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I feel like there have been so many highlights this wedding season and I'm so excited to share this one with you all! I was very lucky to be a part of Cal and Carraldo's amazing wedding as a second shooter for Jenny Siaosi.
My day started off photographing Cal and the boys getting ready at Worser Bay, which we would come back to later on for the reception. We then all jumped into Cal's car (all 6 of us) and made our way to the top of Tawatawa Reserve in Owhiro Bay.
Getting married on top of a hill that has 360 views of Wellington with all your friends, family and pet dog sounds like a pretty good idea to me! Cal and Carraldo did exactly that. Whats even better is the fact that Cal walked to the top of this hill with all his guests and Carraldo arrived to the ceremony with her girls in a cute yellow truck. Amazing!
Cal and Carraldo did such an amazing job with decorating their reception hall at Worser Bay Boat Club (I think the zimmer frame was already there as part of the club but it added a quirky touch!).
There is a really cool story about all the different dinner plates. A family member collected these from different second hand shops around Wellington and guests were invited to take home their dinner plate that they ate off as a special keepsake. I've also got to mention how amazing all the food looked (and tasted!). So many amazing salads and a big shout out goes to the guys on the BBQ!
I'd like to end this post by just saying how much I enjoyed this day. This was everything a wedding should be, great company and good times! Congratulations to Cal and Carraldo and all the best for your happy future together.


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I'm a Goodreads Featured Author on Wednesday, May 15, a big honor. That meansI've been asked to do a Goodreads chat on their site that day. The chat will go on all day. I'll be checking in throughout the day.
Details for joining the chat are here.http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/101911-ask-chitra-banerjee-divakaruni---wednesday-may-15th
I love connecting to readers and friends through author chats. I've done a few on my FB page, and am hoping many people will join me tomorrow. It's your chance to Ask Chitra Anything (well, almost anything).
I'm especially looking forward to discussing my new novel, Oleander Girl.

subset: commoncrawl


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The mission of International Community School is to educate minds and transform lives to impact the world for the glory of God. With a low student-teacher ratio and students from over 26 nations, ICS is a fully accredited K-12 international school teaching an American curriculum with a Biblical worldview. Founded in 1993, we foster a caring community committed to provide each student with a quality, holistic education within and beyond the classroom. Our teachers view each student as a unique individual created by God, thus take seriously their responsibility to teach, encourage, and guide them. Alongside academics, we instill in each student a love and respect for all cultures, a zeal for lifelong learning, and a passion for personal excellence.
Essential Information
Primary / Elementary: 220
Secondary / High: 180
Primary / Elementary: 20
7 years old: 08:05 - 15:00
11 years old: 08:05 - 15:10
15 years old: 08:05 - 15:10
20% South Korea
8% Singapore/PR
5% Australia
5% Philippines
4% Indonesia
6 - 10 years: 01:10 Elementary School: 1st-5th Grade
11 - 14 years: 01:10 Middle School: 6th-8th Grade
15+ years: 01:15 High School: 9th-12th Grade
Financial Information
Elementary Kindergarten (K5) and Elementary School: $26,370
Middle School (Grade 6 – Grade 8): $30,040
High School (Grade 9 – Grade 12): $33,635
Special Services (ESL Instruction and Special Resources): $2,576
Programs Available
Website: http://www.ics.edu.sg/
Contact Number: +65 6776 7435
Email Address: firstname.lastname@example.com
International Community School Singapore
International Community School Singapore


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PAUL Boertien believes Walsall are "reaping the benefit" of Derby County's decision to send Lee Holmes out on loan.
Rams manager Paul Jewell has allowed left-winger Holmes to join the Saddlers for the rest of the season.
And while Derby are almost falling off the bottom of the Premier League table, 20-year-old Holmes is going from strength to strength to help the Saddlers try to book a Championship visit to Pride Park next season.
For left-back Boertien, it is a pleasure to be once again playing behind the team-mate he knows well from their fours years together at Derby.
And Boertien reckons Holmes should be in the Rams' team right now.
"It's good to link up with Holmesy again," Boertien said. "He is a very good player.
"He has had some injuries but I don't know why he is not in the Derby team.
"That's strange because he is strong enough to be in the team without a shadow of a doubt.
"But we are reaping the benefits because we have got him to the end of the season and he is only going to get better and better."
Mansfield-born Holmes graduated through the youth system at Pride Park.
And he is the sort of home-grown talent which Walsall have earned a reputation for cultivating at Bescot.
"Lee was part of a good academy group coming through at Derby, along with Tom Huddlestone and Nathan Doyle, " added Boertien.
"They had a crop of good young lads coming through at the same time and there are similarities with what's happening at Walsall now.
"Young lads like Mark Bradley, Richard Taundry and Alex Nicholls have come through from the academy and there are others following them.
"There are some good young players here and, along with more experienced players, the mixture is working well."


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Project Description
Sensho's Transformation Coaching business is a convergence of her values and her life's purpose. Visually, Sensho's site embodies her aspiration and her offering. Bright, bold colors express her aliveness. Inspiring imagery makes visual the essence of possibility, clarity, and her ease, flow and openness. All the imagery I used came from my image archives. I shot the portrait especially for the site. I used a squarespace template to build the site.
I have had the opportunity to work on two different website creations with Bina Altera. The websites were different, using different approaches with different technical parameters. They were both successful representations and applications of Bina Altera's artistic and technical prowess.
Beautiful, appealing and savvy, both of my websites also reveal my intentions and capture my spirit, I think, through Ms. Altera's style, technique and images (both provided and her own).
Her work goes far beyond throwing up a functional, fashionable site on the web. Ms. Altera understood me and who I am and accuracy reflected my aspirations and inner self in the finished products.
When I need other sites, I will hire Bina Altera again, of course.
Sensho Wagg, CPC
Certified Transformation Coach


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First of all.. I want to wish a Happy Mother's Day to ALL mothers. What you do on a daily basis shapes the lives of your children; whether young or old.
Secondly, I want to send a specific Mother's Day wish out to my wife. Miranda is not only the most amazing wife - she also the best mother that my kids could ever want.
This time that she has spent home with them has been great for them. She's nurturing, she's attentive and she shows them a lot of love. I can think of no better influence on both Maleah and Alex than Miranda.
So, Miranda... Happy Mothers Day and thank you for being my wife and a wonderful mom to our children. I love you!!!


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WASHINGTON — House Speaker Dennis Hastert is getting backup from President Bush and other Republican Party luminaries after vowing not to resign over his handling of the unfolding page cybersex scandal.
"He really ought not be a sacrificial lamb," former Secretary of State James Baker III said Friday.
President Bush called Hastert late Thursday to reassure him amid allegations that the House speaker did not do enough to protect the teenage House pages from former Rep. Mark Foley's advances.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., issued a statement supporting Hastert Thursday night. And Bush's father, the former President Bush, spoke up for him during an ABC News interview.
The boost comes after a week of wavering support from House Republicans in the wake of revelations that Foley, R-Fla., had been sending inappropriate e-mails to teenage pages for years.
'Deeply sorry'
Hastert had blamed Democrats for the election-season revelations, but on Thursday abruptly changed course and took responsibility for the matter.
Hastert vowed not to resign over his office's handling of the scandal — "I haven't done anything wrong," he said — but it has cost Republicans in public opinion polls.
"I'm deeply sorry this has happened and the bottom line is we're taking responsibility," Hastert said at a news conference outside his district office in Batavia, Ill.
That seemed to quiet rumblings about Hastert's resignation as the week drew to a close and House and Justice Department officials launched separate investigations.
On CBS' "The Early Show," Baker said Hastert deserves credit for urging a probe of a sex scandal in the shadow of the midterm elections. And he offered a pragmatic reason for the party to stand by him.
"If they throw Denny Hastert off the sled to slow down the wolves, it won't be long before you'll be crying, 'Hey, you've got to throw somebody else over because they knew about it too,"' Baker said.
Other political news of note
Animated Boehner: 'There's nothing complex about the Keystone Pipeline!'
House Speaker John Boehner became animated Tuesday over the proposed Keystone Pipeline, castigating the Obama administration for not having approved the project yet.
- Budget deficits shrinking but set to grow after 2015
- Senate readies another volley on unemployment aid
- Obama faces Syria standstill
- Fluke files to run in California
- Animated Boehner: 'There's nothing complex about the Keystone Pipeline!'
4 dozen subpoenas
The bipartisan ethics panel met Thursday for the first time, approving nearly four dozen subpoenas for witnesses and documents regarding improper conduct between lawmakers and current and former pages and who may have known about it.
Ethics committee chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., would not say whether Hastert was among those subpoenaed.
The ethics committee's senior Democrat, Rep. Howard Berman of California, said the investigation should take "weeks, not months."
Hastings and Berman will conduct the investigation along with Reps. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, and Judith Biggert, R-Ill., whose district is next to Hastert's.
While the committee — officially the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct — is investigating potential violations of House rules, the Justice Department appeared to be moving with dispatch in its criminal investigation.
There's plenty to investigate.
ABC News reported that three more pages, one each from 1998, 2000 and 2002, have come forward detailing sexual approaches from Foley over the Internet.
The FBI has contacted a former congressional page from Kentucky as part of the burgeoning investigation, said Daniel London, chief of staff to Rep. Ron Lewis, R-Ky., who sponsored the teen.
Access to Foley's files
Attorneys for the Justice Department and the House negotiated on how to give investigators access to Foley's files without inciting a legal battle like the one after the FBI raided the office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., earlier this year.
Ex-Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham met with the FBI. Fordham emerged as a key figure Wednesday when he told reporters that he had talked three years ago with top aides to Hastert about Foley's conduct with pages.
Fordham's version directly contradicts an account issued by Hastert's office on Saturday, saying the speaker's staff only learned of an "over-friendly" e-mail exchange between Foley and a single page. Hastert's top aide, Scott Palmer, denies that Fordham warned top GOP aides of Foley and inappropriate conduct with other pages.
Foley, 52, stepped down Friday after he was confronted with sexually explicit electronic messages he had sent teenage male pages and promptly checked into an alcohol rehabilitation clinic. Through his lawyer, he has said he is gay but denied any sexual contact with minors.
Hastert, meanwhile, is holding to his assertion that he did not know about messages sent by Foley to a former House page until the scandal broke last week.
He issued a less than ringing endorsement of his staff and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., chairman of the board that overseas the page program.
Shimkus admonished Foley to cease contact with the former page, a Louisiana teen. The matter ended there instead of being pursued in a way that might have led to the far more lurid messages sent to other former pages.
"Could we have done it better? Could the page board have handled it better? In retrospect, probably yes," Hastert said. "But at the time what we knew and what we acted upon was what we had."
Added Hastert: "I don't know who knew what when. ... If it's members of my staff that didn't do the job, we will act appropriately."
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Summertime Watermelon Salad/
By our Recipe contributor, Becky Spoolstra
This watermelon salad is so crisp, refreshing, and easy to toss together. It's perfect for a summertime picnic or party! Or you know, shamelessly scarfing down by yourself.
▪ Fresh cubed watermelon, about 2 lbs
▪ 1/2 sweet onion, chopped
▪ 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
▪ 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
▪ 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint
▪ 2 oz crumbled feta cheese
▪ Pinch of salt and pepper
1. In a large bowl, combine the cubed watermelon, chopped onion, and feta.
2. In a small bowl, combine the red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. Whisk until salt is dissolved. Slowly whisk in the olive oil, then add in the chopped mint, taste, and adjust seasonings as needed.
3. Pour the dressing over the watermelon mixture and toss gently until everything is coated and evenly mixed. Let it sit in the refrigerator if possible for the flavors to really blend.
4. When ready to serve, toss it again, garnish with mint sprigs (optional), and serve chilled.
About 4 servings - recipe can easily be doubled!
The salad gets really juicy as it sits so feel free to drain some of the juice if needed before serving.
This recipe was originally posted here.


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Apparently I'm a Man-Rapist
Recently I have been doing a bit where I look identical to a Taiwanese actor who plays a man-rapist in a sexual health video. The bit is as below:
Some people have been asking me, "Is this true?", or "Does this video actually exist?", or even "Does that guy really look like you?". Well, instead of trying to articulate it all, let me just show you a clip of the original video and you can decide for yourself:
Sometimes comedy just knocks on your door. And no, that's not me. Seriously.


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After pumping us up with three excellent appetizer tracks, Angel Haze has ignited her full-length return with Back to the Woods. You can stream and/or download the 13-song effort via Soundcloud, below. Billboard premiered the effort, noting that Haze thinks of Back to the Woods as simply "a project" rather than a mixtape or an album.
The entire thing is produced by Tk Kayembe, who also did Haze's timeless banger "Werkin' Girls." Listen here:
After a string of four mixtapes and an EP, the now-23-year-old Haze dropped their debut label album in December 2013. (Haze identifies as agender and prefers gender-neutral pronouns.) They plan for the official sophomore album to be "so huge and diverse, especially sonically, orchestral shit." Currently they've got "190 songs I haven't done anything with." But here's the real hype:
"So the next record should be pretty crazy because I'm the new fucking Basquiat. I'm the new Frida Kahlo. I'm that shit. But instead of with a paintbrush, I have a microphone. I'm working to make something as visually beautiful and fucked up as I am. I think hopefully, it'll come into fruition."
Read the full Angel Haze interview at Billboard, and have fun with Back to the Woods. They haven't dropped a less-than-great project yet, and it doesn't sound like they're starting now.


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Sassy Cakes fans,
We had oven problems this morning and thought it would be good to change our baking powder… wasn't the great choice haha.
Have no fear, problem solved! Cupcakes are better than ever!
Come in tomorrow for a free mini and 2 for 1 cupcakes 🙂
837 4th Avenue South, Naples, Fl 34102


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On September 17th, members of the Fencing Masters NYC team joined forces with Esmeralda Williamson-Noble to raise awareness about suicide and to promote mental health and well-being. At the inaugural Get Your Wellness On! fair fencing was presented as a form of "alternative healing" — a sport that strengthens both the mind and body while also providing a supportive community people can turn to in times of need.
Inspired once again by Esmeralda's endeavors, Fencing Masters NYC stepped out on the town on October 28th to use the sport of fencing to help save lives. After losing their infant son Alexander to SIDS, Esmeralda and her husband Hugh began the Windflower Charity Ball as a fundraiser for First Candle. Over a decade later, the well-attended Charity Gala, with its live and silent auctions, is the organization's major annual fund-raising event.
To help First Candle in its efforts to unite parents, caregivers and researchers nationwide to advance infant health and survival, the Fencing Masters NYC co-chairs (Tim Morehouse, Daria Schneider, & Kathleen Reckling) donated 2 VIP tickets to our Hammerstein Ballroom event on November 17th. To compliment the auction winner's introduction to fencing, Olympic Silver Medalist Tim Morehouse donated an hour fencing lesson.
The total package was valued at $750… and as the night began, Tim and Kathleen crossed their fingers! Please! Someone! Bid on us!
Do we have $500? Yes!
How about $1,000? Yes!
Can we have $1,250? Sure!
What about $1,500? SOLD!
At the end of the night, we had met several former fencers and children of fencers — a neat reminder that everyone does in fact know someone who fences. The most exciting parts of the evening? Seeing the Fencing Masters NYC donation become one of the few lots to exceed its estimated value and watching the sport of fencing raise $1,500 for First Candle and SIDS research.
Tim & I were honored to be the Williamson-Nobles' guests and were proud our donation was able to support First Candle"s mission to "provide every baby with the best possible chance to survive and thrive."
For those of us working on Fencing Masters NYC, there is nothing more invigorating than sharing fencing and using it to serve others. The auction results are a testament to the power sport has to do good in the community — an athlete doesn't have to be a Peyton Manning or a Lance Armstrong to raise awareness for a cause, they just have to be ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work.


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Sherwin grew up on a farm near Sioux Center, Iowa. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from Oral Roberts University, a Master of Divinity Degree and a Doctor of Ministry Degree, both from Western Theological Seminary. Before coming to Laketon Bethel, he pastored churches in Harrison, South Dakota and Alexander, Iowa. His passion is to invite and encourage people to become followers of Jesus. He is married to Diane and they have five children: Jon, Jennifer, Joel, Julia and Jayme. When he is not working he spends time with his family, reads, and enjoys trips to Chicago and New York City.
Gary has been a member of Laketon Bethel since 1992. He has served as Deacon, Elder, and VP of Consistory. Gary joined the staff in April of 2010. Prior to joining the staff he worked in the retail industry for 35 years holding various management and executive leadership positions. He is married to Sheryl and they have 4 children and 7 grandchildren. Gary enjoys time with his family and traveling. He also enjoys golfing and boating.
Tina started this position in 2009 and is amazed at the level of kindness, compassion and hard work fellow congregational members put forth. She had previously owned and operated a home daycare for thirteen years. She is a mother of three wonderful children; Hannah, Gannon, and Isabel. Her favorite pastime is spending time with her children, reading and writing, and helping others.
Joann, along with her seven sisters and three brothers, grew up on a dairy farm in the small town of Hopkins in Allegan County. After graduating High School she came to Muskegon and ended up staying in the area. She and her husband Dave have two sons, and her greatest pleasure is spending time with her three grandsons. Joann joined the staff as Administrative Assistant in August of 2010. Prior to joining the staff she worked as an Office Manager for 10 years. Along with her duties as an Administrative Assistant she has also taken on the responsibilities as Nursery Team Leader and is co-leader of the Senior Connections Ministry.
Pat has lived in Michigan all but one year of her life. While growing up she attended Temple Methodist Church and Unity United Methodist Church in Muskegon. Pat joined Laketon Bethel in 1979. She is married to Tom and they have four married children and thirteen grandchildren currently. Pat has been working at Laketon Bethel since the summer of 2006, when she started as an assistant to the secretary. She is now the bookkeeper and enjoys that work very much. Pat has enjoyed many hobbies and sports through the years, but her current favorite sport is walleyball at the MCC Fitness Center. Her real passion though is her family, especially her grandchildren. She feels very fortunate that ten of the thirteen are within a 50 mile radius.
Jan joined Laketon Bethel in 1999. In 2006, Jan agreed to "temporarily" fill the vacancy of worship leader and has remained in that position to date. Jan is a baritone in Laketon Bethel's Reachin' Out Men's Quartet, which released their first CD in 2009. He also enjoys providing a dramatization of the life of Peter, performing in area churches and nursing homes. Jan recently retired from No More Sidelines. He and his wife, Connie, have five adult children and five grandchildren.
Shelly joined the staff of Laketon Bethel in 2005 as Worship Team Leader for the 11:00 service after many years of sharing her talents playing the piano with us. She is also the accompanist for the 9:00 service. Shelly graduated from Western Michigan University with a music degree. Shelly has a passion for helping people discover God's truths through music and the arts, and encouraging them to respond in worship. Shelly is married to Joe and they have a young daughter, Chelsea, and a son, Owen. Besides music, Shelly also enjoys creating things with her hands through cake decorating, sewing and other arts and crafts. She also likes to grow her own food every summer in the family's huge garden and go fishing with Joe and the children
Mike and his wife Jennifer have been members at Laketon Bethel since 1994. He has served as an Administrative Elder for several terms and has actively volunteered at many events. Mike retired as an elementary principal from Reeths-Puffer Schools in July, 2017 and joined our staff in January, 2018 where he serves as Children's and Youth Ministries Director. He is passionate about serving and making a difference in the lives of children and the local community. He enjoys golf, physical outdoor activities, reading and traveling.
Sheryl has been a member since 1992. She is married to Gary and they have 4 children and 7 grandchildren. Sheryl has actively served in the children's ministry throughout her years at Laketon Bethel. She has held the position of Director of Children's Ministry for six of those years. Sheryl is passionate about helping children feel accepted, unique, and loved. She strives to help children know how much Jesus loves them. Sheryl's other interests include providing day care services, interior decorating, event decorating and has a special love for animals.
Sally has been part of the Laketon Bethel family for over 10 years. In 2005, Sally assumed the responsibility of Junior High Youth Leader and held that position until 2018. She currently is the Lead the Children's Church Greet Squad. She loves working with the kids and the blessing they bring to her life. Sally also works in accounting at a local firm, where she has been employed for the past 25 years. She enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren, along with traveling, reading and spending time at the lake.
Scott has been a part of the Laketon Bethel Family since 1972. He has been the Lead Sound Booth Technician for the past 25 years. Scott also works as a machine operator in local manufacturing, where he has held positions for the past 35 years. He is married to Andra and they have two children and one grandchild. Scott enjoys camping and snowmobiling. He also enjoys driving his convertible with the top down as much as possible.


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...we all need to work closer together as a sector if we're going to enjoy the greatest benefit from these astonishing technological changes and the rise of the connected traveler
Dr. Pierre Coutu, Executive in Charge
Airport Management Professional Accreditation Program (AMPAP)
Technology has always been at the heart of air travel. But in the past 10 years it has assumed an ever greater role in the running and management of airports. They have become intricate and highly advanced technology hubs, whose management requires particular skills.
We've seen this evolve in succeeding issues of the Airport IT Trends Survey, to the point where we have today's sharp focus on helping passengers connect to the airport, their airline and all of the other agents with whom they have contact during their journey.
For operational management, the immediacy and speed of innovation that is the hallmark of the new technologies poses new challenges – particularly if you set that against the gestation period generally required for new airports or terminals.
Think back to the technology of 20 years ago and then think ahead 20 years: if you're planning a new airport today, what kinds of technology are going to be linking airports, airlines, border agents, retailers and other stakeholders to passengers? How do you factor in changes that cannot yet be imagined?
Our own work at AMPAP is demonstrating the value of bringing airport professionals together, to exchange experiences, learn new ideas and maintain a close network into the future. The lesson that I take from the latest Survey is that we all need to work closer together than ever as a sector if we're going to enjoy the greatest benefit from these astonishing technological changes and the rise of the connected traveler.


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Marie Loeffler
Marie Loeffler
I am a Ph.D. candidate at the American Studies Department, and am currently doing research as a visiting scholar at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. During my doctoral studies, I have also spent time as a visiting scholar at the English Department of the University of California, Berkeley. I earned my M.A. in American Studies and Art History from the University of Leipzig in 2006, and during my master's studies spent time abroad at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
My interest in teaching began during my studies for my M.A., when I tutored high school students in English. I have since taught two undergraduate courses at the American Studies Department—an introductory course on American literature and culture, and an upper-level undergraduate seminar on neo-slave narratives. Teaching these very different courses has given me experience in the varied approaches needed for teaching students at different academic levels. It's rewarding for me to see students engaged in the material, and I try to pique their interest in American literature and culture by bringing different forms of media into the classroom to display the many facets of the field.
My interests straddle numerous academic fields, including African American Studies, Critical Whiteness Studies, Gender Studies, and Popular Culture Studies, focusing primarily on the constructions of whiteness in contemporary African American literature, neo-slave narratives, vampire literature, and theories of motherhood. In my dissertation, I have turned to a body of literature that is still largely neglected both within African American Studies and Popular Culture Studies: contemporary African American women's vampire fiction. Within texts by Jewelle Gomez, Octavia Butler, and J.M. Jeffries, I'm particularly interested in the construction of interracial relations structured around the fantastic trope of the vampire, analyzing these authors' complex fictional explorations and re-conceptualizations of the multifaceted racial, gendered, and sexual dynamics that have conventionally determined interracial maternal, paternal and sexual bonds.
Community Service
Both as a master's and Ph.D. student, I have been involved in a number of organizations that have focused on education and intercultural communication in Leipzig, including human rights education at Leipzig schools with the local student chapter of Amnesty International and my work at WILMA (a welcome initiative for international students at the University of Leipzig). I am also a member of various academic associations, such as the DGFA (German Association for American Studies), the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, and the Collegium for African American Research.
Selected Publications
- "Review. Ingrid Thaler, Black Atlantic Speculative Fictions." Amerikastudien/American Studies. Forthcoming.
- "'She Would Be No Man's Property Ever Again:' Vampirism, Slavery, and Black Female Heroism in Contemporary African American Women's Fiction." The Hip and the Atavistic: Images of the Modern Vampire. Eds. Barbara Brodman, and James E. Doan. Forthcoming.
- With Florian Bast. "Bites from the Margins: Contemporary African American Women's Vampire Literature." Kultur und Geschlecht 8 (2011). <http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/genderstudies/kulturundgeschlecht/aktuell.html>
- "'Why white people feel they got to mark us?'—Bodily Inscription, Healing and Maternal Plots of Power in Jewelle Gomez's 'Louisiana 1850.'" The Black Imagination: Science Fiction, Futurism, and the Speculative. Eds. Sandra Jackson, and Julie E. Moody-Freeman. New York: Peter Lang, 2011. 146-65.
- "'All We Ever Remember Is Their Scars'—African American Speculative Fiction's Dismantling of the Foundations of Home." Constructions of Home: Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture, Law, and Literature. Ed. Klaus Stierstorfer. New York: AMS Press, Inc., 2010. 339-52.
- "Of Vampire Born: Interracial Mothering in Black Women's Speculative Fiction." Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies 10 (2009). <http://www-copas.uni-regensburg.de/articles/issue_10/10_02_text_loeffler.php.>
- "'Children Aren't Everything:' Maternal Ambivalences in Nella Larsen's Fiction." Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies 9 (2008). <http://www-copas.uni-regensburg.de/articles/issue_09/09_02_text_loeffler.php>
Selected Talks
- "Interracialism in Octavia Butler's Fledgling." Presentation. American Literature Association, San Francisco, USA. 5 May 2012.
- "The Re-Imagination of Interracial Intimacy, Romantic Love, and the Nuclear Family in Recent African American Women's Vampire Fiction." Presentation. International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando, USA. 21 March 2012.
- "Contemporary African American Women's Vampire Fiction: Constructing 'Plots of Power.'" Presentation. Northeast Modern Language Association, Rochester, USA. 17 March, 2012.
- "'Do you love me Shori, or do I just taste good?'—Reconfigurations of Romantic Love and the Nuclear Family in Octavia Butler's Fledgling." Presentation. Black States of Desire: Dispossession, Circulation, Transformation. Bi-Annual Conference of the Collegium for African American Research. Paris, France. 8 April, 2011. Fledgling." Presentation. Postdoctoral Seminar at the Introduction to the Humanities Program. Stanford, USA. 3 March 2011.
- "'We are not deviants, we are the wave of the future:' Vampirism in Contemporary African American Women's Fiction. Presentation. Letting the Vampire In. Bochum, Germany. 9 December 2010.
- "Reconfigurations of Interracial Desire in Contemporary African American Women's Vampire Fiction." Presentation. Inaugural Conference of the (German) Association for Research in the Fantastic. Hamburg, Germany. 1 October 2010.
- "Vampirism, Slavery, and Interracial Maternal Relationships in Contemporary Black Women's Speculative Fiction." Presentation. 'Diaspora Table' of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. Stanford, USA. 9 March, 2010.
- "Re-defining Home: Exile and Displacement in Recent African American Speculative Fiction." Presentation. Constructions of Home: Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture, Law and Literature. Münster, Germany. 27 November 2008.
- "Of Vampire Born: Jewelle Gomez's 'Louisiana 1850.'" Presentation. Postgraduate Forum of the German Association for American Studies. Münster, Germany. 1 November 2008.
- "Slavery, Motherhood, Quicksand: Nella Larsen's Reclamation and Revision of the American Female Slave Narrative." Presentation. Postgraduate Forum of the German Association for American Studies. Erlangen, Germany. 3 November 2007.
Honors, Awards, Distinctions
- Ph.D. Scholarship (Promotionsstipendium), Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, 2007-2010
- Master's Scholarship (Studienstipendium), Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, 2005-2006
- Academic-Year Ambassadorial Scholarship of the Rotary Foundation, 2003-2004
- Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement (Dean's List), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, College of Humanities, 2003, 2004


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Ruxandra MirceaCEO
Bio Getika® is a company running on Romanian capital, born out of the wish of 26-year old Ruxandra Mircea, who has recently graduated an MBA programme at City University of Seattle, to set up a skin care company here at home, because Romania has a tradition in this industry.
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We are proud to say we succeeded.


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THEOLOGY AT THE BOTTLEWORKS is a public discussion on the most important issues of our day. We bring together an amazing diversity of interesting people each month; it is truly the best public discussion in town.
Join the conversation at Schlafly Bottleworks this month to discuss "Why We Give: Philanthropy in America." Who is charitably giving, to what, and why? What motivates people to give away their hard-earned money? Come have a brew, give your view and lend an ear to others'. Always free and open to absolutely anyone.


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Preventing Blushing of Pre-Cat in Humid Weather
Forum Responses
From contributor L:
Since it is a pre-cat, you can always spray retarder on the piece to redissolve the lacquer, which will remove the blushing. This will only work if you do it within a few hours of spraying. Make sure you let it dry completely - do not touch it before it dries. Don't ask why I know this.
From contributor R:
Contributor L, I bet you only made that mistake once.
Years ago some Harvard/MIT scientist type person spent a boat load of taxpayer money to prove that a "wet paint" sign is the most touched and most ignored sign.
A boss of mine came in the spray booth one afternoon after I had just coated a door and I was behind the workbench cleaning the spraygun. For reasons unknown, he touched the damn door, leaving a fingerprint... plain as day. He didn't see me since I was at the other end of the shop, but he looked all around, put his hands in his pockets, and then left the spray room. I asked the next day if anyone had touched the door and no one 'fessed up. I got a chuckle out of that and kept what I had seen under my hat.
From the original questioner:
I did mine on an older dresser that someone had put a hot water humidifier near and blushed a large area of shellac on the unit. I sprayed one of the drawer fronts with DNA and it removed the blush almost immediately. I let it sit for a while and gave it a touch test when it looked dry. It wasn't and I pushed the shellac and caused a large wrinkle. So I took a rag and wiped all the shellac off the piece and resprayed it. Lesson learned.
But the retarder should work to remove the blush. Or you could buy the blush remover at four times the price, which will do the same thing and is just retarder anyway.
From contributor J:
Well, I wasn't going to say anything out of pride, but... yeah, a huge palm print dead center of one of the doors. The cops couldn't have done a better job.
If retarder is likely my solution, what do you think about just shooting another coat on with no air moving across it? I usually put a fan on a few minutes after the pre-cat goes on and never had a problem until lately with the heat and humidity. At 4 mils wet with only 27% solids, I should still be under the DMT specs.
From contributor L:
If you don't remove the blush before you put another coat on, you will trap it there. After the coating has flashed and it is touchable (usually 5-15 minutes) you can put a fan on it. If you do it before it flashes, you run the risk of getting solvent pop.
From contributor P:
I agree you should put in a little retarder. I would use up to 5% butyl cel. More and you can get into more issues.
It might also be water in your air line. When things get hot and humid, it's pretty easy to get a lot of condensate in the air that we use to spray. This can equate to blushing issues as well. You might want to ensure that your air/water separator is empty and cracked open a little bit. You can also make a home made air dryer by looping the hose against a wall. At the bottom of each loop, put a drain cock. Open the drains once a day and drain the water off. The loops should look like the back of a fridge. If neither of those work, you might want to look at Lorchem's Unilac. It's pretty blush resistant and works in extremely humid areas like south Florida.
From contributor Y:
That is a pretty common problem around my shop. When I don't have retarder to add to the top coat, I'll spray with the booth exhaust off. I find that in hot and cold weather, direct air from a fan or draft will cause the blushing.
From the original questioner:
I found that to be exactly true. I experimented with the trim a bit and even in 90 degree heat the blushing stopped altogether after I stopped the fan while the lacquer flashed.
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When Princes meet, Astrologers may mark it An ominous conjunction, full of boding, Like that of Mars with Saturn.
One hardly knows whether to term it a privilege or a penalty annexed to the quality of princes, that, in their intercourse with each other, they are required by the respect which is due to their own rank and dignity, to regulate their feelings and expressions by a severe etiquette, which precludes all violent and avowed display of passion, and which, but that the whole world are aware that this assumed complaisance is a matter of ceremony, might justly pass for profound dissimulation. It is no less certain, however, that the overstepping of these bounds of ceremonial, for the purpose of giving more direct vent to their angry passions, has the effect of compromising their dignity with the world in general; as was particularly noted when those distinguished rivals, Francis the First and the Emperor Charles, gave each other the lie direct, and were desirous of deciding their differences hand to hand, in single combat.
Charles of Burgundy, the most hasty and impatient, nay, the most imprudent prince of his time, found himself, nevertheless, fettered within the magic circle which prescribed the most profound deference to Louis, as his Suzerain and liege Lord, who had deigned to confer upon him, a vassal of the crown, the distinguished honour of a personal visit. Dressed in his ducal mantle, and attended by his great officers and principal knights and nobles, he went in gallant cavalcade to receive Louis XI. His retinue absolutely blazed with gold and silver; for the wealth of the Court of England being exhausted by the wars of York and Lancaster, and the expenditure of France limited by the economy of the Sovereign, that of Burgundy was for the time the most magnificent in Europe. The cortege of Louis, on the contrary, was few in number, and comparatively mean in appearance, and the exterior of the King himself, in a threadbare cloak, with his wonted old high crowned hat stuck full of images, rendered the contrast yet more striking; and as the Duke, richly attired with the coronet and mantle of state, threw himself from his noble charger, and, kneeling on one knee, offered to hold the stirrup while Louis dismounted from his little ambling palfrey, the effect was almost grotesque.
The greeting between the two potentates was, of course, as full of affected kindness and compliment as it was totally devoid of sincerity. But the temper of the Duke rendered it much more difficult for him to preserve the necessary appearances, in voice, speech, and demeanour; while in the King, every species of simulation and dissimulation seemed so much a part of his nature that those best acquainted with him could not have distinguished what was feigned from what was real.
Perhaps the most accurate illustration, were it not unworthy two such high potentates, would be to suppose the King in the situation of a stranger, perfectly acquainted with the habits and dispositions of the canine race, who, for some, purpose of his own, is desirous to make friends with a large and surly mastiff that holds him in suspicion and is disposed to worry him on the first symptoms either of diffidence or of umbrage. The mastiff growls internally, erects his bristles, shows his teeth, yet is ashamed to fly upon the intruder, who seems at the same time so kind and so confiding, and therefore the animal endures advances which are far from pacifying him, watching at the same time the slightest opportunity which may justify him in his own eyes for seizing his friend by the throat.
The King was no doubt sensible, from the altered voice, constrained manner, and abrupt gestures of the Duke, that the game he had to play was delicate, and perhaps he more than once repented having ever taken it in hand. But repentance was too late, and all that remained for him was that inimitable dexterity of management, which the King understood equally at least with any man that ever lived.
The demeanour which Louis used towards the Duke was such as to resemble the kind overflowing of the heart in a moment of sincere reconciliation with an honoured and tried friend, from whom he had been estranged by temporary circumstances now passed away, and forgotten as soon as removed. The King blamed himself for not having sooner taken the decisive step, of convincing his kind and good kinsman by such a mark of confidence as he was now bestowing, that the angry passages which had occurred betwixt them were nothing in his remembrance, when weighed against the kindness which received him when an exile from France, and under the displeasure of the King his father. He spoke of the good Duke of Burgundy, as Philip the father of Duke Charles was currently called, and remembered a thousand instances of his paternal kindness.
"I think, cousin," he said, "your father made little difference in his affection betwixt you and me; for I remember when by an accident I had bewildered myself in a hunting party, I found the good Duke upbraiding you with leaving me in the forest, as if you had been careless of the safety of an elder brother."
The Duke of Burgundy's features were naturally harsh and severe; and when he attempted to smile, in polite acquiescence to the truth of what the King told him, the grimace which he made was truly diabolical.
"Prince of dissemblers," he said, in his secret soul, "would that it stood with my honour to remind you how you have requited all the benefits of our House!"
"And then," continued the King, "if the ties of consanguinity and gratitude are not sufficient to bind us together, my fair cousin, we have those of spiritual relationship; for I am godfather to your fair daughter Mary, who is as dear to me as one of my own maidens; and when the Saints (their holy name be blessed!) sent me a little blossom which withered in the course of three months, it was your princely father who held it at the font, and celebrated the ceremony of baptism with richer and prouder magnificence than Paris itself could have afforded. Never shall I forget the deep, the indelible impression which the generosity of Duke Philip, and yours, my dearest cousin, made upon the half broken heart of the poor exile!"
"Your Majesty," said the Duke, compelling himself to make some reply, "acknowledged that slight obligation in terms which overpaid all the display which Burgundy could make, to show a due sense of the honour you had done its Sovereign."
"I remember the words you mean, fair cousin," said the King, smiling; "I think they were, that in guerdon of the benefit of that day, I, poor wanderer, had nothing to offer, save the persons of myself, of my wife, and of my child. -- Well, and I think I have indifferently well redeemed my pledge."
"I mean not to dispute what your Majesty is pleased to aver," said the Duke; "but --"
"But you ask," said the King, interrupting him, "how my actions have accorded with my words. -- Marry thus: the body of my infant child Joachim rests in Burgundian earth -- my own person I have this morning placed unreservedly in your power -- and, for that of my wife, -- truly, cousin, I think, considering the period of time which has passed, you will scarce insist on my keeping my word in that particular. She was born on the Day of the Blessed Annunciation" (he crossed himself, and muttered an Ora pro nobis (intercede for us)), "some fifty years since; but she is no farther distant than Rheims, and if you insist on my promise being fulfilled to the letter, she shall presently wait your pleasure."
Angry as the Duke of Burgundy was at the barefaced attempt of the King to assume towards him a tone of friendship and intimacy, he could not help laughing at the whimsical reply of that singular monarch, and his laugh was as discordant as the abrupt tones of passion in which he often spoke. Having laughed longer and louder than was at that period, or would now be, thought fitting the time and occasion, he answered in the same tone, bluntly declining the honour of the Queen's company, but stating his willingness to accept that of the King's eldest daughter, whose beauty was celebrated.
"I am happy, fair cousin," said the King, with one of those dubious smiles of which he frequently made use, "that your gracious pleasure has not fixed on my younger daughter, Joan. I should otherwise have had spear breaking between you and my cousin of Orleans; and, had harm come of it, I must on either side have lost a kind friend and affectionate cousin."
"Nay, nay, my royal sovereign," said Duke Charles, "the Duke of Orleans shall have no interruption from me in the path which he has chosen par amours. The cause in which I couch my lance against Orleans must be fair and straight."
Louis was far from taking amiss this brutal allusion to the personal deformity of the Princess Joan. On the contrary, he was rather pleased to find that the Duke was content to be amused with broad jests, in which he was himself a proficient, and which (according to the modern phrase) spared much sentimental hypocrisy. Accordingly, he speedily placed their intercourse on such a footing that Charles, though he felt it impossible to play the part of an affectionate and reconciled friend to a monarch whose ill offices he had so often encountered, and whose sincerity on the present occasion he so strongly doubted, yet had no difficulty in acting the hearty landlord towards a facetious guest; and so the want of reciprocity in kinder feelings between them was supplied by the tone of good fellowship which exists between two boon companions -- a tone natural to the Duke from the frankness, and, it might be added, the grossness of his character, and to Louis, because, though capable of assuming any mood of social intercourse, that which really suited him best was mingled with grossness of ideas and of caustic humour and expression.
Both Princes were happily able to preserve, during the period of a banquet at the town house of Peronne, the same kind of conversation, on which they met as on a neutral ground, and which, as Louis easily perceived, was more available than any other to keep the Duke of Burgundy in that state of composure which seemed necessary to his own safety.
Yet he was alarmed to observe that the Duke had around him several of those French nobles, and those of the highest rank, and in situations of great trust and power, whom his own severity or injustice had driven into exile; and it was to secure himself from the possible effects of their resentment and revenge, that (as already mentioned) he requested to be lodged in the Castle or Citadel of Peronne, rather than in the town itself. This was readily granted by Duke Charles, with one of those grim smiles of which it was impossible to say whether it meant good or harm to the party whom it concerned.
(Scott quotes from the Memoires of De Comines as follows: "these nobles . . . inspired Louis with so much suspicion that he . . . demanded to be lodged in the old Castle of Peronne, and thus rendered himself an absolute captive.")
But when the King, expressing himself with as much delicacy as he could, and in the manner he thought best qualified to lull suspicion asleep, asked whether the Scottish Archers of his Guard might not maintain the custody of the Castle of Peronne during his residence there, in lieu of the gate of the town which the Duke had offered to their care, Charles replied, with his wonted sternness of voice and abruptness of manner, rendered more alarming by his habit, when he spoke, of either turning up his mustaches, or handling his sword or dagger, the last of which he used frequently to draw a little way, and then return to the sheath (this gesture, very indicative of a fierce character, is also by stage tradition a distinction of Shakespeare's Richard III. S.),
"Saint Martin! No, my Liege. You are in your vassal's camp and city -- so men call me in respect to your Majesty -- my castle and town are yours, and my men are yours; so it is indifferent whether my men at arms or the Scottish Archers guard either the outer gate or defences of the Castle. -- No, by Saint George! Peronne is a virgin fortress -- she shall not lose her reputation by any neglect of mine. Maidens must be carefully watched, my royal cousin, if we would have them continue to live in good fame."
"Surely, fair cousin, and I altogether agree with you," said the King, "I being in fact more interested in the reputation of the good little town than you are -- Peronne being, as you know, fair cousin, one of those upon the same river Somme, which, pledged to your father of happy memory for redemption of money, are liable to be redeemed upon repayment. And, to speak truth; coming, like an honest debtor, disposed to clear off my obligations of every kind, I have brought here a few sumpter mules loaded with silver for the redemption -- enough to maintain even your princely and royal establishment, fair cousin, for the space of three years."
"I will not receive a penny of it," said the Duke, twirling his mustaches -- "the day of redemption is past, my royal cousin; nor were there ever serious purpose that the right should be exercised, the cession of these towns being the sole recompense my father ever received from France, when, in a happy hour for your family, he consented to forget the murder of my grandfather, and to exchange the alliance of England for that of your father. Saint George! if he had not so acted, your royal self, far from having towns in the Somme, could scarce have kept those beyond the Loire. No -- I will not render a stone of them, were I to receive for every stone so rendered its weight in gold. I thank God, and the wisdom and valour of my ancestors, that the revenues of Burgundy, though it be a duchy, will maintain my state, even when a King is my guest, without obliging me to barter my heritage."
"Well, fair cousin," answered the King, with the same mild and placid manner as before, and unperturbed by the loud tone and violent gestures of the Duke, "I see that you are so good a friend to France that you are unwilling to part with aught that belongs to her. But we shall need some moderator in those affairs when we come to treat of them in council. -- What say you to Saint Paul?"
"Neither Saint Paul, nor Saint Peter, nor e'er a Saint in the Calendar," said the Duke of Burgundy, "shall preach me out of the possession of Peronne."
"Nay, but you mistake me," said King Louis, smiling; "I mean Louis de Luxembourg, our trusty constable, the Count of Saint Paul. -- Ah! Saint Mary of Embrun! we lack but his head at our conference! the best head in France, and the most useful to the restoration of perfect harmony betwixt us."
"By Saint George of Burgundy!" said the Duke, "I marvel to hear your Majesty talk thus of a man, false and perjured, both to France and Burgundy -- one who hath ever endeavoured to fan into a flame our frequent differences, and that with the purpose of giving himself the airs of a mediator. I swear by the Order I wear that his marshes shall not be long a resource for him!"
"Be not so warm, cousin," said the King, smiling, and speaking under his breath; "when I wished for the head constable, as a means of ending the settlement of our trifling differences, I had no desire for his body, which might remain at Saint Quentin's with much convenience."
"Ho! ho! I take your meaning, my royal cousin," said Charles, with the same dissonant laugh which some other of the King's coarse pleasantries had extorted; and added, stamping his heel on the ground, "I allow, in that sense, the head of the Constable might be useful at Peronne."
These, and other discourses, by which the King mixed hints at serious affairs amid matters of mirth and amusement, did not follow each other consecutively; but were adroitly introduced during the time of the banquet at the Hotel de Ville, during a subsequent interview in the Duke's own apartments, and, in short, as occasion seemed to render the introduction of such delicate subjects easy and natural.
Indeed, however rashly Louis had placed himself in a risk which the Duke's fiery temper and the mutual subjects of exasperated enmity which subsisted betwixt them rendered of doubtful and perilous issue, never pilot on an unknown coast conducted himself with more firmness and prudence. He seemed to sound with the utmost address and precision the depths and shallows of his rival's mind and temper, and manifested neither doubt nor fear when the result of his experiments discovered much more of sunken rocks and of dangerous shoals than of safe anchorage.
At length a day closed which must have been a wearisome one to Louis, from the constant exertion, vigilance, precaution, and attention which his situation required, as it was a day of constraint to the Duke, from the necessity of suppressing the violent feelings to which he was in the general habit of giving uncontrolled vent.
No sooner had the latter retired into his own apartment, after he had taken a formal leave of the King for the night, than he gave way to the explosion of passion which he had so long suppressed; and many an oath and abusive epithet, as his jester, Le Glorieux said, "fell that night upon heads which they were never coined for," his domestics reaping the benefit of that hoard of injurious language which he could not in decency bestow on his royal guest, even in his absence, and which was yet become too great to be altogether suppressed. The jests of the clown had some effect in tranquillizing the Duke's angry mood -- he laughed loudly, threw the jester a piece of gold, caused himself to be disrobed in tranquillity, swallowed a deep cup of wine and spices, went to bed, and slept soundly.
The couchee of King Louis is more worthy of notice than that of Charles; for the violent expression of exasperated and headlong passion, as indeed it belongs more to the brutal than the intelligent part of our nature, has little to interest us, in comparison to the deep workings of a vigorous and powerful mind.
Louis was escorted to the lodgings he had chosen in the Castle, or Citadel of Peronne, by the Chamberlains and harbingers of the Duke of Burgundy, and received at the entrance by a strong guard of archers and men at arms.
As he descended from his horse to cross the drawbridge, over a moat of unusual width and depth, he looked on the sentinels, and observed to Comines, who accompanied him, with other Burgundian nobles, "They wear Saint Andrew's crosses -- but not those of my Scottish Archers."
"You will find them as ready to die in your defence, Sire," said the Burgundian, whose sagacious ear had detected in the King's tone of speech a feeling which doubtless Louis would have concealed if he could. "They wear the Saint Andrew's Cross as the appendage of the collar of the Golden Fleece, my master the Duke of Burgundy's Order."
"Do I not know it?" said Louis, showing the collar which he himself wore in compliment to his host. "It is one of the dear bonds of fraternity which exist between my kind brother and myself. We are brothers in chivalry, as in spiritual relationship; cousins by birth, and friends by every tie of kind feeling and good neighbourhood. -- No farther than the base court, my noble lords and gentlemen! I can permit your attendance no farther -- you have done me enough of grace."
"We were charged by the Duke," said D'Hymbercourt, "to bring your Majesty to your lodging. -- We trust your Majesty will permit us to obey our master's command."
"In this small matter," said the King, "I trust you will allow my command to outweigh his, even with you his liege subjects. -- I am something indisposed, my lords -- something fatigued. Great pleasure hath its toils, as well as great pain. I trust to enjoy your society better tomorrow. -- And yours, too, Seignior Philip of Comines -- I am told you are the annalist of the time -- we that desire to have a name in history must speak you fair, for men say your pen hath a sharp point, when you will. -- Goodnight, my lords and gentles, to all and each of you."
The Lords of Burgundy retired, much pleased with the grace of Louis's manner, and the artful distribution of his attentions; and the King was left with only one or two of his own personal followers, under the archway of the base court of the Castle of Peronne, looking on the huge tower which occupied one of the angles, being in fact the Donjon, or principal Keep, of the palace. This tall, dark, massive building was seen clearly by the same moon which was lighting Quentin Durward betwixt Charleroi and Peronne, which, as the reader is aware, shone with peculiar lustre. The great Keep was in form nearly resembling the White Tower in the Citadel of London, but still more ancient in its architecture, deriving its date, as was affirmed, from the days of Charlemagne. The walls were of a tremendous thickness, the windows very small, and grated with bars of iron, and the huge clumsy bulk of the building cast a dark and portentous shadow over the whole of the courtyard.
"I am not to be lodged there," the King said, with a shudder that had something in it ominous.
"No," replied the gray headed seneschal, who attended upon him unbonneted. "God forbid! -- Your Majesty's apartments are prepared in these lower buildings which are hard by, and in which King John slept two nights before the battle of Poitiers."
"Hum -- that is no lucky omen neither," muttered the King; "but what of the Tower, my old friend? and why should you desire of Heaven that I may not be there lodged?"
"Nay, my gracious Liege," said the seneschal, "I know no evil of the Tower at all, only that the sentinels say lights are seen, and strange noises heard in it at night; and there are reasons why that may be the case, for anciently it was used as a state prison, and there are many tales of deeds which have been done in it."
Louis asked no further questions; for no man was more bound than he to respect the secrets of a prison house. At the door of the apartments destined for his use, which, though of later date than the Tower, were still both ancient and gloomy, stood a small party of the Scottish Guard, which the Duke, although he declined to concede the point to Louis, had ordered to be introduced, so as to be near the person of their master. The faithful Lord Crawford was at their head.
"Crawford -- my honest and faithful Crawford," said the King, "where hast thou been today? -- Are the Lords of Burgundy so inhospitable as to neglect one of the bravest and most noble gentlemen that ever trode a court? -- I saw you not at the banquet."
"I declined it, my Liege," said Crawford, "times are changed with me. The day has been that I could have ventured a carouse with the best man in Burgundy and that in the juice of his own grape; but a matter of four pints now flusters me, and I think it concerns your Majesty's service to set in this an example to my gallants."
"Thou art ever prudent," said the King, "but surely your toil is the less when you have so few men to command? -- and a time of festivity requires not so severe self denial on your part as a time of danger."
"If I have few men to command," said Crawford, "I have the more need to keep the knaves in fitting condition; and whether this business be like to end in feasting or fighting, God and your Majesty know better than old John of Crawford."
"You surely do not apprehend any danger?" said the King hastily, yet in a whisper.
"Not I," answered Crawford; "I wish I did; for, as old Earl Tineman (an Earl of Douglas, so called. S.) used to say, apprehended dangers may be always defended dangers. -- The word for the night, if your Majesty pleases?"
"Let it be Burgundy, in honour of our host and of a liquor that you love, Crawford."
"I will quarrel with neither Duke nor drink, so called," said Crawford, "provided always that both be sound. A good night to your Majesty!"
"A good night, my trusty Scot," said the King, and passed on to his apartments.
At the door of his bedroom Le Balafre was placed sentinel. "Follow me hither," said the King, as he passed him; and the Archer accordingly, like a piece of machinery put into motion by an artist, strode after him into the apartment, and remained there fixed, silent, and motionless, attending the royal command.
"Have you heard from that wandering Paladin, your nephew?" said the King; "for he hath been lost to us, since, like a young knight who had set out upon his first adventures, he sent us home two prisoners as the first fruits of his chivalry."
"My Lord, I heard something of that," said Balafre, "and I hope your Majesty will believe that if he acted wrongfully, it was in no shape by any precept or example, since I never was so bold as to unhorse any of your Majesty's most illustrious house, better knowing my own condition, and --"
"Be silent on that point," said the King; "your nephew did his duty in the matter."
"There indeed," continued Balafre, "he had the cue from me. -- 'Quentin,' said I to him, 'whatever comes of it, remember you belong to the Scottish Archer Guard, and do your duty whatever comes on't.'"
"I guess he had some such exquisite instructor," said Louis; "but it concerns me that you answer me my first question. -- Have you heard of your nephew of late? -- Stand aback, my masters," he added, addressing the gentlemen of his chamber, "for this concerneth no ears but mine."
"Surely, please your Majesty," said Balafre, "I have seen this very evening the groom Charlot, whom my kinsman dispatched from Liege, or some castle of the Bishop's which is near it, and where he hath lodged the Ladies of Croye in safety."
"Now Our Lady of Heaven be praised for it!" said the King. "Art thou sure of it? -- sure of the good news?"
"As sure as I can be of aught," said Le Balafre, "the fellow, I think, hath letters for your Majesty from the Ladies of Croye."
"Haste to get them," said the King. "Give the harquebuss to one of these knaves -- to Oliver -- to any one. Now Our Lady of Embrun be praised! and silver shall be the screen that surrounds her high altar!"
Louis, in this fit of gratitude and devotion, doffed, as usual, his hat, selected from the figures with which it was garnished that which represented his favourite image of the Virgin, placed it on a table, and, kneeling down, repeated reverently the vow he had made.
The groom, being the first messenger whom Durward had despatched from Schonwaldt, was now introduced with his letters. They were addressed to the King by the Ladies of Croye, and barely thanked him in very cold terms for his courtesy while at his Court, and something more warmly for having permitted them to retire and sent them in safety from his dominions; expressions at which Louis laughed very heartily, instead of resenting them. He then demanded of Charlot, with obvious interest, whether they had not sustained some alarm or attack upon the road? Charlot, a stupid fellow, and selected for that quality, gave a very confused account of the affray in which his companion, the Gascon, had been killed, but knew of no other. Again Louis demanded of him, minutely and particularly, the route which the party had taken to Liege; and seemed much interested when he was informed, in reply, that they had, upon approaching Namur, kept the more direct road to Liege, upon the right bank of the Maes, instead of the left bank, as recommended in their route. The King then ordered the man a small present, and dismissed him, disguising the anxiety he had expressed as if it only concerned the safety of the Ladies of Croye.
Yet the news, though they implied the failure of one of his own favourite plans, seemed to imply more internal satisfaction on the King's part than he would have probably indicated in a case of brilliant success. He sighed like one whose breast has been relieved from a heavy burden, muttered his devotional acknowledgments with an air of deep sanctity, raised up his eyes, and hastened to adjust newer and surer schemes of ambition.
With such purpose, Louis ordered the attendance of his astrologer, Martius Galeotti, who appeared with his usual air of assumed dignity, yet not without a shade of uncertainty on his brow, as if he had doubted the King's kind reception. It was, however, favourable, even beyond the warmest which he had ever met with at any former interview. Louis termed him his friend, his father in the sciences -- the glass by which a king should look into distant futurity -- and concluded by thrusting on his finger a ring of very considerable value. Galeotti, not aware of the circumstances which had thus suddenly raised his character in the estimation of Louis, yet understood his own profession too well to let that ignorance be seen. He received with grave modesty the praises of Louis, which he contended were only due to the nobleness of the science which he practised, a science the rather the more deserving of admiration on account of its working miracles through means of so feeble an agent as himself; and he and the King took leave, for once much satisfied with each other.
On the Astrologer's departure, Louis threw himself into a chair, and appearing much exhausted, dismissed the rest of his attendants, excepting Oliver alone, who, creeping around with gentle assiduity and noiseless step, assisted him in the task of preparing for repose.
While he received this assistance, the King, unlike to his wont, was so silent and passive, that his attendant was struck by the unusual change in his deportment. The worst minds have often something of good principle in them -- banditti show fidelity to their captain, and sometimes a protected and promoted favourite has felt a gleam of sincere interest in the monarch to whom he owed his greatness. Oliver le Diable, le Mauvais (or by whatever other name he was called expressive of his evil propensities), was, nevertheless, scarcely so completely identified with Satan as not to feel some touch of grateful feeling for his master in this singular condition, when, as it seemed, his fate was deeply interested and his strength seemed to be exhausted. After for a short time rendering to the King in silence the usual services paid by a servant to his master at the toilette, the attendant was at length tempted to say, with the freedom which his Sovereign's indulgence had permitted him in such circumstances, "Tete dieu, Sire, you seem as if you had lost a battle; and yet I, who was near your Majesty during this whole day, never knew you fight a field so gallantly."
"A field!" said King Louis, looking up, and assuming his wonted causticity of tone and manner. "Pasques dieu, my friend Oliver, say I have kept the arena in a bullfight; for a blinder, and more stubborn, untameable, uncontrollable brute than our cousin of Burgundy never existed, save in the shape of a Murcian bull, trained for the bull feasts. -- Well, let it pass -- I dodged him bravely. But, Oliver, rejoice with me that my plans in Flanders have not taken effect, whether as concerning those two rambling Princesses of Croye, or in Liege -- you understand me?"
"In faith, I do not, Sire," replied Oliver; "it is impossible for me to congratulate your Majesty on the failure of your favourite schemes, unless you tell me some reason for the change in your own wishes and views."
"Nay," answered the King, "there is no change in either, in a general view. But, Pasques dieu, my friend, I have this day learned more of Duke Charles than I before knew. When he was Count de Charalois, in the time of the old Duke Philip and the banished Dauphin of France, we drank, and hunted, and rambled together -- and many a wild adventure we have had. And in those days I had a decided advantage over him -- like that which a strong spirit naturally assumes over a weak one. But he has since changed -- has become a dogged, daring, assuming, disputatious dogmatist, who nourishes an obvious wish to drive matters to extremities, while he thinks he has the game in his own hands. I was compelled to glide as gently away from each offensive topic, as if I touched red hot iron. I did but hint at the possibility of those erratic Countesses of Croye, ere they attained Liege (for thither I frankly confessed that, to the best of my belief, they were gone), falling into the hands of some wild snapper upon the frontiers, and, Pasques dieu! you would have thought I had spoken of sacrilege. It is needless to tell you what he said, and quite enough to say that I would have held my head's safety very insecure, if, in that moment, accounts had been brought of the success of thy friend, William with the Beard, in his and thy honest scheme of bettering himself by marriage."
"No friend of mine, if it please your Majesty," said Oliver, "neither friend nor plan of mine."
"True, Oliver," answered the King; "thy plan had not been to wed, but to shave such a bridegroom. Well, thou didst wish her as bad a one, when thou didst modestly hint at thyself. However, Oliver, lucky the man who has her not; for hang, draw, and quarter were the most gentle words which my gentle cousin spoke of him who should wed the young Countess, his vassal, without his most ducal permission."
"And he is, doubtless, as jealous of any disturbances in the good town of Liege?" asked the favourite.
"As much, or much more," replied the King, "as your understanding may easily anticipate; but, ever since I resolved on coming hither, my messengers have been in Liege to repress, for the present, every movement to insurrection; and my very busy and bustling friends, Rousalaer and Pavillon, have orders to be quiet as a mouse until this happy meeting between my cousin and me is over."
"Judging, then, from your Majesty's account," said Oliver dryly, "the utmost to be hoped from this meeting is that it should not make your condition worse -- Surely this is like the crane that thrust her head into the fox's mouth, and was glad to thank her good fortune that it was not bitten off. Yet your Majesty seemed deeply obliged even now to the sage philosopher who encouraged you to play so hopeful a game."
"No game," said the King sharply, "is to be despaired of until it is lost, and that I have no reason to expect it will be in my own case. On the contrary, if nothing occurs to stir the rage of this vindictive madman, I am sure of victory; and surely, I am not a little obliged to the skill which selected for my agent, as the conductor of the Ladies of Croye, a youth whose horoscope so far corresponded with mine that he hath saved me from danger, even by the disobedience of my own commands, and taking the route which avoided De la Marck's ambuscade."
"Your Majesty," said Oliver, "may find many agents who will serve you on the terms of acting rather after their own pleasure than your instructions."
"Nay, nay, Oliver," said Louis impatiently, "the heathen poet speaks of Vota diis exaudita malignis, -- wishes, that is, which the saints grant to us in their wrath; and such, in the circumstances, would have been the success of William de la Marck's exploit, had it taken place about this time, and while I am in the power of this Duke of Burgundy. -- And this my own art foresaw -- fortified by that of Galeotti -- that is, I foresaw not the miscarriage of De la Marck's undertaking, but I foresaw that the expedition of yonder Scottish Archer should end happily for me -- and such has been the issue, though in a manner different from what I expected; for the stars, though they foretell general results, are yet silent on the means by which such are accomplished, being often the very reverse of what we expect, or even desire. -- But why talk I of these mysteries to thee, Oliver, who art in so far worse than the very devil, who is thy namesake, since he believes and trembles; whereas thou art an infidel both to religion and to science, and wilt remain so till thine own destiny is accomplished, which as thy horoscope and physiognomy alike assure me, will be by the intervention of the gallows!"
"And if it indeed shall be so," said Oliver, in a resigned tone of voice, "it will be so ordered, because I was too grateful a servant to hesitate at executing the commands of my royal master."
Louis burst into his usual sardonic laugh. -- "Thou hast broke thy lance on me fairly, Oliver; and by Our Lady thou art right, for I defied thee to it. But, prithee, tell me in sadness, dost thou discover anything in these measures towards us which may argue any suspicion of ill usage?"
"My Liege," replied Oliver, "your Majesty and yonder learned philosopher look for augury to the stars and heavenly host -- I am an earthly reptile, and consider but the things connected with my vocation. But methinks there is a lack of that earnest and precise attention on your Majesty which men show to a welcome guest of a degree so far above them. The Duke tonight pleaded weariness, and saw your Majesty not farther than to the street, leaving to the officers of his household the task of conveying you to your lodgings. The rooms here are hastily and carelessly fitted up -- the tapestry is hung up awry -- and, in one of the pieces, as you may observe, the figures are reversed and stand on their heads, while the trees grow with their roots uppermost."
"Pshaw! accident, and the effect of hurry," said the King. "When did you ever know me concerned about such trifles as these?"
"Not on their own account are they worth notice," said Oliver; "but as intimating the degree of esteem in which the officers of the Duke's household observe your Grace to be held by him. Believe me, that, had his desire seemed sincere that your reception should be in all points marked by scrupulous attention, the zeal of his people would have made minutes do the work of days. -- And when," he added, pointing to the basin and ewer, "was the furniture of your Majesty's toilette of other substance than silver?"
"Nay," said the King, with a constrained smile, "that last remark upon the shaving utensils, Oliver, is too much in the style of thine own peculiar occupation to be combated by any one. -- True it is, that when I was only a refugee, and an exile, I was served upon gold plate by order of the same Charles, who accounted silver too mean for the Dauphin, though he seems to hold that metal too rich for the King of France. Well, Oliver, we will to bed. -- Our resolution has been made and executed; there is nothing to be done, but to play manfully the game on which we have entered. I know that my cousin of Burgundy, like other wild bulls, shuts his eyes when he begins his career. I have but to watch that moment, like one of the tauridors (Spanish bull fighters) whom we saw at Burgos, and his impetuosity places him at my mercy."


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Fourteen extremely old Shinto "sacred trees" or "hinoki" have been killed recently by a person or persons unknown. The weapon was a herbicide, administered by stealth through holes drilled all around the trunks.
Obviously, I'm not in favor of worshipping trees.
But on the other hand, it's obviously not a St. Boniface running around boldly opposing tree worship. St. Boniface didn't sneak. This seems more like the work of some kind of vandal who just wants to do damage and then preen himself.
However, the best guess of law enforcement is that the vandals were picking trees in isolated areas, planning to kill the trees and then come back, cut them down, and steal the rare wood; or otherwise, to "encourage" the locals to sell them the rare wood at some cut-rate price.
All old trees are worthy of a certain amount of respect and care. This is disgusting.


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2015 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award NomineesPosted by shane.ardell on 02/23/2015
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So exactly how LONG should you wait for Change?/
The other day I was in a conversation with a long-time rebel (first-time caller) who has been tirelessly constructing a radical new work practice for an organization. For years. Except that now he's gotten kind of tired. Perhaps you might even say fed up. His ideas are not really moving beyond the prototype stage and it's been...years. "People keep telling me that 'Change Takes Time' but my question is: How much time is TOO LONG?"
As a card-carrying member of the "Change Takes Time Fraternity", I realized I had never asked myself that question. Sure, real change takes time but when does that truth become just empty words for the Status Quo to hide behind?
My friend had worked some of this out for himself.
"Many organizations realized the need to move into a different model at around the same time. A decade ago. Most of them now are well underway into making the transition. Some have completed it. But we're still futzing around."
"That's how I know our change is taking too long."
Rebels need to have an idea (maybe even a timetable?) for how long it takes to complete certain types of change in comparable organizations. They need to use this information (cleverly) to establish expectations not just for themselves but also for the organization around them. Because in most change initiatives, the Status Quo remains in fact the most important player.
I can imagine it would be quite effective to let the bureaucratic black belts know what the typical transition time is for comparable change initiatives. Status Quo leaders may not always buy the idea for change but they are quite inclined to support the need to keep to a schedule. And talking explicitly about how long you expect something to take and "how long too long is" will also prevent the passive-aggressives in your organization from availing themselves of one of their favorite techniques--using the unmonitored passage of time to wait the rebels out.
Finally, having a clearer framework in your mind to help you determine when change is taking too long will help you avoid rebel burnout. Rebel self-care is essential and yet most rebels are horrible at it. We really do suffer from the sunk costs phenomenon, particularly because our sunk costs usually represent emotional and psychological investments.
Rebels sometimes also need to think about whether they are prepared to stay in their position long enough to see a particular change through. Are you strong enough to hack away at your organization's undergrowth for let's say five years to make something happen? Be honest when you answer that question. Because change takes time.


text: Protesters shouted slogan against the release of CIA contractor Raymond Davis at rallies after prayer [AFP] Hundreds of Pakistanis have marched against the government in protest over the release of a CIA contractor who had been held for murder. Protesters in Islamabad led by the Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice) party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan marched from Islamabad's Red Mosque after Friday prayers, chanting anti-government and anti-US slogans. Outrage was further heightened by a US air strike in North Waziristan on Thursday, killing at least 38 people."All of us Pakistanis have to get together and decide that in the future if ever the life of any Pakistani is taken, 180 million Pakistanis will come out onto the streets," Khan said. The protesters chanted "Friends of the US are traitors" and "Down with America". The march came two days after Raymond Davis was released after the families of the two men he admitted to killing were given so-called "blood money" and the case was dropped. US-Pakistan relations Davis, who had earlier admitted to the killings but said he was acting in "self-defence", was indicted for the murders on Wednesday. But Rana Sanaullah, the Punjab law minister, said he was immediately pardoned by the families of the victims in exchange for compensation. Washington, however, denies any money was ever paid. Davis' detention in Pakistan had strained ties between Washington and Islamabad. Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said: "Paying money is one thing, but there has been denial from the US. The important thing is how the two [US and Pakistan] patch up their relationship." Our correspondent also reported that tribal leaders have declared revenge on the US after Thursday's strike. "It must not be forgotten that the tribes never leave without taking revenge," he said. "Whenever someone is killed there will invariably be revenge - something that the Americans know very well, they have been operating in Afghanistan after all. Now the tribes are saying they are going to hit the Americans on both sides of the border, whenever, wherever possibly." SOURCE: Al Jazeera and agencies Politics Asia US & Canada Pakistan United States


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SEXTOY Thụy Điển LELO GIGI MS-004
ĐỒ DÙNG TÌNH DỤC CHO NỮ DÙNG » Duong vat gia Siêu VIP|SEXTOY LELO ĐẲNG CẤP VIP » SEXTOY LELO VIP Nữ|BÚP BÊ TÌNH DỤC|DƯƠNG VẬT GIẢ
Mã sản phẩm : GIGI
Dụng cụ kích thích điểm G bán chạy nhất của LELO, sản phẩm kích dục tập trung kích thích một số điểm nhạy cảm nhất bên trong âm đạo, làm cho nàng dễ dàng trải nghiệm và đạt đỉnh tình dục.
Chất liệu an toàn với chứng nhận của FDA Hoa Kỳ, lỗi ABS, bên ngoài phut silicon.
Sản phẩm có 5 tần số kích thích khác nhau, giao diện trực quan dễ sử dụng, có 4 nút, 2 nút thay đổi tần số, 2 nút tăng giảm cường độ, các nút này có thể bấm cùng một lúc hoặc để khóa an toàn khi vận chuyển.
Thời gian sạc pin cho dụng cụ liên tục trong 2h, thời gian sử dụng liên tục 4h, thời gian chờ lên đến 90 ngày, độ ồn thấp dưới 50dB.
Sản phẩm đóng gói đẹp, sang trọng, có theo kèm một túi đựng satin, thiết bị sạc pin, 1 sách hướng dẫn sử dụng, 1 catalogue sản phẩm,
Fresh, clean and horny I entered the bedroom and turned on the beside lamp so I could see the Lelo Gigi vibrator nestled between my panties in my bedside drawer. In preparation I had charged her before going to work and she was now ready to pleasure her mistress.
I placed her on the bedside drawers and made my way over to the DVD's stacked at the side of the television. Selecting the first one I laid my hands on I placed it in the drive and made my way to the bed. My heart was racing, I was excited at the prospect of secretly pleasuring myself.
It's something that I don't indulge in very often, there is no need Alex loves to watch me masturbate. This was a bit of a treat, something different and I knew it was going to be good.
With a press of the control the DVD started to play, it was The Estate Agent from Film Erotica. I slipped between the covers, it wasn't cold because the heating had been on for a couple of hours. The temperatures over here have taken a dive recently.
The warmth of the room allowed me to lay totally naked on the bed. With eager anticipation I reached over for the Gigi and pressed the dial once, then twice more, taking her to the fastest setting of the continual setting.
The young blonde and her male counterpart were now undressing and she was laying on top of her desk, naked except for her boots. Oooh! It felt good just running the flat g-spot tip along my slit. No need for lube I was more than ready, been looking forward to this all day at work.
The perfect shape, the soft silcone and the intense vibrations made for a wonderful combination to stimulate myself. I ran the head around my opening and back up my slit, repeating this movement several times.
Now relaxed I was ready for some action. I pushed the Gigi up inside my tight, wet hole. The intense vibrations ricocheting around my pelvic girdle made me squirm. I tried to angle the vibe up inside towards my g-spot but I just didn't seem to be able to locate the spot.
I let go the Gigi to scratch an itch on my leg…and WOW! Letting go of the handle had increased the intensity of the vibrations even more, my hand must have been absorbing some of the power.
Hands free was working fine, because of the ergonomic curve and the Lelo Gigi vibrator's compact size I was able to control the vibrator using my pc muscles. It felt fantastic, with every tightening of my internal muscle the tip of the vibe massaged my g-spot, I was exercising and bringing myself off all in one.
Eat your heart out Kegel!
The blonde was now being fucked good and hard by the rather muscular and well endowed client of hers. I had the feeling that we may be coming together very soon. My hands now free I decided to add a little clit play in to the mix as I moved the vibe around inside myself with a steady rhythm.
It was swollen, engorged with my blood and hypersensitive to my touch. I tried waggling it from side to side first but it didn't do the trick so I reverted to rolling it firmly but gently under my middle right finger.
And bloody hell that was heavenly. I'm moving the vibe around and massaging my clit and BANG! That orgasm hit me so quick and hard I didn't have chance to prepare for its arrival. It plain took my breath away and when at last I breathed in a gasp of air I let loose the most almightly moan as I spasmed my shoulder raising from the matress.
Spent and extremely sated I collapsed back on the bed. I could hear the vibe still running between my legs in the distance but for the moment I was floating on a cloud somewhere in ecstacy…