#i just can’t move to australia or new zealand

[plutonianplaything2]

do i have any single male mutuals (lol) preferably from another country (ireland, scotland, england) that want to get married so i can move to said country and get my masters so i can save the world and give you babies

serious inquires only 🤍

this will become urgent if trump wins the next election ✨

[plaguedocboi]

My renewed digging into murder/harm water has reminded me a not life threatening but very unpleasant (and extremely unlucky) experience I had as a young teen on a beach in Forster, NSW, Australia that I think further solidified my already felt unease at being in the ocean specifically.

You’d think not being in the water would mean you’re all good. Turned out hope.

Went for a walk with family late morning along the beach and nothing sus going on at all, there were people swimming in the water, kids playing on the sand, a pod of dolphins hanging out a couple meters off the shore and no danger in sight.

So I decide I’m gonna be brave and walk close enough to the water that the waves coming up just barely go over my feet.

All is good for ~5 minutes until suddenly completely out of nowhere I feel a blinding pain shoot up my whole right leg.

Now some context here is I have some weird genetic thing where I straight up cannot feel all but the worst of physical pain (as in I’ve literally had major chest and abdominal surgery and not once felt any pain or discomfort) and so for me to have felt that level of pain my brain immediately interpreted it as ‘oh fuck my leg has been taken clean off and I’m dying’

I still remember my physical response was to do that same little leap/hop manauver startled emus do which did get me well clear of the water and when I look down there’s the culprit.

Of all the places along this beach for it to wash up I had a man o war wrapped around my foot and ankle.

Now I know we have two sorts of jellyfish here that can and will kill you and I knew that one was very tiny (irukanji) and one was larger but in that moment I couldn’t recall whether that larger one was man o war or box jelly so there I am thinking I’m going to straight up die so I’m losing it as we head back up the beach and I remember as we’re heading back it’s almost like I’m losing muscle sensation in that leg so I’m half dragging the leg along the sand as we go.

Lucked out and happened to be near a lifeguard station and got some good advice and reassurance that man o war are the less deadly one and to just use running water to wash it and it’s stinging tentacles off then submerge the sting site in water as hot as I can handle and kee it submerged because heat breaks down marine creature venom so it’ll take the pain away.

After that I’ve always kept a close eye out for these things washed up on the beach and stay well clear of any. I definitely don’t go in water I can’t clearly see through (so basically any ocean water).

That said I saw in one of your posts mention about you’re tempted to dive again so thought I’d mention the Cook Islands is you have the resources to get there. As mentioned I won’t go in water I can’t see through but the water there is so crystal clear I’m happy to go in and there’s some amazing species there some of which you can encounter just ankle deep. (Parrotfish, triggerfish, morays, giant clams, threadfin butterflyfish, pipefish, general reef fish and I did see a spotted snake eel moving along the shallows once)

Also special mention of the glass bottom boat tours you can do there that take you to a deeper spot where you can get in with giant trevalley. (Sometimes you see turtles on the way over)

I would love to scuba dive in Australia someday (even with the jellyfish) but I had the opportunity once and chickened out so I worry the same would happen again. I did a study abroad trip in New Zealand and took a long weekend in Australia on an island off the coast of Cairns (prime Great Barrier Reef area) and I snorkeled a lot but didn’t have the courage to dive.

And yeah, those jellies sneak up on you sometimes. They’re very devious beasts.

[therkalexander]

Hey Rachel! I wanna start off by saying you’re my ultra favorite author and I love your books so much! Even if I read your books (receiver of many) on kindle I still bought the hard copy versions when they came out because I was so obsessed with the series.

With this obsession, I remember you saying you were meeting with people to make your book into a movie and/or show a few years ago. I was just wondering if there were any updates on that, that you’re allowed to talk about at least or if it’s even still happening?

YES!!!

RECEIVER OF MANY is in DEVELOPMENT!

So here is what I’m able to say at this point:

This has moved beyond the show being shopped and we are definitely in development. Preproduction starts around the beginning of next year if the stars continue to align.

And that’s always been my great holdback on giving out info. The stars must continue to align for me to want to talk about it. And for all the time they didn’t…

It’s been years and in the intervening time there was a pandemic, a writer’s strike, and an actor’s strike. None of those are conditions for a show.

But starting in March, things gathered momentum.

Then those things started snowballing, moving in a way where I didn’t want to explain anything or talk publicly about Receiver of Many becoming a TV Series for fear of jinxing the whole thing. Especially since… pandemic, strikes.

But they’re scouting filming locations right now. They are Scouting. Filming. Locations. in Australia, the UK, New Zealand, and the US.

A pilot script exists.

People are being talked to and brought on. I’m in one meeting or another about the show every other day it feels like. And that’s all I can say for now but it is a helluva lot more to say than anything I could tell you a mere eight months ago. And the best part:

They know which actor they want to play Hades Aidoneus Chthonios.

And since I can’t reveal that yet, all I can say on that front is CROSS YOUR FINGERS!!!

[weirdestbooks]

Confessions (Wattpad | Ao3)

America’s father was strange and persistent. Ever since the end of last year, he had been messaging America and the other so-called “favorites,” asking them to meet him at his house so he could tell them something important. America had asked some of his other siblings and niblings if they had gotten the invitation, but none of them had, which just made America more curious as to why Britain wanted all of them to meet up. 

It had taken a while, but they had finally reached the point where they could all show up at his house at the same time.

“Okay, does anyone have any idea of what is happening?” America asked New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, and Australia who had arrived before he had. New South Wales shook his head.

“Nah, mate. None of us Australians know shit. Have you asked the Canadians? Or the Kiwi?” America nodded, and New South Wales sighed. 

“Why is Grandpa so insistent that we have to be here today at the same time? It's not like he invited any of the other favorites. It’s just some Canadians, some Australians, Kiwi, and you.” South Australia commented, crossing his arms.

“Maybe he has something he wants to tell all of you at once?” Caleb suggested for the thousandth time. Normally, America would tell him that they have nothing in common that would require them to be here simultaneously, but he didn't want to look insane in front of his family.

“You told the world you had DID ages ago. Why does it matter?” James asked, his voice gentle like aways.

“Yeah, they already know. They ain’t gonna think you’re crazy,” Conch Republic added.

Ignoring the fact that James was right, America began to start small talk with his Australian family as they waited for the invited Canadians and New Zealand to show up.

“Hey guys! Have you figured out why Dad is so insistent on us showing up today?” British Columbia, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, and Northwest Territories, said as he approached them.

“No, we were waiting for the rest of you since Dad was so insistent that we all show up together,” Western Australia said with a small smile.

“He’s been a nuisance about that,” Tasmania said. Australia wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“The great British Empire, reduced to begging for his former colonies to come and see him, ain't that right, Tassy?” He said.

“What do you mean, ‘former colonies’? If I recall correctly, none of you have left the Commonwealth yet, which means I'm the only true former colony.”

“We get it, America. You have an ego,” New Zealand said from behind them, finally arriving. Some of America’s family members began snickering at that, along with some of the other alters. America rolled his eyes.

“Ha ha, that's so funny. Well, we’re all here now. Let’s see what Dad wants. I hope it’s quick, though, because I have things I need to do,” he said.

“Delly said it's okay if you need to miss his pseudo birthday. He knows you fought to get a different date, and it's not like anyone remembers this is his pseudo birthday anyways.” Molossia commented.

“Like what, inflate your ego some more?” South Australia asked, causing another round of snickering.

“He probably wants to since we are all attacking it. You can’t see how he's trying to say he doesn't have an ego.” Queensland said.

Queensland was, unfortunately, right. America flipped her off and then opened the door to their father’s house. Tasmania had picked the lock while they were making small talk earlier. 

“Grandfather! We are here! Please tell us why you wanted us all here!” New Zealand yelled. 

“In the kitchen! Take off your shoes at the door, especially the Australians!”

“Calling us out specifically, huh, Grandpa?” Queensland asked.

“You are all crazy and spend half your time doing dangerous stunts that will get you killed,” Their father yelled back at her.

“You’re right, but hey!” Australia said, not making any moves to remove his shoes, tracking dirt everywhere. America tried his best to hold down his snickers, as he had also not removed his shoes.

“People said he was basically an American colony during World War Two for a reason,” Caleb commented, prompting a snort of laughter from Eastport. 

Well, pushing aside the fact that America might have semi-adopted his nephew, their group made their way into the kitchen, where England and Britain were arguing in sign language.

“If you guys are going to argue, we can come back later,” Manitoba said, stopping the argument in its tracks.

“Wow, if they had stopped arguing, they must have really wanted us here," Newfoundland and Labrador whispered to Western Australia, who did her best to stifle her giggles.  

“I can hear you,” their father said, his tone lacking amusement.

“Good,” Western Australia shot back. Their father rolled his eyes, and England slunk out of the room, giving their father one last glance.

“What was that about?” Northwest Territories asked. Their father waved his hand dismissively.

“Don’t worry about it, Northwest. That’s something me and England have to work out ourselves. Now, for why I called you here.”

“Finally.” South Australia said, straightening up. Their father exhaled once, looking like he was trying to calm his nerves.

“I’ve been lying to you for a long time.” He said. America snorted as James murmured no shit.

“Yeah, we know you are a liar. But you’ve been getting better at that.” America said.

“Yeah, Uncle Ame is right. You’ve been better at that. If that is all you needed to say, Grandfather, I think you might be disappointed to know we already knew that.” New Zealand added.

“Yes, I knew you were aware of that. But this is more of a secret England wanted me to keep. It’s part of why we were arguing when you came in.” Their father said. America could see several members of the group perk up at that. 

“And you are telling us?” Australia asked.

“Yes…all of you were called ‘favorites’ by many of my former colonies. I know not all of the so-called favorites are here right now, but there’s a reason for that. See, you twelve are the colonies I tried to protect by keeping secrets from you. The fact that you had another parent.”

America froze.

“WHAT?” New South Wales exclaimed, baring his teeth. Their father raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“My children, I never wanted to hurt you with this, but I believe you have finally matured into wonderful people who were ready to learn that uncomfortable fact. Rest assured, though, I did this to protect and help you.” His father put a hand on America’s cheek and smiled at him, and America felt sick. He wanted to say something, anything, but he couldn’t. He was frozen in place, shaking legs and a pressure in his throat. He wanted to cry and scream and stop feeling comforted by the hand on his face.

But America just stood there and stared into his father’s eyes, which were empty of regret.

“I did this out of love. It’s what allowed you to be so well-behaved and favorites as well,” he said, pulling his hand back before crossing his arms, looking smug as he did so.

“Dad…please tell me you’re lying…” Manitoba said

“He has to be! My kids are here! If they had other parents, we would know!” New South Wales insisted.

“Hey, yeah, Dad’s right. If we had other parents, we would know. After all, Northwest's kids knew!” Tasmania said. 

“Well, he did. Once upon a time. But he planned to tell you before you were mature enough to understand that. I tried to convince him to back down, but he refused. So I fixed that. As for Northwest, well they chose to stay silent. It was a smart choice on their part. After all, they were always mature.” Britain said. New South Wales collapsed as Queensland and South Australia rushed to catch him, chest heaving as he fought off what looked like a panic attack.

“And yet I wasn’t told about my other parent.” Northwest Territories said quietly. Britain shot him a small smile.

“Well, you didn't need to know that. You just needed to know your place, lest you end up like him,” Britain said, gesturing to New South Wales.

“What did you do to me?” Said the state in a broken tone, clearly hurt by the betrayal. America was too and was half convinced James and Caleb were the only reason they were still standing. As they slowly began fronting, the Conch Republic threatened murder against Britain.

“I just fixed your problems and removed some corruption. I know this might hurt to hear, but I do love you, NSW. That's why I had to hurt you, even though I didn’t want to,” Britain said, his words sounding like empty promises.

But you could hear it in his voice.

“He is actually serious about what he’s saying! He actually believes that what was most likely torture was for some bullshit greater good and actually thinks it helped his son. He’s delusional! I know he abused you despite you being a favorite, but I didn't realize that other favorites were treated worse!” Molossia ranted, anger in his voice.

“I wasn’t abused,” Ameriac said softly, not knowing if it was him trying to convince the clothes or him trying to convince him. America lowered his head to make eye contact with his father. “I wasn’t abused, right?”

“America…” James murmured.

America hated how small and weak his voice sounded. Britain looked offended at America, even suggesting that.

“Of course not!” He said, causing relief to fill America’s body, relief that was quickly replaced by horror as he continued his statement, “I mean, even though you might have known, England used your martial law to fix that, so we wouldn’t have to hurt you, and that way you wouldn’t go running off with the natives and get yourself killed.” 

America’s knees finally gave out, and Australia scrambled to catch them, tears rolling down the Australian’s face. Was he crying for America or his father? America didn’t know. But did he really ever know anything?

Tears were appearing in his eyes, and his breath began to get more and more uneven and shaky.

“America breathe. You have to breathe.” James said.

America…he didn’t think the marital law had affected him that badly. What else did England force him to believe…and to forget?

“What else?” America asked shakily, in a small moment where his breathing evened out.

“What else what?” his father asked, the same fucking smile on his face as if he hadn’t just told America that England mind-controlled him into forgetting he had a mother, mind-controlled him into forgetting so much about himself.

“What else did England do to me?” America snarled out as someone else began co-fronting, helping them stay standing as fury pumped through their veins.

“He just ensured you’d be loyal to the church and the government. It’s no big deal. Honestly, you twelve are being so dramatic. It’s not like you can even talk to your other parents. They’re most likely dead. And if they aren’t, well, I don’t remember who they were. It was useless information. You can find out on your own.”

“But what if they're dead?” Newfoundland and Labrador asked, her arms wrapped tightly across her body.

“Well, I think that’s more your fault than mine. Canada and America were always better at hurting the natives than I was. If you North Americans need someone to blame for the deaths of your family, blame them.” Their father said casually. A loud ringing began in America's ears, and he pulled away, letting whoever was co-fronting take charge.

He had to get away. America needed to get away.

—————————

America was in his bedroom now, in his apartment in Washington. He had left the country world. The ringing in his ears was still present but quieter than it had been before.

“Guys.” America asked softly, “What happened?"

“You started having a panic attack. I know you don’t like anyone seeing them, so James began co-fronting and left the group. You’ve been asleep for a little while since then.” Unorganized Territory explained.

“You also missed Northwest Territories decking Britain!” Molossia exclaimed.

America exhaled a little sigh of relief before smiling slightly at Molossia’s comments, although the smile quickly faded.

“Thanks, James. You’re a lifesaver.” America said before curling up in the fetal position.

“He knows…but are you alright, America?” Caleb asked, his voice gentle

“No. I feel sick and betrayed and…and…I can’t believe…England fucking took advantage of the martial law to like…fucking brainwash me or some shit. Is this even my real personality? How much of me did he change? Why didn’t I fucking notice something was wrong?” America stood up and left the bedroom, pacing around the room as he tried to control his growing anxiety. 

“He couldn't have changed everything. Besides, you’ve grown a lot since then. Any of your real self that was buried can and probably has come back.” Conch Republic pointed out.

“You aren’t as changed as he wants you to think, either. I knew you then, and I know you now. Not everything gone is dead. Besides, we have Yapam still, so it’s still there somewhere,” James added, and America could tell from his tone of voice that he was smiling gently.

America passed by the open door to the bathroom and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He paused and then walked into the room, flicking on the lights as he did so. America was still in his country form, his stars moving around frantically, a sign of his anxiety.

America dropped his country form, letting his human form appear. America looked at himself in the mirror and burst into tears.

How was America so fucking stupid as to not see it before?

Did England use the martial law to ensure that America wouldn't see it until he and Britain wanted him to?             

How did America not see how non-white he was?

And what Britain had said before James began fronting.

America killed his mother.

“He’s a manipulative liar! Why are you trusting him? Why are you blaming England and yourself but not him?” Molossia ranted.

“Because he’s right. I killed my mother. I…I…this is my fault.” America said panic swelling. He couldn’t be here. He couldn’t—

America brought himself back to the country world, in his house, trying his best to block out the others' attempts to make him think he wasn't at fault when he so clearly was.

They were wrong. America was a monster.

[londonspirit]

Inside Rita Ora and Taika Waititi’s Intimate, Never-Before-Seen Los Angeles Wedding

“She proposed to me, and I said yes instantly,” filmmaker Taika Waititi says of how he and singer-songwriter Rita Ora became engaged. While the pair first met at a barbecue in 2018 that Taika hosted at his house in L.A., it wasn’t until 2021, when they were both filming in Australia, that they began dating. Rita popped the question while the pair were on vacation in Palm Springs in the summer of 2022, and they planned an impromptu wedding to be held in Los Angeles a few weeks later, on August 4. “It wasn’t in London or in France like everyone reported,” Taika clarifies. “It was in L.A. with a small group of friends.”

“At our home!” Rita notes.

“Our address was…no, I’m just joking,” Taika says, laughing.

Over the past year, the two have gotten a kick out of the misinformation about their nuptials that has spread like wildfire across the internet. “It’s actually been quite entertaining for us to see the different stories people made up and all the while getting to keep it to ourselves,” Rita admits. “And, I love that we now get to share what really happened—and to do it on our one-year anniversary, no less!”

As far as the planning process goes, there wasn’t one: The entire event was dreamed up and executed in just two weeks. “There were about eight people there—just close friends and family, and parents on Zoom,” Taika says, noting he was particularly thrilled to have his best friend Jemaine Clement fly all the way over from New Zealand for the last-minute ceremony. “It was really us and my sister, Elena,” Rita says. “Elena to the rescue!”

The bride wore a Tom Ford dress and Lorraine Schwartz jewels for the intimate ceremony. “Tom Ford is one of my favorite designers of all time and favorite humans in general,” Rita says. “He’s now one of my close friends, and I adore and admire him so much. To get married in his dress was a dream come true. And because it wasn’t planned, I didn’t know if the right dress was even going to be in town, and I just took the risk and went to the Tom Ford shop, and they had it perfectly waiting with the veil, in my size, no alterations needed to be done. I mean, it was like it was meant to be, to be honest. And it just made me so happy.”

Sami Knight styled the bride’s hair in soft, loose curls, and Anthony H. Nguyen created a natural, glowy makeup look. Meanwhile, the groom wore Brunello Cucinelli (and received a touch-up or two from Rita’s makeup artist along the way).

For the ceremony itself, the couple kept things simple. “I wore my mum’s pearls that she got married in. My sister, Elena, put [the bracelet] on my wrist. It was beautiful,” Rita says. “My sister walked me down the aisle, and it was just really simple and blissful and calm and private and fun.”

“Yeah, it was beautiful,” Taika adds. “Just having close friends and not having it too big. We didn’t have table settings or any of the stressful things that go along with weddings, and it was nice to just have it super-simple. My daughters were there, and they made everything really fun and easy: I think just because we didn’t have the pressure of having caterers and all of these things, you know, people turning up late, and all of the different moving parts.”

“I felt really peaceful actually,” Rita says. “It was almost like another day. We just all dressed up and got married.”

After the ceremony, Rita and Taika went to their friend Guy Oseary’s house for a dinner party. “He was so kind to host us at the last minute,” says Rita. “We got a group of people together, and we just had a great time!” As a surprise wedding gift from a friend, an Elvis impersonator showed up to serenade them, before everyone danced the night away to a playlist of the couple’s own making.

A year later, they both are still reveling in newlywed bliss. “It’s still working!” Taika exclaims. “I can’t believe it’s been a year.”

“Same. I can’t believe it’s been a year,” Rita says. “It feels like nothing’s changed since the day I met him at the barbecue. It just feels so good to be with my best friend.”

[disco-cola]

honestly my anxiety and depression is at an all time high like it’s been there for years and me era struggling in this decade and knowing I will never be able to actually truly have or at least try to have my dream life is one big reason and whereas I know horrible things have always happened and will continue to always happen but basically witnessing the gaza genocide on livestream and the reactions and vile justification of the world until today is also playing a big role now on top of that (and also simultaneously learning about congo, sudan, and more indigenous history regarding hawaii specifically, the „boarding schools“ in the us and canada, and the native history of australia and new zealand and that’s not even all there is to know) is also now playing a huge role and a friend said to me today „you should stop dealing with this stuff if it breaks you this is not good for you mental health“ but i CANT once you know how can you go back from it this is precisely what white privilege is and i reject the normalization of that also its just crazy to me how i got hit with the „I can’t look at this stuff“ when I mentioned how the videos from gaza and the west bank devastated me I was like „do you think i just CAN?“ I just think my feelings and comfort and mental health arent more important than other peoples lives even if it makes me struggle that hard we need to bear witness bc there won’t be a we did not know and that being said I also know my mental and physical reactions to this abyss of recent history is absolutely normal like let’s be real I rather am worried about the people being completely unfazed by this but in my real life I genuinely feel as if I am screaming into a void and made to almost feel ashamed bc the genocide and other issues and upcoming elections and politics is nearly all I can talk and think about currently when i am with people and apparently that’s a „vibe killer“ like I feel like I am annoying people and also everybody around me is just moving on with their lives and enjoying themselves and constantly doing fun things while now not just my era struggle but also the general state of the world is just sucking up my will to live idk man I just needed to rant but is anyone else feeling like this??

[alienorstyx]

The Ocean of fate

Previous part: 3

Chapter 3: Finally on the Island

The fresh morning air awakened America, who wondered if all that had just happened was a simple dream, or a vulgar nightmare due to all the sweets devoured with New Zealand at last night’s dinner. However, it was not her fault that France had brought so many sweets, such as chocolate, marshmallow bears, fruit candies, fruit pastes, Italian biscuits (to make anyone addicted), a few lollipops, and cupcakes, all these treats were intended for the birthday of New Zealand, which had just celebrated her 8th birthday. Their father only tasted the various cupcakes, and the one he liked the most was the lemon one, while her brothers ate some sweets and cakes with their girlfriends. And France like their father only ate some cupcake, but she nevertheless preferred the chocolate/ coconut one. The rest of the treats were swallowed up by New Zealand and America, eating almost everything,if the United Kingdom hadn't prevented them to do it. It was necessary that some remains for breakfast otherwise there would be only simple rusks to put under the tooth.

With difficulty she opened her eyelids, as her body wanted to stay here to sleep, exhausted by all the efforts made to survive. Last night’s dining room was now dark. Yet it was time to rise, the sun had been shining for several hours on the surface. The fish were swimming over America’s head. We were supposed to be around 8:00 am.

I feel like it’s cold and wet today. It’s weird, I feel like I’m surrounded by water. Iiikkk!!! What just got in my hair?!! It keeps moving!

Her fingers brushed against the unknown creature. She just hoped it wasn’t some sort of insect, and especially not a cockroach, she hated them, this mistake of nature. How many times had it happened to her, that those filthy beasts climbed on her while she was sleeping peacefully. Their little paws twisting in her thick hair. A real war to remove them. Too many times it happened that she stop keeping track of it.

It’s a dream! It’s not possible that this is what I’m thinking. It's skin looks like a snake or a fish, so cold, so slippery. These are scales! I will put my hand in the fire!

Her eyes opened wide, as she reflexively raised her upper body. Her head hit an oil lamp, that was turned off. Thus she could see a light flickering like a lighthouse in the darkness. The lamp was found to be hanging on one of the bearing walls. The girl tried to stand up. Without much success. Realizing too late that her legs were non-existent. 

Instead, she could not see what was holding her against the ground. But whatever it might be, the weight that put her down, was enough to anguish the girl. To reassure herself, the American touched with her trembling hand what should have been her right leg , sadly she had the unpleasant feeling of touching thick scales.

What is it that...  WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ! I’m still in the middle of a nightmare! My legs... I can’t feel them anymore. I have to drag myself to the light to see more clearly! Let’s go a little courage, you can do it girl. it’s only a few meters. It must just be a small flood, It often happens on these islands during bad weather. I hope New Zealand and Dad are all right. Canada and Australia will be fine, they are like cockroaches, indestructible and boring. With difficulty, She crawled, getting hit by absolutely all the objects that floated.

Finally arriving under the light, it was with shock that she discovered what her legs looked like. From the top of her belly to the bottom of what was previously her feet, rested a huge and long green and golden tail. The fins had golden tips while the rest was transparent.

Ring ring ring

America opened her eyes to the sound of the alarm, hoping to be back in reality, her eyes stared at the arched ceiling. What a funny dream. Me,  becoming a mermaid? It would be pure science fiction, I’m not in one of those B-movies, where after suffering a near death experience, a poor girl finds herself in a body that is not her own. All her senses are altered and she decides to take revenge on the mad scientists who turned her into a monster. And all those who tried to oppose her revenge against the organization Y. To finally end up impaled by an alcoholic fisherman who is admired throughout the film by the blonde and brainless heroine, who falls madly in love with him, thinking that she could change him. Actually, no. He will remain a depressed alcoholic and their romance will be unhappy and short-lived. And there, the camera fades the happy vision of the two main characters and glides gently at the surface of the water, we see them now blurred, leaning over each other to kiss and then a shadow quickly passes on the screen. The camera stopped filming on a wreck. We heard resonant noises coming from inside the ruin. Which implies that a continuation is possible for a second movie. And finally, the credits of all the beautiful team that participated to write such a scenario. Well, it’s not all that. I should  get up, nature calls me.

The American stretched her limbs out from under the thick sheet, not noticing the hand-stitched embroideries, representing small flowers and long perpendicular lines. The girl was still in the living room from the day before, the pot was at her feet, a thick copper lid now rested on it, to keep food safe from possible insects. Difficult to find under the sea. But you never know, if there was not one hidden in a crack.

The antiquity that served as an alarm clock still sounded loudly as America finally managed to stop it's infernal noise by pressing on the head of the small metal object. A small noise on the side, attracted the attention of the girl. Hidden under the sheet, was her kind hostess of the day before. The pretty woman must have fallen asleep shortly after America did. Her face seemed so peaceful. Her skin, as white as the moon, bore no trace of suffering or pain. In comparison, her lips were of the darkest red. So sensual. Her whole body seemed so silky, so soft to caress. That temptation was strong for the American.

Hold it together, America! You wouldn’t want a stranger to come and caress you while you sleep! Hold it. You don’t know what she’s thinking about you. Hell! You don’t even know if she’s attracted to girls at all. Don’t get the signs wrong. This could cause more embarrassment than anything else. You will normally chat with her when she wakes up. You’ll invite her for coffee or dinner to thank her for saving your life. And then you’ll see if there’s chemistry between you and her. We’re not just trying to do a one-night stand. Get to know her before you try your luck like a 44-year-old truck driver on a highway when he sees at the gas station, a pretty girl in a red convertible.

Slowly, the hostess awoke. Her eyelids shook twice before opening halfway. Her gaze turned directly to the American woman, who was standing in front of her, seating closely, and who avoided her gaze without great discretion. This amused Russia. Who rose gracefully from the carpet. Knowing full well that her tunic reflected wonderfully the curves of her body. This attracted without surprise the look of the American who contemplated it while blushing.

" For breakfast, I can offer you a very simple porridge with fruit. I’m sorry I can’t offer you more...but I haven’t made provisions for the next few months." Her gentle tone immediately conquered America who did not want to appear insolent, saying that she absolutely did not like porridge. Especially the half-burned one of her father, where she still didn't know how he managed to have such a result in the kitchen.

"That’s fine. I... I love porridge! Don’t worry!"

" Perfect. I will prepare it. If you want to wash, I can prepare a bath for you. It won’t be ready until after breakfast, I’m sorry."

"Thank you...thank you! A good bath can revitalize any woman! Ahaha..."

" Yes. " Without saying another word, Russia got up, lit the oil lamp and disappeared into the corridor.

Why did I say that? She’s going to think I’m weird. You couldn’t hold back! Huh! ? my  damn brain! I have to break any misunderstanding. Or it will create even more embarrassing situation. Arg!! I do not know what to do...

While America was lost in her thoughts, her host worked to prepare the best fruit porridge. Looking for seasonal fruits in her boxes, she still had two pears, three apricots, an apple, a banana and a peach. That will do it perfectly fine. While cooking she waited for the water destined for the bath to heat. In about twenty minutes everything will be ready.

Russia quickly returned to the living room. She noticed that the sheet had been folded and put to the side, this little attention made her smile. With a calm gesture, she handed the bowl of porridge to America who took it and thanked her timidly. Hesitant, America took the first spoon of porridge.

"Hmpf! It's really good." She said, with the spoon still in her mouth. Before looking away, her whole face was bright red.

"I am glad to know that you liked my recipe."

"It’s delicious." It’s not just the recipe I like, you’re as appetizing as this dish. But it would be too embarrassing to say out loud.

Once breakfast was over, Russia showed America the bathroom. Which was a bit rustic. A simple bathtub in which Russia poured the last bucket of hot water.

" I hope the water will be at your temperature. I am afraid it will be too hot for a girl with as delicate a skin as you."

"That will do. My father says that my skin is as hard as the one of a bull. Eh eh!"

"Good. I will let you enjoy this bath. I will prepare your belongings, which are still damp, unfortunately. You can keep this dress."

"Thank you. But it is not necessary, I can wear my clothes very well, a little bit of moisture will not kill me."

"No, no. They smell too much like seawater and I’m not sure it’s very comfortable in the state they are right now."

"Oh, then could I offer you a coffee or dinner at the restaurant to thank you for all that you have done?"

" Uh... Okay. Just in a little crowded place."

"All right. Are we discussing this later?"

"Yes, take a bath before the water gets cold."

The hot water did America a great feel. She relaxed completely. Once out of the bath, she took the towel on the wooden stool. Dried quickly. And joined Russia in the living room. The two young women decided to meet the next morning for a coffee near the city center and then lunch at the port or in one of the alleys of the city.

To get to the surface, Russia showed America the simplest way and the one she used the least, but this little detail she did not specify to the other woman. Together, they climbed into the elevator, which after a few squeaks began to rise. Very quickly they were on the surface. Arriving in a small house. The door opened inside the living room. What surprised America was the very dusty state of the house, but she did not comment on it. The young woman indicated her which way to follow to reach the beach then her hotel. Wishing her good luck.

Happily, America crossed the thick forest following the hidden beacons against the trees or in the branches. Her bag full of wet clothing was hooking to all brambles and branches. As for her feet, they were hurting like she walked on glass but in about 30 minutes she could relax in the hotel and annoy her brothers and then play with New Zealand.

[intheshadowofwar]

28 May 2023

On Parade

Anzac Parade 28 May 2023

If there’s one thing every capital city needs, it’s a big ceremonial thoroughfare. Washington has the National Mall, London has the Mall, Paris has the Champs Elysees, and even humble Canberra has Anzac Parade. In times of less construction, one could stand on the steps of the War Memorial and have an unobstructed view of the long avenue, and then, across Lake Burley Griffin, to both the Old and New Parliament Houses.

It’s perhaps odd to consider that nearly none of this was intentional. Anzac Parade was part of Walter Burley Griffin’s plan for Canberra, which I’ll link to here - Griffin, it seemed, really liked his big avenues, and you can see most of the modern Canberra roads there. Looking at drawings by Marion Mahony Griffin, which are in Nicholas Brown’s History of Canberra, there doesn’t really seem to be anything in the spot where the memorial is, and a bizarre domed building that looks like a cross between the US Capitol and the Angkor Wat stands on Capital Hill. Even Old Parliament House was only intended to be temporary. Of course, the First World War intervened, and thus the War Memorial came to sit where it does now at the base of Mount Ainslie, while the permanent parliament house was not constructed until the 1980s, and certainly looks like the product of its decade.

Just as Anzac came to exist, so did Anzac Parade. Like much of Burley Griffin’s plan, it took until later to come into fruition - it was opened in 1965. Over time, it came to be lined with individual war memorials to specific services, battles or wars. They run the gauntlet from the traditional statuary of the Army Memorial to the modern, cubical Peacekeepers Memorial; from the traditional heroic imagery of the Desert Mounted Corps Memorial to the sombre, ambiguous concrete monoliths that form the Vietnam War Memorial.

My uncle has been in town recently, so I took him up and down Anzac Parade to look at the array of memorials. It was a good opportunity to reorientate myself with them - and it’s a fairly good walk besides.

We started on the left side of the road (facing towards Mount Ainslie.) At the start of Anzac Parade there are two giant basket handles on either side of the road, forming the Australia-New Zealand Memorial. It’s perhaps fitting that we start with the oft-forgotten ‘NZ’ part of ANZAC; a healthy reminder that Gallipoli and the Western Front are just as important in Wellington as they are here. Moving along, one passes the Boer War Memorial. This is a very recent addition indeed - it was well into the 21st century before the South African War had its memorial in the national capital. Past that is the Desert Mounted Corps Memorial.

I’m going to go a little deeper into this one, as there’s not much scope for the discussion of the Palestine campaign anywhere else. The Desert Mounted Corps, initially the Desert Column, operated in the Sinai Desert, Palestine and Syria between December 1916 and the end of the war, fighting against the Ottoman Empire. Initially the force was commanded by General Chetwode, but in mid-1917 General Harry Chauvel took command, the first Australian to command a corps. (Lawrence of Arabia, apparently, was not a big fan of him.) The Corps consisted of three divisions - two ANZAC and one British. An additional British division and an Indian brigade were added in mid-1918, and I believe there were detachments of French Colonial troops, although I can’t seem to confirm this right now. I tell you this because you would not know from looking at the memorial, which is entirely an Australian and New Zealand affair. Grumbling about the omitting of nationalities aside, a big reason the Desert Mounted Corps Memorial is of particular interest is because it’s actually a replica. The original was erected at Port Said in Egypt after the war, but during the Suez Crisis, it was targeted and destroyed by Egyptian nationalists as a symbol of the British Empire. The destruction of statutory, despite what some might say, is by no means a 21st century phenomenon.

Moving along, one passes the grey, funereal Vietnam Memorial, which asks visitors to walk inside it, and in which the names of the dead are gathered on a ring above. Then you pass the Korean War Memorial, with its army, navy and air force figures surrounded by tall steel poles that look like rain, and after that the comparatively conventional memorial to the army. At the end of Anzac Parade, nestled into the corner, is the Hellenic Memorial, which commemorates the battles of Greece and Crete during the Second World War. It’s built to resemble an amphitheatre, with a pillar marked with the Greek Orthodox cross and pair of steel beams in the middle. A map of the Aegean, almost stained glass in appearance, is made from tiles on the floor.

Perhaps entertainingly if one knows the history of Greco-Turkish relations, it’s positioned directly across the road from the Mustafa Kemal Ataturk Memorial. There probably aren’t many western democracies, with the obvious exception of Germany, that have memorials to the enemy in their capital - still less to an autocratic dictator. Yet Ataturk holds a key position in Anzac mythology. As a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Ottoman Army, he played a role in the defence of Gallipoli against the British and Anzac forces. After the war, he became a key figure in the Turkish nationalist movement, and eventually the President. I have to be very careful what I say here, as I have to load and edit this in Turkey where it is illegal to defame Ataturk, so I’ll focus my discussion on the inscription on the memorial.

It’s a long one, and it’s a little hard to see on my photograph, so I’ll just type it out.

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives … you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours … you, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway counties, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom, and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well.

Beautiful sentiment, right? The only problem is that Ataturk almost certainly didn’t say them. I’ll link to an excellent article on the subject at Honest History (and honestly, I’d recommend that website for a lot of things) but the basic gist of the problem is that knows when he said it, or if he dictated it to someone else, or if it was a letter, or really anything else about the providence of the quote, and it really seems to have started being kicked around in the 1980s. There is no evidence prior to 1953 of the speech (or letter, or dictation, or lavatory graffiti) existing.

So why, when we know he probably say it, is it still there? I think it’s because it’s comforting. It’s a little bit of myth making that serves to make the past a little more bearable. To imagine your father or grandfather lying in the bosom of a friendly nation is palatable. To imagine him buried in an enemy country, whose soldiers killed him, is less so.

Traveling back down Anzac Parade, one next passes the memorial to the Royal Australian Navy Memorial, a mishmash of flesh and steel shapes which includes a fountain. Beyond that is the ‘shower curtain’ - the derogatory name a veteran nurse gave to the Nurse’s Memorial. This is the most vertical of the memorials on Anzac Parade - a blue glass structure that visitors can walk into, listing the names of conflicts and postings of the nursing service and displaying images of nurses throughout Australian military history. It is worth pointing out that this is a memorial specifically to nurses in the Australian service, not Australian nurses - nurses who died in the British service are not commemorated either here or on the Roll of Honour. I know you’re getting sick of links by now, but here’s one to a video on that subject.

We then pass the Royal Australian Air Force Memorial, which I’ve never been a particular fan of - it just seems a bit dull to me, if I’m completely honest. Past that is the great tan monument to the Rats of Tobruk - the men of the 9th (and one brigade of the 7th) Division who defended Tobruk from the Nazi Afrika Korps in 1941. (I am going to get into so much trouble for calling Rommel’s Afrika Korps ‘Nazi,’ which is of course precisely why I did so.) Finally, one passes the impenetrably abstract Peacekeepers Memorial, before reaching the other side of the New Zealand Memorial.

This walk took us about an hour, and on the way home, we decided to try to find the Air Crash Memorial in the Pialligo Forest. The key word was ‘try,’ because it turns out there’s no road access and it’s a 3.2km walk to reach it. As we’d already been walking, we decided to call it a day. The air crash in question was the Canberra Air Disaster - a Lockheed Hudson crashed on approach to Canberra airport on the 13th of August 1940, killing three members of the cabinet and Chief of the General Staff General Sir Brudenell White. This is another name we’ll probably come back to. Suffice it to say, it was a major body blow to Robert Menzies’ first government and probably contributed to its fall the following year (although Menzies buggering off to London for several months to pester Churchill probably didn’t help either.)

All in all, it was a good day. I don’t know when I’ll write again, though I’m hoping soon - otherwise I shall see you in two weeks, as there’s a few thoughts I might want to get onto paper while I’m in Sydney.

[mmhaterade]

The 2023 Hater's Guide to the West Region

This blog is not in any way affiliated with the NCAA, its entities, subsidiaries, or member institutions. This is a humor site and should be treated as such. We’re all on our way out – act accordingly.

1. Kansas (28-6). When Texas beat Kansas to end the Big 12 (8?) regular season, the intrepid videographer shooting the game happened to catch a KU coed wearing a t-shirt which read “I (heart) Dick.” A-fucking-mazing. Look, I don’t have to tell you KU fans need this one seed, need the wins, need a title more than anything to justify their continued existence. They live in Kansas for fuck’s sake – Interstate 70 ends in Lawrence and you are stuck wandering the plains like Denzel Washington in Book of Eli until you reach Colorado, and the interstate magically appears again. There is NOTHING to do here other than watch basketball, and that says a lot, because I live in Iowa!

2. UCLA (29-5). This is a Bruin, right? With that face, I am 100% sure his name is “Crick Monin.”

3. Gonzaga (28-5). There is a new Constitutional amendment which clearly states you are no longer allowed to refer to Gonzaga as a Cinderella school. It’s been twenty five years - I think the slipper finally broke. They’ve now been in every final AP poll since the 2008-09 season, and have appeared in every weekly AP poll since 2016-17, a streak of 115 consecutive weeks. I will never stop laughing when eighth year senior Drew Timme appears on my TV screen. All I see is TIMMY from South Park. Fuck John Stockton.

4. UConn (25-8). Go back to the AAC! Biggest group of crybabies in the country and it isn’t even close. When their women’s team had an injury plagued season (lost five games including back-to-back games for the first time in 30 years), Geno Auriemma vented to the media and to his team, telling them they had three days before the conference tournament to fix things. Then he got in his car and drove home to Manchester, wishing he could continue westward. “The way I felt was I want to wake up in California in three days,” he said. “I just want to keep driving, I don’t want to do anything, I don’t want to come to practice.” Jesus man, just fucking quit already and move away from that awful place. Twitter account CrimsonCast put it best: UConn continues to fail to shake the perception that they are simply an analytics darling. Like an east coast version of the Mountain West.

5. Saint Mary’s (26-7). Every bracket, no matter the site, always lists this school as “Saint Mary’s (CA).” Why? No one is confusing this school for the archaeological dig site posing as a university in Maryland, or the all-women’s college in north-central Indiana where many of the enrolled students play for nearby Leprechaun U, also known as Notre Dame. No, this is the school – in California – that gets exclusive coverage on ESPN Australia/New Zealand. Sixty percent of the student body is involved in organized athletics here, so it’s a good chance you’ll be handed a scholarship and some sort of ball upon move-in. It’s either that or forced labor washing jockstraps.

6. TCU (21-12). Their coach gives out a pair of “charge socks” when a Horned Frog player takes a charge. There’s a big bucket of these colorful dress socks in the TCU locker room. Charge socks? You have to be kidding me. You are in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, you can’t find a bag of blow or an extra couple of c-notes for your athletes? (Producer cuts in…garbled static…). Pardon me, I’ve just been informed that the “C” in TCU stands for “Christian.” There is no cocaine on campus. But NIL is legal now, surely you can find something other than a pair of sweaty dress socks to reward your unpaid employees. Perhaps a sad handjob from a coed who has already put on the freshman 15+15+15?

7. Northwestern (21-11). Congratulations, you finished top three in the Big Ten for the first time since 1960. You won your last conference championship 90 (!) years ago. You have made one (1) NCAA tournament and had to be retroactively selected as something called the Helms National Champion. Your most successful head coach played for Phog Allen at Kansas – in 1917! Northwestern basketball is the definition of futility. They are the Chicago Cubs of the NCAA; fitting for a program that markets itself as “Chicago’s Big Ten team” (insert jerking off hand motion here). Even if Northwestern won 25 games a season for the next 25 years, they would still have a losing record.

8. Arkansas (20-13). It is against state law to mispronounce “Arkansas'' while in the state, yet their residents  pronounce jalapeno “Holla-PEE-no.” Gun to my head, I wouldn’t be able to look at Sarah Huckabee Sanders naked, playing with a hula hoop, for more than a second.

9. Illinois (20-12). Brad Underwood is a bargain-bin Gene Keady who is very upset about “booty ball.” Every press conference he attends ends with him making a wet fart sound into the microphone.

10. Boise State (24-9). No one gives a shit about this team unless tater tots rise to $6 a bag – then it’s time to storm the blue court. I know exactly one person from Idaho and their personality matches that of the official state produce. This person is incapable of being corrected. They are always right. You are always wrong. If you say the sky is blue, their response will no doubt begin with “well, actually…” Boise is also not a state, you arrogant fuckhead.

11. Arizona State (20-12) or Nevada (23-9). Over 60% of the student body at ASU has some form of herpes. Unless you are a model, they throw you in an engineering building for four years. If you hate Duke just like the rest of America, you generally hate Christian Laettner and Grant Hill. But there’s one player from those early-90s teams everyone forgot: Bobby Hurley. As I’ve aged, my hatred for Hurley has waned, but I’ll always wish maximum pain for whatever team he coaches.

With the growth of legalized sports gambling across the United States, the University of Nevada has introduced several new classes for the 2023-24 school year: Kneecap Relocation, Intermediate Hammer Smashing Techniques, and Advanced Vig Calculation. Another new course addition as of Thursday morning: Getting Your Shit Pushed In By A Sun Devil Pitchfork. Too soon? Probably.

12. VCU (27-7). VCU stands for Very Completely Underwhelming. This isn’t a college, it’s an industrial laundry that has tricked 28,000 students into paying the institution to “work.” If you want a perfect example of the bloat in higher education administration, consider there are over 11,000 non-academic staff at VCU. Never trust a doctor from this school; they only practiced on centaurs.  

13. Iona (27-7). Someone is going to give Rick Pitino the best 14 seconds of his life to coach for them. 

14. Grand Canyon (24-11). By employing buzzer-beating Valpo alum Bryce Drew, this pretend university has already accomplished more in the NCAA Tournament than Mount Rushmore State, Hoover Dam U, Smokey Mountains College and SUNY-Niagara Falls.

15. UNC Asheville (27-7). Let’s have a quick check-in on how this college is doing. Student enrollment and retention are plunging at UNC-Asheville and top leadership is departing at the highest rate in the entire UNC system. While overall student enrollment in the UNC system has increased 7% since 2015, UNC-Asheville fell by a stunning 25%, the largest drop among the 16 public universities in the system. Of the incoming students UNC-A is able to attract, a high number of them leave before graduation. Retention of students, measured as those returning for a second year of school, is now just 68.6%, the lowest in ten years. Jesus, even Trump University would laugh at these numbers. 

16. Howard (22-12). Howard students recently had to protest living conditions in on-campus dorms – mold, mildew, and rats are apparently very commonplace in multiple residences. It is 2023; the only sensible reason these alarming conditions should be issues on your campus is when you have outsourced every part of the student life experience to a call center in the middle of the Himalayas.

[konzenkoryuu]

Every single vote FOR Trump and every single abstention shares blame. And once there are enough deaths (which there probably will be considering the two wars I know about and afghanistan, never mind what comes next for lgbt+ and poc and other minorities and women and next in general) in the end you will have a kill count. 1/72millionth of a blame for the actual voters still means 72 million deaths in, you are personally responsible for one whole death.

I hope that knowledge sinks into your bones, knowing there’s a death on your conscious that could have been prevented. I hope you learn from it, and I hope you regret. I hope you decide to change and protect what’s left of the people your vote put in danger. I hope you grow and can pass on information to the next generation.

And if you’re laughing at that, saying there’s no way it will get that bad, take a good look around. How many people around you are terrified? How many people are despairing? How many people have stopped talking about politics entirely and are keeping a distance from you?

There’s been a 200% increase in lgbt+ calls to a suicide hotline, mentioning the election as a trigger.

Searches in how to move abroad have increased over a thousand percent since the election.

There’s been an increase in hate crimes already, and it hasn’t even been a full week since the election was called.

People are terrified for themselves and their families. That should mean something to you, when you look around, that people are considering death or abandoning the country they were born in because of who was just elected. It should mean something that innocent people are being threatened. And this is probably just the beginning.

You chose this. You’re not allowed to look away from the consequences of your actions.

The "if you voted for Trump unfollow me" posts are returning, but given then general makeup of your average tumblr user I think there's a different message I'd like to give.

If you didn't vote because "both parties are the same" or "it won't make a difference" or because Kamala wasn't the pure and perfect leader that you wanted or you "didn't want blood on your hands", honestly whether or not you follow me doesn't make a damned bit of difference. But I want you to look. Take a good look at the despair around you right now. And every godforsaken thing that follows I want you to fucking look. Look and know that you could have helped prevent it. We still haven't recovered from his last four years, the world hasn't fucking recovered, and now we're staring down the barrel of god knows how many more years and a river of fucking blood to come along with it.

But your pride and your principles were more important to you than the actual real fucking world we live in.

I hope, if nothing else, that you can take this in. I hope you learn. I hope you grow. I hope you find it in you to realize that in this country they soak our hands in blood the second we take our first breath and the only thing that matters then is what you fucking do with them. What you fight for. Who you fight for. Who you defend.

I hope you wake up. And you step up. And you fucking fight.

But until then. Don't you fucking dare look away.

[news365timesindia]

[ad_1] Harshit Rana. Photo: Debasis Sen Harshit Rana was the toast of Indian cricket after Perth. His aggression, his hit-the-deck bowling, his first-innings ball to get Travis Head – the left-field selection was considered a masterstroke. Now, less than a fortnight on and after one bad performance, Rana is in the doghouse. Apparently, he is a “quota” selection based on Gautam Gambhir’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) connection. This is where Indian cricket fans need to show maturity. Neither was Rana the greatest newbie after Perth, nor is he rubbish after Adelaide. The truth is that he has had one bad innings. Head, the local hero, went after him and Rana lost the plot. But then, how many times has he bowled with the pink ball? On how many occasions has he toured Australia? How is it that he can’t fail when he has had little or no experience of bowling under lights with the pink ball? Now, the sudden clamour is for Akash Deep to play. It is as if the inclusion of Akash will solve every problem. And if he fails, he too will soon be considered fit for the trash can. Patience. That’s what is lacking in Indian cricket fandom, and the Rana case is a glaring example. A young man who has just cut his teeth in international cricket and had a very good debut underperformed in just one innings, and is being shellacked as a result. I mean, come on! All of a sudden, Akash is the new messiah. If he fails, there will be a clarion call for Mohammed Shami. The fact of the matter is that India had a bad game in Adelaide. Both with the bat and the ball. The batters were poor in both innings and the bowlers weren’t able to deliver under lights with the ball. The comparison with the New Zealand series isn’t relevant, because those were very different conditions and the pitches were poor. Harshit Rana has been impressive this Duleep Trophy. Source (X) Moving on to Brisbane, India will need at least two of the batters to put their hands up. If Shubman Gill gets in, he needs to convert. Make a 100. If Rishabh Pant gets a start, don’t give it away for just 28. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and, of course, skipper Rohit Sharma –  the onus has to be taken by the batters to give the bowlers something to bowl at. Give them 300, and they are good enough to do the job. Coming back to Rana, and I’d still go with him in Brisbane. The conditions at the Gabba will suit him, and there need not be any knee-jerk reaction. A quiet word with him, and if he sees where he erred, he will come out of this a better bowler. Even the great Sir Curtly Ambrose was restricted to seven wickets in six innings in his debut series. Every fast bowler will take a little time to adjust, and Rana is no different. He had impact in Perth, and he will again in Brisbane. May be this is where Gambhir, Morne Morkel and Rohit should speak to him. Back him and give him the confidence. Ask him like Bharat Arun used to of his bowlers what he wanted to do and if he thought the execution was wrong. He will get the answer as to what he needs to do next. If anything, Rana will be a better cricketer post-Adelaide, and for India to do well in Brisbane, it wouldn’t be a wrong call to give him one more opportunity. Also Read: Rohit and Harmanpreet, now or never The post Harshit Rana criticism after one poor innings highlights the impatience of fandom appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports. [ad_2] Source link

[news365times]

[ad_1] Harshit Rana. Photo: Debasis Sen Harshit Rana was the toast of Indian cricket after Perth. His aggression, his hit-the-deck bowling, his first-innings ball to get Travis Head – the left-field selection was considered a masterstroke. Now, less than a fortnight on and after one bad performance, Rana is in the doghouse. Apparently, he is a “quota” selection based on Gautam Gambhir’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) connection. This is where Indian cricket fans need to show maturity. Neither was Rana the greatest newbie after Perth, nor is he rubbish after Adelaide. The truth is that he has had one bad innings. Head, the local hero, went after him and Rana lost the plot. But then, how many times has he bowled with the pink ball? On how many occasions has he toured Australia? How is it that he can’t fail when he has had little or no experience of bowling under lights with the pink ball? Now, the sudden clamour is for Akash Deep to play. It is as if the inclusion of Akash will solve every problem. And if he fails, he too will soon be considered fit for the trash can. Patience. That’s what is lacking in Indian cricket fandom, and the Rana case is a glaring example. A young man who has just cut his teeth in international cricket and had a very good debut underperformed in just one innings, and is being shellacked as a result. I mean, come on! All of a sudden, Akash is the new messiah. If he fails, there will be a clarion call for Mohammed Shami. The fact of the matter is that India had a bad game in Adelaide. Both with the bat and the ball. The batters were poor in both innings and the bowlers weren’t able to deliver under lights with the ball. The comparison with the New Zealand series isn’t relevant, because those were very different conditions and the pitches were poor. Harshit Rana has been impressive this Duleep Trophy. Source (X) Moving on to Brisbane, India will need at least two of the batters to put their hands up. If Shubman Gill gets in, he needs to convert. Make a 100. If Rishabh Pant gets a start, don’t give it away for just 28. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and, of course, skipper Rohit Sharma –  the onus has to be taken by the batters to give the bowlers something to bowl at. Give them 300, and they are good enough to do the job. Coming back to Rana, and I’d still go with him in Brisbane. The conditions at the Gabba will suit him, and there need not be any knee-jerk reaction. A quiet word with him, and if he sees where he erred, he will come out of this a better bowler. Even the great Sir Curtly Ambrose was restricted to seven wickets in six innings in his debut series. Every fast bowler will take a little time to adjust, and Rana is no different. He had impact in Perth, and he will again in Brisbane. May be this is where Gambhir, Morne Morkel and Rohit should speak to him. Back him and give him the confidence. Ask him like Bharat Arun used to of his bowlers what he wanted to do and if he thought the execution was wrong. He will get the answer as to what he needs to do next. If anything, Rana will be a better cricketer post-Adelaide, and for India to do well in Brisbane, it wouldn’t be a wrong call to give him one more opportunity. Also Read: Rohit and Harmanpreet, now or never The post Harshit Rana criticism after one poor innings highlights the impatience of fandom appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports. [ad_2] Source link

[starseedfxofficial]

Unlock the Magic of Williams %R: The Key to Mastering AUD/NZD Like a Pro There’s an old joke about trading that goes like this: 'Why did the trader cross the road? Because he accidentally hit the 'sell' button instead of 'buy'.' Now, if you've ever traded the AUD/NZD pair and felt like you're just crossing roads without getting anywhere, then it's time to step up your game and bring in some secret ninja tactics—the kind that will make you feel like the coolest forex warrior out there. Enter Williams %R, your new best friend in navigating the subtle quirks of the AUD/NZD market. The Forgotten Secret of Williams %R (Hint: It's Not Just for Overbought/Oversold) If you've ever looked at Williams %R and thought, 'Eh, another momentum indicator,' you're not alone. Most traders think of it as that dusty old book on the shelf that they might pick up if the RSI is out of town. But guess what? It's actually a game-changer—especially when applied to the AUD/NZD pair. Williams %R, invented by Larry Williams, measures overbought and oversold levels, but its real magic lies in its ability to expose market extremes in a way that other indicators simply can't match. The AUD/NZD, being one of those sneaky pairs driven by complex economic interplays (think interest rate differentials and, well, the occasional sheep census), is the perfect playground for Williams %R. But here’s the twist: Instead of just relying on the typical -20 to -80 threshold, try this unconventional approach—combine Williams %R with multi-timeframe analysis. Look at the daily chart, identify if it's overbought or oversold, and then drop down to the 4-hour chart to time your entries. It’s like having a double-shot espresso—more punch, more clarity, and, well, a much higher probability of avoiding that 'I shouldn't have crossed the road' moment. Why Most Traders Get AUD/NZD Wrong (And How to Outsmart Them) Alright, let’s be real. AUD/NZD is the trading pair equivalent of a sitcom character that everyone misunderstands. Most traders approach it like any other pair, analyzing it purely based on technicals without factoring in those subtle nuances—like the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) vs. the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ). You see, understanding the economic dynamics between these two countries is crucial. Think of AUD/NZD as two frenemies constantly trying to one-up each other at a barbecue—each wanting to show off a bigger stake (pun intended). The Williams %R can help you spot who’s got the upper hand. When Australia is boasting about their inflation rate and the Williams %R hits extreme oversold levels, it’s a clear sign that the New Zealand dollar might be losing its shine. And here's where the smart play happens—start looking for a potential reversal. But, remember, timing is everything. Think of it like buying a pair of expensive shoes. You want to catch them just before the sale ends, but not so early that you end up paying full price. The Williams %R will give you that exact sweet spot—whether it's hitting extremes or just flirting with them. The Hidden Patterns That Drive the Market Ever notice how sometimes the AUD/NZD seems to drift sideways, making you question whether it’s actually alive or just snoozing? Well, range-bound trading is actually where Williams %R shines brightest. When markets move sideways, most traders lose patience (cue the 'watching paint dry' jokes), but this is your opportunity. Here’s the key: Use divergence between price action and Williams %R to identify when a range is about to break. If price is retesting a level while Williams %R shows a weaker momentum, it’s often a sign the party is coming to an end. It’s like that feeling when you see the snacks disappearing at a party—you know it’s time to either leave or secure your spot before it’s too late. How to Predict Market Moves with Precision If there’s one thing that makes Williams %R special, it’s the speed of reactivity. The indicator reacts faster than most oscillators, which is incredibly useful in forecasting AUD/NZD market swings. Imagine Williams %R as the guy at the party who can sniff trouble long before anyone else realizes that the host’s about to run out of drinks. Pro Tip: Instead of the usual practice of setting stop-loss orders right above or below key levels, use Williams %R’s readings to help optimize your exit strategies. For example, if Williams %R starts retracing from the extremes at a crucial resistance, consider pulling the ripcord earlier—reducing losses or even banking profits before the herd catches on. Williams %R + Volume: A Killer Combo Volume and momentum are like peanut butter and jelly—made for each other. Pairing Williams %R with volume analysis can add an extra dimension of reliability. When you see Williams %R dipping into oversold territory and volume is dropping, it’s time to prepare for an incoming reversal. This is your chance to outsmart the crowd. Most traders are only focused on one thing—price. By analyzing momentum and volume, you’re essentially playing 4D chess while others are still trying to figure out how to move their pawns. Ninja Tip: How to Use Williams %R in Conjunction with Economic News Let’s face it: Economic news and AUD/NZD go together like caffeine and sleepless nights. These news events can trigger sharp moves, which often catch traders off guard. Now, here’s the ninja trick—use Williams %R as a filter for economic announcements. Say the RBNZ is announcing their latest interest rate decision. Instead of trying to predict the news outcome, use Williams %R to determine if the market is already at an extreme level beforehand. If Williams %R is showing oversold readings, it’s likely that the market is already pricing in a dovish move—giving you the upper hand to either anticipate a reversal or at least avoid jumping into a bear trap. It’s like being at a movie where you already know the twist, while everyone else is gasping in shock. You’re not just ahead—you’re in control. Bonus: The One Simple Trick That Can Change Your Trading Mindset Most traders make a classic mistake: they rely on Williams %R in isolation. This approach is a bit like deciding to cook a gourmet meal with just salt. Williams %R works best when combined with other confluence factors—support and resistance, trend lines, and even Fibonacci retracements. Think of it like this: Williams %R is your trusted compass, but the map is your technical analysis toolkit. Use them together, and you’re not just navigating—you’re exploring a whole new world of trading opportunities with pinpoint precision. Final Thoughts: Trade Like a Ninja, Not a Newbie So, there you have it—the insider’s scoop on using Williams %R for AUD/NZD trading. Remember, trading is about more than just technical analysis; it’s about psychology, patience, and a little bit of humor to get through those nail-biting moments. When used properly, Williams %R can help you sidestep some of the classic pitfalls traders fall into—like buying shoes on sale that you'll never wear or hitting that dreaded 'sell' button by mistake. Be smart, stay nimble, and above all, keep learning. If you want exclusive tips, insider tricks, and a chance to explore the rare strategies behind Forex, consider joining our community at StarseedFX. We have the tools, the knowledge, and the witty jokes to make your trading journey not just profitable but genuinely enjoyable. Happy trading, and may your trades be ever in your favor! —————– Image Credits: Cover image at the top is AI-generated Read the full article

[jawbone-xylophone]

I definitely appreciate this post, but for my fellow kids who still have no idea what gay panic is I’m adding on the definition. Telling us the colloquial definition is wrong is helpful, yeah, but telling us it’s dangerous to be uneducated is less useful than giving a definition that explains WHY it’s dangerous.

Because you just know that most people on this website don’t look up things they don’t understand, they just reblog and move on at most. So! I’ll make this easy.

According to Wikipedia:

The gay panic defense or homosexual advance defence is a strategy of legal defense, which refers to a situation in which a heterosexual individual charged with a violent crime against a homosexual (or bisexual) individual claims they lost control and reacted violently because of an unwanted sexual advance that was made upon them.

And to make things worse:

The trans panic defense is a closely related legal strategy applied in cases of assault or murder of a transgender individual with whom the assailant(s) had engaged in or was close to engaging in sexual relations with and claim to have been unaware that the victim was transgender, producing in the attacker an alleged trans panic reaction, often a manifestation of transphobia.

Tl;dr, “this person is queer and it freaked me out so much I killed them” is a valid excuse in Real Murder Cases.

This is not unique to America, with South Australia banning the defense in 2020, New Zealand banning the defense in 2009, and the UK having a cute little name for it, calling it the “Portsmouth defense” or the “guardsman’s defense”.

From a quick look at the internet I’m not actually sure what the most recent case of it being used in court is, because American states are still voting on whether or not to ban the gay panic defense on an individual state-by-state basis, despite the fact that according to this article “In 2013, the American Bar Association unanimously approved a resolution that called on state legislatures to ban the defenses”.

2013.

I was in high school. That’s when Harlem Shake was a thing, Spiders Georg was born as a meme, and Pacific Rim came out in theatres.

I’m going to take a minute to plug my favorite book on queer history, The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America by Eric Cervini, if anyone wants to read up more on the topic.

📚 Others on the reading list:

Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States by Samantha Allen

The Men with the Pink Triangle by Heinz Heger

The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government by David K. Johnson

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts

Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton

The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies by Vito Russo

🎙️ For those of you who can’t read for various reasons, I have some podcasts:

Making Gay History

The Log Books

Memories from the Dance Floor

Good luck out there, my fellow queers.

The epidemic of young queers ignoring or cherrypicking queer history is really biting us all in the ass because Montana just tabled the bill that banned trans and gay panic, and many of the younger queers I’ve come across have no idea what gay panic really is, or what that means.

All they know about gay panic is the “Oh my gosh! I talked to a pretty girl/boy and I’m a girl/boy hehe so flustered” that at some point replaced the actual meaning of gay panic. Do you know how dangerous this is, that they don’t know of the dangers of trans and gay panic? It’s lethal.

As things in the US become more dire for the queer community, I’m begging the young queers: read up on queer - our, your - history. Talk to your elder queers. Really look into current politics surrounding the queer community. Don’t get all your info from social media, and absolutely do not take what you see on social media at face-value. Get yourself educated and prepared for what’s to come. It’ll save lives, I promise you. 

[xtruss]

‘It Felt Like Bad News After Bad News’: Why Record Numbers Are Leaving New Zealand

Many young people are lured by hopes of better opportunities in Australia as experts worry a soft economy means departing Kiwis may not come back

— Pete McKenzie in Wellington, New Zealand | Thursday 20 June 2024

Auckland, New Zealand’s Largest City. Record numbers of people are leaving the country amid cost-of-living pressures, with more than half of the recent departures heading to Australia. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock

When New Zealand opened its borders after the pandemic, the departures began immediately. For Kirsty Frame, then a 24-year-old journalist for the country’s national broadcaster in Wellington, the sense of loss was constant.

“It was goodbye dinner after goodbye dinner, leaving drinks after leaving drinks, and I think that started to take a toll.”

For her, the city’s beauty came from its people. “If what made Wellington so great as a place to live and work was my community, and I feel I don’t have that here now and there’s a lot less people my age, what do I want to do?”

She considered moving to Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, but heard it felt empty too. She mulled London, but Britain seemed too distant. Finally, in the middle of 2023, she moved to Melbourne.

The flow of departures from New Zealand has accelerated since then. Now, record numbers of people are leaving the country as cost-of-living pressures increase and residents grapple with limited job opportunities. Provisional figures from Statistics NZ show a net loss of 56,500 citizens in the year to April – up 12,000 from the previous record.

New Zealander Kirsty Frame moved to Melbourne where she found a higher-paying job and a flat with lower rent. Photograph: Penny Stephens/The Guardian

Separate figures indicated that half of those who left New Zealand recently moved to Australia. Now, experts are worrying that a grim economic picture means departing Kiwis may not come back.

“We can’t compete with the salaries in Australia,” says David Cooper, director of immigration firm Malcolm Pacific. “Some people view that New Zealand has gone backwards, and so they’re voting with their feet.”

Frame says it “just felt like bad news after bad news” in New Zealand, and in Melbourne she found a higher-paying job in communications and a flat with lower rent.

“I could be happy here for a long time. I think I will be here for the long run.”

‘Grass Looks A Lot Greener’ In Australia

New Zealand has a tradition of young residents travelling for an overseas experience. According to Gareth Kiernan, chief forecaster at economics consultancy Infometrics, part of the reason the recent surge hit record levels is a backlog of people travelling abroad after delaying their plans due to travel restrictions and uncertainty amid the pandemic.

Among them is Joshua Scott, who weathered the pandemic in Wellington, then decided to move to the UK. The prospect of European adventures and a larger city beckoned, and the 29-year-old settled in east London last year, and found a job in healthcare.

The shift was made easier by the number of New Zealanders making a similar move. “I haven’t really made new friends here, beyond getting to people that I sort of knew from Wellington,” he says.

Shoppers in Sydney. Photograph: Steven Saphore/AAP

But much of the record flow out of New Zealand, according to Cooper and Kiernan, is also due to the growing attraction of Australia. As New Zealand inches out a recent recession, many citizens have a perception that the cost of living is lower and salaries higher in Australia, says Keirnan, which might lead to more permanent shifts.

“It’s all very heavily in favour of people getting across the Tasman, because the grass looks a lot greener,” he says.

Emily Partridge is one of those who recently left New Zealand in search of opportunity. The 26-year-old, who grew up in Dunedin, made a professional calculation when the clothing company she worked for was sold to new owners.

“I was working in a relatively small industry in a small country,” she says. “Looking into the future five or 10 years, I’d think: I’m not sure how much growth there is down the line.”

She decided earlier this year to move to Sydney, where she works for a perfume brand.

Maia Vieregg, a 26-year-old geologist, doesn’t expect to return to New Zealand any time soon

“In New Zealand, you could either work for a cool company and get paid quite poorly, or you could work a job that’s less exciting but pays well. In Australia, because the economy is better, I can do both of those things.”

Fears New Zealanders Won’t Return

Maia Vieregg, a 26-year-old geologist, graduated university last year and struggled to find work in Wellington or elsewhere in the country. And when several conservative parties displaced New Zealand’s former progressive government at the last election, she felt “cynical and hopeless” about New Zealand’s future.

She had never planned to go overseas, but the combination pushed her to consider new options. In January, Vieregg moved to Newcastle – a couple of hours’ north of Sydney – where she found a job with a mining company that paid much better than anything she had seen at home. She has found Australia difficult to adjust to.

“New Zealand is a quite down-to-earth place,” she says, compared with Australia’s materialism. She plans to eventually return home – but does not expect that to happen any time soon.

Cooper worries that outflow might worsen an already severe skills shortage in the country.

“The record numbers of Kiwis leaving are not the desperate and dateless. They’re the young, skilled people,” he says.

“These are people who are well qualified, with good skills. It’s hard to attract the highly skilled people we need to replace the ones leaving.”

Kiernan agrees. “If we’re not able to keep people here because the economy isn’t going well and the cost of living is too high, it does reflect pretty poorly on our economic situation.”

For many of the young travellers, the pull of having children will probably be the driver to bring them home. Partridge does not expect to return to New Zealand unless she decides to have children, while Scott will also head back when he’s ready to start a family.

New Zealander Kirsty Frame moved to Melbourne about 12 months ago for financial reasons. Photograph: Penny Stephens/The Guardian

Frame, meanwhile, says: “What might bring me back is that feeling of missing my family, or a new chapter of my life starting. Or just feeling homesick for the country and the smallness of it.”

In the meantime, she does not even need to return to New Zealand to get a taste of home.

“There’s so many New Zealanders here, it’s kind of ridiculous,” Frame says. “Bumping into people from Wellington here is almost an everyday event.”

In recent years, New Zealanders – particularly young professionals and graduates – reported leaving the country due to high living costs and job shortages. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images.

Record Number of People Leave New Zealand Amid Cost of Living Pressures

More than half those who left recently headed to Australia with promises of higher pay and better working conditions

— Eva Corlett in Wellington, New Zealand | Tuesday 11 June 2024

New Zealand Citizens are leaving the country in record numbers, with large numbers heading to Australia, new figures show.

Stats NZ’s provisional international migration data shows there were an estimated 130,600 migrant departures in the year to April – the highest on record for an annual period.

Of those leaving the country on a long-term basis, an estimated 81,200 were New Zealand citizens – a 41% increase on the previous year. The figure is a rise from the previous record of 72,400 departures in 2012.

With 24,800 New Zealand citizens arriving during the period, that put the net migration loss of citizens at 56,500 – exceeding the previous record of 44,400 in 2012.

Overall, there was annual net migration gain of 98,500 as 154,900 non-New Zealand citizens entered the country. Migrant arrivals from India were the largest group, followed by the Philippines and China.

On Wednesday, Stats NZ also released provisional data on migration with Australia. It showed in the year to September 2023, 53% of New Zealand citizen departures were to Australia.

In recent years, New Zealanders – particularly young professionals and graduates -reported leaving the country due to high living costs and ongoing job shortages. It is also considered a rite of passage for many young New Zealanders to head overseas once they finish school or higher education.

Stats NZ does not gather specific data from New Zealanders about why they are leaving, but said it can look at overall trends.

New Zealand Tightens Visa Rules After Migration Hits ‘Unsustainable’ Levels! Net migration to New Zealand hit a near record high in 2023 after a new temporary work visa was introduced after the pandemic. New Zealand immigration minister Erica Stanford said the system would be changed to tighten visa rules. Photograph: Ben Mckay/AAP. Eva Corlett in Wellington and agencies, Monday 8 April 2024

“Historically, changes in migration are typically due to a combination of factors – those include the relative economic and labour market conditions between New Zealand and the rest of the world,” said Tehseen Islam, Stats NZ’s population indicators manager.

Brad Olsen, Infometrics principal economist, said there are two main factors driving the migration overseas.

“There will be younger Kiwis going overseas for an overseas experience, or a delayed overseas experience, because there have been heavy disruptions over the last few years on that front,” he said.

But half of New Zealanders are moving to Australia, which suggests a greater number of people and families are looking for opportunities and making a more permanent move, he said.

Australian employers have frequently attempted to recruit New Zealand workers with offers of higher pay and better working conditions.

Olsen said while it is normal for New Zealanders to leave the country, it will be harder to convince people to return, if there are ongoing issues around housing affordability and job prospects.

That ‘brain drain’ could pose problems for society as the population ages, Olsen said.

“We need to have as many young people as we can who are still part of the economy … who are being innovative and bringing their new thinking to the game so we can be more productive,” he said.

“If we are losing our young talent and we’re not able to attract them back it makes all of [that] so much harder.”

[allovertheworldblog]

South Korea to New Zealand via China

I take the brand new trainline to the airport.

The train is full of information, almost an overload.

On TV screens close to the door of each carriage departure times of planes are displayed.

Then it’s time for news headlines, sports news and world weather forecasts. 

The news tells me that Switzerland has leased a pier in the north east of North Korea; Seoul shares inch up on institutional gains.

The other stories deal with college tuition fees; military medical services; household debt; North Korean military intentions; and that South Korea is to develop an unmanned research ship.

The airport is big, but doesn’t feel overwhelming.

There is much thought given to the traveller and it’s almost a pleasure to be there.

I have no onward flight out of New Zealand, because I don’t need one.

The lady who is checking me in for China Southern Airlines tells me that I should have one.

She’s pretty nice about it. It’s an advisory, not a strict requirement on the part of New Zealand she tells me but I can’t check in without one.

A lady from Korean Air can sell me a refundable ticket for 1 million Won, about 680 Euro.

Instead I buy a flight online myself, from New Zealand to Australia for 100 Euro.

There are no newspapers on sale in the airport.

There isn’t even a bookshop, so I read the newspaper on the plane, the Global Times, a Chinese government sponsored newspaper. 

It’s full of wacky, weird and wonderful stories.

There’s a picture of Colonel Gadaffi playing chess with the Head of The World Chess Federation, who claims that chess is a gift from outer space, he also claims to have been abducted by aliens.

There’s news of a new high speed rail line to connect Beijing and Shanghai which goes at 300km/h, with tickets priced at 555 Yuan, or you can go business class for 1,750 Yuan.

There are also 250km/h trains that’ll cost you 410 and 650 Yuan depending on your class. 

They say there’ll be 63 pairs of trains running at 300km/h.

The article talks about the massive debts that the Ministry of Railways has incurred. A university professor is quoted talking about ‘air/rail intermodality projects’.

Another story deals with the 8,653km long natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China which cost $22Bn, which is designed to 'feed China’s growth’.

Other stories include two Siberian tigers that are due to give birth in China; flooding in Hunan; the latest on Syria and Yemen; baby trafficking; bribery and corruption; financing of a 'shadow internet’ by the US. 

The business pages deal with Chinese GDP, money supply, the CPI, and IPO’s; the growth of luxury spending in China, the fact that Louis Vuitton opened 27 shops in 22 Chinese cities in two years. 

The United States is warned to stay out of any regional disputes that China may have with Vietnam and The Philippines.

'It would not be a wise move’ for the US to get involved.

Events to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party take up a full page.

I get the feeling that this story is only covered because they feel they have to, it’s all very low key.

When we land in Guangzhou there is powerful humidity in the air.

We’re so far from the airport that we have to board a small bus to bring us to the terminal.

All the likewise pasty foreigners who are just transiting through China are put aside and our passports taken away.

An official appears 20 minutes later with a stack of passports.

She tries to give passports back to people based on their passport pictures, it’s all a bit hopeless.

She doesn’t believe that I’m the same person as the person in the photo on my passport.

Eventually she gives me my passport. 

I have about 7 hours to wait until my connecting flight to Auckland.