#team google sheets btw

[cilil]

[Found in a video, original source: r/skamtebord]

[sol-consort]

Repost of an ask I accidentally deleted.

Pov: You're a turian discovering this new sapient species broadcasting their whole location to the galaxy very loudly and decide to go down to investigate the humans.

Humans are like a rubber ball, which is what the first contact war proved. The harder you throw them, the harder they bounce back, and the next thing you know, all of your loyal turian population are sending creepy fanmail letters to the cute human news reporters.

The fact that we express joy by showing our teeth probably is something that never sat well with the turians ever, huh?

Also POV: you're the Councillors meeting the human team sent to you trying to convince you on why they should have an embassy right next door and please let them in the citidal please please please please please please-

We Don't bite .Often. We are silly little guys let us in come on. We have been STARVED for any galactic connections. Please we were this close to blowing each other up with nuclear weapons.

Ignore that last bit. Hahaha. Ha. So let us in! Friends! We are friends, let's be friends now. Tell us how you guys reproduce and what you eat. We have cats! We have chocolate, and we have produced more porn than a single human can consume in their lifetime! We have everything you need so let us join the partyyyy.

We've brought beer :) You don't have that, right? Let us in, and we will give you all the food we've made.

Humans annoying their way into getting an embassy so soon is very hilarious.

Because you know damn well that our politicians played the first contact war card and guilt tripped the council into letting us sit on the big kids' table after the turian bullied us to hell and back. We brought the waterworks and pretended they really hurt our feelings just to get the shiny human embassy office.

It didn't matter that they threw us in some random office next to the elcor and the embassies food court. You know damn well none of the humans stayed on the office and they're constantly annoying their neighbour embassies or the citidal tower instead.

Hell, we even stooped so low to accept being called the council's new favourite pet race just so we can get all the benefits and jumpstart our integration into the galaxy.

Constantly asking questions. Constantly touching things. Constantly asking to eat this and drink that without regards to if it will kill us or not.

That's how they found out humans had the most diverse genetics btw, before they could get any tests done on the humans with viable results, they found the said humans eating everything they come across and updating a google docs sheet of things they tried that haven't killed them yet.

The doc is shared between all the humans on the Citidal, and everyone adds their updates. Some even tried inedible stuff just to see, because what if space plastic is different than our plastic? Sure, they ended up in emergency care, but it was so worth it.

The humans are very impatient, and the other races quickly learned. They want something done, and they want to do it now, and they want to get the gratification immediately! They make the salarians look like monks despite their short life spans

In the span of a year, earth humans were sending in job applications to different colonies and planets, ones they haven't even visited yet.

By the span of 5 years, humans successfully spread through the galaxy and you always find one nearby. It's harder not to spot a human than it is to spot them.

How do you find out if the person wearing this armour is an asari or a human? Simple, just wait.

The human will announce it themselves by doing some dumb shit like twirling the loaded gun in their hand to do a really sick trick they saw on the human social media app, tiktok.

Udina was a little shit, yes, but you know that man was knocking on the councillors' doors every day at 3am. to show them his powerpoint presentation on why humans deserve a seat on the council.

Humans fit wherever you put them. They eat everything, they can handle most temperatures. they only need oxygen and some sleep, and they're good to go!

It's hard for the aliens to predict just what type of human any given one of us they meet could be.

There's just too many to keep track of. The most rude person and the nicest person a turian have met are both humans.

They want to see the stars, they want to take pictures, they want to stare at pretty sunsets on different planets and they want to speak to aliens, hug them and learn more about them

They're burning bright like a star, wanting so much all the time. It's intimidating to the other races how hungry humans are for information and connection that they come across as a bully. Their friendly nature gets misunderstood and their kind gestures gets questioned for ulterior motives.

Because humans love helping, it's in our genetic code as a tribal species. We love feeling useful for the tribe and fulfilling others needs. We love giving someone a sip of our drink, opening the door for someone else, picking up a stray empty can and throwing it in the trash.

Going on useful fetch missions just to see someone else smile, hearing a stranger vent because we have been there, smiling at people we make eye contact with, giving compliments and laughing at jokes we overheard from strangers.

We are social, be it online or offline. We love others, we love loving others and we want others to love us back. Each human is so different yet so similar, some of us will feel more at home with the aliens than with other humans while others might not even stomach leaving earth

We are also...kinda of feral in a way? We don't notice it because we're surrounded by humans.

But if you look closely, so many of our traits are animalistic and could be perceived as scary by an alien that had thousands of years to evolve past them. Our hardware is still relatively new, and an update won't come for a long time.

The hugging. the yelling, the dancing, playing tag. games of chase. We evolved from predetors, our eyes are trained to follow a single target precisely.

Rough playing with your friends, enjoying throwing objects and catching it like a ball, enjoying tearing through food with our teeth. Hell we look like predators, we act like ones too.

We're not like worker bees, like turians who always give their all to everything they do.

No, we preserve energy, then lunge at our target the second it's gaurd falls down. A persistent predator that wears you down rather than overpowering you like a krogan

Btw, Korgans evolved from prey because of where their eyes are placed. Only predetors have forward facing eyes to focus on a single thing, the wider one's vision is the more likely they used to be a prey animal.

Side note, but Krogans would probably taste kinda good bc of that, predators' meat evolves to be shrivled and bitter. While Krogans have a literal hump full of food nutrition! Turians would taste bad unless chicken in that case... CHICKEN.

So do you think Hanar and Drell find it adorable that we used to be aquatic?

Anyway so-

In a single decade, humanity successfully integrated fully into the galaxy and joined the Andromeda project to explore the new one. We're like the opposite of hanar. So many other races achieved less than half of what we did in ten times the amount of years

Because we need social contact, it's vital for our survival as much as the sun is. It's our drive for exploring and hoping for aliens, for some other race out there we could befriend and learn about.

New things give us such a rush of dopamine and we're constantly chasing it with stars in our eyes.

In a way, the aliens probably felt the most special after meeting the humans. To have a race so interested in you and learning about you and appreciating your culture. To have thousands if not millions of humans ready to dedicate their lives to documenting you just because you happened to be the prettiest race in their eyes.

Like I'd gladly throw my life away to study the Drell.

And we things other races don't! We party harder funny enough.

A turian mentions it in ME2. How most alcoholic beverages everyone uses today, was invented by humans. How it seems like humans found out every intoxication there is and let it spread like wildfire to others. Out endless libraries of music, the videogames we've made, the art, the instruments we play.

And a Salarian mentions how human food is their favourite. Don't the Hanar also like our sushi? funny enough.

We're infectious. Easily accept anyone and everyone into our groups if we happened to click with them, we even befriended the animals on our planets enough to care for them like our own children.

[crqstalite]

Okay, so if you wanna be asked about your OCs, I am gonna ask about your OCs. What's your Ryder's (whichever one you like or both) favorite color? What's their favorite style? Like, if they don't have to wear Initiative clothes, what do they wear? Why did they train to become the class that they are?

Ooo, great questions!

Talis' favorite color is a dusky pink, akin to the sunrise. Occasionally some orange as well, considering her current hair color.

Mateo's favorite color is probably closer to an ocean blue. Lot of greens and blues on this boy.

Also fashion is an awesome question because the fashion in the OT and in Andromeda both make me incredibly sad. SO --

Talis' style includes pieces like this, this, or possibly that. I cannot google what I'm thinking of, so eventually I'll have to do an outfit sheet for her. She's very much Big Pant Little Shirt in my mind though -- anything that lets her stay active in her casual clothing, so our idea of techwear I think. Most of it is in this same pink/red palette though, so I like to think bright colors fit in with the Andromeda atmosphere. Mateo alludes me on the best of days though. Arguably something similar, but a little more rugged + jackets, always. He is is constantly somewhere he's not supposed to be and usually this means he's freezing.

(rubs hands together) This is where it gets long btw --

So! It's my canon that both of the Ryder twins are inherently biotic, like both are implanted and will always have rudimentary capability to use their biotic abilities. However, active-as-always Mateo is canonically a sentinel/infiltrator whereas sciency-and-analysis Talis is canonically a vanguard.

Talis trained as such because it fascinated her. Having such fine control over her own nervous system was the pinnacle of being a scientist. She'd run so many tests in the Alliance gym with varying results, but she got incredibly good at it. She knew where her body would be before she moved, her brain could almost work fast enough to make miniscule changes in-motion, y'know, a-la-sandevistan-from-cyberpunk-edgerunners. She and Ellen would work together on it, fine tuning her mnemonics and pushing and pulling at her body. Talis has incredibly fine control over biotics as well, capable of picking up small objects or affecting them with her mass distortion. She blinks in and out of where she needs to be, and puts on a hell of a lightshow when she gets in close on someone -- yet her surroundings remain largely untouched if that's what she's gunning for. Given biotics were still such an unknown in the Milky Way that while she was a Ryder, there was still some prejudice against her when she enlisted. Before Alec's plans went south, she was slated to be part of Kaidan's team as a student after she finished university. She resents Alec for this, watching the opportunity dissolve before her not too soon after. While Alec always appreciated Ellen's work, something about his daughter being capable of moving mass beyond his own understanding never quite clicked for him. That part of her he just never understood.

[And I also headcanon while he was shown using biotics-ish during Habitat 7, it wasn't actually biotics and a rudimentary recreation of it using SAM. He wasn't a biotic and couldn't relate to his daughter who leaned so heavily on it.]

Mateo however never lead with his biotics. No accident, no previous trauma, he just preferred to be without. He didn't have the mind for science needed to finetune his abilities on his own, and simply didn't show the same aptitude his sister did. So combining his interest with cross-species military history, he instead incorporated strategies from other races and jailbroke the hell out of his omni-tool to allow him to do and hack all sorts of things. It allowed him to put his weapon mastery to work at least, with less focus on mnemonics and more on skill with his trusty Viper. But if Alec's opinion didn't affect this, and it wasn't one of the few things that they related on when he was around, who knows what class Mateo would have trained in? Alec's approval when he topped charts in his unit for best shot in basic probably is what kept him going. All his little comments about never quite getting SAM's profiles to work like Talis' and some disapproval of it when he thought he was being quiet (or even in their arguments) probably had a massive hand in Mateo deciding to at least be what Alec wanted. He has the warp/overload combo down pat anyway -- makes him a special kind of deadly when no one sees him coming.

Both of them specialize in hand-to-hand combat though. They have very similar builds too, definitely stockier people who aren't super afraid to throw their weight around. Mateo is a little more nimble than his sister though, especially when using his cloaking device. He also was the one who actually took classes prior to enlistment, so his strategies are significantly easier to predict but harder to dodge. Talis didn't, so while she has basic training, she also makes things up on the fly. Whatever works in the moment, and she just keeps pushing no matter what.

(Talis is also more likely to be able to take a punch. She has a stupid amount of bruises to prove it and Lexi thinks she's going the Asari version of grey)

Thank you for asking!!

[acciopietro]

i’m sorry this is kinda lengthy but basically peter is a huge simp for reader but he’s scared to put her in danger bc he’s spider-man but some villains find out he likes reader anyway so they attack her but he’s nearby and rushed to help her only to see that her take them out and finds out that’s she’s an underground hero so he confronts her later and it’s super fluffy and cute

silk - p.p.

pairing: th! peter parker x fem! reader

summary: in which peter’s school crush is not what she seems.

word count: 5,030

tw: mentions of abusive relationships and violence.

a/n: i hope you don’t mind i changed up the plot just a little bit!! same idea basically but just slightly different. im in a bit of a writing slump so i hope you dont mind i used ur request to try and get my creative thinking back up and running LOL. i never know what to do when making reader a superhero so i just made Y/N like silk from the comics. if you don’t know who she is, google her! she’s awesome! thanks for the request <3 BTW this is not edited bc im lazy

PETER LIKED TO THINK HE WAS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW WHEN TO GIVE UP. He was an Avenger, for gods sake; if he could fight someone like Thanos, then he could accurately gage when it was time to take a step back and admit that not all battles could be won. Even if he was willing to fight until his last breath.

He had liked Y/N for a while. Longer than he’d ever admit to anyone else, even Aunt May or Ned. Since before he became Spider-Man, she had caught his eye, but Peter had always been a bit too nervous to approach her. He had gotten lucky when his schedule lined up with hers for his Junior year, having five out of his seven classes with her. The only issue, however, was her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend was no match for Peter. Peter might be Spider-Man undercover, but in the daylight of his high school career, he was... kind of a loser. Y/N’s boyfriend, James, was six-foot-three and Captain of the wrestling team, with broad shoulders and a strong jaw. Peter, on the other hand, was a measly five-foot-nine and often compared himself to looking like a toddler. Aunt May said otherwise, but that didn’t change anything.

“Hey, Pete,” she smiled at him, the apples of her cheeks round as she slid into the seat in front of him. She was the only one who called her ‘Pete,’ with the exception of Aunt May. Having so many shared classes had brought forth the closest thing he could get to being hers: an in-school friendship.

“Hi,” he pursed his lips into a smile, lifting a hand up in a meek wave. Fiddling with his pencil where it hovered above his graph paper, he eyed her and said, “I, uh— I like your shoes.”

“Oh, really?” she glanced down at the black-and-white skate shoes. “I was iffy about wearing them, ‘cause they kind of make me feet look like squares, don’tcha think?”

Peter peered back down at the shoes and cracked a small grin. “Maybe a little bit. But it’s not bad, I think they’re cool.”

“Thanks!” Y/N leaned down to unzip her backpack, taking out the notebook of graph paper with a series of messy scribbles along the margins. She flipped it open, turned in her chair to face him. “Okay, so I’m assuming you did the homework? I seriously have no idea how to do this, and I figured you did.”

“Oh, yeah — yeah, I — I did the homework,” Peter nodded fervently, leaning forward over his desk so he could see her notebook. She placed it on the top of his desk, fully facing him, and pointed to the second problem on the sheet.

“So I used SOH-CAH-TOA to find this angle, but then I guess I messed it up somewhere along here....” she continued talking, explaining the process of her attempt at solving the calculus problem. Peter listened intently to her words, all while staring at the different flecks of color in her e/c eyes and losing himself the way she bit the inside of her cheek in between sentences. “Peter?”

“Yeah?” he snapped out of it. She was smiling at him and oh, shit, he hadn’t heard the second half of what she was saying.

“So do you think you could help?” she asked. Her eyes shifted over towards the clock on the front wall. “‘Cause we got like three minutes until the period officially starts and I seriously need a good grade.”

“Yeah, of course,” Peter gulped and grabbed his calculator, focusing his eyes on the graph paper and began copying down the equation from his own notebook. It was dreadfully difficult to keep his focus with her leaning so close to him, her perfume flooding into his brain and fogging up his mind. He scribbled down the solution as fast as you can.

“Oh, duh!” she slumped her shoulders. “I guess I multiplied wrong. I always screw up simple math.”

“No, you did it right the first time,” Peter gently smiled at her, careful not to keep eye contact for too long. “Just a little mess up in the middle. But all the other math was, uhm... spot on.”

“Thanks, Pete,” she nodded, tapping her fingers on the spiral spine of her notebook. “I’m really glad that — oh shit!”

She jolted in her spot, a pair of hands coming down to squeeze her shoulders. She turned around and sighed; Peter followed the hands and was disappointed to see James, her boyfriend, standing beside her desk.

“You scared the shit out of me!” she said breathily, one hand flying to rest over her heart. “Jesus!”

“Sorry, babe,” James chuckled, slipping into his spot— which just so happened to be right beside her, diagonal from Peter. “What’s good, Penis Parker?”

Peter felt his ears turn red, and he clenched his jaw, avoiding the other boys eyes and shifting awkwardly in his seat. Y/N abruptly whacked her boyfriend on the arm, suddenly frowning.

“Don’t be a dick,” she said pointedly. James laughed.

“It’s just a joke,” he lifted his hands in defense. “Parker doesn’t care, does he? Do you?”

Peter glanced up, eyes darting between James and Y/N. He only shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter,” Y/N said, scooting her chair under her desk as soon as she saw the teacher enter the classroom. “It’s still rude and immature and his name is Peter.”

“Okay, chill out,” James muttered. “Hey, you did the homework, right?”

Peter watched Y/N send her boyfriend a very tired expression, her shoulders slouching. “Seriously?"

“What? C’mon, I had practice ‘till late last night,” James frowned. “And you know how much I struggle with Calc.”

Y/N gave another sigh before reluctantly handing him her notebook. Peter watched the exchange with a slight frown, biting his tongue to refrain from saying something about cheating and morality or something equally as stupid. He wasn’t going to tattle. He didn’t want to do that to her, not that he gave a flying fuck about what happened to James.

James wordlessly threw the notebook back to her after a few minutes; she caught it swiftly and spared him another longing sort of glance before bowing her head and facing the front of the room. Peter clenched his jaw and sent a glare towards the back of James’ head; he knew he was a dick, and she knew he was a dick. So why the hell was she dating him?

There was no way in hell that James had some kind of brilliant quality about him that made this kind of treatment worth it. It’s not like he was remarkably thoughtful, or funny, or attractive. He was pleasant looking, sure, but Peter was sure there wasn’t a single redeeming quality about him.

As though he had heard his thoughts, James suddenly turned his head around and was met with Peter’s lingering glare. He narrowed his eyes at him, glanced at Y/N, and then looked back at Peter. Peter fought the urge to bow his head and shy away; he was Spider-Man for fuck’s sake! He could handle some stupid high school asshole, couldn’t he?

Peter frowned the entire walk from class to his locker, where he tiredly turned his lock and swung open the metal door as though the interaction in Calculus had taken a serious toll on him.

“Peter!” came a cheery voice from his right. Leaning back to look over his locker, he saw Ned, grinning. “You look so unhappy to see me. Is there a reason for this, or are you just, like, being moody today?”

“Being moody today,” Peter mumbled. “’Cause of stupid James Lewis.”

“Ah,” Ned said wisely, leaning against the other lockers as Peter slipped out his textbook and closed the metal door. “Yeah, that can really wreck a guys mood.”

“Yeah,” Peter breathed, watching as Y/N approached her locker on the other end of the hall. James followed at her heels, laughing obnoxiously with another boy on the wrestling team and ignoring his girlfriend entirely. Y/N took out her books, clutching them to her chest, and turned to speak to James; Peter watched as she fiddled nervously with her necklace as she waited for her boyfriend to look at her. “Why’s she dating him, man? He’s so awful.”

“I dunno, dude,” Ned shrugged. “Women are the world’s greatest mystery.”

“So are men,” Peter muttered, sending James a final glare before he and Ned turned the other way.

---

EARLY THAT EVENING, just before he left for patrol, Peter’s phone rang. Which was fairly normal, considering Ned called him a million times a day and Aunt May often send him the occasional call on her way home from work. This time, however, startled him, because the name on the call was not Ned, nor was is May. It said Y/N.

“H-Hey, Y/N, hi!” Peter stammered out after pressing the green answer button, steadying his grip on his phone after it had almost slipped from his grasp. “Hello!”

“Hi, Pete,” her voice said, sounding sweet. “Sorry to call you at such a weird time. I—er— had a question about the homework?”

“Oh, yeah!” Peter held the phone to his ear with his shoulder and shot his hand out across his room; a web flung from his wrist and stuck itself onto his Calculus notebook. It soared towards him, and he frantically flipped to the most recent page. “Which one?”

“Uhm, number three.”

Peter scanned the page through the latex of his mask.

“I don’t think we had to do number three tonight,” he answered with an awkwardly laugh. Through the phone, she gave a noise of disapproval.

“Ugh, of course!” she said exasperatedly. “I always copy down the wrong numbers from the board. Thanks for telling me. Sorry to bother you!”

“No, no, you’re not — you’re not a bother!” Peter insisted in a shrill voice, grabbing his mask from the top of his head and tugging it off of his face. “Never a bother!”

With a laugh, she said, “I totally procrastinated my homework... I was totally binge watching all the Spider-Man videos on YouTube. Have you see them?”

Peter coughed rather loudly. “Erm, yeah, a few. Don’t really pay attention to, uh... to Spider-Man...”

“They’re totally awesome,” she gushed, and Peter felt heat flood up into his cheeks. “How do you not pay attention to Spider-Man? I feel like that’s right up your alley.”

“I dunno,” Peter shrugged absentmindedly. “We’ve got tons of Avengers, y’know? Guess I’m just... erm... kinda desensitized to it.”

"I’m kind of a dork about the Avengers, actually,” she said timidly. “I don’t care how many times I see Captain America on the news— I am totally mesmerized each and every time. Same with Spider-Man. I think they’re so cool.”

“...mesmerized?” Peter perked his head up. “Uhm... how so?”

“Thought you didn’t care about Spider-Man?”

Peter pressed his lips together. “I don’t.”

You dismissively waved your hand and said, “Then, I’ll stop. I don’t mean to be geeking out.”

“No, it’s okay!” Peter said hastily. “Really, I don’t mind. I think it’s cool that you think the Avengers are cool. They are cool.”

“But not Spider-Man?”

“I — well — no, Spider-Man is cool, I never said he wasn’t cool,” Peter went on. “But, I’m just saying, like... I dunno. The other Avengers are better. Like... like Iron Man, he’s awesome. Black Widow, she’s... the best.”

“Hm,” she paused. “I think I’ll be her for Halloween. You totally just sparked my imagination, thanks!”

“No problem,” he replied, willing himself not to think about what she might look like in the tight, leather suit that Black Widow wore. There was a beat of silence, and Peter was sure he had started sweating.

“Okay, well... I ought to finish the homework that we actually have to do,” she joked, a smile heard within her words. Peter felt himself grin. “I’ll see you tomorrow in class, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah— see you!” he said, and with a Click! she was gone. Turning off his phone, he tossed it onto his bed and groaned, putting his head in his hands and frowning. He was way too enthusiastic to say See you!. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed his phone again and slipped it into his pocket before grabbing his mask and slipping it over his face; it was time to patrol, not to daydream. Cracking open his window, he was gone.

---

SOMETHING WAS WRONG. Peter felt it as soon as he went on patrol for the night. The streets of the city were empty, the night breeze whisking up the dust of the pavement and paving a path for no one. It was unlike Queens to be so quiet at this time of night; even at a quarter past midnight, the city was usually lively, however this night was different.

Mindlessly winging along the sides of the cities skyscrapers, Peter wondered what could be the cause of this weird occurrence. It wasn’t like someone kidnapped and hid away the entire population of Queens... nor was their some kind of alien abduction (he would’ve seen it). Maybe it was a holiday he wasn’t aware of and every happened to go on vacation at the same time. Or maybe—

“Woah!” said a voice, and before his eyes focused back into the world around him, he slammed face first into another figure. He shot a hand up as he flipped upside down, a web sticking onto one of the nearby billboards above, and watched as the mysterious figure slid down the wall before coming to a pause. He blinked. How were they sticking to the wall?

Lowering himself down, he stared at the figure. He might have been watching them from an upside-down point of view, but he could see clearly the web design on their suit. 

“Hi,” he said, tilting his head to the side as though to watch them more clearly. They lifted their head, pushing h/c out of their eyes; they had a red mask over their nose and mouth, e/c eyes blinking up at him. 

The torso of their suit was silver, with a red-and-black web pattern across their chest, however the arms and legs were black with the exception of her fingers, which were painted a bright red. Woah.

“Uhm,” Peter said again. “How’s it hangin’?”

“It’s all right,” the figure said; the voice was feminine, familiar. He felt his stomach jump for a second, as though he knew who it was, but it went away after a moment. “With the exception of you slamming into me.”

“Sorry about that,” Peter lowered himself more and crawled up the single web so he could be right-side up, at her eye-level. “Wasn’t paying attention. Hey, who are you?”

“None of your bees-wax,” she sassed, lifting a hand up. “I gotta go.”

“Woah, woah!” Peter shot out a web to intercept hers, swinging up to follow her. “Hey, c’mon! You know who I am, right?”

“Obviously,” she said, her back to him as she swung away. “Doesn’t mean I owe you anything.”

Peter frowned under his mask. “Well, how’re you also SpiderMan? Or... Spider-Woman? Sorry.”

“It’s Silk, actually,” she said exasperatedly. “And I’m what you call also SpiderMan because some nasty insect decided to bite me two days ago.”

“Yesterday?” Peter mused, still following her. “How’re you swinging so well, then?”

“Practice,” she shrugged and came to a stop on a nearby rooftop. “Are you gonna follow me all the way home, or what?”

“Oh, sorry,” Peter launched himself towards her, landing on the same roof. “I’m just... curious. Hey, were you the reason why everyone was gone?”

“Yup. Huge robbery at the edge of the city. Everyone sort of flocked outside when I got ‘em out of the place,” she said, crossing her arms over his chest. Peter stared, eyes trailing over the fine details of her suit. She furrowed her brows. “Hey! Look me in the eyes when I’m talking to you, you creep!”

“Sorry! Sorry!” Peter flinched. “I wasn’t— I wasn’t staring at your— I was looking at your suit! It’s really cool.”

“Thanks,” she avoided his eyes and rubbed the side of her head. Peter then noticed she had a bruise forming on her upper cheekbone. “I need to go home, okay?”

“Okay, yeah,” Peter nodded feverishly. “Didn’t mean to keep you.”

“All good, SpiderMan,” she gave him a salute and said, “See you ‘round.”

---

WORD OF SILK had spread faster than Peter anticipated. The next day at school, her name permeated about the hallways, whispers of her trickling around Peter wherever he went. She was the first thing Ned spoke of when Peter saw him that morning, and he was floored to find out Peter had actually met her.

Y/N was not in the calculus classroom when Peter walked in. She usually was there before him, however the seat in front of him remained empty. James, her boyfriend, came in earlier than usual, looking especially cranky. Peter gave him his own glare (which wasn’t very menacing, but he liked to pretend it was) before averting his eyes to his graph paper. 

“The hell are you looking at, Parker?” James barked. Peter shifted his eyes up.

“Nothing,” Peter said.

James scoffed and slumped into his seat, running a hand through his hair before sending a nod of a greeting to the girl who sat on the other side of him. Peter frowned at this, watching as the random girl blushed and sent a wave back. 

Right before the bell rang, as the last kids settled into their seats, Y/N speed-walked in, frantically apologizing to the teacher as she hustled into her seat. Peter sat up straighter, staring to try and meet her eyes, but she slid into her seat without looking up at anyone. 

The teacher, Mr. Bruno, began to teach, and Peter watched as James leaned over to nudge Y/N with the eraser of his pencil. She snapped her head over; her eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks flushed red, and her fist was clenched around her pencil.

“Woah,” James whispered. “What happened to you?”

She deeply inhaled through her nose, closing her eyes for a moment. “What do you want?”

“Don’t take that tone with me,” James furrowed his brow. “You did the homework, right?”

“Yes, but I can’t give it to you now,” she whispered. “Mr. Bruno’s teaching, and I’d get in trouble—”

“Oh, come on, Y/N, just slide it over,” James said dismissively. “Won’t hurt you. It’s really not that big of a deal—”

“She said no,” Peter blurted. James whipped his head around, as did Y/N. She blinked at him, e/c eyes shining, and she gave him a pursed-lip smile that said thanks, but you shouldn’t have done that.

“The hell did you just say?” James hissed. “Huh, Penis Parker? You got somethin’ to say?”

“Yeah,” Peter gulped. “She said no. Leave her alone.”

“She’s my girlfriend,” James barked. “This is our business, all right?”

Y/N said nothing, avoiding both of their eyes; she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, and Peter saw her chest begin to ride and fall rather quickly. It was then he noticed, as he stared at her, that there was a large bruise on the side of her cheek. Oh god, Peter thought. He’s hitting her.

“You shouldn’t speak to your girlfriend that way,” Peter muttered, turning back to face the whiteboard, copying down the notes that Mr. Bruno had written. “It’s disrespectful.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m going to take your relationship advice, Parker,” James scoffed, shaking his head. “No girl could ever date you, man.”

“Quit being a dick, James!” Y/N said rather loudly, to which Mr. Bruno finally turned around and set his eyes on her. The classroom fell silent.

“Ms. L/N, please don’t use that kind of language in my classroom,” he said gently, to which Y/N melted into her chair and nodded her head.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, casting her eyes down. She didn’t speak for the rest of the class, ignoring glares she received from James. She didn’t even turn around when they were told to work independently. Peter prayed she wouldn’t pay for his actions.

“Hey,” he said to her as soon as the bell rang, reaching over to touch her shoulder. She jumped back, eyes wide, before her shoulders deflating at the sight of him.

“Oh, sorry, Pete,” she said, her voice tired. Her eyes were still bloodshot and glistening, and he stared at her gently with concern. “Scared me.”

“Wait here for a sec,” he told her, watching as James threw his bag over his shoulder. She gave him a look. “Please?”

“Y/N, c’mon,” James beckoned her. Y/N spared Peter a look before she turned and said.

“I’ll catch up,” she said carefully. “I gotta talk to Pete.”

James glanced in between them cynically, before his malicious glare settled on Peter. He clenched his jaw and said, “Fine,” before stomping out of the classroom.

“Are you okay?” Peter asked Y/N once James was out of earshot.

“I’m just tired, I promise,” she assured him. “I didn’t sleep well.”

“You’re all flushed. And your face is bruised...” Peter lifted a hand up absentmindedly as though to graze the bruise with his knuckle, but he snapped his hand back down to his side when he realized what he was doing. Glancing back at the door, where James had disappeared, Peter said, “Look, if somethings wrong... if you’re not safe...”

Y/N furrowed her brows. “Safe? I’m plenty safe, I promise. What is this about?”

“James,” Peter said. “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, but... he kind of treats you like shit, Y/N.”

“I — he’s just...” she gulped. “He gets angry. I know it’s not good, but...”

She clenched her jaw and glanced feverishly behind Peter. 

“It’s not like I can just dump him and have everything be all rainbows and sunshine, okay?” her shoulders tensed. “He’s my first boyfriend, I... I can’t just dump him.”

Peter frowned and glanced down at her bruised cheek. “But he’s...”

Y/N lifted a hand to touch her bruise, and with a faint smile she said, “I know what you’re thinking. He didn’t hit me, Pete.”

“You don’t have to lie,” Peter pressed further. Y/N furrowed her brows. “You can tell me. I can help you—”

“It’s not from him, Peter!” she insisted and threw her backpack over her shoulder, however it accidentally whacked her water bottle than had been sitting on the corner of the desk. 

Peter, the hairs on his arms raising, lunged forward to grab it, however his fingers bumped right into hers. Lifting his eyes up, he saw that she had caught the bottle before he had. How...? he couldn’t finish the thought. She pursed her lips and turned to tuck the water bottle into the side pocket of her bag. 

“Don’t worry about me, Peter,” she said hastily without looking at him, her hand not leaving the water bottle on the side of her backpack. 

She shook her wrist around as though to try and take her fingers off the bottle, however her hand stayed put. Peter watched intently. Y/N finally settled on taking the bottle out and holding it in front of her. 

“I’m fine,” she told him firmly. “Erm — see you.”

And she circling around him without another word, starting towards the door. Peter hastily turned to grab his own bag in an attempt to rush after her.

“Wait, you left your—!” Peter picked up her pencil and turned around, but she was already gone. Sighing, he moved to put the pencil down, but something caught him off guard; a strand of a spider web wrapped around the eraser like a cocoon. His head snapped up.

No fucking way. 

---

DESPITE HAVING A good amount of classes with her, Y/N seemed to keep slipping out of his grasp again and again throughout the day. She ignored the notes he kept asking Ned to give her in History, pretending like she didn’t see him staring at her in English, speed-walking away from him in the cafeteria. Peter was sure he’d have to web her to keep her in one place just so he could talk to her.

By the sound of the final bell, Peter raced out of his last class (Physics) and practically sprinted to his locker before pushing his way down the stairwell in an attempt to reach the main entrance to the school to find Y/N. She parked her car on the side of the building, and although Peter walked the other way to catch his bus home, he decided to walk to her car. But when he reached her car, and she wasn’t there, he realized how creepy he probably seemed.

“Pete?” he heard his name, and he grimaced before turning around. Y/N was standing on the sidewalk, books hugged to her chest.

“Hey,” he dragged out, tensing his shoulders. “Uhm. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she sighed, walking around the other side of the car to drop her backpack and books onto the passenger seat. “What... erm... what’re you doing at my car?”

“Well, that’s... it’s...” Peter pursed his lips. Digging into his pocket, he took out her web-wrapped pencil. Her brows twitched. “I found this.”

“Thanks,” she reached out and grabbed it from him. “I was looking for it.”

“No, that’s... look at the end of it,” Peter said. At this, she furrowed her brows in confusion and glanced down at the eraser, covered in silk. She clenched her jaw and said nothing. “I... you can tell me, y’know.”

“Tell you what?” she said, putting her pencil back in her pocket. Peter opened his mouth wordlessly. “What’s up with you and your accusations today?”

“Okay, in my defense, it’s kind of hard to not thing you’ve got an abusive boyfriend when he treats you — and everyone else, might I add! — like shit all the time, every day.”

“I — he doesn’t —”

“So when you come into class looking like you’re about to cry, and with a bad bruise on the side of your cheek, excuse me for being just a little bit concerned!” Peter blurted. Y/N stared at him wordlessly. “And now there’s spider-web wrapped around your pencil. And the whole school is talking about this mysterious spider-woman—”

“She’s not a Spider-Woman,” Y/N muttered, brushing past Peter and opening the door to the driver’s seat. “Her names’ Silk.”

“Proving my point!” Peter threw his arms up. “I know it’s you! Silk said the same thing!”

At this, Y/N squinted and peered at him oddly. “What do you mean Silk said the same thing? Have you met her?”

Peter opened and closed his mouth like a fish for a moment. “I — that’s — no! Of course I haven’t! When — when would I have —?”

“Ah, okay,” Y/N suddenly smirked. “Why don’t you tell me what your deal is, then? I know it’s you!”

Peter clenched his jaw. “What... don’t turn this on me! This is about you!”

“You just made it about you,” Y/N stepped forward to him, and lowering her voice to a whisper, she said, “Spider-Man.”

Peter flushed and jumped back. “No! No, that’s — I don’t know where you’re getting that from! Look at me, I can’t be — I could never be — look at me! I don’t even—”

Y/N suddenly threw her phone out towards the ground at Peter’s feet. Cutting off his ramble, he struck his hand out nonchalantly and catch the phone. Handing it back to her, he continued, “Careful with that. But, anyways, it’s not me!”

“You just caught that in less than a second,” Y/N deadpanned. “If you’re honest with me, I’ll be honest with you.”

Peter stared at her for a moment, unsure. Rocking back and forth on his feet, he squinted and said, “You first.”

Sighing, she rolled her eyes and said, “Okay. You’re right.”

“Ha!” Peter pumped a fist in the air. “Knew it!”

“Now you.”

He frowned and took a deep breath. “You... I... you can’t tell anyone.”

She suddenly beamed. “Y’know, I thought there was something suspiciously charming about Spider-Man.”

Red-faced, Peter said, “Charming?”

“Yeah,” Y/N shrugged sheepishly, her face tinged pink. “Look, I... James is...” she sighed. “I broke up with him. Right after last period.”

Peter’s face lit up.

“But... it’s not all sunshine and roses now,” she muttered. “He made a big stink about it and now he won’t stop calling me, and... he just... he scares me a bit.”

He frowned and took a step closer to her, leaning against the side of the car to face her. “I won’t let him hurt you.”

“Thanks," she said half-heartedly.

“I’m serious,” Peter said, bowing his head slightly and staring down at her. “He might be a wrestler or whatever he is, but I’m literally a superhero.”

She snickered.

“What?”

“Nothing, it just sounds funny,” she giggled and glanced away, her cheeks still pink. “I appreciate it, Pete. Really.”

She was closer to him than he had anticipated, her sweet-smelling perfume flooding his sensing and ensnaring him in his place. He swallowed, his hands twitching at his sides as he felt an invisible force push him closer, faces leaning in.  

“Hey!” came a voice from their side. An old woman, standing by the door of her house nearby Y/N’s car was parked. “You can’t stay parked there all afternoon, y’hear!”

“Sorry, ma’am!” Y/N called back, giggling. Peter laughed as well, ducking his head and running a hand through his hair bashfully. “Looks like we should move.”

“Yeah,” was all Peter could find it in him to say. She grinned and glanced to her side again. Peter followed her eyes, noticing that she was watching the old woman walk back into her house. “What should —!”

Y/N had shot her hand out, a web flying from her wrist and sticking to his side to pull him in and press her lips to his. It was hasty, the kiss, and just as she pulled away, she beamed and slid into the driver’s seat.

“You want a ride, or what?”

---

a/n: okay i kind of love this a lot. its cute. 

taglist: @childishnewt @niallhoransupremacy @criesinlies @fairydxll @mcximffs @minbeatriz16 @slvtforfictionalcharacters @kaqua @thorrealgf @pagesbetweensheets @xlucyintheskywithdiamondsx @eichenhouseproperty @julster

[currently-evil]

Neil during 2004 iCloud photos leak

★First of all he switched to something better than flip phone when Andrew graduated, because long distance relationship is easier when you can Face time your boyfriend

★He found out what happened when he showed out for practise and all of his teammates were freaking out

★He just started to change trying to ignore everybody moaning that their nudes were leaked

★”Neil Neil - my photos, get leaked!”  “Does that mean you can’t play”   “...no?” “Well, then i don’t care.”

★Truthfully Neil never ever made a nude photo, so first he couldn't sympathise with his teammates at all and second he couldnt find a way the situation would have any impact for him

★Nicky had to actually remind him he also use iPhone, so his photos were for sure leaked too

★ Still *shrug*

★But it made him, from curiosity, check what photos he had saved on his iCloud

★ And SHIT

★That’s all photos of Andrew

★Andrew with whom he had very public Rivalry

★For a solid few minutes he was hoping, maybe he was one of the few, who were spared from leakage

★But quick google search showed he wasn’t so lucky

★And so anybody looking for “Neil Josten leaked photos” was suddenly assaulted with entire flood of soft, domestic photos of Andrew Minyard, his rival and public enemy

★There was a photo of Andrew doing cat sheet mask with ear bunny spa headband

★Andrew in bed looking into camera with heavy, sleepy eyes

★Andrew on porch of their home smoking with a sunset in the background

★Andrew laying on couch with both cats curled on his chest

★Andrew driving maserati

★Andrew’s back with “Palmeto University Exy Team - 10 - Neil Josten” jacket on

★And lots, lots more

★Honestly It was hard not to reach a correct conclusion

★And apparently everybody did, because #Andriel was trending everywhere

★Neil’s first choice was of course block his PR Agent and call Andrew

★And after Andrew picked up he immediately flooded him with “I am sorry, sorry”

★Andrew had to hang up and call him again to put a stop his panicked rambling

★Of course Andrew was not ok with situation, but he was not blaming Neil

★They talk everything out

★In the end they decided, situation isn't ideal, true, but we were planning to come out anyway

★Andrew gave Neil permission to make one, just ONE, tweet about the situation, before they both unblock their PR agents

★”I cant believe Apple shitty cloud security robbed me of coming out by kissing my husband on live television on Olympics”

★ Pandemonium

★BTW they both sue the shit out of Apple and them become well known online privacy rights ambassadors

[kamikothe1and0nly]

Having a science olympiad dilemma. So, you see, i was part of a division b (6th, 7th, and 8th grade and up to 5 9th graders as opposed to division c with 9th, 10th, and 11th graders and up to 7 12th graders. i'll probably use that distinction--or like div b/div c because scioly people abbreviate everything--a lot so it'll probably be a good one to remember) team but then covid hit so i'm left not knowing how i should have everybody try out for the team because it isn't consistent.

Why would it ever be consistent?

So we've got three options 1. This was my first year's tryout. We took a test on 6th 7th and 8th grade science plus a /lot/ of bio. The only thing i specifically remember is that there was a cell diagram on there. I would scale that up for a div c setting. Then i think the same day we took another test on like scientific reasoning. Like you get this table what's it telling you? Then the third test a couple of days later was basically you get this pile of materials to build something out of that would fulfill these requirements. All i remember is that there was a fan for those and i did not do well. There's a reason why i don't do buildits

2. This was my second year's tryout, a grand fucking total of a week before our first invitational. (That's not how that's supposed to work btw. I may have gotten a medal on one event but i did it the previous year so shush) Well that might've been our first practice but you get the idea. Basically the coach picked out 3 events and made a really easy practice test out of them. I know it was anatomy and physiology and reach for the stars (which is only a div b event, but astronomy in div c is very similar) but i can't remember the third one

3. Number three. I haven't actually done this yet but in like two weeks i can fact check this because this is how i've /heard/ it works. The callout's in a week and a half so i'll have more info then. I know there's a signup sheet thanks to the internet and I know you have to take a test on the events you want to be in but after that idk. I'll know more soon. I just have labor day weekend in there and i want to make progress over that.

3 would probably be the most challenging for me while 2 would be pretty easy. Practice tests for scioly events exist, it's just a matter of googling for them. 3 would also probably be the best for the story so the readers get a feel for what fitz's and Dex's events are going to be like but then it's the game of do i have them try out for like 7 events each or just pretend like they'd only try out for 3 and then make it onto those 3 they wanted? Idk

sorry about the monster-length ask i'm surprised i didn't hit the character limit or smth but do you have any thoughts? And please don't just say whatever i think will be best because i need other people's opinions. I will be throwing at this at several people just to see what the consensus is.

I honestly don’t know. You could make up for own way for the tryouts, it just sounds like a bunch of tests. If you don’t want to do that I think if 2 is going to the easiest for you go with that.

ʅ（◞‿◟）ʃ



[synonymroll648]

Sorry if i have out any context i will do my best to answer any questions of yours in the least confusing way i can

Having a science olympiad fedex au dilemma. So, you see, i was part of a division b (basically middle school. There's a bit more to it than that but it's fine) team but then covid hit so i'm left not knowing how i should have everybody try out for the team because it isn't consistent.

Why would it ever be consistent?

So we've got three options 1. This was my first year's tryout. We took a test on 6th 7th and 8th grade science plus a /lot/ of bio. The only thing i specifically remember is that there was a cell diagram on there. I would scale that up for a div c (high school) setting with like chem and physics questions. Then i think the same day we took another test on like scientific reasoning. Like you get this table what's it telling you? Then the third test a couple of days later was basically you get this pile of materials to build something out of that would fulfill these requirements. All i remember is that there was a fan for those and i did not do well. There's a reason why i don't do buildits

2. This was my second year's tryout, a grand fucking total of a week before our first invitational. (That's not how that's supposed to work btw. I may have gotten a medal on one event but i did it the previous year so shush) Well that might've been our first practice but you get the idea. Basically the coach picked out 3 events and made a really easy practice test out of them. I know it was anatomy and physiology and reach for the stars (which is only a div b event, but astronomy in div c is very similar) but i can't remember the third one

3. Number three. I haven't actually done this yet but in like two weeks i can fact check this because this is how i've /heard/ it works. The callout's in a week and a half so i'll have more info then. I know there's a signup sheet thanks to the internet and I know you have to take a test on the events you want to be in but after that idk.

3 would probably be the most challenging for me while 2 would be pretty easy. Practice tests for scioly events exist, it's just a matter of googling for them. 3 would also probably be the best for the story so the readers get a feel for what fitz's and Dex's events are going to be like but then it's the game of do i have them try out for like 7 events each or just pretend like they'd only try out for 3 and then make it onto those 3 they wanted?

Thoughts?

ok, so. it sounds like 3 would be the least immersing, because you haven't done it before and you don't know how it works. as you said, you could google it and you'd probably be fine, but in writing, if you have personal experience you can draw from, you should. so i wouldn't do 3. which leaves 2 and 1.

it really just depends on how much buildup you want to fitz and dex getting in. (i assume they're both getting in, though there's definitely things you could do with one or both of them not getting in. i'll elaborate on those if you need me to, but for now, i'm gonna move back to the subject at hand.) 1 sounds like a good way to lay out fitz and dex's strengths and weaknesses when it comes to science pretty much straight out the gate, plus help your non-science-whiz readers figure out what's going on. potentially. depending on whether or not you include their thought processes and basic explanations of stuff 'cause i guarantee that a lot of your readers are gonna look at some things and go, 'i have no idea what the fuck that word means.' for some of their questions. 1 is truly the buildup-before-they-get-in option, if you want your readers to get to know them individually in this au before they dive into everything.

on the other hand, 2 sounds like the 'let's get this out of the way real fast so we can get to the plot' way of going about it. and here's the thing! that's honestly better a lot of the time! one of the main ways people fuck up their pacing in the beginning - which is the most crucial part to pace correctly, since you need to get readers hooked on the story and continue reading through your middle and ending - is by starting too early in the timeline. unless you're like, really good with pacing and stuff and you've been doing it for ages and you have it down under your belt, you want to start as close to the inciting incident of your story as soon as possible. taking too long to get to the good stuff will lose your readers. (remember that sokeefitz roadtrip fic snippet i submitted to tobi that was like. 1.4k words? i deleted that because it was starting too early in the timeline. i was dragging the pace too much. taking too long to get to the actual roadtrip. i restarted the story later in the timeline of events, and it's flowing much better now. if it were an original story, i'd jump even further in the timeline, but this is a fic and y'all like fluff so you're getting like. idk. 3-5k words of it? right off the bat? only because y'all are familiar with the characters already.) if you can explain all the science-y things some readers won't get as they're in events and their strengths and weaknesses and such after they get in, then you might want to! idk your plot outline, so i can't tell you if this is what you need, but i'd definitely consider it.

[allstarsmash]

whats in my browser: louie is insane edition

11 simple rhymes to help you remember how dale earnhardt died

crouton.net

starman.net’s earthbound walkthru

video of an old choir concert

trying to find a song by googling the lyric “for the life of me i cannot remember” (i found the song btw it’s the freshmen by the verve pipe)

why does my phone keep restarting

a tweet an internet friend sent me about mirror dimensions

the megaman wiki (open to thetis’ page)

a google drive with every episode of whatever happened to robot jones?

the team fortress 2 wiki (open to pyro’s page)

aggie.io

“songs to get your medical license taken away to”

the history of the baseball walkup song

sheet music for the intro to rolling down the street in my katamari

ukulele tabs to intervention by arcade fire

how to remove blood stains from fabric

my deviantart

a website about weird gene names

“does knuckles work here”

a site for watching movies/tv with people

the “security system TAKES CONTROL OF SQUIDWARD’S HOUSE” copypasta

the fucking sonic adventure don’t play track 01 creepypasta

lost media wiki

the sonic wiki (open to tangle’s page)

“‘stop killing people’ um… im literally neurodivergent & also a minor???” (really funny when i have this open next to the page of any possible neurodivergent minor sonic character)

pixel art crochet

sonic mania spriter’s resource

wikipedia guide to werewolves in pop culture

otamatone

r/identifythisfont “what’s the classic tiktok captions font??”

rodin m on fontworks

r/fonts “where can i find a font similar to rodin m?”

the ICD-10

a guide to the ICD

fantasynamegenerators

minecraft death messages (forgot what this was for?)

the human-animal hybrid prohibition act of 2009

“kid in sunglasses dancing”

the most extreme BPMs in dance music

a store with cool paper/notebooks

the twit account of an artist i really like

toki pona in 76 lessons

monty python and the holy grail in toki pona

toki pona dictionary

tails is not gay

goggles i was looking at for cosplay purposes

the undertale wiki (open to the page for butterscotch pie)

a guide to finding 2000s scene clothes

r/icebergcharts

walkthru of trauma center: under the knife

“100 greatest power metal songs”

walkthru of bowser’s inside story

readallcomics (open to issue 28 of sonic idw)

xbox themes and gamer pictures

“Gamer Trying to Name Child After Video Game Character Without Spouse Figuring It Out”

it’s just a ps4

aidn.jp’s gif editor

the rhythm doctor wiki (open to cole brew’s page)

the “i can’t believe we’re both goth and trans!” meme

I Am Forcibly Removed From The Premises

the sonic frontiers announcement video with the sonic and tails vtuber models. sorry

walkthru of sonic 3’s carnival night zone

tiermaker (open to a sonic vocal tracks tier list)

the lyrics to hacker by death grips

I Was Just About To Consume This Delicious Banana

the “steve is drowning” “this ain’t about him” meme

get this party started by pink

“wikipedia editor jacket”

lyrics to edge of seventeen (hehe) by stevie nicks

robotomy

the yetee’s rhythm doctor merch

a sonic adventure walkthru

the tmbg merch store

life grips

“styling long curly hair for guys”

the chao island wiki (open to how to plant seeds)

“if i miss this jumpshot i’ll kill myself”

spreadsheet with every emerald location for knuckles and rouge in sa2

aggie.io, again

a sonic adventure 2 walkthru

“bearer of the curse meme”

“SHINJI CHAIR MEME” (yes in all caps)

elitesonicfan’s merch site

sheet music for gusty garden galaxy

a polecat

vinny’s terminal 7 rant

r/redditwritesseinfeld

“GNC QUOI”

bulbapedia (open to delphox)

a fucking spamton plush

wikipedia’s page on age appropriateness and rating systems

sticker mule

sheet music for white ball by miracle musical

buzzly.art (i’m waiting on that open registration)

“tweet like sonic and his friends are real”

the tvtropes page about time loops

the lyrics to open your heart by crush 40

art of kyo vocaloid for the favorite character bingo

the lyrics to fukkireta

“person standing side to camera” (for art ref)

crow wings

jhariah

and, finally, the lyrics to lose yourself by eminem

[thesublimeiseverywhere]

Tarot Gen Cards - A conspiracy theory and Hcs

Well, I was re-re-re-reading some chapters of manga (I can't help it, sorry) and I'd noticed one thing about Gen' cards.

But first, when and who made one of the most powerful trick of this cute mentalist?

Let's start straight (or not, in this case?).

↘️⬇️↙️

In chapter 70, paper (and the possibility to make sheets to draw and write on them) is acquired by the Science team. So I don't think Gen' cards already existed before this chapter because they made by paper with a touch of plastic (I supposed because the paper it was more easy to draw something on but only paper isn't enough).

In chapter 82, Gen remembered Senkuu' words about the entertainment (so like his own magic show) and how they will come back. I wanted to include it because from chapters 70-81, Senkuu and all of them in general had zero (0) chills to make something of frivolous like cards. So when Gen' cards could be made? Maybe after this chapter?

In chapter 84, finally we could see one of the cards: the Joker + Gen explained one of his psychological tricks.

Had you noticed? The Joker had a sort of title.

Uncertainty Principle.

It wasn't a psychological or magical concept but a scientific one. The Uncertainty Principle was also known as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Google-chan was trying to explain to me what it was but it wasn't important for this post, so let's forget about what it was but not that it was a scientific concept.

Also the double faced joker here had the same scar of Gen.

Cute.

🌻

In chapter 88, we could more of his cards. On the cards were written Tarot Gen Card (and they hadn't the pattern motive that they had in few chapters before).

At first I thought that there was something strange but Wikipedia-chan explained that even cards like these that Gen used could be called like this. For Tarot Cards I did mean another type...

Btw, in this chapter we also saw another card. 3 of hearts that had a title as well.

Theory of Evolution.

This one is an another scientific concept like that for the joker's card. It's a reference to theory of evolution made by Charles Darwin, of course.

So here we go with my theories:

1) Gen made these cards by himself

I mean, he needed them and finally he had all materials to use. Tarot Gen Cards are useful for good (little show that he could make as it was shown in a small photo in this panel from chapter 99)

or "evil" magic tricks (when it was to make his and Senkuu's interests went well). This could be valid because on cards there was Gen's name (normally on something made by Senkuu there was always his name).

2) Gen asked to Senkuu to make these cards

Gen was very lazy. He needed cards and he asked them to Senkuu for the same reasons that I'd said above. Also Senkuu maybe could draw (we didn't know nothing about Gen's other skills) or they asked to the little child from the Village to draw a few illustrations on cards lol

3) Senkuu made them for Gen as a gift (after all, Gen has made for him the telescope)

Yes, same reasons above but there was more. Senkuu didn't express his feelings and he preferred to do something concrete for who he loved and cared about. So he made cards with Gen's name but call them with scientific concepts also to teached them to Gen.

The scene that I've pictured in my mind is like this:

"A mentalist like you have to have cards with him... So here we go. Use them for Science Kingdom's Sake."

"Have you given to me a present, Senkuu-chan~? For what? I'm not complaining."

"It's not a present, it's for your mentalist job. Use them for tricking who wants to trick us."

"Wait... Why has every card a different scientific principle on it?"

"Because you can study them now."

"Have I to study here too? Tewwible!"

And I've done, let me know what do you think, if you mind or if you want me to focus on something else about SenGen or Dr. Stone story 🃏

[neverwatchedonepiece]

473-474: “The Encircling Walls Activated! the Whitebeard Pirates Backed into a Corner!” and “Execution Order Issued! Break Through the Encircling Walls!”

Outrageous, Doflamingo? I think the word you are looking for is awesome.

I’m glad I watched two episodes this time. 473 seemed to be a prep episode and the dramatic payoff was delivered in 474. Like Whitebeard, I’m having a bad feeling about three (potential) foreshadowing moments in 474. I hope I’m wrong, but Oda has been hammering home the message for a while now and it conforms with a well-worn trope. 474 wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. There was an amazing revival and a scene that genuinely made me say “Wow...” out loud.

You just can’t rely on tech, Sengoku.

For most of 473, the Marine’s Advanced Wall Tech fell victim to Aokiji doing his job a little too well. Sengoku ordered the raising of the Encircling Walls. Except, Aokiji’s vast sheet of ice made it difficult for the mechanism raising the wall to work. Sengoku spent 473 sweatdropping at the fact Whitebeard was charging straight at the scaffold. He had faith that the tech would work, however, and the Marines gradually stole away inside, leaving Kumas and Pirates on the battlefield.

While charging after Luffy, Ivankov noticed this (as only a season Revolutionary Army commander could, I suppose). Jimbei acknowledged it, but what could they do about it?

Sengoku continued to sweatdrop. “Are they ready yet?” he kept asking, as the distant dot that was a raging Whitebeard grew larger. But the ice would not budge. The gears were not grinding, though Sengoku’s certainly were.

Enter Vice-Admiral John Giant, who decided to act as hype fodder for Whitebeard buy Sengoku time and have a swing at Whitebeard. I loved the guy’s name and I loved this whole sequence. John Giant and Whitebeard clashed blades. Whitebeard told him to move it, then pulled off a literal power move. He grabbed the fabric of reality with his bare hands, tore it and the earth literally shifted.  Then he air-crack punched John Giant so hard he was sent screaming back towards Sengoku. The only reason the scaffold wasn’t destroyed was because the Admirals deflected the human missile. 

Courtesy of Whitebeard, Marineford is ruined, the land is tilting at a very strange angle, many ships were sunk and Luffy almost fell into a chasm, only to be saved by Jimbei. Again. xD

(What would happen if Luffy fell into a hole like that? Would he bounce? I’m still uncertain why he wasn’t able to stretch out his arms to full capacity to pull himself back out. Is he tired?)

Amidst the chaos, Doflamingo laughed maniacally, as you would if you were a few ants short of a picnic.

I loved how the Admirals bickered among themselves when John Giant fell victim to Whitebeard hype:

Aokiji: “The walls aren’t ready yet. That’s what’s causing this mess.” Akainu: “Your ice is blocking them!” Kizaru: “Can’t you just melt it?”

Or... you could have Sengoku order full power directed to the walls, which did the job in the end. Well, sort of. The vast, steel walls reinforced to counter Whitebeard’s power, and kitted out with hundreds of cannons looked pretty impenetrable. Then Sengoku turned to Akainu and said, “Do it.”

I thought, oh, that’s an interesting order. Another scheme cooked up between the two Absolute Justice Friends. Akainu’s trick was awesome, I have to admit. When the Fiery Fists of Justice rained down from above, the anime team went mad with red-tinged frames, flashes of white and images of pirates being punched to oblivion, boiled by lava-melted ice, caught by cannon fire or predatory kumas. The Whitebeard Pirates and Allies did look on the ropes and I did worry for a moment.

Thank goodness Little Oars Jr was slumped over the final panel, leaking blood into the mechanism, eh?

Trapped!

It was round about this time in episode 474 that the Ominous Foreshadowing moments appeared.

The action briefly cut to The Rest of the World Via Sabaody. Turns out the other Rookie crews had gathered clandestinely to watch the war (it sounds so weird saying that, like they’re watching a World Cup match and people aren’t dying). I liked seeing the reactions of some of the captains. Bonney seemed to be devastated by the news Whitebeard sold out his allies. Trafalgar Law didn’t believe a word. Apoo was aware of World Government propaganda and knew why the feed had been cut. I can’t remember what Kidd said. But Hawkins drawing the Death card is ominous. 

I don’t know anything about tarot, so I had to google it. Apparently, cards have different meanings if they’re upside down or not. Hawkin’s card is not upside down, so it could mean:

- the ending of a major phase or aspect of your life that may bring about the beginning of something far more valuable and important

- a time of significant transformation, change and transition

- elements of a sudden and unexpected change. You may feel as though you are caught in the path of sweeping change and cannot escape its effects. Though the immediate thought is toward the negative, an end need not mean failure.

At first, I thought, how does this apply to Luffy? But then I realised it might be more appropriate to apply it to the future of Piracy as a whole. Doflamingo is obsessed with the New Era and how dreams are obsolete. Blackbeard thinks that’s a load of old shite, but both he and his crew are obsessed with fate and being caught paths of sweeping change, unable to escape their effects. Everyone needs to move on after this and where the future will take pirates, no one knows, but I’m guessing there will be major changes afoot. Maybe some of the hot shit new rookies will take up the mantle and drive it forward. Who knows?

This made it more obvious that change is afoot.

That moment was sad. I wanted to reach through the screen and punch Akainu for bombing the Moby Dick. I’m still not over Merry and seeing a ship that was symbolic of the absolute pinnacle of piracy: of freedom, comradeship, power and discovery actually made me die inside a little. Not to mention the very symbol of Whitebeard snapped off in the flames and was trampled on the ground. That is a big giveaway. 

Whitebeard looked back, his eyes reflecting the firelight and said, “I’m sorry...” to his grand, old faithful ship and... Ugh. 

I wonder what the little ship spirit said back?

I have the funniest feeling the Death card could also be interpreted literally. Like, Whitebeard is going to die, which I don’t really want but all the flags are there. He’s old, not what he used to be, he’s just been stabbed through the chest, his Jolly Roger is in flames, trampled on the ground and his ship - the symbol of his glory - is a smoldering wreck at the bottom of the sea.

But then again...

Oars is Alive: Death or Glory!

The fact that Oars is alive gives me hope that all the death foreshadowing this episode might amount to nothing. I was wrong about Oars (nice time to take a nap btw, Oars, ffs).

I did like when Marco said to Squard, “Oars is still fighting” even though he was flat out, basically hinting, “Get out there, stop crying and make it up to Whitebeard.” Oars resolve was also symbolic in a way. His path and the literal blood he shed was the only way forward. When Luffy made his last forward charge down the only narrow opening left, the anime team even backlit Oars’ body to resemble a fiery light at the end of the tunnel. Death or glory!

 Ace is still not having a great time. He couldn’t watch as Luffy was blasted away by cannon fire and sunk into the water in front of his. Only Jimbei’s timely response saved Luffy from drowning. (Jimbei for Man of the Match, honestly. I wonder how many times he’s saved Luffy so far?)

It fell to Jimbei again when Luffy realised he had no hope of charging straight into cannon fire with as much aforethought an angry rhinoceros. 

That moment when Luffy appeared in front of the Admirals in a pillar of water, swinging a chunk of mast genuinely made me say, “Wow...” aloud. I bet the screenshot above was taken from the manga. It looks like it should have been. A lot of care’s gone into it. It looks great.

Again, the Admirals’ reactions were interesting.

Akainu: You're standing tall, Dragon's son. I praise you just for your tenacity.

Kizaru: What makes you think you can beat us?

Aokiji: You’ve not leveled up enough to have a crack at us yet, son.

Well, Luffy’s gonna try! That frozen mast shattered into pieces by a Stamp Gatling might give him enough cover to pull off a miracle.

Looking forward to the next one now. Now Luffy’s at the scaffold, it’s getting good.

After rehearsing for weeks in Akainu’s bedroom, Sengoku finally lets the Admirals show off their dance routine.

[your-dietician]

Best Day 4 sales at Walmart Deals for Days event 2021

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Best Day 4 sales at Walmart Deals for Days event 2021

Yahoo Life has received compensation to create this article, and receives commission from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change.

Prime Day might be over, but that certainly doesn’t mean the deals have run dry — in fact, they’re just as big as ever. Walmart’s Anti-Prime day sale, called Deals for Days, is chock full of discounts across the board. Here’s what’s in store for Day 4 of the sale, which btw ends…tonight!

The retail behemoth has slashed prices across categories. So whether you’re focused on a wardrobe refresh, a better work-from-home setup, tech to take along as you ramp up your workouts, kitchen appliances in need of replacement or more, Walmart has got you covered — with discounts as deep as 90 percent! There are still so many deals you can save big on.

Walmart will give you free shipping on orders of $35 or more. To score free shipping on all orders, plus lots more benefits including speedy delivery, sign up for Walmart+. Get a free 15-day trial here (a quick three-question survey will add on an additional two weeks for a solid 30 days of use). 

Here are the best deals from Walmart’s Anti-Prime Day — Day 4 sale.

TVs

A 40-inch TV for $178? We’ll take it! (Photo: Walmart)

On sale for $178, down from $228, the Hisense 40-inch Class Full HD Roku Smart LED TV is undeniably sleek — with a near edge-to-edge 43-inch display (more picture, less frame). With an HD resolution at 1080p and DTS True Surround Sound, you’ll essentially have a movie theater-like experience at home, with colors that pop.

The built-in Roku streamer gives you instant access to thousands of video streaming channels, including Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video, Hulu and ESPN+. It also has a few smart home features like voice search for hands-free navigation. That’s right: You can find your favorite TV shows and movies, just by speaking them into existence.

“Great TV. Once I selected ‘theater sound’ the clouds parted and there was entertainment bliss — OK, maybe that’s a bit extra, however, the sound did vastly improved,” shared a delighted five-star reviewer. “Perfect size for me. Easy setup and operation.”

Story continues

Check out more TV deals below:

Sony 32-inch Class HD LED Smart TV, $298 (was $350), walmart.com

TCL 32-inch 3-Series Class HD LED Roku Smart TV, $145 (was $200), walmart.com

Sceptre 40-inch Class Full HD LED TV, $155 (was $200), walmart.com

Samsung 43-inch Class 4K Ultra HD Smart QLED TV, $898 (was $1,000), walmart.com

Samsung 50-inch Class 4K The Frame QLED Smart TV, $1,198 (was $1,700), walmart.com

TCL 50-inch Class 5-Series 4K Ultra HD QLED Roku Smart TV, $528 (was $600), walmart.com

LG 55-inch Class 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED C1 Series TV, $1,497 (was $2,000), walmart.com

Sony 55-inch Class XBR55X800H Bravia 4K Ultra HD LED Android Smart TV, $798 (was $1,000), walmart.com

LG 65-inch Class 4K Ultra HD NanoCell Smart TV, $997 (was $1,200), walmart.com

Samsung 65-inch TU8300 Crystal Ultra HD 4K Smart TV, $648 (was $700), walmart.com

Headphones and earbuds

These Philips wireless earbuds are half price! (Photo: Walmart)

These Philips Wireless In-Ear Headphones are a handsome, waterproof option with a price that belies their high-performance quality: They’re on sale for just $30, down from $60. Yep, half price.

Walmart shoppers love everything about these cans: the sound, the comfy fit, the sturdy charging case. “I have had challenges finding in-ear phones that fit me well for a long time,” reported one fan. “I grabbed the chance to try these Philips Wireless In-Ear Headphones and I can say these are perfect! First off, I like the charging case, so you have power on the go when you need it. The headphones are super easy to pair both with my PC and my phone, and the sound is very good: The highs are not tinny and the bass is smooth…. Another quality product from Philips!”

What he said! You’ll never be juiceless with these Philips Wireless In-Ear Headphones — they offer up to 12 hours of playback. Impressive.

Check out more headphone and earbud deals below:

Beats Solo Pro Wireless Noise Canceling On-Ear Headphones, $149 (was $300), walmart.com

Apple AirPods Pro, $197 (was $249), walmart.com

Bietrun Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds, $26 (was $130), walmart.com

Philips Bass+ BH305 Wireless Active Noise Canceling Headphones, $40 (was $120), walmart.com

Meidong Bluetooth Noise-Canceling Over-Ear Headphones, $35 (was $70), walmart.com

Luxmo Bluetooth Headphones, $18 (was $36), walmart.com

Jelly Comb On Ear Headphones, $17 (was $50), walmart.com

Gaming

Save nearly a whopping 80 percent! (Photo: Walmart)

The NBA Playoffs are in full swing, so get all the basketball action your heart desires with NBA2K21 for PlayStation 4 — on sale for just $13, or $48 off at Walmart. That’s nearly a whopping 80 percent off! The game features all 30 NBA teams and your favorite players, including Damian Lillard, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Steph Curry, James Harden, Gordon Hayward and more.

NBA 2K21 has all the gameplay you want, from multi-player online to one-on-one with you versus the game itself. It features all WNBA teams and players—such as Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne, Liz Cambag, and Nneka Ogwumike — for the first time ever!

“This is one of my favorites, and I couldn’t wait,” raved a delighted gamer. “…The storyline is dope for my character, graphics are dope as always. Just an overall great game .”

Check out more gaming deals below:

Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Nintendo Switch), $40 (was $50), walmart.com

Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Nintendo Switch), $40 (was $50), walmart.com

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Nintendo Switch), $40 (was $60), walmart.com

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 (Nintendo Switch), $39 (was $60), walmart.com

Outriders: Day One Edition (PS4), $40 (was $60), walmart.com

Madden NFL 21 (Xbox One), $20 (was $60), walmart.com

The Last of Us Part II (PS4), $30 (was $60), walmart.com

Liphom Gaming Headset, $29 (was $50), walmart.com

Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Edition (PS4), $15 (was $60), walmart.com

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox One), $20 (was $60), walmart.com

The Pillars of The Earth (PS4), $29 (was $45), walmart.com

Smart home

A “smart” way to wake up, in more ways than one: Save nearly 40 percent! (Photo: Walmart)

The Lenovo Smart Clock is powered with Google Assistant for seamless syncing to a smartphone. It can rouse you from your slumber with your favorite tunes, the weather, calendar reminders and events, and that podcast you love. Because, really, who couldn’t use some help getting out of bed?

“I have trouble waking up in the mornings and this alarm clock doesn’t disappoint,” raved a satisfied shopper. “I like the wake-up feature that gradually wakes you up and then gives you a morning update of the weather and all the morning news. I’m able to connect it to all my Google devices too.”

At nearly 40 percent off during Walmart’s Deals for Days shopping event — the Lenovo Smart Clock is down to $49 from $80. 

Check out more smart-home deals below:

Google Nest Mini (second generation), $35 (was $49), walmart.com

Apple TV 4K (2020), $99 (was $169), walmart.com

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 (44mm), $150 (was $279), walmart.com

Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS, 38mm), $169 (was $199), walmart.com

Razor Power A5 Electric-Powered Scooter, $119 (was $179), walmart.com

XODO Smart Home Security Surveillance Kit, $60 (was $80), walmart.com

XODO Smart Wi-Fi Video Doorbell Wireless Security Camera, $90 (was $150), walmart.com

TSV Smart Plug (two-pack), $18 (was $26), walmart.com

Defender Ultra HD 4K Wired Outdoor Security System (1TB), $260 (was $450), walmart.com

Anself Wireless Burglar Alarm, $20 (was $28), walmart.com

Fymall Wi-Fi Smart Color LED Light Bulb, $11 (was $24), walmart.com

Home office

Take note of this Lenovo Chromebook — save $80! (Photo: Walmart)

Just need a product that will reliably, consistently do what you need it to, without all the exotic (and expensive) bells and whistles? If you’re one of those people and you’re in the market for an entry-level machine that’ll get you, or a loved one, through a day of work, look to the Lenovo Chromebook S330. On sale for $159, or $80 off, at Walmart, it boots up quick, has a quad core processor, 32 GB of storage and a glorious 14-inch HD display. It’s great for watching YouTube and Netflix, and is powerful enough for Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides and more. It’s ultra-portable too, weighing in at a svelte 3.3 lbs. and less than an inch thick. 

And have we mentioned its 10-hour battery life? This guy will. “I decided to give it a try. I am not sorry I did! I’m very impressed,” raved a delighted five-star reviewer. “I still have a desktop PC for my main computer but for the things that I need a laptop for, this fits the bill perfectly! It does everything I need and doesn’t do the things that I disliked about my previous laptops. It boots quickly, runs cool (without a fan!) and gives me amazing battery life! I’m very pleased!”

Check out more home office deals below:

Gateway Ultra Slim Notebook, $399 (was $749), walmart.com

Samsung CB4 Chromebook, $159 (was $199), walmart.com

Canon Pixma G4210 Wireless MegaTank All-In-One InkJet Printer, $300 (was $400), walmart.com

Cabina HD USB Desktop Webcam, $60 (was $70), walmart.com

Ousgar 47-inch White Desk, $80 (was $300), walmart.com

Kuku Mobile Call Center Telephone USB Headset, $28 (was $40), walmart.com

Beyerdynamic MMX 300 2nd Gen Conference Call Headset, $282 (was $422), walmart.com

Gamma Ray Optics 010 Slim Vintage Computer Readers, $18 (was $25), walmart.com

Hemu Fashion Bamboo Laptop Lap Tray, $38 (was $102), walmart.com

Vacuums

Get this robovac for half price! (Photo: Walmart)

An eye-opening 50 percent off, the Anker Eufy RoboVac 35C Wi-Fi Connected Robot Vacuum’s BoostIQ technology helps navigate your home’s surfaces, including hardwood floors to rugs and beyond, with smooth transitions. And while it never loses suction, when it senses the need for extra oomph — like when crumbs are overtaking the kitchen floor or pet hair is embedded in the rug — it’ll amp up its power to get the job done.

“Albuquerque dust is a pernicious beast. I also have two dogs and a slew of resident dust bunnies, so this is a big help,” shared a Walmart shopper. “It gets the dog hair and dust up easily — slightly appalled at how much dust came up after a regular broom sweeping. The edging function works great — clears out stuff from the bottom of the walls with ease. I have concrete floors and it scoots over it fine; has gotten itself successfully untangled from under the kitchen table…I talk to it like one of the dogs: ‘Oh, don’t forget that speck in the hall.’ ‘Good job.’ At least I haven’t named it (yet).”

The Eufy RoboVac 35C is super slim, so it’s a ninja when it comes to getting into every crevice and corner — and it has an infrared sensor for identifying things in its way, like stairs.

Check out more vacuum deals below:

BISSELL Crosswave Pet Pro Wet Dry Vacuum, $229 (was $299), walmart.com

Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Slim Corded, $99 (was $199), walmart.com

Shark ION Robot Vacuum RV750, $148 (was $299), walmart.com

iHome AutoVac Eclipse G 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop, $179 (was $400), walmart.com

Eureka Groove 4-Way Control Robotic Vacuum, $129 (was $199), walmart.com

iHome AutoVac Nova Self Empty Robot Vacuum and Mop, $299 (was $599), walmart.com

ILife A4s Robot Vacuum Cleaner, $119 (was $180), walmart.com

Mighty Rock Robot Vacuum and Mop, $73 (was $130), walmart.com

ionvac SmartClean 2000 Robovac, $99 (was $180), walmart.com

ILife V5s Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop, $135 (was $180), walmart.com

EcoVacs DeeBot 711 Robot Vacuum Cleaner, $144 (was $550), walmart.com

Style

Reduced to $8 from $98. Get it in all three colors! (Photo: Walmart)

No, you’re not seeing things: This gorgeous Max Studio frock is on sale for 8 bucks! It has a billowy tiered skirt and a peasant-inspired tassel-tie neckline. It’s available in chambray and bright yellow shade, but of course, we’re partial to this fun poppy red hue. Note: Some shoppers say it’s a little short, but you can wear it with biker shorts or leggings underneath — or just as a bikini coverup.

Did we mention it’s $90 off?!

“Comfortable,” a shopper reported. “Like the bright color. I’m wearing it in Mexico in a few weeks!”

Check out more style deals below:

Scoop Women’s Espadrille Wedge Sandal, $20 (was $35), walmart.com

Zanea Womens Polka Dot Short Sleeve Long Dress, $24 (was $48), walmart.com

KOGMO Womens Premium Cotton Full Length Leggings, $12 (was $18), walmart.com

Status by Chenault Women’s Cotton Slub Jersey with Cotton Eyelet Dress, $26 (was $78), walmart.com

Cate & Chloe McKenzie 18k White Gold Dangling Earrings, $18 (was $136), walmart.com

Melrose Ave Vegan Leather Toe Loop Strappy Flat Sandal, $22 (was $29), walmart.com

Free Assembly Women’s Sleeveless Square Neck Fit & Flare Dress, $21 (was $36), walmart.com

Kitchen

Save $26 on this incredible indoor grill. (Photo: Walmart)

Summertime is the season of grilling, but if you don’t want to mess around with your charcoal and lighter fluid every time you want a juicy steak or burger, try this indoor grill for size. This Gotham Steel grill has a titanium and ceramic surface which helps distribute heat evenly, plus four temperature settings so you can easily adjust how you want your meats and veggies cooked. Plus, it’s super easy to store, too.

“I just made hamburgers on this grill and it worked like a charm!” a shopper declared. “The burgers didn’t stick and it was truly smokeless as it cooked. Cleanup was also a breeze. Although it is dishwasher safe, it was just as easy to clean it up by hand with some soapy water. Definitely recommend!”

Check out more kitchen deals below:

Tramontina Primaware 18 Piece Non-stick Cookware Set, Steel Gray, $40 (was $50), walmart.com

Instant Pot Viva Black Multi-Use 9-in-1 6 Quart Pressure Cooker, $59 (was $99), walmart.com

The Pioneer Woman Cowboy Rustic 14-Piece Forged Cutlery Knife Block Set, $39 (was $70), walmart.com

Chefman TurboFry Air Fryer, $69 (was $99), walmart.com

The Pioneer Woman Mazie 2-Piece Ceramic Red Rectangle Baker Set, $20 (was $25), walmart.com

Farberware 3.2 Quart Oil-Less Multi-Functional Air Fryer, $60 (was $99), walmart.com

Ninja 12 Cup Programmable Coffee Brewer, $69 (was $79), walmart.com

Best Choice Products 16.9qt 1800W 10-in-1 Family Size Air Fryer, $115 (was $255), walmart.com

Hamilton Beach 12 Cup Digital Automatic LCD Programmable Coffeemaker Brewer, $73 (was $105), walmart.com

Beauty

Get over half off off this heavenly Marc Jacobs fragrance. (Photo: Walmart)

Few scents are quite as universal — or as beloved — as Marc Jacobs Daisy. It’s light, frothy and fun, with notes of grapefruit, raspberry and pear mingling with jasmine, rose, lychee and apple blossom, and base notes of musk, cedar and plum. Despite the abundance of fruity notes, it still feels fresh and playful — and whether you want to try it out for the first time or pick up an extra bottle to keep in your drawer, this price simply can’t be beat.

“One of my favorite scents and I definitely will be buying it again,” a shopper reported. “I’ve always wanted a Marc Jacobs fragrance and the price was perfect. It smells amazing and the top to the bottle is too cute.”

Check out more beauty deals below:

BylissPRO Nano Titanium Lightweight Ionic Hair Dryer, $65 (was $85), walmart.com

Burberry Classic Eau De Parfum, $33 (was $98), walmart.com

Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Face Serum, $64.50 (was $100),walmart.com

Remington Anti-Static Flat Iron, $16 (was $20), walmart.com

Artnaturals Anti-Aging Retinol, $12 (was $16), walmart.com

Conair Double Ceramic Curling Iron, $12 (was $23), walmart.com

Glycolic Acid 20% Resurfacing Pads, $25 (was $50), walmart.com

IMAGE Skincare Ageless Total Eye Lift Creme, $34 (was $50), walmart.com

Mattresses and bedding 

Save $300 and get the greatest sleep of your life. (Photo: Walmart)

If you’ve had your mattress for longer than you can remember, it’s high time to replace it — and, lucky you, this one is on sale! It’s made with 12 inches of plush memory foam supported by coils, and it’s just the right balance between soft and firm. The only drawback? Getting out of bed in the morning will be that much harder.

“I was surprised at how soft and comfy this mattress was,” a shopper reported. “I took it out of the box and plastic and it opened right up to the 12-inch size. It is supposed to take 24 hours to expand but it expanded a lot right away. It’s super thick and so far feels very comfortable. I am surprised at how great a mattress in a box could be!”

Check out more bedding deals below:

Noble Linens 8-Piece Bed in a Bag Bedding Set, Twin, White, $45 (was $65), walmart.com

Mattress Topper Queen, 2-Inch Cool Swirl Gel Memory Foam Mattress Topper, Blue, $70 (was $105), walmart.com

Simply Soft 3 Piece Ribbon Pattern Duvet Cover Set, $23 for queen (was $28), walmart.com

Hatch Embroidered Stripe 7-Piece Comforter Set, $30 (was $70), walmart.com

Zeny Weighted Blanket, $47 (was $78), walmart.com

Simply Soft 3 Piece Vine Pattern Duvet Cover Set, $24 (was $28), walmart.com

Wenzel 70″ x 60″ Camp Quilt – Red Brick Geo Print, $21 (was $29.50), walmart.com

Better Homes & Gardens Flowing Floral Comforter Set, $45 (was $65), walmart.com

Pets

Make bathtime for your pooch a little more fun. (Photo: Walmart)

If your pooch refuses to sit still for baths, nail trims, grooms, or, well, just about anything, try this trick on for size. Fill this lick pad with peanut butter, then stick it on a wall. It’ll keep him occupied for as long as you need. It has 37 suction cups, so it stays in place, and it’s even dishwasher safe.

“I have an obsessive border collie and try to always make him work for meals with Kongs or slow feeders,” a shopper shared. “This is a GREAT little treat for him that he gets very excited about! It holds just a couple spoonfuls and keeps him focused for about 20 minutes.”

Check out more pets deals below:

Oster Super Duty Dog Clippers, $35 (was $40), walmart.com

Portable Pet Dog Cat Outdoor Travel Water Bowl Bottle, $8.50 (was $11), walmart.com

Omega Paw Large Elite Self-Cleaning Litter Box, Black, $53 (was $78), walmart.com

Amgra Laser Pointer for Cats, $14 (was $16), walmart.com

Zimtown Pets Stairs with Cover, Small, Beige, $26 (was $51), walmart.com

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seeingteacupsindragons: Are clockwise/counter-clockwise spinners/jumpers a handed-ness thing, or is there no correlation whatsoever?

It’s related to handedness (clockwise jumpers tend to be left-handed), but not always.

How do skaters submit their music and planned program sheets?

We’re not sure of the exact logistics, but they probably either submit them beforehand through the ISU’s online submission system, or fill them in by hand during registration for competitions.

Why do figure skaters sometimes perform parts of their long program in the gala?

Are you referring to encores? The winners of competitions are sometimes invited to perform encores after their exhibitions, and they usually do part of their SP or FS.

Hello! I saw that Shoma is skating at the competition rink before official practices start for the France GP (assuming to acclimate to environment). Is that something that can be done or has been done before and if so, why don't more skaters go earlier to settle into the environment?

Either skaters don’t feel the need to go early to get used to the rink, or they’re unable to arrange practice time beforehand. In Shoma’s case, he is known to travel to competitions early because he has particular trouble with adjusting to different time zones.

I cannot understand the rules for qualification to Olympics so i want to ask if yuzuru hanyus's in any danger in terms of being chosen to Olympics ? Because there are many good Japanese skaters out there. Thanks for answering i love your blog btw :)

Yuzuru is in no danger of not making the Olympic team. He has clearly been Japan’s top man for several years now. The JSF’s qualification procedure would allow Yuzuru to be named to the team even if he were to miss Nationals this season. The only thing that can stop Yuzuru from competing at the Olympics is his own health.

How does Misha have time to choreograph other skaters' programs whilst also preparing for his own competitions?

Good time management skills.

just checking my understanding; was keegan messing's solo 3A in the free invalidated because of too many repeated triples?

Yes, he did two 3Lz and two 3T before his second 3A, so his second 3A was invalidated. (Protocol for reference)

When does the ISU release the official list of who's going to the gpf, and how do I navigate their site to get to it? (stupid question, I know, but for the junior gp it took me like 20 minutes to find their list of the finalists, and google didn't have much for me much either)

Final standings will be published after the last Grand Prix event (Skate America). You can see the standings here on the ISU’s Grand Prix page. To get to that page from the ISU’s home page, click on the “Figure Skating” graphic on the far left side of the screen, hover over the “Figure Skating” tab, and click on “ISU Grand Prix” under the “Events” category.

Which ladies do you think will advance to the final? Do you think Elena has a chance?

Still hard to say at this point. Elena (Radionova) is unlikely to make it, as she only has a bronze medal and a 4th place from her events.

I've seen several colour variations of the Russian team jackets this season - do they usually do this? Is it a personal preference thing, or does it signify some kind of ranking?

We don’t know why the Russian team jackets are designed like that, but it’s not unusual for team jackets to come in many variations.

this blog and all the hard work put into it by the mods is so admirable and inspiring. for being patient with the fans of this blog and the manymanymanymany repeat questions you must get and somehow not rage quitting, you all deserve a medal. thanks for being here for all of us fs fans

Thank you for your kind message!

hello. do you perhaps know who did the version of hallelujah that s/h skates to? thanks in advance!

K.D. Lang

for skaters who flutzes and lips a lot: why don't they just do the jumps that way i.e. flip take off where theyve planned a lutz and vice versa? wouldnt that be easier than trying to correct the edges?

Because of jump layout rules, and sometimes because skaters don’t want to sacrifice the higher base values of flips and lutzes. For example, if a skater plans 3Lz3T, 3F and 2A in their short program and they have a weak flip edge, they can’t just do another 3Lz in place of the solo 3F because jump layout rules state that the solo jump cannot be the same as the jumps in the combo. In that case, it might be better for the skater to replace the 3F with another jump like the 3Lo instead. And if, in a free skate, a skater who favors flips already plans two 3Fs, they can’t do another 3F in place of a 3Lz because that’s also against jump layout rules. They could either keep the 3Lz or remove it entirely, making sure they adjust the rest of their layout to accommodate the rules.

Sorry if this is silly but are there different styles of figures a skater can skate besides just figure eights?

The figure eight is the basis for all compulsory figures, but there are many different figures that can be performed. Special figures did not need to be in the shape of a figure eight.

[thecoroutfitters]

Written by Wild Bill on The Prepper Journal.

I went back through the TPJ archives and found a number of articles on bullet-proof body armor. Bullet PROOF armor is in the same category as bullet proof glass. It DOES NOT EXIST.

I am of the opinion that every legal citizen should investigate the ownership of personal body armor for a numbers of uses, from home defense to SHTF. Additionally they should consider the protections it in its many variants affords family members in today’s world.

In the world of ballistics many principals of physics come into play and I could go on for ever about them, really. Maybe the reason invitations to dinner parties appear to be waning. No matter since I will drone about it just a bit right here. As Preppers, when it comes to bullets, there are two principals of physics that are the most significant – Velocity and Fragmentation.

Velocity

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has established standards, Ballistic Resistance Standard 0101.06, for body armor and is the certifying authority in the United States. Be careful when you search for ANY standard from the government as Google, and all the other search engines, will give you pages and pages of data created by manufactures that look like what you are searching for but are really advertisements for their products. Even the link I provided above takes some intelligent maneuvering to get to the actual standard.

To revisit a point above there is bullet resistant glass and bullet resistant body armor, but bullet proof is not really achievable. Even the 46100 Brinell rated ballistic steel that is tested and proven to stop 50 cal rounds may fail if the velocity of the round exceeds the tested standard. This steel is what is used to make armored vehicles for the military. A sheet of this steel at 96″ by 48″ weighs 817.26 lbs. In bullets velocity is so much more a determinant of their penetrating ability that others factors like shape and hardness can almost be factored out of the equation, almost.

Level III is the NIJ standard level for rifle rounds. The current standard for Level III rated body armor is to test it with 7.62 mm FMJ, steel jacked rounds, the U.S. Military M80 Ball, at 147 grains and a velocity of 2,780 fps +/- 30 fps. Look at any box of 7.62 (308 commercially) ammunition and it will state the expected velocity out of a 16″ barrel. To increase the velocity of these rounds all you have to do is increase the barrel length. I have a 308 with a 20″ barrel and it will achieve velocities in excess of 3,200 fps using this same round, and at that velocity most Level III body armor can be penetrated. So know before you buy. Understand what threats you might face and do your homework.

Fragmentation

This is what you would expect. When an FMJ round hits a ballistic rated steel plate it either penetrates it or disintegrate. Hopefully the latter but again, dependent on the velocity. BTW ballistic steel armor is rated by its hardness, its Brinell rating, steel labeled AR500 is the standard and goes up to exceed a hardness rating of AR650.

And what happens to that “frag and spall” generated by the round hitting the steel plate? First it exerts a g-force across the entire plate, so it spreads the energy. Standard steel plate armor is 10″ x 12″ and plate carriers are designed to hold this in position over your most vital core organs. Yes, if you are hit by a rifle round and you are wearing approved body armor you are going down and you are going to know what it is like to be kicked by a very large mule, but you will survive. Companies offer soft “trauma” pads to wear behind the steel plates to further dissipate the impact across a larger area to lesson the shock and injured ribs or vertebrate.

If you hold your hand against your chest where the steel plate would be and imagine a round hitting you hand you immediately understand that the frag and spall is going to pepper the underside of your chin with fragmentation which could very well kill you. If either of your arms are extended past your chest in a defensive position or it you are extending them to fire your weapon, be it a pistol or rifle, your arms will be peppered as well. And if you are a part of a team your buds around you are likely to get sprayed which might prompt them to smoke your….well, you know.

So you always want plates that are sprayed with a spall and frag coating to contain the fragments. The current ones, in what is called “build-up coat” are actually excellent. Sprayed with specialized materials not too dissimilar than those used to spray truck bed liners, they are quite effective at capturing all the fragments. They can sustain multiple hits and not fail. The NIJ tests body armor at 51′ and six (6) rounds per plate, equal distant. I have tested at that distance and sixteen (16) rounds per plate, equally distant, and had no failures. They cost more than the base coat but there are some places where saving money is incredible foolish, body armor, should you need it, qualifies as one of them. Parachutes come to mind as well.

What is the Take Away?

Backpack Armor. That is my singular goal. While I want people to understand that “bullet proof” is not possible and the reasons why, I stated all this to support the idea that you should considering investing in body armor for your own needs, that would be smart. As a bedside rig to don when you hear breaking glass or to wear as you head out when TEOTWAWKT comes to pass. And everyone who carries a backpack, a briefcase or a large purse should invest in backpack armor.

There are specifically designed backpacks for armor but most armor manufactures design armor specifically for backpacks, packs, laptop, and book bags. They come in cuts and sizes that will fit nearly all civilian and military style backpacks on the market allowing a convenient and concealable solution to staying protected. The soft body armor, rated Level IIIA by the NIJ is rated against all standard pistol rounds, up to and including the 44 Magnum traveling at 1,460 fps (velocity again, influenced by the barrel length, and a few grains of powder.)

This is soft body armor, flexible, made from materials that harden on impact. They have no metal components, are thin and light weight, less than 2 lbs. and are not detectable by TSA. They will NOT stop rifle rounds from the more common calibers like the .556 and 7.62. However those ballistic steel ones above WITH the build-up coat will. Yes, they weigh in at about 8.1 lbs for the standard 10″ x 12″ size and most backpacks require an 11″ x 14″ plate, which weighs in at 11.5 lbs. That is weight but have you lifted your high school kids backpack lately? Will the extra weight give them back problems or confidence and a sense of security?

As preppers we plan for the worst case scenarios. As the parents of children in school we should consider giving them every edge.

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The post Something Every Prepper Should Consider appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies? #SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

[t-baba]

How tiny dependencies can topple the JavaScript Jenga tower

#486 — May 1, 2020

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🌍 I18n Ally: An All-in-One i18n Extension for VS Code — Got some internationalization work to do? I18n Ally gives you inline annotations, automated translations via Google Translate (which you can review), progress indication, etc. Supports React, Angular, Vue and other frameworks.

Anthony Fu

How a Few Lines of Code Broke Lots of Packages — Just under a week ago, people were reporting that create-react-app was broken. The culprit? A tiny change in a tiny dependency: is-promise. Luckily a fix was out very quickly and the creator of is-promise reflects on what happened here. Liran Tal also has some analysis of the situation.

Forbes Lindesay

Identify Front-End Issues Like JavaScript or Network Errors Fast — Datadog’s algorithmic alerts will proactively alert on any client-side issues such as JavaScript and network errors. Optimize the load time of your front-end resources, and detect any UI issues that affect critical user journeys. Try it free with Datadog Synthetics.

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Q: A JavaScript 'Quantum Circuit' Simulator — Bring quantum computing to your browser with this JavaScript simulation. If you were never quite sure what your JavaScript code was going to do, now you can formally explore the concept 😂

Stewart Smith

Quick bytes:

The first release candidate of TypeScript 3.9 is here.

A look at the current state of Vue.js in the form of a slide deck. 3.0.0-beta.5 just dropped BTW.

If your team uses Storybook, the same team have released Chromatic 2.0 which brings team 'code review' practices to your UI components.

A look at wink-scroll, a JavaScript-powered way to scroll Web content using your eyes alone.

If you didn't realize we have a Node Weekly newsletter somewhat similar to this one, you do now.. 😄

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Senior Full-Stack Developer (Malmö/Sweden) — Every day is different from the next. Join our upbeat Team and work on exciting, major projects using a modern JavaScript stack.

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📚 Tutorials

A Guide to window.location — A breakdown that covers most of the methods and properties available on the DOM’s window.location object.

samantha ming

Implementing Dark Mode in React Apps Using styled-components

Blessing Krofegha

▶  Let's Build a Financial Dashboard App with React (Webinar On‑Demand) — Join TJ VanToll as he walks you through building a responsive Bootstrap-themed Stocks Portfolio app. Check it out today.

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Getting Started with NuxtJS — Learn how to create Vue.js-powered server-side rendered apps with NuxtJS including configuring an app and deploying it on Heroku.

Timi Omoyeni

▶  Learn Svelte: A 16-Part Course on Learning the Popular UI Framework — The course centers around building a chatbot, which is a nice change from the todos and other overused tutorial examples.

noah kaufman

10 Practical JavaScript Tricks — These kinds of lists are usually pretty run of the mill, but this one actually contains some lesser-known quick tips that you may not have seen before.

zander shirley

Moving TinyMCE to Modern JavaScript — The creators of TinyMCE (a popular WYSIWYG HTML editor) have been refactoring its rather legacy JavaScript (the first version came out 17 years ago!) to modern practices.

Joakim Lindkvist

7 JavaScript Design Patterns Every Developer Should Know — This is sort of like a (very) mini version of Addy Osmani’s 2017 book on JS design patterns (which is referenced at the end of the post).

deven rathore

▶  An Introduction to State Machines Using XState — XState is a neat way to work with state machines in JavaScript, Kyle is a neat teacher, and Egghead is a neat platform for unlocking these videos for us too.

Kyle Shevlin

Ride Down Into JavaScript Dependency Hell

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A Collection of Challenging TypeScript Exercises — “The goal: Let everyone play with many different TypeScript features and get an overview of TypeScript capabilities and principles.”

Marat Dulin

A Visual Guide to React Mental Models — Different people learn in different ways but good mental models are always valuable and can be helpful if you need to juggle all of the pieces involved in a framework like React.

Obed Parlapiano

Turning Vue Components Into Reusable npm Packages — Outlines how you can reuse Vue components across your projects by automating your process to bundle, test, document, and publish your components.

Sjoerd de voorhoede

🔧 Code & Tools

jExcel v4: A Vanilla JS Interactive Table / Spreadsheet Control — 4.0 adds support for tabs/workbooks, updating a remote data source with JSON, formula support in a sheet footer, and more. There are lots of demos and examples on the official homepage.

Paul Hodel

Will It CORS? — A handy online tool/wizard for establishing how your (potential) use case will (or won’t!) operate alongside CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing).

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Get Great Visual Feedback & Bug Reports, Even from Non-Technical Folk — Simply click a page element to pin visual feedback with screenshots & metadata. BugHerd = fast and easy bug tracking.

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utfu: Replace Busted Characters From Legacy Text with UTF-8 — Useful when old content contains characters like “— in place of a single quote, and similar legacy text issues.

Daniel Sieradski

Middy 1.0: A Node Middleware Framework for AWS Lambda — Middy’s aim is to make writing serverless functions (hosted on AWS Lambda) easier by providing a familiar middleware abstraction to Node developers.

Luciano Mammino

useWorker() 3.0: A React Hook for Blocking-Free Background Tasks — Makes it easier to throw tasks off to a Web Worker in React.

Alessio Koci

webpack-blocks: Configure webpack using Functional Feature Blocks

Andy Wermke

JZZ: A MIDI Library for Node and the Browser — Send, receive and play MIDI messages from both Node and the browser on Linux, macOS and Windows.

Sema

MDX 1.6: Use JSX in Markdown Documents — This version introduces initial Vue support.

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🗓 Upcoming Online Events

JavaScript Remote Conf 2020 (May 14-15) — Speakers lined up already include Raymond Camden, Christian Heilmann, and Aleksandra Sikora.

ESNEXT CONF 2020 (May 18-22) — From the Pika folks (of Snowpack fame). 12 speakers over 5 days so it's a gradual pace.

ForwardJS (May 26-29) — A real world event (ForwardJS Ottawa) that has now become a virtual event.

CascadiaJS 2020 (September 1-2) — This upcoming online conference is set to take place in September, and the CFP is open now through May 15.

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[fumbliesthots]

So, I’m a scuba diver now

Successfully completed my PADI Open Water Diver course in Phuket, and didn’t die! Hooray.

It wasn’t easy for both Az and I, since we were both deathly terrified of drowning. In fact before the trip I was (jokingly) bidding farewells to people in case I didn’t make it *touch wood*.

The course spanned over 3 days, and weeks before that we had to watch a long-ass series of training videos to acquaint ourselves with the techniques of diving, and complete a rather long and technical MCQ test.

Day 1

On the first morning of our lesson, we met our instructor, Andre, at the dive school. He went through our test sheets and patiently explained the principles and techniques behind each questions, especially the ones we didn’t get right. (I was super confused on questions about no-stop dives and calculating safety stops)

After that, we were driven to the pool, a short distance away, to have our basic swimming and underwater techniques training and test. Az and I were asked to first swim 10 short laps across the pool without goggles. Then we went through the lesson on preparing our gear and equipment checks. There were many details to remember but we were assured that once we do them a few times it would be easy enough.

The entire afternoon was then spent in the pool, learning the techniques of managing our equipment underwater, moving through the water, buoyancy and how to deal with emergency situations. Some of the exercises that I thought were quite challenging were removing our masks underwater and swimming without them, and then replacing them back on; and removing our heavy equipment underwater and putting them back on again.

I must say that was quite an intense training, trying to train our bodies to breathe and move in a new way that we were not used to. It was a hot day, and we didn’t even get a lunch break! So by the time we finished and went back to the dive shop for our final theory exam, Az and I were blurry-eyed and exhausted. We were quite anxious about how the next lesson in the actual sea dive would be like. (And whether we would die??)

Day 2

We were picked up by the driver from the dive school at sunrise to be driven the pier, where we met up with the other divers and our instructor. There, we board ferry which would bring us to our first dive site. The only thing memorable about the boat ride out was the lady boat captain(?) who made boat safety sound like we were in a military camp. She would fit right in with the Ma’ams in our NCC days so long time ago.

Fortunately the weather was pretty nice that day – overcast and not too hot. As soon as the boat started on its way, Instructor Andre got us up to the deck to start preparing our equipment. With wind whipping in our faces, and trying our best to gain our balance on the bumpy boat ride, we tried as best as we could to remember what to do from our practice in the previous day’s training.

Just look at our nervous faces, lol.

After our equipment check, we moved back into the cabin where Andre started giving us a long pep talk to prepare ourselves for our first actual dive. But I remember not hearing a word of it because I was getting a little bit seasick in the cabin. 

Some fresh air from the top deck, (and several Moana soundtrack karaoke) later, we finally reached the first dive site at Koh Racha Yai.

We put on our wetsuits and equipment with the help of the boat crew, and stepped to the edge of the boat. We hadn’t done this jump in the previous day’s lesson and I was terrified suddenly. Andre went in, followed by Az. 

So the giant stride technique is, holding on to your weight belts, and pressing your mask and regulator in your face, you put both feet to the edge of the boat and take a big step out into the water. 

All I remember from this first jump was,

Put my hands where?  Step where? Huh? 3, 2, 1... uhh wait.. hold on.  Okay, 3, 2, 1, go!  Ahhhhhh! Bloop bloop bloop... cough cough cough!

Turns out I forgot to press my mask to my face, and it flew right up. The shock made me gasp and drank a bit of sea water.

But after a few coughs, it was no big deal. We followed Andre’s instructions and did some surface exercises, before slowly descending into the water, as we held on to a mooring rope to the bottom.

It was pretty terrifying trying to descend correctly at first, taking precautions that we equalised our ears as often as we can.

To be honest, I didn’t remember much of the first dive except that at one point I accidentally floated up to the surface by myself. There was a sense of helplessness when there is nothing to grab onto to stop the ascend upwards. Andre had to send up with emergency float for me to hold on to descend with again as he and Az waited at the bottom.

Once below again, he handed me an extra weight to better control my buoyancy. We explored the bottom for a bit, and I was still so nervous that I couldn’t really enjoy the view. 

After lunch back at the boat, we went for our second dive.

Buoyancy control was still a challenge, and this time it was Az that kept floating up. The emergency float was released again. We tried to hold our hands to stabilise ourselves as we moved to prevent one of us from uncontrollably floating up again.

Andre tried to get us to do some exercises at the bottom but found that we were having difficulties trying to balance ourselves and moving properly. I for one, kept tilting off to the side, unable to stabilise myself at rest. And once I tilted off, I would flail my arms to try and regain my balance but apparently that’s the wrong move to do so. 

Once back on the boat again, Andre recapped to us about our performance so far. We managed to do most of the exercises correctly but buoyancy and balance control was still a weakness. At this rate, we couldn’t pass for Open Water yet, as he’s still not confident we could be independent diving by ourselves, but assured us that we were already eligible for the Scuba Diver cert.

Side note: on the boat ride back to land, this happened. 

Kids, the lesson here is – never to put your hands on the ledge of a door, even to steady yourself on a boat. Nope.

Day 3

Last day of the course to prove ourselves worthy of the Open Water Diver title, something unfortunate happened for Az. Her red tide came, shit. We googled whether it was safe for one to dive on a period and the results were not encouraging. Surprisingly not because of possible shark attacks, but more of higher risk in getting decompression sickness.

The weather that day was not in our favour as well. A storm was brewing, causing the sea to get super choppy on our boat ride out. I took 2 seasickness pill and hoped for the best. 

Seeing how ill I was sitting in the cabin trying not to puke, Andre took pity on me and helped me prepare my equipment. He made a deal with me that on the 2nd dive once we are on calmer waters again, I would do it on my own.

This time without Az diving with me I was a bit more nervous. But Andre was incredibly patient and tried to instruct me step-by-step of what I need to do once in water. 

Az helped take some pictures of the pre-dive. This was me waddling toward the waters with all the heavy load on me. 

The first dive was fine, with better weight distribution around my waist, I was able to control my balance better this time, but the same problem of buoyancy control persisted. I started floating upwards very fast as we neared the surface. Andre figured that perhaps the problem was of my BCD self-inflating for some reason, and suggested that I used another for the next dive. Another problem was I was too anxious to fix any small problems too quickly. So while I was breathing out to deflate my lungs so I would sink lower, my next breath was too big, making me float right up again. Patience and mindfulness is key. 

With all the lessons learnt from the previous dives cumulated in my mind, I had one last dive to prove myself. 

This time I would hold my hose high to let all the air escape my BCD properly. This time I would distribute my weight evenly.  This time I would not kick around. This time I would observe my breathing. This time I would be patient. This time I would go slow.

We slowly sank down to the bottom without a moor line this time. After observing that I was able to keep my balance and buoyancy fairly well, Andre led me to deeper waters to explore the reefs and get closer to the underwater creatures. And we even got to an amazing shipwreck site 19m down, where I high-fived another dive team who were surprised we managed to get there.

We did some more mandatory diving exercises like the removing my mask underwater and swimming without it. I was anxious about this exercise before but was actually quite surprised when I managed to do it without problems. I even managed opened my eyes a little bit, in salt water! Shocking, I know! I think this was all thanks to Andre’s constant encouragement that made this easy.

And that concluded my last dive where I finally passed all my tests to become a PADI Open Water Scuba Diver. Oceans of the world, here I come! *  *Footnote: With a licensed professional divemaster as a guide at all times, preferably.

Btw, here’s us with our amazing dive instructor, Andre Jensen. 

[siriusrising-devblog]

Option Menu Concept / Default Keybindings  The more complex this project gets, the more it’s important to plan and organize things as good as possible – especially in our case, since each team member is living in another country. Creating spreadsheets and flowcharts is definitely not my favorite pastime. However, things became more clear as soon as I wrote all details down. In this trivial looking option menu were tiny hidden traps which surely could have been tricky to solve later. Anyway, after finishing the basic flowchart for this menu, I defined the default keybindings for the GUI navigation and fighter controls. I know that there’s not really a “rule” for keybindings (in fact, I have no idea which are the best combinations – I love to play games with a controller, you know?), but our game shouldn’t fail because bad usability. Since our game tester Igor is playing games preferably with keyboard, I asked him for his favorite key combinations – and I think they make sense. You can have a closer look on the keybindings spreadsheet … if you have a different opinion, please let me know! ;) Thanks to the flowchart, it was very easy to create all necessary screens and define all behaviors for the option menu at the end.  BTW:  Since lucidchart’s free version is very limited, I switched to the free draw.io tool to create flowcharts online. I can recommend this tool. It’s easy to use … Used Tools: Flowchart - draw.io Spreadsheet - Google Sheets