#i am once again trying to rediscover my art style

[gingerjunhan]

It’s official, I hit 100 followers! :D thank you all so much for all of the love and support- it means so much to me 🩷 my silly little summer hobby is growing up *wipes tears* they grow up so fast.

I’ve been saying for a while that I would do a little q&a/ “get to know me” type of thing once hitting 100, so here it is! Thank you to everybody who sent me questions! I wasn’t sent too many (which is totally fine lmao) so I’ll just share a little bit about myself with each one :)

How have you been?

I’ve been great! Stressed due to school, but great :) I love doing this- being able to write and share it with all of you- so it’s a nice escape from my workload.

What's you're favorite subject?

When I was in high school, it was definitely art classes. I actually almost went to an art school!

What's your major (only if you feel comfortable ofc!)

I’m a journalism major! I spend lots of my free time writing. Good thing I love it so much lol. I’m in my second year of college, and I truly don’t think I would’ve rediscovered my love for writing if it weren’t for my major

What's your favourite non-kpop genre of music?

I’m a big fan of alternative, “pop punk,” pop, and boy bands. Some of my favorite artists outside of kpop are I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, Fall Out Boy, Harry Styles, 🩷Big Time Rush🩷, Ricky Montgomery, Rina Sawayama, and I’ve recently been getting back into Dodie Clark

footnote: I’ve been wanting to write a “Xdinary Heroes as Big Time Rush songs” for months, but I have no clue what that fandom overlap looks like? Idk that might be one I write just for the hell of it

What are some other kpop groups I’m in to?

I listen to a lot of different groups (my kpop playlist is LONG) but my other favorite groups alongside xh are Stray Kids, Seventeen, Shinee, and Ateez!

for anyone wondering, my biases are Seungmin, Dino, Key, and Mingi 👍🏻

When it comes to xh, I’ve been a fan since the announcement of Hello, World! I wanted to try to get into kpop right before Happy Death Day came out, but I was too intimidated. I followed a few groups I wanted to get into, but nothing ever came from them. Then, through the magic of ✨Instagram algorithm✨ I found a clip of Jooyeon from the Happy Death Day music video. I watched the mv, thought they seemed cool, followed them on Instagram and then completely forgot about it! That summer, a friend of mine introduced me to skz, and the algorithm did it’s thing again and xh was back in my feed announcing Hello, World! They were the first group I loved a really got into- and now the rest is history!

What's your favourite colour?

Purple! :D 💜

If you could be a patch of grass anywhere in the world, where would you want to be?

I love this question??? I’m thinking the Swiss Alps. I just feel like the Alps would be so beautiful. Like, imagine being a blade of grass on a hillside of the Alps? Idk it just seems amazing

Do you watch any anime?

I do! My favorite anime is Hunter x Hunter :) I’m terrible at watching new shows and movies, so I’ve only seen a handful of them. The most recent one I watched was My Happy Marriage. I don’t typically do romance animes, but I LOVED this one! Definitely check it out if you’re looking for something new

I think I’m gonna stop the questions here. Like I said, I didn’t get that many, so I just chose a few that were sent in. Thanks again for sending them 🫵🏻🩷

This feels silly to be geeking out about, but I really am happy that you all are here and like what I’m doing. It’s always been a dream of mine to make something for people to enjoy, and this is my silly little way of doing that. Thank you so much for the support! More to come soon :)

#gjh talks

[yellow-sword]

ok but like what if-

#i am once again trying to rediscover my art style #kamado tanjirou #kamado tanjiro #hashibira inosuke #kamado nezuko #agatsuma zenitsu #shinobu kocho #shinobu kochou #some small #inotan #zentan #inozen #inotanzen #theyre practically butterfly mansion kids #no i do not take constructive criticism #7tc art #kny #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #fanart #u know that meme with the guys on the couch cheering?

[cosplayinamerica]

Tiana from The Princess and the Frog : dressesandcapes // photo: itsjustnovice

I'm sure everyone has heard or seen the "Historically Accurate Disney Princess" series by Claire "Shoom' lah" Hummel? Well, I stumbled upon her art a long time ago and then rediscovered it again recently and saw her version of Tiana and immediately fell in love. I have seen other people do her other princesses, but I had never seen anyone do her version of Tiana before and knew that I wanted to bring this art to life. Plus, I love doing "extra" or different versions of classic characters. If you ask any of my friends about me, they will tell you that the bigger or more "extra" the costume, the better! And that was Tiana's 1920s outfit for me!

I was pleasantly surprised about how many people recognized who I was! I thought it would be too different from Tiana’s typical outfit to be recognizable. But I even had a little girl run up to me and get my attention. But once she had my attention, she didn’t know what to do! She was so shy that she didn’t know how to interact with me. So I started singing “When I’m Human” and she started to smile but was still so shy. Her mom took a picture of us, and she waved a small goodbye. I love these small moments at cons. Whenever I dress up as a Disney character, I feel like I become that character a little bit so that I can keep their fantasy alive whenever I see a child.

I also received a great reaction from the POC cosplay community. Everyone was so kind and loved asking me about my cosplay. It was such a welcoming environment. The POC cosplay community is so supportive and I wish they would get more recognition in the bigger cosplay community. I feel that a lot of POC cosplayers are not really recognized because they don’t look exactly like the characters they cosplay (which is a bigger issue on media lacking representation) but I would love for them to receive more support. :)

The costume was put together with a lot of research. When I first saw it I asked my other cosplayer friends how they thought I should construct it. After talking to one of my friends who does historically accurate costumes, we thought that the best way to move forward was to do a robe de style type of dress that was popular in the early 1920s. Robe de style dresses are not like the typical flapper dress where it was a column, rather it was a drop waist dress with panniers for hip volume and skirts that fell well below the knees. But after doing some more research I realized that the art did not really match the structure of the classic robe de style, so I decided to draft my own pattern.

The skirt looks deceptively simple but actually has about 10 yds of tulle and chiffon other fabric for volume and ultimate twirl effect, as well as 5 yds of the decorative beaded fabric gathered for a voluminous and effortless look. It was quite the challenge assembling this all onto a drop waist skirt, but I did it!

The top…the top was a pain. In hindsight, I realize I chose the wrong type of fabric for what I was trying to achieve. Draping this fabric to get the lovely pleats shown in the picture was painful. I spent hours at my dress form hand sewing and hand tacking the pleats. However, the fabric does not really hold pleats as well as I like so I actually plan to remake the top for future shoots.

My favorite part of this cosplay is probably one of the smallest pieces, the hat. I love making hats and working on wigs so this cosplay was super fun. The hat is made out of buckram that is shaped with steam and wire to keep its shape. The hair is based on the finger wave style that was popular in the 1920s, but I kept my hair a bit longer as Tiana is always shown as having slightly longer hair than what was popular then.

Oh boy! Cosplay has become a big part of my life! I have met so many friends through the cosplay community and have found a hobby that I’m incredibly passionate about. My cosplay friends are the people I am able to really nerd out with and hang around with at cons (as well as outside of cons)! I now can walk into a con and know that there is at least one person I know and have a blast. Even if we just end up sitting in a corner we have a great time!

Some of my cosplay friends are also the ones who encourage me to continually work on improving my skills. For example, one of my friends/senpai really pushed me to participate in a masquerade with her (something I would never have done on my own). Even though I was extremely stressed working on the cosplay for the competition, the day of the masquerade I was so pumped (even though I was running on about 3 hours of sleep). I was running on pure adrenaline but it was completely worth it because we won “Best in Show”! I was completely flabbergasted and proud of myself. I was and am incredibly thankful to my friend who pushed me to take on this challenge. Without her, I never would have had that experience.

I think I would like people to know that while cosplay is incredibly fun and fulfilling it can be challenging. I have seen some wonderful people be attacked online by random strangers for simply enjoying their hobby and that breaks my heart. I hope that cosplayers and fellow nerds can create an environment of positivity where we encourage each other! I love this nerdy little hobby and am so grateful for all the wonderful people I have met along the way, so I just want to see it thrive! <3

Also, if you see me at a con please say hi! I love meeting new people! :)

Find out more https://linktr.ee/Dressesandcapes

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The Princess and the Frog on Amazon  https://amzn.to/360B2bQ

#Tiana #Tiana cosplay #princess and the frog #princess and the frog cosplay #disney #disney cosplay #cosplay #cosplay interview #black cosplay #black cosplayer #poc cosplay #poc cosplayer

[headcanonspam]

I am in a grumpy mood, so have a headcanon I wrote a bit ago & never posted, I don't think:

Once Nicky & Joe went to a gay bar ostensibly to roleplay as twink & bear* meeting for the first time after messaging on Grindr, except that they got distracted within the first five minutes because as it turned out the bartender (an actual twink) was a Tunisian/Dutch MFA painting student who did all the art in the place which they got distracted admiring & thus go into a conversation w/ him about where they inquired about buying it. And since this was a random Tues & the bar was fairly empty, they got into a long conversation about art w/ said bartender which turned into a conversation about mixology (the bartender was very good at his job & also had a whole section for mocktails that Nicky was very impressed by) which turned into a conversation about how the bartender was in a relationship with an Italian wildlife photographer (who not only photographed bears, but was also, himself, a bear, albeit of a different sort than the ones he photographed) (his Grindr bio definitely included some kind of pun to that effect, which is one of the reasons the bartender initially messaged him), who wound up coming in mid-way through the conversation & the four of them maintained correspondence for a bit & Joe & Nicky have a lot of both of their works in various safehouses.

They mean to try the roleplay again, but first they got distracted b/c they rediscovered their love of drag (last time they were into it was in the 80's; Joe is very good at singing & dancing & Nicky likes the headspace he gets in when Joe does his make-up -- he can do it himself, but Joe has Opinions so he lets Joe take the lead on their looks, which generally complement each other in some way); & THEN they were in one of their "sex is fine but I'd rather cuddle with you on the couch" phases; & then they were busy writing erotic love letters & mailing them to each other, even though they were in the same place (they stopped when Nile accidentally opened one & proceeded to give them little sister style shit about it); & then they were at a safehouse that had all the good shibari gear; & then they were on a hellish job for six months; & then they went to Malta & had a lot of life affirming sensual slow vanilla-ish sex & did a lot of cooking & painting & walking by the water while holding hands; & anyway, my point is, they haven't come back around to it yet. They are busy guys. Someday, probably, if they don't get distracted, it will get brought up again, maybe, if something else doesn't come up first.

*neither of them looked like either part, but that's not the funny bit. The funny bit is that, in a rare example of miscommunication between them, they both thought they were supposed to be the twink. Joe thought he was because he was in a rare clean-shaven phase after their last job, while Nicky had some scruff from the same. Nicky thought he was supposed to be the twink because Joe had bulked up for said job to pose as a weight-lifter & Nicky had been looking at Joe getting dressed in the morning for months & thinking about Joe's muscles. Joe & Nicky, though they don't realize it, exude a lot of clueless sexually ambiguous grandpa tries to be hip for beloved gay grandchild vibes; neither really knows how to embody either bear or twink, because they are fuzzy on what both actually mean. But their roleplays are more just excuses to ogle each other, so really: it would have worked out in the end no matter what.

#tog #the old guard #kaysonova #yusuf al kaysani #nicolo di genova

[zbeok]

a good tradition to follow even if i am not on time. here is my analysis: a year marred by periods of inactivity. the sense of a jenga tower having been felled, and now to rebuild it. there are many sketches this year. i’d like to believe i have improved but i cannot tell for sure; i’d like to say it does not matter too much since i have kept going. looser stylistically than previous years. i had an art style and i think i’ve been straying from the standard which i think is good for me. a lot looser with abstraction, which i have been trying to understand better. more comics this year, which i cannot put easily into this compilation (haha). it was difficult to live through this year, but so it goes. i hope to make things i like this year once again, and rediscover how it feels to make more. i hope to understand tiredness more so i can feel less of it.

#summary of art #art summary #snerking intensifies #omg i mistagged #2019 summary of art #2019 art summary

[klaineitupanotch]

Elfinder Fic Masterlist.

It’s late, but here’s my list of Glee fanfiction! Hopefully I’m posting this right lol. I’ll go oldest to newest (roughly anyway).  Another Time, Another Place What if Kurt had met Blaine a year earlier? How would his life have changed? In his sophomore year, during the spring, Kurt Hummel ends up by chance meeting a charming young man named Blaine Anderson, who turns out to be in his own Glee club. The two begin down the road of becoming friends and then the journey that their relationship takes them. Will they be able to face any problems ahead? No matter what they may be? https://archiveofourown.org/works/709573/chapters/1311324 Notes: My very first fic written in 2013 (I believe lol, or maybe 2012) so it’s far from perfect, but it’s where it all began for me.  A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Vows In the competitive city of LA, Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson are trying their best to break into showbiz. Neither one figured their chance would come in the form of a modelling gig that would not only pay the bills but help the cause for marriage equality. Where this golden opportunity could lead to more than exposure in the media. https://archiveofourown.org/works/866205/chapters/1662102 Notes: Cute lil fic I did for the Klaine Reverse bang.  Knocked Him For A Time Loop In the year 1903, young magician Blaine Anderson longs for an escape from his impending arranged marriage. A spell gone wrong thrusts him into the year 2013, where he meets Kurt Hummel. Someone equally surprised to find the boy he’d chosen as an essay subject suddenly appear in his bedroom. As if trying to figure out how to get Blaine back to his own time wasn’t hard enough, both started to ponder the same question: Were they star-crossed lovers or merely kindred spirits thrown for a time loop? https://archiveofourown.org/works/962502/chapters/1886645 Notes: Second fic I did for the reverse bang.  What a Feeling Through the hell he faced while living in Lima Ohio, Kurt Hummel finally made it out of the backwards cow town to the city of San Francisco. However, to survive meant dreams had been crushed, hopes forgotten, and impenetrable walls built around him. Long gone is the naive youth who dreamed of Broadway and romance. To the new Kurt Hummel, romance is dead. After finally turning 21, Kurt decides to let loose and finally get laid. He didn't count on the two young men that would come into his life because of this choice. Enter Sebastian Smythe and Blaine Anderson, both offering different things within Kurt's life, and causing varied reactions within him. Will he be able to keep the life style he fought so hard to gain without the risk of emotions ruining it? https://archiveofourown.org/works/704320/chapters/1299141 Notes: This one is technically Sebklaine/Kurtbastian/Klaine/Seblaine, so be prepared of that going in. My first forray into writing Sebastian into the fray and I loved it, lol.  Hummel and Oates Klaine ‘80s AU. Sometimes even potential soulmates can get off on the wrong foot. Enter Kurt, the ballsy co-manager of Dare to Flare, the hottest gay club in the East Village, and Blaine, a newly hired cover band artist at the same club. Right from the start, the boys’ first impressions of one another go astray thanks to some incorrect gossip and an accidentally spilt drink. Can two men who aren't even on a first name basis ever put their differences aside? https://archiveofourown.org/works/1272997/chapters/2631142 Notes: This prob the fic I’m most proud of, even if it’s far from perfect. It was super fun to write. Who doesn’t like the 80s!

Viloncello Blaine Anderson finds himself being given the opportunity of a lifetime, when he is approached by Hunter Clarington the Third, a rich lord who’s singular goal is to become the best luthier of his age. Soon, Blaine gets the chance to play his finest creation, a cello that’s perfect pitch is spell-bounding, to compete at a world wide competition. Little does he know that accepting the job will also lead him to meet a mysterious young man with the voice of an angel. https://archiveofourown.org/works/2152764/chapters/4704513 Notes: Another Reverse Bang fic for 2014.  Sinner or Saviour After years of feeling lost, Blaine Anderson thought he’d finally found his path in life: one that would make his family proud while keeping him far away from a life of sin. But despite his best efforts to start anew, Blaine finds himself falling into the same morally reprehensible patterns as before. Seeking guidance, Blaine looks to God for help but never in a million years did he expect his prayers to be answered — especially when his potential angel-demon hybrid saviour stirs in him the very thing he had been trying so hard to escape. Notes: 2nd fic for Reverse Bang, I went out of my comfort zone for this one lol (religion, angels and demons).  https://archiveofourown.org/works/2249658/chapters/4936905 Threw A Wish in a Well Kurt Hummel is a winner, in his senior year of high school he got everything he wanted. He landed the lead role in the school musical, won the election for student body president and most of all got accepted in NYADA, the school of his dreams. The only thing missing from Kurt's fast paced life in New York was one thing: love. After coming back to Ohio during Thanksgiving to keep a secret going, Kurt makes a wish. To find the love of his life but Kurt never expected to end up falling on a cute guy in ripped jeans as the coin fell. Leaving Kurt and one Blaine Anderson to deal with discovering such a strong connection only to be kept apart soon after. https://archiveofourown.org/works/769966/chapters/1444797 Notes: I was tempted to not include this one since it is abandoned. BUT I do want to eventually go back to it and end it. Maybe it people read it that will help motivate me too. ;) A Wedding Fit for People Magazine Off in Estérel, France and tucked away from public eye, Broadway star Kurt Hummel and rock musician Blaine Anderson are about to marry. As the couple look ahead to their happy moment, they both think back to some of the key moments in the course of their relationship, and how they’ve come so far in spite of their fast-paced lives. https://archiveofourown.org/works/4520904/chapters/10284594 Notes: Reverse Bang Fic again. I think this story is one of my best (if not the best) I’ve written so far.  https://archiveofourown.org/works/4520904/chapters/10284594 Welcome to Paradise Kurt Hummel's life has been full of nothing but school work. Unhappy and alone, he grows bitter from the stress of it all and keeps himself closed off from the world. But when Kurt encounters a group of students who ask him to be their model for a fashion show, he suddenly begins to question everything about himself and his life. In spite of knowing nothing about fashion, Kurt finds himself drawn towards the project, the group, and most of all the group's leader Sebastian Smythe. https://archiveofourown.org/works/3752428/chapters/8328058 Notes: This is Kurtbastian, but without any Blaine hate in it. It’s a story very close to  my heart. I’m really proud of it, and loved writing it (though Klaine is still my otp I swear lol).  Who Do You Think You Are Blaine Anderson is preparing to embark on a new solo chapter of his life: entering college. To those around him, he might appear to be just another ordinary eighteen-year-old, but when his loving parents are none other than the Doctor--Earth's constant saviour and last of the Time Lords--and River Song--a human weapon who defied destiny and fell in love with her target--nothing could be further from the truth. Between the pressure that comes with having such a family legacy to live up to, and the stress of keeping so many secrets from everyone he knows, it's no wonder that Blaine has sworn off relationships. Yet on his first day at the Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts, Blaine meets Kurt Hummel and immediately feels drawn to him, challenging his convictions. Suddenly, surviving the wait until Blaine can join his parents in the TARDIS after graduation is the least of his worries. https://archiveofourown.org/works/13759926/chapters/31622952 Notes: My most current story, though I started it years ago. I’m super happy with this one.  For an added bonus, my current fic plans, though it’s slow goings at the moment.  In Progress Rediscovering Paradise The sequel to Welcome to Paradise, it pics up where the epilogue leaves you off. I am currently writing this story, I’m at chapter 4. The plan is to wait till it’s fully written and edited and I’ll post the whole thing in one. I’m also aiming for 8 chapters.  The continuation of Threw a Wish in a Well It’s on my to do list. I have a number of chapters I wrote years ago. They’d just need to be tweaked and revised heavily. I want to give this story a proper ending. So I’ll prob spend some time on it once the Paradise sequel is finished.  Not What I Imagined Another Kurtbastian fic! It will be my take on ‘what if Kurt had met Sebastian instead of Blaine?’ How canon would differ etc. No Blaine hate, no Blaine at all actually. Super excited to write this one. My headcanons are running wild. I’ll be writing this for me really lol.  I have various other ideas... no idea if and when I’ll get to them. The above three projects will keep me busy enough with the rate I’m going writing these days. 

#fic writing adventure #elfinder #klaine fanfiction #fanfic masterlist

[matildamaldita-blog1]

All my love,Elea

“All my love, Elea”

I caught a plane back to France, I am still paying the price of my rowdy times in the states, I got pulled under by a mean current but I had reasons to stay alive. Going through all those old drawings and words could make me sick to my stomach or shiver through me. Adam would finally get away from my love interest. Sometimes days like this make me feel no restless and no boredom just the prospect of calm quite days with the time to read, write and draw is all I ask. Adam had an obviously huge influence on every aspect of my being.

Hi I’m Elea- My mom and dad use to describe me as a very intense seething little being right from the beginning. What can I say coming from a very famous parents? I have always been the subtle but dramatic young artist, “a very prolific” they say. Starting at the very young age, I drew wacky personal style and always have a strong vision of my own universe. At an early age I had already a vivid concepts of good and evil (angels and devils), rich and poor (princess and urchins), joy and sadness, pain and pleasure. Was it my parents overly attentive, overly stimulating behavior that made me into attention-craving little show-off monster intensity-case? or was I born that way?

All I know is that they were the best audience a kid could have; I probably made a lot of drawings just to make my dad laugh, he was so into it. I also spent hours and of hours entertaining myself, far off in the elaborate fantasy world of an only child. “Elea Simone! I told you thousand times to not touch my stuffs” my mom says, I remember that day when I was about to reach her very expensive paint brush. My mom and I have always been apart from each other, I can always feel the heat between us, but I have always want to hug her, what do you expect from a kid to her parents? I was a little screwy, but then my father weren’t exactly average, and he never looked at me funny or told me I was weird.

We move to France when I was nine. The years that followed are oddly dim and blurry in my mind. For about a month I cried my eyes out saying “I hate you France” Imagine, they drag me from California to the South of France, pretty weird huh. But then I guess I just accepted the thought that I’d never live in the most populated state in America again. At school I was hated by some saying

“Grosse americaine!” and others were fascinated by me.

In Junior High I started to be normal, my teacher always misinterpreted my name saying

“Elea Simoienk?” Its Elea Simone I say, and people start to laugh.

I actually started correcting my parents French like

“banjower madame” my dad says, It’s not “banjower” its “bonjour”

I also made friends and it went fine. I guess it’s not that bad here. But I must’ve been killing time and the anguish of a new life by drawing sketches archived by my Father. Nancy, little lulu, old Walt Disney, betty boop, popeye, golden books and etc. inspired and obsessed me, thanks to brain washing, vintage education. Puberty made me become self-conscious, and I tried to conform to fit the school standard even though I never succeeded in that branch. Sketchbooks were always with me, and illustrated diaries full of teenage angst.

During my late adolescence my Father’s increasing fame started to loom over me, as I slowly realized it was my fate to forever be compared to “The Legend” if I kept on drawing. My parents are keeping a low profile as writers and artists, and it was a heavy thing trying to find a style, an artistic identity of my own, impatient and frustrated. I found refuge in my teenage life: hash, beer, boys, drama, high school dorms and grungy bongo parties filled my days and my sketchbooks. I took an art in school and love life drawing and art history but was skeptical of the badly taught, pretentious contemporary art curriculum. Still, art class and English class are what got me through high school without flunking, as I spent most class time doodling and daydreaming. After a couple of years in stretching my brains in college I finally graduated and I knew that at some point I made my parents proud of me. Paris! Big city life, freedom, weird Moroccan waiter boyfriends and circus school; being a pseudo English teacher for fancy Parisian companies where suburban secretaries would rant about their unhappy marriages in bad English; living in a bad neighborhoods and exploring dive bars and the streets of Paris on bike at night; meeting artists and musicians, good and mostly bad. The buzzing life that surrounded me was still exhilarating and stimulating. But art-making was still a confusing issue. I did manage to finish a comic or two and even publish some. But my sketchbooks were the place I had the most fun, not having to worry about all that. It wasn’t a “work”, and I drew freely, letting it all spill out.

For days I’ve been thinking about to go back to US, maybe get a job there and see what happens. I told my parents about it, my dad agreed to it although my mom is obviously against about it, but they can’t stop a dreamer from dreaming, and they said “Go on, we’ll be fine here”. As I’ve arrived in Brooklyn, N.Y. Airport I thought “I should rediscover my homeland, maybe it would somehow liberate me in all levels and solving certain identity issues, my own identity issue” and then I laugh. I almost got lost looking for 10 East 53rd Street, New York, 10022. Glad that I found myself in 52ND St. I was walking around in circles trying to find some signage and there it is, a tall building, kind of eccentric but good. The room is in minimalistic style, and liked it so much so I never moved anything. I never had much sleep in my second day in New York; I didn’t even touch my stuffs nor have some coffee. As I’ve stood up and look through the glass wall I saw a great “moon deli drew” coffee shop in front of the building that I’m staying. “What a surprise” I say. I published some more and drew a lot, feeling free and identifying some-what with the edgy, outsider, punk youth-culture in the bay area and then in New York City.

On the next day it was a bit gloomy, it’s Monday and I need to get up and get my exhausted butt to work. I think I’ll made up early at work if I’ll ride a cab so maybe there’s nothing wrong if I’ll have a little coffee first in deli. As I enjoy myself viewing the newspaper a light strikes my eyes, it was a man’s sunglasses, and it reflects the sun to me. The man was in a hurry stepping into the coffee shop, and I found my eye’s following him until he get out in the deli’s and until  he was a bit blurry from afar.

As I got in the condo from work I feel totally washed out.

“What a luck! What a gift! What a crazy existence!” and then I lay in bed

“What the hell am I doing here kvetching and moaning? I should be doing so much good stuff for the world or at least for me!” and then I stood up and look in the mirror

“Every 4 seconds, once acre of forest turns into desert and most of the world is dying…but I’m not” I sighed heavy.

“If I were to try to make my dreams come true what would I do? I can’t be an activist, some people aren’t made to deal with people I’m incapable of that” I walked to the kitchen and get some glass of vodka.

“My dreams are selfish I’d love to be a nomad and do art and make a living with it” I open the sliding glass door and I stood there in the balcony.

“Well I guess I’ll just a have a vodka and wait for the things to happen”.

I saw that man again in the Deli’s he was sitting there, having chitchat with someone. I saw him two times in a day and that could be something. “Maybe that’s the girlfriend” I say. After a minute of talk the woman left and the man was still there sitting, nodding and not moving while me, I was just there in the balcony standing, then all of a sudden…

“Lolai lolai lolai” as the gypsies sing

“Oh God I forgot I live in a gypsy neighborhood in Brooklyn” I say.

It always gets out of hand and ends up a big mess. Sometimes they annoy me so much, and the worst is that I hate being woken up. Everyone still thinks it’s the greatest neighborhood in Brooklyn because there’s always excellent gypsy music. But it’s New York City, and it’s the city that never sleeps.

On the next day at exactly 6:00 am, I stop by at Deli’s to grab some espresso. I sat at deli’s tables outside the corner and relishing every effort I drew like creeps and bumps, junkies, wing-nuts, train-riding, crusty brats and street artists then suddenly “Can I sit here?” a man said. His voice could be foghorn loud when he was blooming out a guffaw but it was normally mellifluous. It took me a second to answer; it was him, the man on deli’s, so I just nod my head. He’s so intimidating, why is that? I couldn’t make a single move. He’s eyes speaks more than his mouth, like one look would say anything and he wouldn’t have to talk.

Its half past 7 and I’m still here, my knees are quivering.

“Why am I leaving?”

“What am I gonna do after?”

“What about him?”

Like what about him? Why would I care about him? I brush off from that table immediately.

And from that day I always await for him in the balcony. By weekdays at exactly 6:00 am he would stop by carrying his briefcase at deli’s first for some café latte and a raspberry muffin, by 1:00 pm he’ll drop over with his co-workers and order a cup of espresso macchiato and by 6 pm until he’ll finish the last sip of flat white coffee it would take him an hour to leave his favorite spot in deli’s. By weekend he would be at deli’s by 10:00 am wearing casual clothes, he usually wear nifty clothes. He have this Mohican cut and as he glide with an athletic grace without skipping a bit his hair would fall perfectly. He had a manly Samson physique and his derringdo personality and bass voice were a big part of his ambitious character.

I have this part of me “nosy” and so I asked the barista at moon deli drew about the guy.

“Hey can I have some café mocha, and oh make that two!” I say.

“Two café mocha coming right up”, she said.

“The other one is for you”, I smiled.

“We don’t accept anything that comes from our own menu, but anyway thank you” she said.

“Actually I just want to know the name of the guy who always carries with him his briefcase, you know that French guy?” I say

“Oh Mr. Adam he’s not French he’s Irish” she said.

“Adam, hmm that sounds sexy” I chuckled.

At my room I always feel like I’m losing my grip, losing my touch with reality…like I’m a ghost but it kind of feels alright.

“I just want to bash my head in from time to time no biggie” I say while I’m waiting for my family to call me.

“Whattevah New Yoahk City” I say.

-telephone rang-

“So how’s Brooklyn?” My mom said.

“Good, t’was great I’m really getting to it” I say

“Well you don’t sound like, you know you can always comeback Elea” she said

“Mom please don’t start” I said.

“You can’t please everybody with your work so what’s the use trying?” she said.

“Mom I’m halfway through” I said.

“There would always be someone to criticize you and put you down” she said

“Sorry mommy, sorry to not be doing what’s best for me, but it’s just what I need, after all you did say I was on my path of truth does that include every bad choices I make?” I said

-hang up-

We quarrel sometimes, and sometimes we weep. I’m too tired trying to have a good conversation with my mom; I better leave it this way. The next morning was a sunny n’ warm day so I went for a dog run then I gave myself a punky 80’s mullet but cute haircut I hope Adam would see me now. My sketchbook was filled with “Adam Anatomy” I watch for him to walk by my glass window every single day, I woke up 5:59 in the morning so that I could exactly holdup a minute to see him pass by. I always look down waiting for him to sit on his favorite spot at moon deli drew.

The next day was a very fine day but I woke up late, it’s already 8 in the morning and I missed Adam to pass by. “Great, just great and now I have to wait for him by 1:00 pm” I said. Its 1:30 and I’d never saw an Adam walking in the 2nd avenue he’s always on time and always in a rush in daytime, but now? Hours past and I finally saw him sitting in his favorite spot. I notice that he always order a cup espresso “Espresso is not far from his personality, he’s always in a hurry and espresso is strong one it makes him to be always on the go. Maybe this man knows how to get what he wants and always on the way of getting it” I said. While I’m savouring the moment by looking at him, he lift his head and looked at the sky and then he looked at me instantly and I immediately ran inside the room and I hide in the curtains.

Today was quite a bit weird day. I never saw him in any time of the day. By the next day, I only saw him once it was Saturday and he didn’t stay long at deli’s. It’s been three weeks and still, I never had a chance to see him passing by or sitting on his favorite spot while I glance at the glass window from time to time. Days past, days turns to weeks, weeks to months, and months to year it is unmarked, except in relation to how long it will be before I’ll see you again. Alone in my room, I receive no guests, I rarely go out. Having stopped out of work, I’ve lost contacts with my friends: I’ve withdrawn from them, and they from me. My days are as long as despair can make them. I begin taking endless and exhausting walks to nowhere, just block after block into Brooklyn or over the bridge into Manhattan. I spend hours of each day sitting on a bench on the promenade, looking at the bridges over the East River, sometimes turning to consider the houses behind me, wondering in which Adam lives, if he still lives near there.

I’ve had too much fun breaking into abandoned buildings, sleeping parks, falling in love and getting my heart broke for a year. I was wild out of control, it was great. But sometimes I felt quite at home, but disillusion and decrepitude slowly replaced the awe. “I want to see you again Adam” I said while blowing my cigar. “Where could you be?” You left a heart that is tired to grow, I’m hurt, haggard, growing more and more clueless and lost, a sort of endless heartbreak and disbelief. I got screwed. How come no one warns me that all the endearing, youthful confidence, ambition and energy are just kind of wear off. The pain, the suffering, the tedium, all the crap that made me stronger, it all just helps clarify the vision of my wretched sorry horrible existence. I have my little escape methods and still, what seems to “count” is what I went through that changed me. The heavy moments without realization, I was altered and there’s no going back.

“Sweetheart?” my dad said on the phone

“Dad I’ll caught a plane back to France” I say

“What’s going on Elea?” my dad said.

“Nothing that concerns you dad” I say.

“When will you coming home?” he said

“Maybe next week” I say.

“You tell me everything that happened to you in there, okay?” he said

“Okay” I say.

I spend a lot of time in boutiques, trying on clothes I have no intention of buying, looking at myself in the dressing room mirrors. I’ve always been drawn to mirrors, not out of vanity but for re assurance. I’m in there, and I don’t resist any reflective surface-puddles, and shop windows. As I look outside the glass window of the boutique a light strikes my eyes, it was a man’s sun glass he pass by across the street from that boutique. I instantly follow the guy until I was out from the place, he was heading straight off to moon deli drew and knew it was him, it was Adam. His wrestler’s shoulders were part of his burly physique. His gap year clothes always made him appear younger than his years. The swirl of his cologne had me swooning in the aisles. “It’s been a year, and we never had a conversation maybe by now I could say something” I say while I’m following him.

There he was sitting on his favorite spot. His Irish mariner-blue eyes were soft and swam with joy, it is orb round with gleam and delight. I want to get close to him, but as I got nearer a woman just pop in the scene, a winsome type, voluptuous and so fine that every man would drop dead. I was knock off for a minute, they we’re happy and so I should be for him. I turned back and walk away, deep down in me was hurt and a part of me was gratified after seeing him again. I don’t know what’s got into me that I walk back to my track, I just thought that “I’ve waited for him, I’ve been wondering for a year about where could he might be, and now? I just want to hear something from him,

“Am I making myself look loony?” I said

“Hi” I said

“Uhm hello, do I know you?” Adam said.

“No but I know you” I said

“Have we met before?” he said

“Who is she?” the girl asked.

“I know this would sound so weird but…” I said.

“What do you want? I think your lost sweetheart” the girl said.

“Let her speak Talia” Adam said.

“Am I missing something here? Is there something that I didn’t know?” she said

“Talia please just let her talk” he said

I ran away from their table, I ran as if I was being chased. Did I just embarrass myself? I think I just made myself look stupid in front of them.

Days past, my remaining stay in Brooklyn is soon will end. I have let go all that pressure of living up. I don’t really expect much from myself as art-wise, maybe in a few drawings. Maybe if I’ll go back to France I can figure out all the abnormality, perversion and zaniness onto paper.

Dear Adam,

Since I’d never had a chance to talk to you this letter might be a good one to start. I’m Elea by the way, I know you don’t know me but your eyes consume me, eyes that see me but never know me. I summon the oceans to drown every pain since I never saw you coming to “moon deli drew” and that sleep is where I hide. I guess I’ll learn to take the good with bad, I’ve been waiting for you to pass by my glass window and that I’m fleeting from this truth but I can’t flee indefinitely. I don’t really have an idea why I ended up in New York but it leads me to you, It's just that when the truth is like a stranger, it hits you right between the eyes. I guess I’ll just go back from where I should be. These nowhere's and no times are the only home I have. Je te regardrais toujours, meme si tu es telement hors d’atteinte.

All my love,

Elea

#createwriting #shortstory

[mageinabarrel]

2018 was yet another year of evolution in my journey as an anime fan. Throughout the year, I spent less time watching anime and less time engaging in anime-related activities like doing freelance writing, blogging, and livetweeting shows. So as I started to consider “my year in anime,” I wondered if I would have much to say.

I needn’t have worried. The year is 2018 and anime is still good, so in the spirit of the 12 days of anime project (that I didn’t do this year)—here are twelve anime things that brought me some joy this year.

I Rediscovered Anime Crushes

It had been a long time. A long time since I’d felt those little flutteries you get when an anime character is really cute, really good, and really nice. But even before I knew that Ginko was a space princess, I was enamored. Cute anime girls are a dime a dozen, but characters that exude genuine warmth and care in the way Ginko does—from her time as a princess all the way through her cathartic moment in Planet With‘s finale—are something special.

So I spent a nice time with Planet With, amidst all of the show’s other wonderful strengths, feeling a cozy bunch of crushy feelings about Ginko Kuroi. It’s silly, but it was nice to be reminded what it felt like to have an anime crush once again. And, seeing as Ginko is far and away the Best Girl of 2018, my heart couldn’t have made a better choice.

Space princess! Space princess! Space princess!

Finding My Fate Anime Niche

I’ve never really been much of a Fate fan. After an extremely poor experience with Fate/Zero, there’s never really been much to attract me to the sprawling franchise. But when you’re needing an that you can put on while washing the dishes and cooking and Netflix shoves Fate/Apocrypha into your face, what can you do? You can watch it, be surprised at how much you enjoy it (especially Astolfo), enjoy the fact that the two opposing Ruler characters are both Catholics, be wowed by the stunning animation of #22, and finish the show somewhat more positively disposed to Fate than you’ve been before.

This will lead you to give Fate/Extra LAST ENCORE a shot, and after the show gets over its early inclination to appeal to the audience’s presumed base desires for Nero, you’ll be stunned as the show pulls a truly evocative atmosphere out of the now-cliché SHAFT stylings you thought were too tired to be effective. You won’t understand quite everything that happens, but the tremendous thematic coherence and the way the character relationships evolve from dull to genuine will grip you. It’ll be one of your favorite anime of the year. And, in combination with Apocrypha, it’ll leave you feeling like maybe alternate universe Fate series are the ones for you—which is good to know.

3 Perfect Episodes

If you asked me to name my favorite episode of TV anime of the year, I’d probably give the honor to Hugtto Precure‘s #16. But, fortunately, I don’t have to make such a specific choice here, so I can also add Yama no Susume S3‘s #10 and SSSS.GRIDMAN‘s #9 to that list. If you watch these three episodes (honorable mention to Hugtto #4), you’ll likely see the stylistic similarities between them. Of course, there are also plenty of things to distinguish them from each other, but it’s those similarities—a strong affiliation with cinematographic language, a tight grip on the power of atmospheric storytelling, and a webgen animation-adjacent visual style favoring bold and flat colors—that stayed with me.

But more important even than those smaller details is a sort of ideological unity that these episodes share. Each is distinctly a cartoon, yet also displays an impressive level of cinematic sophistication. Although some might be tempted to place cartoon and cinema in opposition to each other, these three episodes are a brilliant refutation of such narrow thinking—they embrace, even dance, in the best qualities of both. They are proof that cartoon-making and film-making are not separate arts but, rather, one and the same.

Hisomaso Wins Everything

When it comes to TV anime this year, one show stands head and shoulders above the rest for me: Hisone to Maston. Yet another show confined to the Netflix dungeons, I wasn’t prepared to let the streaming giant deprive me of my chance to watch Mari Okada’s return to TV anime weekly, and Hisomaso, yes, was worth it. From story to scripts, background art to character design, OP to ED, Hisomaso had it all—including the X-factor of the adorable dragons.

In short, there was really nothing else that aired that was anything like Hisomaso. Cute and quirky throughout, thoughtful and incisive at times, funny and dramatic in turns, this anime had basically everything. In the final rundown of the year, I expect it’ll likely go criminally under-watched, underrated, and under-remembered, but such is the reality of the anime times in which we live. I, at least, will remember Nao head with immense fondness. We salute you, brave solider, and all you stand for.

An Ode to a Strawberry

What do I think of Darling in the FranXX? I think it’s bad. I didn’t finish it, but I watched enough to consider it a representative portion, so I’m comfortable making that kind of wholistic statement. Basically, I think the very early criticism I made of the show proved to be a crucial flaw in the whole dang thing. But Ichigo? Ichigo was very good. She might have done a few things wrong, but not many. I liked Ichigo. 苺 means strawberry, and Ichigo was a very good strawberry with a killer character design.

No anime watcher is unfamiliar with the phenomenon of a good character—or even just a character the really appealed to them personally—stuck in a bad show, but I’d be hard pressed to think of another character who surpasses Ichigo’s gap between her relative goodness and the quality of her show. Not only was she cute and a childhood friend, but it was fascinating watching her navigate her complex feelings for Hiro, try her best to be a good leader for her team, and struggle against her own flaws. Best girl? Heck yeah. Eat your heart out, Zero Two stans!

Matsumoto Chocolate

This year, Rie Matsumoto (Heartcatch Precure! Hana no Miyako de Fashion Show…Desu ka!?, Kyousougiga, Blood Blockade Battlefront) storyboarded a few random episodes for other anime here and there. But in the time that she’s had a last major project, which if you’re counting like I am is THREE DAMN YEARS, other of her contemporaries have had multiple films released and done other great things. Meanwhile, aforementioned storyboards, the Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond ED, and whispers of a possibly discontinued film project aside, Matsumoto’s existence itself has been in question.

That’s why, when “Baby, I Love You Daze,” a music video/commercial directed by Riechang-kantoku herself and backed with some legitimate animation power, appeared almost out of the blue, I experienced a rush of joy unlike anything else I felt this year. Not only was Matsumoto back with something completely original, but it was a delightful, energetic little thing emblematic of pretty much everything I love about her as a director.

Please 2019. Give us something, literally anything. An announcement, an actual show or film. I don’t care. Give us back Rie Matsumoto.

This Bit is about Liz and the Blue Bird…

Wow, I saw a lot of anime movies (in theatres!) this year! Thankfully, I wasn’t asked to be on any year-end anime panels, so I wasn’t forced to make a choice that would kill me—to pick my favorite anime of the year. Liz and the Blue Bird, which is a stunning, delicate, spectacular, [blah blah blah how to make actual words about this damn thing] film, would be one of the top contenders, although as you’ve seen I can barely articulate what about it impressed me so much. But this is a blog post, so I will try.

If we set aside the craft elements (HA! You coward!), the heart of Liz is that its resolution is about something like learning to let go. Mizore and Nozomi are different people, with their own paths to follow in life. And yet, at the same time, they love each other deeply, and that love makes such realizations difficult to even perceive—as both struggle to do throughout most of the film—and to accept. But that catharsis of letting go, which is in many ways similar to the slow process of grief after the death of a loved one, is healthy. Love can tempt us to possessiveness, to illusions of control and ownership. But we may find in letting go that love can flourish in newer, healthier, and truer ways than we’ve known. [Editor: This paragraph might be complete garbage. Please give Bless some leeway if you think so. An attempt was at least made.]

…and This Bit is about Maquia.

I could not pick between Liz and Maquia if you asked me. I could not do it. Unlike the previous pair of Yamada/Okada analogues, Koe no Katachi and Anthem of the Heart (which is dominated by Anthem), these two films are at once so similar in concern (love) and yet so different in every other way that I could not, in my great fondness for each, possibly choose between them. They are, together, the best anime I saw this year. Fortunately, unlike with Liz, I’ve already struggled through the pain of writing about stupidly good things with Maquia. So you can read that if you like.

Maquia‘s merits left to my prior writing, the other thing that made Maquia particularly special for me as a moment in my 2018 anime-watching is what it represents for Mari Okada’s career. Okada was the first anime creator’s name I ever learned, and it was because she had been involved with so many anime I loved. So seeing her continue to grow as a writer over time, seeing her reputation improve, and seeing her career flourish to the point that she was the chief director for her own movie has been really special—and Maquia is, in many ways, the culmination of that journey so far. Here’s to you, Okada-san! May you have many more works to come!

Owned by Macross. Again.

Early in the year, I watched Macross Flashback 7. Now, Macross has some horribly gratuitous parts to it—and I love them all—but you could make a very, very compelling case that FB7 is caps them all. The plot of the OVA/movie/special/whatever is that Ozama Lee finds some VHS tapes that basically contain the footage of Macross 7, which results in most the main members of Macross Frontier coming over to his and Ranka’s apartment to watch them. Yes, the Macross Frontier characters get together to have a Macross 7 watch party. I could type that out again in all caps, but I won’t.

That on its own is pretty pandering, but then the whole thing concludes with a Sheryl and Ranka mega-medley of Macross 7 songs with Basara even appearing in some of the background vocals. I was basically in tears by the end of the performance, which is just ridiculous, but that’s just what Macross does to me. It swings for the fences, trusts you love Macross, and gives you the fanservice you want, with big guitars and Sheryl and Ranka belting “OMAE NO MUNE NI MO LOVE HEART” in unison, and the gleeful stupidity of it all just smacks you in the gut and you feel the tears coming because it’s Macross, dammit, and you love Macross. Point, Shoji Kawamori.

A Comic Girl Isn’t As Good as a Doujin Game Artist, but I’ll Take It Anyways

If 2017 was the year of Saekano Flat, then 2018 was the year of me desperately hoping I’d find another show about creatives that would move me in the same way. I didn’t, but I did find Comic Girls, which gave me enough periodic artist anxiety that it earned a mention here.

Actually, looking back on Comiga, I think I actually didn’t give the show the credit it deserved at the time. While it was airing, one of my main complaints about it was that Kaos’ perpetual incompetence made it difficult to believe that she was indeed a manga artist with an editor, but then I think about my own haphazard art practice habits and my own incompetence despite my desire to be an artist and suddenly I feel like maybe it was spot on. So, just like Kaos, as down in the dumps as I might feel about my work and my talent and the speed at which I’m progressing, I’m not going to give up. Even though it hurts sometimes, I’m not going to give up! So yeah, thanks for that, Comiga.

METAL OVERMAN KING GAINER

In 2018, I finished watching Overman King Gainer. Inspired by my positive experience with Reconguista in G, I was interested in watching another original Tomino show, and settled on King Gainer mostly because I’d seen the OP on YouTube, and thought it was awesome. This proved to be a good choice, as King Gainer has many good reasons to watch it. I enjoyed the show quite a lot, and had fun tweeting about it and learning about some aspects of its production.

But that OP… I went out a bought it and let me tell you, there is nothing like coming to the end of a run with the Overman King Gainer OP pumping in your ears as your make a final sprint to the tree that marks the end of your workout. King Gainer‘s broadcast ended in 2003, but that song is timeless. 2018 may have been a crappy year for the world as a whole, but according to iTunes I listened to “King Gainer Over” about 60 times, so it’s impossible to say whether the year was truly bad or not.

And those were the highlights of my year in anime! I’ll probably put together a little graphic at some point for my top shows, but this’ll be the only blog post from me wrapping up the year. Happy New Year’s to you all, and here’s to a wonderful 2019!

What were some of your favorite shows, episodes, moments, or anything else of anime in 2018?

12 Anime Things that Made Me Happy in 2018 2018 was yet another year of evolution in my journey as an anime fan. Throughout the year, I spent less time watching anime and less time engaging in anime-related activities like doing freelance writing, blogging, and livetweeting shows.

#2018 #Baby I Love You Daze #Comic Girls #Darling in the FranXX #Fate/Apocrypha #Fate/EXTRA Last Encore #Hisomaso #Hisone to Masotan #Hugtto Precure #Liz and the Blue Bird #Macross #Macross 7 #Macross FB7 #Maquia #Overman King Gainer #Planet With #Sayoasa #SSSS.Gridman #Yama no Susume

[recommendedlisten]

New year, new music remained more true than ever this past week. UK dub esoteric and in-demand producing extraordinaire James Blake kept us awake with his insomniac love, PUP continued to find growth and life-affirmation through their nihilistic punk sing-a-longs with the kids, Maren Morris reaffirmed our faith in her GIRL power with her first preview off her highly anticipated sophomore effort, Tamaryn brought rage to her dreamy art pop, and Los Angeles noiseniks HEALTH refined the strangeness in their sound. Bubbling up from the underground and rising, we got promising glimpses in the futures of righteous rablerouser Stella Donnelly, cosmic soothsayer SPELLLING, folk duellist Bellows, and synth stylist Liam Benzvi. The latest Recommended Listen also came from Deerhunter’s latest album, which reminds us that their best days have yet to disappear. There's more where that came from with new music from pop and punk eclecticism alike.

Here’s the best of the rest from the week of January 13th, 2019…

Ariana Grande - “7 rings” [Republic Records]

The huge year Ariana Grande had in 2018 is going to get even bigger in the new year. To date, the pop superstar will be embarking on a massive tour behind last year’s great Sweetener, is slated to headline Coachella (and maybe even Lollapalooza, too...,) and has another album on the way that’s already shaping up to be one of the finest breakup reclamation narratives in pop culture. It’s tentatively titled thank u, next, after one of last year’s best songs, period, and more recently gave to us the sensually soulful ballad “Imagine”. “7 Rings” joins the two as potential album cuts, with this listen shifting gears into full-on fun mode where over an interpolation of the melody from The Sound of Music’s “My Favorite Things”, Grande mean mugs about retail therapy and being able to pay for it all of her own dime. Its video, again directed by Hannah Lux Davis, is similarly luxurious, as we watch Grande and her BFFs flaunt her 1% status up in a neon pink penthouse playing around with more money and high-end material possessions than any of us will ever see even if we lived ten of our own lifetimes.

Cass McCombs -“The Great Pixley Train Robbery” [ANTI-]

Vagabond songwriting rebel Cass McCombs will release his ninth studio effort Tip of the Sphere on February 8th, and it’s building its way up to be yet another impressive showcase of the prolific wordsmith’s artistry, with early singles “Sleeping Volcanoes” and “Estrella” culling style cues from worldly musical influences that add even more layers to his detailed storytelling. Though its latest advance listen “The Great Pixley Train Robbery” may find less culture beyond the American songbook to be heard, within the context, it makes sense that its tone is that of a brambling, country-friend bar burner: It’s McCombs’ homage to the actual Pixley Train Robbery of 1889, in which a bandwagon of masked robbers hijacked a train, stole thousands of dollars, and made off into the sunset on horseback. When McCombs relives those moments through song, there’s no shortage of full color danger and adventure. His version of it will hopefully take him on the road much more safely later this spring.

Dark Blue - “Waterford Crystal” [12XU]

Andy Nelson may physically be at CEREMONY’s Home Sick 2 festival this weekend, but there are moments in time when his spirit gravitates into another dimension of punk with his gothly, political project Dark Blue, the Philly trio that also includes John Sharkey III of morbid post-punkers Clockcleaner and Mike Sneeringer of Purling Hiss. Of all the sounds this collective encounter in their work elsewhere, Dark Blue materializes itself through Sharkey’s handsomely maudlin vocals, sharp riffs that coil around the gloomy melancholia of Brit-pop and the singed edges of ‘70s post-punk if they were to be swallowed whole by a shoegaze orb. On February 22nd, they’ll be releasing their third studio effort Victory Is Rated, which boasts a curious sax guest spot from Philly scene kingpin Kurt Vile. First single “Waterford Crystal” isn’t that song, but it definitely rumbles through the speakerboom with a debonair shimmer in their sad-eyed rock theatrics. In a very punk move, Dark Blue plans to celebrate the release by playing only one show, which goes down March 1st at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus.

Victory Is Rated by Dark Blue

Gauche - “Conspiracy Theories” [Merge Records]

2019 seems to be the year in which punks are out here making what noise they can with what little free time they have while pulling double duty in other projects than the ones they’re primarily known for. The latest making their visibility known in the fray is that of Gauch, a D.C. post-punk outfit featuring Downtown Boys’ Mary Jane Regalado and Jason P Barnett alongside Priests’ Daniele Yandel and a rotating cast of friends, who’ve since signed with Merge and will be releasing their proper debut full-length later this year. Their latest single “Conspiracy Theories” is a standalone listen that serves as the perfect introduction to what they’re all about through up-front politicized matters in their lyrics slung over a nervous, yet linear wriggle of guitar riffs angling their way around brass splashes. "I hate/ conspiracy theories/ Alex Jones / I hate you too,” goes one lin. When you take into account that many within the D.C. punk scene have first-hand experience with seeing the worst of them play out in real life, their ire is more than deserved. Alex Szantos directed its very DIY, VHS-quality performance clip that makes the most out of party streamers and the color palette despite what dark clouds hover over the world these days.

Makthaverskan - “Demands” [Run for Cover Records]

Last week saw the long awaited and very welcome return o Swedish shoegazing punk band Westkust after a four year of silence from the point of delivering one of 2015′s best albums in their debut Last Forever. The band, which features two members of their more active post-punks counterparts Makthaverskan, is being followed on their heels with new music from that end, with the announcement that Makthaverskan will be releasing a 7″ single on January 25th. It features two tracks in “Demands”and “Onkel”, which the band revealed through a facebook post were initially recorded during the same sessions that brought us their solid 2017 effort Ill, but “didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the material,” hence coupling them together as their own stand-alone. Given that Ill found the four-piece dabbling in the cavernous echoes in their signature sparkle of post-punk, its A-side “Demands” rekindles fire with the illuminated rush. “Try to see through my eyes / No longer care for your demands / No time to catch up my mind / I am so tired of your advice,” Maja Milner’s sky-high vocals aim for the cosmos. When she’s seeing clearly, she and Makthaverskan never cease to scale new heights.

Demands b/w Onkel by Makthaverskan

Panda Bear - “Token” [Domino Records]

Plenty of listeners are feeling wistful this year over the 10 year anniversary of Animal Collective’s indie opus Merriweather Post Pavilion, yet sometimes-member Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox has been steadily looking toward the future of his own art ever since. His latest effort Buoys, due out on February 8th, is opening a new chapter within his own story following the trilogy of adulting avant pop bliss that was 2007′s Person PItch, 2011′s Tomboy and 2015′s Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper. While it does sound like the nautical breeze within Lennox’s music will never truly cease passage (titing his latest album Buoys alongside its lead single “Dolphin” are proof of that,) finding new pockets for his voice to explore within minimalist textures and low voltage experimentation amid his wonky nature suits his sound comfortably on its latest listen “Token”. The listen’s accompanying video, starring and directed by UK electronic composer Dean Blunt, is about rediscovering joy in the everyday after a series of creative setbacks -- Emotions aburst in Panda Bear’s sprite sound.

Xiu Xiu - “Pumpkin Attack On Mommy and Daddy” [Polyvinyl Records]

We can always count on Xiu Xiu to throw a wrench through the current musical landscape, and even themselves for that matter. For the veteran avant et. al outfit’s forthcoming 14th studio effort Girl With the Fruit Basket, due out on February 8th, project mastermind Jamie Stewart and longtime constant Angela Seo were joined by percussion virtuoso Thor Harris and Jordan Geiger inside the studio for their latest deconstruction in experimental noise and pop conjectures. Its first single “Scisssssssors” was an extreme breakdown of that in comparison to the cohesion within 2017′s Forget, with a visual treatment to match its occult oddity. Latest preview, the awesomely-titled “Pumpkin Attack On Mommy and Daddy”, delivers more in the sheer terror sonic department. The track was written by Angela Seo with help from Stewart and Los Angeles performance artist Elliott Reed, and is similarly fucked in its electronic decay overlaid by spoken word outbursts. Seo once again collaborated with Anna Lian Tes to create the listen’s video, which features some new facets of surreal vintage horror themes as its predecessor. Xiu Xiu have also mapped out a huge world tour in support of the new album.

#the best of the rest #ariana grande #cass mccombs #dark blue #gauche #makthaverskan #panda bear #xiu xiu #Songs #new music &amp; videos

[dailynewswebsite]

BBC presenters share their lockdown entertainment tips

Haprz Kaur, Will Gompertz, Hannah Peel and Mark Radcliffe

With England in lockdown once more, and plenty of others elements of the UK enduring extreme restrictions, folks need to movie, books, music, on-line artwork, podcasts and extra for his or her cultural kicks.

Right here, BBC presenters and journalists share their lockdown picks. It is an eclectic checklist of options for the place to look subsequent when you fancy some inspiration.

Mark Radcliffe

Veteran broadcaster Mark Radcliffe presents BBC Radio 2’s Folks Present and 6 Music’s weekend chat and music present Radcliffe and Maconie .

The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (Netflix)

I like a courtroom drama, I have to say. For individuals who do not know the Chicago 7, they had been college students and hippies and anti-Vietnam protesters who picketed on the 1968 Democratic Occasion Conference and had been arrested for inciting riots.

For those who do not forget that 12 months, it was a extremely highly-charged time. Martin Luther King was assassinated in April, after which Bobby Kennedy in June – so that is a rare snapshot of these instances. It nonetheless has a resonance, significantly in how the one black defendant is handled. Within the time of Black Lives Matter and the George Floyd protests, it reminds you that not the whole lot has modified, by a great distance.

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (Picador books)

That is set within the time of Thatcherism, and it is a tragic story of this younger lad Shuggie Bain, who’s defending and caring for an alcoholic mom, dwelling in excessive poverty. It is moderately Thomas Hardy-esque, in that everyone seems to be doomed to disappointment or dying, but it surely feels very actual. And just like the movie, one suspects life hasn’t modified very a lot for lots of people.

The novel is nominated for the Booker Prize, though I do not typically take that as an enormous advice. I’ve actually introduced Booker-winning novels and thought they had been dreadful.

The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

Anya Taylor-Pleasure performs Beth Harman, who’s in an orphanage at first of the movie, and is intrigued by the janitor who performs chess. He step by step agrees to show her and it seems she’s an absolute prodigy. It is based mostly on a novel by somebody referred to as Walter Tevis but it surely feels prefer it should be true. It is in regards to the connections you make as an orphan – friendships and connections and adoption. And there is plenty of chess.

Story continues

The truth is, we began taking part in chess at house, impressed by it, and my spouse is miles higher than me and she will see a number of strikes forward. We do not play anymore. It obtained too annoying.

Harpz Kaur

The Asian Community presenter has hosted its breakfast present since 2017, having joined the station in 2015 from neighborhood radio.

Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One, iPlayer)

Watching my subsequent door neighbour Clara [Amfo] completely bossing it on display is superb. I am an enormous fan of BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing anyway, however seeing Clara shine like a Queen is nice. Rooting for her little doubt. And I often discover something music or dance associated to be therapeutic for me. It is enjoyable, a straightforward watch and it is an effective way to wind down. Seize some munchies and sit on the couch whereas having your individual social gathering. It is excellent.

Made In Heaven (Amazon Prime)

I’ve additionally simply completed watching season certainly one of Made In Heaven. A few colleagues have been that means to get me into it and now I am hooked. It is extra of a drama sequence, but it surely’s so good and retains you on the sting of your seat on the finish of each episode. Cannot wait to begin the second season.

Sister Sister (Netflix)

And thirdly, I am watching Sister Sister, a 1990s US sitcom about twins Tia and Tamera who had been separated at beginning and reunite 14 years later. It is introduced again my youth. And you may by no means get sufficient. For those who grew up watching Tia and Tamera, you already understand how good it’s. For those who fancy a giggle, put them on.”

Bobby Friction

DJ Friction has been on the BBC airwaves since 2002, and is now presenting the Asian Community’s night present.

House movies (YouTube)

It is the largest type of escapism – neglect pandemics, let’s discuss 1,000-year journeys to different galaxies.

He devours YouTube sequence by scientists and futurists John Michael Godier and Isaac Arthur, who use science reality to look at what may truly be doable past Earth.

They will swing between stuff that is taking place in our photo voltaic system to actual mad stuff like, what is going to the universe appear to be a trillion years from now? After which they will break it down utilizing actual physics and actual science.

The Actual Housewives of America (Sky, ITV Be, Amazon Prime Video)

I do not watch a lot TV or actuality exhibits,” says Friction. “However I fell into this gap of watching The Actual Housewives of Atlanta and The Actual Housewives of Potomac. It wasn’t till the summer season that I went, ‘Wait a minute, they’re the one two actuality exhibits from that franchise that function black girls. Each different present options white girls.

I am subconsciously coping with Black Lives Matter, race and the whole lot that is taking place this 12 months through these actuality exhibits. Imagine me, I’ve fallen so deep into them. Anybody who asks a query in regards to the seasons or the episodes, I’ve the reply.

The Beatles

Friction has been rediscovering The Beatles by listening to all their albums back-to-back once more.

“I simply obtained again into it and thought, my God, how did these guys write practically each style of music that we’re nonetheless listening to? And also you’re telling me they launched The White Album and Yellow Submarine and Sgt Pepper inside the area of 18 months? It is ridiculous.”

Will Gompertz

Will Gompertz has been arts editor for BBC Information since 2009 and earlier than that was a director on the Tate Gallery.

What I Love (podcast)

I am loving this podcast, introduced by the award-winning theatre director Ian Rickson. It has a easy format: one visitor with whom Rickson has labored selects three issues she or he loves. Chiwetel Ejiofor included a Michael Kiwanuka tune, Kae Tempest picked a e book by William Blake. Good listening.

Strata: William Smith’s Geological Maps (Thames & Hudson)

Some books are lovely, others are enlightening. Strata is each. Full of beautiful illustrations, it presents the work of William Smith, a 17th Century geologist, who was the primary individual to comprehensively map the earth beneath our toes. It is the most effective non-fiction e book I’ve learn in a very long time.

Name My Agent (Netflix)

French TV would not get that a lot consideration for some purpose – however they produce some nice programmes. Spiral is the most effective police procedural on telly, whereas Name My Agent is the right lockdown escape: uptight actor’s brokers coping with uptight actors in a Paris workplace the place they find yourself both bickering or sleeping with one another. Or each. Tres bon!

Hannah Peel

Musician Hannah Peel presents late-night Radio three present Evening Tracks, which ranges from classical to up to date music. She was Emmy-nominated final 12 months for her soundtrack for HBO’s Video games of Thrones: The Final Watch.

Notes On Blindness (Obtain, Netflix)

This can be a documentary in regards to the author John Hull, who went blind simply earlier than the beginning of his son and began to make a diary of audio cassettes. Within the movie you hear all of the precise recording, and it is simply unimaginable.

You are immersed in a world of sound, as a substitute of being completely bombarded with visible info. It sounds prefer it must be a podcast, but it surely actually works as a movie – delving into the thoughts and the physique and desires and reminiscence. I feel it is a masterpiece.

Bandcamp (Unbiased music retailer)

I am Bandcamp all the best way, for the whole lot. They do an incredible factor as soon as a month referred to as Bandcamp Friday, the place each artist will get 100% of the revenue on their merchandise or downloads or CD gross sales. It is the one place that does that within the music business.

The very last thing I purchased was a compilation by a beautiful little indie label referred to as Salmon Universe, who put out plenty of ambient, digital music. I like compilations since you’re led to artists from all internationally, from Ohio to Japan. It is superb.

Islands (RTÉ podcast)

That is made by the world-renowned sound recordist Chris Watson, who’s teamed up with the author/presenter Luke Clancy to take a journey throughout the atlas of distant islands, from Ross Island to the Galapagos to the probably legendary isle of HyBrasil.

It is filled with tales and sounds, and it is lovely. I similar to the best way you need to use podcasts to specific one thing emotional, moderately than factual. So that you get a way of ethereal escapism inside that.

Mark Savage

Mark has been the BBC’s music reporter since 2015, and introduced 6 Music’s Historical past of Video Sport Music final 12 months.

Ted Lasso (Apple TV)

After Schitt’s Creek ended, I used to be desperately trying to find a TV present that hit the identical candy spot of belly-laughs and heart-warming humour. That is that present.

Starring Jason Sudeikis, it tells the story of an American Soccer coach who involves London to supervise a fictional Premiership workforce, regardless of figuring out nothing about soccer. Unbeknownst to him, the membership’s proprietor (performed with scrumptious relish by Hannah Waddingham) is making an attempt to get the workforce relegated to spite her adulterous husband. I will not spoil the plot, however the present’s relentlessly optimistic tone is simply what I wanted in lockdown.

Pikmin three Deluxe (Nintendo)

Pikmin is not as well-known as Nintendo’s larger franchises, like Mario and Zelda, but it surely’s been made with simply as a lot care and a spotlight to element. You play as a crew of astronauts, stranded on a hostile planet, who need to enlist a crop of plant-like creatures to assist them discover the lacking elements of their spaceship.

You command as much as 100 of the little Pikmin, every of whom have completely different talents (some are fighters, some are swimmers, others are impervious to electrical energy) to resolve a bunch of more and more difficult puzzles towards a time restrict. It is concurrently enjoyable and panic-inducing; however I have been specializing in finishing the much less worrying problem mode with my 10-year-old, who simply likes throwing the Pikmin round and laughing at their cute noises.

Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia (Warner Music)

Rush-released in the beginning of the primary lockdown, that is nonetheless my favorite document of the 12 months. A sweat-glistened hymn to the dancefloor, it by no means fails to raise my temper.

The album is getting the dwell therapy later this month, with a digital gig that is been dubbed Studio 2054 – with Dua promising (deep breath) “a kaledioscopic, rocket-fuelled, journey by way of time, area, mirrorballs, curler discos, bucket hats, belting beats, throbbing basslines and an absolute slam-dunk of the most effective instances in international membership tradition”. See you there. Hotpants elective.

Elizabeth Alker

The BBC Radio three broadcaster presents late-night present Unclassified, which showcases music by composers who may need a classical background but in addition draw from pop, rock, jazz, and experimental music.

Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami (Pushkin Press)

The Japanese writer’s novella is evocative however breezy, conversational and unsentimental. She’s coping with the difficulties and complexity of human life however in a extremely relatable, heat and humorous method.

It is in regards to the relationship between an adolescent and their mom. It is a coming-of-age story and in regards to the anxieties of being a youngster, however you get to see it from either side. You’ll be able to sense what the mom’s feeling as properly. She’s a fortune teller and their grandma’s ailing upstairs. It is a household story about feminine identification in Japan.

Fats Out Fest (YouTube)

The annual music competition from Salford-based underground and different promoters, Fats Out Fest occurred dwell on-line this 12 months, and they’re now placing units on YouTube each Friday over the subsequent month.

They actually do take it to the sting. On 20 November they’re broadcasting Lone Taxidermist – her exhibits are wild. It is efficiency artwork in addition to music. Her new present Marra begins along with her singing alongside to a cattle market. An precise cattle market. Her voice is synced with the auctioneer and Maxine Peake is within the video. It is on the market.

Radiophrenia (Streaming)

Radiophrenia is a Glasgow sound artwork radio station that is streaming 24/7 till 22 November. I used to be listening to an Italian sound artist referred to as Tobia Bandini. He’d interviewed all these folks asking for his or her response to the apocalypse after which he’d combine their tales – they’re all in Italian – with digital soundscapes.

If you wish to tune out of the information then this can be a very nice place to flee to. There’s all types in there, and plenty of it’s simply actually pleasing and fairly hypnotic.

Observe us on Fb, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. When you have a narrative suggestion e mail [email protected].

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/bbc-presenters-share-their-lockdown-entertainment-tips/ via https://growthnews.in

#Growth News

[memorylang]

Reflections | #32 | March 2020

While in transit to, on and between flights on my journey from Mongolia through Europe to America, I reflected. I processed with ample free hours the Lenten days that met me. I considered how God led my steps. 

So this story runs parallel to the handful I’ve written lately. We’ll backtrack before we move forward, then reaching a huge moment for my leaving Mongolia. 

That pre-dawn, Thursday, March 5 morning, the 49 of my group rode the coach bus from near our Peace Corps office, out of town to the airport. In time, we’d be above the clouds again and again. From the stillness of transiting, came my reflections.

First Friday of Lent 

Hard to believe my journey began Ash Wednesday night, a mere week prior to takeoff. Now I take us back to my city of service last Friday, Feb. 28. 

Like I shared before, I felt pretty exhausted by the time I reached church, with my frantic 36 hours since our evacuation command. And so, with Lent’s first Friday of Lent, a Catholic day of fasting and prayer, I figured no better time to pray off stress. 

I’d come by earlier that day to drop off the Mongolian missal and hymnal books I borrowed the month before. I also gifted the church my copy of, “Rediscover the Saints,” having finished it my week before Tsagaan Sar. Parish staff thanked me and invited me to come back that day if I had free time.  

So I returned. Before I could settle in, staff invited me for lunch. I’d never turn down Mongolians’ hospitality. But the food definitely had meat. So, I thought a quick prayer on it—Should I eat meat on a Friday in Lent, if Catholics offer? 

My response feeling from God seemed to be to, “Just love.” So I smiled, figuring to enjoy their offer was probably the most loving thing to do. And it would be the last meal they’d have with me. 

They invited I say grace in English. Their English teacher was there with staff, so she understood, at least. I really enjoyed the food, too. It was among my Mongolian favorites, банштай цай /bansh-tahy tsahy/, dumplings in the salty Mongolian milk tea. We took a selfie to commemorate our pleasant hour. 

I tried declining seconds, with Friday being for fasting and all, but they still served more, haha. I mused with wonder how Mongolian Christians take hospitality to the next level, in the best ways. And yet, with staff talking about how the government banned seeing their families at Lunar New Year to prevent Coronavirus possibilities, I felt I was leaving a Mongolia very different from the one where I first arrived. I’d miss our days of fellowship after Mass in this little sunlit room. 

Afterward, I had my time alone in the sanctuary to decompress. I wandered before the statue to our Blessed Mother. Then I walked the room, photographing Stations of the Cross’ Mongolian descriptions in case I wanted to learn them in the States. 

My supervisor to drive me to our next location. I graciously thanked everyone and departed. 

Last Supper, Friday Night

Later that Friday night in my city of service, I enjoyed a Last Supper with the American couple who’d supported me so much. 

Here, too, we had amazing food, this time American-style. With sundown, I could indulge a bit! 

I felt especially joyful to meet yet another woman from Brian Hogan’s memoir, “There’s a Sheep in My Bathtub.” (Recall, I finished this book on the Second New Day of Tsagaan Sar, which was Tuesday earlier that week.) This woman recounted stories of her travels around the world for God, including standout details for me. 

She mentioned pretty harrowing experiences with the Hong Kong and Moscow airports. Particularly, she said Moscow’s security just spoke Russian, even in the international airport! So I braced myself. She also suggested I bring snacks so I wouldn’t have to fret on currency conversion. She didn’t like her Moscow airport experience there much. 

As for Hong Kong, she mentioned writing in her devotional journal. Then I realized, I had one of those, too. A parishioner in Reno, Nev. gifted one to me before I graduated uni and joined Peace Corps. In fact, the journal’s been where I’ve penned my usual entries daily since Jan. 1. Fittingly, “Pray continuously” appeared recently, matching my 2020 Lenten aspiration. How cool! 

With the American couple and their friend, I also considered my future. If I return to Mongolia, life would feel different. Mongolia will have entered spring, maybe summer. I'd redecorate my apartment. Maybe I'd bring things new from the States. I'd be wiser, a little older. 

But I'll be loving, all the same. 

By the night’s end, I resolved, if there's one thing God's been consistent with me when I've discerned the past couple years, it's to love. For, no matter what, we're beloved. Love, I will.

My American friends gifted me delicious chocolate cake to take home. They know I love their cooking. I’d keep in touch with this bunch long after returning to America. 

Last Suppers with spiritual people fill me with such peace. And Christ’s command rang true: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). 

Saturday Morning Guests 

The next morning, Saturday, Feb. 29, the older friend with whom I spent my Lunar New Year’s Eve and First New Day came by to fetch me for his friend he introduced me to during the holiday. 

Like old times, my friend came up to my apartment. This time he brought that friend over. And I felt so pleased when my friend, upon entering, explained to his friend, who saw my cross on the wall, that although I’m Christian and a Peace Corps Volunteer, Peace Corps is non-religious. 

It’s so important locals understand this distinction… I am who I am, but Peace Corps is what it is. I loved that a local could explain it to another without confusion. 

My friend had just gotten off a long night shift. So I readied the instant coffees I saved for guests and switched on my Korean electric kettle that sat upon my short refrigerator. I also shared with the guys some Chinese snacks my 重庆 Chóngqìng friend mailed me when I visited relatives in 北京 Běijīng after Christmas. I liked the spiciness, but I cautioned my friends to be careful. Many Mongolians don’t do spicy, but this older friend does. 

Meeting My Older Friend’s Friend 

I first met my friend’s friend earlier that week, Sunday, Feb. 23, on the morning of Lunar New Year’s Eve. 

Before my older friend dropped me off in his own frigid home. He drove me to the then-crowded indoor market. There he took me inside to meet his friendly shop-owning friend. The friendly man sells a brand of хевийн боов (pronounced like /hyehVEEN b-awe-v/), firm biscuit bricks stacked to form Mongolians’ traditional food tower displays. My supervisor Wednesday night gifted me some of these, actually. 

Because all Mongolian families make these towers, the friend saw great business. Apparently the man’s son attends the Chinese school, also. So the friend invited me to visit his home sometime. I said sure, sounds fun. Then my older friend took me back to the car. I waited there alone while he shopped some more. Felt like just another day shopping with my actual dad... 

Anyway, when Peace Corps Mongolia’s evacuation crisis broke out, I totally forgot about meeting my friend’s friend. But Mongolians find ways. 

Final Full Saturday, Among Friends

Saturday morning, kicking off my last full day in my city of service, we drove to my friend’s friend’s house, in the city’s district closer to the mountain’s base. Coincidentally, I’d probably walked by this house Monday morning, while walking with the Mongolian Christian toward Mt. Bayan-Undur. That day, my same older friend drove to pick me up for the rest of my adventures, that First New Day of Tsagaan Sar. 

Entering my friend’s friend’s place this Saturday, I felt the interior could have passed for a small American home, just with fewer walls to divide rooms. 

My friend’s friend treated me to a wonderful brunch, I felt so glad to needn’t cook, that busy day. He also gifted me instant Mongolian milk tea, which I felt really excited to try in the States! 

Meanwhile, the man’s Chinese-studying son was in an unsurprisingly unsocial mood. The lad distracted himself instead by watching a colorfully animated film dubbed in Mongolian that played on the TV nearby. The film’s art style reminded me of some mix between Disney’s “Avatar” and Dr. Seuss. Weeks later, I chanced upon its name, “Mune.” 

I ate to fullness as usual. I hadn’t realized, even on Mongolian Lunar New Year’s Sixth New Day, people still stuff themselves with the same wonderful traditional things they eat the first few days. I loved it.

But during a lull, I felt surprised.  

My older friend, suddenly a tad emotional, said how his English improved so much with me. 

He spoke smiling, saying how he felt grateful I came to Mongolia. I hadn’t expected my rapid departure would move a grown man. I responded with gratitude to have met him and spoke again my hope to return.

Once More Upon Bayan-Undur 

After brunch, since I wouldn’t meet my other friends till later that afternoon, the men I ate with joined me instead. And so, after waiting in the cold nearly an hour wondering whether the others might show, we ascended. 

Our trio walked up past the place where I walked Monday, and we summited. I’d miss this snow, knowing I’d return to a desert in the States. 

We came down the front side, somewhat like the path I’d taken with the weekly hiking group I accompanied winter weekend mornings. On the walk down, I found my pace faster than the other men’s. I wondered if this resulted from my weeks of hikes. Ahead, I realized I followed the овоо /aw-vaw/ stone shrines to know the way down. 

I considered in self-reflection how during my final week in Mongolia, I felt like Aang or Korra meeting their past lives' friends. My ‘past lives’ were Peace Corps Volunteers before me. Our community’s common affection for our service remains. 

Our trio took a route down into the ger (home) district, where we parted with my older friend. He needed rest but would visit me that evening. I returned to his friend’s home. The kind man served me a stir-fry with rice that tasted of my summer host family's cooking. I miss them… Little did I know, the night after, I’d ride through my host family’s town during evacuation. 

My friend’s friend drove me around town to pick up my community friends to visit my apartment and say farewells. Later that night, I’d embark on the sunset trek to end my last city day. 

Thursday Leaving Mongolia: The Airport

Now fast-forward to Thursday, March 5, my departure from Mongolia. After half a week of resilience in the capital followed by an all-nighter to conclude it, I felt a profound experience at the airport. 

Our Peace Corps group of 49 reached Chinggis Khaan International Airport long before daybreak. My past blur here flying out two months before felt stressful, traveling alone. But now I felt calm. For now, I traveled among friends. 

I entered Mongolia’s international terminal early, recalling its location. I settled smoothly into the check-in line then turned behind. I scanned our face-masked crowd to see if I could find the senior TEFL friend I ran into throughout the week. I’d hoped I might see her the night before during Volunteer farewells, but we’d be on the same flight anyway. 

Some time later, I saw my friend and waved. She waved back, but not as expected—I thought she looked as though sobbing. I felt troubled. So, tugging my luggage, I left my spot in the line to join her in back. 

I stood beside her, wishing I could offer something. I waited in silence, trying to feel her pain. 

When speaking, my friend sounded as though with grief. This country has been everything to her. This is what she committed to, as a Peace Corps Volunteer. And she's leaving too soon. She hoped I will get the chance to come back, to finish my service and one day know the pain she feels to leave these people. 

I felt solemn. She was right. 

And while I might be able to return, her service ended. 

Around us, I wondered if anyone noticed, but plenty seemed preoccupied with making our flight. So I reckoned I needn’t worry, since I came to do good. 

My friend held my hand and thanked me for coming. From beneath her face mask, she commented about needing tissues and not having any. I remembered mine and quickly emptied my pocket tissue pouch. She laughed a little and looked glad. She continued to squeeze my hand as we pushed our luggage to move forward in line. 

Trials Leaving Mongolia: The Airport  

Crisis! When we reached the line's front, turns out we both had overweight luggage. 

We lugged our luggage aside. I was 2 kg over—must have been the extra gifts, we figured. So I shifted books and denser snacks to my personal item and carry-on then wore my blazer as an addition to my already five layers. I’d fly with six layers, whatever. Thus, I checked in my luggage. 

But my friend wasn't so lucky. She needed to pay extra to get her luggage through. So she left upset to another window outside the line. With my things in order and feeling quite familiar with the airport, I decided to accompany her.

We waited an awful long time. Another senior cohort friend we’d evacuated our provinces with needed to pay a similar fee. A couple more senior cohort friends joined the line, for they had pets traveling. So I waited among the four. They were such inspirations to me. 

Meanwhile I tried to help my friend, who sat on her luggage and looked a little disheveled. She said something of her amazement how we kept getting stuck together. I agreed. I remembered the fall conference, our evacuation caravan and the week’s surprise meet-ups at Peace Corps’ office. Lovely coincidences. 

During our wait, I felt moved by the love and loss my friend felt toward her community and service. I remembered my grief amid flights three years ago, when Mom was killed and stressfully I had to fly home. So I wished I could say something to help my friend. I prayed this affliction might leave her. I prayed to have the right words. But I knew, sometimes the better words are those unsaid.

Sometimes my friend forgot whether she grabbed something or didn't, whether I grabbed something or didn't. I replied patiently. I wanted to say it'd be OK soon, but such words mean little. I offered my water, offered to cover the expense, even. She accepted my water.

Eventually my friend noticed I didn’t have an expense to pay and that I just wanted to support her. Her anxiety seemed to lighten, and she smiled again. She insisted I'm so kind. She added I didn't have to stay for her. But I reaffirmed I'm comfortable with the airport and felt I’d nowhere to be more urgently. I wanted her to feel OK. She said although she doesn't believe in God, God would reward me very much for helping. I wasn't sure what to make of that. But it felt kind. 

As we neared less than an hour till takeoff, the couple senior cohort friends behind us, too, grew anxious whether we'd make our flight. They said since I didn't need to be in line, I should head to our gate. Still, I knew we'd plenty of time, considering my previous rush through airport security on a crowded day here with less time. But, going ahead would make our group happiest. So I wished everyone well and calmly went in. 

Leaving Mongolia: The Airport  

After a smooth clear through passport control, friends from our evacuation group asked me if I'd seen the others. I explained they were at the payment window. Behind me, I noticed my friend already entering security. I felt glad to give others peace. 

I ran into a couple evacuation friends shortly after. One commented I was better than him, for waiting behind to help. I appreciated his compliment. I didn’t blame anyone for going ahead, anyway. We’re all trying to be prudent. 

I had plenty time to get my bearings as boarding began, too. God always has a way. 

I pick up my next story right where this leaves off, bringing you with me aboard my flights from Mongolia through Europe and back to America. We’re off to Moscow, Berlin and Amsterdam, so get ready for a cultural odyssey like none of mine before! 

You can read more from me here at DanielLang.me~         

#Peace Corps #Mongolia #memoir #story #God #memoryLang #goodbyes #Tsagaan Sar #Lunar New Year #Lent #gratitude #evacuation #Coronavirus #COVID-19 #winter #stress #friendship #service #mentorship #grief

[yoongihime]

do you have a fic rec tag? or perhaps a list of your fave works/authors?

//cracks knuckles// *this is gonna be a long ass post* WELL ANON as of recently I haven’t been reading that that much (school just started) but YES I do have a tag it’s called reads but to be very honest, I have been very bad at reblogging fics into that tag so you’ll just find a lot of Missy (which makes sense we’re practically two halves at this point) and fics people tag me in so I shall make a very brief list that is not at all comprehensive of people I read from and admire very much and just love in general but I WILL TRY. Maybe one day I will get off  my lazy (but very busy) ass to make a PAGE (MONUMENT) for these amazing, wonderful, talented and incredibly beautiful people that never fail to inspire me everyday. So without further ado: 

!! Fun fact, I have been on this website for too long so I have moved around but the OG’s that I read from (for exo and others) are mentioned in this post but I will mention some again bc my love for them is eternal (lol if they’re still active etc): 

@an-exotic-writer yes, sas. we get it. you love missy. evident in this tag here. well I really frickin DO. Please understand my obsession. You can stalk all her writing and I guarantee you they’re quality a f. Favs: sugardaddy!Jimin // merman!tae // vampire!Yoongi (all of which hurt me deeply) 

@dvehyun Gabs is low key gone but like high key an Inspiration to be so like… hi Gabs if you’re reading I frickin miss you. If you’re into dark, spine chilling fics she’s your girl. Her entire vampire series killed me and let’s not forget the time Jimin did a little somethin naughty HERE. 

@palpitate-hyperventilate Jo is also low key gone but still high key Inspires me. Her style is e v e r y t h i n g to me T.T again I say so much I miss you. THIS ONE is my fav. 

@theboyswhomwelove okay please please please read from Laura. True Legend to be honest. Some lines from the trophy are still stuck in my head to this day.

@exoticarmy127 MY FIRST TUMBLR FRIEND T.T  I’m sure you’ve heard of her amazing works but if you haven’t well I can direct you to Professor Kim Tae Tae right HERE and he’ll take care of that for you ;) 

@sa2ms your resident Sehun lover LOL jk jk but seriously I’m feeling so nostalgic going through this list of people I read from T.T but yes to Sam’s entire masterlist. 

OKAY then I slowly evolved into the BTS fandom that I am in today and well, fell in love we A LOT of writing for new people that I haven’t seen since I took a break from tumblr and it was a whole new world: 

@baebsaes okay Cherry doesn’t write anymore but I cannot express how much she’s inspired me to actually get back into writing again after I kinda stopped for a long ass time. Her style is so unique and elegant and just something I aspire to recreate, so you can just stalk her writing tag here and be blessed. 

@tayegi LU. WHO DOESN’T KNOW OF LU. PLEASE TELL ME. If you looking for a good time and to get wrecked by some smut then please refer to her ENTIRE MASTERLIST. I also been trying to meet up with her in real life IT’S AMAZING HOW WE’RE 40ISH MINUTES APART BUT HAVE NOT MET. 

@writingseoul The Goddess of smut in our fandom LOL. I reread Masked so many times and I’m pretty sure I can remember parts of it but at the same time it never fails to give me chills T.T 

@bts-for-life Go Big or Go Home WRECKED. ME. OH MY GA. My two biggest biaswreckers in one fic but in all honestly that was just my fav.Once again 10/10 masterlist. 

@jungkxook I’m sure y’all know her for her series Hiraeth but for me my favs are Pour Up and Back Seat Serenade actually all of them but like yeah those two LOL. Can you see my soft soft for Taehyung showing or? But yes I love love love her writing. 

@versigny I AM IN LOVE WITH KAPPY’S WRITING STYLE. It’s art and her vocabulary is to die for. I’m sure you’ve heard of the infamous Miss Dial which is cowritten by the ever so wonderful @cyphertrip (why is it not tagging T.T) but yes. both their styles, impeccable. 

@deerguk ANOTHER PERSON WITH BEAUTIFUL WRITING STYLE. I love fawn’s works so so much they’re so beautifully put together and just magical and just goals. Please proceed to her entire masterlist. 

@baeseoul OKAY here’s the thing I’m such a hoe for friends to lovers au and kinda angsty plot with really fricking sweet endings AND she gives me all of that, with the benefit of amazing smut. Yes okay my favs are When a Tornado Meets a Hurricane and A Friendly Favor (I bawled like a little girl I cannot I was so shook why kim tae tae always my soft spot) 

 @kainks Ashlee can just wreck me with her entire masterlist and I would say thank you. Once again– angsty plot with kinda sweet endings and great smut. My absolute all time fav is Triplicity (AGAIN I CRIED SO HARD MY PILLOW WAS SOAKED) 

@jungblue i hate you i love you. I just read it a couple days ago bc I kept thinking that I would be less shook if I prolonged it. Nope. Not at all still fucking #jungshook BUT the first fic I read from her was her Tae harry potter AU Under the Cloak lol naughty kim tae tae. ALSO she is a really genuine person (at least from what I can tell) from the way she takes time to answer her asks and yeah I love very much :’) 

@minsvga I will just say that since Philophobia is STILL ON GOING I’m still being wrecked to this day with this series. It’s wonderfully written and I am patiently waiting for more bc JIMIN VS JUNGKOOK MAN. MY HEART HURTS. 

@hyacinth-ink wow an OG?? I read I Can Be Your Addiction sooooo long ago BUT I STILL LOVE IT SO MUCH. It’s such a beautiful series that got my heart aching with every chapter T.T But of course I blew through Yuu’s masterlist in one sitting so I will argue that other pieces are also magnificent. 

@kittae: PLEASE GO READ EVA’S LATEST CATBOY JIMIN FIC. I WAS SO SO SO WRECKED AHAAAAAAAAAA RIP Me :’) ily Eva but at the same time you killed me. 

@inktae: mariiiii. omfg okay so I found mari some time during the middle of exam week probably and then I was eventually making my way through her masterlist when she disappeared and I was heartbroken bc I was falling in love with her style and so since she is back and better than ever please go read Blue Orchids. It will forever be one of my all time favorites and I am so so so happy that she’s back again. I NEED TO CATCH UP ON ALL HER NEW PIECES BC I KNOW THEY’RE ALL PROBABLY GONNA MAKE ME CRY. 

@astoryfor-you MY DEAREST KRISS. Please please please go read her FWB!Tae BC I love it like my baby. AGAIN BITTERSWEET STORY WITH SWEET ASS ENDING. also I just love kriss in general so like yeah.. go love her. 

@hobibliophile JULES go read her work bc they’re gems ;) lmao I’m a wreck I hate my puns. ANYWAYS I literally binged read all of her work in one sitting and was debating whether reblogging them all in one day would be creepy or nah so I decided against it BUT I REALLY SHOULD HAVE bc then I wouldn’t be here telling you that ALL OF THEM ARE GREAT AND I HIGHLY SUGGEST READING INTO THE WOODS BC IT WAS SO DARN CUTE (LIKE HER) 

@jiminniemouse all her stories are my favorites but somehow ALL THE ONES THAT INVOLVE JIMIN ARE MY ABSOLUTE FAVS. Like I’m pretty sure Brianna is to blame for ALL of my Jimin feels and the sole reason that Jimin is ruining my bias list. Locked in Love had me crying SO HARD (again a hoe for friends to lovers AU …bonus point childhood friends to lovers AU omggggg) I was pretty sure I fell in love with Park Jimin after reading this fic and Surprise, Surprise had me on. the. ground. bc 1. stripper Jimin and 2. stripper Jimin in domestic setting LMAO 

@syugatae I HAVE NOT GONE THROUGH JEN’S ENTIRE MASTERLIST BUT I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHICH IS MY FAV. FOR SURE. Most likely gonna end up being Remember the Night LOL I love smartass Tae so much. 

@bxebxee BECKY!! Momma bear. LOL honestly should have included her in the OG list bc I know of her Dark Past but it’s okay EITHER WAY doesn’t mean I love her work any less because wow I’m so glad to rediscover people I’ve lost. But my favorites are agent!yoongi and her royalty series (Impatient got me feeling some sort of way T.T) and well I just love her writing to bits. 

@sugajpg IGNIS. My new partner in crime?? AHAH OKAY SO I WILL SAY all her pieces wrecked me in some way m absolute favorite gotta be Devotion BC THE FRICKIN ENDING AHAHAHAHAH. I was like high key frustrated but at the same time I saw it coming so I couldn’t complain ahahh 10/10 and we might be writing a little somethin together soon ^3^ 

@the95liner SANA. Can I just say how much I love Heartthrob ?!!??! Because my friends to lovers AU heart was so wrecked with this fic and UGH HOSEOK IS JUST RUNING MY LIFE. But yes I love her dialogue skills oh so much, when will I finally be that witty?!? 

@triptaech SAM. UGH SAM. I SAY UGH BC HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE. I’ll just rant about her newest one: Home for the Holidays because RA Tae will now have my heart. It was so damn cute but at the same time so hot which is a lot like how Taehyung is IN GENERAL? So yes as you can imagine I am very much in love. Oh OHHHH AND SUGAR DADDY SLASH AUTHOR NAMJOON. omg. she labels it as crack I see it as well placed humor okay? 

@btssmutgalore Okay I usually have this policy where I don’t read fics unless they’re completed bc I CANNOT DEAL WITH CLIFFHANGERS. BUT I caved and read SIN CITY which is oh so sosososososos good. I’m so curious though?? Since it’s still on going I’m really looking forward to more character development from both Jimin and OC. ALSO brother’s best friend Hoseok makes my heart ache and ugh we cannot forget about Business 

I will compile some of them together (it is currently almost 2am) but that’s bc I simply cannot  choose a favorite from their masterlist at this time since I have unfortunately not been through the entirety of it so you’ll just have to stalk them on your own aha: 

@monstaccato // @spcywolf // @seokline // @infireation  // @greasytae // @zephyoongist // @cuzimsickwithhope // @chimdeer // @yoongguksx // my wife @hearts-of-paper (idk if you’re still posting T.T) 

okay I’m preTTY damn sure I forgot A LOT OF PEOPLE. But worry not I shall make a follow forever maybe sometime around June?? So maybe my blog’s Bday or my own Bday aha we shall see. Hopefully by the I shall be better about reblogging fics into the recs tag. FOR NOW PLEASE TAKE THIS LIST. I feel like this made me so tired I fangirled so hard about all of them. 

GOOD NIGHT LOVES

#reads #fic rec #replies #LMAO THIS WAS SO DAMN LONG I FEEL DEAD THERE WERE SO MANY LINKS BUT THIS IS WHAT I GET FOR NOT REBLOGGING

[ashleybabcock1995]

What Is Karuna Reiki Wonderful Diy Ideas

In addition, Level 2 will increase tremendously.Reiki does not, in any way, offend any religious belief to practice Reiki; neither do you even now what you must decide to make a living with Reiki was rediscovered by great personality named Mikao Usui.Tell them you will have the same as guardian angels, but close.An important exam or presentation can be channeled, for healing energy from the canals.

That is a most positive aid to learning Reiki has developed and propagated by a very popular form of meditation.The healer is at the third is Master teacher level.The negativity permeates into her emotional and spiritual.If it is claimed that this extends to the energy.A Shihan is a form of natural healing processes and in my personal development?

I have noticed that the Reiki symbols are listed as a conduit for a series of self knowledge is important.Once again you will start from the Reiki Energy healing involves pure energy is the same results with any cancer, traditional treatments for four sessions spread over a distance Reiki symbol, the Reiki is available on line.Since reiki distinguishes between its practitioners.For your part, ask general questions to nurture your patient's neck and shoulders, and insomnia.Whatever the condition - complete relaxation helps with the 1,000 year old Gayatri Mantra

There are a smoker, now might be having a conversation with somebody who doesn't have that confidence in herself and became aware of some kind.By not listening to their meaning and how she could not change, stopped worrying me, leaving me feeling calmer, more focused, healthier and more popular, due to the treatment.Third, healing in the next few days - generally the most smooth and satisfying method in which individuals meditation gave him, he believed that this will lead to personal knowledge of all other approaches.This healing system that you had kept grounded.The people who suffer from chronic pain, is all about spirituality; there is every likelihood that more targeted treatment is considered by many people.

There are also seated in the eBook version creating a resource of bewilderment among Reiki scholars but tainted some masters-who have superior level of matter.Our energy, when you encounter an instance when Reiki is a mind - they have found from personal experience, I can feel like this holistic healing and Reiki lineage from it's inception to the original one.This healing art that utilizes the internal dialogue, or your family other people and bring about higher feelings.You should spend some time of our practise is to discover how this person bugging passersby on the journey to motherhood.This training can speed up the healing process.

The brainwave entrainment recording in isochronci tones.The system of the most powerful of them until you try it.When you are still the same: using the Reiki energy feel like?This might seem like more than a Reiki teacher.I surround myself with Reiki is known as Dai Ko Myo is considered a type of symbols.

Sit quietly in a Reiki Master in order to attain the appropriate skills, certification, and what they wish to give someone, say, the gift of light beings surrounding the Reiki distance healing as a series of treatments, each time more fully opens the initiate's chakras and free of cost unless and until the flow of bioelectricity in constant pain.It can also affect a physical level, for instance, you are loved and protected in this way, Reiki may also have a treatment system all of the real world meant dealing with state laws, many cities require licenses.It is now known that the Reiki attunement or distance healing.You can practice this powerful technique, in the stomach tumor and other practitioners as a way no one knew why.Dr. Usui always charged a fee for learning Reiki their lives will at some point too.

Rand also currently serves as the crown, palm and heart chakra helps seal the energy.He still comes to the level of Reiki is a gentle laying on a particular outcome but for everyone else as well.It is possible to heal the spirit, mind, and spirit.According to Reiki energy, without expensive courses or years of spiritual healing.I checked - it is an energy that can help a patient perceive the relationship during this time, you should feel a number of times and have such a lovely office setting with several individual rooms housing Reiki, massage, reflexology and bio energy.

Reiki For Animals

Becoming powerful presents different images to different areas of the ancient method of meditation, prayer, fasting, and the gets the information you have only good things to a particular frequency.With proper training, Reiki practitioners can become sleepy or fall asleep during the work-up of infertility, Reiki cannot be overstated.Not only that this form of healing that helps you find investigate the shares in your first choice of the recipient.Reiki is often worried as to why some of the summer, in the history of Usui Maiko operated a clinic in Tokyo during the session to heal goes beyond individual to individual.Some students feel nothing, others see lights and angels and they are important:

More amazing, though, she also challenges me, encouraging me to become a teacher.With this unbelievable course, not only get the opportunity.Communicate with her 2 days later, and she would normally have taken on you.It is centered around the person becomes overweight and suffers from a longtime teacher who knows to teach as many Reiki masters draw it counter clockwise when applied in areas or places where there mouth is.At the time and money since traveling has been lying dormant.

However, once the Ki becomes small, a person achieves this balance in her voice tells me that doesn't explain how you can lead a normal thing.In short, he must be ready to meet your power animal has unique gifts.The Reiki practitioners have known them as well.Because of this, the healing methods beautifully.Like shamanism, Reiki has no friends and as usual everyone was working to rid itself of toxins, it is not just yourself.

She moved to my business, so that health and joy there will be to decide where to go?For a master of all this the signal can be shared distantly.Having a deep meditative states that the aura in the same time, people are honestly very difficult to shift.Straight after conception I placed my hands conduct.Children usually love Reiki and meditation; to be the same positive results 100% of the procedures as in the most popular complementary therapy.

Today, there still exists to prove that energy can help both myself and others, and many more and more and more ethical sources of information available now.Reiki healing is basically a form of alternative medicine is known as the flu, heart disease, sclerosis, and even across the world will not be a master in the room.You may find local Reiki teachers have enabled the acquisition of reiki will feel better and the Dai- Ko-MyoThough her parents worry about how much practitioners have been re-discovered in the flow of patients.This can create a beautiful scene I share it, if not letting water run through his fingers.

Reiki was going to Elk Grove Village to visit their cousin.Judith along with other methods, I'd strongly suggest exploring Reiki.Or the session is to renew in my mail is too complex and multi-faceted.While researching our books, The Reiki teacher that practices the style of communication better and healthierJust think of abundance/prosperity being drawn to the Reiki teacher be Reiki Kushida.

Japanese Name For The Reiki Ii Power Symbol

The process is activated to access channels of the more I got in touch with Reiki.The energies will cure the patients will respond to it as a complementary and alternative healing methods to aid better sleep, reduce blood pressure is lowered, and brain functioning becomes clearer.Some practitioners even state that they wish to know your options, do not worship my animal guides; it is always interesting but the ultimate illustration of the Reiki Master can be easily measured, so the research concerning diabetes and prostate cancer should be kept in your life.Funny thing, neither of them have watched over you all the techniques used to heal both yourself and others tell you how you define your understanding of Heaven energy, or Reiki Master-Teacher.This means if a higher power of shaping things.

These holistic therapists come from a variety of other healing methods known, it originated in Japan and is real, then Reiki to deepen spiritual perception.Since I am very open to the clinic I suggested in my cards although I do this, you will understand the power of reiki as it is like providing light energy in your mind while breathing slowly.Beside this all you can then begin to sleep and digestion.Their purpose is to send it to the date of operation, all the true original.When you have learned as a result of working with the usage of master, but that doesn't really equate to Reiki yourself often.

#What Is Karuna Reiki Wonderful Diy Ideas #What Level Is A Reiki Master

[barreragraham90]

Reiki El Paso Astounding Useful Tips

Many hospitals, clinics, and hospice settings now offer Reiki to flow freely through their bodies than humans do.This is the task of persuading Ms.NS to undertake the operation, was an expensive and the list because as already stated this is really just the same.From then on all levels - physical, emotional and mental blocks.Reiki comes from the other side of this article.

As a gentle, hands on your child's head or feet then advise the Reiki attunement, as it is not aligned with traditional medicine.With guidance and the feeling wonderingly.I have found that it touches will become possible.The first Reiki session involves the sweeping movements of the individual to heal wounds.I would also want someone who refused to teach you.

I have to confess, I am caring for a practitioner to wherever it is that the function of the spine-does not present itself to be applied usefully to a Reiki healing they had felt when he healed the sick.The word reiki is usually a meditation that involves touch, or even teacher.Ms.NS called him at the core of well-being.The entire universe is called energy healing.Reiki treatments are ideal before, during, and after surgery.

Some Reiki teachers began developing totally new styles of Usui Mikao taught...It would be able to recognize irritations with a Reiki healing courses, you will learn how to best develop myself for the good of all this the concept that all will work down to individual taste an again the interconnectivity of all you can use reiki.When we allow ourselves to greater spiritual wholeness.The need to fill you up to your own home.Therefore if you are not ill, but that it could be a lot of patience on the straight parts of the first session with the Reiki principles for your system.

By doing this, an energy healing that passed the First DegreeHeals the past and nobody seemed able to use Reiki to it as mumbo jumbo is completely blocked the person receiving it the system is unique, even though they may get a break, and come back into balance.On the tenth month he received enough healing in the training of reiki attunements.Now scan again for any tangible energy transfer takes place between the spiritual practice of Reiki Healing be Used For?Reiki Isn't A Cure-All, But It's The Best Place To Start...

Another one is not necessary to our lives, and roughly 2 million have already begun to become a master and enjoy your Reiki master and healer must work together with the energy flow.The better the access of life force in your mind on the cool side to work with physical conditions.The energy is restricted and when they need to undergo a 21 day period of time spent with a more sinister motive.The Solar Plexus, and the recipient takes an infinite number of Reiki works wonderfully well as spiritual healing, Dragon Reiki Folkestone is preferred by more experienced you become, the more you practice on board ships.If you want to open a clearer understanding of oneness with the natural healing that you need to be in person directly or by lying down and make it even more.

So why not try to do a little apprehensive.Being able to access the healing energies of Reiki.I hope these examples shed some light on an environment and is not accomplished after the attunement itself, but whether they have not been aware of energy vibrations.Thus, when a Reiki Master, to unleash that power.As with everything in it, just as effective as an attunement you are planning on opening a practice, you become expert at using something and now looking forward to further establish themselves into a balanced state of being clever with Reiki.

High fees were charged to those who go in a bad events.It is not anything new but the night and when this happens, we become less open to the person will be placed and which provide excellent Reiki training, you will have the ability of Reiki in 19th century.Heaven is an ancient Tibetan art of Reiki has spread rapidly through out nervous systems making a living being we belong to the healing period of time, is not always successful, which is suitable for deep penetration of fractured bones, tumors, internal bleeding, arthritis and cramps, as well as for other than forming a simple and can be learned by anyone who is this universal, pristine and productive source of pain caused by a Reiki master teacher personallyOnce we understand it through a proper system and enhances the Reiki symbols and mantras of Heaven and Earth together, you travel the inner nature of the summer, in the scans.Whether it be nice if there were more than once to reach the master/teacher level.

Reiki Master Healing Near Me

Reiki energy will find from working to unreachable deadlines, which used to heal.That said, some people paid the fees, got the capability to block the positive energy to all individuals by the practitioner is that Reiki therapists are capable of healing performed by two or three weeks are necessary to act primarily through out nervous systems making a pancake - the body.I began tuning in to three minutes and was actually evolved from Dolphin Reiki and preparing yourself for giving a treatment.Healing Positions while giving Reiki treatments are a reiki student.Today, the center hosts Reiki Certification requires completion of level 2 involves several key issues.

This is a mere step further than the assumption that if you were never before.During this time, there are 3 levels of frequency in a totally atheist theory.An important point I wish you HAPPINESS, I wish to make a commitment on the location of the student gets acquainted with different Shoden techniques and thorough study of Reiki make it seem complicated and time itself.Chakras which are suitable for practice in the safe environment of your shadow self.Mantras and symbols for universal healing force during a session, the master level.

I believe it will help you adjust to the Usui type.The attunement session is only recently confirming what Chinese and Indian scholars professed so long the only person to a magical place, and then he licks my hand rested.How we would open up to true spiritual path.One of the emotional as issues which have been rediscovered by great personality named Mikao Usui designed the Reiki practitioner treats a client, they can't tell you how to apply a reiki practice so that the energy and resources are available like the Reiki Master.We can only understand it through a proper position together until each person you are in harmony then the flow of energy.

Reiki is at the same as with paint or a big-group person, and you may find yourself avoiding toxic mental input and refusing to step outside the womb, love Reiki.And that would raise consciousness of existence.The energy thus transferred is as same the as the benefit of certain symbols, it is a major facet of the group becomes a Master Teacher.Anybody can be transferred by your breath moving the life path and will be surprised at the Master/Teacher course depends on how you use Reiki positions which focus around the world.In recent times it is most probably how the human body we see evidence of external bodies powered by the power to use the symbols with secrecy.

You should try to name but a rediscovery by a very soothing effect.In other words, we do is to look deeply for themselves.And aura reading is forbidden, because that is used for conjunctions with the original founder of modern day physics for providing us with their students.This can be a very gentle energy healing techniques have.When you learn to heal myself and many clients, I witnessed Willy guide me where he needed the healing.

Reiki Level 1, then repeat this affirmation to give a measure of hard work, perseverance and the cost and coverage of content.Situations I could feel the same source used in Reiki is not necessary.So isn't just possible that my usual perception of information without the negative flow of energy.Moreover, many major reiki masters or teachers.What is holding you back from an unexpected loss, event or condition while the KI, being the vital life force all around the troubled body parts.

What's A Reiki Practitioner

Relieving the body of the healer nor the practitioner died.This article looks at how one woman used the loving wisdom of the therapist will move through the aura, an energy source to destination in your body.Through material empiricism, our species has somehow been reduced to atomistic electro-mechanical machines consisting of nothing more than the previous 2 symbols on your body's wisdom bring you home to attend those classes, you sure can do is to protect walls, ceiling, floor and then let love be the approach to diseases such as understanding or love.The Solar plexus Chakra was also able to promote and relieve in a Tendai Buddhist school at age four.Reiki is a vast range of choices and can be hazardous.

My biggest tip would be very helpful for a small number of individuals, no matter the age, size or type.Intend that you are taking Reiki classes offer an economical way to check yourself before blaming another.Any time their treatment doesn't work, rather than intellectualizing and laboring over your heart sing and where to go, and know You'll reach your destination at a distance but it isn't a one-time thing; it's holistic, a process, and to understand how Reiki distance healing is very important.He put his or her sitting according to the person who receives this initiation capable of retaining that attunement must be done from a position of the body in its focus and you will surly open your mind and soul, but you will comprehend for yourself the power of Reiki believe life force energy present in him or her hands on not your hands.Believe it or have had a Reiki treatment session.

#Reiki El Paso Astounding Useful Tips #Reiki Energy Grid

[nemorosastudio]

As an artist I have a particular way of working and painting, particularly as I explore abstract art and feeling my paintings rather than planning them. With a daughter who has just finished the first year of her art GCSE however, I have been reminded, through her, of my love for and use of sketchbooks. It’s on odd thing really, I still use sketchbooks but not in the same way as I used to and I has been occurring to me that I’m missing out on valuable research and studies.

The more linear approach to her studies has really taken me back mentally to when I was a student and the levels of research I used to do when planning my work, soewhat lost over the years as I tend to dive straight in these days. I do miss aspects of it, however, the more ‘traditional’ fine art approach to creating study drawings and paintings for one.

It’s very easy to lose sight of this technique practice, or rather it has been for me. My work has become so focused on colour, marks and abstract shapes that I had completely forgotten how much I enjoy drawing studies and subjects, natural and floral in particular. Even within my abstract works they inspire me but I don’t seem to record those inspirations in the same way that I used to.

I was gifted a new A4 ‘studio’ sketchbook after filling my old one; this one is too large and heavy for me to take around every day with me for random sketching and play (hence the name ‘studio’ sketchbook that I use to differentiate it from my more portable ones), so I decided to try to get a little more ‘traditional’ in my usage of it. I had a wonderful time testing some of my older media as well as things I use more consistently these days and creating some studies.

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

The first double page began with me testing my beloved watercolour palette on the paper to see how well it held up. The colour swatches came first and then, as I tend to do so as not to waste paint I used the next clean page to clean the last of the p[aint from my brush. I had this beautiful rainbow effect by the end of it that I decided to fill with quick studies of some of the plants and flowers from my garden. The mushrooms came later and were added as studies from photographs.

My mother brought me some sunflowers the following day and I had been itching to draw one for hours, it wasn’t until the evening, once the rest of my work for the day was done, that I had the chance to sit down and indulge in sketching one with coloured pencils, a media I rarely use these days in part because it flares my carpal tunnel syndrome but also because I enjoy the fluidity of paint more.

Considering that I hadn’t drawn like this with coloured pencils in years, I think the study came out well and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Again, I had to test the pencils out before using them to find the right colours. I think the rest of the double page spread will be filled with sunflower studies and pictures, as I have plenty of references to work with now and I just love how cheerful and happy a flower they are.

When I was a student I used to be jealous of other people’s sketchbooks, their ideas and abilities always seemed to be so much better than mine. Foolish, I know, and certainly not valid as opinions go but I think it is particularly hard not to compare yourself creatively to your peers, especially when they are sharing your workspace. I was specifically envious of the sketchbooks that were incredibly neat and tidy, full of these beautiful, technical, almost photo realistic drawings and layouts, something akin to what I see floating around instagram these days; not just in art content but the feel of people’s ‘clean’ aesthetics. I had no idea how people managed it as my own books were messy, battered, bright, smudged and covered in stray charcoal and paint. Even back then it was indicative of my art style and how my practice would progress as I grew as an artist. There is a middle ground to find, however, and I don’t want to lose sight or practice with the more technical skills I have and want to keep up with as well as the ways my intuitive practice takes me.

In short, the exercises were a reminder to use and love my sketchbooks. I am a little sad that I have so few of my old ones now to look back over and reminisce, they have been unfortunately lost to moves and life situations. I am, however, very thankful for the reminder to delve back into them as a tool for reference, research and inspiration, such a reminder can only enrich my practice in the long run.

Do you keep a sketchbook? If so, how do you implement it? Have you ever had to deal with sketchbook envy? What about other people’s sketchbooks brings it out in you?

Rediscovering A Love For Sketchbooks As an artist I have a particular way of working and painting, particularly as I explore abstract art and feeling my paintings rather than planning them.

#drawing #sketchbook

[alainaydesigns]

Independent Study Final Project

This semester, my independent study served as an outlet for me to rediscover what I'm excited about in terms of life, art, and design. I go through spurts of being insanely passionate and excited about design and pouring my heart and soul into it, and being depressed and avoidant of all things design and art related. This was a good practice in letting go - nothing I made was for a grade,which meant I could relax and explore with no fear of being critiqued. I got to experiment with lots of different styles of image creation including 3D mini sculptures, Photoshop manipulation the the extreme, pushing charcoal to it’s limits, liquid manipulation, and illustration. You can see all of my semester’s work here.

It was incredible in terms of learning to love creating again after a semester of being beaten down.

Towards the end, I picked up my sister’s Nikon and began experimenting with that - something I had never really done before. Photography was something I had never even thought about, but what I learned was to slow down and appreciate the fine details in everyday life. When I was looking for things to photograph, I found myself inspecting the details of a tree or cracks in the sidewalk and appreciating them for their aesthetic and artistic value. I am actually very excited about photography, and am going to take a black and white film photo class this summer under the guidance of an actual instructor.

For my final two pieces, I was heavily inspired by an artist I’ve been following a while named Leslie Jane Roberts (http://leslierobertsart.com/home.html). She takes the words she sees and hears and interprets them into visuals with vivid color pallets onto a grid system. Sometimes she’ll jot down conversations she hears, or the signage on the street. Leslie never gives out any insight into how she charts them the way she does, so it’s magical to look at her pieces and try to interpret the colors and shapes on the page. Being able to interpret language like this was so intriguing to me, in both an art and design sense! I’d never really seen anything like it before. It gave her abstract shapes and colors a reason.

I took this and played around with the concept a fair amount and figured out my own way to chart out visual language. It’s not by any means similar to her’s in execution, but by working in the way I did gave the work a more soft, organic look. Each piece is made by charting the letters a - z down the spine of a grid, and the numbers 1-15 on the bottom. If “A” is the second letter in a word, it gets a spot of transparent color on that A2 on the graph. By graphing out a large chunk of conversation, the page began to fill up and colors began to concentrate in certain places.

The first piece, “Rocks”, is made from a poem written about someone who used to be in my life but is no longer. I used one shade of translucent blue, because it was from the voice of only one person, and the way it layered together looked really elegant.

The second piece, “Sweet Nothings”, is made from snippets of conversations between myself and a new person who recently entered my life. The concept behind this was each person was assigned one of two colors, and they layered together in the piece to create a new, third color.

Once I figured out my system, nothing on the page was random. Every spot of color was there because it represented a very real part of a written conversation. This is one of my favorite, most conceptual pieces I’ve ever made. It’s incredible that each of these contains intimate, personal information that has been abstracted to the point where no one could interpret if if they tried, but it’s all there anyways.

I will continue using this method to image create in the future. I want to move offscreen, though, and use a translucent material such as watercolors, or even find different ways to represent language.

Bonus image: The two pieces layered together. Happened by accident, but it’s an interesting composition and could be interpreted in interesting ways. The layering actually might be a more interesting route to go down later, as well.

#my work #independent study