INSPIRATION

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
Have you had a go?

GURU TONY

Inspiration creates change, but how does it work? There’s an amazing
psychology at work in those who create something inspired. Often,
through adversity, illness or alienation, they feel frustrated. This
causes them to descend into their inner mind. And it is here that
inspiration births.

But what process is at work
in the inner mind?

We observe the world – often without realizing it – and our view of
it can form unconsciously. When we consciously seek this inner
knowledge to create something new, we actually connect with the
observed frustrations of our wider society. Hence, inspiration is a
two-way affair, our society being fundamental to the personal
process of creativity. However, from this point onwards, inspiration
becomes personal, with the inspired person’s frustrations the primary
factor. This creates novelty, and his success in inspiring others
thrusts society onwards. But coloured by his own feelings, the way
it is expressed is usually extreme. This guarantees frustration will
continue to rise in society, guaranteeing that other inspired people
will go through the process. Inspiration through frustration seems to
be the engine of social change. But not all inspired people gain
acceptance from their society. I guess the difference between a
genius or a crank is the degree of social acceptance they gain. At
least, that’s how I see it.

Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

GREEN NEWS: UK may have to
cut emissions by 90% by 2050 to make
way for aviation growth. Bio-fuels for cars and
planes seem top of the agenda. Excuse me, if that is
successful, where are we going to grow our food? We should
be investing massively in a new generation of greener aircraft, not
messing around with their fuel supply.

BRIT NEWS: Last week Gordon Brown apologised to Alan Turing, the
brilliant codebreaker and AI whizz who killed himself in the early
50s having been ordered to be chemically castrated after
convinction for a homosexual act. It is right that we
speak about this deplorable wrong, but it was
not Brown’s govt who did it, so why is HE
apologising? Does such sentiment
belittle the tragedy?

GREEN SCENE

Save the Planet – or you’ll be sorry!!

Carry On Tuesday
Heads or Tails – ReadWritePoem

THE WAY

We’re told be green, this is the way,
Save the planet without delay;
Yes, this must be done – no doubt!
But we’re not the only sinners about;
Something else is going on,
Which seems to me a bit of a con,
Surely Big Biz should be doing the most,
But they’re very quiet, while we all roast

THE HOT WAR

Fiction: The letter sat before him. He wished he’d left it unopened –
guessed what it would contain. And next to it, the executive order
he’d so recently signed. He was a captain of industry – a CEO who
had risen high, and that flair for getting things done had been
inherited by his daughter. There’d been opposition to the plant in the
jungle – it would damage the local environment; add to climate
change; it was carcinogenic. He sneered at the latest report, propped
against a coffee mug on his desk. Why couldn’t people understand
that advancement has collateral damage?!! His daughter had been
there, gotten involved – in the protests (damn her!) – she got things
done, see. Became a … He read the letter again, written quickly –
painfully – from her death bed. Then he filed it away – with the order
to send the unit in.

MODERN LIVING

Sleep all day, conform to none,
Extend scofflaw, remedy gone,
She’s too hip, the multitude shout,
Life’s not worth pittance if limelight’s out,
Just a husk lost in clover,
A sugar plum fairy, confection all over

© Anthony North, September 2009

CONCENTRATION

Including ABC Wednesday, Carry On Tuesday and Heads or Tails.
Have you had a go yet?

GURU TONY

I’m always in search of things that make us human. One candidate is
concentration. This ability is essential to technology, allowing us to
clear our minds to concentrate on what we’re doing. Arguably, before
we were human, we took directions from instinct, like other animals.
To break out of instinct and concentrate, we would need somewhere
for non-required thoughts to go. Could this have been the birth of the
unconscious – a repository for things we don’t need to think about?
Without it, we’d hardly be human, would we?

Eye On the World
Writers’ Tips
The ‘Y’ Files

TECH NEWS: Talking on phone
declining in UK as we opt for text or
Tweet. Well, I guess this is ‘cos we can
now control the talking back.

BRIT NEWS: Study shows 1 in 3 men under 40 still living
with parents. In this cut and thrust world the cut and thrust
only goes so far, it seems.

BRIT NEWS: MPs say plans for bank reforms are just cosmetic.
Well, well, what a surprise. Did we really expect anything
different?

TECH NEWS: Brit govt guidelines for using Twitter
are 259 Tweets long. Wonder how many
Twits it needed to write that?

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

True Crime – Crime Fiction

SIZE MATTERS?

As kids we resolve it without delay,
‘My Dad’s bigger than your Dad,’ we say,
As teenagers we often begin to stray,
‘My gang’s bigger than your gang,’ we say,
As adults, Ego we tend to display,
‘My way’s bigger than your way,’ we say,
And resolve it in such a pathetic way,
‘My tank’s bigger than your tank’ – we lay

OUTCOME DENIED

Fiction: The story – well, the moral at least – is in the journey. A good
job really, ‘cos I cannot reach the destination. She was dead, you see
– the love of my life, taken from me. Murdered. And the night I found
her body, I vowed I would laugh over her killer’s grave. Of course, I
had a good idea who had killed her – or at least had ordered her
death. She’d worked for him in the past and he, being a gangster, had
reason to silence her now. Well, I killed, too. I was, of course, soon
caught by the police. After all, I’m not a pro at this. And I was
incarcerated in the local high security prison. I felt sorry for the guy,
really. After all, he WAS innocent. But how else was I to get to a
gangster on remand awaiting trial? Well, I’m a double killer now, and
my journey down the years begins, as I await the day when I can
laugh over his grave.

TONY’S POETRY CHAIN

IT’S ELECTRIC

Electric is an infernal thing,
Before it we all used to sing,
At night surrounded by communal glee,
Straining eyes ‘cos we couldn’t see,
The mystery of the dark, dark night,
Now shut off by electric light

NEWS?

Read the paper; where’s the news?
Plenty there to entertain and amuse,
But where’s the news within the treats?
Plenty on celebrities between the sheets;
Where’s the news? Plenty of blues,
Raising our emotion; get us confused;
But where’s the news, I do entreat,
I’ve looked and looked and faced defeat

© Anthony North, August 2009

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LIFE CHANGE

Including One Single Impression and Sunday Scribblings.
Have you had a go yet?

GURU TONY

New Age gurus love to go on about life change. We have it in our
power to be someone else – more spiritual, more ecological, more …
well, nice. And predictably, those who are anti-New Age disagree.
Of course, the gurus do themselves no favours, speaking in
wishy-washy psychobabble. But I think the basic idea is not only
true, but essential. For instance, there are elements of my past to
which I am a stranger to now. This is because I have naturally
developed. Indeed, I suppose if we aren’t a stranger to who we
were before, we haven’t really advanced.

Eye On the World
Writers’ Tips
The ‘Y’ Files

CRIME NEWS: UK’s anti-knife
crime policy has seen a rise in knife
crime in many targeted areas. When will
this govt learn about its people?

BRIT NEWS: It’s looking like new laws to curb MP’s expenses
are to be watered down. After the furore, business as usual?

BRIT NEWS: 52 pubs are closing a week. The
death of a great part of Brit culture, killed
off by govt taxes and politicisms. Self
hate is ugly.

A FRAGRANT WILDERNESS

Senses alive in every way,
Into a wilderness I stray,
Fragrance relaxed in a summer haze,
Thoughts abound, beautiful daze,
As one, at peace, with nature’s delight,
Happy to stay a day and a night,
Then, refreshed, I remember the scene,
And long for the smell of a human being

WHERE IN THE WORLD

Fiction: Where in the world am I? We’ve all asked the question from
time to time, I’m sure. But whilst a moment ago I had a good idea, I
was no longer sure. I’d followed him. It was inevitable. After all, I was
a cop and he was a villain. That’s what I did in the world. But
catching up with him was a world changing event. What was I to be
now? I wondered – after what he’d done. Where in the world am I?
Am I even in the world? You see, bullets in the chest prompt such
questions.

PERFECT

All is perfect – world just fine,
All around me life’s divine,
All is perfect – no struggle at all,
Everyone is having a ball,
All is perfect – no discord,
So tell me:
Why am I so very bored?

© Anthony North, July 2009

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INSPIRATION

Including One Single Impression and Sunday Scribblings.
Have you had a go yet?

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

From where does inspiration come? It is generally thought to come
from the inner mind. We have a problem to solve so we think about
it deeply. Nothing comes, so we try to forget it, and suddenly … the
answer comes! But I think it is more communal than this. Truly culture
changing inspiration is successful because the idea fits perfectly with
how people are thinking at the time. Hence, could the inspired person
be more like a conduit, the frustrations of the people finally finding
expression in his mind?

Eye On the World
Writers’ Tips
The ‘Y’ Files

MEDIA NEWS: It’s revealed some
400 BBC bosses earn over £100,000 per
yr. Remember, this is a public funded broadcaster
paid for by compulsory fee.

BRIT NEWS: Jobless reach 2.4million, with biggest 3 month rise
since records began. Well, that’s shut them up regarding
approaching ‘recovery’.

GREEN NEWS: Labour to oversee green energy
revolution? Why do I think the timing is
more an election strategy than
a valid policy?

INNER VOICES

Who said that? Was it you?
Those inner voices form a stew,
Of thoughts whizzing in your head,
Resolving things – a common thread;
Some voices are kind, some are not,
A whole plethora, you have got,
But even though they can be disjointed,
In harmony they’re you, annointed

THE SETTLEMENT

Fiction: It was costing far too much. His third divorce was proving the
worst yet – how could he afford to go through that again? Of course,
the situation had been eased by the murder of his two ex-wives. A
serial killer, they said – after they had scrutinised every part of his life
to make sure it wasn’t him, of course. And not only was he proved
innocent, but the detectives felt quite sorry for him. His third may be
a beauty, but social climbing and intrigue came so easily. It was
during the divorce that the detectives returned – they’d found
evidence that his third got so jealous of the first and second that
she simply had to get rid of them. So that was it – the third divorce
proved quite cheap. Which just goes to show – planning a bit of
insurance before marriage can be better than a pre-nup.

THE PLAN

I have a plan – it’s really good,
Shall I tell you? Not sure I should;
Plans are simple, very clear,
But there’s a problem, I fear;
No matter how good your plan may be,
Life gets in the way, you see;
So plan away as you will,
You’ll end up swallowing a bitter pill

© Anthony North, July 2009

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WHERE IS MIND?

Including One Single Impression and Sunday Scribblings.
Have you had a go yet?

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

The idea of a universal mind ‘out there’ is shunned because the brain is
slowly being mapped out. This appears to be the end of such ideas,
with any evidence to the contrary being anecdotal, thus making any
theory of such a mind pseudo-scientific. Mind is ‘in there’, and the
result of chemical interactions. However, I don’t think it is as easy as
that. If the brain is merely a point of bodily coordination for thought,
the physical effect would be exactly the same. Hence, it could be
they are learning about the car, but not looking for the driver.

Eye On the World
Writers’ Tips
The ‘Y’ Files

BRIT NEWS: Big City bonuses
are returning. We haven’t learnt
the lesson – that this tycoonocracy
has nothing but contempt for us little people.

GREEN NEWS: G8 leaders agree to try to limit global warming.
Note the important word ‘try’. Will their hot air add to the
problem?

BRIT NEWS: Anger growing over inferior kit for Brit
troops in Afghanistan. A govt that doesn’t
protect them properly is a disgrace.

THINKING

I’m thinking hard to work it out,
I’ll get there, I’ve no doubt,
Soon I’ll know what to do,
Then my actions will be noble and true …
Damn!
I thought about it for so long,
The time to do it has gone

INDULGENCE

Fiction: He had the urge for indulgence. It never occurred to him how
destructive it can be. He’d had the urge for a long time, and it was
behind his first flicker of fame. He could have had a good, long
career, but he craved the indulgence – in his celebrity status and his
outrageous living. And of course, the outrageous living increased the
fame as the fans indulged him. And inevitably the indulgence led to
the clinic, the arrogance and the spectacular fall from fame. But his
indulgence knew no bounds. He knew he just had to have those
headlines again. And now, as he took the overdose, his dying thought
was that he was back.

HOPE

Her name is Hope, I love her so,
She’s always with me wherever I go,
Never letting me despair,
Always making me aware,
That life is never really that bad,
Goading me if I dare be sad

© Anthony North, July 2009

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WHAT IS HUMANITY?

Including Three Word Wednesday and Totally Optional Prompts.
Have you had a go yet?

GURU TONY

To be human is to think in the abstract. This is what raises us above
animals. But this isn’t our humanity. To me, humanity is empathy.
Much of modern culture is to do with only the individual, so in a way,
modern life is not humanity. In particular, we are supposed to shun
spirituality, yet to me spirituality is bonding – of man to man, nature
and the universe. Does denying such spirituality make us less human?

Eye On the World
Writers’ Tips
The ‘Y’ Files

HEALTH NEWS: My beer belly is not
my fault! Study finds it is genetic, so my
beer intake has nothing to do with it!!! Yeah, right.

WORLD NEWS: So the US and Russia agree to more missile cuts.
For a few days all is calm as the President does the deal with
the Puppet.

BRIT NEWS: Freeze on public sector pay? Necessary,
but that’s when the strikes really start – even
if, for some, the rises were too much.

A MOVING EXPERIENCE

Moved a lot, never still,
Couldn’t fight my wandering will,
To experience many a lovely place,
Then find another, with haste;
Settle a while, then I’m gone,
A moving experience in more ways than one

A VISIONARY TALE

Fiction: As he saw the Oracle he knew he should kneel. The world
had gone mad, and he had to know what he could do. Soon the
Oracle had transformed his mind and the vision came. All was death
and gloom, the atmosphere acrid and dead. As visions came it became
transparent. He saw early man in a universe with nature spirits, and
man was that nature. And with organized religion he saw man as an
ordered, spiritual being, reflecting the ordered universe of God. And
as science rose he saw man in a universe of specialization, and his
society fragmented, as the cosmos. And with technology, the
universe became machine-like, and man a cog; a machine spewing
its exhaust … And he now knew we are always a reflection of what
we see the universe as being. Yet, as he returned to the dead
outside, he knew he could do nothing. If only it had been a vision of
the future, and not a remembrance of the past.

BIG WORDS

Incongruous, bombastic,
Big words made of elastic,
I try to despatch them terminally,
But they rebound indubitably,
Forcing me to write erratically …
I must have swallowed a dictionary

© Anthony North, July 2009

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STRANGER

Find current affairs & prompts below.

PAPPA RAZZI

The Stranger
(Take One)

The Stranger is an important archetype. He inhabits our deep psyche,
and is a part of the heroism within ourselves. He is our dream of going
out into the world, doing good, and then simply moving on. He is
usually subsumed by our Ego, who needs a reward, but he is alive in
culture. From James Bond to Doctor Who, he is our ultimate fantasy
hero. And he is so successful because he is what men dream of being.

My Columnists
The ‘Y’ Files

Inde-Pol

BRIT NEWS: City watchdog says we
will have to work until we’re 70 to get
decent pension. Sorry, decent pension is a
dream we can’t afford. When will we realise this?

HEALTH NEWS: Swine flu no longer containable. In UK 100,000
cases a day by Aug most gloomy prediction. But still mild in
most cases.

WORLD NEWS: Bloggers and Govts working as one? It
seems pressure from the two spheres are making
China relent on internet censorship. Shocked
all round.

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings

HUMAN

Sci Fi: ‘So you have your report?’ asked the Director of Galactic
Misdemeanour. ‘I have,’ replied the Investigator. ‘The species is
Human, planet Earth. Typical evolutionary path. Reached globally
calamitous tech levels rather quickly, spurred on by a series of
ideologies and inter-species hatreds. The destructive path always
seems to provide the better tech. Descended into trivia-based
mass capitalism as expected, and accelerated climate change,
with the double problems of tech-based medications accelerating
viral evolution, and chemical use reducing sperm count.’ The
director sat back: ‘Classic self-hate syndrome.’ He sighed. When
will these lower species learn, he wondered, looking again
at the fossil.

STRANGER
(Take Two)

The stranger comes, who is he?
He’s going to change your destiny,
Stranger – how things now occur,
Nothing the same, all a blur,
Stranger, stranger all you do,
For good or bad, it’s life anew

© Anthony North, July 2009

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IDENTITY

Find current affairs & prompts below.

PAPPA RAZZI

Identity

Who are you? Well, we can answer the question in many ways
– what you do for work, for hobby, your class, your status – so
many definitions of you. Most people think that the defining thing
about you is that you are an individual. In this way your identity
is made. But I don’t think this is true. Always, ‘you’ are defined
in terms of your society. It seems to me that your culture says
as much about you as you do.

My Columnists
The ‘Y’ Files

Inde-Pol

BRIT NEWS: Govt sent out 1000s of
fake job applications to see if they could
catch racist employers. With such tactics, no
wonder we don’t trust govt.

CRIME NEWS: Madoff gets 150 yrs for his huge con, but a thought:
he only got away with it because too many people in positions to
realise were too greedy.

BRIT NEWS: Queen needs pay rise – first since
1990 – ‘cos she can’t afford upkeep of
palaces. We should’ve increased it
before. £42m a yr for a head
of state is cheap.

READ WITH MUMMY
The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

Totally Optional Prompts
Three Word Wednesday
Thursday Thirteen
ReadWritePoem

THRILLER

The zombies dance, they want your soul,
Heroes no good, nothing to console,
Riotous as they walk the night,
Intrigue – what a nasty sight,
Lurking behind every shade,
Lurid thoughts do pervade,
Everything – you cannot resist,
Run! Get away! If you want to exist

SEDUCTION

Fiction: To yearn for one so sweet. He took in the prettiness of
her; the innocence, the decency – the delicateness – wrapped in
a perfect figure of womanhood. Her long blonde hair, the flowing
white dress – all accentuates the feeling deep inside him. The
seduction is subtle and when they meet in an embrace, passion
grows to fever pitch. Soon they collapse to the floor and the
conquest is complete … Afterwards, they open their eyes – look
out into the street. Watch the people. He knows what he must
do, even though the blood lust is new to him. But she holds
his hand … sweetly …

THIRTEEN LINES FOR THURSDAY THIRTEEN

WEATHERING SOUL

Climate cool, feeling fine
Life goes on, you walk the line,
Storms approaching, run indoors,
Stop! Take stock – mental pause
Winds are going, life goes on
Survived the maelstrom,
Going strong

DONKEY DREAM

Donkey sitting in a field,
Rather silly, so surreal,
Umbrella shading its form,
Definitely not the norm,
Holding it must be a pain,
Especially as it doesn’t rain

© Anthony North, July 2009

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MOANING MEN

Find current affairs & prompts below.

Okay, I’m a man and I’m going to moan. I’m going to
moan about a lot of other men. It isn’t that I’ve put
a skirt on or anything like that, but some men just
… well, you know …

I’ve thought about it often, but it came back to mind with a survey from the British Market Research Bureau, who’ve advised that men between the late 30s, right up to 65, are miserable, with life being a bitch and the ‘mid-life crisis’ in full swing.
Did men have them before it was invented? I don’t think they did – which suggests we tend to be infected by any social or psychological term that comes along. But could it be that the mid-life crisis IS a reality, due to forces within society we have created ourselves?
Perhaps the most important thinker behind the term was Carl Jung. He looked at men closely and realized there was something missing in their lives from about the late 30s. But whereas the term caught on, Jung’s reasoning did not.
To Jung, we had become entrapped in material living. What did he mean by this suggestion? Basically, to be fulfilled, a man has to be a success in a material way, but this is only half of living. There is also the spiritual side, the bonds, the intuitions – basically, the meanings of life.
To be fully mature, a person has to be aware of both these influences. Indeed, only can we be whole by appreciating both. Hence, in tying ourselves too much to a material world, life becomes unfulfilling once success has been achieved.
He was a clever fellow was Jung. Unfortunately, though, it was only the ‘sound bite’ that took off, the ‘reason’ being forgotten in an angst-ridden material half-world.

First posted: Aug 07

Inde-Pol

CELEB NEWS: Am I alone in being
fed up of Jordan & Peter Andre’s marital
woes? Media, please let them get on with it
in private, like everyone else.

BRIT NEWS: John Bercow, a moderniser, elected Speaker.
I don’t want modernisation. I want morals and an ethic of
service.

WORLD NEWS: Brit troops start their biggest airborne
op in Afghanistan yet. At times like these, we
must remember to tell them they’re
appreciated.

Three Word Wednesday
ReadWritePoem

ASSIGNATION POSTPONED

Fiction: Some would call him fickle. After all, he just couldn’t
resist the right type of woman. It was the sparkle he looked
for – that sign that this woman was just right. He sat in the
bar – his latest hunting ground – when he spied her. Okay, she
was a little older than him, a touch wrinkled, but that appeal
shone out from her. Soon he introduced himself, and small talk
over, it was time for business. And in no time at all they were
in the hotel suite. She laid, naked, in bed; waited for him to
return with the condom – and waited – and waited … Eventually
she called the police. It was when she checked her jewellery
that she noticed her sparkle was gone.

DEAR MOTHER

I did alright, had lots of fun,
Plenty of work to do and done,
Been various things throughout my life,
Found a girl, became my wife,
Had kids galore and brought them up,
Learnt to write, a creative cup,
I cherish this time I try and save,
To come along and visit your grave

© Anthony North, June 2009

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TONY ON LEFT ALONE

Including Sunday Scribblings, Poetry Train, Friday Questions
and One Single Impression. Have you had a go yet?

GURU TONY

Left Alone

Do you want to be left alone to get on with what you want? Are
you fed up of being told what to do? Most of us feel like this, but
the world crowds in on us. Yet what would it be like if we could
just do what we wanted? Left to our own devices, I suspect we’d
only find our desires. And we would soon get bored of those. And
the next destructive urge would be just around the corner.

My Columnists
Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

Inde-Pol

BRIT NEWS: Official report of MPs
expenses released, mainly blacked out.
So much for freedom of information. Who do
they think they are?

CRIME NEWS: A UK trial is going ahead of 4 robbers without a
jury. The 4th trial, others were nobbled. Still no excuse to take
away jury. Shame.

GREEN NEWS: Report out of global warming effect
on UK. Lots more heatwaves by 2080. Rising
sea levels. Must prepare now, but
will we? Doubt it.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

True Crime – Crime Fiction

ASSIMILATION

If you want to join, be the same,
As we exist and acclaim,
Our way is how ‘we’ want to be,
No room for you, individually,
And listen kid: if you’re not in our gang,
You run the risk of us going: bang!

THE PERFECT CRIME

Fiction: It had happened before. Indeed, Brad had told Greg when
it was proposed that they wouldn’t get away with it. But Greg was
a good talker and it was decided that each would murder the other’s
problem. The appointed night came and Brad did the deed, solving
Greg’s problem. And at about the same time Greg got to work on
solving his. Mindst you, this proved much easier. One phone call
to the police was all it took.

VISION OF CRIME

I saw the murder, I saw it all,
Felt the pain, watched him fall,
‘Twas in a dream my vision came,
Including the cad who is to blame,
I saw him yesterday before going to bed,
To see him again, in the mirror, I dread

© Anthony North, June 2009

TONY’S MUSE on … BREAKFAST

Writers’ Tips

Him Outside is trying Friday Questions for the first time. The question
today is: Are you a breakfast eater? If yes, what is your typical
breakfast? Well, he would love a full English every day – bacon, egg,
sausage, tomato – though he’d say no to black pudding. As it is, he
sticks to bacon (grilled) and egg (scrambled), with a bit of wholemeal
bread – and all on a little plate. Infact, he eats five little meals a day.
Never feeling hungry, never full, he’s been on this diet for years now,
and it is one of the best things he did to combat his cfs. Breakfast is,
of course, the most important meal of the day. Skip this and your
stomach is rumbling almost as soon as you start work; and you can
guarantee you’ll never catch up with the eating, no matter how much
you eat. Breakfast is, quite simply, the starting point for a diet. ‘Cos
sometimes, to really diet, you just have to eat right.

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