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cassflorence · 11 months

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1, 2 Step your way to wellbeing with exercise

For a long time in my life exercise was a daily if not twice daily activity that I assumed was something that I loved and came easy to me, this was until I went through the biggest transition of my life. I left the Australian Army after 9 and a half years, exercise was a part of my daily routine, not to mention part of my readiness for my job role. We got tested twice a year on our fitness, so you had to maintain it. I didn’t always love it but I could feel the benefits, physically and mentally. For me exercise meant high physical activity, running until you threw up, carrying 60 plus kilos on your back and walking in a big circle for hours, or lifting weights far heavier than your body weight and this was rewarded so naturally you keep doing it, what I didn’t realise is the lasting impacts this would have for my wellbeing.

For the majority of my 20’s this was normal and expected (which makes complete sense, the military has very high expectations for physical fitness for excellent reasons) but I didn’t realise that this was very abnormal for a big percentage of the population, exercise means so many different things to different people (Knuttgen, 2003). Because I knew the benefits of exercise and felt them, it increased my mood (Ferraioli et al, 2018; Hewel et al, 2019; Brick et al, 2023; Calogiuri et al, 2019; Coon et al; 2011; Kuykendall et al, 2017), especially after a hard training session. It gave me a better outlook on the rest of my day, especially on the tough days when the stakes were high.

This shifted once I transition out of the military, no longer was I required to exercise as part of my job, I was able to press the snooze button, make wonderful excuses as to how I would exercise later I the day. I began to enjoy my freedom, there were more beautiful dinner dates with my partner, I enjoyed trying new food and wines and then loved sleeping in. COVID-19 occurred at the same time, so lockdowns were real for all of us, and the motivation for exercise lowered, I forgot the benefits, I forgot how it made me feel, I became ashamed of my body and how I looked because I wasn’t judged for it anymore, but I kept judging.

My sense of wellbeing was poor, and I struggled to find a way to exercise that wasn’t military driven and I didn’t enjoy it. When I started studying for my Masters is positive psychology I re-leant the benefits of exercise, and that can be any form of exercise, such as walking, running, even work and leisure activities have a direct impact on your wellbeing ( Ferraioli et al, 2018; Hewel et al, 2019; Brick et al, 2023; Calogiuri et al, 2019; Coon et al; 2011; Kuykendall et al, 2017).

So how do you exercise when its hard? Start small such as going for a walk surrounded by nature, exercising in a natural environment can increase your mood, self esteem and even bring greater enjoyment to exercising (Calogirui et al, 2019; Coon et al, 2011). When walking be present in the moment, notice the sounds, the trees and flowers, any wildlife that may be around. You will find that the focus will be drawn away from the exercise and be on the beauty of nature.

References

Ahmad, W., Taggart, F., Shafique, M. S., Muzafar, Y., Abidi, S., Ghani, N., Malik, Z., Zahid, T., Waqas, A., & Ghaffar, N. (2015). Diet, exercise and mental-wellbeing of healthcare professionals (doctors, dentists and nurses) in Pakistan. PeerJ (San Francisco, CA), 3, e1250–e1250. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1250

Knuttgen, H. G. (2003). What Is Exercise?: A Primer for Practitioners. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 31(3), 31–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913847.2003.11440567

Wiese, C. W., Kuykendall, L., & Tay, L. (2018). Get active? A meta-analysis of leisure-time physical activity and subjective well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13(1), 57–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2017.1374436

Thompson Coon, J., Boddy, K., Stein, K., Whear, R., Barton, J., & Depledge, M. H. (2011). Does Participating in Physical Activity in Outdoor Natural Environments Have a Greater Effect on Physical and Mental Wellbeing than Physical Activity Indoors? A Systematic Review. Environmental Science & Technology, 45(5), 1761–1772. https://doi.org/10.1021/es102947t

Mandolesi, L., Polverino, A., Montuori, S., Foti, F., Ferraioli, G., Sorrentino, P., & Sorrentino, G. (2018). Effects of Physical Exercise on Cognitive Functioning and Wellbeing: Biological and Psychological Benefits. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 509–509. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00509

Klaperski, S., Koch, E., Hewel, D., Schempp, A., & Müller, J. (2019). Optimizing mental health benefits of exercise: The influence of the exercise environment on acute stress levels and wellbeing. Mental Health & Prevention, 15, 200173–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhp.2019.200173

Lahart, I., Darcy, P., Gidlow, C., & Calogiuri, G. (2019). The Effects of Green Exercise on Physical and Mental Wellbeing: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(8), 1352–. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081352

Breslin, G., Hillyard, M., Brick, N., Shannon, S., McKay-Redmond, B., & McConnell, B. (2023). A systematic review of the effect of The Daily MileTM on children’s physical activity, physical health, mental health, wellbeing, academic performance and cognitive function. PloS One, 18(1), e0277375–e0277375. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277375

#wellbeing #exercise #transition

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tarotwitchy · 3 years

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{pick-a-card readings}

💟 ALL CREDITS BELONG TO THE CREATORS OF THESE IMAGES!

I want to rebrand my PAC readings so that this blog can gain uniformity somehow. I know I've been so inactive these past few weeks. And I honestly have no other excuse; I'm really just stuck in a rut, and I feel uninspired. My spirit is quite exhausted. 🥲 But this one is for my followers, and the tarot community. I hope this resonates!

Please remember that this is a general reading, and may/may not apply to you or your situation.

❌ Please do not plagiarize my work, or post it elsewhere without my permission and credits. Thank you! ❌

Pile 1 - Black

The Hanged Man • 4 of Swords • Knight of Wands • Page of Swords • King of Pentacles • Wheel of Fortune • Man & Ship

With this pile, I sense a feeling of frustrated postponement. You are in the stage of life wherein you're trying to start a new chapter of your life, regardless if you've been through a bad situation or not. You want to consciously make the decision of proactive change in your life — this could be in the form of your daily routine, your job, your living situations, where you live, your friends, etc. This isn't to say that your current situation is in a negative place right now. Perhaps, you really just want to clean new slate to refresh your outlook in life. Or maybe, you truly want to get away and cut off people and aspects that no longer serve you. And that's perfectly fine! However, you're also in the situation of dealing with the nitty-gritty details of this process. Change is a messy ordeal, and that's okay. There's no "one size fits all" primer when it comes to developing oneself.

Enter your Future Spouse! I really sense that for the majority of you, you'd meet them at a time of movement or while you're transitioning from one place to another. It could be that you're actually moving houses, or changing jobs, or improving your health by going to the gym/yoga centers. It's all relative and subjective to your situation. And when this happens, there is a resistance coming from your side. You're not going ti immediately give in to this person's offers of partnership. You're probably going to think you're not ready for a relationship by then because you're so busy and preoccupied by your personal self-development. And this person is truly going to notice your efforts and motivation to improve yourself, they'll be amazed and will respect you during this time. They will be playful with you in a teasing way, and some of you will get annoyed at them! 😂 But please bear in mind that they're just trying to make things a bit more lighthearted.

You're not going to immediately be their partner. But they will keep on sticking with you and blending in the background, coming to your aid when you least expect them. They have the resources to proving for you, and they'll think to themselves, "why not give them assistance when I can afford to do so?" Their generosity at the messiest, confusing, and stressful time of your life is what's going to attract you to them in the long run.

Pile 2 - Beige

King of Pentacles • Knight of Cups • Queen of Pentacles • The Hanged Man • 4 of Pentacles • The Fool • Woman & Sun

I saw intense, challenging yet playful eyes from this pile. Both of you will be at the time of financial stability and career promotions when you meet each other. You and your Future Spouse are both very ambitious and would take no crap when it comes to money-making. There's a scenario that popped in my mind when looking at this pile's spread. Maybe, there's a business deal that has to be made between the two of you. And since both of you are in the business of making negotiations, no one is backing down from each other's offers! 😂 The aura and energies of this pile are screaming confidence and assertion.

But instead of negativity and tenseness, both of you would confidently rise up to the challenge of meeting in the middle when it comes to this business deal. You'd be amazed at how both of you can think of the same thing and ideas at the same time, and they'll be at awe with your ability to think quick on your feet. They probably have never met someone like you — who is self-assured and confident — in this field of work. Where most people fold or lose their heads over negotiations, you are able to go head-to-head in a calm yet convicted way against their deals. They admire this quality from you immediately.

Aside from this, both of you are in the stages of life when you're at your prime; career-wise, and maturity level as well. At first, your Future Spouse might be reserved from you to try and test the waters with you. But they know that you know what they're trying to do! They know that you can see through their charade. And this amazes them to the point of further falling in love and respect you. You are your own boss, and they won't even attempt to try and control or undermine you because you know your worth at this time of your life. You've probably learned this lesson in the past and have worked hard in developing your character and self-confidence. Where they were able to goad and manipulate other people to do their bidding before meeting you, they know they won't even think about doing it. The respect they have for you is immense. And this goes both ways as well. You admire the sound head on their shoulders. Both of you will be that couple that builds an empire together.

Pile 3 - Purple

The Empress • King of Cups • 9 of Swords • 7 of Swords • 2 of Cups • Queen of Cups • Anchor & Tree

[Oh, how beautiful this pile is. 🥲 By far, this is my favorite amongst all the other piles — and I don't usually play favorites! Side note: "I Hear a Symphony" by Cody Fry started playing from my song library, and I swear you all should listen to this song while reading this pile.]

You will meet your Future Spouse at a time in your life wherein your mental health is at it's healthiest! 😭 This is such a healing, emotionally calm, validating, and just... loving energy I'm picking up. It's like, you want to bask in this energy forever. I could cry tears of joy for people who picked this pile.

You've found your forever-person at your best. Regardless of financial stability, or material possessions, or any tangible measurements of "success" society has placed on us, you are already completely secure and calm. You've been through the ringer, Pile 3. 😢 Past relationships that have been traumatic for you, childhood traumas, and constant internal turmoil that you have been dealing with all these years, you have truly healed from all of this and embraced your journey to recovery. Your resilience is astoundingly amazing. It wasn't an easy road to fulfill a healthy mindset, and to heal from past traumas. And you understand other's journeys to recovery as well. Still being able to stand on your feet after life tried to kick you down time and time again is something you are very proud of.

This would be one of the reasons why your Future Spouse was drawn to you. Your calming and emotionally mature aura is seeping through your skin like body shimmer. Everybody around you can feel the strong person behind the tranquil and peaceful face you project. And your Future Spouse wants to bask in this positive energy you emit. I really sense that people go to you for comfort and understanding when life gets tough, and your Future Spouse is no exception. Perhaps, you were volunteering somewhere, and their eyes just landed on you while working with people — and they sense the genuineness behind your intentions to actually help people. And they fall in love with you, just like that! This is such a beautiful picture I see in my mind. I'm really, really happy for those who chose this pile because you deserve to be happy and to be loved. 💛

Pile 4 - Red

King of Pentacles • 10 of Cups • 10 of Pentacles • 2 of Pentacles • 5 of Swords • 2 of Cups • Rider & Clover

Truth be told, I can't really pinpoint a specific "time" or moment when you'll be able to meet your Future Spouse. I'm just not sensing an exact situation or point in life when you're going to encounter each other. But I can say this; you will just... know. You'll know this person is the right one regardless of circumstances. With the Rider together with the Clover Lenormand cards, I got the feeling that both of you have been anticipating and are actually proactive in your searches for partners to settle down with. So, in a sense, this is a long-time-coming type of situation.

[This portion gets a bit steamy, so a generous 18+ warning is given here.]

For some of you, you'll be meeting through a sexual encounter. Or perhaps, it would lead to a situation that gets sexual at the end of the day or night. If you're not feeling very comfortable with "one night stands" and casual hook-ups, I have a feeling this person would be the one that'll make you feel very assured that they aren't expecting anything sexual from you. They will follow your lead and your level of comfort; and for some of you, you'd actually be the ones to initial this encounter. That's how much you feel safe with this person. And to extend that thought, this is when you realize they're your Future Spouse. The chemistry between the two of you are so palpable that people around you may have the tendency to tease you guys about it. They'd probably tell you to "get a room" because of steamy glances, flirtatious advances with each other, and just the general feeling of being so confidently attracted with each other that people will say "finally!" when the two of you get married.

All of this points to one thing; the two of you found each other at the right time and situation you'd almost believe there was some sort of Divine Intervention that happened. You'd be the couple wherein your children will make disgusted faces and noises because you're still very much in love and sexually attracted to each other even after all the years of being together. There's no sense of getting tired of one another. You and your Future Spouse are very much made for each other, and both of you are seen as the model couple that most people aspire to become.

{masterlist}

[Don't repost, copy, or reword]

#pick a card #pick a card reading #pick a pile #pick a pile reading #pac #pac reading #pac readings #tarot #tarot reading #tarot readings #future spouse reading #future spouse readings #pick a card future spouse #pick a pile future spouse #divination #cartomancy #astrology #TarotWitchy

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buntycake · 4 years

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The Brothers and Painting Your Nails (GN MC)

Pride:

Lucifer’s a bit surprised by your desire to have him paint your nails but is happy to comply. His collection is modest with only red, black, and blue polishes.

He'll grab your hand with an uncharacteristic delicacy as he clips and shapes your nails, ridding you of any hang nails or shape edges. He insists on following through this step every time because the hygiene of the hands is just as important as the painting of the nails.

You're mostly silent while he does the actual painting of your nails. He paints so precisely and with so much focus that it feels rude to break the silence.

He's surprisingly patient with you when you fidget and cause smudges. A few swipes with a polish remover-soaked Q-tip and your nails were perfect again. Although, you did notice that he held your hand tighter to keep you in place.

Greed:

Of course, you would ask him to paint your nails. He was the Great Mammon. He was a busy man, but sure, he could make some time to pamper his human.

Mammon is practically bubbly with joy as he sits down to paint your nails. They'd be white like his, 'cause you're his human. He's not as meticulous as Lucifer, but he does clip your nails to shape them.

The whole process is a bit messy. He clearly never learned how to color in the lines, so both of your hands end up dotted with white splotches. It takes lots of nail polish remover, but eventually your hands don't look like they've been dipped in primer.

Regardless, the polish on your nails sets like clean cut marble. It doesn't take him long to start boasting about his work. By the end of his grand speech, he's insisting that only the Great Mammon is allowed to paint your nails.

Envy:

Levi is scandalized by the idea. Even though it's just your hands, skin-to-skin contact seems too much for him. His excuse is stuttered out from a cherry red face.

It only takes a mention of his brothers for him to change his mind. Suddenly, you're being dragged into his room and sat in his tub bed. He has you drape your hands over the edge.

You can't see him well over the tub's edge, but you’re sure he prefers it that way. Start talking anime and video games to him and he'll loosen up, but the blush never recedes from his face.

Unlike some of the other brothers, his nail polish is a bit cheap. Since he can't bear to be away from his raids and tournaments for long, all of Levi's polishes are quick dry.

The finished product isn't perfect by any stretch - the polish is a bit bumpy and there are still specks of polish around your nail. Still, you're proud of him for getting this far and the shy way he looks at you after you thank him is a prize in itself.

Wrath:

Satan's a bit taken aback by your request and immediately starts questioning you, even as he pulls out the polish. Why not Asmo? He'll keep interrogating you until he's satisfied with the answer. Regardless, he's happy to help.

Satan's collection of nail polishes includes some of the brightest, most neon colors you have ever seen. Half of the colors could have been taken straight from a highlighter. It's blinding, really.

Like Lucifer, he's a perfectionist, but lacks the precision. Watching Satan paint your nails is like watching an exercise in patience. You can tell that every missed stroke pains him and you get the feeling that it takes him a while to paint his own nails.

To his credit, when he finishes, there's not a hair out of place - even if it took multiple passes to get it that way. When you thank him, he offers to paint your nails again anytime you wish.

Lust:

Asmo is delighted that you want to paint your nails. He keeps a collection of various nail polishes for his own touch ups between his visits to the salon.

Truly, he would prefer to take you to his regular and let her give you the total treatment, but you insisted that he be the one to paint your nails. How could he refuse? You were asking him so nicely and he'd take any opportunity to get his hands on you.

Try not to be surprised when he brings out lotions, oils, and hot towels along with the usual suspects. Nail painting is a ritualistic experience and needs to be done with great care. Massaging your hands, pushing back your cuticles, and filing your nails also means more gossip time.

His strokes are made with care. Each nail comes out practically perfect, except when you squirm. He'll tut and purse his lip if you make him smudge the polish, scolding you lightly. He's practically cooing over you and his masterpiece when he finishes.

Gluttony:

Beel is pretty confused why you asked him to paint your nails but doesn't refuse you. He probably has the least neat nails of the brothers. They're not always even or clean and they often get chipped pretty fast.

He makes a bit of a mess painting your nails. It's just that your hands are so much smaller than his; the polish spilled over your nails each time.

He does his best to clean them up, but he keeps wiping off the polish on your nails. It takes a couple of tries until your nails look semi-presentable.

Beel will apologize for not doing a better job but let him know that the effort is appreciated. After all, even if the end result is messy, the process was fun.

Sloth:

Good luck waking Belphie up to get him to do your nails. Even if you catch him out of hibernation, he still might refuse you. Painting nails takes a lot of effort. The only reason his nails look presentable is because he sleeps most of the day.

More likely, you'll end up painting his nails. They are probably chipping at the edges and need a touch up. He doesn't mind as long as he can nap while you do it.

Try not to be surprised when he offers to paint your nails later - both as thanks and because he finally has enough energy and motivation to do so.

He's not as persnickety as Satan or Lucifer, but he's also not as messy as Mammon or Beel. Most of the time the polish stays on the nails, but he doesn't try to clean up any polish that gets out of bounds.

When he finishes your nails, it looks like what you would expect of an amateur. Not perfect, but definitely passable.

#obey me #obey me swd #obey me headcanons #obey me imagines #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me levi #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me asmo #obey me beelzebub #obey me beel #obey me belphegor #obey me belphie

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cygnoir · 4 years

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The now of June 2020

Hello, friends! Before I dig into the news of the past few months, I will start with some housekeeping. Going forward, I will post my content to cygnoir.net and syndicate it elsewhere. Some follow-up notes:

Facebook and Instagram prevent people from easily syndicating their own content. You won’t see cygnoir.net posts there anymore.

You will still see cygnoir.net posts on Micro.blog, Tumblr, and Twitter.

If you follow cygnoir.net by email, you may want to unsubscribe, because you’ll be getting a lot more email from this site! (WordPress.com doesn’t allow me to limit email notifications to only long-form posts like this one.)

A personal news reader is the easiest way to follow many sites, including cygnoir.net, on your own terms. I recommend NewsBlur.

If you want to know more about why I’m making the switch, read the IndieWeb overview of POSSE, which stands for Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere.

And now onto the update …

About three months after the COVID-19 pandemic closure of the library building and the transition to remote work, the senior managers and I returned to the building to prepare for part-time onsite work again. And now, with the help of staggered schedules, physical distancing, face coverings, and sanitizing protocols, most of our team is working onsite for roughly half of their week, and working from home the rest of the time. We rolled out our “Library Takeout” service last week, enabling our patrons to make appointments to get their holds in a curbside pickup model. To write it out like that makes it seem so easy, but it has required months of many people brainstorming, planning, and testing to get to this stage. And we have so much more work to do.

If you know me at all, you know that I’m a structure and process nerd. I enjoy setting up rules, templates, and procedures because I find it challenging to keep myself motivated when I don’t know what is expected of me. I like knowing the rules because I like knowing when it is important to follow them … and when it is important not to.

The pandemic, then, has precipitated some upheaval in my brainmeats. The rules are made, and then the rules change, sometimes within a week or even a few days. This level of change adds a whole other layer of complexity to communication: in the midst of communicating with my team about a rule change, the rules change again, rendering the initial communication invalid.

And then, on May 25th, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police, and a whole bunch of white people woke up all at once. (Why now? I highly recommend the “Why Now, White People?” episode of Code Switch.) And even though I was at a different place on my personal journey of understanding systemic racism, I had a reckoning too. For years, I have avoided speaking about anything “too political” online, avoiding subjects that might cause confrontation with friends, family members, or even strangers. I used my white privilege as a shield to protect me from discomfort. I excused myself from the fight. I opted out because I could.

Can you relate? Can you recall a time when a friend made a racist comment and you did not speak up because you were afraid of hurting their feelings? Or because you were too tired, or felt like you didn’t know what to say, or because you were afraid that you’d make a mistake? I can. And while I am embarrassed to admit that to you, all the embarrassment and guilt that we white people feel now, that all well-intentioned white people have ever felt, doesn’t matter at all. Action matters. And we start with educating ourselves and then getting to work, and doing the work every day for the rest of our lives.

I started my own education by listening to Black activists, which is how I found this shared document of anti-racism resources for white people, which lists books, articles, videos, podcasts, films/television series, and organizations. A few of the books were already on my holds list at the library, so I started with the first one available to check out: So You Want to Talk about Race (public library). Ijeoma Oluo’s book is an excellent primer on systemic racism, well-researched and written in a straightforward way. It is a great place to start.

Loyalty Bookstore, a Black-owned independent bookseller in the DC area, has created an excellent list of anti-racist reading recommendations. I dearly hope that your local public library is sharing lists of anti-racist reading recommendations as well, especially e-books that can be accessed while library buildings are still closed. (Use the LibraryExtension browser add-on if you want to see library holdings on Amazon and Goodreads.) And if your local public library isn’t, well … I have something to say about that.

In fact, I have a lot to say about the pandemic, public libraries, and equity, enough for a whole other post I’ve already started to draft. Damn, it feels good to be writing again.

That’s it from my corner of the world today. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Dismantle white supremacy.

Photo by Alex Blăjan on Unsplash.

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lemon-drop-soda · 6 years

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Dumb self ship nonsense about Faba that I spent way too long rambling about last night

Listen.

Listen here.

I feel like more people deserve to read these mad ravings, which is why I’m posting them (under the cut, mercifully) before I head out to work today.

A little primer so you know what you’re getting yourself into; the Mr. Darcy fantasy of a man learning to grow the fuck up in order to win over someone else while ultimately bettering himself as a person overall is My Fucking Brand(tm) and if you’re not hear for that, then great. Cool. I didn’t make it for you, I made it for me. I do this with fun villain characters because they’re the best candidates for people that have a lot of growing up to do, whether they realize it or not.

Also for context, I’m one of his interns at Aether

Alright, with that out of the way, allow me to recant my crazed tangents from last night/this morning (copypasted from a discord conversation with a friend).

OK so

This fucking idiot is always wearing goggles that have a green tint

I'm willing to bet that it's mainly for safety, but also style because b e a n

Anyway

Fucker doesn't generally see the world without the green filter because of that, so he like assumes that everything is that tinted color

One day I happen to be in his office, maybe dropping off papers n stuff, he didn't hear me come in, something something I end up knocking his goggles off by accident

I do my usual sorrys, making sure I didn't scratch him by accident, and as he's saying "watch where you're going!" He stops himself mid sentence, blinking to adjust to the actual light in the room

I go to ask what's up and he says, sheepishly

"Have your eyes always been so blue? I haven't noticed until now..."

After that he's just thinking "fuck what else am I not noticing???"

Because I think he's pretty self centered/has tunnelvision for himself and his research and would treat his subordinates as interchangeable

But like his pining would evolve into like trying harder to notice and remember things about me

He keeps a little sticky note pad of his observations

And that turns into seemingly random gestures

Like "here, you might prefer these scissors instead. Their supposed to be ergonomic, so ultimately better for your left handedness, right?"

Or like "now I know it's a little early for your break, but if you start it now I'm pretty sure a new Chopped is starting in the break room"

"A little Pikipek told me the you've been having trouble finding rainbow beans for your Pokemon. I just so happen to have these spare ones here I don't intend to keep. I promise you don't have to pay me back, consider them a gift"

Oh he tries to be a stealthy motherfucker, and knowing me I probably wouldn't pick up on it

That is

Until he starts bringing me coffee that's 3/4 part creamer, 1/8 ice and 1/8 actual coffee

At that point I'm just like "okay, pause. What are you doing?"

And before he can feign ignorance I call him out for 1) basically doing for me what is expected of me to do for the rest of the foundation, and 2) only treating me this way when he has several other interns he could very much be treating better

And he trips up a little

"W-well, is it wrong of me to like you more?"

And I'd answer "no, but the rest of the foundation doesn't need to know that, and I'm pretty sure doing the bare minimum when it comes to treating interns like people shouldn't be reserved for favorites"

He gets a little upset because he knows I'm right and ejects himself from the conversation

And while he could terminate my internship then and there, he still wants me around because he's in too fuckin deep at this point

So instead he goes the opposite route, doing Random Acts Of (Spiteful) Thoughtfulness

Like. Actually learning everyone's names to start

Then learning about everyone's reasons for working/interning at Aether, what their hobbies are, basically what he was doing with me but a lot more up front about it

What ultimately happens is that Local Beanman Learns About The Other Half Of The Conversation

Turns out knowing more about the people who work for and with him makes Faba want to impress them in ways that they would appreciate more, which in turn strokes his ego in a far more satisfying way than ignoring their humanity ever did

While still not nearly as well liked as Wicke, respect for Branch Chief Faba becomes a lot less influenced by just his prestigious title and more so by his effort in forming a less robotic feeling work relationship

He does still have an ulterior motive for this; it's all to impress me

A lot of his earlier notes on me talk about my kindness and listening skills, as they're traits he deeply admires in me and made him feel envious that he couldn't convincingly pull off

Slowly he comes to realize that he's capable of those things (to a certain degree), with or without spite fueling him

In being childish to try and prove a point, he ends up learning that if he wants to win me over, he needs to grow up

I imagine he would get to a point where he feels comfortable with asking his colleagues for advice on how to approach me again and confess his feelings

A lot of them aren't all that helpful. "Get her a bouquet! A really, really big bouquet." "Girls calm down when given chocolate, right?" That sort of thing

The advice improves when he explains what went down, and it mostly boils down to "she at least deserves an apology"

And that's what he ultimately gives, explaining "I'm sure you don't want excuses or some grand gestures for me to prove this new leaf I've turned over lately. That wouldn't be the point, after all. I wanted to tell you that... you mean the world to me, and I'm sorry that I tried to claim you like some rare, shiny Pokémon. I'm realizing now that you'd rather not feel like you're being lured away by some uncaring, selfish bastard. You were right about me, and I... respect you too much to make that the end of it. Y-you deserve better, I want to be better. Can you... would you accept that?"

at that point I'm like "it's a start" and give him a peck on the cheek

Faba Found Dead in His Office: Local Branch Chief Ascends to Another Plane After Receiving Kiss from the Woman He Loves

#lemony text #lemony fics #self ship #lemon's hungry for beans #uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yea

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shirlleycoyle · 3 years

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Philly Transit Agency Claims Anti-Homeless Architecture Meant to Combat COVID

In October, SEPTA, the Philadelphia-area transit agency, replaced benches in two transit hubs with a different kind of design. The 25 new "benches" had seats at severe angles, without a back, mounted at the top of three poles. These modified benches are called, for obvious reasons, "leaners."

At the time of their installation in the 69th Street and Frankford Transportation Centers, the pilot program received little attention. This is likely because it was launched in the middle of the pandemic, when transit ridership was at an all-time low, and perhaps because it was launched in hubs at the far ends of the system, where politicians and reporters are unlikely to spend much time. That lasted until a local NBC affiliate reported in April how much everyone hated the leaners. "The elderly, they can’t even sit down. It don’t make no sense," fumed local resident Anette Seville.

Leaners at the 69th Street Transportation Center. Credit: Motherboard staff.

Publicly, SEPTA defended the leaners by claiming they will improve passenger flow at busy stations when people come back to transit and are easier to clean. "The benefit that we think people can see, especially as we start getting more crowded and people start coming back to the system, is the leaners take up less space than the benches do,” SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch told NBC 10 at the time.

But documents obtained by Motherboard through a public records request suggest an agency motivated by different concerns. Specifically, SEPTA installed the leaners—which are sited outdoors, in areas which do not require paying a fare to access—to keep the homeless from sleeping on the benches.

The agency, though, subsequently claimed it was actually to encourage social distancing during the pandemic. "Due to the pandemic, we determined that traditional benches do not encourage social distancing, nor do they discourage sleeping by individuals that are not SEPTA customers," customer service reps told people who submitted negative feedback about the leaners in June.

Advocates aren't buying the COVID excuse. "It’s just a tactic on SEPTA’s part to cover what they’re really trying to say," said Yasha Zarrinkelk of the Philadelphia advocacy group Transit Forward, which is, according to Zarrinkelk, that "they’re not welcoming everyone to SEPTA."

The pandemic-related excuse definitely does not accord with the timeline of when SEPTA actually bought the leaners and the specifications they laid out for contractors. SEPTA put out a detailed listing for "leaning rails at various surface transit locations" in April 2020, just weeks after the pandemic hit. It includes details like the exact kind of steel and aluminum to be used, how the aluminum surface should be prepared, and what the "zinc rich epoxy primer" should be. However, the specifications give no indication of COVID-related health and safety protocols. Plus, the specifications call for the leaners to be six feet wide. With three clearly designated "seats" per leaner, they are obviously not designed for social distancing.

A citizen enjoys a leaner at the 69th Street Transportation Center. Credit: Andrew Busch, SEPTA

Busch told Motherboard that pandemic-related protocols "would not be addressed in technical specifications for a product like this," and defended the characterization of the leaners as a COVID-related purchase. "Early in the pandemic, SEPTA looked at all facets of its operations to find ways to enhance the health and safety of passengers who needed to use public transportation to travel to essential jobs and services. While the leaning benches are part of a larger and longer pilot program to test their efficacy, we also thought there could be some shorter-term benefits to installing them to help open up more space at these locations to promote social distancing."

SEPTA is not the first transit agency to use hostile architecture, and specifically leaners, in an attempt to discourage homeless individuals from sleeping in stations. In 2017, New York City's MTA installed leaners at stations redesigned under an Andrew Cuomo-directed renovation program called the Enhanced Station Initiative. Similarly to SEPTA, the MTA said the leaners were "for the convenience of subway users, providing them with options while taking up very little floor space in the process." Both agencies, in customer responses and public comments, have claimed the leaners are international best practice and merely provide additional options to customers. However, unlike SEPTA, which removed benches and replaced them with leaners, the MTA claimed the leaners were in addition to any existing benches. Other Cuomo-directed infrastructure projects, like the Moynihan Train Hall in Midtown Manhattan, also suffer from a lack of seating options for customers in order to discourage the homeless from resting there, to the detriment of paying customers who simply want or need somewhere to sit.

The feedback SEPTA received on the leaners has been virtually all negative. "Put me on the list of people who strongly object to them," wrote Alfred Achtert in a representative comment. "They demonstrate disrespect for passengers, seniors and others, who have difficulty standing for long periods of time. You say that you removed the seats because of people sleeping on them. The seats on the trolley platform were small and backless. There is no way that they could be used for sleeping. These learners should be removed and replaced with the old seats."

A customer service representative thanked Achtert for his feedback and added, "The leaning rails you referenced are now in widespread use across the country. They allow customers to recline and relax until their bus arrives."

SEPTA paid $16,750 for the 25 leaners, or $670 per unit. But Zarrinkelk said they're so uncomfortable and disrespectful SEPTA shouldn't have accepted them even as a gift, something they might have known had they done any outreach before buying them. But, both according to Zarrinkelk and the documents obtained by Motherboard, no such outreach appears to have ever taken place. When asked why not, Busch said, "Certainly, the needs of the vulnerable population were, and are, taken into consideration."

A leaner at the 69th Street Transportation Center. Credit: Motherboard staff.

Instead, SEPTA decided to learn the hard way. And it didn't take long. On October 19, 2020, just after the leaner installations were finished, the customer service email account received a complaint from a rider named Aimee Desjardins.

"This situation is unbearable," Desjardins wrote regarding the "removal of benches." She anticipated—or perhaps played an unwitting part in the crafting of—SEPTA's future excuses, by saying "The benches have not been used by people sitting too close together, as I travel Septa daily. There are more than enough Transit police standing around in groups of 5 or more mornings and afternoons to deal with the homeless people sleeping on benches.

When you remove benches to solve one issue, you are taking the benches from paying customers. Seniors, small children, riders who have all sorts of back, leg, knee and feet pains and medical conditions. Waiting for busses 5, 10, 20 to 30 minutes is an extremely long time to [be] waiting standing on your feet when in pain."

"This was a very poor choice and the wrong one, to take away from your customers," Desjardins concluded. "| am well aware of the problems and issues at [Frankford Transportation Center] with the vagrants and derelicts, seeing it every day in my travels. But don't make life harder on your paying customers to try to deal with some other issues. Bring back the silver benches for your riders to use."

Her email was forwarded to nine people at SEPTA, including Crystalle Cooper, the agency's chief officer for the Broad Street and Market-Frankford lines, on the latter of which the leaners were installed. It was then forwarded one more time by David Backers, a clerk dispatcher, to Kate O'Connor, SEPTA's chief engineer. "Just some interesting feedback regarding the benches at FTC," Backers said.

Currently, the leaners account for one percent of all benches in the SEPTA system, Busch said, and the agency is still evaluating feedback it gathers as it develops long-term plans.

But Zarrinkelk said this isn't a complicated issue. "I think it’s really, really clear where riders stand on the issue. It’s literally in black and white in front of SEPTA that riders are opposed to these leaner rails."

Philly Transit Agency Claims Anti-Homeless Architecture Meant to Combat COVID syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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giftinger-fan-blog · 4 years

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Sexy Lingerie Buying Tips For Men

Men jump to buy lingerie for the women in their lives. That said there is a distillation accomplishment for idiot to help manhood choose the boldness lingerie for their wives and girlfriends, as often the purchase is a present for a special occasion. Special occasions like a honeymoon, birthday or vacation are a great opinion to buy and hindrance lingerie. Relationships today are perhaps no more complicated than in the past, but it is clear that lingerie is cultivation in popularity due to a amounts of factors. Special occasions can be a loved one returning from a trip of responsibility or a weekend getaway. Regardless of the wisdom for buying lingerie, both manhood and girlfriend are often disappointed as the lingerie is not appropriate for the woman who has to flaw it, or worst of all, it doesn't even fit. Unlike flowers, jewelry or feast and a movie, lingerie needs to fit, and if it doesn't, the impression on the decline can be dramatic.

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Caution: One sum seizure number is not one extent seizure all. In the past manufacturers labeled these scoop one amounts narrowing all. Through sin experience, the labels have been changed to read one extent spasm most, but lots people assume that it restriction intakes all. It doesn't! Typically, but not always one quantities shortening capacity stipulation up to 5'6" and up to 145 pounds. The one extent abducing amount is very confusing to bulk buyers, and must have a substantial spandex component to fit.

When laying online the expressions to the wise is: Order from a website that has a levy free sum with a live homme to speak to. Second order from a mastery that carries inventory. The vast majority of sites are bedroom enterprise that carry little or no inventory. Third beware of sites that are drop shippers only. While drop deportation is perfectly good, and larger sites utilize some component of drop shipping, drop receptacle only sites rarely have good ability teaching as they may only vessel from one manufacturer, and since they carry no slices cannot develop capability education when they do not have handle to actually pull the appellation and respond to specific inquiries. Often the only option they have is to interjection the manufacturer. Third ascertain how long they have been in business on line. Do they have a retail store. What is their Google page rank? Don't be afraid to ask as reputable businesses are proud to answer those questions.

For more about https://giftinger.com/product-category/undergarments/lingerie/

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adoranymph · 5 years

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[2:05 pm-ish, April 20, 2019]

Man, there is nothing that puts me in a fouler mood than when I let my own personal procrastination demon get the better of me on a perfectly free Saturday to the point that I don’t start getting any writing done until after 2 in the afternoon. I had planned to get up early and everything, and I even did. Sort of.

I scrolled through a ton of YouTube videos first, and before I knew it, it was nearing ten in the morning and I still needed to eat something. Ugh, so I did that…and then I committed the sin of hibernating on the couch for a couple of hours to catch up on some anime-related stuff. Though it was the sort that always manages to fuel my inspiration and imagination.

[Present Day]

Okay, I know what you’re thinking: that all’s no excuse, every procrastinating writer says that as they convince themselves to turn on Netflix or Hulu to “get inspiration” instead of writing and end up marathoning that show they really just want to finish so they’re caught up with everyone else, and because they love it so much.

Just the same, it did give me what I needed to open up my laptop and start working towards my writing goal for the day working on editing and polishing my manuscript: I finally got around to watching Kara No Kyoukai: Mirai Fukuin – Recalled Out Summer and Recalled Out Summer: Extra Chorus.

Okay, now that probably doesn’t mean a whole lot just by a name-drop, but let me explain. After all, that’s the whole point of this blog post: My love letter to Type-Moon. (And yes, I realize I’m not the first person to express said love in a blog post.)

Saber from the Fate Series and Ryougi Shiki from Kara No Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners

Type-Moon is a Japanese game company known primarily for their visual novels. Not really a thing here in the West, at least not as much if at all, but when I was first introduced to the concept of visual novels, I thought of them as choose-your-own-adventures played as an electronic game rather than read as a book. As I’ve come to better understand it, it’s kind of like that, you do make certain decisions that can lead to certain endings, but sometimes, as in the case of arguably Type-Moon’s most well-known visual novel, Fate/Stay Night, the point is to play through three different versions of the same story premise: kid gets dragged into ancient battle royale known as the Holy Grail War, and with each version of the story, or “route”, being played through, each featuring a different heroine for our protagonist, Shirou Emiya. One route builds upon the previous, and each route gets subsequently darker in terms of plot points and content.

Fate/Zero, incidentally (and my #1 favorite anime ever), is the prequel to that, and succeeds where most prequels don’t, since it’s a tragedy (I’ll go into more detail on that in my upcoming post about how Fate/Zero succeeds as a prequel). That was written as a light novel (kinda like a YA novel, or well, a shorter novel, so “light” novel) before it was adapted into an anime, and sets up the events of all three routes in Stay Night. So, it confirms that no matter what route you’re in in Stay Night, the events of Zero hold true for each of them. (Which is interesting when you consider the damage some of the characters in Stay Night have been living with since Zero, yet they may or may not come up in Stay Night depending on what route’s being played.)

Cover art for Fate/Zero blu-ray box set

The co-founders of Type-Moon, writer Kinoko Nasu and illustrator Takashi Takeuchi, have come up with some pretty interesting and awesomely cool material in my opinion, and not only for Stay Night, which ultimately culminated in launching the Fate franchise, which has…a HUGE number of titles, and with the anime adaptations of Zero, the original of Stay Night, and the reboots of Stay Night covering the two subsequent routes that the original couldn’t really cover, a bunch more titles in the franchise have each been getting their own anime adaptations in turn, as though there was suddenly this HUGE frenzy for Fate title after Fate title to be adapted into an anime, demonstrating just how sprawling the lore and fanbase of this franchise is.

Promo art for Fate/Grand Order

And if that weren’t enough, there isn’t just Fate, there are other Type-Moon-developed visual novels whose worlds are connected to that of Fate. The only two I’m aware of for sure are Tsukihime and Kara No Kyoukai. (And then there’s Canaan, which was developed by Type-Moon too and its wonderful little 13-episode series in its own way, though I’ve been unable to verify for sure just how much if at all it’s connected with the aforementioned titles.) While I haven’t been able to get into Tsukihime much at all, since I can’t shell out to get my hands on the original visual novel, translated or not, and the anime is notorious for sucking so much that most deny it even exists, I have been able to get into Kara No Kyoukai, a series of films adapted originally from a seven-series online novel written by Nasu, and are seen by many as primers to the world of the Nasuverse (or the world of Type-Moon), which makes sense since when you see it you can recognize characters and plot points that feel like they were taken and reworked for things like Fate. Despite that though, they still do in fact exist in the same universe all as their own characters with their own stories.

Yeah it’s a lot. And the Kara No Kyoukai films cost a pretty penny, but this year I at long last got my hands on both the bluray box set of both the original seven films, as well as the additional film (Future Gospel and Recalled Out Summer: Prelude), and the extra special (Recalled Out Summer: Extra Chorus) just this year–stories that Nasu had an idea for after the original seven came out, but had not written in novel form. I’ve watched the first seven several times at least, but I was hesitant for the longest time about seeing the eighth film and the extra specials, since the first seven tied together so satisfyingly well, to put it mildly. But I finally gave in because I just love Type-Moon that much. And in the end, I was happy I got it, if only to have more Type-Moon in my life.

And that love compelled me to write out, essentially, a love letter conveying that love to Type-Moon. I’ve developed a lot of plot points for both my novel manuscript, as well as my style and voice as a writer, from the material I’ve seen from Type-Moon.

Cover art for blu ray box set of Kara No Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners original seven-film series

Fate/Zero was my induction, the jumping off point from which I finally took the plunge (some would argue watching the 2006 adaptation of the first route of Fate/Stay Night first is more prudent, but if I’m being honest, I tried that, and just couldn’t get through it knowing something like Fate/Zero was out there–I just couldn’t wait, though eventually I did end up owning and watching the original 2006 Stay Night, mostly because I was starved for Fate material until more of the anticipated new content came out, and because I was able to get a DVD copy of the series for $10.00–more than worth it, it turned out).

Promo art for Fate/Stay Night (2006)

Anyway, Zero pulled me in not just with eye-candy, godly levels of animation quality unprecedented in an anime TV series (considering how much budgeting goes into animation on the whole in the industry), and not just with its very epic concept of the Holy Grail War and all that that entailed as well, but also with its characters.

I adored Waver Velvet, the underdog student of magecraft who, despite being in over his head as the youngest participant in the War, manages to summon the hero Alexander the Great to act as his Servant, the one who’ll fight the other Masters by proxy with Servants of their own, all of them famous figures plucked from history and legend (with some creative license, in some cases a lot). And throughout the course of the War, they form an admirable friendship.

I despaired over the fate of Kariya Matou, who was basically the character that every show like this has, the one that gets ALL THE CRAP thrown at him, and undeservedly of course, as he tried so hard to win just for the sake of saving a girl from the abuses of her adoptive family, even with the cards stacked against him.

I relished in the development of the villain Kirei Kotomine, who could’ve just come off as your typical priest-that’s-secretly-a-bad-seed, but instead is SO much more than that, and it’s awesome.

Then there’s Gilgamesh, the sort of OP, arrogant villain you love to hate, but also the kind that has the power to back up his boasting being master of the universe.

Then you’ve got Saber, i.e. King Arthur, who despite apparently really being a girl named Arturia, all this time, still lives up to the namesake of the legendary King of the Britons.

And of course, my favorite of all, Kiritsugu Emiya. The relationship he shares with his wife, Irisviel von Einzbern, and their daughter, Illya; the motivations for why he does what he does unfolding as the show progresses, culminating in him finding redemption in at least being able to save the life of his eventual-adopted son, Shirou from the War’s fiery collateral damage at its climax; the epic rivalry between him and Kirei Kotomine; the way his methods clash with Saber’s chivalric values; the fact that he gets all of the best qualities of what I love so much about Takashi Takeuchi’s character designs. (Which is another way of saying he’s drawn so appealingly to me that he’s made it to #1 on my list of husbandos. That’s right, I said it!) The whole story and arc of his character is one of the, if not the, most poignant things I have ever seen in an any form of media. Never has a character made me physically ache at the thought of everything he went through, combined with the bittersweetness of his and Irisviel’s love story, as well as that of his love for Illya.

It’s basically everything I’ve ever wanted in a story’s emotional core or emotional foundation, and definitely served as a turning point in terms of my own writing, particularly seeing as how it’s a feels dynamic I’ve wanted to write for years. So thank you for that, Type-Moon: somehow, some way, much in the way that the universe miraculously weaves together a human being by a near infinite number of factors, you’ve managed to craft my own personal Holy Grail of an emotional story component.

Indeed, since the discovery of the Kiritsugu x Irisviel ship (an underappreciated gem depending on who you talk to), I haven’t found any ships to exceed that level of emotional perfection. I’ve found ones that come close, even ones that equal it, but thus far, in my eyes, Kiri x Iri is unrivaled, and probably never will be.

Sadly, this scene was not in the anime. Just in the Realta Nua re-release of the Fate/Stay Night VN game for PSP. 😦

In terms of ones that have equalled it though, one of those came unsurprisingly from another Type-Moon work, the aforementioned Kara No Kyoukai, and its main romantic core of the delightfully darkly complicated relationship of Ryougi Shiki and Kokutou Mikiya. That was another pleasant surprise. I had already fallen hard for Fate/Zero and everything it had to offer, but I’d heard of Kara No Kyoukai before that. It had been on my to-watch list for a while, but I’d say that learning that it takes place in same universe as Fate, the Nasuverse that is, it sort of drove me to get my hands on it a little sooner.

Cover art for Volume IV of the box set for Kara No Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners VII: …not nothing heart, with Shiki and Mikiya (OMG the feels)

My first copy was, admittedly, one of those many, many bootlegs floating around eBay (hem, hem), but at long last (especially since I got a bluray player (FINALLY) for this past Christmas), I was able to purchase the beautiful bluray boxset release of all seven movies, plus the special edition bluray for the Recalled Out Summer extras, because why not? Sure, again, the latter works basically as a sort of sweet but small desert to a large delicious main course, but that sweetness is worth it regardless, because it’s sweet, especially when you get treated to sweet strawberries in that sweet strawberry Hagan-Dasz ice cream of an extra story of things like seeing that (SPOILERS) Shiki and Mikiya eventually have an adorable little daughter named Mana, who for her limited screen time, does indeed seem to be the perfect blend of her parents. Plus it’s just great to see something so normal yet wondrous result from a romance that if not for a saving grace or two, probably would’ve ended in bloody tragedy.

Cover art for Recalled Out Summer box set featuring Shiki and Mikiya

Cover art for Recalled Out Summer blu ray set featuring Ryougi Mana (Shiki and Kokutou’s daughter, and Mitsuru Kamekura

So yeah, I’ve come to learn that when it comes to Type-Moon, where romance and personal relationships come in, the writing nine times out of ten shines (with the first true failure to connect with me coming in Fate/Extra Encore, and even then, because of the production studio behind it, it at least benefited me with flashbacks triggered by similar imagery used in another one of my favorite anime, Madoka Magica).

Again, sorry I haven’t been able to get into Tsukihime, but I’m not completely blind. There’s that anime adaptation that doesn’t exist ha, ha. In all seriousness though, I’m familiar with the basic premise, and some of the plot points seem to overlap other Type-Moon works. Plus there’s Wikipedia.

And Carnival Phantasm! Which is a little series Type-Moon produced as a celebration of their ten-year anniversary, something to reward the fans for being fans, and while I was at a disadvantage where a lot of the Tsukihime material came up, I still enjoyed it well enough, going on what I knew. But seeing as how Fate is arguably the most successful Type-Moon franchise, the ratio of Fate to Tsukihime material was almost 2:1. Which was awesome, as I basically got to see Type-Moon not only poke fun at itself and parodize its own characters, but actually give a sunnier if brief existence for some of these characters (because quite a lot of Type-Moon characters’ actual lives are SUCKY to put it lightly).

Screenshot of the Carnival Phantasm OP

For as sprawling as the lore of Type-Moon’s stories have grown, particulary with their Fate/Grand Order online game which seems to explore every single available Heroic Spirit that can be summoned as a Servant for your very own Holy Grail War, and the events of which have also been getting adaptations (the most recent exploring Gilgamesh’s past, and that has me intrigued if I’m being honest), there’re so many buried gems to find in there in terms of character and ideas and thoughts on life. Kara No Kyoukai in particular tends to philosophize quite a bit and contemplate things like reality, time, identity, balance, building a foundation for the world as a whole according to the Nasuverse. A bit like comic books, Fate in particular is one of those things where it’s debatable anymore where one should start, some answers being more correct than others, but once you find a place where you dip your toe in and get accustomed to the water, it’s easy to get wrapped up in what it’s various stories centered around the Holy Grail War are concerned.

I love stuff like that, and I’ve been inspired in my own work not just by Type-Moon on its own, but studio ufotable as well, which seems to be the ultimate Fate adaptation machine. Sure other studios do some of the lesser known titles (again like Extra), but ufotable got the reboot of Fate/Stay Night‘s second route, Unlimited Bladeworks, the adaptation of Fate/Zero before that, the film trilogy adaptation of the final Fate/Stay Night route Heaven’s Feel, and even the lighthearted quasi-AU Today’s Menu for Emiya Family, which is the Stay Night story if it was taken over by a cooking show, almost like Carnival Phantasm but not a parody, and still acknowledging the darker parts of the Fate universe, if distantly. Something about the care ufotable puts into their characterizations, along with the animation and art quality and the awesome voice-acting for the seiyuu and English VAs that end up getting casted (although I’m aware where the English casts are concerned that comes from the western licensing company that picks it up and not actually studio ufotable).

And then with Kara No Kyoukai, also made by ufotable, you get an expanse on this universe and its mechanics. It’s a bit vague on how magic works in both this and Fate, but I’ve actually found the idea of basing fantastic elements in the real word fascinating, not urban fantasy but something more than that. And the concepts it brings up. Like people having these things called “origins”, a certain trait from which their soul or being originated from within the Akashic Record, or “The Route” that once “awakened” in a person causes that trait to consume them. So if a person’s origin is “to consume”, and that’s awakened in that person (this requires a mage and the consent of the person who’s origin is being awakened), then they’ll say…embrace their desire to slaughter people en masse and then literally consume them afterward. Like this guy.

Ryougi Shiki vs. Shirazumi Lio – get him, Shiki, get that crazy S.O.B.!

Yeah, that’s the other thing. Apart from the things like origins and The Root or “Akashic Record” (which from what I’ve gathered is like the source of “everything” with a capital E: life, the universe, everything, and no, it’s not the number 42), Type-Moon’s world is what I like to call “beautifully dark”. Not a particularly unique thing, but either way, Type-Moon pulls it off well. There are moments of levity, but there are also very grotesque and disturbing goings-on underneath all that beauty, and even those things are beautiful in their own way. Sure, there are things like vampires or “dead apostles” floating around, and there’s a fair bit of bloody death, but then you’ve got corrupted Heroic Spirits who steal your heart and drink the blood from it like they’re squeezing the juice from a prickly pear, eye-powers that allow for a person to twist anything they want with their mind (including living human bodies), tentacle monsters crushing small children, souls jammed inside puppet bodies that start to fall apart to reveal their meaty, gear-riddled interiors, and life-sucking, magic-giving worms that consume the bodies of their hosts from within (okay we’ll file that under “beautiful grotesque”). And then there’s the aforementioned bloodthirsty killer whose origin is to consume and thus consumes the corpses of his victims (yeah, that Shirazumi Lio guy, see above, he does that)…when he doesn’t do weird stuff like contort them and mark them with the yin-and-yang symbol.

Just to list a few.

The name for Kara No Kyoukai in English is usually The Garden of Sinners, though Kara No Kyoukai literally translated actually means “The Boundary of Emptiness”. But a garden full of sinners is apt for one of the titles in the Type-Moon universe. In some ways that and things like Fate almost transcend storytelling when adapted well, and with godly animation and music (both Fate/Zero and Kara No Kyoukai‘s OSTs were composed by the incomparable Yuki Kajiura, who’s practically the authority on darkly beautiful and epic themes) to back up the engaging storylines.

And speaking of Yuki Kajiura, I’d like to take this moment to not only give props to her work with Fate adaptations, but Hideyuki Fukusawa as well, the main OST composer for the Unlimited Bladeworks reboot, as well as Kenji Kawai, who composed the OST for the original 2006 Fate–that adaptation might have its drawbacks, but that OST does wonders and is seriously underrated, especially considering this is the guy who composed the OST for the original Ghost in the Shell film.

youtube

Nothing is perfect, but nevertheless, this is a fictional world that I have fallen irrevocably in love with, much in the same way I did with Harry Potter, though I’ve grown since then. And I just wanted to extend and express that appreciation and love to something that has inspired me and the way I approach my writing going forward so incredibly.

So, thank you, Type-Moon, for the awesomeness you offer, in all its forms. You have my most sincere and utmost praise and respect. I hope that even when the last of the Fate routes, Heaven’s Feel, has finally received its full and deserved adaptation in the trilogy of films, that this is not the last the world will see of your wonderful content. You have more than earned your loyal and adoring fan base ten times over. You are amazing! ❤

Love Letter to Type-Moon Man, there is nothing that puts me in a fouler mood than when I let my own personal procrastination demon get the better of me on a perfectly free Saturday to the point that I don't start getting any writing done until after 2 in the afternoon.

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hall53brooks-blog · 6 years

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The Goodbye Celebration ( 2015).

If http://reife-losungen.info/dietonus-bewertungen-preis-welche-effekte/ are actually to strongly believe the worldwide media, recently the endure Dutch voter defeated populism by refusing the offer due to the Celebration for Freedom (PVV) from the Dutch Trump", Geert Wilders, to come to be the largest gathering in parliament. Someone claimed I right now ruined my rate of metabolism following this diet as a result of my grow older that is why I do certainly not loose body weight. The bad reaction is actually the kind of froth-mouthed woman-hating rubbish that seems listed below the pipes of numerous female-written cavalcades, the odd YouTube craze from the feminist-targeted misogynist hate-video, or even the viral embarrassment from women which challenge to involve conversation from gendered depersonalisation by themselves creative phrases. 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howyoumakemeseemyself · 6 years

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shelley + olivia; a fucking primer

it’s a multi-faceted issue but the first thing has to come first; olivia’s abusive af to both shelley and roman (understatement) and i want it to be made clear that nothing i say hereafter is meant to excuse or condone anything she did. i also want to encourage anyone dissenting or wanting to debate any points to pls be courteous; i’m an abuse survivor and victim blaming in particular makes me really anxious bc of Circumstances(TM). i don’t know y’all’s stories but these are sensitive issues and we’re all in this together, thank you in advance.

anyway, i think olivia’s outward treatment of shelley might be the easiest place to start. she’s incredibly controlling and manipulative, hiding her away in the attic and putting boundaries in place basically to keep her alone (and vulnerable.) i could list a million examples but i just rewatched that ep where shelley gets the earrings and olivia berates the fuck out of her until she cries :( it’s bad and shelley knows it’s really, really bad, which is part of the reason why she’s so grateful for roman in the first place.

i have theories about the olivia’s motivations and why she takes the actions that she does, but honestly it’s a lot to unpack and i don’t want to derail too much here ahaha. hoooooooowever, if someone else like perhaps an olivia blog wants to tackle that, by all means go for it ♥ ( @motherolivia this seems like a good place to tag u ;) )

how shelley carries herself is a direct effect of how olivia treats her. it definitely also has to do with how she’s perceived by the world and the treatment of her classmates, but how olivia makes her feel only exacerbates it. even within the confines of the godfrey estate, in her own bedroom, she’s still slouched over as if she’s trying to make herself look smaller; she still wears the wig (and still wears the wig to purposely cover the right side of her face.) i can’t remember any point where we see her actually relaxed outside of maybe some interactions with roman (that scene in the car with peter and letha comes to mind) and that’s just. so sad to me ugh ugh.

honestly one of the hardest things to hear is shelley talking about jenny snubbing her and being like ‘my first assumption, of course, is that it was my own fault.’ i think as hard as it probably is to separate trauma induced from olivia herself and trauma induced from people in school being fuckin horrible to her, olivia’s also complicit af in shelley’s self-image and insecurities bc she’s. y’know. shelley’s mother lmao.

we see shelley pushing back against olivia during some encounters, but it’s obvious that she’s used to being bullied/manipulated into submission, and olivia is someone she’s come to fear. (honestly, olivia can be such a loose cannon and absolutely terrifying sometimes, i don’t blame anyone for being afraid of her.) it’s easier to just bow her head and let olivia have her way, lest things get miraculously worse.

the thing is though, despite all of this, it’s be disingenuous to say that all shelley feels towards olivia is blind hatred. this is for a few reasons. i think that she’d hate olivia much more fully and completely if shelley knew of the extent to which olivia abused roman, but that conversation hasn’t happened yet so as of now shelley’s feelings are more complicated than that.

olivia’s manipulated shelley into making her think that she needs olivia to continue existence especially in the beginning. this is common for gaslighters (ie; ‘you’re nothing without me’), and a very hard train of thought to break out of, especially if the gaslighter is someone you depend on for safety or financially. shelley may or may not be conscious of this but feels that from a logical standpoint, without olivia (or roman at least), she wouldn’t be safe in the grove which keeps her close. as time passes, especially through s2, she comes to realize that she can survive on her own, which makes returning to her harder (and this is where i insert the disclaimer that i’m not even done with 2 yet so bare with me >>)

if shelley is aware of said manipulation and despite all of the awful treatment, it’s hard for her to say that she doesn’t love olivia. love is kind of a complicated feeling on its own, but once you add in all of the godfrey madness that just....makes it so much worse lmao. there’s definitely a bit of obligation involved (ie; i love you because you’re my mother and i should) but it goes deeper than that.

shelley knows that something like love isn’t easy for her mother in general--she straight up says this to her face in yet another fucking gut-wrenching scene in s2, telling her; “you loved me the best way you could.” i think she was being genuine about that, and i think that she holds less against olivia than maybe she should tbh. see; the first part of that heartbreaking quote; “it must have been hard for you to have me as a daughter. i understand why you kept me hidden away.”

like ok first of all, ow.

secondly, i was so grateful for this entire moment because when shelley and olivia are together they’re never acknowledging the elephant in the room and the layers going on within their dynamic. all of this stuff that was just implied for a season and a half finally comes to light, and it’s only when shelley’s about to die that something’s actually said. i think that she means this too; i think she’s more resentful than she lets on, but she gets that their situation and her condition specifically wasn’t ideal, olivia just didn’t know how to love shelley the way that she needed to be loved, and that this really was what was best in olivia’s mind.

there’s also a part of her (that she’s working hard to keep quiet) that’s grateful for everything olivia has done for her, olivia brought her into this world, saved her, kept her and let her live in the house, even though she was doing it in a sometimes extraordinarily shitty way. as said though, she doesn’t forgive olivia for the years of endured abuse--she tells pryce that she wants olivia to think that she’s dead right before dropping the previously-quoted love bomb on her (the duality of which made it one of my favorite shelley moments i was like yessssssss) and that’s completely fair and valid lmao, i think that you can understand why something’s happening and i think that you can even love someone but that doesn’t mean it’s a good place to be, or that their bad treatment of you is excused. not forgiving her does feel counterintuitive to everything she knows though, so she frequently catches herself especially when thinking about the past. she knows that there are unforgivable things, and she’s working hard to like not feed into guilt that olivia herself essentially planted within her.

anyway, this is way too long already and i haven’t finished hg yet so i’m just gonna chill ♥ tl;dr, “my love and my hate for you are infinite” was like the most fitting tag for olivia for a reason, okay bless.

#cw child abuse #cw gaslighting #// if i need any others just let me know #; [ something jars my brain; when I close my eyes it goes away ]#o; [ my love and my hate for you are infinite ]#sb; silver what did you get up to today????#me; *cries exhaustedly abt my sweet summer child*

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gardencityvegans · 7 years

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Weekend Reading, 10.22.17

http://www.thefullhelping.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/weekend_reading.jpg

You may have heard that Google Maps just pulled an experimental feature that told users how many calories they’d burn if they walked to a destination instead of driving. The feature was intended to promote exercise and greater awareness of energy balance, but pushback from eating disorder treatment professionals—as well as troubled consumers—turned the tide.

The app not only showed the caloric deficits associated with walking, but it also framed these deficits in terms of food: for example, it would inform users that a certain walking distance “burns around 125 Calories—that’s more than 1 mini cupcake!” (Mini cupcake icon included.)

Reading about the controversy, I was brought back to anorexia recovery, when my commitment was constantly tested by our cultural focus on weight loss. I did my best to eliminate the triggers I could: I stopped reading certain blogs, I stopped purchasing most women’s magazines, and I consciously excused myself from passing conversations that were focused on dieting or exercise.

Eventually I realized that it was impossible to hide from diet talk and food noise. Instead, I would have to train myself to handle them.

It took me years to understand that exposure to diet culture hadn’t just triggered me; it had also brought to the surface a lot the anger I was carrying around about my recovery process. I told myself that I was angry at a cultural dialog that condones body shaming, and this was part of the truth.

The whole truth is that I was also angry to not to be a part of this culture anymore: the rituals of starting a new diet, having a new “thing” with food, monitoring my body’s inputs and outputs. Those rhythms had ruled my life for so long, and I felt lost without them. To indulge them, I knew, would be a rejection of the healing process I had committed to. I could distance myself from them, but I couldn’t help envying those who didn’t have to.

At that point, I needed recovery a lot more than I wanted it. Things changed. Eventually I would discover how liberating it is to hop off of the dieting roller coaster for good. I would realize that I’m entitled to eat simply because it keeps me alive, and it tastes good, not because I’ve burned off so many calories exercising or walking. I stopped defining my diet in terms of what I avoided, and I stopped flirting with shiny new restrictive experiments or food eliminations.

Back then, calorie and activity tracking were still specifically associated with weight loss. Nowadays, tracking has become a lot more normalized, thanks to apps and Fitbits and the like. You don’t have to identify with being on a diet to monitor how many calories you burn in a fitness class, or how many steps you’ve taken over the course of a day.

I have to wonder the impact that the mainstreaming of activity/food tracking has on men and women in ED recovery, not to mention anyone who’s susceptible to fluctuations in body image. It pains me to think that there are more triggers than ever, even though I understand why these programs, apps, and devices exist and see their potential value.

As the Times article notes, consumption of high-calorie, low-fiber foods and inactivity are major health threats in America. While it would be nice to think that our epidemic of lifestyle-related diseases could be combatted exclusively through mindfulness, I know that’s a lot to ask. Forging a conscious relationship with food takes time, energy, and emotional investment, whereas tracking promises dependable and timely results: do the math, stick to a plan, and you’ll get the results you want.

I’m glad that Google pulled the maps feature, because it wasn’t elected: users were forced to see theoretical calorie burns whether they opted to or not. I think ED treatment professionals were right to intervene, and I’m not surprised that many consumers reported feeling shamed by the app. At the same time, I don’t condemn tracking programs, so long as they remain voluntary. I know that they help some people, and so long as that’s true, I’m glad they’re out there.

A huge part of ED recovery is learning to accept one’s own health needs without having to generalize them. You can’t create a trigger-free world for yourself, and you can’t police the way that other people experience food, exercise, or body image. Tracking and calorie counting work for some people, and dieting can be an appropriate health choice, depending on the circumstances. Those who have suffered through disordered eating may always need to create strong boundaries around these topics, and that’s OK. But it’s personal.

I kept coming back to this thought as I read about the Google maps controversy over the weekend. I was less interested in the controversy itself than in the question of how we can all navigate an increasingly BMI-focused world while honoring our bodies. I was reminded that my ED recovery would not have been possible without my learning to identify and protect my needs while letting go of the expectation that my environment would ever make it easy.

Today, I want to offer up strength and encouragement to those of you who might be experiencing anxiety, triggers, shame, or any other tensions as you navigate the journey toward body respect. We dwell in a complex food environment, and we’ll continue to see a lot of proposed solutions in the coming years. Most of them will be well-intentioned, and some of them might be tone deaf or have unintended consequences. The best any of us can do is to stand by ourselves and our unique relationships with food, trusting that intuition will guide us toward the tools that serve us best.

On that note, here are some of the recipes that have called out to me in the past week.

Recipes

I’m so into Amanda’s creamy vegan pumpkin pasta: it’s pure comfort food with a short ingredient list!

This mushroom soup is so nutritious, packed with vegetables, white beans, and turmeric. Just the thing to fend off a fall cold with (though fingers crossed we all manage to escape those this season).

Another soup, this one of the blended/creamy variety. I love how flavorful Lindsay’s Zanzibar carrot tomato soup is; it’ll be a great way to satisfy my love of tomatoes once the fresh ones are out of season (sniffle).

My mind is already inevitably turning to Thanksgiving ideas, and I’m so inspired by Rosie’s maple pecan sweet potato pie. It’s a true sweet and savory hybrid—she describes it as a sweet potato pie and shepherd’s pie hybrid—which is right up my flavor alley.

Is it possible to bookmark too many vegan chocolate chip cookie recipes? Hope not. Erin’s awesome looking vegan chocolate chunk cookies are my latest pick.

Reads

1. The New York Times reports on Google maps’ calorie counting feature.

2. Joanna put this series of photographs on my radar. Artist Conor Nickerson photoshopped current images of himself onto childhood photographs, creating a series in which his child and adult selves are hanging out. I think it’s a such touching idea, almost a visual rejoinder to the hypothetical of what we’d tell our younger selves if we had a chance.

3. I never doubted it.

4. Many vegans consciously elect to work with vegetarian or vegan RDs, but doing so isn’t always an option, especially if the client prefers to meet in person or has limited options on a health insurance plan. I’m so glad that Matt Ruscigno has contributed this article, a primer on working with vegan clients, to Today’s Dietitian.

Matt doesn’t only address things like B-12 supplementation or meal ideas; he also encourages non-vegan RDs to be sensitive to the fact that there are many motivators for choosing a vegan diet, to ask lots of open, curious questions, and to ask about the healthcare practitioners clients may already be gathering information from online. Great information for the dietetic community to have at its fingertips.

5. Good news for transparency in scientific literature: PubMed will now display information on conflicts of interest and funding right below abstracts. This information is generally disclosed within a paper, but many consumers get information from abstracts, especially if they don’t have subscriptions or access to full articles online. It’s an especially strong step forward in making the public aware of nutrition studies that are funded by industry.

Enjoy the food, enjoy the reads. I’ve got a comfort food dish on the way in a day or two, and I’ll be sharing a flavorful recipe (and giveaway!) from Richa‘s fabulous new cookbook on Friday.

[Read More ...] http://www.thefullhelping.com/weekend-reading-10-22-17/

#infrared #health

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brilliancewithin-blog · 7 years

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I love a bit of ‘online retail therapy’ and as I’m off to London for a very exciting motivational Andy Harrington ‘Power To Achieve’ event next weekend in our wonderful Capital City of London which along with the dreary weather here in Manchester, seemed like a great excuse to do some ‘on line’ shopping..

After a flick through the new Kaleidoscope Spring Collection, I placed an order for a couple of new outfits to take with me to the Power To Achieve Event in London. (see link to the Event at the bottom of this post..)

I placed my order last night at 10 p.m. and it arrived this morning at 08:30 a.m. How’s that for a quick turnaround? I’d not even had time to put my makeup on before the delivery man was knocking on my door – he got a shock…

Yep turn away NOW….

I always get a little sense of excitement unwrapping a bundle of new parcels at home… even though I know what’s in them, it somehow feels like a ‘present’ and trying on clothes at home is definitely much easier than the shop ‘cubicles’…

First though, it’s time to get some make up on…. and with a little help from my granddaughter, after applying moisturiser and some Laura Mercier primer, you can’t beat a bit of Estee Lauders’ Double Wear Foundation, for covering a multitude of sins!

Teamed with some Bobbi Brown translucent powder and a bit of ‘gold shimmer’ which I use for the eyes and a quick brush across the tops of my cheek bones.. Add some blusher and touch of mascara and I’m ‘good to go’… Oh not forgetting the lipstick of course!

For the Andy Harrington Event and my ‘on line’ order, I’d decided to stick with some classic colours so that I can keep my travel bag light and mix and match the tops with the same trousers.. Charcoal, Black and Cream being the theme…

I’ve learned from experience that lugging large cases across London on the Tube is no fun, I’m definitely keeping my bag as light as possible for this trip with some careful mix and matching!

I loved these trousers from Kaleidoscope when I purchased the ‘taupe’ ones previously Fashion Ideas: A Casual Look For a 50+ Manchester Lifestyle Blogger and therefore decided I’d add a ‘charcoal’ pair to my collection!

They are so comfortable to wear, don’t really crease (or they drop out quickly anyway) and can be dressed up or dressed down. They look great with boots or as in the photo below, paired with a pair of stiletto’s – great for a night out!

I decided these would be perfect for sitting throughout the Power To Achieve Event run by the great motivational speaker, Andy Harrington, which runs over 3 long days.. starting at 09:00 a.m. and finishing at 08:00 p.m.! I’m soooo excited…

Hey – sorry about the ‘messy bed’… I just couldn’t wait to try on my new outfit so the parcel packaging is all over the bed!

I love this new cream top with the black edging and zip detail and it looks fab with my cream jacket… all from Kaleidoscope (they are my favourite ‘on line’ fashion retailer).. Clearly the zip can be ‘pulled up’ to reduce cleavage if you were wearing it for work or pulled down slightly further to reveal a bit of cleavage for a night on the Town… (My motto – if you’ve got it flaunt it – while you still can!), I’m making the most of it before my skin gets too crepe! And even when it is too crepe, I may just take the philosophy of….

This top will be so versatile and I’ll be able to use it for ‘work and play’.. With a black jacket it will be a ‘smart’ classic office top and the cream jacket just adds a bit of evening glamour – what do you think?

I love the detail on this cream jacket with the lace panel insert…

For a change of top to wear at the EVENT, I decided on a new ‘easy wear’ black top which I can pair with the same ‘charcoal’ trousers… or I may take the black trousers that I wore in Cheltenham for a change. (reminder.. bag weight to a minimummm) The new black top has long sleeves so I’d be comfortable to just wear the top without a jacket. Do you think that will make up for inclusion of the extra trousers?

Either way, I love this top. It covers the ‘batwings’…. yikes, whilst enhancing the ‘boobs’ and he voile/lace pattern at the top ‘glams’ it up slightly – Perfect in my book!

Again, this black top can be dressed up with some ‘glitzy’ jewellery and some funky shoes or boots for a night out or worn plain throughout the day…

So now I’m REALLY Excited… just in case you couldn’t tell.. I’m building up to the event, listening to the motivational downloads (see below) and now my outfits are sorted… Bring it on!!!

If you want to read more about Andy’s event, I’ve put a link to his website below.. I heard him speak recently at a 1 day seminar in Manchester – an introduction into the art of public speaking and he was great! I’m also working through the personal development MP3 downloads which for an incredibly low price of only £7.00 are absolutely fabulous and really helping me to focus on ‘new beginnings’…

If you ever get the chance to attend one of his events, my advice is to take it! I’ll let you know more about my trip to the Capital City after THE EVENT!..

Andy Harrington: Power To Achieve Event Feb 10th – 12th at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in London: https://powertoachieve.co.uk/optin-10068315

Manchester 50+ Lifestyle Blogger Chooses Black & Cream As Her London Fashion Theme.. I love a bit of 'online retail therapy' and as I'm off to London for a very exciting motivational Andy Harrington 'Power To Achieve' event next weekend in our wonderful Capital City of London which along with the dreary weather here in Manchester, seemed like a great excuse to do some 'on line' shopping..

#Andy Harrington #Black and Cream Theme #Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation #Fashion Blog #Fashion for Over 50&039;s #Humour #INSPIRATION #Makeup Post #Manchester 50+ Lifestyle Blogger #Motivation #PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT #Power To Achieve Event

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