#she's in it for like 4 minutes starting around the 18 min mark

[moxyphinx]

SOPHIE OKONEDO as LADY HATTON in HELLBOY (2019)

[taekooktimeline]

January 8-12, 2021

Constructed by Kayla, reviewed by Elise, dated by Sara (though she didn’t review this addition yet) 

January 6-12, 2021: Run 133 is filmed (aired March 16, 2021):

At the start of the episode, the members mention this is the first run filmed in 2021. This causes Jk to reminisce how he came to Seoul 10 years ago, with Tae chimining in he also came a decade ago.

Jin comments he met Jk in June 2011, with Tae following up it was September for him. Jk jokingly tells Tae he’s his junior.

This seems to leave Tae momentarily stunned as he looks to Jk then faces forward -

before leaning out of the group stance to challengingly stare down Jk. Tae stated in Summer Package 2018 that Jk is more of the hyung in their relationship. There have been multiple instances of Tae calling Jk “hyung” over the years, some examples being in Run 27 and Run 118. This is probably another way Jk is joking with Tae about their two-year age difference.

which causes Jk to laugh -

Timestamp 0:38

Jk loses the first round (a standard typing game), with his punishment being that he now has to perform the next task on a very large keyboard. The members are shocked by its size. Jimin takes a photo, and the camera shows him preparing his phone while Jk playfully taps away on the keys. Tae decides to take a photo as well and as he prepares his phone the camera cuts away.

timestamp 5:02, https://twitter.com/flirtaeguk/status/1371795743292280838?s=21

Tae playfully bangs on Jk’s keyboard and then looks expectantly at Jk, gauging his reaction.

Jk follows suit and begins copying Tae in their usual copy paste, a slight smirk on his face. Tae happily smiles that Jk has gone along with his antics, watching Jk‘s hand then looking up at him.

Jk beams at Tae -

It’s not long before Jk chastises Tae though, since it’s causing his keyboard to act up. 

This doesn’t phase Tae, who flashes his trademark boxy smile and laughing acknowledges, hand raised, that he is aware his actions are messing him up. 

timestamp 6:37

Joon beats Tae in answering a run question correctly. As the members ask staff for tips on how to search, Tae continues to be ornery to Jk and closes his window out.

close up -

no guilt, even as he smiles and turns back to Jk-

timestamp 10:14

Jk retaliates by pulling the space bar out of the keyboard and pretending to attack an unsuspecting Tae with it. Both are laughing while the members look on amused.

Tae points at Jk while collapsing in laughter.

As Jk places the space key back, you can see Tae smiling at his actions still.

Tae attempts to retaliate by pretending to throw the escape key. This causes Jk to attack him again.

Tae can’t stop laughing, collapsing into himself again as Jk puts the keys back.

Tae is still smiling, happy at their actions, as staff explains the next round. 

timestamp 10:24, https://twitter.com/flirtaeguk/status/1371797675465531392?s=21

Tae answers incorrectly during the above question, so he must wait out 1 minute and 30 seconds before trying again. Jk raises his hand to answer. Tae tries to mollify the usually competitive Jk to not answer so he can have a chance to try again. Jk doesn’t listen.

timestamp 12:18

During another question, Tae turns to Jk to confide how off the mark his search was.

Jk peeks at his screen -

Jk bursts into laughter, head thrown back -

and points to Tae as he tells the group Tae is not good at searching -

Tae, adorably, finds his own methods hilarious.

timestamp 18:02, https://twitter.com/flirtaeguk/status/1371799508208685060?s=21

Tae and Hobi didn’t do as well in the game in comparison to the other members. They were joking to the others about what kind of food they could get with their points, and Jimin offered to share some of his points with Hobi so that he could get something besides pickles. Hobi did some aegyeo in order to make Jimin laugh. Tae also didn’t get many points for food, so he also decided to perform aegyeo towards Jimin.    When he hears JK offer some food to Hobi, he also performs some aegyeo towards JK as well.

Notice how even though Tae didn’t win any points to get food and JK did, the entire tray of food is in front of Tae. Also Jk feeds Tae a bite of his food -

Timestamp 26:16, https://twitter.com/flirtaeguk/status/1371804575800324099?s=21 

https://www.vlive.tv/post/1-21739180 

Behind the scenes photos: TK stick close together while the other members play on the oversized keyboard:

Jk has an arm around Tae as the members check something out:

Timestamp 24:58 and 26:12; https://twitter.com/flirtaeguk/status/1371801782758731788?s=21

Run episode 134: is a continuation of the 3-part run series 133-135. In the next segment, members have to guess what song + choreography of theirs it is based on the dance instructions. Joon begins gesturing, stating, “we have a song like this! What is it?” This kickstarts Tae beginning to sing a song that sounds suspiciously like the “baby got back” song.

The members laugh, with Jin, Joon and Hobi imitating Tae dancing. Jk takes up singing the song.

It seems like Taekook have a little joke going on, with Jk picking up where Tae leaves off while the members laugh at their aegyo. 

https://www.vlive.tv/post/0-21873722 

Timestamp 27:11, or short link - https://twitter.com/koosmostae/status/1374352385703870471?s=21

Run 135 behind the scenes: members speculate out loud what they should do to kill time while waiting for their turn to hide objects around the building. Tae decides to do some push ups, since he has to wait 25 mins to hide his object. The next cut shows Jk squeezing his muscle to determine his progress. Jk tells Tae he’s getting stronger.

Tae seems pleased by this if we gauge his smile. A close up of the beginnings of a smile -

As he turns away his smile is more prominent -

It’s hard to see without a close up but Tae actually had his hand over Jk’s wrist, then trails his hand up softly to be directly over Jk’s (almost cupping JK’s hand), as the younger felt his chest muscle. SS don’t capture the moment as well so it’s suggested the reader view the below links to see.

you can see a little better in this SS that it’s Tae’s hand in view (covering Jk’s as he feels his chest muscle) -

https://twitter.com/flirtaeguk/status/1377596770025271300?s=21 and https://twitter.com/flirtaeguk/status/1377598016832479233?s=21 

When Jimin returns from hiding his item, the camera cuts to what appears to be Tae and Jk holding hands loosely. We only catch a glimpse before they drop their hands as the camera follows Jimin coming towards them. SS don’t do it justice but Tae’s smile widens.

close up -

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x80c25j, timestamp 4:50 

[leafs-lover]

Because Two People Got Drunk: 16

Series Masterlist

A/N: Bold is text messages, italics are flashbacks.

Summary: You and Fred try to navigate your first Christmas since you moved out, but it has an impact on your other relationships.

Warnings: Smut, very light bdsm, swearing, NSFW

Word Count: 5850

Chapter 16

F: Hey, what are your plans for Christmas?

Y/N: Uh, I hadn’t thought about it too much

Y/N: What about you?

F: Well I was thinking that we both want to spend time with him for it. So want to come to my place?

F: The three of us can spend it together

Y/N: Yeah that sounds like a great idea! We’ll need a tree though

F: You and you’re Christmas trees…

F: I get back after Saturday’s game and have Sunday off, want to get one then?

Y/N: Yup, sounds perfect! :)

 Just as you finish texting Fred your phone vibrates, you see Connor’s name across the screen when you answer.

“Hello?”

“Hey, so I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner this weekend?” he asks.

“Fred’s out of town so I have Oliver Friday and Saturday” you reply.

“Okay, what about Sunday?”

You pause unsure how to respond knowing this could be awkward. “Fred and I are taking Oliver out to get a Christmas Tree.”

“I haven’t seen you much” he wines. He wasn’t wrong after Thanksgiving you had only seen him once. Fred had been gone for most of the time with road games. You didn’t want to use Christie a lot, since you knew that when he was at home Fred relied on her while at hockey. It made it dating Connor difficult, but you had only been going out for about a month.

“I know, but it’s the holidays. We’re just trying to navigate being co-parents. We both want to be around for these occasions. We want him to have as many of these moments with both of us.”

“It’s kind of hard having a relationship when I don’t get to see you” he grumbles.

“I know things will be better. We just want Oliver to be able to do things with both of us around. We want to try and have as good of a relationship as possible so he doesn’t always have to have two of every event. It might be harder as he gets older, but for now we are trying out best.”

“Yeah that makes sense” he says. “Wait why are you going with Fred to get a tree?”

“Umm” you pause. You thought telling him about Sunday was going to be hard; this is going to be even worse. “We are uhh, we’re spending Christmas together. The three of us.”

“Oh well that will be fun. I have to go” he says. Before you can respond he hangs up the phone.

December 11, 2022

Fred arrives at your place at 7:30am; you barely get the door open before you hear little feet stumbling over to the door “dadda” Oliver babbles. Fred bends down to scoop him up “Oh I missed you big guy” he says kissing him on the cheek.

“Sorry for showing up so early, I just missed this cutie” he explains shutting the door behind him.

You walk through the living room picking up some of the toys your son has managed to scatter that morning “no need to apologize, we missed you.” You say walking to the kitchen to get some coffee.

“We?” Fred questions raising an eyebrow at you.

You pour coffee into two mugs “what?” you ask.

“You said we missed you” he explains picking up the coffee mug.

A blush comes across your face “Oh, I…um –“you stumble through your words, unsure how to respond. You didn’t even realize you had said it.

“You’re cute when your flustered” he takes a small sip of his coffee and you look away, still unsure how to respond. “Don’t worry I missed you too (Y/N/N).”

You bring the coffee mug up to your face trying to hide the fact that your face is bright red, still not making eye contact. You can see him from the corner of your eye and he doesn’t even try to hide the large smirk that forms across his face. “I’m going to get ready” you quickly say before experiencing any more embarrassment.

You shower and get dressed in a pair of white jeans, you pair it with a pink knit sweater, paired with pink knee high suede boots and a grey toque. “Ready?” you question walking out the living room.

As Fred pulls his SUV out of the parking garage, Connor’s name pops on the screen of your phone. You stare at it for a second before sending it to voicemail. “You can answer that” Fred says.

“No, I don’t want to deal with him right now” Fred stares at you, confusion on his face. “He isn’t overly thrilled about me spending the day with you. Or those days at thanksgiving. Or about me being here for Christmas.”

“Oh I’m sorry” Fred says lightly, but you don’t think he is being 100% genuine.

“It’s okay; I honestly don’t know how I feel about him. I think he is more invested than me. I mean I could have used Christie to watch him if I wanted to see him more than once in the past 2 weeks, but I chose not to. This is hard to balance” you explain. “But I’m sure I don’t need to explain this to you. You are probably used to dealing with this with Danielle.”

“We stopped seeing each other a couple weeks ago” Fred says while stopped at a red light, his gaze doesn’t leave the road ahead.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I guess it’s even harder for you. Being on the road while having a baby under 1 can’t be easy for a relationship.” You know that Fred never introduced her to Oliver, but he spent most of the time he wasn’t at the rink with Oliver. Because he always spent time away from Oliver while on the road, he wanted to spend as much time he was home with him. That wouldn’t have left much time for dating.

“That’s not why” he trails off lightly as he sits at the light. He runs a hand on the back of his neck “She stopped in a couple days after Thanksgiving. We had one home game, and then left right after for another road trip. She wanted to surprise me with lunch since I only had limited time at home. I didn’t know she was coming and wasn’t wearing a shirt, and she uh saw some of the…um marks you left on me.” His voice trails off at the end.

Your eyes go wide as your face goes bright red “oh my god. I never meant, or wanted-”

You are cut off by Fred’s hand coming to touch your leg. “Don’t worry, I don’t think it was going anywhere. It had been almost 4 months and I hadn’t introduced her to Ollie, but I honestly didn’t know if I ever would be ready. She just wasn’t it for me.”

He keeps his hand on your thigh until you arrive at the farm. You walk around the farm in search of the perfect tree, Oliver strapped into his sled. It makes it easier since there is snow on the ground, and you don’t have to carry Oliver the entire time.

“Not big enough” Fred says to every tree you point out.

“I feel like no tree is going to be good enough” you joke.

“I just want Christmas to be perfect” he responds.

“And the size of a Christmas tree is correlated to a perfect Christmas.”

“See, now you get it” he playfully nudges you. “You know for the one demanding a real tree the past two years, you have low standards of it” he jokes.

You scoff at him “my standards are not low” Fred chuckles as you continue walking through the farm. “I just think maybe your standards for a Christmas tree are a little high. An 8ft tree will be large enough” you say.

“Yes, but I have 10ft ceilings, so it has to be a 9ft tree” he says causing you to roll your eyes.

You wander away down a different row of trees, when you hear Fred calling for you. You walk towards him, but you hide behind a tree making a snowball. You throw it at Fred hitting him square in the chest, you immediately take off running. Fred’s large legs quickly catches up to you, he wraps an arm around you as he playfully tackles you to the ground. You squirm in a playful attempt to push him off you but he pins both your hands above your head with one of his.

“Not so tough now eh” he teases using his other hand to tickle you. You both start laughing, him still pinning you to the ground. When you both finally stop laughing you stare up into his soft brown eyes.

Fred stares down at you, looking deeply into your eyes. He places a soft but hesitant kiss on your lips. He pulls away and looks you in the eyes, whispering “du er så smuk” before leaning back in and kissing you again. You open your mouth allowing him in when you hear Oliver cry forcing you to pull apart and get up.

You resume your tree search before Fred finally stops in front of one “hey what about this one? It’s a fir like you want, looks nice and fluffy no bare spots.”

Oliver claps his hands behind you “well I think he approves” you laugh “do you think it’s too big though?”

“Nonsense” he responds finding an employee to come help get the tree. They strap it to the top of his SUV before you all head home. You make a batch of hot chocolate as Fred gets the tree in the stand. A few hours later you begin decorating the tree. Fred gets all the lights and star on as you hold Oliver and help him hang a few decorations before he loses interest. You set him down as he wanders over to his toys as Rudolph comes on the TV drawing Oliver’s attention.

“I guess this isn’t exciting enough for him” you joke, you pull out the hand and footprint ornaments you made the previous year “oh my. Look at these” you say holding them up for Fred. He walks over and looks at them “he was so little.”

“He’s growing up too fast” you whine as tears begin to fill your eyes. Fred pulls you into his chest as you wrap your arms around him “soon he’ll be dating, and driving and going off to college.”

Fred laughs “we still have a lot of time until then. No need to worry about that min kære.”

”Really? Because he was a little a year ago. Wasn’t walking or talking, now he is.”

Fred kisses the top of your head ”well just have to enjoy every minute along the way.”

December 25, 2022

You wake up before Fred and Oliver; 7:18 is shown on the clock. You make the bed in the guest room and head into the kitchen to make coffee, you are on your way to bring him coffee in bed when you hear Oliver stirring in his crib. You walk in to his room and scoop him up bringing him with you.

You walk into Fred’s room and see him laying on his back with no shirt covering his toned chest. The duvet hangs low revealing his treasure line, one of his large legs is also exposed indicating he got hot last night. His hair is slightly messy, hanging over his eyes, you can hear his slow and steady breathing. You place Oliver on Fred’s chest causing his eyes to flutter open. You sit on the side of the bed saying ”Merry Christmas Daddy” while setting his coffee on his side table..

”You can’t call me that” he groans groggily.

“Oh is it weird?” you question. 

“No the opposite” he says sitting up grabbing his mug while pulling Oliver up with him. “It makes me want to rip your clothes off and tie you to this bed. Makes me want to do things I can’t do and shouldn’t even be thinking about doing with my son around.” You take a gulp, as Fred looks at you from the corner of his eye, smirking. He places a hand high on your thigh, his pinky brushing against your folds.

“Never wanted Ollie’s naptime so badly” you say somewhat joking as you feel wetness pooling with every stroke. Fred laughs pulling you to lie down beside him; you rest a hand on his stomach. You can feel the curves of his abs under your fingers, breathing in his scent. His hand gently strokes your arm as Oliver sits on his chest babbling away “this is nice” Fred whispers, you nod in agreement watching your son. Oliver crawls off and moves to get off the bed; you jump to help him so he doesn’t fall off, before he runs down the hall.

“And like that it’s over” he jokes as you both get out of bed to follow him down the hall. After opening presents Oliver sits on the floor, more fascinated with the wrapping paper and gift bags than the actual presents. “Should have just got him a bunch of empty boxes” Fred says laughing before he heads over to clean up the mess.

Your phone rings, Connors name appearing on the screen. You answer as you walk down the hall to the guest room.

“Merry Christmas” you cheer.

“Hey, Merry Christmas. How was your morning?”

“It was good, little guy was spoiled has all these new toys and only wants to play with the boxes.” You laugh.

“Yeah that sounds about right. How has it been staying with Fred?” You can hear the bitterness in his voice, he wasn’t overly thrilled about you staying there, and there have been a couple conversations about it since you told him of the plans. He argued since you lived so close you could go home at night, which was true it’s only a few blocks away. But this was easier, and you didn’t have to worry about bad weather, and could have some drinks if you wanted.

“Oh they are good; we have a good relationship so it makes this pretty easy.”

“Does he have a comfortable couch? You’re spending enough time there would hate for you to hurt your back” he questions.

Subtle you think, aware he is asking where you are sleeping. “He has 3 bedrooms, so I’m in the spare room. Bed is pretty comfortable.”

“When will you be back at your place?”

“Um the 27th. But it’s a busy couple days after that. Fred has a road game and will be back late on the 29th. His time with Oliver should start the 30th but he has a game that night. His nanny is still out of town for the holidays, so I’m going to bring him to the game and then leave him with Fred for a couple days” you ramble. “What about you? When do you get back?”

“On the 31st, that’s why I was calling. There is a new year’s party, was wondering if you wanted to come with me?”

“Yeah Fred will have him then so I can come” you respond.

“Awesome, I booked a hotel room a while ago.”

“A hotel room?” you question. While you have been seeing him for over 2 months you aren’t comfortable introducing him to Oliver yet. You guys haven’t had much time together due to Fred’s schedule. You are also planning on leaving in 5 months when your maternity leave ends so you have been taking it really slow, you don’t want to lead him on. You don’t want there to be any false expectations so you are taking things slow.

“Yeah Ubers and Taxis are impossible to get on New Year’s Eve so I figured a hotel would be easier.”

“Yeah, makes sense” you respond.

“Okay I’ll text you the details. I got to go my grandparents just got here so I got to go” he says.

You hang up and walk out to Fred who playing with Oliver and his new mini sticks. “Everything okay” Fred says as you come and sit on the couch.

“Yeah it was Carlee wishing me a Merry Christmas” you lie. You watch as he sits on the floor rolling a tennis ball to Oliver who is trying to hit it back with his stick. You continue to watch the boys and take a few pictures and videos of them.

“Let’s get a family photo” Fred says tapping your hand. “You made us wear these ridiculous matching pyjamas” you laugh at that “might as well get a picture of them.”

You bought a set of red and black plaid pyjama pants, with grey long sleeved tops that say “Merry Christmas” and have reindeer antlers for you and Fred. You bought Oliver a matching onesie. Originally you weren’t sure if you were going to bring them out, and how Fred would feel about wearing them. Typically families and couples wear them, but when you saw them online you were a couple glasses of wine in and thought they were super cute, you forgot about them until the package arrived.

When you were unpacking your bag Fred walked in the room to ask you a question and saw them.

“What is that?” you hear Fred ask laughing behind you.

You turn around from the closet and follow his eyes to the matching pyjama sets he is holding up.

“Uh a couple weeks ago I got a little drunk and saw these online and decided to buy them.”

“So if you accidentally bought them, why did you bring them? Or were you drunk when you packed too?” he asks still smiling at them.

“I don’t know, guess I thought they were really cute or something.” If you’re being honest you don’t know why you brought them with you.

“You want to wear them?” he asks.

A small smile comes across your face “thought it might be nice on Christmas” you say scratching your head looking at him.

He rolls his eyes before grabbing his pair “you’re the worst” he jokes and walks away.

You smile at him, before leaning down to kiss him on the cheek. You scoop up Oliver and move to the tree when Fred joins you. He pulls his phone out and you take a few pictures together. You continue your day with him, having a nice family dinner together.

“He is out cold” Fred says returning from putting him to bed sitting on the couch. “He had a busy day”

“It was a good day” you say.

“Yeah it was nice. Good time with the three of us.”

You look at him “yeah it was” you say smiling. Fred puts a movie on, and the two cuddle on the couch. You wake up later to Fred laying you down in your bed, placing a soft kiss on your forehead. You moan lightly as Freddie pulls the duvet up over you whispering “good night.”

December 30, 2022

“So you spent like 4 days at his place and you didn’t bone once?” Carlee asks.

“No we didn’t, adults can hang out and not have sex.”

“Yeah but you slept with him at Thanksgiving”

“That was birthday sex” you reply.

“Okay but what about the tree farm, you guys kissed then. It all just seems domestic.”

“It’s not domestic. I don’t know what it is. Maybe a convenience thing. I mean I’m with Connor.”

“You haven’t fucked him yet, and a few months ago you had feelings for Fred. Did those go away?”

“Yeah they did.”

“Really?” she questions not believing you. “Then why haven’t you slept with Connor? Why did Danielle break up with him?” you sit there quietly, trying to formulate a response but Carlee continues. “You both have feelings for each other, just get together already.”

“You’re unbelievable” you groan.

“He wore the pyjamas (Y/N/N). He didn’t want to wear them and he did. Only reason a man does that is because his girlfriend makes him do it. You aren’t his girlfriend, so why did he do it?”

“I have to go” you groan out “got to get ready for the game tonight.”

You dress Oliver in his Andersen jersey, while you wear a nameless Penguins jersey.  They end up winning 4-1 against the Flyers, but you spent most of the time thinking about Carlee’s words. Why did he wear the pyjamas? But if he had feelings wouldn’t he have made a move while you stayed over.

During the game Oliver fell asleep during the third period while you were holding him. You tried to put him in his stroller but he almost woke up so you decided to hold him. Now the game is over and you are standing in the hallway waiting for Fred with a sleeping child in your arms.

Fred walks over in his grey suit, his hair wet from his shower. He wipes Oliver’s hair from his forehead before kissing him. He scoops him from your arms and you get a vague whiff of his cologne and body wash.

“I don’t have my car seat in my car, can you bring him to my place.”

You agree as Fred buckles Oliver in your car seat. You pull in to garage beside him and help him carry everything up to his condo. While Fred puts Oliver in his crib, you take your coat off and go use his bathroom. Fred see’s your back as you walk into the kitchen.

“This is nice” he says walking up behind you playing with the hem “would be a lot better if there was a name on the back though.”

“Oh yeah?” you question turning around to face him. “I don’t think there are any Penguin players who have done anything to deserve me wearing their name” you say quirking an eyebrow. Fred stares at you for a minute “is that so?” he asks, his mouth inches from your ear.

“Mhm” you say innocently.

“Father of your first born” he growls sucking lightly on your neck. “That isn’t enough for my name back there?”

“Obviously not” you say tilting your neck to expose more skin to him.

“Really?” he growls attaching his mouth to your sweet spot. He reaches down to tap the back of your thighs signalling for you to jump up. You wrap your hands around his neck and legs around his waist as a big smile comes across his face. He carries you down the hall to his bedroom, you attach your mouth to his neck biting him gently.

He gently lays you on your back and begins kissing your neck. He slides a calloused hand up your jersey and cups your breast. He leans down locking you in a deep passionate kiss while massaging your breast. He pulls your jersey and tank top off, his mouth kissing your chest. He curses as he sees you in your light pink bra with small bows where the straps connect to the cup.

You push to sit up and push his suit jacket off his shoulders, Fred steps back to remove his tie and slowly unbutton his dress shirt not breaking eye contact. You stare at his body, breathing in every curve in his muscles. Fred removes his pants, leaving him in just his boxers.

You sit on your knees and run a hand over his chest and down his abs, your mouth watering. Your finger hooks in the elastic of his boxers and you pull him to you. You lick up his abs before sucking on them; he brings a hand around to unclasp your bra.

His hand drops to your breast massaging it lightly as you begin to palm him over his boxers. A guttural groan leaves his mouth as he pushes you on your back, his eyes trailing down your body. He crawls over you his mouth attaches to your breast sucking on your nipple as your hands scratch down his biceps. He slides his hand down to unbutton your pants, sliding his fingers inside your underwear.

He thrusts a finger inside of you as your back arches. He keeps his mouth on your nipple as he continues to thrust his finger inside you, sliding a second inside. He pulls his fingers out, then pulls your jeans and underwear down your legs and off your ankles leaving you completely exposed.

He kisses a trail up the inside of your thighs, his beard tickling you. He skips the area where you want him, where you need him. Continuing his trail up your stomach and chest before stopping at your mouth. He brings you in for a sloppy hasty kiss as his fingers slide back inside you.

“Fuck” you moan into a kiss, Fred pulls back sucking on your bottom lip. His two fingers set a slow steady pace as your back arches. He keeps his slow pace; he curls his fingers inside hitting your sweet spot. Light kisses are placed on your collar bone, his fingers curling inside you but not increasing their pace. Even though every time he hits your sweet spot, you know it will take a while to reach your climax at this pace.

“More” you groan out as Fred moves his mouth to your breasts sucking and biting. He is leaving marks on your chest as he slips a third finger inside of you. Your hands reach to his back scratching his neck and down his back.

“You like this baby?” he asks as you moan in response.

“This what you wanted?” he ask his lips inches from your ear. You feel your high approaching, you open your mouth but nothing comes out.

“Words Kære” he says, he keeps moving his fingers but has slowed the pace. But with three of his large fingers your body is stretched, and he is hitting the spot deep inside you with every slow thrust. Even at this slow pace, the three fingers will have you falling over the edge, but even still you manage to groan out “yes Fred, this is what I need.”

He smirks and begins thrusting faster, the increased pace brings your high to the edge. Fred senses your high is approaching as he sucks hard on your nipple. His thumb presses circles on your clit, a few more thrusts has you tumbling over the edge, you clench around his fingers, and he continues to pump inside of you.

When you finish he slowly pulls his fingers from you, and removes his boxers. He reaches into the side table to grab a condom, pulling out a box and tilts it nothing coming out “feels familiar” you joke.

“Guess I forgot to buy some, haven’t needed them for a bit” he explains returning over you to kiss you before continuing “I can run out and get some” he sighs.

“I’m on birth control” you explain pushing him over so he is on his back.

“Been down this road before” Fred laughs.

“No I am. I got an IUD put in after I delivered Ollie” Fred looks up at you waiting for more information. “You obviously were too busy staring at your son to notice. It’s a device a doctor inserted into my uterus. It’s good for up to 5 years and only stops working if I see a doctor to get it removed. It eliminates human error, so it’s the most effective method out there.”

You know this peaked his attention so you grind your hips over him, pressing down on his bulge. “Besides, do you really want to go out like this?” you tease.

Fred stares up at you “okay, but what about your boy toy? You guys always use one?”

“He isn’t my boy toy” you laugh. “And we…we um…we haven’t slept together yet.”

A devilish grin comes across his face “oh yeah?” He sits up with you in his lap pulling you down on his hard member. You moan out and begin to set a slow pace, he bites and suck your chest, marking you as your head falls back.

He thrusts up into you, pulling you down fully onto him. “What’s wrong with him?” he asks pushing into you.

“Nothing” you groan rising up and dropping back onto him.

“Two months and no sex?” he says rolling you onto your back “something must be.”

Your legs wrap around his back as he thrusts in you setting a steady pace, your hands gripping the hair on the nape of his neck. “Otherwise you would have by now.”

You groan out as Fred brings a hand to your throat, pressing your airway, partially choking you. He applies pressure to your throat as he pushes fully in to you. “Worried he can’t make you feel this good?” he asks pushing hard inside you, drawing a loud moan from your lips.

He has set a fast pace, you gasping for air throughout it. Your orgasm is approaching as you feel Fred start to become sloppy. You bring a hand down from Fred’s back to rub your clit “worried he can’t do this to you babe?”

He continues to thrust hard into you, bottoming out each time. You moan loudly “only I get these sounds from you” he growls through his erratic thrusts, eyes dark with lust. You press harder into you clit, Fred’s hand still pressing on your throat.

Finally your high comes over you; you grip the back of his neck as Fred continues pumping inside you. As you orgasm ends, you feel Fred’s dick twitch and he pushes inside spilling deep in you.

He collapses on you, still inside. “So does that deserve my name on your jersey?”

You laugh lightly, running your hands through his hair. You have never seen Fred like this before; he almost seemed jealous, possessive of you. You lay there thinking through everything Fred said; was it the heat of the moment?

You feel Fred’s heart rate slow, as he pulls out and shifts to lie beside you. He wraps an arm around you and the room fills with Fred’s soft snores. You lie there thinking of everything Fred said during sex; and how he looked at you. You haven’t seen him look at you like that in a while, but it’s different.

You are also surprised he didn’t pull out, only time he didn’t was when you were pregnant. Something about his warm cum dripping out of your cunt, down your leg feels intimate. Makes you question what you have been feeling for the past few months, and if everyone around you is right and you just can’t see it.

As you lay there overthinking the situation; you eventually feel your eye lids get heavy causing you to doze off.

___

The next morning you wake up and Fred is gone. You get dressed and head to the living room seeing Fred reading to Oliver on the floor. Seeing Fred in these moments makes your heart skip a beat, adding more confusion to everything. Sometimes you wish you didn’t start sleeping with Fred again, it has added a ripple into your relationship. It would have made your relationship less complicated.

Obviously the sex is amazing, which is part of the reason you both fell back into bed so easily. But was this just sex, you thought it was. But when you saw Fred interacting with Oliver, or when his endearing brown eyes looked at you, you could feel your heart flutter.

“Mama” Oliver says causing Fred to look up at you and smile.

“Morning, want breakfast?” he asks standing up with Oliver.

“No, I need to get going.”

He walks over “big plans for New Years?”

You take a deep breath “Connor is taking me to a party” you almost whisper. You aren’t sure how Fred will respond to you spending time with him. But he smirks and brings his free hand to cup your cheek and locks your lips in a deep passionate kiss.

“When you get bored with him feel free to come hang out with your favourite boys” he says opening the door. As you step into the hall he smacks your ass lightly causing you to jump.

Later that night you have packed your bag for the hotel.  You are standing in the shower letting the water hit you. You are replaying Fred’s words in your head. Why hadn’t you slept with Connor? Everyone else seemed to think there is a reason. Maybe tonight you can figure out what you want. Why your heart is being pulled in different directions. Or maybe you just get it over with and see if it helps you figure things out, rip the band aid off so to speak.

Eventually you pull yourself from the shower and loosely curl your hair, before pulling part of it back, you apply your makeup, going for a more dramatic look since it is New Years. Connor said he would pick you up at 7:30, you look to the clock it read 7:48 so he should be here any minute, likely stuck in New Year’s Eve traffic.

You try on multiple options, probably a third of your closet before finding a red sequence dress, with a deep cut and thin straps. It is short, stopping a few inches above your knees. You haven’t worn this since before you got pregnant but you try it on and it fits perfectly and you look amazing in it. You pair it with some black stilettos “perfect” you say fluffing your hair.

You look to your clock and it says 8:22. You check your phone and there are no new notifications. You call Connor, but he doesn’t answer. You move to your couch and put on an episode of The Office. Part way through the second episode you hear your phone ding.

C: Hey sorry to do this, stuck in airport. Have to cancel tonight

C: I’m really sorry. Hope you have a good new year

Without thinking or responding to your messages, you grab your bag and head out the door, you get to your car and put it in drive before you change your mind. You knock on the door and look at your watch 9:32, you hear some shuffling before Fred opens the door. He is wearing a white Nike hoodie, with a pair of dark jeans.

He stares at you, a smile coming across his face. “I was hoping your invite was still on the table” you say smiling while walking in, dropping your bag at the door.

“Of course, what happened to boy toy?”

“He bailed on me” you say laughing slightly while removing your coat.

“Fucking hell” Fred says eyeing you up and down “his loss.” He brings his finger to pull your strap down your shoulder as his mouth attaches to your neck.  You jump into his arms as he carries you down the hall.

Outfit for the Tree Farm:

Christmas Pyjama’s

New Years Look

Next Chapter

[chail]

Made by:Chail Wong!!! 💫🤌😫

-Group Name: S.U.N.S.E.T

-Company: JYP Entertainment

-Concept: Each member has to answer questions from Trainee years and they have to write it down in a book when JYP read the books they made our group S.U.N.S.E.T the concept of "Demon".

-Number of members: 10

-Favorite songs to listen to:Queendom by:Red Velvet, Deja Vu by:ATEEZ, Just Right by:Got7, The Feels by:Twice and Really Really by:Winner.

-dating, crush:Zuri:Crush(Wang Yibo). ChaeChae:Crush (Jake Sim). Euni:no one. Minnie:Dating(Akira Satō, high school sweetheart) Sornar:Crush(Choi Yeonjun).Mimi:no one. Yua:No one.Bugi:Crush(Leonardo DiCaprio). JUJU:no one. Saetae:no one.

-Favorite colors: Zuri:Blue, ChaeChae:Red, Euni:Gold, Minnie:Silver, Sornar:pastels, Mimi:Brown, Yua:Black, Bugi:yellow, JUJU:Grey, Saetae:Green.

-Fandom Name: Setting

-S.U.N.S.E.T Debut song: Sapphire

-Debut Album Name: Forever Love

-Members

Zuyi Ning-Chinese (Stage name Zuri) (20-January 15,2001)(Hong Kong) People say she is just like Ningning from Aespa. Just came to Korea and was not ready for all of the Trainee process but she made it and she loves the group she was chosen in. (Sub Dancer, Main Rapper, Sub Visual)

Chaesa Saong-Taiwanese (Stage name-Chaechae)(18-April 3rd, 2003)( Taipei) ) Being the third oldest can be pretty hard because you have to keep everyone in line. For Chail she says "I will always love the members in S.U.N.S.E.T and our fans our Settings". (Leader, Sub Rapper, Main Dancer)

Eunima Ahn-Indonesian (Stage name-Euni) (18-July 23,2003)(Jakarta) For Eunima she has always wanted to sing and dance but because she lived in such a religious family she really wasn't aloud to around the house. When she turned 14 she auditioned for SM but she failed, she took their advice and she tried again but this time for JYP and she passed. (Dancer, Sub Vocalist)

Min-young Park-Korean(stage name-Minnie) (17-May 8th, 2004)(Seoul)

Min-young was once in a small k-pop when she was in middle school, she studied English for 4 years in a special Transfer school, she is fluent in 3 languages (Japanese, Korean and English) She has 2 siblings (haesung-Brother(member of KT1417) and Sofia-Sister(Ex Trainee). (Lyric Writer, Sub Vocalist)

Sornar Tuan-American(Stage name-Sornar) (17-June 17th 2004)(L.A California)Sornar is the sister of Mark Tuan from Got7 and she did a huge audition for Girls Planet 999 and passed but she had to leave because of her staying in Korea for to long, she went back to L.A California, but auditioned again but this time for JYP she passed and stayed in Korea, She then became a singer in S.U.N.S.E.T the same year auditioned. (Sub Visual, Sub Vocalist, Dancer, Sub Leader)

Mi-hyung Lee-Canadian(Stage name-Mimi) (22-Augest 2d, 1999) (Toronto)Twin sister of Mark Lee or Min-Hyung Lee member of (NCT). Mi-hyung wanted to follow after her brothers foot steps so she became a Trainee at JYP on September 13th 2014, but she debuted this year because of COVID and her still not being at the setting to be a K-pop singer. (Sub Dancer, Main visual, songwriter, host of Korean descent.

Yua Takashi-Japanese(stage name-Yua) (Osaka) (16-April 7th, 2005) She is known for her beauty, she knows 6 languages (Indonesian, Korean, Japanese, Thai, English and Mandarin). She is very smart for her age and she was debuted only 35 minutes of training. (Lead vocalist, lead dancer, visual)

Butuin Garcia-Filipino(Bugi) (16-September 2th, 2005) Ju Cheng and her were friends in the beginning of training and she was so happy that Ju picked her to be in the group when the training was over Butuin was the one to pick group name and meaning she said S.U.N.S.E.T was an example of peace and harmony in one group and our settings (fandom name) are the starts of our days and life. (Songwriter, Vocalist, visual, translator, dance maker)

Ju Cheng-Chinese(Stage name-JUJU) (16-june 25th 2005) (Beijing) Ju was pretty and basic when she first started off as a trainee in 2019 but as she got older she got way better and just absolutely amazing. (Maknae, sub vocalist, sub rapper)

Busarakham Saetang-Thai (stage name-Saetae) (16-June 25th 2005) She has the same birthday as Ju but they act so different from eachother. Busarakham was trainee for 3 months and then debuted, her dream is to have kids and get married. (Maknae, Lead vocalist, Sub Dancer).

[emetophobiahelp]

Criminal Minds Warning Compilation

This is a compilation of all submitted warnings in Criminal Minds in one place. I got frustrated having to constantly scroll through the tag so I figured I would compile them. Thank you to all the people who submitted! You guys help all of us so much :)

I am unsure if it’s complete past the end of Season Four as that’s where I’m at in the show. If I find any more I will send a warning in and hopefully eventually I’ll be able to say this list is complete. I usually just skip an episode if there’s a submitted warning as there’s little to no plot line through the show, so sorry if some of the warnings are vague.

This list is not completely spoiler free and not all of these are actual v* scenes. This show is surprisingly safe for emetophobes!

Unsafe episodes in Season One: 9 and 22.

Unsafe episodes in Season Two: 13.

Unsafe episodes in Season Four: 13, 15, and 24.

Unsafe episodes in Season Five: 7.

Unsafe episodes in Season Six: 7, 17, and 23.

Unsafe episodes in Season Seven: 1, 2, 6, 8, 12, and 22.

Unsafe episodes in Season Eight: 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 18, and 23.

Unsafe episodes in Season Nine: 1 and 12.

Unsafe episodes in Season Ten: 3.

Unsafe episodes in Season Eleven: 21.

Unsafe episodes in Season Thirteen: 1.

Season One: E9 (Derailed): 10 or 11 minute mark. Pregnant woman gets s*. Elle is talking to her and she says, “I think I’m gonna be s*.” No visual, just audio. E22 (The Fisher King Part One): 16 minute mark. Woman sees a body part and v*. No visual, just audio.

Season Two: E13 (No Way Out): 6:50-7:10. Gideon and Morgan are talking to a serial killer in a diner and it cuts to a police officer v*. After, the v* is still visible. It cuts back and forth from diner scene to police officers a few times but only one has a v* scene. Visual and audio.

Season Four: E13 (Bloodline): 12-12:45. Girl has epileptic seizure. Not v* but still triggering visual and audio. E15 (Zoe’s Reprise): 31 min mark. A girl Prentiss is interviewing says she’s going to be s*. Audio, unsure if visuals. E24 (Amplification): No v*, but lots of coughing, especially in first few minutes.

Season Five: E7 (The Performer): Warning is vague. “Not safe at all. Just skip it.”

Season Six: E7 (Middle Man): Multiple warnings.  1. Very brief v* after *SPOILER* Chris is made to kill Scott. Maybe mute from Scott’s death until after Chris stands up from sink. No visual, just audio. 2. 27:40, a man v*. Might be same as previous warning. Mute and look away for about 15 seconds. No visual, just audio.  E17 (Valhalla): Near end of episode, right after Prentiss says she needs some air. Some coughing and mention of the word v*. Later when she goes to her apartment to change her shoes you can see it. No visual, just audio. E23 (Big Sea): Multiple warnings. 1. 25 min. A man can be heard v*, it then shows it as someone yells at him to clean it up. 2. When the guy is being held captive in the boat, he looks up at the unsub and then down at the keys. He v*. Visual and audio. 3. 38 min. At end of episode, Agent Morgan is performing CPR on a girl. She v* water. Not too bad visual, but bad audio.

Season Seven: E1 (It Takes A Village): About halfway through the episode, there’s a flashback to a woman taking pills, and a man forces her to v*. Happens after Prentiss starts interrogating Doyle. Not that graphic but visual and audio. E2 (Proof): Around 21-22 min mark. When Tammy is shown at the dance, she says she’s not feeling good and clutches her stomach. There’s no v* but she acts like she will. Ends when Uncle Cy goes to hug her. Later in the episode, Tammy’s mom recounts the incident with Cy but nothing happens. E6 (Epilogue): 18:40 min. Chase starts trying to resuscitate the girl. The next scene shows a guy violently coughing and shows blood in his hand from coughing so much. He continues coughing. Could be triggering. E8 (Hope): A little past halfway through the ep when the woman finds her daughter. You can see it coming. Visual and audio. E12 (Unknown Subject): 3 min. Garcia is showing them pictures of a case. It’s hard to see but there’s v*. At 4:21, Prentiss asks, “what’s that on the floor?” And Garcia replies. Also, Garcia mentions there’s salt in the water which makes you v*. Skip until intro or look away. (4:59 is safe) E22 (Profiling 101): When Prentiss says something about the victim’s friend holding her hair, the victim bends over and v*. It lasts thirty seconds, so when Prentiss talks about the girl getting s* just mute and look away. Audio and visual.

Season Eight: E2 (The Pact): After Mr. Dolan is being interviewed, it cuts to Darlene v*. She talks and then g*. Mute and look away after Mr. Dolan is finished with JJ. Audio and visual. E5 (The Good Earth): V* is mentioned and not shown, but you see implied v* as people lean over. Also just a gross episode in general. E6 (The Apprenticeship): 9:40. When the kid asks Holly to cover his shift, he says he v* that morning to get out of work. E7 (The Fallen): At the end of the episode when the unsub is pouring bleach on the woman, she starts coughing. Sounds like v*. She also continues to g* after she’s rescued. It’s not too bad but could be triggering. E8 (The Wheels on the Bus…): After the girl shoots Trent and the guy says something about his blood, she v*. Lasts about 5-10 seconds. Audio, unsure if visuals. E18 (Restoration): Beuford gives Derek the list, and Derek v* after washing his hands. Mute after he finishes talking to Hotch. It’s over quickly. Visual and audio. E23 (Brother’s Hotchner): Multiple warnings.  1. In the beginning when the guy opens the stall and the girl is bleeding, she’ll fall to the floor and start coughing pretty bad. It ends in maybe 10 seconds. Audio and visual. 2. At around 8:40 min , a guy randomly spits blood. It happens/ends just as the beginning credits start. When the little girl starts to pray at the family dinner, both the parents begin to bleed like the other victims. the dad will cough before the screen goes black

Season Nine: E1 (The Inspiration Part One): Multiple warnings. 1. At around 6 min mark, girl v*. They also talk about it a few times. 2. At 21 min, a mother g* and s* out teeth. 3. After unsub kills girl in the shower, Blake asks about the v* when she’s at the coroner’s morgue. 4. When Rossi and Morgan find the girl in the park and mention her hair, Morgan says she probably v*. 5. When Hotch says “wheels up in 30” and the unsub is taking another woman into the woods, she v* when she says he’s going to fast. Lasts 5-10 seconds and only audio. (Possibly same as first warning) E12 (The Black Queen): At around 18:55 min. When Garcia and Morgan are testing microphone signal, Garcia says she feels like she’s gonna v*. Nothing happens though.

Season Ten: E3 (A Thousand Suns): When Reid and Kate go to look at the plane crash and start to look at the pilot’s seat, a few seconds later Reid will notice there is v* from the passengers on the ground. He just says the word and there is a visual but it doesn’t look very realistic. After the crowd of people at the station are asking questions about their loved ones on the plane Morgan and JJ will mention the v* again and talk about what caused it

Season Eleven: E21 (Devil’s Backbone): When the two boys are in the back of the van, one boy v*. No visual, just audio.

Season Thirteen: E1 (Wheels Up): Garcia and Simmons are in the car and Garcia says, “No creepy weird stuff.” There’s a lot of people looking s* and leaning over bowls. No visual that was noticed.

Happy watching!

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

Alright, everyone, this is a personal post as much as it’s a public post so feel free to scroll all the way down to the  colored text for the public part of the message but if you, like me, enjoy drama, then continue on!

So, to make a very, very, very long story short for those who don’t know, I call my birth mother Mother Gothel due to her emotionally abusive upbringing of me that caused me to suffer from severe depression, anxiety, and even hair loss! A few years ago, back in 2016, my friend-turned-sister drove down with her mother, packed me and my bags up, and gave me a place to live and start over where I’ve been able to get jobs, go to school, and become much healthier than I used to be! 

During those years of growth and recovery, however, I kept in contact with Gothel through emails and the occasional phone call. Over the years, from the safety of being hundreds of miles away, I told her that I was gay and dating a girl. The resulting emails were not pleasant and she had no problems about calling my girlfriend a whore. Lovely, right? 

Every email she has sent me has contained detailed bible quotes and scripture and needles of guilt over everything I’m doing “wrong.” She’s still “so proud of me,” however. So at least there’s that, right? 

As of recently I emailed her and told her that I will be attending a four-year university in Tacoma Washington (moving away from Illinois) to continue my education. Her resulting email was lengthy. Here is some of it - cut for length.

Hi Michelle.

... 

You have to watch everything you say this day and time, at least that is what Jesus said in the Book of Matthew 5:37-- "Let your Yes be Yes, and let your No be No. Anything else is from the evil one." (anotherwords the devil will take your words you speak and trip and mess you up land you in jail or prison for 10 yrs)That would be really sad after you work so hard for an education and degrees then let him mess you up but read in John 10:10--the enemy comes to steal--kill--destroy--but Jesus said I have come so that you may have life and have it more abundantly.  That is why Jesus said in Proverbs 18:21" Life and death are in the power of the tongue"

...

I was telling Mom on the phone just this morning we talked for two hours-- that I was going to get a restaurant job here as soon as possible and let it move me out of here--I am moveing to Battle Creek or Marshall by Sept (labor day) and that I was sooo excited that I would finally get to see you, she said either her or Carl would drive me to [REDACTED] every now and then to see you. So Yes, I feel like a bomb was just dropped on me, my heart is broken, however I hope you will be happy and I wish you well in body and spirit-- I wish you nothing but the best. Just know one thing is for sure, I read my Bible and I will tell you right now, we are living in our last days you need to be concerned about where you are going to spend eternity. I just finished up reading the book of Matthew. In Matthew 21:25 The Heading Reads: "The Coming of the Son of Man" vs 25- And their will be signs in the Sun, the Moon, the Stars--mens hearts will fail them for fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. vs 27--THEN they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with Power and Great Glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and list up your heads, because your redemption draws near". Jesus said He would give us signs in the Heavens above and the earth beaneath. All of the earthquakes that have been happening for the last decade leading up to the Austrailian wildfires, and billions of animals died, God is giving us the signs, its just like He said in Matthew 24:36-44. 

Lastly, 1 Thessalonians 4 :13--But I do not want you to be ignorant brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God wil bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven With A SHOUT--with the voice of an archangel, and with the Trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rist first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord, Therefore Comfort one another with these words.

After the Rapture, then comes the tribulation. I have read Revelation many times and to say the least you don't want to be left behind.  In Heaven their will be 30 mins of silence that is when all Hell breaks loose down here. Just whatever you do, Do NOT take the mark of the beast if you do, then you will mark your soul for eternal damnation. Then you will hear the devil say----"Hello! Welcome to Hell!

I am saying all of this bcuz now you have a choice to live for God or for Satan. If something should happen to your body or God forbid but if someone tries to take your life or you get in an accident and your heart is not right with God--That is exactly how you will stand at the Judgement Bar. The minute you take your last breath in this body, you will be ushered into the presence of God then it is too late to make a decision there it is if the Angel does not find your name in the Book of Life, then the devil stands there waiting to escourt you to------Well lets just say---You Don't want to go there. But the Bible says you will answer for every deed done in the body good and bad.I know one thing, it can't be too much longer according to scripture. The greatest tool the enemy uses from his toolbox is that you have plenty of time--well I can say the devil is a liar cuz Jesus just says--Be Ready it is not up to us how long we get to stay down here, that is God's calling.Second Timothy 3----But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of truth. 

Sister, we are living in our last days, make every day that God gives you breath in your body count bcuz you don't know when it will be your last day. There is pleasure in sin for a season--Hebrews 11:24. Whatever you do, don't let the devil take your life and your soul, it is not worth it.

Love You So Much and want to make sure your soul doesn't go to H---.  I am praying that you will have a preacher as a husband.I miss you Michelle, I miss hugging you, I miss walking up those stairs to bring your meals to you I would LOVE to hug you just one more time. That may or may not happen before He Returns ony God knows this.Please write me back when you can, you are always on my heart and mind. I have made mistakes while we were all living at 2414, I am so very sorry I pray that you forgive me if I have offended you please forgive me, I thought I had it all together. But now I see, I was just messed up and made lots of wrong choices, but God came along with His Holy broom and cleaned up my mess and said to move on. I am so glad when He forgives our sins, He forgets never no more to be remembered. All I can say is ---Thank-you Jesus.

...

Love You Forever my dearest Daughter and Friend.

This is the average email from her and I’ve been told that it’s not normal to receive emails this long talking about how she’s ‘devastated’ by my choices and how the world is going to end in hellfire soon. Please allow me, however, to show the email she immediately sent after the above.

[T]acoma is Washington's most dangerous city, with a violent crime rate of 953 incidents per 100,000 residents. While this is a relatively high rate — the 96th worst in the country — the city's incidence of property crime stands out even more. ... Indeed, the city had the country's 15th highest property crime rate in 2016

The overall crime rate in Tacoma is 138% higher than the national average. For every 100,000 people, there are 16.81 daily crimes that occur in Tacoma. Tacoma is safer than 3% of the cities in the United States. In Tacoma you have a 1 in 17 chance of becoming a victim of any crime.

Have you done the research for this city?They said Tacoma is the most violent city in Washington,I love you and want you to be happy. There are sooo many universities with the same opportunities.

How would you get around, does your friend drive? I did see how beautiful the area is but you just have to be careful I guess everywhere you go. 

As you can see, she immediately invalidates my choice - something I was very truly wonderfully excited about - and sends me a message that triggers my anxiety. I should note that she did not allow me out of the house without her even when I was an adult and over 18. If I went somewhere she had to be there with me.

Ah, but now we come to today and the email that spurred this post to creation. The above emails were sent two days ago and I have yet to respond. The email below was sent just today. 

Hi Michelle.

While I cannot apologize for what I said, It was not my intention to offend you in any way. I just went to google and typed in most dangerous city in the state of Washington and Tacoma popped up, that is out of 100 cities in the state.Okay, I know you say you have been there and all and you are no match for all of the evil there. God forbid, should something happen to you--you would be just another name and another number to them there is no much evil there they can't control it, I say to you just watch on a daily basis all of the crime that goes on in that sin city.

You better be praying about this cuz I don't think God would want you to put yourself in harms way--make a wiser choice, and God will bless you for it.Look at what happened to kobe bryant incident.... they met a very bad situation face to face and of course their was no way they could turn that around. My whole point of conversation.....sure you can do what you want bcuz you are an adult grown woman, but I would strongly advise you to pray to God about it and make a wise choice here, your life and future depends on right choices you make now.

What about University of Michigan in Ann Arbor or East Lansing University, Michigan University Kalamazoo, they are on the ten universities in Michigan. You need to reconsider your decision and think about your resourses you can get more help from family  bcuz I have all kinds of family up there and I will be up there soon. You are no match for Tacoma Washington. I only say this bcuz you are my daughter and I don't want something really bad come out of this just bcuz you are trying to get an education behind you--this calls for wise decisions.

You may never speak to me again, but I just want to inform you that you need to be very very cautious here.

Love You Forever.

... 

“You may never speak to me again.” 

...

This is the last email I have read from her and it will remain the last email I will ever read from her. I also will not be sending her any emails ever again because you know what? 

Her scared, anxious daughter Michelle Jean Anderson died and I’m what’s left - and I’m sick of her shit. 

So, hello, everybody! My name is Andy Alex Anderson and my pronouns are he/him (or they/them if you panic and forget) and it’s a pleasure to meet you! 

[bolbianddolanhouse]

BNHA self insert AU [Book 2]

Lost and confused on this here day? Start from the WAAAY beginning!

Chapter 1: It is Wednesday My Dudes.

Howdy! I guess I should introduce myself? Oof UMMMMMM, the names Lili Perla Iida! I’m 15 years old, about to turn 16, and I’m the oldest of 4 kids. Being big sis feels as natural as the wind in my hair as I pirouette. Speaking of dancing, it’s a Saturday morning, that means I have to get my ass in 5th gear for my private dance lessons. My favorite days are the ones where I get to dance and cause havoc with my siblings! I guess I should head downstairs for breakfast before that robo doggy yips at me for still being in my room.

“Buenos dias mija!” thats my mom, she’s the one bitch I respect the most.

“Good mornin” I greet everyone at the breakfast nook “what’s for breakfast?”

“Spam and eggs with toast” that’s my dad at the stove, I love him but he’s putting too much pressure on me to follow his footsteps. “Here’s your coffee.”

“Oh FUCK yea!” I holler as I jump into my spot at the nook. There’s nothing more I love than some egg and toast with my iced coffee.

“I’m hungies! Please just gimme one toast!” thats my younger brother Iwata, but I call him Iwee or Iwa, don’t tell the other two but he’s my favorite sibling. He’s the one that schemes and I say if that’s doable or not.

“DADDY! Tensei is teleporting my forkfuls into his mouth!”

“MOMMY! Hanaka set my toast on fire!” those two brats are my twin siblings, Hanaka and Tensei but I call them by their middle names, Rosa and Oro. Rosa is half-way decent to be around, so I share a room with her. Oro is a punk ass bitch in the making but I can’t hate him too much, he’s an intellectual.

“Can’t we go one breakfast without something catching on fire?” I rolled my eyes as I got served “thanks dad.”

“Nope, fuck you” Rosa stuck her tongue out “TENSEI STOP!”

“Hanaka! What did we say about tongues?” scolded dad “your family isn’t fire proof!” he turned to Oro “and what did we say about pestering your sister?”

“I shouldn’t play with fire unless I wish to get burned” the boy pouted and crossed his arms “but Iwa and I are hungies!”

“Here’s your plates” dad slid the food in front of the two boys “no more yelling or I’m taking away toast privileges!”

“NOOO THAT’S NOT FAIR!” we whined, you can take away our freedom but us Iida kids will be DAMNED if the sanctity of toast in the morning gets taken away.

“Oh shit, listen to your father” mom jeered as dad sat next to her “oh Lili, don’t forget about applications for entrance exams.”

“I still don’t know where to consider” I sigh as I butter my toast “like, I get that theres privates that have scouted me to go to their’s but I just wanna go to a dance school.”

“Sweet heart, you know we can’t just send you off overseas so young!” mom spoke with a hint of worry “besides, you still have private lessons at the institute until you turn 18! I won’t let you go off without the things you love to do.”

“You can always apply to UA” dad spoke up as he cut his spam “with the recommendations we can give, you don’t have to take the entrance exam.”

“Ugh, I can’t dance if I’m going to a hero school” I huffed “I don’t wanna go to your pompous alma mater dad. No offense mom.”

“None taken, not even I wanted to be there” mom responded so casually.

Dad gave her a side glance “May I remind you on who you met in said pompous school that helped build this family?”

“May I remind you on who was too much of a little bitch to tell me they liked me at said pompous school even though we saw each other basically everyday” she sipped her coffee loudly, marking her win.

“Oof I felt that roast in my DNA” Iwa hit the whoa “that shit hurted, F in the chat for Dad’s pride.

“F” chanted everyone but dad.

After breakfast, I grab my duffle bag and make my way to town.

“Good morning Lili!” thats my aunty Mimi, her and my mom are besties “say good morning Nikita.”

“Guden Morgen Lili!” that’s Nikita, Mimi’s daughter. She’s just a year younger than my twin siblings and today they have a little playdate as my mom and Mimi go to work.

“Mornin’! See y’all later!” I wave them off.

“Oh Lili! Good Morning!” that’s my uncle Jin, he lives next door to us and is besties with my mom and Mimi. For someone that doesn’t have kids, he sure does know how to care for them.

“Mornin’! Are you driving today?”

“Yep, can’t let the media know your mom’s car needs detailing!” he joked as he waved me off.

The dance institute I attend is in the same town we live in and just a 20 min walk from the gated community we live in. Well, 20 minutes for me because I walk kinda fast because of the engines on my feet. Dumb location for the quirk but it does help me when I dance.

“Ah Lili! There you are!” cried out my dance teacher as I walked in “can you lend me a hand in costuming? We need re-adjustments for a few costumes for the level 3s.”

“Of course I’ll help, be right there in a jiffy!” I rush into the costuming room, my second home at times! The lord has blessed me with a second quirk, Master Thread, and I like it more than my other one. It’s not dumb and super useful! I heard that there was once a pro-hero that had the same quirk and my parents knew him before his retirement. My mom says that she interned under his agency and he favored her for her Copy quirk. How cool is it that?! But hero stuff ain’t for me, I just wanna look pretty and dance for the masses. Maybe one day make elaborate ballet costumes, I already make my own at home to practice my quirk. How lucky am I to have such supportive parents?! After I finish the adjustments, I quickly put on my pointe shoes to do a practice run of our summer showcase. As much as I work well with the others in my class, I’m not friends with any of them and I don’t blame them. The instructors show me too much favoritism and even I’d hate me for hogging the attention.

“Lili! Marvelous work!” one of the instructors praised “how about we make you a solo act for this season finale?!”

“Me?! On such short notice?!”

“Yea! I thought I was going to do a solo act?!” huffed one of the girls on stage.

“Yes, you and Lili are going to be solos” they responded “we need to fill out time for our show and I know Lili can give quite a show.”

I looked around to my dance-mates and they all rolled their eyes “I mean, sure but I don’t know how good I can make a solo act in a month and a half!”

“Great!” they clapped “okay, from the top! We need to work on those jumps!”

As usual, nobody bids me good bye at the end of class. I’ve known most of them since I started there at age 5 and they don’t give me the decency to say hello or good bye! It sucks but I didn’t join to make friends. I walk through the streets to get to the fabric store I frequent, you’ll often catch me here after school or practice.

“Lili! Hey!” that’s Maru, he’s son of the number 1 hero, Deku. Our parents are friends and his dad owes his life to my mom because of her quick thinking that saved him back during the UA days. So I guess Maru is my friend?

“Oh sup Maru” I stopped walking as he ran toward me “what brings you around these here parts?”

“I was just looking at some of those shops” he points down the street “theres always cool stuff around here.”

“Yea there is, anyways, wanna join me?” I get giddy “I heading into the fabric store and I need some opinions.”

“I’m your guy!” he joins me as I fully geek out over the new satins.

“Okay so which one? The candy blue” I hover the bolt over my chest “the pearlescent one OR this blush pink?”

“I’m torn between the pearl and pink one” he mutters to himself “what are you trying to make?”

“Another costume, I got a solo act but I have yet to come up with something.”

“Oh that’s not fair! Isn’t the showcase in a few weeks?”

“THAT’S WHAT I SAID!” I groaned “I need so much help Maru! Plus I have to get started on applications and it’s all just a mess.”

“Well, if you ask me” he gets up and walks up to Lili “I think you should get both these satins and I know you’ll come up with something amazing! You’re really good at being graceful” he does a shakey spin “see? And why don’t you apply to UA? So that way we could go to school together!”

“Thank you for your kind words but I’m not going to hero school” I turned to put the blue satin back in the rack “I wanna wear pretty dresses and dance, not kick villain ass!”

“But think about it!” He picked up the two bolts of satin “how cool we’d be as a duo! I’d kick villain ass and you wrap them up to detain them!” he walked up to her “I’d be much braver with you by my side.”

“Be serious!” I laughed as I playfully pushed him “it’s not playtime, it’s hero work! Plus you gotta make your parents proud.”

“But I am serious” he retorted “I want to fight along side you, I want to do lots of things along side you. We’ve been friends since you were born!”

“And? That doesn’t mean you can’t live without me!” I look through the decals section “But you’re already doing great over there.”

I make my purchase and Maru walks me to the front gate before parting ways. What to do? The days just whoosh on by and I don’t have much to go off on. I submit applications to some private high schools that have dance programs but dad keeps insisting that I apply to UA. He had the audacity to give me a physical copy of the application! Apparently hero school apps are due much later than the other schools, for UA it’s October and it’s end of June right now. More time passes and I got a piece together for the showcase along with costume. At this point, I’m just counting the days until I get a response from those other schools I applied to.

-Night of the Summer Showcase-

What a night to be alive and pretty! My costume got the eyes of many that they didn’t notice my tiny fumbles. Another success in my books! My family came out to see me and so did Maru. After, I met up with my parents and Maru also came up to us.

“Amazing show Lili” he hands me a large bouquet of flowers “these are for you!”

“Oh you didn’t have to get me flowers” I was astounded by the mass of pink roses and lilies “but I’m glad you enjoyed the show!”

“I loved your floating spins and the thing at the end when you revealed the satin costume!” he imitated some of my moves “oh um, is it cool if we go for a little walk?”

“Oh sure let me just give these to my mom” I turn to my mom “I’m going for a walk, catch up with yall later.”

“Don’t wander too far! It’s dark out” dad chopped as I turned.

We walk to the garden area to the side of the performance hall “it’s a nice summer night.” commented Maru “the sky is clear too.”

“It is” I smile as I look up “I hardly get the time to look at the sky anymore, I loved star-gazing as a child.”

“Lets star-gaze over there!” Maru pointed to an open patch of grass. We lay on our backs and point at our made up constellations. “You know, I really enjoy your company Lili. You make things so much fun.”

“Thanks I guess?” I really didn’t know how to take that compliment.

“It’s a good thing” he laughed and turned his body on his side, toward me “I’ve been thinking about what you said about just wanting to look pretty and dance. Well, what if I figured out something?”

“What did you figure out?” I was genuinely confused because I don’t remember there being a problem with me wanting that.

“I figured out how you can dance and be pretty with always being by my side” he smiled “we just, get married.”

A record scratched in my head, did this foo just say get married? “Um, what?”

“I know that was a bold thing to say but I was giving it some thought” he explained himself “I like you a lot Lili, I want to be someone you can depend on and I can be someone that supports you in everything you want to do. I’ll be the breadwinner and you can do your thing and not have to work as hard.”

“But I don’t JUST want to be pretty and dance” I butted in “I want to work too! Professional Dancer is a legit career plus I want to go to college” I was starting to think I’m missing the point here “why are you suddenly talking about this?”

“I’m saying that I like you, more than a friend” he meekly spoke “and I want to be a man you can be proud of. You make me feel like I could do anything! Won’t you be my girlfriend?”

My mind was racing but going dumber, how do I tell him that he’s making a mistake without saying it word for word? “Maru, I didn’t know you felt that way!” I scrunched my face “I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s okay, take your time!” he leaned in closer to my face, softening his voice “maybe I should show you how serious I am.” This bitch fully kissed me on the lips, my first kiss and I didn’t feel the sparks or flutters in my tummy. I felt...nothing.

“Huh” I said after he broke the kiss “well uhhhhhh oof um” I stood up “I’ll be talking to ya later” I do finger guns and bolt to the parking lot.

“Wait Lili!” he tried to catch up to me.

“TEXT ME WHEN YOU GET HOME!” I yell before locating my parents “MOM! por favor start the car!” I get in and everyone picked up that I was not okay and something happened but needed some time to sort out my thoughts. Once we got home, I took a shower and slumped in my fuzzy chair in the dark.

There was a knock at my door “Hey, you wanna eat some hot chips with me?” it was Iwa.

“Sure” I open the door to let him in.

“What’s the deal with you? Everything was cool until you started running” he popped open a party size bag of hot cheetos con limon.

“Ugh it’s Maru” I grab a few cheetos “he out of nowhere just confessed and kissed me.”

“Oh shit!”

“Right?! And I feel a little fucked up” I crunched on a cheeto “because I feel like he could do better and when he kissed me, I felt nothing. And that was my first kiss, from my childhood friend!” I put my handful of cheetos in my mouth “I wanted to feel those good feelings but I didn’t. Does that make me a bad person?”

“Dang Lili, from how I see it” he licked the cheeto dust from his thumb “it’s a sign that he’s wrong and you aren’t the one for him” he gestured to the ceiling “the universe isn’t telling you to kiss every boy but just that it’s okay not to reciprocate feelings to somebody else. Your feelings are valid and you’re the baddest bitch here.”

I started to feel a lot better after talking to Iwa. I eventually told my mom and she said basically the same thing. I am confident to say that I am not in love with my friend and I don’t need their validation. Of course I didn’t get a chance to tell Maru since it’s summer and he’s busy with school. In some weird twist of fate, I got rejected by all these schools I applied to. I wasn’t upset, just questioning if this is the universe trying to tell me something.

“You okay sis?” carefully asked Rosa “you don’t look too hot.”

“I don’t know what to do” I spoke up from my desk “nothing but rejection letters and I’m not worried about school or where I go, but what’s wrong with having me as a student?”

“Hmmm, well I know daddy wants you to go to that school” she points at the blank UA application on my desk “and you want to go to a dance academy...por que no los dos? You can go to dance academy for college and go to hero school BUT only to spite dad.”

“Rosa, you’re a genius!” I praised her “who says you have bad ideas?!”

“I know I’m right” Rosa gives a power stance “I’m the powerhouse of the cell!”

And I did just that, I applied and got an invite almost immediately to take the entrance exam in early November. That gave me almost 2 months to train, plenty of time! I tried to hide this from my dad but the word slipped and he was too happy to take me to the exam and help me train. Don’t even get me started on that whole side of the family, uncle Tensei started crying, grandma and grandpa wouldn’t shut up on how the family is going to be full of heroes. All the while, I was trying to break the news that I wasn’t going to be returning for the advanced level courses of dance. All the instructors were sad to the point of begging, everyone else was happy that I was leaving. 

-Day of exam-

“You have everything you need?” Dad asked me for the 5th time since we got in the car “we still have time to-”

“YES DAD! FUCK!” he was stressing me out “I’m ready to take this test, stop worrying.”

He sighed “You remind me so much of your mother when we were at UA” he smiled at the thought “she’d snap at me too when I was being overbearing, but I did it because I loved her and wanted her to succeed.”

“Well, what’s one thing she couldn’t leave without?”

“She didn’t feel right unless she hugged me goodbye” he chuckled “even something so simple made my heart race.” He pulls up to the front of the massive front gate of UA “we’re here, do your best! I believe in you.”

“Thanks dad” I take a deep breath “I’ll call you later.”

I walk in the place and I don’t see anyone familiar, just a bunch of students from public schools and other privates. I took a written exam, then came the infamous physical portion. My dad and his hero friends were telling me that it’s one of the toughest entrance exams in the nation, but I wasn’t afraid, just oddly excited! I do my stretches, just minding my business, when I get some crude comments.

“Excuse me but the dance auditions are that way” said some boy condescendingly “why don’t you take your little pink shoes and get out of here before the big scary robots crush you?”

I squinted at them as the group of boys behind them laughed “Excuse me but aren’t the weak little bitches auditions that way?” I stood up to show that I tower him in height “I’m in the right place little man.”

“Lets get to the gates dude, she’s scary”

Everyone was summoned to the start gate and I had a feeling that somebody was watching me. Not like a camera watching me but like somebody near me was looking at me. I looked around but didn’t see anybody familiar or staring at me, it didn’t matter once the siren wailed to start the exam. I was kicking mecha ass with some fancy moves thrown in and when I thought I was going to end the exam on a good note, I hear somebody cry out for help. I rushed over and saw someone had their arm and leg trapped under a mecha, with the added panic of the 0 point big boy mecha dangerously close. I wasn’t going to leave them there, so I gave my all to lift the mecha off them. I couldn’t even lift the thing an inch off them! I had to get creative and used my 2nd quirk to lift the mecha off. I did it and pulled them out to make a run for the safety line.

“It’s no use, just leave me here” said the trapped person “I can’t walk.”

“I’m not giving up on you! I don’t care if I fail this exam” I unraveled my sports jacket, shirt and the ribbons in my hair to fasten them to me “hold on tight! We’re going airborne!”

“Wha-!”

I use the last of my energy to blast us into the air in a wide arch to barely avoid the mecha crushing us. Of course I didn’t have a back up plan and we crash landed in the safety zone, on top of other students.

“Owchies” I groaned “is everyone okay? Sorry about that! I didn’t have a landing plan.”

The nurse runs over “WAH! Miss Iida?! You caused this mess?!”

“Heh ummm yea” I shamefully admitted “sorry Miss Eri, I couldn’t let this student get crushed by the big boy mecha.”

“Lets get you two in the stretcher, come on” she sighed in disbelief “and I’ll be telling your parents young lady!”

“Aww wack!” I pouted as robot helpers put me in the stretcher. I looked over to see the other person in the stretcher next to me “are you alright?”

“I’ll be okay know” they smiled at me “thank you so much for not giving up on me.”

“No problem! I’m Lili by the way.”

Before they could tell me their name, they were hauled away for intensive care. It was fair, they did get injured far worse than me, I walked away with just some gnarly bruises and a scraped shoulder. I didn’t see them after and I really wanted to know their name because they looked oddly familiar. My parents were worried about my injuries as I tend to heal slower. It was winter vacation, usually I’d be excited to be in the holiday mood but I was just waiting in anxiety for my letter. Come the last day of December, I got my acceptance letter! The amount of relief I got from it all was amazing, according to the letter, I scored the most rescue points. Making me at the top of the scoreboard along with some others, so I’m in Hero class A, just like dad and mom. My dad fussed over me the most in the weeks leading to the first day of school.

-Morning of the first day-

“Wake up Wake up Wake up!” yipped the robo dog as they bust into my room “it’s the first day of classes Lili and Hanaka! Please get dressed and hurry down for breakfast.”

“Hnnn it’s 7 in the god foresaken morning!” I groaned as I rubbed my eyes “welp, come on Rosa or the boys are going to beat us to the sinks.”

“Hn! 5 more minutes” she tossed in her bed “Tensei is gonna teleport us to school, you have to ride with daddy.”

“Don’t remind me you brat!” I threw my pillow at her “whatever, just don’t melt the shampoo bottles.”

“Fuck you!”

I quickly take my shower and got dressed in my new uniform to greet my parents. They fawn over how much I look like them when they went to UA, mom told me the story of how she got confused for a boy on the 1st day because her ass was too big for the skirts that they had to be tailor made! I got a good laugh out of that and it made me feel better about starting my school day. I kiss them goodbye and got in the car with dad.

“Excited Lili?”

“Yea, I mostly want to see if that person I rescued made it in” I could hardly sit still in the passenger side “the rush I got from them thanking me had me feeling alive.”

“I hope they did! Sounds like you made a friend if they did.”

“I also wonder who’s the homeroom teacher!” I said as we slowed at the last stoplight before school “since it’s not Eraserhead anymore, I hope it’s one of your friends or some other notable alumni.”

“That’s a good question” Dad pondered “you have to let me and your mother know when you get home” he stops at the same place as last time “here’s your stop, have fun and make friends!”

“Okay dad” I took in a calming breath “I’ll see you later!”

To think my parents walked through the same doors, not knowing that they were going to end up like this? Now their daughter... I hope I’ll find my soulmate here too. I have a soft spot for the love my parents have for each other, you can just tell that they’ve been working on their love since before they actually started dating. I often catch them making out, give loving embraces after a hard day and care for each other in different ways. I want to be loved as hard as my dad loves my mom.

“Lili? Is that you?!” Maru’s voice broke my train of thought.

“Huh? Oh, Maru! Hi!”

“Hey! You made it in!” he gave me a tight hug and twirled “welcome to UA! If you want, I have time to walk you to class.”

“Oh sure” he puts me down “do you know where room 1-A is?”

“Sure do! It’s down over here” he leads me to the hero wing “wow A class huh? I thought the hero stuff wasn’t for you?”

“I thought so too” I shrugged “guess I just had to try and see for myself.”

“If you’re not busy at lunch, we can eat together too.”

“Don’t you have friends here Maru?” I snickered at him.

“You have to call me Midoriya-senpai around the others” he said trying to silence me “and I have to call you Iida-chan.”

“Eww fuck no” I gagged “sounds like you’re calling my dad chan! I’m going to call you Maru, and you have to call me Lili MAYBE Perla if I’m acting up.”

“Fine but I’m saying that I’m respected around here for being one the top students” he bragged as he put his hand on my head “and you’re just a little bitty baby still!”

“Ah! Get yo hand off my hair” I tickle his side to retract his hand “looks like this is my class, see ya later!”

“You don’t play fair Lili” he waved me off “have fun.”

 I walk in and see a few people already there, I looked around for my seat and mine is number 4. I set my bag down and get approached by someone.

“Um hi, you probably don’t recognize me but I’m the person you rescued at the exam” shakily spoke the person “I didn’t get a chance to say, but my name is Hoshi Togata.”

I looked at them and something was oddly familiar about them, like I knew them before the exam “Oh you made it in! I was worried if you placed and if you recovered well.”

“You were worried about me?” they blushed “well, I recovered just fine. My arm was broken but Nurse Eri healed me before I was supposed to go home.”

The bell rang and we all sat in our seats, Hoshi sat behind me.

“Good Morning class! And welcome to UA, my name is-”

“BAHAHA NO WAY!” I bursted into laughter “Yo we got Diaper Boy as homeroom teacher?!” 

“My name isn’t Diaper Boy!”

“Oh I’m sorry, Diaper Man!”

Our teacher rubbed his temples “Anyways, my name is Grape Juice but you can call me Mineta sensei.” He gave me a stern look “Miss Iida, I trust you’ll behave like your father.”

“Don’t compare me to that Turbo Rectangle!”

“It’s like listening to your mother in your father’s body” he muttered.

Once we went through a whole day of classes, Hoshi and I walk around.

“You know Togata, you look oddly familiar and it’s bothering me a bit.”

“How?” they sweat a bit “I’m just one of the boys!”

“Hmmm, I feel like we met before the exam” I rubbed my chin “but I can’t quite remember, we were probably children when it happened.”

“Well, actually” he put some thought into it “I was thinking the same thing sort of, would it help if I told you my dad is Lemillion?”

“Oh shit! It’s coming back to me!” I was wide eyed as we head to the parking lot “yea! They have 2 boys and a girl my age. OH THAT’S WHO! I was thinking about your sister, how is she by the way?”

“Oh ummm I don’t have a sister” the smile on his face disappeared as he said that.

“Huh? Maybe I was-” I hear a car honk, it was mom “oop, gotta go! See you tomorrow!”

I hop in the car and waved bye. I told my family of my school day and my mom couldn’t stop laughing at the fact that their school-mate Mineta was the homeroom teacher. But as I was getting ready for bed, one thing was bothering me... where did I see Hoshi before?

-Chapter 1, End-

Next>  

[officiallyerika]

The F*&k Brexit Tour - Paris.

Oct 2nd

Up at 6am and out the door at 6:30 for my first day back teaching for ICMP in London. After meeting all my new students for the year and teaching a full day, I jump in my car and go straight to Panic Studios for a rehearsal in the evening. I meet Collette (drums) and Yue (guitar) there and we have good and full rehearsal, we pretty much get through all the songs. Having been on strict vocal rest for the weekend and early in the week due to sickness I was glad I was able to sing through all the songs gently and without pain, what a relief!!  Late night drive home and tucked up in bed by 1am.

Oct 3rd

I wake a little later today after yesterday’s long day and get to packing the van for the tour, everything but what I need for tonight’s rehearsal. I love a list this really helps me try to make sure I have everything I need… the only problem is… everything is in storage, as Mark and I are house building…so trying to find everything is another story…. Luckily the last 3 things on my list (extension cables, European adaptors and a blow up bed) miraculously appear. St Anthony is on my side! (there’s the irish in me!). Then off to ICMP to teach another class at 1pm and then off to another rehearsal in the evening at 5pm. We run through the set and any trickier songs and we are READY!!!! Check out the video below.

Oct 4th -  PARIS, Host: Noucky. HOLY FLAT.

Yue & Collette’s alarm goes off at 5am, mine admittedly a little later, as I wake I mumble “Oooh my EP is released today…. “ but no time to dwell or sleep in…We must finish packing the van with all our rehearsal gear and cases and 6:30 we 3 are off in my van into commuter land to get on the Eurotunnel. We arrive with 5 mins spare and go straight onto the train…. Phew! Made it!  All 3 of us already knackered, we close our eyes for what seems like 5 minutes and we have arrived in Calais. I enjoy driving through Europe, it’s the other side of the road for us brits, so I need to concentrate and as I go onto motorways and turn right into roads I have Yue and Collette be my eyes too! Once in Paris the madness begins, cobbled roundabouts on roundabouts, people on hired scooters careering round, it’s like a sophisticated Mad Max movie!! Having grown up & driven in London, I’m well up for the madness.

We arrive at Holy Flat of Noucky and we are welcomed with delicious tea, warm hugs and kindness. We have a little chat and then start to process of unpacking the van, loading in and setting up for tonight’s show. The apartment is on the 6thfloor with lovely views over Paris and sports park, the living room where the show is, is lined with a lovely balcony with overflowing foliage and greenery it’s the perfect way to start this tour!! Once set up we pop to a Monoprix get some scrummy food, get totally overcome with excitement of all the delicious food and veg there is and get too much (always). We picnic back at the house whilst guests are arriving.

8pm the show begins, we begin with Junkie on body percussion – the audience were wonderful they sang, they tapped, nodded, I saw someone scribbling on a note pad (later found out they were sketching us!), lovers kissed passionately. There was a lovely connection in the room as the sun went down over Paris, it was the perfect place to kickstart the European Tour and also to mark the day of the digital release of my EP, Bugeisha. We finished the set with Wonderful, but were persuaded to do another song, so we did an old song of mine from when I was known as iMMa. The song was I’m Just a Nobody reworked acoustically and wow was I glad to as Noucky and her friend did the most beautiful dance to it (click on hyper link to see). Noucky led as she moved intuitively to the music and watching her made me sing in a different way almost like there was a conversation through body and voice. It was so special, a real gift.

After the show we all drank Champagne to celebrate the release of Bugeisha EP, I chatted to the guests and some bought some merch, when I turned around to pack down, the lovely Yue and Collette had done all the hard work. Thank you ladies… At 12:15 Collette reminded me that the car park we were supposed to park in over night closed at that time… oh well… figure that out…. All the lovely guests of Noucky and Noucky herself, helped descend to the van with all our equipment as we chucked it all in and waved goodbye as we drove to my dear friend Geraldine’s home where we were to stay the night via the Tour Eiffel, which in true Parisienne style I plonked myself at the edge of the roundabout and took a photo of the girls!!.

We found the car park we were supposed to stay in… which was closed…. And finally we found a space for the van in a little road in Paris, anyone who knows Paris knows that trying to find a parking space for a car is like finding unicorn poo…let alone a long wheel based van! But alas, we found one and right around the corner…. These 3 tired girls having been awake for over 18 hours were relieved to find a big hug, beds made and pillows ready for our weary heads. 

Part 2 coming soon.....

[travllingbunny]

The 100 rewatch: 1x02 Earth Skills

I’m a new fan of The 100, who first binged it last year, August to November. This is my first full rewatch of the show. I was planning to start it anyway and finish it before the season 6 premiere on April 30, and when I saw that Fox Serbia was airing a rerun (Monday to Friday, 40 min. after midnight, with repeats the next day), starting on 1st February, it was a great opportunity to start my rewatch in HDTV on my beautiful new TV. I decided to do write-ups and tag other fans on SpoilerTV website, as I did when I was first watching the show. But my posts turned into full blown essays. So, finally, after over a week, I’ve realized: Why don’t I post them on my Tumblr blog, too? I’ll copy my write-ups of the first 7 episodes, and then I’ll post my rewatch posts after I watch each episode. (The next one, 1x08, is on Monday’Tuesday.)

Spoilers below for all 5 seasons of the show. I go of on a tangents and make a lot of references to future events.

...........................

The first 2 episodes of season 1 are its weakest, just as I remember them. But initially I thought episode 1x02 was worse - I had mixed feelings about the Pilot, but then really disliked the second episode. This time, however, the Pilot was much worse than I remembered it, while this episode was... well, pretty much the same, but I enjoyed it more this time. Because, when I first watched the Pilot, I focused on all the new info on the show's premise, the setting, the universe, the SciFi stuff, and pretty much ignored all the cringey early teen soapy stuff (which I didn't even remember). But then the second episode came, and all the cringey teen soapy stuff in that episode just came right at me and annoyed the heck out of it. So this time, I already remembered it, so I could focus on other things.

BTW, I need to have good laugh at the often stated claim that The 100 doesn't focus on romance or do much romance or set up ships. The show does romance all the time. There are ships all over the place, but most of them pretty much suck, especially since most of them are poorly written insta-romances. And these early episodes are full of various romances and potential romances, and love triangles (which some people say the show has stopped doing... except it never did - *cough season 5 *cough* - but at least it scaled back on it a bit). 

Now don't misunderstand me - I don't mind that there's a lot of that, what I did mind is how badly all of that was written in these early episodes. Later, the show did lose most of its early CW-ness and start doing romantic plots better, in some cases at least. (But it also started doing them even worse, in some other cases.)

Rating: 4.5/10

First introduction of Raven, and she immediately shows that she's smart, capable and awesome. At this point, she seems almost perfect, but we know she was just initially meant to be a temporary supporting character and romantic obstacle for Finn/Clarke. We find out that she's the youngest zero G engineer in 52 years. She's also the first person to figure out that the Delinquents aren't dying, but simply taking their trackers off. How come this never crossed the minds of any of the Ark leaders? They came off a bit dumb here.

First meaningful interactions between Abby and Raven - the start of their friendship/pseudo-mother daughter relationship. Abby enlists Raven to fix an old escape pod so she(Abby) could get to the ground. Raven insists she will go, too, since she also has a loved one there. Multiple mentions of her boyfriend, and I can now see the big hints with the origami that Finn is that boyfriend. I missed that the first time, which is lucky, or I would have hated this episode even more, for trying to set up more than one annoying insta-love-triangle involving Finn and Clarke. I think this is the first time we get a mention of a year? But not the year when the show takes place. The escape pod is a 130 year old piece of junk that was found when they rescued MIR-3 in 2102. At least that gives us an idea of what century it is. ( The 100 wiki has a timeline and says the year is 2149, IIRC, but I don't know where that info is from.) I remember that Clarke, Abby and Raven were my favorite characters by far, followed by Monty, and pretty much the only characters I really liked (I was intrigued by Bellamy, and to a lesser extent Octavia, but I didn't exactly like them), since they were the only characters doing smart and good and pragmatic stuff and trying to save people. Then later, during season 1, Raven fell down a few places in my rankings, because I was so frustrated with her moping over Finn. Well, Wells was OK, but I didn't like some things they were doing with him here. One of the things I remembered best from this episode is that it clumsily tried to set up a Wells/Clarke/Finn love triangle, and that it made me roll my eyes so much. And for whatever reason, Bellamy was the one to talk about it to Wells and go on about how Clarke supposedly doesn't see Wells next to Finn, blah blah. Octavia isn't the only Blake with cringey dialogue anymore. Sorry, I'm gonna go on a mini-rant. Why was it necessary for the show to imply that Wells was in love with Clarke? You know how some people claim that the show is so into platonic male/female friendships (which somehow always is all about Clarke and Bellamy, because other male and female characters on the show aren't ever friends or something)? Yeah, right. Clarke and Wells were BFFs from childhood, grew up together - if you're looking for a "sibling-like" relationship between people on the show who are not related, that's the closest thing to it, but apparently, Wells couldn't have done all those sacrifices for Clarke if he wasn't in love with her. Right? But Clarke only sees him as a BFF, and he is so important to her... that the show had her mourn him for about 10 minutes in episode 4 after he was killed, and then never mention him again. If they ever actually wanted a great completely platonic, sibling-like close relationship between a man and a woman, that was a great opportunity. But they obviously didn't care. And speaking of people who grew up together and refer to each other as family, so they would therefore fit the idea of sibling-like relatively well (unlike Clarke and Bellamy, who didn't even know each other or interact with each other till they were 23 and almost 18, respectively)... well, there's also Finn and Raven. Who are also boyfriend and girlfriend. Kinda weird. I wonder when the writers decided to kill of Wells. I think it definitely was only after this episode, because this episode spends a lot of time building up Wells as a heroic character and setting up that love triangle that never goes anywhere, because Wells dies in 1x03. I think that, if the writers were at all planning an "endgame" (though I hate that word) love interest for Clarke, it was probably Wells at this point, because I don't think they were considering Bellamy that way at this point, and Finn, while clearly meant as the initial love interest, has False Romantic Lead written all over him. I sometimes wonder what the show would look like if they hadn't killed off Wells. I think Finn's "peacemaker" role in season 1b was probably planned for Wells. But I'm really relieved that we didn't get a love triangle that's all "Unlucky Childhood Friend/nice guy in unrequited love with a girl who is into another guy who is charming but kind of a jerk/cheater, until she finally realizes he's the one for her", because I hate that trope so much. Sorry, Finn lovers, if any of you are reading this - but Finn comes off even worse on rewatch than he did when I watched it the first time. He was always a guy who's just there and whose only interest seemed to be following Clarke around and flirting with her, but his time I'm noticing things like, even when he does good things, he only does them after he's realized Clarke would like him to do it, and tries to make himself look good and be the guy that she needs in her life. When I first watched this, I just had profound indifference towards him, which grew into active annoyance in this episode. And I didn't even realize at the time that he had a girlfriend on the Ark. Or that, after Clarke shamed him for not wanting to come and help rescue Jasper, he only changed his mind and came after Clarke had made Bellamy join the rescue party. My annoyance was initially mostly because of the scene where they are on the way to finding Jasper and saving him, and Finn decides to instead convince Clarke that she's wound up too tight and should just relax and they should splash each other with water. Which would be OK, if Jasper wasn't potentially dying. Priorities? And there was also his pop psychology where he tells Clarke that she is so desperate to save Jasper because she couldn't save her father, and we're obviously supposed to see it as super--meaningful. Is it just me that thinks that wanting to save people in general, and especially those you know, is a normal human reaction? Which is why Clarke was the character I immediately liked and related to. And also why this scene annoyed me so much. My feelings on it are exactly the same now, except maybe now I'm not sure that the show ever even meant for the Finn/Clarke pairing to be seen as an especially good one. Meanwhile, it seems that the show staff had realized between the Pilot and the second episode that Bob was super hot, so now Bellamy gets to be shirtless and with ruffled hair that looks much better on him, and is just friendly parting from some random Delinquent girl he's had sex with and who never appears again. I guess the casual sex (and later threesomes) were supposed to be a part of his 'bad boy' persona, since it pretty much stopped once the show started making him into a more heroic figure. Even though there's actually nothing wrong about single people having casual sex for pleasure, so it's not like that marks him as 'bad'. (The show, however, seemed less judgy about casual sex in later seasons, so I don't know.) However, he does a lot of other thing in this episode that are actually bad, like making the kids take off their wristbands so they'll have food, or acting dictator-like ("I will not be disobeyed") and over-protective of Octavia, including punishing Atom for making out with her. I didn't hate Bellamy early on as many did, but he frustrated me a lot, and was definitely at his most annoying in 1x02. However, I always had a lot of leeway for both him and Octavia, no matter how annoying they acted at this point, because of their backstory. And now I can even understand his over-protectiveness a bit better, knowing hat happened the last time he tried to let Octavia enjoy life. Much of the episode was about Octavia trying to find a guy to make out with, and specifically trying to make Atom (the guy Bellamy charged with protecting her). make out with her. She's being a huge brat at this point, but it's understandable - she was isolated, under the floor and locked up, all her life, and now she wants to be free and enjoy it. One interesting moment is when she told Atom: "Wall won't stop what's out there, we need weapons" - which is the first time she sounded like later Octavia. But her later love of fighting also makes sense for her character - fighting, especially with bare hands or cold weapons, is an energetic activity that produces an adrenaline rush, kind of like sex/making out. The scene where she chases butterflies in the woods and then makes out with Atom was one of the most visually beautiful. It looked very romantic, in the sense of enjoying life and nature. Not in the sense of actual romance, unless by 'romance' one means 'making out with a random person you met a day ago and barely know.' But to be fair, even Octavia's upcoming big OTP romance with Lincoln began with little more than physical attraction, and she knew him even less than Atom by the time they hooked up. The best interactions Ocfavia had in the episode were with Monty - the start of one of the better, underrated m/f genuinely platonic friendships on the show. This exchange was quite interesting: Monty: "Living under the floor all your life, it's amazing that you're not a complete basket case". Octavia: "Who says I'm not?" Monty was really cool in this episode - while Octavia was having some drama with Atom and some other guy, he was like "quiet, guys, I'm working" and was just calmly working on trying to make radio communications with the Ark possible. A bit more backstory on him and Jasper: they obviously have known each other for a long time, and Monty compares his relationship with Jasper to the Blakes, saying that Jasper may not actually be his brother but they are just as close. However, the Blakes aren't really like a regular sibling relationship, it's one of those sibling relationships (like Katniss/Prim in The Hunger Games) where the elder sibling had to grow up early and take care of the younger, so it's more like a parent/child relationship. Which is really one of the main problems of their relationship - Bellamy sees Octavia almost as his child and is extremely protective and sacrificial (the way we otherwise see parents act towards their children in The 100), and Octavia is constantly rebelling against him as kids rebel against authority. First significant interaction between Monty and Clarke, too. When Wells and Monty volunteer to save Jasper, Clarke tells Monty to stay behind because he's too important for the group's survival - he was raised on a Farm station, trained as an engineer. "food and communications. What's up here (*touches his head*) is going to save us all". (And how right she was!) That's some good, smart, pragmatic thinking - and she also managed to convince him without having to say that he also wouldn't be the most useful in a fight. I notice so many gender stereotypes in how the characters are written in these early episodes, more than the show usually has afterwards. Jasper and Monty were constantly talking about impressing girls in the Pilot, Jasper thought Finn had "game", and in this episode, we constantly have women shaming men into doing things by implying they would look weak or cowardly otherwise. Octavia tries to make Atom let her make out with guys/make out with her by saying he would be her brother's "bitch" otherwise (when did she learn to talk like that? I guess, during those two-three days on Earth?). Clarke tells Finn how disappointed she is that he refuses to join the rescue party, calling him a coward. (Though Monty shames Finn, too, saying "Jasper looked up to you". Which doesn't mean much, since the reason Jasper looked up to him is because he thought Finn was good at impressing girls.) And then Clarke makes Bellamy join the rescue party by implying he will look scared in front of the others/less brave than she is, otherwise (though that was more about Bellamy having to maintain authority in the group - which he needs for his own reasons), Then Bellamy enlists his sidekick Murphy to come, too. Murphy: "What are we doing? I didn't think we were in the rescuing business." Oh, you have no idea. The interactions between Bellamy and Clarke in this episode were quite interesting. I didn't ship them at this point, but I know now that some people already did, and I can see why. The scenes where they are into each other's faces and being antagonistic... well, this is the scene where Clarke says she will never take off the wristband, and Bellamy calls her "Brave princess" sarcastically (?):

What are you doing here, Bellamy? If he means to try to be snarky or antagonistic, he's not doing a good job, because "Brave princess" is not an insult, it sounds like he's impressed by her. (Which he probably is, though I'm not sure he's aware of it yet.) I'm sure he thinks she should hate her, because she is making things difficult for him and she's one of the privileged high class people from the Ark. That's what Bellamy means, at least at first, when he calls her "princess" - he's not using that nickname to flirt with her, like Finn. At least, I'm sure he does't mean to flirt. But... he kind of looks like he's flirting. I think, at this point, he's really, really confused.

And that's exactly the moment when Finn comes along, finally having decided to join the party, and says "Come up with your own nickname". Finn seems very possessive over... that nickname.

Later when they find Jasper, he gets all take-chargey and tells Wells to keep an eye on Bellamy, and Murphy to come help him take Jasper down from the tree. I can't help but think of another, far less successful and very unfortunate rescue mission, in season 2, where Murphy will also end up as Finn's reluctant sidekick.

I love the way that Bellamy acts like he's so ruthless (which he probably believes himself to be, much more than he actually is), when he tells Murphy he will take Clarke's wristband off even if he has to cut off her arm to do it...but then later, when she almost falls into the pit full of spikes, he instinctively grabs her arm and saves her life - and then has the look on his face "What did I just do? What am I doing? Why I am doing this?" He really is confused.

Early season 1 Bellamy is such a hot mess. Kind of like Clarke will end up being a hot mess in season 5, and similarly impulsive, emotionally damaged and preoccupied with just protecting their "child" while ignoring the big picture, while season 1 Clarke/season 5 Bellamy are acting pragmatically while trying to save everybody. They've really switched roles. And I expect season 6 Bellamy to help Clarke to get back to who she used to be, just as Clarke helped him find himself in season 1.

I love the song "Can't Pretend" by Tom Odell, which closes this episode. (I'll be seeing him in concert in a week.) But I didn't initially even notice it in the episode - I only paid attention to it when I saw some The 100 fanvideos with it. It's too emotional and the lyrics don't really fit either of the rather shallow romances (Finn/Clarke and Octavia/Atom) whose scenes it covers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUmtXzuSGu8

[shiftyskip]

My Grandpa’s Diary- Pete Rakiewicz

Keep in mind this is boring. My grandpa didn’t do much during the World War. He didn’t jump out of an airplane, drop bombs, or kill anyone. He owned a monkey named Cheetah (because she cheated at cards) and killed time. But war isn’t always insteresting, sometimes it’s boring one side.

But I found his diary and it’s one of the only things of his other than his wartime harmonica than I have left of him. I thought I’d share it with you.

4/7/45 Saturday

It's been one full year on this island today (Oh, Brother)

Orientation at 1300 hours. Played poker, won about seven bucks. Took a shower, shaved, washed items of clothes, & brushed teeth - all in 20 min. Wrote a 3-pager to Pugs. Listened to Hit Parade. No. 1 song, Accentuate the Positive, was sung by Lawrence Tibbetts & it was murder no end! Sold ½ case of beer for Four Checks. Hit the hay at lights out.

4/8/45 Sunday

Went to church & communion, made Easter duty, last service of Father Neagle. Rec'd letters from Janie & Marion & 2 from Pugs. Wrote to Janie & Marion. Had tough time getting a vehicle from motor pool. Drove down to hospital to see Bearman, stayed 10 min, returned to area in time to see movie "And Now Tomorrow" starring Alan Ladd & Loretta Young. Did some bookkeeping. Hit the hay just before lights out.

4/9/45 Monday

Read Time, Look, Pic, Yank magazines. Forgot Novena & class in practical electricity. Rec'd letters from Johnny & Pugs. Wrote Pugs a 3-pager. Drank one beer just before lights out. Insect made noise like a riveting machine, spent 15 min. tracking it down with flash-light, threw pest out the door. Hit the hay no earlier than 2330 hours.

4/10/45Tuesday

Read new Time magazine. Watched part of basketball game - then the lights all over the place dimmed out - generator trouble. Saw movie "Ministry of Fear" with Ray Milland & Marjorie Reynolds - she sure is a sharp looker. That's against my motto 'cause I don't go for blondes. Wrote to Johnny. Hit the hay at 2230.

4/11/45 Wednesday

BUSY DAY - BUSY DAY

Used rake on movie area. Grenade range - expended but one, which took up rest of morning. Miller, our driver, nearly got done away with thru his own carelessness of course. He pulled ring, released lever, prepared to throw it while it was sizzling. Lucky for him he didn't hold it long enough to explode.Socked the new punching bag till my arms nearly fell off. Put together the parts & pieces of a grenade to keep as a souvenir.

4/11/45

Saw good movie "Hollywood Canteen" with millions of stars & Joan Leslie & Bob Hutton. She's awfully nice-looking -- my ideal of a girl friend. Was part of a general discussion session which was held after the movie in the mess hall. C.O. gave main points on TDRR&R & rotation. Questions asked were answered to the best of his ability. My choice was TDRR&R, the technical army name which in all respects is just a furlough with immediate return to same overseas outfit. Hit the hay at 2310 hours.

4/12/45 Thursday

Mess hall inspected by a General (Gilbreath) was not to his liking. Later, Bn, C.O. looked it over and also found it the same way. Fixed water barrels. Sprayed oil to kill grass around our barracks. Went to movie, saw"Greenwich Village" (Don Ameche - Vivian Blaine), "The Fighting Lady" story of a carrier narrated by Lt. Bob Taylor, U.S.N.R. a short on the birth of a B-29 Superfort. Wrote 3-pager to Pugs. Hit the hay at 2310 hours.

4/13/45 Friday

Last nights movie took in more than three hours. During the night, a detail worked on mess hall so it could pass the inspection tomorrow. Col. Trower is expected to be the inspector. Cleaned our barracks also for the inspection & we better pass 'cause I sure don't like working on Sunday. Punched the bag again till the arms nearly fell off. Finished Lesson 12 in bkkg. It's ready for mailing. Had a slight storm, rain came in sudden burst came in buckets and just sudden it stopped. Wonderful place for fishes in this place. Saw movie "Mark of the Whistler", Richard Dix. It was sort of a stinkeroo, just as bad as Lawrence Tibbett's singing. Wrote a two-pager to Bob's folks in answer to the letter of theirs that I received today. Have yet to write to the kid bro. Hit the hay at 2240 hours.

4/14/45 Saturday

Read "Valley of Silent Men" novel - pretty good.

Author James Oliver Curwood. Orientation 1300 hours. Passed inspection. which is a mystery to me. Paid in advance for Monday's beer. 6 bucks. Indulged in poker, came out a little ahead. Saw movie "Dark Waters" Merle Oberon, Franchot Tone - Fair. Missed Hit Parade. Listened to records in orderly room instead. Hit the hay sometime after 2300 hours.

4/15/45 Sunday

Yesterday received two letters one each from Pugs and Mom. Mom said she mailed radio & extra tubes to me, April 4. Dick may go home on leave (I hope so). Went to church, new priest, Father Kuhn.

Played softball, won 9-8 in extra inning. I stunk. Had three ice creams at P.X. Bought two Park lighters. Indulged in poker, came out a little ahead. Washed clothes. Didn't shave 'cause my face was a bit sunburned from this morning's softball game. Intended to take pictures but time flew too fast. Saw "Winged Victory" - fair. Should write a letter to Mom & to Pug but I'm too tired. Hit the hay at 2230 hours.

4/16/45 Monday

Stood memorial parade in honor of president's death. Had most of morning off, in which time I had my picture taken 3 times. Wrote to Dick, to Mom & a three-pager to Pugs. Had ice cream & cokes at P.X. Missed half of Novena. Saw movie "Rainbow Island" Dorothy Lamour & Eddie Bracken - fair. Hit the hay right at lights out.

4/17/45 Tuesday

Bought four tubes of Ipana, my favorite tooth paste, yes, yes. Watched basketball game. Bn won. It's about time the M.P.'s got beat. Saw movie "One Body Too Many" with Jack Haley, Jean Parker - fair. Wrote to Frank Powers. Hit the hay at 2130 hours.

4/18/45 Wednesday

For dinner we fried ourselves a steak with french fried potatoes & onions. Toasted my bread a bit and everything went swell with the beer I had stacked away. Didn't get any ice cream -- the line at the P.X. was from here to Madison Ave. Group was alerted last week, been packing ever since. Saw movie "I'll Remember April", Gloria Jean growed-up to nice proportions - fair. Played pinochle. Hit the hay at 2245 hours.

4/19/45 Thursday

Third time this week we had fresh sunny-side-up eggs. Had two bits worth of ice cream & coke. Sprayed oil to kill grass around barracks. Received letter each from Pugs, Mom, & Treble. Wrote a three-pager to Pugs. Gave five beers to Joe Bucher for nix on account of two of his buddies came to see him. Hit the hay no earlier than 2200 hours.

4/20/45 Friday

Wrote to Trebie. Saw movie "Keys of the Kingdom" Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell. Good, something on the order of "Going My Way." Had a bull session of memories on things we remembered most from back home. Hit the hay at lights out but didn't start chasing forty winks until about 2340 hours. Two pictures were good from the two rolls that were taken Sunday & Monday. (Give me strength)

4/21/45 Saturday

Read Reader's Digest. Orientation 1300 hours. Played softball against the officers, trimmed 'em alive. For myself I got one good double & a fielder's choice. Score 12-2. Washed a stack of clothes. No movie tonight for a change. Indulged in poker, was going O.K. till Kraft sat beside me. Then I lost 7 bucks. Forgot to listen to Hit Parade. Hit the hay at lights out.

4/22/45 Sunday

Went to church - 0830. Straightened my junk. Borrowed camera from Biff because we were doubtful about Bob's. Took pictures, one whole roll. Wrote to Bob's aunt & uncle in answer to letters of theirs I received yesterday. Heard Sammy Kayes's program. Turned in shoes for salvage. Got a serum shot in left arm. Hit the hay just at lights out.

4/29/45 Sunday

Co. now packing boxes. Special details only went out to work. Worked fifteen & one-half hours on Tuesday. Sprayed D.D.T. on clothes. Bought turtle-shell necklace for seven bucks - it's for Pugs. We were all set to move but the ship isn't docked as yet. Church service was given by a missionary, performed in our chapel. Been playing poker all along and I either won or came out even. Hope it continues to my benefit. All during the week we had it pretty easy - except MON. & Tues. when we tried to get ready for moving.

5/6/45 Sunday

Received letters from Janie, Bob, Moe, Bob's folks and Helen. Answered all except three of four from Pugs. Turned in roll of film to be developed next Tuesday. Saw quite a lot of movies - among them "Kismet" & "Murder My Sweet" - both were good. Received picture from Sailor Dick - he's changed a bit already. Also got a letter from Mom. It has to be answered today, Sunday. Haven't received radio as yet -- but I guess it's due in this week. Had training lectures all last week with afternoons off. Calisthenics gave me sore muscles - cadence exercise for twenty minutes all last week, Due to see "Guest in the House" tonight. Reveille was changed from 5:30 to 6:30 - good deal. Movie was changed to "Here Comes the Waves". Golly, that Bing can sing! Answered Mom's letter.

5/7/45 Monday

Played poker, lost a few bucks, then won to get back to my original thirty-five. Saw "Guest In the House" starring Ann Baxter, Ralph Bellamy - good picture, she did a nice bit of acting. Had more of same stuff of last week. Forgot to mention we had from seven to ten shots in the last ten days.

5/9/45 Wednesday

Packed all our stuff & equipment, emptied the barracks. The band played solid for us right in front of our company. Went to see three-fourths of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". Then we were called to the company area. Piled 100 fellows, duffel bags, packs etc. into cattle truck. Left at nine o'clock, boarded the Bluem Fontaine, a Dutch (?) ship, at ten.

5/10/45 Thursday

Docked at Tulagi in the morning. At sea sometime in the P.M. In the next two weeks we had air raid drills, exercises, long lines for P.X. & chow & you had to be a contortionist to find a decent place to park your carcass. Chow wasn't any too good. The hold was next to hell. I had five days of K.P. & it was murder.

5/24/45 Thurs.

Docked at Batangas, P.I. in anchorage. Hit the shore in "Ducks". Flips greeted us with joy. I caught a blister-rash which caused me a lot of agony. Made friends with Jon, Mary & Eusabio. Invited to a chicken dinner. It was good. The first three days we slept in pup tents - with centipedes crawling over our stomachs. Then we changed to pyramidals. The first thing I noticed was that most of the kids had jungle ulcers all over their legs. Then we moved to the Guadalupe ruins on the outskirts of Manila. It was another hill-camp almost like Guadalcanal.

6/4/45 to 7/16/45

Stayed in camp most of the time, saw quite o bit of movies. That lasted about 5 to 6 weeks. Then Ronnie introduced me to Lydia and you couldn't find me in camp. Her brother taught me basic tango and rhumba. Rec'd my radio in good condition. It came 7-7-45 or thereabouts. Also about this time, I rec'd the photo album from Pugs, filled it with pictures I had on hand.

[gobigorgohome2016]

Fitness Check: Tobacco Road Half Marathon

Race weekends are so weird. I will never understand how time can move so quickly, yet so slowly, in the span of 48 hours.  

Today I raced the Tobacco Road Half Marathon in Cary, North Carolina.  Everything about this weekend seemed to embody the dichotomy of fast and slow.  

I arrived in NC early Friday afternoon, around 11 AM.  I think this race was first on my radar because my teammate, Andie Cozzarelli, lives in Raleigh and mentioned it to me the last time she raced the Indy Monumental Marathon.  My main motivation for choosing races this year was to choose ones where I could win money.

In the past chasing cash has scared me, because I have been afraid of the gnawing anger / frustration / embarrassment / resentment when the race doesn’t go the way I had hoped, and I don’t win the money I had anticipated.  There is also a factor where trying to win money, and then losing it, makes it feel more real, and scary in a way.  Which is something I need to confront.  

Friday was a lot of fun. Andie and I went for a run, watched approximately 30,000 episodes of Friends, then went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in downtown Raleigh.  I had possibly the best seafood risotto I have ever tasted, paired with a delicious red wine.  Afterwards we watched more Friends.  What I love about my Haute Volee teammates is that they have pretty seamlessly filled the gap that was left after college during racing weekends.  Whenever Andie and I are together we run, do a little bit of work, watch some tv, eat, and talk to the point of exhaustion – just like my college days with my roommates.

Saturday I joined Andie for the end of her long run, then we headed over to the cutest coffee shop I have ever seen for a volee meet up.  A friend of mine who I hadn’t seen since high school lives in Raleigh, and we got together for lunch at a Japanese restaurant.  I ordered pho, solely for the reason that this time last year I went out to dinner with the ZAP Fitness team in Jacksonville and ate pho before running a PR.  

After parting ways with my friend, I took an uber to my hotel.  One of very few perks of Dave traveling all the time is that he can hook me up with Mariott hotels when I am out of town.  I was able to have a suite with a kitchen.  By the time I checked in at 2 PM, I only had 3 hours before the expo closed and I had to pick up my packet (no race day packet pick up).  I still needed another short run, and the expo was 2.5 miles away, so I naturally ran there.  Except, there was no sidewalk.  So I ran on the shoulder of a super busy and scary road.  #fail

By the time I got back to my hotel, I was pretty exhausted.  Even though I had really done nothing in the past 24 hours, I also felt like I had done everything.   I still needed to find some groceries, because I had already eaten the pre-race breakfast I had packed.  #secondfail

Grocery stores were really far away, but, Instacart exists in Cary!  Many struggles and 45 minutes of indecision later, I finally place my order for 18 larabars (literally), yogurt, two blood oranges, a box of instant oatmeal, 3 bananas, a beer, a dark chocolate bar, two kombuchas, and a small carton of orange juice.  Why did I order 18 larabars?  Well, I either could choose to pay $10 for delivery, or reach a certain threshold for free delivery.  18 larabars it was.  

I watched Loyola upset Tennessee, then excitedly got ready for bed because I was SO TIRED.  I had no idea the race was at 7 AM, which meant a 4 AM wake up call.  I turned off the lights at 9, but then COULDN’T FALL ASLEEP.  Normally, sleeping the night before a race is not a problem for me.  I wasn’t even thinking about the race, I just couldn’t fall asleep once I turned out the lights.  First the room was too hot.  Then I had to switch around my pillows.  Then I had to go to the bathroom.  Then the room was too cold.  Then every single person who walked down the hallway sounded like an elephant.  Then I started my period and was having cramps (seriously, my last 10 of 14 races I have started my period within 24 hours of the race.  It’s bizarre).  I remember looking at the clock at 2 AM and thinking to myself, just get 90 minutes of sleep.  

Even though I didn’t get a good night’s rest, I woke up feeling pretty good.  I had my breakfast and watched MTV.  I’ve had to give up coffee before races because I don’t think it does anything for me.  Instead, I drink green tea.  I packed a hand-made tea bag of roasted green tea that I bought in San Francisco for my morning cuppa.  

My friend, Tim, picked me up at 5 AM to head over to the start.  You know what’s cool about racing competitively?  You accumulate friends all across the country who are willing to do things like drive out of their way to pick you up.  

The next part is pretty standard:  talk with your runner friends while waiting for the start, use the porta potty 30 times, run warm up, do drills, take off clothes, pee in the woods because the porta potty line is too long, do some strides, get nervous, gun goes off, fall into rhythm.

Funny story:  the Tobacco Road is a crushed gravel trail. Basically, this race weekend was the most type B weekend of my life.  I had no idea it was a trail race because I didn’t read the website.  Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have done the race had I realized, but fortunately “trail” meant a nice crushed limestone / hard-packed dirt, tree-lined path.  

The course elevation map looked hilly.  I thought the race was going to be hilly.  Then people told me, no!  the course if very fast and flat!  I have determined that when you have a race in your hometown, you decide it is either the hardest, hilliest race in the country, or the flattest and fastest. Well, this race was neither.  The first 2.5 miles (and subsequently the final 2.5 miles) were moderate rollers, while the middle miles on the tobacco trail were long, gradual inclines / declines.  There were a few areas that were more treacherous than others, but nothing worse than that random gravel path we had to run down at the Trials.  

My plan had been to start at 5:45 effort and make adjustments as necessary.  Fortunately we warmed up on the first mile of the course so I realized that 5:45 effort was going to be significantly slower, because of both the wind and the hill.  My first mile was ~5:52 (I think).  I had overheard eventual race winner talking on the line with someone and make plans to go for 73ish min.  My plan was to let her go, then reassess the situation at 4 miles and figure out what I needed to do to catch her.  Meanwhile, within the first mile it became apparent there was going to be a struggle for second.  A woman was right with me, and surging hard to try and drop me.  

photo cred:  Andie.  Taken ~2.5 mi into the race before the wheels fell off

A big goal of mine this year has been to compete more.  To be honest, I don’t love this situation.  I am very comfortable running alone.  I don’t love to do battle at the time (of course if I come out on top I’ll tell you otherwise).  So, every time she made a surge, I went with her and then put in a surge of my own.  I did this 4 or 5 times before dropping her for good, around the 6 mile mark. Splits that I remember:  3 miles, 17:30, 4 miles:  23:04; 5 miles:  28:50, 6.6 miles:  38:00. The way back was a death march of sorts. I’m not sure what happened. Certainly the way back had more long, gradual climbs, which are not as easy for me as steep hills (they never have been; I think it’s just the way my body is built and the fact that I grew up training in the dunes).  Also, I definitely thought the wind was in my face on the way out, but it turns out it was most certainly in my face after the turnaround (there was talk of a shifting wind conspiracy.  I would have to agree).  

Something I noticed during the race was that I was far less concerned about where I was on the course because my only goal in the short term was to stay in 2nd place. I knew that I was gaining on first, but I was also on the struggle bus myself.  There was a very real feeling at mile 8 of just get through 1k at a time.  

Final finishing time: 1:17:43.  

Am I happy with that? No.  To be honest, I am pretty disappointed.  But, I also realize I am incredibly fortunate to be able to say that a sub-78 minute half marathon is a “disappointment,” especially when I earned enough money to cover a student loan payment, a car payment, and a couple weeks of groceries.  It’s also a matter of perspective.  When I was training for my PR marathon, I ran a 5 mile road race 7 weeks before Twin Cities. I ran 28:45 and was beyond ecstatic with a new PR.  Today, I went through 5 miles in 28:50 and still had 8.1 miles to go.  7 weeks out from the trials I ran 1:17:19 on a course that was flat and didn’t have gravel.  To quote Brene Brown, the middle is messy, but that’s where the magic happens.  

I have had quite a few setbacks recently.  It’s hard to acknowledge setbacks, but also not allow them to let you feel like you’re spiraling out of control.   

My coach reminded me today that I strive way too hard for perfection, when all I have to be is good.

Regardless, I asked Coach Dean if I could set up an appointment with him this week, because I think a mental game tune-up never hurts.  

Even though I consider myself a highly Type A person, I did a whole lot of Type B things this weekend:

-have no idea I was running a trail race

-have no idea what time the trail race started (there was a point in time where I banned myself from running 7 AM races because it requires waking up at 4 AM…)

-wait to get my bib number until the last possible minute, then get stuck running down a highway

-forget to grab my gels when I went to the starting line

The great thing, though, is that none of this bothered me.  I think there was a point in time where I would have freaked the f*ck out if any one of these things happened, let alone all of them.  

So, what would I have done differently?  Absolutely nothing.  77:43 is where I’m at right now.  It’s not the worst place in the world to be, that’s for sure.  I wish I was faster, but all I can do about that is keep working and making the right investments into my training.  

[thatgirlonstage]

Podcast Challenge 6/4/18

When I said I got home and collapsed and only wanted to listen to podcasts I wasn’t kidding between this morning, my commute, and me getting home this evening to do NOTHING I listened to HOURS AND HOURS of podcast today

Trying something new today-- here’s a list of podcasts that I’m listening to. Bolded ones are ones that I listened to episodes of today, while those with the strikethrough are the ones that I’m caught up with (and so I’m waiting for the next episode).

The Adventure Zone | Alice Isn’t Dead | The Bright Sessions | Can I Pet Your Dog? | Ear Hustle | The Flop House | The McElroy Brothers Will Be in Trolls 2 | My Brother, My Brother, and Me | Sawbones | Shmanners | The Thrilling Adventure Hour | Welcome to Night Vale | Within the Wires | Wonderful!

I apologize, when the post gets this long I’d normally put it under the cut, but readmores are still glitching -_- No one reblogs these, though, so at least you only have to scroll past it once

Podcast: The Thrilling Adventure Hour

Episode: #49.1: “Filibuster”: A word from WorkJuice Coffee

Time: 4 min, 9% of goal

Commentary:

“Keep this country great” oh boy that phrase has never been a good thing but these days it triggers my fight-or-flight response

Episode: #49.2: “Dressing Room”: A word from WorkJuice Coffee

Time: 2 min, 4% of goal

Commentary:

An abundance of flowers in a dressing room give me flashbacks

Episode: #50: Tales from the Black Lagoon, “The Search for Marnie Bennett” part 3

Time: 13 min, 29% of goal

Commentary:

Awwww Ben came back!!!

Episode: #51: Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars, “A Mind is a Terrible Thing... In Space!”

Time: 23 min, 51% of goal

Commentary:

I’m really falling in love with Croach and Nevada’s relationship. I don’t think I’m ready to fully articulate WHY it’s so good but there’s always something so compelling about people who are wildly different from one each other and don’t even particularly like each other but also would die for each other... even if they would never admit that.

Also I feel like we got a lot of foreshadowing and hints at backstory this episode???? I don’t really know how much things are going to be used in continuity - like the robot fists being a gift COULD mean something important in the future, or maybe it was just a throwaway joke, and “King of Mars” is either SUPER important or Nevada just pulling something out of his ass. But the Red Plains Rider backstory was new!!!! (I think.) Human raised by Martians? That’s so cool, and explains a lot about her character and her connection with Croach. I’m really hoping we get more about her backstory in the future.

Episode: #52: “Christmas on Mars”

Time: 1hr 28 min, 196% of goal

Commentary:

"Christmas, the most important of all human organs”

Oh my god it’s podcastception I love it. Does this mean Beyond Belief is just ghost stories on Mars?

There are parts of this episode that are perhaps, uh, shall we say playfully offensive, but I have to say the line “He took a pistachio in the war” is so much funnier than it has any right to be

Episode: #53: Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars, “War of the World”

Time: 23 min, 51% of goal

Commentary:

She’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. Rebecca Rose Rushmore is a hilarious character I hope she sticks around. Also I love that Croach’s wingman-ing was clearly him TRYING to be exceptionally considerate by trying to get Nevada laid by the best human woman he knows but so misguided lol

Podcast: Alice Isn’t Dead

Episode: (2) Mérida, Yucatán

Time: 4 min, 9% of goal

Commentary:

HOLY SHIT ALICE. Are we actually getting Alice talking in this season???? Are we getting more characters recording???? Are we going to hear from Sylvia in the third preview??

Podcast: The Flop House

Episode: Movie Minute #15 - Horn-nutz!

Time: 11 min, 24% of goal

Commentary:

This episode made me feel like I had bees crawling on me

Episode: #26 - 88 Minutes

Time: 49 min, 109% of goal

Commentary: 

“We are recording this the morning after Obama was elected president” 1. Oh my GOD this episode is from a long time ago 2. That sound in the distance is me sobbing

Al Pacino where did you go so wrong

Episode: Movie Minute #16 - Missed Connections

Time: 4 min, 9% of goal

Commentary:

ie, the millennial version of all those “killers on the phone” horror films because none of us answer the phone ever

Podcast: The Bright Sessions

Episode: S1E1: Patient #12-D-10 (Sam)

Time: 13 min, 29% of goal

Commentary:

Hmmmmm intriguing. A different take on time travel, one that eliminates most of the usual problems with paradoxes.

Also I love the cover art???

Episode: S1E2: Patient #11-A-7 (Caleb)

Time: 17 min, 38% of goal

Commentary:

I highkey do NOT agree that the witches took Macbeth’s free will, most interpretations are that he is manipulated into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Otherwise the story loses much of its interest. Also are you kidding I love Lady Macbeth.

I love this character though, I love the idea of a teenage boy, which can be such an emotionally repressed demographic, as an empath. That’s such a cool subversion.

Episode: S1E3: Patient #13-A-3 (Chloe)

Time: 14 min, 31% of goal

Commentary:

I like Chloe she’s so bubbly!! Also though “If properly trained, she could be one of my most promising subjects” is... a TAD ominous. Promising for... WHAT, exactly?

Episode: S1E4: Patient #12-D-10 (Sam)

Time: 17 min, 38% of goal

Commentary:

WHO IS MARK

WHAT KIND OF ASSET. WHY DO YOU NEED ASSETS

WHY SO INSISTENT THAT SHE CAN’T TELL ****ANYONE****

I’M NOT SURE I TRUST YOU DR. BRIGHT

Episode: S1E5: Patient #11-A-7 (Caleb)

Time: 19 min, 42% of goal

Commentary:

So like Caleb and Adam are definitely gay and become boyfriends later right

Also oooooooh hints at backstory, Caleb is in therapy because he got overwhelmed with anger and hit somebody. I don’t know if this podcast would do this yet, but I’m hoping maybe for a flashback episode where we get his first session? It’s an interesting choice to have both Sam and Chloe be just starting but start Caleb at Session 9

Episode: S1E6: Patient #13-A-3 (Chloe)

Time: 14 min, 31% of goal

Commentary:

1. Chloe is going to get herself in trouble

2. I’m not sure that Bright should be ENCOURAGING Chloe to get better at voluntarily READING MINDS, that’s... a pretty extreme invasion of people’s privacy

3. Soooooooo who’s Damien hmmmmm

Podcast: Can I Pet Your Dog?

Episode: 2: Corgi Beach Day

Time: 35 min, 78% of goal

Commentary:

“We all made it back for episode 2!”

Travis: “Well it’s my house”

One of my dad’s old friends has a dog who “had a career change” after they didn’t make the cut as a guide dog, but the dog still occasionally does guide-doggy stuff. So like for instance, if she’s out running and drifts too close to the curb, the dog will bump her side to push her back onto the sidewalk

Podcast: Wonderful!

Episode: 4: Good As Hell

Time: 50 min, 111% of goal

Commentary:

Yessssssssss The Good Place is so good. It was actually a tweet Justin made about it that convinced me to check it out, I’m really glad Griffin likes it too

Rachel the 20-minute power nap skeptic should meet my mom, she doesn’t even need the 20 minutes. Her power naps are 2 minutes long and she gets up from them more awake than I am after eight hours of sleep

Podcast: My Brother, My Brother, and Me

Episode: 122: In Your Tarzan Boy

Time: 1hr 6 min, 147% of goal

Commentary:

Okay that girl legit has a stalker and I really really hope she did something like call the actual police about this problem and didn’t just write into a comedy podcast because YIKES

Total Listening: 7hr 46 min, 1036% of goal

[calorieworkouts]

71 Resources to Run Better Today

Runners rejoice: We're identifying National Running Day with greater than a jog around the block. Right here are 71 resources to provide motivation, aid prevent injury, and also make us faster. Take a read and afterwards struck the roads!

The Starting Line

1. Ways to Run Your Finest 5K Ever before [Infographic] Wish to run a 5K, but not exactly sure where to begin? Here's your go-to overview of run that perfect very first race!

2. The best ways to Run Your Best Half-Marathon Ever [Infographic] Whether it's your first or your fiftieth half-marathon, why not make it your ideal race? Check out on for everything you require to learn about training, fueling, as well as running right in this best training quick guide from Greatist.

3. The Ultimate Jogger's Guide [Infographic] Looking to strike the roadway (or trail)? Our Ultimate Runner's Guide has all the required info to maintain you going solid, from warm-ups and racing tips to devices and training.

4. 30 Convincing Needs to Begin Running Now We Know: Operating can be harder compared to it appears. Thankfully, we've obtained 30 kick-butt factors to leave that couch and out the door.

5. I Want To… Run a 5K! Running isn't really for everyone, yet with this beginner-friendly program, that 5K goal is well within reach.

6. I Want To ... Run a Half-Marathon Conquered the 5K and searching for a new difficulty? Continue reading for a sure-fire plan to deal with the 13.1-mile range as well as have a good time doing it. Half-marathon, right here we come!

7. How to Take a breath for Every Kind of Exercise Breathing could seem like a piece of cake, however when it comes time for exercise, method is every little thing. Learn the finest method to take a breath for each bodily activity from running to basketball to stamina training.

8. The Runner's Overview of Stop and also Treat Blisters Bad blisters are sufficient to spoil any run and keep even one of the most established joggers from hitting the pavement for some time. Keep reading for the need-to-know on ways to avoid, alleviate, and also stand out those pesky fools-- the risk-free means.

9. Ways to Quit Muscular tissue Pains In Their Tracks Cramps, stitches, as well as spasms-- oh my! They sure hurt, but can we stop the discomfort or stop them from occurring in the first place?

10. Know Before You Go: Mud Runs Moving through mud slicks, jumping over hay bales, and also running for miles? Except the faint of heart, mud runs are a significant full-body workout.

11. Know Prior to You Go: Route Running Ready to breathe of fresh air and damage up the running regimen? Learn all you should know previously hitting the trail!

12. 15 Things You Really did not Understand about Olympic Steeplechase As well as you assumed simple running was hard. Find out about steeplechase, an Olympic race that has athletes hurdling and jumping via water pits!

13. 15 Things You Really did not Understand about Olympic 200 Meter Dash Dashing isn't merely for the seasoning shelf. Inspect our 15 truths on the 200 meter dash-- the middle youngster of Olympic sprinting. We have actually experienced the reduced below Usain Bolt's world record run to the event's origins.

14. Interval Training for Newbies Slow and steady does not constantly win the race. Three Greatist Employee and also among our Professionals signed up with forces to check out programs for interval newbies and also veterans alike.

15. The Ultimate Overview to Running Lingo Every person understand joggers are a little, well, various. It's no surprise they have a language all their very own. Continue reading to learn the distinction in between a Public Relations as well as a BQ, as well as merely what the hell a fartlek is!

16. Poster: I Don't Run, I Run Intend to show the globe your passion for running? Have a look at Greatist's new inspirational poster, readily available for sale on the main Greatist Shop.

Hitting the Road

17. The Full Overview to Interval Educating [Infographic] The total quick guide to interval training: targeting maximum weight loss via high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

18. 25 Ways to Run Faster Now Feeling the need for rate? Below are 25 ways to run quicker this year as well as gain that brand-new PR. Ready, established, go!

19. The A lot of Typical Running Injuries and How you can Avoid Them Are you a runner? Yes. Have you been wounded? Most likely. Learn regarding one of the most typical running injuries and ways to aid stop them in their tracks (or trails).

20. 17 Ways to Experience Even more Out of Cardio Locating the time and power for cardio isn't easy. There are methods to get more out of those mins. Continue reading for easy-to-implement and research-backed workout tips.

21. 5 Tips for a Hassle-free Marathon Marathons are hard, however how you prepare the day-of is just as important as the run itself. Here are 5 ways to make certain you do your best from running trainer Jason Fitzgerald.

22. Alcohol and also Exercise: One Route Jogger's Journey Is it possible to balance a crazy night life (liquor!) with a passion for remaining fit? Greatist spoke to expert mixologist and award-winning path runner Bryan Dayton on how you can live healthy and balanced, regardless of the drink.

23. Lauren Fleshman On Operating, Blogging, as well as Globe Domination When encountered with a difficult injury and a lengthy recuperation period, professional 5K-er Lauren Fleshman experienced hectic. Three years later on, she's still running her must-read blog site, making allergy-friendly protein bars, as well as, that's right, running. Review on for the complete story.

24. The 21 The majority of Astonishing Themed Races There's a perfect race for every person-- competitive eaters, perverts, and wine lovers alike. Look into our top 21 choices that'll actually knock your socks off. On your marks, ready, go!

25. My Minute-by-Minute Interval Workout Greatist's own creator shares his favorite period run exercise, minute-by-minute (or sprint by sprint).

26. Up, Up, and also Away: The 35th Yearly Empire State Structure Run-up Greatist contributing author Emily Milam tested herself (as well as gravity) in the 35th Realm State Structure Run-up. Continue reading for her journey scaling one of the globe's most famous landmarks.

27. 5 Fun Winter season Treadmill Workouts Learn how to enjoy (or at the very least like) the treadmill this winter! We're giving the often-dreaded health club device an additional spin with these fun, certifiably not dull workouts.

28. Christopher Brisley Could Run 100 Miles Challenge hasn't already quit this ex-Royal Navy. From finishing 100-mile go to inspiring thousands to obtain energetic themselves, we talked to Christopher Brisley about his own fitness, wellness, as well as happiness.

29. Stairway to Hell: Competing Up The Empire State Building One individual fitness instructor's account of the hardest race of his life: from all-time low to the top of the Empire State Structure walking (that's 86 tales and also 1,576 steps in much less compared to 15 minutes!).

30. Why All Runners Should Strength Train Exactly what's the crucial to remaining injury-free? Family factor Jason Fitzgerald damages down why strength training is so crucial for joggers today.

31. There's Running, then There's High 5 Running Love to sweat, but hate sweating it alone? Join the High 5 Running Club and get all set to really feel the love from fellow joggers!

32. How you can Come to be a Much better, Stronger Life time Runner Running coach as well as marathoner Jason Fitzgerald shares his tips on making running a long-lasting habit.

33. Just how I Made use of CrossFit to End up being a Much better Runner Fitness instructor Jess Allen speaks about making use of CrossFit to improve her operating efficiency, and also just how viewers can apply the very same lessons to their training.

You Asked, We Answered

34. Can I Be Allergic to Running? Peanuts, pollen, as well as puppy dogs are typical allergic reaction sets off. Can running additionally be create for issue? Continue reading prior to running to the allergist.

35. What's the Ideal Method to Construct Endurance? Dropping flat throughout the final mile? Figured out how to improve endurance to assist feel very solid when crossing the finish line.

36. Can Excessive Cardio Hurt My Heart? When it involves cardio, is going the distance constantly a great point? Figure out if those additional miles might actually be doing even more harm than excellent in the lengthy run.

37. Could Operating at Night Make You Faster? Some points go bump in the night, but is your running pace one of them? Keep reading to discover out if the experience of running much faster during the night is real-- or all in our heads.

38. Can Professional athletes Deal with Even more Pain? Testing on your own on the field, court, or in the weight area is no easy job. When press comes to (actual) push, can athletes really be able to sustain more discomfort?

39. What Are Shin Splints? Running's all fun and online games up until there's shin splints. A general term utilized to describe lower leg pain, shin splints are primarily dued to extreme tension on, well, the shins. The discomfort is normally moderate, yet enough to make a jogger couch-side.

40. Is Walking as Good an Exercise as Running? Sure, lap for lap, running burns more calories compared to strolling, but there are lots of benefits to taking it slow. Review on to figure out which speed is the finest suitable for you.

41. How Usually Need to I Replace My Running Shoes? Those old operating footwears won't last forever. Find out how you can detect the indications that it's time for a brand-new pair.

42. Research: Just what Burns Much more Fat, Aerobic or Strengh Training? A current study suggests aerobic training might be much more energy-efficient compared to toughness training when it pertains to burning fat. However should most of us really sell resistance bands for running shoes?

43. Does the Jogger's High Exist? Running does marvels for the body as well as mind. And for years, runners have actually been claiming a feeling of bliss similar to a real high. Does this mystical sensation actually exist?

44. How Do I Recuperate From a Marathon? It appears like running a marathon is on everyone's bucket list. Yet just how long does it take the body to recuperate, and also are there methods to quicken the process?

45. Is Range Running Great For You? Much less is a lot more, but does that put on running also? Discover out if logging all those miles does more harm than help.

46. Should I Do a Cooldown After Cardio? In contrast to prominent idea, recent research suggests cool-downs after cardio might not help in reducing discomfort or speed recovery. They can still be reliable in maintaining post-workout dizziness in check.

47. How Frequently Should I Do Interval Training? Interval training might reduce time and also burn calories, yet diving right in could not be the finest bet. Discover ways to include interval training right into any workout program, from newbies to physical fitness pros.

48. Ask a Specialist: Which Should I Do First, Cardio or Toughness Training? Does it matter if we struck the squat rack prior to or after the roads? We visited our professional network to discover out!

49. The "Fat-Burning" Zone ... Reality or Fiction? Can reaching our fat-burning zone be as simple as a push of the button?

50. Ask A Professional: Should I Work on an Incline On the Treadmill? That level belt cut may not suffice. Learn if we should place the treadmill on an angle in order to get in a great workout.

51. Do Calorie Monitors Really Work? If the treadmill claims it, it needs to be true, best? Not so quickly. Calorie trackers could not always be as accurate as you 'd think.

Gadgets and Gear

52. Legit Barefoot Running Footwears That Are Made from Middle ages Armor New, chainmail-like PaleoBarefoots case to offer the exact same convenience and also defense as other sorts of minimalist wear while making runners really feel more linked to the ground.

53. Like Crocs? Inspect Out the Crosskix Running Shoe Crosskix is a brand-new running footwear with the same material as well as appearance of a Croc, but takes to the track and path. Find out more regarding just what makes these shoes cool.

54. Tech Spotlight: RunKeeper The Runkeeper smart phone application lets individuals track their exterior workout tasks in even more ways than one.

55. Milestone Capsule Informs You When to Change Your Running Shoes Not sure when to change your running tennis shoes? A brand-new gadget tracks just how lots of miles you have actually run in them, so you don't need to.

56. 11 Finest Mobile Applications to Run Faster as well as Smarter Believe you require an elegant watch to experience the most from your miles? Reconsider. Use your mobile phone and these 11 apps to hit the sidewalk and also obtain the most from your runs.

57. CharityMiles Application Donates For each Action You Take CharityMiles is a new mobile app that transforms your day-to-day run right into a daily donation. Released in the nick of time for National Running Day, will certainly it be a runaway success or stumble out of the gates?

58. Select the Right Athletic Socks, An Instance Against Cotton Do not skimp out on good socks-- they could be more crucial than we believe to stay away from injury and also carry out at our finest.

59. Erica Sara Designs: Utilizing Jewely to Attain Health and fitness Goals Erica Sara crafted a simple piece of running bling and also turned her beauties right into a booming company many thanks to on-line health and fitness communities as well as the love of literally wearing your goals.

60. Can Compression Clothing Make Me a Much better Athlete? Compression equipment might be different compared to typical workout equipment, yet could these skintight losers truly make exercises much better and also reduce post-workout problems?

Killer Videos

61. Appropriate Running Strategy in 30 Seconds Rediscover the joy of proper running method in this tutorial short.

62. Raining? Running Will Keep You Drier Than Walking So it's drizzling and also you do not have an umbrella. You have actually experienced to receive from factor A to factor B and also attempt not to obtain soaked. What do you do? Science says run.

63. Defeating the Clock: Breaking a Running Document At 97 Watch as 97-year-old Ida runs her way to a new 100-meter dash record. As well as you thought your Grandma was trendy.

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From Greatist HQ

65. We Did It: The Color Run The Greatist Team added some different colors to the day at The Color Run NYC. See how we did at the so-called "happiest 5K in the world."

66. Barefoot Operating, From Brooklyn to Berkeley Exactly what does it really feel like to ditch the kicks as well as join the barefoot running craze? See exactly how Greatist's fitness editor made out on her initial barefoot adventure.

67. Greatist Hits the trail: Hood to Coastline with Nuun Greatist's outreach supervisor and personnel author, Laura Schwecherl, is running among the largest running relays in the world. Follow along on her journey from Mt. Hood to the Oregon Coastline with a pair of tennis shoes as well as some remarkable teammates!

68. 199 Miles Later: Takeaways From Running Hood to Coast Greatist's team author as well as outreach director merely returned from Hood to Coastline, one of the largest relays on the planet. Read everything about her encounter as well as the lessons she learned along the way!

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70. Practical Evaluation: The AlterG Antigravity Treadmill Not authorized up for area camp? Not a problem. Antigravity treadmills are standing out up at gyms and PT facilities to assist professional athletes train harder, quicker, as well as smarter. Greatist takes the "AlterG" for a spin in this cutting edge review.

71. Eat, Run, Repeat: The New York Hotdog Challenge Greatist's Principal Research study Policeman as well as Health and fitness Editor David Tao informs the tale of contending in the inaugural New York Hotdog Difficulty, a race covering 2.5 miles as well as lots and great deals of hotdogs.

How are you commemorating National Running Day? Inform us below or tweet the writer @lschwech!

[btsburgh]

Chapter 8 - The Five Dates (Part 1)

Date 1 (Kobi)

The movie theatre Tawni spoke of was approximately 18 hours away from West Minster. This is the closest civilized area to the College that is also outside of the Amish Circle. It seems logical for them to have to drive this far because The Amish don’t believe in movies and therefore having a movie theatre so close to the inhabitants would be deeply disconcerting. After the day’s journey they arrived, none the wiser, and with no horse and buggy in sight.

Kate parked her car and hopped out, Hobi and Tawkie in tow. They chatted excitedly about which movie to see together. The options were pretty sparse since it’s 2017 and the world officially ran out of ideas the minute that they decided to go ahead with a fourth Transformers movie. However there were a couple options:

Paranormal Activity: The W8ing room. Which was the 8th installment in a riveting series about ghosts dragging various people down several flights of stairs.

Boats: the much awaited additions to the Cars franchise.

The Gorgeous Spider-man: a reboot of the spider-man series starring an actual infant.

and Justin Bieber: Never Say Rehab, a long awaited straight to DVD concert that Justin Bieber put on after successfully completing rehab for the sixth time. It was never actually run in theaters but one of the employees had a DVD so they decided to run it off a projector that afternoon.

Obviously, there was a heated debate about which one to watch. Tawni desperately wanted to see Paranormal Activity but nobody else seemed keen, meanwhile Hoseok thought Boats would be an easy watch after their flight and not too time consuming. Nobody else cared. Kate was more interested in Spider-man, but it seemed everybody else was too attached to Tom Holland or the superior actor Andrew Garfield to give this new guy a chance.

Eventually, they decided to split off and deliberate separately for a moment before coming back to make a final decision.

As Kate and Hoseok split off, they immediately forgot about what they were supposed to be doing because they were both really ADHD and bad at things like this. Instead they started to wander the illustrious mall.

And got a touch lost.

“Haven’t we passed two Starbucks?” Hobi asked cautiously.

“I think the first one was just a place to change your screen if you cracked it.” Kate offered in response.

They pressed onward, looping back around to try and find the theatre. Yet, everything looked different. No two stores were alike and if they were, they seemed to have changed positions. Honestly, that Victoria’s Secret was definitely next to FYE … right?

After too long of wandering Kate sighed. “We should find a directory.”

“I haven’t seen any. Let’s ask an employee in here.” Hobi pointed to an arcade not too far away.

They entered into the flashy room full of pings and buzzers and sounds and lights. There were lots of people playing arcade games, but no employees in sight. Both halves of Kobi shrugged, deciding to look around for them, and passing a DDR machine in the process.

“I love DDR.” Kate commented. “Especially the Korean ones.”

“Shouldn’t I be the best at Korean DDR?” Hoseok joked.

“Psh, as if. It’s not real dancing, Hobi.” Kate said assuredly.

“Wanna bet?”

They both looked at each other, but knew what was about to happen.

Thirty minutes later they had only completed a few rounds and were sweating their asses off, all muscles on fire as they were not going to let the other one win.

“Giving up?” Hoseok panted.

“I’ll give up when Ariana Grande puts out good music.” Kate rolled her eyes.

A voice from the side broke their banter. “You guys are good.”

They looked over to see a tall bald man with his arms crossed and wearing dark athletic clothing. They exchanged glances before nodding at him thankfully.

“We try.” Kate smiled.

He didn’t smile back. “You here for the tourney, then?”

“Tourney …” Hoseok repeated, squinting his eyes. “I don’t think-“

“He’s scared I’ll whoop his ass.” Kate informed the bald man.

“Am not.” Hoseok defended. “No way. Hell yeah, I’m here for the tourney.”

The guy just nodded in response. “This way.”

They gave each other taunting looks as they followed the stranger to a door not too far from the DDR machine. The minute they crossed over the threshold, they knew they were in over their heads. A short hallways lead to a huge room. How on earth it fit into the confines of the mall they had no idea, but it looked more like a club than an arcade. Rich looking people and toned muscular ones were walking here and there in the flashing lights and sounds of tens of DDR machines running. There were too bars, lots of couches, and a layout that generally lead to a huge bracket in the center of the room.

Now hushed and bewildered, the couple followed the bald guy all the way to the bracket where he scrawled both of their names in different spots.

“You ready?” He asked gruffly. “The short girl is up first.”

———

Date 2 (Tawkie)

Okay, so there was no way Kobi was showing up. Getting stood up by your date is one thing, but getting stood up by the other couple in a double date is another. It had been almost an hour and most of the movies were starting their one matinee for the day. The movie theatre only really ran 2-3 showings of a movie a day. Anything more than that was a lot of like effort and cleaning and employees aren’t about that nowadays while making $7.25 for their work.

“I guess their votes are useless. Justin Bieber it is.” Tawni turned to the box office window. “Two for Justin Bieber.”

Jungkook did a mini-celebration with himself over this as the elderly looking woman slowly took Tawni’s money and placed it into the register. She very carefully laid each bill in its slow before closing the register.

She then looked back up and smiled.

After a couple of seconds Tawni said something, “Uh … so my tickets?”

“Yes. This is where you get tickets.” The woman responded, her gummy smile showing through.

“I …” Tawni looked back at Jungkook, “I know. Girl, I just paid for them. Can I get my tickets?”

“Oh, dear me. I’m sorry. Ever since Trump got elected I’ve been too excited to hear anything. What movie did you get tickets for?” She asked.

Tawni laughed nervously. “Justin Bieber.”

“Alright then.” The woman gingerly reached over and picked up two blue raffle tickets that were sitting beside her computer monitor. She slipped them through the opening in the glass.

There were no marking besides the numbers on them and the word TICKET.

“Uh …” Jungkook hummed.

“It’s fine. Just, take it and go.” Tawni pushed him along into the movie theatre.

Once they were seated in the chairs that had no cupholders and were in various states of disrepair, the movie began to roll, only featuring a short reese’s cup commercial at the beginning that had no sound and very little imagery in a orange void before flashing the logo.

The projector clicked to life, opening with a lot of shots of Justin Bieber and booming through an obviously blown out speaker. The narrator explained Justin’s rise back from rehab and his concert, lots of images of fans waiting flashing by as it went.

After about ten minutes, Jungkook glanced over at Tawni who seemed entirely enthralled in the documentary, taking in each detail with unblinking eyes. He shifted in his seat a little bit before yawning and stretching his arms out wide above his head. As he finished his stretch, he came down in an arc, very very very gently laying his right arm over the back of Tawni’s seat and letting his fingertips rest against her shoulder.

“Hey!” a voice from behind them yelled. “Move your arm, bitch. We’re not all tall like you and I can’t see.”

“Oh.” Jungkook looked back apologetically before recoiling his arm into his seat and sitting like a stone statue for the rest of the movie.

———

Date 3 (Namdan)

“So you’re saying that they just … have entire festivals full of just food trucks?” Namjoon asked, walking through the area next to Jordan.

Jordan nodded. “Yes and it’s wonderful. I’m poor and don’t have the money to afford these, but luckily some blind rich person in Mt. Lebanon tipped me a $100 so I have a little money to spend.”

They didn’t spend long walking around and looking at the food trucks. Most of them were pretty boring minus the Po Boy Truck which is the best food truck in Pittsburgh and I’m still really mad they weren’t at the pierogi festival because tbfh I really wanted a po boy and life just isn’t fair I know that but don’t say you’re going to be at a festival then not show up Iw anted to eat fucking po boys I don’t deserve this treatment.

Anyways, they decided to eat at Oh My Grill, a very delicious food truck that grills bread and cheese together. It’s extremely effective.

Namjoon got something that had like a lot of meat on it and began eating it right away. Meanwhile Jordan got something that had like lettuce on it because she thinks she’s a rabbit and kind of picked at it.

They were sitting on a little bench between some of the trucks, the umbrella set above it doing nothing to shade them at all as most umbrellas above tables are apt to do. This meant that they spent a lot of time trying to shield their eyes from the sun when they looked at each other.

“And that’s how I got my name Rap Monster.” Namjoon nodded.

There was no response from Jordan who had her eyes on her phone.

“Jordan?” He asked.

“Sorry.” Jordan looked up then back down. “Jin is asking me what sock and tie combo would be good for Yoongi’s date.”

“Ah.” Namjoon put his grilled cheese back in its little dish. “Well, I suppose that’s pretty damn important.”

Jordan laughed. “He’s never coming back to America, is he?”

“Oh no, literally never.” Namjoon joked back.

———

Date 4 (Minten)

Min Yoongi was not a man of complexity. He liked to pick one thing and continue to say it over and over again until people thought he was funny. Mainly Hoseok because he was obsessed with getting validation from that man.

He was otherwise a pretty grumpy fellow who only wanted to go back to bed at any given point in time. Really, if Jimin and Taehyung hadn’t already booked him a ticket then he wouldn’t have even come in the first place. Staying in the dorm with nobody else there sounded like an absolute dream to him

But nope.

Here’s a list of things Yoongi is not:

In his bed

Sleeping

In sweats

Wearing a face mask

Making fun of Jimin

Having fun

Her’s a list of things Yoongi is:

Waiting for his blind date to arrive

In a suit

At a restaurant

One that he didn’t pick out

Number 4 applies to numbers 1,2, and 3.

Having no fun

The waitress passed by again, “Are you sure you don’t want to go ahead and order?”

“Ah, can I get a drink actually?” He asked.

“Sure. What do you like: cocktails, wine, beer?”

“Yes.” He nodded.

The waitress stared at him for a couple of seconds before deciding it wasn’t worth it and slowly retracting her presence from the table.

Once she was gone Yoongi picked up his phone and dialed Jin.

“You’ve reached Mr. Worldwide Handsome. How can I direct your call?”

“Yeah, how fucking long do I have to wait until I can go back home?”

“It’s been 14 minutes, Yoongi. There’s a thing called traffic.”

“It’s like 8 PM fuck traffic I want to go home.”

“Give it six more minutes and then if she isn’t there I’ll come pick you up.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes. “Fuck. Fine.”

And then, as if on cue, Bria appeared. She was looking pretty dope as per usual dressed in all black. She sat down across from him and picked up a menu, gently grazing over the options. Yoongi watched in anticipation for a couple of moments, unsure of whether he was supposed to say something or not.

“You’re Bria?” He asked.

“To some.” She responded to the menu. “I have many names. Depends who’s asking. Who are you?”

“Uh, Min Yoongi to most … Suga to a lot.” He frowned. “Agust D as well.”

“Interesting.” Bria picked up and sipped on a glass of wine that had not previously been there. “I heard that you’re often called Slug.”

Yoongi furrowed his brow. “Who told you that?”

“I know a guy.”

“Yeah okay.” Yoongi sighed, tapping at the menu. At least now he could order his food and get this over with. But on some level, he felt an obligation to keep the conversation up. Jin would probably kick his ass if he didn’t try at least. “So are you into music?”

“Into music.” Bria put the menu down, sipping at her wine again. “Into is a weak word. I find most of the music today very limiting in terms of creativity. Therefore I think into is the wrong prepositional phrase.”

“Totally.” Yoongi nodded, “It’s the same with kpop. Everything is the same. Nothing heavy hitting. All saranghae hajima so beautiful I’m the lucky one.”

“American music isn’t that different.” Bria sighed. “But honestly it’s just so boring.”

“Everything is boring.” Yoongi stated, glancing up at her briefly. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be a downer. I didn’t exactly want to go on a date tonight.”

“Me either, but I know Taehyung from my international animal recuse squad so I owed him one.” Bria explained.

Yoongi slid the menu forward a little bit and tipped himself back in his chair. This place looked a little too expensive for his liking. Not that he didn’t have money, it’s just that he despised over paying for food that was going to be bad and small portioned.

“Let’s go then. Neither of us want to be here at least we can do something fun and tell Tae and Jin we just sat here all night.”

“I’m down.” Bria finished her glass of wine. “What did you have in mind?”

“Don’t you guys have a theme park or something?”

Bria shrugged. “Yeah but it’s closed.”

“Fuck.”

“But I know a guy.”

Yoongi raised his eyebrows. “Alright. Now we’re talking. Let’s go.”

———

Date 5 (Vean)

[hallcolt2-blog]

T-24 Nutrition Diary: Sebastian Kienle - IRONMAN

This article is presented by Red Bull

by Jordan Cantwell

Several years ago, my husband and I signed up for IRONMAN Arizona. It was a no-brainer decision. Not only is Tempe a short flight from our home in Northern California, but my brother-in-law and his family also live in nearby Scottsdale. It would be a great opportunity to spend time with family while participating in our favorite pastime.

The timing of Arizona is just a week out from Thanksgiving so my mother-in-law decided to fly into town and join the get-together, then a few other family members announced they would be joining, too. The plans were starting to get more hectic. My dreams of a mellow race lead-up evaporated further when my sister-in-law announced she would make the traditional Thanksgiving dinner for everyone…the night before the race.

Never wanting to be a party-pooper, I went along with the plan, throwing caution to the wind and dismissing my usual pre-race meal for turkey and all the trimmings—complete with a slice of pumpkin pie. That decision returned to haunt me around 1 o'clock am race morning when I was keeled over in the bathroom, feeling rather green. My husband was equally worse for wear. We never made it to the race start that morning. We remained on the couch, laid low by food poisoning and feeling awful, tracking the race online while our bikes waited for a pick up in transition.

The episode was a salient way for me to realize the importance of sticking to a basic, reliable, pre-race plan in the future.

Professional athletes understand that the days and hours leading up to a key race are not the time to mess with their routines. In fact, most have developed a time-tested plan that they rigidly adhere to—not only to offer them nutritional and physical consistency but also mental comfort.

IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 world champion Sebastian Kienle, has honed his pre-race schedule over the years, learning a few lessons along the way. "Make a plan of what you need to do and when you need to do it, as well as what you plan to eat. Prepare as much as you can with your bike and food in the days leading up to the race," he advises. He also suggests using the same bag for races, developing a list of what goes into it, and checking that everything made it into the bag.

Below, Kienle shares his "T-24 hour" pre-race diary to show how he keeps things simple and consistent in those precious last minutes.

T-24 hours: Wakey wakey

Coffee + run

Kienle sets his alarm clock the day before the race for the race start time. So, if the gun goes off at 6:30 am on Sunday, he gets up at 6:30 am on Saturday. "I love to get up early in order to adapt the body to the time and establish good bio-rhythms… but not too early," he laughs. In fact, he considers the night two days prior to the race as the most important for sleep and never skimps on that key recovery.

Not unlike other triathletes, the first order of business for Kienle is coffee before heading out for a shakeout run. "It’s usually a 25 to 30 minute run with some one minute pick-ups at slightly faster that race pace," he explains, adding that his pace isn't actually very fast the day before an IRONMAN.

T-23 hours: Breakfast of champions

Oatmeal + banana + coffee

After his run it's breakfast time, and Kienle opts for oatmeal with a banana washed down with some more coffee. In his words, keeping it simple has worked well for him over the years.

T-22 hours: No last-minute tinkering

Toast, peanut butter, honey & banana + bags + reading + relaxing

It’s then time for Kienle to begin pre-race preparation: organizing transition bags and placing numbers on his bike so that everything is ready for pre-race check-in later in the day. If he’s feeling hungry, he’ll reach for a snack which is often a slice of toast topped with peanut butter, honey and sliced banana. Snacks are important pre-race since Kienle does not like to overeat at any single meal, preferring to load up across multiple smaller meals. He also will drink with each meal but not too much: "you can’t make the tank fuller than full," he laughs.

Once that's taken care of, he likes to lie down and "read something non-triathlon related to keep his mind busy but calm."

Keeping the mind occupied is critical, at least from Kienle’s wife, Tine’s perspective. He has garnered a reputation for being a last-minute tinkerer with his bike, in search of fine adjustments to make the machine as fast as possible. In fact, Tine outed her husband for this in a hilarious Facebook post she wrote in 2017. According to her, when Sebi is bored, he "does what he loves most. He tweaks, or should I say ruins, his bike."

T-18 hours: Stretch it out

Stretching + eggs + potatoes + electrolytes + NormaTecs + nap

As lunchtime approaches, Kienle opts to wake up his body with some light stretching before digging into a meal of potatoes and scrambled eggs, avoiding whole grains. It’s also a good time for him to ensure he is maintaining his electrolyte balance and hydration, so he’ll sip on a bottle Powerbar drink mix with his lunch. To allow for proper digestion, after lunch, Kienle spends 30 minutes in his NormaTec boots and takes a 30-minute nap.

T-16 hours: Afternoon pick-me-up

Check-in + swim + Power Bar + banana

By mid-afternoon, it’s time for Kienle to head to athlete check-in to drop his bike and transition bags. Kienle will grab another coffee, a Power Bar and a banana before he heads out the door with his gear to ensure he’s fully awake and fueled after his short nap. "I try to check in around 4:30 pm and then head for a 1,500-meter swim," he shares. This swim includes some fast 25s and 50s, to remind his body of what it feels like to swim with speed.

T-14 hours: Last supper

Pasta + chicken + alcohol free beer

Kienle continues with his "white diet" at dinner-time, opting for plain pasta and roast chicken as his go-to dinner. If available, he’ll also drink some alcohol-free beer, preferring to save the real McCoy for post-race.

T-11 hours: Lights out

Packing + bedtime

Before heading to bed around 9 pm, Kienle completes some final tasks—preparing all the nutrition and gear he needs for the next morning and for the race itself.

T-3 hours: Alarm call and breakfast

Three slices of toast with peanut butter, banana and honey + 2 cups of coffee + Power Bar Energize drink

The race day alarm for Kienle is typically set for 3:30am, 3 hours before race start. He kicks off the day with breakfast, 3 slices of toast with peanut butter, a drizzle of honey and some sliced banana. Two cups of coffee help wash down the toast and ensure he’s good to go. After breakfast, he’ll lie down for 20-30 minutes to close his eyes and allow the food some time to digest, but it’s soon time to leave for transition.

T-2 hours: Departure for transition

Transition set-up + warm-up jog

Getting to transition early is a priority for Kienle as he finds it takes time to navigate race morning crowds and accomplish everything he needs to do. He heads to body-marking then sets up his bike with race day fuel and hydration before heading out on a light jog. "The warm-up jog is very slow," he shares, "as I don’t want to overheat the system, especially if the race is in a warm climate like Kona."

T-1 hour: Last minute preparations

Bathroom break + stretch cords + motivational tunes

The light jog is perfect to wake Kienle’s system so after the short run, it’s time for a quick bathroom break. He also adds a brief stretch cord session to activate the swim muscles before heading down to the start line with cap and goggles. All the while, Kienle tunes into some of his favorite motivational music to put himself in the right mindset.

T-15 mins: Race start

Red Bull + final goodbyes

It’s important for Kienle to be surrounded by his "people" pre-race so there’s time for some final goodbyes before the long day ahead. About 15 minutes before the race starts, he drinks a can of Red Bull, giving the caffeine and sugar a little time to release into the bloodstream in time for the start of the race. All the work has been done at this point and he’s ready to go.

Jordan Cantwell is a multiple-time IRONMAN finisher, Kona qualifier, and writer living in San Francisco.

Red Bull is the Official Energy Drink of the IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 Global Series.

Source: http://eu.ironman.com/triathlon/news/articles/2018/10/sebastian-kienle-t24-nutrition-diary.aspx

[kookienomster3]

I Want The Headline (Pt. 44)

Written By: suga-of-daegu BTS Fanfiction Angst WARNING: MATURE CONTENT Mafia/Gang

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Jungkook shoved his way past the guards posted outside the doors, angrily shouldering the door open. Seated at his desk skimming through papers, the mayor flinched, wide eyes shooting up to see what was going on. Hot on his heels, the guards stormed the room, one managing to get a grip on the back of Jungkook’s jacket. They weren’t exactly sure how he had gotten past the front desk, but they were going to make sure he didn’t get any further.

“Ah, wait!” The mayor rushed, “H-He’s fine! It’s alright!” He smiled weakly at the odd look the guards were sending him, but nonetheless they backed off. Waving them away, the mayor held his smile until the door was shut softly and he was alone with Jungkook. Jungkook was dressed in the same thing he had been wearing when his father last saw him in the prison lobby. A dark green jacket draped over a rumpled white tee shirt. The hat he had been wearing was gone, the mayor noticed, but the ripped jeans and muddy boots were still there. There was a bruise along Jungkook’s cheek that stretched as he worked his jaw and dried blood collected on the corner of his lips. He was pacing, the steady thud of his boots along the carpet filling the room. Suddenly, he stopped, the sound of his boots halting and the only sound heard was the soft ticking of the clock on the wall.

Heaving in the center of the room, Jungkook venomously stared at his father. “You fucking revoked my access.” He hissed. The older man, rubbed his brow tenderly,

“..Which one are you talking about?” He asked delicately. He had actually revoked Jungkook’s access to two places, being immediately informed that he had tried to go to both places back to back shortly before he stormed his office. The older man just didn’t know which one Jungkook was angry about. Sighing, the mayor wondered how everything had happened so quickly. It had only been three days since the warehouse raid and already he had stretched several laws to keep Jungkook and his girlfriend out of prison and no doubt the boy would be pressing for the rest of his organization to be freed soon. His oldest son was already on his back, wondering why some seemingly random guy was getting such special treatment. No doubt, he’d be digging into Jungkook’s history and probably find out why.

Eyeing his son, the man sighed. He should have claimed him years ago. He had done him wrong and now, he was practically helpless against his son’s manipulation. If word got out that he not only had a secret son, but that he was part of the mafia and moreover he was using his position of mayor to keep him out of the law’s sight an uproar would start. Not to mention, how would his family react? He had a son and two grandsons who looked up to him. His wife would find out about the affair.

Mayor Jeon wasn’t sure if claiming Jungkook was worth all that trouble. Jungkook didn’t even seem to like him. Even when he was a little boy, he’d cling to his mother whenever he would go to visit them, his shy eyes timidly watching. After she had died, Jungkook had changed. Granted it was mostly his father’s fault, but Namjoon’s group had wiped out most of the police force on several occasions beforehand. It was obvious that they had claimed Jungkook as one of them. The mayor had almost lost his oldest son, he didn’t want to put his life at risk again for a little boy who would only be shipped off to boarding school since no one could know the relational ties between Jungkook and the mayor. But looking at Jungkook now, fully grown and burning with rage; it seemed that not picking him up and sending him off was a mistake.

Mayor Jeon wasn’t sure how to go about this.

Jungkook stepped towards the desk, leaning over it to glare at the older man. “I fucking know you revoke my access from both of them.” He revealed, “I wanna know why I can’t see her. I’m going to fucking murder Yoongi with my bare hands, but that can wait. You’re stopping me from seeing her.” He narrowed his eyes dangerously, “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

Calmly the mayor met his son’s gaze, “I’m the mayor of this city and your father.” He tried to place his hand on Jungkook’s shoulder, but it was harshly shoved away. Mayor Jeon nodded, delicately lowering his hand, “Jungkook..Why don’t you go home and rest?” He suggested, “I got an apartment for you in a nice neighborhood. So you can live quietly and peaceful-”

“You’re just trying to keep me fucking separated from you and your damn spotlight.” Jungkook retorted darkly. “Don’t think that I didn’t know that that’s the same damn thing you did to my mom. A nice, paid for apartment on the other side of town. Far, far away from you.” He smacked a stack of files off the desk, “You even have fucking groceries sent there. I know what you’re trying to do, but you’re not getting rid of me until I get what I want.” The mayor nodded, eyes averting from his youngest son’s intimidating stare to his laptop on his desk. Jungkook’s hand shot out, slamming the device shut. “You know what I want.” He growled, “So let me see her.”

His father softly shook his head. He didn’t deny Jungkook access to your room to spite him. He did it so Jungkook would actually sit down and rest. “But all you’ve been doing is pacing around her hospital room and making the doctors nervous or arguing with guards at the prison.” His father frowned at him. He knew Jungkook was hurting, but the way he was handling things was bad. “Mr. Min is in solitary confinement now that you just went to the prison and started a fight with him.” He nodded at Jungkook’s confused stare, “Yes, I am kept in the know of what you’ve been doing, Jungkook. You’re not going to be able to see him whether I have a say in it or not and the girl..she just lost her baby. Give her time to rest. I know you’re hurting about the loss of your chi-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Jungkook backed up quickly, hands pulling at his hair. Pacing the room angrily, he felt like hitting something. Suddenly, he whirled around, shoving over the plush chairs neatly placed in front of the desk. “It wasn’t mine.” He growled, hand shooting out as if he was going to grab onto his father. The other man leaned back, hands held up weakly. The baby wasn’t his. Was that why he was so upset? “You’re talking so damn lightly about shit you know nothing about! It was his, he hurt her and you’re making up shit about that baby being mine? You don’t know anything! About me, about Y/N, about this damn city!” Slapping his hands aside, Jungkook gripped the man’s tie, jerking him closer, “The next time I go see her, they better let me in or I’m fucking coming for you.”

He laughed.

A soft snort, passing through his breath. Cramped into a corner, knees pressed to his chest, he laughed. The small room was completely black, the only light being a red speck coming from the top corner of the room. A soft whirring drifted from the corner; a camera adjusting focus.

They were wondering what he was doing.

Yoongi lifted his head, the laughter gone. He stared straight at the red dot, knowing fully well that even though he couldn’t see the camera, they could see him. He wondered what they were doing. Taking notes? He hadn’t moved for the past three hours. His laugh being the only interesting thing he had done. Were they seeing if he’d break? He had nothing to give them. The room was getting colder with each passing hour. They were trying to worm something out of him.

They were trying to make him crack again.

The first time had been completely coincidental. It was all Jungkook, and some incompetent officer who thought it’d be okay to let him in the same room. The sharp hiss to his tone did nothing to warn the officer, who had only asked that Jungkook fill out a form and he’d be clear to meet Yoongi. So Jungkook filled the form, his pen tearing the paper as he angrily wrote the name of the man he was here to see.

Min Yoongi.

And Yoongi was lifted from his shared cell with Jaehwa, the later warily eyeing the guards. Yoongi was oddly calm, easily standing up from his bed and letting them guide him to the conference room. He was seated, cuffed to the table and left alone.

Until Jungkook walked in.

It didn’t take more than a minute before curses and threats were being spat out from both men. Yoongi managing to slip his hands through the cuffs and Jungkook lunged over the table. They fought; restraints aside. Voices clashing together, teeth clenching, and nails scraping; they fought with the full intent to harm the other as much as possible.

Guards swarmed the room, ganging up to pull the two apart. The conference room was full of confusion; security wondering why Jungkook was allowed to see Yoongi anyway. All Jungkook had to mention was you and a baby.

Mouth spewing promises of what he’d to Yoongi for infecting you with his parasitic spawn, Jungkook was dragged from the conference room and taken in for questioning. Yoongi went limp in the guards arms, his heart dropping. He didn’t know anything about this. Before he could ask anyone about where you were he was hauled off, past his cell with Jaehwa and thrown into a small dark room marked with a rusted plate that read,

Solitary Confinement.

And that’s where he had been for the last two days. He couldn’t see anything, the entire room drenched pitch black; the small recording light on the camera not nearly strong enough to illuminate anything. Yoongi had crawled into the nearest corner and sat quietly, head resting against the wall. Jungkook said you were pregnant. He picked at his thumbnail, tongue twisting in his mouth. He couldn’t do anything for you or that baby stuck in confinement. How was Jungkook walking around free anyway? He was at the warehouse, wasn’t he arrested too? Yoongi lightly hit his head against the wall; Jungkook had to have some sort of connection somewhere higher up if he’s walking free. He worked his jaw, licking his lips. There was one more person he could rely on to get him out, but he wasn’t sure how well it’d work in his favor.

Yoongi needed to get into contact with Jin.

The office doors slammed open, Captain Jeon barging into the room. He furrowed his brows at the sight of the guy from the warehouse, practically strangling his father, and quickly moved forward to pull Jungkook away. One handedly reaching for his handcuffs, he grappled with Jungkook, trying to restrain him.

“Wait! Let him go!”

Captain Jeon glared at his father, “He put his hands on you! He threatened you, he needs to be arrested!” He didn’t understand why his father let this one guy get away with so much. First, getting out of prison, then dropping all charges against him, and just now Captain Jeon had been told that his father had let his guy storm into his office.

His father stood from his seat, reaching out to grab his oldest son’s sleeve and pull him back. “I said let him go! He didn’t do anything wrong.” Captain Jeon angrily, released Jungkook, turning his heated stare to his father.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!?” He snapped, “You’re talking so easily about shit you know nothing about! Do you know how many people he’s personally killed? How many of my officers and whenever we get close to him all of a sudden all of our evidence is gone and you’re personally calling for his release!? I fucking noticed, dad and I’m tired of your bullshit! You either tell me why the hell he’s so special or I’m coming for you personally.”

The mayor blinked, gaze shifted between the two men. Oddly, he wiped at the sweat collected along his brow and quietly laughed. Captain Jeon raised a brow in disbelief while Jungkook huffed, rolling his eyes. The older man softly smiled at his sons, “You two are very similar.” He rubbed his hands together, wondering what was the best way to let his oldest son into the loop.

Captain Jeon recoiled, dark gaze cutting to Jungkook. He was nothing like him. He was an upstanding citizen, he didn’t break laws and work under the cover of night. He sure as hell didn’t set people on fire. Jungkook, who had been staring steadily at the mayor, languidly averted his eyes to Captain Jeon.

“I’m Jeon Jungkook.” He began, lips tilting up at the way the captain visibly flinched at the revelation of his surname. “I’m your little brother.”