#( T HROWS UP IN MY HANDS )

[biblioxceleste]

ineffableduality‌:

“Angel, wait!”, called Crowley. He sat up straight in the bed as Aziraphale scurried away, sheets wrapped around his curvy, plump, sweet body. Even without using his tongue to taste the air, the demon could smell a cloud of vulnerability, hurt and shame around his beloved angel. His heart felt like a holy spear was piercing through it. Bless yourself, Crowley! You are a fucking idiot! He could have hit his head against the edge of the bed.

“Aziraphale, it is not you”, Crowley said and got up. He wrapped the blanket around himself. “I do not regret sleeping with you or how you look like. I actually think you have a really cute tummy and your skin is adorably soft. I think you look beautiful in your own way. I do not care that you may not match typical beauty standards. It is not about you. My regret has to do with me entirely.”

He sighed. “I admit”, Crowley said, “Me, blurting out what I said may not have been the smartest move. But when I said that, I did not mean it in the sexual connotation.” His body tensed and he clasped his upper arm with his hands. Crowley looked down. “I meant literally eating you. Swallowing you headfirst until your body lands in my stomach, where my digestive juices break you appart…”

He pressed a hand on his stomach. “For Heaven’s sake, just saying that outloud makes me sick.” Crowley snapped his fingers and in the flash of a second a bucket landed between his feet. Not a minute too late. The snake demon dropped onto his knees and vomitted into the bucket. Since Crowley barely ate anything unlike Aziraphale, his cooperal form could not really throw up much. Just spit, gastric juices and bile.

Crowley shuddered as he slowly rose his head and looked back at Aziraphale. He croaxed: “I don’t know why but whenever I sleep with somebody, the snake wakes up after a while. Maybe it is because of the smells and the sounds, maybe the movements remind her of struggling prey… I do not know. Point is: As much as I love you, I was so terrified that she would regard you as prey. Hence why I blurted out what I said. I was glad that it didn’t happen.”

Crowley got up on his feet again. He said: “I get it, we should have had that conversation a lot earlier. It is just… I was so scared you would hate me, if I brought it up. I’ve gotten so good at pretending to be civilised around you that sometimes, if I squint hard enough, I believe it myself. But that does not change the fact that deep down I am a wild animal. An animal, I hardly know a thing about as I have kept her suppressed as much as I could. For your sake. You know I hate to be what Hell expects of me. And according to the majority, demons are supposed to be animals. And I do not want to be that. Especially not around you.”

@ineffableduality​

Crowley’s frantic words soothed Aziraphale’s still frantically beating heart. His own insecurities had gotten the better of him, it seemed, betraying the vulnerability that still lurked beneath his soft and plush surface. There was no reason to doubt Crowley’s sincerity - Crowley, after all, had not once lied to him. Slowly, feeling suddenly very foolish and silly for jumping to conclusions so quickly, Aziraphale turned back to him.

“Oh, my dear!” Instantly, as soon as Crowley had fallen to his knees and retched, Aziraphale was at his side, petting his hair and back in dismay. A snap of his fingers and a glass of water appeared, to help clear the demon’s mouth of the wretched bile taste he surely had to be experiencing.

It was rare that he saw the true Serpent of Eden in all her glory. He had been under the impression that Crowley kept that part of himself tightly under control. Was this the reason why? His heart ached then for his lover. How long had he feared the scenario he’d described? How long had he suffered alone, afraid to share his worries?

“You are not an animal, Crowley, and I would never, ever hate you,” The angel said, softly, taking one of the demon’s hands in his own. “I… don’t want to dismiss your fears, my love, but I suspect they are not quite as rational as you imply. You… I know in my very heart that you would not hurt me, no matter the form you took. Not once have you ever raised a hand against me, even when I perhaps would have deserved it. She may be a part of you, but she is not all of you.”

He pressed plush lips to Crowley’s elegant hand, peppering kisses across the arch of his knuckles. “-And, well. You should know as well as any that snakes do not, ah, consume their mates post-coitus. Actually, sexual cannibalism is rather rare in the animal kingdom, as I understand.”

“… Now, if you were perhaps, say, the Praying Mantis of Eden, or the Black Widow Spider of Eden, this would be a different conversation entirely,” Aziraphale joked gently, “But you are not. You are the Serpent of Eden. You are my serpent, my most beloved adversary. And I know you would never harm me, at least not intentionally.”

[kyma-thavma]

The tranquillity of his little research site doesn't last the night. Another set of broken stone parts from the Labyrinth fall during the evening, waking him from his slumber. Although he is sure that it's more stone debris falling, he gets out of bed to check on the site itself. His inspection starts at the front of his camp and was to end at the back.

Although he did reach the back of the camp, he didn't get to check on everything there before the strange sensation started again, that odd tugging at his soul that causes him to collapse to his knees as a something akin to migraine washes over him.

He begins to collapse on his side, curling up into a ball as a hand pulls the disc from the pocket of his robe, clutching the device as that familiar voice begins to speak within his mind once more.

"Good, you're still there," the voice comments, as he feels a harder tug on his being. "I apologise for any unpleasantness you experience, I truly do. Don't be afraid, Kym'a - please trust me."

The boy knew that voice, he knows who it is, despite how confusing the situation was. There wasn't any way he couldn't trust the voice - above all, he trusts those that share a similar lineage as he does.

He didn't have the ability to reply beyond dully nodding his head, clutching the device.

"Stay with me, Ky. Focus on my voice," his kinsman echoes from...where? The sensation of his entire essence being pulled away intensifies, but he does as asked, focusing on the familiar voice.

The voice takes on even more of an authoritative tone, one the boy hasn't heard it carry in ages, and despite the pain and confusion, such brings a faint smile to his lips.

"Let expanse contract, aeon become instant," the intonation rings through his entire being, as the pull becomes inescapable. "Throw wide the gates that we may pass."

The last thing he hears is the sound of the disc falling onto the stones he had been all but laying on.

[gutterballgt]

So I was thinking about Pacific Rim in the shower, as one does, and I finally really put my finger on yet another ludicrously specific reason I love it so much.

This minute detail is centered around one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie: the hallway fight. More specifically, just before the hallway fight.

Because Mako Mori is ready to throw hands.

Chuck is being an ass, all up in their faces, and deriding them for failing their trial and putting the Pitfall drop in jeopardy, right? And Raleigh’s trying to keep a lid on his temper because his impulsiveness has brought him nothing but pain and disgrace.

But Mako ain’t havin it.

“Stop. Now.”

Quiet, tranquil Mako -- whose calm facade hides a glowing sun of power and drive -- gives Chuck an “oh no the fuck you di’n’t!” look and is absolutely ready to fight if he’s gonna bring it.

Also note: Chuck really only ever addresses her while insulting her once, when he calls them both bitches, probaby only then because it’s an insult directed at both of them. My analysis: Chuck knows better than to pick too much of a fight with Mako Mori. He will lose. He’s lost in past. He’s seen bigger men than him lose.

Thus, most of his verbal diarrhea is directed at Raleigh, who is the much safer target, impulsive hothead or no.

Which is why the fact that it’s Raleigh reaching out to wordlessly ask her not to wade in... that Mako is fully prepared to punch Chuck Hansen in the throat if he doesn’t slow his roll... is priceless.

It’s precious. It’s Mako saying “Hold my flower” and Raleigh going “I would but THE END OF THE WORLD”.

God, I love Pacific Rim. So, so much.

[theirtraitor]

📹

my muse is going to walk into a certain death. send a symbol for their final message to your muse. 📹  for a PRE-RECORDED VIDEO.

“Okay, good, this thing’s finally on…”

God, what was he even going to say? Whatever he said, he didn’t have much time to say it, and the odds of Nigel even listening to him were so, so slim. He hadn’t listened to him in a long, long time.

But he’d never have another chance to be honest with his former protege either. It was a kindness he hadn’t expected, to even be allowed to send out his final words like this. Surely they would have wanted him dead as soon as possible, right?

Would Nigel even get to see this?

“Look, Nigel. I know you hate me, and I know you don’t want to hear anything I have to say. But, by the time they hand this off to you, I’ll be dead anyway.”

He shrugged. “So humor a dead man alright? This probably won’t take long.”

Chad leaned back, trying to look casual despite all of his muscles being taught and sore, everything hurt and he couldn’t move very well. But he was alive.

For now.

“I should have known they never wanted me. Should have known they were just using me to get to you. How sick is that? I let them turn me into a tool, and here I am, and here you are. Out here in space, fighting for what we believe in, like we’ve always done.”

“Only, I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t good enough. You’re better than me, if there’s any consolation to all this. Maybe if circumstances had been different, if I’d left the Kids Next Door gracefully, I’d even be proud.”

“Nigel I failed you. It’s because I couldn’t see through their golden promises that you ended up here, like this. I’m so sorry for what I let them do to you.

He shook his head, staring around the empty cell.

“They warped both of us into these monsters, and it’s all my fault. Nigel, they’re going to kill everyone we’ve ever loved, you get that, right? You’re not so far gone that, that doesn’t ring some alarms, right?”

“Who am I fucking kidding…”

“You’re probably going to throw a party now that I’m gone. Probably never even going to hear this. Whatever.”

[muskraker-a]

✪ Rubbing their back after a stressful day or disappointment. ~ bernvdette

{Acts of Affection – ACCEPTING}

@bernvdette

[ 📝 ]~               HEAVY  SIGH  spills  from  the  weasel  as  he  sits  in  the  rickety  chair,  head  buried  within  hands  resting  upon  his  lap.  Whiskers  drooped,  shoulders  tensed,  &&  the  atmosphere  turned  seemingly  dire  as  hot  air  is  huffed  through  his  nose.  He  APPRECIATED  his  acquaintance's  presence,  truthfully.  What  might  bore  most  with  seemingly  nonsensical  ramblings  about  exposing  the  flaws  &&  INJUSTICES  in  modern  society,  she  seemed  to  have  taken  an  interest  in  it.  Or  at  least,  WAS  WILLING  TO  LET  HIM  RANT.

                        OF  COURSE,  someday s  were  worse  than  others,  this  being  one  of  them.  Feeling  hands  reach  for  his  back  cause  him  to  nearly  YELP  in  surprise,  but  feeling  that  it  was  just  his  feline  friend  helped  set  him  at  ease.  Sitting  up  slightly,  he  let  her  work  her  magic.  Leg  TWITCHES  as  she  lightly  pats  over  tense  muscles,  hinting  he  needed  the  touch  more  than  he  let  on.    ❝  IT’S  JUST .  .  .  What’s  News ?  prides  itself  on  giving  people  the  TRUTH.  &&  y’know  what  people  do ?  Throw  bricks  through  our  goddamn  windows !  Like,  I’m  s o r r y  you’re  favorite  senator  paid  hush  money  to  keep  an  affair  secret,  but  it’s  MY  DUTY  as  a  journalist  to  report  the  truths !  That  doesn’t  mean  toss  a  brick  &&  bean  my  coworker  in  the  head !  Like,  who  the  hell  DOES  THAT ?   ❞

[feelineuphoric]

2016 Olympic Games in Rio | USA vs Serbia  Basketball Men's Gold Medal Match, Review

In this blog, I will be reviewing the court dimensions, equipment, basic skills, technical and tactical skills of each team, rules of the game, and how to officiate the game of the Olympic Games Rio 2016 which is the match of USA vs Serbia on Basketball. The 2016 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad and commonly known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from the 5th to the 21st of August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

COURT DIMENSIONS

Basketball courts come in many different sizes depending on what kind of game it is. In this case, it is international which is why the court dimension will follow the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) rules. The court is 91.8ft (28m) in length and 49.21ft (15m) wide.

Moreover, the other basketball court dimensions and markings are as follows:

Sidelines which is the outer edge of the court is denoted by the sidelines, which run the length of the court. On a full-sized court they measure 28m.

Baseline and Endline both refer to the ends of the court running behind the goals. Typically they measure 15m. Now, the use of the different terms depends on the direction a team is playing. The endline is the term for the end of the court which a team is defending while the baseline is for the attacking end.

Mid Court which is the halfway mark on the court and is used to denote the offensive playing area during a game is measured on a full-sized court, the mid court line would be 14m from each endline.

Centre Circle which is used for the opening tip off, the center circle has a 3.6m diameter.

Three Point Line are the arcs that mark a range boundary from each hoop. Scoring from outside this line is worth three points. The distance of the line will vary depending on the level of game, but is typically 6.75m from the basket.

Free Throw Line, marked 4.6m from the backboard, is the mark at which a player must stand when shooting free throws.

Free Throw Circle is the same size as the center circle (3.6m in diameter). Shooters must stay inside this circle when taking a free throw. The circle is also used for jump balls.

Free Throw Lane Lines/Key. Lane lines run from the free throw line to the baseline, to form the 'key'. The shape and width can vary depending on the level of the game, but FIBA (International Basketball Federation) regulation changes in 2010 set it as a 4.9m by 5.8m rectangle.

Backboard

Backboard dimensions are 1.8m x 1.22m, with a minimum thickness of 19mm. Backboards can be made of either timber or transparent material and must be fitted with padding at all levels above U16. Furthermore, Backboard line markings should be 50mm in width and either black or white, depending on the material of the board. The inner rectangle should measure 0.45m x 0.59m.

Basketball Goal

Basketball Goal (also known as a ring or hoop) is typically 18 inches (45.72cm) in diameter and must be positioned 3.05m from the floor. While the nets are typically white and suspended from the ring. They should be no shorter than 45cm (Basketball Court Size Dimensions and Markings, 2020).

EQUIPMENTS

Ball

Tumbler

Basketball Mouth Guard

Basketball Jersey

Basketball Shoes

Basketball Socks

Basketball Shooting Sleeves

Basketball Towel

Basketball Shooting Sleeves

Basketball Headbands

Basketball Hoop

 BASIC SKILLS

Dribbling is an important skill for all basketball players. This skill will allow you to move up and down the court, maneuver past defenders and execute plays. Proper dribbling requires ball-handling skills and knowledge of how to spread your fingers for ball control. It is also best if you know how to dribble equally well with both hands.

Shooting. In order to score points in basketball, you need to shoot the ball into the hoop. This requires the ability to properly hold and throw the ball into the air toward the basket while avoiding defenders. A proper shot requires precise aiming, arm extension and lift from the legs. There are different types of shots you need to learn, including jump shots, layups and free throws.

Running is a big part of basketball. In a full-court game, you will find yourself running back and forth as the game quickly transitions between offense and defense. When you have the ball, running will help you to avoid defenders and get to the basket quicker. On defense, you often will find yourself needing to run after the opponent, especially during fast breaks.

Passing is another skill that when mastered can help you become a complete basketball player. Basketball is a team sport that involves finding a teammate who is open for a shot. The ability to pass the ball to this player can make the difference between scoring and not scoring. Really great passers are an important part of a basketball team and usually the ones who set up scoring plays.

Jumping is another skill that can define how good a basketball player is. Jumping is involved in offense during the jump ball in the beginning, while taking shots and sometimes while trying to catch a pass. On defensive you will need the ability to jump when trying to block a shot or a pass. Being able to out jump your opponent for a rebound also is important.

 TECHNICAL & TACTICAL SKILLS OF EACH TEAM

SIBERIA

While watching the game, I actually rooted for Siberia because I can see that they are great in playing with their fundamental skills. However, I see that they could’ve made a score if they did an outside 3 point shoot but I think they are too focused on playing in the inside. They did score first during the first set which is kind of an advantage as it pushes you to score more. However, as soon as they face the USA team on the inside they kind of get too agitated which results to pushing a player from the USA team. They tend to have fouls.

They did good during the first quarter, however, as time passed by, they kept on making mistakes if they shoot three-point shots which mostly fails and also their miscommunication with each other that for a second I doubted they have teamwork because they had a hard time getting together. However, if they had a good sense of communication with each other and did great in scoring 3 points from the outside, they could have scored more. They did resolve their miscommunication in the end but it was too late because their scores had a big gap with each other

USA

This team is composed of professional basketball players that are NBA players which from the start have a greater advantage over the other team they will be facing. The team was really good playing offensive and defensive . And their teamwork and communication? It was great. And Kevin Durant was there who is one of my favorite basketball players. They have great execution whether it be a 2 point or 3 point shot, which is something you can expect from professionals. And I love their dunks too. At 28:30 I was impressed with the steal from Durant, it was so smooth as he stole the ball and ran to score a 2 point dunk shot and then he scored a 3 point shot. It was cool. However, there were also other players that received recognition. They got good rebounding skills.

Rules of the Game Offensive Rules

The basketball team on offense is the team with the basketball. When a player has the basketball there are certain rules they must follow:  

The player must bounce, or dribble, the ball with one hand while moving both feet. If, at any time, both hands touch the ball or the player stops dribbling, the player must only move one foot. The foot that is stationary is called the pivot foot. 

The basketball player can only take one turn at dribbling. In other words, once a player has stopped dribbling they cannot start another dribble. A player who starts dribbling again is called for a double-dribbling violation and looses the basketball to the other team. A player can only start another dribble after another player from either team touches or gains control of the basketball. This is usually after a shot or pass. 

The ball must stay in bounds. If the offensive team looses the ball out of bounds the other team gets control of the basketball. 

The players hand must be on top of the ball while dribbling. If they touch the bottom of the basketball while dribbling and continue to dribble this is called carrying the ball and the player will lose the ball to the other team. 

Once the offensive team crosses half court, they may not go back into the backcourt. This is called a backcourt violation. If the defensive team knocks the ball into the backcourt, then the offensive team can recover the ball legally.

 Defensive Rules 

The team on defense is the team without the basketball. The rules are as follows: 

The main rule for the defensive player is not to foul. A foul is described as gaining an unfair advantage through physical contact. There is some interpretation that has to be made by the referee, but, in general, the defensive player may not touch the offensive player in a way that causes the offensive player to lose the ball or miss a shot.  

Rules For Everyone  

Although the foul rule is described above as a defensive rule, it applies exactly the same to all players on the court including offensive players. 

Basketball players cannot kick the ball or hit it with their fist.  

No player can touch the basketball while it is traveling downward towards the basket or if it is on the rim. This is called goal tending. (touching the ball on the rim is legal in some games).

   HOW TO OFFICIATE THE GAME

The Referee 

A referee is the official in charge during and after the game. He is the official who watches a game or match closely to ensure that the rules are adhered to and sometimes to arbitrate on matters. He has the full responsibility to enforce the rules and maintain the order of the game. The referee has the final say on disciplinary matters. He also controls the game and takes up positions on opposite sides of the court. The duties of the Referee include the following: 

Inspects and approves all equipment, including court, baskets, ball, backboards

Inspects timer’s and scorer’s signals

Designates the official timepiece and its operator

Designates the official score book and the official scorer

Responsible for notifying each captain three minutes before each half is to begin

Decides whether or not a goal shall count if officials disagree

May forfeit the game when conditions warrant

Decides upon matter on which the timers and scorers disagree

Has the power to make decisions on any points specifically covered by the rules

Determines of ground rules are necessary

Photo Credits: http://www.bbl.org.uk/rules-of-the-game/

The Timekeeper

 The timekeeper also called Timer is charged with certain duties, according to the rules of basketball. The timekeeper should be familiar with all of the rules and obligations in the game. Mastering these rules and regulations can help avoid confusion during the game for both the officials and the timekeeper. He keeps a record of playing time and stoppages in play, and times the time-outs, and indicates when each half or overtime ends.

The Timekeeper also keeps and show the time of a basketball game to ensure that all quarters are played evenly and to indicate the end of the game or quarter. If there is a timing mistake in the game, the official timekeeper must also inform the official of any specific knowledge relating to the mistake. The timekeeper has the responsibility of notifying the officials that time has run out and helping them determine if a goal should count.

The Timekeeper duties include the following:

Consults officials as to signals used to indicate a time-out and resumption of time

Keeps eyes on the officials throughout the game

Checks on the duration of time-outs, substitution, etc.

When to start clock:

When ball is legally tapped on all jumps balls

When ball is touched in bounds, if resumption of play is by a throw-in after clock has been stopped

When ball is legally touched after a missed free throw and ball is to remain alive

When to stop clock:

When time expires at the end of the period

When an official signals a foul

When an official signals a jump ball

When a violation occurs

When an official orders a time-out

 The Scorer

The scorer also called scorekeepers keeps a record of points scored, all fouls called against each player, timeouts charged to each team, notes the starting line-ups, and keeps a record of all substitutions.

Scorekeepers should also refrain from any other distracting activity, such as texting, chatting, or talking during play. It is also advised that the responsibilities for bookkeeping and timekeeping not be delegated to just somebody else for the protection and confidentiality of the scores. Scoring for individual players is least important.

The Scorer duties include the following:

Obtains names and numbers of all players who may participate in the game at least ten (10) minutes before the start of the game. At least three (3) minutes before scheduled starting time, have each team designate its first five players. He also reports any failure to comply referees.

Records field goals made, free throws made and missed, running summary of points scored, personal and technical fouls on each player, team personal fouls per half and timeouts.

Bibliography:

Basketball Court Size Dimensions and Markings. (2020, June 24). Retrieved February 18, 2020, from Harrod Sport: https://www.harrodsport.com/advice-and-guides/basketball-court-dimensions-markings

Basketball Equipment List. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2020, from Rookie Road: https://www.rookieroad.com/basketball/equipment-list/

Basketball Rules. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2020, from Ducksters: https://www.ducksters.com/sports/basketballrules.php

Guidelines on How to Officiate Basketball Game. (2013, July 19). Retrieved February 19, 2021, from Basketball91: https://basketball91.com/coaching/guidelines-on-how-to-officiate-basketball-game/index.html#:~:text=A%20game%20of%20basketball%20is,10%20minutes%20before%20game%20time.

[the-jade-cross]

The Lion, the Witch, and the Elph - Chapter 9

“They’re so still,” Lucy said, staring up at the trees s they rowed down the river.

“They’re trees,” Trumpkin grumbled. “What do you expect?”

“They used to dance,” Lucy replied simply.

Trumpkin shrugged, “Not since you lot left.” The children stilled at this before Lucy spoke again. “I don’t understand. How could Aslan let this happen?” “Aslan?” the dwarf asked. “Thought he abandoned you after you lot left.” “We didn’t mean to leave you know,” Edmund muttered.

Peter felt his heart sink into the soles of his shoes, his rowing slowing for a while. If he could go back, he wouldn’t have gone into the wardrobe. He wouldn’t have left Rhea and let her die alone….

“Doesn’t matter now,” the dwarf muttered.

“Take us to the Narnians,” Peter replied seriously. “And it will.” Silence enveloped the five before Susan noticed that Trumpkin kept looking curiously at Edmund as if something intrigued him.

“What are you staring at?” she insisted.

“That blade,” Trumpkin said, pointing to Rhea’s axe upon Edmund’s back, “Where did you find that?” Edmund took the axe off his back, placing it on his lap.

“This belonged to our dear friend….” “Rheanna the Seraphim,” Trumpkin interrupted.

Peter’s head snapped up at this, “You know her?”

Trumpkin was about to say that Rhea and her friends had stayed with them in their burrow for almost five years but he saw Lucy shake her head meaningfully and something about the look in her eyes told the dwarf to not tell them.

“She is a legend,” Trumpkin said. “Other than yourselves, she was the only one from the old tales that I believed actually existed. When the Telmarines took over, the seraphim warned the common Narnians to go into hiding to escape persecution. They say you can still hear her call in the night like a siren singing the trees and water to sleep. They say if you hear her, the winds will gently blow, and your hearths will roar…. And some say they have seen a girl with porcelain skin as white as snow, hair even whiter, sprinkled with water droplets and a long flowing dress of fire billowing in the wind. Eyes as green as grass and big as a doe’s. They say that her spirit still lives on, keeping the Narnian’s hopeful and alive until her friends from old returned.”

Lucy felt her heart leap at those words. The way Trumpkin said the words, she could tell that he was saying it from experience…. Rhea was alive! Now she knew for sure! “Rhea left this,” Edmund explained, gripping the axe. “with a spell to protect the treasure chamber in Cair Paravel. She left us messages from the day of the invasion….” Trumpkin nodded, “It is an ancient artifact of the Elph. They say that the metal the elph people used to create their weapons would glow if another Elph weapon is near.”

“But I thought Rhea was the last elph,” Susan pointed out.

Trumpkin shrugged, “It is like trying to kill of every fly, you will always miss a few.” Lucy’s eyes lit up, “Do you think there are still elph people around?”

“Well….” The dwarf started but never finished for a quiet whizzing sound passed them and a small throwing disk was now embedded on the handle of the oar Peter held.

“Wha….” Susan started, grabbing her bow but Lucy interrupted.

“Look!”

The others looked to see that the reddish blade of Rhea’s axe was now glowing so brightly that if it had been dark out, the blade would have lighted their way. They all looked at the half moon disk still embedded in the oar to find that it’s bluish blade was also glowing!

The children all looked around to see the owner of the disk until they finally caught sight of the person, standing on the bank of the river about fifty meters ahead.

For a moment, the children thought they were looking at a past version of Rhea for the silver armor and white clothing beneath were just like that which Rhea wore the first time they met. The person was definitely a girl for her legs were long and slender, her waist slim and from her height, build and size of certain places of her body indicated that she was at least fifteen.

She wore a lacy white light skirt which flowed about her legs like white petals. Her legs were garbed in tight black pants and slender silver armor. A matching shirt of similar material to her skirt with long white sleeves was held in place by a simple corset of silver armor. Shoulder plates and wrist guards of similar armor held her sleeves close to her arms. Around her waist hung a simple black belt, lined with small throwing daggers.

The kids also noticed the small throwing disks that lined the edges of her boots and pant legs.

Peter steered the boat to come ashore near the girl and the group climbed out of the boat. Trumpkin approached the girl first and the stranger pushed back the white hood of her outfit to reveal a headful of dirty blond hair which was pulled back in cornrow plaits to the back of her head where it was all held together in a ribbon, the wavy locks falling to the middle of her back. The girl was incredibly pretty and as much as the kids had hoped she either looked like Rhea or was Rhea herself, the is girl held no resemblance to the elph. Not even the slightly pointy ears. Her features were rounded with a cute upturned nose, faint dimples and button nose. Her eyes were shaded by thick lashes which almost hid the sky-blue color of her doe shaped eyes. There was one thing though that this girl and Rhea had in common other than their petite size: the way that they looked almost too perfect for the world.

“There you are Pheira,” Trumpkin grumbled, “Couldn’t bother to come and rescue me from Telmarines?” “I think you had it under control,” the girl said in a teasing voice. “Besides, I had to help Glenstorm round up the others for the meetin’.” “How did it go?” the dwarf asked. “They didn’t kill the kid did they?” The girl shook her head, “I left before Rehtir and the others brought him. Though, I doubt Reep would let them touch a hair on his head. He is a little overprotective for a creature of his size.” The girl then spied the four children watching them in awe before walking over and holding out her hand to them with a smile.

“I am Pheira Lionheart.” Lucy was the first to shake the girl’s hand, beaming, “Are you an elph?”

Pheira chuckled, “Not entirely. Since the White Witch wiped out most of my elph forefathers, Elph people had to live disguised alongside humans and over time the pure blood of full elph died out. My brother and I are the only living people with Elph in our blood.” “Where is your brother?” Edmund asked, curious about the whole thing.

“With the Narnians and Prince Caspian,” Pheira explained, smiling brightly at the boy. “I came to help you get there.” “A little help with direction would hurt,” Susan admitted, smirking at Peter.

The new girl looked at the eldest Pevensie before her face turned from curious to bright. This went unnoticed by all except Lucy. She would have to ask the girl about it later.

*************

Rhea sighed as she sat up in a tree overlooking the meeting of the Narnians and Caspian. She knew there would be some dejection toward the prince and she knew Nikabrik would be one of them but now it just sounded ridiculous to her.

“You would hold me accountable for other crimes of my people,” Caspian remarked angrily.

“Accountable,” Nikabrik echoed, “And punishable.” “Ha!” Reepacheep hooted, hopping down in front of the dwarf, “That is rich coming from you dwarf, or have you forgotten it was your people who fought alongside the White Witch!” Nikabrik pushed aside the mouse’s sword laughing, “I would do it again if it ridded us of these barbarians.”

“You cannot kill a hundred birds with one stone Nikabrik,” a voice said from above.

The others watched as Rehtir hopped down from a tree to stand beside Caspian, “If you had ha herd of dogs and one of them bit you, would you hold all the dogs accountable for the wrong the one dog committed? If one man from Archenland stole from you or murdered a person you loved, would that make every man and woman in Archenland responsible?” “You’re one to talk kid,” the dwarf hissed, “Your people went into hiding and abandoned us to the strife of the world!”

“ENOUGH!” a voice howled, a gust of wind knocking several darves over, the torches in the clearing blazing as Rhea jumped down from to stand between Rehtir and Caspian and the dwarf.

“Our people abandoned you!?” she hissed. “I was the last of my kind for centuries Nikabrik! The white witch wiped us out! As the only Elph not persecuted, did I abandon you? I slaved 15000 years away to keep Jadis in check and spent 15 years protecting the kings and queens of old. When they were gone I spent another 1052 years keeping the remaining Narnians alive! So, don’t even say that my people abandoned you! The Telmarine throne is rightfully Caspian’s. As I vowed 16052 years ago to protect the hope of Narnia, I bet my life on Caspian being the answer we need.”

“She speaks the truth,” Glenstorm said, walking over, “The time is right for a son of Adam to come forth and give us back our freedom.” “For Aslan,” Reep said, earning a smile from Rhea.

“Now, we need to find soldiers and weapons,” Caspian said. “I am sure they will be here soon.” As the group slowly dispersed, Rehtir approached Rhea, “Did he mean Miraz’s army or Pheira with the kings and queens?”

Rhea shrugged, “Both I guess. That horn was not made to only work when it watned. If it does what I think it does, they will all be here soon. Both good and bad.” “is that why you asked Pheira to tell no one but the youngest queen of your existence?””

Rhea nodded, “It has been 1052 years  since I saw them and so far they think I have been dead for most of that. Only Lucy knows of the elph life span…. And I don’t know if am ready to face them.” “But you have nothing to fear,” Rehtir objected, “You have never done anything wrong!” Rhea smiled before leaning over to plant a kiss on Rehtir’s cheek, “It may look like that but I have done the one thing that would make them hate me forever.” “What is that?” the boy inquired.

“I shut away my feelings for Peter and have sworn to never love again…. Even if he comes back. I cannot have my heart broken again. It’ll crumble if it does.”

*************

Lucy picked up her pace so she was walking beside Pheira, Edmund behind and the others ahead all of which out of hearing shot.

“Do you…. Know another elph by any chance?” she asked. “An old friend of ours!?” Pheira looked around to be sure none of the others could hear until she spoke in a whisper.

“Rhea is alive and well. She told me to only speak of her to you queen Lucy.”

Lucy nodded, “The others don’t know of her immortality. She told me when we were last here that she didn’t want them to pity her.” The part elph smiled, “I know why. I have known Rhea since for as long as I can remember…. some 1022 years or so.” “So, about 30 years after we left?” Lucy asked. “How old were you?” “Barely three humans years old,” Pheira replied. “She is the bravest person I know. She cared for my brother and I our whole lives and on top of that, she kept Narnia alive and hopeful for 1000 years all alone. She lived through watching her friends’ great-grandchildren die and have their own kids. My brother and I are the only ones who have been with her through most of it and she never falter.” “But, how come you almost Edmund’s age but you have not been alive as long as Rhea?”

“My brother and I are only part elph which means that our aging is a little faster than a full blooded elph like Rhea. We still age slow but not as slow. I am 1022 years old but in elph years I am almost fifteen since for part elph’s, we age roughly about a year in appearance every 65 human years.”

“Cool,” the little girl whispered. “but does that mean you are not immortal like Rhea?”

“Elph people are not immortal really, we just age slow. There comes a day when an elph can leave for Aslan’s county freely. Rhea even said that if Narnia finds peace with help of Prince Caspian then in the next decade or so she will journey to Aslan’s country. It is where she was born after all and I don’t know if she wants to live through the whole of Narnia’s existence…. Alone.” “And Peter?” Lucy whispered. “Does she speak of him?”

“Only if asked,” Pheira admitted. “When my brother Rehtir and I were little, Rehtir had a crush on a nymph and he asked Rhea if she ever loved someone. That was the first time she spoke of your brother. She was so accurate and detailed in her description of him that I recognized your brother almost immediately. I am afraid though that when they meet again, it might be difficult.”

“Why?” Lucy asked, worry evident on her face.

“Rhea has dedicated her life to the Narnians since you left. She has worked herself to the ground and has allowed no one but my brother and I to get close. She has closed herself off from emotion and she once told me that she cannot have her heart broken a second time.” Lucy sighed, nodding in understanding. “I am afraid Peter will never give her the chance to explain. He doesn’t always think things through and if he sees her, he may be so happy that he will fail to realize that she has lived without him for 1000 years…. And more…. It will hurt them both.”

**************

When Peter approached the edge of the ravine, he was shocked to see how far down it really was.

“See, over time water reduces the earth’s soil, making….” Susan started but Peter cut her off.

“Oh shut up.” “Is there another way down?” Edmund asked of Trumpkin.

“Yeah, falling,” the dwarf replied, earning a snort and roll of the eyes from Pheira.

This didn’t go unnoticed by peter who frowned at the girl. Why was she so sarcastic and annoying sometimes?

“But we weren’t lost,” he defended, rather embarrassed.

“There’s a ford near Beruna. How do you feel about swimming?” the dwarf replied.

The older kids began to follow but Lucy lingered a moment before crying out.

“It’s Aslan! It’s Aslan over there!” She cried, causing everyone to look at her, “Don’t you see he’s right….. there…..” “Do you see him now?” Trumpkin asked.

Pheira shot him a scowl while Lucy looked at her siblings rather hurt, “I’m not crazy. I saw him, he wants us to follow him across.” “Look, I’m not going to jump off a cliff for a guy who doesn’t exist,” Trumplkin started when Pheira smacked him over the head angrily.

“Doesn’t exist huh? How do you suppose the White Witch died? Or better yet, how do you suppose Narnia was created in the first place!?”

“Lucy was the only one who saw him,” Peter warned, getting angry with the girl for some reason.

Pheira spun on her heel to face Peter and for a moment he had a sense of Déjà vu…. For a split second the girl reminded him of the times his siblings got angry with him over something stupid or unfair he did.

“Maybe it is because you were all blind to the fact that you wouldn’t be here in the first place if it wasn’t for Aslan! Seeing is not believing Son of Adam! You know better than anyone that you cannot see love but it is there! Aslan and Lucy were the ones who brought you and Rheanna the Seraphim together and you didn’t doubt them then! You couldn’t see your love but you knew it was there! So, why now do you not believe either of them!?”

Peter took a step back in shock from the violent tone in the girl’s voice. He didn’t know why but this girl reminded him of Rhea…. Her spirit and determination but Rhea never lost her temper like that. She had the patience of an angel (or from what Peter remembered). This girl reminded him of Edmund before they entered Narnia the first time.

“Come on Pheira,” Lucy said, taking the girl’s hand, “Just let it go. We should try to cross Beruna.” Pheira huffed before watching Lucy and Edmund walk off. Giving Trumpkin and Peter a cold scowl, she followed the two children. When she had left, Trumpkin sighed. “I forgot that Pheira doesn’t have the same gentle demeanor as her brother. Should have brought him along and left Pheira with Trufflehunter. He can handle her tempers.” Peter huffed in annoyance until Susan spoke.

“She was right you know,” she sighed. “if it wasn’t for Lucy….” “We wouldn’t have tumbled back through the wardrobe and left Narnia and Rhea behind!” Peter snapped. “And Pheira knows nothing of this matter or of Rhea so right now, neither of them have the right to say anything on the subject!” As the boy stormed off, Susan close behind, Trumpkin sighed to himself. “You sure about that?”

********

Peter woke up with a start only to find everyone asleep except for Pheira. The girl hadn’t spoken two words to him since their argument at the top of the ravine. The girl was now sitting with her back against a tree, sharpening one of her knives on a rock. Peter scanned the camp, only to realize that Lucy was nowhere to be found.

“Where is Lucy?” He asked urgently, sitting up.

“Oh, she left a moment ago,” Pheira replied. “That way.” “And you didn’t think to stop her?” Peter hissed. “You cannot let her wander off into the woods alone!”

Pheira glared daggers at the boy, “I am not the one who vowed to spend my life protecting the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. I wonder how Rheanna put up with you four. Edmnd and Lucy are easier to deal with than you and they are two! Besides, I trust my judgement.” Peter huffed and grabbing his sword, rushed off in the direction Pheira had indicated that Lucy had taken. He didn’t have to look far till he saw his sister ahead, whispering Aslan’s name. He quickly pinned her back, covering her mouth. The girl tensed but relaxed when she saw who it was. The two peered around the corner to see a large grey minotaur walking about not more than ten meters away. Peter put a finger to his lips, telling Lucy to keep down and quiet.

Drawing his sword, he slowly approached the beast only to be shocked out of his wits when a young man about his age with dark long hair burst forth, crashing swords with him.

Peter began to think he had the upper hand but the young man kept inching back toward a specific tree until he suddenly pulled back all the way, putting distance between the two of them. Peter was about to close the distance when a figure jumped down between them from the tree and lifting one hand, blocked Peter’s sword.

The Pevensie saw that there were three metal blades on the stranger’s wrist like talons and were blocking his blow. Peter scanned this new boy up and down. Leaner than Peter’s athletic build, pale white hair but strong stance…. Could be a problem. Peter drew his sword back and swung again but the boy brought up both his hands, the other hand also having the same strapped on talons and blocked the second blow with ease.

“Are you alright?” the white haired boy asked the brunette he was protecting.

“Yes, thank you,” the other boy replied.

“Who are you?” Peter hissed, trying to break the boy’s stance but failing.

“Oh,” the pale boy chirped brightly. “He is Caspian…. What about you mate?”

Before Peter could contemplate how friendly this boy was in such asituation, Susan hollered Peter’s name as she and the others came upon the scene.

Pheira smirked at the scene before her but Peter noticed that the white-haired boy was suddenly distracted so he took another blow, only for one of his knees to buckle, a pain in his leg telling him that someone had kicked the underside of his knee. Before he could recover, two hands grabbed his shoulders from behind and kicked the back of his legs, bringing him down onto his back.

Peter groaned as he looked up at a small figure standing over him garbed all in black with a long black hood.

“No chivalry your majesty?” the person asked.

Peter slowly sat up to find Caspian staring at him in wonder.

“Pheira!” the white-haired boy cried, rushing over to hug the girl. “I was wondering what hekpt you!” The four Pevensies watched the exchange with wide eyes. There was no mistakeing that the boy was Rehtir, Pheira’s part-elph brother the girl had spoken of.

Now that Peter saw the boy in a different light than an opponent, he could see more elph in Rehtir than Pheira. While Pheira was blond with freckles and slight tan, slender but athletic build and round features, Rehtir was pale, white-haired with sharper features, fair complexion and was built slim and lean.

They were as different as night and day, mostly in personality. As the brother and sister talked, the kids saw that compared to Pheira’s rough, sarcastic and aggressive personality, Rehtir was light, joyful and a gentle soul.

“You’re high king Peter,” Caspian muttered, earning Peter’s attention.

Peter rolled his eyes, “I guess your assassin guessed that already.” “Well I thought you would be older,” Caspian admitted, noticing the cloaked figure behind Peter give him a meaningful look to not answer the king’s remark.

“Well if you like, we can come back in a few years,” Peter remarked seriously.

“NO!” the boy cried, “It’s alright… you’re just not exactly what I expected.” Peter saw Caspian’s dark eyes drift over the newcomers before landing on Pheira and remaining there. Peter didn’t know why but he felt a pang of annoyance and anger at this but didn’t know why.

“I trust you didn’t do anything stupid while I was gone?” Pheira asked her brother.

Rehtir smirked, “Not other than pinching Reep’s tail.” Lucy had been watching the exchange between the two for a while before she walked over to greet Rehtir. However, her foot caught on a root and she tumbled forward. Just before she struck the ground, a hand reached out and caught her.

“Easy there little queen,” a gentle voice said.

Lucy looked up to find the black cloaked person standing over her, the long black cloak concealing all of the person.

“Hey!” Pheira cried when Lucy had regained her footing. “Don’t I get a hug!?”

The black figure turned to the girl and held out their arms to Pheira who barreled into them. The impact of Pheira’s onslaught was so great that the person’s hood fell back to reaveal long snow-white hair. The four Pevensies stared as the stranger pulled back from Pheira to reveal sharp features, button nose, plush pink lips, large lime green eyes shaded by lashes and an all too familiar smile.

“Welcome back your Majesties.” One word passed the lips of the four kids:

“Rhea….”

[rain-line]

i had such a really sad, fucked up dream yalls

i dont remember wat happened in most of it, i just remember the ending/climax of it. even tho it was fictional i feel devastated

basically me and two friends were being chased by this really determined, wildly angry dude out for revenge. this dude was like on a strategic mind plane of zero escape or komaeda levels. so im gonna call him komaeda. one of the friends with me was some rando blondie so ill just call her kaede (bc she was sweet and very motivated n cute). the other friend,,, was literally just chihiro.

(this is p long so its under cut)

 like im only calling the villain of this dream komaeda bc of how crazy strategic n wild he was, he wasnt literally komaeda. and im calling the other friend kaede just based on looks. but this other person i was escaping with was actually just chihiro. we called them chihiro and everything. just a random dangan ronpa character for no reason lol.

we were on a high floor of a multi-storied building (like a hotel or apartment or something) and komaeda guy cornered us in a room and he sprays some sleeping gas stuff in the air so we cant run from him, like, he even sprays it within HIS own vicinity. thats how confident he was i guess he knew/was counting on that he would be the first to wake up and then he could kill kaede and chihiro (he didnt really care about me, he just wanted kaede n chihiro ded bc he felt they wronged him or watev. even tho i wasnt on his hit-list he was still dangerous so i was still scared tho and wanted to help my friends 😔 )

so kaede chihiro n komaede fall asleep bc of the sleep gas and i dont bc i held my breathe (mind blown amirite) and first thing i do is drag komaeda away into another room and try to think wat i can do with this opportunity since hes knocked out. but im weak and theres nothing i can use as a weapon to maim or kill him. (and thinking back on it, i shouldve at least tied him up to buy time but that never occured to dream me lol) the whole time while i was trying to figure out wat to do, he kept drifting in and out of the gas sleep mumbling incoherently about his plans and even trying to weakly get away from me. i just left him alone in that room and went back to the other room where kaede n chihiro were still knocked out.

i couldnt get them to wake up so i try my best to help them get away. the only other escape from the room was through the balcony. so one by one i drag and toss (GENTLY AS I CAN) their bodies from current balcony to next balcony on the floor beneath. a random gardener dude notices me and helps after quick explanation of the dire situation. having the extra manpower makes this go by way smoother and easier. we’re on the last couple floors of the building, chihiro wakes up after i move him to the next balcony. (gr8!) i climb up to the previous balcony to check to see if kaede is waking up yet and to move her to the next balcony as well, but just as i climb up both me and the rando gardener see sleepy kaede being dragged away by komaeda from a nearby vent system or watever. we’re shook.

i start to immediately climb through the vent to go after them and save her but the scenery in the building is extremely scary, like in this video exactly (probably bc i had just watched that vid for the first time about 2 nights ago). so as much as i wanted to go in and save her i was terrified. U_U 

me, gardener and chihiro try to discuss and brainstorm thingsg we could do. we weren't gonna run off to save ourselves or go look for help bc we didnt want to leave kaede  behind, but also we we were all just too scared to go in there. i tried one more time to go in and i didnt get too far bc it just kept getting scarier the more u went in so i crawled back out.

we spent maybe an hour or two trying our best to brainstorm and venture (unsuccessfully) through the vent system. finally i built up enough courage and determination for kaede and hatred for komaeda that i was ready to face fears and enter the vents again. my plan was to just run through it loud and screaming- so that rather than being jumpscared and caught off guard myself, i’d already alert or scare watever is in there so i would see them coming and it wouldnt be so scary. we still didnt have any weapons or anything, but the gardener gave me this dull gardening tool that kinda looked like one of those tools u see people pick up cake slices on to serve, u kno?

so just as i was ready to burst in, a mega bruised up, beaten, komaeda gets kicked from a window and lands in front of us. we’re all like ‘yay! kaede finally managed to best him!’ i think for a second, where is kaede tho? but i get too overwhelmed seeing komaeda there, this is finally the chance to stop him and make sure he doesnt hurt us or anyone else ever again. he has been a nightmare and i just hope he didnt hurt kaede too much. komaeda is just sittin there and seems to have already accepted his fate. doesnt say anything but it just warmly smiling and waiting for us to end it.

i wasnt gonna miss another oppurtunity like back when he pulled the sleeping gas stunt so i stab him with the  blunt  tool over and over in the face, in his eye, chest, heart- thats wen he falls over n dies. but i keep stabbing him in the back bc this whole dream hes been after us and causing so much stress and anxiety and i want to MAKE SURE he cant get back up somehow through some sneaky tricks up his sleeve or something.

after that ordeal we make our way out the building. we somehow knew that kaede would meet us down there (dream logic i guess). the weather turns into heavy, almost sideways rain. we see kaede made it to the roof of a building across the street via zip line. shes wearing a yellow raincoat bc of the weather (lol.) we’re like yay katie made it out safe. but the gardener is like ‘i dunno, doesnt it kinda look like shes way too spotless, unscratched, untouched for having winning a struggle with komaeda?’ i dont respond and ignore his comment, but it makes a very frightening feeling and thought itch at my mind that something indeed isnt right.

heres the fuckin kick

we meet up withi kaede on the roof only for her to remove the hood of the raincoat and speak to us to reveal that this is actually komaeda with his hair dyed blonde and dressed in kaede’s clothes. hes laughing in our faces and tells us what he did and watches the despair on my face. 

after he snatched kaede from the vent, he beat her the fuck up enough to make up for the fact that he wasnt able to get chihiro too. then he cut and dyed her hair (as well as dyeing his) and switched their clothes (which he actually probably did first since kaedes clothes were spotless remember) that would explain why they were in there for hours while we outside too afraid to go in, deliberating on wat to do. he actually finished setting up with time to spare, but he used that time to just wait, so that our tensions (mainly mine) would build up so much that i would feel fed up and reach the height of my anger, so thats wen he decided it was time to t hrow the disguised kaede at us from the window. he knew the mere sight of “him” would flare up my rage. 

poor katie was so beaten n rekt that she could barely move or even speak, which is why she didnt do anything to fight back or speak. she  couldnt. thats why she, as “komaeda” just sat there and smiled. that was honestly all she could do, just smile at us and accept her fate ;-;  i fucking murdered her.

so the dream ended with komaeda dressed as kaede laughing maniacally at us in the rain with the occasional lightning strikes, like a stereotypical villain ending.

that was the end. i woke up sooooooooooooooo  shookened.

tbh tho, as bad as that dream made me feel im also in love bc ive always liked tragic stories- tragic heroes, sad endings, tearjerker movies, etc, anything sad i love it. so on one hand, im devastated this happened, but on another hand im like- this is a genius storyline. a masterpiece. i love it.

[asiifisms]

⚔

Send ⚔ to face my muse in battle || Accepting

In the heat of battle, seemed to him that everything was going well. And, by that, he meant that everything was going according to plan. Trust the lightsiders to fall into place with only the slightest nudges. How considerate.

His gaze, gold and precise and gleaming with adrenaline, sweeps across the field. Who next? Vanitas looked like he was starting to falter - no need to intervene, there, not yet. Must be hard, going against the light side of yourself… And his angry blue friend. Ah, well, maybe he should step in. Had to keep up the act, after all; Besides, pretty sure they had some unfinished business.

The bluebird could tie things up nicely. 

He’d barely lifted his foot off the ground when a blur of motion drew his attention. Only half a second to move. Throw up Sharpshooter as a meagre defence against the train that crashed down into his arms. He buckled, nearly fell. A shift of gravity; a spring back put some distance between them. 

Instinct and adrenaline settled snugly in his chest. Thoughts and observations flying around like a flurry of arrows, but one was louder than any of them.

Oh, no. Not you. Please, not you.

That didn’t match his face, though; Didn’t match the grin on his face or the way he laughed as he racked the rifle with one hand.

“Hey there, big guy! Long time, no see! Enjoying the party, so far?” 

[a-mad-bad-sadblr]

For the nosey asks, 11

It was one of those things that I didn't see coming.

We were default partners. All my ideas were your ideas too. So much to point that now I find myself referring to myself as "we" out of habit. But there is no "we". It's just me now.

We did end up sharing a class when I was 12. Kept kicking me, stickingyour gross ass shoes on my lap and poking me, just to see me squeal. I never minded being pushed down the stairs because it was funny and I could brace for it. Every touch was like the breeze, weak enough for me to reject but I leant into it anyway.

In high school, we shared all our classes as well. All at once, our group of 5 turned into 12. "Never change, yeah?" We'd promise each other, all of us, together. Then they drifted away and we became 5 once more.

Then 4.

Then 3.

We were so stupid together that year. It was tinged with a sense of desperate urgency. Maybe we all knew somehow, that it would be the beginning of the end. We were throwing grapes into cieling vents, hat onto the roof plumbing, jamming into lockers, napping in the middle of the hallways.

With you, it was easy to find what my role was: comedic relief. I sunk into it and it became my armour. Thse insults were honest but teasing, because I felt safe that you understand all of me, and there was no disrespect.

We were default partners. All my ideas were your ideas too. So much to point that now I find myself referring to myself as "we" out of habit. But there is no "we". It's just me now.

And then you walked out of my life too. Did you know how much I loved you?

.

Ok.

I am mortified. I can't believe I wrote that, ugh. I'm so terrified she's gong to see this.

Anyways truth be told, every single one of the people I dub my friends have made their way out of my life in one way or another. I'm constantly feeling like I'm grasping at straws. I know I've gotta let them go but is it too much to ask for?

Another funny thing I keep coming back to is the role of secret - keeper. Thing is, I've let so many of my secrets go, but what do I do when the hands I trusted turn away. I'm just hoping they forget. Sometimes when I'm talking to my friends, it frustrates me because they know less than some of the acquaintances that I rarely see. But it's mostly my fault anyway. Maybe it's just my luck. I've decided to hold off giving my heart away for now, and stick to normal friendships instead.

I probably sound incredibly emotionally immature. Sorry. I'm cringing at myself already.

I'm sorry anon, you probably weren't expecting this essay.

[violetarcheryarchived-blog]

Remember me

    @zimniyvykup     Remember Me: I’ll write a drabble about my character trying to get yours to remember them [be it from an accident, meeting them after years apart, feel free to specify.]

        it’s time to kill brie with feels. A(lways)

     Bad, bad, bad. It was all supposed to be so simple-- but nothing was ever simple. She had no idea what triggered it this time, she just knew it would be worse before it got better unless she acted quickly.

     Throwing her bow over her shoulder, Kate sprinted ahead; part of her had no doubt that the rest of the team were confused as fuck, because there were so few people who’d get in the Soldier’s path. Even fewer actually managed to do so without getting their asses handed to them.

     “Hey!” She stood, blocking the way, ignoring the fact her heart was pounding against her chest- not only because of her previous sprint; it was also the lingering idea that this wouldn’t work. That it’d be pointless, he wouldn’t come back.

     Despite wanting to flinch- wanting to back away, every instinct in her body telling her to get out of the way- she didn’t falter when he approached. Now wasn’t the time. Instead, she reached one hand up, resting it gingerly on his cheek, searching his eyes with her own.

     “Я люблю тебя больше чем что-либо.” It was barely a whisper, but the flicker of recognition was all she needed to know it worked.

[cristinajourdanqp]

How Much Exercise Do Kids Need? Plus, 30 Activities to Get Them Moving

There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that kids aren’t getting enough physical activity.

Inadequate amounts of physical activity are a strong risk factor for obesity and metabolic dysfunction in kids.  It’s most likely causal, too, because as much as people question the usefulness of only exercising to lose weight, there’s no question that exercise and physical activity in general is important for preventing obesity from occurring. 

Kids are getting so obese that a new RCT came out showing metformin can help them lose weight and normalize metabolic biomarkers.

It’s not just that inadequate physical activity is destroying the physical vitality, body weight, and metabolic health of children. It’s also ruining their movement skills and general athleticism. I don’t work with kids directly, but I have many friends who do. And all of them, from gymnastics coaches to running coaches to basketball/base/football coaches report that the athleticism of the beginners has degraded over the years. Fewer kids are coming into practice for the first time with that raw movement ability. They’re clumsier, clunkier, and more confused than ever before.

Childhood is a big window, but it’s a crucial one. All that time spent throwing a ball—or sitting on the couch manipulating an Xbox controller so that the character onscreen throws a ball—establishes neural pathways. Do you want those pathways to enable efficient, competent throwing (a skill that may have required our big brains and allowed humans to conquer the world), or do you want those pathways to enable skillful button and joystick maneuvering?

The good news is that kids love to move. Even the ones who don’t look it. Go down to a park, the beach, or walk through the city square on a hot day when the fountains are flowing and kids of all shapes and sizes will be moving frequently at slow, moderate, and fast paces. They’re playing tag. They’re roughhousing. They’re jumping from ledges twice their height. They’re all over the place.

And that’s how it works: Get even the most screen-obsessed kid in a fun, physical environment with plenty of opportunities for movement and he or she will move. The innate desire for physicality and play exists in all children.

Overweight kids aren’t too far gone either, and exercise can work wonders. According to a 2015 meta-analysis, there’s “moderate” evidence that exercise by itself is an effective way to reduce bodyweight in overweight and obese children. Another study concluded that strength training and aerobic exercise are more effective at lowering children’s BMI than either alone. I imagine you could optimize a kid’s training regimen even further and get even better results.

How Much Exercise Do Kids Need?

Ethnographic studies have found that, by and large, kids in hunter-gatherer groups play all day long with little to no supervision (PDF). They don’t have scooters and Laser Tag, or barbells and kettlebells, but they also don’t have smartphones and televisions. For these kids, play is movement and movement is play. There’s no other way. Of course, contemporary hunter-gatherer groups are a very rough approximation of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. The former have been pushed onto marginalized land by better-armed and more numerous city folk; the latter ranged across an untouched world teeming with large game. Even still, they’re the best model we have for ancestral childhood physical activity.

But we don’t even have to go back to the paleolithic to illustrate the amount of physical activity the average kid should be getting. Just talk to an elderly neighbor. Talk to an older colleague. Or heck, search within your own memory bank. What were summers like as a kid for you? I for one was out all day long if school was out, exploring the neighborhood, roaming the woods, getting into trouble. And I rarely stopped moving.

Anecdotes and personal memories not enough? The data tells the same story. The parents of today’s children got over 8 hours a week of outdoor play (which is still too little). Today’s children get under four. That trend is likely to continue as you go back in time, with outdoor play doubling in frequency and lack of supervision with each previous generation.

These are averages, of course. Some kids get quite a lot. Others don’t.

Kids in Denmark aged 6-12 average 90 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day. It’s highest in the six-year-olds and declines by 3.5 minutes each year.

Elementary school kids in Qatar average around 28 minutes of MVPA per day, with a large discrepancy along gender lines. By age 9, for example, boys are getting over 40 minutes a day and girls are getting just 23 minutes.

Even the Danes aren’t doing enough, in my book.

Kids should be moving all day. I won’t mince words. Look, my kids probably could have moved more, and I knew about this stuff. It’s hard. I get it. But that doesn’t negate that the ideal situation is for kids to be constantly moving. After all, kids have fatigue-resistant muscles akin to elite athletes’. That’s why they can run all day without getting tired, and that’s a fairly strong indicator they’re meant to move all day.

That’s not in the cards, though, so what should kids aim for?

To stave off overweight/obesity, 60 minutes of MVPA (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) with at least 15 minutes of genuinely vigorous physical activity each day is the absolute minimum. That’s not optimal. That’s barebones.

Kids should be:

Swimming

Running (sprinting rather than jogging)

Squatting (the movement pattern more than heavy weight)

Lifting/hip hingeing

Climbing

Throwing

Supporting their own bodyweight

Jumping

Landing

Balancing

Playing, ideally using all the skills and movements I just mentioned

Ideas To Get Kids Moving

What are some ideas? How can we get kids to get enough exercise while having fun and developing skill? Many need a little nudge. There are innumerable ways to unlock what’s already inside. I’ll throw out 30 of them right here.

Walk to School. If you can make it work, walking to and from school will contribute a good amount of MVPA to a kid’s life. Extra points for getting into trouble on the way.

Swim underwater as far as you can.

Dive for Objects. Give kids a goal, make it a game. Throw a handful of quarters into the pool; see if they can get them all in with one breath. Toss a kettlebell into the deep end and have them bring it back up.

Biggest Splash Contest. Who can make the biggest splash into the pool? Encourage different dives, cannonballs, jackknives, and other jumps.

Water Polo. An excellent training stimulus. One of the hardest sports around.

Lift Weights. Real ones. In Germany, 11-year-old soccer players and 12-year-old Olympic weightlifters are safely front squatting their bodyweight.

Race the Dog (with a Head Start). Tell your kid to make a break for it, hold your dog for a few seconds, then release.

Play Catch. Great way to practice throwing and catching, the latter of which is particularly tricky (and useful to learn).

Barefoot Hike. Your kid will thank you when she’s all grown up and thinks nothing of walking across gravel.

Creek Walk. Jump from rock to rock, climb over logs, balance on fallen trees, take a little dip.

Check Out the local rec center schedule. You’d be surprised at the quality of some of these classes. Gymnastics, dance, martial arts are all good options for building good movement skills.

Get a pullup bar in the house. Place it at a level your kid can reach. Start with hanging, swinging, and various holds, but work your way up to pullups. Give incentives (“do 5 pullups and I’ll give you $20”).

Get the dog they’ve always wanted, with the stipulation being they have to walk it and play with it.

Set up an obstacle course. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Just give them things to climb under/over, crawl under/through/, leap over.

Hill Sprints. If you want a killer workout, sling that kid over your shoulder in between his sprints and run some of your own.

Gymnastics. Great foundation for movement later in life. Just stop short of elite competition unless it’s something they really want to commit to.

Have them race. If you catch kids at the right age, they love races without being attached to the outcome. They’ll just let it rip and go all out, all smiles. Winner and loser both have fun.

Roughhouse. Roughhousing is a lost art that helps kids establish boundaries and limits, learn what hurts and what doesn’t, grasp when something is “too rough.” Plus, it’s fun.

Try Parkour. Parkour isn’t something a seven year old just leaps into (go to a parkour gym for formal instruction),but they can certainly start playing around on manmade structures. Visit a business park for good climbing and play.

Animal Impersonations. Crawl like a bear. Hop like a rabbit. Leap like a frog. Slither like a snake. Walk like a duck. These are very difficult modes of transportation that make for great exercise. To keep things fresh and playful, come up with other animals to emulate.

Play Fetch. Throw the ball, they go chase it and bring it back. Same concept as running your dog.

Reverse Box Jumps. That cool Persian tot aside, it makes more sense for small children to practice jumping down from tall objects than trying to jump up them. Besides, landing is where the danger lies later.

Trampoline. Studies indicate they’re responsible for a large number of emergency visits, but a properly set-up trampoline enclosed by a protective net can be a great place to learn how to jump with good form. And again, fun.

Keep a scooter/bike/skateboard around. Kids love zooming around on wheels.

Chore Duty. Give them a standing order to help with bags/groceries/trash. There’s always something they can carry, and every little bit helps make them stronger and more resilient.

Kettlebell Challenge. Keep a kettlebell in the living room and have him or her lift it every day. Marvel at the perfect deadlift form.

Build forts, then destroy them.

Try conventional sports. Although specialization isn’t advised at such an early age (it can actually increase the risk of overuse injuries and inhibit the athletic growth of children), sports are fun and do offer a great path to overall athletic development.

Build up to a mile run. Start by walking it. Throw in some quick sprints in the middle. Then a full on mile run. Then unleash the offer: “I’ll give you [x] if you can run a mile in [x-amount of time].”

Set a good example. If you fail to embrace physical culture while demanding your child do the opposite, that’s a strong nudge in the wrong direction. Make sure you’re moving, too.

That’s it for today, folks. I’d love to hear from you.

What kinds of games, sports, and other activities do you use to increase your children’s physical activity and help them develop a positive relationship with exercise? What’s worked, what hasn’t, and what’s the most unconventional activity you’ve had success with?

Take care all.

[watsonrodriquezie]

How Much Exercise Do Kids Need? Plus, 30 Activities to Get Them Moving

There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that kids aren’t getting enough physical activity.

Inadequate amounts of physical activity are a strong risk factor for obesity and metabolic dysfunction in kids.  It’s most likely causal, too, because as much as people question the usefulness of only exercising to lose weight, there’s no question that exercise and physical activity in general is important for preventing obesity from occurring. 

Kids are getting so obese that a new RCT came out showing metformin can help them lose weight and normalize metabolic biomarkers.

It’s not just that inadequate physical activity is destroying the physical vitality, body weight, and metabolic health of children. It’s also ruining their movement skills and general athleticism. I don’t work with kids directly, but I have many friends who do. And all of them, from gymnastics coaches to running coaches to basketball/base/football coaches report that the athleticism of the beginners has degraded over the years. Fewer kids are coming into practice for the first time with that raw movement ability. They’re clumsier, clunkier, and more confused than ever before.

Childhood is a big window, but it’s a crucial one. All that time spent throwing a ball—or sitting on the couch manipulating an Xbox controller so that the character onscreen throws a ball—establishes neural pathways. Do you want those pathways to enable efficient, competent throwing (a skill that may have required our big brains and allowed humans to conquer the world), or do you want those pathways to enable skillful button and joystick maneuvering?

The good news is that kids love to move. Even the ones who don’t look it. Go down to a park, the beach, or walk through the city square on a hot day when the fountains are flowing and kids of all shapes and sizes will be moving frequently at slow, moderate, and fast paces. They’re playing tag. They’re roughhousing. They’re jumping from ledges twice their height. They’re all over the place.

And that’s how it works: Get even the most screen-obsessed kid in a fun, physical environment with plenty of opportunities for movement and he or she will move. The innate desire for physicality and play exists in all children.

Overweight kids aren’t too far gone either, and exercise can work wonders. According to a 2015 meta-analysis, there’s “moderate” evidence that exercise by itself is an effective way to reduce bodyweight in overweight and obese children. Another study concluded that strength training and aerobic exercise are more effective at lowering children’s BMI than either alone. I imagine you could optimize a kid’s training regimen even further and get even better results.

How Much Exercise Do Kids Need?

Ethnographic studies have found that, by and large, kids in hunter-gatherer groups play all day long with little to no supervision (PDF). They don’t have scooters and Laser Tag, or barbells and kettlebells, but they also don’t have smartphones and televisions. For these kids, play is movement and movement is play. There’s no other way. Of course, contemporary hunter-gatherer groups are a very rough approximation of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. The former have been pushed onto marginalized land by better-armed and more numerous city folk; the latter ranged across an untouched world teeming with large game. Even still, they’re the best model we have for ancestral childhood physical activity.

But we don’t even have to go back to the paleolithic to illustrate the amount of physical activity the average kid should be getting. Just talk to an elderly neighbor. Talk to an older colleague. Or heck, search within your own memory bank. What were summers like as a kid for you? I for one was out all day long if school was out, exploring the neighborhood, roaming the woods, getting into trouble. And I rarely stopped moving.

Anecdotes and personal memories not enough? The data tells the same story. The parents of today’s children got over 8 hours a week of outdoor play (which is still too little). Today’s children get under four. That trend is likely to continue as you go back in time, with outdoor play doubling in frequency and lack of supervision with each previous generation.

These are averages, of course. Some kids get quite a lot. Others don’t.

Kids in Denmark aged 6-12 average 90 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day. It’s highest in the six-year-olds and declines by 3.5 minutes each year.

Elementary school kids in Qatar average around 28 minutes of MVPA per day, with a large discrepancy along gender lines. By age 9, for example, boys are getting over 40 minutes a day and girls are getting just 23 minutes.

Even the Danes aren’t doing enough, in my book.

Kids should be moving all day. I won’t mince words. Look, my kids probably could have moved more, and I knew about this stuff. It’s hard. I get it. But that doesn’t negate that the ideal situation is for kids to be constantly moving. After all, kids have fatigue-resistant muscles akin to elite athletes’. That’s why they can run all day without getting tired, and that’s a fairly strong indicator they’re meant to move all day.

That’s not in the cards, though, so what should kids aim for?

To stave off overweight/obesity, 60 minutes of MVPA (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) with at least 15 minutes of genuinely vigorous physical activity each day is the absolute minimum. That’s not optimal. That’s barebones.

Kids should be:

Swimming

Running (sprinting rather than jogging)

Squatting (the movement pattern more than heavy weight)

Lifting/hip hingeing

Climbing

Throwing

Supporting their own bodyweight

Jumping

Landing

Balancing

Playing, ideally using all the skills and movements I just mentioned

Ideas To Get Kids Moving

What are some ideas? How can we get kids to get enough exercise while having fun and developing skill? Many need a little nudge. There are innumerable ways to unlock what’s already inside. I’ll throw out 30 of them right here.

Walk to School. If you can make it work, walking to and from school will contribute a good amount of MVPA to a kid’s life. Extra points for getting into trouble on the way.

Swim underwater as far as you can.

Dive for Objects. Give kids a goal, make it a game. Throw a handful of quarters into the pool; see if they can get them all in with one breath. Toss a kettlebell into the deep end and have them bring it back up.

Biggest Splash Contest. Who can make the biggest splash into the pool? Encourage different dives, cannonballs, jackknives, and other jumps.

Water Polo. An excellent training stimulus. One of the hardest sports around.

Lift Weights. Real ones. In Germany, 11-year-old soccer players and 12-year-old Olympic weightlifters are safely front squatting their bodyweight.

Race the Dog (with a Head Start). Tell your kid to make a break for it, hold your dog for a few seconds, then release.

Play Catch. Great way to practice throwing and catching, the latter of which is particularly tricky (and useful to learn).

Barefoot Hike. Your kid will thank you when she’s all grown up and thinks nothing of walking across gravel.

Creek Walk. Jump from rock to rock, climb over logs, balance on fallen trees, take a little dip.

Check Out the local rec center schedule. You’d be surprised at the quality of some of these classes. Gymnastics, dance, martial arts are all good options for building good movement skills.

Get a pullup bar in the house. Place it at a level your kid can reach. Start with hanging, swinging, and various holds, but work your way up to pullups. Give incentives (“do 5 pullups and I’ll give you $20”).

Get the dog they’ve always wanted, with the stipulation being they have to walk it and play with it.

Set up an obstacle course. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Just give them things to climb under/over, crawl under/through/, leap over.

Hill Sprints. If you want a killer workout, sling that kid over your shoulder in between his sprints and run some of your own.

Gymnastics. Great foundation for movement later in life. Just stop short of elite competition unless it’s something they really want to commit to.

Have them race. If you catch kids at the right age, they love races without being attached to the outcome. They’ll just let it rip and go all out, all smiles. Winner and loser both have fun.

Roughhouse. Roughhousing is a lost art that helps kids establish boundaries and limits, learn what hurts and what doesn’t, grasp when something is “too rough.” Plus, it’s fun.

Try Parkour. Parkour isn’t something a seven year old just leaps into (go to a parkour gym for formal instruction),but they can certainly start playing around on manmade structures. Visit a business park for good climbing and play.

Animal Impersonations. Crawl like a bear. Hop like a rabbit. Leap like a frog. Slither like a snake. Walk like a duck. These are very difficult modes of transportation that make for great exercise. To keep things fresh and playful, come up with other animals to emulate.

Play Fetch. Throw the ball, they go chase it and bring it back. Same concept as running your dog.

Reverse Box Jumps. That cool Persian tot aside, it makes more sense for small children to practice jumping down from tall objects than trying to jump up them. Besides, landing is where the danger lies later.

Trampoline. Studies indicate they’re responsible for a large number of emergency visits, but a properly set-up trampoline enclosed by a protective net can be a great place to learn how to jump with good form. And again, fun.

Keep a scooter/bike/skateboard around. Kids love zooming around on wheels.

Chore Duty. Give them a standing order to help with bags/groceries/trash. There’s always something they can carry, and every little bit helps make them stronger and more resilient.

Kettlebell Challenge. Keep a kettlebell in the living room and have him or her lift it every day. Marvel at the perfect deadlift form.

Build forts, then destroy them.

Try conventional sports. Although specialization isn’t advised at such an early age (it can actually increase the risk of overuse injuries and inhibit the athletic growth of children), sports are fun and do offer a great path to overall athletic development.

Build up to a mile run. Start by walking it. Throw in some quick sprints in the middle. Then a full on mile run. Then unleash the offer: “I’ll give you [x] if you can run a mile in [x-amount of time].”

Set a good example. If you fail to embrace physical culture while demanding your child do the opposite, that’s a strong nudge in the wrong direction. Make sure you’re moving, too.

That’s it for today, folks. I’d love to hear from you.

What kinds of games, sports, and other activities do you use to increase your children’s physical activity and help them develop a positive relationship with exercise? What’s worked, what hasn’t, and what’s the most unconventional activity you’ve had success with?

Take care all.

[fishermariawo]

How Much Exercise Do Kids Need? Plus, 30 Activities to Get Them Moving

There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that kids aren’t getting enough physical activity.

Inadequate amounts of physical activity are a strong risk factor for obesity and metabolic dysfunction in kids.  It’s most likely causal, too, because as much as people question the usefulness of only exercising to lose weight, there’s no question that exercise and physical activity in general is important for preventing obesity from occurring. 

Kids are getting so obese that a new RCT came out showing metformin can help them lose weight and normalize metabolic biomarkers.

It’s not just that inadequate physical activity is destroying the physical vitality, body weight, and metabolic health of children. It’s also ruining their movement skills and general athleticism. I don’t work with kids directly, but I have many friends who do. And all of them, from gymnastics coaches to running coaches to basketball/base/football coaches report that the athleticism of the beginners has degraded over the years. Fewer kids are coming into practice for the first time with that raw movement ability. They’re clumsier, clunkier, and more confused than ever before.

Childhood is a big window, but it’s a crucial one. All that time spent throwing a ball—or sitting on the couch manipulating an Xbox controller so that the character onscreen throws a ball—establishes neural pathways. Do you want those pathways to enable efficient, competent throwing (a skill that may have required our big brains and allowed humans to conquer the world), or do you want those pathways to enable skillful button and joystick maneuvering?

The good news is that kids love to move. Even the ones who don’t look it. Go down to a park, the beach, or walk through the city square on a hot day when the fountains are flowing and kids of all shapes and sizes will be moving frequently at slow, moderate, and fast paces. They’re playing tag. They’re roughhousing. They’re jumping from ledges twice their height. They’re all over the place.

And that’s how it works: Get even the most screen-obsessed kid in a fun, physical environment with plenty of opportunities for movement and he or she will move. The innate desire for physicality and play exists in all children.

Overweight kids aren’t too far gone either, and exercise can work wonders. According to a 2015 meta-analysis, there’s “moderate” evidence that exercise by itself is an effective way to reduce bodyweight in overweight and obese children. Another study concluded that strength training and aerobic exercise are more effective at lowering children’s BMI than either alone. I imagine you could optimize a kid’s training regimen even further and get even better results.

How Much Exercise Do Kids Need?

Ethnographic studies have found that, by and large, kids in hunter-gatherer groups play all day long with little to no supervision (PDF). They don’t have scooters and Laser Tag, or barbells and kettlebells, but they also don’t have smartphones and televisions. For these kids, play is movement and movement is play. There’s no other way. Of course, contemporary hunter-gatherer groups are a very rough approximation of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. The former have been pushed onto marginalized land by better-armed and more numerous city folk; the latter ranged across an untouched world teeming with large game. Even still, they’re the best model we have for ancestral childhood physical activity.

But we don’t even have to go back to the paleolithic to illustrate the amount of physical activity the average kid should be getting. Just talk to an elderly neighbor. Talk to an older colleague. Or heck, search within your own memory bank. What were summers like as a kid for you? I for one was out all day long if school was out, exploring the neighborhood, roaming the woods, getting into trouble. And I rarely stopped moving.

Anecdotes and personal memories not enough? The data tells the same story. The parents of today’s children got over 8 hours a week of outdoor play (which is still too little). Today’s children get under four. That trend is likely to continue as you go back in time, with outdoor play doubling in frequency and lack of supervision with each previous generation.

These are averages, of course. Some kids get quite a lot. Others don’t.

Kids in Denmark aged 6-12 average 90 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day. It’s highest in the six-year-olds and declines by 3.5 minutes each year.

Elementary school kids in Qatar average around 28 minutes of MVPA per day, with a large discrepancy along gender lines. By age 9, for example, boys are getting over 40 minutes a day and girls are getting just 23 minutes.

Even the Danes aren’t doing enough, in my book.

Kids should be moving all day. I won’t mince words. Look, my kids probably could have moved more, and I knew about this stuff. It’s hard. I get it. But that doesn’t negate that the ideal situation is for kids to be constantly moving. After all, kids have fatigue-resistant muscles akin to elite athletes’. That’s why they can run all day without getting tired, and that’s a fairly strong indicator they’re meant to move all day.

That’s not in the cards, though, so what should kids aim for?

To stave off overweight/obesity, 60 minutes of MVPA (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) with at least 15 minutes of genuinely vigorous physical activity each day is the absolute minimum. That’s not optimal. That’s barebones.

Kids should be:

Swimming

Running (sprinting rather than jogging)

Squatting (the movement pattern more than heavy weight)

Lifting/hip hingeing

Climbing

Throwing

Supporting their own bodyweight

Jumping

Landing

Balancing

Playing, ideally using all the skills and movements I just mentioned

Ideas To Get Kids Moving

What are some ideas? How can we get kids to get enough exercise while having fun and developing skill? Many need a little nudge. There are innumerable ways to unlock what’s already inside. I’ll throw out 30 of them right here.

Walk to School. If you can make it work, walking to and from school will contribute a good amount of MVPA to a kid’s life. Extra points for getting into trouble on the way.

Swim underwater as far as you can.

Dive for Objects. Give kids a goal, make it a game. Throw a handful of quarters into the pool; see if they can get them all in with one breath. Toss a kettlebell into the deep end and have them bring it back up.

Biggest Splash Contest. Who can make the biggest splash into the pool? Encourage different dives, cannonballs, jackknives, and other jumps.

Water Polo. An excellent training stimulus. One of the hardest sports around.

Lift Weights. Real ones. In Germany, 11-year-old soccer players and 12-year-old Olympic weightlifters are safely front squatting their bodyweight.

Race the Dog (with a Head Start). Tell your kid to make a break for it, hold your dog for a few seconds, then release.

Play Catch. Great way to practice throwing and catching, the latter of which is particularly tricky (and useful to learn).

Barefoot Hike. Your kid will thank you when she’s all grown up and thinks nothing of walking across gravel.

Creek Walk. Jump from rock to rock, climb over logs, balance on fallen trees, take a little dip.

Check Out the local rec center schedule. You’d be surprised at the quality of some of these classes. Gymnastics, dance, martial arts are all good options for building good movement skills.

Get a pullup bar in the house. Place it at a level your kid can reach. Start with hanging, swinging, and various holds, but work your way up to pullups. Give incentives (“do 5 pullups and I’ll give you $20”).

Get the dog they’ve always wanted, with the stipulation being they have to walk it and play with it.

Set up an obstacle course. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Just give them things to climb under/over, crawl under/through/, leap over.

Hill Sprints. If you want a killer workout, sling that kid over your shoulder in between his sprints and run some of your own.

Gymnastics. Great foundation for movement later in life. Just stop short of elite competition unless it’s something they really want to commit to.

Have them race. If you catch kids at the right age, they love races without being attached to the outcome. They’ll just let it rip and go all out, all smiles. Winner and loser both have fun.

Roughhouse. Roughhousing is a lost art that helps kids establish boundaries and limits, learn what hurts and what doesn’t, grasp when something is “too rough.” Plus, it’s fun.

Try Parkour. Parkour isn’t something a seven year old just leaps into (go to a parkour gym for formal instruction),but they can certainly start playing around on manmade structures. Visit a business park for good climbing and play.

Animal Impersonations. Crawl like a bear. Hop like a rabbit. Leap like a frog. Slither like a snake. Walk like a duck. These are very difficult modes of transportation that make for great exercise. To keep things fresh and playful, come up with other animals to emulate.

Play Fetch. Throw the ball, they go chase it and bring it back. Same concept as running your dog.

Reverse Box Jumps. That cool Persian tot aside, it makes more sense for small children to practice jumping down from tall objects than trying to jump up them. Besides, landing is where the danger lies later.

Trampoline. Studies indicate they’re responsible for a large number of emergency visits, but a properly set-up trampoline enclosed by a protective net can be a great place to learn how to jump with good form. And again, fun.

Keep a scooter/bike/skateboard around. Kids love zooming around on wheels.

Chore Duty. Give them a standing order to help with bags/groceries/trash. There’s always something they can carry, and every little bit helps make them stronger and more resilient.

Kettlebell Challenge. Keep a kettlebell in the living room and have him or her lift it every day. Marvel at the perfect deadlift form.

Build forts, then destroy them.

Try conventional sports. Although specialization isn’t advised at such an early age (it can actually increase the risk of overuse injuries and inhibit the athletic growth of children), sports are fun and do offer a great path to overall athletic development.

Build up to a mile run. Start by walking it. Throw in some quick sprints in the middle. Then a full on mile run. Then unleash the offer: “I’ll give you [x] if you can run a mile in [x-amount of time].”

Set a good example. If you fail to embrace physical culture while demanding your child do the opposite, that’s a strong nudge in the wrong direction. Make sure you’re moving, too.

That’s it for today, folks. I’d love to hear from you.

What kinds of games, sports, and other activities do you use to increase your children’s physical activity and help them develop a positive relationship with exercise? What’s worked, what hasn’t, and what’s the most unconventional activity you’ve had success with?

Take care all.

[geralldhopp]

Poinsettia Problems: Your Monthly Scouting Guide

This post on poinsettia problems was contributed to by Drs. Chevonne Dayboll and Sarah Jandricic.

When poinsettias get problems,  they always seem to hit hard and fast. Things like whitefly, Lewis mite, root rots, and nutritional issues can all quickly derail a quality crop. This is why scouting might be more important in this crop than any other.

Here’s a month by month guide on what you should be looking for to prevent small problems from becoming big issues.

(Note: For all pests, click the link in the title for more helpful information!).

What to Look for in July:

Erwinia and Rhizoctonia can look very similar infecting poinsettia cuttings.

Cutting Rots:  The bacterial rot Erwinia (now renamed to Pectobacterium, just to confuse you) is the one of the first diseases to appear in poinsettia, as is Rhizoctonia (a fungus).  Check for soft and mushy cuttings, starting at the base of the stem and moving upwards. The cuttings will eventually collapse.

With Erwinia, cuttings will also smell funky, due to the bacteria.  With Rhizoctonia, you may see white fungal strands near the crown.

Proper water management can help mediate both diseases; keep mist minimal overnight and turn mist off as soon as possible.  Sanitation is also key to controlling their spread: make sure to immediately rogue out any propagation strips affected by Erwinia/Rhizoctonia, as all cuttings in the same strip are likely to be infected.

Root rots: July is also when you might start seeing the beginning of root rot issues in plug trays (especially Pythium, but also Rhizocontina, Phytophthora and even Fusarium). Although these won’t kill the rooted cutting outright, these diseases will proceed slowly and potentially cause large die-offs mid Fall.  So make sure you’re regularly inspecting your cuttings to determine if you should treat now, to head off problems later.

Evidence of root rots include:

Poor rooting

Stunted growth

Discoloured (black or brow) roots

Loss of lower leaves

Cankers on stems.

If you see these, then get the disease identified by the Guelph Lab Services so you can apply the appropriate chemical fungicide in propagation to help knock it back. Follow this with an application of an appropriate microbial fungicide like (like Actinovate, PreStop, Rootshield Plus, Taegro or Trianum; check the label) to boost root growth and continue to fight disease in susceptible cuttings.

August:

Scouting poinsettia for whitefly. Score plants as “with”or “without” whitefly.

Whitefly: Given that bios need time to work, and pesticide applications should be delayed at least 2 whitefly life cycles (ca. 6 weeks) to avoid resistance issues, scouting for whitefly should start in earnest in August to determine future pest management decisions.

The following technique is quick, but gives you a sense of the whitefly pressure across your whole farm, including in different varieties:

To save time/effort,  record presence/absence of whitefly per plant only to get a percent infestation rate  week by week.

To do this, pick up 15-20 plants per bench on at least 50% of the benches in your compartment.  This may sound like a lot, but the process goes quickly.

Hold them above your head or in a way so you can see the undersides of as many leaves as possible and score the whole plant as “With Whitefly” or “No Whitefly”. This includes sightings of ANY whitefly life stage (nymphs, pupae or adults; you’re unlikely to notice eggs without a hand lens).

Plants with “very high” whitefly numbers should be noted (and flagged), as should the variety, which can attract whitefly differently.

Every week, add up the number of infested plants and divide this by the total number of plants you sampled (or do this by variety).  Then multiply that number by 100 to get the % infested plants.

For example, if I sampled 20 plants per bench in a compartment with 30 benches, and found a total of 55 plants with whitefly, then my % infestation rate would be: (55/(20×30))x100 = 9.1%.

Look under “September” for how to interpret this number based on crop timing.

Lewis mite:  Although Lewis mite come in on cuttings, they are impossible to notice at low densities in June/July.  Preventative predatory mite applications are possible (see here), as is a single application of a miticide on cuttings (e.g. Forbid (spiromesifen), Floramite (bifenzate), or FujiMite (fenpyroximate)).  But, pesticide use early in the crop runs the risk of interfering with your whitefly bio program.   As Lewis mite only seems to be an issue in random years, the better option is to regularly walk the crop, looking for the characteristic stippling symptoms, to figure out if you have it.  Mite populations build up enough to show damage as early as August, and as late as October.  (See “October” for what you should do if you find them).

Lewis mite damage looks similar to spider mite damage on other crops. Look for yellowing of leaves in a stippling pattern, and webbing at high mite densities.

Nutrient issues: Common deficiencies are more likely to appear in mid-fall, but to head them off, it’s important to keep track of your E.C. and pH levels starting in August. For best results, maintain a feed E.C. between 1.0 and 2.5.   Higher E.C. values will allow salts to accumulate, which will inhibit nutrient uptake.  High E.C. can also cause young roots to burn – which provides an entry point for root rot problems.  An optimal pH is in the range of 5.8-6.2.  A pH greater than 6.5 will stunt growth, and iron deficiencies will eventually occur.  Bi-weekly testing of these indicators and keeping good fertility and spray records can help you to understand what type of corrective action to take if a problem arises.  More descriptions of specific nutrient deficiencies in poinsettia can be found here , here, here and here.

September:

Height issues: Early-to-Mid Fall is the time to start looking at the height of your crop, to see if it’s on track to reach commercial standards. Research out of MSU has shown that early low-dose drenches of Paclobutrazol (e.g. Bonzi) can effectively control height for poinsettia.  However, response by variety plays a big part in both the number of applications and the rate.  In general, more vigorous varieties required more applications or a higher rate (details on what they found for specific cultivars is here). In general, sprays of Daminozide (e.g. B-Nine) or Chlormequat Chloride products (e.g. Cycocel) will provide shorter-term inhibition of stem elongation, which may be desirable for small height corrections or holding crops later in production.

Whitefly: Consultants who’ve been in the business for 20+ years in Ontario have developed a general rule of thumb when it comes to whitefly levels on Poinsettia, and how this affects management. If fewer than 20% of your pots are infested mid-September, then you can continue your biocontrol program. Pockets of higher infestation can likely be dealt with by releases of Delphastus. But, having more than 20% of your pots infested mid-September is a bad sign, suggesting that numbers might get out of control by sale time.

Tipping points for whitefly control in poinsettia developed by G. Murphy, BioLogical Consulting.

If you’re at that 20% cut off, AND if numbers per plant are generally high, AND this is affecting the major variety you grow, it’s likely time to switch to chemical controls. Drenches of Kontos (spirotetremat), Beleaf (flonicamid) or Altus (flupyradifurone) may be good choices at this point, but you’ll need to monitor after each application to determine efficacy.

October:

Root rots: If you weren’t able to get ahead of disease issues in propagation, now is the time you’ll likely see it rear it’s ugly head in the crop.  Look for rapid yellowing and sudden wilting, which could be signs of Pythium aphanidermatum or P. ultimum.  The additional sign of stem cankers right at the crown indicates either Phytophthora or even Fusarium (showing up more commonly in poinsettia crops).  You’ll need to get your plants tested at a lab ASAP, as depending on the disease, chemical treatments may slow the spread of the infestation (e.g. Subdue MAXX for Pythium or Phytophthora) or be completely ineffective at this stage (e.g. any applications for Fusarium).  Rogue out infested plants immediately, especially if you are using flood floors/benches.

Botryis stem canker on poinsettia. Photo credit: UMass Extension

Botrytis Stem Rot: A grower can be right on track for a quality crop, only to be suddenly derailed by Botrytis stem rot (caused by the same fungi as foliar Botrytis) in October. Look for sunken cankers near stem branches and sudden defoliation/branch death on one side of the plant (above the canker).

The main culprit in Botrytis stem rot is improper spacing at the beginning of the crop, and is likely more common in 4-inch crops, where growers are trying to maximize profits. Once it appears, reduce your watering, increase ventilation, and get an application of a product like Medallion (fludioxonil) or Decree (fenhexamid) on before the canopy closes and it’s too late to penetrate the crop properly.  Other chemicals can be effective but risk discolouring bracts.

Lewis mite: Often, Lewis mite populations go  undetected until October, when populations build up enough to start causing noticeable damage: the upper foliage will turn brown and the mites will form unsightly webbing.  If you find a spot on the bench, immediately throw out infested plants in a “circle of Love” (i.e.  the centre infested plant and all those immediately touching it). You should also consider a spot spray of miticides for nearby plants (a spot spray being less likely to interfere with bios for Bemisia control).  The contact insecticides listed under “August” will still be options, but If the canopy is dense, systemic miticides might be more effective (e.g. Avid (abamectin), Kontos (spirotetremat).

November:

If you’ve made it this far with a clean crop, your future’s looking bright!

If not, it’s time to make notes on what when right, and what didn’t, so you can tweak your IPM and production programs for next year.

Poinsettia Problems: Your Monthly Scouting Guide published first on https://yeuhoavn.tumblr.com/

[cynthiamwashington]

How Much Exercise Do Kids Need? Plus, 30 Activities to Get Them Moving

There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that kids aren’t getting enough physical activity.

Inadequate amounts of physical activity are a strong risk factor for obesity and metabolic dysfunction in kids.  It’s most likely causal, too, because as much as people question the usefulness of only exercising to lose weight, there’s no question that exercise and physical activity in general is important for preventing obesity from occurring. 

Kids are getting so obese that a new RCT came out showing metformin can help them lose weight and normalize metabolic biomarkers.

It’s not just that inadequate physical activity is destroying the physical vitality, body weight, and metabolic health of children. It’s also ruining their movement skills and general athleticism. I don’t work with kids directly, but I have many friends who do. And all of them, from gymnastics coaches to running coaches to basketball/base/football coaches report that the athleticism of the beginners has degraded over the years. Fewer kids are coming into practice for the first time with that raw movement ability. They’re clumsier, clunkier, and more confused than ever before.

Childhood is a big window, but it’s a crucial one. All that time spent throwing a ball—or sitting on the couch manipulating an Xbox controller so that the character onscreen throws a ball—establishes neural pathways. Do you want those pathways to enable efficient, competent throwing (a skill that may have required our big brains and allowed humans to conquer the world), or do you want those pathways to enable skillful button and joystick maneuvering?

The good news is that kids love to move. Even the ones who don’t look it. Go down to a park, the beach, or walk through the city square on a hot day when the fountains are flowing and kids of all shapes and sizes will be moving frequently at slow, moderate, and fast paces. They’re playing tag. They’re roughhousing. They’re jumping from ledges twice their height. They’re all over the place.

And that’s how it works: Get even the most screen-obsessed kid in a fun, physical environment with plenty of opportunities for movement and he or she will move. The innate desire for physicality and play exists in all children.

Overweight kids aren’t too far gone either, and exercise can work wonders. According to a 2015 meta-analysis, there’s “moderate” evidence that exercise by itself is an effective way to reduce bodyweight in overweight and obese children. Another study concluded that strength training and aerobic exercise are more effective at lowering children’s BMI than either alone. I imagine you could optimize a kid’s training regimen even further and get even better results.

How Much Exercise Do Kids Need?

Ethnographic studies have found that, by and large, kids in hunter-gatherer groups play all day long with little to no supervision (PDF). They don’t have scooters and Laser Tag, or barbells and kettlebells, but they also don’t have smartphones and televisions. For these kids, play is movement and movement is play. There’s no other way. Of course, contemporary hunter-gatherer groups are a very rough approximation of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. The former have been pushed onto marginalized land by better-armed and more numerous city folk; the latter ranged across an untouched world teeming with large game. Even still, they’re the best model we have for ancestral childhood physical activity.

But we don’t even have to go back to the paleolithic to illustrate the amount of physical activity the average kid should be getting. Just talk to an elderly neighbor. Talk to an older colleague. Or heck, search within your own memory bank. What were summers like as a kid for you? I for one was out all day long if school was out, exploring the neighborhood, roaming the woods, getting into trouble. And I rarely stopped moving.

Anecdotes and personal memories not enough? The data tells the same story. The parents of today’s children got over 8 hours a week of outdoor play (which is still too little). Today’s children get under four. That trend is likely to continue as you go back in time, with outdoor play doubling in frequency and lack of supervision with each previous generation.

These are averages, of course. Some kids get quite a lot. Others don’t.

Kids in Denmark aged 6-12 average 90 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day. It’s highest in the six-year-olds and declines by 3.5 minutes each year.

Elementary school kids in Qatar average around 28 minutes of MVPA per day, with a large discrepancy along gender lines. By age 9, for example, boys are getting over 40 minutes a day and girls are getting just 23 minutes.

Even the Danes aren’t doing enough, in my book.

Kids should be moving all day. I won’t mince words. Look, my kids probably could have moved more, and I knew about this stuff. It’s hard. I get it. But that doesn’t negate that the ideal situation is for kids to be constantly moving. After all, kids have fatigue-resistant muscles akin to elite athletes’. That’s why they can run all day without getting tired, and that’s a fairly strong indicator they’re meant to move all day.

That’s not in the cards, though, so what should kids aim for?

To stave off overweight/obesity, 60 minutes of MVPA (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) with at least 15 minutes of genuinely vigorous physical activity each day is the absolute minimum. That’s not optimal. That’s barebones.

Kids should be:

Swimming

Running (sprinting rather than jogging)

Squatting (the movement pattern more than heavy weight)

Lifting/hip hingeing

Climbing

Throwing

Supporting their own bodyweight

Jumping

Landing

Balancing

Playing, ideally using all the skills and movements I just mentioned

Ideas To Get Kids Moving

What are some ideas? How can we get kids to get enough exercise while having fun and developing skill? Many need a little nudge. There are innumerable ways to unlock what’s already inside. I’ll throw out 30 of them right here.

Walk to School. If you can make it work, walking to and from school will contribute a good amount of MVPA to a kid’s life. Extra points for getting into trouble on the way.

Swim underwater as far as you can.

Dive for Objects. Give kids a goal, make it a game. Throw a handful of quarters into the pool; see if they can get them all in with one breath. Toss a kettlebell into the deep end and have them bring it back up.

Biggest Splash Contest. Who can make the biggest splash into the pool? Encourage different dives, cannonballs, jackknives, and other jumps.

Water Polo. An excellent training stimulus. One of the hardest sports around.

Lift Weights. Real ones. In Germany, 11-year-old soccer players and 12-year-old Olympic weightlifters are safely front squatting their bodyweight.

Race the Dog (with a Head Start). Tell your kid to make a break for it, hold your dog for a few seconds, then release.

Play Catch. Great way to practice throwing and catching, the latter of which is particularly tricky (and useful to learn).

Barefoot Hike. Your kid will thank you when she’s all grown up and thinks nothing of walking across gravel.

Creek Walk. Jump from rock to rock, climb over logs, balance on fallen trees, take a little dip.

Check Out the local rec center schedule. You’d be surprised at the quality of some of these classes. Gymnastics, dance, martial arts are all good options for building good movement skills.

Get a pullup bar in the house. Place it at a level your kid can reach. Start with hanging, swinging, and various holds, but work your way up to pullups. Give incentives (“do 5 pullups and I’ll give you $20”).

Get the dog they’ve always wanted, with the stipulation being they have to walk it and play with it.

Set up an obstacle course. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Just give them things to climb under/over, crawl under/through/, leap over.

Hill Sprints. If you want a killer workout, sling that kid over your shoulder in between his sprints and run some of your own.

Gymnastics. Great foundation for movement later in life. Just stop short of elite competition unless it’s something they really want to commit to.

Have them race. If you catch kids at the right age, they love races without being attached to the outcome. They’ll just let it rip and go all out, all smiles. Winner and loser both have fun.

Roughhouse. Roughhousing is a lost art that helps kids establish boundaries and limits, learn what hurts and what doesn’t, grasp when something is “too rough.” Plus, it’s fun.

Try Parkour. Parkour isn’t something a seven year old just leaps into (go to a parkour gym for formal instruction),but they can certainly start playing around on manmade structures. Visit a business park for good climbing and play.

Animal Impersonations. Crawl like a bear. Hop like a rabbit. Leap like a frog. Slither like a snake. Walk like a duck. These are very difficult modes of transportation that make for great exercise. To keep things fresh and playful, come up with other animals to emulate.

Play Fetch. Throw the ball, they go chase it and bring it back. Same concept as running your dog.

Reverse Box Jumps. That cool Persian tot aside, it makes more sense for small children to practice jumping down from tall objects than trying to jump up them. Besides, landing is where the danger lies later.

Trampoline. Studies indicate they’re responsible for a large number of emergency visits, but a properly set-up trampoline enclosed by a protective net can be a great place to learn how to jump with good form. And again, fun.

Keep a scooter/bike/skateboard around. Kids love zooming around on wheels.

Chore Duty. Give them a standing order to help with bags/groceries/trash. There’s always something they can carry, and every little bit helps make them stronger and more resilient.

Kettlebell Challenge. Keep a kettlebell in the living room and have him or her lift it every day. Marvel at the perfect deadlift form.

Build forts, then destroy them.

Try conventional sports. Although specialization isn’t advised at such an early age (it can actually increase the risk of overuse injuries and inhibit the athletic growth of children), sports are fun and do offer a great path to overall athletic development.

Build up to a mile run. Start by walking it. Throw in some quick sprints in the middle. Then a full on mile run. Then unleash the offer: “I’ll give you [x] if you can run a mile in [x-amount of time].”

Set a good example. If you fail to embrace physical culture while demanding your child do the opposite, that’s a strong nudge in the wrong direction. Make sure you’re moving, too.

That’s it for today, folks. I’d love to hear from you.

What kinds of games, sports, and other activities do you use to increase your children’s physical activity and help them develop a positive relationship with exercise? What’s worked, what hasn’t, and what’s the most unconventional activity you’ve had success with?

Take care all.

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