#making money as dancers when they grow up unless they teach

[willowchild]

What good parent would send their kid to a dance studio like in dance moms regardless of if they are being filmed. Do you not care about your child?

#like obvi the whole dance moms place is a very toxic environment for many many reasons #but like there are other studios like this without their show! where since they are toddlers children are under constant #pressure and hard work and injuries. let them be kids!!! and for what exactly? not for livelihood thats for sure. they aren't gonna be #making money as dancers when they grow up unless they teach #there's no way this is healthy #like this is just like how in the soviet union they would do this just for gymnastics #this is NOT abt someone having a normal amount of lessons as a hobby ofc. there r a lot of benefits 2 dancing. but their wellbeing comes 1st #it speaks

[gleefail]

Glee Memories: 1x6 Vitamin D

A long, long time ago, as Glee was approaching graduation in Season 3, I found myself nostalgic with some rare free time on my hands. So I decided to rewatch the series from the beginning and jot down some memories, discrepancies that have arisen since, fave quotes, tally solos - all that good stuff, strictly for shits and giggles.

8 years later (eek!) and once more I find myself with an unexpected abundance of free time. With so many revisiting or being newly introduced to the show between binge watching during Quarantine and all the tragedy that has surrounded the show since it went off the air, I figured I’d finish what I started. And by finish, I mean go through the end of S3. Cause I truly cannot acknowledge what happened after that. Except for 5B.

Kicking this off by reposting the first 15 episodes I already went through. Enjoy!

1x6 Vitamin D Mr. Schue is worried cause the Glee club is being lazy and complacent. First time and still true until Sue came along to help the club.

Mmmmkay. And now Mercedes starts dressing kinda funky. Oh goody. :/

Ugh. Listen, I have adored Matthew Morrison since I saw him in Hairspray 10 years ago, but it’s still not at all appealing when he tries to lick that mustard off his own chin.

“I will hold my tongue no further.”

”You have to remember something: we’re dealing with children. They need to be terrified. It’s like mother’s milk to them. Without it, their bones won’t grow properly.”

“Ellen, that blouse is just insane.”

”I don’t understand how lightening is in competition with an above ground swimming pool”

BOYS V. GIRLS FOR THE FIRST TIME! <3

“Okay, split up: guys on the right side, girls on the left side…Kurt” *gestures for him to join the boys, not the girls* Kurt looks soooo pissed. And is such a baby-faced nugget!

A Mash-Up was just defined and used for the first time.

”We’re planning on smacking them down like the hand of God” yaaaaay, Sue’s Journal entries! I miss those. Hey, did she ever get that hovercraft she was working towards?

”Let me be frank: your husband is hiding his kielbasa in a Hickory Farms gift basket that doesn’t belong to you.”

”I’ve always thought the desire to procreate showed deep personal weakness. Me? Never wanted kids. Don’t have the time, don’t have the uterus.” #oops

“I think you should both pack up and move out of the district. Unless you wanna lose your man to a mentally ill ginger pygmy with eyes like a bush baby”

the Matthew Morrison mustard licking is even less appealing in slow motion. Ew.

Terri just wiped Emma’s mug off with her own spit. Even if you didn’t have OCD, that is not right.

“But you’re not a nurse. You don’t have any training…” “Oh please, Will – it’s a public school.”

Wait…Mr. Schue seems to be teaching music theory? WTF? Has this happened before? Since?

“She freaks me out in a Swim Fan kinda way”

“But her body’s smokin’…if you’re not into boobs” Finn re: Rachel

I don’t think I ever caught this before – Finn is rubbing BioFreeze on his legs and accidentally scratches near his eye…and you can see the effect set in and then he spazzes out. Ha! #BlessFinnsHeart

“My mom says I’m stretched too thin so I gave up homework but that didn’t help” #BlessFinnsHeart

“Puck, with respect, you’re more helpful when you don’t contribute”

“Where’s Quinn?” “Probably down at the mall looking for elastic waistbands”

“Let’s do the number and then build a house for Habitat for Humanity” oh, Finn on ‘vitamin d’. He has the mind of a child. Especially during this performance. Holy crap!

“No one at Glee is gonna judge you.” Oh, that will change Rachel.

Hahahaha, Quinn drew pornographic pictures of Rachel on the bathroom walls. I miss when Quinn hated Rachel. Just a little bit. Cause she did it so well and right now it would please my soul to see some of that.

Poor Howard Bamboo is so terrified of Terri and just pitiful. I just want to hug him and tell him to stand up to her! :(

“I see em’ together all the time – laughing, talking…all the stuff she never does with me”

Terri’s office looks like it’s the same as Emma’s…

“I am not built to work 5 days a week”

“I’ve been thinkin’ maybe that if you and I started seein’ each other on the side it might kinda cancel their thing out”

“She doesn’t like to be touched…by me.”

“Look at the two of us. You pregnant and me with psoriasus and one testicle that won’t descend.”

“Though I’ve been grouped with the boys, my allegiance still remains with you ladies. They declined my offer to do their hair in cornrows and all my artistic decisions have been derioted as ‘too costly’ because they involve several varieties of exotic bird feathers.”

Rachel’s goal is a Grammy, not a Tony. #oops

smack-talking Finn is a giant douche. Ugh.

“You being here is not good for our marriage.” “Spending time together is not good for our marriage?” She has a point…

“A lot of ants on the sidewalk today.” *long uncomfortable silence* “Pretty late in the season for that.”

oh, Ken proposing. I hated you from the first moment I laid eyes on you.

“Look, Emma, I know our relationship hasn’t been perfect. You won’t ride in my car. I can’t touch you above the wrist. Remember you cried for an hour that one time my elbow accidentally brushed by your breast? But I think about you all day long. I kiss that picture of us at the State Fair every night before I go to sleep. Emma Pillsbury, this is not an engagement ring – no, I mean it is, but it’s more than that. It’s a promise. Look, Emma, I know you have this thing about being clean. Now I can’t promise to pick up my underwear or squeegee the shower door, but I can promise to keep your life clean of sadness and loneliness and any other dark clouds that might float into it. It’s cubic zirconia. I know how effected you were by Blood Diamond.”

“Thankyousomuch,itreallyisapleasure.Whiletheboyschoseaselectionofsongsthatcastaneyeinwardontheirresponsiblelifechoicesandsexualhungeroftoday’smodernteens,wehavechosenaselectionofsongsthatspeakstothenationasawholeduringthesetroublingtimesfilledwitheconomicuncertaintyandunbridledsocialwoebecauseifthere’stwothingsAmericaneedsrightnow,thatissunshineandoptimism.” *awkward pause and Rachel finally breathes* “Also angels.” OMG. Maybe my favorite Rachel Berry moment ever.

Also, this was one of my fave musical moments (songs, singers, choreography) of all of Season One. Heather Morris is gangsta on this, dancing like she’s on crack. OMG. I love it. Every one of these girls is such a great dancer.

“Can you um…can you think of any other options I might have?” “Is that a reason to marry someone?” “That’s not what I’m asking.” See, Glee still does this – these weird conversations that are clearly about something else, but never really get finished and things are left in limbo but as if the akward moment didn’t happen, so I think I’m losing my mind when I look for the continuity….ugh. Headache. What just happened?

“You have no chance with my husband. Do I make myself clear? You might think there’s some kind of competition going on with you and I, but that’s like saying that a nail is competing with a hammer.”

“Do yourself a favor, honey. Marry Ken Tanaka. Oh sure, he’s dumb like sand, and his fondue pot of nationalities is gonna open your kids up to a host of genetic diseases…but he’s kind, and he’s generous. And he’s available.” I don’t like Terri but….truth.com right there.

“I need to talk to you, about the baby” “Is everything ok? You’re not having it right now, are you?” What?! No! Aren’t you supposed to be a nurse?”

“You want money from me?” “It’s gonna be your baby.” “Which means I’m gonna be paying the bills for 18 years – I think you can handle 9 months” Oh Terri.

Aw. My heart still breaks for Emma during this scene where she basically accepts Ken’s proposal and asks for a secret marriage. And says she doesn’t wanna spend the rest of her life alone. Gah – so sad! :(

“I don’t even remember performing.”

“I’m sorry for what I said the other day. For calling you contemptable and deplorable” “Ah, that’s ok. I didn’t even know what those words meant.” #BlessFinnsHeart

“My goals are too selfish.” Rachel. Why did you forget that lesson?

Howard Bamboo got arrested on suspicion of running a meth lab. Ha!

“You are oblivious to consequences” A running theme of this show.

oh Glee. Again with the weird situations…neither Will nor Emma even preTENded to be happy about her marrying Ken when she told him. How does neither of them address it? What just happened?

I remember the first time I saw this episode and I loved that Rachel Berry had changed to being a team player and making her goal about winning sectionals with the team. That didn’t last long. SOLOS: Finn (1), Artie (1), Rachel (1) MERCEDES TAKES THE GLORY NOTE: 2nd time

#Glee Memories #Glee #lol Glee #Glee Vitamin D

[doyouneedtorant]

april 29, 2019 (time unknown)

This is an old piece that I wrote for an English assignment. It is entitled “The Missing Fairy Princess”. 

It’s backpacking season at the University of Michigan. For those of you who are unaware of what that means, “backpacking” is the process of choosing classes to put in your “backpack” before registering for them at a later date. It involves many hours of obsessing over the course guide and worrying about what the future will look like if you do not get the classes that you need for your major. With that in mind, it’s an extremely stressful experience for someone as manic and worried as me. At this point in my college career, I am bombarded with adults telling me “Oh, you’re just a freshman! You don’t need to know what you’re doing with your life quite yet!” when in reality, this question of “what do you want to be” is single-handedly eating away at my heart. I am a person of many ambitions and yet in a school full of aerospace engineers, aspiring business men and women, medical students, and overachieving triple-majors, I feel as if my creativity has been pushed to the side for a more practical pursuit. In these times, I cannot help but look back at the young girl I used to be who wanted to be everything.

At my preschool culmination, the teachers all asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. All the boys and girls said they wanted to be firefighters and police officers or dentists and doctors. Yet when it got to me, I said I wanted to be a fairy princess. One of the parents laughed at me and my dad essentially told them “Hey, if my daughter wants to be a fairy princess, she can. It’s more original and creative than being a police officer, like your kid.” Now, this is just something my father has told me over and over; I can only really trust him and his memory skills to assume that this retelling of the story is actually an accurate depiction of what happened. Same goes to the time that he told me that the mothers that led our Girl Scout group had to pull him aside, because during arts and crafts, I tried to make a mind-control device to brainwash the other girls. Although I can’t remember a single thing about these events, I’ve heard these stories so many times that I can seriously see them - well, at least in my own imaginative way. I see me shrieking “I want to be a fairy princess!” at the culmination and suddenly I’m in this cute, little purple fairy costume laughing as my dad has his altercation with the other parent. I can vividly see this “mind-control device,” a black-and-white pinwheel that spins as if I was some engineer who could have actually made that at the age of eight. Over the years, these tales have deeply embedded into me that I could be whatever I wanted to be and I had the drive and ability to be or create something inspiring. And at that young age, I could have been a fairy princess. I could have made a mind-control device. And as I got older, I found myself in love with so many things - writing, singing, teaching, learning, math, English, science, animals. I wanted to be everything and when you’re eight, the idea of being everything seems achievable.

Whether or not those stories were true, there’s clearly a path of imaginative behavior that trailed off from then. Starting in elementary school, I was starting to write my own books. Yes, crappy by default, but true pieces of art in the eyes of my younger self. (My debut story was Pretty and Paris, a book about two poodles that discovered they were sisters and then one was kidnapped by a jealous ex-best friend who planned to sell her on the black market. Iconic.) I was making short films about pineapples with jobs and reality shows about my stuffed animals. I started writing music about the food in my fridge and the boys I thought were cute in my second grade class. I learned how to play the guitar and piano by my own hand and I realized I loved to write poetry. In high school, I was in theatre and started writing plays and when adults told me they were good, it encouraged that childlike creativity that had always followed me throughout the years. I was bound for amazing things and that eight-year-old girl could look in the bathroom mirror and recognize it.

But now I am 19. And, yes, that’s ridiculously young and I am fully aware how bizarre it is for me to be saying I can no longer be creative or that I cannot be whatever I want to be. But at this point in my life, there definitely is a limit on the possibilities. I came into college thinking that I would take all the classes I was interested in, that I would be in multiple clubs, that I would have internships lined up for me. But that’s not actually how reality works. There are GEs (the “general education” credits that the school swears you must take to be educated) and prerequisites that you are forced to take as stepping stones. You have a job because the cost of living in a college town is extremely exaggerated, so now the time you have for clubs is cut short. There are internship opportunities over summer but you are so tired from a demanding semester that you cannot even imagine putting in a minimal level of effort until you have to next semester. I think most importantly that the biggest shock was that if you do not do certain tasks, you absolutely cannot be whatever you want. If you do not take Biology 172, you cannot be a doctor; and if you decide halfway through your college career that you want to pursue medical school, the amount of time and effort that you would need to just catch up with the intense checklist of classes for the MCAT would probably kill you. Not to mention if you want to attend graduate school at all, the competitive nature of students today requires you to get an extremely high GPA, despite the fact that classes are gradually becoming more difficult and teachers praise themselves when they fail a whole class with an unreasonably unfair exam.

Not to mention, the stigma around being a humanities major is hard to avoid. My friends joke about me being homeless after college when my useless degree creates a jobless and unsuccessful life. Growing up in Los Angeles and attending a performing arts school warped my view on how people saw art, especially in a school that worships STEM. Where I came from everyone was going to be some sort of creative when they grew up: a performer, a dancer, an actor, a photographer, a playwright. And to be honest, I believed that. I saw my peers achieving great things while they were still seniors in high school and it made that dream seem much more realistic. With that in mind, that creative eight-year-old flew two thousand miles away from her home, destined to achieve these amazing feats, just to be told creativity is only allowed when it is flirting with practicality. Maybe I could have gone to a liberal arts school instead or somewhere more understanding of arts-oriented students, but how can one do that when the University of Michigan has so much to offer? An amazing reputation, a sense of pride that no other school could match, an incredibly talented and intelligent body of students that collaborate to increase the chance of success, a campus that looks like it was plucked from a catalog. I mean, it was a no-brainer. I knew any program I decided to go into would be academically rigorous and extremely insightful. Now, do not get me wrong, the humanities classes I have attended were exactly that, but the fear of not doing enough has become a very heavy weight on my shoulders. Everyone I meet is a future doctor, engineer, material scientist, epidemiologist, dentist, or nurse. Where were all the fairy princesses?

I decided that I needed to do more and went into what I like to call: “Phase I: I am going to be a doctor!” The idea of becoming a pediatrician was attractive; I always adored children, I wanted to find a career where I helped people, medicine and health continuously peaked my interest. So, with this in mind, I launched my pre-med phase and started to plan out the next three years of my life, the classes I would take, the medical schools I liked, what internships I would do over summer. (It’s sufficient to say I am an overthinker.) I registered for, you guessed it, Biology 172 and a statistics class, making my way through the advised pre-med checklist. Things were going pretty smoothly and then I failed two exams, started missing lectures, and had to explain to my father that for the first time in five years, my grades were not amazing. I came to the conclusion that the root of my stresses was Biology 172 and I withdrew from the class two- thirds through the semester.

No more doctor.

Right now, I am looking at pre-health or pre-social work, trying to find something realistic to pursue and the question “Where are all the fairy princesses?” haunts me. I like to ask people what they wanted to be when they were a kid and what they would want to be now, but often the answer makes me sad. My friend who just graduated with a degree in sociology told me he wanted to be a teacher when he was younger. Teachers, unfortunately, are not paid well and so many kids turn their cheek to education, unless it means becoming a professor at a high- paying university. My friend instead got his degree in sociology, but has no idea what he would ever do with it, so he is applying for reception jobs at local hospitals and clinics instead. Another friend told me he wanted to grow up to be a basketball player, but the skill required and the sheer realistic nature of the dream steered him in a different direction. If money or impracticality remained out of the picture, my dream would be performing on Broadway, or being a cast member on Saturday Night Live, or winning a Tony for Best Play, or singing my own songs in front of a giant crowd. However, the fear of failure or not having something to fall back on is honey for my anxiety.

Once again, I want to make it extremely well known that I understand how young I am. I am going to live a long, luxurious life and the worries I have now will all fit into place, and in my fifties I will be laughing with my husband and children about how silly my troubles actually were. But for now, they are real and they are daunting. It feels like everyone knows what they are doing or they are committed to suffering through the difficult classes they need to succeed. And frankly, I’m not. Every time I look in the mirror, I still see my younger self in the reflection - a purple fairy dress on, stuffed animal in hand, smile plastered to my face - and it is hard to not feel disappointed. I want to look back at that little girl and tell her that we did it. I want to tell her we became everything we dreamed of - a writer, a performer, a doctor, a veterinarian, a teacher, a psychologist, an artist, a chef. And although I cannot predict the future, I understand some of these options have been eliminated just by major choice.

To tell sixteen-year-olds that they need to have some basic understanding of what they want to do with their lives by the time they apply to college is utterly ridiculous. The way we have been taught to push ourselves to absurd heights has left no time to breathe in between class breaks. My fellow classmates are either not participating in any social scene so they can study, or they are engaging way too much and developing some form of alcoholism or drug problem before they hit twenty. Those of us who plan to go to graduate school have stopped learning in order to save space for short-term memorization, when in reality, we all went to college in hopes of learning more than we did in high school. No one seems to be super happy about what they are doing in college because despite the fact that adults have raved on about how in college you get to study exactly what you want to study, the opposite has proven itself true. I may be a speck of dust on Michigan’s campus but the alarming rate of students that feel the same way tells me that something is wrong with the whole process. During these next three years, I hope to catch a glimpse of my younger self by diving into activities and classes that excite me, but I worry that one day, she’ll fade away and I’ll just have to wait for my dad to tell me more stories about her.

#writer #blogger #writing #blog #school #dreams #jobs #creatitivity #kids #college #majors #myrants

[shinsoukokuvalentine]

Entwined

(Well yesterday’s post didn’t happen. Sorry, guys; work’s been exhausting. Have a fantasy/soulmate AU.)

218/365: Entwined

“You’ll be able to see them, with enough training.”

Atsushi looks up from his mug. On the other size of the table, unfazed by the rowdy noises of the public tavern, Dazai gulps down mead from his own tankard.

“My last apprentice could see them a little,” he says with a sigh as he sets down his drink, “but he didn’t have the same potential as you do. You have some of the strongest magic I’ve ever seen, Atsushi.”

Atsushi frowns. “I can’t even cast a spell yet,” he mutters, but Dazai waves his hand dismissively.

“Spells, schmells. Spells don’t get you money unless you’re looking to be hired for the boy prince’s birthday party,” Dazai scoffs. He smirks a little, setting his elbow on the table and propping his chin in his hand. “Fortune-telling. That’s what people want. That’s what brings in the gold.”

Atsushi nods a little, sheepishly. Again, he looks around at the tavern, at the people there, but all he sees are traveling adventurers, a few misplaced knights, and scantily-clad waitresses. No strings weave between them.

“And what’s the fortune people always want?”

Atsushi’s attention snaps back to Dazai as his mentor makes a heart with his hands.

“Love, Atsushi! Do you know how much people will pay to know who’s at the other end of their red string?” He grins. Atsushi frowns.

“You sound like a sellout,” he mumbles. Dazai huffs.

“I sound efficient,” he says. “Besides, if I didn’t sell out, like you say, how would I have been able to take you in and feed you, hmm?”

Atsushi crosses his arms over his chest grumpily, but his master does have a point.

“Why can’t I see them yet, then?” He mutters. “You think I would, after training with you so long.”

Dazai leans back in his chair, humming pensively.

“Atsushi,” he says after a moment, “Will you let me try something?”

Atsushi nods, and Dazai gets up from his seat. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a piece of black cloth.

“Hold still,” he says, and before Atsushi can protest, he’s wrapped the blindfold around his head.

“Hey!” Atsushi snaps, but Dazai places his hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry; I’m still here,” his master says. “I’m not walking out on you. I’m testing you. Can you see anything?”

“Of course not,” Atsushi says curtly, and he hears Dazai chuckle a bit.

“Good. Now, I want you to try to see with your magic. Feel the room around you without touching it.”

Atsushi frowns again, but he tries to concentrate. He lets his magic -  a power that he was blessed with from birth but couldn’t control before Dazai taught him - flow through the room, reaching out to every wall, table, and being there.

At first, he can only see a shapes. Outlines. But slowly, more defined features become clear, including something he hadn’t noticed before.

Atsushi gasps, and Dazai pats his shoulder.

“You see them?”

Atsushi nods. Woven between everyone in the tavern, red thread fills the room. Loose strings, taught strings, frayed strings, knotted strings; they’re all there, connecting everyone in the tavern to their destined lover.

“I knew it,” Dazai says. He unties the blindfold from Atsushi’s eyes, bringing an abrupt end to his revelation as everything goes back to normal once his vision is returned to him. Atsushi stares up in wonder at his mentor while Dazai grins.

“You’re going to be so profitable, Atsushi!”

x

It was the perfect time to test his power, Dazai said. The room would be so full of people, he might get overwhelmed, but it will teach him to channel his concentration.

“And no one will care that you’re wearing a blindfold,” Dazai smiles, tying the cloth around Atsushi’s eyes once more. Atsushi only nods as he walks beside Dazai, using his magic to feel his way through the halls, stepping with him into the ballroom.

Noble men and women line the walls and cover the floor of the masquerade. The noise in there is even louder than the tavern, and Atsushi nearly covers his ears before Dazai grabs his wrist, pulling his hand back to his side.

“Manners,” he chides playfully. “Now, find some strings.”

Atsushi takes a deep breath. As he walks forward, he extends the power of his magic, deepening his connection with every consciousness around him.

There they are again. They’re a brighter red than Atsushi’s ever seen, but when he reaches out to touch them, they pass through his hand.

“Don’t try to touch them, you’ll look stupid,” Dazai says, pulling up beside him again. “I didn’t buy these expensive outfits and sneak us in here just so you could make a fool of yourself. Now, I’m going to start offering our services without getting nabbed by guards. You keep practicing.”

Atsushi nods feebly, turning away, but Dazai stops him once more.

“One more thing,” he says, drawing Atsushi’s attention back to him. He can’t be sure, because he can’t see faces very well with his magic alone, but he thinks Dazai is grinning. “These strings aren’t like normal thread. When two connected people are close, the string will go taught.”

Atsushi nearly calls after him, asking what he meant, but his master is gone. Atsushi sighs, walking through the ballroom on his own.

Lively chamber music fills the room, and Atsushi has to be careful not to bump into dancers. Several people in the room are connected, red strings wrapped around their wrist, tying them to the person they stand beside. Still others have strings that lead far away, even though they and their dance partner wear matching rings.

Without warning, Atsushi feels a tug on his wrist. He looks down, and in his wonder of his newfound power, he had never noticed something vitally important: his own string, wrapped and knotted around his wrist.

And the line has gone taught.

Atsushi gasps. His heart seems to pound in his ears, but it only takes a second for him to decide on a course of action. He follows the string.

His magic focuses on it. He weaves and shoves around people, ignoring their protests and rude comments. His string grows tighter. The chamber music slows, softens.

Just when his string becomes so tight that it’s almost painful, cutting into his wrist, Atsushi stops. Wine glass in his hand, the man in front of him seems to feel someone staring at him and turns around to Atsushi.

“... Can I help you?” A low voice asks. Atsushi’s heart begins pounding again at the sound. Red string only a few meters long connects them both at the wrists.

Atsushi can’t see the man’s face, so he almost frantically unties the blindfold only to see him. And when he does, Atsushi can do nothing but stare.

For the masquerade, his dark eyes are encircled by a red, pointed mask. His porcelain skin seems to shine under the chandeliers, and his thin lips seem to be begging for Atsushi to kiss them.

He doesn’t, of course, and clears his throat.

“I, uh,” he stammers, and the man rolls his eyes and begins to walk away. Atsushi panics.

“Wait!” he yelps, and before he knows what he’s doing, he’s grabbed the man’s hand. The dark-haired man whips around to Atsushi, who pales.

“Uh,” he says again, but he rapidly follows it up with, “will you dance with me?”

The man’s eyes widen. Atsushi gasps and quickly steps back, pulling his hand away, but to his surprise, the man doesn’t let go.

“... If you’d like,” he murmurs, his dark eyes meeting Atsushi’s. Atsushi can barely breathe as the other man wraps his arm around his waist, leading them to the open floor, where the others dance.

“I finally meet you.”

Atsushi had been too transfixed with the man’s eyes to hear him when he first spoke. He blinks.

“What do you mean?”

The man nods to their entwined hands, and if Atsushi closes his eyes, he can see the red string wrapped around them in loops.

“I finally met,” the man murmurs, “the man on the other end of my string.”

x

“You can see the strings, Dazai.”

“Yes.”

“You knew your last apprentice was on the other end of mine.”

“Correct.”

“And you knew Ryuunosuke would be there and we’d meet.”

“Exactly.”

“So it was all a set-up?”

“Not completely,” Dazai grins. He pulls a fair-sized pouch out from under his belt. “Look at that profit!” He says, shaking it for emphasis. “Besides, aren’t you glad you met him?”

As they ride home, Atsushi gives a dreamy sigh, remembering how Ryuunosuke held him as they danced.

“With every piece of my soul,” he murmurs.

#shin soukoku #sskk #atsuaku #akuatsu #what do you mean this isn't a dnd campaign

[rook-jensen]

Rook Jensen - RP Profile

Basic Information

Full Name: Adrian Jensen Nicknames: Rook, Rookie, Gear Head, Grease Monkey Main Job: Machinist Off-hand Job(s): Dancer Crafts/Hobbies: Rook loves to dance and will take any opportunity to do so. He isn't shy in regards to cutting a jig and has an orchestration in every room of his apartment. In his spare time he likes to go down to the lake and feed the ducks or fish, finding both activities relaxing. He is also known to be a water bug, going for a swim where he is able. Race: Midlander Hyur Gender: Male Age: 28 Nameday: 1st Astral Moon, 6th Sun Hair: Black and messy. The in-game hair features a braid with feathers but he doesn't have either for his actual hair. Skin: A medium tan Eyes: Light blue Height: 6'1" Weight: 165 lbs

Biographical

Place of Residence: Gridania Place of Birth: Limsa Lominsa

Relatives: 

Mother - Ruth Jensen Father - Kevin Jensen Eldest Brother - Alorian Jensen (Lore) Eldest Sister - Cherish Jensen (Cherry) Second Eldest Sister - Tina Jensen Second Eldest Brother - Noel Jensen Youngest Brother - Julian Jensen (Jules) Aunt - Elia Stone Uncle - Jerry Jensen (Deceased)

Enemies: None that he knows of Allies: None yet

Occupation: Mechanic

Tradeskill: Working on airships, magitek devices and vehicles operated with mechanical elements.

Appearance: Rook stands at a healthy 6'1" with tanned skin from years of intensive outdoor labor. His hair is black, short and unkempt, carrying the 'I just got out of bed' look all day long. He keeps his clothing rather simplistic and tends to wear the same pair of faded pants day in and day out. He rarely changes it up unless it is for work or a very special ocassion. He has a tribalesque tattoo that spans his right arm and the right half of his chest. He has silver bolts through both nipples and a line of small silver rings pierced in both ears. He prefers to wear thick, study boots especially for work purposes and a black short sleeved shirt. His eyes are a faded blue hue and often his smile is complimented as being charming.

(Tattoo Example. Art by Tidus Yumemiru )

Fashion of Choice: Rook is a simple man and prefers to stick with a black shirt, preferably short sleeved, and a pair of comfortable slacks. They seem to emulate a jean like material.

Armor of Choice: He wears protective gear when working on machines. Weapons of Choice: Rook is a machinist simply to fend off wild critters around his shop. But generally he prefers to stick to the pacifist route. Mount of Choice: Fenrir Bike / Regalia Pets: A sparrow named Arthur

Special Abilities: He can play a mean harmonica under the right circumstances.

History/Biography: Adrian 'Rook' Jensen was born in the farmlands of Limsa Lominsa. The fifth born in a line of six siblings, Rook never knew peace and quiet growing up. He often dealt with hand-me-down clothing, tools, and toys which meant he rarely had anything brand new for himself. His parents are Ruth and Kevin Jensen, two humble people who had to juggle a house full of rowdy children alongside the profitable farm they managed. He had a fairly happy childhood despite the full house, working the farm between going to school and fighting with his siblings. Rook is very close to his father who originally bestowed the nickname 'Rookie' to the young Jensen when he began growing interested in mechanics. Over time the name stuck and shortened to Rook which most address him by now.

When he finished school and became of age, Rook set out to pursue his dream of becoming a mechanic. He had always admired the work of Cid Garlond and read every book and report the man made public. He wanted to study magitek technology and bring more of it to Eorzea as a whole. Traveling with his best friend Maxeon, also known as Max, the two holed up together in a run-down apartment in Gridania to start their journey. The two struggled to get on their feet at first, fresh out of the homestead and trying to find their way. Each had to get jobs and work their way up toward the dream they wished to live. Max took a job as a server at a local bar/restaurant which didn't pay that well. Rook, on the other hand, took a job at a raunchy club table dancing. While he never had to strip he did have to dance in revealing clothing which he hated. He was subject to a lot of unwanted touches and groping, leaving a bad taste in his mouth for the entire industry. He endured the torment due to the fair amount of pay he earned in tips which helped to keep the bills paid. Max often brought home left over food from the bar so the two could eat for practically free, at least most nights. It was a very real struggle in the early years, yet both remained determined to see it through.

After facing their hardships head on, they eventually pooled enough money together to open up a mechanic shop in the heart of Gridania. While they still face financial troubles they are still better off than when they first set out. Rook tries to deliver the best service to every customer, pushing himself sometimes to the point of exhaustion to maintain a good business model. Max often has to act as a caretaker to his determined friend to make sure he takes care of himself while also performing his job duties. Despite all he has seen and done, Rook keeps his chin up and a smile on his face.

Personality

Alignment: Lawful Good Motivations: He wants to take after the greats like Cid Garlond, his personal hero. He has always looked up to Cid but has never had the pleasure of meeting him. He wants to study magitek technology and become a world famous mechanic. Disposition: Rook is a very cheerful fellow with a can-do attitude. He's generally happy to help where he can. He is incredibly optimistic and tries to keep a smile on his face where he can. But like all people he does have his limits and even if he tries to keep any anger in check, certain things can push him over the edge. Outlook: He sees the world as a place that can cause a great burden on a person if they're not careful. He tends to be welcoming toward strangers but with an underlying skepticism so as to not put himself in a compromising position.

Religion/Philosophy: Rook doesn't look too much toward the Gods or Hydaelyn herself. He believes that hard work and dedication is the best combination to success. Relying too heavily on the powers that be makes him feel lazy or as if he expects good things to happen to him for no reason.

Sexuality: Homosexual

Positive Personality Traits: Hard working, loyal, sense of humor, non-violent, curious, caring, light hearted, easy going, optimistic, family oriented, helpful. Negative Personality Traits: Naive, sometimes too trusting, avoids conflict, a little dense, works to the point of exhaustion, unhealthy eater, messy, disorganized, craves attention due to coming from a large family. Misc. Quirks: He has a slight fear of heights which can sometimes impede his ability to work on airships, but he is trying to conquer that fear.

Interests

Likes: Junk food, alcohol, machines, his bird Arthur, helping people where he can, socializing, taking a stroll in the woods, music, dancing, playing on his tomephone. Dislikes: Smokers, violence, shouting, foul smells, condescending tones, arrogance, the desert, people who get handsy, abusive people. Favorite Foods: Usually anything with high grease or sugar content Favorite Drinks: Alcohol, usually ale, or water. He's a simple man. Favorite Colors: Black, purple and blue. Hobbies: He likes to read even if it is mostly mechanic books, he loves to dance, and he enjoys hanging around animals to feed them or teach them tricks.

(Art by Tidus Yumemiru)

#Rooks Profile #ffxiv #roleplay profile #Rook Jensen #balmung #long post

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon White Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 3]

It’s time for hunting for thieves with Burgh! Long may no one else die in the process!

Team headcount:

Boeing (Latios)

Frogger (Seismitoad)

Ptera (Archeops)

Palm (Shroomish)

I’ll also throw the Miracle Seed on Palm, since I forgot to do that last time.

Hm. This is technically part of the same route Palm came from, but it’s a different area. I think if the randomizer considers it part of a different area, I will too. So if it has something from the outside part, I won’t catch it. If it turns out they both happen to have some things in common, and the first one was one of those, oh well. It was the first one in the area.

Stepping forward to find out if we get a new one or not.

I don’t want it.

This might be a bad idea, but I think I’m going to let Palm just murder it. I do not want an Octillery, and then I’ll still only have one thing from Pinwheel Forest. It might be something I end up regretting, because as of right now, if my team wipes, I have nothing eligible to start over with, but.

Exp gotten, Grape avenged one more time.

So far there is nothing in this forest except for Octillery. What is this hell.

I do not like the Patrat line. I might never like it again. Appropriate that Team Plasma currently seems to do almost nothing else.

Okay, so for future reference, the insides of Pinwheel Forest are counted as a different area by the Randomizer. That future might not be so far off, depending on how this goes. The important thing is that something besides an Octillery can exist in these woods.

I have photo evidence.

Without it, even I wouldn’t believe at this point.

Awesome, recovered the skull. Considering the size, I am not sure how a boy my age manages to do anything with it but not be crushed by it, but thankfully the plot is uninterested in such complications. Skull get.

I have no memory of what that means. I assume it means that if I live long enough, I’m gonna beat you up.

Oh good, we give the skull to Lenora. She’s someone I have faith in to be able to lift it. She is very mighty, and when I don’t think about the consequences of our battle I still am highly appreciative of her.

I basically don’t do anything for the next twenty minutes but run around and let Ptera kill stuff. I am overusing Ptera because Ptera can one-shot everything into oblivion, and that’s a comfort.

But.

There is good news after I remember I have other pokemon.

Boeing

no longer has Psywave.

I’d never really bothered looking up the accuracy, I just was sad when the damn thing never hit. It turns out, in addition to having variable damage, Psywave has 80% accuracy.

I have never hated a move so much.

It’s gone now.

Boeing can murder things.

Together, friend. We will make it to the end of this.

Oh, the bridge! This is the one with the bridge! Bridges, even!

Best part of this generation for sure.

Now we’re in sections I think I remember a little more about. Mostly in relation to how often I ended up lost in this place. It’s not really that difficult, but for many, many years all of the towns and other locations were nice and neat 2D things. You might not know where to go next in some spots, but having trouble figuring out where you were wasn’t really a thing.

Along comes Castelia City, and it’s all “hold my drink,” and I, a mere ten-year-old, trip down back alleys trying to find out what in the heck I’m meant to be doing.

Now I, a mere ten-year-old, will probably do much the same. With an active interest in seeking out any grass.

The real question here is which evolution stone I want. I can’t use Panpour. So I guess... hm. I might as well go with the Fire option? I think I mussed with the evolution settings, so I’m not sure if I need them or not (I shouldn’t need to trade anything to get it to evolve, but past that, it’s one giant shrug). I also don’t have anything in my party that needs a stone yet, and there is no way to guess at what I might find in the future.

What I do know is I have a Grass and a Water pokemon, so let’s just round that out. That’s what the chimp options are there for, after all.

Fire Stone get.

I have zero memory of what’s up with the ship, but boats usually mean trainers to fight. Whatever the case, it is presently plot-locked.

We’re going through the city to try to gather all the Dancer trainers for a squad, which basically means beating up more of the Pan-squad, and a guy in the alley jumps out and gives us Flash.

Pokemon games are the best.

Dance squad assembled. Now that I think about it, I think this might be the version where rotating battles are introduced. I also think that might not be the right name, but the important bit is that three pokemon are participating at once and you can rotate through. I bring this up now because I’m wondering if talking to these guys again will set one off.

...Nope. I do get an Amulet Coin, though. Those are always good to have.

A building full of trainers I didn’t remember! That’s much better than running back to Pinwheel Forest or going ahead for grinding. Too bad this resource doesn’t renew itself.

Oh, nice. The guy to our right gave us Quick Balls and Timer Balls. Those are some of my favorites.

I’m not touching the Gym until everyone’s 30. I already regret that decision, but you know something else I regret? No longer having a Fire type. So yeah, this is the program and we’re sticking to it.

A Hyper Potion and Revive are also in this building. One of those has no use to us, so yay free money. Here’s hoping that we don’t use up the other one right away. I’m already imagining the horror that is the Elite Four.

Also, since I never play these games with the volume on (ancient suspicions about battery life from the era of AAs), can I just say how wonderfully spooky the Scientist theme is?

Heeeeeey. That is a good thing to have.

Time to check if I’m able to go forward, or if my grinding has to be stuck at Pinwheel Forest. As much as I like the bridge, let me tell you my preference.

Forward enough, anyway.

I think there will be some sort of roadblock ahead, but I should be able to come across my next teammate first. And some Fishermen.

Palm enjoyed meeting the Fishermen.

First encounter spotted.

Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever used one of these in a game before. The evolution is never worth bothering with unless you’re shooting for the pokedex entry, and I think by the time you run into its first form, you’ve already got most of your team arranged already.

The real question is if I have something that won’t kill it...

I think Cut might be the answer.

...I am the worst trainer ever, fml.

So. Uh.

The Escavalier is caught.

Apparently it knew something besides Fury Attack and Leer. Funny story, that.

Boeing is dead.

Ahahaha. Wow. I do not want you. You murdered my best friend. You are also now more necessary than you were. So. You need a name.

You’re a dark knight.

First girl on the team is named Batman.

Batman does not kill.

The real challenge of this game is going to be whether or not I can ever have six usable pokemon at a time. Dang. This is much rougher than anticipated. Boeing was one of those beasts I thought would be with me until the very end.

Of course, the same can be said for all that now lie here. I was definitely arrogant enough to assume that I could go through the game with none of you dying.

Serves me right, I suppose.

I really hope I don’t need to teach something else Cut now.

Goodbye, Boeing. We had four levels of being useful together. You taught me to hate Psywave, and your sacrifice brought Batman to the team. In time she will learn to honor that.

Batman is Adamant and loves to eat. That is about the best Nature I could ask for. She isn’t going to be very useful at the moment, but she has the Exp. Share now, so. We’re going to change that.

This run just got much harder. Again.

Apparently Bug is the theme of this desert.

That is one definite disadvantage to starting with a Psychic pokemon. Bug hurts. It doesn’t help that I almost constantly forgot what Boeing’s typing was.

Huh. Geodude also frequent this area.

It’s funny. Out of what’s available, so far I’ve been pretty darn happy with what I’ve ended up with. I mean, I would prefer Batman being a little weaker so I still had Boeing, but Escavalier is not awful. And I’ve never used one before. All praise the randomness.

You know what else is funny?

All the wild Escavalier here need multiple hits even with moves that are effective. All those turns I spent Cutting Batman down to size, allowing room for Boeing’s death, were unnecessary.

Haaaaa. Live and learn.

Unless you’re Boeing.

Frogger’s just going to murder everything in this route while the meager party slowly grows to level 30. Once more I feel my boredom setting in, but at this point I don’t think being less cautious is really a good idea. Getting six pokemon in my party has become something to strive for instead of the expectation.

-checks in an hour later-

Someone save me from this hell.

I think when the time comes, I’m going to take Ptera and Palm back to Pinwheel. The level differences aren’t that great, and ALL the Blaziken kills would probably do them both some good. Ptera can probably take the things in the desert, but his Defense is terrible if something goes wrong (which it easily might) and I’m not so sure about Palm. Either way Palm’s getting the Exp. Share for it, and that’s probably still twenty minutes away, because grinding.

I really wish I hadn’t accidentally killed Timon and Boeing.

You never realize what a useful tool letting pokemon faint is until you can’t. Sigh.

I am going to giggle like a small child every time that question pops up. My only good decisions in this run are their names.

Fun fact: Grinding is boring.

Batman and Frogger are all set, so I did make my way back to Pinwheel Forest in the hopes of helping Palm’s unfortunate Nature out with some better EVs and just generally having him and Ptera fight against things they could kill in one hit.

That’s working out.

This is taking forever.

I refuse to do this for the next gym. Isn’t failure the spice of any challenge?

I don’t even know what the next Gym is... Wait. Is it the electric model one? I think it might be. I remember liking her. I like her pokemon less. Flying electric squirrels are hardish to kill.

Ptera learned Acrobatics. So that’s neat.

Two. More. Levels. Come on. Bring on the massive surge of wild Blaziken.

Have I already pointed out that this is one of the generations where exp is calculated in part by level differential? The more I need the less I get.

At long last. It is done.

In your memory, Timon.

Dude, c’mon. It was going to be touching. I was going to murder all your Bugs and be like, “this is for all the things I accidentally got killed on my way here!” and now you’ve gone and ruined it with your plot interruptions. Sigh.

I’m supposed to go to one of the piers. If I’d been reading the text instead of mashing buttons I probably would know which one, but walking down each option and trying them all in order is fun, right? Right.

It’s always the last one you check.

I remember just enough of the story to say that was one heck of a mistake they done made.

Oh wait, Bianca’s pokemon? Oh. That’s much sadder.

Team Plasma grunt shows up, and it’s time to run after it. After all, I am ten. I am the most reliable aid anyone could ask for in a situation such as this.

I say, brilliant deduction, Burgh!

There is probably art of Burgh and Looker somewhere on the internet. They solve crimes.

Guess who has thirteen levels on Team Plasma like a boss. It is all four of my remaining pokemon. Yay.

They keep bringing up the Seven Sages, and I keep not remembering any of them except for one. My memory was that there was the one guy. And even that guy was pretty blurry. Now there are seven?

I just wanna catch stuff and pick fights hurry up plot.

The plot hears my requests and punishes me with an infodump about pokemon mythology of the region. Why this.

For my current purposes, I don’t care, but I actually like Black and White’s background for Unova. I like stories about heroes and dragons, and having the cover legendaries being relevant in things that aren’t just glamorized sidequests. It’s a fun game.

The monsters are just so much funner.

Let us try this again!

I love all the gyms in this generation.

Our first victim starts with a level 20 Sewaddle and a level 20 Venipede.

Ptera covers his claws in their blood.

...Okay, that one’s a little too dark. The opponents’ monsters aren’t actually dying, just fainting. My guys are the only ones who can die, adding new weight to Batman’s name. She will go into battle for justice, never inflicting lethal damage, yet she might one day fall.

Burgh’s pokemon are probably mid-20s. It’s fair to say I didn’t need to grind as much as I did, and it’s also fair to say I’d do it all over again because the last Gym was traumatic.

I wonder if part of how they decide Gym Leaders is asking them what they’ll do if they get their own building and carte blanche to design it. That should be the new Sorting question: What Type would your Gym be, and what are your thoughts on its interior design?

I think one of them this gen has you being shot through the air with cannons.

We look so serious.

Burgh does not.

First up is a level 21 Whirlipede. I feel fairly confident in saying that Ptera is up to the challenge.

Following that is a level 21 Dwebble. It does not have Sturdy.

Last is a level 23 Leavanny, and if you think these short sentences are a really uninspired way of describing such an epic fight, you’d be right, but they did not have much to work with. Ptera took everything that didn’t have an Ability preventing such acts down in one hit.

His prize.

He has the option of learning DragonBreath, and I normally wouldn’t bother with it, but considering how worried I am about whether or not I’ll manage to have six pokemon in a party at once, AncientPower with its 5 PP taking up a move slot is... maybe not what I want to go with.

On the other hand, Ptera’s a physical attacker and DragonBreath only does 60 with no STAB.

We are abandoning the way of the dragon, Ptera.

That was Boeing’s realm.

Badge get! Now, are we going to be able to leave the Gym without the plot calling?

No. The answer is no.

Look, it’s free exp! I mean one of my best friends!

With that invitation received, our time in Castelia comes to a close. This segment saw our most painful loss yet. Hopefully that has taught me a thing or two about being careful, but those lessons tend to be really temporary with me and video games.

Until next time.

#Pokemon #Nuzlocke Challenge

[blog-researchblog]

Guilty or Not Guilty

Rachel Barbieri

Reflection:

  Growing up I have always been inclined to areas of the criminal field, watching every single episode of Law and Order. It wasn’t easy deciding a career for myself. After years of consideration, I finally chose a career that would suit me best.  Once I graduate from Kutztown University I plan on attending law school. Using the article  “7 Powerful Questions to Find Out What you Want to do with your Life”  by Scott Christs, helped me discover which career path suits me best. One of the things that I am most passionate about is becoming successful. When I am passionate about something it makes it easier to achieve. When I work on things that I am passionate about such as work-related to my major it doesn't feel like work. Going to law school will be enormous amounts of work but in the end, it will lead to a successful career. 

One of my greatest accomplishments in life so far is going to college, once finished my bachelor's degree going to law school would also go on my list of greatest accomplishments. Being a lawyer entails helping and defending many clients, one thing I personally like to do is help others. If my career is based on helping people I don't think I will ever get sick of doing it. Lawyers have a median pay of $120,000 per year. For some people, they don't choose a career path based on the amount of money they are going to earn, but for me, it was a big part of choosing a career path. I personally know that there are things in life that I want that cost a lot of money, so finding a job with a large salary was ideal. My parents always struggled with money growing up so that is something that I don't want my children to have to deal with.

 The person I admire the most is my mom because she works so hard to give my family everything. My mom has worked two jobs for as long as I can remember, and I know that I never want to have to do that. I chose a career with a high salary so that I can take care of my mom in the future the way that she has taken care of me my whole life. One thing I hate doing is math, this is another reason why I chose a career with minimal or basic level math skills. Growing up as a competitive dancer I have always worked hard to achieve my goals, which has given me many years of experience in working hard for a specific goal. If I love the work that I'm doing it is not hard for me to be successful in that field.  Over the years I have gained interpersonal skills, writing skills, and speaking skills through previous job. All of these skills are all very important qualities in a lawyer. 

In order to find the most recent information in this field I consulted  the Occupational Outlook Handbooks entry on “ Lawyers” 

Career Summary:

According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the entry on “Lawyers”,  a lawyer's job entails communicating with clients, judges, and co-workers. Lawyers represent clients in a trial and adduce evidence to defend the client.  Lawyers deal with many legal documents, along with interpreting laws and other rules. The job of a lawyer is to advise and defend the client.

 There are many different types of lawyers depending on who the lawyer is representing. There are criminal law attorneys, defense attorneys, public defense attorneys, government counsels, corporate counsels, and public interest lawyers.  Not only are there different industries in the legal field lawyers can also specialize in a particular field such as tax law, environmental law, property law, family law, and security law. Lawyers tend to mostly work in the office but in some cases, it is necessary for the lawyer to travel to prisons and hospitals. 

In most cases, lawyers work more than 40 hours of the week, with extra pressure during trials. To become a lawyer a bachelor's degree is required along with passing the Law School Admission Test. Once accepted into law school three additional years is required to complete the degree. After law school it is required that graduated law students pass the Bar exam, the Bar exam is only valid for the state that you take it in. For example, if a law student takes the bar in Pennsylvania they cannot become a lawyer in New York unless they take the exam for that state. Some important skills needed to be a lawyer are analytical, interpersonal, problem-solving, speaking and writing skills.

 In May of 2018, the median pay for lawyers was $120,000 per year. Lawyers who work for the federal government average to make the most at $145,000 a year, with local government lawyers at $94,000, and state government lawyers at $86,000. In the next 10 years, the projected career growth for lawyers is 6%. Large corporations are increasing their numbers of lawyers working within the corporation to lower costs. Even though there are many jobs in this field, the field is still somewhat saturated due to more students graduating from law school than there are jobs available. As of 2018, there were 823,900 lawyers and it is expected that by 2028 there will be 874,000 lawyers. 

To better understand the article discussed above, I scheduled an interview with a lawyer already working in the field. 

Interview Summary:

For my interview, I chose to interview my family law professor Karl Maehrer. Karl is a full-time professor at Kutztown University but also works as a lawyer. Karl and I discussed how he decided to become a lawyer and it was definitely not an answer I was expecting. Karl told me that he went to undergrad for pre-med and then went to law school. He said that after undergrad he got a job working in the law field, working around many attorneys. Karl liked the atmosphere and was interested in learning about the law. 

 I proceeded to ask Karl what the hardest part about law school was, he responded that the most difficult thing about law school is the intense amount of workload. Although the work might not always be difficult work, the assignments are tedious and very time-consuming. Karl and I then discussed the typical work environment of a lawyer, he told me about the small environment in which he works, he has one paralegal who does her work efficiently. Karls believes keeping his office small helps keep a positive and more manageable work atmosphere. 

Next, I tried to get an idea of what a lawyer does on a day to day basis. Karl stated that he typically works the files meaning he contacts each client once a week to touch base and see where the client is at in the case, he also works full time as a paralegal professor. I then wanted to discuss the hardest change from law school to working as an actual lawyer. According to Karl, in law school, they don't teach you everything you need to know in the practice of law. Although they teach you how to apply the law, there are procedures followed in court, such as presenting your case in front of a judge that they don't prepare you well for. Karl believes that he knew the law but had very little experience presenting cases in front of judges. Next, I was looking for one piece of advice a lawyer would give a future law student. Karl said that he would have taken more classes to prepare him for law school, and that going into law school, professors expect you to already know how to do certain things like briefing a case. 

Following that question, I asked Karl a more difficult question. I asked Karl how he would help a case that he is morally opposed to, Karls response was “ You concentrate on the fact that you are representing somebody and it may not be the most favorable position, but it is our duty to represent them the best that we can.” I told Karl I probably would have answered that question the same way. I was curious to know if Karl knew of any current events in the legal field. Being that the legal field is so large, Karl wasn’t able to think of any specific events. I had recently read that the legal field is becoming more saturated, meaning that more people are graduating from law school than there are jobs available. I decided to ask Karl how hard it was for him to find a job after law school. He told me that after law school he went to a few interviews and had a few job offers after the first round of interviews. He was surprised to find out that today the field is more competitive than when he was a student.

 Karl and I then discussed how he prepared himself for law school, he stated that he did very little to prepare because he didn't know what to expect so he didn't know how to prepare. I then moved on to day to day life as a law student, Karl told me everyday students were expected to briefcases, prepare outlines for classes, read every day, and take basic exams. Next, I got an answer that I wasn’t quite expecting. I asked what a person has to look forward to next in their career after becoming a lawyer. I was expecting an answer of promotions and raises, but Karls's answer was the feeling you get from helping people successfully prosecute their case. I was then curious as to how someone who went through law school prepared for the LSAT and the Bar exam. I asked Karl and he told me that he just bought a review book and a practice exam book and used those because he didn't know any other way to prepare himself. 

One of my biggest fears that go along with going to law school is the LSAT and Bar exam. I asked Karl and he said that he passed both exams on the first try, which somewhat put me at ease. Lastly, I asked Karl what is one thing you are expected to already know to go into law school? His response was how to brief a case, this response also put me at ease because we do a lot of practices on how to brief cases in classes with Karl. I learned a lot from my interview with Karl and I am more at ease about the difficulties of law school. 

To better understand the duties and responsibilities of a lawyer I found a current event article to provide insight on how critical the role of a public figure can be. 

Current Event:

I chose an article titled “Kansas Federal Judge Resigns After Sexual Misconduct Allegations”. This article interests me for a few reasons. The first reason this article interests me is that it is pertinent to the field in which I am interested in pursuing. I believe that this article displays how critical allegations can be towards well known public figures. Another thing that interests me about this topic is that people in very powerful positions use their power to manipulate the people below them. In this article, Judge Carlos Murguia of the District of Kansas was found to sexually harass his female employees. Due to Judge Murguias’ high esteem, his female employees were disinclined to come forward and ask him to stop. I chose this topic because the article directly relates to the type of field I intend to follow. This topic also stood out to me due to the many separate allegations included at the end of the article. Although many allegations are made towards judges, it is unlikely that the allegations will be made public. I also found this article interesting because it says that even when judges are found to be guilty of sexual misconduct allegations, they typically receive little to no repercussions. 

This article relates to my chosen career path in multiple ways. I intend to be a lawyer, so although this article is mainly about judges, the females who are said to be getting sexually harassed in the article are mainly the law clerks. Once students graduate law school, they usually become law clerks for a judge to gain experience eventually rising to become a lawyer. As shown in the article the judges like Judge Murguia use their higher authority to take advantage of the female employees surrounding them. 

From this article, I have learned that although allegations aren’t always public knowledge, it occurs more than one would think. In this article, it discusses Judge Murguia’s resignation, before he resigned a congressional committee hearing was held. I learned that the purpose of the congressional committee hearing was to protect judicial employees from sexual harassment. Another thing I learned from this article is that having a well-established title as a judge can be very difficult to maintain. While Judge Murguia was under investigation for sexual assault, he was also found to have an affair with someone who used drugs and was on probation. Due to this, the judge was also found to have made himself vulnerable to extortion. Not only do judges have to be cautious of their actions in the workplace, but they also have to be cautious of who they associate themselves with outside of the workplace. 

There are still a few things I would like to learn. This article talks mainly about Judge Murguia's resignation, but it does not discuss any further charges against him. He was forced to resign but will he have any other repercussions for using his high levels of power to sexually harass his employees working under him. Another thing I would like to learn is what is Judge Murguia going to do next? With the accusations found to be true what in the other jobs in the legal field could Judge Murguia now be hired for? Is Judge Murguia blacklisted from employment in the legal field or is he able to find another job with lower esteem than a federal judge? 

[askauradonprep]

What jobs would the Descendants characters have?

Ooooh, fun! :D The good news is that Descendants takes place in the modern day, so a lot of jobs are still applicable to the Descendants verse. 

AKs

Ben - Probably runs to be head of state for whatever country it would be in the ‘real world’ AU, assuming the country was a democracy - he’s got a good family and money, so that would probably help. He probably went to the creme de la creme of universities and will study politics and law with minors in economics and public policy so he does well. He works himself to the bone and of course he goes to grad school, what is he, an amateur? Long story short, he doesn’t sleep for all his post secondary career. 

Audrey - I feel like Audrey’s very artistic and theatrical and would probably enjoy going in to the arts. But she’s supposed to carry on the family name and so she goes into politics, advocating for her ‘state’ or ‘province’ at the federal level. She probably studied politics and public policy and got involved in her school’s theatre department for fun, quietly musing it would be nice to be in the performing arts. 

Chad - Chad’s in politics, but on the sleazy side of politics where he takes bribes and treats people like they’re stepping stones - you know, the stereotypical politician. He’d probably manage to network his way into campaign positions. He went to grad school with Ben and Audrey but he didn’t take it seriously - he only took politics, no double majoring. His hobbies were sports and misogyny in school. 

Jane - Jane would make a super great event planner. She stresses herself out asking a million questions about decorations and food and what her employers want. She just wants their wedding or prom or party or whatever to be PERFECT! She went to college instead of university, for Special Events Planning and her phone rings off the hook. 

Doug - Doug wasn’t sure what he wanted to go into - accounting, computer programming, working in a chemistry lab somewhere, whichever. But as Evie’s business grew and grew, he became more and more invested in its success, and so now he’s become her brand manager with Evie as the CEO. With that in mind, he went to school for Business Administration with a focus in Marketing and a minor in Accounting. That way, if he and Evie break up and the job doesn’t work out, he can become a manager somewhere else. 

Lonnie - Lonnie’s a DJ who competes in kickboxing competitions. She has a bunch of medals and trophies on her mantle. She got started helping out her brother at his own DJing gigs but she’s since learned to solo. She started going to college for Musical Technology but she stopped after two years because she was booking more gigs and wanted to practice more for her kickboxing. So far it’s worked out, though her parents would feel more comfortable if she’d finished her degree. 

Jordan - Jordan became a professional blogger as her blog got more and more hits. She talks about fashion, makeup, lifestyle stuff, music, cooking, and basically whatever she wants to talk about. She didn’t bother with college and as long as the blog pays the bills, her dad’s cool with that. Her backup plan is to go into social media, organizing campaigns. 

Ally - Ally’s a travel writer with columns about the new and fun things, big and small, from different cultures in the places she visits. Whether it’s shrunken heads like the one Freddie gave her or an article about traditional food and its semblances, she’ll write about it. That said, she still has a tendency to run her mouth at first glance and so she’s written some fairly insensitive things, even though she means well. The good news is she DOES mean well and would probably change her writing style if she learned it was genuinely hurting people. She probably double majored in cultural anthropology and cultural geography. 

VKs

Mal - Mal’s probably an artist who’s got a bunch of stuff in galleries and things like that. Now granted, dating the President or whatever doesn’t hurt, but I think she’d submit her stuff under pseudonyms at first, just to make sure they like her stuff based on quality. She probably didn’t go to college with Ben - she probably attended an art college or something where she majored in Drawing and honed her craft. Yes, that’s a real degree you can get. I’ve seen it on a zillion college websites. 

Carlos - CARLOS IS A PRECIOUS BABY. He achieved his dream of running a shelter for abused animals and children. Sometimes he has to keep animals away from kids but he finds animal therapy helps both of them a lot of the time. He became a psychology major with an emphasis on crisis and abuse counselling and also got a degree in animal science with a bunch of animal welfare certificates. He lives with Jane over the top floor of the shelter with the kids. He likes to joke about having 20-30 children at any given time. 

Jay - Even in a world where tourney and ROAR don’t exist, he probably went into professional sports. It’s his biggest outlet. When he retires as he gets older, he’ll become a coach and teach the next generation - so he went into physical education to get his teaching credentials. 

Evie - …Is this a question? She’s still a fashion designer. Going to high school with some big names made it easy to get her name out there and she’s been rolling into her career since. She probably went to art school with Mal and majored in Fashion design and then went to grad school with Doug to major in business administration. She’s been considering branching out into makeup beauty products like lotions, jewellery design, accessories and hair care. …You know, in between chemistry papers that she publishes on the down low. 

Freddie - I’m thinking she’d still want to be a jazz singer. She probably skipped college so she could pound the pavement looking for opportunities. She started off singing in a club or a bar during daylight hours or maybe a hotel. Eventually she got noticed though and now she’s got a record deal and her smoky voice will be all over the radio. 

Zevon - He’d PROBABLY want to go into politics. I can see him absolutely scrambling and be willing to work as a staffer for decades. His issues with malapropisms make it tricky for some people to think he’s competent, but underestimating him is a mistake - he’s surprisingly good at planning and he thinks of unforeseen circumstances. Lack of post secondary on the Isle would make it harder though - so unless he gets off the Isle, he’ll probably be mixing up new medicines, products, etc. No magic doesn’t mean those skills are worthless.

CJ - Heck if I know. She’s one of those people who goes from place to place living off backpacking and taking odd jobs to pay her way. Most likely didn’t go to any kind of college ….which, tbf, she doesn’t seem to have finished high school so. There’s that. 

Dizzy - Probably a cosmetologist and hair dresser. She’s got her own hair and beauty salon where she supplements her favourite tricks with her mom’s old ones. She still gets SO EXCITED when she gets to do whatever she wants. She probably went to beauty school and got whatever licenses she needed and may have also gotten a certificate in jewellery design or something. She’s collabed with Evie before and would love to do so again. 

Uma - …….And now I’m mad because she, Harry and Gil probably just took over their parents shops or whatever, so she’s still stuck working the restaurant. At least now she might be a manager? Even so that bites. If she got off the Isle, those three are probably either sailors for hire (for like researchers or travellers or whatever), but I can see her as a lobbyist or activist for Isle issues. She’d be ready to kick in Ben’s door and yell at him for whatever he’s doing wrong. In which case she may have gone to school and majored in politics?

Harry - Hook owned a fishing shop, so he and Harriet worked out a deal. He does the actual fishing if she’ll run the shop. They also go around mugging people and taking money and things to survive so there’s that, but I presume you mean legal jobs. If he’s not on the Isle and Uma’s crew aren’t sailors for hire, I don’t know. I’ve only ever seen him as a sailor. A sword fighting teacher? Uma’s assistant? Oh, actually, he’s fairly theatrical. He might not make a half bad actor or dancer. I can see him vacillating a lot if he’s not a sailor, not getting tied down, just taking whatever classes for funsies while Uma’s there and then ditching as soon as she graduated if he doesn’t find anything in particular to strike his fancy.

Gil - Gil probably works at the hunting store with his brothers. If they won’t let him, he’ll go fishing with Harry. Outside the Isle, I’m not sure if they’re not sailors. A bodyguard would make a good job for him since he’s the crew’s muscle. Uma’s maybe? I can also see him going into sports like bodybuilding or maybe modelling. He’s a cutie who’s smile could make flowers grow, he’d do well. 

[worlduniversityrp-blog]

Accepted Norway App

Accepted! Please have a blog up within the next week, and send the URL to this blog so we can add you to the members page. @hannaawesome

OOC

NAME: Saso 

PRONOUNS: I honestly don’t care— Whatever you like

CONTACT URL: @hannaawesome , @lukasbondevik615

CHARACTER WANTED: Aph Norway

ACTIVITY LEVEL: 6-7

TIMEZONE: UTC-5:00 Eastern time zone

PASSWORD: accepted

MEMBERS PAGE ICON: http://sketchy-milk.tumblr.com/post/163898211040/precious-smiles

EXTRA: I’m currently Role playing in an other RP and I haven’t watched Hetalia in a long time. So I’m very sorry if you don’t think my Norway is very good. I’m making him like i think is how he is. 

IC

FULL NAME: Lukas Bondevik

AGE / YEAR: 23 years old, year 4

GENDER / PRONOUNS: He/His/Him

APPEARANCE: Lukas has short, light blond hair and dull blue eyes. He wears mostly blue or grey outfits. He dresses rather formally. He sports a Nordic Cross barrette in his hair, and has a detached hair curlbeside his head. At 5’7’ ½ Lukas is in the average, but a little small for a guy his age. Light blond hair, he has very pale white skin and cute little apple cheeks. Almost invisible freckles on his nose. Beauty marks are rarely seen on his body, but he has a lot of them. He has an average looking body, he wears very formal and attractive clothes. He mostly dresses in grey or dark blue colours. Doesn’t show many emotions. Not very talkative.

PERSONALITY: Lukas is a quietand mysterious man of few words and expressions, and is reclusive from the everyday world. He is also curious but difficult to read and he is hard-working. He doesn’t like people in general. The only people he gets along with are his family. Honestly just shy around them. He is a dork, loves his brother more than anything and he doesn’t like to have his picture taken. He is secretly excited for Christmas every year. Sort of aloof. Puts others needs before his own though. He can be jealous..

SKILLS: 

Chess player : He is very smart and strategic. He didn’t lose all that often when he would play against other kids.

Baker : He had to cook for himself as a child growing up without a mother around, so he picked up a few tricks. He has a lot of cook books. 

Dancer : He mostly does ballet, but lately got interested in American rhythm.

FLAWS: 

Anti-social (introvert) : He is not good with strangers, he doesn’t know how to interact outside of class. 

pessimism : He is smart, so he sees and understand things that make the world as it is, he finds it hard to be optimistic at times. 

depression : He suffers from depression and mostly get depressed around winter.

BACKSTORY: As a kid, Lukas grew with his brother and mother. He never knew his father and had to raise is little brother for most of his life. Once their mother passed away from a sickness, Lukas took responsibility for everything around the house. He took care of the chores, of his brother, of food and laundry… he had to. Because of this, Lukas has had a big insecurity of loosing his brother. Lukas’ life was cut in half, from home and school. Especially in middle school, he had to try to go through each day taking care of his brother and doing his own homework. His grades weren’t bad, but he still didn’t have enough time to concentrate on himself. He never learnt to take care of his health. Sometimes he would go without food for a whole day. Not because he didn’t have any money, but simply because he would forget or think about his little brother first. The money came from their uncle and aunt. They would come over and help them out with the house, though they couldn’t have them at their place for obvious reasons. Although, they never knew that Lukas could be so smart and take care of every single thing. Soon he got a job, went to college and handled things a lot better. 

Now, Lukas has learnt to hide his emotions, due to his brother always being concerned when he cried. He doesn’t want people to feel bad for him or pity. He follows a strict routine, he made himself, and tries to avoid in getting involved in anything that might be a problem. He plays chess with some of his teammates during lunchtime if he has the time. Sometimes he and his brother get into fights. He always tries to be as fair as possible but without a real mother at home, it can be a hard role, playing both the mother and big brother. He tries to get along with his classmates and teachers. But doesn’t interact with them, even the teachers, unless really necessary. 

HEADCANONS: Lukas can’t flirt at all.

All the dennor headcanons are my favourites.

Also I believe that Norway is insomniac. 

MAJOR(S): Art history

MINORS: Dance

COURSES: //

SHIPS:

OTP(S): EngNor, NorFin, DenNor.

NOTP(S): Norcest (Fem!Nor-Nor or 2p and 1p nor), NorIce. 

WRITING SAMPLE: (From a fanfic i’m working on.)

{What a pain…}

“Hi… um Sensei. I’m Sakura Haruno and i will be learning under you.” He was met with a respectful bow. He froze in place as he saw the beautiful unusual pink hair colour. He couldn’t see her face yet but felt something pleasant coming from her. Like a pink rose. 

{Is it the smell of her perfume?}

“Tch. I don’t recall asking for your name brat.” He said as his foul expression changed into an emotionless one. She flinched at this, even though she had been warned by every passing officer and the two detectives in the station, she was still caught by surprise. 

“Well… I was just being formal with you-” She repositioned herself. She was met by a finger directed to her lips to shut up. He was looking at his computer. She looked over annoyed to see what was more important then a formal introduction. 

{That’s it. I found the fucker. The DNA tests were a match.}

“Um excuse me but can I at least know what i’m going to do?” She saw it looked important and didn’t want to be in the way. 

“Leave.”

“Pardon me?”

“You can leave.” He turned to face her and showed her the door with the same finger. He started to walk to the lieutenant when she stopped him. 

“NO!” He flinched and looked over his shoulder slightly, still emotionless.

“What?” She glared daggers at him. He smirked and walked to her. He got closer and closer until finally…

{What a feisty little brat. Well no one ever talked back to me before… this is certainly interesting.}

“Um…Wha-” Sakura was stuck between the wall and him. She started to regret what she had said and looked in the other direction to find stares coming from the other door’s window. They were all amazed and hoping for something interesting to happen. His dark creepy grin grew wider and leaned close to her face until she started to sweat from fear. 

“I’m Sasori Akasuna.” He said in a husky voice. Almost hushed. “I’ll teach you something right now…” His expression changed immediately and sent a shiver down Sakura’s spine. “Don’t ever talk back to me again.” He gave her one last glare then walked off to Shizune’s office with a chuckle. 

#application #1p #submission #aph norway

[joyfullyimportantyouth-blog]

Reportage: Why Cleansing is Totes Necessary // A Comedy // Bougie AF

So, this weekend I felt like being a mixture of regimented and “mindful” and I felt like a caricature of privilege. Despite the fact that I live with ten people and am unemployed, I am not impoverished. I have grown up with the privilege of Costco and homegrown radishes and Portuguese soap dishes. I’ve always felt a little bad (but not really) about my inclination towards the more nicely packaged/ more expensive items everywhere, although I usually write out budget lists that are realistically sketched out to include a $13 budget in entertainment. And intend on reading THICH NHAT HAHN and then quickly loop back to Wikipedia-ing and trolling celebrity gossip.

So while I was googling “how to really cleanse/simplify your life” yesterday, I had to have a moment of reprieve from my privileged ways. Why are we so obsessed with this word (”we” as in me and millions of lifestyle blogs) and why are there usually only the options of zen and moneybags reloaded into formulas for us to refer to? Just for humor’s sake, I created a list of stereotypes of my search results. There’s no answer on how to cleanse other than to purge what’s not needed, which is subjective-ish. 

Cleansing is perhaps just saying “no” a lot of the time... Just doing the minimum of what is necessary and picking two things that are important to you for each day. Because drinking miso soup and eating celery and drum circle-ing some subpar world music to reactivate your sexual organs are not the only ways to get rid of anything keeping ya down. 

-- CLEANSING: A MANUAL OF WHO NEEDS A CLEANSE--

“Cleansing” : The Rich Bitch Earth Mother

She carries her African woven basket full of farmers market carrots everywhere, because she loves Farm to Table! It helps her imagine the simpler times of vacationing in the South of France when she smells the freshly cut lavender on the West Elm birchwood counter engraved with affirmations to keep “elevated” as she breaks bread/macca. 

She beams with gratitude as she meets each person EVERY SINGLE DAY IN HER BUSY LIFE with a gaze as “sensually earthy” as amber candelabras. Of course, she made those last weekend at her glassblowing class - after her 5 AM ashtanga practice - because her next thing will be pottery and selling spirulina goji berry energy fragrance to Gwyneth at Goop.

Her Woodstock turned financier husband doesn’t pay attention to her even when she suggests tantric weekend getaways in Oregon wine country for a “cleanse” from the modern world. He always sighs at her after smoking some high-grade vape Sativa and buys her another turquoise ring from the Iroquois she “volunteers” her time for because she’s always been certain that she is Native American… or at least 1/16 Sacagawea.

She has made it her life path to realize her full potential as a Capricorn Sun / Aries Rising in the sweat lodges she invites herself to. She finagled her way into these sacred ceremonies by what she believes to be a “calling” but more accurately occurred after procuring a bankrolled friendship with a local Native American artist. She knew they were kindred spirits after buying his sacred geometry blankets at her best friend’s boutique “Gather.” A new one called “Savor” is going to sell her wrap dresses that she buys from her Guetemalan Shaman, who always forgets that she doesn’t drink regular milk only ALMOND MILK and no gluten when they trip together on $500 ayahuasca that keeps true to her frugal roots of growing up in Marin County. She just loves the “spirit” of Central American people because it makes her feel like she is in the Peace Corps when they smile back at her and offer her the opportunity to pose in photos next to a “saddening” market stand.

All of the Instagram photos of posing in collectivos with poor people will be framed at the cafe where she namaste-scolds the barista everyday for her stupidity in not knowing her clear distaste for regular hummus (acidic!). It’s always only going to be beet hummus until edamame hummus gets on the menu for godssakes. Here she always meets with her caftan-clad yoga friends who all used to be dancers and now have rich husbands who built them modern Adobe lairs to be bored in but pretend like blackberry sage tea gets them high from well being.

She feels forlorn that there is something discontenting about the “minimalism” she has so ambitiously set out to create/dump shitloads of money into, so in the only way she knows how, she will book an Iyasca retreat in Peru. Maybe poor Peruvian people can teach her the meaning of life so she can write a memoir about how life changing it all was. Holding hands with the street children… and never returning again because it makes her too sad, but the lessons of the third world will be tattooed literally and figuratively in a Quechua phrase for life on her wrist so she can talk about it to the young hot river guide men in Telluride…

“Cleansing” : The Twenty-Something Project

She has had way too much casual sex for her pressing emotional need to find someone who loves tequila and rock climbing and contemporary fiction just as much as she does. She drinks way too much tequila five days a week as well as wine during the day because she feels like she can’t access who she really is (that’s what a partner would help her discover in his egocentric artistic ways of being).  She spends eight hours on the computer writing shit that doesn’t matter to her (like emails) and trolling pointless social media sites that make her wonder if models really are people. This is usually the apex of her day, when she recounts how she is in charge of her own happiness but jesus how many genetically modified Victoria’s Secret models are there out there? These girls are now chronicled to be “anti-social-media-bullying” and are just “regular girls,” which she intellectually realizes. But she thinks and researches for a long time how they can be just so: how can they get someone to take their photo at just the right moment when they are writhing around in the water so that you can see that they are so in tune with and gently being kissed by their sexy actor boyfriend (bio in link for his new film with Harrison Ford!)? This is happening while being blessed by the Tahitian palm tree shading themselves, because they’re responsible so they use La Roche Posay SPF and feel #grateful that they are very hot people and have so many loyal followers.

She decides that becoming a massage therapist will likely zen her out all the time and make her like wheatgrass and never drink again and only date “spiritual” men with man buns. Maybe being a masseuse will train her to refuse being around “negative vibes” and only will be in the same room as people who make her feel “full.” And being a masseuse will likely get her laid because she’ll be a healer. So like the google-generation, she finds a massage training in Tulum. But it’s $5,000 over-budget. Instead, she thinks she will just clean her room and eat a mango from the bodega around the corner because it’s only $1. And only have 3 apps instead of 13.

“Cleansing” : The I-Came-of-Age-In-The-Rob-Lowe-Coked-Out-Power-Dressing-Glamor-of-The-1980’s-Workaholic 

EVERYTHING IS FALLING APART. She works so much that she has no life. She hates her pantsuits but started working in the age of Anita Hill and thought she had to break the glass ceiling more because her mom would quote Betty Friedan and preach to not be “ungrateful” to the women like Jane Fonda who paved the way (and the song “9-5,” too). She used to dream about working in transportation and logistics just so she could scan her government card everyday.

Now she hates the Boys Club. She even hates most of the women, who are such mechanical bores and all majored in “Political Science” like smart girls do at Dartmouth. They’re the sociopathic philanthropists who only “endorse” International causes that pay people to publicize the plight of poor people because it looks good in photos and they don’t actually want to help poor people. Unless you’re George and Amal Clooney, you can just show yourself the door.

So guess what? She QUITS HER JOB and decides that something must change... and also that she absolutely loathes Elizabeth Gilbert. This means that she doesn’t want to be BORED hanging out doing yoga in some fucking yurt pagoda thing and she doesn’t want to get FAT in Italy with some boy toy whose worshipping would be as aging feeling as a lifestyle blog… and she doesn’t want to SHUT THE FUCK UP in India in some ashram with annoying as fuck Californians who think using crystalized deoderant is as repenting as when they culturally appropriated Ganesh on their saggy backs.

So what does she want to “cleanse?” Anything committing or societally-fulfilling for women her age (like the constant suggestion of growing a damn garden to be happy…). The solution is to do whatever she damn well pleases from the comforts of her current home and maybe tell people what to do from her computer every once in a while “freelancing” and occasionally go on a few dates and walking out when they’re just blah blah blah. 

Perhaps trying to be “budget-y” but realizing she earned her accolades thirty years ago, so only voting with her dollar when she feels like reusing the same dishtowel or using up everything in the fridge. She learned long ago that you’re not better than others just because you “know how to be poor and sustainable” by eating pumpkins from the garbage … and living with a commune of people you kind of hate for judging you about not knowing the merits of free speech feminism and cleaning with vinegar absolutely everywhere (...everywhere).

She will damn well do as she pleases in purchasing a sugaring appointment or buying a $50 solo dinner. Or online shopping at FreePeople if she feels like she’s lagging a bit on her “cleanse” and wants to look a little like she had a love affair in Barcelona and went cray at the flea markets that apparently only sell pillow case dresses that are so bright and flouncy you have to dance in the streets when you wear them and look like you’re having an enlightening experience even when you drink “fresh mint water.”

“Cleansing”: The Legit Monk Woman

She GOT RID OF EVERYTHING to be noble to a million sutras she can’t quite name but she tries to, usually when she’s drinking a single cup of tea for four hours. She went to Ladakh in 1987 and comes back to Los Angeles in 2017 named Nag Champa and gets a job teaching at some liberal theology college in Orange County where Steven Spielbergh’s kids occasionally come to class. At least they link the school website in their online interviews with Vogue all the time. They are using the Tibetan sound bowls to create a new experimental electronic album that can maybe buy their way into Coachella and they may have her be their life coach while on tour to “combat the stressful perils of the industry.” 

She writes a few blog posts for Depak who is always trynna hit on her. She goes to Wanderlust and blesses the dreadlocked crowd with a hybrid Buddhist-Rastafarian-Katy Perry lyric blessing, throwing Whole Foods rosewater on their toned bodies that they got growing up skiing in Aspen. All of them say they want to be mentored by her in between their barista/yoga teaching/juice cleansing lifestyles, maybe when they’re done setting up their kombucha bar they can swing by and have like a $6,000 certifying sesh that has all inclusive vegan food? Or they can barter with nuts and berries that they brought back from their trip to INDIA.

Yes, she must capitalize on this moment of “wellness.” You can find her speaking and retreat information on LinkedIn that she’s still waiting to customize in a more boisonberry color for calming effects…

“Cleansing”: The-Doesn’t-Want-To-Give-A-Shit-But-Still-Kind-of-Does Woman

She needs to get her finances in order a bit and is somehow always “busy” so she gets rid of what’s not needed by saying: Yes, she needs her organic food. No, she doesn’t need her Argan oil face wash. Yes, she needs a drink at somewhere other than a dive bar every other Friday. No, she doesn’t need to go to Brazilian dance yoga with Shanti for $40 every day. Yes, she needs to go see a concert every once in a while. No, she doesn’t need five paid-for “music experience” apps that “customize” user experience depending on their ever-fluctuating mood and will bring you to “up and coming artists.” Because honestly, these musicians sound like they took a Xanax and hipsters just go to their shows because they’re insecure that they’re being called “hipsters” and hate “categorization of gender norms” but totally need reassurance that they’re doing life right by the Anthropologie curtain-esque crop tops and leg tattoos they appear bored in everywhere. So every grainy film Insta shot is in fact very intentional but they won’t admit it because they will always be pale-faced underdogs just like these up and coming artists who have long hair and little annoying vegan kids with no manners who have ginger hair and are gonna grow up to be soft-core racists because they intentionally want to have black friends (only with septum piercings and a denim jacket) so they can show how liberal they are because their parents were once underpaid touring musicians and they know what struggle is because they tried acid when they were 14 and they saw how we are all “the same.”  

Yes, she needs stupid email to make a living. No, she doesn’t need Snapchat because so much meh and overwhelming tapping all the time.

…DONE. Now she’s livin’.

[bloodinhershoesrpg]

WHEN THE CURTAIN DROPS…

Think of yourself back on the day, try to see what has turned you into what you have become. Distant seem the days of lace on lilac cotton dresses and golden locks of hair, those that used to be as soft as your now bruised heart. Your life was not at all bad, in fact, those days were filled with dream-like sequences of the upper class in the East Hamptons; untouchable and spotless inside mansions ever so similar to overpriced dollhouses. Reveries would come and in the same way, they would go, as your hero turned flesh — your best friend, your secret keeper, your backbone — would pull yet another card from under his sleeve asking you teasingly if it happened to be your card. Infantile giggles grow distant inside your mind, pushed into its darkest corner as you pull your own sleeve down in nervousness; how sad it happens to be there are no aces up of it, just cracks you struggle to hide. It hurt you to think of your childhood only because it lasted so little, parties and games to be replaced by a mother who had more than wine mom issues, and a father that would soon drop his role of Jeu de Cartes’ joker, to turn into an enraged beast. Ballet was always a great part of your life, the melodious arrangements you now dance to used to be your lullabies, now the ghostly charm they hold hurts almost as much as what you had to witness -- turns out all the screaming and all the circling drains of reproaches and apologies would begin to make you numb, until you found yourself at the most perfect point to escape, only to realize there was little left for you to feel. If anything.

…YOU SHOW YOUR TRUE COLOURS

Flash forward eight years with a ballet career to your name and an estranged older brother, your walls are painted dark instead of baby blue, and the music box you packed by mistake has gotten broken now fulfilling the somewhat comical function of an ashtray. The honour was yours to play Odette just a year before, a vision as delicate and pearlescent it was hard for others to believe who you were once the curtain had dropped. Here your reputation is sought after while your life in America could not have been any less lugubrious; anyhow, how many ballerinas around you can brag of nearly stabbing their father to death? Oh, of course, that is something you would rather not to discuss, no matter how nitid it stays in your mind — the gruesome red adorning your tennis skirt when you whipped your hands, makeup smeared all over your face as you answered repetitive questions with your feet hastily hanging out of a parked ambulance. Your hair was so long it covered your face as you looked down in shame, perhaps confusion, momentarily dragging you away from the scene just to think you should probably cut it soon. Crows would circle your once beloved dollhouse, happy to pluck portions of you right out the moment you got carried away just to write a motive: Self-Defense, on the dotted line. It was easy to assume and easy to judge when it had not been them the ones whose lives were short of any sort of peace, when it had not been them whose money would cover the mouth of many; house staff, tutors, nannies, just to keep the dirty secret under lock. What scares you the most, however, is not what you did but to find yourself thinking you should have done it better.

VICTIM OR CULPRIT?

You don’t find it a bit funny to have a Shakespearean name, as Desdemona James happens to be, so just Mona gladly suffices the name tag ordeal; whoever chooses to call you differently is often glared at. At age twenty-four there is plenty you are still capable of offering, the latest of your dancing roles being Little Red Riding Hood, because if there is something you happen to enjoy is giving fairytale characters your own little touch of morbidity. Some may say that, under layers of dark eye makeup, you could pass as the twin of Brie Larson. Otherwise, you remind them more of an insomnious Hugh Jackman.

IN RELATION TO

RHIANNON CONNORS: The perfect mess found her perfect roommate, never minding which of you two is each, Rhiannon Connors could not be any more fitting in terms of coexistence. There are little people you actually let in, the taste of guilt crosses you every time you refuse to speak of your past in front of her, for trust is something you two claim to share. Perhaps is suspicious for none to say a word about the lack of family pictures hung on the walls of your foyer, leaving so much room for interpretation it could easily get dangerous. Little does she know, but the kind of talent she has at almost a blatant display often makes you insecure about your own, at the end of the day your part is more of a “guest star” with little consistency while hers is well-versed into the production. ENLAI ZHANG: It’s easy for you to get vexed if those around you talk too much, as it is when they speak too little. For someone who has worked with Cristina and Katerina for years -- in the name of all things holy, with Theodore, for instance -- it definitely puzzles you to have Enlai as the silent one in the corps. Well, unless you happened to be around, the friction between the two of you never reached hostile lands, yet it does not mean you’re necessarily amiable, either. If Alice in Wonderland took place within the walls of the opera so many would play no roles but the queen’s hollow-headed court, the queen being Daphne in the flesh, giving him the role of no less than the visibly scarred, haunted and scattered Mister Mad Hatter. ALIONA CHERNOVA: Not like you would get easily attached, in spite of having done so countless times before, but there are pretty good chances you would miss those smoke breaks by the side of Russian dancer Aliona. The two of you make quite a grim little team, silently judging everyone from the choreographer to the subscribers, increasing the pollution of whichever place you are in. There is a touch of royalty in her, as her mannerisms are hard to ignore, so very distant from your bluntness. Anyhow, many bring to your attention not just your similar characters but your rhyming names — it seems like it’s a bit too late for you two to claim the roles of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

Chances of Survival: Average Applicant must be open to portraying dissociation, domestic abuse Faceclaim is slightly negotiable (suggested alternative: Halston Sage)

Starring: Maggie as Desdemona James

TW: child abuse, violence

Lullabies, love, the smell of lavender. These are things Mona thinks good childhoods are made of. There was a little period of her own that felt like that. Her big brother, Damen, made her early years joyous. He’d play hide and seek with her, cover her ears when their parents, Ariadne and Bill, were fighting. Cover her eyes if they couldn’t escape the room in time. Nothing hurt so bad to see when she knew her big brother was there to protect her. Time goes on and children grow into targets. Hand shaped bruises were for mother to hide, not children. Not for awhile. But things can only get worse when you live with a forest fire for a father and a bundle of twigs for a mother. Mona had two escapes: time with Damen and ballet.

Just because things were often tense at home doesn’t mean Mommy and Daddy didn’t want the best for their children. Damen was put in only the finest music programs to cultivate his gift for piano, and in turn, Mona was placed in the most prestigious of ballet schools in the area. Time together between siblings was often spent dancing and playing the keys together. Damen would try to get Mona’s little hands to reach all the keys for a chord and Mona would try to teach Damen to plié. They brought comfort to each other in times of trouble - and it seemed as though times were often of trouble.

Damen, being five years Mona’s senior, began to get out of the house as a teenager, leaving Mona to herself. With Damen around less, more attention was directed at Mona at home - and attention she did not want. Her father was hateful, possessive, and often showed Mona that she belonged to no one but him.  She made friends here and there in school, but eventually became withdrawn. She used to confide in friends at sleepover what kind of a maniac her father could be, what kind of blithering and oblivious drunk her mother was. Some friends even told their own parents out of concern. Nothing ever came of it. If there was one thing you could say about the rich, it’s that “family affairs” were kept within the family. And what good were friends when they added no chances for survival? As Mona grew up, watching her brother moreso from a distance, she threw herself deeper into ballet. Damen was no longer a confidant and a protector, but rather a warm memory and occasional reprieve. Friendships were replaced with alliances. “If we push each other, one of us might get the part.” She would go straight to ballet practice after school, complete her homework there, and not come home until she was certain that dinner was ready. Then, she’d try her best to go unnoticed until bed time. Sometimes Bill was occupied with other things, and other times he was firmly focused on making Mona’s life hell.

Life, while often hard, was not as bad as it could have been. That’s what Mona always reminded herself of. She had food, clothes, a brother who loved her even if her parents didn’t seem to, and most importantly, a passion.

Things changed in the time it takes to pick up a knife.

It was Christmas time. Damen was home for the holidays. Mona’s mother was somewhere in the house, sloshing around and weeping over one thing or another, as usual. Mona, for once, had gone out to socialize. A tiny crush on a peer from her ballet class had inspired her to go to a party out on a yacht. Yes, Mona came home late. No, she hadn’t been drinking. She reeked of other people’s cigarettes, and someone had spilled a glass of very expensive champagne all over her beautiful new tennis skirt. No parent would have believed she hadn’t been up to no good. Not many parents would react in the way that Bill James did, though. He tried to corner Mona, screaming accusations about her behavior and her virtue. Years of practice allowed for her to escape from him several times. She ran into the kitchen, simply because it was the closest room connected to the hall that led to her bedroom. But fingers ripping into her scalp, that familiar pull as she was yanked back and off her feet stopped her short. There was a struggle. A counter’s corner dug deep into her gut and a blade glimmered before her in the dim light from the moon in the window. It didn’t take a thought. Mona remembers the pain in her gut from the counter - then the look of horror on Damen’s face and his mouth moving around the words, “What have you done?”

Ambulances, police vehicles, handcuffs. It’s all a blur, especially after eight years. Mona doesn’t talk about it. What is there to say? Bill wasn’t even out of the hospital before Mona had spent all of her money from birthdays and christmases to find a home out of the country. They decided not to press charges, brush this under the rug just like every other painful and violent event that had happened in that house. The James family has enough money to pay off any and every individual who knows how or why Desdemona James stabbed her own father that night.

At sixteen years old, she left her parents behind in America as soon as she could, and with them, Damen. It was painful, but the rift that grew between them after that night was worse than the pain of leaving. He never understood her decision, because he had never seen the way their father had turned on her as they grew older. At least Mona can blame the physical distance between them for their estranged existences.

Now, in another country, Mona’s life is all too similar to those days she spent alone with her ballet. Only now, without the attacks from her father and with the sting of repressed memories and a bitterness over the childhood she wishes she’d had. Performance is still Mona’s strongest skill. One hones these abilities when living a life full of deep, dark secrets. Ballet keeps Mona busy and satisfied enough. Still, the weight of Mona’s past bears heavily on her shoulders. Regret colors her thoughts, only in ways that she can never admit. It’s one thing to regret stabbing your father - but it’s another entirely when your only wish is that you’d managed to kill him.

#literate rp #skeleton rp #lsrpg #murder rp #desdemonajames #taken. #female. #alive. #takenf.

[aruneshgoyal]

T

TEN INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHTS  

INSPIRATION 1:  

Pride, Ego, Anger DOWNFALL 

Time spent in company of GOD (Sat_Sang) is Time well spent! 

Control DESIRES 

God’s LOVE IS MATCHLESS! 

If you have to yearn for anything, Aspire for HIM “Only & Always”! 

Don’t allow your Divinity to Rust in Sensual Pleasures! 

“AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP” Good Actions ------------- Good Results &  Bad Actions --------------- Bad Results (Shrimad_Bhagvad_Geeta ordains this Principle.) 

N.B Do all actions in the spirit of service & devotion.

Name of God & Love of God Sustains Life {In fact, is the life breath} [Sole Wealth, which can easily be trusted upon] 

LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL! 

Life is a pilgrimage from Self to Self in which God is the Candle Light to tear apart the dark thorny bushes & hurdles along the way! 

INSPIRATION 2: (It’s Christmas Time!!!)   

Women Mothers Make the Destiny of their families and, whence the country Should teach noble virtues& lives of great men of yesteryears Thereby, fostering the spirit of love and compassion, so much required in this Kalyuga.   Even in enemies, spirit or soul is the same! Whence, what a man does may be wrong! But, how can a man, A spark of the Divine, Himself be ever wrong? 

Self Control is the key! (Less Desires /   Less Luggage)  More Comfort!! ) 

Humility, Patience, Reverence o Just bywords of yesteryears! Who cares? 

Purify yourself and your body, mind, and everything 

Ray of hope! God’s Grace Depth of Devotion! 

Body Utilized for Sacred Purpose! 

See and visualize the same immortal spark of the Divine in everybody and everything, tangible or intangible both! 

Devotion Highest form of Love & Worship! 

INSPIRATION 3:  

Sanctification / Purification  LOVE, PEACE, NON-VIOLENCE (The innate attributes of man)  

SELF-REALIZATION  PROSPERITY  Good Thoughts Good Actions  Meditating & Contemplating upon God   o Good Life  Be always happy, afraid of sin, and keep steady faith with discipline in God!  Cleanse yourself of lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride, and malice. Then, you will be unaffected by honor or dishonor, profit or loss, joy or grief etc.!  

LOVE: Universal without any distinctions…. Divine 

Physical ……..Root cause of all that is evil in the world. It must be confined to its boundaries lest it may destroy you!

NO triumph more praiseworthy than “Complete Surrender” to God! Then, everything (good / bad) becomes a gift from Him!  

The world is His play (Cosmic Drama / ‘Leela’). You can enjoy it only when you have faith in Him with the spirit of surrender& devotion.  

Reduce your wants and consumption as resources on the earth are limited and whence, precious.  

You can have bliss (ananda) if you turn your vision inwards towards God.  

Joy of giving is much more than joy of taking.  

Jesus said – “Ask and you will get it!” Similarly, yearn & pine for God and you will get Him! Life’s foundation must be based on Dharma (righteousness). Earn your bread following the path of Dharma.  Happiness by Controlling desires  (Not fulfilling them but limiting and starving them)  

Contentment Bliss  No use searching for the Divine vainly externally. 

Spirit (consciousness) is the God inherent that lights the body! 

N.B: Be in harmony with yourself and nature (prakriti).  

You must learn the art before teaching anybody else. Can a blind man show the way to others? One who has a cataract must first remove it from his eye before giving grand sermons and lectures to everybody else.  

One must recognize the Brotherhood of mankind and the Fatherhood of God!  

Help Ever, Hurt Never!  Faith in God; Contemplation on God; and Constant prayer to God; Are the vital links in reducing the distance between man and God!  

God permeates everything and everybody. 

Try to do something good every day, howsoever, big or small, it may be! This way, you shall redeem your life; God gives us the Guarantee Card!  

Give up bodily attachment. Live eternally present in the consciousness. What has happened in the past and what future holds doesn’t matter. Try to live in the present. Be contented with what you have and don’t lament over what you do not!  

Self-confidence is the key to peace of mind.  Time is precious; don’t waste any of it!  How can the world be reformed? First and foremost, reform yourself, then your immediate environment, and then, the world at large!  

Love is the Atmic principle. Live in love. Cherish sacred good thoughts.  

Selfishness is the root cause of all afflictions plaguing man today. Try to be selfless. Cherish noble human values discarding evil qualities like jealousy, hatred, hypocrisy etc.  Have clarity of vision and goals. Ultimate goal has to be self-realization. Make strenuous efforts for that by clearing the clouds of doubt & confusion and instilling the feelings of love, faith, compassion, and service.

There is a Golden saying – “Help Ever, Hurt Never!” Try to help anybody in dire & genuine need.  Fill your heart with Divine Universal Love.  Only God can be a TRUE and trustworthy Friend (sakha). His love and compassion is matchless. In his company, everything is Divine. HE is the ONE behind all Zeros. Without Him, there is NOTHING!  

Your thoughts must be good. Good thoughts harbor good and meritorious deeds and actions. Thought power guides our lives. So, be positive in your good and noble thoughts. 

INSPIRATION 4: 

Faith Eliminates Jealousy & Hatred

Love/Grace of GOD Bestows Equal Vision Fleeting nature of worldly pleasures!

Learning from Jesus Taking both criticism and praise as gifts from GOD, loving both friends/foes equally by praying for both of them to grant them ‘Good Life/Gyan’ in equal measure!! 

Five vital things:- True Renunciation Fear of sin Morality in society Gratitude Good conscience

Fearlessness

Do work in society ……. But, Hands in society, head in forest! Maintain poise, balance & equanimity; With a feeling of detachment; Get hold of GOD. 

Man breathes 21, 600 times a day and repeats ‘So-HAM’ WITH EACH BREATH unknowingly; 

Devotion (Bhakti) doesn’t mean a journey of comforts; We must express our gratitude to the Divine constantly for whatever we have and keep on trying for what we don’t, leaving the results to the Almighty Lord; 

Feelings of Mine & Thine (Mamkaar) have to be given up. 

Depression by any unexpected loss or calamity can be overcome by remembering the Lord, i.e. Namasmarna; 

Difficulties must be borne with steadfastness, valor & spirit; 

Don’t get annoyed when people laugh at you; rather, pray for them as they are ignorant of the ways of the Divine;

  A woman brings a pot of water on her head, all the time talking with others but keeping her attention on the pot only; a dancer keeps attention in dance & just keeps on moving his limbs; similarly, keep your Focus on GOD and keep doing work in society as per its laws. 

Bhaj GovindamMoodh Mate! Bhajans/Devotional songs help in softening the cobra like senses and still their fangs and passions. Become a master of your senses, not their slave. 

Finding faults in each & everything makes life useless, listless, and meaningless; eliminate this tendency and lead a worthy life. 

Activity is sacred if it does not promote bondage&greed.

Spirituality means living in spirit of love & brotherhood; rooting out the animal nature, violence, et al. Don’t seek happiness outside; seek within! Search for GOD/Atma within, not outside! 

The greatest Triumph is “Complete Surrender” to GOD! 

Lamp remains same; its users are many in many ways; Culture is not different from Spirituality; they are one and the same thing! 

Intelligence doesn’t mean cunningness but cleverness that bestows wisdom and all noble virtues and must flow from the heart outwards!         World + Divinity = Spirit! Sugar has to be thoroughly mixed water to make it sweet; similarly, the nectar of Divinity has to be thoroughly mixed with worldly chores to turn it into Spirituality! 

One who has conquered Desire is the Master-Mind! 

AS you Deposit your money with a bank, so should you deposit all your wisdom etc. with GOD! This sacred money shall continue to grow forever and you can draw upon it anytime in need! 

Whatever happens is GOOD! 

LOVE is selflessness! 

Life is a Challenge; you cannot meet it without the Grace/Love of GOD! 

Strive to earn the LOVE of GOD; it’s the most important wealth that one can have! 

Remember, real education is not one that Binds; rather, it is one that Liberates! 

Do rightful acts in the Present; Past has gone and Future, you can’t perceive! Fulfilling your desires can never give you absolute satisfaction; limiting & consciously starving them can; put a ceiling on your desires AS ‘Less Luggage; More Comfort’!! 

Never pray for the sake of praying; do it sincerely with a feeling of “Complete and TOTAL Surrender”!

Full Work Full Pay; Half Work Half Pay;

Full Grace of GOD, Complete & Full Surrender

Seek good and holy company AS Company determines who you are!

GOD is the resident & indweller of every being; love everybody with no hatred/ill-will towards anybody!

Keep Mind In Control Along the Right Path!

How can you ever forget your parents who have brought you up through so many trials & tribulations? Especially, the mother who has borne you in her womb for nine months! 

You have to pay four debts: Mother, Father, Guru/Teacher, & GOD With a feeling of togetherness and LOVE towards everybody! 

Sectarian tendencies have to be checked and wiped out! 

Foundation of everything has to be LOVE!

Live for others; not for yourself!

Bear actions of past births with a smile!

Life is Expansion of LOVE; Contraction is Death!

HAPPINESS & PROSPERITY [With] Only one Religion - Religion of LOVE! &  Only one Caste - Caste of Humanity! 

INSPIRATION 5: 

Body is meant to cross the ocean of transmigration, not to fulfill sensual pleasures overboard;

The main problem plaguing the world today is “EGOISM”. Unless and until one gets rid of his ego, self-realization is just not possible. Even Lord Ram had to give up and sacrifice His ego to establish Ram_Rajya.

Individuality Humanity Divinity

the need of the hour is to think about others, not just for one’s own sake; as in the Ramayana.

No Sacrifices; NO Ram_Rajya

For any relationship to last, it must be founded on Love & Truth.

Righteousness {Dharma} [Basis for] Peace & Bliss!

Thoughts; Actions

Bad Thoughts; Bad Actions 

Good Thoughts; Good Actions 

INSPIRATIONS 6-10:  One must have the uncanny ability to differentiate between one’s desires and needs; Less luggage more comfort Less desires more happiness

Body should be taken care of till one fulfills the mission of his life, viz. Self realization/God-realization/Moksha/Nirvana or Kingdom of God, as it is said.

Love lives by giving & forgiving.  You must be able to derive happiness from even a state of misery!

Silence is the ‘golden’ language of the heart; we should try and observe silence at least for one hour each day.

In ‘Kal_yuga’, “Name” of God (Nama_Smarna) is the source of liberation! 

What we want from others, we should try and do unto them ourselves first!

We must try to see the world as God_Swarup (Krisanmay).

We should neither worry about finishing our work nor about the results thereof!

You cannot always oblige; but you can surely speak obligingly!

Contentment o Equanimity

“Rama_Nama (name of God) is the Divine Nectar”!

God Helps Those Who: o Help Themselves o Help Others. o (The Choice Is Yours!)

Remain unaffected by gain/loss, praise/blame, positive(s)/negative(s) with steadfast faith in God and engage in good deeds constantly to attain Divinity!

Don’t meet hatred with hatred, anger with anger; meet them with love & prayer, with brotherhood & fellowship, for the betterment of everybody to build a ‘harmonious’ society; start now from this moment on!  

True Leadership entails Service to Mankind!  Prayer reaches God only when it carries the Stamp of Bhakti, Devotion, and Sincerity!  Love shall carry you on the road to God!  

| Faith  o Love |  

Bad is bad & good is good; nobody can question the bona fides of good/bad. Even if one person is speaking the truth, and a thousand others are speaking lies, ‘truth’ shall always remain “truth”!  

Devotion comes easily through the Rambaan Medicine of Kalyuga – Naamasmarna (repetition of Lord Rama’s name)!  

Contentment and a firm resolve to attain the Divine are quintessential for SelfRealization!  

Even if you wish to reap only the fruits of good actions, your bad actions have to be borne by you!  

Develop proximity to God; treat Him as you best friend, philosopher, and guide; and, you shall never have any reasons to complain/repent about this.  

Be like the light of a lamp moving upwards and banishing darkness (read ‘ignorance’)!  Grace of God only can burn your sins! It can be won only by complete and ‘true’ surrender at His feet!  Use your art of Viveka/Discrimination lest the insects of desire, anger etc. might harm you!  

Man is wandering aimlessly in worldly goals forgetting the real ‘Spiritual Goal’, i.e. “Merger with the Divine”! 

GOD always protects the righteous & the virtuous; detachment is one of the sweetest virtues!  

Have reverence for your elders; friendship with those equal to you; and, affectionate love for those younger to you!  

Forgetting worldly concerns, one should cling to the Divine; thereby making sure that he shall attain Divinity some day!  

GOD is above everything; place HIM right on TOP of your Agenda! 

Love should be for Love’s sake only without any motive; Love is Selflessness! o (“Love KO Love HI REHNE Do; KOI NAAM NA Do”! - {‘KHAMOSHI/Silence’} even our film-makers portray this!)

Be always alert lest there be some avoidable mistakes!

LET THY WILL BE Done!

Things & Persons are not the Cause of Bondages; rather, Attachment to them IS! Things are better than Money, Persons better than Things, Wisdom/Detachment better than Persons; GOD is the BEST, better than even Wisdom/Detachment! 

The Root of Evil is the Desire of ‘Sensual Pleasures’!

How can the Company of Perishable things make/render you Imperishable/Immortal? 

That what is for everyone is ours too; and, ‘That’ what is for No one cannot be ours at any cost!

GOD IS OMNIPRESENT; only, One Needs the Eyes to Perceive & Feel HIM!

WE ADORE STATUES OF God BUT IGNORE LIVING BEINGS IN WHOM THE SPARK OF THE SAME Divine IS LATENT! 

NO Penance Higher than Fortitude; NO Happiness Higher than Contentment; NO Merit Higher than Mercy; NO Weapon Higher than Patience!

Body is the Field, Good Deeds are the seed, Heart is the Root; you have to Cultivate the Name of the Lord in order to Reap the Harvest – the Lord HIMSELF!

| Effort  o Experience |

Always be engaged in “true” satsang! Pray to GOD always & for everything!

Spirit is Love of Spirituality! Knowledge of MANY is ‘False’; Knowledge of ONE is ‘True’!

The external world is very tempting but hollow from inside; on the other hand, the soul within is fulfilling and lasting.

Without Faith you cannot prosper; if you allow the seeds of doubt to sprout, they shall bite you into abject misery!

Laziness is rust & dust; self-realization is must & best! 

Main use of a tree is the fruit it bears; similarly, the primary aim/use of the human body is God-Realization; the rest is all accidental & illusionary!  

God is LOVE!, Love is GOD! [Properties are same.] 

God is ‘HridayNivaasi’; you are a devotee only when you receive an ACK from HIM!

Love can melt the Hardest of Rocks! Self-confidence is the key!

|Expect Respect from Others Learn to Respect Them First |

Sugar is present in all Candies; likewise Ishwar_Tattwa is present in all Individuals!

Love is vital for Peace and Peace is vital for Happiness!

Each religion is a part of the Elephant created by man; the Real ‘Religion’ is that one of “humanity”!

Reduce your desires progressively in Life; the Key is to control your eyes and tongue, keeping them in check, constantly on the vigil!

The spirit of worship must emanate from the Heart.

Wherever there is egoism, God’s Grace cannot flow; humility and discipline with goodwill towards all are the essential prerequisites to earn the Grace of God!

Karma & Upaasana must move hand in hand away from the field of ‘Sensual Pleasures’ as much as possible!

What is Meditation? [It is the process of focusing your scattered thoughts at one point/goal – the Divine!] 

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[THINGS to REMEMBER, in general, for an Article]:

1. Creating a suitable title ……………………………………………… ……………………………… 2. Using sub-headings wherever possible (as it attracts the readers) ……………………………………………… ……………………………..… 

3. Headings & sub-headings to be properly put in bold ……………………………………………… ………………………………. 4. Points to be numbered or bulleted ……………………………………………… ………………………………… 5. Underlining all the keywords 

……………………………………………… …………………………………. 6. Using keywords throughout the content and not just in the beginning Paragraphs ……………………………………………… ………………………………….

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