I Love Them,,,

Kate Baer, from And Yet: Poems; “Idea”

[Text ID: “I will enjoy this life. I will open it like a peach in season, suck the juice from every finger, run my tongue over my chin. I will not worry about clichés or uninvited guests peering in my windows. I will love and be loved. Save and be saved a thousand times. I will let the want into my body, bless the heat under my skin. My life, I will not waste it. I will enjoy this life.”]

-Zoë Lianne

Oh, my knight in shining armour,

Why won't you leave me alone?

I find a great sense of humour

In the seat of your throne.

I would like to be left

In my great tower;

Don't justify your theft

To give yourself power.

_ E.C.N

My car lurches wildly into the parking lot and I abandon it, still running, at the curb, ignoring the guard who calls after me: “Hey! You can’t leave this here.”

I race into the hospital. A flock of bedraggled “get well soon” balloons bob wildly behind me.

I stop at the desk and startle the poor clerk there. “Where?!” I gasp.

I rush off before he can tell me. I know in my heart where my destination is.

As I near the end of the hall I am greeted by a whole crowd of anxious mourners and well-wishers, all bearing tokens of affection; flowers, cards, teddy bears. Our balloons join into one giant, grieving stormcloud.

“Any news?” I ask the nearest person. And they shake their head sadly.

“We can only wait now,” they say. And though we have never met before, we squeeze hands.

All of us hope for the swift recovery of our beloved AO3.

im always suuuuper chill when i see that service unavailable page

I love kids they’re all like.. “when i grow up i’m gonna be an astronaut and a chef and a doctor and an olympic swimmer” like that self confidence! That drive! That optimism! Where does it go

Dick started his truck back to the cave. "How can you live with yourself after letting me die?" Dick ignored the hallucination, the real Jason wouldn't be anywhere near here.

The hallucination this time was ruthless, mocking him every chance it got, bringing out his fears and making his gut sink. By the time he arrived at the cave his eyes stung a little but the hallucination had finally disappeared. Dick took a breath to compose himself.

"Wing! How'd it go?" Tim called out when he entered the Batcave.

Dick smiled back. "Great, got the information we needed"

Damian came over. "Did the new gas mask work?"Huh?

"Why would I have used a gas mask?" Dick swore that every head in a twenty foot radius snapped to him instantly.

Jason started checking him over with his eyes. Mother-hen "Because there was a shit ton of left over Fear Toxin in that building"

Oh "Is that why the hallucinations were worse this time?" Maybe it was the Toxin in his system, maybe it was the fact he was exhausted but he didn't think it through fully before those words tumbled out of his mouth.

Jason's hands were cupping his face now, moving his head whichever way to get a better look. "You have hallucinations often?"

Shit, There's no way I'm getting out of this, am I? "only once in a blue moon"

"You had hallucinations and you didn't tell any of us?" Oh gosh, Bruce is mad too.

"We weren't talking when they started, didn't think it was a big enough deal to call about"

"When did they start? Why didn't you tell me when we started talking again?"

I'm getting interrogated, aren't I? "Not long after Jason died and I knew how to deal with it by the time we talked again.

Tim started mumbling incomprehensibly- if it started shortly after Jason died... -before asking Dick a question. "What are your hallucinations of?"

He was reluctant to answer, Jason might blame himself if- Damian was hugging him, his head tucked into Dick's side as he rested under Dick's arm. "You don't have to deal with it alone, imbecile."

"..I taught you that" Damian only grunted affirmatively into his side. Dick couldn't find the heart to lie anymore. "I saw Jason"

Jason let out a pained sound, from the pitch Dick could tell he was trying to hold it back. Tim seemed to be in that state between caring brother and analytical vigilante. "Did you continue to have Hallucinations of him after he came back?"

"Stayed the same, the only real difference is now Jason's older sometimes."

Jason let out a croak "I'm sorry, Wing"

Dick's heart clenched, this was what I was trying to avoid "it's not your fault, if anything I'm to blame"

Jason pulled him into a hug, Damian didn't fight it either. "Shut up Dickhead."

Tim finished typing what he learned and dragged Bruce into the hug with him, he'd have to ask Dick more about his hallucinations later.

A couple job interview hacks from someone who has to give a job interview every single goddamn day: (disclaimer: this goes for my process and my company’s process, other companies and industries might be different)

1. There are a few things I check and a few questions I ask literally just to figure out if you can play the game and get along with others in a professional setting. Part of the job I interview for is talking to people, and we work in teams. So if you can’t “play the game” a tiny bit, it’s not going to work. Playing the game includes:

- Why do you want to work here? (just prove that you googled the company, tell me like 1 thing about us, I just want to know that you did SOME kind of preparation for this interview)

- Are you wearing professional clothing? I don’t need a suit just don’t show up in a ratty t-shirt and sweatpants.

- Are you able to speak respectfully and without dropping f-bombs all the time? Not because I’m offended but because I don’t want to be reported to HR if you wind up on my team.

- Can you follow simple directions in an interview?

2. Stop telling me protected information. I don’t want to know about what drugs or medications you’re on, I don’t want to know about you being sick, I don’t want to know if you’re planning to have children soon, I don’t want to know anything about your personal life other than “can you do the job?” 

3. When we ask, “What questions do you have for me?” here are my favorites I’ve heard: - What does the day-to-day look like for a member of your team?

- If one of your team members was not performing up to his usual standard, what steps would you take to correct that?

- What can I start doing now to accelerate my learning process in this job?

- What are some reservations you have about me as a candidate? (be ready for this emotionally….it will REALLY help you in the future, and I’ve had people save themselves from a No after this, but can be hard to hear)

- In your opinion, what skills and qualities does the ideal candidate for this job possess?

- What advice would you give to a new hire in this position/someone who wanted to break into this industry, as someone who has worked here for a while?

Those are just my tips off-the-cuff. I work in sales in marketing/SAAS, so these can be very different depending on the industry, but I wish the people I interview could read this before they show up.