#and in the end all three choose perfection and glory and fame over a long life of mediocrity

[cherry-interlude]

Lana Del Rey Album Songs Ranking (Remade)

It’s been a few years since I ranked all of Lana’s (album) songs so I wanted to do it again. This is all my OPINION, which I’m sure some people might disagree with, but you don’t have to agree with it. This is also a very long post.

Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

This cover song is just a little too drab and uninteresting to me, and I never listen to it. After the brilliant, sprawling, sexy, heart-breaking tracks on Honeymoon, this feels like a tacked-on track just to plump up the album. It feels simply like a cover.

For Free

Though this is a well-made song, with three brilliant women owning the track, it again just feels like a cover. It fits in well with Chemtrails, but by the time I get to this song I’ve had my fill.

Breaking Up Slowly

It just feels repetitive and simple, something only to have on in the background while my attention is diverted. It’s a good song and a nice attempt at bringing Lana’s country music in, but it does little to keep me interested.

God Knows I Tried

This song is filler. Jammed between the jazzy softness of Terrence Loves You and the pop favourite High By The Beach, this track just feels like it was sort of shoved in. It doesn’t even feel completely right on Honeymoon, instead a throwaway song that bridges Ultraviolence and Honeymoon whilst not fitting in with either album.

24

Though perfect for the credits of a Hollywood movie, 24 has plenty of flair but nothing of substance. The lyrics aren’t as imaginative as most of Lana’s music and I’m not surprised this song found itself near the end of the album.

Lucky Ones

Personally, this song irritates me. It's sickly in its lyrics, sugary in the romance and classic Lana tropes of dangerous men and Lana starstruck by them no matter if they’re ‘careless cons and crazy liars’. The little flair of the verses and the overtly sweet chorus really irks me, especially following the brilliance that is Lana’s first ‘Del Rey’ album.

Coachella

It is a rushed track, sounding completely unfinished and hurried with an unconvincing track beat. Polished, it would be brilliant – but it sounds like Lana thought of the song (which sounds promising in the video where she sits in the forest and sings) and had to force it to ‘fit in’ with the trap-pop tracks on Lust For Life. The lyrics are thoughtful, if not cliché, but it could have been done better.

This Is What Makes Us Girls

It just doesn’t appeal to me. Maybe because I can’t connect to the lyrics in any way, I just don’t feel anything when I hear this song and choose to skip it. That being said, the demos are pretty fun.

God Bless America

As much as it’s a song honouring women during a period of time when feminism was being shaken, it doesn’t quite feel like Lana’s heart is in it. The patriotism is uneasy considering she was removing herself from the American flag and its associations, and the anthemic feel never lifts. It’s a sweet song, but never goes deeper than surface level.

Religion

Though fairly sexy and haunting – her unshaken faith to her man, her drawling voice – this delicate track is too simple and sombre for me to get completely into it. I always want to skip and get to my favourites.

In My Feelings

It’s great Lana has a bad-girl, bad-bitch, fuck-you pop track but this, like Coachella, feels unfinished. It has the vibe of work in progress, and the vocals are still messy (surely intentionally, though it doesn’t always come across that way) as well as trying slightly too hard. It doesn’t compare to Fucked My Way Up To The Top.

Beautiful People Beautiful Problems

The verses don’t match up to the choruses and I feel nothing – not empowered or emotional – when listening to this song, but it is a beautiful duet between Lana and Stevie. Their voices really are divine together and though I don’t listen to this song much, the demos are even better.

Change

Mostly because it freaks me out, this is a song I don’t often listen to. With a basic structure yet long, meandering lyrics, Lana broods over the state of America at the time, which can make for depressive listening. Though it’s a pretty enough song, it’s seriousness is too much to bear sometimes.

Blue Velvet

Sometimes too slow, Blue Velvet doesn’t inspire multiple listens in me, but it is a gorgeous cover and absolutely a showcase of Lana’s vocals.

Diet Mountain Dew

A cheeky little track that won many over, it still is hard for me to fully get into it. However, it ages like fine wine and is a wonderful step into the Lizzy Grant unreleased tracks (especially with the many, sometimes even better demos).  

Burning Desire

It’s a messy song, with Lana’s vocals shaky and the instrumental not quite up to scratch, but this song is certainly a guilty pleasure and great for getting into the sexy mood. The car metaphors are a bit much, especially considering it’s for a car advert, but if you get past that it’s a song to add to your freaky playlist.

Money Power Glory

As powerful and dark as this song is, with incredible instrumentals and Lana at her most dynamic, I barely remember the lyrics of the verses, instead waiting for the rich choruses.

Swan Song

A gentle track that has a lot of untapped power behind it, this is a quiet stormer of a song that has a lot of heart and grace. It may be a filler track, but it is definitely better than some.

Bartender

Even more gentle is the confessional, piano-led Bartender, which is a sweet little love song stripped back much like Lana’s simple romance where she sneaks out to see her lover. The main (and probably ridiculous) thing that keeps me from falling in love with this song more – though I’m already pretty amazed by it – is the very quiet sound of feedback that comes and goes, a fuzzy noise that is very subtle but distracting enough for me.

The Next Best American Record

This song would be higher if it was Architecture – the gorgeous, well-thought stunner that wowed us all when it was leaked. The lyrics are less fractured relationship and more wishy washy, wiping away the gritty sadness that made Architecture so beloved (at least to me). Now it’s been made ‘happier’, it’s hard to tell what the song is – is Lana happy with her lover or is she sad like in the unreleased version? Is this a break up song or a celebration of the romance? What does it mean now that it is both of them that are obsessed with writing? It’s something for me to certainly explore more, but it is paled in comparison to the original.

When The World Was At War

This track grew on me, with the hidden lyrics, fun vocals and hopeful message. Lana knows how to make a song that lifts your mood and this is certainly one of them.

Guns and Roses

I used to despise this song – finding it boring and dull. However, after giving it a listen years later, it is in fact a beautiful song with a gritty feel that is perfect for Ultraviolence. It fits in perfectly with the album and the extended tracks, and though it isn’t the strongest lyrically, the vocals and dreamy feel is thrilling.

Lolita

I choose to listen to this song without the underage character – or romantic connotations of her – in mind, instead seeing this song as a grown woman trying to charm an older man. However, as I have grown older – and read (and loved) the book several times more – I feel more inclined to distance myself from this song. It’s a fun, perky pop track but it definitely feels dated.

Dance Till We Die

Lana sings of her connection to other famous female singers and her daughter’s chosen name, making this a very personal pop song that also reminds of When The World Was At War for its hopeful and ultimately positive edge. It is a little slow but incredible touching, and the bridge is so kickass you can’t help but dance along.

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

This is a very sweet little song that again showcases the more positive side of Lana’s music, rather than the heartbroken and distressed women she tends to play. Though it is a filler song it’s a very pretty one and so catchy.

Wild At Heart

Wild At Heart is similar to Not All Who Wander Are Lost in that it’s a departure from a tragic femme fatale, instead a love song that also mimics Swan Song in that she considers leaving fame for her lover. What makes it even better is how Lana samples How To Disappear, a much sadder track, and twists it into something happy with this ultimately more upbeat album.

Radio

Like Diet Mountain Dew, Radio is another perky tune that is more than just a catchy filler. It’s a little bit sassy and has an edge to it (with the expletives and how her life is sweet not like sugar but cinnamon) that keeps it from being too frothy. Speaking of Lana’s newfound fame, it’s a nice break from the love ballads and tragedies peppered throughout Born To Die.

Without You

Shockingly dramatic, Without You is the ultimate symbol of Lana’s older music – a woman who could only feel happy unless her man was in her life. She has definitely moved on for the most part from wailing her demise at losing her lover but Without You is still glamorous, catchy and perfect to singalong to.

The Other Woman

This is one of Lana’s best covers – Nina Simone’s song about being the other woman and how it is in fact lonely and heart-breaking. Lana makes the song her own, her vocals stunning and lo-fi with instrumentals that are perfect for Ultraviolence.

How To Disappear

I feel that the live version of How To Disappear, where she sung it on stage before it was released with its real instrumental, is the superior version. It’s stripped back and tender enough to feel the emotion thoroughly, but the album version doesn’t disappoint. It’s one of many great tracks from (what I think is) her best album, and has a great story within it.

Fucked My Way Up To The Top

Lana’s satirical, sexy and stirring Fucked My Way Up To The Top was just tongue-in-cheek enough to keep from being too much of a cliché. Perhaps based on her real experiences but definitely a fuck-you to anyone who critiques her for owning her sexuality, it’s a little bit controversial but an incredible song.

Tomorrow Never Came

This song, which is a gorgeous duet with Sean Ono Lennon and a nice nod to 20th century music, subverts expectations that it is a sad song by in fact including a happy ending. I love how it can make you cry with both sadness and happiness, and tells a sweet story that paints pictures of parks and country houses.

Yosemite

The long-awaited Yosemite didn’t disappoint, and though it took a while to grow on me it became a classic and somehow familiar track. It’s impossible to not sing or dance to it and wouldn’t be out of place in Lust For Life.

Hope Is A Dangerous Thing

It’s quite slow – the Change/24/Old Money of Norman Fucking Rockwell – but it is clearly a personal and well-thought song that references Lana’s great inspiration Sylvia Plath. Lana’s deft at getting her thoughts out in song and I think though it’s not a song I often listen to, it is beautiful.

Honeymoon

The sweeping violins, dramatic vocals and the dangerous undercurrent makes Honeymoon crackle with electricity. It’s an amazing introduction to an album that once again has dangerous men, bad girls who get hurt but are strong again and amazing instrumentals. Though it’s not the best song from the album, it sets the tone perfectly.

Million Dollar Man

Like Without You, it’s another song of complete devastation, which Lana has grown from in her music. Million Dollar Man shows some great vocals and lyrics, and gets the emotion out perfectly whilst honouring the music that inspired her.

Old Money

The verses are pretty enough but they don’t catch my attention the way the choruses do. The slow, steady song took a long time for me to really appreciate but it’s impossible not to feel some kind of emotion when Lana lets her lover know she will be with them whenever they need her.

Sad Girl

Like The Other Woman, Sad Girl shows how being the other woman has it’s downfalls but appreciates the sexy, exciting side of it – how alluring her man is and how much of a bad bitch she may be. Once again, it’s a pure Ultraviolence song that shows Lana’s vocals and music in the best way whilst showcasing the classic caricature of the femme fatale.

Dark Paradise

Strangely upbeat for such a sad song, Dark Paradise is great to dance to but also something that makes you want to cry. Lana’s vocalisations and dramatic lyrics don’t quite compare to some of her other songs but Dark Paradise is iconic.

Summertime Sadness

The slow-burn, emotional gut punch that is Summertime Sadness is always a classic and one of Lana’s best. Though it is far from my personal favourite it is absolutely an outstanding song and the perfect example of Lana’s most well-made and well-delivered songs.

Gods and Monsters

The strained Gods and Monsters is a great tale about the evil side of fame, which Lana never quite delves too deeply into but gives a metaphorical and mildly personal nod to. Gods and Monsters is one of those songs that has you singing along and feeling strong.

Carmen

Carmen is a beautiful, sad story that feels rich and luxurious despite its harrowing lyrics of an alcoholic star. The French bridge adds to the decadence and it feels like a dirty alcohol bottle wrapped in silk, from the tentative verses to the unnerving chorus.

Born To Die

One of Lana’s original pop chart tracks, this is a song that never grows old. It’s one of the blueprints of the Lana Del Rey era and deftly shows her vocals whilst setting the tone for the pessimistic, romantic star in the early 2010s.

Salvatore

Opening with laughing – or crying – Salvatore has an eerie feel to it, though it is completely erotic in feel (enough to ignore some of the simpler lyrics). It is a song that feels dreamy, much like the rest of Honeymoon, but passionate and reminding of some of her older music (from the vocals in the bridge that have a Lolita/Fucked My Way Up To The Top feel to them to the continued trope of bad boys and glamour).

Flipside

Dirty, gritty and quite contained, Flipside is a song that I wished had more attention. It’s not her most imaginative song but there’s something about it, from the gloomy guitars to the hushed vocals, that have me wanting to sing it over and over. It also is one of her great fuck-off songs, as sympathetic as it is resilient.

Doin’ Time

Lana really turns this song into her own with the summery instrumentals and the pop edge she is so good at. It’s surprisingly one of her best covers and a fresh-feeling track that isn’t bogged down by emotion or maudlin music.

Lust For Life

Breathless and oh-so-romantic, Lust For Life is one of those songs that was perfect for the charts, and a key piece in Lana’s turn into becoming more positive. However, as fun and lovely as this song is, the demos are a whole other ball game. A little more ethereal, they fit Lana much more perfectly and it’s sad she dismissed the witchy feel for a song that is brilliant but generic.

Love

One of Lana’s warmest and most refreshing songs, she looks at love with fondness and dedicates this track to her ‘kids’. She knows her fans well and to make a song that references them (much like Happiness Is A Butterfly’s nod to her ‘babies’) makes this song all the more pleasant.

The Greatest

Lana’s vocals are put to good use in this intimately-written song. She speaks her mind in her reminiscence of the past and the worries for the future, all with a storming chorus that is certainly one of her best.

Love Song

Tender and almost tentative, Love Song is one of those tracks that is romantic through-and-through. It’s stripped back enough to feel like it really is a private song for only her lover’s ears, just as confessional as Cinnamon Girl and Bartender.

White Mustang

Short but sweet, this song has all the makings of a Lana Del Rey song, harking back to the Born To Die days with her imagery and fallen love affair, but it is spiky enough to be part of her later music where she starts giving less shits. The whistling and race cars are a nice touch, displaying her play on words snugly.

Dark But Just A Game

Sort of jazzy, Dark But Just A Game is ever-shifting and never quite settles on a particular sound. It’s cohesive, however, and clearly states what Lana is thinking in a way that works with the rest of Chemtrails. It’s pretty sexy as well, which doesn’t hurt the enjoyability factor.

High By The Beach

The wooziness, the carelessness and the growth from a woman begging to be put in a movie to a woman who is able to do as she pleases. Lana stumbles and swears through the song but knows exactly what she wants – and it isn’t disappointing men or stalking paparazzi.

Let Me Love You Like A Woman

Some may think it much slower and more boring than a lot of her tracks, but I think it’s a tidy, sweet track. Lana plainly states her love, urges her man to run away with her and lets her emotions (and voice) do the talking.

Summer Bummer

Lana is as restless as a hot summer in this song and it works. Her brisk-paced yet soft-voiced lyrics and gorgeous imagery gets my pulse racing, and ASAP Rocky’s verse works well for it. Though it would have been interesting to get a full, solo Summer Bummer, Rocky adds an edge to this song and compliments his ‘lover’ well.

Groupie Love

Much more flowery and wide-eyed, Groupie Love is like a contradiction. Lana’s passionate dalliance with Rocky’s god-like star opposes the relationship in Summer Bummer (uncertain) but both are just as secret. Groupie Love has the edge of being ultra-dreamy and demonstrating pure love – and lust – without the messiness.

American

It’s a filler track that has potential for much more. It’s an adorable song, almost cautious in its lead-up to the satisfying chorus, and is filled with Lana tropes galore. Following Lana’s stressed Ride and coming before the darkly sensual Cola, American is a breath of fresh air.

National Anthem

What an anthem it is. It’s simply provocative and one of her most classic tracks. Mixing love, money and fame together with a bit of sex thrown in, National Anthem is precisely what Lana’s America seems to be.

Is This Happiness?

It’s muted, mournful and resentful, questioning a relationship that Lana wants to keep but at the same time doesn’t. This is one of Lana’s best sad songs, tearful as it is still adoring beneath the exasperation.

Art Deco

Art Deco is purely dreamy, a song to bathe in. The lyrics are a little bit simple but Lana’s vocals and the flowing, aquatic music is the perfect hook.

Terrence Loves You

Lana’s jazzy song is delicate, letting only her voice and the saxophone dominate. With references to David Bowie, Lana pines for someone who hurt her badly, but she soothes herself with music the way plenty of her fans do when listening to her records.

White Dress

The vocals were a surprise at first – high, strained whispers – but they definitely grew on me. Painting a picture of young Lana loving life and dreaming of bigger things, it’s nostalgic in lyrics but also reminds of some of Lana’s old work – her unreleased tracks where she would serve coke and fries.

Chemtrails

It gets better as it goes on, growing and twisting from a song to sunbathe to into a restless, darkening track. It has the best vibe for an idealised world with something a bit off, and the imagery of pools, jewels and schools grounds Lana into a (very, very rich) normality rather than the glamorous star she always liked to portray.

13 Beaches

Opening with a quote from Carnival of Souls, Lana takes High By The Beach to the next level. She goes from sticking her middle finger up to the paparazzi to simply wishing she would be allowed to live her life without them hounding her. It’s a matured approach that uses sound interestingly, with beeps and whines adding a strange texture to the song.

Cola

The controversial line was intended as humour, but strangely it works. Even if Cola is satire like Fucked My Way Up To The Top, Lana owns the ‘other woman’, the patriotic singer, the sexy and unashamed woman who says what she thinks without caring of the consequences. It’s an iconic song, even if you have to turn the volume down to not offend.

Black Beauty

The unreleased version is ten times more emotive, with its stripped back and lonesome feel, but the album version is just as good. The ultimately loving but unhappy lyrics are full of stunning imagery, and this is a song that would have been perfect with a music video.

Body Electric

Blasphemous as much as it honours icons, Lana sinfully owns Body Electric. The bridge is a bit out of place but Lana’s eyebrow-raising approach to religion and sexuality is genius.

Off To The Races

The best demonstration of Lana’s vocals, Lana plays the glam girl without a care just as well as the Lolita-type, needy lover in this ode to money and her man. The soaring bridge is stunning, and the swirling violins add an air of Hollywood to it.

Bel Air

Completely overlooked (in my opinion), Bel Air is an apologetic song of redemption, a shining and honest track that is as touching as much as it is hazy and tranquil. With soft piano and the sound of children opening and closing the song respectively, it’s set apart from Paradise with a pureness that Lana pulls off well.

Ultraviolence

Controversial at the time and still controversial now, Ultraviolence is about being weak, about giving in to love no matter how toxic. I don’t entirely support the lyrics but it’s a stunning song, lo-fi enough to feel uneasy and haunting. When you shut off from the lyrics, you get a simply beautiful track.

Pretty When You Cry

Lana’s imperfect, close-to-tears vocals are wonderful in this song, and she really lets her emotion shine through. The pained guitar and Lana’s increasingly distressed singing are enough to get you feeling exactly as she does.

Florida Kilos

Fun. Fresh. Freeing. Lana’s ode to drugs is simply something to dance to and sing, and she somehow manages to get the sunny feeling across even with the Ulraviolence-esque grunginess. It’s one of my favourite songs of Lana’s because it’s just so happy, which is a nice departure from some of her heavier tracks.

Cherry

Many people’s favourite – Cherry. It was my favourite of Lana’s for a long time, dripping with sex appeal and sadness but with a cute dance to compliment it. It had all the right stuff wrapped up in a tidy, compact box and the imagery is lush. I still love this song but since then we’ve had the ‘Cherries’ of her next few albums, Cinnamon Girl and Tulsa Jesus Freak. Like these, Cherry was a song that seemed set apart from the rest of the album and was a novel take on her typical music.

California

Simply for It's meaningful, raw lyrics – promising to be there as soon as he wants her, much like in Old Money – California is a sun-soaked dream with a very honest approach. Lana isn’t completely devastated, or begging for her lover to return. She is sad but realistic, and only wants the best for him. It’s beautiful and sad with a crazily addictive chorus.

West Coast

The shift from fast-paced, grungey, whispered verses to sprawling, drawling choruses – complete with weirdly sexy beeps towards the end of the song – shook us all, and it’s one of Lana’s most interesting songs. Lana honours the West Coast but also her man, in love with the music scene as much as she is with him.

Shades of Cool

The snide verses. The gradually growing music. The guitars. The explosive chorus. The nuclear bridge. The absolutely perfect timing and pacing. Shades of Cool is flawless, another Sad Girl but with much more power, emotion and music.

The Blackest Day

The Blackest Day needs more attention. Cold in places, almost lost, but then wounded in the chorus, The Blackest Day rolls with the emotions and is the kind of song that makes you want to fall apart and sob. Which is good, in a way, as it shows how brilliantly Lana conveys emotion.

Freak

Cult-like and haunting, this is the sexy predecessor of California. Lana swoons and tempts in this track, from her harmonising to her pouting “take it to the back if you really wanna talk” - not to mention the rest of the song in its entirely, all elements married together to create the perfect seductive track.

Music To Watch Boys To

Like Art Deco, Music To Watch Boys To is fairly aquatic and dreamy. Like Freak, it has that cult vibe (the chanting of the bridge). However, this song is perfectly its own, from the mix-up of vocal styles to the shifting tone (sad to smug to obsessively in love).

Norman Fucking Rockwell

What an opener. Norman Fucking Rockwell lets the actual singing and lyrics do the talking, the instrumentals pushed back enough to let Lana’s gut-punching first line (“God damn, man child, you fucked me so good that I almost said I love you”) and her blue yet annoyed insults to her Norman Rockwell do the talking.

Mariner’s Apartment Complex

It’s a song for yourself and for the people you love. Lana is strong enough to take care of herself, to be her own guidance – and to take on her lover’s problems too. It’s an empowering song, so distant from a lot of her discography, and I adore the nautical references and the hopeful message.

Brooklyn Baby

Satire again, but it still works. Lana plays a (fairly cringey) and somewhat self-absorbed, over-confident singer who is too cool for her own boyfriend, but she does it well. From saying how she wished people didn’t judge her, to the freedom the seventies gives her, to the warm guitars and upbeat tone, to the backup vocals of Seth Kaufman, Brooklyn Baby is a song to remember for all the right reasons.

Ride

Ride is one of Lana’s best, if not the best. With her devotion to America and her open thoughts about needing other people to make her feel good and happy, Lana knocks it out of the park with the superb step up from Born To Die.

Video Games

Video Games is just beautiful, plain and simple. Lana’s low voice, telling a flowing story of the simplicities of true love, are removed from her ‘famous singer’ image she constantly tried to portray and instead open up to the heart of what she has always sung about: love and its many forms, good or bad.

Get Free

The new take on Ride was a pleasant surprise. From changing the lyrics to show she wants to move on and be happy to (silently) name-dropping her influences, Lana’s manifesto was a personal song that we could all resonate with. The outro of the beach was the perfect closer to Lust For Life, and Get Free summarised the album which took her from sad girl to someone who could let herself move on.

Heroin

Heroin is no doubt one of her best. It’s tense and dark, referencing Manson and (allegedly) a friend she lost years ago. Lana lets herself dive into her worst thoughts headfirst, not so much dreamy as it is nightmarish, but still comes out the other side dreaming of marzipan and ready to move on.

Tulsa Jesus Freak

The third of the ‘Cherries’, Tulsa Jesus Freak goes straight to a happy place. Where Cherry was angry and Cinnamon Girl was cautious, this track dives into being comfortable with her man. It was just as passionate as the other two songs but about religion, sex and self-satisfaction.

Blue Jeans

Plucking guitars, crying violins and Lana weaving a tale about a gangsta who left her, without explanation, and the hurt that follows. Similarly tied to Dark Paradise, Blue Jeans is the next level of that, her tough-girl spoken verses dismissed as the choruses open up and she pours her heart out.

Cruel World

Lana is on top-form on this song, furious, maddened, sad, taunting – she hits every emotion with style. Lana grows more and more unstable as the song goes on, invoking images of a woman scorned and no longer taking that shit, but she still has a fragility about her as she comes undone that is tied directly to her Ultraviolence era.

Happiness Is A Butterfly

This song goes through many stages. She is unsure, not knowing how her lover feels. She is optimistic, elated as she tries to capture the butterfly. She is dismissive, no longer caring if she might get hurt – she loves too much. She is pissed off, sick of being treated badly. She gives in, simply wanting to dance and just be happy. The flow of this song is constant, a little messy, but it has the beautiful message pinned to it: to keep trying to be happy and do what you love.

Fuck It I Love You

I love the music video version more than the album version, the latter being more stripped back. Fuck It I Love You just gives in to emotion, acknowledging Lana is hurt, her lover is hurt, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love him. She simply lets that feeling take over.

Cinnamon Girl

Cinnamon Girl touched me like no other Lana song has. Where Cherry was a mixture of emotions, good and bad, angry and loving, devastated and thrilled, Cinnamon Girl was about cautious optimism. Lana urges her lover to give in, and she knows – smiling as she sings it – she wins.

Venice Bitch

Venice Bitch just has that soothing, unhindered feel to it – and not just from the nine minutes of pure music and vibe. Lana dedicates this song to the kind of love that is just wholesome and homely, all whilst touching on her insanity, her ever-lasting love for America and the modern world (her live streams). It feels nostalgic yet contemporary, and adding the “fucks” and “bitch[es]” helps keep this song from being to sugary sweet but instead what it is – an honest love song rooted in the idealised and the realistic.

[artificialqueens]

Sunshine, and Glory Too (Trixya) - Chapter 5 - fannyatrollop

A/N: Now that reality’s reared its ugly head, we’re hitting a speedbump en route to happily ever after. 

Previously On: Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four

Valentina was informed that Violet expected her to have derived all the satisfaction she was reasonably entitled to from checking her lady’s behaviour, and that no further abuse would be tolerated. Even so, Trixie continued to see less of Katya than she would like. Chafing under the constant stream of sympathy from Pearl, Kim, and even Violet, if she squinted, Trixie returned to her solitary way of living.

She was not always without company. Adore was beginning to struggle with her human form more than ever, her legs often buckling under her own weight. She said it was bound to happen. For all that taking regular swims in the lake had helped her last longer as a two-legged creature, her body would start to rebel against spending so much time in a state she was not naturally built for without a single drop of ocean water to soothe her. There was no need to worry for her life, what few brains she had been blessed with at birth equipped her with enough understanding to know how to interpret these changes, but it did mean her time at the Academy was coming to an end. Knowing this, Trixie made an effort to see her as often as possible before she would leave them, and would often take turns with Adore’s many friends to help support her in walks about the castle and grounds. She was happy to lend her arm, and to listen as Adore talked about how she needed to get her fill of the campus. She dearly hoped her lack of brains wouldn’t cause her to forget what her home on land had looked like, and all the memories she had made.

“I never once saw you walk this way,” said Trixie, on one of their indoor walks. “What sort of cherished memories do you have from this part of the castle?”

“You had to be there,” Adore replied.

They walked on at a leisurely pace. Trixie pointed out paintings and ornaments so she could ask Adore what sweet moments they brought to mind. Adore either laughed and called her an idiot, or made up some outrageous story Trixie thought might be plausible in a castle with the highest concentration of magical beings she knew of.

They were examining a painting of an imposing lady, making up stories about her identity since neither knew who she had been, when Adore gasped and tugged at her arm, directing her gaze at the object of her amazement.

Katya was wrestling with her voluminous skirts, possibly trying to check if she was in danger of tripping on them. She ventured to take a few steps while Trixie and Adore looked on, unsure in her footing. The gown itself was a vivid red, accented in gold, with a ruffled collar. Her hair was threaded with roses; Valentina had said that roses were her kingdom’s most famous export. Katya had never looked so stately, not in the time Trixie had known her. She was accompanied by Ginger, who was busy talking to an artist with some frustration as they strode through the halls at an agonizingly slow pace.

Adore shouted Katya’s name, and waved with her free arm. Trixie gave a smaller wave, and when Katya turned to look at them, she merely smiled and nodded in their direction. Her fists were tight around the fabric of her skirts.

***

It had been many nights since they saw each other, so Trixie saw no harm in sneaking off to see her later that night. Katya told her all about how the artist had been dissatisfied with the lighting in her private quarters, and led them in a painful procession in search of a room he would find more suitable to draw her miniature portrait. The man was determined to find fault in every room they came across, so Ginger had to force a decision on him.

“She was practically breathing fire by the time we settled on a room,” she said, with a laugh.

Trixie traced the marks left on Katya’s body by her corset. Katya wasn’t much used to wearing the amount of finery imposed upon her that day, and had pointed out the imprints as soon as she’d undressed so Trixie could pity the sorry state she’d been left in from having to be a proper lady.

“I’m sorry I didn’t stop to speak to you and Adore,” Katya continued. “I was trying to navigate my gown.”

“I should like to see you manage your wedding gown,” Trixie teased. “I hope you reach the altar safely.”

Katya laughed, though her eyes did not express true mirth.

“I looked like the ghost of menses past,” she said.

“We should go back and check if you left a bloody trail.”

“Probably from my poor feet!”

Trixie asked her to let her see those poor feet, and Katya shifted so she could take one in her hands. She did not see a source for a trail of blood, but she did her part in rubbing away the soreness she must have felt. She worked at Katya’s feet while she laid back, in perfect bliss. When she was quite through with that, Trixie laid kisses on Katya’s chest, where the corset had left grooves, while her fingers traced the marks on her sides. She kissed her way to Katya’s lips, and asked if she had taken care of all her pain.

“No,” she responded, with a quick kiss to Trixie’s lips. “Not until I’ve made love to you.”

***

Katya was reluctant to let her go in the morning. She held Trixie close as they stood at her doorway, as if she would vanish into dust unless she kept her close to her chest. Trixie assured her of her love, of her resolve to see her as much as their situation allowed until it was no longer possible.

“Remember what you said, when they told me about my marriage?” Katya asked, loosening her grip so they could see each other’s faces.

Trixie could not recall what Katya might like to hear repeated, out of all the things that had been said back then.

“You told me,” Katya said, with purpose. “That if we were to be parted, you would have me as long as I found my way back to you.”

“Of course,” Trixie said, placing a hand on Katya’s face and furrowing her brow.

“Do you think—I couldn’t hate you for carrying on without me, but is there a chance that you would wait? Even now?”

Trixie nodded her assent. She did this even as her rational side reminded her that once Katya was wed, she would truly be lost to her. She only thought of leaving Katya without a doubt as to the depth of her feelings, so that she may always remember her love, even if she never got to hold her again.

Katya kissed the corner of her mouth, and let her go at last.

Ginger later called on Trixie, to request that she stop coming to Katya’s quarters entirely for a few weeks. Katya, she said, needed to polish her manners, and to be briefed on the court she would preside over in due time. Since, as they both knew, Katya could be prone to distraction, it would be appreciated if Trixie could leave them to their business.

“Also, Madame Visage is likely to pop by at any moment. Katya is to receive an envoy from her fiancé’s court at some undecided date,” she said, making a sour expression. “They delight in surprising those beneath them, and will send envoys off at their leisure with no attention to the amount of time we need to prepare for them. In any case, I wouldn’t want you to have to meet Visage, she’s a common cause of headaches and I wouldn’t put it past her to stop for tea unannounced.”

She sighed, giving Trixie a wan smile.

“Also, she doesn’t like you.”

Ginger made the motions that usually signalled her departure, but stopped abruptly before the final flourish.

“Lady Trixie,” she said, looking her dead in the eye. “There’s something I need to ask you, and I need you to answer honestly.”

Trixie nodded, bid her to continue with the promise of complete honesty.

Ginger seemed reluctant to proceed. Trixie couldn’t quite read her. She wasn’t sure if she ever had been able to understand her, when she thought of it. What she did understand, despite her desire to be free of her company, of the tense air that hung between the two of them, was that Ginger wasn’t her enemy. It didn’t make it any more comfortable to face her steely gaze, but she felt it to be true.

“Do you love her?”

Though she took a pause, Ginger held up a pudgy finger to signal that it was not time for Trixie to respond.

She carried on.

“There is no safety in choosing to be with Katya, she has nothing a girl like you would be looking for in a partner. You will not have a country estate, or a steady income. The most you can count on is my protection. Would you choose her over an advantageous marriage?”

Trixie didn’t have to think about her answer.

“I have never had riches in all my life,” she said. “My position has never been secure. I can’t miss what I never had, but I know that if I did not have to resign myself to losing Katya, I would be a fool to let her go.”

“So you do love her.”

Trixie responded with a resolute yes.

Having gotten what she wanted from her, and delivered her message, Ginger vanished.

***

When she woke to Fame gently shaking her awake, Trixie thought she might still be dreaming. Fame rarely had business with her, and when she did, she never sought her out until she’d at least had breakfast. She sat up to receive her, careful not to disturb Kim, who was curled up beside her.

“Fame? What’s the matter?”

“I have a letter for you,” said Fame, pressing some sheets of paper, folded all together, into her hands. “I was asked to give it to you before you could hear whatever is in it talked about in the halls. I haven’t looked at it, so I don’t know what it is that you need to hear. I’m sorry for disturbing you, you can go back to sleep if you wish.”

Fame kissed the top of her head and squeezed one of her wrists before disappearing. Still groggy from sleep, and more than a little bit confused, Trixie placed the letter on her nightstand so she could read it when she was fully rested.

When she finally greeted the morning, she was surprised to see the letter waiting where she’d placed it. The encounter with Fame had been so out of the ordinary, she had convinced herself that she dreamt it. Kim had taken to sleeping longer than she ought to, having few real tasks to occupy her time. Trixie was careful to let her be as she got ready for breakfast, and took the letter with her so she could look at it then. If it was something horrible, she thought, if her mother had died, or her father had been taken to prison, a note would arrive at breakfast for both her and Pearl to read. She thought nothing of it.

She ate with Violet and Pearl, as usual, and wrapped some fruit and bread in a bundle to set aside for Kim.

Fame would regularly join them at breakfast. She didn’t eat, but she would bring letters if there were any, and liked to check in on her “little chickens”. That morning, she came to them with no mail, but with concern etched across her features. She sat herself next to Trixie, placing a hand on her back as if comforting her from a hurt she did not know she had suffered.

“Trixie, have you had a chance to read the letter I gave you this morning?”

Fame spoke softly, but Violet and Pearl were shooting inquisitive looks at the pair of them.

Trixie shook her head.

“No, but I have it right here,” she said, picking it up from where she’d laid it on the table.

“You must read it right away,” said Fame. “I have gathered some intelligence this morning from the other fae, and I fear you may find it distressing.”

Fame left her, upon inquiries from Violet as to the nature of these distressing news, to gather Pearl and Violet into a faraway corner of the room where they could hear without anything reaching Trixie’s ears. More than a little alarmed, Trixie unfolded her letter.

It read as follows:

Lady Trixie,

Katya has run away, and I’ve gone with her. Don’t worry, she will be safe whether she likes it or not. Her well-being has been my first priority since she was placed in my care, and though at first I was convinced that proceeding with the marriage was best for her, I soon saw the error in that way of thinking. She should never have been brought to the Academy.

I wish to apologize for the little trick I played on you. It was best to have you out of the way while we planned our escape. Katya didn’t approve of the deception, but I have to say, despite my love for her, that she lacks knowledge in the ways of the world. That’s her biggest weakness, her head is too far in the clouds.

In any case, I explained to her that having you involved from the outset would only bring misfortune to the both of you. If you were to flee together, the consequences could reach your future sovereign, and by extension your sister. She’s inviting enough trouble onto herself as it is. We can’t predict how vindictive the Prince of G— will be, but it’s always best to plan for the worst case scenario, humans tend to run hot in temper. The first point in the Academy’s Code of Conduct is that International Incidents are Not to be Tolerated, and at least if it’s just Katya fleeing the scene it can be framed as a foolish girl with no remarkable origins snubbing the future king of a moderately powerful nation. They may just say Oh, a Pox on Her, and let it be. If, on top of that, she was known to have removed a lady from the loving care of her future queen, you could imagine how inconvenient that would be for us.

If you want to rage and blame anyone for leaving you behind, I hope that you have reasoned that the proper target for that is me.

Perhaps we will meet again, when the dust settles. We can only hope there won’t be much of it, but I have seen armies raised over pettier matters. If only your kind could be prevailed upon to be creatures of sense!

Ginger

Katya was not illiterate. She could read and was capable of writing, but she was a horrible correspondent. Whenever Trixie wrote to her, she would soon be confronted with either herself or Ginger calling on her to give a verbal response. It was always a sight to watch Ginger dutifully try to convey Katya’s gestures, as well as an unedited account of her words.

Looking back, once the shock wore off, Trixie would wish Katya had written at least one line herself.

She read the letter once, twice, and then a third time, as if the contents would change if she revisited it. She then set it down over the dregs of her breakfast, letting her body carry her out the door, past her friends and the ever-present concern she was tired of having to bear.

She didn’t cry, only moved as fast as she could until she was in the wing where Katya’s rooms had been. The door gave easily when she pushed it. Inside, it was as if all trace of Katya had been scrubbed. The little baubles Ginger had made, to decorate the rooms and cheer her up when she had just arrived, were nowhere to be found, as well as the stuffed raccoon she would sometimes wear on her head to make Trixie laugh. In fact, there was no furniture, or anything to suggest the rooms had been lived in. They were a blank canvas, waiting to be filled up by another lucky girl, hopefully one who would be more grateful than their most recent mistress.

She didn’t cry, but she did sink to the ground, where she must have been found and taken back to her bed.

#rpdr fanfiction #trixya #pearlet #trixie mattel #katya zamolodchikova #pearl liaison #violet chachki #valentina #miss fame #fairytale au #fantasy #princess au #fannyatrollop #submission #sagt #royalty au #lesbian au #historical au

[daywillcomeagain]

fëanor

i’ve started a series in which i do retellings of the events of a tolkien character’s life, from their perspective, framed to make them sympathetic and help the reader understand their choices. you can read the others here.

3.7K words under the cut!

i want you to imagine.

you are ten years old when your mom dies. (it is because of you. everyone is careful not to say it like that where you can hear them, but you can tell just as well by the way that they carefully talk around it. you wish they would just come out and say it and end the pointless game of careful implication.) nobody has ever died before, nobody, not in the long history of the universe. and now they have. because of you. she was kind and gentle, soft and sad, always kissing your imaginary injuries and rocking you to sleep. you were too much for her. fëanáro, she names you, soul of fire, because you have stolen all her fire, because she has given all her soul to you and kept none for herself.

you keep vigil by her grave for a time. then, you throw yourself into your work. you loudly correct everyone who says her name wrong.

when you are nineteen--still a very small child; later, they will say that elves in their twenties are comparable in appearance to human children of seven years old, though more skilled with words and tools, and they do not say how they compare in emotional maturity--your father falls in love again. she is nothing like your mother. she laughs often and loudly, and sings brash and joyful songs that make all who listen to them want to dance. you are still grieving, still working. he's never around anymore. it would be easier if you could hate her, but you don't fully, not really. or maybe you do. you hate something. you are not sure what you hate. (you would hate the world, for being so unfair, for tearing her from you, but that can only mean two things. either you could hate her, for choosing to die, and you never could do that--or you could hate the gods, for lying to you, lying to everyone, when they called this place the Undying Lands, and you are pretty sure that's blasphemy. it's easier to hate her, for taking your father away from you.)

the debate happens when you are twenty-nine. you hear the whole thing. it is a debate on whether your father should be allowed to remarry. in truth, it is a debate on whether you are evil or whether your mom is. they declare that your birth was a portent of evil, that it proves that you yourself are evil--they declare that your mom is at fault, for having no strength left, in those last days, exhausted and miserable--

--and you don't hate them. not yet.

they declare that your father may get married again.

(but. if.)

they declare that it is unnatural, for anyone to have more than one living spouse. (indeed, they have said repeatedly that it is unnatural for anyone to fall in love more than once, ever. they are compromising on this only because they cannot control it.)

your father can get married, so long as your mother stays dead forever.

she was always so insistent that she would never wish to return, but--you had dreamed, so often, that she would. that she would get her energy back. that she would recover. that she would change her mind. if she marries your father, they are issuing a sentence: that she will stay dead forever, no matter what, no matter if she begs and pleads to see you again.

they get married five years later. a short betrothal, as the elves reckon it. she makes your father happier than you had ever seen him. she pronounces your mother's name wrong, every time.

you think maybe you hate her a little, now. you don't tell anyone. you wonder if this is proof that the valar were right when they said you were evil.

you take on an apprenticeship to the only vala who had said, no, the death of míriel þerindë cannot have been a sin, because fëanáro is untainted and so is she.  you learn the forge. you hammer your hatred into metal, you make the rock beneath you do what you tell it to do.

they have another child, and another, and another. a daughter, a son, a daughter, a son. you don't hate them, but nor are you friends--you are not famed for your cool head, and you have not stopped grieving. all of them, all of them, say your mother's name exactly the way she hated it.

you have not stopped working. you hammer metal and study linguistics and cut gems and experiment with chemicals. you learn the language of the gods, the language that nobody else can quite pronounce. you invent writing--phonetically perfect, each letter conveying voicing and place of articulation, spelled exactly how it's pronounced. (you make sure her name is spelled the way she wants it pronounced, and you didn't invent sound but you invented writing, if you teach them this is how you spell her name they can't disagree with you.) you invent long-distance communication.

the playing with chemicals goes well. you invent artificial light. it is your city now, bathed in the light of your lamps, their glory written in your letters.

you keep working and working and working, trying so hard to bring beauty to this world, because somewhere in the back of your mind you are not quite sure that you can ever make up for your crime of having been born. (you killed your mother, and perhaps in a different world, writing and light and long-distance communication could have saved lives, but this is paradise, and so they are trinkets, curiosities, and your mother is dead and your half-family still does not pronounce her name right no matter how many papers you write railing against the linguistic evolution of quenya that made the thorn obsolete, and you have changed nothing.)

melkor is released. he promises he is penitent. you do not trust him. almost everyone else does. perhaps it is because you are the one of only two people in the whole world who understand the stakes. it is after a debate, of course, and you wonder at these gods, who are so willing to pardon torturers and so willing to decry children. of course, that isn't quite fair--you were never sentenced to three thousand years chained in the Void--but you think it anyway.

when you were still a child, you had passed a girl on the street, who was arguing passionately that you can't just REPLACE his mother, mothers aren't INTERCHANGEABLE, even rocks are different and mothers are certainly even more so. you hadn't seen her again until now. you are wandering aimless, hiking in the great wilderness, because at dinner your father had called her your mother and even that ever-present balm of overwork is not enough to calm your stuttering heart. and you run into her.

her hair is shockingly red, curls of frizz trying to escape the knot she has it in. freckles dot her skin. her lips are thin, her nose crooked.

as soon as you see her again, you know you are going to marry her.

you do. you learn that she is named nerdanel and that she is a sculptor and that she apprenticed under the same vala as you and you fall in love all over again when you see her statues, looking as though they are about ready to jump into life. people gossip on the streets about how the crown prince's bride is not beautiful, and you forge two rings and cut two jewels and you do not care what people on the street think. you have seven sons. your father's name is finwë. you are curufinwë--skilled finwë. your half-brothers: ñolofinwë, wise finwë; arafinwë, noble finwë.

you name your first child nelyafinwë. third finwë.

you have seven sons, all in all. every time, you are terrified that your wife is going to break, that this one, this one, she will run out of soul. they say that that is why women do not work as craftsmen or composers (--or broidresses--), staying instead to mathematics and astronomy, theoretical work, observational. they say that is why women do not have many children, only three or four. every time a woman creates, she gives away a little bit of herself. (they say that is why your mom died. they say that is why you are a genius at creation. she was already putting energy and soul into her weaving, and then she created you, and she had no more to give.)

she gives birth to your sixth and seventh children--twins--and kisses you on the forehead and goes back to work chiseling at a statue and tells you that it is nonsense.

you work. somewhere deep, where even you do not fully know it, you are terrified that they will realize who you are, and you hope that your inventions will buy you time, will buy you love, because you know that they will never ever be enough to buy penance, to buy redemption, to buy your mother life and joy again. you demand unconditional loyalty from your family because you are certain that, if it is conditional, you will lose it. you are terrified that, one day, you will go too far and discover the conditions.

gems and artificial light shine in your workshop. finally there is a breakthrough.

you work non-stop for almost a decade, day and night. nerdanel brings you food and water when you don't get enough on your own. you observe the trees, that light-which-is-more-than-light, more than lamp or fire, that light that finwë gave up the stars for, that caused elwë to grow so much taller than anyone had ever before imagined was possible.

finally, you have your breakthrough.

the silmarilli shine more beautifully than you had thought possible.

gradually, things change.

you hear whispers, in the forge, of how to make armor and weapons from steel. in the street you hear that your half-brother means to put himself above you in succession for the throne.

you go back to the forge. you invent the first sword.

it has not been a week before your half-brother is wearing one.

it goes on like this for twenty years, the slow escalation. you know your work isn’t enough, anymore. you clutch to the allegiance of your wife and sons like a drowning man would to a rope. you are not sure you can trust anyone else. you have decided that maybe you hate all of them, your half-brothers and your stepmother, all those who play-acted family while pronouncing your mom's name wrong. you hold the silmaril light close to your chest and wonder what stars look like.

finwë calls a council. ñolofinwë (not fingolfin, not yet) comes early, of course. he begs finwë to restrain "the spirit of fire". he says that you mean to leave valinor, which is true enough, and to drive him out of the city, which is not, yet. he says that, if finwë disowns you now, then at least he will still have two loyal sons.

you come in with your sword drawn. its tip hovers barely a hair's width from ñolofinwë's chest as you speak.

a trial is called, a council, a debate. the valar mean to judge you, of course. it would be more interesting if they had not judged you guilty the moment your mother died.

it comes out in the trial that the past twenty years have been melkor's lies. that he whispered of weapons and plots of overthrow to the people at both of your forges, that he used every escalation on either side as proof. you still do not love each other, but you forgive each other. ñolofinwë says: "I will release my brother."

the valar sentence you to exile for twelve years. they do not find melkor, and they cannot sentence someone they cannot find. you leave the city without speaking a word. your sons come with you, as does your father. your half-family remains.

they invite you to a festival. you go in forge-clothes, hair tied up loosely, a sword hanging at your belt half out of spite and half out of unfounded paranoia. your silmarils you leave at home. they do not deserve to brighten the halls of the valar. you have to go--it is only an invitation out of politeness, it could so easily turn to command, or at the very least turn to more proof of your inherent evil--so you go, but your family remains in exile. in protest.

ñolofinwë is there. he turns to you and says, i forgive you, unconditionally, and i would still like to be your brother, if you would have me. his hand is out, his eyes trusting. he is wearing no sword.

so be it, you say, and shake his hand.

it is that moment when everything goes dark.

at first, the dark is terrible, oppressive. it is not the absence of light; it is a presence, almost tangible, of void. it is a claustrophobic sort of darkness, a thick thing through which nothing could pass.

the winds clear it away, eventually, and then it is just a regular sort of darkness, a vast emptiness. you can see the stars; they're as beautiful as you had imagined. maybe more.

finally, someone speaks, and then everyone speaks at once, as though a spell had been broken. you all gather together, in the square, to see the dead and withered forms of the two trees that had once lit up all of valinor.

you realize then that you are no longer afraid to hate paradise, to hate the gods themselves, so you do.

they call a silence, after not too long. they beg you to break your silmarils, to destroy your jewels, to light up the world again.

you want to sob. you have lost everything, and this--this--

you, of all people, know that elves can die of grief, that elves can die because they have poured too much of their own soul into their creation and there is none left over for themselves. you know that breaking your jewels would be signing your own execution. and here they are, asking you to kill yourself so that their city might be brighter, because the stars are not enough for them to show off the lovely paradise they have built.

you tell them this. the worst part of it is that you know that they will take this as the proof they have always longed for, that you are evil and selfish and prideful and corrupted. you say that if they force you to do otherwise, you will regard that as the first murder.

"not the first," námo says, and for a moment you wonder if he has finally admitted what he did to your mother when he allowed your father to remarry.

i say it is only for a moment because, a moment later, your oldest son arrives.

"your father is dead."

and with that--

you give melkor a new name. moringoþo, you call him, black foe of the world.

and then--

you scream. and you run. you run and run, into the darkness, into the wildness.

everyone searches for you. they are terrified you have killed yourself. you are not entirely sure that they are wrong to be afraid of that.

but eventually, you are found. there is more news: the silmarilli are gone, stolen by moringoþo. and, well--

"you're king now," someone tells you, softly, and it is then that you begin to break.

only two people have died since the universe began, and you are an orphan.

you hear that moringoþo, who took your light and your father, who stole from you all that you loved, is in middle-earth now. well, you had always wanted to go there.

you are still exiled, technically. you don't really care anymore. you don't care much about anything other than making him pay. you arrive in the streets of the capital and call on all to come, to listen to you. your speech is wild with grief and anger, all the hatred you have held in for three thousand years spilling out in the cracking voice and perfect words of a linguist and writer. (the valar name it pride, rebellion. they say it is the wicked lies of moringotto that come from your lips.)

you swear a terrible oath, anguish on your voice, that you will pursue anyone who takes your silmarils, whether they be a monster or the brightest of valar. you swear that you will pursue morgoth to the ends of the earth and past it. whatever it takes. you say that you will be damned worse than death if you fail. your voice rings stronger than the most sacred of vows.

you are so, so comforted, when your sons leap up without hesitation to take the same vow beside you. that you are not alone, that not all that you love has left you. that, with dead parents and a wife who refuses to follow you, that the loyalty and the people you have clung to has not entirely failed.

you are king now. you tell your people to follow you back to middle-earth.

the valar say they do not intend to trap you. at first you are almost grateful.

you discover soon enough that you cannot cross the Grinding Ice. you must go by sea.

you have no boats.

you beg for boats. you are told: no, we will not give you boats, they are our heart's love, as dear to us as your silmarils are to you. you beg to be taught to make boats of your own. you are told: no, we will not teach you to make boats, not without the blessing of the valar. (and of course you will not get the blessing of the valar. you remember when they told you that you were free to leave, and almost curse yourself for still wanting to believe them.)

and with every minute of delay, moringoþo is out there, having killed your father, the silmarilli shining proudly from his brow, having faced no consequences. and you are in paradise, doing nothing.

eventually, you tell your people to get in the boats, draw up the anchors, man the oars.

the teleri throw your people into the water.

it is only then, hoping with all your heart that they knew how to swim, that you draw your sword.

the valar doom you, of course. the valar declare you as evil. the valar are proven right in everything they have ever said about a small, grieving boy. the valar name you kinslayer. the valar promise to forgive you--not if you help the survivors, not if you send aid and food and let them keep all their ships but one, but if you repent of your rebellion and stay in valinor.

you do not particularly care if you are doomed. you cannot live with this in your heart without leaving and fighting. you have made an oath, and you are not about to break it. you would rather die a million painful deaths, fight a thousand hopeless wars, than spend another day in paradise. and so you speak your own doom, as true as theirs. you say you will never be a coward. you say you will never be forgotten.

námo has no answer, to that.

there are boats, now, but not enough. the trust so tenuously built between you and ñolofinwë has come crashing down again. arafinwë has forsaken the march altogether, leaving his children to go to middle-earth alone.

that night, everyone is asleep but you. you cannot sleep here. you are not sure if you can ever sleep again.

you wake your sons and the most trustworthy of your people. you take the boats.

safely on the other side, surrounded only by people you trust, you burn the boats. you do not want ñolofinwë camping in the dark, in the cold, waiting for a return trip that never comes. sometimes destroying all hope is its own sort of mercy.

your sons help you set them ablaze. all except one. finally you have gone too far, discovered the conditions for the loyalty of your oldest son. your arm throws torches with as much violence as it can. you laugh, but your laughter is not lighthearted. the fire glitters on your cheeks.

in truth, you are grateful when the battle comes. finally your hatred can be unleashed upon a worthy enemy; at last your sword can break the ribs of people who are to blame instead of merely in the way. in so many ways, this has all you have ever wanted. with every orc dead, you are making a difference, a real one, not just giving trivial trinkets to people who already have everything they need. you are too much, too marred, destructive and short-tempered and evil and finally you are only hurting and killing people who deserve it. it requires focus, precision, as much as the most detailed smithing, and for a moment you can almost forget the grief in this whirlwind of death.

you keep going, and going, and going. you lose everything in the haze of sight and sound, the black blood of orcs and the great fire of balrogs-- --so many balrogs-- --too many balrogs-- --but you're too far in now and you knew this was going to happen and you don't care, exactly, when you fall to the ground with a sickening thump.

your sons carry you away when the battle ends. you gasp out your dying wish: you want them to keep their oath. you want to die comfortable in the knowledge that the person who did this, to you, to your father before you--you want to know that he will pay for it. (you never said you weren't selfish.)

they promise. you dissolve, then, into the fire that always burned inside your soul.

in the years to come, your grandson will denounce his family and then carve your symbol into the stone wall of a door. your sons will come to hate your oath, though they will never break it. thousands and thousands of years later, they will call you a monster with the letters you invented, by the light of fëanorian lamps, and the weapon at their belt will be a sword. and one day, a hobbit will ask who you are, not knowing the answer, and he will be told by an old wizard that you were fair beyond imagining.

#fëanor #the silmarillion #he had neither burial nor tomb #my writing #different names for the same thing #who prays for satan?

[kenzieam]

It’s Time - (Bucky X OC)

Rating: M (language, eventual smut, angst)

Genre: Drama/Angst

@captstefanbrandt @iammarylastar @kiiiimberlyriiiicker1995 @notimetoblog @captain-ariel-barnes @jaamesbbarnes @lancefvcker @bitsandbobsandstuff @softlybarnes @lovelybbarnes @buckitybarnes @bucky-plums-barnes  @moonbeambucky @badassbaker @citylights221 @empress-of-boujee @tbetz0341chook007 @shynara51 @diinofayce @casestudy-mw  @jewels2876 @damnaged-princess @everythingisoverrated @allmyfanficfaves @melgoodwin @clarabella960 @curvybihufflepuff  @angryschnauzer @wowspideyholland @sergeantwhitewolf @smilexcaptainx @plaidcat4815

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An AU story with Bucky Barnes and my new OFC, Nika, please let me know what you think!!

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It's time.

Two little words, glowing on my phone screen; an innocent text, that manage to stop my heart.

Even though I've been expecting this for the last eight months, I'm still not ready.

Taking a deep breath, I dial the familiar number. He answers on the fourth ring.

"Lev."

"Clint."

For a long moment, neither of us speak.

"Are you coming home?" He finally asks.

"Does she even remember me?"

"Her only daughter? Of course she does."

My cuticles are suddenly very interesting. "Do I have time?"

"Yeah. If you hurry. I'd give her maybe a week."

"Does she want to see me?"

He sighs then, and I feel a small twinge of guilt. "Yes, she's been asking for you, she doesn't understand why you left in the first place."

"You know why-"

"I know, and before the cancer started rotting her brain Mom knew too, but now she's asking..... Can I tell her you'll be here soon?"

Dammit. "Yeah. My manager owes me, I'll call in my vacation time; let me find a flight and I'll call you back with the details."

"Thanks, Lev."

"Sorry I wasn't there."

"Don't worry about it."

"Is he going to be there?"

Another sigh. "He's one of my best friends, of course he'll be around."

"I don't want to see him."

Clint is silent for so long, I wonder if the call dropped and glance at my screen to check.

"It's been five years, Lev. You're going to have to let it go."

"You know I can't."

"You don't know the whole story, and if you weren't so goddamn stubborn I could've told you it a long time ago."

"Clint, don't. Don't go all big brother on me."

"Six minutes older."

"Big whoop."

I hear mumbling in the background, Clint's reply is muffled. "Lev? I gotta go, Nat needs help with the baby. You still have to meet your niece, you little puke.”

“I’ll call you back.”

“Just leave a message if I don’t answer, sometimes it takes awhile to get Lou to sleep.”

“Alright.”

“Bye, you little shit.”

“Bye, ass-munch.”

My smile fades as the call ends. My Mom is dying, end stage cancer and, from the other side of the country, it’s been easy to avoid that hard truth. She always loved Clint more than me anyway, but that’s hardly an excuse. Now it’s time to face the music.

A few minutes noodling around on my laptop gets me a round-trip flight leaving tomorrow morning.

My call to my manager is short and saccharine sweet. I have the next three weeks off, with the option of taking another week; it definitely pays to hoard your vacation time.

My neighbor across the hall agrees to watch Grimshaw for me, and I pet his sleek black fur one last time before handing him over, earning a nip for my trouble. The former stray is smart, even for a cat and he knows what’s up. He never gets shuttled over to the neighbors unless I’m leaving for an extended period of time, and he makes sure I know he’s displeased.

It doesn’t take long to pack, and I’m yawning under the covers not long after. I’m stubbornly refusing to consider what’s going to happen once I get home, and what my chances are of running into him.

***************************************************************************************************************************************************** The flight doesn’t take nearly long enough, and far too soon I’m walking through arrivals, wondering if it would be uncouth to pop into the airport bar for a few shots of liquid courage.

“Hey stranger!”

The first real smile I’ve cracked all day appears as I turn to the speaker and am swept up into a bone-cracker of a bear hug, suddenly surrounded by familiar cologne and strong arms.

“Hi, Steve.”

“That’s all? Hi, Steve? Haven’t seen you for years and it’s ‘Hi, Steve?”

“Oh! Steven! My beating heart! I’ve missed you so!” I wail dramatically, pretending to swoon and falling against his broad chest, looking up into his amused face before reaching up and clutching at his cheeks, pinching them and pulling him down for a loud European style set of kisses. “Better?”

“A little.” He teases, slinging an arm over my shoulder and pulling me to his side. “Did Clint tell you I was picking you up?”

“No, he just said he wasn’t going to be able to and he’d see who he could find. I was thinking I’d probably get a cab.”

“Nah, baby girl. As soon as he said you were flying in I volunteered.” His arm tightens, pulling me closer and he plants a loud kiss to the top of my head. Out of all of Clint’s friends, Steve has always been the big brother, the big affectionate goof not ashamed to tell you he loved you, that always answered the phone, no matter the god-awful hour and was halfway out the door to pick you up before your drunken ass could even remember which party you were currently at.

He scrunches a handful of my hair. “What’s this? Channeling homeless 80’s hair-band?

“Shut up.” I slap his shoulder hard enough to hurt my hand, but of course it doesn’t faze the gorilla. “I had a hair appointment booked today, but I’m here.”

“You look like you did in school, last picture I saw, you had some sleek French model bob thing.”

I feel a twinge of guilt, that was almost a year ago. “Nah, it grew out. I’ve been up to my eyeballs in projects lately; my only regular date is my masseuse to try and loosen up these knots I get from bending over a drafting table all day.”

“Clint said you’re almost a partner?”

“Bro exaggerates.” I stop short, grinning widely at the vehicle Steve has led me to. “Nice wheels, Rogers.”

His grin back is equal parts pride and bashful. All through high school he’d talked about owning a vintage Porsche, and the black piece of art in front of me sure looked like one. “Got lucky and found the ad just as the guy posted it, it needed a little body work, but not much else. Got it reasonable enough, guy wanted room in his garage for his new toy.”

Stowing my bags in the front, trunk, I remind myself, he holds my door open like a gentleman then runs around the front, sliding into the driver’s side with his typical grace before turning the key and grinning widely at me. It was infectious and I can’t help but grin back, squeaking in surprise when he lays a few blackies screeching out of the parking lot.

“So how is work going?” Steve asks, downshifting, the hum of the engine immediately addicting.

“I’m a senior architect at the firm, but I doubt I’ll be partner anytime soon.”

“Why? You’re amazing, Bean. I saw what you’d draw in art class.”

“My personnel file calls it a ‘bellicose attitude’, I’m sure if I wasn’t the one bringing in 40% of the contracts myself, and if they hadn’t head-hunted me, I’d of been skidded months ago.”

“Why the attitude? Just do your thing, sweet; don’t pay attention to the peasants.”

I sigh, rubbing my forehead. “Half of the people there are just concerned with prestige; they just want to design the newest ‘in’ thing, not for the art of it, but the fame; I’m not an architect for the glory, I love architecture.”

“Come back home, there’s plenty of firms in Manhattan that would love to have you. Get out of Seattle before you’re completely disillusioned.”

“It’s not that simple.”

Steve rolls his eyes, fixing me with an affectionate exasperation. “You can’t do that forever, Bean. It’s been five years.”

“Do you and Clint compare notes?” I grumble, pointing out the windshield. “Stop at that Starbucks and I’ll buy you a Caramel Macchiato to shut up.”

Smirking, Steve pulls into the parking lot and kills the engine but before I can climb out he grabs my hand, stopping me. “It’s hard not to, you guys were perfect for each other. He’s spent the last five years kicking his own ass over it, and we miss you here, please just talk to the guy.”

“He slept with another girl, Steve. Or did you forget? Got her pregnant too.”

A dark emotion sweeps across Steve’s normally cheerful face. “That’s your side of it.”

“What other side is there?” Even as the words leave my mouth I feel a hot flash of shame. That had been part of the reason I’d left in the first place, to avoid this; to stop from breaking the gang up by demanding they choose sides.

“Are you happy?” He asks suddenly.

“What?”

“Working across the country, in a city where you have no family? Sure, you’re an architect, your dream; but this is the first time you’ve been home since Clint and Nat’s wedding.... four years ago, has your anger been worth that?”

Suddenly, I wasn’t sure anymore. The wave of nostalgia I’d been holding back hits me full force then and I have to look away, blinking back unexpected tears. Steve’s hand is warm over mine.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just.... just talk to him, Bean. Clear the air if nothing else. If you still feel the same way after then you can go back to Washington with a clear heart, but it’s obvious you’re not over him.” He cups my chin, turning my head to look at him and waits patiently until I raise my eyes. He smiles gently, grinning wider when I manage a wet smile back.

“Love you, Bean. I’ve missed you; we’ve all missed you.”

“Love you back, doofus. You want sprinkles?”

“You’re buying? Of course.” He pulls away, reclining into his seat with a groan and flaps his hand at me. “Hurry up, I’m thirsty.”

His Macchiato occupies him the rest of the way and I find myself staring out the window as we drive, finding less changes than I expected to the old neighbourhood. I was used to constant design and construction back in Seattle, this is exactly what I remember from high school.

“Nothing’s changed.” Steve beats me to the punch, slowing to a stop to let an old lady cross the road, carrying a reusable shopping bag. He sticks his head out the window. “You need any help, Mrs. Proctor?”

Her reply is muffled, but Amelia Proctor was ancient when I was young, and muttered back then too. I catch a ‘no, dear boy, but thank you’ then she’s past us, moving like creeping Jesus.

After he closes the window I grin. “Mrs. Proctor’s still around, huh?”

“Yep, and she’ll still chase you down with her cane if you cut across her flower garden. How many times did you do that?”

I can’t stop a giggle. “At least once a week, it was a game; she loved it.”

“You two were terrible; poor Mrs. Proctor, if it wasn’t you, it was him.”

He’s treading in dangerous waters again, and I look away.

I don’t look forwards again until he turns the car into the driveway, I’m staying at Mom’s while I’m here, same lapis blue exterior with white trim, same swing on the wrap-around porch. Clint’s car is parked in front of the garage doors. I glance down the street, his house is just a half-block down, brick-red with grey trim. He and Nat bought that house from the Foster’s right after they got married, would they stay there, or move into this house, our childhood home?

“There she is!” My door is yanked open and arms pull me out into a tight hug.

“Sam Wilson.”

“Lev Barton.” He lets me go only far enough to kiss my forehead then yanks me back again, finally releasing me with a loud sigh. “You look good baby girl, except for that hair.” He cuts a glance at Steve and I wonder briefly if Rogers texted him to have that line ready.

“Shut up.”

His laugh is infectious and he slings his arm around my neck, pulling me close and almost off my feet. “I’m kidding, you look like you did in high school, it looks good.”

He’s the second person to say that, first Steve and now Sam; I hadn’t really had time to think about it these last few months, who else is going to wax nostalgic on me?

“Baby sister!” I hear the familiar voice and duck out from Sam’s arm just in time to be swept up by Clint. It takes my breath away just how tightly he grabs me and I feel a rush of fresh shame; what kind of sister have I been, letting him deal with all this himself?

“I’m sorry.” I murmur in his ear and he knows immediately what I’m talking about.

“It’s okay, Mom’s always been hardest on you, I understood why you’ve stayed away.” He turned his head and pressed a kiss to my hair. “I’m just happy you’re here now.” He steps back, glancing over his shoulder, his face splitting into a huge grin as Nat appears, a pink blanket wrapped bundle in her arms. My sister-in-law and childhood friend steps closer, looking every inch a glowing new mom. She tilts the bundle so I can see and I feel my heart immediately burst.

“Ohhhh.... guys, she’s adorable.” I find myself cooing, making ‘gimme’ fingers. Carefully my new niece is placed in my arms and I’m completely suckered.

She’s got Clint’s blond hair and Nat’s nose, fist curled against her downy-soft cheek. She’s already a few months old but she still looks like a tiny doll to me.

“She’s so little.”

Clint wraps his arm around my shoulders again, looking down at his daughter. “Yeah, she’s just a little shit,” he grins, sidestepping Nat’s playful smack.

“Is Jax still around? I’m getting her name tattooed on my wrist.” It’s a split second decision, but that’s how I roll.

“Yeah, he’s still downtown.” Clint answers, shaking his head. We may be twins, but we’ve never been alike. Clint’s got Mom’s hair and eyes, while I’m darker, like Dad. Clint treats his body like a temple, whereas I’ve closing in on an even dozen tattoos. Clint’s never had so much as an earring, while I’ve had a whole gamut of piercings, up to and including one only my infrequent boyfriends have ever seen. “Can you see Mom though before you run off defacing yourself further?”

My mood stutters a bit as I’m reminded why I’m here in the first place and Clint sobers as well, pressing a kiss to my forehead in apology before stepping away. Nat takes his place and smiles as her new daughter stirs and blows a few bubbles in her sleep. I just grin like a damn fool down at her for a few minutes, breathing soft-baby smell and sighing.

“Eloise Arabella Barton.” I grin.

“You’re not tattooing all that, are you?” Nat sounds doubtful.

“No, just ‘Lou’, it’s almost as cute as her.”

Clint reappears, face sombre. “I just called the hospice. Mom’s having a good day, did you want to go?”

I gently hand Lou back and take a deep breath. “Just let me put my bag in my room, then yeah.” I glance over at Steve and Sam, standing nearby. “You guys?”

Sam shakes his head. “I gotta run, Wanda’s on bedrest. You have to come by and see her, Bean.”

“How much longer does she have?”

“Five weeks. And she hates every minute of it. First pregnancy was fine, now the second one is dragging her down.”

“Must be a boy, then.”

“Ha Ha. Text me later Bean, before Wanda opens the bedroom window and starts screaming your name.”

“I will.”

Sam turns and starts jogging away; he, Wanda and their adorable daughter Zoë live the next street over.

“Steve?”

He shakes his head. “I have to run by the site, check out the new crew.”

I nod, trying to hide my disappointment. Steve would have been a good buffer between me and my Mom, now I’m going in alone. “Business going good?” I feel bad for not asking sooner about Steve’s construction company.

“Yeah, it’s good.” He seems reluctant to answer, “Buck handles most of the grunt work now, I handle the clients end of it.”

I nod. Steve always was the most even-tempered of us all, the one who easily made and kept friends, the ‘never met a stranger’ guy. His business partner, the man I’d avoided for five long years, was a whole other story.

He leans forward suddenly, presses a quick kiss to my forehead. “Say hi to your Mom for me and I’ll see you tonight.”

“What’s tonight?”

“Didn’t Clint tell you? He’s having a barbecue to welcome you back.”

“What?”

“It was a surprise, you big dummy.” Clint deadpans behind me. “If Bean knew about it, she’d catch the first flight back to Seattle.”

My immediate flash of panic is quickly overwhelmed by the thought of seeing all the old neighborhood again. Surely it’ll be big and busy enough that even if he does show up, I can avoid him.

Steve shrugs in a ‘sorry, not sorry’ way and turns away, calling goodbye over his shoulder before roaring off.

“Dick.” Clint shakes his head, grinning. “C’mon. Nat’s feeding Lou; hop in the car and we’ll go see Mom.”

I never did get to put my bags inside, so I set them just inside the porch and walk over to Clint’s vehicle.

“You need a minivan now, Dad.” I tease.

“Nah,” he replies easily, buckling his seat-belt and gesturing into the backseat. “This is the ultimate in soccer-mom SUV chic, minivans are so last season.”

We fall silent as we get closer to the hospice and I find myself picking at a small mark on my jeans. The shaking in my knees gets worse as I follow Clint inside the building, smiling dutifully as I’m introduced to the receptionist, then follow my brother down a maze of hallways. He knows the way and if I wasn’t about to have a panic attack, I’d be able to focus more on how downright beautiful and peaceful it is here. Soft lights and music, green spaces and small waterfalls, it’s a nice place, considering you only come here if you’re going to die. Dad’s estate has been footing the bill for here, and I can see now why it costs so much.

He stops in front of a room and holds up a hand. “Wait here.” He instructs before disappearing inside. I fidget and wait, pulling at my poor cuticles a little more before he reappears. “C’mon.”

I follow, swallowing hard but I’m still not prepared for the sight that awaits me. Always fashionably lean, Mom is positively gaunt now, her hair thin and colorless, a far cry from the perfect weekly blow-outs she always had. Dad had been a successful business man up to his surprise death from a heart attack when Clint and I were sixteen, and Mom had always been the polished, glamorous wife, doting on her favored son and tolerating her free-spirited daughter. Spare with her compliments and sharp with her judgements, her and I had never really gotten on. She’d been smart though, learning the business quietly from Dad, taking over when he died and selling it for an embarrassing profit a year later, she’d ensured herself a comfortable life, and now, a comfortable death. I knew there were trust funds set up for Clint and I, but I’d never looked into mine, preferring to make my own money.

Her eyes, bleary with heavy painkillers, nonetheless lock onto me like a missile.

“Levka.”

I’ve never gone by my full name. Supposedly, when we were born, Dad got to name Clint, and called him Clinton Edward after some childhood friend that died young, while Mom got to name me. She had a degree in Russian Literature that she’d never to my knowledge used, other than bestowing me with my incongruous handle; Levka Valentina Barton.

She reaches for my hand, breaking me out of my thoughts and I give it before I can think twice. Her grip is weaker, but still stronger than most men. I sit in the chair Clint pushes forward for me and try to think of what to say.

“Mom, I-”

“Don’t, Levka.” Her voice is surprisingly strong. “You and I have never been ones for idle chitchat, at least not with each other.”

I shift guiltily on my chair, wondering if I’m about to get my proverbial ass handed to me by a woman with no fucks left to give.

“I wanted to see you before I go,” she continues, as matter of fact as if she’s leaving for a weekend at the spa. “I’ve always been proud of you, Levka; even when I didn’t show it.”

I nearly fall off my chair in shock. Mom has never, ever told me she was proud of me.

“You are as strong as your name, and you have always been strong in your convictions. Perhaps that’s why we’ve never gotten along, but I’ve always admired how you make your own way. I want my grand-daughter to have strong role models in her life, to grow up knowing independent women like you and her mother; therefore, I’m leaving you my house-”

I glance in shock at Clint, but he doesn’t look surprised.

“-and I hope you will move back home and help raise Lou, help mold her into a eloquent and respected young lady.”

I’m gasping like a fish out of water and Clint steps closer, resting his hand on my shoulder.

“I hope you’ll forgive me, Levka; for not being the best mother to you. I want to be able to see your father again and tell him we are okay.”

Okay, now I’m crying. I feel Clint’s hands on my shoulders and for the longest time, I can only hold Mom’s hand against my cheek as I try to form words. That’s all I’ve wanted, all my life from this woman, acceptance. “Yes Mom; of course.” I manage tearfully a few minutes later.

Almost immediately Mom nods and closes her eyes, sighing peacefully and for a micro-second I panic, thinking she’s gone ahead and died, but Clint leans forward over me, gently disentangles our hands and presses a kiss to the top of my head.

“She does that,” he explains quietly. “Falls asleep really easily. The painkillers. She’ll be out for hours.” He pulls gently at me. “C’mon, Bean.”

I let him pull me to my feet, let him lead me outside like a child and, when we reach his vehicle, I break down completely, and cry like a baby on his shoulder.

Later, on our way home, I’m better, lighter than I’ve felt in years, and unable to stop grinning like an idiot.

“I should have come home sooner.”

“Nah,” Clint’s smile is bittersweet. “Up until last week she still would have torn you apart; that’s how I knew it was time, she finally wanted to make amends.”

“I’m sorry about the house, I’ll put you on the deed too-”

“Don’t worry about it, Bean. I have my home, just do what she wants and move back, please?”

I chew my bottom lip, I can’t answer that right now. I have a life in Seattle; okay, it revolves around work and a small group of acquaintances, but it’s still my life. If I moved back I’d be settling right back into my old life, my old friends... there would be no way in hell I’d be able to continue to avoid my past. But Mom’s words echo through my head, and it’s her fucking dying wish. After my entire life wanting the woman’s approval and love, I’d do damn near anything now that I had it.

“I have to think about it.”

Clint nods, dropping the subject. After a few more minutes he pulls into the local grocery store parking lot. “Well,” he grins, reaching across me and grabbing his wallet from the glove box. “Now that Steve’s let the cat out of the bag, come help me grab supplies for the barbecue, I have no idea what hipsters from Seattle like to eat.”

“Ha Ha,” I grumble, but follow him anyway.

By that evening there’s paper lanterns strung across the backyard and a few dozen people are milling around, grazing at the snack bowls and standing in loose groups, drinking and talking. I recognize most of them, went to school with half of them, and am being dragged around by either Clint or Steve, depending on who’s manning the grill at the time, being introduced to the rest. Nat and Lou are surrounded by cooing women and Wanda is reclining in an outdoor chaise lounge, Sam waiting on her hand and foot, to my endless amusement.

I’m actually feeling quite relaxed, my second Dirty Corona going down way too easily and thoughts that this could be my new normal flitting casually through my head when it all comes crashing down.

“Levi.”

There’s only one person who calls me that, pronouncing it like ‘when the levee breaks’ and there’s only one person whose voice gives me chills, even after all these years. I take a deep breath, steeling myself and turn around.

“Bucky.”

#bucky barnes #au bucky barnes #sebastian stan #avengers #bucky and nika #bucky and lev

[ratfarm]

What can I say about finally seeing Iron Maiden? It was a dream come true and was SPECTACULAR! They sounded absolutely perfect in person and the energy of every band member was totally nuts! These guys are such masters of their craft, they stand up great on their music alone and their stage presence is the icing on cake. It was truly awe inspiring. The theatrics were over the top and included changing backdrops, huge blow up figures, costume changes, big hot flames shooting out of the stage that we could feel from our seats, and a battle with a giant Eddie the concluded with him getting his heart ripped out and thrown into the crowd. Bruce has the best stage presence and energy I've ever seen, his operatic vocals soared immaculately as he raced about, giving life to their concept album set in a steamy jungle with the other band members also on the move and interacting. There were big screens on either side of the stage that alternated live scenes of what was happening and graphics.

Our seats were to the left of the stage, alarmingly advertised as "Obstructed View" but we honestly couldn't have seen things better without being in the front rows and the floor was quickly sold out and not practical with a five year old anyways, even if we've done the floor at small shows. My back appreciated the break and he enjoyed being able to sit or stand on his seat. We could see EVERYTHING and it was awesome! The tickets drained our entire concert budget for the year for around $300 total but it was still a pittance compared to the Black Sabbath reunion I passed on (nearly a grand for shit seats for the three of us). Iron Maiden is definitely one of the biggest metal bands ever and it goes to show that they don't need or want to jerk their fans around with insane ticket prices. It's always a pleasure to support a uniquely talented and likable act, too. Iron Maiden remains a band for the people, extolling acceptance and brotherhood and Bruce Dickinson is curious fellow as rather than ride the waves of fame and excess in the typical Rock & Roll fashion, he used his resources to pursue education and expansive pursuits and styled himself into a modern day Renaissance Man or polymath. Bruce is a entrepreneur, brewer, writer, commercial airplane pilot, Olympic level fencer (inspired after a night of drinking that bummed him out and made him rethink life), and besides putting an insane shows while also flying the TOUR plane, he's also done various humanitarian missions and is helping develop some sort of crazy super plane that can stay in the sky for weeks at a time and deliver entire hospitals worth of aid to impoverished places! He didn't get hard into drugs and his new autobiography isn't mean to anyone or exploitative to his family. Bruce is a class act.

The set was focused on the current album and with such a big library to choose from I didn't hear my personal oddball favourites, but honestly that was okay. It was such treat to see the old ones dusted off that they did perform and hear the new stuff from Book of Souls that I'm glad Maiden doesn't fall into the habit of playing the same predictable lists that big acts always seem to get stuck on. Honestly, Iron Maiden is a band of such consistent quality and expansive catalogue that it's hard to narrow down "the hits" to a single performance and there's no songs of theirs I dislike. This translates to fresh sets which each tour being a wholly unique experience. It was such a great show and very long! Near the end Bruce gave a heartwarming speech about how it doesn't matter where you are from or who you love that we are all Blood Brothers before launching to the song by the same name. A very happy experience and I was glad to be able to share it with my family.

Setlist: [Doctor Doctor - UFO song] If Eternity Should Fail Speed of Light Wrathchild Children of the Damned Death or Glory The Red and the Black The Trooper Powerslave The Great Unknown The Book of Souls Fear of the Dark Iron Maiden Encore: The Number of the Beast Blood Brothers Wasted Years [Bright Side of Life - Monty Python]

Iron Maiden with Ghost (see previous post) at eXcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN, The Book of Souls World Tour.

June 16, 2017.

#Iron maiden #book of souls #book of souls tour #heavy metal #rat farm #adventures off the homestead #Minnesota #st. Paul #Minneapolis #twin cities #Bruce Dickinson #metalheads #permissive parenting #gentle parenting #unschool #metal kids #family outtings #adventures

[cutegirlmayra]

The way you portrayed Amy's father in your chaos kingdom AU was just precious ~

No, it makes sense… -scratches head and looks away- I actually um… there’s a fanfiction I’m going to do with Amy’s backstory, there’s two different backstories I have for her, but the one I’m thinking about is her Father who doesn’t approve of Sonic.

That’s not quite what you wanted though, so I think I’ll pass on that story and just do what you’ve given :)

So, in otherwords, this prompt has nothing to do with what I’m planning to do later with the two backstories, lol!

Prompt:

Amy, before Sonic, lived in a rather wealthy home. However, being the only girl, she was trained rigorously to one day marry and bear strong, intellectual sons.

Now, with being raised like that, you’d think Amy would- well, for one, hate marriage and kids, and two, scorn her life and be a rough-and-tough girl.

But she actually was very kind, gentle, and meek. She would do everything in her power to not let her anger slip, and her memories of her mother’s soft nature always inspired her to be a good house-wife, have kids of her own, but be sure to-

Now this was a big thing to her.

“Marry who I choose!” Amy stomped her foot down, as her father rotated in his chair, loomed up over her, and placed his hands behind his back.

“What?” he almost spat out.

She feared disappointing her father, and often made him, at least… somewhat pleased with her progress, but there was a moment she realized he’d never be happy with her, and so this was the day she was putting her own foot down.

“I refuse to marry someone i don’t lwove.” in her cute little girl voice, she tried to close her eyes confidently, place her hands on her hips, and stand up straight.

She felt a rush of wind and guarded with her hammer, seeing his hand had almost connected into a deadly assault.

Her eyes teared up, as she looked up at him.

“Lwove? Heh.” he removed his hand, “Excellent block, but poor footing. You think you could ever find a man who’d take you alone? Without a dowry? Without any amount of grace, pristine, or class?” he walked around her, as she felt her self-confidence in herself slowly decrease into a pebble on the sand.

“Please… As my only daughter, you will inherit nothing. I need a man whose willing to put up with you to run my business and give me and my clients a good future! You will continue your training… but you will do it under my watchful eye, my guiding assistance, and under no circumstances can you even dare have a say in these affairs! Is that clear?”

Amy squinted her eyes shut, her fists forming tight balls as she tried to not cry in front of him.

“But-”

His leg came up this time but she skillfully flipped back to dodge it, “IT’S MY LIFE!” she raised her voice, before taking off and shoving the door open, racing down the hall and jumping to her bed, hugging her stuffed toy of Sonic, her one true hero.

“Why can’t he save me!?” she cried out, pulling the stuffed toy away from her, “Why can’t you save me..”

“I’ll have to save myself!” she got up, wiping her tears, and holding Sonic out in front of her. “I’ll have to run away.”

Taking off in the dead of night, Amy ran till she met some traveling gypsies, some were friendly… some…

Were not.

“How much do you think they’d take for a little girl?”

“Oh, she’s a cute one! Definitely a good pint of gold!”

“You nit-wit, don’t count your money like your drinks!”

The men laughed, as Amy shivered, afraid, not used to battling anyone that wasn’t trained to let her win.

She remembered the words of her father, and wondered if all she was good for in this world was simply just money…

The world seemed to rotate on money… but then.

“Snakes and slithering beasts have better tastes than you three!” A woman, hobbling with a long purple, decorative cloak on came out, her nose long but the only thing that revealed the woman could have a face.

Her hair was also seen, completely covering whatever the hoody didn’t cover, as her long nails reached out to the girl, then swiped them away and turned to the men. “I’ll raise her as my assistant. I need a good cleaner…” she grabbed her by the arm and dragged her over to her hut, up on top of a wagon.

Amy was treated kindly, and even learned a lot from the fortune teller, who read her many beautiful things about her future.

“…That doll you have there… where have I seen that face before?”

Amy held up her doll of Sonic, though it was barely being held together anymore. “He’s my hero.”

“A hero..? Hmm…” She took the doll.

“Hey!”

“Now, now… don’t you want a love spell?” she held up a finger, offering her a great deal. “I do know voodoo, you know…heh-heh…”

“No!”

She was amazed by her response, raising her hunch up to show how long her neck actually went. “No? What kind of ungrateful child says no to a perfect love spell!?”

“The kind that… that believes she can have a man fall in love with her without one!” she wasn’t certain of that, but she pulled the doll back into her arms, and said it with only a little restraint.

She hugged the doll close, as the woman seemed to be fond of what she had said.

“Child.. then I shall put a spell… on you.” she rotated her hand over her crystal ball and poured some magic potion over it. “Hobble-de-gobble. Meser-Heser-luu… You shall be irresistible to all eyes, and all eyes… be on you!” she blew some smoke into Amy’s eyes, as she waved it away.

“There… now when you fall in love, the man will be crazy not to love you too!” she laughed, “But it will be his choice, nonetheless, whether he resists the enchantment or not.” she leaned back, shrugging and turning her head away, showing she was still going to give Amy her wish.

And respect it.

Amy nodded, smiling, before taking the tarot cards the woman offered her and heading to the tarp’s flaps, where the exit was.

“And where are you going?” the woman sounded like she genuinely was surprised to see the girl attempting to leave. “There is a world of strife, painful longings, and great sacrifices out there!” she clung to her chest, to show more effect in her words as she described it.

“But like you said,” Amy grinned, finding courage. “If I want to fall in love, I can! But I can’t do that with traveling gyspies!” Amy jumped off the racketing, moving wagon.

“You’d have better luck traveling around and meeting many fine men…” the woman hacked a raspy laugh, but nodded that the girl was smart in leaving. “Fair thee well. Let weather be clear, and skies obey my chant. Birds flutter, let her soar. Lizards crawl, but let her stand. May the wind cease it’s harsh cold and turn warm upon her shoulders. And for all the glories of the flowers, let her petals never loose their vibrant glow. Ha-choo!” she sneezed on the end, and rubbed her long nose. “Eh, whatever. She’ll be fine. Not like she actually believed any of my hocus pocus, heh-heh-heh.” she laughed.

Amy, completely believing in the hocus pocus, ran under a tree and performed the ‘magic’ tarot card selection.

As if the fates had her in their sights, the wind blew at just the right time, and the only card flipped over was the one she wasn’t going to reach for…

it said.. Destined.

Leaving the doll behind with the tarot cards, she climbed the chains to the Little Planet, where the public television had stated Sonic and Eggman were at.

She hit away scary robots, though was thankful they were small enough that she felt she could, and finally met up with her hero.

Years later, she took a deep breath in front of the doors of her father’s now ruined business.

After tracing her steps, hugging her old fortune teller friend’s granddaughter, and pacing her way back home, she never thought she actually do it.

She had run away from her friends, just to confront her past.

After seeing Tails do it, she thought she might as well try.

She knocked on the doors.

The echo showed the truly hopeless state in which he was probably living.

She opened the door, “Hello?” she was grown now, the house looked smaller than she remembered.

Not hearing any servants and seeing the furniture all laid with white tarps, she figured he may have left or even died.

Mourning a bit as she walked around the old home, painful memories of a terrible childhood, forced with torturous training of both body and mind, she rubbed her arm to try and keep her brave.

She came to her room, seeing the childish toys and getting excited over long-lost doll friends being seen again at last.

Then the door slammed.

She turned around to see an elderly man, leaning on a cane, still covered in the same darkness from a pitch-black suit as he had always been.

“F…Father?” Amy stepped back, as the man drew closer, and raised a cane up.

“YOU…DARE COME BACK-!?” he threw his cane down as she rolled to dodge.

She gasped, seeing the bed break as he turned around, stumbling on his feet.

“I’m a… a…” she had rehearsed this meeting a thousand times in her head,… but somehow, she hoped it would be different.

She stood up tall, taking in a big, dusty breath and stomping her foot down, mimicking the day she ran away.

“I’m not a child anymore! I’m a hero now! I save lives, planets even! I fell in love and I made a future for myself! Are you still not proud of me?!” she knew the answer, “Because… Because I don’t care!” she started to cry, tearing up.

He growled, and raged a powerful cry as he ran to attack her.

She ran out of the room and ducked her head as he broke the railing of the upper stair case, and she had to quickly dash down the stairs as he chased her.

“You think I care about glory or fame!? I care about how you left me ruined! Penniless without a proper heir! I lost everything! Everything!”

“Even me?” She turned around, as he held his cane in the air but didn’t move.

“You lost me. Or was that only second to losing your company?!” she waited, moving from foot to foot…

He shook his head around rapidly, and slammed his cane down.

She flipped back, just like she remembered how to do, and then took her hammer and slammed it up at his face, knocking him down.

Her anger filled her, but her tears of sorrow at never having the family she originally longed for pained her spirit as she stepped back.

“No… this isn’t right.” she shook her head, “I’m not the monster you breed me to be.” She threw her hammer down and away from her, as his raging eyes caught it, and then turned back to her.

“I am… not your daughter. I’m mother’s daughter.” she stated with pride, and held her head up.

His eyes widened, seeing her mother in her…

“…You… You’re just as…” he was about to say something that could change everything, but shook himself out of it, “RAHH!! You’re just as small-visioned as your mother!!!”

She stepped aside, as he ran himself off the staircase.

“…I’m irresistible.. if you’d only had let yourself give in to your better nature.” she turned her head, but dared not look down into the darkness where he laid.

She walked over and picked her hammer up, before collapsing to her knees and crying profusely, covering her face as she did so.

As if on cue, a shadow loomed over her.

She looked up as a cane was raised high, but a spinning noise came and a blue blur knocked the cane out of his hand, having him reel back from the force.

“Ah! Sonic!”

Sonic unspun, and turned to the man, kicking him down by his legs and forcing him to fall on his face.

“Run.” Sonic looked seriously to her, as she nodded and got up, racing to the door.

The man looked up, glaring at Sonic, as he slowly turned, hearing the man’s words.

“She’s nothing without her past…”

Sonic slowly leaned over the man, before shoving his hand to his head, and leaning closer in.

“She’s everything without you.”

The man’s eyes widened, shaking in their rage and realization.

“…I know you’re kind.” Sonic’s eyes were covered in shadows, his voice deadly to the sound.

“And I’m surprised she even came back to try and make amends.”

He let go of his head, seeing the man wasn’t going to try anything, and walked to Amy.

Outside the door, Amy grew furious with Sonic.

“Why did you follow me!?”

“…” he just stared at her, and folded his arms.

“WHY!?”

“You were there with my mother. Now.. I’m here with your father.” (referencing an old prompt lol x)

She stepped back, deeply touched before running into his arms, crying.

“I don’t want to be like him! I don’t! I don’t!”

“…Then don’t.” Sonic let her cry, but didn’t hold her back.

This was a war she had to fight within herself, and he couldn’t interfere.

When they got back, the team wondered what was wrong with her for a while, but she stayed silent about it, merely saying, “I am the last Rose, but I will not fall.” And that was that.

(Dark, not what I like writing at all, but I based it off of what you wanted and I hope you like it.)

#sonic #amy rose #sonamy #ish? #eh? #sonamy prompt #sonic prompt

[makayla-angelic]

Happy Black History month!

This lovely lady is Josephine Baker. She was born Freda Josephine Mcdonald on June 3, 1906, in St. Louis Missouri. Her mother, Carrie Mcdonald was a washerwoman who loved to dance and the identity of her father is said to be unknown, although some people claim it was one of Carrie's boyfriends, Eddie Carson, but Josephine knew better. Josephine's grandmother, Elvira, was a slave when she was a little girl, and told stories of that life to Josephine when she was little. One year after Josephine was born, Carrie gave birth to Josephine's brother, Richard, but the man Carrie was with she did not marry, and Carrie did not change her errant ways. It was said that while growing up, Josephine felt that her mother hated her, because of her lighter skin and the look alike's of her father. Her brother, who was much darker, seemed to be the welcome one. Eight months after Richard was born, Carrie finally settled down and married a tall, burly man named Arthur Martin. They had two children together, Margaret on December 23, and Willie Mae on July 18, 1910. The family struggled to survive on Gatriot street, and all of the children slept on a bed-bug ridden mattress with their parents. Sometimes Josephine and her brother Richard would wake up at five in the morning and go down and pick up fallen fruits and vegetables and make money off of it. They would even climb on top of trains and throw bits of coal down, or knock on the doors of rich white people's houses to do household chores.

When Josephine turned seven, her mother sent her to work as a live in maid to a woman named Mrs. Kaiser. But Mrs. Kaiser was mean and cruel to Josephine, and one day burned Josephine's hands in boiling hot water after Josephine left it boiling too long on the stove. Even while growing up in these poor, hard times, Josephine still found fun dancing at Booker T. Theater and playing in the streets and dancing to music. She played hookey from school and stayed out late at night. When she was eleven she witnessed something she would never forget for the rest of her life. The race riots of St. Louis in 1917, caused fear, hurt, and death among people. Buildings were burned down, people were shot and killed, and Josephine saw it all happen with her own two eyes. Then, on December 22, 1919, when Josephine was only 13 years old, she got married to Willie Wells. But the marriage only lasted for a few months, and ended when the couple got into an argument and Josephine smashed Willie over the head with a beer bottle. Once the marriage was over, Josephine went out looking for work, and she continued dancing. Then in 1921, when she was 15, she got married for a second time, to a man named Willie Baker. Josephine took the last name Baker, and kept it for the rest of her life, even long after the marriage was over. A couple months after they married, Josephine found herself with a role in the famous black Broadway performance called "Shuffle Along" by Eubie Blake. She got her own comedy dance act, and made the audience laugh. The other girls were jealous of Josephine, claimed she was stealing the show, and looked down at her because she had darker skin than they were. A few years passed, after Shuffle Along, came the Dixie Steppers, and then The Chocolate Dandies.

In 1925, when she was 19, her life changed forever. A woman by the name of Caroline Reagan from France came to St. Louis looking for people to star in her all black revue called La Revue Negre. She liked Josephine and decided to choose her for the lead role. But Josephine was nervous about leaving the country, and decided against it. But after some reassuring, and the raising of her salary, Josephine caved in and decided to go. It would be a new and exciting experience. On September 22, 1925, Josephine, along with the other chosen cast of La Revue Negre arrived in Paris, France. There, they began to enjoy the life of being free and not worrying about segregation, for in France, everyone was equal, there was no such thing as segregation. Then they began to rehearse for the show. The revue was alright, but something was missing. They needed something erotic, something to appeal to a French audience, and one of the producers suggested that Josephine perform naked except for a few feathers around her waist. Josephine, shocked and appalled by the idea, said no and ran away crying. But as time passed, she got used to the idea. Did she really want to go back to America doing five shows a night every week, sleeping in small cramped, segregated hotels, and going back to the life of being a washerwoman? So Josephine pulled herself together and decided to go along with it. On October 2, 1925, La Revue Negre opened at 9PM. The La Danse de Sauvage was the highlight of the show, in which Josephine was carried out on the back of Joe Alex, both were half-naked except for a few feathers around the waist. When the erotic, sensual, dance was over, Josephine left the stage with a mixture of cheering and boo's surrounding her. For days after the performance, Josephine would not stop being the talk of the town! Her name and picture appeared in newspapers, and secret admirers brought her expensive clothes, jewelry, and even animals. She even bought a tiger named Chiquita, even though he was male, and he wore a diamond studded collar. For many months Josephine lived the life of a star, and basked in the glory of her fame and richness. She began to learn how to speak French. In 1926, she performed in the Folies Bergere. This time, she wore nothing but a simple skirt of fake banana's around her waist. This new and exotic banana dance boosted Josephine's popularity, and made her success spread worldwide. Josephine met an Italian count named Count Pepito Abatino, and helped Josephine become a "proper lady" so to say, and how to dance ballet, and to control and perfect her singing voice, and her French speaking.

Between 1926-1928, Josephine performed, sang, and trained. She signed a movie contract, and stared in her first movie, La Sirene Des Tropiques. Then she married Pepito and became a countess. In 1928, Josephine and Pepito left France to go on a tour to other countries. There, it was mixed reviews. Berlin, Germany, Romania, Moscow and so on. Riots broke out over Josephine, some called her the "black devil" and in Vienna she was declared a witch. After having a tour full of mixed reviews, Josephine and Pepito returned to France, where Josephine spent the next couple of years trying to transform her career. In 1935, she returned to America to star in the Zigfield Follies in New York. She was greeted by her family and friends, both black and white. But back in America, Josephine saw how badly things had gotten in America, segregation, and racial tension was worse than ever. For starters, the hotel Josephine and Pepito checked in, Josephine was not allowed to enter through the lobby, because it was segregated and people might get upset that their were blacks staying there. Josephine and Pepito could not eat together in the dining room, but Pepito by himself could use it. When Josephine performed the show on January 30th, it was a heartbreaking blow for her. People got up and walked out during the performance, reporters called her a "Negro bed wench" and saying "How did a washer woman's daughter become like this?" And even another performer saying "Her dancing is the pain of an artist, and her voice is just a squeak in the dark" Josephine took her anger out on Pepito, blaming him on all that happened, and the couple split up, Pepito going back to Paris, where he died of cancer. Josephine returned to Paris on in May of 1936, where she bought a mansion, and continued on her career as normal. In 1937, Josephine met Jean Lion, and in November, they married. But the marriage only lasted 14 months, and they split due to complications of the hectic life of Josephine's career. In 1939, when WW2 began, Josephine went to war, where she became a Harlem of the Resistance, a spy and helped carry information over to find out what the German's were planning. She fell ill with an infection in Saudi Arabia, and she was forced to have an emergency removal of her reproductive organs. There went her chances of ever having children. She spent the next year and a half recovering in the hospital, and having surgery to remove excess scar tissue. She returned to Paris after her recovery and continued her career. She received a medal of honor.

in 1947, she married a band leader named Jo Boullion and they bought a chateau in southern France. They continued their career, travelling across America and breaking the color bar down south. Physically and mentally, things seemed ok, but financially, it was hard. in the 1950's, Josephine began to adopt children of all races, 14 in total. She called them her "Rainbow Tribe" Josephine was determined to prove to the world that all races were equal. Years passed, and Josephine's career collapsed, Jo gave up his band to help Josephine take care of the children. But all of it became too much, and in 1957, they split up. Josephine was on her own with the children and Les Milandes, and she was struggling to keep that as well. Eventually, Josephine sent her children away to stay with her family that moved to France, so Josephine could stay behind and help clean up damage after she lost the house. In 1968, Josephine lost Les Milandes, and Princess Grace came to the rescue and gave Josephine and her children a mansion to stay in.  Throughout the rest of the 1960's and early 1970's Josephine lived a quiet life, doing little shows here and there. She wasn't as famous as she was anymore, and she was getting old. In 1974, she decided to come together with producers and make a play production of her life. It was a plan to make three million dollars. The production was a huge success, and for a while, it was the 1920's Josephine Baker all over again.

On April 12, 1975, Josephine Baker died at the age of 68. She had suffered a brain hemmorage. Her casket was open for all to see. She received full French military honors and her funeral was the occasion on a huge procession. Josephine was a woman who broke barriers, saved lives, and entertained. She had a heart full of gold, as well on her body. She paved a way for those who desire to reach the stars, black, white, Hispanic, etc. She was Josephine Baker.

If you want to read the full explicit story on the life of Josephine Baker, I suggest you buy and read Josephine: The Hungry Heart by Jean-Claude Baker, one of her adoptive children. Really juicy and shocking information in that book, and over 400 pages of it too!

#Josephine baker #black history #black girl magic #20th century #entertainers

[dailyofficereadings]

Daily Office Readings February 04, 2020 at 11:00PM

Psalm 72

Psalm 72

Prayer for Guidance and Support for the King

Of Solomon.

1 Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son. 2 May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. 3 May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness. 4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.

5 May he live[a] while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations. 6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. 7 In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.

8 May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. 9 May his foes[b] bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust. 10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. 11 May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.

12 For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. 13 He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. 14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.

15 Long may he live! May gold of Sheba be given to him. May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all day long. 16 May there be abundance of grain in the land; may it wave on the tops of the mountains; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field. 17 May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun. May all nations be blessed in him;[c] may they pronounce him happy.

18 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. 19 Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.

20 The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.

Footnotes:

Psalm 72:5 Gk: Heb may they fear you

Psalm 72:9 Cn: Heb those who live in the wilderness

Psalm 72:17 Or bless themselves by him

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalm 119:73-96

73 Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. 74 Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word. 75 I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness you have humbled me. 76 Let your steadfast love become my comfort according to your promise to your servant. 77 Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight. 78 Let the arrogant be put to shame, because they have subverted me with guile; as for me, I will meditate on your precepts. 79 Let those who fear you turn to me, so that they may know your decrees. 80 May my heart be blameless in your statutes, so that I may not be put to shame.

81 My soul languishes for your salvation; I hope in your word. 82 My eyes fail with watching for your promise; I ask, “When will you comfort me?” 83 For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes. 84 How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me? 85 The arrogant have dug pitfalls for me; they flout your law. 86 All your commandments are enduring; I am persecuted without cause; help me! 87 They have almost made an end of me on earth; but I have not forsaken your precepts. 88 In your steadfast love spare my life, so that I may keep the decrees of your mouth.

89 The Lord exists forever; your word is firmly fixed in heaven. 90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. 91 By your appointment they stand today, for all things are your servants. 92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my misery. 93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. 94 I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts. 95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your decrees. 96 I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 22:1-18

The Command to Sacrifice Isaac

22 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill[a] his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”;[b] as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”[c]

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18 and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Footnotes:

Genesis 22:10 Or to slaughter

Genesis 22:14 Or will see; Heb traditionally transliterated Jehovah Jireh

Genesis 22:14 Or he shall be seen

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Hebrews 11:23-31

The Faith of Moses

23 By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.[a] 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered abuse suffered for the Christ[b] to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger; for he persevered as though[c] he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.[d]

The Faith of Other Israelite Heroes

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient,[e] because she had received the spies in peace.

Footnotes:

Hebrews 11:23 Other ancient authorities add By faith Moses, when he was grown up, killed the Egyptian, because he observed the humiliation of his people (Gk brothers)

Hebrews 11:26 Or the Messiah

Hebrews 11:27 Or because

Hebrews 11:28 Gk would not touch them

Hebrews 11:31 Or unbelieving

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

John 6:52-59

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

#February 04 #2020 at 11:00PM

[michaelfallcon]

World Barista Champion Coach Federico Bolanos: The Sprudge Interview

Contrary to how it may appear, barista competitions are a team sport. While the competitor is the only person to take the stage for that fateful 15 minutes, they do so representing not just themselves but often a group of people that helped shape their run; baristas are, in short, the tip of the spear.

Even in the niche world of coffee competition, one that creates very big fish in a small, somewhat obscure pond, coaches remain relatively unknown. Save for a handful of World Barista Championship winners like Hidenori Izaki, Sasa Sestic, and Pete Licata, who made names for themselves on the grandest of coffee stages and used that momentum to kickstart a successful post-WBC career, coffee competition coaches are not household names.

Coffee competition coaching is a fairly esoteric gig, and most non-competitors have no idea what coaches do. Sure, we know they “help make the routine” and maybe they help decipher the day-of-competition flavor calls, but beyond that, it’s all just a black box, especially at the World stage of competition, where the stakes are higher and the demand for a new, noteworthy routine is paramount. A competitor goes in, bursting with talent and potential, and comes out the other side a more complete package, hopefully a champion. That’s pretty much the beginning and end of the rest of the world’s knowledge of coaching.

If there is anyone who does know, though, it’s Federico Bolanos. His may not be a household name (even among coffee obsessives), but Bolanos is one of the most prolific coffee coaches in the history of the World Barista Championship. His resume includes five Semi-Finalists, none more notable than Costa Rica’s Maria Elena Rivera in 2019, who placed 13th without “exotic auction coffees, an experimental processing method, rocket science, or a revolutionary technology,” as she stated in her routine, itself an impressive feat. Bolanos has also coached two Champions: the 2011 Champion from El Salvador Alejandro Mendez—the first winner (of two total) from a producing country—and Jooyeon Joon, the 2019 Champion from South Korea, whose routine was one of the most memorable in competition history.

Who better to ask about the world of barista coaching than the person a little over a month removed from a wildly successful season behind the scenes? Sprudge has previously interviewed Bolanos about his pioneering work in Salvadoran cafe culture as the founder of Viva Espresso, but when we speak with him this time, it’s all about competition, the life of a coach, what he looks for in a trainee, and everything in between.

Federico Bolanos and 2019 World Barista Champion Jooyeon Jeon.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

For those of us who have never experienced that side of competition, can you give us an introduction into what a Barista Competition coach does?

I can’t speak for other coaches, but I help baristas in all aspects of their preparation for a championship. I structure a tailored training program for the needs of a barista and the available time frame. A complete training program includes: sourcing and coffee selection, presentation concept/theme ideas, signature drink creation, finding the best brewing parameters, developing roast profiles, technical skills, presentation action steps, speech development and refinement, reference material/accessory design, and competition coaching and support during competition week.

Can you give examples of these things in action and how you help coach them?

I help competition baristas improve their technical skills by perfecting their movements and making them work more efficiently, purposely, and consistently. With regards to presentation action steps, I help them structure their actions and decide on the strategy of what should be achieved, when it should be done, and how it should be performed.

I also help competitor write and refine their speech. This is usually a three-step process. The first step is a sort of “pre-speech”, which involves deciding what should be talked about and when it should be said. The second step is writing the speech itself, which involves the how it should be said. And the third step is refining and improving the speech.

How did you get into coaching?

Everything began after attending my first SCAA Coffee Expo in 2006. I was working at an exhibitor booth when I heard a loud crowd cheering across the expo floor. I asked someone what was going on and the guy responded that it was the national barista competition. I had never heard of or seen a barista competition in my life, so I decided to go and check it out. I still remember like it was yesterday, the moment I walked up to the comp area and saw a barista making her presentation… I felt an amazing energy coming from the people on the stands cheering and watching attentively every move and word of the barista. I immediately knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and right then and there I had a dream: to win the World Barista Championship!

Everyone I told this dream to said I was crazy or that it was near impossible to achieve. This didn’t discourage me… it actually had the opposite effect, it made me more passionate to pursue this dream. So, next year I was a sensory judge at the US Barista Championship, and with that experience I returned home full of answers and highly motivated to keep following my dream. The following year, El Salvador was going to organize its first ever barista championship. So, I immediately began training myself and my wife to compete. My wife won first place and I finished in fourth. This is how I found out I was better at guiding others than performing.

You have coached people from all over the world. How do these relationships come to be? How do you decide who you want to work with? What are you looking for in a potential trainee?

In most cases, the company where the barista works contacts me by email or thru social media (Instagram: @federicobp). We then get in touch and organize a video call.

There are many things I take into consideration before deciding who to work with. I like to work with baristas that compete for a higher purpose and greater good, not personal benefit, fame, or glory. I also like to work with companies that understand that great results are not overnight miracles; they take time and are the result of a long process.

The most important trait I look for in a trainee is a good-hearted person with an academic and scholarly approach to coffee. I also seek and value modesty, passion, drive, intelligence, and a good working ethic.

Is this how your relationship with Jooyeon Jeon began?

I met JooYeon’s boss, Hyunki, in 2013 during his coffee sourcing trip to El Salvador. He then got in touch with me and I agreed to prepare her for the South Korean Barista Championship. A few months later, we began training together. Since the moment I met her, I knew she was someone really special… someone that was made from the stuff champions are made, someone with huge potential and that had everything I look for in a trainee. So, since the very beginning of our journey together I told her I believed she could become a World Barista Champion.

What does coaching international competitors look like? Is it all mostly digital or do you spend time in person as well?

The training is in person. I always travel to do the trainings at the barista’s company facilities, except for the sourcing and coffee selection process, which requires traveling to coffee-producing countries. The duration of the training varies from barista to barista, since each one chooses the length of the training time. A training can last anywhere from one week to several months. More time means better results, which is why I recommend four to five training sessions a week, leaving two to four weeks between each session. Between sessions, I leave the barista with “homework” and follow up their progress digitally until the next training session.

How are routines and themes decided? Do competitors normally have the idea and you help shape it or do you have a more active role in figuring these things out?

It depends. If the barista already has a presentation concept/theme, I always make an assessment to determine if it has potential. If it doesn’t, I give them other ideas and if it does, I help them shape it and develop it. Up to this point, I have never worked with a barista who doesn’t need help in this area of their presentation.

Photo for Sprudge by Charlie Burt.

Jooyeon Jeon’s routine is truly the most memorable one I have ever experienced. Walk us through it from her coach’s perspective.

To me, form is just as important as substance. We created a concept with an in-depth scientific content (substance). So, we balanced this by developing a friendly delivery (form) that would lighten the presentation to make it more enjoyable and fun to experience.

We wanted to change the “you” (judges) and “me” (competitor) setting to a “we” (friends) environment. So, right from the beginning, the judges were asked to stand inside JooYeon’s space, instead of outside with a table separating them. This would make them feel intrigued for what would follow next. Judges were then asked to sit on the table where they could be relaxed, feel closer to JooYeon, and enjoy her coffee as friends. This playful and casual setting would surely increase their expectation and create the perfect atmosphere to introduce the concept/theme of the presentation.

While preparing her signature drink espressos, she spoke about the coffee’s origin with a focus on how carbohydrates developed at the production/farm stage and the impact it would have in the cup. During the milk bev preparation, the speech was about how she achieved a higher concentration of carbohydrates by freezing and melting the milk, plus talking about how carbohydrates were affected during the processing and drying stages and their influence in this would have on the cup. Following came the espresso course, so the focus was to talk about how her coffee was roasted and again on its effect on carbohydrates of green coffee and the connection to the taste they would enjoy.

Next up came the sig drink. Judges were invited to move to the edge of the other presentation table (standing up this time) where the sig drink would be prepared, explained, and served. Again, the focus of the drink was carbohydrates to continue reinforcing the connection with concept/theme and its importance. I’m particularly proud of the sig drink we created because it had perfect synergy with her coffee: it reincorporated the carbohydrates her coffee lost during roasting, plus it revealed the polysaccharide sweetness from her coffee’s espresso puck that had never been extracted ever before. We wanted her presentation to finish with a climax, so I thought it would be a great idea to ask judges to raise their glasses and celebrate her coffee and the whole experience with a toast!

Photo for Sprudge by Charlie Burt.

Jooyeon’s routine had the judges constantly in motion: first standing before her during the intro, then sitting on the bar, then moving around another bar. It really took advantage of the customizable stage setups. What was the thinking behind keeping the judges active in that way?

We wanted to keep the judges engaged. Sitting down on the tables was different, casual, and fun, but moving them to a different space would add another layer of engagement and excitement to the presentation.

Of all the routines you helped coach that didn’t win, which one is the most memorable?

I would have to say the presentation of William Hernandez in 2013 that helped us finish in 3rd place. It stands out because it was focused on the aromatics of coffee how it complemented the sensory experience. The espressos were served in a wine glass that had been placed upside down over the espresso and then over the ground coffee used to brew them to capture both the aroma and the fragrance. Judges were led on the tasting of the espressos sip by sip to really enjoy its complexity and structure. The signature drink was created making the aromas a key component of the beverage. I also loved that the presentation was full of wonderful moments and details, like the playful and fun way of explaining the new processing method applied to the coffee… many people still remember the happy-faced sun used to visually represent the sun drying.

If you can give one piece of advice to someone who has competed in the past but is having trouble making that next step, what would it be?

I would recommend to keep going and keep learning. Most of the time what separates a world champion from the other competitors is that the champion failed more times than the other competitor has even competed.

Thank you Federico!

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

All images courtesy of Federico Bolanos unless otherwise noted.

The post World Barista Champion Coach Federico Bolanos: The Sprudge Interview appeared first on Sprudge.

World Barista Champion Coach Federico Bolanos: The Sprudge Interview published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee

[shebreathesslowly]

World Barista Champion Coach Federico Bolanos: The Sprudge Interview

Contrary to how it may appear, barista competitions are a team sport. While the competitor is the only person to take the stage for that fateful 15 minutes, they do so representing not just themselves but often a group of people that helped shape their run; baristas are, in short, the tip of the spear.

Even in the niche world of coffee competition, one that creates very big fish in a small, somewhat obscure pond, coaches remain relatively unknown. Save for a handful of World Barista Championship winners like Hidenori Izaki, Sasa Sestic, and Pete Licata, who made names for themselves on the grandest of coffee stages and used that momentum to kickstart a successful post-WBC career, coffee competition coaches are not household names.

Coffee competition coaching is a fairly esoteric gig, and most non-competitors have no idea what coaches do. Sure, we know they “help make the routine” and maybe they help decipher the day-of-competition flavor calls, but beyond that, it’s all just a black box, especially at the World stage of competition, where the stakes are higher and the demand for a new, noteworthy routine is paramount. A competitor goes in, bursting with talent and potential, and comes out the other side a more complete package, hopefully a champion. That’s pretty much the beginning and end of the rest of the world’s knowledge of coaching.

If there is anyone who does know, though, it’s Federico Bolanos. His may not be a household name (even among coffee obsessives), but Bolanos is one of the most prolific coffee coaches in the history of the World Barista Championship. His resume includes five Semi-Finalists, none more notable than Costa Rica’s Maria Elena Rivera in 2019, who placed 13th without “exotic auction coffees, an experimental processing method, rocket science, or a revolutionary technology,” as she stated in her routine, itself an impressive feat. Bolanos has also coached two Champions: the 2011 Champion from El Salvador Alejandro Mendez—the first winner (of two total) from a producing country—and Jooyeon Joon, the 2019 Champion from South Korea, whose routine was one of the most memorable in competition history.

Who better to ask about the world of barista coaching than the person a little over a month removed from a wildly successful season behind the scenes? Sprudge has previously interviewed Bolanos about his pioneering work in Salvadoran cafe culture as the founder of Viva Espresso, but when we speak with him this time, it’s all about competition, the life of a coach, what he looks for in a trainee, and everything in between.

Federico Bolanos and 2019 World Barista Champion Jooyeon Jeon.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

For those of us who have never experienced that side of competition, can you give us an introduction into what a Barista Competition coach does?

I can’t speak for other coaches, but I help baristas in all aspects of their preparation for a championship. I structure a tailored training program for the needs of a barista and the available time frame. A complete training program includes: sourcing and coffee selection, presentation concept/theme ideas, signature drink creation, finding the best brewing parameters, developing roast profiles, technical skills, presentation action steps, speech development and refinement, reference material/accessory design, and competition coaching and support during competition week.

Can you give examples of these things in action and how you help coach them?

I help competition baristas improve their technical skills by perfecting their movements and making them work more efficiently, purposely, and consistently. With regards to presentation action steps, I help them structure their actions and decide on the strategy of what should be achieved, when it should be done, and how it should be performed.

I also help competitor write and refine their speech. This is usually a three-step process. The first step is a sort of “pre-speech”, which involves deciding what should be talked about and when it should be said. The second step is writing the speech itself, which involves the how it should be said. And the third step is refining and improving the speech.

How did you get into coaching?

Everything began after attending my first SCAA Coffee Expo in 2006. I was working at an exhibitor booth when I heard a loud crowd cheering across the expo floor. I asked someone what was going on and the guy responded that it was the national barista competition. I had never heard of or seen a barista competition in my life, so I decided to go and check it out. I still remember like it was yesterday, the moment I walked up to the comp area and saw a barista making her presentation… I felt an amazing energy coming from the people on the stands cheering and watching attentively every move and word of the barista. I immediately knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and right then and there I had a dream: to win the World Barista Championship!

Everyone I told this dream to said I was crazy or that it was near impossible to achieve. This didn’t discourage me… it actually had the opposite effect, it made me more passionate to pursue this dream. So, next year I was a sensory judge at the US Barista Championship, and with that experience I returned home full of answers and highly motivated to keep following my dream. The following year, El Salvador was going to organize its first ever barista championship. So, I immediately began training myself and my wife to compete. My wife won first place and I finished in fourth. This is how I found out I was better at guiding others than performing.

You have coached people from all over the world. How do these relationships come to be? How do you decide who you want to work with? What are you looking for in a potential trainee?

In most cases, the company where the barista works contacts me by email or thru social media (Instagram: @federicobp). We then get in touch and organize a video call.

There are many things I take into consideration before deciding who to work with. I like to work with baristas that compete for a higher purpose and greater good, not personal benefit, fame, or glory. I also like to work with companies that understand that great results are not overnight miracles; they take time and are the result of a long process.

The most important trait I look for in a trainee is a good-hearted person with an academic and scholarly approach to coffee. I also seek and value modesty, passion, drive, intelligence, and a good working ethic.

Is this how your relationship with Jooyeon Jeon began?

I met JooYeon’s boss, Hyunki, in 2013 during his coffee sourcing trip to El Salvador. He then got in touch with me and I agreed to prepare her for the South Korean Barista Championship. A few months later, we began training together. Since the moment I met her, I knew she was someone really special… someone that was made from the stuff champions are made, someone with huge potential and that had everything I look for in a trainee. So, since the very beginning of our journey together I told her I believed she could become a World Barista Champion.

What does coaching international competitors look like? Is it all mostly digital or do you spend time in person as well?

The training is in person. I always travel to do the trainings at the barista’s company facilities, except for the sourcing and coffee selection process, which requires traveling to coffee-producing countries. The duration of the training varies from barista to barista, since each one chooses the length of the training time. A training can last anywhere from one week to several months. More time means better results, which is why I recommend four to five training sessions a week, leaving two to four weeks between each session. Between sessions, I leave the barista with “homework” and follow up their progress digitally until the next training session.

How are routines and themes decided? Do competitors normally have the idea and you help shape it or do you have a more active role in figuring these things out?

It depends. If the barista already has a presentation concept/theme, I always make an assessment to determine if it has potential. If it doesn’t, I give them other ideas and if it does, I help them shape it and develop it. Up to this point, I have never worked with a barista who doesn’t need help in this area of their presentation.

Photo for Sprudge by Charlie Burt.

Jooyeon Jeon’s routine is truly the most memorable one I have ever experienced. Walk us through it from her coach’s perspective.

To me, form is just as important as substance. We created a concept with an in-depth scientific content (substance). So, we balanced this by developing a friendly delivery (form) that would lighten the presentation to make it more enjoyable and fun to experience.

We wanted to change the “you” (judges) and “me” (competitor) setting to a “we” (friends) environment. So, right from the beginning, the judges were asked to stand inside JooYeon’s space, instead of outside with a table separating them. This would make them feel intrigued for what would follow next. Judges were then asked to sit on the table where they could be relaxed, feel closer to JooYeon, and enjoy her coffee as friends. This playful and casual setting would surely increase their expectation and create the perfect atmosphere to introduce the concept/theme of the presentation.

While preparing her signature drink espressos, she spoke about the coffee’s origin with a focus on how carbohydrates developed at the production/farm stage and the impact it would have in the cup. During the milk bev preparation, the speech was about how she achieved a higher concentration of carbohydrates by freezing and melting the milk, plus talking about how carbohydrates were affected during the processing and drying stages and their influence in this would have on the cup. Following came the espresso course, so the focus was to talk about how her coffee was roasted and again on its effect on carbohydrates of green coffee and the connection to the taste they would enjoy.

Next up came the sig drink. Judges were invited to move to the edge of the other presentation table (standing up this time) where the sig drink would be prepared, explained, and served. Again, the focus of the drink was carbohydrates to continue reinforcing the connection with concept/theme and its importance. I’m particularly proud of the sig drink we created because it had perfect synergy with her coffee: it reincorporated the carbohydrates her coffee lost during roasting, plus it revealed the polysaccharide sweetness from her coffee’s espresso puck that had never been extracted ever before. We wanted her presentation to finish with a climax, so I thought it would be a great idea to ask judges to raise their glasses and celebrate her coffee and the whole experience with a toast!

Photo for Sprudge by Charlie Burt.

Jooyeon’s routine had the judges constantly in motion: first standing before her during the intro, then sitting on the bar, then moving around another bar. It really took advantage of the customizable stage setups. What was the thinking behind keeping the judges active in that way?

We wanted to keep the judges engaged. Sitting down on the tables was different, casual, and fun, but moving them to a different space would add another layer of engagement and excitement to the presentation.

Of all the routines you helped coach that didn’t win, which one is the most memorable?

I would have to say the presentation of William Hernandez in 2013 that helped us finish in 3rd place. It stands out because it was focused on the aromatics of coffee how it complemented the sensory experience. The espressos were served in a wine glass that had been placed upside down over the espresso and then over the ground coffee used to brew them to capture both the aroma and the fragrance. Judges were led on the tasting of the espressos sip by sip to really enjoy its complexity and structure. The signature drink was created making the aromas a key component of the beverage. I also loved that the presentation was full of wonderful moments and details, like the playful and fun way of explaining the new processing method applied to the coffee… many people still remember the happy-faced sun used to visually represent the sun drying.

If you can give one piece of advice to someone who has competed in the past but is having trouble making that next step, what would it be?

I would recommend to keep going and keep learning. Most of the time what separates a world champion from the other competitors is that the champion failed more times than the other competitor has even competed.

Thank you Federico!

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

All images courtesy of Federico Bolanos unless otherwise noted.

The post World Barista Champion Coach Federico Bolanos: The Sprudge Interview appeared first on Sprudge.

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[businessweekme]

How to Travel the New, $800 Billion Silk Road

Thanks to more than a trillion dollars of prospective investment—led by China’s $800 billion Belt and Road Initiative linking countries stretching between East Asia and Europe—the Silk Road is rising again. The series of once-legendary pathways connecting cities, from Kashgar to Paro to Constantinople, which originated at the dawn of the common era and collapsed with the fall of the Mongol empire in the early 16th century, is now being reborn as a network of highways, railways, and airports linking 65 countries. Add improved safety and easier-to-access visas, and the bazaar-filled cities of Central Asia are more accessible than ever.

For travelers, this means a wealth of new destinations to explore—some sprung from deserts overnight and others that have for too long been left off tourist maps. Uzbekistan is reporting a 40 percent year-on-year rise in tourism; Baku, Azerbaijan, has also awakened from its post-Soviet slumber to rank among the fastest-growing tourism destinations in Europe and Central Asia. The growth had been simmering for years; now it’s boiling hot.

Bloomberg Pursuits: The New Silk Road…

According to Jonny Bealby, founder of luxury travel outfit Wild Frontiers, the region is also emerging in response to “people looking further and further afield to see places that are more authentic, less spoiled, and less on the beaten track.”

His company is just one of several tour operators—including Ker & Downey, Abercrombie & Kent, and Remote Lands—helping travelers realize a suddenly buzzy fantasy of traveling the Silk Road. But completing that journey end-to-end can take anywhere from six weeks to three months. Here, a few locations to prioritize if your vacation days aren’t quite that plentiful.

For Food Lovers: Xi’an, China

The heart of the original Silk Road was inarguably the central Chinese city of Chang’an, or modern-day Xi’an. In the eighth century, it was the largest and most cosmopolitan city in the world—a beacon for traders from all corners of Asia. Now an international trade hub with 12 million residents, Xi’an is reclaiming its former glory as the eastern terminus of the Belt and Road—perhaps no surprise, considering it’s the hometown of President Xi Jinping.

How much time you’ll need: Three to five days

What to see and do: While most visitors know Xi’an for its iconic terra cotta army, there is much more to the place. Start at Tang West Market, which is said to have been the precise, historic start of the old Silk Road; today, it’s a shopping bonanza where you’ll find everything from faux antique daggers to jade-bejeweled brass pots. Make a pit stop at the Tang West Market Museum, which has one of the world’s biggest displays of relics from all sides of the Silk Road. Then make your way to the city’s Muslim quarter, where narrow alleyways are lined elbow-to-elbow with traditional shops and street food stalls.

Be adventurous and try foods you’ve never tasted before: spicy camel skewers, wholesome quarter-inch-wide biang biang noodles, and delicately sweet persimmon doughnuts. Want a glimpse of the city’s modern edge? Head to Chanba Ecological Zone, a landfill that’s been converted into a sparkling new urban area. It’s the epicenter of Xi’an’s Belt and Road endeavors and features a massive wetland park that’s perfect for boating and birdwatching.

Where to stay: The five-star Gran Melia Xi’an offers all the comforts associated with an international brand; the Eastern House Boutique Hotel, meanwhile, offers a sleek but still local-feeling experience.

For Architecture Buffs: Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan’s ancient cities still stand remarkably intact—along with their ornate, mosaic-laden monuments. As a result, this country brims with a fascinating sense of history, layers of architectural and religious heritage, and a global mélange of cultural traditions forged over millennia.

Quality hotels are a relatively new prospect here, says Bealby. There’s been an uptick in creatively designed accommodations tucked into old caravansaries—where ancient traders would work and sleep—in the old town of Samarkand and in the old walled city of Kiva. And the best newcomers have been exceptional. “They’re on par with anywhere in Paris, London, India, whatever you choose to look at,” he exclaims.

How much time you’ll need: Seven to ten days

What to see and do: Though you’ll fly in via Tashkent, it’s best to connect straight through to Samarkand—a 2,500-year-old city 200 miles to the capital’s south. There, you can see where Genghis Khan sacked the city of Afrosiab in the 13th century, watch daily life unfold against a backdrop of mud-brick Uzbek houses in the medieval quarter, and visit such eye-popping sites as the 15th century Registan Mosque. Then it’s off to Bukhara, a city studded with glistening turquoise domes, ornate mosques, ancient forts, and layer upon layer of living history. It’s one of the region’s best-preserved medieval cities—with several significant monuments, such as the Indian-influenced, four-minaret Char Minar, in close proximity to one another. If you still have time left, Khiva is your last stop. It’s an incredible example of traditional Islamic urban design, and its 200-year-old inner fortress, the Itchan Kala, will send you traveling back through time.

Where to stay: In Samarkand, the Grand Samarkand offers a sense of Silk Road history with modern sensibilities; in Bukhara, Bealby recommends either the Minzifa Hotel, the Bibi Khanum, or the Malika Bukhara; and in Khiva, the character-packed Orient Star Hotel and Qosha Darvoza are the best games in town.

For Adventure Seekers: Azerbaijan

Many Silk Road destinations claim to be “the place where the east meets the west,” but Azerbaijan has the best geographical claim to that title. Just as in antiquity, it remains a place where minds from all sorts of far-off lands converge—though these days they’re more likely drilling for oil or shopping at fashionable boutiques than trading wares. The capital, Baku, is somewhat like Dubai: It’s ripe with old world charm and modern-day glitz, but it’s the adventurous day trips waiting just outside the city that you might remember most.

How much time you’ll need: Three to five days

What to see and do: Baku’s architecture spells the capital’s history like an open book. The winding streets of the Islamic old city, a Unesco World Heritage Site, are packed elbow-to-elbow with matching stone buildings that date to the 12th century; some of the original caravansaries still stand and have been converted into fine-dining spots.

The outer city, meanwhile, was built by imperial Russians with impressive Baroque, Gothic, and postmodern buildings lining massive, gridded boulevards. Downtown are skyscrapers pulled from a futuristic era. If all those contrasts leave you exhausted and feeling you’re gone through several wormholes, chill along the revitalized waterfront district, which provides ample lookouts where you can sit and relax.

Then get out of town. From the new port of Alat, 40 miles south, you can take a beautiful ferry ride across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan or Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan. Who do you know that has ever done that? And make time to hit Gobustan National Park, an hour’s drive south from Baku; it has thousands of 5,000- to 20,000-year-old rock carvings, plus volcanic mud pools for therapeutic (and skin-softening) soaks.

Where to stay: Fairmont, JW Marriott, and Four Seasons all have solid options in town.

For Europhiles: Northern Greece

History buffs who come to Greece think first of Zeus, Homer, and the Parthenon. But another claim to fame is that the country was the trailhead for one of the first iterations of the Silk Road, dating to Alexander the Great’s conquests in the 4th century B.C. Glimmers of that legacy remain in the north, in such little-visited destinations as Vergina and Soufli. The new Belt and Road is emerging as an important narrative here, too, particularly in Piraeus, a bustling port city since ancient times. The port itself was purchased by the Chinese in 2016 and was subsequently built up to be one of Europe’s busiest marine hubs—more than quadrupling the port’s container traffic since 2010.

How much time you’ll need: A week

What to see and do: Vergina—which has been inhabited since the 3rd millennium B.C.—claims historic sites that are outstanding, even by Greek standards. It was the first capital of ancient Macedonia, lending it a fascinating acropolis, theater, and palace. East is Thessaloniki, a thriving urban center that served as an ancient shipment hub for silk and spices. See how that pervades Thessaloniki’s contemporary culture on a stroll through Modiano, the city’s predominant foodie thoroughfare; sampling its souvlaki, gyros, cheese and meat-stuffed bougatsa pastries, feta-stuffed squid, and smoked eggplant will prove why this is considered the “gourmet capital of Greece.”

Culminate in the easternmost city of Soufli, Greece’s capital of viniculture and silk production. Three museums here are dedicated to the Silk Road, affirming the legacy of the trade routes that still live today. And when you’re done with that, you can see the silk trade springing back to life in this charming town, where modern workshops now supply Greece’s leading designers.

Where to stay: In Vergina, the rustic but lovely Ktima Kalaitzi has its own winery. In Thessaloniki, stay in the grand (if slightly dated) Electra Palace Thessaloniki or right by the sea at the hyper-modern Makedonia Palace.

The post How to Travel the New, $800 Billion Silk Road appeared first on Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East.

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The millionaire, entrepreneur and ‘dj’ Gianluca Vacchi he is dancing to Many folks.

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Then I studied an average of five hours daily and I soaked up everything necessary to obtain it and did it,” a account for the Region Because the madrid Fortuny Palace, the place the final Thursday was given appointment to the actress Rossy de Palma to inaugurate a club ephemeral cocktail bar of your hand from the champagne G. H. Mumm. Just to give you some scrolls to any of your respective social networking sites to recognize that their first techniques into the earth of audio very seriously. Vacchi, who has entered what he calls “the last stage” of his everyday living, released this summer time Wind, her to start with solitary, electrolatino encouraged in a very colombian people music, and has presently gathered over 8 million views on YouTube. “There is a solution to staying a good DJ. Prosperous is usually that excites the public,” says the exempresario. “You will be the judges of your respective operate before you,” he explains. 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The artistic vein arises from his grandmother in argentina who was the one who taught him to Perform the piano when I was a kid, however it goes past the tunes. “My residences the look I paper, then gave the architect the folios Along with the drawings for making them a truth.” Its creations are carried during the pores and skin. He commenced tattooing at 33 several years of age and presently has dropped rely of how many you might have. “Surely over one hundred”. It's got even done one particular himself within the ankle. It isn't all glory. Maintains a lawful fight having a financial institution that asked a court docket to Italian that will embargara products valued at eight.five million euros. “It is simple. My economic advisers instructed me that the financial institution was utilizing fascination rates incorrect. Then I decided not to pay for the service fees for controlling my estate and I claimed. Now a choose will determine who is correct. Buy cheap instagram likes is correct, I have a authorized battle Together with the bank, but I am not in personal bankruptcy. I necessarily mean, 8.five million euros is a lot, but when I Evaluate it with what I've [your Internet well worth is 565 million euros, In line with la Repubblica] will not be a good deal,” he clarifies. Gianluca Vacchi, the dandy millionaire who has grown to be well-known for his sensual dances in Instagram, its cult of the human body and its extravagant and deluxe existence, contributes to the maximum expression from the Italian allure. If you enter a area all is silent. It's inescapable, folks can't end observing your eccentric fashion —coat of wool, boots with chains built to your typical shirt, customized, and open up up the upper body plus a pin with a few blue diamonds that unite his beard—. Walks with the security that you simply give her fifty decades, but With all the Electrical power of the boy of 20. Just come to Spain from Miami, and after very little greater than forty eight hours during the nation will get on his jet again to Florida. In his vocabulary the phrase exhaustion would not exist: “I Only need three hrs of rest,” he suggests. How is it doable that a person that takes care of each your Bodily disregard the utmost of splendor: get eight several hours of snooze daily? “I'm the exception that confirms the rule”, lance that is defined being an entertainer. Anyone who hasn't observed the video clips of him next to stunning Gals dancing reggaeton —the new hip-hop, In keeping with their terms— on the deck of a yacht or within the shore of a massive swimming pool in a single of their mansions, It truly is absolutely not a regular of your social networking sites. Their contoneos into the conquer of hits just like the mordidita or even the bicycle collapse Instagram, the network that released him to fame. You opened your account in may of 2013 for the reason that I wanted to “get closer to the world of The brand new generations” and currently has much more followers -11,two million— inhabitants has town of The big apple -eight,five million—.

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{Vid_@Rip} Bernard Hopkins vs Beibut Shumenov Live Stream Free Watch Results Any Device Supported

College essay writing service Tutorial Submitted by deewanasaika on Fri, 2014-04-18 05:00 due date not specified not answered deewanasaika is willing to pay $5.00 {Vid_@Rip} Bernard Hopkins vs Beibut Shumenov Live Stream Free Watch Results Any Device Supported . . WATCH FULL VIDEO—->>>>>> HOPKINS VS SHUMENOV LIVE STREAM . . WATCH FULL VIDEO—->>>>>> HOPKINS VS SHUMENOV LIVE STREAM . . Winner Hopkins vs Shumenov, Watch Hopkins vs Shumenov 2014 Live Stream, Full HD Streaming Bernard Hopkins vs Beibut Shumenov Live, Hopkins vs Shumenov Live Stream, Bernard Hopkins vs Beibut Shumenov 2014 Live Streaming, Watch Hopkins vs Shumenov Online, Free Hopkins vs Shumenov 2014 Live Streaming, Hopkins vs Shumenov Main Cards, Hopkins vs Shumenov Prediction, Fight Time Hopkins vs Shumenov Live, Watch Hopkins vs Shumenov Live Stream Match Cards, Hopkins vs Shumenov 2014 Live Streaming Results Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer called IBF light heavyweight titleholder Bernard Hopkins on Wednesday, the boxer’s 49th birthday, and delivered the perfect news. Schaefer told Hopkins that a deal has been reached, in principle, with promotional stablemate and WBA beltholder Beibut Shumenov for a unification bout. Hopkins-Shumenov would happen either on March 29 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn or April 19 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Schaefer said both venues will play host to Golden Boy events.

Already the oldest man to win a significant crown, Hopkins, who fights on Showtime (along with Shumenov), wants to get beyond Shumenov and face the winner between hard-hitting counterparts RING and WBC champion Adonis Stevenson and WBO beltholder Sergey Kovalev (should those two fight this year). “I called Bernard today on his 49th birthday, and had a very nice conversation with him. I told him how much I appreciate my friendship and my relationship with him, and what an amazing person he is, and that I’m really proud of the relationship we have,” said Schaefer. “I said that I wanted to give him a very special birthday gift, and I felt that delivering a unification fight at age 49 would give him a chance to make history again. We’ll be doing an event on both of those nights, and we have other names and other fights which will be held on that date as well. I’m working on some other big fights but I am not going to go into detail on those.”

Stevenson and Kovalev are aligned with Showtime’s network rival HBO, which has severed ties with Golden Boy. “If you look at what his plan would have been is that he fights Shumenov, and Stevenson and Kovalev fight each other, and then the two winners fight for the undisputed championship. But it seems like Stevenson and Kovalev may have other plans,” said Schaefer. “So he might have to beat all of them, which is no problem with Bernard. The blueprint is that he’s going to fight Shumenov first. I talked to Don Chargin, who is working with Shuemov, and with Al Haymon, who is his advisor, and we’re very close on getting the deal done with Beibut. It’s not signed, but I do believe that, in principle, we have a fight. I’ll be working to finalize all of this in the coming weeks.”

It was back on Sept. 29, 2001, that Hopkins scored a 12th-round knockout over previously undefeated Felix Trinidad at New York’s Madison Square Garde, earning the undisputed middleweight title. Trinidad became the 14th of the Philadelphia fighter’s record 20 title defenses, culminating a Don King-promoted 160-pound tournament duing which IBF beletholder Hopkins had dethroned the WBC’s Keith Holmes by unanimous decision, and Trinidad, the WBA’s William Joppy by fifth-round stoppage. Hopkins’ triumph added Trinidad’s WBA title to his IBF and WBC belts, unifying the middleweight division for the first time since 1987 and tying Carlos Monzon with his record 14th defense.

Now, Hopkins, sees a chance to achieve similar glory as a 175-pounder. “It’s going to happen because you’ve got two of the smartest guys, and two of the brightest guys that I trust, and that I respect first, and that’s Al Haymon and that is Richard Schaefer,” said Hopkins. “When you’ve got that situation, and you have two fighters who say that they want to fight in order to get to the other light heavyweight champions, that’s an ancient attitude. It hasn’t been like that in so many years. That’s why I think that the tournament of 2001 was so big, and promoted so big.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bernard Hopkins set the middleweight title defense record by retaining his IBF belt 20 times en route to unifying all the major 160-pound belts during the course of his historic 10-year reign. From 1995 to 2005, he was known as “The Executioner.” More recently, Hopkins twice became the eldest man to win a major belt in boxing, later changing his nickname to “The Alien.”

On April 19 at the D.C. Amory in Washington, D.C., Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 knockouts), who turned 49 in January, will put his IBF 175-pound title on the line against that of WBA counterpart Beibut Shumenov (13-1, 8 KOs). Hopkins’ goal, within proximity of his 50th birthday, is to become undisputed champion as he did at 160-pounds. Hopkins wants to unify all the major belts by defeating Shumenov before facing the winner of a potential clash between RING and WBC champion Adonis Stevenson and WBO titleholder Sergey Kovalev. Golden Boy COO Bruce Binkow offered his perspective of Hopkins during a Tuesday press conference at the W Hotel in downtown Washington, DC.

“Every time Bernard Hopkins fights it’s a historical event,” said Binkow, “and we also have a world champion who is looking to make his mark and history by taking Bernard’s belt. Shumenov has successfully defended his title five times, and this April he gets an opportunity to add his name to the history books if he can do what very few people have done and beat Bernard Hopkins. “I could remind you that Bernard won his middleweight title in 1995 and successfully defended it 20 times. But what’s really amazing is that Bernard has had a spectacular last couple of years. He’s already twice become the oldest man to win a major world championship and in 2013 he had one of his greatest years ever.

I believe that if a baseball, football or basketball player was performing anywhere near the level that he is performing at his age he would be in a lab being studied by science. It’s absolutely unbelievable.” In October, Hopkins unanimously decisioned Karo Murat in defense of the IBF belt he won by unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Tavoris Cloud in March to extend his own record as the oldest man to win a significant crown.

Hopkins first set the record at the age of 46 by outpointing Jean Pascal for the WBC’s title in May 2011 before being dethroned following a majority decision loss to Chad Dawson in May 2012. After winning the IBF middleweight title from Segundo Mercado on April 29, 1995, Hopkins went on to defend it a record 20 times before losing to Jermain Taylor by a split decision on July 16, 2005. Hopkins’ milestone run included knockouts against the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Robert Allen, Simon Brown, Glen Johnson, John David Jackson and Carl Daniels.

After losing back-to-back controversial decisions to Taylor, Hopkins rose into the light heavyweight division for triumphs over Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright, Kelly Pavlik, Enrique Ornelas and Roy Jones, his lone light heavyweight defeat prior to Dawson was a split-decision against recent hall of fame inductee Joe Calzaghe. “When you’ve been in the game so long that you outlive your nickname… he was ‘The Executioner,’ now he’s ‘The Alien,’ it’s been an honor and a pleasure to actually watch him culminate into the type of athlete that he is today,” said Hopkins’ trainer, Naazim Richardson. “A lot of people don’t understand our sport, and they don’t understand that 30 in boxing is old. This guy is ancient. You have to sit back and realize how impressive this is.”

Hopkins is old enough to be a parent to the 30-year-old Shumenov, a 2004 Kazakhstan Olympian who ended an 18-month absence by scoring three knockdowns during a third-round stoppage of Tamas Kovacs in December. Shumenov dethroned Gabriel Campillo by controversial split decision in January of 2010, avenging a loss by majority decision in their previous fight in August of 2009. Shumenov established a record for the light heavyweight division by defeating Campillo in just his 10th professional bout.

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Things are not looking good for Tiger Woods. He was once the undisputed king of golf, and one of the most famous athletes in the world. And more importantly, he was once one of the highest paid athletes. He’s still famous to this day… But now it’s for all the wrong reasons. His fame is quickly tumbling into something else altogether – infamy. Now people are left wondering just how Tiger Woods is going to come back and regain his former glory. But it’s looking more and more certain that, after all these setbacks, Tiger Woods probably isn’t going to be able to make a comeback after all. His recent DUI arrest may just be the last nail in the coffin for this athlete’s disappointing career. As we will reveal in more detail in the list, he was caught intoxicated behind the wheel of a car. In fact, he was asleep at the wheel. He was in such a deep state of unconsciousness that police had to bang on the window to wake him up. He claims he was on prescription drugs. This is a sad day for golf, and the sporting world in general. But in truth, we all saw this coming long before the arrest on May 29th. There have been many clear signs that this star athlete’s best days are long behind him. It seems certain now that Tiger Woods’ career is officially over.

#1 DUI

Let’s get straight down to the story that everyone’s talking about. On May 29, 2017, police found Tiger asleep at the wheel of his black Mercedes in Jupiter, Florida. The car was stopped on the side of the road, and partially in the bike lane. Officers say that he had to be woken up. One officer recalls:  “At one point the driver woke up and pulled on the right side lever on the steering column,” the officer said in the incident report. “I asked the driver what he pulled, and the driver replied in a muffled tone, ‘What? Push the button?’ and then pushed the button to start the vehicle. I immediately had the driver push the button again to turn the vehicle back off. The driver complied and then fell back asleep a few moments later.” Apparently Tiger had slurred speech and kept changing his story about where he was coming from. They administered a sobriety test and saw that he had dilated pupils and had difficulty balancing himself. His blood alcohol level was zero, and Tiger denied taking any illegal drugs. He did however, admit to taking prescription drugs. He later made a statement, saying: “I want the public to know that alcohol was not involved. What happened was an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications. I didn’t realize the mix of medications had affected me so strongly.” He is set to make a court appearance for an arraignment in early July.

#2 Getting Old Let’s pretend for a moment that Tiger Woods was a perfect role model. Let’s pretend that he never had any injuries, or cheating scandals, or DUIs. He still would be hard-pressed at this point to regain his former success. And that’s for one simple reason – he’s old. I know that golfers tend to have longer careers than a soccer player or an Olympic athlete, for example. But it seems clear that Tiger Woods’ prime was years ago. There was something about his youth that made him a ferocious opponent. And now, that spark seems to have left him. He’s 41 today, and this fact alone means that making a comeback will be really difficult for Tiger Woods. He’s just running out of time…

#3 Possible Jail Time According to Florida law, an offender’s very first DUI can result in a wide range of punishments, including (albeit in rare circumstances) jail time. Tiger Woods already spent one night in jail, and was released in the morning. But if he’s tried to the full extent of the law, he could spend up to 6 months in jail. However, this is unlikely, since he didn’t hurt anyone (except his own career). The judge might choose to make an example of him though, especially because this isn’t the first time he’s driven recklessly. In 2009, he crashed his car into a fire hydrant, trees, and some hedges. He received a ticket for reckless driving. So the judge might look at both those cases and determine that Tiger needs some time behind bars to let it sink in that irresponsible driving is not acceptable.

#4 He Doesn’t Win Anymore Tiger doesn’t win anymore. Why doesn’t he win anymore? After his cheating scandal, his form has really suffered. In 2010, he decided to take a break from competitive golf. He returned in April of that year, and tied for fourth place in the 2010 Masters Tournament. But it would get much worse. His next two tournaments were incredibly bad, and he withdrew from them, claiming he was injured. The rest of the season went as badly, and he finished the year as the number 2 best golfer in the world. In 2012, he was knocked out of a tournament after he missed a 5 foot putt. He actually made a small comeback in the beginning of 2013, but then sunk back down by the end of the year, finishing 13 over par in one tournament, which was his worst score ever as a professional golfer. Things got much worse after a back injury, and by 2014 he was failing to make the cut at the 2014 PGA Championship. He continued to fail to make the cut for a few more tournaments into 2015 and 2016, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to get better.

#5 Too Much Competition Tiger has some stiff competition these days. The new generation of golfers is simply leaving Tiger in the dust. Nowadays, his style of golf seems outdated and nowhere near as good as some of these newer golfers. Number one in the world right now is Dustin Johnson, who is only 32 but is close to beating a lot of Tiger’s records. He’s also happily married to the daughter of Wayne Gretzky… Second place in the world rankings is Rory McIlroy, who equals Tiger’s record of winning three majors by the age of 25. He’s only 28 years old. Hot on their heels is the young Japanese golfer Hideki Matsuyama, who just recently rose to 4th place in the world rankings in 2017. Tiger Woods is going to have to work really hard to catch up with the pace these guys are setting, and some people say that would be an impossible task.

#6 The Infamous Cheating Scandal Another thing that really ruined Tiger’s career is his cheating scandal. That was the first crack that started to form in Tiger Wood’s seemingly perfect exterior. Now that crack is just another blemish on Tiger’s career, finding company with countless other dents. In 2009, the National Enquirer revealed that Tiger had been cheating on his wife with a nightclub manager, Rachel Uchitel. Two days later, Tiger took his car out and crashed it. In the next few weeks, it became clear that Tiger Woods had been cheating on his wife with tons of other women. After a voicemail message left by Woods on a mistress’ phone was found, the whole story was blown wide open. More than a dozen women came forward, claiming they had been hooking up with Tiger while he was still married. Tiger was forced to admit to his infidelities. It was still possible for him to succeed on the golf court, but unfortunately his form took a major dip. It’s been something he’s been trying to recover from ever since, and he’s never quite succeeded.

#7 Reputation Ruined I think it’s safe to say now that Tiger Woods’ reputation has been completely, thoroughly, and utterly ruined. Where do I even begin. He seemed like such a perfect guy until his cheating scandal. Then he crashed his car for the whole world to see. Now, he’s been arrested because of a DUI. How do you come back from that? Facing the public must have been hard enough when everyone knew he had been cheating on his wife with multiple women. I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like when everyone knows he’s a criminal now. This is made so much worse by the fact that golf is seen as such a prestigious sport. There are so many golf fans who are very old and proper, and would see his behavior as disgraceful.

#8 The Comeback Has Failed Multiple Times How many times have you heard about Tiger Woods making a comeback? How many times have golf commentators asked the question, “Will this be the year that Tiger Woods makes his comeback?” It seems like with every passing tournament, people are crossing their fingers and hoping Tiger will regain his former glory. But with each passing year, it becomes less and less of a reality. More and more people are forgetting about Tiger Woods, and accepting that he’s just going to fade into golf history. The truth is that if he was going to make a comeback, he would have done it by now. Time and time again, he’s failed epically in his attempts to bring himself back to the top of the golfing world. I sincerely hope he proves me wrong, but it looks like that comeback just isn’t going to happen…

#9 Back Surgeries Throughout his career, Tiger Woods has been hounded by some pretty serious back injuries. It first started in 2014, when he had a microdisectomy to repair a herniated disc. But this was only the beginning. Later that year, he revealed that his back had been spasming constantly. In 2015, he underwent a second microdisectomy to remove a disc fragment that was pinching his nerve. Later that year, he went under the knife yet again for a similar problem. 2016 was largely spent recovering from these surgeries. He reportedly still suffered from back spasms throughout the recent years. In April 2017, he once again had surgery on his back, relating to the herniated disc problem. That’s a lot of back surgeries, and it’s beginning to look like a problem that just can’t be solved.

#10 Too Many Injuries Speaking of injuries, Tiger Woods has been plagued with all kinds of injuries, not just those linked to his back and spine. Way back in 2002, Tiger Woods had surgery after an ACL injury to his left knee. In 2008, he once again had surgery on that same knee. Later that year, he had extensive reconstructive surgery on that knee. That put him out of commission for 9 months. In 2010, he complained about a possible neck injury caused by a bulging disc. This was later diagnosed as an inflamed facet joint in his neck. In 2011, he once again suffered from an injury to his left knee and also his Achilles heel. In 2013, he pulled out of a tournament due to an elbow strain. All of these injuries accumulate and never really go away. If Tiger Woods wanted to restart his career, he would have to deal with countless more injuries, and that’s what makes it so doubtful that he will ever return to his former glory.

#11 He Has Started Cheating (At Golf) Okay, so maybe this is stretching the truth a little. He only really got caught cheating once, back in 2013. This was when he was starting to make his first major comeback after his infidelity scandal, before it all fell apart. He was almost disqualified from the 2013 Masters Tournament after allegations arose that he had taken an illegal drop after his 3rd shot on the 15th hole bounced off the pin and into the water. Luckily for him, he was given a two-stroke penalty, and not disqualified. He finished the event tied for fourth. This attitude really sums up the kind of desperation that Tiger Woods is experiencing right now, and it’s a clear sign that his golf skills aren’t what they used to be. And we all know that he cheats on and off the golf course…

#12 He’s Firing All Of His Team Another sign that Tiger Woods is getting really desperate is the fact that he seems to be firing all of his team. Steve Williams was Tiger Woods’ caddy for many, many years. However Tiger Woods shocked both him and the golfing world when he fired him. It seems like Tiger Woods was just lashing out at those who were closest to him, especially since this wasn’t long after his cheating scandal. In 2014, he also fired his swing coach, Sean Foley. Apparently both these people were fired because of Tiger’s “control issues.” This stinks of a man who knows that he’s failing miserably, and is looking around at the people around him to blame. This, and the fact that Tiger has no plans to hire a swing coach is a clear sign that his career is pretty much over.

#13 He Hasn’t Even Played For Most Of 2017 Probably the biggest reason Tiger Woods’ career is over is the fact that he’s not even playing golf anymore. He seems to have just given up. On March 31, 2017, he announced to his fans that he wouldn’t be playing in the 2017 Masters Tournament. His last tournament was in February 2017, where he golfed extremely poorly and had to pull out due to continued back spasms. While other pro golfers are winning trophies and competing in every possible tournament they can, Tiger Woods is… well, he’s getting arrested for DUIs and getting high on prescription drugs. Sorry, but that’s the truth. If you actually want to have a golfing career, you need to actually be playing golf.

#14 He Doesn’t Seem To Want To Play Anymore, Even When He’s Injury-Free The weirdest part about Tiger Woods not playing too much golf anymore is the fact that he isn’t actually injured anymore. He should have recovered from his last back surgery a while ago, and if it is true that he’s injury free, then why isn’t he playing golf? He has no excuse for not playing, except maybe the fact that he doesn’t want to play professional golf anymore. He’s often said he wants to break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major championship wins, and that’s probably still true. A huge part of Tiger probably still wants to play and win golf tournaments. But that part of Tiger is getting smaller and smaller, and it’s beginning to recede more and more. The Tiger we see a lot more of these days is the Tiger whose heart just isn’t in golf anymore, and someone who just wants to stop being the center of attention.

#15 He Lost All His Sponsors Another reason Tiger’s career is over now is the fact that he lost most of his sponsors a long time ago. This was a blow that was dealt to Tiger back when the true extent of his extramarital affairs started to surface. After all, who wants to be associated with someone who commits adultery? Not some of the biggest brands in the world, that’s for sure. AT&T, Accenture, Gatorade, General Motors, Gillette, TAG Heuer, and Golf Digest all dropped their sponsorship deals with the golfing legend. But Tiger Woods wasn’t the only one who lost money as a result of his divorce. Estimated shareholder losses resulting from Tiger’s cheating scandal was an estimated 5 to 12 billion dollars. That’s a lot of money caused by one man’s cheating. As most people know, most athletes make a huge deal of money off their sponsorship deals, and now no company in their right mind will touch Tiger Woods, especially now that he has a DUI. To make matters worse, Nike, which was the one company that stuck by Tiger Woods, has now exited the Golf industry, leaving Tiger completely and utterly alone.

Source: TheRichest

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College essay writing service Tutorial Submitted by deewanasaika on Fri, 2014-04-18 05:00 due date not specified not answered deewanasaika is willing to pay $5.00 {Vid_@Rip} Bernard Hopkins vs Beibut Shumenov Live Stream Free Watch Results Any Device Supported . . WATCH FULL VIDEO—->>>>>> HOPKINS VS SHUMENOV LIVE STREAM . . WATCH FULL VIDEO—->>>>>> HOPKINS VS SHUMENOV LIVE STREAM . . Winner Hopkins vs Shumenov, Watch Hopkins vs Shumenov 2014 Live Stream, Full HD Streaming Bernard Hopkins vs Beibut Shumenov Live, Hopkins vs Shumenov Live Stream, Bernard Hopkins vs Beibut Shumenov 2014 Live Streaming, Watch Hopkins vs Shumenov Online, Free Hopkins vs Shumenov 2014 Live Streaming, Hopkins vs Shumenov Main Cards, Hopkins vs Shumenov Prediction, Fight Time Hopkins vs Shumenov Live, Watch Hopkins vs Shumenov Live Stream Match Cards, Hopkins vs Shumenov 2014 Live Streaming Results Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer called IBF light heavyweight titleholder Bernard Hopkins on Wednesday, the boxer’s 49th birthday, and delivered the perfect news. Schaefer told Hopkins that a deal has been reached, in principle, with promotional stablemate and WBA beltholder Beibut Shumenov for a unification bout. Hopkins-Shumenov would happen either on March 29 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn or April 19 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Schaefer said both venues will play host to Golden Boy events.

Already the oldest man to win a significant crown, Hopkins, who fights on Showtime (along with Shumenov), wants to get beyond Shumenov and face the winner between hard-hitting counterparts RING and WBC champion Adonis Stevenson and WBO beltholder Sergey Kovalev (should those two fight this year). “I called Bernard today on his 49th birthday, and had a very nice conversation with him. I told him how much I appreciate my friendship and my relationship with him, and what an amazing person he is, and that I’m really proud of the relationship we have,” said Schaefer. “I said that I wanted to give him a very special birthday gift, and I felt that delivering a unification fight at age 49 would give him a chance to make history again. We’ll be doing an event on both of those nights, and we have other names and other fights which will be held on that date as well. I’m working on some other big fights but I am not going to go into detail on those.”

Stevenson and Kovalev are aligned with Showtime’s network rival HBO, which has severed ties with Golden Boy. “If you look at what his plan would have been is that he fights Shumenov, and Stevenson and Kovalev fight each other, and then the two winners fight for the undisputed championship. But it seems like Stevenson and Kovalev may have other plans,” said Schaefer. “So he might have to beat all of them, which is no problem with Bernard. The blueprint is that he’s going to fight Shumenov first. I talked to Don Chargin, who is working with Shuemov, and with Al Haymon, who is his advisor, and we’re very close on getting the deal done with Beibut. It’s not signed, but I do believe that, in principle, we have a fight. I’ll be working to finalize all of this in the coming weeks.”

It was back on Sept. 29, 2001, that Hopkins scored a 12th-round knockout over previously undefeated Felix Trinidad at New York’s Madison Square Garde, earning the undisputed middleweight title. Trinidad became the 14th of the Philadelphia fighter’s record 20 title defenses, culminating a Don King-promoted 160-pound tournament duing which IBF beletholder Hopkins had dethroned the WBC’s Keith Holmes by unanimous decision, and Trinidad, the WBA’s William Joppy by fifth-round stoppage. Hopkins’ triumph added Trinidad’s WBA title to his IBF and WBC belts, unifying the middleweight division for the first time since 1987 and tying Carlos Monzon with his record 14th defense.

Now, Hopkins, sees a chance to achieve similar glory as a 175-pounder. “It’s going to happen because you’ve got two of the smartest guys, and two of the brightest guys that I trust, and that I respect first, and that’s Al Haymon and that is Richard Schaefer,” said Hopkins. “When you’ve got that situation, and you have two fighters who say that they want to fight in order to get to the other light heavyweight champions, that’s an ancient attitude. It hasn’t been like that in so many years. That’s why I think that the tournament of 2001 was so big, and promoted so big.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bernard Hopkins set the middleweight title defense record by retaining his IBF belt 20 times en route to unifying all the major 160-pound belts during the course of his historic 10-year reign. From 1995 to 2005, he was known as “The Executioner.” More recently, Hopkins twice became the eldest man to win a major belt in boxing, later changing his nickname to “The Alien.”

On April 19 at the D.C. Amory in Washington, D.C., Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 knockouts), who turned 49 in January, will put his IBF 175-pound title on the line against that of WBA counterpart Beibut Shumenov (13-1, 8 KOs). Hopkins’ goal, within proximity of his 50th birthday, is to become undisputed champion as he did at 160-pounds. Hopkins wants to unify all the major belts by defeating Shumenov before facing the winner of a potential clash between RING and WBC champion Adonis Stevenson and WBO titleholder Sergey Kovalev. Golden Boy COO Bruce Binkow offered his perspective of Hopkins during a Tuesday press conference at the W Hotel in downtown Washington, DC.

“Every time Bernard Hopkins fights it’s a historical event,” said Binkow, “and we also have a world champion who is looking to make his mark and history by taking Bernard’s belt. Shumenov has successfully defended his title five times, and this April he gets an opportunity to add his name to the history books if he can do what very few people have done and beat Bernard Hopkins. “I could remind you that Bernard won his middleweight title in 1995 and successfully defended it 20 times. But what’s really amazing is that Bernard has had a spectacular last couple of years. He’s already twice become the oldest man to win a major world championship and in 2013 he had one of his greatest years ever.

I believe that if a baseball, football or basketball player was performing anywhere near the level that he is performing at his age he would be in a lab being studied by science. It’s absolutely unbelievable.” In October, Hopkins unanimously decisioned Karo Murat in defense of the IBF belt he won by unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Tavoris Cloud in March to extend his own record as the oldest man to win a significant crown.

Hopkins first set the record at the age of 46 by outpointing Jean Pascal for the WBC’s title in May 2011 before being dethroned following a majority decision loss to Chad Dawson in May 2012. After winning the IBF middleweight title from Segundo Mercado on April 29, 1995, Hopkins went on to defend it a record 20 times before losing to Jermain Taylor by a split decision on July 16, 2005. Hopkins’ milestone run included knockouts against the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Robert Allen, Simon Brown, Glen Johnson, John David Jackson and Carl Daniels.

After losing back-to-back controversial decisions to Taylor, Hopkins rose into the light heavyweight division for triumphs over Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright, Kelly Pavlik, Enrique Ornelas and Roy Jones, his lone light heavyweight defeat prior to Dawson was a split-decision against recent hall of fame inductee Joe Calzaghe. “When you’ve been in the game so long that you outlive your nickname… he was ‘The Executioner,’ now he’s ‘The Alien,’ it’s been an honor and a pleasure to actually watch him culminate into the type of athlete that he is today,” said Hopkins’ trainer, Naazim Richardson. “A lot of people don’t understand our sport, and they don’t understand that 30 in boxing is old. This guy is ancient. You have to sit back and realize how impressive this is.”

Hopkins is old enough to be a parent to the 30-year-old Shumenov, a 2004 Kazakhstan Olympian who ended an 18-month absence by scoring three knockdowns during a third-round stoppage of Tamas Kovacs in December. Shumenov dethroned Gabriel Campillo by controversial split decision in January of 2010, avenging a loss by majority decision in their previous fight in August of 2009. Shumenov established a record for the light heavyweight division by defeating Campillo in just his 10th professional bout.

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