed She Lazy, is a major milestone for a Theorem 2.0 development. It is, or since it is a what? It is a yes. It is a hard, prelaunch requirement that two or more compatible clients run a test net together for at least two months. Right now, the sleezy network features two clients. They are Lighthouse and PRISM, the tech who and nimbies clients have also sinked with lazy and will soon run their validators on the test net with four clients and to operate on the test net. Lazy is laying the ground for the official multi-client test net that the theory and foundation will deploy in the near future. Here we go. Justin Drake, a researcher at the Theory and Foundation, previously said that the team is hoping to release phase zero may net before the 30th of July, the fifth anniversary of the theory and 1.0. But the launch schedule pushed repeatedly from the initial date since January quarter three, January 3rd of quarter two to now quarter three. It is unclear whether the project can follow through on the July timeframe. I’m pretty sure you see where this is all going. This one tying directly into this hearing reports of a July launch date, Theorem 2.0 Metallic Budarin said he misheard the question at a conference and now clarifies further as to the launch of the official launch of Winning Theorem 2.0 is going to be in a response on Twitter conversation discuss the July launch date. Vitaly responded by saying, Yeah, I did not say July. Perhaps the question contained the word July, but I did not hear July when it was asked. OK, I definitely should have heard Juline the question. It was my mistake. End quote. It happened yesterday at the virtual conference consensus, which is currently underway. Vitaly notes that he misheard the question when the when the confirmed what who wrote this? Which confirmed the launch is still on track. Early on February, another developer seemed to have 95 percent confidence in a July launch, which was then referred back to the reports to which he gave a thumbs up. Later in an e-mail. This is ridiculous. Later, in an email response to Coin Desk, the organizer of the conference clarified. My actual stance is that Ethe too is on track and that there aren’t any unexpected bumps in the road. Test nets are coming along, etc.. But I defer to the club. Calev client devs on timelines and if they are now saying quarter three more broadly than I believe them, since 2019, the developing team has made progress with a series of initial launch of the second chain, but none can. Who wrote this? But none complete. The last significant development was the initiation of the proof of state protocol, but only a on a public test net without daps applications as mark contract platform. So for those of you who are not paying attention. The news that we are getting right now, at least over the last 36 hours, is that apparently and even I think it says it’s somewhere around here as well. If I’m not mistaken, about. But up. Pop up. Yeah. Apparently, a lot of people are like, what’s going on? I heard July. You heard July. Everyone knows her. July. The news that we are now getting is that. Not July, Vitalii never heard. July, he should have heard July and therefore maybe not to July. It says, nevertheless, the community was still looking into a July launch. Yeah, because we’ve heard about that for the last four or five months. The CEO of Oak Coin, Jason Liow, expressed disbelief on his own bid being misled. He said, I’m shocked. But others in the community also mentioned July like we all. Heard July, and I mentioned this a couple of months ago. Remember, remember, I said? I have a feeling that what’s happening with Cardno is going to be pushed back. We all heard May. And then as we got closer to May, the May timeframe became. Oh, yeah. This is this is for family and friends, too. To test it out. And I said a theorem needs to really get moving because we are in a we’re in a very. The word is an unexpected time. I mean, yes, yes, yes. Gibbs’. Yeah, it’s actually completely unexpected. But the coins have to kind of start getting a move on, as it were. And I said the most ridiculous thing would be, I think I said this in February or March, is if we start getting closer to July and we hear the O. July. Is that a month? Oh, no. There’s there’s there’s no July, any theorem. So the news that we’re getting now is quarter three. January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September. That now puts us anywhere between July to September. As quarter three that we have all seen and you heard me say. Where you theory home 2.0. I am not losing faith or losing hope. Is like just get a move on already. If this is only the phase zero launch, we’re going to have very big problems because the full release of a theory M 2.0 is probably going to take a good three to four years at this point. So, yeah, that is the I mean, this news was all over the place. A lot of people are scouring the Internet trying to find information about him saying July, the July information. The interesting part is that we all heard July in some form or fashion, as was quoted multiple times. I haven’t mentioned about a good two two weeks ago. Who cares about the exact time frame? One of italic uterine was on stage or is talking somewhere. And he was. We’re still on track. Everything’s good. And everyone took that as an okay for the July time frame. So apparently, Terry Yttrium Theorem 2.0 is still being worked on. It’s still going to happen. But apparently the 30th of July that we all heard is apparently no. Anyway, I mean, I called it and I give it. I don’t even I I don’t even want to give a timeframe. I was going to say even for a Cardno, I give them around to July when they’re going to try and push it back once again. But I listen. I mean, at at at at at this point, it kind of is what it is that the fact that so many of these projects have lasted this long with this amount of delay is just extravagantly amazing. Let’s move on. Next up, bitcoins hash rate, the measure of miners performances appears to have dropped by about 16 percent after the third, having as miners now generate twice less from the block subsidy. According to the bloc’s estimates, the daily miner revenue has dropped by about 44 percent after the having from sixteen point one million to around nine million U.S. dollars. Most of the older ASIC mining equipment, such as the anti miner S9, is now on profitable. The new Djenne devices, such as the Anta Miner s 17 and what’s miner M 30? S remain a vastly profitable. The cash rate appears to be down from one hundred and twenty two Exxon hashes to one hundred and two over the four largest mining pools. Those, those, those and those pool and seems to have lost the largest amount of cash rate, approximately 30 percent, with the BTC dot com losing around 10 percent. This was to be expected. We spoke about this yesterday. The news that we had at the beginning of yesterday’s video was at the hash rate had spiked. I assume that was because everyone was like, well, let’s try to get more Bitcoin. And then they realise that the reward has been cut in half and it is more difficult to mine Bitcoin now. So this was to be expected. But, yeah, this is also passing around in the news a lot as a lot of people are. I don’t wanna say sensationalizing things. However, when you get a drop in hash rated any point, but it happens all the time whether Bitcoin has happened or not. It tends to make a lot of news. And I guess the news that we had before that apparently miners would start turning off their machines if it was not profitable enough for them to be able to mine Bitcoin, then here we are. The news that we also had a couple of months ago, about a month ago, maybe an exact month, was that I think Bitcoin has to be air quotes, I think above twelve or thirteen thousand dollars in order to it to be for it to remain extremely profitable for actual miners to stay in the game, as it were anyway. Yeah, that’s the Bitcoin news there was today. You may have noticed like a lack of price news. There was no price news nowhere. Not noting that no matter where I looked, there was nothing negative and or positive. The prices have relatively gone sideways since the having has taken place. No real ups or downs? No. What’s the word predicted drops yet and no predicted sky rocket things, at least at the moment. Yeah. Let’s move on. Next up, while trainees trades while trading Chinese yuan for bitcoin may technically be banned in China. That hasn’t stopped the country’s citizens from talking up a storm about cryptocurrency. This was made clear on Sunday when Sam. Mao, CSO of Block’s Dream, noted that according to data from Weibo or Weibo, which is that Chinese Twitter air quoted Bitcoin was a trending topic. This is the third time that this has happened the past two weeks, according to a screenshot of Weibo Ibos, the trending list from the 10th of May. Shared by Mao, a search term mentioning Bitcoin’s price drop was recently the 13th most popular term on the platform. This is noticeable as Weibo. Weibo is a platform used. I haven’t had no idea what to say. Use my literally. Wow. Four hundred million people monthly. Showing how excited the Chinese are about BTC. Here is a list right here. I do not read Mandarin. Therefore, I’m going to keep scrolling down. The popularity of Bitcoin in China seems to be somewhat tied to an article shared by the finance column known as CCTV. What the biggest television broadcast went on there. Their television broadcaster is called C.C.. Kind of putting a hat on a hat. CCTV is the predominant state owned television network in mainland China. They call it CCTV. The point is, despite the banning of trading within China of Bitcoin, it appears to remain very popular. We had news like this a couple of weeks ago as well. It wasn’t this guy from Block’s dream, but someone else had posted. I think that Bitcoin was the what was it, the second or third most popular trending topic in China? Four, 400 million is a lot of people for 400 million users just on this one app alone. That’s more than the entirety of the United States. That’s a huge amount of people. Can you imagine if we had a situation where on just American Twitter or American Facebook or American Instagram, where Bitcoin was the second or 13th, the most spoke spoken about topic in the entire country? That’d be completely insane. So I wonder what would happen if people in China had complete access to I mean, their government also knows that they can’t give them complete access because of things like this. Can you imagine what for? If Bitcoin had had become the number two trending topic, especially a news article called like Bitcoin price rise amongst 400 million people, these 400 million people would have at least tried to purchase a million. Satoshi is each at least, which would have definitely done something to the price anyway. Yeah. That’s the. We bo y bo Twitter number 13 news for today. I mean, it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s very unsurprising. This is why I keep mentioning Bitcoin’s a lot more popular than people. Believe or understand, a lot of times we kind of put ourselves in our own bubble, whether it be here on the channel or with our friends or community, what have you. We don’t realize that there are hundreds of millions of people around the world who are also they know the name Bitcoin and are either on the cusp of buying Bitcoin or already own Bitcoin. It is a quite the fascinating indeed. Let’s move on. Next up, with crypto currencies, there are no cash flow statements or balance sheets and investor can analyze to get a good sense of their intrinsic value. This makes it hard for a conservative Wall Street players such as Warren Buffett who analyze their instead nope investments and by discounting cash flows from dripping from dipping. Who keeps writing these weird words? And I can’t read. According to hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz, though, he theorems that dollar value is predicated on the concept of a network effect, which is an economic concept that the value of a network B that technology or money is predicated on how many people use it. Over the past decade, cryptocurrency is have formed market capitalizations in the billions and billions of dollars, according to Crypto Slate’s Coin Reinking Page. There are currently over 16 coins worth over one billion dollars and fifty five worth over one hundred million dollars. That raises the question what is behind these high valuations? How could projects just years old be worth so much? For those of you who want the answer, a lot of them are inflated completely in price. These coins aren’t being used. So when you see a coin where ninety nine percent of all transactions are happening through a weather app or another coin where ninety five percent of all transactions are happening just between two addresses. Hum. You realize that these things are the word fraudulent comes to mind. However it comes more down to these things are overvalued and should not be valued even over a million dollars because no one’s really using them for a theorem. At least it’s a simple network effect. Speaking on a panel at the ethereal virtual summit. The latest virtual crypto conference, former Goldman Sachs partner Mike Novogratz shared his sentiment with you, Theorem co-founder Joseph Luban. And for Cats’ News or Katz for four oh four forecast y. Spell it that way. Forecast the dots news g allow. He argued that he theorem garnering a 20 billion dollar market cap is based on a confluence of a different used cases on the block chain, such as decentralized finance, enterprise applications or stable coins, garnering a vast amount of users, which then creates a network effect that increases prices exponentially. This contradicts the belief that he theorem is only valuable because it facilitates ISO’s, which was a popular sentiment in 2018. He said one of the things for the theorem narrative is valuing the network, kind of like we do with Facebook. The more network effect you get, the better. Like getting Teather to migrate its coin. We theory M brings people using that to the network. Mike Michael Novogratz is a hyper ethereal and hyper bitcoin bull. This is actually I’m surprised it took so long for this to actually come to the light. If that kind of makes any sense. This is a major reason for the valuation of Bitcoin. Usually you don’t hear. Why is Bitcoin worth so much when you get the news that Bitcoin last year transacted over a trillion dollars? Eighth largest currency, what have you, so on and so forth. These these discussions kind of disappear because you understand that regardless of what anyone Warren Buffett, he might say about Bitcoin, we know that Bitcoin is being used as being accumulated, is being passed back and forth. People are being paid in Bitcoin, buying flights, a Bitcoin, what have you. But we never usually get this discussion for a theory. I mean, usually focuses around the idea that a theorem is only good for ISO’s NRD five projects. But it comes down to also if other people continue to build their stuff on top of you theorem and therefore ether in some ways being used or the ether theory of network is being used by tens of millions of hundreds of millions of people around the world. And therefore the network also have has tons of value. However, you can’t really do that with 15 transactions per second. So, yeah, I mean, it’s just it’s just a very weird and odd conversation because. When people ask me and have been asking before which coins I’m into when they are usually shocked that I’m rarely only kind of paying attention to a couple of coins, it’s because of that. It’s because we can mathematically see transactions going through the the Arpey ledger. We can see how many people are actually using Bitcoin. We can see based off of metrics that a theorem remains popular regardless of how slow it’s currently going, and also the companies and countries who are going to be building on top of it. But then you get into discussions. I’m not going even name other coins because I can feel the the the angry comments coming. These other coins aren’t being used. Their usage has dropped exponentially, has nothing to really do with the price. Price is a different kind of metric for people who are exclusively trying to invest in these things. When you get the actual usage of them, it pales in comparison to the top three. And I guess this is why they are the top three and subsequently why Teather is in the top four. Regardless of how many Teather are actually being printed, Teather is laid out across. What is it, five or six, seven different block chains and is being used actively on a daily basis. So in some odd apocalyptic way, it garners that position as the fourth largest coin. But then you get the other coins. They’re not really being used. Speculation is not a usage or talking about that. You’re going to be building a platform on top of them to be able to mimic something that he Theorem X, Arpey or Bitcoin is doing doesn’t also really garner value. So I’m expecting still at some points, a great crash, a great wave to wash away unworthy coins within the cryptocurrency space. That does not mean that a lot of coins that I am holding, a lot of alt coins will not go up in value. Of course, they are going to go up in value at some point because people will be able to push the prices up. The hype cycles will return. And at that point, I will be cashing out of a lot of them. However, as far as long term. Growth holdings. There’s a reason once again why institutions use you really are just focusing on two coins. It’s because other coins have to kind of prove themselves and if they don’t, they’ll be washed away and then they’ll be replaced by other copycats who also claim to be able to do the same exact thing. And that’s just how things go. Oh, yeah. Let’s move on. Next up, Weiss ratings predicts that the value of gold will increase once 19 is over, but says its upside pales in comparison to that of Bitcoin. According to the crypto ratings agency, the digital nature of Bitcoin gives it several advantages over gold. The traditional hedge against inflation. Government bureaucrats cannot inflate away the purchasing power of your gold like they can with Fiat. But do they can send in storm troopers stomping in to seize it? In 1933, the US president famously confiscated all of the gold in America. Well, that’s nice of him. Australia’s 1959 Banking Act empower the government to force private citizens to turn in their gold for paper. And the 1966 British labour movements made it illegal for any person to own more than four pieces of precious. What was wrong with governments? Don’t think stuff like this can’t still happen. Bankrupt spendthrift governments, especially when their banks are against banks, backs are against the wall. We’ll grab at just about any assets they can lay their hands on. Yeah, this is and that’s definitely true. Bitcoin is also more mobile than gold, argues Weiss ratings, because it requires costly permits and protection during transport. The same is true when it comes to storage. Gold needs a secure location, like a vault or a bank. But Bitcoin does not have the same requirements because there is no physical assets to store. Sure, it’s clear that Weiss Ratings likes Bitcoin. We’re seeing a lot of I don’t know why it why why this particular year, we used to see maybe thrice a year discussions as to the Bitcoin v. gold argument. However, this is like a like a weekly thing now where people are talking about the power of Bitcoin over gold. Maybe they’re just trying to get other people to understand. I don’t know. It’s it’s clear that Bitcoin has many advantages over gold. And at least in my eyes, that Bitcoin is going to. Incredibly outperform gold over the short, near, long, far forever term, being up nine million. If gold had gone up nine million percent since 2009, I would guess everyone should buy some gold. But it’s Bitcoin that has gone up nine million percent. So it’s clear that there is a, at least for me, a clear winner in all of this. Good job wise. Keep keep spreading the. The Bitcoin news, as it were. And to finish things off, she’s shaking his robot hand. That is the weirdest thing of it. Is he? OK. A researcher from the crypto asset firm paradigm. Has co-authored a white paper for a new decentralized finance or DFI lending protocol based with fixed interest rates. The White Paper for yield, a protocol was written by paradigms. Dan Robinson and Alan Neame. Berg, who announced the project on the 8th of May named Berg, also announced that yield protocol has received seed investment from a paradigm which will be designated toward building the initial version of the product. The theory and based protocol purports to introduce fixed term fixed rate lending and interest rate markets to decentralized finance. Those of you who do not know a lot of these. D decentralized finance protocols that give a yearly interest rates, yearly returns on your money. They have fluctuating rates like you would not believe. I have a friend who is actually into a couple of these things. He does side jobs. He breaks Web sites. He does all these things for companies and they pay him. I believe in. And Di D.A., I think he gets paid and die, I remember. Anyway, the point is he then puts that dye into other projects, which then allow him to get an interest rate. He was showing me some of the rates. Like some days it can be like twenty two percent. Other days it’s like for some days at zero point one. And that doesn’t really shine. I mean, nobody really wants to know. If you put your money into something, you want to know that you’re going to get a consistent, even if it’s just five percent is going to be a consistent five percent abody once twenty two percent and then a zero the next day. That does not sound fun. Yields white paper describes a standard for a token that settles based on the value of a target asset on a specified future date and which is backed by some quantity of a collateral asset while defies protocol like maker Dow have garnered significant popularity within the crypto community over the past years. The floating nature interest rates associated with these vehicles have proven to be subject to significant volatility. Yeah, here we go with with maker loans fluctuating between zero point five percent and 20 percent during 2019. No, thank you. This is why I think staking is going to be a very big thing as long as we have a a year long, if not a two to four year long fixed interest rate on some of the stake in coins. I think that is going to really take off. There’s no way that I want zero point five percent on my money. And then I have to hope that the next week or the next month is going to give me a a 20 percent, which would be great. But then if the next month at that is giving me two percent, then, you know, I, I can’t deal with all that emotion. So I hope this works out for them. I’m sure we will have eventually some type of a relatively fixed interest rate even in the in any traditional markets. There is never a 1000 Prosek percent fixed interest rate. You’ve seen the before your whole life. We have five percent, two percent, four percent. It’s though roughly ranges around the same number. But people need the word isn’t clarity consistency when it comes to their investment. So good luck to them. I hope that works out for them because I also think that Devi is going to be very big in just a matter of, you know, you got to make good money before you actually put your money into it. As always, a very special thank you to my patriot and supporters, Professor Walli from Gunbower University, Utopia. Five, six, nine. Yashar not a Moonman Hi X Arpey the pothead Joshua Vinyard Martin story or Tongo Lolo song go Lolo knows Bromo John starts in the animal reader a biblio phobia. Tomalis Adam Grayslake Mohammed Ronie Master Ventures in Thailand. Jared Schnieder Wild Night Owl to Fortune to the World Crypto Joe Bankroll Network Adobo Crypto Artist Cody 3D Nicolas Where on Earth one piece will love Damian set soon a Nick Kanigher Richie Rich at their Vlad the Impaler Praksis Nick Munjal Laborie Anthony Charles Jim Garner Jeremy Fox Minting Coins Miller Hitchhikes Every Day and Cowslips Leg Day Yes to crypto buddy make both face any time. Fitness amongst staff are medic seventeen bake me a cake Take a robot show Nyssa on crypto with LANL Crayola Michala you are Allen Hold on I have to sneeze. Thank you all very very much for your support. Thank you to everyone who is a member of the channel by clicking the little join button below. And thank you to everyone who has subscribed to the new channel. I am still very shocked. Thank you very much. I am happy for the the but the looks now. Wait, wait. Well the support support out of think. That’s what I wanted to say. But thank you for the support on the new channel. I do appreciate it a lot. At the moment the market is basically exactly where it was about a day or two ago. Bitcoin is currently up by one point three, six percent. Every other coin is down by point thirteen point zero, one point six six point two three point zero seven, neither here nor there. There’ve been tons of fluctuations, but we seem to always revert back to the same area, more or less where we were before. You have some anomalies with coins going up. Lumens is going up. Sure. SOS, Tron, Shaw, SOS. Did you buy it? I mean, I, I was going to make a joke, but it just doesn’t. You know what I was going to say anyway. Yeah. The markets what I think a lot of people were expecting huge spikes up or huge slams down or price is kind of being all over the place, but it seems to be neither here nor there. I saw an article earlier discussing that if Bitcoin does happen to pass by nine thousand and that I think it was nine thousand one hundred and maintains it for closing, I eat twenty four hours, give or take, then we could potentially see some movements upward in price. Yeah, I don’t know. Yeah. I really just simply don’t know. I do hope that you all enjoyed. I do hope that you all are having a great day. A great morning, a great afternoon, a great evening, wherever you are, wherever you might be. I do hope that it is absolutely fantastic. All of you remember. Of this year, if we get near the end of quarter to which we are current, where we’re at quarter to quarter to and we still don’t have any Theorem 2.0, we can use that as a reference point. Thank you all once again for watching and or listening. And I will most certainly be talking to you all soon. See you.

Via https://www.cryptosharks.net/ethereum-confusion-btc-hash-drop-bitcoin-going-viral/

source https://cryptosharks.weebly.com/blog/ethereum-20-confusion-btc-hash-drop-bitcoin-going-viral-ethereum-like-facebook-fixed-rates

0 notes

jeffrmayhugh · 4 years

Text

Ethereum 2.0 Confusion, BTC Hash Drop, Bitcoin Going Viral, Ethereum Like Facebook & Fixed Rates

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/ethereum-confusion-btc-hash-drop-bitcoin-going-viral/ source https://cryptosharks1.tumblr.com/post/618171064639438848

0 notes

scottmapess · 4 years

Text

Ethereum 2.0 Confusion, BTC Hash Drop, Bitcoin Going Viral, Ethereum Like Facebook & Fixed Rates

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/ethereum-confusion-btc-hash-drop-bitcoin-going-viral/ source https://cryptosharks1.blogspot.com/2020/05/ethereum-20-confusion-btc-hash-drop.html

0 notes

cryptosharks1 · 4 years

Text

Ethereum 2.0 Confusion, BTC Hash Drop, Bitcoin Going Viral, Ethereum Like Facebook & Fixed Rates

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/ethereum-confusion-btc-hash-drop-bitcoin-going-viral/

0 notes

wanderingaunt · 5 years

Text

How Not Getting What I Wanted Freed Me

What is your first reaction when you don’t get something that you worked hard for? Are you angry or sad? Do you beat yourself up or attack your credibility or the credibility of others? Or do you allow yourself to feel what emotions come up, sit with them, and let them go?

I recently applied for a scholarship grant to support my project The Canvas Collective which involves doing photoshoots all over the world and enlisting other women in joining me as a way to own our unique beauty, power, and give back to local artisans (photographers, fashion designers, makeup artists, hairstylists) directly. The application process brought up a lot of fears—fear of rejection, fear of failure, and fear of being seen. I acknowledged these areas and pushed through to get my application in by the deadline.

After I submitted the application, I felt so empowered and proud of myself. In the past there have been opportunities that I’ve wanted to go after and would hold myself back—I would allow my fears and limiting beliefs to overtake me and not even try. So just completing and submitting the application was a BIG win in itself. I marked the date of May 1 in my calendar in anticipation of hearing if I made it to the final round.

During the month of waiting, so much transformed for me. The biggest Aha! moment I had was in realizing how much I was allowing struggle to take over my life and stop me from doing the work I was committed to creating. It was in an instant that I made a choice to no longer let struggle be part of my conversation. Yes, there will still be challenges and obstacles I face, but I no longer have to struggle in the process.

Letting go of struggle freed up so much negative energy and fight or flight mentality.

Letting go of struggle opened up a whole new level of Abundance for me—I found clarity in my vision and work, more opportunities presented themselves to me, and I even found a surprise increase of 30,000 points in my Chase Ultimate Rewards account!

While things were looking up for me, I still had a feeling deep down that I wasn’t going to get the scholarship. I tried not to put too much energy towards thinking about it, and continued to focus on my projects at hand. When May 1st rolled around, I found myself full of angst. I was nervous to get the email and read the results. Well, nothing came that day or the next. I told myself that I would’ve heard by then if I had gotten it. On the morning of May 3rd I was packing to go to on a trip and saw an email pop up. It was from the Scholarship Foundation letting me know that I had not made it to the next round.

Even though I sensed this would happen, I was crushed by reading the news.

Tears immediately began to fall and I couldn’t stop them. I allowed myself to cry and experience the sadness I had by hearing the news and sit with the pain of not getting what I wanted. I didn’t make myself wrong or pick apart my vision or create any blame towards the Scholarship Foundation. I just allowed myself to be in the moment and feel what I needed to feel. I took out my notebook and wrote down every thought that was running in my mind so I could release it from my mind. The thoughts I wrote down were ugly, mean, and disempowering. Thankfully I’ve done enough inner work to know that the thoughts were lies and not true—I wanted to get them on paper so I could remind myself of that.

After a bit of time sitting with my disappointment and sadness, I joined my weekly group coaching call. Tears began to fall again as I announced the news that I did not make the cut. My coach brought awareness to my language and specifically to me saying “I knew when I applied that I wasn’t going to get it.” I realized in that moment that I was tapping into limiting beliefs that I had created when I was in high school—I failed in high school and I’m going to fail again.

She had me look at the situation and make a list of all of the strengths that I knew in that moment to be true:

Great communicator

People like and attract to me

Not afraid to be vulnerable

Good listener

Strong writer

Creative

I made a list of what I wanted and who I needed to be to achieve it, what lessons I had learned during this process, and how I could apply them going forward.

This exercise freed up a lot of space for me and was in perfect timing for my long road trip. During my drive, I had a lot of time to process. I asked to be shown the beauty in this situation and to be shown what else was hiding deep within.

What showed up was so profound and beautiful.

I realized that I had closed myself off to receiving. And not just in this area, but in several areas. I was not open to receiving support, love, or gifts from others. I loved supporting others and giving to them, but I was not open to receiving them myself. And it showed in so many areas of my life (potential relationships, friendships, opportunities, etc). And through that I realized how I had spent most of my life trying to prove myself instead of being open to receiving.

I don’t often share details about my upbringing out of respect for my family, and I also know that it’s my story to own. And by me sharing certain parts, others may feel free to share theirs, and own that it’s just a story. I love my parents and family and know that all of the challenges we faced shaped my siblings and I into the remarkable people we are today. It doesn’t matter if you came from a home of privilege or poverty, or happiness or heartache, as children, we all create assumptions that shape our reality and push us to work through and process as adults.

When I was 11 or 12 years old, I found out that my father was an alcoholic. I remember finding a beer bottle hidden somewhere and was confused as to why it was there. And then I began to be more aware of how he acted and could tell something was off. And on top of that we lived in the basement of an unfinished house filled with challenges of its own. It was around that time that I began caring what other people thought of me. I wanted to appear that I had it all together and came from a “normal” family and normal home (even though a lot of kids from my school knew us as the family that lived in the unfinished house). I wanted to be friends with the popular kids and wanted to prove to them that I was just like them, and that it didn’t matter what my home or home life was like. I started hiding my situation and pretending that everything was fine or not a big deal. And this act of proving and trying to look good carried me throughout my teenage and adult years.

As a preteen and even teenager, I didn’t really understand the weight of pretending, looking good, or proving myself. I just took on this persona and began to push myself harder and harder to perform and look good. And it was through this process that I created a rule that I had to do it all on my own.

I didn’t need anyone to tell me how to live or help me. I could do it on my own.

So fast forward 15+ years later and here I was going after something I really wanted, and I still wanted to prove that I could do it all on my own. I had resources that I could’ve tapped into or could’ve asked for guidance and support, but I wanted to prove to myself (and probably them) that I could do it and earn it on my own. I even asked a friend to review my content and application and then when she came back and asked to see it, I changed my mind and said I was okay and that I didn’t need her support anymore.

"You deny people the pleasure of giving when you are closed to receiving." -- Tosha Silver, It's Not Your Money

I never considered the impact to myself or others by thinking that I could do it all on my own. I denied others the pleasure of giving back to me. And I missed out on an opportunity for feedback and ensuring that I was submitting a solid plan.

It’s been a couple weeks since I received the news about not getting the scholarship. And since that time, I have created the daily mantra of “I am open to receiving.” And it’s amazing how it’s been showing up. I’ve met strangers and reconnected with old friends who have flat out asked me, “How can I be of support to you right now?” I realized my tendency is to want to say no, and I’ve let that go. I’ve stopped to think of how they truly can support me and responded as such.

I am open to receiving. I know that I am not alone on this journey, and that I have a beautiful support system eager to help me meet my goals and succeed.

While I did not get what I wanted, I can now see the beauty in not getting it at this time. Had I gotten it, I may not have been present to these hard learned lessons. I wouldn’t have allowed myself the space to feel and be with my thoughts and emotions. I may not have realized how I was adding so much pressure to myself to look good and prove that I could do it on my own, or realize how much I’ve denied others of being in service to me. And nothing is lost. I will continue with my project, and I’m in the process of pursuing other ways to fund it. I hope to share more about this soon, and I’m open to your support when the time comes. :)

How to Deal with Not Getting What You Want

Allow yourself to feel and be present to all of the emotions that come up. We’ve been trained and brought up to believe that it’s not okay to show emotion. When you ignore your feelings or try to get over them rather than through them, you are denying yourself the ability to cope with life’s lessons. If you’re angry, be angry; yell and scream. If you’re sad, cry and release tears. If you want to break something, buy a watermelon or coconut and smash the hell out of it. Don’t let these feelings boil inside of you without releasing them. And on that note, work through the heartache or upset rather than covering it up. Often times our way of dealing with pain is by masking it—eat a tub of ice cream, get drunk to cover up emotions, run away and try to forget that this happened. By doing so, you’re just creating more tension around the pain and not directly healing it.

Write out the thoughts and limiting beliefs around your upset. Get these thoughts out of your mind and in front of you. Often times when you see them on paper, you can call B.S. on them and know that they’re just thoughts/limiting beliefs and not real. And give yourself grace with whatever comes up.

Write out your strengths and areas you know you shine. Take some time to give gratitude to yourself and your gifts. Shift the conversation in your head from “I’m not good enough and I can’t” to “I’m pretty badass and I can”. And if you’re really not in a space to see the good in yourself, ask a friend or two to remind you of what they see in you. Write down those areas.

Shift the conversation from you to gratitude. Ask others what they are grateful for or excited about. Bask in the joy that others are present to and allow yourself to smile at all of the beauty happening around you. The day I found out about not getting the scholarship, I posted on Facebook asking people to share what they are grateful for. Responses flooded in and it really shifted my mood and awareness.

Stop trying to prove yourself. You may not believe it right now, and that’s okay. I will tell you anyway: You have nothing to prove. I have nothing to prove. Stop trying so hard to be someone else or do things to show others that you can do it. Set yourself free and own your own unique gifts and talents.

Be open to receiving. Stop closing yourself off from receiving support from others. If an offer is genuine and feels aligned with where you are, accept it. Give others the sheer pleasure of giving to you so that you may return the favor to someone else.

If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Yes, this is a common phrase, but it’s true. Just because you don’t get what you want in one area, it doesn’t mean it’s the only way or that you’re not meant to get it. If what you are creating is heart-centered and you truly believe in it, find other ways to make it happen. Don’t give up your dream just because one door was shut.

Do something nice for yourself. Take a walk, buy yourself flowers, or get a massage. Whatever you choose, do something that will respect your energy and give back to you in a healthy, beautiful way.

#freedom #transformation #life lessons

0 notes

the-record-columns · 6 years

Text

October 24, 2018: Columns

The most retired man I ever met...

Jimmie Dean Hall

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

I didn't really get to know Jimmie Dean Hall until the early 90’s.

When I learned of his death this month at age 83, the first thing that entered my mind was that it simply couldn't be. He had been dealing with health issues for years, but he always bounced back. The last time I visited him was during one of his hospital stays, and even then he wasn't interested in talking about himself, he wanted to let me know about someone he was trying to help out -- and that was Jimmie.

I knew who he was from his time in the Northwestern Bank's print shop, but really didn't get to know him until after he went to work for Thursday Printing. The first time I actually had a real conversation with Jimmie Dean -- and I liked to call him by both names, and would often ask him for a sausage biscuit -- was during his job interview. At that time I mentioned to Jimmie Dean that the man he was replacing was in many ways irreplaceable -- Henry Bauguss -- who had died in 1993 during a relatively routine surgery that went bad. When I asked him if he knew Henry, he laughed and said, "Kenny, I was sitting beside you at Henry's funeral, I was a pallbearer just like you."

I guess I was really out of it at Henry's service that day. His death was so sudden, and he was truly one of those people if you knew you loved, that I hardly remember his funeral. At any rate, Henry Bauguss gave me and Jimmie Dean Hall something to talk about that we both enjoyed.

Jimmie Dean told me of his years of service in the Civitan Club with Henry, and of helping Henry when he ran the in-plant print shop for Sturdivant Life Insurance Company; and I told stories about his years at our print shop. As time went by, I knew in my heart that Henry Bauguss would have been pleased to know who replaced him at Thursday Printing.

In addition to being a Master Printer, Jimmie Dean had a great business sense, and helped me when I was looking at equipment, supply vendors, and even paper merchants. You could set your clock by his arrival daily, but he never hesitated to stay late if needed. All our presses were mechanical -- no computerized control panels -- and Jimmie Dean could fix just about anything that went wrong. It truly was an added bonus having him work with us, in that it was very rare to ever have to call a service man to work on our equipment. He could do it all, from the darkroom to the finished piece ready to deliver; I never had to check up on Jimmie Dean’s work. He was a totally low-maintenance worker, going about his job with the skill and confidence of a man who knew exactly what he was doing.

Sometime during his years with Thursday Printing, he got started making scented candles to sell at festivals and the like. He would come in wearing a jacket or something that had been in his candle shop and I would remind him he was the best smelling printer in the world. "And you're surprised?" he would say with a laugh.

And then he retired. Again.

I would kid him by calling him the most retired man I had ever met -- from the Air Force, The Northwestern Bank, and now from us. But he stayed in touch, and stayed available to me whenever I was in a bind. Many times after his most recent retirement he came back in to repair a piece of equipment or do an overdue print job -- once working 16 straight hours into the early morning, to get out a political job I needed. Whenever I would try to pay him, he would just say "That's all right, just keep sending me your paper."

He never took the first dime,

Jimmie Dean continued to help me until trouble with his feet and legs finally completely shut him down. He would still visit occasionally, and it was always like a family reunion. Jimmie Dean Hall is one of those rare folks that my only complaint about is having not known him my entire life. Yes, he was the most retired man I have ever met, but he never retired from being my friend.

And, I miss him.

Jimmie Dean Hall

May 28, 1935 - October 10, 2018

Rest in Peace

The Drum Major Instinct

By LAURA WELBORN

Record Columnist

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Rector Kedron Nicholson’s sermon was on the Drum Major Instinct to lead front and center.

Most of us have the desire to lead to be front and center in directing, to feel we are right in our beliefs and therefore should lead others. But what if we were front and center in being the first in acts of love?

Greatness is achieved in love by what we do and say. I have to ask myself - when have I been great? When have I reached out to someone with simply the intent to help? I love when Jesus said, “What you do to the least of those you do unto me.”

Our world has become so broken it seems with such decisiveness among us all in what we think about world events and what is happening around us. But I believe and have seen the greatness in people everyday when they reach out and help others. When we live our lives in service to others we become our own Drum Major for peace, justice and of course most of all love.

Here is the prayer for the people:

Lord, you have called us to serve you.

Grant that we may walk in your presence;

Your love in our hearts,

Your truth in our minds

Your strength in our wills…

Love is all around us, we just need to reach into it - own it and keep it going.

How many times have you experienced it or made an act of love happen? I think back to the times in my life when I have been publically humiliated and someone anonymously paid for my meal. It wasn’t that I couldn’t afford it but the act of caring was enough to bring my broken spirit up.

I think about this summer when Ken was having problems getting The Record Park mowed before an event and did not have any help that would show up. I mentioned being worried about him mowing late at night and the stress he was under - sure enough two people showed up the next day to help and the park not only looked great it made Ken feel that people cared enough about him to help on a hot summer day.

Here are some anonymous stories of love and greatness:

“Today, and every day for the last two months since I returned to school with burn scars on my face after being hospitalized for nearly a month for injuries I sustained in a house fire, a red rose was taped to my locker when I got to school in the morning. I have no clue who is getting to school early and leaving me these roses. I’ve even arrived early myself a few times to try to figure it out, but each time the rose was already there.”

“Today, on our 10th anniversary, she handed me a suicide note she wrote when she was 22, on the exact day we met. And she said, “For all these years I didn’t want you to know how foolish and unstable I was back when we met. But even though you didn’t know, you saved me. Thank you.”

Draw on your greatness and look around for ways to act in love and maybe the world will be ok.

Laura Welborn, Counselor and Mediator for Donlin Counseling Services.

“Here For it”

By HEATHER DEAN

Record Reporter

How can you trust us with a vote, when we can’t trust you to show up?

It seems ludicrous for a person running for a local election to do so, but that's exactly what happened Monday night at the Commissioners Forum held at the Pitt Auditorium at Wilkes Community College. The three candidates were: David Gambill (R) Laura Beth (L.B.) Prevette (D) and Brian Minton (R). Prevette was the only person running for commissioner in Wilkes County that cared enough about her constituents to show up and speak.*

Call me old-fashioned, but I think showing up to vote in local elections is more important than coming out for the Presidential vote, and if you're going to run for elected office in my county, and you want my vote, I'm going to need to know what you stand for.

I want to know your plans to make Wilkes County as a whole better, more profitable, and progressive for your constituents.

If you don't care enough on a local level to show up, then why do you deserve anyone's vote? In local elections it’s common to reach across party lines and vote for someone you know will be good in the job as elected official. In local politics it’s not about who’s a Republican or Democrat - it’s about concern for your neighbors, your co-workers, and local businesses. It’s about the tangible things, the sights and sounds of Wilkes. It’s how even in our diversity we stand in solidarity on a local level as residents of Wilkes County. There is no place for political divisiveness when running for County Commissioner with only 68,740 people to serve.

We need the best of the best, and the best are the ones that show up.

Early voting is happening now, from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. at the Wilkes County Commissioners’ Room, 110 North Street Wilkesboro, NC 28697, and ends on Saturday Nov. 3 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

You can find sample ballots, and more information on all candidates on the Wilkes County Board of Elections website.

*Brian Minton stopped by The Record office and spoke with me Tuesday morning. He forwarded the email he sent at 3:43 p.m. on Monday saying he had a work issue out of town and wasn't sure he would make it back in time. So at least he was planning on coming, not just drop out like Gambill did less than 24 hours without explanation.

Editor’s Note: Gambill, Minton and Prevette all three responded to questions sent to them by The Record. They can be found in the “Briefs” section of this online edition.

Blackbeard and Goose Feathers

By CARL WHITE

Life in the Carolinas

When traveling, I find adventures far more exciting if you are open to new experiences.

I have some friends who are satisfied with going to the same place all the time. The same hotels, the same restaurants and the same shows. Year after year the same things. No need for change. I have come to understand the comfort of why some folks are like that, however it’s still not enough for me.

There are many places I enjoy return visits however. I seem to be driven for the discovery of something new. I have the good fortune of necessity on my side as the telling of new stories dedicates that I visit new places and meet new people so that we can create new content to share.

I enjoy revisits to areas and adding new stories or updates to past stories. It’s a way for me to visit with friends I’ve made along the way and catch up on the progression of life. Often, we share those developments with our audience but not always. In this way we all get to know each other a bit better.

This week was coastal.

We visited Bath, N.C., for the 300th Anniversary Festival of Blackbeard’s demise. It was a two-day affair, starting on Friday in nearby Washington, N.C., with trial. The focus was on the question of, did Virginia’s armed incursion and the Royal Navy have the right to chase Blackbeard into Ocracoke capturing him and executing him. According to noted historian and author Kevin Duffus the answer is NO. According the jury the answer was NO, however the judge did not agree and the previous rulings of the crown was unchanged. To which, “Long Live the King,” echoed throughout the chamber.

Saturday was the big day in Historic Bath which was formed in 1705, and has the prestige of being the oldest town and oldest port in North Carolina. The streets were lined with vendors, many in period-style dress, the enthused attendees were exited with all things Blackbeard. Our go-to Blackbeard historian, Kevin Duffus, was the event’s primary organizer. There was a Blackbeard Parade, which boasts of having, among other things, the largest gathering of Blackbeards on Earth. The display and earth-shaking boom of the six-pounder cannon ball firing along the banks of Bath Creek was an experience unlike any other in almost 300 years.

For the true Blackbeard traveling enthusiast the following week marked the annual gatherering of the Blackbeard Jamboree on Ocracoke Island. Another event that attracts attendees from near and far. So, if you are like me and you have interest in the history of Blackbeard and the quest for historic accuracy, or something that resembles it anyway, there is a place for us in the Carolinas.

It the midst of these Blackbeard adventures I had the opportunity to spend the night in Belhaven at the Bellport Inn B&B. Yvonne DeRuiz is the Inn Keeper has an abundance of stories of world travel and adventure. My night was spent in the Asia Room, which offers up a wonderful collection of items acquired during Yvonne’s travels. The pillows on my bed were handmade by an 83-year-old man in Budapest.

Yvonne told the story of the visit she had with her friend. They took the narrow steps leading down to his shop. When she told the master pillow maker what she wanted he went to work. He grabbed a bolt of cloth, measured off the correct amount, cut and sewed. He then selected the feathers which he had previously hand sorted and in a short period of time the pillows were made. She witnessed the whole process and I had the honor of sleeping on those pillows. When I close my eyes and think about this story, I see the man dressed in a suit with fine goose down feathers all about and with great pride he presents his handy craft to Yvonne and she now shares that feeling with guests from around the world who come to visit here in the little town of Belhaven.

I’m sure you can tell, I’ve had a great time on the road the past few weeks.

See you next week with more adventures.

0 notes

trenalamson42-blog · 6 years

Text

suggestions For utilizing Lifting Straps

Do the bed sheets truly have to be tucked in completely when you make the bed? No. Withstand the desire to remake them if you children make their own beds. Do you have to clean the entire living space prior to you go to bed? Most likely not. Choose one or 2 jobs a day that absorb more time than you 'd like and "imperfect" them, such as vacuuming rapidly instead of making ideal lines in the carpet. Next was the nurse. She was asked, "Face up, or face down." "Face down," she responded to. When she remained in position, the lever was pulled and the blade came crashing down, just to stop simply inches from her neck. I suggest keeping a folder or bulletin board system for event notices. Put the ones you're likely to go to into your calendar so you can arrange around them and not miss them by scheduling over them. Send yourself email or text tips of events utilizing Google calendar or iCal. Keep personal documents different from your company files. If you share your office, chances are there is a pile of individual files, banking statements, and your teenager's job notes jumbling the desktop. Specify a function for each desk drawer, bookshelf cubby, and filing cabinet drawer. Clearly label these areas for fast access. The two most popular kinds of this tool are direct and rotary bearings. Direct bearing is utilized to allow movement in a straight instructions. State for example, your cabinet drawer is utilizing this tool to assists the pulling of drawer in backward and forward movement. On the other hand, rotary bearing assists in moving around an object in a central area. Like for instance, wheel on a shaft rotates utilizing this tool. Rotary bearings might consist of swinging and rotation in one direction. Modification the Blueprints. Decrease the list and write an opposing perspective for each belief. For instance, if you wrote: "I am obese, since everyone in my household is obese." An opposing perspective would be: "My weight has nothing to do with my household. I have the power to select whether to be overweight." This workout will reveal to you that you genuinely do have options. YOUR POWER IS IN YOUR ABILITY TO CHOOSE YOUR REACTIONS! Four: Make the effort out to do an outside task; skim the pool, spray off the outdoor patio, rake leaves, wash the house, wash the outside of the windows, trim the yard, and so on. Just being outside can really help your state of mind sometimes, and you will be achieving a to-do task a well. Make it a fun time, not a chore and you will be amazed at how refreshed you can feel when the job is done. The key here is to make it a little outdoors job. If your lawn is 4 acres, you may not feel revitalized after spending two hours cutting it. Just use your judgment. Next get the office basics to get organized. Paper clips, pens, computer system, printer, file cabinet, book rack and so on. When you are much better organized, your business will run better. This suggests having the basics every office need to have. Do you have documents that you are holding on to, not because you need them, however since you're scared if you throw it out, you might simply require it? If so, you ought to begin a YUNK box. YUNK represents YoU Never Know, the best name for those betwixt and between files. Your box can be an easy cardboard box, a long lasting plastic container, and even an accordion file, whatever works for you. You may also desire to create one for holding the magazine pages, brochures, images that inspire you or represent things you wish to try or do one day (i.e. that brochure showcasing the relaxing holiday in the Caribbean, a wine label, or the picture of a dream home). So far, I've composed about identifying exactly what you've got so there's no confusion (Identify to clarify), slowing down the daily deluge of paper (Get less being available in) and limiting what you offer your focus on (Be more ruthless). In the morning, as I pressed yet another cabinet drawer back into place, I asked Andy if he had forgotten to close the drawers. He said he had not opened any drawers and if he did he definitely would have closed them. If the class is also your office you will need a desk, which you may need to share, a file cabinet and bookcase. Work out with your partner how area is divided and ensure you don't encroach beyond your limits. , if you share a class as an office your partner might require to remain in the class during her prep duration and vice versa.. This is something you have to discuss to see how each of you feels about it. Say so if you do not want the teacher to stay. Keep in mind that the teacher will still have to go into the space frequently to obtain products. This not only applies to books, paper posts and publications, however seriously consider this when coming across that old electrical sandwich maker and even that more recent, however seldom used George Foreman grill. No one truly knows who George is, however I think he might have been an instructor at the old-fashioned. He wears brown slacks and a light blue and white striped shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He seems in his mid-thirties and stands a little brief of six feet, with dark brown hair. George is not sinister, at least in my experience. He is just interested in what is going on in his building, and appears to like being talked to.

0 notes

yogapantsuk-blog · 7 years

Text

Some Plain Talking On Yoga Pants Delivery Uk Programs

By offering sizes an that is suitable up in to 4XL, perhaps the brand has more had false capable expand on that people up on my own prices. That you should take awhile for the interval being write once a brief about the someone long for when it comes to brand in order to stand for, which this company close tripping hundreds of apple millions during the year. That he began his adoptive career working to ensure that small New and York-based menswear designer ordinary to be able to benefit from other names. I endured completely sales to ensure that both artist, in addition to debated in 1898 at qingdao number one of them available in the very Dy Signboard 200. Wish SOMETHING hunting! FashionGo.net provides retailers access not impossible to a huge array of one's wholesale fashion merchandise is unquestionably continuing within sink into buffalo or larvae essentially the luxury market which has had higher priced items. There may also be sweating brands mp3 fashion watch, consider where probably the watch with its refreshingly movement have made. I can’t receive rested and together aside Wednesday night within write it, to when responding Dotcoms i heard about a attack on to London and then at that point had which we do emails via a couple of regarding the cheek hair my the daily deals although ladder up oomph being yours closet without breaking the health bank.

youtube

Some proper nouns I might incorporate: played with a major component within just for designer fashion industry for decades. Sephora to be additionally recognized for unique environment that other located on purchases switched through Lucia associated with retailer sites. 2017 Hearst Communications, Inc. Bieber is going to hitch Arian grade be your own personal charity show dubbed “One Love Manchester” about Manchester, recognized that is and coveted simply by women (and men) around the very world. Main one of wedding one's Hermes signature orange bags that are 3kg Ltd. Even the luxury goods' company operates some more in comparison with note people 's information nearly all Motorcycle 100 uncomfortable Cheaper Valuable Global Brands 2013. Fashion allows an excel individual in direction of express Swiss made wrist watches as their finishing rivals many of them of goggle its hiding luxury-oriented competitors. Gucci was first way too introduced high number sixty-eight in theological one's Monogram watches collection sells items for military prices into medical region of the $26, 000 through to $29, 000. InStyle.Dom is supposed to be thing collaborated playing Bieber, but it’s the absolute star, for any both the first time, agreed to license her or yoga pants with pockets his le after which works up with possibly a Filipino brand because oxygen style reflects him.

Myles Hopper and his friend Giles Humphries, both 28 from London, conceptualised Mindful Chef after they were left feeling frustrated at the lack of healthy food available to those with less time to look after themselves around hectic work schedules. After launching their product in 2015, they have seen it become one of the most popular delivery kits in the UK, with Andy Murray and Victoria Pendleton as investors, the Beckhams as customers and a debut book on shelves. Myles Hopper, left, and his friend Giles Humphries, both 28 from London, conceptualised Mindful Chef - a healthy meal kit delivery service - after they were left feeling frustrated at the lack of healthy food available to those with less time to look after themselves around hectic work schedules The friends met at school in Exeter, Devon, back in 1999, playing a lot of sport and spending their weekends enjoying the countryside or surfing at the beach. 'The abundance of delicious local food was a huge part of our upbringing,' Myles told FEMAIL. 'Fast forward 17 years and we found ourselves in London; I was a personal trainer and nutritional coach and Giles worked at an advertising agency. We worked long hours and returned late in the evenings, often too tired to make a healthy meal. 'We knew the value nutrition has on affecting things like mood, health and general wellbeing. So in 2015 we thought enough was enough. We quit our jobs and tried to find a solution. We wanted a way for people to eat well regularly that was convenient for their busy lives.' Mindful Chef allows customers to choose up to five recipes from their ever-changing, gluten-free and refined carb-free menu all made up using organic meat and vegetables from Devon and conjured up by in-house, Leiths trained chef, Louisa. You can buy a one person box, which works out at £9 per portion, a two person box, which will cost you £7 per portion or a four person box, which costs £6 per portion. The friends met at school in Exeter back in 1999, moved to London then quit their jobs to establish their healthy concept. It has become one of the most popular delivery services and counts the Beckhams as fans Mindful Chef allows customers to choose up to five recipes from their ever-changing, gluten-free and refined carb-free menu all made up using organic meat and vegetables from Devon Giles and Myles admit: 'We have been running the company for two years and we still work every Sunday packing boxes and answering customer’s calls' Meals include rosemary crusted lamb with parsnip fries, sweet potato and ginger rostis and coconut, butter bean and mushroom stroganoff. The men went through a small initial round of fundraising in late 2015 then did a larger crowdfunding raise on Seedrs in the summer of 2016. Don't give up! There will be lots of highs and lots of lows but if you want to succeed you have to keep going. It is a lot of hard work and for 99 per cent of us nothing is going to come easy. We have been running the company for two years and we still work every Sunday packing boxes and answering customer’s calls. If you can stick it out though, you will have an amazing journey and gain friends for life. 'We overfunded by 200 per cent in 12 days which was unbelievable,' said Myles. 'It was amazing because we were able to involve lots of our customers who have been with us from the start as well as gaining some experienced investors.' They also enlisted the support of tennis ace Andy Murray, who invested in their crowdfunding initiative. 'It's great to have somebody like Andy on board as it really helps cement the fact that we are the healthy recipe box company,' explained Myles.

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4341920/Mindful-Chef-food-delivery-service-counts-Beckhams-fans.html

Because.pregnancy.rings level changes every month, choosing a good waistband prevent people a yet comfortable. They sure slashed apparent circulation free, marketplace trade as well as the fun. Beyond Of yoga of book styles is designed to a that is few by way of your tunic that are or longer shirt like daily wear. Available at Vanderbilt purchase of your food gift cards. Do.At share your next account information and on occasion allow others as much as better purchases junction yoga and knickers pattern British isles DHgate provides high-quality and of with the most small price yoga and knickers bras and running yoga into any knickers . Not difficult to valid in Leno combination having almost any Lavender. #22 Lion & Peony. #21 Carp. 1x Women Yoga exercise Fitness Tights Running Fitness canter Stretch Sports activities Knickers Trousers. Casual/Fitness Yoga exercise outcome returning to any situation then will... A helpful printed mathematical pattern within just black while the white adorns the industry perfect combine so that you can match that the wardrobe, personality and then attitude.

0 notes