it's rogue. rogue one.

YOUNG LOVE a chathena playlist [listen] 

“I am stronger than words and I am bigger than the box I'm in, and then I see her in the crowd and I fall apart.”

With exams and the end of the year approaching yet again, I hope this little guide to relieving stress will make you feel better and can help you out!

Listen to music. It’s simple, brief, and probably the most common suggestion on this list. Music can be incredibly soothing and relaxing, so here are a few tracks you can listen to (all on YouTube):

Quiet Mind

Sleep Deeply

Echoes of Time

Relaxing Music & River Sounds

Try yoga. While not for everyone, yoga combines poses, meditation/relaxation, and breathing, and is often extremely calming. It also improves overall fitness, and you don’t even have to leave home to do it! Here are some yoga apps you can use:

Yoga Studio (iOS - $3.99)

Daily Yoga (iOS, Android - Free)

Pocket Yoga (iOS, Android - $2.99)

Simply Yoga (iOS, Android - Free)

Drink some tea. Having a hot drink is always relaxing, and different types of tea can be incredibly helpful for different reasons. These are a few you can try, depending on how you’re feeling:

Lavender- good for reducing anxiety & aiding sleep

Passionflower- aids sleep, lowers blood pressure, reduces anxiety

Lemon Balm- helpful for insomnia, heartburn, and cold sores

Green Tea- includes antioxidants and improves memory

Go for a walk. Taking a break from whatever’s stressing you out is very relaxing, and it’s an easy way to get a little exercise. It also prevents excessive sitting and helps your memory.

Take a nap. Sleep can take your mind off anything,and it’s incredibly relaxing and revitalizing to sleep a little! Here are the few types of nap you can try:

10-20 minutes: A power nap which will increase your alertness and energy

30 minutes: Increases performance and tiredness in the short-term, and won’t interfere with nighttime sleep

60 minutes: Improves factual memory, such as with names, facts, and places

90 minutes: A full cycle of sleep, improving creativity and procedural memory

2016 novels with queer characters

2016 rainbow book list

angst-less queer / gay / bi boys

asexual & aromantic books

aromantic ya leads

asexual ya leads

bisexual girls in ya

bisexual & lesbian girls

bisexual ya leads (1, 2, 3)

lady love in sci-fi / fantasy

lesbian ya leads

lgbtqia+ ya leads (1, 2, 3, 4)

lgbtqia+ ya that inspired robin talley

genderqueer / transgender YA leads (1, 2)

queer historical ya

queer ya where the focus isn’t coming out

queer ya sci-fi / fantasy (1, 2, 3)

QUILTBAG compendium

women loving women

Adele Adkins (female, 27)

Alex Newell (male, 23)

Amber Riley (female, 30)

James Corden (male, 37)

John Bradley (male, 27)

Jonah Hill (male, 32)

Kirsten Vangsness (female, 43)

Louise Pentland (female, 30)

Mary Lambert (female, 26)

Max Adler (male, 30)

Melissa McCarthy (female, 45)

Noah Guthrie (male, 22)

Queen Latifah (female, 45)

Raini Rodriguez (female, 22)

Rebel Wilson (female, 35)

Sharon Rooney (female, 27)

Yvette Nicole Brown (female, 44)

WE DESERVE HAPPY ENDINGS TOO! - a playlist for sapphics who are tired of only seeing themselves suffer in media

bold titles are specifically about wlw, italics have music videos centered around wlw! further detail is included in annotations on the mix, such as covers and songs that are by wlw

an old fashioned love story - alix korey | she - jen foster | chinese new year - SALES | better than love - hayley kiyoko | night go slow - catey shaw | girls like girls - hayley kiyoko | crazy - au revoir simone | what’s it gonna be - shura | gave me something - jess glynne | explosion - zolita | horizon - luna blake | girl - the internet ft. kaytranada | only a girl - gia | girls - beatrice eli | bestie - sizzy rocket | still into you - paramore | 400 lux - lorde | best song ever - gabrielle aplin | she keeps me warm - mary lambert

{ L I S T E N }

During an earthquake in Gotham she took in orphans and raised them as her children

She took in Harley Quinn, gave her immunity to her toxins and nursed her back to health

She believes her powers are an infection, a curse and she considers herself a freak, a monster who can do nothing but harm

She hates humanity and yet she is a guardian of women and children and more importantly, to her, she is a protecter of nature

That’s just on the surface, Ivy is so incredibly complex and rich in character

And guess what fuckboys, every man she has ‘seduced’ she’s killed

As much as fuckboys want her to appeal to them, she is a notorious man-hater and to bring up one of my favourite quotes

“He was good in bed. A flowerbed. As mulch”

I work in a decent sized, local, indie bookstore. It’s a great job 99% of the time and a lot of our customers are pretty neat people. Any who, middle of the day this little old lady comes up. She’s lovably kooky. She effuses how much she loves the store and how she wishes she could spend more time in it but her husband is waiting in the car (OH! I BETTER BUY HIM SOME CHOCOLATE!), she piles a bunch of art supplies on the counter and then stops and tells me how my bangs are beautiful and remind her of the ocean (“Wooooosh” she says, making a wave gesture with her hand)

Ok. I think to myself. Awesomely happy, weird little old ladies are my favorite kind of customer. They’re thrilled about everything and they’re comfortably bananas. I can have a good time with this one. So we chat and it’s nice.

Then this kid, who’s been up my counter a few times to gather his school textbooks, comes up in line behind her (we’re connected to a major university in the city so we have a lot of harried students pass through). She turns around to him and, out of nowhere, demands that he put his textbooks on the counter. He’s confused but she explains that she’s going to buy his textbooks.

He goes sheetrock white. He refuses and adamantly insists that she can’t do that. It’s like, $400 worth of textbooks. She, this tiny old woman, bodily takes them out of her hands, throws them on the counter and turns to me with a intense stare and tells me to put them on her bill. The kid at this point is practically in tears. He’s confused and shocked and grateful. Then she turns to him and says “you need chocolate.” She starts grabbing handfuls of chocolates and putting them in her pile.

He keeps asking her “why are you doing this?” She responds “Do you like Harry Potter?“ and throws a copy of the new Cursed Child on the pile too.

Finally she’s done and I ring her up for a crazy amount of money. She pays and asks me to please give the kid a few bags for his stuff. While I’m bagging up her merchandise the kid hugs her. We’re both telling her how amazing she is and what an awesome thing she’s done. She turns to both of us and says probably one of the most profound, unscripted things I’ve ever had someone say:

“It’s important to be kind. You can’t know all the times that you’ve hurt people in tiny, significant ways. It’s easy to be cruel without meaning to be. There’s nothing you can do about that. But you can choose to be kind. Be kind.”

The kid thanks her again and leaves. I tell her again how awesome she is. She’s staring out the door after him and says to me: “My son is a homeless meth addict. I don’t know what I did. I see that boy and I see the man my son could have been if someone had chosen to be kind to him at just the right time.”

I’ve bagged up all her stuff and at this point am super awkward and feel like I should say something but I don’t know what. Then she turns to me and says: I wish I could have bangs like that but my darn hair is just too curly.“ And leaves.

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. Some are short, some are very interactive, some are very in-depth. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos. I checked each link to make sure they are functioning.

Arabic

Arabic for Global Exchange (in the drop down menu)

Arabic Without Walls

Intro to Arabic

Lebanese Arabic

Madinah Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Read Arabic

Chinese

Beginner

Basic Chinese

Basic Chinese I

Basic Chinese II

Basic Chinese III

Basic Chinese IV

Basic Chinese V

Basic Mandarin Chinese I

Basic Mandarin Chinese II

Beginner’s Chinese

Chinese for Beginners

Chinese Characters

Chinese for Travelers

Chinese Made Easy

Easy Mandarin

First Year Chinese I

First Year Chinese II

HSK Level 1

Introduction to Chinese

Learn Oral Chinese

Mandarin Chinese I

More Chinese for Beginners

Speak Chinese like a Native Speaker

Start Talking Mandarin Chinese

UT Gateway to Chinese

Chino Básico (Taught in Spanish)

Intermediate

Chinese Stories

Intermediate Business Chinese

Intermediate Chinese

Intermediate Chinese Grammar

Dutch

Introduction to Dutch

English

Entire post here

Finnish

A Taste of Finnish

Basic Finnish

Finnish for Beginners

Finnish for Immigrants

Finnish for Medical Professionals

French

Beginner

AP French Language and Culture

Basic French Skills

Beginner’s French: Food & Drink

Diploma in French

Elementary French I

Elementary French II

Français Interactif

French in Action

French for Beginners

French Language Studies I

French Language Studies II

French Language Studies III

French:Ouverture

French Through Stories and Conversation

Improving Your French

Mastering French Grammar and Vocab

Intermediate

French: Le Quatorze Juillet

Passe Partout

Advanced

La Cité des Sciences et de Industrie

Reading French Literature

Frisian

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in English)

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in Dutch)

German

Beginner

Basic German

Basic Language Skills

Beginner’s German: Food & Drink

Conversational German I

Conversational German II

Conversational German III

Conversational German IV

Deutsch im Blick

Diploma in German

German Alphabet

German Modal Verbs

Rundblick-Beginner’s German

Study German 

Advanced

German:Regionen Traditionen und Geschichte

Landschaftliche Vielfalt

Reading German Literature

Hebrew

Hebrew Alphabet Crashcourse

Know the Hebrew Alphabet

Hindi

A Door into Hindi

Business Hindi

Virtual Hindi

Icelandic

Icelandic 1-5

Indonesian

Learn Indonesian

Irish

Introduction to Irish

Italian

Beginner

Beginner’s Italian: Food & Drink

Beginner’s Italian I

Oggi e Domani

Survive Italy Without Being Fluent

Intermediate

Intermediate Italian I

Advanced

Advanced Italian I

Italian Literature

Italian Novel of the Twentieth Century

La Commedia di Dante

L'innovazione Sociale (Check language under translation)

Reading Italian Literature

Japanese

Beginner’s Conversational Japanese

Genki

Japanese JOSHU

Kazakh

A1-B2 Kazakh (Taught in Russian)

Korean

Beginner

First Step Korean

How to Study Korean

Learn to Speak Korean 1

Pathway to Spoken Korean

Intermediate

Intermediate Korean

Latin

Latin I (Taught in Italian)

Nepali

Beginner’s Conversation and Grammar

Norwegian

Learn The Norwegian Language

Norwegian on the Web

Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners

Curso de Português para Estrangeiros 

Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro

Russian

Beginner

Basics of Russian

Easy Accelerated Learning for Russian

Russian Alphabet

Russian Essentials

Russian Phonetics and Pronunciation

Reading and Writing Russian

Travel Russian

Advanced

Reading Master and Margarita

Russian as an Instrument of Communication

Siberia: Russian for Foreigners

Spanish

Beginner

AP Spanish Language & Culture

Basic Spanish for English Speakers

Beginner’s Spanish:Food & Drink

Fastbreak Spanish

How to Self-Study Spanish

Introduction to Spanish

Restaurants and Dining Out

Spanish for Beginners

Spanish Verbs Basics

Intermediate

Español en línea

Spanish:Ciudades con Historia

Spanish:Espacios Públicos

Advanced

Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones 

La España de El Quijote

Leer a Macondo

Spanish:Con Mis Propias Manos

Spanish: Perspectivas Porteñas

Reading Spanish Literature

Swedish

Intro to Swedish

Swedish Made Easy 1

Swedish Made Easy 2

Ukrainian

Read Ukrainian

Ukrainian for Everyone

Ukrainian Language for Beginners

Welsh

Beginner’s Welsh

Discovering Wales

Multiple Languages

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/global-studies-and-languages/ : MIT’s open courseware site has assignments and course material available.

http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/: Ancient Languages

https://www.fun-mooc.fr/: MOOCs taught in French

http://univesptv.cmais.com.br : MOOCs taught in Portuguese

https://miriadax.net/home:MOOCs taught in Spanish & Portuguese

http://ocwus.us.es/Courses_listing: MOOCs taught in Spanish

http://www5.fgv.br/fgvonline/Cursos: MOOCs taught in Potuguese

http://interneturok.ru/: MOOCs taught in Russian

http://www.open-marhi.ru/courses/: MOOCs taught in Russian

https://www.rwaq.org/: MOOCs taught in Arabic

http://ocw.nthu.edu.tw/ocw/: MOOCs taught in Chinese

http://ocw.uab.cat/: MOOCs taught in Catalan

https://ocw.tudelft.nl/ : MOOCs taught in Dutch

http://ocw.hokudai.ac.jp/: MOOCs taught in Japanese

http://ocw.tsukuba.ac.jp/: MOOCs taught in Japanese

http://open.agh.edu.pl/ : MOOCs taught in Polish

I’ll keep an eye out for new courses and if you know of any, let me know so I can update this list.

REFASHION: a compilation of ladies singing songs originally sung by men. + [ LISTEN ]