#or just sports. pick a team and root for the team and that’s pretty much all there is to it!

[gemmasdeadwife]

I feel kind of bad about doing something so petty, but each time I block a shipbrained weirdo, I feel a little lighter. And I think this will make my experience a lot better overall. I wasn’t caught up on the show until Chikhai Bardo, which is when I finally got online about it. And I’ve loved speculating about what might happen and discussing interpretations of various details and things like that, but honestly the shippers are also ruining it a little bit for me, to the point that I’m starting to feel hints of bitterness toward characters I love and relationships I’m invested in. Solely because of the dismissive, reductive, and bizarrely competitive attitudes I see shippers take toward the characters outside of their ship, and also tbh the objectification of the characters within their ship, and the horniness for the most toxic, psychologically damaging possible versions of the ship & characters. So this is the policy now. If your weird aggressive post makes me feel a streak of resentment toward a beautifully written character, well then so long, friend

[kairiscorner]

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ loverboy kotaro bokuto headcanons.

loverboy bokuto is very vocal about how attractive he finds you. he may not be the most articulate boy out there, but he never fails to compliment you every chance he gets. his smile is the icing on the cake, though–he looks a little brighter when he calls you pretty, beautiful, gorgeous, handsome, or just... "woah".

loverboy bokuto isn't one to focus on the physical aspects of the object of his affections too much. sure, he finds you drop dead gorgeous–but your looks weren't the only reason this big goofball fell head over heels in love with you.

loverboy bokuto adores seeing you smile and cheer for the team; it's enough to send him out of his mood swings and get back to being his 120%, giving it his all just to be able to say that today's match–his awesome spikes, receives, plays–they were all for you, the love of his life.

loverboy bokuto tries to be the perfect textbook suitor for you, getting you flowers and taking you to and from school, treating you to your favorite snacks when you're feeling hungry, showing you off to others because he feels so lucky being with you, never asking for you to be anyone else because you are simply too perfect for him to handle...

loverboy bokuto is also not the convention textbook suitor he hopes to be, though. he does all those things for you, but in the most chaotic, over-the-top, and extra ways he can think of. the team's already very aware of how great, amazing, and perfect you are; bokuto never fails to run his mouth of just gushing about you, you, you, and you.

loverboy bokuto rushes to your home, nearly screams to you a good morning, and smiles with the brightness of the sun on his sweet face–it's clear, he's a morning person when he's able to come take you to school.

loverboy bokuto doesn't go to fancy floral shops to get you flowers, he honestly just picks up the prettiest ones he happens upon on his way to pick you up. there's something really charming about the assorted garden flowers he picks up for you, even if they've got fresh dirt and some roots on them, the way he beams when he hands them to you, the way the colors just pop when you take a look at the bouquet he put together for you... it's sweet, very sweet of him; you can't help but fall for him a little more when he does it, and he does–every single day, to the point that the neighbors complain that he's kind of the reason why their flowerbeds are messed up.

loverboy bokuto gets demotivated easily when he hasn't seen you in a few hours. being a class away from you is like being light-years away from you–he can't focus in class, can't eat his lunch, can't even muster a, "hey, hey, hey!" let alone spike and give his 120% during practice when he hasn't seen you. he gets all mopey and emotional, and he just misses you dearly that he forgets how to function.

loverboy bokuto immediately cheers up and smiles from ear-to-ear, gets all jumpy and optimistic when you finally show up. he gets all clingy around you, not wanting to be away from you ever again, at least until practice is over and you two can head home together. he loves having you sit your pretty little butt down and watch him spike and win points during practice–because you're the reason he's all fired up now. he can finally scream his, "hey, hey, hey!" and point at you, telling you that was for you–asking you how cool he looked like that, smiling and chuckling to himself just how gorgeous his little lover is.

loverboy bokuto constantly searches for you in the crowds, hoping that among all who scream his name, you're there, too. the only reason he's giving it his all isn't just because he loves the sport, the euphoric feeling of spiking a ball down, getting over tall walls in front of him–but it's because he loves it when you're proud of him. and when he sees you, among all the faces in the crowd... he feels his chest flutter, his smile growing wider, a blush across his face as he screams to akaashi to toss to him once more for his beloved to watch him give it his all and win this match; because he wants to give you a reason to be proud of your dopey, adorable loverboy.

[aerinfrankellove]

2024-25 Season Prediction Survey Results

Read below or read a better formatted version here

The second PWHL season looms heavy on the horizon, and with preseason camps underway, the prospect of change, a new season with new storylines and new team names and logos and new players, haunts us all. We may not all be sports experts, but after watching the first season for months and eagerly awaiting the second, we all have our own ideas of how season two might go. Whether they’re logical ideas or not will be seen upon the future, but I, lover of data and spreadsheets, decided to gather up all your opinions and predictions of how season two will go, from the biggest honor (The Walter Cup) to random questions regarding trades and penalty minutes

Team Predictions -

This was the easy part of the form. Minimal prior knowledge, you didn’t even need to know the team names because I put them all in as multiple choice questions. Hypothetically everyone could have just picked randomly and I wouldn’t be any the wiser. That being said, some interesting trends emerged from you folks, some predictable and some less so.

Walter Cup Winners: Boston Fleet or Montreal Victoire (35.3%)

This was probably one of the closest races beneath the team with only about a single vote difference between Boston winning it all and Montreal winning it all at any one time. As an entirely unbiased Boston fan and casual Montreal enjoyer, I think this prediction is definitely founded in something. Montreal and Boston project to be two of the stronger teams, but I also think I’m biased if only because of how many Montreal and Boston fans I see in comparison to other teams. With all that being said, I’d be disappointed but not surprised if some other less represented team (Seriously does no one believe New York can win? Even Ottawa got a single vote and y’all really hated Ottawa) wins it going away after a hot season. But as my father always says, that’s why we play the game and this game/series in particular is quite a far ways away.

Walter Cup Runner Ups: Montreal Victoire (35.3%)

Honestly, I was expecting pretty similar results for this question as the question above, after all if the general consensus is that one of those two teams will win the cup, then one of them would have to lose it, right? Well Montreal was right up there, but unexpectedly Toronto came in second with 24% of people having enough faith in Toronto getting to the finals and then very little faith in them actually winning it, girlfailures that they are. Montreal tied with them to get second in the cup, followed by Boston (please god don’t let it come to that I don’t think my heart could take two years in a row) and then the mish mash of the Sirens, Frost, and Charge. 

First in the standings: Toronto Sceptres (32.4%)

So Montreal was leading this right up until I was actually writing and then I had to completely change my paragraph mid writing which was so much fun and definitely not irritating at all, but Toronto overtook Montreal for first, aiming for that repeat first in the standings and dare I be speaking sacrilege against the Victoire (who I do like more than the Sceptres) I honestly think they have a better chance. Like a 45% chance vs. a 40% chance. Boston carried up third place in voting and as much as I love the Fleet I think lots of things would have to go right for that to happen (another stunning season by Frankel, more consistent offense, an actual power play, so on and so forth). 

Additionally, as much as I hate to say it, I think we’re seriously underselling Minnesota, just because they made some inadvisable choices during the off season doesn’t mean they still aren’t largely the team who won the Walter cup and has theoretically gotten better during the offseason. Then again, I’d be as happy as anyone to see them crash and burn a little bit so it’s all speculatory. New York got a grand total of two votes but I’m secretly rooting for them to surprise some people. Ottawa got none, but we can cover that in the next section.

Last in the standings: Ottawa Charge (52.9%)

Guys. Guys, really? Ottawa fans, I am begging you, come represent your team because this is embarrassing. Like I don’t know much about what Ottawa’s been up to other than rebuilding the Czech National Team (shout out to Carla Macleod I am manifesting you knowing what you are doing). Like they weren’t bad last year, they were second in goals for, and they did lose a bit but they had tons of overtime losses which means they were in the games. Hell, they were very nearly in the playoffs, they were in the same category as Minnesota and Boston, the two finalist teams! Apparently my unpopular opinion is that Ottawa isn’t going to suck (They hopefully have two solid goalies now so Masch won’t be overworked, they signed some good players, I feel like I’m going crazy.) Otherwise, there’s not much notable in this section other than some doubt about the Sirens and the Frost (lord let it be the Frost /j) but shoutout to the one person truly going against the grain and saying that Montreal is gonna get dead last, I applaud your bravery.

The Four Playoff Teams:

This question was a little less straightforward so we’re gonna split it into three sections. The (Predicted) Shoe-ins, The Contenders, and Ottawa.

The (Predicted) Shoe-ins - 

The Sceptres, the Victoire, and the Fleet all had about 30 votes with nearly 90% of respondents selecting them each as one of the potential playoff teams. This fits pretty well with the previous votes of the Walter Cup winners and runner ups, so I wasn’t too surprised at any of these. All of these teams should have a decent shot at the playoffs and my own mostly unfounded misgivings about the Sceptres aside, this is all pretty reasonable and I largely think there’s a good chance that this is how it goes..

The Contenders - 

The Frost and the Sirens were pretty evenly matched, about half of y’all voted that they’d be one of four playoff teams and I generally agree that they both have a pretty good shot at the playoffs so there isn’t much to talk about here. I’d personally be more excited for the Sirens to make a run at the playoffs, I think they have a chance to be good after last season and hopefully put some things together over the summer, but we shall see.

Ottawa - 

You know I already wrote a whole ramble about this and since then Ottawa beat Boston 6-1 in the preseason and I think they heard how little faith you guys had in them and decided to take it out on my team. That’s all I’m gonna say on that.

The Trade Predictions:

These answers were definitely a bit less clear cut due to the nature of the question, after all it’s a lot easier to say who you think will be good than try and get into the head of GMs and coaches, but a few trends emerged nonetheless. The Frost, the Sirens, and the Charge all got 19 or 20 apiece and I think it makes a bit of sense. After all the Sirens and the Charge seemingly stand the most to gain through trade having missed the playoffs, and from later responses those who voted Minnesota were manifesting a Britta Curl trade which I’ll refrain from judging at the moment. I will say I’m a bit surprised that less people voted for Boston, after all unless my memory is entirely wrong they had the most trades over the course of last season and seem to hold very few qualms about it.

0.500+ Winning Percentage: Montreal Victoire (84.8%)

Guys, I respect this take, I’m 90% sure this was one of my votes for an above .500 team as well, but may I speak a little bit of heresy against the Victoire? Like they’re gonna be good, I don’t have doubt in that, but I don’t know if they’re gonna be that decisively good. They’re a bit injured which could lead to a rocky start and do we all still remember how much they relied on those top few players especially in the playoffs? I’m pretty sure in the Boston series their fourth line may have gotten less than ten minutes overall which I’m not an expert on hockey but isn’t a whole thing about balancing ice time and having solid lines all the way through so your stars aren’t having absurdly long nights (shout out to Erin Ambrose you deserve a gun)?

Otherwise this follows the general trends of the playoffs with a bit more faith in the Frost than in the Sirens, a reasonable amount for the Fleet and Sceptres, and absolutely none in Ottawa which I think we’ll all come to regret but I’ve said my piece about that already so I won’t beat a dead horse into the ground.

Higher Goals For than Goals Against: Toronto Sceptres (68.8%)

This risks getting into actual smart people hockey stuff that I am by no means an expert in, so I won’t spend too long other than to just share the results. Toronto and Montreal are the only two teams with a confidence rate of over 50%, followed by Boston, Minnesota, New York, and Ottawa. I think it’s interesting to think about potential offensive numbers but really can’t speak much to how accurate these have the chance of being because my main reaction is “huh yeah that’s a statistic people can make predictions on”

Player Predictions -

This definitely was a lot less definitive on almost all fronts, and I joked while advertising this that you could just type in MPP for all the answers and get half of them right, which seems to be the approach that some of you took. It’s fair, but expect a lot of repetition looking at these charts due to that because she is just that pervasive. I’ll try to mention as many players you guys picked as possible but you might have to look at the charts because I am neither an expert in all players nor a good enough writer to say anything other than “Yeah that’s certainly a player”

Above 1.00 points per game played: Marie Philip-Poulin (13 votes)

And here is the start to our MPP sweep, starting strong off the bat, about half of the 26 answers to this question included her which makes sense. She was second only to Natalie Spooner last season, with 1.1 pt/g and unless something weird happens I see no reason to suspect otherwise from her. I honestly didn’t expect as many other players to be suggested, after all it was only Natalie Spooner and Marie Philip-Poulin which makes sense, it’s an impressive statistic, but everyone seemed to have their favorites. Sarah Nurse was one player who hasn’t really been on my radar but you guys seem to like her, for this question and a bunch of other ones. I personally am partial to a Hilary Knight comeback season from this list but would be interested to see anyone make that jump.

In the Top Ten Points Getters: Marie Philip-Poulin (15 votes)

Everyone raise their hands if they’re surprised MPP won this in a landslide, oh wait literally no one is surprised I could have told you this when it was literally only my vote on the board. You’ll learn very quickly that oftentime the runaway winner of these simple questions aren’t really the interesting ones, it’s everyone else that got nominated that you can really dig into. Everyone who got top 10 last year, 18-27 points was up here in this list except Brianne Jenner and Katerina Mrazova which I’m chalking up to you guy’s Ottawa hate. Shoutout to Tobi and the one other person who voted for Gabbie Hughes and also Ronja Savolainen, you are the real ones rooting for the Charge.

Also I don’t know if it’s because with Natalie Spooner just kind of ruled the world coming out of Toronto I was completely blindsided by Sarah Nurse on most of these questions sorry Nursey I forgot you existed a little bit hopefully the Toronto girlies don’t tear me apart for that one.

PIMPG Over 1.00 Minutes: Abby Roque (16 votes)

The certainty of the questions ticks up by one for the next few and as much as everyone believed in MPP being awesome overall, one more person believed in Abby Roque being a criminal on skates and/or overly penalized, I didn’t leave room for that distinction. Tereza Vanišová earned the dubious distinction of second place but only with 6 votes and Emma Maltais earned third with a measly 3. Not a ton of Rookie representation here but I’ll be interested to see if any of this draft class take up this mantle. Also shoutout to the two people who voted Kaleigh Fratkin despite her not playing that’s so real and valid of you.

Save Percentage Over 0.920: Aerin Frankel (17 votes)

With the most votes of any player for a single category, Aerin Frankel, The Green Monster, love of my life and the blockade of the Boston Fleet, absolutely swept this category. I might have been thinking this in my head, but it’s good to see my Frankel love reaffirmed for the upcoming season because she deserves it all. And maybe a gun if Boston decides to have a few repeat performances from last year (cough two fifty+ save games in a row cough). The goalie questions have an inherently smaller pool so there were fewer surprises because as a certified goalie lover I try to keep tabs on the situation in net across the league. I’m shocked ARD didn’t get as much of a nod here from Montreal fans but suppose the appeal of Montreal is dissimilar to Boston in that regard as you theoretically have a consistent offense.

20+ Games Started as a Goalie: Aerin Frankel (16 votes)

Honestly I’m surprised Maschmeyer didn’t run away with this question because if it’s who I’d like to see start 20 games and do wonderfully it’d definitely be Frankel but I think with the possible addition of Klara Peslarova Boston shouldn’t be overly reliant on her with Soderburg and potentially Peslarova to back her up. I suppose it might be overwhelming faith in Gwyneth Phillips to be a solid number 2 in Ottawa but she wasn’t that represented in other goalie questions so maybe it was just an oversight considering Masch had the most starts of any goalie in the league last year. More interestingly, I respect the one person who refrained from answering and basically said that there’s so much depth in the league that no goalie will get 20 out of 30 starts. I’m not sure if it’s accurate, but the depth is real so it’s possible.

Billie Jean King (MVP) Nominee: Marie-Philip Poulin (10 votes)

And now we’re officially back in MPP territory and I’m not gonna spend too much time breaking this down because yeah. If Poulin has a repeat performance from last season and Spooner’s out for a significant portion of the season on LTIR, it’s her award to lose. But let’s look at some of the people you think she has the chance to lose it to. Once again you guys are on the Sarah Nurse train and you know what I support. Seeing the team ratios, lots of Toronto, a smattering of everyone else, no Ottawa, is definitely interesting but I’m not nearly smart enough to make conclusions as to what that means so I’ll leave it up to you to decide. (Something something teams with depth might have less obvious candidates if they’re all kicking in?)

Forward of the Year Nominee: Marie-Philip Poulin (10 votes)

Wow. MPP for forward of the year, who possibly could have predicted this. Definitely not me. And yes, you all are probably right but that’s not interesting! That’s not fun and cool and interesting so let’s move on. More Sarah Nurse love in this house and I think I can confidently say there aren’t very many of you confident in a repeat performance from Spooner/think her injured status will prevent her from potentially making this list. It’s a bit more prominent but there’s definitely a big Daryl Watts faction of supporters and honestly I endorse this. I might not be a huge Toronto girlie but I always have a soft spot for players who move teams and she just seems like a very easy person to root for. I just hope she doesn’t do too well against Boston this Saturday <3

Defender of the Year Nominee: Ella Shelton and Erin Ambrose (7 votes)

See isn’t this fun, isn’t this interesting, a tie for first place and none of them are named Marie-Philip Poulin! (ignore the fact she isn’t eligible) Honestly, I think Ella Shelton and Erin Ambrose are the obvious but objectively correct candidates. They were both nominated and both deserving but I think Shelton was a little robbed, after all she was second in points for her team as a defender and fifth yes that’s right, fifth place for points overall. But alas Erin Ambrose is a titaness and also deserved the award so that’s not the point. The point is I think I’m slightly biased towards Shelton between our two winners. As our runners up, we’re really feeling that Sophie Jaques love and I might be anti-Minnesota but I can’t bring myself to be ant-Sophie Jaques. Of course I endorse Keller (Go Fleet!) and can’t say I know enough about the rest of these players defensively to speak definitively on their chances.

Goalie of the Year Nominee: Aerin Frankel (13 votes)

Peace and love on planet earth there’s not much to say that I didn’t already say in the save percentage or games started section so I won’t dawdle too much here other than to say that there was a little less variation of who you thought would be nominated versus who you thought would have a good season (starting 20+ times, high save percentage). You guys tend to stick with proven goalies, which makes sense and I can’t see any place I’d disagree other than to say I think that if Corinne Schroeder keeps up her save percentage (higher than Soupy last year) and New York lets her see less of a volume of shots (she saw about 31 per game as compared to Campbell’s 24) by actually playing defense, she could separate a bit from the other goalies in the league. I’m always rooting for Aerin Frankel and think she got robbed last year, so if she stays the Green Monster she was last season I think she has a really good chance.

Rookie of the Year Nominee: Sarah Fillier (12 votes)

This really reaffirmed for me that most of us have absolutely no clue anything about the depth of this rookie class. Of the nine players named, ⅔ of them were the first round of the draft, one of them isn’t even a rookie (Sorry Daryl Watts you won’t be getting this piece of hardware), and Curl and Daniel were second and third round picks respectively. Meanwhile over 20 rookie skaters got points in the preseason games alone and only Serdachny and Fillier from this list got more than 1 point. The rest of those seven players were all but forgotten. And I get it, preseason is preseason, but my prediction is we’ll have a few unexpected standouts who really break out in the league when no one really saw them coming. I don’t think Sarah Fillier will be snubbed with nominations, her preseason hatty proved that she’s coming out on all cylinders, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the other two are people not listed here. We shall see.

Significantly Better Year (Pt/G increased by at least 0.4): Hilary Knight (7 votes)

Listen, I might be biased as she is the Captain of the Fleet (which sounds so cool and I do need art of her in a pirate uniform immediately if not sooner) but I personally am rooting for a Hilary Knight revenge tour. I think we saw it at the rivalry series and in the single preseason game she graced the ice with her presence, but I think she’s the type of player who underperformed last season and is now prepared to rip the league a new one. This was definitely one of the more varied questions with most candidates getting 1 or 2 votes so I’ll let you make your own opinions though I will say a lot of you are on the Daryl Watts train and think she’ll find her footing in Toronto. My one note is I’m not sure if some of you got the question because there are some candidates here (Sarah Nurse most notably) who had great and/or good seasons (above 0.5 points per game) and going up by 0.4 or more would mean they’d become transcendent players on the same level as the Spooners and Poulins of last season. I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying there’s only so high players can go reasonably.

Involved in a Trade: Britta Curl (2 votes)

If the last question was a wide field of answers, this was a complete crapshoot. Aside from what I assume are two Minnesota fans hoping to dump Britta Curl on some other team, everyone else seems to be selected at random, so I won’t bother with any conjecture, you can observe and draw conclusions for yourself.

[sargeantposting]

A little earlier in the F2 season, we caught up with Williams Racing Academy Driver Logan Sargeant.

Wanting to get to know him just a little bit better, and with a big date in Austin now on the horizon, we tasked him with answering 22 questions about racing and life in general.

Here’s what he had to say…

What race day rituals do you have?

If weekends are going well, I tend to stick with the same underwear for each day. Before you worry, they’re different pairs! I have a Friday, Saturday, Sunday set. But if it’s not going well, I have to make a change!

What's your go-to coffee order?

Latte, but it's a double espresso before quali.

What's the inspiration behind your racing number?

This year it’s six because I can’t choose in F2, but when I am allowed to pick, it would be No3. Three for Dale Earnhardt, an all-out American hero.

Your favourite drink?

I’ve only just turned 21… but it’s water, of course.

If you had to cook one main course to impress a loved one, what would it be?

Oooo… I’m not much of a cook, but I can tell you what I would order in! I love a good prime rib.

What’s your favourite film?

Love the Jump Streets, but I’ve got a lot of time for Step Brothers. But if I had to choose out of the two, I’d go Jump Streets. I suppose I have to choose which one?! But 21 and 22 are both pretty good. Ah, I can’t decide.

Who is the toughest rival you've come up against so far?

It’s got to be the battle in Formula 3 between myself and Oscar Piastri.

Your favourite cheat meal?

Fortunately I have a quick metabolism, so they come relatively often… my American roots mean it would have to be a nice, juicy burger.

How many attempts did it take to pass your driving test?

Just one, which is apparently pretty rare for racing drivers! That’s including the practical and the theory.

Which track are you most looking forward to in 2022?

It’s got to be Monaco, but I’m looking forward to seeing the F1 team in Miami.

You can choose one song only to listen to before a race, what is it?

Lose Yourself - Eminem.

Is there one circuit not on your calendar that you'd love to race at?

Obviously it’s either Miami or Austin; to have a home race would be amazing. That said, I’d love to race at Suzuka some day.

Who is your favourite sports team outside of F1?

Anything Miami! We’re talking Heat, Dolphins, Marlins, Inter Miami… they’ve all got my support.

Least favourite exercise your trainer set for you in the offseason?

I’d say it’s got to be all the extra cardio I had to do to get ready for F2.

What's a better feeling, nailing a quali lap or executing a late overtake?

I saw what Nicky and Alex said to this answer and I have to agree. Nailing a quali lap all day long. It’s my favourite part of a weekend, I love putting it all on the line.

Is there anyone you idolised when growing up?

In racing, my first hero when I was a kid was, funnily enough, Jeff Gordon. I just loved watching him and the way he fought on track.

Favourite sport that's not F1?

At the moment, I’d have to say NFL. But it switches between that and the NBA.

If you could invite anyone in the world to a dinner party, which three people would you choose and why?

I would invite Leo DiCaprio, I feel he’s kind of cool. Then let’s also invite Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt. Let’s make it an A-List movie night!

What is your favourite Grand Prix?

Well, I could be biased and say Austin. I mean, how can you argue against 450,000 fans across the three days last year? That was pretty awesome. But I’ve got to say I love Silverstone as well.

What's been your favourite moment of your career so far?

My rookie race in Macau where I finished third. Definitely, 100%, hands down my favourite track in the world.

One word to describe how you're feeling about the 2022 season?

Confident.

One word that best describes Williams Racing to you?

Supportive.

[rosegasly]

you came out of the blue.

MAX VERSTAPPEN X FEMALE READER

⇢ summary: she is beautiful in a quiet sort of way. hair unbound and flowing with the night’s breeze, her skin shimmers under the light, glitters like a thousand stars have scrambled down to adorn her. ⇢ genre: fluff ⇢ pairing: max verstappen x female reader/oc

The season was over another championship in the metaphorical bag for Max and a champions trophy for Redbull. After the worst possible start, things had really picked up for the team. Post sleepless nights and long hours put in by everyone on track as well as back in Milton Keynes, it had been a double landslide win. 

When finally, after what may very well have been the best season of his motor racing career, his friend and fellow Dutch musician had proposed joining him for a three-day music festival, well agreeing was a no-brainer for Max. 

He is weaving through the sparse but busy crowd backstage, a VIP pass hanging from his neck, letting him through uninterrupted. Contrary to the image the media had painted of him, Max was pretty outgoing. He didn’t spend time with the drivers off track as much as maybe Pierre or Charles did, but it was all because of the complicated and competitive nature of the sport and not at all because he didn’t enjoy being around people or as the media was fond of portraying–a surly grump. 

Max is straightforward, sometimes abrupt, and while he leaves most of those heated feelings back on track, he isn’t quite comfortable enough to play jolly best pals with the other drivers, either. 

“Max!” 

He swivels, eyes roving over the people until he finally spots the Dutch DJ and nods, making his way over. 

“Hey man, glad to see you are up. Didn’t think you would be after last night.” 

Max decides not to mention the persistent pounding hurting the left side of his face and jaw. He’s felt worse over the years training for races. 

“Yeah, just a little tired. When’s your set?” 

“It’s the last one bruv. Not for a while.”

He absently nods and with a promise to catch said man later disperses back into the crowd. 

It’s a few hours later when it’s dark out and he’s walking back with a drink from the food stalls built further away from the stage that he sees her. Max doesn’t recognise her, can’t even see her clearly from how far back he is, but he hears her voice, that raspy, low undertone, the slow, gentle sway of her hips as she sings and it captivates him. Something about her, the way she sings, her tone, the words, so vulnerable with her voice stripped bare. She is talking to him, spilling all her secrets in confidence under the hush of the night and not in front of thousands of people amidst the loud yells and cheers. 

Max walks closer and looks for a screen because he knows there isn’t a way he can push past the screaming crowd. He wouldn’t budge if he was in the front too, and it’s easy to get lost again now that he can see her clearly. 

She is beautiful in a quiet sort of way. Hair unbound and flowing with the night’s breeze, her skin shimmers under the light, glitters like a thousand stars have scrambled down to adorn her. It’s a sad song. She is talking of heartbreak and wanting to let go, being unable to and her voice dips, grows raspier, like she wants to cry, is on the verge of before it lifts, becomes crisp and clear and so so sweet. 

He doesn’t know her name, still can’t recognise her, but when she opens her eyes, his breath seizes. Twin pools of midnight skies gaze back at him through the screen and he feels naked. Like a word from her would crumble all his walls, the stranger in the gray bar whom he’d tell all of his world to, the fears that keep him from sleeping, the things that make him happy, the parts of him he is ashamed of, the ones he has worked years to build. 

The cheers grow louder, the song ends and so does her set because she goes back in and doesn’t come out, though he stays rooted where he is. Breathless, his pulse races under his skin with an itch to be closer to her. He wants to know her, touch her, bury her under thoughts of him as she has and be her muse. 

If his friend notices the slightly crazed look in his eyes when he asks him to introduce her, he is kind enough not to say anything. 

Max waits, impatient in a way he has never been. He isn’t used to falling apart like this. He is usually steel and calm, forged under the relentless rain of his hometown, aged on the racing track where a possible death lurks at every corner, every wrong inch of a move, yet here he is, tripping over his own feet, anxious over a girl. He doesn’t need his father to be a witness to feel his disapproval. 

 She comes out of her room backstage, ironically enough, tripping on her own feet and if anyone asks, he would chop it up to the years of developed reflexes but he feels the truth in his gut. Even if he weren’t an f1 driver, he would still have felt her losing her footing before anyone else. 

She lands in his arms and the way his hands clench around her waist tighter is entirely unconscious. She breathes an embarrassed laugh near his ear and he suppresses the shiver that wants to wrack his whole frame when it washes over him. She smells of mint and sugar, like the sweetest of things and he aches to have this woman he barely knows. 

Jokingly she wraps her arms around him too, making a pun about this being how she meets new people and introduces herself and Max feels her touch more acutely than he feels his car midrace, senses attuned to every bit that is she. Soaking all the words and breaths and glances like a man parched. 

He doesn’t remember introducing himself, unsure if he even said anything but soon she is ushering them into her room and he tails behind her, still spellbound like a child, amazed by her zest for her craft as she discusses her performance with his friend. It’s a foreign feeling, rare, the way he feels right now. Almost undeserving of her attention since he didn’t know who she was before, hasn’t heard her music, doesn’t know what’s the right thing to say. 

Max is all sharp edges and brusque words and is afraid to say the wrong thing. Come across as harsh and inadvertently drive her away. He feels no parts a two-time world champion and all parts an awkward teenager tongue-tied in front of his first real crush. But then she turns around, looks at him and smiles, cracks a joke, leans over at some point to lightly grab his arm, like she is letting him on a secret, including him in her own little bubble, and there’s nothing he can do to stop the joy from bubbling over in his heart.

thankyou to the anon for sending in the prompt and aww I m so happy to hear u like my writing 🥰🥰 happy reading luv 💕

[w1ldthoughts]

AJ’s Analysis- Week One Preview⚡️:

Raiders at Chargers

Disclaimer: I am a Chargers fan so this will obviously be biased BUT I have been a football fan for the last 12 years and absolutely love dissecting the game and making comments so I figured I would give this a try! Please feel free to make comments and let me know your thoughts in my inbox!

Players to watch:

Los Angeles

Justin Herbert QB- Oregon- Year 5🩵

Pookie. Angel. Perfect prince. Idk. He’s just my favorite player in the NFL to watch. The arm talent, the decision making, the…everything. Ok so, this is honestly his coming out year. He’s finally got a coaching staff that is competent and hopefully working in an offense that doesn’t put the weight of the world on his shoulders. He’s also coming off of finger surgery and a minor foot injury so he should be healthy and ready to take over the league. Simple. I can’t wait to watch.

Stats: carried the team on his back pretty much all of last season, lost a finger nail, lost most of his sanity and then lost his season to a broken right index finger. Best game last year by far was the week 10 loss against the Lions where he threw for 323 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Cameron Dicker Kicker- Texas- Year 3

Little angel bean. Best kicker in the league. No further comments.

JK Dobbins RB- Ohio State- Year 5

Coming off of an Achilles injury and trying to shed the “injury prone” rumors, Dobbins is set to make his Chargers debut. One important thing to note, he’s only fumbled twice in his career…iykyk

Joe Alt RT- Notre Dame- Year 1

Here we go people! Fifth overall pick, mixed reviews from the audience. I’m rooting for him and the entire o-line to be much improved so I hope this first test shows that this investment in the “trenches” was worth it.

Khalil Mack EDGE/LB- Buffalo- Year 11

Recorded six sacks the first time these teams met last year. Was drafted by the Raiders in 2014 and has 100 career sacks, last season being one of his best in the last five years with 45 solo tackles and 17 sacks.

Joey Bosa DE/EDGE - Ohio State- Year 9

Also trying to shake injury prone rumors but seems to have taken on a new outlook and a new sense of excitement and motivation due to this new regime. Played in 9 games last season, starting 5 and still finished with 6.5 sacks. Honestly, looking forward to Joey making a big impact this season.

WR Room

I’ll preface this by saying I still miss Keenan Allen BUT ready to move forward. Very excited for Josh Palmer to get his time to shine hope he can stay healthy. DJ Chark excites me I’m gonna need to see some big plays from him. Quentin Johnston needs to have a breakout season. Ladd and Brenden are rookies but I need some huge contributions from them. Simi I know will show out when his number is called and if Derius the punt return king gets some targets I know he’s gonna put on a show. Nervous but excited to see how this goes!

Las Vegas

Gardner Minshew QB- Washington State- Year 6

Played in all 17 games for the Indianapolis Colts last year, made 13 starts and somehow always seems to know exactly what a team needs to get a win when his number is called. On his third team in his NFL career, looking to prove himself so he should come out looking to make a statement to keep his starting spot over AOC. Made the Pro Bowl last year with 305 completions and 3,305 passing yards, both career highs.

Davante Adams WR- Fresno State- Year 11

Your favorite wide receiver studies his film. Six Pro Bowls, three-time First team all pro, 39 games with 100+ receiving yards and has 9,637 receiving yards over the span of his career. Will get targets, will catch the ball and will probably score a touchdown (hopefully not two but who knows) this weekend.

Brock Bowers TE- Georgia- Year 1

Rookie Tight End making his NFL debut. Voted First Team All American by just about every single sports outlet in the country last season. Had 56 catches for 714 yards and six touchdowns for the Bulldogs in a 13-1 season falling short of a 3-peat not making the college football playoff but defeated Florida State 63-3 in the 2023 Capital One Orange Bowl.

Maxx Crosby DE- Eastern Michigan- Year 6

AKA Mad Maxx, neck tats can play football. Played in all 17 games last year and started. Heart and soul of the Raiders defense with 48 solo tackles and 14.5 sacks. Did get shaken out of his shoes by Justin last time and I’m sure he didn’t forget so he’ll be coming for vengeance.

Christian Wilkins DT- Clemson- Year 6

Entering his first season with the Raiders after a very successful five years in Miami. Recorded an NFL high 9 sacks for defensive tackles last season, started all 17 games and recovered two fumbles. Wilkins makes this Raiders defense a lot scarier and this will be a great first test for the often shaky Chargers o-line.

⏳FLASHBACK⌛️

Last time these two teams met, we all remember where we were…

1. Justin was injured, fresh off of surgery and Easton’s presence in the pocket is like a kid running late for curfew, very rushed and deer in the headlights

2. Defense quit and was ready to start fresh having lost faith in the entire coaching staff

3. We were all praying on the Charger downfall on this day and got what we wanted so sorry Coach Staley but…not sorry

Had to include this because baldy is gone and I couldn’t stand him. This was very embarrassing.

That’s it for week one!!!

Bolt the absolute fuck up

[charliexhughes]

[ … ] ❀ you’re not from around here , are you? i figured because you totally just missed {CHARLIE HUGHES} walking by. don’t tell me you don’t know who { HE } is/are ? they kind of look like { PHIL DUNSTER } and i could be wrong but i think that they might be { 30 } years old right now. they’ve been living in palmview for the last { ONE YEAR }. and i don’t know if anyone has ever told them this before but they kind of remind me of { CARMEN BERZATTO } from { THE BEAR }. if you stick around the town long enough you might catch them in action working at { MANGO BAY RESTAURANT } as a { CHEF }. you see this town isn’t really that big of a place, some folks like to call them the { VOYAGER } of palmview! they took a liking to the name too after a while, go figure. oh crap, they must have heard me yapping. they’re coming this way. i got to warn you though, rumor has it they can pretty { IMPULSIVE } at times. i wouldn’t take it too seriously though, from the times i’ve spoken to them they seemed pretty { PASSIONATE } to me. we see each other all the time since they live in that { ONE BEDROOM } apartment beside me over in { CORAL COVE }. i better leave you to it. it was nice meeting you!  { BECCA. 27. SHE/HER. EST. }

Hi! I’m Rebecca (or just Becca) I haven’t been online in a while so it’s really cool to be back. Let me fill you in on my boy!

He’s based on Carmy from The Bear but he’s also mixed with Jamie Tartt from Ted Lasso (it’s impossible to use this face without being compelled to give him Jamie-isms)

Background:

Charlie was born and raised in Manchester, UK. His dad wasn’t around for most of his life, and his mom is genuinely his best friend in the world. As he grew up, he wanted to become a professional football (soccer) player, which actually brought his dad back into his life, but just as he was being signed to a professional team, he’d faced a career ending injury. This caused his dad to get extremely volatile, more-so than after a simple lost game, causing Charlie’s shell to come up. His mom reminded him that there was more to life, and re-ignited his passion for food. His fondest memories were in the kitchen cooking with his mom as a kid.

So Charlie decided to set off, and get as far away from his father as possible, and head to culinary school. He started in France, but this only lit a flame under Charlie to continue traveling and tasting cuisine around the world. After three years of travel, Charlie landed back home with his mom where he’d picked up a job as a cook in a restaurant nearby. A year later and he’d started to get an itch to travel, struggling with staying in one place for too long.

While traveling initially, Charlie had met so many people he’d made connections with around the world. He’d had quite a few one night stands and made even more friends along the way. One person in particular stuck out to Charlie the most, leading him to reach out and ultimately bringing him to Palmview Grove. Due his extensive resume, Charlie was able to land a job quite easily.

Personality:

He’s honestly a heart-throb and a half but I’m insanely biased here.

Charlie can get ridiculously egotistical and self-centered. This is more-so when he’s playing sports, or video games, or it could literally be a board game and he has to be the best. This is obviously rooted in insecurity, but he would never admit that and if you face him with his actual emotions, chances are he’ll double down on being an ass.

But when you know the real him, or he lets you see glimpses of his true self, he’s actually the sweetest. He brings any leftover food he makes to his neighbors, he’s constantly giving soccer tips to the kids on the beach, and if you catch him two beers in the way his eyes light up hearing anyone speak could make you melt.

Can be super high strung, especially when it comes to his job (very much like Carmy at work)

His shell is strong and difficult to break, if he shuts you out it’s very hard to get back in.

He is pan-sexual, literally falls in love with just about everyone he meets.

He’s for sure got some stray animal that he’s constantly feeding.

Wanted Connections:

Friends - Group that he watches games with or goes out with, just some mates

Past hookup - could’ve ended messy or could’ve been a mutual friends with benefits thing

Neighbors - He lives in Coral Cove 5B, so if you’re anywhere near him I promise he’d invite you for dinner to test recipes.

The person he met that brought him here!

Taken Connections:

Fwb - Marcela

Ex on good terms - Hadley

Frenemies - Sterling

Shopping buddy - Celeste

[whirlpool-blogs]

Brothers Jack and Quinn Hughes, two of hockey’s top prospects, take the ice at U.S. junior showcase

Aug 1, 2018

The Hughes brothers used to play mini-stick hockey in their basement, pretending they were on the same NHL team.

Now that dream is edging closer to reality, with two of the brothers among hockey’s fastest rising stars.

Eighteen-year-old Quinn was taken seventh overall by the Vancouver Canucks at this year’s draft and 17-year-old Jack is an early favourite to be next year’s top pick.

Their younger brother, 14-year-old Luke, played major bantam AAA in Detroit last year.

Whether the Hughes siblings will ever get to play on the same NHL team remains to be seen, but the day when Quinn and Jack play in the same league appears to be just around the corner.

“(Playing together) is something all brothers dream of and that’d be pretty fun,” said Quinn.

This week, Quinn and Jack are on the ice together in Kamloops, B.C., where they’re playing for the U.S. in the world junior showcase.

“Any time you get to be on the ice with a kid like Quinn, whether he’s my brother or not, you’d be excited to play with him because he’s so good,” Jack said.

It’s the first time they’ve really had an opportunity to play organized hockey together.

Jack fed a pass to Quinn for the winner with 2:25 left as a U.S. split-squad team beat a Canada split-squad team 7-5 on Tuesday night.

“It’s definitely a cool experience,” Quinn said.

On the ice, the young men have obvious chemistry, talent and passion for the game, said Mike Hastings, head coach of the U.S. junior team.

“They don’t have a lot of fear in their game. They don’t mind giving it up and getting it back,” he said. “They’re good hockey players.”

The fact that they excel at the game isn’t a huge surprise, considering their family’s hockey roots.

Their mom, Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, played hockey, soccer and lacrosse at the University of New Hampshire, and suited up for the U.S. women’s hockey team.

Their dad, Jim Hughes, played for Providence College, then worked in coaching and player development with the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs.

When Quinn was a baby, the family lived in Orlando and Ellen often worked out of town. Jim would often take Quinn to the rink, where various players would watch over him, Ellen said.

All three of the boys grew up in hockey rinks, Jim added.

“They took a liking to it from an early age. It just happened naturally, organically,” he said. “And I suppose somewhere along the way, they fell in love with the sport.”

Ellen and Jim tried hard to expose their boys to other sports, too, and let them pick what they loved, making sure that they were always having fun, and being good people and teammates.

“The things we stressed were find something you’re passionate about and whatever you’re going to do, be the best that you can be,” Ellen said.

It just happened that what they loved was hockey, she added.

Jack said his parents are “tremendous athletes and tremendous hockey minds.”

“Both of them taught me so much,” he said.

Quinn remembers his mom driving him to games and giving him tips on getting better.

“A lot of times, she would be the one telling me, ‘Maybe on this play, do that.’ So obviously I respect her opinion. She knows the game,” he said. “It’s always nice to have two parents who know what they’re talking about.”

Growing up in a hockey family with a talented player as an older brother has been great, Jack said.

“I love watching (Quinn) play and he’s been a really good influence on me growing up,” he said.

The middle child admitted, though, that the desire to beat his siblings is strong, whether they’re skating on an outdoor rink, playing mini sticks in the basement or shooting hoops in the driveway.

“Whatever you do it’s competitive with three boys in the house. It’s a really good childhood,” Jack said with a laugh.

For Quinn, being the oldest doesn’t always mean leading on the ice.

“Even though I’m the older brother, (Jack) pushes me too. And I respect his opinion and everything like that. He has a very smart hockey mind, so it would be dumb of me not to listen to him,” Quinn said.

Jack showed off that hockey mind in his first game at the showcase in Kamloops this week, saucering the puck to himself amid a cluster of Finnish players.

It was a gutsy move for the five-foot-10, 166-pound centre, but Jack said that’s just the way he plays.

“I’m a confident player. I trust myself, I think. I mean, high-skilled plays, I’ve been doing it since I was six or seven,” he said.

The teen’s ability to make those plays, combined with his stunning acceleration, has many guessing he’ll be the No. 1 pick at the NHL draft next year.

Jack doesn’t see those projections as adding any sort of pressure as he heads into another season with the U.S. National Development Team.

“I’m not too worried about where I’m going to go. I’m kind of just worried about my game and how I’m playing,” he said.

Quinn, too, is looking at improving his game.

The five-foot-10, 174-pound defenceman went to the Canucks’ development camp in July, but recently decided to return to the University of Michigan this fall.

It was a tough call, he said.

“Do I think I could have played this year? Absolutely,” Quinn said. “But I want to step in when I can really make a difference and help the Canucks win hockey games.”

Last year he had five goals and 29 points in 37 games with Michigan. The team was knocked out of the NCAA championship semifinals by Notre Dame and Quinn has said he believes they have a chance to win it all this season.

Heading back to Michigan will allow him to focus on getting stronger and developing as a player, Quinn said, adding that he sees “no reason why” his play wouldn’t improve five to 10 per cent.

Still, the top Canucks prospect is likely to return to Vancouver this winter, when the city co-hosts the world junior hockey championship with Victoria.

Quinn said he’s looking forward to playing in front of B.C. fans, both with the junior national team and the Canucks.

“I’m excited to get to Vancouver when the time comes and kind of show everyone what I can do,” he said. “But for right now, I’m just focused on USA Hockey and trying to build this group here.”

Jim Hughes said he’s always emphasized the importance of staying in the moment to his sons.

The family doesn’t pay much attention to the hype surrounding the young men, he said. Instead, they focus on continuing to get better at what they love.

“Up to this point, they just need to keep their feet on the ground, keep loving the sport and keep working,” he said.

[dog-park-dissidents]

I’m a queer anarchist, and your music has really helped me accept myself, so here goes…what advice do you have on loving my radical self? I find myself trying to look respectable and chill to avoid being a stereotype, opting out of actions to please my family, and just internalizing a lot of BS about what it means to be an anarchist in the world. Thank you so much!!

David Graeber, RIP, guy at Occupy Wall Street who coined the slogan "we are the 99%," often said he was a "small-a anarchist" and that anarchism was a thing he did, not an identity. That is probably the healthiest way to engage with anarchism in a modern world where political identities and political language have been turned into sports teams and brands, completely divorced from anything that the words behind them actually mean. US politics at least have turned into "are you a LIBERAL or a CONSERVATIVE" which sort of means something but also means nothing, and its meanings contradict each other to the point of uselessness. They're not real ideological frameworks, after all. Nobody can give you a coherent manifesto of US American "Liberalism" but it's the thing you're supposed to agree with if you don't think gay people should die?? Maybe??? It doesn't even have any connection with the philosophy of classical liberalism, which is closer to stereotypically Republican fiscal politics, EXCEPT for when the ostensible "left wing" liberals actually agree with that shit? Anyway yeah it's a mess and it's no wonder why the younger generation is desperately trying to find an alternative way of labeling themselves so as to signal that we're outside of all that bullshit.

So don't do that. Actually be outside of all that bullshit instead of coming up with an edgier sports team to root for. Not that you're necessarily doing that, but just, remember not to do that.

Focus on the material circumstances you live in: the state and money and laws and all that shit are just things somebody made up one day before you were born. You exist in a world you had no say in constructing. Your goal is to figure out how to survive, and then to thrive, and then to be happy, under these circumstances. And ideally make them better for everyone else.

Now as for opting out of actions to please your family. Sounds like you're stuck in a family situation where you're not free to go where you want and be yourself without scrutiny, and that sucks. From the perspective of an effective anarchist, remember that it's from each according to their ability, and you don't have to feel any guilt about not doing your part to change the world.

But from a queer perspective? That queerness sounds a lot more like what's causing your tension about making yourself look more respectable. And that plays into this feeling you have of being trapped by family, or by capitalism, or whatever forces are making you feel the need to put yourself in a box. Obviously you've woven your queer identity pretty deep with your anarchism, which is good, but that definitely makes the desire to express your anarchist identity a whole lot stronger. It can feel like the same thing as your sexual orientation or gender when it's such a deep part of your worldview.

And that makes for a big contradiction in a world where political labels have turned into deep personal identities at the expense of any coherent intellectualism. Whoops. Everybody else has been forced to pick a vapid red or blue choice and here you are with an extremely deep sense of pink and black. Uh oh.

But that's the great thing about queerness, is to be comfortable existing as a contradiction, as category-defying, as someone that doesn't need to be intellectually consistent because you simply ARE. So be you. Don't feel like you have to debate the chuds in your head to explain your existence.

[miketownsends]

how do i become a fan of the mariners

^ still coping with blaseball end. went to a couple games as a kid but all i remember is a player named raul

man baseball has helped me SO much with losing blaseball so i get that. start with the Dorktown Mariners doc, if you haven’t already! it’s on YouTube. it’s a history of the Mariners (and Seattle baseball in general) up to about 2019, so that’ll give you a good overview of the team (and how wild it is that the team even exists in the first place)

if you want to get to know the current team, there’s an excellent Mariners blog called Lookout Landing, and every season before Spring Training starts they do a series called 40 in 40 where they write 40 articles, one for each of the players on the Mariners 40-man roster. a handful of the players detailed here aren’t on the current 40-man (Ty Adcock and Taylor Trammell wound up on waivers and were picked up by other teams, Prelander Berroa, Blake Hunt, and Zach DeLoach were traded, and Matt Brash and Jackson Kowar both needed surgery and won’t be back until next season) but it’ll give you a fairly good overview of who’s here, particularly our main guys on the 26-man roster (so the guys who are active with the big league club)

Lookout Landing is just really great reading, in general - every article is truly well-written, from deep-dives into players and stats to write-ups on literally every single game the Mariners play. god, i gotta see if i can dig up my favorite article, gimme a sec…. ah! found it. it’s from a random July game, in a season where the Mariners would wind up finally, FINALLY making the playoffs for the first time in 21 years (thanks in large part to Cal Raleigh, who is featured prominently in the article, though of course we couldn’t know that at the time), and the end of it just… gets me every time.

speaking of Cal Raleigh, i would be remiss in not mentioning the Truth Meeting article - this all happened when Cal (and Logan Gilbert, one of the Mariners starting pitchers) were in the minors together, but it’s really good insight into the type of guy Cal is and the relationship he has with Logan (and other pitchers in general - he’s become such a leader with both the pitching staff AND the team as a whole and it’s been very cool to watch)

after that, if you wanna watch games, 🏴‍☠️ is gonna be your cheapest (aka free) options. i unfortunately don’t have a ton of insight into that front but i do know that options are out there. otherwise, if you’re in-market the Mariners are on Root Sports (which is carried by Comcast and Fubo, among others) and if you’re out-of-market you can watch them on MLB TV. both options have subscription fees, which can unfortunately be kinda pricey. if you’re a T-Mobile customer you can get a free MLB TV subscription, but it’s only available at the start of the season, so unfortunately it’s passed for this year. there’s also radio, which is free but i’m not 100% sure if you need to be local? (i’m assuming you’re probably local if you’re looking to get into the Ms + you mentioned Raul who i’m assuming is probably Raul Ibanez, but there’s lots of out-of-town Ms fans too so!) there’s an online option and also an app as well!

some other random Ms content:

Felix Hernandez’s perfect game is on YouTube

Tayler Saucedo (one of our relief pitchers) streams on Twitch - he’s more active during the offseason, obviously, but recently he’s been on the IL (has a minor knee injury and should be back pretty soon) and has been occasionally streaming DURING the games which has been pretty funny (he went viral on Mariners Twitter the other day for his reaction when we had a very exciting comeback win against the Yankees). he’s also a local guy who grew up an Ms fan so it’s been very cool to have him around!

Jen Mueller, one of the Mariners on-field reporters, has a YouTube series called “I Cook, You Measure” where she cooks and chats with various Seattle athletes, including some of the Mariners. so far she’s done episodes with Cal Raleigh, Logan Gilbert, Tayler Saucedo, Bryce Miller, Luis Castillo, and Bryan Woo, as well as former Mariners Mike Cameron and Tom Murphy (Tom was on the team when the episode was filmed but went to the Giants this season). there’s also the Bonus Bites which are just outtakes from the eps that are also really worth watching, there’s some fun stories in there!

okay uhhhh this is way longer than i anticipated it being so i’ll stop here but if you have any other questions lemme know! also if you ARE local and have any questions about coming to a game, the stadium, etc let me know as well, i basically live at T-Mobile Park during baseball season so i’ve got plenty of tips 😅

[ciaossu-imagines]

Can you do the ‘If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?’ prompt for Itadori?

Of course I can! Thank you so much for such an interesting ask, my lovely anon, and I hope you enjoy my thoughts on it 😊

I’m a sucker for sports manga. While they can definitely be cliché and tropey, I have a soft spot for them. And the genre is the very first one that popped into my head for this question. It was a no-brainer for me and though I tried to explore other options in my head, this was still the one that stood out and fit the best in my head.

One thing we see about Yuji in Jujutsu Kaisen is that he is naturally extremely athletic. It’s not something he even has to try that hard at. He also does have some competitive instincts in him and, by removing him from the darker and grittier nature of something like JJK, and placing him in a sports manga, I really think those competitive urges would actually heighten even more.

The hardest struggle for me? Figuring out which sports manga. I couldn’t really decide, so it’s more that I’m placing him a new sports manga or anime that would involve the JJK character. I just couldn’t figure out how to drop him into any of the pre-existing ones that I already love without changing everything about it.

Because, at the root of it all, Yuji definitely has that main character energy and he’d simply take over the existing manga.

Second hardest struggle? Choosing the sport! Yuji is so athletic that I really don’t think there’s too many sports that he’d really fail at. He picks up on most sports pretty quickly and, given enough training and practice, he could excel at most of them. I think my strongest contenders for sports where soccer, baseball, and wrestling. Yes, wrestling like WWE shit. Imaging out the in-ring personalities, the heels and good guys, the women’s division, all of it amused me quite a bit just thinking about it.

I think that, no matter what sport you want to imagine them playing though, the story would begin pretty much the same. This sports team/club would see Yuji’s innate athletic talent. He doesn’t really have a club yet – he’s either part of the going home club or is part of a club that’s just been disbanded because it didn’t have enough members (they were all only hanging around and being lazy during club time anyway).

They see this innate talent he has and they want him to join. They try to sway him to join but he doesn’t seem too eager, honestly. They either end up forcing him into joining, bribing him into joining, or he has to go head to head with the club’s current best player and if he loses, he has to join.

Whatever way the story goes, he does end up joining and the rest of the manga is really just him practicing, learning how to get better, learning to love the sport, building relationships with those around him – gaining friends and rivals, and aiming to become the best like no one ever was.

[batsplat]

I want to know which current F1 drivers meet your ‘worthy of interest’ standard? Because I honestly find most of them pretty boring.

well, a dead giveaway for me mostly agreeing with your assessment is that I don't really post about f1 on here. which, okay, admittedly there's a lot of things I don't post about on here, like tennis for instance.... but y'know. there's more of a motorsports tumblr crossover, whereas nobody's following me for my tennis takes and the tumblr community isn't really my scene. with f1, I do actually follow it a lot through tumblr... and. I mean, I have plenty of opinions and all that, I enjoy engaging with it, but I'm not posting long psychological deep dives on here for a reason. I kinda follow f1 differently because it's a sport I got into with my flatmate, who I watch the races with whenever we can. and relatively speaking, our conversations about the sport are like... more focused on the team side of things in addition to the drivers, driver market gossip and news stories and all of that, just having fun with the controversy of the week etc (or every few months it's me sending her very long messages about how I think an x men f1 au would work, which she very generously puts up with despite only having a passing familiarity with the x men franchise)

that being said! ofc it can be fun to root for and against some guys in a more casual way! and I've definitely developed and refined my preferences for drivers in the last couple of years... the ones I primarily root for are george, lewis, alex and esteban. george has that like... idk, exceedingly obvious hunger to him that I really appreciate in athletes - I can tell every single second just how badly he needs this... how he does want to be loved and sometimes thinks too hard about how to achieve it... but when it comes down to it, he will ALWAYS choose winning. very compelling!! I love how even in his current situation where he knows a lot of lewis fans despise him... he still can't entirely help himself, he's still going to push it. because he just can't function any other way - he's not the type who can really be bullied into submission, which slaps. also he's clearly quite thoughtful, somebody who thinks a lot about his craft and is really committed to constantly working on himself. again, it's all about the hunger, that sense that he'll pounce every time given half a chance. that edge of neuroticism paired with the constant accusations of inauthenticity... plus, idk, there's a real air of uncertainty surrounding whether he'll ever be able to fulfil his potential, and I am a sucker rooting for someone who brings out my natural pessimism. but the thing is, he does have that dawg in him - if he ends up not making it, won't be because of his mentality

lewis in all honesty I missed so much of his career that it's always going to be a different type of investment for me... idk I've just never been the type of fan who can care if someone finishes p6 or p8 if they've won eighty million races. I have the same thing with marc too, had it with valentino back in the day, like I'm sorry but you've won so much it's just very... okay wake me up when you're fighting for something real. obviously I do enjoy all the narratives he's picked up over time, the nico stuff in particular is a lot of fun... I like his steel and grit and the way he's defied the odds to become one of the greatest to ever do it, and again the hunger he's got about him... got some real affection for how he's also kinda paranoid, moody, pessimistic, irascible, enough of an edge to him to be just a touch nasty. not a stranger to mind games himself, of course. and he's an excellent pr merchant!! such a carefully constructed persona, idk, makes him more compelling somehow. I enjoy whenever there's been a hint of tension in that particular teammate relationship, shame merc never had a good enough car for it to get worse. here's hoping he's not too washed to crash out leclerc next year or something fun like that

alex,, yeah, obvious underdog charm. bit of an odd route into f1 and has of course had to fight pretty hard to get back into the series at all. he's got a good dry sense of humour as well as quite a whiny streak that makes him more interesting, plus I like his friendship with george, (my general bar for caring about athlete relationships is 'do I think corporate is pushing this on me', which is true of a lot of these f1 'friendships' but not this one.) he's just quite easy to root for idk, my bar for rooting for athletes is way lower if you're not winning everything. like it's only if you're at that top tier that I need you to be an absolute dickhead for you to sustain my interest. and then with esteban, again, underdog appeal partly just because of how rough a road he had into f1,, not just another rich kid... also how many other drivers he's pissed off. pairing the on-track terrorism with a really sweet smile off it, which is always such a fun combination imo. AND too many people hate him, which makes me naturally root for him more

so yeah, y'know, I have thought about them a fair bit and talked about them with my flatmate and all that, but it's all relative in terms of the amount of time and interest I've invested in them. mostly I just bully them all a lot in messages that will remain unavailable for public consumption

[justbackgroundnoise]

I'm pretty unfamiliar to football/soccer in the states and these new regulations just seem like normal rules to me. What are the differences to the nwsl before?

The NWSL has always held a draft in the spring which basically means that college players who are graduating declare to be eligible to play in the league and then when the draft happens, they’re selected by different teams and an expansion draft means whenever a new team debuts in the league, an expansion draft is held which basically pulls players from other NWSL teams to create the roster for the new team. It’s a super unfair way to create a roster for a new team because players should be allowed to decide if they want to go play for a new franchise.

The draft and expansion draft mean players aren’t given any choice in where they get to play and it could have a really big impact on their lives. In Europe, a team can show interest in a player but the player is not obligated to go play for that team; they get to make the choice for themselves and players aren’t sort of tossed around the league like the brides bouquet being thrown at a wedding and the first person to say “we pick you” gets that player. This means decisions will now be made based on if the team/location/environment is actually the best fit for a player and their development.

The NWSL would also trade players to different teams without a player a) knowing it’s happening and b) wanting it to happen. So that could mean someone plays for Portland and they’ve put down roots and have a family and a life and then boom, they’re traded to a team across the country without warning and without the chance to really consider what that means. This won’t happen anymore. Trades will still happen but the new rules in place allow players to have a bigger say in where they go and if they even want to go when it comes to being traded. Trades happen in sports all the time but it’s unfair for it to happen without the knowledge and or input of the player being traded.

When it comes to free agency and how it was working in the NWSL (keep in mind they only just introduced free agency at all a couple of years ago in this league) most players will have a contract with a team but then beyond that, a team might still hold the rights to the player which means they don’t get to voluntarily decide where they want to play next when their contract ends. Introducing unrestricted free agency in the NWSL now means when a contract is up, a player can go and negotiate a contract with any new team without their former team being involved in any negotiations.

Basically a lot of what the European leagues have done forever, the NWSL hasn’t done and has operated by its own weird archaic kind of rules but that’s all going to change now and it’ll make for happier players (hopefully) in the long run who are now given much more say in how their own careers play out.

I hope this was helpful!

[ladyloveandjustice]

Winter 2023 Anime Overview: Two More Anime!

I already did a massive review of The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, check it out here! Highly rec'd show.

So here are the reviews of the other two shows I watched last season! (I also watched BOFURI season 2 but it's experiencing delays because of COVID and isn't finished yet. Also, I'm not caught up. Basically it's a fun relaxing show, though). Now onto the reviews!

Ippon Again!

Ippon Again! follows Michi, who plans to quit judo after middle school, but then the very girl she lost against in her last tournament gets her back in the game! From there, a scrappy high school girls judo team goes for the gold!

 It always feels like a miracle when we actually get a sports anime focused on girls that takes them seriously as athletes and doesn’t sexualize them to hell and back, and Ippon Again is one of those miracles. It’s an all around really solid sports anime with lovable characters. It does an especially good job fleshing out the rival team members just as much as our protagonists and making you really root for both of them- and the amount of attention paid to the opponents can make the matches feel genuinely unpredictable.

The show doesn’t really explain a lot of the judo terms, but they’re easy enough to pick up from context. It’s clear the show doesn’t have all the resources in the world from its reliance on freeze frames, but it has smart directing that knows how to cut corners to keep it looking good, and they do whip out some nice looking fluid animation for big moments like the fight in episode four and the fights in the final episodes. I did find the characters a bit hard to distinguish in the early going due to the show’s muted palette and character designs, but I recognized them all eventually.

Like most sports anime, it’s really gay but all the gayness is relegated to subtext (Michi likes to constantly mention she wants to get a boyfriend to the point where it feels almost like a parody, but it’s pointed out she’s never going to look for one because she cares about judo more). I do like the handsome lady that acts as team coach. Another thing I really appreciate is that there are heavier characters on the opposing teams at times, but no disparaging comments are made about their weight- in fact, it’s noted as an advantage.

Overall, it’s a good series that I’d recommend to any sports anime fan, especially ones hungry for sports anime that respects its female characters and pays attention to all the competitors!

Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte

Kobayashi is a huge fan of the villainess character in an otome game, Liesalotte. The villainess is in love with the prince, but she’s such a tsundere that her feelings never get across to him! (When it comes to love, she lies a lot. Do you get it.). Tragically, Lieselotte’s inability to communicate her feelings leads her to die in almost every ending of the game. Kobayashi decides to sit down with her friend, Endo, and they do some live commentary on the game as they play it. Then they discover that the prince inside the game can actually hear their commentary! These game fans are determined to use this new found power to give their fave villainess the happy ending she deserves, and so they slowly start to change the plot of the game…

This is a clever twist on the villainess isekai genre and it’s pretty fun at times! (The prince's confusion over "tsun de rais" is great).

However, the production is noticeably struggling. I read a chunk of the manga alongside this out of curiosity, and the contrast between the two made this especially apparent. The animation is barely hanging in there and is much less expressive than the manga’s art, and the story suffers from skipping over a lot of moments that flesh out the characters in the manga in order to fit into the twelve episode runtime. Unlike with Magirevo, almost everything the anime omits is pretty necessary to help the characters feel fully rounded- for instance, one character realistically get angry that a parent lied to her in the manga, but the anime has to cut that for time, so she just seems to roll with it and feels less like a person with reasonable emotions as a result. The manga's story is just much better paced than the anime, and it looks really good and gets both the comedy and badass moments across a lot better.

There’s also a few sexist, heteronormative or just plain offputting moments/lines and moments in the anime aren’t in the manga (and it’s not just a matter of translation, because the art reflects it in one case).

All that said, the anime does complete the story while the manga is still ongoing. So if you want to know the end (and don't read light novels, since if you can't tell from the title, it is a light novel adaptation!), the anime's still a decent option.

As for the story itself, it’s pretty tropey but cute. I wish the commentary angle was implemented more, and I feel the show could have benefited from being willing to delve into the experience of fandom and the contrast between the two worlds a little more too. It’s worth noting that in-story games’ original love interests for the teenaged "heroine character" include a teacher and a pre-teen kid, though in the storyline of the actual show they both get with age-appropriate love interests.

 I was also pretty annoyed that a very combat-capable female character who is  initially put off by her love interests constant declarations he’ll protect her suddenly (and conveniently!) reveals that she hated physical fighting all along and wants him to be stronger and bleh. She’s given an in-story reason for this, but it feels very contrived to place her in an  “appropriate” feminine role. But then she still physically fights in the finale anyway?? (and so does Liesalotte) (and there’s a minor girl character that explicitly wants to be a knight who physically protects her fragile mage boyfriend even if the anime skips over most of that plotline) so…I guess that mollifies things a bit?? But why did it need to be there?

(It’s even weirder in the manga btw, because there’s a moment the anime skips over where she actually tells him to stop saying he’ll protect her and that they should protect each other and he agrees, which was a very sweet and good resolution! But then they go and undo it!)

All my caveats aside, the ending of the anime was just so completely ridiculous  and full of fannish wish fulfillment I couldn’t help but be endeared. You have an absolutely bizarre reinterpretation of Adam and Eve, a flip on the premise that brings everyone together in a fun way, a scenery chewing villain who’s dealt with in an unintentionally funny way, and it’s just a feast of pure cheese.

If you want to watch something goofy and earnest and fun and don’t mind a clunky production and slightly rushed story , you could do a lot worse than this show. And hey, if the anime’s too threadbare for you, the manga’s getting published in English and it has great art! So you can always give that a look.

[heathtalbot]

( EMILIO SAKRAYA, 21, CISGENDER MALE, HE/HIM ) Is that HEATH TALBOT? A SENIOR originally from SAN JOSE, CA, they decided to come to Ogden College to study COMMUNICATIONS. They're THE MALINGERER on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer's disappearance.

THE BASICS:

FULL NAME: Heath James Talbot

NICKNAMES: None, he's just Heath

AGE & BIRTHDAY: 21 & March 24, 2002

ZODIAC: ☼ Aries ☾ Leo ↑ Pisces + full chart

MBTI & ALIGNMENT: ESFP & Neutral Evil

+ TRAITS: Intrepid, Optimistic, Honest, Sociable

- TRAITS: Temperamental, Obtuse, Unreliable, Domineering

HOUSING: TBA

MAJOR: Communications

EXTRACURRICULARS: Member of SAE, Golf, Powerlifting Team, Rock Climbing Team

CHARACTER INSPIRATIONS: TBA

THREE SKILLS: excellent at picking out apology gifts, can successfully parallel park anywhere, weirdly good at walking on his hands

LINKS: Pinterest / Playlist / Tasks

AT OGDEN:

RELATIONSHIP TO GREER: COLLEGE FRIENDS

Heath couldn't say exactly when or where he met Greer, all the finnicky details lost to the chaotic blur that had been rush week, but when he woke up with her contact info in his phone one morning, it definitely felt like it was meant to be. Both freshmen, both rich and pretty -- what more motivation did they need? C'mon, it would've been weirder if they weren't friends! Just like the rest of the Ogden masses, Heath was dragged into Greer Morrison's gravitational pull, and he went willingly. They started linking up on the regular, meeting up at parties or catching each other on down days around campus, building a strong friendship that he's never once thought to second-guess.

EMBODIMENT OF HIS TROPE: THE MALINGERER

Everyone has known a Heath. The no-show with a great excuse. The guy that never fails to charm his way into the group project with the smartest student. A person who's probably never seriously been told 'no' even once in their life. And it's not luck, either; it's privilege. Heath can rest on his laurels all thanks to the Talbot family name and the achievements of those around him. The third son, he's never felt the pressure of expectation. His mother babies him while simple participation trophies earn him congratulations from his father, allowing him every easy win that he chooses to take. And if he ever faces a roadblock? Heath's positive that there's a way around it. A check to write, a phone call to make, red tape to ignore. Everyone else has always pulled the strings for him, anyway, so why should he start worrying now? Life's a breeze when you don't have to seriously think about anything!

BACKGROUND & DETAILS:

heath was an unexpected baby, the product of a long-term (and still on-going) affair of his mother's. his parents privately maintain a pseudo-open relationship while publicly playing house for the sake of each of their careers. needless to say, family dinners have a tendency to get Weird

his dad is a venture capitalist, very much in the same vein as gavin belson of silicon valley -- he's long since lost touch with his coder roots and mostly just throws his money around to keep his name relevant in tech circles.

heath interns frequently at the companies his dad owns, true nepo baby shit 🥰 but lbr all he does is go on coffee runs and clocks in for 4 hour work weeks

he's currently majoring in communications bc he legit googled "easiest college majors" and it was near the top of the list

started out trying to major in engineering??? who let him do that?? freshman year was rough 😔

anyway yeah, heath's..... not that smart. and to make matters worse, he's sensitive about it!! gets mean when he's confused or frustrated, esp when he feels like he's being teased and not in on the joke. he's got a short fuse after a lifetime of his older brothers picking on him. he'd rather be perceived as rude than dumb

big time gym bro (obviously) and v competitive -- tends to favor solo sports bc at least when he loses it's no one's fault but his own

has a terrible habit of making big promises and not keeping them

he was soooooooo obsessed w/ uncut gems when it came out, i just FEEL it

julia fox = dream woman

brings a certain "haha.. okay" energy to the function

both of his older brothers previously attended ogden (5+ years ago, i'm still iffy on exact ages) and pledged SAE. naturally, heath had to do the same <3

ngl he's very easily swayed by public opinion. critical thinking?? we don't know her!

lowkey has a childhood dream to one day climb mount everest. pls don't try to explain to him how it negatively impacts the environment, he doesn't wanna hear it and won't understand (or care rip)

probably pre-games while listening to drake lmfao

POTENTIAL CONNECTIONS:

FRIENDS FRIENDS FRIENDS !!!!!!!!

people who have been saddled with him for group projects, study groups, etc.

heath doesn't do drugs (he's a keg stand champ tho), so someone to smoke him out for the first time! fs would be a hilar thread

with ogden being full of bad daddies, i'd love for him to have this energy with someone xx

..... also this

anyone he fucked around with over the summer!! i'd luv to hc some juicy goss for him from the break

someone who always calls him keith lmfaooo

maaaaaaaybe his baby sister?? she'd be going into her sophomore year and i have many family hc's to discuss, so <3

an ex who made him paranoid abt astrology stuff sjdjsdkn

someone that he's using and/or leading on

flip the script - someone who's using and/or leading him on!

literally anything else ur heart desires 💖 this will be heath's fourth year at ogden, so we have plenty of wiggle room to plot some crash-and-burn relationships, seething rivalries, situationships, etc. -- i'm down for it all!!

[fox-bright]

Humans are creatures of habit.

Not just when it comes to the food we like, the music we listen to, which grocery store we shop at, but deep-down stuff. The things we don’t even notice we’re doing. Daily life can become mechanical, executed by rote, so casually that even when you know the bridge is out you’ll find yourself driving there every morning, because that was the way you used to go to get to the gym. You’ll get most of the way or even all of the way to the detour, only to be reminded at the last minute by the sight of signage and men in hard hats, and you’ll think goddammit, I KNOW already, why did I come this way again?

So when I held the door open for Eddie, the way that I had pretty much every Monday morning for the last seventeen years, it took me just a minute to remember he was dead.

Eddie and I were friends. Maybe not the way that you can get with someone who knew you in childhood, but we were solid. I had him over to my cookouts, he took my family with his out to the lake some Labor Day weekends, both our wives had us sign cards for the other’s kid’s high school graduation. We played pranks, and we gave each other a rare hug now and again in times of grief—when his mother died, when I lost my dog—and we always knew, more or less, how the other was going to respond to this or that event. We didn’t root for most of the same sports teams, and we disagreed sometimes about local smalltime votes (I still don’t think the city should have sold that chunk of the park to those coffee-shop owners, he maintained until the day he died that him sitting there to have a sip while his wife was jogging had saved their marriage), but we were close on damn near everything else. I never had a brother, so I don’t know if there’s a difference, but if I had one I’d want him to be like Eddie. I didn’t know what my life was even going to be like, without him there.

So you might think it’s stupid that I held the door open for him, yawning, and said “Hey, Ed,” as he passed me with his customary half smile and two-fingered wave. I don’t know how long it takes for a pair of eyelids to blink closed and slide open again, but for that much time I’d managed to forget that it was Tuesday that he’d collapsed at his desk, gasping, clutching his arm, and it was only Friday that I held his wife while they put him in the ground. And then I remembered, and I was so startled I let go of the door. It smacked shut in front of me, leaving me out in the hot summer morning, and I stared through the glass at Eddie’s retreating back. He went through the front office and made the left turn that would take him to the back room that we both shared for CAD work and blueprint stuff, just like it was any other weekday morning. Jessica, the new-ish receptionist—she’d only been here three years, since Marcie retired—sat there white-faced and staring, eyes as big as peaches, so at least I knew I wasn’t cracking up.

I opened the door again and walked past her. She was mumbling “Did you see him? Did you see?” and I paused long enough to look at her and nod. “Don’t you worry none about it, Jessie.” I said. “It’s only Ed, you know he’s all right.” Her hand was on the phone, but she pretty obviously had no idea who to call. “You just breathe a minute, maybe get yourself some water, and I’ll go talk to him, okay?” She nodded quickly, still not having blinked, and I turned to follow my friend back to our office.

Eddie was standing in front of his empty desk, scratching his head. “It’s not April, is it?” he asked me without looking as I came through the door. He looked perfectly lifelike; his skin was a normal color, just a little ruddy as he always had been, and his clothing was the usual button-down shirt and jeans, not the suit they’d buried him in. He was turning his wedding ring around and around with his thumb, an idle habit he’d picked up years before I met him. That distracted me for a moment, and my mouth answered him with me only half running it, because I know for sure that ring is on a chain around his widow’s neck now.

“It’s, ah. Nope, Ed, it’s not April. D’you remember what month it is?”

“August, I thought. Almost time to haul the girls out to the lake, and maybe your youngin’ if she’s got a break from school? Mine don’t want to travel that far just for the weekend.” He finally turned to face me, grinning, and that’s when I lost my composure.

“Aw, dammit, Eddie.” I stumbled the three and a half steps between us like a drunk man, and I threw my arms around him. “Fuck, man.”

He hugged back reflexively. “Hey, hey, what’s up? Is everybody okay at home? Is something wrong with the kid?”

“No, the girls’re fine, they’re fine.” I knuckled the tears away from my face roughly. “Man, I don’t know how to tell you.”

“All my stuff’s gone, Mark. I get fired?” There was an edge of uncertainty to his voice now.

“God, no. Sit down.” I pull the chair out, missing the cushion he’d always had on it but still his chair. His wife had the cushion now, I brought it to her with all the rest of the stuff that was his to keep, the pictures and the awards and the desk-detritus that grows like a coral reef when you sit the same place for twenty years. I pulled my chair around from my own desk, and hunched over in it. “So, ah. Eddie. D’you remember anything about last week?”

“I remember that we’ve got that Bahmer deadline coming up, so you and I were gonna stay late on Tuesday, get a pizza and put the game on while we worked. I remember…” some shadow passed over his face and he went quiet.

“We did that. Got halfway through the game.” I said quietly. “Do you remember what happened next?”

He didn’t answer me.

I took a deep, shaky breath. “You’re always saying, every goddamn day you’re always saying you’ll rest when you’re dead. Well, boy howdy, Ed, but it ain’t fair to you for you to still be coming to work.”

He twisted his wedding ring another four or five times before he said anything.

“Meg and the kids.” He said it like a statement, quiet, but I knew what he was asking.

“They’re gonna be just fine. Kids’re gonna miss you for damn sure, but they’re strong. And you know Meg always had a hundred people to back her up, this ain’t gonna break her. Tina an’ I are gonna keep an eye on her. Figured—figured to maybe get her on the boat, out at the lake, for Labor Day.”

Eddie looked up at me, straight into my eyes, and it was like the breath knocked out of me. He still looked like himself, but there was something different there too. Like he was sharper around the edges, like the whole world was an old film photograph and he was in HD. Like he’s had a software upgrade, I thought, and didn’t really understand why. “What about you?” he asked, and his voice was his voice, it was, but it was like I was hearing something else too. Like the minute at the beginning of an orchestra where they all come together, where first it’s just one instrument and then it’s everybody? Only “everybody” was still just Eddie.

“Aw, Ed, don’t you worry about me none.” I said. “Me’n Tina got a long ways to go yet, and I’m gonna hang in there.”

It occurred to me that there was maybe something unfair about this whole interaction. “But god, I’m real glad you came to see me.” I said.

He smiled at me, and opened his mouth as if he were going to say something else.

And the door beside us slammed open, the boss throwing himself through it. “Mark!” he said. “Jessica’s saying the weirdest—” He must have seen my face, then, because he fell silent.

I glanced back at Eddie’s chair, already expecting what I saw. Empty. Other than the scent of that cologne his kids always got him for Father’s Day, no sign that he’d ever been there, and I could have been imagining that.

“You okay, Mark?” the boss asked, quiet now. I shrugged. “Jessica’s not a liar.” I said, and I stood up and wheeled Eddie’s chair back under his desk, and my own back to my space. “I figure some people just get used to some habits.”

He wasn’t at home with his wife, he wasn’t back up at the college with his kids, though I figured he might go check in on them all now. But all I could think was how lucky I’d been, the last two decades, to be part of his habit, and how lucky I was now to get just another minute with my friend.

I blinked hard, swallowed. My voice was about normal when I spoke again. “Got those Bahmer blueprints for you.” I said. “And after that, I, ah. Think I’m gonna take off, after lunch. Get the wife out for a drive, maybe.” The boss had known me a long time, and he didn’t argue about it, just took himself back to his office and left me be.

I’ve never been one of those philosopher types who thinks that the whole world and everything in it is a lesson. I think mostly the world is just the place you are, and you deal with what you’ve got to deal with, and catch a breath where you can catch a breath. But if I’m taking a lesson from this, it’s to relax when I get the time. Nothing can be put off forever, and some things shouldn’t be put off at all. I’ll take Tina and Meg up on the lake every weekend this summer, if they want to go, and I’m not pulling late-nighters anymore. We’ve only got a minute here, and I aim to make enough comfortable habits that I don’t feel like I need to stick around.

Your friend always said “I’ll rest when I’m dead,” so much that it became his catchphrase. He says it again today when he came into work, going about his daily routine. This normally wouldn’t be concerning, if not for the fact that you attended his funeral two weeks ago.