View allAll Photos Tagged Protagonists
I've decided to try some "light painting" technique with one of my Final Fantasy toy collection. The girl in the photo is Yuna. She is one of the main protagonists in the game Final Fantasy X.
BTW, I used a ballpen with a built-in "blue" LED as my light source to create the "magic" effect. :)
(No photoshop involved)
A few weeks ago in Milina, after an almost crazy drive to reach the perfect spot just in time for the sunset behind the lonely tree.
I think this tree is the protagonist in quite many of my photos taken from that spot.
But who really cares? :P
Presently known as the Dagny Taggert in honor of the protagonist in Ayn Rand's 1957 dystopian novel entwined in intrigue, romance, and philosophy, "Atlas Shrugged," in which Dagny make a mercurial rise to the occasion and saves the Taggart Transcon through a deus ex machina invention from her brother's incompetence, over regulation, undertones of communism and anarchy. The observation, built by Budd in the City of Brotherly Love in 1949 brought up the rear of New York Central's NYC to StL Southwest Limited as well as standing in on the 20th Century Limited when needed finishing it's revenue career across the 49th parallel on the Canadian. More recently returning to just the other side of the border to previous courter Dirk Lenthe or Fargo North Dakota who graciously lent the venerable Dame to the North Shore Scenic Railroad for a stint which has come to a meteoric close, though, as any other meteor, she'll be back again. Eventually. Someday. Staying for good. For now she's enroute back to the Empire State for an appearance at this year's AAPRCO's American Autumn Explorer gathering and gala (© 13Sep20)
Explore Front Page - 14.09.2008 - On EXPLORE September 14, 2008
Best to: View Large and On Black
Please - NO INVITES and AWARDS from now on - Thank you
Do READ the TOP message in BOLD on my profile - it is an important one...
"I look to the future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest of my life..."
-George Burns, [At age 87; he lived to be 100]
Wishing to all of you a splendid and happy Sunday and an awesome week ahead from me and - Willem
No Post Processing used - no treatments, no cropping, and as is from the camera. The only thing added is the water mark - signature.
September 2019
expired film (03/2015)
Please visit and follow me on Facebook / Instagram / my Website.
Note: Do not invite this picture to private/hidden and so called award groups. Thank you.
Keen to the scent, the hunt is my muse
A means to an end this path that I choose
Lost and aloof are the loves of my past
Wake the White Wolf!
Remembrance at last.
Miracle of Sound — Wake The White Wolf
Geralt of Rivia is a witcher and the main protagonist of the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski and its adaptations.
Like all witchers, Geralt is a monster hunter for hire. He possesses superhuman abilities and is a master swordsman. During the Trial of the Grasses, Geralt exhibited unusual tolerance for the mutagens that grant witchers their abilities. Accordingly, Geralt was subjected to further experimental mutagens which rendered his hair white and may have given him greater speed, strength, and stamina than his fellow witchers.
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If you like what I do and you want to see me create your OC, a favorite Bionicle Character, or something else, feel free to look up my Commission Info! I also now have a Patreon page, so please consider supporting!
A little love for my protagonist co-star
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Enjoy the Vib
🎼[The Last Gunfighter Ballad (Guy Clark)] 🎼
The old gunfighter on the porch
Stared into the sun
And relived the days of living by the gun
When deadly games of pride were played
And living was mistakes not made
And the thought of the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke
Ah, the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke
It's always keep your back to the sun
And he can almost feel the weight of the gun
It's faster than snakes or the blink of an eye
And it's a time for all slow men to die
And his eyes get squinty and his fingers twitch
And he empties the gun at the son of a bitch
And he's hit by the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke
Hit by the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke
Now the burn of a bullet is only a scar
He's back in his chair in front of the bar
And the streets are empty and the blood's all dried
And the dead are dust and the whiskey's inside
So buy him a drink and lend him an ear
He's nobody's fool and the only one here
Who remembers the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke
Remember the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke
He said I stood in that street before it was paved
Learned shoot or be shot before I could shave
And I did it all for the money and fame
Noble was nothing but feeling no shame
And nothing was sacred but stayin' alive
And all that I learned from a Colt 45
Was to curse the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke
Curse the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke
Now he's just an old man that no one believes
Says he's a gunfighter, the last of the breed
And there are ghosts in the street seeking revenge
Calling him out to the lunatic fringe
Now he's out in the traffic checking the sun
And he's killed by a car as he goes for his gun
So much for the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke
So much for the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke
- Guy Clark
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🐕 💝 🐈
💗 Hope 💗
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Protect Your Right To Vote!
BLM 8 Minutes 46 Seconds
Be Safe People & Wear The Fucking Mask!
Take The Poke! 💉
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Anyone who has been stupid enough to read my previous posts will know that some recent photos were taken on a quest to The Land Of Ice by three protagonists who have a vague connection to the canon of Norse mythology* - a god, an elf and a dwarf. This is a story of Paulvik Cliffscrambler**
Once in a while things just happen. Sometimes they are for the good, sometimes they are not.
This is the not-so-good bit. It turns out that Paulvik's fellow Vanir*** deities did not take too kindly to his questing exploits with the lovely elf, Lady Bangtidy, and the rancid dwarf, Sveinn Fishbreath, and they wanted to teach him a lesson.
In an act of meanness, the Vanir officially changed Paulvik’s Cliffscrambler name to a less flattering one. The new name resulted from unfortunate incident when Paulvik was part of a Vanir trade delegation to the recently discovered new lands called “Amereeka”. During a failed teambuilding event, in an uncomfortably hot and humid place called Kentuckee he accidentally sat on a Klondike Bar (a frozen treat made with ice cream and chocolate). The resulting stain never really washed out of Paulvik’s shorts. This led to Paulvik's new official Vanir name of Torðibrækr****
However, that expedition was not all bad for Torðibrækr. Later in the trans-Amereeka bartering trip he happened upon a group of wandering Latin Amereekan traders who were willing to exchange their livestock for his collection of magic beans in a kind of reverse Jack and the Beanstalk moment. I hear you ask, what would a god who lives in the land of ice and fire giants (who are his declared enemy) want with beans that takes him directly into their giant stronghold? Well, read on...
At a very favourable exchange rate, Paulvik became the proud owner of an exotic menagerie consisting of three Lesser Capybara, two Panamanian Night Monkeys, a White-faced Capuchin, and many Poison Dart Frogs. He believed these would be very popular in his native lands and would curry much favour with the head of the Vanir, who always wants to add to his exotic petting zoo. Paulvik was hopefully this would get him back in the Vanir’s good books and they would revoke his newly acquired moniker. Alas, Paulvik did not understand the consequences of handling the brightly coloured froggy amphibians and, after eating another Klondike Bar without washing his hands first, he developed a very, very bad, and alarmingly sudden, gastric tract problem. The results only reinforced his new Torðibrækr nickname.
A sad tale, I’m sure you will agree.
What is the connection with Vestrahorn you may be asking yourself? The answer is none, really. The origins of this fanciful tale were hatched over a few alcoholic beverages in North Wales when Lady Bangtidy and I decided that our partner-in-crime had gotten away too lightly in my previous ramblings. So we made up a story that would address the balance, especially when we know that much of the “adventures” we had on our real quest were down to his stupid suggestions. Yes, we are taking about the long hike back to the car where we nearly got lost following his lead in the freezing pitch black of night while trudging into the 50-60mph headwinds. And did I mention my contorted tripod thanks to a dereliction of Paulvik's responsibility?
And why set it in Amereeka? Well, on this side of the pond we hear it has got a bit run down lately, but it will be great again soon. Very great. The greatest. Biggly great, in fact. But probably lacking in trade delegations for a while.
* Not really, but this author is a sloppy writer and is lacking in linguistic creativity. But, hey!, even Tolkien borrowed heavily from the Edda and sagas of Iceland. So don’t expect too much from me!
** The following may be 100% pure fiction. Or maybe not. But probably.
*** As mentioned a previous post, Paulvik is a Vanir, a group of “lesser” Norse gods. The “lesser” epitaph is a constant source of annoyance to the Vanir and, as a result, has made them ever so slightly ultra right-wing elitist. They hate all other species. Totally. Think of them as the fascist of the mythical world. Not Paulvik, though. In the land of the mortals of Middle Earth, he is known by the name “Extremelyniceandgenerousman*****.”
**** Roughly translates to “poopy-pants”
***** He may have termed that himself.
Segur que el ferreret podria ser un dels protagonistes d’aquell videojoc per a mòbils que va tindre tant d’èxit a la primera desena dels anys dos mil.
Seguro que el herrerillo podría ser uno de los protagonistas de aquel videojuego para móviles que tuvo tanto de éxito a la primera decena de los años dos mil.
Surely, the blue tit could be one of the protagonists of that mobile video game that was so successful in the first decade of the 2000s.
#nikonD850 #sigma150600contemporary #nikonistas #seobirdlife #banyeresdemariola #svo
@seobirdlife.cvalenciana @svornitologia @banyeresturisme
Posable model of Judy Hopps, the protagonist of the 2016 Disney animation film Zootopia.
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→ Another photo of Judy
→ Joint photo of Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde
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PS I can't believe I've built something again but I just couldn't help recreating this lively character. I wish I were as optimistic as she is.
Desde el 1 hasta el 19 de marzo, la pólvora será la principal protagonista con el disparo de una mascletá, cada día, a las 14:00 horas, en la plaza del Ayuntamiento de València.
From March 1 to 19, gunpowder will be the main protagonist with the firing of a mascletá, every day, at 2:00 p.m., in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento de València.
València (Spain).
Last year I decided that I was going to start reading more and I read 255 books. This year, I wanted to up my game a little bit and do more like a reading marathon and ended up the year reading 365 books, a book for every day. Even though I am a pretty athletic person, I can't run because it hurts my knees. I am not as graceful and elegant as I would need to be for professional dance and sports has never interested me. But reading is the one thing I can do and I like to do at the gym, on planes, in bed, and in the bathtub primarily. So, I made an effort to read for a minimum of 2 1/2 hours per day and sometimes ended up reading for more like 4 hours a day on weekends and when I had other days off from work. I didn't read to show off but to escape the reality of our current country's political situation and to learn more about the lives and perspectives of others unlike me. Reading a mixture of novels, nonfiction essays and immigrant stories, collections of poetry and short stories, I read less than 10% of these books by white people and of those 10%, most were by women. I can say that I really enjoyed the vast majority of the books I've read and don't have any significant regrets for this reading marathon.
I should also note that, although some of these books did come out in 2019, many did not. The following are my favorite books of this year that I read this year (regardless of their original publication date). I know I am also probably forgetting some and I feel remiss in that too, but I spent hours writing the following (even longer than that reading these) and I hope some of you get some good recommendations of books you might also like to read or can connect with me on a book you have read. Feel free to share your favorites as well! I am highly interested in having conversations about books and finding out about literature I may have had less exposure to living in America.
1. Tell Me Who You Are by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi
This book is an astounding work that covers so many different states and personal backgrounds to reflect on race in America. If you like Humans of New York, this is a little like that in the sense that it explores what makes us human but it's a great more complex and thorough than that-maybe a Humans of America. The fact that Guo and Vulchi were able to travel all across the US to gain an understanding of so many people and how their race has affected their lives is a daring and meaningful venture in and of itself but it's also clear that they make a concerted effort to explore the things these people like and enjoy so that there's a fuller sense to some things they have in common with others. In addition, the photographs of these people really add to a sense of them. if you do not fall in love with these humans along with this work as a whole, that is a loss for you. We must change in our country. We must develop more empathy and patience. We must be able to listen to others who we think we share nothing in common with and find the things we do share whilst respecting individual differences. This is the only way we will be able to heal and move forward.
This book is a masterpiece and should be celebrated in every household across America.
2. Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
This book is so relevant to what is happening at the border with the unfair treatment of families from Mexico right now in all of our names but it also manages a personal touch with an extended road trip and the link between the mother/protagonist and her own family and how she handles her own children being separated from her. This is a harrowing read, especially because there is truth in the weight of our names as Americans being tied to the deep sins of mistreating other humans. This is also, however a very poetic read, haunting in its lyrical quality and in the way that Luiselli is able to adeptly convey the range of emotions she feels, desperate and distraught but also so very insightful. You will read these pages wit your heart in your throat, worry that if you are not careful, you may actually end of swallowing it.
www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/03/lost-children-archi...
3. Frontier by Can Xue
2019 was the year I discovered Can Xue, the experimental fiction author from China who, at first, everyone thought was male as her pen name isn't especially gender specific. Can Xue is not understood fully by probably most people and I myself had to read several sentences over again a few times, especially this work, the most esoteric of what I've read (three novels and one short story collection this year). The imagery is especially potent here and you don't really know exactly what is happening in the way the human form can transform. You really don't know quite what could be actually happening....and what could be a dream or a hallucination. This would be a book I would read at the end of the world cuddled under a blanket and remembering the most imaginative humans could be then hoping there were some creatives still left out in the tundra of the world.
www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-mysterious-fronti...
4. Though the Arc of the Rainforest by Karen Tei Yamashita
Another new author I discovered was Karen Tei Yamashita and, though I also enjoyed reading a collection of her plays entitled Anime Wong, I even more so enjoyed reading this novel. Yamashita is Japanese American but you get more of that specific perspective from her plays. Set between Japan and Brazil, this novel features a very vivid cast of interesting characters not to mention the protagonist that is the rotating ball in front of the Japanese train conductor's head. This is one of the most unique books I have ever read in my life and it's no surprise that the forward is from one of the most highly intelligent authors in the world, Percival Everett. This novel is a real treat and is a riveting surreal adventure.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/karen-tei-yamashita-2/...
5. Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick
I've spent many years not knowing very much at all about the lives of those who live in North Korea, much as the citizens of North Korea have spent their lives knowing not too much about others outside of their country. This non fiction work follows the lives of North Koreans who escape into China and South Korea and manage to be granted refugee status and follows them up until the early 2000s. It's another book that disarms you in its brutality. Demick records the stories of their lives, how they bought into propaganda, and how they started to gather inklings of the truth while they were in their home country. The depth of the poverty and brainwashing is immense from the time that these people are schoolchildren. Even if they were starving, if someone came by and saw that their picture of Kim Jong-il then Kim Jong-un weren't immaculate, they could be taken and forced into a labor camp. If they didn't weep loud enough at the death of Kim Jong-il, they were also suspect and no one could trust their neighbors, who could also very likely be government informants. The only media that they had access to was North Korean and Russian propaganda films and even their literature was greatly restricted. In addition, even having a bowl of rice a day was seen as a great luxury. Many starved to death and were happy to have less mouths to feed in their family. The clothing women could wear was also severely limited. This was (and possibly still in many ways is) a super suppressed society (from the point of view of an American especially.) I'd be curious if anything has changed and what but really what honestly struck me is how the government deliberately misled their citizens into thinking that they were producing things they weren't and that the rest of the world was under the same amount of hardship. This is a government who would rather see their people starve than to stoop to accepting aid from abroad. It's eye opening and terrifying for me to think of the people who have suffered and died under these regimes.
www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/03/nothing-envy-korea-...
6. The Pretty One by Keah Brown
There has been a real paucity in literature of valuable and unique human perspectives and this work of nonfiction is an incredibly valuable addition to the canon of literature as a whole and adds to our collective human empathy and understanding of the range of experiences one can have while being alive. Keah Brown is a woman like none other-honest about the world and her own growth as a human, friend, and twin sister, insightful about the racism and ableism in our current present world and humorous in her observations of pop culture. Keah Brown has a different ability level and many might say she has a disability. I say she has an ability that most other people do not possess and may not ever possess. That doesn’t mean that our physical environment does not need to become more accommodating (it does) and that people don’t need to develop more empathy (they do). But, it does mean that we would all be wise to learn from her perspective.
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/disabledandcut...
7. Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha
One of the most astounding books of fiction I read this year was a book that feels incredibly brave and is loosely based on actual incidents that happened in the Rodney King riots of LA. Steph Cha is Korean American but it became widely clear from this novel that she is very invested in promoting healing between the Korean and African American communities. The novel goes back and forth between 1991 and 2019 and explores racism with a deep and personal delving that made me literally at times gasp out loud. There’s a question of human accountability, retribution, and these are treated with care and contentiousness. This is the kind of wholly relevant novel we can all learn something from even despite it being technically fiction. There are still lots of truths to be found here.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steph-cha/your-house-w...
8. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Asha Bandele and Patrisse Khan-Cullors
If you live in America and are even remotely aware of the racist systems and acts of violence that are committed against those in the African and African American communities, you should be appalled. I can tell you just reading even what is considered to be “liberal” news outlets I am appalled by how quickly and often they show any mug shot of a person of color but (I always call this correctly), when it’s a white terrorist who has committed a hate crime, we don’t see his face for several days or longer. The fact of the matter is, most of the time these acts are not even classified as terrorism and yet they are just as damaging and politically motivated. This book explores the heartache and mobilization of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as the police brutality and death and the systems in place that keep white people especially profiting. One day, I hope to live in a world where all are treated equally but we have a long ways to go and, as a human of privilege in this current world, I believe the only way we’re going to get there is if all people, including white people, advocate for an end to these racist systems and a place of acceptance, love, and respect for everyone in this world. I’m never going to claim I know the fear and the danger and the distrust that one must feel being Black in America but I do feel extreme sadness when I see cops having no accountability for murder, for profit prisons capitalizing on modern day slavery, and a whole range of racism happening in terms of regentrification, lack of funding for public schools in neighborhoods where there are more people of color, food deserts, and other appalling neglectful practices by our own government. It is shameful. There should be reparations. And, even more so, I do believe that the police in this country are currently doing more harm than good and that we should abolish at least 90% of our prisons. (I’d say abolish all but I want there to still be a place for Trump and all his friends.) This is a must read for all humans who want to come to a better understanding of what it takes to make a movement and the real human damage to what has occurred in several cities across America where the blood on our hands cannot ever be washed off.
patrissecullors.com/call-terrorist-black-lives-matter-mem...
9. Women Talking by Miriam Toews
I’ve read several novels by Miriam Toews and, though I have enjoyed all of them, this is one of her stand alone masterpieces. Miriam Toews comes from a Mennonite perspective and often her stories focus on Mennonite life with some personal anecdotes seemingly inserted here and there. This novel feels much different and offers an important aspect of feminism in terms of exploration of the human female mind after the real life events taking place in Bolivia in 2005-2009 when these women were raped consistently by men in their Mennonite community and were basically told by these men that these abuses were not happening and that these women were psychologically unsound. Most books of this nature explore the deep wounds of being a victim. This book offers a different sort of perspective. While still putting a human face to the damage done by men, it focuses more on the action of these women in discussions and meetings to decide how they will solve this problem going forward. Will they kick out the men? Will they leave completely? If they leave, will they take the children including the male children? At what age does a male stay behind? These are complex and very real questions and all choices are intellectually explored with great discussion. It made me feel the strength and empowerment of women vs. another book that would have focused more on these humans as victims instead. Well worth the read!
www.npr.org/2019/04/06/709530968/these-women-talking-buil...
10. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
This is a daunting read. When I say daunting, I should clarify that while I have read a few 1000+ page novels before, they are usually separated into separate sentences. Ellmann clearly was going for a marathon level of stream of consciousness when she wrote this one. Most of the novel (I’d say 900+ pages of it) are The fact of___ the fact of______ the fact of____ the fact of___ and Ellmann reveals what haunts her the most-Trump and corporations valuing profit over people, gun toting MAGA white terrorists on the loose, poorly built bridges, cops shooting unarmed African Americans, and sort of what I can only say I would consider the collective disease process of being American in this present day. But, there is also the overarching story line of being a mother, a daughter whose mother has passed away of Cancer, remarrying after divorce, and oddly enough being a pie baker. She goes through several harrowing real life incidents in the book where she and her family are put in danger but that doesn’t give us a break from her very loud internal monologue that will suddenly just start listing off facts of films, every city she can think of, and random products. The reader’s only reprieve from this great feat of literature is when we see the perspective of a lioness running from hunters and trying to protect her progeny. I do think this book is worth reading, especially if you can get in the groove and feel the pulse of the first person female protagonist but you do need to obviously put in a huge time and emotional commitment. In order to help things flow more smoothly for you if you decide to take up this challenge as a reader, I suggest reading about 100 pages for 11 days straight or 50 pages a day for 21 days straight. If you do this, you manage to get into a certain groove by page 300 or so. Slowly but surely, all the tangential word salad starts making a weird sort of sense and you begin to really feel for the sense of this woman’s personal story and what she’s going through. Maybe it says something about me that I found her relatable even though I haven’t lost my mom to Cancer, haven’t gone through a divorce, do not have kids, and don’t have a clue how to bake a pie. But, I understand being caught in a state of almost helplessness about what my country has become and what I witness in terms of how people act towards each other. Anyway, a lot of people have abandoned this but it might be the perfect book to add to the next time capsule. Hopefully, things will get better in the new year.
www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/can-one-sentence-capt...
11. In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero
I still haven’t watched the show Orange is the New Black, which stars Diane Guerrero, but I fell in love with her as Jane the Virgin’s good friend/sidekick Lina early on. (You can’t NOT watch Jane the Virgin if you live in Chicago. So many of my co-workers went to high school with Gina Rodriguez and always talk about how nice she was to everyone which is literally the opposite of what most people say about you in high school). That being said, I usually don’t read books just because they are by celebrities but I enjoyed this one as well as America Ferrera’s American Like Me: Reflections of Life Between Cultures and Tiffany Haddish’s The Last Black Unicorn. All three nonfiction autobiographies are worth reading and pondering over but Guerrero’s personal struggle against adversity when she literally came home as a teenager and found herself completely alone after her parents had been deported to Colombia struck a real sense in me of how, first it’s gotten even worse with ICE raids, and second, these children are such victims and we’re not even considering all the collateral human damage of what we do as a country when this happens. I found this autobiography brave, brutally honest, and even at times a little funny but mostly I found this to me about the power of perseverance and not giving up no matter what, not just in the struggle for survival, which was very real for Guerrero, but also in the struggle to do what you love and follow your dreams and actually make it. Guerrero is talented, that is for sure, but she is also a sort of superhero as well in what she has overcome and she has given us all a real gift of letting us glimpse the power of her human spirit.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/diane-guerrero/in-the-...
12. A Particular Type of Black Man by Tope Folarin
This is a complex portrait of a Nigerian family who immigrates to Utah of all places and it seems like some of this story must be based on Folarin’s own life experience in that he did have a family who immigrated here from Nigeria and spent some time growing up in Utah and other areas that are also mentioned in this book. What makes this book more unique than many immigrant fiction or pseudofiction is the exploration of the human mind and exploration of mental health and illness within the protagonist as well as this family unit. What also makes it worth reading is the sense of a celebration in Nigerian culture vs. complete desertion. There were insights and information in this book that really astounded me, even having lived in this country all my life (though, to be fair I have never been to Utah). Well worth the read!
www.npr.org/2019/08/24/751917486/tope-folarin-was-a-parti...
13. The Memory Police by Yoko Agawa
This is the second full length novel I’ve read by Yoko Agawa (I’ve also read and liked The Housekeeper and the Professor as well as her short story collection entitled Revenge). I enjoyed all three of these works but I liked The Memory Police by far the best…the concept that you slowly lose the memory of everything around you and hold dear and the including literally parts of yourself-limbs, for instance, and that anyone who still has the ability to remember is not safe but is taken and separated from society at the very least is a really intriguing concept but where the book really succeeds is in its exploration of memories in the sense that they make us human and are truly a part of us. It’s also a book within a book as we experience this cruel postmodern society from the protagonist while, at the same time, experience her own protagonist of the horror typewriter story she’s been authoring. I really enjoyed the strong sense of mood and contemplation on the nature of existence.
www.npr.org/2019/08/12/749538789/quiet-surreal-drama-and-...
14. Revolution Sunday by Wendy Guerra
This is a mixed sort of book between prose and poetry with some aspects of experimental fiction as well. One cannot help but fall in love a little bit with Guerra as she travels to Mexico, falls in love with an actor, tries to escape persecution from the Cuban government who are constantly monitoring every move she makes, and above all keeps writing as she attempts to discover the truth of the death of her parents as well as gain a sense of her place in the world as a woman, a poet, a human. Some of these lines of poetry are completely haunting and there’s some real themes in this novel about deconstruction and reconstruction.
www.npr.org/2018/12/05/673387723/complicated-challenging-...
www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/books/review/wendy-guerra-revo...
15. The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
Lefteri is British but has worked with immigrants in Athens, which is where this story takes place at least in part. This is a really harrowing fictional account of a Syrian husband and wife who have lost their child and are each coping with it in their own ways (the mother soon after goes blind and the father suffers from delusions and hallucinations). This is also a story about the struggle for survival after witnessing the tragedy-the destruction of your home and everything you love, and the process of immigration to a safer space and country and the real life troubles to be found in these places as well. Oddly enough, I also learned a great deal about bees from this book but I still feel it is more focused on the desperation that people in Syria must feel and trying to get over incidents that have devastated them and should have never happened in the first place. On a personal level, I don’t believe in borders and I’d rather have more Syrians in my own country than horrible rich white men. No thanks!
www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/beekeeper-aleppo-novel
16. Those Who Wander: America's Lost Street Kids by Vivian Ho
America is a country of great wealth but, unfortunately, until our tax structure changes, it is a wealth owned by the very few whose greed is overpowering (I mean, everyone needs a 100th house while the homeless are dying on the streets, right). In California, especially the Bay Area, where this nonfiction work concentrates on, this is even more vividly so. The book explores the reasons behind actual murders that took place but also the desperate conditions that drive people to become homeless, the psychologies behind being homeless, and the resources that are available and kind people who have tried to help. This book is a really difficult read because of the subject matter but it is important that none of us look away and turn our backs on those who struggle. No one should have to live in poverty just so the most affluent people can become more powerful. But, of course, these uber rich are miserable too, you know. They too won’t be free until every other human is free.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/vivian-ho/those-who-wa...
18. So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Oluo is incredible candid and honest not just about racism within our structures such as our for profit prison industrial system but within our daily interactions. She answers some questions white people might be too scared to answer and illuminates other things white people might be oblivious about in terms of their/our own sense of privilege. And she does all of this, I’m guess, with the hope that speaking truth to power will lead us all to be better people regardless of our race and also because communities have suffered because in 2019 (now 2020), white privilege is still very much a thing and is going strong.
www.thenationalbookreview.com/features/2018/2/1/pzq0lfjcp...
19. Logic in an Illogical World by Eugenia Cheng
I wouldn’t call myself a Mathematician by any standards. I can do basic algebra without a calculator and I see the artistic nature of geometry and can read and extrapolate from a variety of graphs but, most of the time, I still prefer art, literature, and music to Mathematics. Still, the one time I became really and truly excited about Math happened when I leared about Mathematical/Logical proofs and Cheng explores the art of proofs within the context of several political arguments relevant to this period of time in our shared human history. She touches on the less controversial to the extreme controversial and offers insights into personality and how she herself has changed when she has thought of an argument or a collection of facts in a different context. This book will help you see multiple points of view and have richer discussions about everything from mandatory voting practices to abortion.
www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/19/the-art-of-logic-by...
20. Making Comics by Lynda Barry
Many of the books I have written about have touched me and I have learned a great deal from them but this is one of those books that gave me very concrete ideas about activities to do with children at Chicago Public Schools. Not all of these activities are written to be done with children but many can be adapted and I have found that giving kids a 4-5 minute free draw at the end of my Occupational Therapy sessions not only motivates them to complete other challenges but also addresses a visual motor need they might have. I have really enjoyed tremendously seeing kids draw their favorite monster and also as themselves as an animal in particular. I think drawing can definitely be like dreams….you never truly know exactly what you are thinking and feeling until you let your mind and your hands go across the paper. This book also inspired me in a different way, which is to look at my own drawings not as technically good or bad but as a product of my own mind and spirit and, in that sense, it’s less damaging to me and less frustrating when I can’t draw something exactly how it looks in real life, for example. I loved all the exercises and visual examples in this book! It really can change your life if you let it!
www.npr.org/2019/11/27/782921983/cartoonist-lynda-barry-d...
21. Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal
I have to admit, I fell in love with the protagonist of this story, Kiran Sharma, who identifies with the deity of Krishna and is trying to find how own way in the world as both a boy who is discovering his own sexuality and the fact that he is gay, as well as a young man coming to terms with his identity as an Indian American boy living in middle America (Cincinnati, Ohio). Kiran is dramatic and perfect and Satyal really succeeds in painting a vivid portrait of growing up with obstacles but still being yourself despite these challenges. There were scenes in this book that made me laugh until I cried but also made me cry until I laughed. Wonderfully written with a true celebration of the human spirit and of the joy in being able to be yourself and learn to love everything that makes you: you!
www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews/fiction/06/08/blue-boy-by-...
22. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous By Ocean Vuong
First and foremost, Ocean Vuong is a poet and even in prose this comes out more than the vast majority of novel writers. This is his first actual work of fiction and feels a little traumatic and haunting it it’s deep feeling sense of the experience of life and family. Vuong’s deep feeling protagonist is trying to come to terms with the actions of and his relationship to his mother as well as some of his own life choices. You get the sense that each day brings its own struggles and is definitely not easy and that reality is a cruel sort of mistress that keeps revisiting him. But, the poetry above all will make you remember and want to return to this book.
www.npr.org/2019/06/05/729691730/on-earth-is-gorgeous-all...
23. A Woman is No Man By Etaf Rum
This book is about many things-family, tradition, but also feminism and a new generation of women who think and reach beyond their metaphysical borders. It follows three generations of a family who immigrated to Brooklyn from Palestine and the abuses they suffered at the hands of their men as well as the secrets they covered up. Most devastating is the way that the grandmother and mother expect (though much more so the grandmother) the conforming of the younger women to submit to all the male wishes and hide any evidence of their true selves that might appear ungrateful and difficult. This is a family that would rather kill than be seen as dishonorable and, though it is technically fiction, it is shocking in the depth of abuse these women take and how they themselves as humans are taken for granted. This book was full of surprises for me on virtually every page.
www.npr.org/2019/03/02/699051434/for-better-or-worse-new-...
24. Broken Places and Outer Spaces Nnedi Okorafor
I’m a big fan of the science fiction of Nnedi Okorafor, most notably Lagoon is my favorite, but this book is one I read this year and is a highly personal autobiographical account of her learning to break free from paralysis after a Scoliosis surgery that did not go as well as expected and finding her own unique voice and inspiration in the work of other artists to explore her own realm of Science Fiction in a way that is wholly worthwhile. I had no idea that the author I’ve read so many fiction books from had this extreme experience but I was indeed inspired by her own perseverance and coming to terms with the surgery and not letting limitations define her but pushing beyond these with a strength and dedication that doubtless has made her one of the very best authors in her field.
nnedi.com/books/broken_places_outer_spaces.html
25. John Edgar Wideman: Fanon
This is one of the more complex books of fiction I’ve read this year…it is truly a story within a story within a story based on some of Wideman’s real life with his brother as well as the actual life of the revolutionary Frantz Fanon..it’s about not wanting the cruelty of history to be repeated and about drawing connections between timelines and the way racism continues to impact people across continents today. It is at times highly poetic and at other times so visceral you might have to put it down but in any case very worthwhile reading and incredibly adept and masterful in its exploration of all of these connections and reconciliation between past and present with a hope for a better and different future. There are many passages here that are profound and all are thought provoking.
www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Siegel-t.html
26. The Hungry Ghosts by Shyam Selvadurai
I have learned a great deal about the political crisis in Sri Lanka in the 1980s from Selvadurai. If you want to try to understand what was happening between the Tamil and Sinhalese people, this is a topic that Selvadurai visits often as well as coming of age as a man who is gay and being an immigrant in Canada. There’s also a real delving into the classism inherent within the Sri Lankan society between these people and also, between the protagonist’s own grandmother and her tenants and the abuse and neglect that happens to the poor. Meanwhile, the grandmother manages to distance herself from her actions and convince herself that these people brought these things on themselves with bad karma…by her own standards, she should expect a much worse life in her next one. There are many similar topics in terms of Sri Lankan politics and coming to terms with one’s own sexuality in Funny Boy but this seemed more of an in depth work so I would recommend reading The Hungry Ghosts if you have limited reading time but you may find you’d like to read his others anyhow.
nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/book-reviews/book-re...
27. Taina by Ernesto Quinonez
I read two of Quinonez’s novels back to back and while I liked the emotional drama and complexity of Bodega Dreams, I really liked the sense of Puerto Rican tradition and strong female main character here. This involves everything from the idea of magical realism to deep religious beliefs. Could Taina be a postmodern virgin Mary? Could this be immaculate conception? The other protagonist, a young male, is willing to believe anything she says and fight for her virtue. While this story takes place primarily in Spanish Harlem, it also shows the inherent racism and classism in NYC as a whole while adeptly pulling one into the personalities and tribulations of the characters. Well worth reading!
apnews.com/f8209640f0554191a893cbe61a4583b9
28. On Black Sisters Street Chika Unigwe
This book explores the lives of African women immigrating to Belgium in hopes of a better life and being lied to with the idea that they could be housekeepers and nannies but then are sold into a sex trade where they are basically enslaved until they raise an inordinate amount of money to “pay back” their immigration fee. It is about living unsafely as an illegal and being forced into prostitution just to survive, which happens far more frequently than many people might realize. Women on our own are valuable in terms of our ideas and our empathy but the world will still look at women as a whole and women from African especially as only worthwhile as a body to rape. This is a very difficult read, mainly because of the aspects of truth that this happens but also because you get attached to the characters and don’t want them to suffer, which is the work of a great novelist in and of itself.
www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/books/review/book-review-on-bl...
29. Home a Refugee Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah
This is a really insightful read for anyone who is looking to hear about the author’s escape from Syria to refugees in Canada. We learn a lot about the power of the human spirit and it is also in many ways a testament to why all countries should welcome refugees. It is also valuable in terms of giving ideas on how we can do better in terms of supporting the transition between countries when there is a new language, culture shock, and when families need to keep something similar in place such as even a space to pray in schools. We need to all make sure we are being kind and sensitive and welcoming as well as aware of the probably trauma that refugees have suffered, especially coming from war torn countries. This also shows us how valuable it is to listen and to help refugees tell their stories, as the work of Rabeeah’s Language Arts teacher Winnie Yeung is the reason why we have this remarkable autobiography.
quillandquire.com/review/homes-a-refugee-story/
30. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
There were many times reading this book I felt fascinated, wondered about the choices of the characters and what they would do next, and drawn to the mystery surrounding the death that unites all of them from the beginning of the Moroccan American father who owns a restaurant and is suspiciously killed by a hit and run. This is a work of fiction but the way it explores racism and xenophobia is all too real and Lalami really helps the reader sense the loss of humanity when incidents like this take place as well as the complexity of it between the investigation and trial and the level of dishonesty too. It’s also interesting because it involves an unlikely inter-racial love affair and there’s a sense that when these two people can fall in love, maybe we can all reconcile our differences with each other…maybe….hopefully we are capable.
www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-lailalalami-otheramericans...
31. The Making of a Dream: How a Group of Young Undocumented Immigrants Helped Change What It Means to Be American By, Laura Wides Munoz
This is a really comprehensive work of nonfiction chronicling the 1,500 walk of a group of Dreamers and a decade of work beginning with Obama and coming up to the published date of January 2019. It makes no qualms about exposing the frustrations and stalemate of the Obama presidency in getting protections but also the horrors of our current political situation for these young and determined humans that are also vulnerable despite their bravery and fierceness. We get to know the inner workings of their lives and family situations, their education and history of what drives them the most in terms of their advocacy. Munoz also exposes how some movements such as gay rights and marriage are pitted against others like the movement to protect Dreamers and how a single year cut off can arbitrary ruin human lives and mean deportations. This is an important read for anyone who still thinks these amazing humans don’t belong or deserve to be here (They do!) and who still thinks it’s easy to become a legal immigrant if you’re just willing to go through the established process….this line of thinking is an ignorant myth. These humans deserve so much more than this. Let’s hope 2020 brings us a new president who is willing to provide more protections and also welcome more immigrants to America.
www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/books/review/laura-wides-munoz...
32. Go Ahead in the Rain by Hanif Abdurraquib
Hanif always brings himself into his writing about music and this is why, even if you are not the biggest Tribe Called Quest Fan, you will still find many reasons to fall in love with this book. That being said, my partner has always loved Tribe and I finally fell in love myself when I saw them perform and was able to photograph them (see: www.flickr.com/photos/kirstiecat/35348763944/in/photolist... ) Hanif made me love both him and the band even more in the way that he explores their history, why their music is groundbreaking, and their contemporaries as well. Hanif also explores his own love of music and how music was seen in his family. There’s also a story early on that shows the racism of his music teacher at school that made me feel so devastated that these things happen from teachers who are supposed to be loving and nonjudgmental. There is so much to love and learn from in this book and, even if you don’t fall in love with Tribe, you might still fall deeper in love with humanity and our relationship to nourishing sound.
www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/10/go-ahead-in-the-rai...
33. Call Me American Abdi Nor Iftin
Oh my God the lengths that this man goes to in order to survive civil war in Somalia, escape to Kenya then to the US is insane. My heart was in my throat for the vast majority of this book…a really survival against all odds life story. It also gives a glimpse at how much tragedy some of our immigrants are carrying with them when they come here and the love and supports we should all give them. Abdi Nor Iftin is extremely intelligent and also funny but I can’t imagine going through even 10% of what he went through when he was trying to escape warring tribes and seeing so much death around him and still being able to lift my head off the pillow each morning.
www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/books/call-me-american-abdi-no...
34. Passing by Nella Larsen
I read both Passing and Quicksand by Nella Larsen this year and liked them both quite a bit. Both have a lot to offer in terms of insights into classism and racism but Passing feels a little more vivid to me maybe because it is set between Chicago and NYC whereas much of Quicksand takes place in Denmark. Both novels are well worth reading though and Passing has both a personal component between these two women with a shared history and that of secrets and racism as one woman is passing for white in trade of an elevated place in society at the time. In addition to giving us glimpses of both cities in 1929, it shows a little bit about what it was like both living as a white woman and living as a black woman and the level of anxiety felt by those who tried to keep their race a secret.
electricliterature.com/in-nella-larsens-passing-whiteness...
35. Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card Sara Saedi
In many ways, this is about a family torn because of their differing immigration statuses and how arbitrary all that seems when we’re talking about real humans and not just letters and numbers on a page. This is a family that will go to all lengths in order to get citizenship for themselves and others and will fight to be Americans even though America does not treat them as kindly or with justice. This is also a great deal about the joys of family, of Iranian culture, and also of coming of age and pop culture in America. Saedi, who now writes for iZombie (I still haven’t seen this show myself but now I might give it a try), is at times poignant and at other times really hilarious. You really get a sense of her personality in this autobiography and it really makes you again realize how much immigrants have to offer America and how they deserve far better than what they are given most of the time. It’s a tragedy that we treat humans the way we do simply because they aren’t born here. That needs to stop.
www.npr.org/2018/03/28/597600898/americanized-recounts-wh...
36. Lindy West: The Witches are Coming
Lindy West is hilarious in her examination of racism, sexism, whole bodyism and all that really needs to change about reality. I learned things I somehow missed, like how “Grumpy Cat’s” owners came up with a ridiculous far fetched story so cover up for the fact they were using an insult/slur used for those with different ability levels. I also found the chapters about Adam Sandler and Joan Rivers pretty insightful as well. There were many times I felt like, “Yeah, I agree with that” but she has a really great cutting way about how she presents information and also her opinions that make it a good read.
www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/lindy-west-casts...
37. The Reactive By, Ntshanga, Masande
I’ve never read a book quite like this. If you want to know what it was like to be HIV+ in the late 1990s-early 2000s and living in South Africa, this book is the one for you. But also, this book is about family, about overcoming loss, about deep friendships and has a great deal of existentialism and in general bizarre interactions, drug trial and substance abuse, and an analysis of racism in Cape Town as well. I felt very strongly that I both learned something and gained an attachment to these fictional characters and what they were going through.
slate.com/culture/2016/07/masande-ntshangas-the-reactive-...
38. Brother by David Chariandy
Set in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, this follows second generation Trinidadian immigrants and the racism they encounter living there in the early 1990s. This is a really well written look at family, especially these two brothers and the bond between them and how the family deals with all of life’s small and large tragedies. It’s also a book that will likely devastate you, though I don’t want to spoil anything by saying more.
www.cbc.ca/books/brother-by-david-chariandy-1.4246382
39. A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian
This could be another book about class warfare and profit over people but the layers in it are exceptional and what Subramanian does really well is to delve into the different personalities and power in the women in this place ironically called Heaven and illustrate the need for women to stick together.
www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/books/review/mathangi-subraman...
40. Dinner By, César Aira
I read a couple of novels/novellas by César Aira and a collection of short stories called The Musical Brain and Other Stories, which was also phenomenal. Dinner was even more unexpected and hilarious because it combines the need to be remembered and the power of names with a zombie uprising in the little town of Pringles in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I love the politically astute sense to this and the twists in the plot. Really a very unique book not just about zombies but about the power of human memory.
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cesar-aira/dinner-aira/
A couple of really highly recommended books of poetry:
The City in Which I Love You Li-Young Lee
Rangoli by Pavana Reddy
A couple of quick cat related books
I don’t think the following books are necessarily life changing but I did want to mention to them in case you are a cat lover like I am! I think animals bring out the best in humans when we find ourselves at our most compassionate and so I’ve always enjoyed reading books that feature cats. Here are the couple I read this year and enjoyed:
If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura
We could give up movies and time but could we give up cats? What if we were terminally ill and this could buy us one more day on Earth….what would we give up?
The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
For the vast majority of this book, we really don’t know why the protagonist is looking for someone to take care of his cat but we get to meet a lot of different types of people from his past and learn about them, which is both interesting and philosophical.
Una corsa della linea 7 ha raggiunto il capolinea alla stazione di Stettbach ed è impegnata a invertire la marcia. La manovra avviene con un binario circolare che circonda l’edificio della stazione ferroviaria, qui sotterranea. Il protagonista è sempre un tram appartenente alla famiglia dei Tram2000, questa volta però un “Sänfte” a tre casse e con pianale ribassato.
Ein Kurs der Linie 7 hat die Endstation Stettbach erreicht und ist mit der Wendemanöver beschäftigt. Das Wenden findet auf einem Rundgleis um das Bahnhofsgebäude statt, die Gleise sind hier unterirdisch. Der Protagonist ist wieder ein Tram der Tram2000-Familie, diesmal jedoch eine dreiteilige Sänfte mit Niederflur.
My New Novel
B♭ (B Flat)
Feel free to read on and explore more. 😃
(Of course, this is not the final draft.)
Important 😅
The female protagonist was originally written as a married woman.
However, as the story unfolded, the constraints of that setting became too restrictive.
Therefore, I have changed her status to single, now living with her partner.
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Scene: Los Angeles – The Beaudry – Majid Hamza
1:47 p.m. The heat of downtown Los Angeles drifted between buildings, and the dry air shimmered above the asphalt, warping the ground like a mirage. The midday sun poured vertically into the canyon of skyscrapers.
The façade of The Beaudry reflected the sunlight like a cold mirror, casting flickering shards of light into the eyes of passersby.
The Beaudry, standing in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, is a modern high-rise residential tower. Though its exterior is cold and inorganic, the building boasts luxury amenities. It faces Wilshire Boulevard and 7th Street, just steps from the 7th Street Metro station, offering exceptional convenience in an area where the business district intersects with the city's creative scene—a location in high demand.
960 W 7th Street. For a weekday afternoon, the area was oddly still. Though the office district bustled just a few blocks away, this particular corner seemed wrapped in a strange stagnation of air. Only two or three office workers passed by, presumably out for lunch.
A line of black Ubers honked briefly, then vanished down the road.
The glass-paneled entrance hall was as silent as a gallery. Behind the reception desk, a sculptural white lighting fixture floated like a piece of minimalist art.
Only residents or prospective tenants accompanied by real estate agents came and went. Visitors were rare. No one made eye contact. Everyone stared into the glow of their phones.
Majid, seated on a bench beside the bus stop with a few others, gently touched the mute-reader inside his bag. Subconsciously checking his surroundings, he connected the outdated smartphone—disconnected from the internet—to a tablet that operated only over Wi-Fi.
A few days earlier, he had received a single line from Rafi:
“July 24, 3 p.m. Look for the ‘♭’ mark at the bottom of mellow-echo.net.”
Majid quietly opened his browser. mellow-echo.net—the abandoned official site of a defunct indie music label. Its HTML pages hadn’t been updated in over a decade, but they still floated in some forgotten corner of the internet.
He scrolled to the very bottom. Against a gray background, an image of a musical note, slightly fuzzed with digital noise, lay embedded on the page.
At first glance, it looked like a mere piece of decoration. But when Majid held the mute-reader’s lens to the screen, a deep-layer QR code rose to the surface.
The scan took 0.7 seconds. A short encrypted sentence appeared:
"LA, 7/26, 21:00. Underground. Contact P. K1 → 38.91n / 118.40w"
Seconds later, the message vanished. The device powered down. Its memory wiped to zero. The QR code deleted itself from the server.
Majid’s screen now displayed the interface for a C4 detonation signal.
On the black display, a quiet message blinked once:
“C4-ID: Vanta+Core / Ready.”
He carefully lifted a thin directional antenna from the bag, aligning it along the seam of his trousers, resting it on his lap.
The C4 embedded deep within the pillar of The Beaudry awaited his signal.
This high-rise tower was built with hypersteel structural columns. According to the laws of engineering, if a single critical point was destroyed, the entire building would collapse upon itself like a tower of sand. Five years ago, under instructions from Rafi Gannam—then a student of architecture at the Islamic University—Majid had worked at the construction site and planted the charge. Los Angeles had been his responsibility. The East Coast buildings were under Rafi and Amir’s domain.
Majid took a single deep breath, then slid his finger across the screen.
0.7 seconds later, without a sound, the center of the tower gave a faint shudder. No one noticed. But in the next instant—
A snap. Or something like it.
The Beaudry began to fold in on itself, like a spine silently snapping. From the columns to the floors, from the ceilings to the walls—a silent avalanche of collapsing structures, all engulfed in pale dust. What had been standing just seconds before was now vanishing into the canyon of the city in a swirl of white fog.
A wind blew through the street. The building's mass, once so tangible, dissolved as if it had never existed. Only a soundless death cry remained, shivering the air with a cold, invisible tension.
The collapsed building lay frozen, silenced, severed from the city’s murmurs.
Majid adjusted the silver rim of his glasses and stood. Ignoring the rising chaos around him, he walked slowly toward the subway.
Even the sound of his footsteps was not erased by the thunder behind him.
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( Nikon Coolpix 8700 shot )
Manhattan. United States. 2007. … 2 / 7
(This is today’s photo. It has not been published before.)
Images
ELLEGARDEN - Lonesome
youtu.be/bceHbxUuJcY?si=a0xByYam9H9ydgJW
My new novel:
B♭ (B-flat)
There’s still more to come. 😃
(This is not the final draft.)
Set in New York City.
4
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54653035442/in/dateposted...
3
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54639396885/in/dateposted...
2
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54628511025/in/dateposted...
1
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54599616429/in/dateposted...
Soundtrack.
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/b-my-novel-soundtrack/pl.u-47...
Note: I gave a brief explanation of this novel in the following video:
youtu.be/3w65lqUF-YI?si=yG7qy6TPeCL9xRJV
iTunes Playlist Link::
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/b/pl.u-47DJGhopxMD
Notes
1. "Bombay Blood Type (hh type)"
•Characteristics: A rare blood type that lacks the usual ABO antigens — cannot be classified as A, B, or O.
•Discovery: First identified in 1952 in Mumbai, India (formerly Bombay).
•Prevalence: Roughly 1 in 10,000 people in India; globally, about 1 in 2.5 million.
•Transfusion Compatibility: Only compatible with blood from other Bombay type donors.
2. 2024 Harvard University Valedictorian Speech – The Power of Not Knowing
youtu.be/SOUH8iVqSOI?si=Ju-Y728irtcWR71K
3. Shots Fired at Trump Rally
youtu.be/1ejfAkzjEhk?si=ASqJwEmkY-2rW_hT
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僕の新しい小説。
B♭ （ビーフラット）
さらにさらにどうぞ。😃
(もちろん最終稿ではありません。)
重要😅
主人公の女性は、当初、既婚者でしたが、物語の展開上、制約が大きすぎたため、独身とし、同棲している設定へ変更しました。
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場面 ロサンゼルス ボードリー マジード・ハムザ
午後1時47分。ダウンタウンの熱気がビルの隙間を吹き抜け、乾いた空気がアスファルトの表面を歪ませていた。真昼の太陽が、ダウンタウンの谷間に垂直に降り注いでいる。
ザ・ボードリーのファサードは、まるで冷たい鏡のように白く光を跳ね返し、通りを歩く人々の視界をちらつかせている。
ロサンゼルスにあるザ・ボードリーは、 ダウンタウン・ロサンゼルスの中心に位置する高層の住宅タワーで、建物自体は近代的で無機質な外観だが、ラグジュアリーな設備を備えたビルだ。ウィルシャー通りや7th通りに面しており、地下鉄の7thストリートからもすぐそばだ。便性が高く、ビジネス街と芸術系エリアが交錯する地点でとても人気が高い。
960 W 7thストリート。その一帯は、週日の昼間にしては静かだった。オフィス街の喧噪がほんの数ブロック先にあるにもかかわらず、この一角には妙な“空気の滞り”があった。人通りはまばらで、ランチのために出てきた会社員が2～3人歩き去るだけだ。
ビル前に停められた黒いUberの車列が、短くクラクションを鳴らし、すぐに消えた。
ガラス張りのエントランスホールは、まるで展示室のように無音で、受付の背後には白い彫刻のような照明装置が浮かんでいる。
建物に出入りするのは、住人か、不動産エージェントに連れられた見学者ばかりで、訪問者の数は極端に少ない。誰もが互いを見ない。誰もがスマートフォンの画面を見つめている。
上階のバルコニーにふと視線を上げると、午後の光に照らされたグレーの植栽と、黒いラウンジチェアが無人のまま置かれている。
ここは、人の気配があるのに「音」が存在しない、そんな場所だった。
遠くで、清掃車のローラーが道路をゆっくりと転がしていく音が響いた。
数人が腰掛けていたバス停のベンチに並んで座ったマジードは、バッグの中の“ミュートリーダー”にそっと手を触れた。無意識に周囲を確認しながら、手元の旧式スマートフォン──ネット非接続の「ミュートリーダー」をWi-Fi専用のタブレットに接続した。
数日前、ラフィから一文だけが届いていた。
「7月24日、午後3時。mellow-echo.netの最下部にある“♭（フラット）”マークを見ろ」
マジードは静かにブラウザを開いた。mellow-echo.net──それは廃業したインディーズ音楽レーベルの公式サイトで、十年以上更新されていないHTMLが、今でもネットの片隅に残っている。
マジードはページ最下部にスクロールした。グレイの背景に、わずかにノイズがかかった音符記号の画像が埋め込まれている。
一見すると、ただのデザイン装飾にしか見えない。しかし「ミュートリーダー」のカメラでレンズをかざすと、そこにディープレイヤーQRコードが浮かび上がった。
0.7秒のスキャンだ。画面に表示されたのは、暗号化された短い一文──
「LA, 7/26, 21:00。地下。Pへ接触。K1→38.91n/118.40w」
数秒後、表示は消え、端末はシャットダウンした。記憶領域はゼロ化され、QRコードはサーバーから自動削除された。
マジードの手元のデバイスには、C4起爆用の信号送信画面が表示されている。
“C4-ID:Vanta+Core/Ready.” と表示された黒い画面が、一度だけ微かに明滅した。
マジードはバッグの中から細く仕込まれた指向性アンテナをそっと持ち上げ、ズボンの縫い目に沿わせるようにして膝の上に置いた。
ザ・ボードリーの柱の中心に埋め込まれたC４は、マジードの信号を待っていた。
この高層ビルは、ハイパースチール製の柱が内部フレームに組み込まれており、一点を壊せば残りは構造力学に従って“砂の塔”のように自己崩壊する設計だ。5年前、イスラム大学で建築学を学んだラフィ・ガンナムの指示で建築現場で働き、仕込んだものだ。マジードはロサンゼルスを当時任されていた。東海岸の建築物についてはラフィとアミールが仕切った。
マジードは一度だけ深呼吸し、画面に指を滑らせた。
0.7秒後、何の音もなく、まずビルの中心がわずかに揺れた。誰も気づかない振動だ。だが次の瞬間──
「──ッ」
高層建築そのものが骨の中心、まるで背骨を折られたように、ボードリーのボディは静かに沈み始めた。柱からフロアへ、天井から壁へ、粉塵とともに連鎖する沈黙の断崖──
破片は内側に吸い込まれるように崩れ落ち、つい数秒前まで“存在していたもの”は、白い霧とともに都市の谷間に吸い込まれていった。
通りに風が吹き抜けた。そこにあったはずの質量は、まるで最初から虚構だったかのように失われていった。音のない断末魔だけが、辺りの空気を冷たく震わせた。
崩れ去った建物は、凍りついたまま沈黙し、都市のざわめきから切り離されていた。
マジードは、銀色の眼鏡の縁を掛け直すと、静かに立ち上がった。騒然とし始めた周囲を無視し、マジードは地下鉄へ向け、ゆっくり歩き出した。彼が残した足音さえ、爆音にかき消されることはなかった。
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( Nikon coolpix8700 shot )
マンハッタン。ニューヨーク。アメリカ。2007. … 2 / 7
(今日の写真。それは未発表です。）
Images
ELLEGARDEN - Lonesome
youtu.be/bceHbxUuJcY?si=ESrstOEy7mrfmOIe
僕の新しい小説。
B♭ （ビーフラット）
舞台はニューヨークです。
4
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54653035442/in/dateposted...
3
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54639396885/in/dateposted...
2
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54628511025/in/dateposted...
1
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54599616429/in/dateposted...
Soundtrack.
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/b-my-novel-soundtrack/pl.u-47...
追記 この小説を多少説明しました。
youtu.be/3w65lqUF-YI?si=yG7qy6TPeCL9xRJV
メモ
1
「Bombay型（ボンベイ型、hh型）」
•特徴：通常のABO血液型を持たない（A、B、Oに分類されない）特殊な型。
•発見地：1952年、インド・ムンバイ（旧ボンベイ）で初めて確認。
•発生頻度：インドでは1万人に1人程度だが、世界的には約250万人に1人とも。
•輸血制限：同じBombay型しか輸血できない。
2
2024年ハーバード大学首席の卒業式スピーチ『知らないことの力』
youtu.be/SOUH8iVqSOI?si=Ju-Y728irtcWR71K
3
Shots fired at Trump rally
youtu.be/1ejfAkzjEhk?si=ASqJwEmkY-2rW_hT
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My protagonist in Louise and The Men of Transit looks to help customers. It all gets to be a bit confusing between numbers for names, and real life customers thinking in a non-TTC way. It also gets dangerous for Louise. Her story: my.w.tt/i2Uvlc22QR
I shot this photo in 2006 when Yonge and Dundas undergoing a massive change.
Protagonist of the Metroid series and nemesis to Ridley.
~
I figured I'd get these rushed pictures out now rather than wait a few days because of Metroid Prime 4's delayed development announcement, and maybe help to ice some old wounds.
My work from the two-person exhibition titled Dear Protagonist, with Maggie Hubbard and myself at the Hammond Arts Center - October 4 - 31
From the left:
Without Moving (after Guy Chase)
in the case:
Temma's Objects - a collaborative project with Rachael McHan
.
“Boy, I could tell you things of eldritch forces that would turn your hair white!”
— The man himself
Sam is one of the main protagonists and a first-person narrator of the comic Death Vigil written and illustrated by Stjepan "Nebezial" Sejic.
The model was created based off a review illustration from HyperGeeky. The prints on Sam’s chest are royalty-free clip art lol.
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If you like what I do and you want to see me create your OC, a favorite Bionicle Character, or something else, feel free to look up my Commission Info! I also now have a Patreon page, so please consider supporting!
This, if you're not familiar with him, is the main protagonist in the Star Wars Saga, Darth Vader, or Anakin Skywalker. He is seen here next to Darth Sidious, or Emperor Palpatine. This scene seems to be set in Star Wars episode VI: Return of the Jedi due to the incomplete Death Star II, since Death Star I was destroyed in episode IV. This photograph was taken, in low-light with my Sony A58, when my girlfriend and I went to the Descanso Gardens in La Cañada, California. This is a submission to #catchycolors of the week, Orange and Black :) Enjoy!
Tintin is the titular protagonist of The Adventures of Tintin, the comic series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The character was created in 1929 and introduced in Le Petit Vingtième, a weekly youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintin_(character)
The storefront of the shop "Faraos Cigarer".
Jotaro Kujo is a main protagonist from popular anime show and manga "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure".
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If you like what I do and you want to see me create your OC, a favorite Bionicle Character, or something else, feel free to look up my Commission Info! I also now have a Patreon page, so please consider supporting!
This is a detail of Dear Protagonist, (a reverie regarding you in the perpetual present) , Tim Lowly © 2013, acrylic on panel, 86” x 74”
Due to a number of factors this painting does not carry over well into photography. To get a better sense of what it is like click on the photo below and then click on the link accompanying the image that says "Please view this large".
You can also click here to view this detail even larger
From the guide to this wonderful exhibition:
"McWilliams is one of Australia’s most successful and widely recognised artists. His quirky and whimsical landscapes, depicting wildlife, and domestic and feral species, in Tasmanian bushland, farmyards, gardens and houses, have captivated audiences around Australia and internationally. His works project a great affection for his subjects and while often humorous, can also carry a darker observation on human effects on the environment.
The exhibition and companion publication will be the first holistic survey of McWilliams’ art, exploring his life and career, his place in the canon of Australian and international art, and his empathy with the wildlife and natural environment of Tasmania.
This is a must-see experience for all Tasmanians and anyone who loves the Tasmanian countryside. But be prepared to be watched."
Gentle Protagonist: In Conversation with Michael McWilliams
Schlosskapelle, Meersburg, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland.
Meersburg es una localidad de Alemania, situada a orillas del lago Constanza, en el estado federado de Baden-Wurtemberg. Es una ciudad de un peso turístico considerable, siendo de los puntos más visitados de este gran lago.
Tiene un marcado carácter medieval, como muchas de las ciudades de esa zona, y es una bella y turística ciudad privilegiadamente elevada sobre el lago. Esto hace que su vista de todo éste, con la orilla Suiza al frente, los Alpes detrás de ésta, y la ciudad de Constanza (Konstanz, en alemán) en el lado más cercano, merezca por si sola una visita.
Cualquier visitante descubrirá enseguida que otro de los protagonistas económicos de la ciudad es la producción de vino, ya que sus viñas llenan ordenada y respetuosamente las laderas y sus bodegas, tabernas y almacenes de vino nos lo recuerdan constantemente por medio de palabras alemanas relacionadas con ello: Wein (vino), Keller (bodega), Winzer (viticultor), etc.
Meersburg is a town in Germany, located on the shores of Lake Constance, in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, it is a city of considerable tourist weight, being one of the most visited points of this great lake.
It has a marked medieval character, like many of the cities in that area, and it is a beautiful and tourist city privilegedly elevated above the lake. This makes your view of it all, with the Swiss shore in front, the Alps behind it, and the city of Constance (Konstanz, in German) on the closer side, worth a visit on its own.
Any visitor will soon discover that another of the economic protagonists of the city is wine production, since its vineyards fill the slopes in an orderly and respectful way and its wineries, taverns and wine warehouses constantly remind us of this through German words related to It: Wein (wine), Keller (cellar), Winzer (viticulturist), etc.
A Pub Story (After the drinking Began, because don’t all good stories involve Pubs and Drink now?)
How I had my rhinestone bracelet stolen by two "Thieves" in one evening
Told (and instigated) by my Twin Brother
Anyone familiar with my world in RL knows that a lot of my stories are based on the antics my twin Sister and I do in unique thievery infused role-playing games that we have come up with ever since we were young.
My sister has always felt a delicious urge to dress up in pretty clothes and sparkling jewelry, and an even more intense desire to think someone may want to steal her baubles.
I will argue( and we have had friendly ones over this ) that her drawing me into being a thief to her victim, was the key to me realizing my fondness overplaying the protagonist. Though she harbors thoughts that it may have been the other way around.
So that all being said. On should not be surprised at a recent occurrence at our local riverside drinking establishment.
Hailed as the Poet and Peasant Pub.
Incident at a Pub
Last Saturday I was just well into my 20th straight day of work.
With working 10 hours today(Sat) and have to go in at some point Sunday for 4, then 10 hour days all again next week, I was sure it would be a long while before I’d have any type of personal fun with family or friends, with or without drinking.
But then the Pub, my Twin Sister, and a certain diamond bracelet came to the rescue…
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It was Saturday in my 4th hour of a ten-hour workday that the texts started coming in from my mates to join them that evening for a dart match at the pub.
I didn’t want to, knowing I’d be here until 7 and have to go back in on Sunday. But they were persistent buggers and since the match started late I easily talked myself into accepting the invite.
I made it to the Poet and the Peasant pub at 7:30 just as the first team was up.
It was a rousing time, drinking, eating, and tossing the darts. I even managed to play decently for a change, I;e not missing the board once.
Before I knew it the clock struck 10:00 and my team was still in the thick of it.
Suddenly I was warmly grasped in a bear hug from behind.
Turning I found I was being mugged by my twin sister and …. then by my giggling cousin Michael(Micke)
The two sillies had been out at a dance and had been drinking, before heading to our pub to finish off the evening.
It was a nice surprise to see them there, in more ways than one.
My sister was indeed looking very pretty, wearing her scooped necked velvet dress, with rhinestone trimmings that looked smashing on her.
With her dress, she wore some of her collection of rhinestone diamonds. The set tonight consisting of long earrings, a bracelet, and a cocktail ring.
The decadent bracelet is something special, a real cracker that is dazzling when she wears it.
A five-strand diamond sparkler. The two outer strands were set with stones about 1 1/2 carats in size. The middle strand was set with 3-carat pear-shaped rhinestones. My sister bought it online at a site called Windsor Royal.
And it looked like something royalty would wear, granted theirs would be real and worth a cool million if not more.
Micke was also looking very cute, wearing a long-sleeved satin blouse with ruffles, gold mesh belt, and long black shiny skirt.
She had on wide gold chains, gold mesh earrings shaped like a kite, and no less than six gem-set rings.
Both looked a treat and soon had all us lads buying them drinks, which I believe was the point of my girl's plan for coming dressed like that and not changing after the dance.
Needless to say by the last hours before we had to be kicked out, none of us were feeling any pain.
We had been well into our third and final
Match when I realized the girls, who had been cheering us on, had disappeared
I shrugged it off figuring that they had just taken off for horizons unknown. Though it was a trifle odd they did not say goodbye.
I played my best, but my lads and I were losing the final match
When my last turn was up I plopped down on the couch to watch our final attempts. Merrick, our best player was up. But the odds were against us.
Then from out of nowhere, Micke plopped down next to me, I looked around but no sight of my sister, though I then heard her laughing by the bar in the next room.
Micke had placed her hand upon her raised knee, and I cast my eyes down to relish a look over her collection of sparkly rings.
The sleeve’s cuff of her satin blouse had slipped up, and I realized that there was a diamond bracelet peeking out.
How in the world had I missed that?
As Micke chatted on about something I was only half-listening to, I nonchalantly reached over and placed my hand on her arm. Then without her notice managed to carefully raise the sleeve of Micke’s satin blouse for a better look.
I then realized it was my Twin’s fancy diamond bracelet Micke was wearing?
“Clever girl, how?” I was thinking as I touched the sparkling bracelet and carefully cut into her conversation and commented to her as she looked down at my finger.
“Pretty bracelet....”
“It’s not mine silly twit, it’s Your sister’s !” She answered with a pleasant little twittering laugh
“Oh...” I answered in an open sentence with my best shot at a perplexed look.
Raising her arm and flashing the diamonds set in the bracelet, creating amazing sparkles as it was wrapped snugly around her wrist, she happily confided in me her story.
Apparently the pair, Micke, and my twin sister had been in the loo together to freshen up.
My sister had removed her bracelet and ring to have a wash-up after some of her drink had accidentally spilled on her hands.
On a lark, Micke, who had come up from behind, had touched Sis on the opposite shoulder, and as she turned away, snatched the bracelet up and got away out the door without being caught.
She had put it in and was now wearing it around as a teaser to my Sister.
“No worries luv, I’ll give it back to her at Sunday Service tomorrow.”
Micke told pacifically me, though I had no concerns that she would not give it back.
“The last call” came a friendly command from the pubs’ bar in the other room...
“Come on, “ said Micke, grabbing my arm
Go on ahead Lass. Meet you thereafter this last lad finishes his round
“Let the finale drinking now heavily begin.” She added with a challenge in her charmingly sweet voice as she swished away
I studied her thoughtfully as she disappeared around the corner.
My eyes traveled down the backside of Her shiny blouse and I caught a last look at her swinging arm.
Her sleeve covered the bracelet, but I knew it was there.
That was the problem
For now, feeling confident from alcohol I had an objective that was tickling my fancy.
The only question was how I would achieve it?
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Since Micke with a degree of cleverness had nicked the diamond bracelet from my twin sister, I would try and nick it from Micke.
I meant to acquire the bracelet from Micke and make it home without being caught out by either girl.
I had read in a short story once about a scoundrel who was determined to part a wealthy American lady from the jeweled necklace she was wearing, mainly because she was nieve enough to wear it out in public.
And now in an odd way, I sorta knew what that character had felt.
For me, it hopefully would not prove difficult if I could just manage a way to distract Micke.
I knew the clasp of that bracelet, having removed it from my twin on several of the role-playing thievery games/adventures we do.
Including one a few months back. Her favorite damsel in distress game; a role-play she calls help honey. This we had played about a month ago at the old cemetery around midnight.
My sister had worn a green taffeta bridesmaid gown recently picked up at the thrift.
With it, she had worn a nice collection of rhinestones, including the bracelet. Playing a princess who has been lured away from her prince, innocently not realizing the plot to lead her off was to rob her of the jewels she wore.
That had seemed a long while ago since I had had a bit of play and seeing Our Cousin Micke now wearing that bracelet had whetted my appetite to do some playing again.
My mind raced through a myriad of ideas.
Most of them ran the gauntlet of just silly to outlandish. None were clever.
I knew there was not much time anyway so I unhappily had decided to just shelve the idea.
We also had lost the match ...
I rose as we shook hands, then left to head to the bar for final rounds.
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Now I am writing this at 3 am Sunday, still two sheets to the wind, before heading to sleep.
Laying next to my laptop is my sister's diamond rhinestone bracelet…
The very one Micke had nicked and been wearing around at the pub.
Of course, once the loss is noticed I will be the prime suspect.
But my cell will be off all day at work tomorrow, so they will have all day to wonder and stew over how I did it before I can enlighten them to the fact that l was the thief, and decide whether or not to keep it a secret as to my method if they fail to figure out.
Oh, and let Sis know my ransom demands for its return... something quick and easy like her princess in green taffeta meeting the culprit, at the old cemetery to get her bracelet back.
Anyway, it was truly an inspired moment that allowed me to slip away the lovely diamonds unnoticed from around Micke’s wrist.
And a rather proud one at that, even if my victim was giggling silly drunk at the time.
Please read on as I brag on about it
>>>>>>
After Micke left, my mind was not letting go of wanting to acquire the diamond bracelet I now knew our cousin was wearing.
As the final drinking now heavily progressed, I could tell neither girl’s mind was thinking about the bracelet.
They were concentrating on giving out hugs to anyone buying them last shots.
It was in the middle of this commotion that I saw Micke wrapping her arms around a shot buying lad, the bracelet peeking out from her satin blouse’s sleeve, that I had an inkling of an idea.
With really no thought or plan as to how exactly this would give me a crack at the bracelet, I sprung into action.
I quickly bought two shots.
Told the barmaid,with a wink, to tell my sister hers was from a lad named Shamus and that Micke’s shot was from Merrick
Merrick was alone practicing in the dart room. Shamus was at the opposite end of the barroom.
This would split the girls up, which was the first step.
Giving me the second step of Micke pretty much being separated from the herd.
As for the third step, I was merely hoping there would be one.
I am sure a professional thief would have already had all of the steps figured out, no sweat.
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The plan, however, began to work smooth as silk.
I went and stood next to my Sister and Micke as the barmaid approached us.
The barmaid served the girls their shots, gave them the message (winking back at me), and immediately the two girls split off.
Micke began to scurry, almost tripping over the hem of her skirt, over to Merrick, with me in close tow.
Reaching the surprised lad she grabbed and enveloped him in a tight warm hug, leaning heavily against him.
I reacted without any thought...
It took only seconds but seemed to me far longer.
Seeing no one watching us, I came in from around behind and pressed up playfully against them, with Micke’s hands at my stomach. I could feel her fancy rings digging splendidly into my skin, through the thin white turtleneck I was wearing, as I grasped her arms just above the elbows and pressed into her.
I slipped my fingers ever so nimbly down to her blouse's slick sleeve, and pulling the cuff of her blouse up with my right hand, exposed the shimmering bracelet.
As I held the blouse’s cuff up with two fingers of my right hand, I pressed my thump up into her arm to divert any focus of unusual feelings she may experience around her wrist.
With the diamond bracelet now exposed, it was a simple matter of locating the clasp, with my left hand, wedging my index finger in between Micke’s wrist and the bracelet.
Almost at the same time, I managed to quickly press my left thumb up against the hinge to release the clip and grasp a loose end as it separated ( thanking in my mind pretty Micke for not setting the safety chain).
And “Bobs your Uncle”, I had the fancy diamond-encrusted bracelet she was wearing slipped off from around her wrist and secreted in my pocket, easy peasy as you please. And thank you, Micke.
As I let go of her arm with my right hand, the white satin blouse’s long cuff slipped back down covering up the evidence of my dirty deed.
^^^^^^^^^^^
That deed was done I talked to Merrick for a few minutes before I rejoined the girls, remaining cool as a cucumber over my secret.
They didn’t suspect a thing. And as I joined in with the final partying before closing, a perfect idea popped into my head.
I had been talking to Micke while over her shoulder watching my sister, and the long sparking earrings she was wearing. Thinking that if they had been real they would be worth a fortune, like her bracelet.
And how any thief worth his salt would have hated to pass them up, or her diamond cocktail ring.
Then it hit me, an idea of how if I was a professional thief, I could trick my sister, along with her diamond earrings and ring, into a trap.
Bloody hell, If I hadn’t to be at work the next morning I would have attempted it.
My idea had been to sneak out the back and using the pubs stationary, leave a note on Micke's car saying
Lady, I have your diamonds. If you wants them back it will cost you. Meet me at the churchyard.
The pair would have fallen into it, curious as to what game I was playing, as well as how I had taken the bracelet.
So when they showed up they would be met by the thief who would then rob the pair of the rest of their jewelry for being so gullible.
What a devious lot we play thieves are!
But it, of course, did not happen. Only the bracelet would be nicked from the fine clothed, pretty damsel this evening.
We all together left at closing.
I gave the girls warm hugs goodbye (inwardly smirking) and watched as they drove off in Mickes Italian made sports car
I turned and took the wooded path that led down to my cottage.
I lit a pipe and happily made my way home, placing a hand in my pocket and fingering the diamonds I had nicked, just because she had been wearing them out in public!