#doing a stupid little survey for a stem class relating to stem

[ethicallysourcedhumanmeat]

Lost Boys: Day Two:5

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He’s on the train back from his meeting with the director when he wonders if No would be at rehearsal; He wants to tell her about getting the part.  Elle had seemed so excited she’d even left him a really cute voicemail while he was on a call with his agent just now but for some reason he wanted to tell No about it.  He couldn’t really figure out why, he hadn’t really gotten to talk to her all that much, but he wanted to know her better.

Maybe it was the intensity he saw when she was rehearsing, Elle was so cute but No, well she was definitely attractive, nope, this was a professional interest.  Watching her fence, watching her run lines, she could match his intensity if she did musicals, and she could sing if she got past her stage fright.

Yes, getting to know her was purely professional.

Standing on the train back into the city he sees a boy with blue hair and remembers the chat with V from earlier.  It had been weird, something had been off, and Elle’s demeanor had totally changed for the brief time they were talking to him.  She must be a fan, god she’s so cute, that’s probably why V was strange, he could probably tell.

When he gets inside he doesn’t have to ask if anyone has seen her.  Most of the performers have stopped to eat, and being Friday the space is pretty empty but No is on the stage, the bright white of her headphone cord flares out with her movements, stark against the dark coloured tank top she wears. 

She’s dancing now?  God was she just good at everything?  Well, not good, there was something not right about the way she moved, she seemed to struggle with her feet.  Maybe he could offer to help?  But she stops and pulls her phone out of her shirt, makes some notes, stretches and starts again.

“Hyun, you’re back,” the director slaps him on the back.  “Did you forget something?”

“Oh, I, uh, just thought I’d—”

“Don’t hurt yourself kid, you don’t have to tell me which one it is.  You’ve got perfect timing regardless; I just got the first draft of your script.”

*

Nina had been happy to see her.  Noelle had arrived at the end of one of her classes, a bunch of grade school kids ranging in skill from constantly laying on the ice to practicing camel spins when they thought no one was looking.  She tried to sneak in and hide in the bleachers with the parents but Nina clearly saw her, she supposed being a head taller than most of the parents with a bright blue skate bag over her shoulder probably wasn’t the subtlest she could have been.

Nina had practically slammed into the boards and screamed her name.

“When you said you might stop by later I thought you meant my house for a drink, you know since your short break has turned into six whole months.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to get your hopes up it’s just been really busy at work, and I’ve been spending a lot of times at rehearsals, I keep meaning to come back it’s just—”

“You do you babe,” Nina had laughed and planted a comical sucking kiss on her cheek.  “Get your skates on and help me round up these little monsters!”

She’d meant to, she really had but when she was lacing up her skates her phone had chimed and, well that had been the weirdest conversation she’d ever had.  V was Jihyun, she’d known that, it was his Photography Psued, but he’d been cold.  Maybe that’s who he was now, no one seemed to find it out of place, Zen had seemed so happy to see him. 

Was she crying, shit, it had been so long.  Did he know it was her?  No, why did she care.  She didn’t care if Jihyun knew, so what if he’d been like that on purpose, it was probably for her benefit, this was why she didn’t call him.

“Hey, if you didn’t want to skate with the kids you could have just said,” Nina frowned down at her but her face softened.  “Noelle, what’s wrong? Sorry, I didn’t-”

She shook her head. “No it’s fine, I got distracted by one of those sad dog transformations on facebook.”

Nina shook her head.  “You didn’t, but you don’t have to talk about it, what’s up?”

Noelle leads her friend back to the ice and explained the situation to her, of course Nina was already familiar with the source, just like she’d hoped and after two hours on the ice, not only did Noelle have more reference shots than she knew what to do with, they’d managed to work out a simple standalone program that Noelle was going to animate in her non-existent free time as plan-b.

Just like she’d hoped Nina didn’t even want payment, Noelle simply had to commit to coming back to their skating family, teaching a group class once a week, and consider coaching private lessons.

“I know you’ve got a lot on your plate but as soon as you finish this project I get you one day a week, guaranteed, that’s all I ask.”

Noelle had laughed and agreed.

With that worked out she went home, proper home, and packed a bag.  Her things, Darryl’s things, her computer and tablet, she even grabbed her favorite mug out of the cupboard.  She collected Darryl from her neighbor and thanked her profusely.

“Are you moving Noelle?”

“Oh no Ma’am,” Noelle smiled up at the older woman from where she knelt in front of her dog, “just house sitting for a while.”

“Oh that’s very kind of you.”

She drags 2 suitcases, a gig bag, a laptop bag and a giant dog into the elevator.  Her phone chimes again as she drops everything in the entry way.  Darryl saunters past, laying one big slobbery kiss on her forehead before surveying his temporary kingdom and Noelle lets herself fall gently to the floor where she lays face down while she fishes her phone out of her pocket.

“So are you married to your dog?” 707 laughs on the other end of the phone.

“It’s an open relationship,” she grunts.

“So is that a family thing?  Does Chief Han have a ferret his girlfriends can never live up to?”

Noelle sits up cross legged and laughs.  “You know we’re not really related right?  I mean big bad hacker did a background check on me so...”

“Hey the internet says you guys were doing the incest, who am I to question— No, No, Elle don’t hang up I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”

“It’s not funny, that ruined my life, okay, and it was a stupid rumor nothing ever happened.”

“I could get rid of it if you want,” his voice is earnest, softer than she’d yet heard.

“It’s been so long, the damage is done.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he says, “I’ve already got a program that can do the job, just a little tweak, it’s already going along, hungry little buddy, no more nasty rumors about you and your not-brother.”

She laughs despite herself.  Where was this guy 8 years ago?

“Byebye,” he chirps and the line goes dead.

*

She’s sitting in her car in the free parking lot a few blocks from the rehearsal space when her phone chirps again.  She’d gotten groceries and decided to pack dinner for herself; she’d eat it when she got home probably, she rarely ever had an appetite when she was rehearsing.

She pulls her phone out of her pocket and checks the notification from the messenger.  Zen is excited about a new role, written just for him, Jesus where do I find fangirls?  She swallows her jealousy and cheers him on.  She’d flirted with him earlier in the day and she was tempted to call him and flirt again, it would stem the disappointment.  He was on his way home.

Fuck it, she does call him but it goes straight to voicemail.  She leaves a message for him, conscious of the pitch of her voice, a little higher than her practiced speaking voice, a little more femme than she normal goes for, 707 had been clear he couldn’t know that she was Elle.

Her agent is more than apologetic and she feels her body tense in anticipation as he lifts her off the floor in an bear hug.  She shrugs and hangs her things up, switches to her slippers and scouts out the stage.  She should be running lines, finding someone to read with her at the audition, they’d specified they wanted the performers to bring a scene partner, someone not vying for a role in the showcase. 

But she really needed to get the flow of this choreography down, she had the foot work down when she’d left but Nina had been on her about her arms.  She had slacked on her workouts, and her core had suffered, it was hard to keep her arms moving the way Nina liked to see when she was distracted by her posture, the way her stomach was jiggling, the way she felt so wobbly.  Nina could see it too; she hadn’t added any jumps despite Noelle’s history.

It was probably the weirdest dance, so much should happen while she was gliding, she stops and makes a few notes and scans the stage, maybe if she had a balance beam to stand on it would be more effective.  It’s a stupid idea.  Min-ju corners her.

“So that’s cool, are you going to a really slow rave or something?”

“Do people still go to raves?” she laughs. 

Min-ju cocks her head to the side.

“Thinking of getting back into skating.”

“That’s random, are you giving up the dream then?”

Noelle laughs, “which dream?”

Min-ju throws her arms to the sides and spins in a circle. “This one, of course.”

Min-ju isn’t there to rehearse, she tells Noelle, but she didn’t want to admit that she just didn’t have plans for Friday night, she’s still young and excited to be disappointing her parents.  She tweaks some of Nina’s program and runs line with Noelle for another hour or so.

“So did you hear about your boyfriend’s new role?”

“My what,” she chokes on her water.

Min-ju laughs.  “Or your hero or whatever, Zen,” she fakes a swoon when she says his name and Noelle laughs.

“Yeah, I heard something about it.”

“Can you imagine,” Min-ju swings her feet dreamily, “do you think they’re really adapting it especially for him?”

Noelle shrugs.  “I should apologize to him for yesterday.”

“Eh, whatever.”

“Is he here?”

“Do you like him,” the smaller woman whispers.

“I’ve only talked to him once,” Noelle frowns.

“Then what are you so worried about?”

“It’s manners, MJ, I literally fell on him yesterday and then whatever happened on that stage last night.  He was really nice, that’s all.”

“Okay,” she draws it out and squints suspiciously.  “I think I saw him in the reading room when I came in.”

Noelle’s phone chimes again in the hallway.

“WooOooOOOoo,” 707 warbles into her ear, “it is I the ghost of boyfriends yet to come.”

“Oh my god,” she groans.

“Just a friendly reminder that Zen does not know you’re Elle.  Remember No and Elle are separate until the party, when you can finally be—”

“Please don’t.”

“Noelle.”

“Please never make my name a pun again.”

[yogaadvise]

Why Kids Need Quiet Time

Stress isn't really just a grown-up issue. Teenagers are also feeling the stress nowadays as well as, in many cases, even more compared to their older counterparts. A 2013 survey called 'Tension in America' from the American Psychological Organization located that some adolescents reported greater tension levels during the institution year compared to adults in the very same month. Severe tension in teens-who could be mirroring surrounding burnt-out adults-has high effects. Regularly really feeling overwhelmed, depressed or depressing, and fatigued or tired could impact habits causing absence of rest or workout and also poor eating. Picking up stress-related bad practices early could cause chronic illness, such as heart illness as well as obesity, as well as eventually a much shorter lifespan.

Dire as this sounds, don't fret: There are some options to assist everybody, specifically youngsters, cool down. The David Lynch Foundation's Quiet Time (QT) program, for instance, is already transforming lives. The nationwide effort, which started in San Fransisco in 2007, takes a science-backed approach to lowering anxiety in at-risk middle school as well as secondary school students and professors. To promote leisure and also aid clear the mind, QT site directors and their personnel instruct colleges just how to meditate-specifically transcendental meditation (TM)- for 15 mins twice a day (morning as well as afternoon) in the classroom. Trainees who do not get approval from parents to learn TM or simply favor not to participate are asked to check out in silence or sit silently during these two short periods.

Just 30 minutes a day is verifying to make a large difference. A new research published in the July edition of Contemporary School Psychology observed 141 nine graders who joined QT-whether that indicated meditating, reviewing or sitting quietly-at their school for six months as well as compared them to 53 ninth at one more institution, where QT was not in position. Pupils that participated in QT, as compared to those that did not, reported substantially reduced stress and anxiety and also enhanced class attendance, college performance, and also durability. They additionally asserted to rest far better, and also feel better and more sure of oneself.

It's obvious that meditation is great for you. As a matter of fact, there are even more than 380 peer-reviewed scientific studies that record how a routine TM technique can enhance wellness as well as well-being. Reflection as a whole (not simply TM) can additionally change your mind, according to Harvard University researchers.

Neuroscientist Sara Lazar, Ph.D., together with her colleagues, located that just 8 weeks of daily practice can expand four various locations of the mind: the posterior cingulate, left hippocampus, temporo parietal junction, and also the mind stem. These regions affect mind-wandering, self-relevance, learning, cognition, memory, emotional regulation, empathy, and also compassion.

The amygdala-where anxiousness, anxiety, as well as tension live-also changed in dimension, nonetheless, as opposed to grow, it reduced (grey matter density decreased) with the mindfulness-based stress decrease (MBSR) program.

This specific QT study, nonetheless, is among the few checking out just how the act of practicing meditation or merely resting conveniently in silence for a couple of minutes a day could influence urban young people as well as education. 'For me, one of the most vital take-away was discovering that there is something worth researching right here,' states lead study writer Staci Wendt, Ph.D., a research study affiliate at WestEd, a San Francisco-based nonprofit study firm created to improve education for children, youth, as well as grownups. Wendt confesses that the research did not think about whether QT pupils meditated, read, or relaxed throughout each session. Further research is had to better comprehend meditation's duty in the appealing results. Psychologists as well as neuroscientists from Oxford University and University College London are dealing with this: Researchers are currently recruiting 7,000 kids and teens, ages 11 to 16 from 76 high schools, to participate in an unmatched seven-year-study on the effects on mindfulness meditation on psychological health.

Pioneers of the QT program could take an enlightened guess why the results of this research were so positive. 'The human body is really intelligent. It normally understands how you can heal itself via balance. Researches have actually discovered that the top quality of breath during TM is much deeper compared to deep sleep. So when our bodies get this deep rest, automatically our bodies' all-natural intelligence takes over as well as begins to release tension as well as reduce its effect on the body,' says website director Donielle Freeberg, that brought QT to Los Angeles in 2010 and is now overseeing the program in New York City.

The youngest student of QT is One Decade old. 'That's when their nerve systems and brains are most prepared as well as mature to have this experience,' she discusses. High school-aged kids could have a slight advantage over middle schoolers.' [High schoolers] are at an age where they can get the worth of the tool on a much deeper level and also carry it with them in their life, outside of reflection as well as school,' states Freeberg, who keeps in mind one particular sophomore whom she first met when she brought QT to an LA institution 4 years ago.

' She was a teenage mommy that was caring for her little brothers (there wasn't a lot parental presence in your home) as well as, in her words, she said, 'I seemed like I was a stupid individual and I could not do my work.' After a couple of months of discovering TM, she said she really felt like she might really focus on her schoolwork. She took reflection really seriously, doing it every day. When she finished, she ended up getting a full scholarship, including housing for her as well as her child, at Berkley,' Freeberg states proudly.

The David Lynch Foundation has actually released QT in 20 colleges across the country (namely public and charter institutions in San Francisco, L.a, Detroit, DC, New York City, and also Chicago) and are offering almost 5,000 professors and personnel this year. The program has actually additionally been moneyed in various other countries, suching as Brazil, Ghana, Israel, Kenya, Nepal, Peru, South Africa, Uganda, as well as Vietnam. Beyond QT, other unconnected organizations, like the Sonima Foundation, a not-for-profit started by Sonima.com founder Sonia Jones, offer stress-reducing, mindfulness educational program to trainees as well as seeing comparable results.

' Programs like QT provide students the chance to being in a silent space as well as job on ways to deal with anxiety and also increase resiliency. This is extremely crucial because those are foundational methods that could bring about rises in scholastic outcomes that we're all seeking to better recognize,' states Michael Corke, Ph.D., study supervisor at the Sonima Foundation, which offers over 43,000 pupils, qualities K-12 throughout 81 schools in The golden state, Florida, New york city, and Texas. 'If a pupil is not comfy in their discovering setting after that they are not as most likely to learn.'

Similar to the in-progress UK study on teenagers as well as reflection pointed out above, the Sonima Structure is dealing with Stanford College researchers to check out whether mindfulness methods could help young childrenses experiencing from trauma. The four-year job led by Victor Carrion, M.D., will certainly ask 800 3rd- as well as fifth-graders from The golden state to take part in 45-minute health classes, suching as yoga exercise and coping abilities, 2 to 3 days a week. The theory is that mindfulness may aid boost their attention span in school and also much better control their emotions.

Though these mindfulness programs are growing, it might be an appropriate while prior to you see one pertained to a school near you. As opposed to wait, begin constructing in your personal variation of QT at home with your family members. 'Rest is crucial,' Freeberg claims. Put in the time to choose an easy windy walk in nature with your childrenses. Or advertise household reading time perhaps after dinner, where you all quietly reviewed in the living area for 5 mins with the intention of slowly functioning your means approximately 15 mins with time. As you construct this practice right into your daily routine, attempt to encourage your children (and yourself!) to check out or rest silently before or after breakfast and supper. 'Do whatever is peaceful to you [and your household] to assist your bodies release stress and reset itself,' Freeberg adds.