#also this surprisingly only took 53 mins?

[mooneltwo]

Cobylu ponyo but they’re the parents

[just-like-playing-tag]

A totally self indulgent compilation of my favorite works on this blog of the year June 13, 2019 - June 13, 2020

I wanted to do this for the blog's first anniversary but then completely forgot about it lol.

The following lists are all in chronological order according to the date each post was first published.

Top 10 panel edits:

#1: Don and Gilda - Chapter 138: Demon serch (1)

Date: Jun 14th, 2019

Time: ~ 1:30 h

My very first redraw from my very first edit posted here, so it deserves an honorable mention. Back then I was young and inexperienced, I didn't even apply a gray filter (lmao I was so unskilled I even unintentionally scratched the picture, I hadn't realized until today). I'm actually very happy my first redraw was of Don, boy deserves all the love.

#2: Emma and Ray - Chapter 140: I’m Here!

Date: Jun 28th, 2019

Time: ~ 1 h

Back then this looked like so much work to me!!! And to this day, I think it turned out pretty well. I'm particularly proud of how the bow turned out. This is one I was really proud of right after having finished it; it gave me the confidence to try redrawing bigger areas. Also, the edit were I first applied the opacity of layer / opacity of brush for the gray filter that would have stuck with me.

#3: Krone's birthday edit

Date: Jul 15th, 2019

Time: 15 mins

I don't know I just really like how Krone's hair vanish to a more sketch-like style here– and consequently, how I managed to replicate such effect. I think Krone's beautiful.

#4: Emma, Norman and Ray - Chapter 153: Coward

Date: Oct 4th, 2019

Time: 4:07 h (and 67 layers lmao)

Probably the single panel redraw I'm the most proud of. That Norman panel was beautiful and very poignant at the end of a chapter I adored, so I believe it deserved all the time I've spent working on it. It's far from being perfect - the back of his head is too plain, and the difference between my brushes and the original brushes is pretty visible - but I still like it very much and am extremely attached to it. The horn looks kinda big but I honestly believe it to be more of an issue with the original than with what I had redrawn lol. Funny enough, the whole picture didn't make it to the final edit and had to be trimmed.

#5: Full Score Trio - Chapter 154: A Breakthrough

Date: Oct 11th, 2019

Time: 29 mins

I don't have a particular reason for this I just think Emma's hair turned out amazing. It took just half an hour and I didn't even use references like. Wow. @Redrawing skills where did you go please come back

#6: Mujika and Queen Legravalima - Chapter 158: The Reason I Was Born

Date: Nov 17th, 2019

Time: 2:09 h

Sis I love this so freaking much. The shift from redrawing almost exclusively people and clothes to redrawing this mess was so fun and refreshing. Even though it's a mess I think it turned out very clean and overall it looks beautiful? I remember after finishing this I felt so powerful, like now that I had redrawn this thing I would have been able to redraw anything I set my mind on lol.

#7: Emma - Chapter 161: Never Be Alone

Date: Dec 13th, 2019

Time: 57 mins

Again no particular reason except this is a very cute Emma and I think the redraw turned out pretty well. There's this big lock on the left that doesn't make a lot of sense but overall I really like it. Cute Emma is cute, and I love her determination.

#8: Emma - Chapter 166: Going Back Home

Date: Mar 9th, 2020

Time: 3:45 h

I'M SO FREAKING PROUD OF THAT RIFFLE I have not the slightlest idea why this took so damn long BUT I'M SO PROUD OF IT

#9: Norman's birthday edit

Date: Mar 21st, 2020

Time: 1:04 h

This is cool! I didn't know I could manage to draw this, but I did it! The feathers were particularly hard to clean but I think they turned out fine.

#10: Full Score Trio - Chapter 174: A New World (part 1)

Date: Apr 6th, 2020

Time: 2:11 h

I just think they're very pretty? I can't understand if I like Ray's face a lot, or not at all, but I think overall there was a lot to redraw and it turned out pretty cute! Sorry Gillian.

(Also insert pretty much every panel from the chapter 177 Isabella edit– I've spent so many hours on basically every panel there's no way I could choose only one).

Top 5 edits as whole:

#1: Emma and Ray - Chapter 140: I’m Here!

Date: Jun 29th, 2019

Complessive time: 2:57+ h

The very first edit I'm actually proud of; I'm really attached to it. It's the first edit I had put all of my effort into, and I remember feeling anxious people would have left it without notes. It kinda feels weird to think about it now, because I really don't care about notes anymore; yet, it somehow makes me happy to think that past-me wasn't let down. Thank you @neverlandstrio for your support, you may not remember but it really meant a lot to me back then! And it still makes me smile. You're the best!!!!!!

#2: Mujika and Queen Legravalima - Chapter 158: The Reason I Was Born

Date: Nov 20th, 2019

Complessive time: 7:12+ hours

This whole edit was an hella wild ride. It's midnight before a school day, when I think: "Mh, it's been a while since I last made an edit, why not make one about Musica and the queen from the last chapter?" And seven hours after this was born. I'm particularly proud of the queen's redraws on the 3rd, 7th and 9th picture (ofc), the areas which have been redrawn are pretty huge yet I think the difference with the original is almost impossible to notice?? @Redrawing skills where did you go please come back (part 2)

#3: Emma - Chapter 174: A New World (part 1)

Date: Apr 12th, 2020

Complessive time: 6:53+ h

I think the panels that were selected work very well together, especially considering the close-up / full body alternation. I love Emma, and I've always been kinda sad noticing that edits that focus one her take the less notes... She deserves all the love. Also, fun fact: for the last but one panel, I had redrawn Emma's whole left ear before remembering she doesn't have one, so I had to redraw the panel from the start. Besides from the error with the ear, the reason why this (and all the others after) took so long is because official panel take way longer to clean.

#4: Isabella and her children - Chapter 177: Mother

Date: May 22nd, 2020

Complessive time: 13:41+ h (ahah.)

Lmao tbh I can't understand how this has so few notes it's like. Technically speaking, probably the best edit I've ever done. I don't even like Isabella that much, I haven't got the slightlest idea why I decided to spend so many hours on this. Anyway, I find the composition (full body on the left / headshots on the right) really good looking in this as well! And I think the redraws turned out fine, especially Isabella's.

#5: The Promised Neverland manga ending countdown→ 1/7 chapters: chapter 1 - Grace Field House

Date: Jun 9th, 2020

Complessive time: 1:59+ h

I don't know how I came up with that idea for the composition but I find it really beautiful??? I think it does a pretty good job conveying the sudden, terrific shift of atmosphere from the first chapter, and I think that sharp bridge is very nice. I'm very, very proud of this.

Honorable mention #1: Full Score Trio - Chapter 154: A Breakthrough

Date: Oct 13th, 2019

Complessive time: 3:44+ h (+ 1:13 h of working on a panel that ultimately didn't make it to the final edit)

A very good chapter, and the edit turned out surprisingly amazing??? All the redraws look great and make it almost impossible to distinguish them from the original; honestly I feel like I'll never be able to redraw so neatly again lol.

Honorable mention #2: Don and Gilda (+ Norman) - Chapter 160: Shackles

Date: Dec 11th, 2019

Complessive time: 3:14+ h

That one is really one of my favorite scenes; I'm telling you peoples, Gilda and Don are a blessing to the earth. I think I've never mentioned it, but Gilda's hair is a nightmare to redraw??? More specifically, it takes me h o u r s to fill the texture without making it look too weird, it's the worst.

Honorable mention #3: Norman and Ray - Chapter 179: Compensation

Date: Jun 6th, 2020

Complessive time: 4:16+ h

I was so glad to finally be able to make a Norman / Ray edit, and it turned out it was just in time before the series' finale. I like how it turned out and I'm pretty satisfied with the redraws (even though my sister helped me with the lineart of some panels - it was exams time and I really couldn't afford to spend more time on it), too bad we didn't have more chapters that focused on the boys. Ray sweetie one day I'll fix your ear it's just today's not that day.

Btw, I justed realized I have never done an Emma / Norman centered edit? I'll have to make one eventually. I remember considering focusing on them alone for the chapter 154 one, but then I thought "even if the manga is gonna ignore Ray, I will chose to do not" lol.

Top 5 long posts:

#1: Reconstruction of how the Grace Field children were settled in the three bedrooms

Date: Aug 28th, 2019

I just had really a lot of fun doing it. I love putting all the little things to their own place, it's so calming to do and that's why I love making this kind of things. Also, loved how @temporoom contributed to the post! It was so nice of them to add what they had noticed to come up with more exact conclusions, that's one of the things I love the most about the internet.

#2: A study of how many times the characters of The Promised Neverland call each other through the first season of the anime

Date: Sep 10th, 2019

I REALLY LOVE IT! I mean it *was* kinda stressing to note everything, but it was very also very satisfying to see everything methodically divided and organized! And it's not just that– it's also the fact that it looks good. That's one post I have fun rereading because it's actually pretty! Also, even though it can be very stressing to learn to use new programs and sites, it's always very satisfying to look at the final result. Again, I really adore compiling these tiny little details! I would love to make more posts of that kind if i had the time.

#3: The Promised Neverland musicals headcanons

Date: Oct 27th, 2019

I mean it's literally. Putting my two favorite fandoms together how could I not love it. This is another one I really enjoy rereading, I find all the musical / character associations so fitting! I really want to make a second part, I hope to find some time to do it.

#4: Considerations on the reward / eventual series' finales (and Emma's sacrifice)

Date: May 7th, 2020

It's always nice to put down all your thoughts regarding a particular matter. It can take a lot of time (at least for me it does because... I need time to think about things), but it's so satisfying to see all of them there once you're done. Bonus points when, like in this case, it was something asked by someone else because “Wow! Somebody wants to hear my opinion on this subject! I'm flattered (◍•ᴗ•◍)”

#5: Some other considerations on the series' finale and Emma sacrificing herself

Date: Jun 13th, 2020

Pretty much the same as above. It's like some kind of clarity when the post is done and signed. Another fun fact, I had to censore the post a lot; the first version was extremely sharp and harsh, but I believe it's right to express your opinions calmly and politely.

Bonus: A thread of what the tpn characters would wear at the Oscars

Date: Feb 9th, 2020

Imagining all the children in those pretty dresses makes me so incredibly happy (╥﹏╥) I go back to look at that post a lot. I really love red carpets, I love looking at pretty dresses!!!!!

Lmao it's so funny how the post of mine I like the most are also the ones with the less notes

Anyway this was just a personal report! You don't have to read it all (or any of it actually). But it was indeed fun making it! Here's to many more months in the fandom!!!

[lucypeachesss]

The rest of the questionnaire!

51. Are you scared of spiders?

Not really

52. Favorite food?

Anything from the islands since It's what I grew up with, like fish cakes, sweet macaroni, curry chicken exc

53. Favorite foreign food?

Really like Tteok-bokki

54. Are you a clean or messy person?

Very clean and organized

55. Most used phrased?

Huh?

56. Most used word?

What? Lol

57. How long does it take for you to get ready?

30 mins

58. Do you have much of an ego?

Surprisingly no...

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops?

Both

60. Do you talk to yourself?

Talking to myself rn as I fill this in

61. Do you sing to yourself?

Yup

62. Are you a good singer?

Yuuuuuppp :)

63. Biggest Fear?

The ocean and what lies deep within it

64. Are you a gossip?

No

65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen?

The Greatest Showman

66. Do you like long or short hair?

Long, I cut my hair short and kept burning myself with the flat iron when it was short

67. Can you name all 50 states of America?

Ofcourse not 🙃

68. Favorite school subject?

Science but English was a close 2nd.

69. Extrovert or Introvert?

Introvert

70. Have you ever been scuba diving?

No and I probably will never do that 😅

71. What makes you nervous?

Life.

72. Are you scared of the dark?

Not really

73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes?

Never, im very passive.

74. Are you ticklish?

I say im not but I am lol

75. Have you ever started a rumor?

No

76. Have you ever been in a position of authority?

No

77. Have you ever drank underage?

Nope

78. Have you ever done drugs?

..

79. Who was your first real crush?

My kindergarten crush was a real crush lol. 😤 His name was Felipe

80. How many piercings do you have?

Just my ears, I had wanted more when I was 15 but my mom wouldnt allow it and I just never did it after i turned 18

81. Can you roll your Rs?

Little bit

82. How fast can you type?

Fast but I never took the test so idk how many words per min

83. How fast can you run?

Not very, i hate running.

84. What color is your hair?

Brown, theres alot of red and orange mixed in though. I also have one blonde strand.

85. What color is your eyes?

Brown

86. What are you allergic to?

Nothing I know of

87. Do you keep a journal?

Not anymore, i did back in middle school until my mom found it 😩

88. What do your parents do?

Moms a Nurse

89. Do you like your age?

Sure i guess. Only tried it out for a week though so who knows 🤷🏽‍♀️

90. What makes you angry?

When people ignore what I just said 😩

91. Do you like your own name?

Yea. Its ~Unique~

92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they?

I haaaave. 👼👼

93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child?

Probably a boy first but I'm fine with either

94. What are you strengths?

I like to think im a bit nice .. that's a strength to me. 👉🏽👈🏽

95. What are your weaknesses?

People see my kindness as a weakness so

96. How did you get your name?

Grandma babysat a girl with this name and loved it. I got my middle name, lucy, after my other grandma passed away.

97. Were your ancestors royalty?

Idk but my cousin is the prime minister on the islands.. he's hated over there so its not a good thing 😅

98. Do you have any scars?

Yess. My finger and knee

99. Color of your bedspread?

Brown

100. Color of your room?

White, i want to paint it. 😔

Just hit 300 followers! Thanks everyone! Love you all! 😘💕

[cardandpixel]

RocketBook Flip - a rare review and it’s not a game!

Before I go any further, I feel I must point out that I don’t have any financial connection to RocketBook whatsoever – this isn’t a piece that was requested or courted by RocketBook or affiliates and I’m not receiving any reward or sponsorship either in product or direct payment for this article. I just like the damn thing and love it when an innovative piece of tech (in this case quite low key) just works. Hi I’m Paul, and I have a bit of a problem with notebooks – A4 lined, sketch, reporters, Black & Reds (ohhhh the sheer number of B&Rs), goofy ones, serious work ones, battered ones, pristine ‘for best only’ ones – and they all fill at an alarming rate. I make notes on everything. Working as a sound engineer and designer, there’s always mix notes, soundscape plots, ideas, VO notes and scripts, SFX ideas etc etc. At home it’s a very different story – it’s much worse. Game notes; blog notes; hurriedly scribbled quiz questions spurred by watching another episode of Mental Floss’ 500 facts about cheese; RPG notes and story ideas; my own script writing; world building; sketches; other creative ideas; song/music notes and ideas; and that’s before we get to to-do lists; and the dreaded ‘things I must remember’. So my journal life is many, varied and plenty. The usual issue is… ‘what frakking journal did I put that amazing idea in????’, and that’s way before we get to the utter horror that is possibly losing a whole journal or forgetting to bring one home from work. I’m 53, I forget more than I recall, and journals help bring some semblance of order to a massively chaotic and fertile brain. What I’ve needed for a long time is some way of organising all this info or centralising it in some way. Sure I’ve looked at apps – I used Things, Evernote, Notes, and One Note for years, and they are really, really good, but they relied on either having a charged device exactly when I need it (yeah – me too) or net access, which for a new-ish theatre, is surprisingly a bit of an issue at work. And the most important part – I actually enjoy the physical act of handwriting long-hand. I still write actual physical letters to people, it’s adorable and a bit creepy in this age, but I call it charming and leave it at that. Handwriting, for me, allows me time to think and process in a way that typing just doesn’t. Handwriting is slower, I rarely cross anything out, and so I always have the whole of the thought. So what I’ve ideally wanted for years, was a reliable way of organising all my notes and storing them electronically so I have access even without the actual journal, with OCR so they’re editable, and still being a tactile handwritten experience. I’m naturally a sceptic (I actually subscribe to Fortean Times – yeah – I card carry!) and so online ads and particularly FaceAche ads are a field day for critical thinking triggers. I don’t think I’ve ever received from Wish, exactly what I ordered from Wish. And so when an ad from RocketBook constantly kept popping up on my timeline a few weeks ago, I was naturally “it’ll never work” But their website looked legit enough – they had a dedicated UK shop, it was relatively steep to buy in but not so wild that if it didn’t work I wouldn’t be crying too much about the money wasted, and at the end of the day it was a 10th the price of a ReMarkable 2 which is actually what I thought would solve my problem. I’m furloughed at the mo and though I could argue the case for £300+ notebook (test me, I could), I just couldn’t justify it now. And RocketBook had a good summer intro offer. I ordered on the Wednesday, and the impressively glitzy and graphic-design-playbook poly package was dropped on my doorstep just 2 days later by my cheery postie who yelled up the drive “Package for ya, looks very exciting!!!!” I like that our postal service is still invested in the hopes and dreams of their customers. It was exciting. All the instructions for getting started with my new Teal RocketBook A4 Flip were right there before you even open it. The main body houses the pad and a cleaning cloth, and a clever little side pocket houses the supplied Pilot Frixion pen.

RocketBooks come in several models, all configured slightly differently. I have the Flip which is a top spiral-bound softback pad with 21 double sided ‘pages’ giving 42 pages in total. The Flip has lined paper one side, and dot paper on the reverse (great for D&D maps, impromptu tables, mixer channel plots etc)

DELIVERY & FIRST IMPRESSIONS The pads are nicely made, with sturdy covers (available in some really nice colours too) and a solid, thick plastic ring binding. Initially, The RocketBook does feel a bit odd. Its ‘pages’ are actually a synthetic polyester blend and feel quite shiny to the touch. The sort of surface you just instantly feel is not going to be great for ink! Each page is edge-to-edge lined or dotted with a heavy black border. At the bottom is a prominent QR code used for scanning and some very feint icons. These 7 icons are the key to the ease of use of the RocketBook series. But more later.

THE APP

The pads work with a companion app, that is absolutely free and available for Apple & Android. In fact, RB even do downloadable printable pages so you can try the whole system absolutely free before you buy – I didn’t, I just bought one, y’know. The app allows you to set up your destination locations, your preferences and does the actual scanning. Just one quick note, I have the app on both my phone and iPad and had to set-up the app the same for both, there appears to be no way of swapping preference settings between devices, though I can see why this may be intentional.

Currently, the RocketBook allows you to choose from the following locations to send files to: GoogleDrive, box, EverNote, DropBox, slack, OneNote, iCloud, OneDrive as well as simply to an email (or multiple) addresses and iMessage. Impressively, these are not fixed either, so you could choose your 7 destinations to be 7 email addresses of team members. These 7 locations are the icons at the bottom of each page. To select a destination for your file, you just make a mark in that icon box (tick, circle, something unsavoury) and that page will be sent to whichever you select. This makes the system very flexible indeed as not every page is necessarily sent to every destination. You always decide every time you fill a page. Change your mind on a second revision? No problem, add or change icons at any time and re-upload.

There’s a really handy table on the inside front cover for you to note what icon sends what where. This is also wipeable, so can be changed anytime.

I have mine set by default to:

Rocket > main email address (either as PDF, JPG, OCR embedded or as separate txt file)

Diamond > GoogleDrive (you can specify exactly what folder too)

Apple > iMessage

Bell > OneNote

That actually still leaves me 3 spare: shamrock; star; and horseshoe.

The app took me maybe 20mins to set-up, that included decision time for destinations and setting up a few target folders. It also included a few ‘test firings’. I didn’t get everything right first time and a few things didn’t send, but crucially, a tiny bit of digging revealed very simple troubleshooting (including the aforementioned issue with no sync’ing of phone and iPad), and all in I was finding the files in all the right destinations within about 30 mins. The website, FAQs and community are immensely helpful with any other issues as well. I had a tiny issue with OneNote seeming to take ages to sync, but I think that’s an issue with my OneNote settings, everything else was almost instantaneous. You can also handily set the app to auto-send as soon as it scans, or allow for manual review.

CLEAN UP ON AISLE ROCKETPAD The main reason I wanted to look at the RocketBook was the issue of reusability. My journal shenanigans are by no means the biggest ecological disaster on the planet, but if we are to believe Tesco (who probably issue as many receipts at our local Tesco Express in a day as journals I’ve ever used), every little helps. If I could find an ecologically better solution, I should at least take a look. The RocketPads work by partnering with Pilot pens called Frixion. The really clever bit is RB’s paper technology and how it works with the Frixion ink. At present, the pads only work with the Frixion pens – except the RB Colour which works with Crayola’s dry-erase crayons. When you write on the ‘paper’ with a Frixion pen, it remains wet for a few seconds and then dries pretty quickly. There’s no smudging whatsoever in transit, which is pretty cool. From then on, it may as well be permanent, until you have transmitted your page and decide you don’t want the text anymore.  To wipe the page clean, you can dampen the supplied cloth and just wipe the surface clean, it’s weird but it works! But then damp cloth in your bag? So I use kitchen roll to dampen, then wipe dry with theirs. Others even have an adorably kitsch spray bottle in their kit. RB reckon if you are not going to use the pad for a few months, to clean the pages as the ink can get trickier to shift after a long time, but for day-to-day use, I’ve tried writing and wiping well over 20x and the page hasn’t become discoloured or tarnished at all. The only pad different in the range is the Wave which cleans by microwaving! Do NOT do this with any of the others, bad things will happen. The ink doesn’t take scrubbing or any time to come up, I clean my pages in about 10-15s. The page can feel a little tacky when it’s damp, but leave a minute or so and the page will be back to normal. RB do say that odd things can happen if the book is left near a heatsource or in a hot car, vis-à-vis, the ink can completely disappear horrifyingly enough. They say that putting the pen or the pad in the freezer for a little while will actually restore the ink, but I’ve not tried it yet so can’t confirm or deny how that goes. Handy for spies in hot countries though, so there’s another target market. If you are always going to send your pages to the same places, then don’t erase the marked icons, and the page is ready for new notes straight away, otherwise, scrub them too.

I CAN’T READ YOUR WRITING – ARE YOU A DOCTOR? Initially, the RB pads send their files as scans of the pages in high contrast monochrome (colour is available) when you snap the page in the app (which auto-frames for you and takes maybe 10s to capture). The formats are either as images or PDF. If that had been it, I would have been quite happy, but the RB pads have another trick up their sleeve. Firstly, they have a function called ‘Smart Titles’ which allows you to name your files directly from the page by writing a filename between double hashtags ie ## this is my scrawl 24/8/20 ## and the file will pop up in your destinations with the filename “this is my scrawl 24/08/20” – this is insanely handy – there’s no protocol except your own and the hashtags, and it makes your files super easy to search. You can even send groups of pages as a single PDF. But the notebooks go even further. They actually offer full searchable OCR which the app can be set to send embedded in the PDF or image, or more usefully, as a companion separate .txt file. Now, my handwriting isn’t the neatest, but it’s not bad so I was prepared for some editing to be necessary, but impressively again, the OCR was about 90-95% accurate. In a page of text it missed maybe 3 or 4 words and even those not badly. This is all considering their full OCR is still only in beta! It gets confused with diagrams on the page, but that’s to be expected.

Text Generated by OCR: ## Blog post och test Aug 2020 ## This is a little demonstration of the OCR capabilities of the Rocket Book pads and app. I've told the lovely people that the hit rate is about 90-95% so please dant let me down here flip pad. Hopefully the file name will also prove another point further up in the section and not make me look like some charlatan or snake-oil salesman.Hope you enjoyed this demonstrahen, now go away and leave me to write the next great novella.Bye!

HOW MUCH? On average, I pay anywhere from £4-8 for a decent A4 notebook/journal, so at £30-37 (dependent on model), the RocketBook pads are not a whim purchase. That said, I get through a lot of journals in a year, and given that I would expect to easily get 2-3 years out of a RocketBook pad, then I’ve saved money. Will it replace all my notebooks? No. You need to be thinking of carrying this round as a kit: pad, Frixion pen (at least 2), and cloth.  RB do a series of portfolio sleeves for the pads but it does push the price up a bit still, but for a rep, engineer or salesperson, this still makes sense. They’re less bulky than a normal A4 pad too. What I would say is Tesco and Sainsbury’s currently stock Frixion pens and at much better prices than buying them from RB directly, I just paid £3 for 3 pens on offer at Tesco compared to £10 from RB. You get one pen with the pad, but you’re going to want more soon, so stock up next time you’re shopping for truffle oil crisps. If you use whiteboards a lot, RB also have you covered. Instead of the pad, £16 will get you a 4 pack of ‘beacons’ – little self-adhesive triangles that effectively do the same thing as the QR code in the pad. You don’t have the icon options obviously, but if you’re looking to distribute quick meeting or group notes, this would be a boon. CONCLUSION Considering this was a fairly speculative purchase on my part, my early experiences with the RocketBook Flip have been really impressive. The flexibility, the ability to store every page in a different location if you really wanted to make it fantastic for organising my notes, which can save me hours of finding the right ^^$&^$&$ notebook in the first place, then scouring that for the one paragraph I was looking for etc etc. The searchable text facility, in-app history for re-sending etc and last but no way least, functional handwriting OCR, makes the RocketBook not only novel, but actually useable! Would I buy another? As a second notebook – yes. I look forward to seeing what the actual longevity of the product is once I come off furlough and start cramming my day bag with all my junk and a notepad again, but yes, I’d probably just have one at home, and one for work, but make the last 5 mins of each day, scanning and sending work notes so I have them with me wherever. Impressively, the RocketBook Flip just works and it works well. ‘Er Across The Table has already sold several folk at her work on the idea and she doesn’t even have one herself yet! I love it. It’s taking a little adjusting to, but it’s all good. The most important thing though is the writing experience, and I have to say, the combination of the Frixion pen/ink and the polymer technology of the Flip, again, just works. It’s smooth, doesn’t skip or smudge for me (I know some right to left users and left handers have reported some issues) and feels great to write on. If anything I have to slow down a bit as the contact is so smooth that your writing can get a bit ahead of you! RocketBook have produced a cracker of a product. It might not seem like much, but if practical working journals are your thing (ie not create and keep things) then I can highly recommend the RocketBook series.

[br0ther-theloops]

a “should we know us a little better” tag 🌸

RULES: you must answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people (i’m not going to tag twenty people are you insane)

Tagged by @hobisol​ thank you so much for tagging me!! 💕 💕

THE LAST:

1. Drink: water because we have nothing else in my apartment...

2. Phone call: UMMMMM my mom i think???

3. Text message: a group chat between @bangtanboysboo, @lol-hobi, @vrlskaserket, @bubblegumlookinass, and myself and it’s just me talking to myself rn UPDATE: we’re talking about teens making out in a line at cedar point lmao

4. Song you listened to: blackpink’s NEW SONG BECAUSE I FFHUEIWKFHWEukhjgwK

5. Time you cried: i answered this in an ask yesterday but i remember now that the last time i cried was like monday and it was because i was looking up pictures of corgi pups 

6. Dated someone twice: nope~

7. Kissed someone and regretted it: oh yeah, for sure, it’s what i would like to call, my first year of college 😬😬😬

8. Been cheated on: lmao yeah

9. Lost someone special: yep

10. Been depressed: 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: yeah the first and only real time was the saturday right before finals and my friends tucked me in and let me sleep on the bathroom floor 👌👌

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS:

12-14: mint green/tiffany blue, pale pink, and either burnt orange or dark magenta 

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: yes yes yes~~~ i made some of my best friends this past year ❤️💞💘💝💖💜

16. Fallen out of love: oh yeah

17. Laughed until you cried: yeah probably

18. Found out someone was talking about you: ....have i really not?? well damn, either people really like me or im just great at being completely oblivious

19. Met someone who changed you: definitely!

20. Found out who your friends are: i mean, everyone’s my friend. i get the context and meaning of this question, but it’s okay to have friends who you’re not super close with that’s fine.

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: i mean yeah

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: i don’t give out my facebook to people i don’t know irl because it’s used for school and family.

23. Do you have any pets: i don’t have any pets and it makes me so sad ☹️

24. Do you want to change your name: it has taken me a really long time to like my name, so no

25. What did you do for your last Birthday: i got lunch with my family and my boyfriend at the time and then i had practice and did homework because my last birthday was on a sunday

26. What time did you wake up: around 10 but i didn’t get out of bed until almost 11 so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

27. What were you doing at midnight last night: what was i doing uhhhhh reading i think

28. Name something you can’t wait for: my life to finally seem put together lmao

29. When was the last time you saw your mom: my biological mom; it’s been almost a year in a half i believe? and then i saw my step mom a couple weekends ago lol

30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: i want people to be loved for who they are and how they choose to present themselves and not be afraid of being harmed because of that. on a more personal level, i want to be better at saving money lol ooo or to love myself more

31. What are you listening right now: the ac unit in my wall. i rarely have music on as background noise when i’m writing or typing something up

32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: yeah when i was like seventeen or smth

33. Something that is getting on your nerves: uhhhhhhh the fact that it’s so humid in my apartment and the one ac unit is in the wall in my kitchen, which is closed in so the only place getting cooler in my apartment is the kitchen

34. Most visited Website: tumblr lmao rip

35. Mole/s: i have only one mole and it’s on my thigh kind of near my butt! it’s in the shape of an upside down heart!

36. Mark/s: listen, i have a lot of scars because i’m a delicate baby that accidentally hurts themself a lot, but as of what i know i have right off the top of my head: three scars on my forehead, one on my right knee, one of my left shin, one on my right thumb that looks like a crescent moon, two on my left arm which were the result of my clothing hating me, and i think that’s it? oh! and i have a bruise on my side that i’ve had since i ran into a dresser when i was younger.

37. Childhood dream: i wanted to be a singer!🎤 

38. Hair color: right now, a brownish, reddish, dirty blonde, but naturally, dark red!

39. Long or short hair: long. it’s down to my nipples. i haven’t had hair this long since high school.

40. Do you have a crush on someone: not really anymore i don’t think ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

41. What do you like about yourself: i like...my eyes and my ability to not take myself seriously all the time. i also like that i usually see and understand both sides of a situation!

42. Piercings: three on my nose 

43. Bloodtype: O

44. Nickname: most people just call me ashley, but sometimes people refer to me as ash (but like, please ask me first because i do like being called ashley and being called ash without permission makes me super uncomfortable. also ashley is p gender neutral!). my mom calls me ash ketchum, and my family calls me ashley lynn. 

45. Relationship status: 😬  no one likes me so lol

46. Zodiac: libra and i’m three days younger than jimin!

47. Pronouns: they/them/she/her. i don’t mind either!

48. Favorite TV Show: UMMMM i don’t really watch tv but i like steven universe and gravity falls and chopped and anything on the food network tbhhhhhh also stuff like hoarders and my strange addiction hold my attention like no one’s business

49. Tattoos: i have one!

50. Right or left hand: right handed 

51. Surgery: ummm i had two teeth removed and a root canal so do those count? i also had to get stitches twice for cut because i was young and an idiot

52. Piercings: two on my left nostril, and one on my right 

53. Sports: the only sports i have ever done is track and that was for like two years. i dance for fun and perform dance covers with my club!

55. Vacation: i haven’t been on an actual vacation since i was sixteen. 

56. Pair of trainers: like the shoes? um, i have one pair of adidas.

MORE GENERAL:

57. Eating: i was just chewing some gum, but hard boiled eggs?

58. Drinking: water

59. I’m about to: probably make dinner or write, who knows.

61. Waiting for: my ask-kimdaily stuff to come in the mail ;;;;

62. Want: pizza, but a lot of things

63. Get married: idk if i really want to get married, i just want to live with a partner for a while and be domestic and shit because that stuff 👌👌👌

64. Career: a writer or smth who knows

WHICH IS BETTER?:

65. Hugs or kisses: both?

66. Lips or eyes: i really like looking into people’s eyes, but i also have a slight eye phobia so 

67. Shorter or taller: both? it’s not that hard to be taller than me, though

68. Older or younger: a majority of my friends are younger than me, but both is fine

70. Nice arms or nice stomach: both??

71. Sensitive or loud: you can be both tho i’m so confused

72. Hook up or relationship: i mean both have their ups and downs

73. Troublemaker or hesitant: what is this even asking fam

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a stranger: surprisingly, no

75. Drank hard liquor: i’m an actual adult and a college student not to make generalizations but like yeah.

76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: i lose my glasses every day of my life hekwjfhwilukgjr

77. Turned someone down: yeah a few times

78. Sex in the first date: yes

79. Broken someones heart: yeahhhhh....

80. Had your heart broken: lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

81. Been arrested: nope but i have been frisked by a cop when i was 13 because someone thought i stole smth and i cried 

82. Cried when someone died: yep

83. Fallen for a friend: lmaoooooooooooooo rip me

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84. Yourself: is this some naruto stuff or what

85. Miracles: sure

86. Love at first sight: i mean, it was love at first sight when i saw min yoonji so i guess you could say so

87. Santa Claus: not any more. i don’t think i was ever told he wasn’t real, but i just had a realize and was okay with it

88. Kiss in the first date: fam i’ve slept with someone of the first date i think we know what i think--you should only do something, like kiss someone, or even have sex with someone, when you are completely comfortable with the situation and are able to give full consent and are okay with it. 

89. Angels: i think so? i’m not sure lmao

OTHER:

90. Current best friends name: names lmao bethany, becca, erin, julia

91. Eyecolor: hazel/green blue/sometimes they look gray

92. Favorite movie: this is constantly changing but spirited away, moana, phantom of the opera, ooo zootopia, harry potter and the chamber of secrets, and more!

do not feel obligated to do this, this took a long time even with minimal distractions but i tag: @minminyoongi @ahoneyyboy @nochucametru @otpvmin @giveemhelllex @1995winemom @blushguk @chocoulat @lqhani

[ronisasloan]

Who Cares About High Functioning Autistic Adults?

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My name is J.R. and I'm a high functioning autistic.

(This is the point in the meeting where you would normally say, “Hi, J.R.” and then finish your donut and stale coffee)

 OK, this isn't really a support group meeting, mainly because there aren't many meetings for high functioning autistic adults and none that I can find.  I couldn't find any when I lived in Southern California either.

Let's get straight into the subject at hand. I'm 53-years old which means that when I was growing up, all that was really known about autism was what they knew from the severely autistic.

Those that were “on the spectrum” (more about that later) but not noticeably different in the ways that were medically known, were labeled as weird, strange, quiet and several other not so nice words thrown around by classmates and teachers alike. I can name four teachers without even thinking about it.

Same with ADHD, when I was in school the only kids that were diagnosed with ADHD were the kids who had a juice box drip going 24/7 and the kid who crawled on the ceiling like Spider-Man. But I digress.

What about those of us who are in their 40's and 50's and have to deal with stressful and scary situations day in and day out with no help to be found? What are we to do? Is there anyone to advocate for us and get us the help we need so that we don't feel trapped and isolated in our own little worlds?

What about when our own families don't understand us? Then you're really alone. I'll take a moment to let the reality of that set in.

Seemingly easy social situations can be like torture for some of us. For me, it was so difficult that, as a hockey coach, I fought through that fear when I dealt with the players and parents and ultimately that took a toll on my body and I needed to take a break from coaching.

I've since given up coaching and left the sensory overload of California to retreat into my own quiet little world in the Ozarks where I work with those on the spectrum from high school on up and try to help make their lives better.

For those of us who work for Da Man or Da Woman, work is generally a “my way or the highway” deal and that doesn't always work for those on the spectrum.

It's not that we're being difficult, it's that our brains are wired different and maybe a different approach to a task with the same end result would work better for us.

So, there's this joke in the workplace that they call “Reasonable Accommodations.” When it comes to autism or any condition or situation having to do with the brain, most companies pay less attention to those types of things than Wells Fargo paid to their whistleblowers.

Of the last three people I worked full-time for, if I had asked for a “reasonable accommodation” for my job, within a week two the fist pair would have found some lame reason to fire me and the third would have called me a pussy, told me to, “clean the sand out of my vagina” and get back to work.

I believe that too many high functioning autistic adults don't say anything for fear of being outed as someone other than, “weird”, “odd”, or “different”.

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“He has the autism. He's on the spectrum.”

A. No one says “the autism,” nor should they. It's not a disease. B. Yeah. I'm on the spectrum. So what?

Spending months scouring the Internet for help for high-functioning autistic adults, I found surprisingly little. A lot of what I found were people who specialize in kids who also had listings on pages with resources for adults.

To be quite honest, I wasn't thrilled with most of what I found, which is why I took it upon myself to look out for the autistic community in high school, college and young adult age.  That's what I do and who I work with through my business, Not Weird Just Autistic.

High school is generally when teens on the spectrum and their families realize they're not prepared for life after graduation and that's why I chose to fill that very necessary gap.  I also include high school styudents when I reference, “adults.”

On the occasions that I'm able to speak with someone who carries sine clout, I'm told anything from, “We can't help adults,” to “Resources are better spent on other groups on the spectrum.”

I think that my group of peeps, the high-functioning autistic adult, simply just don't fit in and it often seems as if no one has any time for us.  But as much as I'd like someone to make time for me, I'm more than willing to make time for you.

So, I want to start a discussion. Why aren't there more “real” resources available for high functioning autistic adults? What can we do about it? Where do we start?

I'm asking that if you believe we could use more resources for high-functioning autistic adults, please share this post and comment so we can get the discussion going.

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[mwilcock]

THE DAY FINALLY ARRIVED

Lets get the stats out of the way first, the event was a 30k Mountain Bike Ride the 10k trail run. My total time was 4:15:22, bike leg 2:53:22, run 1:22:00. 

This was so much harder than I expected, I underestimated the ride. The hills were steeper than I had ridden, the ground was looser than I had ridden on, it took so much out of me but I had a ball riding it. I had done a reconnaissance ride the day before (because that’s what serious athletes do right) and I had a game plan, walk the hills and ride my heart out on the flats and descents (and try not to kill myself). My average riding pace in training was less than 10k per hour. Yep it’s slow, I’m a slow climber, especially if I’m walking those hills. I looked at what time presentation was and I figured if I could do the ride in less than 3 hours and the run in less the 1 1/2 hours I was going to finish before they did presentations. However that meant I was going to have to ride faster than I had ever ridden before. I was going to need to make up so much time on the flats because I couldn’t ride the big hills.  Big breath in, Game on! 

On the start line for the Duathlon (the Tri athletes had just finished their swim and were on the bike course). There are 3 of us. 2 women and 1 man. The other woman was in my age group. So if we both finished we’d get a medal (no medals for just finishing in this event). The start was on the side of the lake/dam (they called it the beach but there was just dirt) and we had to run to transition to get our bikes. Honker starts us off, my legs are shaking with nerves, once I got on my bike I felt relatively comfortable but it didn’t take long to realise the other lady was a much better rider than me, I lost sight of her very early. Oh well it was never about the other competitors anyway. 

I promised myself during the week that I was going to make sure I took in my surroundings, it had taken me 5 years to get to the start line of this event I was not going to take it for granted. I engaged with all the Marshal's, and the other riders, I took in the beauty of the bush and kept saying how lucky am I. 3/4 around on my first lap a rider needed assistance with a bike pump, sure here you go, not sure why such an experienced rider wouldn’t have his own but hey what do I know. I finish my first lap under target, woohoo only 2 more to go, oh boy but they got tougher, I’m sure those hills got steeper. I caught my leg on the same broken branch twice in exactly the same spot, DORH! Did not do it a 3rd time. On my 2nd lap another rider needs some assistance with her flat tyre, no pump or canister?? She says to me “I was inline for a podium and all” I wanted to say so am I but I didn’t. 

By the time I get to my 3rd lap I am the only rider on course. The Marshals are yelling and cheering me on, offering all the support they could, always happy and engaging. Surprisingly I still had energy to ride the last little bit flat out (my flat out). According to Strava my fastest speed for the day was 27.7km/h, I told you I had to make up time. I knew the run was going to be tough and I still wanted to complete this in under 4 1/2 hours. When I got to transition one of the Marshals asks me how I’m feeling, “I’m cactus” I reply, “Well what do you want to do about the run?” she asks. I look at her with a confused look and say “Well I’m giving it a go” but in my brain I’m saying “I’ve waited 5 years for this I’m not DNFing (did not finish)”. 

Off I go on my run, there is no-one at the first drink station, it’s abandoned, (insert sad face), that’s one way to make someone not feel welcome or important. Oh well I’ve got my hydration vest on so I’ll be fine. OMG I thought the bike leg was hard, in parts there was no track at all just orange ribbons in the trees to mark the way, there was a massive collection of logs that you were supposed to run/climb over, I didn’t bother, there was no camera there to capture my effort so why waste the energy. I saw no-one on the run course until I had almost competed my first lap, it was the aid station, 2 guys and 2 kids and they were so friendly and chatty and making sure I had 2 drinks and wished me luck and said I’ll see you on your next lap. I now have to run through a dried up creek bed with sharp slate type rocks (there was no running). I survive the first lap and I’m heading towards HQ and I can hear they are starting the presentations, WTF, I’m still here, it’s too early, I’m not behind schedule. I was still on track to make it back on time. My husband walks down to meet me a give me a pep talk, I ask him what’s going on, he said they so excited they are running so far in front of schedule..... But hey I’m still here. He tells me later that when they presented my age group and called my name they said “Oh she must have gone home” my husband said “no she’s still out there”. How the hell can they not know I hadn’t finished. I had a timing chip on! If I haven’t come over the finish line, I’m still out there, maybe laying on the side of the track, but hey you guys just pack up and go home.

OK deep breath in, I tell myself not worry about them, this is my agenda, I can’t control who enters these events, it’s not my fault that there is a major gap between me and the rest of the pack. I came here to do this event for me, no-one else. And then just around the corner a snake slithers across in front of me, of course that would happen now, because there is no noise on the track, it’s just me. So now I’m trying to deal with the anger, the fatigue and a bloody snake and I still have 4k’s to go. But remember I didn’t come to DNF!

Now one of the best things happens, before I even see the aid station I hear the marshal, he is cheering for me, he is clapping and he’s coming to meet me on course, he starts tell me how bloody amazing I am and that I’m inspiring him, after seeing me he wants to enter. I tell him I have to vent, I’m so bloody angry. I tell him about the presentations, I tell him there is no photographer on course for my run leg so there will be no photos of me running (walking/dragging my heals). He said right I’ll get in my car now and race to the finish line and make sure I get a photo of you crossing the finish line. As I’m approaching the finishing straight he is flashing the lights and waving and cheering me on. The straight was the longest straight line, it went on forever and didn’t feel like it was ever going to end. I did a run/walk until I was closer enough to run over the finish line. I’m hearing on the PA my name and people cheering and clapping and as I come over the finish line there are cameras flashing and people coming up to me tell me how amazing I am, there are hugs and I’m centre of attention, I don’t have a chance to catch my breath, it’s so overwhelming after spending so much time on my own with my own thoughts. Then I’mm whisked off to get presented with my medal for coming 2nd in my age group. I was the last competitor over the finish line but I still came 2nd in my group. It’s all too much and I cry, cry from relief, cry because I did it, cry because I’m exhausted, cry because it’s over.

My lovely Marshal friend hugged me and sent me the pic he took, the Marshall who asked me in transition if I was going to continue, she came up and congratulated me and said you also helped out 2 other riders on course didn’t you, “yes, yes I did” well let me take a photo of you and I’m going to have a talk to the race organisers about that... whatever that means. 

I finished my race 15 mins under the time I had set myself, I achieved my goal. I am so super proud of myself, there would have been a time when the old me would have bailed at transition, because I would have felt I was holding everyone up, but the new me believes I deserve to be there, just like everyone else. Yeh I’d like to be faster, stronger, fitter, but hell this is where I am at right now. If I had of waited until I was “ready” I would have never go to the start line ever!

When I was out on course I swore I would never do this again, but not even 24 hours later I was looking up the dates for future events, it’s a bit like labour, you forget the pain very quickly and the reward and the exhilaration I felt at the end was so worth it. 

2 days post event and i’m not really even sore, maybe I gave up on those hills too early, maybe I’m physically stronger than I think, maybe it’s my brain I need to work on.

I hope me sharing my story encourages other women to get out there, to aim for something that scares the shit out of them, for them to say maybe I could do that if I just had a go. My biggest piece of advise though is don’t expect to be perfect, don't expect to have it all together straight away. The consistent training and the perseverance is all you need. Ask for help and don't be afraid to share your dream with other people, you will be surprised how many people will stick there hands up to help you. If you are feeling nervous or apprehensive reach out to me and ask me anything you like on insta @livinglifesadventuresmyway or Facebook Margaret Wilcock. 

[operationmeetamoose]

Banff Jasper Relay (I didn’t die)

Pretty much the first thing my new supervisor said to me when I arrived here was “Can you run 10 km?”

I replied, “I can do 5 maybe?”

And that’s how I made it onto the UC Bio Runners team for the Banff Jasper Relay (they were pretty desperate for people). 

The Banff Jasper Relay (BJR) is a 260 km relay run in 15 stages through the Banff and Jasper national parks. Allegedly it is the most beautiful relay in the world. I haven’t done any other relays, but yep, this was pretty beautiful.

I think the last time I did any kind of race was in high school and outside of netball I don’t run that often. By the time I arrived in Calgary I really only had 6 weeks to train to do my 14 km leg. After the first practice (6.4 km) my legs were so sore I was dreading the prospect of having to more than double my effort within such a short period. Thankfully I recovered, bought a new pair of running shoes, and soon I was able to keep up with the rest of the team. 

The race is run in two concurrent stages (otherwise it would take all day). My lab group was assigned the north phase. Half the team went up on the Friday night, and the rest of us left early Saturday morning to arrive by lunchtime.

We took our time driving up and stopped at Lake Louise and the Ice Fields.

Despite the fact that it was summer, it actually snowed a bit on our drive up.

As we drove through we checked out the legs that had been already completed by other runners on our team - one guy had to run a very steep uphill for 6+ km, and others had legs that were up to 19 km long. My leg was 14 km and mostly flat or downhill so I was pretty lucky. 

Go team!

Here I am nervously waiting at the starting line for my stage:

The scenery was pretty great:

I enjoyed my run but I was very relieved to see the finish line for my stage and tag my team-mate:

I actually did surprisingly well considering I’d only been training for a short amount of time. I ended up finishing 14km in 1hr 15 mins and placed 21st out of 53 finishers for my leg. 

The whole team did really well and everyone finished so we didn’t get disqualified. Our last runner came into Jasper at about 7:30pm that night. We stayed in Jasper for dinner and ice cream before spending the night at a lodge in Sunwapta falls, about 40 minutes south of Jasper.

In the morning we checked out the falls:

We also saw a few bears along the drive back to Calgary:

And also had a quick stop at Peyto Lake:

(the blue colour is caused by tiny silt particles suspended in the water which cause blue light to scatter - similar to the reason the sky is blue)

Overall, I’m really glad I was a part of the relay this year. The scenery was amazing and I loved having the chance to explore some of the attractions around the mountains. It wasn’t easy but I really surprised myself with my fitness and what I could do. I don’t think I’d do such a long distance again though because it’s so time-consuming! But I am keen to keep running a bit while I’m here in Calgary and maybe do a few 5km or 10km races. I’m lucky because there are quite a few running tracks around here including one along the river that flows through Calgary.

This weekend I’m going down to Spruce Meadows to watch the International-Level show jumping and in just over a week Kieran will be arriving to visit me! I’m very excited and have lots planned for his stay here so I will do my best to keep you all updated on our adventures.

[lleodavis]

2017 HITS Palm Springs “Ironman” Race Report

It’s been on my bucket list to do an Ironman distance race for some time.  After completing the half-distance race at this location in 2013 with a friend (Carlos), we both agreed to come back for the full distance the following year. Unfortunately, it was not to be for either us.  Carlos succumbed very quickly to cancer.  One month he was my training partner, and the next he was gone.  Around that same time I was overtraining, and ended up with PF. I rolled over my entry to the following year and vowed to complete the race next year for Carlos.  However, a year-long deployment to Afghanistan meant a 2nd straight DNS (Did Not Start).  In 2016 I dedicated the 2nd half of the year to the goal of finally finishing this particular race for Carlos, for myself, and all my friends who had supported me in pursuit of this goal.  Instead, I made a series of little decisions that resulted in a DNF (my first and only).  Fast forward again to 2017, and you can begin to understand the importance of completing not just any Ironman, but this particular race.  

 This year I’d have company on the long course with my good buddy Freddy as I had convinced him to upgrade to the full in 2017.  He may or may not have been drinking at the time but I was happy he agreed as Freddy and I trained all summer and fall.  Diana was also back to improve on last year’s first-time half-distance finish. The three of us departed after LA traffic cleared up on Friday and arrived in time to hear the RD’s mandatory race briefing.  The course had changed back to the flat route that it was years before.  I was disappointed, as last year’s route through Box Canyon, while difficult, was beautiful and a great way to break up the monotony of farmland surrounding Lake Cahuilla.  Another new wrinkle was that there would be two different transition areas, but we were starting and finishing at the lake.  Otherwise, the course was 2 laps in the water, 4 laps on the bike, and 4 laps on the run.  Some of my friends can’t stand loops; however, when trying to conquer a new distance or keep track of your pace, the confidence of knowing the terrain makes racing strategy and adjustments easier.  After the participant briefing we quickly set up our things in T1 and took off for our hotel. Despite a few beers and a soak in the hot tub I found sleep elusive most of the night.  Perhaps it was race anxiety.  Nevertheless, I had been banking sleep all week, and woke up at 0500 feeling well enough and got things going.  

 We arrived back at Lake Cahuilla a little later than desired (~0615), and had less than 20 minutes to get into our wetsuits, tires pumped up, and make any last-minute adjustments. This would later factor into my bike ride as I had failed to premix my electrolyte powder (Tailwind) into the water in my water bottles.  Instead it was left in the back pocket of my bike jersey that I would put on after the swim. In no time at all it seemed as if we were being kicked out of transition and towards the water.  The water this year was perfect: low 60s and calm. After last year’s low-to-mid 50s water temperature we were bracing ourselves for the worst.  I later said to Freddy and Diana that what we were most worried about turned out to be the best part of the race experience.  There were less than 200 participants combined between the half and full distance this year.  I’m sure last year’s cold water temps and 20+ mph wind gusts through Box Canyon discouraged a lot of folks from coming back.  Too bad for them, but good for us as it meant a whole lot less people at the swim start.  Freddy, Diana, and I were almost ready to go when we spotted a photographer and got a group picture.  About 30 seconds later it really was go time and Freddy and I were out of position for the start of the race.  However, this would prove beneficial as we didn’t have to fight as many people while swimming, staying on the very outside of the pack for the first leg.  We stayed parallel to the shore going into the sun. I had just purchased a new set of ROKA mirrored goggles which worked perfectly without any fogging, leaking, or pressure marks on the face.  The buoys were a combination of small and tall yellow cylindrical and orange triangle, shapes spaced about a tenth of a mile apart.  Except for the fact that we were in fresh water instead of salt water, I’d describe the course as perfect racing conditions.  

Given how great the swim conditions were I was free to focus on my strategy, which was as follows: 1. Stay relaxed as long as possible, 2. Stay as long as possible (maximizing distance per stroke), 3. Follow through with every stroke, and 4. Kick only as much to keep your hips up (I’m not a strong kicker).  This would be key as I didn’t want to race against the pink hats (half distance male racers), but stay focused on my own strategy.  When I turned the first “L” of the first lap I caught my time as ~17:53 and thought, wow I hope I can maintain that.  A quick check of my technique and breathing, and I realized, yes, I think I can.  Having made the turn with the sun at my back I could see better the line of buoys and realized they curved to the left.  I decided to do what I usually do in the ocean and focus on the target farthest away, which took me away from the closest buoys but put me on a more direct path to the last buoy.  As a result, I encountered only one other swimmer.  He was alternating between breaststroke and freestyle.  During freestyle he kicked way too much and would be faster than me during that portion, but then I would pass him during breaststroke.  After a couple of times of leapfrogging each other, one of his kicks caught my forearm and I got pissed.  While any type of stroke is legal in triathlons it’s really inconsiderate to do it in close proximity to anyone.  Still, I’m pretty sure I caught up to this guy and he was swimming away from everyone else so he could do his own thing.  I quickly went back to focusing on my preferred swim mechanics and was happy to realize we were close to the final turn (for him).  I finished the first lap (1.2 miles) in about 36:13, which I realized would put me on a crazy PR if I could double that.  As I come from a trail running background a quote popped into my mind, “It’s not about who’s the fastest, it’s about who slows down the least.”  I set my mind to not slowing down and getting my time under 1 hour and 15 mins.  The 2nd lap was easier going back into the sun as it was a little higher, and there were very few swimmers in front of me.  I found myself trying to catch up to a few of the swimmers ahead of me, and slowly but surely caught up before the 5th buoy and other end of the lake.  I’m not sure if it was because I swam a more efficient route (I’m better than average at sighting), picked up my pacing, or if they were tiring.  When I turned the “L” for a second time at ~55:26 I knew I had slowed down some, but I was going to push to the finish.  I again lined up for a straight shot on the final buoy and had not a single swimmer in front of me as they again stayed closer to the buoy line.  The only difference on this final leg was that I encountered a little bit of debris in the form of twigs, but nothing like the kelp that one encounters on a regular basis in the ocean.  Last year at this point I was fighting wind and chop in the water.  My hands wouldn’t properly close to catch the water on my stroke and my ears were starting to hurt despite the neoprene cap with chin strap. What a difference a year makes!  This year I was passing people at the end instead of getting passed.  When I stood up from the water I was at 1:14:33 and ran up to T1 for an official time of 1:16:05.

I was 12th out of 37 full-distance participants on the swim.  Not bad considering I used to be in the bottom 25% on the swim. Normally, I would compare against my age group and gender, but there were only 4 of us dudes aged 40-44. However, for those of you that love metrics (like I do), I maintained a really strong swim cadence for me (27 strokes per minute avg) throughout, even pushing to 29 SPM to finish.  By comparison, on my last three long swims (2 miles, 2.4 miles, and 3 miles) the stroke rate was 24 SPM avg.  

I averaged 150 bpm heart rate, max of 174 bpm, which put me right in my Zone 5 heart rate, yet surprisingly I felt like I could have gone another couple of miles.  Maybe not at the 1:48/100yd pace that I averaged, but certainly another mile or two would have been easy.  Perhaps I’ll eventually get to that 10K swim I’ve been saying I’ll do one day.  

T1 was about half the time as last year.  I took my time first eating a macadamia nut cookie from subway and drinking some water, then toweling off, mainly my legs as I wanted to keep my socks somewhat dry. Moisture-wicking socks are more effective if they’re mostly dry to begin with.  I zipped up my bike jersey over my tri suit (which had my nutrition, a 2nd spare inner tube, and my phone), grabbed my aero helmet, and took off. Total time 5:28.

I immediately felt better on the bike portion compared to last year.  I was in far better shape after the swim this year and knew for certain I was a better conditioned rider.  The route was 4 loops starting at Lake Cahuilla and ending at T2 only 2.6 miles away.  One of the things I did throughout this ride was do math aloud.  112 miles minus 2.6 miles is 109.4 miles.  Divide that by 4 and that’s 27.35.  Divide that by 2 and each length of a lap is about 13.66 miles. Break down the lengths of each turn. Ok, that length was X miles..  so many miles until the next turn.  Ok, my last 5-mile split was 19.9 mph..  let’s see if we can keep it above 19 mph avg for the next 5.  I mean really, when it’s you and there are only so many other riders you have to find things to occupy yourself.  I’m pretty sure I sounded like a less gifted “Rainman” out there at times (definitely, definitely a good rider) until things got worse, and then I switched to cursing out loud at times.  My goal for the race was under six hours.  I had completed two half-distance tris where I was able to maintain 20 mph for 56 miles and did that without race wheels.  However, since then I had bought super light, super aero race wheels and figured that they would help me combat the ever present wind that is inevitable in the Palm Springs area.  If you were to have any doubts about whether or not there would be wind in the Coachella Valley, pay attention to the ever- growing number of wind turbines on the West end of the valley.  They’re growing like tumbleweeds in the Mojave Desert.  So the answer is, wind is always a factor, but at least for the first couple of laps it wasn’t that bad.  Excuse me for saying it again, but certainly not anywhere as bad as last year. The course also had only a combined 1080’ of gain/loss this year.  Nothing like the sustained 3% avg climb for 12 miles through Box Canyon with 15-20 mph wind gusts.  Yet monotony has its own price to pay.  Later on we’d later comment that we missed the hills as the change of pace gave us a chance to coast on the downhills.  Granted, that is coming from 3 individuals who have completed 100K or more distances who value the variability that hills provide.  The course reminded us a lot of a trainer ride where there is no such thing as coasting.  I would like to say that I knew exactly how fast I did the first 56 miles, but I mistakenly forgot to turn off auto pause for the bike portion of training.  Moving time was about 2 hours and 51 minutes, which, despite the short breaks I took to grab water bottles of Heed (the electrolyte drink from the aid stations),  I was well on the way to a 19 mph avg finish.  Now let’s talk about where I F’d up.

If there’s one adage that you should always follow, it’s don’t do anything new on race day.  That includes nutrition.  That includes making sure whatever bottles they’re handing out will actually stay in your bottle holders.  That includes making sure your stomach will accept what you’re putting down. That includes making sure there’s enough calories to keep your body going.  Well, I learned that the arrowhead water bottles that they were handing out are likely to slide through my bottle holder because they’re TOO SQUEEZABLE and you’ll have to keep riding until the next aid station in 13.66 miles! I learned that if I’m rushed in the morning I should remember for the LOVE OF EVERYTHING GOOD TO STOP AND ADD THE TAILWIND ELECTROLYTE MIX IN YOUR JERSEY POCKET TO THE WATER BOTTLE THAT’S ALREADY FULL OF WATER.  I learned that waiting to eat your shot blocks, or your ingenious snickers with almonds bar until it’s much later in the day, it WILL BE TO LATE BECAUSE you’re going the distance AND for speed.  And why or why didn’t you just use the same stuff you did in training? Yeah, those wonderful homemade sandwiches (sometime with PB&J, sometimes with Nutella and ohney) that you used with the OFFICIAL UNCRUSTABLE SANDWICH CUTTER sealed up nice and easy inside of individual sandwich baggies.  NO, you had to get all fancy and stupid with the “I ONLY NEED ONE HAND FOR SHOT BLOCKS AND THEY HAVE CAFFEINE WHICH WILL MAKE ME FASTER.”  

Anyway, mistakes were made again.  At least I didn’t lose my vision this year.  OH, on that subject, I stopped twice at aid stations to remove the visor from my helmet and completely wash my face.  The interesting thing is that sweat only accumulated in my left eye twice, which resulted in my closing my eye for a few minutes until the eye generated enough tears to flush it.  Later on when I started the run, that same left eye was just slightly blurred.  I’m thinking last year’s vision problems were a combination of factors, but perhaps the key one might just be the amount of salt taken into the eyes.  I’m a very heavy sweater and I was thankful that while it did get hot at that point, I wasn’t grinding up Box Canyon with both wind and sweat to irritate my corneas. But back to the 3rd lap.About halfway through, the wind patterns did change as it was the hottest part of the day.  I started slowing down on my 5-mile splits, and when I finished the 3rd lap (about mile 84,) I decided I needed to sit down for a minute and drink more fluids. I moved my sorry self over to the curb and sat down and thought, what’s wrong with you.  This is about the distance you stopped last year. Certainly you’re better than this. You’ve gone through dark times on the trails.  You once were counted out and then got up and hiked all night.  Your legs still work?  Ok, get your ass back on the bike and slug it out. I’d like to say that things got easier after that, but at that point the damage was already done.  I could feel both lower quads start to cramp when the leg was fully extended.  Being the problem solver that I am, I decided if my quads weren’t going to cooperate, then I use more hamstrings.  Well, that worked well enough for a while.  The aid station support was actually at the half-distance turnaround.  At that time of day only the porta potties remained, and they had moved all support 1/3 mile up the road to the full-distance turnaround.  When I pulled in and swung my leg over the seat I immediately felt my hamstring cramp up.  Not like someone gave me a Charlie horse, no.  This is the scream-out-loud, don’t-fall-over, don’t-pass-out kind of cramp that comes with dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, and high intensity exercise in heat. It’s a special kind of pain, and honestly, I was glad no one else was there to see me.  It took about 30 seconds before I stopped clinging to my bike, afraid that I would drop my baby, and moved it over to the bike rack that was thankfully still there, and slowly lowered my butt to the ground trying to stretch out my right leg.  As I sat there watching my leg quiver uncontrollably, I again turned to dark thoughts.  In times like those you try to fight away the negativity, but inevitably fear of failure creeps in.  The idea that I could DNF on the same race two years in a row was lurking, and I quickly turned to assess my options.  I had remembered to bring my black “fanny pack” which had a variety of “when things go wrong” options.  I quickly took a salt pill, Advil, and salt chewable (digests the quickest).  I also finished the other half of Tailwind and sat there.  People I had passed were riding by now, one actually asked if I was ok, which was appreciated.  I kept massaging my hamstring and quads, hoping to bring them back to life.  I needed less than 14 miles to get back to T2 and walk things out.  I started psyching myself up.  Carlos would keep going if he were here.  There was a one-armed guy that did the half.  You still have use of ALL OF YOUR LIMBS.  Get your ass moving.  Slowly at first, and take it mile by mile.  Use one leg, just keep going.  I managed to pick myself up and get moving.  I shifted to the small ring up front to test things out on the bike. That seemed ok.  Luckily the wind was now at my back or crosswind.  No more aero, just let it push you.  I saw that Freddy, who had been about 5 miles behind me earlier, was now nearly caught up.  Made sense as I spent about 15-20 minutes sitting on the ground at the last 2 aid stations.  As I slowly pedaled my way back to T2 I started thinking about how the salt tablets would affect my digestion.  I still had a marathon to get through, and remembered what it was like to walk the last 3.5 miles at LA Marathon with double leg cramps, or trying to finish the last 2 miles at Silverman 70.3 in 2014.  It’s one thing to have confidence in the face of the unknown.  It’s another thing to have experienced pain and know that if you’re going to finish that there will be no easy way.  To quote the movie 300, “This will not end quickly, you will not enjoy this.”  But again, I was letting the negativity creep in.  I thought of the 400-lb sumo wrestler that did LA Marathon each year. He had power walked it in 8 hours. If he could do that at his weight, certainly I could as well.  When I finally finished the total bike time was 6:54:35, a 16.2 mph avg.  I finished 20 out of 37 finishers, which was very surprising to me considering how much time I had spent on the ground.  I also had an average cadence throughout the entire ride in the low 80s, even when I was cranking out 5-mile splits at 19+ mph, which is very unusual for me.  I’d like to say what my average HR was, but it cut out on me very early in the ride.

When I got to T2 I asked for help dismounting.  I had someone hold my bike at an angle so low it was only 1 foot high.  It made it a lot easier not to test my hamstring by having to swing it high over my seat again.  The volunteers sprang to work and took care of everything else.  They racked my bike for me, they went and got my T2 bag that I had dropped off at T1 at the start of the race, they were kind enough to take my helmet to my bike and get me fluids.  I felt like it was a VIP experience.  At the time I didn’t think about how unusual that was for a race, but when you only have 37 full distance finishers (don’t know how many started) and it’s getting late in the day, a half-dozen volunteers makes for an amazing transition area.  I’m curious to hear how T2 went for the half-distance racers, but I thought it was amazing.  I sat there slowly changing my shoes, putting all my bike stuff back in my bag, and before I knew it, someone had taken that away too.  Freddy soon showed up and I was so very happy to see my friend.  I could tell he wasn’t having that much fun on the bike.  I knew at this point forward Freddy would be ahead of me.  I really didn’t care that much anymore about beating Freddy.  I had hoped to at least push him on the run, but I knew I didn’t have the legs anymore for sustained running. Nevertheless, we headed out together to walk the first mile of the run. Time in T2 was 14:43.

The aid stations on the run were the opposite of the aid stations on the bike.  I will make it a note to write the RD a note saying can we PLEASE, PLEASE have bananas on the bike course.  Anything besides Heed and water.  But I had been promised a cornucopia of fruit and snacks at every run aid station.  At this point that was my primary mission on the run.  Get to mile 2 and eat high-sodium and potassium foods; whatever I could stomach. Knowing that my stomach would be imbalanced from having so little solid food on the bike and then adding a bunch of salt I figured I was in for a tough time.  Getting to that first aid station and assessing how much I could take in would be everything.  I grabbed a handful of pretzels, green grapes, Ruffles potato chips, and bananas, taking my time to chew each as thoroughly as possible.  From my experience on the Backbone race earlier the year where I took in too much salt, I knew that from that point forward, the ability to take in fluids and nutrition would determine if I were doing run-walk intervals or walk-run intervals.  I asked how far until the next aid station, and was told about 2 miles. I wanted to eat more but was having trouble keeping down everything I had just subjected myself to.  Walk-run intervals it would have to be.  At that point I was really happy that I had put my jacket in my T2 bag instead of my special needs run bag (which wouldn’t be available until about mile 6), as the sun was already setting behind the 10,000’ peaks of the San Jacinto Mountains at 1600.  The run course was 4 laps along the neighborhood roads and leading back to the lake.  There were three total aid stations, with the first and third ones being the turnaround points for each lap.  It was a completely unexciting race course for the initiated among trail running. The best thing I can say about the course is people driving by and honking horns, yelling at us to finish strong, and of course seeing everyone else out on the course.  Considering how empty and quiet the bike course was, this was constant noise by comparison.  I won’t complain about the course design, but it had occurred to me that it would be cool if we ran around the lake at least once.  Of course, the problem with that is running in the dark, or getting lost.  No, they designed a good race course for people who, like me, would be shuffling along in the dark for hours.  We were like zombies; mindless, in search of nutrition, driven by the need to keep moving but forgetful in our purpose of why we existed.  Some of the runners were pure joy to encounter as they overflowed with positivity and encouragement.  I tried my best to do that with every runner, as I believe in karma.  And when it wasn’t returned, I sometimes said a small curse under my breath and wished a small curse upon them.  I wasted my precious breathe in my state to wish you well and you ignored me.  The race gods will strike you down with FURIOUS ANGER for having not honored this sacred code among endurance athletes.  But, like a cat’s memory I moved on to the next thought in front of me.

One of the pretty things about the run was that we were one day short of the super moon.  Although the course provided us with head lamps, we really didn’t need them to see.  The moon was gorgeous and the night was far from dark and full of terrors.  No, the head lamps were so that we could be seen among the cars trying to pull in to their gated communities.  It didn’t happen very often, but sometimes I’d have to check for a vehicle waiting to turn.  That section of the road was the long, boring part of the race that I came to dislike, even though that’s where the most encouragement happened.  I preferred running near the lake, which, at above sea level, radiated both humidity and air that was warmer than the desert air around us.  During the 2nd lap I discovered they had chicken broth, and forced myself to keep taking that in, knowing it was loaded with sodium.  For real, a bowl of that stuff and you’ll have almost your entire recommended sodium for the day.  For us ironmen, it was just something to keep us moving.  I stopped taking in solids for the most part during the 2nd and 3rd laps.  The ability to digest food meant losing blood from the limbs, and I wanted to keep the walk-run intervals up.  At least ¼ mile of each mile I would run.  At one point during the start of the 3rd lap I ran for a half mile and that made up for walking the entire first mile.  By then Freddy was 3 miles ahead of me, and I was realizing I would be out here for too much longer.  I started stopping at the aid stations to sit down for just a minute to get off my feet.  That hot foot that had started developing on the bike in my right foot was starting to come back.  Truthfully, I had done more trail running than road miles, and even though I had a thicker shoe than the Vibrams I trained in, I could feel my feet swelling up and getting angry with me.  I decided to switch to a very pronounced heel to toe stride with less pronation to ease off it, and that seemed to keep it from getting worse.  

When I got to the start of my fourth and final lap, I ran into Diana, who was back from finishing her race and driving back to the hotel to freshen up.  She had her jacket, beers, and vegan food for Freddy and I and was getting ready to catch us crossing the finish line.  I was so very pleased to see her.  Between Freddy and Diana they’ve pulled me through some very, very long races.  They know what motivates me, when I’m not myself (I stop talking), and when I just need to be told to “stop being a little bitch” and keep moving.  Ok, they didn’t really say that to me.  She told me she was proud of me and that I just need to keep walking and that she would see me soon.  6.7 more miles and I would be an Ironman.  About a mile into the last lap I saw Freddy.  He too offered up encouragement and told me, “I’ll come get you if that’s what it takes!”  I let him know it wouldn’t take that, and to be ready when I got to the finish line. I started running more after that. In fact, I caught up to a few people, passed them, and stayed ahead for the next several miles.  At this point I wanted more energy, so I switched to orange slices and water.  I love simple sugars, and with less than 10K to go, I didn’t want to waste time trying to worry about the next lap.  No, at this point it was finish time.  I noticed on my 4th lap that about half the runners had cleared out.  Those of us who were left were mostly walking. You’d think that the tall skinny guys would have finished or the really old folks would be last, but there was no rhyme or reason to those who were behind me or in front of me.  When I got to the turnaround point I sat down again, this time for a few minutes.  My right foot was flaring up again, angry from the run-walk intervals I had switched to. I decided to not push injury and just speed-walk the last 3.3 miles.  I could average a 16 min/mile pace on flat ground with no problem. Less than an hour to go.  I stuck with the oranges and water, making sure to thank everyone still out on the race course for their support.  I have volunteered very few times, but I’m always extremely appreciative of those who take the time to enable us to do crazy feats of endurance, or masochistic behavior (depending on your point of view). With about a mile to go, Diana found me heading in.  I was able to forget about everything for a while, which was nice.  We got to compare notes on how the race had gone, and I was pleased to learn of her finish and Freddy’s.  We kept messaging Freddy to let me know how close we were to finishing. Once we got about 500’ out Diana ran ahead to join Freddy, and I got to muster enough strength to pretend that I was still a runner and not some poser who was out here pretending he was a triathlete.  I crossed the finish line just a little after 10:30 pm, over 15.5 hours after I started. It was the longest marathon I had ever done, and the first in which I started in pain.  In the end it took me 7:03:12.  By comparison, I’ve down a 50K with 4000’ of gain/loss in 90 less minutes. I finished 35 of 37 overall in this category, clearly the hardest part of the day/night for me.  

Overall, I finished 26 out of 37 finishers.  Considering the downward spiral of cramps, nausea, and moments of sitting, I’m shocked I finished where I did.  I was thrilled to have finally finished for the night.  Not for the pride of accomplishment, but because I wanted my bed. I wanted to be resting.  I had threaded the needle between pushing my body just fast enough to avoid throwing up and succumbing to cramps for nearly 8 hours. Not exactly the most fun way to complete your first ironman distance race, but I’m already thinking about how to improve and getting another shot at it.  But mostly, I’m just super thankful to my friends who were there to see me through this, yet again after doing stupid stuff on race day.  Super thankful that we get to share in these moments and keep going.  People wonder why I’m so faithful to this particular race.  I’ll tell you, it’s not the race, it’s not the place, it’s the faces staring back at you when you finish.  May you find those moments in your life too.