Do you think you speak too fast/ too slow?

Here is what I learned from a speech coach.

warm up:

start this exercise by taking a deep breath and saying “aaaaah” - try to extend this to 30 seconds. Now if it doesn’t go till 30, that’s fine. Aim to work your way to that. If you can work it up to 30, go for 45/60 seconds. Do this 5 times.

next. Download an app called Metronome beats. It’s basically what singers/ musicians use for beats.

Settings: keep beats/bar as 1,

clicks/beats as 1

start at 90. It will start with a click sound and continue “beeping.”

Match your words to the beep. One beep = one word. Now slowly, increase the beat by 5 till you reach 110. Increase it at your own pace but try to spend at least 20 seconds on each number (90 for 20 seconds; 95 for 20; 100 for 20….) That’s when you stop.

either start by reading something out loud and matching the beat, or select a topic and speak freely.

do this every single day. This will help with your breath, if you’re speaking on a topic it will help you think better and improve over time. The best way to further complement this exercise is to improve your vocabulary. Try to learn 1-3 new words a day and incorporate it in your vocabulary.

This is a great tool to use when learning new languages too. You can practice your speaking skills and see how fast you can remember/ read words.

mspec gays are so cool i love you bilesbians and pangays and everything in between each and every one of you deserve the world mwuah

the men and boys are innocent too.

we cry "the innocent women and children" to appeal to the masses, to try and force their sympathy, but the men and boys are innocent too.

I have seen sons crying out for their mothers, their fathers, their siblings. I have seen them break down at the loss of their families. I have seen them cling to their dead and grieve.

I have seen fathers cradle their dead children, seen them kiss their faces and hold their little hands. I have seen them faint with grief when asked to identify the dead. I have seen them carry their sons and daughters. I have seen them fasting to provide what little they can for their families.

I have seen men and boys digging through the rubble with just their bare hands, I have seen them comforting strangers, playing with children, rocking them, hushing them, even if the face of such imminent danger. I have seen them cry, seen them grieve, seen them break down into each other's arms, seen them be selfless, beyond selfless, becoming something I don't have a word for.

I have seen the men who are doctors refuse to leave their patients, even when they have no medicine or supplies to give them, even when they're threatened with bombings. I have seen fathers who have lost all their children pick orphans up into their arms and proclaim them their child so they are not alone. I have seen men and boys digging pets out of the rubble.

the men are innocent too. the men and boys are being hurt and killed too. the men and boys are grieving too. the men and boys are scared too. the men and boys are fighting to save their people too. the men and boys deserve to be fought for too.

When Izzy first walked out I was worried that he would be made into a joke that the crew would laugh at

but then he started singing and the dancing began and I realized that he wasn’t meant to be a joke at all. This is the most open and happy we’ve ever seen Izzy and the show treated it that way. Not mocking him but instead celebrating this moment.

When we talk about queer representation it’s usually just focused on queer relationships, but what I love about this episode is it shows other sides of being queer. That moment where Izzy saw Wee John doing his makeup and had a realization that he wanted that too? That is what being queer means to me. The crew singing along and cheering for him? That is what being apart of the queer community means to me.

What i love about this show is that it shows queer joy, not in a sanitized way, but in away that is messy, beautiful, and without any mockery or shame.

big fan of when grief drives characters to do fucked up things that are ultimately pointless and do more harm than good rather than just like. going to therapy

my mother taught me to crochet when i was young. she was left handed, so she taught me how in the bathroom mirror so her hands would be in the right position.

she learned to crochet from her grandmother, who was right handed. her grandma was the one that originally used the bathroom mirror to teach her granddaughter properly.

i find something poetic about that. here in this bathroom mirror, through generations, we adapt to our young who have a different way of learning and interacting with the world

I remember discussing Tintin casting choices with a friend from Germany and remarked how it was odd he often has an English accent in adaptations rather than a Belgian one, and my friend just replied "that's because Tintin gives incredibly strong English boy energy (derogatory)"

Here in the UK there's a lot of weird classism tied into accents. Today accent diversity and representation in broadcasting is actively pursued but in Tintin's time there certainly was a preferred accent to have.

imagine this exchange happens between pages 28-29 in The Crab with the Golden Claws

On Being a Powerful Speaker

in order to be a good speaker, you have to be a good writer. that doesn’t mean publishing 100 books and making it on NYT’s best selling list.

writing your thoughts, challenging your own assumptions and stances, writing about “controversial” ideas and playing the devil’s advocate, questioning the known, will allow your mind to become clearer on what you truly stand for. It will allow you to understand exactly who you are and what you believe in. It will help untangle all the jumble in your mind because you have to pen down your thoughts. Writing things down takes more time than thinking things, which gives you the time to reflect as well. Once your idea has been presented on paper, you will feel a sense of clarity. When asked to spoken about said idea or subject, you’ll be able to speak clearer because you’ve already spent time thinking, reflecting and challenging yourself. You may realise that you need less time to remember certain words, you’ll be able to retrieve things from your memory faster, your vocabulary will improve vastly and hopefully, your rationality will increase.

how should one go about such an exercise if you can’t think of subjects on your own?

Look for any one articles in the news. Any one article or a book. Read just the headline and the sub-headline/ read just the summary of the book. Now pause. Think about what it just said - do you agree with it? Disagree? What are your initial assumptions? What are some things you’re thinking of? Write it down. Now read the whole thing. Were your hunches right, or did the author challenge your initial assumptions? Do you agree with the author or still disagree? What were things you felt the author did not clarify or consider in their argument? start writing things down.

You do not need to be a good speaker in order to be a good writer; but perhaps, you do need to be a powerful writer in order to be a good speaker.

You know that Chris Fleming line that goes "Call yourself a community organizer even though you're not on speaking terms with your roommates"?

I honestly think every leftist who talks about the "revolution" like Christians talk about the rapture needs to spend a year trying to organize their workplace. Anyone who sincerely talks about building a movement so vast and all-encompassing that it overwhelms all existing power structures needs the dose of humility that comes with realizing they can't even build a movement to get people paid better at a badly run AMC Theaters where everyone already hates the manager.

few clips ive gathered of astarion being worried/protective

I want to post this here too because I’ve seen it happen a few times

Please understand that there are cultural differences and language differences, if you see this happening let the person clarify what they meant, that person might just not be familiar with words the western side of the internet use

isnt it interesting that two people can read the same book and one will just move on and the other will have their entire dna changed by the characters i just love that reading is such a unique and entirely human experience

I wish to learn how to speak eloquently but authentically.

Right now I speak without filters and that's stopping me from becoming a functional member of this society altho I do dream of living alone in a little cottage or home by the beach or in the mountains surrounded by mother nature ( altho I understand this dream might be rooted in my escapist tendencies for Its not like I hate people, in fact I crave human intimacy, I do however fear the things I crave the most for they shall be my downfall) but yes I need to think before I speak and understand that not everybody wishes to know what goes on in my mind and neither can they make sense of it. So to concisely be able to convey my thoughts is what I need to learn. Idk how to start tho.

Maybe I should just pause and think before I speak. Without a care for the awkward silence I might conjure yes. Sounds horrifying actually.

I'm not scared of awkward silences at all but I do understand how it may cause others discomfort.

But I'm thinking too far down the lane I just need to start thinking before I speak huh. Maybee.

its me boy im the seventh cool textile hobby you wanna pick up speaking to you inside your brain listen to me boy you DO have time for me you wanna do me so bad

no you don't understand how important Amity and her development is to me. how free and happy and smiley she looks now, how dorky and nerdy she unapologetically allows herself to act like. she's a kid and she's in love and she likes to dye her hair and she has a passion for Abominations and she's so much herself that it . it nearly brings me to tears. Amity Blight the girl ever