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theonceoverthinker · 6 years ago

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OUAT 3X13 - Witch Hunt

Hey! What’s Zelena’s favorite food?

A sand-WITCH, of course!

...Got it. Shutting up. Review’s below. Read it, bitches.

Press Release

Emma arrives in Storybrooke with Henry and reunites with her friends and family, only to discover that no one remembers how they were transported back - or the past year they had spent back in Fairy Tale Land. But Emma is sure that someone in town is responsible for this new curse and teams up with Regina in an attempt to uncover their identity. Meanwhile, in the Fairy Tale Land that was during the past year, Regina, with the aid of Robin Hood, attempts to break into her castle, which has been overtaken by the Wicked Witch.

Main Thoughts - Characters/Stories/Themes and Their Effectiveness

Past

Regina and Zelena’s first meeting is just straight-up iconic! The buildup to it is incredible, with little hints scattered all around the episode that the two are related and that Zelena’s power is a completely different horse than Regina’s, even down to the color. But there’s this sense of relation because of how sassy the two of them are.

“Despite my shortcomings, I’ve made something of myself.” This whole scene perfectly characterizes Zelena. Regina has been a force of antagonism for a lot of people, but no one has had the strength to truly do something about it. The most that could be done is a level of subduing her or having Henry tame her. But now, an interesting balance was struck. Zelena is more powerful than Regina and puts her on the prowl with that sense of antagonism BUT there’s also another layer to it. She allows for the integrity of Regina’s character development to stay intact. Because her beef is with something Cora did and pointed at Regina for superficial reasons -- that of being born (And holy crap, I just noticed a parallel between this and the Daniel incident and that’s a topic for another day), Regina is still able to be a hero without coming across as torturing someone she already hurt. Mix this in with that gorgeous green all over Rebecca Mader’s body and various pieces of iconography and you have something truly cool!

Present

I really like the handling of the confusion and paranoia throughout the town.

Leroy (The embodiment of the town’s voice at large) as well as the rest of the “rabble” blaming Regina make a lot of sense to me. As I pointed out last time, while our mains have bonded with Regina and understand the depth of her love for Henry, the rest of the town hasn’t had those experiences. They’ve just seen her as the woman who cursed the kingdom and threatened them at nearly every public appearance she’s ever made. And seeing Emma and Regina aware of that and using it to their advantage was utterly fantastic! It’s a really methodical approach that speaks to how self aware they’ve become.

It’s such a clever plan too! The only thing that holds it back from being a straight-up success is their lack of knowledge about Regina and Zelena’s relation. And seeing everything play out is satisfying!

Insights - Stream of Consciousness

-Wicked always WIIIIIIIINNNNNNSSSSSSS!

-”A family could live on what this is worth. And she just left it all behind.” That begs the question: DID she leave that stuff behind? I mean, Regina dressed very differently in Storybrooke than she did in the Enchanted Forest, but why leave the jewels?!

-I like how Zelena uses magic for all the things that a normal person would use it for. Getting dressed is a pain? Use fucking magic for it!

-ROLAND! The precious baby!!!

-”I’m ALWAYS thinking about Henry.” Awwwwww!!!

-Go Mama Mills! Monkey’s flying at an adorable kid and Regina swoops in and saves him! Noice!

-Damn, Regina! That is a high quality toy you made!

-I love how whether they read the story or not, everyone just KNOWS that Snow can talk to birds.

-”Smart money’s on yes.” Why yell at him Snow? He’s not wrong! Pessimistic, maybe, but that’s literally in his fucking name!

-”He’ll show up Swan. He always does.” I really wish this line was said in good faith, but Killian’s eye roll makes me think it’s ship war nonsense. Dude! Neverland’s over! Let’s be done with the machismo!

-”The bookworm’s right.” Look at that little side eye.

-”Oz? That place is real?” Aww! Cute Snow/Emma parallel for later when she discovers the Wicked Witch is real.

-”We we cell mates.” Ginny’s freakin’ tone during that exchange! Yes, you, Mary Margaret, in your most preppy-prep school voice and manner, were definitely in a cell! XD

-Dude! That Regal Believer exchange was just the saddest thing in the world! Regian can hardly move, so much so that Emma basically has to usher her out to not cause even more of a scene.

-As a side note, I love Regina’s Storybrooke outfit in this episode!

-Emma and Regina’s exchange in Granny’s alcove is just so amazing! Emma’s not without her reasons to distrust Regina and makes that clear and Regina’s aware enough of that but not without reservations of her own to Emma’s accusatory nature.

-How much you want to bet Granny recommended the crossbow to Little John?!

-Okay, so I am a total carnivore and I laughed my ass off when that arrow missed! XD

-I love how Rebecca Mader is dressed so down that a shot and a music swell is needed to show off who she is.

-”Who knew an Evil Queen had a soft spot for children?” You pressed the Henry button, Robin. You shouldn’t have done that.

-”I may have done bad things in my life, but at least I own it.” Regina, NONE of that works the way you think it does. For one thing, a good portion of your time prior to the curse (As well as after it), you denied you were the Evil Queen. For another, admitting you’re bad doesn’t do anything to lessen the effects of the bad things you do. Regina, Reggie-kins! You were doing so well!

-”I inadvertently put her in harm’s way during a job.” I love how freakin’ vague this line is. Like, I feel like there was a “Murder Most Foul”-esque red herring twist -- even more so than the one we got -- that would gel with a Robin flashback (Which was desperately needed).

-I love how this is framed as Henry not being himself because he’s not reacting to baby stuff, but he’s a freakin’ kid! I’d be telling her to buzz off as well!

-”Baby’s are stronger than you think.” Did you enjoy that double entendre, Jane? XD Because I did!

-I like how magic has a scientific element to it occasionally. For just as much as it’s a matter of talent or an ability by birth, magic can be learned and some of the strongest practitioners got to where they are by studying their asses off. There’s a diversity to it that reflects the diversity of skills.

-”I know just who to tell.” Yes, Regina!!! You told the embodiment of the town at large!!! Awesome decision!

-Nurse! Stick the fucking syringe in Little John! Yeah, he’s acting weird, but he’s not attacking just yet, so get a move on!

-”I’m a doctor, not a vet.” We REALLY need to get a magical vet on staff. I feel like Storybrooke has way too many animal problems to not have one.

-I love Regina and Emma’s conversation about stakeouts! It’s so subdued and domestic and FUNNY! XD

-Aww! Henry has friends! I wonder if said friends are wondering what the hell happened to Henry. Like, are there fics akin to “Stand By Me” where his friend group goes looking for him? Does Henry still text them? There’s a fucking story here!

-“Enough with the martyr complex, Regina. Try growing up without a mother.” ...She has a twinge of a point there, Regina.

-”They’re both dead.” I love how Rebecca Mader plays off learning that information. Like, her facial expressions there are divine!

-Has anyone ever written a fic where Zelena DID make the time traveling spell and used it on her terms?

-”Someone to destroy.” OMFG! Lana’s face! I fucking love it!

-”Why’d she tell you all of this?” Dude, she said two pieces of info that are the most general topics in the world when dealing with kids.

-”Maybe we can stop for ice cream.” BAD IDEA!

-”He took on simian form with the added bonus of wings.” A touch redundant, Killian.

-”Seriously? She’s real too?” I love that adorably innocent way that line is given! It’s so cute!

-OMG! I love the Rumple reveal! First, we see some straw. Then we see a male’s hand. Finally, we see his rugged and haggard face! That was so small, but so good!

-Rumple’s poor floof! It’s all gross!

-Rumple’s cage outfit looks more Weaver than Rumple! XD

-Okay, seeing Rumple not in makeup and acting crazy may quite possibly be the scariest thing in this series!

Arcs - How Are These Storylines Progressing?

The Wicked Witch - Damn! Rebecca Mader plays Zelena playing a midwife flawlessly! It’s up there with Pan as just amazing! Also, Zelena is freakin’ clever as hell! She takes full advantage of her knowledge of the people of Storybrooke to get exactly what she needs. And as I mentioned before, the flashback scenes perfectly characterize her. She’s sinister, has greater depth to her, and is just so cool! And speaking of cool, while the player (Zelena) is revealed to the audience, there’s a great element of mystery still going on, keeping the season from just feeling like a waiting game. Why is everyone being turned into monkeys vampire-style? What happened during that year? Who knows!

Regina’s Redemption - Like with the past few episodes, I really enjoy Regina’s character development. We’re starting to enter the payoff stage of her redemption as she further grows on better terms with everyone and protecting not just herself and Henry, but others too.

Killian’s Redemption - “Is he alive?” I love the way that Killian’s eyes just show that it’s something he’s genuinely concerned about. Absent is the snarkier, less mature version of himself and here, we have a Killian who recognizes that a good person’s life is in jeopardy and genuinely just doesn’t want him to be dead.

Favorite Dynamic

Regina and Emma. Who fucking else? The friendliness between these two set up by Regina’s fake memories and her means of stopping the curse perfectly allows for the niceness between the two of them to fit like a glove! It’s not full on best friend niceness, but it’s a niceness that reflects what they did for each other in “Coming Home” and reflects well on their history.

Writer

Here we have Jane Espenson flying solo as the writer of this episode! She did a fantastic job. The stories throughout the segments are very simple, but the complexity is allowed to shine through the intricacies of the characters. The dialogue and thought processes of everyone are exceptionally well handled and there’s a lot of comedy that just works so well!

Rating

Golden Apple. While I normally reserve a Golden Apple for something with a bit more of a thematic resonance, the execution of the stories here is so good that it doesn’t need a theme in that way. The story and writing are exceptionally good here, playing it simple, but smart and allowing the nuances to speak for themselves. There’s a lot of great elements and great and iconic moments here. It’s a fun step on the journey of this new arc.

Flip My Ship - The Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness”

Swan Fire - For all of the worrying that Neal does for Emma, it’s really heartwarming to see how much she worries about him!

Outlaw Queen - I feel like for purposes of full disclosure, I should preface this by saying that I’m not a super strong Outlaw Queen shipper. That said, I want to like them (As I want to like all things), and I’m really liking them in 3B (I liked them the first time around in my initial watch of 3B too)! Lana and Sean have good chemistry and the writing gives them a nice bit of banter. You get the feeling that while they don’t despise each other, they’re not on good terms and that trust has to build between them. And because this is early on in Robin’s existence, he’s allowed to be a simpler character. The love story between them starts out simple and to the point, allowing for it to be a great romance story.

Swan Queen - You really see the developed faith and trust between Emma and Regina and it’s so nice to see them being much more open with each other. Look at their dialogue in the office and how honest and kind they are to each other and it’s night-and-day compared to Season 1, but so well built! And look at those gentle smiles! It’s so sweet!! The payoff here is just so good!

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I’m so glad I was able to get more in-depth about this episode! Thank you all for reading and to those fabulous folks at @watchingfairytales!

Next time, we’ll see another looming presence that towers over our heroes. ;)

Season 3 Total (126/220)

Writer’s Scores: Adam and Eddy (39/60) Kalinda Vazquez (17/40) Andrew Chambliss (27/50) Jane Espenson (20/30) David Goodman (20/40) Robert Hull (20/40) Christine Boylan (20/20)* Daniel Thomsen (20/30) * Indicates that their work for the season is complete

Operation Rewatch Archives

#ouat #once upon a time #watching fairytales #ouat 3x13 #ouat rewatch #jenna watches ouat

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marnathas · 7 years ago

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Playing with suggestible and non-suggestible people

Ok, here's a topic I've been thinking about recently a lot, due to recent experiences and realisations. In hypnokink, part of what affects play is the "suggestibility" of a subject. I believe I've talked a touch about this before (and if I haven't I will at some stage in depth), but this isn't exactly a fixed thing. Some people start far higher on that slider than others, and there are people who will never get super high on it for various reasons (trust, experiences, how their brain just works), but at the same time, it's something that can be "improved" on, in the context that with experience a person whose a subject will tend to get better at responding to things, and that's somewhat equivalent to becoming more suggestible. Personal chemistry, trust and rapport affect this too, naturally. Someone may be completely open and responsive to their long-term partner, because that's been built up over time, but be rather unsuggestible to other people. It's a bit nebulous and hard to define exactly, so I'll generally be talking about the extreme ends of that spectrum.

So how did this topic come about in my head and what am I actually going to talk about? Well, simply, up until now, I've had the luck of only having hypnotised people who were already very suggestible from the word go, as a combination of experienced people and people who were just naturally that way. There are ups and downs to this. The upside is I didn't need to put a gigantic amount of work into making things work, so it made inductions and stuff quite easy. That meant I could worry more about delivery and other aspects, rather than "is this the right induction?" or "shit what if it doesn't work?". And naturally, it makes it pretty easy to do a lot of fun things with them. The downside is a bit more complex, and more personal opinion/desires. It's too easy. If I can drop the subject with a few words with the right intonation, almost regardless of what they are, it almost means I don't need to practice different things, or expand my repotoire of skills. It also makes it harder to actually do so, because for similar reasons, I can mess up and it'll still probably work anyways, and that also makes feedback harder. It makes me get lazy, and I'm not super happy about that. Part of my draw to hypnosis intellectually, is the wide array of technique, and the idea of figuring out the best methods to suit the subject and make it work for them (both in terms of inductions, and constructing suggestions), and the building up of responsiveness and such. I felt like I was missing that.

Easy solution then, find people to do stuff with who aren't suggestible, right? Sort of. For one, I've never really found finding people to do stuff with easy, especially when it comes to getting people into the idea of it when they aren't already experienced. I know what I'd like to experience and do at the moment though, and that sort of is get to play with some people who're rather new to hypnosis, and not at the suggestible end of the spectrum. Make me really dig into what I know, make me use all this knowledge I have and somehow get praised for sometimes. And kind of satisfy the scientist problem solving part of my brain that wants to really figure a subject out, what works for them, what they enjoy doing within trance, and get solid feedback and practice with my own technique and ability, while helping them along with figuring their own brain out themselves. To some degree I've always wanted to bring someone into it step by step from small trances and convincer suggestions and build it up anyways. (Funnily enough I'm actually talking to someone who fits that almost perfectly and getting to know them. Play may result, or may not, they're cool regardless ^.^, but I'll admit its got the cogs in my brain whirring already thinking about things and how to approach stuff from the absolute beginning.)

And here's where I get a bit more complex, and nuanced than just saying "screw the suggestible people, I want the opposite!". As I said, there's ups and downs, to both ends of that spectrum, and I've sort of just come to terms with it through a recent experience. Not too long ago, I got to spend some time playing with literally the most suggestible person I've ever seen in this kink (and I thought I'd seen some really suggestible people!). This person, basically if she trusts you, you can just say "drop" and she's instantly in a trance and capable of experiencing pretty much any hypnotic phenomena I can think of. And oh I checked that. My initial curiosity was on the fun scientific approach of "just on pure suggestibility how deep does she go, and what can she do?". So I did a session where I was legit as lazy as I could be. No proper induction, no deepeners, I only rarely dropped into my usual pratter and patterns and technique (this was all stated up-front before starting by the way as my intentions). I just wanted to see what would happen with as little influence from me as possible. It all worked shockingly well, that girl is really an amazing hypnotic subject. And admittedly, it was fun as shit for me. It was fun just being able to meld and influence and shape her mind in whatever way I wanted, knowing that it would work. For instance, if I told her to forget something, or not realise it was happening, bam, it was gone from her head. As much as I want the opposite, being able to do anything is kind of liberating.

So then, I've sort of hit a compromise position, after a week or two of being at an extreme due to my reaction to past experiences. If I have the opportunity, both is great. Both the thought, and care, and technique of someone new and not very responsive, and helping them step into it themselves, and the carefree fun of the really suggestible or experienced people. And there's always the in-between, of people who're new and exploring, but suggestible, or the people who're experienced but have difficulties with it regardless. If I had to pick one, well, let's be realistic I'd only have to pick if I was about to enter a monogamous relationship where part of it was not getting to trance other people, and in that case I know I'd be happy as hell with wherever that person would fall on that vague spectrum. Maybe right now I'd pick the new not suggestible person if I got to absolutely decide, because I want more experiences on those lines right now, but at the end of the day, I'm still a service dom, I'm still a person who loves and adjusts to whoever I want to be with and finds them amazing.

Oops, I got sappy there. Time to end! XD

#Blog #Hypnosis #Personal #Hypnosis basics

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sidewalkscienceguy · 8 years ago

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How did you start to get your name out? Did you start with self publishing and move up or did you have a different process? Also, do you have any advice for someone who is thinking about publishing?

Hey! So this is a question that....has no *definitive* answer, I think? So here’s my best attempt to explain it XD

How did you start to get your name out?

It sort of...just...happened? Actually the first time I tried to use Tumblr as an author, I had no idea what I was doing and literally stopped using Tumblr for like a year (between 2013 and 2014, I think?) I picked it back up sometime in 2014, but didn’t get serious about it until sometime in 2015. I made a few connections on Tumblr, found people willing to read my book (back then, only Embassy was published) and worked up from there. Those readers reviewed Embassy and I put their reviews out and hoped for the best. I used them in marketing materials and posts, and made a really stupid but apparently genius self-promo post that was my first “viral” post (it wasn’t actually viral by definition, but it was the first time any of my posts broke 100 notes).

At this point, I still had under 200 followers, and this is when I started experimenting with various marketing/promo methods for my books. Some of you might remember the one that said, “The most satisfying thing about reading a book is watching the left side get thicker and the right side get thinner.” BOOM. Right there, my first legitimately viral post. It shot up to 200k notes in a matter of days. Then my “Writers” post went viral, which still gets notes today and even appeared on Buzzfeed (with that freaking stupid typo in it dammity damn damn damn).

But the post that truly defined me and my Tumblr, the one that most of my followers followed me for, and which drives much of my book sales to this day, is “Writing a book is so easy.” If you’re a writer, and you haven’t seen that post, you’ve probably been living under a rock (although let’s admit it, most of us writers live in one of two places: under rocks, and on Tumblr). I even made a sequel post when I published Resonance, and although it didn’t go viral like the original (I mean come on you can’t have repeat virality for similar posts), it still gave major insight most authors hide away and never let people see.

So yeah, that’s where my name got out. From there, I’ve connected with people and gotten more reviewers and readers, made connections with various community relations managers at some Barnes&Noble locations, arrange and host my own book signings at local coffee shops, dabble in guest posting and doing interview on blogs (I haven’t done an interview in forever, though...), and I’ve even appeared on live TV and radio to talk about my books!

So, if you’ve been following me long enough, you saw me write Perihelid (Book 3 in the current series) from beginning to end, because I posted a picture of the word count and coffee every single morning as I was writing it, and some of the editing work I’ve been doing (though I’m saving those pages for the third installment of “Writing a book is so easy”). I talk about writing and post quotes from my books and even the mental, emotional, and scientific significance of them here and there. I’ve received fan mail -- both literal and online -- about how my books have helped people/been super relatable to them, or how they’ve inspired people to take up the sciences, and so much more.

So yeah....like....if I had to pick a “moment” that got my name out there, it’d be when I posted “WaBisE.” Otherwise, it’s a very unclear journey and making the most out of every situation and taking chances and just...being real. I think showing people why they should give my books a chance has been more effective than forcing it in their faces and being like “HEY LOOK I WROTE A BOOK READ IT READ IT READ IT.”

Hell, even word-of-mouth is more effective. I’ve given speeches at high schools, written articles for school papers, met local authors who then helped promote me.... Just this morning, actually, I was in line at Starbucks (granted, I’m still at Starbucks, and so is the lady in this story...), and MacKenzie-my-third-favorite-barista was walking by and said, “Heyyyyyyyy Scott,” (she just learned that my first name is Scott yesterday), to which I said, “It’s Scotty now, yo. Get it right!” And the lady in front of me turned around and said, “You’re here a lot, right? I see you all the time.” And then we got into a conversation and she asked what I do and whatnot, and I told her I write/edit books here, and at the end of it, she promised to buy them tonight and is going to bring them in for me to sign XD so even totally random stuff like that works well :)

Okay. I hope that answered the first question :P

Did you start with self-publishing and move up from there?

Actually, I’m still self-published! I haven’t touched professional publishing yet. I feel like I can better tell the story I want to tell through self-publishing. I’m not super rich and famous, but I feel way more fulfilled doing it this way. It’s all a work in progress. I have support and fans and honestly, you guys mean the world to me. Especially the people who message me saying how reading Embassy and Resonance showed them something about themselves, it’s like, that’s soooooo important and it’s the most incredible thing to know you’re impacting real lives in a positive way.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to get into publishing?

Do things your way. Write a story that would impact you if you were just a reader. Do your research -- not necessarily about writing and publishing, but research for what you’re writing about. It gives you credibility and authenticity. I watched about 50 hours of nature/environmental documentaries, studied regional ecosystems and climates around the planet, and even developed my own universal physics using real math and principles of general relativity to develop the world of my books. Maintaining that consistent realism has proven to impress even readers who admitted to not being sci-fi fans before reading Embassy.

I hope all of that helped!

@iwillbeinmynest

Ask Me Anything!

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pkgam · 8 years ago

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Me And Bicycles Kind Of Mix

Followup to this post: http://pkgam.tumblr.com/post/155994655870/long-riders

Which referenced this post: http://pkgam.tumblr.com/post/148281126925/wheels

So yeah, I talked about automobiles and me for the most part in the second post there, but not that much about my ventures into bicycles. I mean sure I had issues with them as well, but they weren’t the same kinds of issues and thus disproportionate. I’d say they were less impacting overall than the things about driving automobiles. So it’s story time! I haven’t had much time with bikes, but enough that I could get an idea of it. Not as a kid though of which I’ll explain how I seen it back then.

I thought the Hotwheel cars were my earliest “wheel” memory before, but thinking back on it, I think there was something else (It’s weird how memory of your youngest years is always such a blur...) with wheels and was more of a bike variety. When I was very young (Maybe like 2-3), I was given some plastic Batman tricycle with a plastic seat of which only had metal in the axles and screws.(Can’t find a pic and we no longer have it, nor did I find it online, sorry!), which I rather liked to ride as it was really stable, low to the ground and really light. So I could even get it up hills with relative ease. It was my first experience with anything “pedal-powered”. I was sorta nervous on it, especially when I’d get up to speed, but could control it pretty well. So I’d ride that around on our driveway a lot. Never’ could go on grass with it though as the wheels had zero traction due to being a smooth plastic, lol! But pavement was fine-ish as all I had to do was lean in to the front wheel to put pressure on it. I never really took it beyond that though because even back then I knew the dangers of automobiles, but also namely because...

I was eventually gifted a bike to “graduate” from the tricycle. I think I was like... 4-5 or so, I don’t remember really, but I was young. It was a black “Mickey (eww Disney...) Motocross” mountain bike that I can’t for the life of me find a pic of online and I no longer have it to take a pic of. It is a single speed and in order to brake you had to backpedal. It also came with training wheels that I basically relied on to stay up. It also felt very heavy to me, which is strange now that I think about it because I recall being relatively athletic even back then as I’d run and jump all the time (I found out later that heavy kids bikes are a widespread issue and they hinder riding.). From what I recall, I picked out a speed gauge to put on it (Which I don’t remember it’s appearance at all) and these colored octagonal-cylinder clanker-slidey (yeah I don’t know the name and they weren’t spoke beads, lol!) things that slide up and down on the spokes to make this vary satisfying rim tapping sound while riding slow. Keep all of this in mind because there are reasons why I mentioned this stuff.

Needless to say they started me off with the training wheels so I could get a feel for it and had me in a safe area to ride around at: a court near the house. A good spot because people wouldn’t zoom through it. I didn’t really feel comfortable on the bike because I felt so high off the ground (Looking back on it, the seat was probably too high because I had difficulties reaching the ground with my toes) and I didn’t like the idea of falling and getting hurt, especially at a higher speed, but I did get the hang of it and got semi-used to the feel of it. I never went too fast though because I’d get nervous that I’d mess up and flip over the handlebars or something. (I don’t think I ever got over 10mph) But the funny thing was that I wouldn’t really notice my speed unless... you guessed it, I peeked at the spedometer or didn’t hear the clanker-slidey things clanking. So those two accessories really were a terrible distraction to me but I never really noticed or recall saying anything about it, likely because I was just a kid and didn’t really recognize a problem considering that I didn’t want to go fast. But of course how a bike stays up is it needs momentum. So overall it hindered skill growth. But... I never got hurt. The closest was hitting a pothole in that court, stopping dead in my tracks, me panicking at the sudden stop and jumping over the handlebars but landing clean and safe, lol! That jump and landing is actually a really cool move when I look back at it. It didn’t “feel” cool because I did it out of panic but... yeah. :P Needless to say because I reacted like that, clearly something about riding it made me feel like I may need to bail at any time, which I guess I did. So I never really got used to it and thus stuck to the training wheels.

Eventually they pushed me away from them though because they seen I was not keen on moving from them, but the way they did it was to do it one at a time and have that one wheel above regular tire height. You know, so I’d have one to lean on in case I feel like I’m falling. Well, that turned out to be a bad idea because the whole time I’d ride them I would just lean towards said wheel. Thus circumventing the whole idea of it and developing a bad habit of not even riding with the center of gravity... centered. According to them I was riding without the training wheel in short bursts here and there though as I’d sometimes center myself and get off the wheel without even knowing it, which made them giddy to, well, see me ride the bike as it was intended (Looking back, I think this was another sort of “rite of passage” thing.). But any sort of lean to any side, like on a turn or something (which happens naturally), made me feel like I was going to tip and then I reverted back to the reflex of leaning on the training wheel. So in reality I wasn’t getting it. Yet... I think they thought I was. Because the next step of course was to push me away from the last wheel and ride it on just the two main wheels, which I had no understanding of how it worked no matter what they told me or what I tried.

I probed further of course and asked for a demonstration of which they did it easily, citing it’s balance. But I noticed that there was lean primarily on the turns and even when going straight, which made me even more confused because it seemed like you should just fall right over with any sort of lean similar to how a wood plank falls over when standing on edge and getting barely nudged. Methods they tried was to try and get me to feel how to balance on the wheels while standing still which does not help me because I never could stay upright for more than a second or two and thus felt like I should be staying up all the time to stay balanced (of course that’s not how a bike works, but how was I to know then? :P), the “hold seat while kid builds up momentum and let go” method, using a downhill slope to give me slight momentum... didn’t work. I had too much fear of falling to feel it out and their “encouragement” regarding that didn’t help as they said bumps and bruises were all a part of learning, which scared me more. But early on they did try putting knee/elbow pads on me along with a helmet. Plus had me ride on grass where it’s softer, but that just made it harder to get anything going because it is harder to get started on grass than it is on a slopey driveway or something, especially with a bike that felt heavy. The most success was a time my mom did the “hold seat” method when she let go and I stayed up a few seconds before not turning and hitting the garage back wall. :P But of course since I couldn’t start on my own, nor feel out the motions of staying up, I didn’t really learn anything. Which I could tell really frustrated and even embarrassed them, especially my mom. I was frustrated about it all too from the multiple occasions of fails so I gave up on it saying that I’d drive a car eventually anyway (HA!). I tried riding the bike again a couple of years later and failed even harder because the bike was not too small for me as my knees would hit the handlebars and I was too big for my family to hold up by the seat so even that method was out. XD So I gave up again... up until I became an adult.

Looking back, quite frankly I don’t think THEY understood how it works, they just demonstrated it to me and said balance is key. But that didn’t seem right to me because I could see on turns and straightaways they’d lean which seemed like they’d continue to topple over, so I didn’t get it. Of course there is a scientific explanation for it, but you can’t expect a 4 year old to understand it or for anyone to think about all the workings of it while riding because there’s too much. :P Long story short, I think they sucked at teaching because they literally couldn’t explain it, they just “did it”. Which is really how anyone rides a bike because you can’t think of all the little nuances, you just gotta have it engraved in muscle memory to the feel of the bike. Hence why they say if you learn how to ride a bike, you’ll always know. But as science also proved, you could mess that up by just flipping the handlebar action around, lol! I think that’s a thing a lot of longtime riders don’t get about new riders because it seems so incredibly easy to someone who can do it after they have done it for a while due to automatically doing very specific things without realizing it. But it’s the whole thing of most not realizing what they do that makes it impossible to teach because they don’t get it.

Like, did you ever think about what amount of multitasking goes into just starting it’s movement? You probably shouldn’t really, at least while riding, because too many thoughts can mess you up. Besides setting the pedal in the right spot and getting the seat correct before riding, as someone who can ride a bike now that can explain it: You’ve gotta push off with one foot while beginning to pedal with the other foot at the same time not being too far off the center of gravity (lower seat height helps be balanced from the start...) because you’ll fall over due to a lack of speed and if you do have a lack of speed you need to steer into your lean with your arms to keep yourself upright while somewhere in there getting your other foot on the other pedal from off the ground fast enough and beginning to do a smooth pedaling rhythm. *GASPS!!!* That’s a mouthful with no periods and all of that goes on in just a second. Hence why when you get it, it’s not something you think about because you “can’t” think about it, nor is it something you’ll learn unless you experience it through trial and error by feeling out the failed attempts which are of course are harder to feel out when you’re scared. Maybe impossible for some because the concentration is more on the fear than the fails.

So this is where the whole “learning as an adult” thing comes in. Part of the reason why I tried it again was because by then I have of course let go of all the past frustrated feelings of trying to learn as a kid AND I had access to a better and more suitable bike. Well, it wasn’t mine, it was my ex-uncle’s of which he bought to exercise on. Some red and silver Trek mountain model with front and rear rim brakes (Descriptive, I know... :P Though in all honesty I’m not sure I’d recognize it if I seen it again). It was much bigger than my kid’s bike of course, but felt rather light to me though I never weighed it. At the time I don’t know if it felt light because I had gotten much stronger (I literally haven’t touched a bike since my last attempt to learn as a kid so I had nothing to compare it to, plus I knew next to nothing about bikes) or if the bike was a better build (probably both), but it did. I of course asked if I could give it a shot and he said sure so I played around with it. The brakes up by my hands and not by my feet made it far more favorable as to how I’d prefer to stop because it’s more like teamwork between the hands and feet. Having things be set the right way and thus be more my size made it tremendously less intimidating too because my feet could touch the ground. :P I could treat it as a push bike and always be able to catch myself if I tip and fall, which was hugely comforting. Of which I only did once by getting careless. Wait... careless? How uncharacteristic for me, lol! So needless to say I was gaining confidence fast and thus was able to better feel out things. Well, in about an hour total I had gotten it. XD Seriously. It was a thrill to figure it out though regardless of how quick it went because I guess the itch to learn how to ride never really left, it was just dormant.

But... I wasn’t really “that” confident and thus was still nervous about slipups, so I’d still have a hard time calling it “riding”. I’d lean hard on the handlebars with a death drip no matter how much I’d try to relax. Thus I couldn’t really do any hand signals if I rode in some actual traffic because I couldn’t get out of that habit. More importantly, I was still clearly uncomfortable on it despite being capable of riding it consistently. But it wasn’t for quite the same reasons as a kid. Yes I still worried about some kind of hard collision that would be life threatening, but I could tell it would not be by tipping over sideways like I thought as a kid, namely because I understood it now. XD See, you never really fall sideways due to the momentum plus being able to outright touch the ground with your feet. I was more worried about the injuries that happen when flipping over the handlebars or of course hurting someone else. So I never really took it anywhere. I’d ride it in that same court area, back to the house, around the house... but not really putting anything into practice. Plus never getting over the lean and death grip on the handlebars. “But” something definitely clicked with me and biking that never really did when I was trying to drive a car: I felt far more in control. I think that made all the difference. Let’s do a few comparisons so you get what I mean:

Automobiles take quite a while to stop due to their weight but bikes can be stopped quickly due to being so light. Even rim brakes are pretty sufficient but automobiles basically always have disc brakes because rim brakes are too weak for them. Disc brakes are better for bikes too of course, but not nearly as necessary.

Bikes are lighter so if you get stuck, you just lift it and yourself out. Automobiles need a tow truck. Not that I got stuck but... the idea of it is bad.

Automobiles have “play” in their wheel and thus have a delay in your turning. Bikes control instantly.

Most automobiles have walls blocking your vision all around, bikes are all open.

You can jump a bike over things to avoid them from flat or slightly sloped ground. Autos... obviously not so much. XD (Though I never learned how to bunny hop a bike.)

I also have a certain admiration for bikes that I don’t for automobiles because:

They multiply your movement without the use of gas/motors and thus good for the environment.

They have an easier time tackling various terrain thanks to light weight and being on just two wheels.

Being on two wheels means they have a smaller footprint which allows you to move through places you couldn’t with a automobile.

Handles drops far better.

No way you can damage things as badly on a bike as you can with a auto because there’s far less force/weight in collisions, including hurting yourself or others...

Smaller in general = better for storage and space saving. Takes’ up a lot of room in a garage, huge parking lots are built for them, etc...

They’re actually faster to travel with than by cars. No, I’m not joking, studies totaled up the hours.

I still sorta quit biking again though. Not due to frustration, but because I wanted to focus on other things and because I got to my personal goal of actually being able to ride one to some extent so I was satisfied.

After watching Long Riders! however... I dunno, something about that show and all the inspiration that comes with it is kind of giving me the itch to take it back up again and beat the last hurdle of it: the nervousness that kept me from feeling comfortable. Namely because wheels and me have not mixed very well due to the feeling of low control. Unfortunately though due to my aunt and ex-uncle’s divorce, the bike went to him so we’re completely bikeless and thus I’d have to get another one. I’m mixed on because if I were to get one and not stick to it, it would be a waste of money and the bike would take up space until I’d sell it. :P It’s not like my dance pad where you know I’d go back to it time and time again, lol!

I’d go with a entry-level mountain 19.5″ (My legs are 32″) bike so it wouldn’t be too pricy yet would fit me with it’s versatility, plus repair accessories and of course a lock. :P I would NOT go with a department store type bike though as those things are often pretty dangerous due to cheap parts (Nor would I recommend you get one for the same reason... go a couple hundred more so you stay alive.). So it would probably be like a Trek 820 or something. I wouldn’t be going super crazy with it though, just some on and off road stuff like traveling and I have interest in seeing some local bike trails (as you know I love nature stuff). Maybe trails first because they’re more secluded to practice on. But again, if I wouldn’t use it after a certain period, I’d be better off using the money for a second dance pad for doubles play or something. XD Oh and I have of course checked into whether or not the bikes from the Long Riders! anime exist, which they do! Pontakun actually costs less IRL than it did in the anime, though of course some of the humor in it is about high prices of stuff soooo... lol! Not’ sure you’d want a Pontiac Firebird (Fun fact: I actually did not get the reference before reading that article.) for yourself though as they’re really heavy...

But anyway, I’ll have to think about it some more.

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Bonus section about learning to ride (or teaching someone) that a lot don’t know:

For the love of god, don’t get a bike that feels too heavy for you and is the right height (including the seat...). They’re harder to learn and get a feel for on.

Practice at a flat secluded area. No one likes interruptions while learning something and you don’t want it to be hilly as that can mess you up at first.

No, you do not have to fall at all as a part of some sort of learning process. As a matter of fact, falling just wastes time you could be using to feel it out and might shake you up.

Training wheels are utterly useless because they don’t teach you how it rolls. You’d be better off using a balance bike and/or taking the pedals off a bike to turn it into a balance bike.

Once you’ve got a “balance bike”, sit on the seat, hands on the handlebars and just use your feet to push yourself to get a feel for how it operates. Soon you’ll glide for longer and longer per push.

Put one foot on a pedal and do the pushing thing again with just your other foot until you get the feel of it. If you ever feel like you’ll tip on the side with the pedaling foot, just take it off and put it on the ground.

Put the other foot up on the other pedal once you’re comfortable with the other foot being on there and start pedaling. That’s basically it, lol! Sure there’s more to it like said hills (maybe bumps too), brakes and consistency in staying up at first, but that is a practice thing that only really comes once you get up on it to begin with. Getting on-on it is the big thing though so once you do, the rest just flows.

Thanks for reading and have a good one!

#wheel #wheels #bike #bicycle #tricycle #trike #king #of #mix

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