#lost my mind that the flag was actually passed up on stage and we managed to get it back tbh

[transsexualutopia]

Went to the Hozier concert at The Anthem in D.C. 💞🏳️‍⚧️ it's me and bfs flag on stage ‼️‼️

[extremelyblackandwhite]

ascendance - 01

PAIRING: mob!bucky barnes x reader

WARNINGS: violence, dark themes, age gap (reader is 23, bucky is 37)

SUMMARY: she was at the wrong place at the wrong time and a misunderstanding dooms her to a life as an ascendance card under the watch of the executer.

A/N: i’m so excited to go back to my mob writing roots with this one. there’s a bit of a few twists and changes to the traditional mob writing i’ve done before and i am really excited to be sharing chapter one with you. hope you enjoy it xx

> NEXT CHAPTER 

The ambience was dark, badly lit by the yellow flickering lights in the halls with echoes of the buzzing of the hot old light bulbs. There was no sound but that buzz and the heavy sound of his boots hitting the rotting wood floor boards. The scent in the air was putrid, a mix of what seemed like life meeting its end stage, cheap cider and weed. It was definitely different and he didn’t trust it. 

At the end of the corridor there it was. 107. The 107th flat in purgatory with the door slightly opened. He pushed the door open, the smell getting more intense and his boots sticky with the liquor spilled on the floor. 

     - What did you do? - each word was punctuated with intense disbelief, as if this was all a nightmare. 

     - Bucky, help me!

PRESENT

The wind brushed and pulled her hair into different directions as she stepped off the train’s step. She rushed through the streets of New York, hair pin stuck in the middle of her teeth as she fought the winds to try and set her hair into an appropriate hair do while running down the street at the same time. The chattering people and the sun peaking through the clouds was hopeful as she grabbed her coffee from the same vendor off the side street as her eyes gazed upon the Metropolitan Opera House which had been gracing the New York landscape for longer than she had been on this earth and now she was part of it, she was a small speck in an almost 60 year long history. 

Her smiled widened as her sneakers hit the pavement, eyes gazing over the fountain and the flags of the production coming down from the opera house’s arches. The same production she was part off. Sure, she was a chorus girl but the mere thought of singing on that stage, of watching that public in those red velvet seats under the chandelier just made it all more exciting. She walked inside the theatre through the stage door, meeting the manager at the door. 

     - Hi. - she leaned her hands against the desk where the manager was surrounded by attendance and cast sheets as well as a big laptop shining a blue light onto her face. The woman didn’t even look up, instead putting up a board with the names of all people in the production in front of her. - Do you need to see my ID? 

     - Just sign in front of your name. 

Y/N giddily looked at the list of names, hers closer to the bottom but there, written in bold Arial font. She signed her name in front of her printed one with the barely working pen, before pinning it over the board and handing it over to the manager who pointed inside the opera theatre. She held onto her gym bag harshly, padding the sublime floors and looking around with such wonder one would believe she’d never been here. She’d been here before, she was here every month to watch a performance but now she was not guest, she was not just another person walking in with a ticket, she was part of it, she was part of the show. After years of doing community plays, workshops and failed auditions, she had gotten here and suddenly all those days spent in bed feeling miserable in bed after getting rejected yet again didn’t matter anymore she was here.

Her eyes glanced at every tiny little ornament in the opera house until she entered the theatre room. Her heart filled with joy and happy nostalgia as the red and golden tones of the room involved her. There wasn’t anyone in the theatre yet except for a few musicians from the instrumental pit and some cleaners so she was free to roam around. Her fingers traced the suede velvet of the red seats, finding a few missing binoculars on the grounds but not really caring. 

     - You! - she whipped her head towards the voice which came from a woman, probably in her mid 40s all dressed in black with a gold name tag slightly above her left breast. 

     - Hi. - Y/N smiled, extending her hand towards the woman. - I’m Y/N, I’m the new ...

    - I don’t care, we need silk ribbons, now. 

    - Oh, I ... I’m new, I don’t know where I’d get silk ribbons, m’am.

    - The costume room? Go, stop looking at me as if you were Bambi and go.

    - Oh, okay. 

She made her way hastily out of the theatre room wondering how she was going to find silk ribbons, where she was going to find them and why she had to find them. Maybe it was a hazing ritual for new people, after all, she had been into various hazings during her career, including downing a whole bottle of honey which she couldn’t even finish, only eating one fourth of it before becoming nauseous. 

She stopped in the middle of the hall, wondering where the costume room could be. It couldn’t be on the top floor, that was usually where the bars and common rooms were so if the building followed regular construction protocols for opera houses, it was probably on the underground section of the house where the dressing rooms used to be. Y/N ventured into the lift, pressing the lowest number on the number chart of the panel until she reached the underground floor. Y/N looked around, people running in and out yet no one stopped whenever she tried to question where the costume room was. She had managed to find the costume shop but no luck finding the costume room until she was pretty much pressed against a dark door with those exact words by the passing crowd. 

She twisted the knob of the costume room door, tumbling onto the dark room as a result. The room was filled to the brim with costumes on each side of the room, a plexiglass divider between the two sides which stopped every meter or so and also appeared to be divided onto female and male costumes with the ensemble costumes at the back. She padded across the concrete floors, looking through dresses and accessories for ribbons but no successful attempt. The ruffling from the other side of the room had her turning around, forehead furrowed as she walked towards the plexiglass divider. 

     - Hello? - she questioned, wondering if there was someone in this room who could help her find silk ribbons. Great, she had barely joined the company and was already screwing up. Great, Y/N. Way to go, Y/N. 

She saw someone all dressed in black just like the women before, yet there seemed to be something which didn’t match up; black jeans, black shirt and black leathe jacket as well as a pair of also black boots, scruffed and probably entirely too old to still be holding up together. Her eyes caught his which despite the low almost non existent light of the costume room, were light, a sort of greyish blue like the calm sea before of storm. His gaze pulled hers in, like gravity and she couldn’t help but clutch the jacket next to her as a bad feeling along with something she’d never felt before settled in her stomach. 

His hair was mostly pushed back yet the ones which framed his face fell like dominos. She moved along the side where she was to one of the plexiglass gaps and he did the same still maintaining eye contact with her, until the two reached the gap. She didn’t notice she was holding her breathe in until she breathed out.

    - Hi. - her own hand gripped her wrist, shoe grinding against the floors. - Uhm, I’m new here and this lady sent me down to find some silk ribbons but I can’t find any. Do you ...

    - I... uh ... I don’t know where they are. - he faltered for a few seconds before regaining his posture.

    - Oh, I thought since you were here, you might be one of the stage managers. 

    - I’m not. - his tone was monotonous, almost as if he had the answer to her question before she even made it. 

    - Oh ... - she rubbed her neck. - Are you also looking for silk ribbons?

    - I’m looking for the dressing rooms, actually.

    - They’re down the hall. -  she pointed at the door as if it was the “down the hall”. - Hum ... Are you new here too?

    - Yeah. Thanks. - he walked towards the door, opening it and stepping out before catching her gaze once again. 

Y/N remained in the middle of the room as if she were in a transe and maybe she was. It felt like she was falling yet she was firm on her feet and she did not like that feeling. She did not like that feeling of falling, it wasn’t feeling, it was hopeless falling and she wondered why looking at a man who looked like an 80′s glam rock reject made her feel like that, so lost. Maybe it was the respect he appeared to command by merely looking at her or maybe it was the nerves about being new and not being able to find some goddamn silk ribbons. Damn it. 

    - Call for 30 minutes before dress rehearsal. - the voice came from the intercom and immediately her mind dropped the idea of finding silk ribbons and moved to finding the ensemble dressing room and get dressed and ready. Damn it, this was going well. 

She rushed down the hall, bag almost slipping off her shoulder until she saw the door with the ensemble plaque on it. The young woman peaked inside the room where pretty much everyone with a role on the ensemble were already sat down. She shyly walked in the middle row until she found her own little corner, her name written on a sticker on the mirror along with photos of how the makeup should be done as well as how to get the costume in correctly. The same goofy smile returned as she sat down and saw her name above her. It was fine, she was here, she was part of a company.

    - Hey you’re new. - the girl next to her twirled her chair to face her. She already had her makeup on and hair pinned curled up and ready to put a wig cap on. - I’m Elliot but people call me Elle.

    - Y/N, I’m the new chorus girl. First day. 

    - Aw, welcome. - she had a bright smile, inviting and almost as exciting as the whole experience of being there. - Do you want help pincurling your hair? I can get it done while you do your makeup. 

    - Yes, please. - she pulled out a big box from her bag which had all her makeup and pins. 

Elle started pin curling her hair up while she put an inappropriate amount of blush on which was just appropriate to get on stage under the bright yellow lights. Turns out half the practice for opera is learning to do your makeup under bright yellow lights and then learning to sing. 10 minutes to rehearsal start, she was along with Elle going down and up to the main stage where most dancers were warming up. Elle left her to do so, leaving Y/N once again to just stand there, looking around like a little sheep in the middle of wolves. 

    - I’ve never seen you around. - her shoulders almost went up as he turned to see one of the principal sopranos, if not the principal soprano. She had seen all of her shows ever since she was a teenager and she had even wrote an essay for university on her for a module. Catherine Vargas, the best New York could offer, if not the best the world could offer. - I didn’t know they were still casting dancers.

    - Oh, I’m a chorus girl, Mrs Vargas. 

    - A chorus girl? - she furrowed her brows at her, looking her up and down. - What type?

    - The type who ... is in the back with the ensemble. - her voice lowered at least a few volumes down, back curved as if she were bowing. 

    - I know what chorus girls do. I asked what vocal type. 

    - Lyric soprano, m’am.

    - A lyric soprano in the chorus. Interesting. Where did you train?

    - Julliard, m’am.

    - Julliard? - she looked her up and down again. - That is a great school. What is a Julliard graduate doing in the chorus line?

    - Everyone starts somewhere. - she laughed nervously, scratching her arm as she did so.

    - Not a lyric soprano from Julliard. Composers sure do love an ingenue, don’t they? Don’t worry, a few months with me and you’ll be supporting. 

    - That’s ... that’s really kind, Mrs. Vargas. Thank you.

    - Don’t thank me. Could you get me some honey from my dressing room? I’m feeling a bit strained. 

    - It’s 5 minutes until rehearsal starts.

    - It’s okay, chorus normally doesn’t do much during rehearsal. Can you get it?

    - Yeah, I think so.

She straightened her crinkled skirt, looking behind her back before going down the stairs which led down to the dressing rooms. This was good, right? Getting into one of the main star’s good graces besides she was right, the chorus didn’t really get much attention during rehearsals, at least not as much as the main characters. It’s easier to get away with screwing up in the back than in the front, her teacher would tell her which would always earn a few laughs from her colleagues. Yet, Y/N hated to make any mistakes. She would stay up all night in front of a cheap piano she had bought from a charity shop, playing and singing the same 5 note progression until her flatmate yelled at her to shut up. For her, if it wasn’t perfect and if she didn’t get any criticism while performing it, she hadn’t done it right. It didn’t matter at the end of the day but what did matter was to climb up the ladder. She didn’t want to be a star, all she wanted was to be able to be on that stage forever with the spotlight shining on her and she knew there was only one way to climb up. Actually there were two, extreme luck and connections. Now, she didn’t have the best of luck so her major choice was to make connections and reach that status. 

She made her way into the principal dressing room. It was probably one of the biggest she had ever seen, with expensive decor and various flowers covering it. She wondered how many flowers she received on opening nights if that was the number she had on regular days. Y/N made her way to the desk, opening drawers and more drawers to find honey until she found it on the lowest drawn. She went down on her knees to grab it, mindless and careless to everything that was happening until she felt a sharp pain on the side of her her.

Then everything went dark. 

TAGLIST: @lookiamtrying @buckyswillows @blossomslibrary @juliesland @iloveshawnieboi @unmagically​ 

[smol-and-grumpy]

Dear Dean (Chapter 1)

Re-post

Pairing: Dean Winchester x OFC (Jamie Blum)

WC: 4.1k

Summary: After taking Saint Lo, by sheer dumb luck, Lieutenant Dean Winchester from the 29th Infantry Division, Baker Company, received a truckload of replacements for his platoon that was falling apart. Little did he know, that one recruit would change his life forever.

Chapter Warnings: Angst, minor character death

SERIES MASTERLIST

July 18th, 1944

The sound of boots on dirt roads is all that Lieutenant Dean Winchester can hear. The sun was burning bright, the air was warm, dewy tinted with salt from the sea. That morning Dean felt good. Maybe for the first time in days, things didn’t seem so extreme, so dire. And maybe it was weird that the rhythmic sound of boots calmed his heart.

Right, left, right, left, right, left.

Laughter echoed behind him in formation as one of his men rattle off a joke. The sound was quiet, like a whisper. He didn’t listen.

Dean squinted into the sun and then he heard one of his men break formation and jog ahead of him. “Lieutenant Winchester, I’ve got a joke for you.” Private Milligan walked backwards, breaking into a lazy jog. He was out of step and the rhythm of the company was not right anymore.  

“Milligan, get back in line!” Dean ordered, his jaw tight.

The kid was no older than nineteen, a kid by all standards. He was younger than Dean’s younger brother, so somehow he looked like a little boy in his oversized helmet, with his rifle slung over his shoulder. “Come on, Lieutenant! Just one joke. Just one smile, not everything has to be so goddamn serious all the time.”

Deans eyebrows furrowed, meeting in the middle of his already wrinkled forehead. It was a good day and they were hopeful and Dean’d be damned if he tipped that hope away from this kid. “Fine, but it better be damned good, Milligan.”

“You got it, Sir.” Private Milligan grinned wide.

Right, left, right, left, right, left.

“So, a soldier walks into this club in a city in the outskirts of France, and there’s a girl, right? Pretty little thing. She comes up to this soldier. Saunters over, and he’s thinking… Hell, I’ve never seen hips like those.”

There are moments when time slows down. The first snow fall on a cold morning in Lawrence, a shared look with a pretty girl across a crowded bar, the smile on Sam’s face when Dean made a dumb joke. Those moments were nothing like this one.

Right, left, right, left, right, left.

Private Milligan jogged backwards ahead of the whole platoon and he gestures wildly with his arms, as if he’s telling the joke on a freaking stage and they were his audience. His teeth fully exposed and shining in the bright morning sunlight. He was still smiling when his back foot landed on the mine buried under the dirt. It was small, and rudimentary. It didn’t appear to be military grade, but yet…

Dean saw it before he heard it. Milligan’s foot landed with a soft thud on the dirt road. It was like he landed on a geyser, dirt and rock spraying up around him. It was almost spectacular, the wave of dirt swirled around him, reminding Dean of the tornado that almost took their house when he was eight.

Something hit his chest, hard, knocking him off his feet. On the fall he watched the crystal clear blue sky, littered with flying dirt like a Summer rain falling around him. If he closed his eyes, he could almost feel like he was at home again, with Sam. He felt something wet and warm on his face. His eyes fluttered open. It wasn’t rain that rolled down his cheek, it was deep red and sticky, like his mother’s cherry pie filling.

Dean pulled himself to his feet, forcing himself forward. There was a ringing in his ears, distinct and sharp, from his closeness to the blast. His eyes scanned his surroundings, looking for the kid. The kid he let out of step. The kid who just wanted to make him laugh.

“Goddammit! Cover! Cover! Everyone off the road! Off the road! Go go go!” He screamed himself hoarse because he couldn’t hear his own voice. He wanted to call out for a medic but then he realized that there wasn’t even enough of Milligan left to save.

Dean crouched down in the dirt and noticed the lone boot. It was Milligans. Shit!The kid was his responsibility, and now all he had was a spare foot in a fucking boot to send home to his family. The folded flag wouldn’t be enough to explain that he wasn’t coming home. He wasn’t coming home because he wanted to make his Lieutenant laugh. He wasn’t coming home because his Lieutenant was too distracted to realize that there was no laughter in war. There was no hope.

***

July 21st, 1944

Dean knocked at the door of the makeshift office of his CO before he straightened up and called out, “Winchester, permission to enter, Sir.”

“Permission granted.” The voice of Captain Mills was rough and maybe a little hoarse. No wonder, there were lots of shouting going on before they finally managed to take over Saint Lo and liberated the city of Germans. If it weren’t for the whiskey Dean had stashed away, he was sure he’d sound about the same.

The battle was a hard one. They were cut off from the other companies for a whole fucking day and the Germans moved in on them. Well, technically Dean’s company moved in through the front line of the Germans defense without them even knowing it. He didn’t know how it could happen, but he hoped that it wouldn’t happen again. It helped that a company of the 3rd Battalion did manage to break through to Able company. They were able to supply the trapped soldiers with food, but unfortunately, they were still low on ammunition, but at least moral did take a leap there - up until the tanks came toward them. They worked with the ammunition they still had on them and fluked their way out of the misery.

Dean had lost a third of his platoon and half of the men who are left, were wounded. A couple of them would be able to return, but the rest would get an express ticket back to England. He was surprised that he was still standing after it all. Maybe someone up there really, really liked him. He couldn’t lie, he had some close encounters with death. Especially the grenade that was thrown to his feet but, by some dumb luck, never exploded. Dean already saw his life passing him by in the back of his mind and, strangely, the only thing he hoped for was that there would be enough of him left to put in the ground. And, of course, he thought about Sam. How Sam was doing. He was out there somewhere, too, even though Dean never knew where. Sam was with the 3rd Battalion and they wrote to each other when they could. He hoped, above anything else, that Sam was doing alright.

The heavy door creaked open, ripping Dean back to the present, and he stepped in, whirling up dusts of sand. Captain Mills hunched over reports of the other platoons at his makeshift desk, that consists of old tires and a wooden plank, when he looks up to Dean. “Lieutenant, please, tell me you have good news.” The look on his face was hopeful and Dean almost felt bad that he won’t be able to live up to the expectations of his CO. Dean liked Captain Mills, the man did a good job. He didn’t want to disappoint him, but in war, he was learning, disappointment was the name of the game.

Dean strolled toward the table. He wished that he could cheer the Captain up. He forced a charming smile, it was the best he could do. “Sorry to burst your bubble, sir.”

“Ah, shit.” Captain Mills exhaled and rubbed at his eyes with his fingers that were smeared with dried blood and coated in dirt. He left a streak on his cheek. Dean wanted to point it out, but decided against it.

“Sir, we need replacements. I have less than half of my men left standing, and our sharpshooter is out.” Dean dropped the piece of paper onto Captain Mills’ table. Lord knows that he could use some technicians as well, but he also knew that at that point, he could consider himself lucky if he got privates who knew their elbows from their assholes. Word was that Basic was cut short, because they were losing too many men.

“Yeah, doesn’t look any better for Novak, Balthazar and Gabriel’s platoons either. You get what you get, Lieutenant.” Captain Mills clutched Dean’s report in his fingers and looked up to him with tired eyes.

Dean knew that. He got what he got, and he would be lucky if he got anything at all in that goddamn place.

“Thanks, Winchester.” Captain Mills said again, standing from his chair. He walked around the table to put a hand on Dean’s shoulder. “You’re my 2IC, do you think you’ll be ready?”

Dean wet his lips. They felt too dry all of a sudden. He frowned as he looked at his Captain, wondering whether the question was a joke. “Come on, you don’t mean that, Sir.”

“I actually don’t, but I think that my luck’s going to run out soon, Lieutenant.” Captain Mills said with a heavy sigh. He looked exhausted, heavy bags drooping under his eyes, despite him being only 31.

“You wanted Hitler’s head on a stick, Sir, and I expect you do hold it up for us.” Dean tried to make him smile, and it worked.

Captain Mills shook his head, a small grin spreading on his face. “Oh, the faith you have in me, Winchester.”

Dean shrugged with an easy smile on his lips, before Mills said that he’s dismissed.

Dean stepped out into the hot day and walked back to the building where the Baker company were staying until they could move out again. Move forward. There was always a new battle. A new city to liberate. A new stronghold to assault. New casualties, new deaths. His trigger finger twitched at his side, as he focused on the steady one two pace of his boots on the dirt.

He didn’t want to admit to Captain Mills that he was scared to lead. Leading a platoon was one thing, but leading the whole Baker Company was a whole different animal. Dean couldn’t care less about paperwork, and he didn’t know why Mills didn’t appoint Cas to be his 2IC. Cas would be a fabulous leader. He was fearless and he loved what he did. Dean was only good in following orders and cheering people up. Although, he could be a pain in the ass too, especially to new recruits, but that’s a whole other story. He guessed that there was only one way to his heart and to earn his trust and they’d have to work hard to get there.

At that moment, Dean tried not to think about it. Mills would lead them to Germany and Dean would try to keep himself and Mills alive plus all the other men whose life had been trusted to him. Dean shook the thought of Mills out of his head, because, right then, he wanted to think about the roof over his head. Wanted to think about the hot meal that he’d be getting tonight. He’d been out there for so long, he didn’t even know how real food tasted anymore and his mouth started to water just thinking of it. It was the little things, like Winchester Surprise and letters from Sammy that got him through the day. That helped him suffer through the bland rations and blistering Summer sun.

January, 1940

Jamie Blum lived alone with her three brothers in the rural town of Trenton in North Carolina. Life had never treated them well, but the four of them learned how to get by, if only by each other.

Their mother died when she gave birth to the twins, Jamie and her brother Jameson. Their father was an alcoholic, always had been from the way her brothers talked, and they were probably right. She didn’t need to be a genius to notice the alcohol influence in their names. Jim, Jack, Jameson, and Jamie. Well, their father named her Jamie, because he couldn’t be bothered to search for a girls name for her.

Their father slipped into depression after the death of his wife. Her oldest brother, Jim, found him in the garage one day, and told the others not to come in because there was not a lot left of their father’s face to be recognized. The day their father ate the bullet was the beginning of the end for the Blum children.

Jim and Jack dropped out of school straight after, taking on two to three jobs to keep the house and the twins in school. They insisted school was the only job for Jamie and Jameson. Do good at school, make them proud. Make Mom proud.

A year before the twins finished High School, they came home to a stuffed duffle bag next to Jim’s feet. “I enlisted.” He muttered, avoiding the eyes of his siblings.

Jamie would never forget holding him tight and crying into his chest. She tried everything to stop him. She insisted that she’d be able to help when she finished school. That he didn’t have to do it. It wasn’t the only way. “It’s only one year longer, Jim, please!”  

Jim was having none of it. He held her face in his big hands, and looked her directly in the eye. He told her to keep on studying. His voice shook and it took everything in him to keep his hands steady as he swung his duffle over his broad shoulder. He prayed that his siblings would have better lives than he ever did. He wanted them to at least have a shot at it.

He left that evening, traveling cross country to get to the training camp. He promised to send his wages. It’d be more than he could earn there, he said before adding, that he calculated the numbers in his head, and if his figures were right, they could keep the house for a couple of years.

Jamie didn’t want to interrupt, even though it hurt, she didn’t want to say that there was no worth in keeping a house that he wouldn’t be coming home to. There was no sense in living in an empty box, but she didn’t say anything. Instead she wept into his chest. She had a gut wrenching feeling that she would never see him again, so she held on tight, her fingers curled in his shirt for as long as he’d let her hold on.

***

August, 1940

Jack had been antsy after Jim left. Even though Jim thought his leaving would relieve some of the pressure, it just continued to build inside of the second oldest Blum sibling. Jack was the head of the house. He had the role of father, mother, and eldest brother. So, when he heard the news about the upcoming draft, he decided that he wasn’t going to wait for it. It was the honorable thing to do, for country, and for his family. It was during the summer break from school when Jack, too, left Jamie and Jameson.

Jack, too, said that he’d send his wages home, and Jamie wondered that what the point of it all was? What was the point of having extra money when there was no one to hold her when she felt weak? When there was only half of her family left to return to after a long day? Who would Jameson look up to with both of her older brothers gone? She didn’t say all of the things that made her head spin, though. Instead she held tight to Jack and cried.

She never felt like much of a crier, but with every brother that walked out the door, with a duffle bag over his shoulder, another piece of her chipped away. She was dust in the wind, every blow sending away another piece of her. The pieces were so far away she couldn’t grab them in her hands, and she watched as they slipped through her fingers.

Her brother released her grip, and without second glance, Jack walked to the bus stop with his bag heavy on his shoulders.

***

September, 1940

Jamie and her brother were only 19 when Jameson decided that he, too, wanted to register for the draft. They sat at the kitchen table, across from each other, about to eat a meal that Jamie had worked on for the last hour. She tried all she could for any sense of normalcy since her oldest brothers left.

Although the twins were only a breath apart, they felt like miles when Jameson met her eyes, identical to his own. “I can’t stay here, Jamie.” Jamesons voice was low, barely a whisper. He picked at his food, absentmindedly, and all Jamie could think was, does he not like it? It felt stupid, but she was in shock. He swallowed down the lump that built up in his throat, and it was as if Jamie could feel it too. She swallowed.  

She didn’t feel hungry anymore, and she stared at her brother, watching as his eyes well up. She tried to stab her fork into her dinner, but her vision was blurry and she didn’t even know if she managed to put something on it. She wanted to eat. Food was scarce, and they always finished their plates, no matter what. She tried to think about her empty stomach and that she needed food to survive, but couldn’t. Not while she felt like someone was clutching her insides in their hand. Not while they were squeezing hard.

“If you go, I go.” She thought she was talking to herself, but the words came out louder than she wanted them to, and she was sure that Jameson heard them, too.

Jameson frowned at her, knotting his eyebrows in the center of his forehead. “Jamie, you’re a girl.”

It was out and she couldn’t take it back, so she just looks at Jameson as she felt a teardrop running down her cheek. “And?”

“Girls can’t fight. Come on, Jamie.” At least his face lit up a bit at the thought.

Jamie took a fork full of mashed potatoes and proceeded to talk. “I’m sorry, have you met me?” The tears are still running down their cheeks, but there was also something else in the air. She wouldn’t say hope. That was too strong a word. They kept talking. Talking to forget the imminent.

“Well, I know you can, in theory, Jamie… but���” Jameson took a break to fork half of a sausage into his awaiting mouth, but Jamie cut him off.

“Come on James, we’re twins. Jamie is a boys name, too. You can register for me.” Her voice rattled off, her fork shaking in her fingers. “Go in on different days. I don’t want to stay here and wait on news of my brothers!”

Of course Jameson could never deny Jamie anything. She knew the way around her brothers, and could always sweet talk them into anything. Her stubbornness, paired with doe eyes could be a deadly combination to men. She knew that much.

So she batted her eyelashes, and poked out her bottom lip like she did when they were children. Jameson was her other half. She loved the other boys, but they didn’t give her peace like Jameson did. As babies, nothing could calm them down like each other. She couldn’t live in the house without him. She wouldn’t.

“And who knows, maybe I won’t get drafted at all? Maybe we both won’t?” She tried to ease the tension. She tried to believe her own words, too.

Her thoughts ran wild with the idea. She could see herself, next to Jameson in matching uniforms, truly looking like twins. No one would miss them in Trenton. The money for their house went to their aunt. She moved when their mom died, and since the house belonged to her parents, she was paying rent for them. Unless their aunt made a trip down from Detroit, no one would notice they were missing. Jamie thought that it was highly unlikely that she’d pop in for a visit. The Blum children hadn’t seen their aunt in more than 10 years.

Jameson didn’t say he wouldn’t enlist, and he didn’t say he wouldn’t add her name to the drawing, but they didn’t speak about it anymore that chilly fall evening. Their faces fell back to their potatoes, and they ate in silence.

***

January, 1944

Jamie came back from her evening class, to find Jameson waiting for her. He should have been at his job. She rushed home so she could surprise him with dinner. He surprised her instead.

She unlocked the front door, to find him sitting at the dinner table, a crumbled letter in his hand. Jamie didn’t notice that she was holding her breath, until Jameson started to talk. She didn’t want to listen. She knew the signs. All of a sudden, there was a pain in her stomach again, and she braced herself against the heavy armchair, her nails digging into its fabric, holding herself steady.

Jameson took a deep breath before he exhaled loudly, followed by a sniff as he brushed at his wet cheeks. “It’s time, Jamie. I’m going in.”

He stood up, and pulled his duffle out from under the kitchen table. He’d packed it when she was at school. Her head spun and there was a strange feeling in her gut that almost tore her apart.

Jameson left that evening, taking a piece of Jamie with him. She didn’t hug him. She didn’t cry. She didn’t beg him to stay. She watched him toss his duffle over his shoulder and walk out the front door. She watched the last piece of herself get picked up in the wind and taken away, and for the first time in her life, Jamie was all alone.

The house was too big for one person, and Jamie found herself curled in Jameson’s bed, wearing his shirts. She couldn’t focus on school, and spent a lot of time looking out the window, wondering if her brothers were safe. She wondered if there’d ever be a time when someone wouldn’t walk out on her. She wondered if she’d ever feel whole again.

July 22nd, 1944

The new replacements arrived in a line of blurred green and khaki. They all were faceless, standing at attention. Dean was already feeling tired just looking at them. He got 10 new privates. 10 new fucking rookies that probably didn’t even complete a week in Basic because the men were dropping like flies at Omaha and Saint Lo. 10 greenhorns who probably didn’t know how to secure a rifle, let alone use one, and he knew it was up to him to gather up all his patience to teach them.

Dean looked over the new privates, some of them probably not even 18. He would never understand why someone would lie to get into the army. Why would anyone do that? It wasn’t exactly a day at the beach. His gaze trailed along their faces, and Dean knew how they felt.

He saw that some of them were scared. They were frightened and shaking in their boots. Some stared at him, their eyes blank, emotionless. Those were the worst. It could mean that they had already given up, and they weren’t even in the shit yet. Dean could tell that the majority of them weren’t there because they want to be. Well, technically, he wasn’t there because he wanted to be either, so.

He eyed them up, one by one until his gaze rested on a short recruit. The guy’s shorter than the others. Dean came to rest before him. The private stared up at Dean with big brown eyes. They were really big, doe like. Just like Bambi, he thought. He saw the movie in a special showing at camp in 1942. Why they showed a Disney flick to a group of soldiers was beyond him, but he had to admit that he teared up a bit when the mom was shot. The privates lips were pressed together tight into a straight line, as if he was holding in a laugh. Dean could see the cheeks puffing up. Dean could’ve shouted at him, asking him what’s so fucking funny about going to war, but he was too tired for that shit so he let it slide. Instead he asked a different question, “What your name, private?”

“Blum, sir.”

CHAPTER 2

[tyranttortoise]

so... I had some pretty bad experience with a Red in another timeline a few years back. Plenty psychological and emotional trauma, plus just general disrespect even though we were soul mates. Most of the problems was just because I was younger and less mature. I was REALLY expecting when I took your quiz like... a mutt, or a undertale sans and then I get another fell boy. all i could think was "hell no." Can they even deal with the fact that their SO was once with another version of themselves?

@sinningpunk  ;D

Once a soul mate, always a soul mate, right?

You don’t know why you expected anything different – anything less than the cosmos playing a cruel joke on you.  You’d left that timeline behind with more than a few emotional scars; it had taken you reaching your limit to realize that just because you were soul mates didn’t mean you had to put up with his shit.  But you’d gotten out.  You moved on, put him behind you.  

And then you met Sans.

Oh, hell no.

As much as you tried to avoid him, it was inevitable.  You were both drawn to each other.  It was easy enough for you to avoid the burn in your chest, to pretend it was mere heart-burn, but it was much more difficult for him.  You knew it would be like that; you knew that he couldn’t pass up the pull of a soulmate, the promise of something solid.  This is a Fell timeline, after all, and the kill or be killed mentality left him craving stability and certainty underneath his gruff, flippant exterior.

You avoided him at first, but it was difficult to run from someone that knew all the right shortcuts.

“Just get lost, okay?  Can’t you see I’m not interested,” you spat one day with a little too much force.  Your chest burned.  

He furrowed his bone brows. 

“what’d i ever do t’ ya?  you don’t even know me.  i’ve jus’ been tryin’ ta introduce myself this whole time.”    

You actually laughed.  What did he do to you?  It’d take all day to explain what he did to you.  “I already know who you are.”

He looks surprised.  “my reputation’s spread to humans?  heh, didn’t see that happenin’ so soon.  still.  name’s sans.”  He holds out his hand.  You know there’s an electric buzzer in it, and you don’t take it.  It hangs between the two of you for a beat before he finally blurts, irritated, “what?  skeletons weird ya out?”

“Nope.  I was with one for a long time.  I learned my lesson.”

You rub your chest as Sans’s SOUL burns with jealousy.

He’s persistent.

You discover that this Sans is as tenacious as the one you left behind.  But even though he looks the same – same jacket, same gold fang, same yellow socks and untied sneakers – you discover that he’s also quite different.  For one, his smirk is more genuine, and on the rare occasion when you catch him off-guard with a pun (you have years of experience with them, after all), his guffaw leaves him looking unguarded and laid-back.  

He makes plenty of dirty jokes, and although he has a penchant for being in the right place at the right time whenever it comes to stumbling across you, he hasn’t been manipulative in the same way that the other Sans was.  His approach hasn’t even been the same.  

So you take him up on a drink.

And later dinner.

Then more drinks.

And before you know it, it’s become a regular thing.  You’ve missed this, as much as you hate to admit it.  It feels almost like the early stages of your previous relationship, only you can’t tell if the red flags are real or just you equating him to his other-self.  His brother isn’t even as much of a hardass, and instead of the stuttering fear you’re used to, Sans just gave him a “yeah, yeah, you got it, boss” when Papyrus lectured him.  

Yes, this version was quite different.  Even if they looked the same, you discovered even more differences later.  This Sans’s ribs didn’t have quite as many ossifications, and he didn’t mind when you touched his collar.  He also had a few piercings that… surprised you.

Pleasantly surprised you.

Years ago, you studied anatomy for a single purpose – you wanted to be able to learn all the bones so you could make your bonefriend happy.

This is something the Sanses have in common, it turns out.  

“stars, sweetheart, where’d ya learn–”

The question gets cut off.  When you had first started dating, Sans had hounded you over the fact that you said you’d been with another skeleton.  He’d never seen a skeleton other than him and his brother, and he knew Papyrus had never been with anyone.  You refused to tell him any details other than the fact that it was an emotionally-abusive relationship and the skeleton’s name was Red.  He scoffed at the name, calling it dumb (*who th’ hell has a color as a name), and you decided not to tell him it was a nickname.  

But now, faced with the fact that you’re very much familiar with skeleton anatomy and which bone is sensitive where, you can see the gears turning in his head.  His grin falters, and he leans back, running a hand over his face.  Bone scrapes bone, and you wince a little.  This is where he’s going to change, where he’s going to make some sort of quip and get possessive, where he’s going to remind you that you’re his soulmate, that no one else would have you, and –

“ya really loved this guy, huh?”

You didn’t expect that.

You’re quiet for a moment, but he’s been fairly open with you so far about his past.  “Yeah,” you finally manage.  He flinches. “We were… uh, we were… soulmates.”

His hand falls from his face.  His crimson eyelights are so tiny that you can barely notice them in his sockets.  “what?  but – but you’re… we’re…”

He’s floundering; he’s never said the words aloud, didn’t even realize you knew that monster soulmates were a thing.  “Yeah, I know.  We’re soulmates, too.”  

“ya knew?  then how’s that possible?  one soulmate’s rare.  findin’ two so close together, an’ both of ‘em bein’ skeletons… how the hell?!”

You should tell him the truth.  You’ve been with him long enough to discover that he and his counterpart may be the same, but they also couldn’t be more different.  And you’ve really started to fall for him.    

But will he still want to pursue this after you tell him about the other timeline?  

Only one way to find out.

You suck in a deep breath. 

“It’s possible because… it was you.”

His expression goes blank, and the past spills out of you in a rush.  

It had been threatening to overflow for too long.

Sans, to his credit, takes the news better than you expected.  He listens while you speak, though he does light up cigarette after cigarette in his room.  Papyrus will have his ass later, but he can’t be bothered with caring right now.  

So, your previous bonefriend, the one that treated you like dirt and made you give him the cold shoulder for an entire month – the one that you still got a sour look on your face when you talked about – was him from another timeline.  The whole timeline-hopping thing aside, the idea that some other version of him treated his own soulmate like that?  

*what a fuckin’ idiot!

Everything made so much sense.  He knew why you shunned him, why it took so long to break down your defenses.  He knew why you gave him such a guarded look at times, and why you sometimes hesitated before you said spoke, like you already knew how he was going to react – and why you seemed so surprised by how he actually reacted.  

When you finally finished, he was calm.  Eerily calm.  

You, on the other hand, couldn’t stop fidgeting or even meet his gaze.

Finally, he broke the heavy silence.  “ya know i’m not him, right?”

“Yeah,” you breathed, trying to steady your voice.  “I wouldn’t be with you if you were.”

“good.  ‘cause that me?  he was a damned fool.”  Sans reached out and wrapped his arms around you, guiding you onto his lap.  His hold on you was tight, trembling with a desperation that belied his steady baritone.  “i would never… you mean too much to me, ya’know?  sweetheart, i jus’ want you t’be happy.”

You swallow past the lump in your throat.  Your eyes feel hot.  “So… you’re not too weirded out by it?”

“hell yeah, ‘m weirded out.  but that don’t change anythin’, not really, ‘cause that wasn’t me.”  He pulls back and moves to cup your face in his hands.  “as long as you see me when ya look right here, that’s all i care about.”

“Sans, I do.  You’re nothing like him, and I know that.”  You cup his cheek.  He looks so vulnerable – more vulnerable than you’ve ever seen.  “I love you, Sans.”

His eyelights search your gaze for a moment, before relief washes over him.  “i love ya, too, sweetheart.  yer mine, ya got it?  that other asshole’s never comin’ back, an’ if he does break the timelines, i’ll kick his ass.”  He suddenly smirks.  “hell, kickin’ my own ass would be therapeutic an’ shit.”

You smile, feeling lighter than you have in so long.  The tension’s been cut between you, and Sans suddenly lifts you up, your legs around his waist.  You make a startled squeak and cling to him as he turns around and then falls onto his mattress, pinning you beneath him.  

His smirk’s taken on a whole new meaning.

“now that all that’s outta th’ way… where were we?”

(*Imagine Masterlist)

[jadelyn]

I am literally sick with anger.

So, for those who don't know, California is burning again. A fire sparked Thursday morning up near Chico, was 8,000 acres by midday (when I walked out of my office to go get lunch, took one breath, looked up, and went "oh shit, how close is it this time?" because of how thick the smoke was), almost 20,000 acres by that night, and as of this morning was nearing 100,000 acres. It's only about 5% contained last I looked. There are nine confirmed fatalities, 35 people missing still. The town of Paradise, population a bit under 30k, is just...gone. Like, the whole town. 90% of the structures in that town were destroyed. The fire came through so fast, people had to abandon their cars on the gridlocked streets and run for it on foot. I've heard that this is the most destructive wildfire in California history. It's Really Bad - worse even than the Sonoma fires last year.

And guess what the fucking fascist occupying the fucking White House said today?

First of all: Our forested land? More than half of it is under management of the fucking Feds, not state agencies. We don't GET to manage SHIT, you towering lump of human excrement. If mismanagement is the problem, look to your own, except that you seem to like that kind of incompetence so you'd probably praise them for it.

Second: You probably don't know this, because you haven't heard it on Fox and Friends and we all know that's your only source of education, but California is one of the 13 "net payer" states that fucking subsidizes the rest of this fucking country. On average, most states get back about $1.20 per dollar of taxes paid to the feds. This is only possible because of states like California, who actually pay MORE to you useless fucks than you send back our way. So don't you fucking dare act like you're pouring money into us out of the goodness of whatever passes for your "heart", giving you any right to judge what gets done with it. That flow goes the other fucking way.

Third: You ignorant, lying sack of assholes, shut that fucking prolapsed anus on your face masquerading as a mouth. Wildfires will always happen, to some extent, in a climate that's as dry as ours. But they've definitely gotten worse within my lifetime, and it's accelerated over the last few years, and you wanna know why? It's because of you and your fucking cronies who have gleefully driven the global climate into the ground. It's a coastal desert, sure, but our regular droughts have gotten worse and worse, rain comes later and later and stops sooner and sooner each year, setting the stage for red-flag fire conditions that take what should have been a small blaze, quickly contained, and whip it into a monstrous disaster consuming WHOLE. FUCKING. CITIES. And that? Is LITERALLY YOUR FUCKING FAULT.

I am sitting here in tears, shaking and ready to throw up from the force of my suppressed, futile, useless rage. People have DIED, you fucking cunt. A whole fucking town that was here two days ago is GONE. Just fucking gone! The whole town is gone, do you understand that? The survivors have lost EVERYTHING.

And your first response is to sit there and smugly tweet these lies and that victim-blaming horseshit? You're going to sit there and try to make this about the money? Take this opportunity to try to kick us while we're down, because you're a bitter soulless creature who can't pass up a chance to put the boots in when you see someone who's defied you in a moment of vulnerability?

I am personally going to throw the biggest fucking block party in history when you finally fall off the face of this planet. We will plaster the buildings with huge posters of your least-flattering photos and most humiliating moments. There will be an effigy that everyone is invited to come piss on. Bring your dogs, have them piss on it too! Prizes for getting your aim closest to the mouth or eyes!

And I've reblogged stuff saying this before, but it bears repeating again:

IF YOU VOTED FOR TRONALD DUMP

IF YOU SUPPORTED HIM

IF YOU LOOKED THE OTHER WAY WHILE YOUR FRIENDS SUPPORTED HIM

IF YOU "VOTED YOUR CONSCIENCE" BY STAYING HOME THAT DAY AND ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN

GET. THE FUCK. OUT.

Unfollow me right the fuck now. I don't care if you're a mutual since the day I started this blog. Get out. Go. I cannot sit here, smelling smoke even through my closed doors and windows, that bastard's words in front of me, and find it anywhere in my heart to forgive you for what you've caused. Even if you've changed your mind since then. That's cool, I guess, but take your shame and your changed ways somewhere else, away from me.

[drones-of-innocence]

Not Impolite

O~o~O

Arthur hated school assemblies.

He sat in the uncomfortable cafeteria chair, spacing out after his eyes lost their focus on whatever was on stage, and wishing for everything to be over with so he could get back to class. Around the same time he stopped paying attention, so had several of his peers, who had taken to murmuring amongst themselves without regard for whatever was going on.

Watching them with only half interest, Arthur’s sight blurred faintly around the edges as he turned his gaze back to the stage, where the people moving and talking didn’t quite register as anything more than a formal collection of colors and lights. Words turned into a faint droning in his ears, too even to distinguish one syllable from another. His leg bounced, and his heel striking the tile became the only specific sound he could make out.

There was a faint crackling noise, and the assembly paused for the morning announcements on the loudspeaker. Arthur looked up, the noise enough to draw him out of his trance.

Some nonsense about the football team, the orchestra’s new fundraiser or something along those lines. The weather. The next date for the upcoming volleyball game, he couldn’t hear the day because some of the other students became bold enough to raise their voices. Then, the pledge of allegiance.

Only a few students near him recited the pledge; the others continued on with their own conversations. With his eyes trained to the flag on the right side of the stage, he faintly mumbled the words that he could remember of the pledge. Something something of the United States of America. And to the something something we stand, one nation, under God, something?

A sound cut through all other noise in the room, a shout? Annoyed by the disturbance, Arthur turned around to the back of the room to see the loud groaning coming from one of the special ed kids. The boy rocked furiously back and forth, covering his ears and yelling out syllables that resembled the pledge in a garbled sense. Arthur couldn’t see his face very well, but he could tell the boy’s eyes were shut very tightly.

He noticed the special ed teachers gathering their students and ushering them out, wheelchairs and all. One teacher struggled to get the yelling boy out of his chair, but he refused to stand and yelled louder in response to her scolding. She looked around with an apologetic and nervous smile once she realized most everyone had turned around to see what was the matter. Arthur suddenly felt bad for them, all crowded in the back just to make it an easy escape in case of an incident. And the rest of the student body, just staring as they left like the insensitive bunch they were. A pang of guilt made Arthur avert his eyes for being included in such a demographic.

As the teacher managed to get the boy under control and herd him out of the cafeteria, Arthur sat properly in his seat and resolved, as he stared at the floor, that he wouldn’t be like the rest of the students. His glare hardened and his cheeks burned as he listened to their careless snickering; they didn’t care who heard. They weren’t even remotely concerned about what had happened with that boy.

In an instant, he stood, and began marching out of the row. He didn’t care who he bumped into, they were all too busy giggling to themselves for him to feel bad at all. A teacher noticed him as he slammed the cafeteria doors open, and called for him to stop, but they didn’t pursue him.

Down the hall, he could see the special ed group headed back for their little room in the corner of the school. The boy who had been making such a fuss was lagging behind. Without thinking, he began jogging to catch up.

“Hey!” he called out, but the boy didn’t turn around. The teachers seemed too occupied with the other students to hear him. “Hey, what’s the matter? Are you alright?” Arthur came up behind the boy and came around to his side at a wide, wary angle. In his hands, the boy had some sort of spaceship toy he was messing with.

Arthur cleared his throat when the boy didn’t look up at him. “Ah, um, I just wanted to know if you were alright. Everyone was laughing in there, so I just…” he trailed off as the boy held up his toy.

His face was screwed up in a sort of disgusted look, and his focus purely lay in the ship in his hands. “Pshhhhh,” he made a noise like a rocket would flying through the air. His blue eyes narrowed and his head nodded forward with the motion like he was pretending to be flying the ship. “Whoooosshhhh.” the whisper came as he faced the blast of an air conditioner, his blond hair flowing back briefly.

Blinking, Arthur found himself at a loss for words. He’d assumed the boy would still be visibly upset, or at least able to tell him he didn’t want to talk about it. Being completely ignored was the last thing he expected. His pace slowed a little, feeling not unlike a forgotten or discarded paper, lost in the hallway and invisible to all eyes.

“Oh, I see you’ve met Alfred.” a woman’s voice startled Arthur, and he looked up to see a teacher smiling at him as she steered a student in a wheelchair. “He’s a little upset at the moment. He hates it when people talk through the Pledge of Allegiance.”

He nodded slowly, looking back at Alfred as he continued swaying back and forth with his toy, making a constant humming to himself. “He’s awfully quiet now. Does he, er, know how to speak?” Arthur flinched as the words came out, realizing just how thoughtless he sounded.

The woman laughed. “Oh, Alfred’s very talkative! He’s just a little shy as well. Why don’t you introduce yourself to him?” her warm smile and soft eyes made Arthur feel a little bolder, relieved that she didn’t judge him for not knowing what he was talking about. He sent her a grateful nod.

Then, coming slightly closer to Alfred while being aware of his personal space, Arthur lowered his voice. “Hello Alfred, my name is Arthur. How are you?” One look at the woman assured him he was approaching Alfred well enough.

Without even looking at him, Alfred continued to play with his toy. “Good.” he replied.

Arthur cast an unsure glance to the woman, who rolled her eyes in amusement. “He’s autistic. He doesn’t respond like you or I, but he’s very sweet and very friendly. He likes Star Wars, loves America, and gives big hugs. Now, I’ve got to go watch some of the other kids, if you don’t mind giving Alfred some company?”

“Of course.” Arthur smiled as an idea came into his head. He watched the woman steer the others into a classroom and followed them inside. He had plenty of time before he had to be anywhere, so he came with Alfred to his designated desk. “What have you got there? Looks like the Millenium Falcon.”

Freezing in his tracks, Alfred slowly turned to look at him, but didn’t quite meet his eyes. “You- you like Star Wars?” he asked softly, giving a sort of wide eyed look to Arthur’s shoulder.

Arthur scoffed. “Of course! Who doesn’t? It’s only one of the best series in existence.” he couldn’t help a silly grin as he watched Alfred make an expression he could only assume to be delight. It was endearing to see such pure happiness. Humming again, Alfred went to go get a chair and pointed to it, which Arthur assumed meant that Alfred wanted him to sit down. Flapping his hands for just a moment, Alfred rocked back and forth in his own chair a couple of times before he reached into his desk and pulled out an entire collection of Star Wars toys. “...Oh my.” Arthur’s jaw dropped.

As Alfred began naming each and every character with a faint stutter, Arthur nodded along very seriously, impressed to no end by how familiar Alfred was with the series. He had only ever seen the movies once through, and he couldn’t have named half the toys Alfred had brought out. He caught the eye of the teacher who had talked to him before, and was surprised by the sheer emotion on her face. She looked to be close to tears with how happy she was.

“And- and- and this is Chewbacca. Wanna hear my impression?” Alfred asked excitedly, now looking directly at Arthur.

Arthur nodded. “Of course!”

Alfred made a yelling noise then, with the biggest grin Arthur had ever seen. It sounded absolutely nothing like Chewbacca. “That was very good! Wow, I almost thought you were the real thing!” Arthur praised him, feeling instantly uplifted by Alfred’s laughter.

Something about Alfred was relaxing to Arthur. Nothing about their conversation was forced. Arthur didn’t have to look directly in his eyes to speak with him. He didn’t even have to pretend to be excited, as it was easy to be actually thrilled with the subject. All conventional manners had been thrown out the window, and were replaced with Alfred’s own rules. And though Alfred’s behavior was amusing, Arthur never laughed at Alfred. He only ever laughed with him, and he could recognize when Alfred was acting intentionally silly. Even the stuttering, or the humming, or the hand flapping and the rocking, it was all so new but never weird. It was just Alfred.

Arthur found himself leaving that room with a light spirit, and resolved to come back every morning to talk with Alfred. He floated through the day, feeling pleasant and calm when he normally let the day pass him by like he was an impassive, emotionless drone. He stopped to help a girl pick up all the books she dropped instead of hurrying to class. He lent out his spare pen to his classmate instead of claiming he didn’t have one. When he went outside at the end of the day, he took a big breath to fill his lungs with the fresh air. Not even the humid heat could bother him.

He came back the next morning wearing a Star Wars shirt, just to see Alfred smile.

O~o~O

[cindysfilm]

seoul loving

Prior to my trip, I was set on visiting various cafes abound within Seoul. My friend had told me her routine every weekend of going ‘cafe hopping’ and had achieved on enticing me on doing the same. I researched various cafes and decided on the top spots I wanted to visit. In addition to that, I also made sure to visit Seoul’s famous tourist sites which included Gyeongbokgung Palace (Gwanghwamun as well), Myeongdeong, Insa-dong, Bukchon Hanok Village. 

It had also occured me after the trip that I’ve been following a very minimalist and ‘snobbish’ approach in taking film photographs. Reason being, I mostly took shots of scenes that I deemed beautiful and artistic. Which, in my mind, did not include the tourist filled area of Myeongdeong (sorry to those who love this place!). Being more inclined to favour quiet and calm areas rather than busy and chaotic ones (I never find myself thriving in those sorts of situations, funnily enough since I’ve lived in a huge city all my life), I did not dare use my precious film rolls for pictures I could never truly enjoy viewing. As such, most of my shots would inevitably mirror my own personality- this I only realized months after. 

Back in university when I read Sociology, I had learned that the pictures or the moments we choose to preserve differ between individuals. But it is through such personalized opinions and preferences, that we realize the narrative we create regardless of others. Places and spaces we have lived become iridescent and multi-faceted with abundant meanings once we apply each and every individual’s portrayal or narrative. 

As such, after reading my own piece of these places, I encourage you - given the opportunity in the future, near or far - to explore and create your own narratives. They will become quite invaluable in the long run as you look back at your journeys. Without further ado, let me continue the piece regarding my Seoul trip. 

Common Ground

Covering an area of 5,300 sqm, Common Ground is a pop up shopping mall made up of 200 large containers. It is a very hip area, with various events happening throughout. Allow me to clarify, yes, Common Ground is a very busy and chaotic area. However! the atmosphere differs far from a tourist area. It was perhaps more busier than usual since an event was occurring when I visited. I saw that it was a Vans sponsored skateboarding competition, calling various amateur skaters to try their hand in completing tricks and pass stages to gain prizes. 

Most of the shoppers found themselves going up to the rooftop area (much like ourselves) to get a good view of the competition down below. Perhaps the shot I took could be misleading. The day was sunny and even if I were wearing sunglasses, I found myself shading my eyes using my hands still. The shot came out rather cloudy, this could be due to a wrong setting on my part. The next shot I took, of the competitors below, showed the actual atmosphere. 

The sun light appeared in this shot. If you take a look at the right, there are competitors waiting for their turn. At the time, the challenge was doing ollies over a fire hydrant. 

I was satisfied to see that I got not one, but two shots of skateboarders mid-air during their ollies. Those who succeeded would have to wait on the left side of the park. 

A light leak had occurred in one of my shots, leaving a trail of red across the picture. I’m not quite sure to what had happened, but again, it is in the imperfections that we should come to appreciate. The light leak, in turn, helped invoke a sense of urgency of the skateboarder in his effort to succeed - a burning passion to prove himself. Going back to what I wrote earlier, in my own way, I had created his narrative using a simple shot. 

What I enjoyed about Common Ground was its artistic appreciation. The space constituted of various uses, shopping grounds, restaurants, cafes and a space for various events to happen. As such, the area is appropriately named: Common Ground 커먼그라운드. A diffusion of interests, cultures and individuals coalesce here. This was the impression I've gotten of the place overall. If you ever visit here, look ahead of time of the various events happening. It will make your experience more interesting to see the different groups of people interacting in this one space. 

Gyeongbokgung Palace & Gwanghwamun Gate

Built in 1395 during the Joseon era, the palace is located within Northern Seoul. Palaces do not simply constitute a home for a monarch; at their own times, they could represent a monarch’s influence, power and wealth. Grandeur, is included in any palace characteristics. Gyeongbokgung is no exception.

No different from the atmosphere in Common Ground, it was a hot day but the sun was particularly scorching. Call it instinct or habit (since the UK weather was random itself), I found myself reaching for my fan before I left - thank goodness for that. Preparedness was something I learned bracing UK rains, hails, winds, you name it. In the above picture, you can see my friend Marcel (with the red sports sack) shielding his eyes from the sun. 

Still, I was amazed at how some tourists managed to endure wearing these Hanboks under the heat. But, watching several tourists wearing traditional clothing added to the experience. Perhaps if I returned during the winter, I would have worn these as well. 

When I looked back on the shots I took, I found it quite fascinating to see the different auras captured. It was not simply sunny, warm or hot. But depending on the angle or place where I captured it, each shot just looked distinct in its own way. 

For example, the shots above, presented mountains beyond the palace with a sunny and vibrant colour. The last one, presented the cityscape beyond the palace grounds in a warm colour. Personally, I feel it is an interesting contrast to see the palace as it were in the Joseon era with picturesque views of the mountain and as it is now, coupled with skyscrapers. 

We were also fortunate enough to catch the last changing of guards ceremony. Vibrant colours of the uniforms, flags, accessories and the palace itself, make these series of pictures one of my personal favourites. 

The guards moved within a designated area, going forward to Gwanghwamun Gate. They were all dressed with different colours, with only one or two in multiple. The fellows in the middle of the gate (below), I surmised, could be the important officials (at the time of Joseon reenactment). 

We were only allowed close enough once the ceremony finished and even then, there were still some boundaries. If it were anything, the guards themselves mirrored those in Buckingham Palace. They showed no visible emotions, keeping a stoic face throughout. 

Still, I managed to get this shot (my friend and I got a picture with this guard with our phones later on). 

If you do have a chance to come and visit Gyeongbokgung Palace and Gwanghwamun Gate, find the time to spectate the changing of guards ceremony. Again, I was very amazed at those who managed to keep their calm under the hot weather and not to mention, wearing these traditional garments. It did, however, help with creating this movie-esque scenery. It was a shame that myself and a few others ruined this Joseon facade with our modernity. 

I felt like an observer throughout, I made mental notes of how people back then had lived and went about their day. Everyone had their duties within specific times. The recreation of such an era helped our imaginations, but with the added restrictions (the taped lines and the workers who were beyond the palace illusion) we were jolted back to reality. i suppose there is the fun in that as well. 

Bukchon Hanok Village 

The journey into South Korean traditions and past times do not just end at Gyeongbokgung. After the palace visit, Marcel and I made our way to Bukchon Hanok Village (북촌한옥마을) which dates back all the way to the 14th century. The name Bukchon ‘northern village’ is derived from the fact that it lies north of two significant Seoul landmarks, Jongno and Cheonggyecheon Stream.  

As it were our first visit, we got lost finding our way there - almost getting off on the wrong bus stop to boot. Nonetheless, we ventured on and found our way to the village. It is a massive space, where residents still reside to this day, of traditional Korean style houses. Characterised by vibrant patterns and paintings as well as steep paths, we could have easily spent a day here. Though, as we were to meet our other friend (Yoon Seo) in Hongdae for dinner, we shortened our visit. Regardless, we’ve still had our fill of the beautiful and homely traditional architecture. 

Two of these shots were taken moments within each other using different settings which explains the contrasting colours. Another evident of the warm weather that day is perhaps best told through a story: Entering the village, Marcel and I stopped by a local shop where he purchased a hat since it was quite hot. He sports his new purchase here. 

We passed by several houses that still serve as homes and as this area is still culturally preserved for its traditional significance, there were various signs throughout the neighbourhood warning tourists regarding noise control. In the duration of our walk, I kept thinking about how nice it would be to live here. 

If you ever visit here, I recommend strongly to spend at least a half day here as there is no short of entertainment. As we made our way around the village, we found that most of these homes also operate as public venues which included museums, cafes, tea shops and visitor centres. I took a shot of a comical looking figure in one of the museums below. 

A few words to describe Bukchon Hanok Village would be peaceful, beautiful, picturesque, and timeless. The elegance and tradition seen through the shots I have taken does not render this village outdated or out of place in the bustling city of Seoul. Rather, it has complemented and completed the general city atmosphere. The stark contrast between Common Ground and the latter two places we’ve visited contributed to this unique experience. We were able to see both modernity and tradition come together beautifully. 

In addition, other places we’ve visited but not taken a chance to capture with my Pentax Pino was Insadong, another quaint area abundant with culture and heritage. Abundant with museums, art galleries and beautiful tea houses (which are a must visit, in my opinion); Insadong should be included in any journey wanting for both cultural and mindful experiences. 

“Breathing in South Korea, even though the life here is not easy, makes me so happy. I feel that sitting in a coffee shop, having a cup of tea, and looking out of the window at the blue sky - this is happiness. Truly happiness” - Lee Hyeon Seo (activist and writer). 

Hope you had a good read, till the next!

Cin. 

(These pictures are part of my personal collection and will stay very special to me for the remainder of my life. If you use these pictures, please let me know and credit @cindysfilm. Thank you) 

[wokeinmemphis-blog]

Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

The Russian Grand Prix is on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra from 12:00 BST

Lewis Hamilton starts the race in which he could equal the all-time record for grand prix victories from pole position on Sunday – but that 91st win is very far from the near certainty it might be in other circumstances.

After a dramatic qualifying session at the Russian Grand Prix, in which the Mercedes driver nearly ended up 15th after a combination of mistakes and bad luck, Hamilton has two major concerns going into the race – the tyres he is on, and the fact pole might be more of a handicap than an advantage.

First, track position. Pole gives Hamilton a seven-metre advantage over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in second place. But the run from the grid down to the first corner at Sochi is the longest on the calendar and the slipstream effect is huge.

In 2017, Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas used this from his third place on the grid to tow past the two Ferraris in front of him and into a lead he was never to lose on the way to his maiden victory.

Last year, when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was on pole, ahead of Hamilton, Ferrari used team tactics to ensure Leclerc allowed his team-mate – Sebastian Vettel, who started third – to tow past him into the lead, so they ran one and two ahead of Hamilton. That led to a big falling out at Ferrari, but that’s another story.

Inevitably, then, Hamilton is worried about being passed down the straight after the start by at least one of Verstappen and Bottas, who is third on the grid.

“It’s not a good place to start at all,” he said. “And this year our cars are more draggy and there is more tow than we have seen in other years. I genuinely expect one of these two to come flying by at some point.”

Hamilton takes Russian GP pole after time cut drama

How the qualifying for the Russian GP unfolded

Hamilton has some defence against this because he is starting on the soft tyres, which give the best grip off the line, while Verstappen and Bottas have the mediums.

Whether that is enough to offset the effect of the tow remains to be seen, but even if it is, Hamilton’s problems will be far from over, because the soft tyre is very much not the best on which to start the race. It wears too quickly.

Even if he maintains the lead at the start, Hamilton will have to fend off Bottas and Verstappen as long as he can – not easy with such a long straight.

“I am on the worst tyre,” Hamilton said. “It is a good tyre to do an actual start, but it has the biggest degradation – 10 times more than any other tyre, I think it is – so that’s going to be a struggle.

“I don’t know if that puts me on to a two-stop [strategy]. Unlikely, because the pit lane is too slow so I am just going to have to nurse those tyres as far as I can.”

If he can hang on, and Mercedes’ strategists can find a window of clear air into which he can exit after his pit stop, he might still be OK. But the team do not sound that optimistic.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: “It is not the optimum strategy because after some laps the soft is clearly going to suffer and that means it compromises your whole race because you probably need to pit into traffic and that is not a great situation.

“But Lewis is the best overtaker in the field and I hope he can make his way back because he was the quickest driver on track today.”

How did Hamilton get in this position?

Hamilton described the session as “one of the worst qualifyings – it was horrible, heart in mouth the whole way”

The quickest driver Hamilton certainly was – he took pole by more than 0.5 seconds and Bottas was 0.652secs adrift, and admitted he did not know why. But the session was anything but smooth sailing for Hamilton. In fact, there were dramas from the off.

In the first knockout session, Hamilton ran wide on his first lap at Turn Two – the de facto first corner – and failed to comply with guidelines about how to rejoin the track.

That meant he had to do a second lap to make it into the next session – and led to a stewards’ inquiry, though no further action was taken.

Then, in the second session, which defines the start tyres, Hamilton went out on the favoured mediums and set a blistering first lap, 0.4secs quicker than Bottas. However, that time was deleted because he had run too wide out of the last corner and exceeded track limits.

He wanted to do another lap straight away and had an argument with the team when they called him in to the pits instead. Wolff said they had no choice – he did not have enough fuel in the car to stay out.

There was still plenty of time for another lap on the medium tyres at the end of the session, and Hamilton was about three corners from the end of one that would have put him fastest when Vettel crashed at Turn Four and brought out the red flag.

Now, there was jeopardy.

There were only two minutes 15 seconds left in the session. In theory, there was still time to do an out lap and start a flying lap before the chequered flag ended the session, but now Hamilton had another problem.

Time was tight, so there was going to be a rush to get out. Other cars lined up at the end of the pit lane and waited in a queue, with their engines switched off. Hamilton could not do that because the Mercedes engine cannot be restarted by the driver using electrical energy from the hybrid system, whereas those of the other three manufacturers can.

So Mercedes sent him out only when they knew there was sufficiently little time left before the restart for him to sit in a queue with the engine idling without damaging it.

But that still meant waiting a couple of minutes – and that meant the engineers insisted he switched to the soft tyres. Hamilton wanted the mediums again, but they overruled him because they were concerned the harder mediums would lose too much heat while he waited in the queue and that he would never be able to warm them up again.

Even on the softs, he still nearly lost it at the first corner before gathering it up again after driving through the run-off area. The out lap that followed was a tense one.

Knowing he was tight on time, Hamilton asked halfway around it how he was doing for time and was told he was 20 seconds behind schedule.

He picked up the pace and forced his way past Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz before the last two corners. He was then blocked by a Renault into the final turn.

As Hamilton backed off to give himself some space, engineer Peter Bonnington came over the radio, his voice urgent: “Need to go, need to go, need to go.” Hamilton floored it and crossed the line with a second to spare.

Can he do it?

The omens look good as Hamilton has won four out of the six races held in Sochi since 2014

Hamilton spent the eight-minute break between the sessions clearing his mind of the stress and composing himself again.

“Just having to calm myself down and find my centre, you know, calm my heart down and wanting to deliver in Q3,” he said.

“I was adamant. I had no choice. I had to deliver on those two laps. Valtteri had been doing great all weekend. Nothing new in that respect, but I knew I needed to have a perfect lap, particularly on the first run, to get the pole.

“Obviously pole position is not great here; it never has been. Still, going for pole is what we do.

“The first lap was really great. I thought it was going to be very difficult to improve on it, but I think I managed to improve just a tiny bit, I think, on the second lap.

“I’m super grateful to everyone for just about keeping their cool. And it could be a lot, lot worse. I could be out of the top 10, so I’m really grateful I got to compete.”

Having dragged himself out of a hole partly of his own making on Saturday, Hamilton now somehow has to find a way to do it again in the race.

“I am just going to focus on my race and try to run the fastest race I can,” Hamilton said.

“If these guys get by they are going to be pulling away, so I am going to sit down and work out if there is a different kind of race I can do to keep my position.”

The record he will not be bothered about, not of itself anyway. As he has so often said, he is not one for numbers, and as he pointed out on Thursday: “It will happen at some stage. I’m not quitting any time soon.”

But he still wants the win, for the sake of it – because that’s why he’s there and because it would be another giant step on the way to equalling another Schumacher record: seven World Championships.

Cancel Culture: Has it gone too far?

Video Games: The industries problem with inclusion

The article was originally published here! Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

[redroses879-blog]

Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

The Russian Grand Prix is on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra from 12:00 BST

Lewis Hamilton starts the race in which he could equal the all-time record for grand prix victories from pole position on Sunday – but that 91st win is very far from the near certainty it might be in other circumstances.

After a dramatic qualifying session at the Russian Grand Prix, in which the Mercedes driver nearly ended up 15th after a combination of mistakes and bad luck, Hamilton has two major concerns going into the race – the tyres he is on, and the fact pole might be more of a handicap than an advantage.

First, track position. Pole gives Hamilton a seven-metre advantage over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in second place. But the run from the grid down to the first corner at Sochi is the longest on the calendar and the slipstream effect is huge.

In 2017, Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas used this from his third place on the grid to tow past the two Ferraris in front of him and into a lead he was never to lose on the way to his maiden victory.

Last year, when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was on pole, ahead of Hamilton, Ferrari used team tactics to ensure Leclerc allowed his team-mate – Sebastian Vettel, who started third – to tow past him into the lead, so they ran one and two ahead of Hamilton. That led to a big falling out at Ferrari, but that’s another story.

Inevitably, then, Hamilton is worried about being passed down the straight after the start by at least one of Verstappen and Bottas, who is third on the grid.

“It’s not a good place to start at all,” he said. “And this year our cars are more draggy and there is more tow than we have seen in other years. I genuinely expect one of these two to come flying by at some point.”

Hamilton takes Russian GP pole after time cut drama

How the qualifying for the Russian GP unfolded

Hamilton has some defence against this because he is starting on the soft tyres, which give the best grip off the line, while Verstappen and Bottas have the mediums.

Whether that is enough to offset the effect of the tow remains to be seen, but even if it is, Hamilton’s problems will be far from over, because the soft tyre is very much not the best on which to start the race. It wears too quickly.

Even if he maintains the lead at the start, Hamilton will have to fend off Bottas and Verstappen as long as he can – not easy with such a long straight.

“I am on the worst tyre,” Hamilton said. “It is a good tyre to do an actual start, but it has the biggest degradation – 10 times more than any other tyre, I think it is – so that’s going to be a struggle.

“I don’t know if that puts me on to a two-stop [strategy]. Unlikely, because the pit lane is too slow so I am just going to have to nurse those tyres as far as I can.”

If he can hang on, and Mercedes’ strategists can find a window of clear air into which he can exit after his pit stop, he might still be OK. But the team do not sound that optimistic.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: “It is not the optimum strategy because after some laps the soft is clearly going to suffer and that means it compromises your whole race because you probably need to pit into traffic and that is not a great situation.

“But Lewis is the best overtaker in the field and I hope he can make his way back because he was the quickest driver on track today.”

How did Hamilton get in this position?

Hamilton described the session as “one of the worst qualifyings – it was horrible, heart in mouth the whole way”

The quickest driver Hamilton certainly was – he took pole by more than 0.5 seconds and Bottas was 0.652secs adrift, and admitted he did not know why. But the session was anything but smooth sailing for Hamilton. In fact, there were dramas from the off.

In the first knockout session, Hamilton ran wide on his first lap at Turn Two – the de facto first corner – and failed to comply with guidelines about how to rejoin the track.

That meant he had to do a second lap to make it into the next session – and led to a stewards’ inquiry, though no further action was taken.

Then, in the second session, which defines the start tyres, Hamilton went out on the favoured mediums and set a blistering first lap, 0.4secs quicker than Bottas. However, that time was deleted because he had run too wide out of the last corner and exceeded track limits.

He wanted to do another lap straight away and had an argument with the team when they called him in to the pits instead. Wolff said they had no choice – he did not have enough fuel in the car to stay out.

There was still plenty of time for another lap on the medium tyres at the end of the session, and Hamilton was about three corners from the end of one that would have put him fastest when Vettel crashed at Turn Four and brought out the red flag.

Now, there was jeopardy.

There were only two minutes 15 seconds left in the session. In theory, there was still time to do an out lap and start a flying lap before the chequered flag ended the session, but now Hamilton had another problem.

Time was tight, so there was going to be a rush to get out. Other cars lined up at the end of the pit lane and waited in a queue, with their engines switched off. Hamilton could not do that because the Mercedes engine cannot be restarted by the driver using electrical energy from the hybrid system, whereas those of the other three manufacturers can.

So Mercedes sent him out only when they knew there was sufficiently little time left before the restart for him to sit in a queue with the engine idling without damaging it.

But that still meant waiting a couple of minutes – and that meant the engineers insisted he switched to the soft tyres. Hamilton wanted the mediums again, but they overruled him because they were concerned the harder mediums would lose too much heat while he waited in the queue and that he would never be able to warm them up again.

Even on the softs, he still nearly lost it at the first corner before gathering it up again after driving through the run-off area. The out lap that followed was a tense one.

Knowing he was tight on time, Hamilton asked halfway around it how he was doing for time and was told he was 20 seconds behind schedule.

He picked up the pace and forced his way past Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz before the last two corners. He was then blocked by a Renault into the final turn.

As Hamilton backed off to give himself some space, engineer Peter Bonnington came over the radio, his voice urgent: “Need to go, need to go, need to go.” Hamilton floored it and crossed the line with a second to spare.

Can he do it?

The omens look good as Hamilton has won four out of the six races held in Sochi since 2014

Hamilton spent the eight-minute break between the sessions clearing his mind of the stress and composing himself again.

“Just having to calm myself down and find my centre, you know, calm my heart down and wanting to deliver in Q3,” he said.

“I was adamant. I had no choice. I had to deliver on those two laps. Valtteri had been doing great all weekend. Nothing new in that respect, but I knew I needed to have a perfect lap, particularly on the first run, to get the pole.

“Obviously pole position is not great here; it never has been. Still, going for pole is what we do.

“The first lap was really great. I thought it was going to be very difficult to improve on it, but I think I managed to improve just a tiny bit, I think, on the second lap.

“I’m super grateful to everyone for just about keeping their cool. And it could be a lot, lot worse. I could be out of the top 10, so I’m really grateful I got to compete.”

Having dragged himself out of a hole partly of his own making on Saturday, Hamilton now somehow has to find a way to do it again in the race.

“I am just going to focus on my race and try to run the fastest race I can,” Hamilton said.

“If these guys get by they are going to be pulling away, so I am going to sit down and work out if there is a different kind of race I can do to keep my position.”

The record he will not be bothered about, not of itself anyway. As he has so often said, he is not one for numbers, and as he pointed out on Thursday: “It will happen at some stage. I’m not quitting any time soon.”

But he still wants the win, for the sake of it – because that’s why he’s there and because it would be another giant step on the way to equalling another Schumacher record: seven World Championships.

Cancel Culture: Has it gone too far?

Video Games: The industries problem with inclusion

The article was originally published here! Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

[arcadeparade-blog1]

Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

The Russian Grand Prix is on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra from 12:00 BST

Lewis Hamilton starts the race in which he could equal the all-time record for grand prix victories from pole position on Sunday – but that 91st win is very far from the near certainty it might be in other circumstances.

After a dramatic qualifying session at the Russian Grand Prix, in which the Mercedes driver nearly ended up 15th after a combination of mistakes and bad luck, Hamilton has two major concerns going into the race – the tyres he is on, and the fact pole might be more of a handicap than an advantage.

First, track position. Pole gives Hamilton a seven-metre advantage over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in second place. But the run from the grid down to the first corner at Sochi is the longest on the calendar and the slipstream effect is huge.

In 2017, Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas used this from his third place on the grid to tow past the two Ferraris in front of him and into a lead he was never to lose on the way to his maiden victory.

Last year, when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was on pole, ahead of Hamilton, Ferrari used team tactics to ensure Leclerc allowed his team-mate – Sebastian Vettel, who started third – to tow past him into the lead, so they ran one and two ahead of Hamilton. That led to a big falling out at Ferrari, but that’s another story.

Inevitably, then, Hamilton is worried about being passed down the straight after the start by at least one of Verstappen and Bottas, who is third on the grid.

“It’s not a good place to start at all,” he said. “And this year our cars are more draggy and there is more tow than we have seen in other years. I genuinely expect one of these two to come flying by at some point.”

Hamilton takes Russian GP pole after time cut drama

How the qualifying for the Russian GP unfolded

Hamilton has some defence against this because he is starting on the soft tyres, which give the best grip off the line, while Verstappen and Bottas have the mediums.

Whether that is enough to offset the effect of the tow remains to be seen, but even if it is, Hamilton’s problems will be far from over, because the soft tyre is very much not the best on which to start the race. It wears too quickly.

Even if he maintains the lead at the start, Hamilton will have to fend off Bottas and Verstappen as long as he can – not easy with such a long straight.

“I am on the worst tyre,” Hamilton said. “It is a good tyre to do an actual start, but it has the biggest degradation – 10 times more than any other tyre, I think it is – so that’s going to be a struggle.

“I don’t know if that puts me on to a two-stop [strategy]. Unlikely, because the pit lane is too slow so I am just going to have to nurse those tyres as far as I can.”

If he can hang on, and Mercedes’ strategists can find a window of clear air into which he can exit after his pit stop, he might still be OK. But the team do not sound that optimistic.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: “It is not the optimum strategy because after some laps the soft is clearly going to suffer and that means it compromises your whole race because you probably need to pit into traffic and that is not a great situation.

“But Lewis is the best overtaker in the field and I hope he can make his way back because he was the quickest driver on track today.”

How did Hamilton get in this position?

Hamilton described the session as “one of the worst qualifyings – it was horrible, heart in mouth the whole way”

The quickest driver Hamilton certainly was – he took pole by more than 0.5 seconds and Bottas was 0.652secs adrift, and admitted he did not know why. But the session was anything but smooth sailing for Hamilton. In fact, there were dramas from the off.

In the first knockout session, Hamilton ran wide on his first lap at Turn Two – the de facto first corner – and failed to comply with guidelines about how to rejoin the track.

That meant he had to do a second lap to make it into the next session – and led to a stewards’ inquiry, though no further action was taken.

Then, in the second session, which defines the start tyres, Hamilton went out on the favoured mediums and set a blistering first lap, 0.4secs quicker than Bottas. However, that time was deleted because he had run too wide out of the last corner and exceeded track limits.

He wanted to do another lap straight away and had an argument with the team when they called him in to the pits instead. Wolff said they had no choice – he did not have enough fuel in the car to stay out.

There was still plenty of time for another lap on the medium tyres at the end of the session, and Hamilton was about three corners from the end of one that would have put him fastest when Vettel crashed at Turn Four and brought out the red flag.

Now, there was jeopardy.

There were only two minutes 15 seconds left in the session. In theory, there was still time to do an out lap and start a flying lap before the chequered flag ended the session, but now Hamilton had another problem.

Time was tight, so there was going to be a rush to get out. Other cars lined up at the end of the pit lane and waited in a queue, with their engines switched off. Hamilton could not do that because the Mercedes engine cannot be restarted by the driver using electrical energy from the hybrid system, whereas those of the other three manufacturers can.

So Mercedes sent him out only when they knew there was sufficiently little time left before the restart for him to sit in a queue with the engine idling without damaging it.

But that still meant waiting a couple of minutes – and that meant the engineers insisted he switched to the soft tyres. Hamilton wanted the mediums again, but they overruled him because they were concerned the harder mediums would lose too much heat while he waited in the queue and that he would never be able to warm them up again.

Even on the softs, he still nearly lost it at the first corner before gathering it up again after driving through the run-off area. The out lap that followed was a tense one.

Knowing he was tight on time, Hamilton asked halfway around it how he was doing for time and was told he was 20 seconds behind schedule.

He picked up the pace and forced his way past Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz before the last two corners. He was then blocked by a Renault into the final turn.

As Hamilton backed off to give himself some space, engineer Peter Bonnington came over the radio, his voice urgent: “Need to go, need to go, need to go.” Hamilton floored it and crossed the line with a second to spare.

Can he do it?

The omens look good as Hamilton has won four out of the six races held in Sochi since 2014

Hamilton spent the eight-minute break between the sessions clearing his mind of the stress and composing himself again.

“Just having to calm myself down and find my centre, you know, calm my heart down and wanting to deliver in Q3,” he said.

“I was adamant. I had no choice. I had to deliver on those two laps. Valtteri had been doing great all weekend. Nothing new in that respect, but I knew I needed to have a perfect lap, particularly on the first run, to get the pole.

“Obviously pole position is not great here; it never has been. Still, going for pole is what we do.

“The first lap was really great. I thought it was going to be very difficult to improve on it, but I think I managed to improve just a tiny bit, I think, on the second lap.

“I’m super grateful to everyone for just about keeping their cool. And it could be a lot, lot worse. I could be out of the top 10, so I’m really grateful I got to compete.”

Having dragged himself out of a hole partly of his own making on Saturday, Hamilton now somehow has to find a way to do it again in the race.

“I am just going to focus on my race and try to run the fastest race I can,” Hamilton said.

“If these guys get by they are going to be pulling away, so I am going to sit down and work out if there is a different kind of race I can do to keep my position.”

The record he will not be bothered about, not of itself anyway. As he has so often said, he is not one for numbers, and as he pointed out on Thursday: “It will happen at some stage. I’m not quitting any time soon.”

But he still wants the win, for the sake of it – because that’s why he’s there and because it would be another giant step on the way to equalling another Schumacher record: seven World Championships.

Cancel Culture: Has it gone too far?

Video Games: The industries problem with inclusion

The article was originally published here! Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

[asanusta-blog]

Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

The Russian Grand Prix is on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra from 12:00 BST

Lewis Hamilton starts the race in which he could equal the all-time record for grand prix victories from pole position on Sunday – but that 91st win is very far from the near certainty it might be in other circumstances.

After a dramatic qualifying session at the Russian Grand Prix, in which the Mercedes driver nearly ended up 15th after a combination of mistakes and bad luck, Hamilton has two major concerns going into the race – the tyres he is on, and the fact pole might be more of a handicap than an advantage.

First, track position. Pole gives Hamilton a seven-metre advantage over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in second place. But the run from the grid down to the first corner at Sochi is the longest on the calendar and the slipstream effect is huge.

In 2017, Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas used this from his third place on the grid to tow past the two Ferraris in front of him and into a lead he was never to lose on the way to his maiden victory.

Last year, when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was on pole, ahead of Hamilton, Ferrari used team tactics to ensure Leclerc allowed his team-mate – Sebastian Vettel, who started third – to tow past him into the lead, so they ran one and two ahead of Hamilton. That led to a big falling out at Ferrari, but that’s another story.

Inevitably, then, Hamilton is worried about being passed down the straight after the start by at least one of Verstappen and Bottas, who is third on the grid.

“It’s not a good place to start at all,” he said. “And this year our cars are more draggy and there is more tow than we have seen in other years. I genuinely expect one of these two to come flying by at some point.”

Hamilton takes Russian GP pole after time cut drama

How the qualifying for the Russian GP unfolded

Hamilton has some defence against this because he is starting on the soft tyres, which give the best grip off the line, while Verstappen and Bottas have the mediums.

Whether that is enough to offset the effect of the tow remains to be seen, but even if it is, Hamilton’s problems will be far from over, because the soft tyre is very much not the best on which to start the race. It wears too quickly.

Even if he maintains the lead at the start, Hamilton will have to fend off Bottas and Verstappen as long as he can – not easy with such a long straight.

“I am on the worst tyre,” Hamilton said. “It is a good tyre to do an actual start, but it has the biggest degradation – 10 times more than any other tyre, I think it is – so that’s going to be a struggle.

“I don’t know if that puts me on to a two-stop [strategy]. Unlikely, because the pit lane is too slow so I am just going to have to nurse those tyres as far as I can.”

If he can hang on, and Mercedes’ strategists can find a window of clear air into which he can exit after his pit stop, he might still be OK. But the team do not sound that optimistic.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: “It is not the optimum strategy because after some laps the soft is clearly going to suffer and that means it compromises your whole race because you probably need to pit into traffic and that is not a great situation.

“But Lewis is the best overtaker in the field and I hope he can make his way back because he was the quickest driver on track today.”

How did Hamilton get in this position?

Hamilton described the session as “one of the worst qualifyings – it was horrible, heart in mouth the whole way”

The quickest driver Hamilton certainly was – he took pole by more than 0.5 seconds and Bottas was 0.652secs adrift, and admitted he did not know why. But the session was anything but smooth sailing for Hamilton. In fact, there were dramas from the off.

In the first knockout session, Hamilton ran wide on his first lap at Turn Two – the de facto first corner – and failed to comply with guidelines about how to rejoin the track.

That meant he had to do a second lap to make it into the next session – and led to a stewards’ inquiry, though no further action was taken.

Then, in the second session, which defines the start tyres, Hamilton went out on the favoured mediums and set a blistering first lap, 0.4secs quicker than Bottas. However, that time was deleted because he had run too wide out of the last corner and exceeded track limits.

He wanted to do another lap straight away and had an argument with the team when they called him in to the pits instead. Wolff said they had no choice – he did not have enough fuel in the car to stay out.

There was still plenty of time for another lap on the medium tyres at the end of the session, and Hamilton was about three corners from the end of one that would have put him fastest when Vettel crashed at Turn Four and brought out the red flag.

Now, there was jeopardy.

There were only two minutes 15 seconds left in the session. In theory, there was still time to do an out lap and start a flying lap before the chequered flag ended the session, but now Hamilton had another problem.

Time was tight, so there was going to be a rush to get out. Other cars lined up at the end of the pit lane and waited in a queue, with their engines switched off. Hamilton could not do that because the Mercedes engine cannot be restarted by the driver using electrical energy from the hybrid system, whereas those of the other three manufacturers can.

So Mercedes sent him out only when they knew there was sufficiently little time left before the restart for him to sit in a queue with the engine idling without damaging it.

But that still meant waiting a couple of minutes – and that meant the engineers insisted he switched to the soft tyres. Hamilton wanted the mediums again, but they overruled him because they were concerned the harder mediums would lose too much heat while he waited in the queue and that he would never be able to warm them up again.

Even on the softs, he still nearly lost it at the first corner before gathering it up again after driving through the run-off area. The out lap that followed was a tense one.

Knowing he was tight on time, Hamilton asked halfway around it how he was doing for time and was told he was 20 seconds behind schedule.

He picked up the pace and forced his way past Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz before the last two corners. He was then blocked by a Renault into the final turn.

As Hamilton backed off to give himself some space, engineer Peter Bonnington came over the radio, his voice urgent: “Need to go, need to go, need to go.” Hamilton floored it and crossed the line with a second to spare.

Can he do it?

The omens look good as Hamilton has won four out of the six races held in Sochi since 2014

Hamilton spent the eight-minute break between the sessions clearing his mind of the stress and composing himself again.

“Just having to calm myself down and find my centre, you know, calm my heart down and wanting to deliver in Q3,” he said.

“I was adamant. I had no choice. I had to deliver on those two laps. Valtteri had been doing great all weekend. Nothing new in that respect, but I knew I needed to have a perfect lap, particularly on the first run, to get the pole.

“Obviously pole position is not great here; it never has been. Still, going for pole is what we do.

“The first lap was really great. I thought it was going to be very difficult to improve on it, but I think I managed to improve just a tiny bit, I think, on the second lap.

“I’m super grateful to everyone for just about keeping their cool. And it could be a lot, lot worse. I could be out of the top 10, so I’m really grateful I got to compete.”

Having dragged himself out of a hole partly of his own making on Saturday, Hamilton now somehow has to find a way to do it again in the race.

“I am just going to focus on my race and try to run the fastest race I can,” Hamilton said.

“If these guys get by they are going to be pulling away, so I am going to sit down and work out if there is a different kind of race I can do to keep my position.”

The record he will not be bothered about, not of itself anyway. As he has so often said, he is not one for numbers, and as he pointed out on Thursday: “It will happen at some stage. I’m not quitting any time soon.”

But he still wants the win, for the sake of it – because that’s why he’s there and because it would be another giant step on the way to equalling another Schumacher record: seven World Championships.

Cancel Culture: Has it gone too far?

Video Games: The industries problem with inclusion

The article was originally published here! Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

[pooki-chu-blog]

Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

The Russian Grand Prix is on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra from 12:00 BST

Lewis Hamilton starts the race in which he could equal the all-time record for grand prix victories from pole position on Sunday – but that 91st win is very far from the near certainty it might be in other circumstances.

After a dramatic qualifying session at the Russian Grand Prix, in which the Mercedes driver nearly ended up 15th after a combination of mistakes and bad luck, Hamilton has two major concerns going into the race – the tyres he is on, and the fact pole might be more of a handicap than an advantage.

First, track position. Pole gives Hamilton a seven-metre advantage over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in second place. But the run from the grid down to the first corner at Sochi is the longest on the calendar and the slipstream effect is huge.

In 2017, Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas used this from his third place on the grid to tow past the two Ferraris in front of him and into a lead he was never to lose on the way to his maiden victory.

Last year, when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was on pole, ahead of Hamilton, Ferrari used team tactics to ensure Leclerc allowed his team-mate – Sebastian Vettel, who started third – to tow past him into the lead, so they ran one and two ahead of Hamilton. That led to a big falling out at Ferrari, but that’s another story.

Inevitably, then, Hamilton is worried about being passed down the straight after the start by at least one of Verstappen and Bottas, who is third on the grid.

“It’s not a good place to start at all,” he said. “And this year our cars are more draggy and there is more tow than we have seen in other years. I genuinely expect one of these two to come flying by at some point.”

Hamilton takes Russian GP pole after time cut drama

How the qualifying for the Russian GP unfolded

Hamilton has some defence against this because he is starting on the soft tyres, which give the best grip off the line, while Verstappen and Bottas have the mediums.

Whether that is enough to offset the effect of the tow remains to be seen, but even if it is, Hamilton’s problems will be far from over, because the soft tyre is very much not the best on which to start the race. It wears too quickly.

Even if he maintains the lead at the start, Hamilton will have to fend off Bottas and Verstappen as long as he can – not easy with such a long straight.

“I am on the worst tyre,” Hamilton said. “It is a good tyre to do an actual start, but it has the biggest degradation – 10 times more than any other tyre, I think it is – so that’s going to be a struggle.

“I don’t know if that puts me on to a two-stop [strategy]. Unlikely, because the pit lane is too slow so I am just going to have to nurse those tyres as far as I can.”

If he can hang on, and Mercedes’ strategists can find a window of clear air into which he can exit after his pit stop, he might still be OK. But the team do not sound that optimistic.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: “It is not the optimum strategy because after some laps the soft is clearly going to suffer and that means it compromises your whole race because you probably need to pit into traffic and that is not a great situation.

“But Lewis is the best overtaker in the field and I hope he can make his way back because he was the quickest driver on track today.”

How did Hamilton get in this position?

Hamilton described the session as “one of the worst qualifyings – it was horrible, heart in mouth the whole way”

The quickest driver Hamilton certainly was – he took pole by more than 0.5 seconds and Bottas was 0.652secs adrift, and admitted he did not know why. But the session was anything but smooth sailing for Hamilton. In fact, there were dramas from the off.

In the first knockout session, Hamilton ran wide on his first lap at Turn Two – the de facto first corner – and failed to comply with guidelines about how to rejoin the track.

That meant he had to do a second lap to make it into the next session – and led to a stewards’ inquiry, though no further action was taken.

Then, in the second session, which defines the start tyres, Hamilton went out on the favoured mediums and set a blistering first lap, 0.4secs quicker than Bottas. However, that time was deleted because he had run too wide out of the last corner and exceeded track limits.

He wanted to do another lap straight away and had an argument with the team when they called him in to the pits instead. Wolff said they had no choice – he did not have enough fuel in the car to stay out.

There was still plenty of time for another lap on the medium tyres at the end of the session, and Hamilton was about three corners from the end of one that would have put him fastest when Vettel crashed at Turn Four and brought out the red flag.

Now, there was jeopardy.

There were only two minutes 15 seconds left in the session. In theory, there was still time to do an out lap and start a flying lap before the chequered flag ended the session, but now Hamilton had another problem.

Time was tight, so there was going to be a rush to get out. Other cars lined up at the end of the pit lane and waited in a queue, with their engines switched off. Hamilton could not do that because the Mercedes engine cannot be restarted by the driver using electrical energy from the hybrid system, whereas those of the other three manufacturers can.

So Mercedes sent him out only when they knew there was sufficiently little time left before the restart for him to sit in a queue with the engine idling without damaging it.

But that still meant waiting a couple of minutes – and that meant the engineers insisted he switched to the soft tyres. Hamilton wanted the mediums again, but they overruled him because they were concerned the harder mediums would lose too much heat while he waited in the queue and that he would never be able to warm them up again.

Even on the softs, he still nearly lost it at the first corner before gathering it up again after driving through the run-off area. The out lap that followed was a tense one.

Knowing he was tight on time, Hamilton asked halfway around it how he was doing for time and was told he was 20 seconds behind schedule.

He picked up the pace and forced his way past Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz before the last two corners. He was then blocked by a Renault into the final turn.

As Hamilton backed off to give himself some space, engineer Peter Bonnington came over the radio, his voice urgent: “Need to go, need to go, need to go.” Hamilton floored it and crossed the line with a second to spare.

Can he do it?

The omens look good as Hamilton has won four out of the six races held in Sochi since 2014

Hamilton spent the eight-minute break between the sessions clearing his mind of the stress and composing himself again.

“Just having to calm myself down and find my centre, you know, calm my heart down and wanting to deliver in Q3,” he said.

“I was adamant. I had no choice. I had to deliver on those two laps. Valtteri had been doing great all weekend. Nothing new in that respect, but I knew I needed to have a perfect lap, particularly on the first run, to get the pole.

“Obviously pole position is not great here; it never has been. Still, going for pole is what we do.

“The first lap was really great. I thought it was going to be very difficult to improve on it, but I think I managed to improve just a tiny bit, I think, on the second lap.

“I’m super grateful to everyone for just about keeping their cool. And it could be a lot, lot worse. I could be out of the top 10, so I’m really grateful I got to compete.”

Having dragged himself out of a hole partly of his own making on Saturday, Hamilton now somehow has to find a way to do it again in the race.

“I am just going to focus on my race and try to run the fastest race I can,” Hamilton said.

“If these guys get by they are going to be pulling away, so I am going to sit down and work out if there is a different kind of race I can do to keep my position.”

The record he will not be bothered about, not of itself anyway. As he has so often said, he is not one for numbers, and as he pointed out on Thursday: “It will happen at some stage. I’m not quitting any time soon.”

But he still wants the win, for the sake of it – because that’s why he’s there and because it would be another giant step on the way to equalling another Schumacher record: seven World Championships.

Cancel Culture: Has it gone too far?

Video Games: The industries problem with inclusion

The article was originally published here! Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

[sophistikatedblogger-blog]

Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

The Russian Grand Prix is on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra from 12:00 BST

Lewis Hamilton starts the race in which he could equal the all-time record for grand prix victories from pole position on Sunday – but that 91st win is very far from the near certainty it might be in other circumstances.

After a dramatic qualifying session at the Russian Grand Prix, in which the Mercedes driver nearly ended up 15th after a combination of mistakes and bad luck, Hamilton has two major concerns going into the race – the tyres he is on, and the fact pole might be more of a handicap than an advantage.

First, track position. Pole gives Hamilton a seven-metre advantage over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in second place. But the run from the grid down to the first corner at Sochi is the longest on the calendar and the slipstream effect is huge.

In 2017, Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas used this from his third place on the grid to tow past the two Ferraris in front of him and into a lead he was never to lose on the way to his maiden victory.

Last year, when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was on pole, ahead of Hamilton, Ferrari used team tactics to ensure Leclerc allowed his team-mate – Sebastian Vettel, who started third – to tow past him into the lead, so they ran one and two ahead of Hamilton. That led to a big falling out at Ferrari, but that’s another story.

Inevitably, then, Hamilton is worried about being passed down the straight after the start by at least one of Verstappen and Bottas, who is third on the grid.

“It’s not a good place to start at all,” he said. “And this year our cars are more draggy and there is more tow than we have seen in other years. I genuinely expect one of these two to come flying by at some point.”

Hamilton takes Russian GP pole after time cut drama

How the qualifying for the Russian GP unfolded

Hamilton has some defence against this because he is starting on the soft tyres, which give the best grip off the line, while Verstappen and Bottas have the mediums.

Whether that is enough to offset the effect of the tow remains to be seen, but even if it is, Hamilton’s problems will be far from over, because the soft tyre is very much not the best on which to start the race. It wears too quickly.

Even if he maintains the lead at the start, Hamilton will have to fend off Bottas and Verstappen as long as he can – not easy with such a long straight.

“I am on the worst tyre,” Hamilton said. “It is a good tyre to do an actual start, but it has the biggest degradation – 10 times more than any other tyre, I think it is – so that’s going to be a struggle.

“I don’t know if that puts me on to a two-stop [strategy]. Unlikely, because the pit lane is too slow so I am just going to have to nurse those tyres as far as I can.”

If he can hang on, and Mercedes’ strategists can find a window of clear air into which he can exit after his pit stop, he might still be OK. But the team do not sound that optimistic.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: “It is not the optimum strategy because after some laps the soft is clearly going to suffer and that means it compromises your whole race because you probably need to pit into traffic and that is not a great situation.

“But Lewis is the best overtaker in the field and I hope he can make his way back because he was the quickest driver on track today.”

How did Hamilton get in this position?

Hamilton described the session as “one of the worst qualifyings – it was horrible, heart in mouth the whole way”

The quickest driver Hamilton certainly was – he took pole by more than 0.5 seconds and Bottas was 0.652secs adrift, and admitted he did not know why. But the session was anything but smooth sailing for Hamilton. In fact, there were dramas from the off.

In the first knockout session, Hamilton ran wide on his first lap at Turn Two – the de facto first corner – and failed to comply with guidelines about how to rejoin the track.

That meant he had to do a second lap to make it into the next session – and led to a stewards’ inquiry, though no further action was taken.

Then, in the second session, which defines the start tyres, Hamilton went out on the favoured mediums and set a blistering first lap, 0.4secs quicker than Bottas. However, that time was deleted because he had run too wide out of the last corner and exceeded track limits.

He wanted to do another lap straight away and had an argument with the team when they called him in to the pits instead. Wolff said they had no choice – he did not have enough fuel in the car to stay out.

There was still plenty of time for another lap on the medium tyres at the end of the session, and Hamilton was about three corners from the end of one that would have put him fastest when Vettel crashed at Turn Four and brought out the red flag.

Now, there was jeopardy.

There were only two minutes 15 seconds left in the session. In theory, there was still time to do an out lap and start a flying lap before the chequered flag ended the session, but now Hamilton had another problem.

Time was tight, so there was going to be a rush to get out. Other cars lined up at the end of the pit lane and waited in a queue, with their engines switched off. Hamilton could not do that because the Mercedes engine cannot be restarted by the driver using electrical energy from the hybrid system, whereas those of the other three manufacturers can.

So Mercedes sent him out only when they knew there was sufficiently little time left before the restart for him to sit in a queue with the engine idling without damaging it.

But that still meant waiting a couple of minutes – and that meant the engineers insisted he switched to the soft tyres. Hamilton wanted the mediums again, but they overruled him because they were concerned the harder mediums would lose too much heat while he waited in the queue and that he would never be able to warm them up again.

Even on the softs, he still nearly lost it at the first corner before gathering it up again after driving through the run-off area. The out lap that followed was a tense one.

Knowing he was tight on time, Hamilton asked halfway around it how he was doing for time and was told he was 20 seconds behind schedule.

He picked up the pace and forced his way past Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz before the last two corners. He was then blocked by a Renault into the final turn.

As Hamilton backed off to give himself some space, engineer Peter Bonnington came over the radio, his voice urgent: “Need to go, need to go, need to go.” Hamilton floored it and crossed the line with a second to spare.

Can he do it?

The omens look good as Hamilton has won four out of the six races held in Sochi since 2014

Hamilton spent the eight-minute break between the sessions clearing his mind of the stress and composing himself again.

“Just having to calm myself down and find my centre, you know, calm my heart down and wanting to deliver in Q3,” he said.

“I was adamant. I had no choice. I had to deliver on those two laps. Valtteri had been doing great all weekend. Nothing new in that respect, but I knew I needed to have a perfect lap, particularly on the first run, to get the pole.

“Obviously pole position is not great here; it never has been. Still, going for pole is what we do.

“The first lap was really great. I thought it was going to be very difficult to improve on it, but I think I managed to improve just a tiny bit, I think, on the second lap.

“I’m super grateful to everyone for just about keeping their cool. And it could be a lot, lot worse. I could be out of the top 10, so I’m really grateful I got to compete.”

Having dragged himself out of a hole partly of his own making on Saturday, Hamilton now somehow has to find a way to do it again in the race.

“I am just going to focus on my race and try to run the fastest race I can,” Hamilton said.

“If these guys get by they are going to be pulling away, so I am going to sit down and work out if there is a different kind of race I can do to keep my position.”

The record he will not be bothered about, not of itself anyway. As he has so often said, he is not one for numbers, and as he pointed out on Thursday: “It will happen at some stage. I’m not quitting any time soon.”

But he still wants the win, for the sake of it – because that’s why he’s there and because it would be another giant step on the way to equalling another Schumacher record: seven World Championships.

Cancel Culture: Has it gone too far?

Video Games: The industries problem with inclusion

The article was originally published here! Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

[quebrando-promesas-blog1]

Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

The Russian Grand Prix is on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra from 12:00 BST

Lewis Hamilton starts the race in which he could equal the all-time record for grand prix victories from pole position on Sunday – but that 91st win is very far from the near certainty it might be in other circumstances.

After a dramatic qualifying session at the Russian Grand Prix, in which the Mercedes driver nearly ended up 15th after a combination of mistakes and bad luck, Hamilton has two major concerns going into the race – the tyres he is on, and the fact pole might be more of a handicap than an advantage.

First, track position. Pole gives Hamilton a seven-metre advantage over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in second place. But the run from the grid down to the first corner at Sochi is the longest on the calendar and the slipstream effect is huge.

In 2017, Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas used this from his third place on the grid to tow past the two Ferraris in front of him and into a lead he was never to lose on the way to his maiden victory.

Last year, when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was on pole, ahead of Hamilton, Ferrari used team tactics to ensure Leclerc allowed his team-mate – Sebastian Vettel, who started third – to tow past him into the lead, so they ran one and two ahead of Hamilton. That led to a big falling out at Ferrari, but that’s another story.

Inevitably, then, Hamilton is worried about being passed down the straight after the start by at least one of Verstappen and Bottas, who is third on the grid.

“It’s not a good place to start at all,” he said. “And this year our cars are more draggy and there is more tow than we have seen in other years. I genuinely expect one of these two to come flying by at some point.”

Hamilton takes Russian GP pole after time cut drama

How the qualifying for the Russian GP unfolded

Hamilton has some defence against this because he is starting on the soft tyres, which give the best grip off the line, while Verstappen and Bottas have the mediums.

Whether that is enough to offset the effect of the tow remains to be seen, but even if it is, Hamilton’s problems will be far from over, because the soft tyre is very much not the best on which to start the race. It wears too quickly.

Even if he maintains the lead at the start, Hamilton will have to fend off Bottas and Verstappen as long as he can – not easy with such a long straight.

“I am on the worst tyre,” Hamilton said. “It is a good tyre to do an actual start, but it has the biggest degradation – 10 times more than any other tyre, I think it is – so that’s going to be a struggle.

“I don’t know if that puts me on to a two-stop [strategy]. Unlikely, because the pit lane is too slow so I am just going to have to nurse those tyres as far as I can.”

If he can hang on, and Mercedes’ strategists can find a window of clear air into which he can exit after his pit stop, he might still be OK. But the team do not sound that optimistic.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: “It is not the optimum strategy because after some laps the soft is clearly going to suffer and that means it compromises your whole race because you probably need to pit into traffic and that is not a great situation.

“But Lewis is the best overtaker in the field and I hope he can make his way back because he was the quickest driver on track today.”

How did Hamilton get in this position?

Hamilton described the session as “one of the worst qualifyings – it was horrible, heart in mouth the whole way”

The quickest driver Hamilton certainly was – he took pole by more than 0.5 seconds and Bottas was 0.652secs adrift, and admitted he did not know why. But the session was anything but smooth sailing for Hamilton. In fact, there were dramas from the off.

In the first knockout session, Hamilton ran wide on his first lap at Turn Two – the de facto first corner – and failed to comply with guidelines about how to rejoin the track.

That meant he had to do a second lap to make it into the next session – and led to a stewards’ inquiry, though no further action was taken.

Then, in the second session, which defines the start tyres, Hamilton went out on the favoured mediums and set a blistering first lap, 0.4secs quicker than Bottas. However, that time was deleted because he had run too wide out of the last corner and exceeded track limits.

He wanted to do another lap straight away and had an argument with the team when they called him in to the pits instead. Wolff said they had no choice – he did not have enough fuel in the car to stay out.

There was still plenty of time for another lap on the medium tyres at the end of the session, and Hamilton was about three corners from the end of one that would have put him fastest when Vettel crashed at Turn Four and brought out the red flag.

Now, there was jeopardy.

There were only two minutes 15 seconds left in the session. In theory, there was still time to do an out lap and start a flying lap before the chequered flag ended the session, but now Hamilton had another problem.

Time was tight, so there was going to be a rush to get out. Other cars lined up at the end of the pit lane and waited in a queue, with their engines switched off. Hamilton could not do that because the Mercedes engine cannot be restarted by the driver using electrical energy from the hybrid system, whereas those of the other three manufacturers can.

So Mercedes sent him out only when they knew there was sufficiently little time left before the restart for him to sit in a queue with the engine idling without damaging it.

But that still meant waiting a couple of minutes – and that meant the engineers insisted he switched to the soft tyres. Hamilton wanted the mediums again, but they overruled him because they were concerned the harder mediums would lose too much heat while he waited in the queue and that he would never be able to warm them up again.

Even on the softs, he still nearly lost it at the first corner before gathering it up again after driving through the run-off area. The out lap that followed was a tense one.

Knowing he was tight on time, Hamilton asked halfway around it how he was doing for time and was told he was 20 seconds behind schedule.

He picked up the pace and forced his way past Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz before the last two corners. He was then blocked by a Renault into the final turn.

As Hamilton backed off to give himself some space, engineer Peter Bonnington came over the radio, his voice urgent: “Need to go, need to go, need to go.” Hamilton floored it and crossed the line with a second to spare.

Can he do it?

The omens look good as Hamilton has won four out of the six races held in Sochi since 2014

Hamilton spent the eight-minute break between the sessions clearing his mind of the stress and composing himself again.

“Just having to calm myself down and find my centre, you know, calm my heart down and wanting to deliver in Q3,” he said.

“I was adamant. I had no choice. I had to deliver on those two laps. Valtteri had been doing great all weekend. Nothing new in that respect, but I knew I needed to have a perfect lap, particularly on the first run, to get the pole.

“Obviously pole position is not great here; it never has been. Still, going for pole is what we do.

“The first lap was really great. I thought it was going to be very difficult to improve on it, but I think I managed to improve just a tiny bit, I think, on the second lap.

“I’m super grateful to everyone for just about keeping their cool. And it could be a lot, lot worse. I could be out of the top 10, so I’m really grateful I got to compete.”

Having dragged himself out of a hole partly of his own making on Saturday, Hamilton now somehow has to find a way to do it again in the race.

“I am just going to focus on my race and try to run the fastest race I can,” Hamilton said.

“If these guys get by they are going to be pulling away, so I am going to sit down and work out if there is a different kind of race I can do to keep my position.”

The record he will not be bothered about, not of itself anyway. As he has so often said, he is not one for numbers, and as he pointed out on Thursday: “It will happen at some stage. I’m not quitting any time soon.”

But he still wants the win, for the sake of it – because that’s why he’s there and because it would be another giant step on the way to equalling another Schumacher record: seven World Championships.

Cancel Culture: Has it gone too far?

Video Games: The industries problem with inclusion

The article was originally published here! Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

[crashinthefastlane-blog]

Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

The Russian Grand Prix is on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra from 12:00 BST

Lewis Hamilton starts the race in which he could equal the all-time record for grand prix victories from pole position on Sunday – but that 91st win is very far from the near certainty it might be in other circumstances.

After a dramatic qualifying session at the Russian Grand Prix, in which the Mercedes driver nearly ended up 15th after a combination of mistakes and bad luck, Hamilton has two major concerns going into the race – the tyres he is on, and the fact pole might be more of a handicap than an advantage.

First, track position. Pole gives Hamilton a seven-metre advantage over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in second place. But the run from the grid down to the first corner at Sochi is the longest on the calendar and the slipstream effect is huge.

In 2017, Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas used this from his third place on the grid to tow past the two Ferraris in front of him and into a lead he was never to lose on the way to his maiden victory.

Last year, when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was on pole, ahead of Hamilton, Ferrari used team tactics to ensure Leclerc allowed his team-mate – Sebastian Vettel, who started third – to tow past him into the lead, so they ran one and two ahead of Hamilton. That led to a big falling out at Ferrari, but that’s another story.

Inevitably, then, Hamilton is worried about being passed down the straight after the start by at least one of Verstappen and Bottas, who is third on the grid.

“It’s not a good place to start at all,” he said. “And this year our cars are more draggy and there is more tow than we have seen in other years. I genuinely expect one of these two to come flying by at some point.”

Hamilton takes Russian GP pole after time cut drama

How the qualifying for the Russian GP unfolded

Hamilton has some defence against this because he is starting on the soft tyres, which give the best grip off the line, while Verstappen and Bottas have the mediums.

Whether that is enough to offset the effect of the tow remains to be seen, but even if it is, Hamilton’s problems will be far from over, because the soft tyre is very much not the best on which to start the race. It wears too quickly.

Even if he maintains the lead at the start, Hamilton will have to fend off Bottas and Verstappen as long as he can – not easy with such a long straight.

“I am on the worst tyre,” Hamilton said. “It is a good tyre to do an actual start, but it has the biggest degradation – 10 times more than any other tyre, I think it is – so that’s going to be a struggle.

“I don’t know if that puts me on to a two-stop [strategy]. Unlikely, because the pit lane is too slow so I am just going to have to nurse those tyres as far as I can.”

If he can hang on, and Mercedes’ strategists can find a window of clear air into which he can exit after his pit stop, he might still be OK. But the team do not sound that optimistic.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: “It is not the optimum strategy because after some laps the soft is clearly going to suffer and that means it compromises your whole race because you probably need to pit into traffic and that is not a great situation.

“But Lewis is the best overtaker in the field and I hope he can make his way back because he was the quickest driver on track today.”

How did Hamilton get in this position?

Hamilton described the session as “one of the worst qualifyings – it was horrible, heart in mouth the whole way”

The quickest driver Hamilton certainly was – he took pole by more than 0.5 seconds and Bottas was 0.652secs adrift, and admitted he did not know why. But the session was anything but smooth sailing for Hamilton. In fact, there were dramas from the off.

In the first knockout session, Hamilton ran wide on his first lap at Turn Two – the de facto first corner – and failed to comply with guidelines about how to rejoin the track.

That meant he had to do a second lap to make it into the next session – and led to a stewards’ inquiry, though no further action was taken.

Then, in the second session, which defines the start tyres, Hamilton went out on the favoured mediums and set a blistering first lap, 0.4secs quicker than Bottas. However, that time was deleted because he had run too wide out of the last corner and exceeded track limits.

He wanted to do another lap straight away and had an argument with the team when they called him in to the pits instead. Wolff said they had no choice – he did not have enough fuel in the car to stay out.

There was still plenty of time for another lap on the medium tyres at the end of the session, and Hamilton was about three corners from the end of one that would have put him fastest when Vettel crashed at Turn Four and brought out the red flag.

Now, there was jeopardy.

There were only two minutes 15 seconds left in the session. In theory, there was still time to do an out lap and start a flying lap before the chequered flag ended the session, but now Hamilton had another problem.

Time was tight, so there was going to be a rush to get out. Other cars lined up at the end of the pit lane and waited in a queue, with their engines switched off. Hamilton could not do that because the Mercedes engine cannot be restarted by the driver using electrical energy from the hybrid system, whereas those of the other three manufacturers can.

So Mercedes sent him out only when they knew there was sufficiently little time left before the restart for him to sit in a queue with the engine idling without damaging it.

But that still meant waiting a couple of minutes – and that meant the engineers insisted he switched to the soft tyres. Hamilton wanted the mediums again, but they overruled him because they were concerned the harder mediums would lose too much heat while he waited in the queue and that he would never be able to warm them up again.

Even on the softs, he still nearly lost it at the first corner before gathering it up again after driving through the run-off area. The out lap that followed was a tense one.

Knowing he was tight on time, Hamilton asked halfway around it how he was doing for time and was told he was 20 seconds behind schedule.

He picked up the pace and forced his way past Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz before the last two corners. He was then blocked by a Renault into the final turn.

As Hamilton backed off to give himself some space, engineer Peter Bonnington came over the radio, his voice urgent: “Need to go, need to go, need to go.” Hamilton floored it and crossed the line with a second to spare.

Can he do it?

The omens look good as Hamilton has won four out of the six races held in Sochi since 2014

Hamilton spent the eight-minute break between the sessions clearing his mind of the stress and composing himself again.

“Just having to calm myself down and find my centre, you know, calm my heart down and wanting to deliver in Q3,” he said.

“I was adamant. I had no choice. I had to deliver on those two laps. Valtteri had been doing great all weekend. Nothing new in that respect, but I knew I needed to have a perfect lap, particularly on the first run, to get the pole.

“Obviously pole position is not great here; it never has been. Still, going for pole is what we do.

“The first lap was really great. I thought it was going to be very difficult to improve on it, but I think I managed to improve just a tiny bit, I think, on the second lap.

“I’m super grateful to everyone for just about keeping their cool. And it could be a lot, lot worse. I could be out of the top 10, so I’m really grateful I got to compete.”

Having dragged himself out of a hole partly of his own making on Saturday, Hamilton now somehow has to find a way to do it again in the race.

“I am just going to focus on my race and try to run the fastest race I can,” Hamilton said.

“If these guys get by they are going to be pulling away, so I am going to sit down and work out if there is a different kind of race I can do to keep my position.”

The record he will not be bothered about, not of itself anyway. As he has so often said, he is not one for numbers, and as he pointed out on Thursday: “It will happen at some stage. I’m not quitting any time soon.”

But he still wants the win, for the sake of it – because that’s why he’s there and because it would be another giant step on the way to equalling another Schumacher record: seven World Championships.

Cancel Culture: Has it gone too far?

Video Games: The industries problem with inclusion

The article was originally published here! Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

[theeblacksheep-blog1]

Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia

The Russian Grand Prix is on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra from 12:00 BST

Lewis Hamilton starts the race in which he could equal the all-time record for grand prix victories from pole position on Sunday – but that 91st win is very far from the near certainty it might be in other circumstances.

After a dramatic qualifying session at the Russian Grand Prix, in which the Mercedes driver nearly ended up 15th after a combination of mistakes and bad luck, Hamilton has two major concerns going into the race – the tyres he is on, and the fact pole might be more of a handicap than an advantage.

First, track position. Pole gives Hamilton a seven-metre advantage over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in second place. But the run from the grid down to the first corner at Sochi is the longest on the calendar and the slipstream effect is huge.

In 2017, Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas used this from his third place on the grid to tow past the two Ferraris in front of him and into a lead he was never to lose on the way to his maiden victory.

Last year, when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was on pole, ahead of Hamilton, Ferrari used team tactics to ensure Leclerc allowed his team-mate – Sebastian Vettel, who started third – to tow past him into the lead, so they ran one and two ahead of Hamilton. That led to a big falling out at Ferrari, but that’s another story.

Inevitably, then, Hamilton is worried about being passed down the straight after the start by at least one of Verstappen and Bottas, who is third on the grid.

“It’s not a good place to start at all,” he said. “And this year our cars are more draggy and there is more tow than we have seen in other years. I genuinely expect one of these two to come flying by at some point.”

Hamilton takes Russian GP pole after time cut drama

How the qualifying for the Russian GP unfolded

Hamilton has some defence against this because he is starting on the soft tyres, which give the best grip off the line, while Verstappen and Bottas have the mediums.

Whether that is enough to offset the effect of the tow remains to be seen, but even if it is, Hamilton’s problems will be far from over, because the soft tyre is very much not the best on which to start the race. It wears too quickly.

Even if he maintains the lead at the start, Hamilton will have to fend off Bottas and Verstappen as long as he can – not easy with such a long straight.

“I am on the worst tyre,” Hamilton said. “It is a good tyre to do an actual start, but it has the biggest degradation – 10 times more than any other tyre, I think it is – so that’s going to be a struggle.

“I don’t know if that puts me on to a two-stop [strategy]. Unlikely, because the pit lane is too slow so I am just going to have to nurse those tyres as far as I can.”

If he can hang on, and Mercedes’ strategists can find a window of clear air into which he can exit after his pit stop, he might still be OK. But the team do not sound that optimistic.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: “It is not the optimum strategy because after some laps the soft is clearly going to suffer and that means it compromises your whole race because you probably need to pit into traffic and that is not a great situation.

“But Lewis is the best overtaker in the field and I hope he can make his way back because he was the quickest driver on track today.”

How did Hamilton get in this position?

Hamilton described the session as “one of the worst qualifyings – it was horrible, heart in mouth the whole way”

The quickest driver Hamilton certainly was – he took pole by more than 0.5 seconds and Bottas was 0.652secs adrift, and admitted he did not know why. But the session was anything but smooth sailing for Hamilton. In fact, there were dramas from the off.

In the first knockout session, Hamilton ran wide on his first lap at Turn Two – the de facto first corner – and failed to comply with guidelines about how to rejoin the track.

That meant he had to do a second lap to make it into the next session – and led to a stewards’ inquiry, though no further action was taken.

Then, in the second session, which defines the start tyres, Hamilton went out on the favoured mediums and set a blistering first lap, 0.4secs quicker than Bottas. However, that time was deleted because he had run too wide out of the last corner and exceeded track limits.

He wanted to do another lap straight away and had an argument with the team when they called him in to the pits instead. Wolff said they had no choice – he did not have enough fuel in the car to stay out.

There was still plenty of time for another lap on the medium tyres at the end of the session, and Hamilton was about three corners from the end of one that would have put him fastest when Vettel crashed at Turn Four and brought out the red flag.

Now, there was jeopardy.

There were only two minutes 15 seconds left in the session. In theory, there was still time to do an out lap and start a flying lap before the chequered flag ended the session, but now Hamilton had another problem.

Time was tight, so there was going to be a rush to get out. Other cars lined up at the end of the pit lane and waited in a queue, with their engines switched off. Hamilton could not do that because the Mercedes engine cannot be restarted by the driver using electrical energy from the hybrid system, whereas those of the other three manufacturers can.

So Mercedes sent him out only when they knew there was sufficiently little time left before the restart for him to sit in a queue with the engine idling without damaging it.

But that still meant waiting a couple of minutes – and that meant the engineers insisted he switched to the soft tyres. Hamilton wanted the mediums again, but they overruled him because they were concerned the harder mediums would lose too much heat while he waited in the queue and that he would never be able to warm them up again.

Even on the softs, he still nearly lost it at the first corner before gathering it up again after driving through the run-off area. The out lap that followed was a tense one.

Knowing he was tight on time, Hamilton asked halfway around it how he was doing for time and was told he was 20 seconds behind schedule.

He picked up the pace and forced his way past Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz before the last two corners. He was then blocked by a Renault into the final turn.

As Hamilton backed off to give himself some space, engineer Peter Bonnington came over the radio, his voice urgent: “Need to go, need to go, need to go.” Hamilton floored it and crossed the line with a second to spare.

Can he do it?

The omens look good as Hamilton has won four out of the six races held in Sochi since 2014

Hamilton spent the eight-minute break between the sessions clearing his mind of the stress and composing himself again.

“Just having to calm myself down and find my centre, you know, calm my heart down and wanting to deliver in Q3,” he said.

“I was adamant. I had no choice. I had to deliver on those two laps. Valtteri had been doing great all weekend. Nothing new in that respect, but I knew I needed to have a perfect lap, particularly on the first run, to get the pole.

“Obviously pole position is not great here; it never has been. Still, going for pole is what we do.

“The first lap was really great. I thought it was going to be very difficult to improve on it, but I think I managed to improve just a tiny bit, I think, on the second lap.

“I’m super grateful to everyone for just about keeping their cool. And it could be a lot, lot worse. I could be out of the top 10, so I’m really grateful I got to compete.”

Having dragged himself out of a hole partly of his own making on Saturday, Hamilton now somehow has to find a way to do it again in the race.

“I am just going to focus on my race and try to run the fastest race I can,” Hamilton said.

“If these guys get by they are going to be pulling away, so I am going to sit down and work out if there is a different kind of race I can do to keep my position.”

The record he will not be bothered about, not of itself anyway. As he has so often said, he is not one for numbers, and as he pointed out on Thursday: “It will happen at some stage. I’m not quitting any time soon.”

But he still wants the win, for the sake of it – because that’s why he’s there and because it would be another giant step on the way to equalling another Schumacher record: seven World Championships.

Cancel Culture: Has it gone too far?

Video Games: The industries problem with inclusion

The article was originally published here! Lewis Hamilton has a job on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record in Russia