#most of these facilities are like. aggressively high end competitive things

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Do you think in-universe that there's actual pokemon levels? If so, how do they measure it? And if not, how do they keep things like the battle facilities level-capped? I remember you mentioning before that you think battles are largely for show, and that in gym battles the leaders/trainers will basically "fight down" to whatever predetermined strength level they've trained their pokemon to fight at depending on how many badges a person has. And that basically they're not actually "fainting" from some kid's baby pokemon, they just have a set amount of damage they can take before they concede the win. Assuming I'm remembering correctly anyway.

But like... are those standards just arbitrary? I assume the various Leagues have rules about that kinda thing, so their gym leaders and Elite Four/Champions are trained rigorously (gym leaders more so, I think, because they'd have to learn eight different levels of difficulty by heart, whereas the Four and Champion only need to abide by one difficulty level). But in a battle facility or tournament, you're not just limiting what your pokemon are allowed to do, you're also somehow making sure that your opponents are doing the same, at the exact same difficulty level. If there were actual levels I think that'd be easier (although I'm still not sure of the actual mechanics of how it'd force them down to level 50 or whatever), but if there's no levels and it's all arbitrary, then literally how would they even tell or enforce it?

Or is this the kinda thing that's just me entirely overthinking video game mechanics that have no logical or reasonable in-universe explanation. Because maybe it's just because it's really late here, but I'm drawing a blank. Although, I guess the pokemon universe does have some mind-bogglingly advanced tech that would in no way work in ours, like Bill's machine that turned him into a clefairy or a functional doomsday device 4,000 years before the modern era or even just the PC system as a whole, so I guess if there are levels it'd make sense that there was some kind of tech that could measure and suppress them?

oooh, really tough question.

so your first paragraph summary is basically right lol—what makes most sense to me is if pokemon battles are like, for show, or honor duel type things, where they're—generally speaking—stopped long before the point where either party would do lasting harm to the other. (there are exceptions, like in the case of frenzied alphas or other certain wild battles, but usually if it's not a scenario that is legitimately life or death, they're not gonna fight like it is.) it's just a matter of demonstrating that one is stronger, and their opponent conceding. & yeah, the corollary that goes along with that is that gym leaders and other high level fighters really are, as they rightly should be, much more powerful at a baseline than you are when you fight them—but to make the fight fairer, they'll try to match strengths with you.

levels though. yeah, it's kind of a toughie. even if you don't assume the above, levels are kind of tough to make coherent in-universe. this might just be one of those situations where game mechanics sort of run up against inworld depiction, yeah, like when an npc tells you to press the B button to run? or the apparent metaphysical law of reality preventing anyone from having more than 6 pokemon on their team at once. it might be that in reality, "strength levels" (inc. not just xp levels but also EVs/IVs and that kind of thing, since some trainers (ingo again) have also shown that they can modulate those) are just sort of a thing a high-level trainer and their team gets a general feel for as they advance, and then maybe they have to do some extra training to actually do the moderation, but the general sense for different strength levels is already there. like, maybe it's not as granular as "okay, now be level 37," it's just "yeah put in like... 40% of your normal effort. great."

but then yeah, the idea that there's no hard and fast rule for it makes stuff like the battle subway kind of hard to explain. since like, there's no way to actually stop someone from cheating and going over 50, and if they do there's no actual Numbers for them to point to and say "no, you've gotta take it back a bit." they can only rely on vibes to determine whether someone isn't strength scaling appropriately? that seems like they wouldn't be a fan of that.

on the other hand i do love the idea that modern day pokemon people have invented some kind of machine that can just scan your pokemon and output a bunch of numerical summaries of their general stats. ooh, maybe that's one of the things a pokemon center machine is doing when you heal, it's giving them a lil blip and updating their info chip in the pokeball-or-however-it-works with their latest info. if it was anything that was actually enforcing a level standard i think it would have to be based around that, since modern pokemon are at least partially data based and i think it would make some kind of sense to be able to sort of. put checks on that data.

alternately, there's no actual physical limitations, it's just that if you try that you will be kicked out of whatever you're participating in. and there would probably be like, sports news drama about it, depending on whether you were participating in some kind of tournament. so people generally don't bc the payoffs of winning once aren't worth it when it's so immediately obvious to everyone that they're breaking the rules. (there could even be some kind of like, known scammer's/cheater's art of trying to just barely toe the line of "rule-breakingly strong" without anyone being able to strictly prove it and punish them for it. but for the most part that's more investment than people want to do for not a lot of gain, it's easier to just fight normally)

...but then the thing you always circle back around to when talking abt this is like. from the battle subway forwards, you're not just going down to 50, they can make you go up to 50 too. which is like, how the fuck, even. how are they juicing the fuck out of my level 20 starter to make them match with everyone else. which is why i feel like there might not be any physical in-world numbers about it, and it's just a matter of it being accepted that both opponents should play down to whatever the weakest party member is, and 50 happens to be the standard level the games represent that as for ease of calculation.

-ok wait a second i just went to check and according to bulba in post-bw games, like in the battle maison and further, they stop doing that scale-up-to-50 thing. it's just the fucking battle subway that does that?? hi?? hello?? out of universe i guess this makes sense from a gameplay perspective, since they're a much earlier-game and generally more accessible facility than other regions, so it's actually unlikely that a player would have a level 50 team when first boarding. in-universe, though?? what the hell are you guys doing over there???

[nugnthopkns]

felt the lightning under my skin

word count: 13.7k

warnings: explicit!fem reader, cursing, little bit of asshole joel, alcohol consumption, slight innuendo, moderate depiction of injury, needles

recommended listening: under the spell | springtime carnivore

a/n: i know figure skater/hockey player romances are terribly cliche but i couldn’t help myself. as an ex-skater hopefully i can make it a little less cringe. there’s probably an obscene amount of technical jargon in here and i sincerely apologize. the injury mentioned actually happened to me and let me tell you, it was not fun lmao. enjoy!

Joel swears he’s going to kill whoever’s in charge of renting out the practice facility.

Realistically, he knows it’s impossible. The rink can be rented by anyone when the Flyers aren’t using it and he typically thinks it’s a great way to promote ice sports in the community. Joel just wishes the facilities manager didn’t rent it out to figure skaters. They kick the shit out of the ice with their toe picks and leave the ice in terrible quality. It frustrates Joel because while community engagement is important, his career and the team take precedence. 

No one else seems to be bothered by the recent decline in ice conditions. Most of his teammates are used to poor ice, growing up playing pond hockey and at rinks that also housed figure skating clubs. While Joel had those experiences as well, he clearly never developed the same nonchalance as everyone else. He complains in the dressing room after every practice until Kevin finally says something. 

“Christ Beezer, relax. It’s only for another month or so until renovations at the other rink finish.”

Others chime in, telling him to not take it so seriously, with a couple of them defending the right of the other athletes to use the ice as they so please. The grief Joel catches is enough to shut him up, but he still stews privately over the fact figure skaters are destroying his happy place. 

☼☼☼☼

You want nothing more than to return to your home rink. The Flyers Skate Zone has been nice, the staff are incredibly accommodating, but something feels off. You’re having a harder time landing jumps and skating clean programs. The change in routine is enough to knock you off your game, which is something you absolutely can’t have. You’re coming off a breakthrough season, finishing on the podium at nationals and landing a spot on your first world championships roster. People are expecting you to replicate your success and you want to do that and more. 

US Figure Skating had taken a chance placing you on the national team for the current season. Though it was expected, they could have easily chosen the fourth place skater instead. She’s much younger than you, barely fifteen, and is yet to have a serious injury. At twenty you’re barely an adult, but this could be the last time you get an opportunity like this. The sport keeps getting younger and you’re going to get left behind if you don’t prove yourself. The grand prix circuit has been kind to you, allowing you to earn medals at some of the smaller competitions and hold your own against the big dogs in the majors like NHK Trophy. 

☼☼☼☼

“Try the triple flip again,” Brenda, your coach, instructs. “You could be more solid on the landing.”

“It’s this fucking ice! I can do one at home that would get me a high GOE,” you complain. 

She rolls her eyes and thinks about telling you off, but decides against it. No matter how many times she tells you it’s a mental block you need to get over, you find a way to blame the training facility. “Just give me five solid ones and we’ll call it quits.”

It’s your turn to roll your eyes, but you peel away from the boards anyways. Some juniors are mingling in a corner and you warn them to watch out as you skate by gaining speed. The first attempt feels natural, and though you could have been a little stronger on the exit it’s a significant improvement from what you were doing earlier in the session. Jumps two and three also go well, but things go wrong on the fourth try. You catch a bad edge just before takeoff and aren’t able to correct your center of gravity while in the air. Two and a half rotations happen before you slam into the ground. The entire right side of your body feels like it’s been run over by a bus. 

“Fuck!” you scream in frustration as you pick yourself up off the ice. Circling back to examine just how bad the edge was you notice your pick created much too large a hole, something you’d get points deducted for in competition. Brenda signals you over to her, and you hang your head as you skate over. 

“You’re done,” she sighs. You can tell it pains her to see your progress plateau, but you’re doing everything you can to get out of this rut. Before you can protest, try to convince her to let you stay on, she’s speaking again. “Our ice time is up anyways. Go cool down and meet me in the conference room when you’re done.”

There’s nothing for you to do but sulk off the ice. The other skaters clear out of your way, not wanting to be on the receiving end of your anger. You direct it at the dressing room door, kicking it open so harshly it flies back on the hinges. It makes you feel a bit better but you’re still in a sour mood as you untie your skates. It’s frustrating not being able to perform at the level you know you can, even in practice. If you could just get out of this rink and back into the one you’re most comfortable at. 

After a much longer stretching routine than normal, you pack up your bag and head upstairs for what will no doubt be one of those meetings where you sit silently and take the heat. You realize that your behaviour today was childish, but you couldn’t help but let your emotions overcome you. The next group is well into their ice time when you pass by, and you realize it’s the Flyers. Most of them don’t acknowledge you and keep running drills, but one who looks about your age is sending you daggers. You have no idea why. 

The meeting goes much better than you thought it would. Brenda takes your anger in stride and lets you apologize for your outburst before shifting the conversation to altering your training plan. She suggests you take a few days off from the rink, working strictly off-ice, and you begrudgingly agree. There isn’t anything you can do or say to change her mind so you take the updated workout plans with a fake smile. She also tells you that your appointment with your sports psychologist has been moved up a couple of days, which you’re grateful for. Things then move to talking strategy and watching tape of competitors to see what to expect at this year’s nationals. The event is just over a month out, and you have the goal of landing on the podium once again, hopefully with the gold medal dangling around your neck. 

A couple of hours pass with you holed up in the conference room, and it’s dark when you gather your stuff and head for home. The complex is deserted and you assume no one but the staff are still here. It turns out someone else was there, and they follow you out, their own gear bag slung over their shoulder. You don’t really pay them any mind, holding the door open out of habit, and fail to recognize the person as the boy who glared while you walked by hours prior. He notices you, however, and makes a point to voice his distaste. 

“Hey!” he calls out, “Next time you eat shit don’t put such a big hole in the ice. Other people need it too.”

“Get fucked,” you yell back. You really don’t have the time or energy to be accosted by a hockey player. He continues to talk, but you don’t hear it because you slam your car door shut and drive off into the darkness. 

☼☼☼☼

Joel doesn’t feel like he was in the wrong until Claude suggests he apologize a few days later. In his mind, he has every right to be upset about you damaging the ice because it directly affected him. The hole you caused couldn’t be fully repaired, and he tripped at a really key moment during the scrimmage. His bad day was your fault. 

“You can’t blame a tough practice on her man,” Claude says as the two of them skate a few warm-up laps. “She didn’t mean to fall. Hell, she didn’t want to do it.”

“I get it, or whatever, but it’s still her fault. We’re professional athletes G, we need to be at the top of our games.”

Claude swats Joel upside the head. “So is she! Did you know that she’s favoured to win both the national and world championships? And that things look good for her to be on the Olympic team next year?”

Joel didn’t know, and guilt twinges his stomach. The next time he runs into you at the rink he’s going to apologize. 

☼☼☼☼

You spend your time away from the rink conditioning and regaining focus. The first couple of days are tough, but then you settle into a routine you believe will ultimately make you a better athlete and competitor. Your cardio and weights are upped, and you’re anxious to see how the increase improves your performance. At the suggestion of your psychologist you take a few more days off than originally planned, but it’s the best thing you could have done. You return to the rink ready to nail the final few weeks of training before nationals. 

Any other coach would have detested you for taking a week off this close to a major competition, but not Brenda. She understands that you needed time to refocus and that you’ll work harder than anyone else in the time until you leave for Salt Lake City. Your first practice is fantastic – every element is clean when isolated and within your programs. The timing is off a bit during your free skate on the first run-through but your jitters settle quickly and the next one is spot on. It feels good to be back in control of things. 

“I think you’re over that mental block kid,” Brenda laughs when you stop along the boards to get some water. “You’re skating better here than at home.”

You can’t help but agree. “You know, I don’t hate it here as much as I used to. Think we should move here permanently?” The comment earns you a slightly aggressive hair ruffling, but it’s worth it. You spend the last hour of ice time alone, running through both of your programs in a mock competition setting. 

It’s nearly silent in the complex when Joel sneaks through the doors. The only thing he can hear is the faint sounds of your music from inside the pad. He had been worried that you were never going to reappear at the rink but learned you were just taking a break when he cornered your coach in the parking lot. The middle-aged lady had told him when you’d be returning and Joel immediately put it in his calendar so he wouldn’t forget. Now, as he stands against the glass watching you, he’s nervous. What if you don’t accept his apology?

Joel knew you were a good skater. Well, he was pretty sure you were. He spent the short three-day road trip to Florida watching as many videos of you competing on YouTube as he could find. Though he’s murky on the specifics of what makes a good figure skater, Joel knows you put heart and soul into every performance and that your elements are strong technically. Your scores reflect that. Regardless, Joel is blown away at how talented you are when he watches you skate in person. 

You’re looser than in the videos he’s seen, probably because there isn’t any pressure, but you don’t give it any less than your all. The music drives you forward in a way Joel’s never seen before – you’re an extension of it, and it of you. As you round a corner to pick up speed he holds his breath. From watching footage of this program from earlier in the season, he knows you’re about to attempt your hardest element. The quadruple salchow is one of the hardest jumps female skaters are attempting at the moment, according to his research, and it’s been your most inconsistent element this season. You’re completing the jump before Joel realizes you’ve taken off the ground, but you don’t fall. He exhales and watches the rest of the program in awe. 

When the music stops and you take in your surroundings, you notice the applause. Thinking it’s just from Brenda, you shrug it off, but when you turn around she isn’t clapping. It’s coming from someone else – the boy who was a douchebag the last day before your break. The chances are he’s here to make another stupid comment, but Brenda insists you should talk to him. You wave him over to a section near the benches that dosen’t have glass so you can hear him better. 

“What do you want?” you ask bluntly, taking a sip of water. 

Joel’s taken aback by your abrasiveness but recovers quickly. He deserves it. “I, uh, wanted to apologize for what I said last week. That wasn’t cool. I was having a bad day and took out on you, I’m sorry,” he rambles. “And you’re like really good.”

“It wasn’t fucking cool,” you agree, “But we’re fine. I had just been kicked off the ice when you caught me, so I’m sorry too. For snapping.” There’s nothing more for either of you to say, and Brenda is calling your name, so you skate away from him. Over your shoulder you call out, “Thanks for the compliment unnamed Flyers player!”

“It’s Joel!” he responds. “Joel Farabee.”

☼☼☼☼

A sort of truce befalls you and Joel. More of your ice time overlaps, but neither you acknowledge each other more than the occasional nod in each other’s direction. It doesn’t bother you in the slightest. Preparing for nationals is the only that matters currently, and trying to navigate a possible friendship would be too much of a distraction. Joel is a little put off you don’t try to extend pleasantries, but when it’s explained to him that you’re entering a period that is similar to the lead-up to playoffs he understands. 

However, he finds himself making up excuses to stay at the rink to watch you practice. He blows off dinner with Kevin and drinks with Morgan when you have the slot after practice, and when you skate before him he’s at the rink hours early. His schoolboy crush becomes the topic of locker room gossip. Though Joel swears up and down that he just likes to watch you skate, none of the guys believe him. They don’t go as far as to embarrass him in your presence, but Travis certainly tries. What Joel doesn’t know is that you’re developing the same sort of fascination with him. You find yourself turning on every Flyers game you can fit into your schedule, watching him intently, and keeping an eye on his stats. 

“That boy sure has a lot of interest in you,” Brenda muses one day while you’re talking strategy on how to increase the points total on your short program. 

“I don’t know why,” you sigh. “So I was thinking, if I raise my arms during the triple lutz it should give me at least three more points.”

She looks at you like you’ve gained two extra heads. “Are you insane? You’ve never raised your arms during a triple.”

Your smile turns into a wicked smirk. “It can’t be that hard.”

It’s a lot harder than you thought it would be. Though you’ve added the extra step to jumps in the past, it’s been on single and doubles to rack up points and GOE scores. Jumping has never been your strong suit, and trying to navigate the change in your centre of gravity is difficult. You spend the rest of your ice time popping, under-rotating, or slamming into the ground. A couple of juniors snicker at your failed attempts, but when you remind them they’re stuck on a double loop they stop laughing. It was a little mean, and you remember how hard it was to prove yourself as a junior, but you can’t find it in you to care. There’s no need to laugh at someone trying to improve their skating. 

Bruises start to form on your sides from falling the exact same way so many times, and you trace them lightly through the thin material of your compression top. They’re going to look nasty in a few hours if you don’t ice them soon. A knock on the door stops your actions, and you invite the person on the other side in. To your surprise it’s Joel, and he’s holding an ice pack. 

“I thought you might need one of these,” he says, extending it to you. 

You thank him and hiss slightly when the cold hits your skin. There’s a beat of awkward silence before Joel speaks again. “Can I ask why you’re trying to change that jump?”

“You noticed that?” you know it isn’t a response to his question, but you’re shocked. 

Joel smiles and nods. You explain how changing the position of your arms increases the difficulty of the jump and therefore raises the amount of points it can receive. “So you’re doing it to get more points?”

“Pretty much. It’s a gamble this close to competition, but I’m confident it’ll work out.”

“You’re afraid your program won’t gain enough points to put you in a good position for the free skate,” he notes, “Or you wouldn’t be doing this.”

Once again, you’re floored by Joel’s understanding of your sport. “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not,” you say as confidently as you can. “But maybe I just want the challenge.” If Joel notices the shake in your voice and the worried look in your eye he doesn’t say anything. 

You go through your cool-down routine but are surprised Joel doesn’t leave. In fact, he stays at the rink until you’re finished and follows you to the parking lot. His car is parked a few spots over from you, so you have to raise your voice a little to get him to hear you. “Hey Joel,” you call, “Do you not have practice?”

“Day off,” he yells back. He’s grinning like an idiot, which prompts you to ask him why. “That’s the first time you’ve said my name.” The smile on his face doesn’t go away, and you try to settle the butterflies in your stomach as you drive home. 

☼☼☼☼

Something shifts between you and Joel after that day. It’s subtle, but you’re well on your way to becoming friends. Phone numbers are exchanged, with him insisting his contact name be ‘King Beezer’, and the two of you chat regularly outside of the rink. He still watches as many training sessions as he can, and you start making appearances at his practices. It’s far more awkward for you but you push through it if for no other reason than wanting to be a good sport. Once Joel’s teammates catch wind of your budding friendship, they’re pestering you to go to a game. You politely decline each time, explaining that your training schedule is rather rigid and you can’t change it so close to nationals. The competition is just over a week out, and you’re catching a flight to Utah in three days. 

Joel doesn’t let you know he’s a little upset you won’t shift your schedule for him. Instead, he brings you lunch on days where you’re at the rink for eight hours and does his individual workouts alongside you. The two of you fall into the easy routine of enjoying each other’s company and everyone else is beginning to take notice. 

“So,” you say with a mouth full of the pita Joel brought you, “What are your plans for the All-Star break?”

Joel has been toying with an idea for a few weeks now, but he’s keeping it a secret. “I’m just gonna spend it at home with my family,” he shrugs. 

“You’re fucking joking. Joel, you could be someplace warm enjoying the beach!”

“I don’t want to go to the beach,” Joel retorts. 

You open your mouth to argue with him, because you’re of the opinion that everyone should love the beach, but you’re cut off by Brenda calling you to return to the ice. “This conversation isn’t over Beezer,” you say sternly, poking him in the chest to prove your point. He rolls his eyes. 

“I’ve gotta be at Wells Fargo in an hour for a team meeting, so I can’t watch this session,” he tells you. You’re a little deflated but understand he can’t play hookie from his job to watch you do yours. Brenda is banging a skate guard on the boards to get your attention, so you wave goodbye and jog over to her. “Y/N,” Joel yells loud enough that you’ll hear him over the chatter on the ice, “Keep your core tight!”

Your coaching team is perplexed at the comment because it’s second nature to you at this point, but you think it’s sweet. Some of the other girls poke fun at your ‘boyfriend’ and it makes you irritable. Brenda tells them off and suggests they get back to work which makes you feel better. You keep Joel’s advice in the back of your mind for the rest of your practice, and land every jump almost flawlessly. 

The day before you board your flight you have a terrible practice. Brenda chalks it up to nerves, but you that’s not it. You feel good about the competition and are confident it will go well. Something is off – you just can’t put a finger on it. Frustration eventually boils over and practice is called early. Everyone stays out of your way, letting you cool off, and you huff out a goodbye after promising to meet Brenda at the airport in the morning. Before you’re even out the door you’ve got your phone pressed to your ear, waiting for Joel to pick up. The Flyers got to start their break a day early due to a scheduling conflict and you hope he doesn’t fly home tonight. 

“What’s up?” Joel says casually. Judging by the background noise he’s playing video games, no doubt some dumb first-person shooter game he seems to play constantly. The sound of his voice is enough to send you into tears and you can’t get out a reply. His tone changes instantly and the noise stops – the game paused and forgotten about. “Hey,” he soothes, “What’s wrong?”

“Practice was bad,” you choke out, “Like really bad. Joel, I don’t think I can do this.” Now across the parking lot and at your car, you throw your bag in the trunk and crumble into the driver’s seat. 

“Of course you can. Want me to bring dinner over and we can do whatever?” You agree, not wanting to be alone, and hang up only after insisting you’re okay to drive the twenty minutes to your apartment. 

Joel must have drove well above the speed limit because he pulls into the parking lot at the same time as you. His engine is turned off jarringly fast, and he’s popping your trunk to grab your bag before your gears have settled in park. Though you put up some rather weak protests about carrying your own stuff, Joel ignores them. When you insist on holding something he tosses you the bag of food he brought with him. Opening it up, you realize Joel had stopped at your favourite sushi restaurant even though he doesn’t like the food. A smile creeps onto your face, possibly the first one all day, and you lean into Joel slightly when he wraps an arm around your shoulder. 

The two of you eat in silence, but it’s far from awkward. Joel’s waiting for you to open up, knows you will eventually, and you’re trying to find the words. However, they’re yet to appear, so you let Joel lead you to the couch and put on an episode of some crime show he’s currently watching. 

“Thanks for coming over,” you say as the credits roll on the second episode. 

Joel sends a smile your way, which you do your best to reciprocate. “Don’t worry about it. This is what friends do.” 

Slowly, you open up about practice, venting about how you skated sloppily and couldn’t nail any element no matter how simple it was. You tell him about how tense your muscles are and how scared you are that your fifteen minutes of fame are over, that you’ll never get another chance to represent America on the world stage. Joel listens attentively, letting you speak for as long as you need. At some point you start crying again and he tucks you into his side. Your tears soak through his sweatshirt but he could care less. When you’ve laid all your emotions out on the table he speaks gently, dispelling your doubts and letting you know that you can do it and he believes in you. Joel’s words make it easier to believe in yourself. 

The two of you spend the night on the couch, and you’re disheartened when your alarm goes off. You can’t stay in the little bubble Joel created for the two of you – the world and its responsibilities taking precedence over your fantasy. He drives you to the airport, rationalizing it by telling you it’ll be safer to keep your car at home. Realistically there isn’t a difference, but you thank him anyways. Parking is just one last thing you have to worry about. When you reach the airport entrance, Joel pulls into the idling lane and steps out of the car. You follow him, dragging your feet a bit because though you’re excited for nationals you don’t want to leave Joel. This will be the longest time the two of you have been apart since becoming friends.

“Make sure you don’t forget about me when you win and get all famous,” Joel jokes, handing you your suitcase. 

You swat his shoulder playfully. “Like you’d let that happen.”

“Of course I wouldn’t. Come here.”

He takes you in his arms. You’ve hugged Joel a couple of times before, but they didn’t feel as serious as this. This time he’s holding you for a purpose and you’re gripping the back of his jacket tightly because you want him to let go. It’s longer than people who are just friends are meant to hug for, so you begrudgingly pull away. Besides, Brenda and some of your teammates are waiting. 

“Have a good time at home,” you mumble. 

Joel wraps a single arm around you for one more squeeze. “You have a good time,” he says seriously. “Remember to enjoy the moment. I’ll be watching on T.V.” 

With your goodbyes said you wander into the airport. Joel says parked in his spot until he sees you embrace Brenda before driving off. The boarding process is painless, and once on the plane you take your seat beside a junior and put your headphones on. Downloaded to your Spotify is one of Joel’s hip-hop playlists, and though it’s the farthest thing from the music you enjoy you listen to it the whole flight.

☼☼☼☼

Utah’s nice, but you can’t help feeling like something’s missing – Joel’s missing. You’ve become so accustomed to him watching you train, clapping like an idiot every time you land a jump, that the silence is unnerving. Everyone notices the shift in your performance, and eventually Brenda crumbles and uses your phone to facetime him while you practice. It’s a decent enough substitute – Joel watches your pixelated figure zip around the ice and though he doesn’t always make comments, just know he’s with you in some capacity is enough to let your mind focus on the task at hand. You do the best you can at pushing away the butterflies that appear every time you think about how he’s giving up his freedom to make sure you succeed. 

When you aren’t training or doing press you’re talking to Joel. You call him constantly, narrating what you see on walks around town to settle your nerves and eating at the same time to make it feel like you’re together. The only person to support you in Salt Lake City is Brenda, so talking to Joel frequently makes you feel far less alone. You wish he could be here with you, but understand he needs time to recharge and can’t just follow you around the country no matter how much you’d like him to. 

“What time do you skate tomorrow?” Joel asks, mouth full of the pizza he’s enjoying. The features behind are different, so you assume he’s settled into his childhood home. 

“Um, I think 11:35? I’m not entirely sure,” you respond. Due to the way the event is seeded you’re skating second last, which both settles your nerves and makes you more anxious. There isn’t the pressure of closing out the event, but there’s hope that you’ll score high enough to win the short program and skate last in the free skate. 

Joel hums pensively. “I’ll check the website.” Conversation shifts away from skating, which you’re grateful for. It’s the last thing you currently want to think about. You listen with interest as Joel recounts stories of the pond hockey matches he’s played since getting home. The two of you are on the phone until nearly ten, when you have to say goodnight and head to bed. Tomorrow marks the start of the biggest week of your year. 

You follow your pre-competition routine to the letter. At other events this season you’ve been more relaxed, but your professional skating career depends on your performance at nationals so you aren’t taking chances. Five-thirty comes faster than you thought it would, but you’re out of bed and eating your first breakfast quickly. A quick two mile run follows, and then you’re having a shower and grabbing a second breakfast to eat at the rink. You meet Brenda in the hotel lobby before ubering to the rink. A solid practice follows, and you manage to keep your imposter syndrome on a leash in the presence of the other skaters. 

“It’s Joel,” Brenda says as she tosses you your phone. 

“Hey,” you say, squeezing the device between your ear and shoulder. “I don’t have much time to talk. My warm up call is soon.”

Joel laughs and you find yourself cracking a smile at the sound. “I know. Just wanted to check in and see how you’re feeling.”

“Honestly? I can’t remember the last time I was this nervous for a competition.”

His response is cut off by a loud noise. “Where are you?” you ask. 

“Just at home,” he says quickly. “My sister has some friends over and they’re being loud.”

The line is compelling enough that you don’t question how hastily it was delivered. Joel stays on the phone until you have to go, keeping your mind off the jittery feeling in your stomach. The TV cameras catch you talking but you give them a cheery wave and continue telling Joel about how good the soap at your hotel smells. You hang up when they call your flight to take to the ice for warmup and give your phone back to Brenda for safe keeping. 

☼☼☼☼

Joel tries hard not to feel too out of place while he takes his seat. For someone who practically lives in arenas he feels like it’s his first time within fifty yards of one. Everyone around him is dressed nicely, and he’s acutely aware of the fact there is a neon orange pom-pom attached to the top of his hat. 

As much as he feels like a baby deer trying to stand, Joel’s beyond excited to be here. It’s been a while since he’s gone somewhere that wasn’t hockey related and getting to support you while he does it is the best scenario ever. There are some potential looks of recognition from those around him, but thankfully no one approaches. 

Skaters begin to take the ice and he scans vigilantly for you. You’re doing the best you can to stay warm, jacket zipped all the way up and gloves on your hands. Joel notices you seem to be the loosest of the girls below him but isn’t sure if that’s a good thing. You skate a few quick laps before warming up some jumps. Everything goes well, though he can tell you under-rotated a few of them and didn’t attempt the one quad in your program. The warm up is over as quickly as it began and you’re herded off the ice. Joel sinks a little further in his seat as gets ready to watch your competitors. 

☼☼☼☼

There’s just over five minutes until you take to the ice. You keep your body moving, walking up and down the corridor, and blast your pre-competition playlist so loud you’ll probably have hearing damage when you’re older. Only one other girl in the hall with you but it feels too small. Brenda comes to grab you and the pair of you walk to the side of the boards. You don’t watch who’s currently skating, choosing instead to focus on adjusting your feet slightly in your skates. 

“Go out there and put on a show,” Brenda says. “Fuck the judges.”

You laugh at her remark. “Okay Bren, when I lose points for flipping them off I’m blaming you.”

“Fine by me. I have a bone to pick with Mark Johnson anyways.”

The scores for the previous girl are being announced, so you peel your jacket from your frame and do a couple more laps. Right before your name is announced you press your forehead to Brenda’s. It’s a ritual you started back when you were barely as tall as the boards and you’ve done it every single competition since. You feel grounded looking in her eyes, and you break with a fist bump. It’s go time. 

Every inch of your skin feels like it’s on fire. You didn’t come to play, and leave everything on the ice. The skate isn’t completely clean, you stumbled on the landing of a triple axel, but you’re happy with it. Despite your fears, both the triple lutz and quad salchow go smoothly. Audience engagement was at an all time high and you finished to deafening applause. Brenda wraps you in a tight hug when you step off the ice before leading you over to the kiss and cry. You chat idly with her and your choreographer, trying to catch your breath, while you wait for your score. 

The announcer’s booming voice crackles over the PA as he reads the judges’ decision. “The scores for Y/N Y/L/N please.” You don’t pay attention to the individual numbers, just the final total. “For a total score of 74.83.”

It’s lower than you had hoped for. Not by much, just two or three points, but it could mean all the difference in tomorrow’s skate. Brenda pats your leg sympathetically and whispers in your, “It’s alright. You skated well.”

You head back to the dressing room to watch the final skater on the small T.V in the corner while you get undressed. She’s phenomenal, and you end the day falling to third place. Joel’s hip-hop playlist blasts through your headphones as you do your cool down routine. The average tempo is upbeat and helps to take your mind off the fact you’re not where you want to be. Just as you’re about to exit the room and find Brenda to talk strategy there’s a knock on the door. 

“Yeah?” you say dejectedly, the word coming out as more of a sigh than you had intended. 

The door is cracked open, and the head of your best friend peaks out from around it. “Hey there rockstar,” Joel says softly, stepping further into the room. Once you comprehend that he’s really here you’re sprinting in his direction, jumping into his embrace. Joel’s laugh reverberates in his chest, and you feel it as you settle further into him. 

“Why are you here?” you whisper. Though you’re elated Joel is here, you’re confused as to why he would want to spend his break in Utah. 

He lets you down gently and shrugs. “I had to see if you’d land the quad.” Joel’s smile matches yours as you shake your head. 

“You’re fucking insane,” you quip, but there’s no malice in your voice.

Before you can pester Joel into answering all your questions you’re whisked away to a press conference. Talking to the media is something you don’t particularly enjoy, and it’s even more difficult to stay present when you know you could be spending time with your best friend. Most of the questions are directed towards the girls who placed higher than you which you’re thankful for. It’s easier for you to zone out, and you root through your mind of places around the city to take Joel. 

“Y/N, how tough will it be for you to better your scores in tomorrow’s free skate?”

The question is one that you expected, luckily, and you’re able to recite the response you worked out with Brenda without really engaging with the reporter. “I mean I obviously didn’t aim to be in third place heading into tomorrow,” you joke, “But I’m fairly happy with where I ended up. The other girls had fantastic skates and deserve to be above me. My plan for tomorrow is to leave everything on the ice, skate cleanly, and be proud of myself regardless of what happens.”

Pens scribble furiously by those that don’t have recording devices to get your words down on paper. There’s some chatter, questions for the other girls, before a young reporter fresh out of journalism school is allowed to speak. He identifies himself as Theo Rateliff before jumping in. “Y/N,” he says, “How excited are you to get back to training on home ice when you get back to Jersey?”

“Um, I didn’t know the renovations were finished,” you stammer. “As far as I know, I’ll be at Flyers SkateZone until the end of the season.”

Theo shakes his head. “My partner was informed this morning that the rink will be good to go by the time you get back.”

You turn to the side to look at Brenda, who just shrugs. “Well, to be quite honest I’ll miss being in Voorhees. I had fun skating there and feel like the rink prepared me well for this competition.”

“Obviously not well enough,” Theo retorts, not missing a beat. “Your odds of winning dropped by seventy-seven percent.”

“Thank you for the reminder Theo,” you snap. “Are we done here?”

The press-coordinator shakes their head in confirmation, and you rip the microphone off your jacket before stomping off. People clear a path for you, not wanting to get caught in your storm. You run right to Joel who lets you direct him out of the arena and into the uber he called while you were wrapping up. 

It’s a silent ride, Joel knowing you aren’t in the mood for light conversation. He lets you take a ridiculously long shower and orders take out that arrives just as you step out of the bathroom. 

“Where are you staying?” you ask as you detangle your hair. 

“Nowhere yet,” Joel says, “I got in early this morning and went straight to the rink.”

You think carefully about your next words before you speak. Your competition routines can be excessive and annoying, and you don’t want to inconvenience him. “You could just stay here. The room is massive and there’s more than enough space for both of us in the bed.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you say, voice taking a soft lilt. “I’d really like it if you stayed.”

Joel smiles wider than you’ve ever seen him do before. The two of you sit comfortably in bed, eating the burritos Joel got and going down a conspiracy theory youtube wormhole. He asks how you feel about him coming to watch your evening training session you have to leave for in twenty minutes. You tell him you’d be angry if he didn’t stand beside your coach and clap every time you landed a jump. 

It’s chilly but the sun is shining bright so you decide to bundle up and walk to the rink. Joel pokes fun at you beanie and you swat him in the chest, shutting him up for the time being after his giggles subside. The view is gorgeous, mountains framing the setting sun. You squeeze Joel’s bicep to get his attention and relish the feeling of his muscle in your grip. 

“Look! An owl!”

Sure enough, a barn owl is flying over top of you, in the middle of downtown Salt Lake City. “That’s my good luck charm. Means I’ll skate well tomorrow.”

Joel pokes your cheek lightly. “I thought I was your good luck charm,” he gasps. 

You roll your eyes. “I guess you can be my secondary one.” Joel doesn’t seem to mind the fact your arms are still wrapped around his, so you stay that way until for the rest of the journey. 

☼☼☼☼

The night goes according to plan. You skate well in practice and feel comfortable for tomorrow’s event. Joel executes his role perfectly, cheering when you do things well and squirting water at you to make you squeal in laughter when things get a little too serious. Once back at the hotel you collapse into bed almost immediately. You’re so exhausted you can’t even be bothered to climb under the covers, and wait until Joel pulls them back for himself to crawl in. There’s no awkwardness at sharing a bed with Joel, and you sigh contently as he pulls you into his side. Sleep comes easily then for the both of you. 

You wake before both your alarm and Joel. It takes you a second to get your bearing and realize you’re pinned against his body, though you don’t mind. There’s worse places to be stuck. You lay curled into Joel for as long as you can, but eventually you have to shake him awake. 

“Beezer,” you whisper, ruffling his hair, “You’ve gotta let me out.”

He groans something unintelligible but instead of heeding your words pulls you closer. “Joel come on,” you try again, “I’ve really gotta get up. Need to shower before I get to the rink.”

Joel listens this time, but only lets you go after squeezing you tight for a second. You go about your routine with him still passed out in bed and giggle at the way his hair curls around his ears when you pass by. As you’re leaving to get to your practice ice slot Joel wakes up, lumbering into the bathroom. He reappears a minute or two later to say goodbye. 

“Will I see you after practice?” he asks, voice still gruff with sleep. 

“Probably not,” you reply, leaning down to tie your shoes. “I won’t be coming back here until after everything is done.”

Joel nods and wraps you in a warm hug. “You’re going to do great,” he says as he pulls away. “I’ll be there, cheering so fucking loud.”

“I expect you to throw a teddy bear on the ice after I finish.”

The walk to the arena is lonely without Joel, but you push the thought out of your mind. You need to stay focused on putting on the skate of your life in a few hours and not on how lately you’ve been having more-than-friendly thoughts about your best friend. Brenda is there when you arrive, making conversation about what you did last night with Joel before explaining how you’re going to run your practice.

Your hour of semi-private ice passes in the blink of an eye. The other girls in your flight are just as tense as you, popping jumps and doing a lot of stroking to loosen up. A lot is riding on today’s event and you’d be lying if you weren’t feeling the pressure. When you get back to the dressing room and check your phone, you notice there’s a text from Joel. 

Don’t want to disrupt your pre-comp routine, but I thought I’d share a playlist. It’s songs that remind me of you. 

Included is a link to a spotify playlist entitled ‘my golden girl’. You open it with a smile, noticing that it starts with some of your favourite songs even though they aren’t the kind of thing Joel regularly listens to before turning into things you’ve never heard before. 

Thanks <3, you respond, going to listen to it during my off-ice. 

That’s exactly what you do. It filters through your headphones for hours as you stretch, do a quick interview for those watching on television, and get dressed. Though it’s a break from your typical routine, it’s welcome. Knowing Joel thought about you enough to make you a playlist and send it to you helps calm your nerves. 

“Hey kiddo,” Brenda says as she walks to where you’ve taken up root on the floor. Your left hamstring is tight, and you’re trying desperately to fix it before you have to go on the ice. “Go out there and absolutely kill it. This is your best program, and I haven’t seen anyone skate better than what you can do today.”

“Gee thanks for the confidence booster Bren,” you chuckle before hoisting yourself onto the bench to tie your skates. 

She doesn’t laugh. “I mean it Y/N. You can still win this thing.”

You’re left alone to finish getting ready and then join the other girls in the tunnel. No one talks, which you’re grateful for. When you were younger and coming up through the ranks the other competitors liked to gossip while they waited and it was your least favourite part of an entire competition. A camera man waits at the end of the walkway, filming your arrival to the ice pad, and you wave cheerily as you pass by. It can never hurt to endear yourself to those watching at home – maybe they’ll be nicer to you on the internet. 

Joel is standing at the edge of the boards during your warmup, watching and cheering intently. In a moment of insane confidence you blow him a kiss as you skate past, and giggle hysterically when he catches it and holds it close to his chest. You’re called off the ice then and spend the time really getting into the zone. 

It’s considered bad luck to watch the performances before your own, so you face the wall as you do jog lightly to keep your body temperature up and the adrenaline flowing. Much sooner than you’d like it’s your turn to take your guards and jacket off. Brenda holds your skating hands as she whispers last minute words of encouragement, and you stumble through the traditional handshake before presenting yourself to the crowd. 

Once the music starts your brain checks out and instinct takes over. You learned when you were younger that your best skates happened when you just allowed yourself to feel, and you desperately need the skate of a lifetime. Going into the first jumping pass you can feel yourself tense up so you think about Joel’s smile while you guys sat by the lake last night. It works to loosen you up, and you spend the rest of the program thinking of your favourite moments with Joel. As you strike your final pose the music fades out and the roars of applause cascade in. You know you had a flawless performance, beaming as you fist pump the air in the same manner you chirp Joel for doing while he celebrates goals. 

You bow to the crowd in all directions, waving and laughing as flowers and teddy bears fall onto the ice in front of you. An orange blob of fur catches your eye, and you skate to pick it up before one of the volunteers could put it in the bag that will join your garment bag in the dressing room. You know Joel is the one who threw the Gritty toy – no one else really knows of your affiliations with the team. As you sit in the kiss and cry awaiting your results, you examine the stuffed animal. Instead of the regular Gritty jersey Joel replaced it with his own, the number flashing vividly at you and pulling a smile from your nervous features. 

Brenda keeps her hand clasped tightly in yours as the PA system crackles to life. “And the scores for Y/N Y/L/N are,” the announcer begins, and your knee begins bouncing rapidly. “The free skate score is 155.79, for a total score of 230.62.”

You jump up in amazement. Despite your slow start to the competition you managed to get a season’s best. You’re also five points ahead of the second place skater, guaranteeing you a place on the podium and depending on the final results, a spot at worlds. A volunteer ushers you out of the kiss and cry and you skip all the way down the tunnel. To get out some of the adrenaline you jog the corridor a few times before returning to Brenda. 

“Come on,” she laughs, “Joel’s waiting at the edge of the public area. We can watch the final skate together.”

At the mention of Joel you’re jogging again, wanting to see him as fast as possible. “Beezer!” you shriek as you approach, launching into the elaborate handshake the two of you have perfected at this point. 

“Hey golden girl,” he chuckles, returning your actions with just as much enthusiasm. “You looked fucking great out there. I see you got my gift.”

The Gritty doll is still in your hands but there’s no shame. Instead, you tuck it under your arm and rest your head against Joel’s shoulder to watch the final skater. The girl after you had fallen a number of times, dropping her total significantly and landing her in fifth place. Victory is so close you can almost taste it.

 It’s the longest six minutes of your life. Watching her skate increases your anxiety – she’s good, has almost as great a skate as you, but she under-rotated a jump and rushed through her program so there was extra music at the end. The clock above your head rings throughout the silent corridor as everyone awaits the scores with baited breath. In under a minute you’ll know whether you’re returning to New Jersey with a gold or silver medal in your suitcase. 

You don’t hear anything as they announce her score – just see the numbers flash of the small T.V screen and calculate that it’s not enough for her to beat you. After years of blood, sweat, and an immeasurable amount of tears you’ve crossed another goal off your list. Those around you are jumping and screaming, Brenda letting a few tears escape. All you can think about is Joel, who’s celebrating like he just scored the game winning goal in the Stanley Cup finals, and how much you love him. 

Without thinking, you smash your lips against Joel’s. It’s adrenaline filled and mostly teeth until he wraps one hand around your waist and the places the other along your jaw. Then it becomes purposeful, both of you moving in tandem and never wanting it to stop. When Joel pulls away and rests his forehead against yours you can’t stop smiling. The kiss might have happened in the heat of the moment, but you know it’s the culmination of feelings building inside of you for months. 

“You’re a national champion,” Joel says, pulling you flush against his chest in the biggest hug you’ve ever received. 

“I’m your national champion,” you whisper. 

He pulls back and grins, kissing you again. “You’re my national champion. My golden girl.”

The rest of your stay in Salt Lake City is a blur. You’re swept up in the numerous press events, galas, and enjoying your blossoming relationship with Joel. When you finally got back to the hotel after what seemed like hours of people complimenting your comeback, the two of you sat down and talked about the kiss and what you wanted to happen next. It was scary, being so vulnerable, but it needed to happen – you’re both adults and communication is important. So, you’re returning home with a gold medal and boyfriend, two things you’re ecstatic about. 

☼☼☼☼

“J, it’s not straight,” you giggle. Joel’s trying, and failing miserably, to hang the shadow box with your nationals medal in it above your couch. It’s been almost a month since you returned home but you’ve been so busy that decorating the apartment you barely spend time in has been at the bottom of your to-do list. 

He grunts out a response. “Fuck. Do I have to go left or right?”

“Left.” The picture shifts in the opposite direction. “The other left Joel!”

A few minutes later the decoration is sitting perfectly in place. Your child of a boyfriend insists on getting rewarded for his achievement, so the two of you bundle up and get dinner. It’s nothing fancy – just sandwiches from the deli down the street from your apartment, but spending time with him is nice. Joel’s been on a string of short road trips and you’ve been training anxiously, waiting for the organization to announce who they’re sending to the world championship. 

“How’s practice been lately?” Joel asks, mouth full with a bite of his BLT. “I miss being able to watch you skate whenever I want.”

After returning from Utah you were shuttled immediately into the freshly renovated rink of your skating club. It’s a little farther into Jersey and certainly not as convenient for him to get to, especially now that the NHL season is picking up and the Flyers are clinging desperately to the final playoff spot. “It’s been interesting,” you shrug, “I’m skating well, and physically I feel great. There’s a mental block or something though because everything feels a little bit off.”

The smile that graces Joel’s face can only be described as shit-eating. “Duh, I’m not there.”

“Fuck off.” Though you try to make the words come out in a serious tone, there’s no malice in them. 

Conversation flips to some ridiculous story Travis told at practice that morning, and you giggle as Joel recounts it with failing arms. You tell a few stories of your own, that leave him in stitches, and as you walk home hand in hand he asks you again to come to a game. With your schedule a little more flexible as you wait for a decision about the upcoming competition stint it will be much easier to see Joel play. You say yes with a shy smile and don’t miss the way the boy beside you blushes under the streetlights. 

Joel stays over, and the next two nights after that. It’s nice, falling into a relationship with your best friend, because there’s no awkwardness. You know what kind of cereal to keep in your pantry and he knows you don’t eat meat on Mondays. Everything is easy. There are a fews in the road, as can be expected with any budding relationship, but for the most part your lives fit seamlessly together.  

After some meticulous planning, you found a home game on the Flyers schedule that will coincide with yours. It’s a Friday night near the end of February, and it’s actually the last day US Figure Skating can announce their assignments for worlds. You figure watching your boyfriend is the perfect way to distract yourself from the decision, whether or not you make the team. Joel’s ecstatic about your attendance, wanting you to be immersed in as many aspects of his life as possible. The entire day he’s bouncing around your apartment, beyond ready for puck drop. 

“It’s literally three in the afternoon,” you grumble as Joel corrals you into the hall to put your shoes on. “You never leave this early! Why do we have to do it today?” In an attempt to save gas and lower your carbon footprint you’re carpooling with Joel.

“Because being in this house is making you more anxious,” he points out. “I’ve caught you staring into the distance one too many times today. Besides, this way you can meet up with some of the other girls and relax before the game.” 

Joel’s right, as he so often is. Your agent hasn’t called to let you know if you made the team or not, nor has US Figure Skating made an announcement on social media. So you’ve spent the entire day pacing back and forth around your living room and fretting that perhaps the best performance of your season wasn’t good enough. He twirls his car keys around his index finger in an attempt to speed you along and you roll your eyes at his impatience. 

After ensuring your home is safely secured you hit the road. The drive into Philadelphia is easy, with little traffic, and you spend it laughing at Joel’s ridiculous freestyle raps. It doesn’t surprise you that the staff lot at the Wells Fargo Centre is sparsely populated – most of the guys don’t show up until around five, Joel included. However, a group of women are standing near the entrance. While this isn’t the first time you’ve met significant others of your boyfriend’s teammates, it’s the first time Joel won’t be around. 

“It’ll be alright,” he whispers as the car settles into park. You offer a small smile that mustn't have been convincing because Joel lifts the hand that’s intertwined with his to his lips, pressing a delicate kiss to the knuckles. The smile becomes genuine and you tease him the entire walk to the door. 

Joel greets the other girls before setting his bag down on the concrete and wrapping you in a hug. “Have fun,” you say softly against his lips, landing a short kiss. He winks and opens the door, disappearing inside and leaving you in a fit of giggles. 

There was no reason for you to be nervous – everyone is incredibly kind. You seem to be the youngest in the group, but the other girls pay no mind and treat you as one of their own. There’s a small amount of confusion when your phone chimes with a notification, a few glances of possible distaste, but as soon you explain you’re waiting on a very important call they understand. Dinner is wonderful, filled with sincere questions about your skating career and how you got together with Joel. By the time you get back to the arena for the game it feels as though you’ve been a part of the group for years. 

You spend the game in the family and friends box, sipping a glass of wine and following Joel around the ice. Practice is early in the morning and you want to be productive, so you’re relaxed in your alcohol consumption compared to some of the others. One of the older girls, though you can’t remember what player is her significant other, recently got engaged and is celebrating with as many drinks as those around her will allow. It’s fun to experience a hockey game in this way, but you’re a little on edge. You haven’t anything about worlds assignments all day and the organization doesn’t typically leave the announcement to this late in the evening. There’s seven minutes left in the game when your phone rings. You quickly excuse yourself from the group and step into the hall. 

“Hello?”

“Y/N,” the chipper voice of your agent Megan says, “How are you?”

A nervous laughter tumbles from your lips. “I think that depends on what you’re about to tell me.”

“I imagined you’d say something along those lines,” she responds. “You’ve always been quite witty.” Before you ask her to just get to the point of the phone call, Megan speaks. “I have some good news and some bad news for you. You’re going to the World Championships, but you aren’t leading the team like we hoped.”

It’s not as bad as she made it sound. A breath you didn’t know you were holding escapes, and you try your best to remain professional in the hallway of the arena. “Honestly,” you sigh, “I think that’s better. There’s going to be a lot less pressure for me to bring home three Olympic spots. Thanks for letting me know Meg.” She hangs up then, no doubt having to tell another girl she didn’t make the cut. 

When you slip back through the door, you find all eyes on you. “What was that about?” 

“I made the roster for worlds.”

Earth-shattering applause erupts from everyone in the room, and no one pays attention to what happens on the ice for the remainder of the game. The congratulations continue until you’re waiting outside the dressing room for Joel to exit. He had a good game, featuring two assists and a blocked shot, and smiles lazily when he sees you leaning against the brick wall. 

“This is something I could get used to,” he chuckles, pulling you into him by the belt loops of your jeans. The two of you kiss for a moment, letting it stay chaste in fear of getting chirped by teammates.

“Well,” you sigh dramatically, drawing out the suspense of what you’re about to say, “You’re going to have to wait a bit longer for it to become a regular occurrence. My training schedule just increased exponentially.”

Joel sits on your words for a moment before it registers. “No fucking way!” he shouts, picking you up by the waist as the two you are a pairs team. “You got the spot?” 

Having Joel be so excited about the accomplishment makes it seem that much more real. Tears well in your eyes and you shake your head up and down to signal he’s correct. Joel presses his lips to yours once again, this time not caring about any insults his friends could throw at him. The kiss makes you feel loved, fully and completely, and you hope you’re conveying the same amount of emotion he is. 

“That’s my girl.”

☼☼☼☼

“Oh my fucking god,” you grumble, picking yourself off the ice for what feels like the hundredth time in the past five minutes. There’s two weeks until you leave for Milan and it looks like you’ve never skated before. Jumps are being under-rotated, spins aren’t being entered properly, and your footwork sequence is abysmal. Nothing about the way you’re performing would let a newcomer know you’re a world class athlete. 

Brenda gives you a sympathetic smile. “Just try again kiddo.”

You do try again – fifteen more times to be exact. Each attempt at a triple axel getting farther and farther from what it should be. Before you get even more frustrated you abandon the element altogether, hoping to avoid a complete meltdown. No one questions it when you shift disciplines completely and move about the ice completing a simple foxtrot pattern. Ice dance has always been a great de-stresser for you, and after a few passes you feel your heart rate return to normal. At some point during your break Joel had entered the rink and is now standing beside your coach, making pleasant conversation. You smile as you skate towards them, ecstatic that the two most important parts of your life blend seamlessly. 

“Farabee!” you shout when you get close enough for him to hear you. At the sound of your voice Joel smiles, turning to pick up your water bottle and toss it in your direction. 

“I’m wounded babe,” he feigns pain as you take a drink, “I really thought that we were on at least a first name basis.”

You roll your eyes at his dramatics and playfully squirt water at him. “I’ll call you whatever I want. What brings you this far into Jersey?”

“Thought I’d see if you wanted to grab lunch after you were done. We’ve got a late practice today,” he explains. “Whatever you want, eh? Does that mean I say whatever I want? Because I think you’re looking particularly good in those leggings.tum” You don’t miss the suggestive tone to his voice, but choose to ignore it.

Joel watches the rest of your practice from his spot at the boards and lays himself across the dressing room bench as you complete a quick cool down routine. You have a meeting with your massage therapist in the afternoon, so you follow Joel to the restaurant he chose. It’s a small vegan place that you sometimes stop at on your way home from the rink. They have the best burrito bowls you’ve ever tasted and since you’ve gotten together Joel has become rather fond of them as well. 

The two of you sit outside on the curb. New Jersey is uncharacteristically warm for March and you want to enjoy the sunshine as much as possible. The rest of the day will be spent in dark rooms receiving physical therapy and trying to ease your tired muscles. There isn’t much conversation, but you’re more than content just to be with Joel. Life moves incredibly fast and your schedules don’t always line up nicely. It’s difficult to spend time with him, especially when you’re weeks out from a major competition, but small moments like this keep you from missing your boyfriend too much. 

“Have I asked you to take me to the airport yet? I can’t remember,” you admit as you finish the last bite of your meal. 

Joel laughs at your lapse in memory, knowing he gets the same way when high stakes games roll around. “No, but you would like me to?”

“Do you mind?” you ask, “That way I don’t have to leave my car at the airport for a week and a half. But if you can't, don't worry about it, I’ll grab an uber.”

“Babe, the uber will be like fifty bucks. I’ll take you. What time do you have to be there?”

You give him a much too detailed itinerary of your departure plans and listen to him talk about the drills they’re going to run at practice. Time passes much quicker than you would have liked, and soon you’re kissing him goodbye and watching him wave from your rearview mirror. 

It’s almost a week later when you see Joel again, showing up at a Flyers practice for the first time since training moved back to your home rink. You’ve been instructed to have a rest day, the team wanting to push you too hard before taking off. The arena attendants know you well at this point, and chat with you as you sit on a bench away from the media. You know better than you alert them of your presence – some of them no doubt wanting a comment from you about worlds. Joel has no idea you’re even there until long after practice, when he sees you leaning casually against the driver’s side door of your car, conveniently parked next to his.

“Hey all-star,” you say as casually as possible, twirling your keys around your index finger. 

He leans down to kiss you sweetly, and though you probably shouldn’t in a parking lot, you push your body closer to his in an attempt to deepen the kiss. Joel obliges you, tongue gently slipping into your mouth, staying there until you both hear the shouts of his teammates. 

“Fuck off,” he yells at Kevin, who’s hollering so loud people can probably hear him all the way back in Philadelphia. “What are you doing here?”

“I have a day off,” you smile, and I thought I’d come see if I could hitch a ride to your place.” You had originally planned to attend the game in person, but a rough day of training yesterday had you too sore to do much other than lie on the couch. 

“The chariot awaits m’lady,” he says in a terrible British accent, bowing for good measure as he opens the door. Your car will be fine in the parking lot overnight, so you slip in and enjoy the journey into the city. 

Joel’s pre-game routine changes only slightly with you in his apartment – instead of napping alone, you curl into his chest and snore softly, lulling him into one of the most peaceful sleeps he’s ever had. You tie his tie for him and riffle his hair before kissing him good luck. Being alone in Joel’s apartment isn’t as strange as you thought it would be, and you familiarize yourself with his kitchen while you make dinner. The pre-game show plays quietly in the background, and when they mention how well Joel is playing you can’t help but smile. 

It’s much more comfortable to watch the game in your boyfriend’s hoodie and pyjama pants on the couch than it would be to sit in the stiff arena seats. Time passes at a pretty leisurely pace, with nothing too exciting going on within the game, and sometime in the third period you fall asleep. The rest of the game and all the media appearances pass you by. Joel figures you must be sleeping when he doesn’t get a congratulatory text when Claude pulls off a buzzer beater to win. His suspensions are confirmed when he slips through his front door to see you drooling slightly on the throw pillow his mom bought him as a housewarming gift. 

You don’t remember climbing into bed, but you wake up with Joel’s socked feet pressed against your calves. He stirs behind you and mummers something unintelligible. 

“What was that sleepyhead?” you giggle, turning around to run a hand through his hair. It’s rather unruly at the moment and you find it adorable. 

“Good morning,” he repeats. 

“That’s what that was?”

“Leave me alone.”

The two of you lay in bed for a few more minutes before starting the day. You navigate around Joel flawlessly – like you’re there every morning. Breakfast is quick and you’re out the door before you have a chance to cherish the domesticity of it all. You have a pretty intense day of training and Joel has to be at the airport in two hours for a trip to Toronto. He drops you off in Voorhees, kissing you gently before making his way back into the city. You hate to see him go, wishing you could spend more time together before you head to worlds, but you know you’re both adults with real-world responsibilities. 

For the first time in the final push you have a practice that is up to standard. Things click into place and you feel good. Really good. Each time you skate a program it’s clean, and the elements don’t feel weak when completed individually. Maybe you’ll actually be able to pull this off. 

☼☼☼☼

Italy is beautiful, but you don’t get much time to enjoy it. A scheduling mishap has team USA leaving two days later than you were supposed to and now you’re all scrambling to find a groove. Every moment is being spent preparing for the competition – off ice training, multiple practices a day, press conferences. When you get a moment to spare you call Joel, but oftentimes he’s at practice or fulfilling other obligations. The time difference is brutal and souring your mood. You feel alone, and just wish Joel could be by your side like he was at nationals. 

As soon as you step on the ice something feels wrong. You run through a mental checklist and assure that nothing is – your skates feel they way they should and you didn’t forget any gear. It must be nerves. The competition officially starts tomorrow and you’re eager to cheer on the pairs teams America has brought. You do your best to skate it out, and by the time you’re allowed to have the ice to yourself you can almost convince yourself everything will be fine. 

The music starts and you snap into character. Your short program music is punchy and so are you – all sass and sharp angles as you navigate the opening step sequence. A lump forms in your throat as you set up the first first jumping pass, but you push it down. You’ve done a thousand triple lutz-triple toe-loop combinations and could execute it flawlessly in your sleep. 

Everything happens so fast. One second you’re rotating through the air and the next you’re sprawled across the ice. Nothing feels off until you try to pick yourself up. When you can’t move your left leg you look to see what the issue is and find your kneecap where it most certainly should not be. It’s rotated nearly one hundred and eighty degrees, now residing in the back instead of the front. 

“Help me!” you scream, mostly out of shock. There’s no pain which surprises you, but you know it definitely should hurt. Everyone around the ice surface is frozen in place, not knowing what happened or what to do, and you continue to sob helplessly. 

Someone sprints to get the onsite emergency responders and Brenda runs to you as fast as her dress shoes will allow. “Don’t look at it honey,” she soothes. “It’s just going to make things worse.”

“It should hurt,” you croak out through the tears, “Why doesn’t it hurt?”

“You’ve got so much adrenaline pumping through your veins you can’t feel anything,” the EMT explains in flawless English. “Can we take your skates off?”

You nod, and the right skate comes off breezily. Brenda unlaces your left skate and the medical team works to pry the boot from your foot. A sharp pain shoots up your leg and you wail in agony. “Shh, it’s okay,” your coach coos, “The skate is going to stay on until we get to the hospital.”

The ride to the hospital feels like time is moving through sludge. The paramedics keep an eye on your blood pressure and do their best to keep you calm. Brenda is typing furiously on her phone, and you ask what she’s doing as the vehicle pulls into the ambulance bay. 

“The ISU rep told me to keep him updated,” she explains. “And I’m trying to vote on which alternate is going to take your place.”

You knew that was going to happen, you couldn’t possibly skate, but it makes you unbelievably sad. All your hard work is going to amount to nothing. No one cares about national champions who don’t place at worlds, and the injury is going to sideline you in next year’s olympic race. The emergency room has a bed ready for you, and the doctor arrives as you’re being transferred into it. 

“Miss Y/L/N, I’m Dr. Morelli. We’re going to put your patella back into place. It’s going to be incredibly painful, so we’re to sedate you. Is that okay?”

“Yes,” you say as strongly as you can, though it comes out feeble and hoarse. 

A nurse inserts an IV into your arm and smiles at you. They have you count backwards from ten, and by the time you get to eight you’re asleep. There’s a brief moment of panic when you wake up as you forgot where you are. “You’re awake,” Brenda speaks softly from the bedside. “How are you feeling?”

“Like shit,” you admit. “It hurts so fucking bad.” 

She gives you a sympathetic smile. “I know. They’re going to come get you for x-rays in a few minutes and then we’ll go back to the hotel.”

“Oh my god,” you gasp. “I’ve gotta call Joel. Bren, give me your phone.”

Laughter comes from the device’s speakers, and you realize she’s one step ahead of you. 

“There’s my girl,” Joel whispers, eyes landing on yours as the phone lands in your hands. “Are you okay?”

The question makes you laugh. “You’re quite the comedian Mr. Farabee. Of course I’m not okay. My leg is currently being held together by a brace and my dreams are ruined.” You soften when you realize how upset Joel looks. “I’ll be fine J, I promise.”

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”

“There’s nothing you could have done. It was a freak accident. You can pick me up from the airport.”

He agrees in a heartbeat and tells you about his day to distract you from the pain. You’ll have to ask the nurses for some pain meds before you leave. A nurse comes to take you to the radiology department, and you hang up after reassuring him for the hundredth time that he doesn’t need to fly to Italy to bring you home himself. 

Brenda holds you as the adrenaline wears off and your legs twitches rapidly as a trauma response. She helps you navigate around the small room and makes sure you’re able to use the bathroom. Luckily none of her other skaters are competing, and she’s able to travel back to Philadelphia with you once the doctor clears you. It’s a rough flight – there’s a fair amount of turbulence and each bump makes your leg throb. You don’t get a wink of sleep and are grumpy by the time you touch down in Philly. Joel’s waiting at arrivals with a giant sign and a sweet smile. You wheel yourself over to him as quickly as possible, wanting nothing more than to collapse into his arms. 

“Welcome home baby,” he whispers, leaning down to catch your lips in an airport appropriate kiss. The reason you’re home so early isn’t brought up which you're incredibly grateful for. Your untimely withdrawal is still a very sore spot. 

“I wasn’t gone long,” you laugh, trying to poke fun at the situation before reality gets you too down. 

“Long enough for me to miss you a tremendous amount.”

The three of you exit the airport, and Joel drops Brenda off at her house before taking you back to his place. Chuck and the rest of the management team were allowing him to miss a few games until you become more mobile and can’t exist on your own for a few hours. Joel’s bed is calling out to you, but he insists you’ll feel better after a shower and you know he’s right. Showering isn’t something you can do yourself, so Joel keeps your leg straight and elevated as you sit on the stool he bought while waiting for you to return. The grime of travelling is washed away and you feel lighter when you swing into bed, stubbornly refusing Joel’s help. 

You convince him to let you watch the broadcast of the event you were supposed to be skating in. It’s probably not the best thing for your mental health, but you want to see how everyone does. Joel sits besides you, arm wrapped around your shoulder, and listens to you explain the rationale behind every element’s score. When your replacement takes the ice you go silent. It’s too much to see her skating in your place so you bury your face into Joel’s neck. There’s no jealousy like you thought there would be, just an infinite amount of sadness that you’re not able to be there. 

“You’ll be able to get back there,” Joel reassures you when he feels a tear soak through his sweater. 

“That’s not guaranteed,” you sniffle. “I might not ever skate again, let alone compete at any level.”

He shakes his head in disagreement, leading you to quirk a brow. “I know you. You’re going to do it. It won’t be easy, but you’re the most determined person I’ve ever met. People bounce back after major injuries all the time. I’ll be by your side the entire time, helping you through.”

“I love you,” you blurt out. The gravity of your words sinks in and you gasp. You haven’t said those words to each other yet, but they feel right.

“I love you too,” Joel smiles, kissing the tip of your nose. “Now pay attention to the TV, that girl you beat at Skate Canada is up next.”

☼☼☼☼

Recovery hasn’t been easy. There have been so many days where all you want to do is throw in the towel and cry, but Joel keeps you going. He insists you to your physical therapy exercises with him so you aren’t alone, and he comes to as many doctor’s appointments as he possibly can. After the Flyers get eliminated from the playoffs he doesn’t return home for the summer, choosing to stay in the Philly area with you. Having him there is a massive help, and you power through the pain. 

The Flyers are hosting a family skate before training camp, and it will be your first time on skates in nearly six months. Your doctors have cleared it as long as you take it slow and basically let Joel pull you around the rink but you don’t care. It gives you hope that one day you’ll be back to full strength. 

“Ready to do this thing?” Joel asks, grabbing your hand and intertwining your fingers. 

You nod enthusiastically and let him pull you from the bench to the tunnel and down to the boards. Joel steps on the ice first, keeping his hands up in case you need them for support. A few of the significant others notice what’s happening and they erupt in applause once both your feet are planted on the surface. Joel joins them, his eyes watering when he sees how happy you are to be skating again. 

“I do believe you promised me a few laps lover boy,” you wink. 

“Yes ma’am,” Joel giggles as he mock salutes. He places his hands in yours and guides you gently, careful not to go too fast or get too close to other groups. The two of you giggle and stop to kiss frequently but no one says anything. You’ve worked incredibly hard to get here and they’re perfectly content letting you have your moment. Standing at centre ice you feel complete, and you know it’s all thanks to Joel. 

☼☼☼☼

taglist: @samsteel​ @kiedhara​ @tortito​ @boqvistsbabe​ @iwantahockeyhimbo @himbos-on-ice​ if you want to be added just shoot me an ask :)

[secret-engima]

Snippet of Children of Men (Not Monsters) verse

(I tried so hard to resist the urge to snippet so that I could finish this and surprise everyone, but like all my one-shots it’s getting steadily longer, so you know what? HERE. HAVE A LONG SNIPPET OF MY NEWEST BRAINCHILD.)

...

     “But we know it can be done,” clicked batchmate N-iP04232 during one of their routine cleanings over the hiss of the freezing spray, “by a unit that hadn’t gotten its first upgrade even.”

     Their last batchmate, N-iP04240, gave a skeptical whine, “That wasn’t because of any actions of the unit. It was stolen.”

     “By a lone human.” N-iP04221 pointed out as it finished washing off the cleaning solvents and stepped out from under the spray, “If a human could manage it, then three MT units could as well. MT units are more efficient than humans. That’s why we’re produced.”

     “Still…”

     “We have time to think about this,” It rumbled soothingly to its third and most nervous batchmate, “We have until before the sixteenth upgrade.” That was when MT units were monitored more closely, looking for any final errors that might crop up during the final stages of training and modification —when they truly started to go quiet, and it became harder and harder to coax them into competitions and making rhythms, when they started the slow descent to death—. They had until the sixteenth upgrade at the latest to decide on a course of action. If they chose to run, the others would not stop them. It was the rule. If an incomplete unit chose to run, all the other incomplete units had to help in whatever way they could that would not get them punished afterward.

     Then, only a few months after its fourteenth upgrade, after beginning to entertain thoughts of running, the lights in the hallways turned red and an alarm was announced through the entire facility. Two units from one of the new, experimental projects had escaped containment. All personnel and MT units above the thirteenth upgrade were to search and retrieve the escaped units. Alive. “Those two are the first ones in Project Dhampir to survive their first year.” N-iP04221 overheard one of the technicians whine, “And we’re out of viable samples for the indefinite future! If either of those units is lost or damaged, Besithia will have our heads!”

     Oh. That was new. It was rare the head human designated Besithia took an interest in any units. The escaped units must be very specialized.

     N-iP04221 searched alongside its two batchmates, but didn’t try very hard, and didn’t expect to find anything. If the escaped units were similar in template and intelligence to an MT unit, it didn’t want to help recapture them. If the units were more aggressive and taken from templates like the large, predatory wildlife that it sometimes saw outside the facility borders, it didn’t want to go anywhere near them. But just as it was hoping the escaped units had either gotten away or were in another part of the base altogether and thus were not N-iP04221’s problem, it heard a high pitched whine of pain from one of the closets containing cleaning tools and solvents. It sounded similar to a very small MT unit, but not quite, and N-iP04221 clicked uneasily at its batchmates before approaching the closet. With one of its two swords held ready in a hand, it triggered the door with the other. The door slid open and two mops fell over at the aggressive flinch and hiss the sound drew from-.

     Incomplete units.

     Very incomplete units. They couldn’t have been very far past their second yearly upgrade at the latest.

     They looked different from small MT units, but not … not because they weren’t of a similar template. They were, they just looked like they had been forced through more upgrades than was recommended for units of their size and time post decanting. Their skin was already very pale, though not white like N-iP04221’s, and the ends of their fingers and bare feet had short, sharp claws rather than the more pliable nails that early MT units had before growing claws of their own —painfully, it was a side-effect of the upgrades and a reason they were always forced to wear thick gloves during maintenance sessions—. They pressed further into the closet, lips curling in wary-frightened-angry hisses that showed their teeth were pointed, much closer to a unit near its twelfth or thirteenth upgrade than its second, the fuzz on their heads was white as the snow outside the facility and their eyes were red-. No. Not red.

     They had just changed color. It didn’t know what to call the shade. It was like blue but not, like the purple of plasmodia but so much lighter, and inside the mystery color were flecks of bright, bright gold, just like the multi-colored sparks now dancing off the small escaped units’ claws in warning. N-iP04221 took an obedient step back and cooed, simplifying its speech all the way down to the level of the second upgrade units that were still learning how to talk in ways that the overseers and technicians wouldn’t know to punish them for, “Safe-safe-calm-calm-no-harm-no-pain-hello.”

     The sparks paused, drifted into nothing as the pair eyed it uneasily. One of them sneezed skepticism and caution, N-iP04221 clicked and whirred with reassurance and warning. It wouldn’t turn them in to the overseers, but they were so small, it couldn’t imagine they would succeed in their attempt for long. They wouldn’t be decommissioned, not from what the technician had said earlier, but even so. “Hide-hide-quiet-quiet,” it suggested with a low chatter, “can’t-help-won’t-hinder-sorry-sorry.” The two units that were so very small yet heavily upgraded shared a glance, pressing against each other skin to skin, just like batchmates did when terrified and unsure of what to do next. N-iP04221 wavered and tried not to feel … something. Something dangerous. Something that made it want to raise its sword and … perform an error. A critical error.

     All three MT units went stock still when they heard a pair of technicians round the corner —familiar technicians, these were the two always sneaking off to their storage room to perform unsanctioned disrobing rituals while the units were trying to recharge—, “Why are you units just standing-, oh, you found them, perfect. Guess you hunks of junk aren’t completely useless in an emergency after all.” The bigger of the technicians stepped closer, already pulling a shock rod from off his belt and telling the other technician to “call it in”. All three MT units pulled away on instinct from the shock rod, but that meant letting the technician past them to the closet. The escaped units howled at the sight of the technician, snarled and screeched in pain-remembrance-no-no, lunged for him only to recoil from the snapping bite of electricity on the end of the rod. They were enhanced, but they were too small to attack a technician. They were caught now. They would be taken back and punished. Possibly modified. They had already been upgraded so heavily already, maybe the technicians would even risk performing the eighteenth year upgrade to make them obedient. The thought made the something in N-iP04221 rattle louder in its chest. So loud it was like a real noise rather than an internal error, so loud it made everything feel like static-.

     Two pairs of eyes that glowed with flecks of gold in a color N-iP04221 couldn’t name but also couldn’t help but be entranced by locked on its faceplate, and from them something reached. Into its body. Into its blood and organs and bones, then deeper. A physical thing across the space between them and howled as loud as an MT unit that didn’t want to die to the final upgrade and so chose to decommission itself.

     Help us. Please.

     N-iP04221 didn’t realize it had moved until it heard the other technician start screaming. Until it heard the startled screeches of its batchmates and looked down at its own hand in time to see the first technician’s body slide slowly off its blade with a heavy, bloody thud. It had just stabbed the technician. It had just stabbed one of the technicians. It wasn’t going to be decommissioned for this, it was going to be live dissected, put back together, then dissected again.

     “-Rogue unit, I repeat we have a rogue unit!” The second technician, the second technician was reporting it as she staggered back with wide eyes, electric rod aimed at it like a weapon, “It’s already killed Technician Simmons, the rogue unit is in-!” N-iP04221 didn’t see its batchmates move, but suddenly the technician fell silent and crumpled to the ground, body falling in one direction while her head rolled across the floor in the other. N-iP04240 lowered its axe, red-red-red human blood dripping onto the clean floor as they all stared at what they had just done.

     “We’re going to be dissected repeatedly,” N-iP04240 clicked numbly, “They will put our processing units in jars and then dissect the jars.”

     “Not if we run first.” They both looked over at N-iP04232, as it stepped past them into the cleaning closet and grabbed several of the solvents there, “We’re dead either way. We should at least try running first.”

     Under its mask, N-iP04221 swallowed, hyper aware of the human blood on its blade, the dead technicians. Hyper aware that it didn’t regret, not when it was too late to regret, not when the two escaped small units had slunk out of the closet and were huddled against its legs on their four limbs, like they were more of an animal template than an MT unit template, or maybe just too scared and weak from forced upgrades to stand properly. The things from them curling in its bones and organs stayed, tight and hot with relief that didn’t belong to it, and it would have thought the feeling was a hallucination —a critical malfunction—, but a questioning whine at its batchmates confirmed they felt it too.

     Without really thinking about it, N-iP04221 sheathed its bloodied sword, then reached down and picked up the two, painfully tiny units. They clung to its armor, little claws hooking in the seams as one sniffed curiously at the blood on the hand holding it and the other gently nosed its faceplate in greeting-gratitude. Holding on tightly to them, it turned and began running down the halls with its batchmates on its heels. They were going to be caught and painfully, brutally decommissioned. But they had to try.

     N-iP04221 didn’t want to die.

[robot-unicorn-attack]

alicia’s plotting ideas/notes??

SNOW (MARIVANA)

ideas & stuff!! feel free to message me either here or on urstyle or wherever else u have me, or comment directly on this post, to plot! ill put finalized notes w/ rest of snow’s info once we have it down :)

Sky - so since seraphina’s a newer racer, she and marivana don’t know each other super well? but they’re almost complete opposites, in terms of like racing specialties, and marivana doesn’t feel threatened by seraphina in any way. she probably keeps her distance whenever they aren’t doing things their agency has sent them on? 

It would be kind of fun to say that maybe, as a publicity stunt, twilight’s official statement is that snow has been mentoring sky behind the scenes? 

and they have to pretend that’s true, even though it’s not lol

LOL but it would be funny if one day marivana showed up at the track while seraphina was doing stuff and was just like, “so twilight wants me to teach you something that makes it look like i’ve actually been helping u. u free atm?”

but overall I don’t think marivana has too many strong opinions about seraphina, unless we want to create some kind of drama?

Ice - premade; tbd

Supernova - Marivana is…pretty indifferent? when it comes to Supernova. She knows who she is and what she’s done, of course-who doesn’t?-but if you think that she’d be starstruck and/or falling over herself when Supernova’s around her…well, you’d be wrong. Marivana’s had multiple trusted parties tell her that she’s just as good as Supernova was, at her peak, so she knows that she’s not a threat-for now, at least. Marivana’s a bit wary of the other racer, but also a bit curious to see as to where this comeback will lead.

So, depending on how much of the wedding and divorce was public....Marivana def would remember 1) the wedding, and 2) not giving a shit about it

The 2 of them have raced together, right at the very beginning of Marivana’s career? like 10+ years ago? and if As even remembers all that girly snow princess stuff, she could be like “lmao so twilight really pulled a 180 on her”

AHHHH so I know I never made this explicitly clear because I suck as a human being but - the deal with unicorns is that agencies/manufacturers/etc say that they’re just robots? agencies probably actually believe it, but in terms of the manufacturers they might be vaguely aware of otherwise but also don’t want to jeopardize any profits so they keep that shit on the DL

but obviously for ppl like Mari/As who have been riding for p much their entire life, they can tell when horses are distressed, happy/content, etc?

and robot unicorns are basically horses in terms of how sentient they are? 

so i have no fucking idea when this would happen, but the 2 of them mutually acknowledging that RUR is pretty fucked up for the unicorns?

also like....IT WOULD BE SO CUTE if the two of them sort of rolled their eyes at the same time about some kind of story regarding another rando racer who quit maybe a lil after As did (so the newer racers aren’t familiar with her)? and then they realize that they both rolled their eyes at the same time LOL

honestly just being Tired Grandmas together

anyway. @interluxetumbra LMK what u think!!!

Sunbeam -  tbd

Flower - Marivana knows exactly what 𝑅 𝐼 𝒮 𝐸 is pulling with Flower (her own agency did the same thing to her, after all), and she is not fooled at all. She’s not stupid; in the robot unicorn racing industry, nobody is completely, utterly unknown when they debut unless they had no prior experience with robot horses/unicorns in the past. Marivana knows that Flower probably had to work her butt off to stay with 𝑅 𝐼 𝒮 𝐸, and she would bet her right hand that the image that Flower puts out to the public is just that - an image.

*chanting* AURIVANA AURIVANA AURIVANA

is the lil club plot we have how they meet/1st time they actually talk 2 ea other????

speaking of which - how do we want to write that? collab in a gdoc???

& then they just keep coincidentally running into ea other randomly????

aura saying something super Flower-esque and marivana just rolling her eyes and being like, “ok great now tell me what you really think about __” ??? lol

aura somehow discovering that marivana is into BOTANY, of all things????

maybe this is when she makes some sort of dry remark about the bio for Flower on the RISE website? “[Flower] grew up in a lush green meadow, hidden away from prying eyes by miles and miles of ice. How Flower managed to get the ice to melt for long enough to plant flowers and trees will always be a mystery.” and marivana’s like “lol magic my ass there’s literally no fucking way”

she explains it with a good amount of scientific jargon thrown in and aura’s just like watttttttttttttt :0000

literally hit me up ANYTIME i already adore them

also - their aesthetics as racers? put together? a+++++++++

OMG THIS IS LIKE WAY IN THE FUTURE BUT LIKE, we should say that their secret relationship somehow ends up going public for the ~drama~??? and instead of being super freaking pissed off, both of their agencies are just like “lmao okay ice queen x fairy princess? best ship” and use it for publicity?????

Flame - Marivana knows about 1) the image that she projects, and 2) that this image is pretty true to who Flame really is, for the most part. Her verdict? Flame could prove to be annoying, if she gets relevant while Marivana is still in the industry as a racer. Marivana doesn’t know what life not racing would be like, but she’s well-aware that she’s the oldest racer out there (well, besides Supernova, who doesn’t count. She’s making a comeback, after all), and that retirement is probably not too far out in her future. So, if Flame is still around within the next 5-10 years, then Marivana might start worrying about her. For now, she’s just the irritating racer with ʟᴀᴢᴇʀ who won’t ever stop causing a scene.

So they haven’t really interacted much yet, do we wanna say? 

they’re wary of each other because both their unicorns specialize in high power/strength so they’re like, more directly in competition?

are they going to engage in the RUA equivalent of a twitter fight??? in a publicity stunt that both of their agencies are putting on?

maybe snow has once insulted kehlani in an interview??? though it was fake/staged/scripted by her agency so she doesn’t actaully feel that way but ya know. doin it for the vine

and kehlani responds in kind, maybe at the behest of lazer, maybe not?. and it just keeps going???

but ya, marivana prob finds her personality kinda annoying so would generally avoid her unless kehlani approached first

Nyx - so like, snow probably thinks sol is way too flashy and all over the place, & does not engage her ever? she knows of the rumors of foul play, ofc, b/c who doesn’t, but she assumes that the rumors are super blown out of proportion (as rumors tend to be)?? and snow knows that if sol ever tries to target her/other ice world racers specifically, twilight will literally strong-arm lazer into dropping her. so she’s not that worried about that stuff????

definitely thinks her razor-sharp precision with U-800 is something to be admired, though, even if it’s not the flashiest skill like dressage or speed

OMG LOL spoiler alert but the 2nd event is a race on lava world, so they’re all on the main LW training/practice facilities in the days leading up to the race???? and we TOTALLY need to have them do that weirdly super aggressive staredown/pre-game smack talk sesh that they do in super extra sports anime LOL

Widowmaker - snow’s heard of her, knows of her, has competed against her, but since they both tend to keep to themselves they haven’t really talked? it could be potentially cool if eleni guessed about/found out about what actually happened with marivana’s 1st unicorn?? OMG DRAMA but what if she actually knew of the armed thief? who was on ice world for whatever reason lmfao we can hand-wave it. bonus points if she’s pissed that 1st unicorn killed the person?????????? lol

and it could be POTENTIALLY FUN to write a scene with them where eleni basically calls her out on the fact that, yeah marivana fucking hates twilight for deactivating the first unicorn so why tf does she still race for them/earn them so much money???

also marivana has literally no retirement plans atm so.....i have NO FREAKING IDEA if this would ever be possible or not, but if she somehow?? gets involved? with the people who wanna fuck up TEF govt for not giving a single shit about black hole ??? ? ??? ?? thru eleni????????//

idk dude feel free to just be like “lmao alicia that would never happen” if it feels too OOC!!! it’s also like 4 am & i’m only half coherent so ;D

but i literally have no idea in what context the calling out would be in!!! maybe if marivana saw some top sekrit info that eleni might have access to and was like “i won’t tell anyone at TWILIGHT if you tell me why you have this”? and eleni is like *eyeroll* “not like u have any reason to like ur agency”

Taglist: @ayzrules @bebemoon @jay-swagsby @filthysoulls @shiftyprincess @kzombi3 @now-on-elissastillstands

[anneapocalypse]

[RvB 17.11] Stagnation

FIRST Spoilers

In isolation, Carolina’s Labyrinth scene was not out of character or inconsistent or objectively bad; however, cumulatively it is emblematic of the stagnation in Carolina’s writing since season 13. It undeniably resonates with viewers—but I deeply dislike what it represents and I’m going to talk about why.

So to begin, and to try and give this episode a fair shake, here’s what was good about Carolina in the Labyrinth.

Jen Brown kills it as always. It is no mystery that this scene resonates with people. There is a lot of emotion in it and Jen is a fantastic voice actor who always digs deep and does the best possible work with what she is given. Better than what she is given, in many cases.

Carolina’s self-hatred is, I think, evident in her character as far back as season 10 if you look at all beneath the surface level. I’ve said before that her actions make a lot more sense when viewed through that lens than if you look at her as simply competitive, and at this point I don’t think that’s a particularly radical statement. That self-loathing is given a particularly raw and painful manifestation here.

Carolina’s encounter is also the most on-the-nose representation of what the Labyrinth actually does: it seizes upon a person’s most negative emotions and reflects them again and again, further distorting them each time, until its victim succumbs to despair. The explicit, stated function of the Labyrinth is to drive its victims to suicide, which is dark even for this show. But given that function, it makes sense that the Labyrinth would seize upon the root of Carolina’s most self-destructive impulses.

I would also like to propose a theory that probably wasn’t authorial intent but which I think makes this whole thing read… if not well, at least better. It is already obvious to fans of Carolina that the Labyrinth’s representation of Freelancer Carolina isn’t truly her, and does not accurately represent what she was like in Freelancer. Others have said as much. But I would argue that “present” Carolina isn’t truly herself here either, because she both is not how past Carolina describes her, and says things about her past self that are untrue. Neither of them are real. The real Carolina is an observer in this scene, as we are, and the Labyrinth is subjecting her to two distorted versions of herself, both of them speaking lies.

Like I said, this probably wasn’t the intent, but it’s the only way this scene even begins to work.

Which is a pretty good segue into how it doesn’t.

“I feel so much rage when I look at you,” Carolina says to her past self. “You know that? You prioritize yourself over everything. You’re going to get people killed. Heck, you’re going to kill people. And they won’t always deserve it. Dad won’t love you more if you keep winning. He can’t. He died when Mom died. And you’ll bury him. Your competitive streak stops. I’m demanding it.”

“Oh,” says past Carolina, “you’re done? Okay. You got pretty talkative! No need for the lecture. I can read your whole shitty life from your whiny tone of voice.”

“Oh, you think you’re so—”

“Directionless? Scared? No. No, actually I—” Past Carolina laughs viciously. “I feel great. Weird to hear all that from you, though. Let me unpack this. You’ve now tasted defeat, I’m assuming, and you were—aw, sad? For a while?” Her tone grows taunting. “And you want people around as crutches in case you trip again. When have I ever—think about it!—ever allied with someone I didn’t need? A friend in a high place. A bolt hole. A wing man. To forget how to utilize people is to forget yourself. Forget me. And frankly, that’d be damning enough, but you went further. Carolina, you stripped away what comes without thought. What’s instinctual. Your passion. What greater betrayal is there? You’re not you anymore.”

So let’s unpack this. First of all, how much of what the two Carolinas say is true?

It’s worth noting that it’s present Carolina who immediately goes on the offensive here, spitting venom at the image of her past self before that image has even spoken. And the things she says… “You’re going to get people killed. You’re going to kill people.”

So what is she talking about? Who did Carolina get killed by being competitive? Who did she kill?

If she’s talking about enemy targets that weren’t who she believed they were… I mean, yeah, they didn’t deserve it, but Carolina was acting as a soldier under orders and her being less competitive wouldn’t make those any less her orders.

Is she talking about the other Freelancers? Because… Carolina didn’t get them killed. North, South, York, Wyoming, Florida—none of them were killed by or because of Carolina’s competitiveness. The only one you could really ascribe to her actions is Maine, and there is a case to be made that Carolina gave up Sigma as much to prove she didn’t need an AI as to help Maine after his injury—but that act was based on such incomplete knowledge that to call it a direct result of Carolina’s competitiveness is a stretch. Furthermore, this argument always seems to ignore the fact that if Maine hadn’t gotten Sigma, someone else would have, and while we don’t know how Sigma might have behaved with a different host, it’s hard to imagine it ending without casualties regardless.

Are we talking about Biff? Because… we’ve been over this, but Carolina didn’t kill Biff, and Biff also didn’t die because Carolina was competitive. Biff’s death was an accident; even Tex, who threw the flagpole Carolina deflected, wasn’t intentionally aiming at Biff, though it does seem like she (or someone else inside that helmet, more likely) must have realized she was throwing it with lethal force. Had Carolina been less determined to win that particular match, there’s no reason to assume Tex (and Omega) would’ve dialed back their own aggression.

We also have evidence from other bits of canon that sim trooper deaths during training exercises were disturbingly common within Project Freelancer—a fact not one of the agents, not even Good Guy Do the Right Thing York, are ever shown objecting to.

Let’s look at what past!Carolina says about herself. 

“When have I ever—think about it!—ever allied with someone I didn’t need?”

CT.

CT.

You know, that person everyone forgets about when they’re trying to make a case for Carolina being purely self-serving.

I wrote about this one a long time, ago, but for a refresher: the first time we ever see Carolina question the Director’s orders is when he says that CT is an “acceptable loss.” Carolina embarks on that mission with full intent to disregard that order and try to bring CT in alive, despite that fact that doing so will be far more difficult and offers her no personal gain whatsoever and in fact results in her failing the mission. And while Carolina’s motives in the briefing with the Director may be subtle, her intent on the mission itself is not. The first thing she does upon catching up to Tex is to remind her that they only need the armor. And when she tries to pull Tex back from the killing blow, she explicitly, verbally, objects to Tex killing CT, and even knowing that they have failed the mission and that she will take the blame, Carolina still chastises Tex for what she’s done. This is not just subtext. This is text.

And this is not the only instance of Carolina caring about her teammates. The haste with which she calls for medics when York is injured in training, the offer on the Sarcophagus mission to come to Team B’s aid instead of going after their objective, the “No!” she screams out when Maine gets shot—none of these are the behaviors of a person who is only out for herself at everyone else’s expense.

Freelancer Carolina is not characterized as a ruthless lone wolf who disregards her teammates except when they can benefit her. Not matter how much certain corners of the fandom prefer to read her that way.

But all right. It’s the Labyrinth. It’s a distortion. It’s not supposed to be real. It’s amplifying Carolina’s worst feelings about herself.

Still, that distortion is meant to be reflective of something real. It certainly seems to be so for other characters.

So which of the above would Carolina likely blame herself for?

Well… we actually have canon on how Carolina feels about most of the above.

In season 13, Carolina apologizes to Sharkface for what she and her team did to his squad. “I’m sorry,” she says. “We were on one side of the fight, and you were on the other. We thought we were the good guys. I’m sorry.”

Let’s unpack that for a hot second. In this short line, Carolina:

expresses genuine remorse for what she took part in.

acknowledges that she acted on false information, and by extension, that not everything was her fault.

Season 13 Carolina knew that not everything was her fault.

Let’s go back even further.

In present day season 10, Carolina has a couple of vulnerable moments in which she states her motivations outright. And a large source of that motivation for getting revenge on the Director is the suffering and death of her teammates. She tells Epsilon:

Church, the Director's still out there somewhere. And I need to find him. Not just for what he did to me, but for what he did to York, and to Wash, to Maine, the twins, to all of them.

Even earlier in season 10, when Carolina stands with Wash inside the wind power facility, she says, “Poor Maine,” expressing sorrow over what happened to her teammate. When Wash says, “Carolina, it wasn’t your fault,” she says, “But it was my AI.” There is regret here, obviously, and I think in that statement in particular is no small trace of survivor’s guilt. Carolina knows full well that had she not given Sigma to Maine, the Meta might well have been her.

But that’s not all she says. She goes on voice her suspicions that the Director, at the very least, could have been aware of the dangers of the implantations. That he acted recklessly in his “little experiments.” She places that blame where it’s due.

My point is that even as far back as season 10, Carolina is capable of identifying culpability that was not her own, without outright denying or handwaving her part in it. There’s a balance in what she says there, when she talks about Freelancer. She blames the Director for his part in it, while also feeling the weight of her own involvement.

As for Biff… we can’t know how Carolina feels about that now, because Joe decided it wasn’t important for her to be told onscreen why Temple hated her, so we didn’t get to see a reaction. But we already have a part of Carolina’s arc in which she comes to see sim troopers as people, as friends, and then as family, and based on how she speaks of other parts of her past, it’s hard to imagine she would brush it off.

But Biff’s death is also a part of this arc, and Carolina’s part in the plot of season 15 sets a precedent for how she will be treated for the rest of this storyline.

What about that final accusation: "You're not you anymore."

Is this a real fear that Carolina has in the present? I mean, it could be, but it's not something she's expressed since, arguably, season 13, and even then, Carolina's fear that letting her guard down will get everyone she loves killed doesn't really resemble past Carolina's claim that she's lost the self-serving passion that made her who she was. This doesn’t reflect an expressed fear relevant to any of Carolina’s recent conflicts.

If it reflects something real, it's news to us.

I can accept that the Labyrinth is meant to take the worst things Carolina thinks about herself in her worst and darkest moments and amplify and distort them beyond even that. I’m personally not a fan of plot devices that allow writers to kind of throw characterization at the wall and then say it was bad on purpose. But okay, given the mechanics of this plot device as it’s been established—fine. It’s supposed to be over the top.

All right.

But what I just described isn’t character development.

It’s just putting the characters through an Angst Machine. You notice we’ve had a lot of that lately?

Let’s go back to Chorus again. Let’s look at the plot device this one is ripping off the True Warrior test. Still not my favorite McGuffin ever, but at least the portal on Chorus showed the characters something real. And for multiple characters, including Carolina and also Locus, what they saw in the portal drove some kind of character growth for them.

Because it was, on some level, real.

What is there for Carolina to learn from this experience that she hasn’t learned already—in past seasons and previous arcs which both Joe and Jason seem determined to ignore?

Carolina’s character development since season 13 has stagnated.

In the same way that this arc overall has resorted to recycling character and story beats from past seasons, Carolina’s writing in particular has sunk into a rut.

Season 13 gave Carolina a meaningful mini-arc in which her past came back to haunt her in the form of Sharkface, and collided with her fears of failure and loss in the present. This drove real growth and meaningful change for Carolina as she struggled to avoid falling back to old habits while also giving her all to protect her new family.

Most importantly, season 13 had Carolina engaging with her past in a nuanced manner. Carolina in 13 was able to separate regret from responsibility. Her apology to Sharkface was not self-flagellation. It was real, meaningful, and necessary. It was not Carolina taking on the blame for things she didn’t do.

In recent seasons, however, Carolina's only real plot involvement hinges on the writers beating her guilt like a dead horse and making up new things she did wrong.

Where Sharkface and the death of his squad were drawn from events we saw happen, Biff’s death (already a retread of Sharkface) was invented and inserted into past canon, and showed us a Carolina whose aggression and callousness felt out of place even for her Freelancer self. Carolina never heard Temple’s grievances onscreen and was never allowed to respond to them, so she wasn’t allowed any growth of her own from the experience of being put through the Angst Machine with Wash.

Season 16 invents yet another sin for Carolina: keeping Wash’s memory lapses a secret, because for some reason Dr. Grey doesn’t think it’s important to keep her patients informed personally and instead puts that responsibility on their friends. This of course blows up in Carolina’s face at the worst possible moment, forcing conflict between her and Wash and driving Carolina to make yet another mistake: the decision to time travel to save Wash, the catalyst for season 17.

This season has done some pretty decent damage control in that it has repaired Carolina and Wash’s relationship. Yet it’s still not allowing Carolina to move on from Freelancer. If we had to have a plot device that amplifies negative emotions, why not use Carolina’s more recent struggles, like the way her overprotectiveness and difficulty opening up even with people she loves led to her unintentionally hurting Wash?

There were warning signs, unfortunately. Wash’s time travel to the Freelancer era showed Carolina straight up refusing to speak to him, which… really isn’t something we ever saw Carolina do to her teammates in Freelancer. But despite Wash’s sympathy to Carolina in the present, Jason seems intent on driving home the point that she was unambiguously “mean” in the past. So I guess it’s no surprise that now we get to watch her feel bad about it some more.

In season 13, Carolina called the Reds and Blues her family, and expressed that she would do whatever it took to protect them.

In season 15, Carolina said she wondered if she’d missed her one chance at a fresh start, completely ignoring the fact that she’d already had one several seasons ago.

In past seasons, Carolina’s regrets led to her growing and changing. Now, recent seasons have reduced those regrets to static traits that never change. She was mean in the past (because with few exceptions, “ambitious woman who’s good at her job” is synonymous with “bitch” in RvB), and she’s going to feel bad about it forever. That’s it. That’s her character now. Past growth is discarded and ignored. We’ll continue to hammer on her past wrongs and her regret every single season, but she’s never going to be allowed to move on.

It's bad character writing. Yes, even if the plot provides a mechanic for it.

I’ve said this before, but Joe and Jason are not writing character arcs. They are simply remixing old character beats for Feels and then resetting the characters to status quo. We’ve seen it with Grif, and the same thing is happening with Carolina.

And furthermore, it really feels like a lot of these writing decisions stem from a very shallow impression of “what the fans like.” Fans like Wash angst, so hurt Wash for no reason. Fans didn’t like it when Wash and Carolina were close, so force some conflict, and when they make up be sure to inject a line about how they’re like siblings. Fans didn’t like Tucker being torn down in favor of Grif, so that must mean fans don’t like it when we pay attention to Grif.

Fans liked it when Carolina apologized and was emotional, so that means Carolina should always be feeling bad about something, all the time, regardless of context.

I don’t want or need Carolina to be in the spotlight. Like Wash, I feel at this point that she’s spent a good amount of time there, and it’s perfectly fine and good to let someone else have a turn. I’d be quite happy to see her just be one of the team—taking part in the story, but in a supporting role. She doesn’t need a dramatic new character arc. She just needs her past growth to be acknowledged. To matter in the present.

But to these writers, it doesn’t, because to them, characters don’t change.

This scene was undeniably emotional. But it is not growth. It is not, in this context, even particularly meaningful.

It’s just putting a character through the soulless gears of the Angst Machine.

It’s stagnation.

And if this is how Carolina is going to be written from now on, it just might be what makes me walk away for good.

[hygienecommercialcleaning]

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When hiring a commercial cleaning company, be sure to find a company with years of experience in similar settings. Cleaning techniques for different environments may vary, and this will affect the end result. Commercial cleaning is different than residential cleaning, which is usually more focused on home environments. If your space has high traffic, it is likely to require more aggressive cleaning techniques. Whether you need a commercial cleaning company to keep your space looking fresh, DCS can help.

Professional commercial cleaning companies carry a wide range of cleaning equipment and chemicals. Their scope of services will vary, but the basic tasks include general and routine cleaning, carpet cleaning, internal walls, and partition walls. Commercial cleaning may also involve the upkeep of furniture, lighting, kitchen and dining areas. Carpets are usually cleaned every one to two years, while exterior cleaning will include picking up litter and removing graffiti. So, what makes commercial cleaning companies so special?

Automated processes are rapidly becoming the norm for businesses. Automated marketing emails and scheduling tools are great examples of how automation can increase efficiency. By eliminating the need for human labor, these tools make cleaning easier and faster. Automated marketing emails also lead to better customer touchpoints. Another great example of automated technology in the cleaning industry is the use of scheduling tools that eliminate last-minute conflicts and reduce the risk of missing a task. These innovations will further improve the efficiency of the cleaning process and ultimately help business owners save money.

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[thescienceofequus]

By Sue McDonnell, PhD, Certified AAB - 8 March, 2018 | TheHorse.com

Q. A couple of “horsey” friends and I were trying to figure out why some of the facilities where we have boarded seem to really be upsetting to our horses. Has any research been done regarding the “likes and dislikes” of horses regarding their homes? I have owned my horse for almost 13 years (since he was two). In that time, we have lived/boarded in three different states and numerous boarding facilities. Some places were as small as 10 stalls, some as large as 60-plus.

Interestingly, there were a couple of smaller barns where my horse seemed very uncomfortable. These were quite nice facilities–spacious stalls, indoor arena. Yet my usually level-headed guy would “lose” it in these indoor arenas. He would become spookier than usual with things that would not ordinarily cause a big disruption. A friend’s horse (an aged gelding) got so nervous at one of the barns where we were stabled that he started to “stall walk.” He actually got some type of psoriasis (skin disease) and began rubbing so badly that hair came off. This was completely abnormal for this bomb-proof and mellow old guy.

I could go on, but we never did figure out what the problems were and eventually moved to another barn. Guess what? All of the unusual behavior ceased. No more spooking, stall walking, or psoriasis! Make any sense? Nothing changed as far as diet, etc. We came to the conclusion that there are some barns that some horses just are not comfortable in, but why?

A. What a great question about what is very likely a real phenomenon. I don’t know of any research addressing the issue. I have seen several cases like you describe, and we rarely figure out what might be bothering a particular horse on a particular farm. Quite often the most practical approach is just to move the horse back to where it was last comfortable, or to a similar setting. Since that often works, we usually leave it at that. So there always is the chance that something else might have been going on that spontaneously recovered coincidentally with the move. Nonetheless, here are some of the things we think about when it is not possible or practical to move a horse which appears to be unhappy in a new environment. I would love to hear from others.

Diet–Everything a horse eats has potential to affect behavior. The particular hay, the grain, and various additives, and certainly any of the ever-growing number of horse feed supplements can affect temperament and behavior. While we often think our horse is getting all the same diet when he moves, there likely are some differences. Many of the horses I see with these problems are fed multiple supplements. There are so many ingredients that we can’t even begin to systematically evaluate them. Often many of the supplements have been initiated in an effort to alleviate the problem. One current case is supplemented with 70-some different ingredients. My behavioral nutritionist colleagues just throw up their hands.

Sometimes we have concluded that it was the way a horse was fed that was problematic. Examples have been simple social competition and intimidation among horses in group feeding situations. Another simple problem can be that some horses appear to dislike eating from high hay racks, and will seem to eat less than when the hay is fed at floor level.

Electricity–Electric fencing and stray electricity around barns are not well studied in relation to horses. We have seen instances where electricity, either stray electricity or electric fencing, was suspected of causing spookiness in previously calm horses. I also sometimes wonder about equipment sounds that perhaps people don’t hear that might annoy a horse.

Horse social conditions–We really underestimate the impact of social interactions among horses on their behavior. We always expect everyone to fit in wherever we decide. Often they don’t.

Management history–Although it’s probably pretty rare, some horses seem to have difficulty moving from one particular type of management to another. For example, some horses which have been on a very rigid feeding and turn-out schedule might have difficulty adjusting to a less-rigid schedule. Some seem to thrive on variety, while others do better with a more rigid schedule.

Human-animal interaction style–There are research findings in cattle and pigs that the herdsman’s behavior and manner can affect all sorts of physiological and behavioral measures of well-being. One could argue that horses might be at even greater risk of such effects. Some barns seem to bring out problem behavior, and others tend to be very horse-friendly in this regard. I have a hard time being objective on this issue, because some barns drive me crazy, and I can’t help but anthropomorphize.

Neglect or abuse–It’s probably not as common as some people accuse, but we have known horses with behavior and health problems at new facilities where eventually we decided that inadequate care likely was related to the problem. For example, underfeeding or wildly erratic feeding schedules (large amounts one day, nothing for several days) often come up in such scenarios. Underfed horses might experience a phase of feeding-related aggression and/or nervousness and hyperactivity. They might begin to lunge, pin their ears, or turn and try to kick the feed bucket out of your hands. They might appear anxious when someone enters the barn–maybe start pacing or weaving at feeding time.

In one case like this, the barn folks explained that the horse had started to pace while they were feeding down the aisle. When they got to her stall, they “had to stand outside with the feed bucket and get after her to stop circling the stall.” She would get mad and lunge at the door. So then they “had to get into her till she stopped, and then keep her feed back for a couple days.” At each feeding time, they would “show her the feed and let her know she wasn’t getting any this time.” She never would quiet down, so after a couple days, they would chuck the bucket and feed over the top of the stall door, “just outa kindness.” My notes from this owner’s initial call read exactly “12-year-old mare, same owner for eight years, quiet, steady, sensible, good eater, always carried a little too much weight, moved three months ago, OK for a couple weeks, settling in, then got more nervous, started stall walking, losing weight, now thin. Beautiful new barn, clean, big stalls, excellent care, huge indoor arena, professional trainer on-site, best horses. Getting worse by the week, three vet calls, blood work, can’t find anything, barn getting tired of us, vet thinks it might be in her head, or maybe ulcers, are you an animal psychic?”

Whether or not we’ll ever figure out for sure what goes wrong with a particular horse in a particular barn, I think you’re right that a good match usually can be found. A little joke here is that we can cure most behavior problems with a little “tincture of E-field.” That’s because some of these cases of nervous, or wasting, or spooking, or stall-walking horses with histories like you describe have ended up being donated to our behavior teaching herd. Upon arrival they often hang-out in a pasture we call E-field. Within a couple weeks, the horses often are back to a state of normal contentment. They are gaining weight, looking sleek and shiny, and getting along with herd mates. Sometimes students only get to read about the “unhappy” horse.

E-field is nothing special. No hay, no grain, no supplements, no feeding schedule, no stalls, no indoor arena, no electricity, and often no close human-animal interaction for days. Just good grass, water, natural shade, and shelter

[vividracing]

New Post has been published on https://www.vividracing.com/blog/top-5-best-exhaust-systems-for-your-ford-f-150/

Top 5 Best Exhaust Systems for Your Ford F-150

The Ford F-150 is the flagship of the automaker’s commitment to building the best trucks around and represents its mission to exceed customer expectations in all facets. The Ford F-150 boasts incredible capability and functionality that seemingly gets better year after year. That being said, the latest, all-new Ford F-150 is the toughest and most productive one to date, not only towing more and hauling more than any other light-duty full-size pickup on the market, but also delivering more torque than ever before. With a truck that is so popular that it has been named the best-selling truck for more than 40 years, the Ford F-150 certainly reigns supreme, and for good reason. No matter if you have the V6 variant or the V8, you can still say you are driving America’s truck of choice.

As aforementioned, the new Ford F-150 has taken things to a whole new level in terms of power, performance, and overall capability. That being said, the aftermarket still houses a plethora of options to take it even further in terms of looks, sound, efficiency, and proven power gains. Upgrading the stock restrictive exhaust system can really elevate your driving experience and provide better airflow to deliver additional horsepower and torque while keeping fuel efficiency up. With so many options out there, it can be overwhelming when trying to decide what type of exhaust may be right for you. So, we here at Vivid Racing have compiled a list of the top 5 best systems for your Ford F-150 when it comes to the overall design, durability, exhaust note, and proven results. You can also browse all of our Ford F-150 exhaust products right here.

1. Stainless Works Redline Cat-Back Exhaust

Stainless Works is the industry leader in stainless-steel performance headers and exhaust systems that deliver on everything enthusiasts crave. The Stainless Works Redline Cat-Back Exhaust will transform the looks, sounds, performance, and overall aesthetic of your Ford F-150. The Redline series is designed to maximize the volume and tone of your truck’s engine, while still eliminating any annoying drone in the cabin. The exhaust note will get you, your passengers, and even passersby excited as soon as you give it some acceleration. If you are looking to get the most aggressive sound out of your ride, the Redline Series is here to deliver a scorching ride and a soundtrack that is more in tune with the tough nature of America’s truck.

This exhaust features large-diameter mandrel-bent pipes, dual mufflers, and dual 3-1/2-inch polished slash-cut tips at the ends. The smooth CNC mandrel bends optimize exhaust flow to deliver improved fuel efficiency along with power gains across the RPM band. This system has also been fully TIG welded for strength and beauty so you can enjoy it for long no matter where life takes you. The welded joints help to ensure a leak-free system and the overall solid steel construction resists rust so it can maintain its luster adventure after adventure. Fitment is to the factory connection point and the exit is at the factory location behind the rear tire. This system is built from corrosion-resistant 304 stainless steel and is intricately welded at Stainless Works’ state-of-the-art, facility in Streetsboro, Ohio.

Buy It Here! 

2. Kooks Stainless Steel Black Cat-Back Exhaust

The Kooks Stainless Steel Cat-Back Exhaust will let your Ford F-150 rev loud and proud through the trails and on the roads with newfound confidence. This system checks all of the boxes in a complete package that is simple to install and requires no drilling whatsoever. It is engineered with a high-flow muffler design and mandrel-bent pipes to emit a deep, aggressive exhaust note with minimal in-cab noise to keep you and your passengers comfortable. This single side-exit exhaust system with large black tips will not only sound the part but also look great on your truck and act as a bold highlight to show others that you mean business. Just wait until you actually get it going and step on the gas!

The Kooks Cat-Back Exhaust features a straight-through muffler design that facilitates continuous exhaust flow to boost your F-150’s power figures while maintaining great fuel efficiency. This exhaust will outflow the factory one, giving your truck a noticeable difference in overall performance and a driving experience like never before. It will also last for the long run, as Kooks manufactured this exhaust with corrosion-resistant 304 stainless-steel tubing without the restrictive folds and bends found in the stock system. The fully welded pipes in this system offer additional durability and the exhaust hangers secure it all in place to keep everything together even in more turbulent environments.

Buy It Here! 

3. MagnaFlow Street Series Black Cat-Back Exhaust

MagnaFlow exhausts will give your Ford F-150 additional horsepower and torque, improved fuel economy, and an overall meaner sound and aesthetic. The MagnaFlow Street Series Performance Cat-Back Exhaust Systems are specifically engineered to increase your truck’s performance while looking and sounding amazing. The Street Series system delivers dyno-proven power gains with a tantalizing exhaust note that stretches from the inside out. If you are looking for an exhaust that demands attention with a menacing presence that will intimidate the competition, MagnaFlow is one of the best in the business and this Street Series Performance Exhaust is sure to please. 

This exhaust system is proudly made in the USA from mandrel-bent 3-inch stainless-steel tubing for superior strength and corrosion resistance. It features straight-through Street Series mufflers and 3.5-inch black-coated, stainless-steel, middle side-exit exhaust tips. MagnaFlow exhausts are guaranteed to be less restrictive than the stock system to deliver additional horsepower and torque gains that you can feel. What’s more, this system’s free-flowing muffler will add a super aggressive, unmistakable sound to your F-150’s exhaust note that will transform your driving experience just the same.

Buy It Here! 

4. MBRP T304 Street Version Cat-Back Exhaust

To put it simply, MBRP’s Pro Series is the best performance exhaust system that money can buy. After all, there is no better stainless steel than T304 stainless steel and no better system than the MBRP’s Armor Pro (formerly called the Pro Series). This series was specifically designed and built for the serious enthusiast who refuses to settle for less. Constructed from T304 stainless steel, this cat-back exhaust delivers high levels of durability that keep it looking its best for longer. This exhaust is super simple to clean and maintain, and is the product of choice for owners of lifted vehicles, show trucks, and those who operate in severe environments. The fully sealed tubing design adds years of life to the system without having seams that are major points of rust with some budget exhausts on the market.

The MBRP T304 Street Version Cat-Back Exhaust is built to perform the way your F-150 intended. It was strategically designed to maximize exhaust flow and minimize exhaust temperatures so that your truck will use less gas, last longer, and perform even better than before. Every system sold by MBRP has been manufactured to the most exacting standards in the industry so you can rest assured that it will be a perfect fit and perform optimally. From the vehicle-specific muffler to the full mandrel-bent tubing and minimal bend degree angles, this system gets exhaust out fast and sounds incredible while pushing out the newfound power. MBRP believes that sound and appearance are just as important as performance benefits, and so this exhaust has been specifically tuned for your Ford F-150 truck.

Buy It Here! 

5. Pypes Race-Pro Black Cat-Back Exhaust 

Pypes has taken the aftermarket exhaust game to a whole new level with its affordable Race Pro Series. The Race-Pro Cat-Back Exhaust for the Ford F-150 is designed to offer a smooth, mellow exhaust tone that gives your truck a nice deep rumble upon acceleration. These systems will deliver enhanced performance and maximum flow by way of its mandrel-belt, stainless-steel piping. The mufflers, which emit an aggressive sound with a straight-through design, flow extremely well for high-power applications like your Ford truck. This exhaust features 3-inch T409 stainless steel 16-gauge mandrel-bent tubing and finishes off with 4.5-inch T304 stainless-steel dual-exit exhaust tips in a black powder-coating for added styling and corrosion protection.

The Pypes Race Pro Series is a testament to the brand’s reputation for having an effective design language paired with cutting-edge technology to provide a complete exhaust system with proven results. With its strategic design, this system generates a smoother and more consistent airflow to yield increased horsepower and torque that you can feel as soon as you step on the gas pedal. If you are looking for a budget-friendly exhaust system that will project a dignified exhaust note without being too obnoxious, all while delivering improved performance, Pypes Performance has what you need. On top of all that, it features a solid construction that won’t be easily damaged by exploring the off-roads and is a perfect fit to your truck without any modifications needed.

Buy It Here! 

[gutierrezjulian95]

Top 6 Most Dangerous, Expensive, Loyal, & Fascinating Dog Breeds

Calling them "guy's friend" might be a cliche, however no description is more apt to explain the relationship of people with these remarkable animals. Devoted, wise, protective, enjoyable and lively, canines have actually acted as guy's supreme buddy because time immemorial.

But one of my favourite is Lhasa Apso Dog Breed. More info is here - https://dogtrainingspace.com/lhasa-apso-dog-breed-information/

Did you understand that a pet's commitment to his master can reach massive, interesting levels? Yes, there are pet types which are incredibly devoted to their owners. What other "mosts" exist when it concerns these dogs which guy has thought about to be his buddy considering that time immemorial? How about the world's most costly pet dog reproduce? Or the most unsafe? Or you most likely are wishing to own a canine type which is thought about to be among the most interesting. Here, we will have a look at the world's most incredible pet types - and explain what is it precisely that makes them so impressive.

Counting Down the Leading 10 The Majority Of Remarkable Pet Types

If you're considering a type of pet to look after, it is excellent to have a concept about what its character is, its particular and what makes it distinct. [Owning a Canine] To assist you out, we will have a countdown of the leading 10 most fantastic pet types - varying from the most unsafe, devoted, interesting, costly and popular types that you can purchase. 1. Doberman Pinscher Difference: Among the most unsafe pet dog types on the planet. With their compact and high bodies, dark color and alert ears, it is simple to see why the Doberman Pinscher as a pet dog type is thought about to be among the most unsafe pet types worldwide. Just described as Doberman, this canine type stemmed from Germany. Typically, a domesticated Doberman is loyal, alert and smart. They will be especially devoted to you and aggressive towards complete strangers if you own this pet dog type. They likewise do not like competition with other canines. What makes looking after a Doberman pinscher especially unsafe is when the owners do not have assistance, subject them to abuse or if not sufficient attention is provided to them - upon which they can end up being harmful, incredibly aggressive and dominant. [Pet dog Habits] 2. German Shepherd Difference: Among the most harmful pet dog types worldwide. Another German type of canine which is thought about to be among the most hazardous worldwide is the German Shepherd. Unlike the Dobermans, this type of dog does not have an especially enormous appearance due to the fact that they have a long coat and an usually mild-looking face. They are incredibly smart, loyal and strong, which is most likely the factor why most cops and military facilities use them as guard canines. Another attribute of the German Shepherds that makes them especially harmful is their aggressiveness towards smaller sized pet dog types. 3. Rottweiler Difference: Among the most unsafe pet dogs worldwide. Did you understand that Rottweiler is likewise referred to as Butcher canine? This canine type ranks 3rd in our list of the most hazardous canine types on the planet. They are energetic, durable and smart animals. The important things that makes Rottweiler - and any pet type for that matter - end up being harmful is when they undergo abuse and overlook. When it comes to socializing with people or other animals, they likewise end up being a risk to the neighborhood if they do not have adequate training. In addition, Rottweilers are aggressive towards other pets of the very same sex. They may likewise show aggressive habits towards them if you have felines and birds in the home. 4. Canine Type: Samoyed Difference: Among the most pricey pets worldwide. Next, we will have a look at a few of the most pricey pet types on the planet. This 'high-end' pet dog type has a cost varying from around $3,000 to $8,000. What makes the Samoyed type especially pricey is the truth that they are amongst the ancient pet dog types that have actually been around for the last 3 centuries. There are likewise a decreasing variety of Samoyed canine breeders which is another reason that an owner requires to pay a leg and an arm to call this canine type his/her buddy. 5. English Bulldog or British Bulldog Difference: Among the most costly pets on the planet. How would you feel about owning a pet dog type which is likewise owned by the British royals? In the United States in particular, British or english bulldogs are both costly and popular. This type of canine is likewise preferred by a great deal of males who see the type as being a sign of masculinity and persistence. If you're considering a type of pet to purchase and you want to spend the cash for it, then you may also choose among the most pricey and popular pet dog types on the planet - the British or English bulldog. A common English bulldog young puppy can cost you anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000. 6. Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Difference: Among the most costly canines worldwide. To top off our list of the most pricey canine types, there is the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

which can cost anywhere from $800 to about $3,500 for a pup. What makes the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel unique and costly is that they are the supreme meaning of a male's buddy. When you take a look at their puppy-dog eyes, their abundant coats and their little, compact bodies, it is simple to see why anyone would wish to invest a considerable quantity of cash simply to be able to own a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel young puppy.

[orbemnews]

Let’s Talk Policy Top policymakers and business leaders will assemble virtually next week for the DealBook DC Policy Project, to discuss the future of politics, the economy, markets and more. Register here to join us, from anywhere in the world, free of charge. Policy prescriptions With a new administration in place in Washington, the real work — and debate — about policy priorities begins in earnest. We’ve assembled some of the most influential players in that conversation to join us as part of a two-day event, the DealBook DC Policy Project, that starts on Monday. Between a health crisis and a related economic downturn, there are crucial policy questions about the way forward. And it’s not just about the stimulus needed to reboot the economy in the short term, but the policies necessary to create a sustainable and durable recovery. Everything from taxes to labor, trade, competition and markets is on the table. This project began in December with a series of round-table conversations with experts about climate policy, U.S.-China relations, the future of capitalism and more. Starting on Monday, we’re going to drill down on specifics with a series of decision makers to understand how they think about the most pressing challenges we face. My hope is that there will be lessons to take away from the sessions that advance the national conversation and make us all think a bit more deeply about our role in creating solutions. The agenda is below. I hope you can join us. Monday, Feb. 22, 9 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the road to recovery The path out of the pandemic is paved with debt. On top of the $1.9 trillion economic aid plan that is working its way through Congress, the White House is raising the prospect of another big spending package focused on infrastructure. Although the economy is recovering faster than expected, it remains fragile and uneven. Navigating this path is Janet Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair who took over as Treasury secretary last month. She faces pressure to reduce the deficit that ballooned during the worst of the pandemic downturn and to address fears that aggressive spending could stoke inflation as pent-up demand is unleashed. In addition to getting the economy back on its feet, Ms. Yellen’s to-do list includes reviewing the deregulation of Wall Street under former President Donald J. Trump, resetting U.S. trade relations and incorporating inclusivity, the climate and other priorities into policymaking in a more comprehensive way than has been attempted before. Further reading: “The Daily” did a deep dive on Ms. Yellen’s biography, and how her background informs her thinking about why “the smartest thing we can do is act big,” as she said at her confirmation hearing. Monday, Feb. 22, 2:30 P.m. – 3 P.m. Attorney General Letitia James of New York on the power of accountability Letitia James has more high-profile cases and investigations on her plate today than most lawyers will manage in a lifetime. The way she uses her power also highlights how states can shape national policy. The New York state attorney general sued Amazon this week, accusing it of failing to protect warehouse workers amid the pandemic, undaunted by the company’s pre-emptive suit to block the charges. Her recent inquiry into nursing home deaths exposed the fact that New York had severely underreported the numbers. Her office is also taking on the New York Police Department over its handling of racial justice protests last year and is investigating fraud in Donald Trump’s business dealings in a civil suit that may become a criminal matter. She is suing the National Rifle Association and its leadership over claims of misconduct. She is leading a coalition of state attorneys general taking on Facebook, accusing the tech giant of illegally crushing competition. And yesterday, she also joined with other A.G.s to urge Congress to cancel federal student loan debt in the name of consumer protection. And that is just the short list. Further reading: When Ms. James was elected in 2018, she shattered a trio of racial and gender barriers: the first woman in New York to be elected attorney general, the first Black woman to be elected to statewide office and the first Black person to serve as attorney general. Monday, Feb. 22, 3:30 P.m. – 4 P.m. Ed Bastian of Delta on the future of travel Last year was “the toughest year in Delta’s history,” according to Ed Bastian, the airline’s chief executive. The carrier reported a loss of more than $12 billion as travel ground to a halt during the pandemic. But unlike its rivals, Delta has been able to avoid mass furloughs, and it turned down a bailout loan, opting instead to raise money by tapping its loyalty program. In addition to feeling the pandemic’s economic effects, the airline industry is at the center of health policy debates, like one over making masks mandatory, which airlines have welcomed, and another over requiring coronavirus tests before travel, which they have resisted for domestic flights. The industry over all is shedding more than $150 million each day, and it won’t turn around meaningfully until high-margin business travel picks up. But some experts say corporate travel may never fully recover, with in-person meetings permanently replaced by video conferences. Further reading: “Leadership is not a popularity contest,” Mr. Bastian told our Corner Office columnist, in a wide-ranging interview about managing the company through booms and busts. Monday, Feb. 22, 4 P.m. – 4:30 P.m. Steve Ballmer of USAFacts on stimulus by the numbers Since stepping down as Microsoft’s chief executive in 2014, Steve Ballmer has kept busy as the N.B.A.’s most energetic team owner. He has also founded USAFacts, a nonprofit group dedicated to presenting crucial data about the United States in easy-to-read formats. The idea behind the group, whose projects include a yearly scorecard for the U.S. modeled on corporate annual reports, is to give Americans the important facts about their government that they need to make informed political decisions. Working with academics and other experts, Mr. Ballmer’s group aims, in his words, to “figure out what the government really does” with taxpayers’ money. Further reading: Where $3.4 trillion in economic relief — the equivalent of $10,300 for every American — has been spent over the past year. Tuesday, Feb. 23, 12:30 P.m. – 1 P.m. Karen Lynch of CVS Health on the vaccine rollout Karen Lynch took over CVS Health this month as the pharmacy chain takes center stage in efforts to fight the pandemic. It is working with the government to distribute the coronavirus vaccine in its stores, as well as in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. To aid in those efforts, the company hired 15,000 employees at the end of last year. President Biden has warned of “gigantic” logistical hurdles to the rollout. CVS, which could add $1 billion in profit over the next year from the program, also aims to reach underserved communities, which have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Further reading: The job market for pharmacists is booming as chains rush to staff up to handle demand for vaccinations. Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2:30 P.m. – 3 P.m. Vlad Tenev of Robinhood and Jay Clayton, former S.E.C. chairman, on the markets Nothing captured Wall Street’s attention more in recent weeks than meme-stock mania, as the video game retailer GameStop and other unlikely companies briefly became the hottest things in the markets. At the center of the frenzy was the online brokerage Robinhood, which has attracted millions of users with commission-free trades but drew outrage among its users when it halted trading in GameStop and other stocks at the height of the mania. Vlad Tenev, a Robinhood co-founder and its chief executive, has been thrust into the spotlight. He faced hours of hostile questioning at a congressional hearing on Thursday about Robinhood’s business practices, which brought attention to normally obscure things like payment for order flow, clearinghouse deposit requirements and the timing of trade settlements. Mr. Tenev has called for changes to some of those practices while defending others. Joining him is Jay Clayton, the veteran Wall Street lawyer who led the Securities and Exchange Commission during the Trump administration. From the beginning of his tenure, Mr. Clayton said that his mission was protecting “the long-term interests of the Main Street investor.” To that end, the commission cracked down on cryptocurrency frauds on his watch. What the S.E.C. does now — if anything — to address another potential episode of meme-stock turmoil (or something like it) is open to debate. (Mr. Clayton has since rejoined corporate America, becoming the lead independent director of Apollo Global Management.) Further reading: Citadel Securities is a shadowy firm that handles more than a quarter of all stock trading in the U.S. (including a large share of Robinhood’s trades), making it a key player in debates about the future of market structure. Tuesday, Feb. 23, 5:30 P.m. – 6 P.m. Senator Mitt Romney on finding common ground In stark contrast to many of his party colleagues, Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, crossed party lines to vote to convict President Donald Trump on articles of impeachment, twice. Mr. Romney also recently proposed a family benefit program that would provide monthly payments of up to $350 per child, which was met with approval from many Democrats. It compared favorably to a plan from President Biden. Although some have accused him of a being a Republican in name only, Mr. Romney is in fact politically conservative and works with members on the right wing of his party. He is drafting a bill with Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas that would raise the minimum wage while forbidding businesses to hire undocumented immigrants. This is typical of Mr. Romney’s approach, insofar as it speaks to concerns on both sides of the aisle. Source link Orbem News #Lets #Policy #talk

[akashs123]

Touchscreen Controller Market 2020 By Identifying the Key Market Segments Poised for Strong Growth in Future 2022

Market Research Future published a research report on “Touchscreen Controller Market Research Report- Forecast to 2022” – Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2022.

Market Overview

Global Touchscreen Controller Market, according to the report by Market Research Future (MRFR), is expected to reach a substantial market valuation of USD 10 billion by the end of 2022 with a moderate 16% CAGR during the forecast period (2016-2022).

Drivers and Restraints

The critical driving factors contributing to the growth of the Touchscreen Controller Market are the growing demand for smart electronic devices, the rising demand for the touch screens by numerous automotive manufacturers to offer GPS facility and other entertainment facilities, increasing trends of wearable devices, and an improved market for capacitive technology. Moreover, the increasing growth of, internet of things across the globe and touch screen devices are used in the education sector could create growth opportunities for the producers of touch screen controllers. The factors limiting the growth of the market are technological complications in collecting data and false triggering of switches, particularly in smaller touch screen devices.

Get More Details of Report @ https://www.abnewswire.com/pressreleases/covid19-impact-on-touch-screen-controllers-market-2020-global-size-development-strategy-revenue-analysis-regional-trends-future-plans-segmentation-and-forecast-to-2022_487917.html

Segments:

The Touchscreen Controller Market has been segmented with respect to technology, interface, application, and end-users.

The type-based market segments identified in the report include resistive as well as capacitive controller.

The interface-wise segments covered in the report are USB, I2C, SPI, and URT.

Various applications of touch screen controllers are GPS devices, media players, smartphones, control displays, and more.

The different end-users inundating the global market are automotive, healthcare, industrial, consumer electronics, and banking, among others. Between these, the automotive segment managed to take the lead in the market.

Competitive Analysis

The opportunity costs in the market are not elevated and are beneficial to progress in the market. The benefits to the economy from the development of the market are high. The current economic climate is promoting stable development in the market by favorable availability of resources. The market has accomplished a superior stride in the past couple of years, which is underscored by the events with regards to valuation. The increase in sponsors in the market plays an essential role in the progress of the market. The reduction in the barriers to trade is anticipated to embody cutting-edge areas for expansion in the approaching years. The profit generation streams in the market are optimized to yield maximum benefits in the coming years. The alternatives present for growth in the market are lucrative to long term growth of the market. The market is well-armed to find the way throughout the unstable tides, unforeseen turmoil, and unexplored waters in the international economy. The augmentation of the resources important to endure competition has enhanced broadly directed to a top development rate of the market.

The key players of global touch screen controllers report include NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Netherlands), ELAN Microelectronic Corp (Taiwan), Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (U.S.), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (South Korea) , Texas Instruments Incorporated (U.S.), Analog Devices, Inc (U.S.), STMicroelectronics (Switzerland), Broadcom Corporation (U.S.), MELFAS Co. Ltd (Korea), Synaptics Incorporated (U.S.) and others.

Market Research Future Analysis

Asia Pacific (APAC), North America, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Europe are the leading markets for touch screen controllers across the globe.

With the largest share, APAC has clinched the top position in the touch screen controllers market. The most profitable markets in the region are Japan, India, and China, on account of the rapid advancements in industrial automation, growing investments in the manufacturing sector and the rising integration of advance systems with touchscreens. The upward trajectory of the demand for consumer electronics makes a huge difference in the touch screen controller market in the region. Also, the rising popularity of smartwatches in China and the subsequent increase in its demand is set to give a considerable boost to the market growth in the ensuing years.

North America can show steady progress in the years ahead, with the United States (U.S) being one of the leading manufacturers of touch screen controllers. North America is an expansive market for tablets, ultrabooks and notebooks. With the continuous launch of tablets, the regional market for laptops has undergone a major transformation. With the rising emphasis on integrating touch screens on desktops and laptops, the computing dynamics are subjected to massive change for renowned developers such as HP, Apple, Lenovo, Dell, to name a few. The accelerated demand for ultrabooks in the laptop market in order to cater to the tablet phenomenon has prompted well-known companies like Acer, Dell, Samsung, to release their own line of touch screen laptops. The emergence of new technologies such as these can help the touch screen controller market size expand aggressively in the next couple of years in North America.

In Europe, the rising use of touchscreen in automobiles, surge in consumer electronics applications like tablets, smartphones, wearable devices, laptops, and others is inducing significant market growth. The surge in innovation along with the mounting demand for advanced touchscreens also helps the market note massive development within the region.

Get Complete Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/touch-screen-controllers-market-2352

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1 GLOBAL TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLERS MARKET, BY TECHNOLOGY

TABLE 2 GLOBAL TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLERS MARKET, BY INTERFACE

TABLE 3 GLOBAL TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLERS MARKET, BY APPLICATION

TABLE 4 GLOBAL TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLERS MARKET, BY END-USERS

TABLE 5 GLOBAL TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLERS MARKET, BY REGIONS

TABLE 6 NORTH AMERICA TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLERS MARKET, BY COUNTRY

TABLE 7 NORTH AMERICA TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLERS MARKET, BY TECHNOLOGY

TABLE 8 NORTH AMERICA TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLERS MARKET, BY INTERFACE

TABLE 9 NORTH AMERICA TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLERS, MARKET BY APPLICATION

TABLE 10 NORTH AMERICA TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLERS MARKET, BY END-USERS

TABLE 11 EUROPE TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLERS MARKET, BY COUNTRY

Continued…

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[thestickchick]

It's not easy to get started in the martial arts as a grownup. If you're an adult who never trained, or someone who trained as a child but dropped martial arts training and want to pick it up again later in life, it's confusing and difficult to know how to start.

Where should I train? What style should I train? What's the "best" thing to learn for self defense? For women? For old people? Around injury? What style will help me get physically fit?

I wrote this guide so my answers to these questions are all in once place, as an attempt to help all of you grownups out there wanting to get started in the martial arts but have no idea how to begin.

You see, I was you once.

This is a long post, so grab a coffee or tea and settle in.

I hope this helps.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO TRAIN IN THE FIRST PLACE?

This is an important question only you can answer. This is the key to every consideration when choosing a school and a style.

The most common reasons people seek out martial arts training are for self defense and for physical fitness. These are not the only legitimate reasons to train, mind you, just the common ones.  

Other reasons might be to gain self confidence, to learn physical and mental discipline, to socialize and make friends (especially when you have just relocated to a new place), and to resume training after a long break. Or hey, you've always thought that martial artists were cool and wanted to be one.  Or it just looks like a heck of a lot of fun.

Arnis sticks, six foot long sticks, five foot long sticks, ropey whacksticks...

All of those are legitimate and fine reasons to train.

List your reasons for wanting to train in order of importance.  Literally, write it down.

Ask yourself if competition is important to you, or not, or if it's even something you want to avoid.  Many martial arts schools participate in tournaments, and some require it, and some don't. Include your answer to this question on your list.

Maybe you want to train with a child, together, as a family activity. Maybe you don't but you're fine with kids or teens being in the same class with adults. Or maybe you want to only train with other grownups, and not have any kids around. This is an important consideration, so put this on your list.

Write down your budget for training. The general costs of training vary widely depending on the school and locale and what's included in training, so I can't give you a great guide here. I can tell you, in my area of Texas, training typically runs about $50-90 USD for rec center programs (and may include uniforms, some equipment) and I've seen up to $200 USD for unlimited access at private martial arts schools. We'll get into fee schedules a little later, but make sure you have an idea of your budget before you move forward.

And finally, are you sure you want to train in the martial arts?

Do you understand what martial arts are all about? Here's how I define the term:

The difference in strategic choices and decisions is what makes one style different than another.  These strategic choices include (but aren't limited to):

Striking and kicking and grappling

Fighting with/against weapons empty handed, or armed

Aggressive action to inflict maximum damage or passive action to redirect or inflict as little harm as possible

There is one big "yeah but" style that often comes up, and that's tai chi.  Make no mistake, if taught as a martial art, it totally is a martial art. But it is possible to learn the style as an exercise pattern only and not see or apply the martial applications found there.

Yes, there are differences in how violence is though about and practiced, and sure, there's plenty of martial arts performance out there that isn't intended for fighting at all. Look up "XMA Weapons" for a great example of this. But make no mistake, it is all grounded in violence.

If you train, you'd better.

You can get many of the benefits of the martial arts in other activities, including sports, yoga, and Crossfit and other exercise programs.  So be sure that you're okay with violence before you start training in the martial arts.

Other than being comfortable with violence, don't overthink the whole "this style is better than that style" debates we get into.  When you are just getting started, style isn't terribly important, and there's no such time as wasted time in the martial arts.  No matter what you study, you will learn something useful.  You can gain experience and then change to something else that suits you better later, if you like.

Another differentiation is the training culture.  Is it derived from a specific culture (China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Brasil, etc.) or not? Fans of a specific culture often end up training in that culture's martial arts systems.  If you have an affinity for one of those cultures, it may influence your choices.

WHAT'S AVAILABLE IN YOUR AREA?

When getting started, this is your most practical consideration. The truth is, you're most likely to stick with training that is convenient for you to attend. You do have a life - job, family, and other hobbies and commitments - that you have to manage as well as martial arts training. There's no point in making it hard on yourself when you're first starting out.

You should consider areas around home, around work, along your normal commute, and around any other place you spend a lot of time (such as a church, or a child's activity at a recreation center). Unless you live in a very rural area, I'd recommend searching within 10-15 minute commute of home, and 5-10 minute commute of work. If you do live in a rural area, you need to expand your search a bit as you tend to have longer commute times to train.

Using a tool like Google Maps, search for "martial arts" in your target areas, and make a list of all the schools you find and what they say they teach that meet the location criteria. Save their contact information in your list (address, phone, web address, and email address).

Wait, does that sign say... karate?

If they have it posted, also write down the cost(s) of training (some will, some won't). This will be an important consideration later.

Find out the class schedule of each school on your list. Note if they adult classes or not. This may be posted on the school's web site and social media sites like Facebook, but they may not be, and you'll have to contact them to find out more.

Note - many schools have early morning and mid-day classes. That's why a school near your work place might be ideal for you.

Eliminate any schools that don't fit into your schedule. That is, if Sensei Joe's Karate Emporium only meets on Wednesdays and Fridays, and that's when Junior has basketball half the year, that might not be the best choice for you starting out.

As an aside:  if you end up having to take months-long yearly breaks for things like sports seasons it is very difficult to make long-term progress. It's not impossible, but very difficult, and in my experience, people who have to do this end up not returning to train. So keep this in mind.

If you decided you wanted to only train with adults, eliminate any schools that do not have adults-only classes.

Be sure to check out the martial arts program at your local recreation center, community center, or YMCA/YWCA. These can be very good, high quality programs at a reasonable price. The big plus with these programs is that they often have child care available during class. This is very important if you have very small children at home.

One alternate way to find places to train is via sites like Meetup.com and on Craigslist. Small, less formal or new training groups often promote themselves this way, and their classes may be in public parks or in backyards or garages (and sometimes the fees for training are minimal or even free). This does not make them any less legitimate than schools in rec centers or in stand-alone facilities, but they tend to vary in quality.

One other idea - if you just can't find a schedule that suits you, and everything else checks out, inquire about private lessons.  They usually cost more but you'll train one-on-one and get a lot more work done in class than in a group setting.  Sometimes a couple of students can get together and buy private lessons instead of group classes.

A NOTE ABOUT ONLINE (VIRTUAL) DOJOS: I do not believe that an inexperienced person can train online-only and become proficient at the martial arts. So I can't give you advice there, as I think it's a waste of money for people new to the martial arts.

VISIT THE SCHOOLS

Time to visit each of the schools on your list.

You should attend one or two sessions of the actual class you are planning to attend. That is, don't go see the Little Tigers class for toddlers as it will not look anything like the class you'll be taking. You will also want to make an appointment to speak to the owner/instructor/leader of the group.  Sometimes this has to be at a different time than class time due to how schedules work.

If it takes the instructor a long time to get back to you via phone/email (24-48 hours) that may be a bad sign.

Note the condition of the place you'll train. Generally speaking, you have the right to expect cleanliness, orderliness, and for it to not smell like dirty feet. It may smell sweaty like a gym, but not acrid.  Equipment should be in good repair.

Make sure to go to the bathroom. It should be clean and well maintained.  HYGIENE is super important in martial arts training and the facilities should be promoting this.

Remember your list of why you want to train?  Now's the time to look for those things. Some things to look for include:

If it's for self defense, do they do or talk about things related to that topic? Many schools promote themselves as being about self defense but don't actually teach it.  Do they understand the legal constraints around self defense where they are located (for example - if they teach someone to kick a bad guy in the head after throwing them down, that's a huge red flag, as that's illegal in many jurisdictions).

If it's for physical fitness, do they do exercises as part of the class, and do the students/instructor look physically fit? Schools very serious about physical fitness will often have workout equipment in the school, such as bar bells or other tools. If you see that stuff around, that bodes very well for it being a school with an emphasis on physical fitness.

If it's for mental and physical discipline, does the class look organized and focused, or is everyone sort of doing their own things willy-nilly? Adult classes are often a little less formal than kids classes, but people should still be quiet when the instructor is teaching, not wandering around, and working on what they're supposed to be working on instead of chatting.

If you want to train weapons, do you see any in the room? The particular class you are attending may or may not be working with them that day, but will typically have some displayed around the room.

Do the students look bored, or are they engaged and having fun?

Can you picture yourself on the mat, doing what the people there are doing?

Sweet nunchuck skills? Check.

At your instructor meeting, tell the instructor what's important to you, and listen to their answers. Do they answer your questions directly, or do they avoid them? Are they honest about what they do, or do they try to claim they are all things to all people?  Do they listen to your questions, or do they talk over you?

I think these are big red flags:

If they claim "It's better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6" or claim that legalities don't matter in self defense. This person is clueless and will get you in trouble.

If they spend a lot of time putting down other schools or styles. It's not about the downsides of other styles, it's about the upsides of theirs. To me, that suggests a struggling school with an insecure instructor.

Lineage issues: not willing to name who taught him/her, claims to have been taught by a mysterious Asian master as a small child (the name of the master might not even be remembered), created own style after earning a black belt rank as a child.

Not being up front about training fees and charges

It is also a good idea to search the instructor's name online, and see what you find. Is there anything out there that bothers you?

Trust your gut. If the instructor doesn't seem "right", and you're not sure if you can like or trust that person, don't pay money for the privilege of spending time with the guy, no matter how objectively "good" he might be.  Trust is important in the martial arts, and if the instructor doesn't seem trustworthy, your training will suffer no matter what.

At the school visit/instructor meeting you should also get a full accounting of fees and charges. If there is a trial class offered, get the costs BEFORE that class if possible.  There is no point to a trial class if you can't afford it.

DO attend that trial class if the costs are reasonable to you.

FEES AND CHARGES

These may include:

Monthly training fee. There may or may not be a contract, and it may be for so many hours of training time a week/month. This may be tiered, offering more hours training for a higher fee schedule.  Make sure to read the entire contract, if there is one, and understand the fees and and penalties if you end up leaving early.

Testing and/or belt fees.  A belt fee, to cover the cost of the belt and rank certificate (if your school has belt ranks), is very common, often in the $20-30 USD range. Other testing fees vary widely, depending on the organization/school/style. It is not unusual for it to be a higher cost for higher ranks. This often includes the cost for board members to attend the test.

Mat fees.  This is often the drop-in fee for training outside of normal classes, during "open mat" sessions or charged to visitors to train.

Equipment fees: the cost of training/demo weapons, if needed, plus other school-wide equipment, like exercise equipment, striking bags, rolling dummies, etc.  Equipment (like bo, tai chi swords, etc.) is usually purchased through the school.

Uniform fees.  Required uniforms, such as gi/dobok and other things like shoes or protective equipment for sparring. Also for shirts/shorts, rash guards, etc.  Often this is purchased through the school like equipment.

Before you sign up, make sure you understand all fees, what they are used for, and when they are incurred.

Yeah, sometimes.

There is no rule of thumb as to what's "reasonable" or what isn't. A low-fee school might be the best one in town. Or it could be that you get what you pay for, and the highest fee school is the best. The most important consideration in terms of cost is that it fits your budget.

Now you have enough information to actually step on a mat.

PICK A SCHOOL

The school you should choose is the one with the fee schedule you can afford, offering classes convenient to you and your schedule, that is clean and hygienic, has an instructor that doesn't skeeve you out, and meets your initial reasons for training, whatever they are.

Now it's time for the hard part.

Stepping on the mat.

Yes, fellow grown-up, it's not easy to step on the mat the first time.  You feel out of your element, kinda shy, a little scared, and afraid that you'll look like an idiot.  You'll be afraid your personal hygiene isn't up to snuff. You're worried that you'll hurt someone, someone will hurt you, or worst of all, you'll hurt yourself.

That's all normal and some of those things - especially looking like an idiot - will be absolutely true.

Been here, done this. But not as well.

You're a newbie.  Newbies know nothing, are often pretty clumsy, and often look like idiots.

It's all right.

You've joined the fellowship of people who get bruises for funsies, the folks who get put into a painful position and grin and say, "Do that again!".  Every one of us, at one time, were newbies too. Train for a while, and you'll be the one helping the newer crop of newbies and assuring them that everything is all right.

Starting training for the first time at age 39 was the best decision I ever made. I had zero martial arts experience other than watching my kid yell "KIAAAA!" and break a board on tests. I started training to get more physically active after I realized I am gonna get old and it was gonna suck if I didn't change my ways. I went to the same school my daughter and husband were in when I started, in a martial arts style I do not train in today.  I've changed schools, cities, and styles, and have kept training since 2008.

I went from "maybe I'll try this punch-kicking thing as an alternate to gym" to weapon-oriented martial arts instructor (who knew, right? I certainly didn't!).  I belong to the tribe, and you will, too.

Welcome!

[sciencespies]

Here's how 6 countries are stepping up to meet the Paris climate goals

https://sciencespies.com/environment/heres-how-6-countries-are-stepping-up-to-meet-the-paris-climate-goals/

Here's how 6 countries are stepping up to meet the Paris climate goals

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

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World leaders are gathering in New York for Monday’s Climate Action Summit. The summit’s goal, according to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, is to encourage countries to get serious about climate change.

“Don’t come with a speech,” Guterres has warned. “Come with a plan.”

So far, international efforts have fallen short. Four years after the Paris climate accord was inked, countries’ promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions remain too weak to meet the agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. By the end of the century, temperatures are expected to rise by 3.2 degrees compared to preindustrial times if current policies aren’t strengthened, according to a new estimate from the Climate Action Tracker.

But that doesn’t mean countries haven’t made any progress. A handful of nations have managed to drive down their emissions—and some have made great strides in specific areas.

Now, experts say, it’s time for everyone to up their game when they submit their next round of climate commitments in 2020. (You can follow the latest Paris pledges at the World Resources Institute’s Climate Watch.)

As the summit kicks off, here’s a look at six countries that have already taken meaningful action on climate change, and how they did it.

India

India ranks second in the world in population and third in greenhouse gas emissions (fourth if you count the European Union as a single country). But it is also at the top of two other lists: it is one of the few countries on track to fulfill its climate pledge under the Paris agreement, and one of fewer still whose commitment is consistent with holding warming to 2 degrees C.

Much of India’s success is due to its enthusiastic embrace of solar energy.

In 2010, the country established the National Solar Mission, which set out to add 20 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2022. The country surpassed that goal back in 2018 and is now set to exceed its Paris pledge to supply 40% of the nation’s energy needs with non-fossil-fuel power by 2030.

India accomplished this by implementing a range of pro-solar policies, like mandating that utilities purchase solar energy, and by launching programs to expand off-the-grid solar power, bringing electricity to many villages in the process.

Plummeting prices for solar panels have greased the wheels, as has the low cost of labor in India. The government also helped by auctioning off contracts, creating competition among developers. These factors have combined to make India’s solar power the cheapest in the world.

India has more work to do, experts say. Most of its electricity still comes from coal-fired plants, and the country continues to commission new ones, albeit fewer than it planned a few years ago, before the solar explosion. But observers say it is a model for incentivizing the rapid spread of renewables.

Other countries leading the way in expanding renewable energy are Morocco, Germany, Japan and the U.S. – particularly California.

Norway

Like the other Scandinavian countries, Norway takes climate change seriously. It has committed to reducing its emissions 40% by 2030 and aims to reach “net zero” emissions by 2050. But Norway’s biggest claim to fame is its aggressive effort to clean up its transportation sector.

As of 2017, electric cars and plug-in hybrids accounted for half of the new cars sold in the country. And in March of this year, electric cars alone made up almost 60% of new car sales. By 2025, the government wants that number to be 100%.

“They have been way out ahead,” said Taryn Fransen, a senior fellow in the global climate program at the World Resources Institute.

The government provides generous incentives for electric vehicles, such as waiving some of its famously high taxes and providing owners with plenty of perks, like electric-only parking lots in cities. Norway has also invested in vehicle charging infrastructure and supplies most of its electricity with clean hydropower.

To meet its climate goals, however, the country will have to grapple with its industrial emissions and wean its economy away from oil, a leading export.

China has also invested heavily in low-carbon transportation. By sheer numbers, it is the largest electric car market in the world, and it owns 99% of the world’s electric buses. There, the motivation is partly to clean up urban air quality and spur domestic innovation.

California deserves a nod too, said Niklas Hoehne, a partner at the New Climate Institute, one of the organizations behind the Climate Action Tracker.

The rest of the world will benefit from the leadership of these governments, Hoehne said: With this new demand, “technology becomes cheaper, and other countries can follow suit.”

United Kingdom

Among developed countries, many experts point to the United Kingdom as a leader. Its greenhouse gas emissions have declined steadily since 1990, and they have now fallen by more than 40% – to levels not seen since the turn of the 20th century. That’s more than enough to do its part to meet the European Union’s commitment under the Paris accord.

What really sets the U.K. apart, however, is its robust climate policy. “It’s one thing to have a target, and it’s another thing to have a legislative framework to achieve it,” Fransen said.

In 2008, the U.K. passed the Climate Change Act, a sweeping law that set the country on a path toward decarbonizing its economy. It included a suite of policies, from phasing out coal to strengthening efficiency standards for buildings.

Perhaps the most important thing about the law, experts say, is that it sets both short-term and long-term emissions reduction targets. It also created an independent scientific commission to determine what those goals should be and evaluate the country’s progress.

“That’s why it’s stable over different governments,” Hoehne said.

Indeed, despite the considerable political chaos the U.K. has endured in recent years, its climate ambitions have not wavered. In fact, this year the country passed a measure requiring its emissions to reach net zero by 2050—making it the first nation with a legally binding commitment to do so. That would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, Hoehne said.

“There is an end to fossil fuels in the U.K. and everybody can now plan with this vision,” he said.

As always, there are areas where the country could improve, he said. Emissions from cars rose last year, and some say the government isn’t doing enough to promote renewable energy.

Gambia

Gambia is a small country, and it has played almost no role in contributing to climate change. For perspective, Los Angeles emits more in a few months than the entire nation of Gambia does in a year.

But like many poor countries, the West African nation stands to suffer in a warming world because of sea level rise, drought and other stresses. And it is already dealing with its own development challenges; about half of its population lives in poverty.

The plight of developing nations—and the difficulties they face in decarbonizing quickly—has been a sticking point in international climate negotiations since they began in the 1990s. There is now general agreement that poor countries should not be held to the same benchmark as rich ones, which must swiftly reduce their emissions to zero to meet the goals of the Paris accord. Instead, each country should be expected to do its fair share to address the problem.

In the case of Gambia, “what is considered fair for them is to still increase their emissions a little bit, and that’s what they are proposing,” Hoehne said.

In its Paris pledge, Gambia has committed to slowing the rate at which its emissions will rise. By 2030, they will be 2.7% lower than they would have been in a business-as-usual scenario.

Even with its emissions increasing, Gambia is one of only a few countries whose plans are consistent with holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to the Climate Action Tracker. (Morocco and the U.K. are other leaders.)

A 20-megawatt solar power facility is currently under development, which will increase the country’s electricity supply by 20%.

And last year, the government rolled out a plan to restore large areas of forest, mangroves and savanna that will suck up carbon dioxide. It estimates that roughly 50,000 households will benefit from improved water quality and healthier landscapes.

For these projects, Gambia is relying on funding from the World Bank, the Green Climate Fund and other international partners. If the country can secure more funding, it has pledged to get its emissions to 45% below the business-as-usual benchmark by 2030.

Switzerland

Switzerland consistently ranks highly for its efforts to address climate change. Its emissions have been declining since the 1970s. And in recent years, it has pursued policies that might appeal to lawmakers in the U.S. – namely, voluntary programs and market-based measures.

For example, Switzerland was an early adopter of a carbon tax (Sweden was first in 1990). The levy, as the Swiss prefer to call it, was imposed in 2008, and as of 2018, it charged $96 per ton of carbon dioxide. (For comparison, the price on California’s cap-and-trade market is about $15.)

Most of the carbon tax revenue—which totals $300 million—is returned to citizens, including as subsidies to workers in industries that are negatively affected by climate policies. About a third goes to improving the efficiency of buildings and to R&D for clean technologies.

Like the U.K.”s climate legislation, the levy provides a stable, long-term incentive to reduce emissions, Hoehne said. But carbon taxes alone have not been enough to drive emissions down to where they need to be. “They are not sufficient,” he said.

Greenhouse gas emissions in Switzerland

Some sectors of the economy, like cars, don’t seem to respond dramatically to such subtle economic pressures. And last year, the Swiss parliament decided not to update its so-called CO2 law to allow the levy to rise as high $200 per ton.

Switzerland has other tools in its toolbox, including a trading scheme that allows polluters to pay others to cut their greenhouse gas emissions if they can do so less expensively. The country also boasts an enviable public transportation network.

However, the Swiss are not currently on track to meet their Paris pledge to reduce emissions to 230% below 1990 levels by 2020, nor to achieve a 50% reduction by 2030.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica may be tiny, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in ambition. Like the U.K. and Norway, the country has committed to reaching net zero emissions by the middle of the century. And in February, it released a detailed blueprint for how to do it.

If it hews to that plan, it will help the world limit warming to 2 degrees—and it will be nearly enough to meet the 1.5-degree target. (Currently, it is tracking slightly above the 2-degree goal.)

The country has already tackled some of its biggest emissions sectors. It gets 80% of its energy from hydropower and most of the rest from other renewables. It has also managed to reverse the trend of deforestation that plagued the country in the 1960s and ’70s. Since that time, Costa Rica has more than doubled its forest cover.

A forest in Costa Rica

Most of its emissions now come from transportation. The government hopes to follow Norway’s lead in increasing the share of electric cars. But it would ultimately like to make public transportation the option of choice, especially for city dwellers. By 2035, it wants a bus fleet made up of 70% electric vehicles and an electric train system to ferry people between cities.

This is easier said than done, Fransen said, since the government generates a significant fraction of its revenue from gas taxes. But Costa Rica is taking the problem seriously; reforming its tax system is a pillar of its decarbonization program.

“It’s not an easy fix,” Fransen said, but it’s something that many countries will eventually need to grapple with.

Costa Rica also plans to promote sustainable building and implement a national compost strategy. It aims to increase its forest cover even further, to 60% of its footprint. And it has placed a moratorium on oil extraction until 2050.

Explore further

The good, the bad and the ugly: The nations leading and failing on climate action

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#Environment

[that-sun-eyed-girl]

You can’t buy happiness...

...but you can buy ice cream during golden hour at a music festival, which is close enough to me 🌞🎶💜

Also I wrote a thing for World Mental Health Day:

An Unabridged Account of My Battle with Anxiety

(aka why World Mental Health Day is important to me)

Hello! My name is Laurin.  I’m a 24-year-old Registered Nurse currently living in the Washington DC area.  I was born in Tokyo, raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, went to college in Philly, and have traveled many places in between.  In my spare time I like to take pictures, go on food adventures, travel and explore new cities, and attend music shows and festivals.

Oh, and I’ve been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.

It’s hard to pinpoint when I started having “a problem.”  I grew up in a stereotypical Asian household where academics were emphasized and emotions were minimally expressed.  My dad was sick growing up, so that added to my everyday stress of juggling rigorous classes and teenage hormones.  I started having sleeping problems when I was 14 or so.  I would toss and turn in bed for hours, and eventually give up to surf the web and watch YouTube videos.  I felt tired all the time, but never felt like I could get enough sleep even if I had the chance to.

I do remember when I first felt depressed.  It was my sophomore year fall: my dad ended up in the hospital for a few weeks because the doctors were trying to decide what kind of medication regimen to safely put him on.  To add to that, my grades dropped slightly, and the boy I liked at the time was giving me a hard time (looking back, the latter was pretty silly).  I remember rolling around in bed and crying, telling myself that I couldn’t physically hurt myself because my aunt had committed suicide a few years back and it destroyed my mom.  Internally though, I was a mess and didn’t know who to turn to.  Eventually, my dad came home, my grades came back up, and I found a new boy to crush on (lol), so the dark feelings went away.

As much as I love my parents, I felt so alone whenever I had these emotional breakdowns.  Sometimes they were the root of the problem, like when my mom would scream (or worse, be passive aggressive) about my grades and responsibilities.  Most times, I felt like it was easier to close myself off and just “push through.”

When it came to apply to colleges, I was ready to be independent and literally only looked into schools at least 200 miles away from my house.  I really wanted to go to UCLA because it was far enough that I could be on my own, so I cried for a week straight when I received the rejection letter in my email inbox.  A few weeks later, I checked my Penn application portal, and found out that I had been accepted into a “top 10 school.”

I couldn’t believe it.  My mom set high standards for me growing up and never praised me for my grades, so I always assumed I wasn’t good enough for an Ivy League school.  In fact, I only had applied because my college counselor said that I had a good chance with my profile.  After the initial excitement, I pondered for weeks if I was indeed “good enough” to go to such a difficult school.  I ended up signing my acceptance on the last possible day to do so, mostly because my parents pressured me to.

My first few semesters at Penn went well.  I made friends, especially after I joined a sorority, and got decent grades.  For the most part I was happy.  I still struggled with anxiety-induced insomnia, especially if I received a bad mark on an assignment or exam, but managed to handle everything okay.

Then one day my sister called me and said that our dad fell, hit his head, and ended up in the ICU.

I couldn’t believe it at first.  My dad’s health was declining since I graduated high school, but he was still so happy and could function independently for the most part.   He couldn’t drive anymore, which was difficult for him since we lived in the suburbs, but he always found a way to go exercise and meet up with his friends.  How could my dad, who already outlived his prognosis by over 5 years, be so sick suddenly?

I immediately fell into “hibernation mode.” I was sleeping over 13 hours at a time, and would only wake up to eat and attempt to study.  And by “studying,” I mean “staring at my textbooks hoping that I would absorb any information.”  This happened right before my finals, and I ended up having to ask my professors for extensions because I couldn’t even get out of bed.  I remember my friends telling me that they thought it was unfair that I got to take my finals after Winter Break since physically I looked fine, which made me feel worse about everything.

The rest of that year is honestly a blur.  My dad was in and out of the hospital and hospice care, and I felt helpless since I was over 3000 miles away from home.  I got a D on my second pharmacology exam and asked my academic advisor if I could drop the course and take it over the summer.  She told me that since the class was only offered once a year, if I were to drop the course, I would have to take two semesters off and delay my graduation.  I knew my mom wouldn’t let me take time off (and risk losing my tuition grants), so I just “pushed though” again.

“Pushing through” is an accurate depiction of the rest of my college years actually.  I would constantly be stressed that I wasn’t doing well in my classes, almost to the point where I risked having to repeat courses.  No matter how hard I would study, my grades were mediocre at best.  My friends had a hard time understanding why I was struggling so much.  Some of them joked that I was partying too hard, but I would be studying to the point where I would burn out and score poorly no matter how hard I tried.

I started seeing a counselor on a bimonthly basis, which helped.  I would mostly talk about how depressed I was about my dad’s death and how I wanted school to be over.  I would alternate between tossing and turning and averaging 3-5 hours of sleep a night, and skipping classes because I just couldn’t wake up.  To help me feel happier, I would travel as much as I could on a nursing student’s crammed schedule and budget.  I would find the best deals on Megabus and visit friends from other schools who didn’t care if my grades sucked and welcomed me into their social circles.

Eventually I managed to complete my nursing school requirements and it was time to graduate.  My mom visited me for the first time since I started school, and, being the “Asian mom” she is, asked when I was going back for my Master’s.  No “Congratulations on graduating [from an overly competitive nursing school on time].”  Part of it was my fault for promising my mom when I was 17 that I would get my Master’s in nursing since I didn’t want to go to medical school.  But I just felt pressured again to find a job and get ready for the rest of my life.

After paperwork issues regarding my licensing exam that were beyond my control, I passed my boards on the first try.  Next came finding a job, which I managed to do 7 months after I graduated. I pretty much felt pressured to take the first job offer I got, especially since most of my friends were happily employed at this point.  I naively didn’t ask around and assumed everything would work out again, and packed my bags to move across country once more.  At first, everything seemed perfect.  I was more broke than I ever had been, but I had a full time job with real benefits!

Soon after though, things took turn for the worse.  I had bad chemistry with my preceptor, and my manager sided with her when I tried to speak up and asked for a switch.  I went back to counseling, where the social worker reassured me that I was doing my best.  Eventually though, I decided that crying every day and second guessing myself wasn’t worth it, so I resigned.

My anxiety started peaking around this time.  I was without a job again, 3000 miles away from home, with minimal savings.  I think I averaged 3 hours of sleep a night for over 2 weeks.  I went to go back to visit Penn and just broke down in front of my friends and advisors.  They were all concerned for me to the point where I ended up in a 24-hour psychiatric hold.

Now this is where things get complicated.  I talked to the nurses and doctors about what happened and how I did NOT feel like hurting myself or others, but they were apprehensive about me since a Penn student had just committed suicide a week before.  I also refused to let them call my mom since she was in Japan, and my sister was still in school in LA.  I promised them that I had a strong support system and would seek help when I went back to DC that evening.  I was ready to get the help I needed.

I still am not 100% sure what happened after this, but my phone was hacked into sometime during and/or after my hospitalization.  My friends and family were receiving weird phone call and messages from my phone number and Facebook/Gmail/etc accounts.  I tried explaining to them that the messages were not coming from me, but they were skeptical of believing me since I had just been in a psychiatric facility.  I was also receiving strange messages and screen errors even after I factory reset my devices and tried new ones.

I made a comprehensive list of all the weird things I managed to catch and reached out to my phone provider, social media platforms, and my old counselor’s office back at Penn.  I even got my devices forensically scanned by a professional to detect any malware.  The detective said that there was definitely suspicious activity but he couldn’t pinpoint anything.  Eventually, the strange messages stopped, so I let it go and went about my life.  I still get weird screens every once in awhile, but I just let it be.

Regarding my anxiety, I started seeing a psychologist again to talk about my problems.  It’s hard to fit in weekly session with my crazy schedule, but I know that I need it.  I started having unsettling dreams, mostly about work, which my psychologist addressed as PTSD-like symptoms.  I spent countless hours trying to find a psychiatrist in my network would understand my symptoms.  After months of searching, I finally found a doctor an hour away who prescribed me Trazodone and Ativan for my insomnia/anxiety.  I finally started sleeping well again.

Why am I writing all of this out for the internet to see?  Because today, October 10th, is World Mental Health Day.  Today also happens to mark exactly one year since I started my current job.  If you asked me back then, I don’t think I expected to be this much happier.  I am still struggling with anxiety and mood swings in general, but I definitely am doing so much better.

If you managed to read up until this point, I want to say thank you for reading my story.  Also shoutout to everyone who has stuck with me through the thick and thin, because I know it’s been a difficult journey for everyone involved.  Mental health is a topic that isn’t talked about enough, even though the statistics show that it’s almost too common in our day and age. I’m lucky enough to have a loving boyfriend and caring friends that listen to me rant, buy me food and make sure I’m okay, but I know some people aren’t.  

Please take care of each other and understand that people struggle for various reasons, and sometimes just need some time, professional help, medications, etc to make them feel “normal” again.  And if you personally need someone to talk to, I’m always an open ear 😊

Xoxo

[healthnotion]

How to Build a Home Gym on the Cheap

Let me replay you the typical situation you find yourself in every time you go to your commercial gym. You wake up or get home from the office, change into your workout clothes, pack all of the stuff you need (supplements, shoes, protein shaker, etc.) into your gym bag and head out the door. You jump into your car, and, like many living in a crowded urban environment, hit traffic a couple minutes into your commute. You sit, waiting for cars to dissipate so you can accomplish the grand goal you’ve set for yourself of working out. 30 minutes, 4 near collisions, and 2 mental breakdowns later, you arrive at your destination. You warm up while waiting for the guy doing bicep curls in the one and only squat rack in the 20,000 sq. ft. facility studded with endless lines of treadmills and ellipticals. You finally sneak into the rack, perform your squats while fending off that one guy who gives you form advice while proselytizing the benefits of yoga over weightlifting. Finally, you’re done with your session (two hours later) and drive 30 minutes home to eat.

Does that sound familiar?

Now, let me share with you what a typical training session looks like for me and thousands of others who have freed ourselves from the gym membership rat race.

I throw on some shorts — sweatpants and hoodie if it’s cold; no shirt if it’s warm — and head out into my garage. I walk over to my stereo system and put on some soft tunes to get me in the right mindset during my warm-up. Squats are on the menu, so I rack my bar (the bar only I and my friends use that is superior to every bar at the gym I used to pay $70/month to attend) and begin incrementally increasing the load. I’m at my top set, so I turn on some Dave Mustaine, twist the volume knob to 11, and go to work. Around an hour later I conclude the assault on my body, walk 10 feet inside my house to the most anabolic machine in the known universe — the refrigerator — make a protein shake, and reflect on the hard work accomplished.

After reading that, you’re likely thinking to yourself, “Man! That sounds nice, but . . .” “But.” The most detrimental word to any man’s mission. “But I don’t have the money.”

I’m here to help you with that. Today I’ll show you how to build a home gym on a budget, and how it’s easier to afford than you think. By the time we’re done, you’ll be wondering why you didn’t make the switch sooner.

How to Build a Home Gym for Under $1,000: The Effective, But Budget-Friendly Equipment We Recommend Starting With

Without a doubt, a home gym can be expensive to build. In fact, I’ve seen people spend upwards of $50,000 to install a fully decked-out gym in their garage. But, just because some folks decide to spend that much on working out at home, doesn’t mean it’s either necessary or a good idea.

The reality is that it’s possible to create an effective home gym for under $1,000.

You really only need a few essential pieces of equipment to get started. We suggest the following, pretty much regardless of your goal; whether you’re looking to lose weight or gain muscle, you can see success using these items:

Olympic barbell

Squat rack with a pull-up bar

Weight plates (rubber or iron depending on your budget)

Flat bench

Jump rope

There are hundreds of additional pieces of equipment we could recommend, but only after these basics are met.

When it comes to obtaining these foundational pieces of home gym equipment on a budget, you’ll want to buy things that are both effective and provide a variety of different uses. Purchasing on a budget, however, does not mean that you buy cheaply made equipment. Cheaply made equipment will cause less satisfaction, less use, more likelihood for injury, a lower resale value, and a greater chance of having to purchase replacements. Thankfully, due to there being more gym equipment (largely due to the growing garage gym community) being purchased now than at any other time in history, you can get incredibly good equipment at great prices.

Below we break down our specific brand/product recommendations that meet this requirement for being both quality-made and budget-friendly:

Olympic Barbell

The Olympic barbell is the piece of equipment that we recommend being the highest quality piece of equipment in your gym. You will likely use the barbell more than any other piece of equipment, and there are big differences, both in the performance and durability, between a high-quality barbell and the cheap rods of steel that some manufacturers label as barbells.

The barbell we recommend for most people, especially those who focus on the squat, deadlift, bench, and overhead press is the Ohio Power Bar from Rogue Fitness. The OPB features a 29MM, 205K PSI tensile strength shaft with aggressive knurling, a center knurl, powerlifting knurl marks, and a bronze bushing rotation system all for under $300 (as of this writing). All of the aforementioned specifications may sound like gibberish (you can learn more about barbell anatomy and terminology here), but just know that it’s a barbell that can take just about anything you can throw at it, is made in the USA, and comes with a lifetime warranty; this is a barbell that you’ll be able to use your whole life, and maybe even pass down to your grandkids.

If you’d like a bar that is a bit cheaper and features a thinner shaft as well as no center knurl (feels better for front squats and overhead press due to the knurl not scraping your chin) then we suggest the FringeSport Wonder Bar V2. The Wonder Bar V2 is a great, imported barbell that can be purchased and shipped to your door for under $200. The Wonder Bar has a high tensile strength steel, medium-aggressive knurl, bronze bushing rotation system, and a lifetime warranty.

Squat Rack with a Pull-Up Bar Attached

The squat rack is the centerpiece of nearly every home gym. It’s the place where you’ll squat, press, do pull-ups, and a myriad of other exercises. A good squat rack will allow you to feel safe during use, lasts an extremely long time, and, as your bank account increases, will offer various attachments to increase its versatility. Thankfully, most squat racks on the market today can handle whatever weight you can lift now, plus whatever you plan on lifting in the future. Because of this, we don’t feel the need to recommend as high a level of quality as we do for a barbell.

The squat rack we recommend to most people on a budget is the PR-1100 Home Gym Power Rack from Rep Fitness. The PR-1100 features a footprint of 48” x 47.5” with a height of 84”. It has a max weight capacity of 1,000 LB (more than everyone reading this would likely ever dream of lifting), comes with a multi-grip pull-up bar, and has optional attachments like a lat pulldown and dip handles. In addition to the functional elements of the rack, it also comes in an optional red or blue powder coat version that would look good in any home gym. Although you can spend much more on a squat rack, if you’re on a budget, this is a great option that will last you many years, has good resale value, and is priced extremely competitively at under $250.

If you want a squat rack that is sturdier, features thicker steel, and offers a few different attachments, then we suggest either the Rogue R-3 Power Rack or Rep PR-3000 Power Rack.

Weight Plates

Since you now have a barbell and a place to hang the barbell, it’s only logical that you buy things to hang on the barbell. Weight plates come in various sizes, colors, and materials, but for most people, your best bet is to find some iron Olympic plates second-hand, through Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, yard sales, etc.

If you can’t find a set of weight plates worth the asking price, then there are a few budget-priced options you can order new online. For new iron plates on a budget, we suggest the CAP Barbell Olympic 2-Inch Weight Plates. They’re cheap, accurately sized, weigh close to what they state, and are readily available. Most iron weight plates are cast-iron and come from similar factories overseas, so there is little need for the average home gym owner to spend much more than what the CAP Barbell Plates are priced at.

If you plan to do any Olympic lifts like the snatch or clean and jerk, then we suggest getting bumper plates. Bumper plates can get expensive quick, so we suggest buying just enough to meet your needs for the Olympic lifts and having iron plates for the rest. The best bumper plates we would recommend for those on a budget are the FringeSport Black Bumper Plates. These are made from virgin rubber, have a precise weight accuracy, won’t mess up your foundation or barbell, and can be had for about as affordable a price as bumper plates can.

Flat Bench

Although most people associate a flat bench solely with the bench press, with enough creativity, it can actually end up being a very versatile piece of equipment. I’ve used my flat bench for everything from box squats, box jumps, rows, split squats, and more. A quality flat bench will provide a solid platform, be about 17” from the ground, and have a firm foam pad.

The flat bench we’d recommend for those on a budget is the AmazonBasics Flat Weight Bench. We tested its durability and despite its low price tag (under $50 as of this writing) it stood up to just about everything we threw at it. The AmazonBasics Bench is stable, has a decent vinyl covering, and best of all, won’t break the bank.

Jump Rope

The last piece of equipment we’d recommend for those looking to start a budget home gym is a jump rope. This may sound kind of silly to those that haven’t used a jump rope since elementary school, but a jump rope is a killer conditioning and coordination device that can be used for both long and short duration intervals. In addition to running, sprinting, and jumping, the simple jump rope will provide you with a way to warm up and increase your stamina and endurance.

You can find a jump rope just about anywhere, but if you want to order a cheap jump rope online, something like the Garage Fit PVC Jump Rope works great for most people. We’d suggest avoiding a speed rope and sticking to the thicker PVC ropes as they’re more versatile and easier to learn how to use.

Once you’ve gotten our recommended essentials in place, you can begin expanding your gear selection by adding things like adjustable dumbbells, kettlebells, plyo-boxes, and other pieces of equipment that pique your interest. You may also want to grab a couple horse stall mats from your local farm supply store to protect your foundation.

The suggestion we most often make regarding adding new items to your gym is to start with the essentials, and then set a goal, such as working out four days a week for three months in a row; once you achieve this goal, reward yourself with a new equipment purchase. This increases the likelihood of you completing the goal and gives you a reward that will motivate you to keep up the exercise habit!

The Surprising Affordability of a Home Gym

Here’s how the cost of our recommendations above (using all the cheapest options, and an average number of weight plates needed to start) would shake out (prices are rounded up):

FringeSport Wonder Bar V2: $200

PR-1100 Home Gym Power Rack from Rep Fitness: $240

AmazonBasics Flat Weight Bench: $50

CAP Barbell Olympic 2-Inch Weight Plates: $350

Garage Fit PVC Jump Rope: $8

Total cost: ~$850

As you can see, it’s possible to build a quality, highly effective home gym for less than $1,000. And you can do it for even less if you buy the above equipment used.

While $1,000 might still seem like a lot if you’re looking at that nut altogether, compare that cost to paying for a membership at a commercial gym.

The average cost of a gym membership is $58 a month. (Yes, $10/month gyms exist, but they don’t have power racks — just Smith machines — and are thus far from ideal for effective workouts.)

This means that if you’re currently paying $58 a month for a gym membership, and cancel it to start a home gym, the money you would have spent on monthly dues will have paid off the investment in a little over a year. And after that time, you’ll start saving money month after month.

And that’s just the money a home gym will save you on the membership cost alone. There are other ways that ditching your monthly dues for a home gym will save you money as well.

According to a survey by MyProtein, Americans aged 18 to 65 years old spend an average of $155/month on their health and fitness. This number includes not only gym membership fees, but supplements, clothing and accessories used at the gym, meal plans, and personal trainers.

These are all things that can be avoided when working out at home. Beyond skipping the membership fee, you can wear whatever clothes you’d like because only you and your friends will be the ones in your gym; you don’t need as many supplements because you’re close enough to your fridge that you can eat real food; and the nutrition and training advice you’d receive from a trainer can be replaced by either an online programming/coaching company for much less, or entirely replaced by the large amount of free content online. Not to mention you’ll also be saving on the gas it used to take to drive to the gym!

Hold onto the money you save, or use it to reinvest in adding equipment to your personal gym; even if you go the latter route, you needn’t spend any more than you used to on belonging to a commercial gym.

To sum up: Building a home gym can be done on the cheap, and be more within your reach than you might have thought; within just a couple of years (months for some) worth of what you’re already spending on a gym membership, you can have a home gym that will provide you with both better workouts and greater satisfaction. And the benefits don’t even stop there; by working out at home, you’ll also have more time to do things you’d like, will set a great example for your family, and can have friends work out with you whenever you please, without ever having to worry about running out of guest passes.

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Coop runs Garage Gym Reviews, a website dedicated to helping people start their own home gym though in-depth equipment reviews. In addition to their website, Garage Gym Reviews can be found on YouTube and Instagram.

Related Resources

How to Turn Your Garage Into a Home Gym

The Pros and Cons of Garage vs. Commercial Gyms

How to Build a Weightlifting Platform

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