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gossip-girl-of-middleearth · 3 years

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Hello! I hope this doesn’t make you uncomfy but I was wondering if I could get a bit of advice? From your recent posts, you said you left your home from toxicity and just bad things in general.

I’m in a similar situation, but my dad will be taking me away from my mom. And I just know it’ll be a shit show. And I’m absolutely terrified when we tell her and what the backlash will be afterwards towards my brothers and me and dad in general

How did you do it? How did you take the leap? Do you possibly have any advice on how to deal ?

Hello, friend!! ☀️

Thank you so much for reaching out, it means a lot that you value my advice <3

Hmm, okay from what I can tell of your situation, that is indeed a tricky one, but nothing can’t be overcome!

It’s important to remember, though, I was 19 when I left (now 20), so the way I handled things is going to be a lot different than how a minor can handle things (legally at least, feel free to replicate my insane stunts lmao)

Advice below the cut! (family violence trigger warning, I suppose?)

My entire family was and is extremely volatile, and I don’t speak to any of them anymore except for my older brother, but I’ll be cutting him off in 3 weeks too when I move.

Fortunately, my dad and brother were both kicked out of the house years ago due to violence, which left me with my mother, who’s quite insidious herself (just watch any Conjuring movie and that’ll give a good idea of what it was like living in that house lol)

I get the same feeling watching this scene as when I was around her in that house. Granted she didn’t try to change my gender, but the hatred for my father getting taken out on me is pretty accurate lol, paired with the immediate “motherly love” afterwards (she never hit me though, pleased to say — she wasn’t physically violent, just emotionally, financially, mentally and verbally. She did try to run my dad over once though, so, there’s that too)

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Yikes…yeahh the same eerie feeling for sure, still makes all my hairs stand upright in memory.

(For further context this clip reminds me of my father and this one of my brother)

In the clip about my father, he definitely reminds me of Frank Gallagher, except he despises my mother instead of revering her. He’s a workaholic instead of a drug addict, too. But the mannerisms are the same. I always handled him in the way Fiona does.

Regarding my brother, I think everything about our family hit him the hardest, despite being the oldest. He developed a very violent streak, and has very poor impulse control. I love him dearly but he’s a snake in the grass, and has thrown me under the bus multiple times to get ahead in life. I mostly just pity him, since I know what our life was like growing up. But still, I can’t defend him forever, especially not at the cost of myself. Literally yesterday I woke up to a text from him asking me to come pick him up because he got arrested for starting a fight at a bar and smashing their windows.

When things started getting pretty bad with my mother earlier this year, I started to realise in my heart that there was no way I could go forth in life with her in it. I focused on the future relationships I would have one day when far away from this town — romantic partner, children, friends etc

I sort of realised one day I’d care about them a lot more than I care about my mother, because those future people would care about me. That in turn got me realising that I do deserve love, despite how my mother made me feel, and that I don’t want her to deprive another second of that in my life.

Something very unique that triggered this too was going to go visit an old family psychic, who’s basically just the Gandalf to my Frodo (ily, Chris <3). He very accurately predicted my birth years ago after my mother was told she was infertile — he got the date, year and time right three years in advance, and even knew ahead of time what my personality would be like, which he was spot-on about.

Well, I went and visited him a few months ago because I was lost with my direction, and he ended up pausing and had a sudden feeling, which led to him telling me that he’d just found out I would be having twin boys one day.

Normally I don’t buy into that stuff, but this Gandalf dude…well I knew he was right.

Knowing I’d have sons of my own one day took me from a scared daughter mindset and into a maternal mother bear in an instant, and I knew I didn’t want any children of mine around my mother or the rest of my family, for their safety alone, which made me realise, “Well, if I wouldn’t allow my own children near them, why do I allow myself?”

I started grey-rocking her in the lead-up to me leaving, which of course frustrated her (she’s a malignant narcissist), but it was a necessary step to start emotionally detaching myself from her.

It all bottled over one night after a pretty distressing argument (I had locked myself in my room to avoid it, but she was still at my door carrying on).

My cat, who’s been my best friend for years, was sitting on the floor next to me, and sort of looked up and I swear he spoke with his eyes, saying, “You know we can’t keep doing this, right? You know this abuse has an expiry date?”

I agreed with my cat and knew right then and there that I’d be leaving that night after my mother fell asleep.

Well, when she was finally done (with threats that there’d be more in stock in the morning, mind you) I went to bed early and set my alarm to 3am (was a little inside joke with myself, since that’s biblically the “witching devil hour”)

I started quietly packing my quilt and cat up (I’d already been secretly packing the boot of my car up with all sentimental and important items weeks in advance, except she caught on and took all my baby albums and more to her boyfriend’s house, so I don’t have any baby photos or information on me when I was a baby anymore, like first words, size and just general things I’d have liked to compare to my own kids one day, rip)

Once that was all in my car, I quietly said goodbye to the old family dog and cat (they weren’t mine to take, not that I could’ve anyways, since it was troubling enough taking Buddy, who’s actually my pet and not the family one). That was pretty heartbreaking, as I knew that’d be the last time I’d see them (I grew up with them and was the only one who took care of them — mother neglects kids and pets alike lmao).

Once that was over, I looked around my house with my hand on the front door and was very melancholy, but knew Buddy was right: it had all reached its expiry date.

I left very quietly and drove to McDonalds for a coffee, as I had a long drive ahead (I had organised to be a nanny in this rich family’s house far away in the city — two hours drive). Luckily they were away on their country farm 4 hours away, so I had time to sneak Buddy in.

The nanny thing recently backfired horribly because they discovered Buddy, which led to more AM escapes with my car, but I’m staying with my older brother and his gf for 3 more weeks only. Something I’ve been working towards for months now is moving to a wilderness island to live in my country’s equivalent of Bag End — a beautiful country cottage, amazing job and fantastic study opportunities.

Best feature yet: it’s 60 hours away from my hometown by car, and then you’d have to take a boat for 10 more hours!! They shall never find me hahaha

One of my friends has also told me recently that my mother has started spreading horrible, defamatory rumours about me around town, but I don’t care anymore because I’m almost out.

So, although I can’t offer any practical advice (idk if you’re a minor or not, but regardless it’s great your dad is helping you!) this is the best advice I can offer:

Find a dream and hold onto it, one that doesn’t involve your immediate family. For me it’s moving to that island and enjoying all the fresh air. It’ll push you forwards and remind you of what you’re fighting for when at your lowest.

Remind yourself there will be other people in your life, whether a spouse, friends, children or even a dog! (I’m getting a golden retriever next year 🐾) And then remember that you deserve all of them and the unconditional love they offer you.

Remember that if you don’t want your mother/family screwing those people over by proxy of her/their relationship to you, then there’s no way in hell you alone should put up with it either, as I guarantee those future people only want good things for you ☀️

There is a good life after abuse, I’ve seen it, and I know you can achieve it, too!

Be prepared for tons of backlash and bullshit — it’s inescapable when dealing with people like this, but I recommend educating yourself on narcissistic parents and tactics to deal with them.

Finding a good therapist who deals in PTSD regarding childhood abuse is important, too. I found an amazing one in the town I’m moving to, who had nearly the same upbringing as me!

So while I’m still struggling with a lot of fear (scared my mother will find where I’m working and living one day) and guilt (I feel horrible about leaving the family dog and cat behind, especially when they need veterinary help, only to then go and get myself another puppy) I understand I’ve done the best I can in a very abnormal situation, and that I can only do better from here.

Also, this song has been a saving grace when going all angsty over wanting to leave your current situation:

It’s from my favourite Broadway Musical, “Newsies”, and lemme tell you — discovering this as a 17-year-old when I was just starting to realise the severity of my situation was pure divinity.

Jeremy Jordan, my beloved Broadway Bard <3

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When I finally get my cottage, I’m getting a wooden plaque with the name “Santa Fe” engraved on it, and am hanging it on my front door.

I wish you much luck and love, my little anonymous friend! And please know my inbox is open any time you need anything — vent, advice, a laugh or something else, ANYTHING, it feels good to know my past can maybe help someone else’s present ☀️

Please update me, too! I’m following your story along ardently now! (Also, be sure to take your sentimental items and store them somewhere safe away from your mother — ie baby albums, birth certificates, other paraphernalia/memorabilia etc).

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must hit the road. DESTINY AWAITS!

#ahh yes #Newsies my beloved <3 #and bless my family Gandalf #I’m gonna send him a gift next year from the small country town I’m moving to for his birthday as a thanks #also I’m torn between naming the golden retriever ‘Jaskier/Dandelion’ or ‘Glorfindel/Glorfy’ now #so happy that’ll soon be my only dilemma in life <33

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sparklelight3 · 3 years

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Hypothesis idea thingy for how Ash and Gou could get together (quickly dissolves into a poorly written fanfic because I’m a disaster)

So, I had a mental image of like a 2-3 ep. mini arc thing that ends with the two getting together. I apologize in advance for the fact that this gets progressively more and more detailed and eventually just becomes a semi fanfic. This is unedited btw, so enjoy that as well.

Episode 1: Starts off with the two out on a mission like usual. Then we have another scene like in ep 3 where Ash just does something that completely astonishes Gou. They resolve the issue like they always do, but Gou is overall very flustered, even more so then usual. Ash could have like a dense Ash moment where he asks if Gou feels sick or something, Gou quickly denying it. Since it’s post ep 36, Ash takes note and dawns a concerned expression. Skip ahead a day or two, and Ash needs to go on a solo trip to Pallet Town for his mom’s birthday. This leaves Gou alone with his feelings for the first time in months. He has time to think about what happened on the last trip, and a couple other moments from past episodes might come up in his head as well. In this time, he fully realize that he’s in love. Koharu, who I image figured this out after her comment in ep 40 about Gou “becoming more and more like Ash”, notices that Gou’s been off. Prof. Sakuragi suddenly receives a big mission and informs Gou on it. Gou at first declines it since Ash isn’t here, but Koharu pipes in and volunteers to take Ash’s place. Gou’s thrown off by this, but accepts her request anyway. When asked, Koharu states that this mission interests her. The two have some small talk on the way there, leading up to Koharu asking Gou if he wants to talk about something, in which he denies. Koharu drops it for now, but picks it up later once they arrive. She eventually drives it out of him, and encourages Gou to tell Ash how he feels. After a bit more back and forth she comes up with a plan: once they get home, she’d have her dad find a local mission for him and Ash to go on alone. When Ash gets back, they go on said mission and Gou confesses to him. Flustered and annoyed, Gou agrees. They take care of the mission and head back. Ash hasn’t returned yet, giving them plenty of time to prepare.

Ep 2 (technically optional, but not rlly fdgfdh): We get Ash’s side of the story. He heads out to Pallet Town solo to visit his mom for a few days for her birthday. Prof. Oak picks him up, and they drive through the country side. Ash looks longingly back as the city skyline vanishes behind the hilltops. Pikachu comes in for a nuzzle, which cheers him up. Oak drops him off at his house, in which Ash is greeted warmly by Delia. He hands her the gift he bought her. A flashback/ mental image could play of Gou leading him through a shopping mall said gift, making sure he doesn’t get lost or distracted. Pans back to Ash letting out a small giggle, dawning the same longing expression as before. Delia asks him what’s wrong, in which Ash breaks out of his gay daze and goes back to his chipper self. He enters the house exclaiming something along the lines of his mom’s cooking, or being excited about sleeping in his own bed again. Delia is still in the doorway, shooting a concerned/curious glance at her son. The entire episode contains moments like this where Ash recalls a moment with Gou, or expresses how his wishes Gou was there, and just thinking about him in general a lot.

Side note: I believe this is the same mindset that he had when he and Gou split up in the Darkest Day Arc. The difference here being that he’s in no immediate danger, distracting him from these thoughts. Anyway, I will now continue with my rambling esdtgdf.

Ash then goes around the town, heading up to Prof. Oak’s lab. He passes by some neighbors, waving hello here and there, possibly running into Gary as well. Gary might pick up on the gayness Ash is unknowingly producing, but says nothing on the matter; maybe a chuckle before heading off. Ash reunites with all his Pokemon. Once again, he starts to think about Gou and how much he’d enjoy meeting his Pokemon. At dinner that night, Delia asks him about his recent adventures. As Ash describes them, Delia picks up on how much he’s talking about Gou. She asks how Gou’s doing, in which Ash starts going off about how many Pokemon he’s caught and how much he has improved in battling. He possibly mentions the events in ep 40, once again dawning a face of longing. Delia notices and points out how much Ash cares about him, leading into a mom-tangent about how she hopes Gou’s keeping up his promise to look after him and that Ash better be taking care of himself and not getting into too much trouble, etc. The next couple days Ash spends more time with his Pokemon; battling with them, introducing his new ones to them, and telling them stories. Prof. Oak comes out to tell him that he’s getting a call from Prof. Kukui. The Alola gang give their greetings as they chat for a bit. Kiawe brings up Gou, asking if he’s stayed true to the claims he made during their battle. Ash once again goes off about Gou, expressing stuff like how Gou technically caught Eternatus, along with the whole Zacian and Zamazenta thing. The ep ends with Ash saying goodbye to his mom and heading back to the city. On the car ride, he makes claims of excitement over going back to the lab. They arrive at the bottom of the lab near the steps. Prof. Oak drops Ash off and says goodbye before heading back to Pallet. Ash enthusiastically runs up the stairs and slams open the door to the main lab area. He’s greeted by Prof. Sakuragi along with the lab staff.

Ep 3: Ep 3 picks up right off from the last ep. After saying hello to the Prof. and the staff, Ash quickly asks where Gou is. The Prof. informs him that Gou’s with the Pokemon, then proceeds to stop Ash as he instantly tries to run off. The Prof. explains to Ash the mission that Koharu had him find, stating that it’s heavily preferred if they could address it as soon as possible. THEN Ash runs off. We cut to Gou and Koharu in the Pokemon garden area (idk what that place is technically called). Koharu is reassuring Gou while they feed the Pokemon their morning meal. Ash soon comes running in, spots them, and waves them down. He mentions the mission and the two just about leave before Koharu stops them and goes inside to get something. She comes back out with a picnic basket, stating that they’ll be gone most of the day and they need to eat. She gives Gou a smug look. He blushes in both an embarrassed and flustered manner. We then get a couple scenes of them traveling out of the city and into the hillside. These would be similar scenes as in ep 46 where they’re traveling on the island, creating silly and gay moments in the process. Gou would naturally be very nervous and easily flustered. This catches Ash’s attention, harboring some concern on his end. Ash therefore becomes visibly more protective. The two eventually reach a clearing, an area they instantly recognize. They find themselves standing in a field of vibrant flowers, the same area that Lugia had dropped them off when they first met. Ash takes the picnic basket from Gou, stating that this was good a place as any for lunch. They setup the picnic that Koharu had put together, or at least, the best that these two idiots could manage on their own. Ash starts going in on the sandwiches that were packed. A flashback plays of Koharu suggesting that Gou should confess when they stopped for lunch. They release their Pokemon to wonder about as they eat; Lucario and Cinderace join them at the picnic. Cinderace (who’s in on this) notices how nervous Gou is and goes in for a hug to reassure him. He returns the hug and whispers a very quiet “thank you”. After letting go, Cinderace would motion for Lucario to follow. The two Pokemon walk out into the forest, leaving Ash and Gou alone. Gou asks him about his trip to try and ease into a conversation. Ash would briefly tell him about it, and ends stating that he’ll take Gou along with him next time. At that, he stares caringly into Gou’s eyes, dawning a smile. Gou then starts the beginning of a sentence, starting to heavily blush similarly to how he did at the end of ep 3. His words begin to stutter and his hands start to stim nervously. He finally gets it out, confessing his feelings. Ash is clearly taken aback, but not in a bad way. Then a wave of realization washes over him. He laughs softly under his breath, having a similar reaction as THAT scene in ep.40 where the clouds clear away from behind Gou, you know what I mean. Still paralleling that scene, Ash makes a similar statement along the lines of, “I really am an idiot, aren’t I? I mean, it took you telling me that for me to even realize that I have feelings for you,”. Something like that. Gou, who has been a mess this whole time, freezes at this and looks up at Ash. After a few moments of eye contact, they both burst into laughter over how big of a dumbass they each are. They calm down, Gou gently grabs onto Ash’s hand, and goes in for a quick and nervous pec on the lips. Ash doesn’t expect this, but accepts it happily; he gives Gou a big, caring smile of reassurance. Cinderace comes bolting in, tackling Gou to the ground in a big, prideful hug. Lucario walks in from behind them, giving Ash a sly little grin. A montage plays of them finishing up the mission, displaying their new habit of frequently holding hands and overall being very adorable. We then cut to the lab. It’s going on to twilight, and Koharu’s just getting home from school. She walks in and puts her stuff down before exclaiming how Ash and Gou aren’t back yet. Not having the chance to do so until now, Prof. Sakuragi asks her what this whole arranged mission thing was about anyways. Shortly after a quick explanation, Wanpachi/Yamper is heard barking outside the front door. Koharu jolts up, telling everyone to stay calm and to be supportive. The two boys walk through the door with a noisy Wanpachi barking and running around their legs. The first thing Koharu notices is the fact that their hands are intertwined. Glancing up, she’s met with a grinning Ash and a very exhausted but very happy Gou; he looks as if he could burst out crying at any moment. She lets out a sigh of relief, stating that she had told him he had nothing to worry about. The staff and Prof. start clapping and cheering in congratulations. The narrator starts talking, stating something along the lines of “they became boyfriends” as the show freezeframes on Ash giving Gou a kiss on the cheek. AND THERE THAT IS. I apologize once again for the poorly written fanfic this became.

#satogou #firstfriendshipping #journeyshipping #ash x gou #pokeani #pokemon #I'VE BEEN WRITING NON STOP FOR HOURS #I am an actual disaster #I'm so sorry for how messy this is #AAAAA #I swear to god I can actually write #This isn't one of those times where I can actually write

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buzzdixonwriter · 3 years

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The Purple Monster Strikes

Recently in an online discussion of 1950s sci-fi films, the old Republic serial The Purple Monster Strikes came up.

Why is came up I’ll mention later, but first let’s note it:

was made in 1945

was the last 15 chapter Republic serial

is awful

Not eyeball gouging / brain melting / soul scorching awful the way The Lost City or Gene Autry And The Phantom Empire or Captain Video are awful, but awful enough…

…yet at the same time, worthy of comment (as we’ll soon note).

1945 is a crucial year. Despite the Nazis last ditch Battle of the Bulge, WWII is clearly winding down to an Allied victory in both Europe and the Pacific.

American audiences feel tired of the war wand want something else in their entertainment, even low brow / low rent entertainment like movie serials.

Republic produced three serials that year: Federal Operator 99 proved surprisingly good, Manhunt Of Mystery Island (their next to last 15 chapter serial) tried some new ideas that while interesting didn’t prove interesting enough to be tried again, and The Purple Monster Strikes brought interplanetary thrills back to the theaters, only this time instead of visiting Mars, Mars (at least two of ‘em) came to Earth.

As noted in my overview of Federal Operator 99, Republic serials of that year looked…inexpensive.*

This is especially true of The Purple Monster Strikes which really needed a bigger budget, a better script, and adequate production time for the type of story it was trying to tell.

That story?

In a nutshell: The Purple Monster is a one-Martian invasion come to steal the secret of the “jet plane” (the script uses the term interchangeably with “rocketship”) from Earth and take it to Mars where it can be mass produced and used to attack our world (Why? WTF knows or cares?). To achieve this The Purple Monster bumps off the scientist in charge of the project, physically possesses his corpse by turning into a ghost-like entity, and tries to kill a nosy investigator and the late scientist’s niece. In the end The Purple Monster tries to escape Earth only to get blowed up real good (Did I mention this is silly, stooped, and trite? I did? Good).

So why am I interested in The Purple Monster Strikes? Well, for two reasons, the second and more important one we’ll save for the end, the first is that when watched with fully informed eyes, it’s a testament to the single greatest contribution the serials made to filmmaking: The production board.

Lemme ‘splain what that is.

In the old days of movie making it was a folder with slots for narrow strips of colored cardboard to be slid in. The strips were color coded for interior or exterior scenes, night or day, specific locations, second unit or special effects, etc.

These strips were grouped together on the production board so all the exterior day shots at one location could be filmed back-to-back, followed by all the night shots there before moving on to a new location.

The colored carboard strips were further broken down to match production numbers in the shooting script (“Scene 37: The bandits take the town”), key props and costumes, stunt work, but most importantly actors / characters in the scene.

You want all your most important / expensive / difficult stuff grouped together…but you also need to figure out what you didn’t need so you could pare down your budget.

For example, if you need someone to play a policeman in Scene 1 and in Scene 12 but those scenes are shot two seeks apart, maybe it’s cheaper to have two different actors playing two different policemen for one day each than keep one actor on call for two weeks.

Likewise, if you’ve got an actor in a key supporting role, put all his scenes together.

This necessitates shooting out of sequence, but shooting out of sequence is now pretty much the industry norm for any filmed or taped production.

The serials invented the production board and the rest of the industry speedily glommed onto it.

Once you know what to look for in The Purple Monster Strikes, you can pretty much break down which scenes were shot when.

Case in point: Masked heroes and villains aside, serial characters rarely change costume except to match stock footage from earlier productions. It’s not especially notable for male characters but females typically wear The Same Damn Dress in Every Damn Scene.

So when heroine Linda Sterling gets dunked in a water tank midway through The Purple Monster Strikes, you can bet that was her last day of filming since they were no longer worried about ruining her costume.

Likewise when a female reinforcement from Mars arrives, the exact same location right down to the same car parked in the same spot are used even though the female Martian doesn’t arrive until 2/3rds of the way into the story.

You wouldn’t notice this week to week in a movie theater, but they’re painfully obvious when bingewatching.

Case in point: There are never more than four characters onscreen at any time; this was all the production could afford on any given day. If a fifth character showed up, one of the others needed to be knocked unconscious (if they were lucky) shot and fall off camera (if they were unlucky), or disintegrated (if they were really unlucky).

For example, the hero and heroine could be talking to a scientist (day 1 / shot 1) when three baddies show up at the door (day 2 / shot 1). The first baddie shoots the scientist, who falls off camera then enters the frame and knocks out the heroine, who conveniently falls behind a counter (day 1 / shot 2). The other two baddies enter and a huge brawl erupts (day 2 / shot 2). The heroine revives (day 1 / shot 3) and shouts a warning at the hero. The hero blasts a minor baddie who falls off camera as the other two baddies flee the scene (day 2 / shot 3), then the heroine rejoins the hero (day 1 / shot 4).

Binge watching also reveals a lot of sets and props reused again and again. The same footstool is used as a weapon more than once, a prop valve in one chapter serves an entirely different function in another, and while serials frequently reused stock special effects shots, The Purple Monster Strikes doesn’t just use the same exploding car shot twice in the same serial, not just twice in the same chapter, but twice in the same car chase!

(Speaking of which, whenever they get in Linda Sterling’s car you know the odds are 50-50 it’s going off a cliff in a big flaming fireball. The Purple Monster Strikes has her going through so many identical make automobiles you’d think she owned stock in a car dealership.)

Anybody familiar with Republic serials is going to find a lot of reused sets and props here. Having seen Manhunt Of Mystery Island recently, I immediately recognized their ubiquitous warehouse set, the Republic Studios loading dock doubles as two different factory exteriors, and having lived in Chatsworth several years I can practically name each and every rock in the exterior scenes.**

On the plus side, bonus points for some impressive looking props, including a rocket test engine that provides the explosive cliffhanger for the first chapter, a double-barrel disintegrator that looks like a giant set of binoculars (I wonder if it was originally a military surplus training aid), and a spaceship seen under construction for most of the serial that proves to be the most striking design the redoubtable Lydecker brothers ever created (a pity it’s glimpsed only briefly before being blown up in the last chapter; Republic should have reused it for their later sci-fi serials instead of the dull unimaginative designs they went with).

Fun factoid: Mi amigo Donald F. Glut, filmmaker / NYTimes bestselling author / film historian, knew The Purple Monster hizzownsef, Roy Barcroft, and reports Barcroft had the wardrobe department sew a secret pocket in his costume for his cigarettes!

Speaking of Barcroft, he’s the best thing in this serial and he ain’t that good. A perennial bad guy in serials and B-Westerns, he normally turned in a satisfying performance, but the script for The Purple Monster Strikes gives him nothing to work with.

I mentioned previously how Federal Operator 99’s script works more often than not and gives its characters something the actors can work with, but The Purple Monster Strikes? Nada.

Every line is a clunky flat declarative sentence exposition dump of the “I’ll take this strange medallion we discovered to Harvey the metallurgist to analyze” variety.

Even Linda Sterling can’t do anything with this though she tries to find an appropriate facial expression for whatever scene she’s thrown in.

As for nominal star Dennis Moore, I won’t say he’s wooden but in one of the innumerable fight scenes Barcroft hurls a coatrack at him and for that brief moment the coatrack delivers a far more memorable performance.

Sidebar on the fight scenes: They are choreographed expertly, among some of the best Republic ever staged, but directors Spencer Gordon Bennet and Fred C. Brannon -- both serial veterans who could do much, much better -- really dropped the ball in shooting them. They’re shot almost entirely in wide angle longshots using slightly sped up photography instead of intercutting to keep the pacing fast.

The rest of the cast consists mostly of stuntmen carefully enunciating their one line before the fists start flying, or older male actors who deliver surprisingly good performances compared to everyone else.

But that script -- oh, lordie, that script! This was made in 1945 and they’ve got a damn organ grinder in it! Organ grinders vanished from the public sphere with the damn of movies; by the 1940s they were found only in comic books and animated cartoons; in other words, kid stuff.***

It’s clear the writers on The Purple Monster Strikes (Royal Cole, Albert DeMond, Basil Dickey, Lynn Perkins, Joseph Poland, and Barney Sarecky) considered this mere juvenile pablum, not worthy of even the smattering of sophistication they sprinkled on Federal Operator 99.

An adult can watch Federal Operator 99 and at least feel the story makes some kind of sense and the characters, however imperfectly enacted, at least offer adult motives and behaviors, but The Purple Monster Strikes is just insulting to the intelligence (I mean, they call the female Martian invader Marsha. Seriously?).

Okay, so why do I think this is worth writing about?

Because The Purple Monster Strikes is the bridge between WWII and the Cold War.

Most of the major tropes of 1950s sci-fi are reactions to Cold War anxieties, and those anxieties are transplanted WWII anxieties.

Before WWII, American moneyed interests waged a relentless PR campaign against communism, socialism, and labor unions (sound familiar?).

Forced to make peace with the Soviets during WWII, these moneyed interests -- now heavily invested in what Dwight D. Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex -- bit their lips as US pop culture portrayed the Russians as gallant allies against fascism (and they were; credit where credit is due).

As soon as the war ended, however, and in fact, even a little before the end (see The Best Years Of Our Lives; great movie), they were already recasting the Russians as treacherous authoritarian atheists out to conquer the world.

As noted earlier, American audiences felt weary of a relentless diet of war related entertainment and in the waning days of the war turned eagerly to non-war related stories.

Likewise studios, not wanting to get caught with rapidly dating WWII related material nobody wanted to see began actively developing different kinds of stories.

After four years of intense anxiety, the country needed to come down but couldn’t go cold turkey. Science fiction (and hardboiled mysteries and spy thrillers) provided safe decompression.

1945 marks a significant sea change in Republic serial production. Sci-fi would become a more predominant theme, infiltrating other genres such as the ever popular masked mastermind (viz. The Crimson Ghost).

Federal Operator 99 would be the last highwater mark for more plausible serial stories, but crime and undercover espionage remained serial staples to the bitter end.

Only Manhunt Of Mystery Island seemed a misfire and even in that case it only meant the masked mastermind returned to more traditional origins instead of the inventive backstory created for Captain Mephisto.

What The Purple Monster Strikes did was take a very familiar set of WWII cliches and stereotypes then recast them in a (relatively) safe science fictional context.

The closest prototype to The Purple Monster Strikes is Republic’s G-Men Vs. The Black Dragon, as racially offensive as you could hope to imagine, and turn the inscrutable “yellow” villains into malevolent purple ones (later green when colorization was added).

By making the literally other worldly alien the “other”, 1950s sci-fi sidestepped the worst implications of their own themes:

Invasion

Subversion

Fifth columns

Loss of soul / identity / individuality (personified in bodily possession by alien intellects)

Paranoia

The Purple Monster Strikes lacks the wit and wherewithal to fully exploit these ideas, but it sure could hold them up for everyone to get a quick glimpse.

As childish and as inane as the plot may be, by the end when hero and heroine realize there is literally no one they can trust, The Purple Monster Strikes dropped a depth charge into preteen psyches fated to go off six years later with the arrival of The Thing From Another World and countless other sci-fi films and TV episodes afterwards.

Did The Purple Monster Strikes create this trend? No, of course not – but as Stephen King pointed out in Danse Macabre regarding the incredibly inane The Horror Of Party Beach’s selection of nuclear waste dumping as their raison d'être for their monsters:

“I’m sure it was one of the least important points in their preproduction discussions and for that reason it becomes very important.”

King’s point is by not giving the matter much thought, The Horror Of Party Beach’s producers simply tapped into a subconscious gestalt already running through the culture and said, “Yeah, nuclear waste, wuddup widdat?”

Likewise, The Purple Monster Strikes’ producers / directors / writers didn’t sit themselves down to analyze Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four but rather picked up on the forever war current already moving through the American body politic.

War without end, war without ceasing.

And if we can’t define an enemy by name or place, so much the better! The war on crime, the war on poverty, the war on drugs…

The war on terror.

The forever war thrives on the faceless unknowable enemy with the unknown but clearly malevolent anti-American agenda.

“Them”…against…U.S.

As an artistic achievement, The Purple Monster Strikes is sadly lacking in nearly all aspects, but as a cultural artifact, it’s still a clear warning.

Only not about “them” but about…us.

* read “cheap”

** Republic’s low budget backed them into an overlapping series of sci-fi serials, loosely referred to as the Rocket Man / Martian invasion serials by fans. The Purple Monster Strikes’ costume was reused for Flying Disc Man From Mars (which featured a semi-circular flying wing already featured in Spy Smasher and King Of The Mounties) and again for Zombies Of The Stratosphere, but between those two serials the wholly unrelated King Of The Rocket Men was released. Zombies… is a sequel to both Flying Disc Man… and King Of The Rocket Men but Radar Men From The Moon introduces a new character -- Commando Cody -- who wears the same rocket pack as the heroes of King… and Zombies… but faces a lunar, not Martian menace then he spins off to become Commando Cody: Sky Marshall Of The Universe in a quasi-serial (i.e., no cliff-hangers, each chapter a complete adventure) fighting a third alien invasion!

*** Or the works of Bertolt Brecht, but that ain’t what Republic’s going for here.

#Roy Barcroft #The Purple Monster Strikes #serial #sci-fi movies #1950s science fiction movies #Cold War

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chocolatequeennk · 3 years

Text

The Full Christmas Experience, 1/3

The Doctor and Rose are on their way back to London to celebrate Christmas with Jackie. But they make a few stops along the way...

Ten x Rose, post Doomsday fixit, telepathic bond

This is part of True Things, and comes after Lesson Learned

This is for @doctorroseprompts 31 Days of Ficmas. This is for Day 3: Shopping.

AO3 | FF.NET

The Doctor moved slowly around the console, shifting each dial deliberately. Rose rolled her eyes; he was purposely stalling, and they both knew it.

Still… She stuck her tongue out slightly while she thought.

“You know what?” she asked, after making up her mind.

The Doctor looked at her hopefully, his hand stopped in midair halfway to the dematerialisation lever.

“There’s one thing we’ve forgotten—presents!”

He blinked owlishly at her. “Presents?”

Rose bit her cheek to hold back her laughter. “Yeah. I mean, if we’re gonna go to Mum’s for Christmas, we should bring presents, shouldn’t we?”

The Doctor stared at her for a few more seconds, then his face brightened and he spun away from the lever, moving back to the navigation controls.

“Right you are, Rose Tyler! And if we need Christmas presents, there’s really only one place to go: the holiday market on Noel.”

“Noel.”

“Yep!”

“There’s a planet named Christmas?”

“Well yes, but we’re going to Noel. We can visit Christmas next year.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “All right, fine. Tell me more about Noel,” she said.

The Doctor finished setting their new coordinates and then shoved the lever into place. Holiday music started playing as the TARDIS shifted into the Vortex.

“Noel was settled in the 34th century.” He hopped up on the jump seat with Rose and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “A group of human explorers landed on Christmas Day, and for some reason beknownst only to them, they decided to name it after the date.”

“Like Easter Island,” Rose interjected.

“Exactly,” he agreed. “Anyway, they didn’t really intend to become a holiday destination, but with a name like that, it’s hard to avoid. Eventually, after two centuries, they quit fighting the inevitable. Now, the entire planet becomes a massive Christmas market during the winter.”

Rose raised an eyebrow. “Unless their star system is different than ours, the entire planet doesn’t experience winter at the same time,” she pointed out.”

He rolled his eyes. “All right, fine. The main city on the main continent becomes a massive Christmas market during the winter months.” He huffed. “That just doesn’t sound nearly as dramatic.”

Rose laughed, just as the TARDIS wheezed and dropped them onto Noel with a gentle thud. “Come on, I think this is going to plenty impressive, even if it isn’t a planet-wide market.”

She hopped off the seat and wrapped her scarf around her neck. The Doctor darted past her and opened the door for her.

Rose started smiling when she heard the merry strains of Christmas music floating into the console room. She jogged up the ramp and stopped stock still at the door.

The entire city looked like something out of a fairy tale. There were hints of a modern society if you knew where to look—hover carts, etc—but the buildings and the streets looked incredible.

Garland was strung between the buildings on the narrow street. A light dusting of snow covered the cobblestones, and the sun shone down on it, making everything glisten.

A familiar scent teased her nose, and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Smells like cinnamon and clove,” she said, without opening her eyes.

“And apple and roasted chestnuts and mulled wine.”

Rose opened her eyes and looked at the Doctor, taking in the broad grin on his face and the way he bounced on his toes. “You think you’re so impressive,” she teased.

The Doctor had to swallow a giggle, he was feeling so giddy. He rocked back on his heels, his hands in his coat pockets. “I mean… I did bring you to the perfect Christmas market,” he said nonchalantly. “I think that’s a little impressive.”

Rose closed the door and walked towards him, her tongue teasing him from behind her teeth. He watched her, holding still as she placed her hands on the lapels of his coat.

“Maybe a little,” she allowed. “So… what’s next, Doctor?”

He placed his hands on her waist and pulled her close. A Christmas kiss, to start the day? he suggested as he bumped his nose against hers. She giggled, and he quickly shifted and pressed his lips to hers.

Rose leaned into him for a moment, but too soon for his taste, she pulled back, ending the kiss. “Come on,” she said. “We can find mistletoe later and continue. Right now I want to find out what smells so good.”

The Doctor took her hand, lacing their fingers together. “Excellent idea,” he agreed.

He watched Rose as they walked down the narrow street. She’d been impressed by her first sight of Noel, but she had yet to see the true beauty of the market.

Rose’s eyes widened as they stepped out into the open town plaza. The space was as large as Trafalgar Square, and it was absolutely packed with holiday booths and people doing their holiday shopping.

An enormous tree stood in the centre of the market, its boughs decorated with red garland and gold bows. High on top sat a star that lit up the square every night.

On the town hall stairs, a small group of carollers were singing. Shoppers rushed by, but no matter how hurried they were, every one of them stopped to drop a few coins in the bucket placed on the street in front of them.

“Doctor, this is…” Rose turned in a slow circle, trying to take it all in.

The Doctor let her soak it in, then tugged on her hand. “Come on, food is this way.”

They followed their noses and were very soon standing in line at a concessions booth selling pastries.

Soon they were walking away from the stand, pastries in hand. “This is amazing,” Rose said around a mouthful of food. “Is it apple, or something like apple?”

The Doctor took a bite of his own pumpkin scone and hummed before answering. “Close enough to not make a difference,” he answered once he’d swallowed.

While they ate their pastries, they did a full circuit of the market. The Doctor was surprised when Rose grabbed his hand and pulled him in a very determined direction as soon as their pastries were done.

“Come on,” she told him, sensing his confusion. “I saw some places I wanna check out.”

He understood then; Rose had paid attention to the shops and booths as they’d walked and made a mental map of the path she wanted to take.

The market was busy, but Rose wove her way in and out of the crowd, intent on returning to the clothing booth she’d spotted. Several sellers tried to catch her attention, but she didn’t stop.

“I thought we might find something for Mum here,” she told the Doctor when they reached the booth.

The Doctor reached out and touched one of the tops, and nodded approvingly. “Excellent idea.��

“May I ask who you’re buying for?” the vendor asked.

Rose smiled at her. “I need a Christmas present for my mum. Do you have anything that might be especially appropriate for someone living in a city where it rains all the time?”

The seller brightened. “Of course!” She walked straight to a rack of jackets and coats. “These are all 100% waterproof,” she told them.

“Oh!” Rose walked over and looked at the jackets. “They’re pretty, too.”

“Thank you. My family makes them.”

Rose felt the Doctor come up behind her. He reached around her and touched one of the jackets. “Is it rezista?” he asked.

“Yes, it is.” The woman raised an eyebrow. “You’re more familiar with our native fibres than most visitors.”

The Doctor flashed her a winning smile. “Well, when a world has a truly waterproof fabric, that’s pretty appealing to travellers,” he pointed out.

Rose tuned them out for the most part, browsing through the rack of jackets looking for one she thought Jackie would like. There were some that appealed to her, with sleek, slim lines etc etc. But she knew her mum—if she offered anything with a style too different from her own, Jackie would get upset and think she was trying to change her.

When she got to the last item on the rack and still hadn’t found anything she thought Jackie would like, she sighed. The shopkeeper, attuned to the sound of a disappointed customer, turned immediately.

“I have a few other items that I haven’t put out, plus some of last year’s items that didn’t sell,” she said. “Would you like to see those?”

Rose bit her lip. There was nothing on this rack to indicate that the shop had anything that would appeal to Jackie, but she really didn’t want to walk away empty handed.

“Yeah, all right.”

The woman nodded and hurried to the back of the booth. Meanwhile, the Doctor moved closer and wrapped an arm loosely around her waist.

Nothing that you think Jackie would like? He asked.

Nah, everything so far would make her rant about airs and graces again, and how living on the Estate was always good enough before and why did we need to change?

The Doctor grimaced; he’d overheard that argument more than once since meeting Rose. It never made any sense to him that a parent wouldn’t want their child to have a better life than they’d had. But, he supposed it was the implication that the old life hadn’t been good enough that grated.

He felt Rose tense slightly when the saleslady came back with an armful of coats. “Here we are,” she said, draping them over her table.

The Doctor and Rose both spotted the right one immediately.

“That one,” he said, pointing to the puffy jacket.

“Yeah, definitely,” Rose agreed.

The woman smiled. “I can give you a discount on this coat,” she said. “This is the one I spoke of, the style we tried last year that no one seemed to be interested in.” She set the coat aside. “Is there anything else you would like?”

Despite knowing it was a sales tactic, the Doctor still felt interested in looking around the shop some more. The benevolent gesture of the discount had done its work once again.

“What about you, love?” He gestured at the coat and warm tops. “You don’t really have a good coat to wear in the rain.”

Rose rolled her eyes. A raincoat would be more helpful if we knew it was going to be raining when we left the TARDIS, she pointed out.

The Doctor tugged on his ear. It was true that most times when they got caught in bad weather, it was because their landing had gone a bit south. Or north, or early, or late… Anyway. If they landed when he expected, they rarely ran into foul weather.

Still…

I can keep it in my coat pocket, he reminded her. Stashed away for a rainy day.

Rose rolled her eyes again at his ridiculous pun, but she did move back to the first rack of jackets. The Doctor wasn’t surprised when she pulled one out without needing to browse the rack again. The deep blue, knee length coat had caught her eyes when she’d looked the first time.

“We’ll take these,” he told the shopkeeper, handing over their credit stick.

Two minutes later, they were leaving the shop with a bulky package in hand. Without needing to consult each other, they wordlessly went back to the TARDIS to drop them off.

“All right, what’s next?” Rose asked the Doctor.

“Don’t you have other shops you want to check out?” he asked.

“Well yeah, but why don’t we just roam for a bit? See if something catches our eye.” She winked at him. “See if maybe there’s some kind of dangerous alien activity that needs our intervention.”

The Doctor pouted. “This trip has been perfectly—”

Rose slapped her hand over his mouth, muffling the rest of his words. “Don’t you dare,” she said, laughter in her words. “Don’t you dare jinx us like that.”

She felt his lips move, but the sound was still muffled. With one more warning glare, she pulled her hand back.

“Fiiiiiine,” he said, with an exaggerated pout. “Let’s go walk through the market and see if we can find any nefarious aliens looking to overturn the holiday fun.”

Rose nodded once, sharply. “Better.”

She slid her hand through the Doctor’s arm as they walked back to the main part of the market. There were a few other booths she wanted to explore, but honestly it was enough to just be here, on this magical planet, exploring it with her Doctor.

The Doctor hummed when he picked up on that thought, and a moment later, he let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist instead, pulling in close.

I love you, he told her as he brushed his lips over her temple.

Love you too.

They stopped in front of the city hall again and watched the new group of musicians. This time, it was a brass ensemble. Thankfully, they weren’t dressed as Santas. Rose didn’t think she could have stood there watching a group of trombone playing Santas.

The Doctor laughed. “Quite right,” he agreed.

She pressed her tongue to the back of her teeth. The Santas had brought back another memory from the previous year.

“Could we take Mum a new tree?” she asked. “I mean, she thought we sent her a new tree last year—that’s why she accepted it.”

“And you’re thinking that maybe she’d actually appreciate a new tree?” the Doctor said.

Rose nodded. “She’s had hers since I was… God, I don’t even know. Since I was a kid,” she said. “Maybe she’d like something new.”

The Doctor looked down at her, and Rose bit her lip to hide her excitement. He had a plan.

“Is she set on having an artificial tree, or would she maybe be interested in a real tree?” he asked.

Rose put her hands over her mouth. “We never had a real tree,” she said. “I always wanted one, but we never could.”

He nodded. “There’s a Christmas tree farm outside of town. We can go later this afternoon, or maybe tomorrow if we end up spending the whole day shopping.”

Rose clapped her hands. “That would be amazing. Thank you, Doctor.”

Shouts of laughter drew their attention to the large park that ran along one side of the market square. “Come on,” Rose said, pulling the Doctor in that direction. “That sounds like something I want to be involved in.”

As they wound their way through the park, Rose noticed the wide swaths of pristine snow covering the ground. Tall evergreen trees towered over the park, their branches weighed down with snow.

“It’s like something off one of those old Christmas cards,” she said.

The Doctor nodded. “It’ll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives,” he sang.

“These wonderful things are the things we’ll remember all through our lives,” Rose replied.

The Doctor grinned at her. Despite the cold, his hearts were warm as he walked through the park with his wife. As far as ideas went, this was one of… He paused. One of Rose’s better ones.

They drew to a halt suddenly when a snowball whizzed by them. The Doctor looked around and realised they’d walked right into the middle of a snowball fight.

“Mind if we join in?” he called out.

A second later, a snowball hit him on the shoulder. The buzz of giddy amusement and exhilaration he felt over the bond told him exactly who had thrown it.

“Oh, you will regret that Rose Tyler,” he growled as he spun around.

But Rose wasn’t standing next to him anymore. He spotted her red coat disappearing into the trees and took chase. Snowballs flew through the air all around him, but he ignored the rest of the party.

Another snowball flew out of nowhere, and the Doctor only missed it by ducking and rolling. Rose laughed, and he leapt to his feet and chased after her as she ran from one cover to another.

Rose darted from one tree to another, trying to hold back her breathless laughter. She could feel the constant tug on the bond as the Doctor used it to keep track of where she was. However, that advantage worked both ways, and she was easily able to stay one step ahead of him.

But skulking in the bushes wasn’t really her style. A large snow fort stood on the opposite side of the clearing, and Rose was itching to reach it.

She peered around her tree, looking in both directions. At the same time, she tried to pull back from the bond as much as possible, hoping it would temporarily make it harder for him to find her.

And then she ran. Halfway across the clearing, she heard a familiar shout and footsteps crunching through the snow. She stretched her legs, trying to run just a little bit faster, but about ten feet from the fort, the Doctor slammed into her from the side, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to the ground.

Rose rolled, trying to get out of his hold, but the Doctor rolled with her, pinning her to the ground every time. “Gotcha,” he growled.

The rough voice sent a shiver down her spine that had nothing to do with the snow going down her back. “Yeah, you do,” she said breathlessly. “What are you going to do about it?”

The Doctor didn’t need any other invitation. He swooped down and pressed his lips to hers.

Rose sighed and tilted her head, letting him deepen the kiss. It might be cold and wet, but there was still no place she would rather be at that moment than on her back in the snow with the Doctor kissing her.

Finally, though, the jeers of the kids around them penetrated their private world. The Doctor pulled back and smirked down at Rose. “I suppose we’ve given them enough of a show.” He rocked back on his knees, then jumped to his feet.

Rose accepted the hand he offered and let him pull her up. She shivered when the air hit her wet back.

“I wish I was wearing that waterproof coat right now,” she said, rubbing her hands briskly over her arms. “I hate to take time to go change, but I think we need to.”

The Doctor shook his head and twirled his sonic screwdriver around his fingers. “Nah, I can dry us off in a jiffy,” he said.

Rose sighed in relief. “Come on, let’s get out of the way first.”

The Doctor nodded, and they walked away from the main snowball fight back to the path that led around the park. Once they were no longer in danger of being smacked in the face with an errant snowball, he stopped walking and started waving the sonic round her in circles.

“The sonic is creating molecule excitation,” he explained. “The water molecules in your coat are vibrating in tune to the frequency of sonic waves, and that’s causing them to evaporate.”

Rose sighed when he was done. Before he could start waving the sonic over himself, Rose took the device from him. “Like this, yeah?” she said, waving it over him in slow passes.

She was fascinated by the steam rising out of the brown wool coat. “That is amazing,” she murmured.

“Faster than a laundrette,” the Doctor said as he turned around to face her.

Rose laughed and finished drying him off. “Much,” she agreed. The Doctor took the sonic back and offered his hand, and they strolled through the park the way they’d come.

They were almost to the entrance of the park when Rose started shivering. Even though the Doctor had dried them off with the sonic, now that she wasn’t running across the park trying to avoid being hit by a snowball, she could feel how cold it was.

The Doctor pulled her close. “Come on,” he said. “It’s time for some Christmas cheer.”

Rose hummed her agreement. Some kind of hot beverage was exactly what the Doctor ordered at this point.

Thankfully, the beverage stand was one of the few that was completely enclosed. Rose sighed in delight when they stepped out of the cold wind. They still had to wait in line, but even that just gave them a chance to warm up.

“What do you want?” The Doctor pointed at the menu on the wall behind the person selling drinks.

Mulled wine was the first item on the list, and Rose almost selected it without looking further. She kept going though, reading past the various hot chocolates, coffees, and hot toddies.

The last item on the list caught her fancy. “Hot buttered rum,” she told him.

“Ooh, I like that. I haven’t had that in… er, ages,” he said.

Rose giggled. Well done, she told him. Not spouting out that you’re well over a thousand years old.

The Doctor tugged on his ear. “Welllll…” he said.

They finally reached the front of the line, and the Doctor placed their order. A few minutes later, they were walking out of the shop holding steaming mugs of hot buttered rum.

“I like that it comes in a mug,” Rose commented. “It’s like a little souvenir of this trip.”

She brought the mug up to her nose and sniffed. “Smells all warm and rich and spicy,” she said.

The Doctor took a big swallow of his drink and somehow managed to swallow it even though it was still steaming. “It’s delicious,” he said.

Rose grabbed his tie and tugged him down for a kiss. The Doctor flailed slightly, but managed to keep his mug upright while she snogged him thoroughly.

When she stepped back and straightened his tie, he gaped down at her. “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”

Rose looked up at him through her eyelashes. “You had a moustache,” she explained. “I was just helping.” It sounded very innocent, but the way the tip of her tongue showed through her smile suggested otherwise.

The Doctor chuckled. “Well, feel free to kiss anything else off of me.”

It was a sentence that only six months ago would have made them both blush and start stammering explanations. Today, he leaned into the innuendo, using their bond to offer a whole host of suggestions.

Rose sucked in a breath, but somehow managed to speak. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, her voice almost even.

Then she immediately took a sip of her own drink. “Oh, this is divine,” she moaned, licking the foam off her upper lip.

“The perfect thing to warm you up from the inside out,” the Doctor agreed.

The sun was low in the sky as they circled the market another time, drinking their hot buttered rum. There was one kind of shop Rose hadn’t found yet, much to her surprise. Finally, just as the sun was setting, she found it—a large shop specialising in Christmas decorations.

“I wanna get Mum an ornament or something,” she told the Doctor when she slowed to a stop. “Maybe something with the planet name on it? It’d be fun for her to have something that represents our travels, and no one else would bat an eyelash.”

The Doctor agreed, and they ducked into the packed store.

Unlike the first booth, here the salesperson left them alone to browse. Rose felt herself relax. It was a cultural thing, but even after years travelling with the Doctor, she wasn’t used to the overly helpful salesperson.

Left alone to browse, she slowly wandered the store, handing things to the Doctor as she found them.

“This is beautiful,” she said, carefully taking the delicate ornament off the tree. She held it for a moment before she noticed something different. “Doctor?”

He smiled. “Yep! Futuristic snow globes don’t need to be shaken for the snow to… snow. That ornament will constantly show snow falling, whether someone touches it or not.”

“I love it.”

oOoOo

It was dark when they left the shop. The market hadn’t slowed down; if anything the crowds had gotten thicker. “What are they all here for?” she said.

The Doctor took her hand and led her to the edge of the square. “Just watch,” he said.

Rose stared out at the plaza, trying to understand what she was watching for. Then she saw a light. First one, then a second. Then after that, dozens of lights floated up from the square.

“What are they?” Rose whispered.

“Remembrance lanterns,” he said, just as softly. “Every year, the city gathers on the third day of the festival to celebrate those who have been lost in the last year. The families make their own lanterns and bring them to the square on this day. The holiday lights are dimmed, and the lanterns are lit and released to the sky.”

Rose’s breath caught as she watched the spectacle. It was beautiful before; knowing what it symbolised made it absolutely stunning.

“I’m glad I don’t need to let one go,” she said, the words escaping her before she really thought them through. “I could set one off for Mickey, I suppose. It hurt to lose him. But it doesn’t hurt nearly as much as losing Mum would. And…” She bit her lip. “And sometimes I can’t help but remember that we almost lost each other.”

The Doctor shivered and pulled Rose close. The way the timelines had been pulling, trying to get Rose to leave him, he suspected that had been the primary timeline. But they had changed things. Jackie had changed things. And that’s why they could all be together.

“Happy Christmas, Doctor.”

“Happy Christmas, Rose.”

#ficandchips #ten x rose #fic by Nancy #doctorroseprompts #31 days of ficmas #telepathic bond #married couple #in which the Doctor and Rose take a little detour on the way to Jackie's #and have some Christmas fun along the way #look!#i am catching up on Ficmas!

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braincoins · 3 years

Text

for DA Shallura

I’ve been doing a series of posts about basic Dragon Age canon for my DA fic series, Dragon Age: Schism. HOWEVER, my Dragon Age AU for Shallura has slightly different background (it takes place before DA:O, and thus before any of DA:S) and I include headcanons and whatnot for DA:S in those info posts.

So I thought I’d make One post with all the info that @tybalt-tisk or anyone else could need to make sense of what’s going on in that fic specifically. Some of this will be copy-pasted from what I’ve already done for DA:S because c’mon why write it twice? But everything here should give the necessary bgd for that fic. If you want/need to ask me other questions, feel free!

With credit, as always, to @yslanam who started this by first suggesting a DA AU for Shallura. And if you make it to the end, there’s pretty Mitz art! (Or you could skip to it, I know, but... be good, hm?)

Our story takes place in the country of Ferelden on the continent Thedas. Ferelden is basically Fantasy England (though not an island and not shaped that way), and is about the same size and climate (though it’s south of the equator, not north of it).

Shiro was born Takashi Shirogane in a small village where everyone knew everyone else and he liked it there. Loved it there, really. He signed on to be in his bann’s (the noble who ruled the land and its village) army, as did another young man from his town (whose name Shiro rarely speaks now). They served honorably and well and fell in love.

And then they were called to battle. Shiro survived: plus a scar and some new white hair, but minus his right arm, which was too badly injured and had to be amputated. Shiro’s lover didn’t make it, though. Shiro was discharged with pay and a small bonus, but that money would run out eventually. He’s not sure what to do with himself, and he overhears people talking about what a shame it is, such a young man now destined to just wither away because, well, he’s basically worthless now. Can’t work a farm, can’t fight in wars. It hits him hard. He wants to prove himself worthy of... of something, anything, just to prove them wrong.

That’s what brings him to the Grey Wardens.

Allura is a city elf. Elves are second-class citizens - at best - amongst humans, and the city elves live in ghettos called “alienages.” Her father was the Elder of the Highever (a city in Ferelden) Alienage: the man in charge, basically. That didn’t mean Allura behaved though; even as a child, she would rant about how elves were people just like humans and they deserved better treatment. This didn’t win her a lot of friends; most city elves learn quick that yelling about the truth just draws a whole lot of unwelcome - and often armed - attention.

But then it was discovered that Allura had magic, and she was taken off to the Tower of the Circle of Magi to be trained... and supervised. If there’s anything worse than being an elf in Ferelden, it’s being a mage. Mages, if they aren’t careful, can basically be possessed by demons and then they kill a bunch of people and it’s a bad scene. Therefore most people fear mages, and the Chantry - the main religious organization on the continent and damn near the only one in Ferelden - has created Templars to watch over the mages of the Circle.

The Templars are also known as “mage-hunters” because that’s one of their main duties: running down mages who try to flee their gilded cage. They also kill any mage suspected of being demon-possessed. And they’re posted all throughout the Tower, watching... always watching...

Allura liked learning magic but hated that this is how it’s done. She’s just been moved from one cage to another, and she wasn’t silent about that either. Things came to a head after she became an official mage; she saw a Templar about to force himself on a fellow mage, who was terrified of the man. She got angry and killed the man, straight out. She should have been killed, made Tranquil (basically magical lobotomy) or sent to Aeonar, the mage prison, but Duncan, the Warden-Commander, was there visiting and recruited her away, instead.

That’s what brings her to the Grey Wardens.

And that’s where she meets Shiro.

So, really now, what is a Grey Warden? Well, that depends on who you ask. To most people outside the order, the Grey Wardens are a glorious order of noble heroes! And why is that? Well, they’re immune to the darkspawn taint (which usually kills people) and so they can safely slay darkspawn! They’re also the only ones who can stop Blights!! …though this last bit of information is often forgotten, given that Blights happen once every few centuries.

If you ask me, the Grey Wardens are the biggest dick move in Thedas, which is actually part of why I love them. Here’s all the downsides to joining this “glorious order”:

First of all, the Right of Conscription. Ferelden has it; not sure if other nations in Thedas do? Anyway, it means that Grey Wardens can recruit anyone at any time. In practice, they have to be careful how they wield this tool (especially in Ferelden), but the RoC has been used to save people from hangings or other deadly fates… on the condition that they become a Warden Recruit. So… didn’t want to be Warden Recruit? TOO BAD, YOU ARE NOW. And no, you don’t get a say in the RoC. (Allura was RoC’d, to keep the commander of the Templars from killing her.)

Second of all, there’s the Joining. It turns out that, in order to become a Grey Warden, you have to drink darkspawn blood. And a bunch of other stuff in there, but really now, DRINKING DARKSPAWN BLOOD. You might recognize this as a stupidly dangerous thing to do, given that darkspawn blood KILLS THINGS. But your options are drink it or die, because the Grey Wardens present at the Joining will kill you if you try to back out after learning about this. If you drink from the Joining chalice, you also might die, but your name will be remembered as a Grey Warden at least? Even though you’re dead. And hey, if you live, you… become “immune” to the darkspawn taint, which is to say you’re already fucking tainted so it’s not like it can get worse. Want to know why the Grey Wardens don’t tell people they’re gonna make them drink darkspawn blood? Well, if they did that, people wouldn’t want to join, and we need Grey Wardens.

Supposing you survive the Joining, there’s the shortened lifespan (10-30 years depending on your sources) and the nightmares (that maybe you can learn to tune out). Again, they don’t tell you this until afterwards. Why? Because then people might not want to become Grey Wardens… yadda yadda. (Shiro might not speak Adam’s name anymore but he sure does yell it some nights, jolting out of a night terror and back to reality.)

Oh, and forget about having kids! It’s very difficult if not impossible to have children as a Grey Warden! (Not like they let mages have kids in the Circle. And Shiro’d been in love with a man, so he was okay with not having biological children anyway.)

At some point, even if you were able to tune the nightmares out, they’ll come back and there’ll be nothing you can do about it. That’s the first sign of The Calling. Because it turns out that the Joining is really just turning you into a ghoul, except very, very slowly. You’re getting close to Ghoul-dom now. Most Grey Wardens choose to die in battle against the darkspawn rather than waiting to be turned. It’s tradition.

And if there’s a Blight going on? Oh, well, it turns out that the only way to kill an Archdemon is to sacrifice a Grey Warden. Why didn’t they tell you? DO YOU EVEN HAVE TO ASK NOW?!

The motto of the Grey Wardens is “In war, victory. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice.”

So what I’m saying is that Grey Wardens are SUPER TRAGIC BADASSES. They also wind up pretty cut off from their former lives, so the Wardens become their family. So, basically, SUPER TRAGIC BADASS FOUND FAMILY.

Shiro and Allura get close because it turns out they work well together as a fighting pair: he as a warrior, she as a mage. Even with only one arm, Shiro can at least protect Allura as she takes shit out. They’re quickly a unit, just the two of them, always sent out together. It’s no wonder it starts to blossom into love.

But Allura sees that Shiro wants to do more than just protect and shield bash, so she starts trying to figure out how to make him a prosthetic: one worthy of a Grey Warden. One... worthy of him.

There are different schools of magic: Creation is the healing branch, and it seems natural to try to work with that some, but in the end, Allura has to also dip into a forbidden school: Blood Magic. Blood Magic has the reputation of being evil because you’re using people’s blood - people’s life forces - to power your spells. After growing up in the Tower, she’s understandably nervous about using it.

But she talks about it with Shiro, and although he might otherwise be scared of Blood Magic, she tells him she doesn’t need a lot of it, it won’t kill him, and... well, it’s her. He trusts her. And she works hard to be worthy of that trust, she goes over this spell she’s created several times. It should work to attach the arm - made of silverite, a very powerful and durable metal - to him so he can use it.

She just forgot about the darkspawn taint coursing through him. His blood is not normal. And there are some... side effects from messing with it.

I do recommend reading this post (it’s kinda 1/2 meta, 1/2 fic) but if you don’t want to, the short version is that Shiro has trouble controlling his arm at first and so he pushes Allura away because he’s afraid of hurting her. She takes that as a well-deserved rebuke because she did this to him.

Eventually they scream it all out at each other: he loves her, he was afraid for her, she feels guilty and is so afraid he’ll leave her, etc. They settle down and start working together on figuring out how Shiro can better control this thing. At the beginning of this fic, he’s gotten the hang of it now.

I’ll put up pictures of their uniforms when I can, and other than that, you should be good to go! I know this was long, sorry. Here, have some pretty @mitzoco art:

#DA Shallura #Dragon Age 101 for Shallura fans

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keywestlou · 3 years

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JOY WITHOUT RESERVATION.....I REMEMBER IT WELL

Today the celebration of V-E Day. Victory in Europe. Germany surrendered this day in 1945.

I remember it well.

I was only 10 years old. Even a 10 year old could understand. Ever since Pearl Harbor, World War II was the talk in every household every evening.

Whose father, brother, uncle, cousin, etc. was involved. Most on the front lines. Many had not been home in 3 years.

The country cried, yelled, smiled, and laughed. All part of the joyous celebration.

It was early morning when the news arrived. I was first aware that something big had occurred when I heard the noise of pans being hit with large wood spoons and whatever else was available. The wood spoons reflect I lived in an Italian neighborhood.

People were on their porches hitting the pans, yelling, screaming and crying. Extremely emotional!

Even now I have tears in my eyes recalling the event.

There was neither work nor school that day.

My father did the right thing by me. He took me everywhere. We lived in upstate New York in the City of Utica. One hundred fifty thousand population at the time.

We were out all day and into the night. Visited different parts of the city. Many porches had dummies of Hitler hanging from them. Certain neighborhood corners had people in the streets singing and dancing. Utica’s downtown in the evening when we visited was the same. Crowding shoulder to shoulder. Hugging and kissing. Singing and dancing.

Dad took me to Church also. In the middle of the day. It was packed. People quietly praying their thanks.

Our fighting men and boys were coming home.

Key West is on the map vacation wise! Finally, big time!

Not sure it is good, but it is where we are.

The Miami Herald reported yesterday that the Florida Keys have the highest hotel rates in the country.

Key West was particularly mentioned. For an “overnight stay in Key West, prepare to dig deep to pay for a hotel room. The cheapest double room $299. A bargain! Several hotels charging $1,000 a night.”

The article made mention of another Key West distinction. Key West is in the top five most popular destination sites in the world.

Key West is changing. In the past two years has already changed dramatically. I for one am not happy about it. Most locals would agree with me. Everything expensive, traffic heavy, visitors a new type, rowdy and cantankerous might best describe them, etc.

Little Key West is on its way to becoming big Key West.

Poor Alice Reid Griffin. She was the Madam of several whore houses in Key West and Stock Island at different times in her career. Her establishments were known as Mom’s Tea Room.

The Navy had a large contingency stationed in Key West in the late 1930s and through World War II. Many were her customers. Even the police were amongst her best customers. Seemed most men liked Mom’s.

The Navy was not thrilled. The Navy considered the activities at Mom’s to be immoral and also a place where the sailors were prone to acquire a sexual disease. The Navy was constantly beating up Key West leaders to arrest Alice and put her out of business.

They arrested her several times. Did not put her out of business till sometime in World War II. She had made her fortune. She purchased a home somewhere in Old Town to spend her final years.

Why Alice and Mom’s today? It was on this day in 1941 that Alice was convicted of violation of the Mann Act in federal court. The violation popularly known as white slavery. The bringing of a woman over state lines for purposes of prostitution. Alice had imported one her girls from Atlanta.

No matter how you look at it. Whether you approve or disapprove of her conduct. Alice is part and parcel of Key West history.

Harry Truman was born this day in 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. The son of a farmer.

He could not afford college. Was an artillery officer during World War I. Following the war, he opened a haberdashery store in Kansas City. The business went bankrupt in 1922.

He then became involved in politics. While a U.S. Senator, he developed a reputation for honesty and integrity.

I consider Truman to have been one of our greatest Presidents.

The teflon man. John Gotti was the first to be labeled the teflon man. The reason being he was acquitted in so many criminal trials.

Ronald Reagan was next. Followed by Bill Clinton.

Questionable acts slid off all three.

Trump has had hanging over his head the Stormy Daniels matter. Stormy was a pornographic actress. It was 10 days before the 2016 election. Stormy was threatening to go to the press regarding her alleged sexual relationship with Trump.

Through his attorney Michael Cohen, Trump is alleged to have paid Stormy $130,000 to keep her quiet. Not a legal payment. A violation of the Election Law.

Cohen acknowledged his involvement claiming he did it with the knowledge and consent of Trump.

Trump never has been charged., He could be now without question since he is no longer President. It is not going to happen.

The FEC announced it is dropping the case against Trump re the $130,000 payment.

As a result, Trump has joined the ranks of teflon men.

I would like to know why the FEC dropped its Trump investigation? The public should be made privy as to how it came about.

Yesterday’s blog warned of grocery costs and the anticipated sky rocketing of them by later this year. Today the cost problem involves used automobiles.

As with groceries, the price of used cars has been “spiking.” Such is causing auto dealers to pay more at auctions to restock their tight supply.

The price of used autos does not seem to go down. If the cost continues to rise as predicted, a “scary-crazy” inflation will occur. The auto dealers will be left with an excess of used cars for sale. People will have refused to pay the new expensive prices for used cars. The auto dealers’ inventory of used autos could bury them economically.

Tonight dinner with Donna and Terri at 7 at a restaurant they selected in Bahama Village. I am looking forward to be with Donna and Terri after more than a year and also to be out and about in Key West on a saturday evening.

Happy Mothers Day! Wish my Mom was still here.

Enjoy your day!

JOY WITHOUT RESERVATION…..I REMEMBER IT WELL was originally published on Key West Lou

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bluerosesonata · 4 years

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The Legacy of Aika Village

[This will be the first of a few mini-articles I plan to post here, just about different things I’m passionate about. Please indulge me.]

This article originally was written back in early April- since then, Nintendo announced that the “Dream Suites” would be coming to the latest update of ACNH, as “Dream Islands.” As such, I thought it would be timely to finally post this.

Update: On July 2nd, the original creator of Aika Village made a tweet announcing their plans to remake Aika for Dream Islands in New Horizons! The legend lives on!

Image Credit: thumbnail from chuggaconroy’s playthrough of Aika Village on Youtube.

Animal Crossing And Horror: The Legacy of Aika Village

With a lot of the world in lockdown, Animal Crossing New Horizons has become a creative and social outlet for many, leading to a lot of people who never played Animal Crossing to engage with it for the first time. I’m sure most of you have encountered the various types of people present in the Animal Crossing community by now, but there’s a type of Animal Crossing players that a lot of people didn’t realize exist, and have existed, for a while now: The Horror Town Creators.

These players were the subject of a brief write up on Polygon by Patricia Hernandez [Hernandez, Patricia. “Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now a horror game, thanks to fans.” Polygon, 24 Mar. 2020. https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/24/21190826/animal-crossing-new-horizons-horror-game-decorations-scary-nintendo-switch-blood-spatter-pattern.], who posted an article featuring quotes and pictures of people creating horror themed towns and rooms in New Horizons, but only made a brief mention of the legacy of horror that many of these players are striving to recreate: The Nightmare Suites of Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

(These next few paragraphs are a bit of a self-indulgent aside, so feel feel to skip ahead.)

Horror gets a bad rap. Horror artists get comments like “lmao what SCP is this,” “that’s fucked up,” or get flippant remarks about it all “looking the same.” Horror writers get made fun of for only writing “three types of stories.” Even the term “creepypasta,” which has evolved into shorthand for “horror stories independently published online,” still carries the stink of derision from the typo-filled, often poorly-written shock stories the term originated from. Despite this derision, horror, as a genre, is MASSIVELY popular (and profitable as well!). There’s an undeniable appeal to it.

More importantly, horror always finds a way to adapt itself to different mediums. As one can easily see by the success of horror podcasts like the NoSleep Podcast and The Magnus Archives, it isn’t even limited to a visual format! Like fear and dread itself, the horror genre crawls on, inexhaustible, undying, and ever-present, always returning to us in ways both novel and familiar.

Horror lovers are a tight knit, but welcoming, community, and that’s one of its biggest strengths and weaknesses.The biggest drawback is that a lot of really cool stuff produced will never be experienced, let alone documented, by people outside the community. And that’s what prompted this post. I was trying to explain the Dream Suite horror movement to my cousin, and despite my best efforts, didn’t find a lot of coverage about them, beyond the fact they existed. Worse, most of those were articles written five years ago. Even so, I’ll link to a few of them at the end of this post, as they’re definitely worth reading.

For me, I wanted to share my experience of the horror town phenomena with people outside the community. The Nightmare Suites movement was really something magical, and I know that I, personally, am still trying to recreate that magic in New Horizons. And hey, maybe once you’re finished reading this, you will too.

The Dream Suite

Before we can talk about Aika Village, we need to explain the feature that made this whole movement possible. In the 2012/2013 3DS game, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, there were two areas in every town: The village, and Main Street, which laid beyond the train tracks that ran across to the north of every town. Main Street was home several important structures, including the town shop, the Happy Home Academy, and the Post Office. Later on, more structures could be unlocked and built as public works projects, one of which was the Dream Suite.[“Dream Suite.” Nookipedia, 25 Apr. 2013, nookipedia.com/wiki/Dream_Suite.]

As for how it worked, Nookipedia explains it best:

To begin a dream, the player must lie down on the bed and pay Luna 500 Bells. They may then choose to visit a random town, input the Dream Address of a specific town to visit, or search for a town. They may then choose to visit a previously visited town or a random town, or to input the dream address of a new town to visit. While dreaming, the player may walk around the town and perform actions just as they would in the real world, but their actions will have no effect on the town.

While dreaming, the bed will be on the dream town's plaza. Luna and Lloid stand near it until the player decides to wake up. Players can borrow tools like a shovel and axe from Lloid to use within the dream. If the player lies on the bed a second time, they will leave the dream and anything they have in their pockets will be lost.

The player cannot go to Main Street or enter any buildings with doors besides homes. Additionally, messages left on the bulletin board cannot be read; instead, the board displays the town's name and Dream Address…custom designs on display in the town, such as on the ground and in houses, will be visible. The player who uploaded the town can also be found walking about. When spoken to, they will say their recorded greeting.

In essence, the Dream Suite takes a snapshot of your town at the moment you ask Luna, the NPC running the Dream Suite, to share a dream- this includes your outfit, the way you decorated your home, the items laying around town, etc.

The most important aspect of this feature, and the one that I feel had the most impact on the Nightmare Suite creation movement, was the method of discovery. If you didn’t know someone’s code, you would be sent to a random dream of a random town, from anywhere in the world- and this is where I feel my personal experience of being in the community departs from the articles that have already been written about the Nightmare Suites.

The Urban Legend of Aika

In the years leading to 2013, I was going through some rough shit. I won’t go into details here, but video games had become my entire life. Coming into the summer of 2013, I didn’t have any friends I kept in touch with, and I was “starting over” in a city where I knew nobody- things were looking up, but outside of tumblr, I didn’t have anything even resembling a social life. Animal Crossing: New Leaf was a stabilizing force of my life during this time, and really helped me. I had the Shampoodle haircut guide saved to the camera roll on my phone, for pete’s sake.

It was in the beginnings of my friendship with a group of girls (whom I sadly no longer even have contact with), where a lot of our initial bonding happened because of anime and RPGmaker horror games. We were sitting together in the campus dining area, me playing on my 3DS, when I first learned about the Nightmare Suites.

“Have you heard about Aika Village?”

I hadn’t.

“It’s this really creepy town in dream suites, I heard about it from a friend online.” Later that day, she linked me to a tumblr post compiling a series of codes leading to different “creepy dream towns,” the first one being simply labeled as “Aika Village.”

That dream village became a phenomenon: people would write up their interpretations and theories about it, and even lead to a few articles and videos on gaming sites like IGN and Killscreen, which is why I’m not gonna even bother going into the content of the village itself.

And So, The Dream Begins…

This, in my opinion, was the draw of the Nightmare Suites. Without a way to directly share codes from your 3DS to your social media, the discovery and sharing of Dream Towns was like that of urban legends- like virtually passing notes in class, or sharing scary stories that “totally happened to a friend of my cousin’s sister” at a campfire. It felt like a cool discovery- something exclusive and scary and weirdly intimate. They had a mystique to them, a mystery of who their creators were and what they “really meant.” But above all that? They were cool as hell.

The Nightmare Suites used the limitations of the game to try and create an unnerving atmosphere in ways that were reminiscent to me of the RPGmaker horror game subgenre, and for me, created a lot of memories of excitedly typing in my once a day dream suite visit late at night in my dorm. I never lacked variety- there were so many people either influenced or inspired by Aika to make a horror town that there are entire lists and tumblrs dedicated to collecting those codes. (I even played around with the idea of making my own horror town, but never found the right inspiration, instead dedicating my time to making themed homes and custom outfits based on different anime characters.)

The sad fact that so many of these towns have been altered or overwritten, if they’re available or accessible at all, is in itself, a part of their urban legend-like appeal. While many of us may never get to experience these towns, the stories about them endure, in lists on long-abandoned blogs and youtube videos from people’s playthroughs.

And that mystique is the real legacy of Aika; While the Nightmare Suites may be gone, the wonder and dreamlike memories many of us hold from our chance encounter with it will never fade. You could even say we’re a bit…haunted by it.

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simtrospective · 4 years

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Just some thoughts about my new save while I plan how I want to fulfill the last request in my inbox. I thought I’d write every thing down because it might help me think if I read it all back. I made it an entry you can see for those who enjoy super lengthy sims minutia. If you read this and have opinions or thoughts about where I could go with my ideas, please do share those opinions/thoughts with me!

1.) I have a family set to live in Glimmerbrook and a few ideas for the other residents there and the world’s overall vibe (I’ve not yet made the other families, nor renovated the world). I don’t care about ~spellcasters so my idea was to have at least one of the main families be immortals, and rivals with the family I’ve created already, who may themselves be immortal or half-immortal or not at all immortal but who will know that the other family is, and--whatever, who knows. Not the point.

The point is, I was making a few updates to my New Save Plans and while rereading everything, saw and thus remembered my idea to make Glimmerbrook into a vacation world/transcendentalist paradise. Recalling that plan, I still like it, and now I’m not sure what to do about anything there.

Issues:

Glimmerbrook and Granite Falls feel similar. I don’t want nor need two woodsy vacation areas.

Glimmerbrook has roads designed for vehicle travel. It’s not private and seems more “active” than I want a vacation world to appear, consistently. I’d also hate to lose some of the locations as isolated residential lots.

Where will I put the family I’ve already made? They were supposed to have a peacock farm!

2.) Never mind why it took so long for me to come up with a concept for Selvadorada; I’m suddenly super into giving it a 1930s Havana vibe--actual jungle notwithstanding--and moving it from the vacation worlds into the regular playable worlds. I’ve done the adventure playthrough already and it’s not going to fit into my new save so I’m not concerned with losing/avoiding that.

I want to move at least one world into the vacation world to make up for this swap, not counting Glimmerbrook since I’m undecided about that, and I’m thinking it’ll be Sulani. I actually love Sulani as a world (my mains lived there for a while) but it doesn’t make sense to me that there’s no beach vacation spot + I’d like to leave it wide open, fun, and with a relaxed vibe. I don’t want to disrupt the natural terrain. Super basic, open-plan, two-room rental properties + beaches + one place to get food/drink + one place (maybe the same place as the food/drink spot) to drink, dance, and... flirt, and that’s it.

I do (did?) have plans for Miss Sulani and Mr. Sulani and a whole thing, but I think I can still execute some of what I want. I mean... townies, etc., generate when you visit any world, including a vacation one, so I can just visit Sulani, let the townies generate to ensure they’re tied to Sulani, and then replace them with what/who I want, right? I guess? Yeah? Yeah.

Issues:

Actually... none? 99% sure I’m going to make Sulani a vacation world. 100%. 100% sure!

I never played the conservationist storyline or whatever the heck it is. I could still do that. Take a seven-day vacation in Sulani and clean the beach? I’ll have a few young, 1960s/1970s sims. A vacation to clean the beach = serving/volunteering in the Peace Corps? That was ~so hot back then. Now I get to name the sims version of the Peace Corps, so that’s fun.

3.) Let me get this straight: You’re concerned with leaving Sulani relatively untouched but want to slash and burn Selvadorada so you can have a nightclub? Interesting.

Actually, having thought about this more, I went back and looked at the pictures I took of every emptied world and I don’t see 1930s Havana working out in Selvadorada. I am now super not into this concept and don’t know what to do with Selvadorada, all over again. I still love the 1930s Havana concept and want to use it, though.

I looked at a few real life reference pictures and while I can see 30s Havana working with much of eastern Windenburg, I’m still really into eastern Windenburg as post-war Europe. “Europe” is broad, yes, and Windenburg will “be” multiple countries in one, but I don’t want to go even broader here and pull from multiple geographic regions around the globe, plus I’m already combining various cities into Oasis Springs, too, and so want to limit the “combining” approach. I looked at my world pictures again, and... Magnolia Promenade, though definitely not perfect, is the best place to put “Havana.” I think I can make it work, though, so that’s what I’m going to try to do!

Issues:

Magnolia Promenade was intended to be a Coney Island-Atlantic City boardwalk hybrid, another concept I want to keep. So... where’s that all going to go? I think it could work in Willow Creek, but with so many other lots there, the [boardwalk] will not be isolated in the way that I want it to be, though spreading it across the four side-by-side Crawdad Quarter lots + putting the attractions (Ferris wheel, carousel, etc.) in that closest 50x50 lot is certainly a workable option. Ugh, I don’t know, this needs more consideration.

4.) Forgotten Hollow and Newcrest are just...

Forgotten Hollow--to repeat myself--is getting a 20s-30s vibe, a Weimar Republic vibe, a German expressionist cinema vibe. It’s getting a seedy nightclub cabaret venue. Fine. Great. But what else is going to go there besides that? I’m not interested in multiple sims who fit into this world; I already have one done, I don’t think I need more than four others, and I don’t think I want to play a household of them so what else can fit into that world that makes sense/is “justifiable” within my gameplay? Just a deco church? Even with the cemetery, that can’t be the only cemetery in my save; that’s weird. Some hippie OD’s in Del Sol Valley and gets buried in Forgotten Hollow? The smiling milkman from Brindleton Bay has a cute life and eventually dies of old age surrounded by his grandchildren and gets buried in Forgotten Hollow? I mean, once, okay, maybe ~an “average” sim has a secret~ so that their ultimate resting place is a creepy, foggy, Germanic crypt, but, also... no. That milkman idea’s a good one, tho, right? Ah, shit.

Last I updated my plan document, I shifted my Newcrest plan to Evergreen Harbor and started kicking around the idea of making the three neighborhoods into the Haves, the Have-Nots, and the... Have-Somes, I guess, because it might make for some interesting storylines despite that I don’t want to use this game to play out class inequity/inequality as a constant theme. I can have some sims be total assholes to sims who are different than they are or who don’t live in the tony part of town, but, like, all of them are going to act like that? All of them except one? And then, let me guess, a rich sim and poor sim fall in love and sneak around because their respective families blah blah blah

But, then, what on earth to do with Newcrest? It’s so... boring. I hate the 50x40 lot. Even the 40x30 lots feel too big where they are. I hate the layout. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand the location of the water nor where the hospital-looking, officey-looking deco building is, and the reasoning behind the placement/existence of those big-ass rocks behind one of the Ridgeline lots, nor how any--any--of it works together in individual neighborhoods/the whole world. I understand it’s basically Willow Creek all over again but it suckssss and it’s too open-ended and this is from someone whose first move in every neighborhood she’s ever played in this entire series is to bulldoze everything.

Since I’ve changed direction in Willow Creek--let’s say I’ll put my boardwalk there for the sake of the rest of this sentence--I could shift my suburbia ideas to Newcrest, I guess, maybe put a library there and a (deco) high school. In another save, I tried to build the world up using Baltimore/Baltimore Harbor as inspiration and it was okay for a little while, I guess, but ultimately I didn’t achieve what I wanted and it was so boring to play there, even when I liked the sims I was playing.

Issues:

Again, Forgotten Hollow and Newcrest are just :P

So. More thinking to do. More planning to do.

Boy that’s a lot of words over a silly little game XD

#sims 4 #ts4 #text post #new save

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writingcuredmyfrown · 4 years

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The Sign

It’s been a long time since I wrote something, so I present to you my latest story. A tale, inspired by H.P.Lovecraft.

Words: 1,843 - It’s a long read, so brew some coffee or tea, close your window and kick back!

I have always had a keen interest in everything witchy, occult, magical, necromantic, mystical and supernatural. When I was a small boy I used to gather all kinds of stones, leaves, odd trinkets, twisted branches and other curiosities. Then I would take them to a small room, next to the attic of my father’s old house, where I would experiment with them, chant verses I had read in old poetry books, color them with different pigments, submerge them in water etc. Now that I look back on those years, I realize that I wasn’t looking for something, or expecting results, but that I just loved doing it. I was drawn to the process, to the interaction with the object. It pulled me, gripped me, at points I even felt enthralled by it.

Naturally, when I saw the advert in the newspaper, I immediately boarded the first train for Akshalam. Lately, my life has consisted of endless travel from place to place, all across this wasteland of a country. I’ve found many things of suspicious origin, trinkets with questionable properties, and tomes upon tomes with knowledge, long forgotten and obsolete. You see, money would seem like a problem, but not here. Practically the whole country now deals in such goods, they’ve become the new commodity, the new big thing. Gradually everyone became if not interested in the mystical oddities, then at least interested in becoming rich off them.

The train ride was silent. There was a nip in the air of the wagon, which left me uneasy. All around me were people just like me, treasure hunters, seekers of relics and knowledge freaks. At times, looking through the window, I felt as if this isn’t the world I used to live in. I went back in time, in my mind, and saw such things that do not exist anymore. I looked around the train and carefully scanned my fellow passengers. They were almost husks, dried out humans with no sense of place or time. I was wondering why the incidents at the docks were increasing, and why the police weren’t doing anything. It seems that slowly, over the years, this land has fallen from grace, drowned in some sort of dreadful slumber, which paralyzes the mind, but leaves the body untouched. I felt like I was on an island, surrounded by vast masses of ocean, with its deep and silent waters, ready to engulf me at any point. I kept staring out the window, I thought maybe, out there, lies something else.

When I arrived at Akshalam I sat down at a coffee shop to eat and get some coffee. The ride was almost nine hours, and I desperately needed to press on, I couldn’t allow myself to rest in one of those two-story hotels, with no windows and barely any staff members, apart from the person at the reception. I’ve stayed at such places once or twice, and no matter how hard I tried, I could never fall asleep. There was always some strange, ominous noise coming from within the walls. Screeching, scratching, twitching noises that wouldn’t leave my brain alone. When I had inquired about them, the only answer I received is that it’s natural now. It seems that most buildings in town have developed such an issue, and the residents say the only way to deal with it is to sing a verse from a book titled “A poet’s endless dream”, which calms the noises down, subdues them.

After my little break, I went straight to the carriage station. I carried the newspaper with me, the advert was written informally, it appears the person behind it wanted the editors to not change anything. It said:

“In the city of Akshalam, June Street, you will find me in my shop. I have for you a secret beyond your imagination. A scripture, found in a recent expedition in the Kaloma Steppes, which bears a mark of curious origin. Find me, and inquire about it. We shall speak in private. Signed, Jazem Al-Hafar”

I showed it to the man, handling the wagons and he mumbled something inaudible. When I asked whether I could be shown the way, or carried there, he mumbled something again, and motioned me to climb on.

The streets of Akshalam are narrow, with living quarters cramped close together. There are no sidewalks, only ditches and trenches, used for sewage and waste. Everyone uses the streets, be it on foot, on a bicycle, on horseback or in a carriage. Transportation and moving around is difficult, but at least you have ample time to see and observe your surroundings. As we were slowly making our way through puddles, mud and masses of faceless people, I felt many piercing gazes, fixated upon me. I turned around and saw children, many children with dark skin and sky-blue eyes staring at me as we passed through. Their eyes were cold, dead. I felt them sapping my life force, draining me of my energy, turning me into a husk. I quickly looked away and tapped my driver on the shoulder, so he would hurry up. He mumbled and kicked the horses, which ended up scaring a bunch of passersby, who then angrily shouted at us in a strange dialect.

The long train ride, followed by this restless carriage ride had left me exhausted. I was now outside the shop. A small, crumbling building with clay ornaments at the front. It had a sign - “Jazem’s Sacred Grounds”. The door was wide open, the only thing between me and the inside of these sacred grounds was the fringe door curtain, a black and gold masterpiece of the oriental craft. No plastic, only the finest silk, adorned with precious jewelry and wooden figurines. I took a deep breath and headed inside.

I stepped carefully inside, the scent of something burning, perhaps incense, immediately hit my nose. The inside was small, with barely any place to take a step. It was full of shelves, boxes, crates, barrels and drawers. Some of the were widely open, their contents protruding a bit. It was dark, the only sunshine coming from a small window on the left wall. It was so filthy, that there was barely any light, and the beams that did manage to go through, illuminated a bunch of bundles of herbs on the counter. I didn’t know what to do next, I felt overwhelmed. From every corner and every little nook and cranny, something caught my eye. Flasks and vials with colorful substances inside, rocks and ores with a faint glow, numerous mounted heads, upon whose horns hung tribal necklaces; a small bird cage, now empty, different plants with twisted-looking fruits, countless sheets of paper, scattered about, full of incoherent writing, a cat with one eye, slowly walking across the end of the room, paintings of people, possibly long one, paint brushes, canisters, trinkets, bottles, pouches, glass ornaments and silver cutlery, a long hooded cowl, hanging on a nail on the right wall, and many, many candles, now extinguished. I felt my blood pumping, my heart began racing. The child, which was locked away within me was getting excited, it felt drawn once again. That’s what I feared most, that I would be consumed if I took one more step inside this place, that my own self would capture and lead me to my end. I came so far for this, I couldn’t stop then. I had to do it, to trust. I saw a copper bell, covered in dust on the counter. I slowly made my way there, trying not to push over or break something, and pressed it.

From behind the counter suddenly jumped a midget with a long beard and no hair. He smiled at me, caressed my hand gently and introduced himself. Jazem Al-Hafar. His teeth were all golden, his lower lip was burnt, and his eyes were dark green. I’ve dealt with such situations before, my visits have taken me far and wide, but this man was something different. His whole aura was different. I felt scared and alone, but I couldn’t resist. I felt enthralled once again. So I did as he told me, I followed him into the basement of the shop. We grabbed torches and went down a narrow corridor, which seemed endless. Soon, we arrived. There was nothing there but a table with two chairs, and a scripture. A few candlesticks gave the place an ambience of dread and decay. The scripture, I thought, it’s right there. He motioned me to sit, and he sat directly across.

The scripture was now in his hands, the seal had come off, he unwrapped the paper and gave it to me in a ritualistic way. I took it with my shivering hands, looked at Jazem and then looked at the writing itself. I couldn’t understand a word, the letters were written in a language I’d never seen, and not only that, they were also moving across the page, shaking, twisting. They formed a circle and started spinning faster and faster. I felt the scripture wearing me down, it was too heavy for my hands, but I couldn’t let go, no matter how hard I tried. The circle kept increasing in speed, and within its boundaries something began emerging, another piece of writing, I thought. A sign. A sign resembling nothing at all, yet melting my mind the more I stared at it. I kept losing energy, the intensity of the moving letters kept increasing, and slowly the sign became a window into another world, or dimension. I saw many people through that window, the train passengers, the hotel owners, the coffee shop keeper, those children on the street, and they all had the same sign on their foreheads, glowing in bright yellow. I wanted desperately to break the scroll’s hold, but I couldn’t. The window suddenly became a mirror, and I could see myself in there. Eyes wide open, full of blood, swollen nerve endings, and an iris as black as night. Then, when I looked at my forehead, I saw the very same sign, in its bright yellow tone. I wanted to scream, but couldn’t. I couldn’t move anything, my mind was trapped inside a still body.

And then, I woke up, head on the table. I leapt up and saw Jazem Al-Hafar right there, in front of me, holding the scripture, which was now sealed, in his hands. His golden teeth and burnt lip forming a sadistic smile, as he was stroking his beard. He took a candle and approached my face with it.

“What do they call you, traveler?” he murmured.

I tried answering, but nothing came out. Nothing coherent, that is, only a mumble. A mumble, devoid of meaning and sense. His smile widened, he stood up and started climbing the stairs back to the shop. The wind was howling outside, and as it was making its way through the cavernous tunnel, it blew away all the candles.

“Soon enough, traveler, all will kneel before the King in Yellow.”

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kateemmerson · 3 years

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#LocationFree - How are global nomads coping with their wanderlust lifestyle?

No one has been left unscathed, have we? We have all had to adjust, re-jig, process life, handle loss, and take stock …every single one of us? Same storm, different ship, right?

Amidst all the “stuff” going on globally, I recently listened to my heart and launched my 5th book, titled “10 Lessons for Living #LocationFree.” Originally planning to launch it much earlier, I waited until the time felt right and until I had the right energy to tackle it. I honestly feel that now, more than ever, we need to keep our dreams, ideals and possibilities ALIVE and top of mind.

Even if we are a bit stuck now, our thinking and feeling do NOT have to be stuck.

In the process of writing this book, I wanted to offer readers some varied perspectives and thus set about interviewing 16 awesome folks to get their views on living this lifestyle. When the book was released just 2 weeks ago, I really wanted to check back in and get their updates on living “LocationFree.” We are all between 40 and 60 years old, living our own version of this lifestyle all around the world. Essentially I wanted to see how the year had shaped up for them since our initial interview – to see if they were more hellbent on continuing this vagabond lifestyle, to understand if something fundamental had shifted for them, or if perhaps world events have made them reconsider lifestyle choices related to all things #LocationFree?

#LocationFree is my preferred term, but it is often referred to as Global Nomad, Digital Nomad, Location Independent, Portable Pro, etc. The name is less important than what we live day-to-day.

I wanted to update myself, too. I have honestly had a profoundly ‘interesting’ year. I’m definitely NOT saying it was easy and straightforward, but that I dug deep and found ways to try and accept and lean into what was going on rather than resist it all. The latter option felt futile and counter-productive in every form. I contracted and tested positive for the covid lurgy back in March 2020 after hurriedly exit-ing South Africa. I was out there to launch my 4th book, “Write your Book in 100 Days,” with my business partner. We had multiple book launches and events, live interviews from some major PR rolling out. It was our chance to inspire and reconnect with all the wonderful South African writers in our community. Plus, all my annual medical appointments were booked for what might have been my last regular visit to South Africa.

As I tuned in and reacted to what was unfolding, I knew I needed to get on a plane fast, to the UK. I was due to travel via Dubai to visit a friend stationed there but decided to hotfoot it directly to the UK, just a couple of days before lockdown kicked in. After all, South Africa was officially no longer any form of “base” for me after the break up with my partner, so I didn’t fancy getting “stuck” there.

I knew I wanted to get to my mum in time for the first proposed lockdown so she wouldn’t be on her own. Well, for sanity, company, and a bit of TLC more than needing to “look after” her – she’s a super strong woman! But before being able to get to her, after testing positive for covid (I only ever experienced mild symptoms, thank goodness), I had to isolate myself for a month before it was deemed safe for me to stay with mum in her presidential home. We then ‘enjoyed’ three months of strict lockdown together. Lucky we had too much TV, laughter, wine, great food, daily walks, and I also celebrated my birthday with her. Zoom Style with friends around the world.

One of the hardest business challenges was letting go of our international Writing Retreats that were booked. It often takes folk at least a year to decide, book, and pay for one of our retreats. Writers from all over the world were joining Sarah and me in Greece, Italy, and Spain for a total of four retreats and residencies. We had to face cancellations, field the uncertainty with massive deposits we had paid across to secure hotels, and handle the non-refundable deposit challenge. We initially postponed and shuffled dates later in 2020 in the eternal hope that we could still host them later in the year, and had clients ready to hop on planes… and then finally releasing them all in favour of 2021 dates. We “lost” some clients who couldn’t move to the new dates, and have not yet been able to start filling those spaces for 2021. That was my main income revenue down the sink. I know the entire world understands all the drastic financial challenges of the year and I am not alone in that.

The moment it was “safe” enough to travel, and the world eased open a bit in the UK, I travelled to a wee Scottish island, Iona, for an overdue, personal and significant retreat. I had been wanting to reconnect with Iona to organise a writing retreat, so I was fulfilling two objectives. It is a very sacred isle that offers deep healing and was just what I needed. Mum was happy (and I guess sad) to finally wave goodbye after three intense months together. The year has allowed me to live what I call a “revised version” of living location free – with restrictions and other things factored in, like everyone. I was planning on spending 2020 starting to look for my next Northern bases, so that has obviously been postponed. My heart is being pulled by the idea of setting up some version of flexible homes in both Scotland and the Mediterranean – but that will need to wait until I can travel abroad to explore that option more fully.

I am just not a ONE HOME type of gal. Any future partner I have in life needs to know that a deep love for travel and adventure is wired into my cells. But I am starting to consider a couple of bases to move between, with loads of side- travel too!

So I relished a much quieter work year. I was already planning on taking time off from running regular online writing mentorships as I needed a break from that intense type of work, and then all our summer writing retreats retreated into the distance. So I took most of the year off to be in the GAP. I stayed in quieter retreat –type mode with myself.

I embarked on an intense, personal retreat process on Iona to recalibrate again. I went offline for 3 weeks and 80% offline for a further 5 weeks. The poor wifi signal helped that switching off process. But this was not about covid. To be honest, it was more related to where I am in my life and business cycle. I needed to do a mammoth, triple-angled closing out process. One was the ending of my relationship after five years, and another was leaving South Africa, and the third closing out a few aspects of what used to make up my business. But all that was happening despite covid’s impact. You can read more about that journey here.

On Iona I also fell headlong into a fantastic new heart-based hobby with the actual “making” of books, learning the art and skill of “Book Binding” or BookArt. I am smitten and have a bag of tools, paper, ink, and waxed linen thread to lug around now. If ever you come on a retreat with me, you will be sure to make your own book from now on!

Uhmmm, yes, the irony is that my motto is #LIVELIGHTELIVELARGE, so excess clothes can get turfed out of the suitcase but my new bookmaking tools will have to stay put for this #LocationFree gal.

I am still 100% pursuing my own version of living #LocationFree, just with the added goal of looking for a couple of places to call a “base” in 2021. Love Kate x

***Here is what some OTHER global Nomads say about how this year impacted their gallivanting lifestyle around the world. All of these amazing folk below have contributed to my latest book to offer their take on being #LocationFree.

* My global nomadship is NOT over yet! Dee Before COVID-19 stopped us all in our tracks, I had been already considering my global footprint and thinking about how I could still travel and work as a nomad, but with more and more respect for the environment by reducing my use of fossil fuels.

Since being “stuck” at my daughter’s house since March 1st, I have had more time to contemplate my next move, and I think I will be much more mindful about the “gigs” I say yes to in terms of length. Instead of jumping from plane to plane and delivering multiple workshops or events in one week, I will spaciously alter my availability and only offer one city a week for short jobs. In addition, I’m considering “putting myself out to hire” to communities for 3-6 month, longer-term projects.

As for this crazy year, I have still felt like a “nomad” because most of my international work has continued online, but I’ve been receiving some “snail mail” at my daughter’s address where I’m staying, and I don’t like it. My daughter and friends tease me, saying, “ooh, look, you have mail!” which I vehemently deny! Haha!

I did join a gym in my daughter’s town but, I made sure it was one of the franchise-type ones that proliferate Australia so that when I’m back on the road, I can still make use of the membership.

I still live out of my suitcase. It’s on a shelf, in the cupboard, in my daughter’s spare room, and I have deliberately done very little extra shopping this year and still buy my suitcase-sized “top-ups.” All my purchases have still been with the thought that I will eventually be back on the road.

As of December 2020, bookings for work in early 2021 have started rolling in, and I’m feeling the pullback towards the actual road (not flights) that will most likely be my future for at least the next 12 months until our international borders and flights are safe again. My global nomadship is not over yet!Yours in Community, Dee

Dee Brooks is a mum of four adults and is a passionate community development practitioner and trainer with over 20 years of experience. She has been an Intentional Nomad since 2015 and has travelled and worked in over 20 countries, creating impact through capacity building and knowledge sharing. http://jeder.com.au

*What is COVID offering US in terms of new perspectives? Martin When Covid struck, all my jobs and activities came to quite an abrupt halt. But organically, other things suddenly needed to be done. My life in a nutshell… Go with the flow, take things as they come, and run with it as best you can.

Pre-Covid, I was housesitting, hiking, travel guiding, and occasionally giving sushi workshops. When all that stopped, for my dad, who lives alone, all his support and social engagements/contacts were terminated as well. So I kind of organically transitioned into being his only daily visitor and part-time caregiver. A foundation I occasionally volunteer at was seeing a huge dip in the (mostly 55+ aged) volunteer availability, so my “whenever I can, I’ll let you know” volunteering turned into a fixed few days a week. With the rest of the time, I worked on my campervan conversion, which I was not really getting around to before Covid. So you could say that just as in life, Covid took but replaced other things in its place for me to make a difference… And no less important, it also gave me space to remember what I was passionate about and the time to work on it as well.

Looking forward, my future perspective has not changed much with Covid. I will keep living as a nomad, primarily housesitting going from place to place, alternated with some hiking travel guiding and volunteering here and there, and being a self-supporting van-lifer the rest of the time. What Covid did do, however, is make me realize how positive and stable this self-supportive lifestyle made me, as when mass-hysteria struck, I accepted it as it came and just took it in my stride.

To me, the best way to approach the whole Covid-situation is to look at what it is offering in terms of new perspectives, rethinking priorities and time away from work, commuting, and stress in favor of me-time. It is pretty much nailed on the head by this little quote by Karen Salmansohn:

You gotta look for the good in the bad, the happy in the sad, the gain in your pain, what makes you grateful, not hateful. And if there is no good in the bad, or happy in the sad, then you are put in that spot right there, right then, to help create it for yourself and the people around you… May you be happy and well, Martin Martin Van Den Berg is a full-time professional housesitter, capable with all animals but specialising in big or “difficult” dogs and packs. Willing to travel. [email protected] https://www.facebook.com/martinvdberg73 

* Will we resume nomadic life? Nancy It was sheer coincidence that we moved into a long-term rental the day that Spain went into lockdown! A day later and we would have needed approval from the police to move, to drive elsewhere other than to the supermarket for essential supplies. My unexpected pulmonary embolism in April 2019 had stopped our travels and, due to ongoing medical treatment, necessitated us staying in Oliva for a while. As we liked it here, at the end of that year, totally unrelated to the pandemic, we decided to stay in the area longer and, in January 2020, found a new home near the sea.

Even if we had booked another Air B&B, ready to travel again, it’s unlikely we’d have been able to. As a new tenant hadn’t been secured for the townhouse we’d been renting, we would have had to stay there longer. This would have been so frustrating! I was always excited when moving-on and to have no choice but to stay would have been very hard. Instead, we could look forward to our new home close to the beach!

My online work continued despite the pandemic, and my weekdays didn’t really alter as I sat at the computer in my home-office as usual. The virus situation has definitely changed our nomadic mindset, though, and now I’m not even sure if we’ll resume our journey!

The pandemic in Europe and ever-changing border restrictions make it difficult to travel, so for now, we’ve accepted it’s necessary to stay-put. Instead of looking forward to exploring new places, we appreciate the opportunity and extra time available to visit our own area, which is very varied and beautiful. We’ve also made some friends here and, in a time when we cannot easily see family in the UK, these relationships are all the more important.

As we’ve not had to pack-up the car to move-on in a single journey, we’ve also gradually acquired more possessions and are making our current rental a ‘home.’ The more we become settled, putting down roots, it’s so much harder to consider moving away. Maybe one day we’ll revise our wanderlust, maybe not. Perhaps we’ll take holidays again instead. We’re just not dwelling on that.

Although we’ve always had a flexible attitude, this year has taught-us that absolutely anything unexpected can happen! We’re OK, and we have each other, our health, an income, and a home, so do appreciate this as never before. Kind regards, Nancy Nancy Benn is a versatile virtual assistant with more than ten years’ experience providing efficient support to clients. Working remotely from her home office, Nancy helps entrepreneurs achieve more time and headspace to develop their business by supporting and encouraging their endeavours by providing outstanding, skilled admin and secretarial support. www.directpaservices.co.uk  www.nancybenn.com 

*Coincidence doesn’t exist. I always believed that! Jan What happened to this digital nomad during the Covid pandemic? I guess the same as with all the others: being stuck in one place and not moving anymore. In my case, I’m stuck in Budapest in Hungary. Coincidentally, as a Dutch citizen, I already had a house in Hungary, and I am a resident in this country. Something that, after the fact, turns out to be a good thing. I will explain, and this explanation shows once more, that coincidence doesn’t exist. It was for a reason that I got stuck here.

In February 2019, I left the Netherlands and started my digital nomad existence. South America, Spain, and South Africa. In April 2020, I ended up in a very strict lockdown in South Africa, and after three tough weeks, I was finally able to return to the Netherlands on a repatriation flight. From The Netherlands, I flew immediately to my home in eastern Hungary. It was a safe haven in these bizarre times. It was also far removed from covid, with only 2 cases known out of the 3 000 inhabitants in the village.

After a few weeks of being in Hungary, a letter fell on the mat from the Dutch authorities. They stated that with retroactive effect to February 2019 (!) I was no longer officially living in the Netherlands, that I was not allowed to continue my business there and that I was no longer insured for medical expenses.

Pay attention! With more than one year retroactive effect!

Panic! What’s next? At that time, there was only one option: I would have to live 100% as a resident in Hungary and build a new company structure with two limited companies: one in the Netherlands containing all the customers and one in Hungary where I am an employee. Subsequently, I was accepted into the Hungarian health insurance system (which is cheap, but not the world’s best) and a perfect private health insurance top-up that will enable me to be anywhere in the world and still have good insurance!

All of this turned out to be a golden solution for me as a nomad. The taxes in Hungary are the lowest in Europe, and even after my retirement in some years, the 0% income tax is Europe’s best! I am currently renting an apartment in the heart of downtown Budapest, and at the weekends I visit my house in the countryside to relax. This is truly the ideal “snob-life’ of all the Budapest-inhabitants!

Coincidence doesn’t exist. I never believed in that. But all these puzzle pieces came together so precisely into one nice new picture. So with all that happened to me, I have to admit: coincidences might just exist!

While I am stuck in Hungary for now, I spend ALL my time preparing for the future! Jan

Jan Van Kuijk has been living partly in the Netherlands and partly in Hungary for more than 10 years. The two countries finally became too small for him, and in 2018, after 15 years of preparation, he decided to travel the world as a Digital Nomad. With his work on WordPress and Joomla websites, he is generating sufficient income to live his dream. https://digitalnomadlifestyle.nl https://janvankuijk.nl 

*Cruising (or not) with Covid – Debbie Well, it’s been an interesting couple of months – thank you, 2020!

From being aboard ‘that ship’ which was disallowed docking in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico, to finally disembarking our guests in San Diego, after 29 days onboard! Our guests got an additional 15 days cruising on the house, and of course, courtesy of corona!

Then, many of us got ill and had to deal with “isolationship,” which in itself added a new dimension to both cruise life, as well and levels of sanity and productivity! Getting the South African crew repatriated back to our own country was another covid challenge, but we finally made it to home soil in June, three months after the break-out onboard our floating home. At this stage, a total of 60 days of “isolationship” had been achieved, and it is no small feat to spending that amount of time on your own in a room that is hard to pace 10 steps without having to stop dead!

Since then, the waiting to return to what we love has taken its toll in various forms, forcing many to find alternative employment sources. I have kept myself busy by doing some ‘self-reflection and tweaking,’ a vital step to recalibrating and accessing what makes it out of the covid crisis with you and what needs to be resolved and rested!

I have decided to study a diploma in HR to be better equipped in my line of work and where I see myself adding relevance; making memories with my family, and building a legacy in my gorgeous granddaughter’s life while watching the world continue to be crazed about vaccines and searching for new normals!

Living life #LocationFree post-covid will have its own set of challenges, but I am hopeful that we will be traveling and impacting more lives in the near future! Remember at this time, to be kind – to those who don’t understand or think the way you do, and it’s OK to be different – after all, that’s what it takes to live #LocationFree. Love Debbie

Debbie Botha courageously leapt at the chance to travel and showcase her training development, coaching, negotiation, and change- management skills within the world of cruising. She now wears officer stripes on her shoulders and a smile on her face as she explores international waters is studying HR, dabbles in Bitcoin, and revels in being a nurturing Nana. linkedin.com/in/debbiebothaglobal Instagram: @debbiebothaofficial 

*Life Has Shifted A Little – Chris and Jillian We had moved places in Morocco a few times. We had decided that we needed our own space after two and a half months in the hostel we were painting in, and we moved into an apartment in Tinghir. Shortly after we moved into our new place, the lockdown was lifted. And even though we were some of the only foreigners around, we weren’t being hassled too much to come and buy things.

We moved out to Rissani after two weeks, which was located at the edge of the Sahara. The roads were now just starting to open up for people to move between towns and cities. After a few weeks there, we read a news headline saying that all foreigners had to leave Morocco by August 10th. We then decided that we wanted to spend some time on the coast, so off we went to Essaouira.

We ended up renting an Airbnb for a really good discounted price inside the medina. There were still very few tourists around, and we were getting hassled by more people to come and buy things. We had booked a flight to leave on the 8th, and a few days before the day, the flight was canceled. We then read more information about needing to leave and found out that it was fake news and didn’t need to go.

We rented the place for two more months, and it was nice to have our own space and work on our own projects. The owner of the Airbnb had upgraded the wifi to accommodate our needs, and we accomplished a lot of much needed online work. The locals’ mood had dropped, and eventually, we had started to see drunk people in the day fist fighting at random times. This was not normal, so we felt that it was time to go.

We booked a direct flight to Turkey, and we travelled to Casablanca to exit the country. There were not many people in the airport, which made the experience one of the easiest times we’ve had travelling. We were told that we would expect to get tested for Covid when we arrived at the airport, this didn’t happen. We were also told that we would expect to get tested when we arrived in Turkey, this didn’t happen either. Turkey was open, and everything was business as usual. In the last two weeks here, the Turkish government has started implementing some restrictions. Restaurants are closed except for takeout, a weeknight curfew of 8:00, and everything except grocery stores are closed over the weekends.

We have no doubt in our minds that this is the only way we can live our lives. Travel has probably changed forever due to Covid, but we will deal with it. We won’t be returning to conventional life, and we find too much happiness in this way of life

Chris de Cap I’ve been an artist my whole life, more than half of which as a tattoo artist. I spent the bulk of my adult life being nomadic, however, mostly in Canada. Now I’ve taken my nomadic habits out into the world. http://www.artisticvoyages.com/ www.instagram.com/artisticvoyages

*Clearing the decks and learning what it means to be resilient I feel like 2020 is the year that we were all forced to stop, take a deep breath, and look at how we are living. The word that kept coming up for me this year was resilience.

Here in Spain, we experienced one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe and in a city like Malaga where we are used to being active and social life quickly started to feel a little surreal. I remember saying to friends that it felt like I was living in a Netflix movie. Deserted streets, no noise or energy.

There is a thriving community of entrepreneurs and freelancers in the city and I organise a co-working meet-up. I remember our last in-person event just before the lockdown happened. I don’t think anyone realised just what was coming! After that, we took the meet-ups online like many events and it proved a great way to stay connected and motivated when we weren’t able to meet up in person. I launched my first retreat in October at an amazing venue called Vega House. This was one of my big goals for 2020 and after nearly a year of putting things on hold, I was determined to make it happen.

I have experienced lots of personal and professional shifts this year and it feels like it has been a bit of a baptism of fire. I know I have learned to be more present in how I live. I have become much more conscious of time and not wasting it this year. This has affected my relationships, friendships and priorities as a whole.

I had planned to do more international travel this year and instead found that there was so much more on my doorstep than I had realised to explore and appreciate. Slowing down and living with restrictions has helped me and I am sure others to find joy in unexpected places. I think I am going into 2021 with a renewed sense of optimism around what is possible for me. I am focusing on staying grounded and appreciating the here and now.

Victoria Jane Watson is a business and media mentor working with female entrepreneurs leading the way in the health and wellness industry. She gets to the heart of what makes her clients unique, showing them how to leverage their story and expertise effectively so they can build a personal brand that supports their business goals. www.victoriajanewatson.com Instagram: @victoriajanewatson

“10 Lessons for Living #LocationFree” is available on all Amazon stores

Search under the title or by using:

Print ISBN: 978-0-620-90868-9

Digital ASIN: B08P7FQ94G

IN SOUTH AFRICA YOU CAN ALSO GRAB A PAPERBACK ON TAKEALOT.COM

https://www.takealot.com/10-lessons-for-living-locationfree/PLID71293449

#LocationFree – How are global nomads coping with their wanderlust lifestyle? was originally published on Kate Emmerson - The Quick Shift Deva

#digital nomad #downsize and travel #global nomad #live light #location free #minimalism #travel for work

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girlsguidetopowertools · 4 years

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30 days - 30 ideas

i have so many ideas of little things to include in animal crossing games (new horizons and the future), so i wrote one a day on twitter counting down to new horizons’ release, and i thought i’d compile them all here for easy reading now that the list is complete and new horizons is only hours away. (note that some of these were posted before the direct/other information was released, so they may be a little outdated, but what can you do.) let’s go!

day 30: observatory. (i said little but this is the biggest one.) i want the observatory back. but more: imagine if we could learn about real world stars, planets, and constellations like we do bugs, fish, etc. in the museum. & visiting opposite hemisphere towns would teach more!

day 29: combining villager personalities & essences/natures (pocket camp) to create more varied villagers and dialogue. also species' traits. a peppy, natural bunny (dotty) would be very different from a peppy, cute squirrel (peanut).

day 28: be able to combine certain fish or bugs into one container in your house, so you can have a personal mini aquarium or habitat. also, please let us change the type of container (and give fish more space in theirs so it's not so depressing).

day 27: let us refurbish (almost) all items. i'm willing to give a pass on event/gracie items because they're supposed to be special, but otherwise. i hate having a piece that fits the theme but doesn't match and you can't refurbish. (this includes rugs, flooring, wallpaper.)

day 26: different wrapping papers for presents. the wrapping paper in pocket camp is so cute, much cuter than the yellow sacks we get to buy in new leaf. i'd send so many wrapped presents to my neighbors!

day 25: let us build big pwps/amenities that we and the villagers can interact with. bonus if they're seasonal: an ice skating rink in winter, swimming pool in summer, ferris wheel in the spring... riding a ferris wheel with cherry blossoms blowing? sign me up.

day 24: (another big one) a way to change gender, and a nonbinary gender option. in new leaf, i had a lot of friends stop playing entirely because their avatar no longer matched them after coming out as trans, but they didn't want to delete their whole town, so they felt stuck.

day 23: let villagers catch fish and bugs instead of just perpetually trying with no reward. while it's cute to watch them stalk bugs in the bug off, never seeing them catch any makes me feel sad for them!

day 22: choose held items in dream towns (dream towns better still be a thing). a small detail, but most of my characters carry wands or balloons but can't in dream towns. and when your dream is set on a rainy day, you always default to a red umbrella no matter what.

day 21: sound configuration options. (apparently you can change the volume of kk slider songs playing but i wrote this before that, okay?) not just those, but being able to turn up/down/off hourly music, ambient noises, effects, etc. i'd love to turn up the sound of the ocean!

day 20: SUNFLOWERS. well, new flowers in general, but specifically sunflowers! they're my favorite, and we need tall flowers in the game. plus everyone went wild over the sunflower event in pocket camp.

day 19: more things to do with villagers together. not just going to each other's houses, but inviting to the roost, bug hunting, apple picking, etc. would be SO cute! and that *we* can invite *them*, not just wait for a random ping.

day 18: combine “traditional” events and holidays with wild world events for a fuller calendar. i LOVE the unique wild world events, but taking out toy day, halloween, etc. was also a mistake. the wild world events would fill in those months where major holidays don't happen.

day 17: multiplayer islands to live on with friends. now, nintendo is FAR behind the times with multiplayer, so i don't expect this if ever, but i want it. i want to make a town with my online friends, like a minecraft server. please.

day 16: side jobs. no obligation to do them at a given time or at all, but something extra and fun. working at the roost is a great example, and i'd love to see more: villager home designer, shopkeeper, restaurant chef... these would especially be great later in the game.

day 15: diagonal furniture. please. i like putting things kitty corner and some items, like the basket chair, just don't look right without that.

day 14: let villagers write random posts on the bulletin board again! it was one of my favorite things about wild world.

day 13: more interactive items, for both players and villagers. we've seen villagers reading books and eating ice cream, which is great, but it bothered me that they couldn't play on the jungle gym pwp and stuff!

day 12: let us layer small, tabletop items. PLEASE. clutter looks so much better and realistic when layering is an option, like in the sims.

day 11: remove restrictions on where we can plant palm trees and cedar trees. it never even made sense that cedar trees could only be planted on the top half of the town, but nothing we've seen so far hints at this changing.

day 10: customizable community buildings. one of my favorite parts of happy home designer was designing our own shops, hotel, concert hall, etc. they really made my main street feel unique, especially compared to new leaf's main street where everything's the same (minus unlocks).

day 9: let villagers swim! i want to have cute beach days with my villagers but not if they're stuck on the land.

day 8: ceiling items. please don't take away our ceiling items. we saw a pinata that could potentially be, but that's it (even the hanging plant was converted to a wall item). and, while they were a great addition in HHD, there were very few ceiling items. i'd love a LOT more!

day 7: minigames! at the very least, bring desert island escape back, but i'd love to see much more. a mix of amiibo festival minigames and the one in nintendoland would be great, as well as some new ones. especially if they're multiplayer to play with friends!

day 6: create-a-villager! i don't expect them to be villagers actually in the game, but it could be neat as a little side thing. when hacking new leaf was big, there were a ton of cute and creative fan-made villagers just made with retextures, and i'd love to see more.

day 5: nocturnal villagers and activities. i LOVE nighttime, it's so relaxing, but you also run out of things to do (or, pocket space, if you like nighttime fishing like me). at least residential services will let you sell your fish 24 hours a day, but i'd like a bit more to do.

day 4: something to replace streetpass/the HHA showcase. i loved seeing people's houses, and being able to order from them in new leaf was a nice bonus. i'd love something similar with our friends list, a mix between that and what we had in city folk.

day 3: deeper lore on special NPCs. we have a lot on the able sisters and the nooks, even some on brewster and blathers, but i want to know more about the others! what's pascal's story? we know nothing about him, he just... pops up randomly.

day 2: more weather events/phenomena. red moons, eclipses, blizzards, hail, MOONBOWS... there are so many neat weather things in the world!

day 1 (WE MADE IT!): biome DLC. i've been asking for different terrains/biomes since before happy home designer, where we got to choose those. even though new horizons is set on an island, it's still a standard biome with four equal seasons. i'd LOVE dlc that allows us to make a snowy mountainside home, or a home like the PNW where it mostly rains and snow is uncommon. or a tropical town with sunshine and palm trees abound. bonus if the DLC means we can have more than one town per console. please, i need it.

#animal crossing #new horizons #animal crossing new horizons #idea list #ideas

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travelwiide · 4 years

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7 things that astounded me when living in Vienna, Austria

What astounded me the most when I moved to Vienna, Austria? I've needed to expound on it for quite a while. I went through a year in Vienna and this experience showed me a great deal and in some sense changed my perspective. I concede I didn't encounter any social stun because Austria and Poland share a considerable amount for all intents and purposes. In any case, there are a couple of things that astounded me when living in Vienna, Austria. Here are some of them.

1. Snow-capped spring water in a tap.

One of the principal things that astounded me in the wake of moving to Vienna was the way that there was an extremely little choice of packaged despite everything water in the close-by grocery stores. Following a couple of days, I discovered that it is because everybody is drinking faucet water here. Maybe for some of you, there will be nothing peculiar in it, however in where I originate from, it isn't so self-evident. Drinking faucet water without bubbling it or sifting it? No chance! altered my perspective when I was clarified that Viennese water originates from Elevated mountain sources (look at: Where the Alps start and Climbing in the Viennese Alps). Springwater is provided to Vienna by a 120 km reservoir conduit, which, as I heard, was worked for the Sovereign and his court, yet later it was chosen to make this gem understood water accessible to others. What's intriguing, the watercourses through the hydroelectric force plant, delivering 65 million kilowatt-long stretches of vitality, which is sufficient to cover the power request of the whole city of Vienna! Smart, right? I need to concede that Viennese water tastes great. Also, there is nothing more invigorating than having a glass of cold water on a sweltering summer's day. You don't need to place it in the ice chest, toss ice 3D squares, etc. You simply turn on the tap and drink. Furthermore, there are sources in the city where you can empty drinking water into your jug. It's something I miss when I don't live in Vienna any longer.

2. How the Danube stream looks these days.

Let me come clean with you. Before I moved to Vienna, I had never been there. I knew this city just from photographs and I had some thought about what the city would resemble. I'm certain the majority of you know the well known three-step dance "The Blue Danube" formed by Johann Strauss II. Each time I heard this song, I envisioned a blue, wide stream that streams stately by delegate structures and noteworthy dwellings. I don't have the foggiest idea, possibly I believed that the Danube in Vienna looks somewhat like in Budapest. What's more, truly, what I saw shocked me a piece. Nonetheless, I imagine that Johann Strauss II himself would likewise be stunned on the off chance that he perceived how the Danube looks today. Over the previous century, the Danube has been controlled and is currently totally not at all like the stream it used to be. It is somewhat further from the notable focus of the city and separated by a portion of land into two troughs: the Danube (Dunau) and New Danube (Neue Donau). The water that streams close to the old town is the Danube Trench (Donaukanal), the arm of the Danube. Likewise, there is additionally the Old Danube (Alte Donau). No big surprise a few voyagers are somewhat befuddled. The Danube Waterway, which streams close to the old town, additionally looks very explicit. The dividers are painted with spray paint, there are gardens where individuals develop vegetables, flower child bars and some road fine arts. Try not to misunderstand me, I like the vibes of this spot and when I lived in Vienna I frequently strolled there, however it's simply not what I envisioned, so it totally amazed me.

3. The island in the city.

'I will be on the island this evening. Will we meet someplace at Depressed City or Copa Cagrana? I heard that they have great beverages in Sansibar. What do you think?' Did you comprehend anything about this? Provided that I hadn't lived in Vienna for some time, I wouldn't understand what it was about However, let me disclose everything to you. Indeed, in the focal point of Vienna is an island with seashore bars, grill territories, bike and roller ways, and even nudist seashores. Danube Island (Donauinsel) is now and then called 'Spaghetti Island'. This is a direct result of its shape: it is limited and more than 20 km long! It was made because of the waterway guideline and partitions the Danube into two troughs: the Danube (Donau) and New Danube (Neue Donau). You can likewise find out about it in my blog entries: Fascinating realities about Vienna and 5 elective activities in Vienna. The island, which was worked to shield Vienna from floods, has become a most loved recreational region in the city and a gathering place for local people. Depressed City and Copa Cagrana are particularly well known in summer nighttimes. It is the waterfront with various bars and cafés associated by the Ponte Cagrana barge connect. Some bar names are very entertaining, as Sansibar. If you have additional time, make certain to visit this clamoring and laid-back spot in Vienna.

4. Spittelau and some other peculiar looking structures.

One day when riding the U6 metro I saw the brilliant arch of Spittelau over the structures. I thought it was a castle or a sanctuary. I could never have thought it was only a city squander incinerator! Even such common things can astonish you in Vienna. As I found a workable pace city to an ever-increasing extent, I began to stray from the generally accepted way to go. At that point, I found other bizarre-looking structures like Hundertwasserhaus, KunstHausWien, Willa Wagner II, Vienna Harmony Pagoda and that's only the tip of the iceberg. You can find out about it in the blog entry: Top 10 most odd structures in Vienna.

5. Proficient titles all over.

Dipl. Ing., Mag., MSc, Mama, Dr. and the various expert titles. There is a great deal of them and now and again it is hard to make sense of it. Likewise, in Austria, they are composed all over the place. So on the off chance that you are a guaranteed engineer (Dipl. Ing.), you will have this title composed in reports like a graduation endorsement as well as on such inconsequential things as a metro ticket or even your IKEA card. Same with the ace, specialist, and the rest. Additionally, proficient titles are likewise composed by the names on the radio board, at the passageway to the apartment. Consider the possibility that somebody lives in a disconnected house. At that point frequently a sign is joined going back and forth or veneer of the structure saying that an educator, specialist, ace or confirmed architect lives here. On the off chance that in my nation somebody, aside from perhaps a clinical specialist who has a private center at home, would do something like this, individuals would discover it, in any event, bizarre and neurotic. Be that as it may, in Austria, this is flawlessly typical and nobody is astounded.

6. Contrasts between standard German and Austrian German.

The contrast between standard German and Austrian German is a broad theme. Furthermore, there is likewise the Viennese vernacular. So on the off chance that you just considered Hochdeutsch, you might be a little astonished how individuals talk in Vienna and not see a portion of the words. I never considered German at school and when it worked out that I would have the chance to go through a year in Vienna, I started to concentrate all alone. I purchased books, introduced a few versatile applications, and attempted to discover some new information consistently. All things considered, my language abilities were immediately checked the following morning after moving to Vienna. I went to the market to purchase something for breakfast and heard Grüß Gott rather than Guten Morgen. At the point when I needed to purchase rolls and requested Brötchen, the salesman said they had Semmeln in Austria. I additionally recall that when I needed to purchase cream, I was unable to discover Sahne anyplace. Later I discovered that there is Sauerrahm (harsh cream) or Schlagobers (sweet cream). There are numerous instances of contrasts between standard German and Austrian German. At the point when I understood that what I realize all alone now and then isn't valuable in Austria, I tried out a German course at the College of Vienna. There, aside from Hochdeutsch, I was likewise trained the Austrian rendition of the words and I could generally inquire as to whether I had any questions. Since some interesting circumstances have happened frequently. I recollect one day I needed to purchase frozen yogurt in Tichy and I saw that there is another taste called Weichsel. Inquisitive, I composed the word in the interpreter on the telephone and saw the name of the Vistula Stream in my country Poland. I needed to purchase this frozen yogurt to discover that it is sharp cherry. I could make reference to a lot increasingly such contrasts, perhaps some time or another I will expound more on it on my blog.

7. Drinking matured grape juice.

Toward the start of pre-winter, soon after the grape gather, the Viennese race to the close by vineyards to attempt Sturm. What is that? The sort of mixed beverage I previously expounded on in the blog entry about Top 10 activities in Vienna, Austria. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, it is called burčák or burčiak, in Germany: Federweißer, Super, Sauser, Neuer Süßer, Junger Wein, Neuer Wein. Sturm is a semi-item made during the creation of wine, which can be expended only a couple of days after the beginning of the maturation of grapes. So at the end of the day, it's never again grape juice, not wine yet. What's more, not Beaujolais. Sturm isn't yet clear, has a wonderful sweet taste and is marginally shimmering. It is hard to decide the liquor substance of this beverage, it is generally 4–10%. In Vienna, you can purchase both white and red Sturm. By and by, I incline toward white, however, it merits attempting the two adaptations. Visiting a winery is the best thought, however, if you don't have a lot of time, you can purchase Sturm even at the general store. It is sold in plastic containers that are not curved (the item is as yet aging), so it's better not to place it in a bag! Did any of the things I referenced here additionally shock you? Have you at any point lived or live someplace abroad? What astonished you in a remote nation?

source https://www.travelwiide.com/2020/04/7-things-that-astounded-me-when-living.html

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aventurasdeunatortuga · 5 years

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Days 23 and 24

Çeşme, Alaçatı, and Chios

3 cities in 2 days has been exhausting, so I’m kind of behind.

I’m staying in Çeşme, which is on the coast right along the border with Greece. It reminds me a lot of Southern California, a lot of high end shops, tourists, beaches, fancy restaurants, etc... I haven’t done a whole lot in Çeşme itself other than walk around and eat, which honestly I think is all there is to do. But it’s very beautiful.

Yesterday afternoon I took the bus 10 minutes inland to the town of Alaçatı. It is a very gorgeous little town with white walls and flowers and grapes hanging everywhere and beautifully decorated buildings and cafes. The town used to be a sleepy fishing town but some hotel owners got together and decided to beautify the town and open up a bunch of picturesque cafes and hotels and now its a tourist spot. It was very expensive to even eat lunch in, but it was very pretty.

After that I went to Ilıca Beach. It was a gorgeous beach with beautiful water. I swam for a while but eventually it got so windy and choppy I had to leave.

Today on a whim I decided to spend the day visiting the Greek island of Chios, which is only 8km off the coast of Çeşme. I have always wanted to go to Greece, so I thought I may as well.

The ferry was very crowded with lots of pushing and shoving which was very overwhelming. One thing I’m still not used to in Turkey is the attitude towards lines. It seems like the general rule is whoever can force themselves to the front first goes first, it doesn’t matter what order you got there in or if there is a line formed, you just have to force yourself to the front, which I do not like at all. We all got off the ferry and were in line at passport control and there was a lot of pushing and elbowing but eventually a sort of line was formed. People kept trying to push their way around me but I elbowed them or blocked their way. There was a large man who managed to push his way so that he was right next to me. I don’t really know if he was originally ahead of me or behind me or what it was all so chaotic. He tried to force his way past me and a family in front of me, but the family yelled at him and told him to get back in line. He was upset and argued but did it. It helped that the family had a lot of people and they formed a sort of barrier to prevent him going forward. The man then for whatever reason got out of line, then came back 10 minutes later and pushed his way back again and tried to push his way in front of me, knowing he wouldn’t get past the family. I told him “excuse me sir I’m here”. He started arguing with me and I ignored him. Then he started loudly talking to everyone around him in English, saying “I don’t know what this lady’s problem is or why she won’t let me in spot, everyone here agrees and everyone can see that I was in front of her” and the family in front of me was like “yeah I don’t really know what her problem is” so I just went “look it doesn’t matter go in front of me”, which he did, and then continued to talk about me with the family in front of me. I got overwhelmed and everyone behind me was still pushing and shoving, and I just started crying which I’m not proud of. The man got upset when he saw this and went “oh come on, really? What is the big deal here? I don’t know why this lady is crying over nothing, she’s probably just ashamed of herself because she tried to get ahead of me” I didn’t say anything and was just looking at the floor.

Then I don’t know it almost made things worse because everyone in line realized what was happening and started getting worried about me and telling me not to worry and the family in front of me started apologizing for talking about me and asking if I was okay and I was like don’t worry Im fine. Finally a little old lady who was near the front of the line came over to me and started talking to me in Turkish and grabbed my hand and placed me at the front of the line. I was so embarrassed. I don’t know what came over me it was all just really stressful and overwhelming.

Anyway after that unnecessary drama was over, I went on a tour of the island of Chios. The only tour available was in Turkish. It ended being me and two people from Germany on the tour who didn’t speak Turkish either. The tour guide only spoke Greek and Turkish and he managed to find someone in the group that spoke a little English and had him stand with us and translate everything he said which was nice of them.

We visited four towns on the island of Chios. First we visited Mesta, which had a really beautiful church all decorated with chandeliers in it. Chios is famous for the mastic tree, which produces a sap that can be used to make lots of things, mostly for medical purposes. We tried lots of mastic foods though like ice cream, liquor, and candy. It’s also used for lotions, toothpaste, vitamins, and many other things. All over the island the buildings were built very close together with little bridges on the roofs of them connecting the buildings. Apparently pirates used to pillage Chios a lot, so the people developed a network of bridges and secret doors to go around town without being in the street, and they would dump hot oil from the roofs onto the pirates. The bridges also stabilize the buildings so they are very strong during earthquakes.

After Mesta we visited Pyrgi, which was called the “painted village” as all of the buildings had beautiful intricate black and white designs painted all over them.

Then we visited Emporios and got to enjoy the beautiful beach and have lunch, finally we visited Armolia where we visited a mastic orchard and saw some ceramics. Then we caught the last ferry of the day off the island and back to Turkey.

It was so beautiful there, it made me wish I could spend more time there and in the rest of Greece. Oh well, next time.

On the ferry back I was really nervous about the line again so I waited on the ferry until everyone got off and I was the last one. Then I got a snack at the teashop for probably 25 minutes, and I got in line which was considerably shorter, and finally it was my turn, and someone shoved me out of the way and went first. Then after they left I went to the counter and another person pushed me out of the way to go ahead of me.

There’s no winning. I can be polite and be pushed over or I can be rude and be yelled at.

Sigh.

I’ve only got one more city to go on this trip. I’m in Çeşme tomorrow morning, then I will go to the city of Izmir, the third largest in Turkey, and be there for two days then fly home that night.

There’s so much to do and see still here but I am very exhausted and honestly out of patience with people and crowds so I may just spend the morning hiding in my hotel as bad as that sounds. I just need to be left alone for a little before being in crowds of people again.

Just a reminder that while travel pictures look very idyllic and I am very lucky to be here it’s not always perfect and there are always going to be downsides as well.

#turkey #travel #solo travel #greece #chios #pyrgi #emporios #mesta #armolia #çeşme #alaçatı

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hollyyoussef-blog · 4 years

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Holly Youssef

Professor Robert Lunday

English 1301

9 October 2019

Is Moving Really an Exciting Adventure?

“Again??”I asked my mother as she sat me down in a familiar setting and told me all over again that I had to say goodbye to all my friends and the new home that I had just gotten comfortable with because we were moving again. This was the second time my parents have told me we were moving to a new country thousands of miles away. I was very upset and mad at my parents.

Many people around the world have to move to different countries for different situations. Some of them have to move because they want to live in another country. Others move because they are looking for new opportunities to succeed or because of violent situations in their country and they are trying to escape to another country. However, my family had many reasons to move, but the main reason was because of my father’s business being moved to another country.

My dad owned his own advertising and marketing company in Egypt called H&J, which was very successful for a long time; however, there was a period of time where the business was reaching a plateau. The market place was not doing so well in Egypt since not many companies wanted to advertise their brand. Therefore, my dad’s company was going downhill and money was not coming in. Despite the difficulties, my dad never gave up on his business. He was always a hard working man who tried his best to achieve what he wanted. He was always looking for alternative ways to fix what was going on in his company, but it was not in his hands and nothing seemed to work. That is when my dad had the “talk” with my mom that we had to move to another country. My mom was the most upset out of all of us about this situation, because at that time my mom had just had me. She did not have a job and was a stay at home mom. Family kept her company and busy, or else my mom would have been really lonely. Meanwhile, my dad worked really hard to get his company where it is right now.

I have never experienced the feeling of living in my home country, since I moved from Egypt when I was two. I always wondered what life would have been like there with all my extended family, because I have no recollection of my home town. Even though I visited Egypt quite often later in my life to see family there, visiting for a month or two was not the same experience as physically growing up and living there with family.

Typically, people like to think that getting up and moving to another country is as easy as it sounds. People see moving to a whole new country as an exciting adventure. I did find it adventurous from attending a new school, to exploring a new country, or getting a new house, and meeting new people, etc. However, the reality of the experience is nerve wracking and unanticipated. Starting to build your life from scratch again, as if you have not done so previously, is more difficult than many may think and takes a lot of flexibility to adapt. Each country has its own culture, religion, ethics, and history, which makes moving laborious and inconvenient. People tend to not see this perspective of moving to a new country, unless they have personally experienced it themselves.

My mom and dad did not come from a rich family in Egypt, nor did they come from a poor one. They were just normal middle class citizens living in their native country, surrounded by their huge family. My parents had never moved before, since they were born and raised in Egypt. That’s where they also had me. I was born in 2002 in Cairo. I was surrounded by affection, devoted people who had cared about me the most- my amazing, generous, loving family. The only significant memory I can recall from Egypt was my kindhearted household. The thousands of fond memories of my childhood make evident that my relatives were extremely understanding and considerate of me growing up. I can recall specific situations rather than holistic experiences that make me realize how much I miss them, as well as how different my life would be if I had stayed in Egypt. Thinking about it now, I used to view my childhood memories in my home country as a movie, when in reality, they are only a few scenes and parts that I remember clearly. However, these memories are muddled and I can only recall various faces and voices, but not the bigger picture. For instance, my grandma would constantly peek in my room daily and ask me if I was hungry or if I had eaten yet. Because of her constant concern for my appetite, I was never hungry. That is why many of memories were of her delicious home cooked meals that could not be replaced by any fast food restaurant. My grandma never failed to satisfy the entire family’s hunger. One of the most important values that my family holds is the significance of home cooked meals.

The thought of not being able to have another one of my grandma’s savory meals any time that I wanted makes me feel even more miserable about that fact that I moved away at such a young age. Family to me means comfort and brings me to a place of peace and security; my comfort zone where I feel the most nurtured, protected, and adored. I will never forget what it was like being surrounded by them, seeing them everyday, experiencing the unconditional love that they gave me every second, knowing they would never let anything bad to happen to me.

Unfortunately, all this happiness and the feeling of comfort with ended in 2004 when I had just turned two. My parents decided to move to the United Arab Emirates (Dubai) because it held a better future for all of us, especially me. My parents always put me first. For example, everything I needed my parents provided me with, even though they had financial problems at the time and were going through a rough stage in life. My mom later told me that I would get sick twice a month. They never left me unattended, even though they had to take turns working and watching over me. For as long as I can remember, my parents had always wanted what was best for me and to see me happy in whatever I was doing. They did everything in their power to give me the opportunity to do my best. Since I had just turned two, I had to start attending school, and my parents knew that educational circumstances and safety issues in Egypt was nowhere near the standard they had set and dreamed for me. This however, was not the only issue. My parents wanted to provide a better environment for me to grow and develop, not only in academics, but also in everyday life.

Dubai became the new destination for the rich and famous during the recent years. Arabs who made millions of dollars have invested their fortune into a new city to put them on the map. But, with the hard economic climate, which is usually very hot and humid, Dubai necessary in the current economy of the world. Dubai has built some of the world’s prettiest buildings and other amazing feats that felt impossible to be accomplished in the desert, but they somehow did it. For example, they built the tallest building in the world in the middle of the desert, and the world 's first 7 star hotel on an island in the Persian Gulf. They have also built the two biggest malls in the world.

In order to give me superior future than their own, my parents knew they needed to get higher paying jobs. Since my parents did not have the prestige of a well-known university behind them, finding new jobs in Dubai was not going to be an easy task, for the work field was very competitive. Jobs were sacred the new place that I had to learn to call home, and they knew that most of the higher salary jobs were taken by most of the well educated and experienced people. They were most likely not going to find a well fitting career to give me the potential of being successful in the time to come.

The lengthy flight from Egypt to Dubai was around 4 hours. When you move to a different country and not have anyone to talk to or relate to, it is hard to find someone close enough to you to help you out in times of need other than your parents. After several years of living in Dubai, my sister, Joyce, was born in 2006. This event had a great impact on my mental and physical health especially at that time. Even though I was four at the time and my sister was still a newborn, I still talked to her about my day, what I learned in school, if my teachers were nice to me, what I had for lunch; I told her everything as if I was telling her a bedtime story. She would often fall asleep listening to my boring stories, as if she could actually hear me and relate to me. When I was alone, my desperate need for entertainment prospered. Having a sibling gave me a friend to talk to and someone to play with all the time, it kept me busy. I remember being so astounded for her to grow up so she could actually talk to me in real words. I was always teaching and encouraging her to imitate me and repeat words back to me so she could learn to communicate with me faster. My mom depended on me most of the time to take care of my younger sister, since she was always out searching for a job and attending many interviews. I changed Joyce’s diapers, fed her, read her bedtime stories to the best of my ability, for I was only four years old at the time, and played peek a boo, which was her favorite game of all time. I always seemed to make her laugh while playing that game. Me and Joyce were so attached because of all the time I spent caring for her in the absence of my mom and dad.

The transition from Egypt to Dubai was not a drastic one. The most recognizable change that I noticed was the increased safety in Dubai, it is one of the safest destinations in the Middle East. Whereas in Egypt my mom would never have left me alone in a mall, in Dubai my friends and I would take a cab or even a metro to the mall for the day. Street crime, including pickpocketing and bag snatching, is very uncommon, due to the many cameras placed in every corner including the streets and highways. Individuals feel safe enough to leave their car running while grabbing something from a gas station, and no one would even think about stealing it. Whereas in Egypt, you can not walk alone in the streets past 9pm, especially girls, because they can get kidnapped and sold back to their parents for large amounts of money. In Egypt, women are expected to respect the modest dress code, which is considered conservative by western standards, and it is respectful to obey the code. If women did not obey the dress code, of being covered or not revealing so much skin, there were more likely to get harassed by older men or even get kidnapped. Due to the dominant Islamic faith in Egypt, discrimination pervaded the workplace. Managers, for example, would sometimes refuse to hire you just because you are Christian. Although Dubai was a predominantly Muslim country as well, it had more freedom in religion and dress code, which resulted in very little to no discrimination at all.

Unlike almost any other country in the world, Dubai has an incredibly high number of expats and immigrants annually from all over the world. It is one of the most diverse and international countries in the world, around 80 percent of people who live there are immigrants, which leaves only 20 percent Emiratis (local people from the UAE). The first question anyone would ask me in school or at a mall was always “where are you from?”.

I started my elementary school in first grade at Victoria English School, a private school in Dubai. I noticed that schools in Dubai did not separate elementary from junior high or High School. Everyone was all in the same school building, which was a new and interesting experience for me. To be in proximity with so many older kids allowed me to engage myself with a greater variety of individuals, which I enjoyed. I loved the school ,all my teachers, and my many new friends that I made.

Have you ever had that one special friend that was there for you through thick and thin? That special friend who can read your thoughts, finish your sentences, and make you smile when you are feeling blue. Someone who is honest and you can trust. Someone who is always there when you need them. That person for me is my best friend Youstina. She is the kindest, most outgoing person I have ever known. I met Youstina at a family Christmas event in Dubai when I was in the 5th grade and she was in the 6th grade. As soon as we met, I had a feeling that we would be best friends. Our families would always meet up every weekend to go out to eat and spend time together at the Mall, Youstina and I spent a lot of time together.

Dubai was an amazing dream to live in for the past 14 years of my life. It was known as a place where high salary jobs and education there was very professional, which allowed my family and I to live in a high-end lifestyle. However, the economy has come under considerable pressure in recent years due to falling oil prices, which has led to a slump in the real estate sector and a squeeze on salaries. My parents noticed the struggle of their business by the end of 2015 when my mom lost her job at her company that she had been working for over 8 years. My dad's company were also not selling as much product as they used to. The economy was declining due to inflation, so businesses were at low profit and workers began to leave to workplace. Which forced my family and I to leave the country to fulfill our dreams. My parents had to get their jobs back while continuing to meet the lifestyle standards they expect for us.

In conclusion, my family and I had our many ups and downs. Whether it was not being able to pay the bills when we were in Dubai to when my mom lost her job in 2015. We always stuck together and supported one another. To answer the question “Is moving really an exciting adventure?”. Yes and no. Yes, because I met my childhood best friend and got a far better education in Dubai. No because it was a long and depressing process to leave my home country, my family, my friends and move to a different country.

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mariosomething · 5 years

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MISTAKES I MADE AS A COMIC OR NOTICED AS A BOOKER...

(NOTE: Never say never, but I can’t imagine getting back on stage again. However, now that comedy is returning to clubs--and potentially booming here in Austin--I think this is worth repeating. Especially #15. Enjoy!)

So, I might be hopping on stage again for my own, personal reasons. Number one being distraction from the crushing loneliness that comes with self-employment. Woo! On the first page of my newly-purchased comedy notebook, I started making a list of things I don’t want to do this time around. The comic I don’t want to be, should I continue performing. Getting in my own way with unfounded beliefs about my abilities or lack thereof. I will—NO DOUBT—repeat some of the following blunders out of muscle memory, and if you catch me doing so, by all means, call me out! In no particular order:

1- Worrying about who’s heard this bit before. One cure for this is to never stop writing new stuff. Also, it’s the JOB of a comedian to repeat the same shit with the same zeal and sincerity for different crowds…crowds that probably don’t attend comedy shows as often as we perform on them.

2- Worrying about making the comics laugh. This is still the hallmark of a great comic to me…the person we’ve all seen before but stop the chit-chat when they get on stage. It’s the opposite of a “crowd-pleaser.” In a perfect world, I can please both—as some do—but ultimately, we don’t get paid to make the back of the room laugh. If I’m building a half-hour, those comics may ‘check out’ during my set, and that’s to be expected. If I concern myself with their approval, I’m ignoring the audience, and by extension, disrespecting them. THEY bought a ticket. They deserve my best attempt.

3- Starting your act with a risky joke. Are there exceptions for these “rules” of mine? Absolutely. But they are just that…exceptions. This one always drove me nuts when I ran the Velv. Especially when the rest of one’s act is relatively benign! Would you lead with your “crazy” on a first date? Talk about all of your flaws on a job interview? Or with music you like…if I wanted to get you into Tom Waits, I’m not gonna recommend The Black Rider—an album only die-hard fans might appreciate. I’d start with something accessible, like Small Change or Rain Dogs. Get them on your side first with your palatable stuff, then give ‘em what you want. (Now go listen to Tom Waits’ Small Change and Rain Dogs.)

4- Worrying about looking stupid. This is the big one for me. Even though I KNOW the audience WANTS us to look foolish; even while I KNOW they want us to be both vulnerable and confident about it, I have a crippling fear of embarrassment. And this is NOT a good quality for any comedian. I learned that words account for only 7% of communication. The rest is body language, facial expressions and tone. I’ve always hidden behind my words, and have given up on bits that require me to be more animated. So dumb. Which leads me to…

5- Not doing enough ‘act-outs’ in bits. When I watch amazing comedians, they all have this in common. They perform or act-out dialogue. More show than tell. They don’t just recite jokes or one-liners. Even Steven & Mitch & Todd do/did act-outs in their own, low-energy styles. When you start looking for them, they’re everywhere. So much rolling, sustained laughter derives from act-outs. They don’t have to be BIG, they just have to be well-delivered.

6- Writing what I think they might like, not what I like. Another big ‘duh’ but worth repeating. I fell in this trap on the road. I was lovingly told to “write a dick joke already!” when I was a new, quasi-clever comic. And man alive, did I ever make up for it! Some may have had a fake nose and mustache, but they were dick jokes nonetheless, and I wasn’t proud. But they got laughs, and more laughs meant better comment cards, which meant return visits. Awesome way to remain a road comic…shitty way to evolve or get industry to pay attention. It’s also a fast track to burnout. If you’re not doing stuff you like, resentment builds and ambition wanes.

7- Not having goals. A new, tight 10 minutes is my goal today. If that goes well, a new 30. Then maybe an album. When I DID have things to strive for, they “magically” happened. I kept comedy goal lists on my wall, and most came to fruition. Then I got in my head and stopped making those lists. The more I was learning about the biz, the more inadequate I felt. I stopped writing, stopped going to mics and eventually stopped touring. With no new goals, I lost steam and confidence. I was a competent middle, but a spotty headliner…THAT is my ceiling for now. I’d love to be a rock-solid, reliable closer with at least one killer album to show for it. It’s feasible, but I need to start with that initial aim of a new, polished, consistent 10 minutes that I like.

8- Not watching more pros. Something that baffles me about so many new comics. You have the option to catch A-list comedians for FREE at Cap City, your home club, etc…why would you not take advantage? You learn by watching pros, even if it’s what NOT to do. Or what’s being done to death. You can learn structure, pacing, opening and closing. I used to watch comics I knew I wouldn’t like, but came away with respect for how they did things. People forget or don’t know that the late, great Bill Hicks used to be a clean-ish, set-up/punch kinda comedian. He learned the rules so he can break them effectively. Even at his viscous best, he was still super-polished. It’s respect for the craft, dammit. All of your heroes have it.

9- Getting jealous of your friends’ progress. There is sooo much leap-frogging in this business, there’s no need to denigrate yourself for not keeping pace with a peer. “Comedy is the closest thing there is to justice,” according to Colin Quinn, and I 100% agree. If you’re funny, consistently funny, you will get work. Period. When producers run and book shows, they want reliability more than anything. There is no island of misfit-but-actually-brillant comedians out there, waiting to be discovered. Funny gets noticed by EVERYbody. If you’re not getting booked, start looking inward. Seriously. When Cap City demoted me from headliner, I didn’t fight it. I thought they were right to do so because I knew my 50 minutes was about 15 shy of reliable material. Challenge your beliefs about your own act. Maybe you’re better than you think, but maybe it’s just the opposite. It’s worth asking, “What am I doing wrong?” if you’re having trouble getting past open mics. Maybe you are indeed funny, but still too green or inconsistent. Maybe you had a bad showcase set and your friend killed. Your friend may get Montreal before you, but you might get a manager first. You just don’t know! Keep plugging away, because there’s too much out of your control.

10- Not being humble. Jeezus H. Christmas, where did all of this unearned confidence come from?? Not only will I never relate to this, I will continue to chastise and scoff at it. Don’t assume your shit is crushed fruit, especially when you’re new. Don’t trash talk other comics, it WILL bite you in the ass eventually. Or immediately in some cases. Don’t think you’re immediately entitled to the same things that other comics took years to obtain or achieve. There is always something to learn, even from people you disagree with…it’s the definition of being open-minded. There are comics I detest personally, but goddamn if they aren’t great performers/writers. And I’ll probably get push-back for this, but I never called myself a “comedian” until I was able to quit my day job. Until that happened, I was just a dude who “did comedy.” I wanted to earn that title, don’t you?? Skip the business cards and build your act.

11- Not taking chances on stage. I’ve heard from too many comedians that if you’re always killing up there, you’re not taking chances. When I booked a room, I wanted to reward comics who tried new stuff every open mic, or was tweaking it. If a comic kept going up with well-worn bits, I ignored them for a few weeks or longer, even if they got laughs. It’s open mic, the point is to experiment! When I worked the road, I stopped doing mics when I was back in town. Big mistake. I was afraid to try untested jokes in clubs on the road, and too lazy or complacent to take chances at open mics. I stunted my own growth.

12- All agenda, no punchlines. I remember watching a well-known comic in NY struggle with Jesus jokes. He could NOT have been in a more welcoming arena for such, but he wasn’t funny, just angry. So he said, “Oh, I guess you guys don’t like religious jokes,” To which my friend replied, “We do! We keep waiting for one.” I think comedians can be the most insightful people on the planet, and the great ones don’t berate, they put funny first. It just makes sense! If you really really really want your message to be heard, then it’s in your best interest to make it funny. Funny cuts through. Or maybe you just wanna use the stage as a soapbox, in which case, quit comedy.

13- Not presenting both sides. I once told an established headliner he couldn’t return to the Velv, despite the numbers. In fairness to us, it was Valentine’s Day weekend, we were packed anyway. He never gave me a chance to explain why, but here’s why: he was too angry about women and wasn’t self-deprecating enough to balance it out. Conversely, I had a female comedian come through a couple of times, and the bulk of her act is male-bashing, BUT, it’s tight and well-crafted and funny as shit…AND she sprinkles in enough self-effacing humor so as not to divide the crowd. If the guy I banned was her parallel, I would’ve re-booked him. But I’m a freak about balance. While I don’t believe ANY person or group of people is above criticism, you can’t just point fingers at others while patting yourself on the back.

14 - Not putting more of ‘me’ in my act. Trends are fun as a reference, but full bits built around them have a tiny shelf life. It’s fluff and filler at best. Relationships will never be hacky. Aging will never get old. Folks! We all have specific quirks or approaches to life in general, why not explore those approaches? That’s when a ‘comic’ graduates to ‘comedian.’ When they stop saying funny things and start saying things funny. Not my line, but damn accurate.**

15- Knee-jerk hating and never asking WHY? Okay, this one’s a personal lament. When I found comedy, I found harmony. Anyone funny was welcome. I didn’t see us as men or women or gay or straight or black or white, we were comics, and I fucking loved it. We were equals from every walk of life, and no jerks allowed! I found a circle of curious, liberal-minded pals who were always asking why. Friends who would call out each other’s bullshit or hypocrisy or bad bits, then laugh about it at Mugshots. Friends who preferred brutal truth over blowing smoke. It was bliss for someone who values sincere feedback and funny, earnest people. Comedians we respect and adore are always challenging norms of behavior and tradition. Pryor, Chapelle, Carlin, Rock, of course, but even Larry David, who’s the king of offending people by rejecting small, societal niceties.

I’m starting to see too much division and moral cowardice in comedy--on and off stage--and this is antithesis to its value, in my opinion. Everything I hated about high school. Cliques and whispers and spiteful exclusion. I will echo what I wrote earlier: NOBODY IS ABOVE CRITICISM. This is the salty to the sweet of “Everyone welcome.” Comedy is a LOT of failing, tons of real-time rejection, and that SUCKS. But if you think it has anything to do with anything but your act, you’re not asking Why. It’s easier to say, “Well, it’s clearly ‘cos I’m ________.” Really? Maybe it’s ‘cos you’re not funny, or not funny YET. Maybe it’s because you haven’t written a new joke in months, or refuse to change the ones that never work. Maybe you think there are no rules to comedy, and you can just get up there and people will love you because so-and-so does it that way. Maybe you don’t have so-and-so’s natural talent or likability. Or work ethic. Or self-awareness. If your first response is to blame a crowd, a booker, society, or whatever, ask yourself: are there successful comics who look like me? Why them and not me? What are they doing differently? My first guess is: they’re addicted to the craft so they keep their head down and write and tweak and fail and ask why and learn from mistakes. Stop complaining and start paying attention. At the end of the day, you and you alone are responsible for your career. If you believe women aren’t funny, I pity your ignorance and sheltered life. If you think men have it easier, tell that to the thousands of male comics who go nowhere in this business.

Maybe I’m an idealist hippy dippy doofus, but I believe that what we admire about others is pretty universal stuff. Regarding comedy, we all like someone who’s fearless on stage. Confident but not cocky. Capable. Quick. Genuine. Someone who keeps writing and honing their act. Someone who connects with people. Someone who comes back once a year with 30 new minutes. Someone who plows forward, not consumed with the opinions of others. Are these gender or race-specific qualities?? Hardly. And when you’re a top shelf, A-list comedian who’s paid their dues, it’s all preference at that level. It’s Gin vs. Vodka vs. Bourbon vs. Tequila, no one is “better” than the next. Maria Bamford is Bill Burr is Dave Chapelle is Carrot Top. They’re all pros who never stop working.

I’ll leave you with this…Comedy is a powerful and special thing, and I’ve always been crazy-grateful to be part of this tiny, uniquely rewarding world. Even if this experiment crumbles after a few months, even if I can’t vanquish some personal demons, it’s been a pursuit I’ve yet to regret. If you’re just starting out, or five years in, or going on the road, relish every minute. Meet all the people. Make all the friends. Get over your fears, get over yourself and get better. xoxo mario

**This is how I first heard it. Comic/comedian or vice versa. You get it. Though I personally feel that “comedian” sounds more like an official title, while you can’t spell “comic” without “mic.” Just sayin’ is all.

#standupcomedy #comedy

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