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cruelfeline · 4 years ago

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I’ve been thinking about various aspects of SPoP, as I am wont to do, and as often happens, I’ve settled on trying to figure out why I feel a certain way. Namely regarding why I, personally, am able to feel so much more compassion towards Hordak rather than towards the Princesses. After all, the Princesses are the ones being wronged throughout this show, aren’t they? Their lands are being invaded. They’re the ones having to fight to maintain their way of life. They’re losing ground because of Hordak’s war.

So... why do I find it hard to care about them? Why are their experiences in this conflict just sort of... well, meaningless to me?

And why, instead, do my tender emotional responses strongly favor Hordak, despite his serious role in starting a terrible war?

Well! As per usual, I’m going to try to talk my way through it.

(and, as per usual, your mileage may vary!)

Let’s start with the Princesses. They range from children to young adults. Seem like reasonably nice girls, despite various flaws. They clearly did not ask for a war, had no hand in starting it, and are clearly on the side of good, seeking to protect innocents and simply return to a peaceful way of life.

They appear perfectly designed to garner sympathy and connection... yet I feel so little for them. I feel little because, despite the show telling me that they’re fighting for their lives, and for their home, despite them being the apparent underdogs in their battle against the Horde, I feel like their lives remain relatively stable. Pleasant. Even enjoyable.

Essentially, I feel like despite everything, they do not truly suffer. Not in a way that is consistent or touching.

The arcs the Princesses go through either deal largely with matters unrelated to the war and subsequently involve less arduous difficulties, or are handled in such a way that any real pain is quickly resolved and loses its impact.

Frosta and Perfuma represent the former. Both are parentless rulers of their kingdoms, but there is no real confirmation that their parents were killed by the Horde, and they themselves seem largely unperturbed by parental loss. They maintain control of their kingdoms throughout the series. Frosta never loses the Kingdom of Snows, while Perfuma, though in brief danger of losing Plumeria due to damage to the Heart Blossom, ends up... well, defeating the Horde with a band of untrained hippies. So while they fight in the war against Hordak, they never really suffer any significant, confirmed personal losses because of it.

In fact, the Plumerian conflict is... kind of played for laughs.

The other aspects of their arcs have largely to do with friendship matters, or self-belief, and are also dealt with quickly and with little fanfare. Frosta learns how to make friends. Perfuma learns how to play with cacti. Afterwards, Frosta spends the remainder of the story essentially being a violence-happy little kid; amusing, yes, but not particularly tugging at my heartstrings. Perfuma likewise settles into “sympathetic friend” and, though she’s involved in Scorpia’s story at the end, also does little to invoke any sort of significant emotion.

we’re just going to skirt around the whole “leashing Entrapta” thing, as it’s not relevant to this discussion

(Spinnerella and Netossa barely even register to me, given their very bare-bones roles in the first four seasons and standard “chipped loved one” narrative (that everyone experiences) in the fifth.)

So, let’s move on to Glimmer and Mermista.

Glimmer and Mermista are arguably the two Princesses who actually lose unique things in the war and suffer because of those losses. And yet, because of the way the show is written, even their pain is dulled in such a way that it just does not facilitate me forming any sort of consistent, compassionate bond with them.

Mermista is the only Princess to actually lose a kingdom. In Hordak’s most visible evil act, Salineas is burned and beflagged, leading to Mermista deeply mourning the loss of her home, her culture, her peop- oh. Hm.

She takes it oddly well, doesn’t she? Apparently, ice cream in a bathtub is how deposed rulers deal with the loss of their entire country nowadays.

And once she’s done with her moment of moping, she’s back in the fight, fueled by Sea Hawk’s shenanigans and her own power ballad (and Bright Moon’s lack of ice cream). There is no extended mourning for her people, no real depth to the loss she has supposedly suffered. There’s not even a real sense of it: we never see the people of Salineas, never know them, never get to feel anything for them. And with them being all but theoretical, the show appears to have no issue quickly forgetting them: Mermista never negotiates on their behalf, or visits refugees, or... anything. She might use Salineas in her future battle cries and as an excuse for increased recklessness, but that homage is the extent of emotion that we see.

Kingdom gone, bathtub ice cream finished, she goes on living life as if little has happened. And, because of her royal connections, she doesn’t even experience a decrease in quality of life: she continues to live in luxurious comfort despite an apparently raging war.

Because of how the writing handles Salineas, and her character in general, I never feel connected to how Mermista feels. Whatever pain she experiences is there and gone in a few scenes, quickly dealt with so the story can continue. There is no exploration, no nuance, nothing to really make me appreciate any sort of depth to her experience. And so I feel little, if anything, for her plight.

Glimmer, then, is the last chance the show has to make me feel something for the Alliance Princesses’ suffering during this war, and while season four nearly does it, the series again ends up falling short.

Glimmer loses her mother. The actual sacrifice is emotional... though that emotion, admittedly, comes mainly from Adora. Glimmer’s pain comes through at the beginning of season four, when she is clearly in mourning all while needing to take Angella’s place as queen. Afterwards, season four does a fairly good job of making the loss meaningful: Glimmer becomes more and more willing to commit dark acts due to a mixture of grief and desperation. It works well, and out of all of the Princesses, I feel for her the most... until season five comes along and pretty much erases Angella from character consciousness.

Angella’s death essentially plays no role in season five. Glimmer does not appear to think back to it. While it drives her actions during season four, it appears to have been all but forgotten now, a particularly glaring shift when Catra, the one who is practically responsible, joins the group without it coming up at all. Glimmer’s other parental loss, Micah, likewise becomes meaningless not because of questionable writing choices, but because he simply never died.

Glimmer’s other problem, her rift with Bow and Adora, is repaired within an episode and never spoken of again. That... falls quite flat for me.

And so, by the end of the series, Glimmer fails to maintain a believable level of distress and thus doesn’t invoke any real emotion in me. The one thing that really mattered, that really hurt her? Suddenly irrelevant in the name of Catra’s redemption. Hm.

And while these are the specific character examples that come to mind, the general situation the Princesses find themselves also fails to carry much weight in my mind. They are in the middle of a war, yet they continue to live in luxury. Skirmishes carry a sense of light-heartedness and sometimes seem almost fun. Battle plans are developed via a game of DnD. There is just no consistent sense of urgency or severity, no believable sense of emotional depth to convey to me that these characters are in truly dire straits. Yes, there are moments... but these moments are so brief, and carry such questionable lasting impact, that they don’t connect with me the way that they should. And as a result, the plight of the Princesses just feels hollow to me.

I just... I just find myself unable to care about them because, when all is said and done, I don’t feel like they are truly in danger of real harm, or that they are realistically affected by their losses. It all just feels so shallow to me.

Now, let’s pivot and look at Hordak. Hordak, whom I still cry over on the daily. Hordak, who has owned my heart for over a year now. Hordak, who invokes in me all of the emotions.

What is the difference between Hordak and the Princesses, other than the glaring fact that he is the instigator of the Etherian war and thus a bad, bad man? What makes him snap my heartstrings in half, while the Princesses barely manage a gentle tug?

The answer is that Hordak legitimately suffers. Terribly. Consistently. Throughout the entire series. While the Princesses experience brief moments of distress that the show quickly sweeps under the rug in favor of witty banter and friendship problems, Hordak is the direct opposite: he experiences only the occasional breath of happiness while otherwise drowning in a constant sea of bitterness, fear, pain, and deep unhappiness.

From the moment we meet him, Hordak is stern and humorless and angry, and while this initially appears to be a side effect of him being a Standard Ultimate Villain Who Never Smiles, we quickly learn that it is due to his struggle. Hordak is constantly struggling against his physical defect, battling an illness that causes him not only significant health problems, but incredible shame. He is likewise constantly struggling to earn the respect and validation and nonexistent love of his god-brother. His sour demeanor, with all of its anger and dourness, originates in the fact that, throughout the overwhelming majority of the series, he is gravely unhappy. He is in ever-present distress, both physical and emotional.

And as the series goes on, does that distress lessen? No. No, instead, he is rejected by his brother, thoroughly humiliated, and brutally “reset” back into his life as an actual cult slave. Rather than having his difficulties minimized like so many Princesses do, he finds himself in ever-worsening circumstances, graduating from (supposed) “disgraced, disabled military veteran” to “enslaved cultist desperate to be loved by his loveless master.”

Any moments of happiness are not only relatively brief, they are taken away as quickly as the Princesses’ moments of difficulty are. Hordak experiences love and friendship for the first time with Entrapta, only to swiftly lose her to Catra’s lies and spiraling madness. He finally begins to win the Etherian War (which is bad, yes, I know), only to realize that his victories stem from Catra’s betrayal before the whole affair culminates in Prime’s nauseating violation of his personhood.

It does not stop. Physically, mentally, or emotionally: not until his triumph over Prime in the season five finale does Hordak stop hurting, and even that is marred by Prime taking control of his body in a final act of nightmarish control before, bless him, Hordak is freed and able to begin his recovery.

In addition to being a series constant, Hordak’s pain is conveyed. It is dramatically shown through facial expressions, through body language, through phenomenal voice work, through scenes that clearly depict real anguish.

The purification ritual is one of them; what other character do we hear scream like that, over and over, due to such terrible agony? His reunion with Prime is another; I will never forget how deeply I could sense his fear, how watching him tremble and beg instilled within me a sort of breathless panic because the scene actually made me want to instinctively protect him... but I could not because, y’know: cartoon.

Hordak’s suffering is not only ever-present, it is varied and developed and communicated to the viewer in ways that result in it making a lasting impression. It is never minimized. It is never ignored. It is painful and horrifying with little reprieve, and it has a deep, life-altering effect on him.

That, friends and neighbors, is why I think I find myself feeling so much more compassion towards Hordak than I do towards the Princesses, despite his less-enticing place on the moral spectrum. Hordak is in pain. Consistently, meaningfully. He suffers, and the story takes it with every ounce of seriousness it can muster.

The Princesses, on the other hand, either experience little hurt or, when they do suffer, do so briefly before the narrative shoves it aside in favor of Catradora other things. As a result, they fail to make the same impression. They fail to garner my compassion because, in the end, they just don’t seem to really need it.

Whereas Hordak does.

#hordak #spop princesses

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codylabs · 5 years ago

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My Top 10 Ships

I’m not a very romantic sort of guy, I’m not real forgiving to departures from canon, I get easily annoyed at inconsistencies, and I don’t watch much television and movies, so in order for me to ship something, it has to be a GOOD ship. I default toward rejecting ships, so to impress ME, it must be built on logic, and evidence, it’s gotta be something I can suspend my disbelief far enough to accept. And it’s gotta have story behind it, something deep, some hefty emotional weight; if it doesn’t tickle this man’s cold reptilian heart with strong beats and excellent writing, it goes straight to the trash. I absoLUTELY will not stand for any of these weird little cute, pretty, pandering, trashy crack ships that everybody seems to be clumsily throwing characters into. Most ships are trash ships. They are not good ships.

You think your ship is good? You like your ship?

You ship it?

No you don’t.

Get out of here.

You will listen to me. I will tell you. Look at me. I’m the Captain now.

Here are the 10 good ships.

10. The Rocinante, The Expanse

A resoundingly excellent ship. Unlike most ships you see out there, this thing was actually designed with realistic space combat in mind. It’s got 6 computer-controlled gatling turrets covering every angle, it accelerates in whatever direction it’s pointing, its bridge is right in the center to put as much armor as possible between enemies and crew, overall a much better-designed vehicle than most everything you see about.

That being said, I didn’t have much connection to this ship. Its crew weren’t really interesting, the aesthetic was kinda bleak, and I basically stopped watching after the phazon showed up. And the Rocinante itself has pretty poor redundancy. Enemy bullets can literally just pass through it (as is realistic for a ship this size) so how about multiple main engines huh? Absolutely tragic oversight. And its interior looks too much like an Apple product. How are you supposed to work on it? Where are the wires and pipes??? The handholds?????

9. Ares IV M.A.V., The Martian

Almost more of a symbol than a ship. A symbol of freedom, of escape. A beautiful symbol. This is what Mark Watney spends the whole movie trying to reach, with an entire world backing him up, and an entire world trying to stop him. It’s the goal of the movie, and it just looks so beautiful when he finally reaches it and sees it sitting there in the middle of the desert, ass down, nose up; a tall, proud symbol. This ship has a special significance for me because the author of the original book really did his research on the scientific requirements and details of a Mars Ascent Vehicle, and it was actually inspired by the E.R.V. in another book, ‘A Case For Mars’, which I read when I was younger. “Makes its own methane-oxygen fuel on-site by using nuclear power to break down CO2 in the atmosphere and combining it with stored hydrogen, don’t you know.” I say as I adjust my spectacles and puff my pipe.

The M.A.V. in the movie does have a few issues, such as hallway and rooms running straight up through where the fuel tanks ought to be (instead of a lift/ladder on the exterior) and a rugged, industrial aesthetic that looks too heavy and cumbersome for a ship of its type. (And you’re seriously telling me he couldn’t have used the capsule’s RCS to literally bypass the movie’s entire climax? WHY NOT? The book never mentioned him having to drain the monopropellant!!!) But I’ll let that slide. Great movie.

8. Biggest Boy, The Greatship

(I don’t know the ship name so I had to make up a name. You know what, I think it’s actually just called the Greatship.)

So it’s a starship the size of Jupiter, empty, unmanned, perfectly mysterious, that comes gliding into the galaxy a couple million years into humanity’s future. Where did it come from? Who made it and how? Good questions. It’s powered by matter-antimatter annihilation reactions from within planet-sized internal tanks, and its engines use hydrogen and fusion exhaust as reaction mass, and its hull is made of hyperfiber, a super-strong fictional material with a 4-dimensional lattice structure, able to weather impacts by spreading them out over various dimensions where the impact occurred in a different place.

I hope that after the first few entries, you didn’t get the impression that I am somehow against futuristic, far-out, impossible technologies. Quite the opposite! I love me some hyperdrive and anti-gravity and A.I. and stuff. However! Ships must be well-designed for the technology available, and must take no creative liberties except those explicitly allowed by the difference in the setting. The laws of physics don’t disappear when the magic crystals come out, the magic crystals are merely a different tool to combat them. Engineering will always exist, should start with the tools and work outward, form follows function. Star Wars ships, for instance, are trash because they don’t mount their repulsorlift arrays consistently, they’re not aerodynamic, and their engines aren’t aligned around their center of masses.

So I like the Great Ship. Although the story is pretty far-fetched, and a lot of crazy, out-there scifi events transpire deep in the ship’s depths, the book always strictly kept its own rules in mind, and never broke those rules, no matter how outlandishly crazy things got. Thanks for comprehending something so incomprehensible, Robert Reed. You inspired me miles in my own work.

7. The Ghost, The Sea Wolf

The story may be fiction, but the Ghost was as real as ghosts can be.

Jack London did his research. No, not research, he LIVED this. The Ghost is a seal-hunting schooner much like one that he served aboard during his rollercoaster of a life, and he captured every detail of its operation, of its requirements, of its mechanics, and of the incredible toll it took on the people that lived such a life. The boat is made to feel as oppressive and claustrophobic as a prison, as if it were an extension of the monster that commanded it, directly in contrast to the expansive beauty of the sea around them. My goodness, what a beautiful book. What a moving, interesting, challenging book, with such a story! This book is one of the climaxes of fiction, and one of the inspirations for Shifting Sands, if I remember correctly. I would recommend this book to anybody. Beautiful.

6. Ferbnessa, Phineas and Ferb

Okay, so I hope we can all agree that Vanessa is nothing but bad news. But that being said, Ferb knows exactly the relationship he wants, and by golly, he goes for it. Most male characters would stutter or get nervous or lose confidence around their crush, especially if that crush is about a hundred miles out of their league or if they already had another boyfriend, but Ferb? No. Not my man Ferb. He’s slighly too much of a legend to fall for such childish pitfalls. He doesn’t posture, he doesn’t creep or flirt or try to sabotage the other men in her life, he doesn’t even speak a word, he just maintains his blank expression, cranks his own already-inhuman levels of confidence and competence up through the roof to borderline olympian levels, and continues being himself. These rare moments of Ferbly passion are some of the few open windows we get into the grandiose machinations of his mysterious mind, and he uses it to bring out the best in Vanessa as well. And in the future episode, set years down the line, wouldn’t you know it, they’re a pair.

All joking aside though, this whole ship is basically comedy. It’s a super small part of the show, it’s only in like 5 episodes, it’s a running gag, it’s hilarious. It’s great. And it fits right into the tone and the feel of the show, because P&F’s entire world really is a comedy about going for it and living your dreams. So this is just the best thing ever. It’s been about a decade since then, and I still burst out laughing at how much of a pristine picture of ideal masculinity Ferb is. Become like Ferb, boys, and you will become men.

Legendary.

Eat your heart out, Dipper.

3. Shunk, Voltron

(I don’t know the ship name so I had to make up a name)

Huge props to the voltron team for making a female alien character (even a romantic interest) with NO BOOBS. Do you have ANY idea how sick and tired I am of artists throwing a big ol’ pair of balonkadongs onto lobsters and snakes when almost everything in the real world besides folks and cows have either 0 or 8+ of them? Everything’s gotta be traditionally sexy and recognizably-feminine and GREAT now you just canonized all the porn! Disgusteg

but now look at Shay. She’s a rock person. She’s got silicon-based biology, she probably weighs 500 lbs and bleeds sand. She’s got enormous hands and weird knees and no nose and lumps everywhere, AND YET STILL the show plays all the tropes 100% straight with her being a fair young maiden and a sweet princess. And it works because Hunk is just this great guy who’s exactly as sweet and caring, and he’s not the most attractive of the Paladins either, so he probably lives his life looking past appearances. He doesn’t care that she’s an alien rock, he cares about her as a person, and she obviously worships him right back. Even though Shay is shown in season 1 and then never again until season 7, Hunk still avoids alternative romantic entanglements, citing ‘a rock I know’, and it just adds to his persona as this infinitely loyal teddy bear. I tip my hat to this, the single ship I know that’s 0% sexy and 100% wholesome.

And Hunk is the best Paladin. He’s just the greatest. I revere him. I salute him as he walks past. This man among men. Look at this guy. I don’t even care about any of the other ships in Voltron (I mean, the Castle of Lions is okay, but it’s outriggers are kinda spindly) but Hunk and Shay deserve each other.

4. Wendip, Gravity Falls

So Dipper’s 12/13, and Wendy’s 15. That’s a pretty giant age difference. Maybe you fans have fooled yourselves into thinking it’s not, but it is. She knows it. He knows it. His sister knows it. Your mom knows it. So halfway through the show, when he finally got around to confessing his feelings to her, she told him no. Sure they’re still friends, sure they like each other, and sure they have a lot of chemistry and they still have a movie night every Friday, but at the end of the day, he’s a smelly little midget who has to go back to California at the end of the Summer, and she’s a older girl with approximately zero romantic feelings for him. So the notion that it could work out is pretty obvious to everyone, and especially to him, pretty much hopeless. And he really did handle it all pretty poorly and immaturely too, he objectified her and stalked her and simped up a storm and sabotaged her boyfriend, so perhaps he deserved what he got. Perhaps it’s better this way.

And yet.

And yet Wendy never really got a happy ending in the show. And Dipper never got a conclusive romance either. So after everything, it’s easy to think about it how he thinks about it, by wondering how things could have been, if everything were just so slightly different, if she’d said yes or if they united again. She wishes she could be younger, he wishes he could be older. She’s more dominant, he’s more recessive. She has a lot of serious issues in her life, and could really seriously use a driven, heroic, intelligent friend to help her out, give her purpose, and steer her right. And Lord knows he could use somebody with street smarts and actual muscles to have his back now and again. They complement each other perfectly. They make up for each others’ weaknesses. They’re everything they ever wanted from another, and if you do the math, their children would be actual literal supersoldiers.

Or at least that’s the way a lot of people see it. There’s been immeasurable mountains of fanfiction and fanart from people who are just so sad that in a show full of happy endings and dreams coming true and old regrets being resolved and children growing up, that one ending would never be happy, one dream would never come to pass, one regret would stick with you forever, one child would never grow up. Maybe if you extrapolate out the story they’d end up together? Or maybe they’d find other, better partners? Maybe romance isn’t all that important in the grand scheme of things, and this is the best ending there could have been? Perhaps, perhaps not. But in any case, there’s a lot of very rich storytelling potential for the untold journey before them, and for the paths that could have been.

Stop drawing fetish art of Wendy, you insufferable heathen actual donkeys.

3. Kataang, Avatar: The Last Airbender

Now HERE’S a serious relationship. Not just a romantic ship, (though it is that,) not just some cutesy, funny thing or some ship-war fodder, (though it is cute and funny and did spawn a ship-war,) not just a matter of certainty and destiny, (though it is certain and was destined,) this is a real, TANGIBLE relationship, that these characters built together over a solid year of on-screen adventuring and fighting. They’ve helped each other through trauma, they’ve been there for each other in their darkest moments, they learned martial-arts together, they’ve fought back-to back against grown men, they’ve worked front-to-front sawing through steel girders, they’ve saved each other’s lives, he once ACTUALLY DIED and she brought him BACK. They end up respecting each other, and valuing each other in the intimate way that only true friends do.

And they’re shown working through all their imperfections and mistakes too. Aang sometimes oversteps boundaries and says stupid stuff because he’s a kid, and Katara sometimes scolds him and controls him because she’s motherly and orderly, they get jealous of each other, but none of those things drive them apart, and they deal with them, and they conquer them, and they keep a very legitimate and multi-faceted friendship going, and that’s the key to it all. The fact that this friendship becomes romance is just proof that it was a friendship of quality.

I think people tend to overlook or forget this ship because the last few episodes of the show found them in a pretty dark place, needing to deal with matters of life and death and justice in very different ways, and unlike all their other issues, we don’t really get to see them reconciling these differences before the story ends, which kind of leaves a sour taste between them. And Katara goes on a couple missions with Zuko around the same time, so now half of all people want Zutara, when in actuality, Zutara is a trash ship, which is a true science fact.

2. Serenity, Firefly

Only reason this ship isn’t #1 is because it isn’t constructed using a proper aerospace philosophy; it’s made of bulky machinery and steel beams and chunky plates, it looks more like an ocean vessel from the inside, and is WAY too big for its 6-12 person crew and light cargo capacity. Plus it doesn’t have any room for fuel and its got no wheels on its landing legs and no downward-facing windows and its reactor is just too dang SMOL and its engines are attached too flimsily. This all wouldn’t be too much of an issue if they were going for a far-future aesthetic, but if you’re trying to do something grounded and semi-contemporary, you need to lose some weight girl, I’m sorry.

But by gosh does it make up for it in heart. The entire inside of this ship was mapped out and made on set, with so many homely little decorations and touches to make every room feel like the person who inhabits it, sterile professional blue for the doc’s medbay, warm happy red for Kaylee’s engine room, all-serious-business-but-also-plastic-dinos for Wash’s cockpit... It hit me hard when this baby it crashed in the movie, and it felt almost real when River pretended to mind-meld with it. This ship has more soul in one buffer panel than most shows have in the entire cast, enough to make it seem like its own character, even in a show crowded with charming characters. I love this ship intimately, even if I would have built it differently.

1. Colonial Vessel 46.18′\, Gravity Falls

(I don’t know the ship name so I had to make up a name)

You didn’t think I’d leave out this one, did you? After all the fanfiction I’ve written? This is basically my ship at this point. Anyway, enough about me; the vessel beneath Crash Site Omega really is the quintessential alien ship; its perfectly cliche flying-saucer design taps into all the audience’s pre-existing fanciful notions and imaginings and disbelief-suspension, meanwhile its presentation isn’t cliche or fanciful in the slightest.

There’s not much to say about it from a technical standpoint, besides personal musings: it would need anti-gravity to stay airborne without thrusters, it would need a FTL drive to cross the distances it did, its drones would need to be made of some kind of semi-liquid to move like they do... But these sort of out-of-the-box, never-before-seen, world-expanding brain-knocks are exactly what makes this ship special. It’s an alien ship, built with technology unknown to people, forged from materials that people don’t possess, and inhabited by beings we will never meet. For all we know, this ship could be perfectly sound from an engineering standpoint, and no engineer in the audience could claim to prove it otherwise, because unlike something like the T.A.R.D.I.S., they never try and fail to explain it away with science buzzwords or canonize its details or show off some fancy glowy reactor. This ancient husk is left as a yawning pit in reason, and that’s beautiful.

Moreover, this ship is an amazingly powerful narrative tool, and a mind-blowing surprise to drop in as a setpiece during the show’s final episodes. This ship embodies everything that made the show’s mysteries special: the evidence presented so early and so consistently, the creativity in creature design, action, and worldbuilding, the yawning depths of unknowable lore, and most of all the burning, unquenched desire to know more... The imprint this ship made in the cliffs over the town has been hanging over the characters’ heads the entire series, and its hull was below their feet from day one, so when they finally revealed it, and explored it, it felt invigorating. Rewarding. This ship, and the glorious feelings and thoughts it represents, have inspired to no end, and haven’t ended yet.

Honorable mentions:

Westley and Buttercup, The Princess Bride

Ooooh man I tell you what, it was really hard trimming this down to 10 for the list, and this one just barely didn’t make the cut, and that mainly because I have a sweet spot for animation and for warrior women, and this sweetness ain’t animated, and this damsel is as distressed as they get. And they don’t have a whole lot of chemistry? I don’t know how to measure that, but I feel like there was a lot of friendship stated that was never shown? Is it sacrilege to say that about True Love? I guess I’ve never exactly had True Love, so what do I know?

The entire plot centers around his devotion to her, and her love for him, and the lengths they go to for one another. He studies fencing and wrestling and wits and tactics for years on a pirate ship as he tried to return to her, and she refused the advances and the offers of an actual prince for as long as she could, even though she thought him dead, and was ready to kill herself when she knew him to be alive and not to be hers. And just such excellent action and characters and humor and story in the entire book surrounding it. Possibly an even better movie, somehow. Happy happy happy happy. They don’t make movies like this no more, why is that? Sad.

Endurance, Interstellar

Actually a pretty realistic design, all considering. They nailed the aesthetic, and the cinematography, and the feel.

It does lose points though, firstly because the shuttlecraft require a booster stage to make it into orbit when leaving Earth, but for the rest of the movie, whenever they’re landing on planets with similar gravity and atmosphere, they can just fly away like it’s no big deal, which is a big inconsistency, both with real life, and more importantly with itself. And how did an under-equipped and struggling space program put this thing in orbit in the first place, anyway? And why don’t their ships land on their asses like proper rockets? And why not tell the crew members the full plan before leaving? See, it’s little things like that, little inconsistencies made for the sake of fitting with story beats and simplifying it for the audience’s sake, that sours this ship for me. I don’t mind creative liberties, but actual plot holes? This thing has a few plot holes, and plot holes are absolutely yucky. So although most of this ship is very yummy, the yucky parts make it all yucky.

Yucky.

Plus its heavy cargo shuttles are about the least-aerodynamic things imaginable, and that’s also yucky, and there’s porcelain tiles in the stasis bay, like what?

Couldashouldawoulda been yummy.

The Hermes, The Martian

This ship. This friggin’ ship.

A beautiful ship. A well-conceived ship. A mathematically sound and engineered ship. It had so many many good ideas behind it. So much math went into calculating its thrust and orbital dynamics for this movie, so much work went into making it fit a contemporary space aesthetic, the panels, the heat sinks, the tanks, so much PRESENTATION I could KISS IT HMWA, but taken as a whole, engineering-wise, the whole ship falls flat on its face, because it just doesn’t fit together. It doesn’t make sense. Look at all those countless modules along its length. What do they do? They don’t do anything! It’s a quarter mile long, and it’s built for only 6 people? It’s meant to carry a lander? Where does the lander dock? Why are the useful airlocks so far off the center of gravity? Why does it have a cockpit? Why is the forward airlock so looooong? Why is the entire ship so loooooong? Why is the ring spinning so slowly? It’s not hard math to figure out how fast it needs to spin! You’re telling me you did ORBITAL DYNAMICS but not the SINGLE physics 101 equation needed to figure out how fast the ring needs to spin??

Btw, let’s talk about that rotating section in the middle! Think about the rotating section! That rotating section means that the front and the back of the ship aren’t actually connected! There’s just a pair of ring-shaped slip-slidey bearings bridging the ship’s middle, slip-slidey bearings that electricity, computer signals, and water and air pipes can’t cross. Why did they design it that way?? In the book the entire ship spun, which makes so much more sense! Why does it have solar panels when it has a reactor canonically capable of 40 times their output? Why are the fuel tanks so small? Why is it always facing prograde even when canonically burning retrograde? Why? WHY? BLRRRRGGGGGRGGGRGGG

In Conclusion, Ships Are Neat

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shesey · 4 years ago

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Wintering by Katherine May

“Wintering is a season in the cold. It is a fallow period in life when you’re cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress, or cast into the role of an outsider. Perhaps it results from an illness; perhaps from a life event such as a bereavement or the birth of a child; perhaps it comes from a humiliation or failure. Perhaps you’re in a period of transition, and have temporarily fallen between two worlds. Some winterings creep upon us more slowly, accompanying the protracted death of a relationship, the gradual ratcheting up of caring responsibilities as our parents age, the drip-drip-drip of lost confidence. Some are appallingly sudden, like discovering one day that your skills are considered obsolete, the company you worked for has gone bankrupt, or your partner is in love with someone new. However it arrives, wintering is usually involuntary, lonely, and deeply painful. Yet it is also inevitable. We like to imagine that it’s possible for life to be one eternal summer, and that we have uniquely failed to achieve that for ourselves.” “Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives that they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through. Winter is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximizing scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but that’s where the transformation occurs. Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible. Once we stop wishing it were summer, winter can be a glorious season when the world takes on a sparse beauty, and even the pavements sparkle. It’s a time for reflection and recuperation, for slow replenishment, for putting your house in order.” “That’s what humans do: we make and remake our stories, abandoning the ones that no longer fit and trying on new ones for size.” “In the changing room later, I experience a different kind of warmth: the nakedness of a dozen women, all unashamed. These aren’t the posing bodies you find on the beach, dieted beyond al joy to be bikini-ready, and tanned as an act of disguise. These are northern bodies, slack-bottomed and dimpling, with unruly pubic hair and the scars of hysterectomies, chattering companionably in a language I don’t understand. They are a glimpse of life yet to come: a message of survival, passed on through the generations. It’s a message I rarely find in my buttoned-up home country, and I think about the times I’ve suffered silent furies at the treacheries of my own body, imagining them to be unique.” “Ghost stories may be a part of the terror of Halloween, but our love of ghost stories betrays a far more fragile desire: that we do not fade so easily from this life.” “Winter has decorated ordinary life. Some days, everything sparkles.” “You realize that no one is what they look like, on the surface. Everybody has their dose of suffering; it’s just more hidden in some than in others.” “I think about this a lot, she says, the needle breaks the fabric in order to repair it. You can’t have one without the other.” “In the absence of sunlight, it would be too costly to maintain the machinery of growth.” “I’m fairly certain that my decision not to have a second child rests squarely on my worship of sleep.” “I have nothing to show for my forty-odd years on this earth, except for a pile of dusty books.” “4am. The ego flares like a struck match: bright, blue, fleeting. I am thankful to be alone when this happens, to let it burn out in private. We should sometimes be grateful for the solitudes of night, of a winter. They save us from displaying our worse selves to the waking world.” “Certainty is a dead space in which there’s no more room to grow. Wavering is painful. I’m glad to be travelling between the two.” “Sometimes writing is a race against your own mind, as your hand labours to keep up with the flood tide of your thoughts, and I feel that most acutely at night, when there are no competing demands on my attention. That slightly sleepy, dazed state erods the barriers of my waking brain.” “I can confess all my sins to a piece of paper, with no one to censor it.” “Our personal winters are so often accompanies by insomnia, but perhaps we are still drawn towards that unique space of intimacy and contemplation, darkness, and silence, without really knowing what we’re seeking. Perhaps, after all, we are being urged towards our own comfort.” “Lucy is a symbol of absolute faith and utter purity, but the sins for which she suffers are not her own. Instead, she shoulders the weight of the male gaze, and is destroyed by it.” “Some winters creep up on us so slowly that they have infiltrated every part of our lives before we truly feel them.” “We felt broken into pieces, but at the same time, never so loved.” “We changed our focus away from pushing through with normal life, and towards making a new one. When everything is broken, everything is also up for grabs. That’s the gift of winter: it’s irresistible. Change will happen in its wake, whether we like it or not. We can come out of it wearing a different coat.” “I could have stood there and cried on the spot, just knowing that I wasn’t alone.” “I felt accepted in a way that I hand’t for months.” “This isn’t just an unkind attitude, it does us harm, because it stops us from learning that disaster happens, and how to adapt when it does. It stops us from reaching out to people who are suffering. And, when our own disaster comes, it forces us into a humiliated retreat, as we try to hunt down mistakes that we never made in the first place.” “I simply had no defence against the changes that were happening in my life.” “Life never does quite offer us those simply happy endings. I often that that it’s all part of my own craving: the moral clarity of cause and effect, reward and punishment for my actions. A map for living that renders everything explicable.” “All her desires were for elemental things: love, a little comfort, the society of interesting people. Everyday life is so often isolated, dreary, and lonely. A little craving is understandable. A little craving might actually be the rallying cry for survival.” “I love the inconvenience [of snow] the same way that I can sneakingly love a bad cold: the irresistible disruption to mundane life, forcing you to stop for a while and step outside of your normal habits.” “In autumn, the male drones are sacrificed because they’re no longer of any use, and would otherwise just be hungry mounts to feed.” “Our lives take different shapes: we do not work in a linear progression through fixed roles like the honeybee. We are not consistently useful to the world at large. We talk about the complexity of the hive, but human societies are infinitely more complex, full of choices and mistakes, periods of glory and seasons of utter despair. Some of us make highly visible, elaborate contributions to the whole; some of us are just part of the ticking mechanics of the world, the incremental wealth of small gestures. All of it matters. All of it weaves the wider fabric that binds us.” “We may sometimes drift through years in which we feel like a negative presence in the world, but we come back again, not only restored, but bringing more than we brought before: more wisdom, more compassion, a greater capacity to reach deep into our roots and know that we will find water.” “Usefulness, in itself, is a useless concept when it comes to humans. I don’t think we were ever meant to think about others in terms of their use to us.” “We flourish on caring, on doling out love.” “Winter is a time for the quiet arts of making: for knitting and sewing, baking and simmering, repairing and restoring our homes.” “We sing because it fills our lungs with nourishing air, and lets our heart soar with the notes we let out. We sing because it allows us to speak of love and loss, delight and desire, all encoded in lyrics that let us pretend that those feelings are not quite ours.” “As I walk, I remind myself ot the words of Alan Watts: ‘To hold your breath is to lose your breath.’ In The Wisdom of Insecurity, Watts makes a case that always convinces me, but which I always seem to forget: that life is, by nature, uncontrollable. That we should stop trying to finalize our comfort and security somehow, and instead find a radical acceptance of the endless, unpredictable change that is the very essence of this life. Our suffering, he says, comes from the fight we put up against this fundamental truth: ‘Running away from fear is fear, fighting pain is pain, trying to be brave is being scared. If the mind is in pain, the mind is in pain. The thinker has no other form than his thought. There is no escape.” “The future, to which we devote so much of our brainpower, is an unstable element, entirely unknowable.” “When we endlessly ruminate in these distant times, we miss extraordinary things in the present moment. They are, in actual fact, all we have: the here and now; the direct perception of our senses.” “I’m beginning to think that unhappiness is one of the simple things in life: a pure, basic emotion to be respected, if not savoured. I would never dream of suggesting that we should wallow in misery, or shrink from doing everything we can to alleviate it; but I do think it’s instructive. After all, unhappiness has a function: it tells us that something is going wrong. If we don’t allow ourselves the fundamental honesty of our own sadness, then we miss an important cue to adapt. We seem to be living in an age when we’re bombarded with entreaties to be happy, but we’re suffering from an avalanche of depression; we’re urged to stop sweating the small stuff, and yet we’re chronically anxious. I often wonder if these are just normal feelings that become monstrous when they’re denied. A great deal of life will always suck. There will be moments when we’re riding high, and moments when we can’t bear to get out of bed. Both are normal. Both, in fact, require a little perspective.” “We need friends who wince along with our pain, who tolerate our gloom, and who allow us to be weak for a while when we’re finding our feet again. We need people who acknowledge that we can’t always hang on in there; that sometimes, everything breaks.” “I recognized winter. I saw it coming (a mile off, since you ask), and I looked it in the eye,. I greeted it, and let it in. I had some tricks up my sleeve, you see. I’ve learned them the hard way. When I started feeling the drag of winter, I began to treat myself like a favoured child: with kindness and love. I assumed my needs were reasonable, and that my feelings were signals of something important.” “We tend to imagine that our lives are linear, but they are in fact cyclical. I would not, or course, seek to deny that we grow gradually older, but while doing so, we pass through phases of good health and ill, of optimism and deep doubt, of freedom and constraint.”

#winter #books #quotes #katherine may

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gamepillow19 · 4 years ago

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Coolsculpting Did Not Function

What Is Fat Freezing?

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Lipo Fat Freeze.

What Areas Can I Have Treated With Cryotherapy, Fat Freezing Coolsculpting?

Coolsculpting In Cambridge.

CoolSculpting has freeze discover technology which is a copyrighted technology which constantly monitors the skins temperature. This maintains the therapy area temperature also at 4 degrees, protecting against any freeze burns implying treatment is both risk-free as well as efficient. At Wellness & Appearances we have DualSculpting definition that we can treat two locations simultaneously, reducing your therapy time by half. There is no demand to increase to London for a beauty treatment of any kind of kind. You'll discover an entire series of different therapies suiting every age teams and also problems. To figure out even more concerning how we have actually placed a smile on clients deals with in the past, read our testimonies below for first-hand accounts of a variety of our therapies. as the reviews attest can also learn even more concerning what we think at Elite on our blog, in addition to reading more regarding what journalism states regarding us.

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Everyone is various, and also we guide far from a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, our team believe in using bespoke, tailored treatments to resolve precisely what you desire and need. The CoolSculpting treatment has a special sensor to make sure maximum coolness to the therapy area without harmful or affecting the skin as well as surrounding cells.

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There might some inflammation, small discoloration, tingling or numbness in the treated location, yet this is only momentary and will resolve entirely. Yes, CoolSculpting has a built-in Freeze Identify precaution to make sure there is NO THREAT of damage or burns to the skin during therapy. This is the ONLY tool on the marketplace which includes this safety and security device.

At what temperature does body fat freeze?

Understanding CoolSculpting Fat Freezing Treatment The optimum temperature for fat cell death is actually just above freezing at 39 to 41 degrees Fahrenheit. The threshold for damage to your skin and other tissues is a much lower temperature that CoolSculpting machines will never reach.

This treatment is completely non medical and also pain-free and also as a result, no recovery time is required and you are still able to partake in your day-to-day regimen customarily with no pains or constraints. These outcomes were visible after integrating 2 sessions of the cryolipolysis/fat cold treatment with 6 sessions of the 3D cavitation treatment. We give medicals for UK and also Norwegian Offshore Oil & Gas Medicals, Vehicle Driver Medicals (HGV/LGV), and also Visa Medicals. Your bespoke treatment plan will be tailored to your details needs and requests. River Aesthetics just execute non-surgical treatments that our physicians would certainly undertake themselves. The preliminary stage of the treatment procedure will certainly include among our aesthetic specialists marking up the certain areas to be targeted, prior to applying gel. The safety of our people, medical professionals and clinic team is constantly our initial top priority, as well as we hope that you can be assured by our brand-new plans as well as support to secure versus Covid-19.

What Areas Can I Have Treated With Cryotherapy, Fat Freezing Coolsculpting?

Many patients can go back to their typical tasks promptly after the CoolSculpting treatment. this customer was really delighted with the results she attained with coolsculpting right here at the photo facility, and pleased to share her success story. A complete listing of possible side effects, cautions, contra-indications and also after treatment will be reviewed throughout examination before treatment. 3D Lipo is the honor winning, verified, powerful and also advanced fat-reduction treatment as made use of by Dr Leah Totton, victor of The Pupil. Nevertheless, it is necessary that you take great care of your brand-new body with a balanced diet and also a routine physical activity. A non-invasive, non-surgical therapy that uses ultrasound energy to lift and tighten skin. You can return to your normal tasks promptly after treatment.

The total period will depend upon the number of treatments/cycles you are having. During the treatment individuals can review, deal with their laptops or simply kick back.

Coolsculpting In Cambridge.

Our pleased customers hail from areas consisting of Dartford, King's Hill, Gravesend, Bromley, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, and West Malling-- as well as from further afield. You could experience some bruising and inflammation following your therapy, yet this need to solve in a few days. Coolsculpting treatment times can be fairly lengthy as it only has one applicator, which causes double the treatment time compared to 3D Lipo. The whole therapy takes between minutes relying on the number of areas being treated. Please fill in the type to check consultation bookings, treatments or for a callback. Among our team members will certainly call you to discuss the therapy and respond to any type of concerns you might have.

Our London cryolipolysis treatment is finest suggested for everyone who wishes to really feel comfy in their very own skin once again, without needing to go under the popular 'knife' of lipo.

Shorter, better and also without discomfort or threats versus burning the skin, it is a therapy that provides you remarkable outcomes.

Areas of excess fat would certainly require multiple therapies prior to seeing noticeable outcomes.

The process is less excruciating since there is no suction for this particular area.

Cryolipolysis is a non-surgical fat freezing treatment, which makes use of regulated cooling down to help target trouble areas, such as persistent pockets of fat that resists all initiatives through diet as well as exercise.

coolsculpting arms Rickmansworth from lipo freeze2u is not always practical to pay for our industry-leading therapies in one go. Currently we offer Fat Freezing in 7 of our facilities, sign up for our advertising e-mails above to be alerted when our staying clinics provide this treatment.

I would very advise this therapy as it's pain-free and non-invasive. I have actually constantly located the personnel and also specialists exceptionally friendly and interesting throughout the LipoContrast therapies. Depending on the fat thickness and the desired result, 1 to 3 sessions can be treated on a location over 12 weeks. Much much shorter than cryo-lipo alternatives, giving quicker outcomes. Twin website treatment accessibility to minimize time required enhancing performance for your consumers as well as beauty parlor. Relying on each individuals needs and also objectives, we will tailor treatments and sessions to aid accomplish the appearance desired.

Please keep in mind that this treatment is extremely customer led - a good diet plan and workout regimen have to be complied with by the client in order to see results. You can eliminate unwanted fat without surgical procedure or downtime, half an hour to a slimmer, firmer you. Our bodies contain a limited quantity of fat cells, so the cells will not replicate. Nevertheless, it is crucial that you maintain a healthy and balanced way of life to stop the continuing to be fat cells from expanding and over compensating for the dead cells. Those persistent areas of fat that people find difficult to lose despite fitness center sessions. centrally manage coolsculpting arms Hemel Hempstead - lipofreeze2u.co.uk was always a location of disapproval, despite how much weight I lost. I was thrilled when reading about LipoContrast and am a lot more thrilled with my outcomes.

If you have any more inquiries, please do not wait to contact us or publication an appointment to review your customised treatment. We incorporate 3D Cryo therapies with 3D Shockwave, to even more enhance treatment results, and achieve faster outcomes. Vacuum suction is used to attract the fat in the therapy location in to the 3D Cryo handpiece, before this localised location is then adhered -10 degrees. Cryolipo is mostly discomfort totally free and comfortable, although some do report light wounding in the days after therapy. The hand piece being applied then draws the area up, some individuals report pulling on the skin yet it is not painful. Once they more than the initial sensation we frequently have customers come to be so relaxed that they doze off throughout the therapy process.

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callofwords · 4 years ago

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10 Fitness Tips that You will Always Need to Remember

Over the past two decades I’ve been interested in fitness, I’ve learned a lot. However, I think I’ve learned more lessons from my fitness blog over the past two years than in my previous experiences. Much of this knowledge comes from the research I do to write articles. That being said, the questions that readers ask and experiences they share are truly eye opening. Here are ten general fitness lessons.

1. One Size doesn’t fit all

Not every workout routine or diet program works for everyone. Just because I’ve had success with a variety of strategies doesn’t mean those same strategies will work for you. The strategies or programs I recommend tend to work with others but there’s no absolute certainty that they work for everyone. For example, I like intermittent fasting to lose weight but my wife just can’t fathom doing it.

2. Consistency and effort trumps selection of a routine

I’m convinced that consistently performing the worst routine and putting in a strong effort is more effective than inconsistently performing the best routine with a lackluster effort. This is why it’s critical for you to choose a workout or diet that you either enjoy or that doesn’t adversely impact your life.

3. Accountability

The best way to put in a consistent effort is to hold yourself accountable. This is a big challenge. For me, writing a fitness blog motivates me to stay in shape. Otherwise I might give in to temptation and binge on ice cream, cookies, and other sweets on a more regular basis. While I do have my cheat days, I always make sure to stay within striking distance of being in good shape. My wife on the other hand likes the Weight Watchers approach, not that she needs it. It’s foolish to me but recording what she eats and staying within her allotted points works for her. Plus she feels accountable because she’s forced to weigh in once per week.

4. I have too many goals but they’re somewhat congruent

I think a lot of people try to train for too many goals at once. I’m certainly guilty. I want to be healthy, get stronger, develop endurance, and maintain a lean, defined look. On the surface it seems impossible to train for all of these at once. However, if I do strength training, I’ll gradually get healthier and achieve a lean look. If I do HIIT or circuit training, I’ll not only improve endurance but also get a lean, healthy look. Even trying to gain muscle and lose fat can be congruent in a way. Performing strength training helps you gain muscle and eating the right diet or performing cardio helps burn fat. Obviously if you’re looking for large gains in size or aiming for a lot of fat loss, it’s probably more effective to focus on one, but it’s not necessarily impossible to do both slowly over the long term.

5. Getting in elite shape is really hard

I’ll admit that I’m in pretty good shape but trying to take things to the next level has proven challenging. A lot of this stems from the fact that I have an office job, family, and don’t get as much sleep as I’d like…having a 2 ½ year old who has a tendency to wake up 1-2 times per night gets exhausting. The other challenge is that I’m not as motivated as I used to be. I can do what I’m doing to stay in shape but I’d really like to kick up my focus and effort for 2-3 months to get in elite shape. It’s just not a priority for me at this stage in my life. Maybe if I was single and 15 years younger, I’d think differently.

6. Appearance is subjective

I’m a fan of getting lean but there can be a point where you are too lean. One of my past problems has been that I have to lose a lot of weight to get the abs I want, such as when I performed my six pack abs workout routine. The problem is that I end up looking too small in clothes, especially my face and neck. My wife actually prefers my current look with a little extra fat. Even though I’m 10lbs heavier and have some stubborn fat in my lower abs after performing Visual Impact Muscle Building, she likes my overall appearance better, especially in clothes. This ties back to my prior point about being in elite shape. These days I’m not exactly prancing around with my shirt off to show off my abs. In other words, no one really has the chance to see how defined I am. In fact, most people think I look better with a little extra fat because they only see me in clothes.

7. Overcomplicating things just leads to confusion

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a workout or diet plan and been utterly confused by its complexity. This involves everything from performing exercises I’ve never heard of to cycling foods based on glycemic load. If you feel overwhelmed, then just try to boil things down to the basics. Either that or spend a lot of time and effort educating yourself.

8. Cardio is useful…for some

I could probably write an entire post on this subject. A good number of people in the fitness industry would say that as long as you’re performing strength training, then you just need a good diet to lose weight. In other words, the calories burned from cardio aren’t enough to justify doing it. Additionally, the cardiovascular benefits of weight training are enough to keep you healthy. I’d agree with this to some extent.

However, I think cardio can be invaluable in a weight loss routine. First, let’s tackle the diet vs. cardio argument. Most men probably don’t need cardio to lose weight because they can more easily reduce their diets. However, take the example of a woman who wants to weigh 130lbs; she would probably need to eat around 1,300 calories per day to get there. That’s extremely low. Wouldn’t it be a little more lifestyle friendly to eat 1,600-1,800 calories and burn the other 300-500 with cardio? Additionally, exercise has metabolic benefits while a calorie restrictive diet over the long term can lead to a slowing metabolism. In Visual Impact Cardio, Rusty Moore also discusses how cardio is also effective for eliminating stubborn fat where a diet on its own may fall short.

As for cardiovascular benefits, I don’t think anything can fully replace a good HIIT workout. It gets my heart racing a lot faster than strength training. Plus, when I’ve eliminated cardio from my routine in the past, I always feel more lethargic and find myself getting winded when walking up steps. Endurance is an important part of my routine and cardio can assist in achieving that goal. Still, everyone has to decide for themselves whether cardio is worth the time and effort.

9. Most supplements are useless

I’m not going to spend much time on this. Just be careful about what you put in your body and realize that companies spend a huge amount on advertising to convince you that their product is a miracle drug. For more information, you can read my post on some of the supplements I’ve used: Best Supplements for Weight Loss and Muscle Gain.

10. Be happy

Finally, just get to a point where you’re happy with the way you look, healthy, and maybe even enjoy exercising or eating well. You can only force yourself to do things for so long before your body rebels. If you can convince yourself that you actually enjoy fitness, that will go a long toward achieving your goals.

There you have ten lessons learned from my fitness blog over the past two years. I’m sure there will be many more lessons in the future. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this valuable education!

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aaallliiieee · 5 years ago

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Idk processing some thoughts:

This post discusses dieting/body insecurities. Pls don't read this if you're gonna judge me!!! I just wanna share my feelings ok I know they're not great but whatever who cares. I don't have anyone to talk to irl about this stuff so I'm processing it here and if you don't like it just ignore me lol

So I'm kinda struggling with how I want to use this blog... for so many years I've just had a standard "thinspo" blog that I've always kept secret, used on and off through periods of dieting interspersed with periods of binge eating, but they kept getting deleted and so now I'm conflicted bc I'm 24 and I don't want to keep spreading toxic diet culture, but at the same time I've been steeped in toxic diet culture for so long that I feel like it's almost a hobby and it's like weirdly fun?? Which is fucked up lmao but I guess it's understandable bc my mom is 52 and she's been on and off different diets my entire life, she keeps saying things like "I've been on a diet since 8th grade" and is always starting a new diet for every vacation or upcoming event etc, so I guess I must've internalized it at some point bc I've also been dieting since 8th grade and always starting new diets for different seasons and holidays etc...

But anyway so now that it's summer and July is about to start and it's hot outside and there's not really anything else to do bc of the pandemic, part of me just wants to jump back into another diet and exercise plan, I don't really need to lose much weight but I can definitely be eating better and tone up some muscles, and my first instinct is to just go back to my standard format of blogging my weight and workouts every day, keeping a food log and eating as little as possible, focusing on mostly protein and veggies etc, but then I worry about how I'm being judged by all the anti-diet people on Tumblr now, and I tell myself I shouldn't be interacting with non-diet blogs while blogging about dieting, but I'm also kind of tired of the toxic diet content and I want to branch out into other health and wellness topics, and I wonder if I should even be blogging about my weight and diets at all or if I'm just being narcissistic and perpetuating this cycle of toxic diet culture under a blanket of ~health and wellness~ quotes/pictures...

I know I should actually be focusing on creating a healthy lifestyle for myself and figuring out how to have consistency this time, instead of just repeating the same diet-binge-diet cycle over and over... I want to be adding all these healthy habits into my lifestyle but I'm lacking the discipline and motivation to sustain it, and part of me feels like if I can just think it all out, I can create an ~optimized lifestyle plan~ that will take care of everything and I just need to follow the plan every day, but honestly I've created so many lists/goals for myself over the years and it only works for a few weeks before I fall off, so maybe it's just impossible to live up to such a regimented schedule like that for the long term? But it's not impossible for some people, and if I lived alone I could probably do it, but then I wonder like am I being a crazy wellness fanatic to be fantasizing about this ideal lifestyle where I live alone and only do healthy things lmao when really I should be thankful that I can share my life with such a nice man who loves me, and realistically what I need is to find balance between my wellness goals and my relationship and my social responsibilities and my artistic ambitions... I usually feel overwhelmed by the need to balance all of those aspects and instead of taking care of my responsibilities I waste so much time either watching TV to ignore everything, or just like sitting around on Tumblr/Pinterest fantasizing about a life where I don't have to do anything besides the art and wellness activities, and then when I decide "ok I'm gonna get my life together and take care of all these responsibilities" I usually just get sidetracked into an overly restrictive diet which just makes everything else even harder lmao but at least it's easy to see numerical progress on the scale every day... Other things aren't so easy to see progress and so it's easier to ignore them until they become a giant problem that's overwhelming to deal with...

The main problem is that I'm constantly overthinking everything and I'm stuck in my head all the time, instead of working towards making real meaningful progress on real meaningful goals, in a sustained effort over time... I'm not going to find what I'm looking for on Tumblr so idk why I keep coming back here thinking I'll find it this time... But I'm also lonely and I want to share my inner monologue with people bc it's like I'm living two separate lives, the outer surface and the inner suffering, and it's just hard bc I want to stop suffering inside but it's too hard to make all the changes at once and idk where to start... in the past I started with dieting which works for a little while but then I keep letting it go and starting over in a few months rather than continuing on to the next level lmao. And like I hit my GW 3 years ago and I've been mostly maintaining it this whole time so why can't I move on to the next level yet!!

So, this time the key is to not just get sucked into another restrictive diet under the guise of progress lol, this time I have to focus on something else like creating a habitual daily practice of exercise and meditating and creative work, hold myself accountable to doing it every day until it's second nature, and then once this is established add on the next goal, don't try to do it all at once bc we try that every time and it never works lol

Tldr I just really struggle with this whole human existence thing!!!! If you read this far tell me what you think I'm open to anything you wanna throw my way lol thx for letting me shout this into the void y'all ~

#personal

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slimcat42-blog · 5 years ago

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Weight-loss Remedies - How frequently Should You Weigh You?

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ou action on the scale, oh no, your fat is up. Quickly you begin berating you. "I am so pathetic. Why are unable to I control my pounds? I just retain having fatter. I am so frustrated."

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You just weighed your self-worth and that isn't really what scales are for.

Scales can be a opinions resource. Comments is essential to monitor your gap, where you are vs . where you choose to be. A instrument is one thing we use to create our existence a lot easier. A scale can be a opinions software. Intelligent utilization of the scale is likely to make your life less complicated and allow you to definitely reach your objective extra speedily.

Sensible Scale Use

What exactly is "wise" usage of the scale? How frequently should you weigh by yourself? That relies upon on in which you are in the fat loss method.

Any time you have shed all of the body weight you wish and therefore are in your upkeep phase I recommend weighing oneself once per week. At the time per week is commonly more than enough to efficiently keep track of and manage your weight.

Once you are already in routine maintenance for 6 months I recommend you weigh oneself at the time a month. By now you can have produced the lifestyle patterns necessary to maintain your excess weight.

Within the starting, when you're just starting off your weight reduction software I recommend weighing yourself 2 to three situations on a daily basis. Of course, you read through the right way, weigh your self 2-3 periods every day.

Do you think you're Serious?

Sure! What exactly is a scale? It is a opinions software. It tells you how efficient (or ineffective) your system is. The greater frequently you get opinions the greater often it is possible to modify your system to consistently supply the final results you desire. You are making a life-style transform as a consequence of the adore and respect you've on your own. Weigh yourself for suggestions, not self-esteem.

Let's go on holiday!

What about a highway vacation? After you go on the street vacation you are taking the time to plot out your class and decide with a sensible time frame for arriving at your destination. Let us go! You can get inside the car and start driving. How frequently do you want feed-back on your own development? Continually.

You might be continually examining for making positive you will be being over the highway. You are usually building micro corrections to take care of your system. You would not look at sleeping in the wheel. It might be disastrous; you'd probably be location yourself up for a main wreck.

You will be over a excursion. Your own individual fat loss and wellness journey. You certainly must produce suggestions on how your program is going numerous times per day otherwise you are sleeping on the wheel. You can haven't any clue plus a will be environment your self up for the main fat loss and wellness wreck.

Keep in mind...

The dimensions just isn't a spot to face to remind your self to begin self communicate re-runs about what a horrible individual that you are. You're a amazing particular person!

The dimensions unquestionably is a unit utilized to offer you normal responses and make it easier to continue to be on approach. Like oneself by offering oneself proper suggestions. I'm sure, you continue to have some trepidation about weighing on your own 2-3 times on a daily basis. You happen to be fearful you may just conquer you up each and every time you stand to the scale. You won't. You may shift past unfavorable self chat.

You are shifting ahead with constructive intention and positive self speak. The size doesn't evaluate your well worth, only you are doing. Weighing you 2-3 times/day should help you defeat your panic of the scale. The greater normally you are doing one thing you panic without having negative success, the much less you are going to panic it!

When Should really I Weigh Myself?

You may want to weigh yourself while in the morning prior to deciding to consume breakfast. This will provide you with the minimal conclude of the personalized pounds fluctuation and may supply you with the data you must set your day by day calorie target. When you have obtain to the scale, we suggest weighing you appropriate ahead of lunch. Finally, weigh you correct before you decide to consume evening meal. This measurement does two factors. It provides you with an additional information place for measuring your pounds over time and it reminds you never to overeat at evening meal.

Fluctuations

Your bodyweight could fluctuate 2-8 lbs each day. Weighing yourself usually (2-3 moments) will educate you the way your body's bodyweight variations throughout the day.

The number of calories in a pound of body fat? 3,500 energy. So, after you stand within the scale and see your pounds has gone up two lbs because the final time you weighed oneself 4 hours back; talk to, have I eaten seven,000 added energy from the last 4 hours. More than likely you have not (primarily if you're sticking in your program). In the event you haven't eaten an extra seven,000 energy how did you achieve 2 lbs .?

You've had some foodstuff and water. Food items and h2o weigh something. A quart of drinking water weighs about two lbs. In the event you weighed yourself then had a gallon of h2o and hopped ideal back again within the scale, your weight might be practically 9 kilos heavier. However it was just drinking water. Who cares about h2o fat? We care about fat--losing it, and muscle-- maintaining it.

Your-Weight Loss-Wellness-Solution is centered on maximizing excess fat reduction even though preserving your lean, captivating muscle tissues. Knowing how your pounds adjustments whenever you try to eat and drink, and being ready to evaluate how many calories you've eaten because the last time you weighed lets you to definitely fearlessly stand about the scale and acquire responses. Just what type of feed-back can we get from the scale? That depends on what type of scale you have got.

What sort of Scale?

You can find effectively two diverse forms of scales accessible.

The fundamental toilet scale. It just lets you know exactly how much you weigh.

Then there may be our favorite type-- An digital scale that tells you exactly how much you weigh, and, far more importantly, what your system unwanted fat percentage and also your hydration level are.

We adore such a scale for the reason that it actions far more. It offers you far more information to track the success of your program. Ought to you treatment about your overall body excess fat proportion and hydration level? Certainly! They're important items of responses for your personal achievement.

Let's say you eliminate 20 lbs and half of anything you have shed, ten lbs, is muscle mass? You have got correctly lowered your rate of metabolism by almost five hundred energy! That is a big step backwards within your quest to get rid of extra fat.

Observe Your body Fats Percentage

Checking your entire body fat percentage enables you to definitely modify your diet program and exercise program for max unwanted fat decline while keeping your gorgeous, calorie burning muscle. Why must you treatment regarding your hydration degree? Keep in mind, your entire body can only metabolize unwanted fat optimally if you are effectively hydrated and an correct hydration amount offers you a far more accurate entire body excess fat percentage looking at.

The dimensions is your close friend. It enables you to evaluate your progress with a each day basis. Established you up for success by anticipating compact, dependable alter.

Consider Away Guidelines:

Weigh by yourself 2-3 situations each day. In the morning in advance of breakfast, at lunch when you have obtain into a scale and correct prior to deciding to consume dinner. Utilize the scale to track progress and also to keep you on approach. By measuring your development frequently you can make actual time adjustments towards your method as a way to insure you're burning just as much fats as you can. Figuring out your body fats proportion plus your hydration stage supply you with supplemental opinions enabling you to good tune your unwanted fat reduction

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drink-n-watch · 5 years ago

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I say this every week and every week I fail, still I’m going to try to keep this post to a reasonable size. At least on my part. I have been rambling on way too much! That doesn’t mean we’re going to skip over the important stuff, like for instance: Matt how are you?

I’m fine (aside from some random back pain)! How are you doing Irina?

I have a huge cold, I guess I’m doing Canadian?

I’m not sure if this is a freaky coincidence or if I’m a low-key psychic but this week’s Psycho Pass was an illustration of what I was talking about in my post last Thursday. Essentially, the production values took a visible step down. To be fair, Psycho Pass is a stunning looking show and it’s unsurprising that it couldn’t keep that level up for an entire season.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who noticed art consistency go way down and CG integration get a lot less smooth in this episode. Fortunately, with Psycho Pass being so detailed to begin with, even pared down versions of the art still look pretty good. Nevertheless it has definitely looked better:

Of course I pay way more attention to technical details than most people. In all likelihood most viewers didn’t really notice! Did you?

I was very distracted by how off-model practically every character looked in any medium or long shots–I think having to produce a 45 minute episode in such a time schedule is proving too much for the production staff. But you are correct, even at its most inconsistent it’s still a strikingly good-looking show.

As division 1 continues to slowly hunt down the Foxes, we finally get a bit of background regarding the mysterious organization. It seems that there’s a whole group of Makishima’s out there and they are organizing against the system. An underground criminal outfit full of people with magical every clear hues.

It strikes me that this may have been an inevitable outcome. In a Sybil controlled society, evolution was bound to quickly create a bunch of mutants capable of controlling or at least maintaining their hues. The brain is really fantastically adaptable. I mean just the advent of smartphones has already physically changed the neural net mapping in younger generations. With something like Sybil, that has a high impact on every aspect of a person’s life, the change is going to get accelerated for sure.

It’s actually a brilliant bit of world building in my opinion but it could very well be entirely in my head. What’s your take on it Matt? Also I realize that my interest may be a bit niche, so don’t hesitate to jump in and talk about whatever you like.

What was that about trying to keep this post to a reasonable size and not ramble too much…? If we’re talking about things I like, I really enjoyed the absurdity of Karina delivering a political speech about religion and then without missing a beat transitioning into her idol outfit and performing a song.

We already have story threads regarding white collar fiscal manipulation with nationwide impact, neuroscience in the unique universe of Psycho Pass, shadowy mastermind puppeteers, a criminal organisation of uniquely advantaged people, Kei and Arata’s very peculiar background and personal arcs, racial tension and high level political intrigue.

And now, we get a religious angle. Do you think that the narrative is going in too many directions and is risking to lose focus or do you figure the more the merrier and it should add a few?

This show wants to do and say a lot and while I think everything it’s wanting to do and say is important it’s very much at the point where if it tries to do much more it’s going to collapse under the weight of itself.

It seems the rise in terrorist activity happening in the city right now is linked to a church of some sort. Or at the very least, a lot of its members are involved. The latest bomber having joined in hopes it would help him get in a better place spiritually and clear his hue. Of course, the are also leaving calling cards all over the place so they must have something to do with it as well.

Although were a lot of things happening in Psycho Pass already, I’m actually rather interested by the religious aspect. There’s something fascinating and terrifying about a “Sibyl sanctioned religion”. And religion does odd things to people and their psyche in the best of times, I can’t wait to see what it can do under these circumstances.

After all, we are what we believe!

It seemed a bit weird to me that the show never really mentioned religion before and now suddenly it’s all anyone’s talking about. I realise it’s because it’s currently integral to the plot but I think it would have been better world-building had someone mentioned ‘Heaven’s Leap’ in any of the previous episodes–even in passing–especially since it’s apparently a big deal.

We got to meet 3 very different spiritual leaders from 3 very different religions. I am not a religious person in real life. I grew up in a place and time where it was more or less outlawed and it has just never really been a big part of my life. But I’m not someone who dislikes religion either. In fact I find it very interesting. I just don’t have much experience with it.

This is why, to me, despite the outward differences, all 3 of these guys sort of seemed the same.

That sounds like a bit of social commentary on religion in general, Irina! If we’re looking for a parallels with real world religion I suppose ‘Heaven’s Leap’ is supposed to be some sort of Jehovah’s Witness / Scientology hybrid and the CRP is some vague version of Catholicism. And then there’s just straight up Buddhism.

*It wasn’t..I literally meant they seemed to be built around the same character archetype not that their religions are the same. Don’t know if all religious figures in real life are that similar.

Because of all the different themes season 3 of Psycho Pass has been exploring, I wasn’t sure what the main focus would be. 5 hours in, I think it’s going to explore the effects of culture clash in an authoritarian society with thought crime. That’s a pretty ambitious goal. Even if it doesn’t manage to quite pull it off, I’ll be impressed by the effort! I know you think that speculating on where a story is going is not good but I would love to have your thoughts on it, Matt.

It’s not that I think it’s not good, my writer brain can’t help but speculate, it’s just I’m happy for a story to play out however the writer of the piece wants it to play out–I’m a bit of a bad critic in that respect. Whether this show is wanting to have a grand specific theme like you mention or just paint a broader canvas of the complexities of living in such a regimented world I’m not sure but it’s still interesting nonetheless.

This is probably nothing…But Arata’s house really looked like the division 1 mandated psychiatrist’s house in the first season. I’m almost 100% certain it’s not the same because it’s in the middle of the city, while the other one was in the countryside, but the architecture is similar. I wonder if it’s significant in any way.

Probably not.

I thought the design looked familiar, I don’t know if this is the kind of show that’d just forget its own world-building like that and this not be important but then again who knows!

So Matt, what were your thoughts on episode 5?

Honestly probably my least favourite episode so far. Sure the allure of something new with the religion aspect is interesting but the overall episode itself felt like a bit of a downgrade and not just with the off-model character art. Some scenes felt too fast paced while others felt drawn-out and Arata not being able to use his ‘mental trace’ felt like artificially handicapping the story for the sake of not using its own “cheats” to find the culprit. It’s by no means bad, nor even mediocre, it’s pretty great and had a lot of excellent character moments and interesting expansions to the overall world. I’m just worried the writer of this series may have bitten more off than he can chew. What about you Irina, I’m guessing you enjoyed it more than last week?

I liked it way more especially in the second half. And I’m ok with Arata not using his trace since it was set up properly how dangerous it is for him and how weak he is right now, fresh out of the hospital and all. Not to mention that using extreme empathy on someone who could very well be mind controlled sounds like a quick way to get himself mind controlled. These guys are detectives, they should know better.

I enjoyed it. I like when the story slips into speculative fiction and I found the pacing much better than in the last arc so to me it was a plus rather than a drawback. I have a feeling we are enjoying very different aspects of the season.

Psycho Pass s3 ep5 – Leap of Faith I say this every week and every week I fail, still I’m going to try to keep this post to a reasonable size.

#action #anime #Collab #crime #drama #Psycho Pass #sci fi

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cdrash13 · 5 years ago

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“And all at once, I came alive!” -Lauren Daigle

You are capable of change.

I’m going to do my best to summarize the most horrible moments in my life...and tell you how I got through them. This will be long and personal. Here we go :

I’ve always been in church. I remember attending with my parents and watching my mother as she softly prayed to herself. I admired how soft her features would become when in the presence of the Lord; how strong her faith is when faced with what appears to be a challenge a person should not be able to overcome.

I remember the glint in her eyes when she would reach out to my friends, love and a definite assurance that God loves them and has a plan for them. I remember how she would pat my head, gently running her fingers through my hair. She would smile sweetly at me, almost as if she had a secret that I wasn’t in on.

“God’s gonna be with you through it all. He hears you. He sees you, He sees all. Don’t forget him in your heartache.”

As a young child, I never fully understood why my mother would remind me of this regularly. Deep in my bones, I knew that life required heartache and suffering to create character; I also understand that when walking in faith, you’re going to be attacked. Forever. I waited...and heartache did in fact come.

My mother was diagnosed with Lymphoma.

I was raped at 15.

My father died of liver failure in 2016.

My childhood friend committed suicide last year, 2018.

I wailed, I wept and screamed. I begged God to hear me, I pleaded for Him to get me through this. Though I couldn’t see or hear Him...I knew He was there. You feel His presence in your bones, your entire being. I always felt Him there, in the depths of my heartache.

“Be brave, my daughter. Keep going. You will not fail, for I am with you...”

I kept going...but it was not easy. It was hell actually. I can truthfully say, I walked through Hell, but I persevered. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Valley would end. I knew that my suffering would only make me into the person I needed when this all happened; I knew I was going to become a warrior. I’ve discovered that change can be both in an instant and a journey that requires years of work. I struggled, like so many before me to change. I look back to the girl I used to be three years ago, battle-worn and begging to be heard.

I am OFTEN told, even to this DAY...that I am an angry person. Let me ask you, friends, how would you react to my traumas? Be sincere with yourself, be honest with me.

My Mothers Cancer.

My mother's cancer took up most of my life. I have a small family, close-knit and full of caretakers. We worked together, my father and I, as the three of us went up against the sickness that was trying to take my mother from us. I remember so many tears...I remember my parents trying to prepare me for the day they wouldn’t be here anymore; I remember asking God in anger, “Why are you letting this happen?” I never heard anything. But I kept praying, we kept working together. And even though her cancer sadly went to stage four as of December of 2018; we’re still here.

I learned to be patient in my mother's sickness. I learned to cut myself off, that I would need to sacrifice my teenage years to support her. I accepted that my free time would consist of a church and a few weekends at the skating rink. I could maintain my youth while trying to grow up in the privacy of my home while I helped my parents. Did I lose it sometimes? absolutely. I snapped, screamed, and often had meltdowns with my parents, like any teenager.

But we got through it. We still loved each other. We still prayed, and we still believed that God had a purpose for this.

Coping after rape.

I was angry. I was full of rage towards churches in my town that I had trusted to come too with my heartache from being raped; I was slut-shamed. I was blamed. They asked me why I didn’t fight hard enough; I fought with everything inside of me. I screamed, I crawled, and I didn’t give up. I will never forget those in the church that looked at me...disgusted.

“What were you wearing?”

Were you praying enough?”

“God’s trying to get your attention.”

No. That’s not how God works. At least not the God I know. The Great I Am. He has claimed me for good, and He will ALWAYS hear me. He will ALWAYS love me. He will not throw me away. He is not you, and for you to be in church, and to blame a child who trusted you...it is not of God. I mourned the loss of my girlhood. I asked God to walk me through the weight of what was stolen from me. There was many times I snapped, There were many days filled with resentment and confusion as I transitioned into adulthood. I had to know and believe...that people, were not God.

I used my anger to fuel my will. I would stand against what these people thought of me and spat at my heart. I would say no, I fought...and I’m going to keep fighting.

My father's death.

Let me tell you...there has been no greater loss in my life...then the loss of my father. My father and I were a tag team, we did everything together. He made time every Sunday afternoon to have tea parties with me. He taught me how to shoot my first bow, an English longbow at the age of four; I still remember him cheering for me when I hit the target.

He taught me how to waltz in our living room. Always ending the evening to slow dance with my mother before bed...I remember thinking, “I hope I find someone who loves me the way daddy loves mama...” I remember my daddy setting me down as he told me what he wanted for my life.

“You become strong. You get smart. And you find somebody who loves AND treats you well. Don’t you EVER settle for less.”

He encouraged me to read constantly. He often would read with me late at night when he got back home from working late shifts at the hospital; he was a nurse. We read about everything! My favorite though was the galax. My father and I are a bit of Astrophiles. I remember being so excited when dad would ask me if I read anything about a constellation, he would follow up with, “You wanna go find it outside together?”

He would tell me about the stars, pointing out constellations and telling me the history behind them. He told me he love Orion...it reminded him of me. A hunter. I often thought of Artemis, the Greek Goddess when he told me this. I would swell with pride, determined to become the strong woman my father hoped I would be. I remember how much he wanted me to be my own hero, be my own savior. He didn’t want a princess for a daughter, he wanted a hero. He didn’t know...and I should’ve told him more often...but he is my hero.

His sickness came quick, too quick. Within a few months, I suddenly found myself clutching my father's hand. I remember telling him I loved him...we both knew it was the last thing we would ever say to one another. The next day, he was brought back to my childhood home; he was comatose. He died the next morning at 4 am.

I will never forget the sound that came out of my chest, my entire being. I ached with loss. I was willing to drown in the loss of my father and let it consume me whole. Over the next two years, I fought with my depression, my loss, my grief. There were days I couldn’t feel anything...I couldn’t see anything but a little girl who would give anything to have her daddy back. I cried every day. It took me a long time to see...but I wasn’t alone, my father was not gone.

He was still with me. I could see him looking back at me in the mirror. Bright blue eyes that screamed with intensity. I could see him in the way my friends loved me, the way they cared for me in my grief. I could find him in all the people he cared for, all the people he had saved as a nurse. I found him in the scent of pipe tobacco...I found him the heart of the woods where he taught me how to climb trees.

“You gotta be strong. You gotta make it to the top, sweetie. You gotta get above it all to see where you need to go.”

I took three years, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt...I’m okay. I’ve climbed a multitude of trees, I’ve read a lot of books, I’ve been star gazing for a while now, and I bought a lot of pipe tobacco candles. Dad, I love you I can never convey how much I love you. You take up every part of my heart, you are here. I know I’ve been a mess...but I’ve gotten through it. I keep going, and I’m gonna be the woman you wanted me to be. Your hero.

My friend's death.

Her name was Jenny. We grew up together. She was part of my family. We loved her...we loved her with everything we had. She came over to my grandmas and I remember always laughing with her. I remember lots of malt milkshakes and tv marathons of American Horror Story. Jenny was a ray of sunshine and a ball of fun.

Jenny battled with depression. She had suffered immense heartache. She drank to forget, she drank to cope. The drinking got to out of hand, and ultimately, it killed her. I remember my mother calling me the morning she died, I was at work...but it didn’t stop the gut-wrenching cry that escaped me. I cried the entire day...I cried and cried and cried.

But I had one hope, the ONLY hope that had gotten me through ALL OF THIS.

God. I had the Lord.

And I knew...I knew, that He had both Jenny and my father in His hands. I knew she wasn’t sad anymore. I knew I would see her again one day. There are still days I cry for her. There are still days I’m angry at myself for not reaching out enough. There are days I struggle with it.

But I know our days are numbered. I know and believe God’s word, His promises. He is with us...through the valley. Through the shadow of death. I remember every moment He was with me. I remember that He got me through all of this. I remember that He loved me despite every time I snapped and screamed. I remember that He loved me despite how hateful I could be. I remembered that He didn’t see my scars, my heartache; He just saw his daughter.

I say this with full and complete confidence: Any reaction towards anger and pain that I vocalized during these periods of my life, are justified. I will not ever apologize for the anger that seeped into my soul. I will not apologize for my defenses, I needed them. You might need them...and that’s okay.

Change is painful. It’s demanding. But it’s possible to be something different...you don’t have to be full of anger like I was. You don’t have to suffer find rage as fuel to fight for others; find goodness, find love. As sappy as it sounds...remember that love is the driving force that gave of Jesus. Remember his suffering? and how he endured? he endured for us, for you.

I kept my mind on him. No matter how sick and sad I was. I knew if I could just push through, just one more day...that it would be okay. And guess what? it is okay. Fight those battles...defend the weak and broken. Be the driving force, plant your feet on the ground and remember that you were born for this. You were born to survive.

People told me I was selfish for being angry. They told me I would always be the battle-torn girl. They are wrong.

Every time I need to remember that God is with me, I listen to Rescue <3 by Lauren Daile. He will always come for us, He will always fight for us, He will ALWAYS rescue us.

#sunlight #lookup #brave #bravery #loss #grief #coping #cancer #suicide #death #rape #survivor #iremember #blog #god #religon #faith #joan of arc

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wigwurq · 6 years ago

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WIG REVIEW: AVENGERS - ENDGAME

You guys can you believe I saw a Marvel movie within like 5 days of its release? I DID IT! AND NOW I CAN WRITE A LOT OF SPOILERS - READ ON ONLY IF YOU HAVE SEEN THIS 3 HOUR MARVEL OPUS TO ITSELF! But what about the wigs? OH GURL. LET’S DISCUSS.

We begin in the Mid-waste (I think?) where Hawkeye has been taking some time out of the fight and hanging by a sleeping tree, Bran-style (oh get ready for a lot of GoT crossover comments as I saw this right after the Battle of Winterfell episode and I might get my nerdy details conflated). Anyhoo, did you know that Hawkeye is married to Linda Cardellini? Is she just the supportive wife in everything? Side note: this fact might have existed in an earlier MCU movie. To be fair, I have seen MOST MCU movies (except Thor 2 and Spider-Man and I’m not correcting that) and only saw the other ones like once so I was going into this movie like most of America: vaguely confused about former facts and really exhausted about where this 3 hour movie was about to take me. ANYWAY, Hawkeye’s entire family vanishes like at the end of Infinity War and ugh I see what you’re doing Endgame: this movie is gonna be a BUMMER.

Iron Man of course lightens the mood with some cute banter with Nebula but also: they’re fully about to die in the space void and did RDJr lose a lot of weight or is this just that Marvel technology they used to make Chris Evans look spindly in the first Captain America? Anyway, things are looking BLEAK but then our girl Captain Marvel shows up and saves the day.

Back on earth, the Avengers are really bummed out about half the population being gone (but not so bummed out that ScarJo and “Best” Chris Evans haven’t taken some time to get haircuts - they look great!) But no time for hair maintenance talk: Brie Larson is ready to go back to space! Also her hair looks good! This movie was made before Captain Marvel and it looks like they just used her real hair and it’s so much better than her wig in that movie.

Anyway, to space! Wait, now Brie is wearing a wig. UGH. Dammit, space! However, I think this is ScarJo’s real blonde hair (a more natural look than her blonde bob wig seen in Infinity War) and what a long strange trip it’s been since Black Widow’s first perm to her mall hair in Age of Ultron and beyond. Thank the lord for this lewk.

So the (remaining) Avengers land on whatever planet Thanos is living on now and apparently he’s using old Avengers costumes as Scarecrows? Ok I know we’re supposed to hate this guy but he’s all for population control, gardens, AND now recycling are we sure we hate him? The Avengers definitely still hate him and after learning that he destroyed all the jewelry he spent all of Infinity War finding, they are PISSED. Thor is so pissed he kills him! Which is a super hot-headed thing to do and is basically as bad as “worst” Chris Pratt’s behavior with Thanos in Infinity War and will these alpha males ever learn??? How are they gonna reverse this whole half of the population missing thing now?

Spoiler (haha these are all spoilers!): THEY DON’T. FIVE EFFING YEARS PASS. And in real movie time, at least like 45 minutes? In which we’re supposed to believe that Black Panther (and other notable Avengers but mainly Black Panther) are going to remain dead. GET ON WITH IT MOVIE. Even more damning: Black Widow is now a sad sad lady making sad sandwiches alone and with THIS HAIR LEWK. I was so damn happy for ScarJo to be wigless and THEN THIS. WHAT IN OMBRE HELL. I think (?) what we’re supposed to think is happening here is that she’s so damn sad that she’s failed at hair maintenance and let her blonde highlights grow out into this mess? Here’s the thing, this wig is actually fine - it looks like real hair - but with A TERRIBLE DYE JOB WHY UGH.

Speaking of new lewks, ScarJo still skypes with the remaining Avengers (bless her heart!) and Captain Marvel went ahead and got THIS HAIRCUT WHAT. I guess the internet can stop talking about how much she needs a scrunchie? I think that this is actually truer to her comic book self but also is giving me all the Lilith Fair vibes (IN A GREAT WAY!) It is still a bad wig in a man wig way (the back taper is a mess) but you’ve gotta love the 90s gelled sideswept bangs for pure nostalgia.

Speaking of nostalgia! Ant-Man is back from the quantum realm and damn am I happy to see Paul Rudd (ALWAYS). He is shocked to learn that five years have passed while he was gone (this storyline is very Flight of the Navigator) and goes to find his now teenage daughter even tho he looks exactly the same (tho this would be true regardless - Paul Rudd doesn’t age). However, she’s all alone in her house with no Judy Greer or Bobby Cannavale in sight and does this mean they’re vanished or just not in this movie? Is this daughter being raised by Michael Pena now? Also why isn’t he there? EVERYONE IS IN THIS MOVIE I DEMAND ANSWERS.

So anyway, Paul Rudd is all: why don’t we just time travel through the quantum realm and get those damn jewels and fix this whole Thanos situation? Best Chris and ScarJo are in, but Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer are the real pros at this whole quantum realm thing but are definitely vanished (as is Evangelline Lilly) so they go find Iron Man since he’s smart, right? Unfortunately, he is now living in a cabin by a lake and has a daughter (mazel! but this is def gonna throw a wrench into the time travel thing). Also Gwyneth is around looking tanned and vaguely ginger. Her wig is basically a more expensive, highlighted version of Nicole Kidman’s wig in Big Little Lies which is to say: MUCH BETTER BUT STILL PRETTY SHITTY. There is also a “joke” (?) about Gwyneth reading a book about composting which I think was supposed to be a Goop dig but honestly: WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT THIS MOVIE IS ALREADY SO LONG CAN WE JUST GET TO SAVING BLACK PANTHER AND THE OTHERS?

Iron Man def is like: dudes I’m not time traveling - I’m gonna do this whole dad thing WHICH IS FAIR so they go find the like #5 smartest person they know: DR. HULK. There are no pictures of this (that I could find) but Bruce Banner is now living life just AS the Hulk (but not an angry one) so he’s basically a bulky green guy in glasses which is fine but where does he buy those huge cowl sweaters? Asking for myself. Also ScarJo finds Hawkeye in Tokyo being some sort of hooded vigilante with a fauxhawk and guyliner and jeez someone is not dealing well without Linda Cardellini.

Also not dealing well? THOR! #2 Chris is off in Asgard living life with the best supporting characters from Thor: Ragnarok (TAIKA WAITITI 4EVR) and LETTING HISSELF GO. Oh also, Tessa Thompson is there too being a fisherman (?!?!?!) even tho she’s an effing valkyrie how did she get this job?!?! But I have to give full credit to Chris Hemsworth for fully embracing the deglam life here and for the next several hours of this movie. DEGLAM THOR IS EVERYTHING.

However, the wig is obviously terrible. ZZTop beard aside, the wig is these weird dreadlock tendrels which I’m guessing Thor wouldn’t have had time to maintain between playing video games, drinking beer, and eating pizza. Side note: I was really disappointed that he wasn’t eating Billy’s Pan Pizza (Lisbeth Salander’s #1 food choice in Sweden through all of those terrible books) which I actually tried in Iceland once and spoiler alert: original flavor INVOLVES HAM. Just saying: the devil’s in the details. Anyway, Thor and Iron Man decide to give this whole time travel thing a try (why not?) AND YES ONCE REASSEMBLED, IRON MAN’S FIRST POINT OF BUSINESS IS MAKING A BIG LEBOWSKI JOKE.

Iron Man somehow whips up some time travel gps bracelet and holy shit all of the Avengers movies are literally about jewelry. Then it’s on to making some sweet new time travel suits, Hawkeye gelling up that fauxhawk, and away we go to the quantum realm! Nothing bad can happen!

First stop: the first Avengers movie! OH GOD I SEE WHAT THEY’RE DOING HERE. The MCU literally made a plot where they could journey back to all the other MCU movies like a greatest hits tour and THIS MOVIE IS ENDLESS. This also involves journeying back to the ghosts of wigs past AND GURL I’M SHOOK. I guess I have to give credit to the MCU for wig consistencies - these wigs are as shitty as the originals! - and I guess they saved a lot in the already nonexistent wig budget. Also TILDA EFFING SWINTON IS THERE. This cast, dudes. Dr. Hulk and Tilda have a whole Back to the Future (which they make fun of in this movie, btw and I wasn’t here for it) discussion about time travel that I pretty much zoned out on until Tilda was just like eff it: here’s the jewelry you want, you seem pretty chill now, Dr. Hulk.

Oh and Tom Hiddleston’s shitty Loki wig is back! Jesus Christ this wig. Also, Robert Redford is back? How do I not remember him being talked into the MCU?? Anyway, the jewelry Iron Man and Best Chris were looking for is DEFINITELY snatched by Loki so they have to figure out a new time travel scenario.

Oh and Best Chris and Iron Man totally made up after being at odds for the last 2-3 Avengers movies. Also what do we think the hairspray budget was for these two? There is also a LOT of talk about Best Chris’s ass in this movie (they literally refer to it as America’s Ass) and I feel like this could very much be its own movie with maybe some added Best Chris badass twitter wars. Just saying.

Meanwhile, back in olde timey Asgard circa Thor 2, RENE RUSSO IS BACK (also Natalie Portman LOLOL everyone is in these movies). However, Sir Anthony Hopkins is definitely not wasting time on this nonsense and: fair. Also omg this wig on Rene. GURL. I don’t know what GoT prostitute dayplayer they stole this from but regardless: it’s a mess. Also apparently, Rene is about to die (I didn’t see Thor 2) and Deglam Thor is a MESS about it (also still very much a drunken mess also). He almost effs up the plan by going and crying on his mom (don’t worry - Bradley Cooper in his best work to date as Rocket Racoon got the jewelry!) And Rene tells Deglam Thor it’s ok to not be who he’s supposed to be an just be HIM which is very good advice OMG I LOVE RENE RUSSO.

So speaking of parents, Iron Man decided to go find some Infinity Stones in the 70s where his dad, John Slattery is! Apologies for the quality of this picture - it’s the best I could do. Anyway, John Slattery was made for period piece witty repartee tho his man wig (like all man wigs) is a friggin’ mess. He and Iron Man have some fairly emotional dialogue despite the fact that John Slattery doesn’t know that he’s talking to his son and also someone refers to RDJr as Mungo Jerry so I was really down with this whole section of the movie.

OH AND MICHAEL DOUGLAS IS THERE (again apologies for photo quality). What Marvel does best is face deaging technology (I still demand this be used for more 80s movies Michael Douglas wasn’t able to make at the time) but what Marvel consistently does worse is: wigs, specifically man wigs. WOOF. Regardless, they got all the jewelry they needed from the 70s! Moving on!

Over in Thanos town (probably what it’s called), nice Nebula is reunited with her former shitty self and also her sister. Jeez this whole part of the movie is family reunions. Anyway, Gamora’s wig is still a Hot Topic mess. Also a mess: Nebula let Thanos into the whole time traveling jewelry snatching heist which will definitely ruin everything.

Meanwhile, over by the cliffs of sorrow (also definitely official name, probably), ScarJo and Hawkeye and their upsetting hair looks are trying to get that one piece of jewelry that can only be gotten with human sacrifice, which they somehow had forgotten since Infinity War when Thanos sacrificed Gamora to get it. Maybe they just weren’t that tight with Gamora and forgot this? Anyway, the most important thing is that ScarJo gave herself these highlight braids which make this whole look slightly better but it’s still really bad. Also bad: one of these characters has to die! In the end it’s ScarJo I think because she doesn’t have a Linda Cardellini to go back to (or 3 kids) but I don’t really like what the MCU is implying here about the value of single ladies but regardless: goodbye ScarJo and your wig! You are probably better than this whole mess anyway!

Anyway, all the (remaining) Avengers time travel back to present day (aka 2023 just go with it) and everyone is so stoked that they got all the jewelry but then bummed when they hear about ScarJo. Side note: I forgot to talk about Iron Man’s highlights and feathered lewk. It’s upsetting! Moving on! Linda Cardellini calls Hawkeye which means this whole time travelling thing worked and they brought back half the population and also most importantly probably Black Panther so go team! But before we can talk to Linda Cardellini, Thanos crash lands into the Avengers HQ AND DAMMIT NEBULA.

So then everyone is somehow transported (?) to Thanos town aka Fightsville which feels like a great place to probably die in the apocalyptic fight FOR JEWELRY. All the Avengers yet again suck at fighting computerized Josh Brolin aka Thanos and then he calls in all his evil space backup army and everyone is definitely effed. It’s a lot like the part in the Battle of Winterell when the Night King does a Nancy Pelosi clap and reanimates all the dead people to fight the living and Jon Snow cries.

It doesn’t even help when Deglam Thor gives hisself the most wild lightning based makeover. Seriously, he surrounds himself with lightning, gets those badass Total Eclipse of the Heart eyes, and somehow is able to use lightning TO GIVE HIMSELF A HALF UPDO AND BRAID HIS BEARD HAIR AND NO I’M NOT MAKING THIS SHIT UP. The lightning fails to remove his beer belly and again: I’M HERE FOR #2 CHRIS COMMITTING TO THIS DEGLAM BODY. I don’t know the hows and whys of lightning makeovers - I guess it’s just restricted to hair. Which still looks like crap, beard braids or no. Moving on: Best Chris can somehow use Thor’s hammer now and did I miss something? I think it’s a Chris thing and I’m glad that everyone agreed that Worst Chris wasn’t invited to it. But also he’s not there. YET.....

BUT THEN. Dr. Benedict Cumberbatch who I definitely forgot about (and who has the most hilarious American accent) creates all his sparkler circles. Also his whole wig/goatee lewk is like that one adjunct professor you had who kept office hours at a coffee house and/or a part-time vampire. Anyhoo, he BRINGS. BACK. EVERYONE. Black Panther (and all of Wakanda!) Spider-Man! Guardians of the Galaxy! ETC! THE JEWELRY HAND CHANGED HANDS MANY TIMES. THERE WAS SO MUCH GOING ON. Everyone starts kicking ass but it’s still not enough until Captain Marvel and her 90s pixie cut show up and I swear to god all the lady Avengers made a protective barrier around her like the Lilith Fair is serious getting back together (I WISH!) It was all the ladies you love - Valkyrie on a flying horse! Wakandan warriors BUT NOT LUPITA BECAUSE US IS BETTER THAN THIS! Elizabeth Olsen in that terrible red wig! Kate from Lost! Gamora and Nebula I think! - plus also Gwyneth who I totally forgot had an Iron Man suit too but sure! It was a very girl power moment that almost worked but very did not. In a final moment we all saw coming since before Infinity War, Iron Man sacrificed hisself for the jewelry hand (also: humanity). Thanks for your service: the jewelry was saved! OH MY GOD THIS REVIEW IS SO LONG. Am I still writing this? Are you still reading this? THANK YOU FOR READING THIS.

In the end, everyone is saved and reunited...to have a sweet funeral (apologies again for picture quality)! I shit you not: they gave Iron Man’s electric heart a viking funeral at his cabin. Really! And all the other prestige actors you weren’t sure would make it to this movie were there: Marissa Tomei in some sweet beachy waves! Michelle Pfeiffer in some not so sweet beachy waves but whatever: I’m always happy to see her! Michael Douglas! The Winter Soldier in his somehow shittier than Loki wig! That chick from How I Met Your Mother! Other people! Samuel L. Jackson! Oh and I think Iron Man’s daughter is now being co-raised by Jon Favreau? Ok! It was also a funerary co-production for ScarJo and I guess (?) Elizabeth Olsen’s computer boyfriend (aka Paul Bettany) who somehow wasn’t able to be revived by jewelry for reasons unknown. Oh and where the eff were Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pena OR GODDAMNED JUDY GREER I DEMAND ANSWERS!!!!!

SO THEN. Captain America has to go back in time to return the jewelry because Dr. Hulk promised Tilda Swinton and I still don’t get how time travel works in this movie. Also Dr. Hulk is still running the time travel machine even though the whole Ant-Man crew specializing in this technology are back but ok? It all goes great until Captain America returns IN OLD AGE MAKEUP WHAT. Turns out he took a detour to have a life and get married and huh? He then tells Anthony Mackie that he can be Captain America now - officially making the MCU America of 2023 on the level of real America in 2008 and I can’t believe they didn’t cut to a weeping Jesse Jackson (or at least Don Cheadle?) However, Deglam (still!) Thor makes Valkyrie the King of Asgard which officially makes MCU Asgard of 2023 definitely way better than the America of 2019 (yeah I went there) and then he decides to be a Guardian of the Galaxy which means we get to spend an agonizing 3 minutes with Worst Chris. Then they cut to the 1940s and a slow dancing Best Chris and Hayley Atwell and truly: if you can just time travel and be happy can’t we bring back all the dead Avengers too then? HUH? Whatever: THE END! Oh and there’s no post-credits scene but still watch the first like 5 minutes of credits to enjoy the truly mind boggling way that the MCU chose to credit the 5000 people in this movie. Are we please done with Avengers movies now?

VERDICT: DOESN’T WURQ (BUT NOW I WANT A LIGHTNING MAKEOVER)

#avengers #avengersendgame #wigwurq #lightningmakeover #deglamthor #lilithfairreunion #MCU #RENERUSSO #WHEREISJUDYGREER #VikingFuneral

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zikmar86 · 2 years ago

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Beautiful Skin At Any Age

I am quick drawing closer thirty. That isn't old by all accounts however I am still mindful of the progressive changes to my skin that are occurring. Regardless of how youthful you are, it is never too soon to roll out improvements to your way of life which will set up a decent establishment for the maturing procedure. Your more established self will thank you for it. Stay hydrated - Water is actually the solution of life. Your body is around sixty percent water and it assumes a fundamental part in a considerable lot of the procedures that happen inside your body. It will likewise keep your skin clear and help your body with flushing out poisons. Considering that, you have to stay appropriately hydrated with a specific end goal to look and feel your best. Official rules express that you ought to drink six to eight glasses of water for each day for ideal wellbeing however bear in mind numerous nourishments, for example, crisp organic product likewise contain water. Numerous individuals drink boiling point water with a cut of lemon yet remember this is an extremely acidic drink and will disintegrate your teeth when inebriated all the time. Liquor and caffeine are drying out so it is a smart thought to drink some plain water every time you expend a beverage that contains either substance. Eat well - Genetics and legacy decide how your skin looks, acts and ages however you can do much to help the procedure by enhancing your way of life. And in addition staying very much hydrated, another approach to do this is by eating a decent, all around adjusted eating routine to give your body the sustenance it needs. The most gainful vitamins for your skin are A, C and E. These are found in wealth in products of the soil so attempt to incorporate no less than five parcels every day. Other gainful sustenances for your body incorporate beans, dairy, eggs, fish, nuts and entire grains. Keep in mind that the nourishing advantages of eating the right sustenances will dependably be preferred for your body over expending them in pill structure. Shield yourself from the sun - Never disparage the harming impacts of the sun on your skin. A brilliant tan may look alluring in your twenties yet when you are in your fifties and have wrinkled, listing skin peppered with moles, it won't look so engaging. Furthermore, obviously, an excess of sun introduction can bring about skin tumor. Numerous skincare and make up items contain a sun assurance element (SPF) so keep a post for these when you are looking for supplies. Additionally utilize a sunscreen with a base SPF of 15 and maintain a strategic distance from late morning sun when UV levels are at their most grounded. Keep in mind to wear shades, consistent squinting in the sun will give you the feared 'crow's feet' wrinkles around your eyes. Exercise - Most of us know about the medical advantages of activity obviously it can advantage the way we look as well. And in addition fabricating a thin, conditioned body, the greater part of the sweat you deliver when you practice will bring pollutions out of your skin keeping it clear and new. As you get more seasoned, and in addition keeping your body sound, activity will likewise deal with your weight. As you age, your metabolic rate (the rate at which your body smolders calories) diminishes prompting an improved probability of weight addition. Get into a decent marvel routine - As well as the way of life elements that will have influence in keeping up the excellence of your skin, getting into a decent routine with skincare will likewise offer assistance. Care for your skin by saturating every day, peeling week by week and use face veils relying upon your skin sort. Typical lotion recipes are regularly excessively rich and overwhelming for the fragile skin around the eyes and can bring about puffiness. Make you utilize a uniquely detailed cream for eyes. As we age, our skin creates less collagen thus skin loses it's flexibility and turns out to be less firm. On the off chance that you have experienced skin, pay special mind to items containing peptides and retinoids which will help your skin to manufacture collagen and seem firmer. Additionally attempt to keep away from recipe establishments that are excessively dry as they will subside into wrinkles. Keep your skin very much saturated and utilize a dampness rich establishment recipe. Quit smoking - I used to have a twenty (in some cases thirty) a day propensity so I know that it is so difficult to stop. Be that as it may, with self conviction and sheer determination, you can stop. You will look and feel such a great amount of better for it trust me. Recall that, it's never too soon to start considering safeguarding your skin for what's to come. from Blogger https://ift.tt/s9rMc8J

#IFTTT #Blogger

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strang-news · 3 years ago

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Unqualified Vol. 2: The Magic of Aiming Low

by Vicky Figueiredo

New year's resolutions seem like kind of a trap to me. I, like many, tend to feel a familiar burst of motivation at the thought of a “new chapter” kicking off when, in reality, it’s just another day in the life. Time is a construct of man and we’re the same people on January 1st that we were on December 31st. If you're asking me, this is the reason we tend to fail at large scale resolutions like losing weight, quitting smoking, or cracking down on our spending. How can you expect your regular, fallible self to perfectly execute a sweeping change like that on a day’s notice? It’s okay to admit it - sometimes sheer willpower is not enough to carry you through what can be a months long journey. Enter: lowered expectations.

“Aim low and you’ll never be disappointed” is one of my favorite life mottoes. It’s not an excuse to never strive for greatness or to never try at all - notice that there’s still an active aim being taken, it’s just modified for accessibility. Let’s apply this to one of the examples I gave you. You want to quit smoking because you’ve finally realized that flaming cancer sticks aren’t doing much for your life. Fantastic! I love the idea and I’m so glad you’re ready to take a step in the right direction when it comes to your health.

But it’s just that - one step in a very long process.

How can you aim low in this situation? Reword that resolution! Instead of saying “I’m never going to smoke again” you can say “I’m going to take a holistic approach to quitting smoking, and hope to be free of all nicotine products by the end of the year.”

It’s the same goal, but now you’re baking in a level of understanding, compassion, practicality, and wiggle room that “I’m never smoking again” doesn’t take into account.

By aiming low, you’re essentially allowing for failure. Failure isn’t a bad thing and it doesn’t mean the end of a journey, it just means you’ve identified a new obstacle or trigger. Forgive yourself for being human, take that new knowledge, apply it to your strategy for quitting smoking, and keep aiming low! You’re not starting over, you’re choosing to go on, which is arguably the most badass thing you can do.

If the “try, try again” approach doesn’t quite float your boat, you can still be a resolution wizard by aiming low, in this case with my favorite method of all: silly resolutions. I’ll provide you with an example from my actual life. Three years ago, I decided that my New Year’s Resolution was going to be moisturizing my entire body after every single shower. Is it odd to make whole-body skincare habits a resolution? Sure, but only if you think about it that way.

In my mind, I chose something so simple, so completely low stakes, that failure was completely inconsequential. Who cares if I miss a day? It felt nice to slather myself in lotion regularly and, three years later, here I am! Still doing it! I’m softer than ever, I feel very proud of myself for having maintained a habit consistently, and I feel empowered to make other small changes that will add up to noticeable betterment over time. Every time I think “hm, is this really something I can expect of myself?” my next thought is “well, I’ve moisturized more days than not for the past three years. I can do another little thing most days, too!” The proof is in the pudding: I now moisturize, practice French, stretch, and learn or try something new almost every day.

You’ll notice that I’m using certain words a lot here: failure, compassion, consistency. These three things are pretty central to any self-improvement and my hope is that you implement them all as you strive to create positive changes in your life.

You never have to be perfect to create progress, just consistent! Whether you reach that end by forgiving yourself when you slip up, or by building smaller habits to boost our confidence, change is possible for anyone if you just keep your eye on a realistic (or even ridiculously within-reach) target.

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its-julias-words-blog · 6 years ago

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Habits Experiment

I’ve always had issues with keeping to working out and eating healthily. I have a condition called PCOS, which has a lot of symptoms but the one that really matters in this case is the fact that its super duper hard for me to lose weight, and to do so it requires a really strict diet and exercise routine to maintain.

This summer when I had a lot less to focus on, I used to work out fairly regularly and focus a lot on how I ate, but now it’s the exact opposite. As school got busier I felt like the effort it took to go and workout increased from the summer, and I got more prone to eating unhealthy foods because of stress. I want to begin to get back on track with my working out, because I know it keeps me a lot less stressed and more focused.

Explain your procrastination or multitasking problem and explain why you want to fix it.

The busyness of my everyday life has gotten in the middle of my self-care- and in turn has shot me into a spiral of not working out and then getting even less focused leading me to not work out! Me not working out also worsens the symptoms of PCOS which includes acne and hair growth which isn’t super fun for me! So, I want to take on this challenge to hopefully keep me a bit more focused and a lot more healthy!

Explain how you will implement the strategy – be as specific as possible.

I want to be able to work out between one or two times a week to start, because it really matters to me that I first get into the habit of working out every once and a while before I fully jump back into exercise.

My first session working out will most likely be this weekend (I’m aiming for Saturday unless something comes up) and around 11am after I’ve woken up and digested my breakfast, I will go downstairs to my basement where we have a stationary bike and treadmill.

My first workout will be cardio, because I feel as though I have an easier time doing cardio than strength workouts. Cardio also gives me a much higher release of endorphins after I do it, and it seems to feel more effective for me.

My cardio workouts will be about 45 minutes, 15 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the stationary bike. This workout is fairly standard for me, and I like the way it makes me feel a lot. I do know that later on I will have to change the workout I do because I get bored easily, but I want to be able to start with something familiar.

After my workout I want to have a slow and mindful cooldown, doing some yoga would be a great way to do this, and since I did a yoga class in school last year I find it easy to pick back up.

I want to be able to work out around four times in the next two weeks- about twice a week give or take, once on the weekend and once on a school night. I think that workout schedule is very realistic and not completely time consuming. As well as that working out makes me a lot more focused so I think I’ll be a lot more motivated to work out after my first time working out.

What is your end goal? How will you know the strategy works for you?

My end goal as I stated before is to work out around four times in the next two weeks. I’m hoping to be motivated to work out and I’m hoping to become more motivated and focused as the experiment continues. PCOS has been a big challenge to deal with and has really derailed my mental health and motivation recently, and keeping it more under control means a better way for me to maintain my mental and physical health. If I become more motivated to work out within the next few weeks and see some results I will know that the strategy has worked.

What are your critical moves?

My most critical move is to actually get downstairs and work out that first time because it’s super easy to find a million excuses as to why its not a good idea to work out. I need to be able to be the rational guide in my mind rather than a crazy monkey that focuses on the short term please of doing nothing and doesn’t see the long term benefits of working out.

In the future, also making sure that I change up my workouts so I don’t get bored, or taking up classes would be a great way to keep me motivated when working out.

How will you shrink the change?

The most important part of my plan is making it achievable for me- and that means it needs to be realistic. I could plan an elaborate 14 day workout routine that consists of a 2 hour workout every single day but I know that I’ll absolutely never get around to it. For me, that challenge is so scary that in the end I’ll lose motivation instead of gaining it like I’d like to in this challenge.

So, to not spook me (or the elephant) I’m creating an achievable goal which is two workouts a week with one being on the weekend. This eliminates the stress of thinking working out will take up too much time, and doesn’t tire me out to the point that I don’t want to work out anymore. Resonable workout lengths also ensures that I get positive endorphines from working out, and feel more focused but also do not feel drained.

How will you tweak the environment?

I want to make sure working out is done in a place where I feel comfortable and that does not require a lot of effort to get to. For example, working out at a gym 20 minutes away would certainly discourage me from going there because of the 20 minute commute. At home, I have ample room for strength workouts on the floor and opportunities for cardio workouts on the workout machines I have. This makes workouts easy to get to and also not boring!

It’s also important to tweak my workout plans for how I’m feeling. For example, I used to take boxing classes downtown and the feeling of going outside and travelling on the TTC over the weekend was a great change of scenery to staying in my home for the entire morning. I might want to incorporate those boxing classes in these couple of weeks if I feel I have the time and want to go downtown! Working out in front of other people also gives me a type of accountability for working hard. I want to be able to complete the work out since I payed for the class and since other people are watching me!

In conclusion, I am very excited to begin working out again, and to be a stern leader in my mind to avoid procrastinating exercise! I know just a couple of workouts will put me on track to doing more workouts and then in turn getting fitter. I’m curious to see how the challenge pans out and I will make sure to communicate what happens at the end of the two weeks!

#habits #exersice #experiment #procrastination

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girlsbtrs · 3 years ago

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The Evolution of Women’s Wrestling Through Music

Written by Jennifer Moglia. Graphic by James N Grey.

If it wasn’t already obvious, judging from the fact that I write for a publication called Girls Behind The Rock Show, music is one of the most important things in my life. It has helped me form lasting friendships and relationships, given me some of the best memories and experiences, and has pushed me to find what I truly want to do with my life. However, another one of my interests, one of my favorite things in the world, actually, is something I don’t talk about quite often - professional wrestling.

No, I don’t mean the actual activity of performing professional wrestling (my body would probably snap in half), I mean watching professional wrestling, or as it is often described, “sports entertainment.” The type of professional wrestling made popular by WWE, storytelling through combat sports, is something that I got hooked on instantly.

The reason why I love writing so much is that I love telling stories, whether those stories belong to me, someone I know, or even someone I have no connection with. At the end of the day, once a story is written, it belongs to the world, for them to fall in love with and interpret in their own way.

As a writer, I feel as if I watch wrestling differently from other fans, as pretentious as that may sound. Rather than being focused on the punches and kicks or even the costumes that each performer wears, my mind is constantly zeroed in on the story being told.

Who are these characters? Why are they fighting against each other? What do they have to prove, to themselves, to their opponent, or to the world?

What will they gain if they win this match? What will they lose if they fall short? How will they move forward, regardless of the result?

Will this feud wrap up before the Summerslam in August, or by Wrestlemania in April? All of these questions and more swirl around my head when watching Monday Night Raw, NXT, and Friday Night Smackdown every week.

There are a ton of things that a performer can do to answer these questions, from outfit choices, to the way they speak to the audience, to how they celebrate when they win or how they react when they lose. One of my favorite ways that wrestlers’ stories are told is through their theme music.

Wrestlers’ entrance songs are some of the most iconic things about them. Whether someone is a fan of WWE or not, they’re sure to recognize John Cena’s “My Time is Now”, Hulk Hogan’s “Real American”, Triple H’s “The Game”, or CM Punk’s “Cult of Personality.”

Music has also played an important role in some of WWE’s most iconic feuds. The quintessential video package for Daniel Bryan’s “YES” Movement and feud with Triple H leading up to him finally winning the world championship at Wrestlemania 30 was set to “Monster” by Imagine Dragons.

This is widely considered one of, if not the best, video packages that WWE has ever produced, due to the detailed way it chronicles Bryan’s entire career, from being considered an underdog and “B+ player” to winning the company’s most coveted prize in the main event of their biggest event of the year. The song, with lyrics about a man who feels like an outsider and has become something bigger than himself, elevates the emotional weight and epic feeling of the video.

With all that being said, it’s time to note one crucial detail. Notice how all of those recognizable theme songs and moments were for male performers?

Women’s wrestling has always taken a backseat to men’s wrestling, for way longer than WWE would probably like to admit. Matches with “bra and panties” stipulations, storylines centered around men and romance, an in-ring “live sex celebration” broadcast on TV, a championship belt shaped like a pink butterfly, and matches consistently being cut from shows or clocking in at under 10 minutes, sometimes even under three minutes, sadly were the norm for a very long time.

However, in the 2010s, the women’s wrestling Evolution kicked into high gear, as the women of WWE demanded to be seen as more than just “Divas.” In February 2015, after a three-hour episode of Raw had only one women’s match that lasted just over 30 seconds, fans on Twitter begged the company to #GiveDivasAChance.

The hashtag trended on Twitter and was acknowledged by WWE legends like Mick Foley, before the company’s CEO Vince McMahon tweeted the hashtag with the message “We hear you. Keep watching.”

The next few years saw the Women’s Wrestling Evolution taking center stage, with three of the four horsewomen of WWE (Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch) debuting on the company’s main roster just a few months later in July 2015 after spending the last few years taking the NXT brand by storm. Over the course of the months that followed, women and their storylines were highlighted more than ever, setting up a red-hot feud for Wrestlemania 32 in April 2016.

What was so special about Wrestlemania 32? For the first time ever, the women would not be fighting for the Divas championship, battling to wear the glittery pink and purple butterfly belt.

For the first time in history, the woman who won the match would be winning the WWE Women’s Championship, with a belt that looked just like the one that the men fight for. In addition, female performers would no longer be referred to as “Divas” - they would now be called Superstars, just like the men.

The next couple of years saw many more “first-ever” events for women’s wrestling. Between 2016 and 2018, fans would see the first-ever women’s Hell In A Cell match, Money in the Bank match, and Royal Rumble match, stipulations that had been staples for men for decades.

This all culminated in the first-ever all-women’s pay-per-view event, aptly titled Evolution, at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York. The night included matches that fans would look back on fondly for years to come, including wrestlers that had worked incredibly hard for years and undoubtedly deserved to have their special moments.

Women’s wrestling continued to rise in popularity in 2019, with two of the four horsewomen becoming the first-ever WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions (Sasha Banks and Bayley) and the other two (Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch), along with Ronda Rousey, made up the first-ever Wrestlemania main event to only include women.

In the years since then, there have of course been many hardships for the women of WWE, but the fanbase is behind their favorite female Superstars now more than ever. And, of course, just like the men, women’s wrestlers have used their entrance music to help build their characters and put themselves on the radar of the WWE Universe.

The aforementioned four horsewomen are a great example of this. Sasha Banks’ “Sky’s the Limit” has lyrics about reaching for the stars and achieving the dream regardless of a dark past or people who may have doubted you. This theme perfectly fits her character of “the boss”, a gritty underdog from Boston, Massachusetts who ultimately made it to the top.

Bayley’s character is a bit more complex, going from an energetic, happy-go-lucky, child-friendly character to a villain who laughs at the pain of others and betrays her friends. Her theme songs have reflected this, as her first song “Turn It Up” includes lyrics about dancing with everyone around the world while her most recent theme “Deliverance” is instrumental, filled with intimidating choir-like background and wild guitar riffs.

Charlotte Flair has never struggled with living in the shadow of her father, legendary wrestler Ric Flair. Her physicality, confidence, and general dominance made her a force to be reckoned with regardless of any men she was related to.

Her theme, “Recognition”, is a remix of her father’s music, much like how the robes she wears for her entrances are a tribute to the costumes he once wore. She maintains that she loves her family and acknowledges where she came from but is still her own person.

The final horsewoman and possibly the most popular, Becky Lynch’s theme “Celtic Invasion” seemed to doom her from the start, the music poking fun at her Irish background and setting her up to be seen as this archetype forever. However, she was able to turn the tables and become an iconic character in modern media, not just in WWE, and fans sing her music louder than the speakers play it every single night.

While the four horsewomen are often considered the poster children for the WWE Women’s Evolution, there are countless women’s wrestlers who have used their theme songs to build on their characters. Asuka’s “The Future” boasts the line “I am the future”, bringing the character’s larger-than-life, confident personality to life.

The legendary Paige’s “Stars in the Night” reads more like a pop-rock heavy-hitter than a wrestling theme, which matches her studded gear, black hair, and dark makeup perfectly. Even new rising stars like Bianca Belair have capitalized on their entrance music, embodying the line “They see that I’m way better than before, I never needed you at all” from her theme “Watch Me Shine” every time she steps into the ring.

Seeing two of my favorite things in the world in wrestling and music come together like this, especially to empower women, is something that makes my heart so happy. If you don’t already watch wrestling, I hope that this has made you want to give it a try. If you don’t plan on it, at least give some of these incredible women’s theme songs a listen (playlist linked here).

#jennifer moglia

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