Podcasts about AW

Just when you thought we were done with Tim Walz, they pull you back in. His daughter, Hope, has a potty mouth and went on a rant against President Donald Trump. What's a word that means “dodged a bullet?” NFL Preseason has started, and Travis Kelce hype is already too much. At least we didn't have to mention Taylor Swift. Aw, dang it. We just did. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are meeting in Alaska tomorrow to try to put an end to the Ukraine conflict. Here's what we think is going down.GUEST: Josh Firestine | Bill RichmondLink to today's sources: https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/sources-august-14-2025Buy the OG Mug Club Mug on Crowder Shop now! https://crowdershop.com/products/og-mug-club-mugDOWNLOAD THE RUMBLE APP TODAY: https://rumble.com/our-appsJoin Rumble Premium to watch this show every day! http://louderwithcrowder.com/PremiumGet your favorite LWC gear: https://crowdershop.com/Bite-Sized Content: https://rumble.com/c/CrowderBitsSubscribe to my podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/louder-with-crowder/FOLLOW ME: Website: https://louderwithcrowder.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/scrowder Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/louderwithcrowder Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stevencrowderofficialMusic by @Pogo

They call it AuGuest…but they should be calling it “Aw yeah! This month is “Au” – the periodic symbol for the element gold, that is. Because the guests, the Kickstarters, the production, and hey even the hosts themselves…they're as good as gold! But unlike gold, you won't find something this glittery – although not everything that glitters is it – in the ground, but rather in the digital files of my very device, which is itself “grounded”, but when I listen I feel as high as a kite! And the kite, of course, my dear friends, is as golden as the podcast itself, and the wonderful friends I've made listening to it – that's right, I'm talking about you.” But that wouldn't fit on a t-shirt, so they don't. Check out Dan's brand new podcast, The Outfit, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on YouTube. And follow Dan on BlueSky for the latest on this guy's crazy life. Music for YKS is courtesy of Howell Dawdy, Craig Dickman, Mr. Baloney, and Mark Brendle. Additional research by Zeke Golvin. YKS is edited by Producer Dan. Social Media by Maddalena Alvarez.Executive Producer Tim Faust (@crulge)This and all AuGuest (plus many more!) episodes are available in video form on YKS Premium! Check it out. And if you don't like it, nothing bad will happen anyway, so whatever!Follow us on Instagram: @YKSPod, TikTok: YourKickstarterSucks and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more video stuff! This episode of YKS is brought to you by these fine brands: Schedule35 - Get 15% Off with code YKS at Schedule35.co - That's 15% off at Schedule35.co and use code YKS.Saily -

Of course, families are and always were, God's idea. Yet so often these days, families seem to be, well, let's be honest, just a tad dysfunctional. And as we each grapple with the realities of family life, all too often, we look around at all those apparently normal, balanced, near-perfect families out there and wonder to ourselves – what's wrong with my family? What's going on here?   The Dysfunctional Family Well, here we are, a new week! And today we are going to start a discussion, you and I, about something completely different. Over these next few weeks on the programme we are going to be taking a look at what it means to build a godly family. I'll tell you why. Recently here at the ministry of Christianityworks we asked our friends and supporters to write in to us to share their prayer requests and here's what struck me: at least eighty percent of the prayer requests we received – and there were a lot of them, I have to tell you – at least eighty percent were asking us to pray for people's families: for my son or my wife, for my daughter, my husband, my auntie, my cousins. You know something? We actually care about our families. As difficult and as strife torn as many families are, blood is thicker than water and our families really do matter to us And we don't have to look very far, you know, in society to see todays families are becoming more and more dysfunctional. But here's the thing: we kind of know that but somehow we imagine that, well, there's this perfect family out there. In fact, the perfect family is the norm and the dysfunction we see in our own families, well, we are just the only ones. "It's my fault. I've botched it up. We're just stuck with this – it's the way it is. The teenagers who don't respect their parents; the adults in our extended families who are having feuds and they haven't talked to each other for ages because they argued over distributing the assets of their parents when they died eight years ago. No, you see, it's just my family that's a mess. And that's the thing, it's what I've been handed; it's the hand I've been dealt and there's just nothing I can do about it – there's just nothing. What's the point?" It's true, isn't? Living out families is sometimes like living out a gorilla war. It's so in your face; every time you come home; every time you walk in the door – the whole "family thing" greets you. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that every family is a basket-case – hopefully yours isn't but sometimes we are so close to it all, it kind of feels like it is a basket-case. We get it out of perspective. And in the middle of this constant relational tension you can get to feeling like, "Aw, God, what's going on here? Why can't I have a normal family like everybody else – like those people next door?" And let me tell you, I'm not talking about this whole "family thing" from some perfect place, I can tell you. Before I gave my life over to Jesus a decade and a half ago, I've got to tell you I made some huge blunders that changed the very course of my life and I am still far from perfect. But since that time God's been teaching me a new way – I'm still learning. So I'm at a certain place in my journey and you are at a certain place in your journey and let's get over this comparing and judging, "Other people have better families than me." There's only one issue: "Where do we go from here?" And I for one, I am about building a godly family because there is such reward in that; such harvest and not just one day in the future but along the way, here and now – the joy of investing and sacrificing to make a difference in the lives of those whom we love. We will talk about that over the coming weeks but today I just want to give us some comfort that God knows all about dysfunctional families. You can take the very first human family, if you like – Adam and Eve – and their two sons Cain and Abel. You probably know the story of Adam and Eve – you know, the Garden of Eden, then they sinned; they ate the apple and God kicked them out and they had a couple of sons. But I want to show you something about this family – the interactions between the people – that's a real stark reminder about the dysfunction in family. You often hear people talking about Adam and Eve and the snake and all that stuff from a theological perspective – and that's great – but what about from a family perspective? Okay, Adam and Eve, they've sinned; they ate from that one tree that God told them not to. God comes looking for them – they are hiding in the garden. I have always thought that was incredibly smart to be hiding from God! And God brings Adam to account: He says to Adam, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” And the man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me the fruit from the tree and then I ate it.” And then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me. I ate.” And the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures. Upon your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat for all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers and he will strike your head and you will strike his heel. Comes from Genesis chapter 3, verses 11 to 15 So there it is: they rebelled against God and God – well, Adam blames Eve. The very first thing he does when he does something wrong Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the snake and I guess, the snake didn't have a leg to stand on! You see what happens? We go from perfect harmony to dysfunction. God tells them that that is going to be the norm from now on there's going to be enmity between the man and the woman, there's going to be enmity amongst the children and that's exactly what happens. Listen to what Cain and Abel ... what their relationship ends up like: Abel was the keeper of sheep and Cain the tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground and Abel, for his part, brought the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering but for Cain and his offering, God had no regard. So Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted and if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door. Its desire is for you but you must master it. Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out into the field,” and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Genesis Chapter 4. So there you have it – the very first family. They rebel against God; husband turns against wife, brother kills brother. It's the absolute natural state of affairs for a family that has turned its back on God. But here's the good new, there's a flip side to this coin for the family that turns back to God. A family that honours God; a family that has God as the head of its household – that family can expect God to bless it. Have another listen. Deuteronomy Chapter 5, beginning at verse 8: You shall not make for yourself an idol whether in the form of anything that is in heaven or above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them for I, the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of their parents to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. In other words, when we put God at the head of our lives and the head of our families, He will show us His steadfast, unwavering love, not just to us but to a thousand generations. And you know what that means? It doesn't matter how bad things have become in our families, when we honour God, He in turn will honour us.   Breaking with the Past One of the things that bring so much dysfunction into families are the things of the past – things that have been handed down genetically, emotionally and spiritually. Our parents hand so many things down to us – their genes, their strengths and their weaknesses. People say that I look like my dad, I even walk like him but it wasn't till I saw myself in a TV interview that I was shocked to realise that my very mannerisms are so much like my fathers. It's pretty scary! And so alcohol addictions and bad tempers and a tendency to whinge and complain; all sorts of things end up being handed down from generation to generation. Dysfunctional families are much more likely to produce children that grow up to have their own dysfunctional families. Where does it end? Well, I have a simple answer to that – it ends today, right here and now, this very minute – that's when it ends. Let me explain. See, it's really easy to blame our parents for things ... for the bad things that happen. If abuse happened in your childhood or you had a father with a bad temper or your parents smoked; whatever it is and they handed those things down to you. I don't know about your parents but mine, I had good parents. They weren't perfect, they just worked hard and I am sure they can look back at their lives and go, "Well, I could have done this better or I could have done that better," but there is no point in just sitting here and blaming them and blaming the past. Things do get handed down from generation to generation, some of them are good things but others aren't. When you go and see your doctor, one of the first things he'll ask you about is your family history. Is there a history of high blood pressure or diabetes or heart disease or mental health issues or breast cancer? Family history has a lot to do with our physical well-being. Now my dad had Type ll Diabetes and in the end it took his life. My mother has high blood pressure and so I can sit here without exercising, eating whatever I want and whinge and complain about the fact that they could give me diabetes and high blood pressure, or I can get off my backside and do something about it. There's a pretty clear alternative. Most illnesses, you can work against them and reduce the risk and it's the same with emotional and spiritual things that get handed down to us. Maybe you had parents who were into the occult, maybe you had parents who fought like cat and dog, maybe you had parents who knew about God but simply didn't honour God with their lives. Well, you've got two choices – you can sit there and complain about it or you can do something about it. Have a listen to what happens when we put other things before God. We looked at it earlier. God say I am a jealous God and I will punish children for the iniquity of their parents to the third and fourth generation. But those who show steadfast love, I will bless to the thousandth generation. It's pretty straight forward! When parents turn away from God and chase after other things, it's going to have an impact – not just on them – but on their children and their children's children. It's obvious. We've seen how it works. A child brought up by an alcoholic father is likely to suffer the consequences of that in adulthood. There's every chance that it will impact not just them but it will be passed down to their kids. It's not rocket science – we've all seen it but look at the alternative that God talks about: Showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. A thousand generations – a new generation every twenty five years, that's twenty five thousand years! We are only a fraction of the way into that since this was written (Deuteronomy) a few thousand years BC. Do you get it? God's blessing to us and our families when we honour Him is just massive, and you see that in a lot of godly families. This dynasty of blessing flows down from one generation to the next. Maybe there are things from your past – emotional, spiritual – that are impacting your life. Today is the day that we can choose to break that chain. Today is the day that we can choose to break free from the power of the past. Listen to the prayer that Nehemiah prayed: O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps the covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you, day and night, for your servants the people of Israel. Confessing the sins of the people of Israel which we have sinned against you, both I and my family have sinned. And Nehemiah then goes on to ask for forgiveness; he turns away from that and he moves on. It's a simple prayer; it's a prayer of repentance. It breaks the linkage to the sin of previous generations – Nehemiah, his ancestors and his family. We have all sinned! God is a God who forgives and God is a God who makes all things new again. He breaks the power of the past over us because His heart is to bless to a thousand generations. The Apostle Paul writes in Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17: If anyone is in Christ Jesus he is a new creation. Old things have passed away and all things are new. Let me take you back to some of the things that maybe you've had handed down to you – addictions or anger or bad behaviour or whatever it is – we can receive freedom from those things simply by praying and believing. God will work out His answer to our prayer in our lives in His good time Meanwhile we can take stock of those things and decide to start doing something about them. Not in our own fancy strength but through a relationship with Jesus which transforms us. It is time to end the cycle of sin in our families – to stop it dead here. The buck stops with you and me. How about it?   Setting the Course Now it doesn't matter how dysfunctional a family is at the moment, all it takes is one member of that family to turn back to God; to honour God and God can and will make an awesome and mighty difference. It may take time, it may take longer than you and I would prefer but God is a God of grace – His heart is to bless our family to a thousand generations and He's looking for some godly men, godly women, godly children to take a stand and say, "Enough is enough! It is time for me to build a godly family." First Corinthians chapter 4, verse 20 in the Message translation says this: God's way is not a matter of mere talk, it's an empowered life. That's why this ministry I'm involved in is called Christianityworks because it actually does. So let's talk about making it happen – an empowered life that sets about building a godly family. But you know what I have noticed? We can talk about a lot of stuff but most times nothing changes unless we actually do something. It's true at work; it's true at home! How often have you been to a meeting at work and people talk about a whole bunch of stuff: "We'll do this, we'll do that", but after the meeting no one does anything. And guess what? Nothing changes; nothing! We come home at the end of the day; we need a rest; we ignore things – the badly behaved children for example. There's a great proverb: Proverbs chapter 29, verse 17 that says: Discipline your children and they will give you rest; they will give you the delight of your heart. I have seen this down at the local supermarket. The mother's is with the child and the child just grinds her down through bad behaviour and she's tired ... she's too tired to do anything about it so she lets this kid run riot, causing her grief and causing everybody else grief as well. Why does it happen? I'll tell you why – probably because dad is too tired to discipline the child when he comes home. Does he enjoy their behaviour? No! But this kid walks all over his mother, she's exhausted and ... and mind you the kid is only seven – wait till the little terror becomes a teenager! You see, there's fruit in building a godly family – tremendous fruit. Discipline your children and what do you get? Peace and a delighted heart! What you sow is what you reap. The problem is sowing is hard work sometimes and reaping seems ... well, such a long way off, doesn't it? Let me tell you something – we have been talking about building a godly family but it ain't going to happen unless we step out in faith and start making it happen. Yes, it's about God blessing our efforts but if He's got nothing to bless then, He got nothing to bless. I mean, if I am twenty kilos overweight, forty pounds, and I want to be trim, taut and terrific and I pray and pray and believe God for a breakthrough but I keep eating and drinking the same old rubbish and I don't exercise. Let me ask you something – is God going to zap me while I am lying on the sofa and miraculously remove the excess weight? Well, He could, and with God I never rule anything out but I have never quite seen it happen that way, have you? Why would we think it is any different building a godly family? We behave ourselves into a bad place by what we say, what we do, what we fail to do – we behave our families into that bad place and yes, we should pray. But God expects us to start behaving ourselves out of that place. And that's what we are going to be talking about over the next three weeks. He is going to bless that but we have to do our part. So let me ask you something – do you want to have a godly family because if you do you are going to have to decide; that is what we want, plan it and start living it? We are going to have to decide that some changes have to be made. This easy, comfortable, lazy existence has to change. Discipline is painful; kids don't like it much. It takes strength and perseverance but it pays dividends in their lives and in ours. Let me ask you, how much do you want to have a godly family? And if the answer is, "Yes, I do. I do!", then some tough decisions have to be made. If your family is one with a husband and a wife, then it is up to the both of you. If it is a single parent family then it is up to you alone. But husband and wife have to talk and dream and decide what is important and set priorities and figure out how to do this – what steps to take first, and so on. Mum and dad, you are the leaders and I happen to believe that ultimately, the father is responsible for the spiritual growth and nourishment and development of his family. The buck stops with you, dad! And that's not a sexist thing because I have to tell you, so many women would give their eyeteeth if their husbands would just step up to the plate and take on a leadership role. So many kids would love to have parents who were interested in them, who spend time and efforts setting boundaries, enforcing those boundaries, nurturing them within those boundaries. I have to tell you, as a person, I am a natural isolationist. I like my own company, oft times over the company of others. I really enjoy retreating to my own space after a hard day at the office, so for me, given who I am, getting involved with the family and kids and listening to what happened to them at school and at work – it's not a natural gig, you know? But we have to start somewhere. We can't build a godly family if there is no relationship; if there is no interaction; if we are not involved in planning and making it happen. We are going to talk about some of that over the next few weeks. In fact, I have been speaking to one of the godliest families I know; some friends of mine who live in the USA – mum, dad and their NINE children. They have given me some of their pointers, both the parents and the children. This massive tribe, I have to tell you, they have got their act so well together. I know it's not perfect, but I ask them and I ask the kids, "Tell me what this godly family thing is about." I'm going to talk about that in the next few weeks but right now, we have to decide, each one of us, do we really want to have a godly family? Well, do we? And if we do, what are we going to do about it. Maybe that's something you can pray about and think about and talk about over this next week. We will look at it some more when we get together again at the same time next week, this whole thing of building a godly family. But I have to tell you, when I read about this God who says, "Look, I don't care what has happened in the past. You turn back and you honour Me in your lives, in your family and I tell you what, I won't just bless you, I'll bless your children and I'll bless your children's children and I'll bless their children and the next generation." In fact, the blessing when you break the curses that have been handed down to you, simply by praying and honouring God and turning back to Him, the blessing that flows is a blessing that flows for a thousand generations. That's who God is!

Cat and Henry share a relaxing intimate bath. by Eeveelynn. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.  Bath's ready.” I heard echo out of the bathroom. “Thankyou.” I mumbled, getting up from the bed, slower this time. The bath was aromatic, full of bubbles and looked so peaceful. I leaned against the door frame closing my eyes. “Cat, are you going to be ok in there?” He questioned softly. “I'm fine!” I snapped back to reality. I was aware of my stubborn determination to be self sufficient, especially after having panic attack.“It's ok to need help.” Again the soft tone of his voice irked at my independence. “I'm fully capable of having a bath, what are you going to do? join me? It's ok, I've got this.” I said trying and failing to unzip the back of my dress. “If that's what it takes to know you're ok? Then yes.” he replied as he lifted my hair and unzipped the dress for me, sliding it off my shoulders. The brush of his hands felt soft against my skin, giving me goose bumps. If I hadn't just burnt out all my brains reserves of adrenalin having a panic attack, I'm positive my mind would have been running at a thousand miles an hour, but for the first time in a long time, it wasn't. I was entirely focused on the basic things - like how relaxing the bath looked and how good it would feel to wash my face and hair. I still had some wits about me, as romantic as the concept of having a bath together was, and despite how my body was reacting to the idea, I wasn't necessarily in the right headspace for anything intimate; I tried to make that thought process clear. “It can't be anything. But, yeah, I'd appreciate the company. I don't really want to be alone right now.” I offered honestly, “but you can't look.” “I know.” He sighed, “Not like this, this is not how I ever imagined it Cat, I sincerely just want to make sure you're ok.” “Not like this…?” I repeated what he said. My brain and heart took a double take as I stared up at him. He'd thought about it, he'd thought about us. “OK, I'm not looking.” He turned around, embarrassed. I slipped out of my clothes and slowly hopped into the bath. It was gigantic, so full of bubbles. The water sitting almost at my shoulders, I was able to easily sit sideways with my knees up to my chest. “OK, you can look.” “Aw you look so small.” he noted, sitting next to the bath. “I thought you were going to join me?” “Ah, it's ok, I'll just keep you company, I really want to let you have space.” He reached and scooped up a handful of bubbles, placing them on my head “Cat in a hat.” I took a hand full of bubbles and blew into it, spraying him with them, he laughed and sighed. I turned to lie and stretch out in the bath, considering I had it all to myself, I thought it best to make the most of it. He leaned against the tub and played videos on his phone to keep us both amused, occasionally splashing me. “You know you actually need to wash yourself in the bath?” he joked. My eyes fluttered open and shut again, “Im just so tired, you said to relax.” I twisted his words to fit my agenda. “Come on, wake up!” he splashed my face. “No, you wake up.” I lazily splashed him back. “We can't hide in here all day.” Splash. “You can't hide in here all day,” I splashed him again “This is my home now.” “I thought Cats hated water.” Splash. “It's a myth, I'm a purrmaid now” I stretched out, enjoying my terrible pun and attempting to ignore the barrage of water attacks. He splashed me just for the bad joke, he sat there looking a little angry and wet “That's it! Cat-tatonic, you can't stay in there forever.” he got up and left the room. “I can and I will!!” I yelled after him. I didn't feel bad about it at all. I lied back again, closing my eyes and enjoying the peace, trying desperately not to accidentally fall asleep. He sauntered back a few minutes later wearing a towel. With all the photos and videos he'd sent me over the years I'd never actually seen him shirtless. I drank it in for a minute, his shoulders and arms were my favourite part, muscular with full sleeves of tattoos. “Hey, hey, hey, no looking.” he laughed and I covered my face with my hands, clearly still looking. “Cat, I don't really like my body, please?” “OK, ok, ok, just saying, I don't see why.” I turned away from him, this was difficult, I could have stared for decades, etching his physique into my mind like stone. “Now schooch over,” he demanded, “If you're never getting out, I'm getting in.” I moved forward in the bath and he stepped in, sitting behind me, making the water rise and splash a little over the edge. “OK, you were right, this is pretty relaxing. Well, pretty and relaxing.” I looked back and smiled at him, he always got to me with his sneaky compliments. “Alright now, come here” he said, I backed up little so I was sitting between his legs but not fully against him, I felt a sudden cold on my head. “What are you…?” He was washing my hair, I was confused but ok with it. “Since you're determined to just sit and do nothing, we'll be here for ever, so I'll do it.” He started to massage the shampoo into my hair, It was a nice feeling, I'd only had hair dressers ever do this and it wasn't like they actually got in a bath with you. It felt so intimate and caring, his hands massaging my tired head. I was close to melting down the drain with the water at that point, I was so at peace. I certainly didn't expect him to randomly blast the conditioner out with the shower head set to cold. I screamed and turned awkwardly in his lap “You bastard!” He was just smiling that dumb fucking smile that he always used to get away with anything. I put my knees on his legs to gain purchase and grabbed his throat lightly. I suddenly noticed he was looking down, not at my face. In my attempt to be threatening, I was giving him a full view of my breasts, nipples perky as the cold water dripped down my body. Something about the way I'd grabbed him dominantly stirred something inside me, something I didn't know was there. “If this is how I die I'm 100% fine with it.” he gleamed. “Ah, you pervert.” I teased, dropping back down into the water and turning my back to him quickly. Deflecting my own thoughts yet still sitting between his legs again, choosing to be closer this time. “hey, I did nothing.” “Sure.” He got a loofa and started scrubbing my back gently “This is kinda weird right?” I said thinking aloud, my brain starting to work again. “Do you want me to stop?” “Not at all, but I mean, we've sorta just met.” “We've been friends for eight years.” He said defensively. “Online though.” I reminded him. “So have you bathed chris?” I was referring to one of our mutual male friends. “No, but he's never refused to get out of a bathtub before, I guess this is a new one.” he laughed. “Arm up.” I raised my arm, he glided the loofa up and down, washing it, then proceeded down the side of my body, grazing my breast and hip. “Other one.” Same thing again, one of his hands had snaked its way to resting on my waist, I wasn't sure why it was so intensely comfortable but also so present in my mind. All the physical touch in such a gentle caring manner was turning me on a lot more then I expected. “Do you want to do the rest? Or do you want me to?” He questioned, it had become apparent the next parts would be very intimate. I slid back against him so my back was on his chest. “Is it weird I'm enjoying this? this is so relaxing and..” I paused, changing my thought pattern “I can do it if you don't want to?” “Not weird at all, I just don't want to make you uncomfortable. I'm so glad your feeling better” he pulled my waist towards him so I was fully pressed against him for a hug. He body felt good against mine, his arms felt strong wrapped around me. The bubbles, the water, all adding an extra layer of sensation. I knew he was being kind but it was impossible to not notice that he was absolutely turned on, I could feel him so hard against my back. “Seems like your feeling pretty good yourself.” I giggled. “Hey, I really can't help it, it doesn't have to mean anything. I just, can't…” he paused for a moment to collect his words “I can't control what my body feels with you naked. Just ignore it, I promised I wouldn't do anything but help you.” “I think I understand the feeling.” I sighed quietly to myself. “Hmm?” “Nothing… you missed a spot.” I said handing him the loofa again. He slowly washed my shoulders and collar bone, then skipped to my waist and stomach, he started mirroring what he was doing with his hand on one side, loofa in the other and occasionally swapping. It was slow and sensual, it felt like he was exploring my body. At a leisurely pace he moved to my legs and thighs, stopping just short of anything to intimate. I knew it wasn't intentional, but it felt like teasing and it was driving me wild, I could tell how wet I was even in the water. I was aware of my pulse in my pussy as he ran his hands up my inner thighs. I could feel his cock getting even harder, I wasn't sure that was possible when I had first lied back against him. He moved his hands up to my breasts, finally. I wiggled my ass, just a little, back into him. I was testing the waters, feeling his cock twitch against me, his breathing got heavier and faster. He slowly caressed my breasts, at first appearing to wash them but after a minute had past and his hands still lingered, I was sure he was just enjoying them. “I don't mind at all.” I said, wanting to give him some confirmation that I was enjoying the attention to detail, I leant my head back against his chest and closed my eyes to enjoy the sensation. He let the loofa go and slid his hands around, slowly squeezing and massaging my chest. Letting his fingers glide over my nipples, which were getting harder at his touch. He intermittently pinched each one, I moaned a little, not intending to, but rather unable to controll it. His hands started to take turns at exploring more of my body. “You're really beautiful and soft, you feel amazing.” he sighed in my ear. In a lot of ways I wanted it to stop but I also couldn't seem to say no. I was so heavily conflicted between my attraction and fear of the level of intensity. I'd always been scared of Henry in that way, I always felt like I'd die of thirst without his attention, but I also felt like I'd drown in the emotion attached to it. He had, and probably always would be ‘The one', as stupid as that sounded. He wasn't the guy I imagined fucking without strings attached, he was so much more to me. He came with the dream of the life after, the simple life; full of laughter and light. We'd spent eight years talking everyday, never tiring, never losing interest. He was always a passing ship in the night, one of us always in a relationship, the unobtainable and that felt so safe. However, right now, we were both alone, together. Everything about him felt so right, his hands on my body, his presence, the way we fit together so well, just lying on him watching TV or even now, in the bath, it just felt so much like I was a part of him and he was a part of me. I tensed up and he felt it, he stopped touching me instantly. “Evelyn, are you ok?” He didn't say Cat, he used my actual name not the nickname everyone called me. “I just…” I turned in the water, sitting up and slipping my legs over his to face him, “Can we do this?” “Only if you want to?” He looked at me puzzled. “I mean, with you? can it be casual? Isn't it always going to be more?” “Cat, it can mean whatever you want it to, or I can stop right now if you want and I'll go get dressed. You know how I've always felt about you, but also, I respect you. It can just be fun, if that's all you want at the moment. I've never been able to do this kind of thing without the connection, but I already have that with you and nothing will ruin that. All I can think in this moment is that fucking you would feel right, for once Cat, don't overthink.” I stared at him intensely. Was he just saying what I wanted to hear? Am I going to hurt him? am I going to hurt us? This is the type of thing that's going to invoke a few days worth of reckless behaviour from me and I was well aware of my patterns. “I really want to,” I admitted “my body is screaming at me to, but, I don't want to hurt you.” I was watching his face intently for any sign that this could be wrong. “I rather be hurt 1000 times then never feel you,” he put his hands back on my hips starting to pull me down onto his lap. “I need to know what it feels like to be inside you, I need to watch your perfect body bounce, I need to see your face as you feel me inch by inch, I don't care about myself right now. I need to know what it feels like to make you cum.” Fuck, he knew how to talk when he wanted to. He knew what was in my head and he knew how I felt. He also knew I wasn't going to back down now. I hated that he knew me. I couldn't help myself, I managed to lie to myself in that moment, maybe it could just be fun, maybe it wouldn't have an effect on the dynamic of our friendship. We'd talked a lot about sex with the distance keeping us safe, some nights spent exchanging fantasies, messages and videos. I knew everything about what he wanted, the magic words that would tip the scales for him, and he knew everything about how my body worked and what I might do. We both knew I was far more experienced, him only having a few sexual partners in the past worried me, but not enough to stop me. The logical part of my brain had shut down. I needed to be the dominant one here, I needed to show him. He could talk smoother then I ever could, but I could use my body. “Cat we don't have to- ” I cut him off and grabbed his throat, I enjoyed that feeling earlier, I wanted to try it again. I pulled myself to him and kissed him deeply, his hand raised to mine in shock but he relented and kissed me back. I kneeled over him and used my other hand to stroke his hard cock under the water. His hands slid across my body, I'm not sure he knew what to do with my sudden assault on his senses. I felt him moan into my kiss as I moved my hand up and down the length of his shaft, taking my time to rub slowly around his head, feeling it twitch in response. I released my grip off his neck and used my hand to move his hands to my ass which was hovering over him, he seemed to follow the motions amazingly. I continued to stroke his cock, surprised that it was larger then I expected. I climbed further onto him sliding the head of his cock gently up and down, from my entrance to my clit, as I kept up the motion of sliding my hand up and down his shaft. He was starting to put pressure on my hips, begging to get inside me each time I slid up and down on him. The wetness of my cunt so different to the water of the bath. I teased him with each movement as I used his dick as a toy for my own stimulation, I wanted him to force me down onto it, he seemed to yield finally, grabbing my hips properly and pulling me onto him, inch by inch. I'd been turned on for the entire bath, I felt so swollen and as he forced his way in we both gasped, breaking the passionate kiss, locked into inhaling each other's breath. By the time he was fully sheathed inside of me I was almost shaking, he fit so well, I wasn't going to last long at all. I kissed him again, biting his lip and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. I started riding him like my life depended on it, like every groan he made brought me closer to an edge I was ready to fall off a thousand times. I grinded harder against him, wanting to be so full I would never need to be fucked again, and it worked so well, up and down, him enjoying my bubble covered breasts as they bounced in his face. I felt the familiar buildup of my orgasm coming on as I rode harder and faster. I gripped him tighter as my pussy clenched around his cock, unable to keep my mouth shut I let out a very audible moan of pleasure, I leant back enjoying the aftershocks of my orgasm. He seemed to be enjoying the expression on my face before he got a serious look, grabbing my hips harder than before and using my body. He was stronger than I expected, I wasn't doing any of the work anymore, just enjoying feeling him lift me and pull me back down onto him as the water splashed around us and his face started to tense. I slid my hand back under water to rub my clit, if he was coming, I'd be damned if I wasn't going to come again with him. It wasn't hard for me to get close again, he was so focused, grunting and fucking me hard, I was loving the view, the way his arms and body tensed, the focus on his face, the way he threw his head back, moving me like I weighed nothing, grinding his hips up to mine. I knew what would get him there, from every fantasy he'd sent me and I knew he'd fucking love it and hate it. “You have to pull out, I'm not on birth control.” I teased at him, he agreed and started going harder than before, I could feel him twitching inside me, I knew I was going to cum when he did. I wrapped my arms around him and started fucking him back again, our hips meeting. He was starting to shake, he stopped suddenly. “I'm going to cum, I have to stop.” He gasped, I knew what we both wanted to hear. I grabbed his throat again and held onto his back as tight as I could, continuing to grind against him as deeply as I could. “Don't you fucking dare, I'm not letting go, you're going to fill me or we'll never do this again.” His eyes lit up with a touch of fear and excitement as he gave in, finally thrusting back knowing that I needed his seed, it only took a moment and I felt him explode inside me, shooting layer after layer of warm cum into me. My body fucking loved it, exploding into an orgasm that just kept clenching for what felt like minutes around his cock as it pulsed. I let my grip loosen as I let my head fall against his, having an exhausted giggle, he smiled and laughed with me, wrapping his arms around my body and occasionally thrusting to see my face as we recovered our breath. “You can't do that or I'm going to need to cum again” I breathed, trying to lift myself off him, he held me down. “Do it.” he whispered with an evil grin, I started to grind on him softly, it wasn't going to take much. He leant me back and watched me, finally using his fingers to rub my clit, as my breasts bounced freely and he met each of my thrusts again, he was watching me so intimately but I couldn't keep my eyes open. It was happening again, I gasped and held his arms tightly as I shuddered with another orgasm. He seemed so pleased with himself, kissing me again softy down my neck. “You're mine,” he whispered, moving my hair from my face “My good little cum slut.” The language surprised me, but more in a way that I enjoyed. We both got out of the bath and wrapped ourselves in towels. The bathroom was completely flooded, I giggled and bent to pick up my wet clothes. I felt his hand lift my towel at the back as I did, still bent over I looked back at him confused. “Just admiring my work” he smiled that damn smile again, it always amazed me how confident men got after you fulfilled a fantasy. I moved into a presenting pose and let him enjoy the view of his cum dripping from my pussy for a moment, he slicked his finger up and down my slit. “hey, no touching unless your prepared to finish the job again.” He kept going, sliding his fingers back and forth over my clit before sliding his fingers inside of me, pushing his dripping cum back in. This man was determined to make sure I couldn't think for a week. But that's when we heard a knock at the door. by Eeveelynn for Literotica

Cat and Henry share a relaxing intimate bath. by Eeveelynn. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.  Bath's ready.” I heard echo out of the bathroom. “Thankyou.” I mumbled, getting up from the bed, slower this time. The bath was aromatic, full of bubbles and looked so peaceful. I leaned against the door frame closing my eyes. “Cat, are you going to be ok in there?” He questioned softly. “I'm fine!” I snapped back to reality. I was aware of my stubborn determination to be self sufficient, especially after having panic attack.“It's ok to need help.” Again the soft tone of his voice irked at my independence. “I'm fully capable of having a bath, what are you going to do? join me? It's ok, I've got this.” I said trying and failing to unzip the back of my dress. “If that's what it takes to know you're ok? Then yes.” he replied as he lifted my hair and unzipped the dress for me, sliding it off my shoulders. The brush of his hands felt soft against my skin, giving me goose bumps. If I hadn't just burnt out all my brains reserves of adrenalin having a panic attack, I'm positive my mind would have been running at a thousand miles an hour, but for the first time in a long time, it wasn't. I was entirely focused on the basic things - like how relaxing the bath looked and how good it would feel to wash my face and hair. I still had some wits about me, as romantic as the concept of having a bath together was, and despite how my body was reacting to the idea, I wasn't necessarily in the right headspace for anything intimate; I tried to make that thought process clear. “It can't be anything. But, yeah, I'd appreciate the company. I don't really want to be alone right now.” I offered honestly, “but you can't look.” “I know.” He sighed, “Not like this, this is not how I ever imagined it Cat, I sincerely just want to make sure you're ok.” “Not like this…?” I repeated what he said. My brain and heart took a double take as I stared up at him. He'd thought about it, he'd thought about us. “OK, I'm not looking.” He turned around, embarrassed. I slipped out of my clothes and slowly hopped into the bath. It was gigantic, so full of bubbles. The water sitting almost at my shoulders, I was able to easily sit sideways with my knees up to my chest. “OK, you can look.” “Aw you look so small.” he noted, sitting next to the bath. “I thought you were going to join me?” “Ah, it's ok, I'll just keep you company, I really want to let you have space.” He reached and scooped up a handful of bubbles, placing them on my head “Cat in a hat.” I took a hand full of bubbles and blew into it, spraying him with them, he laughed and sighed. I turned to lie and stretch out in the bath, considering I had it all to myself, I thought it best to make the most of it. He leaned against the tub and played videos on his phone to keep us both amused, occasionally splashing me. “You know you actually need to wash yourself in the bath?” he joked. My eyes fluttered open and shut again, “Im just so tired, you said to relax.” I twisted his words to fit my agenda. “Come on, wake up!” he splashed my face. “No, you wake up.” I lazily splashed him back. “We can't hide in here all day.” Splash. “You can't hide in here all day,” I splashed him again “This is my home now.” “I thought Cats hated water.” Splash. “It's a myth, I'm a purrmaid now” I stretched out, enjoying my terrible pun and attempting to ignore the barrage of water attacks. He splashed me just for the bad joke, he sat there looking a little angry and wet “That's it! Cat-tatonic, you can't stay in there forever.” he got up and left the room. “I can and I will!!” I yelled after him. I didn't feel bad about it at all. I lied back again, closing my eyes and enjoying the peace, trying desperately not to accidentally fall asleep. He sauntered back a few minutes later wearing a towel. With all the photos and videos he'd sent me over the years I'd never actually seen him shirtless. I drank it in for a minute, his shoulders and arms were my favourite part, muscular with full sleeves of tattoos. “Hey, hey, hey, no looking.” he laughed and I covered my face with my hands, clearly still looking. “Cat, I don't really like my body, please?” “OK, ok, ok, just saying, I don't see why.” I turned away from him, this was difficult, I could have stared for decades, etching his physique into my mind like stone. “Now schooch over,” he demanded, “If you're never getting out, I'm getting in.” I moved forward in the bath and he stepped in, sitting behind me, making the water rise and splash a little over the edge. “OK, you were right, this is pretty relaxing. Well, pretty and relaxing.” I looked back and smiled at him, he always got to me with his sneaky compliments. “Alright now, come here” he said, I backed up little so I was sitting between his legs but not fully against him, I felt a sudden cold on my head. “What are you…?” He was washing my hair, I was confused but ok with it. “Since you're determined to just sit and do nothing, we'll be here for ever, so I'll do it.” He started to massage the shampoo into my hair, It was a nice feeling, I'd only had hair dressers ever do this and it wasn't like they actually got in a bath with you. It felt so intimate and caring, his hands massaging my tired head. I was close to melting down the drain with the water at that point, I was so at peace. I certainly didn't expect him to randomly blast the conditioner out with the shower head set to cold. I screamed and turned awkwardly in his lap “You bastard!” He was just smiling that dumb fucking smile that he always used to get away with anything. I put my knees on his legs to gain purchase and grabbed his throat lightly. I suddenly noticed he was looking down, not at my face. In my attempt to be threatening, I was giving him a full view of my breasts, nipples perky as the cold water dripped down my body. Something about the way I'd grabbed him dominantly stirred something inside me, something I didn't know was there. “If this is how I die I'm 100% fine with it.” he gleamed. “Ah, you pervert.” I teased, dropping back down into the water and turning my back to him quickly. Deflecting my own thoughts yet still sitting between his legs again, choosing to be closer this time. “hey, I did nothing.” “Sure.” He got a loofa and started scrubbing my back gently “This is kinda weird right?” I said thinking aloud, my brain starting to work again. “Do you want me to stop?” “Not at all, but I mean, we've sorta just met.” “We've been friends for eight years.” He said defensively. “Online though.” I reminded him. “So have you bathed chris?” I was referring to one of our mutual male friends. “No, but he's never refused to get out of a bathtub before, I guess this is a new one.” he laughed. “Arm up.” I raised my arm, he glided the loofa up and down, washing it, then proceeded down the side of my body, grazing my breast and hip. “Other one.” Same thing again, one of his hands had snaked its way to resting on my waist, I wasn't sure why it was so intensely comfortable but also so present in my mind. All the physical touch in such a gentle caring manner was turning me on a lot more then I expected. “Do you want to do the rest? Or do you want me to?” He questioned, it had become apparent the next parts would be very intimate. I slid back against him so my back was on his chest. “Is it weird I'm enjoying this? this is so relaxing and..” I paused, changing my thought pattern “I can do it if you don't want to?” “Not weird at all, I just don't want to make you uncomfortable. I'm so glad your feeling better” he pulled my waist towards him so I was fully pressed against him for a hug. He body felt good against mine, his arms felt strong wrapped around me. The bubbles, the water, all adding an extra layer of sensation. I knew he was being kind but it was impossible to not notice that he was absolutely turned on, I could feel him so hard against my back. “Seems like your feeling pretty good yourself.” I giggled. “Hey, I really can't help it, it doesn't have to mean anything. I just, can't…” he paused for a moment to collect his words “I can't control what my body feels with you naked. Just ignore it, I promised I wouldn't do anything but help you.” “I think I understand the feeling.” I sighed quietly to myself. “Hmm?” “Nothing… you missed a spot.” I said handing him the loofa again. He slowly washed my shoulders and collar bone, then skipped to my waist and stomach, he started mirroring what he was doing with his hand on one side, loofa in the other and occasionally swapping. It was slow and sensual, it felt like he was exploring my body. At a leisurely pace he moved to my legs and thighs, stopping just short of anything to intimate. I knew it wasn't intentional, but it felt like teasing and it was driving me wild, I could tell how wet I was even in the water. I was aware of my pulse in my pussy as he ran his hands up my inner thighs. I could feel his cock getting even harder, I wasn't sure that was possible when I had first lied back against him. He moved his hands up to my breasts, finally. I wiggled my ass, just a little, back into him. I was testing the waters, feeling his cock twitch against me, his breathing got heavier and faster. He slowly caressed my breasts, at first appearing to wash them but after a minute had past and his hands still lingered, I was sure he was just enjoying them. “I don't mind at all.” I said, wanting to give him some confirmation that I was enjoying the attention to detail, I leant my head back against his chest and closed my eyes to enjoy the sensation. He let the loofa go and slid his hands around, slowly squeezing and massaging my chest. Letting his fingers glide over my nipples, which were getting harder at his touch. He intermittently pinched each one, I moaned a little, not intending to, but rather unable to controll it. His hands started to take turns at exploring more of my body. “You're really beautiful and soft, you feel amazing.” he sighed in my ear. In a lot of ways I wanted it to stop but I also couldn't seem to say no. I was so heavily conflicted between my attraction and fear of the level of intensity. I'd always been scared of Henry in that way, I always felt like I'd die of thirst without his attention, but I also felt like I'd drown in the emotion attached to it. He had, and probably always would be ‘The one', as stupid as that sounded. He wasn't the guy I imagined fucking without strings attached, he was so much more to me. He came with the dream of the life after, the simple life; full of laughter and light. We'd spent eight years talking everyday, never tiring, never losing interest. He was always a passing ship in the night, one of us always in a relationship, the unobtainable and that felt so safe. However, right now, we were both alone, together. Everything about him felt so right, his hands on my body, his presence, the way we fit together so well, just lying on him watching TV or even now, in the bath, it just felt so much like I was a part of him and he was a part of me. I tensed up and he felt it, he stopped touching me instantly. “Evelyn, are you ok?” He didn't say Cat, he used my actual name not the nickname everyone called me. “I just…” I turned in the water, sitting up and slipping my legs over his to face him, “Can we do this?” “Only if you want to?” He looked at me puzzled. “I mean, with you? can it be casual? Isn't it always going to be more?” “Cat, it can mean whatever you want it to, or I can stop right now if you want and I'll go get dressed. You know how I've always felt about you, but also, I respect you. It can just be fun, if that's all you want at the moment. I've never been able to do this kind of thing without the connection, but I already have that with you and nothing will ruin that. All I can think in this moment is that fucking you would feel right, for once Cat, don't overthink.” I stared at him intensely. Was he just saying what I wanted to hear? Am I going to hurt him? am I going to hurt us? This is the type of thing that's going to invoke a few days worth of reckless behaviour from me and I was well aware of my patterns. “I really want to,” I admitted “my body is screaming at me to, but, I don't want to hurt you.” I was watching his face intently for any sign that this could be wrong. “I rather be hurt 1000 times then never feel you,” he put his hands back on my hips starting to pull me down onto his lap. “I need to know what it feels like to be inside you, I need to watch your perfect body bounce, I need to see your face as you feel me inch by inch, I don't care about myself right now. I need to know what it feels like to make you cum.” Fuck, he knew how to talk when he wanted to. He knew what was in my head and he knew how I felt. He also knew I wasn't going to back down now. I hated that he knew me. I couldn't help myself, I managed to lie to myself in that moment, maybe it could just be fun, maybe it wouldn't have an effect on the dynamic of our friendship. We'd talked a lot about sex with the distance keeping us safe, some nights spent exchanging fantasies, messages and videos. I knew everything about what he wanted, the magic words that would tip the scales for him, and he knew everything about how my body worked and what I might do. We both knew I was far more experienced, him only having a few sexual partners in the past worried me, but not enough to stop me. The logical part of my brain had shut down. I needed to be the dominant one here, I needed to show him. He could talk smoother then I ever could, but I could use my body. “Cat we don't have to- ” I cut him off and grabbed his throat, I enjoyed that feeling earlier, I wanted to try it again. I pulled myself to him and kissed him deeply, his hand raised to mine in shock but he relented and kissed me back. I kneeled over him and used my other hand to stroke his hard cock under the water. His hands slid across my body, I'm not sure he knew what to do with my sudden assault on his senses. I felt him moan into my kiss as I moved my hand up and down the length of his shaft, taking my time to rub slowly around his head, feeling it twitch in response. I released my grip off his neck and used my hand to move his hands to my ass which was hovering over him, he seemed to follow the motions amazingly. I continued to stroke his cock, surprised that it was larger then I expected. I climbed further onto him sliding the head of his cock gently up and down, from my entrance to my clit, as I kept up the motion of sliding my hand up and down his shaft. He was starting to put pressure on my hips, begging to get inside me each time I slid up and down on him. The wetness of my cunt so different to the water of the bath. I teased him with each movement as I used his dick as a toy for my own stimulation, I wanted him to force me down onto it, he seemed to yield finally, grabbing my hips properly and pulling me onto him, inch by inch. I'd been turned on for the entire bath, I felt so swollen and as he forced his way in we both gasped, breaking the passionate kiss, locked into inhaling each other's breath. By the time he was fully sheathed inside of me I was almost shaking, he fit so well, I wasn't going to last long at all. I kissed him again, biting his lip and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. I started riding him like my life depended on it, like every groan he made brought me closer to an edge I was ready to fall off a thousand times. I grinded harder against him, wanting to be so full I would never need to be fucked again, and it worked so well, up and down, him enjoying my bubble covered breasts as they bounced in his face. I felt the familiar buildup of my orgasm coming on as I rode harder and faster. I gripped him tighter as my pussy clenched around his cock, unable to keep my mouth shut I let out a very audible moan of pleasure, I leant back enjoying the aftershocks of my orgasm. He seemed to be enjoying the expression on my face before he got a serious look, grabbing my hips harder than before and using my body. He was stronger than I expected, I wasn't doing any of the work anymore, just enjoying feeling him lift me and pull me back down onto him as the water splashed around us and his face started to tense. I slid my hand back under water to rub my clit, if he was coming, I'd be damned if I wasn't going to come again with him. It wasn't hard for me to get close again, he was so focused, grunting and fucking me hard, I was loving the view, the way his arms and body tensed, the focus on his face, the way he threw his head back, moving me like I weighed nothing, grinding his hips up to mine. I knew what would get him there, from every fantasy he'd sent me and I knew he'd fucking love it and hate it. “You have to pull out, I'm not on birth control.” I teased at him, he agreed and started going harder than before, I could feel him twitching inside me, I knew I was going to cum when he did. I wrapped my arms around him and started fucking him back again, our hips meeting. He was starting to shake, he stopped suddenly. “I'm going to cum, I have to stop.” He gasped, I knew what we both wanted to hear. I grabbed his throat again and held onto his back as tight as I could, continuing to grind against him as deeply as I could. “Don't you fucking dare, I'm not letting go, you're going to fill me or we'll never do this again.” His eyes lit up with a touch of fear and excitement as he gave in, finally thrusting back knowing that I needed his seed, it only took a moment and I felt him explode inside me, shooting layer after layer of warm cum into me. My body fucking loved it, exploding into an orgasm that just kept clenching for what felt like minutes around his cock as it pulsed. I let my grip loosen as I let my head fall against his, having an exhausted giggle, he smiled and laughed with me, wrapping his arms around my body and occasionally thrusting to see my face as we recovered our breath. “You can't do that or I'm going to need to cum again” I breathed, trying to lift myself off him, he held me down. “Do it.” he whispered with an evil grin, I started to grind on him softly, it wasn't going to take much. He leant me back and watched me, finally using his fingers to rub my clit, as my breasts bounced freely and he met each of my thrusts again, he was watching me so intimately but I couldn't keep my eyes open. It was happening again, I gasped and held his arms tightly as I shuddered with another orgasm. He seemed so pleased with himself, kissing me again softy down my neck. “You're mine,” he whispered, moving my hair from my face “My good little cum slut.” The language surprised me, but more in a way that I enjoyed. We both got out of the bath and wrapped ourselves in towels. The bathroom was completely flooded, I giggled and bent to pick up my wet clothes. I felt his hand lift my towel at the back as I did, still bent over I looked back at him confused. “Just admiring my work” he smiled that damn smile again, it always amazed me how confident men got after you fulfilled a fantasy. I moved into a presenting pose and let him enjoy the view of his cum dripping from my pussy for a moment, he slicked his finger up and down my slit. “hey, no touching unless your prepared to finish the job again.” He kept going, sliding his fingers back and forth over my clit before sliding his fingers inside of me, pushing his dripping cum back in. This man was determined to make sure I couldn't think for a week. But that's when we heard a knock at the door. by Eeveelynn for Literotica

Diese Folge enthält Spoiler. Rachel Carson hat mit ihren Büchern viel bewegt. Sie schrieb über die Natur, verband Forschung mit poetischer Sprache, und erreichte somit nicht nur die Köpfe, sondern auch die Herzen der Menschen. Als sie mutig den massenhaften Einsatz des Pestizids DDT anprangerte, erhielt sie viel Widerstand… und wurde zu einer Mitbegründerin der Umweltbewegung, in den USA und international. Die Autorin Theresia Graw hat sich dem Leben dieser besonderen Frau im Roman „In uns der Ozean“ (Ullstein, 2025) angenähert. Wir haben ihn für euch gelesen und besprechen in unserer neuen Folge, was Rachel Carson zu einer der Begründerinnen der modernen Umweltbewegung macht, und wie es einer Frau gelingen konnte, mit Liebe zur Natur und zum Schreiben Menschen und Politiker*innen wachzurütteln. Ihr sucht einen neuen Podcast, der Wissenschaft in eine spannende Geschichte verpackt? Hört rein bei "Hiccup. Per Schluckauf durch die Zeit". Darin reist eine Zeitreisende ins Mittelalter - und stößt auf einige Herausforderungen: Wie lädt man ein elektrisches Gerät in der Vergangenheit auf? Wie klang das Deutsch im 15. Jahrhundert? Und war die Pest wirklich so gefährlich? All diese Fragen klärt „Hiccup. Per Schluckauf durch die Zeit. Ein Podcast der ÖAW“ für Junge & Junggebliebene. Hört rein auf Youtube, Spotify und Apple Podcast.

Tajweed Tuesday — Surah al-Hujurat, Ayat 3–5Assalamu ʿalaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,Welcome back to BeQuranic. Apologies for the delayed post. I know today is Wednesday, but here you go, Tajweed Tuesday.This week, we're continuing our journey through Surah al-Hujurat, looking at Ayat 3 to 5. Let's begin with the recitation of these verses, followed by a breakdown of the key Tajweed rules.1. Ayah 3 – Pronunciation & Tajweed Focusإِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَغُضُّونَ أَصْوَاتَهُمْ عِندَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ امْتَحَنَ اللَّهُ قُلُوبَهُمْ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ ۚ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ* إِنَّ – Wajib al-Ghunnah (with shaddah on the noon, held for 2 counts).* الَّذِينَ – Madd asli on “الَّذِي” (basic elongation).* يَغُضُّونَ – Note the ضاد, a thick letter produced by pressing the side of the tongue to the upper molars. Be careful not to turn it into a heavy د or make it a tip-of-the-tongue sound.* أَصْوَاتَهُمْ – Ṣād is a heavy letter (tafkhīm). Remember, heaviness comes from the back of the tongue lifting, not from the lips. Don't incorrectly say Aw-swaatah; say it clearly: Aswāta.* رَسُولِ اللَّهِ – Here, the Lafdh al-Jalālah (the word “Allah”) is read lightly because it is preceded by a kasrah.* أُولَٰئِكَ – This is madd wajib muttasil — when a hamzah follows a madd letter in the same word. Stretch it for fourcounts.* قُلُوبَهُمْ – Madd asli on “قُلُو”.* مَّغْفِرَةٌ – Idgham mithlayn sagheer (two meem coming together).* وَأَجْرٌ – Qalqalah on the ج and Idgham bighunnah for the Tanween + و.* عَظِيمٌ – Madd ‘āriḍ lis-sukūn at the end of the ayah if you stop.2. Ayah 4 – Clarity in Recitationإِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُنَادُونَكَ مِن وَرَاءِ الْحُجُرَاتِ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ* مِن وَرَاءِ – Idgham bighunnah because min + wāw.* وَرَاءِ – Madd wajib muttasil – again, 4 counts due to the wave sign.* أَكْثَرُهُمْ – Watch your ك here – don't make it too heavy.* يَعْقِلُونَ – Qaaf is a heavy letter. Lift the back of your tongue slightly to maintain correct tafkhīm.3. Ayah 5 – Clear Articulation & Disciplineوَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ صَبَرُوا حَتَّىٰ تَخْرُجَ إِلَيْهِمْ لَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَّهُمْ ۚ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ* أَنَّهُمْ – Wajib al-ghunnah on the shaddah.* صَبَرُوا – Be sure the ṣād is heavy — lift the back of your tongue.* تَخْرُجَ – Also has a خ, which is a heavy letter. Emphasise that thickness.* إِلَيْهِمْ – Clear idh-har (no merging here).* لَكَانَ – Madd asli* خَيْرًا لَّهُمْ – Idgham bila ghunnah on tanween + lām. No ghunnah, just merger of sounds of ر and ل.* وَاللَّهُ – Here the Lafdh al-Jalālah is heavy because it's preceded by a fatḥah.* غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ – No ghunnah idgham on the shaddah in r-rahīm.

On episode 300 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson alongside AwardsWatch contributors Karen Peterson and Josh Parham to go back 35 years and take a look at the 63rd Academy Awards, covering the films of 1990. On this retrospective, the AW team take a trip to 1990, where actor Kevin Costner rode off the with multiple Oscars, winning Best Picture for his western Dances With Wolves. While a massive hit at the time, history has not been kind to the winner here as it has become one of the biggest mistakes in Best Picture history, with many believing this was the right time to give Martin Scorsese his due with his masterpiece, Goodfellas. Alongside talking about that, the team explores a turning point of cinema, where the big Hollywood hits made or released from the 1980s were starting to blend with the independent cinema that would dominate the 1990s. It's a fascinating year at the intersection of Hollywood's biggest night. In their in-depth discussion, the AW team talked about the film year of 1990, briefly discuss talk about Dances With Wolves as a Best Picture winner, do an extensive conversation over the below the line categories and nominees for the year, and then the new version of the AW Shoulda Woulda Coulda game, where instead of individual replacements, they must decide as a group who the nominees and winners should be in the top eight categories. The rules of the game state they can only replace two of the nominees that year from each category, except in Best Picture, where the group could replace up to three films to make up the final set of five nominated films. Like past retrospective episodes, it was a fascinating, fun conversation including spirited debates, alliances, vote swinging, celebrating various movies, performances that aren't normally talked about and more that we all hope you enjoy. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. This podcast runs 2h07m. We will be back in next week for a review of the latest horror, Weapons. Till then, let's get into it. Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

In this episode of AccessWorld, we look back at 35 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Aaron shares what it was like growing up only knowing about the ADA, while Tony reminisces on what life was like before the landmark legislation for people with disabilities became law. They talk about how the law made our physical world more accessible, and what's had to happen since then to change attitudes and chart how accessibility eventually grew into the digital space. Aaron then shares what's in store for the August issue of AccessWorld Magazine. The AccessWorld podcast is an extension of AccessWorld Magazine, a quarterly online publication on digital inclusion and accessibility published by the American Foundation for the Blind. Aaron Preece is editor-in-chief of AccessWorld, and Tony Stephens leads communications for AFB. Together, they meet up each month  for the AccessWorld podcast to discuss all things digital accessibility. Visit www.afb.org/AW to check out the latest issue of AccessWorld Magazine and read through the past 25 years of back-issues, available completely free to readers. Want to help support our work? Consider making a tax deductible gift to the American Foundation for the Blind. Your support helps create a world of endless possibilities for people who are blind or have low vision. Learn more at www.afb.org. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Aw, you were planning on paying attention in class today? That's too bad. Your goth bully is sitting behind you, and she feels like whispering in your eye all class long, so that's what we're doing now. Too bad, so sad!- - -Full version of this audio will be uploaded to my Patreon tonight. Join now for access to this and all past audios:https://www.patreon.com/charleymooasmr- - -Artist credit: Unknown! Please let me know if you know the artist!Main ASMR YouTube Channel @charleymooasmr All other links: ⁠https://linktr.ee/charleymoo⁠(please copy/paste linktree if direct is not working! The link DOES work!)Business email (serious inquiries only please!): charleymoobiz@hotmail.com

1. Liborifest Paderborn. 2. Der jüdische Gedenktag Tischa be-Aw. 3. Konfliktort Jerusalemer Tempelberg. 4. Brasilien: Evangelikale und die Politik. 5. Afganhistan: Koranschule als einzige Mädchenbildung. 6. Unsinn und Sinn. Moderation: Lilia Becker Von WDR 5.

Hello to August. catching you up on Me Me Me and whether its been an Awesome or Aw experience. Wool and Pine Sea Glass Cardigan Big Beautiful Hug Wrap by Hiromi Glover of Purl Soho

Send us a textKathy and Ramesh react to the First Look Trailer for Dhurandhar, a action drama is said to be inspired by the real events from the golden era of Indian intelligence agencies, coinciding with the rise of R&AW. Directed by Aditya Dha and starring Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, Madhavan, Akshaye Khanna and Arjun Rampal.Support the show

REAKTIONER EFTER VEJLE I PARKEN:GODKENDT UDEN AT VÆRE PRANGENDEForlæng nu bare med Lerager!Lukas Lerager smadrede bolden i kassen, en fodlængde inde i feltet, efter to minutter, og så var den kamp afgjort… I hvert fald da Jordan Larsson efter 26 minutter krøller kuglen op i hjørnet. Og så slipper F.C. København desværre foden lidt fra speederen. Det er i hvert fald Davids udlægning efter lørdags 2-0-sejr i Parken, og redaktøren er lidt negativ.Anderledes positive er Aw og Chris.Hør her, hvad de tre mener om kampen:Prod.: Copenhagen Sundays.Partner: Unibet.Podcast fra Copenhagen Sundays.#fcklive #sldk #rfcfck #fckøbenhavn #superligaen #copenhagensundays 

Diese Audio-Briefe waren nicht für eure Ohren bestimmt. Sie waren private Nachrichten, die per Post auf Schallplatten, Kassetten, Tonbändern und anderen Tonträgern verschickt wurden. Denn Sprachnachrichten gibt es schon sehr viel länger, als es Handys gibt! Eva Kapeller-Hallama, Leiterin des Forschungsprojekts SONIME - Sonic Memories, Audio Letters in Times of Migration and Mobility, ist im Studio zu Gast und hat auch ein paar dieser Briefe mitgebracht. LINKS: https://sonime.at/ Das Forschungsprojekt SONIME „Sonic Memories – Audio Letters in Times of Migration and Mobility” wird unter der Leitung von Eva Kapeller-Hallama und Katrin Abromeit an der Universität für angewandte Kunst und dem Phonogrammarchiv der ÖAW in Kooperation mit dem Technischen Museum Wien mit Österreichischer Mediathek durchgeführt. Es wird vom Heritage Science Austria Programm der ÖAW gefördert. Die Sammlung der analogen Hör- und Sprechbriefe wird in der Österreichischen Mediathek und dem Phonogrammarchiv aufgebaut und für die Öffentlichkeit zugänglich gemacht.

Quaranteam-Northwest: Part 1 Pandemic Survivors, Harems and the Pacific Northwest. Based on a post by Break The Bar. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels. To combat the deadly Duo Halo virus, the government will change the lives of Harrison Black and his friends out in the hills of Oregon. In return, Harrison finds a new purpose to his life in the midst of losing his family history. The House Guest. I glanced away again, relatively certain that Erica hadn't noticed my involuntary glance down at her cleavage but not overly worried. The grocery store parking lot was only half full, but we were waiting out front and I felt like we were in a bread line in Soviet Russia. The only good news was that it was a warm spring for Oregon State, and a clear day, so Erica and I weren't bundled up in jackets or anything. Of course, we were still getting used to the masks. "This feels ridiculous," Erica said, adjusting the bandana covering her lower face. She'd done her makeup as usual, with soft but smoky eyeshadow, and her thick dark hair was pulled back in a messy bun. Erica was a well-put-together lady, with the hips and bust of a woman who had aged perfectly into her thirties. I'd known her through our late twenties, and I wasn't ashamed to say I thought she'd only gotten hotter with time. Her black jeans clung to her hips and ass, and the black sweater she was wearing unzipped over a ripped band t-shirt accented the v of her cleavage that I'd been trying not to glance at. "At least it's not the middle of winter," I said. "Imagine this going on in January, in a snowstorm?" "We'll never need to see that," said the old man in front of us in line. He was wearing a hunting gaiter, but it was riding low on his upper lip. "This ain't the first virus, it won't be the last. Couple of weeks and the panic will die down. We'll have practically forgotten it by the fall, I bet." "Hopefully," Erica nodded. They'd announced the quarantine two weeks ago, and it had gone into effect last week. My roommate Leo and I had invited Erica, his sister, up from Portland; she was going to be cooped up in her apartment alone for the two-week shutdown and we had plenty of space on my old family property. Erica had made the drive the day before the statewide quarantine kicked in, having locked up the Tattoo Parlor she managed, and it had been a week of sun, hiking and ATV tours through the property, along with teaching her how to throw an axe and shoot some archery. Next week we were planning to show her the ropes on gun safety, and let her try out some of my grandfather's old hunting rifles. Erica was game for it all, and it felt like a mini vacation for all three of us. What Leo and I hadn't planned for was making meals for three instead of two, and so now a week in Erica and I were braving a trip into town trying to figure out exactly what we were and weren't supposed, or allowed, to do. Erica turned to say something to me, but her sentence was cut off by the heavy thrum and backfiring of a pair of ugly pickups rumbling into the parking lot of the grocery store on jacked-up wheels, halfway to 'monster truck.' They parked near the back, near my own truck, both vehicles with the stupid 'truck nuts' swinging from the hitches on the back and one of them with a big confederate flag sticker in the back window. "Jesus, I thought rednecks were supposed to come from the South," Erica muttered. "There are rednecks in every part of every country," I sighed. "Ask me about German rednecks sometime. Those people are weird." Five men unloaded from the two pickups, and I could see someone still sitting inside one of the cabs. I immediately took in everything I needed to know about the men; my brain couldn't shut off the instinct. Five military-aged males, three who looked like they could handle a bit of a fight. None of them were carrying firearms, no obvious sign of concealed weapons, but several had utility knives sheathed on their belts. Not that uncommon out here in the foothills of western Oregon. Three of them were wearing army surplus combat boots, one was wearing what looked like steel-toe construction boots, and one was wearing hiking boots. Their clothes were blue-collar casual. Rough, in other words. None of them were wearing any form of a mask. The debate was still out in the news; first, we were supposed to wear masks, then they said it wasn't going to be helpful, and now they were saying wearing masks might be the most important thing. Everyone seemed confused about the issue, but everyone in line outside the grocery store was wearing one of some sort or other. "Are they seriously going to just?" Erica muttered. The rednecks were heading straight for the entrance to the store, looking to bypass the ten or so folks in line ahead of us and another six behind us. I could see the panic in the eyes of the pimple-faced teen manning the door. He had no fucking clue what to do about it. "Ah, shit," I muttered, already stepping out of line. "Harrison," Erica cautioned me. "It's not worth it. What's the point?" "If not me, then who?" I asked her, then raised my fingers to my lips and blasted a whistle that echoed across the parking lot. Everyone turned and looked at me. All the folks in line, the rednecks as they were about to bull their way past the boy, and the beleaguered kid who I'd already watched bumble through explaining the line to annoyed people, let these alone belligerent assholes. "Hey," I yelled, but tried to keep my voice more friendly than commanding. "How about you guys show some respect to the folks out here and just grab a spot in line?" "How about you suck my nuts? We aren't sheeple, we know our rights," one of them yelled. "Yeah, this place can't deny us service, we've got rights," another shouted. "There's a difference between rights and being polite," I said. "Old folks are waiting to get their groceries, you boys can wait fifteen minutes." "You got a problem with us?" Another one shouted. "You know who the fuck we are?" "Harrison," Erica sighed. "I ain't got a goddamn clue who you are," I said. "And I don't care beyond the fact that you're acting like assholes." Two of them immediately started coming towards me down the line, the other three hesitating a moment before following. Fuck. I'd been hoping they were just some bully idiots, but the two in the lead were way angrier than they should have been. "Take a few steps back and don't get involved, E," I said quietly. "I'll be fine, but you can't get involved, Okay?" "Harry, what the actual fuck? There are five of them. This is a fucking parking lot. We should just call the cops!" she whispered back. "I'd listen to your fella," the old guy in the gaiter said. "We got one State Trooper somewhere in thirty square miles of here; would likely take too long to do any good." "You wanna say that to my face, you fucking fuck?" one of the men said. I'd taken a few more steps out of line, and he got up within a foot of me with his teeth bared and a fist raised threateningly. "I'm a god damned sovereign citizen, and I got every right to protect my dignity, honor and good name against fucks like you." "Yeah," I said, looking down at him as I breathed in deep and let my full size loom over him. The guy was probably 6'1 or so, but I was 6'6 in my stockings and had an extra couple inches over that from my own hiking boots. "I said you guys are acting like assholes, and otherwise I could give one single shit about who you think you are." "You motherfucker, I'm gonna," "Harrison?" One of the three guys in the back asked. He was one of the ones I'd identified as not being much of a fighter. "Harrison Black, right? You played Defensive End at Eisenhower." "Uh, yeah," I said. "That was a while ago though..." "Oh man, dude. It's me, Barry O'Callahan. I was a year behind you," the guy said. "Guys, this dude almost single-handedly ran our high school defense. Didn't you end up joining the military or something?" "Yeah, yeah," I said, squinting and looking at Barry. "Really? Barry O?" "Heh, yeah I filled out a bit since I was a junior," the man laughed, his gut jiggling with the effort. "And then I filled out a bit more. How are you doing, man? When did you get out of the service?" "Well, I'm doing fine, Barry. Been out going on seven years. But this is a bit awkward," I said. The interruption had been as confusing a moment for the two hotheads in their group as it had been for me. They were looking back and forth between us, trying to decide if they were still mad at me, or mad at Barry, or were just giving it up. "Oh, yeah. Uh, don't worry guys, Harrison is cool, Okay?" Barry said. "Dude, are you just in the area visiting or what?" "I've been up at the family place for the last few years since Pop died," I said. "Oh man, I'm sorry," Barry said. "But hey, can't believe we didn't run into each other until now. Who'd a thunk, huh? Here dude, you should come out to the clubhouse sometime. We'll grab some brews, catch a game or something." Barry pulled a crumpled matchbook out of his shirt pocket and handed it to me. The front had a WWII-style blonde pinup girl on a navy background with a white star behind her, invoking the flag. The Golden Beaver and an address was printed in tiny letters on the backside. It would have been a funnier innuendo if they weren't referencing the Oregon state flag. "Yeah, maybe," I said. "Come on, guys," Barry said, slapping his two hot head friends on the shoulders. "Let's get in line. Nice seeing you, Harrison." "Yeah, you too Barry," I said. And then shook my head as the five men headed back towards the end of the line. "What the fuck was that?" Erica asked me as I joined her back in line, and we moved up a couple spaces as the teen at the door let more people into the store. "Honestly, I thought I was about to spend the night in county lockup," I said. "Fuckin' Barry O." "He seemed like a fan of yours," Erica smirked. "Big high school football star, huh?" "I was a little above average at best," I said. "And I wasn't an idiot. Easy to look good when the rest of the team sucks." I looked down at the matchbook again and shook my head, showing it to Erica. She snorted and took it. "Is this real? Please tell me you aren't going to go join their little redneck club." "Not likely," I said. "It's a wannabe militia group. Bunch of swinging cocks with no sway." "What?" "Cause they're so small. It's a tiny penis joke." Erica smirked again and rolled her eyes. "You child. Can you do me a favor?" "What's that?" I asked. "Maybe, for the foreseeable future, you keep the whole Walking Tall routine to a minimum?" "I'm sorry, did you just make a Dwayne Johnson, early 2000s movie reference?" "Yeah, I did," Erica grinned. "What are you going to do about it?" "We need to get you to watch some better movies," I laughed. "Hey, son," the old man ahead of us said quietly. "Seriously, could you have taken those guys?" I glanced back at them at the end of the line, muttering to each other. "Probably, if I was right. If I got three of them, the other two wouldn't have done anything." "Heh. Would have liked to have seen that," the old man grinned. "Don't encourage him," Erica said. "He hasn't gotten into a fight on my watch yet, I don't want him to start now." "Yeah," I said. "But that's mostly because you're the one who usually starts throwing punches at the bar." "Hey, a guy gets handsy, I put him in his place," Erica shrugged. "No 'Walking Tall' shit, my ass," I snorted. "You two make a fine, rowdy couple," the old man said. "Oh, we're not a couple," Erica said. "Just friends," I said. "He's my brother's roommate," Erica clarified. "I'm just visiting." The old man raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Alright. Well, maybe you two should consider toning down the flirting then. You're likely to attract bears with all the hormones you're putting out." "Erica, Erica! No, you cannot punch him," I said, holding her back. "Hey, Erica? Can we talk to you for a minute?" Erica looked up from her phone with a cocked eyebrow and a pensive smile. I immediately realized how weird and out of character our approach was. She was lounging on the couch in the living room, her sketchbook tossed to the side with a half-finished something scribbled out in frustration like she'd been trying to work but just couldn't get it right. I knew how she felt, having had the same frustrations ever since the quarantine had been announced. "Sure guys, what's up?" she asked. I let Leo sit down next to his sister on the couch as she sat up, and I took my usual chair. It had been my Father's up until he passed; I'd avoided it the first month after he died and I took over the family homestead. Then when my older sister Valerie and her family came to stay for that summer, she practically pushed me into it. 'It's just a chair,' became our catchphrase for the summer as we sorted through the belongings of our parents and grandparents. "I'm sorry," I said as I settled into the chair. "This is already coming off weird. Erica, it's nothing." "You're making it seem like it's something," Erica said. She turned to her twin. "What's going on?" Leo and Erica were both a couple of years older than me, but once you were into your early thirties that kind of stuff meant a lot less. Leo had the looks of a classic Italian paisan with thick dark hair, a hawk beak of a nose and bushy eyebrows. He was built thin and a little lanky, and was usually ready with an eager smile and word of encouragement for anyone he met. That's probably why we'd gotten along so well when we started rooming together; his positive attitude had been just what I needed coming out of the Army. Erica had a lot of the same features as her brother; the thick dark hair, the ready smile, the energetic sparkle in her eyes; but she also had a sensuality to her that I can't say I'd ever noticed in Leo. She was a little more patient, a little more sure of herself and willing to take charge of things. And that control went all the way to her fitness, as she hadn't let herself slide even through quarantine. Leo sighed. "No, it's nothing. Well, I mean I guess it's something, but it's not," "How about we just say it, instead of talking about talking about it?" I said. "Yeah," Erica nodded. "How about that?" "Well, uh, Harrison?" Leo looked at me, which I guess was fair considering this was my house at the end of the day. "Erica, we're almost a month into the quarantine now," I said. "I know that when we invited you down out of the city to stay with us, it was supposed to only be for a couple of weeks. 'Two weeks to flatten the curve' and all that shit. But things don't seem to be getting any better." "No, it's fine," Erica said, sitting up straighter in her seat and pulling away from her brother. "I know I've been imposing on you guys. It's fine, I can head back down to Portland and I'll just," "Jesus Christ, Erica," Leo said. "We're not kicking you out." "You're not?" she asked. I realized that she was clenching her fists in her lap so hard she was trembling slightly. "Not a shot, E," I said. "We just wanted to make sure that you knew we want you to stay as long as you want or need. We love having you here." For the first time in my life, I saw Erica's lower lip tremble. "Really?" she asked. Back in the city she was the manager of one of the most successful tattoo and piercing parlors in the state, herding artsy workers that acted like cats with constant access to catnip. Erica was firm but fair with her artists, managed a clientele that ran the gamut from rich and entitled assholes to meth'd out deadbeats, and kept her own skills sharp with constant discipline and practice. Every time we had hung out in the years before the quarantine, I'd always been struck by how forceful a personality she was; she could smack talk with the best of them, manhandle a drunk in a bar like an experienced bouncer, and laughed loud and full-bellied. Seeing her on the verge of tears was a shock, and I realized we probably should have had this talk two weeks ago. "Yes, of course we do," I said. "God, you're practically family, Erica. I don't think I could let you go back and stay in the city right now. We love you." The damn burst and as thick tears began to pour over her cheeks and streak her dark eyeliner she reached out and pulled Leo into a hug with one arm. She beckoned for me with the other and I crossed the space to wrap her up in a hug as well. "Thank you," she whispered quietly between us. "I know you guys wouldn't; but still. Everything going on out there, and the way the city is right now... I just didn't" "It's going to be fine," Leo said to his sister, squeezing her harder. "You'll see." She kissed him on the cheek, then turned and kissed me on the cheek as well. "Thank you." I gave her a bit of a squeeze in return. "We'll need to go get some more of your stuff, I guess. You only came down here with a duffle bag." She laughed. "God, yes," she said and tried to wipe her tears. "I can go up there. I could use some more underwear, ha-ha." "Too much information!" Leo said, releasing his sister. She sniffed hard to clear her nose and wiped her cheeks some more to clear her spilt makeup and tears. Erica had a sort of post-punk or light goth style, with thick eyeliner and soft but smoky eyeshadow. For someone in the tattoo business, she had relatively few piercings, just two in each earlobe and a single small, silver nose ring on one nostril. She made up for it with a pair of full sleeve tattoos on her arms and a collection of assorted smaller tattoos on her legs. "What, you don't want to hear about me sweating through my bras?" She laughed at her brother. "Come on, Leo, we're all adults here." I laughed at her teasing and she squeezed me to her with the one arm she still had around my shoulder. She turned and kissed me on the cheek again. "I can go down to the city by myself, you guys don't need to risk yourselves for me. All the news reports are saying this thing is extra dangerous for men." "No, we'll help," I said. "We don't know how long this thing will last, so we'll bring the pickup and you can bring your car. And if you get exposed, you'd bring it back here with you anyways, so we might as well try and do it as fast as possible. Three sets of hands will make things go easier." "Okay," she nodded, then with a last squeeze of my shoulders she eased away and stood up. "Okay. Well, damn, guys. This feels like a fucking weight lifted off my shoulders. I've felt like I've been overstaying my welcome, not that you guys did anything to make me think that. I just,” "It's fine," I said. "We understand." "I don't," Leo said. "You've been all up in my personal space since the dam womb. You never had a problem with it before now." "Come here, you twerp," Erica laughed, slapping her brother on the arm. "Alright, alright," I said. "Come on, children. Let's make a plan here. No time like the present, if we get everything ready we can head out tomorrow."   Leo and I had first become roommates when he sublet me a room as I came out of the military seven years ago and wanted to move back to the Portland area. Then, when my father passed and I needed to move back to the family property, Leo had been more than happy to come on up with me instead of trying to find someone new to take over my half of the house lease. The old ranch-style house I'd grown up in had plenty of room, and my mother had died a few years before Dad, so it worked out for both of us. Even before the quarantine was announced we'd both been working from the homestead; my freelance illustration and concept art gigs kept the bills and property tax under control and food on the table, and Leo had swapped to making artisanal furniture in his little shed workshop instead of the house framing and cabinetry he'd been trained in. The old barn made a decent new workshop for him after a couple of upgrades, and once I'd gotten a satellite installed for point-to-point internet service we were... Well, we hadn't exactly been living the technological dream, but we had what we needed. The drive down to Portland from the homestead outside Jewell took a bit over an hour and a half on a good day with moderate traffic. It only took us an hour, in the middle of the day. I drove my truck, the cover on over the bed, and Leo rode with Erica in her car. The highways were practically empty, and for a while the drive almost felt like just a beautiful day out; other than the thick sweater I was wearing, and the work gloves I'd duct taped to the cuffs. I also had a pair of bandanas hung around my neck, ski goggles sitting on the passenger seat, and the hood of my sweater pulled up. It was the middle of a hot spring and I was sweating my ass off in my own truck just in case of death by viral infection. Even in the last couple of weeks, all the messaging online from the Government about what to do for safety felt like it had been conflicting with itself constantly, and when Leo and Erica tried to do more research they couldn't even figure out which politician or government body to listen to, let alone find something useful and convincing. So we went all out. Driving through the suburbs was a bit of an experience. One neighborhood would be completely desolate, not a single person outside and everything locked up tight. The next would be full of people outside on the street, walking dogs and kids running around playing. Most of them had those medical masks on, but it looked like people were out on summer vacation or something. The neighborhood after that was mostly shut down like the first, but one of the houses easily had thirty vehicles parked around it and was hosting some sort of party going on in the front and back yard. Somehow, despite the world feeling so alien, I still found driving through the city even weirder. Getting into the urban center where Erica had a small apartment near the Tattoo Parlor was like we'd hit the end of the world. Even more than in the suburbs, the near complete lack of people was shocking. We could go entire city blocks without seeing another car, and then suddenly we'd come across a food delivery driver peddling down the middle of the city street on a bike. The only other motorized vehicles I saw were one dude on an electric scooter having the time of his life, and ambulances speeding down the streets with their lights running. They didn't even bother with the sirens. Crackle, crackle. "Hey, Harrison? You read me? Over." I picked up my handheld radio and pressed the button. "Yeah, I read you, Leo. Over." "So we need to take a detour. There's a bunch of stuff online about this Autonomous Zone thing. Protestors in the middle of the city. We're going to avoid it. Over." "Yeah, sounds good. I'll follow. Over and out." I shook my head. The protests had started about a week ago. Halfway across the country, a man had been shot by police; investigations were ongoing, but no one looked good in the situation. Not the cops, not the man, not even the bystanders who had filmed the whole thing instead of intervening. It was a shit show all around, and it had sparked protests that I could only assume were fueled by people feeling so trapped in their own lives. Portland, ever a liberal center of activism, had been a hotbed every night. Vigils and marches every afternoon and evening. Then the riots started at night. We drove down a couple of streets that looked like we'd left the United States behind and entered a foreign warzone. I'd seen streets in Kabul during my deployment that had looked similar; the only thing missing from the burned-out cars, graffiti and general detritus were bullet scars on the walls. Windows that weren't boarded over were smashed. Storefronts were burnt out, looted, or both. It took us an extra twenty minutes to drive all the way around the 'autonomous zone.' By the time we pulled up into the alley behind Erica's apartment building, I was feeling sick to my stomach. A pandemic. Riots. What was next, a natural disaster? I'd seen some of the world; not a lot, but enough. Some of the best and worst places. We were supposed to be better than this. Taking the back stairwell was part of the plan. We didn't want to draw any attention from people; for all that Portland was that liberal bed of activism I'd just been thinking about, it was also still an urban center plagued by theft, crime and people trying to take advantage of each other. With no one on the streets, I'd suggested that pulling up out front made us more of a target to people looking to cause trouble, or attracting the attention of overzealous police. I pulled my truck in next to Erica's car and hopped out. "Alright, make sure you lock up," I said. "Harri, please," Erica said, sliding down her own ski goggles over her eyes. We were all bundled up now, with multiple face coverings each. "I've lived in the city about eight times longer than you ever did. I know how to handle myself." "Yeah, I know," I said. "I'm just a little anxious." "It's fine, dude," Leo said. "Let's just get this done." Erica let us into the building, keying in through a back door, and up through the stairwell. We didn't see anyone on the way up, and she led us through the halls to her apartment. As she let us in, one of her neighbors opened their door and stuck their head out. "Erica? Dear, is that you?" It was a woman, maybe in her fifties. "Hey, Dianne," Erica said. "It's me. I'm just here to pick up some things, and I brought my brother and his roommate to help out." Dianne stepped fully out of her apartment. She was dressed comfortably and had her silvering blonde hair pulled back into a bun. Most notably, she wasn't wearing a mask or any other sort of personal protection. "It's so nice to see you, Erica!" she said. "It's been quiet up here the last few weeks. I have to say, I never thought I'd actually miss your early morning banging around, but I do." "Ah, Dianne," Erica said, holding up her hands. She was wearing rubber gloves, duct taped at the wrists to her sweater just like my work gloves were. "We really shouldn't get any closer than this." "Oh, dear, it's fine," Dianna said. "I've been cooped up in the apartment for a week now, the only person who comes over is Mr. Jones from 5C for coffee every few days. I'm sure you've been just as safe, living out of the city." "No, really Dianne," Erica said. "I don't mean to be rude, but we're only here to get some of my things and go. And I know Mr. Jones is probably lonely up there, but it's not safe for you two to get together for coffee. You should really just skype each other or something." "Oh, I already have to do that Zoomy thing to see my grandkids," Dianna scoffed. "But fine, fine. It's good to see you, dear. Try not to take things too seriously, it won't be good for your health." From inside Erica's apartment, I couldn't help but shake my head. "Dianne, maybe you need to take things more seriously," Erica said. "I'd hate if anything happened to you, but more importantly I'd hate for your grandkids to never get to see you again if you got sick." "Well, I guess..." Dianne trailed off. "Goodbye, Dianne. It was nice seeing you," Erica said in that tone of voice that was just shy of 'politely fuck off,' then followed Leo and me into her apartment and shut the door. "God, that woman," Erica said. She peeled down the pair of gaiters she was wearing over her face. The top layer was a winter covering Leo and I usually used in the middle of winter when we were snowmobiling, and the second was a much thinner one we used in the summer when A T Veeing. "We should be good in here, no one's come in since I left." I peeled down my bandanas and sighed. "I'm sure she's nice, but that lady needs a reality check." "I just hope she isn't someone else's reality check," Erica said. "Alright. I'm going to start in the bedroom. Leo, can you go through the living room and grab anything you think we might want in terms of DVDs and stuff? And Harrison, do you mind doing a check-over of the kitchen? I'm pretty sure I got rid of all the immediate perishables before I came down, but I might have missed some things that could've gone for a couple weeks." We split up and went to work. I cleaned out a few old condiments that Erica had missed and collected some canned and boxed food that would travel easily, along with some of the more specialty cooking equipment Erica had made of point of mentioning. I wasn't sure what an 'air fryer' did, but she made it sound like it was a gift from God, so I was willing to pack it up. "All done in the kitchen," I said, standing in the doorway to Erica's bedroom. She was rummaging in her closet. Her bed was covered in clothes and a couple of pieces of luggage, and everything looked like a mess. "Okay, hold on," she said, then she reappeared and dumped what looked like an entire department store's worth of bras out onto the bed. "Can you start packing this stuff up? Don't worry about folding or sorting it, I'll fix it all once we're back at your place. Then I can grab everything I need from the washroom and we'll be done." "Sure," I said, and we squeezed past each other so she could duck into the washroom. Once she was gone, I just chuckled and shook my head at the mess she'd already made. "I don't think this is all going to fit in these bags." I got to work, and soon three of the four pieces of luggage were stuffed full. That's when I made it to the pile of bras. I glanced out the door, and quickly picked up a fancy looking one and checked the tag. "Damn, Erica," I chuckled. It was obvious she was a busty girl, but 36E? I wouldn't have guessed. Then again, I wasn't exactly a bra aficionado. I wouldn't even know if I'd seen D's or E's or what, the sizing just sort of confused me enough that I couldn't care to look into it any further. I carefully began packing her daintier things into a bag, and below the bras was a pile of panties; and only a few of them seemed like they were designed for comfort and not show. There were strings, there was lace. I held a particular red number and shook my head again, trying to do my best not to imagine Erica wearing it and failing. I shoved it into the bag with the rest. "Incoming," Erica said, bustling back into the room with her arms full of canisters and bottles and all sorts of things from the bathroom. She dumped it all on top of the panties in the bag. "Usually I'd be a lot more organized with this," she sighed. "But I just feel... being in the city feels kinda gross right now." "Hmm, I feel it too," I said. I picked up the last handful of her underwear and put them on top of the cosmetics stuff. "Oh my God," Erica said, grabbing the bag from me. "I can't believe; God, this is embarrassing." She was grinning and her cheeks had heated up as she quickly zipped up the luggage and turned to me. "I didn't realize you'd work that fast." "Hey, I've seen ladies' underwear before," I laughed. "It's not a big deal." "Yeah, but you haven't seen my underwear," she chuckled along with me. "At least you saw the nice stuff. I left most of it here when I came down; wasn't exactly thinking about showing off the goods, ya know?" "Hey, anytime you want to show off, you just let me know," I laughed. "I tried not to pry, but some of them looked pretty hot." "Oh, my God," she said, face palming her embarrassment. Then her smile turned teasing. "Then again, we could always play you show me yours, I'll show you mine. I'm sure the girls would be happy for some more freedom around the house." She squished her upper arms together to pop out her chest a bit under her sweater. Now it was my turn to smirk and blush a little. I was just starting to try and figure out what to say when Leo came in from the front area of the apartment. "Think I'm about done up here," he said. "Anything else, sis?" Erica snickered and punched me in the arm. "That's probably it. I was just teasing Harrison about feeling' up my panties though." "Dude!" Leo said. "Oh, come on," I said. "You know I wouldn't." "Still..." Leo trailed off. "Whatever. Just leave my sister's granny panties alone." "You think I wear granny panties?" Erica said, then turned back to the bag and started unzipping it. "Well, let me just show you some of these..." "Nope, no, nada, nyet!" Leo said, covering his eyes with both hands and turning out of the room. "I do not need to know. Too much information for me!" Erica snorted and shook her head, re-zipping the bag. She winked at me and gave me another friendly punch on the arm. "Thanks again for helping with all of this, Harrison." "No problem at all, E," I assured her. "No, no," she said. "Seriously. Thank you. You guys didn't need to come out here; it feels sort of silly to say, but you're technically risking your lives for me right now." "Well, chivalry ain't dead yet, I guess," I said. "I guess not," she laughed. She leaned in and kissed my cheek. "It's nice. Just don't go making a habit of it, I don't need some White Knight savior act out of you or my brother." "Deal," I said. We got everything out into the front hallway of the apartment, and it ended up being more than we could hope to carry down in one trip. The end result was that we made the first trip down, started loading everything into the bed of the pickup, and while Leo and Erica went back up for another load I stayed down with the vehicles. The thing about inner cities, we'd all learned quickly when we originally moved in, was that you took a risk when you left things in your car. Well, if you had a car to begin with, but if you did and people could see in then it was likely your shit was going to get stolen. So there I was, sitting on the open back gate of my pickup with double bandanas over the bottom half of my face and ski goggles over the top, when two men rounded a corner further down the wide back alley and stopped. They looked at me and the cars. I looked at them. One of them was wearing a medical mask, while the other had a knit wool balaclava on with nothing but his eyes showing. I'd never really considered it before, what with us living out in the woods away from most people, but at that moment I realized how simple it must be to do crime when everyone was expected to wear masks. I watched them. They eyed up the vehicles. I stood up. They watched me do it. I slammed the gate of my truck shut. They watched me do it. I walked around to the passenger door of the truck cab, pulled out the hard case I had stowed under the seat, grabbed my Dad's old Colt 1911 and slid a magazine home. The men kept their eyes on me, not batting an eye even though I was now holding a loaded firearm. I leaned against the back of my truck and watched them right back. Eventually, Leo and Erica came back down and I didn't mention the men or the pistol, which I tucked onto the passenger seat of my truck while we were moving things around. I left the door open so that I could keep easy access. Erica and Leo went up for one last load, and I entered another long staring match with the two men. They hadn't moved and were about fifty yards away so I couldn't tell if they were talking to each other. I swear I must have been sweating bullets under my sweater and gloves and various masks. I don't know if my adrenaline had spiked like this since seeing combat while deployed. Not even the grocery store parking lot showdown a few weeks ago had been like this. Finally, Erica and Leo came down with the last load, we got everything stowed away, and got back into our vehicles. I took a moment to unload and re-stow my firearm, and as Erica and Leo pulled away in her car I watched as the two men came up the alley and entered Erica's apartment building through the door we had been using. Maybe they had just been waiting to use the door, playing it safe with us. Or maybe it was something else. I wouldn't ever know. It took three days for us to start feeling... safe wasn't the right word. 'Less apprehensive' is where I ended up landing. Coming back from the city had been as smooth as driving out, but once we were home we all had this feeling of being dirty. It felt silly even at the time, but we ended up hosing each other off outside with the garden hose before heading in to take some long, hot showers. Was that ineffective? Probably. Did it make us feel better? Maybe, a little. When none of us were showing any symptoms of getting sick by the third night back, we all decided to crash and start a new show together on Netflix that night after dinner. I ended up in the living room first and was starting to scroll through the menus to find something we might like when Erica came down the stairs in her own comfy clothes. She was wearing baggy, low-riding sweatpants and a black tank top that I very quickly realized was bouncing way more than usual with each of her steps down the stairs. Erica walked over to the TV sitting area and flopped down onto the couch across from me, absentmindedly reaching up and tying her hair back into a loose and messy bun. "What?" she asked me when she realized I was staring at her. "Nothing," I said. "You just... you look good. Like that." She rolled her eyes. "It's just makeup, Harrison." What she meant was she wasn't wearing any. For the first time ever, even including the month that she'd already been staying with us, I was seeing Erica without makeup on. It was sort of shocking, honestly; whatever magic she did in the mirror, with her kit, it was like she could change the very structure of her face. Usually, she had an almost angular predatory look, with sultry and smoky eyes and sharp cheekbones leading down to a perfect set of clean and bright red lips. Now she looked brighter, more girl-next-door. Sure there were imperfections; soft lines under her eyes, little freckles and blemishes that got hidden by foundation, but her eyes were brighter, and her smile was wholesome. "Just don't feel like you need to be anything but comfortable, E," I assured her. "I like this look on you." She sighed and gave me a smirk. "Alright, charmer. What are we watching?" I tossed her the remote and let her start scanning through the list of new shows. Besides her lack of makeup and apparent lack of a bra, she was still her usual self. Both of her arm sleeves were bared by the tank top; her left arm was a colorful splash of a dozen of her favorite Pokémon from the original 150, all water-themed. Her right was Star Wars themed and focused on a pinup Femme Boba Fett on her outer upper arm, along with a couple sexy lady Stormtroopers, a Princess Leia in the requisite golden slave bikini, and Padme in the ripped-up white arena fight outfit. Not to mention the Yoda on her inner forearm and chili Chewbacca just below her armpit on her bicep. Her tank top also showed off the two heart tattoos on either side of her clavicle, and the half-mandala tattoo that sat on the back of her neck at the hairline. Erica's legs, while currently covered by her sweats, were a more eclectic collection of random and unplanned tattoos dating back from her start in the industry; some were done by her own hand, others by fellow apprentices, and a few even by the apprentices she'd eventually trained over the years. "Heads up!" Leo said, bounding down the stairs in his own sweats and a hoodie, vaulting over the back of the sofa and landing heavily next to his twin sister. "Jesus Christ," Erica said, ducking away to narrowly avoid getting kicked in the back of the head. She turned and hit Leo in the shoulder. "Watch it, you monkey!" "Takes one to know one," Leo laughed, swiping away her hands as she tried to hit him again. Soon the two were involved in a swearing match as Erica was leaning over Leo, trying to tweak his ears and drop a wad of spit down on his face, while he tried to both ward off her hands and push her away at the same time. Their easy sibling rivalry and goofing off usually wasn't this physical, but it still had me laughing and wondering all the same. I'd never had that with my sister; she was about seven years older than me, so we hadn't ever had that sort of a relationship. To be honest, I was also a little interested in the sibling scrap because Erica's tits looked fucking great jostling and bouncing around in her tank top, and a part of me hoped a boob would pop out in the chaos. Unfortunately, I couldn't be so lucky and the duel ended with both of them panting, sitting next to each other, with no boob appearance. "What are we watching?" Leo asked. "I dunno, we hadn't picked yet," I said. "Let's watch this," Erica said, seemingly at random, and selected some sort of a baking show. "Aw man," Leo said. "These competition shows are always so scripted." "They make me hungry," I said. "Maybe I should start baking more." "Yes," Erica said. "Now we're watching every season just so you can get more good ideas like that, Harri." The show was easy to follow and clearly designed like every other Food Porn-style "reality" competition. Other than the deliciously described food, the only thing actually keeping my attention was the host. "She's hot," Erica said during one of the transition scenes, right after the host had finished showing the TV audience the differences between a mousse and whipped cream. It had involved a lot of whisking very fast. "Not my type, but I can see it," Leo said. "She's got too much of a Fifties Housewife vibe going on." "That's just because she's so proper British," Erica said. "Look at her, she's gorgeous. And fucking stacked under those pretty dresses. What do you think, Harri?" "I'm with you, I think she's definitely hot," I agreed. "And I really dig the accent." "I bet she's a fucking freak in bed, too," Erica said. "No way!" Leo argued with his sister. "Look at her. She's all syrup and sweetness. I bet she's dry as a desert down there, and you couldn't fit anything in due to the stick up her ass." "Nuh-uh," Erica shook her head. "I'd put money on her having a filthy mouth off-screen. Just swears like a fucking sailor. And,  Hmm, I bet she probably says she's straight, but has plenty of experience with girls from her Prep School days." "Sure," I laughed along. "Makes perfect sense. Anything else?" "I bet she's got a cum fetish," Erica said. "Look at her eyes when she's talking about glazing. She's practically creaming her conservative little dress. And she definitely likes a cheeky finger up the bum to really set her off." All of us were laughing now, and the conversation faded as we struggled to get control of our giggles. By the time the first episode was over, we were hooked despite the silly concept, and let it play. We got four episodes in before Erica called it quits. "That's enough for me tonight, boys," she said, yawning and stretching her arms wide. Her right arm rubbed roughly against Leo's face on purpose, just to bug him as he pulled away. "I'm off to bed. Good night!" She bounced up off the couch and made for the stairs, her hips swiveling in her low-waisted sweats. They'd ridden lower, and she was showing a bit of a whale tail with her lace thong panties peeking over the waistline. "Dude," Leo said, snapping my vision from his sister as she walked up the stairs. "Uh," I hummed, and slowly raised both arms in an awkward shrug. "What do you want me to do?" "Just... don't make it a thing," he sighed, then flopped over onto his side. "She's my sister. You wanna watch Deadpool?" Visitors The rumble, sputter and hum of the approaching ATV broke my concentration as it cut through the quiet warbling of my shitty Bluetooth speaker long before Leo pulled around the trail bend. The thick foliage up here in the foothills, far at the back end of my family property, created a weird dampening effect so I hadn't heard him until he was almost on top of me. The rumble cut through the thick greenery now and was followed by the crunching of the tires biting into th

Have you ever found yourself in the pantry, not because you're hungry, but because something inside just feels off and food feels like the best solution? Or maybe you've stared down a bag of chips after a tough day and wondered, “Why can't I just stop?”  If that's ever happened to you, then you are absolutely not alone. In fact, you're in the perfect place, because today we're launching a four-part series on emotional eating That's right, we're going deep on why you reach for snacks when you're not hungry, what's really going on in your brain, and how you can finally change the pattern, without beating yourself up. Over the next four episodes, we'll cover: Why emotional eating feels so powerful and automatic How to spot and understand your personal triggers New tools to comfort yourself that don't revolve around food And how to handle setbacks and bounce back stronger Today, we're starting with the truth about emotional eating, why it happens, and why you keep getting stuck—even when you know what to do. So, are you ready to dive deep into emotional eating, decode your cravings, and start feeling a little more in control of your choices? Aw yeah! https://confidentbody.coach/tips/ BOOK: You Are A Miracle 

On episode 297 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, AwardsWatch Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello and AwardsWatch contributors Dan Bayer, Josh Parham, and Jay Ledbetter to go back 50 years and take a look at the 48th Academy Awards, covering the films of 1975. On this retrospective, the AW team take a look back at what might've been the greatest Best Picture lineup of all time, featuring the films One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Barry Lyndon, Nashville, Dog Day Afternoon, and Jaws. This group of five films collectively encapsulate the type of films audiences clamored for fifty years ago and are all considered all-time classic in their own right, some being the best film within their respected director's filmography. But the interesting exercise with this line-up is looking at the lackluster films surrounding these masterful films. But this is the fun part of the process of looking back and talking about a year like this, if it is a landmark year like others in the 1970s or if it just top heavy. In their in-depth discussion, the AW team talked about the film year of 1975, briefly discuss talk about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as a Best Picture winner, do an extensive conversation over the below the line categories and nominees for the year, and then the new version of the AW Shoulda Woulda Coulda game, where instead of individual replacements, they must decide as a group who the nominees and winners should be in the top eight categories. The rules of the game state they can only replace two of the nominees that year from each category, except in Best Picture, where the group could replace up to three films to make up the final set of five nominated films. Like past retrospective episodes, it was a fascinating, fun conversation including spirited debates, alliances, vote swinging, celebrating various movies, performances that aren't normally talked about and more that we all hope you enjoy. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. This podcast runs 2h40m. We will be back in next week for a review of the latest film from Marvel, The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Till then, let's get into it. Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Author's note: These days, my thoughts go onto my substack by default, instead of onto LessWrong. Everything I write becomes free after a week or so, but it's only paid subscriptions that make it possible for me to write. If you find a coffee's worth of value in this or any of my other work, please consider signing up to support me; every bill I can pay with writing is a bill I don't have to pay by doing other stuff instead. I also accept and greatly appreciate one-time donations of any size. 1. You've probably seen that scene where someone reaches out to give a comforting hug to the poor sad abused traumatized orphan and/or battered wife character, and the poor sad abused traumatized orphan and/or battered wife flinches. Aw, geez, we are meant to understand. This poor person has had it so bad that they can't even [...] ---Outline:(00:40) 1.(01:35) II.(03:08) III.(04:45) IV.(06:35) V.(09:03) VI.(12:00) VII.(16:11) VIII.(21:25) IX.--- First published: July 19th, 2025 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kJCZFvn5gY5C8nEwJ/make-more-grayspaces --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

A produção de um acervo sonoro que documenta cantos rituais e cotidianos dos Awá Guajá representa um marco na valorização e preservação do patrimônio cultural desse povo de recente contato, que habita as Terras Indígenas Alto Turiaçu, Caru e Awá, além de grupos em isolamento voluntário em Araribóia, todas no Maranhão. Donos de um modo de vida muito particular e de forte ligação com a floresta, eles construíram uma obra inédita – Karawa Janaha: O Canto dos Karawara – que registra e descreve a arte vocal Awa Guajá e traduz cantos entoados na língua de caçadores celestes, os Karawara.

Aw shiiiit! This episode of Late To The Table is rated X…FOR EXTREMEEEEEEEEEEE…NACHO CHEESE FLAVOR. Brought to you by doritos! Does the 1970 best picture winner hold up in 2025? FIND OUT NOW.

FECK. DEADMAU5 powers down mid set. Aw, fuck. Oh, man. Did you forget to plug in the Deadmau5. I forgot to plug in the Deadmau5. Quick, create a diversion. Make it look like part of the show! STAFFERSON opens the charging port on JOEL's neck and plugs him in. He's not going to make it through the full set on charge mode, bro. I know. So what are we supposed to do. We're just going to have to play with him… MAU5 glitches uncontrollably at extremely reduced capacity throughout the remainder of the set. The 32B commences. LATER. DEADMAU5 charges in SLEEP MODE in THE DUNGEON. Do you think anyone noticed? Probably not. SAUFERSON! Did you forget to charge the Deadmau5 again?! THE BOSS enters THE DUNGEON lividly. No… You DID! Sorry. It's not entirely {Enter The Multiverse} Young Joel Zimmerman is eight years old. He will one day become one of the world's most renowned dance music producers. This is somewhat evident in his personality even at such a young age. JOEL grimaces uncomfortably. He seems somewhat different from his classmates— maybe even years beyond his age. About… 250 years beyond his age, to be precise. The adults watch in the distance with peaking curiosity. Oh. I need you to help me with something. What. This should do it. Hmm. Wait here. Why. Because. L E G E N D S Book One: Secrets Chapter One “The Wonder” Cinematic visions had been sweeping through my mind in vivid and dynamic glitches, something like a rolling wave of intercepted streams and shattered scenes— sleeping through the vile and sharp pains was not an option, but the visions were fluid as they always were, and the spirit stayed remarkably warm and close. I couldn't understand the constant knowing of it all, and so I weathered the storm, to which only somewhat delightfully, seemed to brew inside of Genie's eyes as he looked into mine. All I could know from beforehand was that he was praying, head bowed and very adamantly, his hands tied together as if the religiousness of the entire world rests in between his two clenching palms, the flat fingers of a whispered saint, but none at all— unholy man and righteous and indignant he, there was nothing so little as time that could put between us the doing and undoings. The things I pretended not to know. On this grueling occasion, there was this, the honorable and beloved Genie, sitting heavily on my consious. It hadn't been long enough since we'd last met that I ever thought to welcome his arrival, and yet for days, he had been encroaching his authority over me, something like a loon approaches moonlight. Somewhat dignified in a slight comparison to his last appearance, visionary or otherwise, he meant well. Gene DeLaney was a subtle old fool when he wanted to be— and a clever young one at most other and all times. A man of stature and status, however, he was poorly groomed in the nature of procuring revelations as such from an especially distant medium such as I— and even with his ties to the mark and surface of the full embodiment of the source, his alignments were of no use; I was sworn to secrecy. Destitute, though I had heeded his warnings about dear Louis, our fellow brother, with the markings of such wounds to see it that I had been betrayed, he appealed with a simple aching plea with the protective fury and exhalation of an older brother, which— to that he was—but also with the weathered and fearful of the unknown which made me keep my ways in the old world and not with the new. Despite what Gene could know, which could be everything or nothing, with the expectation that much like the little girl I nearly was in considerate comparison, I would appeal to this protectiveness, and truthworthiness, and it might as well have been a test of such myself; would I lie to him, even if he knew the truth? And furthermore, would I continue to conspire to protect Louis even if the whole of the truth was known in the wake of such a betrayal, and still— why? The why was really two parts of a greater whole, the first being that it was a matter of simple trust and loyalty on the one side in that were I Louis, I'd expect my keeping's to remain, and in the same stone's throw were I Genie, I'd expect his wants to be that I should do the same for him in all and any of his many hours of need. Still so, they were men, and they were brothers— and one to have the upper hand over another was a considerable part of the dynamic, however, and in many more ways than one, Genie outranked Louis in every matter of the sort, but besides this factor, the second part of the greater whole of my withholding, was this— Louis Greenworth was a very, very powerful man— beyond by some comprehension to most of us, if not and especially our kind, and I had already been hurt. Severely wounded, even, and with the knowing that this latest event might as well have been fatal— and probably was, with any recollection of the matter or the reorientation in the aftermath of such, I might have been approached as myself by Gene entirely new. As to say, to no avail such ties to death is the immortal, death being, most misunderstood by many, almost any kind of thing taking the concious mind or the spirit into any other world, or space, or time. With this love and care considerably so, Genie might have had his own personal motivations for prying into the light; his kind eyes and his handsome face, however, were trained in the art of my undoing, and having already been undone, and done over, I remained entirely in the safety of withholding, also knowing that Genie more likely than not what Louis had carried out. In all my thousands of years, perhaps even in the billions of such before time and world, and words, and glory, though I should have nothing to fear—I feared and admired the both of them deeply, one moreso than the other in matters of fear. I withheld feverously, coping with the loss of the satisfaction it might give Genie to have told. Instead, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, he simply dissappeared, his kind eyes gone and turned away into the fog of the murky night haze. The relief was, however, that this was in understanding, and neither anger or the severity of severance. I loved them all too deeply for the bond to ever have been truly broken, and in return I had been loved throughout all time with all the colors of the world. Victoria Shriver-DuPont Gene DeLaney Louis Greenworth Faye Reginald Harper Chapter Two “Slip” Faye had warned me early on no matter what I did or what I knew of Louis and his keepings, to always let him win—at anything. To Louis, everything was a game, or rather, a competition, and it was important not to challenge his self riteousness and dutiful outlook. “Alright.” I almost always certainly trusted Faye, and certainly always at the very least understood her procurements. She was a worthy keeper and just as well unearthed truths, even well beyond just the earthly plane. I took it as such that we had become beyond surface matters, very distinctly and immidiately. The times were changing, but the ties no less the same— there were vows taken and oaths, mantras and fields of trust— the inner ties and the outer forests of what we could reproach as unknown— the truth was, it was almost as if there were doses of those kinds of tonics I could take, and others I could not. The lengths at which Faye Reginald Harper Downings went on behalf of her mark were a cunning sting on my inner knowings, still, I yielded to her bargains. She knew Louis better than I did, and either way, the more you knew about a man like Louis Greenpoint, the less you actually wanted. In such a case, we were all astounded to have become each other's jobs— hence the title, Keeper. My mark had no true title, as I just, rather was. A true immortal, I had been prone to dying for quite some time, and with each passing mark the outer world became more haunting and bizzare. Was I the ghost, or not? In this time and now, it was the others. Genie had warned me to run in the opposite direction of Louis, and by then it had already gone to far— and besides that, Ms. Downings had arrived sheer months ahead of time, seeming to have moved mountains to have come upon the dawn to report— the dawn, being, my awakening. I had lived and lived again and to this alone I was a ghost, but had been tied to my dear keepers and brethren as an admirer— and also, perhaps, to be admired, which was just enough reflected in my dear heart's eyes as it was the cold truth of the seers and the keepers— and the darker the under becomes, the more glistening the surface, and truly, in the caverns of the harsh light of the dawning, I could only amask that it had been not days and night since my last parting, as sometimes, generations— another marker for what was all to come, the knowing that I would be sheathed in truth. What Louis had taken Faye might have very well taken with it, but I was undauntingly and hideously unchanged from my oath. These things, even betrayal, were to remain, as I undone, as secrets. In truth, the Seeker's oath is not yet in the unkept truth, but in the disguise of the awakening it brings. Genie was belonged to by a power couple—Louis in this sense was also belonged to, but in a wary way to that these ties had been severed, and crossed, and cut, and broken; In my arrival, entire times had been shattered and worlds set to move in a backwards fashion, the sun as shining as to rise in the west, and set east, or to raise to the north with no southward bound to travel. There, in the time of my arrival, things had been ruined, and though coming as any does with the bearing of a name, Victoria Shriver-DuPont, to be called— I was nonesuch to any title at all. In this lies the betrayal, and in the dawn of my awakening there beconed the call of this man, dear brother Louis as not either his name or his title any, but of his calling. There, the truth had also been shattered and met with the time to call all of our brothers, as keepers and wishers, seers and seekers, knowers and keepers, to guide the light which calls. Chapter Three: “Gene Hope” As Televamgelests go, Gene DeLaney was not your average showman, either religiously nor by any given standards. His chosen stage name, or rather, bestowed harrowed the scene's Prince of Megatropolis, a gesture that all things reachable could be heard and felt by his voice and might. But more to know about Gene Hope—actually by law, Gene DeLaney were his highly publicized personal effects and efforts—appearances, connections, and politics. Well groomed in the art of culture and confirm, Gene had hoped to portray an otherwise arbitrary anyman, and yet was still in his way, a remarkable celebrity. There were wordless forms of nonconformity and rebellious ambition in his sheer collusion and pace. His walk, the elegance of a loyal court man, and the actual reverence of a madman, made him the go-to guy for all things knowing. The cruelty of it, being, that not particularly tied to that of the believes and mantras of a religious man, and in that the duty of nature being the times that we cross paths. The knowing but not all that is known, and thus, the keeping. I want to fold myself over in half I'm so in music with you I want to say words that make you laugh I'm so in music with you I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know wholesome no more I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know If I should open the door I'm lost to your world; But I don't want to go. I'm stuck in your notebook So wrong for you code But this is no (Recommended) friendship This is no means to an end I want the beginning of never ending But this? I just want it to end I'm as scared and as sorry As bad as I was I'm up in my bedroom, which hasn't a door I'm up in my head, and I haven't a code I wanted to get on the boat But the ocean was gorgeous And all the world kept me afloat You know I got no reason to act out It's tragic how magic just happened to pan out We're still drifting as Pangea, I wanted you to leave Just so that I could be there. You wanted potion for control You got it? I'm stuck in your notebook, So open the door You're right, She's adorable, all for you So goes the snow one and so As you throw the door, or the bone I called it a home for the force that was locking it all away I don't want nothing but wanting and wanting And I don't ant love I just wanted a sub direction This is just glimpses of perfect And glimpses of persons And glimpses of lessons This is just getting in heads, and more headaches And bed frames And glitches Santa Barbara, Ann Arbor— All the days and all the days and all thof ways Were still drifting away like Pangea (Only to do whatever you say) I was your heachache This wasn't monotony If it's all autonomy wel then someday, Maybe you'll make me For now I'm just an artificial Figment of this existence Joel wants a girl But Ive never been loved like a girl (I don't know how to be) And if whoever wants a woman When a man gives me the whole of it And only whatsoever then shall I amount to anything And anything at all, if love Is in the eyes and hands In either daughter or a son I've ‘M nothing at all If not a mother And I'm no mother at all, so Everything becomes impossible as one [The Festival Project™ ] {Enter The Multiverse} L E G E N D S: ICONS Tales of A Superstar DJ The Secret Life of Sunnï Blū Ascension Deathwish -Ū. Copyright The Festival Project, Inc. ™ & The Complex Collective © 2015-2025 All Rights Reserved

FECK. DEADMAU5 powers down mid set. Aw, fuck. Oh, man. Did you forget to plug in the Deadmau5. I forgot to plug in the Deadmau5. Quick, create a diversion. Make it look like part of the show! STAFFERSON opens the charging port on JOEL's neck and plugs him in. He's not going to make it through the full set on charge mode, bro. I know. So what are we supposed to do. We're just going to have to play with him… MAU5 glitches uncontrollably at extremely reduced capacity throughout the remainder of the set. The 32B commences. LATER. DEADMAU5 charges in SLEEP MODE in THE DUNGEON. Do you think anyone noticed? Probably not. SAUFERSON! Did you forget to charge the Deadmau5 again?! THE BOSS enters THE DUNGEON lividly. No… You DID! Sorry. It's not entirely {Enter The Multiverse} Young Joel Zimmerman is eight years old. He will one day become one of the world's most renowned dance music producers. This is somewhat evident in his personality even at such a young age. JOEL grimaces uncomfortably. He seems somewhat different from his classmates— maybe even years beyond his age. About… 250 years beyond his age, to be precise. The adults watch in the distance with peaking curiosity. Oh. I need you to help me with something. What. This should do it. Hmm. Wait here. Why. Because. L E G E N D S Book One: Secrets Chapter One “The Wonder” Cinematic visions had been sweeping through my mind in vivid and dynamic glitches, something like a rolling wave of intercepted streams and shattered scenes— sleeping through the vile and sharp pains was not an option, but the visions were fluid as they always were, and the spirit stayed remarkably warm and close. I couldn't understand the constant knowing of it all, and so I weathered the storm, to which only somewhat delightfully, seemed to brew inside of Genie's eyes as he looked into mine. All I could know from beforehand was that he was praying, head bowed and very adamantly, his hands tied together as if the religiousness of the entire world rests in between his two clenching palms, the flat fingers of a whispered saint, but none at all— unholy man and righteous and indignant he, there was nothing so little as time that could put between us the doing and undoings. The things I pretended not to know. On this grueling occasion, there was this, the honorable and beloved Genie, sitting heavily on my consious. It hadn't been long enough since we'd last met that I ever thought to welcome his arrival, and yet for days, he had been encroaching his authority over me, something like a loon approaches moonlight. Somewhat dignified in a slight comparison to his last appearance, visionary or otherwise, he meant well. Gene DeLaney was a subtle old fool when he wanted to be— and a clever young one at most other and all times. A man of stature and status, however, he was poorly groomed in the nature of procuring revelations as such from an especially distant medium such as I— and even with his ties to the mark and surface of the full embodiment of the source, his alignments were of no use; I was sworn to secrecy. Destitute, though I had heeded his warnings about dear Louis, our fellow brother, with the markings of such wounds to see it that I had been betrayed, he appealed with a simple aching plea with the protective fury and exhalation of an older brother, which— to that he was—but also with the weathered and fearful of the unknown which made me keep my ways in the old world and not with the new. Despite what Gene could know, which could be everything or nothing, with the expectation that much like the little girl I nearly was in considerate comparison, I would appeal to this protectiveness, and truthworthiness, and it might as well have been a test of such myself; would I lie to him, even if he knew the truth? And furthermore, would I continue to conspire to protect Louis even if the whole of the truth was known in the wake of such a betrayal, and still— why? The why was really two parts of a greater whole, the first being that it was a matter of simple trust and loyalty on the one side in that were I Louis, I'd expect my keeping's to remain, and in the same stone's throw were I Genie, I'd expect his wants to be that I should do the same for him in all and any of his many hours of need. Still so, they were men, and they were brothers— and one to have the upper hand over another was a considerable part of the dynamic, however, and in many more ways than one, Genie outranked Louis in every matter of the sort, but besides this factor, the second part of the greater whole of my withholding, was this— Louis Greenworth was a very, very powerful man— beyond by some comprehension to most of us, if not and especially our kind, and I had already been hurt. Severely wounded, even, and with the knowing that this latest event might as well have been fatal— and probably was, with any recollection of the matter or the reorientation in the aftermath of such, I might have been approached as myself by Gene entirely new. As to say, to no avail such ties to death is the immortal, death being, most misunderstood by many, almost any kind of thing taking the concious mind or the spirit into any other world, or space, or time. With this love and care considerably so, Genie might have had his own personal motivations for prying into the light; his kind eyes and his handsome face, however, were trained in the art of my undoing, and having already been undone, and done over, I remained entirely in the safety of withholding, also knowing that Genie more likely than not what Louis had carried out. In all my thousands of years, perhaps even in the billions of such before time and world, and words, and glory, though I should have nothing to fear—I feared and admired the both of them deeply, one moreso than the other in matters of fear. I withheld feverously, coping with the loss of the satisfaction it might give Genie to have told. Instead, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, he simply dissappeared, his kind eyes gone and turned away into the fog of the murky night haze. The relief was, however, that this was in understanding, and neither anger or the severity of severance. I loved them all too deeply for the bond to ever have been truly broken, and in return I had been loved throughout all time with all the colors of the world. Victoria Shriver-DuPont Gene DeLaney Louis Greenworth Faye Reginald Harper Chapter Two “Slip” Faye had warned me early on no matter what I did or what I knew of Louis and his keepings, to always let him win—at anything. To Louis, everything was a game, or rather, a competition, and it was important not to challenge his self riteousness and dutiful outlook. “Alright.” I almost always certainly trusted Faye, and certainly always at the very least understood her procurements. She was a worthy keeper and just as well unearthed truths, even well beyond just the earthly plane. I took it as such that we had become beyond surface matters, very distinctly and immidiately. The times were changing, but the ties no less the same— there were vows taken and oaths, mantras and fields of trust— the inner ties and the outer forests of what we could reproach as unknown— the truth was, it was almost as if there were doses of those kinds of tonics I could take, and others I could not. The lengths at which Faye Reginald Harper Downings went on behalf of her mark were a cunning sting on my inner knowings, still, I yielded to her bargains. She knew Louis better than I did, and either way, the more you knew about a man like Louis Greenpoint, the less you actually wanted. In such a case, we were all astounded to have become each other's jobs— hence the title, Keeper. My mark had no true title, as I just, rather was. A true immortal, I had been prone to dying for quite some time, and with each passing mark the outer world became more haunting and bizzare. Was I the ghost, or not? In this time and now, it was the others. Genie had warned me to run in the opposite direction of Louis, and by then it had already gone to far— and besides that, Ms. Downings had arrived sheer months ahead of time, seeming to have moved mountains to have come upon the dawn to report— the dawn, being, my awakening. I had lived and lived again and to this alone I was a ghost, but had been tied to my dear keepers and brethren as an admirer— and also, perhaps, to be admired, which was just enough reflected in my dear heart's eyes as it was the cold truth of the seers and the keepers— and the darker the under becomes, the more glistening the surface, and truly, in the caverns of the harsh light of the dawning, I could only amask that it had been not days and night since my last parting, as sometimes, generations— another marker for what was all to come, the knowing that I would be sheathed in truth. What Louis had taken Faye might have very well taken with it, but I was undauntingly and hideously unchanged from my oath. These things, even betrayal, were to remain, as I undone, as secrets. In truth, the Seeker's oath is not yet in the unkept truth, but in the disguise of the awakening it brings. Genie was belonged to by a power couple—Louis in this sense was also belonged to, but in a wary way to that these ties had been severed, and crossed, and cut, and broken; In my arrival, entire times had been shattered and worlds set to move in a backwards fashion, the sun as shining as to rise in the west, and set east, or to raise to the north with no southward bound to travel. There, in the time of my arrival, things had been ruined, and though coming as any does with the bearing of a name, Victoria Shriver-DuPont, to be called— I was nonesuch to any title at all. In this lies the betrayal, and in the dawn of my awakening there beconed the call of this man, dear brother Louis as not either his name or his title any, but of his calling. There, the truth had also been shattered and met with the time to call all of our brothers, as keepers and wishers, seers and seekers, knowers and keepers, to guide the light which calls. Chapter Three: “Gene Hope” As Televamgelests go, Gene DeLaney was not your average showman, either religiously nor by any given standards. His chosen stage name, or rather, bestowed harrowed the scene's Prince of Megatropolis, a gesture that all things reachable could be heard and felt by his voice and might. But more to know about Gene Hope—actually by law, Gene DeLaney were his highly publicized personal effects and efforts—appearances, connections, and politics. Well groomed in the art of culture and confirm, Gene had hoped to portray an otherwise arbitrary anyman, and yet was still in his way, a remarkable celebrity. There were wordless forms of nonconformity and rebellious ambition in his sheer collusion and pace. His walk, the elegance of a loyal court man, and the actual reverence of a madman, made him the go-to guy for all things knowing. The cruelty of it, being, that not particularly tied to that of the believes and mantras of a religious man, and in that the duty of nature being the times that we cross paths. The knowing but not all that is known, and thus, the keeping. I want to fold myself over in half I'm so in music with you I want to say words that make you laugh I'm so in music with you I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know wholesome no more I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know If I should open the door I'm lost to your world; But I don't want to go. I'm stuck in your notebook So wrong for you code But this is no (Recommended) friendship This is no means to an end I want the beginning of never ending But this? I just want it to end I'm as scared and as sorry As bad as I was I'm up in my bedroom, which hasn't a door I'm up in my head, and I haven't a code I wanted to get on the boat But the ocean was gorgeous And all the world kept me afloat You know I got no reason to act out It's tragic how magic just happened to pan out We're still drifting as Pangea, I wanted you to leave Just so that I could be there. You wanted potion for control You got it? I'm stuck in your notebook, So open the door You're right, She's adorable, all for you So goes the snow one and so As you throw the door, or the bone I called it a home for the force that was locking it all away I don't want nothing but wanting and wanting And I don't ant love I just wanted a sub direction This is just glimpses of perfect And glimpses of persons And glimpses of lessons This is just getting in heads, and more headaches And bed frames And glitches Santa Barbara, Ann Arbor— All the days and all the days and all thof ways Were still drifting away like Pangea (Only to do whatever you say) I was your heachache This wasn't monotony If it's all autonomy wel then someday, Maybe you'll make me For now I'm just an artificial Figment of this existence Joel wants a girl But Ive never been loved like a girl (I don't know how to be) And if whoever wants a woman When a man gives me the whole of it And only whatsoever then shall I amount to anything And anything at all, if love Is in the eyes and hands In either daughter or a son I've ‘M nothing at all If not a mother And I'm no mother at all, so Everything becomes impossible as one [The Festival Project™ ] {Enter The Multiverse} L E G E N D S: ICONS Tales of A Superstar DJ The Secret Life of Sunnï Blū Ascension Deathwish -Ū. Copyright The Festival Project, Inc. ™ & The Complex Collective © 2015-2025 All Rights Reserved

FECK. DEADMAU5 powers down mid set. Aw, fuck. Oh, man. Did you forget to plug in the Deadmau5. I forgot to plug in the Deadmau5. Quick, create a diversion. Make it look like part of the show! STAFFERSON opens the charging port on JOEL's neck and plugs him in. He's not going to make it through the full set on charge mode, bro. I know. So what are we supposed to do. We're just going to have to play with him… MAU5 glitches uncontrollably at extremely reduced capacity throughout the remainder of the set. The 32B commences. LATER. DEADMAU5 charges in SLEEP MODE in THE DUNGEON. Do you think anyone noticed? Probably not. SAUFERSON! Did you forget to charge the Deadmau5 again?! THE BOSS enters THE DUNGEON lividly. No… You DID! Sorry. It's not entirely {Enter The Multiverse} Young Joel Zimmerman is eight years old. He will one day become one of the world's most renowned dance music producers. This is somewhat evident in his personality even at such a young age. JOEL grimaces uncomfortably. He seems somewhat different from his classmates— maybe even years beyond his age. About… 250 years beyond his age, to be precise. The adults watch in the distance with peaking curiosity. Oh. I need you to help me with something. What. This should do it. Hmm. Wait here. Why. Because. L E G E N D S Book One: Secrets Chapter One “The Wonder” Cinematic visions had been sweeping through my mind in vivid and dynamic glitches, something like a rolling wave of intercepted streams and shattered scenes— sleeping through the vile and sharp pains was not an option, but the visions were fluid as they always were, and the spirit stayed remarkably warm and close. I couldn't understand the constant knowing of it all, and so I weathered the storm, to which only somewhat delightfully, seemed to brew inside of Genie's eyes as he looked into mine. All I could know from beforehand was that he was praying, head bowed and very adamantly, his hands tied together as if the religiousness of the entire world rests in between his two clenching palms, the flat fingers of a whispered saint, but none at all— unholy man and righteous and indignant he, there was nothing so little as time that could put between us the doing and undoings. The things I pretended not to know. On this grueling occasion, there was this, the honorable and beloved Genie, sitting heavily on my consious. It hadn't been long enough since we'd last met that I ever thought to welcome his arrival, and yet for days, he had been encroaching his authority over me, something like a loon approaches moonlight. Somewhat dignified in a slight comparison to his last appearance, visionary or otherwise, he meant well. Gene DeLaney was a subtle old fool when he wanted to be— and a clever young one at most other and all times. A man of stature and status, however, he was poorly groomed in the nature of procuring revelations as such from an especially distant medium such as I— and even with his ties to the mark and surface of the full embodiment of the source, his alignments were of no use; I was sworn to secrecy. Destitute, though I had heeded his warnings about dear Louis, our fellow brother, with the markings of such wounds to see it that I had been betrayed, he appealed with a simple aching plea with the protective fury and exhalation of an older brother, which— to that he was—but also with the weathered and fearful of the unknown which made me keep my ways in the old world and not with the new. Despite what Gene could know, which could be everything or nothing, with the expectation that much like the little girl I nearly was in considerate comparison, I would appeal to this protectiveness, and truthworthiness, and it might as well have been a test of such myself; would I lie to him, even if he knew the truth? And furthermore, would I continue to conspire to protect Louis even if the whole of the truth was known in the wake of such a betrayal, and still— why? The why was really two parts of a greater whole, the first being that it was a matter of simple trust and loyalty on the one side in that were I Louis, I'd expect my keeping's to remain, and in the same stone's throw were I Genie, I'd expect his wants to be that I should do the same for him in all and any of his many hours of need. Still so, they were men, and they were brothers— and one to have the upper hand over another was a considerable part of the dynamic, however, and in many more ways than one, Genie outranked Louis in every matter of the sort, but besides this factor, the second part of the greater whole of my withholding, was this— Louis Greenworth was a very, very powerful man— beyond by some comprehension to most of us, if not and especially our kind, and I had already been hurt. Severely wounded, even, and with the knowing that this latest event might as well have been fatal— and probably was, with any recollection of the matter or the reorientation in the aftermath of such, I might have been approached as myself by Gene entirely new. As to say, to no avail such ties to death is the immortal, death being, most misunderstood by many, almost any kind of thing taking the concious mind or the spirit into any other world, or space, or time. With this love and care considerably so, Genie might have had his own personal motivations for prying into the light; his kind eyes and his handsome face, however, were trained in the art of my undoing, and having already been undone, and done over, I remained entirely in the safety of withholding, also knowing that Genie more likely than not what Louis had carried out. In all my thousands of years, perhaps even in the billions of such before time and world, and words, and glory, though I should have nothing to fear—I feared and admired the both of them deeply, one moreso than the other in matters of fear. I withheld feverously, coping with the loss of the satisfaction it might give Genie to have told. Instead, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, he simply dissappeared, his kind eyes gone and turned away into the fog of the murky night haze. The relief was, however, that this was in understanding, and neither anger or the severity of severance. I loved them all too deeply for the bond to ever have been truly broken, and in return I had been loved throughout all time with all the colors of the world. Victoria Shriver-DuPont Gene DeLaney Louis Greenworth Faye Reginald Harper Chapter Two “Slip” Faye had warned me early on no matter what I did or what I knew of Louis and his keepings, to always let him win—at anything. To Louis, everything was a game, or rather, a competition, and it was important not to challenge his self riteousness and dutiful outlook. “Alright.” I almost always certainly trusted Faye, and certainly always at the very least understood her procurements. She was a worthy keeper and just as well unearthed truths, even well beyond just the earthly plane. I took it as such that we had become beyond surface matters, very distinctly and immidiately. The times were changing, but the ties no less the same— there were vows taken and oaths, mantras and fields of trust— the inner ties and the outer forests of what we could reproach as unknown— the truth was, it was almost as if there were doses of those kinds of tonics I could take, and others I could not. The lengths at which Faye Reginald Harper Downings went on behalf of her mark were a cunning sting on my inner knowings, still, I yielded to her bargains. She knew Louis better than I did, and either way, the more you knew about a man like Louis Greenpoint, the less you actually wanted. In such a case, we were all astounded to have become each other's jobs— hence the title, Keeper. My mark had no true title, as I just, rather was. A true immortal, I had been prone to dying for quite some time, and with each passing mark the outer world became more haunting and bizzare. Was I the ghost, or not? In this time and now, it was the others. Genie had warned me to run in the opposite direction of Louis, and by then it had already gone to far— and besides that, Ms. Downings had arrived sheer months ahead of time, seeming to have moved mountains to have come upon the dawn to report— the dawn, being, my awakening. I had lived and lived again and to this alone I was a ghost, but had been tied to my dear keepers and brethren as an admirer— and also, perhaps, to be admired, which was just enough reflected in my dear heart's eyes as it was the cold truth of the seers and the keepers— and the darker the under becomes, the more glistening the surface, and truly, in the caverns of the harsh light of the dawning, I could only amask that it had been not days and night since my last parting, as sometimes, generations— another marker for what was all to come, the knowing that I would be sheathed in truth. What Louis had taken Faye might have very well taken with it, but I was undauntingly and hideously unchanged from my oath. These things, even betrayal, were to remain, as I undone, as secrets. In truth, the Seeker's oath is not yet in the unkept truth, but in the disguise of the awakening it brings. Genie was belonged to by a power couple—Louis in this sense was also belonged to, but in a wary way to that these ties had been severed, and crossed, and cut, and broken; In my arrival, entire times had been shattered and worlds set to move in a backwards fashion, the sun as shining as to rise in the west, and set east, or to raise to the north with no southward bound to travel. There, in the time of my arrival, things had been ruined, and though coming as any does with the bearing of a name, Victoria Shriver-DuPont, to be called— I was nonesuch to any title at all. In this lies the betrayal, and in the dawn of my awakening there beconed the call of this man, dear brother Louis as not either his name or his title any, but of his calling. There, the truth had also been shattered and met with the time to call all of our brothers, as keepers and wishers, seers and seekers, knowers and keepers, to guide the light which calls. Chapter Three: “Gene Hope” As Televamgelests go, Gene DeLaney was not your average showman, either religiously nor by any given standards. His chosen stage name, or rather, bestowed harrowed the scene's Prince of Megatropolis, a gesture that all things reachable could be heard and felt by his voice and might. But more to know about Gene Hope—actually by law, Gene DeLaney were his highly publicized personal effects and efforts—appearances, connections, and politics. Well groomed in the art of culture and confirm, Gene had hoped to portray an otherwise arbitrary anyman, and yet was still in his way, a remarkable celebrity. There were wordless forms of nonconformity and rebellious ambition in his sheer collusion and pace. His walk, the elegance of a loyal court man, and the actual reverence of a madman, made him the go-to guy for all things knowing. The cruelty of it, being, that not particularly tied to that of the believes and mantras of a religious man, and in that the duty of nature being the times that we cross paths. The knowing but not all that is known, and thus, the keeping. I want to fold myself over in half I'm so in music with you I want to say words that make you laugh I'm so in music with you I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know wholesome no more I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know If I should open the door I'm lost to your world; But I don't want to go. I'm stuck in your notebook So wrong for you code But this is no (Recommended) friendship This is no means to an end I want the beginning of never ending But this? I just want it to end I'm as scared and as sorry As bad as I was I'm up in my bedroom, which hasn't a door I'm up in my head, and I haven't a code I wanted to get on the boat But the ocean was gorgeous And all the world kept me afloat You know I got no reason to act out It's tragic how magic just happened to pan out We're still drifting as Pangea, I wanted you to leave Just so that I could be there. You wanted potion for control You got it? I'm stuck in your notebook, So open the door You're right, She's adorable, all for you So goes the snow one and so As you throw the door, or the bone I called it a home for the force that was locking it all away I don't want nothing but wanting and wanting And I don't ant love I just wanted a sub direction This is just glimpses of perfect And glimpses of persons And glimpses of lessons This is just getting in heads, and more headaches And bed frames And glitches Santa Barbara, Ann Arbor— All the days and all the days and all thof ways Were still drifting away like Pangea (Only to do whatever you say) I was your heachache This wasn't monotony If it's all autonomy wel then someday, Maybe you'll make me For now I'm just an artificial Figment of this existence Joel wants a girl But Ive never been loved like a girl (I don't know how to be) And if whoever wants a woman When a man gives me the whole of it And only whatsoever then shall I amount to anything And anything at all, if love Is in the eyes and hands In either daughter or a son I've ‘M nothing at all If not a mother And I'm no mother at all, so Everything becomes impossible as one [The Festival Project™ ] {Enter The Multiverse} L E G E N D S: ICONS Tales of A Superstar DJ The Secret Life of Sunnï Blū Ascension Deathwish -Ū. Copyright The Festival Project, Inc. ™ & The Complex Collective © 2015-2025 All Rights Reserved

Epistemic status: This post — the result of a loosely timeboxed ~2-day sprint[1] — is more like “research notes with rough takes” than “report with solid answers.” You should interpret the things we say as best guesses, and not give them much more weight than that.Summary There's been some discussion of what “transformative AI may arrive soon” might mean for animal advocates. After a very shallow review, we've tentatively concluded that radical changes to the animal welfare (AW) field are not yet warranted. In particular: Some ideas in this space seem fairly promising, but in the “maybe a researcher should look into this” stage, rather than “shovel-ready” We're skeptical of the case for most speculative “TAIAW” projects We think the most common version of this argument underrates how radically weird post-“transformative”-AI worlds would be, and how much this harms our ability to predict the longer-run [...] ---Outline:(00:28) Summary(02:17) 1. Paradigm shifts, how they screw up our levers, and the eras we might target(02:26) If advanced AI transforms the world, a lot of our assumptions about the world will soon be broken(04:13) Should we be aiming to improve animal welfare in the long-run future (in transformed eras)?(06:45) A Note on Pascalian Wagers(08:36) Discounting for obsoletion & the value of normal-world-targeting interventions given a coming paradigm shift(11:16) 2. Considering some specific interventions(11:47) 2.1. Interventions that target normal(ish) eras(11:53)

A discussion on the new book titled "Kh.ali+s-tan Virudh Sajish" authored by Bhai Narien Singh — written in response to the former R&AW official G.B. Sidhu's books "Conspiracy of Kh-a-list-an" — was held on 6 July 2025 at Kendri Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Chandigarh.

On episode 294 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch contributors Josh Parham and Jay Ledbetter to play the Director Stock Market Game. Two years ago, the AW podcast team talked about the state of modern movie stars and discussed who might be the future movie stars of films. Given how the trend of the film industry is leaning more towards IP driven films and becoming a director's medium, it's only right the team did a follow-up episode to talk about some of the bright talent from behind the camera, and who could become the premiere visionary directors that we will follow for years of releases to come. With this in mind, Ryan, Josh, and Jay put together a list of directors under the age of fifty who they believe have the potential to join the rank of some of the greatest filmmakers of the modern era of cinema. The list of names included a wide range of talent like Emerald Fennell, Damien Chazelle, Ryan Coogler, Ari Aster, Celine Song, Jordan Peele, The Daniels, The Safdie Brothers, and many more the team had to decide if they were going to buy, sell, or hold the stock of these directors. It was a lot of fun doing this episode, we hope you enjoy it. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music, YouTube and more. This podcast runs 2h19m. We will be back in next week to review the latest release, Superman. Till then, let's get into it. Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

When we have a need – a real need – something we can't do or fix or resolve for ourselves – what we need, is a helping hand. And if we get that helping hand – the person who's attached to that hand, well, they go up in our estimation. They earn the right to say things that others can't to us.  Funny thing happens through a helping hand.   Healing with our Hands Well, welcome to the programme this week – the last message in a series that I've called, “Living Life as an Ambassador for Christ”. And today... today I would like to share with you how you and I can be real ambassadors ... ambassadors with a difference; ambassadors that really stand out from the crowd. Whenever there's a disaster somewhere in the world – a tsunami or an earthquake or a cyclone or a tornado – it seems to me that the wealthy countries like my own; the countries with the logistics and the equipment and the resources to help – it seems we take forever to mobilise. When people are buried under rubble, they only have days, perhaps only hours to live and what they need right then, is specialist search and rescue teams, with sniffer dogs and listening equipment and all that stuff. And the survivors, what they need, is medical help, food, water, shelter. And the last thing I want to do is be critical but it seems to take so long for the wealthy countries to mobilise their resources. We know that these disasters are going to happen every year – they just happen and I am always left kind of scratching my head as to why it is that it takes us so long to respond. What those poor people need, within the first twenty four hours, is a huge influx of capability to save lives. And these days, I mean, you can pretty much fly from anywhere to anywhere in not much more than twenty fours and yet, time and time and time again these disasters happen and it takes us weeks to mobilise. Does that kind of strike you as strange? You know, as a tax payer in a relatively wealthy country – all be it a smallish population, but never the less, a wealthy country – when I see the way public monies are spent, the last thing that I'd have a problem with is my government setting aside some money to establish and maintain some rapid response capabilities to help other nations when disasters strike. But as easy as it is to sit there and criticise a government, I wonder whether this lethargy in responding to need isn‘t something that you and I experience in our personal lives. I read about an extreme example of this in a newspaper recently. Have a listen to this short article. A South Korean couple addicted to online gaming, let their baby starve to death while raising a virtual daughter. Parents, Kim You-Chul and Choi Mi-sun, spent up to 12 hours a day at an internet café tending to their avatar child in the online game Prius. But they left their real baby home alone and fed her just one bottle of milk a day. Police have charged the couple with child abuse and neglect. Pretty bizarre, pretty extreme, one might think, "Got nothing to do with me; I'm not like that. I don't neglect my children like that." I would hope not but what about our friends; what about our family members; what about our neighbours; what about the couple next door whose marriage is falling apart? We hear them screaming and arguing but do we ever invite them over for a barbecue, to share in their lives and for them to share in ours? What about that person at church – you know the one – single; overweight; they're life's a mess, they talk a bit too much and no one ever invites them to their place on Sunday for lunch? What about that man at work – you see he's a workaholic; he's ruining his marriage, neglecting his children – ruining everything, all for want of a friend who can show him a better way of living? Where are we then, you and I? I'll tell you where: we are like ‘online' that Korean couple, watching TV! We're doing all the things we want to do in the comfort of our own lives and our own homes. And the more affluent we become the less we care for one another. But we justify that; we rationalise it away; we sit in our homes with more than enough – many of us – more than enough, telling ourselves, "We worked hard for it and now we need a rest." We are living virtual lives, watching TV shows about cooking, instead of cooking ourselves; watching TV shows about travelling, instead of travelling ourselves. Raising our virtual lives, our virtual gods and ignoring the real world. It sounds harsh doesn't it? Well, sometimes we need to be direct. Sometimes we need to call a spade a spade. God does that too. Have a listen to this – First John chapter 3, verse 17. If you have a Bible, open it up – towards the end – the First Letter of John chapter 3, verse 17: How does God's love abide in anyone who has all the world's goods and yet sees a brother or sister in need but refuses to help? Now, I know that's hard because there seems to be so much need out there in the world. Sometimes we look at the news and we see the misery and we just turn it off, you and I – we can't make a difference; it's too big. Okay, I kind of understand that, although we can always make some small difference, but there are so many people closer to home; sometimes even within our homes, that we have the opportunity to serve – to heal with our hands; to heal with what we do as well as with what we say. Speaking first hand here, there is nothing ... absolutely nothing that speaks more about God's love into someone's life than when we step in to help them with that one thing they need help with. Sometimes it's the smallest thing – just a word of encouragement; a meal to someone just out of hospital; a visit or a phone call. Sometimes it's loving them over the long run; being there with them and for them. Whatever it is, when we have a need and someone just meets that need, there is nothing that speaks more of the love of Jesus than that. Believe you me, I know. It was people doing just that in my life who played such a powerful role in me coming to faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, their investment in meeting my needs bears fruit every day, as I sit down behind this microphone. Listen again to what Paul writes about how he sees his role and ours in this world. Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20: So we are ambassadors for Christ; since God is making his appeal through us we entreat you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. Imagine now, an ambassador of a wealthy country who has taken up his or her post in a poor country. And one day that poor country suffers a devastating earthquake and that ambassador from the wealthy country moves heaven and earth to quickly mobilise rescue and medical capabilities. They come quickly; they meet the desperate needs and then, when finally the crisis is over, what do you think the ambassador's actions have just said to the people of that poor country, about the wealthy country that the ambassador represents? That ambassador's actions will have spoken volumes into the poorer nation about how much the richer nation cares for them. It's simply not rocket science! Do you believe in Jesus? I do! And anyone who does is called to be an ambassador of Christ and as the Apostle Paul writes, it is through His ambassadors, dotted all over the planet, that God makes His appeal for people to be reconciled to Him. We don't have to look very far to find the need, do we? Often it's right under our noses. And we can spend time in prayer and at church and worshipping God and all those wonderful, good things while the babies starve; while the needs go unmet; while marriages next door fall apart and people right across the street are living in fear. Or we can go ... go and be ambassadors of Christ. For how does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or a sister in need and yet refuses to help?   Loving with our Hearts As I said at the beginning of today's programme, this is our last message in this four part series, “Living Life as an Ambassador for Christ”. And as we draw to the end I always find myself thinking of so many other things we could have talked about. Over the last three weeks I guess, what we have been doing is taking a look at the different aspects of the Apostle Paul's assertion that he and by implication, you and me - if we believe in this amazing, loving, compassionate, powerful Jesus – are ambassadors for Christ. Have a listen again to how he put it – Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20: So we are ambassadors for Christ; since God is making his appeal through us, we entreat you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. We have talked a lot about what it means to be an ambassador through whom God would make His appeal to a lost and hurting world. We've looked a bit at the way Jesus was an emissary of God into this world when He became a man. How He communicated God's message of grace to the blind and the poor and the diseased and the needy and the outcast. And I wish we could spend weeks and months more, taking a closer look at that. Maybe we will come back to it in a little while because at the centre of everything ... EVERYTHING is Jesus, the Son of God; the Maker of the heavens and the earth. So, as we draw this series together today, with so much more left to talk about, I had to decide on just one thing – the most important thing – and that most important thing; the one thing that Paul, at the end of First Corinthians 12 calls, "the yet more excellent way", is this: love! That's what we are going to finish up with today. I had a friend who, several years ago now, was called into Christian ministry, out of Australia into the United Kingdom. Now the particular place where he went to live and to work was, well, it was a part of the U.K. that was particularly depressed at the time. His job wasn't to work directly with the people but when I went to visit him and I wandered around the local town, I could feel that ... that oppression. There were derelict factories, rusting, decaying remnants of the industrial age. There was high youth unemployment and I spoke with the people; there seemed to be a hopeless; a lost-ness; an emptiness in this part of the country. It really stood out. Now we Australians, by and large, are a pretty optimistic lot. We have in our National character this ‘can do' attitude that to other cultures sometimes, comes across as being a bit brash. And so when I was confronted with this sad community's spirit, it really struck me between the eyes. And as I chatted with my friend over coffee late one night, he too confessed that he was finding that really difficult – moving from one culture to another – it's never easy. But the sadness and the listlessness and the hopelessness all around, particularly, coupled with the long, grey, cold winters, was really getting to him. Now, please understand me, I am not knocking the Brits. I love travelling to England but there are parts of the country – any Brit will tell you this – there are parts of the country where there is high unemployment, particularly amongst the youth – and it's tough going. Anyhow, a year or so later I was chatting with this man over Skype and he's a great guy – I love keeping in touch with him – and so I assumed he was still doing it tough in this unfamiliar culture. I started empathising with him and his response ... his response shocked me. He said in effect, "Oh no; no, no, we love it here; absolutely love it here. This is where God means us to be and it's really great." That was quite a turn around, so I asked him, "What's changed? You've moved your position a long way from where you were and what you were feeling a few years ago." And as I listened to him talk, it clicked! I could hear it in his voice – he had fallen in love with the people. God had touched his heart and he had this real compassion for the people out there – the unemployed; the people with that sense of hopelessness. He'd become part of a local church and he was part of the community and he realised that the joy and the enthusiasm and the optimism that he had in his heart could be a light in that place. He had fallen in love with the people. Sometimes we Christians feel like misfits in this world. There's a reason for that. As Jesus said in His prayer, just before He was crucified – John chapter 17 – He said that, “... we are in the world but not of the world.” The Apostle Paul makes the point that “ ... we are citizens of heaven, not of this world.” We are misfits; just like my friend the Aussie felt – he was a misfit in his new surroundings. And when we are misfits, the easiest thing in the world is to kind of criticise and poke fun and belittle those around us and complain – "I know Jesus; I have my life sorted out; I know what's right and all those other people out there, whose lives are in a mess, well, they're somehow less that I am." We criticise, we argue, we demean – it's called, "religious superiority". You see it often between races and cultures – one race looks down on another because of their skin colour or their traditions or just who they are. And I've seen people get this wrong over and over and over again. I love it when the Apostle Paul says in First Corinthians 13, it doesn't matter what gifts or abilities or what you do or how much you give, if you don't have love, friend you are nothing. And the love that Jesus showed was more than just love – it was compassion, it was empathy, it was kindness and gentleness. There are two Letters in the New Testament – First Timothy and Second Timothy – they are written by Paul to Tim, his young protégée. And in the second one, the Apostle Paul writes these words – Second Timothy chapter 2, verses 24 to 26: And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, and that they may escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. The bit I love most in there is the bit about God perhaps granting that they will repent and come to know the truth; they may escape the snare of the devil and be set free. It's oh so easy, as someone who loves Jesus and is passionate about Him and who wants to see people's lives transformed, to start getting this idea that it's up to us. You know, we see many, many lives transformed through these radio programmes, all over the world but let me tell you this, with all that I am: nothing that I can do; nothing that I can say, can change lives! Just yesterday I received an email from a man in another country who wrote about a particular programme he'd listen to over the New Year period and he said, "One small thing you said, God took that and changed my life." He was an alcoholic and he'd stopped drinking. Now, I can't do that – only God can, by His Spirit when He takes His Word and brings it to life in our hearts. That bit is God's job. And when you or I become arrogant or pushy or superior in our attitudes we are working against God because, “God always opposes the proud but He gives grace to the humble.” And I don't care what gift you or I have, how hard we work for Jesus, how much of our cash we contribute to His work, unless we have love, my friend, we are enemies of God; enemies of our fellow men, women and children. “These three things remain”, writes Paul in First Corinthians chapter 13, “faith, hope and love. All really good but the greatest amongst these is love.” Whatever we do, however we do it, if we do it in love, God can use it – kind, gentle, patient – that's what Paul writes to Timothy. The wisdom of a man towards the end of his life after many, many years of very difficult ministry – bound in chains; about to be executed, writing to his young protégée, just starting out on his career - kindness, gentleness, patience and love.   A Price to Pay Now, I had the honour the other evening of sitting and having dinner with a man who heads up a large international ministry that touches young people with the love of Jesus Christ. They have a passion for seeing the lives of young folk transformed and they have missions and people kind of all over the world doing that – it's a huge organisation. Now this man happens to be an Australian and him and his wife and a couple of kids had to move from Australia to the U.S. for him to be able to take up the role as global president of this missions and ministry organisation. So, several years ago they received the call and off they went. Now you would imagine Australia and America – both English speaking; both Western cultures; pretty similar countries in many ways – you would imagine. But as someone who has travelled to the U.S. a lot and as someone who's just received an American into our ministry; a man and his family who immigrated the other direction – from the U.S. to Australia – I can tell you, there are some huge cultural differences between these two, apparently similar countries. Anyhow, I asked this man and his wife, as we were having dinner together, how did they find things when they moved their family to a large city in the U.S. several years ago. ‘Aw,' they said, ‘it wasn't easy. Oh, there were some big adjustments. Oh, that first twelve months was really tough going and we still missed those familiar things and the people and the culture that we grew up in.' So, I guess this is my point, is that it would be easy for you and me to sit and look at and listen to this man and think to ourselves, "Well, he's blessed; he made it; he's at the top of the heap in this large ministry, without ever seeing the cost. It cost him something, it cost his wife, it cost his children to uproot themselves and follow the call of God." Now, this guy is such a gifted leader – he is so the right man to head up that organisation but it cost him. You get it – it cost him. And these days he spends a lot of time flying around the world at the back of the plane – he's a tall man – and that's tiring and uncomfortable and as someone said to me recently, this guy could be the head of any large global corporation. He just has what it takes – he could be flying first class; he could be earning stacks of money but he's doing neither because his heart burns with a fire ... a fire; a passion to see peoples' lives changed. Not as they embrace some new religion or learn a new set of rules but as they meet and encounter Jesus Christ. As they discover His love and His power and His compassion and His vision for their lives – Jesus. This man; this leader is an ambassador for Christ. For two reasons – first is his soft heart; his passion and the second are his hard feet. In other words, he was prepared to go. I think it was Corrie Ten Boom who once said something along the lines that, God calls us to have soft hearts and hard feet. But the problem is that many Christians have the exact opposite – they have hard hearts and soft feet. My friend, whenever we are called to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ, there is a price to pay. Jesus said, “If anyone would be my disciple then he must take up his cross and follow me.” Count the cost – there is a cost and, “Unless you take up your cross and follow me,” said Jesus, follow me where I lead, “then you cannot ... you cannot be my disciple.” Being an ambassador of Christ is going to cost us something. It is not for the faint hearted; it is not for the hard hearted. It is for those in who burns a fire for Jesus; a passion to see hurting, needy people encounter this risen Saviour, Jesus, whether it's across the world or across the street – a passion to see lives transformed by Jesus. Does that mean we all have to immigrate to a foreign land and head up a ministry? Of course, it doesn't! But it does mean that each one of us, in some way, shape or form, wherever Jesus leads, has to go. Just as Jesus came to us, so we are called to go to the lost – to the sinners, to the outcasts, to those amongst our family and our friends and our work colleagues and our local football club and our neighbours and our enemies – even our enemies – to go and make disciples of all the nations – to go and be ambassadors ... ambassadors of Christ. My friend, if you believe in Jesus; if you have given your life to Him, I encourage you to do something today – I want encourage you to go to Him, in prayer, and say: Lord Jesus, I want to be Your ambassador. I want to be part of Your great plan for this world, of transforming lives; I want to carry You into this world, Lord, I want to see people meet You. Lord God, show me how ... show me how.

Shagbotttom SocietyVictorian Hedonism comes to life.In 13 parts, By BradentonLarry - Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.The two girls held a whispered conference on the big bed, and then Sage was pushing Reyansh away. She said, "Hold on one sec, lover; I want to try something."There was a very quick rearrangement, during which Don never had to leave Felicia's sweet embrace. Then Sage was laying with her head hanging over the edge of the bed, as Felicia lowered her mouth to Sage's cunt and clit, which she proceeded to lick and suck. Felicia's ass was up in the air, and Don continued to fuck her from behind. Then Sage beckoned to Reyansh, "Bring that big boy over here."Eager to comply, he lowered his hard cock for Sage so she could take it into her mouth and then her throat. Sage held his hips to keep her from getting carried away, but he was free to fuck her throat, and that's exactly what he began to do, reaching forward to cup and squeeze Sage's tits in his hands.Don looked down to see his relatively thick cock sliding in and out of Felicia's tight cunt, Felicia's perfect ass, her slender back, the back of her head with her adorable pixie cut, Sage's taut abs and strong thighs, her breasts being manhandled by Reyansh, her beautiful throat as she let him use it, and Reyansh's dark, athletic body as he worked himself in and out of Sage. It was a beautiful spectacle!Don could tell from the way Felicia was moving her right arm that she was fingering Sage as she licked. It didn't take too long before one of Sage's hands went from Reyansh's hip to the top of Felicia's head, and then it was only a minute longer before Sage was writhing on the bed between Felicia and Reyansh as she had a long, intense orgasm. As she shook and trembled, Reyansh pulled his now dripping wet cock out to let her breath."Damn! That was a good one!" Sage breathed."It looked like it," Don grinned from across the bed.Sage sat up and grinned back at him, before curling up to grab Felicia's face and kiss her deeply. Reyansh got up on the bed behind Sage and coaxed her up onto her hands and knees. Then the two women were kissing in the middle of the bed as the two men fucked them from behind. No one was trying to come; they were just enjoying themselves kissing and fucking.After a little bit of this, Sage broke the kiss, and looked over Felicia's shoulder, smiled at Don and asked, "Are you enjoying her hot cunt, Don?""Oh yes!" he grinned. "Are you enjoying Reyansh's big cock inside you?""You know," she laughed. "I really am.""Good!""I agree, but I was thinking, You know how I had all those cocks fucking me earlier?""I do," Don nodded. "It was very hot!""Yeah it was! But I don't remember sweet Felicia here having more than one cock at any time.""Is that right?""Reyansh," Sage asked over her shoulder, "did you see Felicia getting more than one cock?""No, I certainly didn't."All through this exchange, Felicia had done little more than giggle and push back on Don's cock."Well, this won't do at all," Sage decided. "Stop fucking me and get over here and feed Felicia your cock."Don held still until Reyansh was in position, but then he went back to fucking little Felicia harder, shoving her forward onto the cock in her mouth and throat. Sage crawled over to him and kissed him deeply before bending down to reach under Felicia to play with her clit. Before they could get Felicia to the breaking point, though, Sage stopped and asked Don, "She's got a pretty tight little ass, do you think you can fit inside it?""I could certainly try," Don laughed.Felicia murmured her approval around Reyansh's cock."Don't be so quick, sweetie," Sage said. "You're going to have a cock in your cunt too."Felicia's murmur was more enthusiastic, and she managed to nod her head rather emphatically.In another minute, Sage had Reyansh lie on his back and then Felicia mount him, bending forward so Don could push his cock, slippery with Felicia's juices, slowly up into her very tight, very hot ass. Sage leaned on Don's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Fuck her ass good, baby. Make her come between you two studs!""Yes, ma'am," Don grinned, and proceeded to begin fucking Felicia's ass intently. Long, slow strokes gradually became shorter and faster. All the while Felicia was rocking her pelvis between the two men and groaning with pleasure.Sage move around to get down on her hands and knees so she could kiss Felicia, who could do little but let herself be kissed."Do you like having those cocks fucking you?" Sage asked."Yes," Felicia moaned. "It feels so good.""Are you going to come on their hard cocks?""Uh huh," Felicia breathed. "Very soon.""Do it, baby!" Sage said as she stroked Felicia's pretty face. "Come for us!""Oh god, yes!" Felicia cried as her body began to spasm between the two men. She shook and clenched, her cunt and ass pulling and grasping at the cocks inside her.Sage leaned in again and kissed her deeply. "Good girl," she smiled. Then she looked over Felicia's shoulder and asked, "Did you come? No? What about you down there? No? Well! We'll have to fix that, won't we? You two were partners in the game, right? You met in Rendezvous, right? Very good. Don and I are partners too, so I think we should finish this swap right. Reyansh, I want you to give me your cum wherever you want, and Don, you come for Felicia."Don slowly drew out of Felicia's ass so she could let Reyansh get out from under her. He took her in his arms and asked her, "Where do you want me to come, Felicia?""Please fuck my ass some more, Don," she said as her hand went to his cock. "But let me ride you."In short order, Don was lying next to Sage. She had her legs wrapped around Reyansh's waist, while he held her wrists up over her head as he drove into her cunt. Don was holding his cock erect for Felicia, who was squatting over him, pushing her tight ass down over his flaring head and thick shaft. Felicia leaned back with her hands on Don's thighs and began to raise and lower herself on him.Reyansh was driving into Sage's cunt with abandon, grinding against her clit and surely bottoming out in her grasping cunt. He was looking into her eyes as he fucked her harder and faster. Soon, both of them were groaning and clenching on the bed next to Don and Felicia as Sage's cunt was eagerly pulling a flood of hot cum out of Reyansh's cock.Don found the fact that he was lying next to Sage as she climaxed on another man's cock intensely erotic. The thought that she was yet again getting filled with cum only made the situation hotter! Don began to arch his back to fuck up into Felicia's ass, and reached down to use his thumb to play with her clit. Then there was motion on the bed next to them, and Sage leaned across Don to replace his thumb with her mouth on Felicia's clit. Reyansh stood up on the bed and offered Felicia his cock to clean off.Don lay back and watched the beautiful woman riding his cock take Reyansh's cummy cock into her mouth and suck on it hungrily, and felt Sage's fingers against the base of his cock as she pushed them up into Felicia's cunt. Then Felicia was coming again, moaning around the cock in her mouth and pushing down on Don. This was all Don could take and he felt his body shoving up into her ass as his balls tightened and his cock swelled inside her. Then he was arching his back, pushing up on Sage and into Felicia as he erupted, pumping a geyser of hot cum up into her.Very slowly, assisted by Reyansh, a quivering Felicia fell backwards, letting Don's cock slip out of her. Sage immediately caught it and took it into her mouth, claiming the last of his cum for herself.When she managed to get up on one arm and look at Don, Sage smiled and said, "Another shower?"Don laughed, utterly smitten by the sleepy, well-fucked look in her eyes and her messy mane of red hair, and said, "Sure, but if you think you're getting more sex out of me, "She kissed him quickly and said, "We'll see about that." Then she was clambering over him and pulling him out of the bed. Reyansh was lying there cradling Felicia in his arms, and Sage called back to them, "Don't take all the covers; we'll be back."As the water poured over them, in a brief break in their making out and hurried cleaning, Sage looked up at him and asked, "So, out in the other world, um, are you seeing anyone?"Don chuckled, bent down to kiss her, and then picked her up. She threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist, sinking down on his cock. Don's hands gripped her ass and slowly raised and lowered her. He smiled and said, "Well, I have this relationship with Toshia that's gotten interesting, but, as you know, she's got a girlfriend, but, actually, I was thinking I would like to be seeing you. If you're free, that is.""I think we can work something out," she smirked. "I take it we're going to be swingers, or something like that.""That does seem to be the way things are going," he kissed her again. "How does that sound to you?""Hum, pretty damn good. Just remember, ""I belong to you," he nodded."Aye, and, for the record, in case you were wondering, vice versa," she said as she flexed herself against him, working up and down and grinding against the base of his cock.Don grinned, "Yeah, I worked that out.""But we share.""Right.""And if we get a chance, we're banging the hell out of Toshia," she said."Of course.""Good," she kissed him. "Now fuck me. I want to have one more orgasm before we go to bed.""Greedy girl," he smiled."Hell yeah!""There was a lot more sex on the Riverboat, and we spent some time at the Resort.""Did she really say that about me?" Toshia asked."I swear," Don chuckled."Uh, I do like the sound of that," she smiled. "But you were saying.""Yeah, we did the Jungle Room, naturally, and I showed her the Temple. She got gangbanged in the Grotto, which is a very wet area, as you might expect.""How many guys? In the gangbang, I mean.""It's not a competition, you know," Don laughed.Toshia rolled her eyes at him."There were about a dozen, plus me.""Yes! Still the champion!" Toshia grinned."Well, that was before her trials, so, ""Doesn't count," Toshia said."Seriously?""I have ruled. Okay, you can go on with the story."Chapter 7. Lady Primrose's EarringsAs he and Sage made their way to the Crimson Mountain, Don was acutely aware of their impending separation, and the fact that they might remain apart for quite some time. Accordingly, he made sure they had a variety of plans for meeting up, if possible, leaving messages, when the opportunity presented itself, etc. Passing through the Manor they would leave word with the Scholar, and then linger about there at least for a few days. Passing through the Resort they would both check in with the Sheriff and leave word with the Sage."I'll try to remember that," Sage laughed."Yeah, and I'm trying to get used to thinking of you as Evelyn," Don smiled.Don also told her about the Wizard as a potential ally whose home might be a good meeting place, and the Witches of the Glen who might be helpful. Of course, they also thought the Maidenhead might be useful, even if they couldn't be too sure it would long remain in Megan's control. In turn, Evelyn told him about a cafe in the bazaar on the far side of the sea, and they agreed to check in at the tavern on the beach and Ambrosia's when in the vicinity of Rendezvous.When they got to the locker rooms in the Hall of the Crimson Mountain King, they bathed, but Don made a point of retrieving the staffs the Wizard had given him and Shelonda what seemed so long ago. Stephanie had had no real experience with such things, and Nicole was positively averse to using any kind of weapon. Evelyn, though, had some martial arts training, though it was mostly in aikido, and definitely had no problem with weapons."Too bad we don't have swords," she mused as she spun the enchanted wooden staff in her hands. Having been made for Shelonda, it was just about the perfect size for Evelyn."God, you're hot!" Don grinned as he admired the way the muscles in her arms and wrists moved as she played with the staff."Oh, we should have gotten bows and arrows from the elves!"Don groaned, "Ugh, why didn't I think of that?"She laughed, "Well, you're not the only one who didn't.""On the other hand," he mused, "it doesn't seem like we're very likely to be called upon to fight anyone. Still, an unbreakable staff can be a useful tool.""Hard wood can definitely be good to get your hands on," she smirked.It turned out that, as long as they bathed and were naked, the red-robed servitors had no problem with letting them proceed into the Pleasure Dome and seemed to pay no attention at all to the staffs."Holy hell!" Evelyn breathed as they entered the vast chamber, momentarily stunned by the scale of both the room and the orgy going on in it."Yeah," Don nodded.They proceeded to the circular couch in the middle of the dome, Evelyn taking in the spectacle as they went."The king's throne is that away, but I want to see if we can just ride the sofa up," Don said. "But first, come with me. I want to have some time with you before we head up."He led her down to the base of the stairs, where they set their staffs off to the side, out of the way but close at hand, and made love for what might be the last time in a long while. Though a few of the other revelers offered to join in, Don and Evelyn kept to themselves this time. When they were finally worn out, they made a quick trip to the nearest fountain to clean up and then returned to the sofa. With their staffs across their laps, and their hands tightly clasped, they rode the couch up to the waiting room."Damn!" Evelyn grinned. "This is not safe at all!"

Well if this ain't the luckiest gift ever- a chat with the one-and-only Margaret Cho! (Say what?! *faints*)This week, the Queen of Comedy joins AW and Jonathan to feed the Scumdogs of the Universe for GWAR, before taking punt on 'Lucky Stiff' with the original Off-Broadway cast recording.Plus, we chat Margaret's album 'Lucky Gift', Changing Tech in Comedy, JK Rowling's Ugly Behaviour, Seeing Hedwig and the Angry (Half) Inch, and heaps more in this hilariously insightful episode!--SOCIALS--Margaret: https://www.instagram.com/margaret_cho/Website: https://margaretcho.com/Lucky Gift: https://music.apple.com/us/album/lucky-gift/1781345032Mr J Wags: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MrJWags -- Instagram: https://instagram.com/MrJWagsSecond City NYC: https://www.secondcity.com/shows/new-yorkDisney's Hercules on the West End Tickets: https://www.herculesthemusical.co.uk/TnT/Bloop Networkhttps://www.thetonastontales.com/listen -- https://www.patreon.com/bloomingtheatricals - https://twitter.com/thrashntreasurehttps://linktr.ee/thrashntreasure*****Help support Thrash 'n Treasure and keep us on-air, PLUS go on a fantastical adventure at the same time!Grab your copy of The Tonaston Tales by AW, and use the code TNT20 when you check out for 20% off eBooks and Paperbacks!https://www.thetonastontales.com/bookstore - TNT20 ***** ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Det har nästan blivit ett tvång att ha ett kall. Vi ska vilja gå på AW och vara med på gruppfoton. Men vad händer om man säger nej? Anna Axfors skriver om passionerade idioter i en värld som belönar slätstruken lydnad. Inläsare: Magnus Thorén

And the EGOT goes to... US! Because we finally snagged ourselves the EGOT- with Aussie Oscar-winner Tim Chappel! This week, AW sits down for a game of King Diamond's 'Them' Vs La Cage aux Folles with the 2010 Revival Cast. Plus, we chat the impact of The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, winning the Oscar- and the Oscar curse, Heavy Costumes, RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, Runway Credits, Logies Categories, Death of the Helpmann Awards, Sewing Injuries, and Tim spills the tea on the upcoming sequel, Priscilla 2, because even Showgirls deserve a happy ending!Hop on board the bus for this incredible Pride Month episode!  --SOCIALS--Tim: https://www.instagram.com/xtcostumeTim's Website: https://timchappel.com/Disney's Hercules on the West End Tickets: https://www.herculesthemusical.co.uk/TnT/Bloop Networkhttps://www.thetonastontales.com/listen -- https://www.patreon.com/bloomingtheatricals - https://twitter.com/thrashntreasurehttps://linktr.ee/thrashntreasure*****Help support Thrash 'n Treasure and keep us on-air, PLUS go on a fantastical adventure at the same time!Grab your copy of The Tonaston Tales by AW, and use the code TNT20 when you check out for 20% off eBooks and Paperbacks!https://www.thetonastontales.com/bookstore - TNT20 ***** ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

How does movement, across borders and social class, shape one's sense of belonging? A conversation with writers Tash Aw and Radna Fabias about social change, generational gaps and the legacy of colonialism.In his new book The South, Aw explores the radical political and societal changes that swept through Asia in the 1990s, as seen through the eyes of a Malaysian family. He delves into themes such as class, economic instability, and the search for (queer) identity. Aw captures the painful transformation of post-colonial societies, marked by the tension between tradition and modernity, and the conflict between personal desire and collective duty. How do cultural expectations shape the journey toward personal identity in a rapidly changing society?Tash Aw (1971) is a writer and essayist. He grew up in Malaysia, left for England in his teens to study law and is currently lives in Paris. He is the author of six books, including The Harmony Silk Factory (2005) and Five Star Billionaire (2013) which were longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and earned him international recognition. His works often examine themes such as colonialism, immigration, class dynamics and cultural displacement, offering nuanced portrayals of life in Southeast Asia and beyond. Translated into multiple languages, Aw's texts established him as a vital significant voice in contemporary literature.Radna Fabias (1983) was born and raised in Curaçao. debuted as a poet with the poetry collection Habitus (2018) which won all major poetry awards in the Netherlands & Belgium, amongst which the Herman de Coninck prize and the Grote Poëzieprijs. Fabias' style is characterized by a great variety, both in terms of content and style. According to Dutch Magazine De Groene, “Fabias dares to use every nook and cranny of poetry as an art form, the poems are short and lyrical, sometimes narrative and long, sometimes clear and accessible and sometimes hermetic and experimental.” Habitus has been translated into English, French, Spanish, Arabic and German. Fabias also translates poetry herself. She is the Dutch translator of both Warsan Shire and Nobel Prize winner Louise Glück.About Forum on European Culture: Who's afraid of art? Now that tyrants are on the roll and more and more people in the West seem to be falling for the autocratic alternative, Forum on European Culture 2025 (June 25 – June 29) brings together international artists, writers, and thinkers to celebrate the subversive power of art and literature.Zie het privacybeleid op https://art19.com/privacy en de privacyverklaring van Californië op https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 19 Jade makes her request of Andy. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 33 Andy sort of cocked his head to one side, as Emily started to break down the camera and the microphones. "I'm almost afraid to ask what you mean by that, Jade," he said with a soft chuckle. "What does 'something else in mind' mean here?" Jade blushed a little, looking away for just a moment before turning back to look at him. "I've, I've been giving it a lot of thought, Andy," she said, pausing a bit in between the words, as if she was making sure she didn't chicken out of saying any of this. "And I've been talking with Lauren some, and she's been an utter sweetheart about all of this, and she's made me realize something,” "Stop," Andy said. "Before you go any further, I want you to make sure whatever it is you're about to ask for, it's what you want. Not what Lauren wants, or what someone else suggested. This is a once in a lifetime experience, and I don't want you to regret any aspect of it." "Oh. Oh! Oh, no! I wasn't,” she said, giggling a bit. "I wasn't going to suggest I wanted this to be my first time! No no no, not at all, Andy! Gosh! But, you remember I told you I wanted to record a video to send to my father, to show him that he couldn't control me any more, right?" "Oh," he said, understanding where this was going. "Sure, and you've changed your mind and don't want to do that any more, no I get that." "No!" Jade said, shaking her head quite determined. "I still super want to do that, but I realized, uh, I'm going to go a bit, no, a lot further than I think you're expecting me to. And I don't want it to come as any great shock to you when I do." Andy got a strange smile on his face, arching an eyebrow at her. "I mean, I'm glad you're telling me in advance, because it might've come as a surprise to me, but let's be real here, do you think you're going to go further than anyone in this house has?" Jade's eyes widened a little bit, then nodded with a little impish smile. "Kinda? I mean, I'm not going to do anything you haven't seen before, but I'm certainly gonna say some stuff that might shock you a bit." "Like...?" The blonde woman sighed a little bit, folding her arms over her ample chest. "So, in talking with Lauren a lot today, I realize that I've been so darn shy with boys because of my dad, because of all the stupid bull honk he told me over the years, because of all the expectations he put on me, and I need,” She looked away again, trying to find the words she wanted to say before looking back at him with those gorgeous green eyes of hers. "I need to make as much of a break from him as I can. I need to make him want to disown me, to get me out of his life, so he can't try and control me any more, can't try and control you because I'm with you." "This is starting to sound serious," he said, as Emily tucked the camera into the bag, pushing it to one side. "You don't need to do any editing with the footage from Tala?" The tiny Brit shook her head. "Framed it clean and only recorded what we needed, so no need to do any post work," she said. "Besides, I need to be here to help support Jade. What she's going to ask of you is, very brave." "Very brave?" Andy said, looking at Emily before looking back at Jade. "What are you going to ask of me?" "I'm going to,” she said, stopping then starting again. "I'm going to ask you to be okay with whatever I say during the whole imprinting process, to not interrupt me, to let me get all of this out onto film, that I'm going to send to my dad, so that he knows I don't want him in my life, I don't need him in my life, and that he's not welcome in my life." "He's still your father. Are you sure you want to kick him out for good?" Jade sighed a little bit, sitting down on the bed next to him. "That's just it, Andy. You don't know him like I do. You don't know what I've been through growing up. How much he stressed that I had to be a prim and proper lady. Proper forks, curtsying to the right depth, never speak at a party unless spoken to first. That I couldn't have any fun because fun reflected poorly on the family's legacy. He scared off every boy I tried dating in high school and even well into college. He tried to keep me in some protective bubble, where I would be reliant on him for everything, so that I would do whatever he wanted me to. Did I tell you yet that he wanted me to have an arranged marriage?" "What? No! Really? In this day and age?" "It gets worse," Emily said, taking the camera bag to the door of the bedroom, handing it off to Nicolette, who was standing there. "Take that downstairs and when Katie Couric's crew comes to pick it up, hand it off to them with our thanks." "Yes ma'am," Nicolette said, taking the bag from her before heading down the hallway. Emily closed the door after she went, leaving Andy in the room with four conscious women,  Jade, Emily, Sheridan and Lauren,  and three unconscious women,  Tala, Fiona and Moira. "Tell him who the person he wanted you to marry was, Jade," Emily said, annoyance plain on her face. "He won't believe it." "It won't mean anything to him," Jade said, "but okay. My father wanted me to get married to Benjamin Watkins. He's  " "I know who the fuck he is, Jade." Suddenly, Andy was furious on Jade's behalf. "You've got to be fucking shitting me," he said angrily. "He's almost a decade younger than you, he's an asshole and he's a selfish little prick. How could your father possibly think that would be a good idea?" "Wait, how do you even know who Benjamin is?" Jade said, looking at her hands nervously. Andy gave Jade the short version of the poker story, explaining how he had originally gone to protect some of Niko's friends, but had ended up winning even more people, and the last one, Deborah, had been claimed by Benny before she could be brought over to Andy, which was why Hannah had joined the family instead. Benny's awful behavior on his doorstep had left Andy with a very bitter impression of the boy too stupid to be called a young man. "I mean," Andy said, "I can't imagine Nathaniel, Benny's father, even going along with that. Had your dad talked about it with him?" "I think he wanted to convince me to go along with it first before talking with the Watkins family," she grumbled. "But I never agreed to it, because I wasn't going to let my father tell me who I could or couldn't love, the jerk. And a couple of years ago, he stopped talking about that entirely, and I think I finally figured out why." "So what do you need from me with all of this, Jade?" he said to her. She smiled warmly at him. "See, that right there is how I know I made the right dang choice, Andy," she said. "You're always just asking how you can help, what you can do to make other people happy first. It's never about what you want or need." "I'm surrounded by a large number of beautiful women all competing for my time and affection," he said with a laugh. "If I ever start complaining about that, people should start punching me in the kidneys." "But yer still doin' a bangup job of makin' sure such a diverse buncha Sheilas get along with one another, Andy," Lauren said to him. "It's the least I can do." "Anyway," Jade said, "what I need is for you to be okay with whatever I'm going to say in this video we're going to make. It's, it's not going to be what you expect from me, and honestly, it might be pushing your boundaries a little bit, but I need you to know that I'm okay with it, and just because it's stuff I'm saying in the video doesn't mean it's anything we have to actually do if you don't want to." He reached over and brushed a hand across Jade's face tenderly. "I mean, I only have a couple of complete hard passes in my repertoire, but nobody's come up against any of those yet." "Anything I should know about?" "You don't want to peg, pee or poop on me, do you?" Jade giggled intensely, shaking her head. "God no." "Then it's probably fine." "We'll see if you say that after you're done imprinting me," she grinned. "You won't hear anything I say right after I'm done imprinting you," he chuckled "How long does that last, anyway?" Jade asked. "Well, I expect Whitney woke up a couple of hours ago, and Tala will wake up tomorrow midday. Fi and Moira got it this morning, so technically they should wake up in the middle of the night, but because it'll be dark outside, they may just keep on sleeping until morning. You'll be out a little longer than Tala will. It'll screw up your sleep schedule for a few days, but before you know it, it'll be back to normal." "I think we're pretty far from normal, Andy," Jade said with a nervous laugh. "You know what I mean." "Sure sure, I know what you mean." Behind her, Sheridan and Lauren helped moved Tala up, laying her down next to Moira and Fiona's sleeping bodies. "Do you want us to leave her here tonight, Andy, or put her in her own bed?" Sheridan asked him, as they made sure that the three women were close to each other without overlapping too much. Women in the imprinting process made almost no movements when they were out, so it was important to position them so they didn't have muscle cramps when they awoke. "She said wanted to wake up in the main bed for her first morning after imprinting, so she can just stay here," he said. "Jade? What about you?" "I'd like to do the same, if that's okay." "Of course it's okay," he said, leaning in to give her a sweet kiss, his fingertips brushing against her face once more. "I'm trying to get you to relax." "I know. I know I know, and I appreciate it," she said with a shy smile. "You're so gosh darn sweet. But you don't know how far I'm about to go down a path of depravity." "You don't have “ " "Andy," she said, resolve strong in her voice. "I do have to do this, so just let me do it, okay?" "Sure, okay." "Should we, are you ready to get started?" she said, looking up at him. "Are you sure you don't want me to go hop through a shower first? I'm still kinda sticky from my time spent with Tala." "No no, that'll make this all the better," she said, moving to stand up. For her interview outfit, she'd chosen a long skirt that hung down past her knees, but wasn't quite long enough to be considered a dress, and a red silk blouse that hung loosely over her ample bosom. "Emily, are you ready to start filming?" "You're sure you want me to capture everything, Jade?" Emily said. "I know we talked about this, but, everything? Nudity and everything? To your father?" Jade nodded, her gaze resolved. "I need to do this, Em, so just film it all." Emily shrugged a little, grabbing Jade's phone from the nightstand next to the bed. "If you say so, love." "Andy, could you stand up?" Jade said, as Emily moved over towards Jade, getting ready to capture what was about to happen on the iPhone. He nodded, sliding up and off the bed, moving to stand, glad that someone had turned on the heat in the house earlier in the day so he wasn't cold, standing nude in the middle of his insanely large bedroom. "Don't say much during this, okay, Andy?" Jade asked him, imploringly. "I mean, if I ask you a direct question, and it doesn't feel rhetorical, maybe answer, but err on the side of not saying anything. I need this to be all about me rather than you, no matter how much I'm going to talk about you during all of this." "Okay, I'll try and be quiet as much as I can then." "Great. Super. Thank you. Oh, if you hear me calling myself Button, it was his nickname for me growing up. So that's where that comes from. Anyway, let's get to it. Em?" she said, looking over to Emily, who was framing all of Jade in the shot on the phone. "Aaaaand, action!" Emily said, just before she hit the record button. Jade offered a brief, almost reticent smile, and it was gone as quickly as it appeared. "Hi Daddy. Button here and this is going to be the last time I reach out to you." She started slowly unbuttoning her blouse, letting it fall open, to reveal an ornate black lacy bra on beneath. "I know you wanted me to move back home until the whole plague passed, but that's not going to happen. I'm done living by your rules, not just regarding this, but everything." Andy actually felt a little bit nervous, not about being seen naked on camera, but for what Jade was going to say. She'd been purposefully vague with him, but he trusted her that she was only doing whatever she thought was necessary. "You always wanted to keep your little Button under your thumb, didn't you Daddy?" she said, sliding the blouse entirely off, tossing it aside. "But a couple of years ago, around the five year anniversary of Mom's passing, the things you said to me changed and started getting creepy. You kept talking about how much I reminded you of Mom when she was my age, how much you missed her and how your needs weren't being met." Oh, Andy thought to himself. OH. Oh shit. "I tried to tell myself that you didn't mean it, that you didn't realize what you were saying, or how inappropriate it was to be talking about your own daughter that way, but the more I told myself that, the more you seemed to be doing it." She unhooked the waist of her skirt and then let it drop to her ankles, stepping out of it before kicking off her boots, leaving her in the black bra and a matching set of black panties. "But the more I thought about it, the more I realized you weren't looking at me thinking about Mom. You were looking at me thinking I could replace Mom, and that's fucking creepy, Dad." She was fit, more fit than Andy had realized when she'd shown up in the cheerleader outfit yesterday, and her body was as toned and lithe as Sheridan's was, although maybe a little more muscular. She was an athlete, more like Piper, and she took great pride in showing her body to Andy, it seemed, or maybe showing off to her father, lashing out at him for his actions. "You wanted me to move back into the mansion so you could get me imprinted to you, didn't you, you sick fuck? You wanted your own daughter bound to you by science, reliant on your cum to keep her alive? Do you know how disgusting that is? How much it horrifies me?" She unclasped her bra behind her back and pulled it forward and off, tossing it aside, exposing her tits to both Andy and the camera, large proud swells that were just the perfect size for her body, as tanned as the rest of her, although her nipples were a bright rosy pink. "But you've lusted after your own daughter, haven't you, you sicko? You thought your wealth would let you get away with the ultimate betrayal, to have a perversion that you should have never even thought about," she growled. Andy understood now why she'd been so angry when she'd talked to him earlier in the day. Jade had clearly been thinking about her father's actions in light of what she knew about the process now, and had put two and two together to get a pretty unpleasant four. And now she was making sure her father understood that he was dead to her. "It bothers you, doesn't it, Daddy, hearing your precious little Button talking like some dirty whore? Swearing so fucking casually when you tried to drill it into her head that she should always be ladylike? Never act like some kind of cheap slut, never let a boy see or touch her special places." Jade's face was one of rage now, as she grabbed her panties and shoved them down, stepping out of them, leaving her fully exposed. She had a large triangle shaped blonde bush, neatly trimmed but still of a decent size. She also had no tanlines of any kind, making it clear she tanned in the buff, her whole skin that golden shade, the perfect California girl. "I hope seeing this video gives you a fucking heart attack, you asshole, because you're going to witness me guaranteeing that you can never fucking have me," she said, her hands on her hips, not making any effort to hide or conceal any of her gorgeous body. Andy hoped that the video did the trick, but if his time in New Eden had taught him anything, it was that the super rich were capable of nearly anything, and there were no other words to describe Jade's father, Cormack Dillon, quite so succinctly as "super rich," and that meant the man stood every chance of continuing to be a problem. "I took the DuoHalo immunity treatment yesterday, which means I'm going to get imprinted onto a man, to get the other half of it, and I know you know what that means," she said, sliding one hand over one of her tits, cupping it, for both the camera's eye as well as Andy's. "That means I'm going to be imprinted onto a man, a man who isn't you." Jade's nipple stiffened to her touch, and Andy could hear Lauren and Sheridan moving a little behind him, making sure they were completely out of the path, but he also wondered if the two weren't starting to play with themselves at least a little, because Jade had gone from schoolmarm to raw sexual carnage faster than a Lambo went from 0 to 60. "You know what that means?" Jade said, a coy smile on her face as her tongue licked her lips. "He's going to be my new Daddy, a better Daddy, a good Daddy, and he's gonna reap all the benefits that a good Daddy deserves." Her other hand moved to rub between her thighs, stroking across her cunt quite nervously, but her smile was practically eager. "I laid awake so many nights, playing with my cunt, wondering what my life was going to be like when I finally gave my cherry to someone, your words ringing in my ears how I needed to choose carefully, to pick someone who would make the family proud over someone who made me feel all warm and wobbly." Andy could feel her slowly closing the distance between them, Emily doing her best to keep her framed in the shot the entire time. "But that was what you wanted, and you're dead to me now. So I'm gonna give my cherry to my new Daddy, to a man that I chose to be with. And I'm not gonna be prim and proper about it, oh no," she purred. "I'm gonna be every bit the slut you were afraid I would turn into and more." She was only a few feet away from him when she slowly moved down onto her knees, keeping her head tipped up proudly. "He wanted to wash his cock off before I sucked him off, but I told him no," Jade giggled, scooting on her knees closer to Andy now. "I liked the idea of his cock being slick from the cunt of some other girl he'd just fucked when I blew him for the first time, so I'd get my first taste of cunt with Daddy's cock." She reached forward and grabbed Andy's shaft, giving it a gentle stroke. "See how much bigger my Daddy's cock is than yours, you senile old fucker? See how slick it is with the juices of some bitch he just met yesterday, another slut who's going to tend to his needs just like I'm going to? God, it smells so fucking good. Can I have a lick, Daddy? Just a little one?" Her intense green eyes were looking up at him, so Andy just nodded in response, as Jade let out a thankful, eager moan. "Oh thank you Daddy," she purred. "I just can't wait to be a good little Daddy's girl." Andy was glad she'd had the talk with him before this, because she'd been right,  he might have been a little uncomfortable with this had she not given him some advance warning. But she seemed to be enjoying stroking his cock for the camera, and when she leaned in, he knew what was going to happen, even if she didn't, not entirely. She'd intended to drag her tongue from the base of his cock to the tip, but only got about half way up before the mix of his semen and Tala's juices sunk into her bloodstream enough to begin the priming process, and she suddenly leaned her head back, looking straight up at the ceiling with completely defocused eyes, an intensely shredded moan erupting from her throat, that priming orgasm exploding through her body. Jade was back on her haunches, practically sitting on her heels, as her entire body shivered and quaked, the intensity of the orgasm a surprise even to Andy, who'd seen this thing happen more than anyone. The imprinting process had affected Jade stronger than anyone he'd previously paired with. "Jesus Fucking Christ," Jade hissed, finally having recovered enough strength to pull her head forward again. "That was the most intense fucking thing I've ever felt, Daddy. And I'm just getting started, because I have to thank Daddy for the gift he's giving me by taking me into his family." She kissed along the length of his cock slowly, never once taking her eyes off of Andy's, Emily having moved in, standing on the bed behind him, so she could look down with the camera. He even felt one of Emily's hand on his shoulder, making sure she was balanced properly. "I'm gonna be such a good little slut for you, Daddy," she whimpered. "I can't wait to feel you inside my cherry cheerleader cunt, to be the first and only cock I ever have inside of my sweet snatch. God, you're gonna feel so good, aren't you, Daddy?" Andy couldn't help but smirk for a moment, because he could feel Emily's nipples were rock hard through her top, pressed against his back while she continued to film. Clearly, the Brit was getting turned on by what she was watching. "That's not all I'm gonna give you, Daddy," Jade said, licking the taste of him and Tala from her lips. "I'm gonna give you everything. I'm gonna do everything. After an entire life of saying no no no, all I'm gonna tell my new Daddy is yes yes yes." She was starting to cradle his balls now, and he felt like that was a warning that she was about to crank up the tempo on him. "If Daddy wants to fuck me, I'll ask what position while I'm spreading my legs to show him I'm already wet for him. If Daddy wants me to blow him, I'll start sucking on his cock right away, no matter where we are or who's around. If he wants to knock me up, I'll beg him to breed me like his good little bitch in heat, even if we aren't married." She shivered a little bit, looking down for a second before gazing back up. "If Daddy wants to fuck me in the ass, I'll hold my cheeks apart and beg him to do it to me hard and fast, just like a good little slut, just like his good little slut should." He couldn't help himself, and his cock throbbed at that, not just from her description of it, but from the look in her eyes as she said it, like she was revealing some hidden desire that she hadn't known she wanted until she spoke the words aloud, and now that she had, it was burrowing hold in her psyche, not for now, but something definitely to be revisited lately. The look on her face was one of eagerness, like she was reveling in who she was after hiding it for so long. "To keep boys from fucking me, I had to learn how to become not just a good cocksucker, but the best cocksucker, able to get a boy off within just a minute or two of wrapping my lips around his cock, but I don't want my new Daddy to feel like he's being rushed, so enjoy this Daddy." Jade wrapped her lips around the head of his cock and slowly pushed her face down onto it, her lustrous green eyes holding his gaze the entire time, until she had her lips down around the base of his cock, no sign of coughing or choking, like she'd managed to suppress her gag reflex entirely. She slowly drew her head back, sliding her mouth off his cock with a wet pop as she grinned up at the camera. "You see that, Cormack? That's the view you always wanted of your daughter, isn't it, you twisted asshole? Down on her fucking knees with her tits out, looking up at you, her lips wrapped around your cock? But it's not your cock, is it shithead?" As she pushed her head back down onto his cock again, Andy did everything he could to keep his moan quiet, but a little bit of it slipped out, and that made Jade smile as she pulled back from his cock once more. "Hear that, Cormack? That's my new Daddy, enjoying what a good little cocksucker he's got. I asked him to stay quiet, but I'm just too skilled at sucking cock that he can't keep still. So I hope you fuck off and die, because I'm gonna get what I want now, I'm gonna be happy without you, I'm gonna get bonded to this beautiful fucking stud of a man, and he's gonna be my Daddy forever, and you're just going to be dead to me, so the sooner you fuck off and die, the better. Goodbye forever Cormack." After she said that, she started thrusting her head down his cock over and over, going from tip to base time and time again, making as much noise as she could, as much performance as it was blowjob, but damn if she wasn't right, and it was the best blowjob he'd ever gotten. Jade had total control over when his orgasm was going to hit, and just when he thought he was about to pop, she backed him away from it, just to prove that she could, then when he thought she was slowing down to prolong the video, she attacked once more, and started bobbing her head across his shaft faster and faster, and there was no stopping the collision course they were headed on. He wanted to put his hands on her head, but Emily seemed to have the shot framed exactly as she wanted, and Jade was doing her best to keep her eyes on his face and the camera the entire time, and when the moment of his release happened, he wasn't even sure where she was looking, because the intensity of the orgasm was brutal, easily the hardest he'd ever come from a blowjob. His cock blasted a hot load of cum against the back of her throat, as her lips sealed in a vacuum lock around the head of his cock, sealing him in there, not letting a drop of it spill out, all of it pouring directly into her belly, as her green eyes finally rolled back in her skull. Her mouth finally popped off his cock as she started to fall backwards, and Lauren darted in suddenly to slide her arms beneath Jade's shoulders, catching her and cradling her to lower her down onto her back, pulling her away slightly to let her legs unfold from beneath her, as Emily moved off the bed, jumping to the floor, slowly crouching down to finish on Jade's face, as the bubbly blonde proudly said 'imprinting' over and over again, an accomplished smile wide on her face. Emily tapped the Stop Recording button on the phone, and then exhaled a deep breath. "Holy fuck!" she shouted, taking one of her hands to fan her face. "I know she said to expect it to be out of character for her, but can I once again reiterate, holy fuck!" She giggled wildly, licking her lips. "I can't tell if I should send her father this video first or do my best to convince you that you can handle another round right here and now, Andrew, because, in closing, holy fuck was that hot!" Andy laughed a little bit, shaking his head. "No more. No more rounds for today. The House of Rook is officially doing no more deliveries tonight!" He crouched down and scooped Jade up into his arms,  she was light, although Emily and Lauren helped him anyway,  as he lifted her up and onto the bed, laying her down next to Tala. Once there, he moved the four of them,  Jade, Tala, Fiona and Moira,  over to one side of the bed, not pushing them off, but making sure there would still be room for his usual group of people to crawl into the bed as well in a few hours time. "Well, at the very least, I can take care of you in the shower before you make your run to Target tonight," Emily said to him. "God, can't it wait until tomorrow?" he groaned, before raising his hand. "No no, I know, we need to do it, and I agreed to do it tonight. Okay, let's go shower, and then a handful of us can make the run out and pick up supplies." After a very nice shower with Emily and Sheridan, where both girls steadfastly avoided getting their hair wet, Andy felt cleaned up and ready to round out his day. He hadn't even had dinner yet, but he decided that could wait until after the Target run. One of the things he'd learned early on, before they'd even gotten to New Eden even, was that women who lived together didn't really sync their periods up, but with a typical period lasting about five days, the more women in a household, the more likely it was someone needed additional feminine supplies. With the size of household now, he'd learned they were the most vital supply the household needed, and never, ever ever to be without. Whenever he went on a supply run, the girls drew names from a hat to decide who would go with him, because inevitably whoever went found a handful of things they just had to have and brought them home, and going to a Target with his entire family was beyond unwieldy. So as Andy checked his shopping list, the girls did their little drawing. Hannah, Aisling and Sarah won, and so the four loaded up into the Tesla Model Y and headed down to the Target. There were many things he was appreciative of about the home in New Eden that the government had gifted him with, but the one he noticed the most was its completely self reliance. The entire roof of the mansion was covered in solar panels, and Andy had been told there was a small field of them further out on his property, in the middle of a natural glade, that ran back to his house, which had power walls, storing all of that excess power. The cars were all electric. Phil had joked around that if New Eden were hit by the worst possible of storms, the town would be self sustaining for a few months before food would be the eventual first issue. Target was one of the few well established brand stores within the walls of New Eden, but it was handy enough that everyone seemed to overlook it not being a local business. There were a handful of cars in the parking lot, but it looked far from crowded. Andy parked the car and then headed in, as Hannah grabbed them a shopping cart. Andy hoped they'd only need the one, but at least half of the time, these trips involved getting a second cart. Most of his list was relatively short,  cat food, cat litter, cleaning fluid for his electric shaver, vanilla Coke if he could find it,  but the girls had their own list, and it was compiled from all the girls in the house. They mostly didn't have to do groceries,  Jenny and Katie made their own weekly run to the grocery store to keep the house stocked,  but everyone had little things they wanted for themselves. Nicolette had toilet paper delivered in bulk and was trying to convince the household to bulk order feminine supplies as well, but it seemed like each of the women in the house had their own deeply held preferences. Andy suspected Nicolette would win out in the end, and that bulk deliveries in the near future would start including things like pads and tampons (as well as diapers and other such baby supplies) eventually. For now, though, everyone was still eager to get out of the house every chance they could, the fatigue of being quarantined to a single space, even one as wonderful as the Rook Manor, getting to each of them a little bit. "Okay girls, let's split up and cover ground a bit," Ash said to the other two, "and we can meet up with Andy back in the pet supplies." Sarah, Hannah and Aisling each put a hand on top of one of the others and then said in unison "Go Rookies!" And like that, they each went their own separate direction into the large Super Target, as Andy headed over to pick up his electric razor cleaning fluid. Since their arrival, both Sarah and Emily had been trying to convince Andy to move to disposable razor blades, or even a straight razor, for shaving, but Andy had been using an electric since college and found the convenience of it too great to give up. Jenny had assured the two actresses that once Alexis showed up, Andy would learn the joy of having his face shaven by a woman with a straight razor, and once he did, he'd never want to go back. But even when she showed up tomorrow, she'd need to convince him it was the right call, so until then, he would stick to his old ways. Before he could make his way out of the razor section, Sarah came bounding around the corner, a package full of pads in one hand, a handful of make up supplies in the other, tossing all of them into the cart. "Hey, like, did you know Nate Watkins was gonna be here tonight? I saw him and one of his partners coming in as I was heading here," she said, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "I didn't," Andy said, "but it's not that big a community, so people are bound to run into one another here." "Did Phil tell you how many households are here in New Eden?" she said, sliding her arm around his waist, her body taller than his, something he still hadn't fully gotten used to. "I asked him, and I think he said about 400, although it's pretty scattered out, and some of the households are way bigger than others. We're definitely one of the bigger ones, although there's pressure on everyone to grow a bit, considering the news that'll be hitting in a couple of days." The two of them headed over to the soft drinks, and Andy was delighted to find that not only did they have vanilla Coke, they also had vanilla cherry Coke and orange vanilla Coke, so he grabbed a twelve pack of each, sliding them on the flat tray beneath the main cart itself, knowing to leave as much of the basket open for the girls as he could. "I imagine that poor Lily's going to go mental when she hears she's going to have to share poor Eric with even more girls," Ash said, tossing her collection of things into the basket. She'd come from behind Sarah and Andy, so neither had seen her coming. "But she'll just have to cope like the rest of us have." "She'll be extra picky on Eric's behalf," Andy said with a quiet smirk. "He won't want to kick up a fuss about who they send, so she'll take over the whole process and make sure nobody rocks the boat over there." "I meant to ask," Sarah said. "How come Eric's got a Chinese last name when he's Japanese?" "Well, he's actually half and half," Andy said, "but he prefers to think of himself as Japanese first and foremost, I guess, so that's how I've always thought of him. His Dad's Chinese but his mom is Japanese. They met after they'd both immigrated here in the 70s to work for tech companies. It's kind of a cute love story. They met in a class to learn English as a second language, so his dad never learned any Japanese and his mom never learned any Mandarin or Cantonese, and they only ever spoke English to each other in the house. They're both very nice people. Eric sort of speaks all three languages, but none of them that well. His Japanese is better than his Cantonese, though, or so he tells me." "That's funny," Ash said. "Lily's story is pretty much the same, half Chinese half Japanese. I guess their kids will keep the same ratio then." "Once they get around to them," Andy said. "You heard Lily, love," Ash giggled. "She's gonna get a child out of Eric even if it kills him. Her clock isn't just ticking, it's pounding out a drum beat." "No no, that's just Lily taking him Amazon style," Andy said, and both Sarah and Ash descended into fits of laughter at that, as he smirked and pushed the cart onward. They kept walking as Sarah and Ash each picked up a few things here and there,  scented candles, Fabreeze, some picture frames,  as they headed towards the pet section. "Don't freak out, Andy," Sarah said, "but I'm going to be grabbing some dog food for Maya's two pups." Andy arched an eyebrow. "Not once did you or Emily ever mention that Maya had dogs," he said, trying to put on his most disappointed look. "Don't you think that's something you should've mentioned, what with me having a couple of cats?" "That's fair, completely fair, but hear me out, just for a moment, on a counter argument," Sarah said, talking slowly, as if she was struggling to think of what she wanted to say. "Ok,” Sarah glanced over at Ash, who offered a sympathetic shrug, then back at Andy, and suddenly she grabbed him and kissed him hard, wrapping her arms around him in a constrictive hug before she pulled from the kiss and clenched him more tightly. "Okay, so we totally didn't mention it, and that's totally on Emily and me, but they're just two little Pomeranians, and they're super cute, and they're named Stan and Ollie, and I know we should've told you, but we asked Ash, and she said you're not allergic, and she didn't think you'd be upset, and I don't know why we didn't mention it during the presentations, but we didn't, and then you said yes, and we were both just so excited, and at that point, you were into the idea, and it didn't even occur to us that you might not like dogs, because I mean who doesn't love dogs, am I right, and I wasn't even thinking about it because Emily said she was gonna tell you but then she put dog food on the list for me to grab and now here I am, trying to convince you that it would be criminal to turn those two sweet little adorable faces away or hide them out back or anything when they're super well trained and lovable and  " She suddenly pulled back, glanced over at Ash, who was desperately trying to keep from breaking out into laughter, then back at Andy, sighing. "And you totally knew the dogs were coming and were fucking with me, weren't you?" At that point, Andy could finally let out the laughter that had been building and building and building inside of him as Sarah had just kept talking and talking and talking and some part of him had wanted to let her off the hook right away, but it had just so much funnier with every word. Ash was leaning against the cart, she was laughing so hard, once she finally broke. Andy squeezed Sarah tightly then pulled back and kissed her softly. "Of course the dogs are okay, Sarah," he said. "But you two definitely should have told me during the pitch, just in case I was allergic to dogs, which I'm not. But Emily brought it up to me yesterday, and I gave her a bit of stick for it, and she suggested this was how I gave you stick for your part in the matter." "Emily knew you were gonna put me up to this?" Sarah said, tilting her head to look upward. "Oh, the shit I'm gonna give that bitch when I see her,” Andy swatted his hand on Sarah's ass with a loud slap, which made her jolt a little bit into him. "Now now, I said the matter's closed, and the matter's closed, got it?" "You're fucking lucky you're so damn lovable yourself, mister man," she joked, rolling her eyes. "But okay, I guess we earned that." "Oh, Ker rist I wish I'd recorded that," Ash said, finally easing off of her laughing. "I don't know how she let that sentence run that far, but I think it could have sprinted past Piper!" As they arrived in the pet section, Hannah came to meet up with them, Nathaniel and his female partner in tow. She saw that Ash was wiping tears from her eyes still and pouted. "Aw, I missed the whole dog food fake fight, didn't I?" she said. "Oh well, look who I ran into!" It didn't surprise Andy that Hannah had stopped to talk to Nathaniel Watkins and his partner, as Watkins had been the man to bring Hannah over to him originally, which meant he'd know the Asian cheerleader longer than he had. Watkins was dressed, as ever, in cargo shorts, a bright Hawaiian shirt, socks and sandals, his black hair drawn back into a man bun, a pair of thin spectacles over his eyes. The woman next to him looked five to ten years younger than him, in probably her early to mid thirties, with eastern European features, jet black hair in bangs that hung down to her collarbone, dressed in a large loose t shirt that said "Cal Poly" on the front of it, and baggy sweatpants. It was clear, both had just decided to run errands in whatever they'd been lounging around the house in, although Watkins himself hadn't looked all that different at the poker night, or either of the times he'd come over to Andy's house, so Andy couldn't help but wonder if that was the man's standard look. Chapter 34 Uncharacteristically, Andy woke up at around 6 a.m., noticing that Fiona wasn't in the bed with all of them. He'd suspected that both she and Moira would wake up sometime in the middle of the night, but he'd hoped that they'd still sleep in some and get accustomed to local time a bit more. Fi, it seemed, couldn't do that. As carefully as he could, Andy extricated himself from the pile of naked female bodies around him and slipped out of bed. When it had been just him, Ash, Lauren and Niko, in the early days, anyone trying to leave the bed would wake everyone up, but now, after the last month or so of constant additions, people had grown much more acclimated to people moving, sliding in and out of the bed during the night without waking up. Currently the bed held Moira, Niko, Sarah, Emily, Tala, Sheridan, Lauren and Jade. He'd been a little surprised the night before when both Sheridan and Lauren had crawled into the bed as everyone was shutting down for the night, but both women insisted they each wanted their friend to have a familiar face nearby when they woke up in the house for the first time. He said he completely understood and respected that. He grabbed one his big t shirts, this one for the Chapterhouse album "Whirlpool," pulled on some boxers and some sweatpants and went to go find where Fiona had gotten herself to. Andy didn't have far to look. When he pulled the shirt on, he could see motion on the covered balcony just outside of the master bedroom, and figured it had to be her. He opened the sliding door as quietly as he possible, hearing the sound of heavy raindrops falling just feet away from the balcony, the wind not heavy enough to force them beneath the overhang. Fiona was wearing a cable knit sweater and Lululemon yoga pants, leaning against the railing, it still cool enough outside for her breath to leave a telltale cloud in the air in front of her. "This is California," she said, her voice laying plain her amusement with the weather. "I was promised sunshine and warm weather all the damn time." "It's raining," he said, moving to stand beside her. "And we need it, so don't jinx it and make it stop. Besides, it was raining the day you asked me and Xander to move in with you." She laughed a little bit, shaking her head slightly. "I can't believe you remember that," she said. "And, for the record, I asked you to move in with me, and I knew that Xander came as part of the deal at the time, because you weren't going to leave him hanging. How's he doing, anyway? I haven't talked to him since college." "You can ask him yourself when he gets here in a while." Fi turned to look at him, arching one of her impeccably well kept eyebrows in his direction. "He is not moving into this house, Andrew. This isn't the old days." Andy laughed, shaking his head. "I didn't mean here here, as in Rook Manor, but he's moving into New Eden, so he won't be too far away." He went to slide an arm around her waist, just a little hesitation in his motion, but she immediately slid in firmly against him, pressing her body against his. "I knew that, Andy. I was fucking with you. Jesus, you're an idiot sometimes," she sighed with a wide smile on her face. "So it's lucky you're so damn cute." He rolled his eyes a little bit. "Nobody thinks I'm cute but you." "Bullshit. Moira thinks you're cute." "Fine. Nobody but you and Moira." "And Niko and Emily and,” "Okay, okay, I get the point," he laughed, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "God, I missed you, Fi." "Me too. So next time, maybe call, huh?" He smirked. "You're gonna hold this over my head for a while, aren't you?" She giggled a little, nodding. "Oh yeah, bigtime. But you know me. I'll get bored with it at some point, and tease you about something new, once I have something new." Her right hand rested on his left arm, which was folded and pressed against the railing. "How the hell did we get to here, Andy?" "I mean, there's all of my life before May of this year, and then there's this year, and one of them is a lot more boring than the other, but I'll tell you all about both, given enough time. I am sorry I didn't try and find you after you cut me out, but to be fair, I didn't think you wanted me to." She nodded, giving a little shrug. "I was angry and I was dumb, Andy. It wasn't a good combination. And when I was old enough to know better, I was too scared, thinking you'd just moved on and didn't ever think about me any more." He had a short bark of laughter, shaking his head. "Yeah, get that fucking idea right out of your head now. After we split, I only had one serious girlfriend, and that was because I was comparing them to you all the time and nobody ever lived up to you." "Not even the one serious girlfriend?" "Especially not the one serious girlfriend, but at that point, I thought maybe it was me, and I was the one doing things wrong, so I stuck with it longer than I should've. You'll end up meeting her at some point around New Eden and then you'll ask yourself how she and I ever dated as long as we did." "That bad, huh?" she said, giving his arm a squeeze. She always knew exactly the level of physical touch he needed to feel reassured or put at ease. "That bad and a whole hell of a lot worse." That hung in the air for a minute or two with nobody saying anything. "You seem to have done alright for yourself this year, though," she teased. "Two actresses, two cheerleaders, an Irish lass, an Aussie, a Native knockout, a couple of athletes, an Indian knockout and your own personal staff including an honest to god French maid. I'm shocked you could find time to pencil me and Moira in." "I certainly never intended  " She reached a fingertip up to his lips to stop him from talking. "I spent a great deal of time between my arrival at the base and my injection with the serum talking about you with Niko, and she assures me that you've done everything you can to be the best man anyone here can ask for, so whatever you intended, it doesn't really matter anymore, does it? What matters now is that you've got a wonderful, if a bit immense, family, and that you wanted me and Moira to be a part of it." "Speaking of Moira, how long have you two been together?" Fi grinned, leaning her head against his chest. "About four years now. It's the reason I didn't put anything about my relationship status on my Facebook page. Didn't want Mom and Dad throwing a shitfit about it. Well, mostly Mom, I think." "So it's been serious for a while now." "Very," she said. "And she's the one who's been bitching at me to reach out to you for the last couple of years, so don't worry about her being jealous of you or anything. On our way here, she was telling me that it's felt like the entire time we've been together, there's been a part of me missing, and how she was sure that you had the missing part of me. I'm surprised you never reached out to her." "I never got her contact information all those years ago," he chuckled. "Hell, I didn't even get her last name. I still didn't know it until Niko told me yesterday." "Oh my god, really?" Fi giggled. "I guess that makes sense, because I know you would've remembered it if you'd ever learned it. You loved that damn silly movie." "Madam, I will not permit you to impugn 'Highlander' on these grounds." "Oh hush," she said. "But yes, you're going to be taking a bride from the Clan MacLeod, but there cannot only be one. You owe me a ring as well, mister." "You think that'll satiate the bloodlust of Mr. & Mrs. Smith?" he said, referring to her parents. "They already know you're back in this picture and are ecstatic," she said, kissing his cheek. "I mean, Mom's a little less thrilled with how many wives you're going to have, but I told her with all the deaths, that's the way it's going to work in this country for our generation. She's still wrapping her head around it." "Everyone in your family okay? All your brothers?" "All three were smart and locked down immediately, so everyone's okay. I'm glad you asked." "And Moira's family?" "Her mom's all that's left, and Scotland's not had a lot of problems with DuoHalo, since they seemed to take lockdown extremely seriously in the smaller villages. You can talk to her about her mom when she's up. It'll mean a lot to her that you're asking." "So how did you two hook up again?" Fiona sighed again, slumping into his body a little more. "How much of my writing career did you follow after we split?" "Most of it?" he chuckled. "I set up a Google Alert to notify me whenever your byline appeared." "You stalker," she giggled, waiting just the perfect beat before speaking again. "It's okay; I had one set up on you as well. Uh, two, actually, one for your real name and one for your pen name, once I read an article about that. Thanks for making that hard on me." "I didn't expect anyone to be following my fiction writing, Fi. But carry on with your story." "Do you remember that story I wrote about about five years back on the Syrian civil war?" "I remember you wrote a whole series of them. What, seven or eight different pieces?" She smiled up at him. "Gold star for robot boy," she said with a smirk. "You really were paying attention. That's nice to know. Anyway, the one about the Doctors Without Borders that were crossing into the firefights to provide medical aid to civilians caught in the crossfire." "Oh yeah," he said. "Those people sounded amazingly brave." "Moira was one of those people," Fi said. "Running out into firefights, scooping up kids and pulling shrapnel out of them. One of the bravest people I'd ever met, but she's been doing it for a few years, and it was starting to take a real toll on her, so I invited her to come and visit DC. A few weeks later she'd gotten a job at a hospital in Georgetown. A couple of months later we started dating. Half a year later, she moved in with me. About two years ago, we decided we both wanted to get the fuck out of DC forever, but weren't sure where to go." "Around the time you added me and Xander on Facebook." "Actually, I have a confession to make,  Moira sent you the friend request from my account," she sighed. "I was convinced you didn't even think about me any more, so one day when we were fighting, she just sat down at my computer, found you on Facebook and sent you the friend request before I could stop her." "And then you and I played the biggest, dumbest game of virtual chicken ever, waiting for the other one to reach out first," he sighed. "God, we're fucking stupid some days." To be continued in part 20, by CorruptingPower for Literotica.

Ausgabe 107 des Science Busters Podcast kommt aus dem Dachsaal der VHS Urania Wien. Kabarettist Martin Puntigam spricht mit Margreth Keiler, Prof. für Geographie an der Uni Innsbruck & Direktorin des Instituts für Interdisziplinäre Gebirgsforschung der ÖAW und Daniel Huppmann, Energie- und Klimaforscher am IIASA in Laxenburg anlässich der Präsentation des neuen österr. Klimasachstandsberichts über Risikoeinschätzung, Interdisziplinäre Gebirgsforschung, wie dauerhaft Dauersiedlungsbereich im Gebirgsbereich sind, was man unter Schweizer Klimaflüchtlingen versteht, ab wann eine Gebäudeversicherung ein Gebäude nicht mehr versichert, wie man rote Zone wird, ab wann sich ein Erholungsgebiet selber erholen muss, was man beim Geographiestudium lernt, qie man eine Landschaft liest, warum Versicherungen Schigebiete nicht mehr so gern versichern, wieso eine Hochwasserversicherung nicht immer vorteilhaft sein muss, weshalb eine verpflichtende Katastrophenversicherung gerechter wäre, worin sich AAR2 von AAR14 unterscheidet, ob es sinnvoll wäre, den Inhalt des Klimasachstandsberichts beim zuständigen Minister abzuprüfen, ob die Stakeholder jetzt weniger Steaks holden werden, warum sich Staatssekretärinnen russisches Gas zurückwünschen, was man mit einem Sachstandsbericht erreichen kann, wie viel Strafe bei Nichteinhaltung von Klimazielen anfällt oder ob einfach werden die Regeln geändert werden, wenn niemand Strafe zahlen möchte, warum es noch immer klimaschädliche Subventionen gibt, wann Emissionshandel sinnvoll sein kann, ob man lieber in Lobbying oder Innovation investieren sollte, was in der Lastenteilungsverordnung steht & ab wann man als Herausgeberin eines Sachstandsberichts eine zweite Sim-Karte verwenden muss. Stinkenden Tofu mag NMargreth Keiler einfach nicht, darüber haben wir dann aber doch nicht gesprochen.

Everyone – everyone who believes in Jesus is called to be His ambassador. An Ambassador of Christ. That involves a change of heart, it involves a change in our actions and it involves – well, going. Ambassadors don't stay, they go. That's why being Christ's Ambassadors ain't easy sometimes.   Christ on the Inside Now, one of the things that you and I know is that we are what we eat. If what I do is I pig out on chocolates – man, I love chocolate, but we know that too much of it is bad for us; and fatty foods and sweet, sugary drinks and lots of cakes and sweets, all that stuff – if I pig out on that then who I am on the inside is going to change. I'm going to put on weight, my emotions will take a downswing, because that's what happens with too much sugar, I'll become lethargic and tired and I won't be able to cope. My heart will have to work so much harder to get blood around the larger body and my coronary arteries will get all clogged up, my blood sugar will go up ... and on and on the list goes. The impact is that I have less of a life to live now because I'm always tired, not feeling well and my life expectancy will be cut short. On the other hand, if I get a great mix of healthy cereals and grains and those brightly coloured vegetables and lean meat and all that stuff, which actually tastes pretty fantastic, the complete opposite will happen. What happens on the inside has a huge impact on what happens on the outside. Who we are on the inside – whether it be physically or emotionally or spiritually - has a huge impact on who we are on the outside. And the upshot of all that is that we simply can't be one thing on the inside and try to be something else on the outside – it just doesn't work. Last week, again this week on the programme and indeed, over the next couple of weeks we are having a bit of a chat about living our lives here on this earth as ambassadors for Christ, because that is what anyone who believes in Jesus is called to be. We are citizens of heaven, not of this earth and as Paul, the Apostle writes, in Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20: We are ambassadors for Christ; since God is making his appeal through us, we entreat you on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God. As I said, you just can't be one thing on the inside and then pretend to be another thing on the outside. You can't be Swedish on the inside and pretend to be the Indian ambassador on the outside. We can't be the devil on the inside and pretend to be an angel of light on the outside. Well, I suppose we can for a while but I suspect it's incredibly hard work, carrying on a deception like that and it doesn't take long for who we are to make its way to the outside. Jesus Himself said – Matthew chapter 15, verse 19: For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness and slander. So, if we are going to be ambassadors of Christ, then we first have to be citizens of heaven on the inside, just as the Indian ambassador has to be Indian and not Swedish on the inside. Interesting how God talked about this through His prophet Ezekiel, to His people. He talked to them about what was going on in their hearts. Have a listen – Ezekiel chapter 18, verse 31: “Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me and get yourselves,” listen to this, “a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel?" A new heart! I think we know what God means but that's not much of an expression that we would use today. But the expression that we would use is "a change of heart". You and I know what that means: unless something happens deep inside our hearts – on the inside - we can't change on the outside. But you know there have been issues, transgressions, sins in my life that, try as I might, I couldn't change my heart by myself. I'm guessing you have had that experience too – we all have! And that's why God made this promise too, through His prophet Ezekiel, to His people – Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 26: A new heart I will give you, a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. In fact, perhaps what you want to be is an ambassador of Christ but there's something right now going on in your heart; something you would love to change but you can't for yourself that you need God to do for you. So why don't we pray about that right now: Father God,this Word of yours, You are putting Your finger right on one of the deepest problems in my life. You and I both know what it is and You know that I have struggled to change my heart - I've tried my hardest, but I just can't. And so I come to You in faith and pray for Your will – Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 26 – for a new heart – a change of heart. Take out the heart of stone, O God, and replace it with a heart of flesh. Take out of me any spirit that is causing me to sin and fill me with Your Spirit. I come to You in faith. I believe that what I have asked You, You will give me because I am asking You in the name of Jesus. Amen. Now, I encourage you, if you have prayed that prayer will me, to believe, simply to believe, that God will give you the good thing that you have asked Him for and He will. That's what He says He will do and He never, ever, ever fails on His Word – ever! When the Apostle Paul was sharing the Good News about Jesus with the folk in Athens, he quoted a poem about a Greek god and applied it to Jesus. This is what he said – Acts chapter 17, verse 28: For in him we live and move and have our being. You know, for me that says it all! It's about being totally immersed in Christ; about being drenched in Jesus – that's actually the literal meaning of the word "baptised or baptism". The original Greek word was "baptidso". So when a boat was lost in a storm and it went under and it sank, it was said to have been "baptidso"d. When a fabric was dyed a new colour and it was plunged into the dye and completely drenched and it came out a new colour, it was said to have been "baptidso"d. That's exactly what the Apostle Paul writes to his friends in Rome. Romans chapter 6, verses 3 and 4: Don't you know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ were baptised into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death so that just as Christ was raised again from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. It means death to the old life and the living of a new life; literally, to be "born again" – a whole new heart and filled with a new spirit; the Spirit of God this time; the Holy Spirit. It means that goodness replaces evil – not so much because we work hard at it but because God's given us a change of heart and now what happens is we actually want to honour God; we want to live a life that brings glory to Him – and that's the new life. We are going to talk more about that next. It's the new life that wins people over to Christ. It's the new life that shines like a light and brings flavour to people's lives like salt. But just as a well that is dry can't bring forth water, so a life that is empty of Christ; His very Spirit; His presence within us, so a life like that can't be an ambassador of Christ. If there are things that you have been struggling with on the inside; things that are holding you back from taking up your commission as Christ's ambassador in your little petunia patch, then here's what I encourage you to do – get with God, get in prayer, open His Word, ask Him to fill you to overflowing with His Holy Spirit. Ask Him again and again and again to give you a new heart. And just as we prayed before; just as I said before, He surely will – because He wants to – because when we bear much fruit in our lives it brings Him great glory. A new heart; a change of heart; filled with a new spirit, His Spirit.   Christ on the Outside So let me ask you a question: if you are someone who believes in Jesus and you drive a car, do you have a Jesus bumper sticker or one of those fish stickers on your bumper bar? Maybe ... maybe not! I mean, even if you don't, that's okay, I don't either, but if you had to put one on your car, let me ask you, does your behaviour on the road as a driver match up to what the sticker advertises? I mean, are you a courteous driver who obeys all the road rules or do you break the speed limit and honk your horn at people and yell at them from the inside of your car? I guess if you're the former it would be okay to have a fish sticker or a Jesus sticker on your car because your behaviour is a good advertisement for God - in effect, because what you advertise on the sticker and how you behave match up, it works. On the other hand though, can you imagine a rude, impatient driver, who's constantly breaking the road rules, identifying themselves as a Christian, using some sticker they put on their car. It's not a very good ad for God, is it? It turns out that who we say we are; who we hold ourselves out to be and who we actually are in what we say and what we do – if those two don't match up – well, there's a name for that: we call those people "hypocrites". We have been talking about living our lives as ambassadors of Christ – “for we are ambassadors for Christ since God is making his appeal through us.” 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20. In other words, God, just as He used the Apostle Paul, wants to involve us in the business of making His appeal to the rest of the world. Now what we have seen over the course of the last couple of weeks is that we don't all have to be "Pauls" in order to do that. Diplomacy, which is the role of an ambassador, mostly happens in one on one relationships where trust is built so that governments have relationships in place to resolve difficult issues. That's the point of diplomacy and it's the role of an ambassador. See, I think sometimes we are misled into thinking: Aw, WOW, oh – an ambassador for Christ, well, that must be the pastors role not me!' because it sounds like a flashy, up front title. And earlier we saw that in order to be an ambassador of for, say India, we had to be Indian, if we're Swedish no one is going to believe we are the Indian ambassador, right? Who we are on the inside really counts. That's why God promises something new – Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 26: A new heart I will give you; a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. See, we can't change who we are on the outside until we have a change of heart on the inside. I've tried it, you've tried it – it doesn't work! If something first happens in our hearts though, to change us on the inside, then all of a sudden changing on the outside becomes mush easier. That's what we talked about earlier. Right now we are going to follow on with the natural continuation of that. We are going to take a look at how important it is that who we are on the outside is consistent with who we are on the inside. And that's why I kicked off with that story about the bumper sticker. It's kind of obvious isn't it? Now I'm not suggesting that you or I are ever going to live a perfect life. I pretty much make mistakes every day and probably you do too and no one ... no one expects us to be perfect. But either how we live declares that our heart and our life has been changed by God or it doesn't and if it doesn't, without putting too fine a point on it, we're being hypocrites. That's something that Jesus identified in the religious leaders of His day. They pretended to be ‘oh so holy' on the outside, but on the inside – well have a listen to what Jesus said to them – Matthew chapter 23, verses 25 and 26: Woe to you, you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside you are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisees! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may also be clean. Now, I'm kind of comforted by that; I like it that Jesus is concerned both about our hearts – who we are on the inside – and our hands – what we do on the outside. If someone came to me and said, ‘You know Berni, I've heard what you have been saying – I've decided I want to be an ambassador of Christ. What do you think is the most important thing in that role?' Well, this is how I'd answer. The first thing is your heart and your relationship with God' being completely sold out to Jesus and if you don't have that, well, you can't pretend it. And the second thing is: how you behave; how you live it out, because if you say that you are one thing and you do completely the opposite, people will pick you as a phoney in a split second and then, instead of shining God's light into the world, you just turn people off. Let me give you an example. My country, Australia, has a very strong relationship with the United States of America – has had for a good many years. Now, imagine that the U.S. Government, all of a sudden, appoints a brand new ambassador and sends him across the pond to Australia. And within a few months, we discover this ambassador, he's a lecherous drunk, who can't keep his hands off other women – whether or not he happens to be any good at his trade of diplomacy – and scandal after scandal, involving this new ambassador hits the news and the press. How do you imagine such a person would influence the view that Australians have, not only of the U.S. Government but of the American people? It would be devastating wouldn't it? Not only would this so called "ambassador" hurt the people around him but he'd bring his whole Nation; his whole people into ill repute. And that's why the lives we lead as Christians are so important. Come on – let's get real!! Does hypocrisy display the glory of God? No! It brings Him and His people as a whole, into disrepute. "Oh, those Christians – they're just a bunch of hypocrites!" And God ... God doesn't like hypocrites, my friend. Listen again to Jesus – Matthew chapter 23, verse 25: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. People talk about ‘missional living' – living out our lives as missionaries or ambassadors in this world. You know what I think the biggest thing that you and I can do to live "missionally" is to live a holy life. What's a holy life? It's a life where the cup and the plate are clean on the inside as well as the outside. Peter, the Apostle, sums it up like this in his Letter, First Peter, chapter 1, verse 14: Like obedient children, don't be conformed to the desires you formally had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct, for it is written “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” My friend, there is something wonderful; utterly sublime, when we roll up our sleeves with God and get to cleaning the inside as well as the outside. And here's the thing: people notice – people sit up and take notice and think to themselves, "There's something different about that person – something good; something I trust; something I want." And there ... right there, we have an ambassador of Christ!   Taking His Love to the Sinners When I used to run an I.T. consulting firm with my business partners, we used to joke that life would be so much easier if we didn't have clients. It's true, it's just not very profitable, I guess. And the same is true when it comes to sinners – you know, those people who drink too much, or they swear too much, or they are just rude or belligerent or a pain in the neck - the most natural thing in the world for someone who loves Jesus, is to kind of recoil from them – to retreat into the holy huddle of Christian friends. I would like to finish off today with a short story about Jesus approach to sinners. It comes from Luke chapter 5 – if you have a Bible, come on, open it up with me – let's go there – it's a confronting and edgy story – gets right in your face, just the way Jesus meant it to be. Come on, let's have a listen. Luke chapter 5, verses 27 to 32: After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And Levi got up, left everything, and followed Jesus. Then Levi gave a great banquet for Jesus in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. The Pharisees and the scribes, well, were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” But Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but the sinners to repentance. Now, here's the thing: the Romans occupied Israel in the first century – this godless empire occupied God's people; God's Promised Land and ruled over them. And the way they collected taxes was effectively, to tender it out to individuals; people like Levi; people who were Jews! They would bid for the right to collect the taxes on behalf of the Romans and the highest bidder would win. And so in order to make a profit, the tax collector would then find all sorts of ways of extorting additional taxes from the people. Now, Levi was sitting in a tax booth, collecting taxes from people who used the road to ship their goods and so forth – a bit like a modern day toll road. And what made it worse, not only did he extort taxes; not only did he cheat and lie but he was working for the Romans – Levi, a Jew, ripping off his fellow Israelites! So, this was not the sort of guy you would want to talk to or have as a friend or approach for any reason whatsoever. But Jesus ... Jesus approached him; Jesus called him, the way a Rabbi calls disciples. Jesus went to this sinner, Levi, this abhorrent, disgusting traitor – as far as all the other Jews were concerned – and not only did He say to Levi, “Follow me,” He went to dinner; a banquet at Levi's house with a whole bunch of other tax collectors. Now the religious people, the Pharisees, instead of saying, "Man, what a great idea – taking the love of God right into the middle of the sinners – loving them, listening to them, healing them, maybe even bringing them to repentance," instead of that, the Pharisees, they found some theological, religious reasons for criticising Jesus. Now, let me ask you this – brutal; right to your face: when it comes to sinners, are you more like Jesus or more like the scribes and Pharisees? Come on! It's a question we need to ask. The thing about an ambassador is that he doesn't stay at home in his own country where he knows everyone; his friends are and he's comfortable – he gets on a plane, with his family, sets up his home right in the middle of this other foreign country that he has been posted to as an ambassador. Get it! You and I, if we truly are Christ's followers, you and I are called to "go". Not to sit at home in our holy huddles were we are comfortable. Don't get me wrong: having Christian friends is great, going to church is great but we're called to live on the mission field – we are called to go to the sinners the way Jesus did. And while sometimes that means going to another part of the world, true, most times it just means touching the colleague at work, inviting over the neighbours next door for a barbecue because you have heard them screaming at each other and their marriage is falling apart and what they need in their lives is Jesus. What they need to know is that He loves them. What they need to have is a personal encounter with the Saviour who came for them. Not just for us, for them – the Saviour who died for them - the Saviour who rose again to give them a new life and an eternal life. What they need – the "Levis" in our world – they need Jesus. So, I am going to ask you again, when it comes to the ‘Levis' in your world, are you Christ to them or are you a Pharisee? Do you go to them with the love of Jesus or do you sit at home with your friends and complain about them? My friend, these people who are hurting, who are dying, who are going to a Christ-less eternity, my friend, they need an ambassador – they need an ambassador of Christ who looks just like you and just like me.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Tonight's show is June 19th. We are all connected. We are talking with Asian and Asian American Children's book authors. PowerLeeGirls host Miko Lee talks with Chi Thai and Livia Blackburne about the power of storytelling, maternal heritage, generational trauma, and much more. Title:  We Are All Connected Show Transcripts Opening: [00:00:00] Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express.   Ayame Keane-Lee: [00:01:17] Welcome to Apex Express. Tonight's show is June 19th. We are all connected. We are talking with Asian and Asian American Children's book authors. PowerLeeGirls host Miko Lee talks with Chi Thai and Livia Blackburne about the power of storytelling, maternal heritage, generational trauma, and much more. First, we want to start by wishing everyone a happy Juneteenth, Juneteenth commemorates, an end to slavery and the emancipation of Black Americans after the Civil War. In 1865, 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved people in Galveston, Texas finally learned of their freedom. Juneteenth marks the day the last enslaved people learned of their freedom. Though outright slavery became illegal, the systematic oppression of African Americans continues to this day. We see that show up in almost every aspect of American culture, from the high rate of infant mortality to the over punishing of Black children in schools, to police brutality, to incarceration. We must continue to recognize the importance of championing Black lives and lifting up Black voices. We are all connected. June 19th is also an important day in Asian American history. In 1982 in Detroit, Vincent Chin was at a bar celebrating his bachelor party prior to his wedding the next day. Ronald Ebens, a white auto worker, and his stepson Michael Nitz taunted Vincent with racial epithets. They thought he was Japanese and were angry about the Japanese rise in the auto industry. When Vincent left the bar later, the two men attacked and killed Vincent with a baseball bat. He was 27 years old. Ronald Ebens never did time for this murder. Ronald Ebens is 85 years old now. Ebens not only skirted prosecution, he has used bankruptcy and homesteading laws in Nevada to avoid a wrongful death civil suit settlement. Ordered by the court in 1987 to pay $1.5 million to Chin's family, the Chin estate has received nothing. Lily Chin, Vincent's mom could have stayed silent about the racist attack on her son. Instead she spoke out. She took a courageous stance to highlight this most painful moment in her life. In doing so, she helped ignite a new generation of Asian American activists working for civil rights and social justice. We find ourselves in a new wave of activism as our communities band together to work against the injustices of the current regime. And what does this have to do with children's books? It is all connected. We highlight children's books by Asian and Asian American authors because we want our next generation of children to know and appreciate their own heritage. We want them to proudly represent who they are so that they can work in solidarity with other peoples. Our struggle is interwoven. As Grace Lee Boggs said, “History is a story not only of the past, but of the future.” Thank you for joining us on apex express. Enjoy the show.   Miko Lee: [00:04:24] First off. Let's take a listen to one of Byron Au Young's compositions called “Know Your Rights” This is part of the trilogy of the Activist Songbook. This multi-lingual rap, give steps to know what to do when ICE officers come to your door.    MUSIC   That was “Know Your Rights” performed by Jason Chu with lyrics by Aaron Jeffries and composed by Byron Au Yong Welcome, Chi Thai to Apex Express.    Chi Thai: [00:07:13] Hello. I'm really happy to be joining you, Miko.  Miko Lee: [00:07:16] I'm really happy to meet you and learn about you as an artist, as a filmmaker, as a children's book author. And I wanna first start with a personal question, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? Chi Thai: [00:07:30] Ooh, what a great question. You know what? I love being asked stuff that hasn't been asked kind of before. I mean, there's a kinda really kinda natural answer to that, which is, you know, family are my people. Of course. 100%. And certainly, you know, the reason why I'm talking to you today, you know, in regard to the, to the book, you know, it's about my family's journey. But I found, and I don't know if this is. Somewhat to do with, you know, being a child of two cultures and you know, being a child of the diaspora that you really have to kind of find your own family too. 'cause I suppose I grew up feeling, I didn't quite relate to maybe my parents in a way that, you know, you normally would if you weren't part of the diaspora. And I felt estranged from my birth country and I didn't really feel like British either a lot of the time. So in terms of like, who are my people? I've gathered those people as I've kind of grown up and it's, it's a kind of strange feeling too. I feel like it's taken me a really long to grow up and to figure out who I am. And I suppose that's why, you know, the people that I have a really, a lot of people that have come, kinda later in my life, I actually have no friends in my childhood as an example of that. I've had to kind of find these people as I've grown up, but it's taken me a long time to grow up because growing up in the UK there wasn't any literature to read about what it was like to be Asian. And British, to be a refugee and things like that. So it just took me longer and I then, as a result, it just took me longer to find my tribe. but I have it now, but it's still work in progress. That was a very convoluted answer. I'm very sorry Miko.    Miko Lee: [00:09:15] No, it wasn't. No worries. It's fine. And what legacy do you carry with you?   Chi Thai: [00:09:19] Kind of an extension to that answer, I think when you're an artist, practicing your voice, figuring out your voice, can take a while. And I think I've only really started maybe the last like five to 10 years at the most really figured out what I want my legacy to be. The things I wanna talk about are really about s tories from the diaspora, certainly, and about community and healing. These are the things I think that are really important to me, especially when we talk about maybe coming from struggle. I don't feel it's enough to be an artist today and just talk about struggle. I want to talk about justice as well. And justice really is about healing, you know?    Miko Lee: [00:10:00] Oh, that's beautiful. Can you talk a little bit more about that healing and what that means to you and how that shows up in your work?    Chi Thai: [00:10:07] A couple years ago, no, not even that long ago, I produced a, a feature film. This is probably the best example for it, but I produced a feature film called Raging Grace, which we called it Horror with a small H and it. Basically took the story of what it was like to be, undocumented Filipina in the uk who was also a mother. And I think if that film had been made 10 years ago, it would just shown how hard her life was, and unrelentingly. So, and I think the reason why Raising Grace is so special is it goes beyond the trauma, it takes us to a place of justice, of being able to speak out for someone who has felt invisible, to be visible for someone who's not. Had a voice, to have a voice and to begin that kind of healing process of sticking up for herself, making a change transforming herself from maybe the good immigrant to the bad immigrant and things like that. I think that's a really great example and I think I read a really wonderful thing. It might have been in a Guardian article where we, so a lot of my work is around, inclusion representation of like diasporic stories. And I think when you have, when you exist in the poverty of like representation, I. the solution to that is plentitude. I think that Viet Thanh Nguyen probably said that, so I don't wanna take credit for it. He comes up with so many wonderful things, and that's a wonderful thing to be able to move from poverty, like to plentitude and that be the solution, is kinda really wonderful. So I enjoy being really prolific. I enjoy supporting artists to be able to do their work. So as a community, we can also be prolific and I wanna support, narratives that. Take us beyond a place of struggle and trauma to a place of like healing and justice and so forth.    Miko Lee: [00:11:57] Your work crosses so many genres. You were just mentioning how that film was kind of a horror film and, and then you've done these kind of dreamy animation pieces and then now this children's book. Do you select the genre and the format and the medium, or does it select you?   Chi Thai: [00:12:16] Oh, I think the story chooses it. I like 100% believe that. I just actually was thinking about this 'cause I was doing an interview on something else, people, often ask about the creative process and I, can only speak for my own. But usually when I get an idea for a story, the general shape of it comes almost like really well formed. There's a sense of a lready kinda what genre it'll be. There's a sense of the character, there's a sense of the journey and all these things. I felt the same about, writing The Endless Sea I knew it would be from the voice of a child. This probably sounds like my creative process is terrible, but it was just. This is how it was going to be. That kind of part was writing itself, or at least I feel that it'd been writing itself like that in my subconscious for many, many years before it kind of surfacing and writing. Like the writing bit is just the tip of the iceberg at the end of the day. there wasn't like a kind of decision about that. the story in that sense was quite intact. So I often feel like the story is demanding something about kind genre and for, for Raging Grace 'cause I've talked about this a lot, not just in listen to me, but other things. But we always said like if you are an an undocumented person, every breath you take is taken in a hostile environment. It's so natural for it to be a horror. So there's not a sense that you kinda decide that it's like that is the very reality of someone who's going, you know, that's their lived experience. And if you're going to represent that truthfully, it will be through the prism of horror. And I suppose that's how I think about genre. the story is kind of telling you what it needs to tell its emotional truth. and I felt that way, with The Endless Sea same thing with the Raging Grace, with Lullaby. And I think you talked about The Promise, I suppose I, with The Promise, which is an adaptation I had less choice about that because that was a book and it was a adapted into an animation. I've heard Nicola, who's the author of the book, talk about that and she talks about like the story coming to her in a dream and tiptoeing down her arm coming onto the page, she like describes it really beautifully. so maybe our processes are the same. It feels that way. there's not long deliberations. I mean, that's not to say the writing process isn't difficult. It is. But that, I've never found the, [genre] the difficulty or the bit that's required a lot of, I don't know soul searching with it.    Miko Lee: [00:14:28] So with that being said, how did Endless Sea your latest children's book? How did that tiptoe into your imagination?    Chi Thai: [00:14:36] This is a strange one because this is probably the closest thing to like, almost autobiographical work. What I can say is like, it's the true story o f how I and my family, which would've been at the time my mom and dad, my older sister, me, how we fled Vietnam after the fall of an Saigon. we actually left quite late we left in 1979 w hen things were tr were getting truly, truly, truly, quite terrible. And, this was very much a last resort. I think my parents would try to make things work, but realized that they couldn't. This journey that we took on these, boats that were made badly, made poorly, that many of which sank has become almost like the genesis story of our family. It's like it's a big, it has a long shadow, right? Ever since you know I, it is like the first story that I can remember. It's one of the few stories my mom would tell me again and again when we, when they see their old friends, it's something they talk about. So it's something that has happened to it to us, but it's such a big thing that it's just, echoed In my life growing up, as I've you know, got older and older, and the wonderful thing about having a story kinda live with you eventually it's in your blood and in your bones, but also if it's a thing that's kinda shared with you again and again, you actually build up this, there's something about the repetition of it, and then every time you hear it told from an uncle or a family friend or from your mom, a new little detail is embroidered that someone adds. So I've kinda lived with this story for 40 plus years and I've been collecting all these little things about it all this time and all that time it was, I think, kind of just writing itself, you know? You know, it was doing all that work before I actually put like pen to paper. Um, yeah.    Miko Lee: [00:16:31] Was there a catalyst or something that made you actually put the pen to paper?   Chi Thai: [00:16:36] That's really interesting. You know, I probably don't mind it is probably something really banal like. I think I probably wrote it during Covid and I had more time. Um, I think there are probably be some bigger forces in place. And you know what, I can tell you what it is actually if I'm, I'm forcing myself to think and examine a bit closer so when this is totally true. So I remember hearing the news about Viet Thanh Nguyen win winning the Pulitzer for The Sympathizer. And it made such a mark on me and I kind of felt, wow, someone from our community has achieved this incredible thing. And I thought, why? Why now? Like, and I was like, well, you know what? It's probably taken our community certain amount of time to come of age, to develop not just the abilities to write, to create, to make art, but also to have possibly the relationships or networks in place to be able to then make the art and get it out into the world. And I kind of felt when he was able to do that and came of age, I kind of felt there was going to be like other people from the kind of diasporic Vietnamese community that would also start to flourish. And that made me feel really good. About probably being a bit older than the average kind of artist, like making their, kinda like their pieces and everything and saying, you know what? My time can be now. It's okay. And I just find it just really inspiring that, you know our community was kind of growing, growing up, coming of age and being able to do these, these things And I kind of felt like it had given me the permission, I suppose the, the confidence to go, “Oh this story that I've been carrying my whole life, which I don't really see a version of out there I can write that and now I can write it and I'm the right person to write it.” And I had just done The Promise so I had a relationship with Walker. I was like, I have a, you know, a relationship with the publisher. I feel my writing is matured. Like I can do this. And so it was like a culmination and, you know, convergence of those things. And, but I do remember having that thought thinking, “This is a good time to be alive in our community 'cause we're actually able to make our art and get it out there now.” I, I felt it was like a real watershed moment really.   Miko Lee: [00:19:11] What made you decide to do it in this format as a Little Kid's Children's Illustrated book? We were talking earlier about how to, to me, this is the first more realistic version of a boat people experience in a very little kid's voice. What made you decide to do it in this style?    Chi Thai: [00:19:33] So interesting. At the same time, I was writing The Endless Sea. I was writing also the script for a short film, which is called Lullaby, which is takes an incident that happened on my boat but expresses it as a film, as a little kinda horror kinda drama, but a kid cannot watch that. It's like too terrifying. Um, and I wrote, you know, The Endless Sea at the same time. And again, I can't, it's really hard for me to articulate. I just knew it was gonna be a kid's book, like, and I knew it'd be written from the voice of a kid, and I didn't actually, can I say I didn't even ascribe a particular kind of value to that. It wasn't until I had started conversations with the publisher they're like, you know, we see like there's a really high, like this is really great that it's written in the voice of the kid. It somehow gives it something else. Something more is something kind of special. I didn't set out to like, overthink, like what was the most effective way to tell this story? I, I think I just told the story as honestly as I could, you know, with the words that I felt that, you know, I had in me to de, you know, to describe it. In the most authentic way to, to me. And like I say, at the same time, I knew, like I knew that was a kid's book. There was another part of that I wanted to express that was really important to me and that was survivor's guilt. But that I felt was like, that was a horror, so that was really not gonna be suitable for kids. So I was definitely thinking about lots of things to do with the same subject of the same time, but they were definitely being expressed in different ways. And again, Lullaby came to me very kind of quickly, almost fully formed. And I knew, you know, it would be a ghost story. I knew it would be the story of a mother and things like that. And I often maybe, you know, I should, I, I should interrogate more, but I kinda, I take these kinda. These ideas, which are quite well shaped and, and then I just like lean into them more and more and more. But they, the way they arrive it, I've kinda, I, I can see a lot of what is already about to unfold.   Miko Lee: [00:21:43] And do you still dream about that experience of being on the boat as a kid?    Chi Thai: [00:21:52] It's, it's a really difficult thing to explain because you know that that happened now so long ago, and I've probably heard the story thousands of times. I've watched all the terrible Hollywood movies, I've seen all the news clippings, I've watched all the archive. I've listened to, you know, people talk, and I have my own memories and I look at photographs and I have memories of looking at photographs. I feel like, you know, my memory is really unreliable, but what it is instead is it's this, this kind of, kind of tapestry of, you know, of the story of memories, of, you know, images as I grow up of hearing the story, like all coming together. One of the things I did when I wrote, I wrote The Endless Sea, is I then went back to my mom and I did a recorded interview with her 'cause I was really worried about how unreliable my memory might be. And I interviewed her and I asked a lot of questions and I said, and I, it was like, you know, in the way I would've just like listened to the story quite passively before this time I interviewed her and I asked a lot of questions about details and all sorts of things. 'cause I really wanted to be able to represent things, you know, as factually as I could. And that was kinda one of my kinda kind of fact checking kinda exercises I did 'cause I was, I was much quite worried about how unreliable my memory was about it all. And you know, what is, what is a memory of a memory of memory, like, you know, especially when it comes to thinking about that time on the boat and the feelings I had. Yeah. So, you know,    Miko Lee: [00:23:34] and you were so young also to    Chi Thai: [00:23:37] Totally 100%. And sometimes, I don't know, you know, is it a memory of a memory? Is it a dream of a dream?   Miko Lee: [00:23:44] Mm-hmm.    Chi Thai: [00:23:44] Or just some, yeah.   Miko Lee: [00:23:46] Was there anything that your mom said that surprised you?    Chi Thai: [00:23:50] Yeah. Um, she didn't realize how bad it was gonna be and she was like, “God, if it, I'd known how terrifying it was I dunno if I, we could have done it.” I think there's a certain amount of naivety involved and I suppose that surprised me. You know? 'cause we know already now how bad it was. Um, so things like that surprised me.    Miko Lee: [00:24:15] and your mom, the dedication of the book is to your mom. What does she think when she first read it?    Chi Thai: [00:24:22] I've got a funny story. My parents, you know, they, we left, they were in their early twenties and I think it was, you know, the escape was hard for them, but settling in new country was really hard for them. That's. That's been kind of their struggle. They had to work so hard, so many hours to kind of, you know, give us a great life. And, I think a lot of that meant they weren't people that could go out, enjoy, enjoy movies, look at art, read lots of literature and things like that. They're very, very simple, very working class. Simple life or working class kinda life. Very much all about, uh, the work. Um, and I remember when I had a, the publisher had made like a mockup of the book and I gave it to my mum to read 'cause I wanted her to be happy about it too, and she's probably been my toughest critic. I think everything I've done, she hasn't really liked, to be honest. Um, and when I gave her the mockup to read. She went, “Yeah,” but she said it in such a way I knew what she meant was Yeah, that's right. You know, that's the truth. That's the, you know, the book isn't the testimony, but it felt like she was saying yeah. It was like the simple kind of approval. It wasn't like a lot    Miko Lee: [00:25:50] That is the most Asian mom's approval ever.    Chi Thai: [00:25:54] It's so funny, like people say to me, oh Chi, it's such a beautiful book. Oh, the writing so lit, like lyrical. It's stripped back, it's elegant. Like, you know, Viet Thanh Nguyen , like God bless his like consults, gave me a comment to put in the book, said these wonderful things, and my mom goes, “yeah.”. You know, it made me laugh at the time, but I knew what it meant. And I also was old enough, I was mature enough, you know, God, if she'd given me that, if I'd been 20 written that I might have cried and my heart might have broken. Right. But I, I knew I had, I've so much compassion, you know, for my parents. Mm-hmm. And people like my parents, what they've been through and, you know, but    Miko Lee: [00:26:38] That was incredibly high praise for her.    Chi Thai: [00:26:40] It was, I couldn't have asked more.   Miko Lee: [00:26:47] Oh, I totally get that. I think that's such an Asian thing. That is so funny.    Chi Thai: [00:26:53] It is, it is. I didn't feel bad. I, I remember showing her Lullaby, um, and she didn't like it at all.    Miko Lee: [00:27:02] What did she say? What is her not like voice? What did she say to that?    Chi Thai: [00:27:05] Oh, she. Well, firstly, she, well, the, the film is almost silent because basically it tells a story. It's inspired by a mother that was on our boat who lost her baby on the border crossing, and I was very much ever, for as long as I knew about this woman's story, I was like, I was very much haunted by it, and I was haunted by, you know, the fact that that's how she felt and her guilt. Over losing her baby on this journey. And I knew, I knew I wanted to tell her story. 'cause one of the things I feel very strongly about is when you are on the losing side. So I'm from South Vietnam, like that's not the, you know, that's not the story that's told, the story is told of who triumphs at the end of the day. And I was just like all those people that we lost at sea, this mother, her baby. The stories kind of aren't told. So I kind of felt really strongly that this was somehow a very creative way to put down like a, an historical record like this happened. And actually I found out after making the film that five babies were lost in our boat, not just one.   Miko Lee: [00:28:24] Wow. So what did she say, your mom say?   Chi Thai: [00:28:28] Yes. So I made this film, which was for the most part, a silent film. This is a woman that's shut down. She barely speaks anymore. She is living with the guilt ever. You know, when she was on the boat before her baby died, she sang a lullaby, and ever since then, she hasn't been able to speak again. And then we find out that she has been haunted by the ghost of her child that she lost. And then a bit too, you know, to kind of free herself from that. She, she actually sings, you know, the, the film culminates in her singing the Luby one last time. S saying Goodbye finally being able to move beyond her Gild and I Griffin, saying goodbye and hoping she's able to, you know, progress. So I made a film about that was largely silence except for this lullaby, and my mum watched it. She went, next time you make a film, you know you need more words. I was just like, oh, I think my heart probably did crumple off a bit a bit at that point.    Miko Lee: [00:29:30] Aw.    Chi Thai: [00:29:31] You know? Um, but yeah. But yeah, it's okay. It's okay because you know what? My mom doesn't get to see stuff like that very often. So sometimes she doesn't have the wider, and this is why, I mean, like, the life that she's had, you know, hasn't been one where she's been able to surround herself with, oh, I'm so lucky. You know, my life has been so different, but it's been different. Different because of, you know what she's, what she's done for us, so it's okay. I can take it on the chin when she says my film doesn't have enough dialogue in it.    Miko Lee: [00:30:04] I love that. For you, have you had conversations with your mom about your life as an artist, and what are her thoughts on that?   Chi Thai: [00:30:16] Well say. So I, so my mom, I don't really like, you know, she's probably not that into it. I'll be honest about being an artist. I can understand why she wants you to have a good life. And I would say for the most part, being an artist is, is a, is a tough life because it's hard to make, you know, the, the pennies work, right?   Miko Lee: [00:30:44] She wants stability for you, right?    Chi Thai: [00:30:45] Yeah, exactly. But she's made a peace with it. And basically what happened, I think all the best story is gonna be about my mom, right? Is that she basically, I, I, um, I have a partner, we've been together for 15 years. Um, he's a really nice guy and he has a reliable job and we have two kids together and i,    Miko Lee: [00:31:08] So that makes it okay.   Chi Thai: [00:31:10] So yeah, this is what I was saying. So she said to me like. It doesn't really matter what you do now. 'cause she, you are already peaked. You're somebody's wife. We're not married. But she told everyone in Vietnam we were married 'cause she couldn't cope with this not being like having kids out of wedlock. In her head. She's rewritten that we are married. Right. She's like, you are married, you're somebody's wife and you mother, it doesn't get better than that. So if you are an artist or if you're a filmmaker, whatever, it doesn't matter. 'cause nothing can be better than that. Right. So she's accepted on the basis that I've already fulfilled, kind of my promise.   Miko Lee: [00:31:46] Wow. Interesting.    Chi Thai: [00:31:50] And she means that in the nicest possible way.    Miko Lee: [00:31:52] Yeah.    Chi Thai: [00:31:52] That she feels like you have a home, you have stability, you have someone who loves you, you know, you have a, a purpose in life, but really her value, you know, the way, I think, the way she measures my value is like, that's how she looks at it. The, the art is something else.    Miko Lee: [00:32:10] Well, I really appreciate you sharing your art with us in the world and your various, um, genres and styles. And I'm wondering how our audience can find out more about your work. Clearly we'll put links to where people can buy the book and let's see, but how do they find out more about your films?   Chi Thai: [00:32:28] Um, so that like, because it is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in 2025. Actually the very anniversary of that is the tomorrow, the 30th, April, right? Um, you can watch Lullaby on Altar, which is a YouTube channel. Um, and I can give you the link for it. Rating Grace is on Paramount Plus if you want to, if you've got Paramount Plus, but you can also buy it from all the usual kind of places too. Um, and you know, and we'll see us from all great book stockists, I imagine in, in the us.   Miko Lee: [00:33:07] Thank you so much. Um, I'd love to get, I'd love for you to send me the link so I could put 'em in the show notes. I really appreciate chatting with you today. Um, is there anything else you'd like to share?    Chi Thai: [00:33:19] Um, no, I think, I think that's good. Your, your questions are so good. Mika, I'm already like, kinda like processing them all. Uh, yes.    Miko Lee: [00:33:30] Well, it was a delight to chat with you and to learn more about your artistic vision, and my wishes are that you continue to grow and feel blessed no matter what your mama says, because deep down, she's still proud of you. Even if she doesn't say it out loud.    Chi Thai: [00:33:47] I believe it. I totally believe it.    Miko Lee: [00:33:50] Yay. Thank you so much for spending time with us on Apex Express.Next up, listen to stay, go from dark heart, a concert narrative by singer and songwriter Golda Sargento.   MUSIC   That was the voice of Golda Sargento from the new Filipino futurism punk rock sci-fi dark heart. Welcome, Livia Blackburne Children's book, author of Nainai's Mountain. Welcome to Apex Express.    Livia Blackburne: [00:38:56] Thank you so much for having me.    Miko Lee: [00:38:58] I wanna start with a personal question, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you?    Livia Blackburne: [00:39:05] I am Chinese American, and so I carry the stories of my grandparents who fled China to Taiwan, fled that war. And I also carry the stories of my parents and myself who immigrated. To America, and I am, I grew up in New Mexico, so I have fond memories of green chili and new Mexican food. I went to college, Harvard and MIT on the east coast. So I've got a bit of that kind of ivory tower. And now I'm in LA and, you know, my people are, my family and my community, the writing community here. So I, I'm a big mix. Yes.    Miko Lee: [00:39:44] What legacy do you carry with you?    Livia Blackburne: [00:39:47] I mentioned a bit of my grandparents and my parents. What they went through in the war in China, and then my parents and me coming here. the experience of being here in two worlds, coming from Taiwan having that cultural background and also, growing up in the United States. The culture I've been surrounded with here as well.    Miko Lee: [00:40:06] Thank you so much for sharing. Can you tell us about your new illustrated children's book? Nainai's Mountain. What inspired this work?    Livia Blackburne: [00:40:14] The story of this book actually started with another book that is coming out in a couple years that actually I can't share too much about. My grandparents fled the war in China and then my. Parents grew up in Taiwan and I wanted to preserve that family story. My parents are getting older. So I started doing oral interviews with my parents about their childhood, what it was like, growing up. I wouldn't say they weren't refugees in Taiwan. It's a very complicated political situation, but they were transplants to Taiwan, and what it was like growing up there, their daily life. What kind of things they did when they were a child, their pastimes, I wanted to preserve their stories and I got a lot of great material., A lot of that is going into a novel that I'm currently working on. But also as I worked on it, there were so many great details that I thought would be really good in a picture book as well. Also, I'm a mother now. I have an 8-year-old daughter, and she is half Caucasian, half Asian. She has never gone to Taiwan before and I. As I'm writing this, I'm thinking, it would be really great to, I do want to share Taiwan and, my own childhood, home with her at some point. And so I start imagining what would it be like to bring her back to Taiwan and show her everything. And that became the seed for Nainai's Mountain, which is a. Story of a girl visiting Taiwan for the first time with her grandmother. And her grandmother shows her around and tells her stories about her childhood, and the girl through her grandmother's eyes, sees Taiwan, you know, for the beautiful place that it is.    Miko Lee: [00:41:56] You also wrote the book I Dream of Popo. How are these companions to each other and also for audiences that might not speak Chinese. One is a grandmother on the mother's side, and the other is the grandmother on the father's side. Can you talk about how I dream of Popo is linked to Nainai's Mountain?   Livia Blackburne: [00:42:15] Thank you for pointing that out. Yes. So Popo is maternal grandmother, and Nainai is a paternal grandmother. And that is a fantastic question. So I dream of popo is kind of my story. So it's about a little girl who moves from Taiwan , to the United States and it's about her relationship with her grandmother who stays in Taiwan. And it talks about, how a close relationship, navigating long geographical distances about the language barrier that comes up. And that was very much me, Nainai's Mountain. It's kind of like Popo in reverse, you know, it's now it's someone going back to Taiwan and kind of getting in touch with those roots. That, as I mentioned, that's inspired by my daughter. And you'll see in Nainai's Mountain, I specified that the child should be, half Asian, half Caucasian. Because, I wanted more of that representation in the children's literature.    Miko Lee: [00:43:07] Thank you. I, I wonder if you could talk a little bit about the artistic style. So you are the author, but you had different illustrators for both of the books and the style is really different. The in, when I look at Nainai's Mountain, which I'm holding here, it's sort of collage and really vibrant colors. Where I Dream of Popo has a different, more. I'm almost realistic, kind of look to it. And I'm wondering what your process was like in collaborating with illustrators.    Livia Blackburne: [00:43:37] That's one of the best things about being a picture book author, is that you get to collaborate with so many illustrators and they all have such different styles, such different visions. Most of the time it's the publisher who chooses the illustrator, although they. Consult me usually. My editor for I Dream of Popo picked Julia Kuo. And she sent me samples and I loved it. And, it was great. I'm friends with Julia now and that book did really well. It was very well known, especially in kind of Taiwanese American, Asian American circles. And so when I did, Nainai's mountain, that was with a different publishing house and my editor. He very consciously said, you know, because it's also a book about Taiwan and a grandmother. We don't want to get it confused with I dream of Popo. So, we made a conscious decision to pick an artist with a very different style and Joey Chou is fantastic. He's very well known for his Disney art. You can see his art in a lot of the hotels and cruise ships. And, he, very bright, vibrant, and I, he's also from Taiwan. I think he did a fantastic job.   Miko Lee: [00:44:41] And have the artistic work ever surprised you as being really different from your imagination while you were writing?    Livia Blackburne: [00:44:48] That's a great question. I don't think they've ever surprised me. By being different. They surprised me in the specifics that they've chosen. For example, I dream of Popo. Julia, spent a lot of time in Taiwan and she put in these great, Taiwan details that, you know, if you're from Taiwan, you would know for sure. There's like a specific brand of rice cooker called the rice cooker, and she has one there and like the giant bag of rice in the corner, and the calendar on the wall.   Miko Lee: [00:45:16] Even the specificities of the food and the trays and everything is quite lovely.    Livia Blackburne: [00:45:20] Yeah, yeah. You know, every time I read that, I look at that spread, I get hungry. So surprise there. And, with Joey, I, I love how he does the different, there's kind of flashback pictures and there's, pictures now and. The thing about him, his color, I just love the color that he put in from the greens, of Taiwan to kind of the bright fluorescent lights, neon lights of Taipei, and then there's kind of the slight sepia tones of the past and he just, you know, brings it so to life so well.   Miko Lee: [00:45:49] I didn't know he was a Disney animator, but it totally makes sense because it feels very layered. It does feel animated in a way and kind of alive. So I appreciate that.   Livia Blackburne: [00:45:59] I'm not sure. If he's an animator. He does a lot of art for the theme parks and like products and the cruise ships and stuff. I'm not sure.    Miko Lee: [00:46:07] Oh, interesting.   Livia Blackburne: [00:46:07] He does like movies and  stuff.    Miko Lee: [00:46:08] Interesting. It looks like animation though. Your book.    Livia Blackburne: [00:46:13] It does look very, yeah. Lively. Mm-hmm.    Miko Lee: [00:46:16] That I'm looking forward to that series. That would be so cute. The grandmother series as a whole little mini series traveling to different places. can you tell us about your new book, Dreams to Ashes? Has that been released yet?   Livia Blackburne: [00:46:29] Dreams to Ashes? That has been released that, released about a month before Nainai's Mountain. Yeah, that one's quite a bit different. So that one is a nonfiction book and it's a picture book, and it's about the Los Angeles massacre of 1871. Whenever people, I tell people about that, they're like, wait, you wrote a picture book about a massacre? Which is slightly counterintuitive. So I never knew about the Los Angeles massacre growing up. And, and, given that I am a Chinese person in Los Angeles, that is kind of weird. Basically, it was a race massacre that occurred. One of the biggest mass lynchings in history, uh, where there was a between two rival Chinese organizations and a white bystander was killed. And because of that, , a mob formed and they rounded the Chinese population up basically. And. Blame them for that death. In the end, 18 Chinese men were killed and only one of them were involved in the original gunfight. It was a horrible tragedy. And unfortunately, as often happened with these kind of historical tragedies in our country, nobody was really punished for it. A few men were indicted and convicted, but their convictions were overturned and it just kind of disappeared into history. And it really struck me that, you know, nobody knew about this. I wanted to kind of bring this to light and unfortunately when I was writing it, it was also, during the Covid pandemic and, I was seeing a lot of anti-Asian rhetoric, anti-Asian hate crimes were going up. And I saw so many parallels between what happened. Back then, because, you know, Chinese people specifically were being vilified , they were being called immoral, stealing people's jobs. And you can see in the years before the massacre the newspapers were saying horrible things and, you know, the hate was just becoming very strong and all that exploded one night into an unspeakable tragedy. Unfortunately as an author, you want your work to be relevant, but sometimes you don't want your work to be relevant in this way. Right. Nowadays I'm seeing so much rhetoric again against immigrants and not of many ethnicities. And in some ways I'm sad. That, this is happening now. And I also hope that this book will contribute to the conversation and show how the danger of racism and xenophobia and hate and what, what can happen because of that.   Miko Lee: [00:48:55] So this occurred in the late 1800s, right? Was it before the Chinese Exclusion Act?    Livia Blackburne: [00:49:03] Yes, it was before the Chinese Exclusion Act. So you'd hope that people kinda learn from these things. And it was just kind of one of the, one of the horrible things that happened on the way to the Chinese Exclusion Act and Chinese immigrants being excluded basically Chinese laborers at least.   Miko Lee: [00:49:23] Oh wow. Okay. I'm looking this up now. And 1882 we know was the Chinese Exclusion Act and this incident actually happened in 1871. Yes. A decade beforehand, Helen Zia always talks about these moments that are missing. MIH missing in history and this is clearly another one of, another time of just wiping out a population.I'm wondering if you could speak a little bit more about how Children's Books can make a difference in the world that we're currently living in, where our government is banning books and you know that there's a narratives that they want to align with a certain kind of conservative ideology. Can you talk about the power of being a Children's Book author in this time that we're living in right now? . I'm really thinking about dreams to Ashes and even I dream of Popo and even Nainai's Mountain, which you would think, oh, they're, you, they're visiting their grandparent, their grandmothers, that would not be controversial. But now when even words like inclusion and diversity are threatened and books are being banned, I'm just wondering if you could. Share a little bit more about your superpower as a children's book author?    Livia Blackburne: [00:50:31] Yeah, that's a fantastic question. We live in a time right now, there's, a lot of hate, a lot of intolerance, a lot of fear of different people groups. And a lot of that I think is because people are unfamiliar with people unlike themselves. They see. People who are different, look differently, act differently, speak differently, and it scares them. And I think the best way to get around that is to actually get to know people of other backgrounds, to see them as human. And I think that's where children's books come in. ‘Cause we don't, children are not born. With this hate of the other. They learn it. But, if they grow up being familiar with people of different backgrounds seeing their stories seeing them as, normal human beings, which, should be obvious, but sometimes it's hard, for adults to realize. Then, I'm hoping, as a children's book author that it will lead to a more empathetic world. And perhaps that's why the government sometimes in certain groups are wanting to, censor this and control the flow of children's books because, children are the most their minds are still open. They're still able to learn.    Miko Lee: [00:51:48] And Livia, tell us what you're working on next.   Livia Blackburne: [00:51:53] So right now I am. Working on a historical middle grade. We haven't quite announced it yet, so I can't say the title or too many details, but it is based on my family history of my parents and grandparents who moved from China to Taiwan after the civil War.   Miko Lee: [00:52:12] Please check out our website, kpfa.org. To find out more about our show tonight. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world because your voices are important. Apex Express is created by Miko Lee, Jalena Keane-Lee, Preti Mangala-Shekar, Swati Rayasam, Aisa Villarosa, Estella Owoimaha-Church, Gabriel Tanglao, Cheryl Truong and Ayame Keane-Lee.   The post APEX Express – 6.19.25 We Are All Connected appeared first on KPFA.

Hot patootie, bless my soul! Because we're joined by the legendary Aussie actor, Steve Bastoni! (Say what?! *faints*) This week, everybody's favourite former-Neighbour, Matrix reloader, and Bad Boy Prophet of Doom joins AW to review the Prophets of Rage's sole titular effort, before praying-upon Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom with the original Australian cast.Plus, we chat wrestling crocs, Steve's awkward experiences performing as the titular Rocky Horror, playing real-life criminals, the Peninsula Film Festival, honesty with mates, why we don't need to see people make omelettes, being mistaken for characters, and heaps more in this stunningly honest and warm interview!--SOCIALS--Steve: https://www.instagram.com/stevebastoni/Peninsula Film Festival: https://www.peninsulafilmfestival.com.au/Disney's Hercules on the West End Tickets: https://www.herculesthemusical.co.uk/TnT/Bloop Networkhttps://www.thetonastontales.com/listen -- https://www.patreon.com/bloomingtheatricals - https://twitter.com/thrashntreasurehttps://linktr.ee/thrashntreasure*****Help support Thrash 'n Treasure and keep us on-air, PLUS go on a fantastical adventure at the same time!Grab your copy of The Tonaston Tales by AW, and use the code TNT20 when you check out for 20% off eBooks and Paperbacks!https://www.thetonastontales.com/bookstore - TNT20 *****#saveneighbours!  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Never Have I Ever.Cass finds the stud in her buddy Andrew.Based on a post by SmallTownPrincess. Listen to the Podcast at My first Time.Cassie gasped, jumping in her seat as the clap of thunder and splitting bolt of lightning across the screen lit the theater like daylight for an instant. In her momentary panic, she grabbed at the armrest, the fingers of her left hand finding instead the warm forearm of her fellow movie-goer and best friend, Andrew.Their met eyes for a moment, hers still wide with residual surprise and his glittering with amusement. With a blush for her silly panic and for the unexpected touch, she took her hand away, crossing her arms across her stomach and turning her face back to the screen.Recently, for reasons she couldn't entirely understand, Cassie had begun to feel awkward around Andrew.Too often she found herself blushing for small things, or giggling nervously, or losing the courage to do things like brush a hand through his hair or jump on his back for a piggy-back ride; things that a few months earlier she would have done without thinking.It was their stupid friend Margaret who'd started it, with her talk of "friends with benefits." Cassie had never considered the idea that her tall, gangly Andy could be, as Margaret had put it, "a certified hottie." They'd been friends for so long that she could no longer hold herself far enough away from him to be able to see him with an objective, appraising eye.Andrew's lips suddenly brushed her ear as he leaned over close to whisper to her, and she nearly jumped again. "The scary part's coming," he murmured, offering his shoulder as a place for her to hide her eyes.Ah, this was why she loved him so. Who else would understand how much she loved horror films; and how deeply they terrified her? Who would take the time to go to these films first without her, then come back to see them a second time, ready to point out all the really horrific scenes so that she could hide her face and not be scarred beyond belief?No doubt he would also stay with her after the movie tonight, curled in an uncomfortable ball on the floor next to her bed to act as her protector. He snored and drooled and would probably sleep through the apocalypse, but somehow having him there still made her feel better.When the film ended, the heroine narrowly escaping by boat as the only survivor, Cassie and Andrew filed out into the chilly, early autumn night. Cassie shivered, and Andrew dropped a friendly arm around her shoulders."Did you like it?" Cassie asked."It was alright. Definitely better this time than when I watched it by myself. Your reactions are priceless," Andrew said with a laugh."I can't help it! I jump at the jumps, I'm scared of the scary parts; that's what's supposed to happen when you go see a horror movie!""I wasn't complaining. I'm amused.""Hey, I saw you jump a little when he came out from under the shed to grab that girl's ankles.""Strictly for your benefit. I am never scared.""Oh? Well, good. You can stay up and keep watch tonight. Make sure no creepers come in my house in the middle of the night to chop me up for their stew."Andrew stifled a yawn, shaking his head. "An all-night vigil? Fat chance of that. You'd have to stay up with me."Immediately, Cassie began to think of ways she might keep him awake, each a little more risqué than the last, and she blushed again. What was it about him tonight that made her think such silly thoughts? He was joking with her, being her almost-brotherly friend as he always had been. The flirtatious edge was something she was imagining, she knew."Whatever you want, just keep the monsters away from me!" Cassie cried with a melodramatic wave of her arms. She ducked out from under his arm, darted the last few feet to the door of his car and leapt inside.The drive to her house was quiet, each of them thinking their own private thoughts in companionable silence. Once they got to the house, Cassie began to feel again a twinge of that fear she had experienced in the theater. The darkness, the quiet, the sense of waiting, it unnerved her enough that she let Andrew lead the way through the front door, clinging to his arm as if that would save her if some slasher movie antagonist were waiting on the other side."I don't want to go to sleep yet," Cassie said as they marched to her room, Andrew turning on lights as they went. "I'm all antsy. Let's play a game or something, huh?"Cassie had a grand total of three board games, one of which was nothing more than a sticky Candy Land board, devoid of any cards or playing pieces; there was little there with which to while away the evening hours."Let's play Never Have I Ever," Cassie suggested, and Andrew shrugged, his preferred signal of acquiescence.They sat on either end of her bed, both cross-legged, facing each other and hugging pillows in their laps. Each of them held up all ten fingers, ready to play."Never have I ever...read Hamlet," Andrew said by way of starting. Cassie shook her head."No, that's boring!""What? We always do stuff like that.""I know! Let's talk about something more fun than our reading lists and bodily functions." She eyed him beadily, daring him to repeat his disgusting scatological comments from the last time they'd played this game."Like what?""Like..." Cassie considered and discarded a dozen suggestions instantly, filing them away as either too mild or far too dirty. "Like, never have I ever kissed someone below the chin.""Really, never?""Never ever.""I'm not putting a finger down for that. It's dumb. You can't seriously have gotten to be nearly twenty years old and never done that.""But I haven't!""Come here. Kiss me right here on the neck, and then think of another one." He was laughing, but he did lean forward and pull his shirt away from the side of his neck, clearly intending for her to follow through.With another blush; would they never stop?; she bent and pressed her lips quickly to the spot where his neck met his shoulder. It was brief, but she was still pleasantly surprised by how warm his skin was there."Alright, now think of a better one than that," Andrew said with another laugh, sitting back."I can't think of anything. You say one.""Alright, fine. Never have I ever...made out with a hot girl who was sober."It was Cassie's turn to laugh. "Wait, how many drunk hot girls have you made out with?""Just one, but she was scorching.""Oh, prettier than me, huh?" She meant it as a joke, but her tone fell a little short of the levity she was going for, and she ended up sounding a great deal more jealous than she felt."Well, no, I mean, not prettier than you, per se..."Cassie gave him her most dramatic look of mock-hurt. "You don't think I'm pretty, Andrew?""Are you kidding? You're beautiful, Cass. But you're...you know...you're Cassie."A jolt of something like fear, but entirely not, shot through Cassie's stomach. He'd never said that before, that she was beautiful. True, he'd qualified it, but at the same time...he thought she was beautiful. Her face warmed."I'm tempted to make you make out with me and pick another one, just because you were so obnoxious about mine," Cassie said, laughing.Andrew laughed once, but then his smile became something decidedly more inviting."Oh, really? That wasn't obnoxious. I was merely pointing out that there are things in this life that you should have done in your teenage years.""And making out with a girl with no alcohol involved is definitely something you should have done. I still have another couple months before I'm out of my teens. You've missed the boat already! Anything you do now is necessary just to catch up.""So you think I should have done...this?" He rolled up onto his hands and knees, which put his face directly in front of hers, an inch or two away. After a pause, their lips touched, and in her surprise at the suddenness of it she broke the kiss to suck in a startled breath.He backed away a couple of inches, thinking he'd startled her unpleasantly, but Cassie followed him, leaning forward until they were separated by a mere sliver of air. Andrew kissed her again, softly at first, but then inspiration seemed to strike, and he sat up a little, putting his hands on either side of her face to hold her to him. When he finally released her, both of them were breathing a little harder, eyes a little wide, movements a little uncertain."So," Andrew said, clearing his throat and sitting back. "So, I guess I can't use that one anymore. Unless you've been drinking, of course?" Still too stunned to react properly to his comic jabs, she merely shook her head. "I thought not. You're not alcoholic enough to sneak a flask into a movie theater. Well, is it your turn to think of one, then, or are you going to make me go again?""I, um..." Cassie shook her head a little, cleared her throat. "Well, let's see. Never have I ever..." She thought of the moment earlier when Andrew had pulled his shirt back from his neck, showing off the lovely, muscled shoulders he was secretly proud of. She wondered if the rest of him was as nice as his shoulders. "Never have I ever seen any of my friends naked."Andrew's eyebrows shot up. "What, you've never been in a locker room before?""When would I have been in a locker room?" Cassie laughed. She was not the athletic sort, as Andrew was well aware."Still, never? Like, you've never gone streaking, skinny dipping, changed in front of each other, anything?"Cassie shook her head, grinning. Andrew stood up next to the bed. "Well, I can't let that go unchanged. Seriously, nudity among friends; it's a rite of passage!"He seized the back of his shirt and tugged it over his head, dumping it unceremoniously on the floor before going to work on his belt. Cassie watched with a mixture of horrified amazement that he was actually stripping naked in her bedroom, laughable discomfort because it was Andrew, and a growing appetite for the new perspective she was gaining on him, this thought of him as a real, handsome, sexy boy; not just her buddy Andrew.His pants hit the floor and he stepped out of them, standing awkwardly in his boxers for a moment before seizing the waistband and tugging those down to his ankles, too. Cassie couldn't help but stare; she'd never seen any boy totally naked, and here was a very fine specimen of man, standing in front of her with much less self-consciousness than she would have expected.After a moment, he bent to pull his boxers and pants back on, but Cassie protested."Aw, you're going to put it all back on?" she asked jokingly. "Here I thought you were going to play the rest of the game that way."Shrugging, Andrew sat back at the end of the bed as he had been, with the notable difference that he was now stark naked. "This hardly seems fair.""What do you mean?""I'm totally hanging free here, and you're still bundled up like a nun. A little reciprocation would be fair, don't you think?"Cassie shuddered at the idea of Andrew seeing her naked. She was self-conscious enough about seeing herself in the mirror.But Andrew was staring at her expectantly, and she knew he would play along no more without this quid pro quo. She stood nervously, then pulled her shirt up over her head, dropping it beside her. Andrew just watched, expressionless except for his small smile, so she carried on.Her skirt followed her shirt to the floor, and then with a deep breath she unclasped her bra in the back and dropped that onto the pile as well. Without looking at Andrew, and with a face undoubtedly colored like a beet, she slipped her panties off, sliding them down her long bare legs and kicking them off onto the pile of discarded clothes.Andrew's eyes took in every inch of her nudity, and he sighed; she thought she heard him say "Cass" under his breath. When his eyes trailed back up to meet hers, he smiled. "And now neither of us can use that one."Cassie sat back down, a little closer to Andrew this time, their knees touching. "It's your turn."Andrew hadn't taken his eyes away from her yet, and still didn't as he answered without hesitation, "Never have I ever touched every inch of a girl's naked body." His hands were already reaching out to touch her shoulders, trail along her leg, cup her face. Grabbing her legs, he pulled her farther down on the bed so that she could fit lying down without hitting her head on the headboard. He took her face in his hands and kissed her sweetly."Andrew!" Cassie cried in a voice that was half a laugh when they paused to breathe. "What are you doing?""Not sure yet," Andrew said absently, tucking her hair behind her ears and kissing her soundly.Cassie could feel her heart beating in every extremity; had she ever been able to feel every inch of her hypersensitive skin the way she could now? Andrew did not stop kissing her as his hands fell away from her face, slipped down her neck and gently ran over her tits to her stomach. When his thumbs grazed over her nipples, a shock wave ran down through her torso, straight to that soft, dark place between her legs. She had never been as aware of that spot as she was at that instant.Andrew was kneeling over her now as she lay back on the bed, and in their mutual nudity it was impossible for him to hide his body's appreciation of this turn of events. His erection brushed against her thigh as he shifted, and she tensed, the unfamiliarity suddenly overwhelming her.The kissing stopped immediately; Andrew sat back, concern on his face. "Is this okay? Are you-- I mean, is this too weird?""No, no," she assured him, and she meant it. All this felt surprisingly natural, even as quickly as it was moving; as if this was the most obvious and right state for them to be in, and everything they had been and done before had been awkward and unsatisfying. "Please come back."He acquiesced with a vengeance, the force of his kiss pinning her to the bed as she wrapped one arm around his shoulders and grasped the back of his neck with the other. When he suddenly moved to change positions, he almost lifted her off the bed in his enthusiasm as she clung to him. She admired for a moment the powerful muscles of his abdomen and lower body when he sat up on his knees to shift, putting himself between her legs.She was unbelievably, overwhelmingly aroused, almost to the point of discomfort; she could feel the slickness of her own juices between her thighs as she moved over on the bed to center herself, and when she spread her legs apart to give Andrew a place to kneel, the cold air of the room was a shock on her wet flesh.Andrew's hands were on her hips, his thumbs tracing small circles on the skin of her stomach as his kisses began to trail downward; along her neck, across her collarbone, up the mound of her tit. His mouth closed over one nipple, his tongue moving torturously slowly in a narrowing spiral around it, ending at last in a fierce, cat-tongue lick and a small, playful nip.The muscles in Cassie's stomach tightened suddenly, jerking her, forcing a small gasp out from between her lips. Andrew smiled against her skin.One hand slid away from her hip, along the outside of her leg, fingers dragging lazily across the skin of her thigh. He folded his hand so that only his index finger pressed against her skin as he worked his way back up, running it along between her legs as she squirmed. At length, his finger found the already wet-slick folds of her nether lips, teasing them apart and sliding from her clit to her drenched opening.Her fingers tightened on the skin of his back, her mouth dropping open; it seemed suddenly as if there wasn't enough oxygen in the room, and the lack made her deliciously dizzy. He pulled back from her a little, watching her face as his finger slid up and down slowly.She couldn't get enough of his face, especially the tiny smile, like he had a secret and was going to tell her in little pieces, stretched out over the night. There was something strange and thrilling about watching him touch her; he seemed to waver between being the Andrew she'd always known and trusted more than anyone else in the world, and a completely different man, surprisingly sexy, totally aware of what she wanted and needed and ached for."Is this really happening?"She didn't realize she'd spoken the words aloud until Andrew paused in his finger's ministrations and bent to bury his face in her neck, whispering between kisses, "It must be, unless we're both sharing the best dream I've ever had."He sat up, eyes on her body like he was trying to memorize it. His hand started to move again, faster, his fingertip teasing her clit and sending alarmingly powerful jolts of pleasure through her body. Her toes and fingers were going numb in waves of tingles. She was blazing hot inside; her skin ought to be steaming in the air of the room.And at the core of her, so close to his hand, she began to feel an almost unbearable emptiness, as if he'd stolen a piece of her and he alone could return it. She closed her eyes, concentrated. She was so empty; she was a shell made only of feverish skin, holding nothing but this raging inferno and a desperate, gaping vacancy.

Ein Gletschersturz verschüttete vergangene Woche das Schweizer Dorf Blatten. Die Klimakrise dürfte solche Ereignisse begünstigen. Was das für die Alpen in Österreich bedeutet, wie gut sie überwacht sind, und wo hierzulande falsch gebaut wurde, bespricht die Leiterin des Falter-Naturresorts Katharina Kropshofer mit der Gebirgsforscherin Margreth Keiler (Uni Innsbruck, ÖAW). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 4 A pandemic survivor's harem continues to thrive amidst chaos.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 11 For the next hour or so, Andy explored the house on his own while the girls moved things from the car into the house, as well as letting the cats loose into their new environment. He wasn't sure who was more overwhelmed, himself or the cats. The building was immense, feeling both warm and alien all at the same time. Mostly, though, the space felt incomplete. It was a home that had been decorated by a real estate agent, not by someone looking to live in it. Everything was arranged for show not for actual use. He wandered into the gym first and found it stocked with free weights, resistance machines and a small aerobics area, all the machines in pristine condition, never used. Looking at himself in the mirror, he wasn't even sure he recognized himself in this new home. Andy strolled out of the gym and found himself in one of the three living rooms, with a wet bar off to one side. There were several couches arranged around the middle, as well as a handful of lounge chairs. Without warning, Muninn, his Russian blue cat, hopped up from behind one of the couches onto the back of it, which startled the hell out of Andy. As soon as the cat saw him, however, he sauntered over Andy's direction. Andy moved closer and pet the cat, who gave a healthy purr in response. "Yeah, I know, Mun, it's weird for me too. But we live here now, so explore away." "Are ya freaked out?" Aisling said to him as she moved into the room. "It's just a home." "That's just it, Ash," he sighed. "It's a home, but it's not my home, not our home. Not yet. I'm sure I'll get there at some point, but for right now, it's just reinforcing how weird all of this is. I mean, yesterday, there were seven of us crammed into that little tiny condo, and now Eric lives down the street, and we live, here. In the kind of place I never even dreamed about." Aisling moved over, a soft sympathetic smile on her face, as she wrapped her arms around him and held him in an inviting hug for a long moment. "The world's changing, and we have to change with it, Andy. That means we're all going to be a bit out of our comfort zones now and then, but think of it this way,  you can make one of these bedrooms into a full on study, and line the walls with bookshelves, like you said you'd always wanted to do. We'll put your desk in there, and you can turn it into a writer's cozy, a space where you can go and work on your next book and nobody'll bother you. What's wrong with that?" "There's nothing wrong with that, Ash. There's nothing wrong with any of this, except for the fact that I didn't really earn any of it." "Luv," she said to him, "most of the people who get lucky in life, it was right place right time, and all they did was have the good sense not to muck it up. That's what you're doing here. You were in the right place at the right time, and you had the good sense to let me into your bed. And I've been good to you, haven't I?" "Oh god, Ash, you and Lauren and Niko have all been amazing, far better than I deserve,” "There'll be none of that, mister," she scolded, slapping his shoulder. "You've been grand to all of us, and you've helped Eric and Lily get their shit sorted out. I know Jenny doesn't have her head sorted out yet, but when she does, I'm sure she'll thank you. You could've been a right shite about alla this, but instead you've been a stand-up guy. So take a deep breath." Andy stopped and took a deep breath. "It didn't help much." "It helped a little." "Okay, it helped a little." "Are you more bothered by the house, the staff or the fact that there's going to be a lot more women moving into our lives?" "It's a lot of women, Ash." "It will be a lot of women, Andy. Yes, that's absolutely true, but we'll manage it. Besides, the house is nice isn't it?" "Understating things a bit, aren't you Ash?" "Fine," she said with a wry grin, rolling her eyes in his direction. "It's a bloody magnificent place. Just in the tour alone, I wanted to strip down to my knickers and socks and play 'Risky Business' so if you hear 'Old Time Rock'n'Roll' blaring from the hi fi, look both ways when walking through the hallways." "You're changing the subject." "It'll be fine, Andy. Just stop worrying and enjoy this." She moved to sit down in the couch, and picked up a remote control from the coffee table in front of it. She looked around the room for a moment before she finally just pressed the power button on it, to see what happened. From a small overhang across the room, a giant television dropped down and turned on, as concealed speakers all around the room hummed to life. "That is hell of a television." Andy moved to slump down onto the couch next to her, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "And just think, this isn't even the theater room. Let's just relax for a little bit and watch some TV." Apparently whoever had set up their house had given them a deluxe cable package, with every optional channel Andy could think of, and loads he'd never even heard of. They settled on SpikeTV, which was in the middle of a James Bond marathon. They were showing "Goldeneye" and they'd had the luck to turn on right at the beginning. "I've always loved Brosnan as Bond," Aisling said to him a few hours later, as the movie was over. "I don't know that he's the best Bond, but he's my Bond. You?" "He was great, but I've always been a Connery man myself." "You Americans, you all have your own Bond, much like those of us across the pond have our own Doctor. You a fan of Doctor Who, luv?" Andy smirked wryly. "Tom Baker, but if I'm honest, I could watch David Tennant in anything. I watched "Good Omens" last year at least three times. I'm guessing you're a Capaldi girl." "Chris Eccleston's my Doctor," Aisling said. "But I'm glad you didn't say I should be a Matt Smith girl, just because he had a ginger companion." Andy shook his head. "So did Tennant, but neither of them were Irish. Catherine Tate's British and Karen Gillan's Scottish. I'm not an idiot, love." "Bless, Andy," she whispered, as she kissed his cheek. "It's so strange. I feel like I'm missing time, what with all the holidays we've basically skipped over. I was getting my first injections on July 4th, but I didn't even hear any crackers in the sky. Were there any?" "None that I could see, Ash. Halloween's just around the corner. Maybe now that we're in a gated community we'll get trick or treaters." "You think there's children in the estates?" "No idea. I'm not really sure what to expect here. We've barely seen the house, much less the small town that's formed up around it." "That's going to be just as strange, people we can sit and talk with, restaurants we can go and have dinner in, a movie theater filled with people, guaranteed not sick people. It all sounds so wonderful." "I'll talk to Eric, maybe we can get a Halloween costume party together." Aisling cooed at him. "That sounds wonderful." She glanced over his shoulder. "Looks like your maid in here." Andy looked back over his shoulder and saw Yvette standing there, nervously shifting back and forth, before he chuckled and curled a finger in her direction. "C'mon, Yvette. You look like you've got something you want to say." "Simply a request Master. I and the rest of your staff, well, we are having trouble keeping our heads clear. We do not wish to pressure you, naturally, but the longer you wait before imprinting us, the more difficulty we will have executing our responsibilities around the home. It is getting hard to focus." He removed his arm from around Aisling and rose to his feet, a wry smile on his face. "I'll say. I can't help but think about something Groucho Marx once said to his brother Chico." "I'm sorry, I don't know who those people are, Master." "Comedians. Groucho is the one with the bushy eyebrows and greasepaint mustache. Chico used to pretend to be Italian. Groucho would occasionally say to him, 'Chico, I think your accent is slipping.'" Andy grinned as he approached her. "Is your name really Yvette?" The maid visibly blanched. "Am I trouble?" "Answer the question," Aisling said, getting off the couch, heading to join them. "No, ma'am. It's Nicolette." "Are you actually French?" Andy asked. "Second generation, but I was putting on a show. Mr. Marcos seemed to think you might enjoy it." Andy shook his head and laughed. "Fucking Phil." "So you're not angry, sir?" "You don't have to lie to me, Nicolette." He gestured to the maid's outfit. "Do you really enjoy this kind of thing?" She smiled, almost coquettishly, and nodded. "I do, Master. I'm naturally submissive, and this is what I wanted to do in the new world." "Are you bisexual, Nicolette?" Aisling said. "I am, madam, if that's alright." Aisling leaned over and grabbed the girl by her mane of hair and pulled her into a firm, intense kiss that made Andy's breath catch a little. Nicolette seemed caught off guard only for a moment, before she leaned into the kiss, and pressed her busty body against the Irish girl. After they made out for a minute or so, Aisling pulled back and grinned at Andy. "Well, we should make sure the girl gets what she needs, but mama has needs too." Aisling pulled Nicolette with her over towards one of couches. She reached up beneath her skirt and pulled down her panties before stepping out of them. Then she laid back onto the couch and spread her legs, exposing that ginger cunt to Nicolette. "Tell you what. You lick my cunt, and I'll make sure he fucks you good." "Yes madam," Nicolette said as she moved down onto her knees, before Aisling pulled over a footstool. "Thank you madam." The maid moved up to kneel down on the footstool, her hands pressed on the couch, as she moved her lips down to press against Aisling's exposed snatch. Andy walked over towards them as he watched Aisling's fingertips move to get lost in the girl's thick blonde curls, rocking her hips up against the maid's mouth. "Shit, Andy, she's fucking good at this." "Umm, it certainly looks that way, but what if I wanted to see if those titanic tits of hers were real, hmm?" He unbuttoned his jeans, slowly unzipping them. "Oh, I can fix that," Aisling said with a laugh. She pushed Nicolette's face back. "Lay down and turn over. Are those enhanced or natural?" Nicolette rolled over, laying on her back on the footstool before she pulled the top off one shoulder then the other, tugging it down to her waist so her massive tits spilled free, thick and curvy. "All natural, madam. Any excess weight I put on seems to go straight to my tits or my ass and nowhere else." She curved her fingertips around her left tit and pulled it upward, bringing it up so she could lick her large pink nipple while Andy watched. Then she reached down and dragged her skirt upwards, as she moved to push her head onto the couch while Aisling moved up onto her knees, straddling the girl's face. "Come on, Andy, don't keep the poor slut waiting." Andy tugged his jeans and boxers down enough for him to fish his cock out, moving to step out, rubbing the tip of his cock across the maid's twat, finding it was still soaked. "Remember when I told you I never showed my cock to anyone I hadn't kissed, Ash?" "She doesn't want you to show her a good time, love. She's only got one thing on her mind, don't you whore?" "Yes madam," the maid said between licks at Aisling's cunt. "And what is that?" Aisling's question caught the maid off guard. "Ma'am?" "What is the one thing you've got on your mind?" "Being imprinted, ma'am." Aisling reached down and pinched one of Nicolette's nipples hard enough to make the maid yip audibly. "The master likes a dirty mouth on his girls, Nicolette. Maybe Phil didn't tell you that, but as Andy's first girl, it's my job to make sure everyone in the house knows exactly what he likes. So let me ask you again,  what's the one thing you've got on your mind?" "Getting the Master to fuck me, ma'am." "Why?" "So I can be imprinted, to be owned, to belong to him, and be part of his house." "Then tell him." "Yes ma'am." Nicolette pulled her head back for a moment to look up at Andy, and the look on her face was one he was starting to get quite familiar with, a heady mix of need and lust. "Sir, let me offer you my body, my drenched holes for your use. I need to be fucked to belong to you, to feel your jizz blasting inside of my cunt or asshole, marking me as yours, imprinting me, claiming me. Take me, sir. Own me. Fuck my tight young snatch and brand me as your slut, your maid, your little French fucktoy. It hurts, sir, aches. I can't think straight. I'm a rutting bitch in heat, needy for a cock to clear her head. Can I serve you, Master? Will you grant me that privilege? Fuck me, sir. Do it." "Put your mouth back to work, Nicolette, and I will," Andy said, as he pushed his cock along her cunt, feeling her shiver, her body instinctively trying to line it up so his wood would penetrate her. "Yes, Master. Of course, Master." Nicolette slid her head back between Aisling's thighs, pressing her face up against the redhead's cunt, her tongue pushing into the girl. Aisling leaned forward a little bit, reaching a hand forward to grab Andy's face, pulling him closer, kissing him as Andy pushed his cock inside of Nicolette's cunt. Beneath her, Aisling could feel the girl already lost in the throes of her first orgasm, muffling the scream by pressing her hips down against the maid's face. "How is she?" "I think I might have killed the poor girl." One of Nicolette's hands lifted and offered a thumb up gesture to them, which made Andy and Aisling both laugh until Aisling kissed Andy hard again. She reached down and grabbed Andy's hip to pull him hard into Nicolette, slamming his cock hilt deep into the French maid with enough force to make those heavy tits of hers jiggle and bounce. "That's it, Andy. Just rail the girl." "You're trying to make me cum inside of her, aren't you?" "It's working, isn't it?" Aisling giggled a little bit. "I'm giving up my load for the day to her. I want you to fill her cunt so full of cum that there's enough for me to lick a little bit out of her gash when you're done. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Andy groaned a little bit. "You're wicked, Ash." " Umm, just like you want me to be. I have to admit, I'm a little addicted to it, seeing a new slut fuckdrunk on your spunk for the first time, her eyes rolled back in her head, the orgasm so intense that she's trembling like she's been struck by lightning. It make you seem so powerful." "I don't think I can last long," he mumbled. "She's fucking tight." "Then why wait? She wants your jizz. I want you to jizz inside of her. You want to jizz inside of her." She kissed his cheek and then moved nibble on his earlobe. "Go on. Give your newest slut her nut. Fill her up with that hot spunk and claim her. Your girlfriend is telling you to do it. Cream her up. In your house. Make her your slut, your maid, your personal fuckhole. Give to us. Please Master, she fucking needs it. I need it. Cum for us. Flood the little bitch with your cum. Show her who the lord of the house is." Aisling licked her tongue along the shell of his ear, then breathed hot onto his flesh, before whispering, "Own her. Cum!" Nicolette's heels pressed into the small of his back as he pushed his cock hilt deep inside of her cunt and began to erupt inside of her. As soon as the first blast of his jism hit the back of her cunt, Nicolette began to thrash, her heels lifting off his skin as her legs pointed straight up into the air and began to practically vibrate, quaking like she had her own personal earthquake. Eventually Andy's release ebbed back, and Aisling leaned to kiss him once more, her hand reaching up to brush sweat from his face. "Another one bites the dust," she giggled against his mouth before he pulled his hips back, letting his cock slide out from Nicolette's snatch as the girl's legs moved to slump down on the footstool, her whole body lying ragdoll limp, her lips very quietly mumbling that familiar word over and over again. Aisling lifted her hips up and moved back to her feet, shifting Nicolette to move the maid's entire body up onto the couch, cradling the girl's head against the pillow on the armrest. Andy was starting to adjust to tuck his cock away before he felt Aisling's hand stop him. "Just wait there, mister." The Irish girl grabbed a blanket and moved to lay it over Nicolette's unconscious form, covering her up, making sure the maid looked cozy. After Nicolette was properly tucked in, she turned around and kneeled down to lick his cock clean. It had still been glistening with a bit of his cum, as well as juices from Nicolette's cunt, but Aisling gave it a spit shine. Andy could feel himself struggling to get hard again, but as soon as Aisling had his cock clean, she tucked it away. "Tomorrow you can take care of the gardener and the cook." "Fucking this many people is exhausting, Ash." "Awww. Poor baby. Do you know how much sympathy I have for you, half a dozen women craving your cum so much they'll fling themselves at you?" "Very little?" "Not even that much." Andy chuckled, helping Aisling to her feet. "Yeah, I guess that's fair." Chapter 12 Andy awoke the next morning much earlier than he normally did. It was the fact that the bed beneath him was new to him. New bed, new house, but the house itself didn't change as much of his perspective as the bed did. Sure, the four of them had fit in his old bed back at the condo, but the new bed had plenty of room for them to sprawl out if they wanted, and yet, he still awoke with all the girls basically pressing up against him, Aisling and Niko on either side of him, and Lauren mostly draped over Aisling. The cats were nowhere to be seen, although he wouldn't be surprised if they wandered across the bed several times during the night. He did his best to extricate one arm free so he could look at his watch, only to find it was actually nearly nine a.m., far later than he'd expected. The girls remained zonked, and he had to admit, they'd all been up a bit late into the wee hours of the morning just wandering around and exploring the house. He still felt like he didn't have a great handle on the layout of the place, but he figured that would come in time. Determined not to wake anyone, he wriggled his way downward, disentangling the gilded cage of arms and legs he found himself wrapped in. Once free, he was pleased to see that he hadn't woken any of the trio, so he headed into the closet to grab a change of clothes. Immediately, he feared he might have made a terrible mistake, as the walk in closet was larger than the old condo's living room, but thankfully, most of his t shirts were hanging on clothes hangers directly in front of him, and a dresser there seemed to have his pants, boxers and socks. In fact, as he glanced at the walk in closet, he was a little amused to see how little of what he saw was actually his own clothes. Sure, all of his clothes were there, but they took up a fraction of the amount of space the walk in closet had on offer. Each of the girls had carved up their own section of the closet space, although if the Major was to be believed, this wouldn't be enough room eventually. The Major had even suggested each partner consider taking one of the bedrooms of the manor as their own, simply to have their own space, and their own place to keep their clothes. "Personal space is going to be important," she had told them yesterday. Andy had immediately decided it was advice worth heeding. He grabbed a change of clothes and headed towards the bathroom. After stepping foot inside of the bathroom, he closed the door behind him, doing his best to keep the noise volume down, so as to not wake anyone. He imagined the girls would be up any minute now, but saw no reason to get anyone up before they awoke naturally. Some nights they all wore pajamas, but last night, they'd all just piled in one naked mess into the new bed, so the only thing Andy had to take off before he got into the shower was his watch and glasses, setting both on the counter next to his clothes. The shower space was just about the same size as the bathroom in the old condo, but it was a thing Andy had decided he was just going to have to come to terms with. Everything in the new home was going to be bigger, because it had more people to accommodate. It did, however, give him plenty of room to maneuver as he attempted to get the water's temperature to a level he was comfortable with. He hadn't even thought to ask how the utilities of the new home were going to be paid for. He made a mental note to ask someone about it as he stepped under the soothing warm water. Ten minutes later, he'd finished the shower, dried himself off and gotten dressed. As he passed through the bedroom, he could see that while none of the girls were awake yet, they had shifted to make up for his absence, now lined up like three little spoons, with Niko's ass pressed against Aisling's hips, and Aisling's ass against Lauren's hips. The cats had also joined them on the bed, sitting at either corner of it, almost like they were on guard duty. Andy reached down to pet Huginn, and the black cat leaned his head up to lean into Andy's touch. He smirked as the cat slowly pulled away from Andy's hand, but it was only to roll onto his back, exposing his belly, hoping Andy would give it a rub. He patted the plump cat's tummy briefly, but not long enough so that Huginn would think it was a game of Attack The Hand. He didn't want to remain long enough to wake the girls, so he grabbed his phone from the charger on the nightstand, moved to the door of the bedroom and slipped out, closing it shut behind him as he moved into the hallway. The layout of the house was still fuzzy in his head, but he knew for certain that if he wanted to grab some breakfast, he needed to head downstairs. As he wandered downstairs, the cook, Jennifer, he thought her name was, awaited him. She still had on the same apron from the day before, but the clothes she had on beneath it had changed to warmer colors. The t shirt was a light green and the slacks a cream color. "Good morning, sir. Would you like some breakfast?" she asked, a smile beaming at him. She was fidgeting, he noticed, and he was certain that the effects of the vaccine were starting to claw at her. He would have to make sure to take care of both her and the gardener today. "Sure, Jennifer, that'd be nice. Is it Jennifer, or do you prefer Jen or Jenny?" he asked her, as she started to lead him towards the dining room. "Whatever you'd like, sir," she said, demurely. "No," he chuckled, "I'm asking you what you prefer to be called. I don't mind being in charge of the house and all that, but I'm not about to go around deciding what people are called. What do you prefer to be called?" "Jenny, sir," she giggled. "Sorry, sir. What would you like for breakfast today?" "Just, like, a croissant or a bagel with egg, cheese and ham on it? I don't need anything special." "Give me five minutes and I'll whip something up for you." Andy moved to sit down at the dining room table. The chairs were aimed at a much more formal environment, something he was going to have to make sure got corrected. He felt a little bit like Michael Keaton as Batman, sitting at a massively empty table all by himself. He opened his friend group's Discord chat channel and typed in a message to Eric “ you okay in your new place, man? “ but he saw that Eric was off line and didn't respond, so he figured he'd hear back from him later in the day. Phil was up, though, and the two chatted for a little bit while Andy waited for breakfast to arrive. Jenny poked her head in. "Did you want juice or milk, or should I make coffee?" "God, the girls made drink coffee, but I can't fucking stand it. So it wouldn't hurt to put a pot on, but none for me, thanks. I'll just have some orange juice or pineapple juice or whatever." "Got it," she said, dipping back into the kitchen, the swinging door closed behind her. Phil was in good spirits, and let Andy know that he would be behind the wall in the gated community before the end of the week, which meant they could all hang out again. Phil insisted that on Saturday, they should all get together and play poker while the new families intermingled, something Andy agreed to immediately, and suspected Eric wouldn't have any problem with. "Sir, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jenny said, as she brought out a tray with a bagel filled exactly as he'd asked and a glass of orange juice on it. "I don't mean to be rude or impatient, but,” "No no, Jenny, I know. You're having trouble thinking clearly, and would like to get imprinted as soon as possible. Let me eat my breakfast, and then we can go take care of it if you like." "I would like, sir, but that's not it." The girl looked at her hands as she wrung them together nervously before she looked up at him. "May I speak freely, sir?" "Jenny, you're now and forever under orders to always speak freely in the house, okay? What is it?" "It's my partner, sir, Katie." "What about her?" "Well, she, ah, she lied on her forms. Sir." "About, what exactly, Jenny?" Andy wanted to know what was going on, but he was also famished, so he took a bite from his breakfast sandwich, as if encouraging the girl to continue speaking. "It's, well, it's a bit embarrassing, sir, but, you know that Katie and I are partners, right?" Andy swallowed his mouthful and took a sip from his orange juice before he spoke again. "You did mention it yesterday when you introduced yourselves." He gestured to a chair across the table from him. "Sit, sit. Now tell me what's up?" Jenny looked at the chair like it might bite her, but then nervously moved to sit down, her hands still folded together on top of the table. "So, uh, while I'm bisexual, Katie isn't. Sir. She's strictly a lesbian." Andy tried to keep his face blank. "Alright." "So while she's going to need to intake your jism regularly, she's, uh,” "She's going to be a pain in the ass about it," Katie said, moving into the room, clearly sounding cross. "Is that what you were going to say, Jen?" Katie was dressed in work clothes, having been outside working in the gardens, and had dirt on her knees, although she'd been careful not to drag any loose dirt into the house. "We're so fucked." "Baby, no! I just wanted to explain,” "You just wanted to explain that I wasn't going to do my job to our new boss. That's just great, Jenny! Now we're going to get hauled out of here and thrown in jail!" "Katie, please!" "We're fucked. We're so fucked, just because you had to grow a fucking conscience! I could've faked it! I could've pretended and just gotten through it, but no, you had to,” "Ah Hem!" Andy said, loudly clearing his throat to get both of them to settle down. "Can I interject into this, or do you two want to go on arguing about what I'm going to do without actually knowing anything?" Katie moved to nervously sit down in a chair next to Jenny, looking a little taken aback. "Sorry, sir." "Sorry, sir," Jenny echoed. "Thank you." Andy took another bite from his sandwich, which was delicious, while he let the two women sit in silence a moment, as if almost daring them to start arguing again. They made it past him finishing the sandwich without speaking again, but he was on his last sip of orange juice when Katie, the Hispanic girl, couldn't help herself and spoke again. "I love my wife, sir, and I want to remain faithful to her. And you seem like a nice enough man, but I'm just not attracted to you in any way. Sorry, sir." Andy smiled and shook his head a little bit. "Good lord, they barely told me anything, and somehow I still know more about all of this than you two do. Jenny, are you bisexual, or are you also lesbian?" "Bisexual, sir, but I'm married. To Katie." He nodded. "Look, I get that. So here's your options. If you want, I can tell the army you've changed your mind, and you can go back there, but if you've already been given the vaccination, you're unfortunately going to have to get paired up with some man." "That part's actually true?" Andy nodded. "I'm sure you're already feeling it, that unfamiliar blaze in your body. It'll get worse, a lot worse, until it's harder and harder to think, and you're just a raw, rutting creature, yearning for male sperm of some kind." "How horrible," Jenny whispered. "Better than the disease, Jenny," Katie said, patting her arm. "So what are our other options?" "The obvious one is, naturally, that you both continue to be here, do your jobs, and I simply provide sperm for you to consume. I mean, I could just bring you in towards the end of a session with me and one of my partners, or with Nicolette,” "Who?" Katie asked. "He knows," Nicolette said, standing in the door, leaning against the doorframe. She was wearing another maid's outfit, but it was subtly different than the one she'd worn yesterday. "And he wasn't mad. He even thought the whole Yvette thing was funny." "Or I could just agree to always use the two of you together, but the only person I touch would be Jenny, and Katie could touch Jenny. It's not strictly what you had in mind, but,” "But it would satisfy Katie's insistence that she remain faithful," Jenny said. "Would you be okay with that, baby?" "Okay?" Katie said, rolling her eyes. "Well, I might be able to get to okay eventually, if that's okay with you. Sir." "Come on," Andy said, rising to his feet. "Take me to your room and we'll get you both imprinted." "I'd, I'd rather you not come into our room, sir," Katie said. "If that's okay, sir. I'd like that to be just our special place, mine and Jenny's." "That's fine, but we'll need to have some place to lay you both down once you're done." "I did just fine on one of the couches, Master," Nicolette giggled. "Maybe we should use one of the living room spaces again." "Alright, but let's use one more off to the side." "There's always the lounge out in the pool house," Katie suggested. "I have a pool house? Y'know what, forget I asked. Of course I have a pool house. Fine, let's go out to the pool house. Nicolette, if the girls wake up, let them know I'll be back in a little bit, okay?" "Of course Master," she said with a curtsey, as Katie put her arm around Jenny's waist, and the two started to lead him to the back yard. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, sir," Katie said, as they walked past the pool. Sure enough, on the other side, there was a small house, which Andy could see had showers, a sauna, bathrooms, a small bedroom, and a little lounge. Hell, by itself, it was bigger than the old condo, and clearly this was a little guest house. "But I don't think your sperm is going to do anything for me." "Mentally, sure, probably not, Katie. But on a biological level, you'll find this whole thing is a little surreal. When you meet Niko, you'll get to know what sort of state she was in when she came into my life. She'll tell you the story herself, I'm sure, but from my point of view, she practically assaulted me before I even got her name." Jenny grinned impishly, as she closed the door behind Andy. The lounge had three couches in a U shape pointing towards a massive television, with a picture window on the side wall facing the pool. "I have to admit, that sounds kinda hot." "It was," Andy said, as the two girls pushed him to sit down in the middle of the couch. "A little terrifying, but kinda hot. So how do you want to do this?" Katie leaned up and pressed her lips against Jenny's, as Jenny's hand smoothed down her wife's hip. The kiss intensified and Andy could see the tongues dancing together, as Katie's hand moved to cup one of Jenny's plump tits through the apron before reaching behind her to untie it, pulling it up and over her head, tossing it aside. "I'm thinking Jenny here'll blow you, and I'll just share it at the end, so you have to tell us when you're close. If that's okay. Sir." "That's fine, Katie. If you always want to do it this way, that's fine, or if you want to switch it up now and again, we can do that too." Katie nodded, and reached down to pull Jenny's t shirt up and over her head, exposing the brunette's overabundance of titflesh that had actually been quite concealed by the apron. "We, uh,” She blushed a little bit before continuing, pushing Jenny down to her knees. "We've had threesomes before. I don't mind if Jenny gets a little cock now and then, as long as I'm always there, but it's hard to get men to understand I don't want any. They usually try to pressure me to join in." "Well I won't ever do that, Katie," Andy said. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, although,” Jenny had unbuttoned his jeans, and unzipped them, as the other two continued to talk. Katie smirked, rolling her eyes a little. "As long as you don't care if I say no, you can always ask, sir." "I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind taking your top off as well, so we're all at least a little exposed here." "No, I can do that," she said, unzipping the top of the worksuit. "My tits aren't anywhere near as nice as Jenny's, though." She peeled the top down to her waist, exposing a perky caramel colored pair of tits, capped with darker tan nipples. "You've got excellent tits, Katie," Andy said to her, as she tied the arms of the top around her waist to tie it in place. "And don't you ever take shit from anyone who says otherwise." "Aw, you're sweet, Andy," she said before looking down at her wife. "How's it look, hon? Something you can work with?" Jenny nodded, having fished out Andy's cock, her fingertips stroking up and down it slowly. "It's a good size. I may want to have a ride on it now and again, if that's okay, baby." "Let's take it all one step at a time, okay?" Katie said. She moved to sit down on the couch next to Andy, laughing softly. "She's always been over eager. But I'll probably let you fuck her now and again. And I know she's a very good cocksucker. Her old boyfriend used to brag about it all the time." "Pig," Jenny said, before she wrapped her lips around the head of his cock, letting her tongue brush over it slowly, evoking a shiver from Andy. "Oh! Not you, sir, him." "I figured that one out, Jenny." Andy glanced over at Katie. "So are you both really submissive? Did you really want to do this, be a gardener and a cook?" "Jenny's mostly submissive, and I'm a switch," the Hispanic woman said. "And these were the jobs we had in the before times, just at different places. I was the gardener for some tech millionaire, and Jenny worked in the kitchen at the S F O airport Marriott, so we'll do our jobs well, and the other thing reasonably well." "I just want to make sure I'm not forcing anyone to do anything they don't want to." "We will be sure to tell if you're pushing it. Sir." She laughed slightly at herself, as if chiding herself not to forget to call him that. "Remember, you're going to have to tell us when you're close, sir," Katie said. "I'm a man of my word, Katie." "I hope so." Jenny pushed her head down onto his cock, sliding her lips down a few inches before pulling her head back up. "Oh, if you're going to do it, just fucking do it, Jen." Katie took her hand and pushed on the back of Jenny's head, forcing her face down hard into Andy's lap, until he could feel the girl's lips around the base of his cock, her throat twitching as she was struggling not to gag. Katie leaned in to whisper into Andy's ear. "She fucking loves shit like this." After a few seconds, Katie pulled Jenny's head back, and the girl coughed, laughing throatily, spit dripping from her mouth onto his cock, tears running down her eyes, a crazy smile on her face. "Oh god, I think I fucking came when you did that, Kat." "Well, not to take credit for it, but that was my precum. You're starting the imprinting process now." "I call bullshit," Katie said. "Prove it." Andy decided the best way to do this was to mostly remain out of it, so he took Jenny's arm by the wrist, rubbing her palm over the tip of his cock, which oozed out a little bit of precum, then lifted it up towards Katie, palm facing her face. "Lick. Prove me wrong." Katie cocked an eyebrow at him, then leaned forward to run her tongue along Jenny's palm. As soon as her tongue slurped in that precum, she leaned back suddenly against the back of the couch, pulling up her knees to her chest, her face scrunched tightly as she spasmed violently. Andy was fairly certain that Katie's panties were drenched, but didn't want to embarrass the girl by looking. After a few seconds, Katie's eyes opened again, and she groaned, a sultry wanton sound. "Oh you utter bastard," she moaned. "I know that's all physiological, but fuck was that good,” "You're going to get that same sensation each time you get any of my cum. Both of you. Ash's been with me the longest, about two months now, and she says it's never gotten any less intense, and from time to time, it's even way more intense than that." Katie pushed Jenny's head back down into Andy's lap, forcing her mouth back onto his shaft, as she wriggled in her seat. "How often do we have to have it?" "We've experimented around a little bit with trying to wean a girl off of it, but after about a week or so, it starts impairing logic. Not a lot, at first, but a little bit. It's harder to think clearly, you find sex popping into your head unwarranted more than usual. And by ten days, it's like a painful gnawing hunger. Lauren wanted to try and go two full weeks without, but on day eleven, ah,” Katie laughed softly. "Go on. You said we have no secrets here." Andy nodded with a slight shrug. "She, uh, when I went to take my shower in the morning, she followed me in and forced me to fuck her by trapping me between the wall and the sink. She bent over the sink and braced her hands against it and pinned me. I mostly just stood there, my ass pressed against the wallpaper while she thrust back against me hard and fast. She's, ah, she's a lot stronger than I am." Both girls laughed, although Jenny's laugh was a bit muffled, as she still had most of his cock in her mouth. "I think once a week or so is something we can make work," Katie said, brushing her hand along the back of Jenny's neck. "See? I told you she was good." "Fuck, her tongue keeps teasing against the bottom of my balls. I'm not going to last long like this. You may want to,” "Sure," Katie said, sliding off the couch and onto her knees, off to the side of Andy's right leg. "I know how we can do this." She pulled Jenny's head up and free of his cock before pushing her over to the other side of Andy's legs, his legs pressed together. "C'mere, babe." Katie pulled Jenny close, and then the two women kissed with the length of his cock between them, blocking their lips from reaching each other until they both slid up and kissed with the head of his cock between them. Jenny reached down to fondle his balls, and he felt a second hand join, a little surprised that it was Katie's, as the two tongues danced against each other, and over the head of his cock, and he couldn't resist any longer, his body tensing up as he had a hand resting on either of their shoulders. When that release hit him, he could see Katie's other hand on the back of Jenny's neck, as if holding her in place, as he saw Jenny suddenly reach up and do the same, helping each other to stay locked in place around the tip of his cock, as he blasted a hot load of spunk into their mouths. He felt like he gave at least a few pumps of jizz into each of their mouths, and certainly they were both affected, as each of them began to tremble, the clasp of hands and necks keeping them all in place, as both of them swallowed mouthfuls until finally they could resist no longer and both girls slumped their heads back and to the side, the full weight of their unconscious bodies pressed into the couch. Each of them trembled and vibrated a little, the aftershocks of the process clearly still coursing through their veins. Both girls were quietly murmuring that familiar word, imprinting, over and over again. It took Andy a few seconds to regain his composure, but once he finally did, he tucked his cock away beneath his boxers and jeans, zipping them up and rebuttoning them before he stood up and extracted himself from between them. He moved to lift Katie up onto the couch first, laying the girl out on it, before picking up Jenny, pushing her onto the couch with Katie, draping one arm over the Hispanic girl. Then he picked up an afghan laying in the room and covered them both up, for warmth as much as modesty. It wasn't freezing cold, but Halloween was next week, and California in October could get cold. He assumed the guest house had heating, but didn't even have the slightest idea how to turn it on. He was about to leave, then decided to scout the pool house out a little more. Sure enough, he found a thermostat, and noticed it was set to off, so he set the temperature to 70F and turned it from Off to Auto, hearing a heater kick on along the far side of the building. His work done, he decided to head back inside. He stopped to look at the pool, marveling the fact that he had his very own swimming pool, something southern Californians might have in spades, but certainly came at a premium in the northern California area, where real estate was a scarcity. He'd had dreams of his works being optioned, turned into movies or some such, and hoped that they would make him oodles of money, but the books hadn't developed a big enough audience where Andy would've felt comfortable enough letting someone adapt his works while remaining faithful to what he'd written. A producer had once offered him ten grand for the rights in perpetuity for everything, offering Andy no creative influence, no backend profits and no altering of the deal if things performed well. Andy had, in response, made a Berry Gordy joke that he was sure went over the producer's head, then politely declined. He'd jokingly referred to it to his friends as the "you'll take our money, shut your mouth and like it" deal. But he didn't, he wouldn't and so he didn't have to. In the end, he'd still ended up with a pool. He continued heading towards the house, seeing Niko, wearing just one of his over sized t shirts, although he suspected she probably had panties on underneath. Her arms were crossed over her chest, so he couldn't be sure, but he thought that it was one of his Catherine Wheel t shirts. It looked like the orange corners of the "Ferment" album cover peeking around her arms. "Morning, sleepyhead," he said, as he walked up towards her. "Everyone else up?" "Ash was toweling off when I came downstairs and Lauren was just heading into the shower, so she should be down in a little bit," Niko said to him. If Aisling had fallen into the role of his girlfriend, Niko had worked herself into becoming his right hand woman. Aisling took care of him emotionally, and Niko seemed to enjoy making sure everything was humming along. She'd been the one to structure their packing, and made sure Andy didn't forget anything he would regret leaving behind. Sure, all of that stuff was being brought over, but Niko had made certain that Andy hadn't left anything truly important to other people. "Also, your newest girl is here. She's waiting in the living room. Well, the front living room. One of the front living rooms. The one closest to the door. I signed for her, figured you wouldn't mind. That's her car parked out front, and the Uhaul attached to it has the rest of the stuff from the condo." "Nice." Andy was surprised another girl had arrived so soon, but the Major had made it clear that they would be coming at a steady rate until he was at capacity, which meant at least another nine or so, maybe even as many as thirteen more, although Andy had stressed to the Major that stopping early was absolutely fine. The Major had seemed to think that was funny. They'd walked inside of the house and headed towards the front living room. "What's her name?" "Her name is,” "Taylor!" Lauren's voice shouted as Andy and Niko walked into the room. Sitting on the couch was a young blonde, barely five feet tall, in a white muscle t shirt that didn't cover all of her toned stomach, and a pair of jeans that looked like they were practically painted on. A denim jacket was draped over the back of the couch. The girl's hair was platinum blonde, bordering on white, clearly dyed or bleached, but had dark eyebrows, and Andy could see dark hair down at the roots. She had a gold belly ring and heavy Doc Martin shoes. Small diamond earrings adorned her ears, and around her right wrist was a gold bangle bracelet. Her lipstick was a bright pink. In fact, it was clear that the girl, who looked like she was in her early twenties, had spent a decent amount of time on both her outfit and her makeup, like she wanted to make a good first impression. It was also worth noting that she was more than a little buxom for her small height, the top strained over her large tits enough that Andy could make out a white bra on underneath it. If not for the dark roots, she almost reminded him a little of a smaller version of Lauren. Both girls had a bit of that 'I'm showing off for Instagram' vibe to them, although Andy would never have said it that way to Lauren. "Andy, no fucking way! I do not want that bitch in this house!" The girl on the couch looked like she was about ready to break down crying, as Lauren loomed over her. His Aussie partner had put on a bit more than Niko, in that she was wearing yoga pants and a sports bra. "I'm sorry, Lauren," the girl, Taylor, said. "I'm so, so sorry, baby." "Don't fucking 'baby' me, you whore!" Lauren shouted, turning to walk towards Andy. "This is intolerable! Figure it out!" Lauren kept walking right past him and headed towards the stairs, each step heavy, almost like she was trying to stomp her anger out. "Figure It Out!" she shouted from upstairs, just before he heard the bedroom door slam loud enough to rattle the house. "I take it you know her?" Niko said to Taylor. "Yeah," Taylor mumbled. "I'm her ex girlfriend." Chapter 13 Andy looked at Niko, then at Taylor, then back to Niko, unsure of what to say to anyone. "Look, Niko, can you figure out her side of the story?" he said, gesturing to Taylor. "I'm going to go talk to Lauren and find out what the hell is going on." "Good luck, babe," Niko said, kissing his cheek. "Tell her," Taylor said before stopping, biting her bottom lip in a pout, then starting again. "Tell her if she'll let me, I'll spend the rest of my life apologizing to her." Andy didn't know what to say to that, so he walked out of the room and started heading to the stairs, trying to follow the sound he'd heard a minute or so ago of Lauren stomping off. Clearly there was bad blood here, but talking to Taylor first would only hurt Lauren's feelings, so he needed to check on his partner. Once he got to the top of the stairs, he saw Aisling leaning against the outside of the master bedroom door, which was closed. "What's all this then?" she said, jerking her finger to the door. "Lauren stormed in here crying a minute ago and told me to go away." "We just had a new girl show up, and apparently she used to be Lauren's girlfriend. I'm going to go talk to Lauren about it right now." Ash raised her hand. "Are you sure about this, Andy?" He shook his head with a sigh. "No, but I'm not going to sit around and do nothing, so I'm going in there." "You want me to go in with you?" Andy shook his head again. "No, better let me go in on my own." "Don't have to tell me twice. Who's keeping an eye on the ex?" "Niko's down talking to her. You're welcome to join her." "I'll do that," she said, moving to kiss his cheek, much as Niko had done. "You're a good man, Andy Rook. I'm sure you'll figure it out." "I think my spaceship knows which way to go. Tell,” "She knows," Aisling giggled, as she strolled past him and headed to the stairs. Andy moved to the bedroom door and considered knocking, but decided that it would only encourage Lauren to tell him to go away, so he simply opened the door and stepped in, closing the door behind him. He saw his Aussie partner sitting on the bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms folded atop of them, her face buried against her arms. "Okay, Laur, tell me the whole story," he said, moving over to sit down on the bed. "Taylor and I dated for about a year. She was even living with me for a few months, until one day I came home from work early and found her banging some guy in our,” She paused, wiping her eyes. "She was fucking some fella in my bed. I threw her out that night, and told her to pick her shit up the next day. I packed it up and left it in the hallway for her so I didn't even have to look at her. I haven't even seen her since." "Okay. What do you want me to do here?" "Do?" She curled her fingers together into fists before forcing herself to relax them. "What I want you to do is throw the bitch out on her ass and leave her to rot in the sun." "I somehow think the Air Force will come pick her up and take her back, if that's what you want." "She deserves a lot worse." "Well, she's already been injected with the vaccine, so the urge for male cum is probably eating away at her pretty badly right now, and you know what that's like." Lauren's face scrunched up. "It's a need, but it's not punishment." "And if I send her away, I'm pretty sure the Air Force is just going to give her to someone else in New Eden, so it's not like I can make her just disappear," he said, sighing softly. "But you're the one with the history here. So you tell me what you want. Should I throw her out? Is that what you want?" "What I want? What I want is for her to be punished and learn some fucking loyalty." "Do you want to be the one to do that?" Lauren rubbed her eyes again, then reached to take one of Andy's hands that had been resting atop of her knee. "What do you mean?" "Phil told me that if a woman partakes of the cum of a man other than the one she's imprinted to, it can have, consequences. Dire consequences. Which means she's going to have to be loyal to our family, if you want her to be a part of it." "She can't just come in without some retribution, Andy," Lauren said, shaking her head. "I won't let her just walk all over me like that." "Lauren. Love. At this point, you have the upper hand. You hold all the power right now. Your ex is here, and more than anything she wants to stay here, it looks like. Right before I came up here, she said she'd do everything she could to spend the rest of her life apologizing to you, to try and make it up to you. Have you talked to her at all since you threw her out?" "I didn't even talk to her when I threw her out, Andy!" Lauren said, tossing her

On episode 289 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello, AwardsWatch contributor Mark Johnson, and special guest Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly Content Update Editor and host of the And the Runner Up Is podcast. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night. While everyone is settling into the summer blockbuster season and recovering from the Cannes Film Festival from the month of May, the AW team turn to the month of June by going back to a favorite exercise from last year, an extensive tier ranking of an Oscar category. After doing Best Director last year, the team moves the most popular category the Oscars has for the team; Best Actress and its 98 winners. In trying to place these winners in the correct spot, the team had to come together and decide on whether to place these performances in the S (all-time winner), A, B, C, D, or F tier and explain the ranking. Only 49 of the winners are discussed on this episode, including Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind, Liza Minnelli in Cabaret, Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday, Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose, Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter and Sally Field in Norma Rae, with the rest covered next week. For the first time in the tier ranking episodes, the performances have been randomized, making the show even more unpredictable as to who will be covered from the list of winners on this episode. Also, the team has instituted two rules that include only 15 winners being able to be in the “S tier” and if an actress has multiple wins, only one of their wins can make it into the 15. It adds a fun wrinkle for the team to try and figure out when they get to their final rankings. It may only be part one, but it's a great episode and we hope you all enjoy it and listen next week to part two. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music, YouTube and more. This podcast runs 3h58m. We will be back in next week for part 2 of our Best Actress tier ranking episode. Till then, let's get into it. Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

The Junior Transport Minister says issues with Coast Guard Search and Rescue Aviation services based at Shannon are being resolved. It's after it emerged that Bristow Ireland's AW-189 helicopter currently operating at Shannon was not licenced to carry a stretcher on board and therefore could'nt respond to medical evacuation calls. Bristow Ireland also did not possess a Fatigue Risk Management System, meaning it could'nt roster crews for 24-hour shifts, and requires at least 8 personnel across a day, rather than the usual 4. Minister Seán Canney insists however the service is functional.

Chris and Jeremy are back as promised for Stunt Granny Audio. One of our hosts has a fun personal story about meeting Sabu. Its a fitting and funny story wrapping up a weeks mourning over his loss. They then focus on AW and NXT programming for the week. What do you say about two , […] The post Stunt Granny Audio 1059 – Bash at The Beach, AEW Dynamite, NXT appeared first on Stunt Granny.

...in which we take a stroll – just Mark and Dave – from Seatoller to Sty Head Tarn to announce the end of Countrystride (for now) and reflect on 149 episodes and 6.5 years of the podcast. Under perfect Spring skies, we catch the bus from Keswick to Seatoller, where we cast our minds back to our tech- and expertise-lacking trial run above Seathwaite and share favourite memories of the hours spent in the fells since, with the Pennine Way, Goldscope Mine and Upper Eskdale all featuring among Mark and Dave's 'best in show' lists. Arriving at Styhead Tarn, we settle alongside its sparkling waters to reflect on our lifelong love of the Lakes, before asking a series of fellow walkers about their relationship with the fells. Turning the Countrystride Quickfire Questions on ourselves, we learn that Mark's favourite fell is Blencathra and his Lakeland hero is Hardwicke Rawnsley, while Dave gets passionate about AW and advocates the joy of a pint at YHA Ambleside. After 150 episodes, we are taking a break from Countrystride. We may be back; we may not. Do keep in touch by signing up to our newsletter here (just scroll down the page a little). If you have ideas about how we might make the pod more sustainable (financially or otherwise), drop us a line using our Contact Us form (bottom of the page). All Patreon subscriptions (for which, many thanks), have been paused and will only resume if we resume recordings. For now it's over and out. It's been a pleasure, and we'll see you on the fells.  Mark and Dave

Gotta get some weapons work done, a little hibachi, maybe some orange julius. Aw, yeah.Pledge/donate on Patreon: www.patreon.com/thatdndpodcastSend feedback to: ThatDnDPodcast@Gmail.comVisit our website: http://www.thatdndpodcast.comAmazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/?rw_useCurrentProtocol=1&tag=thdnpo07-20

Bible Reading: Psalm 19:7-11As Ryder and Zach set plates and forks on the table for lunch, a dog started barking outside. "There goes Sarge again," said Ryder. "He's always barking.""This bark sounds different than usual," said Mom. "Maybe one of you boys should go check it out.""Aw, Mom, we're busy," said Zach. "Besides, Sarge barks at everything--squirrels, people, cars. You name it, he barks at it." Since Mom didn't insist, no one checked to see why Sarge was barking.When Zach and Ryder went out to ride their bikes later that afternoon, they stopped and stared at the empty garage. "Where are our bikes?" asked Zach. "I don't believe it!" cried Ryder. "They're gone! Who would have the nerve to come into our garage in broad daylight and take our bikes right out from under our noses?""After all the work we did mowing lawns to buy those bikes," said Zach. "Now this!" The boys rushed into the house. "Our new bikes are gone! Someone stole them!" Everyone hurried out to see for themselves.Dad returned to the house to call the police department and report the loss. When he came back outside, he stopped to pet Sarge. "Didn't we hear Sarge barking a couple hours ago?" he asked. "He was trying to warn us, and we didn't listen to him."That evening Dad read aloud from Psalm 19. "Warnings are important," he said after he finished reading. "Today Mom warned you boys not to ignore Sarge's barking, but you did. Sarge was warning us about the bikes getting stolen, but we didn't listen. In this psalm, we see that God speaks through His Word not only to teach us about who He is and how much He loves us, but also to warn us about sin." "You mean how sin separates us from God, and only Jesus can free us from sin and give us eternal life?" asked Zach. Dad nodded. "Yes, the Bible definitely warns us about sin in that way. But it also warns those who already trust in Jesus about the consequences of sin and how disobeying God can create huge messes in our lives. Let's be sure to listen, knowing that Jesus will always forgive our wrongs and help us obey Him." –Evelyn J. Behrens How About You?Do you take warnings seriously? God warns Christians about the dangers of sin in the Bible. Listen to Him and obey His commands. Is God warning you about something today? If you think He is, pray and ask God to help you know what action to take, and get advice from an adult you trust. God's warnings are one of the ways He helps you and guides you through life.Today's Key Verse:His teachings warn his servants, and good things come to those who obey them. (ERV) (Psalm 19:11)Today's Key Thought:Pay attention to God's warnings

On episode 285 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson and AwardsWatch contributors Karen Peterson and Mark Johnson to preview the films coming during the 2025 Summer. Summer movie season is upon us. As Sinners and A Minecraft Movie dominate the Spring box office, we're heading into the time of the year where everyone is going on vacation, out of school, and looking to cool off from the heat by going to see some of the biggest films of the year. The AW team opts out of a Summer Movie Draft this year, and instead, breaks down the titles coming out over the course of the next four months, with extensive conversations over their box office potential as well as the groups anticipation for the live action Lilo and Stitch, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Jurassic World Rebirth, the live action How to Train Your Dragon, Superman, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, F1, Pixar's Elio, Thunderbolts, Weapons, Materialists, M3GAN 2.0, The Naked Gun, and more. Stay tuned to the end to hear what they think will be the Top 3 highest-grossing films of the summer. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music, YouTube and more. This podcast runs 1h45m. We will be back in next week for a review of the latest film from Marvel, Thunderbolts. Till then, let's get into it. Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Have you ever eaten one cookie and thought, “Welp, I blew it—might as well start over Monday”? Or skipped one workout and spiraled into “I'm just not disciplined enough”? You're not lazy, and you're definitely not broken. You might just be tangled up with a sneaky little saboteur called perfectionism. In this episode, we're pulling back the curtain on why perfectionism—disguised as self-improvement—is actually hijacking your health journey. We'll explore how to shift from all-or-nothing to just keep going… even if it's messy. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why perfectionism isn't about high standards—it's about fear (with fancy shoes) The 4 perfectionist personas in weight loss (hello, Rule Follower and Right Timer!) How to make progress without needing every day to be perfect The L.I.G.H.T. model to help you grow with self-compassion instead of shame   So are you ready to hit pause on perfection and open up to possibility. Aw yeah, let's go!    https://confidentbody.coach/tips/ BOOK: You Are A Miracle