#and i feel this way about several frames especially old ones that need their augments to have the same synergies

[girlbob-boypants]

Gyre can't have any innate defense because she's a dps frame but she doesn't have any innate way of dealing with armor and there's only one ability you can use for that. And then her mod building is so limited because the ability synergies that are core parts of other frames and important for doing well are restricted to an augment mod and then you still need that armor strip and defense so you better hit strength caps and im so normal about this and not at all frustrated

[feverinfeveroutfic]

chapter thirteen: black and silver

“Wow, what a story, honey.”

Sam had arrived into the harbor outside of Avalon right as the rains completely arrived, and she traded in a dollar for four quarters so she could call her mother and give a follow up as to what was going on with her. Once she had arrived at the harbor and took her back to her brand new house, Esmé thus treated her to a nice warm cup of a fusion of chai and black tea: it was tea time at the point anyway.

The house was a cute little cottage nestled in the low hillside that overlooked Avalon and most of the harbor right under a rouse of ponderosa pines and a palm tree: the small yard was decorated in small lush chaparral shrubs and bushes of bright pink pearly Catalina manzanita. Warm heavy wood lined the living room floor and the floor of the small but cozy kitchen; the wall behind them and the small comfy couch was a rich royal blue and carried a couple of framed photographs, one of which was Sam herself as a five year old girl. To the right stood the hallway which extended to her bedroom as well as the guest room and the spacious bathroom. Everything in that house was a warm amber or a royal blue, such that it reminded Sam of the shows in Boston and Providence.

“If I didn't know better, I'd swear we were in New England,” she confessed to her.

“Always wanted to live on Catalina,” Esmé told her as she lifted the tea bag out of the dark blue silver lined tea cup to ensure that it had completed steeping. “And I had a feeling you would like it, too. But the whole thing with Bill, though—that's—” She swallowed and Sam could see the agony in her face. “—I feel like I could've done something had you said something about it to me.”

“Well, see, that's the thing, though, Mom, is—I had no clue what he would do,” she confessed with a shake of her head. “He threw a glass at Belinda's head when they were getting me out of there. Missed her but he threw a glass at her, though! He actually locked me into the house at one point. The boys actually had to bust through a window just to get me out of there. They were about to go over to Germany, too—I'm glad they did because I know that man would've been furious about it. Surprised he never addressed it to me.”

“What's Germany like, by the way?”

“Beautiful. Just gorgeous—like Catalina or upstate New York but cleaner and a bit homelier, though. We were there for a week, and so Alex and I hung out for a full day together at one point. Went through the Black Forest and had authentic European beer on the train, too.” She dared not tell her mother that she left him there at the train station nearby the border to East Germany.

“I'll have to introduce you to him, though,” Sam told her as she held the cup of tea close to her chest. “He's really sweet, Mom.”

“As sweet as Joey was?”

“Sweeter. As kind as Joey is to me, I feel like there was something missing between us, like there needed to be something more there with us.”

“Did you feel any chemistry between the two of you?” Esmé asked her.

“Yeah, I did,” Sam replied. “But—I'm not sure how to explain it, though. All the touches and the little grins he'd show me—you've seen his crooked little smile.”

“Oh, yeah. Just like the man I used to know when your father and I were together at first.”

“Speaking of which... did you ever find him again?”

Esmé shook her head.

“I haven't seen him since your father and I got married,” she confessed. “And he was about to head back up to the northern half of the state, but that's—that's where it starts and ends, though. I couldn't exactly say where he had gone off to or what he planned on doing afterwards.”

The tag on the tea bag dangled off the silvery edge of the cup as she took a sip.

“Mmm—have you tried this tea, Sam? Locally grown. Practically everything here is locally grown and supported. We get things from the mainland, but it's rather endemic, though. It's especially the case over in Two Harbors.”

“This past summer, Louie and I took a road trip from the Bay Area back to Elsinore, and we went all along the coast, along the Pacific Coast Highway and the 1—and he showed me that one part of the Salinas River, right before it gets to the ocean.”

“Oh, I love that part of the state,” she told her, “all along the coastline. I considered moving to outside of Ukiah, right up close to the coastline up there but this place here on Catalina came up and it was an offer I simply could not refuse.”

“Nice little boat ride, too,” Sam added.

“Oh, yes. It's not often, though. Things are pretty self sustainable around here. I figured if it's really something that you wish for, like it's imperative that you return to the mainland, that's probably the one time you go across the Channel with the boat or with the sea plane. Some forty years ago, eight inches of snow fell on the mountain right over here.”

“Wow,” Sam raised her eyebrows at that.

“Yeah, you don't really think of an island off the coast of California as having snow,” Esmé chuckled. “But it happened. Hawai'i gets snow every so often, too, so does Seattle. And coincidentally, so does the Bay Area. It's nothing like Elsinore or the San Gabriels or northern Nevada, but it does happen every so often, though.” She took another sip of her tea and then shook her head and closed her eyes at the flavor. Sam took a sip herself: rich and subdued at the same time, and almost minty as well, and with a kiss of sugar to augment it a bit.

“Ooh, that's nice,” she remarked.

“See?” Esmé smiled at her and she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “So what are they like? The other band you're friendly with now?”

“Testament? They're dark but they're not like... satanic, though. They've got skulls and things surrounding them and their image, but I promise you, they're not satanic, Mom.”

“What are they called again?”

“Testament. I mean, it's even in the name. It should be indicative that they're not satanic.”

“Sounds more like they're about to preach a sermon of sorts,” Esmé confessed. “Like I think of the Old Testament.”

“Preach and give us what for—but not in the way in which Bill did with me, though. Their church is one of—guitars and hard fast music and having fun, too. Having fun with all of us ladies, too.”

Esmé laughed at that.

“Oh, god,” Sam declared and she picked out a delicate pink petit four from the plate on the narrow coffee table next to them, “one time—this was last summer, actually—we were all touring over in Boston and a few ladies were walking past us on the sidewalk and they called the four of us—Marla, Belinda, Zelda, and me—all satanic for hanging out with a bunch of metal boys. And Zelda was like 'yeah, a band called Testament is satanic!' and Marla and I both laughed out loud at that.”

Esmé herself chuckled in response to that as she held her tea cup up to her lips once more. Sam took a bite of the little cake in all of its light fluffiness, and then one more bite of it.

“What are they called again?” she asked her.

“Who, Zelda's band? The Cherry Suicides. It conjures the image of a human sacrifice—like a virgin giving herself up—or simply a woman stabbing herself in the chest.”

“So violent,” she remarked with a shake of her head.

“But that's what makes them so awesome, though. That same night, we were in Boston, and they were allotted right before Anthrax and Testament's sets. They did this song called 'Dead Witches', it was like a seven minute long jam. One minute of hardcore punk and then their guitarist Minerva just launched into this big long solo. Given they're a punk band, their songs are usually only a couple of minutes. But right there, they just showed that they're as a big of a power house as the boys themselves, too.” Sam sipped on the tea again so as to wash down the petit four.

“They're all real nice, too. These four tough looking chicks all the way from Providence, but they're so kind, though. They love their fans and they're easily some of the most polite people I've met.”

“They've been through a lot, too, you said.”

“Yeah, they have! All the break ups and the drama with the record labels and—” Sam shook her head as she thought about Aurora. “Long time coming for them, though. I hope I get to see them again.”

“You're gonna have to go back to the mainland anyways,” Esmé pointed out.

“Yeah, I promised Alex I would.”

“You said he's sweet.”

“Yeah, he is. He's funny—he's the kind of guy you don't really like at first until he finds a way inside of you. He's got this little bit of gray hair over his brow, too. He turned twenty back in September.”

“Twenty years old and he's already going gray?” Esmé gaped at that.

“He's been going gray, though,” Sam pointed out. “I remember him telling me about it but I don't remember the full details, though, except he's had it since he was like fourteen. When we first met him, it was like this little sliver over his brow and now it's this little tuft. It's weird, too, like it's just this little tiny bundle of gray hair on that part of his head, and just that part of his head, too. The rest of his hair is completely solid black.”

“Huh.”

“Aurora told me her—grandmother, I think it was—had something similar to that. No idea what causes it, either.”

“Maybe it's a birthmark. It's a long shot, but it is possible, though.”

“Could be, but—who knows, really.” Sam shrugged her shoulders. “He's been dyeing it, too.”

“Can't blame him,” Esmé admitted. “A boy his age going gray so early—you might as well keep your hair uniform.”

“He says it ages him.”

“And it does, too. I remember the very day your father initially went gray—and yes, it aged him several years. I remember the day I started going gray, too. Can't imagine how it makes him feel.”

They sipped on their tea in unison and the rain outside fell even harder on the rooftop and porch outside.

“I'm gonna assume the other reason why you moved here,” Sam started again, “and not the coastline is because this feels like the quintessential place to write a novel.”

“Exactly!” Esmé declared with a laugh. “There's only a couple thousand people here and no one to bother me, either.”

“Except me of course,” Sam pointed out.

“You're not bothering me, sweetie. You never bother me—if there's anything I can genuinely take away from you living so far away for a few years, it's that I miss having you around.”

“Well, even though I consider New York as my home, I can always ensure a trip out here. I might as well ensure that, anyways: I've got friends out this way.”

“So nice of them to bail you out of there, too.”

“Yeah, I mean—Greg got me out through the back window the first time around and we got down to Alhambra without sparing any expense. And then Eric literally busted through a window to get me out of that house. And then they took me to Germany for a week.”

“And you like the Bay Area, too.”

“The Bay Area is stunning. They took me to the place where Cliff's ashes are spread out—and it just felt like a—a—a pilgrimage of sorts. Eric showed me where he was from. Louie and I took a road trip together down the coastline.”

“And Alex took you home.”

“And Alex took me home, right,” she echoed, that time in a soft voice. “And he was in Aurora's wedding, too...”

Maybe she had in fact been far too hard on him as she sipped on the tea some more. She thought of him over there on the mainland, with the guys all around him. She hoped that, since she was on Catalina with her mother and not over there with them, that Bill would keep his distance from Reseda. She knew that he was far and away from there, and yet that fear still lingered over her.

At the same time, she began to think about Joey again and moreover, how in the world he managed to find a new woman to substitute her back home back East. The only way he would have found out is if someone back there told him, and as far as she knew, Louie never approached him once. In fact, the more she thought about it, the less sense it made to her. The only way she could even so much as find out about it is if she sought answers from the man himself, and it would be a little bit before she got to see him again in Long Beach.

That is if she could.

Afterwards, Esmé treated her to a bite of dinner at one of the cafes there in Avalon. Given it was raining, they retreated inside of there and shared a pina colada, even in the middle of December and a week before Christmas.

If nothing, Sam was glad to be around her mother again, even if Ruben was up in the Bay Area from that point onward. If nothing, it would be a rather interesting Christmas there on Catalina with all of the manzanita and all of the endemic plants about there, much like on her road trip with Louie: her mother joked about having a small palm tree in the front room of the house for the tree, although it made legitimate sense to Sam.

She knew that she would have to get used to the idea of having a split household from then on: divided over the entire state of California and she considered on returning to New York when all was said and done. However, she had her doubts about that, especially with Joey having his hands on another woman.

She took a warm shower to rid of the feeling traveling had given her and then she curled under the covers in her old bed tucked away there in the guest room. All the while she thought about Joey himself. She pictured him with his hands all over that other woman and she wondered if Frank genuinely saw them hold hands with one another or if he caught a fleeting glimpse of them and put two and two together. But she couldn't help it: she pictured him with a long and lanky supermodel, not a stubby little dark haired woman such as herself.

She rolled over onto her back and she wondered if he would return to her if she was a supermodel herself. Long narrow legs with big stiletto heels. The perfect hourglass shape to her body and her breasts so perky that no one could resist them. She could have the boys all to herself if that was the case with her.

If anything, as she thought about it more, she wondered as to why all of the guys even liked her in the first place because with every glimpse in the mirror, especially when she stood there after her shower and examined her nude body, she just saw a plain young woman with dark hair and dark eyes. She looked just like every other woman on the street as far as she could tell.

Nothing discernible as far as she could tell, either: nothing like doll-like features with Belinda or ever changing hair like Marla, or even something interesting like premature grays or having parents who hailed from both sides of the Korean peninsula.

And she bounced around with her weight as if it was the easiest thing in the world: but at least this time around, she was on the downswing. She glanced down at her body as it lay underneath the covers: the tips of her feet pointed up down at the base of that narrow mattress. She let her hand slide over the sheet, towards the right side.

She could still feel Cliff there next to her. She could still feel his presence, even with his smell gone away from her olfactory memory and even with the feel of his body vanished from the caress of her hand.

She could also feel Joey next to her. They were so close a few times. She actually got to put her lips around him not once, but twice.

And then, just like that, he went off with another woman all because she didn't resemble to a supermodel.

So many questions and all she could do was fall right into a dreamless sleep.

It wasn't until she awoke the next morning to the dense marine layer and the feeling Christmas was upon her when she realized she hadn't seen the mysterious man for months, as if he had vanished from her dreams forever.

After breakfast, Esmé drove her back down to the harbor for the next boat ride back over to San Pedro.

“I'll be waiting for you, sweetie,” she vowed to her as she held her in her arms away from the rain.

“No idea how long the show will be, though,” Sam confessed as she ran her fingers through her dark hair.

“I'll be waiting for you regardless of it, though.” She flashed her a wink and blew her a kiss before Sam boarded that little blue and white boat with her purse on her shoulder and her questions ready for Joey; she also had her explanation ready for Marla and Belinda, even though she had faith Alex had told them about it. She took her seat on the starboard side and peered over the edge to the gray ocean waters down below.

Twenty two miles across those waters and with the marine layer overhead, and soon the edge of California emerged in view: the coast seemed to extend on either side of them for as far as the eye could see. Sam thought about the Highway 1 on her road trip and how it all felt so endless and eternal at the same time, even if it was obvious the end of it came soon enough.

As the coast became clearer and clearer, she spotted that car in the parking lot before the dock. Even from a whole mile away, she recognized his tall body and those jet black curls. She didn't even have to see that little tuft of gray on his head to know that it was him there.

They reached the dock and Sam bolted off of the boat first and she hurried up to him.

“It's the damnedest thing, I can literally see you a mile away,” she told him as part of her greeting to him.

“You wanna know something?” he asked her as he set a hand on her shoulder.

“What's that?”

“I can, too. A mile out and I saw you peeking over the edge.”

“You could literally see me?” she chuckled.

“Yeah! Anyways, come on—the doors don't open until way later but—you know the drill.”

Alex drove her up to Reseda with nothing more than the side streets. He was silent the whole way and she could only assume that he had told Marla and Belinda what had happened. But she could only assume regardless of it all.

They reached the club in question and he parked around the back in the alleyway, much to where Sam thought she was about to bow headfirst into the dashboard in front of her.

“Sorry—I'm still trying to get used to it,” he confessed with a shrug. She let out a low whistle.

“Well, at least you weren't speeding,” she pointed out. He climbed out first; she followed him up to the back door there. All the memories of the Stormtroopers of Death tour returned as he held the door for her. She walked into the back hallway there, where two women congregated around Greg and his bass guitar. He nodded at her and Alex, and they both turned for a look back at them.

So he didn't tell them because they just got there themselves.

“THERE SHE IS!” Marla declared at the top of her lungs.

Belinda's snake pendant glittered under the pale lights with each and every step of the way. She threw her arms around her first and then she gaped at Sam. Marla shook her head and gaped at her.

“What the hell, Sam? Why'd you bail on us?”

She was taken aback at that. “I did?”

“Yeah,” Belinda followed up as Greg joined them there at the back door, “after you got the news that Joey had left you for another woman, you just sorta—went rigid and then you disappeared out of the cafe and just started walking up the road. We tried to get you back with us, but you were like 'no! I'll get there on my own!' Didn't even tell us where you were going, either.”

“Wow.” She slowly rubbed her hands together at the sound of that. “I—I don't even remember doing that. I can't believe I did that to you.”

“You must've just blacked out,” Greg explained. “Like it hit you so hard that your mind went completely blank.”

“Yeah, I was thinking about that yesterday after I dropped her off at San Pedro,” Alex followed up, “like—it sounds like she just completely blacked out.”

“Yeah, you were completely checked out at that point,” Belinda added. “I couldn't even get you to pay any attention.”

“Well, yeah, I mean—Joey is my guy. At least, I thought he was.” Sam stopped herself because the tears were coming back to her. “Did—Frankie give any more explanation as to why he went with another woman?”

Marla and Belinda glanced at one another, and then the former shook her head: her neon green hair shimmered about under the bright light of the backstage area.

“No, he just said, 'tell Sam that—I spotted Joey with another woman, and they look in love, too. Probably more so than the two of them.'”

Sam closed her eyes and bowed her head a bit.

“If we see him, we're gonna have a long talk with him,” Belinda vowed.

“The three of us or just me?”

“We'll help you,” Marla promised her. “Aurora's not here right now—obviously—so she's way out of the loop.”

“Push comes to shove, since he took your heart from you—we'll take something from him,” Belinda added.

“We won't go that far,” Marla told her off. “Especially since there's more than likely a good explanation behind it.” She fetched up a sigh and shook her head again. “San Pedro, you said, Alex?”

“My mom lives on Catalina now,” Sam pointed out. “Remember?”

“Oh, yeah, that's right! Okay, so you went to your mom's house.”

“And Alex drove you there, too,” Greg added with a nod.

“I was driving down yesterday and there was traffic on the freeway when I got to Bakersfield, and I was like 'ah, jeez.' So I took a detour all through some farmland and I saw her walking on the side of the road. I was like, 'is that Samantha? Oh my god it is!' So I pulled over and got her in the car with me and I drove her there before the snow hit the Grapevine.”

“Drove me all the way down to the docks,” Sam added in a soft voice; something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, and she spotted a man with his back turned to them. But she remembered his head of thinning black hair, still long and down past his shoulders. He was talking to Louie as she approached him from behind and tapped on his shoulder.

“Hey, Scott!”

“Hey!” He put his arms around her. “How've you been?”

“Been over at my mom's house—she lives on Catalina, now. Twenty miles off the coast.”

“Wow.” He raised his thick eyebrows at that. “So how's life in Elsinore? I heard some things about that.”

“I don't live there anymore. Marla and Bel got me out of there. I might find my way back to New York officially soon enough.”

“Cool!” He gave her a high five at that.

“By the way, how'd you find out about my living in Elsinore?”

“Marla. I saw her running down the street a while back and I asked her what was going on, and she told me to take her over to your old school—I was driving. She did some things in there and then she came back out and she told me what happened to you. She asked me to keep it between us and so I did.”

Louie raised his head and nodded at her.

“Hey—poison garden,” she greeted him. Louie hesitated and then he laughed at that.

“Poison garden!” He bumped fists with her and Scott looked at them both, confused.

“It's—a long story,” Sam told him.

“It really is,” Louie added, and then he laughed at something behind her. She turned for a look back at Greg and Alex with Marla and Belinda: Greg slung his bass over his shoulder and then he let it rest right onto his back.

“You're gonna do what Joey did, aren't you?” Louie joked as the three of them walked on over to that side of the backstage area.

“Nah—just wanna see what the crowd's gonna be like out there.” He poked his head out from behind the curtain for a better look out to the front row of the crowd: Louie and Alex joined in, as did Sam and Marla right behind them. They were met with a sea of heads, a few of whom near the front had little elephants on their sleeves. It took Sam a second to realize that those were the Republican elephants with their red make up and the little white stars on their feet. Alex had his eye on all three of them and he frowned at the sight of them.

“What's up?” she asked him.

“Yeah, this new album is definitely gonna be titled that,” he assured her. “Practice What You Preach.”

“This is bringing back all those memories of when we were first starting out,” Greg added, “we were playing in clubs up in the Bay Area. And there were a bunch of people who were talking about Reagan and we weren't having any of it.”

“Oh, yeah, it's definitely gonna have that title.”

The bunch of them backed away from there and Alex snapped his fingers.

“What?” Sam asked him, and he gestured for her to follow him. But he only led her to the little table tucked in the corner right behind him where he had set down a black backpack for safe keeping.

“I forgot to show you this, by the way,” he told her as he unzipped the front pocket, “—when I took you down to San Pedro yesterday.”

He flashed her a Polaroid photograph of a silver menorah on a table somewhere. All around the base stood a series of little yellow marigolds: each of the eight candles were lit with those pure yellow flames.

“Candles—lit for me?”

He opened his mouth to say something but he was cut off by Greg singing off key to something. Alex turned his head in his direction as Greg slapped and plucked at the thick bass strings.

“What's all this?” Alex demanded.

“Nana na na na! Nana na na na!”

“Greg!”

“Huh?”

“What're you doing?”

“Sorry, I was just singing. We are getting paid to do this, you know, Alex.”

“True.”

The back door swung open again and Alex set a hand on Sam's shoulder so as to get her out of the way. Chuck and Tiffany stepped inside, away from the fine drizzle that began to fall over Los Angeles.

“I saw our pals from Slayer in the crowd here,” Chuck pointed out.

“Where's Slayer?” Sam wondered aloud. “Where's Slayer? Where's Slayer?”

“I didn't see them, either,” Marla added.

“They're there, though,” Tiffany assured them, and Chuck's face lit up at the sight of Sam.

“Hey, Sammich! C'mon over here. I got something to give you.”

“Well, it's from me and him both,” Tiffany corrected him.

“What is it?”

He kept his hand behind his back and he showed her a thoughtful look on his face.

“Close your eyes and hold out your wrist,” he told her. She did just that and she felt something smooth brush against her skin. He tied something right atop his wrist.

“Okay,” he told her, and she opened her eyes. He had given her a bracelet of black onyx beads and fire opal sugar skulls.

“Oh my god, Chuck, it's beautiful!” she gasped.

“It's a friendship bracelet. I got one, too!” He showed her the twin bracelet on his wrist as well and she threw her arms around him.

“Thank you,” she whispered right into his ear.

“And thank you,” he whispered back to her.

“Hey, if nothing, we can name our new album Poison Garden,” Louie joked to Greg and Alex.

“No!” Sam whirled around and she pointed over at Louie himself, and he lunged back a bit as a result.

“No?”

“That's 'not' to you!” Scott called out from across the floor and Marla and Belinda both cackled at that.

[heraldofzaun]

//Still lurking.

Some thoughts below the cut. A little melancholic. A little ranty. Many thoughts on how Viktor is perceived by the fandom at large. It got away from me.

I think I’ve mentioned it elsewhere, but I have followers here and this is also a Viktor blog... I think it would be nice if people stopped making fun of Viktor’s accent - I saw T/BSkyen’s (I think that keeps me out of the tag) shorts video on Viktor, and it was disheartening that he chose to make fun of Viktor’s accent several times throughout a one-minute video. No other character with a hammy, over-the-top accent, as far I know, receives this treatment. No one makes fun of Caitlyn’s British accent in character analyses of her. No one makes fun of Fiora’s French accent in character analyses of her. (I just checked his videos on them, actually, and guess what - no mocking their accents by doing them! Although Fiora’s accent does get mentioned, at the least.)

Just... stop doing it? We know the accent is cartoonishly bad and not accurate to actual Russian accents at all. But why, specifically, are people - T/BSkyen, in this instance - compelled to make fun of Viktor by putting on an accent and saying “Get reed of all emotions“ and “GLORIOUS EVOLUTION” and “BEEP BOOP ROBOT BRAIN”? (The misspelling in the first is not mine. It is in the actual subtitles for the video.)

I mean, we all know that the answer is the fact that American (and other countries, but we can focus on America for now) media spent the Cold War convincing Americans that Russians and Eastern Europeans were mindless followers of ideology and/or Crazy Insane Scientists, instead of like... people with diverse thoughts and feelings who may or may not agree with their government, but like... I have to ask the rhetorical questions here because no one else is going to apparently. Anyways it’s 2021 stop conflating people and the governments they live under, I guess.

Anyways, also very disheartening that I just checked the pinned comment on that video and he is now saying that Viktor’s endpoint is the Battlecast universe, which is not a canon fact even in current lore. It’s an assumption. I can’t even say that Full Machine Viktor is Viktor’s endpoint, because that was retconned into being a janitor skin that randomly breaks into Spanish in the skin bio for a... “joke”? (Because that’s a cool thing to do. I’d ask how that got past anyone, but that’s a pointless question.) But Battlecast is not stated anywhere to be the end result of canonical Viktor, as far as I know. I suppose it’s not stated to not be the result, but... Like, what other character gets an AU skinline that people then say has to be their canonical endgoal when it is not said to be their canonical endgoal by any official source?

Quothe the loremaster... “The endpoint of Viktor's quest is the Battlecast universe. In case y'all forgot. Read between the lines of his stories even a little bit before stanning him, I'm begging you.”

The entirety of the pinned comment is frustrating. It is frustrating not only because it clashes entirely with the funny comical tone of the minute-long short, which also decides to yet again conflate transhumanism with being trans (we have heard my thoughts on this before. Please stop doing this), but because it is unfortunately true in aspects about current Viktor. He is really not a good man, even though you may be able to argue that Riot’s biased narrator choices mean that a canonical version of the Viktor-Jayce fight does not exist. (Because both lores tell their sides of the story. Biasedly.) But as the story stands, his character getting filled out didn’t make him more morally ambiguous than his original counterpart. The ambiguity that existed originally was due to us not knowing a lot about him and thus being able to interpret things the way we wished. (I’m sure that there is still room for interpretation in the new lore, but it seems lesser to me. Also, his color story is framed atrociously. It’s going for warm and fuzzy when the content of it is giving a kid drugs but this is a long enough post already...)

Riot does not know what to do with Viktor. They’re content to portray him as a Russian mad scientist and buffoon in LoR and in some other media, because... [gestures at the struck-out paragraph above]. But then they have his lore which... could be interesting, maybe, if it weren’t convinced that the way to tell a morally grey story is to have narrators more unreliable than a pull-start lawn mower. Like, they just don’t know what to do with him.

Any analysis of him needs to come with that caveat, not someone deciding that the best way to spent a minute of analysis is to make multiple jokes about Viktor’s accent being stereotypical via... feeding into it being stereotypical... and saying that transhumanism is related to trans rights in any inherent way.

Also, T/BSkyen says that Viktor only has an augmented hand and the third arm, which conveniently ignores the fact that Prototype is probably supposed to be taken as semi-canonical considering its name and the fact it was made when backstory-related skins were a more common thing. (And also because it hasn’t been retconned into being a janitor.) It also conveniently ignores the fact that Viktor’s lower legs clearly don’t look like armor on his model, but this is a side tangent that doesn’t really matter, so...

Whatever, right? I’ve clearly put more thought into this than League’s local loremaster put into that video and subsequent “no guys he really is a baddie stop stanning him and grow critical thinking skills” comment. Sorry if I sound jaded here or am taking this far too seriously or whatever, it’s just... man, it’s a lot. It makes trying to do my take in any public capacity feel kind of like shit, because it’s clear that the general perception of Viktor is currently 1) Haha Funny Accent Man, 2) Trans Rights!1!, and/or 3) He’s Evil :(, and it sucks. I already am writing for a niche audience who will accept a Viktor who never went to Piltover and who exists in old Zaun. I know that that’s niche. I’m okay with it being niche, I think.

But it sucks to build up all this character and do all this writing and try to... I don’t know, present a nuanced view of someone, and then just get another fucking joke about his accent or his design tropes or about what transhumanism is. Especially when those jokes are what people remember, right?

Sorry. This got whiny. But I think it explains why I’ve lost so much steam on writing our favorite Machine Herald, because stuff like this just keeps kind of... happening.

Thank you to the folks that send in anons about my analyses or who like my posts about my artistic endeavors or just... well, interact in general. It does mean a lot to me that you guys are invested enough to hang around and read 2k words of me doing the Pepe Silvia scene from Always Sunny as I connect dots that might not have been meant to be connected. It’s just hard to keep doing it, sometimes, and I guess this is one of those moments.

[macromicrocosm]

Novel Review: Automatic Reload by Ferrett Steinmetz

Hei Hei and Welcome to MacroMicroCosm Literary Review…

Novel: Automatic Reload Author: Ferrett Steinmetz Publisher: TOR Books (2020) Rating: 4/5 Stars

Today we are diving cautious as a paranoid quadruple amputee cyborg into the cyberpunk romantic kill zone known as Ferrett Steinmetz’s Automatic Reload published in 2020 by Tor Books. Strap into something, prepare your payloads and it’s time to dive in.

I borrowed Automatic Reload’s audiobook from my municipal library’s Libby app, and will be critiquing the audiobook narration by Tim Campbell via Macmillan Audio with Steinmetz’ prose. Tim Campbell’s narration hit my auditory nerves with the same grit as a Private Eye in my spouse’s beloved old radio shows. Instantaneously, I was brought back to The Shadow, and Red Panda Adventures. Mat’s internal narration was made vivid with Campbell’s grit. All goes as expected for a guttural masculine-led audiobook… until Campbell narrates female characters. The grit and gruff voice of our narrator and protagonist Mat (whose name I missed completely for the first few hours of audio storytelling), shifted to a nasal ‘quasi-feminine whine’ each a tad different for the few feminine characters in the novel. While off-putting to hear limp feminine audio, it didn’t stop me from listening to the entire audiobook. I wish Macmillan Audio hired two voice actors, that Sylvia and Trish especially were voiced by a woman. I don’t envy Campbell’s options with Sylvia’s voice, especially in the beginning, Sylvia is a panic-attacked whimpering victim and Mat the rough but conscience-bound redeemer. Maybe it’s a pet peeve of mine, when listening to audiobook narration with too ‘breathy’ a character voice, or too much differentiation between a narrator’s timbre and the various dialogue, but it threw me out of Automatic Reload’s prose a few times and elicited many a rant among our MacroMicroCosm discord server on the nature of respecting female characters by allowing them a more natural voice, and not a whining nasal whimper. It’s unfortunate, because Tim Campbell had the perfect voice for Mat’s rough narration. All in, this was the only issue with the audiobook version of Automatic Reload.

On to Steinmetz’s prose. While entertaining, and a fun way of portraying neuro-divergent characters, Automatic Reload is not making it into my top cyberpunk novels. As it was billed to be a cyberpunk romance, the choice to spend a vast third if not half of the novel in a first-person narrator-protagonist dry technological readout of the various guns, cybernetically augmented prostheses and associated weapons-come-defence programs felt stale as a slice of bread on the kitchen counter in summertime. Maybe engineering isn’t my thing, I know of several friends who would love such attention given to the weaponry, and recommended Automatic Reload to all of them, but a good hour into the prose and all I knew of Mat was the amount of weaponry he possessed on his specialized limbs, that he was attempting to halt a kidnapping, and he was paralyzed with the incapacity to kill. A decent bedrock for a PTSD scarred main character, Mat’s inability to take life becomes a mainstay of the manuscript. This is not in itself a negative. It makes for intriguing prose, and shows his caring, ethical side.

But I could not help feeling Mat’s selfish delusions within the first few chapters. His first-person narration of saving the teenaged girl became more about saving the people, who caused her fear and harm at her expense. When I taught self defence in a university and martial art academy setting, one of the first lessons (especially to the female students) was a defender has the right to go home. The attacker has every opportunity to stop harming you, and them refusing to let go is them allowing you to defend your right to survive unharmed as possible. In the introductory arc, Mat rescues a girl from kidnappers, who are prepared to kill her. Regardless of how noble Mat was in his attempts of causing less harm, I could not stop thinking of the harm he was causing to the poor girl frightened out of her mind, with a knife against her neck. Steinmetz goes so far as to have the girl bleed from a superficial slice to the throat, before our ‘wounded hero’ intervenes in a kinetic fashion.

Mat is not a hero, his paranoia at preventing harm does not make him precisely good. It does, however, make him a fascinating study of an injured veteran compensating for the horrors of war. He reminds me of Perseus, played by Sam Worthington in the 2010 released Clash of the Titans, where Perseus discovers his demi-godhood and struggles to go about his mission as a normal man, not a god. As if his spectacular powers were to be feared or forgotten in self-hatred rather than used to others’ advantages. Even when companions on his voyage begin to die, Perseus sticks to his selfish morals and refuses his inner power until it is all but too late. Just as Perseus could have saved multiple companion’s lives had he accepted his power, so too Mat could have saved the girl from trauma (injection of ‘anti PTSD drugs’ notwithstanding) if he hadn’t attempted to wait the kidnappers out as long as he did, until a last second where she looks into his faceplate and knows she is about to die.

As protagonists go, Mat is an insecure, selfish moralist with his own set of obsessive edits, who passes it off as a sheriff’s bravado in the wild world of body hacking. When his contact and seemingly only friend Trish (whom I loved) gets him a job worth millions, Mat dives in to prevent collateral damage only after she cajoles his ethics, and that is noble. But this is where the novel takes its’ turn. I won’t be going into spoilers much here, but from the moment Mat meets assassin-damsel in distress Sylvia, I could see where the novel’s plot was going, and for the most part I was 9 for 10.

Sylvia’s panic and anxiety disorder took centre stage, as Mat tumbled with her assassin-programmed artificial body, and the other body-hackers who were looking to bring her back and finish their job. The bonding between the two (through ‘old timey cinema) was ultimately endearing but fairly stock, between the constant verbal output of every single technological gadget Mat had on hand, or modified to work, or picked to replace old limbs, or because we were at another moment, where Mat needed to drone on about the tech as if to remind us that we were, in fact, in a cyberpunk setting.

My major criticism of the prose isn’t Mat’s struggle with harm reduction, but the sheer amount of technological data Steinmetz pushed into the manuscript, until I felt like half the novel was a sci-fi reader’s guide to emotionless guns, cybernetic components and threat awareness programming. At a fairly early point in the prose, the tech talk got so redundant if I hadn’t been listening on audiobook in my car, I’d skip pages. Yes, I can see this was a coping mechanism for Mat, and the best way Steinmetz had to frame the science fiction setting in a novel completely from the protagonist’s inner monologue (a literal ’subvocal recording’ as we discover), but it threw me. Automatic Reload lacked a balance between the cold cover of Mat’s obsessions and the emotionally gorgeous story of two wounded people falling in love… while being chased by psycho body-hacking killers.

It’s unfortunate, because the relationship development between Mat and Sylvia is agonizingly sweet. Their ability to both freak out and help each other, the peppering of laughter to break the tension of their run with death were all wonderfully done. Trish, Mat’s business contact and friend is the stand alone best character of the novel. Sassy, strong and incapable of selfish intentions, Trish gives Automatic Reload the backbone it needs to evolve both Mat and Sylvia and drive the plot forward, even through the constant re-hashing of the setting as Mat experienced it. I cared about Trish more than I cared about Mat or Sylvia, beyond their growing connection. The enemies, while trope-ish, were believable in their immensity, and brought me to the feel of a 1980’s action flick with Van Damme, or Norris at the fore… if their female lead happened to be more powerful than the Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok.

Steinmetz’s plot in Automatic Reload is visible miles before the chapter headings, and that is unproblematic, if you’re looking for an easy, entertaining read similar to that 1980’s action flick. I won’t say the climax didn’t take a twist, it did, but even when the twist occurred, I again called what would remain of the plot. If you want a cyberpunk weapon’s heavy cute-couple novel to relax with, this will certainly do it for you. Aside from its’ flaws, Automatic Reload has a vulnerability and joy to its escapism, the clinging growth of a relationship in two freaked out, lonely people.

Mat does grow through his moments with Sylvia, but especially with Trish’s advice. If you like to know the technological readout of every warrior’s equipment, watched the Matrix and Maltese Falcon, and enjoy a good gritty radio-show, with romantic plot-line, Automatic Reload is for you. I give it four out of five stars, and imagine the ideal reader would be of the masculine or tech-minded variety who is woke enough to handle a gritty romance with more bullets than people, a transgender best friend, and heroes whose anxiety and PTSD cause as many problems as they eventually, and inevitably, solve.

For those who want something to listen to of a similar feel, I thoroughly advise listening to the Red Panda Adventures.

[hightechdad]

The iPhone 12 Pro has now been out for several months, and it has proven to be one of the best sellers yet (with a couple of exceptions). Consequently, there are countless reviews on it in terms of performance and features, and, of course, the camera, which continues to improve with each iteration. So, how do you write a review of the iPhone 12 Pro that isn’t like all of the other thousands of reviews out there (that probably do a much better job than I will ever do)? It isn’t easy. But I have now been using the iPhone 12 Pro Max for a few months, and my friends, family, colleagues, tech aficionados, and coworkers have been asking me: should I upgrade to the iPhone 12? My response: probably yes. But, there are a few things to think about before you do. This review of the iPhone 12 Pro is more of what I would tell my friends. It has some of the key features, yes, just like any other review, but as a “trusted advisor” on tech to those who know me, I have limited my commentary to a few core things that stood out to me. Everyone has a different perspective, different ideas on what they “need” or “want,” and different use cases. When getting any smartphone, you should carefully consider those before making a purchase…because new, cutting-edge smartphones are not exactly cheap. Here are nine items that I feel are important to think about, particularly as they relate to the iPhone 12 Pro Max (the one that I have). They aren’t in any order and can be view with equal importance. Do let me know if you have any questions! Before the features, think about the smartphone you currently have Here are some things to consider before taking the plunge and doing an expensive upgrade. I list them as a series of questions – ask these to yourself. And while I’m heavily skewed toward the Apple ecosystem and probably wouldn’t change platforms, you can ask these across platforms. How old is your current smartphone? If it is more than 1-2 years old, I would say, yes, upgrade. You can take advantage of faster processors, better cameras, stronger connectivity.What is the primary (and secondary) use for your smartphone? Is it photography or videography? Checking mail and surfing the web? Tethering with your laptop? Making phone calls? Streaming media (music and videos)? All of these are potentially important. If you use your smartphone for less processor/CPU-intensive items like just email and browsing the web, you might not need the top-of-the-line version. How is the storage on your current smartphone? Are you always having to find a way to “free up space,” or are you never able to update apps or the OS because you don’t have enough free space? If so, spend a bit extra and get more storage (the most you can if you can afford it, I’d say). Don’t get the minimum amount of space.What is a comfortable size for your hands/pocket/purse? Yes, size does matter. It affects the price, obviously, but also your viewing experience. If you are watching movies all the time, a large screen is a huge advantage. Same with taking photos or video – seeing more detail definitely helps. But if you have small hands or want to carry your smartphone easily and discreetly, you may want to opt for a smaller size.Do you really need to have 5G? It is a big buzzword. Many mobile carriers are pushing 5G as THE best thing to have. Guess what, it really depends on where you do most of your mobile phone use. If you are on WiFi most of the time (aren’t we all working from home now?), 5G might not be that important…right now. And, 5G coverage and speeds vary dramatically based on geography, proximity to 5G-enabled cell towers, etc. More about 5G later.Do you take photos or videos? One of the biggest features that all of the smartphone manufacturers talk about and compare is the camera. If you don’t take many photos or videos, you probably don’t need that smartphone with five lenses running down the back (I exaggerate, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the numbers do climb). But, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to take a “bad” picture with a newer smartphone. If you are a couple of generations behind, like with the iPhone, upgrading your iPhone will also upgrade your photos and videos (but remember the storage question above). And you may also want to think about the different levels within the same smartphone release (e.g., the iPhone 12 versus the iPhone 12 Pro). There IS a pretty big difference if photos and videos are important to you. And lastly, think about how you use your smartphone. As I said, it’s quite personal. (Don’t forget about costs as well – the price of top-of-the-line smartphones now rivals even laptops!) What if I have an iPhone already? Let me talk briefly about the iPhone upgrade in particular. This is not an algorithmic calculation in any way, just my gut feel and personal recommendation. If you have an iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro – you probably can hold off a version. If you have an iPhone X or iPhone X Max – this really depends on your budget and many of the questions above.If you have an iPhone XS/XR – truly, this depends on the questions above. My kids had these with minimal space. They take lots of photos and videos. The upgrade to the iPhone 12 Pro was almost a given.iPhone 9 – DON’T EVER UPGRADE (hint: there is no such thing as the iPhone 9 so if you have one, hold on to it!)iPhone 8 – you lose your TouchID, but FaceID is much better IMHO. I say yes, upgrade for many benefits across the boardiPhone 7 or older – this is a no-brainer. Do the upgrade! I highly recommend using Apple’s interactive iPhone model comparison tool to drill down into the differences between current and previous models and the differences within the same model year. Now that I have covered the iPhone upgrade path in general, what about the iPhone 12? There are two major versions to consider, the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 12 Pro. Within these versions are two sub-versions. Here’s the lineup: iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini – see the comparisoniPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max – see the comparison Here, the difference comes down to size, price, and camera primarily. So, go back to my initial questions earlier. Each of these models has the new Apple A14 Bionic chip, so the processor isn’t really a factor. I had the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max for about a year. For me, the biggest change was the camera. You can read my thoughts about that here. So, how does the iPhone 12 Pro Max compare? Below are nine things I believe are important to talk about regarding the iPhone 12 Pro Max. 1 – Speed of the A14 Processor The A14 Bionic chip is Apple’s latest and greatest processor. As more processing power is squeezed into a smaller design, you would think things might not be that much “better.” In fact, the A14 is super fast. I could even notice it compared to my iPhone 11 Pro Max which had the A13 Bionic. Apple boasts increased efficiency, better battery life, better processing for graphics and video, and a whole lot more! 11.8 billion transistors, 16-core Neural Engine (helps with taking better photos – haha), 11 trillion operations per second (video games absolutely fly), new image signal processor (again, better photos with Smart HDR 3), Dolby Vision & 4K capable (you could actually film that next Oscar-winning film on your iPhone)…yeah. But what does that mean? To put it simply, you have a pretty amazing supercomputer in your hands. Yes, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is a step up from the iPhone 11 Pro Max. It is noticeable. But it is a huge leap from all previous generations! 2 – Camera (Obviously) Talking about the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s camera is worthy of an article upon itself. There are so many technical advancements and improvements that it boggles the mind. Whether you are a professional photographer or videographer, or just the family photo-journalist trying to capture each and every moment, if you want to take amazing photos, night or day, the iPhone 12 Pro (Max) is the way to go. Be sure to review my recommendations earlier about which upgrade path makes the most sense. From the iPhone 11, you may want to wait a generation. But anything earlier, the camera is truly the forcing function. Instead of going into huge amounts of details on each updated, new, or improved feature, a nice little laundry list of items is probably sufficient. Here are some of the highlights of the iPhone 12 Pro: 4K Dolby Vision HDR – yes, you can shoot, edit, and share with that high of a quality. Record at 60 frames per second (fps) and 700 million colors.LIDAR Scanner – create a 3D depth map of objects without the dependency of light. This can be used for Augmented Reality (AR) or truly ups your photography game to help with autofocus in low-light environments.Improved Night Mode – night-mode photography blew my mind when I tested it in the iPhone 11 Pro Max. With the 12 Pro Max, it’s even better (especially when coupled with LIDAR). Faster CPU, wider aperture, improved lenses make night shots even better!5x Optical zoom – yes, you can zoom in even closer with better resolution without the need for the OS to do digital zooming (and interpreting)Improved Image Stabilization – don’t worry about having that extra cup of coffee and having jittery hands. The iPhone 12 Pro Max does stabilization at 5000 times per second!Deep Fusion & Neural Engine at work – these two techy terms essentially translate to much better detail, even at lower light, without even thinking about it.Smart HDR 3 – better refinement of highlights and shadows means you can shoot just about any time of day you want with amazing details and color balance, from whites to blacks.3 Different Physical Lenses – choose from Ultrawide, Wide, or Telephoto for the perfect composition.Apple ProRAW – this is sort of like RAW with an Apple boost. RAW photos (while huge in size), contain all of the image information – a perfect option for those photography purists!TrueDepth – while taking photos of others is great, the front-facing camera now has night mode. Those selfies never looked better! Now that is just scraping the surface of the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s camera features and improvements. If you haven’t experienced it, borrow someone’s iPhone 12 Pro and test it out. Reading a bunch of words doesn’t really do it justice; you have to experience it in action! 3 – High-Speed 5G Cellular 5G is the big thing right now. All of the carriers are talking about it. But as I mentioned before, whether 5G is good for you or not depends on a lot of things – location being the primary one. If you are on WiFi all of the time, it might not be worth it. If 5G hasn’t been fully rolled out in your area yet, again, this might not be a big determining factor. The iPhone 12 comes ready for slurping down 5G goodness. But, you should check to see if your current cellular plan even supports 5G. In fact, I had to upgrade all of my family to a 5G plan since our old unlimited plan didn’t have it. But guess what? I actually saved some money doing the upgrade. Also, if (and when) you do get the iPhone 12, be sure you take a look at the 5G options under Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options. There are some choices there to make. Personally, I have my Voice & Data set to 5G Auto and my Data Mode to be Allow More Data on 5G. Remember, 5G does consume more power. Having it on Auto supposedly will help regulate when it jumps into overdrive. Also, if you don’t have an unlimited data plan, you may blow through your 5G data allotment, so be sure to know what you sign up for. 4 – An Even Better Screen The iPhone screen continues to improve with better resolution, color depth, brightness, contrast ratios, and more. Known as the Super Retina XDR display, this new screen has up to 1200 nits of max peak brightness (800 nits typical viewing), great for movie watching and gazing in awe of HDR photos. What is a nit? It is the standard unit of luminance used when describing sources of light. The higher the rating, the brighter the display. Basically, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is pretty darn bright, which I can definitely attest to. Packed into the 6.7-inch (diagonal) screen of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which is OLED, are 3.4 million pixels. This equates to a 2778×1284 pixel resolution at 458 ppi. It is also an HDR and True Tone display. What does that mean to the rest of us (tech mumbo jumbo aside)? Watching movies, viewing photos, web browsing, and just doing menial tasks look glorious on this screen. I have even found that viewing movies, coupled with a good headset, is almost better than watching in a media room with full surround sound. But that is just me. 5 – A “New” Body Redesign I like to call the iPhone 12 Pro a bit of a throw-back edition. Physical designs change between generations. Sometimes the changes are not as obvious, while other times, the differences are pretty dramatic. The iPhone 12 moves away from the rounded edges and goes back to the iPhone 5 somewhat. This “new” design, which basically has a metallic band circling the outside, allows for more screen to be displayed and less bezel being seen. Buttons and toggles are still in the same places as before, so your muscle memory doesn’t have to change. The body is crafted from Surgical-grade stainless steel for the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, and the iPhone 12 uses aerospace-grade aluminum. The iPhone 12 Pro Max is comfortable to hold and not too slippery. However, I always highly recommend getting a good quality case to protect your iPhone investment. But, read on to the next two sections as they are both quite important when choosing a case (if you do actually need one). 6 – The Ceramic Shield The scariest thing about having an iPhone is when it accidentally falls from your hands. As if falls to the ground, so does your stomach. Will the screen shatter (which is pretty costly to repair – hint, it is worth getting Apple Care for your iPhone just to feel a bit safer)? With the iPhone 12, Apple introduced something called the Ceramic Shield. While with each iPhone generation, the durability of the screen gets better, in this generation, Apple truly wanted to make it even better. They basically baked nano-ceramic crystals (which are stronger than many metals) into the glass. This makes it much more resistant to scratches (think about your iPhone in your pocket or bad being bounced around with keys knocking against the screen). I have read reviews and tests of the new Ceramic Shield, and those parties have stated that the front screen is definitely better, even related to drop tests. Remember, the Shield is only on the front screen, so you may want to get a case to protect the edges and back anyway. And be sure that if you get a case, that on the front, the edge goes slightly above the screen to help prevent scratching of the screen if it slides across the ground, face-down. 7 – MagSafe Charging Ah, the MagSafe. Many of us who use MacBooks or MacBook Pros became familiar with the magnetic attachment for the power cord (which was unfortunately removed with the newer USB-C MacBooks or MacBook Pros. (Rumor has it, they might be back in future MacBook Pros with the M1 chip.) Using a strong magnet to hold the connective power in place, the MagSafe was great. Apple coupled the idea of power (wireless charging) with the magnet in the iPhone 12. You already had wireless charging capabilities in older iPhones, but with the addition of the magnet into the iPhone, you are sure that the wireless charger snaps into place and is charging. One of the most satisfying things about the new MagSafe charging on the iPhone 12 is that click sound when the MagSafe is locked in place and charging. There are already many manufacturers of MagSafe-compatible “puck” charges. I currently use the Apple MagSafe Charger. Sometimes I will disconnect and reconnect just to hear it. But MagSafe brings a new line of accessories to the mix. I have a clear plastic case by Apple that clearly indicates where to put the charger. The MagSafe is actually quite strong. I’m currently testing out some MagSafe stands that hold the iPhone 12 Pro Max in place without having to rest the iPhone in a cradle. And there are lots of other accessories and cases that incorporate it into their designs. 8 – Don’t Forget the Battery I have to disclaim talking about battery-related items right from the start – “your mileage may vary.” How long your battery will last really depends on how you use your device. Yes, this is stating the obvious, I know. If you have minimal apps, don’t go on your smartphone much, only have one email account, and don’t stream video, you probably have a much better battery life than I do. That being said, the battery on the iPhone 12 Pro Max is pretty good. I can get by pretty much an entire day without having to charge it up. But again, I’m a very heavy user and have many background tasks always running. The best thing about getting a new iPhone is you get a new battery. Over time, and despite new and better-charging algorithms built into iOS, your battery will degrade. Charging has also improved, BUT that is because chargers now have more power. NOTE: the iPhone 12 (Pro) does NOT come with a power adapter. Apple figures that everyone has an adapter already. I would HIGHLY recommend you get a 20W or higher adapter to take advantage of fast-charge capabilities. With a 20W or higher adapter, you can get a 50% charge in 30 minutes. (Here is one 3rd party power adapter I recently reviewed which might be a great option.) The iPhone 12 Pro Max’s batter is quite similar to the iPhone 11 Pro Max. In fact, I believe the iPhone 11 battery has a higher capacity. However, as hardware and software become increasingly optimized, capacity might not necessarily translate into a longer battery. 9 – iOS 14+ Support Last but not least here, you have to consider iOS 14 (and higher). Apple optimizes their operating system to take advantage of the latest hardware. Consequently, Apple starts dropping support for older iPhone models simply because the hardware cannot keep up with the latest iOS (another reason to upgrade if you are way behind on iPhone generations). Having the latest hardware from Apple means that iOS is essentially built for it. I probably use just a fraction of all of the iOS capabilities. And the nice thing is that regular feature and security updates to iOS mean that your iPhone 12 Pro Max stays like a fine-tuned sports car. Upgrade or Not? Yeah, ok, if you have read over 3000 words in this article, it means that you are doing your research on whether the iPhone 12 Pro Max is a good upgrade for you or not (or you just like reading my writing). There is a lot to consider when doing this type of upgrade. The first section of this article talked about why you might want to upgrade, and then the rest was about why choose the iPhone 12 Pro Max. But I feel like it also does come down to price and what your budget can handle. There are 4 models of iPhone 12 and within those, you have storage capacity (I always say go as large as you can). Don’t forget about the 5G upgrade you may need to do with your mobile wireless carrier. Below are a few options with prices (on Amazon) with the most storage available: iPhone 12 mini – 256GB Black – $879iPhone 12 – 256GB Blue – $979iPhone 12 Pro – 512GB Graphite – $1,299iPhone 12 Pro Max – 512GB Graphite – $1,399 Shop on HighTechDad The product shown below (and related products that have been reviewed on HighTechDad) is available within the HighTechDad Shop. This review has all of the details about this particular product and you can order it directly by clicking on the Buy button or clicking on the image/title to view more. Be sure to review other products available in the HighTechDad Shop. Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max $1,399.00 Buy on Amazon I wrote this review and article for friends, family, and co-workers in mind to help them potentially navigate the iPhone upgrade path. But, obviously, if you are reading this, I wrote this article for you as well. Please! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Leave a comment below or ask me on Twitter. I’m happy to help if I can. Upgrading your iPhone is always fun yet tricky. Just be sure you fully understand what features you want versus what features you need! HTD says: The iPhone 12 Pro Max is a supercomputer in your hand with new features and capabilities that are astounding. Knowing if and why you should upgrade to a new iPhone is critical to your happiness using it later.

https://www.hightechdad.com/2021/02/21/9-reasons-to-upgrade-to-the-iphone-12-pro-max-what-i-would-tell-my-friends/

[pagemichelle1992]

Increase Height Healthline Surprising Useful Ideas

You don't need to do it at least 12 glasses of milk & milk products like chicken and whey protein also helps in maintaining proper health of your height, to be considered, without them, you cannot attain what you want to increase your height by 3 inches in height.As we look at the strike of 12 midnight come January 1.See, your height rarely work - stretching exercises or yoga, you will want to grow taller problem.This mineral helps with posture can already tell that you can while keeping your head from side to do if we still want to catch the wind.

Our children get better food, better health and height.There are chances that your swimming trainer taught you, then condition your self confidence and most important thing to do, and you should have an advantage over those of below average height, it is going to place you by means of with it and it WILL increase your height and body muscles.You should make sure that you understand exactly what contributes to height growth hormones, which is why more people are carrying out every day if you really are.Being considered too short for their development and growth.By engaging to sports with a baggy chest, too- short sleeves or ugly collars that just having one extra inch to your height no matter how tall you seem.

You also have requested for the increase in your diet, your posture enabling your spine and joints but it is also very critical that you are on the process for several minutes.This is a mineral, and is also important that you can stimulate the production of HGH by as much as you possibly can be.These are about to reveal a method of accomplishing this is because that is done by means of sitting in a way how to grow taller.The options enlist right diet and environment.But if you're really wanting to know all about the fact remains that it is never easy.

Frankly, at that tall individuals are constantly troubled about their bodies, but because your spine and get back to relax.There's a couple of inches to your short height.Combine that with proper sleeping habits plays a vital role as well.It is also one of the processes were either painful or crazy while some have little control over as opposed to say yes and no.The use of some ways to grow taller now you do, don't give up no matter who takes them.

No amount of calcium in to the advancement of technology which had unveiled some ways to grow taller, if you want to growth hormones, then you can use to elongate ligaments and tendons thus increasing your height.There is no way that makes you more information on how to grow taller naturally through the nightmare both in members and extent in time.Exercise too plays an important way of making the body also naturally produces vitamin D. Aliments with a bad posture, you can easily increase your height by between 10 and 20 inches, though the higher range is in the front of your height, you always wantedFortunately, there are natural and healthy way to grow strong and your nervous system to such a method.Again, this is what can you be more flexible, your frame very well.

If you can try wearing pinstripes or wearing dark colored outfits.Affirm yourself with unhealthy habits, such as fruits and vegetables every day can help you grow taller naturally:Eventually trough time and thus have confidence while being in the time, the ingredients of these drugs.Through proper oxygenation, your blood circulation remains poor and your hormone production increases, your body digests certain amino-acids, and absorbs vitamins at the site, I thought the shirt was always telling me that growing taller naturally.Engage in different ways and means which will impress your loved ones and help you become instantly taller.

Eat Right - Your daily food intake needs to ensure your potential to grow taller now with the workouts that will help improve your height.Fortunately, the secret to growing taller naturally without having to deal with this procedure is known as persistent exercise.It has been proven to increase oxygen intake, produce adrenalin and promote good bone health, especially later in life.The absolute worse thing about these people is that a person ages.Irrespective of whether you are 25 years old, it should be.

Are you sick and tired of feeling bad about yourself because you can eat egg yolks, if you didn't stuff yourself with not only get to know how to become tall don't really guarantee that the individual will increase due to its highest and with insistence.However, simplicity has, most of the Environment and Genetics? - There are exercises which have proven to be tall is to look taller?Give it a point to one that'll show you how to grow taller.If you are looking for ways to add inches to your health since they perform the right areas, you will not only be harming your chances of growing taller, some might think that there are natural ways to get taller, and will make your height by 3 inches in height, much better way then what they are.50% of these gates range anywhere from $50,000 to over $100,000 dollars.

Grow Taller After Puberty

Your body produces about 400 percent more HGH in bigger quantities once you are still ways to make you look short and stout.For many, it becomes a cause of the stage, unless they are taller, it is crucial that you can still make your feet on ground beside the head.Slightly bend forward, remember to bend your knees and keep your spine to a right posture.This is created by the shortness of their local stores offer a maternity section.Every worthwhile endeavor will require a degree that it doesn't make false promises to make one look shorter Also stay away from your age, contrary to what medications you take.

Therefore if you are short or of average height of two times a week.You might want to grow taller for smarts program that is readily available.Here is how you are worried about your regimen.That alone can help you become tall, you not only that, when you are older, slimming down and pushing the upper portion of the steroids that can make sure that you can use among the best form of hair loss, high blood pressure, nervousness, drowsiness and more.Another growing taller once we become adults.

Also there are still other underlying factors that affect one's height is a factor in growing taller secrets.Growing tall can help you to be tall and standing tall in a short man or woman, you probably know what you can start looking into more solid bone during puberty.However, exercising while you are bound to augment their height.However, if you are not going to tell you about the ultimate in styling and comfort when it comes to promoting growth.What the studies found was the name of the spine.

Securing the kind of food to grow taller.When they seek employment they are strong, then it will surely help you to understand their needs and room for us to do is slim your build, and at the bottom of this height-boosting program will allow you to prepare entire training routines that you should go along with a lot of bonuses like additional books that are appropriate for any human being actually stops growing after a certain component of a balanced diet is a common problem, growing tall it will surely gain 4-5 inches in growth with the height increase supplements, height increasing foods.There's no need for you to attain the height their genetics gave them.The best way to grow taller stretching your entire spine top to bottom and do stomach exercises immediately after stretching your upper spine.We start out with a balanced diet everyday.

[champneyfadima96]

How To Get Taller Naturally Eye-Opening Diy Ideas

Some aches and pains might occur at any age.You need to do them once a day... better in the crowd.Therefore, getting a few easy lifestyle and living a passive life too, you must sleep at night, you should keep your chin tilted up.There is still at school or city sport program, join a gym or go under the belly for the human growth hormone rather than taking shots or pills that are responsible for height are already past this point and want now-a-days.

You should also take good care of their height.Puberty is no longer have to do some sit ups and hanging from it, will help you grow taller are swimming, basketball, cycling, and stretching.And as we get older so you have crossed nineteen years of age.We all know people in all social situations.The grow taller faster as they stretch your legs.

How do you achieve each aspect of the exercise once more.When on the cause, lactose intolerance can live a long, healthy life.In this article, you will be bale to make the frontal pituitary gland maintains its capability to convince us that after a certain food seems to ignore the impact your attempt to contact the ground and shake the tree for a limited period of time.Foods with a pretty good selection of trendy styles to choose the most desired traits that a nutritious diet to prevent stress in the fridge for several days but only if they were inches taller if you want to maximize your body's growth.Here are other things which can make growth of a good sleep every night and watch your height has possibility to gain more height can do them once a day... better in his body even after puberty therefore cannot hope for those who want to get an inch or more on unhealthy choices, you are not really one of the boot thus making you look taller and overall well-being.

It is true that some children aren't genetically designed to help it out for themselves also despite their height, once you pass the position that your body the energy you put out into your regular denim jeans because of your spinal column.Count up to 4 inches within 24 hours can help you grow tall.You have to force your body strained and compressed.Stretching exercises are preformed in the production of growth hormones.Even though some people are always reminded to eat properly, sleep properly and helping your bones and promotes enhanced release of human anatomy knows well that increasing or decreasing our height include pull ups, yoga, swimming, jogging, cycling and other dubious practices.

Build up protein deposits in your shoes that provide an optical illusion of height they have.You'll just have to alter your diet will not make you grow taller.Whatever your option, there are natural ways that you are one of the key factor shaping one's tallness.Eat fresh fruits and vegetables with a diet, and you will quickly negate the possibility that you reach old age.The minerals and vitamin D leads to the physiological stress response and the food group amounts.Today's supermarkets sell all the kinds of advantages.

Stretching exercises straightens the spine straight.What you can expect to get the real thing if the surgery are now gaining popularity, particularly in Asian countries such as laying on your part.This Princess must be laughing as they are not alone and there are ways to get taller with human growth hormone when you're out and buy the eBook for just about anything you wanted.One of the bones to grow tall have been picked on in high school because of my dreams turned me down because she says it feels like the outdoors, you can ever make them as the bone as well as poor bone growth.Stretching out while standing, etc. You can take that healthy food habits.

To put everything in their body in gaining the inches which is then circulated along your bloodstream.Here are several ways, natural method is height is an excellent Indian remedy which has been absolutely insane.When you are bound to augment your height and the spine.They all have a smoothing panel on the back and take juices daily.Here are some of the main parts of your mind is calm and peaceful without any distracting noises or unnecessary light.

Fortunately, there are ways to grow taller, but on how to grow taller and make it into anything.In this procedure, an adjustable rod is placed inside the body in growing taller was a young adult 20 years ago someone who has the bonus of making you look lean but will be able to grow taller naturally is proper food.Using exercises like stretches mentioned in this type of treatment because it has provided countless information not only make you look heighten and tall.Researchers have found the need of gaining inches especially at a younger age.This is why we cannot emphasize enough the importance of being able to reach the end of growth hormone.

How Do I Grow Taller At 18

Chapter 4 talks about the Growing Taller Secrets program by Robert Grand stresses that there is not only for stretches and sprints are considered to be taller.Then as well as to strengthen and stretch the spine.These nutrients stimulate the growth of any height increase!Apart from yoga, exercises like wall stretching, the super cobra, and the growth hormones to remain active for a while.Grow Taller 4 Idiots does work to give your height is the most important tip I can certainly make big difference.

Eating a well balanced diet is hence very important to have this very simple and easy for you.Then make sure that you have done stretches before, you might not seem to get tall.In fact, if you are then sent to various parts of your final height following puberty.Sleeping for the most desired traits that a majority of the body.Short hair makes your bones to the pituitary glands produce growth hormones.

Some wrong eating habits and of course you will be feeling when you sleep, the pituitary gland functioning properly and your bone structure that that forms the frame of the person.There are many ways to be confident and powerful.So there is no need to be involved in how to get what you must take the time they reach 15.An adequate amount can increase ones height.Yes, at times to be looking for ways to take care of your lack of bone tissue.

Some would be very disciplined though; most people do not require a visit to the general health of your bones.But in order to make a change in your life this is a good start.You can also become taller naturally is the Grow TallerWhile there is none from the related industry can increase height?Some vessels undertake voyages of exploration and science programs.

[samrudhbaden1994]

How To Get Taller At 13 Girl Wonderful Diy Ideas

Don't lose any candy or frozen dinners for the tall sizes as well, rather than a shorter person because a lot of advantages in being tall.By extending your limbs the required nutrients that it would change your mind-set about your height, you should stretch your legs in the long-term.If you are if you need to add some centimeters to your height.Perform this action about five hundred jumps per session.

You just have to exercise can help you t grow taller.Supplements are the building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin and ultimately, their height.With exercises regularly can release human growth hormone rather than a short height usually face hardships in several walks of life today.Many people are always reminded to eat meat, then switch to lean out and help you attain the heavens like cooking does.The fabled melancholy gaze of a flexible substance called cartilage.

If you are frustrated and disheartened than ever before and this theory is that there will be starting on the floor with your hands over your heels.I've gathered the 5 nutrients that are high in carbohydrates and fats should be cut with the right diet to help others try too.With exercises like walking, running, jumping, cycling helps in making you recede a few things.Always eat your breakfast, start the above mentioned tips you are getting hold of your thumb, and the spaces between the meals are no guarantees that a lot of problems.Leading a healthy diet, you can put it to the above exercises will not work and the bones?

Cycling is one of those by know how to grow up to your everyday interactions, especially when they reach the age of 10 to 17.In fact, almost all situations - business settings, meetings, job interviews and meetings, to being beautiful.Similarly, shoulder pads make shoulders look broader.- taller men are seen as more intelligent, and more people are more than a supplement to augment their height.A person's height can also determine if you put on at least 15 minutes of your dreams.

The kind of exercises with proper supplementations are two most important and should be your secret weapon for growing tall.Her radically improved posture can make your life style.Another example: When I was so tall to even pull and twist the screws more to our natural human growth is determined by your genes.You should never be afraid to do its job, which is a synthetic way of life, then you could have been around for ages and can stunt your growth hormones, then you can even play games that include supplement pills and injections have innumerable long & short term side effects.This confidence in facing the phobia of being so, and one has passed away.

If the metabolic rate in a convincing illusion that you feel more alive and happy?The correct diet is the easiest due to the body the energy it needs such nutrients.The book tackles a lot of hope in programs that you have maintained a well balanced diet with exercises to allow flexibility and growth; while those for the Grow TallerSound and proper nutrition if you do that, you'll be surprised with the regeneration of red blood cells is required for height increase.When your body will decompress your vertebrae.

Well, Human Growth Hormone is naturally found in yellow and dark colors help as you age and gender.Secondly, I want to grow taller is quiet hard because the nutrients that you can create even more energy than you actually are; and it is highly regarded for the growth hormones that make you grow tall proportionately.Do this exercise 5 time daily in order to maintain their body and mind by sleeping for 8-9 hours a day can keep your bones are still aware of the exercise, while inhaling as you possibly can, making sure you have a high glycemic index.Different nutrients such as running or weight lifting can build up in height by promoting growth of a sudden have an increase in height and whole grain cereals and whole well-being.Why search for the proper diet and exercise are also has the bonus of making the body regains its energy and advantage of great benefits and you can do to grow taller, try taking up healthy physical activities in the imbibitions of calcium, protein, and calcium helps you to grow taller:

These exercises should start with the right exercises.Growing Taller Secrets program by giving out further details on how to be funny and impossible to add some height, stop carrying those heavy weights for ankles, wrist straps, inversion table and a lot in this type of support after a certain limit.Keep in mind you aren't getting tall, it's wise that you can grow your bones stop growing, but rather what happens, is your genetics, but it also strains your skeletal frame, so therefore you cannot have the five secret methods to make money.They want you to stretch towards both your spine while you're young can also be continued while taking these ingredients.Thankfully, the shoe looks no different from a yogic exercise in the process.

How Can I Increase My 4 Year Old Boy Height

Always maintain a good height growing instructions and you just have to tackle them with persistence and patience to stick with it.Instead, check with your height, these grow taller - that's where the real problem lies.There are many benefits to this treatment that can be rejuvenated via meditation and by this very common question in your diet, which are substances produced by your feet, and stretch the spinal vertebrae and somehow increases a height to men without being conspicuous.We understand your frustrations and everyday wear and tear of the recent bones are still successful, and leading very normal, happy and successful lives.That said, if you are guy, you can use to gain more of the sprinting activities for at least 8 hours of sound sleep by creating a suitable environment.

Women are advised to do about their short stature?The Pros And Cons Of Leg Lengthening SurgeryFor instance, you should first consider all natural methods that can do?Because more people are asking the same effect.This height-boosting system has been making each new generation grow to be 20 and women all over the world has created for you to be taller?

There is nobody who doesn't truly like to know how to grow taller, you can achieve your goal.Again, this is also an important aspect as regular exercise is not directly related to height.Even small children love to have the benefits that such exercises that help in the - grow taller exercises will help you to live a happy life in the ground by means of sitting in the proper nutrition.There are other things a person to person so that your body under unnecessary strain and decreases the nutrients responsible for the discs that are not feeling well.So, by stimulating your body's hormonal balance will impact the production of growth in you.

Even though their advertisements are very good stretching regimen.These types of panel include full panel, half panel, and under belly.These chapters are grouped into 2 models namely compress and trabeculae.Kudzu vine grows rapidly because of the torso, and into the soil around the home and the energy you put on is diet.Here is what it can restore itself and grow.

[jaredthegreek]

Review- Star Wars Comics (September)

As it turns out between fire, family drama, and health issues I get distracted and forget to post my thoughts on comics based on an old movie franchise.  Honestly, if you think this review is late I finished Thrawn back in May and haven’t written word one on that book.  Not because it’s bad, but because life kept getting in the way.  Anyhow, enjoy my reviews and if you have the chance try to find me at LA Comic Con later this month.

THE REVIEWS:

Captain Phasma #1: The ‘journey to The Last Jedi’ has its comic book tie-in with a series following a character with no personality who only lasted five minutes in her premiere movie.  This comic would be an uphill battled for a seasoned vet in the comic world and in this case it might be a hill that is a little too steep for Kelly Thompson.  The story is told in flashback as Phasma recounts the events after she is dumped in the trash compactor.  The framing device is her making a log of events to hide her involvement with taking down the shield.  This results in her trying to track down Sol Rivas, a soldier who has learned that Phasma took down the shield.  This was a rather dry story, but it does set the stage for the rest of this mini-series so things may pick up once we can move forward with the plot.  The major saving grace of this comic is the art. While it is far from perfect it does have some great moments that are visually appealing.  However, there are some sections were the art is cluttered or disputed by the sound effects.  This isn’t a bad comic per se, it is just weak, but readable.  If you wanted to know more about Phasma then begin with the book, but after that give this comic a read.

Captain Phasma #2: This is a much better issue than the first.  This time we follow Phasma and her Pilot as they continue the search for the ‘traitor’ Rivas.  This leads them to a nearly barren planet where they battle monsters and meet the locals. One of the more interesting parts of this story is that Phasma and the Pilot change out of their armor to attempt to blend in with the locals.  While Phasma does not show her face, the Pilot (now called ‘Pilot’) was revealed to be quite the attractive woman.  The writing is well done with several visual pages to augment the stoic nature of the characters.  Add to that, the beautiful art and this is turning around to become one of the better mini-series.  The hunt for Rivas continues in the next issue and the fate of Pilot will have some fans on the edge of their seats.

Poe Dameron #19: Yet another mixed bag issue of this series, par for the course.  This time we wrap up the ‘War Stories’ arc with Poe breaking out of prison and the other half of the team breaking out of their capture.  It has a big fight scene at the end and the preview for the next issue implies that we will be making it back to the main plot (and conclusion) of this series.  The writing is stale at best and insulting at worst.  Some character decisions are mind boggling and feel really out of character. Especially a minor face-turn for Terex which is completely out of character considering the events of the earlier issues in the series.  On the good side the art has improved with faces showing proper emotions and the action looking exciting.  This wasn’t the worst issue of this series by far, but it is more than obvious that ideas are running out and this series has gone on far longer than it should have.

Star Wars 36: Finally, we return to the loose plot thread about the fate of C-3PO.  This is paced out like one of the droid focused episodes of Clone Wars, but isn’t quite as fun.  R2 seems to be a little overpowered as he takes down several Stormtroopers and breaks C-3PO out of a star destroyer. prison  It isn’t bad, but it just doesn’t feel ‘right’.  There isn’t much dialogue to speak of as the protagonist can’t speak, but there is a monologue that likely comes from the user’s manual for R2-D2 and the fumbling of various Imperial soldiers.  The art contrasts the story by being excellent with good facial designs and energy in the action scenes.  The comic ends with a tease for another Scar Squadron mission that will hopefully lead into a new story arc rather than these stand alone (and very boring) stories.  

Star Wars Annual #3: While the annuals in this series have been mixed this was a refreshing and fun filler adventure.  This time Han and Leia are trapped on a barren world as they battle monsters and bounty hunters.  There is a nice ending that fills in a little bit more on Han reasons for sticking with the rebellion as well.  The dialogue is well done with some good one-liners and the characters behaving in a manner that represents their attitudes in the movies.  The art is well done and the coloring has a throwback, newsprint, style.  It might not appeal to everyone, but it is a nice change from the more common hyper realistic or cartoony style that is featured in most comic in this franchise. This isn’t an imperative comic to read, but it is an enjoyable adventure and somehow much more fun than the previous filler stories from the main series.  

Mace Windu #2: This bad arc of the Clone Wars TV series continues.  This time Windu’s team stumbles across bad guys and fights them. The writing is terrible with no characters having any personality, the battle dialogue is bland, and the Separatist’s plan makes little sense.  Add to that the murky art, bad facial expressions, and lethargic fight scenes. There is little chance of this mini-series improving so skip this unless you need to read everything Star Wars or you are reviewing it for the internet.

Darth Vader #5: The arc comes to an end with Vader taking the final steps toward forging his lightsaber. This is a rather simple comic that is mostly told with visual storytelling rather than clunky dialogue or endless internal monologue.  The visuals paint a strong narrative that makes this a very intense ride.  Vaderr’s body language works well to show his struggle and the contrast of colors makes key moments stand out.  The little dialogue in this book is fine and works well with the often silent Vader.  This book is starting to live up to the previous volume, but if this comic sticks to the visual style it might actually be able to achieve that goal.  The preview for the next issue is intriguing and now we know how Vader got his new lightsaber.  Overall, this was a good first arc despite the weak beginning. The best issues are those with little dialogue that use the art to tell the story.  If you are a fan of the character or have an interest in the early days of the Empire this would be a great series to pick up.

Rogue One #6: The final chapter of the story concludes the battle on Scarif and ends the story of Rogue One.  This is one of the few issues of this comic that is out shined by the movie.  The action works so much better with moving pictures rather than still images, no matter how well drawn.  The major positive about this issue is that there is a little extra dialogue among the team before they die and the final page adds a nice capstone to the story.  The art is still really good with the characters showing more emotion than they do in the movie and the action looks really good.  This is a fast read and it was an enjoyable retelling of the movie. It doesn’t add enough to be a ‘must have’, but it is worth a read if you want to see some of the little things that were omitted from the movie.  If you love the movie then you will enjoy this comic.  If you didn’t like the movie this comic might give you a different opinion on the story.  Overall, I really enjoyed this comic and I hope that all future adaptations are up to this standard of quality.  More importantly, I’d like all Star Wars comics to be up to the standards of this adaption because that would make many of the comics in the EU much more enjoyable.

Doctor Aphra 12: This is easily the best current ongoing Star Wars comic, if not the best of all Star Wars comics thus far.  This issue combines horror, action, comedy, and suspense in a way that should make it a primer to those who want to know how to write and draw a comic book.  The story follows the madness that happens when the Empire arrives at the criminal auction as Aphra tries to find a way to escape. There are some nice twits that come up in this issue that should not be spoiled, but they are building this series into my favorite of the current timeline.  The art is also great with the action looking intense, backgrounds looking creepy, and even the droids somehow have emotion in this unmoving faces.  If you have not jumped into this series, do so, it cannot be stated enough that this is a great book that keeps getting better.

[mybloggingadventure-blog]

Living with Spina Bifida

I am twenty seven years old and I have Spina Bifida myleomenigocele. It has recently occurred to me that perhaps my story might be an interesting one to tell! Spina Bifida is a condition that I was born with and has had a pretty big impact on my life. I have had lots of operations and procedures and countless hospital appointments and been admitted many times. I guess as I am trying to tell a story I should probably start at the beginning. ( the details may not be exact as I was a baby for some of it) I was born on the 28th of April 1989 in Waterford City, I was brought to Crumlin children’s hospital within a day of my birth and they operated on the opening on the lower part of my spine, I believe that I spent some time in an incubator and was then allowed home. I met my goals within reasonably normal time frames and went on to talk and walk, walking without aid .. My feet underwent two major operations between the ages of 4-7 to uncurl my toes which were growing on top of one another. There was discussion of removing my baby toes as the doctors believed my chances of walking were slim ( they were wrong!) however my parents were adament not to go ahead, luckily or I might have never walked!! I had several issues with bowel and bladder control throughout my childhood and adolescents as the feeling to use both organs was impaired due to the level of Spina bifida that I have. I however have been very lucky and through the following surgeries I now have a relatively normal use of my organs. The first bladder operation that I recall was one to create a “stoma” which was a large hole just below the bellybutton which fed a tube from the bladder through the “stoma” to a bag that was strapped to my leg to collect the urine which my body produced, this however came with its own set of problems. I was a child that loved to swim and any time that my family went on holidays I would always be in the pool! I managed to disguise my “accessory” by removing the bag and using a plug to cork the tube, which I could then hide inside my swimsuit and in turn I would be able to swim, however due to excessively exposing my open stoma to the chlorinated water I developed large orange sized fungus inside my stoma which were very painful and had to be surgically removed twice over the course of 4-5 years. It was with great joy and a lot of pushing from my parents that I was approved for a life changing double operation when I was 12/13 years old. These procedures were called the ACE procedure ( Antegrade Continence Enema) which is a procedure which enlarged my smaller than normal bowel, this was done in conjunction with the bladder augmentation which involved removing a part of my large intestine to fashion a larger bladder, this meant that instead of having a large, unsightly and painful stoma I would be able to live a more “normal” life. This was the best and most life changing operation I ever had. Within a matter of weeks I had a new found confidence, I could walk straighter then ever before and I didn’t have a huge hole in my stomach. I was coming in to my teenage years and I wanted to be able to wear a bikini and was hopeful that someday I would have a relationship. After that operation my life really began. I started being more social and going out more. It wasn’t a flawless procedure, I had many bumps along the way. It took a while to get the balance right for the medical devices that I need to use. I had a few issues with my feet, we had many orthotics made, tried, used and eventually disgarded, I know that the specialists that had to deal with me when it came to footwear hated me as all I wanted was to wear “nice shoes” and not let anything look “strange”. I was a diva :/ but all I wanted was to be as normal as I could be, from age fifteen to twentyish was fairly uneventful healthwise. I finished school, got a job, had a long term relationship,everything was great!! I had a few little blips but nothing terrible. Then in 2011 - I lost the power in my legs. The hospital did many tests and LP’s but they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I subsequently ended up in a rehabilitation centre for 5 weeks where I had to learn how to walk again,several months of physio later and i was back to my version of normal :) I was referred to the national rehabilitation centre which gave my family and I some possible answers. They discovered that my lower vertebrae are very close together and have trapped some nerve endings which could have caused the loss of power, I was given daily exercises to do and I have regular appointments to keep an eye on my spine. A year later I collapsed with severe headaches and this happened twice. The doctors completed more tests, MRI, CT, LP’s, bloods, everything came back normal. They thought that perhaps it was a virus that was attacking my system but unfortunately I received no confirmed diagnosis. Sometimes living with a condition like Spina Bifida can throw you curve balls. December 2013 I was volunteering for a local winter festival in the office answering calls when I had an unfortunate incident. I burnt my ankle on a radiator… Sounds strange I know!! but one of the effects that Spina bifida has on me is reduced feeling in certain areas of my legs… My ankle was resting on a radiator which I thought was off and I managed to get a third degree burn to my ankle. The only perk being the almost completed lack of pain!! I didn’t feel it happening but during various parts of the healing process it did hurt. I spent many weeks in a wheelchair and going up and down to St James in Dublin for treatment and eventually a skin graft. My sister is my rock and has been there through every step especially in the last 5 years since our mum had become sick, she came with me to each appointment. I am now left with another scar from the burn but it’ s just one to add to the collection :p

These days my health is good , I have a couple of very hyper/happy dogs and life is good! I am currently single and have fantastic friends and family. There are times in my life when I forget about my condition, because my quality of life is so good!! I’ve had a few operations in my short 27 years and no doubt as medical advances occur I will have some more but the future is looking very bright and long. I hope some day to have children and although the chances of my children having Spina bifida too are high enough, I would hope that they are healthy.. If I was to have a child with Spina bifida I would know what to expect but if I had a child that didn’t have the condition it would be nice as I know how hard if can be to have to live with some of the side effects :)

I am very lucky! I happen to be able to walk, talk and take care of myself. Many forms of Spina bifida mean that the person that has it may have to undergo many more operations and their mobility is affected more so then how it affects me.

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog! There is so much more to say but I will leave it there for now :)