#not quite fast enough

[runveganwankerrun]

Wed 30th Nov '22

For someone who says the numbers on the scales aren't the be all and end all, I'm pretty fucking obsessed with the numbers on the scales! This morning I got my lowest number since I started blogging on 12 Sept, when I was 172.4lb. Today I was 162.6lb. That's decent! I'm happy. Getting close to a stone off.

It was my club 800s interval session at the track tonight. Damn, that was tough. Twice round the track is soul sucking. Hard enough to go round once, while you're fresh, but it's hell to know you've got another lap to do. (Imagine doing a track 10,000m! That'stwebty-five fucking laps!) On top of that Coach wanted me to do 4 mins 40 secs per interval. I wasn't sure I could attain that, but thought I could give it a decent shot. However. As my bad planning would have it, it looked like my Garmin was out of charge, so it was a no no for tonight. Well damn! My Samsung is no good as a running watch except for basics. It's definately no good for intervals. It was my only option, and just marginally better than nothing. It turns out, the Garmin might have had enough charge, it was just that the battery indictor showed as empty. When I plugged the watch in to charge, it was saying 47%. I might have to send it away to be looked at. The long and the short of it is, I have no proper stats to give Coach in my run report.

The session was a good news, bad news situation. Good news, I ran the session, I ran faster than if I was on a full on run, and I managed to do four reps in the twenty-five minutes. Recovery was full standing recovery, no jogging or walking it out, standing still for half the time it took to do the 800m. Bad news is, as inaccurate as my timing was tonight, I reckon it took me five mins or a litttle longer to complete each rep. Well short of what Coach wanted. So i pass because I ran the intervals, I get an epic fail on pace. Blah! I went, I ran. I'm happy with that.

Food was good today. Porridge bars for breakfast, raw stuff for lunch, veg soup after club. I snacked on tinned lentils sprinkled with nutritional yeast before club. Hey! Don't knock it till you've tried it. It gives me the savoury hit that I want and staves off hunger before running, without being too heavy.

All in all, a good day. And marcothon starts tomorrow. I'll explain that then. Ah, a cliffhanger! Mwah ha haaa!

[themortaldraw]

how it feels trying to win the music box in echoes of wisdom

[icaruspendragon]

he did. my husband tried. he tried to warn them. he did. he said to them, “i’m not as into this as my wife is. i just like looking at cars, but she’s got all the facts and specs and everything. she’s practically a walking encyclopedia.”

and they didn’t believe him. they laughed. they shrugged it off. they shrugged me off. they were warned. and yet they still decided to try and put me to the test. they were warned. they were warned of what would happen to them. and yet they didn’t listen.

their ambition made them icarian. their folly turned my warmth from brilliant to sweltering.

their hubris led to their humiliation.

they were warned. but ambition makes men bold.

this is all just a very dramatic way of saying that grown men decided to play a game of, “oh you’re a fan? prove it” only to have their asses handed to them by their opponent.

this was the opponent btw:

[halorvic]

The danger is clear and present: COVID isn’t merely a respiratory illness; it’s a multi-dimensional threat impacting brain function, attacking almost all of the body’s organs, producing elevated risks of all kinds, and weakening our ability to fight off other diseases. Reinfections are thought to produce cumulative risks, and Long COVID is on the rise. Unfortunately, Long COVID is now being considered a long-term chronic illness — something many people will never fully recover from. Dr. Phillip Alvelda, a former program manager in DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office that pioneered the synthetic biology industry and the development of mRNA vaccine technology, is the founder of Medio Labs, a COVID diagnostic testing company. He has stepped forward as a strong critic of government COVID management, accusing health agencies of inadequacy and even deception. Alvelda is pushing for accountability and immediate action to tackle Long COVID and fend off future pandemics with stronger public health strategies. Contrary to public belief, he warns, COVID is not like the flu. New variants evolve much faster, making annual shots inadequate. He believes that if things continue as they are, with new COVID variants emerging and reinfections happening rapidly, the majority of Americans may eventually grapple with some form of Long COVID. Let’s repeat that: At the current rate of infection, most Americans may get Long COVID.

[...]

LP: A recent JAMA study found that US adults with Long COVID are more prone to depression and anxiety – and they’re struggling to afford treatment. Given the virus’s impact on the brain, I guess the link to mental health issues isn’t surprising. PA: There are all kinds of weird things going on that could be related to COVID’s cognitive effects. I’ll give you an example. We’ve noticed since the start of the pandemic that accidents are increasing. A report published by TRIP, a transportation research nonprofit, found that traffic fatalities in California increased by 22% from 2019 to 2022. They also found the likelihood of being killed in a traffic crash increased by 28% over that period. Other data, like studies from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, came to similar conclusions, reporting that traffic fatalities hit a 16-year high across the country in 2021. The TRIP report also looked at traffic fatalities on a national level and found that traffic fatalities increased by 19%. LP: What role might COVID play? PA: Research points to the various ways COVID attacks the brain. Some people who have been infected have suffered motor control damage, and that could be a factor in car crashes. News is beginning to emerge about other ways COVID impacts driving. For example, in Ireland, a driver’s COVID-related brain fog was linked to a crash that killed an elderly couple. Damage from COVID could be affecting people who are flying our planes, too. We’ve had pilots that had to quit because they couldn’t control the airplanes anymore. We know that medical events among U.S. military pilots were shown to have risen over 1,700% from 2019 to 2022, which the Pentagon attributes to the virus.

[...]

LP: You’ve criticized the track record of the CDC and the WHO – particularly their stubborn denial that COVID is airborne. PA: They knew the dangers of airborne transmission but refused to admit it for too long. They were warned repeatedly by scientists who studied aerosols. They instituted protections for themselves and for their kids against airborne transmission, but they didn’t tell the rest of us to do that.

[...]

LP: How would you grade Biden on how he’s handled the pandemic? PA: I’d give him an F. In some ways, he fails worse than Trump because more people have actually died from COVID on his watch than on Trump’s, though blame has to be shared with Republican governors and legislators who picked ideological fights opposing things like responsible masking, testing, vaccination, and ventilation improvements for partisan reasons. Biden’s administration has continued to promote the false idea that the vaccine is all that is needed, perpetuating the notion that the pandemic is over and you don’t need to do anything about it. Biden stopped the funding for surveillance and he stopped the funding for renewing vaccine advancement research. Trump allowed 400,000 people to die unnecessarily. The Biden administration policies have allowed more than 800,000 to 900,000 and counting.

[...]

LP: The situation with bird flu is certainly getting more concerning with the CDC confirming that a third person in the U.S. has tested positive after being exposed to infected cows. PA: Unfortunately, we’re repeating many of the same mistakes because we now know that the bird flu has made the jump to several species. The most important one now, of course, is the dairy cows. The dairy farmers have been refusing to let the government come in and inspect and test the cows. A team from Ohio State tested milk from a supermarket and found that 50% of the milk they tested was positive for bird flu viral particles.

[...]

PA: There’s a serious risk now in allowing the virus to freely evolve within the cow population. Each cow acts as a breeding ground for countless genetic mutations, potentially leading to strains capable of jumping to other species. If any of those countless genetic experiments within each cow prove successful in developing a strain transmissible to humans, we could face another pandemic – only this one could have a 58% death rate. Did you see the movie “Contagion?” It was remarkably accurate in its apocalyptic nature. And that virus only had a 20% death rate. If the bird flu makes the jump to human-to-human transition with even half of its current lethality, that would be disastrous.

[formulanni]

Sergio Perez as The Page of Cups:

The Page of Cups can represent the potential for new beginnings, positive experiences, and creative inspiration. This heralds a happy surprise of some kind. The fish that pops out of the cup is a signal that one's unconscious is attempting to make contact, though sometimes one does not understand what is meant to be said.

Taglist: @st-leclerc @rubywingsracing @saviour-of-lord @three-days-time @the-wall-is-my-goal @albonoooo @ch3rubd0lls

Special shoutout to @your-ace-cousin-clover for helping me remember to post this 😭

[imerian]

Vr46 academy keychains

Set of five charms that all match in different ways

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　 . ✦　　˚　

Open for detailed pictures of each one

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ *ੈ✩‧₊˚

ִֶָ 𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆★⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ

:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:･.:

˖⁺‧₊˚⭒✮⭒˚₊‧⁺˖

. ݁₊ ✶. ݁ ˖ˎˊ˗

I ran out of tags so I'll say it here but i would greatly appreciate a reblog, especially if you share your thoughts on these pieces in tags (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

(Also i forgot that bez have matching part with luca so I didn’t add that to tags sorry

[vilochkaaa]

I decided to do this funny thing because... yeah. I love that dork and I'm ready to draw him all month long xdd

so...

dobvember day 1. small

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

redid an old ref of an important Guy of mine!! i imagine they're very jingly when moving

extra:

and the cringe 2022 ref. looking at it makes me nauseous <3

[odo-apologist]

Smegtober #9: Music

Warning: there is a description of someone getting sick, so if you have emetophobia/find that uncomfortable, this is a heads up!

     Arnold was perched gingerly at the edge of his chair, shoulders scrunched about his neck and left leg bouncing away in discomfort. His eyes darted about the room, squinting in the low light, searching for the classmates who had taken him on this trip as an “initiation” to their group, but a knot of fear and shame grew in the pit of his stomach along with the realization that this was all some humiliating prank and he had been ditched in a dingy bar approximately 500 million miles from home.

     The place reeked of stale sweat, smoke, and cheap beer. The soles of Arnold's shoes had caught on the sticky floors when he walked, and he wondered how long it had been since they were mopped. He dreaded having to get up and navigate his way through the thick swathe of people shouting, laughing, and dancing to the music. And that was another problem: the music, if you could call it that. His parents would have called it chaotic noise, and he was inclined to agree. The live band produced a discordant, unharmonious cacophony upon poorly-tuned strings and clacking keyboards. The lead singer droned the uninspired lyrics out of time with the playing (to use the word liberally) of the tune (to use that word liberally).

     Eventually, the performance ended while Arnold had still spotted none of the people who brought him here. The knot had transformed into nausea and his breathing was coming quicker and someone brushed against him and stepped on his foot and his head was pounding and the glasses of lager that were thrust upon him by his peers wasn't helping any of it and he realized he was going to be sick. He stood up, swayed a moment, and shoved himself through the crowd until he got to the restroom. He had a moment to see himself in the mirror looking positively green before vomiting in, on, and over the sink. He took labored, gulping breaths between his retching, the effort, panic, and sting of stomach acid on his tongue causing tears to form in his eyes. Then he jumped as he felt a hand rest upon his shoulder.

     “Hey man, you alright?”

     Arnold had just enough strength to pause in evacuating his stomach of its little content to answer shortly, “Do I look alright to you?” He followed the question with another retch.

     “Look, I'm just trying to help, yeah? Seems like you need it.” The hand returned tentatively to Arnold's upper back, and its owner asked, “Is this okay?”

     Arnold didn't have the ability to respond, but he didn't flinch from it this time. He reveled in the act of comfort that was given so freely. Eventually, the heaving subsided. He groaned weakly, face reddened and cheeks wet. The hand vanished from his shoulder; he just managed to stifle a noise of protest when it came into his field of vision holding a wad of paper towels.

     “Thanks,” Arnold replied quietly. He wiped at his eyes and his mouth. Turning on the sink, he cupped his palm and drank the water he collected, washing away the taste. He turned at last to the person who helped him. His face fell with recognition.

     It was the lead singer of that godawful band. His hair managed to be styled into both an afro and locks that ran past his shoulders. The jean jacket he wore was an eyesore, covered in sparkly, gaudy pins that seemed not just to catch but emit light, contrasting with the dim, bare bulb hanging above their heads; Arnold felt compelled to shield his eyes.

     Turned from the sink, no longer doubled over, the man in front of Dave was easier to take in. He recognized this guy as the one pressed into the corner of the pub during his performance; he stuck out so much from the usual crowd, he was hard to forget. Dave had noted his slicked-down hair (though some curls had come loose since then), the tweed blazer and starched shirt underneath (now slightly rumpled), the bow tie (clawed at until it hung undone around his neck). “You're not a usual around here, are you?”

     The question must have roused something in his thoughts, because Dave watched his face grow tight with anxiety. “No, I'm-I'm not supposed to be here. I don't know why I believed them, of course it was just another stupid prank! But I d-don't know where they went, I'm just stuck here, and now I've got to find a way home and I'll be late for class and I'll get bad marks again and-and Father–” Beginning to hyperventilate, he practically gagged with anxiety, threatening to get sick a second time.

     “Woah, woah, you're gonna puke again; just try to breathe.” As Dave watched him sputter out a few deeper breaths, he continued, “How about I walk you home? You aren't in a state to go by yourself. Where do you live?”

     He was met with a humorless laugh. “Io.”

     “Smeg!” No wonder the guy was nervous, being left on his own on an unfamiliar planet. “Who left you here? How'd you get here?”

     He looked away from Dave in embarrassment. “One of my brothers…well, he's a test pilot for new demi-light-speed zippers. And another student at my school happened to get access to one through their parents, and he and his friends said I could prove myself if I do near what my brother did and ride it with them to Earth.”

     “You'd really go through all that trouble to impress a bunch of crypto-fascist arseholes who'd ditch you as part of a joke?”

     The Ionian looked at him like he was crazy. “Of course! What do you expect me to do?”

     “If it were me, I'd tell them to smeg off. How about calling your brother? Couldn't you do that?”

     Arnold paled; out of all his brothers, John would be the least reluctant to help him out, but that wasn't saying much. Still, unless his fellow students returned to mock him (not an unlikely scenario) or he miraculously found them, there wasn't a much better alternative. He sighed. “I suppose so.”

     The singer appeared to catch his hesitation and was on the verge of speaking again when the door opened. It was another member of the band.

     “Dave, what's keeping you? We've got another set to prepare for!”

      “Yeah, give me a minute, okay?” As Dave spoke, Arnold headed toward the exit. But he called to Arnold, “Wait, you alright to head out?”

     “Oh, yes, I'm fine, tickety-boo.” He was sure everything else about him said otherwise, but the interruption of their conversation made him feel the sudden urge to get out of the bar, away from this atmosphere, and in contact with his brother as soon as he could. Besides, Dave had done enough, more than pretty much anyone in his life had. He didn't want to impose further, not when he didn't really deserve it. Still, before rushing off, he gave him a small, genuine smile and said softly, “Thanks for your help, Dave.”

      Dave barely had time to process this as the man slipped away, heading out of the bar. He hoped he made it back home alright. The idea of taking one of those zippers here was totally mad. Dave shook his head; he'd have to be out of his mind before he'd ever do such a thing.

[chimerafeathers]

there's an essay jumbled up in my brain about dunmeshi's beginning and how clever and deceptive it is as a sleight-of-hand trick that distracts the audience from the depth and scope of the worldbuilding and foreshadowing that's being set up the entire time by dangling zany characters and wacky dishes and biology fun facts in front of us, and how that serves to catch invested viewers off guard when those elements come to the forefront, but also how it works against it with other viewers wanting "more" and not seeing it because the plot bait isn't laid out up front

how people getting frustrated with the characters "not taking things seriously" is mirrored and refuted in the confrontation between Laios and Shuro. how the characters' attitudes aren't just a result of shallow low-stakes "comedy rules" where nothing matters, but are an extension of their personalities (Laios's nonstandard expression of emotions being offputting even to people he knows) and the world and social environment (adventurers being desensitized to death and injury because resurrection magic is commonplace). the way the party refers to "saving Falin" instead of "retrieving Falin's corpse," indicating that they still see her with full personhood, and how that phrasing leads to some readers/viewers believing that Falin is alive in the dragon's stomach, conscious of being slowly digested while the party carelessly fucks around "wasting time." how the weird tonal dissonance makes sense in-universe and yet is deliberately challenged more and more the deeper the party goes

all the character building and pieces of lore slowly weaving together the shape of the larger world, laying the groundwork for the major themes that will surface later. so much is right there in the "low-stakes" early episodes if you know what you're looking for (or pass the perception checks).

it can be so satisfying to see new viewers/readers pick up on the clues even in the earliest "simple" episodes, or notice new things and make connections yourself....and it can also be frustrating to see people dismiss oddities and dissonance as shallow or bad writing because they don't expect a "cooking anime" to have depth like that. why try to question and understand and peel back the layers when you don't expect there to be any layers?

why can't laios take things seriously for once?

[bobbydidmytaxes]

Thank god Warren conveniently showed up just in time to give Bobby an excuse not to sleep with a lady. He really lucked out with that one

[thomastair]

criston cole and alys rivers having beef is so funny wyd if the nineteen year old you’ve effectively raised to be the faithful dutiful soldier you could never be ends up committing your personal Worst mistake of putting love before duty and the woman in question is also a non-seven-approved witch who may or may not have the power to explode your head

[batsplat]

@matchvedev I'll find actual presser clips at some point, but here's jorge bringing up race bans at le mans 2013 (race after jerez)

and more mention of it after aragon 2013 (where marc caused dani to crash)

and in the context of assen 2015 (obviously not one of the instances where jorge brought it up, but still narratively kinda fun so I'm including it)

and for old time's sake, jorge did bring it up again after argentina 2018

[ask-hermit-tommy]

sorry,forgot.the meeting we mentioned previously is being held on the twentieth,3:30 pst.if the date changes we will let you know.

[ ^ and update, i think? ]

I.. okay..?

[jaypgartifacts]

a weird guy appear

[denydestiny-doodles]

he who champions love and peace