#pictures are (like almost always) from pexels | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

canary0 · 1 year

Text

May 3, Bistrita - Dracula 2023

The train left Munich at 8:35 pm on May 1st, arriving in Vienna early the next morning.

We would have been there sooner, but the train was an hour late. Really unfortunate, because once I arrived from Vienna to Budapest, the place is beautiful. The fact that the railways wanted to get back on schedule meant that didn’t get much of a chance to explore, but I managed to get a few pictures.

Train station interior: Photo by Thomas Choi on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/DdBEYd4hZ5k)

Train station exterior: Photo by Gabriel Miklós on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/asIEq0NrNNE)

Budapest: Photo by Klaudia Olejnik from Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/photos/budapest-hungary-river-city-bridge-7810815/)

You can feel the history, moving into the area that the Ottoman Empire once ruled. The influences are so different, between the oldest architecture in England and here. Like a gateway into Eastern Europe, something like that. I would love too travel here some time when I’m not on business with Mina. She could probably tell me the history of half the buildings here.

Sadly, I left shortly after I took the picture of the bridge. I almost ran late for the train taking off again! I can’t complain, though, as we left in good time and weren’t too late getting into Cluj-Napoca. Even the rail station was lovely.

Train station: Public Domain image at Wikipedia.com (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluj-Napoca_railway_station)

I stayed for the night at a small hotel about ten minutes walk from the station, Villa Escala. I always thought that if you’re going to travel, you should go places where you can absorb the atmosphere more, and this place was lovely in that regard. The atmosphere warmed the soul, and the furniture wore its history on its sleeve without looking worn out.

Hotel (Villa Escala): Photo at Booking.com (https://www.booking.com/hotel/ro/villa-escala.html)

Once I checked in, I inquired after the staff where I might find some local fare, and they directed me to a nearby restaurant where I had a lovely dish they called “ paprikás csirke”, chicken paprikash. While apparently not commonly made this way these days, this particular place used an old recipe that included hot paprika, and it was quite a thirsty dish. I finished my carafe and water and needed more. It was interesting in how the burn was more at the back of the mouth and going down than at the front.

Mina: I think you would love this dish. Creamy, spicy, a little tart from the sour cream, and a subtle sweetness. I found a recipe for it you might want to try. (link)

Chicken Paprikash (paprikás csirke): Photo by Istvan Szabo at Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-close-up-shot-of-a-chicken-paprikash-dish-10338434/)

While the cell reception has grown increasingly spotty during my trip, I’ve done some research on the area as I went. The place I’m going is right on the border of Transilvania, Bucovina, and Moldova (that’s the Romanian state, not the country – that’s farther east yet), in the eastern half of the country, tucked up in the Carpathian Mountains. I won’t be quite heading into the latter two states, I gather. I think the castle must not be on any official roads, because I couldn’t find where it’s supposed to be on any roads. I think I can see an impression on Google Earth, but it’s surprisingly blurry. I can’t tell if what I’m seeing is a castle or a strange craggy outcropping. I suppose I’ll see.

Anyway, there are a few different ethnic groups in the area: Saxons (yes, the same ones King Arthur was supposed to have fought – they occupied a really wide swath of Europe), Vlachs (speakers of Eastern Romance languages, possibly descended from the Romans who once occupied the region; indeed, they simply called themselves Romans), Magyars (Hungarians), and Szekelys (who regard themselves as descendants of Huns, and served as the vanguard of Romanian armies in the past). Supposedly, when the Magyas conquered the Carpathian Basin, they found the Huns already there, so it’s possible.

Supposedly the Carpathian Mountains are rich in folklore and stories of all sorts of strange beings out there in the night. I think I must have been thinking about it that night, because my sleep was interrupted by odd dreams. It likely wasn’t helped by a dog howling beneath my window, the paprika, or the picturesque, if rather spooky, graveyard I had to pass between the hotel, train station, and restaurant. Despite that, I must have been sleeping very deeply by morning – it took a couple of wake up calls for me to actually get up.

I had a breakfast of more paprika, a polenta-ish cornmeal porridge called “mămăligă”, and a stuffed eggplant dish they called “impletata”… but since that word just means “stuffed” according the the online translator that has been a lifeline this leg of the trip, I think they might have been having me on a little. Very tasty, though, so I can’t complain too much.

I hurried through the food to get to the train on time, since it was supposed to leave before late, but… Well, the phrase “hurry up and wait” comes to mind. We didn’t get started until at least 8:30. Such is life.

The train took a moderate pace through the countryside, which suited me just fine. I mentioned that Budapest was beautiful, but the countryside of Transilvania has a completely different sort of beauty. Little picturesque towns in the midst of rolling fields and little rivers in the distance, castles settled atop steep hills, watching over the surrounding area like lone sentinels. The streams and rivers had wide, stony margins that made me wonder if they were prone to sudden floods. Every once in a while, we would pass a small village and town close and see people going about their daily lives that made me think of some of those cottage/back to nature sort of aesthetics you see online. It reminds me of a cottagecore mood board Lucy once showed me when we visited, and traveling through this region, I can feel the appeal.

Romanian Countryside: Photo by Fotografu on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/8h-yUi_l2Jw)

I arrived in Bistrita iwhile it was still somewhat bright, sadly too late to do much in the way of sightseeing, though a little bit of hurry let me take a photo of the church that dominates the central square of the town.

Bistrița Evangelical Church: Photo by Mian Bulacu (https://backpackglobetrotter.com/2018/09/17/postcards-romania/)

The Count directly me to The Coronana de Aur hotel. It’s a modern business hotel like many others, but it’s hard to find a hotel that’s historic these days. While it’s a little disappointing, as I was hoping to take in a little more of the local feel, it was nice to have a comfortable place to stay before I head off to the Tihuta Pass tomorrow. Having good reception to call Mina before I go is a comfort, too.

When I arrived, the front desk staff passed me a letter from the Count: “My Friend.--Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting you. Sleep well to-night. At three tomorrow a bus will start for Bucovina; a place on it is kept for you. At the Tihuta Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me. I trust that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land.

Your friend,

DRACULA.”

(A/N: Hopefully you enjoyed the first foray into this silly endeavor to rewrite the book as if it was happening as of May 3, 2023. This is absolutely not meant to be serious.

I am trying to make it a little more accurate to real world Romania as much as I can (and as much as can be reasonable from an Englishman's perspective). We're part of a connected, small world these days. I think that's going to make the horror of the isolation even stronger.

Anyway. Have fun with the dumb, silly thing I'm making at DD goes. If it's not your cup of tea, you are welcome to move on.

Obviously, this is not mine, Dracula being public domain in the US aside. It's basically fanfic. Some of it will be direct quotes. Probably not much, as having characters in a modern context will change them, and that'll be filtered through my own lens of how I perceive them as well.

Enough excuses, I suppose. It'll be what it'll be.)

#dracula daily #dracula #modern rewrite #everything that's happened now is happening now #just for fun #I stayed up way too late writing this #dracula 2023

26 notes · View notes

jcmarchi · 3 months

Text

Study: Smart Devices’ Ambient Light Sensors Pose Imaging Privacy Risk - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/study-smart-devices-ambient-light-sensors-pose-imaging-privacy-risk-technology-org/

Study: Smart Devices’ Ambient Light Sensors Pose Imaging Privacy Risk - Technology Org

In George Orwell’s novel “1984,” Big Brother watches citizens through two-way, TV-like telescreens to surveil citizens without any cameras. In a similar fashion, our current smart devices contain ambient light sensors, which open the door to a different threat: hackers.

A person is using a smartphone. Image credit: Aathif Aarifeen via Pexels, free license

These passive, seemingly innocuous smartphone components receive light from the environment and adjust the screen’s brightness accordingly, like when your phone automatically dims in a bright room. Unlike cameras, though, apps are not required to ask for permission to use these sensors.

Surprisingly, MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) discovered that ambient light sensors are vulnerable to privacy threats when embedded in a smart device’s screen.

The team proposed a computational imaging algorithm to recover an image of the environment from the perspective of the display screen using subtle single-point light intensity changes of these sensors to demonstrate how hackers could use them in tandem with monitors.

“This work turns your device’s ambient light sensor and screen into a camera! Ambient light sensors are tiny devices deployed in almost all portable devices and screens that surround us in our daily lives,” says Princeton University professor Felix Heide, who was not involved with the paper.

“As such, the authors highlight a privacy threat that affects a comprehensive class of devices and has been overlooked so far.”

While phone cameras have previously been exposed as security threats for recording user activity, the MIT group found that ambient light sensors can capture images of users’ touch interactions without a camera. According to their new study, these sensors can eavesdrop on regular gestures, like scrolling, swiping, or sliding, and capture how users interact with their phones while watching videos.

For example, apps with native access to your screen, including video players and web browsers, could spy on you to gather this permission-free data.

According to the researchers, the commonly held belief is that ambient light sensors don’t reveal meaningful private information to hackers, so programming apps to request access to them is unnecessary. “Many believe that these sensors should always be turned on,” says lead author Yang Liu, MIT Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department (EECS) and CSAIL PhD student. “But much like the telescreen, ambient light sensors can passively capture what we’re doing without our permission, while apps are required to request access to our cameras. Our demonstrations show that when combined with a display screen, these sensors could pose some sort of imaging privacy threat by providing that information to hackers monitoring your smart devices.”

Collecting these images requires a dedicated inversion process where the ambient light sensor first collects low-bitrate variations in light intensity, partially blocked by the hand making contact with the screen.

Next, the outputs are mapped into a two-dimensional space by forming an inverse problem with the knowledge of the screen content. An algorithm then reconstructs the picture from the screen’s perspective, which is iteratively optimized and denoised via deep learning to reveal a pixelated image of hand activity.

The study introduces a novel combination of passive sensors and active monitors to reveal a previously unexplored imaging threat that could expose the environment in front of the screen to hackers processing the sensor data from another device. “This imaging privacy threat has never been demonstrated before,” says Liu, who worked alongside Frédo Durand on the paper, who is an MIT EECS professor, CSAIL member, and senior author.

The team suggested two software mitigation measures for operating system providers: tightening up permissions and reducing the precision and speed of the sensors. First, they recommend restricting access to the ambient light sensor by allowing users to approve or deny those requests from apps. To further prevent any privacy threats, the team also proposed limiting the capabilities of the sensors.

By reducing the precision and speed of these components, the sensors would reveal less private information. From the hardware side, the ambient light sensor should not be directly facing the user on any smart device, they argued, but instead placed on the side where it won’t capture any significant touch interactions.

Getting the picture

The inversion process was applied to three demonstrations using an Android tablet. In the first test, the researchers seated a mannequin in front of the device, while different hands made contact with the screen. A human hand pointed to the screen, and later, a cardboard cutout resembling an open-hand gesture touched the monitor, with the pixelated imprints gathered by the MIT team revealing the physical interactions with the screen.

A subsequent demo with human hands revealed that the way users slide, scroll, pinch, swipe, and rotate could be gradually captured by hackers through the same imaging method, although only at a speed of one frame every 3.3 minutes. With a faster ambient light sensor, malicious actors could potentially eavesdrop on user interactions with their devices in real time.

In a third demo, the group found that users are also at risk when watching videos like films and short clips. A human hand hovered in front of the sensor while scenes from Tom and Jerry played on screen, with a white board behind the user reflecting light to the device. The ambient light sensor captured the subtle intensity changes for each video frame with the resulting images exposing touch gestures.

While the vulnerabilities in ambient light sensors pose a threat, such a hack is still restricted. The speed of this privacy issue is low, with the current image retrieval rate being 3.3 minutes per frame, which overwhelms the dwell of user interactions. Additionally, these pictures are still a bit blurry if retrieved from a natural video, potentially leading to future research. While telescreens can capture objects away from the screen, this imaging privacy issue is only confirmed for objects that make contact with a mobile device’s screen, much like how selfie cameras cannot capture objects out of frame.

Written by Alex Shipps

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

0 notes

aladyandhertardis · 9 months

Text

It's 11:11, make a wish

Photo by Anna Nekrashevich on Pexels I accidentally stumbled onto one of my old posts that I made ten years ago. Looking through it, it got me thinking that I still kind of believe in those simple, silly beliefs even till today. Except, it's changed a bit because of location; with how I'm at work and not school; and the people whom I surround myself with. Anyway, let's see how it's different now. Legend says, when you can’t sleep at night, it’s because you’re awake in someone else’s dream.(found on tumblr)I can't sleep at night because of various thoughts and activities and probably also not trying hard enough to have a better (but still flexible) bedtime routine. Also, wouldn't it be selfish of me if I thought that I was awake in someone else's dream? Though, it would be flattering indeed. Even though I'm most likely just a background character. Whenever the necklace clasp is in the front, it means that someone is thinking about you.(Heard from a friend; and if I recall correctly, if the clasp is on the left a family member is thinking about you or if it ends up on the right side, your crush is thinking about you)I hope my significant other is always thinking about me. After all, I'm always thinking about them 🎵In paper rings, in picture frames, in dirty dreams.🎵 (And in almost every single thought.) It would also make sense why my necklace clasp keeps on moving no matter how often I adjust it. It’s 11:11, make a wish.11:11, instead of wishing for happiness I wish for safety now. For everyone around me, and for myself. After going through so much trauma and such, I just want people to be safe. Peace and happiness will follow suit once that hierarchical need is met. Spin the stem of a fruit while saying the alphabet at the same time. And when the stem comes off at a random letter, it means that you’re going to marry a person whose first or last name starts with whatever letter you’ve stopped at. (A silly thing my friend made up in eighth grade)At this point in time, I always try to get the stem off on either one of the letters in my beloved's initials. It doesn't work though. xD It's probably a good thing too considering that I don't really want to get married. (Who knows if my mind will change.) Now let's see if those beliefs will stay with me for another ten years. And now the weather: Paper Rings by Taylor Swift ~ Stacy N. http://dlvr.it/StX60p

1 note · View note

angelaiswriting · 3 years

Text

Of Matches and Dates | Bandit x fem!reader

[video by rodnae productions from pexels]

✏️ Pairing: Bandit x fem!reader

✏️ Summary: with Valentine’s Day around the corner, Dominic’s friends have managed to convince him to download a dating app. (Not requested, but inspired by the lovely @kind-wolf as always)

✏️ A/N: this is just a lil something for Valentine’s day. I’m still working on my fluff skills :’) Domi’s dating profile is at the bottom of the fic: it took me forever to make but I’m so proud :’) enjoy 💛

✏️ Warnings: none :’)

✏️ Word-count: 5,274

OF MATCHES AND DATES

The club is packed — and Dominic is too tired to even care, for once. His back is burning, and there’s a nasty gash on his left thigh that a doctor has stitched up too tightly and that’s constantly making him ground his teeth every time the muscle tenses up.

He’s forgotten whose stupid idea it was to go out clubbing not even three hours after coming back from a mission on the other face of the Earth, but he does remember he’s there to be Eli’s wingman just in case his date dumps him last minute. It won’t happen, of course, but the kid still worries when it comes to a pretty lady he’s matched with on Matcher.

Matcher is the latest novelty at the base, or so that’s the impression he’s had ever since his jet landed not so long ago. Even Monika has signed up for an account — It’s great to pass time, Domi! You should download it, it’s free, or that’s what she said the second before tearing his phone from his hands to download it herself.

“Here, I brought you drink!” Alexsandr tears him from his musings — and the dull soreness still crawling underneath his skin — and unceremoniously slaps a shot of vodka on the small, high table he’s been leaning against. By the time the glass is halfway to his lips, Dominic has the time to notice half of its contents have sloshed out onto the metal surface of that dingy thing; he doesn’t care: he simply tilts his head back, lets the alcohol wash down his throat and prays it’ll numb everything to a low hum.

“Where is everyone else?” he asks, hissing when someone bumps into his back in passing. He doesn’t remember the last time he’s felt like every single muscle in his body felt so pulled and tight, but he’s already set up his mind to barge into Harry’s office the next morning and ask for — or demand — the longest leave he’s ever thought of asking.

Alex shrugs and quickly empties the shot he has in his right hand, for the one in his left is already empty. The bar is right behind them, though, so they both know they’ll be making back and forth more times than one would rather know. “Somewhere in there,” he replies, jutting his chin in the general direction of the mess of bodies behind Dominic’s back. “Adriano has a date, too, so he ditched us.”

“So did Elias, Monika and Seamus.” He turns around briefly, throws a look around to try and see if he can get a glimpse of the friends they’ve come here with, but miserably fails.

“Stupid dating apps, making men our age third-wheel like this.” Alexsandr groans something in Russian then, but it’s under his breath and Dominic would never be able to tell what that was with the noise in there — he also doesn’t speak Russian, he finds himself realizing a minute too late. “But I met the French at the bar, they rented out a VIP room for the night.”

“We should gatecrash it.”

Ten minutes later, eight of which spent downing one drink after the other in the vain attempt to outdrink each other, both men walk into the French’s VIP room behind Gustave Kateb, whose English has already started slurring into French when he doesn’t focus enough.

The French aren’t the only people there: Marius sends Dominic a pleading look as Lion fills his head with his usual bullshit, and a bunch of recruits who’ve somehow had the chance to hang around the more seasoned operators sit on the couch on the far left of the room and listen to what Y/N and Finka are enlightening them with. The two women turn around to greet them and although Dominic’s eyes trail down the plummeting neckline of Y/N’s shimmery top, he still has enough attention to spare to notice how the rookies hang from her lips as she keeps on talking.

Alexsandr’s exclamation of jubilee, however, tears him from the sight of the only one he’s had a crush on for a long time now and there’s nothing he can do to stop the other from dragging him towards the couch Montagne is sitting on with not one, not two, but three bottles of vodka on the low table in front of him.

“What do a Russian, a French and a German have in common?” Gilles asks, raising a shot glass and chuckling drunkenly as icy droplets of alcohol trail down the glass and onto the still-bruised skin between his right thumb and forefinger.

“Their hatred for this goddamn dating app?”

But Alex slaps him up the back of his head as he takes the shot their tipsy friend is handing him. “Alcohol!” he booms, making more than a couple of heads turn around before drinking his glass dry as though it didn’t contain but water.

They end up sitting together, Dominic to the right and Alexsandr to the left of Montagne, their knees pressing into each other’s as they joke and drink. They’re the only three in the room that have just come back from a mission abroad, and no one comes to bother them for a long time as they try to relax and let go. The topic of discussion, however, quickly shifts back to the fucking dating app.

Matcher seems to be all the rage, and it somehow manages to sneak its way into even the most unassuming conversations. Neither of them would by now be able to assert with utmost certainty if there truly is someone at the base that doesn’t use it — apart from the people that have spent the last two weeks on a mission, completely detached from the civilian world, that is.

“I’ve heard Blitz has already had something like fifteen dates so far, in less than three weeks at that!” Gilles’ English is softened and slurred out by his French, the same French that always comes back every time he goes beyond a certain threshold when it comes to drinking.

“Fifteen?!” Alexsandr almost cries out, comically counting on his fingers until he’s reached the right number, almost as though by doing that, he’ll be able to fully comprehend the extent of Elias’ adventures.

“He’s fucked with only seven of them, though,” adds Dominic, tipping down another shot before leaning back against his seat, spreading his arms on the backrest and letting his hands hang against the cool faux leather.

Yet again, Alex counts on his fingers — up to seven, and then up to fifteen, just to see how big the difference between the two is. “Christ,” is his only comment just before he takes a long sip straight from the bottle, long enough to finish the two fingers of liquid that remain in it.

“Monique made me download it,” and it takes them a minute to put two and two together and realize Gilles is talking about IQ in his frenchified English. “Snatched mon portable from my hands and gave it back with that fucking app on my home screen.”

Dominic scoffs, the French’s experience with his colleague hitting closer to home than he would have thought possible before today. “Did the same to me. If you had given her five minutes more, she would’ve created an account for you like she did mine.”

They’re curious, both the French and the Russian, and while Gilles is chill, Dominic knows Alexsandr is not going to let him live this down. So, their quick Show us! turns into some rearranging on their seats so that Dominic ends up finding himself trapped between his two friends, looming over him like some vultures.

“Since when do you like cooking dates?” asks Alex when the app opens on Dominic’s personal profile page.

“Monika chose everything, said ‘pussy’ isn’t respectable enough as an interest. Cooking dates apparently work better at getting women, or so she says.”

“You sure she didn’t want you to match up with her?”

“Don’t listen to Frenchie, show us who it makes you match with!” Alex’s hand is quick at shooting out, but Dominic is quicker, pulling his phone away so that his now pouting friend can’t get a hold of it.

“I’ll use it. I don’t want you messing up my app.”

“I thought you didn’t like the idea of having it.”

“And I don’t! I’m just bored!”

But he still touches the search icon, and the other two almost hold their breaths as they wait for the shitty reception inside the club to allow the page to fully load and replace the pulsating hearts of the logo to leave their place to profile pictures.

The first is a 37-year-old woman with curly ginger hair and eyes of two different colors — they’re both brown, but there’s some blue in the left one, as well.

“Pretty,” says Gilles just as Dominic reads what her profession is — florist. “Match with her.”

But Dom is good — and he tells them that, pushing their hands away from his phone to prevent them from doing things with his app. “Make your own account and stop bugging me about mine,” he replies as his fingers tap the bubble with the golden star icon — not a match, more like a ‘save for later’ and although he’s had plenty of one-night stands, ‘saving’ someone ‘for later’ makes him feel fifty different shades of dirty.

The second woman is South African, a bit too far away, but with his job, he could end up anywhere in the world. So, he saves Bea for later before Alex makes him change his search parameters so that the system would find people closer to his actual location.

There’s a barista he’s seen plenty of times at the pub he and Marius often go to. She’s pretty, on the tall side, with hair cut chin-level short and a tattoo that snakes its way up the side of her neck and that he now sees trails down deeper underneath the low-cut tank top she’s wearing in her profile picture. Matcher says her name is Andrea, so he can now put his curiosity to sleep and stop wondering how he should call her.

Alexsandr taps the two-heart button to match him up with her before he can stop him, and the three of them sit there for a long time — or so at least it seems, with the rest of the party blatantly ignoring them as operators come and go as they please — checking out women and deciding what to do with them. And really, it sounds so bad in Dom’s mind when he puts it into those words — they’re judging someone based on one picture and literally three other facts about them — but that’s still the truth of the thing. Some women end up in the starred ‘save for later’ section — which they’ve found out is much nicer than it seems and it’s just a way to still be able to chat without necessarily match yet —, some get skipped, and Andrea is still the only one in his matches — she still has to match back with him, and deep down Dominic can’t help but wonder how their next encounter at the pub is going to feel like.

It’s endless profiles later, when Montagne stands up to ‘go piss’ — or so he says, kicking finesse out of the window — that a familiar face pops up on the app.

Alex chuckles, almost choking on his hundredth vodka, taken by the surprise of such a sight. “Hey! But that’s —” He’s cut off when Dominic elbows him in his left side, where he knows Alex is bruised — there’s no need to yell Y/N’s name in a room full of people drinking, talking and — he notices when he quickly looks around to make sure no one is paying them any mind — making out in the love-seat in a corner.

Dominic should have expected it, really, Monika did tell him everyone and their mother has downloaded Matcher at the base, and that includes Y/N, but he’s still taken aback because he’s had a crush on her for the longest time now and while he has balls of steel and he’s known for it, he still has… problems approaching her when it doesn’t come to missions or training.

But by God, is she pretty! Both in-person and in that picture still floating on his screen. There’s a sunflower field behind her and she’s sporting trekking boots, camo shorts, and a white tank top on a dusty, Ukrainian road. He was there, when the picture was taken — seven months ago, during the last mission they had been deployed to together — with a bunch of other operators, of course. They had taken a couple of days off when things had been wrapped and some of them had stayed behind before finally coming back to Hereford.

And there she is, grinning at him from up close — technologically speaking, that is —, dog tags disappearing between her breasts under her tank top and her head tilted to the side, eyes almost squinting against the late-morning sun. There’s everything on her profile bubble — less than ten miles away, her age, her country of origin, and then that vague ‘police’ typed out next to the white icon of a briefcase, a description Monika’s put into his profile as well.

“So?” But Alex is distracted by Gilles coming back and sitting down once again next to Dominic, and he doesn’t continue.

“Found anyone interesting while I was gone?”

“Y/N,” is Alex’s unsolicited reply. “But this chicken won’t do shit about it.”

Dominic groans. “Why do you have to be so annoying? Jesus! There, matched her. You happy now?” he complains, tapping the match! bubble with the two hearts before he has much time to overthink. “It’ll make for a good laugh when she opens her app.”

They’re all bored anyway, and he’s known for — almost — always choosing the fun way of doing something. She will match him, send him a haha domi gotcha! great to see u on this app — all lowercase, often with that ‘u’ instead of ‘you’ — through the chat feature, and then they’ll be able to laugh it off during training. It could make for a nice sort of inside joke, he muses as he puts his phone away for the night and reaches for the bottle of vodka.

By the time his friends drag him back to the dance floor to try and loosen up their sore muscles, he’s received some matching requests and more than just ‘a few’ messages in his chat from so many different people that he feels his head is spinning.

It’s early morning already when he, Alex and Gilles wait for their Uber to come and pick them up, all of them with more drinks in their body than there is water. The other two have downloaded Matcher for shits and giggles and are now busy sorting through their recommended profiles.

They’ve all warmed up to it — they’ve all used other dating apps in the past, so one more is not a problem, even more when they’re easily bored and with fewer and fewer ideas on how to pass the time they spend between missions.

It’s only when Alexsandr complains that Why am I not getting hot operators too? with a comic pout on his face that Dominic’s phone goes off vibrating in the back pocket of his pants for the millionth time. He picks it out to finally delete the stupid app — too many notifications in too little time, and he’s too tired to be patient.

The notification message reads It’s a match! with an obnoxious sparkling heart emoji, though, and that suddenly turns his mood around and makes him curious. He hasn’t got a real, mutual match yet, just lots of stars that are probably enough to light up the night sky. So he unlocks his phone, opens the app, and after the rather-cheesy explosion of hearts going off on the screen, he finally sees who’s matched him back and the name both knocks the wind out of him and makes him laugh, all at the same time.

He brings it up to her the next day. It’s just after his training session, when he’s walking around the grounds of the Base to take his mind off of things and Y/N is leaving the armory facility. She waves at him, and he can’t but jog up to her to walk with her for a bit.

There’s some small talk, stuff about plans for this next stretch of time before a mission, catching up like friends or colleagues do, and then he drops it — Now that we’ve matched on that dating app, we should go on a date! He says it with a smile in his eyes and laughter in his voice, but it all fades into silence when he realizes that what he’s seeing on her face is confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

He frowns. Maybe she doesn’t remember it. “We matched on Matcher last night. I got your notification when I left the club.” It comes off as a question — what could have been an attempt at shooting his shot in a best-case scenario or something done out of fun in any other case, seems to be quickly turning around to bite him in the ass.

The look on her face is of utter mortification as she looks up at him, realization slowly and then quickly catching up on her like some avalanche. ‘Mortified’ is the last thing he would have thought to see on her face, and he’s taken aback, for once he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do. Maybe she doesn’t do older. Or she doesn’t do colleagues. Or maybe she sees him as a big brother — most of the recruits seem to somehow see him that way for the first months, despite him never doing anything to even remotely prompt that kind of behavior.

“Shit, I’m so sorry!” she finally says, hiding her face behind her hands. “I was shit-faced last night. Lera and I were fucking around with my app since she says I always get the hot ones, I must’ve done it at that moment. I didn’t think I’d get people from the Base, I’m so sorry. Forget about that, please: I didn’t want to make things weird.”

He’s… bummed, there’s no other way to put it. It kind of stings his pride, in a way, but he sees where she’s coming from. He just… didn’t expect for her to not take it jokingly — after all, they are similar in that, and their sense of humor always makes them find the fun side in almost anything.

“Nah, don’t worry.”

But he’s still thinking about it three days later, and both Marius and Elias, and then Monika, Gilles and Alex as well, have tried to come up with a way to fix it — they don’t exactly know what needs fixing, it’s just a stupid dating app, but the look in Y/N’s eyes is still mortified every time Dominic crosses her path.

It’s only when he’s chilling with Lera and Elias on Wednesday night, discussing possible plans for Valentine’s day, coming up on Sunday, that the topic of Matcher and the apparently dramatic match with Y/N crawls its way into the conversation once more. It’s just the three of them in the lounge room, feet up on the coffee table or on the long part of the L-shaped couch, legs crossed at the ankles.

And for a moment it’s like going back to stupid high school crushes when Lera lets it slip that Y/N is simply too embarrassed to admit that she squealed and giggled like a teenager when she got Domi’s match request over the weekend. That that is the reason why she’s so mortified and she — Lera — is tired of trying to convince her that there’s nothing wrong in finding a colleague hot. Brunsmeier is a handsome man, I’d be surprised if the thought had never crossed your mind! — that’s how she recounts it, glancing at Dominic and shrugging her shoulders.

“She’s just afraid the truth might come out,” she says. “To which I’m not opposed, I’m tired of hearing her babble about it every time she starts doubting herself.”

At first, Dominic’s only reply is a pensive hum as he brings the almost-empty beer bottle to his lips for a sip. “I didn’t think she’d somehow take it personally. I would’ve expected her to joke about it, that’s why I was confused.”

They end up thinking of a plan — send her flowers and chocolates, with a note attached, and then show up at her and Lera’s shared dorm room to take her out on a Valentine’s date. His playful crush isn’t that much of a secret when it comes to his friends, after all: he does get drunk — eventually — and he does let his tongue loose — loose enough to hint at stuff he wouldn’t exactly boast while sober.

So, the next day, they put their plan into motion. A delivery man delivers Y/N the biggest bouquet of roses Dominic has managed to find on the website of a nearby flower shop at almost one in the morning, and it’s not only a surprise to her, but to all the operators and recruits that have stayed behind in the mess hall after breakfast as well.

They watch as she eyes the bouquet, lips parted, a frown of almost suspicion on her face — and from that table, Lera sends him a knowing smirk and a raise of an eyebrow that seems to tell him that she was not expecting such an obnoxious thing.

The exchange doesn’t miss Monika’s eye, and the operator is quick at putting two and two together. She slaps his bicep, and when he turns around to glare at her, almost intimidating her to shut her mouth, she smirks. “Look at you, who would’ve thought?” Her German is hushed, and it makes their fellow German colleagues chuckle, too. “Decided to make a move?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“I told you that app wasn’t that bad!” she adds when Elias tells her how things have come to that.

The next day, Dominic makes sure Lera leaves his box of Swiss pralines on Y/N’s bed — and she promptly texts him back when her roommate and friend finds it after her monthly session in Harry’s office.

When Saturday comes around, Y/N’s confusion has taken the place of the mortified look in her eyes, and Lera has started trying to convince him to come forward before her friend would start thinking of some joke. Y/N’s not the type to get spooked out — a last-minute secret admirer just in time for Valentine’s day delivering gifts is the least dangerous thing she’s probably ever come across, but he knows it’s time to ask her out.

He finds her in the very lounge room Elias and Lera talked him into moving things forward. She’s sitting on the window bench, staring out at the park of the base and at the flour-like snowflakes coming down and twirling in the wind, before it turns into rain before nightfall.

“Hey,” she greets him before he has time to make a sound, seeing his reflection in the windowpane. “If you’re going to tease me for the ginormous bouquet I got the other day like everyone else did, please don’t.” She chuckles, though, and turns around when he sits at the other end of the bench.

“Nah, I won’t be childish this time.” There’s a grin on his face as he pulls his feet up and rests his arms on his bent knees, teasing her own leg with a foot for a moment just to make her laugh. “Have any clues on who the secret admirer is?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “I’m quite sure Lera knows who this is, but I haven’t been able to tear it out of her yet.”

It’s quiet for a while before Dominic starts saying Look, there’s something I— before he stops mid-sentence and looks up at her. She’s staring back at him almost expectantly, when someone dashes through the hall and distracts them for a moment.

“I’m sorry that match made you feel the way it did,” he says, “but I’m still glad I sent my request. And I know deep down you are too, you’re just afraid of things going the wrong way.” When she frowns, her lips parting, he scoots closed and lays a hand on her knee. “A little bird told me.”

“Yeah, a Russian one, maybe?” She covers her face with her hands, much like she did at the beginning of the week, before she sighs. “Lera likes to babble.”

“I don’t mind.” His hand gives her knee a gentle squeeze, and he waits for her to look at him again. “It finally gave me the excuse to ask you out on Valentine’s day. If you’re down for it, that is.”

On Sunday, he shows up at her door at half-past six, wearing fucking tux pants for once in his life. He’s cleaned up nice — trimmed his beard a bit, combed his hair back with some cream, stole a few drops of Alex’s perfume when he and Gilles made themselves at home in his room while he was getting ready. She’s begged him to skip the roses next time, and so he’s standing there with a bunch of wildflowers in one hand, wondering why the fuck there’s butterflies in his stomach.

She’s just as beautiful as ever when she opens the door, and Lera is nowhere to be found when she invites him in so that she can put his flowers in some water. Red dress, black coat, killer heels, painted lips — she almost takes his breath away.

“You’re stunning.” The honesty in his voice makes her stutter for a moment before he lets her give him a hug.

“You’re not any less,” she grins, pecking his cheek before following him outside and then to the garage level.

He makes her ride behind him on his bike, and the dinner at the overpriced fancy restaurant he’s managed to book last-minute passes in a flash. But even despite that, he doesn’t miss the way she warms up — and opens up — the more they chat: long gone is the mortification he knows she’s felt at the idea of possibly having made things awkward or of having given her crush on him away, and they actually find themselves getting to know each other better through tales from both missions and their civilian lives and childhood.

When they’re forced to leave the restaurant to leave their place to the second turn of patrons on such a busy February night, they walk around the center of the city arm in arm, both wrapped up tightly in their jackets and with their helmets in hand. They talk and talk, and the more they do, the more that faint shadow of embarrassment they felt throughout the week evaporates from their shoulders much like the condensation leaving their lips.

Neither of them is in the mood to return to Hereford just yet. It’s nice to be out and about, doing normal things, falling for what Dominic considers a well-thought-out marketing strategy — although he won’t lie by saying he’d rather be doing something else tonight, or spend time with someone else.

“I’m glad you matched me,” she suddenly confesses, the both of them hurrying up to cross the street before the traffic light turns red. “I would’ve never had the guts to. And I’m glad you did what you did and that we’re now here.”

He grins at her, pulling her closer into his side by wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Vodka is the best remedy against bullshitting instead of taking action,” he jokes, and she laughs.

He stares at her as she does, unable to keep in that chuckle.

“Yeah, I’m sure, Sanya always says the same bullshit,” she laughs, shaking her head before pointing at the bowling alley with her helmet, her other arm wrapped securely around his waist. “I don’t wanna go back yet. What do you think about some bowling?”

When they get back at the Base at around three in the morning, Dominic has a rip in the crotch of his pants and they’re both still giggling like kids at the memory of how comically loud the ripping sound seemed when he bent to throw his ball. They were joking around, in the bowling track further from the entrance, when it happened and she had to stand right behind him as he walked back to their booth, both of them laughing loudly, his cheeks burning red in an uncharacteristic moment of embarrassment.

“Bring me your pants when you wake up, I’ll fix them for you,” she chuckles, her hand still wrapped tightly in his.

“We should go bowling again,” he replies instead, looking down at her, now a bit shorter since she’s walking barefoot, her heels in his other hand. “With a proper attire this time, though.”

“Sure, why not?” Her excitement makes him smile, and even in the night lights always on throughout the Base during the night, he can see how her eyes seem to grin up at him. “I’d be ecstatic to watch you lose miserably a second time.”

“You only had luck!” But it’s not a real complaint — after all, he is shit at bowling, but he’s loved spending tonight with her and he’d be happy to replicate it more than just once. “And I let you win.”

“Of course.” Her chuckle is low now that they’re in the sleeping quarters.

And although they should go to bed and get ready for the day of training and simulations awaiting for them when they wake up, they still seem to linger, standing there, in front of the door of her dorm, still hand in hand, smiling at each other.

“Thank you for tonight,” she says eventually, taking a step closer to give him a quick good-night hug, and she grabs her heels when he hands them to her.

“Likewise. I really enjoyed it. We should do it again.” He puts the idea out there, but when she smiles sweetly at him all his doubts seem to sizzle and evaporate.

“We should,” she nods, her fingers playing with his.

“Just ring me up when you’re free from your Matcher dates,” he grins, winking at her, hinting at the quite numerous dates she told him she had since downloading the app.

“Nah, I’m deleting it. I got the one match that matters most, so there’s no reason in keeping on looking.” She balances herself by putting both hands on his shoulders and pecks the corner of his mouth. “Good night, Domi.”

When he opens the door of his room, still grinning, the last thing he’s expecting to find is some of his friends waiting around for him just to know how his date has gone.

“So?” Monika asks, standing up from where she’s been sitting in his desk chair, eyes tired and hair tousled.

“We brought vodka,” Alex grins, raising an almost empty bottle while Gilles points at the empty glasses on the nightstand. “We’ve been waiting for this day for too long!”

“Sorry, man,” Marius says from his bed, both eyes closed and ankles crossed.

“We couldn’t stop them and shooting them dead wasn’t an option,” is what Elias aads, and Dominic knows it’s going to be a long night. But when he’s done talking, he knows he’s deleting that goddamn app, too.

[credits: psd (mine) | dominic | random guy #1 | random guy #2]

Feedback is always welcome if you want to drop old me a line 💛

#dominic brunsmeier #r6s bandit #dominic brunsmeier x reader #r6s bandit x reader #r6s imagine #dominic brunsmeier imagine #r6s bandit imagine #rainbow six siege imagine #angelaiswriting

48 notes · View notes

sitp-recs · 3 years

Note

Okay, Sitp, I've been trying to figure out who to ask this to, and your last post solidified my decision! Do you have any advice on making banners for recs, fics, lists, etc.? I really like making things, but they never turn out looking quite as I want (something always feels missing, you know?). I was hoping you might have some tips? Regardless, thank you for all your hard work and lovely recs! I've found so many new favorites because of you! :) Best wishes!

The struggle is real, I feel you anon! My first step was choosing a format that worked for me in terms of aesthetics. I knew I would be doing this regularly and I wanted to establish some kind of identity to make my life easier and my recs recognizable. My format is pretty simple - I use Fotojet which requires no input besides choosing the text font, size and placement - and it works for me, but I’ve seen banners way more elaborated, so it’s really up to you!

I think finding the right picture is the best and worst part of the process because sometimes the fic is 100% subjective, other times you can’t find anything decent on royalty free sites (I use Unsplash and Pexels). I had to give up on my initial idea so many times, it can be really frustrating. That leads me to my process: my banners translate what I retain from the fic. I try to capture the general atmosphere and combine it with something tangible often mentioned in the fic. It could something out of a line, an object, a personality trait, anything that caught my attention above other elements while I was reading.

That means it’s something very subjective and for that to work, I gotta reread the whole fic to choose a motif 💀 sometimes it’s as simple as searching for garden pictures like in the banner for Old Black Magic, other times it gets a bit trickier - there’s this fic by shealwaysreads called Catch and Release about Draco and Harry getting accidentally bonded and they tiptoe around each other while resisting the pull. There’s almost nothing really tangible to work with, but then the characters mention this gadget (a spider catcher) and I thought it would be perfect considering the fic’s title and angsty tone, so voilà the final banner:

It’s kinda touch and go. Sometimes I will find a really great pic (say, a supermarket pic for a fic where they keep meeting there) but if it doesn’t reflect the fic’s mood, I discard it. More often than not I come up with 3 or 4 options and harass @tackytigerfic to help me choose it 😂 I’m not sure if saying all this is helping much, but you mentioned feeling that something is always missing so I wonder if that’s about capturing the right vibes or if it’s something more related to the visuals. Sometimes I don’t love the aesthetics I come up with, but I tend to prioritize the concept I want to explore, so the visuals become secondary. But that’s me, and everyone has their own process and priorities!

Overall my main tips would be to experiment, reread the fic if you can and try to pinpoint which elements speak the most to you - and if they can be represented by something tangible - consult your friends and ask for opinions if they��re open to help, this kind of thing. I’m sure people more experienced will have better tips to offer but I hope this helped a bit! ❤️

#asks #anon #banners

6 notes · View notes

suzyhazelwood · 5 years

Photo

This summer I discovered an awesome tiny vintage shop in an old red brick building on an ancient street in the city where I live… never seen a shop quite so fascinating. (Magdalen Street, Norwich, England). You can read a bit about the history of the street here.

From the moment of stepping inside the door it became a mind blowing trip back to my 70’s childhood… it’s packed full from floor to ceiling with a vast selection of authentic vintage items from the 50’s to the 80’s… all in stunning condition. My parents were young people in the 1950’s, I recognised a lot of items they had once owned themselves, and beautiful books I remember from childhood. If I was a rich woman with a large home I’d have bought nearly everything in it!

When I told the lovely lady who owns Junk And Gems I’d taken some pictures of her shop she explained she was a little embarrassed about the exterior paintwork. The building is rented and she was concerned because she hadn’t heard anything from her landlord for a long time. She was wondering if she should paint the woodwork on the shop front herself. I can totally understand how she felt, I’d probably feel the same too if it was my business. But from a photographers point of view, the unintentional peeling paint, the almost shabby chic look, made an even more interesting photograph.

To the left of the picture you can see an old metal gate with Two Brewers Yard written above. The building next door looks to me to be a very traditional pub front with the half frosted glass. I’m not sure if it was even still in use, but it certainly didn’t look like it was a pub any more.

If you’re a lover of vintage items Magdalen Street has many second hand vintage stores and charity shops to satisfy your curiosity of finding old items you enjoy collecting.

It can take a few hours to look around all of those shops… so best not to plan visiting this street when you’re in a rush. There are plenty of cafés and restaurants in the area too… you’ve got to stop and have a tea break on a trip like this!

I’m always looking out for vintage literature to add to my growing collection. I photograph the best looking books for my Pexels page. I also love finding old photographs… I’ve even captured some of those too. I’ll photograph anything if it looks interesting… and sometimes the older it is, the better it looks.

Just before I arrived at the Junk And Gems shop there was no sunlight in the street, it had been a really dull overcast day… then suddenly the sun burst out from the heavy hanging greyness. It was perfect timing, it created striking shadows which made the pictures much more attractive. Sunlight is often a bit shy in England, we’re all a lot happier when it finally shows it’s face!

If you’d like to see a list of genuine old black and white photography of Magadalen Street you can find a great selection on georgeplunkett.co.uk

The one thing I regret about my visit to Junk And Gems is not taking any pictures inside. Ah well, it’s a good excuse for another visit!

All images I’ve posted here plus other pictures of Norwich can be downloaded from my Pexels page and used for free. Just click the pictures, the links will take you to the images on Pexels. The featured post image can be downloaded here.

Now for some free vintage music… are you old enough to remember how video was going to kill the radio star?!! It never happened… radio survived the video age… still thriving all these years later. I love this song… this is a Ken Laszlo version of Video Killed The Radio Star (Factory Team Remix) 1998.

youtube

First posted on: ProjectShutterbug

#photography #vintage #street photography #streets #old building #uk #norwich #norfolk #my photography #photographers on tumblr #original photography #suzyhazelwood #the buggles #video killed the radio star #70s music #music #70s #vintage store

22 notes · View notes

georgesmithunit19 · 5 years

Text

10 Minute Lesson Project: Video Process

01.02.19

I am here, and I have finally finished my video for this teaching project. It took around 14 hours if I had to estimate (not in one sitting, over two weeks). It’s interesting that it took so long to create a three minute and thirty second video—which reminds me of Wallace and Gromit and how long that took to create just one single frame. I think that the final piece is decent. It’s not like I’m extremely pleased with it, but overall I do like it and I am proud of what I’ve created. I think that it is good for what it is and does its job well; to teach a young class about a chosen subject while also still being fun. At the time of writing, I have not yet imported sound, nor have I created the work sheet that I will be handing out after the video has finished playing, but I will add the sound later, and I will probably detail that later on in this post when I have (if not it will be in a separate post). The work sheet process will most likely be a separate post.

Now I must write about my process of the entire thing. Now, I’m not about to bore everyone and use 50 screenshots detailing every single thing that I did throughout, but I have some of the most important ones, which I will be talking about briefly. So firstly, how it all started. I made black solid layer and immediately got to animating the words to come onto the screen. I’d had the idea to have each word separately fly onto the screen to form a sentence for a while, and now was time to put that idea in to motion. This wasn’t so hard to do, but it definitely took the longest time to make out of everything that is in the video. It was very tedious to be honest, there was a lot of duplicating and fiddling with layers etc. The final animation of these parts honestly doesn’t look great, since some of the words follow each other a bit slowly, but I couldn’t do anything about that as that would interrupt everything that came after it.

Once I’d done this part, and added all the easy ease to make it look more fluid, I decided to use a technique that I had recently learned from Irene, which involves using trim paths to create some confetti-like things that look like they’re flying around the place. Here’s a link to my experience with this technique. I made the colours correspond to the flags of the UK and USA, which conveniently have the same colours (albeit with different shades).

The screenshot below shows a dark screen with a flag in the background. This was the first image to appear after the black screen, which I made fade out using opacity keyframes. I chose to start with USA for no particular reason, and then move onto the Union Jack shortly after. A lot of the early parts of this video are drawn out maybe a little longer than they should be due to me being stressed over the fact that I needed to get the video to four minutes. I was taught by another tutor how to make the flag wave a bit using some technique called turbulent displace, which I couldn’t tell you how to do now, but it definitely adds to the video, instead of having static footage. In fact, I originally had planned to have footage for every single different segment of the video, but I was quickly shot down as soon as I visited various different stock footage websites, and found that there was a lot of bad footage. That or it was incredibly expensive. I quickly abandoned the idea of trying to find footage for flags, though luckily, I was much more fortunate in my search for other footage of the later sections.

I wrote out some messages that would appear on screen while the flags would be in the background, like “I hope that you enjoy, and learn something new.” and the screenshot below. I had them last for a while to draw out the video, but I also knew that drawing something out for so long would not be entertaining for an audience, so I didn’t go overboard, hopefully. Not much else to say about this screenshot.

Now I will briefly talk about some of the footage and images that I used for the video. This first part of the video was going to be about the vocabulary, by the way. The first image that I used was one of a faucet, or tap. I got all of my images from Unsplash, and footage was from Pexels. I simply placed the image and then had it move slightly throughout its duration of being there, so that it wouldn’t look too boring. Next, I made the flags that I would be using to differentiate each word. There was a lot of duplicating and then removing things etc. I wrote a word out, and then parented that word to the image of the flag, so that they would move at the same time, but I could simply edit the word to whatever I wanted to without everything messing up. I tried to get each flag and word to move on the screen in a unique way, though I ended up running out of ideas later on, so some of them copy the earlier ones, but I don’t think you would really think that unless I pointed it out. Like right now. I chose to screenshot this scene, as I really like the footage that I chose for it—it may be my favourite footage. Not much else to say, though there were some more creative ones that I did after this one, like with the cinema, I made the words appear on the big screen. The footage for the apartment scene was also nice, it almost looks like I went out and filmed it myself.

Another scene I liked was this one below, of a girl walking on the street, wearing trainers/sneakers. The way that it is zoomed in looks really good, as well as the flags that fall onto the screen, and then fall off at the end. I think that the contrast between the real life footage with the little icons I made in Illustrator is probably best showcased here, in my opinion. After this was a football/soccer scene, where I ran into a little mishap—there was this short black screen that appeared for half a second, which I was able to avoid by duplicating the footage and moving part of it just before the glitch, which covered it up nicely. That’s pretty much it for this screenshot.

The next part of the video was going to be about spelling, which may be my favourite aesthetically pleasing segment that I made throughout the video. I really like the specific image of the flag, along with the white text over the top of it. I tried to keep it lighthearted, and added a little “(yay!)” under the big word “Spelling”. Some people may catch it. I’ve noticed that throughout the video, the font seems to switch up a lot. I always used the same font, yet it still looked different.

The first part of this category would start with the motorway/highway, which again, very aesthetically pleasing to me. I think that it is pretty perfect footage for this particular part. After this was one about colour/color, which also had the same error that the football/soccer scene had. I was able to cover it using the same technique. After this, theater/theatre, meter/metre, which I think I chose a pretty nice image for from Unsplash, and then organize/organise, which again had some really cool footage to accompany it, and it also looks like I could have filmed it.

Next is undeniably my favourite scene from the whole video. It was of a plane that was just barely in the shot, while there were clouds blowing across the screen. I used this to my advantage and decided to try something new with the animated flags and words. This time, I lowered the opacity of both flags once the cloud went over it. Also, the way they appear on the screen also looks really good (albeit unintentional) as they look as if they’re blowing onto the screen following a cloud that seems to have blown them along with it. The whiter the screen got, the more I lowered the opacity of the flags—even going down to 15% when a big cloud essentially covered the screen. I think that this ended up looking really good, and honestly like it could be a separate thing of its own. I’m hoping my audience will be able to catch the words, with them being covered by the clouds as well. It doesn’t help that the words in this case are incredibly similar; traveled/travelled.

After this was the segment that introduced prepositions into the video. I didn’t exactly know what those were, so I thought I would add a little “(what?)” under the word, just a little lighthearted addition, as I assumed that not everybody would know the word either. Also, before this, I typed: “You made it! Now it’s time for...”. In retrospect, this may seem like I’m being patronizing, but at the end of the day, this was created with the intention of appealing to younger people.

Next, I thought about how I wanted these prepositions to be for awhile, until coming up with the idea of having a chalkboard as a way of teaching. I had no idea what stock footage of image that I would use, so I thought to just make my own thing this time. I took to Illustrator and started working on a little scene that would have a chalkboard in. The chalkboard itself was easy to create. I just made a square and gave it a slight dark grey to darker grey gradient. Just to give it some slight detail. I also did this with the wall in the back, just going from light purple to a more blue purple. I made a border for the chalkboard, and added some chalk sticks using the rounded rectangle tool. I resized them and placed them on the corner of the board. Then next thing I made was the window on the right. This was easy to make, all I did was create a little scene of some hills, and some clouds, then blur them using the gaussian blur to make the whole scene look like it was in the distance. I then made a border around this, and them thick line through the middle to make it look like a window frame.

The last thing that I did for this scene was create a little picture for the wall. I made a white rectangle and then gave it a drop shadow. I made a small rectangle and then made some triangles to cut into the rectangle. I then coloured it the same as the border of the chalkboard, and shrunk it. I then duplicated it and placed it over the paper on the wall—to look like tape. I then made a character out of some shapes and the pen tool. I guess you could call it an Easter egg, since it kind of resembles me.

After this graphic, I made the second to last segment—Past vs Present Tense. I got another American flag and placed it into the background. This lead into the final part of the lesson which was just using the graphic that I made of the chalkboard again, and then it came to the final slide, which thanks the audience, and then fades to black, which I did by getting a solid shape layer which I coloured black, and adding a keyframe at the start set to 0%, which moved to 100% at the end.

1 note · View note

nedcanquen · 6 years

Text

Chapter 9: Mr 7th Floor

In the past 8 months, I once again moved to a new country, applied to grad school, started and ended a relationship, and had to care for a family member. I’m sorry for the delay, but Matthew and Daan were never far from my mind.

Thank you to everyone who reads and has been patient with me!

Tags: Slow Burn (like…really slow burn) - endgame is NedCan but they don’t get there directly, Single POV, Yep, Canada will date other people before endgame because he’s very desirable even if he doesn’t always know it, Audit firm AU, Office AU, some angst…

Pairings: NedCan (endgame), NorCan, implied NedDen, DenNor, implied Spamano, France/Jeanne d’Arc, GerIta

Image from Pexels

It’s warm here. Matthew breathes in the salty sea air and takes in a view he hasn’t seen in many many years. He loves Cuba already, he’s nineteen and ready for his first adventure outside of Canada, and there’s a part of him that’s not so secretly satisfied that he’s set foot in a place that his brother cannot go…

There’s a part of him that scoffs at that now, but then? You can be forgiven for making sweeping conclusions at nineteen.

He had gone for a special language course at the University of Havana, at least, that was the excuse. It was the summer before he would start his year abroad in Houston (and the disaster that was his personal experience there even if he held the city no personal ill will). Everyone had been yelling at him for years to do something crazy. Well here he was, this was it for him.

Travelling to a new country wasn’t exactly most people’s definition of “crazy” but it was still significant for Matthew. Up to that point, he had played it safe, preferred the quiet, his own company, and the cold. He fell sick whenever the temperatures teased their way to thirty degrees, he swam in the snow just for fun. So yes, running off to Cuba was “crazy” enough. The beginning of Havana had been wonderful - stepping into a new world of warmth and experience. Why had he forgotten it? Maybe because he had set forth for adventure outside of his vast country twice, and both times had made him vulnerable in a way that Canada never forced him to endure. It was easier to choose to forget.

But right now, he’s dreaming of it - he’s dreaming some fantastical, magical version of his early days in Havana, and he can’t bring himself to wake up even though he knows it’s a dream - or maybe it’s a memory springing forth because there’s no resistance to it.

The warm buzz from the wine has taken him back to a different warmth - a warm night. The humidity had turned his hair almost frizzy with curls but he hadn’t cared. His glasses smudged often with grease, humidity, and sweat, but he just wiped them clean with the cotton on his shirt and continued smiling anyway. When someone pressed a cocktail into his hand, he drank from it happily. In that warm haze of happiness he allowed himself to sway to the music - badly probably. That’s when he saw him.

Everything Matthew had wanted to be when he was nineteen, still, actually - confident, charismatic. When Carlos Garcia laughed and danced, he owned the room. And somehow on that evening, Carlos Garcia had decided that he wanted to teach Matthew how to dance as opposed to sway like a dead man thrown into a river.

Somewhere buried in the back of a book that Matthew no longer opens, but can’t get rid of, is a picture of him and Carlos lying down on a beach in Gilbara. Matthew is sitting down, looking out at the water, and Carlos is lying on the sand with his head on Matthew’s lap. The funny thing about something ending is that sometimes your mind blocks out the happier stuff from before. But now that Matthew is allowing himself to remember Cuba again, he remembers Carlos. For Matthew, Carlos is Cuba, there’s no separating the two.

Physically, Carlos and Daan are as different as night and day. Daan is long and lean, while Carlos was a little shorter than Matthew, strong and heavyset. Daan’s hair is short and styled to clean and spiky perfection - not a strand out of place. Carlos’ hair was long and free, twisted into dreadlocks. Looks were shallow though, because both possesed a familiar solid charisma, old-world charm, and frightening honesty that partnered comfortably with an easy confidence that lent well to leadership. Qualities that Matthew desperately wished he had.

Now he wants to wake up. He knows what happens after he leaves Cuba.

And when he does…

The light through the curtains tells Matthew that he’s overslept. Fuck.

Not overslept actually, it’s just that he tries to wake up before sunrise three times a week for a run. He needs to run to burn off his excess energy, to manage stress, to make sure he doesn’t fall too far behind Alfred physically or his brother will walk all over him by habit. Besides, Matthew isn’t naive enough to overlook the fact that he’s been treated better at work since he’s gotten fit so…Wait, where is he? It takes a moment to adjust, simply because it’s not what he’s used to seeing. Eventually his brain catches up with him and Matthew jumps out of bed with a yelp.

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod...” He’s not exhausted and cranky anymore - just a moment ago he was warm, happy, worried, now he’s all over the place and out of sorts. Shit shit shit why did he think about Cuba? What on...forget that. He has to shower, he has to change, he doesn’t have his clothes he has to iron them and he’s late!

Matthew throws his bedroom door open, and sees Daan and Lukas look up at him curiously.

“Good morning.” They both greet in unison, and Matthew stands there frozen for a moment at the shocking domestic normalcy. Daan is sitting at the table, pouring chocolate sprinkles on a slice of bread and Lukas is ironing in the back of the kitchen near the washing and dryer machines. They’re both already dressed, though Lukas is wearing office attire and Daan has his bicycle-riding getup on with a fitting highlighter-orange shirt. Pretty darn fitting. Shit. It’s too early in the morning for this. Too late, but too early. He tries to step forward but instead walks into something.

“Ow! What the-” Hopping slightly and holding his pained toe, he looks down at a...a Roomba? It’s the slimmest Roomba he’s ever seen though, and Nijntje is sitting on it as it carries on, cleaning up the apartment.

“You okay?” Daan is half standing from the table and Matthew desperately waves him away.

“I’m fine! I’m fine! I just uh...ugh.” He limps a little to the breakfast table, while desperately trying to think of a way to distract them from his embarrassment. “Uh...where’s Mathias?” Why was that the first question out of his mouth?

Daan looks at him with concern and...that look again, that stupid Partner look like they’re reading your mind. Then it seems, as soon as the scrutiny starts, it stops. Daan instead sips coffee from a...a dick mug, of course. “He operates a food place.” He responds after he swallows. “He left hours ago to open up and catch the morning office crowd.” Breathe Matthew. Breathe.

“Oh...right. Uh...I’ll just change quickly and I’ll drive you guys to work? It’s the least I can do, you let me stay the night.”

Lukas and Daan look at each other with amused looks on their faces.

“It’s okay Matthew.” Daan smirks. “You didn’t exactly stay the night by choice.”

“So you’ve already done us a favor.” Lukas adds. “Here, I ironed your clothes.” He turns off the iron and walks up, holding a hanger with Matthew’s clothes, looking even more crisp than they did yesterday. How did he do that?! Matthew can only look at Lukas in astonishment and wonder for a moment again, how he ever ended up being able to date this guy. Or really...any guy he had ever dated, come think of it. At least with Lukas it ended before he could get truly hurt.

“Right, well, time for me to go.” He turns to see that Daan is leaving the table and heading to the door, carrying a light backpack.

“Wait Daan, you don’t want a ride?”

“Today’s a cycling day. I want to fit in as many of these in while the weather’s still good, which also means I need to leave now.”

As Daan takes down his selected bicycle from its place on the wall, Matthew remembers that sometimes, Daan cycles to work. Good thing there are showers in the office. “Oh, okay. Uh, be safe.”

Daan barely shrugs and opens the door.

“Wait!” Matthew calls out, it finally hits him, what’s wrong with this picture. “You don’t wear a helmet?!”

Daan looks back at him with a straight face. “I have a hard head.”

Matthew doesn’t answer because he can’t. That’s the dumbest thing he’s ever heard, and he’s tired and out-of-sorts enough that it must show on his face because Daan throws up his hands in annoyance and stalks to a nearby closet.

“Oh fine! Is the auditor happy?” He asks, holding up a helmet and strapping it on.

“I...don’t know why you’re annoyed, I’m clearly the one who’s right here…?” Matthew responds with genuine confusion.

Matthew can’t read the deadpan look on Daan’s face but he isn’t sure it’s all that great. “I bet that’s your response whenever you turn up every year for the scheduled audit. Bye.” He waves at both of them, then leaves.

Matthew waves too, but once the door is closed he turns to Lukas. “Is it just me or was that weird? That was kind of weird right? Wait...ugh priorities, I need to get dressed. Damnit, I really did wake up late.”

Lukas just looks at him, then at the door in concern. Finally he takes a deep breath and lets it out. “Matthew, do me a favor. Breathe with me okay.”

What?

But that’s all Lukas does, stands in front of him quietly, with a little roomba working in the background, breathing deeply. Finally Matthew follows and after an initial period of feeling like an idiot he actually just focuses on breathing.

Breathe in, breathe out...breathe…

Eventually the world comes back into focus again. He still needs a shower, but it’s not life or death. Lukas seems to note the change too and nods. “Good. You have time, your clothes are ironed and you drive to work. Anyway, I’m not addicted to cycling, so I’ll take you up on that ride.”

He’s right. Matthew allows himself a smile “Where’d you learn that?”

Lukas scoffs a little. “From two different people - didn’t listen to the first one, then when I learned it from the second one I felt pretty dumb for ignoring it the first time. Simple but effective though. Why don’t you eat breakfast? It’s right there on the table, yoghurt, cheese and milk are in the fridge.”

Matthew looks at the table and notes that everything he would need for a cold breakfast is there. On weekdays he generally grabs something hot on the way into work leaving himself to cook his favorites on weekends. “Okay...cold it is.” He didn’t mind cereal, he just usually preferred something warm.

“You want...eggs? Something more filling?” Lukas guessed.

“No,” Matthew smiles, “I mean I’m used to warm things in the morning but the chocolate on bread thing looked good.”

Lukas nods, looking thoughtful about something before walking back to the kitchen. “I’ll make you some coffee, how do you like it?”

The coffee did wonders for Matthew’s mind. He remembered why he was here in this apartment in the first place instead of his own. Now that he’s more awake and there’s more light streaming into the apartment through open curtains, he notices more than he did yesterday - there’s a balcony with a healthy collection of lush green plants, and colorful flowers. Hitam is drinking water in her open cage, Nijntje is still riding around on the Roomba, and Maple appears to be asleep. It’s such a cheerful place, that clearly had a lot of thought put into it that Matthew feels sorry for Daan that he likely doesn’t spend much time in it.

“Your clothes.” Lukas says randomly, taking a seat across him at the table.

“My? Oh heh yeah. I’m amazed they don’t have anything inappropriate written on them. I suppose there was a limit to the gag gifts?” Matthew jokes.

Lukas smiles slightly. “No, because those are Mathias’ clothes. Makes sense I guess. Daan may be tall but he’s lean. Probably figured you wouldn’t be comfortable if he loaned you his clothes.”

Oh...that made sense actually. Speaking of Mathias, “You know it’s not my place to pry but…how are you doing? How is...I mean you seem tired but overall is it...good?” It’s a little awkward once it leaves his mouth, and Matthew doesn’t quite understand why he’s just asked his ex how it’s going with the first ex, but...well Lukas was the one who had brought him here. The two of them didn’t seem to interact much the previous night.

Matthew can see Lukas think of the answer. “It’s better.” He acknowledges. Lukas’ eyes flicker to his and stops.

“I can take it.” Matthew mutters, not quite sure if it’s true but he’s the one who asked, and somehow it’s less frightening than thinking of the fact that he’s in Daan’s home, dreaming of Carlos and his own mistakes. “Or I wouldn’t have asked. I’m...glad. I mean, is it still raw? Yeah, but it was nice to see the three of you last night, reminiscing and getting along. It was warm and...thanks for making sure I was never left out.”

Now Lukas looks surprised. He nods with a small smile and shrugs. “Thanks for coming here. I’m glad that you felt comfortable. I realize I must have put you in an awkward spot bringing you here.”

Matthew runs a thumb on the handle of his cup, and takes a deep breath. He looks at his mug while he does - a plain thing painted with a cheerful orange color - more orange, there’s a clear running theme here. There’s a lot of splashes of orange in this place. “Thanks for acknowledging that.” He eventually lets out. “But I’m the one who called you, so...I’m not entirely blameless. Did you two manage to talk about Arthur at all?” Matthew still doesn’t understand why a simple request to a friend of Arthur’s to check in on the man led to this but who knows? Maybe Lukas didn’t even know why he came here - maybe it was some unknown childhood dynamic thing - have a problem? Where do you go?

Lukas yawns and nods. “Daan will send me a message if he notes or hears that Arthur has been particularly bad, or is looking forward to a stressful time...which actually will be coming up soon. Daan gave me the heads up that has to hand over a large project to him today.” Lukas looks somewhat disappointed but doesn’t say much more. “He’s right though, a lot of what has to be done well...I’m Arthur’s friend. I have to do it, and I’ll start by taking him on a hike this weekend.”

Matthew smiles at that. It’s apt and appropriate. He’s also glad that even though they probably won’t be hiking together in the near future, that Lukas will still be able to give himself a reason to go.

“Speaking of, I’m helping to organize Arthur’s Partner party. I was planning on inviting you, and Belle, and well, Arthur’s friends basically in addition to my department and his current one. Could you do me a favor and think of anyone else who ought to be there while I finish up and get ready for work?”

“Sure.” Lukas shrugs, relieved and happy that they’re back to the topic of a common goal. “It’s basically one other guy, a friend of ours from the MBA. I think I can convince him to come on over. We can discuss the rest on the road.”

Matthew freezes a little standing up. “About that I...uh. Well I guess it’s a compliment that you trust me to drive so...thanks for that. But honestly it never occured to me until last night that being in a car is something that potentially uh, terrifies you so...if you’re ever in my car and uncomfortable you can-”

Lukas lets out a ��sardonic laugh. “I’m terrified in very specific circumstances, otherwise it’s fine. But thanks.”

There’s an awkward beat where neither moves and they smile at each other, but it doesn’t last long. Matthew has a meeting to get to.

Before they get into the car though. “You’re sure you’re fine?” Matthew has to ask again.

Lukas just rolls his eyes with a smile. “Ask me anything else. Yes! I’m fine. It’s not like visibility will be terrible in rush hour traffic. At worst, someone may bump into you.”

Matthew laughs and pats his car with reassurance. “Well she may be old but she’s solid. Part of the fun about driving a pick-up in the city is that people generally avoid you. So no bumps.”

Of course, later he realizes that he’s now kind of stuck in a car in rush hour traffic with his ex and even though things were amiable in the morning, it’s a little awkward. He doesn’t know why he ends up asking about Daan, but it was natural to be curious right? He had just woken up in the man’s home. “Was it just me? Or did Daan seem annoyed with me this morning? Did you guys...talk about me last night? If it was an inconvenience having me over, I…”

Lukas snorts, which surprises Matthew, so he shuts up. “Oh God Matthew.” Lukas takes a breath. “Sorry I shouldn’t have laughed. I’m not laughing at you, and I shouldn’t be scoffing at Daan, there’s nothing funny about his situation, I’m just...anyway. Look, Daan isn’t annoyed with you, at all actually. He’s going through a transition right now, so there will be days he’s annoyed with everyone, but mostly himself. There will be days he’s not himself at all. That being said, if he gives you shit, don’t take it. What he’s going through isn’t your fault.”

A wave of worry and concern washes through Matthew for his newest friend, but if Daan has chosen not to share what’s happening with him, well, he’s not going to pry. Something occurs to him and since there’s an oddly open atmosphere between them right now, and he can’t really help but wonder, so he decides to ask.

“Back when I thought they were dating, it’s just hit me right now that you didn’t question me, you accepted it right away as if them together was really believable?” It is rather striking, now that Matthew thinks about it, that Lukas had accepted that scenario. If he had known those two for most his life and thought it was realistic that Daan and Mathias were together, well Matthew couldn’t really be blamed for having the wrong idea either.

Lukas nods slowly with a rueful smile. “Yeah, silly me. Mathias and I only became a thing when I moved back to Canada - after he had already done so much for Emil and my family, but that didn’t mean that I never...liked him before you know? Stupid teenage crushes. But back then I was just a weird neighbour that he knew and was nice to. But he and Daan? They’ve always been very close. Mathias could convince Daan to do all kinds of reckless or stupid things. Anyway, trust me, I know what it’s like when Daan actually is annoyed with someone. He really isn’t annoyed with you. Don’t let him scare you. Besides, you have it in you to be far scarier than he could hope to be.”

Matthew laughs. “Wait, what?! Where did that come from?” Lukas grins and shakes his head. “Matthew, green light.”

“Oh, right! Thanks. You know that’s not going to spare you from that. How am I scary?! Especially compared to Daan, that guy has made people cry with just a glance! I would never do that!”

But Lukas only laughs. “Have you seen this crying thing? Or is it a rumour?”

“It’s! Well...it’s…hmmm.”

Lukas just smirks and shakes his head at some internal thought. “How long have you and Daan been friends by the way?”

Matthew feels a worm of nervousness squirm in his stomach and tries to ignore it. “Took me by surprise to be honest, but the day after we...had dinner, I nearly got run over by a car and Daan was the Partner who was around and made sure I went to see a doctor. We’ve been ...I guess you could say friends since, but it still feels...I dunno, making friends is different when you’re not in school.” He doesn’t know if he’s grateful or not that he never told Lukas about the stupid crush. Well it would be really stupid to bring it up now. What would be the point? “When he’s not being a Partner he’s not that hard to speak to.”

Lukas nods but Matthew can’t see his expression because he has to focus on driving. “That hasn’t been very long.”

“No. Which is why I felt kind of awkward last night, this morning, and all but…” He shrugs. “Everyone was so nice about it, so...thanks again. I mean it, I’m especially grateful, you made sure I was never too out of place for too long. Sometimes it can be kinda lonely when you’re sitting with a group of people who have known each other forever you know?”

Lukas shakes his head and simply says. “No. Thank you.”

It’s the worst meeting he has ever managed in a long time - remotely or in person. Michelle throws him a worried look from her desk and Matthew decides it’s better to hand the meeting over to her instead. She’s technically a manager now, even though she had started this project before that promotion. Anyway, isn’t this the benefit of having more than one manager? If one is having a no-good ‘I’m stupid’ day, there’s a backup? Michelle reads the look on his face and takes over seamlessly. Meanwhile, Matthew mutes his phone and lets out an exasperated sigh. He can’t leave the meeting, but he wishes he could.

Waking up in a different place, Arthur’s problems, his own weird life and weird morning...Daan seemed to be irritated with him, and when Lukas left the car he felt something a little off there too. Or maybe he was just tired, paranoid and anxious, or maybe Matthew just wasn’t good at having his routine messed with.

Michelle handles the meeting with aplomb, there’s not much that he has to do thank goodness, but he’s angry at himself because it’s basic and easy stuff! He spent years of effort into learning how to lead meetings! He had always known it was a potential weakness of his so he’d practice and practice and practice until the freezing nerves mostly became butterfly nerves, but today the freezing nerves had come back. He choked. No matter what sweet words Francis had for him, it appears that there was a good reason why he wasn’t promoted, and Francis could tell. Partners are their magic psychic voodoo when it came to assessing people, shit.

What good was Matthew? No wonder Daan was annoyed with him, no wonder he wasn’t promoted, no wonder Lukas-

“HEY!”

What the?? “Michelle you gave me heart attack!”

Michelle looks down at him in front of his cubicle with a knowing look. “No Matt.” She says softly. “You were doing that to yourself. Come on boss. Early lunch.”

“Wha?”

“Come on! We’ve barely caught up lately and I want to have lunch with you!”

Technically it wasn’t against the rules, if they ate lunch now that just meant packing food and eating it at their desks when they got hungry again since they were eating at an odd hour. Matthew just didn’t want to be irresponsible after this ridiculous two-hour long walkout the last week he was at work before almost getting hit by a car and getting sick. The time away was supposed to have reset everything, this week was supposed to be him returning to normal.

Michelle waves at Francis and points at the door, Matthew doesn’t look because he can’t bear to at that moment, he’s still too raw, and all too happy to let Michelle take the lead. Which she does. She whisks him out the doors into sunlight and fresh air. City people doing their things, even city birds were different from their non-urban cousins. Everyone and everything with a purpose. Except him.

Michelle asks him questions about what he prefers, but thinking is too much effort right now. Maybe he’s just too slow after the enforced holiday. That’s it. Thankfully, Michelle doesn’t point it out, and before long, he’s seated outdoors across from her at a cozy cafe. It’s nice he supposes, but he can’t wave away the guilt building within for making her worry in the first place, or making her take over his work.

“Matt.” Michelle sighs as she slides a cheerful looking rainbow colored cake towards him. “Remember last year when you rescued me?”

What? It must show on his face because Michelle gently reminds him. “Run of the mill, presentation to department heads, I knew all of them, I knew my work, I knew my own findings. Then I just couldn’t explain them. And the more I couldn’t explain, the more I talked, the more I talked, the less sense I made, the less sense I made, the worse it got. Then you stepped in. You have this power Matt, you calm everything and everyone down. You’ve always been able to do that, but it’s just gotten better over the years. Today was just my chance to repay you, at least once. I also remember you telling me afterwards that it happens to all of us.”

Matthew shakes his head and smiles at her kindness. Good ol’ Michelle. “Shell, you had just found out right before you were about to present that your father had been admitted to the hospital. Your family is an 18 hour flight away. We’re only human, of course under such pressure we all need a little help from time to time.”

“Exactly! So...Let me help you! Are you okay to share what happened to you this morning? You came in kinda...out of sorts.”

Matthew can’t help how hot is face is getting, he can only imagine how red he looks right now.

“Oh. My. God! You got laid!”

“What?! No! N-” Matthew whips his head around. Yes it’s not exactly peak hour but there’s still people around damnit! “No, I didn’t get laid!” He whispers urgently, but he doesn’t know if his whisper is actually soft. “How could you-No!”

“Oh Mattie, is that why you’re upset? You didn’t get laid?” Michelle laughs

“NO! What?? Why would I?? No I didn’t-”

“I’m teasing, I’m teasing! Still, that flush is the same flush you used to have over Mr. 7th Floor. I’ve kinda missed seeing it.”

Matthew throws his hands up in the air. Fucking Mr 7th Floor. This is never going away. “Okay I’m not in the mood to put up with the teasing that is the fucking 7th floor. But who I am ready to talk about is Arthur.”

“Arthur?!”

“Yeah.”

And that was how “Project: RESCUE KING LEAR” was born. Why? Because it was Arthur, and as long as they were dealing with him, they were going to use his ridiculous naming conventions.

Perhaps, sensing his raw mood, Michelle decided to stay by his side for the rest of the day. By the end of the day, she also did something else that was magnificent - she took a load off his shoulders.

From: [email protected]

To: <[email protected]>

Subject: PARTY KING LEAR

Okay everyone here’s the deal - Arthur may have left us for greener and noisier pastures but he still started with us and he’s gotten the big promotion. So...just to be clear, I’M PLANNING THE PARTAY!

There will be kiddies, so no alcohol but that doesn’t mean we’re not gonna remind Arthur that we’re better than any of those 7th floor loudspeakers (we’re hotter too ;) ;) )!

Keep your evenings clear - you’re all getting instructions from me soon.

It’s quiet and dark out when Matthew finishes up for the day. He only found his focus and stride halfway through the afternoon so he decided to stay to get caught up on everything. It was easier after everyone left - as much as he liked them, it was peaceful. He didn’t want to bring work home anymore.

Matthew isn’t the last person out of the building. There are other stragglers on his floor, but his team is tucked in a corner, so Matthew feels comfortable and left alone with himself. He stretches and yawns without care because no one is looking, making sure that he feels and hears the pops and little cracks in his back as he does so.

“Ugh...that feels good.” He’s been too fucking stiff lately. Matthew places his feet up on his desk and stares at the ceiling unseeing for a while. It doesn’t hurt to breathe a little and close his mind off from work before driving home. Of course, it’s at the very point that he feels the most comfortable that his stomach growls. Of course.

Matthew lets out a sigh. He doesn’t feel like cooking, and he’s a little too hungry to wait for takeout. He would prefer to just go home. Looked like it was going to be a vending machine dinner once he actually got the energy to -

“You’re not actually supposed to sleep here you know.”

What? Matthew reluctantly turns his head away from the white ceiling and - oh fuck. “What are you doing -” He knocks some books off his desk as he tries to get his feet off it - shit “here?” Smooth Matt. Real smooth. He sighs and doesn’t bother picking them up, he’ll do that after. Instead he looks up.

Daan looks tired. “You look tired.” Well it’s 9pm and the man is still in the office as well, so of course he is. “Well, it’s-uh...nevermind.”

“Yeah. So do you.”

Matthew really can’t be surprised by the awkward silence that followed. He’s awake enough to be grateful that the second time Daan turns up at his desk is when none of his colleagues are around. That puts a smile on his face.

Somehow, Daan is smiling now too. Objectively speaking, tired Daan smiling is a good look. It’s not like he’s grinning like a fiend or anything, it’s just that with his eyes a little bleary and the corners of his lips have moved up, it’s enough to just soften him a little.

“Anyway, what brings you down here? Well, up here?” Matthew finally lets out.

Daan shrugs. “I saw your status online, still logged into work. Realized you didn’t sleep well this morning, so if you were in, I thought I’d deliver some goods.” He says as he lifts both hands.

It’s just two plain paper bags but damn, Matthew can smell the goodness from where he is. “How? Where?”

“Ordered delivery. For a couple of months now, I’ve made sure I order extra to make sure that Emil eats dinner too. Well he’s not working late today, so I figure. my mattress sucks or I need to tell my brother to shower more often. You did not look like a guy who slept well this morning.”

That makes Matthew laugh too much, he doesn’t know why. “Oh my God, don’t. The bed smelled fine, the sheets were nice. The mattress was firm, there was nothing wrong with your hospitality. Hell you even fed me, I haven’t been so pampered, ever! Stop being so nice, I’m alive, I’m thriving. But thanks.”

“So you don’t want-”

“Fuck yes, give me the food! ...please. I was just about to go home anyway. You need a ride? Or are you going to cycle back? If not, I drive a pickup, your bike will fit in the back.”

Daan seems to chuckle as he rolls over a chair, picks up Matthew’s books, and settles down. “I shouldn’t cycle back when I’m this tired. Anyway, I’m not done yet, I actually have to get more shit down after this, need input from Japan, but I’ll call an Uber home. My bike is safely standing in my allocated parking spot. Everyone knows it’s my bike. No one fucks with it even when I leave it overnight. If they fuck with it-”

“Okay I get it. So your bicycle gets its own parking spot. My pickup is jealous.” Figures - Matthew can just imagine that orange bicycle proudly standing between Porsches and BMWs.

Daan looks up with mock disappointment. “Matthew really. You’re not going to let me boast about what happens to anyone who fucks with my bike?”

“Dude I’m hungry.” He was about to say ‘and I’m tired’ but it wasn’t quite as true now as it was just a few moments ago.

Daan shoves the bag over, shaking his head. “Eat up then. Even the young’uns aren’t here. So it’s just us old fogies.” He says, as he tears open his own paper bag.

“You’re eating at my desk?!”

Daan is trying his hardest not to grin now and barely manages to shrug. “What, did you think I was going to mess up my desk?”

“I can’t believe you.” Matthew rolls his chair over to hit Daan’s in revenge - what good are wheels for if you can’t use them for a little bumper chairs once in a while?

“Hey! Do you want a clean desk or not?!”

Matthew has to turn away because he’s grinning too hard. “You’re cleaning up my desk if it gets messed up-”

“What?”

“I swear, because you’re the one who-”

“That’s a great ‘thank you’ for bringing you food. Holy fuck Matthew Williams, after everyone said you’re the ‘epitome of what a gentleman is.’ I’m surprised.”

He shouldn’t be laughing this hard. “Excuse me you’re giving me Emil’s leftovers! Fine, I’ll go easy on you. But you need to tell me what people say about me in return. And that...was so totally Arthur omg. What else do they say?”

Matthew is pretty sure that Daan is making the rest of it up, but it doesn’t matter. It’s one of the best work dinners he’s had - ever.

#nedcan #aph canada #aph netherlands #fic: mr 7th floor

13 notes · View notes

christinegphillips · 4 years

Text

22 Popular Questions About The Law Of Attraction

I don’t really care what people think or say about the “law of attraction” because whether you think it works or not it definitely has done lots for my life.

The secret to it all however is not to take everything too literally but you should first and foremost have a purpose and meaning in life. With this in mind and you have a plan of what you want to achieve in life then everything will start to make sense.

LOA isn’t simply a process of closing your eyes and manifesting what you want and it just appears before you and that is why a lot of people do not believe in it’s approach. When you use common sense and are a good person, give love, give kindness and do everything you can to live a life with purpose then the law of attraction will step in and provide you with your wants and desires.

The Law Of Attraction – Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric from Pexels

Life really isn’t that hard as long as you follow a few simple rules which I outline below

Don’t let other people control your life. Life your life for you

Don’t let other people’s opinions change the way you think about yourself

Always surround yourself with people that encourage and support you

Work your hardest at all times

Have a plan and an aim in life and follow it through

Smile because you want to, not because you have to

Don’t take things personally

Learn to critique yourself and improve on your habits

Give love, kindness, generosity and help to everyone

Don’t do things you know are wrong and could get in trouble for

Live freely and enjoy life

Reward yourself when you need to

Believe in yourself

If you swear to live by the above rules then you will realize that life does reward you for it. Whether you think it is the cosmic universe, god or whoever that gives these things to you, it doesn’t matter as long as you get off your bum and live a life of happiness for yourself and others.

50 Questions About The Law Of Attraction

What are the 3 laws of attraction? Like attracts like, The present is always perfect, nature abhors a vacuum. My versions of the 3 laws are – Be kind, be generous, be grateful

What does the law of attraction mean? The law of attraction itself is about manifesting your ideal life to the universe and asking it for what you want and not what you don’t want. Most people concentrate on the negatives in life which is why they always seem to keep getting pulled backwards instead of moving forwards. When you see everything in life as simply a lesson it allows you to keep moving forward in life.

How does the law of attraction work? It works by having a positive nature and projecting the good things in your life that you want and you are also grateful for. When you have a plan in life and you can see where you are going the law of attraction will show you how to get there. It is by projecting this path that you have to let the LOA guide you as to the how.

Do you believe in law of attraction? Yes almost definitely, maybe not all components of it but I have manifested plenty of things in my life, from houses, to cars, to my new wife. When you have clarity of mind and thoughts and know what you want, document that want and keep projecting it, you become more noticeable about the things around you. This leads to attraction but you have to do something to get there in first place. As an example I made my ideal wish of the women I wanted in my life, but if I hadn’t have joined an online dating site it is highly likely that I would not have met her in the first place.

Does The Law of Attraction work for love? Yes absolutely as I said above I manifested the image of my perfect lover who is now my wife too. You cannot make someone love you but I was lucky that my wife was also manifesting something similar which happened to bring us together. Write down what your ideal partner looks like, the personality you want and project that in your thoughts in the morning and when you go to bed and most importantly believe that you will meet them.

What are the 7 Laws of the Universe?

The Law of vibration

The law of relativity

The law of cause and effect

The law of polarity

The law of gestation

The law of rhythm

The law of transmutation

How do you use the law of attraction step by step?

Know what you want in life

Be specific about what the want is down to exact details

Give a time when you want this by

Determine what you are willing to do in return

Think about what your life will look like with this item in it

Think what value this item will bring to your life and others

Set a plan on how you think you can achieve it

Manifest and project your image daily

Work everyday towards that goal

Record your actions and rewards and wait

How can I study law of attraction? There is lots of information on the law of attraction itself and there are plenty of books to read too. If you need help living a life of your dreams then check out my transformation program at change your life forever and I will help you will daily videos to get to where you want to be in life.

What is law of attraction in psychology? Psychologists may look at the law of attraction in a similar way to CBT. Whereby you have to try and live a good life and that thoughts are just thoughts. Again I am sure many of them would recommend it and many would poo poo the idea too.

Can you attract someone by thinking about them? Absolutely as mentioned above I wrote down everything I wanted in my partner and very descriptively too. I even said I wanted someone like Wonder Woman and when I met my wife for the first time and told her this, she pulled out her car keys with a Wonder Woman on her key ring. So I know it definitely works, you just have to specific about what you want, visualize it and see them in your life, then take steps to find them.

How do you manifest a relationship with a specific person? This is a hard one because if they are not thinking the same then this may not work. So you should manifest the particular pieces you want in someone and not necessarily a specific person as they could be with someone, be in love with someone else or your not their type. If you concentrate on manifesting someone based on what you want however this is more likely to come to fruition if you follow the above tips.

How long does Law of Attraction take to work? That all depends on how many things you are asking for, how specific you are about your wants, what time frames you requested this to happen. For small things to come, this can happen in a day and normally for big things I have found 1mth to 6mths depending on what I have been manifesting.

Is The Law of Attraction Delusional? To some people yes it is a big pile of mumbo jumbo and that is to be expected as we all have our differing viewpoints on life. If you are willing to put in the effort in life and follow the rules above, there is no reason that it will not work for you.

How do you attract a specific person with mind power? This is all about visualization, so write down exactly in detail what this person looks like, what you like about them, what they should like about you, what value you will bring to each others lives, see yourselves together and keep visualizing daily until you see something working. It might not be that specific person but it will be someone who is very close to your wants and desires.

How do you do a 17 second manifestation? Go somewhere quiet where you can have complete clarity of mind and no disturbances what so ever. Have in mind prior what you want to visualize and bring into your life. Look at a picture or the words of what you want. Close your eyes and see yourself with what you want and how good it makes you feel and then keep on doing it.

How do u make someone miss u? This is a hard question because when you are totally head over heels in love with someone, you cannot stand to be away from them. But if you want someone to miss you can use LOA for that you just have to make them want to come back to you, so love them, give kindess, lots of hugs and make them feel like they are the best person in the World and they will come back to you with a smile on their face.

How can I increase my attraction power? By being consistent is the key to this one. You can’t just project what you want once and expect it to happen. It takes daily manifestation sessions to see what you want, feel it, experience it and do it daily until it comes into your life.

Who discovered the law of attraction? Helena Blavatsky back in 1877 first mentioned it and since then there has been lots of practitioners, Abraham and Ester Hicks, Bob Proctor, Jack Cranfield and Rhonda Bhyrne

How do you write a manifestation list? My list contains of

What is it that I want

Be specific, colour, shape, size etc

When do you want it be

What value will add to your life and others

What are you willing to give in return

How will you feel when you receive it

Enjoy the manifestation journey of visualizing it all

How can I talk to the universe by law of attraction? Go to a quiet place so you have complete clarity of mind. After writing down what you want and your manifestation list, close your eyes relax and give as much time going over how you feel when you obtain your wish. Ask the universe for it and be thankful and grateful that you will receive it.

Why Loa is not working for me? The likely case for this is that you are not being consistent enough and wanting too many things. Concentrate on one thing as the law of attraction does have a habit of delivering what you want quickly when you visualize properly. Also you do have to put your feet on the path, so there is no point wishing for something just to appear. For instance if you want a new car, ask for a pay rise, or apply for better jobs, but you have to make the first step in the first place.

How do you know if manifestation is working? This is why you need to have a plan and also write down what you want in the first place. Then you can refer back and see that actually you did get the things you wanted you just didn’t realize that you had truly manifested them.

So there you have it these are my 22 popular questions about the law of attraction and I hope it gave you a better insight into how it works. Don’t forget to join my transformation program also where I will help you live a happier life.

Take care and best wishes for the future Scott

22 Popular Questions About The Law Of Attraction published first on https://changeurlifeforever.blogspot.com/

#personal development #positivity #self help #confidence #law of attraction

0 notes

mjvliteraryblog-blog · 5 years

Text

Do People Actually Judge A Book By Its Cover? Why Your Book’s Cheap Exterior Might Be Hiding A Literary Gem

Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexel

“You can’t judge a book by its binding.” Passage from the African journal American Speech, 1944.

Just two years after this phrase was coined, it would go on to be adapted into mainstream idiom and pop culture, first and most notably in the book Murder In the Glass Room, by Edwin Rolfe and Lester Fuller, which featured the phrase “You can never tell a book by its cover.” On the surface, of course, this is a self-explanatory term, and even as a metaphor for any large number of scenarios and character assessments, its meaning is clear. However, metaphors and analogies aside, perhaps ironically, a field in which it is quite difficult to simply nod agreement with this is when actually judging a book by its cover.

WHY JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS COVER SAYS MORE ABOUT YOU THAN IT DOES ABOUT THE BOOK

To many, the answer may be straightforward: yes, we do judge books by their covers and no, perhaps we shouldn’t, but that doesn’t stop us. Absolutely, this is true on both counts for many people. However, there are many reasons why the answer to this question is actually more profound than it may first appear, and why its answer – individual to each of us - actually reveals far more about our own personality traits than it does about the writer, the book, the designer who created it, the publisher who chose it, or even the decision to print it. What it raises in us - those actually making the judgement - is questions of how much importance we place on perceptive visual importance, stereotypical presumptions, patience, openness to and tolerance of new talent, respect for opportunity, assumptions of financially social inferiority and perhaps more than anything else, loyalty.

IS READER LOYALTY EXCLUSIVE TO THE RICH AND FAMOUS?

To add a measure of context to that list, let’s first consider the last of them: loyalty. If I explain that in this case I mean loyalty to authors with which we have already established our position in their fandom – most likely famous – then perhaps the list might start to make more immediate sense. Consider the newest novel you bought by your favourite best-selling author – you may remember the title (you actually might not), but can you recall, without checking, the cover? Try to, right now. One thing which will almost certainly have been true of it, assuming your best-selling author is a famous one, is that his or her name was in much larger font than the actual title of the book, itself. Check your latest Stephen King or Michelle Obama book – it is a safe bet that the author’s name is at least 30-40% larger than the title. What kind of a message does this send, then? That if you are a famous, established author the cover doesn’t matter – even the title of your book doesn’t matter? If it’s a horror, it used Chiller font and a dark theme… probably; perhaps there were pictures of balloons or a pram, but who can remember? All that matters is the author who wrote it, and that it is the one you don’t own yet. The book might be bad – the cover might be terrible - but you’ll still probably buy his or her next one.

Compare this, now, to a new, unknown author. Those of us fortunate enough to work in the literary industry with up-and-coming authors should see things – including shabby book covers - very differently, and should pride ourselves on an inclination to appreciate the less superficial qualities mentioned in that list: openness, opportunity and new creative talent; this is, of course, a vital element of our profession. As a book reviewer, beta-reader and copy-editor, I myself am acutely aware that amongst every dozen or so rough stones there is a diamond (to shamelessly use yet another clichéd metaphor). That diamond may be hidden within a low-resolution crust of an exterior, which is offensive to the eye and needs not just polishing, but entirely discarding – of course, I won’t know this unless I dig. Many new authors may be unpublished; they may also be broke financially, unable to commission anything more expensive than some free or cheap Photoshop-alternative. So, rubbing their hands in excitement and anticipation of their new graphic design hobby, they become hands-on and expand their skillset to include book covers. With glee and relish, the author then prides himself that he is able to make a cover and can now do Photoshop-ish. But, is it right? Quite simply, is it good enough?

WHY BOOKS BY UNKNOWN AUTHORS HAVE TO LOOK TWICE AS GOOD – AND BE INSTANTLY RECOGNIZABLE!

By this rationale, is it therefore fair to say that if you are a famous author - probably wealthy with a loyal fan base - we have a right to judge your cover critically and view it cynically, whereas if you are an up-and-coming new face, we should afford you leniency for your budget and withhold judgement until we have read it? After all, for all we know behind that cover may be one of those hidden gems – and, behind some there absolutely, undoubtedly will be. Well, no actually; this is the very reason why you should not expect leniency! You don’t have the luxury of a half-page author name self-selling your new book – you have yet to achieve that status. Besides, the better your book is, the more enticing your cover should be! I designed all of my own book covers, and whilst deeply proud of every single one of them, they have been upgraded and reissued over the years. Why? Because they weren’t good enough to reflect what was inside them. Whilst you should always strive to create the best art you can – both inside and outside of the cover – your book’s cover is invariably little more than a shop window, with one primary objective: to get people inside it. And, even whilst those in the business are less likely to judge a book so harshly by its cover, they are still going to have an inevitable, innate aversion to really bad covers; avoiding creating a terrible cover is a good place for you to start selling your book. In fact, I’ll admit that there is undoubtedly still some degree to which a cover might help me select my next review read. In spite of this, take a look at the BOOK REVIEW BLOG – seek out the books which have been awarded 5-star reviews and take a look at the poor quality of some of their covers; they gave no indication of the immense quality of what I was about to read.

Image property of MJV Literary Author Services

Whilst you are there, by the same inverted principle, look for the lower scoring reviews; those with a professionally created and undoubtedly more expensive high-res cover – it would perhaps be a safe bet to assume that these would have more sales on Amazon than the rough gems do. This is a tragic waste, and all the more reason why a good cover is so important. By earlier asking “is it good enough”, of course the question refers to its defining measure: good enough to sell. As far as the paying readership goes, sadly, and often inaccurately, they undoubtedly judge a book by its cover, if not totally, then to enough of an extent that this factor cannot be simply ignored when conducting your analytics – the number of Amazon sales will probably speak for themselves, as far as professional covers goes. Whilst I am certain there is a huge number of people with the sense to acknowledge that an extremely good quality book may be hindered by its unknown author’s lack of budget, there are also most definitely particular universal expectations of the cover, which are consistent with genre – if you can’t tell your reader how good the book is, at least tell them what it is about, by its cover; at the very, very least, your cover must ascertain genre, even to be visible to your market audience. Too many books hide their action-thriller credential behind a stock cover of a mountain – this means very little to a browsing reader. I earlier mentioned the horror theme, briefly; sci-fi fans will probably expect high-resolution, technologically stunning imagery and artwork; period or romantic readers may be looking for beautiful scenery or lavish, costume-wearing characters; action readers will prefer a gripping, rousing cover, maybe featuring weapons or cash; family drama may invoke expectations of emotional people in melancholy and poignant poses; take a look at the colour themes of other books in yours’ genre, because they all have them… The point is, if there is only one piece of advice to be taken from this article, it is that your cover, at the very least, must be recognizable to your target reader at first glance – or at least enticing - otherwise your marketing work is going to be a whole lot more difficult! When you are rich and famous, your cover might not need to be memorable or even good, but at first glance it will still meet the genre theme, and that will be enough.

A GOOD BOOK COVER IS AN INVESTMENT

As far as goes any degree of importance readers place on the character traits mentioned - perceptive visual importance, stereotypical presumptions, patience, openness to and tolerance of new talent, respect for opportunity, assumptions of financially social inferiority and loyalty – all people are different, and each respects some of these qualities more than others; this is a calculation you must make for yourself, as the author or indie publisher paying to produce your book, and adapt to your buyers’ persona. One thing is clear, though, and probably made more so by looking at the not-so-good books which are selling well, rather than by the good ones which aren’t: a professional book cover may not be a creative necessity, but it is a business one - a relatively cheap investment, too, considering it is your book’s shop window. Take a look at some AFFILIATED COVER DESIGNERS and their rates – you might be surprised.

Posted by Matt McAvoy: 31st July 2019

#book cover #cover designer #author #writer #publishing #books #book creation #judge a book by its cover #ReturnToRealBooks

0 notes

unwindword22 · 4 years

Text

Things to do in santorini

Santorini is the dreamy, romantic, drop-dead gorgeous bucket list location that better be on everyone’s list. We visited Santorini for our honeymoon (as cliché as we could be). We saw a few other Greek islands but hands down – Santorini is the winner! There are so many things to do in Santorini that you are bound to have a great time.

The island is intimately small allowing visitors to easily explore every corner while enjoying the views of the breath-taking Aegean Sea. And by breath-taking, I mean – your jaw will be open in absolute amazement.

In this blog you will find almost all-important things you HAVE to do in Santorini.

Put on your comfy shoes and a photo-op-worthy outfit – we’re going to explore Santorini!

IMAGE CREDITS: ALEKSANDAR PASARIC ON PIXELS

LIST

1. TAKE A YACHT RIDE TO THE VOLCANIC ISLANDS

Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Taking the yacht ride was one good decision and we highly recommend it.

You can sign up for a tour (there are too many options to choose from) or you can take a private boat and sail by yourself (taking a private boat will mean a deep hole in your pocket)

The tour generally takes you around the volcanic island where you can see an active volcano, swim in a hot spring, watch the Red Beach, Lighthouse,etc

This tour is available through various vendors with a variety of options like duration (4-8 hours), budget (ranging from 80-1400 Euros per person) and mood (romantic, party, adventure, etc). These rides happen in two shifts one is in the morning and one is for the sunset (personally the sunset slot is more romantic). Click here to know more

PHOTO BY PARTH LOHIA

2. WINE NOT?

Wine production in Santorini is an ancient tradition and it’s not a secret that the volcanic soil produces a unique taste of wine.

You can opt for a wine tour or get there yourself.

If you take the tour, your tour operator will take you around a couple of different wineries and explain the history and the wine making process followed by wine tasting (honestly, most of these places are similar so going to any one or two winerys would suffice).

If you want to explore on your own ,which we recommend, you could go to Santo Wines and/or Venetsanos winery. They not only have great wine and winemaking tour but also breathtaking views. Click here to know more

IMAGE CREDITS: SANTO WINES, SANTORINI.

3. SANTORINI HELICOPTER TOUR

This is pretty close to unforgettable. A wonderful tour above Santorini, the volcano, the caldera, and all the villages perched along the cliff.

If you’re going to Mykonos you can also do a helicopter transfer between Santorini and Mykonos – which is fun, easy, and way faster than the ferry.

PHOTO BY ANDREAS NEXTVOYAGEPL ON UNSPLASH

4. JET SKI TOUR TO THE VOLCANO

An insanely fun and unique way of seeing the caldera.

There are different tours that go different places – all leave from Perivolos in the south of the island.

The shortest tour (“South Tour”) visits nearby Red Beach and White Beach and lasts about 90 minutes.

The medium-length (“Volcano Tour”, 140 minutes) goes all the way into the caldera and stops for a swim in the hot springs by the volcano.

The longest tour (“Extreme Volcano Tour”, 200 minutes) takes the volcano tour and adds Thirassia and Ammoudi Bay.

The tours that go into the caldera are pretty intense and the waves can be big.

There’s a motorboat with the tour the whole way so if someone needs a break they can switch to the boat and one of the staff will ride the jet ski.

IMAGE CREDITS: PIXELS

5. SANTORINI KAYAK TOUR

Wonderfully fun! The Morning Tour and Sunset Tour explore the south coast of Santorini (cool but you don’t get to see the caldera).

The Lighthouse Tour goes into the caldera and provides incredible views of the caldera cliffs.

The tour generally starts at Akrotiri Beach. Most tour operators provide pick up and drop-off service from your accommodation.

PHOTO BY SERGIO SOUZA FROM PIXELS

6. WALK THE VOLCANO

The island in the middle of the caldera is Nea Kameni and that’s where you’ll find the island’s active volcano and the top point of interest in Santorini.

The crater is 130 meters up and takes about 20 minutes to walk.

Sulfur vents are found along the way.

The only way to get here is by doing a volcano boat tour or hiring a chartered boat.

PHOTO BY JIMMY TEOH FROM PEXELS

7. SWIM AT AMMOUDI BAY

One of the best swimming spots on Santorini is down the cliff from Oia at a spot just south of the Ammoudi port.

Walk or drive to Ammoudi Bay then take the path that leads south from the restaurants in the port (can’t miss it, there’s only one way to go).

It’s a 5 minute walk to a small island (Agios Nikolaos) that you can swim out to. Then jump from the ledge (if you want).

PHOTO BY ELENA ZHURAVLEVA FROM PEXELS

8. SWIM IN THE HOT SPRINGS

Jump from the boat into the cold water of the caldera then swim towards the warm water of the volcanic hot springs, talk about adventure and having fun!

It never gets hot but it’s warm enough to never feel the need to get out. The only way to get to the hot springs is by doing a boat tour.

IMAGE CREDITS: UNKNOWN

9. RED BEACH

Just down the road from the Akrotiri ruins, Red Beach is the most spectacular and picturesque of any Santorini beach.

From the bus stop or car park it’s about a 15 minute walk to the beach. (Sometimes closed due to the risk from falling rock, please check before you go and proceed at your own risk.)

PHOTO BY ZORAN ZONDE STOJANOVSKI ON UNSPLASH

10. DRIVE OR RIDE AROUND THE ISLAND.

We drove around the entire island, from one end to the other TWICE.

We stopped at a few beaches, ate lunch, took a million photos and ended the day in Oia to watch the sunset.

It’s such a liberating feeling to do whatever you want and, in another country, serious double whammy of freedom. No tour guides, no waiting on public transportation. Talk about an amazing moment

If you do nothing else but this while visiting Santorini, you’ll still have the best damn time ever. This is such a must-do, can’t say it enough.

Tips:

Before hunting down a place to rent your car, ask your hotel if they can help. This will save lots of time & trouble.

The average cost is 70 euros for an entire day rental and can go up to 200 euros if you like something fancier. We paid around 90 euros including fuel for a convertible Mini Cooper.

If you plan on riding after sunset, pack a jacket for the ride home.

Bring a camera, what you’re about to see will blow your mind.

PHOTO BY SANTORINI HOTELS ON PINTEREST

11. STAY AT A CAVE HOTEL ON THE CALDERA

Throughout all my travels, budgeting is always necessary. So we generally don’t spend too much on accommodation, because you won’t really be using the hotel facilities if you are roaming around the entire day. But we must admit, Santorini is such an exception.We agreed that staying in a beautiful hotel with the postcard view of Santorini was a necessity.

We chose Aqua Luxury Suites & couldn’t be happier. The hotel is truly paradise & set the tone for our entire experience. The staff was lovely, the rooms were clean & just enough space, and the VIEW was out of this world! Also, they serve you breakfast just outside your room on a private dining table with a view to die for. For more details about where to stay in Santorini, please click here

IMAGE CREDITS: UNKNOWN

12. STAY IN A WINDMILL

Yes, you heard that right. You can stay on this windmill. It’s the Windmills Suite at Golden Sunset Villas in Oia and it’s pretty incredible.

It sits at the tip of Oia where everyone gathers to watch the sunset – but you have this huge patio with incredible views all to yourself (it can easily fit 20 people if you had friends staying nearby and wanted to host a sunset party).

The bad news: there’s only one true windmill suite in Santorini. – So book early.

IMAGE CREDITS: PIXYBAY

13.WATCH THE SUNSET FROM OIA & FIRA

This is a requirement when traveling to Santorini – no ifs no buts about it.

Both locations are prime time sunset-watching so pick your poison. We preferred Fira over Oia because you can see the amazing caldera on your right and a beautiful volcano in front of you at the same time also you won’t have to pay for overpriced cocktails or fight for a space to watch the sunset in Fira which is definitely the case in Oia. Grab a drink or have a meal while you enjoy the sun go down.

PHOTO BY YU SIANG TEO ON UNSPLASH

14. GREEK FOOD

This goes without saying, right? No matter where you’re traveling to, make it a high priority to seeking out delicious and authentic food.

Most meals are filled with fresh seafood, fresh vegetables, olives, and homemade hummus. Don’t fear, it’s not all healthy though! There are delicious and not so healthy options – like Saganaki and Moussaka (which I highly recommend ordering at every meal).

Remember most places consider seafood as a vegetarian so please be specific about what you want.

Our top recommendation has to be Lucky’s. Pito Gyros in Oia is also good. Please click here to know more about where to eat in Santorini.

PHOTO BY LOUIS HANSEL ON UNSPLASH

15. EXPLORE ON FOOT!

Last but certainly not least, please relax and disconnect from the day to day.two reasons why you must do this are first, you have paid a considerable amount on your amazing caldera accommodation and secondly, there is no better way of exploring and place than on foot. When on foot, you can explore the tiny lanes, and pick up some cute souvenirs and not forget the beautiful pictures you will be able to click!

Enjoy each and every moment of the trip because it’s so incredibly special and breath-taking.

If you find yourself in Santorini or anywhere for that matter, be so thankful & grateful for that opportunity (some people will never get it).

#things to do in santorini

0 notes

angelaiswriting · 4 years

Text

Keep You Safe | Tommy Shelby

[Photo by Stanislav Kondratiev from Pexels]

✏️ Pairing: Tommy Shelby x wife!reader

✏️ Summary: What’s my purpose? Maids clean the house, nannies look after the children, and all I’m ever allowed to do is sit here alone whilst you go out and do business. (Requested by Anonymous)

✏️ A/N: sorry for the long wait, I’m still struggling with a schedule that doesn’t fight with uni and with my upcoming Economy exam. I feel like parts of this are confused, but it was good to get back to some writing in English!

✏️ Warnings: angst, kinda ?

✏️ Word-count: 1,867

KEEP YOU SAFE

“What’s my purpose, Tommy?” Y/N is frustrated. She’s been for a while now, but these past six weeks her already sour mood has been getting worse. Waiting for her husband to come home seems to be the only thing she’s allowed to do nowadays, and if Changretta and his men were still around, she would understand.

But now, as she stands in the middle of her husband’s study in front of a crackling fire, she’s tired, ad so far from understanding Tommy’s behaviour that it’s driving her nuts. She can almost feel it, her sanity slowly slipping through her fingers as her husband becomes more and more overprotective the more time passes. He’s trying to avoid another John-situation―she knows this and she’ll forever be grateful to him for all he’s doing and has always done for his family―her and their children included.

Life has stopped, though, or so it feels to her―and the children are starting to feel the same way, unable as they are to go play at some friend’s place before Tommy has had the chance to do anything in his power to find out all there is to know about that kid’s family―who his parents are, who the parents’ friends are, what their political orientation is, where they live, what they do for a living, who the people they’re most in contact with are, if they have contacts outside the country. The list goes on and on and on, for Thomas Shelby never seems to be persuaded enough with what he finds, with what he learns about people. There could always be danger hiding behind the next corner, lurking in the shadow cast behind his wife or children, and he’s not risking it.

He’s not risking it.

Y/N understands this, she truly does, but sometimes all she wishes is for herself to be a little more naive, a little more clueless. And a little bolder when it comes to challenging some of the decisions her husband makes without previously consulting with her.

“Uh, Tommy?” She has to repeat her question, emphasizing his name even though she’s quite sure there’s nothing that can catch his attention more than a gun pointed at a temple―hers, the children’s, Polly’s, his, it doesn’t really matter, not now that he’s too far gone in his own worries and precautions. “What’s my purpose? Maids clean the house, nannies look after the children, and all I’m ever allowed to do is sit here alone whilst you go out and do business.”

He doesn’t answer. Deep down he knows he’s in the wrong, and she knows that he knows. But on the surface, he’s too stubborn to show defeat now. He’s been hardened too much by life and death―and all that lurks in the in-between. It’s been awhile since the last time he’s allowed himself to be human―to be soft and gentle and caring, loving, even, when it comes to a wife he sees all too rarely now.

He pretends not to hear, pretends he’s too busy in his own work that the only real sound echoing in his mind is the soft whisper of the pen against the paper he’s dragging it across. He doesn’t even know what he’s writing anymore, for he’s lost his focus in the exact moment he’s heard his wife’s voice crack with sadness and something that runs deeper, something he can’t quite name. There’s a tinge of anger, there, too, and he knows he’s pushed too far―farther than he should have.

Guilt decants in his every fibre, but he ignores it, does his best to keep his cool.

“I’m your wife,” she goes on, voice seething on the last word almost as if it burns her tongue. “We’re supposed to be a team.”

He feigns not hearing. There’s way too much on his plate already and a fight with his wife is the last thing he needs at the moment. And she knows it, she reads it in that split second the pen stops crawling on the paper and in Tommy’s immediate reaction in resuming his actions.

“Instead, you leave me here.” Her voice is slowly raising and she’s glad the kids are down in the big room with the nanny―her parents constantly fought when she was a child and she would hate herself if her children managed to assist to one of their parents’ fights.

What she hates most at the moment, though, is her husband’s stubbornness with continuing with his work even though she’s trying to get answers out of him. Christmas is furiously banging at the doors and she doesn’t want for the festivity to be ruined in her children’s eyes just because Mummy and Daddy don’t seem to get along.

It happens in the spur of the moment: she’s blinded by annoyance and what desperately feels like the stirring of rage and for a second, she cannot think. She leans forward over Tommy’s desk, fingertips buzzing with anticipation and the need to hit something, and in a heartbeat, all of his things go flying to the floor. Papers, pens, cigarettes, the crystal ashtray Tommy bought only God knows where when he still couldn’t afford one.

The clatter is almost louder than the raging heartbeat in her ears and slowly, ever so slowly, she meets her husband’s eyes. There’s surprise in them, surprise and something undefinable, something that’s threatening to become something else, something that burns of a worst kind of fire.

“You leave me here,” she resumes, voice lowering to a trembling whisper of rage, “wondering if what lies ahead of me is my husband getting fucking blown up in a goddamned street!”

Tommy sighs, leans back against his cushioned chair and closes his eyes for a moment. A moment too long, probably, but he doesn’t seem to care. “There’s no need for you to-”

“To what? Worry about such nonsense?” She’s seething, hardly seeing straight as her husband slips farther away from her. “How would I even know when you don’t talk to me anymore?”

She wants to hit him. She has no recollection of ever wishing to hurt somebody, but she wants to slap Thomas Shelby awake right now, bring him back to her as he’s always been before that fucking Italian came to town like an unwanted rat. The desire burns in the pit of her stomach like some distorted pleasure and it makes her spine tingle as she does her best not to break down into tears. She knows she’ll come to that―she’s spent plenty of days crying herself to silence just to accommodate her husband’s wishes―but she can’t afford to tear at the seams in his presence.

“Marriage is built on mutual trust.” The tone of his voice is more condescending than she anticipated just twenty minutes earlier and it’s what almost does it for her, it’s what almost closes up her throat with a knot of tears and confusion and desperation. Abandonment, even. Because while marriage is built on trust, it’s built on mutual communication, too, and there hasn’t been much of that in that house for awhile now.

It’s what hurts the most, what twists and knots her insides when she goes to bed at night and when she gets up in the morning. Even on the now rare occasions Mr and Mrs Shelby have sex. It’s like being a ghost, wandering in a house full of living people―people she’s once loved and has now lost forever. Or so it seems, so it feels when the sadness clouds her sky like a storm on the sea.

“If nothing, you keeping me on house arrest proves how little trust you have in me.” There’s defeat in her voice and she deflates like a balloon a child has let fly away. It’s heavy and pregnant but the more the seconds pass, the lighter it gets and she feels herself drift away from her husband’s study, from her husband’s house. From her husband’s love.

She wants to live. More desperately than ever, she wants to go back to life. Back to doing what she loves without fear of repercussions. Back to meeting her friends, to have somebody to talk to that isn’t maids paid to keep her company and treat her like everything is good and held-together in the most natural way.

Tommy keeps silent and she doesn’t know what hurts the most―staring into his distant, icy eyes or hearing the deafening silence pouring from his lips like venom. She can almost taste it on her tongue and it tastes like gasoline.

The silence stretches out between them, pushes them both farther apart from each other than they actually are―he sitting and she standing on opposite sides of the same wooden desk. It’s dry, and dusty, and Y/N can feel nothing in it. Absolutely nothing. Not the spark that used to burn between them in the past, and not the hot and heavy wish to make things work again that she’s felt just before entering his study.

There’s a void between them, as scary as a dark alley, not as a ticking bomb. If the sun doesn’t rise again, she doesn’t know what she’ll do.

“I love you,” he starts, but she’s never felt as un-loved as she does now. She’s the siren on the prow of the ship, cutting the waves as he keeps on commanding the crew like nothing was. “And I trust you.” She’s also never felt as un-trusted, and it stings her heart like a papercut on the pad of a finger. “What I do―anything I do,” he corrects himself, “I do for you and the girls.”

He hasn’t seen his daughters in four days, she knows this, she’s been counting them herself. They ask questions, of course they do, they love their Daddy.

“To keep you safe.”

It’s like watching disaster slowly unroll before your eyes as you sit at the pictures. You know shit is about to hit the fan, but the characters on the screen are unaware of it all. They don’t feel Danger’s breath on their exposed necks, don’t feel Nothing’s cold touch on their warm skin, kissing their lips with that empty touch so typical of it.

And she’s watching her husband slowly retreat as he lets her hand fall from his weak grasp.

What’s there to feel safe about? She wants to ask it, wants to scream it.

“Safe from what?” It’s another whisper, one that makes her voice quiver with unshed tears. “From the monsters in the alley? Or from the ghosts that live in this house?”

She sees him hold his breath for a moment, and then resume his breathing. He probably didn’t even understand what she means by that―she has no faith he ever will.

“Can you keep us safe from you?”

She knows what it means to lose a father, to watch him back away until he’s nothing but a shadow. And she’s seen what it means to lose a husband right on her mother’s face, has seen the way it tore her to pieces as her whole world came crumbling down on the floor of her kitchen.

“Can you keep us safe from loving someone far beyond loving us back?”

This def wasn’t me at my best, but hopefully you enjoyed it! Please, consider reaching out with feedback to help me get better at what I do :)

TAGS (to be added to or to be removed from any list, shoot me an ASK)

Everything: @idhrenniel @saibh29 @fuckthatfeeling @aya-fay @pebblesz892 @mblaqgi @becs-bunker

Peaky Blinders: @whimsylavender @thethyri @friendleyneighbourhoodvillain @flowers-in-your-hayr @oddsnendsfanfics @medievalfangirl @inforapound @niamhmaria @why-am-i-sad-and-sleepy

People that might be interested: @kellydixon01 @sweetvengeancee @kind-wolf

#tommy shelby #tommy shelby angst #tommy shelby imagine #tommy shelby fanfic #tommy shelby fanfiction #tommy shelby x reader #peaky blinders #peaky blinders imagine #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders fanfiction #peaky blinders x reader #angelaiswriting

113 notes · View notes

syntaxxxblogs · 4 years

Text

30 Sites to Get Free Images (updated for 2020)

There are probably hundreds of sites with free images out there, yet when you start searching for that special image you want to use in your design, you might end up spending lots of time in vain. In order not to waste your time, here is a selection of some really good sites with free images. In addition to sites with free images with some restrictions in their use, the list includes many public domain image sites as well, the images of which generally can be used in any way you deem fit. As with all free stuff you find on the Internet, if you plan to use it for commercial projects, always read the license first because some sites, or some pictures on an otherwise free site, are free for personal use only and/or require attribution. I know, it's boring to do it but this is the price of free stuff.

1. Sxc.hu

Of all the sites with free images, this site with a totally unpronounceable name has been my favorite for years. The reason is pretty simple – it has a wonderful selection of images in almost all niches. The interface of Sxc.hu doesn't look very exciting but this comes second to the rich choice of images they offer.

2. Deviant Art

Deviant Art offers much more than free images. For a designer, this is a site to check daily because it's one of the best galleries on the Net where designers all over the world showcase their talents. The site isn't dedicated specifically to free images – whether an image is free to use commercially or not depends solely on its author, so when you pick an image you'd like to use, check what uses the author allows. Some authors release their images in the public domain, while others don't allow any commercial use.

3. Flickr

Flickr is another popular destination when you are looking for free images. It has a vast selection of images, not all of which are licensed for commercial use. As with the other sites, you need to check if a particular image is licensed under a Creative Commons license and if yes, which version of CC because this defines what you can (and can't do) with this image.

4. Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia is another huge source of images licensed under a Creative Commons license but the allowed uses vary from one image to the next, so again, check in advance the restrictions applicable to that particular photo you like. Wikimedia Commons has images in any category imaginable and generally their quality is good or even superb. In addition to still images, it also offers videos.

5. pixabay

Unlike the other sites, pixabay is an image search engine. It lists results to many public domain images as well. Depending on the niche you are searching images in, the number of retrieved results varies drastically but even in narrow niches you can still find lots of stuff.

6. Public Domain Pictures

As the name itself implies, this site is dedicated to free public domain pictures but as the site itself states, some images might require a model or property release, so check this before you use an image commercially. Most of the images are large in size and with good quality. The site is free to use but downloads require registration.

7. Public Domain Image

Public Domain Image is another site with images in the public domain. This isn't a site with millions of images but the ones it has across numerous niches are of good quality, so they deserve your attention. The size of the images varies but many large images can be found on this site.

8. Pexels

No list for websites with free images would be complete without Pexels. They have one of the biggest collection of curated stock images on the web and is of the most sought after providers for free stock images. They have even started providing stock videos, exciting isn't it?

9. pdpics

The list of sites with public domain images goes on with pdpics. Unlike the other sites with public domain images that have gathered such images from all over the Net, or have scanned them from old sources, the images on this site are taken by their in-house photographers. This gives more assurance that the images are really in the public domain and that they are unique. Additionally, here you can find really huge images, which go well for print, not only for the Web. The site asks for a link back, so if this is not a problem for you, you can link back to them.

10. The Photo Section of All Free Download

There are many nice photos here, though the site is not dedicated to them only. All Free Download is another site I frequently visit because they have many free goodies a designer loves. The quality of the images varies but generally it's good enough for use in commercial projects. On this site I've managed to find many images in narrow niches that were hard to find even on stock photo sites.

11. morgueFile

morgueFile is one of the oldest sources of free images and its collection is pretty impressive. There are lots of large images here and as a whole, the quality of images is more than decent. In fact, there were times when I stocked myself with free images mostly from here, though in some niches the choice is somehow limited.

12. Free Stock Image Site

This is one more site with free stock images that can be used in both personal and commercial projects. There are many images across various niches and their overall quality is quite good. The description of images includes some technical data, such as the camera model, aperture, etc., as well, which is good, if technical data is of importance to you.

13. Unsplash

Unsplash can boast of 325000+ great quality images and they have over 60000 contributors across the world. They obviously donot compare to some of the other sites that have millions of images but they do real justice to the the quality of images that are offered. 8 out of 10 times you would find a good fit for your need here.

14. Free Stock Photos

Free Stock Photos doesn't have the largest collection of images but it does have some really cute ones in many categories. One of the things I don't like about this site is that very often the largest image size is quite small for many purposes (like 800x600 pixels) but if you need it for an online blog or for a site, this size is quite OK.

15. Picdrome

Picdrome is one more site with public domain images. The number of images is kind of modest but if you find what you are looking for, numbers don't matter. In terms of image size the choice varies – from what I browsed I think most images are quite small in size (1000x1000 pixels or less) but for many uses even this size is OK.

16. Stock Free Images

This is one more site with free images but it is powered by Dreamstime. The negative is that you will see links to stock images on Dreamstime all the time, but the on the positive side, the partnership with one of the leading stock image sites is great because the quality (and topical diversity) of the images on Stock Free Images is really good.

17. Free Digital Photos

Free Digital Photos has a huge collection of images but I doubt this will be your first choice, if you are searching for free images because there is a catch. Only the smallest sizes, like 400x300, are free and they do require attribution. If you want larger photos, you need to pay. Still, if you are OK with small sizes and you find an image you like, this site is not totally useless.

18. Open Clipart

There are two kinds of designers – one who like clipart, and one who hate it. If you are in the first group, then you will certainly appreciate this site. Open Clipart is one of the largest clipart collections on the Web. Additionally, all its images are public domain.

19. Pikwizard

Pikwizard has an enormous number of images across a variety of different categories. And apart from the usual stuff you find on most of the free image providers, Pikwizard also has a good arsenal of image editing tools. Obviously they have a free tier that provides you the basic set of features to fulfill the humble needs. But they have a paid version with a whole suite of tools for the users who are hungry for more power when it comes to editing images online.

20. Clker

Clker is another site with tons of clipart and photos. The arrangement of stuff is somehow peculiar – they do have topical categories but many images are classified under a color category (i.e. pink, red, green, etc.), which is cute, if you are more interested in the color of the image than in its contents and not so cute otherwise. Aside from this, Clker is a great site with lots of unique images.

21. Reusable Art

Reusable Art is full of vintage stuff - free drawings, paintings, and illustrations from old print materials. Many of the images there are more than a century old but they are still usable. Again, if you hold vintage art to modern graphic standards, the quality might seem too low but since this is vintage, you'd better enjoy its value than be picky about the sharpness of the outlines, for example.

22. 1 Million Free Pictures

Despite its name, the site hardly has 1 million free pictures but this is not what matters. What matters more, is the quality of the images and here you will find many high quality photos. Some of the images are in the public domain, while others are just free, so always check what rules apply to the particular image(s) you have chosen.

23. Unrestricted Stock

Unrestricted Stock offers lots of free photos and vectors. Here you can find textures and patterns as well. There are also many hand drawn images, as well as a couple of free PSD files. All in all, this site offers really good free images.

24. Free Range Stock

Compared to the other sites with thousands or even millions of images, this one looks like a poor relative but if you can't find photos you like on the other sites, it won't hurt to check this one, too. If you want to download images, you need to register.

25. Foter

If the number displayed on site is correct, this site has about 230 million free images. This is pretty impressive! However, when you pick images, pay attention to the license because not all images on this site are free for commercial use.

26. Reshot

Reshot is really a great community of people looking to help out each other; essentially you have photographers who would like to share their creative work on one side and on the other side people who are looking for such creatives. The whole community is free but that doesn't at all undermine the quality of the creatives and the list is curated too.

27. Rawpixel

It is pretty evident that Rawpixel has one of the most diverse set of images or stock photo collections on the web that spans across vectors, PSD mockups, and some of the public domain content too. Apart from the free stock images/photos they also have a paid images, and it is great to know that a part of the proceeds received goes as a contribution towards 'Hope for Children'

28. Canva

Canva is more popular as an image editing tool (and is pretty good at it) but they do have a humble repository of stock images and photos that can be used. You can even just get the stock image edited right there on the platform to create a completely new and unique image for your usage.

29. Crello

Crello is similar to Canva being an image editing tool, but again Crello also provides a repository of free stock images and photos that you can choose to customize using their suite of image editing tools.

30. Google Advanced Image Search

This one might be a surprising one on the list, but is evidently by far one of the most powerful options in the list. Google's image search has it's own algorithm and set of search tools that can help you find free to use images across the web pretty quickly If this list seems a long one to you, trust me when I say there are many more free image sites that are not included in this list. We have updated the list taking off the ones that are no longer active and adding some of the new ones that have gained a lot of popularity over last few years. But I guess I probably have missed some major ones, too – I apologize for this but these 30 sites that made the list are the ones I think are really good and worth browsing. Follow my blog with Bloglovin Read the full article

#freeimages #freebies #publicdomainimages #resources

0 notes

stephenaltrogge-blog · 4 years

Link

Our church recently showed a video about a woman we support, who works on “Mercy Ships,” an incredible ministry that brings medical help to thousands of people who are too poor to pay for medical treatment.

Also, not long ago, a missionary couple sponsored by our church spoke on the work they are doing in Asia to reach those who have never heard the Gospel.

When I see the incredible sacrifices people make to advance the kingdom of God, and the incredible fruit they bear, I can be tempted to feel worthless, like I’m doing nothing for God. Most of us can think at times, ‘What am I doing for God? I just go to work every day at this boring job. I’m working in a warehouse, unpacking boxes. Or I’m just staying at home almost every day tending to this one year old.’

Satan wants to discourage us in any way he can. He tries to get us to compare ourselves with others. He tells us we aren’t making any difference to anyone. If he couldn’t stop Jesus from saving us, he wants to rob us of our joy in Jesus by condemning us. He is the “accuser of the brethren.”

I believe that most believers bring glory to God in many ways they aren’t even aware of. I hope this post will encourage you!

Remember the widow’s mite?

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4

I can imagine the widow thinking, “What am I giving? Nothing compared to what everyone else is giving.” She may have even felt ashamed at her “meager” offering. But that’s not how God views our “tiny” acts of service or obedience or giving.

Remember God is a God who created “seeds,” and who encourages us to sow seeds – tiny acts of obedience or love or faith – which will in time produce a “harvest.”

He tells us in Psalm 126:5-6

Those who sow in tears

shall reap with shouts of joy!

He who goes out weeping,

bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

bringing his sheaves with him.

When we “sow in tears” it doesn’t feel powerful. It may be a prayer for an unsaved child we grieve about. That prayer, that “seed” doesn’t feel great or glorious. I know, for I have often felt like my prayers are so very weak. Yet I have to trust God’s word that someday they will produce a glorious harvest.

Here are a few ways you may be bringing glory to God, that you don’t feel are anything great.

Do you love/serve your family or your friends?

Do you play catch with your daughter? Do you read a story to your kids before bed? Do you ever clean up the kitchen for your wife? You may not feel like you are doing much to glorify God, but you are.

Do you go to work every day?

Do you lay down asphalt on a highway? Or do dishes in a restaurant? Or sit in front of a computer screen all day? Or do any other mundane job? Here’s a Scripture to encourage you:

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24

Paul wrote this to slaves who were believers. They could have felt worthless. But Paul reminded them they would receive a reward for working “as for the Lord and not for men” and that they weren’t ultimately serving earthly masters but they were “serving the Lord Christ.”

Do you believe God’s word, even when you can’t see how he will answer?

When you do, you bring glory to God, as Abraham did when God promised that he would have a son in his old age:

No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Romans 4:20-21

Abraham’s faith “gave glory to God.” When we trust God and believe his word, even when we don’t see how God could do it, we bring him glory. Are you trusting God’s promises for you? Trusting he will provide for you? Trusting he will lead and guide you? Trusting he has a plan for your life? Then you are bringing him glory. Along these lines…

Do you trust Jesus in hard times?

Or when you are sick? At times I have told people, “You are bringing glory to God by the way you are going through this affliction and you continue to trust him.” Trusting God in hard times glorifies him. You may not feel like you are glorifying God but you are.

Do you pray?

The very fact that we pray and ask God for help or to meet our needs glorifies him. Because by praying we acknowledge that he is the one who can answer prayer. That he is in control. That he is a God who cares for you. That he is able to supply all our needs. And this brings him glory.

Are you part of a church?

Week after week, you go to church, you worship with God’s people, you listen to his word preached, you go to your fellowship group, you join others in talking about God’s word, and you pray with God’s people. These things rarely feel “glorious.” Psalm 133:1 says,

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!

It is good and pleasant for us when we meet with others, but it also brings glory to God!

When we meet together with others, it doesn’t feel particularly glorious. But when God’s people meet together, bear with each other, love each other, and encourage each other, it brings glory to God!

Do you give to the church and/or the poor?

That glorifies God. As the widow who gave her two coins glorified God, so do we when we give.

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed. Proverbs 19:17.

And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” Matthew 10:42

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:37-40

What a great picture we see in Matthew 25. Even welcoming a stranger brings glory to God. But the great thing about this passage is that God’s people didn’t feel like they were doing anything great in their small acts of kindness. Yet Jesus said, “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:37-40

If you feel, as I do at times, like you are doing little to glorify God, pray!

Ask him to help you bring glory to him. Ask him to lead you and guide you. He promises he will:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Psalm 32:8

God desires that you bring glory to him even more than you do! It is his will for your life that you bring him glory. And you probably are in many ways you are not even aware of. The very fact that you desire to glorify him brings him glory.

I hope this post has encouraged you. If there are other ways God’s people bring him glory, please mention them in the comments. Thanks!

Photo by Nathan Cowley from Pexels

The post Do You Feel Like You Don’t Do Much For God? Here Are Ways We Bring Glory To God We’re Not Always Aware Of appeared first on The Blazing Center.

0 notes