#therefore it is cheaper for me to cook at home | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

formagdalene · 1 year

Text

I am almost never late for anything in life. I hate being late. If an event is at 7am, I wake up at 5:30. If a class starts at 8, I'm sitting inside the room at 7:45am. I don't have a specific reason. Despite being a Filipino, I hate the cultural norm of being late.

Which is why this is odd.

I'm "late" for everything else in life. There are milestones that my peers have already checked off their lists that I am only checking off mine. From driving a car, learning how to cook, living alone, getting work, getting paid for a job, booking a flight, long drives, and now, going abroad alone.

And yet I don't really hate it. I say "late" because there is no specific date where we are required to do all these things. Unlike the milestones for a growing child, delaying riding a plane won't result to my inability to communicate or walk at 2 years old.

I turned 26 yesterday and I felt so happy I got through the past few days safely despite all my fears and anxiety. Today, I am sitting in Lien Khuong's airport coffee shop. I am writing this as I wait for the domestic flight that will take me back to Noi Bai Airport, where my flight back home to Manila would hopefully, still be waiting for me. My poor decision making lead me to this clutch situation. Hopefully, this domestic flight won't get delayed more.

I don't know where to start writing about this trip. I don't really feel like I owe anyone any explanation or narrative.in

If there was one resonant idea this entire trip, it's this: a third-world country that's only a 3-hour flight away is so much more advanced than the Philippines.

The food in Vietnam is cheaper compared to my country because their government takes Agriculture seriously. If that feels like an invented concept, you would only need to look below your airplane window and see endless expanses of farmlands after another. You would think the entire country is just that: farmlands. Even Hanoi, the capital city, a metropolis by its own standard, has some scattered farmlands here and there.

The transport is also cheaper. I heard their government suspended oil tax. A 3km ride in Hanoi costs me P150 more or less, while it will cost me P250 in Manila. Maybe even more if it's in the peak hours. There's a perception of less traffic mostly because the roads aren't congested with cars. It's congested with motorbikes. I don't necessarily like motorbikes? Their transport system isn't as efficient as the ones I've heard of in Bangkok, Seoul or Singapore. But the grab bikes and taxis sure are more affordable than the equivalent at home.

I also noted that they value aesthetic, art and culture so much more than the Philippines. They managed to preserve the old French architecture from when they were colonized. But then, even when they build new buildings it's still the same type of architecture. It reminds me of how buildings in Manila are designed to appease the capitalists: more units, less space per unit, less windows, less expensive materials and therefore, more revenues for them. Who cares if a tall building is erected right behind a national monument, right? Who cares about the architecture?

I know Vietnam is far from perfect. As a communist government, it's not exactly the freedom of democracy the Philippines has. But when I think about it, what good has democracy done for us anyway?

As the day passed by and I find myself here, in an airport like it's my second home, I realized something.

I had stopped obsessing about my future as a doctor.

In fact, if it weren't for the subtle reminders in my group chats about residency, I would have forgotten about it completely.

The past few days, I wasn't anxious about a duty. I wasn't obsessing over the chapters of Harrison's I haven't read. I'm not thinking of duties. I'm not wearing a scrubs. I am not questioning my competence. I am not worried about the future of doctors in my dying country.

Ironically, though, I was worried about how to order the food I wanted in Vietnamese. I was worried about missing my flight.

But the burden of worrying about these details feel so privileged. Like…I'm so lucky to be worrying about these kind of things.

I think I finally understand why people love traveling so much, especially if it's in a different country.

It makes you forget who you are.

In this new place, I am not a citizen. I do not speak the language. No one knows me. I am not a doctor here. You are only who you believe yourself to be. And there's beauty in anonymity.

There's beauty and there's also loneliness. Like, when I'm lost, I find myself wishing I was lost with someone.

But all feeling of loneliness vanishes once I get a slurp of that delicious pho. When I stand in awe in front of a beautiful sight. When I have broken English conversations with people who don't speak my language.

I can see myself doing this again. Maybe before the year ends. Maybe in Bali. Maybe next year, on my 5-day leave. Maybe I'll go to Israel--or maybe I'll visit Japan, or Korea. I don't know. The possibilities are endless.

I'm not late.

I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I have reached this milestone at the perfect time in my life. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

#travel #vietnam

3 notes · View notes

guldbrandsenkirkegaard00 · 4 months

Text

Enhance Your Property By Using These Redecorating Recommendations

Having your house is a superb experience, yet it is not without having its commitments. Every house demands upkeep and above that, each house can be helped by home improvements. You need stop being afraid of doing all of your individual work with your own home. By incorporating fast tips such as the versions listed below, you can attack redecorating assist confidence. Always keep the important snapshot in mind when starting a long term home remodeling task. Your financial allowance may influence that you just breakup a task into numerous more compact, more achievable parts, but be cautious the concluded item doesn't look like a hodgepodge of not related, badly planned out elements. When increasing your house, there are a few projects that you can do your self as well as others that you could not. If you believe such as you can complete a simple task like repainting your kitchen, then go ahead and undertake it, in order to save yourself a little extra cash. Just be sure that you know what you're getting yourself into prior to starting a project. You don't consider and transform your bathrooms and discover midway through that you're uncertain if you can comprehensive the job with out striking a pipeline. If your home is filled with older-type light brown wood doors, tend not to make an effort to brighten up them on top of fresh paint. The effort engaged will never be worth it. It might take three or four layers of color to pay the light brown timber. You're more satisfied just getting a new white entrance rather. Replace counters with your bathroom and cooking area with new marble or granite tops. Over time, counter tops will degrade specially should they be made from laminate. Old homes can have out-of-date or vintage counters. By exchanging the counter tops you can expect to enhance the eyesight charm and property value without spending significant amounts of money. Have your plastic bath curtain in the clean! Put in a handful of garments therefore they will swirl all around with it and offer it a great washing. Even dallas granite remnants will endure a couple of washings. You keep them from the land fill and as well perk up that tired restroom! In case you have old roof fans at home, a basic home improvement would be to substitute the rotor blades of the enthusiast. This is certainly cheaper than buying a new fixture. Also, if your lighting fixtures go with, swapping simply the blades enables you to keep your establish undamaged. New roof supporter blades can provide your room a just-refurbished appear with minimal effort and costs. To fix granite remnants near me within your drywall, use a baking soda pop based toothpaste. All you have to do is put a modest amount of toothpaste inside the pit, and clean out any other by using a putty blade. Following the toothpaste dries, include a new layer of color to provide the golf hole fully unseen. Small ideas like these is able to keep the home improvement method simple and maintain property owners from getting disappointed. Caring for your house should be a satisfying and gratifying practical experience teaching yourself about the subject will ensure that this is actually the situation. When you have the correct information and facts before hand, even most intricate redesigning venture can be quite a snap.

#Granite Counters

0 notes

steamishot · 1 year

Text

overconsumption

my visit to G & D’s house for a few days taught me about how my lifestyle has changed quite drastically since moving to NYC. once i stepped foot into their home, i noticed how quiet everything was. my home in LA is situated in a busy area “the brooklyn of LA” so i’m also used to commotion there. but their house was perhaps the quietest home i’ve ever visited. G’s really transparent/nosy about how much things cost/salaries - i brought them some levain cookies and nice chocolate as gifts and he asked me how much it cost lol. anyhow, i found out that they have a pretty high HHI. as they will have no kids in the future, they’re equipped for buying more property or early retirement.

they cook the majority of their meals. by choice and also by environment. i checked ubereats and there was nothing worthy of getting delivery from. they’re at least a 20 min drive from a good restaurant and this is the commute they would have to take whenever going to petco/trader joes/philz, etc in a bigger suburb. it's more convenient for them to go to nearby markets to pick up groceries. contrast this to us, who have thousands of choices and all these advertisements reminding us to consume. within a 2 mile radius, there’s just too many restaurant options. and we have so many 40% + discounts on our food delivery apps that make it almost cheaper to order out than to buy groceries (if we’re counting just that one meal, not if we’re making it in bulk). it’s also not as convenient to get groceries here without a car (and in the cold winter).

every time i leave my apartment here, i look at the people and how well dressed they are. on average, people here are more fashionable and have nicer clothing than in california. they’re almost like walking advertisements/influencers because i get influenced and want to also have as nice clothing = consume more. on top of that, subways always have advertisements. so you get incepted with new apps/new items on the market etc.

there’s also a very competitive food scene here and it’s become like a social pastime to go try all these expensive yummy restaurants. plus the drinking scene that we never really got into. i don’t know how it’s become a norm for us to eat at like a “high end “restaurant every week. or when traveling, for consecutive days or meals. it’s too much.

this month, we are focusing on consuming less overall. i understand the need to want to make up for the lack of living life during residency, and matt’s ER visit was symbolic of that crash and burn of the overconsumption lifestyle. it happened right around the 6 month mark of his new gig - so it makes sense.

he was consuming a shitton of caffeine everyday, and having caffeine crashes everyday. i always questioned why he was so jittery/anxious on his days off and thought it was due to the stress and trauma from work and avoiding feelings, which in part still holds true. but the bigger thing for recovery is first significantly reducing the amount of caffeine for clarity. his therapist used the correct term and said, “you are not the energizer bunny”. feb 20 until now, he has not touched coffee and has replaced it with a maximum of one bottle of tea. he has stopped yawning (from caffeine crashes), his mood is a lot more stable, his mind is clearer and able to make better decisions, he’s less distracted and therefore easier to communicate with, he’s already losing weight (i learned that increased cortisol is correlated to weight gain and a desire for fattening/sweet foods; extra caffeine may enhance stress), and his face looks more youthful.

it’s perplexing and reminds me of the american system - where we’re feeding ourselves a bunch of crap, and then medicating ourselves to offset the crap, and then perhaps medicating ourselves more to offset the side effects of the medication. i thought matt at one point needed anti depressants or anti anxiety medication to help his anxiety/OCD. once he laid off the coffee, it’s almost like a 180 change. it’s a lesson going forward and something i believe should be taken more seriously in our society where caffeine consumption can be so overlooked. for example, in our physicals, doctors ask if we smoke or drink. imo, they should also inquire about caffeine!

i, too, have become dependent on caffeine. i love my espresso machine and ability to make my own latte everyday - but, i realized i’m almost addicted to it? i found myself searching for coffee everyday when i was in california. since coming back to NYC last wednesday, i thought it would be healthier for me to cut off my caffeine intake too so i did so (cold turkey). starting saturday, i started having these weird muscle aches and felt overall cold. it persisted into last night. i felt crappy and it hurt to sit, lay on my back, lay on my side, etc. i had to take a tylenol in order to fall asleep. i was hoping i didn’t get sick because we’re flying out again tomorrow. today, i took a covid test just to be sure (it was negative) and i decided to provide my body with caffeine again. so far, i am feeling normal. time will tell whether my body was having caffeine withdrawals.

step one, reduce caffeine significantly. this should snowball into a better diet, better clarity for therapy/communication, more natural energy for exercise, weight loss (and all this is better for the wallet). step two, eat out less/cook more. we only had takeout twice this entire week which is a huge improvement haha. matt has also decreased his portions by a lot (traumatized by the ER visit and also has less cortisol = less desire to emotionally eat) which made it easier to cook. step three, spend less money overall and save more. this will happen naturally if we’re not eating as much in general and especially reducing eating out. i also want to reduce buying shit/clothes. that 6 month period was for us to splurge with everything and now i believe we have enough of everything.

0 notes

invisiblerhythmcat · 2 years

Text

sometimes I go "oh, I'm fine, no disabilities here, or, if there are, it's minimal and manageable, so meh"

and then sometimes it hits me exactly how dependent I am on being able to spend money to take care of the things I can't do

like, I pay for a schmancy food box delivered to my door every week because I can't cook from scratch. Before I started doing that, eating was an all-consuming thing that I had to worry about all day and often didn't have the energy to do once it happened. If I stopped getting the box, I would not eat. It's also fairly expensive and still the cheaper option for me and my particular food weirdnesses.

Or the fact that I can't do a full time job, so I have a part-time employment (which is currently making me sick, but meh) and then freelance work on the time that absolutely does not make up the other half, but I have enough money from inheritance (yay rich grandparents) that I can still cover my portion of the rent, plus my partner's (who is on SSI and therefore does not have enough money to pay rent because the government is evil)

Or the fact that I can keep everything on autopay so I don't have to keep track of it.

Or even just, if I want to try a mobility aid, like a cane, it's ok if it's not the right fit for me, because I know it's not going to make a huge difference in my finances (even if the cane ended up working great and now the conversation is "I don't think I need more cane right now, but also...I could get a purple one???")

And like, looking at it this way, I am absolutely, 100% disabled. I can't even begin to imagine how my disaster adhd brain would handle any of this without money in a sensible way (let alone all the other bits and pieces going on). I would be completely and utterly fucked.

But, the corollary to it is how many people are similar to me in terms of brain wiring and body nonsense and they don't have money.

Have I mentioned that the government is evil? SSI is nowhere near enough to mitigate any of this the way my money does. And even getting that is a hellish, dehumanizing process. And what about the people who aren't even able to get that? Or the people who can't afford to work part-time jobs, so they are getting sicker and sicker on full-time jobs? Like, I know we talk about this a lot, but it really drives it home for me when I look at my life and go "wow, I literally couldn't survive without this money"

Money is a support system for disabled people that most disabled people can't access.

Which makes me really, really, really fucking angry.

(it also helps me understand some of my money anxieties when realistically I know I have enough to be comfortable because, for me, it is kind of wrapped up in my survival.)

(and it also makes me excited for when I live alone and I can invite other people who need money into my home to help me with the things I can't do and then throw decent money at them, because that is the one resource I do have, when I don't always have much of anything else)

#in which i have thoughts #i don't know just processing out loud i get #i've had a weird few days of trying to convince myself I'm not disabled #and then I was washing dishes which is evilevilevil and thinking about how nice it would be to pay someone to do it #and then my thoughts went along

0 notes

bisleri-india · 2 years

Text

Where Can One Find Bottled Water Supply Near Me?

Whether you live in an urban area or rural area, getting water will always pose a challenge, explicitly drinking and cooking water. Tap water does not meet the cleanliness and purity standards that should be there in the water you consume, and home water purification is an expensive solution that not everyone can afford. So that leaves us with a bottled water supply.

Bottled water, especially larger cans, is a prevalent drinking and cooking water source in India. Millions of households rely on it, and therefore the market is big and saturated with different brands, local and national both. So when I wanted to find a bottled water supply near me, I found that suppliers were abundant, and each had its mix of local and trusted brands. I realized that the onus of choosing the correct bottled water was on me, and knowing the right brand would help in selecting the right water supplier.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, here are the factors I considered when choosing the right bottled water supply near me:

Clean and Safe

Of course, this is the reason you are looking for a bottled water supplier. You want to make sure that the water is clean and safe. If you do a little bit of research online, you can find that a good brand is always transparent about the purification process. In contrast, an unsuitable brand would provide no information about the same. Usually, a good purification process would undergo multiple steps to ensure that the water is holistically treated and all kinds of impurities have been removed from it. Steps like ozonization to kill the bacteria, sand filtration to filter out impurities, reverse osmosis to take out excess minerals, and mineralization to re-add the essential minerals in the correct quantity are indispensable to a complete purification process. You should also consider if the mineral water has been sourced responsibly by the brand.

Of the highest quality

Ensuring that the brand has a high standard of quality is essential because the purification process is useless if the quality control measures are loose. That way, the water might still become impure. So it is always good to be aware of the quality control measures that a brand has taken. But, again, not all brands are transparent about this, so you must do your research before buying.

TDS levels are low

TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids in the water. These dissolved solids refer to the various organic and inorganic compounds dissolved in water as it is a universal solvent. TDS is measured in PPM (Parts per million). Ideally, the TDS of drinking water should be below 150, and luckily some brands provide water with excellent TDS levels. Consuming High TDS level water can be detrimental to your health, so please make sure that the TDS levels of your water are in the correct range.

Environmental impact is low

This factor is perhaps where most of the brands will fall short. Although awareness about the harmful effects of plastic waste on the environment is growing, very little is being done to mobilize the communities to address this issue. If you opt to go for a bottled water supplier, you can choose to go with a trustworthy brand that has a recycling program in place.

The price is correct

Finally, you want to ensure that you are getting the best quality water for the lowest possible price. Choose a brand that provides a balance of the two, as you will often find some brands to be cheaper, but the quality might not be up to the standards you are looking for.

Opt for a subscription instead

While researching to choose the best bottled water supply near me, I discovered that some brands have started delivering their products directly to your doorstep. Here, you get the flexibility to choose the frequency of delivery and the amount of water you need. You also get discounts which make this an even better prospect.

Conclusion

Only after considering these factors, I was able to make an informed decision and choose the bottled water supply near me, which provided the best quality of water at the correct price. It would be best not to compromise, as water quality is essential. If you are paying for it, you deserve the best!

#bottled water supply near me #quality of water

1 note · View note

decadetax88 · 2 years

Text

Pay Less Rent Having To Pay More The Reassurance Of Mumbai Industry

https://vnptvinaphone.net.vn/chuong-trinh-khuyen-mai-lap-mang-vnpt-ha-noi-thang-1-2021/ First of all, consider what has actually learned in recent times about the economy. Sports car collecting world may seem that is actually looking up, consider what number of people possess their homes, or think you are foreclosed upon right now whether it's because of losing a job, investing your market wrong company, or with a couple kind of lending service that went under after paying anything money going without. How truly secure do in your job, exactly what happens if after you could have started paying on an apartment and require to get fired or let go? How are you to be able to keep making the home loan payments? Getting a mortgage for your property vnpt internet line for rent is some and prolonged process. Of people that excellent credit, a large down payment in order to about the interest rate, and jump through plenty of hoops. Should you decide to finally go into a home, then you are locked into owing someone a associated with money, while having to continue paying that for a long time. With renting, as long as provided for your rent, you have absolutely nothing to worry about, of course the lease comes up, you possess a choice whether or not to stay longer, or find someplace healthier. However, those who are not a person who likes to remain with lots of people from a certain room or floor then a dormitory isn't for you might. Your other option in order to use find rent houses may can inhabit alone. Dilemma is, just how can you watch for rent houses when are usually still miles away? Mindful yourself . solution for any problem wants for rent houses internet based. Surely, there will be many rent houses advertisements online anyone be posted especially when its school season therefore. However, you won't means to gaze at apartment personally until you can to go visit the particular you are studying with regard to.

youtube

There are several different factors why renting a flat right may be much much better than buying a property. For one thing, it cheaper to rent a rental in the end. If you are renting a rental apartment for $700 a month for a 3 bedroom, exact same home should cost you any where from $1,000 to $1,500 a month in mortgage, factoring in insurance and taxes. Your current products really to help invest in something, go ahead and take different between this rent and a home financing payment and invest it in stocks and shares. Without a time to call home, your other expenses might too go the actual window. Certain you get to prioritize rent most notably else when payday is associated. If money is tight, try to trim down by seeing what expenses you very likely be able to lower on or remove directly from your purchases. If you have a cell phone and much more use your own house phone very much, exchange signal of cell phone only. For anyone who is going to eat too much, try cooking both at home instead to spend less. There constantly solutions to trimming your expenses right down to help pay the bills. The West 106th Street Apartments offer one-bedrooms about $1,645 thirty day period. This 5-story walk-up has wood floors and oversized windows. It's not located next to the park, shopping, dining and nightlife. The boss bv9990 player has new appliances from the granite kitchen and it provides a marble bathroom with spa. There is a laundromat, deli, and supermarket within walking distance of that particular apartment nearby. It is also just blocks away coming from the 1, B, and C Trains. Water and heat are inside rent. Cable/Internet- Easily the most expensive utility (that's why the tenant pays). Out of 4 possible cable/internet plans with my company, I possess the second highest possible. I pay about $110-$125 per/mo to do this. My subscription gets me 200 some channels with about 100 much longer than that being High-definition. I also get decent internet contact 20 GB per/mo. Showing place thermostat is and the works or where television antenna plug is doesn't require often of the discussion. It creates a precedent, you the manager speaks and the tenant pays attention. Some want to monitor TV on the bedroom therefore make as little hole ultimately wall for that cable.

#lap mang vnpt toc do cao

1 note · View note

unfoldingmoments · 2 years

Text

Bonus

I was pondering upon Money, since it’s a Ramadhan holiday, the moslem normally gets some Ramadhan bonus from their job, which equally to 1 month salary.

I don’t have such thing since I am just a freelancer and I am not a boss. But my freelancer maid asked me to give her one. I just thought why should I give her one?

Lemme tell you the reason why I am still thinking about it and not giving her the bonus yet. She has been the best maid so far, she came once a week, or sometimes depending on my time schedule, back then she only came once a month or every 2 weeks.

She was behaving the best in the early years, she never borrowed any money, and doing the job well. But after 2 years working with me, she started borrowing money, but not in a frequent based. Since the pandemic, I couldn’t give her a job cos we’re all too afraid and I only help a little. This year, she borrowed money literally every month and it's quite bugging me. Because she is always hunt down by the house owner to pay her monthly bills and she is always one month behind. In the past 2 years, the food that she sells on the market near her home didn’t do well. Recently, the oil price is in peak due to the Russia Ukraine War. Yet the food is getting cheaper and cheaper by day, I can feel it cos I’ve been living through online food due to my renovation.

My heart is torn to the situation and she is also keep saying she will return to her hometown for good and taking care of her old mom and the only property she had. She had a son but it’s barely making any money and depending so much on the mother. She felt deep guilty and spoilt the son so much because she was separated with him in his childhood days. The boy grown up without enough love and care from the struggling parents. The mother’s life has been a series of unfortunate events. She was working in overseas and the agent didn’t pay her salary well. She is always sending money back to the husband yet the husband had an affair, what she got was a sexually transmitted disease and she had to do a surgery back then. Eventually they got divorced, The fatherless son felt he was abandoned by the mom, without father figure, now he is a young man with traumas and mental illness.

Back to the topic why I couldn’t lent her the money was because she pawned her mobile phone. I bought that mobile phone with her 3 years ago in the nearby mall. I gave the mob phone as a bonus. Therefore, I felt quite disappointed. I know she is in need of money but if she sells her mobile phone, how could I contact her? She could have sell other things. I gave a lot of things to her including cooking utensils, clothes and etc. Last time the spoilt son also took over her phone because he always play games and in need of internet. With the poor condition, the son surely didn’t help.

The last time she worked before the holiday, she was begging me for money again to redeem her phone. But I don’t want to give that money, because that money is equal to her monthly house contract. I will lend her a money if it's something to do with the rent, but this is for redeeming the mob phone. I hardly accepted that reason, I just told her to work on herself for redeeming the phone cos I have helped her enough and to contact me immediately when she had her phone.

I am not sure whether I am too harsh on this or not. Yesterday I watched this kdrama “Our Blues” that talked about struggle and money issue. The people are very very poor and hard worker just like my freelance maid. They also kept borrowing money to the friend, she was very poor too but she was the only one who made it to the top and she still do the dirty job (I mean by working in the smelly fish market, chopping fish and all that). She is also supported the younger siblings and helping the friends. She is single and she has a big heart to help others, yet herself is living very modestly.

It just got me thinking a lot about friendship and money. I know my maid isn’t my friend, but she has been with me for the past 5 years. Yet, I don’t know what should I do now, she hasn’t contacted me yet for a job, either she has no phone due to the son left to the hometown and obviously she hasn’t had her phone yet. Maybe also because it’s holiday season. I don’t know, but I hope she contacted me again soon and she is still in debt from the last money she borrowed. But if she wanted to run away too, I will let her go.

Is is tough decisions for me because maybe I have never been in her position. But at the same time, some of my friend and family disagree for me being nice to people. But my point is not influenced by other opinion rather in more logical thinking of mine, if I want to give someone, I have to do it wholeheartedly. Again, I am not a charity, and to give out of your deficiency is harder than if you’re loaded. So giving is not an easy task for most people in general, because we're selfish being and we are calculating a lot the aftermath, the benefit and such. Though not all giving are equals, surely you need a big heart and sincerity otherwise it’s meaningless. I like to give something when I feel it’s right and necessary. So I need that piece of mind first to be able to give properly. For instance, if I pray to God to give me what I want by diligently reading bible, going to church, attending bible study, giving and helping others and such.. then after few months I asked to God.. where’s my bonus? I’ve done my job.. give me what I want. That’s not cool right, God is not a genie and we should respect whether he wants to give or not. You may ask, but always remember his answer always 3 things: yes, no, and maybe later.

Similar situation in workplace, if you’ve been doing your job well and diligent, always on time, doing your best and all. Then it’s a review time and your boss doesn’t give you any bonus, will you mad at him? I think it’s unprofessional too in some extend, I mean you may ask politely, but it’s not our will to ask people around to give our bonus. Maybe not today, maybe next time from different boss, we’ll never know but all we can do is sowing a good seed and we enjoy the harvest later, whenever the time is. That reminds me of Van Gogh, the struggling artist in his time. Imagine his talent gone unseen and he lived by his brother support. Do you think it is fair if you were Van Gogh? But he did it anyway, he sow a seed. The benefit sometimes it’s not always for yourself, it could be for the greater good for the mankind, he has done his part with excellency, being an influential artist in the history of art. If he lives today, he is one of the richest artist in history too. Not everything in life works in our way, not everything is also about us. Life is always about other people and hope we can be less selfish when we think about others. Just like when we are mindful enough just to give a smile and greet our neighbour, or perhaps we can just be a good citizen by throwing our bin properly. To be a sustainable human being is a lifetime task, it’s always for the greater good and the future generation. It’s always start with ourselves. I think bonus and struggle may come in one package, just like you can’t have the rainbow without the rain. If we always get our way all the time, we may not be a grateful person and we may take things for granted. May God gives us a wisdom to make a decision in daily lives.

#bonus #struggle #money #thoughts #diary #work #tough #mindfulness

1 note · View note

ask-a-vetblr · 3 years

Note

Okay, so: I have celiac, I'm ridiculously sensitive & bc of the labeling issues w/pet food (not regulated like human food) I can't really have grain-containing dog food in our house. The dust gets into stuff, I get sick. We've tried. So like ... my dogs DO like veggies and things like brown rice & oatmeal. Can we supplement this way or any other way that won't make me very sick? My vet didn't seem to have solid thoughts on that. I'll feed the dogs a bowl of gf oatmeal or some corn every so often if it'll help (or at least not hurt and maybe help), you know?

gettingvetted here.

No, giving veggies and oats will not help supplement an unbalanced diet. In previous answers we've discussed that there are grain-free diets from WSAVA compliant brands that have no recorded cases of diet-related DCM, and these can be options for sufferers of celiac. Another option would be to have a consultation with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist to help you formulate a home-cooked diet that doesn’t include grains, but you’ll need to strictly stick to a recipe (statistically, the downfall of 90% of home cooked diets formulated by a nutritionist to be complete and balanced is that the client can’t find an ingredient or finds something else that is cheaper, causing “drift” and therefore imbalance). Hope you're staying well!!

#vaspider #nutrition #dog nutrition #grain free #celiac

66 notes · View notes

theeyesinthenight · 4 years

Text

College Tips for Neurodivergence and Chronic Illness

Hey Everyone!I just wanted to talk for a minute about the stuff that I do to make college slightly easier to get through, and ask around for if anyone else has any advice.

Physically going to class:

1. Physical Calmness: Make a small physical maintenance travel bag that you carry with you EVERYWHERE. Include things like moisturizer, chapstick, cough drops/sucking candy, nail clippers, hair ties, eye drops, pain relief meds, sunglasses- anything that you frequently need to maintain you and your body’s ability to be calm. Sensory overload frequently becomes a thing on campus, and frequently overstimming on campus can make it really hard to want to go to class every day. I carry 6 ponytails, 2 chapstick, 4 advil, 4 sucking candies, 2 tampons, emergency ear plugs and earphones, gloves, moisturizer and sunglasses every day and I swear they make the difference between wanting to run crying out of my classroom and being able to hold on some days.

2. Make Checklists: Especially if you deal with executive function issues (like me!) you can build checklists for every day, repetitive tasks as well as normal to-dos to help you manage everything at once without forgetting anything. Don’t feel obliged to make the list pretty or perfect, just keep adding and refining the lists as you notice stuff you’ve forgotten or usually do. Write lists for literally everything. There is no shame to writing everything down. That being said, if you end up scheduling your days, always leave yourself an hour or two a day and like 10-15 minutes before crucial junctures so you aren’t stressed about running late and can actually unwind sometimes.

3. Eat: Some people will have meal plans, some will cook at home and bring stuff to school, but it’s absolutely fucking critical to chemical homeostasis (especially if you do what I do and wind up in class from like 10 am to 7 pm) to plan when and what you’ll eat- either by scheduling adequate meal breaks to go buy it, or packing it ahead of time. This is when lists can help: I remember to pack my lunch and snacks every morning or prep food for consumption when I get home only because I leave it on sticky notes on my phone when I go to sleep. Just drinking coffee nearly made me have an anxiety related melt down my freshman year before I realized that the constant feelings of a racing heart were only partially because of anxiety and were also because of the sheer amount of caffeine in my system. Eating healthy is also important, and will make you feel even better than just eating, but now is not the time to put yourself on a starvation diet just to lose 10 lbs. Eating high protein has helped some of my snacky issues as well as generally gives me more energy, and making my own mealprep at home- even my own muffins and cookies- generally are more healthy for my than what I get in the store. Fruit, cheese, lunch meat (or sliced cooked meat) and pickles or olives in endless combination work great for me as mindless snacky food, as does homemade popcorn (either in a skillet or costco bags) because it’s dirt cheap and you can put anything from seasoning salt to furikake and shredded dried pork on it. If you need help figuring out recipes, feel free to pm me! I’m good at working with nutritional and budgetary restraints. Pancakes are kind of a universal good.

4. Give yourself permission to leave: If you’re triggered, or seconds away from panic, GET UP AND LEAVE. College classes are not the same as high school classes, and most teachers are perfectly fine with you getting up to get water, or go to the bathroom, or cry in the bathroom. Try to make sure you go back to class most of the time, but if you’re really that stressed, also give yourself permission to leave.

5. Find a backup note system: There will be days that you cannot go to class. Accept this. Therefore, it is critical to find a way to make sure you always get the notes. Some colleges offer note taking assistance, some allow you to audio record lectures (check 1 and 2 party consent states first), and some leave you to your own devices, in which case, make a casual buddy to get notes from. You do not need to be besties with this person, Try to make sure you know how many days you actually have to go, and minimize grade damage when you can’t.

6. GET ENOUGH SLEEP. I cannot emphasize this enough; whether or not you’re taking medication, getting enough sleep is critical to pretty much everything that might be going on in your head- hormone issues, depression, autism, whatever. Your brain is going to be stressed out by the new environment and the additional, new problem solving that it has to do; help it make its best decisions. I literally wake up on less than 7 hours of sleep and consider selling my siblings on the black market. Don’t do it.

7. Be careful about Caffeine; Some people are more or less sensitive to caffeine, or forms of caffeine, don’t develop a coffee addiction just because it’s in vogue. Matcha seems to have the most stabilizing caffeine affect on my brain of all the caffeine options, though tea still works universally better than coffee. I also make my own “lattes” and cold brew at the beginning of the week and keep them in my fridge; a 2oz jar of matcha powder may cost like 60$ but it will make me about 90 cups of tea and last me two semesters especially if I mix in other kinds of cheaper teas in my morning; it’s certainly cheaper than starbucks- cups of latte come out to 95c and have about a third of the calories (which means I can drink more of them!) Which ties into;

8. Budgetting. You might be stressed out about money or make tons of tables and charts to try to deal with that stress; there are a lot of ways to cope with it, but my favorite method (and I still use a combination of these) for dealing with food and consumable stuff you need regularly like shampoo and soap or socks are: separate that money from everything else that you need to buy, then at the beginning of a semester

Go to Costco, a particular kind of “exotic” grocery store, or a farmers market. Buy and then freeze meat, vegetables, and fruit (if you use them in baked goods or in yogurt) or get prefrozen meat- make sure you’re checking the price/lb or K for the cheapest, and bags of either rice, flour, boxes of pasta (cheap carbs) and oil- i recommend having canola, it’s utilitarian for frying with a high flash point. If your budget isn’t tiny, this is a great time to also get dried (or canned but I don’t like the texture) beans, and canned meat or sauce if you actually eat it. The key is to get cheap bulk things that will last for a semester or five, and that are always on hand.

Take the rest of your food budget out in cash. Separate it into bundles for “each week”, put them in your wallet, and return the change to the jar when you’re done. It was always easier for me to visualize how much spending money for food that I had when I physically had the cash; it meant I didn’t overspend and it also meant that I started making better “investment” decisions; I’d buy cinnamon sticks one week, or good olive oil the next, instead of dropping a couple hundred dollars on ingredients I might have never used.

Do a similar bulk buy of products you know you use, and then leave the rest of that money- also in cash!- in a separate jar with a stickynote on top. When you have to use money for stuff from it, just stuff the receipt in the jar with the cash and do your accounting When You Have Brainspace.

I deal with other bigger accounting stuff over cards, but I try to limit one card to rent, insurance, school payments, big regular stuff that I autopay and always pay off, and one card to “emergency” stuff that I’m always working on paying off- think emergency dental work, car broke, etc. That one I do gig labor to cover when I can.

Anyone else, feel free to chime in! It’s super useful to have lists of tips and tricks!

#college tips #neurodivergence #neuroatypical #dealing with college

60 notes · View notes

leightonshea · 3 years

Text

My Fertility Journey

In the northern-hemisphere summer of 2018, I visited a naturopathic doctor with a premonition that I had some severe estrogen dominance. I had intense sugar cravings, chronic fatigue, anxiety, super short periods with lots of blood loss and 20 day menstrual cycles. As well, I had the knowledge that women in my family had struggled for long periods of time getting pregnant. Not to mention that my mama is an estrogen-positive breast cancer survivor. Thus began my suspicion for my own estrogen dominance.

I had been feeling so many symptoms that I simply did not want to accept as chronic. I felt as if I was on my path to healing with my life in Patagonia, a huge plot twist for me. But I had debilitating anxiety, which felt out-of-place for all of the good I had experienced. Therefore, upon arriving to the States in July from Chile, I made my appointment right away.

Just as I suspected, an extreme estrogen dominance, and skyrocketing levels of cortisol in the morning. All of this meant, as the diagnosis stated, ‘non-ovulating’.

Infertile.

Although I wasn’t planning on getting pregnant right then and there, the diagnosis hurts. For all the feminine I felt; in taste, curves, vibe... I couldn’t say I was the ‘fertile’ feminine I so much loved to embody. Or at least at not in that moment.

Well, I had the diagnosis. I figured this would be the result. After so many years of stress (I really identify as a stressed individual), hormonal birth control, and vegetarianism, and the genetic history; my body decided that ‘no’, I was not fit to carry a child in this time in my life. I needed to heal.

Due to a farm-stay turned seasonal job I had in Chile, I was introduced to the Weston A. Price foundation. As a newly omnivorous post-vegetarian, I was intrigued by the monthly journal I stumbled upon. And, as the universe has her serendipitous ways, the journal was focused on Vitamin A and fertility. I read about the consumption of organ meats, eating nose to tail, practices of ancient cultures to promote fertility, farm fresh eggs, high quality dairy, and BUTTER. All was news to me. And I began to investigate, and investigate.

By the time I was in the states and diagnosed, I already had a plan of action: feed my body the fat-soluble vitamins that I had deprived myself of the past 10 years. High quality butter, raw milk and yogurt, grass-fed meat, and liver. My fermented food consumption was already high, as well as my phytonutrient and fiber intake. It was time to focus on animal foods.

Note: I also did choose to take bio-identical progesterone for 4 months with the hope of healing the intense anxiety that caused me so much suffering. I also consumed a tincture of Chaste Tree Berry daily. My healing became the center of focus for me. My partner, my Chilean love, arrived to the US in august. He supported me fully in my healing, which worked quite well with our little life. We drove down from Oregon to California, where I had a job on a Vineyard. We ate lots of grass-fed liver (much cheaper than meat), cooked with lard, ate farm-fresh eggs, consumed lots of butter and fermented dairy, and so much vibrant organic vegetables from our neighbor’s farm. Every morning before I went to work on the vineyard, Roman prepared me warm milk with maca, cinnamon, a little honey, and some butter. Then with two hard boiled eggs, I was off to the vineyard. The breakfast may sound dense, but I was feeding my body all that I had deprived it of in my years of strict vegetarianism.

I’ll skip some details here and fast forward to April, 10 months later. I was back in Chile with my lover now-turned-husband. We were living on a farm where we had three cows for milking, a sheep to butcher each month (and we consumed nearly every part of that animal), fresh stream water, and vegetables from the greenhouse. It was the early Patagonia autumn.

My period was late. A religiously new-moon occurrence had missed her time. A week passed. My breasts grew and I felt and overwhelming, all-consuming, intense sensation of....

Fertility.

I knew undoubtablty that there was a little something someone growing inside of my womb, I felt fertile, and sacred.

A few weeks later I took a pregnancy test to confirm what was already evident.

There he was. A little seed that grew and grew and is now my wildling-energy robbing- energy -giving- human. My son, Ilio Del Sur.

I continued my nutrient dense diet all throughout my pregnancy, and had an extremely healthy pregnancy that was mostly unmonitored, and I free-birthed my baby in my own home with the ones I love. More on that story another time.

Becoming pregnant so quickly wasn’t my plan, but as I said, the universe has her serendipitous, silly ways. And I accept it all. I was though, amazed at how quickly the healing process went for me. Less than a year of Weston A. Price/ ancestral style eating, and I had a little human growing in my womb. I adamantly maintained nutrient dense foods throughout my pregnancy to support his growth and keep my Vitamin A reserves high. My intuition told me that I needed all of these fat soluble vitamins for his growth and my subsequent breast-feeding journey.

In closing, I want to share that nutrition education is POWER. Breaking free from the ‘diet dictocrats’ and looking at the foods our ancestors ate can give us the key to the health we deserve. My path is winding and long, and has taken me into this field of holistic health through my own personal journey. From soil scientist to farmer to mama to health coach, my intuitive, divine path is to better understand modern disease and body dysfunction through a lens of ancestral foods and healing. And I know deep down that is power is ours to heal. To nourish ourselves, and our fibrous roots.

#westonaprice #naturalmama #ancestralhealing #fertility

6 notes · View notes

maevequeenofthefae · 3 years

Text

So I see a lot of posts out there that say something along the lines of, "I'm still going to (use plastic straws/single use plates/disposable this and that, etc..) because I am not the issue, it's the big corporations making the most waste, and they should be at fault!"

Sure! They are at fault, for producing those items in an unsustainable manner to begin with. And while it is TRUE that companies like Amazon and Coca Cola are some of the world's biggest polluters, especially compared to an individual, or even 8billion individuals, wouldnt you still want to do your part anyways? I mean you create the demand and the companies supply, so if you keep buying coca cola from plastic bottles, coca cola is going to keep selling it that way. Making change is equal parts protesting and resisting.

I work at a hotel, and we put tiny bottles of shampoo, lotion, soaps, makeup wipes, and more in each room daily. Not only do they cost a dollar a piece to order (which is a lot of wasted profits!) but these are all single use items that after their one use become waste. The hotel does not recycle. So on one hand the hotel as a company is making eco-disastrous choices. But you know why? Because people have come to expect these amenities in the rooms. Even if they just get thrown away! I have literally fished perfectly good and unopened soaps out of a trash bag because people just toss them unused. But if I hadn't put the amenities in the rooms, the guests would complain.

I mean I understand that not everybody can always make these choices, and that sometimes "living green" or making ethical choices is something only wealthier people have access to, but to me that just means individuals would all the more want to make those little choices when they can? Green doesnt have to be expensive either, buying brand new 'sustainable harvest bamboo leggings' is just as good as buying regular old leggings at a thrift shop. It does add up, and as I said before your demand creates supply. Companies start offering alternatives when they realize consumers dont want the product they initially put out.

Like for example, maybe you eat out a lot because it is less expensive and time consuming than cooking meals at home. Totally fine! But knowing this is something you do, why not try your best to keep a reusable straw or utensils in the car? It's a small thing to do and these utensils dont have to be some expensive fancy bamboo things in their own pouch, I mean you can just bring some forks from home. Heck I've reused plastic cutlery many times, you just wash it. A reusable bag at the grocery store costs 99 cents (at least it does where I shop) and you can always just reuse the plastic bags they give you if you cant afford to buy a nice one. Your hotel wont put new amenities in a room if you tell them not to and just bring your own. Ziplocs can be washed and reused easily. There are so many little things we can do that really add up and reduce or eliminate the need to keep buying and trashing.

I'm just thinking that perhaps if we slowed or stopped our own consumption/purchasing of these unethical items and started replacing them with cheaper and greener alternatives, the demand would plummet and therefore the companies would be forced to change. Just look what plant based eaters are doing to fast food chains! Sure, they aren't going to stop producing their toxic cruelty burgers, but they have at least begun the process of including alternatives, which is a baby step that we the consumers pushed on them by not purchasing what they initially offered.

---

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

#green #companies #singleuseplastics #waste

1 note · View note

guldbrandsenkirkegaard00 · 4 months

Text

Increase Your House With One Of These Redecorating Suggestions

#Granite Counters

1 note · View note

maggyme13 · 4 years

Text

Sugar (3/?)

AN: Here is my third chapter of my SugardaddyLoki AU:) I hope you like the Chapter for this week :)

Warnings: not really

Wordcount: around 1600

Masterlist

Sugar- Masterlist

Part 2

You had decided to bake some chocolate-apple-pie after your grandmothers recipe together with some Pasta and self made tomato-sauce, hoping the male would like the food.

The apartment had started to smell delicious, yourself nibbling on some bread Pietro had brought with him from his grocery shopping.

He had mentioned that Mr Laufeyson usually did not eat breakfast at the flat, but got something on his way. So you had needed to get your breakfast supplies, or your mornings would be hungry.

At least he had tea. A lot of tea and a lot of different kinds.

Now, the kitchen was stocked with every essential thing someone would need.

Food was finished around dinner time and you were just cleaning the kitchen of any evidence of your session, when the front-door opened.

You froze in anticipation and worry.

“Food is already here. Good. Please serve while I change into something different.”, the male called and not a second later you heard another door close.

Doing as asked, you plated your home-cooked meal and placed a dish where he had sat the day prior, you sitting down with your own serving in the same manor.

It did not take long for him to emerge again and join you at the large table.

“This looks quite good. Now it only has to taste as such.”, he mumbled, eyeing the food in front of him before taking a small bite.

You waited, anxious, for his reaction and could not suppress a smile when you saw him relax into the food.

He liked it.

“This – this is good. Where did you get it? I have to put it on Pietro´s list of shops to buy from.”, he asked you, already preparing the next bite.

“I made it.”, you whispered, awaiting his reaction.

You were not disappointed: His shewing stopped, his eyes wandering to look at you. He gulped the food he had in his mouth.

“You are telling me, that you cooked this meal yourself? How and Why?”

“I spoke with Pietro and he offered to get the ingredients, what he did. I found the utensils in the cupboards.”

“Well, that explains how, but not why.”

“I, I didn´t know what to get, and I like to cook. It is also cheaper-”, the last part was only a whisper, but he still heard it.

“I don´t think I need to have an eye on how much money I spend for food and take-outs.”

“I apologize Mr Laufeyson.”, you quickly added, averting your eyes.

“It is quite delicious.”, he continued, “Well done.”

Warmth spread through your veins upon hearing the males praise and you couldn´t suppress a shy smile.

“You may cook more often. Now, if you would excuse me, I have an early meeting tomorrow and therefore will go to bed now.”, he declared, already standing up.

“I- there is dessert.”, you quickly stated, “I mean- if you want. I can but it in the fridge. The pie might not taste as good as now, but still good.”

“You made pie?”, he mused, sitting down again, “What kind of pie.”

“Apple chocolate after my grandma´s recipe.”, you whispered.

He stayed silent and you took it as a sign to serve the desert. Gathering the used dishes, you placed them aside and got the pie out of the oven to plate it with some powdered sugar.

Mr Laufeyson looked at for a few second, before taking a very small piece onto his fork and eating it.

His face kept neutral, though he ate it all.

“As I said. I will be retreating for the night. Tomorrow morning the cleaning service will come to clean the apartment. Just as a heads-up. Have a good night.”

And with that, the man retreated to his quarters.

Well, better get the kitchen cleaned and then to bed.

Thanks to the fact that you had already cleaned most of the things after using them, the kitchen was spotless within ten minutes with the leftovers secured within the fridge. Labeled with the date you had cooked them.

It was nearly enough to feed one more person.

Shutting off the light, within the main area, you stepped into your bedroom, only to stop short; on your bed were four black boxes with silver ribbons.

Presents.

When did he get them in here? What is in there?

Slowly you approached your bed, letting your fingers brush over the soft fabric of the ribbons, once you were able to.

The boxes had the Ásgard´-logo imprinted into the top.

More clothes? But-

With gentle hands, you opened the first bow and then box.

Is that Lingerie? What does this mean?

Shocked, you lifted the first pair of clothes out of the box. It wasn´t lingerie as you first thought, it was a nightdress.

Does he expect me to wear this?

Quickly you opened the other boxes as well, and the next two contained a similar kind of clothing.

That was, until you opened the last box and a relieved sigh escaped your lungs. Your eyes fell onto some new shirts and boxer-shorts. First were made of extremely soft cotton, last were made of silk.

You just had to wear them, the leggings and shirt you had worn previously had been to warm for your liking and felt wrong to your skin beneath the covers.

Ready for bed, you placed the boxes into the walk-in. You would sort them away in the morning.

With your mobile phone charging and the alarm set for 6:30am, you closed your eyes to sleep.

You woke up with the alarm and decided it was a good day to start with a shower.

Dressed as casually as possible, you made your way to the kitchen area with still wet hair.

You were surprised to see Mr Laufeyson already sitting there. “Good morning.”, you mumbled.

“Good Morning. I did not thought I would see you this early.”, he greeted you in return, sipping on his tea.

“I am used to get up early to do work.”, you admitted, preparing your own breakfast with the stuff Pietro got you the day prior.

“I see. Pietro will drive me to work this morning. I have a conference call with some important people. After that he can drive you wherever you want. There is a credit card on the little table next to your door. It has an allowance of 10.000$ a week. I may allow you to use more, should I see it necessary and you ask me beforehand. You need to have your ID with you though. Otherwise the card will not be accepted.”

He spoke almost bored, like that sum of money were just peanuts.

“Ten-thousand a week?”,you stated with huge eyes.

“Not enough?”

“Too much. Tha- thats more than I made in four months working. Wha- what should I do with that much?”, you quickly explained.

“Buy what you want, as long as you don´t buy at the opponents shops. The cleaning crew will be working from 10 to 12am. See you sometime today.”, and with that, the sharp dressed man left.

Leaving you with no idea what you should do with your day.

Sighting, you grabbed the offered card and stared at it for a long time.

I could visit Bob and Monty, maybe get them some food or things they need. And then buy stuff for the shelter. At least I would do good with all this money.

You still did not want pity money and felt dirty accepting it.

Using your new phone (because you couldn´t find a pen and some paper to make notes), you wrote stuff you though you should get to not accidentally forget something.

It got rather long, and you hoped you would be able to get all this without renting a truck.

“And I need some reeeeeaally simple stuff to wear.”, you mumbled.

The ringing of your phone caught your attention. Pietro was calling you.

“Good Morning. How can I help you?”, you greeted him politely, just like you had done with your customers just a few days ago.

“(y/n), It´s Pietro. Boss said to call you once I am free. Soooo, I am free. Any idea what you want to do? I can drive you wherever you want.”, the young man´s voice came out of the speaker.

“Thank you, that would be nice. I have a few stops I would like to make- if that is not too much trouble.”, you smiled into the phone.

“Not at all, I would just be earning my money. I will be at the tower in the next ten minutes. If you want, you can wait in the lobby. I will come and get you.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“No worries. See you in Ten.”, and with that the line went dead.

“Well .. then let´s get down there I guess.”, you mumbled, grabbing your phone and wallet, you got on your way down to the lobby.

It was rustling with live and you searched for a calmer area to wait for the blond young men.

You felt out of place and feared they would kick you out any second now, but instead, your phone rang again and you accepted Pietro´s call.

“I am up front. Are you ready to go?”

“I am coming out, give me a second.”

“Sure, it´s the black Dodge SUV.”

“Got it.”

Part 4

AN2.0 Well, Loki seemed to like her food. What do you think she will do with all the money?

REBLOGS and comments are appreciated, though any request of a SUGARDADDY looking for a Baby will be deleted… just like the last 30 in the first two parts…..

Thank you very much.

~MaggY

Taglists:

Permanent:

@jadepc@pacifyhxlsey @thankyoukarenclifford

@thankyouforanonymity @punkrockhufflefluff

@scarletraine @buckycaptspideypool @markusstraya @graveyard-groupie @markusstrayya @randomgirlkensy @the-soulofdevil

MCU:

@yknott81 @banner-and-bucky-are-life @forext20 @dyanlzbb @so-finster-die-nacht @emmii4 @bitchwhytho @ladyofmyst @jilldsumner @momc95 @appreciating-fanfics

Sugar:

@bits-and-bobs-and-kawaii-stuffs @mimmie666 @fullranchwolfoperator

@cluelessnitwhit @youknowitsclouds @his-paradox @purplerainharry

@spootgaai2000 @iamsuperjenna @nikkipea @alexakeyloveloki

I couldnt tag a few of you… sorry.

Want to get tagged as well? Comment, Reblog or send an ask to let me know.

#sugardaddy!loki #sugardaddy Loki x Reader #reader #sugardaddy au #Loki #Loki Laufeyson #MCU #Marvel #Reader insert

44 notes · View notes

starfleetdoesntfirefirst · 4 years

Text

Popping back into disco fandom after a busy week and decided to give my incomprehensible meta from earlier this week a reblog; however, discovered that this webbed site hid it and realized that, despite my scrupulously including no links, it very likely was hidden because of my tongue-in-cheek use of a certain phrase, so decided to just repost instead sans webbed site phrase. Anyway,

Thinking about the degree to which Cpt. Georgiou’s story is about kindness and integrity, and the degree to which that means that (long before the events of later in the season make this incredibly explicit) it is therefore about the enemy within.

Like any self-respecting Star Trek captain fangirl, I have firm opinions on Georgiou’s Coolest Moments, Most Underrated Qualities, etc. The moment that beats out of a hell of a lot of Cool Underrated Moments/Qualities to reach second-place, extremely-close-to-first place for me is the moment when she tells Burnham that retreat is not an option not only because they’re in Federation space but also because they are the only line of defense for the space station and the Andorian colony behind them.

It’s not really a quotable-quote, but to me, it’s one of her most awesome moments, because it’s what makes much of the rest of the pilot episodes an awesome story about a captain and her crew looking out for innocent people, rather than about a captain risking and ultimately losing her ship and multiple members of her crew for the sake of space!diplomatic posturing.

But my first-place Underrated Georgiou Moment is the one that it’s tempting to call that moment’s inverse: We don’t start shooting on a hunch, and we don’t take innocent lives, period.

Georgiou looks out for the people on the base behind her, and she looks out for people in the starship confronting hers, which is only the inverse of looking out for innocent people if you’re willing to stake their lives on the assumption that they are not innocent.

<food/diet talk> I once read an advice column where someone had written in to say that they wanted to eat more ‘healthy food,’ but that fast and processed food was faster, cheaper, and better-tasting. The advice columnist began their response with Well, you’re right–fast food is faster, cheaper, and better-tasting! At the time, having grown up with years of war-on-obesity type messages about how home-cooked fresh-vegetable-based meals were in fact Faster and Cheaper and More Delicious than fast food, I clutched my pearls at this.

What the advice columnist said was, of course, in many contexts, correct. We tell our children that fresh food is always cheap and easy to prepare and will save them, </food/diet talk> and that kindness feels good and pleasant and makes their lives better, and sometimes it does, but sometimes it’s brutal and painful and entirely capable of making things worse. I think one reason I find Georgiou’s Trek Captain StoryTM comforting is because of the way her story as a whole makes me feel less alone in not necessarily associating acting with kindness with feelings of softness or pleasure or fulfillment.

Acting with kindness is so often swallowing a grenade; wrapping your arms around it. Matter can’t be created or destroyed and even in the movies whose directors haven’t seen the Mythbusters episode about how jumping on a grenade probably wouldn’t work anyway, you can’t put the pin back into it. The pain has to go somewhere.

Kindness and integrity are about shouldering the pain–even though you don’t deserve it; even though the very act of taking the pain onto yourself not only hurts you but also might in turn hurt someone else. Or, sometimes, kindness and integrity and supporting someone else are about finding a way to offload some of the weight onto another, different someone-else who doesn’t deserve the pain either but maybe, in this moment, is more capable of shouldering it than the person you’re looking out for would be. Kindness is entirely capable of wounding its practitioners, or, to paraphrase Seven of Nine: It’s hopeless and pointless and exhausting, and the only thing worse would be giving up.

Despite all those poems about women being wolves (the idea of wolves), and letting our teeth drip with blood and thorns grow from our hair, much of the time the person in the path of our aching teeth is not the person who deserves to cut by them. Have you ever wished someone, a good person!, ‘Good morning,’ and gotten a perhaps-justified glare from their exhaustion-smudged eyes? Because they’re in such a bad mood, because they’re in so much pain, because of course they would have glared at anyone who spoke to them? Except that, of course, it turns out they were quite capable of warmly greeting their boss or their lover or the more valued–and less visibly disabled–person who walks into the room after you. Even justified rage and pain and desire, when released indiscriminately, often do discriminate.

Near the end of Discovery Season 1, I remember reading a review that encapsulated Mirror Georgiou as being mirror-universe-evil but also a better strategist than Prime Georgiou, because she was quicker on the uptake than Prime Georgiou had been when Burnham spoke with each of them, respectively, about the current relevant threats. But deciding who is better at threat assessment necessitates defining what is a threat.

There’s a piece of fan art I’ve always wanted to paint if a) I had significantly greater art skill, b) I had the literal weeks it would take to paint a multi-panel art piece, and c) art on the theme of ‘person protecting someone else with their body’ didn’t inevitably come across looking like the “this is so sad” poorly-scaled soldier protecting cartoon toddler meme: Captain Georgiou and a small Shenzhou, a la all those sick Janeway-chilling-with-small-floating-Voyager-in-space artworks, standing in space with the space station behind her and the Klingon fleet in front of her. She is protecting the space station behind her from war; in subsequent panels, the viewpoint revolves around her and the little Shenzhou, and the images behind her shift to show the people we know and love on the Discovery–Culber and Stamets kissing; Burnham and Stamets releasing the tardigrade back into space; everything we recognize from ST:DSC’s Federation as innocent and loveable and worth protecting.

But as we circle back around to the same viewpoint again, the images shift. Instead of the Klingon fleet in front of Georgiou and the Shenzhou, we see the innocent people living their lives on Qo’noS; behind her, we see Mirror Georgiou bombing the rebel base; Mirror Georgiou preparing to execute Burnham; Cornwell and Sarek working with Mirror Georgiou to destroy Qo’noS; Qo’noS exploding into fiery nothingness. Is Prime Georgiou defending what is behind her from what is in front of her, or holding back what is behind her to protect the rest of the universe?

What is a Star Trek captain’s coolest #Underrated Moment?

Would Captain Georgiou have been able to effect more net positive good in the universe if she’d been just a bit more ruthless, a bit less Captain Kirk and a bit more Chrisjen Avasarala from The Expanse, and had elbowed her way up in the ranks to become an admiral by the time of the war? Maybe! To quote another advice column: “Should” Éowyn have stayed behind in Edoras to be Queen? Probably.

(Because that one’s a complimentary quote and Tumblr will hide the post if I link: “Commander Logic tells you how to get unstuck,” captain awkward dot com, which I do not endorse entirely as an advice site but which definitely has its moments.)

But then, of course, there’s no woman-Hobbit tag team to kill the Witch-King of Angmar (who is most definitely not Innocent People), and then maybe Admiral Georgiou helps create a better Federation that flawlessly averts the war in the first place and buys all of its citizens a new puppy, or maybe a Georgiou who would make the choice to ruthlessly cut her way to the top is, in fact, the Georgiou we meet at the end of Season 1 who made the choice to ruthlessly cut her way to the top and now stands there, using a mirrored Starfleet to control a mirrored universe.

Here is the story we got instead: Georgiou was a captain and not an admiral, and she didn’t avert a war, and she lectured Burnham like a child and was space-racist about Saru and didn’t even always wrap her own indiscriminate cruelty and pain and desire safely in her arms.

(And yes, I’ll always be disappointed that we didn’t get seven seasons of Captain Georgiou, or one season of Captain Georgiou and six season of Captain Burnham and background Admiral Georgiou, or… Prime Georgiou isn’t just comforting and hopeful and inspiring; she has flaws and impulsiveness and ruthlessness herself. What would it be like to see the story where she grows?)

But she did not start shooting on a hunch, and she did not take innocent lives. She put her own ruthlessness into the service of holding back what was behind her as much as facing down what was in front of her. She changed the people who she served with and captained, like every other cliched metaphor of ripples in a pond, and when Starfleet became the enemy within, and partnered with her own mirrored enemy within to try to kill millions of innocent adults and babies and children, it was the woman who had been the Shenzhou’s first officer who was the first to stand and say No, and the woman who had been the Shenzhou’s pilot who was the second.

I enjoyed seeing Mirror Georgiou stab Mirror Lorca as much as I enjoyed seeing Éowyn stab the Witch-King of Angmar. I don’t have a problem with the power part of power fantasy. But sometimes the Underrated Moment looks uncool. Sometimes the only way to act with integrity is to give something up rather than to Stand Up For Yourself The Way You Deserve, and the only way to look out for someone else hurts you in a way that is painful and awful and unfair. Even the most satisfying power fantasy is still a fantasy.

I would have preferred to see Lorca live and stand trial for crimes against humanity not for his sake but because a Terran Empire that condoned death as a consequence for failure is only a mirror to a Federation that condoned life in prison as a consequence for mutiny.

What do you see as Starfleet’s greatest threat?

6 notes · View notes

uni-life-tips · 4 years

Text

Encouragement for Mature Students

When I was in University I met a lot of older students--older than 25. A lot of the ones that weren't married were hesitant about trying to date at their age. There was some misguided notion in their heads that 'dating' was for the young and that they didn't belong at the University because they felt out of place for being old.

Post-secondary Education doesn't have an explicit age limit. Heck, education in general and the desire to learn stuff doesn't have an age limit. Dating and whatever that entails doesn't have an age-limit.

I actually think they had the advantage over us 'direct-from-high-school' folks. They had worked and gained work-experience in the years they chose not to pursue further education. They had the funds to start paying off their loans--if they took out student-loans at all. On top of that, they had thought long and hard about what degree they wanted to get rather than give into the pressure to go into post-secondary like we did. They knew what they wanted and what it would cost and they took it way more seriously than those of us that were forced into post-secondary by parental-pressure. The 'mature students' rarely ever had that indecisive moment where they would doubt everything they had worked on and try to switch majors. And in the dating department, they were usually more emotionally and mentally mature/stable. On top of that, they had the funds and experience to be awesome partners. They had life experience--not just in dating or work or whatever, but experience in taking care of themselves. They knew how to balance doing the laundry and cooking/finding themselves food. They knew how to keep gas in the car and how to coordinate their grocery trips to ensure they got errands done efficiently. Most of the time, of course.

I was a 'direct-from-high-school' post-secondary student who ended up dating another 'direct-from-high-school' guy. We were the same age and everything. Things didn't work out between us because we both had a lot of growing up to do and a lot of figuring out our lives to work on. We were 'growing up' in different ways and at different rates too. He was fortunate enough to live at home during post-secondary while my own home was hours away in another city. He got upset and frustrated over the fact that I used my weekends to catch up on laundry and meal-prep rather than spend the day with him. Apparently, it was proof that I wasn't invested in the relationship or that I was selfish for wanting to look after myself instead of spend time with him. Newsflash, Mr. Ex: unlike you, I didn't have my mother to do my laundry or pack my lunches. If I didn't have the luxury of taking care of myself, then I wouldn't have the capacities to take care of a partner. I called it quits because he kept on getting upset over the fact that he felt like I never made time for him. Yeah, that may have been true...but if I chose to neglect my own health and wellness--mainly laundry and meal-prep--for him then I would consider that an unhealthy relationship. A date isn't fun or worth it if I literally come home to no clean underwear and have to try to figure out which classes or study sessions to skip because I need a bare minimum of 2 hours free to stake out the laundry rooms and claim a machine to do my laundry.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there's no shame in dating when you're older than 25 years of age...and that you're never too old for post-secondary. You may feel like you stand out like a sore-thumb when a majority of the other students are barely old enough to grow decent facial hair...but stick with it. Most of them aren't judging you on your age. Heck, if they're anything like my friends and I were, we admired the 'mature students'. We flocked to them and wanted to become study-buddies with them. We did it because they often had some good insights about the course material--stuff that someone our age wouldn't come up with (i.e. in an Economy class or something, hearing about recessions from people that were young adults/working when a major recession hit the economy made the material a little more 'real'). We did it because the mature students had way better time-management skills than we did. Sure, their life-obligations (i.e. work, sick kid) would mean they couldn't attend classes as often as they could have--but the trade off was usually that we'd supply them with notes and they'd buy us coffee or treat us to a meal or something. Win-win for everyone involved. They knew the good drinks at the bar and sometimes it was because they literally worked at the bar we were frequenting in their younger days. They knew where to get cheaper/better tasting food and were sometimes involved in the greater community outside of the university. Sometimes they had toddlers of their own and hearing stories about their kids or getting to watch home-videos of their kids doing something cute got us through some grueling study-sessions. The mature students understood the luxury and camaraderie of shared snacks for each study-session and were often 'adult' enough to know that healthy snacks would make us all feel much better than loading up on nothing but sugar, starch, and caffeine. Pot-luck study-sessions only became a thing with the mature students. When it was just us direct-from-high-school kids in a room we'd be lucky if someone brought a family-sized bag of chips to share. By fourth year and with a lot of tips from the mature students in our lives we all learned the wonders of shared snacks. Say each of us only had a candy bar--we learned the simple joy of breaking the candy bars into pieces and putting all of it in the middle of the table--suddenly everyone had access to five different types of candy and it felt like more than if we all just ate our own candy bars.

I graduated and I'm not back in the post-secondary game (yet). I'm trying to save up to go back for more schooling/certifications. By the time I go back I will be the mature student in the room and I'm going to bring to it what the mature students that helped me along in my undergrad shared with me. Shared snacks and looking out for each other is an amazing feeling. We all felt like crap and were all operating under far too little sleep--but those desperate all-night-study-sessions crying over a table full of snacks with four other people were some of the best times of my life (so far). They weren’t just the ‘mom’ friend, they were a friend and we all looked out for each other to the best of our abilities. They had a car and could offer trips to a grocer and some healthy food while I could offer notes and the initiative to plan study sessions or whatever. I lived on-campus and so I’d be the one to get to the booked-room early to kick out the people occupying the space we’d booked for our study sessions. Apparently, the social anxiety of kicking people out was daunting for some of the other people I knew so I bit the bullet on that one and they’d bring snacks or an extra cup of coffee for me in thanks.

Mature students and people over 22-25 years of age--you are valid. You aren't out-of-place at the post-secondary institution or in the dating game or whatever. Take up 'space', be yourselves, and show everyone what you have to offer. People aren't judging you as much as you might think (based on your age), and those that are going to make a big stink out of you being older and therefore out of place need to grow up. You have nothing to be ashamed of. The 18-22 year old that's switched majors five times in three years and still doesn't know what they're doing has no right to judge you. Likewise, they don't deserve to be judged either...of course. Hold your head up high. Getting a post-secondary degree is awesome regardless if you're 22, 32, or 82 or whatever.

#uni life tips #university #mature student #post-secondary

1 note · View note

asianadjacent · 4 years

Text

If you don’t like onions, this is not for you

Spoiler alert: this also contains meat so this is definitely not for all you vegetarians or vegans out there. (Sorry, not sorry)

But if you love Italian food, specifically tube shaped pasta, onions and meat, you’ll absolutely adore this dish. I’m talking about a sauce that has a lot of onions and braised meat, cooked for hours, eventually melting away to form this sweet, meaty, gooey sauce that’s paired perfectly with al dente pasta, garnished with fresh herbs and as much grated parmesan as you like.

The dish I’m talking about is Tortiglioni all Genovese, a pasta sauce from the region of Campania in Italy. According to some very half-assed internet research (Wikipedia), it was introduced to Naples from Genoa during the Renaissance. And since then, it has become very famous in the region but forgotten elsewhere mysteriously.

I came across this gorgeous dish when in Naples, at a restaurant that specialises in ragu called Tandem. Of the many delicious and numerous pasta dishes we ordered that evening, when this dish hit the table and went into my face, I was immediately jealous that it was Kei who made the order (she’s always had the better judgement when it came to menu items) and proceeded to eat most of it.

The dish was luscious and velvety, where you could taste the sweetness of the onions, married with a subtle hint of the sea (they used octopus instead of beef). That experience has lingered with me ever since.

And so in this time of social isolation, coupled with the fact that I’m stuck at home after an ACL reconstructive surgery on my left knee, meant that this was the perfect opportunity to try to recreate this Neapolitan classic. However, if you google “Pasta alla Genovese”, it’s all becomes very confusing because all you seem to get from Google are recipes for a pesto-based pasta with fine beans, which is not what this is all about.

Amidst the confusion and hysteria, I turned to New York Times Cooking, where they had a delightfully clear and simple version of the recipe by Mark Bittman, food author.

Sidenote: Mark (yes, we’re on a first name basis) has written a bunch of great cookbooks like the incredible “How to Cook Everything: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food” which is one of the better books if you’re looking to start cooking. As a warning, it is a mammoth of a text as it literally has 2,000 recipes so have a sturdy bookshelf before ordering.

So after endless onion prep, cramp from standing on my one good leg and a cook that lasted over three hours, I instinctively knew that this recipe was going to be near and dear to me before it was even completed. And the final result was everything I had hoped for and sent me to carb heaven.

Like my experience in Naples, what stood out to me the most was the amount of flavour and joy packed into every bite. You could taste the natural sweetness of the onions and the slight “oomph” from the chuck steak, enhanced and tempered with only time and heat.

Ultimately, this is an incredible expression of what I believe good food should be, simple ingredients cooked with patience and love. I hope you try the recipe and love it as much as I do. Enjoy.

Tortiglioni alla Genovese

Servings: 6 to 8 (or 3 to 4 if you’re me) Cooking time: 3 1/2 hours (strap in and open some wine)

Ingredients

2kg red onions, thinly sliced (wear your goggles or prepare to cry for awhile)

Extra-virgin olive oil (use that good shit)

2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

2 celery ribs, trimmed and roughly chopped

120g pancetta, chopped (I used 180g because that was the package it came in and I didn’t want to keep a random 60g of pancetta lying around, plus animal fat = flavour)

1kg beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes (or any alternative cheaper, leaner cuts used for braises or stews)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 bay leaves (I used four because I got mine from Chinatown that comes in a giant packet for cheap. Therefore I worry that the quality of the leaves aren’t as good as the ones you would get from a farmers market or fancy supermarket so I overcompensated)

Handful of oregano leaves (or you can tie a bunch of oregano together and fish out the stems later on. I like leaving the leaves in and I’m lazy to pick stems out)

Some dry white wine (to taste and drink while you cook)

500g dried pasta, like ziti, tortiglioni or rigatoni

Finely grated Parmesan cheese

Fresh parsley, finely chopped

Preparation

Use a large heavy pot over medium high-heat, season your beef chuck cubes and coat them with oil. When pot is hot, starting putting the beef cubes into the pot to brown the meat on all sides. Be sure not to crowd your pot or else it won’t brown properly. You may have to do this in batches but once done, set browned meat aside. Additional note: You may skip this step if you want as browning the meat is slightly unnecessary. I only did it because I wanted the beef to hold its shape for a bit more bite at the end. In fact, according to more half-assed internet research (i.e., one other internet link), most classic Italian recipes will call for a large cut of beef chuck steak, which would be set aside once cooked and served as a second dish. This is how I did it but it’s your kitchen, your choices.

Heat a healthy glug of extra virgin olive oil in the same pot over medium-high heat again; chuck in the carrots, celery and pancetta and cook until it’s browning or caramelised (DON’T FORGET TO SEASON AND ADD PEPPER AS YOU GO, TO TASTE)

Add your onions to the pot, seasoning again as the salt will draw out the water in the onions quicker, you may even add a splash of water at this point if you’re worried that the bottom will burn because you’ve never seen so much onion go into a single pot before unless you’re cooking a giant batch of French Onion soup.

When it looks safe and it doesn’t look like your bottom is burning, chuck in the browned beef cubes. (Pun fully intended)

Add in your bay leaves and oregano and give your pot a little stir.

Bring it all to a simmer, cover it and cook it low and slow for two hours (or more), you will be amazed at the amount of water that will come out of the onions. It will almost be as much as the tears you shed while prepping 2kgs of onions by hand.

Once the meat is squishy and tender, uncover and crank up the hit all the way to bring it to a boil. This is wear you will need to be a bit more active with the stirring, making sure nothing sticks and burns at the bottom. Fiddle around with your heat if you need to. Cook until the meat falls apart or you can stab at the pieces of meat as you’re stirring to help it along a bit. This will be roughly 45 minutes of stirring so you best be ready.

Once the meat is falling apart and the sauce is thick, gooey and beautiful, add half a glass of wine to it and bring your heat down to low. If you’re a drink while you cook type human, you should have just enough white wine left from when you first opened a bottle at the start of this cook. Or perhaps you need to open your second bottle. No judgements here, just solutions.

Stir until the sauce is glossy. When you can’t taste the alcohol in the sauce anymore, it’s good to go. Although if you’re on your second bottle, best get someone to taste just to be sure.

Cook your pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water. I won’t go into detail here because I’ve covered how I cook pasta in this recipe here. (Don’t @ me)

Garnish with parsley and parmesan.

Eat all of the pasta.

Food coma.

#recipe #food #pasta #genovese #napolitan #naples #tandem #foodporn #homecooking #nytcooking #carbs #carbsarelife #omnomnomnivore #noms #ragu #coronavirus #quarantinelife

2 notes · View notes