#50 people! That's like 2 classrooms full!

[a-mess-of-a-crow]

WE REACHED 50 FOLLOWERS :D

50 Follower special coming out these next days :)

[apomaro-mellow]

Wrong Number 3

(2:21 am) I just realized something (2:21 am) Ur a cooking teacher (2:22 am) Who can't fry a egg (2:23 am) You're a fraud 🫵

[7:29 am] I can fry an egg just fine I just can't make the yolks runny. It's too hard to time it right. And why are you up thinking about eggs at 2 am?

(7:47 am) I was up thinking about you at 2 am

Steve felt his stomach flip as he sipped his coffee and set his belongings down in his classroom. Eddie didn't play games. He always said exactly what he was thinking. And it drew Steve wild.

(7:48 am) And about how your students might clown on you for not being able to scramble an egg

[7:49] Aww you're worried about me?

(7:49 am) Kids can be little monsters (7:50 am) Actually how old are the little monsters you teach?

[7:51] Youngest is 6 and oldest is 14. Speaking of, they'll be arriving soon so...

(7:52 am) Godspeed you academic warrior

Eddie didn't typically text so late on weeknights. Not since learning Steve was a teacher. It was just that he truly HAD been up and thinking of him. Steve drove him crazy and he thought he was doing a good job keeping a lid on it. 2 am texts were what happened when the lid got loose but Steve didn't seem put off by it.

At about half past three, Steve called him. Eddie was glad he made that leap with his first call. The sound of Steve's voice never failed to warm him through. Eddie was in the middle of collecting axes for sharpening at the end of his shift.

"What's cookin' good lookin'?", Eddie greeted as he picked up.

"Today was good. Had a really riveting conversation about meatloaf versus pate with the kids", Steve said.

"Meatloaf rocks and pate is just cold meatloaf for rich people. End of discussion."

"Well, we talked about it for like fifteen minutes. Had a real interesting tangent on forcemeats in general."

Eddie paused. "Excuse me?"

"You'd be surprised at what kids are into. This one I taught last year was really into rice-"

"I need you to backtrack just a bit. 'Forcemeat'?"

"Yeah it's-oh grow up", Steve chided while shaking his head. He had just gotten home and was taking off his work clothes for something more comfortable. He thought about what Eddie might think he'd look nice in. "Not even my 12 year olds are this childish."

There was something about the way Steve talked about his students. Like they were his actual children. The conversation continued for a few minutes more before Steve suddenly had to hang up. Eddie tried not to think much of it, but it wasn't the first time that it had happened.

Steve ended the call just as Robin came into the apartment. She narrowed her eyes at him, then looked to the phone in his hand. Steve hid it behind his back and winced at practically telling on himself.

"You're hiding something."

"No I'm not."

"And now you're lying to me."

"No I'm not!"

Robin pounced and wrestled him for the phone. It wasn't a real fight of course. Steve could've pinned her in seconds but a part of him was tired of keeping the secret. And obviously, she knew how to unlock his phone.

"Who's Eddie?", she asked, sitting on his back triumphantly.

"A guy."

"Thank you, I had no idea it could be a man's name. You've been texting him aaaaaaa llllllllllllot."

"Are you reading them!? Robin!"

"Where did you meet him?", Robin said as she got up, continuing to read through their conversations.

"I um, technically, haven't. Yet."

Robin gave him an odd look and Steve spilled everything to her. To her credit, Robin listened to the full story before throwing one of the couch pillows at him.

"Stephen Elliott Harrington! Did no one teach you stranger danger? You just kept texting him? And calling? And I saw the pictures you sent. You know he can find out where we live? What if I came home to your skinless corpse??!"

It went on for a while like that and when Robin was finished, she collapsed onto the couch. Steve sat across from her on the coffee table. He waited for her to silently process it all.

"You think he's cute?"

"What I've seen of him, yeah."

Robin sighed. "I can't believe you're turning into the guy who has a internet girlfriend."

Steve rolled his eyes but then balked when she started to read through his messages again.

"And I can't believe you haven't even started flirting yet."

"I've been flirting with him the whole time!" Maybe not the whole time but-

"You're giving him Diet Steve. Why are you holding back?"

Steve shrugged, looking sheepish now. Now Robin was rolling her eyes.

"Steve, we're getting you a date."

"But he's-"

"A virtual one. Jesus is he an axe murderer?", Robin said as she looked to one of the texts.

"No, he just works with them. Axes! Not murderers."

--------------------------------

Eddie was about to sit down to a movie when his phone buzzed.

[5:17 pm] Thinking about you.

Oh. Now that was some text to get.

(5:18 pm) Oh yeah? (5:18 pm) What about me?

Steve looked to Robin. They were sitting cross-legged next to each other on his bed.

"What do I say?"

"Be honest, duh."

"If I'm honest I'm gonna talk about his hands."

Robin shook her hands at him like she wanted to wring his neck. Steve got the idea and decided to put himself out there.

[5:21 pm] Your hands. I think about them a lot actually

Eddie had not given his own hands much thought. But knowing that Steve admired them, he gave them a second look. He thought about them gripping Steve's thighs.

(5:23) You're gonna make me blush (5:24) What would you do with my hands Stevie?

Steve panicked and looked to Robin. "Are we sexting? Is he getting me to sext?"

"That's the idea, dingus. I said I was getting you a date. Now tell him what you want him to do."

"I don't know I'd....I'd want to..." Steve trailed off, looking at his phone while the fingers of his other hand brushed against his lips.

Robin stole the phone from him again and started typing. "'First...I'd suck..on them'."

"Robin!"

"Is that not what you want?"

Steve shrugged and Robin continued. "You've got me on the clock for five more minutes before I go out. You dictate, I'll type."

Steve hated how much he liked the idea. Especially when he heard the ping of Eddie's reply. "What did he say?"

Robin cleared her throat. "'Yeah? You wanna suck on them? I bet you got a beautiful mouth.' Oh he's good."

"Yeah", Steve breathed out. "Really good." He thought about Eddie sticking his fingers in and pressing down on his tongue, his rings tasting metallic and so nice.

"'I wanna choke on them'", Robin said out loud as she typed. "Is it too soon to call him Daddy?"

"What?!" That snapped Steve out of it.

"Oh come on. Tattoos, the hair, his job. He wants to be called Daddy."

"Robin don't call him Daddy."

"Pops?"

Steve took his phone from her and looked to Eddie's reply.

(5:30 pm) I'd only choke you if you were being bad (5:30 pm) Are you gonna be bad baby?

[5:31 pm] Maybe. I can be good too. So good.

(5:32 pm) Lemme call you baby wanna hear you

Steve dialed without hesitation just as Robin was leaving. Her work was done.

"Don't get murdered while I'm out!", she shouted just as Eddie picked up.

"Hey pretty baby", Eddie said.

"Hey. You said you wanted to hear me?"

"Yeah. I wanna hear you say those things with your own voice."

"Like how I wanna choke on your fingers? Among other things?"

Steve could hear Eddie let out a breath on the other end. The power he felt right now was intoxicating.

"Bet you'd look so good on your knees."

Steve hummed while pressing his fingertips to his lips. If Eddie asked, he'd suck on them. Let the wet noises fill his ears, let Eddie know how good he could be.

"Darlin' you went quiet."

"I'm thinking", Steve said, laying down on his bed. "I wanna show you, Eddie."

Eddie swallowed. This man would be the death of him. He'd nearly jerked off to just a picture of his fully clothed lower half. If he saw more...if he saw everything-

"Eddie! We've got a Code Red!"

"Jesus! Knock!"

Steve sat up quick at the shouting coming from Eddie's end. It sounded like someone had barged in.

"Eddie?"

"Sorry. Sorry Steve. I gotta handle something. Um, call you back? Please?"

"Eddie, I want to video call you."

"V..video...?"

"Yes. I wanna see you. Please."

"Yes. Yes, a thousand times-hold your horses! Uh, tomorrow? It's Saturday, so you're free, right? Can we make it a date?"

"A date", Steve nodded. "I'll see you then. I'll be thinking of you."

"And I'll be counting the seconds. 1-one thousand, 2-one thousand, 3-one th-ouch! Okay! Damn!"

Eddie hung up and Steve still had the phone to his ear, smiling. He had a video call date. He had a date with Eddie!

Shit what should he wear?

Part 5

Tag Team (CLOSED)

@anne-bennett-cosplayer @estrellami-1 @newtstabber @omletlove @ifyoudonlysurrender @rehfan @morganski-19 @corvidcantina @dragonmama76 @just-ladyme @tinyplanet95 @goodolefashionedloverboi @idoquitelikebread @kittydeadbones @manda-panda-monium @rhapsodyinalto @paintsplatteredandimperfect @keylime-green @ihavekidneys @samsoble @honorarybrit81 @swimmingbirdrunningrock @aizawa-emma @deleataecount @thesuninyaface @fromapayphone @justmeinadaze @hbyrde36 @queenie-ofthe-void @resident-gay-bitch @bestwifehaver @dangdirtydemons @ellietheasexylibrarian @perseus-notjackson @pyrohonk @holysteddie @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @mrsjellymunson @geekymagicalpotato @notaqueenakhaleesi

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

…something been in draft for while:

idk how say this exactly but often like. use what look like binary clear cut dichotomy that have set definition this is this that is that. because oftentimes call “cake” “cake” instead of “flour milk egg baking powder salt etc etc” that kind language faster simplier and nuance can easily put word count 10k+. and. with language communication disabilities not always able translate all nuance into tangible word on paper/screen/type sometimes have to call something with imperfect blanket word. and then you find out other people not really hold as much nuance as you & still simplify your nuance into something binary this this that that

but reality rarely that binary— say on here that nonverbal mean not mouth speak at all all time & semiverbal is struggle all time but can mouth speak some & verbal but actually more nuanced than that like some severely apraxic people who mouth do say thing but not in their control not what they want say & they still call self nonspeaking because it not intentional meaningful speech; or someone labeled nonverbal who actually do commmunicate with mouth words just not full sentence & not full clear pronounce but still labeled nonverbal anyway as almost like microaggression of not recognize their single or two word mouth word phrase as valid enough communication worth listen to; or someone with echolalia that not mean anything with it (vs someone with echolalia that is use echolalia as communication (think gestalts, etc)); or some research showing even able say 1-2 words more ability than those with 0 word; or research debate about where minimally verbal end is it 20 words 30 words 50 words

when combat “go nonverbal” crowd often say there is clear cut about what nonverbal and what isn’t and yeah there is clear cut but also is there

many not ready for this level muddiness & nuance because some take bring nuance as invite to say like “i nonverbal but can still (intentionally) mouth speak” or gateway to claim nonverbality as if fun new identity collect instead of some complicated complex experience with mixed emotion but often some level of grief at some point that get lot targeted awful ableism & discrimination like denied education refuse accommodation like IEP or put in segregated classroom without even consider accommodation in general ed to isolate away from peers n not actual to help nonverbal person where they best thrive, or secluded or restrained, or denied healthcare, denied communication, which all still happen now btw it still common now it not rare obsolete it majority still

which make me feel like this image

[id: meme. left side is philosophers (school of athens painting) with caption “talking about nonverbal nonspeaking with other nonverbal people”. middle say “vs”. right side image is parent guiding infant to look play at toy and captioned “talking about nonverbal nonspeaking with not nonverbal people. end id]

because sometimes really is that but also even this is binary. thinking about how some motor nonspeaking people without intellectual disability who language okay say their mind intact that they not stupid thus deserve education and not deserve abuse and throw people with ID & language impairment. or how nonverbal nonspeaking from autism so different from (but so similar to) from motor apraxia from cerebral palsy from intellectual disability from genetic or chromosomal disorders from stroke from TBI from aphasia from vocal cord dysfunction from dementia from from from… how talking to someone nonspeaking from primarily motor reasons without cognitive intellectual language disabilities as someone nonverbal because high level autism cognitive language disabilities, we not guarantee understand eachother experience, same with talk someone from acquired things vs mine neurodevelopmental, how what i say about nonverbal here may not apply to someone who not speak not because autism etc

but “if words so meaningless if experiences so boundless let abolish all” not helpful because for all kind way be nonverbal there experiences that 100% not nonverbal there experiences so different from nonverbal “not able meaningfully intentionally speak all the time” for every meaningless there meaningful reason nonverbal people use nonverbal and deserve word “nonverbal” for ourselves and how this difference in experience is intracommunity issue issue within nonverbal nonspeaking community something we have to grapple with and not invitation for people outside to talk about how “if nonverbal so wide, drawing line at going nonverbal & say that isn’t nonverbal is ridiculous and gatekeep” because as much vast different experience there is reason why there community why there this word we all call ourselves and. not one. of the reason is we can slide in and out of not speak and speak daily or weekly or monthly or regularly. there still common theme to what we call nonverbal despite different

wide word isn’t “functionally useless” it just you not know how n when use it

& this conversation not just apply to nonverbal but many other words n other things as well

[discount-shades]

Dead or Alive: Family Part 2

Family Part 2

A/N: This is probably not what people expected, but its how I've always pictured it.

Pairing: Jake Seresin/Reader 

Warning: Western themed violence. 

Word Count: 2200 ish

Summary: You adjust to being a parent.

Previous  Masterlist Next

Angrily you slam the wooden bucket down under the spout and begin to work the handle of the pump, pouring your rage and frustration into the manual task. It had been two months since the Johnson siblings had come to live with you and Jake. Six souls reeling from the death of their parents a few weeks earlier. You knew it would be difficult adjusting to having children after almost two decades of it just being you and Jake, but this is even harder than you had ever suspected. 

There had been a town meeting when it became obvious that fifteen year old Emma had lied about an uncle coming to get them. When discovered, she had declared herself old enough to take care of her younger siblings and the saloon and brothel owner had offered her a job as a dance hall girl. 

Many had offered to take a few of the siblings, most wanting to take thirteen year old John, eleven year old William, and nine year old James. The three boys were a prime age for farm labour. You and Jake had discussed the possibility of taking in the children so when he had come home with all six in tow you were not surprised. Seven year old Anna and six year old Mary rounded out the half dozen. 

You stop pumping when the water nears the lip of the bucket. It wasn’t the boys that were giving you trouble. They had been among the group of schoolboys that were in awe of Sheriff Seresin. John had approached Jake soon after the children arrived, chest puffed out, trying to pretend he was older than his years, declaring that he was going to quit school and get a job in town to pay for room and board for his siblings. 

Unwilling to let the boy throw away his education, you and Jake had agreed to ‘hire’ John as farm hand to help with the milking of the cow and a few other farm chores. The younger boys had followed their big brother’s lead, staying in school and helping out around the farm. Jake’s assurance that they would need to complete their schooling if they wanted to be a sheriff would definitely keep wide eyed James in the classroom.  

“You are so full of shit.” you giggle at Jake that night in bed. “Did you even make it to the eighth grade?” 

“No,” Jake admits. “But that is a secret between the two of us, Sugar.” The town had recently built a new four room schoolhouse that went all the way to high school, and you and Jake had agreed that the goal was for the children to complete an education that you and Jake had not been able to. 

It had taken a while for sweet little Mary and quiet Anna to open up but they were adjusting to their new home. Though all of the children still grieved their parents, in time they had become more relaxed and less formal. You and Jake knew you could never replace their parents. Your goal was to keep the children together and hopefully keep them away from the lives you and Jake had led.

You take a deep breath before you pick up the bucket and head back inside to where Emma sulked in the kitchen, helping with the week's laundry. 

It felt like you and Emma had been cycling through the same arguments. First she was upset that you had started to do the laundry for her siblings. She had declared herself their true caretaker and insisted on doing it herself. So you had let her. Then she was upset and accused you of treating her like a servant. It was the same with any task you asked of her. 

You remembered the grief of losing your own parents too young and tried to give her space and understanding but your patience was wearing thin. 

“I wouldn’t have to do laundry if you had just let me work in the saloon.” You bite your tongue and carefully pour the water into the big pot on the stove top. It was not worth it to argue with the girl. “I could be making $50 dollars a night.” She exclaimed hotly at you, “He told me men would pay $1 for a dance from a pretty girl like me.” She stomps over to get in your face. “You are keeping me from supporting my siblings.” 

It was actually Jake who had threatened the saloon owner into rescinding his offer to employ Emma, forcing her to move into your home with her siblings, but now is not the time to bring that up. 

Scoffing, you raise your chin to meet her eyes. Despite her youth she was a few inches taller than you. “If you believe that you are more foolish than I ever was at your age.” You watch her cheeks flush as she draws back. “No dance hall girl is going to make $1 a dance anymore. Maybe twenty years ago but there are too many women in the county for men to be willing to pay that.”

“You’re just jealous.” She replies, her jaw clenched. 

‘Of what?” You can’t help the laugh that escapes you. There have been many times in your life that you have been envious. This was nowhere near any of them.

“That I am young and beautiful. If I was working in the saloon I’d be a dance hall girl. You are an old woman who steals children from their families. If you were working in the saloon you would be a dried up old whore who didn’t need to worry about getting pregnant.”

Emma’s vindictive smile leaves her face the second your hand makes contact and a part of you revels in the shock on her face. “If you were working in the saloon you would have been slapped weeks ago for your attitude.” you tell her coldly. 

“Who do you think does the washing for the whores?” Her hand is pressed to her cheek and she stares at you mutely. “The dance hall girls do the washing because they can’t afford to live off the money they get for dancing. The owner will charge you for rent, food, and force you to pay for clothing to wear while you dance, soon you will be in his debt.” 

You take a deep breath and continue now that you are on a roll. “If you are lucky some man will come along and take a liking to you and be willing to pay your debts and marry you.” Some of the defiance has left Emma’s expression. “I know this will happen because I have seen it.”

With some of her bravado returned, Emma looks you in the eye and asks, “Is that what happened to you and the Sheriff?”

You laugh bitterly. “No, I was not one of the lucky few who escaped with their virtue intact.” You tell her honestly. “Once you work as a dance hall girl no one will hire you. With no money to leave town most end up on their backs. It pays more than dancing, but the owners of the brothel will always find more fees to charge you to keep you in their debt.” 

Emma stares at her feet as you continue. “The easiest way out is death at that point. Every night you will think of the choices you made that took you to this point and think about how ashamed you folks would be if they lived to see what you have become.” At your final words you hear Emma sniffle and turn to run to the bedroom she shared with her sisters.

At the slamming of the door you let out a shaky breath and whip the tear gathered in your eye. You don’t like talking about your past. Jake knew of course, but no one else in town did. As far as anyone knows you have always been the respectful wife of a lawman. 

The water on the stove is hot so you dump it into the wash bin and grab the bucket to go fill the pot for the next batch. You don’t know if Emma will reveal your secret to the town. While filling up another bucket at the pump, regret creeps in. You wish you hadn't slapped her. You are not a violent person at heart and had previously only struck others in self defence. 

Maybe the slap was necessary. Maybe it was the only way you would be able to get through to the girl and have her realize that her ideas of working as a dancing girl were ludacris. You sigh and set to work washing the laundry of eight people by yourself.

– – – 

Dinner that night is quiet. The boys talking about the adventures they had gotten into outside and the little girls talking about the birthday party they had gone to in town.

You try to behave naturally as you eat your dinner but Jakes notices the difference in you and Emma’s sullen expression as she pushes her food around her plate. When you meet his eyes you can see the question in them. At a subtle shake of your head he doesn’t comment but you know you will have to tell him.

– – – 

“I don’t think she will say anything.” Jake says quietly later that night as his rough fingers trace circles on your thigh. You make a soft sound in disbelief. “She won’t,” he insists, “She’s just embarrassed by her ignorance.” 

“We’ll have to wait and see.” You try to put the thought out of your head. You had built a reputation in this town as a respectable woman. You would hate to see it ruined.

– – – 

In the weeks that follow you carefully monitor the townspeople's reactions to you. Every exchange is judged and replayed in your head, looking for any changes in behaviour. But you notice nothing outside of normal. 

Your interactions with the oldest child in your house have changed. The fight has gone out of Emma. At first it was a relief not to argue over everything but as the weeks become a month you begin to worry. She is still loving towards her siblings but a deep sense of grief seems to permeate her. 

It is wash day when you finally get her alone again. The little girls are tasked with filling the buckets but based on the time they have been gone you are sure they got sidetracked by the new foal in the pen near the pump. You are struggling to find something to say when Emma speaks first. “Did your parents die too?”

Momentarily shocked it takes you a moment to answer. “Tuberculosis. My parents and my baby sister all died.” You look at her as she raises her eyes to yours and you can see tear drops clinging to the lashes.

“Does the pain ever go away?” You can hear her breaths becoming ragged as you answer.

“Yes and no.” You tell her honestly. “It is always there but life continues and other things begin to take up space in your mind and your heart.” You watch the girl crumple before you.

“I don’t want them to be ashamed of me!” She cried out. When you go to place a hand on her shoulder, she flings her arms around you and you find yourself hugging the weeping girl. “All I wanted to do was to protect them and keep them together.” Without words to say you stand there holding her making soft shushing noises. 

When her sobs slow to a sniffle you guide her to a chair. “I was just so afraid that we would all be split up and the people who took them would treat my brothers like slaves and not take care of my little sisters.” 

“I know.” You say as you sit opposite her gently squeezing the hand that still clung to yours. “And your parents know that any choice you made was for your siblings and their safety.” You give her a kind smile. “They can not be ashamed of that.”

You sit in silence watching the emotions pay across Emma’s face as your words sink in. “Do you think your parents are ashamed of the things you’ve done?” 

Unlike her comments from before there is no malice in Emma’s question and you regard her thoughtfully before answering. “At the time I did,” you let your mind drift into the past. “But now I don’t. I’m older now than they will ever be, and have been for quite some time.” You give her a rueful grin and she ducks her head in embarrassment, remembering her previous comments on your age. 

“When you are young it is so easy to see the world in black and white, right and wrong. But as you get older you begin to see the world in shades of grey.” You get up and pour each of you a cup of tea from the kettle you keep on the stove. “Sometimes good people must do bad things to survive. And bad people are known to do good things.”

You hand her her cup and return to your seat across from her. “Which one was the Sheriff?” At her question you pause and regard her carefully.

“Why do you ask?” 

She blushes slightly before answering. “There’s this rumour in town that he used to be an outlaw, no one really believes it.”

“You hear the little girls coming up the steps with their water buckets. “No,” You give her a crooked smile. “Jake has always been one of the good ones.”

[rabbitcruiser]

National Fossil Day

Fossils aren’t just interesting and fun to look at — they’re also proof of the existence of once-living things (like dinosaurs, animals, plants and even DNA remnants). Through these fossils we’re able to learn a lot about life from billions of years ago. We can even take a look at animals and life-forms that are no longer on the planet! These fossils (and the education around them) deserve to be preserved and explored. That’s why we celebrate National Fossil Day annually on the Wednesday of the second full week in October, with this year’s celebration being held on October 16. Show some appreciation for these incredible “time capsules” and the paleontologists who excavate them.

​National Fossil Day timeline

​1840s - 1850s​​​ Researchers discovered the Neanderthal

​Ancient human fossils were unearthed for the first time, proving the existence of the Neanderthal.

​1902 Proof of T-Rex ​

Researchers uncovered the first Tyrannosaurus Rex remains.

​1974​ Lucy was born

​​Scientists found fossils of a 3.5 million-year-old female hominin (an extinct human species) and named her “Lucy.”

How to Observe ​National Fossil Day

Hug a paleontologist

Check out local events

Visit Your Nearest National Park

Paleontologists are pretty incredible people. They go through lots of schooling and training to be able to study the fossils of all kinds of organisms. It’s because of them that we know a lot about the last few billion years of our planet’s history. Show your appreciation by giving them a hug, and asking them to tell you more!

Every year, the National Park Service partners with various organizations, universities, museums and more to celebrate National Fossil Day. Through field trips, classroom instruction and outdoor activities, they’re spreading awareness about this important holiday.

Many national parks are passionate about introducing future generations to the science behind fossils and paleontology. These may include anything from scavenger hunts, to multi-day ranger-led activities. Visit your nearest national park and discover all there is to know about this fascinating science!

4 Fun Fossil Facts

​They’re insanely valuable

​They can be enormous

​Anything can be fossilized

They’re ridiculously old​

​The highest amount ever paid for a dinosaur fossil was $8.3 million (they named it “Sue”).

The largest intact fossil ever discovered was a whopping 4 square miles! ​

​The smallest fossil on record was just 2/10 of a millimeter (it was of a 50-million-year-old parasite).

​Next time you're feeling old, just remember some fossils date back to 4.1 billion years.

Why ​National Fossil Day is Important

We can learn about our planet

We can understand the progression of time

We can look toward the future

A fossil is evidence of past life that’s been preserved in rock. This helps us discover all kinds of shells, plants, animals, and more that existed long before our time. This information helps us understand what was happening during each part of our planet’s history.

By looking at fossils, researchers have been able to understand how and when organisms appeared and disappeared throughout the passage of time. This is how they’ve been able to divide up the events in our planet’s history into different periods.

Each fossil tells a story of the organism it encapsulates, and the details of when it was on the earth. By examining fossils, we can use these stories to help inform us about the future, and how environmental factors (as well as man-made ones) will help influence our planet for future generations.

Source

[offender42085]

Post 0482

Paul Arthur Joseph Dimick, New Hampshire inmate 87452, born 1991, incarceration intake in 2018 at age 27, (this time around) scheduled for full discharge on 08/18/2117  (Sentenced 30 years to life, for computation purposes ‘life’ means 100 years.)

Murder

Paul Dimick, the Manchester murderer responsible for an hours-long Central High School lockdown in 2018, said Monday that his victim was like a brother to him and “I’ll love you every minute that I rot away.”

That will be 30 years’ worth, according to the prison sentence that Dimick, 28, received.

Judge Diane Nicolosi sentenced Dimick in Hillsborough County Superior Court, a formality since he pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Justin “Drizzy” Lee. The sentence of 30 years to life was part of the plea bargain.

Nicolosi issued the sentence after two of Lee’s relatives castigated Dimick in their victim-impact statements.

At one point, both Dimick and Lee lived with Lee’s grandmother, who would purchase them food because she didn’t want them to go hungry, said Lee’s sister, Kim Allan.

“You took advantage of my grandmother, then you turned around and killed her grandson,” Allan said. The grandmother died about seven weeks after Lee’s murder.

The relatives portrayed a man skilled at drawing, writing poetry and telling jokes poorly. He liked to ride dirt bikes. And he fathered a child.

But, like Dimick, he was addicted to drugs. Both were also members of the Gangster Disciples gang.

Lee’s stepmother, Jodi Dukette, said the family had always hoped that Lee would turn his life around and leave the world of drugs and crime.

“Paul Dimick has taken that chance away,” she said.

The shooting death took place late on the morning of Friday, Sept. 7, 2018, the third day Manchester students were back to school.

Police and school officials put Central High School into “secure campus” status, which prevented anyone from arriving or leaving the campus.

Some movement was allowed inside the school, but students were confined to their classrooms after the school day ended at 2:50 p.m. Police let students leave about 10 p.m.

Principal John Vaccarezza said students handled the situation very well, calming one another and forming a bond that lasted throughout the year.

“When you’re with people for that amount of time, in some ways you get close to people that you wouldn’t have,” he said. It was a learning experience for school officials, who have incorporated lessons from the incident into their safety drills.

“We got a real frame of reference about how things can play out,” Vaccarezza said.

Dimick shot Lee after his friend pilfered some electronics and clothes from the apartment hallway landing where Dimick was sleeping. According to previous testimony, he told his girlfriend he planned to kill Lee and would end up in prison for the rest of his life.

One witness told police he saw Dimick put a gun to Lee’s head and say “Yo. You want to rob me?” He then shot Lee underneath the armpit.

Dimick’s public defender said Dimick was exposed to crack cocaine in his mother’s womb and lead paint in his home. A doctor once recorded unexplained burn marks on his body.

He saw his parents fight and once witnessed his father getting pistol-whipped.

At times, his father would give him $100 just to leave the apartment for a day. The family could not afford the drugs needed to help Dimick at school, where he suffered taunts and humiliation, his lawyer said.

He started smoking marijuana at 10, and using hard drugs at 13. “Paul came to find out that using drugs was the only thing he was good at,” said public defender Sarah Amorin.

When a mental health counselor told Dimick recently that he was not developmentally disabled, Dimick refused to believe it, Amorin said.

Amorin said Dimick and Lee had a brotherly bond, and that was part of the reason for Dimick’s strong reaction to the theft.

“We just needed to get away from the streets,” Dimick wrote in a poem to Lee that he read during the sentencing hearing.

The sentence included a recommendation that Dimick be incarcerated out of state, preferably Maine or Vermont. Prosecutors would not discuss the reason for the request.

He waived the ability to seek a sentence reduction and to earn reductions for fulfilling education or other goals. He received a suspended sentence for disposing of the gun used to shoot Lee.

2d

[litterednglitter]

In the Cemetery I Found

So about 3 weeks ago something crazy happened! If anybody lives in the area plz explain this to me...is it normal for any of this to happen!.

I work for WayMo collecting data, on Wednesday night going on to Thursday. I work an odd shift. 7PM to 4AM that extra buck 50 does make a difference in the Bay Area. We got to collect all them coins so we can live in the area for another 52 seconds okay folks let's face it. We are all on borrowed time over here!

Anyways, while I was trollin around SF with a buddy of mine we will call him rich. I have a route that I love to take every time I have full control of the car. That's when I usually go fuck off on company time. This job is basically joy ridin' with your homies and you getting paid 33.50 an hour. Yup! That's right, I said it! I said my wage Whoot! Whoot! Who cares! moving on!

We go sightseeing in SF like that house that exploded on 22nd St. Because he was roomed to have been cooking meth. Breaking bad style! After hitting up where all the tranny and normal hookers reside, I figured it was about time to go exploring in Presido. One of the most if not the richest spots in the Bay Area.

As my buddy Rich and I were driving around we made our usual stops around the area, the golden gate bridge, the Almighty Yoda fountain etc etc. It was getting later in the night by this time it was 10:43PM - ish and we were driving next to a cemetery. You know I always knew there was a cemetery around the area I just never knew it had the view of the golden gate bridge.

When my route populated again the yellow brick road on my company-issued phone told me to go IN THE CEMETRY!!!!! We looked at my phone, we look at each other, we look at the cemetery, and we look at each other again, then we both looked at the laptop and opened it up.

There's software in there at we can look at. The way I can describe it without getting sued is like Kentic from Xbox 360. I told my partner to pull up the software for one reason and one reason only! To see some ghosts! That's right folks, I wanted to be like the ppl from tik tok recreating Telsa at a cemetery but WayMo addition. So we both rolled down our windows and headed on in. Because nothing bad happens in a cemetery at night. >.<

Unfortunately, our laptop didn't pick up anything which isn't all that strange. I was really hoping to catch something. So, as we were approaching the exit the car was trying to take us through it was locked. The car route rerouted us so we were slowly making our way through the cemetery to get back out of the area. Out where we came in.

As we were approaching the back heavily wooded corner of this place It was really dark out. The moon wasn't even out so it made it all that more spookier!. I noticed something moving in the dark, head. Listen, I'm no stranger to a cemetery Im Mexican we are always at gatherings if it's not at a Quinceanera then it's at a funeral.

When I noticed something moving up ahead I was expecting (more like hoping) a freakin ghost or a the very least a thieving Bambi eating dead people's flowers. Thats it! There shouldn't have been anything else in there! Right! When I was approaching the back heavily wooded area I kid you not when I flicked on the high beams and the fuckery that transpired in the back there. I see 2 classrooms worth of kids that looked no older than 15yrs. in pajamas. Like it's the normal thing to do around here.

May I remind you, we had all the windows rolled down and we can hear a pin drop in the distance. I know there are a lot of parents around here what's the number 1 rule in parenting? If you have a couple of kids in the household and they ain't making any noise they're up to some shit! My buddy and I have seen at the very least 2 classroom sizes full of a bunch of kids in pajamas in the middle of the night in a cemetery being quiet! That's right you guessed it there was fuckey afoot!

There should be no dam good reason why there should be children in the middle of the night at a cemetery? The millennial came out and I have temporarily lost my mind. Yup, that's right I took out my phone and wanted to take a picture. My buddy Rich losses his freakin mind. and yells at me asking what on earth am I doing? I wanted to take a picture. That's what I wanted to do. He just wanted to get the fuck up on up outta there.

Why can't I take a picture?

They might throw something at our car!

So, what?

Do you really want to explain to our bosses why we are at a cemetery at night?

Well, he had a dam good point my boss already knows me around the office and I was once told that I left an impression. In management talk that means bitch we are keeping an eye on you. I already knew that I needed to leave the second I entered in there and we did. I wanted to go back but my buddy for the day wasn't havin' it.

On the car ride back to the depo like normal people we just had to talk about WTF just happened! Now I have my theories. My partner told me that... in his eyes there is no other explanation. These children are a bunch of Satanists! I don't think that THAT is the case.

To be Continue

[mari9-abbys]

10 Mistakes Most Young People Make & Regret Later in Life

If anything is too exciting, you can suspect something is probably wrong about it.

Adolescent and early adulthood is just too exciting, no wonder most of us make several

mistakes at a time like that.

In this article we will be sharing with you 10 mistakes most young people make and regret

later in their life If you’re still young, you’ll have opportunity

to correct some of these mistakes.

If you’re already 75, well, we’re sorry.

Hahahaha….

Mistake No. 1 Young People Spend money on trivial things

Most young people want to have fun; they want to enjoy their life and feel among.

They look at others and want to be like them, buy what they buy and live the way they do.

Young people are more likely to run after fashion, style, fun and many more.

There’s nothing bad in being fashionable and buying latest iPhones except it’s making

you poorer.

As a young person, your primary assignment should be to build a solid financial foundation

for your life.

To do this, you have to have the habit of saving and learn about investing.

You can buy everything and anything your heart desires but that’s after you have built

wealth.

I know, that’s an ugly advice for anyone at 20s, until you’re 50 and know what it

means to be broke at such age.

Mistake No. 2.

Young people think Schooling is enough to get rich

Maybe this isn’t their fault actually.

Maybe we should blame the society for this.

You see, your education actually truly starts the day you leave school.

You may not like to hear this but it’s the truth.

The real world is very different from the four walls of the classroom.

Truly successful people are people who learn daily, even two decades after they’ve left

school.

Unfortunately, most people of the world stop learning the day they leave school and that’s

a big mistake that leads to poverty and unfulfilled life.

Read good books.

Listen to good audio program.

School doesn’t teach you much things as you’ll like to believe.

Mistake No. 3

Young people tend to give up easily It is so easy to just quit when something

feels too hard.

The idea of giving up what you’re doing to just try something else, can be the easier

option sometimes.

It might be that you don’t like what you are doing.

But the biggest mistake you can make sometimes is to give up.

Pushing through the hard times is what makes a stronger and well-rounded person.

When things start getting a little tough, don’t take the easy way out.

Keep on pushing through and you just might surprise yourself.

When you work through something tough and come out the other side, there is no better

feeling.

Don’t give up.

Keep on fighting!

Mistake No. 4 Young People Do Accept Whatever they Hear

and Believe anything.

Young people are people with great minds, full of opinion, but they will rarely challenge

what they hear from older people.

Youth should be a time of learning, but also questioning what you are told and even get

deeper into your own best thoughts and points of view.

Experience may lead you to discover that issues that seem black and white are actually many

shades of gray.

Age doesn’t necessarily come wisdom, and many young people too easily accept what they

hear from older generations.

Following your instincts can take you a long way, if you know how to follow it well.

Mistake No. 5 Young People Invest Without Research

Reading and hearing stories of people who have made millions investing on the stock

market can make it very tempting to give it a go yourself but don’t do that.

Investing can be a very rewarding thing but it’s not as easy as just throwing your money

away on random shares.

As a young person, you need to do some research.

If you invest wrongly, it can mean you lose a lot more than you put in.

If you truly want to master investing, the best way to go about it is to study some really

good books on that subject.

Taking time to read 10 good books about stock market or real estate can save you from unnecessary

headache that comes with losing your hard earn investment.

Mistake No. 6

Young people always want instant gratification Maybe this is the biggest mistakes young people

make.

Young people today are under great pressure to establish a successful career as soon as

possible, to find the perfect partner at the earliest opportunity and most importantly,

to enjoy themselves right here and NOW.

They always want everything NOW and that usually lead them into unnecessary short cuts, debt

and unhappy future.

Mistake No. 7 Most young people don't save money.

A recent survey of 1,003 people from Bank rate found that 69% of those ages 18 to 29

had no retirement savings at all.

Your retirement may seem far off, but you're doing yourself a major disservice if you don't

recognize the importance of saving as soon as possible

It’s not only retirement you should save for.

You should save for investment and also for emergencies.

It’s hard to save when all your mates are buying new stuff but if you think you have

a better future than theirs, you’ll be disciplined enough to save.

Mistake No. 8 Young people think that love alone is enough to sustain a relationship Love is undoubtedly a key ingredient in making a relationship work.

However, it is not sufficient.

It is possible to be very much in love with someone yet realize that the two of you are

fundamentally incompatible.

The best relationships are based not on romantic love but on shared values, dreams and goals.

Communication skills and the ability to argue without hurting one another for the sake of

it are also vital.

Since choosing a life partner is an important decision you’ll have to make at your 20s,

knowing this truth will help you.

Long lasting relationship is about love, but not just that.

Your partner must share a significant part of your values, goals and aspirations or else

you won’t last together.

No. 9 Young people try to please everyone.

When you're starting out as a teenager in your early career, it can seem natural to

want to be on friendly terms with your boss, clients, and all of your school mates.

It may be disappointing when you found out that some of them simply don't like you and

you’ll start bending to fit in to their expectations.

This is a big mistakes because there’s no formula that guarantees that everyone will

like you.

You must learn how to deal with haters, very important.

Mistake No. 10 Young people Blame Their Parents for their misfortune We’re very sorry, your parents own you nothing.

They invited you to this world, yes.

But they probably have done the best they know how to do.

If you think their best is not good enough, guy, get out and fix your life.

It’s your life and you’re the only one who is responsible.

Your failure or success is yours and not your parents’

Okay, just before you go, here is the summary of what we’ve shared with you so far;

Delay gratification.

Don’t buy things because everyone is doing so

Learn how to save for investment and retirement purpose

Don’t believe everything.

Ask questions and challenge status quo Don’t fall in love because of love alone.

Think about values and compatibility Don’t think you’re educated because you

have degrees.

Learn every day Try things and don’t give up easily

Don’t blame your parents or government for your failure.

Take responsibility.

You enjoy this article, don’t you?

We’ll like to give you another interesting article for you to enjoy next but before then,

our team will be very happy if you can like this article and share it with your friends

on social media.

For more content kindly follow this link.https://maryblogs2.blogspot.com?m=1

[online-programmes]

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Individuals who are passionately looking to earn an online PGDM degree should check out LIBA’s online PGDM program.

[heartstringsnheadspace]

Burntout and Mismatched Expectations

I’m a special education teacher who works with students with autism and I feel so burnt out. I’ve taught for 3 academic school years and this is my second time feeling burnt out this year. The past two weeks I wasn’t teaching at all and I just took this whole week off from work. I want to start a Master’s program in the Fall but I know with how I’m feeling, I can’t teach full time and pursue a Master’s degree at the same time. I’ll rip all my hair out 😂. 

I feel like I don’t know what to do. I feel like I don’t want to leave my current job because it’s flexible with the dress code and short commute. If need be, I can call out or be a little late (about 15/20min late) without real consequences. I also like that they offer education assistance up to 50%  of class which would beneficial for my master’s degree since I want to limit how much loans I take out because I’m already $32,000 in debt from my undergrad. And all in all, I’m comfortable and used to it. A part of me is nervous to leave because I don’t want to feel like I lost something good and I may not find something with similar or more salary/benefits but I think that’s because I haven’t experienced anything else. Three of my colleagues has since left the job and feel more at peace teaching at their new locations. 

Last year I started taking classes towards getting my full teaching certification but now that I’m halfway, I just want to stop! I never wanted to become a teacher and I know I don’t want to retire as one. I felt like  if I was going to be stressed out over classes, I’d rather it be for my master’s than a teaching certification. 

I started working at my school as a teacher assistant in the summer(July) and when my head teacher was out, I was substituting. People were telling me that I was doing a good. My educational director and principal wanted me to apply as a teacher too (in hindsight, I saw that my headteacher was being promoted to a new position and I think they wanted to find someone to fill the teaching vacancy). Initially, I was like “no.” As a child I always said that I don’t want to be a teacher. But I was still substituting and thought “ if I’m substituting, I might as well get paid for it” and that’s what led me to fill out the application. Then the following fall (August - barely a month after I started working there) I was a head teacher. 

I didn’t get any training on teaching, writing and implementing IEPs, how to calculate grades, how to fully utilize my staff, what I should send home for homework, or even how to lesson plan. My degree is in psychology not education so all I had to use was the little experience I had as a teacher assistant, my experience as a student from K-12 and me shadowing a different teacher for a day. Since I became a teacher, I’ve been winging it ever since. It’s reassuring when different staff members tell me that I’m doing a good job and I’m a good teacher. It feels good to hear and I feel it too because I can see the progress in my students ( I can’t take all the credit because I have 2-3 other staff members in my class) but at the same time, it feels frustrating because I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing sometimes. Granted I talked to other teachers and we’ve supported each other but my experience sounds similar to some of theirs with the lack of teacher training. 

I talked to my principal about how I was feeling and how I wanted to explore different interests. She was compassionate and supportive and she did highly suggest that I finish my certification. She mentioned that all because I get my certification doesn’t mean I’ll be boxed in as just a teacher and as I may look for different fields to go into, having the credential will be beneficial. I do agree with her and might get my certification. 

I honestly don’t know what career I want. I do know that I want to help children with disabilities and their families but the classroom is too intimate for me. I get tired of having to manage a classroom, redirect/ talk to students all day, deal with aggressive behaviors, all while still having to do paperwork on the back end and not really having the time during the school day to attend to it. This leads me to feel like I need to bring Work home and I didn’t have a proper work life balance. I was either thinking about or doing work majority of my days. My contract hours is from 7:30am to 4pm and I would find myself in my first year of teaching leaving work at 5/6pm sometimes. This school year i’ve gotten better but I still might bring work home from time to time. 

My school is a 12 month program but I feel like the days off aren’t enough. Last year (2nd year of teaching) during my “summer break” ( which probably lasted about 5, 9 days including the weekends) I was using my off time to prep what I needed to print for the classroom and first day activities. I even went up to school twice to start putting stuff together. I probably went in around 9/10am and left around 5/6pm. After I thought about it, I was mad I did that because my off time was so limited that I wish I just used it to relax and decompress. The reason why I chose to work is because after our break, we have two days to get the school together before the students return. During my first year, I waited until we came back but I didn’t have any ideas so I felt like I wasted so much time looking for stuff to do/print when we could’ve been decorating and I didn’t want a repeat of that. For the two days that we have to decorate the school, time is still being taken away from us because they have trainings planned within. I think my school being a 12 month program, the lack of training and, dealing with students behaviors is a contributing factor to me feeling burnt out. 

This is my third year and I feel like I should have it figured out, but I really don’t and I’m not feeling fulfilled. I don’t know what direction to turn to. I know I want to get my master’s in social work but I’m not even sure what I would do with the degree. I wouldn’t even mind doing something completely different from education as long as it’s less demanding is equal or better to what I get now.

[cleekleequlee]

Reflecting on development - a personal note

Memories come back to me from time to time for different reasons. When discussing the elusive topics of the more-than-human and posthumanism, at the same time I think of my distant childhood days, when at the age of twelve I lived in my middle school for about a year. It was not a proper boarding school, just an old classroom with 14 bunk bed / 28 roommates in it. All my belonging was in one big wooden box (like one of those boxes in old days woman get married with filled with marriage deposit by her parents. I wonder where that box is now?). There was no toilet in the building, meaning in the winter days of -5C you have to walk outside of the building to wee. Nor is there water supply. We each had a bucket which we fill with water and carry upstairs each day for brushing teeth and washing face. Of course no hot bath.

It sounds not only old, but like last century (indeed it is last century). But that was the humble upbringing of mine. My parents were distant from the start, maybe because I'm diciplined and too scared / anxious already.

Amid the frustration of finding I'm still not as confident, as outspoken, as articulative as I wish, as what you see young people from top universities naturally do today, I have to remind myself again and again the path I have walked to simply get here.

But what is this experience of any value other than self-content and even indulgence?

This summer I had the chance traveling to Australia and States. Somehow the kitchen and toilet got my attention. The western kitchen demonstrated a standard (or at least expected by airbnb users) - full sets of dishes (one big and one small) and cereal bowls, glasses, mugs, wine glasses. Behind these are their long maintained lifestyles. The form of the kitchen is compatible to (and co-evolved with) the sets of utensils over the period of 1-2 centuries. Even deeper beneath the organization (and diligence put in by housewives) is the aesthetics of order and cleaness. Walking into this kitchen from a chaotic, hot and splashing (dangerous!) Chinese kitchen, one can easily come back feeling ashamed and not "modern". (Let alone the fact that Chinese kitchen has exploded with kitchen appliances catering every particular needs in life thanks to consumerism and its big population base.) I myself has been one of them, coming back and trying to imitate one trick or two for a long time.

But this time I start to ask two things: what is the logic of a Chinese kitchen if it is not purely order and cleaness? And what are the the conflicting forces behind the kitchen that makes it "feeling messy and outdated"?

Memory comes again... not in a linear thread of thinking, but I thought of in my Western China hometown, noodle and potato was the stationary food. The only vegetable supply at the time was Chinese cabbage, and mom works diligently to make tomato sauce of our own each year - not for the sake of special flavour, but for keeping some tomato for the winter that goes to almost every dish. Local food is the manifestation of local produce and local economy. We had so much carb and so little meat and vege, and fish was a once in a year event. That's why hot oil splashed chili is a stationary on the dining table and can be added in every dish. We simply needed some flavours to go with all the carb.

And I remember how, in my teenage years, I bought a Dove chocolate bar, probably a 50 gram one, with 5 RMB (less than a US$). I ate it slowly, wrap it up carefully after each bite, and finished it over a week time.

Rather than thinking of this limited variety of food as a "lack", I'd say I didn't feel that way at all at that time. Lack is only when comparing to another and believing the other is better, being it a spatial comparison (seeing other people in other places) or temporal one (looking back from today). And really a spatial comparison when done in a particular and embodied way doesn't really lead to a feeling of lack. I remember when I was in primary our family visited my uncle's family in Shanghai. Their food was terrible in my then opinion. My taste is coupled with the food I grow up with.

So what does all this lead us to? Development (in postcolonial sense), or the project of modernization, is the backdrop of my upbringing. In a timespan of only 30 years I (and many people around me) in China marched from our humble food and kitchen, weekly hot shower, and 28-people dormitary to a modern life. We opened our kitchen, tore the wall, expanded it to host all the things that were shiny and new that we brought from our trips, that we invented in the same learnt spirit (or we think - I think of the Piet Mondrian style glasses that were in every Chinese family in early 90's, even no one knows his name at all. I think of the italian country style crochet sofa panel that never existed with a Italian grandma).

Is there a thing of our own? Did it exist? Can it be retrieved? Or maybe, among the rich and messy details of reality, among the memories like how I learnt to make noodle from scratch when I was 8 or so, such a "tradition" only exists when articulated and abstracted?

If the whole development project was a messy example of "learning another culture, or way of living", it seems to be an explosive one that bombed the original texture of life into pieces. Were we to do it differently, not in a way that the "advanced" trying to teach the "primitive" and the "primitive" trying to absorb and catch up, but as two strangers getting closer and conversing, both trying to understanding why are the difference there in the first place, to not only take the form of Monderian or crochet, but the logic of order and cleaness and the appreciation of Sicilian sun and time, could the process and result be different?

And what does that teach us to become "posthuman"?

[esthersantos]

In these pictures you can see Dauris (my boyfriend), and me with the apron I wore at the retail store.

I have to say that 2020 was a year full of suffering for some, and a year full of blessings for others. It depends how you see it. When 2020 was just starting I never thought that this year was going to bring me so many challenges that in a way it was shaping a strong independent woman. That woman being me, Esther Santos. In February I was getting excited because I was planning to celebrate my birthday (march 12). I thought I had everything planned, but as I always say God has better plans even though we might not understand it at the moment. By the very beginning of march there were rumors spreading around about a lock down because of a virus that nobody had any idea of how it got created. March 10, we were dismissed from school and we were told that the next day we were going to have class through google classroom and zoom, after that class the principal told us that we were going to have online classes for two weeks. Then, the year ended online. For me it was so confusing because I was one of the students who did not have access to good wifi at home, so I had to move to the Bronx with my aunt, in which I had to sleep on the couch because there was no other space available. It was awful, I had to wait until everyone in that house went to bed in order for me to go to sleep, I cried every single day. I don’t know which one was worse, being stuck in the house all day or having to sleep on a couch. And I was living both. During march not everything was bad, I have to say that march of 2020 also gave me the love of my life, that was my #1 supporter and paNo de lagrimas during those hard times. Dauris, I am so thankful for you. When the school year ended, I started looking for jobs, I was desperate, I needed to give a change to my life. June 20, 2020. I found a job in Brooklyn as a cashier in a retail store. I have to say that it was not the type of job I had planned to get, but I was so desperate that I took whatever job was available at the moment. I moved back to Brooklyn, because I was working 45-50 hours a week which was horrible having to stand for 9 hours in a register, trying the hardest thing I've ever done, fake smiles (Only the people that have worked in customer service will understand), and on top of that, the 2 hour ride from Brooklyn to the Bronx.

After 3 months working at the retail store my mom got sick with Covid-19, (remember that my mom is in the Dominican Republic). My mom suffers an illness called sickle cell, she has the weakest bones and immune system in the world. That means that she can get the weakest virus and she is going to be real SICK. When she got Covid I have to say that I was really scared because I knew that my mom’s immune system was so poor and I was watching people die in the news everyday. The emergency rooms were crowded to the point that they were not accepting no more people inside, so I had to start sending my mom the small amount of money I had saved for the past 3 months because in DR everything revolved around money, if you have money you’ll get everything, if not, they will let you die. So I had to decide, keep the money or save my moms life. Of course my mom was more important. There was one point were I had to ask my dad to help me with my bills because I was just working to send my mom money so she could get medications (she had health insurance but the insurance was not covering any Covid-19’s medications or treatment), You literally had to pay out of pocket so a doctor could see you too. It was a hard momentum. After 5 weeks my mom was getting better, but she had to continue her treatment for 3 months. Eventually she got better and better, but after covid I feel like every single virus that is going around she is the first one to catch it. I pray to God that her immune system gets better with time before it is too late.

[rabbitcruiser]

National Fossil Day

Fossils aren’t just interesting and fun to look at — they’re also proof of the existence of once-living things (like dinosaurs, animals, plants and even DNA remnants). Through these fossils we’re able to learn a lot about life from billions of years ago. We can even take a look at animals and life-forms that are no longer on the planet! These fossils (and the education around them) deserve to be preserved and explored. That’s why we celebrate National Fossil Day annually on the Wednesday of the second full week in October, with this year’s celebration being held on October 12. Show some appreciation for these incredible “time capsules” and the paleontologists who excavate them.

​National Fossil Day timeline

​1840s - 1850s​​​ Researchers discovered the Neanderthal

​Ancient human fossils were unearthed for the first time, proving the existence of the Neanderthal.

​1902 Proof of T-Rex ​

Researchers uncovered the first Tyrannosaurus Rex remains.

​1974​ Lucy was born

​​Scientists found fossils of a 3.5 million-year-old female hominin (an extinct human species) and named her “Lucy.”

How to Observe ​National Fossil Day

Hug a paleontologist

Check out local events

Visit Your Nearest National Park

Paleontologists are pretty incredible people. They go through lots of schooling and training to be able to study the fossils of all kinds of organisms. It’s because of them that we know a lot about the last few billion years of our planet’s history. Show your appreciation by giving them a hug, and asking them to tell you more!

Every year, the National Park Service partners with various organizations, universities, museums and more to celebrate National Fossil Day. Through field trips, classroom instruction and outdoor activities, they’re spreading awareness about this important holiday.

Many national parks are passionate about introducing future generations to the science behind fossils and paleontology. These may include anything from scavenger hunts, to multi-day ranger-led activities. Visit your nearest national park and discover all there is to know about this fascinating science!

4 Fun Fossil Facts

​They’re insanely valuable

​They can be enormous

​Anything can be fossilized

They’re ridiculously old​

​The highest amount ever paid for a dinosaur fossil was $8.3 million (they named it “Sue”).

The largest intact fossil ever discovered was a whopping 4 square miles! ​

​The smallest fossil on record was just 2/10 of a millimeter (it was of a 50-million-year-old parasite).

​Next time you're feeling old, just remember some fossils date back to 4.1 billion years.

Why ​National Fossil Day is Important

We can learn about our planet

We can understand the progression of time

We can look toward the future

A fossil is evidence of past life that’s been preserved in rock. This helps us discover all kinds of shells, plants, animals, and more that existed long before our time. This information helps us understand what was happening during each part of our planet’s history.

By looking at fossils, researchers have been able to understand how and when organisms appeared and disappeared throughout the passage of time. This is how they’ve been able to divide up the events in our planet’s history into different periods.

Each fossil tells a story of the organism it encapsulates, and the details of when it was on the earth. By examining fossils, we can use these stories to help inform us about the future, and how environmental factors (as well as man-made ones) will help influence our planet for future generations.

Source

[storiesforallfandoms]

an honor ~ johnny depp

word count: 2842

request?: yes!

“hey :) this is such a specific request and i’m so sorry but i need it lmao. can you do a female reader x johnny depp where she is an elementary school teacher and her school wins a contest where johnny goes to visit. he ends up spending a lot of time in her classroom and they hit it off. he’s in town for 2 more days so he and the reader end up getting dinner and he feels like he could really fall hard for her. THANK YOU. a girl can only dream��

description: after her school wins a contest to have a visit from the captain himself, she finds herself gaining his attention

pairing: johnny depp x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist (one, two)

My kids were buzzing with excitement as the minutes ticked closer to our big visitor arriving.

I worked as a teacher in a small elementary school. The population was just over 50 students spread out between kindergarten to grade 4. Not a lot ever happened at the school, so whenever something even moderately out of the ordinary happened, it was a pretty big deal.

The month before there had been a contest for one of the local schools to win a visit from Captain Jack Sparrow - actual Johnny Depp himself. Our principal had entered us, but none of us teachers really thought we’d win. To our surprise, we received a call at the beginning of the week that we had won and we’d be getting the visit on Thursday!

So now, on the Thursday of the visit, the students could barley focus on their school work. I couldn’t blame them, though. Just the thought that Johnny Depp would be appearing at my classroom door at any second made it hard to concentrate what I was teaching.

Everyone jumped with excitement as a knock came at the door. I tried to shush them but the quiet murmurs still filled the room.

I felt my heart leap as I opened the door and found Johnny, dressed as Jack Sparrow, leaning against the doorway. He smiled at me and I smiled back, hoping I didn’t look as nervous as I felt.

“Hello Mr. Sparrow,” I said.

“Captain Sparrow, darling,” he corrected me.

I felt my face heat up at the pet name. Calm down, (Y/N). He’s definitely called all the female teachers that today.

“Right, of course,” I said. “Please, come in.”

I stepped aside to let him enter. He look at my students, who were all watching him with wide eyes of wonder and excitement. In character, he grimaced at the sight of them.

“Oh, hello, more small people,” he said. He leaned in close to me to add, in a stage whisper, “Why is this place so full of small people?”

“It’s a school, Captain!” one of my students called.

“School?! Well, I must be in the wrong place then. A school is no place for a pirate.”

“Pirates are supposed to be in the ocean on their pirate ships,” another student said.

“Exactly! We’re supposed to be sailing the high seas looking for treasure. No inside a classroom learning. Although, learning to read and to do math does help us to figure out maps and if we are sailing in the right direction.”

“See?” I said. “I told you guys that math can be used in real life.”

“But Miss. (Y/L/N), pirates aren’t real!” another student tried to argue.

“You say that, and yet here I am,” Johnny said, dramatically gesturing to himself. “And I do believe I am pretty real.”

I sat down behind my desk and watched my students interact with the character. All their faces were lit up and they were so happy. I couldn’t help but smile myself. The biggest perk of my job was moments like these, where I got to see my students at their happiest. Getting to experience this memory that would no doubt stick with them for the rest of their lives was also a huge plus.

When we were told about the visit, Johnny’s management team told us that there was a strict timeline he was on for the visit. He would be at the school for a few hours, spending only half an hour in each classroom. We were told that was the best way for him to get to every classroom in a timely manner and give each of the kids the same amount of attention. It was reasonable, we all agreed to it.

However, after some time of Johnny being in my classroom, I glanced at the clock and noticed that he had been there for 40 minutes instead of the slotted half hour. I figured that maybe he hadn’t been watching the time, or that this was my fault for not having watched it better, so I quickly stood from my desk, stopping Johnny mid sentence.

“Sorry, I just realized that we’ve gone over time a little bit,” I said.

“That’s alright, I have plenty of time,” Johnny insisted.

“We were told you only have a few hours...because you have to get back to your ship,” I said, trying to improvise to keep the act up. “I wouldn’t want to be the reason that your adventures are delayed.”

“Truly, I don’t mind. I’m having a nice time with these little people.”

“But we wouldn’t want you to disappoint any of the other...little people.”

He sighed, finally defeated. “You’re right. Suppose I shall continue on then.”

He said goodbye to my class, who were upset that he had to go but could not stop talking about the visit once he had left. There was still an hour left of the school day, and I knew there was no way I would get them back on topic now, so I decided to let them have free time until the end of the day.

When the final bell rang, they raced out of the door, all saying goodbye to me as they went along. I stayed back to do some preparing for the next days lesson plan, when I heard a knock on my door.

I looked up and felt my breath catch as I saw Johnny standing there again, this time out of his Jack Sparrow costume.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he said.

“No, not at all,” I told him. “How may I help you, Mr. Depp?”

“Please, call me Johnny,” he said.

“Alright, Johnny. Is there anything I can do for you?”

He stepped into my classroom. It felt like some sort of dream to have him there. I was convinced it wasn’t real. I had to secretly pinch myself to make sure I was awake.

“I just wanted to thank you for having me a little bit over my time today,” he said. “I hope I didn’t interfere too much with your teaching.”

“Maybe a little, but it was bound to happen given the circumstances,” I said. “But you don’t have to apologize for that. Really, it was such an honor to have you here. I just didn’t want you to get in trouble for being in my classroom too long, or for any of the other classrooms to miss the chance to get to meet you.”

Johnny chuckled slightly. “Yeah, I sort of forgot I still had two more classrooms to visit after yours. I had a hard time convincing myself to leave today until you brought it up.”

I titled my head in confusion. “Why is that?”

He seemed flustered when I asked, which shocked me more than anything else had today. It didn’t seem right that he - the Hollywood actor - was becoming flustered by me - the elementary school teacher.

“I...I kind of wanted...to spend more time here...with you,” he said.

I take it back, this shocked me more than anything else that day had.

“From the moment you opened the door, I was blown away by how beautiful you are,” he explained. “And watching the way you interacted with the kids, I knew you had a beautiful personality to match. I was trying to figure out how to speak with you in private, but the more that time went on the more I realized that may not have been an option. I didn’t want to miss the other two classrooms I had left to visit, but it felt hard to pull myself away.”

I was left speechless. Now I was sure this was a dream. Not even the pinching could convince me otherwise.

“I don’t mean to come on too strong,” he continued. “If I’m over stepping boundaries here please tell me, but I’m in town for the next two days and I’d like to get dinner with you. If you want, that is.”

He was looking at me expectantly, and that’s when I realized he was waiting for me to say something. I still felt tongue tied as I stuttered out some nonsense, but finally got ahold of myself long enough to say, “Yeah. I’d like that. How about tomorrow night?”

His smile was so radiant at my response. “That works perfect for me. I can pick you up around 6?”

We agreed and exchanged numbers so that I could text him my address the next night.

When he left I pinched myself one last time, a bit harder than the last few. I let out a yelp as my arm stung in pain. At least I could confirm that I definitely was not dreaming.

~~~~~~

I felt very distracted throughout my classes the next day. I tried my best to seem present and to teach the best I could, but I kept fumbling or forgetting what I was doing. The day felt like it was dragging on until the moment Johnny was supposed to pick me up.

Finally, the school day ended. I waited around after class like I normally did, but the moment the hallways were empty I quickly collected my things and rushed home.

I hadn’t been on a date in a while, and I wasn’t really sure what to expect when going out with a celebrity. I wanted to dress nice, but I wasn’t sure if I should dress fancy or just casual. I didn’t even know where we were going for dinner.

I finally settled on a dress and a pair of heels to match. I decided to put on light makeup to have a natural look and just wear my hair down natural as well. By the time I had finally made my decisions and finished getting ready, Johnny was pulling up outside and knocking on my front door.

He looked down at me as I opened the door. Of course, he looked extremely handsome as well, but he always looked that way.

He smiled. “You look lovely.”

“Thank you,” I said. “So do you.”

He offered me his arm like a gentleman. “Shall we?”

I took it and he walked me to his car. He even opened the door for me to get in, which is something that hadn’t been done for me in a very long time.

The car ride to the restaurant was silent and slightly awkward. I wasn’t really sure what to say to him, and he seemed to be having the same issue. It made me a little less nervous to know that he seemed to be in the same boat as me.

We arrived to the restaurant and I was relieved to see it wasn’t a super fancy place. It was just a locally owned restaurant that luckily wasn’t too busy on a Friday night. I was sure Johnny was used to being recognized in public, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to be noticed and swarmed by people while we were out. That much attention just wasn’t my thing.

Luckily, it seemed he had already thought of that as he had placed a reservation under a fake name and had us sat in a private section of the restaurant. The host gave us our menus and told us the server would be with us soon.

“I’ll be honest,” I said, finally breaking the silence, “I’m glad we’re not at a super fancy restaurant or anything.”

Johnny chuckled. "You were afraid that’s where I was going to take you?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never met a celebrity before, let alone gone on a date with one. I don’t really know what the etiquette is for being out with one. I sometimes assume they just go to the most expensive and luxurious places.”

“That’s not me. Some fancy places have good food, but that’s the main thing for me: the food. I don’t want to go to some place that will charge you $100 for the smallest portions that aren’t even good. As for the etiquette with a celebrity, I say act as if you’re on a date with just a normal person. That’s all I am really.”

I wanted to tell him he was anything but normal, but I knew he had a point. Some celebrities acted like they were better than everyone else, but I could already tell he was not one of those people.

Our server arrived and we ordered drinks and an appetizer. As I looked through the menu, Johnny started the small talk.

“How long have you been a teacher?”

“About ten years, I think,” I responded. “It doesn’t feel like that long, though. Besides the constant change of faces in my classroom, I could convince myself I started teaching just yesterday.”

He smiled. “You seem really passionate about it.”

“I am. I love kids and I love to teach. I’ve known my whole life that this is what I wanted to do. I was lucky that I got a substituting job at the school while I was still in college, and then that they hired me on full time when I graduated. Not a lot of people get those kinds of opportunities.”

Johnny listened to me talk as I told him about my family, my childhood, and my years in college. It wasn’t until our appetizers arrived and we placed our entrée orders that I realized how much I truly had been talking.

“Oh God, I’m talking your ear off,” I said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make this all about me.”

“Don’t apologize,” he assured me. “I like listening to you talk.”

I felt my face burn the same way it had the day before when he called me “darling”. I looked down at the food in my hands to hide any signs of fluster on my face.

“What about you?” I asked.

“What about me?”

I opened my mouth to ask something about him, but I realized it felt like there wasn’t anything for me to ask. A lot of Johnny’s life was already public and, having been a fan of his, it didn’t feel like there was a lot for me to ask that I didn’t already know.

I let out a sigh of defeat. “Okay, I got nothing.”

He chuckled again. “That’s why I don’t mind you talking. I don’t think there’s much about me that I could say that you don’t already know.”

“That must be hard,” I said. “Having people already know so much about you, I mean. Doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of privacy for you.”

He shrugged. “It comes with the job. I’ve dealt with it for so many years that it’s hard to complain now. I know what I’ve gotten myself into.”

“I think you can complain a little bit. Just because it comes with the job doesn’t really mean it’s fair to you.”

He nodded but didn’t say much else.

When our entrees came, I managed to coax him into telling me about his kids. I could see him light up even at just the mention of them. He started telling me all about them, especially his son, Jack, who was less in the public eye than his daughter, Lily-Rose.

We seemed to melt into easy conversation then. We went back and forth talking for the rest of the evening. I was almost upset when the bill came and we had to leave. I could’ve stayed in that booth for hours just talking to Johnny about anything and everything.

The ride back home felt less awkward. I felt myself becoming a little brave as I reached over to put my hand on Johnny’s. He laced his fingers through mine and gave my hand a light squeeze. I smiled to myself. Now I never wanted to let go.

He walked me to my door, like a gentleman. We both paused to look at each other, both hesitant to make a move.

“I had a lovely night,” I told him.

“Me too,” he said.

“I’d really like to do it again. If you’re ever in town again, that is.”

I tried not to let the hurt show on my face at the thought of him having to leave the next day.

“For you, I’ll come back as much as you want,” he said. “I’ll be here till you’re so sick of me that you’ll want to get rid of me.”

I shook my head. “I can’t see that happening.”

And then, with a brief moment of courage hitting me, I leaned forward to kiss him. He met me half way, cupping my face gently as he pressed his lips against mine. My whole body felt like it was exploding, in a good way if that makes sense. I could hardly describe what the feeling was like.

Johnny pulled away first and I had to stop myself from pulling him back to me.

“Have a good night, (Y/N),” he said. “I’ll see you again soon.”

“Goodnight Johnny.”

[strawberryjamsara]

Keiji and Sara’s relationship throughout yttd

In which I analyze the found family dynamic between Sara and Keiji then nobody reads it. But jokes aside, I realized back when that anon asked me for my thoughts on Sara that I had enough thoughts on the relationship between these two alone for its own meta so here goes. What Sara and Keiji’s relationship means in the grand scheme of yttd.

ALSO THIS IS NOT SHIPPING SHIPPERS GET THE FUCK AWAY

Sara when she meets Keiji is distrustful of him. And how can she not be? The guy has some creepy bags under his eyes, doesn’t seem to care about the situation, and for no reason is gravitating towards her. And his response when she asks why the hell he keeps putting a random stranger in charge? “Because you’re cute.” Yeah. I’d stay within 50 feet of this guy too Sara. Especially when he’s not spilling a word about himself.

Alright we might as well get the gross part out of the way. To clear things up. In the Japanese version, the word he uses “Kawai” can be seen as a more fatherly word to use with a kid. But the comments about going on dates from himself and from Shin? Those are still there. And I still think they’re really uncomfortable and wish they weren’t in the game period but we can get thematic significance out of them.

We still don’t know Keijis reasons in game for being attached to Sara. My theory? She’s his handicap. He was told to get close to the higher scorer who could easily backstab him, and he’d be stuck with her. It just kinda makes sense to me. But since that’s just a theory I won’t lean to heavily on it for support. But let’s talk about his comments.

Keiji… well, it’s shown at many points in the game that Keiji just thinks of himself as doomed to be a bad person. It can be seen during his day two negotiations when he calls himself a killer and explains he can’t even trust himself so Sara shouldn’t really bother and more explicitly so is the classroom scene between him and Ranmaru where he says he isn’t fit to protect Sara because of his sins. The flirting is both a way to distract people, and to put distance between himself and Sara. He’s not really “protecting” her.

Okay gross bit nobody wants to talk about is over I promise we won’t talk about it again. Let’s talk about Russian Roulette. In this scene, Keiji once again tries to make Sara the leader with no explanation, but then, Sara yells at him, something he didn’t expect. And through this he actually reveals something huge. The source of his trauma. His shooting. For Keiji to have actually revealed something that big, I think that this is the first moment he began to see Sara past whatever reason he first started making her a leader. This is the beginning of their bond.

This bond gets solidified over chapter 1-2s investigation. Keiji is still putting her in charge because his handicap said to build her up for whatever reason, but they’re able to have chats, and she keeps picking at his armor. He reveals his dark sense of humor to her, and she, suspicious just sort of keeps him at arms length. Also she rides his shoulders to screw in a light and he complains which is funny. The scene post Nao also helps the two of them sharpen investigative skills together, as they discuss the mystery of Miley, and Mishimas head.

Then another significant scene. The white room. I call this scene significant because, instead of letting Sara investigate the gruesome scene of the first trial, Keiji for the first time, allows Sara to walk out. Something that will become relevant later but until then, Keiji has begun to put Sara’s well-being above serving whatever purpose he had by building her up. So keep that in your pocket while we go over the main game.

There’s only two points for the main game I want to cover. While Keiji and Sara do put their heads together a few times, Sara still doesn’t fully trust him, so I will only go over 1. When Shin brings up Kai’s emails. Keiji has been fully logical this whole time, questioning everyone’s alibis including Nao’s who he saw the emotional plea from, but when Sou brings up potentially damning evidence of Sara, he just asks if he read the emails wrong. 2. When Sara is panicking over being chosen for the final round, Keiji loudly shouts “GET A GRIP SARA!” With a serious expression. Before quickly backtracking and going back to a devil may care expression. This shows he is both already emotionally attached to Sara, but unwilling to stake himself towards giving himself to a new cause.

Anyways, he stops her from pressing the button blah blah blah, onto chapter 2! I’ve made a post about this before but it seems as early as here, Keiji is trying to talk Sara down from pushing herself further. But at this point, Sara has already dedicated herself to the role because her best friend died due to her priority to protect everyone. Keiji sees the problem and he tries to get her to rest up, but he still doesn’t spend the time to have a serious talk about it because as he says in the classroom. He isn’t fit to protect her. He doesn’t think of himself as a good person who can help her. He thinks of himself as a murderer and he doesn’t allow himself to recover from the trauma.

Sara however is starting to rely more on Keiji. He’s been willing to comfort her in her times of grief and furthermore, she has something to relate to him on. They both have deaths of important people in their lives they feel responsibility for.

There’s also the fact that Keiji sees a lot of his old self in Sara. An idealistic person, being beaten down, and worrying over the idea they might be becoming a bad person. He feels the same as her.

Not to mention… Keiji follows through on his promises. He actually tells Sara about the person he respected like he said he would which establishes a further sense of trust.

However, something that tears that sense of trust apart is the tokens scene. When Keiji doesn’t even let Sara hold 50 tokens, it raises suspicion. Sara already knows he shot a person- what more could he have to hide? That scares her away. The negotiation event is an attempt for Keiji to win back her trust. But it slowly turns into Keiji’s self-loathing session. And his declaration maybe Sara shouldn’t trust him.

However, time passes enough (and Keiji supports Sara enough in the final attraction) for them to get together and investigate in 2-2. And there’s a lot of moments I can talk about there so I’ll be just doing a few rapidfire things. So first, Sara is in peak weird girl mode and Keiji can hardly control her chaos. Second, Keiji makes a full on decision at one point to go against Sara when she’s putting herself in danger of getting caught for their search so they can hide. Third, his response to “I don’t intend to die” when he asks “will you die with me” is that’s a good answer.

And fourth… a moment I really wanna touch on… Keiji watches something that could easily incriminate Sara. It’s not just some word of mouth thing like with Shin who lied about things several times before this point. But in that moment, he still relies on Sara and says he wouldn’t feel bad betting his life on her. The message is clear. Keiji supports Sara unconditionally.

Now let’s talk about Keiji totally dropping Sara’s ass with the card trades.

The way Keiji makes his trades is very telling. He first, steals a keymaster card from either Sou or Kanna to give to Sara. This is supporting Sara, but it’s doing it in a way that supports his view of himself. That he’s a scumbag who would steal someone’s immunity just to give it to someone he likes more. And would a shithead like that be “worthy” of sacrificing themselves and taking the card for Sara? (And he knew she had it. Qtaro had to tell him for their plan to happen) no. Instead he essentially opts for a revenge plot. A plan to ensnare Shin and kill him for pawning off the sacrifice to Sara. Basically, he wanted to fuck up Shin like how he fucked up Megumi. Nice going Keiji. This is… kind of his low point in the story.

But 3-1….. man this chapter hits in all the right ways. I don’t remember 3A that much, (although I do know that Keiji shows a lot of concern over Sara potentially being triggered by Joe memorabilia) and also if you fail the Keiji Midori fight you can have Sara attempt to tag Keiji and he rejects. And how can we forget… the mr policeman flashback. As Sara says, this is Keiji’s first time opening up on his own.

And then… coffin saga. Sara through everything is not willing to let Keiji die. Although she’s had her ups and downs with him, leaving him to die is inconceivable to her with everything they’ve been through together. So she opts to sign the contract both times she is offered it.

Keiji clearly is somebody important to Sara. Important enough that Ranmaru bringing him up is enough to snap her out of her murderous trance. Enough that she throws logic out the window when she has a sign he’s okay.

Likewise, the scene in the classroom for Keiji is… a huge step. When he’s alone with Ranmaru, who is unstable, in that classroom, his priority is Sara. He turns his back to the threat to hold Sara and try and make sure she’s okay- dumb move, but it shows how far he’s come.

And again, I want to reiterate- Keiji is Sara’s anchor. At the banquet when Sara is about to give up, she imagines Keiji talking to her which brings her back in the game. Much like Joe did back in chapter 2. The message is palpable. Keiji is Sara’s new Joe. And when Keiji comes back to comfort her? He’s now fully willing to sacrifice himself. It winds up not being needed seeing as Qtaro is the one that died. But in that moment, we see Keiji has made a huge leap from chapter 2. He almost sacrificed himself for Gin. And he would’ve used his final moments to comfort Sara. He’s embraced that he’s a father figure. He allows himself to be a good person.

Anyways I don’t know how to conclude this and I’ve been writing for hours. Bababooey.