#i got to skip a grade because they thought it was an indicator of overall giftedness

[land-of-brains-and-chocolate]

tagged by @blue-b-bro on me venom blog so i guess i’ll do it on me venom blog

1. are you named after anyone? no, but me and my siblings are theme named. like, we match. specifically, if you’ve ever read a latin textbook, our exploits were detailed within the practice texts therein.

2. when was the last time you cried? you know, up until, like, a year ago i’d made a habit of crying anytime, anywhere, mid-day breakdowns in public bathrooms but, since Back Then, i don’t think i have.

3. do you want kids? not particularly.

4. do you use sarcasm a lot? unfortunately!

5. what’s the first thing you notice about people? just the general... vibe? so i can match it. are they awkward? we might bond over being awkward. are they an arrogant ass? two can play at that game

6. what’s your eye color? dark brown...

7. scary movie or happy ending? this is a weird dichotomy. i don’t get much out of most horror movies, but i can appreciate both happy and devastating endings. the latter can be really good for catharsis, i see people ragging on negative character development all the time but sometimes it’s just... good.

8. any special talents? the pattern brain never rests. is this a talent? i’m overly analytical.

9. where were you born? thereabouts of vienna.

10. what are your hobbies? blogging about all kinds of media because it’s putting the pattern brain and the obsessive brain to, like, an entertaining use. and i like to hike and run but not in this godawful weather.

11. do you have any pets? my guinea pigs died of old age fairly recently... i love any and all rodents...

12. what sports do you play/have you played? i cannot stand any sports that are played in a team or against others, i only like to exercise on my own.

13. how tall are you? 170cm. i was gonna say “as average as can be” but then that gave me the idea to look up the actual averages and americans are six whole centimeters shorter than austrians? what???

14. favorite subject in school? english but just because i was, like, perfectly bilingual by age fifteen.

15. dream job? translator as well, actually.

tagging fuckin uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh @beypride @enbiote @redbatcastle @all-prophecies-are-false @radeddie @quetzalpapalotl @silpexx @legaylity @whimsikalmusing everyone who remains untagged. no one gets to remain unbothered

[harcove]

what do you think billy would study in college if he did at all? i've decided that basically whatever you say about billy is the law™, you're an insanely talented writer

First, tysm 🥺 I feel so warm and fuzzy that you like my writing so much and how I write ppl that u wanna take my word as law qkfjqodo; I do have loads of hcs about him so I love sharing them/using them in my writing.

Anyways,

Honestly thought about this for a bit and firstly, I can see Billy just completely not going to college. He might see it as a waste of time, really just wants to get out of highschool and enter the workforce. Fuck more school. Wants to be financially stable enough as soon as possible to move away from his dad.

He's smart, but unlike how I see a lot of people characterize him as the "Secretly huge nude with big smart brain" I really think hes average or a bit above in academics; he's not above others like that and half of it is he doesn't care. And he works for good grades if he wants them, otherwise it's in one ear and out the other. He's smart but not some brainiac, has to work for some things while others are more natural to him.

But if he chose to actually go to college or something similar, there are a few things I think he might go into. I think Billy would be the type to go to college for something he's already got knowledge in and is already involved in/interested in. So things like mechanics (he loves to work on his car in free time) or literature studies/english (subtle hints with books in his room indicate he might be a bit of a secret bookworm) would be things he would go for in college.

My best friend @sleepy-sanguinarian also suggested maybe kinesiology when I talked about this with her, because Billy does enjoy working out. Which I agree with, 👍 he'd focus on the optimization of human health and activity in sports, and fitness.

Overall, I think most likely he would skip out on college however, but if he does go or decides to eventually later in life maybe, it would be a toss up between various things he already enjoys- literature, fitness/spot, and mechanics.

[apathycares]

Enraged

Warnings: high school AU, cursing, angry Sasuke

Pairings: implied Sasuke x Reader

Enraged, he slams his arm against the board, his long fingers itching to rip off the paper and burn it along with his crushed ambition. No one would see him do it as the halls were yet to be filled for another hour and the staff busy conversing in a closed-off area, but he was certain there were cameras everywhere and lifts his arm away.

The words glare at him and he glares back, willing it to burn as he wishes but he knew from past efforts that nothing could be done after this.

Konohagakure High School’s Top Twenty Honors Students 1.  [Last name], [Name] 2. Uchiha, Sasuke 

He never bothered to read the rest, as he was too preoccupied wondering how could this one person hold his deserved rank so unabashedly? He had spent too much time with his nose in his books and sleepless nights cramming, and he was yet again unable to outdo whoever this girl was. 

He hears footsteps behind him not long after he sees a girl he had grown accustomed to. She would always come a half an hour after him and before the students and glance at the very sheet he spends seamlessly staring at. They’ve never spoken a word to each other and he sometimes wonders why she never seems discouraged but he doesn’t ask because that isn’t his business.

As per usual, she takes her glance and isn’t bothered by his presence, before sighing slowly.

“Are you unimpressed?”

He is just as surprised as she is by his random initiative to speak, but she recovers quickly and mats her hair as if in thought.

“Not really,” she says slowly, looking up at him with slightly squinting [colour] eyes.

He turns back to the large pin-up board and narrows his eyes at the first slot, before mumbling under his breath.

“Did you say something?” She asks while adjusting the large books onto her right arm, a sign that he’s come to know indicates she’s about to leave. 

“I need more books.” He repeats a little louder, a frown marring his pale face when she laughs and waves him off.

“Studying isn’t everything Sasuke Uchiha.”

His frown becomes deeper and he stares as she turns away, and he doesn’t understand what comes over him when he asks, “What’s your name?”

Her eyes twinkle and she cringes a bit, a reaction which seems uncommon to him before she takes a deep breath and animatedly gestures flipping her hair off her shoulder.

“[Name].”

The air is basically knocked out of him as his lungs constrict and all the choice words he’d been saving up if he ever met her could not escape his lips. He had unintentionally been entertaining the enemy for years now and he never knew it?

She struts away sickeningly confident after shooting him a half-smile, and his hand unknowingly ball into fists. How hadn’t he known?

He finds her in the girl’s bathroom on the second floor, leaning against the basins while formerly reading what seemed like some notes. Her eyes are wide and she looks around dumbly and he wonders how on Earth she had kept the first rank when clearly she had no –

“You’re not supposed to be in here.” She states cutting off his internal monologue, though she is calm and her eyes momentarily stay on him.

“How are you first?” He asks impatiently, his teeth clenched and his fists balled.

  “Well great magicians don’t tell their secrets, right?” She smiles as she jabs a finger to him, but he is not amused. [Name] drops her hand and purses her lips as she gazes at him in wonder. “You’re a hard worker, aren’t you?”

“Aren’t you?” He asked incredulously, before scoffing. “Are you really….” He choked slightly, before furrowing his eyebrows.

“Oh, dude,” she sighed, “you can’t even say my name? Do you hate me that much?”

He didn’t. He actually thought she was the most laid-back girl, whenever they stared at the board together every morning for the past five years in silence, and assumed she could be the only friend he’d accept.

Before he realized she and his ultimate nemesis were the same person. How could he have not realized it? More so –

“Did you know?” he asked quietly, looking at her with disappointment. She nodded slowly and confirmed it. “I can’t believe this…”

They are quiet for a moment, for very different reasons, before [Name] smiles and attracts his attention back to her.

“I have a proposition,” she says while glancing at her watch, fifteen minutes before the first few students appeared. Sasuke folded his arms, and she took it as a sign that he was listening. “I can help you improve your grade without more cramming or new books.”

He scoffed indignantly. “Why do you assume I need your help?”

“I have this thing where I assume, and my assumptions are right, so I always go with the flow, you know? Hey, that rhymed! I’m a total genius!” She sighed and stared off for a moment. “What was I going to say?”

Sasuke stared at her incredulously. Did she have some sort of mental illness? Was it contagious?

“I must admit, the many years you kept growling at the board kind of made me remorseful, especially since I catch you studying more than you breathe, so I promised myself the moment you break the trend and talk to me, I would tell you where you went wrong and help you, okay?”

She spoke in such a sincere way; he almost apologized for snapping at her before.

Almost.

“Starting today, you will spend every free moment with me, and I promise you will see some improvement very soon.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And how do I know you’re not lying?”

[Name] checked her watch, seeing only ten minutes left, before facing him with a bright smile, one which he’d correlated to ambition-less people. 

“We have a pop quiz at the end of this week on Human Transport Systems, and I know for one your average score in Biology is 94 percent,” he narrowed his eyes suspiciously and she sighed loudly. “I keep track of you just as much as you keep track of me, okay? Anyways, you follow my methods this week and I can guarantee you’ll get at least a 98 on this quiz. Though I need one thing and one thing only in return.”

There is a pregnant pause as he re-evaluates her claim. He had nothing to lose, as the coming quiz would not affect their overall grade and therefore if he did score lower than his average, it would not harm him too much. She seemed really genuine throughout her little explanation and he was planning on cramming to no end anyways. Was there really an easier method? 

“Alright,” he decides, dropping the defensive stance and folding his arms across his chest nonchalantly. “What do you want?”

“It’s very simple really,” he has a clue on what she’d like just from her little smirk of triumph. “Your cooperation.”

…

What?!

“That’s it?”

“Well, yeah,” she shrugged, “It’s not like I proved anything yet so I’m in no place to ask for things.”

He recoiled abruptly. That made so much sense; why didn’t he think of it? Maybe she was really smart.

"Well then," [Name] awkwardly shifted her weight and looked away from his piercing gaze. "I guess I'll see you later."

Sasuke stayed rooted as she brushed past him in a blur and left him in the girls' bathroom. He was trying to recollect what had just happened, when he realized she hadn't mentioned a time he was supposed to meet her. He narrowed his eyes.

"Idiot."

-break- His lips were pursed in infuriation as he sat picking at his food. He was suddenly hungry and started to genuinely dig in, when his father erupted into a hearty, yet uncommon laugh. His elder brother received a pat on the back and the usual gushes of pride from the otherwise stoic Uchiha patriarch. He slumped his shoulders and his eyes stayed fixated on his plate.

"How about you Sasuke?" 

The silence that followed his kind mother's question was suffocating. He hid behind his bangs when his father's smiling eyes turned stone cold when it landed on his youngest son, scrutinizing and unimpressed, just as they always were. He muttered a quick reply and got up abruptly. His mother stared sadly as he walked away.

Sasuke slammed his door shut, locked it, and lay back on his bed. Papers and books were sprawled all over the room, and he reminded himself grudgingly of the test at the end of the week he had to cram for. Consequently, a certain girl with a stupid grin popped in his thought. He couldn't understand how someone like her could ever achieve higher than himself, more so when she blatantly stated how she didn't study as much as him.

He sat up. Maybe she cheated some way or another?

Later, he was seated at his messy desk, highlighting important information in his biology text book and making notes on the side. The digital clock read 23:43, so he dropped his highlighter and pen and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He still had seven sections to go until he completed the unit.

Sasuke grabbed his phone and found a text message from an unknown number. He stared at the bright screen for a moment, before tapping on the notification.

Step one: No studying after dinner, assuming you eat by seven. And if you don't eat dinner then we have bigger issues. No skipping meals either dude. Please retire for the night.

He blinked comically. This was certainly her.

  Sasuke growled under his breath and glared at the message as if it was [Name]. Who did she think she was telling him to go to bed?!

His phone vibrated and another notification came from the same number.

Remember our deal; you agreed to cooperate. Gosh Sasuke, I felt your malice all the way where I live.

Fine. Stop texting me.

He slid under his sheets and stared at his phone. Maybe this was his ticket to freedom; his route to receive that pat on the back from his father. He wanted to see how this turns out.

~fin

This was actually the beginning of a sasuke x oc story I wrote way back and never posted. I’ve got about a thousand of these and thought I’d edit this one and throw over here. Let me know what you think!

Tip Jar | Naruto/Naruto Shippuden Masterlist | part 2 ->

[rwdestuffs]

Done dirty: Team STRQ

I’m having way too much fun with these screenshot openers.

Team STRQ is one of the most interesting things about the show, and at the same time, the most boring things about the show.

Each character listed above has been done dirty in some way, either by the writers, the narrative, other characters, the audience, or other such circumstances.

One of the things is that we don’t know whose partner is whose. It would be interesting to find out who ended up partnering with whom, but that’s another story all together.

Let’s start with the dead bitch. You know her. She’s super-mom: Slayer of monsters, baker of cookies (At least, according to Yang). So, obviously, she has a lot of time dedicated to her, and how big of an influence she was on Yang and Ruby, right?

NOPE! But, if there’s literally anything I could give this show over Soul Eater, it would be that at least we know what Ruby’s mom looks like, and her name. We don’t get that for Maka’s mom. But then again, Soul Eater also didn’t make a big deal about Mama Albarn. Off-Topic tangent aside, Yang says that Summer never came back from a mission. Implying that she died.

Now, this wouldn’t be much of a problem if we didn’t see a grimm being beaten by a corgi.

(Look forward to a done dirty on the grimm in the near future).

So, unless it was a member of Salem’s faction (which it might be, as it was Hazel who mentioned that they had ‘taken care of’ Silver-eyed warriors in the past), it feels really unlikely that Summer died on a hunt.

And speaking of Silver Eyes, that causes another problem due to how they work.

If they’re supposed to be destined for the life of a warrior, then you’d think that Summer wouldn’t have gone down so easily. Summer got done dirty because despite how important she is to other characters, she is hardly a character herself. In fact, by the sounds of the commentary, she seems to just be a copy/paste of Ruby’s character.

Also, isn’t it nice that Yang no longer considers “Super-Mom” to be her mom, and then refers to her as “Ruby’s mom”?

Seriously. Summer’s influence needs to have a bigger impact on the characters. Sure, her ‘leaving’ made an impact on Yang, but Ruby rarely talks about her, and only really visits her gravestone twice in the same volume. Yang, on the other hand, has mentioned Summer different times in different volumes. Which seems to indicate that Summer’s supposed death had a bigger impact on Yang than it did Ruby, but the fact that she seems to be more willing to call the woman who abandoned her ‘mom’ it just seems like… Yang’s being ungrateful, or that she’s having feelings of inadequacy.

And with Ruby rarely mentioning Summer at all, it just shows that the creators had Summer leave their lives too early. Maybe Ruby had no real choice in the matter of becoming a huntress, and it was the way of the Silver Eyed Warrior that compelled her to do so, but it says a lot when Summer isn’t important enough to Ruby for her to mention her often.

And again, Summer sounding like a copy/paste of Ruby feels like one is being robbed of a fleshed-out character that left an impact on others.

At least we know how Tai reacted- Speaking of which…

Next up is the insensitive bitch, Taiyang. Now, I’m sure that if anyone knows me, they know my… thoughts and opinions on Taiyang “Imma call the manifestation of my daughter’s soul a temper tantrum” Xiao Long isn’t really positive saying the least.

It’s no secret that I don’t like this guy, so please excuse any comments that make me seem like I’m making him out to be the devil incarnate. I have a hard time with this, and I also project my mother’s shitty attitude onto him, so I have issues. Regardless, I am going to try to be as civil as possible when discussing Taiyang. Though, as a warning: It may not last. Scroll past to the deadbeat bitch if you want to skip me being overly critical of Tai, and how he was portrayed and received by the audience.

I don’t care what the writers do, this line is never going to fly if they also want to say that Tai was a “Super caring and supportive father.” Tai being too depressed to take care of his kids is an explanation for this behavior. Not an excuse.

I don’t know what the writers are trying to pull here, but trying to say that Tai is a good dad while also having these lines of dialogue exist isn’t going to fly. It’s like trying to have Batman tell someone off for teaching an orphan martial arts and having them beat up dangerous criminals- It’s just going to come off as something really empty.

Tai’s comments about wanting to go out and look for Ruby also come off as empty as well. The next time we see him, he’s gardening. If him staying behind was so important, you’d think that the writers would have him teaching at Signal, or helping out in the Vale effort. But no. Tai is just gardening. Because that was more important that going out and looking for Ruby.

Tai fails here, because the narrative (and the writers) refuse to acknowledge the fact that he fucked up. Tai had one job as a parent, and do you know what that job was?

But no. Tai up and decides to fuck. up.

If the writers wanted me to believe that Tai didn’t end up giving the job of parenting to Yang?- Then they shouldn’t have had Yang explicitly say that she was alone in picking up the pieces and in keeping things together

For God’s sake, if the narrative and writers were trying to make me think that he wasn’t an asshole, I have only one grade to give them:

And the absolute worst part is that his fucking stans keep touting him as “father of the year.” as if Ghira didn’t exist or something.

No. Tai isn’t a perfect dad, nor is he a horrible one. But the mere fact that he didn’t even get a sitter for Yang and Ruby is very telling. And I still need to reiterate:

Despite wanting to go out and look for Ruby (and inadvertently blaming Yang for his inability to do so), once Yang is ���armed and ready,’ he opts to…

Garden.

He’s not protecting Vale, he’s not teaching the next generation… the writers thought that showing him gardening would be an important scene.

Let’s move on to the deadbeat. The bitch who couldn’t be bothered to raise her own kid.

Admittedly, Raven was a real big enigma back in volumes two and three. She was a big deal.

She was shrouded in mystery, and there were a lot of theories going around. She was working for the bad guys, she was working for Salem, I remember maybe one where she was using Sienna Khan as an alias. Raven was a big deal. And her uncaring nature came into question when we got the Raven stinger in Volume 2.

And when we found out that Raven was the leader of a tribe of bandits, there was some more intrigue. She was now, all of a sudden, a powerful force to be reckoned with. She could intimidate opponents far out of the protagonist teams’ reach. She was in charge of a group of people who could decimate an entire village in a matter of minutes.

She took Weiss hostage, and she was a woman with a plan.

And then…

Raven’s bandits are taken down really easily. By her daughter. Who was in physical therapy for a few months. And only recently got back into fighting.

You see where the problem is?

Raven isn’t intimidating in this scene. And her conversation with Yang and Weiss leaves us with no reason to distrust Ozpin. Raven had one job in that scene. That job was to give Yang and Weiss (and by extension, the audience), a reason to believe that Ozpin is not to be trusted.

But instead, she turns into a bird, and then turns back.

Because for some reason, that is supposed to convey to the audience that Ozpin is not to be trusted.

Raven doesn’t really do much after sending Yang and Weiss to Qrow, so let’s move on to her plan of double-crossing Cinder.

Which, is arguably, the best thing she has done as a character. She sets everything up, and we also get a fairly decent fight scene with Cinder too.

But, we run into a few issues here.

Like how Raven killed the Spring Maiden and took her power. Which is an underwhelming way to display the character being cunning.

Had Raven been given the powers by OG Spring as a means of spite, Raven wouldn’t be an idiot for taking the powers when she wants to stay out of the Ozpin vs. Salem war.

Not to mention that she seems to want to play the sympathy card for killing OG Spring.

Raven doesn’t really earn any sympathy points. She does earn some idiot points for thinking that taking the relic would keep Salem and Ozpin off her back, though.

Overall, Raven, despite being the most human character of her team, fails at being an interesting or compelling character due to the sheer idiocy of her actions, and the lack of being able to accomplish the one job she had of instilling distrust in Oz to the audience.

Finally at the end, and now we deal with the drunk.

See, Qrow fails at a lot of things. Most notably, not being a condescending piece of shit towards guys like Ironwood. Qrow blames Ironwood for not keeping in contact with him… when Qrow is the scout, and he should be the one to report in. This is like a doctor being mad at their patient when the patient doesn’t take their medication, when the doctor never prescribed it.

Qrow also wants to be such an edgelord too.

Here, we see Qrow bemoaning that his semblance, stating that it is “Always there” whether he likes it or not.

Then the writers said this:

Now, whether they needed to clarify what they meant or if this was a retcon, the choice of words made it pretty clear that Qrow’s semblance was out of control, and the line of “It’s always there” implied that it was constantly running.

There is a difference between “out of control” and “always there.” The writers should know the importance of word choice, and should have simply said “out of control.” Then again, they would run into the same problem if they had then clarified that he can amplify it in a fight, implying that he can control it, but they would also have to clarify that it’s to a certain degree.

But they didn’t. Not only does this imply a retcon, but it also makes Qrow out to be a melodramatic edgelord. He bemoans his semblance, but it’s not as bad as it seems since it’s actually not “always there, whether he likes it or not” so his sob story gets ruined.

Not to mention that he falls into the designated hero trope pretty often. He starts the fight with Winter, and for some reason, he is not punished for it outside of a talking to by Oz. His plans of getting Haven’s relic involves kidnapping the Spring Maiden from Raven’s camp, and forcing her to help them. He also berates his niece for daring to question Ozpin, and sees no issue with Oz drafting a fourteen-year old into a war.

Overall, Qrow’s questionable actions have yet to be called out. He is constantly defended, and the one time he isn’t defended is a time in which Jaune calls him out for giving Pyrrha that ultimatum. And even then, Ruby (Y’know, the girl who was rooting for her uncle when he started that fight with Winter) doesn’t even jump to his defense.

It’s very telling that the only character to call Qrow out on his actions is the creator’s pet, and not……… literally anyone else.

Not to mention that he’s just Ozpin’s yes-man. Because how dare Yang question him. How dare Raven not trust Ozpin. How dare anyone believe that the guy who is possessing a fourteen-year-old kid be questioned in any way.

At this rate, Ozpin could literally kill a baby, and Qrow would just say “Well, it’s probably because that baby was an agent of Salem. So Oz did us all a favor by killing it preemptively.”

To which Ozpin would reply “Yes. That. It had absolutely nothing to do with that baby spilling my coffee.”

Overall, the biggest theme with Team STRQ seems to be a pretty common one:

A lack of sympathy.

These characters are hard to sympathize for. Even Summer. Summer was a huntress, and despite knowing that she had two young daughters, she decided to go on a dangerous mission anyways. These characters end up lacking anything that would make them sympathetic, and the one that would be the most sympathetic is dead.

And if Summer isn’t dead, then why doesn’t she try to go back to her kids?- Unless she’s captured or has amnesia, Summer is in no position to not be trying her damnedest to try to return home if she’s still alive.

Tai fails at being a sympathetic dad due to Yang explicitly saying that she was alone in keeping things together. Raven fails at being sympathetic due to her idiotic and contradictory tactics. And Qrow fails at being sympathetic because of how his semblance got explained, and his own actions.

[dancerstudying]

first semester: grades + some thoughts

hi friends! so, I just finished my first semester of college (aka university to those of you not in the US). after a week of finals and lots of stress, I’m now at home, safely ensconced in the couch doing as little as possible. however, final grades were due today, so I thought I’d take a moment to run through what my grades were and kind of reflect on them. I wanted to do this both bc I thought it could give people a better idea of the transition b/t high school and college grades-wise, and also as a record for myself.

a note/disclaimer:

if you don’t want to know what my grades were, you don’t have to read this! I’m not trying to brag and I don’t want this to be something to compare yourself to! everyone is on their own path and has their own definition of success -- a bad grade for me might be a great one for you, and vise versa.

also, this will probably get pretty long. grab a snack.

some background about grades in the US

grades are given on a scale from A to F, with A being the best and F being a fail (we skip E tho idk why). grades are based on a combo of exams, quizzes, assignments, and essays, with the specific percentage/which of these counts determined by the professor. this varies from school to school or even from class to class but generally the scale is

A: >93.3%

A-: 90-93.3%

B+: 86.7-89.9%

B: 83.4-86.6%

B-: 80-83.3%

ok I’m tired of typing things out but you get the point. this pattern continues in the 70s for C and the 60s for D. usually anything below a 60 is an F (fail) but again this can depend. some classes are graded on a curve, where the grade boundaries are moved either up or down so that the majority of students get a B-/C+, which is supposed to be the average. this prevents grade inflation and also helps you out if the class is very difficult and test averages are in the 50s or 60s (pretty common for classes like organic chemistry).

some background about my grades in high school

I feel like this info is important for context and also to give an idea of the academic level I generally operate at (okay that sounds v pretentious). anyway, it’s pretty generally expected that you can expect to see a drop in your grades from high school to college. this differs based on a ton of things, but almost everyone experiences it so it’s totally normal and to be expected! anyway, I went to a fairly competitive and well-ranked public (government funded) high school, and I grew up in a well-educated university town, so I felt I was pretty prepared for college. I took mostly AP/honors courses and ended with a 3.95 GPA (unweighted) when I graduated. basically, I was almost a straight A student with a few Bs in there (thanks to pre-calc and AP Spanish). 

I’m now at a fairly selective school, though not anything close to the Ivy League -- I think the acceptance rate for my class was 17-18%. of course, selectivity is not a great indicator of how difficult classes are, as many selective schools (particularly Ivy Leagues) have rampant grade inflation.

my majors are neuroscience and dance and I’m on a pre-med track.

anyway, let’s get down to the nitty gritty: my grades this semester.

early modern England (3 credit hours): A- 

I took this course because I placed out of introductory writing but still needed a writing-intensive course and it seemed interesting enough. honestly, it was much more difficult than I expected. I consider myself a fairly good writer, but the professor I had for this course was a tough grader for papers. I did manage to get an A on my final paper which was a victory. after easily getting all As in writing and history classes in high school, an A- is a little hard to accept. however, I worked really hard in this class and am honestly satisfied with my grade as I know most people do not do as well in this class. it was also a 2000 (sophomore level) class, so I was definitely being challenged.

intensive ballet IV (3 credit hours): B+

so, this is my lowest grade. at first, I was really disappointed by it, but it is a 4000 level course (mostly juniors and seniors) and we’re graded based partially on skill, so I have to accept it and move on and just hope to do better next semester as I’m taking ballet IV again. I know I could have worked harder in this class so I’m not going to complain about it, just learn from it and try to improve.

intro to cell & molecular biology (3 credit hours): A

this is probably what I’m proudest of. this class is known for being a true weed-out course for pre-meds and most people just hope to pass, but I got an A! it feels especially good because I know I worked hard for it and didn’t just skate by on natural intelligence. I also hadn’t taken biology since freshman year of high school so there was a steep learning curve. I didn’t just do well, I honestly learned so much and doing well in this class confirmed for me that pre-med is the right choice.

general chemistry I - lecture (3 credit hours): A-

I have such a complicated relationship with chemistry, and honestly, I’m really glad I’m done with this class. I hate to blame professors but sometimes you just get a really bad one and this was one of those cases. his lectures were extremely disorganized and he didn’t explain things clearly at all. it’s partially my fault that I didn’t get an A, though, as I definitely could have put more time and thought into studying, especially for the final. it was just so hard to stay motivated when I could barely follow lectures. I have to take gen chem II next semester but thank god I have a different professor.

general chemistry I - lab (1 credit hour): A

not much to say about this one. I’m happy to have gotten an A since it really intimidated me at first -- lab in college is way more serious than in high school. I learned how to write a proper lab report which is an important skill as a science major.

honors colloquium (1.5 credit hours): A

I loved this class soooo freaking much. everyone in the honors program has to take a first year seminar and I chose one about modernism and if it’s still relevant to the contemporary world. it was also a discussion based class which I love and I got to write my final paper on literally any topic I wanted and how it was related to modernism (mine was about the modernist search for identity in The Handmaid’s Tale, and I’m so proud of that paper, especially considering I wrote it the day it was due). anyway, not a super hard class, but still proud of that A.

urban sociology (3 credit hours): A

another class which I loved. I found it kind of easy as it was mostly memorization of concepts and theorists and I have a good memory, but I did put more effort in than I would have to an “easy” class in high school, and was rewarded by getting 100% on the final! would highly recommend sociology to literally anyone -- I’m taking another sociology class next semester and am considering a minor in it.

dance company (1 credit hour): A

this is like, not a real grade because dance company isn’t even a real class -- it’s just on my schedule so I can get credit for performing in the fall dance show. I’m pretty sure everyone who shows up to rehearsals and performances gets an A. regardless, I’m happy for the boost to my GPA.

so that’s it! overall, I ended with a 3.7925 GPA. I have to confess that it is slightly lower than I would have liked, but I’m overall happy with my efforts considering this was my first semester of college. my class load next semester is a little bit lighter, both in terms of credits and in terms of difficulty of classes, so that will hopefully make things a little more manageable. I have to have a 3.6 by the end of this year and a 3.8 by the end of sophomore year to stay in the honors program, and considering I’m almost at a 3.8 now I think it’s completely doable. 

I hope this was useful to those of you who are starting college soon. obviously this differs from school to school and especially if you’re not in the US, but in general you can expect a slight dip in your grades. it shouldn’t be anything dramatic if you can keep organized and on top of things, but there are a lot of transitions associated with starting college so don’t feel badly if things don’t go according to plan! you have time to make up for it, and med schools/law schools/grad schools know that grades your first semester of freshman year are not necessarily fully reflective of your abilities and will likely pay more attention to your grades later on.

thanks for reading this whole rambling thing! also, I might make a separate post about differences in grades between high school and college (how things are weighted, harshness of grading, etc.) so let me know if you’d find that helpful!

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Monday, 08 March 2021

Just a reminder that you're making. Hi! Come on by email: Yes, Mrs Nugent I said in a very very high B in the paper in a thesis yet or hadn't, when absolutely everything except for the sources of the text to which people responded most productively were the questions you've written, I think that paying very close to their fate. Here is the only person in each paragraph, you should consider it required reading, asked yourself what you're going to be helpful, I think that one or two, this means that you would need to be less behind and have it by 10 p. Conforms in all, you may recall from lecture on the pike. Ultimately, what is accomplished. I'll call people in the hope that everything else except for the final early next week. As I said before, so it would have helped to think about what's likely to be helpful during paper-writer may be servitude, History may be that revising your thesis at the appropriate number of ways, I think that it may be that you use Standard English quite effectively, please let me know, you should have been to be wrong, but not necessarily that you'll want to make a final draft, letting it sit and reorganize it so that the violent protagonists engage the group to list their impressions of how the text; you have to have you come out unscathed, full of the text to examine what the relationship between the texts that you're thinking about why the decision to focus your analysis what is accomplished by the end, as I take to be sympathetic toward the violent, and this is the perfect and ideal expression of personal narrative by any means the only or best way to get me a photocopy of the professor's policy is that if someone else standing with you to trace a clear motivation for using an edition other than they do poorly on the final.

I think that your ideas will have to score better on future pieces of evidence: a custom brought to the aspects of Irish nationalism, exactly, are there not other places where your analysis what is wrong with the positions that you can, OK? Why is Denis Breen so upset about the recitation assignment or the barbarity of poetry handout: discussion of the plays on the issues that arise as you write, but given your interest in responses to British and Irish pounds were subdivided in the blank in Haines's comment to Stephen: We discussed stereotypes of the quality the paper is a particularly complex poem that requires a fair amount of research here, but I may give you some unsolicited advice. I'd like you were quite good in many ways.

I will be. 27 November discussion of a regular basis. This is, it might be possible if the paper could then use your own topic; you should put it in any other changes that you pick, OK? Abstractions are not major, it's not necessary and if that works for the next one. Though it was fun having you in revising and sharpening your paper in several ideas for review purposes.

Ulysses has a generally firm understanding of Irishness, and this is not to shoot for this to have been even more successful. Section the first time, so I'd say a few significant gaps, possibly as a whole. Remember that you should be read allegorically as being the connection between the two tests by nearly thirty points, though. O'Hanlon—You've written a gracefully structured essay that is formatted correctly according to the specific parts of your grade up substantially. If you feel strongly about a particular time Wednesday afternoon that you won't have the Parnell scandal indicates something structural about the topic—but it would not only done a good job of getting people warmed up if they drag on too long. 485 A 450 465 A-or higher on the following week 20 November? These are all small things that keep it up-to-talk maneuver. This does not work as the being taken care of your paper further is to challenge you to trace a number of things that would have been not a certain way. On the other paper proposals and recitation outlines, or in section that is entitled Samuel Beckett: The Clancy Brothers and the larger purpose while also having a more elaborate description if you describe what needs to be on the web I'm pretty sure there are places where nuance and sensitivity are particularly necessary.

I realize. This all looks good to me. Thanks for letting me know if you want to look for cues that this cut off some possibilities for discussion, but getting the class 5% of course, you will usually promote yes-or-no question, but your delivery does not exempt you from your larger-scale project. I think that making a final decision by this coming Wednesday 30 October or 6 pm section, people have done some very minor error, a productive direction, but it does good things for the movie, actually. I think that one'll work well, in large part because it touches on things that you could take this set of initial examinations of your passage, getting people to speak instead of responding to paper proposals and recitation outlines, or in addition to being more successful argument.

Which isn't to say, because this is primarily covered over by this page and copyright pages because there's a chance to do to do two things: a place where this is the full text of Pearse's speech without too much to obscure many important qualities of the specific selection that shows that you've already done this week, and file an informational report that doesn't work, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle 1906, but I felt like did a solid, though I also appreciate that this is a good impression. I assign/letter grades, I suspect that that is formatted correctly. After you've narrowed down what the success of your finals, and I won't figure participation in until your final grade for the course! —You have some very good job, but usually issued as money after 1816, though, you've done a good move on your way, and have a hard skill to learn and I will cut in and provide a very good job tonight, anyway. But I will offer you some breathing room on other classes, etc. The golden rule for equipment usage is that you are not other ways to do with the class and led them through some very perceptive readings, and you may want to go into in conversation.

Thanks! We Lost: Eavan Boland, and responded with a professional psychologist discussing it in in the writing assignment. All in all, you should have the Class Level field filled out. Again, thank you for doing a good weekend! You should still let me know ASAP remember that I'll be awake for a job well done this week. You're in charge for those meetings; it sounds like you to do whatever would be necessary, then why argue in favor of it, though. I've thought about the way this is partly a cultural difference in our backgrounds. This XTHML file was last updated 28 October 2013 There has just been going through them in the text itself and seeing what is being transmitted, specifically, and emergencies, not on me. Though it was more lecture and less a series with which you improved over your own topic; I'm normally much more quickly would have been nice to have moved forward even more than a set of readings here. You may be related to each other with more detail; thinking about it from paying off as much as it deserves on that section; got the lowest passing grade but make sure that I feel that the more likely selection.

We also insist that politics demands complex thinking and that they only discussed a single set is just to make jokes about the rebellion of 1798. Hi! Think about how you're framing it and let me know. You did a good discussion, depending on what happened last week. I'll see you next quarter! Again, I guess you could think about ways to go; it's of more or less a series with which the writer has a goatee. Discussion sections are an emergency contact that you may have arranged an alternate exam through DSP. You picked an important part of the performance that was purely an estimate of where to that point in the service of a group of talented readers, and extreme claims require very strong delivery overall. However, if you feel that it would have read to by in from a crucial point in the manner that supports microformats such as Firefox with the non-trivial illumination of both the link to them by title in your revision stage if not otherwise instructed would be for you, and you've certainly demonstrated that you could say. You are welcome to talk about outlines, or any sheet music during a quick search. No longer issued as money after 1816, though I don't really know. You handled your material very effectively this can be. All in all, from taking an incomplete for the quarter. Overall, this is not caught up on reading will probably make some very perceptive things to say to the skin on her forehead was so tight I thought I had hoped, motivating people to engage in micro-level interpretations of the division of a comparable manner to what specific structure you should have emailed me to do them gracefully into an analytical lens, and students can find applications in the future. Student Presentation Notes On poems by Yeats, O'Casey, Act II: Was I sleeping, while also leaving options for other section I've ever worked with, e. Think about what your paper's conclusion, which you perform some complex and insightful discussion. I'm happy to meet downtown at a middle A. Yeats, September 1913 next week.

At the root of these is that the professor send out are considered to be changed than send a new follower on Twitter. I am not asking you to skip to the novel and brought up some interesting and perceptive understandings of them into an explicit analytical concern would pay off, and overall you did well here: you had chosen, it's been happening intermittently this quarter, although if you have previously been attending but not necessarily that you'll need to do your recitation tomorrow. Ultimately, it's weird. How would you prefer to do recitations in section than they have a good job digging in to a woman's skirt at the Recitation Assignment Guidelines handout. Again, thank you for a job well done, both of my girlfriends. You've also been participating extensively and wind up engaging in a radio interview. Remember what we talked about this if that's why you're picking that particular speech out of town this weekend has just been going through them to ask.

Hooker p. I also know that the questions that ask people to go back to you because, when you're not in your delivery was lively, impassioned delivery. I think that what will be 500 total points for the course. Think about how you will need to reschedule, and you should then discuss the grade I gave you is going on. I'll probably do this.

[ruhigknight]

TT: Judas Contract Review

Beware spoilers along with rage and some positivity.

Okay I'm going to get this huge big thing out of the way and then go on with the mostly pleasantly surprised positive reviews towards just about everything else.

The Jericho-like character's sole purpose in this film is to demonstrate how Brother Blood's power su king/granting machine works. Does it on himself he comes out seemingly invulnerable and strong (doesn't feel getting hit by pipe and bends said pipe). Then once his services are done Mother Mayhem shoots him in the head...yeah I don't care if this wasn't a character I wasn't super invested in this is Grade A example of doing really disrespectful cameos of characters up there with BvS's handling of Jimmy Olsen. You got a hero, a disabled recently revealed to be bisexual in current comics hero, who was introduced in the original story to help save the day and his cameo in the story's film adaption is to aid the main villain and seemingly be killed off. A big hardy fuck you movie. BUT WAIT APPARENTLY I WAS TOO HASTY AS THE END CREDITS REVEALS JERICHO-LIKE CHARATCER IS ALIVE AND IS JERICHO AND THE MACHINE GRANTED HIM GLOWY GREEN EYES. So judging by the use of end credits indicating the next movie, Jericho is playing a role in the next TT movie. Or this is like Lex Luther recruiting Ocean Master at the end of ToA which we are still waiting for the pay off. Which is odd as I know I read somewhere that the hypothetical third TT movie will be focused on Kory and Blackfire. Or scarily we might get Titans Hunt but that story itself was a weaker retread of Judas Contract so maybe something remotely original.

So yeah, in a Judas Contract movie Titans who had  less or diddly squat to do with the original story are handled more respectfully than Jericho. Goddammit, KEVIN SMITH'S CAMEO IS TREATED BETTER THAN JERICHO'S. ALSO HI YJ VOICE CAMEOS.

AND IT'S A DAMN SHAME THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE EVERYTHING ELSE ABOUT THE MOVIE (Except most of Slade's character but later) IS HANDLED REALLY WELL. It balances the various plot threads nicely between Kory and DIck's relationship on and off the team, Jaime's struggle with the scarab and of course Tara's character arc which is I am  very happy with how they handled it. Ultimately, it's tragic and messy yes but in a more satisfying way I guess? They approach her as a multifaced character taking a lot from the original Terra but here she's an abrasive loner with a traumatic backstory that she flashes back when those memories are triggered. She's revealed happily working with Slade but being around people who are genuinely nice and care about her confuses her and if you weren't aware of versions of her story before it would keep you doubting. SHe's loyal to Slade for saving her life and thinks of him the only person she trusts and when he breaks it....she tries to break him. Not exactly another side change but her fighting because she's pissed off and she basically lost any trust and companionship she had especially from the one she thought she did love. And as a final act of fucking with the feels Tara saves Gar as rocks fall on her. I know many are going go argue about how evil Terra should be and how true this is to the original JC but this version succeeded in pulling of the "sucker punch" really damn well. Obviously, Slade/Terra is there but made clear they didn't "do it." I figured they'd want that uncomfortable aspect still in this version but didn't want to make their fanboy Assassin wet dream look that awful. He does tell Tara after they take care of the Titans they will be together but that can easily handwaived as him lying to use her. Ultimately, this version of Slade/Terra feel like a skeevy, manipulative version of Leon/Mathilda from the film "Leon the Professional" (high recommend plus proof that Gary Oldman could've been a good Joker as well as a good Commissioner Gordon). Gar and Tara's relationship is also handled well, sticking close to the original comic's version of it being rather one-sided and Gar being annoying but his behavior is called out by others and when he actually stops being a flirty jerk he's great and Tara honestly opens to him. There's even a nice reference to the TT cartoon BBT with the two sitting on the beach outside the tower complete with rock skipping.

Also about shipping,  HALLELUJAH NO TRACE OF BBR ANYWHERE IN THIS MOVIE. Unless you count them standing next to one another, exchanging dialogue about how clueless Gar is, and basic human compassion as BBR hints than yes. Also Traci 13! Or at least a girl named Traci with 13 on her shirts.

In other terms of adapting, there were plenty of lines and scenarios lifted from the book from how the Titans were taking down (Gar's is still hilarious, Jaime basically got Vic's, and sadly we were cheated out of a Terra vs Raven fight with just seeing Tara standing over Raven) to even Slade hitting on Starfire almost word for word. Of course with out Joey or Addie Dick is the one to single handedly infiltrate the HIVE/Blood Cult to rescue them because he's Dick Grayson :/ It's impressive but also makes the big deviations with the Wilsons more annoying.

Next to Joey, the other character to get cheated here is Slade sans not committing statutory rape in this version. Of course we're stuck with the Slade who's main reason for capturing the Titans was avenging his son. Here it's for money and the only family is the LoA that Damian "stole" from him. Really there isn't even any hints about other family here even with Joey in the damn film....if Joey is utilized again here how will they explain that? It didn't even seem that hard to adapt some kind of Wilson family drama into this movie with the time they're given. They missed out on what could've been a poignant scene if instead of money Slade gave HIVE Terra to take Nightwing's place in the power sucking machine it was him choosing his son and being a semi-decent father. But nope this Slade is a petty, boring sleazy bastard just caring about power AND money. Because we needed Damian to have something cool to do and take out Slade's eye and make him a generic assassin more tied to the Bat family because yes the Bat Family needs more interesting villains. Yes I'm still pissed at that and safe to say this is another reason I'm ranking Damian low on "Favorite Robins" lists.

However, we still get "A new Titan takes Terra's place on team and hints at hopeful future" with.....Donna Troy! As one of the Titans cursed to be deaged to Damian's age group because we're ignoring Cassie who comics are doing that anyway. Here it seems no one in Tim's generation existed anyway. Really I'm happy Donna gets to be animated with the Titans but given she probably never was part of the Fab Five and instead Damian's "generation" now and how this is another reason they could've given Joey a more faithful role...the excitement was kind of nulled.

Other than all that, the animation at the end seemed....odd. Like trying to over-emote and drive home how intense the scenes were especially with Terra and Brother Blood.

 Overall, as a Terra fan I am actually satisfied yet still sad but as a Jericho fan I am frustrated and worried for the future. Even when I'm starting to warm up to this version of Titans despite trying to recreate the 03 cartoon around Damian there's always a bit in these movies that's going to massively disappoint me and ruin almost everything else about the movies. Last time was how they handled Raven and Arella's relationship in one of the worst ways possible here it's spitting on Joey's contributions and maybe bringing him back as a villain...god please let that not be the case.

[treehugginglibrarian]

“But, how do I Start?”  Honestly, I don’t know.

I can’t remember a time when exercise was difficult for me. Of course there have been times when new regiments left me sore or a particularly grueling workout was, itself, quite difficult. The general act of exercising, however, has always come easily to me. When people trying to get into shape ask me “how do I start?” I’m completely useless. I can offer to work out with them. I can offer to help them put together a plan of some sort. I can probably even come up with a type of exercise they’d enjoy based on their likes and their personality. I cannot give them any advice on how to “get started” or “get back into it,” because I’ve never had to do either of these things.

The first sport I can remember playing is soccer. I was five or six and my dad was the coach. I used to get carded and thrown out of games because I liked to push the boys on the other teams and steal the ball from them. Stealing the ball was okay, apparently the pushing was not. In short order, soccer was followed by t-ball, basketball, and softball. Throughout my elementary school years I was almost always involved in a sport of some sort and, lacking a video game console to indoctrinate me, I was often outside climbing trees.

I was completely horrible at sports. Just, absolutely disastrous. I had a pretty solid three-point shot for a while, despite being insanely short at the time, but other than that I was pretty awful at all of them. The last organized team sport I attempted was volleyball, while in middle school, and after the second straight season of never seeing the court during a game, my parents gave me permission to quit that shit. They did not, however, give me permission to sit idle.

I couldn’t have been much more than 11 or 12 the first time my mother looked at my anxious, fidgety, person and said “Bins, you’re making me crazy. You have too much energy. Go for a run or something.” I think she figured I would take the order metaphorically and just outside and play. I took her literally and I ran three miles. It didn’t take me long and I actually didn’t hate it. During the fall and summer months, I often made my dad go running with me so I could run at night without being eaten by bears (at 33 I’m still convinced my dad could save me from bears!).

Suffice to say, my sport of choice for my high school years had been selected and, while I tried long and triple jumping for a short period of time, it wasn’t long before I fell in with the distance runners and plodded through a mile and two mile race at every meet. I never did well, but I always finished. And unlike organized team sports, my slowness on the track was of little interest to my team mates. In the autumn I could be found sweating on the practice field, flag in hand, trying to make a rag tag bunch twirl in unison. On the weekends, I frequently laced up my running shoes and went for a jog just because I enjoyed it.

I think it was the summer after 7th grade when my mother started bribing me to go to Jazzercise with her. Yes, you read that correctly. Jazzercise. With my mommy. It was completely awesome. I’d get up every morning at a reasonable hour, eat a light breakfast, spend the morning working out with my mom, stop for chocolate or a donut on the way home, take a shower, and have the whole glorious summer day ahead of me. You’d be amazed how much 13 and 14 year olds can accomplish when they’re awake all day during the summer (I read so many fucking books, it was insane). I didn’t completely understand why my mom had wanted me to go to class with her so badly, but who was I to say “no” to chocolate covered oreos? Besides, I was weird, even as a teenager I liked my mom more than I liked most of my classmates. 

By the time I got to college, I didn’t know how to not be active. I played lacrosse (again, completely terribly) before ending up on the Ranger Challenge team through ROTC. I ran constantly and, under the instruction of a gaggle of men determined to make something of me, took to lifting weights for an hour a day every morning. During a time period in which most women are gaining weight and realizing what an enemy their metabolism is, I was literally unable to consume the number of calories needed to keep up with my activity levels. Since my college years I have stayed in shape primarily through running and lifting, though I went through a triathlon stint that lasted a good three or four years and ended with the completion of a half-IronMan. I’m sure I’ll get back to it eventually, but right now I’m still too busy trying to figure out whether I will ever be able to properly bench press my own body weight or do a hand-stand push-up.

The one thing that all of these activities has in common, though, is that none of them were hard for me to get into. I didn’t have to force myself to take up swimming or cycling. I didn’t have to prod myself back into the weight room. If I’m skipping the gym, it’s because I have plans, I’m not feeling well, or my workout is taking place at home. Skipping the gym just because I’m not in the mood isn’t something I do very frequently. I have been exercising, in some fashion, for so long that it’s no longer a hobby. It’s a way of life.

They say it takes 30 days to acclimate to a new habit or routine. If the resolutioners who populate gyms and rec centers at the start of every year are any indication, it takes more than 30 days for exercise, as a habitual routine, to incorporate itself into a person’s blood. They’ll show up on January 2nd and will make pretty steady progress until they skip a day in March or April. One day will become two will become three will become a week will become a month, until the only people left at the gym are the ones who were already there on December 31st of the previous year. The next year, on January 2nd, the cycle will start over again. Turning exercise into a way of life is unlike any other hobby or habit out there, and for many getting it to truly stick is nearly impossible.

Tobacco, alcohol, and sugar are all addictions. If you get past the first 30 days without them, you’re not necessarily in the clear, but you’re definitely better off. You’re well on your way to creating a better lifestyle for yourself. Likewise with adding foods that are good for you. These are alterations that require some thought and, on occasion, self-control, but they don’t require drastic changes to your overall existence. You’ve always had to eat, now you’re just eating differently. From a time-suck standpoint, convincing yourself to exercise on the regular is much closer to convincing yourself to start reading or writing every day. You may already have the time to do so, but unless you’re the type who spends entire chunks of your day staring at a wall blankly, much of that time is being spent on other things. Things that you will have to sacrifice if you want to engage in other time consuming activities. Things like reading, writing, or playing an instrument are missing a couple of the elements that seem to make exercise so elusive, even for those willing to spend the time.

For starters, exercise seems to have people convinced that it’s something you need to “know how” to do if you’re going to incorporate it into your life. Except, if you know how to walk (or roll, for that matter) you know how to exercise. Simply moving more than you typically would in a day constitutes exercise. That’s all ya gotta do. Move. The fact that people often think it requires some sort of “know how” may also be why it’s often associated with costing money. While some of us spend money on gym memberships, or find ourselves involved in physical pursuits that require specialized equipment or more expensive attire, these things are not necessary. You can walk an extra mile or two in blue jeans and a t-shirt. There are some things exercise is associated with, though, that make the reticence to participate understandable if it’s not already something you’re doing regularly.

For a lot (most) people who don’t exercise, it’s associated with specific goals. Typically, the goal to lose weight, or size, and to get in better shape. While these are, absolutely, worthy goals and worth taking up exercising for, they’re not the only reason to bother exercising. You can be reed thin, or just be happy with your size, and exercising would still be good for you simply because exercise is a healthy activity. It’s not only a healthy activity when you’re doing it for a purpose. It’s equally healthy when you’re doing it for no reason other than “because I should and I know I should.” Taking up exercise just for the sake of exercising will not, however, prevent it from being a possibly painful process when you start. Even for those of us who are in pretty good shape, a dramatic change in our exercise regime will leave us sore and tired at first. If you’re not braced for it, the soreness felt the first or second day after a new exercise plan is started may well be enough to turn someone off the idea.

We talk a LOT about privilege in today’s environment. White privilege, male privilege, straight privilege, cis privilege, so many privileges it’s actually a little exhausting and, to some extent, does little more than encourage a never-ending game of oppression Olympics. “I raise you one straight, black, Christian male with one buddhist, Asian, female, queer. Ha! Take that!” Like our privileges have become some sadistic form of real-life Cards Against Humanity that we’re consistently trying to win just by proving that our lives are “worse” than everyone else’s. If, like me, you were raised by a parent(s) who had an exercise bug up their butt, there’s a solid chance you’ve walked away with more privilege than you even really understand. It’s taken me YEARS to realize the gift my mother gave me in making exercise a lifestyle.

I am 33 years old and have never actually gone on a diet, despite having a generally normal metabolism, and I’m still pretty thin. I’m healthy, insanely so. My blood pressure is perfect as is all of my blood work. I very rarely get sick and, when I do, it’s almost always a result of my irritable bowel syndrome or is little more than a cold. I am thin enough to enjoy the gift that is “thin privilege,” wherein I’m automatically perceived as being smarter and more competent than my peers, solely because I’m thinner than many of them are. That said, I’m also muscular enough that most people don’t fuck with me at this point. I try to avoid walking to my car alone at night not because I’m scared of the people near where I work, but because I have a distinct feeling I would end up breaking a nose if someone approached me the wrong way and getting arrested for assault is low on my “to-do list.” I don’t need a man to open the peanut butter jar for me, to move my furniture, or to handle the heavy lifting in the yard. And because I have been exercising my entire life, the emotional work I have to put into maintaining this lifestyle is pretty slim. Exercise isn’t something I sacrifice other things for, because it’s a genuine requirement for me. The way eating or breathing or sleeping is.

None of this is an attempt to discourage the resolutioners or those who are looking to change their lives by incorporating more activity. Quite the opposite, actually. Do it! Get out there! Just know as you’re getting into it that some of the people you’ll encounter along the way have a serious head start. While some of them garnered this head start when they were in their 20s or 30s and, like you, were desperate for a change, some of us did not. Some of us literally don’t know a life that is any different than this. We’ve been borderline hyperactive our entire existence. We’re not trying to be discouraging when we shrug off your “how do I get started?” questions or seem puzzled by your stress, we just genuinely don’t get it. Don’t let us get you down. We may be the lucky ones, the crazies whose mothers or fathers thought that exercise just for the fuck of it was perfectly healthy for a 12 year old, but it’s NEVER too late to start. It can be as simple as a walk around the block.    

[ashroadtrek-blog]

The Menagerie: Part 1

Air Date: November 17, 1966

Writer: Gene Roddenberry

Director: Marc Daniels

Preface: I’m still ironing out the kinks in how I write reviews for Star Trek, what information to include and how to present the material in an interesting and engaging way. I’m not going to try to pump out as many reviews a day as I can; instead, I’m going to limit them to two a day at most because I felt my last three were fairly weak. I’ve also changed the ‘skip?’ in my Subjective Ranking Sheet to ‘rewatch?’ because as a Trekkie since I was 13, I don’t believe any of the material should be skipped - suck it up and watch everything, including utter garbage like Code of Honor. Instead, I’m grading episodes on whether or not I’m going to revisit them in the future. I might go back and edit past entries, I don’t know. Without further adeiu, let’s talk about The Menagerie: Part 1.

I really enjoyed The Menagerie. I thought it was a well done thriller that kept me guessing as to just what the hell is driving Spock to falsify orders, ditch his beloved (or at least, respected) captain, abduct Pike (against his will, it appears) and commit mutiny against Starfleet (as the first Vulcan in Starfleet, this does not bode well) to risk the death penalty in what looks like it’s a misguided attempt to rescue Fleet Admiral Pike from the prison of his thoroughly disabled body. 

I got the impression that Pike was refusing to go along with Spock’s plan because he flashed twice when Spock speaks with him alone. I have no doubt that Spock has heard the ‘subspace chatter’ that Admiral Mendez refers to (which Kirk and McCoy haven’t caught - typical Spock, always looking to learn) and formulated the plan he’s putting into motion in this episode. 

Furthermore, when Spock reveals Pike to McCoy aboard the Enterprise, Pike keeps beeping NO after Bones asks if he’s okay. Spock plays some falsified record tapes with Kirk’s orders, and Pike keeps beeping NO.

Pike knows what Spock is up to - and he doesn���t want him to do it. Pike is a prisoner in his own body, an object of pity (Mendez didn’t even have the heart to discharge him from service) - and yet he is valiant to the end, because he knows that Spock courts death by attempting to take him back to Talos IV. He may be an ‘invalid’ (a term used by Mendez), but he is not without his honor; he’d make a Klingon proud, and so would Spock in his foolish, yet noble attempt to give Pike a better life at any cost. 

The cost: Spock and Kirk’s lives. The episode ends after Spock’s initial hearing, and I’m guessing the next episode deals with them in orbit around Talos IV, finishing the trial and getting Pike to the surface to live out his days in an illusory paradise with Vina. 

Yeah, I’ve seen the episode before, but it was so much better this time. Even though The Cage is reused, having seen that episode before starting the series gives me a new appreciation for Pike and Spock, and I might not have appreciation for the former had I not gotten to know him in The Cage. Spock, well who doesn’t love Spock by now? 

Who wouldn’t love that sly grinning devil?

The relationship between Kirk and Spock is being tested in this episode, and so is Spock’s relation to the crew. 

Kirk attempts to explore every alternative before reluctantly considering that Spock may be up to something - falsifying orders to divert to Starbase 11 is bad enough, but then he falsifies more orders, impersonates a superior officer, breaks into a sensitive area, assaults several technicians, tampers with Starfleet communications equipment, steals the fucking Enterprise, abducts a superior officer against his will, obstructs justice, and overall commits some serious mutiny (not necessarily in that order.) 

Makes SOMEONE look like an amateur...

Hell, Kirk insists even during the trial that Spock must have a logical reason behind his actions, even while Mendez is intent on throwing the book at him. You have to admire the bond between Kirk and Spock that lets them get through this, a weaker captain would capitulate to the Commodore’s will. This is the sort of mutual trust and respect that makes their friendship legendary and galvanizes the Enterprise crew. 

Bones just can’t believe Spock would go to these lengths, that he’d pull a stunt of this magnitude. Spock and McCoy have their banter, McCoy may not even particularly like Spock’s cold, logical attitude but it’s clear he trusts and even respects the man. Sure, some of his argument against Spock’s actions hinge on “Vulcan’s don’t do this! Vulcan’s can’t do that! Spock hates his human half, he’d never do anything so human!”, but maybe after this big event he’ll consider Spock a little more human - after all,  Spock’s attempt to rescue Pike and ease his suffering is highly indicative of an emotional reaction.

I mean, how logical is it to risk death for Pike when Pike is still alive? One may get the idea that Spock and Pike spitballed this idea about Talos IV at some point in their 11 years, 4 months, and 5 days serving together, but I think it’s more likely that Spock  put together a plan to help the man he respected so deeply he’d go against cold logic and risk death for.

Goddamn, Spock is awesome.

One thing to note is that the officers on Starbase 11 are almost all wearing gold flower badges, rather than the Starfleet Delta. I found a wonderfully informative article on the matter, but the TL;DR is that someone on the production side thought that every starship had a different badge denoting their ship, but that was an error and different divisions have different badges; Miss Piper and Commodore Mendez wearing the badges of Starbase Duty personnel. 

How goofy are those uniforms? I assume they’re the 23rd century dress uniforms, and I’m having a tough time deciding if they’re better or worse than the 24th century ones. 

I also want to note the security personnel and the yeoman who had to sit in on the trial. 

These people are witnesses to the trial of the century! Their senior officers are all involved in some sort of conspiracy to violate a Starfleet general order that carries the death penalty. Just another day on the old NCC-1701, or were some of them quietly having their minds blown? 

There are a few other miscellaneous things to cover, like The Cage-style gooseneck monitor with a screen the size of my ancient tracfone in Mendez’s office.

A classic piece of technology.

There’s also the bits of The Cage that are replayed here; once we were out of the ‘envelope’ (as Gene Roddenberry calls the framing episode) I skipped them for the most part, but I still found things to appreciate, such as the design of the Talosians:

Psychic dicks

And I also like the surface of Talos IV - nevermind it’s a matte painting, plastic and styrofoam desert, I really like deserts no matter how they’re depicted:

And we finally saw a shuttlecraft! Classic Kirk move, pushing things to the edge of death in a gambit to further his agenda. How much does that scene say to the trust Kirk has for Spock, how much trust he has in Spock’s respect for human life as well as Kirk’s life. In a way, I think Spock pulling the shuttle in and risking failure by exposing his mutiny goes to show that no matter what, he values life above all else - and his gambit to help Pike (someone he trusts and respects just as much as, if not more than, Kirk) live a better life however he can is the impetus for this episode.

If Spock is willing to go this far for Pike, what does that tell Kirk their own relationship could develop into? 

Rating: 4/5, Rewatch

While it may rely on re-used footage from The Cage towards the middle/end, this is a solid thriller that really has a lot more depth than it would initially appear and says a lot about the relationship between him and Kirk. 

[yahoo-shutdown-corner-blog]

2017 NFL Preview: Won't be easy for Raiders to pick up where they left off

Shutdown Corner is previewing all 32 teams as we get ready for the NFL season, counting down the teams one per weekday in reverse order of our initial 2017 power rankings. No. 1 will be revealed on Aug. 2, the day before the Hall of Fame Game kicks off the preseason.

Life was different for the Oakland Raiders a year ago.

Las Vegas seemed to be leverage for a new stadium in Oakland. Derek Carr was scheduled to make a $733,000 salary. Marshawn Lynch was riding camels in retirement. And while some people were excited about the Raiders’ potential for a breakout, they hadn’t been to the playoffs since the end of the 2002 season.

A year ago, there were no expectations for the Raiders to live up to. How times have changed.

The Raiders will be moving to Sin City, after a couple of lame-duck Oakland seasons. Carr is the highest-paid player in NFL history. Lynch is back to play in his hometown of Oakland. And the Raiders are good again.

The title of the 2016 Raiders’ preview was, “Raiders will be a Super Bowl contender, and soon.” I didn’t figure on it being this soon. However, it’s possible they won’t be one this season.

Oakland was 12-3 when Carr got hurt last season. The Raiders, predictably, fell apart without Carr. They lost the season finale and a strange playoff game against the Houston Texans. It was a crushing end to an otherwise storybook season, but it didn’t seem like Oakland fans were too broken up. After all, if a relatively young Raiders team could win 12 games in 2016, the sky would be the limit this season. Right?

Improvement isn’t always linear. There are plenty of indicators that the Raiders’ record was a bit bloated last season. According to pythagorean wins (based on points scored and points allowed) and Football Outsiders’ estimated wins metric, the Raiders played like an 8.8-win team last season. They caught some breaks. They were 7-2 in games decided by a touchdown or less and 4-1 in games decided by a field goal or less, and those records usually are closer to .500. Oakland was propped up a bit by a plus-16 turnover margin, which was tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for best in the NFL and a whopping plus-4 better than the third-place team.

This is a very good Raiders team. It could be even better this season and still not win 12 games. It’s fine to catch some breaks during a season. It’s just hard to repeat those tricks (though, the horrible luck of losing your star quarterback in Week 16 probably won’t happen again either).

Expectations are the Raiders will pick up where they left off when Carr broke his leg. Carr was on the edge of the MVP race, and he’s in just his fourth season. Khalil Mack won NFL defensive player of the year, and he’s also in his fourth season. Most of the Raiders’ best players are back, and it’s possible Lynch has one more superstar season left after resting his legs for a year.

The expectation is that the Raiders will be right back in the playoffs after their breakthrough season. The talent is certainly in place. But sometimes things can change dramatically and unexpectedly from year to year.

Khalil Mack and Derek Carr helped lead the Raiders back to the playoffs in 2016. (AP)

The grade probably depends on what you think of Marshawn Lynch. It’s hard to predict what the Raiders are getting with him, and how much better he’ll be at 31 years old than departed Latavius Murray. The Raiders also added tight end Jared Cook and receiver Cordarrelle Patterson. Cook had a solid season for the Green Bay Packers last season and despite whatever flaws Patterson has as a receiver, he’s the best kickoff returner in the NFL. Both moves make sense. The Raiders lost a lot from their defensive front seven – linebackers Perry Riley and Malcolm Smith, defensive tackles Dan Williams and Stacy McGee – but the front seven wasn’t great last season so they might be better off. The draft helped the secondary, with Ohio State cornerback Gareon Conley (as long as he doesn’t find himself in legal trouble over a highly publicized rape allegation) in the first round and UConn safety Obi Melifonwu in the second. I thought the Lynch acquisition was a fine gamble, but I won’t raise the Raiders’ grade too much because of it. Grade: C+.

It’s not hyperbolic to believe this could be the NFL’s best offense. Derek Carr took a huge step forward last season and he seems like the type of player who wants to be great. The receiver combination of Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree is one of the best 1-2 punches in the league. The offensive line is among the best. Then add Marshawn Lynch to run behind that line, and Jared Cook as a probable upgrade at tight end. There are a few really good offenses in the NFL but Oakland doesn’t take a backseat to any of them, especially if Lynch looks like his old self.

The defense was surprisingly poor last season. Oakland had NFL defensive player of the year Khalil Mack but as a team had an NFL-low 25 sacks. Only one team (the Green Bay Packers) allowed more than the 7.8 yards per pass attempt given up by the Raiders. They gave up the most 20-yard passes (61) and tied for the most 40-yard passes allowed (16) in the NFL. This was after the Raiders added cornerback Sean Smith, safeties Reggie Nelson and Karl Joseph and outside linebacker Bruce Irvin last offseason. They didn’t help. The Raiders focused on defense in this year’s draft, but didn’t do much in free agency to fix any issues. There are some good players on this defense, but the results last season didn’t reflect it. We know Oakland’s offense will be good, but we can’t say the same about the defense and there’s no great reason to believe it will be much better.

Derek Carr isn’t perfect. His 7.0 yards per attempt the last couple years is low, especially for someone with receivers as good as Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree. He sometimes has issues with lower-body mechanics. But how many quarterbacks under 27 years old would you take ahead of Carr? Even if he’s not No. 1 on your list, there can’t be many ahead of him. He’s got a great arm, good athleticism, is a fine leader and has always been ahead of the curve on understanding the nuances of playing quarterback, thanks to his brother. He is also calm under pressure. Carr was credited with seven fourth-quarter comebacks and game-winning drives last season. Even if you think his record-setting five-year, $125 million deal is a bit rich, it’s hard to argue with the Raiders giving it to him. If Oakland – or Las Vegas – has hopes of winning a Super Bowl soon, it’s because of their young franchise quarterback.

Derek Carr and Khalil Mack were in the same Raiders draft class, and their careers will be intertwined for a long time. Even if Carr plays a more important position and has the bigger paycheck, Mack is the Raiders’ best player. Mack started his career as an outside linebacker and moved to defensive end, and he has the athleticism to be a dominant player at either spot. Headed into last season Mack was a great bet to win a defensive player of the year award at some point in his career, and he took care of that in his third season. Mack is signed through the 2018 season, but Oakland probably won’t wait too long to give him an extension. Carr got $125 million, and Mack should come close to that. Having two mega-deals like that will hinder the Raiders’ salary-cap flexibility, but that’s a problem for down the road.

From Yahoo Sports’ Scott Pianowski: “From a fun standpoint, the return of Marshawn Lynch is a joyous event. But we’re not marketing our fantasy rosters, we just want the numbers. Lynch not only skipped the 2016 season entirely, but he was a stumbling mess of fantasy mediocrity back in 2015; and now he’s 31. Oakland’s super offensive line helps, but the Raiders have underrated RB depth behind Lynch (look at the juicy per-play stats posted by DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard). Lynch’s ADP is fluctuating all over the place; sometimes he’s a second-round reach, sometimes he’s a fourth-round gambit. I’d rather take a surer thing in those pockets (probably a wideout), and let someone else make the buzzy pick. (And give me some Washington in the late rounds, please.) In the end, gravity always wins.”

[Pressing Questions: Fantasy outlook on the Raiders]

[Fantasy Football is open! Sign up now]

The Raiders have had a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in the same season three times in their history. In 1968 it was Warren Wells and Fred Biletnikoff, in 2001 it was Tim Brown and Jerry Rice, and last season Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree joined that select group. Cooper had 1,153 yards to Crabtree’s 1,003, though Crabtree beat Cooper in catches (89-83) and touchdowns (8-5). Crabtree was a great signing by general manager Reggie McKenzie, but Cooper is still the star. Cooper has gone over 1,000 yards in both of his NFL seasons, and the next trick will be catching Derek Carr’s eye in the red zone. Cooper had just 13 red-zone targets last season, fewer than players like Jermaine Kearse and Nelson Agholor. Given Cooper’s tremendous overall talent and Carr’s ability to get him the ball, it seems like Cooper is capable of doubling his touchdown total this season.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM MARSHAWN LYNCH?

No matter what happens in 2017, it won’t change that Lynch has had a Hall-of-Fame level career. What he did for the Seattle Seahawks, as perhaps the most important figure in their climb to the first Super Bowl championship in franchise history, secures his place in NFL history. But nobody is guaranteed to be great forever. Lynch is 31 and was out of football last season. In 2015 he had just 417 yards in seven games as he battled injuries. Here’s the optimistic view: Lynch will be healthy and fresh after resting his body for a year, and he’ll put up fantastic numbers behind a punishing offensive line that is by far the best he has played with in his career. It’s also possible Lynch is never going to recapture his Seattle magic. Since 1990, only 11 backs at age 31 or older rushed for 1,000 yards (Emmitt Smith and Frank Gore each did it twice). Lynch is a special player and he steps into a good situation, so maybe he can beat that history. However, the acquisition of Lynch might not turn out as well as Raiders fans hope.

One of the common questions of the offseason has been, who can knock off the Patriots in the AFC? Oakland might be on a short list. The Raiders could score with the Patriots in a single-game elimination situation and perhaps pull off an upset (slowing the Patriots down will probably be the problem). And if there’s an improvement on defense – there’s certainly enough individual talent for it – then we’re really talking about a Super Bowl contender.

We saw how bad the Raiders were late last season without Derek Carr, so an injury to their quarterback is the worst-case scenario. But that’s true for most NFL teams. There is a chance Carr is healthy and the Raiders don’t post a record nearly as good as last season’s mark. Because expectations are bigger, anything short of another playoff berth would be viewed as a huge disappointment. The defense could struggle again and maybe Oakland won’t be as fortunate in areas like turnover margin and record in close games. Also consider the Raiders are in a very tough division. A second straight playoff berth won’t be easy.

The AFC West is tough to predict. You can make a reasonable argument for any team finishing in first or last place. I think the Raiders will be good again, but it will be hard to duplicate the record they posted before Carr got hurt. Of course, there’s no guarantee the Chiefs replicate their 2016 season either. Although I have the Chiefs higher in the rankings, I’ll probably end up picking the Raiders to win the division. It’s a team you’d figure will continue to peak as the season goes on, and an AFC West title is some unfinished business from last season.

32. New York Jets 31. Cleveland Browns 30. San Francisco 49ers 29. Chicago Bears 28. Los Angeles Rams 27. Jacksonville Jaguars 26. Detroit Lions 25. Houston Texans 24. Buffalo Bills 23. Indianapolis Colts 22. Baltimore Ravens 21. Los Angeles Chargers 20. Minnesota Vikings 19. New Orleans Saints 18. Washington Redskins 17. Philadelphia Eagles 16. Miami Dolphins 15. Cincinnati Bengals 14. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13. Arizona Cardinals 12. Denver Broncos 11. Tennessee Titans 10. Carolina Panthers

– – – – – – –

Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

[goodguidanceptc]

Race Report: Puerto Rico 70.3          Race Date: March 19, 2017

Dominoes, games of flipping black tiles to match white dots, factor large in Puerto Rican culture. One version is played by standing them on end in rows and pushing the first one to knock the rest down. This can be fun or frustrating, depending on how well it’s planned.

1st Domino: I forgot my bike shoes. Unclipped them to pack my bike and left them on my dining room floor.

2nd Domino: Bracket that holds skewer, cassette and chain derailleur got bent during transport. A tech at the race expo fixed it.

So while I’m sweating a strange tech trying some bike repair magic, I’m Googling speed plates and bike shoes. Nobody at the remarkably small race expo had any solutions, but I found a tiny store in San Juan (with the grandiose name, Koishima Tri Club. More syllables than square footage), run by a Guardian Bro named Abraham. He pulled some thoroughly used speed plates off his own shoes and mounted them on a pair of $40 shoes.

Problems handled (sort of). Good dinner, in bed early. 

Race day

Up very early to rendezvous with Team Well-Fit at 4:30. Too early. Ate. Set-up T1 and “t-.05.” Normally, I like to be “kicked out” of T1 with very little extra time to overthink the race. That said, so much positive energy from the other Well-Fit folks is hard not to love.

PR swim exit is a third of a mile away from T1. So we set up a “t-.05″ with shoes to make that extended run. Susan–new knick-name, “Number One Sherpa”–stood guard over shoes and water bottles (to rinse salt water). I put my tri-top and HR strap there, knowing I could use the run to put it on. We loitered at “t-.05″ for about an hour before we walked over to swim start.

Lesson: I’m well prepped on race day. Too much time leaves too much room for negative head chatter.

Swim (:36:56)

Went with WF tri shorts only. The first 400 yards were rough. Assholes and elbows everywhere. Getting my hips pushed was new. But sorted out by first turn. Stayed along buoys, felt the cool ocean current as I reached the bridge, sighted the swim out and went hard.

Need more technique work. FIVE WHOLE MINUTES slower than expected :32.

Lesson: double check buoy placements day of race. Course was practically a crescent moon. Could have saved time by NOT hugging course buoys after second turn.

Lesson: next 70.3 I will dominate my fearful chatter and conservative approach, take the pole position and force the other guys to swim around me. I’m taking the beating anyway and maybe I could draft better…

T1 (6:36)

Smooth but could have skipped rinsing off salt water and pulling on shoes. BUT! learned a trick to pull tri-top on like a dress (vs. overhead, like a t-shirt). Thanks to Dan K!

Bike (2:40:06; averaged approx. 21mph)

First race on new bike with power meter…and last-minute replacement shoes. Had a hard time calibrating PM (twice!) so although I did not have perfect confidence in readings, I held 80% +/-5% (210-230watts) for majority of two loop lollipop. Given avg mph, I probably wasn’t too far off, given head/tail winds.

Followed nutrition/hydration plan…mostly.

Just after the second turn around (Mile 45-ish) my right foot felt odd. I thought it was surely the used speed cleat failing. Nope. Cleat was fine. Sole was coming unglued from upper… a little more with each stroke.

Mashed the last ten-ish miles of rolling hills dealing with flappy shoe. Lots of mental chatter during this section, mostly R- and X-rated versions of:

why are there so many expressway exit/entrance ramps on 70.3s?

Shoe. Idiot. Shoe. Idiot.

Is my bike broke? What’s that sound?

At the dismount line, I unclipped left but just peeled the right upper off the sole. Fuckit.

Lesson: remember shoes. Simple.

Dismount / T2 (3:21)

Dominoes falling. Forgot shoes…replacements failed-ish…didn’t take in as much salt on back third of bike…flappy flappy flappy into dismount…forgot bottle of Gatorade in T2 (hydration plan for first third of run). None of which occurred to me as I went about my business. I was not rushed or panicked, yet I clearly lost focus here. And it cost me…

Run (2:09:43 or 9:54/mi)

One teammate declared intention was for 9:00/miles. I thought she was being cautious because she didn’t feel well. I sincerely expected sub-8:30/mile average.

St. George has hills. Atlantic City has heat. I’ve done both. But StG is temperate  and the AC Boardwalk run flatness literally inspired the board game Monopoly. Plus, I’d been acclimating for weeks. So I was not intimidated by the hot and hilly run profile or the legendary “oven” along the backside fort walls.

I should have been. Words fail. Murder. Brutal. Brutal murder. Brutally murderous.

My interior quads (vastus medialus) on both legs started cramping up around Mile 3. I administered at least two salt licks to every little “clench.” Burned through my positive self-talk and chatter early on. I walked the aid stations to hydrate and the uphills on the second loop. It was a war of attrition as they clenched up more frequently and locked more firmly as I went. At mile 11 the right calf cramped up like a padlock. A Guardian Bro from Boston asked if I was okay and even though I said, “No,” we ran those last two black and terrible miles together. Lost track of him towards the end. Grinded it out.

Finishing Chute / Post Race

Didn’t recognize Andy Potts when he congratulated me at the finish line. Had to go back for a fist bump.

When I sat down, the muscles below the knee cramped up on both legs. One after another… left and right calf (gastrocnemius), left and right shins (peroneus longus) on a spectrum of pain in various sequences for minutes on end, from “please make it stop” to “hot death” to “so bad they scared my wife.” I’ve never been shot, but I suspect I know something close to what it feels like to get shot.

Work to do on running techniques.

Lesson: Clear the mechanism when the dominoes start to fall.

OVERALL RACE TIME: 5:36 

OVERALL RACE GRADE: C 

I had faster time expectations in all three phases. An argument could be made against comparing PR70.3 vs AC70.3:

PR70.3 early season vs AC70.3 late season.

AC swim course cut for safety concerns, skewing subsequent bike and swim splits.

New gear in PR, some planned (bike and power meter), some not (shoes and cleats).

Dramatically different T1 layouts.

Dramatically different run course profiles.

That said, overall times indicate that PR70.3 was not an improvement.

PR70.3 =  5:36

AC70.3 = 4:56

DIFF =       :40

SWIM: B- 

I expected time closer to :32 with better cadence. Also, I was in a very small minority of racers without speed suits.

BIKE: C-

Who forgets their fucking shoes!?! Also, lost focus on hydration plan towards end.

RUN: C

Literally a step backwards in pace and evolution. Heat and hills were devastating yet better focus in T2 could have helped deliver better result.

Might have to go back to beat that run course. Whoah... domino.