#look LOOK I learned how to cook during the pandemic

[chronicallyuniconic]

"6 out of 10 people who died from Covid between March and July 2020 were disabled"

As part of the UK covid inquiry, evidence has now been brought to light which shows that "Do Not Attempt Resuscitation" notices, were put on the files of patients with Down's Syndrome, Autism & other learning disabilities.

These people were healthy, before contracting Covid19.

The NHS watchdog we know as NICE, (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), issued guidance for trusts and hospitals advising them to apply a “clinical frailty scale” to decide whether patients should be admitted to intensive care.

Older and more frail patients were viewed as being less likely to survive even with critical care treatment.

The original NICE guidance also suggested that those who could not do everyday tasks like cooking, managing money and personal care independently, would be considered frail & not receive intensive care treatment.

This original guidance has since been removed....

Which leads us to the Do not attempt Resuscitation notices...

The DNAR notices were often placed on the files of the patients without their consent, or with limited understanding of its meaning.

Patients with learning disabilities were classed as 'clinically frail'

NHS England have of course denied this, yet the evidence shows they let them die, as to not overwhelm the NHS in the early days of a pandemic.

Yet many specialist nurses have come forward to say that they were constantly put in place for people with learning disabilities and often "inappropriately."

_____

I feel utterly sick. I remember at the start of the pandemic, talking about how disabled people will become a target, that we will be killed off, and people looked at me like I was purple.

4 years later we're here. In case you need to read it again, 6 in 10 people with covid that died during March to June 2020, were disabled. 6 in 10. I can't stop repeating that number.

Read more here:

https://archive.ph/4BQ3s

#covid 19 #covid pandemic #long covid #disability #covid inquiry #chronic illness #chronic life #chronically ill #spoonie problems #Disabled not disposable #learning disability #vulnerable #down syndrome #nhs #nhs england #aneurin bevan #Would be spinning in his grave

[jmdbjk]

Are they or aren't they?

I know I'm not the most jikook-centric blog around here and I don't go on and on about them every time content drops. (Or do I? 🤔)

I am not here to convince anyone of anything. I just say what I think about what I see and that's pretty much all there is to it.

I guess I take it for granted that most see what I see and it’s not necessary for me to point out the obvious all the time.

But for some reason today, I started thinking about Jimin and Jungkook and what they are to each other and how that has manifested itself to us this past year. Even though we see very little of it all, speaking for myself, I still see what I see and its all fine.

A super-long ramble:

The past year's solo era has definitely been an eye-opener for me as far as learning more about ALL the member's individual personalities, of how they work and how they view each other.

As far as Jimin and Jungkook, as time goes on, I don't sense anything that makes me feel whatever they are to each other has diminished at all. If anything, I feel like it is even more intense.

It is not so much what I see between Jimin and Jungkook because dang, there has not been very much to see with them in the same room has there?

But if we aren't seeing them together, I just sound delulu right? I just said I say what think from what I SEE... how can I see anything, you ask?... well...

Hear me out...

I see Jungkook figuring out this new phase himself... he has said in the past he still had some maturing left to do. I think he has shown us plenty of his true self and maturity this past year.

We know all this because he's shared a lot with us via his lives. He's been living his introverted life his way until its his time to get to work.

He likes to cook. He likes to watch TV. He loves to sing. He's keeping up with his boxing training. He has a goofy sense of humor. He's trying to be a normal person and go out in the world and eat at restaurants and attend concerts and hang out with friends. We've seen him being his "rebellious" 25 year old self. We know he has serious stalkers and he is very direct about it. He shows no fear to us.

We know he's most comfortable when he knows we are there with him. Unfortunately we've also seen him suffer through loss and we've seen him working through some feelings that have made him emotional. We've seen quite a bit from JK.

He has spoken to us about serious things and not so serious things. He is very good at phrasing things and expressing things clearly.

Jungkook is figuring it all out.

Kookie has spent a lot of time showing us himself and where he lives. He has had a lot of time to do so.

I see Jimin, on the other hand, has returned to being somewhat more like the Jimin we knew before the pandemic. The perfectionist workaholic. Also a new (to me) layer of sweetness and gratitude that exudes from him no matter where he is, interacting with fans at a radio station, in the audience of a performance, interacting with others in general and during his lives or just walking through the airport, Jimin is thankful for it all. This extra-strength gratitude manifests itself in the way he takes his time to thank just about EVERYONE and how he always seems genuinely surprised to see the outpouring of love.

Earlier last year it was obvious to me (me who pays very close attention to Jimin) that he was not himself. During photoshoots and promotion recordings he was not engaged. His mind was elsewhere. They all looked less than thrilled don't you think?

But since about last October, Jimin has been the happiest I've seen him in AGES during his lives. His music is making him happy. Working is making him happy. He says it at least once during every live: "I am happy."

And the sassy has returned. Jimin is SO HAPPY that we are seeing the re-emergence of a more assertive Jimin during a live broadcast! We haven't really seen this Jimin since... a long time.

This most recent live, I see a Jimin who is doing well and taking control of his life again. A Jimin who knows what is coming and is going to meet it head on.

From what I've seen, I can say that Jimin and Jungkook's time together was most probably curtailed this past year. I think a lot of people agree with that assessment. We infer this because Jimin was working his ass off and therefore he was elsewhere busy with schedules. I think the bulk of this was for his Face album but he was also busy with his new brand ambassador responsibilities. Side note: I saw that Robert Pattinson was getting $12 million dollars for his deal with Dior so I think its safe to say Jimin is getting at least that if not more for his deal. And he also has the Tiffany deal... Jimin is doing very well...

So where does this leave any sort of relationship (whatever it may be) between Jimin and Jungkook? How can they be "together" if that is what they are? Or how can they even be "close"?

JK has made it clear and obvious that he is very thrilled to see Jimin commenting during his lives. We've all seen it. He spontaneously combusts when he would see Jimin commenting.

[When someone commented that Jimin did not come live to tell us the Rainy Day Fight story so Kookie proceeded to spill the tea.]

My opinion from what I see: I think JK started looking for Jimin in the comments after a few times of having him show up there. I think he craved the interaction with Jimin. The knowing that Jimin was aware of him and took the time to acknowledge means something to JK.

And finally it clicked and Kookie realized "wow, turn on notifs and I too can know when JM goes live!" And so he did when Jimin was in the car and JK proceeded to have a full blown conversation while Jimin was on his way home from work.

When Jimin's album release date got closer Jungkook was giving us spoilers of some of Jimin's work via some of the songs on the playlist while doing a live broadcast. We weren't aware those were spoilers until Jimin's album and other songs came out: Muni Long, JVKE, the butterfly hair twisty thingy, playing Letter on the guitar... and then just outright telling us something amazing was coming out at midnight when Set Me Free Pt. 2 dropped.

... something amazing... I'm pretty sure JK knew how much work Jimin put into this first album and what it meant to Jimin to purge some emotional demons that had been plaguing him for some time. I would even say that JK was proud of Jimin and therefore, made sure to hype it up even though we saw that JK had some sort of emotional moment by himself on White Day back in March.

The lives progressed into Jungkook just outright spending either the entire live or big chunks of time totally ignoring Armys and focused solely on Jimin content.

He turns on a live because there is some sort of comfort to him knowing Army is present and then he turns his attention to Jimin...

He does all of that on purpose. Without just saying the words: "I adore Jimin and support him wholeheartedly" he has proven that he feels that way with his actions. He figured out a way to express this even when Jimin was who knows where.

If he didn't want us to think that, he wouldn't have done what he did, would he? Why would he spend so much time focused on Jimin?

We know JK's stopped having a presence on social media except for Weverse. And using just Weverse Live, he's been able to accomplish more visible support for Jimin than any other member has shown for any other member during this solo era.

And if he's doing all of this on Weverse, what else is he doing behind the scenes, in person, with Jimin?

We know they spent time recording Run BTS episodes last year.

We know of at least one instance of JK visiting Jimin while he was working hard.

Having Jungkook's support is probably one of the best feelings for Jimin.

"But Jimin asked JK to visit again and JK said 'no'." And yet JK contradicted himself telling Jimin he'd come to a music show recording but Jimin said it was too late, and that it was ok because JK had already visited him during this dance practice above.

"Jimin said that JK has not cooked ramyeon for him yet." Jimin also said it is off limits, he's eating a high protein diet. JK has also mentioned in the last year that he should be eating less gluten so sounds like they both avoid the type of noodles that are high in carbs and gluten. FYI: "ramen" is technically the Japanese style noodles with a milder flavor and "ramyeon" is the Korean version which is spicier. I have a habit of calling it "ramen" when I mean "ramyeon".

"Jimin doesn't hug JK like he does Hobi." Uh... yeah he does:

And then we have started seeing this pattern... coincidence? Not anymore... of Jungkook coming on live right after Jimin has left the country. And then we get the same thing from Jimin the other day after Jungkook leaves.

My opinion from what I've seen:

These two are very close and have worked out how they deal with separation. They spend time together when they can. When they can't they share things like everyone else does, by texting and phone calling and face timing and all that.

From what I've seen them say during their own lives, I think they spend time together talking about work. I especially think JK has participated in helping Jimin rehearse, practice and just generally hanging out. I think they spend time eating together and watching tv or youtube together.

I think they are fine and are navigating their relationship (whatever it is) very well, regardless of their careers and impending military service, existing as global superstars as well as being normal day-to-day Jeon Jungkook and Park Jimin. They are making it work because they've been doing this for at least ten years already.

So, long ramble to say, I will continue to not state the obvious every time we see something, because to me, its obvious everything is going well for them.

#long ramble #if you made it this far thank you for reading the obvious #jimin #jungkook #jikook #kookmin #chapter two and all that #its obvious and if you think they are playing hide the sausage #well good for them #and if they aren't good for them too

[kyistell]

What kinda headcanons do you have for California

I didn't think the list was going to be as long as it is but once I started thinking more and more I couldn't stop lol

California-

Wet cat

He/They and no he won’t stop reminding you

Was very obsessed with shiny things, especially gold, when he was younger, now he’s only a “normal” amount of obsessed

Very pretty, like the definition, like if you look up the definition of pretty in the dictionary he comes up

Has an obscene amount of stim/fidget toys, squishies, the poke ones, even fidget spinners, they have them all 

Worked at the Berkeley laboratory in the 90s, specifically Berkeley’s element hunting team

Used to be obsessed with Creepypastas, however is now obsessed with cryptids (“They aren’t the same thing shut up *state name here*” has been said a lot)

Will slip into a southern accent without warning, has given multiple southern states heart attacks because of this on more than 10 occasions

Loves to write, especially fanfiction, however there is no way they would EVER willingly show anyone these, they did once when he was drunk but New York never mentioned it and Cali did not remember

Loves Stardew Valley and Minecraft, will play them both for hours without realizing

Has absolutely horrible time management, as well as their general perception of time is also atrocious

Loves podcasts, tends to listen to them more than YouTube videos

The times that Jersey dragged him to Action Park ended with hospital stays and praying that the doctors wouldn’t notice that he should definitely be dead

Been watching Smosh since it first started

Disney adult and proud

He started streaming on Twitch during the pandemic, occasionally being joined by Jersey, Nevada, or York, Florida joined stream once and has since been banned

Don’t listen to what York says, he definitely knows how to cook (re: he has no idea what they are doing in the kitchen without help)

Knows a handful of languages but only fully knows English and Spanish, though he can read and understand Russian, they just can’t speak it

Was forced to wear a dress once by Nevada and that’s how they realized he wasn’t fully male

He doesn’t actually mind feminine pronouns, just prefers He/They

Has a ridiculously long skincare routine, at least 2 hours at night and an hour in the morning

Used to be attached at the hip with Washington and Oregon, they are all still close in a similar but not as much way like the NE are

They and New Mexico go out with Arizona once every few weeks to different areas of their respective states, occasionally Texas will join

Cali and Texas aren’t related, they were both raised at one point by Mexico at the same time sure but they aren’t related

Loves to learn about different cultures, especially Asian cultures

Didn’t hate crowds until the pandemic, now can’t stand them

His room is extremely cluttered and disorganized, can’t even be considered organized chaos, their working on it (York had a stern talk with them about it)

They actually do understand Football, he just doesn’t like the sport all too much

Feel like this is obvious but he is a HUGE nerd, like a bigger nerd than New York not that Cali knows that of course

#welcome to the table #wttt #wttt california #wttsh california #wttt headcanons #now this is the longest one #haha oops #i dont even read stuff for cali wtf #wttt new jersey #wttt new york #kyi requests

[telomeke]

get to know me ask game

Thanks for tagging me @colourme-feral!

RULES: bold the ones that are true & tag 10 people to do it.

APPEARANCE

blonde hair // I prefer loose clothing to tight clothing // I have one or more piercings // I have at least one tattoo // I have dyed or highlighted my hair // I have gotten plastic surgery // I have or had braces // I sunburn easily // I have freckles // I paint my nails // I typically wear makeup // I don’t often smile // I am pleased with how I look // I prefer Nike to Adidas // I wear baseball hats backwards

I started graying early (in my teens) so the hair dye is for when I want to change things up a bit. Braces are a rite of passage for so many, including me. I don't often smile, so people think I'm more serious than I actually am (also because of RBF). I'm satisfied with how I look because you've always got to love yourself first, and understand that nobody is perfect (so you shouldn't expect that of yourself either, whether in looks or any other department).

HOBBIES & TALENTS

I play a sport // I can play an instrument // I am artistic // I know more than one language // I have won a trophy in some sort of competition // I can cook or bake without a recipe // I know how to swim // I enjoy writing // I can do origami // I prefer movies to tv shows // I can execute a perfect somersault // I enjoy singing // I could survive in the wild on my own // I have read a new book series this year // I enjoy spending time with friends // I travel during work or school breaks // I can do a handstand

Can play piano but not well. I like art but don't indulge in it too much (except maybe writing). Grew up in a multilingual environment and that's made me love languages and linguistics. Trophies were mostly school stuff, nothing to write home about. I cook a lot, bake a bit less, but it's to get around food intolerances. Used to swim a lot. Writing is my first love. Origami and papercraft are fun. Prefer singing to piano (always have, and the background in music theory means I can appreciate some forms though I much prefer pop and R&B to classical). I used to travel a lot more, but do it less after the pandemic; traveling is less fun for me now and I prefer to voyage on the Internet instead.

RELATIONSHIP

I am in a relationship // I have been single for over a year // I have a crush // I have a best friend who I’ve known for ten years // my parents are together// I have dated my best friend // I am adopted // my crush has confessed to me // I have a long distance relationship // I am an only child // I give advice to my friends // I have made an online friend // I met up with someone I have met online

Spouse and I have been together a long, long time. Old friends are to be treasured. Crush confessions are so awkward when they're not reciprocal. I give advice (comes naturally as the eldest child) but it's not always welcome and I've had to learn to hold back. My online friends are those I've met through Tumblr, mostly around a shared love for Bad Buddy.

AESTHETICS

I have heard the ocean in a conch shell // I have watched the sun rise // I enjoy rainy days // I have slept under the stars // I meditate outside // the sound of chirping calms me // I enjoy the smell of the beach // I know what snow tastes like // I listen to music to fall asleep // I enjoy thunderstorms // I enjoy cloud watching // I have attended a bonfire // I pay close attention to colors // I find mystery in the ocean // I enjoy hiking on nature paths // autumn is my favorite season

Hasn't every child put a seashell to their ear? I did this so many times as a kid. Watched the sun rise at the seaside and in the mountains; most spectacular was at Gunung Bromo but marred by the sulfurous fumes biting the lungs. The quieter sounds of nature are generally calming so chirping counts. I love everything about the beach because we used to holiday there all the time in my childhood. Snow tastes of nothing; I remember sticking my tongue out to catch snowflakes in Iceland. A good thunderstorm is the perfect setting for a hot coffee, pastry and a good book by the window. There was always a bonfire at teen gatherings. I'm very visually-oriented and can't help noticing colors, but have learnt to focus the attention beam and not get distracted so sometimes I ignore them. Love everything about the sea and ocean, including their unknowns. Enjoy hikes and have done country/forest walks in different places but nothing too strenuous please, and I think the comfort meal after the walk is even better. What's not to love about autumn? The colors are gorgeous, lots of late summer fruit are amazing (mirabelle plums my favorite) and the whiff of smoke in the cooler evening air is so evocative of coziness.

MISCELLANEOUS

I can fall asleep in a moving vehicle // I am the mom friend // I live by a certain quote // I like the smell of sharpies // I am involved in extracurricular activities // I enjoy Mexican food // I can drive a stick shift // I believe in true love // I make up scenarios to fall asleep // I sing in the shower // I wish I lived in a video game // I have a canopy above my bed // I am multiracial // I am a redhead // I own at least 3 dogs

Memories of falling asleep on long bus rides to faraway destinations. Quote I live by: no regrets (it's pointless to stress out about a past you can't change; just learn from it and move forward). Mexican cuisine is not my all-time favorite but I like anything with chilli, so there are always dishes to enjoy, especially if there's cheese and avocado. I learnt to drive on a stick shift so that's not an issue but hardly drive nowadays (don't own a car and don't need one). I believe in true love, because I've found mine. I sing in the shower (and in the kitchen, in the living-room, everywhere I can at home).

Tagging (and I'm not gonna stop at 10):

@crzshaly437 @dimplesandfierceeyes @dudeyuri @ranchthoughts @teaofdesaster @miscellar @dribs-and-drabbles @recentadultburnout @bengiyo @waitmyturtles @twig-tea @airenyah @lurkingshan @22grt23 @faillen @pandasmagorica @anotherlovr @orchdxtea @badinthelatin @rythyme @lurkingteapot @vegasandhishedgehog

Also anyone and everyone who reads this (forgive me if I didn't tag you personally, didn't mean to forget anyone). Do play along and remember to tag me so I can get to know you better too! But no pressure if you don't wish to play either. 💖

#the tag game

[thegodthief]

What're you most looking forward to next year? It can be spiritual / religious, or magical, or just completely mundane!

Every time I have looked at this ask, it has been a different time of day, and my answer will have changed accordingly! Let's see... since it looks like I'm going to stick around and make it everyone else's problem, what kind of problems do I want to get into?

LASAGNA! Garfield had it right, a good lasagna is a reason to keep going. Not the modern thick slabs of barely cooked pasta with meat flavored "sauce" and whipped cellulose cheese substitute. I want something that Baba made after sending us kids to all the grocery stores for just the right collection of cheeses. I want a lasagna slice so dense with animal proteins, a deep-dish pizza is going to spill itself in the oven in jealousy. I want a lasagna that requires a steak-knife to cut, none of this "press firmly with a spatula" bullshit. I need my ribs spackled!

Finishing Book Two. Really. Seriously. It's time to let the guilt of falling down go away and get back up and get back in it. When I look back and see what had happened that year, that so many people at work saw that I was spiraling in a bad way but chose to get popcorn, or worse, do nothing, so that when I crashed and openly broke down it was to no one's surprise... when I look back and see what I fucking lived through... Fuck it. Melissa's story is not going to get told unless I tell it. Even though I don't expect anyone to read it. I've noticed that stories set during the height of the pandemic are vigorously avoided. And I get that. A lot of people don't want to be reminded of what happened. But some of us don't have the luxury of forgetfulness and if finishing Book Two (and eventually, the planned series) is what helps me heal, well, it's cheaper than anything the medical system can offer me.

Change of Address. Last year, I had the opportunity to purchase a house. Between credit score and income, it looked like I was going to be able to do the thing after all. I had the help of some competent agents that were frank about what I could afford and what kind of neighborhoods that looked like around here. I almost jumped for it at the time, but did not. Staying put was the right thing to do after all that happened, but I haven't forgotten the opportunity is still there. I just want a better launch pad to go from. (Besides, if all works out, I might even get to host a dinner.)

Connecting with others. Because of what had happened to me at the local Well-known Pagan Occult Shop (they don't like being called pagan because SEO) a literal decade ago, I had given up on any local meet-ups, seminars, or even just safe places to hang out. I was well played and was being set up to be the Bad Person™ when I walked away and I knew that any attempt to tell the truth would just result in me being targeted harder for retaliation either by the asshole that took advantage of me or the people who thought he walked on water such that he was incapable of being a sexual predator. Just when I thought I could start again in other areas, the pandemic showed up, and in the midst of that, a Big Name Occultist revealed what all the outsiders knew about his leanings and getting away from all that left me stained and crushed because I thought I had learned my lesson from the first grifter, but apparently not. But. I survived that, just like I survived everything else, and learning how to make friends is going to be harder than learning how to live, but I'll give it a try.

MOAR BITCHING! I have become competent enough in Spanish that I can speak it at work and hold my own to the point where some of the native Spanish speakers look at me funny when they realize that I'm conversing with them because it's fluid enough for them to forget that it's not my first language. It feels like I've hit a critical milestone in that my lessons now are about the more obscure words, phrases, and topics to round things out. I'm not going to throttle down on the Spanish, but it's time for me to begin on a few other languages that I've always wanted to learn but my childhood teachers said I was too stupid to pick up. Spite is an incredible motivator. My goal is to be able to bitch out a cunt in at least three different languages in the same breath and still be parsable to any eavesdropping native speaker.

#Keri answers an ask. #liminalblessings

[copperbadge]

Hi Sam! I hope you're doing well! Could you tell me (or point me to a previous post) about the farmshare thing you get? Is it local or could I sign up for it in a different state?

It's local, I'm afraid, but you may have one near you that's just as good! Especially during the pandemic a bunch of new ones popped up. If you google "farm share" or "farm CSA" in your area you may find a few.

Mine is through Urban Canopy. They call it a "LUCSA" which stands for Local Unified Community Supported Agriculture. Some just go by "CSA" but when I called it that someone pointed out that people who don't want to see discussions of child exploitation have it blacklisted, so I started calling it a Farm Share, which is another common name for it. I'm actually super lucky; prior to the pandemic a lot of the community agriculture in Chicago either didn't deliver to my area or didn't deliver at all, and now there are several.

The idea is that farms local to your region create a box of their product on a regular schedule and you pay a flat fee per box. Usually you can't choose what goes in it, it's just what's in season. Farm share boxes tend to be more expensive than what you'd pay at the grocery store, but I'm now in a position where I can pay more for fresh food and feel good about supporting local small farms and businesses without worrying about the cost.

I pre-paid for the season (15 boxes) and bought a meat add-on, so I pay somewhere around $60-$70 per box (plus delivery tip), brought to me twice-monthly from October through March by a delightful woman named Yarrow. In each box I get roughly a gallon of beverage (some alcoholic, some non), a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, a pound or so of mushrooms, and, once monthly, three pounds of meat. Those are what convinced me to invest, because as someone who doesn't eat a lot of veg I wanted at least a handful of things I was guaranteed to like, and I love eggs and mushrooms and meat. In addition to the above, the box usually contains a large bag of greens (last one was kale) plus 5-8 different in-season veggies and fruits, like potatoes, onions, apples, peppers, radishes, carrots, et cetera.

So I've...basically stopped having to go to the grocery store. I still go once in a while for staples, but it's gone from once a week to about once a month, and I live mostly on what's in my CSA box and the occasional meal out.

There are some farm shares now where they send you a list of options and you pick; in Chicago, it's Tomato Mountain, which I'm going to look into when this farm share runs out, although I've been very happy with Urban Canopy so far in terms of food quality, amount, and convenience. I was thinking I probably wouldn't renew my subscription for the summer season, but after a few months of the winter season I'm reconsidering that.

So yeah, if you have the money and can eat veg and take regular deliveries, I think it's a cool way to get your food -- you're supporting local businesses and at least in my case learning how to cook new dishes or improvising with familiar ones.

#food #farm share #local agriculture

[ravenadottir]

rahim: headcanons

(listen, i thought i had posted and queued this last year, like around june, and as it turns out it was stored in my google drive, so rahim stans, sorry about that!)

⛳ after having a discussion with @itsrealityboo we can agree the imagery of rahim with a petit dog is e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. while the dog gives him kisses he can’t help but giggle while it happens. STOP.

⛳ i reckon he prefers apartments over houses. like @itsrealityboo said, "I think he wants luxury but doesn't want to deal with the additional upkeep that comes with a stand alone house." and it's very that.

⛳ a second bedroom converted into a closet, because you know he just has LOADS of clothes and barely repeats them.

⛳ his at-home-attire consists mostly of sweatshirts, which i love picturing in a blush pink.

⛳ during the pandemic he was getting anxious for not being able to hit the gym. however, he did go overboard to compensate for it with his online purchases.

⛳ the maintenance for his hair it’s either made by mc or himself. i really reckon he went through a lot of videos and tutorials to learn because he didn’t know how to do them before.

⛳ he was also having lots of fun learning dance tutorials on youtube, but doesn’t want anyone to know about it. REALLY HARD TO MISS THE GIANT BOY STEPPING UP AND DOWN IN THE OFFICE BUT SURE RAHIM.

⛳ zoom calls with noah and henrik. learning some recipes from bobby and talking nonsense with gary.

⛳ playing online FOR SURE, and everyone in the chat was from the villa. he loves playing team games and laugh while gary yells at bobby for the 35th time that he missed a chance to eliminate someone. “AI, CUPCAKE, PAY ATTENTION, FUCK!” all you can hear is noah sighing and rahim chuckling.

⛳ he was so bored at some point he was learning how to do magic, and when failing while showing it to his girl he would shake his head and say “it worked when i practiced in the mirror”.

⛳ his mom would make sure he’s always keeping the fridge full and he would respond with “it’s almost like you don’t know me mom.”

⛳ i reckon he talks to his mom at least once a week. not so much with his dad the more he learns about masculinity and all.

⛳ loves to surprise his girl with his cooking, and now that’s improving he likes showing off a bit.

⛳ expanding his music collection by A LOT.

⛳ expanding his reading as well, especially with manga.

⛳ and while at it he might check a few animes too.

⛳ drawing! drawing! drawing! this is an old headcanon but it’s so fitting for him. i think this is how he copes with anxiety sometimes.

⛳ so many brand deals after the show. the best way to make money during the pandemic since he couldn’t tour.

⛳ i would love to think he did a reaction video about three episodes: the one he brings shannon back, the one he chooses jo over shannon, and when he and mc get back together. i have a feeling he’s very apologetic about the whole ordeal and tries to explain himself a lot.

⛳ wine drinker. sue me, i like the thought of him drinking a glass of wine.

⛳ he might experiment a lot with his hair, and let it breathe from time to time. i honestly think he would look so good with an afro.

⛳ if he's bored you might catch him trying to solve the rubik's cube in a shorter time crunch.

thirsty headcanons under the cut:

🧡 rahim’s disposition to make her moan is unprecedented. he’s reading,, and watching a lot of videos on the matter. he felt really unequipped and i think spending his time learning is worthy of compensation.

🧡 loves being the reason she grabs the bedsheets and will do anything to make it happen.

🧡 slight mommy kink, not gonna lie.

🧡 loves praise.

🧡 has a hard time to talk about his own preferences because he’s afraid of being judged. once he feels comfortable, there’s no turning back.

🧡 background music always, it helps him focus.

🧡 holding her around his waist wherever they are.

🧡against a wall happens more frequently than you think.

🧡 P-A-C-K-I-N-G.

🧡 likes being guided. loves being controlled. cums when commanded.

🧡 his default flow is mostly romantic and easy going.

🧡 if he doesn’t receive a picture while on tour he’s definitely upset.

🧡 if she tells him she wants a video with audio featuring him in the tub, he’s tripping on his way to take his clothes off and fill that bitch up.

🧡 left and right there’s a growl but he’s not sure if he’s allowed to make noises. when she tells him it’s ok, just watch. or rather, listen. he sounds fucking good…

🧡 moans her name continuously while she’s in control. and out of it for that matter.

🧡 buries his face in her neck when on top.

🧡 LOVES being teased and can’t get rid of whatever is his hands fast enough when she lets him know what’s about to happen.

🧡 whimpers when close to cumming.

🧡 his torso and thighs tremble while it happens and he shuts his eyes while grunting and whimpering.

#litg #love island the game #litg ibrahim #litg shannon #litg jo #queue

[namshyeee]

Lynn Yamada Davis, a TikTok creator who entertained millions of people with her zany style and cooking tips on her account, Cooking With Lynja, died on Jan. 1 in Red Bank, N.J. She was 67.

The cause of death, in Riverview Medical Center, was esophageal cancer, her daughter Hannah Mariko Shofet said. Ms. Davis lived in Holmdel, N.J.

Ms. Davis began creating the wholesome Cooking With Lynja videos in 2020 with her youngest child, Tim Davis, to help keep up his cinematography skills during the pandemic lockdown.

Her social media accounts have remained active after her death, because she had asked him to post videos that had already been edited. One such video shows the two of them looking for truffles in Italy.

“My mom was like my partner in crime,” Mr. Davis, 27, who edited the TikTok account, said in a phone interview.

Something else she requested, Mr. Davis said, was that he post a few older videos that they had made together about a decade ago.

Those early versions of what would later become an international TikTok sensation known for their lightheartedness were a way for Mr. Davis to learn how to make the food his mother cooked “as well as have a time capsule,” he said.

After the last Cooking With Lynja videos are uploaded the account will stop posting, he said.

Cooking With Lynja began in 2020 and gained wide attention with a video in which the 5-foot-tall Ms. Davis makes a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich while showing off some quirky dance moves. Soon, about one million people were following her offbeat content. (Today, the account has more than 17 million followers.) Potential sponsors noted the videos’ success and started contacting her.

More than three years later, the Cooking With Lynja YouTube account has nearly 10 million subscribers, and Ms. Davis’s Instagram account has more than two million followers.

In 2022, Forbes included Ms. Davis on its annual “50 over 50” list, which pays tribute to successful women over 50 years old. And she won Streamy Awards, honoring online videos, in the editing and food categories. In 2023, she attended the Forbes Women’s Summit in Abu Dhabi, where she spoke on a panel.

Lynn Yamada Davis was born on July 31, 1956, in New York City and lived most of her early life in Fort Lee, N.J. Her father, Tadao Yamada, was a businessman, and her mother, Mabel Fujisake Yamada, ran the household.

She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and earned a master’s degree in business administration as well as public health from the Columbia University Business School.

Ms. Davis worked for Bell Labs (now AT&T Labs) and had a long career in telecommunications before her unexpected TikTok fame, Ms. Shofet, her daughter, said.

“She had this whole chapter as a groundbreaking female engineer, and she was very proud of that,” she added.

As a TikTok star Ms. Davis would get recognized around the world, including in Japan and Italy, where she traveled with her youngest son, Tim. Sean Davis, her other son, is a professional soccer player who used to be a midfielder for the New York Red Bulls and now plays for the Nashville Soccer Club.

“She was my first coach,” he said. When she would visit him in Nashville, he said, she’d get recognized in the street, often by young people who use TikTok a lot.

“That’s how I realized how famous she was,” Sean Davis said. “People would ask for pictures, and I would take the picture.”

Most of all, Cooking With Lynja provided Ms. Davis with much fun, Tim Davis said. With special effects that have tiny versions of Ms. Davis flying across the screen and quotes like “Lynja’s got that dope!” her videos appealed to several generations of viewers. In her videos she is seen preparing all kinds of foods, heard sinking her teeth into crispy sandwiches or potatoes, and shown karate-chopping Ramen noodles and much more.

Ms. Davis was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2019, which affected her voice. Two years later she was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. In one video, Ms. Davis bakes cookies for the medical workers who treated her.

In addition to her daughter Hannah and her sons, Ms. Davis is survived by her second husband, Keith Davis; another daughter, Becky Steinberg; two siblings, Jay Yamada and Karen Dolce Yamada; and two grandchildren. Her first marriage, to Hank Steinberg, ended in divorce.

In her final years Ms. Davis got to travel around the world, meet people as well as cook and eat amazing food, Sean Davis said. He added, “I just think her final chapter was exactly how she would have wanted it to be written.”

A correction was made on Jan. 12, 2024: An earlier version of a picture caption with this article misstated the surname of Lynn Yamada Davis’s brother. He is Jay Yamada, not Jay Davis.

Article by: Claire Moses

Related link: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/dining/lynja-davis-cooking-tiktok-dead.html%23:~:text%3DLynn%2520Yamada%2520Davis%252C%2520a%2520TikTok,daughter%2520Hannah%2520Mariko%2520Shofet%2520said.&ved=2ahUKEwj54vHkmNmDAxUCwjgGHcmJD4IQFnoECBAQBQ&usg=AOvVaw3LVu4CRgXFfh9eWXrv6Yhy

Namo, Julius

Sarmiento, Jizel Chinnji

Salamanca, Amalia

#@lynja #@gracelourevilla

[mbrainspaz]

my gay uncle trying to explain to me that reagan wasn't that bad and his whole excuse literally being 'he had a gay friend.' 😶 I am ... how can you be this way when you actually lived through the 80's? I know media wasn't as accessible back then but damn man have you not looked back once? And then he has the nerve to frame ME as the ignorant one?

he was giving me a whole talk about how I can't just shut people out of my life for 'disagreeing with me.' (Because he wants me to unblock my transphobic mom because us not talking anymore is making everyone else soooo uncomfortable.) Ugh. 0/10 worst entire conversation I've had recently. He even tried the 'trans people don't deserve the same rights [as us gay guys] because they didn't even exist in the public discourse until recently' bullshit. When I mentioned the story of the trans research from 1930's Germany that was destroyed by the nazis he acted like I was trying to make the holocaust about trans people instead of jews. Not even??? Incredibly disingenuous. When I brought up literary sources he actually got upset and exclaimed that I should read some book about how Fauci is evil. I laughed like... 'okay.' "People only read things they agree with!" he exclaimed triumphantly as if I hadn't just agreed to read it. "Do you know how many right wing conservative christian books I've read? That's how I learned to think critically about what I read, take it apart, and refute it." That kinda took the wind out of his sails but I don't feel like I got through to him at all.

In another attempt to excuse his politics he tried the 'all politicians are evil' discourse so I talked about the minimization of harm and actual harm inflicted by candidates he probably voted for. He jumped that track so fast. Yeah I can see why he wouldn't wanna think too hard about that. He might... I dunno... have to shift his worldview to actually consider the needy and marginalized.

Over and over he kept trying to frame everything as my fault for 'playing the victim.' and 'being too polarized.' I gave the criticism earnest consideration but nah, it doesn't track. I mean I am polarized but in a standing for something so I won't fall for anything kinda way. He tried to say I was making myself the victim by letting my dad kick me out during the pandemic—said it was my fault for saying I was going to vote for Biden. Mmmkay. So I one-upped him by saying 'actually I knew moving in with my folks was my mistake from day one when my dad refused to let me pay rent. That was totally on me and all I've done is deal with the consequences ever since.' (A thing I've been saying since 2018. And it's silly anyway because my dad actually kicked me out like 4 months prior to that incident for refusing to give up any of my animals to a shelter because he believed it was their fault the AC in my apartment kept breaking [the AC broke again months after I moved out—it was a shitty AC]).

It sucks because deep down I know he still loves Reagan and stays right wing because they're the ones who made him rich. It doesn't matter that they would've rejoiced at his death back then. Even that Reagan effectively tried to kill him with gross negligence. I know that to get rich you can't afford to get hung up on the cost. I know we're each standing in vastly different moral landscapes shaped by our learning and our struggles or lack thereof. I'm pretty sure he doesn't see that. He just knows that I'm wrong so he keeps blindly tossing darts hoping he hits a target that proves he's right about me.

He kept saying something like 'I can love and respect people who disagree with me on all kinds of things. Even people who hate my lifestyle.' —as if I'm not doing exactly that by being here in his house, helping him cook pans of lasagna and potato salad for a bunch of my conservative relatives who are about to spend 24 hours belligerently misgendering me and who I know have voted for candidates up and down every ballot who're actively working to take my rights away & keep me trapped in poverty.

Look, I went in to this conversation desperately wanting any answer that would help me understand his take on this kind of thing. I wanted so badly for him to have a memory of some important historical event that I just wan't aware of yet. I also want to understand how he's been able to forgive the family who treated him so poorly when he came out. Nada. It's always just follow the money. I still hope he'll talk about his own views more (without attacking me) so that I can understand him better, because I still want to think better of him. Because I can and I do love so many people who persecute me. Anyway a little bit later he asked us not to bring up his partner's real estate buying business because the market is 'looking grim'. My hasn't-been-able-to-afford-rent-since-2017-ass was over there going, 'oh noooo that's gotta be so haaaard for him. Lemme just cry a single tear while I'm dicing this onion with one of your new $3000 knives.'

#save me from my family #gosh darn conservatives #ugh rich people #lakehouse shenanigans #personal problems #dialogue from memory #us politics #ex evangelical

[strawberrylemonz]

We’ll Meet Again - For the Blood God

Hello readers,

As I am writing this, it has been 3 hours since the announcement of the death of Alex "Technoblade". If you haven't watched his final video and don't plan to, no worries. You are completely valid. For those of you who are grieving alongside the community, it's okay to grieve. I can't begin to imagine how his close friends and his beloved family feel about all this. The pain of losing a loved one, a friend, is unimaginable.

I had always seen myself in Technoblade. Having only been 3 years younger than him and with a similar personality and set of interests, I related easily to him. He helped me learn to accept myself, flaws and all. I must agree with his words, I really am a nerd.

His videos had been a great comfort to me throughout my life. I remember watching him play Skywars on the school laptops the first day of high school as a homeless teen. I remember watching him a year and a half later, my family finally in a home after years. I remember watching him mess with Phil and Tommy with his goons before the pandemic caused a worldwide shutdown. I remember the 2nd Potato War, after I had just turned 18 and my school left for Spring Break, none of us returning. He was there, winning the Minecraft Championship with the rest of SBI, keeping a smile on my face as I prepared for my pandemic graduation. I remember watching him go against Dream for $100,000 during my first semester in college, days after my nephew was born. Even as my college dreams slipped through my fingers, and I felt like a complete failure, his content kept a stupid smile on my face.

The world genuinely lost an amazing person. He has inspired so many, and so many rediscovered their passions and purpose thanks to him. Out of everything he's said, he was right about many things. I miss Technoblade very much, but, true to his word, he never dies. Technoblade never dies because he will forever live in us all. His memory and his impact will live on in the lives that he touched.

It's okay to grieve, it's okay to feel lost. I, for one, am devastated. I have not cried this much and have not felt so much pain since the passing of my grandmother a decade ago. We must remember to get back up again. Even if it feels hard and impossible, we can do it. We much live our lives to the fullest, no regrets. It's what he would have wanted. Continue to write your poems, your stories, your songs. Draw to your heart's content, play new games, cook new foods, try new things. Hug those around you. Tell someone you love them. Look at the stars, learn something new and exciting, help someone out. Life is too short for us to take it for granted.

For those who may not know, there has been merch released in remembrance of Technoblade. A portion of the proceeds will be going towards fighting cancer. You can also directly donate, if you have the means to do so.

"And I hope you all go on to live long, prosperous, and happy lives, because I love you guys." - Technoblade, "so long nerds", June 30th, 2022

Let's do exactly that. Let's move forward, sorrow and all, and show him that we can live on. He's watching us, always has and always will.

I read that once you die to cancer, the cancer dies too. You don't lose, it's a draw. And Technoblade never loses.

He will be remembered as an effortlessly talented, intelligent, friendly and witty man.

So long, my favorite nerd. You have been, and always will be, the one and only Blood God. I can't wait until we meet in the afterlife, so I can thank you and then give you a piece of my mind for that remembrance merchandise. Only you would do such a thing.

"If I had another hundred lives, I think I would choose to be Technoblade again every single time, as those were the happiest years of my life." -Technoblade, "so long nerds", June 30th, 2022

#technoblade #technoblade never dies

[paulinedorchester]

We Followed Our Stars, by Ida Cook. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1950; rev. ed., Toronto: Harlequin, 1976. Reprinted, as Safe Passage: The Remarkable Story of Two Sisters Who Rescued Jews from the Nazis, with a new foreword by Anne Sebba, Toronto: Harlequin, 2008; reprinted again, as The Bravest Voices: A Memoir of Two Sisters’ Heroism During the Nazi Era, Don Mills, Ont.: Park Row Books, 2021.

Overture of Hope: Two Sisters’ Daring Plan That Saved Opera’s Jewish Stars from the Third Reich, by Isabel Vincent. Washington, D.C.: Regnery History, 2022.

As soon as I learned of Isabel Vincent’s book, I knew that it would need to be read with great caution. That feeling was reinforced when I read the “about the author” blurb on the book’s dust jacket. Then I looked at the bibliography, and wondered if I really needed to read it at all. (Here I must stop and thank the collection development, acquisitions, and cataloguing staffs of the Chicago Public Library. This is the second time in less than three years that they’ve purchased a book at my request, and in both cases they’ve managed to put it into my hands in less than a month.)

Why the unease? To begin with, Regnery Publishing’s stable of authors includes Ann Coulter, Ted Cruz, Newt Gingrich, David Horowitz, Sarah Palin, and similar types.

Second, it turns out that Isabel Vincent isn’t a historian: like Lynne Olson, she’s a journalist writing about history. Not only that: Vincent is an investigative reporter for the New York Post! One has to wonder what the phrase “investigative reporter” actually means in the context of that truly filthy tabloid, a jewel in the crown of Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp. On the other hand, I must say that Vincent seems far more comfortable using primary sources than Olson does — her research for Overture of Hope included examining 33 archival collections in seven countries. As well, the book carries an endorsement from the historian Blanche Wiesen Cook, who is not exactly a darling of the right.

Finally, the Cook sisters’ story is far from untold. I’ve known of them for at least the past several years, although I’m no longer sure how I learned: I could swear that there was an article about them in Opera News four or five years ago, but I can’t locate it. In any case, as early as 1950 Ida Cook wrote a memoir of their exploits (revising it in 1976), which is why this is a review of two books, not just one. She was the subject of a 1956 episode of This is Your Life. In 1964 Yad Vashem honored the Cook sisters as Righteous Among the Nations. They were interviewed in McCall’s in 1966 (the article was reprinted the same year in The Australian Women’s Weekly). They also inspired an essay in Granta in 2007, and I found a goodly number of other newspaper and magazine articles about them while searching for image files to use in this post.

Ida (at left; 1904-1986) and Louise (1901-1991) Cook seem to me slightly too young to be classed with the hundreds of thousands of British women for whom marriage became, if nothing else, a simple numerical impossibility in the wake of the First World War and the influenza pandemic that overlapped it. Nevertheless, that’s where Vincent situates them. The daughters of a Customs and Excise officer, they had both entered civil service themselves by the end of 1920, as typists. They were then living with their parents and younger brothers in Wandsworth, London, but the family had moved several times while they were growing up. During a stint in Alnwick, Northumberland, they attended The Duchess’ School, where music was one of their exam subjects: Louise was a pianist and Ida was a violinist.

Their passion for opera seems to have come about more or less by accident. One day in 1923 Louise, who worked for the Board of Education, wandered into a lunchtime lecture on music being given on the premises, returned home in a daze, and announced that she simply had to have a gramophone. She proceeded to buy one on an installment plan, along with ten records. (These would have been 78rpm discs, with a single track, three or four minutes long, on each side.) They were mostly of instrumental works, but also included recordings by two sopranos, Amelita Galli-Curci and Alma Gluck.

These quickly eclipsed everything else for the Cook sisters, who pooled their savings to buy the cheapest available tickets to three performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden: they saw Tosca, Rigoletto, and La Traviata, all excellent ways to get started with opera. I was startled to learn that the Covent Garden opera season was only two months long in those days; apparently, the opera house was used as a dance hall during the rest of the year.

When the Cooks learned that Galli-Curci was to give five concerts in London in late 1924 (her first appearances in the U.K.), they bought tickets to all of them. After the first one they wrote her a fan letter, enclosing a handkerchief that Ida had embroidered, and received a letter back by return post, inviting them to come back stage and say hello after the last, which they did.

Having learned in the meantime that Galli-Curci confined her operatic engagements to the Metropolitan Opera, in New York, the Cooks decided that they would travel there to see her perform — and figured out it would take them two years to save up the money that they would need in order to do so. They wrote to Galli-Curci about their plans, and she urged them to contact her when they had an itinerary. She would reserve seats for them, she said. (Galli-Curci's behavior wasn't unusual at the time, at least for singers who could pick and choose their engagements. As late as the 1970s, Dame Janet Baker was appearing in opera only in England, while continuing to tour all over the world as a concert artist.)

And that’s exactly what happened. Their arrival in New York, on January 4th, 1927, attracted the attention of The New York Times; and when they went, as instructed, to Galli-Curci’s agent’s office they found main-floor tickets to several performances waiting for them, along with Galli-Curci’s husband, Homer Samuels (a composer and pianist who was her recital accompanist), who invited them to dinner at their apartment a couple of nights later. They asked the Cook sisters to visit them in Autumn at their home in the Catskills, north of New York City — and that happened as well, though it took another two years of saving to bring it about. Ida’s account of this visit in We Followed Our Stars is not to be missed. She makes it sound like Downton Abbey on a smaller scale. (I feel compelled to add, however, that her description of Catskills social life has absolutely nothing to do with my understanding of what went on there, as recounted by my mother, who spent many summers at Catskills resorts during the 1930s and 40s. See also the films Dirty Dancing and A Walk on the Moon.)

They paid for all of this fun by scrimping and saving, skipping many lunches, and getting up before dawn to join the queue to buy cheap tickets at the Royal Opera House, where they made many like-minded friends and had the opportunity to meet world-class artists arriving for rehearsals. As we’ve seen, they were very outgoing — or at any rate Ida was outgoing and Louise was nearly always willing to follow where her sister led — and by 1934 they had befriended, and been befriended by, Galli-Curci, Ezio Pinza, Rosa Ponselle, Elisabeth Rethberg and — most crucially, in view of what was to come — Viorica Ursuleac and her husband, the conductor Clemens Krauss.

As the years went on, however, a new source of income emerged. Ida Cook was clearly a born storyteller. She had written articles for The Duchess’ School Magazine as a student; in 1928, as an old girl, she sent in an account of her and Louise’s trip to America, which was published, along with an article in the Daily Mail. After the Catskills visit, she sent an article on that experience to Mabs Fashions, a magazine that published sewing patterns, romantic fiction, and non-fiction on whatever topics seemed likely to interest their audience, including travel. This, too, was published, and the editor, a Miss Taft, invited Cook to lunch. (Vincent refers to the Mabs Fashions article, but doesn’t quote from it, as she does from the Duchess’ article, or even supply its title. From this I surmised that Mabs Fashions is poorly documented, and sure enough, WorldCat shows only scattered holdings in fewer than half a dozen libraries in the U.K. I can tell you that it was a monthly, and that it seems to have run from 1924 until some point in the mid-1930s, but much of its contents appear to have been lost to history. That’s a real pity, as it sounds very interesting.) Miss Taft asked Cook to write additional travel articles for the magazine. “Apart from the American journeys, a very short trip to Brussels was the full extent of our foreign travels,” Cook recalled. “But I said, ‘Yes, certainly,’ bought a series of guidebooks and set to work.”

A year or so later Miss Taft offered her a job at Mabs Fashions, as fiction sub-editress. This was a big leap — Cook had a responsible job in the Law Courts, with an assured pension when she turned 60, and in fact had just been promoted — but she decided to take the offer, even though she didn’t know what the position entailed. Her account of this experience is very funny, and I won’t spoil it for you, except to quote her about one part of it: “On press day I was faced with ... adding perhaps five hundred words to a story, without altering its sense, and so that no one could detect the ‘joins’. This was the only part of my work at which I became adept.”

Indeed, she became so adept that after several months the long-suffering Miss Taft asked her to write a story of her own. And then another, and so on. One of them grew into a novel, Wife to Christopher, which appeared in 1936 and was the first of Ida Cook’s more than 120 romantic novels, written over the course of 50 years, all under the name Mary Burchell.

(Above, from the Daily Mail, August 6th, 1936, left, and the Aberdeen Press & Journal, August 12th, 1936. Images ©The British Library Board. All Rights Reserved.)

In short order, she was earning as much as £1,000 per year. That money was going to prove very useful. (All of her novels were published by Mills & Boon, which later became an imprint of the romance giant Harlequin, thus explaining We Followed Our Stars’ reprint history.)

“I realize now that, even though we were in our late twenties, we were not entirely grown up,” Cook wrote of the plans she and her sister had been making during the first half of the 1930s. Indeed, when Englebert Dollfuss, the Austrian chancellor, was assassinated on July 25th, 1934, their main concern was that this might disrupt their planned first visit to the Salzburg Festival. (It didn’t.) They were no more politically aware when, during a visit to Amsterdam near the end of that year, Ursuleac asked them to “look after” a friend of hers: Mitia Mayer-Lismann, a German pianist and educator, who was soon to visit London to give a series of lectures. The Cooks assumed that this meant showing her the sights, which they did. When she asked whether St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey were Protestant or Catholic, they wondered if she was a Catholic and shouldn’t have been taken to see a Protestant church — so they asked.

What they learned was that Mayer-Lismann was Jewish, and it was she who explained the Nuremberg laws to them. Her other purpose in visiting the U.K. was to see if there was any way of moving there with her family. The Cook sisters offered to do what they could to help. The U.K. wasn’t making things easy for would-be refugees from the Nazis (nor was any other country), and half of the Cooks’ work as the decade went on would consist of cutting through reams of red tape. Word of their willingness to do this spread through the Jewish communities of Germany and, later, Austria, keeping the sisters active until just days before war was declared.

The other half of the task was helping those for whom they were able to secure visas to smuggle out whatever portion of their assets hadn’t been seized by the authorities, which by this time consisted mostly of furs and jewelry. This was a genuine cloak-and-dagger operation, if only because it involved making repeated visits to the countries in question at a time when the authorities there were beginning to view British visitors with suspicion. It was at this point that Clemens Krauss got involved: he kept the Cooks informed about when and where he was conducting what, so that when they were questioned at the border they could say that they were going to hear Krauss conduct this opera in that city on that date.

As a side note, Ida’s new prosperity allowed the Cooks to buy a long lease a one-bedroom apartment in Dolphin Square, which had just been built (and where their neighbors included politicians, spies, and Oswald Mosely). Ostensibly, this was so that they would have a crash pad in central London after late nights at the opera. In reality, it served as a dormitory for newly-arrived refugees. Ida recalled that at one point there were twelve people sleeping there.  

While Ida seems to have been the family dynamo, Louise’s contributions shouldn’t be overlooked. One of her hobbies was teaching herself languages; she learned German at top speed in 1937 in order to facilitate the sisters’ work. She also put all of her (apparently quite generous) allowance of vacation time during that period into the rescue effort, and also seems to have been the uncredited co-author of, or at least an essential consultant on, Louise’s novels.

At this point I’m going to stop summarizing the Cooks’ story and tell you that if you’re going to read either or both of these books, you should begin with Ida Cook’s memoir, if only because it’s a primary source. It’s also a very useful insight into how an opera buff’s mind works.

Both authors provide their readers with excellent summaries of political events in Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1939 — and both do so without ever talking down to their readers or implying that they shouldn’t need to provide them with this information, which is quite an accomplishment. Cook can be vague about the dates and chronology of personal events, while Vincent simply is vague on music in general and opera in particular, subjects in which she clearly has no genuine interest. (As Fred Cohn points out in his review of Vincent’s book in Opera News — which is how I learned of it; here’s a link, but I’m not sure that it will work for non-subscribers — her subtitle is a complete howler: there were no “stars” among the Cooks’ refugees; in fact, many of the people they helped weren’t involved with music at all. In spite of this, the Library of Congress has classed Overture of Hope as ML (Literature on Music).) As well, Vincent gives short shrift to the war years. (Louise was evacuated to Wales with her office; Ida was an assistant warden in a Bermondsey air-raid shelter, while continuing to write; the Royal Opera House became a dance hall year-round.) On the other hand, she provides us with a firm chronology of the Cooks sisters’ pre-war lives, and she also reveals the hard facts of how the people whose escapes they facilitated fared, which are not happy stories in all cases.

It is also Vincent who relates that Clemens Krauss fared badly in denazification proceedings. Despite his efforts on behalf of his Jewish associates and their families (as well as many complete strangers), he was widely denounced in 1945, and it’s undeniably true that he displayed a Machiavellian streak that led him to consolidate his artistic influence by securing the directorships of both the Vienna and Munich State Operas under the Third Reich. He ended up being banned from conducting for two years, but Vincent documents that just about all of his denouncers were his professional rivals. (The same thing frequently happened in France during the search for collaborators.)

Finally, Vincent quotes extensively from a film treatment that Ida Cook wrote, based on We Followed Our Stars, that is languishing in Joshua Logan’s papers at the Library of Congress. That document needs to be plucked out of purgatory and produced. Right now!

#world war ii #the holocaust #righteous among the nations #first-hand accounts #retrospective accounts #a long post for sunday #lots of history #lots of links #and even some footnotes #oh and this is also about #opera #also #yom hashoah #begins monday evening

[ginga-snappd-offical]

Why are resumes are hard to create…I'm just genuinely bad at writing resumes.

I feel. with more details I could help you directly but here's my advice:

For people with NO work experience:

List academics/extra curriculars, and anything related to community service. If you're a high schooler or fresh out of high school list different chores or things you did to help around the house. Did you help cook and watch your siblings? Congrats, you have a certain number of years as an experienced caregiver. Did you mow your lawn or rake up leaves? Congrats, you are experienced in landscape keeping. Have you ever held a leadership position in anything? Include that.

What activities do you do for fun? Do you play D&D? Include that under 'Regular Group Brainstorming and Community Skill Building" and if they ask for more details, explain that you meet with a group of friends once a week to run through problem/solution scenarios and roleplay how you'd solve those problems. Do you go swimming or do sports? Say you regularly exercise and focus on maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

With high school extra curriculars, list three that might be relevant to your job application. If you're applying to work in the food industry then Home Economics/cooking classes will look good on a resume. If you took any extra language courses, that's a plus because you are able to help with language barriers in a way that meets customer needs.

If you're in high school, TAKE EXTRA CIRRICULARS IF THEY'RE OFFERED. If they aren't, look online to see if there are any public clubs or activities that can help you build those skills.

The next thing I would recommend is to look into getting certifications or licensing in different fields and specialized jobs, as that can pay higher if you're more qualified. Certification can help if you don't have as many years in that field.

For people with Work Experience:

Listing the above depending on your age. I feel like after 23 or 24, you shouldn't be listing high school related things unless specifically requested. Instead list college majors, courses, minors, and community courses you've taken. List soft skills. For example, I'm not fluent in Bokmal yet, but I'm actively learning it. Developing a skill and providing evidence that you're working on it appeals to employers.

When you have time off, volunteer or find small projects on the side if you have time for it that will be investments into your future. My last job didn't work out, but I was only able to get my foot in the door because I worked for a smaller Youtuber for free during the pandemic as a project manager. My ability to organize files and do basic data entry appealed to my bosses at the time. Things like that help a lot.

THE BIGGEST THING: A lot of employers for larger companies and corporations use a scanner to read through resumes, so make sure YOURS IS AN EDITABLE PDF and that YOU USE KEY WORDS FROM THE JOB DESCRIPTION IN YOUR RESUME. So, for example:

"This job requires and understanding of Excel, and Pro Create. You'll be expected to create assets in a timely manner and organize your files every day."

Make sure you modify your resume to include the same names of programs, and highlight the words that stick out to you in the job description to add. This will make the system think that you are a better option compared to others. And if your document isn't an editable PDF, the scanner won't be able to read it and your resume could end up being thrown away! Don't include any images or textiles unless requested in the job application. This clutters the resume and makes it difficult for both the machine and the employer who's hiring you to read it. Even if you are applying for an art or design position. They can see your skills from your portfolio, your resume is the information, not the aesthetic presentation. Learned that the hard way.

#resume help

[emaciated-creechur]

So I'm 20 and still haven't finished highschool because the pandemic fucked me over, but now I've just gotten into a nocturnal school for adults where I only have to complete one of the two years I have left in order to graduate.

The school year started a month ago (we start classes in March in my country) so I'm gonna have a lot of catching up to do and it's gonna be kinda awkward being new in the last year, but I think I can manage anyways.

I'm going there to study so I can finally graduate and stop being a highschool dropout so I don't really care if I make friends or if the other students like me as long as I get to finally finish it quickly because it's extremely hard to get a job if you're over 18 and don't have a highschool diploma in my country and I desperately need a job.

I'm also gonna start a 2 year long cooking course that's supposed to get you a diploma as a certified chef because of the job opportunities it'll give me and also cause learning how to cook will be useful to be able to make my own low cal meals however I want or just to feel useful once I live with my boyfriend.

Also because he hasn't been eating at work since he doesn't have the time to make himself lunch nor the money to buy it during his break and I'm really worried about his health cause he's been losing weight really fast and he actually really loves food and enjoys eating (I say, as I purposefully starve myself. The irony isn't lost on me)

So I have a lot of work and studying to do in order to catch up and learn new things, but I think I'll be able to manage and it'll be a good distraction for the recent traumatic event I went through and the stress that's my life in general lately, and I'm also just looking for a chance to finally move forward in life and start actually becoming an independent adult.

#rambles of an emaciated creature

[lovemesomesurveys]

What was the last TV show you binge watched? I’ve been watching Daredevil.  Would you rather eat burgers or tacos? Tacos. I have been wanting a burger, though. I’ve been craving a lot of foods since I’m STILL not able to eat whatever, yet. I have been cleared for things like pudding, yogurt, applesauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cheesecake. So, for the past few days I’ve been on a mashed potatoes and gravy and cheesecake kick, ha. I can also drink pretty much whatever, I just have to add this dissolvable powder stuff that thickens it up a little. It’s nice to finally have some food and my coffee again at least. All I need is that damn swallow test and then hopefully be cleared to eat whatever, but I haven’t been able to get it done yet. :/ Have you ever taken a first aid course? No. Did your mother change her maiden name when/if she got marred? She didn’t marry.  What was the last job you applied for? Did you get the job? I’ve never applied for one. 

Do you use TikTok? I used to spend quite a bit of time on there during like the first year or so of the pandemic, but then it died off for me. Did you participate in any extracurricular activities when you were a kid? I was a Girl Scout.  If you were given the chance to relocate for work, would you do it? It would depend on various factors.  What decorations do you have in your bathroom? We have some framed photos hung up. What was the last thing you cooked in an oven? It was probably pizza. I haven’t used the oven or made any food in several months now. Describe your favourite coat or jacket. It’s oversized, black, and super soft.  Do you like Seinfeld? Nah. My parents love that show, especially my dad, and quote it constantly. It just doesn’t appeal to me.  Have you ever lost something really meaningful? Yes. What's something you could teach a class in? Nothing. What do you look forward to the most at Christmas/holidays? I love buying gifts for my family. How do you like your coffee? Hot with either flavored creamer or cream and sugar.  What year was your favourite band formed? 1996. What's your least favourite pizza topping? Extra sauce, cheese, crumbled meatballs, spinach, garlic, and pesto.  What does your shampoo smell like? I don’t know how to describe it, but it smells good.  How old were you when you learned how to drive? I still haven’t. Are you in a relationship? How's it going? No. What grocery store do you shop at most often? Walmart.  What percentage battery is your phone on right now? Like 80 something.  What's the best way to spend a rainy afternoon? I don’t do anything different, but I do love rainy days. I wish it’d rain here, we’re in the middle of an excessive heat wave D: Have you ever smoked a cigarette? Did you like it? No, I haven’t. I have no desire to do so.  Are you closer to your mother or father? My mom. What do you wish didn't exist? Health issues.  Do you own any costumes? I have a Lucy Ricardo one and an Alice (from Alice in Wonderland) one. Is your bedroom clean or messy right now? It’s clean-ish. The main issue is that it’s a bit cluttered right now because stuff had to get moved around and there’s a lot of medical supply stuff.  What's your favourite fruit? Bananas. 

#personal #text #survey #surveys

[lovelypanisales]

Tuesday 09-06-22

Good morning/noon/afternoon/evening to all of you, Mabuhay Pilipinas! This morning I woke up early and honestly I didn't wake up happy and well because there were too many problems last night before I went to sleep, well they say if you go to bed with a bad mood when you wake up it's still the same or it depends on the person. hahaha when I woke up, I woke up with no one in our house anymore my father went to his work, my mother also left and my brother also went to school. when I got up I immediately went straight to the kitchen and prepared food for our dog because I’m feeding them before I left our home to go to school. we have ten dogs here because we couldn't give them away during the pandemic. after that I washed the plates where they eat before they left the house and after that I took a shower and got dressed to go to school. Earlier the weather was very humid so I rode to our school. when I got there, our classroom was still locked so me and my fellow classmates immediately asked and looked for the key. My friend thought she lost her cellphone at our school so we looked for it, it turned out she left it at her house. after that, our class started until six in the evening, I was left with the other officers to arrange the chairs in the classroom and clean up and we went down together to go home. again I walked home alone and I immediately got home and when I got home I immediately cooked and prepared something for our family to eat after that we ate and I did our homework now I have nothing and anything to feel but tiredness and I want to give up, but there's only one lesson I learned today. "no matter how difficult and many your priorities are, it's more important to take care of yourself first before your other work".

[otter1962]

The Next Steps: Post Cancer

It’s been a while since I last posted to my blog. It is hard to believe that I found out I had colon cancer on May 13, 2019, and had surgery on May 23, 2019.

I had barely started to deal with my partner at the time leaving me for the stupidest reasons and suddenly my life was thrown into chaos with this cancer business.

I know that I have already discussed the chemotherapy that I went through and how I adjusted and survived it.

Coming out of my chemotherapy and immediately faced with COVID was really hard. It was a time when I discovered that I had neither dealt with the loss of my partner nor that I had had cancer. I felt like I was a blank slate and that somehow I had shed any sense of normalcy. I was going through the motions of teaching (granted it was online for March - June 2020) and wondering if I would ever get my spirit back. I know that I have discussed how I searched for meaning and finally opted to work on my energetic energy. 

For most of the remaining months, I joined an online coaching group for energetic attraction. There, I learned about not being an over-the-top caregiver for everyone else and began taking care of myself first. I met a ton of amazing friends online and many of them are still my friends. During that time, I also let go of wanting my local friends to support me through cancer. I looked inside and found the strength to do it on my own - but had the courage to turn to several online friends who became my support network. They helped me let go of my disappointment with my local friends and allowed me to get close to my new best friends.

2020 and 2021 were the years of the COVID pandemic for me. I was in and out of the classroom, I spent the summer of 2020 by myself in my house in a small Nova Scotia town. I learned to follow my passions of gardening, cooking, weightlifting and my writing. They became the “Me Years.” I used that time to get to know myself and set my goals of where I wanted to go. It was a time when I focussed less on cancer and more on living my life the way I wanted to.

For the past two years after stopping my chemotherapy, I’ve made trips to the clinic for testing my cancer markers. I’ve had a yearly colonoscopy. Everything is still okay and I am in remission.

Since my last blog entry, I have lost several friends and acquaintances to cancer. I’ve also supported friends who are now going through cancer treatment. Cancer still makes an appearance in my life and it reminds me that I have to be diligent in my own recovery.

COVID was a time when I often couldn’t get to the gym to work out. It was also the time for Netflix and sitting on a couch, eating tons of snacks.  I continued to eat like I was exercising at the gym. There was seldom a time when I turned on the TV that I didn’t start craving snacks - usually sugar-laden things or salty treats. 

One day, I looked at myself in the mirror and realized that I had a COVID belly. I knew that I had to make a change. The gym opened up and I began a series of cardio days, often 2-3 times per week. I was weight-lifting as much as I could because I tore my right pectoral muscle. It departed from my ribcage and now bounces to the right in a bizarre manner. I began to feel like my cancer was just the precursor to more injuries or problems with my body.

Thankfully, I was able to pull myself out of potential depression because I had spent so much time working on the real me. I’ve tried to be as proactive about my healing as possible. A year after tearing my pectoral muscle, I am still waiting on an MRI to determine the damage and what can be done about it. I’ve had to face that I’ve lost a lot of bulk on my chest as well.

I began to reflect on all these changes to my body and then the thoughts of how I was aging became forefront in my mind. I no longer felt like I was in the “zone” which was the place where I felt good about my body. This leads me to where I am at the moment: almost 60, with several injuries affecting me, a feeling that old age is catching up and that I am becoming invisible in the gay world because of my age.

So where will I go next? I am embarking on a new outlook on what my life will look like as I head toward retirement, ticking things off my bucket list and trying to finally enter the dating pool at the age of 59. I need to reflect on my health, my body, my spirit and how I can make the most of my remaining years on this planet. 

As I close off this blog for now (who’s to say that I won’t post again) I want to mention my other blog about energetic attraction which can be found at: https://otterenergy1962.tumblr.com/. That blog has sat without an entry for a while. It does give me a sense of what I did during that self-discovery time during COVID as I search for the inner me.

Now, I am starting a new blog about dealing with my age, my health, my goals and above all, my passions. Please check it out at: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/otter1962crystalball 

Carpe diem my friends!

#fucancer #newstarts