I’ve been working on a series of short ficlets/drabbles for @tolkiengenweek on characters’ Returns from the Halls of Mandos; some silly, some serious. Most of them I haven’t finished yet, but here’s the first of them.
Fingolfin (Wonder)
“Such hurt at the least will I do to the Foe of the Valar that even the mighty in the Ring of Doom shall wonder to hear it…” ~ Fëanor
Fingolfin did not have a tranquil return to life.
He had only just opened his eyes and scrambled to his feet, blinking against the unaccustomed light - has just begun to register the sensation of air on his skin and the scents of the garden around him - when he was bowled off his feet by a sudden, vast blow.
“DUDE,” said a loud, boisterous voice far above him. “DUDE. That was AWESOME!”
Tulkas picked him up bodily and placed him on his feet again as Fingolfin struggled to catch his breath.
“That was AWESOME!” he repeated. “You kicked his ASS!”
“I did lose,” Fingolfin observed, a broad smile breaking across his face in spite of it. He’d recognized that his return to life meant the Valar had pardoned him, but he hadn’t expected them to be this…enthusiastic.
(Though to be fair, he’d only had a few Vala to draw conclusions from, and Námo had never been enthusiastic about anything in his life.)
And he had never regarded his death in exactly this light before, rather than as rash despair that had left the Noldor unmoored.
“You’re an elf! You should never have been able to scratch him! You wouldn’t have been able to if he hadn’t fucked himself up so badly, that’s why we thought you were all mad when you went away. But you hurt him! Badly! You scared him, the damn coward! I’ve never seen anything like it!”
That was an extremely enjoyable thought. A lifetime’s experience of attempting to avoid at least outward displays of ego, however strong inner pride grew, made him make one more attempt. “Lúthien won.”
“Lúthien! That was stupendous! Nessa adores her, she was crowing about it for weeks! ‘She beat him with dance, dance, dance!’ We’ve spent many years since bickering about which of you was more impressive. But Lúthien was nice about it. She didn’t stab him. I still like you best!”
Fingolfin could not stop himself from laughing, and for the first time in a long while, he didn’t even want to.
“You beat him,” he said, “and I am very grateful for it! You clearly followed my fight closely enough! - would you care to give me a play-by-play of yours?”
“Oh, that,” said Tulkas. “He was terribly boring by the end. Very little to tell. Now, the rest of the war” - brightening again - “that was marvellous! I wish you’d been there! Your little brother, he’s a surprisingly talented commander, but he doesn’t know how to enjoy these things properly!”
He regaled Fingolfin with tales of the War of Wrath all the way back to Tirion.
Author: Laurel L. Russwurm
laura's mathom house 2022-07-06 12:49:08
BOLD and BADGER!!! Ugh, those storylines will always make me sob like a very small child- whoever put them on youtube has A LOT to answer for.
Taken from this ask meme- thank you so much, friend!
Paper- favourite children’s book?
This is SO HARD! The Crow Starver by Dick King Smith, the Wind on Fire Trilogy by William Nicholson and His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman are all up there along with Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery and the Little House books by Laura Inglis Wilder.
Thank you so much!
Much love,
Phoenixflames12 xxx
Love For Other Things
It’s easy to love a deer
But try to care about bugs and scrawny trees
Love the puddle of lukewarm water
From last week’s rain.
Leave the mountains alone for now.
Also the clear lakes surrounded by pines.
People are lined up to admire them.
Get close to the things that slide away in the dark.
Be grateful even for the boredom
That sometimes seems to involve the whole world.
Think of the frost
That will crack our bones eventually.
- Tom Hennen.
visual laurel 2022-06-28 09:54:44
PSA, as we enter a recession (or are already in one, depending on who you ask)…
now is NOT the time to join a multilevel marketing business.
it’s never the time (because they’re pyramid schemes) but now is ESPECIALLY not the time, and they’re gonna be out in full force trying to recruit people, especially if we start seeing widespread lay offs
If someone wants to offer you a “job opportunity” but won’t tell you the name of the company, RUN
if a company requires you to purchase a starter kit, FUCKING RUN
if someone invites you to an “opportunity call” or otherwise pitches this “opportunity” to you, and it’s just a whole bunch of love-bombing and motivational speaking, RUN
if you cannot “rank up” in the company without recruiting more people to your team (aka downline), RUN
if you already joined one, cut your losses and quit now. seriously
if your friends/family join them, do not buy from them, even if it’s just to support them… buying from people who join MLMs gives them false confidence that they will succeed, and it keeps them in longer, and ultimately they will lose more money, and probably damage a lot of their relationships along the way
99% of people either make no money, or worse, LOSE money, in multilevel marketing. They’re scams and commercial cults and the “recession proof industry” marketing campaigns are already well underway, especially in MLMs that are currently on the brink of collapse (like Monat)
don’t be fooled. there is no opportunity. it’s not a job. it’s a scam
(also, watch out for their alternate names… network marketing and social selling are just synonyms for multilevel marketing.)
Eta: if you’re not sure if a company is an MLM, Google it. There’s an entire database online for this. Search “is [X] an mlm” and if it is, you’ll find a wealth of information about how their scams work.
thank you for coming to my ted talk
Know who you are dealing with. If they won’t give you a straight answer, you can’t trust them.
If a stranger DMs you asking you to be a partner and wants you to represent their brand, to be their partner or collaborator, don’t be flattered. If you don’t know or use their product, why are they asking you?
Are you a social media influencer with tens of thousands of followers? If you are, are you willing to throw it all away by risking your hard earned reputation promoting a scam? At the very least a reputable company will offer you a contract and pay you in money, not empty promises or free samples.
Do you have 50 or even hundreds of people in your contact list? Maybe even a few thousand you’ve attracted with your wit, creativity or humour? Don’t sacrifice your reputation with family, friends and contacts promoting a scam.
It’s one thing to tell your friends about a good product you like, and another to be suckered into shilling for fly by night matchstick men, helping them take advantage of people who trust you.
Sometimes a company you deal with, or one selling things you are already posting about, will approach you and offer samples they want you to test and review for your social network. This is not the same thing as a scam, but if you agree you’ll find yourself working hard for those “free” samples. If it takes you hours to write a review of a ten dollar product, are you really ahead of the game? Maybe, maybe not. Only you can decide.
visual laurel 2022-06-28 09:04:06
Classic Green
visual laurel 2022-06-18 01:59:33
Bad Words: Sanction
According to Oxford Languages (via Google)
sanc·tion
/ˈsaNG(k)SH(ə)n/
noun
1. a threatened penalty for disobeying a law or rule.
‘a range of sanctions aimed at deterring insider abuse’
synonyms: penalty, punishment, deterrent, punitive action, discipline, penalization, correction, retribution, embargo, ban, prohibition, boycott, barrier, restriction, tariff
2. official permission or approval for an action.
'he appealed to the bishop for his sanction’
synonyms: authorization, consent, leave, permission, authority, warrant, license, dispensation, assent, acquiescence, agreement, approval, seal/stamp of approval, approbation, recognition, endorsement, accreditation, confirmation, ratification, validation, blessing, imprimatur, clearance, acceptance, allowance, the go-ahead, the thumbs up, the OK, the green light, say-so, permit
verb
give official permission or approval for (an action).
'only two treatments have been sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration’
synonyms: authorize, consent to, permit, allow, give leave for, give permission for, warrant, accredit, license, give assent to, endorse, agree to, approve, accept, give one’s blessing to, back, support, give the thumbs up to, give the green light to, OK, approbate
2. impose a sanction or penalty on.
'foreigners in France illegally should be sent home, their employers sanctioned and border controls tightened upl
synonyms: punish, discipline someone for
visual laurel 2022-06-17 08:38:56
Ontario Election 2022
A Toronto Star Opinion Piece by Martin Reg Conn desperately tries to justify the Ontario election result in “Get Over It: Doug Ford’s Victory was an example of how democracy is supposed to work.”
But is it really?
The purpose of Democracy is to give people a say in our own governance. In a Direct Democracy that would mean citizens themselves directly make laws and government policies. As in a referendum.
But ours is a Representative Democracy, which means citizens choose representatives to represent us when making laws and policies in Parliament.
This is not that.
visual laurel 2022-06-11 11:20:10
The barrier covering the watering can to keep Nick from drinking fertilized water from it
visual laurel 2022-05-29 03:50:23
Mike Schreiner accurately characterizes the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) as legislated poverty.
ALT
ALT![Greens will double ODSP. [Green Party of Ontario logo]
A person relying on ODSP receives a monthly income of $1,169
GRAPH showing the increased rate of funding to ODSP recipients offered by the four major Ontario political parties.
Progressive Conservative
$1,227 per month
Liberal
$1,285 per month
NDP
$1,403 per month
Green Party of Ontario
$2,338 per month.
Dotted line bisects the graph above the PC, Liberal and NDP promised rates and through the Greens promised rate.
Text above the line states:
1 Bedroom Apartment Average Rent $1,800 per month](https://64.media.tumblr.com/ef0bf9d8f1e73949ab371f132f459c6b/c24bcc57a59ce55b-c3/s640x960/ac4ccf8111559ac68ab5f97d807b462d91796fed.jpg)
ALTTORONTO STAR (April 26th, 2013):
It’s time to end the erosion of public assistance in Ontario
Welfare has eroded to the point that it would take a 56-per-cent rate increase to bring the single rate back to where it was in 1993.
By John Stapleton
“The year was 1993… the last time social assistance in Ontario increased in real (inflation-adjusted) terms.
"For the record, the Rae [NDP] government established a single welfare rate of $663 a month in 1993 — the high water mark. He then froze social assistance rates in both 1994 and 1995, the first two-year freeze since 1973. Mike Harris cut rates by 21.6 per cent, establishing a single rate of $520 a month and let it stay there until Dalton McGuinty took over eight years later. That low $520 single rate, if adjusted for inflation, would now be $617 a month but the current rates stands at just $606 a month.”
For the last 20 years, social assistance has eroded to the point that it would take a 56-per-cent rate increase to bring the single rate back to where it was in 1993.
“For a single person with disabilities, a 22.2-per-cent increase would be required to restore purchasing power to levels paid in 1993. Harris and Eves did not cut rates for people with disabilities but they didn’t raise them either.”
Opinion | It’s time to end the erosion of public assistance in Ontario
The 1993 Ontario NDP set the (inflation adjusted) $1,729 amount paid to people living with disabilities.
Even if you think paying Ontario Works (OW) recipients less than they need to live on (either to punish them because you think they are lazy, or perhaps trying to defraud the system, or because you think it will give them an incentive to get a job), such Dickensian attitudes of blaming or punishing people for their own poverty should not extend to people living with disabilities.
No amount of fortitude, resilience or incentives will lift people out of disability.
Whether genetic or the result of illness or accident, disabilities are not a choice. There is simply no possible rationale or justification for forcing people whose disabilities prevent them from working for a living to live well below the poverty line.
The unequivocal Green commitment to raising ODSP rates pushed the other major parties to raise their own platform commitments, with the NDP agreeing to follow the Green lead by doubling ODSP in the 2nd year. No matter what the composition of the Ontario Legislature looks like after this election, the more Greens we send to Queens Park, the better.
If we are very lucky, Ontario voters will deliver a minority government. If you care about our social safety net, you will agree that our best hope lays with electing more Green and NDP MPPs.
Election Day in Ontario is June 2nd, 2022. Please Vote. And encourage non voters to vote, too.
(Almost twice as many eligible voters didn’t vote as voted PC in 2018!)
And please: don’t encourage so-called “strategic voting” which only props up the status quo and helps FPTP suppress the vote.
Don’t waste your vote by voting for what somebody else wants.
Vote for what you want.
Our future depends on it.
visual laurel 2022-05-29 01:33:45
This is a law seeking to stop Indigenous genocide. What would be racist would be knocking it down.