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baoshan-sanren · 4 years

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Chapter 35

of the wwx emperor au I’m thinking of calling – you know what? I suck at titles. let’s just accept the fact that I’ll slap something vaguely poetic on this thing when it’s finished, and that it will probably have no relation to the actual fic

Wei Ying rises while the sky is still dark.

The servants show no surprise, despite the fact that he had gone to sleep mere two hours before. His sleepless nights and early risings are nothing to be remarked upon. There is some bewilderment when he insists on immediately dressing for an audience, but it is well hidden. It is no ordinary audience he is dressing for, that much is immediately clear. The black dragon robe, stiff and severe, is hardly an appropriate morning outfit. It is a robe for trials and executions, and Wei Ying enhances its effect by passing over the intricate hair ornaments for the Dragon Crown, its delicate pearls reflecting the candlelight.

This causes more than one startled gaze, most exchanged behind the hard line of his back. Wei Ying knows that behind the curtain of pearls, his face is partially concealed, giving no hints to his mood, or his state of mind. Today, Nie HuaiSang will rise early as well, and begin to work on the Council, one vulnerable Sect Leader at a time. But before he can even begin, Wei Ying must do his part in bringing the Council to his heel.

The sky has only began to lighten when he finally leaves his chambers. The Jade Sword Palace is hushed, as if holding its breath. He sends two servants to summon the High Councilor to the Emperor’s public study, and admonishes that he will tolerate no delays. Two servants instead of one can be seen as an honor, but Wei Ying already knows that shocked whispers will spread like wildfire in the seemingly empty hallways. The Emperor has dressed for an execution, and demanded the High Councilor’s presence. Speculation will reach a fever pitch long before uncle Jiang manages to slip on his shoes.

Wei Ying sends another servant to the Imperial guest chambers, assuming that the Lan Sect must have risen already, regardless of how late Lan Zhan had lingered on the rooftop the night before. The servant does not carry an order, but a politely worded request, that the Second Young Master of the Lan Sect join the Emperor for noonday tea. It is unlikely that any tea will actually be served, and despite all the unpleasant tasks Wei Ying has before him, it is the meeting with Lan Zhan he frets about the most.

They had not said more than a dozen words to each other before parting. Still, Wei Ying is tentatively hopeful. He cannot help but feel that some type of understanding had been reached, despite the silence. It is possible that he is entirely wrong, and that the day will end in heartbreak and anguish. However, this is a worry for later, one he cannot allow to distract him from now.

The public study is as cold and cavernous as it had been the night before. It has never been a room where one welcomes a friend or an ally. The gilded desk sits on an elevated platform, the chair a monstrosity only slightly less elaborate than the throne in the main banquet hall. Sitting down, he keeps his posture stiff and straight, sleeves draped over the arms. The dragon carved into the back of the seat arches above him, twisting sinuously to gaze out over his right shoulder, a subtle reminder that the Emperor is power personified, his sheer existence a divine blessing on the ordinary mortals.

Wei Ying resists the urge to wipe his sweaty palms on the robe.

The servants hurry to place a mat at the foot of the desk, and Wei Ying allows them to do so before ordering it removed. He dismisses them immediately after, knowing they will mutter and speculate amongst themselves. In less than two hours, the entire court will believe that the High Councilor’s moments on this plane of existence are numbered.

A part of Wei Ying feels pity for uncle Jiang. The man is no longer young; it is nearly time for him to retire in comfort, after having spent his life performing an invaluable service to the Empire. Another part of Wei Ying believes that uncle Jiang could use a little stress in his life, a little uncertainty, and perhaps even a little bit of fear. The man had grown comfortable in his role. Too comfortable, as Nie HuaiSang has admonished more than once in the past two years. It is time to shake up the ground underneath him, and find out how, exactly, he plans to keep his footing.

Wei Ying had declared that he will tolerate no delays, and uncle Jiang takes him at his word. He arrives not long after the servants have departed, nothing about his appearance giving away the early hour. The man is dressed as if he had spent the night standing perfectly still in his robes, simply waiting for the Emperor’s summons. But Wei Ying knows uncle Jiang well, easily recognizing the caution in the man’s posture.

A single glance tells Jiang FengMian everything he needs to know. The Emperor seated stiffly, as if facing an unpleasant task. The presence of the dragon robes and the Dragon Crown. The lack of a mat for him to kneel comfortably, and pay his respects in the usual way. A lesser man would drop to the marble floors and admit his crime, even if he did not know what crime he had committed. Uncle Jiang does not.

He lowers himself gracefully, murmuring a greeting. Wei Ying knows that the cold marble floors are hard on his knees. It is an effort, to look on cooly, to delay the necessary permission uncle Jiang needs in order to rise to his feet. Wei Ying counts to thirty, slowly, feeling sweat gather on his temples. The black dragon robe is intimidating and necessary, but it is also suffocating, the glistening layers of silk much heavier than they appear to be.

“Rise, High Councilor,” Wei Ying says, his voice hard.

Uncle Jiang gets to his feet.

He will not speak first; Wei Ying knows this. Nie HuaiSang’s court maneuverings and tactics are entirely self-taught; some have come from observation, but a great deal come from an inborn talent that Wei Ying has never had. Over the years, Wei Ying has learned much from his Companion. But this does not change the fact that majority of the lessons on ruling effectively had come from Uncle Jiang himself, and that there are very few tactics Wei Ying can employ that the man will not find transparent.

Uncle Jiang is clearly expecting some reprimand when it comes to the Lan Sect and their treatment. He is also likely to have considered the influence of Xiao XingChen’s presence, the possible reasons for his arrival, and the backlash of any events in the Empire that Wei Ying had not been aware of before, which could reasonably be considered the High Councilor’s fault and responsibility. He may even anticipate Wei Ying’s marriage plans. Wei Ying would not put it past the man to have a list of very sensible reasons why the Second Young Master of the Lan Sect would not make a proper Emperor Consort.

Wei Ying does not give him an opportunity.

“The Jin Sect has overreached one too many times,” Wei Ying says, “Jiang YanLi’s betrothal to the Young Master Jin is no longer pleasing to the Emperor. You will dissolve this arrangement today.”

It is rare to see uncle Jiang visibly reel. Wei Ying does not give him time to think.

“The High Councilor has served me well. The Empire is grateful for your perseverance and devotion. However, it is time for the High Councilor to yield his seat to a more youthful perspective. I am sure you will find that retirement has its own charms. Lotus Pier must be quite lovely this time of the year.”

Wei Ying smiles, a movement of the lips utterly disconnected from the rest of his features, all partially concealed by a curtain of shimmering pearls.

Uncle Jiang opens his mouth, then closes it, his expression no longer calm and collected, his skin color taking on an unhealthy, sallow hue.

“The Emperor has come of age, High Councilor,” Wei Ying says gently, “the Jiang Sect presence at court is no longer necessary.”

In the back of his mind, a steady mantra of do not qi deviate is repeating itself in increasingly alarmed tone, accumulating in a loud exclamation of fuck as uncle Jiang drops to his knees again.

“This subject begs to know how he has offended,” the man exclaims.

Wei Ying fights a relieved breath, and leans back in his seat.

He counts again, slower this time, watching the light of the rising sun move across the marble floors.

Finally, when he is quite certain that uncle Jiang’s knees must be starting to ache, he taps his finger on the arm of the chair.

“Rise, High Councilor. Let us speak of invitations, shall we?”

#the untamed #cql #mdzs #ficlet #m #wwx emperor au #DAY 6 #LORD #we are getting there #the end is on the horizon

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dontshootmespence · 7 years

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Only Human

A/N: An anon request for a college AU with Hotch and the Reader based on the song Human by Christina Perri. The pressure of college are overwhelming and she is freaking out over a big exam. Hotch sees her crying while studying and goes over to comfort her. @coveofmemories @sexualemobitch @jamiemelyn @unstoppableangel8 @iammostdefinitelyonfire26 @rmmalta

----

As Aaron walked around campus, taking in his fellow students freaking out over what major they were going to declare, he was thankful he’d already chosen law as a long term goal; it made the double major of English and psychology an easy choice. It was a good base for what he wanted to do in the long run. It was practically chosen for him. Ever since he was a child, he’d been inspired by his father to enter the field, so he’d gone straight into college his freshman year and declared before everyone else.

Now there wasn’t a strict deadline, but it was approaching the end of his sophomore year, so his fellow students were all freaking out about not having chosen a major yet.

With a crazy amount of papers due and tests to study for before the end of the semester, Aaron decided to head to the library to get some work done. Before he walked into the expansive school library, he grabbed a cup of coffee from the cafeteria. He actually liked school; he really did. He just hated the grind of it. It could be really overwhelming at certain times and the pressure to perform well, especially from his father was something that always weighed heavily upon him toward the end of the semester.

Maybe that was why he immediately tuned into the sound of someone crying. Whoever it was desperately tried to stifle the sounds in their sleeve, but it wasn’t working. As he rounded the corner looking for the source of the crying, he ran into a fellow classmate - one he hated. Bradley was a Class-A douchebag who was in college to have sex and drink, but apparently he got some crap from his father about his failing grades, so that’s why he was in the library. “Some chick won’t stop crying,” he said angrily.

“Did you think about asking her why she was crying?” Aaron asked, annoyed at his classmates lack of caring about anyone but himself.

Exasperatedly, he shook his head and left, searching for another area of the library where he might be able to study so he didn’t fail out. Aaron pushed onward, walking around corner after corner and eventually stumbling across a woman he knew but didn’t have many classes with - Y/N Y/L/N. “Y/N?” He asked softly, watching as she pulled at the sides of her hair.

When she turned to face him, his heart dropped for her. Through the tears, he could see the pressure she was facing. This wasn’t a missed boyfriend cry, or a fight with a best friend cry; this was the kind of cry one would feel when the world was just too much and they couldn’t take the pressure anymore. Aaron didn’t cry often, but taking 12 or 15 or 18 credits at a time could drive anyone to the brink over time. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I must be making all kinds of noise.” She reached down to rifle through her bag, presumably for a tissue, but she couldn’t find any. It was a good thing Aaron had recently had a cold, because he still had a pack in his pocket and he reached out to hand it to her.

“I just wanted to see if you were okay?” He asked. “Is there anything I can do?”

She smiled softly, but shook her head. “Unless you want to take this calculus test for me, probably not.”

Math was definitely not Aaron’s strong suit. “How long have you studied for this test?” He asked. He sensed she was an over-preparer and was putting undue pressure on herself.

“Two weeks. Nearly two hours a day. And that’s just for this class,” she replied as she blew her nose. She was probably on a very different career path from him, which is why they hadn’t crossed paths often. It was too bad, because she seemed really nice.

“You’re only human,” he said with a smile, sitting down next to her at the library table. “If you push yourself too much, you’ll crash and break. You’re not a machine.” He pivoted his chair toward her and placed his hand over hers. “Now, I know this is easier said than done, but based on what you’ve said, you’ve studied plenty. It would probably do your brain better if you gave it a break and got some sleep, or at least you did something that you wanted to do instead of this. You’re not a machine.”

A strained smile played its way across her face as she wiped the newly forming tears away. “I know you’re right. I just have a lot of pressure at home. My dad mostly. And I just...I put a lot on myself when I probably shouldn’t.”

Aaron nodded, grabbing her hand a little tighter. “I know where you’re coming from. I’ve got a lot of pressure from my dad too. But you’ve studied so much. I feel like studying anymore would only be a negative. Give your brain time to breath.”

“Thanks. It’s Aaron, right?” she asked. “Aaron Hotchner?”

“Yup. I’m a psych and English double major. You?”

Her face lit up, the tears fading away now that she finally had something else to think of. “I’m a mathematics major. I hope to go into engineering eventually. You here to study too?”

“Yea, unfortunately. I have a psych test coming up. I did make flashcards though, so hopefully things should go pretty smoothly.” After ensuring that she was okay, he picked up his backpack and turned to leave, but her voice called him back.

“Do you need help studying?” she asked sweetly. “I know if I go back to my dorm I’ll probably just sit there and perseverate on this test. If you want I could help you run through your flash cards.”

He could’ve studied on his own. He tended to do his best studying that way, but for some reason he was very invested in making sure that she wasn’t sad. “I’d like that."

“Cool. Thanks for helping me keep my mind off things. How about you go grab a table and I’ll go grab something to eat from the cafeteria?”

After finding a table, the two parted ways so she could go get something to eat and upon her return, Y/N helped Aaron drill his psych flashcards until he could recite them forwards and backwards. “Is there any chance that I could get your number? I mean I’d like to know how you do on your test,” he said with a smirk.

“Is that all you want my number for?” she chuckled softly.

He darted his eyes away for a moment. “Maybe not the only reason.”

She giggled as they exchanged numbers. He was thankful he’d stopped to make sure she was okay. Now he had a date and she felt better. Seeing her smile was worth it.

They parted ways for the night, her smile wide and her shoulders relaxed, but not before he reminded her. “You’re only human, remember? Just take a breath and you’ll be fine. I promise.”

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner fanfiction #aaron hotchner fic #dontshootmespence #only human

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thelastdivide · 8 years

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The Prince of Judah and the Vice-Consul of Japan

In December 1939, an eleven-year-old Jewish boy named Solly Ganor invited a stranger to his family’s Hanukkah celebration at their home in Kaunas, Lithuania– then the capital city. Solly had gone into a little shop owned by his aunt to borrow a couple of coins to see the newest Laurel and Hardy movie. He found his aunt deep in conversation, speaking Russian with a tall, elegantly dressed Japanese man– the first Asian person Solly had ever seen. His aunt introduced him formally as “His Excellency Chiune Sugihara, the Vice-Consul from Japan.” Solly would have been intimidated, but he felt an aura of kindliness around the stranger. He shook hands with Sugihara and then told his aunt he wanted to go to the movies. Before she could move, Sugihara had pulled out his coin purse and given Solly the money. Solly, a little confused but grateful, responded in kind. He invited Sugihara to their Hanukkah dinner. His aunt was embarrassed and assured the diplomat he was under no obligation to attend. But Sugihara cut her off. “Actually,” he said, “I’d love to.”

It was in one of the darkest winters in human history that Chiune Sugihara joined his Jewish neighbors to hear and celebrate the Festival of Lights’ ancient message of hope and perseverance against all odds, a message that Sugihara needed as much as any of them. Just two months prior, the Nazis had invaded Poland. The large and thriving Jewish community in Kaunas had followed Hitler’s rise closely and listened to his hateful rhetoric on the radio, but they assumed that the worst of the rumors were exaggerated, and the Nazi threat would blow over quickly. Now, thousands upon thousands of Polish Jewish refugees were flooding over the western border into Lithuania, bringing with them reports of atrocities too terrible to imagine. Ghettos in the cities. Pogroms in the villages. Wholesale slaughter of their friends, neighbors, and families. Most had escaped with little or nothing, and the Jewish community of Kaunas was stretching its resources to the limit to take them in. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union had occupied tiny Lithuania and dissolved its government, building up its “buffer strip” against the inevitable German advance. It wasn’t a matter of if the war would come to Kaunas, but when. By the summer of 1940, all but two foreign diplomats had been evacuated from the city, leaving only Sugihara and a middle-manager from the Phillips corporation who had been made temporary consul for the Netherlands.

By this time, the Jewish refugees in Lithuania and elsewhere had applied to nearly every country in the free world– including the United States– but all had stopped or severely restricted their acceptance of refugees. To our everlasting shame, we ignored the cry of the helpless and turned our backs on the needy. In March 1939, a Congressional bill that would have allowed 20,000 German Jewish children to immigrate was allowed to die in committee. This was just a few months after Kristallnacht; there was no secret about the threat to Jews who remained in Germany. But we had strict immigration quotas to maintain. In June 1939, 907 Jewish refugees aboard the German transatlantic liner St. Louis made it all the way to Miami harbor, only to be sent back to Europe, where nearly a third of them were murdered in the Holocaust. An executive order could have permitted their entry into the U.S., but 83% of the public was against it, and President Roosevelt had a third term to win. Everyone from the FBI to FDR invoked “national security,” suggesting it was possible– likely, even– that some of the ship’s passengers were Nazi spies masquerading as refugees.

With so much of the western world under Nazi control or turning a blind eye, the two diplomats left in Kaunas had a full-blown refugee crisis on their hands. Lithuania’s Baltic ports were blockaded. The only safe escape route was eastward across Russia to Japan, from whence they could safely sail to resettlement. But the Soviet officials refused to let the refugees cross Russia without visas approved by the Japanese government.

So it was that Chiune Sugihara and his family woke up one morning to find a crowd of hundreds outside their door, begging for assistance with this last-ditch escape effort. Sugihara wired his superiors in Tokyo three times. He got three ambiguous refusals. They told him to stop asking. Sugihara was left alone, with the fate of thousands in his hands.

A story: According to a classic midrash, when the Israelites arrived at the shores of the sea after their exodus from slavery in Egypt, the waters didn’t immediately part for them. Actually, no one knew what would happen. With the open ocean ahead and Pharaoh’s army behind, they were trapped. An argument broke out. Some said, “We should surrender. Better to go back into slavery than for all of us to be killed.” Others said, “We should fight. If we’re going to die, we’ll die free.” Even Moses, the fearless miracle worker, was at a loss. The people turned on him. “Have you brought us all the way out here only to die?” they asked. He turned aside from the group and went up on a little hill to pray.

Amid all this, a man named Nachshon stepped forward. He was a prince from the tribe of Judah, a leader. But on this occasion he said nothing. He simply walked, directly into the sea, and began to sing praises to God. The water came up to his knees and soaked his robes. It rose to his waist, then to his chest. The waves washed over his head, but he could still be heard, singing clearly between the swells. Finally, he slipped under and was heard no more. The whole congregation of Israel fell silent. It was then that God turned to Moses and said, “Look! My child, my beloved, is drowning in the sea, and you’re standing here praying? I gave you the power to perform miracles. I gave you your staff. Use it!”

And Moses lifted his staff. The waters of the sea parted, and Nachshon led the way to freedom.

Chiune Sugihara was a career diplomat and a man of strict discipline. He had a family to provide for. He knew that if he acted outside of his orders he risked firing and disgrace. But he later recalled being haunted by a Japanese proverb: “Even a hunter cannot kill the bird that flies to him for refuge.” Refugees were begging at his door, even kneeling to kiss his shoes. “The people in Tokyo were not united,” he said later. “I felt it silly to deal with them. So, I made up my mind not to wait for their reply.” The visas would be written.

For the next 30 days Sugihara and his wife, Yukiko, worked 18 to 20 hours a day, until their hands were raw and aching and they were nearly collapsing of exhaustion. They produced upwards of 300 visas– what would typically be a month’s workload– every day. Solly Ganor recalled seeing his friend Sugihara in the last days of his monumental effort– the dignified, elegant vice-consul standing outside in his shirtsleeves, haggard, eyes bloodshot, handing out visas. According to some eyewitnesses he was still writing visas and throwing them out of the train’s windows when he and his family were finally forced to evacuate.

Chiune Sugihara saved over 6,000 Jewish refugees from the Holocaust. It’s estimated that there are over 45,000 people alive today– their descendants– who would not exist had it not been for a mild-mannered diplomat’s extraordinary courage and fidelity to his own conscience. The Talmud tells us, “Whoever saves one life, saves an entire world.” As he expected, Sugihara was fired from the Japanese diplomatic service after the war. He spent the rest of his career working as a translator for various private companies. Ever humble, he did not talk about his heroic deeds. His own neighbors had no idea what he’d done until his death in 1986, when a massive Jewish delegation-- including the Israeli ambassador to Japan-- showed up at his funeral.

Solly Ganor, incidentally, was unable to escape Lithuania and ended up in Dachau concentration camp, where he survived to the end of the war. Ironically, the camp was liberated by a battalion of Japanese-American soldiers– men whose families were interned in their own country.

Since the issuance of last Friday’s abominable executive order I have seen a million and a half moralisms about welcoming the stranger, helping the helpless, and refusing to fear difference. These are indispensable values, foundational to the maintenance of an open and healthy society, and they bear endless repetition.

But that’s not what I want to say here. We already know the ban is wrong. We already know that “national security” is a false flag for the workings of hatred and greed. We already condemn the culture of fear that has turned so much of our country against its own principles– although we can never condemn it loudly enough. But what we need to have constantly before us, now more than ever, is the example of people like Chiune Sugihara. People like Nachshon. People who know that God and public opinion will follow a true act of conscience, not vice versa.

Someday long in the future the descendants of Syrian refugees will not thank us for our political memes or our late-night comedy bits or our private exasperation. They won’t thank us for impotent prayers of the mind without acts of the body and heart. They won’t thank me for writing this.

But they will thank us for our deeds. They will thank us for hounding the authorities, no matter how many times we’re rejected, and defying them if they fail us. They will thank us for protecting our immigrant neighbors, for meeting injustice with ferocious and creative resistance, for showing up, for hitting the streets, for donating, for volunteering, for putting all our strength of arm and heart and brain into every task, no matter how small, that our lives demand of us in the struggle to heal our broken world. There is no such thing as an insignificant action or an insignificant life. You don’t have to be a diplomat. You don’t have to be an immigration lawyer. You don’t have to be the Prince of Judah or the Vice-Consul of Japan. All that is asked of you is to live the life before you, and live it well, with open eyes, a courageous spirit, and an undivided heart. Don’t wait for anyone, human or divine, to light the fire of justice. Your deeds are both the spark and the smoke.

The great second-century Jewish sage Rabbi Tarfon would say, “We are not obligated to complete the task before us, but neither are we free to abandon it.” Do not be daunted by the magnitude of human suffering. Start where you are. Start now.

Sources:

"An Interview with Solly Ganor, September 1998." Interview by Diane Estelle Vicari. Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness. WGBH/PBS, n.d. Web.<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/sugihara/readings/ganor.html>

"Chiune Sugihara." The Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2017. <http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/chiune-sugihara>.

"Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2017 <https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005594>.

"Voyage of the St. Louis." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2017 <https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005267>

#chiune sugihara #sempo sugihara #refugees #holocaust #wwii history #writing #long post

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thrashermaxey · 6 years

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Ramblings: Wayne Simmonds, Carolina, NHL Awards – June 21

The NHL Awards took place on Wednesday night and as with most NHL awards shows, there were quite a few bad bits of comedy along with some feel-good stories mixed in. They started the show with a magic act and then a ventriloquist. I wish I was kidding.

Anyway, the winners are…

Ted Lindsay Award (Most outstanding as voted by players) – Connor McDavid

Not sure there’s a huge argument with this one. McDavid lapped the field in five-on-five points – he had more 5v5 points than Sidney Crosby and Patrik Laine combined – and was held back by an abysmal team. This is where the semantics between “most outstanding” and “most valuable” separate the Lindsay from the Hart. Just imagine what his point totals might look like next year if the power play isn’t awful.

Norris Trophy – Victor Hedman

This is another on where it wasn’t much of a surprise. Having a 60-point season with the plus/minus he did on a division winner is pretty much a lock. He’s probably number-3 in terms of fantasy defencemen behind Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson but given the team that’s employing him, I’m sure people are ready to make an argument he should be higher. Expect Hedman to be perennially in the Norris conversation. Shout out to the guy who voted Josh Manson (?) fourth (??):

Full Norris voting. Roman Josi finished seventh. pic.twitter.com/iVopwn5sEJ

— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) June 21, 2018

Calder Trophy – Mathew Barzal

This might have been the most automatic award of the night (though four people who voted someone else other than Barzal for first place, including Yanni Gourde). The kid is electric. Hope he’s ready to be the face of the franchise.

Not considered one of the major awards, but huge kudos to Brian Boyle on his win of the Masterton Trophy. Not only did he overcome leukemia with which he was diagnosed in the preseason, he came back and was a big part of the team that miraculously made the playoffs. A tremendous story of perseverance and dedication. All the best to him moving forward.

They also awarded the first Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award to Darcy Haugan, the head coach of the Humboldt Broncos who passed in that trafic accident two months ago. They had 10 members of the team come on stage and his wife accepted the award. It was a truly special moment and should inspire people to follow Mr. Haugan's lead in helping others before themselves.

Anze Kopitar won the Selke as the best two-way forward but the best part was they had the magician do the reveal with a magic trick and he screwed up the trick. He was supposed to reveal the cards to form a picture of Kopitar but they were all in the wrong order and no one could tell who won. Then Kopitar just walked past him:

Oh my god the magician screwed up and then got snubbed by Kopitar pic.twitter.com/gt8BGhFPus

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) June 21, 2018

Just amazing stuff.

Vezina Trophy – Pekka Rinne

The heavy betting favourite from Bodog came through as Rinne took home the Vezina. It’s truly a remarkable turnaround from just a few years ago. Remember that from 2012-2016, he posted three seasons with a save percentage of .910 or less, averaging .913. He’s posted a .923 over the last two years and then that wonderful playoff run in 2017. He has one year left on his deal, though, and we’re all waiting for the reigns to be turned over to Juuse Saros. It'll be interesting to see what the Preds do in 2018-19.

Hart Trophy – Taylor Hall

It was pretty close between Hall and Nathan MacKinnon but Hall won out in the end. I wasn’t going to argue one way or the other here. Both had fantastic seasons and led their down-and-out franchises to playoff appearances. Both should be commended.

But also, never forget:

Trade is one for one: Adam Larsson for Taylor Hall.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 29, 2016

As Ian pointed out in his Ramblings yesterday, rumours are that Wayne Simmonds is available in a trade. Per Cap Friendly, Simmonds has a limited NTC which has him able to submit a 12-team no-trade list. That kind of cuts things down a bit. But for the teams not on the list, he has one year left on a very cheap cap hit and is one of the elite power forwards in the game. As a net-front presence on the power play, there probably aren’t any better in the game.

Which playoff hopeful could use a player like him? Remember, this is without knowing which teams he’d have on his NTC.

Edmonton would appear to make sense because they need to rebound from an awful year but they need controllable, young players. A guy with one year left on his deal and turning 30 in August doesn’t fit the bill.

What about the Blackhawks? This is a team who believes their Cup window is still open and once they LTIR Marian Hossa, they’ll have more than enough cap space to add Simmonds. Their power play was a horror show at times last year and Simmonds can help a lot in this regard.

To me, the most sense is Calgary. This team *desperately* needs some depth on right wing. Assuming they don’t want to break up the 3M line, there really isn’t a whole lot else there. They need a guy who can play on the top line and they need a guy who can kickstart that abysmal power play. Simmonds can do both. Calgary should be doing everything they can to add him, and I say this not only as a greedy fantasy owner. The question is if they want to part with more assets given their lack of draft picks already.

Don Waddell was on Sportsnet’s Hockey Central on Wednesday discussing Carolina being ready to make some deals in the next week or so. This isn’t a surprise to anyone but Jeff Skinner’s name came up specifically while he downplayed the rumours on Noah Hanifin. He made it sound like their intention would be to keep Hanifin long-term.

With that said, a column yesterday from Bruce Garrioch at the Ottawa Sun said that Carolina had shown interest in acquiring Erik Karlsson. As pointed out by TSN’s Travis Yost on Twitter, the revelation that Carolina was one of the teams, on top of the usual suspects like Tampa Bay and Vegas, inquiring on Karlsson during the season is interesting.

Could a sign-and-trade package revolving around Hanifin and Skinner make sense for Ottawa? It would give them a proven scorer to replace Mike Hoffman that they could re-sign should they so choose, and a young, controllable defenceman that they could have on their blue line for much of the next decade. There would obviously be other pieces involved and I’m just spitballing. But a package like that could get the ball rolling on Karlsson. Just a thought.

With the NHL Awards taking place, now might be a good time to look forward to the NHL Awards of 2019. It’s prediction time!

These are almost certainly going to be wrong as we haven’t even gone through the Entry Draft yet, let alone free agency and the meat of trade season. But until we get the Draft, trades, and free agency, there just isn’t a whole lot to cover in the hockey world at the moment.

Hart Trophy

Winner: Jack Eichel

Nominees: Connor McDavid, Mark Scheifele

We saw this year that the PHWA is willing to vote not necessarily for the best player as MVP but the player who helped an underdog reach the postseason. When looking across the league, are there any bigger underdogs to reach the postseason than Buffalo? Sure, they’re getting Rasmus Dahlin in the Entry Draft, but this is a team which has been home in April in seven straight seasons and has averaged 63.4 points over the last five years.

If Buffalo were to make a huge turnaround, a lot of things have to go right: both Dahlin and Casey Mittelstadt have to be Calder-worthy, Ryan O’Reilly probably can’t get traded, Kyle Okposo has to be the player they signed in free agency two years ago and not the player he’s been since, Sam Reinhart’s production progression needs to continue, and they need to make a splash in free agency to reinforce their defence corps. They should probably add a couple good bottom-six forwards as well. I get that the East is tough, but if a few things go right, they can pass teams like Ottawa, Montreal, the Rangers, and Detroit. Depending on what happens with trades and free agency, they can pass teams like the Islanders and Hurricanes as well. It doesn’t leave them that far from playoff contention.

Of course, if Buffalo were to even make a playoff push rather than be out of contention by Christmas, Eichel has to be one of the top producers in the league. He’s coming into his fourth season (we love our Year 4 guys here at Dobber) and hopefully he’s healthy all year long. It might be a longshot that the Sabres can turn their fortunes around in one season, but we saw two stark examples of this in 2017-18, and if they can pull off the miracle, a monster season from Eichel will be a big reason why.

Norris Trophy

Winner: Erik Karlsson

Nominees: Victor Hedman, Brent Burns

This is all predicated on Karlsson being traded out of the raging landfill fire that is the Ottawa Senators organization. All signs are pointing to him having a new home for the 2018-19 season and honestly, it doesn’t matter where. There’s nowhere he can be traded in the NHL that will be a downgrade.

Karlsson has two Norris wins and two second-place finishes in the last seven years. And, honestly, it should be three wins but there was a season where Drew Doughty got a lifetime achievement award or something, so it’s not as if picking Karlsson to win is stepping out on a ledge.

In 2017-18, Karlsson managed just (and I say that laughingly) 62 points and did so on 219 goals scored by the team. But he missed 11 games and the Sens scored 30 goals in those 11 games. Karlsson thus figured in 32.8 percent of goals in games that he played. If he can go to a team like Vegas or San Jose, and play a full season, figuring in on nearly one-third of 250+ goals works out to a point-per-game season. If Karlsson is a point-per-game player on a playoff team, he walks to his third Norris Trophy.

Vezina Trophy

Winner: John Gibson

Nominees: Antti Raanta, Sergei Bobrovsky

The potential loss of Ryan Kesler undoubtedly hurts this team if he indeed misses the 2018-19 season, but he was injured and largely ineffective last year as it was. A full season from Ryan Getzlaf and Sam Steel making his way to the team should go a long way in shoring them up down the middle. Don’t forget that Hampus Lindholm started the season injured as well. Just this team being healthy, Kesler aside, should mean improvement from the Ducks. Despite the injuries last year, Gibson was still one of the best goaltenders in the league. He just needs to stay healthy himself.

Anaheim still boasts a pretty good top-4 defence corps with Lindholm, Josh Manson, Brandon Montour, and Cam Fowler. They can still ice a pretty good top-3 lines so it’s just really tinkering with depth that they need. A healthy year from this roster, and Gibson playing like he can, should have him in the Vezina conversation.

As always, goaltending is very uncertain. Feel free to throw this all in my face in 12 months.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-wayne-simmonds-carolina-nhl-awards-june-21/

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tpanan · 7 years

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My First Friday Daily Blessings

March 2, 2018 (First Friday Devotion to the SACRED HEART of JESUS)

Be still quiet your heart and mind, the LORD is here, loving you talking to you...........

First Friday of the Second Week of Lent (Roman Rite Calendar)

Lectionary: 234, Liturgical Year B

First Reading: Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a

Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic. When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.

One day, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem, Israel said to Joseph, "Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem. Get ready; I will send you to them."

So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan. They noticed him from a distance, and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another: "Here comes that master dreamer! Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams."

When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from their hands, saying, "We must not take his life. Instead of shedding blood," he continued, "just throw him into that cistern there in the desert; but do not kill him outright."

His purpose was to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.

So when Joseph came up to them, they stripped him of the long tunic he had on; then they took him and threw him into the cistern, which was empty and dry.

They then sat down to their meal.

Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, balm and resin to be taken down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers: "What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood? Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh." His brothers agreed. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21

"Remember the marvels the LORD has done."

Verse before the Gospel: John 3:16

"God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son; so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life."

Gospel Reading: Matthew 21:17-28

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: "Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,

'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.' They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?" They answered him, "He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times." Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?

Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit."

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

**Meditation:

Do you ever feel cut off or separated from God? Joseph was violently rejected by his brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt. His betrayal and suffering, however, resulted in redemption and reconciliation for his brothers. "Fear not, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today" (Genesis 50:19-20). Joseph prefigures Jesus who was betrayed by one of his own disciples and put to death on the cross for our redemption. Jesus came to reconcile us with an all-just and all-merciful God. His parables point to the mission he came to accomplish - to bring us the kingdom of God.

Parable of the vineyard What is the message of the parable of the vineyard? Jesus' story about an absentee landlord and his not-so-good tenants would have made sense to his audience. The hills of Galilee were lined with numerous vineyards, and it was quite common for the owners to let out their estates to tenants. Many did it for the sole purpose of collecting rent.Why did Jesus' story about wicked tenants cause offense to the scribes and Pharisees? It contained both a prophetic message and a warning. Isaiah had spoken of the house of Israel as "the vineyard of the Lord" (Isaiah 5:7). Jesus' listeners would have likely understood this parable as referring to God's dealing with a stubborn and rebellious people.

This parable speaks to us today as well. It richly conveys some important truths about God and the way he deals with his people. First, it tells us of God's generosity and trust. The vineyard is well equipped with everything the tenants need. The owner went away and left the vineyard in the hands of the tenants. God, likewise trusts us enough to give us freedom to run life as we choose. This parable also tells us of God's patience and justice. Not once, but many times he forgives the tenants their debts. But while the tenants take advantage of the owner's patience, his judgment and justice prevail in the end.

Gift of the kingdom Jesus foretold both his death on the cross and his ultimate triumph. He knew he would be rejected and put to death, but he also knew that would not be the end. After rejection would come glory - the glory of his resurrection from the grave and his ascension to the right hand of the Father in heaven. The Lord blesses his people today with the gift of his kingdom - a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. And he promises that we will bear much fruit if we abide in him (see John 15:1-11). He entrusts his gifts and grace (unmerited favor and blessing) to each of us and he gives us work to do in his vineyard - the body of Christ in our midst today. He promises that our labor for him will not be in vain if we persevere with faith to the end (see 1 Corinthians 15:58). We can expect trials and even persecution. But in the end we will see triumph. Do you follow and serve the Lord Jesus with joyful hope and confidence in the victory he has won for you and the gift of abundant new life in the Holy Spirit?

**Prayer:

"Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which you have given us - for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us. O most merciful redeemer, friend, and brother, may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, for your own sake."

(prayer of St. Richard of Chichester, 13th century)

Sources:

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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