#it’s a relief when they’re on pto

[spockulative]

treating myself after a difficult morning to tbb on my lunch break 🥰

[quinloki]

That feel when you think you’re going to lose your mind.

Maybe it was something they did the night before, maybe it’s just because they’re alive and you can’t help but want them all hours.

Maybe it’s just the phase of the fucking moon.

But you’ve been hot and bothered and desperate since this morning and it’s not even lunch yet. You need the work day to be over, you need to be with them.

The distraction is going to drive you to yowl like a back ally cat in heat if you don’t get some relief.

The work hours be damned, you can absorb the loss, or burn some PTO, it doesn’t matter. You need them.

Need those perfect hands on your thighs, the shiver of ecstasy when their thumb presses into your tender flesh.

That perfect tongue wet against your skin, making your hips roll up into the air and off the bed just for a split second more of contact. The needy whine that claws at your throat as you’re caught between praising them for all the ways they pull you apart, or sobbing for them to rip you to pieces.

How you know you can wrap your fingers around theirs as they work you into a decadent frenzy, the mess and foam and squelch of pleasure thick and lewd and slick between you. The lines you’ll claw into their skin as they force you over the edge again and again, licking the sweat from your body and suckling bruises on your neck for each shivered orgasm they command from you.

And when they find you at work, half mad with your thots, that small smile on their face, knowing that whether they urge you to stay, or whisk you away, you’ll be clawing at the car door as their hand lingers and teases your skin one the drive home.

Be good, won’t you, and wait in the care when they need to stop and run an errand before getting home.

[collectingtruths]

Part 7: A Day of Mourning

“The journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take.” -The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien

[Dom’s funeral had been hard to attend. It had been hard to sit in a room full of people who loved him, knowing that she had been one of the reasons they had lost him. She listened to his sister speak, she listened to a member of his team he had served with, she listened to the soft whimpering sounds of both his mother and his girlfriend and she felt as though she couldn’t get out of the church fast enough. She had found herself having a full blown panic attack in the front seat of her car. Dom never should have been on that assignment. He never should have gone undercover. She hated that she brought that information to his attention, but she knew what he would have said. He would have done it regardless because this was the life he chose.

He made the choice to put himself in these situations fully aware that he might never come out of them. And while she understood that he was grown and made this choice, she couldn’t let go of her own guilt. Her guilt had followed her home that night and rode shotgun when she went into work the very next day.

Now that she was back in her office, she looked over at the shelf and found herself looking at the funeral card they had made for Dom.

She squeezed her eyes closed as she tried to get back to her casefiles. She had been avoiding most people in the department now, she wouldn’t have her lunch in the breakroom and she certainly wasn’t taking the elevator where she could be trapped with the other staff and LEOs who knew her involvement in the case. No, she would focus on her job and at the end of the day, she would pack up, take the steps and crawl back into her quiet existence. Looking over at the clock, she hadn’t realized that she must have been lost in her thoughts for hours. She blinked a bit and started to close the cases she had never really made it to and started to lock them away when she heard the knock at her door. She cleared her throat and looked up] Yes? [Her supervisor walked in and took a seat across from her. “Thaleia, I wanted to let you know that those records that Falcone secured, they came in handy. He did it. They’re organizing the sting as we speak. They know who’s responsible for his death and the trafficker.” There was an instant relief that washed over her and she felt like she wanted to cry, but she wouldn’t. Not in this office, not in front of anyone else. Dom was good at what he did and before he gave his life to this case, he secured one final win for them. “Thaleia, did you hear…” She nodded.] Yes, I did. I…[She blew out a breath.] I’m sure Dom would love a big todo over this. Make sure he gets the credit. Please. [Her boss nodded his head. “Of course we will. But that isn’t the only reason why I needed to see you, Thaleia.” Her brow furrowed. She suspected there would be some consequences to her involvement. Possibly suspension or maybe even termination. She wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. “We need you to take some time off. It’s mandatory, Vance. This is not a suggestion to be taken into consideration. You have more PTO than anyone else on this floor. And that’s including me. I’ve already called in a few favors to have your assignments covered. I want you on an extended leave. No working cases from home, no checking your voicemail.” She watched him stand and she shook her head. She didn’t like not having any work to fall back on and she knew he knew that. He got to the door and then stopped. “Take a trip, Thaleia. Go away for a little while. Get out of the city, do something fun. You need time to just rest and relax and let us worry about crime and punishment for a change. Dom would want you to enjoy yourself.” She looked at him and he knew what she was thinking. “Yeah, it was a low blow, but it’s true. So figure it out.” He looked at his watch and then tapped the face. “Your time off starts…now.” He waved his hand at her as he started out and she just sat there for a little longer.

What the hell was she supposed to do with all this time off? She just didn’t want to think about it right now so she gathered what she needed and switched off her lamp before locking her door and going for the stairwell. She had a lot to think about over the next few days and she was going to take her time with it.]

#TDATD #Mortal

[datleggy]

I wonder how much PTO the 118 have built up? Because I don’t think any of them have taken a vacation in all the seasons. The weekend away hen took with Karen not counting because she wasn’t officially back on duty yet.

same. i feel like the only times they’re ever off is in the case of “under investigation” ---hen and bobby. or injured---chim and buck. 

i want them to take a giant family vacation with all the kids--like i just NEED them to relax and have fun for a straight two weeks lmao (and for buck and eddie to get stuck sharing a bed BECAUSE reasons) 

imagine them renting out one of those giant houses with enough rooms in it for like 15 people w like a huge pool in the back? buck and eddie have to share a room, of course, bc otherwise one of them would hafta sleep on the couch, and they’re the only two singles in the group, but they don’t mind since the bed is big enough that they can both stretch out in it comfortably. 

they realize their feelings for each other throughout those two weeks--especially after waking up in eachothers arms every day and feeling more rested than they have their whole lives??? the first couple of days they disentangle themselves awkwardly and brush it off but by like the third or fourth night buck just rests his head against eddies shoulder after turning off the lights and is like “what? ur comfortable.” and eddie rolls his eyes and wraps an arm around buck, pulling him a little closer. 

and maybe eddies away on a grocery shopping trip w a couple of the others and christopher is playing w denny and harry and accidentally takes a tumble and its nothing too serious, just a bloody knee, but its buck who’s instantly there to comfort chris and take care of the wound. 

eddie finds out about it through bobby, who’s on the phone w athena asking her what kind of cheese the kids would like when it happens, and bobby assures him that bucks got it handled and isn’t too surprised when eddie nods in relief, bc he knows how much the man trusts buck w christopher (hell, with everything!) 

on the last day when everyone is packing up the cars and getting ready to leave hen is like “omg where are eddie and buck? those two still sleeping??? im gonna go wake them up so they can help load all this stuff smh” and so she runs upstairs and throws their door open to startle them awake only to catch them locked in a heated kiss, eddie practically on top of buck, and bucks hands grasping at the back of eddies t-shirt frantically. she clears her throat, scaring the crap out of the both of them and says, “i’m glad u two finally figured it out but we gotta be outta here in like thirty minutes, so ima need u guys downstairs in the next two minutes, thanks.” 

[ahnsael]

Just had another great chat with my brother-in-law (the same one I’ve had issues with in the past) -- the difference was that this one was in person.

It ranged from politics (he’s conservative, but I’m not, but we found agreement on a middle-ground -- let Trump have his challenges, but if he doesn’t have the evidence, he loses), to the Coronavirus (I think the curfews in California are silly, as does he -- just make sure people are wearing masks and practicing social distancing and we’re good, but we also agree that a lot of people are going WAY too far to get out of those mandates -- including California’s Governor who ordered the curfew because, just like the Governor, other people haven’t been following the mandates). to talking about anxiety, and him telling me to text him any time -- and if he’s asleep, he’ll respond when he can, but if he’s awake, he’ll try to help me center myself in that moment.

But with Washington’s travel ban (which was announced the day they arrived from Washington), I was told their visit (which I originally thought was about two weeks, through Thanksgiving, and then found out it was at least through New Year’s Day) may last a bit longer depending on how long this plays out (which, in my opinion, could be a while -- I may find out Tuesday night that my casino is closing again).

I’m hoping I’d have at least a couple days of babysitting the casino before they can secure it again (that took a lot of work on a building with no locks on the doors because we’re open 24/7). And then...I would welcome the time off. I still have unemployment benefits left for the year. I claimed $2,808 of my allotment when we were closed, but (even though the extra $600 meant I was making more without working), I went back to work the day the casino reopened in June, and didn’t claim for the week before that since I knew I had a check coming in the near future.

I just checked, and I still have $5,304 in claims available for the year (a7 more weeks, if needed, at $312/week). And I held onto my BofA card for the account to which it is paid (Nevada, as far as I was able to find out, doesn’t do direct deposit, but deposits into a different account through BofA).

The checks wouldn’t be as big without the extra $600 (which was paid by the federal government and has expired), and I would now make LESS than I make my working, but...I would still have SOME income.

So...whether we get shut down again or not, I’ll be okay. I know the first shutdown was bad for my mental health. But now we know more, and I would know that I don’t have to be the “mask police” for a while, for people who try everything they can to subvert the mandates and risk transmitting the virus. I’m SHOCKED we haven’t had an outbreak in our casino, to be honest (a bar kitty-corner from us, many of whom also visit us, has had one). I won’t have to deal with the selfish jerks.

But I’ll also probably watch too much news and have more anxiety attacks than I have now (even if *I* don’t go out, I’ll be thinking of all the people catching it because they DID go out, even if they did the right things, because a LOT of people in this area just refuse to comply).

I’m just going to see what Tuesday brings and play it by ear from there.

The downside to me if we get shut down: I had a vacation week due a couple weeks after we were shut down originally. Under the shutdown, all paid time off was cancelled. So I still get next week off, but I didn’t get paid for the PTO (paid time off) that I had requested if we’re shut down before that). In fact, I worked that first vacation week, babysitting the empty casino. I was basically just there to call the cops if someone tried to break in thinking we had cash on hand when we were closed and not doing any business.

If we get shut down this week, I lose a week of PTO AGAIN, since it’s scheduled for the week after, and I expect the company to cancel it again. But again, hopefully I can plop my rear end down on a recliner in the Sports Book and tune something fun in on the giant-screen TV, take a walk around every half hour or so to ensure nobody has tried to break in, and call the cops if they did (that didn’t happen in the initial shutdown, so I may want to make it 10-15 minute intervals this time since I know frustration levels are higher). That would at least get me an extra day or two of pay (last time we were shut down, when we didn’t know what the future held when we reopened, I was recognized as someone they REALLY wanted to keep on board if we went to a skeleton crew -- and I still remember the relief in my boss’ voice when he called to say we were reopening and I said I would be there). But I assume the PTO would be cancelled again, even if I don’t have to babysit the casino for that long.

On the plus side, we have a couple of new managers (one was a casino attendant for a few weeks before being promoted, because they have experience, the other is a new hire as a manager whose work history I am unfamiliar with -- but this company took a chance on me, so I’m rooting for them if we took a chance on them as well)

 And our owner was in our manager’s meeting last Thursday. And he (this was a GOOD move on his part) acknowledged that they’re going to feel a little clueless for a while -- there’s a LOT of info thrown at them in a short time, and NONE of us expect them to become experts in their weeks of training. I often tell new managers that it took me six months before I felt like I had a clue what I was doing.

But he encouraged them to ask questions (which is pretty boilerplate). But then he directed them as far as whom to ask. I don’t know if it was in order, but he said “Kenny knows this stuff. Duane (my boss) knows this stuff. Geoff (another boss of mine) knows this stuff Kurt (the guy who actually doesn’t know most of this stuff)” knows this stuff.

All of us that were named have multiple years under our belt. Kut still tells me “this kiosk is down because it’s low on $100 bills” and it turns out to not be that, but a simple fix, and he just made up a reason because he didn’t actually check (but this is also the guy who brought me groceries during the shutdown, and while he may not be the best manager, I will defend him as a human being). The rest named DO know what they’re talking about.

But I was blown away that I was the FIRST one named. This owner will come down on me if I miss something (or maybe I just take it that way because I dislike missing even the smallest details, yet sometimes I do), but...the fact that he named me FIRST, even over my bosses, was a nice moment for me. It may have been just because I was the one who he caught eyes with first. I’m NOT taking this as “I’m better than my boss” (I do NOT want my boss’ job -- too stressful).

But it still felt good.

[leeholtwrites]

Magical Girl Reunion Tour - C3

Shonda

Bright and early, Shonda's alarm went off. The older she got, the more tempted she was to just roll over and hit the snooze button. Instead she rolled to her other side and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Good morning, George."

George snuggled against her, his close cropped facial hair rubbing against her cheek. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her even closer. "Don't make me get out of bed. I like where I’m at."

Shonda giggled, something only he could ever get her to do. "I would like to stay here with you, but I have work and children to get ready for school."

"Tomorrow then?"

She played along, rolling her eyes. They played this game every morning, and after sixteen years it had never gotten old. "Maybe."

He chuckled and kissed her again before they both slid out of bed. About a half hour later, George headed down the stairs to begin breakfast while Shonda started pounding on doors. Nothing had prepared her for what deep sleepers teenage girls could be, including once being a teenager girl herself. Shonda had been like the rest of her friends, early to rise with good grades and hygiene despite what they were going through.

Jessica poked her head out, rubbing one eye the other half closed. She was Shonda's youngest, and the easiest to wake up. At fourteen, it was obvious she was going to take after her father's side more.

"Mom, where's my dark jeans?"

"They're still dirty. You're going to have to wear something else."

Jessica groaned and shuffled off to the bathroom.

Shonda banged on her oldest's door again. When there was no response, she threw it open. Maria dragged her covers over her head. "Mom, come on. Give me ten more minutes for once."

"So, what was it this time?" Shonda said, picking up a discarded volleyball jersey. "Friends or homework?"

Maria sat up. Every morning it startled Shonda how much she looked like her at fifteen. "I've got this paper for English. With practice, I didn't get to start it before last night." She slid out of bed and stretched. "Did Jessica beat me to the bathroom again?"

"What do you think?"

She sighed and left her bedroom to go barter with her sister over the bathroom, their usual morning ritual.

Shonda watched her daughter go before taking in a deep breath. Out of the five of them, Shonda had been the only one gifted with the ability to smell magic. When she first realized this, she had been more shocked at the actual smell of magic than the fact that she could smell it. Magic, of all things, smelled like strawberry body spray. It was cloyingly sweet, and obnoxious enough it was hard to miss. She was lucky she didn't have any respiratory issues, or she was pretty sure all the magic fights she endured would have put her in the hospital.

Nothing. She sighed in relief. Then she looked down at the volleyball jersey in her hand. Should she be sure? Should she even see if she can smell magic through the teen sweat?

Just as she considered raising the jersey to her face, Maria walked in. "Mom, I would like to get dressed. Can you leave?"

She turned around and left, half in a daze. How could she even consider sniffing her daughter's sweat stained sports uniform? Was she really that terrified that Maria would get the call, be a chosen one?

Shonda buried the thought deep. It was too early to suffer such thoughts, and she hadn't had her coffee yet. On her way down stairs, she dropped the dirty jersey in the basket in the laundry room, forcing herself to ignore how she almost buried her face in the sweaty shirt.

Breakfast was almost well and truly done by the time she reached the kitchen. Shonda was lucky to have the kind of chef for a husband who loves to cook no matter when or where. She still remembered when he was going to culinary school, staying up late, perfecting each technique. George wanted to be the best then and that still hadn't changed. She pecked him on the cheek before beelining for the coffee maker.

Eventually their daughters arrived to eat the carefully plated slices of frittata. The sat and chatted and ate as they did every morning before Shonda loaded her daughters in the car for school. It allowed George some time  for chores and rest before he had to show up at the restaurant.

Shonda dropped off Maria and Jessica in front of the school. Maria was more than excited to be able to drive herself so she didn't need to catch a ride home with their neighbor, but Shonda would miss this.

Work was as she thought it would be. Putting out fires and keeping her team happy was now her normal since she was promoted to Project Manager. Shonda missed sitting down and coding for hours, figuring out puzzles, making things she put together with her own hands work. Now she was responsible for a team, something deep down she had to admit she didn't want. But the money was good, and she wanted to send her daughters to good schools.

Traffic was horrendous on the drive home, but like every night she never really had to cook, just come home to a pre-made George meal Maria had pulled from the freezer and heated up. Shonda and the girls discussed school and sports and anything else on their minds as they sat around the dinner table. Then they cleaned up the kitchen, and the girls disappeared upstairs to finish their school work.

After putting on a set of comfortable pajamas, Shonda slipped on her slippers and a cardigan. She had almost forgot it was trash night. She gathered up the kitchen bag and stepped out the backdoor. The trash can was pushed up against the side yard fence next to the gate. She was glad she put the cardigan on as she made her way around the side of the house. The pacific northwest was chiller sometimes than she liked.

As the lid of the trash can dropped back down, a flash of golden light came from the front of her house. Shonda wanted to tell herself she didn't know what it was, yet even though it had been almost twenty years, she knew by the way the gold light had glittered one of her team had arrived.

She sighed and tried to tamp down the dread growing in her stomach as she lifted the latch on the gate. She followed the path to her driveway. Standing in the street was a barefoot dark-haired woman holding the pink staff, a white cat wrapped around her ankles. No, not a white cat. Viridian.

"Maggie?" She whispered as loud as she dared. That flash had been bright and her neighbors nosey.

The dark haired woman hurried in her direction, barefeet slapping on the ground. She cursed, probably from stepping on a rock. "Shonda? Is that you?" she whispered back as she neared.

When Maggie was close enough, she grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her toward the backyard gate. Anger rose in here. Anger she hadn't felt in almost fifteen years. "After all these years, what the hell are you doing here?"

Once they got through the gate, Maggie tore her arm out of Shonda's grip. "You think I want to be here? This asshole showed up at my home less than an hour ago to tell me Omira is back," Maggie responded, indicating Viridan as he slinked through the gate before Shonda closed it.

The dread in Shonda's stomach grew heavy. Omira, a name she never though she would hear again. If her old life reappeared, she had assumed it would be a new threat come to conscript her daughter. That was apparently not the case. "Come with me."

Shonda led Maggie back around the house to her porch. She waved toward a plush outdoor couch near her back door. She dropped down onto it and patted the cushion. Maggie joined her without word, the pink staff in her hand still glowing with a gentle internal light. Viridian stayed on the ground but sat, his tail curling around the front of his paws.

"So, you say Omira is back," Shonda finally said, keeping her voice low. "It figures an impending apocalypse would have to happen to bring you back, Maggie."

"Look, I don't like this either, the evil witch thing, but I have to at least tell you. I don't want to deal with this shit again either. We dealt with it for three years, and now dickhead here decides to tell me about Omira from my coffee table."

Another sigh, this time filled with frustration and anger. She stared at Viridian. "And what would you have me do?"

Viridian puffed out his chest. "As I told Maggie, we need you to take up your wand again and use your skills to defeat Omira. There are no other options, but Maggie does not seem to understand that. She does not want to save the world. She used quite colorful language to make her opinions clear. That is why we bring this to you, Shonda. You have always been the voice of reason."

Anger and dread still churned within her. She didn't want to do this. She loved her husband, her children, her life. She loved her job, for the most part, and she was good at it. The relief she felt that Maria wasn't going to become a magical girl soldier was replaced with the fear that she would lose everything not just to the threat of Omira, but to the time it would take to defeat her. It took them three years last time. Her mortgage would not understand.

"Well, shit." She ran her hand over her face. "Stuff like this can never be convenient, can it?"

Maggie snorted. "Of course not."

"We can't hash out the details now. How does your schedule look?"

"I'm off tomorrow. I have to drop off my dry cleaning in the morning, but I'm good after ten."

"Okay. I'll take a day of PTO to see what we can figure out tomorrow. You obviously haven't spoken to the others yet." Then under her breath she said, "I don't know what I'm going to tell George."

"Your husband?"

"Yeah."

"The same George you met after high school?"

Shonda nodded.

Maggie's mood changed, something darker settling over her. "Sorry I missed the wedding."

Without waiting for Shonda's response, she stood. Maggie's grip changed on her staff. "Come on, Viridian." Then she turned back to Shonda. "I'll see you tomorrow after ten. My place. That way you can keep this whole mess out of your life as much as possible."

Maggie straightened and closed her eyes. A golden flash, and she was gone.

Shonda settled into her seat and leaned her head on the back. "Fuck."

[oneindecisivelostsoul]

I am a nurse and given how much time I had to take off because of good ole covid plus my PTO #bless I still feel pretty relatively inexperienced. I had to call rapid response team yesterday for my patient who fainted then we couldn’t get her blood pressure rise and since she had to go on pressers plus was not alert like before had to go to the MICU or SICU (medical vs surgical ICU).

When I tell you how insignificant that felt relevant to the way my heart really be beating as we are getting vital signs every five minutes with no improvement and drawing labs out the wazo when I met one of the rapid relief nurses who gave me the good ole “girl, you gay” nonverbal response. My heart felt like it was racing not just from the dehydration and exhaustion and general feeling of being completely overwhelmed by the situation but from the whole I’m heartbroken and this woman whomever she is was taking my breath away. There was a moment when we made eye contact and it felt like the room dark ended and it was just us. You never get those kinds of interactions on a day to day, they’re really special. It is really gay of my brain to have never and I mean never done these kind of things when I met a guy no matter how incredible they seemed. This woman was ripping open the crash cart drawers and tearing open the sealed containers for the pressor and labeling my patients lines out of habit. I felt like I was watching those things where someone gets their white shirt soaked but make it healthcare, so actually much more attractive to me. Wish I knew who they were. I got their name but only the first name. But when they said switch with me I’m taller when we transferred the patient I knew she was talking to me and I felt no embarrassment it was more like a stern professional command that streamlined care. Beautiful. I am such a sub bottom baby bitch, and I love women and afab NBs, what can I say.

[the-ash0]

chapter 20 alpha

Hangar five was of moderate size with a capacity for ten pods. It only held two now, and was deserted except for two Saiyans and the technical overseer. The yellow toad hovered near the entrance, ready to follow its colleagues out at the first sight of trouble. Vegeta ignored the little wart-face completely and focused on the work instead, sliding deeper into the ship’s side panel on his back as he checked the maintenance lights. Earlier, he had strong-armed the technician into giving him the manual; now Vegeta displayed it on on his scouter and checked the schematics  against the panel readouts.

Nappa hovered over him in awestruck silence as he worked. The hulk’s nervous awe only lent credit to the idea that Saiyans should not be left alone with gear, which was probably what was on the overseeing mechanic's mind. Vegeta agreed insofar that such work was far beneath him, but if he was going to get blown up he’d like it to be his own fault for once. He’d get blamed for it later anyway.

The tense atmosphere was getting to Vegeta, and though he really didn't think Nappa would provide any meaningful conversation, there was one little thing Nappa could help him understand. One thing Vegeta could not wrap his head around.

“So, Nappa. Coli and Kura, they’re twins, right?”

“What? Yes. Yes they are. Well it’s kind of obvious, huh?” The buffoon shifted, caught off guard, and the pod groaned softly as he took his weight off where he’d been leaning on it with his arms. Nappa paused, then his voice turned somewhat wistful. “They do resemble each other a bit.”

That was the understatement of the year! Vegeta’s eye twitched in response to a rather harsh flashing light. He couldn't find it in the manual, or maybe he was mixing it up with another. At least the lights couldn't act indignant about it. “Yes, but there are differences. Right?” They’d both told him as much.

“Of course,” Nappa nodded. “There’s the tits, obviously.” The big man outside sighed heavily.  “Fuck yeah. Tits. They’re one thing that makes Saiyan women superior to all others. A mammal thing, they say. Beautiful, soft, round tits. You know?”

“Of course I know what teats are,” Vegeta snapped, “but they are wearing identical sets of armor!” Armor which completely hid any boobs or lack thereof. So for all intents and purposes, it was an insignificant difference. This might not have been the best time to address this. Vegeta felt his temper flare, and this was delicate work. “So... Nappa... You never have... trouble telling Coli and Kura apart? Not even in battle?”

“Of course not. Kura’s hair is so soft and feminine. And she smells so sweet.” Nappa stepped closer, crouched down, and tried to make eye contact. “Why, how could anyone… my prince? Ah, fuck. You’re not having trouble telling them—”

“Don’t be asinine,” Vegeta cut in angrily as he shoved himself deeper into the pod and turned away, no longer interested in pursuing the subject. “Why, they are obviously different. It’s just that you’re an idiot. So, I was just curious.”

But damn. Did this mean he’d either have to sniff them or feel up their hair before he’d know who he was addressing? This was becoming a issue. He’d had all sort of creatures tell him that all Saiyans looked alike, but he’d never had that problem himself before. None of his Saiyan squad seemed to struggle with it either, but as far as Vegeta could tell the pair were identical. Vegeta had switched to just ‘hey you’ after he’d addressed the wrong twin several times the first week. Both acted like it was so obvious that Vegeta started to doubt his perception. Not that any of them had had much time to dwell on it.

Life had turned hectic pretty fast after Vegeta received command of his first squad. Near a year had passed, but they’d spent over two thirds of it traveling and most of the rest too busy to hash things through. Within a week of meeting his Saiyan squad, Frieza had offered them a little warm-up mission: a planet of mediocre size, inhabited by some form of simple animal. It had seemed like the ideal way to begin.

Shortly after launch, Vegeta realised he had been a fool to accept. Just before he entered  cryo-sleep for the month long journey, Raditz had hailed him in alarm because his fuel tank had been nearly empty. When the Prince checked the other ships, it turned out Raditz was not the only one without enough fuel for the round trip. So Vegeta had ordered a return to base and nearly lost it at the workers in charge of his pods. But only minutes into his tirade, Zarbon had cut in and announced that fuel and provisions were obviously a commander's —Vegeta’s responsibility.

The memory of the lecture that had followed only riled up Vegeta further, so the young teen pulled a cable a little too roughly and was left with an entire slate of computer parts in his hand. He swore softly, hoping Nappa did not notice. Honestly, the prince should be thankful to Zarbon. If he had not been so infuriated at him, Vegeta doubted he would have made his squad check their inventories to take out his frustrations on them. It turned out that none of them had had enough rations or water on board either. In the end, they had gotten lucky.

The Saiyans had lost considerably more time on the second mission. Again, the briefing had been little more thorough than half a screen on his scouter. A planet with intelligent life, but with such low power levels Vegeta had not thought twice about it. He’d made sure they had provisions and fuel this time, and had headed out.

Of course he found out on site that reconnaissance and intelligence gathering had become his job too; the briefing provided was only a starting point. It also turned out that although the inhabitants lacked fighting power, they well made up for it with teamwork and coordinated retreats. The natives had evaded the Saiyans for months by hiding, somehow tricking the scouter’s power readings by finding refuge deep underground. The defenders took losses but could not be completely exterminated. In the end, the Prince was just lucky he and Raditz had discussed the strange interference that kept popping up on their scouters, and finally figured out they were listening in on enemy broadcasts. Yet with no materials at hand to help figure out the language, it had taken another month to decipher what the natives were saying. Once the language barrier was cracked, figuring out the hiding places and wiping the creatures out had been child’s play. Vegeta and his team had run ridiculously late, but in retrospect making it out alive and well was not that poor of a consolation prize, as they soon found out

For their third and previous mission had been presented right after the debrief. Vegeta shuddered when he recalled it and nearly dropped the plate he had been trying to return to its position. What a horror! It was a quiet planet with little technology. The creatures seemed to be little more intelligent or dangerous than the common space-fly. The Saiyans had rejoiced, seen it as a holiday. Vegeta had been tense during the entire trip and purge, so sure something unexpected would happen. He’d sighed in relief when they had entered cryo-sleep for the return journey on schedule and with enough fuel and inventory to get them home.

The worst homecoming imaginable had followed. His first memories of waking had been fuzzy and the docking procedures for landing on Frieza’s ship had roused them with difficulty. The haze had stayed too long; Vegeta was only dimly aware that something very wrong and alien was moving inside his body. They had landed with the usual heavy shock impact, and then all hell had broken out. Vegeta felt a sickening ‘pop’ as his gut burst open. His withered insides had been entwined with a wild sputtering mass, intestines ran red with blood, gnawed on by white parasitic worms as long as a finger. He started to scream, and was soon joined by his Saiyan team-mates as the pod hatches opened. The panicked medical personnel shouted and rushed to their aid in the landing bays.

That was the only time Vegeta had voluntarily gone through the decontamination process twice. He’d come back a third time, after a stay in the the healing tanks, and scrubbed himself clean on his own. It had been a close call for the whole team, and the bloody carouselle of memories was still viciously clear.

Vegeta sighed when the computer part he had just put back in place fell down again. Just another little problem. It was probably his responsibility too. Just like the worms had been; they had apparently consumed the larvae with the water on planet. The worms had proven immune to the stasis gas that accompanied cryo sleep, a problem that had become more frequent for the entire PTO and something Vegeta ‘should have known about’. The pods were outfitted with all sorts of fail-safes to protect a soldier’s health: from keeping tabs on life signs to warning home-base and putting the ship’s occupant in an absolute-zero cold sleep. That should have theoretically halted the growth of any biological hazard picked up during a mission, but none of these failsafes had been kept in working order—yet another thing Vegeta should have kept an eye on. This was what had led to his now failing attempt to check out Nappa’s pod.

Vegeta gave up on trying to fix the panel this way. “Hand me a soldering iron, will you?” he called to Nappa. It should be an easy fix, and probably would be done better if Vegeta did it himself. The only pod that had engaged cold sleep had been Nappa’s, and it had not worked correctly. Nappa had been eaten almost as much as the rest of the squad and had also suffered brain-damage from the cooling process. The poor brute had been in the healing tanks for a week longer than the others, so it was not all bad that their systems had not kicked in.

Vegeta blindly reached out one hand outside the pod, and closed his fingers around the tool.  But when he looked at the it, he realized it was not the right one. “Nappa, that's a screwdriver.”  

Why he had expected better now baffled the prince. Nappa offered some kind of apology, little more than stuttering, which caused Vegeta to stifle a groan. Once again, he wondered if Nappa's brain damage had been fixed at all. Trying to explain the differences between tools to this Saiyan simpleton seemed like too much trouble. Vegeta would just have to dumb down his orders to the giant half-wit instead. So he slid out from under the ship, rubbed at his eyes and resolved to finally place the blame on somebody else. With a malicious grin, he pointed at the unlucky overseer. “Just get me that mechanic instead.”

The creature yelped, even made a run for it. Nappa might be slow upstairs but he could move fast enough. He caught the creature before it even made it out the door, scooped it up and simply carried it to Vegeta. The prince relished the fear on the little thing's face, then started to complain about shoddy maintenance on the pod. Next he promised to hold the little twit responsible if anything broke on their upcoming mission. His tirade grew into a cathartic one sided shouting match that finally gave Vegeta a chance to vent his frustrations.

Frustrations about his missions, his Saiyans, and of course those fucking debriefings. The debriefings were the worst. After their first mission, Frieza had called Vegeta’s squad in to explain their hectic departure. Only the tyrant and Zarbon had been present, and though the blue elite seemed to enjoy Vegeta's stuttered explanation, Frieza himself had acted worried and helpful. After all of their problems had been discussed, Frieza had offered a second mission to prove themselves and make up for their errors.

Of course, more trouble came. On their return trip from the second and painfully late purge Dodoria, Captain Ginyu and three other elites he had never met had shown up to hear Vegeta’s inadequate and apparently hilarious explanation.

Frieza had asked twice for the guests to quiet their sniggering, but had not seemed too upset or willing to shut them up with violence. Then the tyrant had asked Vegeta if he'd rather forget the whole Saiyan command thing and join Frieza’s entourage instead. The young Saiyan had been mortified.

Vegeta had already had over a week to worry about the third debriefing since Nappa was still in the healing tank and Frieza had requested the entire squad to be present. He had been right to worry; it had been little more than a public humiliation. The whole Ginyu squad was there, asking questions like, “how could this have happened?”, “who was responsible?”, and “why didn’t you know this?” — words he now handily dished out to the petrified mechanic.

After what seemed like an eternity, Frieza had shushed the others. Then it said Vegeta was obviously too young to be given such responsibilities, and had repeated its offer for Vegeta to join its entourage. When Vegeta declined, Zarbon had been appointed to oversee their next mission. For their own safety. How humiliating.

When his tirade finally ran out of steam, Vegeta tossed the panel at the unlucky toad-man and strode out with a last “see that it's properly fixed this time,” Nappa on his heels.

If Frieza thought Vegeta would quit so easily, he had another thing coming. Saiyan Princes didn't do giving up; Vegeta least of all. Besides, his squad would not last long without him. Who would lead in his stead? None of the other Saiyans had the brains or the dedication to keep them alive.

Well, there was Raditz. Raditz was smart and diligent and could be put to any task, but they would never accept him as leader. He was not just a third class; he was young and weak. No, one of those old men would take over, no doubt. And they were useless.

This brought Vegeta’s thoughts to the senior Saiyans. Ugh. Vegeta decided to visit the hangar to the far side, where Raditz was to instruct the two old geezers how to check their own pods for faults. That was something Vegeta had decided against even trying to teach Nappa; the task was far beyond the simpleton. The elders should be able to do it themselves, though, with the help of a good and patient teacher. And Raditz had enough patience, or at least a lot more than Vegeta ever would. Still, the prince had little doubt the two would make Raditz's life as difficult as they could.

Though, honestly, Vegeta wouldn’t be too sad if Raditz failed and one of those old fools had a little ‘technical mishap’; Nion in particular. The elder professed to be wise, and enjoyed speaking in clever-sounding proverbs. But the few times Vegeta had swallowed his pride and enlisted the old man’s help, Nion had proven himself slow of wit, lacking initiative, and barely literate. That didn't stop him from comparing Vegeta to his father, or to even dare ask if the king would have approved. It got the teen’s blood boiling the way the old elite insinuated and manipulated him. Even worse, it worked. It made Vegeta want to try harder; to at least protect his meager squad, a squad that— despite Frieza’s insistence that there were plenty of  Saiyans— was still a few monkeys short of a full barrel.

Vegeta had received two new additions to his team just the other day; a large first-class with a dull personality called Papple and a rough elite by the name of Nangock, who preferred to go by Jack. It brought their total number, including Vegeta, up to nine. Of course, a full squad would have twelve people. The new pair would not be very helpful either; good for little outside of blasting shit to pieces, which was a shame. That was the one job Vegeta still enjoyed, despite the strange lethargy that had taken control of him lately.

   Vegeta nodded as he marched on. Raditz was the only member of the squad with half a brain, really. Nappa was a simpleton, and Lekus... Lekus was a disrespectful, rude bastard who revelled in pointing out all the shortcomings in Vegeta’s work. Only after the fact, of course. It had not gone unnoticed by Vegeta that the idiot could hardly be bothered to read the team briefings - briefings which Vegeta had worked pretty damn hard on. The prince had to go through through tons of unsorted paperwork to locate intel on available planets. The materials were often difficult to access, written in a language Vegeta didn’t understand, and not even properly indexed. But all Lekus ever offered was a useless ‘I bet it'll be harder than you think’, and an ‘I told you so’ after the fact.

Grunting in annoyance, Vegeta came to a sudden stop. He and Nappa had reached the far hangar, and Raditz was indeed working hard on one of the pods allocated to them. The old men were not causing a scene, but they were not helping, that much was for sure. No, they were drinking tea. Tea. While he had specifically told them to learn. Good. Because Vegeta found he still had some insults left to dole out that fit this lot far better than the mechanic. Words like ‘useless.’

The Prince upended the table and spilled their tea. He had quite a few more words for them, and so he kept railing on the old losers without listening to their apologies. “Stupid.”

And they fit the descriptives better anyway.  Because it wasn't him, dammit. He wasn’t the ‘failure’.

[woerncr-blog]

      hello everyone! i’m tyce and i’ll be playing reece here. i haven’t been in an rp for a little while so apologies if it takes a little time for me to get into the groove. i’m excited to meet and plot with you all though! some things about reece under the cut. honestly it’s just a bunch of hockey history but oh well.

REECE WOERNER is a 23 year old AMBIVALENT MALE that was born on JULY 29th. HE lives in MANHATTAN, but they’re originally from ELY, NEVADA, USA. They are a DEFENSEMAN FOR THE NYR for a living, and often get told they look like COLTON HAYNES. We wish them the best of luck in the city that never sleeps! (TYCE, 20, EST, THEY/THEM)

HISTORY

-- reece woerner was born in ely, nevada, but that’s hardly where he grew up. born to NHL player michael woerner ultimately turned coach in the WHL by 16 reece had attended nine different schools and played for numerous teams. home, if you ask reece woerner, is knowing nothing is certain but constant movement and in that moment, having the constant of hockey.

-- at sixteen, he was a walk-to the US national development team, and so home became ann arbor, michigan. those two years would be something like a CONSTANT for him, a certain sense of stability the turbulence of his childhood seemed to lack.

-- at seventeen, he accelerated his graduation after his junior year at the request of the university of michigan -- ann arbor, electing to go straight into the ncaa. his finished his freshman season with 20 pts ( 4 G, 16 A ) in 37 games. that summer in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, he was selected 24th overall by the Vancouver Canucks.

-- he returned to ann arbor his sophomore year stronger, faster and raised his point totals to 24 pts ( 6 G, 18 A ) in 36 games. upon finishing his sophomore year, he elected to sign his ELC with the vancouver canucks, playing 7 games with their farm team the utica coments on a pto earning no points.

-- he would send the next season ( ‘15 - ‘16 ) with utica as well, earning 24 pts ( 5 g, 19 a ) in 72 games. the following year, he pushed to make the team out of camp but was ultimately sent back down to utica, though he was one of the last to be. he then received a 32 game call up at the end of the season only posting 1 goal and 4 assists.

-- though not quite considered a bust, reece struggled with expectations and knew he could produce better. he also felt pigeon-holed with the canucks’ methods of development and their plan for him. as an offensive skating defenseman, their model they were coaching was not fit for him.

-- it was almost a relief on july 24th, when he was packaged in part of a deal that would send him to the rangers. reece attacked his off-season regiment with new vigor, desperate to prove himself to his new team and to himself. the nhl was the ultimate goal and he was going to achieve it.

-- he made a strong showing in development camp as well as in the traverse city tournament and pre-season. ultimately, he was sent down to the hartford wolf pack, again one of the last to be so. however, this time, he only spent a mere 11 games in hartford before getting a call up and never going back down.

-- ‘17-’18 would be a season of strong development for him, paired with a more defensive defenseman allowed for reece to use his speed and skill to be more offensive, him and his pair working well off each other. he would finish the season with 27 pts ( 5 g, 22 a ) in 62 games.

-- though they did not make playoffs, reece felt as if he had found himself once again and attacked his off-season all the more focused and intent on growing his game. he plans to secure a spot on the team this year.

MISC

-- REPORT:  utilizes strong skating and poise on the ice to be one of the more dependable players ; skating, offensive defenseman with an eye for gap control who uses speed to jump up in a rush as well as return to defend ; versatile enough to quarterback a powerplay if necessary, effective on the penalty kill

-- the PENALTY KILL is reece’s father’s specialty so he’s received plenty of coaching on it and is almost a specialist on it. that being said, his offensive talent and eye allow him to step into the power play in case of injury or illness.

-- reece is a valuable source of positive energy in the locker room -- he’s steady in his presence and understands his place. he is thankful to the rangers for welcoming him into their fold and for allowing him to blossom so quickly. he only hopes for that to continue.

-- a little vain. surprise surprise.

CONNECTIONS

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS: reece has been pretty much Everywhere in his childhood until he was 16. i would love some muses he knows from a long time ago and oh how things have now changed.

did you know i’m actually really bad at making wanted connections? honestly, reece is a pretty friendly, easy-going guy. he’ll be friends with anyone?? as long as you’re chill too.

     i actually don’t know anything about NYR bc they’re not my team so welp. also no shade at the canucks? i actually do respect them a lot ( the only team valid enough to win the jack hughes lotto, u heard it here first follks ) so don’t come for me. lundqvist is king. sry that’s all i got. reece, if you can’t tell, is like a giant mash of about five different players lmao.

     hmu to plot though!! i have some homework i really need to tackle but i’ll be back to get to starters and read bios/intros!

[ennooo]

Teacher appreciation week

Teacher Appreciation Week is right around the corner. This year it’s the week of May 3–7, with National Teacher Day on May 4. And while it is always important to recognize how much teachers matter, this past year is especially significant. Many educators have worked around the clock to move their teaching online or to a hybrid format while continuing to support their students.

Remote or hybrid learning can make it tough to show teachers how much you care, but there are still plenty of options. From e-cards and thank-you videos to classroom goodies and decorations, we’ve compiled a list of 51 ways you can celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week 2021 in-person or at a distance.

Note: Some of these suggestions involve sending food or a gift to the teacher or sharing with the teacher in person. If you are still distance learning, always ask your teacher first before sending anything or setting up a time to meet. If a teacher is not comfortable receiving food or gifts, even at a distance, try one of the virtual suggestions instead.

📷

1. Have your child write and mail a letter to their teacher. This can be an especially heartfelt gesture if the teacher taught your child how to write this year.

2. Fill out this Thank You, Teacher printout as a handmade gift that shows teachers how they’ve made a difference this year.

3. Send your teacher a gift card for food or classroom supplies.

4. Send an e-card that’s sure to brighten your teacher’s day.

5. Teacher Appreciation Week is a time to recognize school staff and administration, too. Reach out to your school’s principal, secretaries, and support staff to let them know how much you care.

6. Make a poster for your teacher with thank-you notes on it and mail it or take a picture to share.

7. Ask your teacher what their favorite treat is and mail or drop it off for them to enjoy.

8. If you can coordinate it, put together a classroom thank-you book with notes from every student who can participate.

9. Put together this cute and crafty  “chill pills” gift, a jar full of small candy for your child’s teacher to enjoy when they’re feeling stressed.

10. During Teacher Appreciation Week, use the social media hashtag #ThankATeacher from the National PTA and share how educators have brightened your or your child’s life.

11. For a silly gift that is sure to make a teacher laugh, make and give them this stress relief present.

12. Decorate your teacher’s door with messages of support if you have permission from your school administrators.

13. Make and send a simple classroom decoration for your child’s teacher to hang up next year.

14. Record a video of your child saying thank you to their teacher and email it to them.

15. Fold and send a woven heart, which is a Scandinavian craft filled with candy that’s meant to be shared during any holiday.

16. Write an email to your child’s teacher expressing your gratitude as a caregiver for all they’ve done this year.

17. Plant a tree in honor of your teacher through the Arbor Day Foundation, The Trees Remember, or in your local community.

18. Coordinate with other parents on a bigger gift for your teacher.

19. Start an online fundraiser to raise money for classroom supplies your teacher will need for next year.

20. If you have a teacher who loves the color pink, this gift idea could make their day.

21. Print and share this word cloud poster for your teacher to hang up in their classroom.

22. Create a few bookends that your teacher can use to keep their classroom library looking stylish.

23. Have your child write a poem for their teacher on what they’ve learned this year and why they’re thankful to be in their teacher’s class.

24. Make or coordinate on a gift basket for your child’s teacher filled with goodies for them to enjoy.

25. Send flowers for a gift that’s sure to brighten their day.

26. Wear red on National Teacher Day (May 4, 2021) and share that you’re wearing red to support teachers using the hashtag #RedForED.

27. Call into a radio talk show and tell the host why you’re grateful for the teachers in your life.

28. Make a shirt with this iron-on Super Teacher design and send it to your child’s teacher to remind them of how much of a hero they are.

29. Donate books for your teacher’s classroom library next year.

30. Give your teacher something to help them practice a little self-care, like a journal or a nice-smelling candle.

31. Have your child draw a picture for their teacher and either send it to them directly or take a picture so you can email it.

32. If you are still distance learning, take a picture of your child learning from home and send it to their teacher.

33. Put together a bookmark that your teacher can use during chapter book read-alouds.

34. Make a DIY lanyard with your school colors for a homemade practical gift.

35. Ask your child what their favorite thing they learned this year is and have them write or email it to their teacher.

36. This flower bulb craft (included near the middle of this article from PTO Today) is a thoughtful, spring-themed gift for teachers who like to garden.

37. Share this video from Edutopia with your teacher that commemorates just how much teachers have done for their students over the past year.

38. If you’ve got time to bake, this Thank You apple cookie can make for a great treat to share.

39. For a thank-you gift that also gives teachers helpful school supplies, make this craft to remind them they’re a “cut above the rest.”

40. These knit teacher gifts can be especially thoughtful if you have a knack for crafting.

41. If you have a mason jar at home, use it to make a gift full of treats and thank-you messages.

42. Put together this gift box, which you can then fill with treats or school supplies.

43. Ask your teacher if they have a favorite morning drink, like tea or coffee, and bring it to them so they have something delicious to start their day with.

44. Put together a quick and easy keychain that your teacher can use to add a little flair to their keys.

45. If you are giving your teacher a gift card, pair it with this homemade gift card holder that has a sweet message.

46. This coloring card adds a special touch to the usual thank-you cards.

47. Interview your child about why they’re thankful for their teacher and send the answers their way.

48. Decorate a clipboard that your teacher can use to organize their papers with a splash of color.

49. For teachers who love to decorate, this personalized door hanger can mean a lot.

50. Gift them a small plant with this sweet message sharing how much your child has grown in class this year.

51. Put together a collage of all your child’s classmates to show that you are all thinking of their teacher, whether you are able to meet in school or not.

For Online people

Create a Thank You Video

This idea is guaranteed to bring tears to a teacher’s eyes. It requires a little bit of technological prowess (although iMovie makes it super simple if you use a Mac), but the effort will be worth it. Ask the parents or guardians of your child’s classmates to email a short video of their child sending a message to their teacher. You can have everyone say hello or list something they miss about the classroom — or you can leave it up to them. Next, edit the clips together and email the finished product to the teacher.

Create a Slideshow

If video editing is a little more than you’re able to handle, you can create something similar through a slideshow presentation. This is a very simple process — in fact, your kids might be able to show you how to do it if you’re unsure. Instead of asking the class to send video clips, ask for photos. You can center it around a theme (students working, notes from the kids, or students holding up letters to spell out a message) or you can make it more open-ended.

Set Up a Week’s Worth of Themes

Show up in the teacher’s inbox (or virtual classroom) every day throughout the course of the week with a different surprise. Coordinate with the class so that everyone works on it together. You can use one of the ideas listed here or come up with your own. Some examples include: Dress Up Like Your Teacher Day, holding up thoughtful signs during a Zoom session or Google Meet, and sharing favorite classroom memories. There are so many possibilities!

Show Your Gratitude Through a Letter or Activity Printable

Simple but always appreciated, a heartfelt thank you note is a fantastic way to show your gratitude. Kids can practice their letter writing skills and get as creative as they want with these notes. When they’re done, take a picture and email it along with the promise of handing over the real thing when you can.

Additionally, these printables provide fun prompts to get kids started when sharing their thanks for their teacher.

Digital Gift Cards

If you want to give your child’s teacher a special little treat, gifts cards are the way to go. Most places have digital options available — whether it’s a favorite local restaurant, bookstore, or other retailer. Just make sure to double check the business is open and making deliveries!

If your preferred book retailer is shipping, these books make great gifts for teachers.

Car Parade

This idea isn’t virtual, but it’s a great way to celebrate while sticking to social distancing guidelines. If your child’s teacher is a beloved fixture of the community, a car parade is a fun way to get together while remaining at least six feet apart. Round up some past and present students, deck out your cars with signs, and drive by at a designated time. Make lots of noise and make sure your happy faces can be seen!

You can also organize a drive-through. Have families park every other spot to maintain social distance and invite teachers to come through at a certain time during the day. Again, make sure to have lots of decorations and be ready to wave and smile wide!

Sources: 1. Waterford.org 2. Brighty

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON: (SAT) PACK DROP SOUND TIGERS 5-2

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack won for the second straight game on Saturday afternoon at the XL Center, 5-2, over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The line of Justin Richards, Tim Gettinger, and Ty Ronning powered the Pack with six points on six shots. Gettinger and Ronning had two assists each, while Richards scored his first pro goal and added a helper. The Wolf Pack record improves to 5-6-1-0 (11 points). Bridgeport’s record drops to 3-8-0 (6 points) and remains in last place in the Atlantic Division following a nine-day layoff. Associate Head Coach, Gord Murphy, was back behind the bench running the game with Kris Knoblauch still in Philadelphia with the Rangers. “I’m very proud of the team the last two games. The club played for each other, playing better individually and collectively," an ebullient Murphy said.

THIRD PERIOD

Early in the third period, the Sound Tigers made it interesting, drawing within 3-2, but the Wolf Pack regained control and posted two goals to pull away for the win. The puck was dumped into the Wolf Pack zone by Samuel Bolduc. Richards chased it down and won a battle with Jeff Kubiak for control of the puck. However, his outlet pass was swiped by Cole Bardreau, who was at the right side of the net, and slipped a backhander, surprising netminder Adam Huska, who was making his second consecutive start and playing in just his sixth game of the season. The puck went between Huska's arm and body just 12 seconds into the period and made it a 3-2 lead for the home team. “We didn’t panic. We didn't let it get us down. We stuck to what we did in the first two periods, and we came out with a win,” said winger Anthony Greco. The Wolf Pack counter-attacked the rest of the period as Ronning and Gettinger's combo made some magic.

RONNING, GETTINGER, AND RICHARDS

“That line the last three or four games has come together with Richards in the middle. They're complementing each other well with Richards winning draws. You see the confidence and the contributions they're making," said Murphy of Ronning, Gettinger, and Richards. Tarmo Reunanen tallied his third goal of the season after Ronning broke down right-wing and snapped a shot that Gettinger redirected. Sound Tiger goalie, Jakub Skarek, made a pad save but left a big rebound. Reunanen came in from his defensive position at the left perch and zipped the puck into the net at 13:41. “That play wasn’t a fluke or accident," Murphy said. "Tarmo read the play and reacted, and for players coming from Europe, there is that adjustment period to get used to the ice (size of the rink) and how to play the puck and the game. He is a solid hard worker and has shown a lot of determination to get better, and he showed that on that goal which came at a great time for us.”

THE FINAL TALLY

On the game's final tally, Patrick Khordorenko slipped a short pass to Paul Thompson coming from left-to-right. Thompson had good speed for his zone entry and drove deep into the Sound Tigers' end. At the lower right-wing circle, Thompson fired a shot that went high over Skarek’s left shoulder and just under the crossbar at 16:06. It was his first goal since the season opener and sealed the 5-2 win.

SECOND PERIOD

The Wolf Pack expanded their lead with two more goals in the second period. The Pack tallied on their second power play via Yannick Turcotte being sent to the box for charging Zach Giuttari at 4:29. Thompson was on the left-wing and led a hard-charging Austin Rueschhoff with a pass. Rueschhoff deftly deflected the puck through Skarek's five-hole for his second goal of the season. The Wolf Pack added a shorthanded goal after coming so close three times in the last game against the Providence Bruins. Richards tallied at 9:58 and made it 3-0, benefiting from Anthony Greco’s high-octane speed. Greco sped down the left wing was able to launch a shot at Skarek, who stopped, but the rebound came off the pads, and Richards deposited that puck quickly into the net, “Sometimes on a power play, a team can get a little lackadaisical, and I try to catch them and create some offense, and Justin put it away,” remarked Greco.

SOUND TIGERS STRIKE BACK

The Sound Tigers did get one back with an intense rush into the Wolf Pack end, with Bardreau sniping in the goal. He cut in from the right-wing after a Thomas Kuhnhackl dump in came right off the backboards to Bardreau, who slipped it by Huska at 12:26. Parker Wotherspoon further ignited his bench by picking a fight with the much taller Gettinger, who was not known as a fighter. For Gettinger, it was just his second fighting major in three years. In the first one, he was TKO’d. The Sound Tigers came close to scoring again when, on the rush, Mitchell Vande Sompel took Otto Koivula’s backhanded pass and zinged one over Huska’s glove and hit the crossbar at 15:22.

FIRST PERIOD

The first period started slowly but ended with the Wolf Pack holding a 1-0 lead on another power play goal, their third in the last two games. Darren Raddysh was parked dead center just inside the blue line. He took a pass from the right-wing pass and sent a rocket of a shot that beat Skarek high to the glove side at 12:28. “The powerplay is just generating better shots and simplifying things and getting rewarded. Darren, like most of the players, especially veterans, it’s been very difficult with the schedule getting into a rhythm when you’re playing just one or two games a week spaced out. Getting several together is making a difference,” said Murphy. The Wolf Pack had the best chances over the last seven minutes of the period and held the Sound Tigers to just two shots the rest of the period.

LINES:

Newell-Barron-Greco Richards-Gettinger-Ronning Khordorenko-Thompson-Whelan Sanchez- Rueschhoff-Geersten Raddysh-Crawley LoVerde-Reunanen Giutarri-Sieloff Huska Wall

THREE STARS

1. Tim Gettinger, HWP 2, Ty Ronning, HWP 3. Cole Bardreau, BST

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Justin Richards, HWP (goal and an assist getting better each game) Taro Reunanen, HWP (goal and strong D zone work) Paul Thompson, HWP (goal and an assist, his best game thus far as a Wolf Pack) Mason Geersten, HWP (strong two-way play shifted to D from LW for PK situations)

SCRATCHES

Gabriel Fontaine - (Upper-Body - Likely done for the season) Jonny Brodzinski  - (Upper-Body - 3-4 weeks) Jeff Taylor Will Cullye Michael O’Leary Ryan Dmowski Zach Bezzola (Just signed) Hunter Skinner (Recalled, Assigned #20) Francois Brassard

NOTES

Pack goalie Michael Lackey was released on Sunday. Yannick Turcotte, playing his second game of the season for the Sound Tigers, tried to entice Geersten to fight him off the draw late in the game was hit with a penalty. He then stayed on the ice after the penalty expired and, in the last 15 seconds, tried to run Reunanen as time expired. The referees made no call on the play after the brief scrum. Vincent LoVerde, came to Reunanen's aid, as did the rest of the Wolf Pack. Defenseman, Hunter Skinner, signed a three-year, entry-level deal on Monday. The contract starts in the fall. He will stay in Hartford for the rest of the season on a PTO contract. Peter Diliberatore (Cos Cob/CT Oilers/Brunswick School) from Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) also signed. He puts his name to a contract on a standard NHL three-year, entry-level deal for the same package as Skinner paying $925K in the NHL and $70K for play in the AHL.

BRODZINSKI BROTHERS

With Jonny Brodzinski out with an injury, his youngest brother Easton, of St. Cloud State University, and the team's leading goal scorer, tallied two goals to lead the team to a 6-2 win over BU. However, he suffered a devasting broken left leg injury on a collision in the first minute of the second period in Sunday's 4-1 win over BC to reach the Frozen Four. His other younger, Bryce, picked up an assist in the Minnesota Golden Gophers 7-2 win over the University Nebraska-Omaha on Friday at the NCAA Regionals. They lost to another Minnesota-based team, Minnesota State, 4-1 on Sunday. They were led by the superb goaltending of Dryden McKay, named for the NHL great Montreal Canadiens goalie, Hall-Of-Famer, Ken Dryden. McKay is the son of former Hartford Whaler, Ross McKay. He played one game with the Whalers in relief of ex-Whaler and Wolf Pack, Kay Whitmore, on March 30, 1991, a 5-5 tie against the Buffalo Sabres. The Minnesota roster is forward Darian Gotz, the nephew of ex-Pack Head Coach and one-time captain Ken Gernander.

PROSPECTS

The Rangers have a few prospects in UMASS defenseman Zac Jones. The Minutemen played big in their 4-0 shutout win over Bemidji State and will play two-time defending national champion,  Minnesota-Duluth, on Thursday. Minnesota-based schools fill three-of-the-four slots in the Frozen Four.

LEMIEUX TRADED

The Rangers traded forward Brendan Lemieux to the Los Angeles Kings for a 2021 fourth-round draft choice. The move frees up a roster spot for Vitali Kravtsov, who completed his quarantine and is cleared to play. Ex-Wolf Pack, Kodie Curran, and Vinni Lettieri were sent down by the Anaheim Ducks to the San Diego Gulls.

UCONN

UCONN got a grad transfer from Yale University (ECACHL) for next season. Forward Kevin O’ Neil didn’t play this season. Junior goalie Tomas Vomacka had successful surgery on his torn meniscus in his left knee. Expect him to turn professional and sign with the Nashville Predators in the coming days. Despite a seeming nasty left knee injury in their season-ending loss to Providence College, winger Kale Howarth did not require surgery and has headed back to Red Deer, AB, for off-season rehab. He should be back in the Huskies lineup next year.

OTHER NEWS

Current contracted Wolf Pack defenseman Yegor Rykov played Game 7 of the KHL Gagarin Cup Conference Semifinals on Monday. His CSKA Moscow club won 2-0 over Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and will advance to play in the KHL semifinals against SKA St. Petersburg, where their goalie is ex-Pack, Magnus Hellberg. One of Rykov’s current teammates is an ex-Pack, defenseman, John Gilmour. The Sound Tigers reassigned goalie Francois Marrotte to the Allen (TX) Americans (ECHL) last week. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

[recentanimenews]

Oregairu 3 – 04 – Gradually Becoming Useless

Hikki and Yui are asked to take a look at the practice prom pictures and choose which to use on social media. Hikki leaves it to Yui, who makes sure to pick a couple of nice shots of her and Hikki dancing. After that, when they ask what’s next, Yukino tells them that’s all for now; the StuCo will handle the remainder of prom preparations, but she’ll reach out to them again if she needs any additional help.

Since neither Hikki nor Yui are busy, they decide to hang out together, with the ostensible mission of buying a gift for Komachi. Hikki geeks out at the new coffee vending machine, and the two end up in an IKEA showroom, which is a repository of various living spaces meant to inspire and entice customers. It’s apropos that Yui mentions the future and the dreams they both had as kids in such a place, where it’s never entirely possible to forget that the places aren’t real—only life-size dioramas.

That said, things seem to be going well with the prom plans until they’re not, by no fault of Yukino or Iroha. Yukino and Haruno’s mom represents members of the PTO (this schools version of the PTA) who are bristling at the idea of a prom after seeing the pictures, believing it to be “unbecoming” of high schoolers (clearly they’ve never been to an American high school dance!).

They want to cancel the prom, and Iroha’s impertinence in protesting that position and splitting hairs with the “initial consent” doesn’t help their case. Hikki can tell that Yukino’s mom is no joke, but he still reflexively tries to help by getting the school’s more positive opinion from Shizuka, and Haruno accuses him of being the “big brother” again.

Yukino herself wears a defeated smile, telling Hikki if she accepts help whenever he offers it, she’ll eventually become useless. Haruno later tells Hikki that Yukino has to make a clean break from co-dependency and sort this out on her own, or their mom will never accept it as her accomplishment and acknowledge her independence.

That’s pretty damn harsh, if you ask me. Yes, they’ll be taking a step into adulthood with college soon enough, but here and now they’re still in high school, and they’re still kids…let them help each other out, at least a little! While I understand the moral objectives of a few parents (without agreeing with them), I find this absolutely-no-help, hands-off edict regarding Yukino…distasteful. No one person can organize a prom on their own, period!

What it comes down to is the reason Hikki wants to help, which may indeed be twisted in his inherent need to be kind and supportive of Yukino and Yui whenever possible, even if it’s not in their long-term best interests or his. He and Yui are about to make some homemade cake for Komachi, but Hikki is drawn away by a text from Iroha indicating the PTO has gone forward with cancelling the prom outright.

Hikki calls Shizuka for the skinny, but she makes sure to ask him the reason he wants and needs to get invovled, and after briefly clamming up, he tells her: because he “promised to save her someday.” It’s as simple as that. When Yui hears that, and Hikki prepares to head back to school, some tears fall, but she claims they’re out of relief. As Hikki runs away from her and towards Yukino, her tears start falling again, and they won’t stop. Part of her wishes they hadn’t stopped when they did, since he might’ve stayed.

By: sesameacrylic

[nevcolleil]

leverage, nate ford. :)

Oh, Nate Ford… Our precious Vengeance Daddy 🙄

My main Nate Ford headcanon is this:

After they retire, Nate “teases” Sophie so often about working hard to keep her interested and too happy to be tempted back to their old life, that Sophie starts to catch on that Nate’s actually worried.

She “teases” back - a little stiff, a little offended (quite definitely worried about the same thing.)

But oh dear.

How opposite of that is what really happens!

They both remain blissfully happy (as much as Nate can be said to be capable of bliss) together, and happy in their new life.

But Sophie really sinks into the role. It’s actually a relief to have more time and attention to give the theater she runs and her own acting projects. And even if it weren’t, becoming the wife of a highly sought after insurance investigator - and, later, a mother - provides Sophie with more intrigue, cutthroat battles of will, academic puzzles and physically exhausting tests of endurance than Sophie is sure she’d ever encountered as a grifter!

When the old team gathers together (as they regularly do) the team is just as enthralled by her tales of passive aggressive PTO showdowns, tense corporate suarees, and soccer man one-upmanship as she and Nate are with their many successes and struggles.

(Enthralled with what she tells them of those things, of course. It’s nigh impossible as it is, keeping the others from destroying her enemies with only the heavily edited versions of her daily challenges.)

Nate, on the other hand…

Nate struggles for a time.

The siren’s call of do-gooding sans red-tape and proper channels is never silent.

He sends so many cases the others’ way, they make a rule that he can no longer talk about any of them in person - nor ask for any updates, any time. Or question any of their decisions afterwards.

Which Nate can definitely get behind, because of course he *trusts* them to do what they do - he’s just RESTLESS. And sometimes, some of the cases involve a misguided youth not unlike a certain trio of one-time career criminals. Nate knows none of them has the time to take advantage of the obvious opportunities - not while they’re so busy also running cons and bringing down bad guys.

So… Nate does a thing. Or two. Or ten.

Not like before - he doesn’t take anybody “under his wing, be quiet, Sophie”. He maybe orchestrates a meeting or two. An eye opening life lesson here, a tables-turning exercise there.

Flash forward ten or fifteen years, Leverage is a network of teams all over the world - with offices in most major cities. There’s a dental plan. There are conferences. Alec and Parker and Eliot refer to them as “the kids” and Nate and Sophie as “Gramps and Sophie” (Sophie is retired; not a pushover.)

All the teams are fierelcely protective of their patriarch. He doesn’t see any of the new recruits (or their recruits) in person as regularly as he sees his own first “family”, but he gets daily reports on their lives, professional and otherwise. The ones he knows personally invite him and Sophie and their kids to major life events.

As retirements go… Nate’s is pretty dauntingly fulfilling 😃

[flipfundingstuff]

Industries That May Struggle to Bounce Back After COVID-19

Small businesses are critical to the American economy. In fact, the country is 95% dependent on the goods and services provided by small businesses. Harvard Business Review reports that small, locally-owned companies employ approximately 58.9 million Americans and account for 47.5% of the private sector workforce (44% of the US economy overall). This sector was thriving until the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused an unimaginable disruption to daily business operations.

As a majority of American consumers practice social distancing and stay at home to mitigate the spread of the virus, the small businesses deemed “nonessential” have been forced to adapt or otherwise close their doors temporarily, causing major revenue losses. Some businesses may not feel any immediate effects as they adjust their service offerings in this new market, but the long-term economic impact of coronavirus could be catastrophic if small business owners don’t take preventative measures now to protect what they’ve built. 

This article discusses which industries are at risk, what you as a small business owner can do to increase your chances of surviving and then thriving, and how you can apply for federal disaster business loans for your at-risk company during this difficult time. 

Industries That Will Be Heavily Impacted by Novel Coronavirus

Due to novel coronavirus, people are no longer dropping off their dry cleaning, getting their nails done, picking up coffee every morning, going to pilates, or hitting local fashion boutiques to freshen up their spring wardrobes. Instead, consumers are hunkering down in their houses, ordering goods online, and minimizing their interactions with the outside world out of concern for public health. It’s easy to see why the nation’s capitals are reporting that business is down by 40%. 

It is the same story in China and around the globe, and it’s impeding the ability of many businesses to get imported goods from their main supply sources. The NFIB Research Center says that 39% of small businesses have already felt the effects of supply chain disruptions and are struggling to maintain their businesses as a result. The 43% who aren’t feeling the effects expect to be impacted within the next 3 months if these trends continue, and the last 18% surveyed simply don’t know what to expect. Below are the industries experiencing the most impact:

Retail

The retail industry supplies goods that many people consider to be “wants” rather than “needs,” so when consumers scale back and make cuts to their budgets during a crisis, retail is one of the first industries to slide down the priority list. According to Ray Wimer, an assistant professor of retail at Syracuse University, retail stores usually experience the majority of the impact, and this holds true for the COVID-19 pandemic as well—but not only because of a lack of consumer demand. 

The World Trade Organization says that more than 37% of global textile exports come from China and that most luxury manufacturing occurs in Italy. These 2 countries have been hit hard by the coronavirus, and their workforces have drastically decreased in numbers as a result of the lockdowns they’re experiencing, which has made it difficult for them to continue producing the exports that American retailers of all sizes rely on them to supply. These supply chain problems and falling sales have created the perfect storm for a great number of small US retailers, forcing them to close up shop.

Travel/Tourism and Hospitality

We’ve all heard how airlines, hotel chains, and other large companies in the tourism and hospitality industries have been impacted by COVID-19, but what about smaller communities that have been hurt by the decline in tourism? Locally-owned motels, tour guides, souvenir shops, and other tourism-centered small businesses are now struggling to survive as travelers are advised to stay home. 

In New Hampshire, for example, tourism is the second-largest industry, bringing in over a billion dollars every year. Small towns like historical Peterborough draw in visitors from all over with breathtaking nature views and rich culture, but without travelers, this community has felt a severe economic impact as the sharp decline of travelers has caused a sharp rise in unemployment.

Entertainment

While streaming services and online entertainment platforms thrive in times like these, local movie theaters, playhouses, independent filmmakers, and film festivals suffer as they’re forced to close their doors and halt production for weeks and months at a time. A recent report stated that the film industry could take a $5 billion hit by delaying major movie releases. Sporting events, concerts, and other such events are also being canceled, causing major losses for many industries at once.

Food Service

The food service industry employs over 16 million people and propels the economy in a vast number of communities. For those food establishments that haven’t been able to offer delivery, drive-through, or curbside pickup, consumer dollars are instead being spent at grocery stores. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that spending in this industry will temporarily drop 80% over the course of this pandemic. 

Is Your Industry at Risk?

IBISWorld is a trusted industry research company that employs skilled analysts who use market trends, demographics, and economic data to provide helpful business insights to companies of every shape and size. This information empowers them to make smarter and better-informed decisions for their companies. If your business doesn’t fall under one of the industries mentioned above, IBISWorld has analyzed every industry by country and has provided an estimate of its fiscal risk during the COVID-19 outbreak. 

You can use their “Industry Exposure” tool to get an in-depth look at your risk and help your small business improve its defense strategy accordingly. 

The Silver Lining

Small business owners can take comfort in the fact that COVID-19 is not unprecedented. The outlook might seem bleak for nonessential industries, but after some time has passed, everyone will recover just as they have in the past. Consider this:

The world didn’t end after Y2K 

We traveled again after the 9/11 attacks

We overcame SARS in 2003, and Chinese hotels made a full recovery from the impact of that outbreak after just 4 months

The 2008 fiscal crisis did not destroy the country

We survived the 2009 swine flu

ISIS did not succeed in taking our freedoms in 2015

Coronavirus will also soon be a distant memory that we learned from. The day will soon come when the country will change out of pajamas and go shopping for new clothes. We’ll turn off our TVs and see a play with our friends. Businesses in every industry will have customers again. 

Until that time comes, there are things you can do to survive the pandemic and stay afloat. Consider changing your supplier so you aren’t dependent on struggling countries. Increase the price of your goods and services for the sake of cash flow. And last but not least, consider taking out a COVID-19 small business loan.

Funding Options Available to Your Industry

Earlier on in March, the US federal government slashed interest rates almost to zero in an attempt to counteract the economic impact of coronavirus, which is more than it has since the 2008 recession. Now is the perfect time to take out a small business loan while interest rates are as low as they can possibly be, according to Forbes. 

The United States government and other governments worldwide are creating loan programs to help small businesses survive the pandemic and cover funding gaps while business is down. On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed the CARES Act into law, which provides relief for families and businesses that have been negatively affected by the coronavirus. Approximately $350 billion has been reserved for small businesses in a government stimulus package to help prevent layoffs and closures while employees practice social distancing and stay at home. 

Your company could qualify for cash flow assistance under the CARES Act for up to 8 weeks if you have 500 workers or fewer. Additionally, your loan could potentially be forgiven if you maintain payroll and use the loan to cover the cost of rent, mortgage, and/or utilities. 

The act also includes:

A Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for continued support of employee salaries, payroll, and more

The cooperation of the Small Business Administration with state governments to provide $2 million disaster recovery loans (EIDLs) to small businesses to make up for the temporary loss of revenue

Business tax changes, including delayed employer payroll tax payments, advance tax credits for necessary sick time/PTO, and an employee retention tax credit

This situation is continuously evolving, so keep up with local news sources to find out how government funding can support you through this tough time.

What Can You Do Now to Get the Funding You Need?

First and foremost, talk to your banker about the expanded SBA section of the CARES Act, as these institutions are in charge of administering SBA small business loans. You’ll also want to make sure you have the documentation needed to apply for loans and prove that you’re in good financial standing. This documentation includes tax returns, operating agreements, bylaws, certificates of good standing, statements, payroll information, and more. 

You should also get in touch with a Lendio funding manager to discuss your options and what kind of funding you need to keep your head above water. We can help you decide which financing option is right for you and give you better approval odds for:

The Paycheck Protection Program

SBA loans

A business line of credit

Short-term loans

A merchant cash advance

A business term loan

And many more

Apply for a COVID-19 Relief Loan

The second quarter of this year will surely test the limits of small businesses, but you can keep your head above water by securing business capital and remaining vigilant. A recession doesn’t have to be the end of your business if you rely on the coronavirus small business loan options available to you. Interest rates are lower than they’ve ever been, so there has never been a better time to apply. 

To ensure that your industry is able to bounce back quickly after this economic crisis, turn to your primary financial institution to learn about all your COVID-19 small business loan options. If your company is reasonably healthy, you could get approved quickly and have critical funding in your hands in as little as 24 hours. All you need is some basic documentation ready to apply for these SBA small business loans. Get started today.

The post Industries That May Struggle to Bounce Back After COVID-19 appeared first on Lendio.

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[traditionalaviator]

Vent

Being a CNA at a nursing home strictly for veterans during this pandemic is starting to wrack my nerves a lot, I'm trying to psyche myself up for the likely possibility I might get stuck here 24/7 if the spread gets bad enough and coworkers just. Stop showing up.

I was gonna quit this job back in December if I found another, but that failed and I also go concert tickets, I have PTO here- so I put off the job hunt till October.

The only thing that makes this shitty, shitty job worth it is my residents, the "I love yous" and the look of trust they have when you prevent them from falling is worth it. The "thank yous" and the look of relief when I get em cleaned up and tell them they have nothing to be ashamed of. Even though they forget my name and something they forget me entirely, there's always that glimmer of recognition that their subconscious tells them that they can trust me- no matter how far gone they are after Alzheimers or Dementia claims their mind.

The hardest part is not really being able to say goodbye properly, most of my original unit is gone now, the new names on the door feel strange because this time last year someone else lived in that room- and died there. And I don't get to say goodbye to them at their funeral or memorial. Either I come in and they're being wheeled out or their room is already cleared out waiting to receive the next veteran sometime next week.

You always wind up seeing which veteran was loved the most by their family, by how decorated their room is and how often they get gifts from their family. I think one of my favorites is the one who notices when I am gone and is always excited to see me. His speech is getting worse, he isn't as steady on his feet, I am all too familiar with the progression of this destroyer of minds and I would be surprised if he lives past 6 more months. He has a huge sweet tooth and enjoys Sprite, he is always wondering who is making his bed wet without realizing it's him- I tell him we'll find the person doing it. He says he'll beat their ass. I only agree as I dress him for the day and fix his bed. Sometimes he realizes it's him wetting the bed, I tell him it's okay because I hear the shame in his voice. I tell him I do it sometimes too, despite it being a lie and he winds up feeling better. Being a good liar is important when working with people with progressive, permanent memory loss. His family loves him a lot, his room is cozy and I know that regardless of what happens, he'll be loved to the end.

There's another that acts like a child, making airplane noises and playing games, his room is empty, devoid of any kind of decor save for the monthly calendar pinned to the wall by activities. I have never seen a room so barren.

One is getting ready to leave me, my only jarhead on the unit. He's taken to liking a Fur Real cat he dubbed Milo before his voice left, he's on a feeding tube and won't eat anything because he described it as tasting like gasoline.

He normally smiles at Milo and pets him, but tonight when I put the cat by him he did nothing. Death is on the sidewalk heading for his door, and I'll miss him.

[poisynous]

Just Thinking

There are some things that people with anxiety and depression want people to know.  A lot of people just tell them to keep trying or that they’re not trying hard enough.  No, that’s not the problem. They are trying. You just don’t see it. You don’t see them hyping themselves up just to go outside. You don’t see them arguing with themselves about participating. Half of them wants to get out and be involved. The other half is scared shitless and is overwhelmed with stress and anxiety. Fighting over whether it’s worth it. Then IF and when they actually do get out and participate in something, they may be too overcome with anxiety to do anything more than just sit in a corner. Sometimes a simple smile or acknowledgement​ is all they need for a little bit of confidence. The hardest part about dealing with stress, anxiety and depression is feeling like you’re alone and no one cares.  Attending a PTO meeting, sitting in the corner and not being acknowledged is one of the hardest things to deal with. You want to be involved, you want to participate, but other people make it so difficult. Without saying a word, it’s made perfectly plain that you don’t belong. Then you see all the posts about reaching out to someone if they become more and more scarce. People don’t recognize the signs. It’s easier to post a suicide hotline than to just contact someone and let them know you care. Kids are more attuned to this than adults. Most children will notice the shy one in the corner and make an efforts. Adults don’t. They’re more wrapped up in planning a girls night than actually seeing who needs a smile and a hug. Be a friend to that person who needs it.  That person hiding in the back is busy fighting their demons that are telling them that everybody is judging them and are having a hard time being them. Their mind keeps telling them they shouldn’t have come, they should have stayed at home. Nobody cares or notices. How can they interact when they’re struggling? Help that person. A smile, hand shake or saying “nice to see you” can be a little bit of relief in a chaotic mind.