#road less travelled

[thereluctanthousewife]

The Unconventional Path to Glory

The name on everybody's lips is Stephen Nedoroscik, pommel horse specialist and now, Olympic bronze medalist for team USA.

I must admit, I've never really watched men's gymnastics. It's all sheer power and technical skill but not much artistry - there is no music to any of the floor exercises and no dance moves to break up transitions from one power move to the next. However, I watched the Olympics qualifiers as well as the finals yesterday, and I can now more fully appreciate the sheer difficulty of this sport.

Asher Hong, Frederick Richard, Paul Juda, Brody Malone and Stephen celebrated their victory unabashedly - throwing their arms up in sheer joy and embracing their teammates. It was quite a moving spectacle for a team that's always stayed in the shadows behind the women's team when it comes to fame and popularity.

Self-professed nerd, Stephen, took an unconventional approach to the Olympics. Eliciting Clark Kent comparisons (minus the cape), the athlete was the consummate teammate, cheering on the rest of the team, and bringing them water as the clock started ticking toward his event - the last of the night.

Despite criticism at the choice of including a specialist and not an all-arounder on the team, Stephen has chastened everyone's comments and turned them into believers. After recognizing his difficulty with other apparatuses earlier in his career, Stephen decided to shift his focus and master the pommel horse. He has earned exceptional recognition for this unconventional decision by winning championships both in college and beyond.

What endears Stephen to the now-new fans of male gymnastics is his seeming obvious flaw - the glasses. Apparently, he used to perform with goggles gifted to him as a prank by former teammate, Ben Cooperman. Since it has helped him perform well in several competitions, these glasses and goggles have accompanied Stephen in his routines. During his pommel horse performance for the team last night, Stephen did not wear glasses - in fact, it looked like he could barely see. But, like any good superhero, he saw well enough to get the job done. He surpassed the number of points he needed to earn and helped his team clinch the bronze, ending the US men's gymnastics team's long medal drought. (Their last medal was in 2008).

Like Stephen, many of us may not suit the traditional path to careers or success or fulfillment.

In the past, going to university straight out of high school, finding a job and sticking to that until retirement was the conventional and customary path. Nowadays, there are many other pathways to a career. And it looks different to each person.

Taking a gap year, going into community college, attending a technical/vocational college, and even working straight out of high school to gain work experience are all becoming more acceptable.

The truth is - many young adults in their early twenties still don't know what they want. They have no idea what life is all about. They choose the path that their friends have chosen, whether or not it's the right path for them. When you're in high school and pressured to choose a course in college that you hope to build a career on, your mindset is completely different. Sometimes, your passions and interests show at an early age, but sometimes, they don't.

In your early twenties, you're still lost. You still need to figure out what fulfills you, what your strengths are, and even - what options there are available. Ironically, it's at this age that you feel invincible, and that you know everything. But trust me, you don't. You have a lot more to learn.

Since childhood, the younger generation gets told what to do, how to do it and they follow. They have no minds of their own - merely compelled to accept their parents' wishes and dreams. They get tunnel vision, and sometimes, they delude themselves into thinking those dreams are theirs, too. It's really only a bonus when that's genuinely, authentically true. There are dangers to this as most of us are aware. Having your parents or an authority figure tell you what to do makes choosing easier. We don't need to go through the difficult path of deciding for ourselves. It's been decided for us, and is the path of least resistance. However, if the adults in our lives don't have our best interests at heart, it can only lead to unhappiness.

However, on the other end of the spectrum, their horizons are expanding. It's almost nonexistent for them. Career shifts, getting a degree as an adult, pursuing a career in the arts... they're all unconventional, they're all valid, and they're all acceptable. There is no longer a one-size-fits-all mentality when it comes to choosing what's right in terms of life and career.

[readerviews]

"Shooting Stars" by Skye Bothma

Lights, camera, love in paradise. But can it endure in real life? #books #bookreview #reading #readerviews

Shooting Stars Skye BothmaRoad Less Travelled (2023)ISBN: 978-0473674229Reviewed by Stephanie Elizabeth Long for Reader Views (01/2024) After winning a writing competition, aspiring novelist Catherine Marshall lands tickets to idyllic Hawaii. She is all set to enjoy a relaxing vacation with her boyfriend until he does the unthinkable—he leaves her for another woman. Even more infuriating, he…

[singingrose7]

[thatsbelievable]

[cantgetworsethanthistbh]

dumping more of my stancest feels here because i cannot NOT think of them. i read journal 3 for the first time this week and its great because Ford acts like stanley's biggest hater which is pretty fking funny (if not absolutely infuriating at times because omfg stfu you smug prick)

but the moments like this get to me

Ford being blinded by his quest of grandeur, accolades and praise for world changing discoveries, so obsessed with greatness, being the first name people remember, and all the other things his npd-isms tells him he wants.

And then there's "reminds me of camping with my brother. i wonder what he's up to..."

i mentioned in my previous post that stan acts quite a lot like the anchor to ford's boat, keeping him grounded and most importantly, safe from both the bitter and the sweet kinds of evils. but he also represents something so much simpler to ford too: the simple desires he represses so much because its not "good enough" for someone special like him.

he resents stan so much because he represents a "block" against that percieved good enough success he wants, the obstacle that made it impossible to get in a fancy college, become the world renowed researcher, the one who wanted to destroy his journal's and lifes work (even though it was the better, safer option if Bill really WAS that dangerous, which he was) that could still make him famous. because if ford's not "praised and weird" then he's just "weird" and being "weird" was nothing but a pain his whole life that kept him rejected and isolated from the masses. and stan prevented him from that.

(btw "maybe he can prove himself to me" is nasty work my god ford is a douche lmao)

a lot of his projections of something greater comes through with how he treated dipper in the show (his whole spiel in damvtf) and fiddleford in journal 3 where he looks down on the happy life that fiddleford had with his wife and child and saying he was "wasting his talents" making computers. and like, we all know by the way he takes them on high stakes adventures they're not as prepared for compared to him (and end up causing more trouble than not by doing so), he's trying to fill a gaping hole left by someone else. we all know this obviously, we all know what we ship here, but what i came to appreciate the most about it is how much that gaping hole exists in the low stakes

everytime ford is thinking during the "down time" moments, his thoughts always drift back to his childhood, and one person who represents it.

childhood memories, making fun of stans favorite snack, scribbling out a design of the stan o war, whenever Ford lets his mind wander it expresses such an intense yearning for the past before he became obsessed with wanting something more. these are his most utmost and most unfiltered thoughts, which is why he scribles them away or and writes in code. and the fact that he directly says they are about NOT getting married, followed with "wondering what he's doing right now", painting the picture of what his most ideal idylic life is. wanting a return of something lost. wanting Stan back more than anything.

he finally accepts that his dream never really changed, just the same as stan's and so they saild off together for the rest of their days, in ford's own words (which ironically sounds like a marriage to me either way so tough shit ford)

[cainrizquez-blog]

[floridagrowngirl]

Ford Bronco

[tilbageidanmark]

(All the other memes I’ve made..)

[owlsie-hoot]

Siegfried Farnon + Audrey Hall (ACGAS s4)

inspired by this - because they are each other's sun and moon, sunrise and sunset

[reality-detective]

Does this fit anyone else besides me? 🤔

I hit the 10 year mark as a lone wolf 🐺

[desimonewayland]

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

~ Robert Frost

[histhoughtslately]

Take the unbeaten path and leave a trail…

#youarethetrend

[backtodecember-taylorsversion]

i think aboutjuuuuuumping off of very tall somethings.

[nmnomad]

Jemez Soda Dam is 50 feet in height and 50 feet wide at the bottom. It is more than 300 feet in length, stretching across the Jemez River Valley. Where the river flows through the dam, it creates a natural bridge over the stream & a small waterfall.

[kazoosandfannypacks]

🍂 Fall Drabble Prompts

on top of all the other projects I'm working on, I thought it'd be fun to open my ask box to some fall drabble requests. Send me one of the following numbers and one of the tagged ships, and I'll write you a drabble! 🍂🥧🍄

pumpkin carving

apple picking

snuggle weather

fireplace

spiced apple cider

boo!

raking leaves

warm soup

corn maze

pumpkin spice

scary movies

wagon rides

costume party

spooky stories

candy corn

thanksgiving

fall carnival

sunflower fields

crisp autumn air

"isn't that my flannel?"

Feel free to reblog for future reference, or reblog and tag a few ships you'll write for if you'd like people to send you requests!

🌻 kazzy's fall drawing challenge🌾

[cainrizquez-blog]