#FYI this is just me putting it out there I'm still doing my own research too so. Please don't feel slighted if I don't take your advice I'm

[liauditore]

Just throwing this out here (I'm about to pass out so I'll check this in the morning) does anyone have any thoughts or feelings regarding stylised black features in anime or any cool black anime character designs to show me. I've been doing some looking around cus I wanna tighten up my bigb design more and it's kinda hard running into alot of designs that are just the same as the paler characters but with darker skin (like yoruichi) or have the wrong vibe (avdol you're very awesome but bigb does not have your rizz).

I will say I'm not a big fan of "Steven universe lips" if that makes sense. Not a critique just a taste thing. Personally more of a fan when fuller lips are expressed through colour instead, but that can also easily get read as hyper feminine so I'm. Shrugs.

Also hair is another issue. Asking for anime characters specifically cus animation-friendly black hair is kinda a mystery to me unless it's a buzz cut or smth. And I just don't really wanna give him the ekko cut either cus then I may as well draw the valorant dude and I think I'd rather be dead

[dominustempori]

SPOILER ALERT FOR THE GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE TRAILER!! (long post, fyi)

Alright Ghostheads, I'm writing all this down now, so I won't forget all these thoughts and observations I'm having JUST a few hours after this awesome teaser for the "Afterlife sequel" has dropped.

I'm sure I'm missing some bits here, so comments are duly welcome, just don't go all negative energy on me =)

Definitely felt a similar vibe to when the first trailer for "Afterlife" came out like 2 years ago now. Normal summer day, good background music, then...sh*t happens. Even worse than that burst of PK energy from the mine shaft. And yeah, I saw bits of "Day After Tomorrow," I'd be lying if I didn't get JUST a little hint of that, but only because, you know, massive storm system overwhelming the south shore of Manhattan. But anyway.

2. I SWEAR that one building shot from the side is 55 Central Park West, aka Spook Central. Probably not significant plot wise this time, just a nod to the original movie. And considering I toured some of the filming sites on my trip to NYC this past summer, SURE looks like it!

3. Deadly icicles ripping up the streets? Like the earthquake tearing up the asphalt in the original movie only BETTER!

4. The discourse is already happening about details...I know some people like Ecto 1-A from GB2, and some fans are still angry about "they ignored it in Afterlife! It's so canon! WTF Jason Reitman?" Yeah...missing the point? [They're not DELIBERATELY ignoring GB2! I LIKED GB2! A lot! Not perfect but still I LIKE IT! Probably a lot more than other fans! The film only had so much time to focus on the past to keep the story moving, so only put in so much of the lore to help a new audience along. That's my theory I'm sticking to it.]

ANYWAY...yes the car IS the original Ecto 1, NOT the 1-A (which was WAY too busy for its own good, just sayin'). I saw the plate on a freeze frame, it's Ecto 1, the original.

5. Enter the exposition cut scenes. or whatever you want to call them. Swear to God that Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani, Dan, McKenna, and Logan are NOT at Ray's Occult Books...I mean come on look at those glass cases! It's GOTTA be the NY Public Library (throwback!) Patton's character is most likely a staff member, probably a librarian (related to Alice? God I hope so!) [GBs do their research yo! If that's one thing I love about the IDW comics, is how Ray and Egon and Kylie RESEARCH.]

That one bit with the frozen dude with the eyepatch? Looks like a flashback. Like, maybe Manhattan in the...late 1800s? Recurring hauntings is def a thing in the GB universe. Another secret society? Which, yeah, they did to death (sorry) with the Gozer thing, especially in the video game.

6. Liking all the concerned closeups. Paul Rudd still looking good, and I REALLY hope Carrie Coon as Callie has full on dropped the baggage about not having her Dad in her life. Well, mostly. Turned me off from her QUITE a bit in Afterlife, but that's just me. Finn's hair lookin' good short, love how McKenna still rocks the OshKosh look, and Logan with the retro vibe.

7. James Acaster HAS TO BE an adult Oscar. I WILL fight people on this =) Not Louis' kid, not Janine's... (well, maybe?) Peter and Dana are OFFICIALLY still a couple, what's to stop Peter from adopting the boy he saved in GB2? Or at least, maybe they have their own kid later on...? Damn I hope he's Oscar. I mean come on, this is still "Ghostbusters: the Next Generation" in my mind.

8. HAUNTED LION STATUE!!! (Yeah, that's right from Real Ghostbusters...kinda) It's the Library! And on another freeze frame...it's going after Ray (GASP!) That little elevator? Maybe they're going to...Special Collections? Remember the video game? Maybe? Squee?

9. DUDE, it's attacking GBHQ! Blew the freakin' doors off! It's gonna...NO NOT LUCKY! Dude she (they?) is getting the short end of the stick again...first she gets possessed by Zuul and now...please don't kill off Lucky, Gil! Also OGBs FTW!!! yeah Winston! bad ass mf as always! And man does Pete look proper scared. Go Bill Murray!

10. I'm presuming that the big bad/entity was originally trapped and stored in the ECU, hence the blinking red light in the post credits scene from Afterlife. And it's whatever's pushing out the cinder blocks this time around...and freezing Lucky in the basement of HQ? And it's the...thing pushing its demon horns in...(so far others are calling it a minotaur - totally NOT. this guy is so reaching, i mean an old obscure RGB comic reference from a wiki page? dude, just...no. a cross between a White Walker and Slenderman? yeah THOSE I get. I'm personally thinking some ancient demon from a summoning gone wrong...or maybe right in this case.) any case, DUDE with those icy blue staring eyes and 20 feet tall...f*ck yeah.

11. Also F*CK yeah Paul and Carrie in the jumpsuits! YES!!!

12. Alright, I can sort of buy a hidden room in Kumail's character's (presumably?) apartment, secret door at the back of a kitchen pantry with some pretty lead/silver tiling...but, what's with the horn? (SUMMONING HORN! Read the Bartimaeus Trilogy people!) and the shackles? the bells? well, yeah noise to drive away evil spirits...or not? again... SECRET SOCIETY! Or maybe Lucky and Trevor have their own place now? Nah, maybe not...wait and see I guess.

13. Dude...Paul Rudd is TALL, boy! Would like to see if they've actually gone and married...or, too soon? Nah, romantic/life partners is good.

14. I WANT THAT RED WINTER JACKET WITH THE PATCH! SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

15. Also, Paul's reaction...SO my own after watching this. He is still fanboy-ing out and I LOVE IT.

Holy hell that was a long post. First genuine reactions on the day. Online journaling. All good.

OK peeps, let me have it. What are y'all thinking?

Until March 29!

[ellowynthenotking]

Dec 24

Dear Dad,

Today was a lot quieter. I don't know everything that happened to everyone else. Still, I had a pretty good day, and I got to hear some stuff that I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to, but I'll tell you about that later.

When I got up, the others were scattered around the apartment. I was right that the guys wouldn't make us get up when they returned, so they were dozing in the blanket nest that Grace and I usually sleep in. Mrs. Dw was already up and around making some food. I don't think she's a drinker, which might be why she was up and around, and the others weren't.

We chatted a bit, and she told me about some of the stuff I wanted to know about last night's performance. It's a whole thing, apparently.

But yeah, it's just a retelling of an old myth. They wanted to show the dancing and all of that with the music and performance cause most people probably know the stories by heart by the time they're my age.

I had breakfast and then went over to the temple. None of the others were awake, so I think it was a good choice for me to get out of the house. There were a lot of people actually who were drunken messes at the temple, and a lot of them sleeping it off well, all over the place.

It also smelled a little like booze, I mean. The whole temple did, so I think everyone really overdid it, but this does seem to be the festival mostly around drinking, so that might have something to do with it.

FYI, I'm getting faster at writing. It's taking less time for me to tell you about my day these days. It's bizarre.

Anyway, I did some more research and found a couple more gods I might leave an offering for, but what's interesting is that I found Kega, who's like, THE GODDESS, is probably the person I should leave a big offering for. Apparently, she's, like, the goddess who deals with a lot of stuff, and it's believed that she's the one that deals with all of this stuff and that she's the one who's most likely to put the portals that allow other people here or back to their homes.

Again, you'd think that this would be more common information and that it wouldn't have taken 4 MONTHS for us to find this out.

But we won't worry about that because we'll find our way out of here sooner or later.

The temple had a few people making food and cleaning up the empty dishes I recognized were for the offerings last night. They're going to have to do a lot of dishes because I know that many people left multiple offerings, and that's hundreds of people. Means a lot of dishes.

Riley found me in the afternoon. She looked better than I thought she was going to. Still, she was grumpy that I'd left the apartment without telling anyone. Apparently, Mrs. Dw didn't count cause she'd also already left by the time Riley rolled out of bed.

The others weren't exactly looking for me, but she was still upset with me.

She listened while I told her about what I'd found out and asked if I'd learned who to leave an offering for love. I tossed out a couple that I think are love gods, but if I'm being honest, I haven't spent much time trying to figure out who love gods are because that's far from the most pressing issue.

She did a little of her own research before Willow showed up, and they went to talk.

This is where I heard the stuff I'm sure I wasn't supposed to hear, but I was curious. Willow was super nervous, telling Riley she wanted her to be happy no matter the cost. Riley was trying to say that she shouldn't worry about it. I think maybe Riley found out about Willow's crush, which isn't too bad, all things considered, but I think it was something that was maybe not expected of Riley.

So I don't know exactly what happened last night, or if Riley really did find out about the crush (which, sorry, I haven't mentioned it before, Riley was reading my letters previously, and I didn't want to be the one to spill the beans, but I'm going to offer these letters to Kega later so she's not going to find out from me if she doesn't already know.) or what happened, but it's got Will all freaked out.

Willow then came over and asked me a bunch of questions about stuff I've learned and wasn't letting Riley get in a word edgewise, so I think I was used as a distraction tool. But it worked cause Riley wandered off.

I told Will she should tell Riley, but she said she doesn't want to make stuff awkward. I didn't tell her I thought it would be awkward anyway, but it's up to her.

I talked with the librarian again, who pointed me to some stuff I could look at later to get us to other places with portals. Still, he also doesn't know much about the portals, so his help is limited.

Reese and Zunair came by, too. They were both very frazzled looking, and Zunair tried to sleep on the table, but the librarian kept waking him up. He wandered off to find somewhere else to sleep, and Reese and I talked about what we thought tonight's play would look like.

I think I'll go to bed right after the play because last night was too late. I'm still going to drop off another offering, but I think I'll leave all the letters on the last night.

It's just a little hard to drop all of this that I've been carrying for months now and know that it's just going to be all gone. I mean, it's not completely gone. It'll probably be put somewhere in the temple or thrown away. But it's still a big thing, I think, and it'll be done, and maybe it'll be a big enough thing that the goddess will want to help us! Even if the likelihood of that is really, really, really small.

I'm just wasting time now waiting for it all. The sun has already gone down, but the play and stuff isn't for a while. I might even have enough time to go back to the apartment and drop off this stuff. But I don't think I'm going to risk it just in case. I'm actually really curious about all of it and what tonight will look like. And this is not me saying that I hope we're here for a while, but if we are, I think it would be interesting to see if other cities/towns/whatever do all of this differently cause I know the first couple of days are supposed to be the same, and then they focus on the patron god of their area, so it would be like, really, really different right? Depending on patrons and all that. And on what the god is a patron of, I guess.

Oh well.

I love and miss you. Hopefully, we'll be home soon.

Love, Jack

Read the rest here: 

Or read more by this author here: 

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

So I (finally!) bought a pair of really good noise cancelling headphones, and it has changed my life! It's the fanciest thing I've bought in years, so to recoup some of the cost, I’ve researched & written a little essay based on my experiences with extreme noise sensitivity.

Hypersensitivity to sound is something I’ve dealt with all of my life, but I only recently found out it's medically known a Hyperacusis. (Please note this is a separate condition from Misophonia.) If you consistently struggle to cope with noise, the info below could be helpful! I’m including a link to my ko-fi, and I will be answering questions in the notes.

(skip to the bottom to read fun facts about my tax return and/or street organs vendettas!)

DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional, this is based solely on my experiences as a patient, and on what I have read and been told by professionals. Please notify me if you have corrections or concerns about accuracy!

BACKGROUND: Sensitivity to sound is a common type of sensory issue. While anyone can experience such issues (most people, for example, might be bothered by loud music in a crowded restaurant), some people are more sensitive than others, to the point it becomes a quality-of-life aka a medical issue.

If you consistently struggle with environmental stimuli that other people aren’t bothered by (background noises, bright lights, certain textures and tastes, etc), to the point it causes daily discomfort or limits the environments you can be in, I recommend reading about Sensory Processing Disorder.

SPD and sound sensitivity are both super common in autistic folks (like me!), but allistic (non-autistic) people can experience them too. Weep, ye prisoners of mortal coil, for none are safe, nothing sacred, not in this thy most accursed tomb of human flesh!

Anyway.

SOUND SENSITIVITY or HYPERACUSIS: Noise issues are particularly difficult to navigate in a world that is increasingly...noisy. The relatively new phenomenon of constant overhead music in restaurants, grocery stores, shopping malls etc—all of this means that public spaces are increasingly inaccessible to people with auditory issues.*

As a kid, nothing quite triggered sensory overload/meltdowns for me like the constant exposure to noise I couldn’t control—the background chatter of other kids in the lunchroom, the constant noise in public spaces, being trapped in the car with the radio on.... I had so many fights with my siblings about the car radio, and who got to choose the music.**

But it’s not just loud sounds that are the problem. As an adult who lives alone and works from home***, I’m lucky enough to be able to avoid loud environments most of the time. This does wonders for my general levels of anxiety and discomfort. But even in a mostly controlled environment, I still experience problems. Because part of sound sensitivity is that even normal or quiet sounds can feel loud and intrusive. Here are some “normal” sounds that can cause me discomfort (ranging from annoyance to outright pain, depending on the day):

refrigerator/AC/ceiling lights humming

dishwasher/washing machine noises

ceiling fan making that damn ceiling fan noise

faint sounds of traffic

riding in a car

other people having a normal conversation in the background

someone talking to me in a perfectly normal inside voice

Unfortunately, even in a “controlled” environment, many triggering noises can’t be controlled. And many parts of life can’t be lived in a controlled environment. This presents...some incredibly freaking annoying problems. Luckily there are solutions!

Sorta.

There are sorta some solutions.

They are imperfect, but they help.

TREATMENT: And now I have something rather shame-faced to admit. In all the years of managing my symptoms, it never once occurred to me to see a hearing specialist for my issues with sound. I wasn’t even aware that treatment options exist, because none of my other doctors mentioned it. Instead, I’ve spent years finding my own coping mechanisms and tools, with help from therapists and psychiatrists, but without ever consulting an audiologist/ENT. It was only while researching this post that I found out that was even an option, holy shit.

So it turns out I am going to be making an appointment with my local ENT practice. shit.

Apparently treatment options include sound/acoustic therapy, systematic desensitization/exposure therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, sound machines, and other options that I had no idea even existed, goddammit.

MANAGEMENT: In the meantime, here are my current coping mechanisms. I’ve relied rather heavily on hearing protection, which is very useful when used in moderation. Unfortunately, it can cause its own problems: it’s important not to overuse hearing protection, because in the long-term this can increase your sensitivity. So again: a useful tool, but be careful not to overdo it.

With that in mind, here are some of the coping strategies I’ve used over the last decade to manage my symptoms. This is not a perfect system and you should contact your local ENT clinic for better, long-term solutions, but in the meantime here are some tips I use to just get myself through the damn day:

Regularly spending time in a quiet controlled environment, to allow my nervous system to decompress.

Wearing earplugs, (I use two different grade, depending on the level of noise prevention I need), and always carrying an extra pair in case I need them unexpectedly. I bought a 50 pack for $7 and put spares in all my bags and jacket pockets.

(I mostly use Mack’s Ultra Soft, but there are so many types and materials and brands, including foam, silicone, wax, custom moldable etc. Even if you have trouble wearing things in your ears, you might be able to find something comfortable.)

Similarly: hearing protection earmuffs, the kind used in gun ranges and on construction sites. I bought mine online for $10. they look like normal wireless headphones, so I've never gotten comments when wearing mine in public (other than “cool heaphones” bc i added skull glitter stickers).

Sometimes I wear the earmuffs on top of earplugs, when life is just too damn LOUD.

Listening to music w/ earbuds or headphones is a great way to balance out background noises, especially if you can find soothing playlists that help you concentrate. Also useful to put in just one earbud when you need to pay attention in class/at work.

Pro tip: if your hair is long enough you can wear wireless earbuds without anyone knowing.

White noise, rain noises, ocean noises etc can be helpful! Some people like whale songs although personally this activates my primal fear response

Active noise cancelling headphones: the reason I wrote this post to begin with—I finally bought a pair! As in, a really good pair! As in, a depressingly expensive pair with noise cancelling technology that actually WORKS, holy shit. I probably need to wear them a little less at home (bc overprotection causes problems in the longterm) but they have absolutely transformed my ability to go out in public and i never ever want to take these suckers off again please take a power screwdriver and nail these to my head, bury me in the sweet sweet shroud of silence. holy canoli and cream puffs I want to marry form a civil partnership with these headphones. Plus they have a bunch of features, like being able to control the level of noise cancellation, so I can hold a conversation or be aware of some ambient noise for safety reasons.

Oh, and also they play music I guess?

Sorry sorry I promise this post wasn’t supposed to be me shilling for Big Electronics. I’m just excited, I’m an excited flabby little ball of expired flubber. ANC headphones aren’t a perfect solution, and I still sometimes wear earplugs underneath, and I will always be uncomfortable some of the time, but for me it’s been a big step.

Unfortunately the cost of good quality ANC technology means this isn’t an option for everyone, and the (much cheaper) gunshot protection earmuffs I mentioned earlier still provide an impressive amount of protection and bang-for-your buck (maybe even an equal amount of protection, if you can find ones that fit well). But if noise consistently prevents you from enjoying public space and life in general, and you’ve already tried earmuffs & earplugs and find they don’t offer enough comfort/convenience/protection, and if you’re in a position to save up for a one time non-necessity purchase of $150+, noise cancelling headphones are an option to be aware of. (Please always check the return policy so you can try before you buy. I ended up buying and returning 2 pairs before finding what worked best for me. And please look for a retailer that offers an extended warranty. You want those motherforkers to last).

There are cheaper options available, including some under $50. The ones I tried didn't work as well as my hearing protection earmuffs, but some people report good experiences, so that is something to consider. it's always good to know your options! Passive noise canceling is another affordable alternative.

Medication: A final tool in my toolbox, which for me personally has helped as much as every other method combined. Like, a lot, it’s helped a lot. It turns out some anti-anxiety medications can also help sensory issues. There’s not much research on this, and I only discovered it firsthand when a medication my doctor prescribed for anxiety ended up significantly helping my sensory issues. I no longer need medication for anxiety, but my psychiatrist still prescribes that same medication off-label for my sensory stuff. Ask your psychiatrist to research your options (they will probably have to do some digging to find relevant research, but you deserve to know all your options, even the obscure ones). Fyi, the medication I use is in the benzodiazepines class, but there are other options for those concerned about dependency or side effects.

(I'm also told anti-anxiety supplements may be helpful, though I haven't tried this yet. If you're on prescription meds, always talk to your doctor about contraindications before taking anything over-the-counter.)

So there you have it, my main coping strategies for sound sensitivity! They are not a replacement for medical treatment (except that last one which is in fact...medical treatment), but I find them helpful and I hope some of you will too! I’ve struggled for a long time, and I’m very pleased to have reached the point where I can just do things in public. Eating out in loud restaurants? I can do that now, and even enjoy it, holy shit! I can comfortably travel in cars for hours at a time, and walk around shopping malls and grocery stores with overhead music, and, and —and just exist. It is so so freeing, to feel like maybe, after everything, you are actually allowed to just exist in a world that wasn’t really designed for you.

Again, be careful not to overuse hearing protection—the goal is to allow you to be less uncomfortable and to function better, but if you find you are becoming more sensitive to noise, it is time to dial it back a notch. Or maybe consider listening to music (at a reasonable volume) to block out background noise instead.

*(This also includes people with hearing loss and related issues, btw. While that’s not my area of knowledge, I would welcome it if any of my HoH followers want to share their experiences.)

**A sign of sensory issues that parents often miss is when a child complains about music being too loud—but has no problem listening to their own music at high volume. This is because music that is already familiar to the listener (and that the listener enjoys) is much easier for the brain to process, since it knows what pattern of sounds to expect. Loud music that they get to control can be soothing for people with sound issues, especially when it blocks out background noise and sensations. This is why repetitively playing the same songs can be a helpful form of stimming.

***(working on this blog, actually. since it’s my only source of income, my 2020 income tax return literally lists my occupation as ‘Tumblr Blogger.’ Oddly, my parent didn’t feel this achievement was worth including in the holiday family newsletter.)

bonus fun fact: Charles Babbage aka “father of the computer” may have been autistic and hypersensitive to sound. He definitely had a huge problem with public noise pollution, and spent his later year waging a war on street musicians (and organ grinders in particular).

(bc like, yeah. screw organ grinders.)

Sometimes when I’m out in public and the overhead music is particularly unbearable, I’ll take a moment to look up to the sky and scream out: “HE TRIED TO WARN US! THE FATHER OF COMPUTERS TRIED TO WARN US!!! we should have listened, sweet heaven we should have listened!”

except i don’t scream it, i say it very quietly under my breath

(i have issues with noise)

so yeah that is my short essay. and here is the ko-fi goal

k ciao i gotta go pick out glitter stickers for my headphones

[michelemoutons]

and at last, the post that maybe three people maximum have been waiting for...

em's comfort retro rally videos: a masterlist!

in a much-needed return to this blog's roots, and as an antidote to all motorsport- and life-related chaos, i now present to you: the first edition of em's favorite retro rally videos!

general disclaimer/info: these videos mainly come from the group B era of the world rally championship (wrc), which generally speaking was in the '80s. i am only human, so expect a lot of bias toward my personal favorites...which will become very apparent as you read this list hehe. also i'm not even gonna pretend to be an expert on this or anything. a lot of these are literally just based on Vibes

table of contents

i. my top 5 rally coverage videos

mainly coverage for television, recorded on VHS and uploaded to YouTube by some truly incredible people

ii. honorable mentions

not rally coverage, but retro rally videos nevertheless

often documentaries, mini-doc features, interviews

for all videos, i have indicated the language (most are in english fyi); if any links fail or videos disappear, send me an ask or DM and i'll remove the culprit/find an alternative link.

and now, onward!

(TW for occasional flash photography in many of the night sequences of the videos, as well as a gif included in this post)

i. my top 5 rally coverage videos

in which my bias toward audi sport, mouton/pons, mikkola, toivonen, and vatanen are put on blast for all to see 🥴 i am not an expert in anything i am just very good at research and a whore for aud—[SNIPED]. for the sake of brevity, i narrowed my favorites down to 5. maybe another time i will share all the rest!

also, a general note about the commentary: sometimes, the commentary around michèle and fabrizia can get... weird. keep in mind, they were the most prominent female team partnership around that time, and the first to nearly clinch a wrc wdc, and to modern ears, the commentators really didn't know how to act around them. personally, it wasn't horrible for me, i just ignored the weirder bits, but i understand if others might find it off-putting. also for the sake of your sanity don't read the comments.

5. Rally of the 1000 Lakes, 1984 | finland

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: vatanen/alén/toivonen (full final results)

comments: this was definitely a rally for most of audi sport's drivers to forget: bar stig blomqvist, who came quite close to the podium finishers with a 4:14:01 to henri toivonen's 4:12:57! both hannu mikkola and michèle mouton had to retire from the race, which may lead you to wonder: why does this rank among my favorites? well, it's always fun to watch group b rally cars sailing through the air against picturesque scenery, and this video also contains an intriguing (at least for me!) look at the scrutineering process, with drivers at their most casual.

owie :( they were fine though!

4. Lombard RAC Rally, 1981 | britain

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: mikkola/vatanen/blomqvist (full final results)

comments: hannu winning by 11 whole minutes even after rolling his car in the middle of the forest is actual legend behavior! anyway this was michèle's first wrc outing in britain, and even though she and fabrizia had to retire, they still did quite well, consistently running high in the leaderboards after the first few stages. and that's considering the fact that michèle had a bad cold for much of the rally and had to ask fabrizia to drive the car to service park for her at one point bc she was so tired. which fabrizia did... with a pencil in her mouth. lot of big names in one video—also, jean todt makes an appearance as a co-driver!

shamelessly poached off of one of my text post edits

3. Marlboro Safari Rally, 1983 | kenya

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: vatanen/mikkola/mouton (full final results)

comments: ok can i just say how stunning the video presentation is?? the opening sequence is just!!! the shots of the wildlife! the sprinting giraffes! wow! anyway the visual of drivers in deck chairs just tickles me for no reason, and michèle please tell me what you ask for at the hairdresser's and also where you got that orange blouse (this is obviously not just specific to this rally, she always eats and leaves no crumbs). this was michèle's first entry and only finish in kenya (and of course it was a podium mwah). it was also her last wrc entry in the A1 quattro, as she switched to the A2 for the rest of her program in the '83 season. also this is one of my favorite podium pictures ever.

lksdjffnnkd there's almost too much to unpack... fabrizia somehow surviving in high waist jeans in a hot car... michèle's do-it-yourself shorts... this podium picture was the subject of a very frantic video chat conversation between myself and a friend at 2am a few months ago

2. Rallye de Portugal, 1982 | portugal

links: short recap (eng) | overall coverage 1, stuck in the middle of two other rallies. timestamps in descrip. (eng) | overall coverage 2, very vibey with cool music (ita... also peep walter röhrl speaking italian)

podium: mouton/eklund/wittmann (full final results)

comments: GOD I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH AAAA! michèle's first podium of '82 being a win? this rally being the one where there's footage of her going shopping with fabrizia afterward? (more on that later) them winning by 13 whole minutes? and that's not even considering THEE most poetic victory ceremony of all time! in fact let me talk about that bc the racing and the win aside, that's why it's so high up on my list! literally poetic cinema! it's night, they're standing on top of the car and floodlit and surrounded by cheering crowds but they may as well be the only ones there in their own little world, laughing at each other and barely even having to look to each other when they're raising their hands—like god! shut up! we get it you're besties 😭

i_just_think_theyre_neat.png

and now... last but certainly never least...

1. Lombard RAC Rally, 1982 | britain

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: mikkola/mouton/toivonen (full final results)

comments: firstly, if you were to ask me about my dream podium, this would be it. hands down, across all series of motorsport, my comfort podium would be hannu, michèle, and henri in any order. (there's such a cute picture of them from this rally on pinterest, standing in order on a staircase. henri is not looking at the camera because he is laughing at something michèle is saying and it's such a Vibe but i cannot find it wah). the battle for second between michèle and henri ran down to literally the last stage, and their times are separated by seconds, which is just wild to me. the context of this rally deserves another post, which i honestly don’t have the energy to make rn, but just take my word for it that it threatens to destroy me if i think about it too hard! anyway this is just such an awesome rally and i’ve watched this video so many times haha

i love this rally so much that i actually had a character in a story i was writing attend the ceremony captured in this picture as a small child and made it a formative moment in her life. no, there is nothing wrong with me.

ii. honorable mentions

(is it obvious who my faves are? yikes)

'Group B - Avec Michele Mouton' (eng) - taken from a longer feature presentation about group b, a segment specifically about michèle. a friend once described its vibes as ‘a synth wave edit of an 80s anime set in a cyberpunk world about racing’

'1983 Audi Sport National Rally with Michele Mouton' (eng) - in which michèle takes journalist sue baker as a co-driver for a spin in an A1 and a rally win. fun behind-the-scenes video

'Intervista a Fabrizia Pons, la Regina delle Note' 1, 2, 3 (ita) - very thorough interview which is mostly fabrizia telling all sorts of stories, including the very entertaining story of how she found out she was going to be michèle’s co-driver. also what a badass title

'2008 Otago International Classic Rally' (eng) - THE BESTIES REUNITE THE BESTIES REUNITE!!! michèle and fabrizia reunite for a rally that fabrizia convinced michèle to join, they suffer some problems but there are plenty of wholesome bestie moments to be had

'Michele Mouton hurls Group B Audi Quattro up Goodwood hill' (eng) - i mean, self explanatory. the sound of the chirping tires? asmr could never. very short watch if you want a quick pick-me-up

'1990 Louise Aitken-Walker feature' (eng) - a video featuring a female rally driver from scotland and her point-scoring run at the rallye monte -carlo. i am convinced that louise was john finnemore’s inspiration or at least an influence for the character of linda fairbairn. no my hat is not made of tin foil what are you talking about

hannu rocketing around michigan back in 2017 (eng)

hannu flying around goodwood in 2015 (eng)

sometimes i listen to fabrizia's recent onboards (yes, she's still at it!) and this one is one of my favorites, from 2016 (ita)

[trustyourgutblog]

❁ Intro. Q&A with S&C ❁

❁ What is your favorite type of movement?

S: I struggled with movement for a long time. Exercise was categorized as a chore in my brain growing up. I had parents who LOVED running, yet running always made me feel like I was dying. I discovered yoga in late high school. Last year, I completely fell in love with a studio that incorporates HIIT, core, and heat to create a dynamic workout. I'm obsessed! It's my therapy, workout, community, and whole heart in one. I also love that yoga is a competition against yourself - constantly bettering your own practice, rather than focused on competition against others.

C: Growing up I was always active and involved in sports like basketball and track. I’ve ALWAYS hated the running aspect, but every now and then I’ll go for a jog outside if it’s nice out. Now that I get to choose my workouts, I enjoy a combination of lifting, yoga, and HIIT workouts. My workout split typically looks like 4 days of lifting and HIIT and 1-2 days of yoga. On rest days, I always start my mornings with a short yoga flow or light stretching. I also enjoy the hot yoga classes that S talked about above! Hot yoga is what brought us together :).

❁ What is your favorite way to de-stress?

S: Oh god. Anything alone. Seriously. I am extroverted until I hit my limit and once I hit that limit it is a hard crash. I recently moved to a really friendly neighborhood and have loved riding my bike to the library, curling up in my hammock, and reading a great book while listening to some instrumental tunes. 

C: So many different ways! As a social worker, in order to be effective, I have to be on top of my self-care at all times. Journaling, meditation, yoga, reading, walking, and playing with my dogs and cats are some of my favorite ways to de-stress. I also find that using ear seeds helps when I’m experiencing high levels of stress or anxiety. Stay tuned for more ear seed info. in later blog posts!

❁ What is your favorite self-care strategy?

S: I need to be organized. I like knowing what food I'm going to eat the next day, having everything written out and color-coded in my planner, etc. I do really well when everything is put in its place and prepped for the next day - to a fault. I tend to deal with my high maintenance personality with obsessive organization because it is the type of self-care that directly combats my ADHD brain and keeps me functioning.

C: In addition to the ways that I de-stress above, I find a sense of calm in my weekly routine. At the beginning of the week, I enjoy cooking and meal prepping lunches for work, cleaning, and journaling my goals and intentions for the week. I have a Panda Planner that I like to use to stay organized. I also feel my best when I’m taking care of myself (i.e. focusing on eating well, being active, and maintaining my beauty/skincare routine).

❁ What are your health passions?

S: I have been on and off vegan for 6 years. I decided to start it back up at the beginning of this year, and 99% of the time I follow veganism. That's a HUGE passion of mine. I also recently started cycle syncing and I can't shut up about it!! I'm so excited to see what benefits it will provide. I'm a RYT200 yoga teacher with certifications in trauma-informed, children's, and teen yoga - I'm particularly passionate about incorporating vulnerability and mental health aspects into my practice. Lastly, I struggle with physical health (Endometriosis diagnosis) and mental health (GAD - Generalized Anxiety Disorder & ADD - Attention Deficit Disorder diagnosis), this has been a huge journey for me over the past two years. I am currently at a point where I manage these diagnoses really well naturally and it's important to me.

C: GUT HEALTH, GUT HEALTH, GUT HEALTH! That is what inspired the name for this blog! I find that my gut health impacts my skin, moods, weight, energy level, and my overall well-being. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease and IBD in 2016 and have been focused on healing myself with a combination of Western Medicine-based medication, nutrition and journaling food sensitivities, vitamin supplements, movement, and strategies to improve my mental health. Don’t get me wrong - I’m very passionate about mental health in general as I’m a practicing therapist, however, I tend to get burnt out on focusing on mental health only as it is often difficult for my consumers to incorporate a holistic approach. I am also passionate about movement and working on my fitness, as Fergie would say. There’s something uplifting about accomplishing a new fitness goal whether it’s increasing my weights in lifting or holding a headstand in yoga (still working on that one lol).

❁ What led you to wholistic wellness?

S: I had parents who made a huge lifestyle change right after my freshman year of high school. As a family, we went vegan cold turkey (or is it cold tofurkey? pls laugh) and my Mom poured her heart and soul into researching natural alternatives. I have had my own battle with balancing traditional medicine with more holistic results. I very strongly believe in wholistic approaches - I'm not against medication by any means, but I believe it's so so important to treat the whole person and that there is no "one size fits all" approach.

C: Growing up, I didn’t think there was anything particularly “unhealthy” about my lifestyle, but reflecting back as an adult, I can definitely say that we were not a household that was focused on optimal nutrition. We drank gallons of milk and Sunny D and ate maybe a serving of canned vegetables per day. We were active, so no one in my family was overweight, but I think my parents were just raising us on foods that they grew up on (that and canning became all the rage in the 90’s). I would say that I became passionate about holistic approaches to my health shortly after I was diagnosed with Crohn’s and was trying to learn to manage my symptoms. I had a lot of inflammation in 2016 and was prescribed a low dosage of steroids until my doctor prescribed immunosuppressants to keep my immune system from attacking my colon. I began focusing on more holistic approaches when I noticed that medication alone wasn’t making me feel 100%. Sure, it stopped my active inflammation, however, I was still struggling with stomach cramping, diarrhea, and chronic fatigue. About 1 year after I was diagnosed, my husband and I moved to a larger area where I had access to more specialized medical providers. My new gastroenterologist (GI) referred me to a nutritionist who helped me to learn to identify my food sensitivities. She also referred me to a behavioral health psychologist who provided me with an outlet for my stress and anxiety. I began to learn that I was holding chronic tension in my stomach whenever I was stressed or anxious about something. That’s when I began to understand the importance of holistic health.

❁ What is your personal social media?

S: @sarahlhively on Instagram

C: @cassandruh_dee on Instagram

❁ What kind of posts can I expect to see on this blog?

S: I'm really excited to talk about managing mental health naturally (particularly anxiety), possible book recommendations, self-care, and healthy meal prepping while on a broke college student’s budget.

C: I look forward to sharing my personal experiences with navigating my chronic health issues, nutrition, FODMAPs, gut health, mental health, the gut-brain connection, fitness/movement, and self-care.

❁ Why social work?

S: It's nice to not have this question followed up by "you know you'd make much more money as _______. Is it too late to change your major?" But for real. I started college as a special education major, quickly realized I'd rather do pretty much anything other than write lesson plans, and switched to being a WGST major. I expected to be able to get a job doing advocacy work with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ & women issues. I soon realized the WGST track is for students who eventually want to do research and social work was more what I was looking for. I never looked back. The multiple directions a social work degree can be taken in, the continually changing cases, the advocacy, vulnerability, and seeking justice for people all capture my heart. 

C: I have always been passionate about having a career centered around helping people. I became interested in therapy after having a particularly negative experience with a therapist that my dad sent me to when I was getting caught in the middle of my parent’s divorce and I experienced some trauma. I originally pursued psychology, however, fell into social work when I figured out that there are so many different opportunities available for MSWs.  I truly love my job and feel grateful to be compensated (FYI times have changed and not all social workers make next to nothing - thank the universe) for serving the children and families on my caseload

[mizmahlia]

1-8, 13-22, 25-27, and 29 ^^ (It's a lot, and I apologize for that! Answer as many as you feel comfortable answering! Sorry it's such a long list and I'm so nosy 😂😅)

Author Asks!

No apologies necessary, Sep! I love talking writing with you!! 😊

I’m answering these with fanfiction in mind, first and foremost, but I mention original fiction every now and again. Just an FYI.

1. Where do youtypically get your ideas?

I’m usually inspired by material I’ve recently watched orread. Sometimes it happens right away and I get the urge to start writing andplotting things out ASAP. Other times it’s days or weeks later and I’m tryingto sleep, in a meeting, on a run, etc and the story starts taking shape.

Rarely do I get an idea that pops up out of nowhere. Whenthat happens, though, I can usually write until the idea is complete and get asolid 4-5k words out of it. (A First Timefor Everything began that way.)

2. When you’re writing anew story, what is the one thing you need to know before you can start?

I need to have a rough idea of how the story begins. I tendto write in reverse, as in I know how I want things to end and I start writingat the beginning.

3. How do you know whena scene is “done”?

When I reach a point where I start putting filler in, likedialog that isn’t necessary, changing details I didn’t intend to change, etc, Iknow I need to move on. But it’s much easier for me to remove anything thatdoesn’t contribute, so I let myself ramble as long as I need to in order to getthe scene out of my head.

4. How do you know whena chapter is “done”?

While I almost always know how the story ends (even in avague sense), my gut tells me when a chapter is finished. I write until itfeels natural to stop and then I go back and edit, either trimming content backor adding a bit more detail if I’ve glossed over something. I never look at word count to gauge whenI’m “done”.

5. How do you know whena story is “done”?

It’s kind of an unsatisfying and decidedly not awesome answer- when it feels done. When I’ve explored the stuffI intended to when I started, when conflict is resolved in the way I wanted itto be, I’m done.

6. Where do your titlescome from?

I wish I had something deep and meaningful to answer thisquestion, but they’re mostly random. I try to use something from the storyitself to tie into the title, but I try not to be too obvious about it.

7. How do you feel aboutprologues?

I don’t care to use them. Not necessarily because I’magainst them, but more because they simply aren’t a tool in my toolbox.  And so often writers use them as a shortenedopening chapter instead of giving actual background information about thestory/characters that advances the plot. TL;DR I don’t care for them, but it’s fine that others do!

8. How do you feel aboutepilogues?

Again, I don’t care to use them. Most often my work ends ina place where an epilogue isn’t necessary. But I would use an epilogue before aprologue, definitely. If there were a smaller plot point I wanted to include thatdidn’t fit into the last chapter, but is still relatively important? I’d add anepilogue.

13. What grammar tends tocause problems when you’re writing?

There’s nothing specific that causes problems for me, but Itend to focus most on things like passive voice, making sure I don’t useadverbs too much, verb tense and the like. I actually struggle most withwaiting to edit. I physically can’t waituntil I’m finished writing and edit afterward. It makes me reallyuncomfortable.

14. What’s the one wordyou can never spell/use properly, no matter how hard you try?

I always trip up on Victor Szasz and his ridiculous lastname.

15. How do you write areally good metaphor?

I refuse to spend time trying to write metaphors. Activelytrying to add metaphors crashes and burns for me. If you find one in my writing,it was likely an accident that I definitely didn’t plan for. I think they runthis risk of being an over-used device and I tend to avoid including many in myown writing.

16. What is your bestpiece of advice for writing angst scenes?

Ask yourself this question: am I writing this scene/chapterjust for the sake of making it sad, or does what I’m putting the character(s)through actually affect them or the plot somehow?

17. What is your bestpie/ce of advice for writing hurt/comfort scenes?

Uhh… just.. go for it? No, that’s crappy advice. I writewhat comes naturally for me and that’s taking care of people. I think aboutwhat means a lot to people when something bad has happened- holding someone’shand when they’re in pain, a kind smile when they’re feeling down, or makingsomeone laugh when they’re nervous. Physically comforting someone is just asimportant, if not more so, than just talking to someone.

What can help is thinking about your characters and whatthey would respond to or want from someone, but would never ask for, when they’re suffering. That can have a huge impacton your story. The same can be said for the reverse- someone being so in painthat nothing helps, no matter who is doing it.

18. What is your bestpiece of advice for writing comedy scenes?

Don’t spend too much time thinking about trying to make itfunny. Write is as you want to, then focus on whether or not it comes acrossthe way you intended.

19. What is your bestpiece of advice for writing action scenes?

Try to picture in your head what you want happening. Standup and act it out, or find a YouTube clip of a fight you like and then try andwrite that scene. I practiced with the Steve versus the Winter Soldier fight atthe end of CA:TWS to develop myaction-writing skills.  When I read whatI wrote and felt like it “matched” with what I saw on screen, I knew I was onthe right path.

20. What is your bestpiece of advice for writing smut scenes?

Be comfortable writing smut scenes, I guess. If you don’tfeel comfortable writing them, it can come across in your writing and readersfeel that awkwardness instead of what you intended them to. There’s nothingwrong with writing or not writing smut- you do you and you’ll be just fine.

21. What is your bestpiece of advice for writing romance scenes?

I rarely, if ever, write romance. But when I do, I’mshameless with it- I basically write what I would want to happen to me,tailoring it to fit the personalities of the characters in the story.

22. What is your bestpiece of advice for writing fluff scenes?

I never set out to write fluff/angst/smut/hurt-comfort/etc. Emotionsjust sort of… happen. While writing I’m more focused on the plot than what Iwant readers to feel, so I’m not sure what else to say. I wouldn’t call fluffone of my strong suits, anyway.

25. How do you create anoriginal character?

By using the least amount of effort possible…

And by that, Imean I don’t create a character with a ton of personality traits/habits/etc andthen try to cram him/her into the story I’m writing. That approach doesn’t workfor me. I haven’t written original fiction in a long time, so my skills arerusty. But I do know that I tend tofocus on plot first, creating a character second. The character fits into theplot, not the other way around. It grants me more flexibility in story-tellingthat way.

The only characters I’ve created in the last few years aren’tcharacters who are going to have their own stories/original fiction. They werecreated for a purpose in several fics of mine centered around Dick Grayson andJason Todd. (Nora, who appears a few times, and Dr. Matthews, who appears inonly one fic so far.) They just sort of… happened.

26. How do you go aboutworld building?

I don’t; I rarely think about it. It’s not something I’veever really focused on, the world around my characters. I don’t write a lot oforiginal fiction at the moment, so I don’t have to really create much ofanything. But even in the original fiction I do write, I don’t spend a lot of time creating and building thingsbecause I get overwhelmed. I just write my story, plan/edit/create along theway, and that’s it.

Planning and creating is definitely an enemy of mine. Ifanything will cause writer’s block, trying to create too much before I need towill definitely do it.

27. Do you try to do mostof your research ahead of writing (when research is necessary) or do you do itas things come up?

Usually I research as things come up in the story. If Ispend too much time researching something before I’m writing, I’ll neveractually get to writing it. (Except for all the medical stuff in my current ficwith Jason; I knew quite a bit about chemo/cancer treatment, but I needed morespecific information. That way the information I researched in advance fit intomy story more naturally.)

29. How do you plot yourstories?

At the most inconvenient times possible.

Actually, I don’t spend a lot of time planning and plotting.I tend to write linearly, so even though I may know how I want the whole thingto end, I still write it from the beginning and plan as I go. Nothing is set instone and it makes it easier to adapt that way.

[spaceorphan18]

I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis a few months ago, and have lost a lot of weight as usually comes with the disease. I've been reflecting a lot on how I'm treated by friends and strangers has changed and how my own outlook/body image in terms of how I view myself has changed since I lost the weight. Just the way I think and live my life as a fat person versus an average weight/thin person basically affects almost every aspect of my life and who I am. Then I got thinking... (cont.)

Why doesn't anyone write au's where either Kurt, Blaine, or both of them are fat? Yes, obviously Chris and Darren are both very slim, but if people are ok taking enough creative liberty to give Kurt cat ears and a tail, make either one of them get pregnant, or write cis!girl au's, then why no fat au's (and fyi, I personally view 'fat' as a word that we should not be afraid of and should be reclaimed by the fat community like queer has been reclaimed by the lgbtq community so in no way am I... (part 2)

using fat as a slur). I know that might seem like meaningless au because no matter their weight, they're still Kurt and Blaine, but when you're in high school, you're weight can seriously effect the way you view yourself and your self worth, and really does, even though it seriously should not, define who you are. I also think it could be really beautiful to read fic of them being intimate where they don't have these "perfect bodies" that Kurt and Blaine always do in fic... (part 3) 

This was explored a little in Tested with Blaine, but lets be honest, he didn't gain more than a few pounds and he wanted to lose the weight he gained, but what if either of them or both of them were just naturally on the heavier side and didn't actively want to lose the weight and that was just a part of who they are? There's also a lot of pressure among gay men to "measure up" so it would be fascinating to explore both the internal and external conflict, angst, and struggles that could... (part 4)

be explored in a "fat!au. I seriously hope you don't find this offensive, I really don't mean it to be at all!! I would absolutely LOVE to start a discussion on this though!!!!

///

Hello Nonny! 

No, there isn’t anything here that I find offensive.  

If you want to write fat-positivity, I say go for it! I think body shaming is a thing that most definitely happens, but there is a peace when you get to the point where you can be -- fuck what they think - I like me in whatever size or shape.  And if that’s the message you’d like to put out there, then I think that’s a fine one to try to address.  

There are, however, a couple of things I’d like to put out there though - 

If you’re going to address any kind of medical issue, or eating disorder, please do a little research first.  I just always think that’s important.  

Try not to frame things to say - I like you ‘despite’ being fat, or I love you ‘because’ your fat.  The first one is still shaming.  The second one leans on fetishizing.  

While body issues are most definitely a thing that comes up with being fat, not every fat person continues to have those issues.  And people can be perfectly happy in their body.  Not everything has to be angst and tears. 

I would also stay away from any narrative that says being thin is ‘better’.  

On top of that -- look at how Glee showed Mercedes and Sam in a romantic relationship.  Was the fact that she was fat ever brought up? Nope.  They dealt with Mercedes’s body image in season one and never looked back.  And not once was Sam against her body shape.  It was never brought up.  To me- this is a narrative done right.  ‘It normalized it by not even addressing it, cause it didn’t matter. 

I feel like there’s kind of two ways you can go about it -- a) go all in and really discuss these issues in a sensitive and respectful way or b) have them be fat and don’t even bother bringing the drama.  They’re just fat, that’s it.  Because that, in a way, normalizes it.  

That’s my two cents.  If anyone else would like to chime in - please feel free to do so! 

[dboliklover]

How did you get in this witch thing? This is incredibly dangerous! Mortals must NEVER mess with other beings no matter which dimension they're from! I'm telling you this because all my life I've been sinning unconsciously. It's still my fault, but I have a demon that won't leave even after God pulled me out of the hell I was in, I almost killed myself. I still fear that if I lose control I won't get it back. These things are no joke, I hope you'll consider putting everything to a stop asap ♡

With all due respect, I doubt that. I don’t believe in ‘God’ I believe in the gods and I don’t believe in the devil. I’m a pagan witch, and trust me; There’s a shitload of us out there. It’s extremely vast and a huge witch community on the internet and I guess it sounds as if we all are ‘satanic’ witches but a solid 95% of witches are pagan witches. 

And FYI, my companion is an angel. 

So yeah, call me a ‘sinner’ and a ‘heathen’ because I am; I used to be Catholic out of fear of hell and honestly? being Pagan feels so, so much better because Pagan religions don’t try and scare you into submission. 

I’m way past the point of ‘meddeling’ in the occult at this point, I’m straight up involved and knowledgeable on a lot of paths, granted there is much that I still must learn.

Witchcraft is honestly less ‘spooky’ or ‘evil’ as people consider it, and it’s mostly used to improve your own life and lives of others. Many witches (including myself) don’t even curse anyone, and Wiccan witches (Wicca is a religion) have this ‘threefold rule’ which means if they curse, things will hit them back like a boomerang three times harder.

I’m not Wiccan, but Hellenistic, but I just prefer not to curse, and I stick to keeping to myself instead. 

I do appreciate your concern, however, I am what Christianity calls a ‘Heathen’ and ‘sinner’, however, I simply don’t care. I don’t mean to insult your religion, but please respect mine and do some real research on witchcraft before you ask people to ‘consider putting it to a stop’. 

Honestly, the Gods and the craft has significantly helped me with my mental illnesses. 

- Mod Rozalia.

[fiti-vation]

sorry to bother, but do you have any evidence on-hand for that Foods To Eat [before/after/to (do/thing)] post sourced to you? i'd like to think it's accurate information but considering it's just claims with no supporting evidence, i'm dubious. thank you!

(fruitarian diet

The What to Eat post contains 12 snippets, therefore which one are you referring to? Are you referring to all 12 or one in particular?

I will start by saying that all 12 snippets come from The Fitness Café, they have over one million followers on Facebook where the vast majority of their content is posted I would be surprised that a network with such colossal following promote “dubious” information. That said, FYI one of the Fitness Café founders actually lost 48lbs in one year and is on his way to completing his first half marathon; unquestionably I am certain he’d be more than happy to hear your concern/feedback regarding his webpage content. Withal, there is a contact us section through their main website or you can also contact them through their FB page if you want to further verify with these guys!

As for evidence, obviously I cannot speak on behalf of the Fitness Café founders, but I can certainly throw in my 2 cents!

If you have been following me for the past 6 years, one thing you learn about me through my blog is that I am a huge advocate of Hippocrates, the father of medicine motto and philosophy; “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. In other words, “you are what you eat”! Considering that every 35 days your skin replaces itself and your liver about a month with new cells coming from the foods you eat there is no doubt what you eat literally becomes you! The food you ingest can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison. I’d like to point out here that although I am an avid supporter of Hippocrates, let not thy food be confused with thy medicine: The Hippocratic misquotation… For example, I do not agree with people who believe that a fruitarian diet (Fruitarianism) cures cancer over chemotherapy, but I do believe that healthy eating may and can help prevent or lower the risk of getting severe cancer. I remember when my mom was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer her oncologist recommended her to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables/to follow a healthy diet along with her chemotherapy treatments. 

Continuing in the same vein, it is also no secret eating a nutritious daily diet is important to maintain good health. Consuming a variety of foods helps to get the daily vitamins, minerals, protein and energy necessary for feeling your best. Many fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed whole foods have properties that can benefit our health. Studies in the past decade have taken nutritional research beyond protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. Chemicals in the plants called phytochemicals have been a specific focus in the past decade, offering benefits such as cancer prevention, cholesterol reduction, and hormone regulation, to name a few.There is truly a cornucopia of nutritional benefits that have been discovered. Since the post in question is way too long I will evidently not elaborate on all 12 snippets. 

Before elaborating on some of the information contained in that post I’d like to give you a bit of a background about myself since you didn’t seem to mind reading the about me section on my blog (no pun intended). 

I’m Stephanie (you can call me Steph), I used to be a class 2 obese teen who lost 70 pounds on her own (no personal trainer, no nothing), went from 220 lbs. to 150 lbs. during my first year of college mainly by undertaking running. Long story short, running became more than just a hobby with time (obviously), so after college I decided to give it a shot and try out for the varsity track and field team. I became so passionate with everything surrounding health that I decided to add a minor in social sciences of health during my undergrad. The rest is history, that once obese kid is now a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) tracklete – FYI I am a short distance runner. All that to say, I am not just a random anon posting about health and fitness, I actually live it, breath it and studied the subject. 

Going back to the subject, as a varsity athlete and an avid runner the information contained in the Foods to eat section for: muscle gain, running, before and after workout seems to be correct to me. I can’t think of any fellow sport mate who’d say otherwise.

For example, the what to eat for running sections makes mention of quite a few carbohydrates -  if you are an athlete not only a runner you understand the vital role these micronutrients play when it comes to performing. Healthy carbohydrates of course such as grains (brown rice), sweet potatoes, bananas (such as indicated in the post).

If you are familiar with the world of running, it should be no secret to you that most runners know they should eat pasta, rice, potatoes, or other high-carb foods before a half or full marathon (which is known as carbo-load). After all, carbs are a great source of energy, and you need a lot of energy to cover 13.1 or 26.2 miles. Having said that, if you are unfamiliar with Carb science I would recommend you read on it, it’s very interesting.  

A bit of carb science:

When you eat a bowl of spaghetti, most of the carbs are stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver. Glycogen is your body’s most easily accessible form of energy, but it’s not the only source. During a half or full marathon, you burn both glycogen and fat. But the latter is not as efficient, which means your body has to work harder to convert it into fuel.

When you run out of glycogen during a race you hit “the wall.” Your body has to slow down as it turns fat into energy. Proper carbo-loading—or filling your muscles to the brim with glycogen—won’t make you faster, but it will allow you to run your best and, if you race smartly, avoid the wall. Obviously, as mentioned above you have to choose wisely and select the proper carbs.

I personally like to stick to same carbs, sweet potatoes, plantains and berries, but runners don’t need to be so restrictive. Tortillas, oatmeal, bread, pancakes, waffles, bagels, yogurt, and juice are all easy-to-digest options. Many fruits are high in carbs but are also high in fiber—and too much can cause stomach trouble midrace. Bananas are a low-fiber choice. And you can peel apples, peaches, and pears to reduce their fiber content. Throughout the years, I have posted several posts about carbs for runners on my blog.

Moving on, as for the muscle building snippet, I think it is pretty obvious that the foods mentioned contribute to muscle gain. All of the foods contained in the post below are loaded with protein, so I really don’t see why the information would be regarded as “dubious”. As a matter of fact, I can’t think of anyone knowledgeable about fitness and nutrition who’d think otherwise. Protein is a major micronutrient when it comes to muscles growth. Protein is made up of amino acids and amino acids are the building blocks of your muscles and body. Without them, it would be impossible to build, repair or even maintain muscle tissue. Protein is made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. Having a sufficient amount of protein will put you in a positive nitrogen balance, or an anabolic state. Being in an anabolic state will allow you to build muscle. Protein is even described as structural components of body tissues such as muscle, hair, collagen, etc., and as enzymes and antibodies.

As for fruits/vegetables I supposed the Fitness Café may be alluding to plant-based protein foods or carbs. A lot of fitness novices make the error of cutting carbs from their diet thinking it will help their muscles grow faster which isn’t the case at all.  As effective as high-protein diets are for losing weight and athletic performance, you still need carbs and fat for maximum muscle growth (all micronutrients). As seen above, your body uses carbs for energy during exercise. If your cache of carbs is low, your body will use protein as an alternate fuel source, and your muscles won’t grow as much as they would if you were feeding them a cocktail of protein and carbs. As for the fat, it’s vital for the production of muscle-building testosterone. (Studies show that guys who eat higher-fat diets also have higher testosterone levels). Good carbs can be obtained from a variety of vegetables and fruits.

Speaking of protein, if you paid attention to the content of the post you’ve portably noticed that protein shakes/bars and foods are mentioned in the after/before and muscle gain section. One of the most important things you learn when getting seriously into fitness is the crucial importance of proper supplementation pre-and post-workout.  Although it can vary by brand, most experts recommend taking protein in two servings: one an hour or so before your workout to tank off your body’s energy reserves, and another dose immediately after you work out to help repair muscle damage and fuel the growth of new muscles.

As a woman, I would like to also comment of the pregnancy section before concluding. Although, I have no intention of getting pregnant anytime soon, I have been reading a lot about healthy pregnancy lately and the foods showed in that section as well seems pretty accurate to me based on my readings. For example, leafy greens such as spinach have high levels of folate and iron, and kale and turnip greens are both good calcium sources. These minerals are important during pregnancy. Furthermore, all women need 10 extra grams of protein a day during pregnancy (for a total of at least 60 grams); beans and lentils are an excellent source, with about 15 grams per cup. They’re also high in fiber, which helps to combat constipation. And 1 cup of cooked lentils meets half of your daily folate requirement. Moreover, considering that many women develop aversions to meat while pregnant. Eggs are an excellent alternative protein source, since they contain all the essential amino acids your body needs. I also really like the fact that they mentioned lean meat because during pregnancy a woman’s iron intake needs to double so it’s important to include plenty of iron-rich foods now.

I could go on and on and give many examples, but I think you get it now. I invite to read more about health, fitness, wellness, everything surrounding wellbeing in general. Do I agree with everything Fitness Café mentioned yes and no, the world of fitness is always debating on various topic! There are a few things I would have added/changed, but overall for starters I think it’s a great post.

SOURCES:

15 Pregnancy Power Foods 

Let Food Be Thy Medicine:

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/let-food-be-thy-medicine-and-medicine-be-thy-food-the-fetishism-of-medicinal-foods/

http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/superfoods-healing-powers

BOOKS:

The Healing Power of Food

Protein - The Foundation Of Building Muscle! 

The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition : A Cutting-Edge Plan to Fuel Your Body Beyond the Wall

Run Fast. Eat Slow. : Nourishing Recipes for Athletes by Shalane Flanagan

Runner’s World Meals on the Run : 150 Energy-Packed Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less by Joanna Sayago Golub

[sanguineascent-blog]

With no offence to you but the whole Darius' vision on Sion and his current status as the Undead Juggernaut is not your idea. The exact same thing was told to me by former decimatus, who was here before you and had a wonderful Darius blog, when we spoke once. I could've easily said this from my main blog, I'm a rp-er too, but I have enough respect for her, who's come up with one of the best Darius, not to get involved. I just think it would be nice to give credit and not be like that - ty :)

I’m going to tell you this right now. If you’re a fellow RPer, maybe you could have shown me the respect of coming to me privately about this, and I could calmly explain the situation to you. But since you chose anon, I have to respond publicly now, and you did not ask about it, but rather straight up accused me of stealing this, it’s not going to be pretty. So if I sound angry? It’s because I am.

And just FYI: starting with “no offence to you” and then anonymously accusing me of something without properly doing your research, is still offensive. 

For one: I have never followed nor seen this “Decimatus” blog before. I’ve only been around on Darius since late last year, after a year of leave where I didn’t pay attention to the community at all, so either they didn’t exist anymore when I came around on this blog, or they deleted before I ever got the chance to stumble on them. So if we had similar headcanons, I would have no idea. 

Because I don’t even know who this is. The first time I’d ever even heard of the URL was after they were long gone. (which, they were mentioned to me in a positive light, btw)

For second, I never claimed this was my own original headcanon. 

If you take 2 seconds to go to my relationships page, click on the word “posts” next to Sion’s name, you will be directed [HERE], to my original post where I pulled the headcanon from. I did give credit. 

TO RIOT. 

But if you’re on mobile and can’t click that post, let me lay it out for you:

If you go to the [League of Legends Wiki for Darius’s Page], click the Trivia tab, and scroll to the bottom under the “relations” section, you will see the following:

Where it is clearly stated that this is part of Darius’ character. 

If you click the [#] links to the right of them, here’s what you’ll find.

[3]

[4]

So TLDR: Before you get on your High Horse to me and tell me to give credit to someone, maybe you should take two seconds to make sure you know the full story before you try to make me look like some sort of headcanon thief. 

I pulled this headcanon directly from Riot and no one else. And I even stated that I did.

I don’t know who this Decimatus person is, and for all I know, they thought up a similar headcanon without seeing any of this info Riot put out. If so? That’s cool, I like the creative train of thought. Props to them.

However, it does exist as far as what Riot has put out there as pretty much canon, and that’s where I got the idea from, and I did give credit to Riot for the idea. 

So next time you decide you want to approach a situation like this, maybe try to ask about it privately face to face and do your research to better understand a situation before you go accusing people of things. 

Especially if it’s me, because I have a hell of a temper. 

[sage-nebula]

I'm sure someone else will ask Alain, so let's go with his family instead! Sycamore, Meyer, Clemont, and Bonnie? (Uh, obviously not the hotness ones for the bbies, haha.)

Haha, actually, you would have been the first one to ask for Alan since I’m going in order received! Someone did end up asking for him, but yeah, you would have asked first. Either way, I’m happy to answer for the others!

And haha, don’t worry: I’m changing the “hot” ones to “aesthetic attractiveness” across the board since that makes the most sense to me (being ace and all), and also because many of the characters requested/sent in are underage, and I feel much more comfortable calling a kid/teen aesthetically pretty (like how wolves are pretty or mountains are pretty) than I feel calling them hot. So no worries there, I’m not calling Bonnie or Clemont anything even remotely close to “hot,” because that would be gross, lmao.

—Sycamore—

General Opinion: 

fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual light of my life

Aesthetic Attractiveness Level: 

get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically aesthetically attractive but not my type | pretty aesthetically attractive | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang

Hogwarts House: 

Gryffindor | Slytherin | Ravenclaw | Hufflepuff

Best Quality:

PAPA SYCAMORE IS THE BEST PAPA, 100/100, IT’S HIGHLY ENCOURAGED THAT HE OFFICIALLY ADOPT ALAN ASAP.

More calmly/seriously, Sycamore is protective, patient, understanding, and kind. He nurtures and encourages kids—all kids, really, but especially his kids—to grow and experience the world, to understand it at their own pace and in their own way. He’s so nurturing and wonderful and is just, all around, the best dad. ♥ (And especially the best dad for Alan, hands down, fate wanted this to happen, it wasn’t coincidence that Sycamore found Alan that day.)

Worst Quality:

HE DIDN’T GO SAVE HIS SON WHEN HE WAS SUPPOSED TO

This is delving into headcanon a bit, but I think that Sycamore—despite how much he loves the people close to him, how understanding and nurturing he can be—can sometimes be a bit … out of touch? … with deeper emotional issues, or rather … he doesn’t always think of them, he has the tendency to just think that things in his interpersonal relationships are okay until it’s specifically brought to his attention that it isn’t. This doesn’t tend to be a huge problem, but for instance, the reason why he never officially adopted Alan was simply because he figured things were fine the way they were, never thought about it, it never came up, and he never clued into the fact that this has been something that Alan has had an internal complex over since childhood (in that his being an orphan has always been something that bothered him, and he has—ever since he was five, probably even younger—had the thought that he needs to be good enough to be adopted. So with Sycamore, Alan has thought, “Okay, if I’m good enough, then he’ll want to adopt me,” and so he’s done his absolute best to be good enough … and Sycamore is just … completely unaware of this, and the thought of official adoption hasn’t crossed his mind, because in his mind Alan is already as good as his son and that’s that). So it’s not a bad quality per se, but it’s just a part of how he is, and since Alan is the type to not speak up about his feelings, things just kind of sit there until a third party intervenes.

Ship Them With:

Meyer

Brotp Them With:

ALAN (best father-son duo ♥)

Gabrielle

Lizardon (look, that little bit in XYZ036 was goddamn precious, okay, Lizardon was so happy to have Sycamore’s praise and to be pet by him!!)

Clemont and Bonnie (his future stepchildren), especially Bonnie

Diantha

Steven Stone

Fulbert >_>;;

Needs to Stay Away From:

Part of me wants to say “LYSANDRE,” but on the other hand I still wish that he had actually confronted Lysandre, that he and Lysandre could have thrown down in canon, because I wanted to see nothing more than Papa Wolf Sycamore ripping out Lysandre’s throat after the way Lysandre treated Alan, tbqh. I still need to finish both the detention center fic and Pet Project to get my fill of what canon denied me.

Other than that, though, Lysandre. Also, in terms of To Devour the Sun, Lusamine, although … well, it’s sort of a similar situation to the Lysandre situation, in all honesty, but kind of … actually … worse. You’ll see why in a couple chapters.

Misc. Thoughts:

I admit that I really was not fond of game!Sycamore, and I’m still not in all honesty, but the anime really redeemed him in my eyes and I love him a lot. Now he just needs to officially adopt his son and everything will be okay. Get on it, Sycamore!!

—Meyer—

General Opinion:

fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual light of my life

Aesthetic Attractiveness Level:

get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically aesthetically attractive but not my type | pretty aesthetically attractive | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang

Hogwarts House:

Gryffindor | Slytherin | Ravenclaw | Hufflepuff

I’m actually pretty torn here, and I’d have to do a more indepth analysis to make a final determination. It doesn’t help—in fact, it really doesn’t help—that we saw so little of Meyer in canon.

The issue here is not so much what Meyer does, but rather, why he does it. We know that he runs around as Blaziken Mask whenever there’s danger, whenever something is threatening Lumiose City/Kalos as a whole. I feel like for most people that would slam dunk him into Gryffindor, but I disagree, because the question here is why Meyer is doing that. Is he doing it because it’s the Right Thing to do, and he therefore feels a moral obligation to step up and do the thing? Or is he doing it because he sees Lumiose City (and possibly Kalos by extension) as his community, and he feels a devotion and duty toward his community? Because while doing the Right Thing steers him toward Gryffindor, while feeling strong communal loyalty and wanting to do right by his community/those he sees as people worth protecting is Hufflepuff.

So I’d really need to spend more time thinking about this, but at the moment I could see either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff for Meyer.

Best Quality:

Definitely his willingness to protect others regardless of the danger he faces himself in the process. Regardless of his broader motivations for doing it, the fact remains that Meyer has, on multiple occasions, put both himself and Toast (his blaziken) in harm’s way in order to protect others. On most occasions these are people he personally knows and loves (e.g. Sycamore, Bonnie), but there are also instances where he has rescued someone he doesn’t know at all (e.g. Ash and Pikachu at the start of the series). Meyer wouldn’t run around as Blaziken Mask if he wasn’t willing to endanger himself protecting those who need protection, and that’s definitely an admirable quality.

Worst Quality:

While he has good reasons for it / it’s justified in his mind, the fact remains that Meyer still finds it pretty easy to keep secrets from those he’s closest to, namely with regards to the whole Blaziken Mask thing. He didn’t bat an eye about it even when he met up with his own children while in disguise, and he would have never told them had his mask not fallen off in the midst of battle. Again, he has good reasons for it, he doesn’t want them hurt if anyone decides to pick a fight with him because of his secret identity—but the ease with which he keeps secrets and lies probably does quality for a worst quality if I had to pick one.

Ship Them With:

Sycamore

Brotp Them With:

Clemont and Bonnie, his children

Alan, tbh, because I think he’d be such a good stepdad for Alan

His ex-wife, Teresa

Needs to Stay Away From:

He wears a cape as Blaziken Mask, so … jet engines? :P

Misc. Thoughts:

He’s also a really fantastic dad and I have at least one moment planned for him in To Devour the Sun that I’m really looking forward to. Also, he’s the reason in the prime timeline why Sycamore finally wisens up and talks to Alan about official adoption, and though Alan is at first unsure/a bit anxious over whether or not Meyer would want him around Clemont and/or Bonnie (because like, doesn’t Meyer distrust him after the entire Flare incident? That would be reasonable), Meyer assures him that really is not the truth and he’d be proud to have Alan as part of the family. It’s really sweet.

He’s also a great cook, just fyi.

—Clemont—

General Opinion:

fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual light of my life

Aesthetic Attractiveness Level:

get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically aesthetically attractive but not my type | pretty aesthetically attractive | gorgeous! | 10/10

Hogwarts House:

Gryffindor | Slytherin | Ravenclaw | Hufflepuff

Again, I’d want to spend a bit more time examining him, but (perhaps surprisingly?) I’m leaning toward Hufflepuff with Clemont, because while Clemont does love science and learning, it’s the reason why he loves it that matters. I think it’s less that Clemont is trying to formulate his own understanding of the Truth, less whether he’s asking if the things before him in the universe are True or Not, and more that he’s using knowledge and science to help those in his community. Clemont is a rather ardent believer in the fact that science helps people, that it improves lives, and he dedicates his experiments to doing just that. He’s not experimenting and researching because he wants to formulate a better understanding, because he wants to learn and continue to expand his knowledge, but rather specifically because there are people within his community (i.e. people he feels are worth helping/protecting) whose lives he wants to enrich. Again, I’m not 100% on this, I’d need to spend more time, but just thinking of him in a snap decision I’d lead toward Hufflepuff, particularly for how dedicated he is to his purpose. 

Best Quality:

Definitely his passion, and how dorky he can get with it. Clemont is a bit awkward, and he can come across as a bit reserved in most social situations, but if you ask him about science he gets SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED and it’s completely adorable. I love it.

Worst Quality:

Clemont has a tendency to let others take charge for him, which can sometimes even lead to people taking charge of him, in the sense that they walk all over him. He created Clembot specifically so he could shirk his Gym Leader duties, but then he had trouble standing up to Clembot when he got out of control. And while things with Clembot got worked out, and while Clemont did grow as a person over time, even at the end of the series we see that he has a hard time standing up for himself and saying, “No, I’m the Gym Leader” when that kid wanted to battle with Clembot instead. He did eventually, but it was difficult for him. So Clemont’s worst quality is probably his tendency to either shirk duties and let others take the reins so he can do what he considers to be more important / preferable (because being a Gym Leader is important, but Clemont felt that his community was better benefited via his inventions instead), but also in that he can be something of a pushover at times.

Ship Them With:

Ash

Serena

That one girl he had ship tease with in the one episode where Bonnie’s marriage proposal actually kind of worked

He could be cute nerd bfs with Shouta?

Brotp Them With:

Ash

Bonnie

Shouta

Needs to Stay Away From:

Things that can make his inventions explode. :P More seriously, XEROSIC.

Misc. Thoughts:

Clemont is cute, but out of the whole family I’ve spent the least time with him mentally/emotionally, so I don’t feel as strong of a tie to him as I do to the others. I do like him, though. He’s a good boy.

—Bonnie—

General Opinion:

fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual light of my life

Aesthetic Attractiveness Level:

get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically aesthetically attractive but not my type | pretty aesthetically attractive | adorable! | 

Hogwarts House:

Gryffindor | Slytherin | Ravenclaw | Hufflepuff

Again, I’d need to do an indepth analysis, but at the moment I lean toward Gryffindor, because aside from her obvious bravery, Bonnie tends to have a pretty firm sense of justice, seems guided by that, and is willing to step up and be brave because of that. Yes, she did care about Squishy personally, he was one of her best friends, but it’s also true that Lumiose City was being destroyed and she felt that the Right Thing to Do was to reach out to Squishy, to talk him out of what was forcing him to act so aggressively toward so many innocent people. Likewise, she reached out to Z2 for the same exact reason, befriended him for the same reason. So while I haven’t done an indepth examination of Bonnie’s character, I feel like she has far more Gryffindor qualities than she does qualities of other Houses—that her motivations are more solidly Gryffindor (and that this is what would push her to become a Top Ranger in adulthood, an international superheroine for sure).

Best Quality:

Definitely her friendliness, her optimism, and her willingness to try even when the odds seem stacked against her, or even when common sense says “no.” Bonnie is always open to meeting new people and pokémon, and is rather enthusiastic about it; she keeps a positive, upbeat attitude in most situations and she’s always willing to give any new situation her all. Sure, some of that might be youthful naivete, but I think that this is a type of confidence that would stick with her even into adulthood. I think it’s a great strength.

Worst Quality:

On the other hand, sometimes Bonnie can be a bit too enthusiastic or innocently ignorant of dangerous situations, usually as it pertains to getting too up close and personal with pokémon that she’s not familiar with (or chasing them around when they try to flee from her—tone down the Elmyra tendencies, Bonnie), or when it comes to actually dangerous things that she’s not equipped to deal with. Bonnie has a sort of “leap before you look” approach to life at times, which could certainly get her in over her head in the future if she’s not careful. (Also, she really doesn’t need to find a wife for her brother, and in so doing she pretty much ignores how uncomfortable/embarrassed this makes him. Bonnie, stop that.)

Ship Them With:

No one, she’s a baby. That said, I think it’d be cute to see her and Max (who is about her age, and was May’s little brother / one of Ash’s companions in AG) interact, but that’s not necessarily shippy.

Brotp Them With:

SQUISHY

Clemont

ALAN, because for some reason this big brother, little sister combo is even cuter to me than Bonnie with her biological brother

Serena

Manon

Ash

Needs to Stay Away From:

Well, it’s not really relevant in canon, but in To Devour the Sun, staying far, far away from Lusamine would be a really good idea. 

Misc. Thoughts:

She’s going to enroll in the Ranger School shortly after getting her Trainer License, and by the time she’s in her late teens / early adulthood she’s going to be an accomplished Top Ranger, mark my words. It’s literally the perfect career for her, seriously, in just about every single way.