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eggoreviews · 6 years ago

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Nintendo Direct Feb 2019 BREAKDOWN

So, that direct was pretty okay right? If you missed it or even if you didn’t, I’m gonna be taking a look at everything announced and giving it a vague excitement rating! Enjoy!

Super Mario Maker 2

This was a pretty great way to kick off this direct. With the promise of a host of new features coming in this entry to build upon the first, including the introduction of slopes (finally) and a new texture pack based on Mario 3D World, I reckon this is definitely one to mark in the calendar. Mario Maker 2 is slated for a, gratefully soon, June 2019 release.

Excitement Rating: YEEHAW

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

The long awaited third entry in the MUA series, to the surprise of many, is in fact a Switch exclusive. For those who don’t know, this is a hack-and-slash fighting game, of course tied heavily to Marvel comics. This entry seems to be riding in off the back of Infinity War, with Thanos and the Black Order showcased as central villains. Honestly, this game looks like it could be fun, especially with friends, though I don’t think it’ll turn out to be anything special.

ER: Sure, why not!

BOX BOY! + BOX GIRL!

This adorable little puzzle platformer is making its debut on Switch this spring, with the promise of local multiplayer and more levels than ever before. Looks to be a goodun for fans of cute, minimalist art design and box-based puzzles and the like.

ER: Cool! Those boxes can move!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Ver. 3.0

Nintendo sort of slapped us in the face with a lovely, welcome announcement of a new Smash update! Oh boy! New features! And then they turn around and say they aren’t gonna tell us what they are.

Oh.

Kind of makes me question the point of putting this in the direct a little, but I’m sure whatever they’ll add will be cool! On top of that, a tentative release window for Joker was given (before the end of April this year) and we got a cheeky look at some of the new spicy amiibos, being Snake, Simon and the Pokemon Trainer lot.

ER: Yay?

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker Updates

Here’s one that definitely caught me offguard, but I’m more than happy with it considering I just picked up the game. Part of the new Captain Toad content is free, adding in proper 2 player co-op where you can both play as Toad. The paid ‘special episode’ stuff struck me as a little odd, considering this game was already a Wii U port that’s now getting even more paid DLC. Regardless, it’s not too pricey and you can even pick up the first DLC course now, with the rest coming March 14.

ER: That’s cool!

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

This not-quite-Castlevania game could easily be mistaken for a knock off of that franchise, but seems to have some defining elements of its own. The art style is bold enough to make it unique and the game seems to have an interesting variety of puzzles and side quests to make this more than just a run of the mill 2D platformer. An obvious choice for those with a Castlevania shaped hole in their hearts.

ER: You go bouncy vampire lady

Dragon Quest Builders 2

What is basically just Dragon Quest Minecraft with a story mode apparently, this oddly charming sandbox game was seemingly popular enough to warrant a sequel. And I won’t lie to you, it got me a little excited. As a fan of Dragon Quest its art style and general building-ness, I think I might have to pick this one up. And it’s got a cool retro map!

ER: I’m not excited, you are

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age: Definitive Edition

In case you hadn’t guessed, I literally adore Dragon Quest. The bright colours, the developed characters, the expansive world, awesome monster designs, great soundtrack and lame sense of humour, it all just gets me. It just sort of sucks I already own this on the PS4, where I can’t access all this new content. Oof. But yeah, pick this up if you can. You won’t regret it if you’re a JRPG fan.

ER: More like echoes of an exclusive age amirite

Disney Tsum Tsum Festival

Oh.

I won’t lie to you right now, nothing screams ‘soulless’ to me more than small Disney plushes with all the personality taken from them being stuck into totally random minigames. Don’t get me wrong, I love Disney (mostly through Kingdom Hearts but that’s besides the point) but I don’t think this elicited much excitement in anyone.

ER: I guess this exists, huh?

Starlink: Battle for Atlas - Spring Update

This was another one that surprised me. Considering how mind meltingly badly Starlink bombed, partly down to its odd reliance on the whole ‘toys to life’ craze that died out in 2013, I really didn’t think there’d be any further support for the game and they’d just sort of slip it under the rug. But nope, we’ve got some more Switch exclusive missions involving some more Star Fox characters, as well as the introduction of Wolf’s buddies. Honestly, I think Nintendo needs to do themselves a favour and just release a new Star Fox game.

ER: Great, if for some reason you bought this!

Rune Factory 4 Special & Rune Factory 5

Here’s a series I’d literally never heard of until last Wednesday, but the only way I can describe it from what I’ve seen is it looks to be a cross between Animal Crossing and kind of also Dragon Quest. You cook stuff, you farm stuff, you fight things and you can get married if you want, so definitely cool if you’re a fan of the series. But also cool if you’re someone who wished Animal Crossing was a bit more JRPG. Alongside the announcement of a remastered Rune Factory 4 later this year, as well as confirmation of Rune Factory 5 sometime in the future.

ER: Cool! Plants and stuff!

Oninaki

An action RPG with an intriguing premise and a rich, dark colour scheme, Oninaki seems very eager to set itself apart from other JRPGs on the market and still manages to stand out just a bit, even in a direct that’s basically been packed with JRPGs. Oninaki explores themes of reincarnation and grief, following the story of one grey-haired dude saving lost souls from a place called the Upside Down the Beyond to stop them from turning into monsters. Another one to add to the list if you like edgy RPGs!

ER: Edgy and cool

Yoshi’s Crafted World

Another update for this adorably cardboard entry into the long running Yoshi series, we’re finally getting close to actually being able to play it. Nintendo showcased some of the more interesting variants of gameplay, with the use of rafts, cars and planes definitely making this seem that there’s some substance here to go with the style. Alongside this, a demo released on the eshop so go play that if you haven’t already and decide if it’s for you!

ER: Wow, this game has a Labo costume! I’ll definitely grind for that!

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Finally some more info about Nintendo’s latest instalment in their anime Game of Thrones series Fire Emblem, we got a big ol infodump about some of the stuff to do with the game. While the video itself will explain everything better than I can, this time players will be able to interact with three kingdoms and three main protagonists, all of this centralising around one academy the game is set within. Overall, this game certainly looks interesting to play, but one I’m not quite sure I’ll be picking up just yet. Basically, if you’re unfamiliar with the games but love a tactical RPG, this one is a no brainer.

ER: Edelgard’s design is pretty cool. If one of them has to get into Smash, I hope it’s her.

Tetris 99

The game many have been calling Tetris Battle Royale, this is the very first Nintendo Switch Online exclusive offering and it’s totally free if you’re a member. It’s Tetris and you have to win against 98 other people, also playing Tetris. Nice!

ER: Tetris block for Smash

Dead by Daylight

As a game I got for free through Playstation Plus, it should be fairly obvious that this port isn’t one that excites me greatly, especially after seeing the quality of the graphics in the trailer the direct showed us. While the concept of an online match with several survivors and one killer sounds good on paper, it seems as if the quality of this port may leave a lot to be desired. But still, this could still only be early development footage and we really have no idea how it’ll look by the end.

ER: Tentative

Deltarune

Undertale is one of my favourite games of all time, so of course it excited me to find out I’d finally be able to play the sort of sequel, Deltarune, which Toby Fox has taken in the interesting direction of splitting the game into chapters. The first of these chapters will be free (yay I like free) and it certainly seems like the same abstract sense of humour and charm present in Undertale has been carried over to this sequel. Definitely one to watch.

ER: Always excited about cartoon doggo

Daemon X Machina

This mech-fighter has been floating around in various Nintendo directs for a fair while now and it’s encouraging to see the game come close to release. In a commendable move, the producer of the game has offered a free demo of the game allowing you to pilot your own custom mech and experience a boss battle in the demo known as ‘Prototype Missions’. The aim of this to gain feedback from potential players in order to make the game as good as it can be, which is amazing! It’s honestly a bit of a dream world where every game developer and publisher is as open and transparent as these guys, so kudos to them. As well as this, the game looks pretty heckin’ fun so it’s definitely worth picking up the demo off the eshop and giving these guys your feedback!

ER: Big ol’ robots hell yeah

GRID Autosport

As of yet, the Switch has lacked a realistic racing game. Enter Grid Autosport, which seems to be packed with a variety of cars, tracks and game modes, including all DLC from the original release of the game. Not one for me, but I’m sure there’s plenty of Switch owners out there whose racing fix isn’t quite satisfied by Mario Kart.

ER: V big if ur a car person

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

This game was notably created in collaboration with neurologists and those who experience psychosis in order to properly portray the main character and her mental health struggles. Following the quest of Senua as she fights to save the soul of her dead lover, this game created a huge wave through the industry when it first launched and won major awards for its artistic design and performance. While this isn’t one I’ve had the chance to try yet, it certainly looks as if it provides a brilliant, emotional experience from beginning to end.

ER: A lot

Mortal Kombat 11

This was one everyone basically already knew about, but this direct gave us a reminder of the release date and various features such as custom characters. For fans of this long running, brutal fighting game, get April 23 in ur brains.

ER: Cool

Unravel Two

This adorable puzzle platformer sees you and, optionally, a friend take control of two little creatures made of yarn as they navigate a colourful world and help each other pass various obstacles. For those fans of platformers like the Yoshi series, Unravel is definitely one to consider.

ER: Cool

Assassin’s Creed III Remastered

This is the iconic stealth fighting series Assassin’s Creed’s first outing on Switch, but if this footage is anything to go by, it’s not looking brilliant. While this once again could be put down to unfinished development, the first look at a game is often the most important, and a slow frame rate shown during the direct could mean this game isn’t what fans want it to be.

ER: Tentative

Final Fantasy Release Dates

For fans of the legendary and slightly intimidating JRPG series, several games in the series both new and old will be coming to the Switch in 2019:

Final Fantasy VII on March 26th

Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY! on March 20th

Final Fantasy IX is out now!

ER: Cloud is my favourite twink

Astral Chain

Admittedly, at a first glance, this title in a brand new franchise didn’t particularly excite me. But after having another look, I can definitely see where all the hype is coming from. This looks to be a hack-and-slash sort of action RPG with all the edgy story elements and setpieces of that ever so popular steampunk genre that players seem to love these days. With all these mechs, explosions and edgy voiceovers, it makes me think that Xenoblade Chronicles and Deus Ex had some kind of torrid love affair. On top of this, with a dev team that has Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101 and NieR: Automata under their belt, this is a game that will almost certainly impress when it finally comes out on August 30. Platinum Games might just have another winner here.

ER: Big yes

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

oKAY, let’s be real, this is the one that really knocked it out of the park. At least for me it did. As the final reveal, this made me scream a little tiny bit. I think we’d all heard the rumours of a 2D Zelda coming to Switch, but I was highly skeptical to say the least. But a wonderfully charming and artistically bloody P E R F EC T remake of Link’s Awakening?? HHHHHH. They even kept all the Mario enemies for some reason! Oh boy, whenever they release this in 2019 apparently really can’t come soon enough.

ER: AAAAAAAAAAAAA

That was all for this direct! I hope you enjoyed my silly, unplanned breakdown of all the cool things that happened. Til the next direct!

Oh and if you’ve got a craving for more game news, be sure to check back on my blog March 1st for the second ‘issue’ (lol) of my monthly viddy game mag!

Stay hydrated my dudes.

#nintendo #nintendo switch #Nintendo Direct #zelda #the legend of zelda #mario #super smash bros #super mario #astral chain #Final Fantasy #dragon quest #deltarune #eggoreviews #gaming

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park-lane-blog · 6 years ago

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Negativity

“I'll always use the negativity as more motivation to work even harder and become even stronger.” Tim Tebow

So, before I begin, I little something about me. If you’re reading this then we’re probably followers of each other on Twitter. I’m a Twitter veteran of about 10 years or so, but last year I shut down my account. I was surrounded on all corners by negativity, to be fair, mainly around politics and the state of our country. At that time in my life, negativity was the last thing I needed so closing down the account was the natural thing to do. However, what I did miss was the interaction with my fellow spurs fans. So, I opened a new account, set my name as Park Lane (more on that later) and proceeded to follow and interact with the Spurs family, players, ex players etc etc.

My name is Jon Matthews. I’m 38, a father of 3 and have been married to my wonderful wife since 2004.

I’m a relatively mild mannered person. Like everyone, I get irritated by the day to day grind of life but at the same time I try to stay as positive as possible. I manage a branch of a multi national builders merchant and have done for the past 17 years. I live on the South Coast in a sea side town in Dorset.

The reason I chose to go under a pseudonym is simple. I wish to stay as anonymous as possible. That way, most things aren’t taken personally and helps me to blend into the background. However, saying that, I’ve managed to rack up almost 1k followers since I returned to the Twitter format.

So, Park Lane? Simple. It was always our home growing up. When I say home, I mean our WHL home. I live in the South West, right down on the coast but we were frequent visitors to WHL during the 90′s (and still am of course) and my Dad always preferred the Park Lane end, so that’s why. These days, I’m more fond of the Paxton road end, especially now, looking across at the wonderful 17.5k single seater. Maybe one day I’ll venture across but for now, Paxton upper, 518 is my preferred home. I visit as much as possible. My kids are all Spurs fans. My Son comes to all the games with me and my girls accompany us from time to time.

The reason for my blog?

It’s really easy to get carried away in the heat of the moment. Especially off the back of a frustrating result. Case in point, last night. With our depleted squad, the first leg against a buzzing young side like Ajax was always going to be a tough ask. Even more so without Son and Kane. Lets not be stupid about this, most of our goals have come from them this season so my worry was always about where the goals come from and last night proved that point.

I had numerous heated debates last night on twitter about positivity and against those that used the format to basically abuse the team, manager, club etc due to how this season is ending. But after everyone had calmed down and gone to bed, I found myself lying in bed questioning why I found it necessary to argue, online, with complete strangers. They’re allowed an opinion aren’t they? Even if their opinion differs to mine. Of course they are.

That’s why I’m starting a blog. I shall attempt to write one after each game. Some will be long winded rants. Some will be quick thoughts. But either way, I aim to write them with a clear head. Maybe after a good nights sleep and with a calmer view on what has passed.

Firstly, my apologies to those who I swore at or insulted last night. I think most if any was in retaliation but either way, we need to stay calm don’t we?

So onto last nights game. I’ve already alluded to the fact that we were far from full strength. Let’s be clear. The squad isn’t good enough for a full on attack on multiple fronts. Yes, I believe we were wrong to not buy or freshen up the squad over the last two windows. I understand that it’s hard to buy players that maybe told from day one that their playing 2nd fiddle to the likes of Kane, Dele and co, but surely we need to think about depth? When you see certain players that have gone for a small fee or even a loan. Tielemans at Leicester for example. He would of added much needed flair and pace into our tired midfield. The whole Greilish debacle in the summer (holding them to ransom cause they were desperate and then not) plus a few others that now escape me. The fact is, there was business to do and we didn’t, for whatever reason. The game was a tough watch. I made a promise to a mate of mine who travelled with me to the City game, who couldn’t make last nights match, that if we couldn’t go together, then neither would. So instead we met up after work, got some pizza on the go and sat down with the boys and waited for the inevitable. I wont go through the game, we all watched it but my opinion was simple. We took too long to settle, we let Ajax get a foothold and their goal could and maybe should of turned in to 2 or 3. However, we dug in, survived without conceding any more. The second half was a different story. Sissoko made a huge difference in the mf and took complete control. Who’d of thought we’d be relying on him like we have been. I don’t think he’s our player of the season but lets agree to give him most improved! If it wasn’t for the lack of firepower up top, I really think we’d of got something out of the game. Let’s be fair, Ajax defended pretty well. Lucas ran and ran but without doing much. Llorente did all he could. Dele and Erikson, the two we really needed to stand up and be counted really didn’t. Are they tired or are we asking too much. Sanchez looked overwhelmed but I think the rest of the defence did pretty well. It was evident pretty quickly that a back 5 was the wrong tactic. Poch realised this, post goal and we looked a lot tighter. I really do hope that Jan is ok. That looked horrible on the tele. I can’t see him playing Saturday and hope that we go with Toby and Foyth at centre back. Start Davies at LB and push Danny (mom in my opinion) in to a midfield role. Like the 2nd leg, we’ll have Sonny back. Not only will that add much needed pace and a goal threat in the final 3rd, it should add a bit of confidence back into the team.

We’re at bare bones. That can’t be disputed. We have to make do with what we have now.

We can blame Levy for a lack of vision or commitment to the squad?

We can blame Poch for his stubbornness.

We could all probably make a list of reasons but at the end of the day, we don’t run the club. We don’t spend the time with the players. We don’t pick the squad.

So what can we do? We can support the team. We can maybe ease off the abuse of Tripper, Sanchez, Dier. Maybe we can all wait until the final whistle of our final game before we start an autopsy of the club. Cause let’s face it. Our squad maybe depleted, maybe not good enough, maybe carrying dead wood but we are 1-0 down at half time in a Champions league Semi final, sat 3rd in the best league in the world, have some of the most talented (on their day) players in Europe and one of the best managers out there. I’ve not even mentioned the state of the art training facilities, oh and the best stadium in the world!

Maybe we are all fickle bastards who like to moan a lot. We’re allowed an opinion. We’re allowed to argue with each other but at times, let’s not forget the bigger picture because at the end of the day, even if we lose the 2nd leg, even if we drop out of the top 4, we’ll keep coming back again and again.

Why? Because this is our club. Our one and only club.

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somefantasticplace · 4 years ago

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LIVING WITH MY WIFE AND HER FEMALE LOVER

His wife Sarah left him first for a builder and then for another woman. So what did funny man Vic Reeves do? He forgave her and now spends most of his time with her and her gay lover. The comedian tells Rebecca Hardy why he feels this unconventional set-up is bet for his children.

Vic Reeves' two-and-a-half year old son Louis is passionate about the children's cartoon character Bob The Builder. He watches the videos and knows the song: "Bob The Builder can we fix it? Bob The Builder yes we can." Vic sings in a different version: "Bob the Builder can we fix it? Bob The Builder can we ever."

Vic's wife Sarah ran off with a builder called Keith Burke four years ago. Vic hurt - a lot. When the affair foundered (she said it was a 'dreadful mistake'), he welcomed her back with open arms. Louis was the product of their reconciliation. They hoped a baby would help to cement things. Sadly, though, it didn't fix anything much.

Today, Sarah lives with her gay lover Julia Jones and Vic's two children - they also have a six year old daughter, Alice - in a sprawling house in Folkestone, Kent. Vic sleeps in the spare room. He has his own home in nearby Rye, East Sussex, but more often than not stays with Sarah and the children. He says he misses the children dreadfully when he's not with them. He continues to call Sarah 'my wife'.

"Some people might think it's weird but I like being there. I like being with them," he says. "Sarah and I split up at the start of last year. We'd got to a stage where we weren't getting on very well. I don't know if it was anything to do with Sarah's sexuality - it probably was. It's also very hard living with someone who's in the public eye the whole time. It's difficult to accept that your partner is constantly noticed. You might be in a pub and people say, 'oh look, it's you.' They home in on you and ignore whoever you're with.

"It was difficult for Sarah to find her own way. I think she wanted something else. She always likes to be doing something. We decided to separate and it was probably about six months later that she got involved with Julia. She was a friend before all this and she's still a friend. She's a really nice girl. It's great to be in this situation with someone you know rather than somebody you don't know.

"The children completely accept everything. Just because you have an unconventional life it doesn't mean the children are going to suffer. They are very, very happy children. I don't think they're aware of the sexual side. They're too young. It's not something we'll have to consider until later.

"Ideally it would be very nice just to have a family unit - mummy, daddy, kids. But when things get taken away, you can't just say, 'oh, that's it,' and walk away. You discuss it, talk about it and at some stage you have to accept the situation. It's like if you lose a leg, you fall over. There's only one solution, you have to get used to a prosthetic leg. If I'd said, 'right, I'm not having anything to do with this,' I wouldn't have been happy because I wouldn't have been involved.

"Now we just all much in together. I'm there all the time seeing the children. I get on fantastically well with Sarah and I've got two fantastic kids. I still put them to bed and take Alice to school."

Vic rarely reveals much about his private self. He is a comedian, a funnyman, a great British clown. With his partner, Bob Mortimer, he makes us laugh; side-splitting, stomach-knotting laughter that helps us forget our woes. Vic's woes are not part of the act. When his marriage fell apart, Vic kept his problems to himself. "I tended to deal with it on my own. I didn't want to get other people involved in a situation they might not want to talk about. I didn't want to bother or pester anyone. I get upset. I get as screwed up as anyone, but I'm not the sort of person who allows it to defeat me."

We meet in a London studio to discuss the BBC1 drama Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), which co-stars Vic and Bob. This, a remake of the cult late-Sixties series in which Vic plays the ghost of detective Hopkirk, who returns to haunt his former partner Randall, is their first attempt at television drama. The action turns on a sixpence from comedy to melancholy, for the absurd to the sad, and is, quite truthfully, absolutely brilliant.

Vic is a genuinely funny man. He is also decent, kind, unfeigned; the sort of bloke who often gets dumped on. During the filming of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), and following the breakdown of his marriage, Vic, 41, fell in love with actress Emilia Fox, 25, the daughter of Edward Fox. She played his fiancee in the series and soon they were engaged in real life, intending to marry this year.

On the face of it, it was a thoroughly modern, happy affair that suited everyone. Emilia was wonderful with Vic, and wonderful with the children. She didn't seem to bat an eyelid over the fact that his soon-to-be-ex-wife was now gay. They even went on holiday with Sarah, Julia and the children and planned to spend Christmas and the Millennium together. But the relationship had ended before the Christmas tree was decorated.

"You work really closely with somebody and get on with them really well and things occur. After a marriage ends you start to look, not necessarily for a replacement, but for someone else. Perhaps it's something you shouldn't do," says Vic. "In the end, I decided that I wanted to be on my own. I don't want to be unfair to Millie. We were in love with each other and it was very good. But there is this bond with the kids which is hard to explain. It's difficult especially if you've got young children who want and shall have constant attention. Even though another person can love your children, it's still a barrier. You're the one who's closest to them and I love my children more than anything else on earth."

Vic is speaking with unusual candour. It unsettles him. "I wouldn't like to make this a habit," he says. "I am very private and families should be private things." Vic was a happy child. He was born Jim Moir, sharing the name with his father and grandfather and, rather uncannily, a January 24th birthday. "Precision grinding, as someone one said". His father was a Linotype operator who practiced funny walks and worked nights, so he could spend the day with Vic and his sister Lois. His mother was a stitcher.

"We're very close still,' he says. "We were always out walking and looking at things. We were encouraged to be interested in things and it was fun. I'd think, 'I can't wait to go to the library tonight.' All my friends would go off to the ABC film club on a Saturday morning and we'd go off to visit come castle or climb a mountain."

His mother also held seances on a Sunday evening. "I believe in ghosts somewhere along the line," he says. "I'd like to think you're guarded by a dead relative or something. I think my grandad may be keeping an eye on me because wherever I've lived, I've always felt a presence, as if somebody in the room is looking at me, or I've heard footsteps. I can't believe that everywhere I've ever lived has had a ghost in it."

Vic was particularly fond of his grandfather. He was an eccentric who wore a deerstalker hat, made fly-fishing hooks and put them in, but never fly-fished. "We used to go on holiday together," says Vic. "He did things that would probably be considered quite politically incorrect now. He'd dress me up as an Arab boy and send me off begging.

"He'd also pick a word out of the dictionary and say, 'when you come back next week you've got to have put that word into context in a conversation.' I was ten at the time and he'd pick really hard words like conglomeration. It's good to make up games and involve yourself with your children.

"I quite often get dressed up as a pirate with Alice and tell a story to her and her friends - the sort of thing my mum would do with us. Children have an innocence and imagination that isn't hampered by pride. Then, when you go to big school you get it slowly beaten out of you. I wouldn't allow it to be beaten out of me. I didn't want to lose the fun I was having. I could see there were children around me who were starting to become more adult and more afraid of saying and doing something stupid. Alice has a lot of fun, but she's also got a very old head on her shoulders. We'll have a good laugh together and be stupid but she's also very wordly. We're very honest with each other. Alice wouldn't hide anything from me."

Vic dotes upon his daughter and son. "Love for your child is unconditional. It's not even considered," he says. Alice was born in May 1993, four months after Vic married Sarah at Woolwich register office. They'd been seeing one another for two-and-a-half years and Vic truly believed the marriage would last for life. "I tried to use my parents as a role model," he says. "They're the closest, most loving couple I've ever come across."

Sadly though, within three years Sarah had embarked upon an affair with the builder employed to renovate their home. She knew Vic would have tried forever to make their marriage work, but was having none of it. She blamed Vic's career, his close friendship with comedy partner Bob Mortimer, his relationship with Shooting Stars colleague Ulrika Jonsson. "We didn't have an affair," he says. "But we were very, very good friends. It's odd this job. You'll be working with somebody and see them the whole time, then you won't see them for three years. I've been meaning to give her a ring, but I lost her phone number. In fact, I've lost everybody's phone number because I lost my book.

"I've got a few good friends - five or six. The older you get the less you have to have. Bob's a good friend. When you work with someone that long and you get on with them, you become almost psychic. When we're doing live stuff I can predict what he's going to say and vice versa.

"We've never argued but we don't see each other all the time. We'll go for five weeks not seeing each other and then we'll spend a long period together. It's to do with timing and leaving space. There's a very good bond between us. He wouldn't be the first person I'd call in a crisis, though. Bob's not very good in a crisis. If I had some very exciting news I'd probably ring Bob, otherwise I'd talk to Sarah, my first wife

Vic didn't like Keith the builder. He particularly didn't like the thought of him being around his daughter. "Sarah didn't have Alice," he says of that time. "She stayed with me." He was overjoyed when Sarah tired of her affair and returned to the family home. "I think anyone would want their family to survive," he says. It was a difficult reconciliation. Friends found they could not forgive Sarah, but Vic stood by her. "She's my wife, and if you don't like her than I want nothing to do with you," he's say. Then, Louis was conceived so very quickly.

"It's an odd thing with boys," says Vic. "I wouldn't give Louis a gun or an Action Man but that's the way boys naturally go. His current fascination is with cars crashing, so it's "crash, fire". We were on a plane going to my dad's and it was really turbulent. I don't mind turbulence on a plane but there were a lot of very nervous people. Louis was sitting there saying, "plane, crash, fire." It was so funny I didn't want to say, "no, don't say that."

Vic patently adores being a father. I suggest perhaps he is so accepting of his wife's gay lover because she doesn't threaten his role as dad. "Yes, there is that," he says. "It is a lot easier." He is certainly not jealous, nor does he find the relationship an attack on his masculinity. "I would imagine some men probably would," he says. "I don't really think like that. I've never really done that beer-drinking, football crowd thing."

Is he concerned, though, that just as he tried to ape his parents' loving marriage, his children might use their mother and Julia as role models? "I'd probably hope Louis would be heterosexual from the point that I'd have grandchildren," he says. "If he was gay I'd want to help him. I'd want him to talk to me. He wouldn't have to hide it away. But it would make life easier if he was heterosexual."

Again, he starts to list Julia's merits. I'm sure he's right, that she is a lovely person. I also suspect kind, decent, dumped on Vic is trying to make the best of a mess. "There was something on Radio 4 the other day," he says. Ian McEwan was talking about his father. He said he was a brilliant character and that it was great when he saw him at the weekend. That he'd burst in smoking these fags and filling the room because he was a sergeant major and he bellowed. It made me think. There are parents at Alice's school who are working fathers and rarely see their children. I just muck in with my kids and see them as much as I can.

WEEKEND MAGAZINE, MARCH 2000

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zydrateacademy · 4 years ago

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Current Activities in Sims 4 #1

The Sims was never really a franchise I cared much for. They had some good city builders but Cities: Skylines dethroned them as the go-to. I remember watching my brother play the older Sims games and I never liked the idea of playing through the nuances of taking a piss and eating breakfast. I still don’t, so it should be no surprise that the first mod I got was the cheat console that allowed me to basically hack in a couple of those traits where my sims don’t need to sleep, eat, etc. Those are rewards that are typically only acquired when you grind through a few aspiration things, and a fair bit of them to boot. I didn’t take them all. My characters still need to take a piss and sometimes it’s prudent to have them sleep to shake off some negative emotions. So it’s not like I’m not doing any of the survival bits at all - I just got irritated by how quickly it was drained. In some of my early hours of gameplay I wrestled with 2-3 things hitting the red at the same time so my ladies would flail around doing normal survival stuff before leaving for work. Basically, I would only have a few minutes of actual, interesting gameplay. Which to me is typically exploring, meeting new people, grinding up skills, shopping, and with a certain mod... A whole lotta fuckin’.

That was quickly a second mod I got, and discovered I needed to also download a bunch of animation packs so my girls would do more than fondle each other in bed (and literally nothing else). That probably comprises most of my mods, as there’s not much in the way of creator content that I care about. Some neat clothing, but nothing I can’t absolutely live without. Instead, I went on a sort of brief spending spree to get a few of the DLC’s but right now they’re at full price, no sales, so I need to resist the urge to just drop another 200$ and call it a full game. I really need to wait for a sale. Because y’see, the creator gallery is invaluable to me. I can’t really figure out how to build pretty houses on my own, I can only modify what other people give me. However, so much of the good shit is locked behind an alert that says “This uses assets from the following packs: ALMOST ALL OF THEM”. Or rather, all the ones that add building pieces. So eventually I want most, if not all of them, in my possession. So as the lifestyle simulator thing goes, I’ve had a lot of fun recreating characters from my various stories and lore, as sort of alternative versions of themselves. I started with my usual go to but then imported Kiur Kenneth at one point, my Death Knight from WoW. She was a good experiment to have the “Erratic” trait, which suited her.

I later evolved into having actual original characters. Some of their names I don’t fully remember, but the kissing ladies above are original concepts. The gothy, dark skinned babe is Dana I think. A stay at home nerd of sorts, in theory she is living rent free because the girl she’s kidding is a secret agent that apparently gets paid very well. Kind of how I justified cheating in all the money so I can have them live wherever I want. I also tossed up a sort of thrown-together vampire trio. Was fiddling with the nudism thing that the sex mod comes with but I found that it doesn’t carry over when you’re not actively playing them. Every time I visit them, or get visited by them, they’re always wearing their standard stuff. Either way, once I got a few poly-lady households going, I finally settled down my gameplay enough to have a solo Trans girl whom is... basically me, and it’s scratched a fantasy that I’ve never been able to acquire in other games.

I sadly don’t have a frontal shot of her yet except for two things. One, just showing off how a bunch of gnomes really fucked my home up for a whole day.

Second, making out with one of many potential suitors, I’m not even sure which one I want her to properly date yet. The glory that is polyamory helps with this decision, of course.

Other than vampires and magic not being real (that I am yet aware of), this playthrough is basically me. I don’t know where exactly I’d get the 20000$ to have my own starter home at only 400$ rent, but this girl is basically living my life that I wish I could. Thanks to an intersex setting, she still has her penis just as I may in some years when life actually allows me to begin my transition. It’s let to some very fun encounters, and I can appreciate that I barely have to push the sex thing at all. I’m propositioned by the other characters most of the time when my girl is just on her computer programming games.

I wish I could show some of the actual nudity involved, because it’s fairly impressive for a six year old game and the animators can really make the simplistic skeletons dance in their favor. Sadly, Tumblr has lost its titties so I’ll need to find a different venue for that. I leave this post with one anecdote that I can’t stop giggling about. The sex mod adds peeping toms and tinas, thankfully I mostly just get the tinas (whom are incredibly hard to woo, most conversations put her in the negatives). Well, they do age and die apparently as an elder variant caught the above gal going at it with a different vampire. They had her fun, and she had her fun at the window and then went and dropped dead in the snow. Death came and claimed her, and I have a screenshot of it because it’s so goddamn funny. I made her tombstone read: “Died as she lived. Flickin’ dat bean”.

#Sims 4 #Sims

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queermtl · 5 years ago

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An interview with Montréal’s Cuarta Baby

Queer life in Montréal stretches far outside the mapped limits of the Gay Village, and a group of LGBTQ+ creatives are shining a light on queer expression that crosses boundaries, scenes and cultures. Rafaella Alegre (Cuarta Baby) is a nightlife organizer, ballroom house mother, outspoken activist and community builder (including co-founding the Montréal Kiki Ballroom Alliance), whose welcoming events have brought a uniquely Latinx flavour to Montréal. During a busy Pride season, we spoke with her about life in the city, the growing ballroom community and her upcoming Gasolina! An Urban Kiki Ball at La Sala Rossa on August 31, 2019.

1. Can you tell me a little bit about your personal history in Montreal? When did you arrive and what first caught your eye about the city to prompt you to move here from Peru?

I first arrived the day after Christmas in 2013. I had visited Montreal for some weeks in 2011 after being denied a tourist visa to go to NYC, and when I realized people could be openly queer or a woman without getting harassed on the street – or at least, way less than in Lima – I was like, ‘I need to get out of my city.’ Lima is a very hostile environment and even though I love my city and country, I needed to leave for my mental health and general well-being. It was the only city I had ever visited outside Peru at the time.

2. What prompted the creation of your party CRZN? Did you notice a gap in the LGBTQ+ community that needed to be filled in regards to Latinx people in Montreal? What does the name CRZN represent?

Exactly that. I missed the queer parties back home. The intersection of latinidad and queerness is very important to me, which I didn’t realize until I felt the void when I moved out. I found that other Latinx immigrant friends felt the same way, and they wanted a place to be able to perrear (grind) where the gender combination or femininity/masculinity of the participants would not be policed. I found that I hated the music in all the queer parties that I had been in Montréal and since I had nightlife experience from being a DJ for years in Lima, I figured I should do something about that gap.

I really didn’t feel the urgency to solidify those plans until the tragedy that happened at Pulse. There was a need of a space to heal through Latin rhythms and that’s when I felt I had to rise to the occasion and this is when CRZN was born. Corazón means “heart” in Spanish, and I named it that way out of being passionate Latin queers and how we feel happiness or sadness intensely, especially these particular feelings of mourning. In Latin America, we have a history of using dancing and music to cope and heal and that’s something that it has in common with the queer community. I was told by someone one time that they thought the name meant “cruising” which I love as well – it’s a queer space after all, and I like to think it is also the bisexual party of Montréal. There’s something about reggaeton that is so sexual and makes you wanna hook up, so cruising also goes well with the brand and mood of this event.

3. Cuarta Baby is also a cornerstone of the Montreal ballroom community. When did you discover ballroom? What pulls you towards it? What are you hoping to do with your involvement as voguer, walker and commentator?

Thanks for calling me a cornerstone, that’s huge. I still see myself, as my name says, as a “baby” in the ballroom scene, because I am. My involvement started officially at the same time voguing classes started in Montréal, so more or less two and a half years ago. But, even in Peru I dreamt about being a part of it. I watched videos of Leiomy and tried to imitate the movements, but at that time, ballroom was not experiencing this boom of popularity so there was not even a single video on how to do a dip and the information to learn about the culture was very limited. It was only later that I was able to really delve into it completely. I really see Twysted Miyake-Mugler as one of my main mentors in this learning process – which never ends!

I felt very alone with my feelings surrounding femininity in Latin America, where there’s a very specific way of being a woman – feminine, heterosexual, catholic – that probably only other latinas who were raised and lived there can understand. I didn’t fit that archetype in several ways and femininity felt more like a prison. It was only through voguing that I discovered a way of being femme that was liberating and subversive. Voguing really helped me find myself and being comfortable in my own skin and for that I will be forever grateful. That’s why the involvement of Afrolatinx and Latinxs in the beginnings of ballroom culture in NYC makes so much sense to me – it seems like in a way it’s a direct response to how our culture sees gender roles and expression. As a walker and a mother – though I prefer mami because it makes me feel less old! – what I want to do with my own participation is honour that legacy and that’s the main value of my kiki house Benetton.

As a commentator, I want to blend Latin rhythms with original and authentic vogue beats while chanting in Spanish or Spanglish, to breach the gap between the main anglo-scene and the different newish scenes in Latin America such as Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile and hopefully, some day Peru! – something me and my collaborator DJ Minas have baptized as vogueton. It’s kinda like the lovechild between the two most influential songs in music history (in my biased opinion): Gasolina and The Ha! Dance. As a voguer... well, it’s no secret that I’m not a performance girl and Face is my category, so even though I do not compete, I do vogue for fun. It is an almost sacred ritual to me where I explore and relate to my femininity, and it’s the only time where I feel like I understand myself and can show myself through movement. It's so hard to explain our complex reality with words, so I think vogue does through movement what poetry does through words.

4. Where do you see Montreal’s ballroom community going in 2019?

I’m hoping it will get bigger and that queer and trans people of colour want to participate more and more. It does take commitment and years to get better at it, but it’s such an investment in art and talent that it’s worth it! We want to see the walker quality and quantity rise.

5. How has the city changed since your arrival (and specifically since your involvement in both CRZN and voguing)?

Well, the percentage of bisexual men has increased considerably! Just kidding – or am I? I think both myself and the city has changed in different ways. My stellium-in-virgo ass is super obsessed with doing work for the community and stepping forward when there’s no one else doing it. We have a well-established party that doesn’t turn any profit but we’re able to keep it going and curate a unique space and sound where people feel safe. I’ve also been part of founding the Montreal Kiki Ballroom Alliance, which I think even though it has started only very recently, is already starting to do amazing work towards uniting and bettering the kiki functions in the city. So, on my end, I will keep trying to provide the city with events where you can perrear and voguear, be it a party like CRZN or a kiki ball like “Gasolina! An Urban Ball” or the “Labour Weekend Kiki Workshops”.

6. How has life in the LGBTQ+ community in Montréal affected you?

The privileged first world life that a queer can live here has made me really appreciate my opportunity of migration, but at the same time it has made me appreciate my upbringing in the third world because it made me who I am and has given me a grasp on reality outside of the North American bubble. If I could choose, I’d be born where I was born again and again. Sometimes the “gay community” – it’s hard to call it LGBTQ+, because it is very much centered around the G – I don’t know if “affect” is the right word, but it bothers me and makes me want to create my own social circles and surroundings! Ballroom is an entirely different story – it centers (or it should at least) the black transwoman experience and we are all guests there, but it definitely finds a way to include everyone somehow.

7. Who in the city inspires you?

Ballroom-wise, I am always inspired by Brian Amazon Disney and Chivengi. The way they move alone is truly beautiful and a learning experience on its own. My Benetton children – who I recruited for a reason – like Naomi. The way she commands a room is unbelievable! My music soulmate and collaborator Minas, who I organize CRZN and have infinite projects with. I know you asked Montréal, but I it wouldn’t be right in my book to acknowledge who inspires me in Montréal ballroom without mentioning the Toronto scene as well, so Twysted, Tamar, Ceasar and N9ne are huge ballroom inspirations! But, no shade, most of my inspirations for all things art and creativity are in Peru, New York and Puerto Rico.

8. If you were to tell visitors just arriving three things about Montréal that you love, what would they be?

I’d say first of all come during the summer and not to toot my own horn – but totally – I’d come when there’s a CRZN. Also, my bed is one of the best tourist spots out there, just saying.

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youngk93 · 8 years ago

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GET TO KNOW DAY6

@generickpopurl said:I demand DAY6 info! (It took every ounce of self control I have not to quote Give It To Me but Agust D omfg)

SO YOU WANNA LEARN ABOUT DAY6?

*sighs* [Deeply inhales]

DAY6 started out back in 2014 as a group called 5Live consisting of 5 members: Sungjin, Jae, Wonpil, Youngk and Junhyeok.

look how tiny they were. look at them. look at the smalls.

Anyway, they released one song, slapped in a new member (Dowoon) and changed the name to Day6. They debut on September 7, 2015 with the song “Congratulations”, an angsty breakup song basically saying congrats you’re doing well without me. You moved on so quickly and look how happy you are while i’m suffering. Congrats you’re a bitch.

Now let’s learn about the members~ shall we~~

SUNGJIN

aka bob (a nickname by Jae, who said he looked like bob the builder)

Born in 1993, Sungjin is one of our core vocalists. He is the leader of Day6. Honestly, Sungjin is such a cinnamon roll, and a lovely human being. He takes care of the group and make sure everything goes smoothly. Dadliest catch, to be honest.

So pure, so clean, so good for your soul.

Whenever he gets stressed, or angry, his eyes get wide and he runs his hands through his hair a lot. Likes to be sarcastic and mocking, but deep down he’s a real sweetheart.

He has three guitars named Atom, Baba and Baron. He has such a sweet voice, but when he speaks he has a Busan accent! Even moreso when he’s angry or talking to Dowoon, who is also from Busan.

JAE

aka swegcicken aka chicken aka

The eldest member of the group but often acts like he’s twelve. This is non-negotiable. He’s not someone to play pranks but he is funny at times. He’s a serious-type twelve year old. Very frequently has blonde hair, and is very tol.

Jae also hosts ASC every Tuesday with Jimin and Kevin. He is the most ‘Day6′ member of the group.

Loves wearing glasses because he thinks his eyes are small. He also stated at one point that his mom had also suggested that he get eye surgery to make them bigger but expressed that he doesn’t want to. (thank God, I think his eyes are fine).

Jae likes to make fun of Wonpil a lot for his clothing choices >___> but he’s a kind soul. mostly. Very meme-like. Has a weird outlook on love and is HIGHKEY every new fan’s favorite and a favorite among international fans because he speaks english.

He just wants to eat lobster well, meanwhile he’s buying 300$ sunglasses and popping out the lenses to make regular glasses (shown above) AND HE BUYS 700% PINK SWEATERS JUST TO HAVE AS A PROP FOR HIS DISS TRACK. JAEHYUNG STOP.

YOUNGK my boy :’)

aka brian aka burger king aka nobody calls him YoungK everybody calls him Brian and he doesn’t like it. The nickname stems from his old group 3rdDegree which was from his time in Toronto. (Where he met his BEST friend int he entire world Terry He)

(That’s Terry)

YoungK and Jae used to fight sometimes due to misunderstandings, but YoungK is someone who will always say sorry first if he feels like he did something wrong. Absolutely selfless.

He also writes every Day6 song Well, if you said the statement you wouldn’t be wrong, but has also written songs with Sungjin and Wonpil, but it’s always Youngk’s name slapped on a song. Apparently goes off and cranks out songs (even when they’re filming MVs this boy never stops)

He never sleeps, eats even less, and still goes to college. He is the unstoppable man. THE PROBLEM WITH YOUNGK IS THAT, THROUGH ALL THAT I FEEL LIKE HE KNOWS HE’S SO GOODLOOKING. I FEEL LIKE HE JUST KNOWS WHAT KILLS US AND DOES IT ANYWAY.

Used to wear bandannas a lot, and there was a point in the timeline where he wore chokers before the rest of the members and killed us all dead in our tracks. He is my sweetheart. Also, Youngk has stated that he wants to color his hair every color before returning to his normal black hair. I approve.

YoungK plays the bass, but that’s because Jae got the part for guitar like he wanted. TBH YoungK has played a ton of instruments, it seems to come naturally for him. This kind of man needs to be stopped.

He LOVes to eat and doesn’t even stop when singing.

His vocal range goes from deep in the abyss to the high heavens and every buttery note in between. There is not stopping him.

Also, Youngk has a very stone exterior, especially when the group is making jokes and everyone (incl me) is laughing so hard and he’s just :| (start at 21:50 for that one) EXCEPT THAT ONE TIME THAT SUNGJIN MADE A SEXUAL JOKE AND YOUNGK STARTED SCREAMING AND TRIED TO COVER BY SAYING HE WAS SCREAMING ABOUT THE FOOD BUT YOU AIN’T FOOLING ME. 45:58. even sungjin says “is this too sexual?” (with his mouth full of all things)

YoungK is the president of the Dowoon fanclub.

WONPIL

huehue the man that you like, right?

aka Little Pencil (a play on his name), Sharkman (give by jae wth), 왕피리 (a nickname given by Youngk meaning King Pi-ri) and 피리미리 (a nickname he... gave to himself. he used to say things like 피리미리 is hungry~~)

Wonpil is 100% pure sunshine and 100% sin and takes no prisoners.

I’ve noticed that Wonpil kind of acts like he’s drunk a lot, he’s very happy-go-lucky and is the energy pil of the group. If you excuse the pun.

he has also started wearing chokers recently.

Firsthand account: at the SAME concert, he both cried because he was so happy, shouting “I really didn’t want to cry!” and then a song later was grinding on our makne. Let that sink in for a little bit.

the aegyo from this boy is deadly. (28:37) be warned this is so deadly. i’m telliNG YOU I’M TRYING TO WARN YOU ABOUT THIS

This entire video, Wonpil just kind of sings but he looks drunk. That’s pretty normal.

Wonpil might not be the aegyo king (see youngk about that) but he’s pretty cute on a normal basis! (youngk is more fanservice, but wonpil is just... always cute?) But always deadly. I have another personal acct where he just... moans in the middle of a song... on purpose... and the members were not even prepared... but then they made it a thing... ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ

Wonpil has some killer vocals and plays both piano and synth.

Wonpil also unbashedly loves dowoon to the moon and back but dowoon will deny him every single time (meanwhile letting YoungK sit on his lap multiple times lol)

DOWOON

our other Busan man who Youngk described as the ‘true leader’ of Day6 due to his essential role as the drummer! Dowoon is the youngest of the group and an accidental walking meme. Too pure for his own good and yet tainted by his hyungs. Apparently he is a sarcastic bastard backstage but onstage he is cute and fluffy until he started wearing chokers and see through shirts then it all went to hell in a handbasket from there

best face.

Dowoon... i love him. everybody loves him. he gets the most cheers in the concerts because everyone cheers for their bias then cheers again and extra loud for Dowoon! he is so cute and so ㄷㄷ not cute, very over the top sometimes. lowkey savage. I don’t have much to say about him honestly, because he keeps his personality pretty lowkey onstage.

He doesn’t sing in the band, but has been taking vocal lessons so come May we can expect him to be singing a few lines. Fingers crossed!

Former member Junhyeok left the group in February of 2016. The ‘statement’ given said it was because he was in a relationship with a fan but i think my former neighbor doesn’t like all the cameras and lights of fame. He later signed on with a smaller group Windfall, which may have changed their name to BeBlossom, which is his current band. (I say may have because I’m not sure if they did, or if BeBlossom is an entirely new band). He and wonpil used to get along very well!

DAY6 THEN RELEASED LETTING GO. WHICH EVERYONE THINKS IS AN HOMAGE TO JUNHYEOK AND IT MIGHT BE BUT WE DON’T KNOW WE WERE ALL CRYING ANYWAY.

January gave us "I Wait" which is arguably ROCK. This became an Anime opening meme. Look it up. It's everywhere. It works. I love it. B side track was called "Winter is Gone" and it was SO SAD. TEARS. TEARS EVERYWHERE. MAYDAY! MAYDAY!

February gave us "You Were Beautiful" And in the storyline we return to the same couple from Congratulations, in which it oozes feels and tears. Tissues necessary. Nobody was expecting it. B side was called "My Day" and YoungK said he wrote it about a girl he liked and it is the cutest song on earth.

THIS MONTH, we were hit with "How Can I Say?" which is another hard rock sound that only got approved a week before it was set to come out JYP stoP STRESSING DAY6 OUT LIKE THIS STOP IT.

B side's track was called....... what is english... 그럴텐데..... another sad song. They just know how to hit your feels every month istg

January was " I don't really love you anymore..." February was "Our memories were good..." March is "Ha~~ I don't love you anymore sorry not sorry byeee"

LISTEN. LISTEN.

SOMEHOW DAY6 KEEPS OUTDOING THEMSELVES EACH MONTH. YOU THINK YESS THIS IS THE MONTH TO BE THE BEST BUT THEN NEXT MONTH COMES OUT AND YOU'RE LIKE ??? BUT HOW?? IS THIS BETTER THAN LAST MONTH??? YOUNGK HOW DO YOU DO IT??

This is Day6. Any questions feel free to ask!

#day6 #junhyeok #dowoon #wonpil #jae #youngk #sungjin #everyday6 #march #february #january #almost wrote april #shinji writes #generickpopurl

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freelance-arc · 5 years ago

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Update Days. And a Badge!

Heyaaaa!

Yo yo, boys and girls, how are we? All good I hope? Isolating safely, using the downtime to learn and improve ourselves? Cos if you aren’t, you should be.

Put down the phone, pick up a book!

I apologise for my absence lately. Writing and blogging’s taken a bit of a backseat I must admit. I’ve invested all my efforts into studying and learning, and then I got injured at work too, which pissed me off.

I decided to use the time I was having off to heal as effectively as possible, and so I doubled down on my studies. I think my wonderful better half is sick to death of me sitting on the laptop all day, but I hope she’ll see that I’m trying to make us a better life. And as quickly as damn possible!

So what have I been up to? I hear you all clamouring for my information from afar…

I took the plunge on some web hosting. After a bunch of digging and research and weighing up pro’s and con’s, I took out a decent looking package with Hostgator. The really good thing about it is that it’s on a recurring monthly payment. It’s more than the price they try to hook you with, but I’m not paying for 36 months upfront - no way - because I don’t have that cash spare. But for 17 squids a month, I’m now online, hurrah!

Oh, and I documented the whole process as I did it, so I could share it with y’all later. Working out hosting has honestly been a real pain in the ass, I’m glad it’s sorted - for now.

Then I’m setting up the site, and learning how to drive Wordpress. Like most things, it’s easy when you know how - otherwise learning takes AGES.

Everything I achieve throws up something else. I find a really good drag and drop builder for Wordpress.org, but then it’s like ‘insert your logo here’. Cool and turbo safe.

But what is my logo? How does it fit with my other branding? What are the colour schemes? Can I find a template to match the brand theme? What pictures do I use- and why is the one I REALLY like all grainy when I upload it?.... Blaaargh!

Fire up photoshop and start a branding campaign. What are my colours? What is my tagline etc… So I’ve finalised my colours and font, got a watermark for images.

In fact, I have to say the progress I made on photoshop recently is really good, and something I’m very proud of.

Hosting - sorted ✅✅

Photoshop - Intermediate ✅✅

Website - Halfway ✅✅

Ten days ago all of these were at ZERO.

Yesterday I felt very down in the dumps and I made a list of all the other things I HAD achieved. (I’ve been looking for another day job, and tbh the jobs market is a horrible place and makes me feel like shit every time - so I needed a little pick me up)

*Double (( It’s my own fault the jobs market makes me feel worthless because I don’t have the skillset that’s needed to be valuable - YET. But that’s why we’re here putting in the graft. Rise and Grind yo))

I designed myself a badge, a well-done badge for all the thing’s I’ve done so far. SO I’m feeling smug cos I got my smiley star, but also because I MADE that smiley star!

Well done! 10/10, Indeed!

I finished Way Of The Wolf by Jordan Belfort. I’m not a very fast reader, largely because I don’t dedicate too much time to it, cos I’m always doing other things. At least for the time being anyway.

But wow. What an EXCELLENT book!

The whole thing is sales focused, but the principles within it can be used anywhere. It’s well worth knowing these hints and tips because most of us, most days, have to influence someone somehow. And once you see it, you start to see the straight-line system EVERYWHERE.

Seriously. I should have read this book years ago (I wouldn’t have done because my mind wasn’t open to it). It is fantastic. And is worth every moment you dedicate to it.

That, Amigos is a brief update and rundown of what’s been happening.

Most of these points will be expanded on in later posts, but for now I wanted to say heya and let you know what’s occurring.

Please like and share and follow Freelance Arc for more!

Build Your Dreams.

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dorothydelgadillo · 7 years ago

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Why Being a Remote Worker Makes Me a Better Parent

All Skillcrush employees spend a few hours each month helping our customer support team answer emails. It’s a great way to learn more about our students and about the kinds of challenges facing people breaking into tech. I’ve noticed there’s always a common thread in the questions I answer—people want to be happier and more fulfilled with the work they’re doing. It sounds simple enough, but during the time I’ve worked for Skillcrush I’ve noticed there’s something unique about tech jobs, particularly those offering remote or flexible work arrangements, when it comes to defining and achieving happiness.

When people describe their dream job, they tend to mention better pay, work that’s creatively or intellectually engaging, and a job that lets them integrate their personal and professional lives. These first two things can be found in plenty of professions, but the third is elusive, particularly if you’re on the 9-5 grind. Workers, both young and old, are seeking out flexibility in all aspects of their lives, and speaking from personal experience, the rewards are valuable in ways that you might not expect. Beyond making it easier to run errands or schedule dentist appointments, a flexible job that lets you build your work life around your personal life ultimately makes you better at both. Sure, it’s hard to hit all three points on the “perfect job” triangle, and it’s easy to settle for two out of three, but with industries like tech offering more and more opportunities for flexible work, why should settling be the norm?

In my past work experiences, “personal” was almost a dirty word— indicative of frivolous drama that was strongly discouraged from seeping into the office. But employees are people, and it’s totally logical that a healthy personal life is an essential part of a successful professional one. What makes a healthy personal life, though? Part of happiness is having time to take care of yourself, and the space to cultivate relationships with friends, partners, or families, but there’s another component of personal life that’s often overlooked, one that—in my own life—remote work helps make possible.

Seven years ago my oldest daughter started school. At the time I was five years into my life as a stay-at-home parent and school was a big transition for us. My wife and I had both had a lot of negative experiences during our own school years, and we wanted to be supportive advocates for our daughter whenever possible—the problem was, we just weren’t sure how to build that lifestyle. Since I was at home, I was able to answer the call when our Kindergarten teacher asked for classroom volunteers, and this ended up being our entry point into the world of parent volunteering. For the first three years of our oldest daughter’s schooling I volunteered at least a couple times a week in her classroom, and I did the same thing when my youngest went enrolled a few years later. Parent volunteering wasn’t something I had any background in or ever expected to be doing, but my role evolved naturally, and before long I found myself developing lasting relationships with both of my kids’ cohorts. I helped with art projects, facilitated reading groups, chaperoned field trips, and pretended to know how to do addition and subtraction. And sometimes—my most favorite times—I’d just end up sitting around with a group of kids, talking about their days, their lives, their families, and who they were as people.

When the school day was over and I was home with my own kids, I was able to keep them occupied while my wife helped with school fundraising, email communication, and event planning through the Parent Teacher Organization. My being home gave us the flexibility to make this work, and as the years went by, we realized we’d added a whole new dimension to our personal lives—we were active members of a community where we made an appreciable difference in other people’s lives, while they did the same in ours. Community is now a hugely positive aspect of my personal life that I didn’t know was missing until I embraced it.

During my first year of Kindergarten volunteering, a girl in my daughter’s class started calling me “Bob the Builder,” a nickname that spread throughout the classroom and persisted over the next few years. Today, walking across campus, I’ll still encounter 7th graders from that Kindergarten class calling out to me, “Hey Bob!”, which might seem like a small thing, but for me it’s a reminder of how those few hours a week I spent volunteering, formed lasting bonds in my community. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a lot of the depression and anxiety I was prone to before having school-aged kids has melted away in the years since. Being plugged into a larger community and feeling like I was helping others in a direct way has played a big part in making me a healthier and more complete person.

However, it can’t be understated how fortunate I was being able to participate at the school—my wife’s career made enough money to let me stay home with our kids and we were both on board with supporting one another to make it happen. I remember one day in a classroom when a normally chipper boy looked like he’d lost his dog. I asked him what was wrong, and he said he was mad that his mom wasn’t there to volunteer. I knew that his mom was a concerned and active parent, but the simple fact of the matter was she had a job that didn’t allow her to get into the classroom easily during the day. And that’s exactly what gave me pause as our kids got older and I started thinking about going back to work. In every scenario I played out in my mind I saw myself having to give up volunteering. If I was going to start working outside the house it would have to be during the school day while my kids were gone, meaning I’d have to walk away from a part of my personal life that had become so important to me.

Still, with our kids on the cusp of their teen years and new expenses like college looming in the distance, our family needed to start generating extra income, so it seemed like I’d have to make a painful choice. Fortunately I discovered the “neither/nor” option of remote work, and that choice never had to happen. I now work remotely part-time, I’m able to generate the missing source of income we’d been looking for, and I can do it all without upsetting the personal life I’d established before returning to paid work. It was a solution that couldn’t have come at a better time, too—right after I started working for Skillcrush my wife took a new management job with a longer commute, which meant our family’s need for flexibility was at an all time high. Being able to work from home—in-between my other personal priorities—was really the only way I was able to return to work successfully, while picking up the slack at home and sticking to my volunteer commitments.

I’m thankful for this luxury that remote work made possible, but really, it shouldn’t be a luxury. Having the room to participate in our communities through volunteering and service projects (and benefitting from the personal growth that comes with them) shouldn’t be the domain of a lucky few—it should be embedded in the fabric of all our work lives. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that, by leading the way with remote work and alternative work schedules, industries like tech aren’t just offering a small convenience to their employees by letting them commute from their bedroom to their living room. They’re actually opening the door for a radical reframing of what it means to work and how our work relates to the rest of our lives.

If you put it under a microscope, you start to see that the conventional Monday through Friday, 9-5 office—with its rigid distinction between personal and professional—is a relic of extreme gendering, where males were assumed to be their family’s breadwinner while women attended to domestic tasks. In that model, flexibility wasn’t so much a non issue as it was non negotiable since roles were so strictly enforced. But as we grow past gender caricatures, as family models continue to expand and change, and as individuals take on the roles they’re best suited for, the need and desire for each of us to wear many hats increases. Remote work then is the clear path for climbing out of the limited “Honey, I’m home” model of a previous century, and into a new paradigm where we can all live our lives in the fullest, most befitting way.

And part of that fullness is community participation. Now especially—in light of our national climate and the alienation and isolation that lurks around every corner—there seems to be a desire to get involved in causes and institutions that can directly help others, where the results of our efforts are tangible and where we can be reminded of the ways in which we are all connected. Whether that’s through volunteering at a school, participating in a community garden, being a local Big Brother or Sister, or any other opportunity that speaks to you—the chances to reach out and engage are all around us, but for people with rigid work schedules it’s just so much harder to get involved.

Remote jobs give people the freedom to fit a few hours here or there into their daily schedule, making it possible to incorporate community involvement into the natural rhythm of the week. But that doesn’t mean remote workers aren’t also committed to their paid work. Working remotely isn’t working less and it’s not working easier, it’s just working smarter. It’s realizing that the artificial constraints of a physical office aren’t just unnecessary, they’re also inhibiting. And that we can be productive, successful professionals while living fulfilling personal lives. That in fact, each of these roles directly supports the other.

from Web Developers World https://skillcrush.com/2017/12/20/why-being-a-remote-worker-makes-me-a-better-parent/

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scottadcox · 7 years ago

Link

TLDR Version

Got up early.

One kid went 1-2 for a first and a second.

Other kid went 2-1 against a single opponent for a first place.

I went 2-1 with a first and a second.

Had a lot of fun. Learned a lot.

Long Version

We headed out for Jacksonville at 5:30 am the morning of the event, stopping by to pick up Coach Frank and The Hurricane along the way. Parking and check in went really smoothly, and man…UNF is a really beautiful campus! I was competing in my very first competition, as were the two oldest girls, and all of us were right on the cusp of a weight class, so we went for a quick urination break and came back to have our weight right on.

All I’d had that morning was a half cup of coffee and a boiled egg, so I was ready to eat. Luckily, I wasn’t competing until the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to get food and water in me.

Bug was first up in no-gi, and the girl she went against was awesome! I was glad we’d entered her into the Novice bracket with no submissions. She’s been exposed to BJJ for 10 months or so, but she really hasn’t shown any kind of spark until the first of this year. I think her opponent’s aggression was a little bit of a wake-up call for her. Bug would escape mount, but end up getting swept every time and was unable to pass the girl’s guard. On one hand, it was tough to watch. On the other, it was awesome to see her continue to fight (and fight and fight) a losing battle.

Her next match was against the same girl, and we were really proud of her for going back out there knowing what was coming. She showed more aggression this time and scored a few points herself, but the result was the same.

Second Place Novice No-Gi

After those first two matches and the podium pic, we found out she still had another match. This one was a different story–the little boy she was grappling with seemed to be much more on her level. She did a great job of listening to Coach Frank throughout the match and executing the moves he was calling out. She ended up winning, and to our surprise was awarded first place in that division (a sword). I’m not sure how NAGA brackets for kids, but we thought maybe her first two matches with the more experienced girl were just to give her opponent some matches in a bracket that was empty…maybe? Dunno, but she was really happy with the experience (and getting to pick the color of her sword), and we were really proud of her for not giving up in the first match and being brave enough to go out for another whoopin’ in the second.

I hope she found a switch inside herself she didn’t know was there before. What a great confidence builder to know you can fight through and survive difficult situations and come back for some more!

First Place Novice No-Gi

There were a couple of other kids competing on our team, and they did great as well. It was awesome to see the kids cheer for, console, and congratulate their teammates. This is the first time any of our kids have ever competed in a sport, and I loved seeing and feeling the nervous energy, excitement, and comradely come out of them. It was palpable.

Pea was up next in the gi division. While we had a good idea going in how Bug was going to respond, Pea was more of a wildcard in my eyes. She is really focused and serious in training, but she hasn’t really felt that feeling of being dominated by an opponent before. How would she respond if she was put in the same situation Bug was in during her first two matches?

She was pretty evenly matched with her opponent, and won the match with a take down, sweep, and mount points. But it was a really good fight and a challenge for her. She ended the match stretched out on the mat and tired. They were the only two girls in their division, and in order for them to get two matches they had a second with each other. Different story this time around–flipped script. They ended up needing a rubber match to decide the winner of the division.

Pea was ahead on points with about a minute left and was controlling her opponent’s posture from guard really well. The other little girl started crying, but she didn’t quit. It was hard to watch, but I was so proud of that little girl for hanging in there and fighting, fighting, fighting to break that guard. I was even cheering for her a little bit when Pea went for a sweep and the girl defended it.

I was proud of Pea for not letting up while the match was going on, but I was even more proud of her when the match ended. She let her empathy for her opponent come out and started crying as well, hugging her and telling her she was sorry and hoped she was okay. They got up on the first place podium together for the awards photo, which I think was appropriate for their three hard fought matches.

First Place Beginner Gi

Plenty of downtime between the kids competition and mine. I’d heard lots about anxiety and nervousness for your first competition, but I didn’t think it would be a huge deal for me. True, I’ve never competed in wrestling, judo, or any sort of combat-type sport, but I have enough experience competing in general that I didn’t expect to be very rattled. I’ve put my body in harm’s way against guys who were out for blood countless times, and it’s not like these guys were going to be punching me in the face or anything.

It’s the gentle art.

The last time I was truly nervous before an event was in 2006 when I was ill-prepared for a triathlon, didn’t believe I could do the distance, and didn’t even want to be there. I’m usually pretty good about believing in the work I’ve put in during training, having a game plan in mind, and feeling comfortable tweaking it midstream if I feel the need.

Honestly, watching the kids was much more nerve wracking that competing myself.

My plan was to get on top and stay on top–passing if I’m in the guard, and taking any submissions that were presented to me without trying to force my way into them. I think I was pretty well prepared for the most part, realistic about my ability in the take down game (average at best), and confident of my ability to maintain a dominant position once I got there.

I was not prepared for the difference in competition and training in the gym. Yes, the intensity is definitely amped up, but I was ready for that; even counting on it. I felt that my conditioning would probably be better than most people in my divisions, and my “calm-before-the-storm” level head would keep me from adrenaline dumping the way others might.

The difference I wasn’t prepared for was the amount of time white belt matches spend in closed guard. I very seldom use closed guard in training for any extended period of time,mostly because it just isn’t very fun. We play King of the Mat a lot, and I always choose open guard because it’s more dynamic and energetic. If I could change one thing about my training, I’d have drilled the crap out of three or four options from my back and been able to cycle through them on auto-pilot. I had a definite plan for passing closed guard from the top, but should have spent more time thinking about the bottom.

More about this in summary of my last match.

My first match was no-gi against the only other competitor in my division. He carried a lot of his weight in his upper body–shoulders and neck, not gut. More of my weight is in my lower body. Pre-match pep talk from Coach Frank was, “Get in a dominant position and get heavy, squeeze, and start looking for submissions.”

Exactly what I’d been planning.

I’m not very confident in my take downs, but I attempted a double leg. I wouldn’t call it a “shot”, just a half-assed attempt. My lack of confidence was probably apparent. I was, however, confident in my ability to defend and my cardio. He had his arms near a guillotine, so I thought he may go for it, and as I was thinking that and grabbing his arm to defend it he pulled guard and attempted it. One point for him and encouraging for me–at least I didn’t lose the take down, I’m on top, and am ready to start working a pass to take the point lead.

I got my head out and started to build my posture, getting mentally prepared to work my higher percentage passes.

Credit to my opponent for this–40-49 year old beginner weighing ~190 pounds immediately goes for a gogoplata!!! Dude was game!!!

Luckily for me, The Missus also trains and is super flexible. She loves that gogoplata type stuff, and I’ve had lots of practice with her trying to get it on me. My hand instinctively came up and defended my neck. Another point for him for the submission attempt, but I was able to push his leg away and create a scramble situation, settling in half guard.

I’ve been working on half guard a lot, from the top and the bottom, so I went into auto-pilot mode here–established cross face and the under hook on the open-leg side and put his back to the mat. As I flattened him out and glanced up at the time to see there was ~2:30 left. This is where I wanted to be–on top with lots of time to work. I knew I was down by two points, but also knew all I had to do was pass this half guard and we’d be back to even. Then I’d be a submission attempt away from the win.

I know it’s boring to watch and probably more boring to roll with, but I pretty much just grind. The difference between training and competition is that in training I try to adjust my pressure to the opponent–just enough to make them give up something to work with. In competition, the plan is all the pressure the whole time. I was a little concerned that the matches would only be 4:00 long, but there was plenty of time left in this one, and I liked my chances and told myself to be patient, conservative, and methodical.

He went for the lock down on my trapped leg (exactly what I would have done without the under hook), which was an issue for working my preferred pass. Bells went off, but it wasn’t a ton of pressure on my knee, so I doubled down on the commitment to pressure and started trying to work my leg free. He bailed on lock down and I could feel that I may have an advantage in leg strength, remembering how we sized up before the match. I decided to go for a more conservative pass than my original plan, which would put me into mount instead of side control.

As I started working my leg out I felt some wiggle room there. Maybe I should have exploded through and gotten mount earlier, but I just kept inching until my leg was clearly through and flopped down to the mat. Then I squeezed.

And I heard Coach Frank yelling, “SQUEEZE!!!!”.

I sprawled my legs to the closest I could get to a grapevine and squeezed harder. I was thinking that I’d go for an Ezekiel choke first and get a point, hoping an arm presented itself. I like that option because I wouldn’t have to give up a ton of pressure to go for it, and if he were to try to bump out I could just bail and post–pretty conservative.

I never got to attempt it though. I guess I had a pretty good amount of pressure and squeeze because he tapped. I was a little surprised because I didn’t think I was in a submission position–hard to know what was going on.. Not really the way I’d have chosen to win. I’d much rather have been able to do something more technical, but I guess I’ll take it either way. I have a feeling if I rolled with this guy regularly we’d have a lot of fun.

[EDIT]: Todd left a comment on Facebook that the tap was due to a smother. Ugh. Very unsatisfied with that. That’s one of those that you want your partner to tell you about in training because it’s just inadvertent and brutish. Yeah…it’s a competition, and you’re supposed to be trying to submit however you can, but if I’m going to win with a smother I’d at least want it to be intentional.

First Place No-Gi Directors Beginner Light-Heavyweight

In the gi division, I was bumped up a weight class, but it was cool–the other two guys only weighed in at ~194, and I was probably close to that after eating and hydrating, so there wasn’t a huge weight discrepancy. They went the full four minutes, and I got the loser. If I win, I get the winner of their match, if I lose, I’m third place.

Pre-match advice was, “Just like the last match–position and control!”

I didn’t get to see their match, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I set up my “insurance policy” as soon as the match started and we both worked gi grips. I got the sense that his stand up game was about on par with mine, so this would be 50/50. Somehow, I ended up standing belly to back and controlling him. The first thing that popped into my head was, “No suplexes!” I didn’t want to risk being DQ’d, so I sort of drug him to the ground.

Two points for me and a good position.

He was in a loose turtle so I attempted to jump on him without getting too high and get my hooks in for the back take. He threw his legs up to defend the hooks and sort of rolled to his right side. I landed on my right side with my left leg over this shoulders and neck and both hands on his right arm. I had an arm and could control his posture!

I started looking for a way to an arm bar.

Coach Frank was giving me directions, but I didn’t do a good job listening here. Not exactly sure what he was even telling me to do, but I solved the riddle by sliding my right knee behind his elbow and using both hands to keep his wrist in place as I pressed my knee in for the tap. I kind of wish this one could have lasted longer because this guy was bigger than me and we never got a chance for any sort of back and forth.

Next up was the championship gi match. I learned a lot in these four minutes.

I expected this opponent to be technically better than the guy I’d just faced since he seemed a little smaller, but had earned the victory. When we locked up, he immediately went for a throw, which I defended. That should have been a cue for me to pull guard–that his take down game was going to be better than mine. If I’d pulled guard I could have locked up closed guard without losing any points and gotten an advantage point at least for attempting submissions. Again, I’m confident enough in my strength and cardio to think I could hold a closed guard against most people at my skill level for four minutes without much of a problem, but I haven’t practiced this as a competition tactic.

As I type this, I’m thinking about one of the biggest lessons I learned in competing–the SPORT of jiu jitsu and the ART of jiu jitsu are entirely different things. I have another post swirling in my head about this matter, but here’s the spoiler: I much prefer the art.

Long story short, he went for another throw and got it, and passed to side control for a total of five points. I didn’t have a lot of trouble working my way from side control to half guard. That was the good news–I’m pretty comfortable in working my way to the top from half guard, and I work on it a lot. The bad news was that I had half guard on my stupid side. I established the under hook and tried to work my way up using my favorite move to the top from half guard. He was able to fight that off, but I moved on to plan B. This move is even weaker on my stupid side, and he was able to base out and stop it pretty easily.

This should have set off another alarm in my brain–this guy had a solid base and was not going to be easy to sweep.

From there we got into an under hook pummeling contest, which I thought he’d be happy to do for the rest of the match since he was ahead. I felt like I could keep him from smashing me no matter what, so I started setting up a baseball bat choke we’ve worked on from half guard. There’s some risk here, because I’d have to let him pass to get it. Maybe I didn’t commit to it as a should have because of this risk. I actually heard his coach yelling, “Watch the baseball bat choke he’s setting up!”

It didn’t work, but I was able to re-establish my guard before giving up any points. Is the reason it didn’t work because I didn’t fully commit to it…worried about points? I’m not sure, but I don’t get it a lot in training either. Nevertheless, I gave it a shot. My thought from here was to get to closed guard (still plenty of time left), sweep to mount for six points, and grind like I’d done in my no-gi match.

But, duh, this guy wouldn’t be easily swept.

Once I’d made the decision, I got to closed guard pretty easily. I felt like he was being conservative and was happy to take that position knowing he didn’t have to pass, just hang on. I’m sure if he’d been down on points it would have been tougher to get. Replaying the match in my head, this guys definitely made good decisions.

There was some grip fighting, and I almost caught his arm once, but he got it pulled back. We were pretty even on the posture fight as I remember it, but we were playing two different games because of the points. I was finally able to get my knee in to attempt a scissor sweep. At this point I had “sweep and mount” on the brain, and that’s what Coach Frank was yelling for too. My first attempt at the scissor sweep was not very good technically, but it ended up being as close as I was going to get. I could hear Coach Frank yelling for me to focus on the knee with the sweep, and I thought I did a better job with that on my next two attempts. But he based out even harder and I know after talking to Coach and The Missus after that I was missing a key detail–something to work on this week!!!

Time was ticking down, and all he had to do was keep a solid base and hang on for the win. Coach Frank was yelling out the time left, and I knew I was going to have change tactics. I was able to get into position for a triangle attempt with 20 seconds or so left. My best shot at it was in the first few seconds, but I wasn’t able to get a full figure four with my legs, and I couldn’t move his arm across. Something else to work on. I heard his coach yell, “TEN SECONDS….YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TAP TO THAT!!!”

Haha…that didn’t mentally defeat me, and I kept trying my hardest, but it crossed my mind that if I heard my coach yell that at me, I’d get choked out before I tapped, and it takes about 6 seconds to get choked out when it’s in tight.

This one wasn’t in tight.

Time ran out and I stood up with a huge grin on my face. Even though I lost, that was, by far, the most fun match of the day, and I’d love to have the opportunity to train with this guy day in and day out. Tough guy who played hard, played smart, and was friendly both before and after the match. He could definitely help me get better, and seemed like the kind of guy who’d be happy to do so.

2nd Place Directors Gi Cruiser Weight

A pretty good haul for our family at our first competition–three first places and two second places. Having been involved in running MUCH smaller rugby tournaments, I think the organization of the competition seemed to go pretty smoothly, especially when you consider the dynamic situations with that many divisions being run.

We all had a great time and learned a lot, but it was a long day for a whole family to compete.

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afoolsingenuity · 7 years ago

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Sunday Summary // 20.08.2017

This week has been a good week. You may be shocked to hear that as I so often complain or grumble or despair at how tired I feel. I am tired and I did have some long days but I am feeling positive at the end of this week which means I deem it a success.

Work has been work. I mean, it’s had its usual ups and downs, you know? It has been a good week and I left work feeling happy on Friday. It may be me trying to be positive because I know next week will be hell as my supervisor has the week off so guess who is the most experienced member of my team that week? Yep, lucky me, all the questions and responsibility and none of the pay benefits. It’s only for a week, at least, and I’ll have a few days off as well after that.

We’ve had builders in at home this week so our house looks surprisingly dusty and it’s a little weird. My parents are moving the living room downstairs so we’ve had new doors put in that lead out to the garden and a wall has been knocked out. Lots or plastering has been done and hopefully, we’ll get new flooring next week. It’s quite exciting but yeah, lots of dusting needs to be done. I am not looking forward to the cleanup job. I am looking forward to a living room leading on to a garden. It’ll be great for when everyone is home and we’re doing things.

I intended to get lots done this weekend. I intended to do lots of reading and blogging and generally be crazy productive but instead, I binge watched Marvel’s The Defenders because that’s how I roll. I never managed to finish Iron Fist but this Marvel series definitely redeemed things a bit. The storyline was good and the 8 episodes meant I didn’t feel too guilty about finishing it all in a day. I am in love with the dynamic between Matt and Jessica in it. They are opposites but they are fun together. Definitely, hope to see more of them in future series.

What I’ve Been Reading

Well, I intended to read a lot more than I did. I restarted Leviathan Wakes because I borrowed it from my brother and he raved about this series. I’m enjoying it but it’s a slow read for me. I think the length is putting me off but it definitely fits in with the side quest as ‘Grind’ as it has been a bit of a grind to read so far. In a good way. I also got my copy of Rituals this week and I was so damn excited to get reading. It definitely met expectations but the more I think on it the more I get frustrated that there wasn’t more. It wasn’t anywhere close to being a disappointment but I definitely wanted more, I think that’s my issue with it. I’ve got about a dozen reviews I want to write and this is one of them.

New To Me

You know that spending ban I spoke about? I didn’t exactly succeed. I mean, it began with my preorder of Rituals arriving (I do not regret that one) and then a couple of romances (because I am a sucker for having all the romance lurking on my Kindle) they were both going cheap and one click is just too easy sometimes. And finally, The Fifth Season, I saw it for £2 at The Works and a girl just can’t say no to a book at that price, especially when it’s one I’ve been wanting to read for a while. I know I shouldn’t have bought these books but #noregrets!

#TheReadingQuest Progress

I’ve read one and a half books for this quest (Leviathan Wakes & Rituals). I’ve boosted my EXP and HP, though. If the spreadsheet I’m using to track my progress is to be believed anyway. I had delusions of progressing through more than one of the quest paths. I would be shocked if I managed that to be honest.

How has your week been? Anyone else participating in #TheReadingQuest? What books you been reading lately?

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#a fool's ingenuity #books

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ccstockbridge · 8 years ago

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Regardless of whether there's enough a good time to maintain you performing is yet another matter on the whole, although the trainer on facebook . com has become a load though, probably the ease of obtaining pugs simply by facebook . com helps to. There's restricted in-trainer conversation which can be actually uneasy to chat though doing by the smartphone. For the reason that lately came up once again hero you will need to shield your world from consumers looking to understand during the turmoil. The sport has become rather smooth for me personally when dealing with acquaintances. …and this really is undeniably browser based primarily. -not enough supplemental articles (2 days periods aren't included because report) it had been legitimate damaging! Yet still? With auto execute, just - pests should not be preset. |The sport was a good time and dependent along the launching but builders grew to grow far too greedy. I've done farmville since its introduction this current year. thought nonetheless they gotten process to greedy. It hurts. I really like not buying the items. Devote more time to along the trainer, treasure it for the actual way it appeared to be developed. If you lookup But only because always comes about, human resourcefulness shows that sq . pegs can potentially easily fit into round holes. In circumstances you are unaware of the category, let’s take time to help you to get up to date. |It’s this particular enormous section of these tools that my pal telephone calls the full category ‘combat going shopping.’ “kill an ogre, some shorts pops out,” he claims - and he’s spot on. The problem, though, is when consumers materials by any means contain the suffer from once again, or drain a usually superb service or product. supplementary slots within your bag? Buy’em. These townsfolks will need renovations, Believe diablo and you are form of there, as Kingsroad Cheats 2016 is quite loot-quite heavy. memorable, but though you are performing you’ll believe that itching to retain. In the near future you are even equipped for operating in addition to acquaintances along with create guilds. Farmville is the greatest hand held diablo like on devices to date. And if you wish to advance you spend. |The dark party focuses on shut-up hits, though each of those archer and wizard strike from the long distance having arrows and spells correspondingly. As a substitute to appearing transpire a sprawling, constant wide open scene or dungeon like diablo and torchlight, Kingsroad Cheats 2016 is reasonably split up right direct path pattern of small-scale, discrete ranges which every different have a few minutes to achieve. The sport amenities using the web supportive multi-competitor with an automatic online dating strategy. Specified chests based in the ranges could possibly be unlocked by expending hard forex - because they chests insure players materials with the positive grade, it will most likely be hard for players to handle around these, but advancement can be achieved without needing to wide open these. At many kinds of milestones, the online gamer will get small-scale honors of hard forex, and whenever the objective is totally “mastered” the encourage is definitely a bigger lump sum cost of hard forex. Girl persona options are popular by their absence at the present time, find the rendering with the selectable gender will need not just a new persona system (especially mesh and animated graphics) nevertheless in inclusion for all the noticeable devices materials to grow remade for the new system, it is not important for that small-scale lineup at rumble thus far. Seems like advantageous, tones advantageous, takes on suitably, amenities excellent quality penning with numerous nature, and most importantly doesn’t insult the online gamer while you are far too ambitious with possibly its monetization or interpersonal amenities. Yet still, it's worth noting the game can be playable on the web by using rumble’s personally own web portal, so end user results from appdata only characterize consumers players who've picked possibly to achieve facebook . com or relate their rumble membership about the social networks. Kingsroad Cheats 2016 amenities 3 lessons - archer, dark party and wizard - which your competitor can change amongst simply because they would like. |As mister william, a dark party in alexander's own guard, you promise your blade and bow about the security from the ruler. isn't mainly because it would seem, as well as in the king’s absence a fresh bad pushes basic in the home, damaging not only for his empire but moreover his only child, princess emma. The hero may very well be manipulated by using rendered click for going, receiving as well as npcs and auto-attacking opponents whilst the total keys (1 simply by 5) function as the preset slots to the elegance-individual abilities. Should you wish to snipe reduce opponents from afar, the ranger elegance will deliver the results, as well as his volleys of arrows for long-number bombardment. The opportunity to make your hero the way you like makes the game execute a bit more enjoyable. Looking at devices, Kingsroad Cheats 2016 also contains a fun forging and enchanting strategy that's very simple to realize. It is extremely astonishing the sheer numbers of materials you may forge as a group in this trainer! Find any 3 products which are with the indistinguishable ranking, and try out your luck if you’ll present an great product or service!…or a crappy an individual. other crystals may very well be sacrificed to change to their picked surprisingly for forging, the 3 put together materials can't be leveled up. Often your camera is sure during the hub from the panel and some charts have opponents seem from thin air. |This ends up being a period of time-consuming chore that a lot of americans can probably not have perseverance to achieve, yet for individuals who want every one of the lessons to have the ideal standard, they're thank you for traveling to grind simply by all the prior charts they've finished, simply because they are able to be re-sprint. Pros - consistent and enjoyable-hunting backdrops - eyes-capturing persona designs and styles and actions series - players can alter in-amongst lessons - specific competence tree branches to examine - broad product or service progression by using writing and enchanting - players can re-sprint finished instances that will increase its difficulty and return a bit more suffer from and even more infrequent product or service drops disadvantages - no lady options from the 3 lessons - article is uninspiring and it is repeatedly periods an afterthought - persona personalization only occur in outfitting a new product - competence shrub resets must have choosing in-trainer forex when using the ability to visit new creates - every one elegance should be leveled up individually to obtain additional ultra powerful - no pvp to chat of inspite of some defects, Kingsroad Cheats 2016 has a tendency to perform on some areas and it is continually a enjoyable trainer to achieve. Even but without the the ruler, a empire was undertaken from a handful of bad opponents. Among them them (, dwayne Kingsroad Cheats 2016 does not motivate the limits from the category rather to this point as wonder heroes does, but it's the right facebook . com trainer for every diablo or torchlight lover. The basic article are you finding your ruler has become wiped out and monsters concept the territory. You can get an art form period each time you get ranges, and you can begin to use these reveals understand new abilities and advancement people you have. Should you wish to create healthier materials, you will need to spend a huge charge and hold out on a daily basis to advancement the forge. There is not any actual trainer execute consequence for perishing-no opponents resume being, employers don't refresh their own unique overall health, and you just don't even necessity initially an alternate specific location how you would do in torchlight. |This is really mainly obnoxious since a great deal of your fatalities do not get from damaging approaches-within an actions-rpg, perishing often is admittedly because you eventually punched the key a minute excessively latter. For those who have accomplished the game's roughly twenty-all 5 ranges, you may replay them using a better difficulty within the look for "famous" loot. The feel, at the same time, is extremely cool. Sword and board tank. -no persona personalization. Highly recommended strategy wishes: a present-day, updated word wide web browser. Eco-good: total repairs you and also also will give 75Percent cooldown diminishment.

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scottadcox · 7 years ago

Link

TLDR Version

Got up early.

One kid went 1-2 for a first and a second.

Other kid went 2-1 against a single opponent for a first place.

I went 2-1 with a first and a second.

Had a lot of fun. Learned a lot.

Long Version

All I’d had that morning was a half cup of coffee and a boiled egg, so I was ready to eat. Luckily, I wasn’t competing until the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to get food and water in me.

Second Place Novice No-Gi

First Place Novice No-Gi

Pea was up next in the gi division. While we had a good idea going in how Bug was going to respond. Pea was more of a wildcard in my eyes. She is really focused and serious in training, but she hasn’t really felt that feeling of being dominated by an opponent before. How would she respond if she was put in the same situation Bug was in during her first two matches?

First Place Beginner Gi

It’s the gentle art.

Honestly, watching the kids was much more nerve wracking that competing myself.

More about this in summary of my last match.

Exactly what I’d been planning.

I got my head out and started to build my posture, getting mentally prepared to work my higher percentage passes.

Credit to my opponent for this–40-49 year old beginner weighing ~190 pounds immediately goes for a gogoplata!!! Dude was game!!!

And I heard Coach Frank yelling, “SQUEEZE!!!!”.

First Place No-Gi Directors Beginner Light-Heavyweight

Pre-match advice was, “Just like the last match–position and control!”

Two points for me and a good position.

I started looking for a way to an arm bar.

Next up was the championship gi match. I learned a lot in these four minutes.

This should have set off another alarm in my brain–this guy had a solid base and was not going to be easy to sweep.

From there we got into an under hook pummeling contest, which I thought he’d be happy to do for the rest of the match since he was ahead. I felt like I could keep him from smashing me know matter what, so I started setting up a baseball bat choke we’ve worked on from half guard. There’s some risk here, because I’d have to let him pass to get it. Maybe I didn’t commit to it as a should have because of this risk. I actually heard his coach yelling, “Watch the baseball bat choke he’s setting up!”

But, duh, this guy wouldn’t be easily swept.

This one wasn’t in tight.

2nd Place Directors Gi Cruiser Weight

We all had a great time and learned a lot, but it was a long day for a whole family to compete.

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