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scotianostra · 2 months
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January 23rd is National Pie day, what's your favourite pie?
Is it the traditional New Years day fare, of a muckle steak pie, or the humble Scotch Pie filled with mutton? It could also be a macaroni pie, possibly a favourite with the vegetarians Scots out there. Or maybe you have sought out the Breakfast pie that I posted about previously is made by Table 13 Express takeaway deli in Kirkintilloch. The Haggis and Steak Pie by Bells is also up there, although I preferred the haggis mash and beans pies we used to get from our local bakers growing up in my hometown of Loanhead.
Perhaps the most famous of our pies here in Scotland is the award winning Killie Pie made by Brownings Bakery in the town since 1945.
Just last week Scotlans best pie was announced at The World Championship Scotch Pie Awards, with a beloved Perth and Kinross butcher taking home the top prize at the ceremony. More than 50 bakeries and butchers from around Scotland were shortlisted in a range of categories, with their bakes assessed anonymously by a panel of experts and independent judges.
This year, the top World Champion prize was given to James Pirie & Son of Blairgowrie, who previously won the competition in 2018, 2020, and 2022, as well as taking the title of World Scotch Pie Champion of Champions in 2021 with their iconic Scotch Pie.
Elsewhere, fellow winners included James Aitken Butchers in Alloa, The Little Bakery in Dumfries, and Beefcake Cafe in Glasgow, who took home prizes in the Sausage Roll, Bridie, and Vegetarian Savoury categories respectively. Among the other categories were Steak Pie and Haggis Savoury, which were awarded to Brownings the Bakers Ltd in Kilmarnock and WeeCOOK in Carnoustie.
Here's a recipe for the Scotch Pie, although they will differ from source to source.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED TO MAKE THIS RECIPE
Four 4-inch springform cake pans (or equivalent)
Rolling pin
Small skillet
Knife to cut onion
Saucepan/s
Measuring cups, spoons
Kitchen scale (optional)
Mixing Bowls and spoons
Pastry Brush (for egg wash)
Stove and Oven (obviously)
INGREDIENTS
Hot Water Pastry Crust
2 cups flour (240 grams)
1/2 cup lard or shortening
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk, beaten (for egg wash)
Meat Filling
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 – 2 teaspoons lard, butter, or shortening
1 pound lean ground beef
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon Italian spice (optional)
Quick Beef Gravy
1 14 oz. can low sodium chicken broth
2 cubes beef bouillon
1/4 cup cold water
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons corn starch
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350° F or 177° C. Grease four 4 inch springform pans and set aside.
Put flour in a medium mixing bowl and create a well in the center.
Place water, salt, and lard in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Carefully pour hot water and lard into well made in the flour. Mix with a spoon until all the flour is wet.
When the flour mixture is cool enough to handle. Knead just enough to mix completely. Set aside one fourth of the dough and divide the remaining dough into four balls.
2 tablespoons corn starch
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350° F or 177° C. Grease four 4 inch springform pans and set aside.
Put flour in a medium mixing bowl and create a well in the center.
Place water, salt, and lard in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Carefully pour hot water and lard into well made in the flour. Mix with a spoon until all the flour is wet.
When the flour mixture is cool enough to handle. Knead just enough to mix completely. Set aside one fourth of the dough and divide the remaining dough into four balls.
Place all of the dough in the refrigerator while sautéing the onions and preparing the meat mixture.
Sauté the chopped onion in 1 to 2 teaspoons of lard, butter, or shortening, until soft.
Thoroughly mix ground beef, onion, and spices, including salt and pepper, in a bowl and set aside.
Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll each of the four big dough balls into round shapes big enough to cover the bottom and up the sides of the springform pans stopping about 1/4 inch or 6 mm from the top of the pan.
Roll out the large piece of dough, (the fourth you cut off from the whole dough mass in the beginning), into one large shape a little thinner than the bottom shells. Using one of the springform pans, cut four circles out of the rolled dough. These will be the lids (top crusts) of your pies. Lay them flat and cut a small hole in the center of each lid.
Add one fourth of the meat mixture to each pastry lined pan. Filling to about 1/4 inch or 6 mm from the top of the dough. Be sure to push it down into the corner round the bottom of the pan.
Cover the pie with the pastry lids and press the edges of the lid dough into the shell dough to seal. You may crimp with your fingers or press with a fork to make them pretty or just leave them plain. Just make sure the tops and sides are sealed together.
Brush each lid with the beaten egg yolk and place the pies in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes. You can stick a meat thermometer into the lid hole to ensure the meat is cooked through. It should be 160° F or 71° C.
While the pies are in the oven, make the quick gravy. Put the chicken broth in a saucepan along with two beef bouillon cubes and bring to a boil. Mix 2 tablespoons of corn starch into 1/4 cup cold water and stir until smooth. Slowly, add the corn starch mixture to the broth while stirring. Turn down the heat to a simmer and allow the gravy to thicken, stirring occasionally.
Remove the pies from the oven and allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before removing springforms. Serve with gravy, potatoes, and vegetables, top with beans, or, just eat them on the go.
NOTES
If you want to put a tablespoon of gravy inside each pie before baking them, just make the gravy before assembling the pies.
Scotch pies will last 3 days in the refrigerator and can be frozen after they have cooled for an hour. They will taste best if eaten within two to three months of freezing. Once you have thawed the pies, don’t refreeze them.
Recipe taken from https://travelinginmykitchen.com/2022/01/03/make-your-own-scotch-pies/
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jennhoney · 13 days
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Back towards the end of 2020 I was desperate to improve my pandemic bubble. I had this ~plan~ to go stay with friends in Oregon for several months and I started packing up all my stuff.
I was going to stay with my friend Jules and her boyfriend. One day Jules mentioned she was thinking about buying a wire shelf system and I was like, “wait, like this one that I have??? I’ll bring it to you!” And so that was one of the first boxes I packed.
There were, like always, many complications. I eventually realized that I did not have enough money to get myself and my stuff there. Maybe enough to just fly out for a trip. This was all before there was a covid vaccine, remember those times? So I had to let go of that plan but so much of my stuff remained in boxes.
Whenever I was in the basement and the WIRE SHELF TO OR box would catch my eye I would wonder what else I put in that box, it would have been things I thought would be useful to start a little life but things I could do without while figuring out the move. Today I opened it-
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Wire shelf system
My, at the time, best water bottle
Scrubby sponges
Dryer balls
Tons of Bookends (I had been wondering where these were)
MY FAVORITE MAGNETS
I found this box so funny that I spent all morning tearing through boxes and this evening putting almost all my magnets on my tiny refrigerator.
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eoieopda · 1 year
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(drive-thru voice) can I get uhhhhhhh a jin birthday drabble?
order up! 🥰 this is roommate!jin, quietly in love w/ his best pal, Reader. (12/18/22 ETA: a second part was requested, and you can find it here.)
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After spending the majority of the day with his family, Seokjin was eager to spend the rest of it doing what he wanted.
The dream: fully horizontal on the couch, take-out container in hand, shouting commentary through a food-filled mouth at whatever absurd reality show you’d chosen off Netflix. There was a time where he spent his birthday in clubs, hosting parties, but that was all behind him now. He wanted carefree comfort, and for him, that was a night in with his best friend.
He heard the beeping the moment he reached the third floor, and it only got louder as he walked down the hallway. His eyebrows shot up into his hairline when he realized it was coming from your shared apartment. Worry guided him, elongated his gait, and caused him to stumble through the doorway. He skidded to a stop and braced himself on the side of the refrigerator to keep from toppling over.
A few meters away, there you were - standing on a counter stool, waving a baking sheet under the smoke alarm - with panic scribbled all over your face. With the alarm blaring and your dish still sputtering on the stovetop, half-charred, you hadn’t heard his entrance.
Seokjin wanted to ask if you were alright, but his shock won out. “You’re cooking? You? Cooking?” No matter how many times those words spilled in disbelief out of his mouth, he couldn’t make sense of the scene in front of him.
You shouted out your surprise when you snapped your head to find him there with his jaw hanging open. He was at your side within the blink of an eye to steady you when you wobbled on your pedestal. Right arm looping around your knees, he held onto you while his left hand pulled the pan from the still-lit burner.
This is why you let him handle the cooking; and why you called him the “master chef” to your “disaster chef.” He’d kindly reassure you that this wasn’t the case, but you both knew he was simply trying to make you feel better. It always worked, too. Since you started living together, he saw you learning to be a little kinder to yourself.
Your wide, wet eyes blinked rapidly as your gaze flitted from his face to your unidentifiable cuisine. “I’m sorry,” you said, though it was a wonder you could say anything at all with your bottom lip trembling the way it was.
Seokjin furrowed his brows, concerned over your reaction and confused as to why you felt he was owed an apology. “Sorry for what? I’m not the kitchen police, doll. You’re not under arrest.”
You accepted his hands on your waist, placed your own hands on his shoulders, and allowed him to lift you down from the stool. The cutest look of disgust he’d ever seen swept over your face as you viewed your creation up close. Without taking your eyes off of whatever it was, you mumbled, “I wanted to cook you a birthday dinner.”
His brain force-quit in that moment. All he could do was stare at you while he short-circuited.
You avoided the kitchen even when you weren’t the one cooking, so sure that your mere presence would ruin whatever was being made. You swore off the culinary arts for good after the Great Mandu Catastrophe of 2020 - your words, not his - and said you’d eat uncooked rice for each of your remaining days if it meant avoiding this thing you so clearly hated.
And yet here you were, voluntarily crossing the line you’d drawn in the dirt, for him.
He didn’t know what to do with the emotions tying knots in his chest. One of them had been sitting there, dormant, for years. Every now and then, like wings of a hummingbird, it flittered - at your stubbornness in refusing to call a plumber, and the look of pride when you fixed the sink yourself; at the hushed sound of your singing while you folded laundry; at the massage of your fingertips when his hand surgery prevented him from washing his hair himself.
In a flash, he turned to the cabinet to his left and grabbed a plate. Resolute despite your bemused expression, he then grabbed the handle of the pan before dumping the entirety of its - admittedly hideous - contents onto the ceramic. Just as quickly, he grabbed a pair of chopsticks off the counter and made a beeline for a stool of his own.
The plate clattered against the granite surface of the kitchen island, but he was undeterred. Before you could beg him not to, he shoveled a giant bite into his mouth. And when his first instinct was to gag, he swallowed hard and grinned up at you like nothing was burning on its way down.
The look on your face was a combination of horror and adoration. That sleepy hummingbird took off again at the sight of your tiny smile, only to be hypnotized by the twinkle overtaking the defeat in your eyes. Judging by the quickened thud of his pulse, it was floating somewhere near his heart.
“I can’t believe you just did that,” you whispered, awestruck, apparently unaware that he’d do anything for you. You captured your bottom lip briefly between your teeth and rubbed your hand over the back of your neck. That sheepish smile opened up to exhale a chuckle. “Is it as awful as it looks?”
He answered honestly and prayed that you’d know what he meant and how sincerely he meant it. “It’s all perfect.”
Your amusement came out in a snort, caught in the hands that flew up to cover your blushing face. Your giggling was contagious, and before he knew it, he was laughing with you until you were both teary-eyed, beaming, and gasping for air.
Sighing deeply, you leaned over the kitchen counter, slotted your hand over his, and squeezed. Voice as warm as your smile, you said, “Happy birthday, Jinnie. I hope this will be your best year yet.”
Gazing fondly at you, he knew it would be.
(part two, as requested 12/18/22)
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alex51324 · 4 months
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I'm doing some planning for Baking Week, so I thought this was a good time to remind people about my cookie book.
(It's a a Google doc, but I call it a book to be fancy.)
At Christmas time, I bake 2-3 batches of cookies a day in the week leading up to Christmas, to share at my family's big gathering at my grandmother's house on Christmas.
In 2020, we of course did not have the big gathering, so I wrote up a bunch of my usual recipes to give out virtually. I updated the book a little bit last year, adding one new recipe and correcting a couple of errors. There's nothing new this year, but it's still there, with about two dozen recipes, including a couple for vegan and gluten-free diets, and a couple for dogs.
It says Christmas Cookie Book at the top because that's what my family celebrates and when I bake them, but they're mostly all-occasion cookies. I'm always making them for a crowd--in addition to platters for the party, I also do take-home bags for about 10 or 12 households, depending on who shows up--so I gravitate toward recipes that make a substantial batch and aren't especially fussy.
See below the cut for the recipe for my favorite walnut cookies!
Walnut Balls
This recipe makes a truly massive amount of cookies.  Even when I’m baking for everybody, I usually do a ¾ batch—those amounts are shown in parentheses.  Of course, you can also halve the recipe, but I think you can figure out the math on that one yourself! 
The original recipe for this cookie is a thumbprint cookie: you poke a little depression into the top of each ball before baking, and then after baking, fill it with icing or jam.  You can do that if you want—I make them plain because I like them better that way.
4 sticks butter (3 sticks)
2 cups brown sugar (1 ½ cups)
4 eggs, separated into whites and yolks (3 eggs)
2 teaspoons vanilla (1 ½ tsp)
4 cups flour (3 cups)
1 teaspoon salt (3/4 tsp)
1 pound walnut meats, finely chopped (3/4 pound)
Note:  If you have a food processor, use that to chop the walnuts.  You want them about as finely chopped as you can get them—like, just a little chunkier than cornmeal.
1. In a big mixing bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar. 
2. Add egg yolks and vanilla.  Beat until creamy.  (Put the egg whites in the refrigerator for now.)
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. 
4. Add dry ingredients to the big bowl.  It works best to do it in 3 or 4 batches, mixing after each addition.  (2 or 3 batches if you’re doing a smaller recipe)
5. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for several hours.  (I sometimes shape it into logs first, which makes the shaping step a little easier, but you can also just cover the bowl with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge.) 
6. When your dough is done chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  The walnut-and-egg-white coating on these can get messy, so it’s a good idea to line the baking sheets with parchment if you have some.   You may also want to put down a dish towel or some plastic wrap/wax paper on your work area. 
7. Get your egg whites back out, and beat them until they start to get a little foamy.  A mixer with a whisk attachment is best for this; any other mixer is second-best.  If you don’t have a mixer, you will get a workout. 
8. Get the dough out.  Shape it into balls about 1 inch in diameter. 
9. Dip each ball into the beaten egg whites, rolling it around to make sure it’s totally covered.  (I usually have the egg whites in a smallish mixing bowl, and I put about half a dozen dough-balls in at a time, and swirl the bowl around to coat them.)
10.                          Roll each ball in the finely-chopped walnuts, pressing firmly to make sure they stick.  (I usually have the walnuts in a shallow dish like a salad plate.  I’ll put several dough-balls in there and heap the walnuts on top of them, then squeeze as I pick them up to put them on the baking sheet.)
11.                         Place the dough balls on your baking sheet.  These don’t spread out much, so they don’t have to be far apart—an inch is plenty.
12.                          Bake for 10-11 minutes, then set out to cool.
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ausetkmt · 10 months
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Eternal Soul
On the heels of her best-selling debut, Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number, fifteen-year-old Aaliyah was rocked by a sex scandal that would have crushed a lesser talent. But breaking ties with her label and former producer and paramour R. Kelly afforded the teenage singer to create a new musical life for herself. She joined forces with production/songwriting duo Timbaland and Missy Elliott, who crafted a set of funky and futuristic soul tracks that took audiences and stale R&B radio by storm. Aaliyah showed strength and resilience—and effortless cool—and went on to garner multiplatinum sales, becoming a huge star. But her comeback was short-lived. At twenty-two, just as she released her third album and started an acting career, Aaliyah lost her life in a plane crash. However, icons never die, and her musical legacy endures.
published online Wednesday, December 9, 2020 Originally published in Issue 59, Summer 2014 By Michael A. Gonzales
It was the last weekend before Labor Day 2001, and the sidewalks of New York City were brimming with Saturday-night folks looking for fun. While a decade before the Meatpacking District was literally just that—with refrigerated trucks parked in front of dingy warehouses and the cobblestone streets sticky with animal blood—by the new millennium, those same blocks had transformed into a chic section of town overflowing with boutiques, restaurants, and clubs blasting the songs of summer that included P. Diddy’s Black-rock single “Bad Boy for Life” and Destiny’s Child’s pop-tart anthem “Bootylicious.” 
As I was passing one trendy spot, pop sensation Aaliyah’s latest single, “We Need a Resolution,” blared from the speakers. With a voice that was shy and sexy, the mesmerizing track was the first from her self-titled third album, released a month before. Produced by frequent collaborator Timbaland—whose signature cyberfunk explorations into sound put an electrifying mojo on Black radio in the mid-’90s beginning with Aaliyah’s sophomore album, 1996’s One in a Million—her cool, broken-hearted soprano blended perfectly with the heat generated from his funky, futurist machine dreams. 
Like Rachael, the emotional android in Blade Runner, Aaliyah became a cyborg chanteuse, a digital diva for a new generation of soul children. With the music being stuck in a rut of stylistic nostalgia and neo-soul mania, One in a Million made R&B’s potential feel limitless again, as it pulled listeners into the future. 
Coming a year before Björk’s equally brilliant 1995 album Post, Aaliyah’s debut, Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number, came from a teenage girl from the D who brought the rhythmic weirdness first. 
In 1995, Aaliyah Dana Haughton met Timbaland when she was sixteen after leaving her first label, Jive Records, amid much controversy of an illicit marriage to her then twenty-seven-year-old producer R. Kelly, who’d written most of the material on Age. Although both sides denied the allegations, a marriage license was later published in Vibe magazine. 
While the “pied piper of R&B”—as Kelly proclaimed himself—had gained much fame since the release of his multiplatinum 12 Play album in late 1993, and was given a pass by the press and his fans, Aaliyah was portrayed as a Lolita seductress. When her picture was shown at the 1995 Soul Train Awards (she wasn’t in attendance), audience members booed. 
Years later, allegations of Kelly’s alleged sexual misconduct continue to overshadow his music, including an infamous golden-shower sex tape, a housekeeper who sued him for sexual harassment, and rumors of millions doled out to settle “dozens” of “harrowing lawsuits” brought by scores of underage girls the musician reportedly sexually abused.
Although Age was a platinum-seller for Jive, the label allowed Aaliyah to be released from her contract. Her management company, Blackground, owned and operated by her mother’s brother, Barry Hankerson, who also managed R. Kelly, signed her with Atlantic Records. At the urging of Atlantic vice-president of A&R Craig Kallman (who in 2014 is the label’s chairman), Tim (aka Timbaland) flew to Aaliyah’s hometown of Detroit, Michigan, with fellow producer, songwriter, arranger, and rapper Missy Elliott.
Initially, Aaliyah’s second album was supposed to be helmed by the jiggy prince of production Puff Daddy (P. Diddy) and his trademarked, sample-heavy touch with the Hitmen team (Chucky Thompson, Deric Angelettie, Ron Lawrence, Stevie J., and others), but it never happened. 
“I went to Puff’s studio in Trinidad for a week,” Aaliyah said in 1996. “We started working together, but we couldn’t finish the songs on time. I had to leave, because I had to go to Atlanta to record with Jermaine Dupri.” 
Setting up shop in Detroit at Vanguard Studios, which was owned and operated by producer/guitarist Michael J. Powell, who’d overseen Aaliyah’s demo material when she was twelve, Tim and Missy went to work. “The first song we recorded was the title track [‘One in a Million’],” Timbaland told me in 1999. “From our first session, I was blown away by how talented she was.” While Missy later claimed that “If Your Girl Only Knew” was the song recorded during their first session, what remains undisputed was the closeness the trio felt during that time. 
The Black noise duo christened the beautiful Brooklyn-born, Detroit-reared singer “Baby Girl,” and they became inseparable. Staying at Vanguard for a week, the three of them later flew, according to Missy Elliot, on “a little, little plane,” to Pyramid Studios in Ithaca, New York, to finish their work. The end results were the six groundbreaking tracks and two interludes from her second disc, One in a Million. 
Legendary engineer Jimmy Douglass (who worked on countless Atlantic R&B classics) connected with them in Ithaca. “Aaliyah was coming off such a big debut,” he says, “so it would’ve been all right for her to be bratty, but she wasn’t. She was such a nice human being. Aaliyah was very quiet, but when she sang, she sounded great. I was impressed.”
In July 1996, a month before One in a Million was released, I interviewed Aaliyah at the Sea Grill, a restaurant at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Having first met her two years before, I realized that Aaliyah was always a sweetheart, yet very guarded. After a sex scandal that might’ve squashed a lesser talent, she was obviously resilient. She answered questions thoroughly but tried not to disclose too much about R. Kelly or the alleged marriage. 
“I faced the adversity,” Aaliyah said. “I could’ve broken down, I could’ve gone and hid in the closet and said, ‘I’m not going to do this anymore.’ But I love singing, and I wasn’t going to let that mess stop me. I got a lot of support from my fans and that inspired me to put that behind me, be a stronger person, and put my all into making One in a Million.” 
Sitting next to her equally beautiful mother, Aaliyah was radiant, coy, and confident as she talked about Tim and Missy’s production skills. “At first, Tim and Missy were skeptical if I would like their work, but I thought it was tight, just ridiculous,” she said. “Their sound was different and unique, and that’s what appealed to me. 
“Before we got together, I talked to them on the phone and told them what I wanted. I said, ‘You guys know I have a street image, but there is a sexiness to it, and I want my songs to complement that’; I told them that before I even met them. Once I said that, I didn’t have to say anything else. Everything they brought me was the bomb.”
Besides Tim and Missy, she also worked with producers Kay Gee (Naughty by Nature), Daryl Simmons (L.A. Reid and Babyface), and Vincent Herbert (Toni Braxton), who laced her dope remake of Marvin Gaye’s classic “Got to Give It Up,” which featured a smooth Slick Rick rap. Aaliyah explained how the remake came about: “I wanted some real party songs, so when my uncle played me that [original track], I thought of how I could make it different. Slick Rick [who’d been in jail] was on work release at the time, so Vincent got him on the song. 
“I don’t know how Marvin Gaye fans will react, but I hope they like it,” she continued. “I always think it’s a great compliment when people remake songs. I hope one day after I’m not here that people will cover my songs.”
Aaliyah’s uncle and manager Barry Hankerson was the person most responsible for making his niece a star. “Barry was bringing Aaliyah to the studio to record when she was twelve years old,” remembers producer and Vanguard owner Michael J. Powell via telephone from his home in Detroit. “At the time, Barry was trying to get Aaliyah a deal with MCA, and he came to me to make her demos.” 
Powell was a Chicago native whose studio, Vanguard, was a place that made sophisticated soul. Best known for the lush retro-nuevo production on Anita Baker’s incredible Rapture album in 1986, Powell has also worked with Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, and Gladys Knight, who was married to Barry Hankerson from 1974 to 1978. “As a producer, Michael is a very patient person with great ears,” says Bill Banfield, composer and professor at the Berklee College of Music. A friend of Powell’s, he has also recorded with him. “Vanguard was the second generation of Motown with a live band, polished arrangements, and Detroit soul.” 
Powell, who is still working in Detroit, recalls working with the singer back before her debut: “That was the time before Aaliyah went to work with R. Kelly, and she sang in a full, powerful voice that was like Whitney Houston’s. We recorded a few covers—‘The Greatest Love of All,’ ‘Over the Rainbow,’ and ‘My Funny Valentine,’ which she had sung on Star Search. She could handle big ballads, and she had great range. I have heard her do things the public have never heard. She was a natural.”
One of Aaliyah’s first professional gigs was singing with her aunt Gladys Knight in Las Vegas. “We performed at Bally’s five nights a week with a little break in between,” Aaliyah said in 1994. “Singer David Peaston [whom Hankerson also managed] opened the show, and then Gladys would bring me out to sing ‘Home’ with her, and then we did ‘Believe in Yourself.’ I loved it; for me, it was like being on tour.” 
In 1996, while Aaliyah cited “One in a Million” as her favorite song, the label chose to release “If Your Girl Only Knew” as the first single. However, having debuted in 1994 with the more traditional soul stylings of R. Kelly writing and producing Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number, not everyone was pleased with the singer’s new direction. 
That album broke ground with its experimental tempos and drum programming and hip-hop soul songwriting. Jason King
“Me and Tim were so excited, because this was the first production we were doing outside of DeVante’s camp,” Missy explained. In addition to Jodeci and their famed producer DeVante Swing, the aforementioned camp of young upstarts included Sista (Missy’s rap quartet), Ginuwine, Magoo, Playa, and Tweet. “We were only supposed to do one record, but Craig [Kallman] kept asking us for one more; but, when they played [the singles] ‘If Your Girl Only Knew’ and ‘One in a Million’ for radio programmers, they were afraid to embrace it. They said the beats were too different and it wouldn’t fit in with their playlist. They wanted something that sounded like Puffy.” 
Still, when a few braver souls started playing the record, it just took off. “That album broke ground with its experimental tempos and drum programming and hip-hop soul songwriting,” says Jason King, cultural critic, musician, and the director of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
By 2001, Aaliyah released a handful of Timbaland-produced, soundtrack-supported singles that pushed the experimental sound even further—including the Grammy-nominated scorchers “Are You That Somebody?” from 1998’s Dr. Dolittle and “Try Again” from her costarring vehicle Romeo Must Die in 2000. As pop critic Kelefa Sanneh wrote in 2001 in the New York Times, “ ‘Try Again’ helped smuggle the innovative techniques of electronic dance music onto the pop charts, establishing Aaliyah as pop’s most futuristic star.”
The lyrics of both songs were penned by former Playa member Static Major, who also wrote “We Need a Resolution.” Like Missy and Timbaland, the songwriter was once a protégé of Jodeci producer DeVante Swing. Engineer Jimmy Douglass, who has worked side by side with Timbaland on every production since the early days, says of the late songwriter, who died in 2008 from myasthenia gravis: “Static was like a brother to Tim, and he knew exactly how to write to Tim’s music. The first record they did together was Ginuwine’s ‘Pony,’ and that led to their [musical] history.
“We recorded ‘Are You That Somebody?’ at Capitol Records’ studio in Los Angeles,” Douglass recalls, “and it was a soup-to-nuts session, which means we did the entire song in one session. Wrote it, tracked it, and mixed it from 11:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m.; the next to last thing we added was the sound of the baby, and the very last time was Tim saying, ‘Dirty South.’ It was a union studio, so they weren’t used to working overnight; we were trying to finish that song as quick as possible.”
Douglass also engineered the “Try Again” sessions, which began with Static writing a song that was inspirational. Recorded in New York City at Sound on Sound Studios, “Try Again,” as Douglass recalls, “was originally written to inspire young people, but Barry [Hankerson] heard it and told them, ‘It’s got to be about love.’ The melody and hook were the same, so Static changed the lyrics and it became a love song.” 
In addition, Aaliyah had begun an acting career that was taking off. Cast in the Joel Silver–produced kung-fu crime flick Romeo Must Die as well as the Anne Rice vampire thriller Queen of the Damned and the Matrix sequels, Aaliyah hadn’t released a full-length album in the five years. “I wanted to take a break after One in a Million to just relax, think about how I wanted to approach the next album,” she told journalist Elon Johnson that April. “Then, when I was ready to start back up, Romeo happened, and so I had to take another break and do that film and then do the soundtrack, then promote it. The break turned into a longer break than I anticipated.”
Back in the Meatpacking District that August night in 2001, I gathered with friends at the then-popular club APT where DJ Chairman Mao spun old-school hip-hop and soul as high-heeled girls sipped crimson-colored cosmopolitans. 
Two hours later, a strange vibe could be felt in the wood-paneled room as folks began looking strangely at their Blackberries, pagers, and cell phones. Standing beside me, a female friend suddenly blurted, “Oh my God, it says here that Aaliyah died in a plane crash.” Seconds later, along with other women in the room, she began to weep. 
The accident occurred when she and her team were returning to Miami, Florida, from the Bahamas, where she shot the video for “Rock the Boat,” the third single from Aaliyah, her third album finally released in 2001. Their small twin-engine Cessna plane was several hundred pounds overweight and crashed after takeoff, exploding on impact. The pilot was found to have had cocaine and alcohol in his system and had falsified data in order to receive his FAA license.
At the age of twenty-two, Aaliyah Dana Haughton became the latest pop star to enter that rock-and-soul heaven that the Righteous Brothers sang about so many years before. Glancing around at the crying females, most no older than Aaliyah herself, it became obvious to me that she was much more than a star—she was one of them. 
Harlem resident and former Jive Records executive Jeff Sledge, who had known the songstress since she was a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl, had returned from the movies with his fiancée when he heard the news. “It was supposed to be hip-hop night on Hot 97, but they were playing a mix of Aaliyah songs instead,” he recalls thirteen years later. “And then [DJ] Red Alert announced that she had died. I was stunned.” 
Of course, he wasn’t the only one. For days, the world mourned the young star with television specials, radio interviews with her contemporaries and friends, and a candlelight vigil in front of her alma mater, the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts. Furthermore, her stunning movie-star features were plastered on the covers of newspapers and magazines. 
Although she had the looks of a femme fatale, she was a sweet girl who’d been forced to grow up much too fast and died too young. However, as we all know, icons never die, because the images are forever. In her short lifetime, Aaliyah must’ve had her picture taken a million times, made countless videos, and created music that is still relevant to fans as well as to fellow pop idols Beyoncé, Drake, Chris Brown, Rihanna, and others. 
“There are so many artists trying to re-create the Aaliyah vibe in their music,” says singer Courtney Noelle, who was in seventh grade when the Black pop princess died. Growing up on the East Side of Pittsburgh, Noelle made up dances to “One in a Million” while watching the video constantly. “Aaliyah was so relatable and cool; she wasn’t over-sexualized, so we didn’t worry about Mom disapproving,” Noelle continues. “She sang, danced, and acted, but she did it all so effortlessly. She was just so beautiful and graceful.” 
While One in a Million was a landmark, the adolescent wonderfulness of Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number is often overlooked when Aaliyah’s small canon of work is examined. Of course, as Jason King points out, “Age has been marred by their troubling marriage and the [statutory] rape/pedophilia allegations that would come later. I don’t think we can now hear Age, particularly given the title, without taking the issue of teenage rape into account. So when I’m listening to Age, I’m struggling to try to listen to it out of context, but mostly I’m hearing R. Kelly as an alleged predator presenting to us his sonic and musical vision of how he wanted Aaliyah to exist in the commercial marketplace.” 
Still, for me, Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number connects with many memories of the ’90s soul years that gave us debuts from Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, D’Angelo, Faith Evans, Maxwell, Erykah Badu, and the era’s most successful singer, writer, and producer, Robert Sylvester Kelly.
In 1991, R. Kelly and Public Announcement signed to Jive Records a few years before Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys took them mainstream. Better known for being the home of top-tier hip-hop acts A Tribe Called Quest, Boogie Down Productions, Schoolly D, and E-40, the Jive label was put into the business of soul by the success of Kelly’s post–New Jack Swing sound on Born into the 90’s and 12 Play.
“Barry Hankerson had been talking about his niece Aaliyah since she was twelve, but [label owner Clive Calder] thought she was too young,” says A&R man Jeff Sledge, who began working at the label in 1992. “When she turned fourteen, Clive agreed, but only under the condition that R. Kelly produced the whole album. Musically, it just made sense.”
For Robert Kelly, 1993 was a hell of a year. A bittersweet twelve months that included a substantial development in his R&B sound, the death of his beloved mother, Joanne, and the success of his album 12 Play, which was praised by critics and fans alike. It was also the year he began working on the material that would eventually become Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number. 
Although R. Kelly attempted to uphold his Chi-Town swagger after the death of his mother, the man was a mental mess. There were bizarre reports of the singer locking himself in hotel bathrooms during press days, blowing off Rolling Stone photo shoots, and sleeping in the closet. “His mother was the sweetest lady,” Jeff Sledge says. “When she died, he had a nervous breakdown. During that time, he was also making Age, so Aaliyah was always around to comfort him. After his mother’s passing, all he felt he had left in life was his music and working with Aaliyah.” 
R. Kelly’s love for music began when he was a fifteen-year-old student at Chicago’s Kenwood Academy where he encountered famed music instructor Lena McLin. The niece of gospel innovator Thomas A. Dorsey, she taught her students opera, gospel, jazz, and soul. As a child growing up during the Depression, she lived with Reverend Dorsey and played in church. While other girls wanted dolls, Lena McLin wanted sheet music. 
McLin taught R. Kelly everything she knew about the keyboards, pushing him by anointing her student “the next Stevie Wonder.” Encouraging the poor lanky boy from the South Side to put down his basketball and sit at the piano, she started him writing songs as well as teaching him discipline. “He didn’t have much,” McLin explained to me in 1995 in a Chinese restaurant in the Hyde Park section of Chicago. “He came from a terrible ghetto and sometimes wouldn’t have the clothes the other kids had, but I had a vision of what he was going to be. The Lord told me he was a genius, and I wouldn’t take no for an answer.” 
So, what exactly is a genius? “A genius lives in the present day, has studied the past, and preconceived the future,” explained McLin. “Robert’s mission is to bring back the real essence, the real creativity, the real soul to the music.” Although Robert dropped out of Kenwood when he was seventeen, he already had five hundred completed songs in his portfolio, according to McLin. “Well, I don’t think it was five hundred, but it was a lot,” R. Kelly told me in 1995 while mastering his third album at the Chicago Recording Company (CRC). Founded in 1975, it is billed as the largest studio in the Midwest. The studio became R. Kelly’s main sound factory in the early years. 
For R. Kelly, the state-of-the-art room became the rhythmic cathedral where he would expand on the musical legacy of Windy City soul—his city where the Chi-Lites once doo-wopped on street corners, Leroy Hutson made gangster-lean tracks for Curtom, and a young rapper named Common was recording his Resurrection album somewhere across town. 
“Miss McLin started me writing every day,” Kelly said. “I’d write a song and she’d tell me it was the most beautiful song she’d ever heard. She also started me messin’ around with the piano. I just wanted to make her happy.” Growing up in the notorious Ida B. Wells Homes, Kelly found those streets a lot more dangerous than the days of Cooley High. 
“I had a lot of ups and downs, lots of lessons, and trials and tribulations,” Kelly said. Avoiding the gangs, he spent much time at a neighbor Willie Pearl’s house playing her keyboards. One of the first songs he wrote, “Orphanage,” was inspired by a television program. Singing in L stations throughout the city, he waited for strangers to drop change in his chitlin bucket. 
Kelly was discovered by house-music pioneer and former Trax Records employee DJ Wayne Williams. After seeing him perform original material at a friend’s barbecue, Williams had to convince his new bosses at Jive Records to sign him: “I was constantly telling them that R. Kelly was the shit, but it took Barry Weiss, the president of the label, coming to Chicago, before they finally said yes. Jive had full confidence in him and gave R. Kelly creative freedom.” While Kelly’s debut, Born into the 90’s, sounded as though it was jacked wholesale from the Teddy Riley/Aaron Hall school of Harlem boogie, by the time 12 Play came out in 1993, the brother had perfected a baby-makin’ style on tracks “Bump N’ Grind,” “Your Body’s Callin’,” and the epic erotica of “It Seems Like You’re Ready.” 
Additionally, the album’s more danceable tracks, “Summer Bunnies” and “I Like the Crotch on You,” showed his dance-floor diversity. Still, whether the tempo, Kelly’s lyrics were often sexually explicit, filled with lustful references and obvious double entendres. “He grabbed the brass ring by stepping fully into the role of hypersexual super-stud,” Jason King says. “That’s an archetype in Black music that stretches very far back and that Isaac Hayes took to new heights in the early 1970s. Songs on 12 Play were very much musical analogues of the celebration of Black, freaky, and carnal culture in the 1990s.” 
Soon afterwards, Kelly began applying his newly developed, smoothed-out, seductive sounds to singles for Hi-Five (“Quality Time”) and Changing Faces (“G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T.”), and was more than ready to tackle a full-album project for his manager’s niece. “With the flair and energy he puts into his music, we can feel it,” McLin said. “Even when working on songs for others, he touches all the talent he comes in contact with; Robert’s mission is to bring soul music back.” Inspired by an extensive list of vocalists, musicians, and producers including Quincy Jones, Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield, and Tyrone Davis, he turned himself into an R&B auteur on the Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number project. 
R. Kelly was determined to become a one-man Holland-Dozier-Holland with a splash of Phil Spector eccentricity to keep things interesting. “Age was solely an R. Kelly production intended to not only introduce us to Aaliyah, but to show off R. Kelly’s polymath awesomeness,” says King. “It’s hip-hop soul in the way that Mary J. Blige, Xscape, and SWV fused those genres. But, Aaliyah embodied the hip-hop soul merger in a different way. She had the sweet, soothing, and slightly reserved soprano more associated with Diana Ross, Minnie Riperton, or Janet Jackson. I don’t think any producer understood what contemporary R&B audiences wanted to hear and pushed them further in the 1990s more than R. Kelly.”
In the summer of 1993, with Aaliyah on break from the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts, she spent her entire vacation holed up inside the CRC. “The first song we recorded was ‘Old School,’ which I loved, because it had an Isley Brothers flair,” Aaliyah said. “That song didn’t take long to do, maybe two days. At first, I had to get comfortable, but I had been around Robert, so it was cool. Both Robert and I are perfectionists, and if you listen to the music, there is a lot of passion in it.”
Like Batman, one of his favorite comic book characters, R. Kelly worked best at night. “Most people are asleep, so it’s just the moon, the stars, the quiet, and the music.” Subsequently, the nights spent with the underage singer led to Kelly’s first accusations of statutory rape when an alleged affair began between them. Although there was a twelve-year age difference, the affair supposedly led to marriage, which paved the way for scandal and an annulment. While R. Kelly and Aaliyah always denied these accusations, the man who wrote the title track to Age tellingly said, “I write from everyday experiences and what moves me; that, to me, is a true writer. I love all forms of music. Everything that comes into my mind and hits my heart, I write it and record it. I love songs that mean something, and have some kind of truthfulness to them.”
Photographer Terrence A. Reese (aka Tar), who shot the album covers for 12 Play and Age, recalls that during the shoot “Aaliyah relied on Robert to teach her. He was like Berry Gordy to her Diana Ross. The following day was her fifteenth birthday, and she was also going to film the ‘Back & Forth’ video, so they were working on the dances and styling. You could see the attraction between R. Kelly and her.”
Turning back the hands of time to Good Friday, 1994, I was on a flight from New York City to Detroit to interview Aaliyah. Hired by Jive Records publicist Lesley Pitts, who was also my girlfriend, I was assigned to write the budding singer’s bio. Having worked with TLC and Toni Braxton on their debuts, Lesley was excited about the teenager’s pop potential.
Aaliyah’s first single, “Back & Forth,” was already being played on the radio and video channels. Unlike the broken-glass balladry of Mary J. Blige, which was hard as the Yonkers ghetto she hailed from, Aaliyah’s voice had a soft strength that reminded me of the Black pop women (Dionne Warwick, Marilyn McCoo, and Barbara McNair) I’d grown up listening to in the ’70s.
For weeks, Lesley had been bragging that this new kid was going to be large; after hearing a few tracks, including “At Your Best (You Are Love),” her lovely cover of the Isley Brothers’ ballad, I was hooked. “I like to groove to artists like Parliament or the Isley Brothers, because that was when music was really real,” Aaliyah said later that day. “I just think the Isley Brothers are so unique.” 
After my jet landed in the Motor City, I took a short cab ride to the Sheraton Hotel and within minutes was sitting in the dining room with Aaliyah, her mother Diane, and Lesley. Dressed casually in jeans and sneakers, Aaliyah wore her shades, but soon took them off as she became more comfortable with me. “When I was younger, I used to go around the house singing with my mother,” Aaliyah said, her voice poised and proper. 
Coming from a middle-class family, she was a product of nice schools and an artistic yearning that was encouraged with classes. “I’m a big fan of Johnny Mathis, so I used to sing ‘Chances Are’ with my mom. Luther Vandross was another favorite. I was so drawn to singing, because I could get away from everything, and I just loved it.” 
Uncle Barry first introduced Aaliyah to R. Kelly when she was twelve. “He was just completing Born into the 90’s, and I sang for him,” she smiled, her voice lightening. “I sang for him, and he liked what he heard. Still, we didn’t start working on the album until a few years later.” 
Arriving first in January of ’93, when there was snow on the ground, Aaliyah returned in the summer, and their relationship clicked in the studio. “We vibed off of one another, and that’s how the songs was built,” she said. “He would vibe with me on what the lyrics should be. He’d tell me what to sing, and I’d sing it. That’s how the whole album was done. We put in a lot of hours; as far as the music, we’d be in there all night making sure it was perfect. There were times when I was tired, but I knew I had to push on if I wanted to come off.” 
When the two weren’t recording, they’d be in the studio watching horror movies. “Silence of the Lambs was my favorite,” she said. “The studio can be hectic, so sometimes we went to McDonald’s.” 
While some of the Kelly’s double entendres could be embarrassing, Aaliyah defended “Back & Forth,” a song whose title hints of sex. “It’s not a song about love or whatever; it’s about going to a party and having fun. I have songs about love, crushes, or whatever, but that song is about dancing. This album is about teens and what they go through.” One of the more forward crush records was the sensually upbeat “No One Knows How to Love Me Quite Like You Do.” Aaliyah smiled when I asked about it and said, “Every girl looks for that one person who is going to love them right. That song is saying, when it comes down to it, I like how you satisfy me.”
Months before Age was released on May 24, 1994, the stylish Millicent Shelton–directed clip for “Back & Forth” was shot at Aaliyah’s performing arts school in Detroit, where teens were recruited to be in various scenes. “That was my first video, but Millicent made me comfortable.” Between takes, she listened to the music of Tupac, Wu-Tang, and Gang Starr. “They all rap on an intellectual level.”
In the studio, she was a sponge who later spoke about her aspirations to produce and write: “When we were recording ‘Down With the Clique,’ I watched how Robert [Kelly] laid the drums and everything. He taught me to play the piano a bit, and I’m also trying to learn the mixing board, though it looks complicated. The studio is my first love.”
After wrapping the interview, Lesley and I went upstairs to our hotel room. Once inside, I turned to her and bluntly stated, “I know this sounds crazy, but I get the feeling R. Kelly is sleeping with that girl.” 
Looking at me as though I was losing my mind, Lesley was appalled. “Why would you say something like that?”
“It’s just a feeling I get.”
“Well, it’s not true, so don’t say that,” she scolded, more protective publicist than loving girlfriend. Of course, a few months later, the entire sordid story became yet another tale in the Babylon that is the music industry that eats its young. 
In 2013, journalist Jim DeRogatis, who broke the R. Kelly sex scandal in 2002, told the Village Voice, “I had Aaliyah’s mother cry on my shoulder and say her daughter’s life was ruined. Aaliyah’s life was never the same after that.”
Six days after the disaster that ended Aaliyah’s life as well as the lives of the pilot and seven members of her team, I sat in my Brooklyn apartment watching footage from Aaliyah’s funeral on Entertainment Tonight. There were images of the white horse-drawn carriage that carried her casket from Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel to St. Ignatius Loyola Church on East Eighty-Third Street in Manhattan.
After the funeral, in front of thousands of fans, twenty-two doves representing the years of her life were released in front of the church as her mother Diane, father Michael, older brother Rashad, Uncle Barry, and fiancé Damon Dash cried. The only person missing, for obvious reasons, was R. Kelly.
Six years before—just a year removed from his notorious split with Aaliyah—R. Kelly sat inside his studio at CRC telling me about producing for other artists, including Michael Jackson (“You Are Not Alone”) and Kelly Price (“Friend of Mine”). “I have many styles,” he said. “I’m more than just the 12 Play guy. I don’t write one kind of thing.”
Looking at him closely, I asked, “If there was just one person you could work with right now, who would it be?” Without hesitation, he held his head high and shamelessly answered, “Aaliyah.”
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smithyyyy · 2 years
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a toast to technoblade
when i got home from school, the first thing i’d do was check my computer, my youtube notifications. it was so exciting to see the little 1 next to the notification bell, especially when it alerted me to a technoblade upload or video.
i watched all of his videos when i discovered the channel in early april, 2020, and then rewatched them again. when i’d had a bad day, i would load up a youtube tab and be hit with a familliar -
“Welcome guys, to another episode of skywars...”
His videos always made my day.
i remember him hitting 1 million subcribers and the elbow reveal, i remember the ultimate trilogy of the potato war and his rivalry with im_a_squid_kid, i remember technoblade absolutely destroying dream in a pvp match in a mr beast video, i remember how ranboo and technoblade jointly discovered ranboo’s potential to be a protaganist, i remember the speech he made when activating the withers in manburg, i remember how he became sand during the $10′000 refrigerator contest.
i remember the video titled ‘where i’ve been’
i remember the shock, the disbelief, the sadness i felt
i remember the lighthearted way he joked about cancer and the reaction from his health insurance.
i remember the second video titled ‘i almost became an amputee’
i remember how again, his humor never faltered, and he continued to make content - the stream with the revengers and saving michael, and the vr minecraft video
i remember the announcement
i remember that i was on holiday in a motorhome, driving up the inland roads of north queensland when my phone pinged. i opened up youtube, and on 360p, with two bars of connection, i watched technoblade’s dad and floof walk up to the chair. i heard techno’s last message, and his mum’s note at the end. 
i cried
i was so upset. 
this grounding, down to earth person, this brotherly internet figure, had died. 
I remember that i was diagnosed with ADHD in 2021, and was having a hard time coming to terms with it, with what this meant for the rest of my life, so i clicked on the newest technoblade upload, the $100′000 mr beast analysis.
i remember i had found out he had ADHD too, and i felt relieved. 
“hey, technoblade is cool and awesome and successful, and he has ADHD, so i should be alright”
and all of my concerns were alleviated
this guy, this funny, intellegent, strategic, strong person, had vanished from my life forever. 
never again will technoblade upload or stream or tweet 
but myself, and i’m sure that the entire community, will remember him
just like i remember
we will cherish the memory of Technoblade
the memory of the blood god
the potato king
the best minecraft monday competitor this world has ever seen
the man who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity
the second worst thing that ever happened to those orphans
and the first worst thing that ever happened to cancer
as of this post, technoblade hit 14 million subscribers, and i am so proud
when the sleepy bois that remain, phil, wilbur and tommy, get in a call together or meet up irl, it will always be 4/4, because technoblade will always be there in our hearts
so i raise a toast to technoblade, for all the people he helped and inspired, for the content that formed a community and brought people together, who changed so many lives -
my life
the lives of techno’s friends
and the lives of his millions of subscribers and dedicated fans 
he made this world a better place and he will be missed
Technoblade Never Dies
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please donate to Sarcoma Foundation of America, the link is here - https://www.curesarcoma.org/
and please donate to charities for cancer research
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gerbelx2000-blog · 4 months
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Introducing Blue Blood Killer, a project that I will do in class and a future series that I will do.
SPOILERS:
Blue Blood Killer takes place in Europe, where a secret organization is sworn to protect those with superpowers from getting killed by an alien race known as the Caeruleans. The main characters are all humans except for the one that is a Caerulean who despises his species' ethics and views towards the homo sapiens. This story carries action-packed fantasy and a comedic tone. It also explores how both sides in a war may have grey moral compasses—similar to Animorphs, Deadpool, B the Beginning, and other modern X-men comic titles. 
2008: The story starts in Porta Venezia, Milan, where Airi Rossi, a spunky young girl, meets a shy, young alien boy– later known as Aoki Lombardi– after meeting each other in a forest where a spaceship crash landed. Airi and Aoki would become the best of friends as time passed. They grow in mutual understanding, with Airi understanding Aoki's powers and Aoki understanding human culture. Aoki was the only alien until the war began. His parents sent him away to avoid his capture by the Grand High Arclight and the Caerulean guards.
Nine years later
2017: A giant blue goop from the sky splashed all across the regions of Planet Earth, including European regions. The goop demolished buildings and statues and even caused earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters. The ones that survived have been contaminated with the blue goop from the sky, and the ones that didn't have succumbed to the disasters. Survivors have built makeshift hospitals and refugee camps–-Including one in the Milan Cathedral— in order to tend to each other. With their newfound powers, some people have attempted to rebuild establishments, monuments, and homes. Some have even attempted to replant new crops and jumpstart electricity for refrigeration, guidance, and communications.
6 Year War
2018:  Things have died down, at least for the moment. But right when Airi and Aoki were settling into their new home, a group of Caeruleans and Caerulean-Human mutations known as Azurites ambushed their home and began attacking them. Right when the Caeruleans were about to inject a concoction that would diminish her powers, Airi manifested the power of luck onto the plasma-like lycanthrope Aoki, causing him to obliterate the Caerulean soldiers and Azurites with a giant blast. Recognizing they were targets, the two raced out of their home and tried to find a place where they could not be found. As they began searching for a place, a teleportation disk stepped into view and warped them into a high-tech facility. This secret hideout was located underneath the grassy side of Parco Sempione. Another location was in Milan. 
This is where the two meet the stoic, no-nonsense Office CEO turned commander Edgar Watson and tech specialist Thea Cirillo. Their new goal is to save hundreds if not thousands, of lives from the Caerulean who try to terrorize and wipe out their superpowers. From there on out, they formed an organization known as the Lapis Reale. 
Aoki meets three more Caeruleans during the 6-year war. In 2020, he met an ill-tempered and antisocial Cerulean named Telice Cortecepts, who lives in the Vertical Forests of Milan. In 2021, he met Nizami Konojami, a crafty and eccentric Caeruelean who wields the power of the weather and is known for pranking Aoki. And in the middle of the summer, he meets Ciel Shimumu, a psychic Cerulean Aoki was supposed to marry by order of the High Arclight. 
2023: Years after saving countless lives, including ones who would become members of Lapis Reale, their new objective is to get rid of the person who started this war: an immortal Caerulean and leader of Caerule, known as the Grand High Arclight. The Grand High Arclight decides that since their soldiers couldn't muster any strength to wipe out the human race, they would have to take action. Grand High Arclight resorted to kidnapping all of the human race and eating it, regaining more power and immortality so that they could recreate their race. 
Not wanting to die, Airi, the rest of the Lapis Reale force, and the reformed Cerulean soldiers team up to find ways to prevent them and the innocents from becoming digested. While doing so, Airi and Aoki have also spared the injured soldiers after fighting them to see if they're willing to switch allegiances. If possible, the two also help the aliens, who are non-soldiers around town, and give them food and shelter.
They began crawling out of the Grand High Arclight's digestive acid and trying to find their brain(their weak spot). This attempt was arduous as Azurites were lurking within their stomach, trying to rip the bubble the Earthlings were in and then kill them. However, once they reached the brain, they finally shut it off, resulting in the Grand High Arclight's death and their ship shutting down. After getting out of the ship and realizing that the Grand High Arclight was the one that powered the ship, the Airi and the group scrambled to find the controls. Having full knowledge of the Caerulean language and technology, Aoki and several of the reformed Caeruleans powered up the ship and piloted it back home. The story ends with a festival celebrating the two races' victory, defeating their immortal godlike tyrant. 
Blue Blood Killer (ブルー・ブラッド・キラー) Characters.
Airi Rossi(アイリ・ロッシ, Age 28, Tychokinesis):  A spunky, optimistic girl and the aunt of a girl named Hiromi who always gets herself into trouble no matter how big or small. However, she makes up for her clumsiness with her incredible knowledge of astronomy and astrology that she inherited from her father, and her willingness to help others in need, even after going through so much disasters. Her main superpower is luck, meaning she can increase the probability of her and her friends.  She and Aoki have been best friends since childhood. Prior to the war against the Caeruleans, she grew up to be a cop.
Aoki Lombardi or Niro Oregine(アオキ・ロンバルディ/ナイロ・オレギン, Age 28, Plasmakinesis, Wolf Physiology): Quiet, kindhearted, lonely Caerulean and at some point paranoid. After being separated from his parents and sent all the way to Earth, he became scared and alone until he met and befriended Airi. Prior to the war against the Caeruleans, he was a Mineralogist and Petrologist, and he would rather not have anyone including himself destroy life on a planet. Because that would see himself as a monster.
Thea Cirillo(テア・シリロ, Age 29, Technokinesis):  A sassy, partying, and mischievous, Tech specialist/hacker and a good friend mainly Airi and Aoki. In the aftermath of the destruction from the Blue Goop, and after being shafted by her estranged family, she traveled all the way from Paros and straight to Italy to find Edgar and her new coworkers.
Edgar Watson(エドガー・ワトソン, Age 41, Metalkinesis): Stoic and perfectionist man who was once President of the office building QUOCA Distribution(Quality United Observation Collective Administration) and is now leader of Lapis Reale. He is usually calm and collected, but when faced with any sort of nonsense or a threat that greatly impacts him and his associates he will lose his temper.
Marco Orlando(マルコ・オーランド, Age 38, Dragon Physiology): A wrestler with a big heart of gold and a muscle of a Titan. He had a wife named Key and a young daughter named Marcella and ever since they were killed, he had been devastated and angry, causing the newfound draconic powers to overtake him and go on a kill spree. After Lapis Reale defeats and reforms him, he decides to train himself both emotionally and physically in order to keep his inner demons at bay.
Benjamin Hoffman(ベンジャミン・ホフマン, Age 26, Hydrokinesis and Merfolk Physiology): A Jewish sailor borne from France dedicated to his job and his daily life routine. When the goop destroyed all of the areas in France, cities were destroyed his captain crew mates as well as families were killed and he was stuck in the ocean. Everything was all crashing down. However, Lapis Reale managed, he slowly had to get used to having new people in his life as well as having a new job. He’s used to having a routine and has a bad habit of overthinking, but his strength comes in unlimited geographic and oceanographic knowledge.
Kline Ledger “McCoy” Rossi(クライン・レジャー・マッコイ・ロッシ,Age 40, Jinx Manipulation): Former professor at Caraway University with a Ph.D. in astrophysics, an old friend of Edgar and Claude and the real father of Airi Rossi. Very lax and antisocial individual contrast to his cheery attitude prior to his kidnapping by the Caerulians. McCoy is his pen name.
Titus Gardener(タイタス・ガーデナー, Age 60, Elasticity): A kind old man who works and lives in the gardens of the Milan apartments. Like He’s a pacifist and sees the good in nature despite the flaws, hence why he’s not keen in a participating a war and would rather act as a part of a rescue team. He’s good friends with and would often bring tea in order to comfort them during a stressful situation.
Ciel Shimumu(シエル・シムム, Age 28, Psychokinesis): A Caerulian and a former significant other for Aoki/Niro who would often times sticks to the rules, especially, however will not outright dictate anyone and would rather stick to the sidelines if need be. However due to her psychic powers, she cannot ignore those suffering, human or Caeruleans. She’s good friends with Hinako and Airi Rossi.
Hope you guys like it.
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fcble · 10 months
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🙊 for mingeun!!
🙊 ― a memory you don’t ever talk about.
In which Mingeun tries to go home. WORD COUNT: 1k WARNINGS: Verbal abuse. Extremely shitty parents. NOTES: Takes place mid 2020, amongst Mingeun's scandal, which you can read more about here and here.
Mingeun can’t go home. He knows that much. He explains the situation as best as he can over the phone to his older sister, Minah. It’s a difficult process—Mingeun chokes up over random words and backtracks multiple times to explain the whole story. By the end of it, his sinuses hurt from the effort of trying not to cry.
Two days later, Minah picks him up at Vancouver International Airport. 
Mingeun stares straight ahead at the road from the passenger seat of her Hyundai Sonata. “How long can I stay?”
In his peripheral vision, he sees the sideways glance he gets. “As long as you need to.”
But Mingeun doesn’t want to be a burden, and he knows she lives with her boyfriend—Stephen or Daniel or Kevin or some other similarly generic name—in an apartment barely big enough for the two of them.
“You won’t tell Mom?” he asks, just to reassure himself.
“Of course not.”
Mingeun figures his parents already know. They can read the news. His only hope is that they’ll assume he’s still in Korea, not that the CEO of his entertainment company is a such an asshole he packed Mingeun onto a plane and sent him halfway around the world.
Minah parks in her designated spot, and Mingeun lugs his suitcases out of the trunk.
“Is your boyfriend home?” he asks on the elevator up to the fifth floor.
“Gary? No, he’s at work.”
Mingeun is off on every count. The name of Minah’s boyfriend. Average working adult schedules. 
The elevator door dings open.
“Shit,” Minah breathes quietly. 
Mingeun looks past her to see a familiar silhouette pacing up and down the hallway. The freshly blown out perm, hair cut slightly shorter than a bob. The sensible black flats, silent on the carpeted floor. The timeless, stylish outfit, modest in its long sleeves, shin-length pants, and high neckline. It’s been almost four years since he left, but the sight of his mother still fills Mingeun with trepidation. He doesn’t think children are supposed to fear or despise their parents the way he does.
“Minah. Why don’t you answer your phone?” his mother asks.
Mingeun is relieved she didn’t talk to him first. He doesn’t wish her scrutiny on his sister—he doesn’t wish it on anyone—but at his core, he’s all about self-preservation.
“I was driving, Mom,” Minah says. “Please don’t yell in the hallway. Let’s go inside.”
She leads the way down the hall and into her apartment. Mingeun follows close behind, rolling his suitcases as quietly as possible. 
“Yah. Mingeun,” his mother says from behind him.
All she says is his name. Mingeun flinches.
“How come you didn’t tell me you were coming home?”
“I don’t know,” Mingeun mumbles.
“Just leave your stuff,” Minah says quietly in English. “We have to get rid of her first.”
Their mother is poking her way around Minah’s kitchen. She opens the refrigerator and sniffs. “Only takeout containers! Minah, you need to cook more.”
Minah hurries over and closes the refrigerator door. “I have work.”
Mingeun takes an uneasy seat on the edge of Minah’s couch, one of the only places that isn’t occupied by pillows and blankets and stuffed animals. This wasn’t what he expected to return to. He was thinking he could spend some time here, lay low for a few weeks, and then return to Korea to pick up the pieces of his career. His mother wouldn’t even have to know.
“I heard from Yerin you were in trouble. She showed me the picture of you at the airport. You know how embarrassing that is for me? The son I raised didn’t tell me anything. I have to hear through gossip.” She says the last word like it’s caused her personal offense.
Mingeun has no idea who Yerin is. Probably one of his mother’s friends, but he doesn’t pay much attention. Does that make him a bad son?
Minah takes a seat next to Mingeun, pushing aside multiple pillows. Mingeun likes her there. It makes the battle lines evident.
“Sorry,” Mingeun says to the floor.
His mother lets out an exaggerated sigh. “How did I have two worthless children?”
“Mom!” Minah snaps.
“Don’t talk back.” She flaps her hand in Minah’s direction. “So disrespectful.”
If Mingeun was braver, he’d say something. Something about how there must be some common factor that made both him and Minah act this way. Instead, he becomes very interested in the carpet threads under his feet.
His mother addresses him next. “You need to go back and apologize. How can you run away like this? You’re disgraceful. How can your father and I show our faces?”
These questions are rhetorical. Mingeun sits there, numb and quiet. He can’t explain the situation. She wouldn’t understand. He tries to tune her out, but his mother’s voice is loud and grating. Every word seems like a direct attack on Mingeun, cutting deep into his very being.
“We make so many sacrifices for you. You do nothing. First, you drop out of SM. Then you drop out of high school. Now you do this.” She gestures meaninglessly through the air. “Your father and I try to support you. You make it so difficult.”
“Sorry,” Mingeun says again. He keeps his head bowed, still interested in the floor. Maybe this way, no one will see the tears threatening to drop with each passing second.
When his mother stops to take a breath, Minah stands up. “That’s enough, Mom. We get it. You need to leave now.”
If Mingeun didn’t feel like shit, he would find it amusing to watch his sister strong-arm their mother out the door. Minah is younger and stronger, and with one arm around their mother’s back, she’s forceful enough to make their mother stumble. 
As it stands, Mingeun does feel like shit, and his vision is blurry with tears. He hears the lock click, and then feels Minah’s weight on the couch again.
She wraps him a hug, one hand stroking his hair, in a way Mingeun can’t remember experiencing for years. “I didn’t know she would be here, or that she would say anything like that. You know it’s not true, right?”
Mingeun doesn’t say anything in response, but finally lets himself cry into his sister’s shirt sleeve.
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coffeegleek · 1 year
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First self care thing for the new year: I decided not to do farm share this year and to try to not feel guilty about it because I'll still be buying from the farm - on days and at times that are more convenient. Reasons under the cut.
A 20 week commitment is a lot - a lot of pressure to not miss a week because that's money wasted especially if it's a fruit share week.
Having to get up at 6 am to get hub to work because we only have 1 car. This is easy for some, but not me, a night to super night owl. Some days, it's really, really hard. Their hours do not allow hub enough time to do the pick up after work. (It's a 40 minute drive because of traffic.)
Renovations during it last year made everything more stressful and we had to donate and compost a lot of the produce. More renovations are happening this year, not the kitchen of course, but still plumbing related and I'll spare you the details.
It's a lot of work tackling that much produce every week. A smaller share doesn't give the variety or quantity of things we like.
We have 2 refrigerators and both freezers are still packed with produce and meat from last year. Because of the last 3 years of farm share, we never used a lot of our shelf stable pantry goods bought in 2020 and would really like to get those used up before they go bad.
Similarly, I still have fruit I canned 2 years ago and a ton of jams and sauces bought during the farm's sale last year.
Hub's anti-vax, anti-mask, "covid is just a seasonal flu," has heart damage because of original covid, public school teacher, 47 yr old brother has already had covid 4 times that we know of. One figures it's going to catch up with him sooner than later.
Same too for hub's elderly, immune compromised with a million health problems parents who don't mask around their sons and grandkids.
Or gods forbid it's hub. He's escaped covid so far and works a fuck ton of hours. If the masking and building closed to the public measures are dropped, then his chances of catching it go way up.
We haven't seen our son in 4 years. It would be nice to have that option should it need to happen during the 20 weeks of farm share, which is more like 24-26 because there are no set start and end dates due to the weather and how the crops grow.
I still don't trust Little Miss Abandonment Issues Nervous Pooper who seems to have always had this problem given that she knew what a dog diaper was and ran away when I tried to see if the ones I'd bought would fit her. She figured out why she was going in the cage too. One of my goals this year to make a room fully safe to leave her alone in or at least get her better at being alone.
And that's the ramble. There's still weeks to change our mind even if we'd lose out on the best discount and possibly the chance to get the beef share. But right now, I feel calm about it. It's calming not having that pressure on top of everything else. I know I'll miss it, fruit share days were the absolute best days, but at last I know where to buy said produce when I need it. (that farm directly, grocery store, collective farmers markets)
Lastly, I feel like I made this post last year too, so maybe I did end up changing my mind?
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My turn, my turn!!
Okay so~ 1, 10 & 31 💜
Hi! And thank you for the ask!
1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)
Hm, since I write three types of content...
for headcanons, I'd go with "Warlords Opening Up MC's Refrigerator After She's Been Gone Three Months" because it pretty much exemplifies that kind of weird chaos that sometimes pops into my brain.
For short fiction, it would be the story I wrote for your request, A Simple Game, because I really like writing warlords interacting with each other, especially getting to put three smart sneaky warlords like Shingen, Mitsuhide, and Motonari together.
Long fic would have to be Twelve Lies I Told Shingen Takeda - it introduces the multiverse and I loved the idea of Shingen being in a relationship that grew out of friendship, kindness, and mutual respect, rather than out of physical attraction (or if someone just wants to read a smut chapter, there are a couple of those... Buttons being my favorite).
10. How do you decide what to write?
With headcanons, if they aren't an ask, it's usually something that just pops into my head, or is prompted by something that just happened in real life. Like the smoke alarm HC was prompted by being awakened at 3 a.m. by my smoke alarm's dead battery chirp.
All of the short fics on my blog were prompted either by an exchange, or by a chaotic bingo request, so with those, it's mostly noodling around with the prompts until I can think of something that fits the request. I used to do a improv and sketch comedy, so in a sense, it's a similar concept - take the audience's suggestion, and use it to jump off into a scene, but then take the scene to an unexpected twist.
With longfic, usually it starts with something that I can't stop thinking about. The original idea for the Tempest in Time series was just a bunch of scenarios that kept haunting me in the summer of 2020. They weren't leaving my head, so I had to write them down. I knew I wanted to create a multiverse with an OC who would have multiple versions of herself living in different timelines, but would be connected by a frame story involving a mission that needed to be completed across all the timelines, and that my OC would potentially encounter different versions of herself. The initial thought would be that the OC would have a route for every warlord, and I knew that Shingen had to be first, because his canon illness was going to necessitate time travel anyway, so I could take care a lot of the world building and establish the multiverse dilemma naturally (and also his story was the clearest in my mind, and also... well, it's Shingen, he's basically my favorite warlord anyway). And as such, Sasuke would need to be the final story, because it's going to involve a crap ton of time timeline hopping. The order in the middle is random, based on whichever warlord's story I can visualize the clearest. Hideyoshi was supposed to be after Mitsunari's, but what I had planned started feeling too similar to parts of Shingen's, so my next thought was to go to Ieyasu ... but then a certain Kitsune said, "I'm sorry my dear, but I insist you tell my story next," and the plot unrolled in my mind. If I can picture how a story starts, at least three points somewhere in the middle, and how it ends, that's when I know that I can start writing a long fic. Sometimes I have an idea of where somethin starts, but no clue about what happens next, so those just sort of stay marinating in my brain until I can see more of where it wants to go.
And that was a very long answer to a short question... sorry.
31. What’s your ideal fic length to write?
Heh... size doesn't matter. I've got a couple of pieces I love that are less than 500 words each, and one of the longfics clocked in at over 150,000 words (which totally shocked me... I never realized I could write that much).
There's a special challenge in writing the uber-short flash fics, especially if there is a word limit. I can spend more time tweaking a 330 word flash fic than a 3300 word chapter in a longfic.
I like to keep the short fic at less than 5000 words, only because if it starts getting longer than that, then I get tempted to do more world building and add subplots, and all of a sudden it's heading into longfic territory.
What I like about writing longfic is getting to live with a story and the characters for a long period of time. Shingen's story took me 8 months to write, Mitsunari's story took a year... I've hit the 4 month mark on the draft of Mitsuhide's... I like these characters that Cybird originated, and in longfic, I can hang out with them and really get to know them.
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kurosakimasaki · 2 years
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Okay, okay...so.
After much pressure from the artist himself a.k.a. @ryusxnka​... 
JK JK I WAS ACTUALLY THE ONE ASKING HIM IF I COULD POST THIS ON MY BLOG HAHAHAHAHAH SORRY CAWEB MWAH MWAH ( ˘ ³˘)♥
But yeah! Anyway! 🤣🤣🤣
The past two-and-a-half years of us being attached to the hip, I had always tried to convince my dearest bean to pick up his long-lost passion to draw once again. Most of those attempts were to no avail—or well, met with an “You make me want to do it again” at best, hahahah. Not that he has to comply if he doesn’t feel like it, but he had shown me some of his past drawings and as someone who enjoys the activity myself, I just think it would be fun if we could share another hobby and improve together through practices.
Turned out it took him an internet outage for almost 3 weeks straight to get bored enough he reunited with his paper and pencil 😂😂 And after that excruciatingly-long period of us not talking (he and I had never really missed a day of at the bare minimum greeting each other ever since he poked me on IM over this meta about the way age works in Bleach when I returned to the fandom in early 2020, lmaooooo (aside from that one time we had that stupid argument and not spoken for an entire week, but that doesn’t count ahaha~)), he showed me this picture he created for me, and...well, I’d be lying to say I didn’t shed tears; because in all honesty, I totally felt like a proud mom whose son drew herself/their family during art class at school that I wanted to just...pin that image on the refrigerator for everyone to see :’)
Tl;dr — It really is an honor for me to be in your thoughts to the point you did this for me, Beebee. This piece is beautiful and just...means the world to me, you don’t even know. I hope we can draw more things together in the future. Wuff u~! 💕
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skyfall8600 · 2 years
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Children of Dawn Pt. 2 (A Twilight Saga Fanfiction)
Note: I originally created this story back in 2020 with the first lockdowns from COVID-19. I had posted it on Wattpad under a different name, SaturnFire2000. However, I kept being drawn back to this story. It might be a while before new chapters are added, but I thought it would be worth re-posting the story on here given my new-found family of followers. 
Summary: Years after the final battle, the Cullen family face new challenges. Edward and Bella take on new roles in life; Renesmee struggles to understand her goals and purpose in a world where no one is like her. The Volturi kept a large secret that could destroy them all. 
Main Masterlist
Series Masterlist 
Warnings: Sexual references, violence, blood 
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Chapter 2: Renesmee
We decided to hunt just before we had to leave, being enclosed on a plane was not something I had done before. Running freely through the woods was something I could never get enough of, the feeling of the grass and dirt on my feet and the wind blowing in my hair was so calming and erratic. 
My parents were ahead of me, already acting on their predatory instincts on an Elk a few yards away.  I joined them mid hunt, devouring and taking whatever meat I could in my portable cooler bag strapped to my waist. Food was food, I hated thinking that I was a killer, so I tried to make the most of it. 
“I think a few more then we should be good until we return.” My father said, his eyes returning to their golden brown from the black hunger. 
“Any mountain lions?” my Mother asked, her eyes wide. She always enjoyed a good mountain lion. It was me who caught on the scent of our next prey, they followed after me. It was so energising to drink fresh blood, the blood bags from donors that I grew up on were satisfying but the difference between refrigerated and fresh was mouth-watering. Neither my Mother nor I have tasted human blood from the direct source, and I was too afraid to. The way my Father described the crave for it made me never want to, I already felt sorry for the animals we hunted… I could never force that upon another human. 
I was pleased that Jacob would be coming with us, he always made me feel safe. Having Jacob in my life was so simple when I was younger, he was my best friend. Now things are more complicated, I don’t know why I suddenly feel so shy and quiet in front of him… it’s just Jacob. But I notice him looking at me sometimes, eyes focused on my facial features and it makes my heart beat faster. I hated being half human, the blood rushes to my cheeks and my embarrassment displayed for everyone to see. 
It’s confusing sometimes, I feel as if I always want him near me but whenever he is… I can’t think straight. His perfect smile and tanned skin always distract me from whatever I was doing beforehand. I have to force myself to think calmly and rationally whenever my Father is around, I don’t want anyone to know how I feel about Jacob. He’s been a friend of the family for years; I can’t put them in an awkward situation simply because of a little crush. 
I’ve read books of all kinds; it feels like everything I’ve ever read in romance novels. The overwhelming feelings and thoughts erupting all over my body when he was around. Jacob could never find out; I don’t want to ruin the friendship we have… I don’t want to lose him. 
I first began to feel this way last year, it felt like the entire world drifted away when he hugged me when he returned from a camping trip with Seth. I hadn’t realised how much I missed him over that week, I didn’t want to let go. 
“Everything packed?” Jacob asked my Father, “Blood? Garlic in case we attack them?”
“Very funny Jake.” Mother replied, swatting his arm with her hand. 
I always wondered how Jacob knew them before I was borne, everyone always went quiet about that part. It was stupid of me to be jealous of my own mother for having a longer relationship with him, he wasn’t mine. 
“Are you sure Leah is okay with you coming?” Father asked, I knew he didn’t want Jacob to come. Apart of me thinks he knows how I feel about Jacob, of course he wouldn’t want the boy his daughter had a crush on to come with them to Italy. 
Jacob nodded and picked up my bags to place them in the car, “Yeah, everything is all set. Even Billy made sure my passport photo was ‘attractive’.” 
“Jake can you tell Billy to stop trying to pay for your ticket. We are covering it.” 
“Bella, the old man just wants to help.” 
I hadn’t said a word since Jacob arrived, I just stood there biting my lip as they all loaded the car. Sitting in the back seat, Jacob joined me humming quietly as my parents went back inside to get two more bags. 
“You okay Nessie?” he asked me in a serious tone. “I brought some motion sickness pills in case you get sick on the plane, since you’ve never been on one yet.” 
The brush on my cheeks was making my hot skin boil. He was just being a good friend, like always. I managed to whisper a small, “I’m fine. Promise.” And he dropped the subject, keeping an eye on me from the corner of his eye. 
I made sure to distract myself to the music playing in the car, with my Father so close I couldn’t afford to think of Jacob in any way. But seeing him sing along and enjoy himself to a few songs made me break my promises to myself, he was so enthusiastic and happy. His big tough Alpha persona was never something he had to use around me and my parents, he could be himself … and I loved it. 
Joking around in the car with my mother, it was clear that they shared the same sense of humour. Jacob was always funny to me; it was only recently I started to become embarrassed if I laughed around him. 
“I’m just saying, couldn’t we have sent a video of Nessie? Seems very unpractical to travel all the way to Italy to look at someone.” He nudged my Mother’s seat in front. “Isn’t that right Bella?” 
“Oh, bite me.” Was her response. 
My parents sat in the aisle across from us on the plane, Jacob gave me the window seat so I could ‘see the world’, as he said. I knew that it was Jacob’s first time on a plane too, so he was trying to stay cool and collected to stop me from freaking out. 
“Need headphones? Apparently the initial take off is supposed to be loud and your ears pop, since yours are so sensitive I thought it might be good for you.” He said, rampaging through his backpack for the little ear buds. He had four sets, in case anyone wanted one. 
My parents took them, Father hated being able to hear everyone’s nerves and thoughts so at least the sounds around him would be drowned out. Mother just wanted to play music to distract herself from being in a closed area with humans. 
“Can we share some, to listen to music together?” I asked him, taking one bud from his warm hand. 
“Sure… yeah.” He smiled slightly, pleased with my request. “Classical or modern music?” 
“Modern… I’ve been listening to too much classical lately, Dad is starting to think I’ll start playing again.” Softly in my ear the music started to play, instinctively I rested my head on his shoulder and let the comfort surround me. 
“Why don’t you? You play really well.” Jacob said. 
“I just don’t have any passion to, Dad is always inspired by something. But I just go blank, so what’s the point in playing if your hearts not in it?” 
I could hear Jacob’s loud heartbeat from the inside of his chest, the rhythmic beating was more soothing than any song that played through the headphones. 
“Maybe the drums or guitar would be fun, I’d play those…”
“I doubt very well.” I laughed, imagining Jacob smashing away at the drum kit like a child. “No offence or anything.” 
He was laughing with me, “None taken, it’ll be fun to make everyone suffer listening to it though.” 
“Thanks.” 
“Asides from you, Love.” 
I died instantly inside. My entire body felt like it was on fire the moment the word left his lips; Jacob had never given me any romantic nicknames before. But Jasper always called me ‘Darling’, how was this any different? Why was I acting this way?  I was glad that my parents were preoccupied mentally, I didn’t know for how much longer I could refrain myself from giving into my feelings. 
When the plane took off, Jacob was right…. It was extremely loud, more for me than the other passengers around us. My overly sensitive hearing caused for a sharp pain to erupt from one side of my temple straight to the centre of my forehead. I crouched down in a defensive cradle, with Jacob’s arms around me. 
“You okay? It’s almost over I think.” He rubbed my back. I looked up into his dark eyes from where I was, I saw the concern on his face and hated that I made him worry. Once I was able to bring myself up, the sound of the engines and jets were nothing more than slightly humming sensations at the back of my head. 
“I’m fine, it’s toned down now.” 
Jacob pointed out to the window, directly my attention to there. It was beautiful, I have never been this high up off the ground, even when I jump for snowflakes in the winter. The clouds looked as though they were painted so delicately with watercolour over the light blue sky, the sun was beginning to descend with the coming sunset within the next few hours. 
“You know, you’ve never tried painting.” Jacob said, “I think you’ll be good at it.” 
“You think too highly of me.” I shook my head and laughed lightly. 
“Only because you are so incredible.” 
“Right, everyone seems to think so because I am some ‘miracle hybrid baby’. But they never think of me as me, just what I am.” 
“Is Renesmee Carlie Cullen suggesting that she is ordinary?” Jacob laughed. 
“You know what I’m saying Jacob.” I could feel his breath on the side of my face. “Since I was borne everyone says I’m special, but I want to learn about what makes me…. me. I know I probably sound stupid, but everything has been handed to me, or I have been praised for absolutely anything I’ve done. But who am I as a person?” 
“I don’t think it’s stupid.” He said quickly, “I felt that way too once, I didn’t know what was important for me or who I wanted to be. But once you figure it out, it is the most wonderful feeling on earth.” 
“How did you know?” 
“You just do, it’s like the whole world changes.” 
I drifted off to sleep shortly once the aircraft became steady in the air, Jacob woke me gently during the landing procedure and the four of us departed the plane swiftly. 
The warm Italian air surrounded me the second we got out of the airport. The fragrance was fresh, but it was distinct in some new way that I had never smelt before. The hot sun felt so nice and soothing on my skin, giving me the unnatural hue glow. My parents were covered head to toe with bandanas and long sleeve clothing, sunglasses over their face. At times like this, I felt sorry for them having to cover themselves and hide away. I didn’t need to be subjected to that due to my half human nature. 
Jacob enjoyed the sun and fast car we hired, rushing to the passenger seat next to my Father to get the full effect. I never understood their relationship. They were close, like friends, but Father was always very cautious over Jacob’s motives and actions. I found it insulting that he didn’t trust Jacob. When I reached the puberty stage of my development, something in my Father snapped and he forbade Jacob being around me as often as he was before. Naturally, he calmed down and removed the rule, but there was still tension between them sometimes. 
I texted Alice that we arrived safely, even though she most likely knew my parents had. I took photos of the scenery on my phone; the hill tops were so beautiful and green. It wasn’t like a dull green our forest at home often was, this was luscious and full of life, most likely thanks to the strong sunlight. 
“Bella and I will speak to Aro first, Jacob keep Renesmee outside in the entrance for as long as possible.” My Father spoke. 
“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of this trip? He wants to see me, so the quicker he does the sooner we don’t have to worry about him again.” I said, looking to my mother for support 
“We have to make sure there aren’t any traps.” Jacob responded quickly, for once taking my father’s side. 
“Renesmee isn’t wrong though, perhaps it would be better. It shows we trust them.” 
“Bella, the more precautions we take the better.” 
“We are here to prove that I am fully grown, hereby declaring that I am no longer a child! I think it’s time I have a say in how things go.” I snapped at my father. “You can read every mind in the room, Mum can shield us all, Jacob will protect me no matter what and I am more than capable of knowing when I am in danger.”
My father and Jacob kept quiet. The roaring sound of the car engine filled the space for the next few seconds until my mother spoke up, “It’s settled then, all at once we go in.” 
“Bella!” Jacob called out. 
“Renesmee is right. We are all adults now; we have to face them and show them we aren’t afraid of them. God knows I am ready to kill Aro with my bare hands, but we need to be rational about this.” She said, getting the approval of my father. 
We parked outside of the big clocktower in the centre of the town, the streets were empty and there was not a soul in sight. The fountain just outside the large doorway shimmered in the sunlight, the water sparkling as it moved freely. 
The door opened before we approached the last step, the dark hallway becoming illuminated by the natural lighting from the sun. No one greeted us in, but my Father leaded the way in silence. My Mother followed and Jacob stayed at my side, we walked closely behind them. 
Although I was nervous, I refused to admit it. I had faced Aro once without fear, but now I was on his territory and we were outnumbered. A young human woman greeted us halfway through the halls, leading us for the remainder of the way. There was something about this place that made me think I had seen it before, in a familiar way something was calling out to me from behind the close doorways that we passed. 
The women open the doors at the centre of the wall, a large creek followed and within seconds I could smell how many people there were in the room. Aro was the first I noticed; his smell had haunted my dreams for weeks after the confrontation. I was so afraid he would change his mind and hunt me down. 
“Welcome.” He said, his blood red eyes scanning our faces and landing on me quickly. “My…my… dear child, just as beautiful as your mother.” 
“Aro.” My Father nodded. “We come just as you requested, although I do hope you don’t mind our additional guest.” 
“Of course not!” Aro smiled, his teeth in their constant fang like form. “We have grown quite fond of the wolves… slowly broadening our knowledge. Do come closer, please.” 
He held out his hand, eyes still locked onto me. I moved towards him without consulting my family first, Jacob tried to hold my arm back but trusted me enough to let me go. I could feel my mother’s mental shield stretching out to protect me. 
“Hello Aro.” I said with as little facial expression as possible. 
“Renesmee.” He smiled; his hand still reached out towards me. When I was close enough to him, I raised my hand to his face and took control over the situation. I showed him of everything from the moment of my birth in small bursts and flashes, highlighting the scenes displaying me as carrying and non-dangerous. The others around him looked at me, disgusted by my existence. 
When I was finished, I took my hand and stood back out of arms reach. 
“Satisfied?” I asked, my mother’s personality shining through mine. 
Jane was the first to snark at me, Felix leaning to whisper in her ear. 
Aro was about to speak but the door to the side of the opened without warning, a young girl around my age and height walked through. She clearly came in here for something important by the expression on her face, but as soon as she saw me, we both froze in our places. 
Her dark brown eyes and beating heart made me question what she was doing here. Aro must like to play with his food, I thought. She crinkled her nose and tilted her head to the side. 
“Arabella, what is the meaning of this?” Marcus asked her with his course voice. 
“The young ones, Sir, they require more food soon as Stephanie finished the remainder of the second tank this afternoon. I was informed to notify you.” She spoke eloquently. 
Who are they? A voice said, I quickly turned around to see if anyone whispered in my ear. And what’s that smell? Wet... dog? 
I looked back at Arabella and noticed her eyes drifted to Jacob, her nose still scrunched up as though she didn’t like the smell.  My father was staring at her also, clearly, he was able to hear what she was thinking, but was I able to as well? 
“Child, we have guests…. Do remember the rules now.” Aro said firmly, the girl nodded and turned to leave the room, looking over her shoulder one last time in my direction. 
Another half breed? Was her final thought before she closed the door behind her. 
“Adopting children, are we Aro?” My Father asked, raising his eyebrow at the leader. He walked closer towards me now, unsure of the situation. 
“Just locals… we let them roam the Castle from time to time, no harm done.” He shrugged. “Please, where were we.” 
“We have shown our proof and pose no harm, are we free to leave?” 
“Of course, Edward. But please, feel free to explore Volterra, it is a beautiful time of year for a holiday.” Aro laughed in his high-pitched voice. Their black robes swayed swiftly as the door behind us opened once more. “I do hope you stay in the accommodation we have provided; I would love to get to know Renesmee more….” 
This was not part of the plan; we knew that we could not defy against Aro and the others. Blackmail was a common tactic Aro used, only looking out for his own personal gain. I was surprised when my father nodded and agreed to his request, aside from Jacob’s heaving breathing I could hear footsteps roaming the halls outside. Light, quick footsteps. 
Aro was up to something, all these years of fear and curiosity have made him feel threatened and vulnerable. The unknown of how many others of my kind there are around the world scared him, even more so if they had extraordinary powers. He seemed so dismissive to Arabella when she walked in, almost as if she gave away his secret. The image of her face was clear and perfect in my mind, she reminded me of my mother; a delicate frame and soft curves in the face. Her brown eyes held so much emotion that it seemed unnatural, sophisticated yet curious. 
“The girl that came in before,” I spoke, “…am I able to speak with her?” Aro raised his eyebrow, Jane and Felix were angered by my request. “I barely interact with anyone my age, I was just wondering…. since she seemed to know about us…” 
Aro looked to his co-leader, shocked and nervous. Jane had a sinister smile displayed in her bright red lips; I was afraid to look away from her in fear that she might lash out. Unexcitingly, my father was the first to comment on what I asked for. 
“It seemed that Arabella wished to speak to Renesmee also, from what I heard so far.” He said. 
The Volturi hated when my father used his powers against them, usually. But for some reason, they were even more enraged now. It almost came like a surprise to them, as though he shouldn’t have been able to hear the young girl’s thoughts at all. Perhaps the girl had a similar shielding ability to my mother and given my father’s experience with it, he was able break through it easier. But that still doesn’t explain why I could hear her, I thought loud in my own mind…. Ensuring that he too could hear it. 
“We shall stay for the remainder of the week.” Father said, his golden eyes torn between me and the door Arabella escaped through.  
“Aro, we mustn’t…” Jane protested. 
“Hush now.” He snapped at her quickly, “I shall have Arabella take you to your quarters… I am afraid that is the only time you shall get to spend with her, she has important duties around here.”
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A/n: If you like any of my work, please reblog. I promise it goes a long way in helping your favourite fanfic writers share their stories. 
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kentarorants · 1 month
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The 2000s.
Oh, the 2000s.
Cultural beginnings of then have become cheapened, now, and this is an optimistic viewpoint. Notice that most of this has gone. As in, away. Companies stopped keeping this kind of thing around, because, until now… …until the 2020s, people didn't realize how much potential and chance they had, even then, at the time.
People are still hiking mountains thanks to dollars they made from viral videos. They did so then, and will still do so, now.
At least, for as long as that 'YouTube' place stays around.
Of course, people could say what they will. That this could all just be a pessimistic viewpoint.
Perhaps I just need to see the ambition, in the now. I'll be met by the 2000s, and realize: the ambition is leaping, from there. I'll look for it, in the now, and see that it speaks to me, clearer, from the 2000s.
Defiant expression, though being a commodified offshoot of actual defiance, still boldly spoke to a generation. Basically "kicked the can to the curb". If we even know what that phrase means, anymore.
youtube
Mario, for the love of mushrooms, hugged the 'got milk?' campaign, by failing, miserably, in his own video game, busting out of the TV set, and powering through a stolen beverage. He got this by breaking into some random players' refrigerator.
On paper, that sounds made up. This wasn't. Because it left the mind, and was put on screen. Hilarious, baffling, and, still, a punch to the face.
For the love of goodness, we were yearning for things to be otherwise. Do advertising executives even know that, now? Only smiling. Only applauding the product. Next thing you know, a seminar, mid-commercial, on screen. Sometimes, you see it shaken up. Though, it's all, still, usually coated in slogans.
Copycat, HTML5, webm and webp-injected scripts, conglomerizing the internet. Until you can't see the difference, anymore. You might not even care because you might just be trying to get through, thereby skimming with your eyes, as you watch it. Will you even notice what the ad is? It races fast.
Barely a hum out of the TV. It's all it needs to be.
Blink. Done.
Where will be the ad bold enough to keep up the storytelling?
An episodic one, even, told through the chapter-by-chapter pages of each engaging, thrilling advertisement? Was that going to shock us? Thrill us? Hurdle us through life, in a sped-up, safety-of-the-couch way?
Were we going to look back on the 2020s, only favorably?
The best critic now will speak about this through some means. Because they're aware. More than a time machine peek alone reveals this. You can feel it, now. It sends you back there, this latest release. You know what you feel from. You know where it lays.
It might be in the 2000s.
Maybe that's what's overwriting the now. That, the two decades, folded, meet at that point. Perhaps, this was all written into the history of now.
"We're only going to eat up the usual? Alright! Try five years of it. Now, 10! Want difference and creative directors, yet?! Want to keep skipping ads all your life??! Is that it?!?? See how you like it, now!!!"
…and this is becoming the story of us. A documentary would have to tell it. Good to peoples' intelligence, since that matters. Still, pulling no punches where a moment may have to be said. Of the time spent staying stuck to phones, letting the world run by while the screen outside plays footage of people jogging. Binge-watching becoming a custom.
Couch-bound, and feeling absolutely drained.
Now an original series, starring you, taking place daily. Usually around evening. When someplace held you there. Feeling like no one can be friends with their fellow humans. The sadness in this. The silent mistreatment of each other, becoming louder.
LOUDER!
What's our story, now?
Could it even be told, through ads?
Ads are blurring into each other. The jokes told feel like they're already giving up on comedy. Descending down a staircase. The feeling like all the interaction is stiff. Like the directors' made to sit down, next, and act amongst the actors. Kind of forced in there. Shoved, even. Humans being cruel to each other.
Celebrated dissatisfaction, at all of life. Cameras turned on the makers.
Repetitive motion injury becomes a repeated lack of motion, causing an injury.
Why are we stuck, in time?
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olko71 · 3 months
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New Post has been published on All about business online
New Post has been published on https://yaroreviews.info/2024/01/will-hotter-heat-pumps-win-over-homeowners
Will hotter heat pumps win over homeowners?
Getty Images
By Chris Baraniuk
Technology of Business reporter
The first heat pumps Graham Hendra sold, about 15 years ago, weren’t very hot.
“To get 50C – that was quite hard,” says the former wholesaler, referring to the temperature of the water that these devices sent to radiators, known as the flow temperature.
Today’s gas combi boilers are typically designed for flow temperatures of around 50-60C.
The older heat pumps might have struggled to heat some homes adequately unless the homeowner decided to install larger radiators, for example. The increased surface area of such radiators helps transfer heat into the room.
But a new breed of heat pumps is emerging. Engineers have gradually improved the technology, meaning that heat pumps are now able to supply much higher temperatures, sometimes in excess of 70C.
A major change has been the rise of new refrigerants, including R290, or propane. This is the fluid that circulates inside a heat pump. In an air source device, the refrigerant captures warmth from the outside air, even on cold days. By compressing the slightly warmed refrigerant, the heat pump is able to increase the temperature and then transfer that heat into a property.
R290 is more environmentally friendly than older refrigerants so leaks are not as potentially damaging in climate change terms. Plus, it is up to 34% more efficient, which helps heat pumps supply higher temperatures without incurring severe efficiency losses.
Mr Hendra is now technical director at Genous, a firm that gives advice to homeowners on how to make their properties more energy efficient.
“We have a thing in our industry that I call ‘temperature anxiety’,” he says, likening it to the “range anxiety” that some consumers have about electric cars.
Getty Images
But the advent of hotter heat pumps means that such concerns are increasingly becoming irrelevant, he suggests.
It might take time to convince some, however. Paul Ciniglio, head of whole home retrofit at National Energy Foundation, a charity, is currently working on a project in Bicester covering more than 500 homes.
“We’re trying to get as many as a quarter of them to sign up to heat pumps but it’s proving really hard going,” he says. “There has been so much negative press.”
Some residents are sceptical the heat pumps will be hot enough, he explains, adding, “With the advent of this new refrigerant, it could be a game-changer.”
Among the firms offering R290-based heat pumps are Octopus Energy, a renewable energy company. It recently announced a heat pump called Cosy 6, which can heat water up to a maximum of 80C. In principle, homeowners could change their heating system over with little fuss, says Alex Schoch, head of flexibility. “Combi boiler out, heat pump in,” as he puts it. This could make heat pumps viable in a broader range of UK homes, which are notoriously poorly insulated in comparison with much of Europe.
Vaillant’s aroTHERM plus heat pump works in outdoor temperatures as low as -20C and can supply hot water at up to 75C, though to remain efficient it is best not to exceed 55C, according to the manufacturer.
Another company, Vattenfall, makes a heat pump that uses a different refrigerant, R744, or CO2. It can supply even higher temperatures, up to 85C. The company expects to install 300 in Europe this winter, mostly for housing associations.
And a spokesman for Daikin says that its Altherma heat pump, which uses R32 as a refrigerant, can reach 70C. The firm plans to launch a range of R290-based heat pumps in 2024.
Energy Systems Catapult
Independent non-profit Energy Systems Catapult has, since 2020, been testing 742 heat pumps, of varying models, across different housing types in England and Scotland. Daniel Logue, consultant, says that the R290 heat pumps included in the trial have performed well.
“When averaged over the course of a year, the R290 high-temperature heat pumps were performing significantly better than the R410A heat pumps, which is a refrigerant that’s being phased out now,” he explains.
These heat pumps were consistently able to achieve a coefficient of performance (COP) of around 3. That refers to the amount of heat energy produced, in kilowatt hours (kWh), for every kWh of electricity consumed. Based on current energy tariffs, for heat pumps to be competitive with gas boilers in terms of running costs, a COP of around 3 or higher is generally desirable.
Despite R290 allowing for improved efficiencies when supplying higher temperatures, you still get the best COPs when you run your central heating as low as possible, stresses Leah Robson, co-director of Your Energy Your Way, which installs heat pumps and solar panels among other technologies.
She adds that there are some limitations with R290-based heat pumps, such as the fact that they cannot be located near to air bricks or windows at ground level, to eliminate the risk of the liquid refrigerant, which is flammable, leaking into such areas.
Sue Beesley
Sue Beesley, a homeowner in Cheshire, had an R290 heat pump installed a few months ago. While not strictly necessary, she took the decision to change her radiators and keep flow temperatures to no more than 45C.
That means higher efficiency for her system overall. “What I’ve got now is a house with a very even temperature all the way through,” she says. The COP, in terms of her central heating, is staying near to 4, she adds.
More technology of business
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The quest to find healthy and cheap sweeteners
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The t-shirt chewing enzyme ready to tackle plastic waste
What happens after a nuclear power station is closed?
Heat pump performance is not really a significant barrier to adoption in the UK, suggests Mari Martiskainen, director of the Energy Demand Research Centre at University of Sussex Business School: “We have supply chain issues, we have skills issues.”
Around 72,000 heat pumps were installed in the UK last year – a far cry from the 600,000 per year target set by the government.
Mr Hendra, though, argues that a wider range of heat pumps and improved technology could entice more homeowners away from fossil fuel-based boilers. In his opinion, this is long overdue.
“We are appalling at heat pumps in the UK,” he says, pointing out that the UK was recently ranked 20th out of 21 European nations. “Which is truly embarrassing.”
Related Topics
Heat pumps
Technology of Business
Renewable energy
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belamuse · 3 months
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SETTING NEW YEAR INTENTIONS ♡︎
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A NEW YEAR. A NEW DECADE. A NEW OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE WHAT’S POSSIBLE. 
The end of the year can often bring up many different feelings. It is only natural that you may find yourself sentimental for what was, discouraged for what wasn't, hopeful for what is to come, shouting hallelujah for what will no longer be.  
As we begin to say goodbye to 2023, take a moment to stop and reflect back, so you can then move forward with clarity, gratitude and intention. Use these four simple practices as guides to get still, get curious and get clear on where you are, where you want to go and who you want to be in the new year ahead of you.
THE PRACTICE | CHECK OUT TO CHECK IN
Put your phone down, step away from your to-do list, go to a quiet place and be with the moment, as you are, in all that you are. Find a comfortable seat that allows you to feel both comfortable and connected. Sit up tall, place one hand on your chest, the other resting on your belly. Close your eyes, unclench your jaw, relax your shoulders and begin to slowly inhale and exhale in a fluid movement that feels expansive. After a few cycles of breath, scan your inner landscape and repeat this rhythm until you feel a sense of calm and ease.
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THE PRACTICE | GET REAL
Grab your lucky pen, a cup of tea, your favorite journal and take a few minutes to reflect on the past year by asking yourself the following questions:
What were the high highs and low lows?
What moments brought you fully alive? 
What moments made you feel small? 
Did you let go of any belongings, beliefs or relationships? 
In what ways did you use this time to grow? Or maybe, stay stuck? 
Did you ever say yes, when you wanted to say no? 
No, when you wanted to scream a loud YES?
Is there any goal you didn't achieve that you still want to? 
Is there any goal that you conquered, you forgot to stop and celebrate?
In the next year, how do you want to feel?
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THE PRACTICE | UNCOVER THE MAGIC
Now, with the answers you wrote down, where can you find the learnings? The gratitude? The growth? Do you see any patterns? Any invitations to go bigger? What discoveries have you feeling heavy or light in your body? What do you want to take with you into 2020, and what do you choose to release and leave behind? What do you need to commit to right now, so you can feel the way you want to feel? So you become the you, you know you can be? 
With these questions in mind, and all the information you just gathered through our reflection practice,  write a few declarations down -- affirmative statements about yourself that are written in the present tense as if they are already true. A few examples are:
I am learning.
I am at home in my body.
My work is needed, and it matters. 
My past does not define me, it prepared me for this moment. 
I choose to let it go and make room for the new gifts that are making their way to me.
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THE PRACTICE | TELL THE UNIVERSE WHO YOU ARE
What are your declarations? Who do you declare to be? What kind of life do you declare into existence? Keep your declarations close and alive. Write them in lipstick on your bathroom mirror, post them on your refrigerator, use them as a silent mantra while you're stuck in traffic, give them a voice and enroll the world in what you're calling in for yourself. 
You can revisit these practices throughout the year as needed. Allow your declarations to shift and evolve alongside you. They are here to serve you, acting as guiding lights that help you move forward fearlessly into choosing your best life. A life that is yours, moment by moment, crafted entirely of your own design.
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craigwarme · 4 months
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Best Smart Home Tech 2020 and Beyond
Best Smart Home Tech 2020 and Beyond https://ift.tt/JLcQ0DF Smart home technology has transformed our lives, providing convenience, comfort, and enhanced control over our living spaces. The year 2020 and beyond have witnessed significant advancements in smart home tech, offering a wide range of innovative and interconnected devices.  Here are some of the best smart home technologies in 2020 and beyond: Voice Assistants: Voice assistants like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri have become central to many smart homes. These AI-powered devices enable voice commands to control various smart devices, play music, answer questions, and even facilitate home automation routines. Smart Thermostats:  Smart thermostats, like the Nest Learning Thermostat and Ecobee, provide precise temperature control and energy efficiency. These devices learn users’ preferences, adjust heating and cooling based on occupancy patterns, and can be controlled remotely via smartphone apps. Home Security Systems: Smart home security systems offer advanced features like remote monitoring, motion detection, and smartphone alerts. Brands like Ring, Nest, and Arlo provide video doorbells, indoor/outdoor cameras, and smart locks to enhance home security and peace of mind. Smart Lighting:  Smart lighting systems like Philips Hue and LIFX allow users to control and automate their lighting with smartphone apps or voice commands. They offer color-changing bulbs, dimming options, and scheduling capabilities to create personalized lighting experiences. Smart Locks:  Smart locks provide enhanced security and convenience by allowing keyless entry to homes. Brands like August and Yale offer smart locks that can be controlled remotely, grant access to visitors via temporary codes, and integrate with other smart home devices. Video Doorbells:  Video doorbells, like Ring and Nest Hello, provide homeowners with live video feeds of their front door. They allow users to see and communicate with visitors through their smartphones, even when they’re not at home, enhancing security and convenience. Smart Appliances:  Smart appliances like refrigerators, ovens, and washing machines offer advanced features like remote control, energy monitoring, and personalized settings. Brands like Samsung and LG have introduced smart appliances that can be controlled and monitored through smartphone apps. Smart Entertainment Systems:  Smart TVs and streaming devices like Roku and Apple TV offer access to a wide range of streaming services and content. They can be integrated with voice assistants for hands-free control and synchronize with other smart devices for a seamless entertainment experience. Home Automation Hubs:  Home automation hubs, like Samsung SmartThings and Wink, act as central control systems for various smart devices. They allow users to manage and automate their smart home devices from a single platform, creating customized routines and scenarios. Smart Window Treatments: Smart window treatments, such as motorized blinds and shades, provide convenience, energy efficiency, and privacy control. These devices can be controlled remotely, scheduled to open and close at specific times, and adjusted automatically based on sunlight or temperature. The smart home ecosystem will likely expand as technology advances, offering even more innovative devices and seamless integration. The future of smart homes holds possibilities for increased automation, energy efficiency, and personalized experiences, further transforming how we interact with our living spaces. The post Best Smart Home Tech 2020 and Beyond first appeared on Craig Warme | Technology. via Craig Warme | Technology https://craigwarme.net December 02, 2023 at 02:10PM
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