My post, What’s in a Name, garnered more appreciation and interaction from all of you than I imagined when I penned it. And I think that’s so stinking cool.
Seriously, thank you.
Like many of you, I have intimate knowledge of depression, hopelessness, loneliness, weariness, and the struggle required to make it through one more day. The thing about social media is that it can be a vehicle for so much deception. We can post photos that we’ve specifically curated to portray a life that seems dazzling, but reality often tells a different story. Because of my struggle with debilitating depression, I love to try and find beauty within the darkness since it’s incredibly difficult to experience true beauty and joy in your spirit when you’re locked in a battle with demons. Often times, I turn to my blog and the community on here to lift my spirits when I’m too tired to continue the fight.
So, again, I just wanted to say you guys are a cool bunch and I appreciate you ♥️
Also, check out this funny video that made me shriek when I saw it 😂 This makes me feel ooollllldddddddd 😂😩 (tell me if you understand what this convo was about.)
Hello and welcome to my page~
My name is Larisa--a very common Slavic name that was either derived from the Latin word hilaris, meaning "cheerful," or from the Greek city of Larissa, meaning "strong fortress."
Born in Ukraine, I emigrated with my family to America when I was still a small child and now make my home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Growing up immersed in two vastly differing cultures led me to have a burning curiosity about people all over the world. Stemming from said curiosity, I have fallen in love with traveling to other countries, meeting new people and delving into their culture, exploring new cities, and of course, dining on the local cuisine!
If I cannot escape into a different country, then my next favorite method of adventure is to lose myself in a spectacular book. I enjoy books of all genres--from fiction and novels, to biographies and ethnographies. As long as it captures my fancy and holds me spellbound the entire time, I will burn through the book like a forest fire! Because of this penchant for reading and travel, coupled with my love of deep and mysterious things, I have been often called a dreamer and I find the title suits me.
With that being said, I invite you to stay a while, perhaps make yourself a cup of tea and linger through my posts and feel free to comment or share a thought :-)
View all posts by ebonyandcrows
25 thoughts on “Dang, You Guys Are Awesome”
I didn’t get a single word 🤔🕶️
. . . but I got da vibe 😎👍
Hahaha!!! I am proud (is that even something to be proud of 🤔) to admit I ONLY had to look up one thing from that conversation 😌 I didn’t know what rizz meant exactly, but otherwise I was able to follow along 😂 I feel like I’m learning to speak a new language! Except what would that language be called…? My brother watched that clip and he said he didn’t speak stupid 🙊
It shows it was a good post and you still have the blogging touch… It’s good to hear that your community can help you and I hope we see you about loads.
Ahh Simon—i don’t know if I have a blogging touch or not. I don’t have a schedule for my posts, I post at random, whenever I have the inclination. Sometimes I disappear for months. But, I appreciate your comment 🙏🏻
I love that I see you and my other friends from the inception of this blog whenever I make my way back to the blogging world. My goal is to start writing poetry again.
Yep, that’s American slang for you. Or is it more accurate to say that’s American rizz 🤔
I’m an immigrant, believe it or not, and I can tell you what I think of it 😂
I think it’s tik tok culture and I despise anything that is massively “trendy,” as tik tok is wont to churn out. But in all fairness, we used ti speak Pig Latin when we were kids, so it’s just a bunch of foolishness that now has a platform.
Oh that old black dog, I know it well. Being a Pisces from a now defunct generation can leave me baffled and blue from time to time. I heard each word of the video and recognized that it was American English, which is a heretical language that changes so often it can’t be documented. We like it that way. This may explain why I had no idea what it meant. I think my reaction was the intended effect. When we are depressed even talking coherently can be a challenge, never mind listening coherently. That could be a bridge too far. As an ordained scientist in theological health physics and chemical microbiology, I have performed thousands of exorcisms of demons for people to include myself. It’s messy work sometimes and those demons are sly rascals. They get really comfortable with their host and sometimes don’t want to leave. In this case the best approach is to make friends with them. They are you and you are them and together you can live an extraordinary life. You can explore the darkest corners of life and withstand the brightest light of reason because your demons love you and protect you from other demons and over zealous angels. When you love your demons, your printer will print, your rizz will rise, and your periods become commas that lead to amazing independent clauses. The most important thing to do during this transformation is after you learn to love your demons you must choose without doubt to live your dream as if it were your reality. Rizz up, go forth, and print your best works. Or take more naps. That helps too. 😇🫶🏽🎃
Fascinating comment—you have much experience in topics not many dare to venture near. I’ve found that most of my demons were wrongly held beliefs, or superstition that has been tightly woven into religion, or dogmatic views on the world and our existence and even who God is that don’t allow room for any opposing worldview, amongst many other things. It’s been a long journey of discovering why I was so dejected and hopeless and how to break free of these strongholds. Have you ever felt that you were a prisoner in your own mind? The way we are programmed as children with what to believe and how to view the world, and the legacies that we inherit bear fruit when we become adults. I actually had a marvelous life until I became an adult. Then, all of a sudden, the world in which I was raised didn’t fit at all into the reality in which I existed.
Now, I have to address how you interpreted this new slang because it gave me a chuckle 😁 when these kids say that something is “facts,” the slang for that is “fax,” like the fax machine. So, oftentimes, when a gen z’er will agree with you, they’ll send the fax 📠 emoji. When their friend replies with “no printer,” it means it was a straight fax machine, meaning that what was said was straight facts, no baloney. Rizz is short for charisma.
I genuinely had such a laugh at that reel because I’m still supposed to be the young one who is inherently immersed in the culture of today, but I realize that I’m on the other side of the divide and I understand my parents better now 😂
I really enjoyed the video and slang but didn’t really understand the meaning. I still had fun using the new words in my comment.
I do understand your effort to transform yourself from old ideologies and beliefs to a more relevant life. Theology studies in all the worlds religions and cultures has helped me see more clearly how we as products of our cultures and beliefs run into brick walls when the old is challenged by the new. With religion we are especially cautious of enjoying a new heresy and risking our soul and salvation. Faith in God or one’s polytheistic religion is continuously challenged by the secular world. Sometimes we feel it is easier to believe in nothing than to live in turmoil with our faith, which always seems out of step with current affairs. This is all a confusing misconception if we allow it.
It is not wrong to change to a better and happier you and this may require you to adjust long held beliefs.
The trap is leaving a true and faithful way of life due to pressures from those who know nothing of living in faith. We want to fit in but not compromising our faith can bring serious doubts.
In all religions there are two parts. The covenants and commandments given us by our God and the laws established by religious leaders that are not divinely required. In other words, if you are Christian you must recognize Christ as your savior and redeemer and follow his commandments. The church rules are intended to develop one into a moral and ethical person with integrity and good Christian values. Today, this kind of devotion puts one on a direct path for conflict with the secular world who is striving to destroy everything religion tries to build and holds dear. We must live in the secular world but we can be faithful to our God and live with solid morals, ethics and values that are universally accepted. This makes one a positive role model by example. Being that positive role model comes with a great deal of challenge and I would say that is the plan. If you build yourself to withstand the frequent storms, you have built a powerful Temple within yourself.
With all that thinking our poor brains can get quite achy so this is when naps can really save us from ourselves. I do hope you can resolve your challenges in time. Just be kind to yourself and allow all the time it takes.
This is such a great and well thought-out comment. You encapsulated everything that I struggle with so hard. Sometimes I get so tired that I can’t even think, much less wrestle with God. So many times I wish someone could reach in my mind and pull out all the knots and chaos and unravel it for me so I could understand it too.
You certainly aren’t alone in your struggle although it can feel very lonesome wandering the dark labyrinths of our brain mansion. But it might be interesting to note that histories geniuses also had the same struggles and it was the outcomes from their struggles that always changed the course of humanity and history. Such things can go to the dark side like Stalin or to the light like Saint Augustine. Either way, the struggle was real and the outcomes profound. You may not have a goal to change your world but you may simply wish for mental clarity and contentment with certain issues. It’s a worthy effort and entirely possible. Rest when you need to and ride the tempest when you can, but most of all, do what makes you happy with people you love and care about. You will achieve what you most desire.
Thank you Larissa! You’ve chosen wisely and I appreciate your well wishes. Indeed it is a new year and we can continue our journey wiser and stronger with faith.
I’m sorry to hear that 😔 I really enjoy your poems—they’re the exact style I gravitate to. But I also understand the frustration and how disheartening it is when you don’t feel heard.
Ebony and Crows 
I didn’t get a single word 🤔🕶️
. . . but I got da vibe 😎👍
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hahaha!!! I am proud (is that even something to be proud of 🤔) to admit I ONLY had to look up one thing from that conversation 😌 I didn’t know what rizz meant exactly, but otherwise I was able to follow along 😂 I feel like I’m learning to speak a new language! Except what would that language be called…? My brother watched that clip and he said he didn’t speak stupid 🙊
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think I’m all rizzed out 🤔🕶️
My daughter is teaching me to
speak “stoopid”, and she’s doing
a great job at it 😎
LikeLiked by 1 person
You? Rizzed out? Never!
LikeLike
I too have battled depression and loneliness.
As for the video, it was like the answer of a university student when he was asked to explain the poetry of John Donne on an English Literature exam.
The student wrote a single sentence, “The poetry of John Donne is like the peace of God. It passeth all understanding.”
(For which he got a mark of 100%)
The video is much the same.
Save that the poetry of John Donne does sound a lot more brilliant and eloquent.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha! I LOVE that answer 😂 Brilliant! I am going to incorporate that line into my own repertoire of witticisms 😂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you, Larisa. 😀
And glad to hear that you’re going to incorporate that line into your own repertoire of witticisms. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
It shows it was a good post and you still have the blogging touch… It’s good to hear that your community can help you and I hope we see you about loads.
That video was hilarious, I was lost at the end 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ahh Simon—i don’t know if I have a blogging touch or not. I don’t have a schedule for my posts, I post at random, whenever I have the inclination. Sometimes I disappear for months. But, I appreciate your comment 🙏🏻
I love that I see you and my other friends from the inception of this blog whenever I make my way back to the blogging world. My goal is to start writing poetry again.
Yep, that’s American slang for you. Or is it more accurate to say that’s American rizz 🤔
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t have much of a plan either, I just have ideas that I spread out and home that a few people like it lol
I hope to see your poetry…
Slang is what I know – what’s this rizz? 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha my rizz is to sprinkle eloquent and literary diction in my everyday speech with lay folk 😝
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a good rizz I think … you can sprinkle what you like on people. 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha this comment can be interpreted in many ways, methinks 😅
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was a while ago now so I can’t remember – what are you thinking it means? 😀
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A new lexicon! I should try that with my immigrant mom and see what she thinks of it. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m an immigrant, believe it or not, and I can tell you what I think of it 😂
I think it’s tik tok culture and I despise anything that is massively “trendy,” as tik tok is wont to churn out. But in all fairness, we used ti speak Pig Latin when we were kids, so it’s just a bunch of foolishness that now has a platform.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh that old black dog, I know it well. Being a Pisces from a now defunct generation can leave me baffled and blue from time to time. I heard each word of the video and recognized that it was American English, which is a heretical language that changes so often it can’t be documented. We like it that way. This may explain why I had no idea what it meant. I think my reaction was the intended effect. When we are depressed even talking coherently can be a challenge, never mind listening coherently. That could be a bridge too far. As an ordained scientist in theological health physics and chemical microbiology, I have performed thousands of exorcisms of demons for people to include myself. It’s messy work sometimes and those demons are sly rascals. They get really comfortable with their host and sometimes don’t want to leave. In this case the best approach is to make friends with them. They are you and you are them and together you can live an extraordinary life. You can explore the darkest corners of life and withstand the brightest light of reason because your demons love you and protect you from other demons and over zealous angels. When you love your demons, your printer will print, your rizz will rise, and your periods become commas that lead to amazing independent clauses. The most important thing to do during this transformation is after you learn to love your demons you must choose without doubt to live your dream as if it were your reality. Rizz up, go forth, and print your best works. Or take more naps. That helps too. 😇🫶🏽🎃
LikeLiked by 2 people
That old black dog, indeed.
Fascinating comment—you have much experience in topics not many dare to venture near. I’ve found that most of my demons were wrongly held beliefs, or superstition that has been tightly woven into religion, or dogmatic views on the world and our existence and even who God is that don’t allow room for any opposing worldview, amongst many other things. It’s been a long journey of discovering why I was so dejected and hopeless and how to break free of these strongholds. Have you ever felt that you were a prisoner in your own mind? The way we are programmed as children with what to believe and how to view the world, and the legacies that we inherit bear fruit when we become adults. I actually had a marvelous life until I became an adult. Then, all of a sudden, the world in which I was raised didn’t fit at all into the reality in which I existed.
Now, I have to address how you interpreted this new slang because it gave me a chuckle 😁 when these kids say that something is “facts,” the slang for that is “fax,” like the fax machine. So, oftentimes, when a gen z’er will agree with you, they’ll send the fax 📠 emoji. When their friend replies with “no printer,” it means it was a straight fax machine, meaning that what was said was straight facts, no baloney. Rizz is short for charisma.
I genuinely had such a laugh at that reel because I’m still supposed to be the young one who is inherently immersed in the culture of today, but I realize that I’m on the other side of the divide and I understand my parents better now 😂
And naps are awesome 🫶🏻
LikeLiked by 2 people
I really enjoyed the video and slang but didn’t really understand the meaning. I still had fun using the new words in my comment.
I do understand your effort to transform yourself from old ideologies and beliefs to a more relevant life. Theology studies in all the worlds religions and cultures has helped me see more clearly how we as products of our cultures and beliefs run into brick walls when the old is challenged by the new. With religion we are especially cautious of enjoying a new heresy and risking our soul and salvation. Faith in God or one’s polytheistic religion is continuously challenged by the secular world. Sometimes we feel it is easier to believe in nothing than to live in turmoil with our faith, which always seems out of step with current affairs. This is all a confusing misconception if we allow it.
It is not wrong to change to a better and happier you and this may require you to adjust long held beliefs.
The trap is leaving a true and faithful way of life due to pressures from those who know nothing of living in faith. We want to fit in but not compromising our faith can bring serious doubts.
In all religions there are two parts. The covenants and commandments given us by our God and the laws established by religious leaders that are not divinely required. In other words, if you are Christian you must recognize Christ as your savior and redeemer and follow his commandments. The church rules are intended to develop one into a moral and ethical person with integrity and good Christian values. Today, this kind of devotion puts one on a direct path for conflict with the secular world who is striving to destroy everything religion tries to build and holds dear. We must live in the secular world but we can be faithful to our God and live with solid morals, ethics and values that are universally accepted. This makes one a positive role model by example. Being that positive role model comes with a great deal of challenge and I would say that is the plan. If you build yourself to withstand the frequent storms, you have built a powerful Temple within yourself.
With all that thinking our poor brains can get quite achy so this is when naps can really save us from ourselves. I do hope you can resolve your challenges in time. Just be kind to yourself and allow all the time it takes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is such a great and well thought-out comment. You encapsulated everything that I struggle with so hard. Sometimes I get so tired that I can’t even think, much less wrestle with God. So many times I wish someone could reach in my mind and pull out all the knots and chaos and unravel it for me so I could understand it too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You certainly aren’t alone in your struggle although it can feel very lonesome wandering the dark labyrinths of our brain mansion. But it might be interesting to note that histories geniuses also had the same struggles and it was the outcomes from their struggles that always changed the course of humanity and history. Such things can go to the dark side like Stalin or to the light like Saint Augustine. Either way, the struggle was real and the outcomes profound. You may not have a goal to change your world but you may simply wish for mental clarity and contentment with certain issues. It’s a worthy effort and entirely possible. Rest when you need to and ride the tempest when you can, but most of all, do what makes you happy with people you love and care about. You will achieve what you most desire.
LikeLiked by 1 person
For some reason I am just seeing this comment now.
Thank you—I have submitted all tempests to the Lordship of Christ so that I may rest in the shadow of His wings.
And yes, I affirm what you’ve spoken about achieving what I most desire. I wish the same for you in this New Year 🙌🏻
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Larissa! You’ve chosen wisely and I appreciate your well wishes. Indeed it is a new year and we can continue our journey wiser and stronger with faith.
LikeLiked by 1 person
i gave up
but glad things work out for you
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sorry to hear that 😔 I really enjoy your poems—they’re the exact style I gravitate to. But I also understand the frustration and how disheartening it is when you don’t feel heard.
LikeLiked by 1 person