Podcasts about grecian

This week I am hanging out with Foad HP Today's guest is the incredibly sharp and hilarious Foad HP — actor, writer, and stand-up straight outta Toronto. You might've seen him on Just For Laughs, JFL42, heard him on CBC Radio's Laugh Out Loud or SiriusXM, or maybe you were lucky enough to catch him winning the 2016 Toronto Comedy Brawl. In this episode, we dive into everything from Grecian human traffickers (yep, you read that right), to cultural overlaps, and of course, our mutual love of books. It's thoughtful, it's funny, and honestly, it goes places. You're gonna want to stick around for this one. You can follow Foad HP here: Web: www.foadhp.com Spotify: https://shorturl.at/BU41B Subscribe to automatically get Foad HP's episode and more episodes of Social Animals.  Thanks Good Luck Shop for the theme song, Soren D'alimonte for providing the music behind the stories. Thanks Jacqueline Pavan at Storm Horse Tattoo in Toronto for the Artwork, And thank you for listening.

Acts 4 spoke of Barnabas' generous act in selling land and donating the proceeds to the ecclesial common cause. Barnabas may well have been the rich young ruler of Matthew 19. In Acts 5 couple named: Ananias and Sapphira, want the ecclesia's acclaim without giving all of the proceeds of their sale of land. It was their right to do with their money as they pleased. Their sin lay in lying – attempting to deceive God and other believers. It cost them their lives and was a great wake-up call to the ecclesia. We are told from verse 12 of the mighty signs that support the Apostles' preaching The chapter says that Peter and John are arrested and put in the public prison overnight. The angel of the Lord comes and releases those 2 Apostles and tells them to continue to proclaim “the words of life”. At daybreak Peter and John were enthusiastically preaching in the temple. The Apostles are rearrested by the officers, but this time quietly for fear of the people and once more the Jewish Council forbids them to preach full stop. The Apostles' answer in verse 29 is a message to believers for all time, “We must obey God rather than men”. Their bold testimony was an evidence that they were Jesus' disciples. Gamaliel counsels his peers to desist from opposing, or harming, the Apostles, since historical evidence – Gamaliel asserts – always showed that what was not from God was doomed to fail. In chapter 6 we have a complaint from the Hellenistic believers that their widows were not being treated fairly in the daily distribution of help. Seven faithful believers of Grecian background were chosen to rectify the matter. One of the seven, Stephen, was seized by the Jewish rulers and falsely accused of speaking words against Moses and the temple. False witnesses are secured and tell lies against Stephen. Those members of the Council behold Stephen's angelic appearance and demeanour.

Acts 4 spoke of Barnabas' generous act in selling land and donating the proceeds to the ecclesial common cause. Barnabas may well have been the rich young ruler of Matthew 19. In Acts 5 couple named: Ananias and Sapphira, want the ecclesia's acclaim without giving all of the proceeds of their sale of land. It was their right to do with their money as they pleased. Their sin lay in lying – attempting to deceive God and other believers. It cost them their lives and was a great wake-up call to the ecclesia. We are told from verse 12 of the mighty signs that support the Apostles' preaching The chapter says that Peter and John are arrested and put in the public prison overnight. The angel of the Lord comes and releases those 2 Apostles and tells them to continue to proclaim “the words of life”. At daybreak Peter and John were enthusiastically preaching in the temple. The Apostles are rearrested by the officers, but this time quietly for fear of the people and once more the Jewish Council forbids them to preach full stop. The Apostles' answer in verse 29 is a message to believers for all time, “We must obey God rather than men”. Their bold testimony was an evidence that they were Jesus' disciples. Gamaliel counsels his peers to desist from opposing, or harming, the Apostles, since historical evidence – Gamaliel asserts – always showed that what was not from God was doomed to fail. In chapter 6 we have a complaint from the Hellenistic believers that their widows were not being treated fairly in the daily distribution of help. Seven faithful believers of Grecian background were chosen to rectify the matter. One of the seven, Stephen, was seized by the Jewish rulers and falsely accused of speaking words against Moses and the temple. False witnesses are secured and tell lies against Stephen. Those members of the Council behold Stephen's angelic appearance and demeanour.

Chris has to travel to another reality again today - this time, it's a Grecian fantasy world that isn't actually Greek! Speaking of Greece, thank you to The Metal Classicist Dr. Jeremy Swist for pronunciation help on today's episode. Our Patron Austin sent Chris on this voyage through the world of In the Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland for his Patron's Choice this year saying this was, "...a book about a girlfailure who ends up step-cousins to the royal family, all of which become inexplicably interested in either becoming her friend, fucking her, or both. Some highlights includ[e] a first chapter that involves fucking on top of a two story gazeebo, an island of vaguely celtic wizards who all have anime hair and eyes, a love interest who does that scene with JOI and the prostitute in Blade Runner 2049, and distracting your ghost bodyguard by almost flashing your tits at him." We hope you enjoy the episode, Austin! Thank you for your longtime support of TBC. Remember that if you, too, would like to have us read and review a book of your choice on the show, you can gain that power by joining our Patreon at the appropriate tier. Today's episode includes our usual barnyard language in addition to discussion or mention of blood, corpses, death/dying, necromancy, and sex.

An aging couple gets a surprise gift from Mrs. Clause.Based on a post by m storyman x, in 2 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.I could hear Nancy, my wife, clinking the dishes in the kitchen as she unloaded the dishwasher. It was Christmas eve morning, and she was up and about before six. That meant only one thing as far as I was concerned, no Christmas sex this year, again. Not with the kids showing up this afternoon. I've found myself thinking back to the early years a lot more lately. You'd think that in my sixties, sex wouldn't be a big deal anymore, but instead it seemed like my tolerance for her lack of desire or output was lower instead of better.I closed my eyes again and thought back to our first Christmas together as man and wife. It was a small tree, and there weren't many presents around it, but we gave each other the best present in the world that Christmas night. We made love under the tree, not once, but multiple times. Nine months later our first daughter was born. All through our dating time she was sexually playful and we would have sex many ways and in lots of places. She never seemed bashful when she undressed for me, exposing her incredibly beautiful body. Hell, I never would have even tried to ask her out on a date if I hadn't accidently spilled my drink all over her at McDonalds. She was way out of my class. She looked more like playboy model material than someone interested in a somewhat geeky college freshman.To my surprise, she demanded that I take her out to make up for spilling the soda all over her. So I did. And again, and again. After half a dozen dates, I built up enough nerve to suggest we mess around while we were walking in the dark through the local park. She readily agreed and the two of us made love for the first time on a picnic table in the middle of a public park. It was the first of many times we made love, in private, in semi-public areas, in the river, in the lake, well, you get the idea. She was willing to do it anywhere I felt comfortable doing it with her. She never seemed to be able to get enough of our intimacy. And it was so much more than just sex. You could see it in her eyes. She loved what I was doing with her and she loved watching me climax along with her. It became almost a game with her, to hold it as long as possible before letting herself tumble over the edge, taking me with her. But it was for me, and only me. Once we started dating there was no one else, not even close male friends that would hug or anything. It wasn't until I proposed that I learned I was the first man to have her that way.We got married less than a year after spilling that soda on her, and we made love the first time as man and wife in the hot tub on the balcony of the bridal suite. Not one time, but twice before we finally tumbled into bed, exhausted from the day's activities. The next months were fantastic. She seemed to delight in teasing me, skimpy or no underwear with short skirts, sexy lingerie, sometimes wearing things without a bra so her big 32 D tits would wiggle enticingly. Our first Christmas found her under the tree in a red see through negligee, a gift tag tied to the crotch of her see through panties that read "definitely open before Christmas!" We made love under that tree and we loved each other. Over the next months, her belly grew, but her desire for me didn't change. If anything, it increased. It was almost as if being pregnant enhanced her sexual desire. And I wasn't going to argue. She always whispered how much she loved me and how much making love with me made her feel loved.It wasn't a surprise when sex drew to a sudden halt after Tabitha was born. I could understand it. I waited patiently, and some of the sex returned, but not nearly what it had been before. We had to plan when we had sex so we didn't wake Mikey, interrupting us. A year later we had Julie, and sex became even less frequent. After Mandy, well, sex just didn't seem to happen anymore. It was frustrating, but I always looked ahead and said that once the girls were grown and out of the house things would get better.College came for our sons, and we were empty nesters, but the long skirts, heavy duty bras to hold her now thirty eight triple D's in place, and the granny panties appeared to be the future. Sex was maybe once or twice a month, if I was lucky, always in the bedroom and always the same way. It was, to say the least, depressing to see what my life had become. I was married to the most beautiful woman in town, maybe the state, and I barely got to even see her naked any more unless we shared a shower. Now here we were, twenty years past the girls moving out on their own and I was more depressed about our sex life than I could remember. I lay dreaming back to that first Christmas, picturing her lying under the tree in that see through red mesh, her legs spread, her body illuminated only by the blinking lights of the tree, looking so damn sexy and inviting. I could still feel in my mind the sensations of sliding my hard-on into her and hear her moans of pleasure as she begged me to fuck her over and over again.I could feel my hard-on inside my sleep shorts growing, my hand moving to it as I remembered the image of her tits bouncing inside the sheer material before she rolled me over to sit on top of me. I stroked my hard shaft, pretending it was her hot wet cunt again, her big tits now bouncing wildly on her chest, the sheer material pushed apart by her flying tits. My mind could still remember how she felt around me as she pounded down on me with abandon until she made me come deep inside her. I grunted and felt my cock surge cum onto my stomach, remembering that day and wishing for those days again. I knew in my heart it was a useless wish. Nothing was going to change, but I still couldn't help but wish it none the less. I tossed back the covers, pushed the sleep shorts the rest of the way off and headed to the shower to rinse off the evidence of my desire.After ChristmasIt had been a good Christmas. I loved having the kids and their families over, this year with the first of our grandchildren as well. It was midmorning, the day after Christmas, and I was moving around the tree, picking up the odds and ends wrapping paper that had gotten left behind and putting my Christmas presents away in the shop, or wherever else was a suitable home. The tree had been inundated with presents, as usual, stacked so high that only the top two thirds of the tree were visible. Both of us enjoyed giving presents to the kids and their spouses. My wife spent hours picking just the right things for all of them. Christmas was probably the best season of the year, at least I felt so. Though each year it became harder and harder not to think back to that first Christmas. No, I wasn't going to change wives. I loved Nancy more than anything else in my life, though the kids would be a darn tough second.No, I was resigned to my life of near celibacy, at least compared to how my life with her had started.To make matters worse, my wife and the neighborhood ladies were all fitness-minded. They keep up a daily routine of evening walks and morning yoga. This means I wake up to a beautiful display of curvy bodies in the living room or back patio, adorned in the hottest yoga pants, leotards, or swimsuits. Good luck hiding your morning wood with multiple ladies watching.I tucked things away and I was about to call it done, when I noticed a small package sticking out from under the tree skirt. "uh oh." I mumbled, "someone didn't get a present." I pulled the oddly wrapped package from under the skirt and looked at it. About six inches square and maybe an inch thick. I didn't recognize the paper. It was a deep burgundy with some kind of fuzzy pattern on it and a bow that looked to be made of silk lace. It had a small tag which I turned over. "To Mike, from Mrs. Clause."I chuckled. My wife and I often traded packages from Santa. I was surprised that she didn't catch one of mine was missing. I gently slipped the bow and ribbon off the corners and gently unwrapped the paper. It was almost like foil paper with that interesting soft texture. It had to be expensive paper. I opened the box and inside was a single heart shaped cookie, white frosted with red sugar dusted over it. Under I could see a small parchment paper. I slipped it out. The parchment looked and felt ancient, but clearly couldn't be or it would fall apart. The writing was in a looping feminine script."Merry Christmas. Share this with the love of your life, to grant your Christmas wish, but be alone." Mrs. Clause.I looked it over, front and back, but there were no other clues. Maybe this was my wife's way of trying to start something? We hadn't had any sex over Christmas yet, so maybe this was her way of giving me a present she knew I would enjoy. I grinned at the thought. I could play that game. I headed to the bedroom and took off my underwear so I was wearing only my thin nylon workout shorts. That should make things easier. I took the cookie from the box and opened the plastic wrapper. Setting the unwrapped cookie back in the box, I went to find her. Now was as good a time as any. I found her in the kitchen, putting dinner into the crockpot. I stepped behind her and gently kissed her neck. Breaking the cookie, I reached around her, pressing my already growing hard-on against her ass crack. I whispered. "I have something for you." I held the piece of cookie out in front of her mouth for her to take the bite."What's that?" she asked, her hands unable to do anything as she held the chicken breasts. I slipped the portion of cookie into her mouth before she could object any further. "Oh my god! That is so good!" she moaned, almost orgasmic as she chewed the cookie slowly."Knock knock!" I heard from the garage door as Linda, our neighbor called as she walked in. "Anyone home?""In here!" My wife called, dropping the chicken into the crockpot and moving away from me to wash her hands.I scowled at the interruption, feeling my hope of what was to come, fade away in an instant. This seemed to be the story of my life. Just when I thought I had her interest, something interrupts and the "mood" never seems to come back. Linda wasn't a bad looking woman. Not nearly as hot and sexy as my wife, but then not many women are, even at sixty three. Linda is slender, early fifties, modest sized chest, half a foot shorter than my six foot, and divorced for the last three years."Now, where did you get that?" My wife asked, as she turned to face me, wiping her hands on a small towel, while Linda stepped into the kitchen."From you." I answered, feeling a little confused. "It was under the tree with a tag for me.""I didn't give you a cookie," my wife said with a frown. "You have a secret girlfriend giving you things?" She continued as she took the box from me. She snapped off another piece of the cookie and ate it, closing her eyes and letting out a soft moan. "Oh god this is so good.""What is?" Linda asked as she stepped over."This cookie. Try this. It's the most exquisite taste!" My wife said as she snapped off a piece of the cookie and held it out to Linda."Oh damn!" Linda groaned after she popped the piece of cookie in her mouth, chewing it so slowly, clearly savoring each moment."Here hon. Taste this." My wife whispered, holding a piece of the cookie out for me. I opened my mouth and let her slip the cookie piece into my mouth.It was an incredibly unusual taste. Almost like, well, almost like... Oh shit! I knew exactly what it tasted like now. It tasted exactly like Nancy's cunt when I make her climax on my tongue."God, Linda. Have you ever tasted anything so incredible?""No. I haven't. It's incredible." She whispered as she reached for another piece of the quickly disappearing cookie. She slipped another small piece into her mouth as my wife took the last piece and at it. The two of them moaned almost in unison as they closed their eyes and chewed the last of the cookie. "Damn, is it hot in here?" Linda asked, fanning herself with her hands as she swallowed the last of the cookie. "Where did you get that?"Nancy turned to look at me again. "Mike said it was under the tree.""It was," I said, taking the box back from my wife. I turned it over to show her the tag on the ribbon, still partly attached to the box. The parchment fell out of the box and fluttered to the floor. My wife bent over to pick up the parchment."Mike, you want to tell me something?" she asked as she looked at the writing on the note. "Are you seeing someone on the side I should know about?""I wish." I grunted."Merry Christmas. Share this with the love of your life, to grant your Christmas wish, but be alone. Mrs. Clause." My wife read. "Who the hell is Mrs. Clause? My wife asked me angrily. "Some new woman I don't know about?""Shit honey. You know you're the only woman in my life. Honestly, I thought it was from you. We trade Santa presents all the time. I just thought it was from you.""Not me. I didn't give you a cookie. Hell, I don't even recognize the writing. Who writes like this anyway?" My wife asked as Linda pulled the note from my wife's hand to read it."Looks like an invitation to play." Linda said with a grin. "Someone wants your husband's goodies.""Yeah. right. Who'd want an aging old man?""I dunno. I might. Not that I've seen what he has to offer, but I can tell you that bulge in his pants is pretty inviting."Both my wife and I looked down at my crotch. "Shit." I grunted in surprise at how far my shorts were tented out as my mostly hard cock tried to stand erect, but instead just pushed the front and part of the right leg of my shorts out until the material was taut, trapping it bent over. My cock was so hard and long that my engorged mushroom head poked out the end of the leg hole suggestively."Jesus Mike!" My wife snapped. "Really? Is that all you think about? Sex?" She slammed the box on the counter and stormed off toward the bedroom."Hey! Nancy, If you don't want it, I'll take it!" Linda called down the hall toward my retreating wife. She looked down at my crotch and grinned. She stepped closer, tossing the note onto the counter and then reached down toward my bulging shorts. I felt her fingers stroke up and down my material covered shaft a few times and then stroke over my exposed bare head. "Umm. I bet this would feel good inside me. Spreading me? Oh yeah. I'm sure it would."Linda whispered as she teased my phallic head a few more moments. I felt her hand slide up and her other hand join it, one on each of my hips, reaching for the elastic waistband of my shorts. "Hell, I wouldn't mind at all if you put that someplace hot and warm and wet," She whispered to me as she pushed my shorts down over my hips and ass. She started to squat down in front of me, while I stood there, not moving, letting her push my shorts down my body, slowly forcing them down over my hard cock until it popped out and stood pointing up at her face.“Mike, you're thicker than the flagpole on my front porch!”I felt like I shouldn't be doing what I was, but at the same time, I wanted her to. I wanted her to see me and touch me. I wanted her to want me."Oh shit yes," I groaned as her hand closed around my hard shaft. I looked down at her as she gently licked up the bottom of my cock until her tongue reached my mushroom head. She seemed to know exactly how and where to tease her tongue, making me groan in pleasure again, moments before she closed her lips around my leaking cock head. “I forgot how great this can be!” I admitted to the neighbor hottie kneeling in our kitchen."Hmm." She moaned, making my cock vibrate slightly as she began to stroke her mouth and hand up and down my shaft. It'd been years since anyone had done what she was doing, and all I could do was to stand there and let her do it."Shit! Linda!" I heard Nancy say from behind me. "What are you doing?""Sucking his incredible cock. God I don't believe you don't still do this for him. It tastes so damn good!" Linda said huskily from where she knelt in front of me. "You should get down here and help me. I think he's going to come for me, the way it feels.""Mike? You're going to just let her suck your cock?""Oh damn." I groaned as she went back to sliding her lips up and down my shaft, her tongue teasing under my engorged head with each stroke. "Fuck she's good at this."Linda was now standing, but bent over. Her left hand frigging herself inside her red yoga pants, while her right hand cupped my dangling balls. Her head tilted to accommodate my cock's descent into her throat."Mike!" My wife said quietly, the look on her face one of, what? Disappointment? Surprise? Betrayal? I wasn't really sure. She stood and stared at Linda sucking me, drawing me ever closer to orgasm. "Mike?" She asked in a squeaky whisper. "Is this what you want? Sex with another woman?"Linda's right hand now squeezed the base of my shaft and squeezed tight. My prostate pressure was throwing me into a dizzy haze. She looked up into my eyes and smiled, then opened wide. With my cock head just outside her open mouth, she relaxed her grip on my shaft and the volcano erupted."Oh fuck." I grunted as my body spasmed. I could feel my cum lancing out into Linda's mouth, shot after shot pumping into her as my body jerked and trembled. I stood there, my stomach tensing and my hips trying to push toward her with each new surge of cum. I didn't realize I could come that much, finally standing there, panting, after at least a dozen powerful shots of cum.Linda pulled her mouth from my cock and looked up at me. She opened her mouth to show me the tremendous load of cum I'd deposited in her mouth, an amount more reminiscent of my more youthful days. She closed her mouth and smiled before opening it again so show not only me, but Nancy, that she had swallowed the whole load."Oh god, Linda? You swallowed it?""Oh fuck yes," she said as she stood up. "God I'm so fucking horny." She started to push her yoga pants down, her fingers taking her panties along with them, forcing the stretchy material down over her ass and hips, down her thighs, almost to her knees. I'd seen her in some one piece swim suits before, but I'd never seen her anything close to naked. She had full round outer lips with a significant amount of inner labia exposed, pressed to her full round twat. Her bush spread from her mound, down between her legs, covering much of her cunt. She pushed her pants all the way to her knees and then slid her hands tantalizing up her thighs, slipping to the inside of each thigh before gently stroking and spreading her delicate inner lips. I watched her fingers stroke sensually between her lips, teasing them apart, almost as if inviting me to not only look but touch. I watched her hand slip down and back several times before she allowed her fingers to trace up from her wet lips to her mound and then higher. Her fingers hooked under the bottom hem of her tight tanktop and pulled it up, sliding it up over her surprisingly firm stomach, pausing only a moment when they reached the bottom of her bra. She hooked her fingers under the elastic bottom band and then pulled the shirt and bra up, pulling both it and her shirt up over her tits, exposing her whole body from high on her chest all the way to her knees to my view. "Lick my cunt Mike. Please? Please lick me?" she practically begged as her fingers moved from her shirt and bra, back down to her rock hard nipples, gently stroking small circles around each hard protruding nub.I stood and stared at her mostly naked body for long seconds, my brain seeming to be in a fog of desire I hadn't felt since saw Nancy's naked body that first time. I wasn't sure at all why I did it. I shouldn't have. Part of me knew it was wrong, but another part, an animalistic part, demanded that I respond to the feelings of want and desire welling up inside of me almost uncontrollably. I gave in to those urges and I gave into them right in front of Nancy. I reached for Linda's hips, moved her in front of the island counter and lifted her up, setting her bare ass on the cold hard granite surface. She didn't seem to care as I pulled off her jogging shoes, dropping them on the floor before pulling her pants the rest of the way down her legs before tossing them aside. I grasped her ankles and lifted her legs into the air, pushing them apart as I stepped between her legs. I pressed my shrinking cock against her wet cunt lips, grinding myself against her wetness and pressing my lips to hers in an aggressive wanting kiss that she eagerly returned. I stood there, kissing her for only a few seconds before lowering my head from her face to her tits. I closed my lips around one hard nipple and sucked it into my mouth, teasing it with my tongue as she grasped my head with one hand, pulling my face forcefully toward her chest. I heard her moan loudly as I nibbled her hard nipple. "Oh god. Fuck me Fuck my hot cunt!" she gasped loudly.I couldn't do that. My cock was on the wrong side of climax and was going to take a few minutes to recover, but that didn't mean I couldn't pleasure her in other ways. I pulled my face from her tit and kissed my way down over her stomach, over her hairy, curl covered mound, and down between her thighs. I kissed each thigh several times, each kiss moving closer to her hot wet cunt. I could smell her excitement, her lips practically leaking her juices even before touched them with my tongue."Oh my god yes!" she moaned as I made the first lick up her cunt lips, tasting her sweet nectar as I let my tongue spread her inner lips. I eagerly licked up and down her slit, driving my tongue deep between her lips, finding both the leaking entrance to her depths and her hard clit. I wanted to be hard, I wanted to drive my cock into her hot depths, but it wasn't ready yet.Linda's eyes were closed as she leaned back on her elbows, like a Grecian statue, there on our kitchen island pedestal.I used a finger to slip into her, drawing a gasp of pleasure. I teased her clit with my tongue while I slipped my finger in and out of her like a small dick. "Oh Fuck!" she cried as her legs trembled and shook, my tongue continually teasing over and around her hard exposed clit. I was a momentarily surprised at how quickly she was going to come, but the thought fled my mind as I was overtaken by the scent of her cunt, and an overwhelming desire to fuck her. My mind briefly felt thankful that she had just sucked me off and I hadn't gotten hard again yet, but I couldn't quite gel the thought as to why that was important, so I continued to lick and tease her clit until her whole body tensed. She trembled and her cunt was leaking copiously, I pulled my finger from her and used my tongue to try and drive into her depths, allowing me to enjoy the flow leaking from her depths. I licked and sucked her juices as they leaked into my mouth, sharing her climax as she came for me. "Oh, damn." She panted as her body slowly stilled, my tongue now slowly stroking up her slit, collecting the last of her flow. I stood up slowly, looking at her, my mind slowly realizing what I had just done; and to whom."God Mike. I don't believe you just did that." I heard Nancy say from behind me. I had forgotten she was even in the kitchen, let alone watching me lick our neighbor to climax!I stood up, my shorts still around my ankles. I wiped a hand across my mouth to wipe Linda's cum from my chin, and turned to look at her. There were so many things I could say, so many things I felt like saying, but for reasons I don't quite understand, the only think that came out was, "Your turn?""Oh Mike!" she cried before bursting into tears. She turned and ran down the hall. I heard the door to the bedroom slam, and then a sound I don't think I've ever heard. The click of the lock button on the doorknob."Oh shit." I whispered as Linda sat up behind me. I felt Linda press herself against me. I felt her hard nipples press into my back, her hands reaching around me to find my half hard cock. Her fingers of one hand teased my cock while the other stroked up and down my stomach and chest. Her legs hooked around my thighs in a possessive embrace."Any time you wanna put this pole in me, I'm ready." Linda whispered in my ear. "If Nancy doesn't want it, I'll be more than happy to keep you satisfied.""I don't think that'll help, at the moment." I whispered, suddenly feeling like I'd lost something, but my mind couldn't quite identify what.

An aging couple gets a surprise gift from Mrs. Clause.Based on a post by m storyman x, in 2 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.I could hear Nancy, my wife, clinking the dishes in the kitchen as she unloaded the dishwasher. It was Christmas eve morning, and she was up and about before six. That meant only one thing as far as I was concerned, no Christmas sex this year, again. Not with the kids showing up this afternoon. I've found myself thinking back to the early years a lot more lately. You'd think that in my sixties, sex wouldn't be a big deal anymore, but instead it seemed like my tolerance for her lack of desire or output was lower instead of better.I closed my eyes again and thought back to our first Christmas together as man and wife. It was a small tree, and there weren't many presents around it, but we gave each other the best present in the world that Christmas night. We made love under the tree, not once, but multiple times. Nine months later our first daughter was born. All through our dating time she was sexually playful and we would have sex many ways and in lots of places. She never seemed bashful when she undressed for me, exposing her incredibly beautiful body. Hell, I never would have even tried to ask her out on a date if I hadn't accidently spilled my drink all over her at McDonalds. She was way out of my class. She looked more like playboy model material than someone interested in a somewhat geeky college freshman.To my surprise, she demanded that I take her out to make up for spilling the soda all over her. So I did. And again, and again. After half a dozen dates, I built up enough nerve to suggest we mess around while we were walking in the dark through the local park. She readily agreed and the two of us made love for the first time on a picnic table in the middle of a public park. It was the first of many times we made love, in private, in semi-public areas, in the river, in the lake, well, you get the idea. She was willing to do it anywhere I felt comfortable doing it with her. She never seemed to be able to get enough of our intimacy. And it was so much more than just sex. You could see it in her eyes. She loved what I was doing with her and she loved watching me climax along with her. It became almost a game with her, to hold it as long as possible before letting herself tumble over the edge, taking me with her. But it was for me, and only me. Once we started dating there was no one else, not even close male friends that would hug or anything. It wasn't until I proposed that I learned I was the first man to have her that way.We got married less than a year after spilling that soda on her, and we made love the first time as man and wife in the hot tub on the balcony of the bridal suite. Not one time, but twice before we finally tumbled into bed, exhausted from the day's activities. The next months were fantastic. She seemed to delight in teasing me, skimpy or no underwear with short skirts, sexy lingerie, sometimes wearing things without a bra so her big 32 D tits would wiggle enticingly. Our first Christmas found her under the tree in a red see through negligee, a gift tag tied to the crotch of her see through panties that read "definitely open before Christmas!" We made love under that tree and we loved each other. Over the next months, her belly grew, but her desire for me didn't change. If anything, it increased. It was almost as if being pregnant enhanced her sexual desire. And I wasn't going to argue. She always whispered how much she loved me and how much making love with me made her feel loved.It wasn't a surprise when sex drew to a sudden halt after Tabitha was born. I could understand it. I waited patiently, and some of the sex returned, but not nearly what it had been before. We had to plan when we had sex so we didn't wake Mikey, interrupting us. A year later we had Julie, and sex became even less frequent. After Mandy, well, sex just didn't seem to happen anymore. It was frustrating, but I always looked ahead and said that once the girls were grown and out of the house things would get better.College came for our sons, and we were empty nesters, but the long skirts, heavy duty bras to hold her now thirty eight triple D's in place, and the granny panties appeared to be the future. Sex was maybe once or twice a month, if I was lucky, always in the bedroom and always the same way. It was, to say the least, depressing to see what my life had become. I was married to the most beautiful woman in town, maybe the state, and I barely got to even see her naked any more unless we shared a shower. Now here we were, twenty years past the girls moving out on their own and I was more depressed about our sex life than I could remember. I lay dreaming back to that first Christmas, picturing her lying under the tree in that see through red mesh, her legs spread, her body illuminated only by the blinking lights of the tree, looking so damn sexy and inviting. I could still feel in my mind the sensations of sliding my hard-on into her and hear her moans of pleasure as she begged me to fuck her over and over again.I could feel my hard-on inside my sleep shorts growing, my hand moving to it as I remembered the image of her tits bouncing inside the sheer material before she rolled me over to sit on top of me. I stroked my hard shaft, pretending it was her hot wet cunt again, her big tits now bouncing wildly on her chest, the sheer material pushed apart by her flying tits. My mind could still remember how she felt around me as she pounded down on me with abandon until she made me come deep inside her. I grunted and felt my cock surge cum onto my stomach, remembering that day and wishing for those days again. I knew in my heart it was a useless wish. Nothing was going to change, but I still couldn't help but wish it none the less. I tossed back the covers, pushed the sleep shorts the rest of the way off and headed to the shower to rinse off the evidence of my desire.After ChristmasIt had been a good Christmas. I loved having the kids and their families over, this year with the first of our grandchildren as well. It was midmorning, the day after Christmas, and I was moving around the tree, picking up the odds and ends wrapping paper that had gotten left behind and putting my Christmas presents away in the shop, or wherever else was a suitable home. The tree had been inundated with presents, as usual, stacked so high that only the top two thirds of the tree were visible. Both of us enjoyed giving presents to the kids and their spouses. My wife spent hours picking just the right things for all of them. Christmas was probably the best season of the year, at least I felt so. Though each year it became harder and harder not to think back to that first Christmas. No, I wasn't going to change wives. I loved Nancy more than anything else in my life, though the kids would be a darn tough second.No, I was resigned to my life of near celibacy, at least compared to how my life with her had started.To make matters worse, my wife and the neighborhood ladies were all fitness-minded. They keep up a daily routine of evening walks and morning yoga. This means I wake up to a beautiful display of curvy bodies in the living room or back patio, adorned in the hottest yoga pants, leotards, or swimsuits. Good luck hiding your morning wood with multiple ladies watching.I tucked things away and I was about to call it done, when I noticed a small package sticking out from under the tree skirt. "uh oh." I mumbled, "someone didn't get a present." I pulled the oddly wrapped package from under the skirt and looked at it. About six inches square and maybe an inch thick. I didn't recognize the paper. It was a deep burgundy with some kind of fuzzy pattern on it and a bow that looked to be made of silk lace. It had a small tag which I turned over. "To Mike, from Mrs. Clause."I chuckled. My wife and I often traded packages from Santa. I was surprised that she didn't catch one of mine was missing. I gently slipped the bow and ribbon off the corners and gently unwrapped the paper. It was almost like foil paper with that interesting soft texture. It had to be expensive paper. I opened the box and inside was a single heart shaped cookie, white frosted with red sugar dusted over it. Under I could see a small parchment paper. I slipped it out. The parchment looked and felt ancient, but clearly couldn't be or it would fall apart. The writing was in a looping feminine script."Merry Christmas. Share this with the love of your life, to grant your Christmas wish, but be alone." Mrs. Clause.I looked it over, front and back, but there were no other clues. Maybe this was my wife's way of trying to start something? We hadn't had any sex over Christmas yet, so maybe this was her way of giving me a present she knew I would enjoy. I grinned at the thought. I could play that game. I headed to the bedroom and took off my underwear so I was wearing only my thin nylon workout shorts. That should make things easier. I took the cookie from the box and opened the plastic wrapper. Setting the unwrapped cookie back in the box, I went to find her. Now was as good a time as any. I found her in the kitchen, putting dinner into the crockpot. I stepped behind her and gently kissed her neck. Breaking the cookie, I reached around her, pressing my already growing hard-on against her ass crack. I whispered. "I have something for you." I held the piece of cookie out in front of her mouth for her to take the bite."What's that?" she asked, her hands unable to do anything as she held the chicken breasts. I slipped the portion of cookie into her mouth before she could object any further. "Oh my god! That is so good!" she moaned, almost orgasmic as she chewed the cookie slowly."Knock knock!" I heard from the garage door as Linda, our neighbor called as she walked in. "Anyone home?""In here!" My wife called, dropping the chicken into the crockpot and moving away from me to wash her hands.I scowled at the interruption, feeling my hope of what was to come, fade away in an instant. This seemed to be the story of my life. Just when I thought I had her interest, something interrupts and the "mood" never seems to come back. Linda wasn't a bad looking woman. Not nearly as hot and sexy as my wife, but then not many women are, even at sixty three. Linda is slender, early fifties, modest sized chest, half a foot shorter than my six foot, and divorced for the last three years."Now, where did you get that?" My wife asked, as she turned to face me, wiping her hands on a small towel, while Linda stepped into the kitchen."From you." I answered, feeling a little confused. "It was under the tree with a tag for me.""I didn't give you a cookie," my wife said with a frown. "You have a secret girlfriend giving you things?" She continued as she took the box from me. She snapped off another piece of the cookie and ate it, closing her eyes and letting out a soft moan. "Oh god this is so good.""What is?" Linda asked as she stepped over."This cookie. Try this. It's the most exquisite taste!" My wife said as she snapped off a piece of the cookie and held it out to Linda."Oh damn!" Linda groaned after she popped the piece of cookie in her mouth, chewing it so slowly, clearly savoring each moment."Here hon. Taste this." My wife whispered, holding a piece of the cookie out for me. I opened my mouth and let her slip the cookie piece into my mouth.It was an incredibly unusual taste. Almost like, well, almost like... Oh shit! I knew exactly what it tasted like now. It tasted exactly like Nancy's cunt when I make her climax on my tongue."God, Linda. Have you ever tasted anything so incredible?""No. I haven't. It's incredible." She whispered as she reached for another piece of the quickly disappearing cookie. She slipped another small piece into her mouth as my wife took the last piece and at it. The two of them moaned almost in unison as they closed their eyes and chewed the last of the cookie. "Damn, is it hot in here?" Linda asked, fanning herself with her hands as she swallowed the last of the cookie. "Where did you get that?"Nancy turned to look at me again. "Mike said it was under the tree.""It was," I said, taking the box back from my wife. I turned it over to show her the tag on the ribbon, still partly attached to the box. The parchment fell out of the box and fluttered to the floor. My wife bent over to pick up the parchment."Mike, you want to tell me something?" she asked as she looked at the writing on the note. "Are you seeing someone on the side I should know about?""I wish." I grunted."Merry Christmas. Share this with the love of your life, to grant your Christmas wish, but be alone. Mrs. Clause." My wife read. "Who the hell is Mrs. Clause? My wife asked me angrily. "Some new woman I don't know about?""Shit honey. You know you're the only woman in my life. Honestly, I thought it was from you. We trade Santa presents all the time. I just thought it was from you.""Not me. I didn't give you a cookie. Hell, I don't even recognize the writing. Who writes like this anyway?" My wife asked as Linda pulled the note from my wife's hand to read it."Looks like an invitation to play." Linda said with a grin. "Someone wants your husband's goodies.""Yeah. right. Who'd want an aging old man?""I dunno. I might. Not that I've seen what he has to offer, but I can tell you that bulge in his pants is pretty inviting."Both my wife and I looked down at my crotch. "Shit." I grunted in surprise at how far my shorts were tented out as my mostly hard cock tried to stand erect, but instead just pushed the front and part of the right leg of my shorts out until the material was taut, trapping it bent over. My cock was so hard and long that my engorged mushroom head poked out the end of the leg hole suggestively."Jesus Mike!" My wife snapped. "Really? Is that all you think about? Sex?" She slammed the box on the counter and stormed off toward the bedroom."Hey! Nancy, If you don't want it, I'll take it!" Linda called down the hall toward my retreating wife. She looked down at my crotch and grinned. She stepped closer, tossing the note onto the counter and then reached down toward my bulging shorts. I felt her fingers stroke up and down my material covered shaft a few times and then stroke over my exposed bare head. "Umm. I bet this would feel good inside me. Spreading me? Oh yeah. I'm sure it would."Linda whispered as she teased my phallic head a few more moments. I felt her hand slide up and her other hand join it, one on each of my hips, reaching for the elastic waistband of my shorts. "Hell, I wouldn't mind at all if you put that someplace hot and warm and wet," She whispered to me as she pushed my shorts down over my hips and ass. She started to squat down in front of me, while I stood there, not moving, letting her push my shorts down my body, slowly forcing them down over my hard cock until it popped out and stood pointing up at her face.“Mike, you're thicker than the flagpole on my front porch!”I felt like I shouldn't be doing what I was, but at the same time, I wanted her to. I wanted her to see me and touch me. I wanted her to want me."Oh shit yes," I groaned as her hand closed around my hard shaft. I looked down at her as she gently licked up the bottom of my cock until her tongue reached my mushroom head. She seemed to know exactly how and where to tease her tongue, making me groan in pleasure again, moments before she closed her lips around my leaking cock head. “I forgot how great this can be!” I admitted to the neighbor hottie kneeling in our kitchen."Hmm." She moaned, making my cock vibrate slightly as she began to stroke her mouth and hand up and down my shaft. It'd been years since anyone had done what she was doing, and all I could do was to stand there and let her do it."Shit! Linda!" I heard Nancy say from behind me. "What are you doing?""Sucking his incredible cock. God I don't believe you don't still do this for him. It tastes so damn good!" Linda said huskily from where she knelt in front of me. "You should get down here and help me. I think he's going to come for me, the way it feels.""Mike? You're going to just let her suck your cock?""Oh damn." I groaned as she went back to sliding her lips up and down my shaft, her tongue teasing under my engorged head with each stroke. "Fuck she's good at this."Linda was now standing, but bent over. Her left hand frigging herself inside her red yoga pants, while her right hand cupped my dangling balls. Her head tilted to accommodate my cock's descent into her throat."Mike!" My wife said quietly, the look on her face one of, what? Disappointment? Surprise? Betrayal? I wasn't really sure. She stood and stared at Linda sucking me, drawing me ever closer to orgasm. "Mike?" She asked in a squeaky whisper. "Is this what you want? Sex with another woman?"Linda's right hand now squeezed the base of my shaft and squeezed tight. My prostate pressure was throwing me into a dizzy haze. She looked up into my eyes and smiled, then opened wide. With my cock head just outside her open mouth, she relaxed her grip on my shaft and the volcano erupted."Oh fuck." I grunted as my body spasmed. I could feel my cum lancing out into Linda's mouth, shot after shot pumping into her as my body jerked and trembled. I stood there, my stomach tensing and my hips trying to push toward her with each new surge of cum. I didn't realize I could come that much, finally standing there, panting, after at least a dozen powerful shots of cum.Linda pulled her mouth from my cock and looked up at me. She opened her mouth to show me the tremendous load of cum I'd deposited in her mouth, an amount more reminiscent of my more youthful days. She closed her mouth and smiled before opening it again so show not only me, but Nancy, that she had swallowed the whole load."Oh god, Linda? You swallowed it?""Oh fuck yes," she said as she stood up. "God I'm so fucking horny." She started to push her yoga pants down, her fingers taking her panties along with them, forcing the stretchy material down over her ass and hips, down her thighs, almost to her knees. I'd seen her in some one piece swim suits before, but I'd never seen her anything close to naked. She had full round outer lips with a significant amount of inner labia exposed, pressed to her full round twat. Her bush spread from her mound, down between her legs, covering much of her cunt. She pushed her pants all the way to her knees and then slid her hands tantalizing up her thighs, slipping to the inside of each thigh before gently stroking and spreading her delicate inner lips. I watched her fingers stroke sensually between her lips, teasing them apart, almost as if inviting me to not only look but touch. I watched her hand slip down and back several times before she allowed her fingers to trace up from her wet lips to her mound and then higher. Her fingers hooked under the bottom hem of her tight tanktop and pulled it up, sliding it up over her surprisingly firm stomach, pausing only a moment when they reached the bottom of her bra. She hooked her fingers under the elastic bottom band and then pulled the shirt and bra up, pulling both it and her shirt up over her tits, exposing her whole body from high on her chest all the way to her knees to my view. "Lick my cunt Mike. Please? Please lick me?" she practically begged as her fingers moved from her shirt and bra, back down to her rock hard nipples, gently stroking small circles around each hard protruding nub.I stood and stared at her mostly naked body for long seconds, my brain seeming to be in a fog of desire I hadn't felt since saw Nancy's naked body that first time. I wasn't sure at all why I did it. I shouldn't have. Part of me knew it was wrong, but another part, an animalistic part, demanded that I respond to the feelings of want and desire welling up inside of me almost uncontrollably. I gave in to those urges and I gave into them right in front of Nancy. I reached for Linda's hips, moved her in front of the island counter and lifted her up, setting her bare ass on the cold hard granite surface. She didn't seem to care as I pulled off her jogging shoes, dropping them on the floor before pulling her pants the rest of the way down her legs before tossing them aside. I grasped her ankles and lifted her legs into the air, pushing them apart as I stepped between her legs. I pressed my shrinking cock against her wet cunt lips, grinding myself against her wetness and pressing my lips to hers in an aggressive wanting kiss that she eagerly returned. I stood there, kissing her for only a few seconds before lowering my head from her face to her tits. I closed my lips around one hard nipple and sucked it into my mouth, teasing it with my tongue as she grasped my head with one hand, pulling my face forcefully toward her chest. I heard her moan loudly as I nibbled her hard nipple. "Oh god. Fuck me Fuck my hot cunt!" she gasped loudly.I couldn't do that. My cock was on the wrong side of climax and was going to take a few minutes to recover, but that didn't mean I couldn't pleasure her in other ways. I pulled my face from her tit and kissed my way down over her stomach, over her hairy, curl covered mound, and down between her thighs. I kissed each thigh several times, each kiss moving closer to her hot wet cunt. I could smell her excitement, her lips practically leaking her juices even before touched them with my tongue."Oh my god yes!" she moaned as I made the first lick up her cunt lips, tasting her sweet nectar as I let my tongue spread her inner lips. I eagerly licked up and down her slit, driving my tongue deep between her lips, finding both the leaking entrance to her depths and her hard clit. I wanted to be hard, I wanted to drive my cock into her hot depths, but it wasn't ready yet.Linda's eyes were closed as she leaned back on her elbows, like a Grecian statue, there on our kitchen island pedestal.I used a finger to slip into her, drawing a gasp of pleasure. I teased her clit with my tongue while I slipped my finger in and out of her like a small dick. "Oh Fuck!" she cried as her legs trembled and shook, my tongue continually teasing over and around her hard exposed clit. I was a momentarily surprised at how quickly she was going to come, but the thought fled my mind as I was overtaken by the scent of her cunt, and an overwhelming desire to fuck her. My mind briefly felt thankful that she had just sucked me off and I hadn't gotten hard again yet, but I couldn't quite gel the thought as to why that was important, so I continued to lick and tease her clit until her whole body tensed. She trembled and her cunt was leaking copiously, I pulled my finger from her and used my tongue to try and drive into her depths, allowing me to enjoy the flow leaking from her depths. I licked and sucked her juices as they leaked into my mouth, sharing her climax as she came for me. "Oh, damn." She panted as her body slowly stilled, my tongue now slowly stroking up her slit, collecting the last of her flow. I stood up slowly, looking at her, my mind slowly realizing what I had just done; and to whom."God Mike. I don't believe you just did that." I heard Nancy say from behind me. I had forgotten she was even in the kitchen, let alone watching me lick our neighbor to climax!I stood up, my shorts still around my ankles. I wiped a hand across my mouth to wipe Linda's cum from my chin, and turned to look at her. There were so many things I could say, so many things I felt like saying, but for reasons I don't quite understand, the only think that came out was, "Your turn?""Oh Mike!" she cried before bursting into tears. She turned and ran down the hall. I heard the door to the bedroom slam, and then a sound I don't think I've ever heard. The click of the lock button on the doorknob."Oh shit." I whispered as Linda sat up behind me. I felt Linda press herself against me. I felt her hard nipples press into my back, her hands reaching around me to find my half hard cock. Her fingers of one hand teased my cock while the other stroked up and down my stomach and chest. Her legs hooked around my thighs in a possessive embrace."Any time you wanna put this pole in me, I'm ready." Linda whispered in my ear. "If Nancy doesn't want it, I'll be more than happy to keep you satisfied.""I don't think that'll help, at the moment." I whispered, suddenly feeling like I'd lost something, but my mind couldn't quite identify what.

Was the first Grecian formula… Roman?

Two Free Sarongs Hound Dog Talk Running On Empty Traffic Holdingupperers Dropped Me Chicken Wrap What’s The Bad Excuse? Last Minute Will Change What Was In The Will? Cyclone Alfred Could’ve Been Anthony Expensive Non-Wedding The Sound Of The Sound Of Music We Snooze, You LoseSubscribe on LiSTNR: https://play.listnr.com/podcasts/carrie-and-tommySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David, Jon and Alfie meet up to chat about Exeter's amazing 4-4 draw with Crawley Town. And then chat about David's experience of the junior Grecian's Xmas Party. And if you'd like to support the pod and receive episodes early and videos and be part of a super little community then sign up to Patreon.com/davidearl thanks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

True Leadership and Revival (2) (audio) David Eells – 12/8/24   The great anointing of the beginning of the Latter Rain is coming for the purpose of first empowering the Man-child, who will then be used to bring the Bride into her ordained calling. It will be as it was in Jesus' time where John said of Jesus' disciples in Joh.3:29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom…. The anointing of wisdom and knowledge and power of Jesus will be theirs for He lives in them. Glenn H. Jackson received just such a prophecy in July 2006. (This speaks of the anointing of the Man-child reformers.) Jesus said, “I am going to ‘bring you up' with Me for a time, My beloved one, and I shall show you supernaturally in this time all that you need to be shown and truly I say to you, you will never be the same and I shall lay My hands upon you and thus I shall ‘impart' to you the ‘special anointing' that shall enable (empower) you to carry out powerfully and gloriously every facet of My will for your life and ministry and you shall help ‘elevate' My Church to the place that I have called her to! Do not fear, My beloved one, only put yourself in a position continually to receive all that I have for you!” The Jewish Feast of Hanukkah typifies the time of the anointing of the Man-child at the beginning of the Tribulation in order to spread that anointing throughout the Bride and the larger Church. Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights, starting on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar. [In 2024, 5,6,7,8, Hanukkah starts at nightfall on Dec 25th or Christmas, when the world celebrates the birth of Jesus, the Man-child. Jesus was really born in the fall when the shepherds, who visited the birth, were still in the field with their sheep.]  Hanukkah is a Hebrew word meaning “dedication”. It celebrates the victory of the Maccabees over the Grecian beast kingdom of 165 B.C. and the rededication of the Temple that had been defiled by that kingdom. Their situation typifies the same spiritual situation we are seeing presently in the Church. The beast kingdom of this world has defiled the Temple of God's people with its thinking and ways. The Hellenists, who were a type of the worldly Christian and their leaders, felt that their brethren were not a modern sophisticated society like the Greeks and so did everything they could to merge Israel into the Grecian beast kingdom in culture and thought. As a true type, the light of the menorah of Israel was put out during those days when God's people indulged in the lukewarm darkness of the world even as today in spiritual Israel, the Church. The Maccabees were a priestly family of Jews whom God used to cast off the bondage of Antiochus IV Epiphanes at the head of the beast kingdom. Judas Maccabaeus and his army recaptured Jerusalem and reconsecrated the temple. We are told that he wanted to light the menorah of the Temple but they had only one small flask of oil, which would last for about a day. God answered their prayers with a miracle and the oil lasted for eight days. The Feast of Hanukkah celebrates this miracle of the multiplication of the oil for the light of the Temple, which is now the people of God. Hanukkah is also called the “Feast of Lights”. As Jesus told His disciples, “Ye are the light of the world” (Mat. 5:14). The one small flask of oil was a remnant in Israel and represents the Lord Jesus birthed in the anointed Man-child of our day. The first seven days of Hanukkah represent the miraculous revival of that light through the Church in the seven day/years of the Tribulation. This was symbolized by the lighting of the Temple menorah, a seven-branched lampstand representing the seven Churches. Jesus, as a type of the Man-child, was circumcised eight days after His birth, symbolizing the cutting off of the flesh on the eighth day/year, called the Day of the Lord. This will be after seven day/years of the Man-child's Tribulation ministry when the old body is cut off and the new body is received. I do not know if the First-fruits Man-child will be anointed during the Feast of Hanukkah but God is still about to fulfill that sign in the days to come by rededicating the New Testament Temple and multiplying the oil of the First-fruits Man-child in them. As Jesus multiplied His anointing through His apostolic witnesses to the larger Church, so the Man-child will multiply that anointing through end-time witnesses to miraculously restore the light of the Church. On the evening of the 24th of Kislev begins Hanukkah on the 25th when Haggai was told by the Lord that He would bless them “from this day” by shaking the heavens and earth and breaking the power of the nations over them, sending them into the wilderness tribulation behind the man-child. Hag.2:10 In the four and twentieth [day] of the ninth [month-Kislev], in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet... 19 ...from this day will I bless [you]. 20 And the word of Jehovah came the second time unto Haggai in the four and twentieth [day] of the month (Kislev), saying, 21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; (During the 8 day/years of Tribulation/Day of the Lord. Also, our dreams show the New Madrid goes off at the time of the birth and anointing of the Man-child ministry.) 22 and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; (Kingdoms of Deep State Babylon fall to the One World empire of Cyrus as a type of Trump.) and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. (This is as when Egypt's power was broken over the called-out ones of Israel as they went into the wilderness tribulation to learn to walk by faith in God. At this time Israel was led by their Man-child, Moses, who is being typed here as the first-fruits Zerubbabel, meaning “born from Babylon”. War may very well cover their flight into the wilderness.) 23 In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith Jehovah, and will make thee as a signet; for I have chosen thee, saith Jehovah of hosts. Notice “In that day” of Hanukkah, Zerubbabel will be a signet, which is a seal of authority such as kings have. The Man-child will come with the authority of God to bring God's people out of bondage to the world and through the wilderness tribulation. Also on this day the foundation of the Lord's house, not made with man's hands, is laid again after a great falling away since the time of the Apostles. Hag.2:18 Consider, I pray you, from this day and backward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth [month], since the day that the foundation of Jehovah's temple was laid, consider it. It is through the shaking of the nations in the tribulation that God's “desired” people come out of them to become the temple of peace. 2:7 and I will shake all nations; and the precious (Hebrew: desired) things (Not Numeric) of all nations shall come (Jesus); and I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith Jehovah of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith Jehovah of hosts; and in this place will I give peace, saith Jehovah of hosts. In the former rain, Jesus, the Man-child, laid the foundation of the former glory house. 1 Cor.3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So also in the latter rain, Jesus in Zerubbabel, as a type of the Man-child, will lay the foundation of the latter, greater glory house. Zec.4:9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto you”. Notice this verse is saying that it is the Lord who is coming in Zerubbabel (first-fruits born from Babylon) to build the house of God.     Man-child Sends out the Witnesses Amos Scaggs (David's notes in red) I received a vision from the Lord showing two stages of His work in and through His last day disciples. The first stage was these modern disciples were being gathered, including myself. Preparations had been made well in advance by the Lord. We were adequately taken care of and our needs were met without asking. We gathered together in fields, feasting and listening to JESUS while he taught us his ways. (This is a repetition of history. Jesus, manifested in the first-fruits/man-child, will teach and protect the disciples for the first three and one half years of the tribulation just as it was in the Gospels. They will be trained to be his witnesses and signs and wonders will follow their teaching just as it was with the first disciples.) We were going through different parts of the world but seemed to be in the same field. (“the field is the world”) We were also given protection well in advance. We were being given monetary things from Christians who believed in and were sympathetic to our cause but stayed in their prosperous communities. They were good people and kind to us. When we left this first teaching stage, they even came to see us off on our journey. (These brethren were not called to be among the Man-child or witnesses, who are God's apostles to raise up the end-time Church but they are called to support these ministers. Just as the witnesses were handpicked by Jesus in the Gospels, so it will be this time.) The second stage was that we were gathered into groups of two's and three's and being sent out into the world. Some would never return to see their families ever again. (Some will have translation powers and may return that way.) We were being sent into different groups and then being dispersed. One had the same spirit and anointing as John. Another had the same spirit and anointing as Peter. Another had the same spirit and anointing of James and so forth. (The two witnesses who have the spirits of Moses and Elijah also have the spirits of the Apostles. As Jesus sent out the corporate two witnesses two by two in the Gospels and then in the Book of Acts, so in our day will the Man-child send out the corporate two witnesses. They will give their life to raise up the Church and the true five-fold ministries according to type.) I also saw two rich people that were in government power. These were two older friends who partially raised me when I was younger and have been dead for 30-40 plus years. He was the Lt. Governor of Ohio and his wife. I was finishing up some meaningless work that I was doing for them so I could leave in a rush. She said, “I will have a baby by another means if you won't help me.” He said, “It will have to be by other means because I can't help you”. She said, “I think I'll have one by a Cherokee.” (The woman here is a remnant of the apostate Church, which will realize that it could not bring forth the fruit of Christ through their patriotic, allegiance to their husband, the beast government, so it will be done by “other means”. The Cherokee represent the witnesses who, like them will hold tenaciously to the roots of their forefathers, the apostles and Christ Himself. The Cherokee are an oppressed minority who live in camps separate from the world representing these coming witnesses of primitive Christianity. These will rise up and sow the seed of their forefathers into the apostate Church to bring forth the fruit of Jesus in them. These are a weak people in themselves who lost their land to the American beast but have held to the “Great Spirit” whose power will bring the true Church back to her roots.) Amos goes on, I thought the Cherokee child would be born mature as Adam was. (God will do a very quick work in His people. Rom.9:28 for the Lord will execute [his] word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short.)   Latter Rain Anointing Rex V. - 06/05/2005 (David's notes in red) While asleep, I heard a voice say: “Remember the linen ephod and the number 6427”. A few minutes later I heard the voice say the same thing again. I began to think about the number; then the third time I heard, “Don't forget the linen ephod and the number 6427”. The ephod was a garment made of linen, woven with gold, purple, blue and scarlet in Exo.28:4 And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of checker work, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. (An ephod was a sacred vestment worn by the high priests (Exo. 28:4-14, 31-35; 25:7; 39:5). It was used as a prophetic mantle by David in the wilderness to know what Saul's armies were doing so that God's people would escape him (1Sa.23:9-14). Saul represents the old-order leadership that is keeping God's people in bondage to Babylonish religion. God spoke to me many years ago that, “I am moving the Sauls out of the way to make room for my Davids and you are one of my Davids”. Saul's death represented the spiritual death of the old-order leadership as they opposed David. This prophetic mantle was worn by David when He brought the ark to Jerusalem in 2Sa.6:14 …and David was girded with a linen ephod. And he said “let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we sought not unto it in the days of Saul” (1 Chr.13:3). The Saul ministries of our day do not have the presence of the Lord in their midst nor do they seek his direction. This prophetic mantle was used by David for wisdom and direction to conquer beast armies who had captured God's people in 1Sa.30:7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. 8 And David inquired of Jehovah, saying, If I pursue after this troop, shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue; for thou shalt surely overtake them, and shalt without fail recover all. Jesus was the Son of David who received the anointed mantle to be the Man-child of His day for the first 3 1/2 years of their tribulation. God is saying through Rex's revelation that He is about to return the mantle of the ephod, which is a prophetic anointing for the spiritual seed of David in our day, to begin our tribulation. It will be for wisdom and direction to deliver God's people from bondage to the Sauls and the beast system.) Rex: I felt impressed that the numbers 6427 represented Isaiah 64:2-7, which says, 2 as when fire kindleth the brushwood, [and] the fire causeth the waters to boil; to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! (As in Jesus' day, God is about to reveal his name, i.e. nature, character, and authority, manifest initially in His first fruits Man-child, and then in His disciples. This will bring judgment to the beast kingdom of this world. He will be seen in the earth again, manifested in His people.) 3 When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains quaked at thy presence. 4 For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen a God besides thee, who worketh for him that waiteth for him. (Jesus said He was coming again manifested in a Man-child born to a woman church who is in travail in Joh 16:19-22 Jesus perceived that they were desirous to ask him, and he said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, A little while, and ye behold me not, and again a little while, and ye shall see me? 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but when she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world. 22 And ye therefore now have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you. He said he would come as the latter rain on the morning of the third day in Hos 6:1 Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. 3 And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth. Notice Jesus is coming as the latter rain and this will be on the Man-child reformers. We are now at the morning of the third, thousand-year day when Jesus will come in His saints before He comes for His saints. He said He would come to minister to His flock when the Man-child is born in Mic 5:3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she who travaileth hath brought forth: then the residue of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. 4 And he shall stand, and shall feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God: and they shall abide; for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. He will work for those who have waited by faith for their help from above. The first tribulation judgment will be the white horse rider, whose words from God will spread the latter rain. This is the first fruits Man-child ministry, for those who are now awaiting this anointing to shake the earth.) Going on in 5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways (An obedient first fruits company is about to meet their Lord face to face.): behold, thou wast wroth, and we sinned: in them [have we been] of long time; and shall we be saved? 6 For we are all become as one that is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee; for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us by means of our iniquities. (As in Jesus' day many have waited “of long time” to see God once again do His mighty works in the earth and now God is about to answer the prayers of those who are waiting in faith. Like in Jesus' day, many are waiting for their provisions, healings, and deliverances from the curses upon this world. God is about to answer in this way which perfectly repeats history (Ecc.1:9). Because of unfaithfulness to the Word, the ephod was absent from Israel - who lived in her sins “of long time”. So it has been with the Church. Hos.3:1 And Jehovah said unto me, Go again, love a woman beloved of [her] friend, and an adulteress, even as Jehovah loveth the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods, and love cakes of raisins. The King of Babylon (Isa.14:4,12-13) that the adulteress Church has loved is none other than Satan who said, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God (who are Abraham's seed in Gen.22:17); and I will sit on the mount of the congregation”. Christianity has been a harlot bribed by God so that she will even profess Him for “many days”. 2 So I bought her to me for fifteen [pieces] of silver, and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley; 3 and I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be any man's wife: so will I also be toward thee. For almost 2000 years Christianity has been missing anointed, Christ-like leadership. 4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim: These are the days when God's people will return from Babylon to the city of God, heavenly Jerusalem. 5 afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and shall come with fear unto Jehovah and to his goodness in the latter days. These are “the last days” when New Testament Israel will “return, and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king” who will be anointed with the ephod of God to lead them. This anointing will be passed on to them as they present their bodies as living sacrifices and they will shake the earth. Glory to the living God!)     The Greater Anointing Is Coming Amos Scaggs - 06/03/2007 (David's notes in red) The separation is coming. I saw a new bottle of HD (high detergent) oil opened and the top portion poured out on the ground, as if to skim off the impurities. The major portion of it was to be poured into the oil tank where it belongs. The top portion was skimmed off to make sure there was no impurities mixed with the oil, although there were no impurities in the new oil. A little of God's anointing oil is being poured out on the earth now among all believers, even the ones with impurities in them, but the two will soon separate to expose the true vine. The separation to expose the false believers is happening. The balance of the oil is to be poured out upon the true believers to do His work. “HD” or Harley Davidson dominated the 1/2 mile dirt track races in my time. The HD oil was poured in for the final run to win the race. Yes, I am a Harley rider, although I used to ride the fast Japanese bikes. God communicates to us in a fashion so we can understand. (I guess the small amount of oil poured on the earth is for the earthly Christians and the great amount poured in the engine is for the anointed to win the race to the end. High Detergent oil is for cleaning up engines, too. Pour the whole bottle on me, Lord! I need to keep this engine running. :o)     True and False Leadership Seen Jan Albayalde (David's notes in red) I dreamed the following two dreams back to back on 08/28/2007. The Fasting Dream I was sitting on the front row of a huge church that was the true church of the Lord Jesus. The Church was very plain with white walls with a little wood trim but nothing ornate and no stained glass. A man I don't know walked to the podium to address the people. He was a small man in stature, almost frail. He said just a couple words, called forward a large man who was about his age, around 45, had him face the crowd and began to introduce him. Suddenly, the man at the podium fell on the floor weeping under the presence of God. At the same time, the man standing to be introduced, who was a Jew in a business suit with an azure blue shirt, was also filled with the Spirit and began speaking in tongues. This man was slightly overweight, let's say he was hearty with a rosy robust complexion. He had a lot of snow-white hair, so much I'm sure the Lord wanted me to notice (i.e., it was very high on his head). I rushed forward to help the man on the floor but before I got to him, as I passed the man speaking in tongues, I became filled with the Spirit, fell on my knees, and began worshipping God. A man in the congregation, a man I DO know as pastor of a local church here, came forward, looked at the man weeping on the floor, the Jew speaking in tongues, me worshipping, and said, “This is what happens when you fast and pray; this man on the floor had been in a long fast before the Lord, seeking the face of God and is why the power and glory of God are falling”. An interesting thing about the dream: the man at the podium who had been fasting and fell weeping on the floor was dressed in a suit as he stood, but when I rushed forward to help him, as I fell to my knees under the anointing, I saw he was naked. (The man standing behind the pulpit was fasting to weaken the old outer man and so he fell. He was small because “the outer man is decaying yet our inner man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor.4:16). The man introduced represented the new inner man because he had gained what the outer man had lost. He stood in the fast and had a lot of perfectly white hair, meaning much submission to holiness. As in 1 Cor.11:1, the hair is a sign of submission to authority. He had a blue shirt representing heavenly works. He is the spiritual man because he spoke the words of the spirit and is a spiritual Jew because he is circumcised in heart, not flesh. Fasting is so that the old man, who is naked, because he is not dressed up with the works of Christ can be removed so that the new man who is dressed up with Christ in his heavenly works would face the congregation. (Rom 13:12-14 The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.) This is a good exhortation for the coming new Church leadership to deny feeding self and pray so that Christ through them can minister to His people.     The Snake Dream Immediately after the above dream, I dreamed this: I was in my spirit looking down over an orchard of pure white trees which represents the true Church. A huge green snake with huge muted splotches of black along its body appeared at the edge of the grove of white trees. From this point I no longer saw the trees, the focus was on the snake. Next, the snake turned totally blue. Then the snake turned totally black. End of dream. (The green snake is the false leadership of the church or false prophet. In Acts 16:16 the spirit of false prophecy or divination is translated in Greek as “a spirit; a python”. It is green because it is the natural man ministering and not the spiritual. He stands outside of the white or holy trees but not in their midst for he is not holy. The black splotches represent its works of darkness that are plainly seen. His turning blue as a chameleon represents deception in that he is attempting to be seen as heavenly but he serves the (black) darkness and will be seen that way. God is raising up a new leadership for the true church that refuses to feed the flesh (fasting) and the old leadership will be plainly seen for what it has been all along. They will bring a great persecution against the holy as it was with the Pharisees in Jesus' time.)     Unity Coming to the True Body Brandon Corsi - 03/01/2008 (David's notes in red) In my dream, my friend (a friend in real life). and I were in a shopping mall of some sort, purchasing some items. (This symbolizes the 'buying and selling' done in the 'merchandising' church.) We noticed two little girls fighting over some kind of object, I think a stuffed animal, and they were each tugging at it. (The immature children in the church squabble over relatively insignificant doctrines and things.) The next moment, my friend and I were in front of a large group of young children, and the two girls were among the crowd. Their attention was directed toward us. One of the girls who was arguing earlier spoke up and asked us what Jesus would have said about the disagreement they had. (Some of the immature will be convicted of their petty divisions and seek the wisdom of the unity of body from those who know better.) My friend and I looked at each other, both of us amazed that such a young child was inquiring about Jesus. Then, all of the children started to sing a song about Jesus in unison, in perfect harmony, as if the anointing came over them. My friend and I looked at each other once more in astonishment. We said to each other, “I can't believe it”. Then the anointing came over me from watching them, and it was very strong. It was so strong that I began to cry, and then I knelt down on my knees and laid my hands on the ground in front of me as an act of submission to God. (The unity of the true body will come then by the anointing of God in a surprising way.) A moment later, my friend and I were in the cockpit of a plane (overcoming the world) that was crashing into the side of a snowy mountain. (The purity of the Kingdom of God.) I said to him, “I guess we don't have to wait any longer to meet God”. (Death to self through overcoming the world brings us into God's presence.) I was very scared, and it seemed so real. Along with intense fear, I remember feeling a bit excited and anxious to meet my Maker, thankful the time was finally here. I prayed to God as we descended. And then we crashed, and I woke up, thankful to be alive. (Resurrection life comes through death to self as we wake up in a new Kingdom.)     Promise of Return to New Leadership Eve Brast - 07/25/2015 (David's notes in red) I dreamed I was in a building with many connecting rooms. (The body is many houses made into one.) I was going around and checking on all the local UBM brethren and talking with them. There was a huge waterslide that many children were playing on in this building. (This building could represent the body of Christ all being connected to one another and the waterslide the water of life that keeps us connected.) After I finished talking with a brother, I went out and got in my car to drive back into town. (My car is a Mazda Protégé. The meaning of protégé is: “A person who receives support and protection from an influential patron who furthers the protégé's career”. We are disciples and protégés of Christ.) It was early morning (the morning of the third day) and the road was a freshly paved, narrow, two-lane blacktop road with a newly painted double yellow line down the center. (Meaning, “Stay to the right where the sheep are.  The freshly paved road represents the Highway of Holiness. The narrow road of a holy life.) Suddenly, I realized that David Eells was in the passenger seat of my car with his Bible in his lap. He said, “I'll bet they're thinking that I'm going to send a word over there to them”. I asked, “Well, what is it?” And he said, “Psalm 85!” (I believe David here represents the Son of David, Jesus (in the Man-child), and he was referring to the UBM brethren when he said “them” because I had just left them in the building to head back into town.) He then started to hand me his Bible and I just casually took my hands off of the steering wheel and took the Bible, as the car continued to drive itself as if this was normal. As I was looking up Psalm 85, I was thinking, “Psalm 85 and verse 13”. Psa.85:13 Righteousness shall go before him, And shall make his footsteps a way to walk in. (This verse is referring to the Man-child ministers.) Then I woke up. (This first part is about the captivity returning and the last part is about God giving them the Man-child leadership.) Psa.85:1 Jehovah, thou hast been favorable unto thy land; Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. 2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people (Some are coming out of fleshly, beast captivity now and some later, as it was in the history of Israel.); Thou hast covered all their sin. (Because of repentance and faith towards God.) 3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath; Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. 4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, And cause thine indignation toward us to cease. 5 Wilt thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? 6 Wilt thou not quicken us again, (revival) That thy people may rejoice in thee? 7 Show us thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, And grant us thy salvation. 8 I will hear what God Jehovah will speak; For he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: But let them not turn again to folly (which would bring captivity). 9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, That glory may dwell in our land. 10 Mercy and truth are met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 11 Truth springeth out of the earth; And righteousness hath looked down from heaven. 12 Yea, Jehovah will give that which is good; And our land shall yield its increase. 13 Righteousness shall go before him, And shall make his footsteps a way to walk in. (Man-child ministry will be an example.)   Vision: Religions Serve Religious Spirits Tim Mathis Several years ago, I found myself in the middle of an open vision. As I looked, I could see the backs of a crowd of people to my left. They were intently looking in the same direction away from me. It was obvious they were engaged in worship--some with hands raised, some with bowed heads, and most were singing. I watched myself disappear into the crowd and reappear dragging a dead person by the collar. I dragged the person across the street and laid him on his back with his head against the curb. I continued to enter and reappear with more dead people until there was a long line of bodies lying side by side along the curb. All at once, I began to weep over them because they were dead. Then, I walked out before them, raised my hands and spoke over them. I could not hear what was said, but immediately, they all sat up. For the next few minutes, they began to recover and make their way, one by one, to a standing position. It took some longer than others, but eventually, they were all standing. As their recovery process was proceeding, I disappeared once again into the throng and began dragging more dead people out. When those from the first group were able to stand and then walk, they joined me in dragging more and more bodies out of the throng. Each time the area along the curb was full, I stepped forward, raised my arms and spoke. The whole line of bodies would sit up alive, work their way to a standing position, and eventually help us in our work. Before long, my view began to pan back to see the extent of the crowd worshiping off to my left. There were hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, gathered around a circular object in the middle. This object was domed toward its center and was turning very slowly around, much like a merry-go-round. It emanated a bright light that the people worshiped. At the center of the object stood a brilliant angel with his arms outstretched receiving the adoration of the crowd. The people were worshiping the angel in a myriad of worship styles and traditions, from the solemn to the exuberant. As I looked closer, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see that the angel was not an angel of light after all but a dark angel appearing as an angel of light. The people were worshipping this dark angel, not knowing that it was a spirit of false religion. Then, Father showed me what it meant: The crowds of people were not the throngs of some cult religion. Rather, they were major portions of the Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth. They were actively involved in their own methods of worship without regard for the source of the light. They were going about their church business--some vigorously, some lethargically--but all with some level of commitment. Most of the worship and church business was being done out of guilt without a true and intimate relationship with the one honored. These are the religious lost. I was sent into the crowd to retrieve those who had died in the middle of worship of the dark angel. They were the ones who KNEW they were dead, not those who thought that their religious activities still held some life. This is a picture of the people and denominations that no longer make any hypocritical pretense of spirituality. They knew there was no life there and they had become desperate for the return of the Holy Spirit breathing life into their dried bones. It is a mystery how I knew which ones to drag out of the crowd, though it was evident this identification came from the Holy Spirit. The act of speaking to the dead bodies brought them back to life. This pictures the mission statement of Jesus when He read Isaiah 61 for those gathered in the temple. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19 KJV). As the people became whole enough to stand, they were immediately put to work dragging more dead out of the crowd and bringing others to wholeness. A spirit of false religion, that is, witchcraft, has deceived much of the Church. This spirit appears as an angel of light, but its true motivation is binding the worshipers in darkness. I began to understand that the spirit of witchcraft was manifesting in the Church as control and religious spirits, using manipulation and false spiritual authority. Well-meaning leaders had taken control of the sheep in an effort to keep them on the path of righteousness. However, this control and manipulation is what keeps the Church impotent as an army and distances them from the One with Whom an intimate relationship should be developed. The man-made religious system designed to maintain the sheep is the very thing that has drained out the power and intimacy of the Body of Christ. Our mission is made crystal clear in this vision: to reach into the organized religious system and bring out those who have been made desperate to know the life-giving breath of the Living God in spite of the bondage of their doctrine and in spite of their theological training. The harvesters miraculously find those who are dead and desperate, raise them from the dead, and the Lord of the Harvest sends them into the harvest fields to bring the true light of salvation and wholeness to the multitudes who will otherwise die in their deceptive religious stupor.   Set Free By the Real Jesus B.A. - 08/01/2013 (Notes: David | Ellie) This dream is prophetic. Many are going to hear the Word of truth from anointed people of God and they will recognize it, as many did in Jesus' day. They will depart from Babylon and its whoredoms. Keep praying and believing for your lost loved ones, saints. The day is drawing near. I dreamed that it was Sunday evening (darkness) and my husband, Allen, was sitting in the family room watching TV. Being an obedient wife, I went into the family room to serve him his dinner. I glanced up at the TV screen and I saw a preacher standing at a podium and I noticed that the podium was monogrammed. (A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos.) (Monograms identify people and belongings: Joh.8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof. Rom.6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?) I thought that was very odd; I've never seen that before. Then I noticed that this preacher's suit, tie, the collar of his dress shirt, and wing-tip shoes (representing unclean spirits) were also monogrammed. As I served my husband his dinner, he said, “Hey, sit down for a while and watch this with me”. Well, I really didn't want to do that, but just then I heard in my spirit, “It's okay, go ahead and sit down. You are protected by the blood of Jesus”. So I obeyed and sat down. 1Pe.1:2 …in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:… I noticed immediately that this man's face looked funny. I asked my husband, “Does that man's face look funny to you?” He studied the man's face and then said, “I don't think so. Why? What's funny about his face?” I got up and said, “Oh, that's okay. Hand me your dirty dishes”. So he gave me his dirty dishes and I took them into the kitchen to be washed. As I was standing at the kitchen sink, I began to pray for my husband and I realized what was wrong with that man's face. His nose was spread wide across his face, distorting his features and my husband didn't appear to notice. A week went by and again it was Sunday evening and my husband was watching this same TV preacher. I went to serve my husband his dinner and he said to me, “Sit and watch with me for a while”. So I did and I noticed upon closer observation that not only was this man's nose unusually wide across his face, but it was rather long for a human nose. Again, I asked my husband, “Do you notice anything strange about that man's face?” Again he studied the man's features and then said, “Well, there is something different about him but I'm not sure what it is”. I gathered up the dirty dishes and got up and took them into the kitchen to clean up. This same scenario played out for a few more weeks. Then one day I was taking my husband his lunch (lunch is usually served around noon, representing no shadows). Psa 37:6 And he will make thy righteousness to go forth as the light, And thy justice as the noon-day. I noticed that he was watching a much younger man (Man-child) on TV. As I was serving my husband his lunch, he said, “Sit down and watch with me; this man's message is really good”. So I did. As I listened to this young man, my heart leaped for joy, as this young man's words were so familiar to me; they were the TRUE GOSPEL and the REAL GOOD NEWS! I sat there and watched with my husband until the program was over. Php.4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice. Psa.40:16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: Let such as love thy salvation say continually, Jehovah be magnified. I said to my husband, “Wow, he was really good!” and my husband said, “Yeah, I liked him, too. He was different and there was something about him that just drew me to him”. I got up to take our dishes to the kitchen and tears of joy were running down my face, as I realized that the Father had revealed His Son, the real Jesus, to my husband. Joh.6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. As I was standing in the kitchen washing the dishes, my husband came in very excited and said, “I need to call Daniel McBride and talk to him about this”. I said, “Okay”, but I was a bit puzzled as to why my husband wanted to call Daniel. (In the natural, my husband does not know Daniel. I believe the Lord used Daniel because Daniel represents one who walks by faith and not by sight, as he had spiritual eyes to see.) My husband went into the den and picked up the phone and called him. When Daniel answered the phone, my husband said, “Hi, Dan. This is Allen and I need to tell you something”. As Allen began to explain this young man preaching the Gospel on TV to him, Daniel stopped him and took him to some Scripture, read it to him and asked, “Is this who you saw?” Allen said, “It could be. I'm not real sure”. Daniel took him to more Scripture and asked, “Is this him?” Allen said, “It sounds like it is”. Then Daniel quoted more Scripture and then asked, “Okay, Allen, is this him?” Allen shouted, “That's him! That's him! That's the man!” (The true, sent minister of God has Jesus or the WORD living in Him.) Then I heard my husband tell Daniel, “You know, my wife and I were watching a TV preacher who has a Sunday evening program and my wife mentioned that this man had a strange face” (he didn't look like Jesus). “I didn't see it at first but now I do” (his spiritual eyes were opened by the real Jesus Who spoke the truth of the real Gospel from the beginning). “I know what's strange about that man: he has a Pinocchio nose. And as the story goes, we know Pinocchio's nose grew longer (Exposing his sin) every time he told a lie.” (Which represents the false apostate leadership today.) Joh.8:32 and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Upon hearing my husband's exclamation, I ran to get my cell phone and called Dan's wife, Ellie. When Ellie answered the phone, I asked, “Ellie, did you hear that? Did you hear what Dan and Allen were saying?” Ellie said, “Yes, I did and praise the Lord!” I said, “Oh, yes! Praise the Lord, as my husband can now recognize the REAL Jesus!”  End of dream. 36 If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.   Dream of the Two Witnesses Daniel Potvin (David's notes in red) I was in a Middle Eastern place, possibly in Israel, a desert environment. I saw a group of men standing around, discussing an empty grave, mentioning that one of their patriarchs was missing. I had the impression they were Israelites. (These people who are observing represent New Testament Israel, the Church, who are circumcised in heart not flesh and know that Jesus was their patriarch Who was resurrected. They are about to enter into the desert wilderness of tribulation, worldwide.) They began looking up at the sky. As they were looking up, I saw great fear come over their faces. I looked up as well and saw two men coming down from the sky dressed in sackcloth. We all instinctively knew that these men were Moses and Elijah. Elijah landed first and within seconds, Moses landed. (Obviously, Moses and Elijah are not going to physically come down from the sky but their holy anointing will be born from above into the hearts of men who will then return the fear of the Lord to the Church as the Lord also interprets at the end of this dream. This will happen the same way that it happened when Jesus walked the earth. Peter said that Jesus was the “prophet” that Moses said would come - just like he did in Act.3:22 Moses indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me. To him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. 23 And it shall be, that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. In Hebrews 3:5-6, Paul compared Jesus to Moses in that both were heads of their houses. As a type for the end-times, Jesus raised up a corporate body of two witnesses that went forth two by two and confessed several times that they were His witnesses. He said to them, “The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life”. Jesus sowed the Word of the spirit and life of Moses and Elijah into the two witnesses of His day. The great patriarch that was resurrected from the grave and caught up in this dream, returns as the spirit of Elijah and Moses first in the Man-child of our day. Moses and Elijah individually are types of the Man-child but combined they are types of the two witnesses. As it was with Jesus, the Man-child will sow this seed and anointing in the corporate body of the two witnesses of our day. We shouldn't confuse types here. In another type, Jesus revealed that John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah. Although John preached repentance as Elijah did, he spoke no miracles or judgments like Elijah. The prophetic difference for our time between these two separate manifestations of Elijah is that one came before the Man-child, Jesus, and a much greater group came after Him. The later manifestation is accompanied by Moses' and Elijah's miracles and the judgments they pronounced. John represented those in our day who come before the Man-child and faithfully preach repentance but the miracles and judgments will come through the Man-child and the witnesses afterwards.) Back to Daniel's dream: We also knew instinctively that if these two men were impeded or restrained in any way by any individual, the consequence would be death. As Elijah and Moses started to walk, the men dispersed on either side, like the parting of the Red Sea, for their own safety, as if to recognize the holiness of these men. This is the strange part of the dream. I well knew that I could be killed by touching either of these two men. I thought to myself, ‘This man Moses was just in the presence of God Himself.' So I hugged him. I waited for the consequence of my actions and saw in his face that it was permitted by God and I was spared. He smiled and then walked his way. (Only those who are holy among God's people will both love and have no fear of the anointing of the witnesses. These witnesses will have the total protection of God until they are finished with their testimony. Rev.11:5 And if any man desireth to hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies; and if any man shall desire to hurt them, in this manner must he be killed. 6 These have the power to shut the heaven, that it rain not during the days of their prophecy: and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they shall desire. 7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them.) Elijah and Moses went on separate paths into the desert. Two different groups followed each man. They each set a tabernacle (podium) and started preaching to their respective crowds. Immediately, a bleacher appeared behind me, so I sat down and started to listen to what they had to say. (I was at a distance witnessing the whole of both groups). (This symbolizes that two corporate bodies will receive the anointing of both Moses and Elijah. You will notice in the above text from Revelation that all of the witnesses had power to do both the signs common to Moses and the signs common to Elijah; not some, ‘the signs of Moses' and some, ‘the signs of Elijah'. These witnesses will not only bring repentance, miracles, healing, deliverance, and provision to the body like the witnesses of Jesus did but will also bring the miracles and judgments of Moses and Elijah.) Appearing beside me was a beautiful woman who started talking to me. I ignored her because I wanted to hear what Moses and Elijah had to say. Her words then turned into flattery, saying how special I was and what a great guy I was. As I continued to ignore her, her flatteries became more flirtatious. As I turned to her, I wondered why she was doing this because I wanted to listen to the preaching and she was distracting. So I told her, “I am trying to listen to these men of God”. I turned my attention back to the preaching. She then responded with a sexual proposal: “I would not stop you if you want to have me”. (The harlot of apostate Christianity, who receives the seed of men and not her husband, will attempt to seduce many from hearing the witnesses with her flesh-pleasing doctrines.) As the dream ended, I asked the Lord, “Who is this woman?” The Lord replied, “Jezebel”. And then I heard from God that Jezebel hates men who have the anointing of Elijah and Moses. (Notice that the way the Lord uses “men” here is to indicate many. He didn't use “the men” which could indicate two. The Jezebel harlot of Christianity, worldwide, will seek to hinder the witnesses who are also a worldwide body.) PS: It is beyond my words how to describe how Technicolor and vivid this dream was. It felt as if I actually met Moses and Elijah.     Your Way Is Marked Sandy Warner - 10/17/2005 I have heard your anxious worries over walking to the tune of My Spirit and walking with others of like minds. I know who and what has been missing in your life, dear one. I understand the pain. You have been sent like a pioneer into non-charted territory and few have walked this way. They have not recognized this great drive that is within you to see what is beyond the next valley. Come walk with Me. Your way is greatly protected and sheltered. I have given you My Word which you have hidden in your heart. I have covered you and shaded you. Resist carrying too much weight, dear one, for such encumbers your way. Instead, travel light and easy and become so sensitive to My leading that I can lead you with My eye. Look up, change your focus, for it is faith that causes you to rise above all that encumbers you. You belong to Me, My love. I belong to you. Fear not, for your prepared way has an impenetrable fence against the dogs or wolves who devour and bite. I am taking you cross-country and bringing you along the path of laurels, the overcoming ones. Also, you need not fear deception from the wolves, for I have paved the trail before you. Your path is well marked with signs of My Word liberally sprinkled to your right and to your left. I have also sent others before you and they have given much in order to leave a trail of breadcrumbs and seeds for you, My precious hungry birds. And even as you have followed the signs and been faithful with what I have given you, you shall be promoted. I will send you into the marketplace to release My Words to those who are starving and, yes, they will listen. In the past, they did not heed My Word and grew hungry while they walked in circles. You are My chosen generation who walked ahead of them. You shall walk out of the wilderness pioneering, leaning upon your Beloved. A great company travels with you and you shall never be alone again. (SoS.8:5-7 NKJV) Who is this coming up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree. There your mother brought you forth; There she who bore you brought you forth. Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.     The Worm Has Turned Graham - 08/04/2005 The worm has turned. The poor, and the downtrodden are about to rise. This new hour about to dawn is all about the Hidden Manna. Those who receive this ('the love of the truth') will be kept from the hour which is to try every man on earth, The Hidden Manna is Jesus Himself - His spirit. This truth answers all the scriptural questions about 'the restrainer', the reason for the tribulation, why there are believers mentioned in the tribulation time, why the Holy Spirit will be present during that time, the parable of the ten virgins, etc. I wrote the following recently on a Christian board: There is a great change coming, and people will again see the real 'power' (for want of a better word) of true gentleness. It will be in the Hidden Manna which will be so delightful to the heart that you'll feel that you've eaten the whole Bible in a few words. You will never be the same again, and you will understand how Jesus walked in the truth like you've never known before. You'll see miracles happen, but these will not mean as much to you as knowing the Lord even closer and closer. This Hidden Manna will sanctify the body/the flesh - that which presently holds sincere Christians back from gaining the victories that they so long for. The arrogant in the church will either withdraw or soften their hearts - there will be great consternation for many who have become hardened and thereby (sadly) destroyed many enquirers. There will be such a natural humility, understanding, and harmony that will baffle all the powers of darkness, and as “the city rejoiceth when the wicked are overthrown”, so the true sincere believers will rejoice to see the Lord working to overthrow the strongholds of the enemy. For that is what the Hidden Manna is - it is Jesus Himself. We will be one with Him as we have never known before. Worship will gradually become different. Just as a person may quietly within themselves admire someone seated at the same table - so worship will become so quiet, so rich, so heavenly. You will know exactly what is required of you and it will be without pressure or force of any kind for it will be from within - suited exactly to your individual personality and ways. Sincere Christians will gladly and willingly do the Lord's will His way. Some things you will understand immediately and just be amazed how God works so gently and other things you will understand after a time. The words He will give you from the Bible may well be a compilation of words from a number of verses which you, or no man could ever bring together. These words will so perfectly answer all the questions and needs of your heart, that from this basis the Lord will gently bring you round to understanding how things have happened the way they have in your life. Friendships will change and you will see people lighten up in their eyes to you by just a word or so that just happens and endears their heart to you. And that is what it is all about -- Brotherly/Sisterly Love which is a pure blend of His will and yours without the restrictions upon you or the Lord of an unsanctified body. Those receiving the love of the truth will embrace all this like a young child grabs a beach ball at the beach. Children will be drawn by your joy and those sweet glimpses/dreams/visions of glorious colors etc. which are so pleasant to the heart - thus drawing their hearts by means of beauty and lovely impressions of Heaven. The impulses of the flesh being overcome are no longer an advantage to the enemy, battles are raised to a different level (spiritual) so that false seeds of elevation do not grow. However, these are not to be feared at all for they are those things which will be welcomed to keep sincere believers dependent upon the Lord. These small perplexities are also means of revealing which words the Lord has for you, and many other things. The Lord will not leave you comfortless as you see Him working saving and restoring families with much Joy. Why is it urgent that we walk in the path of Jesus now?   Nazis Will Return, Stronger Marie Kelton 12/2/24 (David's notes in red) During the meeting, I had an open vision of huge field (“the field is the world”). The whole vision looked like a black and white photo but with a light brown tint (Nazi) over it.  I saw a crowd of little boys dressed from the 1940s, they had little suits on with newsboy caps on. The little boys then turned into Nazi soldiers wearing the Nazi uniform and marching. (When we were dealing with our un-Christian faction God likened them to Nazis in our dreams and revelations. Then we saw them in the political realm. The DS Nazi Satanists have sowed their seed of demons into their captives who grow up to be just like them, whether still physically captive, or set free. The reason that the DS perverts must molest their captured women and children is because Satan uses this method to get their demons in them. Take for example Diddy and Hollywood. So, getting rid of the sowers by tribunal is not getting rid of the problem, only delaying it for a season, until mid-trib, when their crop comes to maturity at the mark of the Beast. Spirit filled Christians should cast these demons. You can do this remotely and on a mass scale as we have proven.)   I then saw what look like huge concentration camp, behind the Nazi soldiers. There was a chain link fence up. In the concentration camp I saw Jewish people (spiritual Jews are Christians) they had on the blue (Dems) and white (Rino's feigning righteousness) striped clothing. (Again we will see the Nazi crucifiers of God's people in the Christian and secular realms.) A little to the right of them in a separate area was this huge round building that was a dark brown color. It had smoke coming from the chimney. But I couldn't remember if it was a gas chamber or an incinerator. (They will force a decision with the mark of the Beast in mid-trib. Those who have not born fruit beforehand will have to lose their carnal life to gain their spiritual life.) In the distance behind the concentration camp. I saw a black dragon land on the field. (The first beast of the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation is the dragon in whom Satan lives – Revelation 12.) The black dragon then turned into a multitude of black people after it landed. (Black is walking in darkness. This is the Beast of the second 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation under the mark.) Rev 13:4 and they worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? And who is able to war with him? The black people began to run toward the concentration camp. I knew in the vision it wasn't for a good reason. (Jesus said we would be hated of all nations for His name sake. Meaning so His name would be manifest in us.) I knew from the vision that history would repeat. (Now they are killing the sowers but their spiritual children will not forget or forgive without deliverance.) I asked the Lord why did the Holocaust happen and the scripture came to mind.  Mat 27:25 And all the people answered and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. (This is true of all Christians too who walk in willful disobedience. Heb 10:26-29  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins,  27  but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries.  28  A man that hath set at nought Moses' law dieth without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses:  29  of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? )     Casting Out Demons Mar 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. So, Anything you ask will happen if you believe, even mass deliverances. Mar 16:17 And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues… Mat 18:18-19 Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  19  Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. Luk 10:19-20 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions (orders of demons in the next verse), and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you.  20  Nevertheless in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Can the demons return? Mat 12:43-45 But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passeth through waterless places (Wherever the “water of the Word” isn't present.), seeking rest, and findeth it not.  44  Then he saith, I will return into my house whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. (Not filled with the Word and Holy Spirit) 45  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this evil generation. (They have already been through hell so the cure is for us to pray and believe for the called and elect among them to be saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. Please command the demons out of the captives and pray for them to be filled with the Spirit and Word.)

This week, we discuss the moves of fat liberation in Greece! How is this European society dealing with beautiful, fat bodies? And what kind of fantastic work is our guest getting up to? Who are we? We're James and Tim; two gainers who want to explore everything about gaining and feedism. New episodes will come out every Tuesday, so please subscribe! Rate us five stars, leave us a review, donate to support us and share this episode with your friends. You can find us on our socials below if you want to contact us, but until next time, bye fats! James Instagram: s.t.a.n.n.u.m BlueSky: stannnum.bsky.social Tim Instagram: thickey_mouse Grommr: orpheus Twitter: thickey_mouse YouTube: thickey_mouse TikTok: thickey_mouse Special Guest | Mochi Instagram: _the_mochi_ Twitter: _the_mochi_ Facebook: Mochi Georgiou Thicc Radio Instagram: thiccradio TikTok: thiccradio YouTube: thiccradio Website: ⁠⁠podpage.com/thiccradio/⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠thethiccradio@gmail.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thiccradio/support

Dr. Carla Ionescu, PhD is an ancient historian, author, traveling lecturer, Canadian university professor, founder of The Artemis Research Centre and host of The Goddess Project podcast. With hunting seasons upon us, we begin this odyssey into the Greek goddess of the hunt, Artemis, with the famous myth of the forlorn houndsman, Actaeon. Carla officially introduces Artemis/Diana & explains how Grecian hunters gave her offerings before the hunt, including sweets, animal sacrifices and large communal festivities. We hear of the goddess' symbols in art history & mythology: deer, dogs, bows & arrows, bee eggs, leopard pelts, bears, etc. What was life like 3,000-years-ago at her temples for the priestesses, pilgrims, and worshippers? From there we turn to the personal, as Carla describes some of the mountain & cave temples she's visited in Greece and tells a haunting, mystical story about visionary experiences she's had alone in an ancient cave temple on the island of Crete. We end on vocation, reincarnation, and slave boys saved by honey cakes.  As discussed on the episode, taste some history with a recipe for Ancient Greek Honey Cookies.Follow Carla on Instagram at @ArtemisExpert. Order her book, She Who Hunts: Artemis: The Goddess that Changed the World. And for everything else, visit her website, The Artemis Research Center.Reading of the Actaeon myth from Metamorphoses by Ovid [Penguin Classics translation] Music provided by SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Mother" Written & Performed by Thanasis KleopasCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Initiation to Dionysus Cult, or Pendulum" Written & Performed by Theodore Koumartzis & Evagoras BekiarisCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Upon the High Mountain"Written & Performed by Thanasis KleopasCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Little Sea"Written & Performed by Christiana PapakostaCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Odyssey" Written & Performed by Thanasis Kleopas Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World MusicSupport Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out 

In this exciting episode, we got to chat with Angie about her unforgettable luxury trip to Greece— funded by points and miles. Discover how she and her husband transformed a $30,000 dream getaway into reality with less than $1500 out of pocket for expenses that were not bookable on points. She tells us all about exploring the vibrant streets of Athens and hopping between the breathtaking islands of Santorini and Milos.Angie shares her tried-and-true strategies for planning and booking, along with insider tips for must-see destinations that you won't want to miss. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just starting out, this episode is packed with invaluable insights to help you plan your own Grecian adventure. Tune in and get ready to turn your travel dreams into reality!Facebook Group | Support the Show: Buy Us A CoffeeFind Us On InstagramMary Ellen | Jo | AngieMentioned In This EpisodeFearlessFlight Classes@MostlyFreeTravelReferral LinksSouthwest Airlines CardCapital One Venture CardFavorite Bank CardsFavorite Bank Business CardsVenture X CardAmex GoldAMEX Platinum

BV at the 2024 Grecian Fest on News Radio KKOBSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicki Panagopoulos and all about the Festival starting Friday, October 4th this year. Food, fun, and dancing all weekend long.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicki Panagopoulos and Spiro Miller highlight the 49th Annual Grecian Festival starting Oct 4 check out abqgreekfest.com on News Radio KKOBSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

[00:01:07] Dianne Ogle: I had my first child in Texas and I was working for a corporation running their marketing department. And I had to put my oldest son in with a lady who had a small group of children in her home. And every day I'd go get him. I would see him in a swing. And I told my husband, I cannot do this. I feel like I couldn't run this marketing department yet. I want to have more of an impact on my own son. And so, my boss said, great. She said go start your own business, figure out what that looks like. And I'll be your first client. And I thought, oh my goodness, how am I going to do this? [00:01:47] Tommy Thomas: Our guest today is Dianne Ogle. Dianne began her career in sales and marketing before making a name for herself as a leader who could grow organizations and identify trouble spots and bottlenecks that tended to enter an organization's growth and effectiveness. As a prominent figure in the Executive Women of Influence Network, Diana has dedicated her career to empowering women in leadership roles across various industry sectors. Her leadership experience spans leadership development, team dynamics, and organizational strategy, thus making her a sought-after advisor and coach. Her impact is widely recognized, and she continues to inspire and support women in their professional journeys, helping them to navigate the complexities of leadership and achieve sustained success. [00:02:38] Tommy Thomas: Dianne, welcome to NextGen Nonprofit Leadership. [00:02:41] Dianne Ogle: Thank you for having me, Tommy. I'm excited to be here with you. [00:02:45] Tommy Thomas: I've been looking forward to this. You come with good recommendations from one of my previous guests and one of my future guests. I'm looking forward to this. Take me back to your childhood. What was that like? What are some of your fondest memories? [00:02:59] Dianne Ogle: I grew up in the Midwest. I was born in Colorado but grew up in Indiana with a high work ethic, middle class. Early on, my parents took us to a church that didn't really preach the gospel as far as what the Bible taught. And one summer when I was 11, my mom took us to a local Baptist church that had VBS. That was the first time both my mom and I heard the gospel. And she became a Christian with the mother's group that they had. And then I did shortly thereafter and so it was a beautiful place to grow up and go to college. And we lived on the baseball field because I had a brother who played baseball up until minor leagues. And so, there were three of us. I was the oldest of three. So, it was just a great way to grow up in the Midwest. [00:03:57] Tommy Thomas: So, what was high school like? [00:03:57] Dianne Ogle: I had to change high schools in my junior year.  I went to one school in Indianapolis from kindergarten until my sophomore year. And then my parents went north of Indianapolis. And at the time it was a really rural area in Fishers, Indiana, which now it's like the largest high school. But back when I transferred, it was farm kids and I was the city girl moving out into the farm kids and I went kicking and screaming. That was not a good transition for me, but the Lord's hand was in it even then. I had to take the driver's ed course and I had the athletic director who was a tough football coach, and my dad was a barker, so he didn't intimidate me, but he quickly got me involved and got me to be a stat girl because my brothers were athletes. [00:04:58] Dianne Ogle: And he taught me to do the statistics for football, basketball, and track. And so, it was a great entry into a smaller school that was very established with kids who had been growing up together. And then I got a chance to be in musicals and got to play in Annie Get Your Gun. So, it was just a fun, great group.   [00:05:22] Tommy Thomas: What kind of career aspirations did a young 16-year-old Dianne have? [00:05:29] Dianne Ogle: I had a lot of parents thinking I should go to California to go into acting. I had a lot of common sense of knowing the value of a dollar. Because I was raised that if you wanted extra money, you had to work. So, I started working as a babysitter at age 11, got my first job at 15. I bought furniture, I bought my car. And so, I had a really deep, intrinsic work value at a very young age. And I didn't have a lot of role models of women. Unless you wanted to be a teacher or a nurse, there was not a lot of women, at least in my little world view at that time in the Midwest. [00:06:06] Dianne Ogle: Mom stayed at home with us. Now I knew she had worked at the Air Force Academy back when she was single in finance but other than that, I didn't have a lot of visual people ahead of me that I could see. Now my dad was in business. And so that's started me out in that track of well, maybe that's what I'll tip my toe into. [00:06:29] Tommy Thomas: What's something that people are always surprised to find out about you? [00:06:35] Dianne Ogle: They are probably surprised that I come from all brothers, that I was raised on a baseball field, that I love sports, and I can talk with the best of them about many sports. And now I have three boys, and I've got a grandson. And so, Boys-R-Us is what we call ourselves. And I now have two granddaughters. Yay, I've been redeemed. But it's interesting because now the Lord has had me working with mostly all women. So, it's interesting. I was raised with mostly all men and then God's used it to now have me work with women. So it's been a sweet time. ++++++++++++++++ [00:07:10] Tommy Thomas:   You graduated from college, and you got out in the workforce. Take me back to the first time you ever had a staff. And what do you remember about that element of basic leadership? [00:07:23] Dianne Ogle: I started my career in Indianapolis at a computer software company.  And then about a year and a half in, I was working in Pittsburgh running a sales territory and their president's club, only women. So, I learned really young about being the only woman in a whole salesforce and I didn't see any women ahead of me. And then I was tapped in Pittsburgh to come to central Florida and open an office for a temporary help company, which is in your industry. I didn't have any experience in it, but I thought I would just go down there. And that really was my first hand at leadership because before that, as you can imagine, I'm in charge of a sales territory and my clients and peers, but I wasn't having anybody that I was personally in charge of leading until I moved to Florida, had to launch this office. [00:08:19] Dianne Ogle: This was back in the early eighties and I had it doing over a million dollars in annual revenue within three years and they eventually had me take over Tampa and then do trap troubleshooting up here in Atlanta where I'm at. But yeah, that was the first time I got inherited by a staff, but then I had to build staff. I had to train them both inside sales and outside sales and didn't get a lot of training. It was just let's go do it. I really did it based on my own values on what I saw worked. I have a high work ethic and integrity is huge for me. And so being able to just navigate that was really important for me. [00:09:05] Tommy Thomas: If I could have shadowed you earlier at that time, as you were building that team, what would the typical weekday or month look like? Dianne Ogle: I started out with team meetings, daily team meetings, especially for my internal staff, of course that was back before computers. And so, everything was on these huge Rolodex clocks and these files that were flipping around and we had clients, we had built it to Martin Marietta and law firms and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. We were considered a little bit higher level administrative, so we didn't do lower and then we did some permanent placement. We would start off our day on just trying to get our grounding. Who was going to do what and what was coming up. Because every morning you had either calls coming in from clients or you had employees that either could or could not make their commitment, which was always a challenge. And then my sales staff, who are you going to visit? What appointments do you have? What do you need? How can I come alongside you? Do you want me to go with you? And so just that constant motivation and help to make sure that they were adhering to what we needed the office to do. [00:10:24] Tommy Thomas: If I could have been in one of your staff meetings and you took a break and left the room and I asked them, what's the toughest thing about working for Dianne? What do you think they would have said? [00:10:35] Dianne Ogle: Probably just adhering to their commitment to their numbers and even if the climate is tough, and it is hard with rejections, especially my sales team. But having to get back on the phone or having to try to get back in front of people, which is, like I said, we didn't have computers. So, all of it was either you had to just do cold calling. Knock on those old doors, which I got kicked out of some buildings early in my career, but you just had to have that tenacity and not every day is that easy. And so that's probably what they would say is that, boy, she's going to keep making us get up and go back out and try to call that person again and try to see them. Because we found that the more we could see people in person and have that face to face, the stronger that trust bridge and relationship could happen. [00:11:28] Dianne Ogle: And then we can not only help navigate any kind of problems or issues, but we have a chance to grow together. And so, we all knew, and that's what I kept telling all our team, both internal and external. We've got to be able to find ways to get in front of them to build those relationships. [00:11:46] Tommy Thomas: If I flip that, what would they say was the most rewarding part of being on your team? [00:11:51] Dianne Ogle: Probably their autonomy. I'm not a micromanager. And so, if they wanted to do their schedule a certain way, I wasn't going to micromanage how they did it. I always want to just come alongside to encourage and spur them on and help to motivate them for their highest and best. And quite frankly, it's tough every day, whether you're going through something personal, cause we're all whole people, right? [00:12:15] Dianne Ogle: And how we show up each day can change based on other areas of our life that could be impacting us. And so just helping to navigate that I care deeply about not only today working with my C level clients, but also back then. We are real people. We have real issues. And so how can we be there to support each other? [00:12:38] Tommy Thomas: You started out not having many mentors. When did mentors show up in your life? [00:12:45] Dianne Ogle: Once I asked. [00:12:47] Tommy Thomas: Okay. [00:12:48] Dianne Ogle:  I had my first child in Texas, and I was working for a corporation running the head of their marketing department. And I had to put my oldest son in with a lady who had a small group of children in her home. And every day I'd go get him, and I would see him in a swing. And I told my husband, I cannot do this. I cannot feel like I could run this marketing department yet. I want to have more of an impact on my own son. And so, my boss said, great. So that's when I made the transition from corporate into on my own. Cause she said just do your own job, go start your own business, figure out what that looks like. And I'll be your first client. And I thought, oh my goodness, how am I going to do this? And so, I ended up listening to a lady who was a speaker. She came from a similar but different background than me, but I could see, we saw things similar, and I thought, that's it. [00:13:48] Dianne Ogle: I'm going to go up afterwards and ask her to mentor me. And what I didn't know, she was highly sought after. She was an author and a public speaker. And she heard my why and my desperation. And she goes, of course, but you'll have to do homework. I'm like, fine, put me to work. And her name's Betty Price out of Dallas. And she was a gem. She shared; she opened her heart. She showed me how to write contracts. She showed me how to set up a business and really grow it. So that was absolutely amazing. [00:14:20] Tommy Thomas: Before we get a little broader, what are some times in your life that have really tested your metal and what did you learn? [00:14:36] Dianne Ogle: I got married at 30 and then we moved from Florida to Texas for my husband to go to seminary to get a master's in religious education and marriage and family counseling. And so, I was the breadwinner, which didn't bother me at all because I'd been independent and been earning my own income, but it bothered him more because he came from a hospitality background. And so that was an interesting season for us because I didn't fit the mold of most seminary wives or any that I ever saw. And we couldn't live on campus because my job location would bend too far for me to commute in that big metroplex. That was a hard season. Being a newlywed, having a heart for the Lord, but not finding community for anybody who could really. In fact, I got a lot of judgment and condemnation because of what I did. And I wasn't fitting that traditional role of a seminary wife. That was painful back then. [00:15:41] Tommy Thomas: Frederick Wilcox says progress always involves risk. You can't steal second base with your foot on first. What's the biggest risk you've ever taken and how did it turn out? [00:15:53] Dianne Ogle: Starting my own business. That was out of desperation. I had no vision. So that was also something I really wrestled with. Cause I'm like, I don't sell Tupperware or Avon. I don't know, what do you do? But it helped me. At least my old boss said do what you do now for me. And you'll figure it out. And sure enough, I started having small businesses tap me to help them. At least I initially started helping them on how they could grow their business through effective sales and marketing and with the teams that they had and how to develop those teams so that they could be a producing, performing, high performance, achieving team together. But that was a huge risk because we were still meeting my income. And so, you go from the luxury of having great benefits and a great package to, oh my goodness, I got to build this thing fast. [00:16:49] Tommy Thomas: It's been said, most of us learn most things from our failures. If that's the case, why are most of us so afraid to fail? [00:16:57] Dianne Ogle: Because sometimes the stakes are high. Like in my case, we needed my income, and we needed it, it wasn't a luxury. We didn't have a lot put aside or family that would just say, oh, let me write you a check or any kind of investments back in that day. And so, there was a lot on the line for us to succeed or for me to succeed for sure. And yet still support my husband and our joint goals moving forward. ++++++++++++++ [00:17:27] Tommy Thomas:   Let's move a little bit into your current organization. I'm fascinated and I'm going to probably mispronounce the title. So why don't you save me that embarrassment? And you tell us about your women's collaborative. [00:17:39] Dianne Ogle: It's called Areté Executive Women of Influence. Areté is a Greek word. It is unique. But when, and I can tell you the backstory, the name is a Greek word that means excellence and the Greek men and women attained it, especially in the face of adversity. And when I saw that definition, I'm like, that's it. That's the name. Because we all could either opt out or we press into the pain and stay in the game that God's called us to through that whole sphere of excellence, right? It's not perfectionism, but it's excellence. [00:18:19] Tommy Thomas: Where did the idea come from? Did you think about it on the tennis court one day or did somebody approach you? [00:18:26] Dianne Ogle: We serve a master weaver.  He weaves our story, weaves our expertise. So, one of the clients that I had when I first started my business, someone in New York City found me and said, hey, we want to start a chapter for women business owners that are at a higher level. We want to start a chapter there in Dallas and we want you to launch it, grow it, run it. And of course I had no background in that. I had other background, but I knew what it would take. I could see what it would take. Initially I said, no, because by then I think I had two little boys at home. I had other clients on my books, but they kept coming back around. And I thought, you know what? If I can rally women, because I too know the plight of the high-level woman and I can encourage her. Then I need to be open to it. And so, it was very quickly the Lord let me know that I should take that endeavor on. And so, I grew a very large chapter in Dallas, ended up taking over their Houston chapter. And then there were some ethical issues. I just couldn't protect my Dallas women anymore. [00:19:39] Dianne Ogle:   I finally let them know I need to step aside because I cannot continue to be this placeholder for some integrity issues that I just can't be a part of anymore. So, they said Dianne, start your own. I'm like, okay. That's not my vision but they were desperate. So, I started my own with that particular group. They all came with me, not that I was trying to do it out of ill means. It was their choice. And so, I launched it, figured out how to do a 501C(3) and did that until we moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. And I had my third boy at age 40, and I did that for just a small bit. And I finally handed the baton over to them and said, you take the organization. [00:20:22] Dianne Ogle: I'm going to get this back to you because I needed to be more present for my boys in that new season. So then fast forward, we moved to Orlando and oh, back up, one other caveat. They called me their little Christian leader. And so, I always felt handcuffed in my leadership with them. They knew I was a Christian. I'm not a Bible leader, but I'm authentically going to be who God created me to be. But they put me on notice that you better keep that in a box. And I thought, I told my husband, I said, that is too hard. That doesn't fit who I am. I'll never do that again. Love when you tell the Lord, never going to do that again. [00:21:06] Dianne Ogle: That was hard. So fast forward in 20, the crash happened in 08. My husband had been with Wyndham Worldwide at that point for a decade and his job got released, finally catching up to him about 2010. So, I started introducing him to some men that I didn't know. They didn't know my backstory. They didn't know me, but I would get us in front of some men. Cause I wanted to teach my husband, just have to tell your story and see what God's doing and see if there's any fits. Tommy, four men in a short amount of time would look across the table at me and I'm trying not to keep the conversation on me at all and said, Dianne, you need to start something for the high-level woman. By the fourth one, who was the president of the Central Florida Chamber, he just knew he couldn't meet the needs of his high-level women and that he would come in contact with another one. It was his partner. Another one. It was his wife who was an engineer. It was, they were all coming from different places and spaces, but they heard the plight of the high-level woman. [00:22:10] Dianne Ogle: So, I went back to my prayer closet, and I thought, Lord, I always say, here I am, use me, send me. I thought, woe to me if I start putting guardrails up going, been there, done that, this is too hard, I know what it would take. And he quickly showed me four columns, like those Grecian columns. Before he gave me the name of Areté, which is interesting how God works, but I'm a visual girl. And he showed me that they would come from profit, non-profit, academia, and public service sectors. Because I always knew we were missing a lot of women. Not every woman owns her own business. I didn't come from that space. I ended up there by default, but I came from corporate, and I thought we're missing women everywhere, especially women of faith and those who love Jesus. [00:22:55] Dianne Ogle: And I thought, what Lord, what would it look like if we could link arms with this higher level of women and create a container of confidentiality of trust of authenticity and vulnerability. What would that look like, Lord? And what could we do where we are better together? As one of our members says. And so that's when Areté was born. I called my CPA at the time and said, this has been a year since I've done this. I don't know Florida laws. And she said, Dianne, get it going. I'll be your first member. I was like, whoa, I hadn't even quite made the decision that I was going to do this. Then I'm like jumping in the fire ring again. So that's how that got launched. [00:23:39] Tommy Thomas: So, it's primarily a word-of-mouth growth pattern. [00:23:42] Dianne Ogle: Yes, Tommy, I would say absolutely. And our men still do this day. I had a pastor in Tennessee call me this week. He used to be my pastor at Knoxville. And he said, hey, I've met somebody that, there's not many of y'all out here, but she needs to talk to you. And because I also do executive coaching. So, she wasn't sure if she needed executive coaching or if she needed an Areté type of group. Because we have a chapter in central Florida, one in Atlanta, and then I have remote members now I've opened that up for the past two years. In Texas and Pennsylvania. And yeah, it's been quite an adventure for sure. Over the last 13 years now. [00:24:22] Tommy Thomas: Next week, we will continue this conversation with Dianne Ogle. In that episode, Dianne shares her insights on the importance of authenticity, community, and resilience in leadership. She delves into the importance of building a supportive community among women leaders and the role of prayer in strengthening leadership. She'll also share her observations on key areas that can derail leadership or enhance a leader's career. This episode offers profound insights for anyone looking to deepen their leadership impact.   Links and Resources JobfitMatters Website NextGen Nonprofit Leadership with Tommy Thomas The Perfect Search - What every board needs to know about hiring their next CEO Areté - Executive Women of Influence   Connect tthomas@jobfitmatters.com Follow Tommy on LinkedIn Follow Dianne on LinkedIn   Listen to NextGen Nonprofit Leadership with Tommy Thomas on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify    

Allison is on a permanent Grecian vacation of the mind, while Gabe almost ruins it with gender dysphoria for cis people. Gabe presents Allison and Melisa with a conundrum from a sex and love addicts subreddit. A delusional driver with road rage doesn't understand car insurance. An OP in r/dreams asks for dream help because they spent 30 years inside a dream. What is the funniest or weirdest thing a doctor has ever said to you? People in r/AskReddit share what clued them into their partner being "a fucking idiot."Check out all of our content on Patreon, Ad Free! Watch the full episodes of TLDRI, listen to the full episodes of The Variety Show, watch the International Question and Topix videos, join us for a monthly livestream, PLUS MORE:https://www.patreon.com/justbetweenusThis has been a Gallison ProductionProduced by Melisa D. Monts and Diamond MPrint ProductionsProduction Assistance by Melanie D. WatsonOur Sponsors:* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.com* Go to gobble.com/JUSTBETWEENUS today for $120 off your first 4 boxes!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/just-between-us/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On The Kenny & JT Show, Dina Grunder and Melanie John return to talk about this year's Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church Grecian Festival, happening now through Saturday at the church at 4705 Fairhaven Avenue NW in Canton. More info can also be found at grecianfestivalcanton.com.

Brian, Blake, and Richard are back for Episode 521 of the Chasing Tone PodcastAnnouncement: We are now in real time! We have decided to try and record the show and put it out the same week so we can be on the cutting edge of breaking news - hang on to your hats.  Richard has been away on his vacation and has some tales to tell, but starts off with a debate about vinyl collecting...Meanwhile Brian has been on a live-stream with the intellectual giants behind Two notes and Neural Amp Modeler. He has a good case from why Amp Modeling could be a great tool for all gigging musicians.Brian has a brilliant business idea based on his compressor woes and shares his genius ideas with us all. Meanwhile Fender have launched their new Player II range of guitars and our good buddy Travis Feaster got to be part of the launch so we talk about that before looking at some more band practice woes.Blake ducks out early because apparently he like his job, so Brian and Richard fumble on through the subjects...and Brian becomes audibly aroused at a new Gibson special edition.  This turns into a discussion about how good quality guitar gear is so much more affordable these days and then Richard inadvertently gives Brian a new idea and immediately regrets it. Brian then invents the greatest app ever.The Grecian toe, Crab Amps, Chord dis-remembrance, Gorilla amps, Pedalboard choices, Power supply knowledge...it's all in this week's Chasing Tone!Thanks to all our supporters - you are awesome! Except that one guy. Only kidding - just wanted to see if anyone read this bit...We are on Patreon now too!Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/chasingtonepodcast)Awesome Course, Merch and DIY mods:https://www.guitarpedalcourse.com/https://modyourownpedal.com/Find us at:https://www.wamplerpedals.com/https://www.instagram.com/WamplerPedals/https://www.facebook.com/groups/wamplerfanpage/Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdVrg4Wl3vjIxonABn6RfWwContact us at: podcast@wamplerpedals.comSupport the Show.

A Breeding ProgramIn 7 parts, based on the posts by senorlongo. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novel. Damn! Damn! Damn! I hit the damned GPS with the heel of my hand, but it still wouldn't work. I had tried repeatedly to tell the suits at the main office that we needed better equipment, but those cheap bastards were always looking out for the bottom line—their bottom line, anything to look good to the higher-ups. The fact that our lives were at stake was inconsequential. My requests were always turned down. Now we were stuck in the bloody jungle of Brazil with no idea where we were.You'd think that two PhD's in Geology, with the responsibility for finding the new deposits of bauxite that would keep the world's largest manufacturer of aluminum at the top of the hill would be able to get decent equipment, but you'd be wrong. Our GPS was five years old. That may be OK if it's in your car, but ours is exposed to extremes of temperature and humidity that kill it quickly. I was standing in a clearing with a clear view of the sky and I couldn't lock on to even a single satellite. Our satellite phone was no better. I'd call the office to complain but the idiot bean counters would probably just bitch back at me about the phone charges and I'd get nowhere.I turned to my partner, Dr. Michael Sullivan, “Mike! I can't get even a single fucking satellite lock on this fucking thing.”“Really, David,” he replied calmly in his Irish brogue, “all that swearing accomplishes nothing. If we wait here until dark we can get a star shoot. That'll at least help with our latitude. The rest we can do by dead reckoning.”“Yeah, that's great, but why am I carrying all this stuff if we can't use it? It's typical bean counter bullshit. If I have to go out next time with this piece of …I'll quit and go to work for the competition.” We had been trekking on foot for almost a month. Originally we had used a Land Rover, but most areas of the Brazilian jungle are so thick as to make a vehicle a liability, even slower than hacking one's way with a machete.We had some dried food similar to what the Army uses, but mostly we caught fish or birds along with an ample supply of native fruits. We'd done this before—more than a dozen times—and were survival experts.I began to clear a small area in the center of the clearing. I was waist deep in native grass, which meant that Mike was covered almost to his chest. I towered over him—my six feet four inches to his five feet eight. Using my machete and shovel I formed an area about twenty feet on a side, piling the grass in the center. We'd use this later for a fire. Next I retreated to the woods where I strung my fishing line with tiny bells from tree to tree all the way around our perimeter. We'd learned the hard way that it's always best to be prepared. The government officials had told us that the natives were friendly and peaceful, but one never knew for sure. The bigger concern--one for which there is no warning system--was the possibility of running into one of the many venomous snakes and spiders in the area. And then, of course, were the insects. At night they were unbearable. Fortunately, we had learned that the smoke from the damp grass kept them at bay. Luckily we hadn't seen a jaguar, but we had rifles in case we did.Mike finished his explorations and we set up camp which was basically a couple of sleeping bags covered with mosquito mesh and the fire for cooking, boiling water, and safety. We had a light dinner of some smoked birds I had caught and cooked yesterday, determined our approximate location and went to sleep, our weapons close by. We went to sleep early—there was no reason to sit up swatting bugs all night; it was safer and more comfortable in the sleeping bags.Mike and I are both light sleepers so when we heard a bell tinkle in the trees we were awake in an instant. I would have risen and grabbed my rifle but for three things—a long bronze spear held inches over my face, a knee on my chest, and a foot standing on the rifle. I was most surprised by the foot I could see clearly in the firelight—it belonged to a woman and she was white. “Relax Dr. Schneider. We do not want to hurt you. Please sit up slowly.”“Who are you?” I asked, noticing for the first time that Mike was in the same situation I found myself in. “You speak English?”“You will soon learn all about us, and, yes we do speak English. Many of our grandmothers lived in the U.S. and England during World War II as part of the war effort. They taught our mothers and our mothers taught us. Now, please stand and put your hands behind your backs. We will restrain you, but it is for our safety only. I assure you that we mean you no harm.” I stood unsteadily and noticed for the first time that all our captors were women and they were all appeared to be incredibly beautiful.These women were tall, only four or five inches shorter than me, of slender build, and they were dressed similarly, but not exactly the same. Their ample chests were bare and they wore short skirts apparently made of thin metal strips—copper, a silver metal I recognized immediately as aluminum, and gold. I assumed the material had something to do with their status in the tribe or group, or whatever they called themselves. They wore identical sandals on their feet and coiled bracelets that matched their skirts on their wrists. They were all armed with either spears or bows and arrows, and now with our rifles and pistols.They tied our wrists behind our backs. The woman who tied me asked kindly if the ropes were too tight. “No,” I replied, “but I'd love to know why the insects aren't biting you—they're killing me.” As soon as I finished my remark two of their band came to us and rubbed some kind of lotion over our exposed skin—head, neck, arms, and legs. I noticed the change immediately. “Thank you,” I told the woman. She turned and smiled, showing me a set of beautiful teeth…and even more beautiful breasts.They gave us food and something to drink—not water; it was flavored strongly with some kind of fruit I couldn't identify. Then we waited for the first signs of daylight. I thought it was a good time to ask some questions. “Excuse me,” I started politely, directing my remarks to the leader, “what do you want with us? We're just geologists.”“We know who you are Dr. Schneider. We have spies in many of the cities here in Brazil. As to our purpose…our Queen will no doubt explain when you meet her later today. Now I think we should leave. Please walk with the guards next to you and don't do anything stupid. We have no wish to harm you, but we will if necessary.” We walked swiftly into the jungle.I thought that cooperation was the easiest and safest course to follow. They could have killed us back in the clearing and their actions indicated peaceful intent. Mike, however, was falling prey to his famous Irish temper, struggling against his bonds and with his guards. I turned to one of mine and commented, “My name is David. May I know yours?”“Yes,” replied the guard on my left. She stood almost six feet in height and had a magnificent body highlighted by her symmetrical D-cup breasts that swayed gently as we walked. “My name is Reta.” I thanked her and turned to my right. This woman was easily a twelve on a scale of ten! She appeared to be a shade under six feet with long slender legs, narrow hips and beautiful breasts that looked to be somewhere between a C and D-cup. She had high cheek bones framed by long straight light brown hair that fell below her shoulders. Her eyes looked green in the early morning light. “My name is Hosi.”“Thank you, Reta. Thank you, Hosi. You two are certainly the most beautiful guards I've ever had.”“Flattery, Dr. Schneider…er, David will get you nowhere. I'm sure we're the only guards you've ever had,” Reta replied, “but we do appreciate the compliment.” She and Hosi both smiled as they held my arms while we crossed some rough terrain. A few minutes later we stopped for a brief rest.“Uh…Hosi, I have to…um…urinate.”“Come over here to the edge of the clearing. I will help you.” She pulled down my zipper and reached in to find my growing cock. “I seem to have an effect on you, David.”“Yes, Hosi you certainly do. You're beautiful and very sexy, too.” My stream had just begun when she replied, “What is ‘sexy,' David?”“It means that members of the other sex, like me, find you extremely appealing and would like to sleep with you.”“Why would sleeping be of interest to you?” The command to continue marching saved me. Hosi put my penis back into my shorts and zipped me back up. We returned to the group and continued our pleasant stroll.Roughly two hours later I noticed that we had passed this spot before and after a brief lunch we passed it again. I mentioned it the fourth time, “Are you sure you know where you're going? We've passed this same spot four times today. If you're trying to confuse us you're doing a great job.”“We are walking you in circles so you don't know where you are,” Reta replied. I laughed and laughed, attracting the attention of the others in the band. “We didn't know where we were this morning. You could have just walked us in a straight line and we still wouldn't know.” The leader approached asking, “Don't you have instruments that tell you?”“Sure, but they don't work. If you will briefly untie my hands I'll show you. Don't worry, I'm not going to endanger any of you and you can tie me up again once I'm done.” She looked to my guards who nodded; a minute later my hands were free. Mike, however, continued to fight at every opportunity. I asked for my back pack and dug out the GPS. I explained briefly how it was supposed to work. I turned it on—we could see the screen light up. I held it up for several minutes and when I brought it down the screen was still blank. “You see,” I continued, “it doesn't work. If there is something you don't want us to see why not just blindfold us? It'll save a lot of time and walking.” She thought for a moment and nodded. Several long strips of cloth were produced and I returned my hands behind my back. “I don't think that will be necessary any longer—with you, anyway. Reta and Hosi will hold onto your arms. Follow them and their directions.”I thanked her as the blindfold was tied behind my head and my guards took my arms. “Well, this is much nicer, don't you agree?” They just laughed, but Hosi also rubbed my back. We walked back--at least I thought it was back then we turned and after a few minutes we stopped. Hosi spoke quietly, “We have to walk sideways here. Be careful, it's a narrow ledge. Don't look down.”“Very funny,” I joked. Again Hosi rubbed my back as she led me onto the ledge. I sidestepped, barely raising my feet from the irregularly shaped rock until I felt soil beneath my feet again. “Are we past it now?”“Yes,” Reta replied, “I always get nervous on this part of the trip.”“You get nervous? At least you can see. If you fall I'm going with you.”Hosi giggled, “It's not that long a drop--probably not more than twenty feet, but the ground down there is covered with rough rocks so the fall would be nasty…but I don't think it would kill you. Just a little bit further and we can remove your blindfolds.” We continued--my guards back at my sides--down a gradual slope. At one point we went down a flight of stone steps. That was slow going, but Hosi directed me carefully.We stopped a few minutes later and the blindfold was removed. I squinted in the bright light. I turned around slowly taking in the sights. We were in a verdant valley and could see a large stone building with a large number of smaller buildings, also of stone with thatched roofs nearby. Beyond I could see the snow-capped slopes of mountains and several flocks of small animals—goats and sheep. Judging from what I could see it looked like a glacial valley—u-shaped by the movement and retreat of an ancient glacier rather than a v-shaped valley caused by a river's erosion. There were expansive grassy plains and several large cultivated fields; we were out of the jungle, for sure. The temperature was more moderate and the humidity much less oppressive.“Let us go. I am sure our Queen is waiting impatiently,” Hosi told me pointing to the large building. She and Reta walked next to me, but did not touch or guide me now that I could see. “I liked it better when you were touching me,” I commented to Hosi. She smiled coyly and put her hand on my elbow. I smiled back, leaned over and whispered, “That's much better.” We walked that way until we reached the village about twenty minutes away.When we reached the large building I was told to remove my shoes. I sat on a step and pulled off my shoes and socks. I set them aside out of the way. I rose and walked in, noticing that all our guards had also removed their footwear. We walked in a wide hallway and were about halfway when Hosi whispered, “Kneel when you meet the Queen and keep your eyes down unless she tells you otherwise. I don't want to see you punished, but I am afraid your friend is in for a lot of trouble. I'm glad I was assigned to you.”I turned and whispered back, “I'm glad you were assigned to me, too.” She blushed like a schoolgirl as we entered a large room festooned with what looked like tapestries. There were skylights and windows that were open to the weather. I saw the Queen seated on a large chair that was raised at least a foot above the floor. I walked forward slowly and kneeled, placing my face on the floor in front of me. Mike had to be forced down. I would have spoken to him but I knew from experience that it would be a waste of time. A spear shaft across his back held him in place.“Welcome, gentlemen—well, I can see that one of you is a gentleman. Please rise, Dr. Schneider.” I stood and a chair was provided for me; Mike was still forced down, a guard tightly holding each of his arms. “I am sure that you have many questions—even some you have not yet considered. Let me answer some of the more important ones. You are in a hidden valley—a valley that has eluded detection for thousands of years. We are a society of women; you are the only men here. You would call us Amazons although that is not our tribe's name. We have brought you here for a purpose, one that is essential for our tribe's survival. At one time we had more than 3,000 women here. Now we have less than 500. We need your seed to create new members. We will feed you a special fruit that will encourage your seed to produce females. Do not worry—it is delicious, nutritious, and will do you no harm. You will have the freedom to wander in the valley, but do not attempt to leave. Once every seven days you will be milked—milked for your seed. We will use that to impregnate fertile women.“Now, I am sure you are tired from your trip. Dr. Schneider, you will be shown to a house nearby. You will live there. Dr. Sullivan will remain here under control. That is all—you are dismissed.” I backed out of the room while Mike was pulled up. The spear shaft was wedged between his arms and body, further immobilizing him, and he was led away. Hosi guided me back to the front of the building. “Your house is right next to mine. Come, I will show you the way.”We walked down a narrow lane, not much more than a dirt path. I noticed that some of the avenues were paved so it seemed that Hosi was not one of the higher ranking women. She stopped after a few minutes in front of a small stone building. It was a single story with a newly thatched roof. There was a window near the doorway, but no door. She led me inside; the house was immaculate inside with whitewashed walls and a rough stone floor. There was but a single room with a fireplace near the center. The furniture consisted of a rough-hewn bed with rope netting supporting a thin mattress, a small table and two rough wooden chairs. “This will be your house, David. I do not think you will spend much time here, though. Mine is right across the lane. I have been given the responsibility of feeding and caring for you.”She led me out and into her home. It was of similar size, but had more and better furniture. There were earthenware bowls and jars like Grecian amphorae, some with local fruits and others with juices and wines. She showed me to a chair. While I sat she removed her sandals and skirt, leaving her clad only in a skimpy undergarment similar to a modern thong that showed her magnificent ass cheeks and abdomen. She returned to me a moment later. “Hosi…please do not be offended, but… may I touch you?”“Of course, David.” I reached forward, placing my hand on her abdomen. Her skin was silk, but there were hard strong muscles beneath. I reached around her to feel her ass. Her buttocks felt the same—silky smooth but incredibly firm. I doubted that, other than her breasts, she had even an ounce of fat on her. When I returned my hand to her abdomen she took it and moved it to her breast.“I have been told that men enjoy touching and feeling these. Is that true, David? You are the first man I have ever met.” I rubbed my hand over her heavy breast flesh. “Oh, yes, Hosi…most men would die for the chance to touch and fondle breasts as beautiful as these.”“Surely, David you are fooling with me. They are nothing special—just blobs of fat.” I laughed and it was obvious that I had embarrassed her. I rose and held her. “I'm sorry, Hosi. I'm not being much of a guest. You may be right but they are beautifully formed and very sexy blobs of fat and some day you may need them to feed your newborn children.”“There you go with that ‘sexy' again. Won't you tell me what that means? Am I sexy, David?”“Oh…Hosi, you are the sexiest woman I have ever met. Sexy is a term that means you are desirable and that men would want to sleep with you, but that has nothing to do with actual sleeping. It means having sex, you know—how a woman can become pregnant.”“Now I am confused. You are going to be milked. Your seed will be removed from your body and poured into several hollow reeds. Then the reeds will be introduced to the women. How does that have anything to do with ‘sexy'?” I knew now why their numbers had dropped so drastically. I also knew how I would be “milked” and I knew it wasn't going to be pleasant. Hosi and I talked for a while as she prepared our meal. She showed me the fruit I was to eat. It looked like a small plum, but it tasted more like a grapefruit; that was OK—I loved grapefruit. I ate several, bringing a smile to her lips. Our dinner consisted of some broiled fish, a fried flatbread Hosi cooked for us and more fruit.After dinner Hosi and I went to the river to bathe in a pool created by a small outcropping of land. We used a crude soap; she allowed me to wash her body and to be fair I allowed her to wash mine—it was one of the most erotic experiences of my life—I was hard the entire time much to Hosi's amusement. Then we returned to her house where she asked if I wanted to sleep with her. I knew the invitation did not include sex, but I accepted anyway. We fell asleep holding each other's naked bodies. I was worried about what the future would hold, but I was exhausted so I fell asleep almost immediately.I woke the following morning to find I was spooning with Hosi, my hand gently cupping her breast. “I think I understand a little more about ‘sexy,' David. I enjoy having your hand on my breast…especially when you play with my little bump.” “I think you mean your nipple, Hosi.” I rubbed her flesh and rolled her nipple while I asked, “May I ask you some questions?”“Of course, David--if I can answer them I will.”“Are we the first men in your village that you can remember?”“Yes, I have been told that I was the last one born from the previous group more than twenty summers ago. I was also told that they were rough and dangerous. They rebelled at being milked and attacked their guards. They were all killed. We haven't had a man here since.”That told me a lot. I doubted that the queen would allow any of her citizens to couple with such men. It would be much too dangerous for the woman and possibly for the entire tribe as well. “Next question, Hosi,” I continued. “You seem to know something about a male's anatomy. You knew about my penis and weren't either surprised or afraid of it.”“Yes, David,” Hosi interrupted, “I have seen pictures in a book, but I do not know why it is shaped the way it is or what it does other than…what was the word you used?”“Urinate—remove liquid wastes from the body. Yes, that is one purpose—the other is to have sex. The shape and size is to fit into a woman's vagina.” Hosi started, jumped up and turned around. “You mean that thing is supposed to fit inside me?”“Yes, and it will. That's why it becomes hard and larger. It must be hard to penetrate a woman; the size will help to please you. May I show you…not with my penis…I'll use my finger.”“I don't know. I trust you, David but I am afraid you will hurt me.”“Hosi, if you trust me you know I will not harm you. I leaned forward and kissed her cheek. She seemed startled. “What was that, David? Why did you do that with your mouth?”Oh, boy—these women have really been missing something. “That was what we call a kiss. It is something people do when they like or love each other. Haven't you ever heard about that?”“I have heard of it, but I have never had one before. It was interesting.”“I'd like to kiss you again, but on your lips this time. Believe me it will be much more interesting.” Hosi leaned down tentatively. I stroked her cheek and moved her hair back over her ear. I kissed her cheek several times before moving back a few inches. I looked into her eyes and edged forward. My lips lightly touched hers; she moved back slightly before making up her mind and moving into the kiss. Our lips ground into each other's until Hosi's arm reached around me and she pulled me even closer. I broke the kiss and looked into her eyes again; they were saying, “Wow!” “Try opening your mouth a bit. Let my tongue touch yours.” She looked unsure but did as I asked. Our tongues touched and danced. The next thing I learned was how strong she was; she had me on my back as she kissed me passionately. She broke the kiss briefly to whisper into my ear, “Use your finger in me…please.”I reached between her legs and, not surprisingly, found her pussy soaked. I rubbed my finger in her slit before telling her, “This is why it won't hurt. You are wet. Your entire tunnel is lubricated with this delicious juice.” I put my fingers into my mouth and savored her nectar. I returned my fingers to their ultimate destination and slowly pushed my middle finger into her. In an instant it was completely enfolded in her. “See…did I hurt you?”She shook her head as I slowly withdrew and pushed in again. I could see her eyes roll back as her ecstasy built. I fucked her for almost a minute before touching her clit. “Oh…David…I like it…I like it a lot. Is this what it feels like when your penis is in me?”“No, Hosi…that feels better.” She moved up and looked at me disbelievingly. Then she smiled and returned her lips to mine. We might have gone further, but we were interrupted when Reta walked in the door. Apparently, there had been little reason for privacy before I had arrived.“I'm sorry to break up your fun, but it is time for you to be milked, David.” Reta and Hosi returned to their roles as my guards. I waited while Hosi dressed, but how long can it take to tie a short skirt around one's hips? I walked briskly between them to a square by the river. I was bent over a round padded rail and tied into place. An earthenware bowl lay beneath my penis, still hard from my episode with Hosi. There was a fire in front of me with a large kettle of what I assumed was water. Several large metal implements lay heating within. Hosi leaned over me, her breasts pressing into my back, “Try to relax. I am told it will be easier.” One of the older women pulled a “spoon” from the kettle. I could tell from her reaction that it was hot. She moved behind me, applied some kind of oil and pushed it into my anus.I was right—it was fucking hot—burning me as if pressed into my bowel! I howled in pain. She used the tool to roughly rub and stimulate my prostate. Semen dribbled from my cock after a minute or so. Hosi took hold and aimed it over the bowl. It took another two minutes before the flow ended. The spoon was pulled forcefully out of my ass and more oil was applied. I was released from the rail; I had to be supported by Hosi and Reta. I thought even I might become rough and surly if I had to undergo that kind of treatment every week.No sooner had I been released than Michael was led to the rail. He fought the entire way, not that it did any good. A new bowl was produced and the process begun. Michael fought every second and his pain was obvious. When he was finally released he managed to throw off his guards and run into the river. He was able to swim to the middle, but the rapid flow proved too much for him. He was swept away in an instant. I turned away to see Hosi with her hands to her face, “Oh no…there is a waterfall. He will be killed.”That made me more determined than ever. “Let's return to your house, Hosi. Do you think I will be able to see the Queen tomorrow? I have something of great importance to ask her. Will you please accompany me?”“I will ask Reta to set it up for you. She has a higher rank than I do. Let's go…I can see that you need to rest. That was quite an ordeal for you and then…to lose your friend….” We walked slowly back up the lane. At her house she placed me carefully onto the bed and covered me with a light blanket. I fell asleep quickly.I awoke in mid-afternoon to a clamor nearby. I walked out to see that Michael's body had been recovered. His body was badly bruised and broken. As I noticed a four-inch gash in his right abdomen a thought flew through my brain. It was like a ghost—something that lacked substance that I could grab on to. ‘Poor Mike,” I thought. How different things could have been for both of us if I could convince the Queen tomorrow. Hosi walked up as I stood there and took my arm. I could tell she was sympathetic—what a waste! Mike was a brilliant geologist and a better partner in our explorations. Many times he had kept me in stitches with his stories of his native Ireland. In contrast, all I could share were stories of growing up in a dirty industrial city in New Jersey.Unconsciously, I took Hosi's hand in mine as we returned to her house. “Will you put your finger into me again, David?”“Of course, Hosi-- but a little later. I want to talk to you about tomorrow when I see the Queen. I understand why your tribe has milked men. You told me that the last men here were brutes—no ruler would endanger her subjects by having them engage in sex with such men. However, the milking was as brutal and barbaric as those men could ever have been. Not only did it hurt me, but I was also burned and humiliated by it. I would probably rebel if I had to do it repeatedly. I saw the women who received the sperm…the seed; all that effort to try to impregnate four women—two for each of us.“It can be done much easier and more effectively if I am permitted to have sex with them. I can probably do four or five a week by myself. I will propose to have sex with you to show the Queen how it will work, but there will be a difference with you. I will give myself...my soul…to you. I will give only my seed to the others. Will you help me?”“You will put your penis in me?” she asked. I nodded and continued, “It will hurt a bit at first. All women are born with a membrane that partially covers the tunnel. It must be ripped, but after that you should feel a great deal of pleasure. In fact, I think I will pleasure you first.”“Sometimes, David I find what you say to be very confusing, but I will help you. I liked the part about you giving me your soul. I will also give you mine.” I looked into her eyes, pulled her to me and kissed her. It seemed to last forever. I reached around her and untied her skirt. I lowered it gently to the floor just before I led her almost naked to the bed. I began to unbutton my shirt, but Hosi stopped me so she could do it herself. She grinned as she opened my belt and dropped my shorts and boxers. She gripped my cock and pulled me to her on the bed.We lay in the late afternoon coolness clinging to each other. I loved the feeling of Hosi's skin against mine, especially when she pressed her firm breasts into my chest. I broke the kiss momentarily to tell her, “I love the touch of your skin against mine.”Hosi giggled, “Do you know what I love, David?” She ran her fingers through my chest hair. “It is soft and sometimes it tickles, but…enough talking.” She resumed the kiss, her tongue adventurously exploring my mouth. I reached down between her legs finding her wet again. Her nectar ran down her thighs. I rubbed my fingers in her, drenching them. Then, breaking the kiss, I held them to her lips. She licked them and sucked them into her mouth. I took her hand and rubbed her fingers along her thighs. I brought them to my mouth. I ran my fingers into her slit again, entering her seconds later. I wanted her to feel pleasure, but not to cum—that would occur tomorrow.I knew she was hooked when, instinctively, she took my cock into her hand and stroked it slowly. “Oh, Hosi that feels so good. I can't wait to fuck you tomorrow.” Hosi moved back a bit, “Fuck? What does that mean?”“You just asked me one of the hardest questions. The word ‘fuck' has many meanings. It can mean sexual intercourse or congress between a man and a woman. It can also mean something vile. Don't ask me to explain how a word that describes the most beautiful thing that can happen between a man and a woman can also mean something vile and disgusting because I do not know. If I asked to fuck you, that would be good, but if I said, ‘Fuck you' that would be bad. Do you understand?”Hosi thought for a few minutes before responding, “No!”“Just as well. Your people don't really need it. I'll just tell you I want to make love to you.”“Do you want that, David?”“More than anything, but I think we need to wait for the Queen to give her permission.” Just then Reta walked in to tell us that Queen Aleppa would meet with me at midmorning tomorrow. I thanked her and joined Hosi in preparing for our dinner. I ate several of the fertility fruit while we worked. That night we spooned nervously in anticipation of tomorrow.We woke early, sharing several yummy kisses just to get us into the mood. We ate a light breakfast of fruit and bread. I suggested we bathe so we would be clean when we met the Queen. It was just after ten when Reta came for us. A few minutes later we were kneeling before the Queen. “You asked to see me, Dr. Schneider?”“Yes, thank you Queen Aleppa. I want you to know that someone has harmed me—hurt me badly, in fact.”“WHAT? Who would dare to violate my orders?”“I regret to tell you that it was your milkers. If I may say, the process is barbaric and very inefficient, as well. I was brutalized in an attempt to impregnate only two women. If you will give your permission I believe I can double that or better.”“How would you do that?”“By having sex—regular biological sex. I believe I could have sex with four or five women each week. The remaining days would be for Hosi.”“I understand you are not making any use of your house, but are spending all your time with Hosi.”“Yes, your highness. I am in love with Hosi and with your permission I would ask her to be my mate. I will give the other women my sperm…my seed…but not my heart or soul.”“I don't know…I have been told this can be a brutal act. I would not want any of my subjects harmed.”“Hosi and I are willing to demonstrate if you would have a mattress brought here.” Queen Aleppa gave the matter some thought before clapping her hands and giving the order. Minutes later a grass mattress roughly the size of a double bed was placed on the floor in front of her throne. I bowed to the Queen and turned to Hosi. “Do you trust me, Hosi? Do you love me?” She nodded twice as I led her to the mattress.“This is usually done in privacy,” I told the Queen, “but since this is a demonstration you and the others present are welcome to observe.” I brought Hosi to me and we kissed gently. However, it was merely seconds before our passion grew in spite of the audience. Hosi reached up to unbutton my shirt. It was discarded on the floor. My shorts and boxers joined the pile seconds later. I reached behind Hosi to remove her skirt; if was followed by her undergarment. We stood naked before the Queen, but neither of us noticed—we were totally absorbed in each other.Gently, I lowered Hosi following her shortly thereafter. We held each other tenderly as I began to kiss my way down her body. I kissed and suckled each breast and licked her navel. Hosi writhed under my ministrations and gasped when I first licked her cunt. I spread her legs and, beginning at her anus, licked my way up, covering her entire organ with my mouth. Her labia were red and engorged with her desire so I diverted my attention to her slit. I licked and sucked, drinking her fluids as Hosi jumped and rolled. Then I attacked her clit. I licked and sucked it between my teeth as Hosi thrashed. When she came she screamed at the top of her lungs. The guards rushed forward and grabbed me.“NO! STOP! (pant) (pant) He (pant) did (pant) not (pant) (pant) hurt me. I have (pant) (pant) never felt such pleasure. That is why I screamed.” Her chest was heaving as the guards released me. “I think I understand what you said yesterday about pleasuring me. What was that?”“You had an orgasm…a really, really big one. I will have one when I release my seed in you and you may have another when we make love.” She pulled me from the guards into a long embrace and kiss. “Do it, David. Put your penis in me. I want you so badly.”I broke the kiss to address the Queen, “I have told Hosi that this may hurt a bit in the beginning. All women are born with a membrane—some thin material—that covers part of the tunnel. It must be ripped. Once that is done there should be only pleasure. You were right—some men can make this a brutal act. I am not one of those men. I was raised to love and respect women and I have already told you how much I love Hosi. I would use the same approach with any of the women in your tribe.”I turned back to Hosi, kissing her again. I rose over her and positioned my cock at the entrance of her tunnel. I ran my cock up and down her slit, making sure she was lubricated before slowly pushing into her. I pushed in and stopped, but Hosi wrapped her legs around my waist and pulled herself up—nothing happened. I would explain but not now. I was too much enthralled with my lover's hot tight pussy. She gripped me like a velvet vise as I thrust into her slowly. This was Hosi's first time so I needed to be careful. God knows how much I'd want her to do it again…and again…and again.Hosi had great instincts; she began to move—to meet every thrust with one of her own. I hadn't cum in weeks—there was no orgasm from my milking—so I wasn't going to last long. “I'm sorry, Hosi I'm going to cum soon. I'm going to give you my seed—now! I grunted and groaned several times as I blew my semen deep into Hosi's hot pussy. I was half-way through when she came again, bucking vigorously into me. I collapsed, sweating, onto her. I kissed her over and over before rolling off.“My Queen, you saw that Hosi had no pain. Sometimes a young girl will break her hymen—the barrier—if she participates in a sport or other rigorous activity. That seems to have happened with Hosi. I think it may be true with a number of other women in the tribe.”Queen Aleppa thought for several minutes before speaking, “What did you think, Hosi?”“I can't wait for David to do it to me again. I loved it. It was wonderful and I agree with him—the milking was terrible. It cost Dr. Sullivan's life.”“Perhaps…how would you manage this, Dr. Schneider?” I explained what I had in mind—bigger bed or, at least, a bigger mattress; a clean sheet for every woman; the Queen to select and send them to me after lunch; two days working followed by a day off with Hosi followed by two more work days and two days to relax. I would try to inseminate women four days out of seven. Queen Aleppa agreed, Hosi and I dressed, bowed and left.We were halfway back to her house when the ghost took form, “Oh my God. We have to go back to the Queen…quickly.” We ran and interrupted her. She was not pleased until I spoke, “Queen Aleppa, what has happened to Dr. Sullivan's body? It is critical that I have access to it. Your tribe's very survival depends on it.” She stopped her work and led us to the makings of a funeral pyre. I asked one of the women for a sharp knife. I cut into the gash I had seen earlier. Reaching inside his body I found it and pulled it out. “Thank God,” I said, falling to my knees on the hard ground. I showed the Queen the bloody object.“This is called a micro-transmitter. On a certain date it will send a signal that will allow our company to locate us. Likewise, if it is damaged or burned it will send the signal before it is destroyed. If that happened your hidden valley would be discovered. Your way of life would be destroyed.” I showed her the scar on the side of my abdomen. “I also have such a device implanted in me. If it was on the surface—under my skin--I would cut it out, but it is implanted deep under the muscle. Only a skilled surgeon can remove it.” I looked at my watch and checked the date. “I have ten weeks before my signal is sent. I need to be far away by then, but I assure you that I will return.”I turned to Hosi, “I love you and don't want to leave you, but I must. I promise you that I will return to take you as my mate. I want to live here with you forever.” We spoke with the Queen, discussing the best way to manage my departure. It was decided that building a canoe and going down the river would be the fastest. That way I could remain here and hopefully impregnate as many women as possible. I swore that I would not reveal the valley or the Amazons. I discussed what should be done with Mike's body and after considering a number of alternatives it was agreed that he would be transported to a waterfall about 50 miles away and buried at its base. I returned the transmitter to his body. Hosi and I left, returning to her house.The following morning a large mattress and a quantity of sheets were delivered to my house. A larger bed and mattress were also sent to Hosi's. Apparently the Queen approved of our union. Hosi and I met with several workers—they had made canoes in the past and asked me if I had any experience. I told them I had not. “Then,” the leader said, “we need to do a sloppy job, one a first-time builder would do. Your canoe will leak a bit, but we will give you something to bail with. There will be rough edges and uneven sides, but don't worry, it will float and get you down river safely.” I thanked them and returned to the village.Hosi and I went to bathe just before lunch. I explained that I would bathe at least twice daily—before and after sex with the tribe's women. I wanted to be clean for the women and clean for Hosi afterward. We ate our lunch and I returned for the first time in days to my house. I laid the sheet over the mattress, folding the edges underneath. I had just finished when I looked up to greet my first visitor—it was the leader of the party that had captured us.I rose and took her hand. I could tell she was nervous. I kissed her cheek as I helped her undress. When I was naked I helped her down to the mattress. I had her lie on her stomach so I could massage her shoulders, back, and legs. The massage helped her to relax; she sighed when I rolled her over. I leaned down to kiss her, my tongue penetrating her mouth as I massaged her breast. I was not surprised to find her pussy gushing. I rose up and pushed easily into her cunt. I expected a barrier, but she, too, had none. Their training must be so arduous that most if not all had ruptured their hymens at a very early age. I slid all the way into her easily. I fucked her with long slow strokes, increasing my tempo as we went. Soon I was pumping her pussy hard. It would be nice if she could cum, but that wasn't my priority—I wanted to knock her up! She suddenly began to meet my thrusts; her actions brought her clit into contact with my pubic bone. We exploded together as I drove deep into her, bathing her womb with my baby cream. I withdrew after I had shot my load into her, but I made her lie there for thirty minutes with her legs in the air.I helped her to her feet when her time was up, kissed her gently, and placed the soiled sheet outside my door for pick-up by a member of the Queen's staff. I walked to the pool, finding Hosi there waiting for me—she was pouting. I lifted her chin and asked her with my eyes. “I wish you would just make love to me.”“That's what I wish, also, but I promised the Queen and the alternative is milking. We must think of your tribe. It needs new members badly. She shook her head in agreement, but I could see that she still didn't like it.That's the way my days went except for those days I spent happily with Hosi. However, almost three weeks later I had just finished off my thirteenth virgin when I heard a bell pealing loudly. “Quick,” my partner of the day squealed, “that is the emergency bell!” We rose and ran out of my house. I met Hosi and we ran to the Queen's residence where we learned that a huge jaguar had found its way into the valley. Few people in the States realize that the jaguar is the third largest wild cat behind only the tiger and lion. Such an animal would present a tremendous danger to the tribe. I offered to hunt it down if the Queen would return my rifle and backpack. “How will you find it,” Queen Aleppa asked.“I won't; it will find me. If you will allow me an old goat from the herd I will set it out as bait. Jaguars are nocturnal hunters; it will come at night and I will lie in ambush.” She agreed and we selected an area just outside the village. I tied the poor animal to a stake and sought refuge in the nearest house almost one hundred yards away. I heard a noise behind me and when I turned it was Hosi and Reta with their spears. “Be quiet, we may have a long night ahead of us,” I whispered. I sat between them with my arms around them.I removed my night scope from the backpack and placed it on the rifle. I loaded it with hollow points and sat down to wait. No need to keep watch all night; the goat would warn us when the jaguar approached. It was just before three when the goat bleated crazily. I took my station at the window, leaning the barrel on the sill—I could just make out the cat in the trees beyond. It approached warily and as it did I got him into my sights. I inhaled and released; slowly I squeezed the trigger and fired—a head shot—just before it reached the goat. The hollow point spread like a mushroom as it passed through the big cat's brain. The jaguar did a back flip and when it hit the ground it was dead. I stood up and walked out with Hosi and Reta. I warned them to be careful in case the cat was only wounded. I put another bullet into its head when we were ten feet away just to be sure.I tied a rope around the cat's head and hauled it up onto a tree limb. Using a sharp knife I quickly separated the skin from the flesh. Hosi and Reta cut away the meat for distribution, placing it in large cloth sacks and giving the Queen the select cuts. I hung the pelt between two trees to dry. The following day I began to carefully scrape away all the fat and organic matter. It had no odor when the skin had completely dried and the pelt was extremely supple. I rolled it and presented it to the Queen. “Thank you, Dr. Schneider, but I think you are giving it to the wrong person. Hosi, please accept this gift from your mate. I give my approval to your union.” I handed the pelt to Hosi just before she jumped into my arms, kissing me wildly while Queen Aleppa sat by laughing.The weeks flew by quickly…much too quickly. By the time I had to leave I'd had sex with almost forty women—forty incredibly beautiful women, but none as beautiful as my Hosi.We finalized my departure plans. My canoe would be lowered alongside the waterfall to some brush at the bottom. I would have two paddles in case one should break. I would be given several goatskins of water in addition to our two canteens. I would take my back pack and Mike's in addition to some food. I tested my balky GPS and—surprise—it worked. I took special note of the latitude. If I had to I could follow that line until I found the valley and Hosi. I was really good at remembering numbers.The Queen suspended my breeding activities a few days before my departure so I could spend the days and nights exclusively with Hosi. We spent most of our time in bed naked kissing and holding each other. We fucked plenty, but mostly we held each other. I must have told her that I loved her a thousand times—almost as many as she told me. Finally, the time came. I arose early, a tear in my eye. Hosi, Reta and many of those I had coupled with walked to the waterfall. I kissed Hosi, reminding her that I would come back as soon as possible before lowering myself down a long rope to the river bed below. I pulled the canoe from the brush, blew a kiss to Hosi, and moved carefully into the canoe. The seat was just above the floor, making the whole craft more stable, something I would almost certainly need. I paddled quickly into the stream.I moved steadily downstream. The paddling was easy, more with the idea of keeping the canoe straight and in the current than actually propelling the craft. I was pretty sure I was doing more than five miles an hour. In a day I could be more than a hundred miles away. The transmitter would send its signal the following day. I knew I was on a tributary of the Amazon and paddled to the shore where the two met. I pulled the canoe up the bank, removed a long thin strip of brightly colored cloth and tied it onto a slender tree limb. Hopefully, I'd be able to find it when I returned. I pushed the canoe back into the water. The Amazon's flow was much slower so I had to paddle harder to maintain my pace.I ignored the insects and paddled through the night, wanting to put as much distance between us as possible. It was mid-morning of the second day that I saw the town down river on the right. This had been our embarkation point months before. I knew I could get a small plane to take me down to the coast and, from there, a flight back to the States. I pulled the canoe up to a small dock, threw the backpacks up, climbed out wearily, and let the canoe drift into the current—it had done its job.I found a small hotel and booked a room using my corporate credit card. The first thing I did was call the office. I let them know that Mike had perished—no need to lie. I told them that he tried to cross a river and was swept away in the current. I found him at the bottom of a fifty foot waterfall broken and dead. I took a long hot shower, shaved, and went to find a place to eat. I missed Hosi already—my heart ached for her touch. I made arrangements to fly to Recife from which I'd fly to the U.S.A. I got a haircut and some new clothes—mine were pretty well shot. The next day I was gone; the following I was home in New York City. I could have slept on the plane, but I had a lot of planning to do. I knew I was finished when I saw the Statue of Liberty. I took a cab directly from Kennedy Airport to the office, not bothering to wash or change into my corporate garb. I had a story to tell and sell.I climbed out of the cab and stomped into the lobby like a madman, wearing a khaki shirt, shorts, and hiking boots and carrying the two backpacks. I was told by some asshole doorman that I needed to be properly dressed to enter the building. The look I gave him would have cut through steel; he backed away and I walked to the elevator. There were several people waiting; I pushed them out of the way, telling them to get the next car. When one guy protested, asking who the hell did I think I was I told him as I pulled my machete from my pack. He suddenly remembered a prior appointment. I got off at the 37th floor and stormed past the shocked receptionist. It had been more than six months since I'd been to the office and I had never seen her before. I charged right past his secretary and kicked in Stewart Marks' office door. I pulled out the crummy GPS and threw it at him. “Here's your fucking GPS, asshole! Maybe if it had actually worked Mike Sullivan would still be alive, you fucking jerk!” I was screaming at the top of my lungs.Marks stood up in his $2,000 suit telling me I couldn't speak to him that way. “Oh really? While you were sitting here shining up your ass and drinking fucking martinis at lunch I was out in the fucking jungle with Mike Sullivan risking my life every fucking second made so much worse because you couldn't find your way clear to buy a $500 GPS. This is a fucking Fortune 100 company, shithead! I'll bet you shit in your pants in Central Park, you fucking loser. Try spending a night in the jungle.”“I'm calling security,” he screamed.“Go ahead—I quit anyway. Nothing is worse than working for an asshole like you. Here's something to complain about, douche bag!” I pulled my right hand back and punched him in the nose. Like the sissy he was it bled like crazy, destroying his monogrammed shirt and suit. Tsk, Tsk—too fucking bad!“I'll have you arrested!”“No, you will not.” The voice came from behind me; it was John Spillane, the CEO. “Hello, David,” he greeted me, “I guess it was pretty tough out there.”“Worse than tough, sir—it was terrible. Most of the time we didn't know where we were. Even if we found any bauxite we wouldn't be able to do anything about it because we had no idea where we were and all because this idiot wouldn't spend 500 bucks.” Security arrived and tried to remove me.“No,” John told them, “remove him. You're fired Stewart. I can overlook a lot of things, but risking men's lives to save a couple of bucks is inexcusable. Get out now. David, please come to my office.”To be continued, by senorlongo for SexStories.

Honor Levy is a writer from Los Angeles. Her first book, My First Book, is out now. We chat about Grecian cigarettes, new Wang, high elevation training with Loro Piana, Honor tries a Barry's Bootcamp prank, department store food, red bottoms and expensive jean shorts, she doesn't check the Reddit but she imagines it, ages when you peak, flow state cooking, unethical quinoa, the millennials are fighting, Keanu Reeves, shes getting back into manifestation, bacteria mouth swabbing, and "final sale" means nobody else wanted it. instagram.com/victim0_o twitter.com/donetodeath twitter.com/themjeans howlonggone.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player.  Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Allow yourself to  sink into your bed, casting aside all the thoughts of the day. LONG PAUSE And as you lavish in the covers, feel your body melting in relaxation. LONG PAUSE And as you feel your body relax, let your mind open to visions and dreams. LONG PAUSE Take a moment and find yourself in an art gallery, with magnificently high ceilings, and hundreds of paintings adorning the walls. PAUSE It's the middle of the night and you can see  thousands of glistening stars through the glass ceiling. PAUSE You're standing in the center of a large hall, next to marble statue of a discus thrower, a young Grecian man, bathed in soft moonlight. PAUSE The statue is milky smooth on the surface, with fine, pristine details  of the face and body, and muscles sculpted  with perfection. PAUSE The discus thrower looks as if he's coiled up and  ready to release all of human kind's potential in a single throw. PAUSE You close your eyes and imagine the discus player coming to life  and releasing his discus. PAUSE The discus is unleashed  into the night sky, flying higher and higher until it's out of sight. PAUSE As you gaze the discus thrower, the milky smooth marble softens into skin, and the discus thrower takes your hand and pulls you onto the platform. PAUSE He smiles, brushes a tuft  of chestnut hair  from his brow and raises his arm. PAUSE With his arms in the air, figures from the paintings gingerly step out and onto the floor. Sculptures unwind and walk about. PAUSE The air is perfumed with the fragrance  of sweet wildflowers and freshly baked bread  as well as dusting powder and cologne,  all from the figures  in the artwork. PAUSE A barmaid stops by the platform sharing goblets of wine with you and the discus thrower. She moves about the gallery offering her elixir to all. PAUSE You sip the wine enjoying its taste  and the warm feeling of relaxation it brings. PAUSE Then, a woman  with resplendent honey-color hair trots a dapple gray mare through the hall, proud and stately. PAUSE The women smiles  and pauses to  tap goblets  with the discus player, then with you, before trotting off to somewhere else. PAUSE Around the hallway, you notice that  figures from the art, are now real people, that stop and chat  with one another, embrace and laugh just like dear friends. PAUSE Two fishermen walk by with a casting net in their arms and the discus thrower asks where their boat is. PAUSE  The fishers laugh and point to a wall where a brown wooden boat with sails like canopies sits in the middle  of a painting. PAUSE In the distance, you notice a man with  a gray bowler hat  and pinstripe suit waltzes with a woman with pink ribbons  in her hair and dress. It's so beautiful. PAUSE And while watching  the figures from the art come together, there's an understanding of community of how everyone contributes– how everyone gives something back. PAUSE After a moment, you notice the discus thrower standing up on the platform, and his discus slowly returning  to his hand. PAUSE The discus thrower gently leads you off the platform then repositions himself just as he was when you first saw him. PAUSE Gradually, then,  the other pieces of art quietly reassemble themselves, blending back into paintings, and recreating their poses  as sculptures. PAUSE A hush falls over the gallery, quiet and contemplative, and you take in  all the beauty around you. PAUSE

"We study history not to remember the past but to understand the present". That is the reason for this series. In this episode we discuss the intellectual seed-bed of the ancient world, especially that of Greece. We begin in Crete, whose Minoan civilization predated and heavily influenced the Grecian culture on the mainland. More specifically we talk about:Who "counts" as philosophersThe philosophy and thought of the Minoan civilizationThe meaning of monismMysticism in the ancient worldThe mystery religions and their connection with philosophyHow the earliest Greek thought influences our thinking today

This time we get to hear from Paige Lewis, a clearly unstoppable leader and executive coach. Paige grew up in the Phoenix area until she went to college at the University of Texas where she learned about advertising and business. After college she spent a year in Japan selling products for Estee Lauder after which she returned to the U.S. Through an introduction from a friend she secured a position at Disney in Home Entertainment. Later she moved to DreamWorks and then to Universal where again she specialized in Home Entertainment. At Universal she rose to the position of Senior Vice President.   Paige thought she had reached the “pinnacle of her career”, but over a short time she became seriously ill and was hospitalized for a week. As she describes that time now, she experienced serious burnout. She quit her position at Universal and began an analysis of her life which lead her to realize that she truly enjoyed mentoring people. She became a certified coach and has spent the past six years with her own business coaching and helping mainly senior level women to not “make the same mistakes she made”.   I think you are going to hear some good observations from Paige. She has wonderful life advice we all can use. I hope very much you enjoy what she has to say.     About the Guest:   Paige Lewis is a leadership coach who spent over two decades as a highly regarded leader in marketing, building some of the world's most iconic entertainment brands for Disney, DreamWorks and Universal Pictures.  After being promoted to Senior Vice President of Marketing at Universal Pictures, Paige had reached what she thought was the pinnacle of her career.  But she ended up in the hospital with a deadly infection brought on by extreme burnout.    Soon after, she left the corporate world to heal her body and figure out why she had reached a breaking point without realizing what was happening along the way. She has turned her experience into her mission: turning executive burnout into career success. With a unique ability to transform complex challenges into actionable insights and the real-world business experience as a former executive, Paige is a trusted guide for leaders seeking to excel without compromising well-being. She is dedicated to helping organizations and people realize their greatest purpose and impact without sacrificing their productivity, health, values and most meaningful relationships.     Paige is one of the elite Founding Los Angeles coaches at CHIEF, a network recognized by Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies list, created to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there. She has coached over 200 individuals and groups across Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, media and marketing agencies, and start ups. She holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a Bachelor of Science in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin. ** ** Ways to connect with Paige:   Website: ** https://paigeonecoaching.com; PaigeOneCoaching.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paige-lewis/;  Paige Lewis Sandford | LinkedIn     About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes:** Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hi, and we want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. This is our latest episode, needless to say, and we're really glad that you're here with us today we get to chat with Paige Lewis Sanford and I'm sure you're all familiar with Paige. Oh, you're not? Well, you will be by the time we're done here. Paige is a fascinating individual. She's worked to help improve and greatly increase the brands of organizations such as Disney and DreamWorks universal and my gosh, I don't know what all and hopefully, her influence will rub off and help unstoppable mindset but we're gonna see about that. So Paige, welcome to unstoppable mindset. And whatever happens, we're glad you're here.   Paige Lewis ** 02:07 Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 02:11 it'll be a lot of fun. And we'll, we'll make it useful and fun in some way or another. And as I told you earlier, one of the rules of the podcast is we got to have fun. So that's as good as it gets. Well tell me a little about kind of the early page growing up and all that sort of stuff.   Paige Lewis ** 02:28 Well, I am a Phoenician, I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. So I am a lover of the sun to this day, and had a really a really lovely childhood. I have a younger brother. He's 14 months younger, we were very close. And we spent a lot of our days inventing things and laughing a lot. My parents instilled a lot of curiosity in us. I'm grateful they exposed us to a lot of things. So whatever we wanted to try. We got to try even gymnastics, which I failed at. I was terrible. But thanks to my parents, I have a strong love of music. I have a lot of curiosity. And yeah, I am they made me who I am today.   Michael Hingson ** 03:15 So you grew up in in Phoenix in Arizona who have been there a number of times we've spent part of our honeymoon my wife and I a long time ago, at the point Tampa to hotel.   Paige Lewis ** 03:29 Oh, yes, I think I had a prom there.   Michael Hingson ** 03:35 Well, and our last night of the honeymoon, we went to the restaurant. At the point HEPA to which was up on the top of a mountain. And I think one way you look in there you see Phoenix and the other way, I think a Scottsdale if I recall,   Paige Lewis ** 03:50 a Scottsdale or Paradise Valley. Yes.   Michael Hingson ** 03:53 And I think it was a restaurant called a different point of view, which was cute.   03:58 Yes, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 04:00 I've been there. My wife bought a lobster and she thought it would just kind of be a typical. So it ended up being a three pound lobster. And she didn't know what to do with it all.   Paige Lewis ** 04:10 Oh, my goodness. That's a lot of lobster was   Michael Hingson ** 04:12 a lot of lobster. But it was our honeymoon. So it was worth it. And the other thing is that that was when they made Caesar salad right at your table and actually created the dressing right at the table using rye eggs and everything's still the best dressing I've ever had.   Paige Lewis ** 04:27 Amazing, amazing. Well, I hope you were not there in the summer, because that can be brutal.   Michael Hingson ** 04:33 It was no Well, we got married on November 27 1982. So it would have been we'll see that was a Saturday. And so it would have been probably the well the third or the fourth that we went so of December so No it wasn't. It wasn't in the hot part or the hottest part.   Paige Lewis ** 04:57 That's good. That's actually a person Big time of year to beat. Yeah. Yeah, it   Michael Hingson ** 05:01 was great. We very much enjoyed our time there. So. So did you go to college in Arizona? Or did you go to college or what? I   Paige Lewis ** 05:10 did not stay in Arizona. I was 17 when I graduated high school, and I really, really, really wanted to leave Arizona. And I was very interested in getting a degree in advertising. And I'll tell you why. And it sounds silly now. But I was very determined and stubborn at that age. I always know. I know. I know, ask my mother she uses could not change my mind. So I was fascinated with how people described products. So if you looked at a box of cereal or a bottle of suntan lotion, how did they come up with the coffee? I was fascinated by how they would construct that, which seems very simple, but so I was really determined to find a good school and advertising. And one of them was the University of Texas at Austin. I also wanted a very traditional college college experience. I wanted the football I wanted to, you know, big Grecian looking buildings and grassy lawns and never thought I would like Texas, but fell in love fell in love with the campus. And so that is what I what I chose. In retrospect, it was way too big for me was 49,000. undergrad. I knew nobody. This is a this is a theme in my life is I put myself in situations where I don't know any anyone. It's uncomfortable. But I loved it. I did. I did enjoy it. I learned a lot. I had a minor in Japanese at that point, too. And after I graduated, I wanted to become conversationally fluent in Japanese. And surprisingly, in college, we didn't do a lot of speaking Japanese. It was a lot of fun and writing. Yeah. So I had an opportunity to go to Tokyo and work for one of the divisions of Estee Lauder, so cosmetics company. And some of you may remember the line prescriptives. Michael, I would not assume you would know this line. They had just opened in Japan. And so I got a job working in a department store selling makeup in Japanese. My Japanese was not very good. So it was trial by fire. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 07:37 my wife loved white linen. And when I worked in the World Trade Center, I discovered that there was an Estee Lauder second store in the tower one on the 46th floor. I think it was so little bit familiar with Estee Lauder and invaded the store often. Okay,   Paige Lewis ** 08:02 yes. So. So yeah, so I did that I knew nobody. And this was before the time of cell phones or even relatively affordable international phone plans. So I took two giant duffel bags, and my parents put me on a plane. And I showed up and they arranged for someone to meet me, a friend of a friend of a friend and I spent a year in Japan.   Michael Hingson ** 08:30 So why Japanese in the first place? Well, when I was   Paige Lewis ** 08:34 think I was a senior in high school, my high school turned into an international magnet program. And they offered what they thought were going to be the emerging important business languages of the world, which were Japanese, and Russian, in addition to what they already had French and Spanish. So I decided to Japanese my brother took Russian, I thought it would be handy no matter what I ended up doing. So that's why I went with it.   Michael Hingson ** 09:03 I took a year of Japanese in college as well. I did it was in graduate school. It was one year and we talked some but you're right. It was a lot of reading and writing. And I actually learned Japanese Braille, which was was kind of fun. I don't remember a lot of that now. But still, it was fascinating to you know, to take and people said it was simpler than Chinese and given everything I've learned I think that's probably very true. But I've spent time since in Japan when thunder dog our book was published. I was also published in Japanese. So in 2012 I went and spent two weeks over there and literally with the publisher of the book in Japan we traveled all around Japan took the bullet train from Tokyo to Hiroshima and all sorts of places in between which is a lot of fun.   Paige Lewis ** 09:53 Did you use any of your Japanese while you were there?   Michael Hingson ** 09:56 No, I didn't remember enough. It had been way too long. So, so I didn't didn't practice up enough to keep it going all that well.   Paige Lewis ** 10:06 I understand that 100% Yeah, but that's okay.   Michael Hingson ** 10:11 But I understood a lot about the customs and the people. And that was a big help as well.   Paige Lewis ** 10:16 Yes, absolutely.   Michael Hingson ** 10:18 So what did you do after a year in Japan?   Paige Lewis ** 10:23 Well, I came back. Yeah, it was a, it was a great growing experience. But it was challenging. And I missed, I missed America. So I came back. And I worked for a promotions company. And while I was there, the CEO introduced me one to Disney and to to his graduate school, which was an internationally focused MBA program. So I ended up going to Thunderbird. Some of you may have heard of it. It's the International Business School of International Management. It's now part of ASU and finished my International MBA studied more Japanese. And then at the end, when I was interviewing for jobs, there was a job at Disney. And I really thought I was going to do international business and work with Japanese companies. And you know, maybe Toyota or something like that. But this job at Disney came up. And I was fascinated by it. So luckily, I ended up getting it. It was in the home entertainment division of Disney, which was back then it was VHS tapes. You gotta remember those VHS? I do? Yes. The very, very beginning of DVD. So I took the job and I moved to LA and again, didn't didn't know anyone that my brother was there, but really didn't know anyone   Michael Hingson ** 12:01 and VHS and not beta. Yeah, that VHS had won   Paige Lewis ** 12:05 the war. So beta was gone. Yes. It was VHS. Yes. Thank you for remembering that   Michael Hingson ** 12:11 show. Your brother was in LA. He was in LA. Yes, it was he.   Paige Lewis ** 12:18 He went to school at Loyola Marymount to study Recording Arts. So he's a composer and he writes music for commercials. Okay. Yeah, he has a very cool job. Very successful.   Michael Hingson ** 12:33 So what did you do in home entertainment at Disney.   Paige Lewis ** 12:37 I started out in retail marketing, which means I was helping selling movies to the big brick and mortar retailers. So Walmart, Toys R Us, target all of those. And I did that for a few years. And then I moved into brand management, and was actually working on the strategy for selling some of the new releases. And I was there a couple of years and then a few of the Disney people moved over to DreamWorks. Everyone remembers DreamWorks. When DreamWorks started, Jeffrey Katzenberg went over there. And then a couple of people I knew from Disney, and they recruited me to come over to their home entertainment division, which was very small, very entrepreneurial, but a very exciting time to be there. As they were building the business and figuring out I got to work on track and the prince of Egypt and Gladiator Saving Private Ryan, a lot of those really great fun movies.   Michael Hingson ** 13:39 So that that kept you busy for a while.   Paige Lewis ** 13:44 And then I moved over to universal and spent 16 years at Universal Pictures and home entertainment. et   Michael Hingson ** 13:53 phone home.   Paige Lewis ** 13:56 Yes, exactly. Exactly. I didn't get to work on that movie. But I mainly worked on the family movies, so a lot of animated movies. Shrek continue with Shrek and Despicable Me. I actually worked on a lot of the Barbie movies, which was which was really fun. And I eventually worked my way up into to senior vice president which was my pinnacle, which was what I really wanted to achieve in my career. But then, as we talked about a little bit, some bad things happened at that point in my career,   Michael Hingson ** 14:34 what kinds of things happened that you want to talk about? Well,   Paige Lewis ** 14:40 I ended up in a very dangerous burnout situation. So I had been promoted to senior vice president. And soon after that a couple of major things happened in my life. My father died and then a couple of very close friends passed away So that sort of shifted how I approach life and what I thought about my priorities. At the same time, universal was having its biggest year ever. So it was the year of Jurassic World and the latest Fast and Furious movie. I think another Despicable Me It was, it was just a very, very busy year. And I noticed I started having these symptoms, so I was getting sick a lot. I was really irritable and cranky. People actually had to come mention to me that I was acting a little out of character. I was getting strange things like I had this rash on my face for no reason. And then, you know, I just ignored all this and kept, kept working because I was an achiever, and I just wanted to get the job done. So then I started having I had this pain, and I'll just say it on my butt on my right, but and it got so painful that I couldn't sit. And I thought, Okay, well, maybe a spider bit me or something. And then at one point, it got so bad that I couldn't I had to work from home, lying down. And at that point, a kind colleague said, you know, Paige, I think you might want to have that looked at. So I was like, alright, and you know, it was getting bigger and more and more painful. And so I went to my dermatologist, she took a look, she called in her colleagues to get a second opinion. And then they said, Alright, we've called the er, at the hospital next door, we need you to go there right now. So what I learned is that I had contracted Mersa, which is, yeah, an anti bot, antibiotic resistant staph infection. And it's so dangerous that if it gets into your bloodstream, it can kill you. So I was admitted to the hospital for a week, they gave me a very heavy duty antibiotic that works on this. It's so strong that it made my veins collapse. So they had to put in a PICC line. And it really, it was, you know, like they say, it was what it was my wake up call.   Michael Hingson ** 17:20 What year was this? That this was 2016. Okay, so that was your wake up call? That was   Paige Lewis ** 17:28 my wake up call. And then I went, and I had to take a month off of disability? Well,   Michael Hingson ** 17:34 certainly, that's understandable, given the severity of it, and so on. And what did you do her think about during that month, and then going forward?   Paige Lewis ** 17:45 Well, I realized, as I you know, wine there in the hospital, that something wasn't working, obviously. And I really, I really didn't understand how this happened. How did I get a staph infection on my butt. And I just, I just figured I really needed to make a change I wanted to live, I did realize that. And I wanted to get healthy. I mean, something was really, really out of whack. So this is what really did it for me. I came back in January. And this was the time when Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds had passed away. And I went into the meeting into a meeting. And this was the first meeting my first day back. And what was brought up was, you know, Debbie Reynolds just died. Do we have any movies we can put out and leverage this. And that just hit me as being so distasteful. And I realized, this is not the business I want to be in anymore. This doesn't fit. So about a week later, I went in, I quit. I quit my job, nothing lined up. No idea what was I was gonna do. But I knew it was the right thing to do. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 19:08 that, that just certainly seems like a pretty insensitive thing to say. I understand. Some people do that. But gee, when do you draw the line and recognize maybe it's a time to just let people mourn? I mean, look at Debbie Reynolds for such a long time, and I are going to do is try to promote you in the brand. T does that really make sense?   Paige Lewis ** 19:33 Yeah, it just it just seems a little gross to me. So I quit and then I realized that I needed to figure things out. So the antibiotics I realized, after doing a lot of research had completely wiped out all the good bacteria in my gut. And I learned that you have to have that good bacteria to stay healthy. So and I also was a diet coke addict, big time diet coke addict. And I learned that one Diet Coke can destroy your gut biome. So I quit. I quit Diet Coke, it was not easy. I will tell you. I don't know if you drink it. It's   Michael Hingson ** 20:18 no, I'm more of a water drinker. I got to say, Okay. I've never been that much of a soda drinker.   Paige Lewis ** 20:24 That's a lot better for you. Yeah. So I figured out my health. And then I started trying to figure out why this all happens.   Michael Hingson ** 20:33 Now, I was just gonna ask you what you decided about why it occurred? Well,   Paige Lewis ** 20:38 one, I learned a lot about burnout. And that stress can kill you. And that this staph infection was a literal sign, it was a literal pain in my butt that my work was a pain in my butt. And I needed I needed to find something different and, and after really thinking about things, I realized my values had shifted. So my values were no longer aligned with the work I was doing. And that caused a lot of friction, and disengagement, and stress. And so then I wanted to figure out, okay, all right, I understand that this job. Marketing movies isn't a good fit anymore. But what is, so I let curiosity kind of leaves me and I did some research. I found this great book, I don't know if you've heard of it. It's called What color's your parachute? It's been around forever, I think, in my 20s, forever. And so I picked it up again. And it had me really think about what am I good at doing? How do I use my brain? What really drives me? And I also did some work, figuring out what my new values were. And I realized, I really like the mentoring part of what I do at work. I like solving problems. And I like helping people rise to their full potential. So then I started looking into, well, do I want to become a therapist? I'm not sure I want to go back to school again for that long and spend all that money. So then I started talking to coaches, executive coaches, and I realized, well, they do a lot of what I think I want to do. And they also can give you specific direction, and steps to take. So unlike the therapist model, where it's just a lot of questions, you can actually draw upon your experience and share that to help people. And so So I actually, because every day, what I would do is I would get up and I would read, I would read articles, and I would just sort of follow the breadcrumbs. And I stumbled upon a woman who wrote a really great article, I reached out to her, she was a coach. And she was so motivating in that one conversation, that I ended up writing an article and ended up deciding I wanted to go get my coaching certificate. So this was this was end of 2017 into 2018. So I ended up getting my coaching certificate and started working with women so that they wouldn't end up like, like I was, I really don't don't, there was no reason I needed to hit that level of burnout. Tell   Michael Hingson ** 23:46 me? Well, first of all, a little bit about why do you think you actually contracted versus and why do you think that? Or how do you think that happened? Do you really know?   Paige Lewis ** 23:58 I think my immune system was so beaten down and compromised. That it happened. I don't know how it got there. I honestly don't know. I promise you I'm a clean person. I take showers. I know like wandering around rubbing myself and dirt. I just I just think, you know, there were there were signs leading up to it other smaller illnesses and my body fine was like, Okay, you're done. But I don't know, I don't know the source. Good question. Well, so   Michael Hingson ** 24:31 you went off and you started to study about being a coach and so on. What does it mean to get a coaching certificate? What's the process?   Paige Lewis ** 24:39 Oh, that's a good question. Well, there are lots of different coaching programs and the one I chose is based on human needs psychology and behavior. So I had been through a lot of leadership programs through my my days as a marketing executive. So I knew a lot of the traditional Leadership, procedures, methods, whatever you models, whatever you want to call them. So I really wanted to get into almost kind of going back to why I got into marketing, why people do what they do what's driving them. So I learned all about the six core needs and what motivates people and really had to get into their brains and change behaviors and habits. So it was 100 hours of training. I think I did it pretty quickly. I was motivated, I think I did in about four months, and then was and then was certified. And then there are all different types of coaching programs, some people do mindfulness route, some people just do a very traditional corporate route. So I wanted to kind of balance out what I already knew.   Michael Hingson ** 25:47 Well, so you went ahead and did that. And you got certified, and have been coaching ever since. I have, I've   Paige Lewis ** 25:56 been coaching for about six years, and also doing excuse me marketing consulting, because I like to keep my toe and in that part of the world also.   Michael Hingson ** 26:06 So what Tell me a little bit about the the coaching program or what you do, then how do you help people? And where do you where do you help people all over? Or where does that all come from?   Paige Lewis ** 26:21 Well, luckily, I do everything virtually. So I can help people no matter where they are. My specialty is helping women executives, I want to help them excel in their careers without impacting their well being. Someone once told me, when you become a coach, your message becomes your message. So clearly, yeah, my my story of burnout is something that really drives me and it's a passion, a passion of mine. So I typically work with women executives, who are director level all the way up to C suite. And they come to me one because they aren't loving their job anymore. They don't know why they want a career change. They're in some sort of toxic work environments and don't know how to manage it, they are experiencing signs of burnout, they don't have the tools or skills to deal with it, I help a lot of people who are wanting just to jump jump a level or two in their career. So helping them with executive presence and managing teams, a lot of your traditional leadership development skills. So I love it tremendously. And it fits really nicely with my values.   Michael Hingson ** 27:44 I had a conversation yesterday with two women who also are very heavily involved in leadership and, and coaching. But a lot of corporate leadership training, they have developed a program that they describe basically is, well the company is missing logic. And the program is based on polarity, they talk about the fact that everything is really about polarity, and like breathing is polarity exhaling and inhaling, you got to do them both. And whether you're dealing with work, or life and polarity, again, you've got to really understand that both are part of what your world ought to be. And so many people get stressed out because they don't really look at trying to balance polarity, which is really pretty fascinating. We had a great discussion about it.   Paige Lewis ** 28:42 That's an interesting way to think about it. I have stopped saying work life balance, and I call it work life harmony, because it's never equally balanced.   Michael Hingson ** 28:52 Right. But at the same time, what what Tracy and Michelle would say is that you need both poles. And it's a matter of finding how to, to have a well, I keep saying balance, but to have some sort of that making both poles work to help each other because one or the other isn't going to work.   Paige Lewis ** 29:19 That's that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I agree with them.   Michael Hingson ** 29:22 It's a lot of very fascinating discussion, but in your case. So you do that and you don't necessarily use those terms, but it sounds like you end up getting to the same place. So you've been doing that now. Six years. Yes,   Paige Lewis ** 29:36 that is true. Six years. It's gone quickly.   Michael Hingson ** 29:40 So you think you have now found a niche that's going to last a while?   Paige Lewis ** 29:46 I think so. We still have a long way to go and getting women to an equal playing field as men. Unfortunately it isn't. It is improving. But there are a lot of things that still Need to improve. So, for example, women experienced burnout much more than men 43% of women or executives experienced burnout men only 31%. And I think it just it has to do with the kind of silence responsibilities a lot of women take on, whether that's Child Care caring for elderly parents, it's taking more on at work, that's sort of outside the your job responsibility or your job description. And women also don't think that corporations are quite there yet. And having good strategies and good programs to have gender equity in the in the workplace. I mean, 92% of women don't believe that companies are kind of walking the talk in that area. So yeah, I think there will be a need for a while it would be my dream, if there isn't a need. For this, that means that women women are equal in the workplace in terms of opportunities and roles and pay. Yeah, that's a good piece of news. I have a good piece of news, though, that I just learned, sorry to interrupt you is that there was there were, you know, people would say for a really long time, and there were stats to back it up that women were afraid to negotiate for salary or promotions, it's actually changed. And women are just as likely, if not more, to negotiate for increased salary or promotion, whatever. So. So that's some good news. And a common belief that is now has now changed. And   Michael Hingson ** 31:42 should, by any standard, we haven't seen a lot of that yet, in the world of persons with disabilities, where we're still even though we're by any definition, the second largest minority, or maybe the largest minority will be the second because there are more women than men, although people keep saying women are the minority, but in physical sense, there are more women than men. So either way, you look at it disabilities as the second largest minority, but the most excluded from any of the conversations or any of the real involvement in the workforce, which is why we continue to face an unemployment rate in the 60 to 70% range among employable persons with disabilities, like, especially with blind people. And the reality is, it's fear, it's a lack of education. And it's not understanding that, just because we may do things in a different way, it doesn't mean that the technology and the tools that we need shouldn't be part of the cost of doing business. But yet, that's what happens. Those   Paige Lewis ** 32:49 are staggering numbers, Michael, but your company is doing a lot to help with that. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 32:54 accessiBe is doing a lot to help with that and is being pretty successful. And the number of people using the technology are are growing, or is growing, and excessive. He's working on some programs to really teach more people about Internet access and website development with access and accessibility. So hopefully, that will continue. And we'll be able to make more strides, but it is a thing that we face on a regular basis.   Paige Lewis ** 33:24 Yes, it is. So for   Michael Hingson ** 33:27 what you're doing and so on. You've talked a little bit about burnout, are there different kinds of burnout? And do you deal with them all the same way? How does that address get addressed?   Paige Lewis ** 33:39 Yeah, that's a great question. I think people generalize the term burnout and and the, you know, when someone is just stressed, they'll say I'm burned out that the actual technical definition of it from the World Health Organization is that burnout is chronic stress in the workplace that hasn't been successfully managed, which puts a lot of onus on on the person, right? If you haven't successfully managed it, the company's not really helping you set up any systems to help you with that you person has to have to deal with it. But   Michael Hingson ** 34:15 which is also I'd seems to be not totally fair either. Right?   Paige Lewis ** 34:19 Right. And there's not a lot of progress in that area. Everyone is going to be burned out at some point in time. Everyone, everyone's going to face it. But there are different types. There's physical burnout, which is you're tired, you're getting sick a lot like I was you're not moving around a lot. You've kind of forgotten to exercise or even stand up from your desk and those those signs can show up like headaches or just different physical things. And then there's emotional, which I also had, that can show up as being you're cranky, you're short tempered, you're impatient. and you're not spending time with the relationships that you know are strong. Yeah, just maybe a little bit of a change in your demeanor. Then there's there's mind, there's mind related burnout, which is, when you're kind of in that fight or flight mode, and you're spending a lot of time putting out fires at work, you're distracted. You can't focus. That's that type. And then the last one is burnout of the Spirit, which often can show up as being bored. So a lot of people get really bored or uninterested in their job or whatever is important to them, and they don't realize that it's burnout. And so that could be you're doing a lot of things at work that just really aren't aligned with what you do. Well, what you like doing. And so you just kind of just kind of check out.   Michael Hingson ** 35:59 Do you find, though, that people that are, that are in that situation? Oftentimes haven't really sat down and analyzed what they really want to do or analyzed? Am I really doing the right thing? And that contributes to that? Yeah, yeah.   Paige Lewis ** 36:17 100%, like, I didn't know, I had no idea. I just kept a lot of people, you know, they're on the treadmill. They just keep going every day. And it's rare that people stop and they reflect and they reassess. It's only when people get into a state of burnout, sadly, that they need to wake up and realize, okay, something isn't working. But there are always signals, they're always signals. And oftentimes, it's more than one one type of burnout that's hitting at the same time.   Michael Hingson ** 36:50 But you just you distinguish between emotional, mind and spiritual, if you will, they're they're all three different even though in one sense, it seems like they're all sort of mental in one way.   Paige Lewis ** 37:03 They are sort of mental in one way, but they come out in different ways. And they the route of them is different. So there are two main ways to, to sort of manage burnout, the traditional way that everyone thinks is how you, you manage burnout, unfortunately, this is what companies kind of latch on to is just go take some time off, go to a spa, get a massage, and that'll cure everything. This self care really only works for the body and the emotional burnout. Because that's you're just exhausted, those two are fall under exhaustion. And with that, you actually do need to take a timeout, and take care of yourself. You only need 15 minutes, but it could be you know, take a walk, walk away from your computer, or your phone, don't take your phone with you on your walk. You know, just leave it alone. Don't let anyone interrupt you. Call call a friend, just do something that's enjoyable for you that is, will reboot your system. For the mind in the spirit burnout, which you know, is you're just distracted and you're or you're bored. Or you're in fight or flight mode, you actually are having cynical detachment. So, okay, yeah, it's different. So you so self care actually does not work. Because when you're in this space, you're focused too much inward, and on yourself, and you've lost perspective. So what you do when you have that type of burnout is you need to clarify things. And it could be clarifying your role. So role clarity, write down the three to four most important things in your job. And then ask yourself are you spending time on the high value activities, because you may not be the other. There are three parts of this. The second one is relational clarity. So you may have lost perspective about other people in your life. So a way to break yourself out of this is write a note of thanks to someone, maybe someone on your team, remind yourself that you are not alone and all this. And then the last one is perspective, clarity. So a lot of people just completely lost perspective. So go do something totally different. Go watch a or listen to a comedy video. Call your mom and ask about you know, bring up an old memory just something that reminds you that work isn't everything because these two types mind and spirit burnout, as these are a lot of the workaholics too, and they keep working, working, working and they've just lost complete perspective about everything else in the world.   Michael Hingson ** 39:55 One of the things that I realized during In the pandemic is that although, on September 11, I escaped and wasn't afraid. And I knew why I wasn't afraid, which is that I prepared and knew what to do in the case of an emergency. And as I now say, that created a mindset. But what I realized is that, the fact is, we can control fear, and we can control a lot of what we do. But we have to be mindful. And we really need to keep things in perspective. And one of the best ways to do that is to be introspective in our lives. And really practice that, until it gets to the point of being a habit, and you develop that whole introspective and self analytical muscle. And I, so we're writing a book about all of that. And we're going to, I'm going to, it'll be out next year, and we're going to talk about how to control fear and not let it as I would say, blind you or paralyze you or overwhelm you, but how do we get people to start to be more introspective in their lives and in what they do, and recognize that that's an extremely valuable thing to do.   Paige Lewis ** 41:08 You make a really, really good point. I think a lot of it like, to your point about habits, a lot of us have, you know, that inner critic, who is just saying, you know, you're not good at this, you shouldn't try to do this. You always done it this way. If you can take yourself out of that, and almost become an observer. And look at your thoughts and what how you talk to yourself as just another person, you can even name it, that kind of helps you take yourself out of it so that you can change your habits. Because a lot of the what we tell ourselves are just habits. They're not even true anymore. They're based on beliefs that you you made up a long, long time ago and had value back then. But they're not even true anymore. So I think we just need to be aware and stop ourselves. And remind ourselves, when we're thinking things, you ask yourself, Is this really true? Or is this just the habit?   Michael Hingson ** 42:14 Good point. And I also learned that along the way, I always used to say, and I still do this, but I record presentations that I give, so I can go back and listen to them. And I always say that, I love to do that. Because I'm my own worst critic, I'm nobody's going to be as hard on me as I am. And I learned, that's the wrong thing to say. And that's the wrong way to approach it. Because in reality, even teachers can't teach me they can present me with information. But ultimately, I have to teach myself. And in fact, it's not that I'm my own. I'm my own worst critic. I'm my own best teacher. And if I turn it around and use that terminology, then it becomes more of a positive process, to look at things and think about them and teach yourself even when something doesn't go well. And even when it does go well. What can I better learn to even make it go better next time. I'm my own best teacher is such a more positive thing to say.   Paige Lewis ** 43:19 I love how you reframe that, that's a great way to look at it. And, and also, you know, we talked ourselves worse than we would talk to our friends. Yeah. Which is just crazy.   Michael Hingson ** 43:32 In reality, we should talk to ourselves and really get better at thinking about things and saying, Okay, well, how do I deal with it? Don't hide from it. And no matter what it is, allow yourself to teach yourself how to deal with it.   Paige Lewis ** 43:50 And it's practice it. And then it will become a habit. Yeah. And just like we talked down to ourselves and criticize ourselves. It's just the habit. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 44:05 And it is a habit that we can break.   Paige Lewis ** 44:08 Absolutely. And it's just practice. It's just practice, and it's micro micro steps. You don't have to get it perfect the first time. And we forget, you know, we're not supposed to be perfect beings. We're supposed to be in this world to try new things and learn from them. And we just are so hard on ourselves that we have to be perfect at every single thing we do. And oftentimes, other people aren't even paying attention. And they forget about it   Michael Hingson ** 44:38 much more quickly than we do. And yes, there's a lesson there too.   Paige Lewis ** 44:42 Yes, and I always I always tell my clients like when they're all worked up about something or ruminating and countless something go, Well, this really matter. In two weeks. Will this matter in three months in a year? No. No one will remember you probably won't ever remember To your point, learn from it, and just let it go. It's hard, it's practice, I get it. But just to put things in perspective, it usually is not as important as we think.   Michael Hingson ** 45:12 And if it really affects you, and you're thinking about it a lot, then take a step back, as you said, and think about why is this affecting me so much? It's appropriate to do that. It's appropriate to help to understand you better.   Paige Lewis ** 45:31 Yes. And I'll give you a tip that I give my clients that I actually learned from my dad, for people who ruminate a lot of worry a lot. Actually schedule worry time in your day. And don't do it right before bed? No, no, because then you won't sleep well, but schedule it at a time. Have no distractions, sit there for 20 minutes and worry about everything. And you have to sit there even if you've run out of things to worry make it up like, my my sock is starting to unravel, you know, stupid things. My dog is panting more than usual. Whatever it is,   Michael Hingson ** 46:14 I can't figure out anything to worry about. I'm worried about that. Right? Exactly.   Paige Lewis ** 46:18 I'm worried about that I have to sit here. And Paige said I can't move for 20 minutes. So you do that every day. And what'll end up happening is one, you'll realize you don't really have that much to worry about to you train yourself that you can only worry during a certain period of time. So you're not spending your whole day worrying and ruining your day. And if you start thinking about something out, or you're worried time you say, okay, Paige, no, you're scheduled to worry about that at 10am, from 10am to 1020. And it's remarkable how people improve with the ruminating and the worrying.   Michael Hingson ** 46:56 So what mostly do you coach about what what is your specialty, if you will, overall,   Paige Lewis ** 47:01 my specialty is helping women leaders excel in their careers without impacting their well being. So a lot of that is what we've talked about today, how to handle burnout, how to manage your thoughts, how to improve your leadership skills. You know, I mainly work with pretty senior women who don't have anyone else to talk to, and this is this is a theme that I've come across a lot, and I felt myself is a lot of women leaders don't think that they have people they can talk to at their companies or within their industries.   Michael Hingson ** 47:44 Yeah, that was what I was gonna get to. Is it true that they don't, or they just don't think they do have people to talk to?   Paige Lewis ** 47:54 Well, a lot of times, it's difficult to talk to people, I do work with an amazing organization called chief. And they're a private network for women. But what they've done is they have put together peer based groups, they curate these groups of women at similar points in their career, similar levels, so that they have a safe space of peers from whom they can learn, get different perspectives. Because I, when I was first, you know, talking with Chief about coming on, as one of their first coaches, I said, if this had existed when I was at Universal, and burning out, I would not have burned out, because a lot of a lot of the struggle is feeling like you're the only one and not having the tools and the skills to manage through it.   Michael Hingson ** 48:46 And a lot of times we don't look for people to talk with, because we just feel that we're an island in the middle. And oh, I don't want to talk to people who work for me because that that wouldn't be good. I mean, there are just so many excuses that we can come up with.   Paige Lewis ** 49:05 Yeah, or you're embarrassed and you are you're embarrassed. You know, I'm the only one who's dealing with this, I must be crazy. Imposter Syndrome comes in a lot. So, no, almost everyone is going through the same things. And it's just really reassuring and helpful to know that other people are going through it, and can share some ways that they have managed it. It's these these meetings are so powerful, I can't even tell you they really, really are amazing.   Michael Hingson ** 49:39 What do you say to people who are thinking of a career change or who don't know where to start? You know, because I'm sure that comes up and what you do?   Paige Lewis ** 49:48 It does and it can be really scary. And I think I think people don't give themselves enough credit. What what helps most of my clients and help me is having a having a mindset of curiosity. Because I know for a fact that people have transferable skills, it's just getting curious and following the breadcrumbs to find out what else is out there that aligns with my values that motivates me. And that uses my skill set I can do. So one, one of the exercises I have people do is to think about sample some activity that they're doing. It doesn't have to be related to work where they are completely what you would say in flow, meaning they lose track of time they forget to eat, they know that they're kicking ass and what they're doing. And they are loving it. So it could be for example, gardening. Who knows it could be gardening. And so then what I asked them to do is, okay, really, really dissect what you're doing. What, like, how are you using your brain? Maybe you are researching the different kinds of plants that work in your soil, maybe you are laying out where they go, maybe you are looking at the different seasons? And what works best and what time of year? And then how are you interacting with people? are you collaborating with the you know, the gardener at the nursery? Are you talking with friends who have who've made great gardens? And then what skills are you using, researching, maybe strategizing, maybe organizing, and then what you'll end up seeing, and it's something totally unrelated to your job is here, all the things? And the way here are all the different ways of thinking parallel the skills I use, and here's what I love doing, and you find this intersection. And then you use your curiosity to find out okay, what industries are interesting, and what are the jobs? You reach out to people, it's curiosity. If you lean into curiosity, you cannot go wrong. And   Michael Hingson ** 52:16 all too often, we don't.   Paige Lewis ** 52:21 Correct, we kind of block ourselves. And   Michael Hingson ** 52:24 many times were discouraged from it. I mentioned earlier, the whole concept of if I've been talking to people this morning about people with disabilities, and then somebody said, What can we better do to improve the world for people with disabilities, and my response was, include us in the conversation and so many times, I can be somewhere and when when I went to my wife was live with her, she was in a wheelchair, and people would come with their children, and we'd be in a store, whatever. And a child would ask a question and say, I want to go meet that person, I want to go look at that wheelchair. And the mother would say no, don't do that. They might not like it, or that dog might bite you. And we we we discourage curiosity, especially in children, who are the most curious people of all? Mm hmm.   Paige Lewis ** 53:12 Yes. And wouldn't it be great if we could bottle that curiosity and take it with us? Our whole lives? Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 53:20 It's important to do that. I think I think you use the term superpower, everybody has a superpower? Or how do you how do you teach people to to find their superpower? What does that mean?   Paige Lewis ** 53:34 Yes, this is this is an important piece of finding a career that works for you. And so if you think about a Venn diagram, I'm a big fan of Venn diagrams, there are three components. So they're, they're your values, you have to get really clear on what your values are, what you are good at doing and what you love doing. So when what you love doing intersects with your values, you have a passion for what you're doing. So let's say your values are adventure, and learn learning and experiencing new cultures, you may be passionate about traveling. So you can kind of see how those work. Now, when your values connect with what you're good at doing, you're going to be engaged. So if you're really connected and aligned with your values at what you're doing for work, you'll be engaged, you'll be interested, you'll be connected, you'll still be excited to go in every day and do your job. And then what you what you love doing and what you're good at doing intersect. And I've mentioned this a little bit for you're in flow. So that's when you just are just completely happy because you're doing what you love and you know you're doing your best at it. So the superpower comes in when those three things connect, when your values, what you're good at doing and what you love doing connect. And I truly believe everyone can figure this out. Once you know that, you can find a career that meets that 80% of the time, if you have that, you will be happy, you'll be happy in what you're doing. So it's a little bit like the Japanese term of ek guy, which is finding your purpose. I don't know if you're familiar with that. Remember that. And that actually has been attributed to longer life. So this idea of IKI guy or finding your superpower, and living to that will make you happier. But it also helps extend your life because you're getting up every day, and you're doing what you love doing and what you're good at doing.   Michael Hingson ** 55:56 And I find that when people are happy, they self motivate themselves. And in general, they have better days. Yes,   Paige Lewis ** 56:06 yes. And the bad days can roll off a little easier. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 56:11 You need to learn to live more like dogs, you know, and live in the moment and forget all the other things. And there are so many things we can't control. And we worry about them. Dogs don't   Paige Lewis ** 56:20 write, I would like to come back as a dog. Dogs have the best lives. And I think we we also have this culture of busyness being the new status quo. And we forget that we're human beings and not human doings. And I think that's where people get in trouble.   Michael Hingson ** 56:44 We so greatly overanalyze everything and not necessarily in the right way. And again, as we talked about, we don't step back and really look at it, which is part of the problem.   56:55 Yes, yes.   Michael Hingson ** 56:58 Have you written a book or anything about all of this?   Paige Lewis ** 57:01 I've written some articles. I have not written a book. I have not written a book? Well, if   Michael Hingson ** 57:06 you do, you'll have to let us know.   Paige Lewis ** 57:08 I will, I will do that. Well, if people   Michael Hingson ** 57:11 want to reach out and get in touch with you, maybe explore using your services and skills. How do they do that?   Paige Lewis ** 57:19 Well, you can reach out via my website, which is page one coaching.com. And it's spelled out I'll spell it. It's P a i g e o n e. c o a c h i n g.com. And you can also find me on LinkedIn at Paige Lewis Sanford, my new married name, yeah, you can. Yeah, you can also email me at page at patreon coaching.com.   Michael Hingson ** 57:44 So what is your husband do?   Paige Lewis ** 57:45 He is a naturopathic doctor. Oh, so he focuses on root cause? And getting to you know, the bottom of what is causing your symptoms and, and managing that and addressing that versus just throwing things like antibiotics all the time, which, you know, don't always work out. Not very good for you overall, long term. No.   Michael Hingson ** 58:10 And ultimately, we have to take a little bit more mental control over ourselves. And that's another whole story. Yes,   Paige Lewis ** 58:20 I totally agree with that. Well, gee,   Michael Hingson ** 58:21 maybe we should explore getting him to come on and chat sometime. Oh,   Paige Lewis ** 58:25 I think he would love it.   Michael Hingson ** 58:26 I'll leave that to you to set up. Yeah. I want I want to thank you for being here. And I know, you've given us a lot of really wonderful ideas. And I'm very grateful for you being here. I'm glad we had the opportunity to meet and hopefully we will do more of this anytime you want to come back on. You just need to let us know.   Paige Lewis ** 58:46 Right? I would love it. Thank you for having me. It's been great talking with you.   Michael Hingson ** 58:51 Well, this has been fun and I hope that you enjoyed it listening out there. Reach out to Paige she I'm sure we'd love to hear from you and if she can help you in any of the decisions that you need to make. That's what coaches do. So reach out to Paige. You are also always welcome to reach out to me, we'd love to get your thoughts on what you heard today. You can email me at Michael M i c h a e l h i at accessibe A c c e s s i b e.com Or go to our podcast page www dot Michael hingson.com/podcast and Michael Hingson is m i c h a e l h i n g s o n.com/podcast. Of course as we asked and I really appreciate y'all doing it, please give us a five star rating wherever you're listening to us. We love your ratings. We appreciate your reviews, and any thoughts that you have and for all of you listening and Paige, as we sort of alluded to just now if you know of anyone else who would be a good guest for unstoppable mindset. love to have you let us know. We're always looking for guests. I believe everyone has a story to tell and this is As a way to get the opportunity to tell your story and help us all learn that we're more unstoppable than we think we are. So again, Paige, I want to just thank you one last time. Really appreciate you being here and hope that you had fun.   Paige Lewis ** 1:00:14 I did. Thank you so much.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:20 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Is modern communication leaving us more divided than ever? What can the writings of ancient philosophers teach us about persuasion? How can ancient wisdom illuminate today's polarized political discourse?Robin Reames is an associate professor of English at the University of Illinois Chicago. She is also an author and co-author. Her latest book is titled, The Ancient Art of Thinking For Yourself: The Power of Rhetoric in Polarized Times.Robin and Greg discuss the topic of spontaneous speaking. Robin's expertise leads us through the historical corridors of Grecian sophists, as we ponder whether a meticulously scripted statement can ever match the raw resonance of impromptu oratory. Together, Robin and Greg examine the power dynamics embedded in everyday language, underscoring the transformative potential of rhetoric to foster critical thinking and elevate public debate. *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes: How studying rhetoric makes you a toughest customer41:58: One of the effects of studying rhetoric is that you become a tougher customer, but not because there's something you're clinging to, not because there's some idea that you've decided is absolutely correct, fixed, and immovable, but because you can see how the sausage is made in the language. You can see how the persuasion is attempting to gain your credence and your conviction, and it makes it harder for you to persuade. That was the whole idea of creating an art where those techniques and moves are given names, and we can learn the names, and when we learn the names, we can identify when they happen in the language. Well, all of a sudden, it just demystifies it. I'm noticing that the language is making me feel angry, right? And rather than just assume that that's because the language is telling me something that's true in the world, I'm noticing, oh, this is the language that made me feel angry. Why did that make me feel angry? What in the language provoked that response, right? Those are the sorts of things that happen when you learn to identify the skills of rhetoricLanguage can never give you reality25:09: Language can never give you reality itself. It can only package it in a way that makes it recognizable to you.Language on autopilot46:17: To be a language user is, in many ways, to be on autopilot, but it is possible also, as a rhetorical language user, to be on autopilot and also to recognize the effects of that, to see how the effects of that work their way into our way of seeing and viewing the world and understanding and responding to it.Analyzing arguments as arguments, not political alignments32:02: It is possible, through using a mechanism like rhetoric, which was designed to have great utility in political discourse, to think about arguments as arguments and language as language, political arguments and political language as political arguments and political language, as opposed to thinking of them entirely in terms of whether they originate from the right or the left, whether I agree with them because I'm on the right or the left. Rhetorical thinking is about thinking language in other terms, in the terms that are supplied by the rhetorical tradition. The way the rhetorical tradition developed over the course of its long, centuries-long, millennia-long life was by noticing, cataloging, and naming the moves that happen in language.Show Links:Recommended Resources:TechneAristotleRhetoricPlatoSocratesSophistAlcidamasGorgiasProtagorasHomerKenneth BurkeStephen ToulminHannah ArendtAspasiaGuest Profile:Faculty Profile at the University of Illinois ChicagoHer Work:Amazon Author PageThe Ancient Art of Thinking For Yourself: The Power of Rhetoric in Polarized TimesSeeming and Being in Plato's Rhetorical TheoryThe Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present

Up, up, up and away, dearest listeners! It's time to soar into the S3 trailer heavens at long last. As our ship docks back in London, we're trading sea for air as we float above Mayfair alongside an extraordinary balloon, a winged god and a sleepy-but-sturdy Bridgerton. We'll be enjoying splendid weather with Lord Wilding, laughing in the library with Blue Pen and attempting a little archaeological excavation of a broken Grecian column. And as our leading man pulls the Uno Reverse card from the chaotic deck of romance tropes, we'll be keeping our lanterns close-by as a tiny flame finally takes flight. Rejoice, dear Polin fans. The lights are on and Colin Bridgerton's home. * Show Notes YouTube: Bridgerton Season 3 trailer Vanity Fair: Article about Cressida and Eloise Shondaland: Season 3 trailer article + 7 new stills History of Balloons: Montgolfier Brothers - The Montgolfière-style Hot Air Balloon WikiArt: Le ravissement de Psyche, William-Adolphe Bouguerau (1895) * Follow Us Instagram⁠ TikTok⁠ YouTube

The story of the 1944 British-led kidnapping of Nazi Lt. General Heinrich Kriepe on the island of Crete and the subsequent reprisals which crippled Greece's economy and culture for years to come. Also the story of the determined resistance on Crete throughout the war and the Nazi's systematic destruction of the Grecian and Cretan people. APPLE USERS New! 1001 True Stories with Brian Tremblay https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-true-stories-with-brian-tremblay/id1726451725 Catch 1001 Stories From The Old West- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-stories-from-the-old-west/id1613213865 Catch 1001's Best of Jack London- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-best-of-jack-london/id1656939169 Catch 1001 Radio Crime Solvers- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-radio-crime-solvers/id1657397371 Catch 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-heroes-legends-histories-mysteries-podcast/id956154836?mt=2  Catch 1001 Classic Short Stories at Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-classic-short-stories-tales/id1078098622 Catch 1001 Stories for the Road at Apple Podcast now:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-stories-for-the-road/id1227478901 Enjoy 1001 Greatest Love + Life Stories on Apple Devices here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-greatest-love-stories/id1485751552 Catch 1001 RADIO DAYS now at Apple iTunes!  https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-radio-days/id1405045413?mt=2 Enjoy 1001 Sherlock Holmes Stories and The Best of Arthur Conan Doyle https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-sherlock-holmes-stories-best-sir-arthur-conan/id1534427618 1001 History's Best Storytellers at Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-historys-best-storytellers/id1483649026 1001 Ghost , Chiller & Lovecraft https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-ghost-chiller-lovecraft-stories/id1516332327 8043 ANDROID USERS- 1001 True Stories with Brian Tremblay https://open.spotify.com/episode/1EOZTL42pg0szYdYV7mwMC?si=SCPAOiSgQiyo0ZSO_OFDyw&nd=1&dlsi=012b3f28347743d5 1001 Stories For the Road at Spotify= https://open.spotify.com/show/6FhlsxYFTGNPiSMYxM9O9K 1001's Best of Jack London at Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2HzkpdKeWJgUU9rbx3NqgF 1001 Stories From The Old West at Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0c2fc0cGwJBcPfyC8NWNTw 1001 Radio Crime Solvers at Spotify-(Sun & Wed) https://open.spotify.com/show/0UAUS12lnS2063PWK9CZ37 1001 Radio Days (Now Sun & Wed) at Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5jyc4nVoe00xoOxrhyAa8H 1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales at Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6rzDb5uFdOhfw5X6P5lkWn 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries at Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6rO7HELtRcGfV48UeP8aFQ 1001 Sherlock Holmes Stories & The Best of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4dIgYvBwZVTN5ewF0JPaTK 1001 History's Best Storytellers https://open.spotify.com/show/3QyZ1u4f9OLb9O32KX6Ghr 1001 Ghost , Chiller & Lovecraft https://open.spotify.com/show/5P4hV28LgpG89dRNMfSDKJ 1991 Greatest Love & Life Stories https://open.spotify.com/show/5sUUFDVTatnGt7FiNQvSHe Get all of our shows at one website: https://.1001storiespodcast.com My email works as well for comments: 1001storiespodcast@gmail.com SUPPORT OUR SHOW BY BECOMING A PATRON! https://.patreon.com/1001storiesnetwork. Its time I started asking for support! Thank you. Its a few dollars a month OR a one time. (Any amount is appreciated). YOUR REVIEWS ARE NEEDED AND APPRECIATED! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ever wondered if the Wi-Fi on a Grecian isle beats that of a bustling city cafe? Kayla Ihrig, graphic designer turned globe-trotting freelancer and author of "How to be a Digital Nomad," sat down with us to strip away the Instagram gloss and get real about the digital nomad existence. From her first leaps of faith leaving Chicago to the nitty-gritty of managing a mobile career, Kayla's tales from Airbnb kitchens and beyond reveal the discipline required to keep clients close while you're timezone hopping. The episode is a timeline through the remote work revolution, capturing personal accounts from the days of acoustic couplers to our pandemic-induced digital transformation. It's a narrative that paints the picture of our cultural shift, highlighting not just the technical advancements but the human stories of those who embrace a life liberated from cubicles. Listeners will get a front-row seat to how Kayla and others have made countries like the Netherlands their springboards to global citizenship and the candid realities of coupling nomadic ambitions with personal relationships. But how does one sustain this lifestyle without the cushion of a stable corporate paycheck? Our exchange dives into financial foresight with Kayla, exploring how derailing the 9-to-5 train doesn't have to derail your bank account. We dissect the four digital nomad archetypes and discuss how each navigates the balance of work and adventure. Whether you're in an RV across America or a sailboat in the Mediterranean, this episode is packed with invaluable insights for anyone looking to trade their lease for a life of endless explorations. We're happy you're here! Like the pod? Visit our website! Check out our sponsor PitchDB! Start your trial on Simplified!

“The case of our friend Pompey was something better: once, when he had been very ill at Naples, the Neapolitans, on his recovery, put crowns on their heads, as did those of Puteoli; the people flocked from the country to congratulate him—it is a Grecian custom, and a foolish one; still, it is a sign of good fortune.But the question is, had he died, would he have been taken from good, or from evil?Certainly from evil. He would not have been engaged in a war with his father-in-law; he would not have taken up arms before he was prepared; he would not have left his own house, nor fled from Italy; he would not, after the loss of his army, have fallen unarmed into the hands of slaves, and been put to death by them; his children would not have been destroyed; nor would his whole fortune have come into the possession of the conquerors.Did not he, then, who, if he had died at that time, would have died in all his glory, owe all the great and terrible misfortunes into which he subsequently fell to the prolongation of his life?” (Tusculan Disputations, 1.35)Figs in Winter: New Stoicism and Beyond is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit figsinwinter.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of 90 Day Fiancé: The Single Life:Veronica welcomes Jamal to North Carolina, but not everyone is happy to see him; John visits Meghan, but she wants more than that; Chantel goes on a Grecian dream date; Debbie's found a new man.https://www.youtube.com/@mythots

Veronica welcomes Jamal to North Carolina, but not everyone is happy to see him. John visits Meghan, but she wants more than that. Chantel goes on a Grecian dream date. Debbie's found a new man.=======WANT EPISODES COMMERCIAL-FREE? Join the $8 Tier!JOIN RealityGays+ Either on Patreon, https://www.patreon.com/RealityGays or Supercast, https://realitygaysmulti.supercast.com/ or Apple Subscriptionshttps://linktr.ee/RealityGays Listen and review on our website https://www.realitygays.comFind us on the Socials:Tik Tok @realitygays https://www.tiktok.com/@realitygays?lang=enInstagram @RealityGaysPodcastFacebook @RealityGaysPodcastTwitter @RealityGaysPodSISSY SWAG! Get a mug, shirt, pillow at our MERCH STORE!Wanna talk with your Sissy Squad? Join our PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUPFind Mattie! Instagram: @theMattMarr Twitter: @theMattMarrFind Jake! Twitter: @jakeitorfakeit Instagram: @jakeitorfakeitListen to Mattie's other ADVICE podcast, THE DEAR MATTIE SHOW! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wherein Veronica welcomes Jamal to North Carolina, but not everyone is happy to see him. John visits Meghan, but she wants more than that. Chantel goes on a Grecian dream date. Debbie's found a new man Follow us! Instagram, Twitter and TikTok:  @docusweeties  @justcallmewah  @Chrislfarah Watch us on video! Patreon.com/docusweeties (http://Patreon.com/docusweeties) Join us on our Facebook group!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/6702616296426962 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/docusweeties/support

Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Positive Affirmations And Audio Stories podcast. We continue our series of stories with part 1 of a special Grecian myth story. It's a phone chat recording episode about the journey of "Perseus The Hero." Why not settle in and have a listen! Enjoy! ****** Coffee fuels us up ... donations keep us going... please pop over to ko-fi for a coffee donation if you'd like to financially support our work. If you would like to get more inspiration and motivation, there are lots of inspirational positive videos, messages and artwork over there. Or take out a £3/month "Best Friends" membership to receive some nice goodies❣️https://ko-fi.com/happythought... Many thanks, your listens, likes,  subscribes and support mean the world to us. This podcast is available on Spreaker, iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast, Amazon, iHeartRadio and most podcast platforms and apps. If you like what you hear please feel free to share and to leave a review on your site of choice. Visit my Bandcamp page for more inspiration affirmations, meditations and stories for purchase and sample. Helping you live the positive lifestyle that you deserve.https://stefanialintonbon.band...

Today, we're exploring a different side of Nashville, Tennessee—its full-scale replica of Athens' Parthenon. Located among the city's famous music venues, this Grecian monument has an interesting backstory tied to a celebration from over 100 years ago. Join me as we explore this architectural wonder in the heart of Music City. Podcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/nashvilles-parthenon-a-glimpse-of-ancient-greece-in-music-city/  

The treacherous fighting in Italy may be behind them, but the men of the 16th DLI are faced with a new challenge. There's trouble in Greece!Presenters: Peter Hart and Gary BainPublisher: Mat McLachlanProducer: Jess StebnickiBecome a member to listen ad-free and receive special bonus content for only £2 per month: https://plus.acast.com/s/pete-and-garys-military-historySupport the show with a one-off contribution: www.buymeacoffee.com/pgmhFind out everything Pete and Gary are doing at https://linktr.ee/pgmhFor more great history content, visit www.LivingHistoryTV.com, or subscribe to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/LivingHistoryTVTo walk in the footsteps of the soldiers of the First and Second World Wars, join one of our battlefield tours! Full details at www.battlefields.com.au Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/pete-and-garys-military-history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player.  Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Allow yourself to  sink into your bed, casting aside all the thoughts of the day. LONG PAUSE And as you lavish in the covers, feel your body melting in relaxation. LONG PAUSE And as you feel your body relax, let your mind open to visions and dreams. LONG PAUSE Take a moment and find yourself in an art gallery, with magnificently high ceilings, and hundreds of paintings adorning the walls. PAUSE It's the middle of the night and you can see  thousands of glistening stars through the glass ceiling. PAUSE You're standing in the center of a large hall, next to marble statue of a discus thrower, a young Grecian man, bathed in soft moonlight. PAUSE The statue is milky smooth on the surface, with fine, pristine details  of the face and body, and muscles sculpted  with perfection. PAUSE The discus thrower looks as if he's coiled up and  ready to release all of human kind's potential in a single throw. PAUSE You close your eyes and imagine the discus player coming to life  and releasing his discus. PAUSE The discus is unleashed  into the night sky, flying higher and higher until it's out of sight. PAUSE As you gaze the discus thrower, the milky smooth marble softens into skin, and the discus thrower takes your hand and pulls you onto the platform. PAUSE He smiles, brushes a tuft  of chestnut hair  from his brow and raises his arm. PAUSE With his arms in the air, figures from the paintings gingerly step out and onto the floor. Sculptures unwind and walk about. PAUSE The air is perfumed with the fragrance  of sweet wildflowers and freshly baked bread  as well as dusting powder and cologne,  all from the figures  in the artwork. PAUSE A barmaid stops by the platform sharing goblets of wine with you and the discus thrower. She moves about the gallery offering her elixir to all. PAUSE You sip the wine enjoying its taste  and the warm feeling of relaxation it brings. PAUSE Then, a woman  with resplendent honey-color hair trots a dapple gray mare through the hall, proud and stately. PAUSE The women smiles  and pauses to  tap goblets  with the discus player, then with you, before trotting off to somewhere else. PAUSE Around the hallway, you notice that  figures from the art, are now real people, that stop and chat  with one another, embrace and laugh just like dear friends. PAUSE Two fishermen walk by with a casting net in their arms and the discus thrower asks where their boat is. PAUSE  The fishers laugh and point to a wall where a brown wooden boat with sails like canopies sits in the middle  of a painting. PAUSE In the distance, you notice a man with  a gray bowler hat  and pinstripe suit waltzes with a woman with pink ribbons  in her hair and dress. It's so beautiful. PAUSE And while watching  the figures from the art come together, there's an understanding of community of how everyone contributes– how everyone gives something back. PAUSE After a moment, you notice the discus thrower standing up on the platform, and his discus slowly returning  to his hand. PAUSE The discus thrower gently leads you off the platform then repositions himself just as he was when you first saw him. PAUSE Gradually, then,  the other pieces of art quietly reassemble themselves, blending back into paintings, and recreating their poses  as sculptures. PAUSE

The Artist by B. F. Gandee audiobook. The Artist, or Young Ladies' Instructor in Ornamental Painting, Drawing etc. is a delightful art instruction book from 1835. Follow Charlotte as she teaches her cousin Ellen a range of art forms that were widely taught at the time, from painting in the Grecian and Japanese style, to Oriental and Mezzotinting, as well as Inlaying. A few simple projects with paper are mentioned at the end of the book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My links: My patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/user?u=103280827 My Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/rhetoricrevolution Send me a voice message!: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/liam-connerly TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@mrconnerly?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc⁠ Email: ⁠rhetoricrevolution@gmail.com⁠ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connerlyliam/ Podcast | Latin in Layman's - A Rhetoric Revolution https://open.spotify.com/show/0EjiYFx1K4lwfykjf5jApM?si=b871da6367d74d92 In the hallowed annals of Grecian myth, a tale unfolds like a haunting melody, resonating through the corridors of time—an eternal aria that weaves the delicate strands of love, loss, and the ineffable power of music. At the heart of this narrative is the ethereal union of Orpheus, a virtuoso of the lyre whose strings bespoke divine harmony, and Eurydice, a nymph whose radiance rivaled the luminescence of the heavens. In the verdant meadows of Thessaly, where zephyrs whispered secrets through the rustling leaves, Orpheus and Eurydice, enraptured by the symphony of their affection, pledged vows that resonated like celestial notes in the grand opus of their existence. Their love was a garden of rare blossoms, each petal infused with the fragrance of immortal passion, and their days were an idyllic sonnet inscribed upon the parchment of time. Yet, as fate, that capricious muse, would have it, shadows cast their ephemeral gloom upon this idyll. Eurydice, frolicking in sylvan glades, became ensnared in the coils of an untimely demise—a serpent's venomous kiss stealing her from the terrestrial realm. Orpheus, bereft of the light that danced in her eyes, felt his world crumble like a lyre's string severed by an unseen hand. Yet, in the crucible of sorrow, a tempest of resolve stirred within the heart of Orpheus. Armed with the lyre bestowed upon him by Apollo, whose heavenly strains could charm the very cosmos, he embarked upon a pilgrimage to the somber realm of Hades—a journey where even the boldest mortals dared not tread. The Stygian waters whispered their ominous counsel, yet Orpheus pressed on, guided solely by the resolute melody of his undying devotion. As the Gates of Hades swung ajar, Orpheus, with lyre in hand, addressed the Lord and Lady of the Underworld. His music, a celestial lament that traversed the chasms of despair, moved even the hearts of the stoic gods. Hades, with a visage stern as granite, granted Orpheus an audience, moved by the pathos woven into the very fabric of his verses. With dulcet strains that plucked at the soul's most profound chords, Orpheus implored Hades and Persephone to release Eurydice from the shadowy abyss. His melody, a poignant plea that reverberated through the vaults of Tartarus, touched the very essence of existence. Even the Furies, with their feral countenances, were momentarily stilled by the harmonic sorcery that encapsulated the chamber of judgment. And so, the gods relented, offering a celestial reprieve—but with a caveat cast in the solemnity of divine decree. Orpheus, granted the chance to reclaim his beloved, was admonished not to gaze upon her until they ascended to the luminous embrace of the upper world..........

The person we know as St. Nicholas (St. Nick) was born around ad 270 to a wealthy Grecian family. Tragically, his parents died when he was a boy, and he lived with his uncle who loved him and taught him to follow God. When Nicholas was a young man, legend says that he heard of three sisters who didn’t have a dowry for marriage and would soon be destitute. Wanting to follow Jesus’ teaching about giving to those in need, he took his inheritance and gave each sister a bag of gold coins. Over the years, Nicholas gave the rest of his money away feeding the poor and caring for others. In the following centuries, Nicholas was honored for his lavish generosity, and he inspired the character we know as Santa Claus—a person who generously gives gifts every Christmas. While the glitz and advertising of the season may threaten our celebrations, the gift-giving tradition connects to Nicholas. And his generosity was based on his devotion to Jesus. Nicholas knew that Christ enacted unimagined generosity, bringing the most profound gift: God. Jesus is “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). And He brought us the gift of life. In a world of death, He “save[s] his people from their sins” (v. 21) When we believe in Jesus, sacrificial generosity unfolds. We tend to others’ needs, and we joyfully provide for them as God provides for us. This is St. Nick’s story; but far more, this is God’s story.

This week, we discuss the apostle Paul's letter to the ancient Grecian city of Philippi. Another incredible letter--we have much to learn about the necessity of persecution in the race we run as Christians. Join us we delve into the heart and mind of God revealed to the Philippians. God bless, everyone! 

Amy is joined by Dr. Sue Blundell to discuss her book Women in Ancient Greece and explore the roles of women in ancient Grecian society as well as representations of female deities.Sue Blundell is a playwright and lecturer in Classical Studies. Many of her plays have been inspired by ancient myths, ideas, and objects. More recently she's been exploring the lives of artists and composers, such as Auguste Rodin and Benjamin Britten. Interaction between actors and musicians has become a vital element in her work. Sue wrote her PhD thesis on Greek and Roman philosophy; more specifically, on Epicurean ideas about biological and cultural evolution. She has been a lecturer in Classical Studies at the Open University, Goldsmiths, and Birkbeck, University of London, and has given regular lectures at the British Museum. She also taught for a number of years on the Conservation course at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. Her main area of research is the history of women in ancient Greece, and their representation in drama and the visual arts. Her other writings include work on Greek and Roman theories of evolution, Emma Hamilton's ‘Classical Attitudes' and their place in the 18th century Grand Tour, and the symbolism of shoes in Greek art and thought. She has presented conference papers at universities in the UK, Europe and the US, and has been a keynote speaker on Greek footwear.Sue is currently working on a book provisionally titled Finding her Feet: Female Footwear and its Stories

This episode of the Hayek Program Podcast is a special crossover episode from Virtual Sentiments, S1E9, with a special introduction by Jayme Lemke to celebrate the start of Season 2! Go check out S2E1 of Virtual Sentiments featuring Christopher Coyne today!On this, the last episode of Season 1 of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins interviews Eileen Hunt, a Professor and Political Theorist at the University of Notre Dame, on Mary Shelley and the Ethics of AI. Hunt begins by providing historical context of Mary Shelley regarding her parents and Shelley as a child of the Enlightenment. Hunt explains the interdisciplinary nature of Mary Shelley's work, rooted in a Grecian philosophical past and concerned with future-oriented questions about the rights of human beings, tying in Mary Shelley's famous Gothic novel, Frankenstein, to modern considerations of the ethics and rights of artificial life. She encourages us to think of ourselves as artificial, technological creatures and to contemplate the rights of all artificial creatures, including humans and other forms of artificial intelligence. Additionally, Hunt discusses issues of genetic engineering, humanity as a built environment, Jeremy Bentham and reproductive justice.Read more about Eileen Hunt.Read more work from Kristen Collins.If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.Virtual Sentiments, our new podcast series from the Hayek Program is now streaming! Subscribe today and listen to season one on digital democracy.Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgramLearn more about Academic & Student ProgramsFollow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatusCC Music: Twisterium

Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player.  Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Allow yourself to  sink into your bed, casting aside all the thoughts of the day. LONG PAUSE And as you lavish in the covers, feel your body melting in relaxation. LONG PAUSE And as you feel your body relax, let your mind open to visions and dreams. LONG PAUSE Take a moment and find yourself in an art gallery, with magnificently high ceilings, and hundreds of paintings adorning the walls. PAUSE It's the middle of the night and you can see  thousands of glistening stars through the glass ceiling. PAUSE You're standing in the center of a large hall, next to marble statue of a discus thrower, a young Grecian man, bathed in soft moonlight. PAUSE The statue is milky smooth on the surface, with fine, pristine details  of the face and body, and muscles sculpted  with perfection. PAUSE The discus thrower looks as if he's coiled up and  ready to release all of human kind's potential in a single throw. PAUSE You close your eyes and imagine the discus player coming to life  and releasing his discus. PAUSE The discus is unleashed  into the night sky, flying higher and higher until it's out of sight. PAUSE As you gaze the discus thrower, the milky smooth marble softens into skin, and the discus thrower takes your hand and pulls you onto the platform. PAUSE He smiles, brushes a tuft  of chestnut hair  from his brow and raises his arm. PAUSE With his arms in the air, figures from the paintings gingerly step out and onto the floor. Sculptures unwind and walk about. PAUSE The air is perfumed with the fragrance  of sweet wildflowers and freshly baked bread  as well as dusting powder and cologne,  all from the figures  in the artwork. PAUSE A barmaid stops by the platform sharing goblets of wine with you and the discus thrower. She moves about the gallery offering her elixir to all. PAUSE You sip the wine enjoying its taste  and the warm feeling of relaxation it brings. PAUSE Then, a woman  with resplendent honey-color hair trots a dapple gray mare through the hall, proud and stately. PAUSE The women smiles  and pauses to  tap goblets  with the discus player, then with you, before trotting off to somewhere else. PAUSE Around the hallway, you notice that  figures from the art, are now real people, that stop and chat  with one another, embrace and laugh just like dear friends. PAUSE Two fishermen walk by with a casting net in their arms and the discus thrower asks where their boat is. PAUSE  The fishers laugh and point to a wall where a brown wooden boat with sails like canopies sits in the middle  of a painting. PAUSE In the distance, you notice a man with  a gray bowler hat  and pinstripe suit waltzes with a woman with pink ribbons  in her hair and dress. It's so beautiful. PAUSE And while watching  the figures from the art come together, there's an understanding of community of how everyone contributes– how everyone gives something back. PAUSE After a moment, you notice the discus thrower standing up on the platform, and his discus slowly returning  to his hand. PAUSE The discus thrower gently leads you off the platform then repositions himself just as he was when you first saw him. PAUSE Gradually, then,  the other pieces of art quietly reassemble themselves, blending back into paintings, and recreating their poses  as sculptures. PAUSE  

Welcome to Season 7 of The Witch Wave! Chris Fleming is an American comedian whose viral videos and standup specials have earned him millions of fans. His blend of gender-bending fashion, elastic physicality, obscure observations, addictively silly original songs, and adoration of unhinged puppets is an irresistible comedic brew. He is perhaps best known for his YouTube series Gayle, in which he stars as the titular high-strung suburban mom Gayle Waters-Waters, though Pam first encountered his work a couple years back when his TikTok video “Witch Summer” got sent to her by pretty much every witch she knows. Chris's tremendous new standup special, HELL, is out on Peacock now. He is currently based in LA, and you can catch him live in a city near you soon.On this season premiere episode, Chris discusses his ongoing fascination with witches, his relationship to spirituality and subversive feminine forces, and how comedy can transmute fear into magic.Pam also talks about the potent and playful aspects of her recent Grecian odyssey, and answers a listener question about how to reanchor oneself after a loss.Our sponsors for this episode are Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, Mithras Candle, BetterHelp, New Moon Magic by Risa Dickens and Amy Torok (North Atlantic Books), Sphere + Sundry, and The Psyche Magic podcastWe also have brand new print-on-demand merch like Witch Wave shirts, sweatshirts, totes, stickers, and mugs available now here.And if you want more Witch Wave, please consider supporting us on Patreon to get access to bonus Witch Wave Plus episodes, Pam's monthly online rituals, and more! That's patreon.com/witchwave

how long can i keep this episode title up before robin pecknold sues me for vibe infringement? https://soundcloud.com/djthicclizzy https://zaclittle.substack.com/  

At the core of practical spirituality are an Athenian poet's words that Paul quotes in his ministry to them. “In him, we live and move and have our being.” What rendering of the spiritual life could be more profound than these simple words by a Grecian poet, no less! However, there are countless hindrances to this “living and moving and being” rhythm Paul would have us embrace in our spiritual lives. In this message, discover a true spiritual rhythm killer.    Many of Francois' messages are delivered within the context of a spiritual formation school called, LEGACY School Of Discipleship. The emphasis of the school is to be trained within the realities of the accomplished work of Jesus Christ.    Visit LEGACY online for more information about the school or to support this work.

Mia and Kirsty are prepping for the rewilding stall at Sunday's fete. Chelsea turns up and Mia's on the defensive. But Chelsea insists she's there to volunteer her help. She reckons it would give them an opportunity to chat. But Mia rebuffs her olive branch, declaring her offer to paint nails at the stall is off-brand. Chelsea retreats. Mia seeks Kirsty's advice. She explains that Chelsea's confrontational and they don't get on, but she's Brad's sister, and the siblings are close. What would Kirsty do? Later Chelsea comes to Kirsty with exactly the same issue. Mia's an up herself eco-geek and they're totally different people, but she's Brad's girlfriend and she doesn't want to hurt him. So does she just put up with Mia? Kirsty points out the thing they have in common – both of them care about Brad. Perhaps they can learn to put up with one another. Tom begins his charm offensive on Adil, leaving Alistair baffled. Tom asks Adil if he'd like to join the cricket team to fill absent Johnny's place. Adil protests he's no good, but Tom offers to throw him a few balls on the Green as a trial, and then stand him coffee and cake at lunch. After a few tips hopeless Adil makes contact with the ball just once – and hits a plant pot at Greenacres. Alistair points out it's Jim's prizewinning hydrangea, in a replica Grecian urn which is now broken. Tom immediately takes the blame, but Adil knows what he's up to, and declares the charm technique won't work.

Lara and Carey discuss Lara's upcoming Grecian and Italian adventure, and why no one cares about Congress's recent hearing about alleged crashed UFOs and "non-human biologicals." Then, the ladies of the two boroughs are back for another Time Jump...this time to February 2022, as Valentine's Day befalls the beleaguered city of New York. Carrie reunites with Aidan, despite being unable to stop wearing poofy dresses and plaid. Che gives up their Hollywood dreams for their true calling: being a vet tech. Charlotte's Momager era is crushed by Rock's anti-modeling stance, leading Char to have an epiphany while accidentally #stoned. Single Miranda takes on her first lesbian booty call, to disappointing results, while Nya eats a soufflé. Seema insurrects a couples-centric spa, and LTW goes to war with her son's feral girlfriend.SUP is hosting VANDERPUMP RAVES on August 2nd at El Cid in Los Angeles. GET TICKETS HERE.Listen to this episode ad-free AND get access to weekly bonus episodes + video episodes by joining the SUP PATREON.Be cheap as hell and get full-length videos of the pod for free by subscribing to the SUP YOUTUBE.Re-live the best moments of this iconic podcast by following the SUP TIKOK. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Langston and David answer a listener's email about Medusa being a Black woman. Send your conspiracy theories, music drops, and any problematic talks to mymommapod@gmail.com We are now on YouTube! Listen & Watch episodes of My Momma Told Me. Subscribe to the channel here! Want to follow the craziness of Black conspiracy theories? We're on Instagram at @mymommatoldmepod My Momma Told Me is going out tour! Find your nearest city here and get your tickets.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.