#even if I just have my period and then rebound headaches that's still two out of every four weeks in pain

[jellybeanium124]

if they outlaw birth control that's the last fuckin straw because the pill is the only thing between me and spending half to three quarters of my life in horrible pain of some kind or another.

[mappingthemoon]

A Christmas Miracle: I was scheduled for an MRI in January, but they called me yesterday that an earlier appointment had opened up today, so I got to have a horrifying experience of claustrophobia first thing in the morning and it only cost me $187 because I hit my ($3000!) deductible this year, instead of costing me like $1000 if I'd gotten two weeks from now as scheduled. Because the entire health insurance industry is stupid and terrible.

My PCP ordered the MRI because I'm still having chronic headaches, even though the sleep apnea device has helped with the morning headaches. I'm pretty sure I am having rebound headaches due to accidentally getting myself addicted to aspirin powders ~15 years ago when I was self-medicating my chronic headaches which may or may not actually be migraines that have simply gone untreated forever due to a combination of not having health insurance for long periods of adulthood + having a high pain tolerance + headaches being such a normal occurrence for me that even once I did have insurance and a doctor I liked, I never thought to report my headaches as an abnormal or especially painful issue until the aspirin's effect on my liver started showing up in my blood work. This freaks me out completely, but nonetheless I was still leaning heavily toward cancelling the January appointment and trying once again to cold-turkey myself off of fucking ASPIRIN, maybe take another week off work when the weather is warmer so I can ride out a mega-headache and reset my brain instead of adding another thousand or so to my total debt?

ANYWAY. I had gotten an MRI once before, but it was when I was in the ER immediately after my bicycle accident (12 years and 5 days ago!) and I was more or less unconscious and/or zonked-out on morphine, so my memory wasn't super clear. So I was brought into the MRI trailer (the MRI machine was in a trailer outside the hospital...) feeling fine, they explained the procedure, said it would take 15 minutes, and asked me if I wanted to listen to music to which I responded "nah" (it was sp-tify and I was afraid of a commercial blasting into the headphones while I was trapped in the machine, because the commercials are always ten fucking times louder than the music arrrghghhhh), I said, "It's cool, I'll be fine as long as I can close my eyes!"

They rolled me into that machine and, Reader, my dumb ass just had to take a peek. Just to see what it was Really Like! I fucking lost it, oh my god. Crying, hyperventilating, sweating, etc. They rolled me back out immediately. We did some deep breaths together and the technician held my hand, assuring me this was a normal reaction. I'm like, "Aw, shit, I have ativan in my bag! [which was all the way back in the hospital building and wouldn't have taken effect quickly enough anyway] Why didn't anyone tell me I might need it for this?" lol, and more deep breaths.

I'm still laying down, my head is immobilized in this thing, and I'm thinking to myself, "You can leave!!! You can leave if you really, really want to." But I say to the technician, "I have to do this now. I have to. I won't be able to afford it if I reschedule to next year." Which she said she understood and was sorry about. "It really only takes 15 minutes?" "Yep, just about." "Okay okay okay, I can do it."

This time I asked for classical music. There was only one commercial at the beginning, so not too bad. And Brahms' Lullabye came on, which was so weird and existentially hilarious? I successfully kept my eyes closed the whole time and practiced deep breathing (4+ years of relatively consistent daily meditation has paid off!!), but I also counted every single second of those 15 minutes. Knowing that all I had to do was count to 60 fifteen times was the main thing that kept my mind from spiralling out of control. And then, lol, around 13 minutes I realized, oh my god oh shit what if I'm counting too fast i will absolutely not be able to stay in here for AN UNKNOWN INDEFINITE AMOUNT OF TIME! SHIT! FUCK! I got to 15 minutes by my mental count and then started counting another minute and trying to rein in my terror imagination, slowwwly applying pressure to the rubber "call button" thingie -- if I ask them to stop now will they have to start the whole thing over again?? -- which dinged at the same instant they opened the door and started moving me out of the machine. My count was only ~30 seconds off but it was the longest 30 seconds! Anyway, I fuckin' did it. Merry Christmas!!!

[kennyfm]

(   wolfgang  novogratz   &  brandon  routh   )   bopping  along  to  you’re  gonna  go  far  kid  by  the offspring  is  gerald  kennedy  ,  the  twenty  four  year  old  cis  man  thrown  back  to  their  statistics  days  with  some  of  his memories  .  voted  most  likely  to  most  likely  to  be  struck  by  lightning  ,  kenny  was  known  for  being  outgoing  &  reckless  ,  go  figures  you’d  always  find  him  dragging  himself  to  another  morning  practice  ,  but  grew  up  to  be  thoughtful  &  controlling  .

FIRST  PERIOD ,   or  2010 ,  the  first  time

raised in equal parts by a mother who deserved better and an older brother who knew better, gerald’s father was conveniently absent from his life — all he has is the last name. he’s been known to claim to be the forgotten bastard of one of the kennedys, but that's probably bullshit. there’s a name on a birth certificate somewhere. why hasn’t gerald kennedy asked to see his birth certificate? please circle the best answer: a. respect for his mother, b. the hassle, c. isn’t it better to believe in what you might be ? you can’t do that once you know, d. all of the above.

he picked up going by kenny when he started playing hockey which, thanks to an overzealous uncle attempting to be a father figure to his older sister’s kids, was pretty early. first it was kennedy, the name spelled out on the back of his jersey, but that quickly got shortened thanks to the attention spans of eight year old athletes. three syllables was clearly too much. he had never been fond of gerald, it was his grandfather’s name far more than it was his, and god forbid you call him gerry. he started introducing himself as kenny everywhere, not just at practice. it was easier.

turned out, kenny was pretty good at what he did. he played tripple a, ushl, and then wound up as a twenty one year old freshman at rvu playing ncaa. the hope was, he’d go major from there, or at least find his way to an ahl team. that was the plan. of course, plans don’t always work out.

voted most likely to get struck by lightning. the truth is, kenny isn’t all that unlucky, even if it seems like it. what he was, was someone who was rather reckless  (  all that bad luck was self manufactured  ). a bit of an adrenaline seeker, and decidedly someone who did before he thought, which landed him in a good number of situations that certainly seemed unlucky. he gave his coach a headache, but he was a good enough and dedicated enough player that he got kept around, albeit with a number of lectures and a few instances of community service.

[  tw.  major injury  ]  it was the summer after graduation when things fell apart. he was in talks with an ahl team, and he was celebrating the last four years with his friends. they were at a lake. things seemed perfect. however, a jump off a rope swing gone wrong and suddenly everything had changed.

SECOND  PERIOD ,   or  2020

[  tw.  major injury, drug mention  ]  doctors said he was lucky, it could have been worse, but he sure as hell doesn’t feel that way. his plan and the ahl contract was tossed out the window, his back was never the same. he takes painkillers to help. and that statistics degree? the one that was just meant to get him to practice, turned into a career. he’s an actuary now, and he’s well aware of the irony.

he still goes by kenny, at least in social situations, but he’s certainly not the same kenny that rvu knew ten years ago. sure, the parts are all there ( the kid who likes to travel and who slept around is now an adult with the money to afford going places he wants but still can’t hold a relationship ) but something is different. he’s more cautious for one, and doesn’t take unnecessary risks. while he used to be able to go with the flow, be carefree, the need to control things has developed, just wanting to feel like he’s got some command over a life that turned out completely different than he expected. he’s still outgoing though, and still has the same smile.

he’s convinced himself he’s over the accident, even if there are indicators otherwise. sure, being an actuary isn’t what he planned, but it’s not a terrible job and he is able to do things he wants. he coaches a mite team a few times a week and it’s a way to connect back to his old life. he’s content. 

THIRD  PERIOD ,   or  2010 ,  the  second  time

he’s not over it, is what he realizes when he wakes back up in 2010. maybe he was content, but he wasn’t happy, was he? the issue is, while kenny can remember parts of what’s going to happen, the injury itself alludes him like a shadow in the corner of his eye. he knows it’s there, he knows good sections of what happens after, but he doesn’t remember what it was. he just knows that he has to be careful. way more careful than last time.

this means that, while others might be hoping they get to return to their lives from before, kenny is pretty sure he wants to stay here, in this version of 2010 where he has some foresight. he’s not going to get greedy, he tells himself, won’t try to change too many things. he’s just got one thing he wants to change in this new 2010.

it also means that this version of kenny is seems... well, decidedly different  (  who are you and what did you do with the kid who jumped out of a second story window to break a folding table ?  ). if you have none of your memories, it might seem like he had done a 180 overnight. the need for control he’s grown into over the last ten years has become a quiet paranoia, the concern that something could happen around the next corner sitting heavy on his mind. 

OVERTIME ,   or  miscellaneous  details

im going to add to this when my brain is less mushy but i just wanted to !! put something up

POST GAME ,   or  plotlines

recklationship with sunday wexler. just two kids who liked causing as much havoc as possible.

a second chance with jaqueline parker. in all the chaos of the first time, he never noticed his bio tutor the way he should have.

pseudo sister with adalia haas - foster. one of his best friends, to the point that she’s practically family.

bromance with callum chase. fellow adrenaline seekers who found a kindered spirit in each other. it’s a little bit fratty, but they mean well.

source of worry for xandra villazana. she tries to reel him in, while he trie to get her to loosen up.

repeat hookup with lea chen. he was definetly a rebound, but he wasn’t looking for anything that serious anyway.

soured friendship with alistair salazar. xx

peripheral figure with arizona gilbert. xx

[purplesurveys]

1198

Have you ever bought a YouTuber’s merch?  No. Most of the merch that had been put out when I was still into YouTubers were always underwhelming and overpriced, anyway.

Do you think oatmeal tastes better when made with water or milk?  Eugh, I don’t like oatmeal. Ate it everyday for breakfast as a kid and I just want nothing to do with anymore.

Have you ever left a note in a library book?  No. I’m pretty sure that counted as vandalism or at least under some kind of violation, so I never did anything to my borrowed books beyond reading them.

What time of day do you prefer to wash your hair?  There’s no time of day for me; I just wash it whenever I feel like showering.

Has anyone ever spread lies about you?  Just a couple times when I was in like middle school but it was all very superficial stuff that I never think about.

Have you ever taken a photograph with a celebrity? If so, did it turn out the way you wanted, or do you wish you could retake it?  Nah. I freak out about the idea of meeting celebrities and always turn down or pass up any opportunity I get lmao. I don’t handle nervousness well so I don’t trust myself to be able to behave or speak properly.

If you could move out of your home country permanently, would you? If so, where would you go?  Yeah, anything to get out of this shithole. I’d love to move to Canada.

Is there a celebrity that everyone else seems to love, but you find totally overrated? Why is it that you don’t like them?  Taylor Swift. Her music’s just never fallen under my personal preferences, but I don’t actively hate on her or bash her when there’s been no reason to.

If you could volunteer for any charity, which one would you choose? Do you think it’s more important to help humans, or are animal and environmental charities equally important?  I don’t think acts of charity should be compared. Personally though, I tend to lean towards causes for animals.

Do you prefer holidays where you relax, or actually do things? My family alwaysssssss makes sure our itineraries are absolutely packed when we go on vacations. Seems like a waste of money to travel to a new place just to stay holed up in our hotel room.

Do you think that after we die our spirit is still alive?  No, I don’t believe in those to begin with.

Has anybody ever told you that you could be a model? Yeah, usually because of my build. I hate posing and being in front of a camera, though.

Do you use different kinds of moisturizer for different body parts? ie. hand lotion for your hands, face cream for your face. Or do you just use one moisturizer for all body parts?  I don’t use skincare products, though I should probably start because my skin is finally biting me in the ass and giving me breakouts 23 years later lol.

Have you ever felt like you were someone’s rebound? Nope.

Has anybody ever broken up with you over something really pathetic? What was it? Have you ever been dumped in a disrespectful way? (eg. through text, through a friend..)  I wouldn’t say it was over something pathetic. She had her reasons and I respect that. Doesn’t mean I can’t resent her.

Did you have a lot of role models as a kid?  Not really.

Do you feel like anyone looks up to you? Why or why not? I don’t know, but this isn’t a compliment I get a lot either. I don’t actively try to be a role model, so I don’t care about maintaining such an image.

What was the last thing you found offensive? My mom often throws around subtle homophobic remarks in passing. She knows I hate them because I shoot her a glare every time she does it, but for some reason she never learns...

Who is the nicest person you know?  Angela.

Do you feel safe in your country?  In a country where the president is a blatant liar, misogynist, has anger and cursing issues, and enables extrajudicial killings? Safety is a dream here.

Do you feel safe where you live?  Very technically speaking, yeah I do since it’s a gated village so nothing ever happens here.

Have you been falsely diagnosed with something by a bad doctor?  Not necessarily misdiagnosed, but I’m pretty sure I was prescribed the wrong set of medicines for my UTI last year...nothing came out of taking those pills and I felt just as sick (and dead) as I was after a couple of days. The only reason I got better was Angels’s mom is a doctor and gave me the right meds to take, which worked on me within a couple of hours.

Have you ever had a doctor refuse to treat you?  No.

Name the strangest game you’ve ever played (video game or real game): WarioWare is suuuuuuuch a weird game haha. Doesn’t stop me from enjoying it, though.

Do you know anyone who has been struck by lightning before?  Not that I know of.

Which cartoon character would you want to keep as a pet? Gary from Spongebob.

Do you like marshmallows?  Haaaaaaaate them. I never got used to its weird, sticky texture so I always take them out when they’re included in like drinks and desserts.

What is your favorite flavor of candy cane?  I don’t consume candy canes much. Too sweet.

Have you ever fostered an animal?  Nope.

Do you still take hot showers when it’s hot out?  No, I want the water to be as cold as possible.

When writing $ sign, do you draw one line through the S or two?  I do two, though I rarely have any reason to write down the dollar sign in general.

What animal have you always wanted as a pet but couldn’t have?  We weren’t allowed to have dogs as kids because we “wouldn’t be able to take care of them” – which they were right about, anyway. But we have two now, so it all worked out in the end.

List three people you’ve had crushes on:  Gabie, Andi...and that’s it, really.

Have you ever thrown up from cramps?  No. Fortunately my period cramps have never been that bad, and the only time they can be a headache is if they’re the leg crampjp that sends me waking up in the middle of the night.

List three people you had a hard time forgiving.  I don’t really forgive. If someone fucks up badly enough that I feel the need to cut them off, that’s pretty much it for me.

Who is the most spiritual person you know?  I don’t know.

Would you ever start a vlog?  Sure. I’ve always wanted to try it, but I don’t have a decent vlogging camera and am not invested enough in the venture to spend on one. In general I’m also not comfortable being in front of the camera, as I’ve already shared several times here. Vlogging does look fun though, and I definitely would’ve already given it a shot if only I felt more comfortable.

Are your dreams coming true yet?  Some of the short-term ones, sure.

Do you struggle with depression?  I go through phases of it, but I’ve never been formally diagnosed just because I’ve never booked a trip to the psychiatrist.

Are you haunted by your past?  No

What medical conditions do you have?  Do scoliosis and lactose intolerance count? Those are the main issues I have.

Do you use a Magic Bullet?  Why did I think this was a vibrator...? Anyway, I looked it up and no, I’ve never used one.

What does your apron look like?  I’ve never had to use one regularly.

What are your favorite spicy foods?  Curry, tteokbokki, ramen, samgyeopsal with ssamjang, spicy fried chicken.

Which do you like better: being an adult or being a kid?  Being an adult has a lot more freedom to it even though I have to go through heavier and deeper shit, so it’s still more worth it to me.

Were you excited to be a teenager on your thirteenth birthday?  I was heavily depressed back then, and was for a while, so I didn’t have any feelings about turning 13. I don’t even remember my birthdays up until the 15th.

Did you feel insecure in high school?  In the first half, yeah. But I started opening up more and gaining friends by junior year, so at that point I wasn’t feeling too shy anymore.

Would you ever be friends with someone who was suicidal?  I hate this question that I am simply ignoring it.

Who was the biggest bully in high school?  My school didn’t tolerate bullies so no one ever dared to be one, in the grand scheme of things. But back in kindergarten Kaira used to love targeting me - she was my big bully before she became my friend, lol.

What was your favorite class in high school? History, of course. I personally didn’t like literature but I enjoyed English classes, just because it was easy and was a guaranteed A+ in my report card.

Would you rather have a daughter or a son?  Daughter. 

Have you ever written to an advice columnist? Nope.

Have you ever had a doctor not believe what you told him?  Not really, but I’ve had a doctor be a total asshole towards me before.

If you’re female, would you feel uncomfortable having a male gynecologist?  No.

Do you like Lisa Frank?  No.

What gives you nightmares?  I don’t really get nightmares.

Were you ever hospitalized as a child?  Nope. I was hospitalized one time, and I had been 11 then.

Did you get senior pictures taken?  Yeah, for both high school and college.

What color is your bicycle? The family bike is blue and silver. Not that I could ride it, lol.

Did you ever have to take home a fake baby in health class?  No...is that a practice in other schools? That’s so weird if it was.

Would you rather wear ivory or white on your wedding day? What color will your bridesmaids wear?  White. Ivory can be for the bridesmaids, actually.

Would you rather have a swimming pool or trampoline?  Swimming pool. Trampolines are neat, but I would get bored of them so quickly.

Do you think babies are cute? For the most part yes, the only exception being if I have to be exposed with a baby/toddler that is prone to screech-crying. My patience is an extremely thin line when it comes to children like that lol and I FEEL BAD for feeling like so... but I just can’t deal with harsh sounds like that one.

Do you dream about the future a lot?  I guess I daydream sometimes but it’s nothing obsessive.

Do you think about your past a lot?  I’ll daydream or feel resentful sometimes, depending on what or who I’m thinking about lol. But I don’t stay in the past for too long.

How good are you at living in the moment?  I’m a lot better at it. It’s nice to be in the now.

Have you ever questioned God’s existence?  I did starting when I was 10, and I also disowned my religion by that time.

Vanilla frosting or chocolate? Chocolate foreverrrrr.

What’s your favorite foreign cuisine?  It’s always a three-way tie among Indian, Malaysian, and Thai.

Have you ever moved to another state?  No. We don’t even live in states.

Did you do anything productive today?  Well I had work today, so yeah I’d say I was. I had two meetings and worked on a bunch of spreadsheets and decks, so it was a pretty productive day.

Can you say the alphabet backwards?  Nope.

Do you like flowers?  Sure, but I’m not obsessed. It always feels nice to receive them, though.

Have you ever thought you were gonna die?  Every single time I get catcalled by men I always have the fear that they’d go all the way and drag me away to my death. That’s why I’m usually in shock whenever it happens and I’m never able to retort.

What kind of mood are you in today?  Super relieved because it’s Friday. A bit guilty because I had Starbucks delivered when I had already spent a lot this week, but I keep telling myself I deserve it after working all week haha. I just wanna enjoy my coffee and salmon dill sandwich in peace lmaooooo

What are you craving right now?  This salmon sandwich I ordered, so I’m hella glad I got it.

Is there anyone you would seriously punch right now if you had the chance?  Maybe shove, but not punch.

What is worse, physical or emotional pain?  Physical. My pain tolerance is extremely low, lol.

Have you ever walked in on somebody doing something… questionable? I don’t think I have.

If you were to make videos on YouTube, what would they be of?  I think just doing the trendy games like the Lie Detector game would be fun haha. I wouldn’t take it too seriously.

Posting pictures of yourself in a bathing suit on the internet - ok or not? ...It’s 2021.

Do you typically laugh when somebody falls down?  If it’s a close friend or a relative I’m close with, yeah. Anyone else I would immediately try to help.

What is the most disturbing movie you’ve ever watched?  Eraserhead or Under the Skin, which I didn’t even bother finishing.

Your opinion of Katy Perry, please?  I like her older songs.

If you could say anything to your Mom right now… what would it be?  Stop acting like a brat when you don’t get your way. You’re literally reaching 50.

[jayjay547]

SHIELD's Best Podcast and Other Things Bucky Should Not Have Done: Chapter One

Summary: Bucky Barnes: natural poet, amateur author, and relationship expert. The last part was a heavy exaggeration, but he's fooled enough people into thinking so; after all, his advice was held to such high regard that he got a spot on one of New York City's most popular podcasts. He even liked to think he was revolutionary for helping break down the stereotype of relationship experts being perfect at handling relationships. If only someone had asked him for advice on how to deal with falling in love with two different people who were coincidentally in love with each other.

Not that it would have mattered, anyway. Bucky never followed his own advice.

Chapter Word Count: 3,309 words

Relationship: Sam Wilson/Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

AU: Modern/College

click here to read on ao3

click here for the masterlist 

Bucky didn't ask to be famous. 

Not that he was in the normal sense of the word. No one in New Jersey knew his name, much less anyone on the West Coast. Actually, most people in New York City probably didn't know who he was, but that was okay. He liked to think the people who mattered (meaning people within a half mile radius of him) knew who he was, at least a little bit. 

If one was to go up to a college student about to go into their first lecture of the day at New York University and asked them whether the name "Bucky Barnes," or "James Buchanan Barnes" if it was a day for formalities, rang a bell, the most obvious and common answer would be along the lines of "that writer boy." Not "that failed mechanical engineer," not "the one who can't do any type of science to save his life," and definitely not "the boy who cried in his car while eating ice cream after his ex-boyfriend dumped him." Especially not the last one, even if that particular low moment was just the beginning of his rise to fame. 

He also wasn't quite famous enough to get stopped while walking through hallways, unless it was by an older professor of his; even then, it was a reach. As he walked to his class, nobody really gave him a side glance. He liked to think that the people who did were somewhat appreciative of his looks, but that was wishful thinking, the thinking of someone who was still in the rebound period of getting over a relationship even though the break up was a year ago. 

When Bucky walked into his poetry concentration class, though, he knew more than a few people recognized him. There was only one picture of him that was published with his writing, a professional headshot and all, and while Bucky looked like a wreck most days in his life, it wasn't hard to put two and two together. 

He sat down on one of the benches, shuffling the papers he brought with him around, just to look like he was doing something. Not long after, there was a tap on his shoulder. Bucky braced himself for his first fan interaction of the day (and the month, but he wouldn't tell you that). 

Turning around, he was met by a face that was somewhat familiar to him, even if he couldn't place the name. Maybe she was a fellow writer, or something of that sort. Her blonde hair was tied up in a low ponytail, and the wrinkles near the bottom of her forehead suggested that she spent a hell of a lot of time frowning. "What's up?" Bucky asked, angling his body towards her as best as he could. 

"Are you James Barnes?" Her tone was blunt, the voice of a woman who did not mess around. If she wasn't in his class right now, Bucky would think that she was a Business major. There was always the possibility that she was a double major, but that was a bit excessive. 

"Yes," Bucky said, before quickly (and clumsily) adding, "But I go by Bucky." 

"Bucky," she parroted, as if the nickname was much too personal for her. Maybe it was. "That's from your middle name, right? Buchanan?" 

Up until now, Bucky hadn't had any stalker-type fans, and he was hoping that he would keep that record. Of course, his middle name was published with his work, but still, it was odd. "Yes ma’am,” he responded. 

The woman stuck out her hand, and Bucky shook it. She didn't seem fazed by his gloved hands, and he appreciated the lack of questioning around why he was even wearing gloves inside a warm classroom. “My name's Sharon,” she said. Her handshake was firm, practiced, and Bucky wondered again whether she was in Business. “You're the one who wrote the open letter, right? ‘What's Wrong With City Days?’”

She was much too put together to be a stalker, but who the hell actually knew the title of his first published piece? Bucky didn't even know some of the titles of his own works. “Uh,” he said intelligently, “Yeah. Yes, that's me.” 

Sharon put her hand on the desk in front of her, tapping at it for a second or two, drawing attention to her perfectly manicured nails. Bucky wished his nails looked that nice. “Well, I've read your work, Bucky,” she sighed out, as if it was a tragedy that had happened to her. “And I thought it was superb.”

Maybe she was a little too put together; Bucky wasn't sure he knew anyone who used the word “superb,” much less anyone who used it to describe his work. Stalker wasn't off the list yet. “I'm glad you think so,” he said slowly, before slapping himself mentally. He was being rude. “Sorry, I'm still not used to people reading my stuff. Specifically that piece.” Bucky winced, his mind going a hundred miles per hour. “Kinda wish people hadn't read that piece.” 

Sharon leaned forward, closer to Bucky. “Why not?” She asked gently, taking him by surprise. She looked sincere enough, and he wished he could tell her, but then the door opened. As the professor walked into the classroom, Sharon straightened up, sitting back into her seat, and Bucky took that as his cue to face forward. 

Why not? The question stewed in his head as the professor Mr. So-and-so, who Bucky had missed the name of, promising himself that he would just read the syllabus, started to drone on about basic topics. 

Why not? Maybe because it was around the time he found out that Brock Rumlow had been cheating on him throughout the entire duration of their relationship. Maybe because, right after that, he realized that he couldn't pass any of the classes meant for engineering. Maybe it was because he had then been notified that he had to go in for another round of surgeries on his arm. 

There were a lot of reasons why “What's Wrong With City Days?” hurt. But he had still published it, as a dramatic and overly emotional person does. Correction: Natasha had published it, but only after Bucky told her she could. 

He had written it in between the first and second operation on his arm. The hospital TV didn't play anything he was interested in watching, and staring downwards at his laptop while it played Netflix gave him a headache he couldn't bear to have. So he wrote. And he wrote. And then he napped, woke up, and wrote some more. He may have even written when he was high on anesthesia, which Clint told him didn't make much sense. 

Getting pieces of metal inserted into your arm was apparently the best motivator there was.

He stared ahead at the professor who continued to talk, the words passing through Bucky's head quicker than the man was saying them. It was only the first day of this class, and Bucky knew he would have catching up to do.

His phone screen turned on, placed next to his binder and all his messed up papers, a notification popping up. He swiped it. 

Spider Mom

Walk Lucky when you get back. Ty 

Bucky coughed quietly under his breath to disguise the laugh he felt bubbling up his throat at Natasha’s bluntness. He texted back a quick confirmation before clicking his phone off. Behind him, a pair of eyes bored into his back, so much so that Bucky swore he could feel it. When he turned back, Sharon didn't even disguise the fact that she was looking at him, smiling slightly at him when they made eye contact. As embarrassed as he was to admit it, he looked away first. 

The minutes ticked by as Bucky entered a staring contest with the right-facing wall. His phone lit up a few more times, but he didn't check it. The one portion of exposed brick was getting more and more interesting by the second; Bucky was convinced if he looked at it any longer, he would have enough ammunition to make another viral poem. 

And then suddenly, the lecture ended. Most likely, the end wasn't as sudden to others as it was to Bucky. 

While Bucky was scrambling together the papers that he had put on his desk for nothing, the quiet sound of footsteps coming up behind him alerted him that Sharon was still here, and still interested in talking. 

“Where do you go after class?” She asked briskly, and what was left of Bucky's “Stranger Danger” alarms went off in his head. Against his best interest, he answered her.

“I walk over to Martinelli's, the coffee shop. Do you know it?” He added as her lips tilted up into a half smile at the name. She nodded slightly.

“You could say that. Let me walk you over?” She asked kindly, but something told Bucky that it wasn't really a request. He could obviously say no, but something about her compelled him to accept.

“I could always use the company,” Bucky muttered back, stringing his bag over his right shoulder. Together, they walked out the classroom, and after a few more steps, they entered the outside world.

“So,” Sharon said immediately, as if the cold city air allowed her to talk freely. “I have some questions.” 

“Uh,” Bucky got out. He had only done one interview for his writing, and he had prepared so thoroughly for that one, only for half of his words to be taken out of context. “Go for it.” 

Something that Bucky realized very quickly was that Sharon walked very, very fast. He widened the length of his strides, huffing cold breaths of air as the woman started to speak, barely sounding out of breath. “Do you know what SHIELD's Best is?” 

Bucky's heart skipped a beat, and not because he was struggling to speed walk. SHIELD's Best: the most popular podcast in New York City, not just NYU. There was no real reason why it had the renown that it had; listening to it, though, was explanation enough. If the topic was relevant, it was covered. Bucky even swore multiple times to Clint and Natasha that the podcast covered things that weren't even out yet. They never lingered on the same topic twice, and there was something for everyone, it seemed. It was his source of news, and the source of news for most people in the city. The defining part of it had to be that the four speakers all had undeniable chemistry, not to mention that they also had very, very nice voices, especially the two men. 

“Wait,” Bucky said suddenly, stopping in his tracks. Sharon slowed down with much more grace, turning to face Bucky in the middle of the slightly crowded sidewalk, a smile on her face as if she was already anticipating his question. “Are you Sharon Carter?”

She laughed, and Bucky felt a swell of pride for being correct, followed by a torrent of embarrassment for their entire conversation up until now. “I'll take that as a yes, then,” she murmured, and Bucky forced himself to move towards her as she started to walk again. Sharon Carter, one of the speakers on what was possibly one of the most influential podcasts, was walking with him to a coffee shop. 

The multiple shops passed by as they walked in silence for about a hundred feet, or something like that, which Bucky appreciated. It gave him time to collect his thoughts, and there was a lot to collect. After they passed a few more signs, though, Sharon decided that enough time was given. 

“So you're aware that we have guest speakers?” Sharon asked, and Bucky tripped. At least, he almost did, but he corrected himself right away. He couldn't wipe away the humiliated red that stained his cheeks, though. 

“Yes, I'm aware,” he said, stringing his words together as carefully as possible. He refused to mess up whatever was happening before it even happened. 

“Well, Bucky, we want you to guest speak about your writing,” Sharon said smoothly, as if it wasn't the biggest (positive) thing that had happened in Bucky's life. “I will say it was sheer luck that I have the same class as you this year, but don't think this is just a convenience grab. One of our speakers, Steve, really likes your work.” 

Bucky turned red again, which was not the best look for him, but at least he could blame it on the cold. Steve - amazing, supposedly kind-hearted Steve with a voice that Bucky would die for - liked his work?

It was only after they walked a few more steps that Bucky realized that Sharon was probably waiting for more than a lovesick look from his face. “Yeah, uh,” he got out, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I'd love to. It'd be an honor,” he finally said, and Sharon smiled again. Maybe she could sense his sincerity, as wrapped up in his awkwardness as it was. 

“Sounds good, Bucky,” she murmured in reply, slowing down. In a daze, Bucky realized that they had reached their destination. Out of pure habit, he moved to open the door. It was only after Sharon thanked him and went into the shop that Bucky remembered that she had only said she would walk him there. Once again, anxiety threatened to overwhelm him, his brain piecing together every possible bad impression he had made on the woman. 

“Hey Sharon. Hey Bucky,” was what the two of them heard upon entering the shop. Sharon immediately waved to Bucky’s (kind of) employer.

"Hey Angie. I was just walking Bucky over here," she threw out casually, gesturing vaguely to Bucky, who was still trying to figure out why Sharon was familiar enough with Martinelli to call her "Angie." 

"Cool, cool. Didn't know you guys knew each other," she added, her eyes darting between the two of them. Bucky could have said the same thing back, but his mouth had a tendency to betray him, so he kept it shut. 

"Just met today. So, Bucky," she stated, all professional, "Let's exchange numbers and you can let me know when you get back home so we can discuss times when you're not busy."

Bucky took her phone hesitantly, starting to type in his number as he spoke. "Actually, I live above the shop." 

Sharon's eyebrows went up. "Really?" Bucky nodded as she continued, "I actually haven't met any of the others who live here." 

She had to stop confusing Bucky. His head couldn't take much more thinking. Why would it be a surprise that she hadn't met them? Sharon mistook his blank stare and silence as disdain, adding quickly, "I'm not planning on meeting anyone else today, so don't worry about introducing me." 

"Oh no, it's fine, I was just..." Bucky muttered, handing back her phone carefully. "Thinking. I was just thinking." In front of him, Sharon opened up her messages, clicking the new contact he had made for himself, sending a text. In his back pocket, he felt his phone buzz, but for her sake, Bucky made a show of taking his phone out and checking to see whether he had gotten a text. He had, and he quickly created her contact. 

“So,” Sharon started again, sliding her own phone back into her pocket, a movement that mirrored Bucky's. “We usually record on Saturdays. Does that work for you?”

Bucky nodded, wordlessly, which was an appropriate enough answer for Sharon. “Alright, good. I'll send you some stuff about it later. Basically, you're allowed to pick any piece of work that you would like to share, but let me know which one by tonight. I will then send you a rough outline of questions that will be asked, but try not to practice answers. It's more engaging if it doesn't sound like you're reading off a script.” 

As much as he tried, his mind was still struggling to wrap itself around the information that Sharon was calmly relaying, as if she had practiced it multiple times over, but just enough to still be natural. Her smooth way of speech had to be attributed to the fact that she was on a podcast; Bucky refused to believe that people were just born that charismatic. He nodded again, barely remembering to answer her. 

“Alright,” she said, checking her watch. “I have to go. I'll text you later. It was wonderful meeting you, Bucky.” Her voice was honest, sincere, as was the smile on her face. It was contagious, and he let a small smile slide onto his face as well. 

“It was nice meeting you too, Sharon,” he replied back, just as sincere, earning him a flash of teeth in Sharon's smile before she made her way towards the door, only stopping to give a quick goodbye to Angie. Even after the bell on the door stopped ringing and she was past the sight of the windows, Bucky kept standing there, frozen to the floor. 

“Hey man,” came Angie’s hesitant voice, and Bucky made a small sound of assent to declare that he had heard the woman. A few more seconds without a reply, and Bucky turned around slightly, just enough to see her in his peripheral vision. “Clint mentioned to me that he wanted you to take out Lucky?” 

Bucky groaned, but it was the reality check he needed, at least.

- - - - -

When he finally came home from the long walk, he entered through the back entrance of the shop. From personal experience, bringing the happiest, friendliest golden retriever in through the front of the shop would take from Bucky about an hour of his life. Bucky and Lucky (yes, they rhyme) clambered up the stairway to the small upstairs area with two doors across from each other. The door on the left was closed, signalling to him that Wanda and Pietro, the siblings that lived there, were not home; Wanda liked to leave the door open when she was, claiming it helped with “air circulation.” 

He opened the door to the right, simultaneously leaning down to start loosening the harness around Lucky. For his efforts, Bucky got a slobbery kiss on the cheek which he took in a stride. Closing the door behind him, he unleashed Lucky, who made a beeline for his water bowl. Bucky collapsed on the one tiny couch, leaning his head back on the top of the cushion so he could stare at the plain popcorn ceiling. 

Almost immediately, his phone buzzed. Letting out a long sigh, he fumbled for the phone he had thrown clumsily onto the couch, blinding swiping on the notification once he felt the phone in his hand. 

Sharon 

Saturday, 1:00 pm. Don't worry about eating lunch beforehand. 

Also, let me know what piece as soon as you can. 

He read the text again and again in his head. For the hundredth time, he clarified to himself that it was PM and not AM before making ten alarms for Saturday, starting at ten in the morning and ending at noon. Immediately after, he returned to regarding the messages again, only glancing away to make eye contact with Lucky, who had decided that the only rational thing to do after drinking water was drool on Bucky's leg. 

“Well bud,” he muttered, reaching out to scratch behind the dog's ears absentmindedly. “I'm really doing this, huh?” 

Lucky just stared at him, which was a good enough answer for Bucky to send a quick reply to Sharon, confirming his attendance and assuring that he would, in fact, pick a piece of his writing by tonight. 

“It's just a one time thing,” Bucky said to the rest of the room. “It's a breakthrough, but it's only a one time thing.” 

masterlist

[j-hoseok94]

Book: House of Cards

Author:Rey Rey

01•02

*Two*

Walking to my car seemed like it took forever. The sun was high in the sky but it was a nice day not too hot not cold. I sighed deeply thinking about the week ahead a stress headache already forming. He was gonna be a challenge.

I'm up for a challenge though.

I bit my lip thinking of the positive side of being paired with Yoongi i get a chance to get to know one of the most popular guys in school. I mentally shook myself. Snap out of it, he's a fuck boy he will not hesitate to hurt you. Don't fall for the quiet "shy" Yoongi you just met.

I finally reached my car at the end of the lot. I was about to sit down in my car when I heard a loud group laughing I looked over to the basketball courts that lined the side of the lot not too far from me.

There was a group of boys playing and the longer I looked I realized it was Yoongi and his friends. I lingered just to see if he was any good. He broke through the zone defense they had set up a little too easily doing a quick layup and scoring. 

His friend ,who is known as Namjoon, caught the rebound and started back down the court. His long legs taking him down the court fast. 

I leaned against my car for a moment and caught a glance at Yoongi who was still by the basket drinking some water and wiping sweat off his forehead. He looked over at me cocked his head to the side and made eye contact with me. He stared at me for what seemed like forever. I averted his gaze blushing a little that i got caught staring at them. I hopped in my car started it up and went home without even looking back to see if he was still looking.

~

I lay in bed wishing I had just stayed home for the day, maybe I would have gotten a different partner. I went back and forth stressing over something i had no real control over. "Ughhh why am i stressing so much there's nothing I can do about it anyway."

My phone buzzed..i ignored it. Most of the time it was my best friend messaging about something that was ,in his definition, "important". I rolled over onto my stomach and stuffed my face into my fluffy pillow. My phone buzzed again. I groaned "I swear Axel if this is another one of your 'crisis' messages imma kill you." I picked up my phone but it wasn't Axel it was Yoongi.

Min Yoongi:

Aye it's Yoongi i forgot to ask if you had any ideas you wanted to contribute for the project? I already have something in the works.

Min Yoongi:

Rose? Hello? Did you give me a fake number?

I looked at the texts for longer than I probably should have. I responded.

Rose:

No it's me, i'm sorry i didn't respond right away. Uhh I actually had an idea for the project i thought maybe we could make a mix of your style and my style. If that's okay with you.

I sent the text biting my nails while I waited for a response. It was only a minute or so before he responded.

Min Yoongi:

I'll see if I can work with your style. Talk more about it tomorrow in class. Bye

I placed my phone on it's charger and curled up in my fluffy blankets that were honestly too hot to sleep in. I always end up kicking them off but I needed the comfort the blankets gave me it helped ease my anxiety.

~

I walked down the very quiet and empty hallway only to realize I left my notebook in my locker. I turned on my heel and walked back. I looked down to fix my white tank top i had under my red flannel making sure that i wasn't showing too much cleavage. Right as i looked up Yoongi stepped in front of me I stopped so fast I lost my own balance. As a started to fall to the side slightly Yoongi's hand was on my elbow steadying me. I looked up at him, his face inches from mine.

He was so close to me I can feel his hot breath on my face. Close enough to smell the cologne on his body. His brown eyes were analyzing me looking at me head to toe.

Hello brain are you working speak dumb ass. I cleared my throat and tried to speak without sounding flustered. "Uhh i'm...i'm sorry I wasn't looking where I was going. Thanks for catching me." He was still looking at me his face turned into a smug smirk.

"It's okay Kitten you can thank me later." He smiled down on me. He slowly leaned down, his mouth centimeters from my ear. "Or maybe you can thank me now?" He cooed, feeling his breath on my neck caused shivers to run down my back. I suppress a moan from coming out of my mouth.

What was he doing? This seemed so out of nowhere. 

He wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me closer to him. My hand on his chest now i could feel his strong steady heartbeat against my palm. He slowly and teasingly ran his lips down my neck to my shoulder and then to my exposed collarbone. My breath was coming in short bursts as I let the heat left behind from his touch build inside me. I closed my eyes, this is unreal. There's no way..I pushed him off me trying to control my ragged breathing. He smirked at me.

"Yoongi what is wrong with you?" He walked towards me and as he did I backed up. I finally couldn't move back anymore hitting a wall. He placed a hand next to my head on the wall. His smug grin on his face.

"You didn't like it kitten? It sure and hell looked like you did." He grabbed my chin and lifted my head until I was face to face with him. His cute pink perfectly sculpted lips not even an inch away. He got closer slowly teasing my bottom lip with his tongue. My breath hitched and my body tensed up. The heat rising up inside me threatening to come out.

He chuckled "See i told you kitty you like it when I tease you." I shook my head ever so slightly. "N-No.." my response coming out in breathy rasps. He trailed a finger down my face and traced my lips. "Such pretty lips you have kitten. I want to taste them." As he leaned in i closed my eyes preparing for his perfect lips to touch mine and at this point my body welcomed it, wanted it.

I sat up in bed my body in a sweat my blanket wrapped awkwardly around my legs. My breaths were quick and shallow. I wiped the beads of sweat off my forehead. "What the hell?" I looked around my room completely confused. "Did I just.... Was that..." I couldn't even finish the questions.

I sat with my head in my hands for a moment and i started laughing. "Oh fuck this is gonna be an interesting day." As i said that i got up shaking my head and went to get in the shower. Washing the sweat off me and trying to shake the very weird feeling my dream left behind. 

I pulled on an over sized shirt and a black flowy skirt with little red roses sprinkled about. I put my hair in a messy bun that honestly looked intentionally cute. Not caring that i was gonna get the worst tension headache from it. I started walking to school the sun was hiding behind some clouds but it was still a nice morning. 

As I reached the last crosswalk before i entered campus I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped only to find it was Axel. Smacking his arm I scolded him. "Dammit Axel y'know you can't sneaky sneak around me!" He was laughing so hard he was hunched over and he started making this adorable little hiccup noise he did when he was laughing too hard. "OK OK it wasn't that funny.." I pouted. Crossing my arms across my chest.

The walking man appeared on the crosswalk sign and i started to cross without him. "Hey! Wait up Rose!" He ran up to me. "Wow you would just leave me? I'm offended." I snorted "Ha You? Offended? Cut the crap." I laughed off his comment.

We headed to first period together. On our way there we passed Yoongi and his friends in the hall. They were gathered by the stairs the usual spot for them. He was leaning against the wall away from the main group but still close enough that he was still apart of conversation. He had on black skinny jeans with these red fake zippers, he had on a white hoodie and red and black jacket. His hair was a different color now showing a Mint green instead of the faded burgundy. 

He was honestly really attractive i can see why all the girls went crazy over him. I looked down as my dream resurfaced in my mind and i started to blush a little. He was looking down when i looked up at him but with my luck one of his friends called his name and he looked up making very awkward eye contact with me. I felt the heat in my cheeks and i looked away from him. I continued to class, Axel babbling about the show he's been binge watching all week.

-Yoongi-

Yoongi was tired of hearing the boys brag about their recent flings and honestly just wanted to chill before class. He leaned against the wall next to the stairs looking at the ground. He thought about his project slowly sighing as he thought about his new partner. Every other partner he's had used him for the grade he was used to it by now. He thought to himself was she like that?

'She wasn't bad looking' He thought. He remembered her sitting with her head in her hands almost like she was upset to have gotten him as partner. She had long dark black hair and fair skin. When he finally got her attention yesterday and she looked up her Hazel eyes stunned him. He had never seen anything like them before they had green and brown with specks of gold. It had made him nervous. He never gets nervous, especially around girls he had gotten over that "phase" a long time ago. He smirked a little. HA she made him nervous he couldn't believe it.

He shook his head laughing lightly to himself. Then seeing her watch him play basketball she wasn't gawking like all the other girls do. She looked genuinely interested which intrigued him. It also kind of annoyed him that she didn't act like the other females. Was he not her type? He shook his head 'What does it matter? It's not like you like her.' He thought. 

He heard Taehyung call his name so he looked up and there she was. Rose. She was walking with some guy down the hall. She was looking at him he saw her blush and quickly turn away. He watched her walk away her heeled boots clacking on the laminate floor. She was dressed cute today just like yesterday. Why did he now just notice her?

He wanted her and he knew he would get her. His confidence rising inside him. Taehyung waved a hand in front of his face. "Yoongi? Are you there? Shit man we got class, Let's go." Yoongi picked up his bag and walked the opposite way Rose went and headed to class. He made it his goal to get her and he will succeed.

XX

[randomhomosapiens]

Morning mental puzzles - part 2

Pairing : Mitsuhide × MC (is slightly different from the original MC)

Summary : MC got drunk the night before, as it happens sometimes, and one thing leading to another, she ended up finishing the night with Mitsuhisnake. Which is fine. Except. When she gets drunk, on the next day, she forgets everything, and I mean everything that has happened recently in her life. "Recently" going back to ... before she got in the Sengoku period, that is.

Words : 1 789

Tagging : @pseudofaux this took so long I'm so sorry haha

Read part 1

He smiled before calling some people (maids ?) to deliver the hot drink. She couldn't help but to secretly eye the man. His long features did nothing to tarnish the beautiful work of art that were his lashes, and while his demaneor left her a feeling of danger she couldn't quite place, he was most definitely perfect.

The most tiny tinge of pride swelled in her chest. Calm down, brain. Gotta retrieve those memories.

She shook her head and lightly tapped her cheeks, jumping up and down on the futon in a valiant attempt at a warm-up. She then turned her eyes to the bundle of clothes in the man's grip. She grabbed it with two fingers, eyeing it suspiciously until she noticed the peculiar seam on the lining of the sleeve.

Oh. She smiled. She usually didn't sew for herself, but that was unquestionably of her making. She brought it to her nose to inhale it.

Gun powder. Sake. It smelled just like him. But also ... spices ? Grilled meat ?

Pictures flashed in her mind at the scent. An unique blue-hued eye, a devastatingly inviting smile, a wet sketch of her doing, a pair of silver scissors cutting a piece of blue fabric, a sword hilt, the flash of an iron blade ... Yeah ... She wasn't sure she wanted to look more into those memories.

She shrugged it all off and slid into the kimono. The softness of the fabric made her shiver. I did a really good job with this one.

Meanwhile, he was still observing her with a smile.

She looked suspiciously at him and confirmed in the safety of her mind that he was no angel. Nope. Not an ounce of innocence leaked from him.

The gorgeously dangerous (or more like dangerously gorgeous) man still insisted to star at her with this thin, mischievously venomous smile, something that moved things in her belly for reasons she couldn't explain.

Dangerous men had always attracted her but that one, she felt, was on a whole new level of suspicious-aura-emission. And- well, she already attracted enough trouble on her own without dipping into crazy stuff like yakuza dating or god knew what else.

If she really had been living in the ... the past ... for two- two!- wholly full months ... which was hard to believe to begin with (yet she somehow felt it was true) ... then who knew what could happen to her ? She did a quick calculation and determined she had landed in the warring states period. Great. How very safe. As for the location ... he had mentioned a shrine ..?

Honno- Ji, huh ? ... Wait ... Honno-Ji ... burning shrine ... 1582 ... saving someone's life ... Lord and ruler...

"-Holy socks ! I didn't save Oda Nobunaga from that fire, didn't I ? He's dead, right ?" she practically begged.

"- Oh, did you get those memories back ? That went quicker than I expected.

- Nah, I still need caffeine for that. But ! Did I really saved him ?" she pleaded with puppy eyes.

"-I am afraid you did.

- Oh, great", she dropped, rolling her eyes and raising her arms in resignation. "Of all the people to stumble on in this time period I had to meet THAT ONE. I mean, there's got to be a good thousand souls just 3 miles around, right ? But noooooo, I had to go and save the one that wasn't meant to live. God, ain't I the lucky one, what did I do to deserve this ?”, she pestered. “Wait. I didn't alterate anything in the future, right ? Oh, good gracious, am I even real ?"

She scanned herself, turning around on the spot, seeking any traces of a starting disappearance. She mumbled something about “Marty" getting transparent after messing with his parents' meeting in the past.

"- All clear", she sighed in relief as she didn't noticed anything odd with her skin tone.

"- Are you done ? Tea is ready."

She pulled out her tongue but settled at the table by him, gathering expertly her hair in a loose high bun.

"-I guess tea's as good as coffee for bad mornings", she shrugged while taking a sip. "Oooh. It's good! I'm usually not a tea person but I could get used to that ! Thanks, mister whatever-your-name-may-be.

- My pleasure. Oh, but where are my manners ? My name is Akechi Mitsuhide, senior retainer of Oda Nobunaga. Honoured to make your acquaintance. Again."

He chuckled lightly. She got the weird impression the joke was on her. But she knew that name. Not only had she heard it from Taikutsu-sensei's mouth, her late history teacher, but she was familiar with it. His face, voice, demeanor and now, she realised, his name.

"- ... M-mi-tsu ..?"

The nickname escaped her lips as she squinted her eyes, lost into her thoughts. She lightly moved her head to the side while observing his figure.

"- So", she went on, gathering herself again, "you're nobility. Isn't it comfy” she snickered. “And how, in the seven hells, did I end up with you ? Not only are you the shadiest guy I've met (also the hottest but that's a whole other story all together), and I've met my bunch of shady guys, you're Akechi Mitsuhide, someone who, if I have to believe my old history books, isn't the most reliable individual of the time period", she said, raising an accusing index. "Someone. I. Should. Avoid. I know, I'm not good at avoiding bad guys, but I must admit I disappoint myself on this one.

- How rude."

Mitsuhide's smile was still on, but his eyes had frozen. At this sight, something in her head, a voice, shrieked that she was wrong, wrong, wrong, he wasn't bad, he had a beautiful soul.

She found it hard to believe in, even considering it was her own thoughts. But there again, she had never been the most liable person on Earth. So why should she trust herself ?

Yet, she felt, in the distant haze of her mind, a soft laugh more affectionate than she had ever heard, a brush of lips lighter than a feather, words of love warmer than the brightest star.

She stole a sideways glance at his face resting in his palm. The smirk. Ugh. Ugh. She had sighed two times inside the privacy of her head and that was no good. She was also pretty sure the second was italicized. Why was she like this when she was drunk ? What had she done ? Why was she like this on the mornings ? Though it usually wasn't as strange. But the feeling of being back at home but not quite hit her with more strength than she calculated. It was like being stripped between two worlds, but not belonging in any of them. Like adding melted chocolate to your milk but you don't like milk chocolate.

She took another sip of tea. The fog was still not dispersing.

And he didn't seem like initiating the conversation.

"Talk to me”, she let slip out of nowhere when she figured she couldn't handle the silence anymore.  

“- Why.

- Cold. But I actually have a reason beside the awkwardness of the silence, and which I am going to find before finishing this sentence and - … there it is : it will help me retrieve my lost memories with a shorter delay" she said without helping but taking a haughty butler’s voice.

The familiar headache was pointing in her forehead.

" - That seems like a fair and thoroughly thought reason enough. Um. Alright. If you promise to become my slave in exchange for your life, I could tell you about the latest plot to take Milord's life.

- Boring. I read about it in my middle school books.

- ... Which I am not involved in.

- Oh. By all means, carry on.

- No, I'll pass. Was it surprise in your voice ?

- No ... Yes."

~

He was too afraid to discover that she knew everything about the future attempts on his Lord's life to tell her, but also wise enough not to say it aloud. For some reasons, this morning, his teasing rebounded against her like flat rocks on water.

"- You could talk about you and me. Are we married ? That would be awesome, I always wanted to be some kind of Lady. Powerful, you know, but not too girly, because I wouldn't have time for it, I'd be like a stone cold ice statue of sarcasm. Haughty and sneery and salty. Sorry. I went too far." She was surprisingly open about herself. He didn't know she had ever been this outspoken. The shy yet strong woman he found in this burning building had more layers than expected. He couldn't help but be a bit shocked at this sudden change, and he was trying hard not to dwell on it. She had always been a different woman, that he knew. Still, he didn't recall her being so boldly and openly impudent before.

~

She was waiting for a clever answer that wasn't coming. She liked this aspect of him; he was like the embodiment of bitterness, a trait she had never seen as emphasized in a man before. She didn't dislike it. But he was silent. Almost thoughtful. With clouds swirling like a brewing storm behind his eyes.

"Oh, why, I can talk about this, Princess. In all honesty, your quite the little bundle of trouble. You're making it so easy to use you it's almost funny, really. At first, you were such a handful. Entertaining, certainly, but tiring in a way. Like a pet. Yet, I couldn't imagine being apart from you, by now. Though you'd benefit in staying away. Alas, I am a selfish man, with selfish desires. "

His lips fluttered in a sad smile, the gesture finally reaching his eyes. The look of fondness his golden gaze displayed caught her off guard.

Oh.

She remained silent, truly stunned for the first time since she woke up. He had managed to avoid speaking words of affection with precision and to brush the rest off with a light, joking tone but the global idea was very much clear.

That man was in love with her. That was slightly panicking. And also sweet. Like a warm bath. Soapy and foaming. Wrapping around her, sharing its warmth with her body.

She didn't know how to react.

"- Oh. Right."

That was the worst answer to a declaration of love, ever, even with the excuse of the vagueness of the said declaration.

She didn't really feel guilty. He didn't resent her. Hopefully.

But now, she didn't know what to do. She had never been good at dealing with emotions. Time travel was a pain, but romantic intrigues in the past may just revel to be the level above. The whole situation was getting out of control.

She feigned another gulp of tea but there was really nothing left in the cup.

Note : I have no idea where this is going. Either way, Part 3's coming up eventually (when and if I ever get through those damn final exams unscathed)

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: Preseason GM 4 - TOR - The Olofsson Show

I don’t really know where to begin with this one. I guess until Rasmus Ristolainen is traded every postgame needs to start with updated angst meter. With Risto being on the roster last night my angst rating went from 7/10 on Friday all the way down to a 4/10 on this fine Bills Gameday. I guess it’s still preferred he moves before whatever toxic drama he experienced behind the scenes ruins the locker room dynamic after they lose a couple games in a row. I know the trade trash sites have heated up their production on him the last couple days, but I don’t let that excite me unless Tim Murray is GM, or its clear Terry Pegula is breathing down Jason’s neck about bonus money. So how about we talk about the other skaters? I think I put in my mandatory 4 sentences of Ristolainen. He landed a dirty hit on one of the Leafs top 4 defenseman? Oh well, you can’t beat the classics. Welcome to Toronto, Tyson Barrie. I’m not making an excuse for that hit. It was stupid, ugly and a little too on brand for Risto. I think the more interesting question is does this mean Risto is really going kamikaze to end his time as a Sabre? He wants to go down with some kind of ritual suicide landing the most trash hits possible. Again, painfully on brand for Risto but I think everyone who is going to like him after he leaves will no matter what and the people who aren’t going to lose any sleep about it aren’t losing any sleep about it. I didn’t lose any sleep about it, that was the hard cider.

Yeah, I saw Ad Astra during this game last night. That’s how I do preseason promise: just ignore the game. Don’t see this movie unless you like Art films. Other than the space monkeys the only thing that wasn’t artsy AF was Brad Pitt just wailing for his daddy the whole frigging movie over narration. Well anyway, I came how to Beer pong and a series of drinking games with my siblings. That was fun but uh… sorry about some of the tweets that I let out during this time. I don’t think it was the booze though that made me enjoy this game so much watching it back. The big names came out to play for the home crowd against a Leafs team of Michal Neuvirth, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and the funny name alliance of no-name prospects. Tavares scored a little ways into the first. It was just a net-front redirect but it was in that range of goals Carter Hutton could have stopped. Hutton joined Rasmus Asplund on Chad DeDominicis’s list of the only two Sabres who were outright bad in this game. I’d have to agree on at least three goals against in this game. Henri Jokiharju and Dylan Cozens got back to back starts playing in this game and nothing really jumped off the page for me in this go around for them. That said, all I did was watch the highlight packs with a slight headache, so I probably missed something. Grill me for what I miss in the comments.

The star of this show was really Sam Reinhart. That was obvious even in the highlights. A couple minutes after Tavares’s tally Sam Reinhart scored essentially the same goal from a rebound. That’s right, Sam Reinhart is our John Tavares! And he’s better than JT you know! Lol, whatever I guess we have to troll each other as fanbases whenever we play. How about we just both be good at the same time, so I don’t need to bring up the Sabres have won more playoff series since the lockout even though we haven’t made the playoffs in eight years! OH BURN! Suck on that one, T-Town! What did all you punks do while we were throwing the queen’s tea in the harbor? I’m sure you normies were sipping it hardily you cowards! Okay, enough of that. In the second period Victor Olofsson scored an Ovechkin goal uncovered in the office on a powerplay. The Leafs would tie it up again before the middle frame ended but I really want to dwell on this Olofsson goal for a minute. It was powerplay goal assisted by Jack Eichel and Rasmus Dahlin. In addition to those guys Jeff Skinner and Sam Reinhart were on the ice. Assuming Victor Olofsson does become a scorer like we hope can I submit a formal request to Ralph Krueger and the two new assistant coaches with him?  That should be a powerplay unit all season. That group consists of all the bonified scoring talents we have, and Rasmus Dahlin can play defense for the lot of them to whatever degree you need that on a powerplay. I mean, we need that because we’re the Sabres so yeah. In fact Trevor Moore would score a short-handed goal for the Leafs in the third period but not until after… the guy scored… the only guy whose worth mentioning in summer 2016: Jimmy Vesey, JV Vasectomy… uh… I’m sorry guys I think the mean nicknames bit is going to get cut before the end of Training Camp. Kinda sorry not sorry on that one.

That shorthanded Leafs goal by the way was strike two against Hutton last night. I don’t know what you expect when the Sabres are tied with the Leafs going into the last five minutes of regulation, but I normally think W. Last season beat that out of me a little bit, but I have a new hope now. Victor Olofsson scored again but this time from a Reinhart assist from behind the net. Olofsson just kinda passed it into the net. By this point I think the Leafs had Michael Hutchinson in just to remind all the Leafs fans present that this is a preseason game and even though it’s cheaper to drive all the way from Kitchener to Buffalo than to Toronto just because of ticket prices up there doesn’t mean the blue and white actually give a shit about the middle class. Olofsson is the standard bearer this year for the hopes of eternal optimists like me. If he can score just 20-30 goals this season he will be a helpful contribution. It’s guys like that coming in and adding just a little bit that makes us that much closer to a 90-point team. If Victor Olofsson wants to turn this team into the Olofsson show I’m more than pleased to cheer it on. The Leafs were bagged and this one would end 5-3 for the home team. CJ Smith would put in an empty netter in the last minute but those last seconds ticking away beating the Leafs is drained of its joy when it’s the preseason. Oh and sorry, CJ, an empty netter isn’t going to save you from cuts. I hope to see you called up, gee, I hope you survive waivers, but dude, figure it out. There are teenage Swedes whose names sound like Star Wars characters jumping you on the depth chart now. That segways nicely into cuts.

Before the unfortunately mostly rather expected cuts I want to debut a new bit. For games I’m writing up the next day, particularly ones that life stopped me from watching, I’ll be picking a reply to one of my Sabres tweets about the game for analysis. That’s right, your reply guy moment is going to find its way into New Look Sabres this season! Please contain your excitement. Our first ever Reply Guy Analysis comes from one of my most loyal followers: Jonathan who is leaning into the millennial theme with a couple snowflakes around his name @LakeEffectXJ, says: “Was fun and entertaining. A nice reminder exactly how good Olofsson’s shot is, a surprise for many how good Miller’s shot is, and we got reintroduced to how good Reinhart is and that he should be running his own line.” Thanks Jonathan, onto the cuts. Arttu Ruotsalainen saves Rob Ray and RJ from almost certainly butchering his name and gets sent back to the good old Liiga with two I’s. Everyone else cut is going to the Rochester Americans including CJ Smith and Andrew Hammond who both need to clear waivers. Hopefully both those guys do. The fun part of doing these blogs the day after is having information like this. Assuming you haven’t read the list of cuts and are too lazy to go read it now that you’ve made it this far here I’ll just list them out for you: Eric Cornell, Sean Malone, Andrew Oglevie, Kyle Olson, Kevin Porter, CJ Smith, Jacob Bryson, Casey Fitzgerald, Brandon Hickey, Zach Redmond, Devante Stephens, Andrew Hammond, Michael Houser, and Jonas Johansson. Amerks Training Camp starts Monday.

As always like, share and comment on yours truly’s special Sabres blog. Hopefully this was your break from the Bills game reading. In which case I have to warn you to not try to hold a loaded hot dog in one hand and your phone in the other. You think it’s easy but it’s not. Why ruin that nice jersey? I’ll be really honest and say I have never looked forward to a Bills game in my entire life as much as this one. I was a drought baby and a certain stinker in Jacksonville wasn’t going to get me pumped a couple years back. Anyway, I hope you come on back to read again as we have two more preseason games and the closing of Training Camp before we can actually get excited about beating teams. I think I speak for everyone when I hope we actually win enough for it to meaningful this season.

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. Moore shoving Olofsson into the Leafs bench was kinda fun I guess. Sportsnet said it led to the ensuing Leafs goal which I suppose it did but I thought taking guys out of the play was bad.

[brajeshupadhyay]

AMC Says ‘Almost All’ U.S. Theaters Will Reopen in July

LOS ANGELES — It’s almost showtime. But how many people will show?

Movie theaters around the world are reopening, with AMC Theaters, the world’s largest cineplex operator, announcing on Tuesday that “almost all” of its locations in the United States and Britain would reopen next month. Over all, theaters in 90 percent of overseas markets will be running again by mid-July, according to the National Association of Theater Owners, a trade organization for movie exhibitors in 98 countries.

In just three weeks, Hollywood is scheduled to restart its supply pipeline of new films. “Unhinged,” a $33 million Russell Crowe thriller, will arrive in theaters on July 1, followed in mid-July by Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” a $200 million-plus mind bender.

The question, however, is whether people — even while watching movies in well-sanitized theaters with limited capacity — will feel safe from the coronavirus, the spread of which rose to a worldwide high on Sunday, as measured by new cases. As the United States has started to reopen its economy, new hot spots have emerged. Mass protests against police brutality raise the specter of a coronavirus surge in the coming weeks.

“Moviegoers will be looking for assurance that conditions are completely safe,” said David A. Gross, who runs Franchise Entertainment Research, a movie consultancy. “There is real and legitimate concern.”

Theater executives say they are confident that aggressive safety measures will offset any fears. Some states are requiring cinemas to limit capacity to 25 percent, at least initially. Groups will be seated at least six feet apart in a “checkerboard” style. Some cinemas may designate arrival times for ticket buyers to reduce last-minute crowding at concession counters. More theaters will allow patrons to order concessions with their phones. Seats will be sanitized before each showtime; California officials asked theater owners to consider using disposable seat covers.

Theater employees will be required to wear masks. Moviegoers may only be encouraged to wear them.

AMC said it was looking into high-tech vacuums, “electrostatic sprayers” and upgraded ventilation systems. Clorox may serve as an cleanliness adviser.

“We are confident we are taking the necessary steps on a broad array of fronts,” Adam Aron, AMC’s chief executive, said.

Theaters need clearance from health officials to reopen. Mr. Aron told analysts that cinemas in New York City “may or may not” have the approvals needed to reopen in time for “Tenet.” New York and its immediate suburbs make up the nation’s No. 2 movie market. Theaters in the Los Angeles area, which is No. 1, can open as soon as Friday under state guidelines; Los Angeles County authorities still must weigh in.

Theater owners are desperate to start selling tickets again. The Kansas-based AMC said on Tuesday that it lost $2.18 billion in its latest quarter, compared with a loss of $130 million a year earlier. Revenue totaled $942 million, a 22 percent decline. As of April 30, AMC had $718 million in cash, enough to stave off bankruptcy through the fall even if theaters remain closed.

“There will be significant pent-up demand,” Mr. Aron told analysts on Tuesday, citing early ticket sales in Norway, where AMC theaters began to reopen last week. He said that 83 percent of available tickets had been sold and that concession sales were commensurate with a year ago. “Amazing but true,” he said.

Last week, AMC, which is controlled by China’s Dalian Wanda Group, said in a filing that “substantial doubt exists about our ability to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time” because of the disruption caused by the pandemic.

The sputtering U.S. economy could pose additional challenges. Moviegoing has been relatively recession proof in recent decades, but this time could be different. The economic fallout of the pandemic has been severe, with tens of millions of people out of work.

“We are under no illusions,” Mr. Aron said. “The waters will be choppy. There may be unforeseen tosses and turns.”

Cinemark, a Texas-based chain that operates 6,132 screens in the United States and Latin America, recently reported a quarterly loss of about $59 million, compared with profit of $33 million a year earlier. Revenue totaled $544 million, a 24 percent decline. Cinemark has a cash balance of roughly $640 million.

Cinemark said it would begin reopening theaters in the United States on June 19, with the goal of having every location popping popcorn again by July 10.

“We will have a significant amount of promotion and welcome-back pricing,” Mark Zoradi, Cinemark’s chief executive, told analysts on a conference call, emphasizing “highly discounted” concessions.

Updated June 5, 2020

Does asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 happen?

So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare,” but she later walked back that statement.

How does blood type influence coronavirus?

A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.

How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?

The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.

Will protests set off a second viral wave of coronavirus?

Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.

How do we start exercising again without hurting ourselves after months of lockdown?

Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid,” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “When you haven’t been exercising, you lose muscle mass.” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.

My state is reopening. Is it safe to go out?

States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’t being told to stay at home, it’s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.

What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?

Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.

What are the symptoms of coronavirus?

Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

How can I protect myself while flying?

If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

Should I wear a mask?

The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.

What should I do if I feel sick?

If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

The Tennessee-based Regal Theaters, which operates cinemas in 42 states, has indicated that it would also reopen in July. Regal has been owned by Cineworld of Britain since 2018. Cineworld has not yet reported financial information for the spring period.

Theaters were already feeling pressured by streaming before the pandemic. Since theaters have been shut, some studios have released movies through video services. Last month, Universal vowed to make more films available without an exclusive theatrical run even when theaters reopen, prompting Mr. Aron to announce a boycott of Universal films.

“With this proposed action to go to the home and theaters simultaneously, Universal is breaking the business model and dealings between our two companies,” he said in a letter to the studio’s chairwoman, Donna Langley.

His tone was more measured on Tuesday. “We are in active negotiations with Universal, but no movies made by Universal Studios are currently on our docket,” Mr. Aron said. “We will see how it all shakes out.”

The post AMC Says ‘Almost All’ U.S. Theaters Will Reopen in July appeared first on Sansaar Times.

via Blogger https://ift.tt/3hanyit

[flauntpage]

Markelle Fultz’s Sixers Tenure Was Filled With Bizarre, Head-Scratching Moments

The Markelle Fultz saga was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever experienced in 10 years of covering sports. You probably feel the same, for however long you’ve been watching.

He’s no longer a Sixer, but the former #1 draft pick leaves the team having logged these numbers over a little more than a year and a half in Philadelphia:

33 games

15 starts

7.7 points per game

3.4 assists

3.4 rebounds

41% from the floor

26.7% from three

53.4% from the line

That’s the legacy of a kid who never really had it and may or may not have been dealing with a significant nerve and/or shoulder injury, depending on what side of the debate you fall on.

What I do know is that Markelle certainly had a ton of support here. You can’t say he was run out of town or never given a chance or anything even close to that. You had fans cheering him for simply taking a jump shot. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen.

I picked out 11 of the more bizarre moments of the Markelle saga and laid them out in no specific order, for a trip down memory lane:

Changing the shot

Almost immediately upon his training camp arrival, Markelle’s shot looked completely different than what we saw in college.

This was one of the first clips to result in a bit of confusion:

Interesting how dramatically different Markelle Fultz's FT stroke looks here compared to @ UW (65%). Has lowered release point considerably. pic.twitter.com/6REIFX0qtR

— Mike Schmitz (@Mike_Schmitz) September 28, 2017

Said Markelle back on September 28th, during his rookie year:

“It was just something going on where I wanted to try something new. But my free throw is going to look the same as college. I’m just trying to look at different ways to see how the ball can go in the hoop.”

It seemed like nothing at the time, didn’t it?

The yips?

Were Markelle’s issues physical or mental? The running theory was that he had a case of the yips, but that word was never used publicly by anyone until trainer Drew Hanlen talked about it on a podcast this past summer:

“With Markelle, obviously he has one of the most documented cases of kind of the YIPS of basketball in recent years, where he completely forgot how to shoot and had multiple hitches in his shot. So for me it was, hey listen, how can I get this kid that was No. 1 in last year’s draft back rolling and get him to the point where he was before, if not better?”

Markelle disputed that claim at media day:

Yeah, you know, I think it was a mis-term in words. But me and Drew have talked, and what happened last year was an injury. Let me get that straight. It was an injury that happened that didn’t allow me to go through a certain path that I needed to to shoot the ball. Just like any normal person, when you’re used to doing something the same way each and every day, and something happens, of course you’re going to start thinking about it. It’s just normal. So, of course I had that injury happen, and then people took certain things, of changing shots, and ran with it. But that didn’t affect me. That’s the reason I didn’t just come out last year and try to go against the media or whatever. I just was worried about getting healthy and getting back to what I do. That’s what I did this summer, so I’m happy.

In retrospect, that might have been the beginning of the end.

The deleted Hanlen tweet

Fultz struggled through the early part of this season, resulting in the following Twitter exchange between trainers Clint Parks and Hanlen:

“He’s still not healthy,” said Hanlen.

We were able to ask Markelle about that tweet on November 2nd of 2018, which resulted in this exchange:

Fultz: “I haven’t seen that tweet. I stay off social media during the season. I’ve heard about it but my mindset is the same – come to work every day, play as hard as I can, help my team get better.

Did you have a conversation with (Drew Hanlen), to ask what his intention was?

Fultz: “I’m not going to speak too much on it. Like I said, my mindset has just been to come to practice and be the best teammate and player I can be.”

Are you 100% healthy or close to it? 

Fultz: “For sure. I mean, nobody is ever 100% healthy in this game. You play five games in seven days and you get bumps and bruises. That’s life in the NBA. It’s the stuff you signed up for when you get here. But I’m working every day to get better.”

That ended up being the last time we spoke with Markelle.

Total silence

When Fultz returned to the Sixers last spring, he played pretty well in a home win against the Nuggets.

After the game, I asked him about his shoulder injury, to which he responded by staring straight forward and saying nothing at all:

He also responded to a follow-up from Sarah Todd with total silence. The post-game availability became national news and was all over ESPN the next day.

Shooting from his back

Remember this one?

Markelle Fultz shooting from the floor (April 2017) pic.twitter.com/g2V2ZTlhEd

— The Render (@TheRenderNBA) June 8, 2018

The video is from April 3rd, 2017, so it predates the NBA draft and summer league. Apparently it was just sitting there on Andrew Sharp’s Instagram before it found its way into the news cycle.

The common thought was that Fultz started tweaking his shot sometime after summer league in 2017, not before it, because the mechanics looked perfectly fine during his short time on the court out west. Keith Williams, Fultz’s trainer, says he never changed the shot at all. Bryan Colangelo said that he felt like the changes took place sometime in August. 

Double clutching

If the Hanlen tweet was the beginning of the end, this brought us much closer to the end, the free throw heard around the world:

This is worse than we have ever seen Fultz's free throw form look. pic.twitter.com/FhCYpNpd5b

— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) November 13, 2018

Fultz said the ball slipped out of his hand.

Brand said this:

I saw the free throw, for sure. I’ve been seeing him work this summer, and all of this season, and he has times where something like that happens. But following that, he shot it very well and it looked very fluid. He’s going to have some ups and downs. He’s going to have more ups than downs. You saw the talent level in flashes, how talented he is.

The NCAA probe

Back in February of last year, Markelle was named in the sweeping NCAA corruption case:

Wrote BWanks at the time:

The report focuses on the dealings of former NBA agent Andy Miller, his ex-associate Christian Dawkins, and the ASM Sports Agency. The documents reveal what could be a major headache for up to 20 NCAA programs and up to 25 current and former players, which allege that ASM worked with programs and players to get them to sign with the agency. Among the players reported to have taken money? That’s right—you guessed it. Markelle Fultz. The top pick of the 2017 NBA Draft reportedly received $10,000 from ASM, but didn’t go on to sign with the agency. Boss move.

It ended up being no much of a thing, not that I recall, but it was another one of those, “holy shit, what’s next?” kind of moments at the time.

Security cameras?

Strange report from earlier this season.

A story in the Washington Post alleged that Markelle’s mother, Ebony, installed security cameras inside his house.

Wrote Candace Buckner:

Fultz is now a professional on a four-year contract worth $33 million, but close associates said Ebony still goes to great lengths to shield him. During Fultz’s first season in Philadelphia, Ebony had cameras installed inside his New Jersey home, according to several people familiar with the setup who described the indoor surveillance as unusual. The cameras have since been removed. Multiple people said Ebony has asked some who have dealt with Fultz to sign nondisclosure agreements for reasons that are unclear to them.

“There’s definitely crazy [expletive] going on with the mom and how involved she is and how overprotective she is,” said a person with a close connection to Fultz. “The best possible situation is if the mom just backs off for a period of time and gives him a chance to breathe.”

….

Scapular imbalance… or dyskinesis?

Markelle was originally diagnosed with something the Sixers referred to as “scapular muscle imbalance” last season.

Said Bryan Colangelo, on March 27th, 2018:

“It was diagnosed as a scapular imbalance by a well-known expert in Kentucky and the cause is unknown at this stage. We don’t know where it started, when it started, but it was sometime from the time we saw him in summer league – when everyone saw that he did not have a shoulder problem and there was no indication there was a problem with his shot – to something that very quickly rose to awareness in late September and early October as we started the season. Once it was determined that he really was not able to function, we dove deeper to determine whether or not there was something going on. Even though an MRI showed that there was no structural concerns, there was a scapular imbalance, as determined by the doctor in Kentucky. It literally was just a breakdown of muscle function. We don’t know enough about the injury. It’s very uncommon in basketball. It’s very complicated and complex, and that’s why there’s been so much unknown here.

But when Fultz did a TNT interview during a national broadcast, the injury was referred to as scapular dyskinesis:

A Liberty Ballers story looked into this weird disconnect in terminology.

Not having his back

Among the first (and few) to publicly suggest that Markelle Fultz was being let down by the people around him, Joel Embiid first dropped the hint in February of last season:

ICYMI: @JoelEmbiid joined the #FastBreak Postgame Show to talk @sixers win over the Knicks, Markelle Fultz and burner accounts!#TTP pic.twitter.com/8iyw2bJmGR

— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 13, 2018

Said Embiid:

“I feel like we’ve been really close since he got to Philly, and I feel like I’m the guy who can help him the most because I went through it. I missed two years, you know, going through all of those injuries, and that’s what he’s going through right now. All I’ve been trying to tell him is to take his time. Everybody’s going to criticize you, especially when you’re the number one pick. Everyone’s going to criticize you, call you a bust, I was called all of that during my first two years. But I don’t exactly know what the origin of the problems are. I’m still trying to figure that out. But I don’t feel like a lot of people around him have had his back. He’s only 19 years old and that can be hard. The people around you that are supposed to support you, that aren’t supporting you, it’s hard. I was in that situational especially after my first year when I needed a second surgery and I lost my brother. I just wanted to quit, wanted to get away and go home and literally leave everything behind but I’m glad I stuck with it and kept pushing and worked really hard. That’s a tough situation, but the main thing I always thing I tell him is just to stay patient and keep working hard.”

“I don’t feel like a lot of people around him have had his back.”

Fluid drained.. or injected?

Remember the agent, Raymond Brothers, telling ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Markelle had fluid drained from his shoulder to help alleviate the problem of raising his arms over his head?

Brothers had it backward, and revised the comment:

“He had a cortisone shot on Oct. 5, which means fluid was put into his shoulder — not taken out,” agent Raymond Brothers told ESPN on Tuesday night. “My intention earlier was to let people know that he’s been experiencing discomfort. We will continue to work with (Sixers general manager) Bryan Colangelo and the medical staff.”

Strange stuff all around, but it’s Orlando’s problem now.

The post Markelle Fultz’s Sixers Tenure Was Filled With Bizarre, Head-Scratching Moments appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Markelle Fultz’s Sixers Tenure Was Filled With Bizarre, Head-Scratching Moments published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[lewisgabriel84z31]

Bitcoin Value Remains Up by 729 Percent

Bitcoin Value Remains Up by 729 Percent

If you are worried about the recent crypto market corrections, rest assured that bitcoin value is still up by 729 percent from where it was a year ago. In fact, since its inception, bitcoin has gained nearly 70,328.57 percent, according to information published on bitcoin.com.

Bitcoin has gone through a series of corrections in the past years since its inception, but analysts believe in just a few notable deep cuts. Judging by the market plunge in the past five weeks, analysts urge investors to look at the cryptocurrency in three dimensions: its historical past, its present status, and the future projections. By looking at the historical view of bitcoin, it is easy to notice that the digital currency has witnessed not only a series of value drops but also substantial gains in the crypto space.

Mainstream Media Contribution

Following the lows experienced in the cryptocurrency market in the past few weeks, the mainstream media publications have run scary headlines on bitcoin value. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business Insider and others have published stories on what they term as bitcoin crash and the death spiral of the cryptocurrency wave.

Since bitcoin value hit an all-time high of more than $19,000 per coin in December 2017, the currency has experienced a downward trend. Many predictions followed after, suggesting how low the cryptocurrency might fall steadily and stop at $10,000. As of this writing, Bitcoin value has fallen to a low of $7, 625. Many predictions still put the mainstream digital currency at a lower value in the near future.

Up from more than $19,000 last December to slightly below $8000, bitcoin value decreased by more than 60 percent. In the crypto space, such levels of volatility are expected, as analysts suggest that bitcoin markets are more likely to rebound.

Five-week Plunge Similar to a Few Outlier Corrections

Many people look at the past bitcoin corrections to determine where the present correction will lead regarding bitcoin value. Historically, bitcoin markets have witnessed a good number of big value drops. However, the recent plunge seems to overwhelm some four past corrections.

Bitcoin value reached its all-time high on December 16, 2017. From that time, the digital currency has lost more than 60 percent of its value in a period of five weeks. Even with the market rebound, the current dip outweighs that of June 2012, when bitcoin dipped 36 percent due to Linode hack scare. In addition, the decline in the past month outpaces the Mt Gox bankruptcy plunge in 2014, when bitcoin value dropped by 49 percent. During the Chinese exchange bans in 2017, the value dropped by 40 percent.

All the same, bitcoin has experienced three significant market outlier corrections, which were comparably larger than the recent drop. In 2011, the Japanese exchange Mt Gox experienced its first attack—and bitcoin value dipped 94 percent. In 2013, Mt Gox halted trading—and the value dropped by a further 79 percent. Finally, bitcoin experienced the longest ‘bear run’ in its history between 2013 and 2015, which saw the cryptocurrency lose 87 percent of its value.

Additionally, bitcoin has experienced other major market corrections above the 35 percent mark. Each of these corrections might have led the mainstream media to nail the final coffin on the casket of the digital currency.

Bitcoin far from ‘dead’

Judging from where bitcoin value was a year ago, the markets are still up by more than 700 percent. Analysts believe that for every two steps backward, bitcoin leaps seven steps forward. This comes almost after every major correction. It is, therefore, safe to say that with more than 70,000% growth since its inception, the bubble is far from bursting.

Could we witness the same scenario this time around? No one really knows what happens next in the crypto space, but analysts believe that cryptocurrencies never ‘die.’ Many analysts believe that the value of the crypto economy will rise in the long term. For the prophets of doom that believe the cryptocurrencies are breathing their last, they should look at the whole picture.

This leads to the next point:

Buy Low, Sell High

It has been a tense five weeks for bitcoin enthusiasts with the price of the cryptocurrency reaching an all-time high and then crash to irritating lows.

However, for Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder, and bitcoin enthusiast, this is the best time to buy bitcoin. Wozniak says he bought the digital currency at $700 and sold at the right time.

Speaking to CNBC in 2017, Wozniak said, “I remember getting interested in bitcoin some time ago…It was $70 for a bitcoin, man and I went online and you had to have a special bank account at a special bank and I couldn’t buy any bitcoin so I gave up. Eventually, I got some of them at the $700 stage…”

Ironically, Wozniak ended up selling his bitcoins because he could no longer ride the roller coaster. While he made a lot of money, his main aim of stepping out was not to make a profit.

“I had bitcoin to experiment with and when it shot up high, I said, ‘I don’t want to become one of those people that watch it and care about the number.’ I don’t want that kind of care in my life,” Wozniak told an audience at the Nordic Business Forum held in Sweden.

Saving yourself the heartache

By leaving the crypto roller coaster just at the right time, the inventor saved himself a lot of headaches. Recently, Bitcoin has been all over the place. Friday, February 2, the cryptocurrency traded at $7,695.10 on CoinDesk. This was the first time bitcoin value went below $8,000 mark since November 24, 2017.

Even so, bitcoin recorded a high of $19, 340 according to Coinbase figures. As for Wozniak, he did not want to handle the market swings.

“Part of my happiness is not to have worries, so I sold it all—just to get rid of it—except just enough to still experiment with,” Wozniak says, expressing his interest in using bitcoin to pay for things.

A formula for Happiness

Wozniak, a veteran engineer, designed his happiness formula at age 20. At that time, even before he became Apple co-founder he discovered that happiness in life is better than owning wealth, real estate, or yachts.

“If I died and had all this wealth and yachts and all this stuff, would I be as happy as when I laugh? And I thought about pranks I played and jokes I had and music I would hear that would make me smile, and I came up with my formula that life is about happiness,” he says.

By buying when bitcoin value is low and selling when it’s high, you can save yourself a lot of headaches and coin up your happiness formula.

Analysts’ predictions for 2018

In 2018, bitcoin value has taken a two-month dive, putting the cryptocurrency at a miserable start. However, investors and analysts have given their opinions on what they think about the future value of bitcoin.

According to express.co.uk, various predictions continue to emerge with both high and low projections. Despite the rocky start into 2018, it is not all bad news for bitcoin investors. At the beginning of the year, Spencer Bogart predicted that bitcoin value could reach $50,000 in 2018, more than double its highest value in 2017. Bogart believes that bitcoin will rise in value, based on the help from institutional investors.

Speaking to CNBC, Bogart said, “Institutional investors that want to play in this market, even if they do, they are going to wait a little bit and either dip their toes in the water or just wait on the sidelines until they see the products themselves function.”

Expressing his focus on bitcoin in 2018, Bogart says, “I can’t tell you exactly what’s going to happen with price and neither can anybody….But when I look out over the next 12 months, what I see is a significant supply and demand imbalance at the current price levels.”

Bitcoin will go mainstream in 2018

Meanwhile, Imran Wasim of AMSYS Group believes that bitcoin will go mainstream in 2018. Speaking to News BTC, the financial analyst added, “It has dropped in price, this is good. A lot of money is going to come into bitcoin; bitcoin will go up around $30,000-$35,000 this year—next couple of years? $100, 000.”

While exuding confidence that he has ‘no idea’ when the price could rise, Wasim added, “It is going to happen, because it is a store of value.”

However, not everybody is positive about this. David Garrity, CEO at GVA Research LLC, warned that bitcoin value might drop as low as $5000.

“Well, I’m just doing it more on a broad sense of seeing what the general levels from which there are actual moves over the last six months. Arguing to the extent, we had seen sort of this meteoric rise in the fourth quarter going on to almost $20,000 again,” said Garrity, when he spoke to Bloomberg on how to chart the meteoric rise of bitcoin.

All the same, considering the longer-term future of bitcoin, investors predict a bullish market. According to Shopin’s CEO Eran Eyal, bitcoin value is likely to hit $100,000 in the future.

“I have no doubt that bitcoin is going to reach well beyond $100,000…Have a look at how it climbed over the past. I think it’s important not to just look at it at this moment in time but also to look at it historically at what has happened around the world,” says Mr. Eyal.

Bitcoin for $1 million?

On the contrary, Bobby Lee of China’s BTCC believes that bitcoin value could rise even higher. Lee puts his prediction above $1 million dollars in the next twenty years. Addressing Express.co.uk during London Blockchain Week, the CEO of China’s first bitcoin exchange said, “Bitcoin, I think will get to $1 million per bitcoin. Right now it’s $10,000, it will go 100,000 and then 200,000, 500,000…Half a million, that’s going to be a milestone and then eventually it will cross $1 million for bitcoin.”

“Within 20 years, really within 20 years,” says Lee, on how long it will take bitcoin value to hit a million dollars.

Join the conversation over at Telegram (https://t.me/coinstaker)

Author info

Tony is a writer for the crypto space. He presents cryptocurrency and blockchain topics to the public in a way that he only can. While carefully researched, this article should not be taken as an express investment guide. Do your own research and consult a financial advisor before you invest in cryptocurrency.

http://ift.tt/2s5cqhm

[kansascityhappenings]

Joe’s Weather Blog: How low can we go tonight? (MON-1/15)

Good late morning to you…the arctic air surged through the area early this morning…and now it’s flowing down through into Arkansas and Texas. This is an air mass about as cold as the one to start the New Year. I’ve been battling myself about how low the temperatures can get overnight…as there is potential for lows near 10  below. The issue though isn’t clear cut…there are several “ingredients” that I look for for this cold weather cake, if you will, that will be missing. So I’m not sure what will happen in the end…but I do know one thing…it will be cold!

Forecast:

Today: Steady temperatures with clouds and sunshine. Gusty NW winds to 15-25 MPH creating wind chills near 10 below will be common today. Temperatures will be around 10°

Tonight: The conundrum night. Clouds are a big factor…as well as the continuing winds. Both those are things that don’t favor temperatures as cold as the start to the New year (-11°). I’ll get more into this in the discussion. Anyway let’s sshoot for lows near -5° and mention that some will be colder.

Tuesday: A real struggle to get much above 10° with a mix of clouds and sunshine.

Wednesday: Another sub-zero start BUT temperatures may actually come up between 12AM-7AM as the winds switch towards the west and SW. Highs should rebound into the mid 20s

Discussion:

Yesterday was a weird weather day…I sent a DM to my colleagues at the NWS in Pleasant Hill after I got home around 12AM and wanted to see if I could jog there memories at all…because I couldn’t remember anything like this happening in my 20+ years in KC.

When was the last time we had a dry powdery (high ratio) snow in the morning and then a very wet/wintry mix event/snow less that 18 hours later?

Now the opposite has occurred before…that is not an issue for me…it was the sequence of the events yesterday that I was scratching my head and trying to remember a similar event…I couldn’t come up with anything. That was a weird day.

This was a result of a very cold air mass that started the day…then was shoved away as an arctic front allowed S/SW winds to push in some less “cold” air. That sent temperatures above us, and also for some at the surface, above 32°. At the station we had mostly wet snow…on the south side there was this wintry mix…at times rain/sleet then ending as some rather decent wet snow. It was pretty there around 1;30 am at my house as there were some bigger flakes coming down.

Again though…that flip from a “dry” snow to a very wet snow/wintry mix…was unique to me at least in the period of less than a day.

The arctic air is here now though and we’re in it for the next 36+ hours as of this writing. Look at how the temperatures have trended at KCI.

I was expecting a midnight high today…and we did that…33°. As of this writing we’re down to 9° and we’re not going to go far from there today.

Here is a look at the 10AM surface map…the arctic front is well south of the area…and I’ve drawn in the isotherms (lines of equal temperatures) every 10°

That’s some nasty cold air coming into the area…

So about tonight..this is my conundrum. To REALLY get brutally cold nights in KC…you need to have some things to allow temperatures to tank. 1) arctic air mass (we have that in spades). 2) clear skies (this is a BIG question). 3) Light winds, something on the order of under 5 mph (we won’t have that). 4) dry air (we sort of have that) and finally 5) snow cover (we’re pretty good there with widespread 1″ (at least) in the region.

The problem with tonight is mostly item #2. Clouds. They can wreck an extreme low temperature forecast. We also have to give a nod to item #3. Winds. They will be around 15 MPH or so overnight (contributing to really low wind chills). Item #2 though is the bugaboo. I’ve had too many forecasts bust because of this. When you don’t expect them…they come…when you think they will be an issue then open up “sucker holes” on you and temperatures in localized areas tank more than other areas around. It’s a very frustrating.

So let’s go about this in another way…IF we had the perfect conditions for tonight…I’d have now issue forecasting lows of 10 to 20 BELOW. We don’t though…so I don’t want to get that low with the forecast. On New Years Day we had all the ingredients in place EXCEPT for snowcover locally…and we still tanked to -11° with the same type of air mass in place as we have tonight. Now though we have snow on the ground BUT we may very well have clouds…and we’ll have wind…and that’s a tougher forecast headache.

So with all that said, for now I’ll go with -5°. IF I was working tonight I’d be staring at the satellite pictures through the late news because IF those clouds don’t develop and move through the area overnight…we’ll be 10 below I think in the morning.

Wednesday mornings conundrum is the wind shift expected around 12am-3am. That will play a large role in determining when temperatures stop falling. Odds are it will be somewhere in the 0 to -5° range then we start to recover into Wednesday daybreak to near 0° or even a bit above that.

I know I just wrote about 700 words about a few degrees of temperatures…what can I say…that’s what I think about when forecasting the weather.

I’ve been getting some FB and Twitter messages about folks talking up a big winter storm for KC this weekend. The models have entertained this idea to various degrees for about a week or so…and yes there should be a decent storm moving out of the Plains and getting it’s act together towards the east of KC. The problem (again) for snow lovers is that we’re going to really warm up again ahead of the storm…probably into the 50s on Saturday into Sunday morning. Moisture will be returning in the form of lots of low clouds on Saturday. Also the atmosphere as a whole will be moistening too especially overnight Saturday into Sunday…so the system should have something to work with.

What needs to happen though, and right now I’m not too thrilled by this potential…is the storm needs to be farther south…so that we don’t get into the mild air as bullishly on Saturday night and Sunday as we’re forecast to do. IF this can happen…and IF we can get into the colder air Sunday…we may have something cooking. Again though…that’s a lot of warm air on the front side of this thing…and that typically sends the surface low, which we need to be more towards southern MO for snow, more towards the I-70 corridor region…and that isn’t helpful usually for snow around these parts. Some wraparound snows are possible though, especially towards N MO and IA.

It’s obviously worth watching…but it just doesn’t seem like “our winter” around these parts. The rain though would be helpful. It’s even possible depending on how things play out, that there could be the year’s first rumble of thunder or two.

Our feature photo comes from Mary Kate Wachel…showing a nice fiery sunset from last night!

Stay warm my friends…

Joe

  Joe

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports http://fox4kc.com/2018/01/15/joes-weather-blog-how-low-can-we-go-tonight-mon-1-15/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2018/01/15/joes-weather-blog-how-low-can-we-go-tonight-mon-1-15/

[brajeshupadhyay]

LOS ANGELES — It’s almost showtime. But how many people will show? Movie theaters around the world are reopening, with AMC Theaters, the world’s largest cineplex operator, announcing on Tuesday that “almost all” of its locations in the United States and Britain would reopen next month. Over all, theaters in 90 percent of overseas markets will be running again by mid-July, according to the National Association of Theater Owners, a trade organization for movie exhibitors in 98 countries. In just three weeks, Hollywood is scheduled to restart its supply pipeline of new films. “Unhinged,” a $33 million Russell Crowe thriller, will arrive in theaters on July 1, followed in mid-July by Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” a $200 million-plus mind bender. The question, however, is whether people — even while watching movies in well-sanitized theaters with limited capacity — will feel safe from the coronavirus, the spread of which rose to a worldwide high on Sunday, as measured by new cases. As the United States has started to reopen its economy, new hot spots have emerged. Mass protests against police brutality raise the specter of a coronavirus surge in the coming weeks. “Moviegoers will be looking for assurance that conditions are completely safe,” said David A. Gross, who runs Franchise Entertainment Research, a movie consultancy. “There is real and legitimate concern.” Theater executives say they are confident that aggressive safety measures will offset any fears. Some states are requiring cinemas to limit capacity to 25 percent, at least initially. Groups will be seated at least six feet apart in a “checkerboard” style. Some cinemas may designate arrival times for ticket buyers to reduce last-minute crowding at concession counters. More theaters will allow patrons to order concessions with their phones. Seats will be sanitized before each showtime; California officials asked theater owners to consider using disposable seat covers. Theater employees will be required to wear masks. Moviegoers may only be encouraged to wear them. AMC said it was looking into high-tech vacuums, “electrostatic sprayers” and upgraded ventilation systems. Clorox may serve as an cleanliness adviser. “We are confident we are taking the necessary steps on a broad array of fronts,” Adam Aron, AMC’s chief executive, said. Theaters need clearance from health officials to reopen. Mr. Aron told analysts that cinemas in New York City “may or may not” have the approvals needed to reopen in time for “Tenet.” New York and its immediate suburbs make up the nation’s No. 2 movie market. Theaters in the Los Angeles area, which is No. 1, can open as soon as Friday under state guidelines; Los Angeles County authorities still must weigh in. Theater owners are desperate to start selling tickets again. The Kansas-based AMC said on Tuesday that it lost $2.18 billion in its latest quarter, compared with a loss of $130 million a year earlier. Revenue totaled $942 million, a 22 percent decline. As of April 30, AMC had $718 million in cash, enough to stave off bankruptcy through the fall even if theaters remain closed. “There will be significant pent-up demand,” Mr. Aron told analysts on Tuesday, citing early ticket sales in Norway, where AMC theaters began to reopen last week. He said that 83 percent of available tickets had been sold and that concession sales were commensurate with a year ago. “Amazing but true,” he said. Last week, AMC, which is controlled by China’s Dalian Wanda Group, said in a filing that “substantial doubt exists about our ability to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time” because of the disruption caused by the pandemic. The sputtering U.S. economy could pose additional challenges. Moviegoing has been relatively recession proof in recent decades, but this time could be different. The economic fallout of the pandemic has been severe, with tens of millions of people out of work. “We are under no illusions,” Mr. Aron said. “The waters will be choppy. There may be unforeseen tosses and turns.” Cinemark, a Texas-based chain that operates 6,132 screens in the United States and Latin America, recently reported a quarterly loss of about $59 million, compared with profit of $33 million a year earlier. Revenue totaled $544 million, a 24 percent decline. Cinemark has a cash balance of roughly $640 million. Cinemark said it would begin reopening theaters in the United States on June 19, with the goal of having every location popping popcorn again by July 10. “We will have a significant amount of promotion and welcome-back pricing,” Mark Zoradi, Cinemark’s chief executive, told analysts on a conference call, emphasizing “highly discounted” concessions. Updated June 5, 2020 Does asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 happen? So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare,” but she later walked back that statement. How does blood type influence coronavirus? A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study. How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.? The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April. Will protests set off a second viral wave of coronavirus? Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission. How do we start exercising again without hurting ourselves after months of lockdown? Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid,” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “When you haven’t been exercising, you lose muscle mass.” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home. My state is reopening. Is it safe to go out? States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’t being told to stay at home, it’s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people. What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface? Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks. What are the symptoms of coronavirus? Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days. How can I protect myself while flying? If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.) Should I wear a mask? The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing. What should I do if I feel sick? If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others. The Tennessee-based Regal Theaters, which operates cinemas in 42 states, has indicated that it would also reopen in July. Regal has been owned by Cineworld of Britain since 2018. Cineworld has not yet reported financial information for the spring period. Theaters were already feeling pressured by streaming before the pandemic. Since theaters have been shut, some studios have released movies through video services. Last month, Universal vowed to make more films available without an exclusive theatrical run even when theaters reopen, prompting Mr. Aron to announce a boycott of Universal films. “With this proposed action to go to the home and theaters simultaneously, Universal is breaking the business model and dealings between our two companies,” he said in a letter to the studio’s chairwoman, Donna Langley. His tone was more measured on Tuesday. “We are in active negotiations with Universal, but no movies made by Universal Studios are currently on our docket,” Mr. Aron said. “We will see how it all shakes out.” The post AMC Says ‘Almost All’ U.S. Theaters Will Reopen in July appeared first on Sansaar Times.

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/06/amc-says-almost-all-us-theaters-will.html

[flauntpage]

Markelle Fultz’s Sixers Tenure Was Filled With Bizarre, Head-Scratching Moments

The Markelle Fultz saga was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever experienced in 10 years of covering sports. You probably feel the same, for however long you’ve been watching.

He’s no longer a Sixer, but the former #1 draft pick leaves the team having logged these numbers over a little more than a year and a half in Philadelphia:

33 games

15 starts

7.7 points per game

3.4 assists

3.4 rebounds

41% from the floor

26.7% from three

53.4% from the line

That’s the legacy of a kid who never really had it and may or may not have been dealing with a significant nerve and/or shoulder injury, depending on what side of the debate you fall on.

What I do know is that Markelle certainly had a ton of support here. You can’t say he was run out of town or never given a chance or anything even close to that. You had fans cheering him for simply taking a jump shot. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen.

I picked out 11 of the more bizarre moments of the Markelle saga and laid them out in no specific order, for a trip down memory lane:

Changing the shot

Almost immediately upon his training camp arrival, Markelle’s shot looked completely different than what we saw in college.

This was one of the first clips to result in a bit of confusion:

Interesting how dramatically different Markelle Fultz's FT stroke looks here compared to @ UW (65%). Has lowered release point considerably. pic.twitter.com/6REIFX0qtR

— Mike Schmitz (@Mike_Schmitz) September 28, 2017

Said Markelle back on September 28th, during his rookie year:

“It was just something going on where I wanted to try something new. But my free throw is going to look the same as college. I’m just trying to look at different ways to see how the ball can go in the hoop.”

It seemed like nothing at the time, didn’t it?

The yips?

Were Markelle’s issues physical or mental? The running theory was that he had a case of the yips, but that word was never used publicly by anyone until trainer Drew Hanlen talked about it on a podcast this past summer:

“With Markelle, obviously he has one of the most documented cases of kind of the YIPS of basketball in recent years, where he completely forgot how to shoot and had multiple hitches in his shot. So for me it was, hey listen, how can I get this kid that was No. 1 in last year’s draft back rolling and get him to the point where he was before, if not better?”

Markelle disputed that claim at media day:

Yeah, you know, I think it was a mis-term in words. But me and Drew have talked, and what happened last year was an injury. Let me get that straight. It was an injury that happened that didn’t allow me to go through a certain path that I needed to to shoot the ball. Just like any normal person, when you’re used to doing something the same way each and every day, and something happens, of course you’re going to start thinking about it. It’s just normal. So, of course I had that injury happen, and then people took certain things, of changing shots, and ran with it. But that didn’t affect me. That’s the reason I didn’t just come out last year and try to go against the media or whatever. I just was worried about getting healthy and getting back to what I do. That’s what I did this summer, so I’m happy.

In retrospect, that might have been the beginning of the end.

The deleted Hanlen tweet

Fultz struggled through the early part of this season, resulting in the following Twitter exchange between trainers Clint Parks and Hanlen:

“He’s still not healthy,” said Hanlen.

We were able to ask Markelle about that tweet on November 2nd of 2018, which resulted in this exchange:

Fultz: “I haven’t seen that tweet. I stay off social media during the season. I’ve heard about it but my mindset is the same – come to work every day, play as hard as I can, help my team get better.

Did you have a conversation with (Drew Hanlen), to ask what his intention was?

Fultz: “I’m not going to speak too much on it. Like I said, my mindset has just been to come to practice and be the best teammate and player I can be.”

Are you 100% healthy or close to it? 

Fultz: “For sure. I mean, nobody is ever 100% healthy in this game. You play five games in seven days and you get bumps and bruises. That’s life in the NBA. It’s the stuff you signed up for when you get here. But I’m working every day to get better.”

That ended up being the last time we spoke with Markelle.

Total silence

When Fultz returned to the Sixers last spring, he played pretty well in a home win against the Nuggets.

After the game, I asked him about his shoulder injury, to which he responded by staring straight forward and saying nothing at all:

He also responded to a follow-up from Sarah Todd with total silence. The post-game availability became national news and was all over ESPN the next day.

Shooting from his back

Remember this one?

Markelle Fultz shooting from the floor (April 2017) pic.twitter.com/g2V2ZTlhEd

— The Render (@TheRenderNBA) June 8, 2018

The video is from April 3rd, 2017, so it predates the NBA draft and summer league. Apparently it was just sitting there on Andrew Sharp’s Instagram before it found its way into the news cycle.

The common thought was that Fultz started tweaking his shot sometime after summer league in 2017, not before it, because the mechanics looked perfectly fine during his short time on the court out west. Keith Williams, Fultz’s trainer, says he never changed the shot at all. Bryan Colangelo said that he felt like the changes took place sometime in August. 

Double clutching

If the Hanlen tweet was the beginning of the end, this brought us much closer to the end, the free throw heard around the world:

This is worse than we have ever seen Fultz's free throw form look. pic.twitter.com/FhCYpNpd5b

— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) November 13, 2018

Fultz said the ball slipped out of his hand.

Brand said this:

I saw the free throw, for sure. I’ve been seeing him work this summer, and all of this season, and he has times where something like that happens. But following that, he shot it very well and it looked very fluid. He’s going to have some ups and downs. He’s going to have more ups than downs. You saw the talent level in flashes, how talented he is.

The NCAA probe

Back in February of last year, Markelle was named in the sweeping NCAA corruption case:

Wrote BWanks at the time:

The report focuses on the dealings of former NBA agent Andy Miller, his ex-associate Christian Dawkins, and the ASM Sports Agency. The documents reveal what could be a major headache for up to 20 NCAA programs and up to 25 current and former players, which allege that ASM worked with programs and players to get them to sign with the agency. Among the players reported to have taken money? That’s right—you guessed it. Markelle Fultz. The top pick of the 2017 NBA Draft reportedly received $10,000 from ASM, but didn’t go on to sign with the agency. Boss move.

It ended up being no much of a thing, not that I recall, but it was another one of those, “holy shit, what’s next?” kind of moments at the time.

Security cameras?

Strange report from earlier this season.

A story in the Washington Post alleged that Markelle’s mother, Ebony, installed security cameras inside his house.

Wrote Candace Buckner:

Fultz is now a professional on a four-year contract worth $33 million, but close associates said Ebony still goes to great lengths to shield him. During Fultz’s first season in Philadelphia, Ebony had cameras installed inside his New Jersey home, according to several people familiar with the setup who described the indoor surveillance as unusual. The cameras have since been removed. Multiple people said Ebony has asked some who have dealt with Fultz to sign nondisclosure agreements for reasons that are unclear to them.

“There’s definitely crazy [expletive] going on with the mom and how involved she is and how overprotective she is,” said a person with a close connection to Fultz. “The best possible situation is if the mom just backs off for a period of time and gives him a chance to breathe.”

….

Scapular imbalance… or dyskinesis?

Markelle was originally diagnosed with something the Sixers referred to as “scapular muscle imbalance” last season.

Said Bryan Colangelo, on March 27th, 2018:

“It was diagnosed as a scapular imbalance by a well-known expert in Kentucky and the cause is unknown at this stage. We don’t know where it started, when it started, but it was sometime from the time we saw him in summer league – when everyone saw that he did not have a shoulder problem and there was no indication there was a problem with his shot – to something that very quickly rose to awareness in late September and early October as we started the season. Once it was determined that he really was not able to function, we dove deeper to determine whether or not there was something going on. Even though an MRI showed that there was no structural concerns, there was a scapular imbalance, as determined by the doctor in Kentucky. It literally was just a breakdown of muscle function. We don’t know enough about the injury. It’s very uncommon in basketball. It’s very complicated and complex, and that’s why there’s been so much unknown here.

But when Fultz did a TNT interview during a national broadcast, the injury was referred to as scapular dyskinesis:

A Liberty Ballers story looked into this weird disconnect in terminology.

Not having his back

Among the first (and few) to publicly suggest that Markelle Fultz was being let down by the people around him, Joel Embiid first dropped the hint in February of last season:

ICYMI: @JoelEmbiid joined the #FastBreak Postgame Show to talk @sixers win over the Knicks, Markelle Fultz and burner accounts!#TTP pic.twitter.com/8iyw2bJmGR

— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 13, 2018

Said Embiid:

“I feel like we’ve been really close since he got to Philly, and I feel like I’m the guy who can help him the most because I went through it. I missed two years, you know, going through all of those injuries, and that’s what he’s going through right now. All I’ve been trying to tell him is to take his time. Everybody’s going to criticize you, especially when you’re the number one pick. Everyone’s going to criticize you, call you a bust, I was called all of that during my first two years. But I don’t exactly know what the origin of the problems are. I’m still trying to figure that out. But I don’t feel like a lot of people around him have had his back. He’s only 19 years old and that can be hard. The people around you that are supposed to support you, that aren’t supporting you, it’s hard. I was in that situational especially after my first year when I needed a second surgery and I lost my brother. I just wanted to quit, wanted to get away and go home and literally leave everything behind but I’m glad I stuck with it and kept pushing and worked really hard. That’s a tough situation, but the main thing I always thing I tell him is just to stay patient and keep working hard.”

“I don’t feel like a lot of people around him have had his back.”

Fluid drained.. or injected?

Remember the agent, Raymond Brothers, telling ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Markelle had fluid drained from his shoulder to help alleviate the problem of raising his arms over his head?

Brothers had it backward, and revised the comment:

“He had a cortisone shot on Oct. 5, which means fluid was put into his shoulder — not taken out,” agent Raymond Brothers told ESPN on Tuesday night. “My intention earlier was to let people know that he’s been experiencing discomfort. We will continue to work with (Sixers general manager) Bryan Colangelo and the medical staff.”

Strange stuff all around, but it’s Orlando’s problem now.

The post Markelle Fultz’s Sixers Tenure Was Filled With Bizarre, Head-Scratching Moments appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Markelle Fultz’s Sixers Tenure Was Filled With Bizarre, Head-Scratching Moments published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/