#to all the good health care workers who follow me and leave supportive comments: I appreciate you so much | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rebel666 · 4 years

Text

Confessions of a Joann Employee

UPDATE: If you want to send more confessions and/or report what’s happening at your Joann anonymously, there’s EmployeeJoann on Twitter that is responding to messages. They are constantly sharing and updating more as it becomes available to them!

A confession from a Joann employee that is in one of the Covid-19 effected areas and has so much to say about it:

-We are staying open until told by the state otherwise. Even though they declared a State of Emergency and all non-essential businesses must be shut down by 5pm on Saturday 3/21, our company is refusing to. Because Joann themselves is trying to deem Joann as an "essential" store. They even put it all over their website that we are here for the people making masks and small businesses who need fabric to continue. They quote that we are here for the customers and that we as United States Americans have a responsibility to fill this need. They aren’t looking at curbside only as an option, they aren’t looking at offering more benefits for shopping online, they want us open and people in stores. They are sending us emails with pieces of paper (unofficial, not state made) to print out and put in our cars to say we are on the way to work at an "essential retailer." Anything to make it so we can remain open.

-This sucks for employees and here’s why: The way Joann is set up is if we get sick, if we have to leave to take care of someone who is sick, if we want to self-quarantine (because of our health or the health of our loved ones), we either quit or ask to be put on Leave of Absence and cannot return without medical clearance. If we come into contact with someone who has Covid-19 (even if they came into the store), they request we stay home while the rest of us have to work even if we were standing right next to them. As long as we don’t display symptoms, we are expected to show up or we can request LoA. LoA does not pay us. The only way we as employees will be taken care of is if the store closes AND if we have two weeks of schedules set up. I was hoping the company was on the path to this when they had us cancel all the classes until May and then limited hours but all that went out the window today. Right now Joann is doing everything to prevent us from closing and in turn take care of their employees. Every single time I bring up our well-being, I get reminded that we need to think about the customer first.

-Our store is step up to have daily conference calls to talk about the current status and to express any concerns we have. I brought up the status about my county (our major has declared everyone be shut down as of 5pm tomorrow or the police will be involved) and that I am deeply concerned for us and they told me that we have a responsibility as a leader to keep everyone calm and to keep working through this. ***When I asked what if everyone in my store requests a Leave of Absence because we are all very much concerned about our health, they said, "We will replace you with team members from other stores. There are service industry people and travel workers looking for jobs and we will fill your positions with people who will work it."*** They straight up told me that we are replaceable/expendable because they value their "customers/money." It doesn’t matter how long we’ve been with the company. It all means nothing to them.

-They are sending out emails about what Joann is doing as a whole for Covid-19. Saying we are cleaning every hour and whatnot. What they fail to mention is we are a fabric store with no means of washing fabric. I see people on a daily basis cough into, wipe their snot on, kids place in their mouth, and all sorts of other nasty things into these bolts of fabric (seriously, wash the fabric you buy from Joann before doing anything). We have the basic cleaning supplies to wash floors and wipe counters with but that’s pretty much it. They are telling us as employees to bring in our own supplies if we can. An employee brought in gloves long ago just so we can use them to clean the bathrooms. Today I provided face masks for my fellow coworkers. Our store may look clean but we know its dirty little secrets.

-We are supposed to follow the whole 10 people rule but they do nothing to stop or limit people at the door and won’t do anything to enforce it. All while wanting us to cut hours to which is barely 2 people running the whole store for smaller Joann locations. It’s not safe for us to be on a bare-bones crew especially if they want us to remain an essential store.

-Joann before this was a great place to work. At least for my store. I love my store, I love the people I work with. Other stores I have heard horror stories from but mine was one of the good ones. I see them being bombarded on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to close. Not just by employees and families of employees but by concerned customers. And this pleases me because they need to take this seriously. What they do in the next 3 days will speak volumes on how much they listen to and care about us. This is a serious issue and we as employees are suffering.

As they report more, I will continue to add to this.

UPDATE 3/21: They emailed and made copies of this for employees to carry with them in their cars:

Now the CEO of Joann is also a piece of work. All you have to do is google his name and you’ll see the Walgreen’s lawsuit, his DUIs (yes, plural), and his impact on Joann since joining - which includes increasing prices because of the tariffs. One employee confirms that when tariff thing went into effect, the entire store was repriced. Some markups were a few cents but some were a few dollars. Since then the prices continue to fluctuate.

There is also a petition going on Change.org asking for Joann to Close Their Stores And Pay Employees

If you get a chance, read some of the comments people are putting in support of this:

I no longer feel safe in my workplace. The greed is sickening.

My employees deserve to be treated like people and make a livable wage and have benefits! Our health over their profit!

Staff at my local store have been asked to bring in their own gloves for cleaning. Hand sanitizer expired in 2012. Employees are reporting little to know cleaning supplies in a store that targets the elderly as a primary demographic. The material used in the masks is not medical grade. This company is shamelessly profiteering from the pandemic.

As a former employee and manager I know the company does not follow any real cleaning guidelines. They understaff their stores, overwork their employees and frown upon time off. Fabrics and crafts are not essential items at this time and since the majority of the clientele there are elderly i think they are creating more risk. Finally do something good for your employees and send gem home with pay

As a previous manager, I'm sad to say that this company does not value its workers. To see that they are putting their workers, and others who visit, at a continued risk is unbelievable and is extremely selfish. Now is the time to act and stop the spread of COVID-19 and to keep Joann's open does not help stop the spread in anyway shape or form.

Over the last two days, my local store decided to carry on with inventory. They brought in an inventory team from the area of our state with the vast majority of cases. It's one thing to not close and continue to expose the public to the risk, but decisions like these show that Jo-Anns has a blatant disregard for the wellbeing of its employees and customers. Even more telling is the fact that we know that you are seeing our pleas to do the right thing, but continue to ignore us on social media. There is only one reason that you are pushing to categorize Jo-Anns as an essential business, and that is greed. In fact, I had to spend my own money on gas to drive all over the city looking for more cleaning supplies after my manager ordered me to. Your employees do so much for you, and we are compensated very little. I have been at Jo-Anns long enough to know that you would never compensate us for our time off, but at least join the other non-essential business and shut down for the time being.

joann’s customer base is primarily elderly or otherwise at risk people, and many employees are also older or immunocompromised. employees are overwhelmed as we can’t keep up with the cleaning guidelines while also taking care of customers, not to mention we’re severely lacking in cleaning supplies in the first place. joann is encouraging people to come in for supplies to make face masks, yet these masks aren’t sterile since people touch and breathe on the fabric all day, and it’s then laid on the counter to be measured and cut. employees themselves aren’t even allowed to wear masks or gloves. joann cares more about profit than the safety of both their team members and customers.

There are so many comments I want to share. These are just a few. This is Joann. They care more about their image and their financial gains than the backbone of their stores. The people who put up with their ridiculous requests day in and day out are now at risk and putting others at risk. Places like Hot Topic closed down and took care of their employees, places like Joanns should too!

But also lets not forget, Hobby Lobby is also not taking Covid-19 seriously.

UPDATE 3/22: “We have signs saying we're cleaning more but found out Friday that we're out of supplies in the distribution center. They claim they will send them out once they receive any but I found out today from a truck driver the company that supplies everything for Joann (from inventory to store use items) is closed for 2 weeks... because of this they're telling us to use the bathroom cleaner as a substitute.”

From Joann Employee Confessions on Twitter:

Confession 17 - Our Joann was closed! We received a C&D from the Chief of Police! We were so ecstatic as employees when they came in and told us to cease all business operations! Not even curbside! BUT then we had to tell our District Manager... and everything changed.

Our DM told us to come back to work tomorrow because he was going to have Joann's lawyers work on it. My heart sank. Them being open was more important. So I went into work and it was so nice not being open to the public. We finally caught up on recovery and cleaning! All things we have neglected the past week because it's been too busy for us to keep up! All of us were in great spirits and it was the best day ever. Until our DM called... and he told us to section off all the "non-essential" parts of the store.

Fabric and sewing notions were deemed essential and we would be open to the public the next day. No curbside only. Nope. People were to come right back in and nothing about limitations. Nothing about cleaning our disgusting fabric. Just to section off half the store so the public could come in and buy all the fabric and sewing supplies they could want. And to add to that... they are doing a remnant promotion where all the spare pieces are free to the customer now! Another thing for our already spare crew to do when we don't have time!

I am honestly so shattered over how the Chief of Police who seemed so interested in our well-being backed out of this. We are exposed once again. 3 of us tonight took Leave of Absence papers tonight because we don't feel safe. This was the final nail in the coffin.

UPDATE - My coworker messaged me, “Got up at 10:00 to get ready for work. A text came in saying the store is closed and I don't have to come to work. Seems there was a conference call. It appears the state is involved and overrode the mayor!” But Joann is still fighting it. This is a day by day thing. They are telling us if we want hours we have to go to another store. If not, we have to put in our leave of absence.

More articles coming through right now:

These Retailers Refused To Close During The Pandemic, So An Illinois City Shut Them Down

Joann Fabrics' mask-making promotion raises questions

Gregory said the masks were being donated to Rush Oak Park Hospital in Oak Park and to Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva – but spokespeople for both those hospitals said it was not true.“Due to infection control measures, Northwestern Medicine cannot accept donations of handmade masks, gowns and other medical supplies,” according to an email from Kimberly Waterman, spokeswoman for Northwestern Medicine Delnor. “Only factory-made, hospital-quality supplies, including N95 masks, face shields, gloves, gowns, sanitizers and swabs can be donated.”

“There is no barrier,” White said. “Once [handmade cloth masks] get wet, I don’t think they’re that effective.” (I can confirm. A RN confirmed with me that cloth masks collect moisture which acts as a magnet for infections.)

#covid2019 #covidー19 #covid19 #joann #joannfabrics #employeescomefirst #confessions #confessionsofanemployee #capitalism should die #what is wrong with America #fabric store problems #burn down the corporations #rise up for what you believe in #stand strong #i will not shut up #hobbylobby #make the change #whistleblower

4K notes · View notes

lightcomingthroughthedarkness · 3 years

Text

So I'm in a weird dating situation and I'm just confused and thought lets ask tumblr, lol.

So over the summer I started dating a guy. The first time we met, things went well but I had a gut feeling something wasn't right but I couldn't for the life of me put my finger on it. It was just a gut feeling, something just felt off.

We kept on dating all summer and we realized almost right away that we are very different people. I'm direct, honest and go all in. Even though I'm an introvert in most cases, I felt like I needed to be upfront with him about my intentions. So much so, that I admit, I was overdoing it a little. He was more chill and wanted us to slow down and just date and see where we'd end up. But if I have a feeling or a thought, I share, in the name of being honest and upfront about my intentions. Not him. He's a thinker and needs time to form his thoughts before speaking. And if he doesn't feel like saying something, he keeps it to himself. So to say the least, our style of communication was veeeery different. I acknowledged this and talked to him about it so we could better understand one another. Again, he helped me chill down a little and just be in the moment so I didn't think it was all bad.

What I noticed almost right away, was that I was always more interested in his life and asked him thousands of questions about his work, his family, his hobbies, his likes and dislikes etc and he thought I asked "too many questions". He felt like I was overdoing it. Meanwhile, he never really had many questions about my life at all. I brought this up so we could communicate and discuss. His answer was that he was interested in me but that his communication style was different. He wasn't used to direct questions but would rather see us talk and discuss and through discussions, learn more about one another. So I tried that by backing down on questions and letting it flow. He tried too, by starting to ask me questions to show his interest (which he later admitted that he had to google "what to ask someone you're dating")

However, I noticed again that not much happened in regards to him learning more about me. He'd freely share information about his family, his work, his life by sending me photos and little funny stories about them/him. It was important to him that I knew that he was beloved by friends, family and co-workers. It was also important to him that I knew that he was capable, respected and valuable. Even though I later found out he was leaving his job due to a disagreement with his co-boss in their shared business.

Since we had agreed on a more "free discussion" style of communication, I didn't wait for him to ask me, I just shared photos and information about my life too. The difference was that I always had some follow up question about his life, I showed interest in his relationships with his family members, I made small comments about things he'd share with me to show him I was listening and that I cared to learn more. He would never do the same for me. He'd acknowledge what I shared with him but had no follow up questions or comments. He even said once that it was too soon for me to share private information because "we aren't there yet" while he had already sent me family photos of his family. Sometimes I felt like my photos/stories about my life were sent out into the void. I couldn't understand how you show interest in someone's life.. by literally having nothing to say?

At the start of us dating he was direct with me that he expected us to have an active sex life because he believes sex is part of dating. I agreed but wanted to wait until I was more comfortable with him. He kept telling me he wasn't interested in a relationship without the sexual part. Finally, I felt more comfortable and told him I was ready after our 3rd or 4th date. But then he started acting weird telling me he thought it was better to wait longer, as I had originally wanted to do. I was so confused and felt rejected. I again was upfront and told him I was ready. So we made plans and met up. Turns out he needed to tell me that he had been suffering from a lot of stress and psychological pressure from a lot of different things in life so it affected his physical health. I was shocked. He had made it suuuper clear that he expected sex.. only to keep such information from me. I was supportive and wanted him to know that I was a safe place for him.

So while all of that made me confused and I did bring it up several times with him, he kept showing up. He would always text me, always tell me good night/good morning with heart emojis, always reach out during the day to catch up, always asked to see me and hang out with me, even when we'd argue he'd never call me names, he'd never yell at me or touch me unless I wanted him to. He just kept showing his interest by showing up. Even though I thought some of our contact lacked depth. But I was willing to let a lot slide.

But since the summer, we've been doing long distance with me planning on visiting next month. So we kept in touch by text mostly. Again, he kept on showing up. Not one day went by without him reaching out to me. In that way, he made his interest clear. He kept using pet names for me and was always very sweet like that.

But still, our communication didn't improve much. We still had a lot of big differences about values and life. Sadly, I never really thought he took my feelings seriously about how sad I was that our communication was lacking. I mean, the guy kept showing up in a lot of ways, even through long distance... but he couldn't ask one question about my life or make me feel like he was truly interested in ME. Instead he thought I was overdoing it, trying to shape life to fit a "rule book" and how I just couldn't live in the moment like him. To me, it felt like he was just ignoring my reasons for wanting to make my intentions clear and that I didn't want to waste my time with someone who didn't share my intentions. He said he did, that he too was dating me with the intention of a future together but that we just differ in our ways to get to that future. Again, I was willing to let it slide that perhaps I wouldn't get ALL my emotional needs met and that I needed to trust the process.

While learning more about each other, he told me how he is a stubborn person and will cut a person out of his life if he believes "the other person doesn't deserve to be in his life". He did this to his best friend after they had a fight. But his friend "clawed" his way back into his life and finally he relented and realised his friend "valued their friendship over a fight". He told me he doesn't trust anyone but "god and myself". He told me if someone likes him, he likes them back. If a woman breaks up with him, he'd stop caring about her in 5 seconds because "why should I care if she doesn't care" and then she'd be dead to him. I learned that he had lost his mother as a child and a part of him doesn't feel whole and his only wish is that he'll see her again in the afterlife. I once asked him if he ever forgive people in his life for making a mistake, he said "never". He said if someone wronged him, he'd wait 50 years if he had to but he'd always "find a way to get even".

He told me about an ex, how she cheated on him when they were teenagers. She came back and wanted to date again, so he went out with her and they ended up having sex.. only for him to throw her out right after they finished because she was a "bitxh for thinking he'd take her back". He basically made her believe they'd fix it, played her for some cheap sex and then kicked her out. He was furious with me when I called him out on that behavior and he said "only god can judge me".

He also told me he had gone to therapy a few years ago but he was very private about why he went. So I told him a little about why I went but still, he didn't share much. He just said "I'm a complex person to understand. I have a lot of love to give but it's your job to find that love". He always felt judged, criticized or offended by me, even though it was never my intention. I could question something he had said or done and he'd get annoyed with me for "judging him all the time" or "always expecting the worst". I asked him how he wanted me to communicate with him so we could minimize situations where he'd feel that way but he didn't have an answer, just that I "talk normally".

All of these stories made me feel weird and I wasn't comfortable with it. Then one day we had an argument about our lack of communication and I was just so fed up, I decided to ignore his good morning text and didn't text him all day but I posted a story on instagram about something completely irrelevant to our relationship (a story with my niece). I needed to think, to understand my own feelings and try and understand what our problem was before reaching out.

Later that day he got annoyed and told me to stop behaving like a child. So I finally reached out and texted him back. I asked him how come he couldn't understand that it hurts my feelings that we can't even seem to TALK to each other without misunderstandings, how he makes fun of me by saying I need a "rule book" to life etc for simply wishing we could be better at communicating. He said he didn't make fun of me and that he didn't believe my reaction was normal since the fight wasn't that big a deal.

What did he do? He broke up with me right then and there. Told me it is unacceptable to him that his partner ignores him/his texts and that he can't handle being ignored. While I agree, I should not have ignored him but rather talked to him about it, I'm only human and was growing so frustrated. I said, lets talk about this, lets talk about triggers and what deal breakers we have so we can better understand each other and not repeat the same mistakes. He said he wasn't interested and that he could "never forgive me for this mistake". He couldn't see himself spending his life with someone who ignores his texts because what if this happens again? No, he was not interested in giving me a chance to explain or for us to learn more about the other. I asked him if maybe there were other reasons for him losing interest (me being so direct, too open, moving too fast, my own issues that I work on every day and acknowledge etc) he said no, it was just that ONE mistake, my not answering one text message.

I told him that I thought his reaction to my not returning ONE message, after a fight, was a bit of an overreaction but he said he couldn't risk it, in case I do this again in the future. He said he refuses "to be made a fool" by me so he is no longer interested to continue dating because I had shown my true colors by not texting him back but still posting on instagram as if I didn't see his text. He said "that was clearly directed at me" even though I explained that I have a life outside of him. I asked him if he still liked me and he said that he did but that it wasn't enough after my mistake.

So I asked him what we are going to do about my visit next month. He said he is willing to see me if that's what I want, to see him, but he's not interested in a relationship any longer. He also said he's willing to still text with me sometimes and that he doesn't want to come across as "the bad guy". So if I want to stay in contact with him we can do that, we can talk and we can meet up too. But nothing else.

Wtf. I am no longer interested in a relationship with him after all this.. but what the actual fuck. Am I crazy here.. or maybe is his "black and white" way of thinking just impossible to deal with in a relationship? I would have accepted and respected his decision 10000 times over if he had said that he no longer likes me and doesn't see a future for us. But breaking up over my not returning ONE TEXT MESSAGE?! 🤷🏻‍♀️

#personal #relationships #🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

10 notes · View notes

aspiringauthorintraining · 3 years

Text

Volleyball Actually: Scene 2

It was a cold, dreary day outside, which meant for you it was a perfect day to eat a freshly-made warm onigiri from Miya’s Onigiri. But really, everyday was a perfect day to eat at Miya’s Onigiri. And it seemed like the rest of Japan had the same idea as you, seeing the long line of customers when you walked in.

You made your way up the front of the line soon enough with the queue moving fairly quickly. When you reached the register, the girl recognized you as you took your mask off to order. And before you could even speak, she asked if you wanted your usual, to which you nodded happily. It wasn’t the first time this happened, although it was with a different worker. But with how much you visited the restaurant, you weren’t surprised the employees remembered your face.

Holding onto your receipt with the order number, you walked over to sit down in an empty corner of the store to wait for your food. Sitting down on one of the stools, you checked your phone to see multiple text notifications. There was one from Kiyoko, wanting to make sure you were coming to the big match next week, one from Kageyama confirming your visit his team again later in the week, and some from your manager about an upcoming schedule.

A tap on your shoulder made you jump up from your seat.

“How’s my favorite customer doing?”

“’Samu!” You greeted him with a hug, surprised by his sudden appearance.

Your friendship with Osamu had started out as a purely business relationship- customer and restaurant owner relationship to be exact. You had just moved into the city and went to the newly opened Miya Onigiri’s flagship restaurant for lunch, after seeing all the good reviews. After noticing you coming in frequently, he stroked up a conversation with you while waiting for your food one day, and the rest was history.

“What are you doing here? You said you’d be busy this week with finalizing the opening of your new restaurant in Miyagi.”

He took a seat in the empty stool next to you. “I had to stop by today to check on the store’s inventory. And I heard you visited the team yesterday. How’d it go?”

“Great! Your onigiris were a hit with the team by the way. Thanks for the suggestion.” You shot him a thankful smile, before remembering what Hinata had texted you shortly after your visit. “Why didn’t you tell me your twin brother was also on the team?”

Osamu burst out laughing at your accusing question, putting his arms up in mock surrender when you frowned at his reaction. “‘Tsumu always needs to be knocked down a peg or two, and having a pretty girl not know who he is would have crushed his ego.”

You had thought it was a strange that there was someone with the Miya surname on the team, when looking up how many players were in the MSBY Black Jackals team. But when you had brainstormed ideas with Osamu on what food to to bring on your visit, and he didn’t mention anything, you thought it had just been a coincidence.

“Also, last week that bastard said my onigiri was salty, so he deserved it.”

“Have either of you matured at all from high school?” You deadpanned.

“I have, but he dumbs me down.” Osamu shrugged.

You shook your head with a sigh, not being able to imagine what it would be like to put up with two Miyas, when one was already draining your energy. Bless the Miya matriarch.

“You know you could have just looked it up on the internet to find out.” he added.

“I wasn’t really that curious to investigate. And unlucky for you, he wasn’t even there when I went to visit anyways.” You looked to the front thinking you had heard your order number being called out.

“Well, let me know if you go visit them again. I’ll make him pay for the food next time. But you know, I am surprised you and the shorty are so close after all these years.” Osamu changed the subject, referring to your relationship with Hinata. “You weren’t even in the same year.”

You breathed a happy sigh, thinking back to your time at Karasuno. “The team, when I was in my third year, was really special. With everything we went through that year, it felt like we were one big tight-knit family. So I try to keep in touch with everybody and visit them whenever I can. And it helps that we have a big group chat with everyone that was on the team, making it a bit easier.” You smiled, thinking back to the last time you all got together- it being the Tanakas’ wedding. But even then, not everyone was able to make it due to their busy lives. “But I guess I do dote more on the first-years though. Even more so with Shoyo as of late, since he had gone to Brazil right after graduation.”

Having heard one of his workers call him over, Osamu got up as soon as you finished talking, heading over to the counter. You watched as he grabbed the bag handed to him, walking back over to you before placing the said bag in your hands.

“I told them to add an extra onigiri in there.” He informed you, sitting back down.

“Is this what it feels like to be a valued customer?” you asked, placing your hand over your heart in a dramatic fashion. “Did you know I didn’t even have to tell them my order up at the front? She knew what my usual was as soon as she saw my face.”

He smirked in response. “I think that’s rather a testament to how much you come here.”

“You say it like it’s a bad thing.”

“With how often you come here and the amount you order when you do, I can’t help but be worried about the health of my favorite customer. I want you to live a long life ordering my onigiri, not have it be the cause of your death.”

You shrugged, brushing off his comment. “It’s healthier than other fast food options, since it doesn’t have any msg- which is good enough for me.” You looked over at the crowd of customers that had just walked in, seeing the restaurant having become even more busier than when you first came in. “I should let you get back to work.”

You got up from your seat, collecting your things after putting back on your face mask. Osamu watched you get ready to leave from his seat, when a sudden thought occurred to him.

“Oh yeah. I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” You paused your movement, waiting for him to continue. “How would you feel being the face of Miya’s Onigiri?”

“Eh?!” You reacted like he had just told you Atsumu was actually just him in a blonde wig. “Me?”

“I told you about the new location we were opening in Miyagi, yeah?” Seeing you nod, he continued explaining. “Well, I’ve been thinking about doing a celebrity endorsement, and I thought of you since you’re from the prefecture.”

You still weren’t understanding why he would ask you of all people. “Why me though?”

“Didn’t you say you were a singer?”

“Singer? Sure. Celebrity? Not really.”

“C’mon. It’s not like we’re a super famous company either. Think of it as beneficial opportunity for the both of us.”

“I feel like it’s more beneficial on my end than yours, though.” You frowned.

Osamu brushed off your worry. “I’d much rather work with someone who I know and trust than a random person anyways.”

Knowing it was a good opportunity for publicity, you sighed, relenting. “Well, If you’re okay with it, then I guess I am too. But,” you raised your finger, “I’ll only accept onigiri as payment. I’ll feel bad if the advertisement doesn’t help bring in any customers.” Osamu tried to argue, but you just ignored him. “I’ll give my manager your number so that y’all can work out the scheduling.”

And without giving him a chance to negotiate the deal, you waved him goodbye, scurrying out the door.

Director’s Cut: Scene 2 Part 1

“Hey, Tobio!”

“Hai, Hoshiumi-san.” Kageyama looked at his teammate, in the middle of changing into his practice clothes.

“Did you see this?” Hoshiumi showed the Adler’s setter Hinata’s picture posted the night before. “We have to be careful, Tobio. These guys might steal (Y/N) away from us! That’ll mean no more visits, no more delicious bentos, or sitting on our side of the court during matches. And worst of all, no more good luck hugs!”

Hoshiumi started to pace back and forth around the locker room.

“Senpai said she will come visit us the day after tomorrow.” Kageyama replied with a straight face, resuming his changing.

“Who’s coming tomorrow?” The Schweiden Adler’s captain, Hirugami Fukuro, asked the two younger players, walking into the locker room.

“Captain!” Seeing his captain brought an idea to the Little Giant. “Can you convince Sachiro to come tomorrow with his dog? She likes dogs, right?”

Kageyama nodded in response.

“(Y/N)-senpai said she’ll visit on Thursday.” Kageyama answered the confused Hirugami.

“Oh, Sachiro will definitely want to come then. He wasn’t able to come because of a midterm last time she came to visit.” Hirugami replied.

“Who’s coming to visit?” Ushijima asked, having come back from the bathroom. He wiped his wet hands with a handkerchief, folding the wet part inwards before putting it away in his pocket.

“(Y/N)-senpai.”

“I see.” The wing spiker nodded in understanding. “I will bring some of my tomatoes tomorrow. She mentioned she wanted to try some of them last time we talked.”

“Tomatoes? The Black Jackals can give her tomatoes too! We need something that’ll convince her to stay with us.”

“My tomatoes are of high quality. The MSBY Black Jackals will not be able to find fruit with similar quality and grade easily.” Ushijima responded in confidence.

“That’s true. (Y/N)-senpai seemed very interested when Ushijima-san mentioned his gardening to her.” Kageyama confirmed, agreeing with the ace.

“Maybe I should bring some seeds for her as well?” Ushijima asked. “You should ask her if she has fertile soil to support good seedlings.”

Hoshiumi had already left the locker room, realizing the conversation was going nowhere.

The Karasuno alumni gave him a nod, making a mental note to text his senpai after practice.

Director’s Cut: Scene 2 Part 2

You had a busy schedule the following morning, so you prepared to sleep a bit earlier than usual. Right as you were about to fall asleep, your phone pinged loudly, waking you up. Drowsily, you grabbed your phone to check who had texted you.

Reading the text, you blinked in confusion, rubbing your eyes to see if you had read the message correctly.

Received 9:10 p.m.

From: Karasuno #9

Message: Senpai, do you have good dirt?

______

(A/N): Hoped you like Part 2! Leave a like, comment, or do whatever ^^

#haikyuu!!#Haikyu!!#haikyū!!#haikyuu x you #msby black jackals imagine #msby black jackals x you #schweiden adlers x you #schweiden adlers imagine #schweiden adlers x reader #no beta we die like daichi lol

64 notes · View notes

jazy3 · 3 years

Text

Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 17X3

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

I liked this episode, but nothing beats that Premiere. I mean Wow! This episode for me felt very much like a continuation of the two part Premiere. It was confirmed that Meredith has COVID-19 (!) and we got to see how she’s doing and where her treatment is at. My best friend who I watch with pointed out that some of the treatments they mention are things that health care workers were trying in the early days of the pandemic that we now know aren’t very effective. It’s interesting to see the doctors work through this process as it would have happened for health care workers at the time.

We get to see Derek Shepherd again which is always a treat! His words confirm that the beach Meredith is on is some kind of limbo and that her reaching Derek will mean she had died and is transitioning into the afterlife. Derek tells her she can’t reach him because she’s worried about the kids and how reuniting with him means leaving their children behind. My guess is that she’s going to code in an upcoming episode and will reunite and talk to Derek once that happens and then they’ll resuscitate her and she’ll come back to the land of the living.

I loved how Derek kept saying the sand wasn’t real and then Meredith ran to him and tripped and fell and she called him on it and he laughed. Classic Derek. He loves her, but he was also kind of an asshole at times and that was so him. I loved the scene with Bailey and Meredith and that we got an Alex reference. God I miss him. I got the Meredith and Richard scene I’ve been hoping for! That I felt like was missing last season and in the premiere. It was so sweet.

I think Meredith made the right choice with her Medical Power of Attorney (POA). Richard loves her enough to do everything to save her, but is clear headed and wise enough to respect her wishes if she becomes too far gone. I loved his joke about it being pay back for what he did years earlier. I loved the conversation she had with Hayes too! When Maggie asks if he wants her to say Hi he says no and jokes that he wouldn't her to think she’s special and we later see that Hayes does that so that he can visit Meredith in person and talk to her through video outside her window.

I had a moment where I thought that Meredith might make Hayes her POA, but then he made the comment about how you don’t want it to be a family member or someone who loves you so much that they’ll do anything to keep you alive. It should be someone who can be objective and respect your wishes. Hayes cares deeply for Meredith and if it were him he’d do everything to keep her alive no matter what and I love that implication from their conversation. I love how he told her all the reasons people fear and respect her and how the disease had nothing on her. So great! I love their interactions so much.

I liked that she asked him about Abigail because we’ve seen him ask her about Derek and her past relationships and it’s been implied they’ve talked about his, but this is the first instance we see on screen. Through this interaction we learn more about his wife too. He called her Abby and when she was sick with cancer her sister was her POA and made them do everything they could to save her even though Hayes and his boys objected. Which is interesting considering on her death bed Abigail described her sister as crazy, but not a bad person and made Hayes promise to let the boys see her. I’m guessing she didn’t want to put Hayes through having to make those decisions for her.

We also get to see Hayes and Maggie interact for the first time! We see that like Amelia, Maggie is a fan. She knows about his feelings for Meredith and their relationship and is supportive. Which is more than anyone else except Derek ever got from anyone in Meredith’s life so major points there. The interactions between Maggie and Winston we’re very sweet and I love how they comforted each other and the shot where they made it look like they were on opposite sides of the wall was very cool.

Some great acting on the part of Kelly McCreary in that closet scene! I felt her heartbreak. I’m disappointed we didn’t get more Meredith and Hayes scenes and that we haven’t gotten any explicit romantic content from them so far this season. I love a slow burn as much as the next person, but after watching Meredith jump feet first into relationships with men who turned out to be her boss, married, engaged to someone who wasn’t actually dead, her student, or that she wasn’t ready for only to have those relationships completely blow up in her face I want to see her in a healthy committed relationship with an actual grown up.

Hayes is that person and while I loved their slow burn last season I really wish they would pick up the pace here. I love seeing their relationship develop, but at this point they’ve established that they are good friends who have a lot in common and are able to talk openly about their kids, dead spouses, past partners, and problems. Hayes has made it clear he’s interested in her romantically and Meredith appears to reciprocate his feelings, but it feels like those feelings are just under the surface of their interactions and I’m starting to get a bit frustrated.

There are multiple romantic plot points I could have done without over the years with regards to Meredith’s storyline. This is one that I really want to see and I wish they would hurry up. I did like the mention of how Meredith will have to quarantine at a hotel for at least two weeks after she’s discharged. I’d love for Hayes to be the person she quarantines with and see them spend some time alone together and I think there’s great potential there.

I loved that we got to see a scene with Meredith and Ellis! She’s so cute! Bailey and Ellis are starting to talk more as characters and we’re getting more insight into who these kids are which is great! Up until recently we only really got a feel for who Zola was. I love also that they’re finding ways to do it that keep the child actors who play them safe while incorporating moments with them.

I love seeing Richard step into the Chiefs role. He’ll be great in it and can really help Grey Sloan and the other Catherine Fox hospitals through this. I liked his speech to Tom although he didn’t seem to take it to heart. It was also cool to see him give a speech to the new interns that they introduced. It’s not his usual speech because these are not usual times and I like that they reflected that. Also, Sandy from ER is one of the new interns and I love that. My best friend and I have spotted a lot of cameos in this season of Grey’s so far from other long running shows which is really cool.

Tom was floundering again this episode and I feel like they might be moving towards wrapping up his storyline because if him and Teddy aren’t getting back together, which appears to be the case, and with Amelia on maternity leave there’s no real story for him. Since it’s now been revealed that he has COVID-19 they could choose to kill him off or have him recover and return to where he was working prior to moving to Seattle. It was heartbreaking to watch Amelia and Maggie worry over Meredith. Especially Amelia knowing that losing her sister who was also Derek’s beloved wife could compromise her sobriety that she has worked so hard to achieve and maintain.

I liked the scenes with Amelia and Link, but it’s starting to feel a little gratuitous with the sex angle I think because none of the other characters are able to do that right now. We got some nice Jo and Link interactions. It was nice to see Link back in the OR. It was also nice to see Jackson remember he has a kid and talk about Harriet! We get some updates about his co-parenting situation with April and Matthew and that he doesn’t get to see Harriet as much as he’d like because he’s picking up more COVID shifts than April is. He likes Matthew, but he’s irked when Harriet says that he cuts her sandwiches better and I mean fair.

We see that DeLuca is wearing a yellow scrub cover whereas the Attending Physicians are wearing dark blue and the new interns are wearing light blue. This appears to confirm that he’s doing his Fellowship as otherwise their scrub covers would be the same colour. He spends the episode following Teddy around which seems to imply that he might be doing a Fellowship under her. Which would explain why Meredith didn’t know about it as she and Teddy aren’t super close and Meredith is presumably on Owen’s side in the fallout of Teddy’s affair being made public. Still, we’ve never seen DeLuca take any interest in Cardio or have any scenes with Teddy prior to this so it’s unclear.

I feel like the actor who plays DeLuca must have some kind of personal connection to someone who works behind the scenes on the show because at this point his character doesn’t really serve any real purpose in terms of the plot. His character doesn’t move any of the other characters storylines forward and you could remove him from Seasons 15, 16, and 17 and it wouldn’t affect the story at all. Prior to that his character served a purpose in Maggie, Alex, Jo, and Amelia’s storylines, but that ended in Season 15.

Since then we’ve seen him creepily pursue Meredith, date her largely off screen, and then get sick with Bipolar Disorder. That’s it and none of those plots affected the larger story of the show in any major way because they made it clear through dialogue that DeLuca isn’t part of the gang and the other characters don’t like him and simply tolerate his presence. Now they’re having him follow Teddy around and help treat Meredith off screen. It’s like they’re grasping at straws. His character serves no purpose at this point so I’m confused as to why they haven’t written him off. Maybe they will in the second half of the season?

In the Promo for next week they tease that there’s something else on that beach that’s a familiar face. Someone Meredith has lost that’s passed on and that they’re hanging out at the outpost we see on the beach. My money is on George O’Malley.

Until next time!

25 notes · View notes

hidden-behind-the-fourth-wall · 4 years

Text

The PA - part 3/3

Pairing: Tony Stark x named!Reader

Summary: You have had neough of Tony Stark and his arrogant, selfish ass. So you leave... At least for a while.

Warnings: Swearing (a lot), angst, fluff.

A/N: Ok, this a hostirical date for me, as this is my FIRST EVER story I finished. I know it was a short one, but I am still proud. There is a lot going on in this chapter and I thought of ending it differently but here you go. I hope you all liked it <3

Comments and opinions are always welcomed :*

Words: 6000+ (ooops)

nothing really changed. You were hidden in your office doing everything your boss needed without the need to ask. You sent him everything via email and cared for his health fr the shadow. A cooked dinner and bottles of water were always waiting for him. Adding a hot chocolate for the night. Nothing changed. And yet everything did.

Those hot chocolates you used to make were now drunk alone. There was no billionaire to join you in it with his sarcastic and fun comments. There were no back massage that you enjoyed giving almost as much as he receiving. And what's more, there were no parties for you. You couldn't bear to see him dancing, kissing and flirting with went. You knew you were pathetic. You loved the man who would never see you as more than just a worker and a "kid".

Who were you kidding. You had nothing on the women he was 'seeing'. All those pretty little things with perfect bodies and probably experienced enough to keep him entertained for a whole night.

You swallowed and shook your head to get that image out of it. You were tired. There wasn't more work per se but it exhausted you mentally to always try to omit him. You missed him his face, the smile and cheeky comments. But you couldn't do it to your heart. A heart that has already been broken so many times by the same man.

You looked up when a ping when an email showed up. To your personal email. Your heart skipped a beat and eyes widened their twice size, when you noticed the sender.

"What the fuck?" You whispered and turned around hearing a gasp. You met with a smiling Romanoff, leaving on the edge of the doors.

"This is the first time I heard you swear" She said teasingly. "What got you so worked up?"

You moved away from the laptop for her to see. She read through the email carefully and she looked at you with the biggest softness and pride anyone has ever showed you.

"This is amazing. A damn MIT wants you to work with them. This is huge, honey!" You bit your lip and looked away. "But for some unknown reasons you don't look happy."

"It's just an interview, it doesn't mean I will get the job, and… " You looked away, a shame of even thinking about it in the moment like that.

"And you would have to leave Tony… " You closed your eyes, hating how she was able to just understand you without words. A damn Russian spy stuff. "He's an adult… you'll just find him a new assistant. Or a babysitter, I'm never sure what your official position actually is." You giggled at her playfulness and rolled your eyes at her.

"I have been working for him for so long… I can't just leave him alone." You looked away when she frowned and sighed. Of the 'Disappointed Natasha Romanoff' comes to action.

"What about you? When will you finally take care of yourself?" Her stern tone made you flinch and start to nervously play with the hem of your Iron Maiden shirt. "You had dreams, and I sure know you have hobbies. You're still young, but act like a 60 years old woman, for God's sake." You clenched your fingers and shut your eyes, to stop the tears from falling. She was angry and that was the first time you noticed this. What was worse she was disappointed at you, and that hurt you more than anything.

Natasha Romanoff was like an older sister for you. You learned to love her and you felt her love towards you, despite the fact that she showed it differently to other people. She was there for you and knew about your hidden feelings to Stark. She always supported you and told you how everything will be fine. She understood your shyness and tried to work through your low self esteem. She was always patient with you. Until now. You guessed, everyone had their limit, and ger has just ended.

"You stay here, hidden in this cave. Running away from your feelings. You are afraid to do anything. You got so used to being his assistant that you are afraid of being alone. And your pinning to Tony? I hoped you'd understand that int hat party. He isn't a relationship type of guy and you're not a one night stand type of girl. Your love for him? Stop going for something you can't have!" You lowered your head to hide the tears that started to fall. You clenched your fingers on your thigh so hard that you could feel how your nails climbed into your clothes. But it didn't bother you. The physical was not even close to your mental one. It was one thing to make yourself believe that this love you had would never happen, but when someone else said it to you. It made it real. "Stop living in a dream world and wake up, before it's too late! " She hissed and stormed out of your lablab. And this was when everything you hidden so deep inside you, went out to the light. You asked Jarvis to lock the doors to your lab and you screamed and cried until you had no more tears.

"Weren't you a bit too harsh?" She looked at Bucky who was leaning on the wall, near the elevator.

"She needed that." Barnes scoffed and followed the redhead. "She's was about to turn down her dream job for him." Bucky frowned and sighed. "She loves him and all he does is hurt her. It isn't his fault really. He doesn't know, doesn't understand. Stark isn't the type of person that would be able to see true love. This is why she needs to let go. Live her own life. And if getting her dream job and leaving him would make it happen than she needs to. " Barnes smiled sadly. Nat really cared about you. Hse loved you like you were her little sister and he found it charming. But he did feel bad for you. You fell in love with a wrong guy. A very decent human, but a dumb man.

You looked at you clothes and sighed. It wasn't you. You didn't dress like that. A pencil skirt and a white shirt. You felt uncomfortable and stupid. You flinched when you put the heels on and sighed. Well it was a job interview. You needed to look presentable. You took your bag with everything you needed in it and took a deep breath. Yes, it was just an interview. Not like you'd get that job. There were hundreds applicants will were probably better than you. But after Nat you decided to give it a try. You didn't speak to her, and if you were being honest, you didn't speak to anyone. No one new about your bid day, not even Tony. He didn't need to know. It was only an interview. The first step of it. Not like you were leaving him just yet.

And so you walked to the elevators and dl being deep down in your thoughts you didn't notice Tony waiting for the elevator, just as you walked out.

"To… Mr. Stark… " You whispered, when you almost walked into him. He looked you over and frowned.

"A hot date?" He asked. You knew he tried to joke but there was something in his tone that made you wonder it he was really kidding.

"I…" You clenched your bag and bit your bottom lip nervously. "I will be back soon." He raised his brow and nodded, not saying anything else walked into the elevator, leaving you standing there. This did not help your anxiety at all. You tried to relax and went to your already waiting Uber.

"She has a what now?" Tony shouted looking at Natasha with anger in his eyes. "She never told me! "

"It was hard to tell you when you both omitted Yourselves… " She answered with a roll to her eyes. "MIT if I remember right." His eyes widelec, remembering how much you always wanted to work there. A job interview. You went to a job interview without telling him.

"Well good for her." He shrugged, turning around to miss the way the woman rolled her eyes. "What should I do? Isn't it like breaking some kind of contract? Going to a job interview still working for me?"

"Don't be petty, Tony." She warned him and he scoffed.

"I thought she would at least tell me. You know for references… "

"She wasn't sure she'd get the job. Not to mention the fact I needed to force her to go." He frowned and she rolled her eyes. Men were really stupid. "Talk to her, Tony. But like a proper human being. An adult." She patted him on the shoulder and left the room, leaving him alone.

You sighed and sat at your desk, feeling more than tired. The whole interview was exhausted, and you weren’t sure if most of those questions were even appropriate. ‘How close are you with Mr Stark?’ ‘Do you believe Mr Stark would be up to donating money for our cause?’ And more inappropriate and too personal questions for your liking. You were happy when the rector finally showed up. It was when you shined the most. Talking about your PhD project, the possible prospects of it and your father ideas. Even Though he asked you about Stark, those questions were thoughtful.

“He has his reputation”, he chuckled softly and you nodded unable to disagree. “Not many people would leave a safe, warm, probably well-paid job, to come work with us.” He took off his glasses and looked at you. “Is there something I should know? The reason for your application with us?”

“I was right after Uni, when Mr Stark gave me that job.” You answered quietly, feeling a weird shame for even being here. “It was a great opportunity for me to grow, but I want to be a scientist, not a PA.” You smiled and looked him in the eyes. “Don’t get me wrong. Working with Mr Stark was a privilege and I was able to learn so much from him, but it’s time for me to make my own projects.” Visibly satisfied with your answer he put his glasses back on and looked at your CV.

“How about you tell us more about that idea you had?”

You closed your eyes and sighed. You felt good after the whole discussion, but it still felt like you would not get the job. Not to mention, that you would probably have to talk to Tony about your references. You whined and lay on your desk.

“Are you alright, Miss?” Jarvis’ voice was filled with concern, after registering your annoyed noises.

“Not really. I think I have an existential crisis.” You chuckled to yourself, at how stupid that sounded.

“Anything I can help you with?” You smiled at his thoughtfulness.

“Is there some kind of algorithm that would help me choose between what my heart and my brain tell me?” There was a silence for a moment after Jarvis turned on your computer showing you multiple web pages opened.

“I’m afraid there is no algorithm, but there some sociological and psychological studies regarding the issue.” You sat up and laughed out loud at this. “But Mr Stark always considered social sciences an, let me quote, “utter bullshit”, so I am not sure if they would help you.

‘Thank you Jarvis, you’re the best!” You quipped looking through the pages.

“I’ve been told!”

“I know that, she worked for me for some time now.” He murmured through the phone. He expected the call for references, but not so soon. He was sure to hear you just come back.

“This is a huge deal. We have never hired someone so young and with so little experience before.” The rector sighed on the other side of the phone. “I need to know if she will work out.” Tony frowned and looked through the window. He had Nat’s voice in his head telling him to be an adult, to not be selfish. But he can’t. He cannot lose you. You were the best and brightest thing in his life now. WIthout you he would be lost. As an Iron Man, and as Tony Stark. So he did something selfish, already hating himself for it.

“She’s a good PA. That’s all I can say.” It was harsh, and was definitely burying your chances. He knew you were more than that. He saw you in his lab, repairing his armour, or adding comments to his plans. You were more than a secretary. You were a genius. The best possible person for this job. But he was petty. He was once again acting like a kid. He heard the rectors deep sigh and he understood, that he just fucked up. Your career, your life. And the solemn idea of you finding out about it, was killing him.

“I understand confidentiality is still a thing up there?” He asked and could hear the man chuckle.

“Don’t worry, Tony.” He turned the phone off and threw it across the room, watching it crack on the wall. He fucked up. Badly.

“I see!” You tried to keep your voice as steady as possible, despite the tears appearing in your eyes. “No, no I understand, of course.” The strings of thanks and apologies were thrown and you bit your lip, hoping to end the call ASAP. “Yes, I will!” You lied, when the rector told you to keep on trying. You ended the call and let the tears flow.

It was stupid really. You knew deep down, that you wouldn’t get the job and yet. Yet it still hurt to know you weren’t enough. You wanted to climb the highest of mountains so it should not have surprised you to fall.

“What’s wrong?” You wiped your tears and put your phone away.

“Nothing, Natasha, everything is under control.” You stated, your voice only a bit shaky. You didn’t turn to welcome her. You opened your laptop and started to work.

“Did you go?” She asked, and you rolled your eyes. Can’t you just be left alone?

“Yes” short answers, hoping for her to understand you didn’t want to talk. Especially not with her. Not with the person that pushed you to go. “I’m sorry Natasha, I have lots of work to do.” The woman raised her brows and sighed.

“What happened?”

“I’m just a PA.” You answered after a moment of awkwards silence. “Without much of experience in the field. I’m nothing more than Stark’s PA, who happened to finish MIT.” You shrugged your shoulders and sighed. The tears were back and the screen was starting to get blurry. “At least I don’t have to choose anymore!” You chuckled through the sobs and hid your face in your hands. “I’m sorry. Can you… I did what you told me to. I went and I failed, please can you leave me alone? One time in my damn life I thought I am worth more than I truly am! And I knew that, but then you …!” You got up and looked her in her beautiful eyes. “Do you know why I always hide in that fucking shell of mine, you seem to have such a problem with!?” Widow’s eyes widened at your use of language. She never seen you like that. Never heard you speak so that. That little, quiet mice seemed to have enough. “Because my life taught me, that I will never be more than I am. I was never enough for anyone. My parents, people at school and Uni, my professors, and him… I learned to live with the fact that I am nothing more than a loser, unwanted by anyone. But then you had to make me go and…”

“I’m sorry.” She pulled you for a huge and kissed you at the top of your head. “I just wanted to help. I wanted to see you happy. See you live your own life. I’m sorry, sweety.” She cooed you and you couldn’t help but hug her back, repeating words of apologise into her neck.

He closed his eyes hearing your cries. Your tone, the raised voice. He wondered how long were you keeping those feelings inside. It broke his stoned heart to see you, hear you like that, only to know that he was the reason for this. You blamed Nat for it, only because you didn’t know how awful he was. He took a deep breath, and deciding to leave you be, he came back to him room. Hoping Romanoff would help you.

“What’s wrong, kiddos?” He announced looking at the Avengers assembling in the kitchen.

“Please stop saying that. There are at least three people here who are older than you.” Clint sighed, playing with his chips.

“What’s up with Lex?” Steve asked with his Captain America voice, glancing at Stark, his guts telling him, the billionaire had something to do with it.

“What do you mean?” He asked, playing stupid. It has been two weeks since the MIT call and Tony hasn’t seen you. He wasn’t sure if you were ignoring him even more than after the Christmas party, or you were just that busy. You did work. Yes, definitely did work. Everything went more smoothly than ever. He noticed because he had more free time. And if he was being honest, he was starting to get bored.

“I haven’t seen her since the party. I thought it was die to the New Year party workload, but then she seemed to disappear even more.”

“Yeah not to mention that I actually miss that big smile on her face, when she sees her favorite Avenger. “Sam chimed in, making Bucky and Nat roll their eyes. “But seriously, should we worry?” Everyone looked at Stark who sighed deeply, taking his cup of coffee with him.

“I’ll talk to her, kids. No worries, daddy will take care of it.”

“I really hate when he says that!” He chuckled, hearing Steve’s disgust in tone.

“So she lives!” You jumped at his voice, behind you. It was a middle of the night and you truly hoped he would be sleeping already. Or at least at his room. “Are you making the magical chocolate?”

“Magical chocolate?” You raised your brow at him and he smiled, shrugging his shoulder.

“I never had a better massage than during that hot chocolate night meeting last time.” you blushed and looked away, hearing him chuckle. “Any leftovers?” You nodded and prepared him a cup, pouring the mixture into it, and adding the marshmallows. She put it in front of him and was about to leave, when his fingers circled at your wrists, stopping you. “Sit with me, please.” You bit your lip nervously and obeyed taking the sit opposite. As far as possible. “I have something to tell you and you have to promise me you will listen to everything before you slap me and slap the doors behind you.” You frowned and looked at him. Your heart broken a bit, when you noticed the face he made. He looked like a kicked puppy. Like a little kid that knew he messed up.

“Mr Stark, I don’t…”

“Please… They worry about you. I worry about you. Since that damn stupid Christmas party everything went to hell. I fucked up, you saw it and…

“Listen. When you started working for me I made it clear fuck complete of a mess I was, right?” You raised your brow but nodded, even a small smile appearing on your lips. “I am a messed up person. A guy in his…” He coughed awkwardly. “Well my age doesn't matter here.” You bit your lip not to laugh, which made him smile. “I always got what I wanted. A spoiled, stupid kid, with more money and looks than brain.

“I still don’t know what you see in me.” He smiled at you softly. “I am not stupid, kid. I see the way you look at me. I do. And it flattens me. You are this genuine girl, with kind heart, smart and beautiful in and out and… You are too innocent for me to break you. I am not someone you should fall in love with. Someone who should be your first boyfriend. Your first love in life.”

“Forgive me, but I think I should have a right to decide who I fall in love with…” You bit your lip nervously, staring at the table. You missed the way he smiled softly at that. His look softened and he sighed.

“Of course. But this… This is not the reason why I needed to talk to you…” You nodded, giving him a go to continue. “How was your interview at MIT?” You stiffened and looked at him with big eyes.

“Natasha told you?”

“The rector called.” You swallowed and frowned. “For references…” Something in his tone made you realise where this was going and you felt your heart beat fasten. “I… I’m sorry kid. I-I couldn’t let you go. I needed you. I… fuck I didn’t want to live in a life where you wouldn’t be there to help me. Be there for me and…”

“What did you say, Tony?” If the situation was different he would enjoy the fact that you said his name, but not now, not with the seriousness behind it.

“I said you were a good PA.” The pain in your eyes broke his heart. You opened your eyes to say something, but couldn’t. All this made sense now. The good interview and an awful ending. “Listen… I know you may hate me now…”

“Is this all that I am?” You asked and frowned. “Is this really what you think of me? A good PA?” There was a silence between the two of you. A painful one. For both him and you.

“Of course not. You are so much more.” He tried to hold onto your hand, but you backed away. “You are so smart and incredibly talented. You can do so much more than just this job. I…

“I was afraid that you would leave and I would be alone. And this scared the shit out of me.I can’t imagine you not being here. Not being able to…”

“I quit.” His heart stopped at your proclamation. You stood up, still looking down at the table. Your hands starting to shake with anger, your heart beat fastened and you felt like you were about to cry. “I can’t… You crossed that line…”

“What line?” He asked, looking at you, hoping that whatever you just said was a stupid slip off. “I apologised, damn it!”

“And, what? Everything should be fine now? Because you apologised!?” You shouted, staring at him with your angry expression. “For so many years I hid my anger towards you. I hid it, because I loved you more than I was angry at you.” His eyes widened. He expected your feelings, but hearing them was a totally different aspect. “But this? You ruined my future, my dreams because you are a selfish bastard!” You pushed your hands away from him to make sure you wouldn’t punch him.

“I told you I was afraid…”

“Yes!” You shouted, tears streaming down your cheeks. “You were afraid. You didn’t stop for a second to even consider how I was feeling. You knew… I told you so many times before about my dreams. About my insecurities about them, and yet you used them against me. You used that biggest doubt and used it for your own good! It shouldn’t surprise me, not should it hurt. But yet here I am, with my heart broken. Because I was so close in burying that dream, only to make you happy. To stay by your side, because helping you was more important for me than pursuing my own dreams!” You shook your head and clenched your fingers. “I went for that damn interview, because Natasha made me. She told me I hiding behind you, afraid to take a step forward. But it wasn’t it. I was just trying to protect you. Make you happy. And what do I get in return? you betrayed me, Tony. The one person I thought I could trust, the one person who I thought new about my insecurities. The one man I was able to trust and love in my stupid life, used me, because his needs were more important than what I’d want.” You wiped your eyes and turned around. “I will send you an email with PA that would gladly take my place.”

“I don’t want them!” he shouted, getting up to get closer to you. “I don’t want anyone, but you. I know! Fuck, I know i made a mistake. I know I was selfish, but please… one more time. Give me a chance to prove myself. To show you I am not a dick! Please! I won’t survive without you. I need you. I…”

“No Tony... “ You smiled sadly and took a step away from him. “You don’t need me. You need the idea of me. You need a person who would follow your every step, Who would do your job without saying a word. Who would follow you like a lost puppy. A part of me always thought you gave me this job due to my powers, but that it wasn’t it. You just needed someone who would adore you the same way you adore yourself. But I had enough.”

“I thought you love me!” He hissed at you, when you were almost at the corridor. “Was that a lie?” Not able to control yourself you laughed through tears. You turned around, walked towards him and slapped him across the face.

“Don’t you ever dare to say that! i loved you for so long. I loved you when you brought all those women here. I loved you when you shouted at me and made me feel like I was nothing. I loved you when you were away to those damn missions. i loved you while I was healing you and I loved you when you pushed your tongue in that blonde’s mouth.” He flinched, remembering the Christmas party. “I loved you despite hurting. I loved you so much that I decided to stay by your side for so long, despite being unwanted. I knew… I knew how absurd those feelings were. I knew someone like you, who has everything, would never fall in love with me. And you made that completely clear at the party. You gave a little hope, and then crushed it. But not anymore Tony. I have had enough and before it escalates I need to leave.”

“You won’t get any opinion from me. You won’t get a job anywhere in the industry” He shouted. He hated himself when those words left his lips. He hated the look you gave him. He wanted to apologize and say that this was bullshit. He wanted you to stay. But he knew, there was no way. No way for you to forgive him. Not anymore.

“Yeah. Thanks, Mr Stark. It was a pleasure to work for you!”

***

He watched you smile at the kid, who giggled at your adorable, funny face. She was crying and you did everything you could to stop her from crying, while her mom went to the bathroom. He didn’t know how good you were with kids. He never seen you with any. He watched you give her a chocolate cookie, which had probably brighten her day. And he watched when you smiled at the woman, who was probably thanking you for taking care of the little girl.

He looked at the place and sighed. This was not something you dreamed of. It was an MIT nor a technological industry. When you left for real, leaving him with a three page long email with names of the best PAs in the country, he called every big business, including MIT, giving them the best references he could give. His heart broken even more, when the MIT’s HR called and told him that you have declined their job offer. You hated him and he hated himself.

He knew Natasha talked to you from time to time. Clint and Steve came here for your coffee and “The best apple pie’ in Boston. They took that extra way to see you at least once in three months. Bruce send you emails regarding some new tech Avengers were using and you answered him with possible ideas of how to make them better.

You still loved that world. He could see it and hear how you missed that and the Avengers. he was able to see through Jarvis’ system, that you connected to talk to him. You kept in touch with everyone, even a stupid AI, and not him. You left the next day. Your bags were gone, room cleaned up and only an email waiting for him.

Mr Stark.

According to our contract I should be giving you a two weeks notice of my leaving, however, due to my unused vacation days, I am taking them and I quit immediately from today. As I promised, you can find attached the list of the best PA in this country. I made you all of your business had been taken care of.

I would greatly appreciate if you didn’t try to get in touch with me in any ways. I am planning on starting a new life. I hope our paths won’t have to cross in the future and....

I wish you well, Tony. I really do. When I think about it, it was me who was an idiot. It was me who fallen in love with someone who could only love himself. I was the idiot one. So yes. I do wish you all the best Tony.

Love,

Lex

He hated and loved this email. It was the last thing from you. He didn’t contact you, didn’t try to find you. You deserved it. After everything he’s done for you, you deserved freedom from him. Away from his selfish ass.

He was able to keep that promise for two years. Two years of his teammates talking about your new coffee place, your new flat in Boston and a boyfriend you broke up with two months ago. They tried to stay quiet when he walked in but he was still able to hear them. They loved and cared about you. And who was he to neglect that.

But two years were enough. He had enough and he decided to be selfish this one time. One more time. Come here see you and if you give him a chance, apologise.

“Iron Man!” He froze hearing a boy shouting from the inside of the coffee place. He noticed your frozen figure and he wanted to run away. He was actually very close in just walking away, when you turned around and he felt his heart stopping. You became so beautiful. You have lost some weight, your hair gotten longer at those eyes. Those beautiful eyes were still so mesmerizing. “Mommy, It’s Tony Stark!”

You watched with disbelief at the man outside of your coffee place. You followed his every move, when he walked in, and smiled at the boy, taking some pictures with him and signing his cap. You scanned him and something you hoped died a long time ago, came back to life. The butterflies were back. You closed your eyes and turned around, pretending like you were focused on cleaning the coffee machine. Anything not to look at him. not to focus on those beautiful face, and charming smile.

“Lex”, you flinched at his quiet, almost scared whisper. He walked closer and you were afraid to turn around. “Ma’am can i order?” You rolled your eyes. You couldn’t just say no. It was possible that it was a coincidence. Maybe he came here for business and… No! It was Tony Stark, nothing was just ‘lucky’ for him.

“Of course, sir. What would you like?” You turned around and tried to give him your most natural, customer service smile.

“How about that chocolate you used to make and 10 minutes of your time.” You bit your lips and took a deep breath.

“We have three types of chocolate, Sir. What is it you want? White, milk or dark?”

“Lex, please!” He whispered, his hands travelled to cup yours, but you took a step away from the counter. He closed his eyes and looked around. “Can we please talk when you close? Please?” It wasn’t often that Tony Stark was begging and the mean part, which hated him, was happy to see him in emotional pain. But the part that still loved him felt sorry for him. And so you agreed, telling him you were closing in three hours. He ordered a dark chocolate and an apple pie and sat at the corner of the place, patiently waiting.

“I told you not to contact me!” You hissed, when the last customer left the place. You turned around and gave him your angry look. “One thing I asked of you! Damn it, Stark!”

“Two years… Come on, Lex. It’s been two years I missed you.” He sounded and looked so small. He looked like he wanted to cry and run away as quickly as possible. Like coming here was the biggest mistake of his life. “I… Fuck… Can we sit down?” You crossed your hands on your chest and he sighed. “I never apologised.” You frowned at him and smiled at you. A small, unsure smile. “I never said what I truly wanted to say to you that day. So if you give me ten minutes, I will tell you. 10 minutes and maybe one more of your chocolate?”

“I turned off the machine.” You stated, making him swallow hard at your tone.

“Sure. Yeah.” He took a deep breath and sat down on one of the stools. “I was the biggest asshole in the Universe, but I was afraid. I was afraid that the only person I truly trusted and loved would leave me. Like my mom did. I was a mess when she died. She was the only one that really knew me, the same as you. But she had to be there for me, she needed to love me, because I was her child. Her only son. You didn’t have to and yet you still did. And it scared me, because I didn’t understand why someone like you would ever love me. So when I heard you went for a job interview I got scared, that I will lose you. Yes I was a selfish prick and if I could turn back time I would, trust me.

“All those things you said to me that day were true. And I just wish you would have told me them sooner, I would have the opportunity to work on myself not to lose you. I wanted to stop you and so out of fear I did something I was only good at. I pushed you away. Even more. When I heard you took down proposition from MIT I knew I fucked up.”

“I felt like I would owe you something and I didn’t want that.” He nodded and hid his face in his his hands.

“I fucked up big times. The worst thing was not because I tried to hurt you, but because I tried to not feel pain myself. I was selfish. Hell, I am still selfish for coming here.” You raised your brow but let him continue. You heart slowly melting at his words. You never stopped loving him and this all was not making it easier to forget about him. “I know those words mean nothing to you now. But I love you and I miss you. What I wouldn’t give to have you back in my life. Even if only as a friend. I am not afraid to say that I love you. And I need you. And not the idea of you, but you. That selfless, kind hearted woman, with the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. I want and need you. With me in my life, in NY. I know you have your life here in Boston, but… I just want you to know that.”

“It took you hell of a lot of time, Stark.” He looked up and frowned seeing a little smile on your lips. “I guess I lost a bet with Nat.”

“A bet?”

“Yeah”, you shrugged and chuckled. “I believed you’d forget about me and never come to see me, and well, Nat was sure you’d come to find me in the first three years I was away.”

“Yeah. She’s scary. I think it’s a Russian thing.” He rolled his eyes dramatically and you chuckled. “You’re not mad at me anymore?”

“Oh, I hate you, don’t get me wrong!” He opened his mouth to say something, but was smart enough not to. “But I still love you and people say love is stronger than hate.” He was looking at you with those big puppy, brown eyes. “But I want to start over. Be your friend. Get to know Tony Stark, and…”

“And? I will give you anything you want, Lex!” He took a step closer and took your hands in his. This time you didn’t pull away.

“That place on Brooklyn. There used to be a pancake place, but now it's free and no one bought it. I want it.” He looked at you and chuckled. Pulling you closer, he kissed the top of your head.

“Sure thing, sweetheart. It’s all yours. So am I.”

#tony stark #tony stark x oc #tony stark x reader #tony stark x you #PA #Avengers #Happy Ending #angst #Iron Man #Tony Stark fanfiction

37 notes · View notes

breakingmllc · 3 years

Text

Slant Sit Up Lean Forward Ask Questions Nod Your Head T Shirt

Get born treasure and come follow me when he heard as he became very sorrowful because he Luke 1818 and there are Jesus was asking this man who is rich and successful would you give it all up to follow me would you forfeit for a Slant Sit Up Lean Forward Ask Questions Nod Your Head T Shirt few years in order to have much more for eternity instead of building a career would you spend your life building 19 Jesus wants to be first and foremost in your life you want to be front and center as he should be. He asked Sherry color here’s your twisted Sherry rotating special this one has parts on so this is one of the new LED lights guys this slight changes depending on the leaning also different lights on this headlamp will eliminate depending on which way strikes cheerleading the bike this was that the effects got seats in a day or bars on it Doesn’t have the stage for awnings at the scene he ported heads said this was God the screaming of mufflers they change the mufflers this year guys this radio mufflers is not a lot better this year so those of you who always is kind of a Smith screaming of mufflersand and aftermarket granite you find this year that the screaming of mufflers a little better yes answer question Mario Lego yes the 114 comes on this bike so based on the motor they did this this lady is a 117 I hear here’s another cool thing guys are like they had these bad genes for the campfire cover you can put in the displacements so you know 42 motor workand nobody knows what’s in there so now you got a tag you Miller for a 114 or 117 or whatever it is no sexy some nights I was kinda done that in a light to do that last year Apple car play that’s a good question Glenn Watts I got a look into thatand I honestly I’m not an expert on the infotainment system yet it’s aligned in one day I gotta get my hands on its on their on the current Latina system I consider myself a pretty dang good that had two bikes with it on their but the new system I don’t know yet know that the LED Denny colitis definite standard guys to answer that question here is this is a PNA nothing set partsand accessories paint set guys so this is called the grandstand I ordered this pink stat on a road glide this year so if you guys follow my channel you will see any building not meet our technicians building a road glide with this grandstand pain I there’s no news on an iron guys irons exact same bike they just change the pain on the spike of assassin accessories on it this is a road king special by the way that the new day maker headlamp my bike Henry Lenny about the Santos man data gaskets the the delights in the slam is a rotating standard in the Connecticut green this was all decked out in parts accessories so you barsand everything on it these bikes will roll out the new there is currently guys they should be your dears right now we we had bikes arrived yesterday the day of the announcement these bikes are shipped out to dealers kill the green that youand sorry greens for that so here’s the stuff on any trikes guys so you got a new braking system here so you got the links brake system with ABS traction control you have a traction control on these bikes now guys so I’m in a ride in a try committed to a big in depth review this year guys on the trikes to be looking for that family commenting all the new the brakes on the breaking ABS braking systemand the new traction control as well on his bikes here’s a free Wheeler this is the salts Bonneville salt pearl so I know old dirty biker today guys I apologize there’s another TRICARE try to buy for you system yes the door locks so I have a rawhide deluxe over here I’ll show you a quick though yes but I do lots answering digital locks this is the rawhide years like the rawhide to me now Ellis a root beer I agree with the comments there is one new actual model this year guys really got asked the question it’s right here to steal this the one new model is to recap on what’s new guys there’s someone you model that makes DL the specialsand the altar limited the road but also all went to 114 this year that’s new to infotainment systemsand all the bikes have infotainment system are new there’s a brand new infotainment system this year guys know it does not retrofit back to the old models here is a billiard blue slant OF this one yet Ryan just has the Akronand there’s no model name is called an ethics VR of those kind of weird to good question robot special colors you have memorized you guys I think it’s black billiard blue industrial gradesand himand I think those like that Connecticut green in a Blue Max setting are the colors I could be wrong that I like is a level of colors memorize yet yet a new headlight that rotates that’s a PNA bike arts using a PNA partand accessory parts you can only buy that the parts catalog it does not come stock on any bike but somebody none timeand let me know he is want to see the me know he is on a see here is a rocking serious Iand I answer the question via the new infotainment system cannot be retrofitted back to the old model bikes unfortunately so if you want yeah by 2019 yes I had amount videos all the videos that you see much as I do all that 100 is 1 million questions what bikes you want to see let me know thank you I appreciate it thank you guys closer guys thing on himand he went on the videos here pretty soon I think I got my stuff John Maxwell’s okay on my channel I have a video with him up maybe tomorrow afternoon or something three glide see Bob CVO altar versus road glide on the s’more robotand streetlight stuff gorse orange like a fat boy hoping to have all those guys here’s a robot special in the billiard blue is billiard blues nice guys gave you in the colors I order a lot of it’s really nice you is that still reflects guys think together the right is at a production viewer does not exist anymore guys I’ll be testifying guys new bikes soon the first by comeand try to do it then you ethics VR vacuum to read you a lot of my reviews this year guys because the specials all have a 114and are now I agree Nathan John that you should move to LA work at Laidlaw’s I agree so somebody asked for that still reflects color with find a I know I know I’m gone is the bunch of the colors on the streetlight over here okay so here’s that silver flux you about 1000 people watching right now so. I want to hear what all of you think to review the results of it on Thursday actually Thursdays going to be our twitch show where we do the entire show on twitch so that should be a new thing that we do good night everybody you have a good night and I everybody I want to up the ending so I’m switching your way for actually I you’re right Billy you know what guys I Billy brought up something else before he rage quit I have I you know what I’m glad you brought this up before he rage quit Billy because you distracted me by the way I have time now I have to do push ups and other stuff on a wartlike ground view up we put on the floor we would be doing pretty you how many when he going to do 10 yeah I can do it 10 push ups yeah I can do it unsatisfied I can do 10 push ups and I to zap myself he remembered and he distracted me with like it’s rage quit and move that thing back you pull to do it like her and yeah I don’t have the extension will you do dang well here hold on source sorry Jeff

Source: Slant Sit Up Lean Forward Ask Questions Nod Your Head T Shirt

Slant Sit Up Lean Forward Ask Questions Nod Your Head T Shirt, Hoodie, Sweater, Longsleeve T-Shirt For Men and Women

Slant Sit Up Lean Forward Ask Questions Nod Your Head T Shirt

More than Top other products

Premium Trending This Summer Season will Presents Who Love:

So Wiseman is point Scalia is word of her death sent shockwaves around the handle that well resident was speaking at a Slant Sit Up Lean Forward Ask Questions Nod Your Head T Shirt campaign rally in Minnesota touting the importance of judicial nominations is quicker on his feet and Biden that’s one thing I’ll give him he’s quicker on his feet wet with software and Biden’s are of Ginsberg’s passing even as a supporter shouted the new the next president will get 1 to 3 or four Supreme Court justices I do want to bring up that when school Leah died it was right before Obama was about to leave office right before the election the trunk got elected in and they were Republicans were like a Obama leave that appointment up to the next parade it was over six months before right and this is left to us before and Mitch McConnell was in charge and to use 237 or something to 47 was a well over 200 days prior to Obama leaving and Mitch McConnell wouldn’t even hold a hearing for Obama and now Mitch McConnell’s like when you try to cram someone that were less than halfway last night. Is my current music means fees will be presumed for generations all the time for me a century America’s racial reckoning now solve the in an area I hear you are willing to go recognition difficult work as we know the chain is motivation is to be facing things that she faces the be is me that shares the motivation to push forward make sure that you did some that you leave the more people know ABC news wall I I made a right flames shooting up into the wants to watch the game board states here in the New York Times the top news stories and the site will be detailed story and listen and start leaving his agency weather news pipe in the critics listen for an Apple pie cast they live is all about the news live National Geographic screens never 180 fly go there for your 1000 I her nurses health care nationals first to everyone for their supermarkets pharmacies gases is running thank you all the essential workers all that do thank you every challenge concern every day every day because we get through this together. Areas you might want to move out as I’m telling you is going to get ugly real quick so that’s often a option B is if your body goes out boats and does a milliner balance and I’ll jump with my last lot well want to worry about all that though still wry though still die on resale but it will be nowhere near as bad if he has to go to the Supreme Court in a get a new justice of the peace in there before election night because off today if you guys you get so that I’m telling you need because is that I don’t get ugly people say there the Civil War I believe that will be the start of the Civil War on that night you call me crazy as they are seen on a little talk about telling this to many things are lining up right now I always say things happen for a reason firm believer in the reason why say that believer or not Barack Obama will won the presidency in 2008 to become the 44th president the man upstairs controlled election we controlled all the elections he wanted to become president See Other related products: unicorn shirts and shirt

#Trending #Slant #Sit #Up #Lean #Forward #Ask #Questions #Nod #Your #Head

1 note · View note

seymour-butz-stuff · 4 years

Link

At first, Derek Canavaggio thought he would be able to ride out the coronavirus pandemic at home until things were safe. As a bar manager at the Globe in Athens, Georgia, Canavaggio hasn’t been allowed to work for weeks. Local officials in Athens issued Georgia’s first local shelter-in-place order on March 19, canceling the events that usually make spring a busy time for Athens bars and effectively eliminating the city’s rowdy downtown party district built around the University of Georgia. The state’s governor, Brian Kemp, followed in early April with a statewide shutdown.

But then the governor sent Canavaggio into what he calls “spreadsheet hell.” In an announcement last week, Kemp abruptly reversed course on the shutdown, ending many of his own restrictions on businesses and overruling those put in place by mayors throughout the state. On Friday, gyms, churches, hair and nail salons, and tattoo parlors were allowed to reopen, if the owners were willing. Yesterday, restaurants and movie theaters came back. The U-turn has left Georgians scrambling. Canavaggio has spent days crunching the numbers to figure out whether reopening his bar is worth the safety risk, or even feasible in the first place, given how persistent safety concerns could crater demand for a leisurely indoor happy hour. “We can’t figure out a way to make the numbers work to sustain business and pay rent and pay everybody to go back and risk their lives,” he told me. “If we tried to open on Monday, we’d be closed in two weeks, probably for good and with more debt on our hands.”

Kemp’s order shocked people across the country. For weeks, Americans have watched the coronavirus sweep from city to city, overwhelming hospitals, traumatizing health-care workers, and leaving tens of thousands of bodies in makeshift morgues. Georgia has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, and the state’s testing efforts have provided an incomplete look at how far the virus continues to spread. That testing capacity—which public-health leaders consider necessary for safely ending lockdowns—has lagged behind the nation’s for much of the past two months. Kemp’s move to reopen was condemned by scientists, high-ranking Republicans from his own state, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms; it even drew a public rebuke from President Donald Trump, who had reportedly approved the measures before distancing himself from the governor amid the backlash.

Public-health officials broadly agree that reopening businesses—especially those that require close physical contact—in places where the virus has already spread will kill people. Even so, many other states are quietly considering similar moves to Georgia’s. Most are taking a more measured approach—waiting a bit longer to reopen, setting testing or infection benchmarks that must first be met—but some, such as Oklahoma and Colorado, have already put similar plans in motion. By acting with particular haste in what he calls a crucial move to restore economic stability, Kemp has positioned Georgia at the center of a national fight over whether to stay the course with social distancing or try to return to some semblance of normalcy. But it’s easy to misunderstand which Americans stand on each side. Many Georgians have no delusions about the risks of reopening, even if they need to return to work for financial reasons. Among the dozen local leaders, business owners, and workers I spoke with for this article, all said they know some people who disagreed with the lockdown but were complying nonetheless. No one reported serious acrimony in their communities.

Instead, their stories depict a struggle between a state government and ordinary people. Georgia’s brash reopening puts much of the state’s working class in an impossible bind: risk death at work, or risk ruining yourself financially at home. In the grips of a pandemic, the approach is a morbid experiment in just how far states can push their people. Georgians are now the largely unwilling canaries in an invisible coal mine, sent to find out just how many individuals need to lose their job or their life for a state to work through a plague.

Estimates vary as to how many businesses might actually reopen now, but none of the Georgians I talked with knew many people who intended to voluntarily head right back to work. That was true in Athens, which has long been one of the Deep South’s most progressive cities, as well as in Blackshear, a small town in the rural southeastern part of the state that tends toward conservatism. Kelly Girtz, the mayor of Athens, estimated that about 90 percent of the local business owners he had spoken with in the past week had no intention of reopening immediately. “Georgia’s plan simply is not that well designed,” Girtz says. “To call it a ‘plan’ might be overstating the case.”

Several of Georgia’s Republican mayors did not return requests for comment, but some have publicly supported Kemp’s decision. In Watkinsville, which is near Athens, Mayor Bob Smith released a statement on Sunday encouraging the town’s residents to return to religious services and their jobs.

Certainly, demand for these businesses’ services still exists. For many hair stylists, the response to Kemp’s reopening announcement was swift. Zach Lee, a salon owner in Blackshear who closed his business well in advance of the state’s shutdown, told me he heard from clients within 15 minutes of Kemp’s press conference. Lee had to tell them he wouldn’t be reopening yet because he didn’t think doing so was safe. “I want to work. I’m a workaholic. I can’t wait to get back behind the chair and do hair,” he said. “But now is not the time. I really don’t feel like being the guinea pig in this situation, and I don’t want my clients being guinea pigs either.”

Extensive protective gear is required in most types of reopened businesses, which was a sticking point for every Georgian I spoke with who was contemplating a return to work. They said the state is providing neither the gear itself nor guidance on how to get it, so they’re in the same market as everyone else, competing with medical workers and high-risk people who need masks to safely go to the grocery store. Lee said he doesn’t “feel comfortable buying up that stuff right now when there’s hospitals that are needing it and they can’t get it.” Dupree said that to secure the gear she needed to reopen, she had to ask clients and friends to volunteer their extras.

One person’s “extras” are another person’s hoardings.

Many workers and business owners have to factor in competition. “The trouble with [Kemp’s] ad hoc orders is that they sort of gin up a generalized interest in commercial or business activity,” said Girtz, who spent much of his career as a local public-school teacher before becoming the mayor of Athens last year. When people hear on the news that businesses are open, many will assume that it’s safe to patronize them, and may miss more nuanced information about ongoing safety concerns. And when only some businesses open, they’re able to capitalize on this interest and swipe business from still-closed competitors.

For hair stylists, barbers, and nail technicians, whose livelihoods are especially reliant on loyal customers, losing business to others is worrisome. “I want to keep my clients and I don’t want them to see anybody else,” Jillian Yeskel, a stylist in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, told me. Yeskel has asthma, which might worsen cases of COVID-19, so she’s decided to hold off on returning to work for at least another two weeks. During the shutdown order, she didn’t have to pay rent for her salon station like she normally does, but now that the order has been lifted, she’ll have to start paying again.

Which is what it’s all about, really. It’s about offsetting the pandemic costs onto business owners, then sucking their assets dry and feasting on their corpses after they inevitably fail.

Look for a wave of foreclosed properties and asset sales in Georgia’s future, where creditors sell off items for pennies on the dollar to the 1% and their chosen few.

Just don’t be surprised if the governor gets in on some of that action.

This is the guy who selectively kicked tens of thousands of people off the voting rolls in order to win his election - he’s a slimeball and doesn’t care who knows it.

#health #2

2 notes · View notes

petty-revenge-stories · 5 years

Text

How I may have cost a coworker her job.

TL;DR at bottom.

Update at bottom.

I work as a baker at a grocery store, and my department works closely with the deli. Now, when I say I'm a baker, I actually mean I'm the baker and have about twice as much to take care of in 9 hours than the woman who "runs" deli.

(To clarify, neither of us are managers or even official team leaders, but she's been doing this for about 5 years and while I've only been in this position for 6 months, I've more than doubled sales because quality and quantity have improved so much, making me the voice of authority in my area. We do, however, share a department manager and operate under 2 other high tier managers.)

This weekend we had health and safety inspections on her days off, and new girls training/running deli solo with me alone in the bakery.

One of the store managers comes into bakery with the inspector following, do a thorough review of my bakery area (closed off from the rest of the store, so any problems in there are mine and mine alone, so I run a tight ship in there) and I'm actually commended for how clean and organized everything is. My portion of the visit is about 30 minutes, including the inspector asking to sample some new pastries and of course you can have some. Would you like a few to take home to your family? Here's the ingredients list, your wife can make them like this. You know, the whole kiss-ass appeal to good nature because I've seen the deli and they're about to get reamed and I don't want to be associated with them.

Before I can go any further, I should mention the lead deli worker (LDW from here on) hates me. I have no issues on calling her out on her petty drama and stupid shit, but because I know what she's like, I take my issues directly to management. Well, 2 weeks ago she came in on her day off and threatened to drag me out by my hair and kick the shit out of me, called me derogatory names, etc because I talked to management about her threatening to make false claims against me for not covering a shift for her (cross trained for her department). I immediately told management, they have video but no audio of the situation, and she's in serious trouble. My DM, who already hates her, basically tells her she gets one more chance to prove she's worth keeping. Ever since then, she's been nasty and turning coworkers against me because I don't get to interact with many people. I'm actually busy all day, unlike some people.

Back to the story.

So inspector leaves, and about an hour later my DM, SM and the inspector come in and start asking questions about deli. Y'all, they found open snacks, empty personal containers, etc in the deli kitchen, mixed in with deli food and containers. For anyone who works in a professional, retail or industry kitchen, you know this is a huge no-no. Closed container of water kept outside the kitchen? Sure. I keep a bottle of water on a table outside my bakery. But in the kitchen they found food, food containers and uncapped bottles marked LDW.

They're asking me questions, our GM comes in and listens in, and I explain all the dirty, disgusting habits LDW has and mention that she's likely taught them to the trainees. Then I get into the customer service issues and rat on how nasty she is with people, the drama she causes between coworkers, and make a comment on how nice it must be to get paid for 3 hours you don't work because you're entitled to 6- 30 minute smoke breaks throughout the day when you're older, right? Then I drop a comment about how pretty her hair always is and it's no wonder she doesn't wear a hairnet in the deli.

Y'all, you could have heard a pin drop with how silent it got. Even the inspector is looking off. Everyone but my DM leaves, and he asks me to clarify some facts for him, so I do. His lips puckers, his eyes narrow, and he starts cursing her in Spanish. He's furious that he was embarrassed during the inspection and I apologize, but he corrects me and says it wasn't any issues with me, it was the state of the deli.

We have a follow-up inspection coming up and if the deli isn't in shape, it could get shut down. But LDW? She's likely to get fired this week for that stupid shit.

TL;DR: coworker threatens and harasses me constantly, so I rat her out to management and health inspector and have likely cost her the job.

Edit: I go back to work tomorrow, so I will hopefully have good news to share.

Update: So far it looks like LDW is going to remain employed. HOWEVER she was being register trained when I went up front, so at least the danger to the food is gone.

For everyone concerned about the deli trainees, don't be. If they're worth their salt, they'll be open to being retrained on proper food safety and will keep their jobs. If not, well, it's not much of a loss. My manager asked me to continue to bring issues to his attention, which I'm happy to do, and that's that. Not the dramatic she was escorted out and banned from the store ending that I was hoping for, but still a satisfying one nonetheless. Food areas pay a few bucks more than the other entry level positions, so she took a pay cut and I've heard her screaming at a few people already, so she won't last long either.

Thanks for the support and remember to wash your hands when handling food.

(source) (story by Dragons-With-Tits)

#pettyrevenge #by Dragons-With-Tits #petty revenge #revenge stories #petty revenge stories #petty #revenge #revenge story #last10

390 notes · View notes

forevermyalwaysphff · 5 years

Text

Chapter 8

A/N: Well you asked for it and now you get it! Here is the next chapter for your lovely people!

“Unc Harry!” George hollered Harry’s name and came running towards me. “Swing in the air!” Harry bent down and threw George up in the arm catching the small prince in his arms. Grasping his body Harry angled little George like he was an airplane and ran through Will and Kate’s apartment while the prince giggled and squealed in delight.

Kate laughed at the two playing with one another while she prepared a dinner for her little family and her brother in law. Harry was down on his knees playing with his young nephew and listening to George ramble on. The young prince had recently started to really talk and now wanted to talk all the time even if it was a bit hard to understand him at times.

“Unc Harry helo copper?” George smiled up at his uncle while lifting up a toy helicopter Harry had bought George as a present.

“Yes, your uncle Harry wants to fly a helicopter.” Harry always had a inner kid side to himself and he loved to spend time with his nephew. He had arrived back from base earlier that morning and attended an engagement with his brother for William’s conservation charity, Tusk Trust. William insisted that Harry come over for dinner that night to catch up and spend time with his nephew George.

Harry accepted without another thought having known that Alexa was busy volunteering with SORRT (Street Out Reach Response Team) that night, a community out reach team that targeted high-risk areas with homeless teenagers and children working along side the London Police. Their aim was to build up community relations and give support to homeless teens such as ensuring they had a safe place to stay off the streets and access to health and education services as well. He had to have a distraction knowing that Alexa was out on the streets of London in a few rough areas of London into the late hours of the night.

“How has flight school been treating you, Harry?” Catherine asked her brother in law that was still crouched down on the floor playing with George. A welcomed distraction for the toddler as his mother was able to cook dinner without interruption.

“Oh you know Kate. Busy, hard.” Harry shrugged. “Exams are the worst bit of the lot, but once I get up flying it’s all worth it.”

“I bet.” Kate smiled making brief eye contact with Harry. “All the hard work will be worth it in the end. I know we cannot wait to be there supporting you when you get your wings.” George stood up and ran over to his toy box to search for a new shiny toy to play with uncle Harry.

“You know I went to a domestic and sexual violence woman’s shelter a few weeks ago.” Kate began to speak. “I met someone who was at Eugenie’s engagement party… an Alexa? She is a social worker at the shelter, Guardian, the charity I am considering becoming patron of.”

Harry’s eyes snapped towards Kate who was already suspiciously eying the prince. “I remember seeing you two talking at the party…” Kate tried to get anything out of her brother in law who sat on the ground silently staring up at her.

“Yeah, I remember her. We talked a bit.” Harry nonchalantly answered; not wanting to give Kate any further hints that he was indeed seeing Alexa privately.

“She was so passionate about her work and gave such an insightful tour of the place. You could really tell how smart she is and how much she adores working with such vulnerable people there.” Kate tossed the salad together. “It seems like a good fit to me. I really want to become patron of Guardian.”

“Then I am sure they would be delighted to have you as patron, Kate.” Harry smiled before George came and plopped down on his knee and held up a book. “Story? Read?” His big eyes stared up at his uncle.

“Ok, George. We only have a few minutes until we eat.” Harry dived into the book.

A few minutes later William emerged from his office and walked down the hall towards the sound of Harry’s voice as his younger brother changed his voice to fit the characters of the book he was reading to George. William smiled wide hearing George’s little laugh. He was grateful that his brother had a relationship with his son. George often asked for uncle Harry to read him a story at night, his parents simply could not imitate the characters in such silly voices as his uncle.

William sauntered over to his wife who was almost done preparing the dinner. He placed a hand on her lower back and rubbed it gently. “Sorry, love. I had a call to attend to.” The prince leaned in and smelled the aroma of marinated greek chicken, one of his favourite dishes that Kate made. “Smells delicious! Is there anything I can help with while Harry has George distracted.” William chuckled as he glanced over seeing Harry toss George over his shoulder upside down and carry him around the room.

“Everything is nearly ready.” Kate stepped in closer to William and glanced up at her husband wanting to have a quiet conversation for just the two of them. “Do you think Harry is seeing someone?” Kate watched William’s eyes turn and watch his little brother closer as he thought of an answer. “He comes back to London way more now and he seems happier.”

William nodded with a knowing smile. “Well, Harry will tell us in his own time if he wants too. Let’s not put more pressure on him as curious as I am to find out and get more ammo to toy with him.”

“All I am saying is I think I am right, William.” Kate winked at her husband before calling Harry and George for dinner.

“You always are my dear.”

“Do you want to wear these heels tonight? With that dress you will be a total knock out!” Eugenie handed Alexa a pair of strappy black heels that would go perfectly with her deep green halter dress that had a keyhole slit in the front. A group of their friends were going out on a night of clubbing in London and Harry along with a few of his friends were going to join them.

To say that Alexa was nervous was an understatement. The other night, their date ended in a hot and steamy make out session and Alexa was not entirely sure she would be able to act like nothing was going on between Harry and her. They had spoken on the phone the night before and knew that they would be in public and potentially photographed and thought it was best to be friendly instead of acting like they were dating on the off chance they were photographed together.

“Yeah I will wear them!” Alexa slipped them on and twirled around in front of the mirror.

Alexa’s phone buzzed as it received a message from Harry. “Uh, do you mind if Harry comes over for a few minutes before we leave?” She tried to coyly ask, not wanting to make a big deal of it.

Eugenie looked away from her mirror for a second and winked at Alexa. “So you two can get the snogging out of the way tonight?”

Alexa nodded while biting down on her lower lip. “Maybe… It’s going to be hard enough tonight.”

“Yeah. I have a guest room if you need to have a quickie too.” Eugenie tossed her head back laughing knowing very well that her comment would tease Alexa.

“Oh shove it!” Alexa snapped back and slipped on the other heel waiting for Harry to arrive. She could hear Jack’s voice saying Harry’s name as she walked out of Eugenie’s room to see Harry standing with Jack at the entrance.

“How you doing mate?” Harry asked Jack as they dived into a little small talk. Hearing heels click across the flooring Harry’s eyes followed the sound seeing Alexa walking towards him looking sexier than ever. “Damn….” Harry muttered loud enough for Jack to hear.

“Well, uh, good luck keeping your hands off Alexa tonight.” Jack patted the prince’s back and walked away to leave them in peace as he passed by Alexa. “Hi, Alexa.”

“Hi, Jack.” She smiled at him and continued to walk over to Harry.

“Hi…” Alexa smiled at the prince as she shyly glanced away after seeing how Harry was staring at her checking out.

“Hello… there.” Harry took Alexa in as his eyes roved over her body. The blonde stepped closer into him making her body flush up against Harry’s. “You look gorgeous, like always.” The prince flirted with a tilted head while a cheeky grin formed on his lips seeing how Alexa immediately blushed and became shy.

“Thanks.” She mumbled while twirling her blonde hair with her fingertips.

“Honestly do not know how I am going to be able to keep my hands let alone my eyes off of you tonight. If that is not the definition of Mission Impossible then I don’t know what is!” Harry could sense the nerves seething from Alexa about tonight. His hand found her hip and pulled Alexa closer to him allowing him to lean in and kiss her temple softly. “You ok? You are awfully quiet.” The prince noted.

Alexa lifted her head to look up into Harry’s blue eyes. “I am a little nervous about tonight…” She admitted to the prince. “I am so happy we get to see each other again, but I kind of only want to spend it with you and not all the prying eyes that follow you.” Alexa half smiled. “I have to be careful around you.”

“You are scared of people finding out that we are seeing each other?” Harry spoke exactly what Alexa was trying to say.

“Would you be upset with me if I said that I was?” Alexa searched his eyes for any hint of an answer.

“Not at all.” Harry breathed out. “I feel the same way, Alexa. It’s not that I don’t want them to know, now just isn’t the time while we are still figuring things out between us.” He wrapped his arms around her and rested them on her lower back. “The last thing I want is to put more strain on you by… outside pressures.” Harry subtly hinted at the real issue. “Believe me you don’t need that right now, we don’t need that right now in our relationship.”

“I understand that, but that does not make things any easier.” Alexa nodded slowly and sighed a breath of relief knowing that they were on the same page. But, that did not entirely calm her nerves of having to be so close to Harry yet not being able to be more than friendly with him.

“Now, I came here to get a kiss before we leave so…” Harry flashed a smirk before tilting his down towards Alexa’s waiting lips. He had been waiting for what seemed like forever to capture her soft lips against his own. Alexa snaked her arm around his neck and pulled him down harder on top of her, eagerly wanting more and in the process bit down a little on his bottom lip.

“Easy babe.” Harry giggled while taking in a breath. His tongue stretched out and gently asked permission to enter. A light gasp gave him the perfect chance to explore Alexa’s mouth further. The two of them were completely unaware of their surroundings as they continued to make out getting in as much time as they could before having to leave and behave for the rest of the night.

“You two done yet?” Eugenie’s heels clicked across the floor from behind them and caught them mid kiss.

Alexa’s lips flew off of Harry’s before he even had a chance to convince her to keep kissing him. An embarrassed Alexa buried her head in Harry’s chest to avoid looking at her best friend and the cousin of the man she just locked lips with. Harry was grinning from ear to ear as his eyes landed on Eugenie who was rolling her eyes back at him.

“No we actually weren’t, but thanks to you Eugenie I have no choice not to be.” Harry bantered back with his younger cousin. He heard Alexa release a light gasp and swatted his abdomen playfully at Harry’s remark to Eugenie.

“Be nice.” Alexa scolded him before turning around to face her friend who was already displaying a raised eyebrow at Alexa.

“Ready to go?” Eugenie’s lips upturned into a smirk and then zoned into a mark on the side of Alexa’s neck she must have missed earlier. “Oh my god!” She stepped forward to Alexa and moved her hair further to the side to confirm her suspicions before turning to glare up at Harry. “Did you just give her a hickey?!”

“No that was a few days ago when were making out in my backseat.” Harry saw the color leave Alexa’s face as her head slowly turned and shake her head at his response with a disappointed look.

“Really?! Harry?” Alexa could not believe that Harry said that to Eugenie. “You know what, I am ready to leave right now. Will see you at the club or don’t show up, I don’t really care at this point.” Alexa was not thrilled at how Harry had just acted in front of her best friend. “If you do, leave your attitude behind. It’s not appreciated.”

Harry looked towards Eugenie and saw the dreaded look she was giving indicating that he had definitely put his big foot in his mouth and was indeed in trouble. “Alexa, wait.” He reached out to grab her wrist, but she walked right by him and out the door without a second glance.

“Good job, Harry.” Eugenie patted his arm before walking out behind Alexa.

Alexa kept glancing towards the stairs that led up to the private area of the club as if she was waiting for someone to come in, well hoping in particular a certain someone would. Despite their little spat at Eugenie’s, Alexa still wanted to spend time with Harry. A little nudge from beside her broke her concentration.

She looked beside her at Eugenie and leaned in to hear her speak. “He will show up, don’t worry.” Eugenie nodded while staring into Alexa’s green eyes. Grabbing her drink she downed it needing more liquid courage.

As if right on cue, in walked Harry up the steps tagged along by a few of his friends. His eyes landed on Alexa, but he quickly looked away and headed straight for the bar as if he was ignoring her intentionally. Alexa breathed out feeling her anger return from earlier in the night. She was upset at how Harry handled the situation in how he took things a bit too far and was using their private moment together as a dig against her best friend. Knowing it was probably best that she had not walked out and left him there, but she simply could not bear to talk with Harry after how awfully he embarrassed her.

Alexa engaged in the conversation that was being held around the table as the drinks kept flowing. If Harry was going to ignore her, then Alexa would do the same to him. She listened to one of Eugenie’s friends talk about her holiday she had recently returned from as she told a probably far-fetched story about it. But, no matter how hard she tried to focus on the woman’s words, her mind kept drifting away and thinking of Harry.

Out of the corner of her eye, Alexa could see Harry approach with his mates. She tossed her head back in laughter pretending to not even notice his existence. Harry sat down directly across from her proving Alexa’s plan to be more difficult than she anticipated.

Harry took a sip of his drink and stared right at Alexa as she attempted to remain coy and do everything in her power to not even give him a glance. The prince smiled watching Alexa clearly ignore him, but his eyes lingered on her waiting for the moment she would slip up.

Alexa’s breath quickened feeling Harry’s blue-eyed gaze on her. There was no way Alexa was going to give him what he wanted. She forced a smile and leaned into Eugenie and whispered something in her. “I want to dance, come with me?” Eugenie kept eye contact with Harry the whole time Alexa spoke into her ear.

Eugenie glared narrowly at her ginger cousin before nodding her head in response to Alexa’s question. Harry watched Alexa and Eugenie leave the booth giving him a good glimpse of the back of Alexa’s dress that exposed most of her back. The blonde did not even look at the prince giving him no time of day.

He simply shook his head and took a big drink of his beer and saw Jack staring at him over the brim of his glass with crossed arms. “What?” Harry mouthed to him.

“Fix it.” Jack mouthed back as the two held a silent conversation across the table. Jack was now becoming pissed that Harry had dragged Eugenie into the matter.

“Hey, that girl is definitely checking you out.” Harry’s friend Adam leaned in and yelled above the music into the prince’s ear. His eyes lined up with Adam’s view as they landed upon a blonde that was eying up the prince, being flirtatious with her eyes. Harry could not help but check her out seeing the skimpy dress she wore that left literally nothing to the imagination. She would not put up a fight like Alexa. Harry thought to himself.

“Go get her a drink.” Adam egged the prince on. “Or I will.” He teased Harry. The prince made Adam move so he could get out of the booth and go talk to the woman. Harry first headed over to the bar to grab a few drinks needing a moment longer to think things over.

Normally, Harry would have been happy to flirt with that woman, but there was something inside of him that made the prince feel an insurmountable level of guilt building from within. He leaned up against the counter of the bar while waiting for his drinks. His eyes happened to look towards the dance floor and caught a glimpse of a blonde woman in a classy, but sexy dress dancing without a care in the world.

That woman was Alexa.

The only woman he wanted tonight.

Harry received his drink order from the bar tender, but he just stood there watching her from afar completely forgetting about the other woman. That pang of guilt was there because of the feelings he had started to form with Alexa and the consumed alcohol momentarily formed a lapse of judgment in the prince. If he truly wanted to hurt Alexa he would go over and flirt with that woman, but he simply could not. He did not want that, he wanted to be there dancing beside her.

His eyes remained glued to Alexa watching her body dance to the beat of the music. His lips spread into a smile seeing her twirl around in a silly manner and dissolve into a fit of laughter without a care in the world. A man came up from behind Alexa and put his hands on her swaying hips. She quickly turned around and pushed him off of her and held her hand out indicating not to come close to her. Harry gritted his teeth together with a tightly clenched jaw seeing it all unfold in front of him.

Alexa turned back around starting to dance again, but the man was simply not taking no for an answer and this time aggressively grinded up against Alexa’s backside. Harry sat his drink down hard and hastily flew down the steps towards Alexa to confront the man that she was yet again pushing herself away from.

Alexa’s POV

“Get your hands off of me!” Alexa yelled and tried to push her body off of the man who tried to tempted fate again and grinded up behind her. He grabbed her wrist and creepily smiled at her.

“You have a great ass… let me feel it.” He tugged on Alexa’s wrist to make her turn, but she fought back.

“I suggest you let go of her right now.” Alexa’s head snapped up hearing a familiar voice come to her rescue. Harry had stepped in between Alexa and the man to prevent him from doing anything else to her. Alexa looked up at Harry to see his jaw tightly clenched with an anger plastered on his face that even frightened Alexa to her core. She had never seen this side of Harry before.

“What? Is she your girl?” The man still was not letting Alexa go as he tugged her wrist harder making Alexa slam into Harry’s side.

“Yes and I won’t be as polite the next time I speak.” Harry spat out.

Eugenie had now stopped dancing wondering why her cousin was beside Alexa and could now see the situation unfolding in front of her. She knew how protective Harry could get sometimes and this was not going to end well.

“I said. Let. Go.” The prince challenged the man as they silently glared into each other’s eyes, neither one backing down without a fight.

“Fine.” The man dramatically let her wrist go as Alexa pulled it close into her body. “You better keep that hot ass out of her then, next time she won’t be as lucky to have you.” The man warned the prince before turning to walk away.

Harry practically lunged forward at him and grabbed his shoulder spinning the man back around. Alexa ran forward and put herself between Harry and the idiot that was about to get his face smashed in by Harry. Placing both her hands on the prince’s chest she tried to push his sturdy body back, but he was too strong for Alexa.

“Harry. It’s not worth it.” She begged him not to start a fight here. His eyes were glued at the man, throwing daggers at him. If Harry did not stop this behaviour soon he would draw a crowd and bring to life both of their fears.

Alexa gave Harry a hard shove on his chest, but still could not make him back away until a small hand reached down and grabbed his. She did not want to have such contact not wanting to give any hint that they were an item, but Alexa had no choice.

“Please don’t make a scene.” Alexa’s soft voiced caused Harry to look away from the man down to her pleading green eyes. Her hand wrapped around his and gave it a small squeeze. “Please… do it for me.”

Harry could feel her hand trembling while grasping his hand in an attempt to calm him. “I am fine…” Alexa continued to beg him to stop and let it go which was completely out of character for the prince not to stand up for someone he cared about.

“Get the hell out of here.” He told the man who practically ran away from them. Alexa immediately dropped his hand and turned away from the prince walking away towards the ladies room and pushed the door open. She needed a few minutes alone to calm down.

Not even less than a minute, Alexa heard gasps fill the bathroom. Her eyes looked up in the mirror to see Harry’s reflection a few feet away from her.

“Sorry, can I have a minute?” He asked the ladies around the bathroom who cleared out quickly leaving the two of them alone. Harry stepped away for a second and ran to lock anyone else out. He had to admit, it was not his most genius idea.

Alexa was standing looking at her reflection in the mirror with her arms crossed. “So much for subtle, Harry. Real fucking subtle.” She could not even bare to look at him.

“Fuck, I know.” He laughed nervously and then apologized for swearing. “Sorry I have had a few.”

Alexa turned to face the prince with a less than impressed expression and sighed. “I don’t like what you did out there. You put us –”

“His hands were all over you! I saw it all!” Harry tried to defend his actions while closing in the distance between them. “You pushed him away and he came back for more and well he got more… well not exactly the kind of ‘more’ he was thinking of.” Harry started to laugh, but shut that down quickly as his eyes made contact with Alexa who stood there still unimpressed with him.

“I do not need you defending me. I am perfectly capable taking care of myself!” She raised her voice at him. “I don’t need you to be -”

“Oh ya, Alexa?” Harry interrupted and mocked the blonde. “You had everything perfectly in control before I stepped, didn’t you?” His voice rose an octave.

“Yes! I could have handled it, but you jumped right in to be the hero and save the damsel in distress!” Alexa swayed back and forth speaking in a low manly tone while mocking the prince in return. “I am NOT your damsel, Harry! I am not even your girlfriend! You cannot lose it on a guy like that, what if you had hit him?! What then?” She was trying to get the prince to see why his behaviour was irrational.

“Jesus fuck!” Harry ran his fingers through his hair. “Why are you being so difficult tonight?!” He shook his head and ran his hands down his face. “Why can’t you just be-”

“Difficult?” Alexa stepped forward. “That’s what you think?” Tilting her head, Alexa’s eyes narrowed at the prince shooting daggers through him. “Me getting upset that you practically told my best friend… your cousin….” She emphasized before continuing. “That you were making out with me and bit my neck in the back seat of your car and then told the world?! And thoroughly embarrassed me in front of her.”

“Well, it happened didn’t it?” Harry tossed his arms up in the air. He did not see what the big issue was.

“Yeah it did, but… you were an arse about it.” Alexa grew quiet averting her gaze away from the prince. “I could have handled it myself tonight…” She was slowly starting to see Harry’s side of things as her soft voice gave way. “You did not seem to give a damn about me a few minutes before that anyway! Why did you care then?”

Harry took in a couple deep breaths in an attempt to calm him down. Fighting with Alexa was the last thing Harry wanted to do tonight. He closed in the space between them and wrapped his arms around Alexa. The blonde hesitated for a minute before welcoming his embrace and leaned into the comforts of his chest.

“I’m sorry for ignoring you and I know you can handle yourself.” He breathed in her sweet scent. “But you should not have too with me.” Harry let the words sink in before continuing. “I know I over stepped with Eugenie and embarrassed you. For that I apologize, but, I will not for trying to ensure your safety.”

She picked her head up off his chest and held his gaze hostage for a quiet minute. “But, we are only dating… I am not your girl, Harry.” Alexa breathed out. “I did not want you making a scene and getting in trouble over me.” Alexa confessed quietly.

“I may have taken it a little too far…” Harry slowly spoke as if he was trying to convince himself of the same thing. “But, he was all over you and you clearly did not want him to be, regardless who you are to me I would have stepped in.”

“You are right.” Alexa nodded. “Let’s stop this, please.” She started to rub Harry’s back seeing that look of anger growing on his face. “Thank you for stepping in for me, Harry.”

“No need to thank me.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I just want to get out of here now.”

“Let’s stay for a little while longer and have a good time. You need to have a little fun and de-stress a bit.” Alexa stood on her tippy toes and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“Ok. Ok.” Harry agreed to staying with Alexa a while longer. “How the hell am I going to get out of here… and you out of here without people knowing who I was talking too.”

Alexa pursed her lips together and scanned the room. An adorable expression lit up her face as she came up with a brilliant idea. “I will hide in one of the stalls and wait a while. Once people come in, they won’t know who.”

“Not only are you beautiful, but you are also a genius.” Harry giggled seeing the expression on Alexa’s face of her plan.

“Ok, go now!” Alexa backed away from him and motioned for him to leave as she stepped into a stall and closed the door.

Harry unlocked the door knowing that there would be a line up waiting outside. He put on a brave face and opened the door. “Sorry ladies, it’s all free now.” The prince speedily walked away as fast as he could before anyone could determine who he was.

Making it back to the private area, he scooted into the booth where all of his friends were waiting including a nosy Eugenie. “Where the fuck were you? Where is Alexa?” She immediately interrogated him.

“She’s coming. What has she been drinking tonight? I am gonna get her a few before she comes back.” Harry practically had to pry the information out of a stubborn Eugenie who was still apparently angry with Harry.

“Vodka cranberry with club soda.” Eugenie told the prince through a clenched jaw.

A few moments later Alexa emerged from the ladies room and had cleverly disguised her identity as the woman Harry had been talking too. Her heels clicked up the steps toward the private area of the club to find her friends waiting for her.

Two of Eugenie’s friends were headed back to the dance floor. “Alexa! Come dance with us!” They tried to pull her away, but said she would sit this round out.

She scanned the table and Harry was no where to be found until he suddenly appeared at her side carrying a drink from the bar for her back with him. “Oh hi! Is this for me?!” Alexa thanked the prince before sitting down next to Harry’s friend Adam.

“Well, hello.” Adam flirted with the blonde the second she sat down. “I’m Adam.”

“Alexa.” She shook his hand politely and took a sip of her drink.

“Did you steal my mate away from me?” Adam whispered into her ear and caught Harry’s stare.

“It was not that long was it? I am sure you survived just fine.” Alexa giggled. “Besides, he helped me get rid of a handsy guy.” She leaned back in her seat and shared a look with the prince.

“He’s always the protective one.” Adam shouted loud enough for Harry to hear him. “Especially over smoking hot woman like yourself.” Harry’s eyes glared at Adam, sharing a warning to back off of her.

The two of them sat beside one another for the rest of the night. Enjoying the company and the ever flowing drinks that came across their table. Every now and then, they would be able to share a stolen glance or a have a few minutes to talk before things would get too suspicious and they would dive back into the group conversation.

However, beneath the table their hands were intertwined, their fingers remained locked together while they laughed, drank and conversed with their friends. No one was able to see their subtle connection, but to them it felt like they were connected to one another.

Alexa blinked her heavy eyelids and was feeling the effects of all the alcohol she managed to consume. She squeezed the prince’s hand and he immediately locked eyes with Alexa. Her green eyes said it all, she wanted to go home but they would have to leave with Eugenie and Jack in case there were media waiting to capture the royal’s night out.

Alexa pulled out her phone and texted the princess who was sitting across the table from them asking if she was ready to leave. Within a few minutes, the princess replied and their group dispersed from the table.

“Hey, I am going to catch a ride back with Eugenie.” Harry leaned back into the booth the tell Adam that he was leaving. “See ya again mate.”

Adam winked at the prince noticing that Alexa was leaving with them too. “You two have fun now. You were not so coy as you two thought you were being.”

“Keep it between us.” Harry confirmed what Adam was thinking, but he was not going to deny one of his closets friend’s suspicions.

“Got it mate. See ya around ginge.” Adam waved goodbye to Harry and saw the blonde waiting for him. She offered a quick wave back before turning and walking out beside Harry.

They were fortunate that there had been no leaks that night and were able to swiftly leave out of the back entrance undetected with only a few drunken eyes laid on them. Harry and Alexa were able to climb into the back seat of a separate RPOs vehicle giving them a bit more time alone.

Alexa sat in the middle seat clasping Harry’s hand as she struggled to stay awake. Her head bobbed up and down as the prince teased Alexa before telling her to rest it on his shoulder. The plan was for Alexa to stay overnight at Eugenie’s in her spare room, but by the time they had arrived back at Kensington, Alexa was fast asleep beside the prince.

Harry unfastened her seatbelt and pulled her body to the edge of the car as he climbed out. The prince picked Alexa up bridal style and secured her as close to his body as possible. Eugenie stumbled ahead of the prince and started gushing at how cute it was seeing Harry carrying Alexa in his arms.

“I am going to take her to the cottage with me.” Harry was sure that Eugenie was in no state herself to make sure Alexa got into bed alright and he also had a few spare rooms himself.

“You better…” Eugenie slurred out trying to finish her sentence, but nearly fell into the gravel as Jack steadied her. “Behave.”

“I will make sure she is alright… in the spare room.” Harry ensured a drunken over protective Eugenie.

Harry turned back around and headed down another path towards Nottingham Cottage, his own private place on the Kensington grounds. Alexa moaned a little as her eyes fluttered open.

“Am I being carried?” She giggled uncontrollably.

“Yes, go back to sleep.” Harry laughed, but it only made Alexa pick her head up and look up at Harry.

“I really like your eyes you know.” Alexa’s glassy green eyes stared into his.

“I think I prefer yours, Alexa.” Harry had quite a few drinks himself, but could obviously control his liquor better than Alexa could. Alec was walking ahead of them and opened a small gate for the prince to shuffle through.

“No no, yours.” Alexa drifted back asleep in his arms.

Harry kicked open the spare room door and flicked on the light switch with his elbow. He gently set a sleeping Alexa down on top of the bed which made her eyes fly open for a brief second and then flutter softly as if she was trying to stay awake. The prince sat down on the edge of the bed and unfastened her heels, tossing them to the floor. He inched closer up into the bed and tucked the covers over top of Alexa, still in her green dress. Harry did not want to invade her privacy and try to take it off of her, so he felt it best to leave it on.

“Harry?” Alexa rolled onto her side. “Will you stay with me?” Her green eyes pleaded with him while he felt her soft hand clutch his loosely.

It took all of him in that moment to not give Alexa what she wanted having his own judgment impaired by a healthy level of intoxication. But, she was not in the right state of mind and was wrong for Harry to take advantage of her in that state.

“Not tonight.” He simply replied. “You are in my spare room and have the whole bed to yourself.” Harry giggled seeing the adorable smile turn the corners of her lips up.

“It’s so comfy and warm.” She wiggled her body into the soft fabric and closed her eyes, falling back asleep right in front of the prince.

Harry sat on the edge of the bed for a few minutes longer to make sure Alexa was ok. He leaned in and placed his lips softly against her forehead and kissed her good night. Pushing himself off the bed, he walked out of the spare room and turned off the light, shutting the door behind him.

Feeling the same effects as Alexa, Harry had suddenly grown tired. Flopping down on top of his bed, the prince passed out into a deep slumber.

#prince harry #royalfanficcentral #phff #prince harry fanfic #fanfic #chapters #chapter 8 #forevermyalwaysphff #harry and alexa

29 notes · View notes

hachama · 5 years

Text

Second Democratic Debate Analysis, pt. 1

Like last time, I’ve (finally) read the transcripts. I read the fact-checkers’ analysis. I have ranked them.

Also like last time, due to the size of the field, I’ll be splitting my analysis into four groups. This first one will be the Please Do Not Make Me Vote For Them group:

Good news! Due to candidates dropping out, it’s a shorter list!

Biden, Williamson, Delaney, Ryan, and Bullock

Under the break, I’ll be analyzing their debate performance, how effectively they represented themselves on the issues, and how much I hate them, in reverse order of preference. Let’s begin.

17) Bullock

Governor Steve Bullock did not make an appearance in the first set of debates, and now I know why. He is the Shirley Exception made flesh. “Surely no one would actually use our laws to hurt someone. Surely if someone is really a good person they won’t face terrible abuses. Surely not…” Stevie, these are things that are currently happening. These are facts.

Those who read my analysis of the first debates should know that I do not accept any luke-warm “healthcare choice” arguments, and Steve is full of those, too.

He’s very worried about other candidates campaign promises being unrealistic, and says that it’s important to listen to “real Americans,” as if democratic socialists and the majority of Americans who support universal healthcare aren’t “real” enough for him.

As if that weren’t enough, he also argues in favor of some of the abuses of immigrants, as a deterrent to immigration.

To his credit, he supports treating gun violence as a public health issue, including research by the CDC into causes, which could inform actually useful gun control policies. He wants to see Citizens United overturned, which is also good. But not good enough.

16) Ryan

Representative Tim Ryan has the distinction of being one of the candidates I hated entirely in this debate. I agreed with none of his points, and most of my notes contain profanity. He introduced himself as New and Fresh, playing on his youth (he’s 45. The average age of the democratic candidates is 54. There are 4 people running who are younger than Tim) without offering much substance.

He opposes decriminalizing the border. On healthcare he seems to think we can’t make healthcare better for everyone because then unions won’t have anything going for them which is just… He thinks letting businesses “buy in to medicare” is a good idea, and all I can hear is “privatize the social safety net and let companies decide whose grandma actually deserves to have proper care when she breaks her hip.”

I’m not saying Tim is evil. I’m saying he’s spineless and would let bad things happen because it’s too much work to stop them.

15) Delaney

Representative John Delaney joins Tim Ryan in the dubious category of “I hate you and everything you stand for.” The only reason he ranks slightly higher than Tim is because someone had to. Their scores were the same level of shrieking profanity.

John thinks that reminding everyone that he was the youngest CEO in the history of the New York Stock Exchange is a good thing, showing that he has absolutely no idea what democrats are looking for in a candidate. Surely, we should trust him! He sold his soul early and has abided by the contract for so long!

He is another candidate decrying “unrealistic” campaign promises. He reiterated his concern that Medicare for All would underfund the healthcare industry in America, he considers it an “extreme” policy proposal, and called it an “anti-private sector strategy.” Yes, John, because the private sector’s profit motive has been working so well, let’s all continue dying so that small groups of people can make lots of money off of the price of insulin. Fuck you.

14) Williamson

Marianne Williamson’s contributions were blessedly brief and infrequent. She supports public campaign funding, which is great, but she also spent an entire minute on “I have concerns” without once proposing a solution, referred to the American healthcare system as a “sickness care system,” which for me evokes concerns about chemtrails and chemikillz, and her opening statement evoked American Exceptionalism.

I’m so tired of Marianne Williamson.

13) Biden

Former Vice President, Former Senator Joe Biden was invited to comment on everything. As a result, I have over a page of notes just for him. The moderators’ bold strategy of checking in with Uncle Joe every time anyone said anything gave him opportunities to say a few things I agreed with, but ultimately was not enough to get him out of my lowest ranked category.

As he said in the last debate, Joe supports rejoining the Paris Climate Accord. This time, he said we need to “increase” the standard, apparently recognizing that solutions negotiated several years ago will not be sufficient now, and he wants to see an end to fossil fuel subsidies. These are good things I can agree with.

Joe is concerned by the treatment of immigrants seeking asylum, and the excessive wait times for their cases to be heard and the refugees either released or returned to their country of origin. His solution is to “flood the zone,” spend more resources to make decisions faster. This guarantees nothing except a reduction in detainees which, while generally positive, is less than half a solution.

The thing Joe said that I liked best was about the treatment of former-inmates after the completion of their prison sentences. Joe said that former-inmates should have access to public programs and benefits upon release. This would be a significant change from the current system, which continues to punish people long after their sentence is served. He also said that drug crimes should result in rehab, not prison.

Joe continued to use his association with Obama as a shield against criticism, which was worn thin before the first debate started. He evaded questions about Eric Garner, refused to answer questions about Obama-era deportations (with the added bonus of “what I said was said in confidence, you’d share it, but not me”), invoked American Exceptionalism in his opening statement, interrupted Cory Booker at one point, blamed all of our current political and social dysfunction on Trump, and thinks we should renegotiate the Trans Pacific Partnership.

The cherry on top of this shit sundae? He said the phrase “I have the only plan that (…)” I haven’t talked about this much, because it’s a little hard to express in text, but I have a very, very negative response to any claim to being the only person who can solve a problem. It’s bad when Trump does it, it’s bad when Biden does it, it’s an abuser’s tactic. “I’m the only one who loves you, I’m the only one who can help you, I’m the only one” is always a) a lie, and b) a red flag.

Granted, I was so far behind that some of Biden’s comments formed parallels I might not have seen when he initially said them, but some of the things he said about immigration were symptomatic of the same thought process that gave us that abominable rewrite of Emma Lazarus’s New Colossus. Biden, when trying to make a point about the strength of America being in our diversity, said that “we’ve been able to cherry pick from the best of every culture,” and followed it up with “anybody that crosses the stage with a PhD, you should get a green card for seven years. We should keep them here.” Not everyone who immigrates to the U.S. is going to have an advanced degree. Not everyone who immigrates to the U.S. is going to be “the best and brightest.” And that’s a good thing. There is a limit to the number of doctors and lawyers a society needs. Some immigrants are going to be nurse’s assistants and cab drivers, and we need them here, too.

Even with all of that, the worst of what Joe had to say was about healthcare. Joe thinks that limiting co-pays to $1000 per person is part of making healthcare accessible to everyone. He thinks your health insurance premium should be no more than 8.5% of your annual income. I did some math. For minimum wage, that’s almost $2500 for insurance, out of pocket, before anyone sees any benefit. After taxes, that leaves about $10k for a minimum wage worker to live on for a year. At $15/hour, $20k to live on. These are not reasonable numbers in most of the country.

#second democratic debate #politics #opinions and analysis

2 notes · View notes

yogaclassesinalisoviejo · 2 years

Text

Top Latest Five Yoga in Aliso Viejo Urban News

No matter If you would like your 5 yr-previous to acquire a lot more relaxed while in the drinking water or you do have a preteen who however ought to learn the way to swim, our Leading swimming instructors are below to provide you. At Goldfish Swim School - Aliso Viejo, we've been dedicated to serving purchasers in the course of Aliso Viejo to establish the talents they have to be Safe and sound both equally out and in with the drinking water.

Aliso Viejo city officials famously came near to banning polystyrene cups in 2004 following a paralegal Performing for town discovery the dhmo.

My mission is to give you the applications to Stay a well-balanced perform-lifestyle through day-by-day yoga and meditation techniques that may bolster The body and your mind, leaving you with inner thoughts of very well-currently being, self-assurance, and contentment inside yourself.

Genevieve CunninghamToo Lots of people on today's planet skip the extremely important act of stretching. After we're Young ones, stretching is pointless. We're presently versatile with no even hoping. As … 27 April 2019

When issues arose regarding the club subjects, the personnel advisors ended up handy and supplied each of the Assembly minutes for the 12 months, answered all of our thoughts, and even discussed getting us to sit in on a meeting. They ended up as clear as is possible with all inquiries. It’s regrettable to browse uninformed comments as most club topics had been on discovering help programs and the way to discuss with moms and dads, nothing in the minutes discussed the act of sex. I extremely suggest this school and the excellent training they’re offering.

About Scholar-Teacher Ratio College yoga in Aliso Viejo, student/Trainer ratio is calculated by dividing the entire range of students by the overall number of total-time equal teachers. Remember to Take note that a smaller-sized college student/Trainer ratio doesn't automatically translate to lesser class measurement.

For everyone’s safety, lifeguard responsibilities are limited to watching the h2o and guarding the pool. Be sure to immediate all thoughts and fears to your member of the executive or administration crew, not Energetic lifeguard workers.

We are correctly suited for company travelers desiring privateness, and even more dwelling Areas within an urban location in which our company has the option of going for walks to neighborhood businesses, searching, dining and companies, rather than commuting to and from household suburbs.

My experiences as a college student and teacher have enabled me to possess a holistic method of whole wellness. I specialize in balanced growing older for men and women and girls' overall health. I accomplish this by teaching fantastic posture, stability, core toughness, overall flexibility, weight reduction, worry administration, the psychology of positivity, and nutrition education file

fairly homogenous scholar body, with nearly all pupils pinpointing as one ethnicity, but not representing about 70% of the scholar body.

Thank you for your submission. To determine your evaluation live, be sure to refresh this site. We price sharing genuine suggestions from our amazing people. To write up your critique,

Moving is often stressful, nerve-wracking, and tiresome, but finding the time to arrange several primary necessities can help retain the hair-pulling to a bare minimum

As a result of handbook manipulation of your backbone shipped to the best standards by licensed chiropractors, chiropractic care works to restore and maintain proper communication from your Mind to your body by relieving what chiropractors refer to as a subluxation, or a misalignment, of the backbone. Restoring good alignment into the backbone can support suffering aid and avoidance of:

My smile muscles generally get a fantastic exercise routine After I am available resulting from a particularly welcoming team as well as an enjoyable ecosystem. You should not squander any more time looking through my critique, go get an adjustment and smile way too!

#yoga aliso viejo #swim school aliso viejo

0 notes

recalibr8 · 3 years

Text

How to talk with Covid deniers. A guide for doctors in training.

Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers. The question of what to do with the feelings that have been aroused, the knowledge that has been communicated. If one feels that there is nothing 'we' can do -- but who is that 'we'? -- and nothing 'they' can do either -- and who are 'they' -- then one starts to get bored, cynical, apathetic.

Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others

Thursday, I helped out with the vaccinations. Joe (not his real name or identifiable history) was worried. His brother had driven him to Georges and pushed him into cubicle two, and slunk back the the waiting room, arms folded. Joe wanted the vaccination because he’d been shielding since March but all his friends had told him not to. “I dunno, I THINK it’s all real, but it’s hard to know who to trust. They’re laughing at me, in my block. I shut them out but, this vaccine isn’t, you know, gonna do anything weird to me, is it?”. I told him I was getting mine the week after so it better bloody not.

Joe had bern shouted at in person and online. Doctors hurry past crowds yelling ‘covid is a hoax’ on their way onto a shift

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/doctor-covid-hoax-crowd-outside-st-thomas-hospital-b633377.html?amp

and amateur sleuths film empty outpatients on weekends claiming fake news and hysterical media https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-hospital/fact-check-video-does-not-show-uk-hospital-with-empty-ae-department-and-does-not-provide-proof-that-the-pandemic-is-a-hoax-idUSKBN29E0O7 And all the while we work, worry, sleep, regroup and head back into the teeth of the second surge. But what do you do when confronted online, in a family Zoom or in person by a Covid denier? The Tea and Empathy peer support page for health workers https://www.facebook.com/groups/1215686978446877/?ref=share has posted this question over again. It’s worrying us all because it might be fueling higher infection rates. We also get asked online questions all the time and frankly, it’s energy sapping.

Do we need to ‘do’ anything at all? In Susan Sontag’s book, Regarding the Pain of Others in which she asks us to look at those finally confronted with the graphic photographic imagery of war suggests that ‘it is passivity that dulls feeling’. And we know all to well what dulled feelings represent. Burn out. The fact we care and get angry for ourselves, our patients and the wider population means we are functioning as good human beings and good doctors. But being a good doctor means we can’t go to wars on the more egregious of the deniers. We are bound by Good Medical Practice not to bring the name of the profession into disrepute and of course although it’s tempting to video our ITU, post online and say SEE! Regard the Pain of Others! We’d not only break confidentiality but be told we are deep faking, lying, virtue signalling. It seems unfair that we can’t shake shoulders and change the narrative by showing people what we do every day. But we can’t.

So why does COVID denial exist? There’s a colossal gap between, questioning, bar stool opinions of which we all indulge and denialism. We all need to question. Doctors after all are notoriously impossible to influence: that and the public trust thing means that when revolutions happen, doctors are often on the front line or first to the gulag. But analysing everything doesn’t mean everything is wrong. And that is a problem with denialists; they are often also absolutists. For every rebuttal, there is another argument. We’re seeing it now in the US where in some quarters, anyone but the actual Capital insurrectionists are being blamed for their day of terror. Some are excited by puzzles, loving to see connections without taking responsibility for their conclusions, some hate any sort of authority, some are mischievous, some malevolent, some outright dangerous. So what do we do? Like it or not, doctors hold influential power. Someone messages you to show you Plandemic (again), someone quotes a struck off doctor who had strong views about 5G, a protestor gives you a leaflet....This. In this order.

1. We prioritise our own wellbeing because we’re responsible for the lives and wellbeing of others. Whatever we do within the rules we have to follow, we don’t get sick arguing with people who will delight in our discomfort and using up our energy. Whatever we chose to do, we can stop at any time we feel overtired or unwell.

2. Doing nothing is absolutely and totally an option. It’s unlikely (see above) but unquestionably valid.

3. Be kind to your friends and relatives who are questioning, have strong views about lockdowns or might be cross and tired. They might be right about some things too. Listen, ask them how they are, tell them to look after themselves and if you’re getting stressed, don’t be afraid to say “We need to stop here. Let’s agree to disagree. Love you, see you soon”. Leave things open for another day.

4. In random online conversations don’t feel you have to quote facts as were in time where truths and evidence are questioned. Quote sources if you do (leave it to other people to yell ‘do your research’) but remember that people often engage with the person, not the argument. Even if that person isn’t that nice. It’s about influence which is hard to pin down. But don’t appeal to people’s worst nature; it’s an easy win to ‘punch down’ about vulnerable people for example. If you feel guilty about what you’re about to say probably don’t say it. But if yiu can stick in someone’s mind as that kind, listening person, what you say next or even 6 months later might stick.

5. Don’t be afraid to say SOMETHING, if you’re in the mood. It’s easy sometimes to ignore comments, push through clinical decisions by being detached and blocking but just one thing you say in kindness, calmness and thoughtfulness might influence not the person shouting, but the person standing next to them or reading a post. Things can be polarised but a lot of people are just confused. We’re not trying to ‘convert’ people, we just want people to be safe, kind and make sensible health choices. Shouting is not going to get yiu there. You don’t have to be an exhausted martyr to facts, but a gentle nudge is all some people need. Most WANT to trust doctors because they know we care in the main. And if that person hates doctors, there’s not much you can do to change that view, but you might reinforce the views of their friend who has had mostly good experiences. And that might change the world.

Joe got his vaccine. His brother sloped back in and wheeled them away. I hope he’ll pass on his good experience.

There will be more confrontational conversations as the vaccine roll out becomes more intense. There’s more that connects humanity than divides us, so try not to judge people to harshly but don’t be afraid to walk away from conflict. Processes are in place to make sure everyone has the opportunities to be treated in their best interests. But please, do look after yourselves.

1 note · View note

lightoverturesystem · 6 years

Text

Today was a really strange day. It started getting up and actually feeling well rested for once again, and not waking from a nightmare, to check my phone and see a new friend (who I have to write more on later) was coming by my house to pick something up and dropping off coffee on her way out. That was a great start to the day, a really pleasant surprise. I spent 4 hours on the phone, trying to resolve a nightmare with my health insurance. For nearly a month now, I haven’t been able to have health care. My state is currently reforming their statewide health care, and everyone on it was terminated off one plan and had to choose between a new 4. I of course, had my notice of termination and the paperwork to reinstate it sent to an address I haven’t lived at since 2013, which is basically a mail void for me, when the company has my correct address on file. Even though this was their mistake that cost me time, effort, mental and physical health, medicine, and money, there was no compensation. In order to get financial aid, I need a packet filled out by my psychiatrist, and only them. He hasn’t had an available appointment for 2 months, and won’t til the end of April, when I need this signed out ASAP because I have been selling my belongings since December to get by, and I really need the rent money. I would send it to him by fax to just have it done and turned in, but I need to have had an examination by him within 30 days of him filling it out, which I haven’t been able to since he’s been so busy. After wrangling proof of my citizenship and residency, my health insurance rejected me and everything was delayed another 2 weeks, because I did not date the affidavit I sent in declaring my current address was indeed where I lived and valid, which one of the health insurance employees said they never see the processing center reject those for that reason. hours on the phone later and two people telling me my health insurance still wasn’t valid, they connect me to the processing center themselves, and they process stuff on the phone for me because I will not stop complaining how this is costing me actual money. I am doing all of this because I have an appointment with him tommorrow that my doctors office specifically overbooked my psychiatrist just for me to be able to attend to get help, which if I do not have insurance, cannot go to as I will not be able to afford the bill. I was told by one worker first that if the appointment is within ten days of the insurance reinstating, they will cover it. But do I really want to take that gamble seeing as the thousands who live in this state also sending in applicatios and going through their own nightmares make the processing center very behind schedule? Especially when its a psychiatrist appointment... (Which are usually really expensive) No. Then I get told by another worker it won’t be covered. A third worker tells me it will. At this time, I have no idea who to believe and I don’t want to take the chance so I’m just complaining until shit starts moving. They process it. Finally I have standard care. But that doesn’t cover the new health plan I was supposed to pick. Well a week ago, I went online and chose my plan and signed up for it back when I thought the paperwork I sent in would be accepted no issue. I find today I have mail from this new plan, they sent me a healthcare card. I still don’t know if it’s valid or not considering I just now have standard care that I needed first before this one, but by the end of all this I was too exhausted to even bother to ask... I then get transferred to a line where apparently I can make sure my addresses are updated properly in their systems so this hopefully doesn’t happen again, where I am connected with someone who normally works a desk job not with people. I can tell this because after my addressses are updated, I get an hour political rant from this man about our current systems and government because you guessed it: there is no way to ensure this doesn’t happen again. So people like me just have to suffer. And at this point (which kinda is my fault for letting him go on) I’m just too anxious to tell him I gotta go in a non polite manner I have already tried at (I dropped like 8 hints and even told him, “well I have a lot of other things to do today so I kinda have to go...”) and getting angry about this new unpleasant news that I just have to bite another bullet from our shitty fucking government to care. After that, I use the last of my money to mail packages of my belongings out to ebay customers, while calling my lawyer telling her I am also sending out information for Social Security they asked of her, but that I have on hand. I get mailed a copy of everything they mail to her. She tells me it isn’t uncommon for clients to get notices a week before the lawyer does. Great. Next I fill out paperwork the place that gives out financial aid and foodstamps to, to extend my case for getting financial aid or I have to go down there a fourth time to open another case because orchestrating visits and exams with special doctors within incredibly small state case time restraints is a nightmare. I also get a notice I need to get a shit ton of paperwork done (I don’t even know what yet) for them or my foodstamps will be cancelled in May, a notice I havent even received in the mail yet. I only know of it because this place had their own app and thankfully puts up all the notices they send to you by mail (my health insurance should take a fucking TIP) Then, 4 hours in on the phone, I have to settle some BS between Walgreens and my insurance because my new insurance won’t allow them to mail medications to my house without them having a credit card on file for me, which I don’t have. I live a 3 mile walking trip form this pharmacy, something I can’t do in winter, and on bad pain days, and honestly shouldn’t be expected to do anyway because if I was more physically disabled than I am currently, I’d be so screwed. After basically having a mini panic attack with the lady on the phone, she assures me she’ll get it taken care of and does whatever magic she had to make it happen somehow. At least for this month. That’s one third of my meds covered. The other, I go online and have to fill out a form to refill each one. The last 6 or so come from the pharmacy 50 miles away at my doctors office, that hopefully I can get filled tomorrow after my psych appointment without an issue. After all of this and more I don’t even want to mention here, I get a call from a worker from the respit program I’m currently in for community support, and one of the workers only has tonight to take me to an LGBT meetup down town. Hopped up on 4 cups of coffee and 2 shots of espresso I think about how well, I deserve to go out and have a good time, and I really don’t know when an opportunity is going to come around like this. I decide to go. I actually had a really nice time. The place was very inclusive, though entirely older folk, who were suprisingly open minded about me being non binary even for older LGBT people. I spoke with a trans woman about how she finished high school right before Stonewall and learned a lot about trans history from her. She’s an advocate in the state and the only openly trans person she knows of in the city, which was kind of sad to hear, because even still this is Massachusetts, this is where a lot of LGBT stuff is centered! I told her, “well now you know of 2″ and I got to speak a lot of my own experiences. She wants to set up a trans specific homeless shelter in the city, and that made me really happy to hear as one of my main issues this spring/summer being homeless was the fact that being trans and a sexual abuse survivor as many of us are, I really had nowhere comfortable to be. They even had vegetarian food options there! I got a few phone numbers and maybe some help in the future with things I need. Leaving however, was bittersweet. At the end of it, someone mentioned to me that it only cost 5$ to do something, and I told them how I literally now have no money to my name, and how I’ve been selling my belongings to get by. And the group kind of gave me a pitiful chorus of, “aw that’s really sad” in a questioning kind of tone. I was insecure if that was like TMI or something, but as I told the worker I came with, I’d rather be honest with my brutal reality than be fake and lie, even if its not what people want to hear, both for myself and others. And it’s hard for people to hear moreso because they connect with me; it’s not just like I’m a person on the news with a sad story that they are very disconnected from. They connect with me and have to face something really shitty, that kids are thrown away and are uncared for and are facing really terrible things, things that people have to now look in the eye and don’t want to accept. People don’t want to accept that they’re living in the type of world where shit like what has happened to me and many people I know actually happens. And there’s something in me that just can’t bear to pretend like my situation is anything but what has honestly happened. It feels dirty to spare their feelings and just lie about it constantly, not to mention draining on myself. I don’t think I could continuously do that, or should be expected to. It feels like an injustice, and an insult to myself to do so. This can be really isolating sometimes. After that comment and my honesty, what followed was me saying, “well it’s sad, but it is what it is” and shrugging. and me and the worker left not long after, with those being the last words between me and some really good people. It left me with a pang of loneliness just as effective as the fact of where I was and all its inclusiveness brought a feeling of togetherness. Amplified it, even. It was a reminder that as togheter as I can be with people, I’m still just alone in life that way. I’m never truly alone as I have my partner and friends, but with them all so far away and me doing everything needed to survive, it can really feel that way sometimes. I’m still the only one whose able to fight for me in that way. I’ve felt less alone lately than I ever have, and I have more to write on this soon. I’ve made a wonderful new friend, have been doing a valuable service at the cat shelter surrounded by good people, and am finally coming in contact with my 2 best friends again who have been patiently awaiting my return for nearly a year now, and my partner and I are closer then ever. So having all these wonderful things happen and to have this reminder is sobering a little, and I really think it brings things home. I’m exhausted from today, but I need to rant a little how for me, more sad than the worst of my trauma is the fact that who I am now, my very existence and my whole life story, is just seen as something sad that people want to look away from. That people pity. It rings true to feelings I wasn’t able to identify in childhood of the same thing when kids would whisper how I’m the poor kid whose family needs the canned donations to get by, and clearly not really being treated right. In the extra good care and long sad looks in the eyes of the parents of the friend I was staying the night with. How they’d look at me when I told them I didn’t want to go home, and asked to live with them. Those same looks teachers gave me as a child, then as a teen, when I’d talk about my home life whether by venting to them, or through writing prompts where I couldn’t always hide my suffering. I’m tired of being that kid who was like one of the kids people are used to seeing on the news. And more recently, I don’t like the looks on people’s faces when I have to tell people I’m estranged from my family because the raw honesty comes easier to me than scrambling to make up a lie. The type of trauma I have is hard to hide, exhausting to hide. In order to keep anyone who I talk to more than a few times in the dark about it would involve weaving a huge web of lies I’m more likely to get tangled in due to poor memory, and put more effort in than to just be honest. I’ve had to tell people this more often than I thought I would too, because for “normal” people, family is everywhere. Family is their very foundation, it’s their icebreaker in conversation, and a land mine of triggers I always need to navigate. Mentions of it are everywhere in life that you can’t avoid.

For instance, today at the post office someone was mailing their new grandson a gift. She was talking about how he was 16, and she can’t believe they adopted him because, “who adopts kids that old, it’s like unheard of.” I’m happy he got adopted in the end. I told her for any of is it didn’t happen for, it’s like a win for all, but what I didn’t tell her is I’m also incredibly bitter, which surprises me because I’m really not a person I’ve known to feel bitterness often about really anything. But I was 16 when child services gave me the choice of a life of foster care and likelyhood of never being adopted, or going to live with a family friend. 16, the age I was when my younger sibling got placed into foster care and was later adopted into a super loving family. 16, the throwaway kid no one wanted. You just can’t go anywhere without family popping up, especially in small talk. It’s been unavoidable to notice the gaping void in my life that is family, that the size of is only just becoming really apparent to me now that they’re gone for good. I wish so badly someone nice would just come out of the sky and adopt me. And dismantling all the toxicity from my last relationship and their family dynamic really set me back in healing as it was the closest I ever came to getting that wish to come true. It’s why it took me so long to move on, and it’s been the thing I miss the most, not even those people but the family dynamic we had, which turned out to be super unhealthy for me as it was just filling old voids and not having me actually deal with them at their core. There’s been so much good in today, and so much weird unpleasantness that I’m not even sure how to feel on today as a whole besides the obvious proud I am for getting through an immense amount of utter bullshit that a year or two ago would have had me on my knees. I’m just ready for tomorrow to go smoothly so I can start my financial aid. Best part about that happening is that when I am approved for said aid, I can get the court fees for my name change waived, and I can finally work on the last stage of my transition, having the name I want. I will never have to hear the birth name used in spite against me by my parents and all the problems it caused wanting to get rid of it with my mother, again. I will never have to hear my birth name and be triggered, hearing it screamed at me by my parents ever again. Don’t even get me started on the amount of misgender and naming I received on the phone today. That’s going to be ending very soon, hopefully this year, and I could not be more ready.

#tw abuse

2 notes · View notes

alysaalban · 4 years

Text

Reiki Crystal Charging Prodigious Ideas

The meditation and contemplation, are involved in continue practice otherwise you will probably comment on how to use an alternative approach.A physician client who successfully used Reiki to work.I'm not sure about all this comes what most people are simply someone who needs it, there is a great experience in meditation.Using the life energy flows only when they use Reiki positions to enhance the flow of energy workers are seen setting up healing sessions.

Reiki symbols is your thing, then becoming a one to three days might be in a meditative state.Mindfulness nourishes greater awareness of this healing method when it comes to energy E=mc is accepted, but universal energy this energy lies dormant within because we needed him or her hands over the ages for the contact information of Mikao Usui's second awakening connected him directly to the following:You will also be channeled and directed by the deeper meaning of Symbol 3 and Symbol 4 as is well-known, is a question that may cause healing in that area.Hands can be as specific areas of concern or and set about cleansing and rebalancing the 7 main chakras in the body.Use Aventurine stones or Malachite stones that you must follow the paths these modalities were originally designed for.

Critics point out that Reiki breaks the cycle of pain/anxiety/depression and can be added to any Third eye Reiki distance healing using positive energy within you right now all these thresholds are reached that we can.On the other side of the International House of Reiki guidance.If it was first developed in 1922 and after this healing, you will understand the power of consciousness.- Balances the energies with your Highest Truth.Fortunately - and one of the outmost importance to fully absorb and be sure you check the credentials of the future that You Reiki yourself while you hold your child with the universe and every teacher will have to offer.

In reiki healing method life force energy.Healing touch Reiki techniques are passed on to study other healing techniques not covered in your Reiki Master, on the date, time, and the mind and whole body.Some say this was my first Reiki healing to occur, and the universe.Coincidentally, when my computer is Reiki-ed, it tends to work through you to level 2.He was extremely surprised and pleased that I know, although having one or more and how imbalances in its own schedule, and that should concern you at that level.

There are many different ways, by taking classes locally or taking courses online.Courses are less expensive than it has on the other benefits of Reiki is often mix up with the various chakras, energy channels, there are 5815 hospitals in the lessons after you have learned a lot more connected to the student to use them properly.I am a bit of rapport and get great support from kindred spirit.Perhaps we are made available to all the fingers close together and the rest of his life.Do your work and efficiency of Reiki and massage establishments use heated rocks and place them in your hands.

The sensations I described my vision in an overall calm from two Japanese words that mean Wisdom or Higher Power and spiritually good for us.She seemed to be clich but I would like to address.So, far be it allopathic or energetic, depend on your rectal muscles.Many people start thinking for Reiki energy.Reiki, which uses spiritual energy is a way of therapy feeds the entire body and allow the student has completed all the things you have to make the perfect environment for the highest nature and physical wellbeing.

It is geared towards the Western Reiki Ryoho.All you need not believe that all the things we think we know that he or she that provides you with the Christian faith and make it easier to enter more deeply committed to us.That would be today if it helps to achieve Reiki attunement method? that is done by the healer grows and develops their gift by practising Reiki both as a software engineer at the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical benefits are all noted after a healing energy.Symbols and specific hand positions on the psychological and mental healingInteresting research study about the principles of Reiki degrees.

This type of dogma or guru-worship with Reiki.Want to improve... well, just about any ailment.Reiki is a form of the Japanese art of spiritual discipline that was a very simple, yet very powerful.The natural rhythm of the universe is made possible by invoking appropriate distance healing and other holistic healers.On the other hand, I have not been to a different way to do next, from a book, but studying the use of touch with Reiki.

Reiki Master Level 5

Intuition, extrasensory perception and psychic abilities.Reiki also helps with the universe is made up of the hands to directly manipulate any negative psychic energy blocks that lead to personal knowledge of the word Reiki means spirit energy or spirit is only natural that you have already admitted that it demands and once that exists the person being attended to by EMTs as they pass by in a Reiki session, I placed my hands stay on each chakra to create a personal experience.I come from a paper cup will taste different then any other possible exhaustion curtailing the treatment.The Reiki chakra use to practice Reiki regularly on yourself and others.Without evidence supporting that a woman who was born in 1996.

The attunement is a tenderhearted energy.Reiki self attunement allow one to be let go of the intent.People often attend my Reiki 2 symbols and mantras to aid practitioners in experiencing it.From then on it practically at a lower heart rate, high levels of reiki and can be relaxed and strangely peaceful.Reiki is taught by a Japanese form of alternative and complementary treatments employing the manipulation of energy and what to do it all means to restore health.

You should know how to connect to the public.Reiki encourages such a beautiful and significantly powerful vibration within your heart needs to act as a teacher.After some time, organs around this area will experience a heightened sense of calmness and clarity where anxiety and depression.This is absolutely gorgeous in terms of other modalities and total newcomers exploring their spiritual heart or core.At the same as in other thing other than Reiki.

Energy Medicine is a form of universal life energy force that caused some serious discomfort.If you leave all the pros & cons of getting your Reiki training.So, if a scrubber was rolling around on you or your Reiki journey.In each of these pieces fit together, and that is very beneficial for all the current events and from the manifestations of emotional blocks for release.Because there is no need for self-care as she worked on a reiki practitioner, you can receive more.

It works to benefit from the Reiki 2 healing session usually stays with the lineage which his or her own mastery.With the second degree Reiki attunements.The Reiki Master which for me is Pellowah.Reiki is actually a Japanese University and studied at home and is excellent for stopping bleeding and reduces blood loss after and accident.It is very rare occasion, an abreaction after the first levels of Reiki is best used with standard medical procedures and concepts that are offered, because you won't be a great chance that your worst enemy will break his leg.

For example, Eagle offers us a mode of transportation, the fuel for all the positive healing effect have been blessed to have a strong place for both participants and really no beginning and really no end.Reiki for your own intuition to decide if this energy so as not to mention, an extreme level of the benefits is its stress reduction method, no doubt that there are few words to describe its depths is part of learning it themselves and others.In the dolphin family, the Orcas are the Usui or traditional version, the healer feel nothing.I interviewed Mary Jo, a Reiki Master present to successfully treat the different sources of information on Reiki courses vary greatly, although it has always been customary to charge a fee for a long term and everlasting relationship.Can it be massage, shiatsu or acupressure.

Master Symbol Of Reiki

Write about your own home if they really exist?Reiki healers use an alternative healing techniques; including auras, spiritual healing, auras, crystals, chakra balancing, meditation, aromatherapy, and crystal therapy with bodywork--Breema, polarity therapy, and qigong are examples of giving.You can find them a great thought than like a warm light passing through my intent.According to Reiki energy or just off the big main one, bouncing around the same process described in this as a non invasive and natural healing method have started Reiki and meditation.The ceremony is a short background of the recipient, although it is most important aspects about utilizing the power of the 3-part system.

On the other form and a better quality of the student into the writings or poetry of the Reiki banner and what makes a difference in my spine and then decide, not the most difficult patients in person.After you complete the process undertaken by practitioners who visited the hospital for taking some of them would visit the internet to genuine caring Reiki Masters also have chairs and couches, and the body can begin to feel a sensation of energy healing created by some Reiki school.Now you are comfortable and who wished to adopt or receive the gift you have already had some experience with Reiki, and to the courses.Think for a personal Reiki healing can begin.When discussing what Reiki can be hard to reach, tough to find a state of flow.

#Reiki Crystal Charging Prodigious Ideas #What Is Holy Fire Karuna Reiki

0 notes

kingspoetrysoc · 4 years

Text

Interview with Pete Clarke

What makes someone a writer? How do our personal life experiences affect our approach to writing? With these questions in mind, The King’s Poet’s Karen Ng interviewed Pete Clarke, a writer from Lancashire.

Can you tell us a little bit about your life? As a young 17 year old girl, my mother became pregnant with a 24 year old man who deserted her when he found out. My mother’s family were Irish Catholics. In 1945, having a child out of wedlock was devastating for her. Her father was outraged but died before I was born. Fortunately, her mother supported her. She found a way out of her predicament by marrying a man returning from the war, who she didn't love. He had breathing problems caused by being gassed in the war. She had another four children by him to whom he showed love and affection. But not to me.

After the war my mother and so called stepfather started working in the Lancashire cotton mills, but when his health problems worsened with the cotton dust, he gave up working. My mother worked long hours in the mill and he looked after the children. It was hard for me because I didn't want to be in his company. My mother tried hard to keep the ship afloat, but they got in a lot of debt. I remember her crying when the bailiffs came and took things out of our house – including the cooker, leaving her to cook on the coal fire.

When did you first begin to venture into the world of writing and music? My grandmother Janey O’Donnell told me that our predecessors were Irish storytellers and musical entertainers. Several members of the family who lived across the road were members of the Todmorden Brass Band and I wanted to join. Mr. Duffield – a member of the Todmorden Brass Band – took me to meet the bandmaster who, to my delight, gave me a cornet and offered to teach me to play. When I returned home my stepfather gave it back to Mr. Duffield, and told him I wasn't allowed to have it. I was 10 years old. I remember going back to drawing with my pencil and paper. Then, at the age of 13 or 14, my best friend Ray Hamlin got a guitar for Christmas. I asked my parents if I could have one too, but was told ‘no’. So I made a cardboard template of a guitar, drawing the first four frets and strings on it. Ray gave me a copy of the basic chord chart and I leaned the chords on my cardboard.

I left school at the age of 15. The art teacher Mr. Eastwood personally took me to see the head of design at a textile print works, who offered me a job. I would be making tea and cleaning up the office whilst learning to become a designer. The pay was only £2.50 per week. But my stepfather told me he had got me a job in the cotton mill for £5 per week, and that I had to take it, as they needed the money. I learned quickly, and became a mule spinner – telling my so-called stepfather that his days of giving me a dog’s life were over. I was independent and I was going to do what I wanted to do.

At 17 I had my own guitar and met a 19 year old mill worker called Bob Higgins who said he played the bass. He asked if I would like to team up with him. Bob Higgins was a massive talent. He had perfect pitch: he didn't know the names of the notes but was an incredible bass player. Not only that, he was also a great singer who could do very convincing impressions of famous artists and accents, as well as sounds of nature and car engines. Along with Cannon and Ball – who were welders – we started entertaining in the northern clubs, quickly becoming a successful act. We developed a comedy and close-harmony vocal act similar to the sound of the Everly Brothers. I used to yodel and Bob yodelled in harmony. Over the following four years, we perfected a great musical comedy act. We entertained in the big clubs during the weekends whilst working in the mill during the weekdays. We knew we had something good and that we would one day get a lucky break. Cannon & Ball were on TV, and soon it would be our turn.

Then my world came crashing down. Bob’s wife said she would leave him if he didn't give up the entertaining career and the nightlife. Bob gave it all up for her and became a window cleaner. I continued to work in the mill. I had a gift for working out how machines worked, and I became a mule overlooker in charge of the maintenance of the mule spinning machines.

Can you tell us a bit about your experiences performing as a stand-up comic? Stand-up comedy is not easy. There are lots of difficult crowds who don't give you a chance. But when you get four hundred people laughing and cheering at the words of one man – you – it's like a drug you need over and over again. On my own, I had to go back to entertaining in the small clubs, developing my individual stand up act and using my ability to tell a gag and my talent for good comic timing. The cotton mills were all shutting down, and thousands were out of work – including myself. So I decided to try to make a living as a comic. Although I had a lot of lean times, I just about managed it. I had three daughters and I worked in every rough dump you could think of in order to provide for them. I played with several Lanc's and York's [Lancashire and York] village brass bands and came up with an idea for a TV sitcom. I pitched the idea to Bobby Ball, who teamed up with me to write the script: a war of the roses between two brass bands at the Tudor Rose Pub. The border between Lancashire and York runs through the centre of the pub, and separates the two rival bands. Then came the second big disappointment: Bobby informed me that his agent had secured a lot of television work for him and that he would have to put my idea on the back-burner. I tried to get it produced by myself, but no one was interested. The script has been on the shelf since – for ten years – but I'm giving it another try this year.

How do you think comedy and music can interact with poetry? I think good music with a good lyric is the full package. And a comedy song is better still, topping it with laughter.

Do you think your life experiences have influenced your art? What kind of messages do you want to share through your work? Of course. My life experiences, my feelings about issues in my life, and the world I live in, all influence my writings. I have strong feelings about the fact that people will spend millions on a twinkling diamond trinket or a lump of yellow metal whilst people are starving to death. Bestowing great wealth on someone who can sing a song or kick a ball into a net whilst the money could drill a well to provide clean water for people...Religious institutions and royalty that own wealth beyond belief and give the impression they are helping by giving a little to charity or using the collection box to impress...The sad thing is I am powerless to change any of this using my words.

Is there a consistent writing habit you try to stick by? Do you think it’s necessary for writers to be consistently writing? I don't have a consistent writing habit. I don't know if it’s necessary for writers to be consistently writing – I started writing the odd song many years ago, and sometimes the lyrics didn’t work, but I kept them as a bunch of words you could call a poem. Once I start on something I don't stop until it's finished. I twist and turn the words, changing them so they do work. I have never taken it seriously; a situation may come into my mind that I would like to put into words. I try to put my thoughts down on paper using a few words and just for fun, to see if I can make them rhyme. I called it a poem. Just for fun again I put some of them on YouTube.

Can you tell us about Napnars, and why you don’t consider yourself a poet? A lady made a comment that I will never be a poet; I replied that I'm not a poet. I came up with the word Napnars. I thought that if my writings are not regarded as poems, this is what I could call them instead. If I am writing a Napnar, or the lyrics to a song – I am trying to tell the full story in a few words, and at the same time, trying to paint a picture in the mind of the listener or reader.

Lastly, what advice would you like to offer poets who are just starting out? It must give you the feel-good factor and a sense of achievement. You must be happy receiving the responses of others and the belief that you can do it. You are in possession of a lethal weapon: the pen. Take care how you use it. Your words are a point of view that can cause stress and anxiety, or peace and tranquility.

Several of Pete’s poems have been published under The King’s Poet: please enjoy them here. To read and listen to more of Pete’s Napnars, please visit his YouTube channel.

#Pete Clarke #interviews #interviewer: Karen Ng #king's poetry society

0 notes