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mouthydraws · 9 months ago

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Opportunity for me to talk about special interest (adjacent) topic spotted‼️ ADHD and OCD run through the same brain pathway/cause abnormal activity in the frontostriatal circuit (which is part of the executive functions, impacting stuff like working memory, realizing and deciding what information is actually important, planning and organization, and behavioral control).

They’re so different yet so similar. In OCD, this part of the brain is OVERactive, and in ADHD, it’s UNDERactive. OCD is correlated with low serotonin levels (hence why medications like certain SSRIs are used to help with it), while ADHD is low dopamine/dopamine dysfunction. OCD is internalizing disorder, meaning a lot of the symptoms are internal and more impact the internal self as opposed to effecting other people. Stressful situations cause people to turn inwards, causing things like loneliness, anxiety, depression, poor self esteem, etc. while ADHD is an externalizing disorder. People turn outwards, they’re impulsive, their behaviors cause change to their environment, their thoughts and feelings manifest in ways that others are much more impacted by. Their feelings manifest OUTSIDE of themselves.

OCD tends to cause people to avoid acting impulsively; they’re concerned about consequences. On the other hand, ADHD tends to cause more impulsive behaviors, an inability to think of or fully care about the possible consequences. Dopamine, dopamine, dopamine baby, it’s a hell of a drug.

However, despite all of their differences, they can share very similar symptoms. Executive function related tasks are the main one, as both ADHD and OCD sufferers tend to struggle with these. Memory can be difficult, switching tasks, staying focused.

(Here’s a good article for more about this stuff!!)

Imagine your attention is a powerful laser. It points directly at what you need to focus on. That’s how it is for people without ADHD, they can swivel and point the laser with ease, focus on whatever they need to focus on. Their lasers stay still, they don’t swivel around or tilt if they’re not constantly maintained. If they need to focus on multiple different things at once, they can break the laser up into a few smaller (but slightly less powerful) beams. But with ADHD, it’s harder. We either have multiple beams pointed at multiple places at once (unable to regulate attention, hyperactivity), or all of our beams combined to form one giant laser that we can’t move anymore because it’s so heavy (hyperfocus). In this case, ADHD medications would be like WD-40 (if you’re hyper focusing) or a wrench to tighten the bolts on the base of the laser (if you’re unable to keep your focus in one place). Oil up the hinges of the laser beams with WD-40 so you can move them around easier, you don’t have to fight to get them all pointed in the correct direction anymore. Use the wrench to tighten the base of the laser so that it stops swiveling on its own the second you stop putting in the tremendous effort to hold it.

The laser analogy doesn’t work as well with OCD, but I’m gonna try anyway since I’m making this up as I go along. People without OCD can move their laser beams off of unimportant information much easier. No need to keep melting that thought with the heat of the beam, it’s thoroughly melted. But with OCD, you can’t move that beam off of this one single thing (like hyperfocus, but instead it’s called an obsession). It’s melted, the thing/thought is a pile of gooey ashes, yet the beam won’t move. It’s stuck, and you don’t have any WD-40, so you use a bit of water. Makes the hinges of the laser slide a bit easier at first, but after a while it gets worse. Now it’s rusted. The water would be the compulsions. Feels good in the moment, but actually makes everything much harder to handle/control in the future. The WD-40 in this case would probably be something like OCD therapies or even medications like Prozac or Zoloft. They help you move that beam, to stop melting the same thought over and over and over, so much that it’s releasing toxic fumes and making you sick. Does this make any sense?? I’m writing this on the fly so apologies if it doesn’t 💀

It feels like, at least to me personally, that they’re both disorders of ATTENTION. Some people have advocated for changing the name of ADHD, attention DEFICIT hyperactivity disorder, to something like attention REGULATION disorder. We don’t have a lack of attention in most cases, it’s just we can’t regulate what it’s focused on. My ADHD wants to focus on the thing/task/activity/whatever that will give us the MOST dopamine, usually the fastest, that it can find. My OCD wants to focus on this one specific thought or idea, the what-ifs, it wants to run counterfactuals and ruminate on stuff we’ve already ruminated on 193746 times already.

So how do you balance this?? For me- a VERY SPECIFIC amount of stimulant medication.

I need enough stimulant ADHD medication (in this case, Ritalin), so that I can keep my attention SOMEWHAT under my control. I need to be able to think without 15 other trains of thought running at the same time. I need to be able to focus to at least a functioning degree. I can do under or overstimulating tasks without losing my mind because my ADHD doesn’t have enough dopamine and needs more At This Very Second Right Exactly Now or else it’s gonna start trying to remove skin. Think of it like the Ritalin giving the ADHD dopamine nicotine patches. Something to hold it over. (Except in this case it’s holding it over until we can get back to doing stuff that gives us actual dopamine). I take JUST enough Ritalin that the OCD can’t ruminate on one thing for too long without the ADHD getting bored and losing its mind. Sometimes I’ll straight up forget what I was obsessive over because my attention got snapped somewhere else. About to click your 10th article on Hodgkin Lymphoma because your health-obsessed OCD has decided that’s what we definitely have today? No you’re not, because now the ADHD is under-stimulated and wants to play Terraria. This activity is no longer producing enough dopamine. To the trash bin with you.

But I have to be careful. Taking too much stimulant means the ADHD is basically completely quelled; there’s nothing to move that attention away from the OCD. That part of my brain is basically overactive now instead of under, and the OCD has free rein of the place. The dermatillomania kicks in BAD (both disorders like to remove skin from my body I don’t know why). I get paranoid, the panic attacks start because OCD likes to keep anxiety on a leash (had a super fun and definitely not earth-shattering realization last year that the reason my anxiety and panic disorder were so severe and not responding to traditional therapy and only responding to medication was because a good chunk of it was severe untreated OCD). The last time I took too much stimulant, every part of my body felt unstable. I was convinced I had multiple different diseases and cancers, I was having trouble breathing from the stress, I literally could not move my attention away from the fear. Heart palpitations didn’t help the cardiophobia. Not fun!!

But no stimulant is pretty much the opposite. And I don’t mean “oops I missed my Ritalin today and now it’s 9:00PM and too late” like I did on the original post, (though that did cause some not good things to happen with my skin and a nail clipper thank you no impulse control you SUCK) I mean NO meds at all, the Before Times. I raw-dogged life without meds for 17 years. I’m pretty sure that was the first thing I did when I turned 18 was finally get myself some ADHD medication. I’d do something we call “spinning” where I just rotate slowly and perpetually in a weird circle because I’m only half there and trying to get stuff done. Example: I’m trying to make a bowl of cereal. The bowl, the cereal, the spoon, and the milk are all in different parts of the kitchen. My ADHD is bored to death by this so I retreat back into my head (funny cause it’s usually an outward presenting thing) to watch memorized family guy episodes or think about birds. The only issue is my autopilot ALSO has ADHD and absolutely cannot function without me also being there so we kinda just, spin?? Indefinitely?? Gotta get bowl…*turns towards the cabinet with the bowls* but wait I need milk.. *turns towards fridge* I forgot the cereal.. *turns towards other cabinet* but the bowl.. *back to the first cabinet* and around and around until someone else enters the kitchen and tells me to sit the hell down and that they’ll do it for me. I still have this issue (just much less severe) when my Ritalin wears off at night. Gotta get the cereal, omg look my birds!! Ok what was I doing..bowl?? right, bowl, oh hi puppy!! Sweet dogs. My birds are also being cute, gotta go see them. Why am I standing here? I’m gonna check twitter, need my nightly dose of The Horrors. Dear god the CDC did WHAT?! We are so cooked. I am overwhelmed, time to stand here and stare at the wall but oh no I have POTS so now I’m feeling lightheaded because I stood still for too long, better sit down. Where’s my cereal (and repeat until I get there EVENTUALLY). Anyway shit improved a lot for me when I got medication, especially OCD wise since now I could move my attention away from it a bit easier.

This idea of the perfect dose of stimulants is something that’s been echoed to me by psychiatrist- you need enough to focus and control the ADHD, but not too much that it triggers the OCD. Anyway I might add more to this when I’m not also pointing my attention lasers at also getting ready for classes and labs 👍

I forgot to take my Ritalin yesterday and this is what I produced last night after realizing that

(Ft. My OCD and ADHD personifications, and a bonus little Concerta personification with the ADHD ⬇️)

#adhd #ocd #actually adhd #adhd brain #actually ocd #obsessive compulsive disorder #intrusive thoughts

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nekojitachan · 5 years ago

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Ummm more about Mr. Neil Minyard on campus please

Ah, thank you so much for the ask! 😘

Let’s see, especially since tumblr atewhat I’d already written for this. ☹

As they’d planned out when they got engaged,Neil and Andrew didn’t tell anyone but the Monsters (+ Robin and Katelyn), theoriginal Foxes, Wymack, Abby, Bee and Stuart, that they were married.

Oh, and Ichirou, of course, who agreedthat they shouldn’t tell anyone else until Neil’s final Exy season started(Andrew’s pro team also thought this was wisest). However, he was pleased thatNeil had basically signed already with a more than adequate pro team and sowould soon have a ‘decent’ salary from which to send him that owed percentage,and even gifted Neil with a rather extravagant wedding gift.

Neil, Nicky andAaron had to talk Andrew out of smashing said gift to pieces after its arrival.

Neil and Andrew spent the summer in Boston,eventually settling on the perfect apartment (meaning they both agreed uponit - with only some minor freakout from Neil), which they decorated as their future home together; Neil even brought someof his belongings from PSU and Columbia since he hoped to spend as much freetime there as possible before he graduated.

Once training season started, Neilreturned to PSU, where he roomed with Robin and threw himself into preparingthe new Foxes. He both wanted to ensure that the Foxes did well that year aswell as fill the time until he was able to talk to or visit Andrew.

Neil had gotten better (not much, but a little)at telling when someone was interested in him, but he was distracted, okay? Forthe first time in several years, he was alone without Andrew or even Nicky orAaron at his side, it was a huge adjustment for him. Robin helped a lot, butshe wasn’t Andrew.

And oh was Robin by his side! She’d beentemporarily assigned by Andrew as the guardian of Neil’s… erm… uhm… ‘virtue’,and she took said job very seriously.

Especially since theathletes (and eventually the rest of the students) had returned to campus, some ofthem excited about the fact that for the first time in over four years, oneNeil Josten was alone without one very scary Andrew Minyard in sight. An AndrewMinyard who’d graduated and moved up north, so that meant Neil was single, right?

(NO, NOT AT ALL.)

Robin would be amused by the patheticattempts to pick up Neil if they weren’t attempts to pick up Neil.Though she almost, almost, felt sorry for the morons (again, theywere attempting to pick up NEIL JOSTEN.)

Like the guy who thought it was abrilliant idea to walk up to Neil, smile and tell him how ‘hot’ his tattooswere, and then ask if the ‘A’ on his cheek stood for ‘angel’ because surelyNeil had just fallen from heaven. Robin was hard-pressed not to laugh when Neilsomehow managed to spill his bottle of sports drink over the guy’s head.

Or the girl who told Neil that she had a‘thing’ for linguists because they ‘knew’ how to use their tongues, only forhim to give her a blank look and say in Russian that he only spoke Englishbefore he gathered his books and stalked out of the library (with Robingiggling in tow, their Russian study session clearly put on hold for the timebeing).

The Foxes knew that Neil was stillinvolved with Andrew (just not how involved), and found the whole situationhilarious, of course (well, not Jack and Sheena). Of course they started abetting pool on how many times Neil would be hit on each week and how; Cammie madea killing when the one transfer soccer player had the ‘brilliant’ idea ofserenading Neil one night from the Fox Tower’s courtyard with an alteredversion of ‘Foxy Boy’.

Robin had to prevent Neil from going outto gut the moron, and then Andrew from flying (flying!) back to PSU onthe next plane to track down said moron to do much the same.

(Nicky nearly passed out from laughingso much when she told him about the whole thing.)

It was decided that Andrew would makethe announcement after his first professional game, something they both eagerlylooked forward to happening (and Wymack, since he was tired of the drama,betting pool and lovesick idiots interrupting his practice).

The Sunday after the Foxes’ first gameof the season (which they won), the Colonials played the Nighthawks and won(Neil, Robin and several Foxes held a viewing party at Abby’s for the game). Andrewnearly shut down the goal when he was out on court, and had the commentatorsraving about such an exciting start to his career and predicting that it wouldn’tbe long before there was an offer to join Court.

Of course he was dragged out for apost-game interview, where he clearly suffered through a few questions which hereplied to with coached answers (‘happy’ to be with the Colonials, Boston wasn’t‘too bad’, he liked the food, etc.). However, after five minutes, he clickedhis tongue and loudly announced that he was done with the questions as he hadto go call his husband.

That declaration was met with silencefor several seconds, until an intrepid reporter raised his hand and asked ifAndrew had said the word ‘husband’. Andrew verified that yes, he had, and that saidhusband was one Neil Josten now Neil Minyard so he needed to make sure thetrouble-prone idiot hadn’t gotten into some sort of new mess he had to takecare of, so he was done for the night.

Neil sat on the couch with a huge grinon his face while Robin nudged him in the ribs; it took a minute or two beforeCammie, Jordan and the others regained their senses and could (cautiously) pileon him in congratulations.

Word spread quickly about Neil’s new statusas a married man; he gave an interview the next day, started wearing his ringson his finger instead of on a chain hung around his neck, and let the schoolknow about his name change.

Most people respected Neil’s marriedstatus, but there were a few who seemed to think that him being in a long-termrelationship meant he was open to ‘fooling around’ (of course it didn’t). Bythat point, Robin had perfected her own version of the creepy smile/stare andmanaged to circumvent almost all of them before they got close to Neil.

And the ones she didn’t? Well, theydeserved what they got, she figured.

#nekojitachanfics #mumbling into the void #wdwgfic #wdwg fic #prompt #andreil #neil josten #andrew minyard #aftg #aftg au #married life #robin cross #robin is enjoying herself way too much #nicky is calling all the time for updates #aaron is glad he's halfway across the country #allison wants in on the betting pool #poor andrew's stress levels #Anonymous

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lord0f · 2 years ago

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For the ask meme! Camellia, ivy, nutmeg, papyrus

Aw thanks for the ask! It got long so here a read more for ya!

Camellia - what were you like when you were younger? Do you think you’ve changed a lot?

As a kid I was incredibly social! I wasn’t the popular kid in school by any means but I loved talking to people and making friends. I was eager to share my interests and play. I was definitely a dork and a was deep into anime around middle school. I also just liked people and wanted to be around them.

Honestly I think in recent years I’ve been trying to recapture some of the unbridled joy I got out of my interests as a kid. While I’m older and wiser now (though certainly no less fallible) and able to consume things with a more critical eye, watching things I love that might be “childish” or “not that good” or “cringe” and openly loving them has been really refreshing! For me right now that means revisiting some old anime faves, sewing tiny clothes for dolls, learning Japanese, and leaning into my 90s anime art roots.

Also I like to think I’m more mature and professional and level headed but every time I give myself that credit I look back two years later and all I can think is how wrong I was haha. Guess it goes to show that we never stop growing and maturing haha!

Ivy - what are your tells for your emotions and moods? How can someone tell you are happy, annoyed, upset, or tired?

I’m think I’m fairly obvious in my emotional tells in how I express myself? (My friends can correct me if I’m wrong haha!) But I also try to declare my emotions outright. When I’m happy, I wanna say so, when I’m tired, i wanna say so. I like people knowing that they’ve improved my day, or that talking with them made me happy. I think people sometimes cant tell if you enjoy their company even if you feel like it’s obvious. So even if it might sound stilted or awkward I think it’s good to tell them you appreciate them!

I think where I falter is that when I’m feeling stressed/depressed/anxious/overwhelmed I tend to use “I’m tired” as a catch-all for everything ; ; so I could definitely stand to express myself a little more clearly when it comes to less positive emotions haha

Nutmeg - how is your room/home decorated? Do you have a specific theme or style going on?

I have a very tiny room so it’s not very decorated! A lot of room is taken up by the bed and storage. But I generally love cluttered cozy wizard vibes and warm colors. Truthfully I just wanna live in a hobbit hole. Heres a pic of one corner of my room currently!

Papyrus - if you put your on-repeat playlist on shuffle what is the first song that comes up? What do you like about it/ associate with it?

Recently I have been (predictably) listening to the Outer Wilds OST on repeat. But for variety, since I have a few on-repeat playlists, I’ll shuffle em all for ya. (Only vibes for one cuz this ask is so long at this point im so sorry)

Outer Wilds OST - The Search by Andrew Prahlow

Vibes- space mystery/searching/discovery/under pressure/urgency/my spaceship is made of wood/melancholy

Songs to Get Shit Done To Playlist - Madamamagoto English Cover by JubyPhonic (original by GigaP/Reol feat Soraru)

The One That Changes Playlist - Fear by Yuki Kajiura from the .Hack//SIGN OST

Songs to Chill TF Out To Playlist - Furthest Star by Dirt Poor Robins

#asksksksk #ask game!#thanks for the ask!#sorry its kinda long im trapped in bed by two cats and am stalling for when i inevitably have to ruin their day by making them get up

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celticcrossanon · 3 years ago

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BRF Reading - 13th October 2021

This is speculation only

Cards drawn 13th of October 2021

Energy Reading and Tarot Cards

I checked in on Her Majesty, energy wise, and it was not good. The energy felt as if she was crying, and that broke my heart. Now whenever I try to do a reading on other members of the BRF, all I can hear are her sobs (note that this does not mean Her Majesty is literally crying, although she could be, but it is how her energy is appearing to me - as tears of stress and utter despair).

I can't 'tune in' properly to any other energy except her tears. I tried - I asked several other questions on Meghan and Andrew and even the Cambridges, and nothing really came through.

To make the best of the situation, I pulled a few cards on Her Majesty to see if I could get more information about what, exactly, was upsetting her. It was a hard reading to do. The energy from it has enveloped me, and I feel drained and completely exhausted, and on the verge of tears myself. That poor woman. I could punch whoever is causing this level of stress in her with a right good will.

The message is not much different from yesterday, so if you want to skip the reading because it will upset you too much, please do so.

I am sorry this is so gloomy. I tried to do other readings and I just couldn't. I will try for other members of the BRF again tomorrow, but for today my energy focus is fixed on HMTQ.

Cards under the cut.

Question: How is Her Majesty the Queen today?

I was hoping for some good news after yesterday's reading, but it didn't happen.

Interpretation: Her Majesty has moved beyond stress to utter despair.

Card One: The Five of Swords. This is a card about not being able to win for losing. In this deck, for me, it also stands for doing your duty. The energy it gives me for Her Majesty is duty. She is doing her duty, and she will smile while she is doing it, but underneath that public persona, she is very unhappy. She can not see any way out of whatever situation is stressing her. To her, it seems that whatever action she takes, she will lose more than she will win. She is very concerned about doing her duty to her country in this issue, as well as to the monarchy.

Card Two: The Ten of Swords. The card of betrayal, of utter despair, of giving up. Whatever is happening behind closed doors, Her Majesty feels betrayed by a family member. She is full of despair and feels like she has been stabbed in the back. She has moved from being stressed to the utter despair and inertia that comes when the stress has increased beyond what you can endure. She is on the point of giving up entirely.

Card Three: The Four of Swords. The card of rest and meditation. I think Her Majesty has either given up and retired from the situation, or this is what the cards are telling her to do. She needs rest. Nothing she can do is working to make things better. All she can do is retire, and cry, and try to heal herself. She feels so tired and despairing. I hope she does let it all go, and gets some rest, and looks after herself, as I am getting the sense that both parties in this situation are being intractable and stubborn, and there is nothing she can do that will make them see sense. They have to fight it out between themselves.

Underlying Energy: The Queen of Wands. This is usually a fire sign person, but it is also one of my cards for a regency, and that is the energy I am getting from it. This situation is about who takes on what duties behind the scene as Her Majesty gradually, very slowly, winds down and hands on some of her duties to her children. This is what the situation is about - who will hold the leash of the lion of England, as the queen in the card holds a leashed lioness (the lion is female as the head of England is currently female). If this situation can't be resolved then Her Majesty might continue to hold all the parts of her power until she died, which would be - not good - for her as she desperately needs the rest that letting go of some of her power would provide (not all of it, or even most of it, just the bits that other people can do for her, so she can get some more rest and some space and time to herself).

Conclusion: Her Majesty is carrying out her duty to her country. Behind the scenes, she has been driven beyond stress to utter despair. She would like to let go of a bit of her power, very slowly, and hand it over to others, so she can get some rest and time to herself. Unfortunately, this has caused a situation where she feels like she can't win for losing. There is a strong element of betrayal in all of this - she feels betrayed by a family member and possibly she feels that if she gives someone some power, they will betray the monarchy by their actions (this is just a tiny thread of energy in this reading). The sense of betrayal feels new - it is as if she has just learnt something that gives rise to these feelings. She is on the point of giving up and just shelving everything while she rests and thinks about it, and the cards say that letting go and getting some rest and some peace is the way forward for her.

I can still hear her crying. This is awful. Please pray for her or send her some supportive and loving energy. The poor woman. She is in the painful first year of loss and grieving for her husband, and now this.

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spacemiddenzz · 3 years ago

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so i was watching @super-metroid's stream of Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass (highly recommend by the way) and she fought Imaginary Numbers this time. I guess I just wanted to share my thoughts on it, since it's my favorite boss and all. This is gonna be a longpost and it's gonna have spoilers so the whole thing can be found under the cut.

So, to put it simply, this dungeon is about stress and confusion. It's about Jimmy's mind frantically trying to comprehend the high-level math that Andrew is teaching him on top of his schoolwork. Jimmy thinks that his dad is the smartest man in the world- this is hyperbole for sure, but the fact that Andrew is quite intelligent remains clear. Jimmy looks up to Andrew because of his intelligence- and because of this it means a lot to Jimmy to be praised by Andrew. He wants his dad to view him as intelligent as well, because, if a man as smart as Andrew thinks Jimmy is smart, he can't be wrong! And hell, it feels nice to be validated by your parents.

Clearly, Andrew has already recognized Jimmy's talent with numbers and has started teaching him concepts beyond the second-grade curriculum, something that we see in the flashbacks in the Symmetrical Cavern. However if Imaginary Numbers' design is anything to go by, these concepts may be at or above the high school level. They're too much for Jimmy to understand. He's only eight, and his mind just isn't ready for that yet. Still, he feels the pressure to keep up with- and understand- the work that Andrew gives him. Why? Because he fears failure. He worries that if he admits to his father that the work is too hard, Andrew won't see him as a "smart boy" any longer- and that praise and validation means a lot to Jimmy. He doesn't want to lose it.

Let's start with the song that plays during this nightmare dungeon- Counting Backwards From Infinity. From the erratic bassline to the random samples of people shouting numbers in no particular order over and over again, this song simply screams disorder and panic. As a person who has always struggled with math, it's incredibly relatable. Counting Backwards From Infinity always reminded me of taking math tests in high school. I was so slow that I almost never could finish a test in a single class period. The frantic, wild bass and the cacophony of people screaming numbers out of order reminded me of trying desperately to remember how to solve a type of problem- and do it quickly enough so that I could hand the test in before the bell rang. I imagine that this is how Jimmy feels when Andrew places in front of him a concept that the boy does not fully understand. Perhaps he's had it explained to him several times but still can't fully grasp it (likely because, again, the kid is eight). The wild confusion and stress he feels when he doesnt fucking understand what's in front of him and doesnt want to look like an idiot in front of his dad. Even the name of the song is a reference to the fact that at this stage of his life this stuff may be an insurmountable task.

The dungeon itself is also set up in an incredibly confusing way. There's a bunch of bizarre-looking purple structures and winding paths. You teleport all over the place with no particular rhyme or reason. The enemies in this area, too, are deformed geometrical shapes that are almost Lovecraftian in the way that they cannot be understood. To Jimmy, Andrew's teachings might as be as comprehensible as a Lumpagon or a Squiggles, and that's definitely the idea that one gets here. The confusion, the pressure, the panic.

At one point in the dungeon you're teleported to a fakeout area that looks like the Path of Enlightenment. This is my favorite thing about the Asymmetrical Cavern, because of the fact that it has so many cool secrets, but also because it gave me a feeling that I could (once again) relate to. Jimmy's teleportation to the Path of Enlightenment isn't random. It represents familiarity in a sea of confusion. Jimmy sees something he recognizes during Andrew's lessons. Maybe he thinks that he's finally got the hang of it- that he's studied hard enough and now all of this jargon makes sense- only to be rudely awakened by the fact that he's been doing it wrong and never understood the concept in the first place. Even the secrets kind of hint at this. If you speak to pointman in this part of the dungeon he says "I am the blood of numbers leaking from your ears. The nails of ignorance are already being driven into your brain. What point is there in giving voice to madness?" (which is metal as fuck by the way)

Jimmy just thinks that his inability to understand makes him an idiot. His lack of understanding- the nails of ignorance- are being driven into his brain. If he can't understand all of Andrew's teachings, maybe he was never a smart boy after all.

And finally let's talk about Imaginary Numbers itself. First of all, it's an amalgamation of a bunch of different mathematical symbols, including a tombstone, a slashed epsilon, and a sigma. I'm sure there are more, but those are the only ones I recognized, honestly. Given that dreams don't really make things up, instead just taking things that you have seen/experienced before, it looks like Jimmy has encountered some... seriously advanced shit. Tombstones are used in geometric proofs. I only started doing proofs in high school geometry, meaning that Jimmy may very well be learning concepts meant for kids twice his age. No wonder the poor kid is stressed.

Oh yeah, also the boss sucks ass to fight. I've heard some people call that bad game design, but I'm not sure that's how I'd classify it. Sure, like I said, the boss sucks complete ass to fight and is almost entirely RNG-dependent. From a gameplay standpoint, this is wack as hell, yeah. Fucking 30% chance to deflect any magical or physical attack with a 30% chance to dodge a physical attack on top of that? Definitely bad game design. But from an artistic standpoint? Not at all. In fact, the futility of this fight adds to it. It really drills into your head that the only thing on your side here is pure fucking luck. And the odds aren't in your favor.

The feeling of futility- of the fact that this may in fact be, by all definitions, an insurmountable task for Jimmy, really struck home the situation. The battle would not be nearly as impactful without this. And personally, I'm all for it. Imagine walking into the Asymmetrical Cavern for the first time, not knowing what to expect. You get your ass handed to you on a silver platter by Imaginary Numbers after it chains Program Omega at you five times in a row.

That's the feeling Kasey wanted to give you. And it's critical. It's just... so perfect, I honestly don't know how to put it into words. It was supposed to represent the confusion and turmoil of a task nigh insurmountable. And it did the job pretty damn well, if I do say so myself.

I know Jimmy is good at numbers and this wasn't supposed to represent a real struggle with the subject of math/the concept of numbers in general, but hot damn if I didn't feel seen. Except Jimmy is eight but I was like 17 struggling in precalc with the same shit. I guess we know Jimmy's smarter than I am rip

TLDR; andrew please stop putting unnecessary stress on your kid youre freaking him out

anyway if you guys have any thoughts about this boss or this dungeon in general i would love to hear them. but where im at its like 2 AM so im probably gonna it the mf sack for now. later dudes

#jimmy and the pulsating mass #jatpm #analysis #theory #my thoughts #longpost #textpost #nightmare boss #if i had to fight this boss in real life i would simply pass away #jatpm spoilers #jimmy and the pulsating mass spoilers #yeah

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rvmmm21 · 4 years ago

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Idk if you are into vampire ma'am's but what if vampire joy has a little obsession with that precious girl called seulgi, sometimes she She can break into the department of seulgi just for getting some fun with teasing her, drinking her blood and maybe something else, Joy might be able to take her to her remote Victorian mansion for some fun without anyone interrupting her evenings 👀.

Pd:Have a good day and ily ❤️

wow look at me just realising i answered this very indirectly. part one’s here. this is for your “maybe something else” bit, hah. forgive the smut. and the time skip.

small note : i know the plot line is super shifty but trust me it levels out at the end... just gotta trust my terrible process. i know this probably isn’t a coherent story. i think uni is playing me. the time skip is BIG.

1. can't believe i now know what a st andrews cross is now. 2. i'm very much pleased with that pun, thank you very much and to you please thank you.

tw: slight dacryphilia, bondage.

. . . . .

. . .

Her mother had warned her about this. The dangers of living alone and far away, out of their protective care.

The room swirls in disarray as Kang Seulgi stirs.

Her brain is slowly clearing the fog of events that had been so unbelievable she still couldn’t be sure if it had actually happened. Dry eyes blink once. Twice. In less than a second, it’s more than just the room that’s spinning. A cluster of unanswered questions taunt her through the haze.

Where is this place?

How did she get here?

What’s that smell?

But all it takes is that awfully familiar voice to take a sledgehammer to her senses.

She jolts awake. Instantly.

Hyper-alert.

Her eyes shakily scan the dim lit room for its source.

She doesn’t register the perpetrator’s whereabouts until deathly cold fingers wrap themselves around her throat–

– from behind.

And that’s when she realises this might not be the first time she’s woken up to darkness. To this darkness.

It’s the natural instinct to flinch away from the fingers under her chin that causes Seulgi to realise she really isn’t going anywhere. Despite the unforgiving pressure around her wrists, an additional bout of panic explodes in her chest when she whips her head left to right.

Why can’t she move?

“A pretty colour for a pretty girl.”

Seulgi chokes at the hot breath fanning over the shell of her ear. The sudden whisper causes a trail of goosebumps to erupt down the side of her neck and she strains away from the feeling… rather miserably.

Why can’t she move?

“Don’t you think they’re beautiful?” the voice comes again.

It prompts Seulgi to observe the deep mauve archaic silk that binds her to each arm of a hardwood St. Andrew’s cross.

Stretched out, immobile and dangerously vulnerable.

Stressed whimpers wrench past her lips as she begins twisting, turning and pulling. But try as she might, her restraints are stubborn, refusing to slacken even an inch. And Seulgi has a fair amount of forearm strength; muscle tone she’d built up through years of dance training and intermittent gym sessions.

So the fact that the silk stayed so tightly wrapped quirked a suspicion as to whether magic had a part to play in all this.

Magic… or a curse.

Wait, what?! Do you hear yourself? Stop being ridiculous, Seul. Curses? Magic?! They’re myths! None of this is real…

She gives another unsuccessful tug.

… right?

Other than the precarious position she’s in right now, Seulgi goes wide-eyed at the little she can make out of her surroundings. Pristine, empty glass jars lined up along a wall shelf; restraints of various descriptions she doesn’t possess the vocabulary to describe dangle dangerously low from the lofty ceiling.

Her captor obviously indulges in… much darker interests.

For a room so large, Seulgi sure is having a hard time trying to breathe.

“I asked you a question, sweetheart.”

Before she even sees anything, her body is instinctively taking lungfuls of air to soothe the burning in her chest when the restriction around her throat disappears. Suddenly, a swish of silken robes brush across her right side. And in the blink of an eye, Seulgi can’t pry hers away from the pale, elegant beauty swanning into her consciousness, the distinct scent of twilight and honeydew lingering in the air.

“Aren’t they a pretty colour?”

Seulgi knows she’d be a fool to be difficult. “Y-Yes,” she stammers.

Decadent eyes singe into her very soul and Seulgi drops her gaze, suddenly all too aware of her own nakedness and wanting nothing more than to curl up and vanish out of sight. The humiliation is deafening, but for some reason her body has a blaringly different opinion. It’s probably something about being completely stripped and powerless before a fully-clothed, gorgeous vampire that will do that to you, she concludes.

Joy is feminine and intimidating and she’s wearing that smile. The same one that had loomed over Seulgi when they’d first met, when it was stained in the hues of her essence. From that night. Needle-sharp fangs are stark on porcelain skin and Seulgi begins to tremble at the thought of being defenceless against them should the vampire decide she’s a little thirsty.

“Sorry,” said vampire smirks, making a show of licking over them with her tongue, “non-retractable, I’m afraid. Don’t worry, you will get used to them.”

It’s a command more than it reassures.

Joy’s eyes are trained on her own fingertip as she traces swollen pink lips, lingering on the soft curve of Seulgi’s jaw. Something in her core tightens and she almost growls when the girl shudders and weakly tilts her chin up, allowing her access to pet down her throat.

She smiles when she feels a gulp under her palm.

Her hand splays across Seulgi’s chest before pushing back until the human is gasping for breath, spine pressed unforgivingly flush into the heavy wood, while the other travels down to the apex of her thighs, stroking feathery lines onto warm skin. Not quite enough to make Seulgi beg for it, she knows, but more than enough to coax out those lovely sounds she adores hearing from her pretty little human.

Seulgi's mouth feels drier than a dessert watching a deathly pale hand lift to dark crimson lips, observing as Joy drags the pad of her thumb across her tongue, moistening it. And she can do nothing but helplessly watch as Joy slowly lowers her hand back down to the ache between her legs, the glistening digit settling right on her clit, already swollen with arousal.

Seulgi gasps out.

“This excites you, doesn’t it, baby?” Joy purrs into a scarlet ear. “You like being at my mercy?”

Seulgi grits her teeth and shakes her head, but the moan spills out before she can stop it. It makes a crude smirk blossom on the taller girl’s lips. The two tantalising fingers that had been playing with her finally slide into her core… oh so carefully, so she feels everything Joy is doing to her; every inch of those slender fingers slipping past her resistance and filling her up.

“P-Please…” Seulgi rasps. It’s too much and she can feel herself about to–

“Shh, no talking now,” the vampire cuts her short, making up these cruel rules on a whim. “Just those pretty little noises.”

Joy knows she’d like it if Seulgi would one day bare her metaphorical fangs a little too, to bite back… but for now, she’s so much cuter when she’s begging.

Maybe soon.

“P-Please, I don’t wanna–”

“What did I say about talking?” Joy snarls down, clamping a cold palm over her mouth. “Don’t wanna do what? Struggle pretty while I do all the work?” She rolls her thumb against Seulgi’s nub and the girl screws her eyes shut with a breathy whine. “What don’t you wanna do, sweetie? Cum?”

The human is a blubbering mess, squirming but unable to pull her hips away from the relentless teasing. Joy fucks her effortlessly, grabbing her jaw with her free hand and pushing her lips onto Seulgi’s in a ferocious kiss at the first tear that trickles down rosy cheeks. Seulgi can’t comprehend how mean Joy is being to her. It seems like the vampire just wants to see how far she can bend before she breaks, she must really hate her. She must. Because poor Seulgi can’t think of why else those fingers are curling inside her like that, ruthlessly abusing every spot that has her shaking and shivering and moaning.

Even then, it doesn’t matter how loudly she does it. The pulsing in her head and her lower region can’t drown out those pitiful cries that fill the air, the sounds of wetness as Joy slips a third finger in.

The pleasure is unravelling, and Seulgi is so overwhelmed with sensation that she knows she won’t last a second longer. “Let me– let me… please can I…”

Ignoring the broken rule, Joy senses her breaking point and narrows her eyes with a smirk. “Oh? Now you want to cum? ”

“Yes! Yes, please,” she frantically nods, pulling at her restraints with the remainder of her strength.

Aw. Her precious Seulgi. Always so polite.

“My poor baby,” she coos, uncaring to mask the edge in her voice, “can’t help herself? Go on then. Cum.”

Seulgi’s ears fill with Joy’s velvety tone as her fingers pump into her and her thumb stimulates her sensitive, sore clit with a pressure that she. Just. Can’t. Take.

And then Joy is really making her cum.

Seulgi’s mouth falls open and it feels like all her muscles are contracting at the same time. Her eyes roll to the back of her head and her vision explodes in white. She’s so lost in the throes of ecstasy that she doesn’t feel the hand around her throat and a pair of soft lips on hers, choking her moans into pathetic little whines.

Joy presses herself right up against Seulgi’s trembling body so she can feel her racing heartbeat while she fucks her through her climax. The feeling is so bright, so intensely heavy that sparks fly, her head spins and the room throbs in time with her pulse.

Joy strokes down her side soothingly, guiding Seulgi back down from her high, the aftershocks of the orgasm causing little twitches here and there.

A silent shiver ripples through the spent girl when she feels Joy retract her fingers from her dripping entrance, cool air brushing over slick-coated thighs. Like a puppet with its strings cut, Seulgi falls forward as her limbs go slack with exhaustion, the sound of fabric stretching as it accommodates her entire body weight.

The vampire switches instantly, rushing to undo the restraints. She frees Seulgi one arm at a time, taking care to massage each wrist after doing so, kissing over the lightly bruised skin. She tenderly shushes the few whines that slip past Seulgi’s lips, very well accustomed to the natural responses.

She’s always like this.

After all the bonds have been undone, Joy scoops her up into her arms and immediately heads for the bathroom, continually pressing kisses to the top of sweat-matted hair.

“Shh, good girl, Seul. Good girl.”

Kang Seulgi awakens to the sound of crackling. Eyes flutter open to the room dancing with streaks of muted oranges, yellows and whites. A cup of hot chocolate sits on the coffee table in front of her with two pink marshmallows floating on top. She looks down to realise still can’t move, but this time it’s because she’s been cocooned in a heap of fluffy blankets.

She feels all squeaky clean and so, so warm.

But the image of the person– vampire, kneeling by her side of the bed is what brings a smile to her face. Her Joy. Her tall, strong, undead, beautiful Joy. She wonders what she’d ever done to deserve this.

Seulgi mumbles, gazing at her with tired, loving eyes. “Mm, thank you Youngie, you did so well.”

Joy’s chest bursts with pride at the praise. Soft flames light her face up and she melts at the sight of her recuperating lover. She climbs onto the plush mattress to snuggle with her little Seulgi burrito, wrapping her arms around her in the perfect hug.

The two spend the next few minutes in blissful silence before Joy peers down to an inquisitive baby bear. She’s quiet, but the vampire can read the want in those eyes far too well now.

“Yes, hun?”

At this, a small pout tugs at the other girl’s mouth. “I still think it would’ve been fun to use the other thing. Can’t we try?”

Joy very nearly slaps a hand across her own forehead. “Baby, you know the answer to that. Not everything down there is a toy, okay? Just because I let you explore my collection, doesn’t mean we have to play with every single one of them.”

The half-hearted lecture fizzles into a tangent about the collectibles in her basement. “Oh goodness. Seul, remind me to clear out those boxes in the back tomorrow. Thought I needed them for the Salem Witch Trials but– no they were completely useless.”

She glances down at Seulgi, who’s been listening to her spoken thoughts this entire time with intent, ‘innocent’ eyes. Oh no. “Hun, you know all that happened in the seventeenth century, right? So like… centuries ago?”

“Mhm,” comes the small reply, all but convinced.

“Yah, so don’t get any fancy ideas, mmk?” she warns, waving a finger at the brief flicker of excitement in those brown pupils blown wide, “because it’s not happening.”

Ah, and that’s where poor Joy is wrong. Yet again.

There’s an awkward silence as both girls pause to recall the number of things in that room that they’ve used for… severely recreational purposes.

The vampire dusts off those very exciting thoughts, unable to deny her own enthusiasm at her Seulgi’s creative, conniving mind.

“Seul? Did you hear what I said?”

Nothing.

“Seul?” she tries again. “Baby bear?”

But Seulgi needn’t answer. The small smile on her face as she drifts off to sleep curled up in Joy’s front is all the vampire needs to be reminded of who really has the final say in these matters. Utterly defeated, she wriggles under the thick duvet to join her snoozing bear-itto for the night.

“Oh hun, please be gentle,” Joy whispers, shaking her head in disbelief at her tiny mortal that keeps her in a constant state of love-struck awe, seemingly to be able to take everything and more. “I’m scared of what you’re going to pick next.”

#anon #ask #dripping love #part two #joygi #red velvet #smut #vampire au #seulgi's helpless #Or Is She

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shekindness-a · 3 years ago

Text

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐓.

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒.

full name: eleanor elisabeth tremaine nicknames / aliases: ella, el, cinderella size: 5′3″ age: verse dependent, but most default to 27. zodiac: taurus spoken languages: italian, english, french, american & british sign language. conversational in german and dutch. in grishaverse arcs she is fluent in kaelish, ravkan, and kerch, and in the process of learning zemeni and fjerdan.

𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒.

hair color: ginger eye color: blue skin tone: fair, freckled body type: thin, does have some tone to her due to the physical nature of her chores voice: musical, light and airy dominant hand: right posture: very good, usually always stands tall with her shoulders pulled back and down away from her ears scars: uh. many. tattoos: none birthmarks: a few here and there on her back and legs most noticeable features: her bright blue eyes in contrast to the redness of her hair, infectious smile, warm presence

𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃.

place of birth: zürich, switzerland ( canon ), wandering isle ( grishaverse ) hometown: leitchen, hoglinton ( a small european country bordered by france & germany, a lá luxembourg ) siblings: gabrielle & charlotte ( step-sisters ) parents: alexandra tremaine ( mother, deceased ), andrew tremaine ( father, deceased )

𝐀𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄.

occupation: verse dependent, queen of hoglinton ( canon ), owner & founder of her own charity ( modern ), grisha healer ( grishaverse ) current residence(s): leitchen, hoglinton ( canon ), new york ( modern ) close friends: marie, jean-michel, gabrielle, prince topher, others are verse dependent relationship status: verse dependent financial status: lower middle class driver’s license: no criminal record: hehe yes :) many for trespassing and disturbing the peace vices: none

𝐒𝐄𝐗 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄.

sexual orientation: pansexual preferred sexual role: top, but she’s not picky libido: pretty normal i suppose turn-ons: being well-dressed, a certain air of cockiness that doesn’t come of as being better than anyone else, teasing, hands, hair pulling turn-offs: hitting or physical aggressiveness of any kind, rich assholes, being mean to the poor or to animals love language: words of affirmation relationship tendencies: goes out of her way to help her partner in any way she can, the supportive girlfriend who is always in the back of the room cheering them on and being a lil embarrassing about it

𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐒.

character’s theme song: i hope you dance by lee ann womack hobbies to pass time: reading, baking, adventuring, knitting, chores mental illnesses: generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder left or right-brained: left phobias: claustrophobia ( fear of closed in spaces ), thalassophobia ( fear of large bodies of water ) self-confidence level: depends on the day, but very very low

tagged by: @pistolslinger, my love tagging: you!!!!!

#character study.

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tabloidtoc · 3 years ago

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Globe, May 3

You can buy a brand new copy of this issue without the mailing label for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Prince William and Prince Harry: Showdown at Prince Philip's Funeral

Page 2: Up Front & Personal -- Alec Baldwin, Kathy Ireland, Conan O'Brien grabs lunch in West Hollywood

Page 3: Meg Ryan, Heather Graham, Jon Voight steps out in Beverly Hills

Page 4: Kris Jenner says her role as momager of the Kardashian clan is like being a fireman because she has to put out so many heated squabbles -- satisfying daughters Kourtney Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner takes skill and Kourtney is often so fed up she fires her three or four times a day, but Kris believes she's done a good job, saying she's totally dedicated to her brood and spends oodles of time and energy going the extra mile for them

* Jailed Ghislaine Maxwell is raising a stink over federal lawmen's claims she's a prison piggy, saying the institution's busted sewer pipes, not her toilet habits, are responsible for the overwhelming stench in her cell -- lawyers for sex perv Jeffrey Epstein's accused madam and sex trafficker leveled the charge to flush out prosecutors' claims the socialite's cage stinks like a hog's pen because she doesn't flush her toilet -- her lawyer Bobbi Sternheim insists there was a pervasive stench of sewage in Ms. Maxwell's unit, necessitating guards to flush pipes by pouring water down open drains in an effort to trap and disperse gaseous emissions and at times the stench in Ms. Maxwell's isolation cell has been overwhelming due to overflowing of toilets in the cell block above -- as for Ghislaine flushing, she does it often, at the guards' bidding even, though she doesn't use the commode in her cell due to lack of privacy

Page 5: Kelly Clarkson's tacky tales of pooping in trash cans and other crude antics are grossing out her alarmed pals, who fear divorce stress is pushing the talk queen over the edge and while Kelly has loved to shock people, her cringeworthy behavior has gotten worse since filing for divorce from music manager Brandon Blackstock, father of her daughter River and son Remington -- now Kelly has many fearing she's finally flipped after recently telling talk show guest Clint Black on-air she destroyed a poor trash can by pooping in it during a quick backstage concert break and she's constantly making potty jokes and seems to get a rise out of shocking people and even by Kelly's standards, this was a step too far and people are urging her to scale back on the belching, farting and gross anecdotes because they're a turnoff and make her look trashy and her grueling workload and prickly divorce has manifested in this gross behavior where she can't seem to hold her tongue and blurts out whatever she's thinking without consideration for other people -- other stars like Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are thinking twice before inviting her to social events and for talk show rivals like Ellen DeGeneres and Drew Barrymore, it's a dream seeing her push the boundaries of taste and Kelly doesn't have a filter and as long as she's got an audience she's just going to keep on doing it

Page 6: Macaulay Culkin is the daddy of a brand-new baby girl named Dakota, who is named after Macaulay's sister who died at 29 in a 2008 car crash, and she was delivered by Macaulay's lover actress Brenda Song

Page 7: Angelina Jolie has become a stressed-out single mom trying to care for her brood of six during the pandemic lockdown, and the strain is is showing on the 98-pound actress, but the 45-year-old, who shuns hiring a full-time nanny, still wants sole custody of her underage kids Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne, and is fighting tooth and nail with ex-husband Brad Pitt to get it; their oldest Maddox Jolie-Pitt is now 19 and considered independent although the university student frequently lives with his mother -- caring for the gang puts a big drain on Angelina's bank account and her custody war with Brad is costing a pretty penny -- Jolie and her children spend most of their time bunkered in a massive 7,500-square-foot Los Feliz mansion that boasts a huge library lined with resource books but the kids need to be separated so they can concentrate on their individual Zoom classes and someone is always hungry or needing help and at the end of the school day, when they are bored, they end up looking for Mom to find them something to do while she is trying to work on her own projects, and like most siblings, the kids fight or argue, and that can test any parent's nerves and Angie is with the kids pretty much 24/7 and it's taking a toll -- there is a glimmer of hope as schools are close to reopening and once the five youngest are back in school for several hours a day it will give Angelina the breaks she needs and hopefully she can hang tight until then

Page 8: Cover Story -- Prince William and Prince Harry bury Prince Philip, but not the ax -- despite their public displays of grief, bitter brothers William and Harry erupted in a raging royal screaming match behind the scenes of their grandfather's Prince Philip's funeral and Princess Diana's sons lashed out, accusing each other of ugly betrayals and destroying the royal family and the princes blamed each other's wives for igniting the family feud and their showdown was explosive and they're refusing to forgive or make peace and any hope Philip's death will end this feud is pie in the sky -- Harry and William were forced to reunite to mark the Duke of Edinburgh's passing and comfort their grandmother Queen Elizabeth, but that doesn't mean they're kissing and making up; far from it because Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have caused so much damage with their TV interview, it will take a lifetime to heal this rift -- sparks began flying almost immediately after Harry landed back in his homeland. He went straight to his former marital home Frogmore Cottage in Windsor to quarantine under COVID rules while William and his wife Duchess Kate Middleton and their three children were holed up at their country home Anmer House in Norfolk, about 100 miles away, but that didn't stop the once-inseparable brothers exploding in fury at each other during a video call finalizing funeral arrangements -- William and Harry knew they'd have to walk together behind the cortege to honor their grandfather, but that was where their reunion ended and while their grieving grandmother and royal relatives mourned the loss of the family patriarch, William and Harry's pent-up anger and frustrations exploded as, on the same side of the Atlantic for the first time in over a year, William blasted Harry and Meghan for bad-mouthing his wife Kate and selfishly trying to destroy the monarchy and he reamed Harry for not visiting their grandfather in his final days and using the funeral as a publicity stunt while Harry retaliated by accusing his brother of throwing him and Meghan under the bus and vowed never to talk to him again -- instead of an expected joint public statement praising their beloved grandfather, they issued separate tributes, which underlined their split as in their statement, William and Kate reminisced about Philip taking their children for horse-drawn carriage rides and they vowed to support the queen in the years ahead and that was a dig at Harry and Meghan, who can't help the queen due to their self-imposed exile to California and it was also a shot because Harry's son Archie has spent no time with his royal relatives since his birth almost two years ago -- Philip's death has only intensified this horrific feud and this war is far from over, and may never be

Page 10: Prince Philip went to his grave regretting he couldn't stop Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle from ripping the royal family in a bombshell TV interview -- The Duke of Edinburgh called the explosive tell-all madness and he had some sympathy for Harry and Meghan's desire to do their own thing, but he thought they were wrong and he hated Harry and Meghan's preoccupation with their own problems and their willingness to talk about them in public; one of his rules was give interviews but don't talk about yourself -- Philip loved Harry and thought him a good man, but he did not believe they were doing the right thing for the country or themselves when they quit royal duties and Philip died worrying the explosive interview permanently damaged the monarchy and he deeply regretted he wasn't able to prevent the scandal

* Outraged Prince Philip shunned his son Prince Andrew's ex-wife Duchess Sarah Ferguson for the last 19 years of his life after she was caught cheating in raunchy photos that went public -- Philip considered Fergie beyond the pale and refused to have anything to do with her and when Sarah was staying at Balmoral Castle with her daughters, her ex-father-in-law would run from a room she'd entered and Fergie said it was ridiculous because as soon as she came through one door, he'd be falling over the corgis to get out of the other and she added it was very funny, except, of course, it wasn't -- the only time they appeared together in public was at Prince Harry's 2018 wedding, 26 years after Fergie was photographed lounging topless while her then lover John Bryan sucked on her toes on the French Riviera; she and Andrew were separated at the time

Page 11: Marie Osmond is getting the last laugh on rival Sharon Osbourne after the big-mouthed Brit, who chased off Marie from The Talk, was booted from the chat show in a racism scandal -- while Marie doesn't wish ill on anyone, she certainly isn't feeling any sympathy for Sharon's plight -- in public, Marie has never said a harsh word about Sharon, and never blamed her co-star with pushing her off The Talk, but behind the scenes, Sharon made mild-mannered Marie's life hell, which chased her away and Marie still cringes from the whole experience of working with the brash former reality diva, more than seven months after leaving the show and Marie doesn't want to stoke the fire, but it's kind of satisfying in a way that Sharon's finally being exposed for what she is: a snippy, smug phony

* Chaka Khan was the first celeb booted on Season 21 of Dancing with the Stars in 2015, and it's no wonder because she was a lousy partner, claims pro hoofer Keo Motsepe -- Keo slammed the singer for demanding they only rehearse around midnight, because that's when the night owl was used to going to the record studio and laying down tracks -- Keo accepted the challenge but now calls Chaka his worst partner ever

Page 12: Celebrity Buzz -- Jane Lynch eats lunch in West Hollywood (picture), Khloe Kardashian is getting called out for her attempt to erase a bathing suit snap that revealed some very real body dimples and famous for posting airbrushed and filtered photos depicting her as flawless she went berserk over the unedited pic summoning legal eagles to get the image scrubbed off the internet but she drew colossal backlash, Sutton Stracke of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills got promoted to series regular and impressed producers by making ousted castmate Teddi Mellencamp cry by branding her boring, fired New York Housewife Dorinda Medley has lost 14 pounds, Lil Nas X's limited-edition designer Satan Shoes which commanded $1,018 when they hit the market are now deader than a doornail after legal pressure from Nike

Page 13: Dean Cain sports a Superman-style logo on his hoodie as he bums around Malibu (picture), Annabella Sciorra shoots an episode of Blue Bloods in NYC (picture), co-anchor T.J. Holmes shows his tongue on the Good Morning America set (picture), Olympic champ Lindsey Vonn admits skiing was a slippery slope when she started mingling with the beautiful people of Hollywood

Page 14: Brooklyn Decker proves she going gray at just 34 and she's kinda digging it, Kathryn Dennis trying to prove she's comfortable in the natural skin she's in shared pics from her first-ever bikini photo shoot and actually points out imperfections

* Fashion Verdict -- Zoe Saldana 6/10, Kelsea Ballerini 3/10, Jessica Madsen 7/10, Joy Bauer 2/10

Page 17: Eddie Cibrian is incredibly proud of wife LeAnn Rimes for baring the truth about her battle with psoriasis in a naked photo -- Eddie applauds how LeAnn let it all hang out for a photo shoot to show solidarity with other people with the scaly skin disease who are ashamed and want to hide it -- LeAnn has described the horrors of hiding her painful, crusty rashes, saying onstage she'd wear two pairs of pantyhose or jeans, even in 95-degree heat and underneath her shirt, her whole stomach would be covered in thick scales that would hurt and bleed, and the pandemic worsened her condition because stress is a common trigger for psoriasis, and with so much uncertainty happening, her flare-ups came right back

Page 19: 10 Things You Don't Know About Catherine O'Hara

* Sylvester Stallone may have gone his final round as boxing great Rocky Balboa as his reps reveal the actor has thrown in the towel and won't reprise his iconic role in the upcoming Creed III -- in the Creed spinoffs, retired fighter Rocky trained Adonis "Donnie" Creed, the son of his onetime rival

* Dr. Dre hit back against the abuse claims of estranged wife Nicole Young, slamming her allegations as appalling in recently filed court documents in their ugly $1 billion divorce -- in the docs, Dre charges Nicole hurled the accusations only after realizing their prenup may prevent her from getting half his money, but Nicole insists the rapper forced her to ink the agreement, a charge he also denies

Page 23: Caitlyn Jenner is refining her image ahead of her run for governor in California by reducing her massive breasts to look more conservative -- she wants to downgrade her E cups to a more respectable C cup because she's been worried for a while they are way too big within the context of her body and draw unflattering stares and running for the California governor's office is serious and she wants people to listen and look at her face, not her boobs and the truth is, the implants have been weighing her down and giving her back pain too, so this makes sense in more ways than one -- Caitlyn will be slowly abandoning other cosmetic procedures and she would like to wean herself off filters and Botox too, but that'll be a gradual process that she'll do as time goes by and the big thing here is that she wants to look more natural and relatable for voters

* Nearly half of America is ready to vote Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson into the White House -- 46 percent of voters are ready to rock and roll with the 49-year-old former WWE wrestler as their prez -- in his new sitcom Young Rock, Dwayne plays himself as a future candidate for the Oval Office, but in real life he has admitted he is seriously considering a run for the top job

Page 24: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, now facing two separate investigations into sexual harassment charges made by at least eight female staffers, is accused of cheating on longtime love Sandra Lee -- there's obviously a reason Sandra moved to California; she literally could not have moved farther away from Andrew; she's on the edge of the Pacific

Page 30: Grace Kelly died nearly flat broke -- the Hollywood starlet gave up millions to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco, and when she died at the age of 52, her only assets were a cottage in Ireland, owned by her grandfather, and $10,000 -- in 1956, she married into Monaco's royal family after coughing up a $2 million dowry, which is about $20 million today, and walking away from a glittering career -- according to a new documentary, her Hollywood earnings have disappeared as during her film career, Grace's total earnings could have reached $1.5 million, earnings that appear to be entirely missing from her will, but thanks to Grace, Monaco's royal family has cashed in big-time as her son Prince Albert II has an estimated net worth of $i billion and his wife Charlene Wittstock is rumored to be worth $150 million -- most people think of Grace Kelly's story as a fairy tale, going from Hollywood and suddenly being whisked off to a lot of wealth, but what is so poignant is that she had to pay to become a princess

* LeVar Burton may soon be helming a new enterprise: Jeopardy! -- nearly 200,000 people have signed an online petition supporting LeVar to replace the game show's late host Alex Trebek and LeVar supports the idea himself

Page 32: Kirstie Alley had two husbands and once claimed she was crazy about John Travolta, but for decades she secretly carried a torch for a married man: Patrick Swayze -- Kirstie described Patrick as the one that got away and truly believes they would have been together until his 2009 death at age 57 if things worked out differently and she says her love for Patrick began on the set of the 1985 miniseries North and South where she thought he was the most handsome, sexy, kind person she'd ever met, and each day on the set, she began to fall more and more in love but at the time they were married to other people: Patrick had his wife Lisa Niemi and Kirstie was married to Hardy Boys actor Parker Stevenson, her second husband -- Kirstie and Patrick shared a deep emotional affair and confessed their love, but never actually cheated on their spouses and Kirstie said they had an affair of the heart -- Patrick and Kirstie played lovers on the series and you can see the chemistry and at least once a year Kirstie watches the series and reminisces about the time she spent with him -- she says she cried for months after his death and she and his wife Lisa eventually became friends and even today, Kirstie wonders what would have happened if she and Patrick had not been married to other people

Page 36: Sally Struthers reveals she quit Save the Children charity after she was nearly murdered by a gang of bloodthirsty rebels during a trip to visit African orphans -- Sally was a roving ambassador for the charity for 35 years until a terrifying incident in Uganda where she was filming ads with a boy, who'd come from a remote village, when suddenly a roving band of guerrilla warfare guys came out of the bushes and asked the boy where he was from and he named his village, which was far away, and they decided they had kidnapped him, and they were going to shoot all of them and Sally was terrified and figured she was a goner, but a priest with her group told her to slowly walk off while never turning her back on the terrorists and as she walked, he convinced the gunmen to let them alone and at that point, Sally, who had a daughter Samantha from her six-year marriage to shrink William C. Radar thought she's been on so many little airplanes that could have crashed and in so many horrible situations and she's got a child, a real-life child of her own, and she can't do it anymore

* Usher is being accused of stiffing Las Vegas strippers by tipping them with fake money with his moniker and mug on the bills -- the flap exploded with a Twitter post slamming the singer for handing out Usherbucks in $100, $20 and $1 bills at the club Sapphire Las Vegas but club honcho George M. Wilson denies the charge, saying Usher, who stars at Caesars Palace stating in July, was a true gentleman and great guest and he and his crew converted thousands of real dollars to tip the girls dancing on the stage and left a generous tip for staff and apparently someone in his team left some Usher dollars on the floor to promote his Vegas residency and that is where it seems the confusion came in

Page 40: Val Kilmer is shooting for more than a career comeback after bouncing back from throat cancer; he is also looking for love -- Val admits he doesn't sound like he used to following a tracheotomy, but he insists he feels a lot better than he sounds but his voice is a raspy, grating sound, and he's forced to eat through a feeding tube, but he feels that shouldn't matter with the right woman -- the actor, who is slated to appear in the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick, is pumped up about working again, but it's dawned on him that he's missing one other thing, love, and the single star feels more energy now than ever before and there are things he'd like to do with a partner, like travel more -- Val regrets some of the things he did in the past and he was difficult and selfish, but his whole cancer ordeal has made him a better man and more open and giving but it's been a long, long time since he had a girlfriend, let alone even kissed a woman, but with the support and encouragement of his kids and friends, he's ready to put himself out there

* Fans are saying Christopher Meloni has one of the most remarkable rears on TV after a photo surfaced showcasing his awe-inspiring ass-ets -- a shot of the Law & Order: Organized Crime star in skintight jeans sparked a Twitter-storm where fans of his fanny let loose about his sculpted caboose

Page 44: Straight Talk -- Holly Madison is blabbing about her eight years as Hugh Hefner's No. 1 squeeze in the Playboy Mansion, and, if he were still alive, the king of skin mags would hate that he pretty much comes off as a dirty old lech

Page 45: Paula Abdul was a nervous wreck during her American Idol comeback, but she was not so jittery she couldn't brand her former co-judge Simon Cowell an STD -- special guest Randy Jackson and Simon previously teamed with Paula in the 2000s to make the talent show the biggest hit on TV, and Paula temporarily resumed her role after Luke Bryan tested positive for COVID-19, but when Randy told Paula seeing her on set seems like old times, she blurted "We're just missing the STD," and the remark caught host Ryan Seacrest off-guard as he held a computer device linking Paula and Randy, who was not physically present and Ryan exclaimed, "The what?!" and at that point Paula joked she meant it was an abbreviation for Super Talented, Debonair not sexually transmitted disease -- Paula also referred to Simon, who's only three years her senior, as a grandfather and while Paula seemed in the swing of things, joining the current Idol panel of Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, she was reportedly a bundle of nerves backstage before her comeback show and it was like she'd never done it before, and her pals couldn't believe it; they told her she had more experiencing judging than anyone out there

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jawnkeets · 5 years ago

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do you have any advice for reading and learning to enjoy difficult books? i love reading and studying and discussing literature, but when i try to read some older books (+ especially shakespeare), i sometimes have trouble concentrating or following the plot.

will focus on shakespeare, if that’s ok, but most of this applies to other difficult reads too 💕

1) tracking words that come up again and again that look hard but have easy meanings (’zounds, ere, dost, ay, yon/ yonder, art, sooth, swain, etc), looking up the difference between thee/ thou/ thy/ thine, etc. if you’re no longer getting stuck on little words that come up frequently, this instantly makes you feel less like you’re missing something.

2) don’t be afraid to use sparknotes, no fear shakespeare, etc! i still use the former occasionally, especially for shakespeare’s history plays, because it explains context that’s not necessarily common knowledge today. it’s not cheating no matter what people tell you, and knowing what’s actually going on can give you a solid leg up in getting to grips with the language. don’t rely on sparknotes or any related site for analysis, though, is my advice.

3) watch shakespeare, if you can. his plays, and especially the comedies, come alive on the stage.

4) familiarise yourself with classical references. i cannot stress enough how helpful this is - my ability to read shakespeare, and all literature for that matter, improved exponentially once i’d read the iliad, the aeneid, and metamorphoses.

take this example, for instance (from act iv of the winter’s tale, my a level shakespeare text). for context (spoiler alert lol), florizel is a prince who disguises himself as a rustic to see perdita, a lowly shepherd girl who he has fallen in love with, but actually unbeknownst to her the long-lost child of king leontes (who fell out with florizel’s father big time in the first half, though they used to be bffs). she’s dressed as queen of the feast for a big sheep-shearing festival, but says despite looking like a queen she knows florizel’s father wouldn’t approve. florizel tells her to cheer up:

FLORIZEL

ApprehendNothing but jollity. The gods themselves,Humbling their deities to love, have takenThe shapes of beasts upon them: JupiterBecame a bull, and bellow’d; the green NeptuneA ram, and bleated; and the fire-robed god,Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain,As I seem now. Their transformationsWere never for a piece of beauty rarer,Nor in a way so chaste, since my desiresRun not before mine honour, nor my lustsBurn hotter than my faith.

this flows much easier if, having read or been aware of ovid’s metamorphoses, you know that jupiter, neptune, and apollo all become animals to abduct or seduce. you can often work it out, and definitely can here, but may gloss over possible significance if you don’t know the full stories, or aren’t confident with getting to grips with them. each allusion makes the passage ripe for analysis - if you see the jove story as one of violence/ as lacking consent, for instance, then does the allusion perhaps strike you as jarring or inappropriate? the difference between florizel’s situation and the stories of these gods are often more interesting and telling than the similarities, and he even makes the comparison to half take it back - he says he is more ‘chaste’ and that his ‘lusts’ do not ‘burn hotter than [his] faith’. what do we make of the disguises in the classical allusions in comparison to the disguises in the play? what do we make of the fact that love when you are a god (or someone of powerful status, due to the analogy he’s drawing) is ‘humbling’? how do we compare that to what we’ve seen in the first half of the play (very important in TWT)? what do we make of the fact that florizel says that all the women these gods fall for aren’t as beautiful as perdita (is it hyperbole, and if so, why? does it show the lovers’ youth and naivety? does it imply that shakespeare is subtly trying to elevate his art by derogating his predecessors)? these are all very simple things i’m literally jotting down off the top of my head (the last question for example is literally just saying what happens and turning it into a meaningful question, which i find very helpful as a starting point on the way to analysis), but each classical allusion is a key that unlocks several potential doors to analysis. maybe sometimes it’s not that deep - some of the questions you ask or ideas you have will be or will lead to dead ends, but just come up with as much as you can and then you can pick and choose what you think is best.

5) read more from the same period! i promise you that the more you read the easier it’ll become. there’s ultimately no easy shortcut unfortunately, but you can improve surprisingly fast - at the start of sixth form i had a very vague understanding at best and had to look up several words per character speech and sparknotes every scene, and now (second year of uni) i use sparknotes a couple of times per play, usually for particularly knotty context. you’ll get there! ❤️

6) as for enjoying, i’d say if you don’t understand every word or plot point to start with, that doesn’t matter too much. beating yourself up about not getting it is a hard and fast way to not enjoy something. just let it wash over you - shakespeare’s beautiful soliloquys when acted have a real power (watch andrew scott’s hamlet!! i didn’t get half of what was said when i went to see it in 2017 but was utterly enraptured).

#asks #shakespeare

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enfpguy · 4 years ago

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BioShock Infinite MBTI and Enneagram — Booker DeWitt Booker DeWitt is the Main Protagonist of BioShock Infinite and the Secondary Protagonist of BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea. He’s part of two multi-verses so we’ll be segmenting this analysis into 2 parts. BioShock Infinite: The Main Story. Burial at Sea Booker: This takes place after the events of Bioshock Infinite with an alternate version of Booker. Dominant Function: Introverted Thinking BioShock Infinite: Booker Booker DeWitt is a prime example of an individual that’s driven by situational logic. His views throughout the entire game change drastically. At first, he’s introduced as a very cautious character who doesn’t trust his environment, but he immediately adapts to it. His main goal is to pay off his debt and to achieve that goal he must find Elizabeth and bring her to New York. As he embarks on his adventure, he ends up being caught in unique situations. Such as unknowingly entering the Pilgrim’s Rocket and being transported to a new society that exists within the sky. This alone would cause most people to freak-out and have a panic attack, but not Booker. Instead, he casually moved on as if nothing happened. He immediately then ran into another problem he needed to get baptized by Preaching Witting. He was unwilling but did it anyway because that was the only way into the city. After practically being drowned Booker runs into his first challenge and this is where we first see his TI function in action. He needs to get passed a locked gate to proceed on his quest. He solves this by trying a possession vigor that a hawker is offering free samples of. Booker quickly figures out he can use it on machines and uses it on the automaton guarding the door, therefore unlocking it. He then ends up accidentally entering a raffle and being forced to use yet another piece of unknown technology, the Sky-hook to protect himself from the officers who are trying to harm him. This adaptive style of learning is present throughout everything Booker does in Columbia, from trying new vigors to instructing Elizabeth where to best open “tears” so they can live another day. But that’s not all Booker also has other Introverted Thinking indicators. Such as suppressing his emotions, not because he’s unemotional but because he would rather stay level headed at all times to solve situations, this causes strain on his relationships with other people since FE is his lowest function. This especially affects Elizabeth, who’s quite a sensitive individual, and because of this they often butt heads. We have a lovely example of one of these situations. After rescuing Elizabeth from her prison, Booker lies and promises to bring her to Paris by stealing the First Lady Airship. Before they can do that they must go through the ticket station that leads to Soldier’s Field, this is where things get ugly, the receptionist stabs his hand forcing him to become violent which ends in the death of his assaulters. Elizabeth, experiencing death for the first time, becomes horrified and tries to run away. Booker catches up to a defensive Elizabeth and uses logic to reason with her. He explains that she’s an investment and that those men won’t stop coming after her so she has no choice but to leave Columbia. As the game progresses Booker becomes more comfortable with his surroundings thus starts asking Elizabeth more questions. Such as how do you make these “tears” or why does the Songbird always appear when he hears a specific melody. Before we get to the Burial at sea segment, I want to contest Booker being an SI-TE function user. The first indicator of not having SI can be seen in Booker’s poor attention to detail and memory, this occurs often he forgets about the actions he takes. For instance, the time he forgot he helped interracial couple at the start of the game or the time he forgot about Chen Lin’s tools and machines or the fact that he cares nothing for tradition, duty, or his experiences. Instead, he rather live in the moment. If Booker was a TE user, he’d share similarities to Elizabeth such as her love for facts, systems and seeing things in black and white. However, Booker sees the world in shades of grey, prefers to remain flexible, and follows his own internal logical framework. Although I can recognize why people would perceive Booker as a TE user and that’s because of his cautious and aggressive nature which makes him seem more rigid than he is. Next up we’ll be looking into his TI functional traits and examples within the Burial at Sea DLC. Burial at Sea Booker: We get to meet a unique version of Booker who uses the mentioned TI functional traits much more effectively here. Unlike in Columbia, this Booker doesn’t have a debt to pay nor is he constantly stressed by life or death situations we can see a more accurate representation of his personality. Even in a different environment, his core traits remain the same, and if anything they’re enhanced. Let’s look at some examples. During their adventures in Rapture, Booker becomes acquainted with Elizabeth and notices logical inconsistencies within her actions and speech. This causes him to question her intentions and ask about how she isn’t aware of Rapture's structural system. Such as the time she asks about Little Sisters or what are Splicers. This is common knowledge in Rapture and Booker knows this and calls her out for being a fraud. Elizabeth knows how Booker’s personality functions and evades his questions and manipulates him by using Sally as her leverage against him. Elizabeth also has many questions on why people take certain actions, and Booker always answers with situational logic. An excellent example of that occurs when retrieving the Shock Jockey plasmid. Elizabeth asks why Andrew Ryan imprisoned Fontane's men if he was all about the free market? Booker responds with “All those ideas lose their luster when the quarterly earnings come in and you find the other guy’s eating your lunch” Auxiliary Function: Extroverted Sensing Extroverted Sensing function is often associated with the one-man army trope or within over the top action heroes, and Booker falls directly into both those categories. He’s a man driven by action and can always adapt to every situation that comes his way. From learning how to use unfamiliar weapons and tools with ease. To blowing up blimps and escaping from a gigantic angry robotic bird. Booker definitely sees a lot of action. But the Se function is more than just action. It’s directly related to receiving information from the 5 senses accurately while other functions process that information at slower a slower pace. That makes Extroverted Sensing dominant and auxiliary users quite versatile with physical tasks, such as sports or surviving in a city full of religious fanatics who want to kill you. There are downsides, however, and we can spot many of these within our protagonist. SE users have a hard time with possibilities, unique ideas, or scenarios. Booker thinks the Luteces are absolutely insane and criticizes them for not living within the present but rather within the idea of possibilities. We can see this as fear when Booker discovers that Elizabeth could create “tears” which shouldn’t be physically possible, but as time moves on Booker becomes comfortable and curious with the idea of “tears” since he can interact with them. This makes Booker appear closed-minded, but that’s only because reacting to possibilities he never thought were possible. Another weakness of SE is taking information at face value. Booker doesn’t search for hidden meanings or symbolism within objects, people, or information like Elizabeth. Instead, he would rather be direct and pragmatic. Speaking of his pragmatic and direct nature, Booker often solves problems by doing he’s a kinesthetic learner. This is how he’s able to learn how to use the Sky-hook so quickly. The last example of Booker’s SE function will be an unhealthy one. Booker has three problems, he’s addicted to physical forms of risk-taking, pleasure, and escapism. This is how he got himself stuck in this situation in the first place. He was a well-known drinker and gambler before the events of BioShock Infinite. The reasons differ but, In Columbia’s universe, he drank and gambled to deal with the passing of his wife. In the Rapture universe, he just drank and gambled himself into debt for the pleasure which caused him to lose his adapted daughter Sally. Regardless of the universe, Booker will always drink and gamble. Time for a fun fact before we move on to Booker’s Tertiary function. The detective agency Booker DeWitt worked for is real and still exists today! It’s called the Pinkerton National Detective Agency and was established in 1850 by Allan Pinkerton. They were best known for foiling a plot to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln, working as his personal security during the Civil War and hiring the first female detective in America. However, fame soon turned into infamy during the labor strikes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The efficiency of the Pinkertons prompted businessmen to hire them to infiltrate unions to keep strikers and unionists out of factories. To make matters worse, they hired goon squads to intimidate workers to prevent them from striking. Today the Pinkertons are known as the Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, Inc and they’re of the oldest and most influential detective agencies in the world. Tertiary Function: Introverted Intuition Booker DeWitt’s use of Introverted Intuition is interesting, he often represses it to the point of it being an unconscious function because he doesn’t enjoy thinking too far into the future and prefers living in here and now. Yet somehow he’s constantly foreshadowing future events! Such as his dream of New York burning or Foreshadowing Elizabeth’s torture device that would brainwash her after she asked Booker why Comstock imprisoned her. Or the time Booker leaves Cornelius Slate alive and then claims that leaving him alive wasn’t mercy, Comstock’s men will capture and torture him. This ends up being true and Cornelius can be found mentally broken in an interrogation room in Fink’s jailhouse. Booker is either a brilliant detective who can deduce situations so fast that it looks like he’s predicting the future or his NI function usage is exceptional. Our last example takes place in Rapture after Booker collects the Old Man Winter plasmid. He stops Elizabeth after suspecting her of being a fraud and demands answers; She scoffs at him and lies. This causes him to predict that he’s being set up. Turns out he was right. Inferior Function: Extroverted Feeling Booker starts with an unhealthy usage of the FE function and slowly develops it throughout the title. At the start of his quest in Columbia, Booker remains disconnected from his emotions and closed off because he sees no reason to express them. We can especially see in Battleship Bay when Booker is trying to get Elizabeth's attention while she's dancing. He wants to leave Columbia so he can complete his mission, but first needs to stop her from dancing. At first he tries to be polite, then he tries using a more aggressive tone and finally he manipulates her by mentioning the First Lady Airship and how it can bring her to Paris. It’s an effective use of the FE function but used unhealthily. Booker lies to her for the first half of the game, telling her he’ll bring her to Paris, with the actual intention of bringing her to New York to pay off his debts. Or how he wasn’t able to empathize with Mrs. Lin at the loss of her husband instead he kept asking questions hoping she could give him an answer that would help track down her husband. As the game progresses, we can observe Booker loosening up and expressing his emotions in healthier ways by showing worry and care for Elizabeth during hardships. Such as the time where she killed Daisy Fitzroy. Booker recognized the look of horror in Elizabeth’s eyes, chased her down. He immediately attempted to comfort her by asking if she was okay and tried to relate to her feelings so she would feel better. Another example occurs after Elizabeth finds out her mother and the Luteces were killed by Comstock. She then says she’s just a specimen to be poked and prodded. Booker comforts her by letting her know she doesn’t deserve the stuffing she’s been through. Before we complete this segment, I’ll be mentioning 2 extra examples. The first one relates to FE grip that occurs when Booker realizes he’s Elizabeth’s father, he goes through a complete mental breakdown and irrationally wants to end it all. The second example is a moral example of FE. During the second half of the game Elizabeth and Booker run into a locked door that requires Lady Comstock’s finger print to enter. Elizabeth impulsively decides she will take it from her mothers corpse, Booker tries to stop her and suggests that it’s morally incorrect. But her decision is already made, Booker decides he will remove the finger for her. Our last FE indicator can be seen at the end of the game. Booker sacrifices himself to Elizabeth. He does this to stop Comstock from ever being born, Elizabeth takes him to Comstock's birthplace and Booker immediately realizes he’s both Booker DeWitt and Zachery Hale Comstock. He then allows the Elizabeths to drown him so she may break the circle. https://youtu.be/Dbjql-8coDw

#BioShock #BioShock MBTI #BioShock Infinite #BioShock Infinite MBTI #enneagram #mbti personality types #MBTI #complex character #Booker DeWitt #MBTI Booker DeWitt #BioShock MBTI Booker DeWitt #ISTP #ISTP 8w7 #862 #Enneagram 8w7 #Hero #father #Pinkerton #detective

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erikahenningsen · 5 years ago

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I watched Just Mercy with my family tonight and I thought it was a great movie I cried but I think I made one of my friends uncomfortable bc I texted her that I think the death penalty is horrifying and I can’t comprehend how people believe in it after watching the electric chair scene in the movie and sobbing and based on her awkward response I think she believes in the death penalty so that’s a bit awkward. Anyways how have things been going at your job recently?

I didn’t mean for this answer to be so long but here we are.

I’ve been working in criminal justice reform spaces for some time now and something that’s really, really challenging is figuring out how to meet people where they are. Knowing that the government should not be in the business (and it is a business) of executing people based on evolving moral standards and empathy because killing people is wrong no matter who is doing it makes sense to you and me, but many people do not feel the same way (although a lot of people support capital punishment because killing people is wrong, which is wild to me). To people who support retributive justice, restorative justice principles are radical and even dangerous. It’s very easy for people to dismiss exonerations as evidence of the system “working,” even though if you asked them to spend 14 years behind bars (the average amount of time the 367 people who have been exonerated by DNA testing in this country so far spent in prison) they would probably not be too happy about it. It’s also easy for people to agree that the death penalty is wrong for people who are innocent, but most of the people sentenced to death are not. (It should be noted that the Supreme Court ruled in Herrera v. Collins that, unless there was a technical error during a person’s trial, evidence of innocence alone is not enough to overturn a conviction or death sentence because, if it were, the court would be overwhelmed by innocence claims, which is absolutely fucking NUTS—Scalia literally wrote that there’s no constitutional basis for consideration of evidence of innocence. So even if you are innocent, good luck getting off death row, especially because people sentenced to death do not have a right to a lawyer for the appeals process and most appeals have to be filed within a certain amount of time and can only be filed once.)

Many people do not know someone impacted, wrongfully or otherwise, by the criminal legal system and do not live in overpoliced communities, and by virtue of being white do not believe racial bias exists. So you have to figure out how to make reform personal to them. Frequently, this appeal can be made economically. Really, what has made criminal justice reform more and more a bipartisan issue is that our criminal legal system places an enormous economic burden on taxpayers and state and federal budgets. It costs much more to house someone on death row than in prison, partially because of the litigation costs. That money is coming out of taxpayers’ pockets. I worked on a project for a year that works with corrections agencies to reduce and reform solitary confinement and spent a few days in touring prisons in Louisiana, and the staff there were skeptical as hell of us and what we were asking them to do. But segregation units are expensive, and corrections officers who work in them have higher levels of stress and poor health outcomes, so we were able to appeal to them that way. It’s terrible to reduce human beings to dollar amounts, but for a lot of people it’s the only way to get through to them.

If this is a topic that interests you, I definitely recommend reading Just Mercy if you haven’t read the book, and also checking out Bryan Stevenson’s HBO documentary, True Justice. End of Its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive Criminal Justice by Brandon L. Garrett gets really deep into the data on the death penalty’s disparate impact on low-income communities and communities of color, and shows that the vast majority of death sentences and executions are coming from only a few counties. If you’re interested in the history of the electric chair specifically, Old Sparky: The Electric Chair and the History of the Death Penalty by Anthony Galvin is fascinating (Thomas Edison used to stage press conferences to electrocute animals—wild stuff), and Galvin unfortunately makes the accurate prediction that since it has become more and more difficult for states to obtain lethal injection drugs, we will see a resurgence in the use of the electric chair—which we’ve already seen in Tennessee. (Another not-so-fun fact—the Supreme Court ruled in Bucklew v. Precythe that if you object to your method of execution on an Eighth Amendment claim, you must then propose an alternate way for the state to execute you and you have to prove that it will cause you less pain.)

The job is going okay. Lately it’s been a lot of conference calls, research, and report- and letter-writing. I miss being in our office and seeing my co-workers, because I really like them. We’ve put most of our work on the back burner to focus on COVID-19. It’s really difficult to try and deal with this crisis under our dumb governor and even dumber mayor. New York has more cases than Italy and Cuomo still doesn’t want us to use “scary words” like “lockdown” and has consistently been late in taking precautionary measures. It’s infuriating to have the entire country sucking Cuomo’s dick on social media while he uses his insane popularity rating to cut Medicaid and roll back bail reform so we can crowd even more people into Rikers, where the infection rate is seven times higher than in the general city population. Makes so much sense, Andrew, thanks. (I literally had to go take a walk and cool off when I read the budget lmao.) We also have to face the fact that the NYC government is going to have to make about $2 billion in budget cuts and the mayor has already cut programs like SYEP. On a more positive note, things are very tentatively looking like they could be getting a little better in NY. The death rate is really high but it seems like hospital admissions are starting to plateau a bit. There’s a lot of really good research going on worldwide. If we can get everyone on the same page about what we need to be doing to flatten the curve, I’m hopeful things can keep improving.

#i'm so sorry this is so long #the death penalty hyperfixation jumped out #anonymous #ask

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eatclean-bewhole · 4 years ago

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It is not necessary to get sick as you get older!

Disease begins as inflammation in the body. This includes diabetes, cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Autoimmune and Cardiovascular diseases. Anything that up-regulates or intensifies inflammation in the body, simultaneously damages microglia cells (cells in the brain and spinal cord), and increases cell proliferation (cells divide more frequently). If inflammation persists and doesn't stay where it needs to stay, then it becomes a product of disease.

Inflammation contributors:

Genetics (influenced by diet & lifestyle) Stress Environmental toxins Poor diet

DID YOU KNOW? Just 3 days after consuming processed, high-carb, and high-fat foods, inflammation occurs in the hypothalamus region of the brain, which is responsible for releasing hormones and regulating functions such as metabolism, body weight, temperature, appetite, thirst, sleep...

Potent anti-inflammatory agents:

Turmeric/curcumin

Omega-3 fatty acids

Garlic

Onions

Ginger

Olive oil (oleocanthal - anti-inflammatory agent found in olive oil)

High quality fruits (ex. berries, avocados)

Vegetables (especially in the cruciferous family)

Oily fish high in omega-3s

Whole grain products

Dark chocolate (70% or higher)

For more information on this, lookup Dr. Andrew Weil's work on imperceptible low-level inflammation.

#antiinflammatory #diseasefighting #cancerfighting #anticancer #autoimmune

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bountyofbeads · 5 years ago

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Why Is Puerto Rico Having So Many Earthquakes? https://nyti.ms/2T0prEM

Sadly, the poor people of Puerto Rico can't catch a break. 😭🙏🏻🙏🙏🏽🙏🏾🙏🏿

Why Is Puerto Rico Having So Many Earthquakes?

This week’s strong tremors are a reminder that the Caribbean is an active seismic zone.

By Adeel Hassan | Published Jan. 7, 2020 Updated 4:08 p.m. ET | New York Times | Posted January 07, 2020 |

Leer en español

Puerto Rico has been trembling for more than a week.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 struck off the coast of the island at 4:24 a.m. local time on Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey. That came after a week of smaller tremors clustered in the same area offshore.

Three strong aftershocks, with preliminary estimates of 5.6, 5.2 and 4.5 magnitude, followed Tuesday’s big quake. A bigger aftershock, of 5.8 magnitude, hit at 7:18 a.m. local time. The temblors knocked out power to much of the island, seriously damaging homes and buildings and leaving at least one person dead.

Tuesday’s shaking followed a 5.8-magnitude quake and aftershocks that leveled homes on Monday.

“Things are really very tense about what has been going on, because this is not normal — so many tremors,” Mayor Nelson Torres Yordán of Guayanilla said this week.

But the Caribbean, a region that faces the threat of hurricanes from the Atlantic in late summer and early fall, is also subject to seismic hazards like those striking Puerto Rico this week.

Why are there so many earthquakes in Puerto Rico right now?

At about three times the size of Rhode Island, Puerto Rico is squeezed between the border of the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates.

The Puerto Rico Trench, north of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, is an undersea fault zone. The North American plate is sliding under the Caribbean plate there, creating the potential for earthquakes and undersea landslides that can set off tsunamis.

“We’re just as likely to have earthquakes as a place like California, Japan, New Zealand, Alaska,” said Elizabeth Vanacore, a seismologist with the Puerto Rico Seismic Network.

When the tectonic plates in the region slide past each other and squeeze together, energy and stress build up until one side of a fault pops up, unleashing an earthquake. The earthquakes redistribute stresses along the fault for a time, until those stresses build up again and new tremors occur.

Should residents be worried about a tsunami?

Mayita Meléndez, mayor of the city of Ponce, said people living near beaches are desperate to get out of their homes for fear of tsunamis. “It’s not safe,” Ms. Meléndez said. “The earth is moving constantly.”

Early this morning, the United States National Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami threat from Tuesday morning’s earthquake. The local authorities initially issued a tsunami watch before canceling it, according to Puerto Rico’s emergency management agency.

A tsunami happens when a quake on the seabed suddenly pushes water upward, producing a perilously towering wave. In 1918, an earthquake near the island’s northwestern coast triggered a tsunami that killed 118 people, according to the geological service.

How rare are earthquakes in the region?

Puerto Rico has seen damaging quakes before, but major earthquakes in the southwestern part of the island are unusual in recent history.

The last significant temblors recorded in that area, in 1991 and 1999, had a magnitude of about 4.1, according to the Puerto Rico Seismic Network, whose data dates to 1986.

Major earthquakes have regularly devastated cities in the Caribbean, including Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, which was destroyed twice in three centuries. Ten years ago, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 12, killing more than 200,000 people and destroying tens of thousands of buildings.

Is it safe to travel to Puerto Rico?

Seismologists said that more earthquakes are expected to be felt on the island in the next few days because the seismic activity is occurring close to land. But the frequency of aftershocks is expected to slow down over time, which means the chances of another intense earthquake will also fall.

Arrivals and departures at the international airport in San Juan, which was running on generators, were operating on or close to schedule Tuesday morning.

______

Alejandra Rosa and Patricia Mazzei contributed reporting.

*********

Emergency Declared as Deadly New Quake Terrifies Puerto Rico

One death was reported amid widespread power failures and serious structural damage to some homes and buildings.

By Patricia Mazzei, Maria Cramer and Frances Robles | Published Jan. 7, 2020 Updated 2:49 PM ET | New York Times | Posted January 07, 2020 |

MIAMI — The strongest tremor yet in a week of heavy seismic activity rocked Puerto Rico early on Tuesday morning, knocking out power to much of the island, seriously damaging homes and buildings and leaving at least one person dead.

The governor of Puerto Rico, Wanda Vázquez, declared a state of emergency throughout Puerto Rico and activated the National Guard.

“In 102 years, Puerto Rico had not experienced anything like this,” she said.

The 6.4-magnitude quake, which struck five miles southwest of Tallaboa on Puerto Rico’s southwestern coast, was recorded at 4:24 a.m. local time, according to the United States Geological Survey. It was the second consecutive day that an earthquake hit the island before dawn, terrifying residents scared about the cumulative effect on older buildings.

The governor warned that the seismic activity is expected to continue in the coming days, as most of the island struggles with the huge power outage. A power plant in the south sustained significant damage, she said. The outage also left nearly a third of the island without running water.

The governor warned people whose houses do not meet building codes to seek shelter. About 255 people were already staying in shelters on Tuesday.

“There is nothing to indicate from the experts who know these types of disasters that this is going to be bigger than what we have seen so far, but yes we will have repetitions and tremors that we will be feeling,” Ms. Vázquez said. “This is going to be happening for the next few days. How long? We cannot predict.”

White House officials said President Trump had been briefed on the earthquakes and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency director, Pete Gaynor, had been in touch with senior Puerto Rican officials.

Nelson Martínez Guillén, 73, died in the city of Ponce after a wall fell on him, Mayor Mayita Meléndez said. A woman suffered a broken leg after she was pinned under a wall.

“The people are scared,” Ms. Meléndez said. “There are homes that are totally destroyed.”

Tremors were felt through the region and people living near the beaches are desperate to get out of their homes for fear of tsunamis, she said.

“It’s not safe,” Ms. Meléndez said. “The earth is moving constantly.”

A 60-year-old city employee begged for help from the mainland.

Reynaldo González, whose uncle, Mr. Martínez, was killed, said that his uncle’s apartment, in the Jardines del Caribe neighborhood, was undergoing construction work. The bathroom wall next to Mr. Martínez’s bed collapsed on him as he was apparently getting up, Mr. Gónzalez told WAPA radio.

“We heard a roar” at the time of the quake, Mr. González said, but it was not until later, when his father called out to Mr. Martínez, that they realized what had happened.

Stephy Valentín, a 22-year-old resident of Ponce, said she and her family rushed to hide under the kitchen table after they were awakened by the strong shaking. All they could do was pray, she said. “It was scary. We’ve never experienced something like this, and it’s still going on. Aftershock after aftershock.”

Angel Vázquez Torres, the director of emergency management in Ponce, said nine people were injured in the city during the earthquake, including a woman who was trapped in her home for three hours after a wall collapsed on her, pinning her leg.

“This has been very difficult,” he said. “No one can prepare for a disaster like this.”

Mr. Torres said he had slept less than four hours in the last two days.

There is no electricity in the city and some parts of Ponce are without water, he said. “There are tremors happening at this very moment.”

The widespread power outages included San Juan, the capital. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said all of its power plants had gone offline after its “auto protection” systems had been activated. The utility said it hoped to restore electricity elsewhere later on Tuesday.

But mindful of the enduring electrical problems that plagued the island after Hurricane Maria in 2017 — full power wasn’t restored until nearly a year later — New York’s governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, said he was dispatching technical experts from the New York Power Authority to aid in the response.

The United States National Tsunami Warning Center said there was no related tsunami threat. The local authorities initially issued a tsunami watch before canceling it, according to Puerto Rico’s emergency management agency.

The quake’s magnitude was initially reported as 6.6 and later downgraded. Three strong aftershocks with preliminary estimates of 5.6, 5.2 and 4.5 magnitude followed the big quake. A bigger aftershock, of 5.8 magnitude, hit at 7:18 a.m. local time.

Governor Vázquez excused nonessential public employees from work for the day. Mayor Nelson Torres Yordán of Guayanilla said on the radio that there was a lot of fear in the streets. “There’s hysteria,” he told a local television station.

The Immaculate Conception church in the center of town partly collapsed. The church withstood a huge quake in 1918 with some damage, the Rev. Melvin Díaz Aponte said. This time, both bell towers crumbled. The nave stands, but it is fragile.

The last Mass held on Monday took place outside in the courtyard because Monday’s quake made people nervous to be inside. On Tuesday, the courtyard was full of debris.

“For those who have lived here their whole lives, this is their history,” Father Díaz said. “Their sacraments, their wedding.”

A 4.8-magnitude aftershock interrupted him. Then a member of the congregation came up to say hello.

“We will rebuild,” he reassured the woman.

Puerto Ricans ran out of their homes before dawn after being shaken awake by the quake. Officials urged people to stay calm and remain at home, but many people still got into their cars and drove to higher ground, prompting unusually heavy traffic in some areas in the dark. Many homes and buildings in southern coastal towns partially crumbled or sustained serious damage.

Hospital patients, some of them in wheelchairs, were evacuated to a parking lot in the city of Ponce. Patients at Hospital Damas were going back into the building when the biggest aftershock hit, forcing them to evacuate again, the NotiCentro television station reported.

Around Puerto Rico, police officials begged for help.

“Please pray a lot,” Adeli Quiñones, an agent with the police command center in Aibonito, said. “We’re supposed to be providing security for people but we’re also scared for our own families.”

Ms. Quiñones said much of the island is without light and people are trying to buy tickets out of Puerto Rico, or heading inland, away from threatened buildings.

“We’re all just waiting for the next one,” she said.

Angel Ramos, a police officer in Mayagüez, said no one had been injured in the city and buildings appeared to be intact. Still, residents were flooding supermarkets trying to stock up on water and food.

“They’re getting ready,” he said.

On Monday, a 5.8-magnitude quake and aftershocks terrified residents, leveled homes and destroyed a well-known natural rock formation. Smaller tremors have been occurring since the night of Dec. 28, all clustered in the same offshore area.

Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress, Jenniffer González, noted that the preparations from the earlier quake this week saved lives — classes were canceled at schools, some of which went on to experience serious damage.

In the town of Guánica, the main roof of a middle school collapsed after Tuesday morning’s quake, said Harold Rosario, a spokesman for the town’s mayor.

“The school is uninhabitable,” he said. “It’s done.”

He said people who had been forced to flee their homes were taking refuge in a sports arena. Many of them, he said, were weeping with exhaustion and fear. “They’re too afraid to go back to their homes,” he said.

Glenda Colón, 44, from the town of Juncos, went to town with her family to get supplies, and wound up on the street. She said the sound of shaking storm doors on local business was frightening.

“I was with the baby and the little dog and we felt the car move from side to side,” Ms. Colón said.

“Everything’s good,” Ms. Colón added. “Nervous.”

Dariane Torres, 29, who lives in Penuelas, said the earth moved like gelatin.

“The tremors were too strong,” she said. “They were so strong that they gave me panic attacks.”

Marcos Pagán, 31, of Lajas, watched the quake from the seashore, where he operates a water taxi.

“It felt horrible,” he said. “I thought it was the end of the world.”

______

Patricia Mazzei and Frances Robles reported from Miami, and Maria Cramer from New York. Alejandra Rosa contributed reporting from San Juan, P.R., Vanessa Swales from New York and Daniel Victor from Hong Kong

*********

Earthquake Strikes Puerto Rico, Toppling a Well-Known Natural Wonder

A 5.8-magnitude quake damaged some homes and destroyed an unusual natural rock formation known as Punta Ventana.

By Alejandra Rosa and Patricia Mazzei |

Published Jan. 6, 2020 Updated Jan. 7, 2020, 12:48 a.m. ET | New York Times | Posted January 07, 2020 |

GUÁNICA, P.R. — Paralyzed with fear, Héctor Luis Rodríguez refused to leave his car.

Hours earlier, just before sunrise on Monday, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake had scared him out of bed in southwestern Puerto Rico. The walls in the second story of his house cracked. Inside his vehicle, he found temporary safety.

“I worry that I’m going to be homeless,” he said.

Minutes later, the earth rumbled again.

The strong earthquake and persistent aftershocks that rattled Puerto Rico on Monday damaged vulnerable homes, destroyed a photogenic rock formation and terrified residents scarred by recent hurricanes about the prospect of another devastating disaster.

The quake, which struck at 6:32 a.m. local time, according to the United States Geological Survey, was the strongest to be felt in the coastal towns west of the city of Ponce that have been trembling for more than a week. The rash of smaller tremors began with three shakes of 4.7, 5.0 and 4.7 magnitude in the space of three hours during the night of Dec. 28-29, and have continued since then, clustered in the same area a few miles offshore.

“All of Puerto Rico obviously felt this temblor,” Gov. Wanda Vázquez said, adding that no one was seriously hurt.

Classes at local public schools, which were scheduled to resume on Tuesday after a holiday break, were pushed back until Jan. 13 to give inspectors time to check buildings for damage, she said. Schools will conduct earthquake drills the day they reopen, the governor added.

At least one school in the town of Guayanilla was being used as a shelter on Monday afternoon. Inside another shelter in the town of Guánica, where 31 people sought a safe place to stay, a group of evacuees prayed.

The coastal rock formation known as Punta Ventana, a natural wonder and tourist attraction shaped like a round stone window with a stunning view of the ocean in Guayanilla, had begun to look vulnerable after smaller quakes started to hit the area a week ago, Mayor Nelson Torres Yordán said. On Monday, he said, “it finally fell.”

Puerto Ricans are particularly fond of memes, and they quickly shared one showing the collapsed natural arch covered with a blue tarpaulin like the ones that still cover many homes whose roofs were damaged during Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Among them was Mr. Rodríguez’s house in the Esperanza neighborhood of Guánica, where some of the most serious damage was reported, including five collapsed houses. Now, in addition to the tarp he has had since Maria, Mr. Rodríguez’s house has huge cracks running up and down his green interior walls.

“It cracked open everywhere inside,” said Mr. Rodríguez, 83, a retired bus driver.

The first cracks appeared a few days ago, after the first temblors. They worsened on Monday, and pipes in the bathroom broke, leading to some flooding.

Luz Dastas, 51, whose house in Guánica is also covered by a leaky blue tarp, left with her 26-year-old daughter, Aida Torres, after the first tremors. Monday’s quake opened new cracks in the walls of her house.

When her granddaughter, Alondra Suárez, 7, felt the earth shake one recent night, “I stayed up until the morning,” Alondra said. “I ate a chocolate to see if I could feel better.”

On Monday, strong aftershocks of 4.9, 4.3 and 4.4 magnitude continued to rock the island into the late afternoon, rattling nerves over and over again. Officials warned of possible mudslides and urged people to stay off the roads to allow emergency personnel to assess the damage.

As a result of the quake, the electricity went out across a swath of southwestern Puerto Rico. Governor Vázquez, who toured some of the damage, said she expected power to be restored in Guánica by Tuesday morning.

Monday was Three Kings Day, a holiday in Puerto Rico that is also known as the Feast of the Epiphany. Towns in the area of the quake went ahead with holiday parades on Monday, though some attendees said they felt jittery. José Francisco Benítez, 48, who had traveled to Guánica for the long weekend, said he planned to quickly return to San Juan, the capital.

Mr. Benítez was awakened by the quake at a beach resort in Guánica.

“It started shaking a bit, but then, all of a sudden, we felt a jolt — I’d never seen anything like it,” he said. “Everything shook.”

He said he ran outside in fear, along with everyone else. “There were people in their underwear in the parking lot, everyone in pajamas, little kids,” Mr. Benítez said. “It looked like a movie.”

Supporting columns crumbled underneath Silvestre Alicea’s elevated light green house with white trim, leaving the toppled structure — built on tall columns to protect it from flooding — perched at a precarious angle, with one end of the home tilted skyward. A big Puerto Rican flag waved from the balcony, which now was so near the ground it looked more like a porch.

“Look at my house,” said Mr. Alicea, 66, who returned to Puerto Rico from Brooklyn two years ago, moving in to the house he had built over the course of 30 years in preparation for his retirement. “I was there, in there,” he said.

Mr. Alicea said he planned to spend the night at his sister’s house nearby but could not think further into the future. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said.

In Guayanilla, emergency workers helped a couple and two children whose elevated house collapsed, burying three cars parked underneath. The man who lived inside, Alan Martínez, described to NotiCentro the harrowing moment in which the earth trembled, waking him up as the floor gave way.

“The house fell with us in it,” he said, standing outside barefoot with two bloody scratches on his leg. “The house collapsed, ‘Boom!’”

He picked up one of his children, his wife grabbed the other one, and they made their way out the door. The house had stood on a dozen eight-foot columns. The automobiles below appeared to stave off a complete collapse of the roof, he said.

“We’re alive, thank God, because of the cars,” he said.

His wife, Edlin Ortiz, said they would be unable to salvage the Three Kings Day gifts they had bought for the children — a pair of bicycles, stowed in the trunk of one of the cars. The interview was interrupted by a strong aftershock, which made the woman and a reporter scream and rush off camera to a safer side of the street, away from power lines and poles.

Mayor Torres of Guayanilla said the town opened a shelter for people whose homes were too badly damaged to occupy. He urged the island’s government in San Juan to send social workers to the region to ease people’s nerves.

“Things are really very tense about what has been going on, because this is not normal — so many tremors,” he said.

Elizabeth Vanacore, a seismologist with the Puerto Rico Seismic Network, said people felt the recent quakes because they were shallow and occurred near land.

“People can expect to feel more earthquakes over the next few days, especially given its location near the coast,” Dr. Vanacore said.

Puerto Rico lies near the border of the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates. “We’re just as likely to have earthquakes as a place like California, Japan, New Zealand, Alaska,” Dr. Vanacore said.

The island has seen damaging quakes in the past, including one near the island’s northwestern coast in 1918 that triggered a tsunami and killed 118 people, according to the Geological Service. But major earthquakes in the southwestern part of Puerto Rico have been unusual in recent history. The last significant temblors recorded in that area, in 1991 and 1999, had a magnitude of about 4.1, according to the Seismic Network, whose data dates to 1986.

“While we can’t predict earthquakes, what the public can do is prepare,” Dr. Vanacore said.

_______

Alejandra Rosa reported from Guánica, and Patricia Mazzei from Miami. Kitty Bennett contributed research.

#naturaldisasters #national news #puerto rico #earthquake #u.s. news #top stories google news #top news #nyt > top stories #world travel #worldpolitics #worldtraveler #world news

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nekojitachan · 6 years ago

Note

for Neil's bday prompt, maybe Andrew doing small soft things for Neil throughout his special day, knowing that Neil doesn't particularly care for his bday that much but still wanting to make him feel good. idk does that make sense?

Okay, so here we go, for Neil’s ‘non-birthday’ (I should say ‘Nathaniel’s birthday’? Since January 19th is Nathaniel’s birthday and March 31st is Neil’s official birthday now). A day late but still, something for the occasion. Thank you for the prompt, I think it fits the occasion rather well, all in all!

Very vague references to what happens on January 19th in the books and very vague mature times between the boys but nothing graphic or things like that.

*******

Neil was on edge as the weekend approached, which hesupposed most of the Foxes put down to him being stressed about them reachingthe play-offs and having a home game against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Which wasin part true – the Foxes needed to win, to get their two out of three games andmaintain a good point average while preparing the freshmen for playing with themore advanced teams of the championship season, but Ohio State didn’t present that much of a challenge.

Even with ‘Jack the Asshole’ and his partner, Sheena, makingrandom ‘Nathanial’ and ‘Wesninski’ comments, no one thought anything of Fridaynight other than of kicking Buckeye ass (which really, Neil couldn’t figure outthat team name or their hideous mascot)… well, other than the couple of timeswhen Neil caught Andrew or Wymack giving him intent looks while in the lockerroom.

They didn’t say anything, though, which was fine with him sincehe didn’t want to think about what had happened around that time last year,about the significance of that weekend.

The Foxes won by six points even with Jack trying to hog thedamn ball while out on the court with Neil (earning an earful from Dan, Wymack and Kevin after the game), and once thepost-games interviews and review were done, the Monsters piled into theMaserati and headed off to Columbia.

Neil felt some of his anxiety fade away as they left PSUbehind, as he sat next to Andrew in the car with the scent of cigarette smokefilling his senses each time he inhaled, the sound of Nicky and Aaronsquabbling over what soundtrack to play while Kevin called them out on their ‘poortaste’. He smiled when Andrew, quiet as ever, held out his right hand with thepalm upward once they were on the highway and was quick to entwine theirfingers together.

It was a usual Friday night, was their stop at Sweetie’s forfood and ice cream then off to Eden’s where Neil only had one shot to celebratetheir win then allowed himself to be distracted by arguing with an increasinglydrunk Kevin over the possible line-up for the rest of the championship season.For a while Neil could forget everything when he had Andrew by his side and hisfriends around him, when he felt as if he belonged among them.

When they got back to the house in Columbia with him andAndrew the only two sober ones out of the group, and once Kevin and Aaron andNicky were in their respective beds, Andrew led him up to the bedroom theyshared and asked him ‘yes or no’ then stripped him of his clothes after he replied‘yes’. Neil forgot about everything but how goodAndrew always made him feel, the feel of skin against skin as they movedtogether, as hands stroked and nails gently scratched then soothed, as mouthskissed and sucked, teeth nipped and teased and bit.

He fell asleep to the feel of Andrew’s fingers trailingalong his right arm, his lover’s body heat soaking into his back as Andrew laya scant inch away, the scent of soap from their recent shower mingling with thefaint hint of cigarette smoke which lingered on the pillow beneath his head. Exhaustedand sated, Neil somehow managed to sleep through the night without any baddreams.

When he woke up the next day, the house quiet and a sliverof light from the rising sun peeked through the mostly drawn curtains, he layin bed for a minute or two before the overwhelming urge to move had him sliding from beneath the warm blankets so he could goabout his morning run. Andrew made a low, disgruntled noise of complaint as hepulled the blankets almost all the way over his head and rolled over to face thewall while Neil dressed warm enough for the ‘cold’ (for South Carolina) weatherthen left the room as quietly as he could before heading for the kitchen doorwithout waking any of the others.

He ran for almost two hours, until the awful urge to flee, to find the nearest bus stop ortrain station, to heed his mother’s dying wishes finally faded away and hecould return to the house without any trepidation. Until the memories of bloodon walls, of cruel smiles and bright knives had been pushed away (for the timebeing), until he could convince himself that it was just another day, that itdidn’t have any special meaning to him.

It didn’t have anyspecial meaning, not to Neil Josten.

As soon as he used his key (the key Andrew had given him) toenter the house, he smelled fresh coffee brewing, which was a surprise sincenone of the others would wake up after a night at Eden’s until almost noon, ifthey could help it. Neil usually made coffee when he returned from a run so itwould be ready when he stepped out of his shower, yet there it was, the lastfew drops falling into a full pot. He blinked in confusion before he grabbed a mugso he could enjoy some to drink as soon as he stepped out of the shower.

There was no sign of anyone else being up as he went to the bathroom– all the bedroom doors were closed, and it was dark in the den with Kevin’sloud snores filling the first floor (even echoing up into the second level asNeil climbed the steps).

The next surprise awaited Neil as he entered the bathroom;there were fresh towels set out on the bathroom sink, still warm and fluffedfrom the dryer as if they’d been set out mere moments before he’d returned tothe house, along with a change of clothes. Savoring the feel of the linens, hewas quick to shed his sweat-soaked clothes and reached into the shower to startthe water, only to find that someone must have run it when they brought thetowels and clothes in so it would be hot right away when he stepped into shower.

Touched by the show of thoughtfulness, he quickly enteredthe bath/shower and pulled the curtain shut so he could wash off, grateful forthe hot water which rained down on his skin after all the time out in the cold.Once he was clean, he smiled at the still warm towels, and noticed that the sweatshirtwas an old one of Andrew’s which he loved to borrow since it was so soft fromage.

Neil took his time getting ready that morning, his spirits buoyedby the kind actions shown toward him, and made sure to grab his dirty clothesand the damp towels to take to the laundry room before he went back to thefirst floor.

When he opened the fridge to make something for breakfast, hemerely shook his head at the sight of the pints of fresh strawberries andblueberries on the top shelf, along with a few other items which he knew hadn’tbeen there the night before. Smiling in anticipation of a delicious breakfast,he pulled out the fruit and set the pints on the counter, then began makingsome oatmeal.

He’d just finished a big bowl of cooked oats with lots offruit and a little honey (with plenty left over for Kevin when his friendfinally woke up) when a sleepy Aaron stumbled into the kitchen. They exchangednods in greeting and Neil got up to put some bacon in the oven for his friends’breakfast while Aaron availed himself on the coffee as if it was the mostimportant thing in the world.

The bacon was almost ready and Neil was preparing the store-boughtbiscuits on a tray to start baking while Aaron brewed a fresh pot of coffeewhen Andrew showed up next. Neil gave him a smile by way of ‘good morning’ andwasn’t upset when his boyfriend nearly nodded once before heading outside(after grabbing a coat) to have a cigarette, and made sure to have a cup ofcoffee (plus enough sugar and milk) waiting for when Andrew came back inside.

He was tugged down for a quick kiss in exchange for thecoffee then Andrew got to work making chocolate-chip pancakes to go along withthe biscuits and bacon, which made Nicky’s morning when he staggered inpleading for coffee about twenty minutes later. The four of them were seated atthe table, everyone but Neil eating, when Kevin finally woke up (more or less),and was happy to finish off the oatmeal once he had a couple of cups of coffee.

Neil found himself smiling as Aaron and Nicky fought over ifit was better to put honey or butter on biscuits, as Kevin yelled at them foreating so many ‘useless carbs’ (while Andrew sat there quietly and determinedlyshoving pancake after pancake into his mouth), as Nicky informed Kevin that aperfect set of abs could only offset his terrible personality so much…

It was exactly what he needed right then, was his friendscarrying on like always, was it being just like any other Saturday. Nickyoffered to wash the dishes since Neil and Andrew had cooked breakfast, andsomehow guilt-tripped Aaron and Kevin into helping to clean up, and goteveryone (almost everyone) involved in a debate over what they would do for therest of the day.

Kevin, of course, wanted to watch Exy games, but even Neildisagreed with him on that. They eventually decided to watch movies, whichmeant that Andrew and Neil drove off to the video store to rent a bunch of movieswhich Andrew picked out; Neil didn’t mind since he still had a lot of catchingup to do when it came to movies, and it was nice to spend a little time alonewith his boyfriend.

He almost asked about the groceries and the towels andeverything, but Andrew didn’t say anything so he decided to remain quiet andnot ruin things.

Andrew had picked several of the 007 movies, which even Neilknew a little about but had never seen more than a few minutes of here andthere. Nicky groaned and even Aaron appeared put out by the choice, but oncesome beers were grabbed and popcorn was made, all of them settled in the livingroom, Neil next to Andrew on the loveseat, and their movie marathon started.

At first the five of them were quiet while they watched,then Nicky made a smart remark, followed by Aaron, and even Kevin joined in. Neilstarted mocking the accents, Nicky mock-gagging over some of the women andtheir improbable names, Andrew even scoffed at some of the fight scenes, andsoon they were tearing apart the movies, pausing only to make more drinks andorder take-out for dinner.

Nicky and Kevin stood up near the television to re-enact acouple of the most ridiculous ‘romantic’ scenes until even Aaron was red-facedwith laughter, while Andrew kept a count of how many improbable fight scenesthere were and massive failures on the whole ‘that wouldn’t kill anyone’ topic.

By the time the last movie played for the night, Neil’s facehurt from smiling so much, the scar tissue on his left cheek a bit sore fromstretching so much, and everyone appeared in a great mood. Even Andrew had moreof a contemplative mood about him for once, rather than shuttered or bored.

Once they were in their room, Neil sank down on the bedwhile Andrew began to remove his sweater and jeans for bed. “So… today,” hesaid, finally addressing the topic he’d done his best to ignore all weekend. “Thatwas you, wasn’t it? Did you have it planned out in advance or what?”

Andrew was quiet as he threw his sweater in the hamper thenslowly turned to face Neil and close the space between them until he stoodright in front of him. “I know how you think,” he said as he reached out hishand and, when Neil nodded, wrapped it lightly around the back of Neil’s neck. “Iknew you’d obsess over this day even though it doesn’t have any meaning anymore.”

“I… it’s… it was my birthday,” Neil tried to explain as hisfingers twisted in the soft material of his orange sweatpants.

“It’s Nathaniel’sbirthday,” Andrew said in his deep, calm voice, echoing Neil’s thought fromthat morning. “And I told you to leave Nathaniel behind, remember? Yourbirthday is March 31st, so if this is a lame-ass way to try to getsome extra presents out of me, fuck off, Josten.” Andrew’s hand slid around togently press against Neil’s face until he fell back onto the bed. “Go to sleep,maybe you’ll wake up with a few working braincells. Maybe.”

Neil laughed as he straightened out on the bed then pulledoff his sweatshirt and sweatpants before he crawled beneath the blankets. “Wouldn’tthat be a present for you, hmm?” Helaughed again at his lover’s aggrieved sigh and watched as Andrew threw his clothesin the hamper as well. Once his boyfriend joined him in their bed, he rolledover to face him. “In all seriousness… thankyou. They weren’t presents but everything you did today made me feel betterand kept everyone from remembering about today, so again, thank you.”

“That’s not you falling asleep, junkie,” Andrew said, but hereached out to give Neil’s nape another gentle squeeze before pointedly closinghis eyes.

“Night, Drew.”

“Sleep.” That timethe order was followed up by a light poke to his right cheek.

Neil smiled and closed his eyes.

*******

Still working on Ghost in You ch4 and the reverse big bang fic - life is very MEH right now and insanely busy but there will be fic in the near future.

#aftg #aftg prompt #andreil #neil josten #andrew minyard #the monsters #neil's not-birthday #andrew looks after neil #nekojitachan fic

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