#the whole mountain training bit is my favorite part of the game by a mile it is so good

[robindaydream]

It's fine. Everything's normal. Just regular friend moments.

(generated with this handy little tool)

[ciestessde]

Chapter 1

When Ciestess arrives in our new world, her first thought is something completely pointless.

< Cold… I’m cold again… < … I HATE the cold. >

Tess knew she’d be cold. She starts off cold almost every time she arrives in a new world. And yet she always acts surprised by it each time.

She’s lying down. I can feel grass and dirt underneath our new body. So she’s outside, then.

There’s something poking her side, maybe a twig or rock. It hurts, but not enough to make her move yet, apparently. Always so careless about her health, I swear…

She opens her eyes. There’s a tree trunk in front of her. A forest, then? Ah, there we go -- she sits up. Not just a forest. She’s on a mountain.

She gives a long-suffering sigh. < Why can’t my body ever form with clothes on? No matter how many times it happens, it never gets any less annoying. < Noctu isn’t bugging me yet, at least. > Oh yeah? Looks like it’s time for Xihrae’s present!

I send the information our newest companion’s gathered into her brain, and her head throbs all the way to the eye sockets. < Jeez! C’mon, man, really?! I get making sure I’m prepared, but this is too much information! Now I’m cold AND I have a headache! It’s like I studied for over a hundred tests in five minutes!!! > One hand goes up to her head, the other to the ground to help keep her steady. She’s swaying, the world spins… < Ooooh, my head! I’m gonna be sick! I need a distraction -- anything but the pounding in my skull! >

She looks outward for a distraction, while inside her new brain synthesizes the rush of information and experiences about this world. She starts at her toes. This new body seems to be humanoid, as Tess prefers. Similar, in its basic form, to her original body, and the kind of form she’s been in for the past few worlds. Working to stand, she gets her feet under her, wobbling in the unfamiliar gravity, nervous system, and bodily proportions. < I’m… maybe average size for its age? Still smaller than I’d like. > < What were you expecting, > I interrupt her thoughts, < when starting out at prepubescence? > As her gaze moves up, I notice several differences about this body. It has fangs, I can feel a strength like iron in every muscle, and, although it’s night, she can see for miles in every direction.

< Greeeaaat. And just when my head finally stops pounding, I’m interrupted by yet another annoyance; as usual, I’ve arrived hungry. Be-a-utiful. > < Well, yeah. A new body doesn’t come with a full stomach any more than it does with clothes. > < Although… Wait, I’m hungry for-? > < -Yep! And on that note, Xihrae knew you’d be interested in this the moment he heard about it. > I point out a specific set of information in her head. < The world’s last vampire. Until you showed up, anyway. > She’s started grinning without even realizing it. < Aww, you two! Always spoiling me~! You really know how to brighten a girl’s mood! >

Now used to her newest flesh prison, she stretches her new prizmal body a bit. It seems that, while Prizmal itself is far from connected to the material aspects of this world, her own prizmal body can interact with any matter it touches. < Well. Having to drink blood isn’t exactly ideal, but, hey!- > The ground underneath her turns to shadow, then spreads up and envelopes her. < -at least I can make my own clothes, for once! >

She just makes a simple black dress. No need for anything fancy.

And no time, either. She hears something approaching -- a LOT of somethings.

She stretches her eyesight. < In the bushes. Is that…? -No way! > < Oh, no. >

She lets out a little scream of delight, “Ah! Wolfies!” She doesn’t love wolves NEARLY as much as vespers, but they are definitely up there on her “favorite animals” list. …Which means I’m gonna be stuck listening to her blather on about them the whole time we’re in this world.

Tess thanks her new body for its instincts as she transforms into a flock of bats, each only about two inches long, to get a closer look. She dodges through tree limbs and around foliage, and if I had a face, I’d cringe at the handful of times she crashes. We find a surprise when she reaches the nearest one. < JEEZ, it’s huge! I’d almost forgotten how big wolves are! > < Actually… > I do a quick calculation, relating the size of the wolf to the nearby elements, < It’s bigger than average by approximately- >

< -Yeah, whatever -Don’t care -CUTE! > But karma must exist here, because the wolf notices her, snapping at the air with enormous, drooling, teeth-filled jaws- < -Bigwolf,lotsofdrool,bigjaws,MANYTEETH! > She had also, apparently, forgotten how freaking high they can jump, because she only barely dodges in time. < Hey! That’s no way to treat a new guest! > < … Was that meant to be out lou-? > < I know, I know. I’m currently still ba- > < -Because bats can’t talk, y’kno-! > < -Shut up! I’m doing well for only, like… 5 minutes in! > < Haha! ~Whatever makes you feel better, sweetie~! >

She finds a nice-sized branch above the creature and transforms back to her humanoid fleshiness- and pauses to listen. < … Rustling? -Oh. It’s packmates! 1, 2, 3… > They stalk out of the trees slowly. There’s maybe ten of them, all growling and barking at her, their eyes reflecting the moonlight. She purses her lips. < … No. No, this just won’t do. They are all far too cute to have angry at me. < I want to pet them, dammit!

< Alright… Deep breath. > Oh! She’s about to start a hypnotizing song. I always love watching this part! I tune in more deeply to the senses of her body, trying to feel what she feels. The wind gusts, filling our nose with the scent of autumn- -When one of them starts howling.

The others all join in -- it’s SO LOUD!

We cover our ears, cringing in pain and realizing, belatedly, that of course Tess’s hearing is more sensitive than Xihrae’s! All of her senses are more sensitive than his! But still… Listening past the pain, it’s a rather beautiful noise… Almost a shame to interrupt.

But, in the shadows of the trees on the other side of the small clearing -- a new audience member is watching. So it’s time to put on a show. We take another breath. The wind slows. And Tess sings.

…

It takes a couple minutes to have an effect. But slowly, the howling stops. Once every wolf is silently staring at her, she jumps down -- a fall that would have broken both of Xihrae’s legs, yet she barely feels it. < Well well. You finally get a body that isn’t as fragile as PAPER for once! > I jab at her. It’s an exaggeration… But, more to my own annoyance than her’s, only barely.

The wolves approach her, blocking any escape. They’re large enough, and Tess small enough, that they can look her in the eyes. They sniff her -- then start licking her and pounding the ground with their paws. Tess grins widely, uncontrollably. < Aaaww! A group of giant predators, acting like I’m their leader?!

< So cute! > She scratches behind the nearest wolf’s ears. “Who’s a dangerous predator! Who’s a good giant puppy!?”

“...” As she’s having the time of her short-lived life, her mysterious audience member decides to show himself. He steps out from beneath a nearby pine, the shadows clinging to him -- then dispersing as he pulls away from them, evidently having only been held in place by his presence. An old man, almost twice Tess’s height. Wrinkled face, white hair reaching past his shoulders. Matching long white mustache and goatee. Dressed in a clearly expensive suit. Eyes the color of blood.

… And fangs poking out of his smile. He’s clapping with skeleton-like hands -- and chuckling.

The last vampire.

The name Xihrae had saved for her surfaces in her mind. < This must be “Dracula.” > Along with the name comes one of Xihrae’s master plans, solidifying itself step-by-step inside her head. Having watched him form it, I vouch for it; in this case, it (probably) isn’t a setup for some kind of chaos.

Still, it’s not impossible for him to hide information from me. And yet, despite my doubts, despite the number of times he’s tricked us, Ciestess insists upon trusting him! I just don’t understand… But. Even if I don’t agree, I… Well. Tess has decided to trust him.

So, I’ll let it slide. For now.

Having reviewed her course of action, Tess braces herself to play the long-game. < Well, then. Time to put on my best innocent act. > Aaah! A show I love even more than her singing: Watching the effects of her aura on brand new souls! Fumbling, she extracts herself from the mountain of paws, tongues, and wagging tails. < Time to make a good impression. >

She twists and fidgets her hands in front of her, makes her eyes go wide, eyebrows tilted up and in, the corners of her mouth tilted down -- and many other microexpressions, adding up to an overall fearful and guilty appearance. She squeaks out, “I’m s- I’m so sorry for trespassing! -” -But he interrupts her apologies, “I’ve never seen my wolves take so well to an outsider.” His voice is deep, but not as deep as I had expected.

He stops clapping, folding his hands behind him as he walks towards her. The wolves move out of his way quickly, sitting at attention on either side of his path like soldiers. Even the ones near her stop playing to stand and watch him, their ears and eyes trained on him, tails low and unmoving. Dracula only stops once he’s within arms reach of Tess, staring down with a calm, intrigued expression.

And that’s all he does, for a few moments. His eyes bore into hers. Then-

“How did you learn such an ability?” Still feigning nervous energy -- hands fidgeting, feet shifting -- she replies, holding eye contact, “I was… born with it. I think?” “You think?” Nothing has changed, yet the tension coming from him is palpable. Pursing her lips, Tess breaks the eye contact and rubs her arm.

“What is your name?” She looks back up at him. His expression still hasn’t changed.

She breaks eye contact yet again, looking to the right of him. < Innocence. Ignorance. > Trying to appear as though she’s struggling to remember -- eyebrows furrowed, mouth tense -- Tess replies slowly, “Ci… Cies…?” Then, as she looks back at him, she says her name with confidence. “Ciestess.”

His eyes narrow slightly -- but his head tilts just a little. < Good, good… Come on… > “Your accent. You are from… far from here, yes?” She regains her uncertain, “thinking” pose and doesn’t answer. He waits patiently for a bit, then asks, “Where are you from, miss Ciestess?” She transitions to feigning slight anxiety -- eyes wide, eyebrows tilted back up. Looking back at him, she replies, “I… I don’t…”

He doesn’t miss a beat. “How did you get here?”

< Yes! He’s falling for it. Time to seal the deal! > She looks down at the ground, wraps her arms around herself and starts shaking -- which isn’t hard, since she’s still cold. “I don’t know. I- … How did I…? Wh-” Tess looks back up at him, eyes even wider. “Where… am I?”

He considers Tess for a few moments, eyes narrowed even further. Yet, he almost seems to be grinning, slightly. < If he thinks he’s playing me -- EVEN BETTER! > “Do you have anywhere to stay? Anyone you’re travelling with?” She looks back at the ground, shoulders hunching slightly, and, after a couple of beats, shakes her head.

It only takes a couple more moments before it happens: “Why not come inside? You can stay with me. Until we find where you belong.”

His hand enters her line-of-sight -- he’s holding it out for Tess to take. She looks back up at him. With power in his voice, he says, “I insist.”

Outwardly, Tess hesitantly takes his hand -- still shaking and wide-eyed. Inwardly -- she’s struggling not to grin.

< Hook, line, and sinker! >

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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[thisabilitynotdisability]

A Winter Paradise: National Ability Center, Park City, Utah By Josh Stern

This past February break, I went skiing for the first time in my life! Now, I’m not an avid sports person, except for dabbling in a bit of adaptive ice hockey, so this was an exciting, amazing opportunity.

 How was this possible, you ask? An organization known as the National Ability Center (NAC), based in Park City, Utah, provides access to sports and therapeutic recreation for people of all abilities, in keeping with the mission of This Ability Not Disability.  NAC is active year round, providing access to winter sports such as skiing and snow tubing on pristine fresh snow as well as summer sport and recreational opportunities.  NAC offers the only completely accessible outdoor adventure park in the United States as well as an equestrian center. This trip, we skied and engaged in other activities such as an adaptive indoor biathlon and rock climbing (which was personally a favorite part of the trip, second only to skiing). The adaptive biathlon features professional laser rifles.  To climb NAC’s rock wall, you either have the option of doing so in the typical way, or if you feel so inclined to be seated in a chair-like contraption you can pull yourself up with assistance by utilizing a handle on the rope. Being at the top of the rock wall was particularly fun, as it seemed to be a third of the way higher than the rock-climbing wall located near my home in New York City at Chelsea Piers. There were windows located at nearly the roof level which provided a spectacular view of a freshly snowed on mountain.  The view was incredibly enjoyable to look upon, so that I declined to come down the wall for several minutes. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring a camera along in the chair, so if you are taking the seat up, my advice is to bring one.

 Skiing was incredibly fun, especially considering the amount of work put into making sure that I felt comfortable and that I did what I wanted to do. During the four sessions (two per day, one before lunch and one after for two days) I was lucky enough to have the same instructor, Dale Hentzell. Dale was amazing, taking me wherever I wanted to go at incredible speeds, and there truly were no barriers. For the first part of my time skiing during both days, I held one “outrigger,” which is a type of handheld ski that can be placed in the snow and pointed in a direction to turn. On my left side, due to my different abilities, a fixed outrigger was placed that served to provide balance. The whole time, Dale was tethered to me by a pair of bright orange, well, tethers, or he held directly onto the sled using an attached bar. I participated in the skiing by adjusting my outrigger when I held it or leaning in the direction of the turn when I did not.

 We made it all the way up to the top of the mountain, about 9200 feet, and skied down the 3 mile run in 12 minutes. Virtually any run that I wanted to try, I could, with the exception of only the black diamond level runs. It was amazing flying down the powdery slopes at a very high speed, and feeling like I was gliding on air. The process of getting on and off the ski lifts was quick, simple, easy, and safe (so quick that we ended up doing three 1½ mile runs in roughly 20 minutes). While skiing, it was a day of amazing nonstop action, and I definitely want to return to do it again. It was the highlight of my time at NAC.

 Now, we move on to the other stuff: facilities, in-house services, etc. The array of facilities located on-site at NAC was great. The grounds include: two baseball diamonds, a soccer field, a tennis court, an all-accessible outdoor adventure park (with a zipline and a flying squirrel), an administrative building also containing the rock wall, and a lodge. The lodge is completely accessible, and a very nice place to stay. Upstairs (accessible by elevator) there is also a lounge where there are video games, which you probably will never have time to play or even think about given the astounding variety of sports activities offered (please consult the website for a full list of facilities).

 The NAC staff are amazing. They are kind, caring, thoughtful, experienced and well trained, and will try the hardest in the world to accommodate you. As an example, one of the sports on our itinerary was snow tubing. When we first arrived, we were put into snow tubes so that we could be pulled up a snow-covered hill to the beginning of the tubing runs. On the way up, I noticed that because of my position in the tube I was having back pain from passing over even the smallest bumps and did not want to injure myself by going over a huge bump. I therefore decided that I would sit out on the activity, but then, thanks to an idea that Josh (a great intern) had, it was decided that I would try sitting in the middle of a double tube (a single snow tube that can seat two people) on the fabric which separates the two seating locations. Because of their wonderful ingenuity and their authority as recreational therapists, we were able to obtain permission for me to go down the run in that manner. I ended up going down with the entire team tied together, and it was a huge amount of fun for me. I thank the NAC Staff for their quick thinking and desire to go to incredible lengths to accommodate someone of any ability.

 I had an amazing experience, and wish to say a special thanks to everyone who made it possible, especially the Wheelchair Sports Federation Sled Rangers, my sled hockey team, who, thanks to generous donors, made it possible for me and my parents to make this trip. Thank you also Bill Greenberg, John Stieler, Chris Decker, the other parents (including mine), Coaches Rox and Steph, as well as Luke (a NAC Staff Lead) and Josh (a NAC Staff Intern), who were always there to help me or answer questions when I needed it most.

[northshorehealthandfitness]

[caption id="attachment_64929" align="alignnone" width="620"] Photo courtesy of The North Face[/caption] Consider your favorite activity of all time — the one you could do all day, every day. Then imagine being #blessed enough to spin that into your dream job. That’s exactly how freeskiers Maddie Bowman, Aaron Blunck and Devin Logan feel about spending time on the slopes. It’s not a 9-to-5 for The North Face-sponsored athletes — it’s a lifestyle. As they put it, they’re just three ski bums turned Olympic medalists who want to laugh with their friends down the mountain. And they do — right before speeding off to vie for another spot on the podium. This year, that competitive stage will be in PyeongChang for the 2018 Winter Olympics. (They’ll find out the final Team USA roster on January 22.) But these three skiers have already earned top medals, a few times over. California native, Bowman, 24, snagged gold at the 2014 Olympics in halfpipe and four from the X Games. Vermonter turned Utah resident, Logan, 24 — who competes in both halfpipe and slopestyle — won silver in Sochi. And Blunck, a 21-year-old from Colorado, won gold at the 2017 Winter X Games in the men’s superpipe. While the hardware provides a little incentive to work harder, Bowman, Blunck and Logan still gush that it’s their love for the sport that really keeps them going. Here’s a glimpse into their lives, on and off the snow, and why they’re stoked to hang at the start gate of the 2018 Olympic Games. RELATED: 20 Questions with Olympic Skier Gus Kenworthy

Olympic Hopefuls Talk Fitness, Nerves and Their Passion for Skiing

http://ift.tt/2DnkdfQ

On their love of skiing...

Maddie Bowman: “I love it because, honestly, it’s the place where I feel I can be myself. It’s very freeing and challenging — and there’s just nowhere I’d rather be. We’re all just ski bums at heart. I think I’d be doing this even if it wasn’t my career. I know I’ll be a skier for the rest of my life. That really makes me happy.” Aaron Blunck: “I never expected to be a pro skier. Obviously I had dreams as a kid. I loved skiing. I started at 18 months old. But it wasn't that I was doing it because I needed to get to the next level... At the end of the day, there’s really nothing better than sliding down the snow as fast as you can and flying through the air. It’s the closest thing to being a bird that you could do.” Devin Logan: “The friends I made through skiing are my closest friends. It’s just a level you connect on — being outside and being silly, going fast. All I wanted to do was be Picabo Street and go fast and not have poles. It’s that freedom that not a lot of people can get. You can express yourself in different ways. You can just fly and get away from everything… The wind in your hair is the best therapy you can get.” RELATED: 8 Signs You’re Way Too Stressed (And How to Deal)

On doing it for family…

DL: “My brothers went to a ski academy five months out of the year, so I followed in their footsteps. [My family] believes in tough love. My brothers were always saying, ‘You're doing this trick and you're doing it now or else you're not eating.’ So I definitely progressed quickly and then started going to bigger competitions and realizing that my skill level was above norm... The biggest thing was the approval of my brothers. [My relationship with them] made me who I am today. It made me tough in this sport — which is a tough one. You definitely take some hits.” AB: “Just like Devin's brother, my older brother kind of paved the path for me in skiing and every sport I did with him. I’m still always super thankful I grew up skiing with him because, I don't get to ski with him all the time, but when I do, it's typically the best days out of my year. He's always someone who's cared about not necessarily me as a skier, but me as a person.” RELATED: 21 Signs You’ve Found Your Fitness Swole Mate 

On what their gym sessions look like...

DL: “A main focus in our sport is the landing. We try to focus on the hips to take the impact off our knees. And you need to be ready for single-leg landings... I’ve gotten a little bit more gym time to buckle down, get strong, and help me get through the season. In the last year or two that's what I've focused on and I've really felt a difference. [It’s helped me] make it through the whole season, feeling good and strong. Competing in two events takes a lot out of you.” MB: “We do a lot of lifting, like back squats, front squats, deadlifts, cleans and then core work. With lifting, we’re not trying to max out. Being powerful is the most important thing.” AB: “I do a lot of cardio and more bodyweight exercises, just because we don’t want to be the biggest.” RELATED: 275 Bodyweight Exercises to Shake Up Your Workout Routine http://ift.tt/2DmCQ3p

On their favorite way to cross-train…

MB: “I am an activity addict. I like to go mountain biking or go to the beach or go out on the boat. Then in the winter, I go to the gym...When we're not skiing or training for an event, we’re still skiing, whether it's just around the resort, or hiking and then skiing.” AB: “I mountain bike, as well as skateboard, and then I recently got into running. It’s cool getting out of my comfort zone, because I’ve never trained for running before. Now that I have a trainer, she actually helps me with my mechanics — like learning how to have less impact on my heels, ankles and knees.... I’ve also recently started doing hill sprints, which is brutal. I’d almost rather do that than a 10-mile jog, though, because it’s only 500 yards up a hill. You get back a lot quicker.” DL: “I actually just bought a road bike. I’ve been getting into that for cardio, and I’ve been getting into running a little bit, too. I’m definitely not a long-distance runner. I try to ride the bike for 20 minutes, then run a mile and get back on the bike.... But also, I’m a big proponent of sleep and rest. I’m always go, go, go, so when I get the time, I just sit. I’ve learned now, over the past few years, that the best recovery for me and my body is to rest. I know deep down I need to physically just rest my body because the next day, it will be even better.”

On coming back from injuries...

MB: “I've had two major knee surgeries... And you just try to do as much as you can with the rest of your body while you're waiting. I think that really helps you when you start going back to the gym. You have to start out doing small movements, like learning how to do a squat... Then, when you take your first step again, you’re like, ‘This is the best day of my life.' You do take those things for granted [when you’re not injured], but when you get back, it’s a big realization of, ‘Wow, walking is pretty awesome.’” DL: “The injury was an eye-opening experience that the gym is a crucial part of our sport to maintain strength and overall abilities. It's kind of a shocking realization when you get hurt and then your life is the gym. Mentally, it's exhausting. You try to do something that seems normal, like walking, and you can't for a little bit. It takes a lot of mentally strengthening... Slowing down is super hard for me. I had to occupy my time with other things.” AB: “I have such a hard time taking myself out and it’s come to the point where — Devin has done it to me a couple times — she’s come up and said, ‘You need to stop skiing.’ I've had some back issues for a few years now, and doing core exercises has been the best thing I could have ever done. I swear to it now. I do it every single day, even if it's really quick, like a set of 50 crunches and push-ups, and a two-minute plank.” RELATED: 50 Ab Exercises to Score a Stronger Core http://ift.tt/2DoxvZC

On what it’s like right before a big run...

MB: “I think we still get nervous, but for me personally, I like to just keep it light and fun at the top of the halfpipe and joke around and chat with people. Everyone’s super nice and fun up there... You’re up there with all your friends and you’re genuinely happy to see everybody and talk. It’s nice.” AB: “I definitely found out that the more I mess around and joke about things [at the start], the better off I am.” DL: “I mean, the nerves have definitely calmed down, but they're still there. I think it just means you're still passionate about it. You still care. You still want to do well. But I express it, again, in a fun, joking way. I also have to listen to music when I ski. Either you have that pump-up song [often DMX], or you're too pumped up and you need to calm it down a little right before your run. So I'm up there listening to music, most likely singing out loud, being tone deaf, hurting everyone's ears. But again, I just can’t think about it too much. When you’re relaxed, you perform better.” The Opening Ceremonies for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games will air on Friday, February 9 on NBC.  Read More Inside the Mind of an Ultrarunner: Meet Dylan Bowman 8 Exercises Trainers Never Do (And What to Do Instead) The 10-Minute Rowing Workout This Olympian Swears By

The post Olympic Preview: Meet 3 Team USA Skiing Hopefuls appeared first on Life by Daily Burn.

via Fitness – Life by Daily Burn

[voice-oftheempire--archived-blog]

About the Mun [Munday]

Since I’m extremely new to...all of you? Yeah, all of you.. Thought that I would pull this back and give it a fill in honour of Munday. Consider this permission to also jump into my Ask box and just...ask away today, lol. 

NAME: Faust GENDER: Female, but so neutral on the subject that I don’t really care?

EYE COLOR: Heterochromatic with Blue and Green as the primary. HAIR COLOR: I’m a ginger. RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Fifteen years taken. I got very lucky, we got very stubborn, and now we’re one of those really stable relationships that the young generation keeps coming to for advice and then they never take. sigh ZODIAC: Cancer Sun Sign, Pisces Moon Sign. I’m basically a watery wreck. FAVORITE COLOR: Purples and Greens are top tier, ngl FAVORITE SEASON: Autumn, even if my allergies think otherwise. FAVORITE PLACE: That is easily accessible? The bath because baths are the best holy shit. Otherwise? It’s a toss up between this amusement park up in our local mountains with a steam and coal locomotive engine as the main attraction that takes you around the mountain itself for a few miles (Western themed with hokey shows – come on, what is not to love?) or London. I miss London something terrible. FAVORITE HOLIDAY: Halloween, no questions asked. FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: Dragon Age, Tales of the Abyss, or Final Fantasy IX. LAST SHOW YOU WATCHED: The Good Place, I think? WHAT’S YOUR HONEST OPINION ABOUT YOUR MUSE?: Valoren is probably two steps away at any time from a punch to the face from some muses, and more than likely would deserve it. And really needs her ego taken down a notch. But I love her anyway?

WOULD YOU DATE YOUR MUSE?: I don’t think that would be in either of our better interests, but I’d try and befriend the poor thing. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE KINDS OF THREADS?: I haven’t gotten to write on here with her yet, but as a general whole my favourite kinds of threads to write tend to be explorative and evocative ones where both partners really get something out of it for their characters? I can’t pretend that I don’t love dark threads too where I get to explore either my character’s messed up world or let my partner explore that too and have mine reacting. But I have a lot of fun with crack threads too where we can just cut back and have fun~ ARE YOU A SELECTIVE ROLEPLAYER?: A little bit? But not too much. Mostly it boils down to if I can mesh my writing style with my partner and if Valoren can somehow interact with the other character (and I can probably come up with a plethora of excuses to help with that – lifetime of forum RPing trains you for this, I swear). DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE MUSE?: Right now I only have Valoren that I play on Tumblr. I have another muse, but he’s not online for availability since he’s part of a to-be-published series. He means the world to me, though. WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO JOIN THE FANDOM?: I got suckered in by giant space cats. Popped into Tumblr, tooled around, found some of the best roleplayers I have ever seen holy hell where have you people been my whole life, and bit the bullet to make my child. Now I’m trying to tentatively get out there, lol DO YOU SEE YOURSELF STAYING WITH THE FANDOM FOR A LONG TIME?: I don’t see why not?

 Tagging: Er. In the event you haven’t already done this and you see it, I tag you to do it. /cheats

[siodymph]

Science Bros Day 5

I decided to try doing something cute and fun for “Triumph”. Tony and Bruce duke it out to see who’s the true pinball champ! (Fair warning I know nothing about pinball scoring, just that they’re big numbers lol)

And just a reminder, I’m also taking science bro request all through this and next week till the 21st.

And you can read this story either under the cut or over on my AO3!

word count: 1635

In the common space at Avengers Tower, there was one room entirely dedicated to games. It had everything. A chess set at one end, several flat-screen TVs and nearly every video game consul known to man at the other. A pool table, a ping-pong stage, a foosball table and a round table that was perfect for any tabletop gaming. Arcade games and shelves of board games lined opposite walls. And the most recent addition to the room was a retro pinball machine. It was a great addition to the room, and secretly it was one of Tony’s favorites.

Lined up with all the arcade games, it gave off a warm glow from incandescent bulbs all over the thing and whenever the tiny stainless steel balls would bounce around they’d mike this happy sounding chime. It gave off a good vibe whenever the whole team was hanging out together, nice background noise. But Tony also enjoyed playing it even when he was one of the only guys in the game room. It reminded him of being a kid. Skipping pointless classes and sneaking off campus to hide-out in arcades.

And that’s how Bruce found him on one of their free-days. Most of the team had gone out to explore the city, but mostly everyone was taking their small break to catch up on sleep, relax. Tony seemed to be relaxing by playing pinball. But relax seemed like the wrong word. He was hyper-focused on the game in front of him. Eyes following the tiny silver ball as it bounced all over the board. Hands practically trigger happy, ready to punch the levers on each side of the board at a moment’s notice. It was a sort of fixation Tony usually saved for calculating difficult math work, or piecing together new equipment.

Bruce padded into the room quietly, trying not to blow Tony’s focus.

“Hey you!” Tony called out, not looking away from his game for a single moment. “Didn’t wanna go on a field trip to Brooklyn with Steve?”

Bruce shook his head, stepping close behind Tony, watching him play. “Nah. I decided to try reading some journals.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Seems like everyone’s working with stem cells right now. Pretty fascinating medical breakthroughs…” Bruce trailed off, really watching him play.

Tony’s reaction time was near impeccable, always keeping the ball from plummeting down yet also not sending it blindly crashing across the board. And he was raking in a pretty decent score so far, upwards of 700,000 and still going strong.

“Hey you’re pretty good!” Bruce commented, watching Tony go. “How long have you been playing?”

Tony smirked at him and began singing under his breath. “Ever since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball-”

“Should have seen the Tommy reference coming a mile away.” Bruce sighed. Honestly, how could he not expect it? The guy was a walking encyclopedia for rock music, especially the classics.

“Probably. But it’s actually true in my case. When I was in boarding school I’d sneak out of all the boring classes.” Tony said. For a few moments though, he lost his concentration and he lost the ball. “Dammit! Eh, ain’t my best. At least I got on the leader board.”

“Not bad at all. You know I use to play a lot when I was younger too.” Bruce agreed. He didn’t remember everything that well from his childhood but he recalled going to a local arcade a handful of times

He could tell when Tony got an idea, smirking up at Bruce as he put more quarters into the machine. “No kidding. Why don’t we make this a little more interesting then? You vs Me. Whoever gets the highest score wins. You game?”

“Alright, I’m game.” This should be fun.

Bruce went first. Preparing for the worst. No doubt Tony was going to be cheating this whole game, he was certain. And as soon as he pulled back the spring and set the pinball loose, Tony leaned up on one side of the machine.

“Sooooooo,” Tony began, tapping his fingers against the glass obnoxiously. “Do you need silence when you play? Can’t afford losing you focus.”

“No, I’m good.” Bruce replied easily and refusing to make eye contact with his boyfriend.

“Oh good, good, that must be nice. Being able to get in the zone. Filter everything out. That way you don’t get DISTRACTED!”

Bruce was unfazed, continuing to play.

“Damn your good. Didn’t even flinch!”

“I’d hope so, I’ve spent years training to keep my nerves in check.” Bruce said with a little pride of his own. “It’d be a waste if I couldn’t handle a little cheating.”

“Hey! I’m not cheating, just a little taunting!” Tony defended himself.

“Sure. And it’s definitely not the fact that you’re a sore loser.” Bruce taunted. Smiling a little when he saw Tony straighten up from his faux-relaxed state.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to win. You know I will Bruce. Second place is first loser! And Starks don’t lose!”

Bruce stepped away from the machine as the words game over flashed across the board. Along with his score, 800,056. “I guess so, especially when there’s only two people playing.” Bruce replied with a smirk.

He watched as Tony read over his score. He bit the inside of his cheek and tried not to show how impressed and threatened he was.

“Looks like it’s your turn, Wizard.”

When Tony stepped over to the pinball machine, he glanced back at Bruce with a quick smile. “Go easy on me big guy, not all of us are meditating masterminds with nerves of steel.”

“Oh? What happened to doing whatever it takes to win?”

“I do what it takes to win.” Tony said, pointing to himself. “You’re the sweet nerd who would never stoop to lying or cheating... Trying to get into your boyfriend’s head to win. Right?”

“I don’t know Tony. You said it yourself, second place is first loser.”

Tony didn’t respond to that. He just pulled back the spring and started his game.

Bruce was ready to strike. And he stepped directly behind Tony. “You ok if I stand right here?”

“Sure, sure you’re fine.” Tony said dismissively, trying to block Bruce out.

“What about now?” Bruce asked as he set his chin on Tony’s shoulder.

Tony’s shoulders moved a little but he didn’t try to dislodge Bruce. “You’re good. Just don’t try to poke me or mess with my hands. That’s low even for you.”

“Oh I’d never!” Bruce said smirking, but he kept his hands to himself. Even if both of them were playing dirty he still had a code of honor. Instead he kept trying to pull at Tony’s focus. “So I gotta ask T-Bone, which hand are you dominant with? Cause you seem to be relying on that left hand pretty heavily.”

“You think?”

“Yeah. I mean, just look at it. You keep using the left levers. Even when the balls on the right side you keep hitting the left instinctively. Besides pulling the trigger, your right hand barely does anything. In your defense, the left side does have two different levers. I always wondered about that, you know. Why does the left side get an augmentation? Why did that ever become a thing? The right side doesn’t have any advantage. That means if the ball falls onto the right side of your board you’re more likely to lose.” Bruce carefully timed each thing he said. Saying left when the ball was on the right, keeping his words always opposite to try to annoy and throw Tony off.

“Yep. That sure sounds interesting or whatever. Keep talking.” Tony for his part tried to keep his cool. But he hissed when the ball narrowly missed falling through the center. As he played he kept sparing quick glance up at the score board to see how far he was from Bruce’s score. He’d broken 777,000. If he could just hang on a little bit longer…

Bruce wasn’t making it an easy task. He kept his hands to himself and didn’t shout randomly, but he did keep talking about opposites and all the technicalities to pinball.

But then he lost track of the ball, accidentally swayed by Bruce’s taunting and the ball fell.

“Shit!” He seemed disappointed, but when Tony turned to Bruce he was grinning. “Oh my god, that was diabolical, Bruce. I thought you were supposed to be the nice one.”

Bruce shrugged, smiling back. “It’s always the ones you least suspect!”

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up! If I’d done something like that I would have won for sure. And you would have complained the whole time, saying I was-” Tony’s grumbling was cut short when he caught sight of his score. 800,074. “Ha! In your face! I still won anyways!”

Bruce was surprised by the score as well, they’d come pretty close. But a win was a win and Tony’s triumph had been decently earned. Though Bruce couldn’t help but wonder how much better they’d both be when they weren’t terrorizing one another while they played?

“Nicely done. So what did you win exactly?”

Tony paused from his gloating. “I don’t know, we never agreed to any prizes…” He looked like he was thinking for a moment before looking back towards Bruce. “Wanna go again? This time whoever loses has to… Loser has to revise all the paperwork from SHIELD.”

“Oh you’re so on.” Bruce said, ready to play again. Though, if Bruce were honest, he didn’t care either way. Even when he lost he felt like he was winning.

And so did Tony.

But neither of them were looking forwards to the mountain of reports and tedious forms SHIELD expected the Avengers to take care of, so it was game on.

[jacewilliams1]

Alaska: if I can do it…

My dad flew F4U Corsairs off of aircraft carriers in WWII. I grew up listening to his stories and though he never flew in combat, airplanes and flying were conversations that held my attention. Not much else did at the time. It made no sense to me that he never pushed or even suggested aviation as a career choice on any of his three sons. As he flew in different times, when dying in an airplane was relatively commonplace, his view of what was safe in aviation may have been tainted by WWII standards. Nevertheless, it never came up as he certainly sought something safer and more profitable for his kids. I showed him. I became a cop. He didn’t see that one coming.

The author’s father had logbooks filled with flights in the US Navy during WWII.

He is long gone but his stories remain. For a lifetime I’ve always been fascinated with anything that flies. It doesn’t have to go fast or shoot things down, but the idea of soaring, gliding, climbing or hovering has never escaped me. What did escape me for a very long time was the belief that doing something like that was even possible for someone like me.

In 2007 I brought aviation into my life where it was to become a part of me. At that time I was 52 years old and Dad had been dead for 25 years. I knew that if I didn’t do it then, I never would. One day in January of that year I walked into the office at Creve Coeur Airport just outside St. Louis and asked, “What do you have to do to learn how to fly one of these contraptions?

The kid behind the counter made a quick phone call to Bill, a local CFI. In about 15 minutes I learned that this was not only a very real and possible goal, it could be even more exciting and satisfying than anything I have ever done. Fast forward to the summer of 2014, when I found that both of these things were true and to a level I never could have imagined.

Starting that day and for the next seven years, my brother and I learned to fly, bought a 1966 Piper Cherokee 180, and realized the first part of what Bill told me: that it was possible. And in 2014, I flew that same Cherokee to Alaska and back to fulfill the second part of what Bill told me, which took it to that level I never could have foreseen or imagined. That was my trip of a lifetime.

Planning

I am a very average pilot. I got my Private Pilot’s license in 2008, my instrument rating a year later, and have since been “working on my Commercial/CFI.” A lot of flying but not much work. I’m still in that process. But in 2013, my cousin, John, talked me into flying to Alaska. We had been talking about driving the Alaska Highway for a long time, long before I started flying. I’ve been up there a number of times. I became drawn to Alaska’s vastness and rough and natural beauty. It’s the only place outside St. Louis that I ever knocked on doors to try to find work. I never found work but it still remains my favorite place on earth.

The terrain in Alaska is just different—and unforgiving.

Cousin John and I started planning in February of 2014 and probably overthought and over-planned the whole trip. That’s not to say that we did anything wrong, but this was an undertaking. I, like most pilots, am huge on safety and I didn’t want any surprises. My normal flying involved a lot of hundred dollar hamburgers and a few SEC football games but not a lot more. Up to that point, the most I ever flew in the mountains were in the Ozarks of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, the hills of eastern Tennessee at Knoxville and the Green Mountains in Vermont. So arrangements were made for mountain flying training in Centennial, Colorado, which we decided would be our starting and ending point for Alaska.

I took the time to learn about Customs, both US and Canadian. I got a radio license for the airplane (remember ARROW from private training?) and a Customs sticker allowing for international travel. It was necessary that my ForeFlight be updated with a Canadian subscription so we had all the states, provinces and territories along our route on the iPad. I also got the Canadian version of the FAR/AIM along with all the paper charts for the entire flight. A lot of time was spent putting together a survival kit, required by law when flying in Alaska and just plain a good idea when flying in any mountainous area.

We envisioned flying up east of the Canadian Rockies and into central Alaska, following the Alaska Highway then returning down the coast to Seattle. However, weather along the coast was considered too unpredictable and there would be zero forgiveness for the loss of an engine. Therefore we acceded to those who assured that doing this without two engines or pontoons was not really a good idea. Ultimately we decided to follow the Alaska Highway up and back. It’s all about flying safe.

Loaded, legal, and ready for Alaska.

The next issue was what we were going to take and how it affected weight and balance. A Piper Cherokee is just not that big. I tell non-pilots to think of it as a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle. You just don’t have a lot of room in there. We had to be very conscious of our gross weight which, after quite a bit of finagling, we got to our legal limit of 2,400 lbs. with full tanks. Just fitting everything into this bug was also a task but we did it.

The mountain flying training was the best idea of the whole trip. Flying in the mountains is not like flying in the flat lands. All of a sudden, performance charts become exceedingly important; the need to accurately interpret the weather is amplified several fold and decision-making leaves much less room for error than we are used to here in the Midwest. We would be flying at the limits of the airplane’s capabilities.

We came into Centennial as “Flatlanders,” a distinction the locals are not shy about making. And one I now understand. After receiving the training and after flying the Colorado Rockies, I fully realize that flying in the mountains is a finely tuned skill, one that can’t be mastered with just 12 hours of training. There is a lot to know about it but most of it reverts back at least in part to basic private pilot training.

A mountain flying course means a landing at Leadville, elevation 9,934.

Mike Shannon of Aspen Flying Club did a great job in getting me indoctrinated and making this Alaska dream as safe as it could possibly be for us. And, in this process, I got to see the Colorado Rockies from above and land at Leadville and Aspen. This is some of the most beautiful ground in the lower 48. As a sidenote, the truth is that we flew at much higher altitudes in Colorado than we had to for the entire rest of the trip all the way to Alaska and back. I will return to Colorado for more training and flying as soon as I can convince my wife there are sunny beaches out there where she can lay out. That may be a while but the effort continues.

The trip

The trip to Alaska is a long one. There was truly never a dull moment but the trip was completed safely and with minimal surprises. We flew legs of around three hours, doing a couple of these legs any day possible or practical. We were prisoners of the weather and that was taken seriously. There was no due back date and that was important. We did not want to be forced onto a schedule that had us flying when it was not safe to do so. Hopefully I would never do that, but it never came up as an issue on this trip.

As it turned out, on the days we chose not to fly (there were a number of these days), we were able to find something fun and interesting to do on the ground. Each stop had something remarkable we would have never experienced otherwise.

We were not bored for a minute. We were always able to find something to do or see. All through Canada and Alaska as well, we were treated very well. For the most part we weren’t so much on the tourist routes as we were just passing through. We met and dealt with salt of the earth people everywhere and enjoyed everyone. Nothing plastic or false in their demeanor as they seemed as interested in us as we were in them.

Never a dull moment along this route.

Our toughest challenge was to find a place to stay each night. When we got into an airport, we talked to the locals when possible and started calling around. The closest we came to not finding a room was in Red Deer, Alberta, when the Latter Day Saints were in town for a convention. That was close. Nevertheless we were always able to find a place and get to it.

The routing we finally decided upon took us east of the Rockies through Wyoming, Montana, Alberta, and into the Yukon. We caught the corner of British Columbia, where we stayed the night at Dawson Creek. This is mile marker zero for the Alaska Highway. From here, we followed the “ALCAN” into the mountains through the Yukon and into Alaska. In essence we followed what turned out to be the Northwest Staging Route created in WWII for supplying Alaska with troops, aircraft and supplies, as well as ferrying Lend Lease P-39 Airacobra fighters, among other aircraft, to the Russians.

These airports were used before the highway was built and were primarily responsible for the routing of the Alaska Highway, which was built over a nine-month period during WWII. There is a lot of history both from WWII and the Gold Rush at the turn of the century in each of these towns and airports. Ultimately, we parked the airplane at Palmer in the Mat-Su Valley, just a few miles north of Anchorage.

Of interest is the fact that at each of these airports we stopped—Lethbridge, Red Deer, Dawson Creek, Fort Nelson, Watson Lake and Whitehorse—there was a Flight Service Station (FSS) right on the field. This was true at some places in Alaska as well. We were able to walk right into the FSS office and get a personal, yet accurate, depiction of the weather. We still picked up the full standard briefing from the 800-number but in speaking face-to-face with the FSS specialists, it was easier to make fly or no-fly decisions. These were very helpful people, each one of whom treated us as respected guests. I can’t say enough about how well we were received and treated.

The Simmons Ranch in Dawson Creek, British Columbia—not a bad place to spend the night.

Sitting at the restaurant at the Dawson Creek Airport in British Columbia, we were watching weather and trying to decide on whether to fly out when we were engaged by a couple sitting two tables over. Within fifteen minutes we were invited that should we decide not to fly, we could stay in a cabin on their property, grill some steaks and drink some beer into the evening sitting outside by a bonfire. Dan and Tammy Simmons treated us like royalty and we had an absolutely great time as advertised. Dan flies a Husky off a grass strip on his property.

All of Canada (with the exception of one Customs agent in Whitehorse with a bad attitude and worse French accent) treated us likewise. Western Canada seems to love Americans. We stayed again with the Simmons on the return trip and had an even better time, eating, drinking and hanging out at their son’s corral to watch a couple of cowboys practicing calf roping skills for a rodeo the next morning in Fort St. John.

Canada is beautiful. We were never out of sight of the mountains, though we really did not get into them until we left Fort Nelson. As beautiful as the terrain is, so too are the skies much of the time. Weather was interesting to say the least. We spent the best part of the trip up and much of the trip back flying around isolated cumulus towers. As soon as we got around one into what we thought was going to be clear flying for a while, we were greeted by three more. Between the unstable air, the cumulus cells and ceilings sometimes just a thousand or so feet above us, we were always conscious of weather. That’s just how it rolls up there.

Very rarely did we have smooth air or clear skies. It was often a constant fight to hold heading and altitude. This was aggravating because it went on for hours. It was just a challenge I have never experienced before. It was not unmanageable or unsafe but definitely not like going to Mattoon, Illinois, for a tenderloin sandwich and peanut butter pie on a Sunday morning.

The cloud formations and the ceilings just added to the beauty of what we were seeing. Every leg was different from each of the others in one way or another and we never lost interest or incentive to go forward. It just got more and more exciting the further we got.

Weather is always interesting in the Canadian Plains.

Once well into the Canadian Rockies, we found ourselves in complete astonishment in what we were seeing. There is nothing I know of east of the Divide that comes close to the sights we saw. Colorado is beautiful, but this is different. Not necessarily bigger or better. Different. The mountains here are inconceivable. The vastness of the terrain was overwhelming and pretty much all of it with no sign of anything man-made for miles and miles on end. This was true no matter what direction we looked. And we weren’t even out of Canada yet!

As we continued, it just got better and better. The Canadian Rockies and Alaska have lots of mountains, rivers, valleys, lakes and glaciers. Except for the highway, occasional settlements and an air strip here and there, we saw very little in the way of human habitation. It is a frontier that will never be settled. From our vantage point two or three thousand feet above the valley floors and sometimes three or four thousand feet below and between the mountain peaks, it is indescribable!

By the time we got to Palmer, Alaska, and parked the airplane for a while, we were exhausted but awestruck. And with yet the best to come (though we didn’t know it at the time).

There had been a forest fire in the Kenai Peninsula so we decided to leave the plane and rent a car. We spent a week seeing the sights of Palmer, Wasilla, Anchorage, Girdwood, and Seward on the ground for a week or so. We didn’t see the sun once in that week until the day we left.

Heading home

Lake George Glacier, one of the many stunning views in Alaska.

That day when we started our way back to Colorado was clear and turned out to be incredibly smooth, at least for the first half of the day. Jeni Hunter, the FSS Specialist at Palmer, suggested we fly Knik and Lake George Glaciers, which are only about half an hour away rather than go all the way up to Talkeetna, our original plan. She made a good call there. On that day, I enjoyed the best flying day of my life. By far.

We overflew these glaciers in what I still see as a surreal blur. John commented to me while we were circling above these glaciers that this was so beautiful and so incredible that if we ended up crashing and dying here, he’d die happy. I have to say, that was disturbing. Though I know exactly what he was saying. I knew at that time that if this flight were my ultimate goal after, which I would never fly again, it would still be worth all the time, money, and effort. Very few people get to see what we saw that day over those glaciers. There are no words for this and the pictures we took can only remind me of what I saw and why aviation is now a very real part of me.

I’d like to say the day got better but I can’t. I also can’t say that it got worse. We flew to Whitehorse by a different route than we came in and that turned out to show us even more in the way of the beauty of this part of the world that we hadn’t yet seen. We made our way following a couple of different highways (not the ALCAN) and working our way through a number of different valleys to see a collage of mountains and terrain that was even better than what we saw little more than a week earlier. Again, there are no words for this.

The views just keep coming, like Knik Glacier.

Ultimately we found our way back to the US and met up with friends at Cody, Wyoming, for a couple of days in Yellowstone. That was two days that would have justified the entire effort of this trip, but in the big picture was just a side show. We got back to Colorado and spent almost a week visiting with friends and seeing the sights of the Front Range including Boulder, Lyons, Castle Rock, and Estes Park.

The entire trip took 31 days. But we spent several days visiting friends along the way. There were several no-fly days, but even with those, it could have fairly easily have been done in three weeks or less without having to push the envelope. This trip can be made safely by anybody with a Private Pilot license, a good and reliable airplane (my Cherokee was 48 years old at the time but very well maintained), a couple of hundred hours of good flight experience, a propensity for sound decision making, and an aggressive learning attitude.

I would not suggest it for the pilot that only flies on “perfect” days, someone who doesn’t fly regularly or to anyone intimidated by moderate turbulence or significant crosswind components. I filed a VFR flight plan on every leg, which I had not done since my private solo cross country six years prior. I would suggest that vigilance in learning everything possible about weather would be a good thing to have in your pocket for any flying more than 100 miles from home anytime, but this type of trip for sure. I would also suggest taking this trip with another pilot or arrange for another airplane or two in the group.

We had no problems but I would have preferred having another pilot there to bounce thoughts off of as we were planning each leg.

After I got back and with the help of Larry Sportsman, I made a 50-minute Blu-ray slide show video to music selected from the more than 3,000 pictures that were taken on this trip. Larry is a close pilot friend who, with his wife, Brenda, showed us around Yellowstone National Park for two days. I still look at that video two or three times a week and it brings me right back to the mountains for 50 minutes at a time.

I want to go back to Alaska at some point, but other trips like this are on deck for the time being. I want to take my wife on a similar but scaled back trip through the Smoky Mountains and into upstate New York. I’ll try to find her a beach, but I think she’ll go even if I can’t. I have given some thought to Arizona and Utah. Going back to Colorado and getting some more mountain flying training and flying Rocky Mountain National again is high on my list, as is flying Yellowstone and into Idaho. I’m not sure when I can get back to Alaska, but I will because now I know I can do it.

The post Alaska: if I can do it… appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2020/02/alaska-if-i-can-do-it/

[kungfubreakfast]

Birthday Month!

Hello Kung Fu Cadets! It seems that once a month is about the appropriate amount of time I have to present you new sets but that also means we have a record 15 new sets! I’m gonna try to blow through these pretty quick.

When last I left you my friend Sina was back in town from Germany. Well we got a chance to shoot a second set during her time here and it’s a pretty fun one. Sina and I headed to horse country to stop by a favorite of mine: The Norco Powerhouse. The Powerhouse is a pretty fun little abandoned spot I’ve been to several times that lies at the back of a few farms on a horse trail. While we were there we encountered a guy walking this beautiful horse and even got a few photos with the majestic creature.

Some of you might remember my friend Steven Burhoe. Steven has popped up a couple times on the site whether it be with his band Drunkard’s Remorse or as part of the crew when Balloonski, Nova and I collabed. Well Mr. Burhoe is back for our first ever body paint collab. Actually this post will have two such shoots. The first one involved my good friend May. May and I had plans to shoot when Steven hit me up to see what I was up to. I suggested we all make some stuff together down in Long Beach where he lives and it turned out to be one of my all-time favorite shoots. Steven made May up to be this crazy wild creature and we even through this beautiful skull mask he had made. Steven is a graduate of Tom Savini’s makeup/effects school as well as a filmmaker. It was such a delight working with my friends on this shoot and we killed it.

Sarah Seraine is back! Sarah picked up a new job where I schedules haven’t quite lined up much so outside of a mini-shoot we did in Burbank we really haven’t shot together this year until now! Sarah and I found a Sunday to head back to the place we first shot together, the Nike Missile site in Chatsworth. Sarah painted herself up a bit and we had a chill, fun, low key shoot. We stopped a few tributes to the recently deceased Nipsey Hussle and which point Sarah told me her boyfriend was friends with him. So it was cool we got to pay a little tribute to someone she was connected with.

As I mentioned before, Steven Burhoe and i did two body paint collabs in this post and here is the second. Steven was stoked after the first shoot that he wanted to jump in to another. I remembered that Tori Behave lives about 10 minutes away from him down in Long Beach so we made some plans. During the shoot we ran in to some scheduling conflicts and miscommunication so the set is kind of short but hopefully you’ll still like it.

Normally I prefer to shoot a lot of different spots with people, but lately I’ve really been enjoying getting together with Lady Krondor and shooting in and around her apartment. Each time we bring something a little different and it helps that she has her studio set up in her place. This time we were a little all over the place with a flamethrower, some kinky stuff, marijuana, and her new puppy Stubbs. Hopefully soon Lady K and I will get back in to the outside world, but I think this set is a lot of fun.

First new model of the post (and first of four overall! It is my great pleasure to introduce Ms. Petra Blair. Petra and I wound up just missing each other at my friend Little Lotus’ all girl art & music event a few months ago where Petra was performing. I wound up messaging her on Instagram suggesting we shoot together as i (correctly) thought our vibes lined up perfectly. I took Petra to my regular haunt, Switzer Falls where we had a killer shoot and amazing conversations. I’d love to do a podcast with her sometime. Petra is a yoga practioner, kinkster, adult actress, musician, and overall amazing human being. We had a great time and she even wound up coming to my birthday party a week or two later. We will be shooting together again sometime next month but for now please check out this killer first set.

I love a good return. Being friends or creative partners with people in LA can be tough because there are so many people, so many projects, etc. and sometimes a while just got goes by. When you shoot together again it can be something old and something new all wrapped up in to one. That was my feeling during my second shoot with Summer Voelker. Summer and I first shot together years ago and it just took us a while to come around again, but this shoot was just so lovely. We headed down to another favorite of mine: Angel’s Gate Bunkers. Summer caught me up with her new venture Club Sleep doing ASMR and all sorts of other artistic endeavors she’s been getting in to. We had a really fun shoot with plenty of sexy looks. Even though this was our first time in a while, it certainly won’t be our last so stay tuned!

So May is my birthday month. I’m not usually one that celebrates all month but the way May has laid out it’s just turning out that way. To really kick off the festivities I decided to hit up The Renaissance Pleasure Faire the day before my birthday (May 6) to shoot with my close close homegirl muse The Spritely One. And surprise motherfuckers, Steven Burhoe joined us to shoot a behind-the-scenes video that will be released at a later date. Sprite actually works at The Ren Faire as a maiden hair braider named Dilly. Much like The Spritely One, Dilly knows fucking everyone so we really got to have quite the immersive experience. We took lots of fun photos and Mr. Burhoe even took some photos of me with a giant turkey leg as well as a few with my homegirl. Sprite introduced me to a few models I’m already talking to about shooting with. This was one of my favorite birthday celebrations with two of my favorite people.

The birthday celebrations continue with another new Muse: Xtine Reckless. Xtine and I met on a social media but really is one of those people that we just know a bunch of people in common. Xtine is a musician with her own band called Xtine & The Reckless Hearts but previous to that was playing with Barbed Wire Dolls and happens to know my friend/Muses Cindy Clark and Alicia Vigil from playing shows together. We really shot together like old friends and got along famously. I wanted to take Xtine to Switzer Falls but it started raining up in the mountains so we headed south towards downtown and did a run-and-gun pick some spots type shoot. I think it wound up working out better because we hit up this Rick and Morty street art wall I’ve been wanting to photograph (and Xtine also love Rick and Morty) as well as finding this really cool spot by some train tracks. The grungey, gritty downtown and her looks really gelled well and we will definitely be shooting more in the future.

Up next is another return (though not gone as long as Summer) with Kooki Munsta. I hadn’t seen Kooki in probably close to a year so it was lovely to get back together for a new shoot. Her fire was looking fire thanks to Hairgod Zito. The two of us headed to Vasquez Rocks for my first daytime shoot there in quite a while. Of course Vasquez is best known as the home to many sci-fi shoots that need to take place on other planets including a famous fight scene between Kirk and Spock on the original Star Trek. I though this was appropriate given how dorky Kooki and I both are. We talked all things Marvel and Game of Thrones almost the whole time. We had a really fun little shoot and Kooki took me out to Korean BBQ for my birthday after.

Up next starts a four set adventure to The Bay! To celebrate my birthday I really wanted to head on a roadtrip as I love roadtrips. I hadn’t been to The Bay in a few years and so I made plans to do my first ever shoot with Gypsy Danger. I first became aware of Gypsy Danger through Nia Doe (another girl I’ve been wanting to shoot for a while but she just moved to Portland). It turned out Gypsy and I were both friends with Brittny Nicole aka Cosmic Daughter. She generously offered to let me come crash with her and her boyfriend Jake for a couple nights. I headed up to Campbell, CA (just outside of San Jose) on a Sunday and we shot together Monday morning. Gypsy Danger is an amazing Muse. We had such instant chemistry together that it’s like we had been shooting for years. She took me to Fort Funston, just south of San Francisco. We walked down to the beach where we found this really cool abandoned, graffitied structure and played around there. We knocked out a killer set in pretty quick time before she had to head to work. This was the first set, but the adventure only continued on.

After Gypsy and I shot, she dropped me off at The SF train station where I would take the train to 22nd street and wander around SF for the day. I realized from a photo stand point that I either don’t wander enough lately or don’t shoot many sets without a specific Muse. This isn’t the first time I’ve shot a set like this but I think you’ll start seeing more of my solo adventures in the future for those that love my work outside of the Muse sets. I would love some feedback if you love this set and want to see more. I wound up walking 11 miles around from the train on 22nd through The Mission and up Folsom. I could have wandered more but my feet were killing me towards the end and I had to meet Gypsy Danger at the station to head back to Campbell. That night I wound up getting a little loose with Gypsy and Jake at which point Jake slept walk and curled up with me on the couch until I woke him up (this couch was not big enough for the both of us). It was pretty funny. The next day I headed to Oakland for my next shoot but also to catch some killer street art pieces to round out this solo set. My favorite was easily a Vogue piece I had no idea about until I saw. This set wound up mostly being street art but some other goodies in there too. I’m sure as I evolve this concept of my personal journeys everything will evolve.

After my street art Oakland explorations I met up with my 4th new Muse and second in The Bay: Succubaby. Succubaby and I have been following each other on social media now for over a year so when I made plans to head to The Bay I made sure to hit her up about doing a shoot. I wasn’t sure fully what to expect but I have to say we had one of my all-time favorite shoots (as was the one with Gypsy Danger). Succubaby took me to some of the coolest abandoned spots in and around Oakland including a skate park and we just had such a fun a shoot. Succubaby is an 18 year old subby, kinky, adult performer with a huge future ahead of her and a good head on her shoulders. I often refrain from younger models but this girl was seriously the Bee’s Knees. Succubaby and Gypsy Danger were both so cool that the next time I head to The Bay we are all going to shoot together. After our shoot Succubaby took me to the cutest cafe for coffee/hot chocolate and pastries. This girl is awesome and I think you’ll love the set.

And my fourth and final Bay Area shoot was a totally unexpected one. After leaving Succubaby in Oakland I started making my way back to Los Angeles. About an hour outside of Oakland, in a little town called Tracy I spotted some graffiti just off the highway. I quickly looked on my map and saw something called the “Altamont Raceway”. I pulled off as quickly as I could to explore and realized I had stumbled on an abandoned Nascar Raceway. This place was one of the coolest abandoned spots I’ve ever been to and I spent close to an hour photographing it as quickly as I could since the sunset had already started and I still had close to five hours of driving left that would get me home very late. Of course I love abandoned places so I took my time to soak it in and got some amazing shots despite my feet killing me and being near pass out level exhaustion from my adventures. I was glad to fit in another solo adventure that also reminded me to photograph more abandoned spots by myself as I shot it completely different than I I would if I had a model with me (though hopefully I can bring a model here soon).

Last but not least, it wouldn’t be a complete post lately if I didn’t include a little Miss Chaos. The day after I got back from The Bay, Miss Chaos invited me to hang out with her and fellow Domme Mistress Katarina for a night of dancing. We shot a mini set beforehand around Melrose including stopping by the wheatpaste of my homegirl Muse Stephanie Monty aka Monty Monster Slayer. There are plenty of amazing shoots coming up in the next few weeks including adventures in Miami, FL so stay tuned to my social media and enjoy!

[stylequeenie]

“Travel doesn’t become an adventure until you leave yourself behind!”

You may have been some of the pictures of my recent whirlwind trip, but I wanted to share with you my perspective on Norway, what we did, where we went and how we’re feeling now we’re back!

You may have heard that the trip was a gift that I surprised Brandon with for his birthday.  It wasn’t a milestone birthday, it was just something I know he had been wanting to do for a long time, he is great at planning amazing surprises for me and I felt like it was finally time for me to step up my game 🙂

He knew we were going somewhere, but had no idea where until his birthday on September 3rd.  On that morning I woke him by giving him a raincoat (yes we definitely needed that), a new Patagonia rolling backpack hand luggage, and his detailed itinerary of our trip.  Like I mentioned, it was a whirlwind, so let me take you on our journey…

Day 1 – Arrive in London (definitely jet lagged) but not too tired to do a little shopping and eat some good old fish and chips!  After a brief tour of London, we went to the airport again and departed for Bergen, Norway.

    Day 2 – Woke up in Bergen, and fell in love with the city.  This quaint little fishing town is so much more than I imagined, mainly because it isn’t as small as I was expecting.  It did have the beauty of being a small town, with the beautiful colored historical shops on the pier, but its boundaries were so much more.  We visited a castle, walked the pier, took a funicular (very slow moving train) to the top of the mountain that overlooked the whole bay and the city.  Later we had time to rent E-bikes and explore old Bergen and cycle through the hills overlooking the bay.

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Day 3 – Departed on a boat to take a Fjord cruise up the Sognefjord to our next destination, the tiny village of Leikanger.  The scenery on the cruise was amazing, and the weather wasn’t too cold to be on the back of the boat taking pictures.  Once we arrived in Leikanger, we went on a bike ride to the small village, ate lunch and explored a little. After returning to the hotel, Brandon and our friend Dan, decided to take a dip in the Fjord glacier water (just so they could say they did).

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Day 4 – A short boat ride to the amazing town of Flam (this town was definitely my favorite)…all the waterfalls, the hiking and the amazing rainbows completely made this place magical.  We hiked a mile up to a beautiful waterfall, ate at a viking themed restaurant and took and relaxing bath in a historic themed room with the claw foot tub (perfect after getting wet and cold hiking to the waterfall).  The dinner at the viking restaurant was delicious but we said no to dessert and headed back to the hotel to eat an after dinner treat at the hotel.

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Day 5 – Train from Flam via Myrdal to Oslo.  An amazing ride through the mountains, along the river, through more fjords and amongst more waterfalls.  It almost seemed like we were saying “Oh…there’s one more waterfall”.  This train ride was so much fun, sitting relaxing and enjoying the beauty of the changing seasons.  As we rode to higher elevations, we saw fall leaves on the trees, and even snow at the top of the mountain.  Riding back down the other side, onto Oslo, the scenery was a little more commonplace but still amazing.  We arrived in Oslo, immediately dropped off our bags and headed into the city.  It was a little chilly and rainy, so we took ourselves to the Viking ship museum and didn’t do a lot of walking around but ate dinner in the city center and explored a few of the shops.  Being like most big cities, a lot of stores were big chains, but it was still fun to see.

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Day 6 – After spending the night in our hotel, we woke up and headed to go take a look at the amazing opera house – definitely a landmark.  After climbing to the top, we took a trolley to check out the naked statues at Frogland park.  I’ve never seen anything like it, we may have had just a little bit too much fun taking pictures there 😉 . After that we collected our luggage and headed to the airport to take our flight to Edinburgh, Scotland.  I had the chance to brush up on my driving on the left hand side of the road in a stick shift.  😉 . We met up with some of my English friends in Edinburgh and watched the sunset over the skyline from a park on a hill in the outskirts of town.  Our view from the hotel of Edinburgh castle was amazing.

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Day 7 – We booked our tickets online for Edinburgh castle so we could get up early and head over there.  We ate at the Elephant House, there JK Rowling wrote a lot of her Harry Potter books.  I don’t remember ever going to the castle when I was younger, and it was well worth the trip.   After the tour of the castle we loaded up the car and started the drive up to the highlands via St Andrews.  I am not really a golfer, so even though my dad has played there, I had never even been to the town.  It was very quaint and definitely worth a visit, even though when we were walking through the historic old cemetery and castle ruins, the sun was shining but we got stuck in a hailstorm.  Finally after the hail let up, we loaded the car again and started the drive to Inverness (right at the top of Loch Ness).  The even there was beautiful and VERY cold, but it was a really cool little town.

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Day 8 – After spending the night in Inverness, we had breakfast in this cute little town and prepared to go see a Scottish/English battleground and then on to Loch Ness.  The little thatched roof house at the battlements was so cute and had been there for centuries.  The Castle ruins and their view of Loch Ness were beautiful and a great place to explore.  I found that driving on the country roads was a little bit of a white knuckle ride, because the roads are so narrow and there were a lot of big tour buses.  We made it without a scratch but I won’t like, it definitely made me a bit nervous.  I guess after being in the US with our wide roads over here it was a little more intimidating than I thought it would be.  We drove alongside a few Lochs back down to Edinburgh to spend the night again.

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Day 9 – Our last day in Edinburgh, Scotland was spent exploring a little more of the city – including a little scarf and kilt shopping.  Our friends found a pair of mini bagpipes that sounded more like a dying cat than musical, but it was definitely entertaining.  We walked along a park with a fabulous view of the castle, and came across and ice cream van so I had to have a 99 Ice cream cone.  Definitely worth the calories 🙂  We walked down to see the castle that the Queen comes and stays in when she visits Edinburgh, and came across a restaurant over in Stockbridge that definitely warranted us taking a picture.  After spending the day exploring, we headed back to the airport to take our flight back to London so we could depart the following day.

One thing I realized is that when I am planning things, I tend to move a little too quickly.  There were so many moving parts to this trip – all the modes of transportation and hotels in each place.  I had booked the flight to London Gatwick instead of Heathrow where our flight back to Salt Lake City was departing the following day…After beating myself up just a little for screwing that up, we hopped aboard our flight.  Everyone’s bags came off the carousel except mine (which is even more frustrating when you consider that I only ever take hand luggage, but had decided on this flight to let my bag be checked! 😦 ) .

The airport told me that British Airways who we flew with actually doesn’t track their luggage UNLESS they lose it and then they start looking for it.  We did hang around the airport for about an hour thinking they may find it, but decided to take an Uber back to the hotel around 10pm.  Right when we were almost at our Hotel near Heathrow airport they called and told me that they had located the bag but that they couldn’t get it to me in time for our flight but would send it back to Salt Lake for me.  Moral of this story – always carry some spare underwear in your hand luggage just in case they lose your bag….

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  All in all, I have to say, this trip is going to be hard to top.  Norway and Flam in particular were definitely a highlight, and we would love to spend more time up in the small Fjord villages.  I did love Edinburgh though, especially all the nostalgia from my childhood and the quaint buildings, all the history and castles.

If you are ever looking for an amazing trip to take, there is a tour called “Norway in a Nutshell” that covers a lot of the ground that we covered, and they plan it all for you.

Now comes the hard part – how do I plan a trip for next year that will surpass this one?  😉

Trip of a Lifetime "Travel doesn't become an adventure until you leave yourself behind!" You may have been some of the pictures of my recent whirlwind trip, but I wanted to share with you my perspective on Norway, what we did, where we went and how we're feeling now we're back!

[transcendingsky]

April 6 and 7, 2018

El Rancho and Zacapa, Guatemala.

These days were spent biking through the endless, expansive desert heat. It’s pretty evident from the photos what kind of territory we were dealing with. The railroad snaked through the middle of nowhere, often times miles from the highway and any sort of civilization. We had to be especially mindful of how far we could go with just 2 liters of water each. The third photo shows a lot of terrain that we biked through, just a dry dusty dirt path where the tracks used to run and lots of cacti.

We eventually made it to the town of El Rancho, a place we’d briefly been before, stuck in traffic on a trip to another part of the country. It was already late afternoon by the time we got there as we had spent some time checking out one of the bridges just a few kilometers nearby. As usual, once we got there we headed to check out the old train station, as you can see in the second photo. The atmosphere was quiet and there were just a couple of kids circling the area on their bikes.

After taking a couple of photos, an older man approached me to ask about what brought us to the area. I explained our bike trip and he began to fill with excitement as he told us about some of the history of the trains coming through, as he had been there to experience it when they were running. He brought us across the street to a building that served as a library and found an old book that was published about the area with photos of the old bridges and trains. He and his wife told us about another bridge nearby that we had apparently missed, that was one of the biggest ones around, Although the day was getting late, we knew we had to go back and check it out.

It took us a few minutes to decide how to get there, but I eventually suggested we leave our bikes and take a tuk-tuk due to the short amount of time we had. An older couple running a tienda nearby agreed to keep our bikes in their shop for us and we quickly found someone to drive us out to the bridge. Our driver was a younger guy and as we passed farther out of town we soon realized he wasn’t quite familiar with the bridge we wanted to go to. We knew how to get there but it would require walking a ways away from the road.

We tried to get the guy to either wait or come with us, but he wouldn’t be convinced. This was one of many instances where you could see the fear a lot of these people live in come to manifest. He was certain his tuk tuk would be stolen if he left it, or something would happen to us at the bridge. So he dropped us off and we headed on our way, uncertain of how exactly we would get back.

There wasn’t another person to be seen as we made our way up to the bridge. This one was pretty cool as it was fairly up high and had some nice views of the mountains in the area. Crossing the middle part was a bit sketchy as all of the wood ties were missing, but it wasn’t any worse than some other spots we had already been to. The first photo shows the bridge as I look across to the other side. Being up there was likely one of my favorite moments of the trip. All of our worries seemed to fade away, we didn’t have to haul our bikes up there and there was just some sense of serenity as dusk began to set us and Sarah and I could just absorb each other’s presence in a spot that felt uniquely ours. 

After a few moments of quiet and some photos, we made our way back to the road hoping to catch another tuk tuk that by chance would be going back to the town. After maybe twenty minutes of walking, hardly anybody passing by, and it already becoming dark we began to think we might be out of luck. Out of nowhere a minibus drove past and stopped, ushering us to come in and so we squeezed ourselves between twelve or so other people, reeling at the absurdity of how we had manifested the whole encounter. We got back to town, found a cheap room and had some of the nicest sleep of the whole ride (after a wonderfully prepared and cheap vegan meal by one of the friendliest restaurant owners).

The next day we made our way to Zacapa. The ride was filled with endless more desert. The photos shown here are the abandoned station which is one of the largest in the country. We got to explore quite a bit of it and there is a massive space filled with all kinds of old dilapidated trains. We had to sneak around a bit as technically the area is blocked off and we had to come in from way out of the way so that we wouldn’t be seen. The whole experience felt very video game-esque. I remember vividly thinking of Fallout with all the abandoned materials just frozen in time and having to avoid being seen. The place even had an old roundabout (I can’t remember the actual name) where they switch train cars. We climbed inside of a couple and grabbed photos before hurrying out of there. I remember vividly seeing a massive lizard crawl out of one of the trains, probably the biggest I’ve ever seen in the wild. 

[junker-town]

6 memories of Keith Jackson, the man who made everywhere a college football town

The sport’s greatest voice passed away at the age of 89.

Keith Jackson created the map of college football for the rest of us.

by Spencer Hall

Keith Jackson could wander. It was more fun when he did. He did it more frequently as he got older. He would note a lineman’s big ass or pause in the middle of an otherwise flawless, minimalist broadcast to say, “my oh my, have airplanes changed the way we lived.” Sometimes the judge, in the middle of an otherwise perfectly overseen trial, would stop and ask the plaintiff about their hydrangeas.

The wanderings were rare. He was, more than anything, intensely focused. At his best, he felt like a medium. An experience came through him, not around him or in spite of him, and always, always in perfect rhythm. Listen to Desmond Howard’s punt return against Ohio State.

Do you hear how innately rhythmic his voice is, both in the lilting lulls during the kick, and then when he quickens the pace and — instead of narrating �� punctuates the moment with single notes? How he works with the crowd exploding around him, not against it? Jackson’s delivery came in triplets when he got excited, always falling downhill off a big first syllable, the perfect blend of two gifts he received early in his life: a burly accent straight out of Roopville, Georgia, and a polish added by years as a broadcaster in radio and television.

That training meant calling everything ABC threw at him, but college football was different. One of Jackson’s gifts that made him so, so good at college football games was to make the viewer feel at home wherever the game might be. Ann Arbor became the Big House, Nebraska became the friendliest town in the world, and even beneath “the broad shoulders of the San Gabriel Mountains” you could feel at home, because ... well Keith did, didn’t he? Nowhere wasn’t home on a Saturday if Keith was calling it, because he had a map with a single line connecting everything.

This was all part of a whole to him. The things with names had definite pronunciations only Keith could nail; the things without names would be given them in time. The language of this sport — right down to the love for the great, the ugly, the undersized, the local, and the brutal — is his.

I can’t drive that point home enough. The words that come out of our mouths and onto a screen or the page about this sport aren’t bad imitations of Grantland Rice or Dan Jenkins. For a half century, the lexicographer of the sport was Keith Jackson, and everyone else came in at a distant second at best. Everything I have ever written about the sport contains a deranged, badly degraded permutation of his diction and cadence. It is base DNA, and for at least two generations, the rest is just mutation after mutation.

One more gift: he never lost his accent. I swear it came out 3 percent harder when he called college games. It made him a welcoming, unintimidating guest from a definite somewhere, but never so much of a somewhere as to overwhelm or exclude.

Looking back, it should have come out a little bit harder when Keith Jackson called a college football game. Accents always come out harder at home.

He made every college town sound like his college town.

by Brian Floyd

My favorite clip of Keith Jackson isn’t a call or a moment, but a monologue.

Jackson, nearing the end of his career, waxes poetically about Pullman, home of Washington State University. This was 2002, my senior year of high school. I grew up in a family of Cougs, rooting for the team, but had never seen Pullman.

It didn’t fully make sense until years later, but the feelings of nostalgia in Jackson’s voice could just as easily be my own, years after graduating. It’s the best description of Pullman I’ve heard.

Jackson made his way to study broadcasting in the middle of wheat fields in Washington. He took a path many from Washington State hope to take: local radio, then local news in Seattle, then toward the pinnacle of college football broadcasting at ABC.

He called plenty of iconic moments, but above that was his ability to set a scene, stakes, and surroundings. He was describing Pullman in the clip above, but could just as easily rip off a soliloquy about part of Nebraska, California, Iowa, or Louisiana. He was great at setting up the moment, then letting it unfold for you without too much of him — maybe with a “Whoa Nellie.”

A kid from a dirt farm who went to college at a land-grant school in Washington was a perfect voice for his era. He was an alumni of my school, and someone we continue to hold up with pride. But he could just as easily have been one of yours.

All his little references to places and nicknames were his way of telling you that you belonged.

by Bill Connelly

In 1998, when I was a Mizzou sophomore, the Tigers had their best team in almost 20 years. They went to play top-ranked Ohio State in mid-September, and nearly 20 years later, I only remember a few things about the game. I remember current Mizzou head coach Barry Odom forcing a Joe Germaine fumble in the first half, that it was returned for a touchdown, that the Tigers led by one at halftime, and that Ohio State had the Mizzou option swallowed up in the second half and pulled away for an easy win.

Most of all, I remember “a burly bunch from Boone County.”

That’s what Keith Jackson called Mizzou in the pregame, and I not only remember the phrase nearly 20 years later, I remember how it made me feel. I was absolutely giddy. My team was not only in a game important enough to get KEITH JACKSON on the call, but he had a nickname for us. He knew where we lived!

He was the best at the little wink. Keith always gave you an extra piece of information to let you know that he was paying attention, that your team mattered. Maybe it was the county in which your school resides, the river that runs by your campus or stadium, or the home town of your left guard.

He was always intent on letting the game be the star, preferring to let the action unfold. But when he set the table, he made sure you knew you were welcome at it.

For most of us, the legend begins and ends with the Rose Bowl.

by Richard Johnson

The last time I saw Keith on television, it was in the most fitting setting: the Rose Bowl broadcast booth, alongside Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit. It was inside the press box that bears his name at the venue he’d dubbed The Grandaddy of them All, the same place where he called Peyton Manning’s first game ...

RIP Keith Jackson -- one of college football's most iconic voices. Here's Keith describing Peyton Manning's collegiate debut at UCLA in 1994. http://pic.twitter.com/VvYXb8N1gO

— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) January 13, 2018

... and Bo Schembechler’s last.

That place which was the backdrop to the first time I saw him, on the night he delivered the soundtrack to the greatest game I’ve ever seen: Texas over USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl. I was too young to appreciate the history behind the mic. All I knew was that his voice was cool and that that game was awesome.

Jackson was the voice of the sport for so many. His speech was folksy and colloquial, yet authoritative. That twangy baritone rumbled until the pitch had to change to announce a “fuuuuuuumble” or to tell Desmond Howard “goodbye” before saying “hello, Heisman.”

How is it that the voice of God could sound just like a lovable country bumpkin?

I remember being at my parents’ house, cruising their omnibus cable package earlier this summer. An old regular season game was playing. It was Ohio State and someone else from the 1970s. The teams didn’t matter. What mattered was Jackson on the call. I’ve fallen into Jackson YouTube holes time and time again. I wasn’t able to appreciate him much live, but I was able to view him as a piece of college football history.

His last Rose Bowl in attendance — Penn State and Southern California, as he would have called the Trojans, did battle in an epic game — wasn’t enough, clearly. The Grandaddy raised the stakes in 2018 for Georgia and Oklahoma’s epic Playoff bout. It is a use of poetic license by me, a writer, to say this, and I don’t care: the Rose Bowl saved its best for Jackson’s last.

We don’t know whether he was able to watch the game. But as Sony Michel crossed the goal line and the team from Jackson’s home state won in dramatic fashion, I hope he gave a private “whoa Nellie” for old time’s sake.

He helped make a regional game irresistible to the rest of the country, whether he wanted to or not.

by Jason Kirk

“Kids growing up in the Midwest, playing football in the street, in the snow and the mud, dream of someday being good enough to play in the Rose Bowl. That’s the ultimate in college football for the Midwestern kid.”

That’s Bo Schembechler, who’d announced the 1990 Rose would be his last. His 194–47–5 record as Michigan’s coach had included seven losses in the Rose, each by 10 or fewer points. The Wolverines entered Pasadena with an outside shot at his only national title, if Colorado and Miami lost and voters overlooked Notre Dame’s head-to-head edge to give him a lifetime-achievement No. 1.

But USC won, thanks to a young man with a different lifelong attachment to the Rose.

After scoring the winning touchdown, celebrating with teammates and packing up his hardware, Ricky Ervins did something that probably no other Rose Bowl player of the game has ever done.

He walked home.

Unique among Rose Bowl most valuable players, Ervins grew up less than a mile from the famous stadium, parked cars there on New Year’s Day and was a star at Pasadena Muir High.

Jackson followed his call of the winning score in the “old-fashioned donnybrook” with a characteristic 53 seconds of silence. The game no longer had national stakes by that point, yet it still meant everything.

The Rose would spend much of the ‘90s delaying the BCS’ institution, preferring to preserve its ties to only two conferences. Jackson’s career would end in a Rose won by a team from neither of the game’s traditional regions (with some people inferring that he hoped for “Southe’n California” to beat the intruders). The last game he attended would be a traditional Midwest vs. West Coast classic, momentarily untainted by the Playoff. And the final Rose of his lifetime would be won in its first-ever overtime by a team from his distant birth state against another interloper whose name you can’t say without hearing him: “OAK-lahomaaa.”

The Kick. The Reverse. The Catch. From that day in Columbus to #KeithJackson on our own @Keithjackson88 and many more, we'll never forget the legendary voice. RIP http://pic.twitter.com/dldFoHQRAv

— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) January 13, 2018

It took us decades to decide Pasadena sometimes belongs to all of America. Jackson didn’t square with the idea, saying the 2003 game missing out on the top three Big Ten/Pac-10 teams “aggravates the hell out of us on the West Coast.”

But of course he was part of the venue’s national legend all along:

“I remember when Alabama came to the Rose Bowl [Stadium] to play UCLA [in 2000], and several of the Alabama players came and had their sit-down with Keith Jackson,” [Todd] Harris said. “And I remember distinctly, one of the tailbacks, I remember he walked out of the interview with Keith, and he said to a bunch of his buddies that were waiting in the hall, ‘I just spoke with the voice of God.’”

That Michigan-USC Rose is the first non-Tecmo football game I remember actually paying attention to, including the ACC games I’d attended and Pop Warner games I’d played in.

“There’s something great about a cool TV grandpa who wanted nothing more than for me to like a fun thing.”

by Dan Rubenstein

My parents didn’t raise me with any sort of college football allegiances, but my dad loves the sport, and we watched a ton on Saturdays. Growing up in LA, that meant a lot of Pac-10, every Rose Bowl, and whatever huge game was on that week. That meant Keith Jackson, who was so essential, I just assumed he was the broadcaster for every college football game. In my mind, the guy who called games was folksy and said, “WHOOAAAAA NELLIE,” every so often, and no other sport had that.

My favorite two games in the mid-to-late ‘90s were Florida-Florida State (alternated between CBS and ABC because of TV deals) and the Rose Bowl. I loved Florida State’s speed, always had my FSU gear on (3,000 miles away from Tallahassee with zero connection to the school), and needed Keith Jackson to get way more excited about Warrick Dunn than he did Danny Wuerffel.

The Rose Bowl meant going to a neighbor’s house for a New Year’s Day party, where the kids ran around or played video games, some of the adults hung out around the kitchen, and the rest of them (plus me) planted in the living room with the game on one of those thick, projector-type square screens. I don’t have one specific favorite call or moment in those Rose Bowls. My happy place was watching a huge game being played under a warm sky on green grass, with Keith welcoming us into the new year chuckling about the pure size of an enormous lineman or enjoying a big catch in a way that made it feel like he’d never seen one like that, even though he had.

These are all things that, unfortunately, I haven’t really thought about until this weekend. The sport changes quickly enough that we’re all just trying to keep up, and it’s pretty terrific that a more deliberate, warmer voice retired RIGHT before social media began parsing every moment, quote, tweet, whatever.

So with a second to think about him, there’s something especially great about a cool TV grandpa who wanted nothing more than for me to like a fun thing for being fun. That includes chuckling about an enormous lineman.

[efficientc-blog1]

The Crew Hits 12 Million Players, Ivory Tower Devs Thanks Players

Here’s a rather surprising (or not surprising) turn of events, Ubisoft’s social car racing game, The Crew, has now hit the 12-million player milestone!

It’s quite a big deal — especially for developer Ivory Tower, that 12 studio members thanks their fans and supporters! Check out the 12 thank you notes from the devs below.

Stéphane “Fergus” Beley, Game Director Every time I realize how strong and growing our community is, I can’t help but get emotional. Releasing The Crew was a childhood dream come true: building a whole universe dedicated to exploration, competition, adventure, and creating glorious moments with friends or solo, behind the wheel of our favorite rides. I’ve never thought this vision would strike a chord with so many and I am always thankful to see how more and more players connect to this world, filling it with their own challenges and creations. One of them is a screenshot I’ve been using as a wallpaper on my smartphone for over a year now (see pic). It represents everything I like about The Crew: the call of the road, the fact that the destination doesn’t really matter as long as you’re enjoying the journey. And really, ours has just begun!

Paul Narducci, Lead Game Designer From low-key road trips on country roads to exhilarating chases across the most iconic cities, I’ve lived countless adventures at your side these past two years. And even if I’ve designed a lot of challenges and missions in The Crew, I have to admit I’ve been whipped pretty badly by some of you in PVP! I still have a couple of aces up my sleeve, though, and today I’ll give away one of them: when you want to drift, just hold A & B at the same time – That’s called power drifting, and that’s my gift to all those who keep challenging us, helping us deliver the best experience possible, and giving us the ambition to always go one step further than expected. After all, this is your game too!

Julien Hummer, Player Experience Director We’re all gamers here, so that feeling we get with The Crew, to be part of a community, to be able to share unique experiences in a game – that gives us an incredible sense of achievement. This is also what keeps us going, innovating, never taking things for granted – and especially not our players. The Crew is one of those games that make you discover new things every time you take the pad. To me, it started with a music track: “Le Perv” by Carpenter Brut. At one point, I would play it on repeat while exploring the game for hours… And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one!

David Guillaume, Art Director We had a blast, but also some tough times giving life to The Crew’s gigantic open world. So thank you all for your dedication, for the thousands of accumulated hours you’ve spent on and off our US roads, scanning the local landmarks of the East, Midwest, South, Mountain and West Coast regions and sharing every bit of it with us. With every passing hour, new players are joining The Crew, taking off on the adventure – guys, welcome to our 2,000-square-mile map! Here’s a tip: the moment you think you might have seen it all… think again!

Sylvain Branchu, Vehicle Handling Designer A few days ago, I went to a huge event and found myself in the middle of a crowd of 400,000 people. Being able to see and be part of the human tide was both impressive and humbling. Then it hit me: there are 30 times as many The Crew players! The rush of emotion I got was overwhelming – thank you all so much! You have no idea how inspiring you are. Fun fact: I used to tweak the vehicles’ handling on what we called “the Branchu Loop”, northwest of Monument Valley. Then I noticed you guys were using Observatory Dash as a training mission, so I’ve taken up using it as a test-drive spot – and still do!

Carl Pedimina, Lead Engine Programmer I used to think the launch of a game marked the end of the road for us devs. The Crew definitely changed my mind! Not only because we’ve never stopped feeding the game with new content, but also because, more than two years later, players keep on taking over the world, celebrating it with pictures, videos, and constant feedback. It makes me so proud to be part of this community. Fifteen-year-old me deciding to become a video game programmer wasn’t so irresponsible after all.

Aurèle Gannat, Game Designer Like a lot of our players, I’m a big fan of our Photo Mode. Between my everyday job and a burning passion for nice pictures, I’ve quickly become a real screenshot machine! So here are some tips for the amateur photographers out there: take the fuzziness into account before capturing, it’ll help you get more realistic pics. For tight close-ups, don’t zoom in right away. First, set the focal length to a minimum, then choose your angle, set the focus to your liking, and shoot. Don’t forget to send us the result – here’s one of my personal creations!

Sandra Charbonnier, Vehicle Artist Old-timers and newcomers: thank you all for taking care of our rides! We’re working hard so you can enjoy a great lineup. It’s not always easy, since we all have our very own favorite cars and specific tastes in customization, but we keep our eyes peeled for your feedback – you guys deserve the best! Note to the players bombarding me with chase invitations: I still love you, don’t change a thing!

Arnaud Fremont, Community Developer It’s been a crazy ride since December 2014! Watching our audience grow and gather into a strong and dedicated community of 12 million players has been incredibly exciting and rewarding for the development team. Today, it’s such a pleasure to see how our most involved players take upon themselves to include the new drivers, by sharing tips and challenging them. A special thanks to our forum and Reddit regulars, The Crew Social members, and all of you engaged players. Keep on rocking, 510s, and see you on the road!

Laura Gayet, UI Artist The Crew is all about freedom – to take the road, to go off the beaten tracks, to tell your own stories, to read the map the way you like. I personally love driving aimlessly in the great outdoors, waiting for the weather to change, and with it, the whole world and atmosphere. I also love reading our players’ stories, through countless screenshots and videos, to see how our beloved open world never ceases to amaze and inspire.

Jade Jacson, Game Designer When we released The Crew, it almost felt like giving away something precious, something we had worked so hard for, hoping this gift would be fully appreciated. Nobody could have predicted at that time that The Crew would become the home of the most creative, inclusive, and positive-minded community – not to mention 12 million players strong! You guys have taken over our world and brought it to the next level – don’t stop now!

Lucie Dugand, Level Designer I was really into the Artic Monkeys’ AM album when I started working on The Crew, and especially the song “Do I Wanna Know”, which is part of the game’s soundtrack. To me, it feels like the spirit of that song has soaked the whole game’s DNA: it’s the perfect road-trip track, the kind you want to turn all the way up while watching the scenery go by, goofing around with friends, or showing off in your favorite ride. It’s really touching to see how players share this kind of connection to the game, giving meaning to even the smallest details. It makes us all part of this big community.

This is definitely great news for racing game fans since this all but guarantees a sequel, right?

Are you one of the 12 million people who played The Crew? Surprised at its massive success or did you expect it?

[Source: Ubisoft Blog]

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