at last my 2nd fav Con happened and I could wear probably the creation I’m the most proud of :D I had already worn this handmade salopette dress as a crash test earlier this year and since then I improved it! even if it’s not v comfortable and kinda heavy, i’m v happy w the result! This is a mix of my 2 fav styles ever and my fav aesthetic, decora kei, cyberpop and neon colours (even uv reactive!) ♥ I’m proud of myself, I worked to improve myself for more than a decade to reach this level of style and I can humbly say I’m succeeding! but I’m not resting on my laurels and give myself the challenge to improve even more !

made : dress, bracelet, wig

first and last photos by Christian GStudio and second by Fabrice Fiorucci photography

𝟲 — 𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝘆

—   𝙨𝙞𝙭𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙖.

𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩 : 6.4k words

𝙨 : they’ve left the walls, and now it seems like they’re unstoppable. however, having to make a short stop, they soon uncover the savagery that has taken hold of the world, putting their training to the test.

“ doesn’t your eye-sight hurt? ”.

alexander peered up once seren’s voice caught his ears.

she had been sitting at his side for a good hour, glancing over his shoulder whilst his index finger trailed beneath the lines consisting of runes and symbols that she had never dreamt of seeing before. for the first time she took knowledge over how his fingers were tainted with ink, red from hours of writing, pouring every last pint of energy he had into his studies.

seren had seen copious books thrown in front of her when exam season hit the calendar, but nothing could compare to what this boy probably had to sit through to be a qualified cleric. she took to admire alexander for how he persevered, it didn’t seem like it was labor for him, he must enjoy it to some degree. even now, when he could be talking to the others, growing closer to them, strengthening bonds, he continues reading as if to never give himself a break from the school they probably wouldn’t see for a while.

yet, the more she thought about it, the clearer it became. maybe it was for the very reason that they would not face their school for some months that he clung to the only thing that might bring a sense of normalcy. school is hell, albeit the only thing they’ve ever known within the walls. it kept them grounded, centered on something. even seren, an avid daydreamer, allowed herself to be consumed by her studies and let it became the center of her life.

now she realizes that she has to distance herself from the only life she’s ever known and replace it for one she could not control, where the laws didn’t bend at her will, because nature kneels to no one. 

alexander was wise, though, to keep something to occupy his mind. who knows how long it’ll be before they start to lose their ways and begin to cave into the reality of the world outside?

“ m-my father got me these at the start of the year after . . . some glasses that made my eye-sight worse. these ones have steadily improved it, though ”, he replied after a moment, immediately drawing his attention once more to the book he grasped within his hands.

seren hummed, swinging her feet slightly. “ is your hair also always like that? ”, she questioned. she found herself in a very questioning mood that day, maybe it was an attempt to distract herself from the utter boredom she might face during this flight to egypt.

“ like what? ”.

“ that bowel-shape cut. ”

his face suddenly incredibly pink, red rising to the tip of his ears. seren’s eyes widened for a moment with slight realization, “ w-well, you get what i mean. always the same style, quite conservative. do you ever switch it up? ”.

“ how? i find it unnecessary. and a waste of time, if you ask me. ”

chuckling, the girl rested her back against her seat and ran her fingers through her own hair, “ not exactly. i find that boys switch up their hairstyles more than girls on some occasions. have you seen percy? one day he has a perm, the next he’s wearing a beret. ” it was super cute.

alexander appeared timid all of a sudden. “ well i’m not percy, seren. i find that i quite like my look. sure, the glasses can be fussy and the hair is hard to cope with in the morning, but it’s my signature look. like your hair bow ”.

seren defensively grasped her ointment, “ i have my bow but i still style my hair differently on occasions. i customize it, explore my way of dressing. it’s actually a great way to learn to appreciate your looks, looking at yourself in different ways. ”

alexander seemed unwilling to counter, attention on the book once more. taking a deep inhale, the girl smiled and reached over. he had a signature look himself, that face. his entire face was a signature because his features were so firm and bold and beautiful, it would still be him even if he chose to wear something different or styled his hair.

she found herself removing his glasses, ignoring the fuss he appeared ready to put on, and messed up his hair, bringing the locks hiding his forehead and pushing them back. thankfully, they fell right into place. capturing a glance at him, seren felt like she was looking at a different person, she smiled to herself, content with the transformation that had occurred under her doing.

“ w-what? ”.

seren shook her head slightly, “ you look good. you look even better, actually. people never realize how beautiful they are when others are looking at them. you still look like you, in case you’re wondering. but just without the glasses. stop squinting~ ”.

“ s-sorry ”, letting out a small laugh, alexander raked a hand through his locks and seren was barely able to contain her excitement, he seemed to be liking it! “ i just really can’t see without my glasses. contact lenses are hard to wear, as well, i tear up and people think i’m constantly upset. ”

seren peered at the frames in her hands and hummed, “ can’t you enchant yourself to fix your own eye sight? or are long-term conditions out of question? i hear only a witch doctor can do that. ”

“ percy could. he’s a mage. the magic i access is limited only to healing and enchanting things that might bring people at death’s door. a stab wound, i can deal with. a cancer or a chronic illness, i’m afraid i can’t deal with that. believe me, i’ve tried ”, he countered, flipping aimlessly through his pages. seren’s eyes suddenly frowned. “ i would ask percy but . . . it’s too much to ask. it would demand a crazy amount of mana. ”

seren held her breath.

she’d witnessed it herself, the moment percy went pale the night before and for just a split second, it felt like he went totally limp before managing to catch himself. mana was the fuel source for anyone dealing with magic, and if you drain it, it eats your energy away in chunks if you use your magic excessively and recklessly.

alexander pushed on, “ besides, he could end up panicking and blinding me for life. i know he feels slightly reluctant when dealing with his magic. he hesitates all the time in magical art lessons. it’s like he’s scared of what he’s capable of. ”

“ well isn’t everyone? having that much power should scare anyone ”, seren shook her head, staring at her feet. “ magic is serious business, that’s why i felt lucky to not have inherited it. because as a swordsman, i have control of who my target is. as a mage, i might end up burning a whole village to kill just one man. ”

the aircraft suddenly shifted, and the girl caught herself in case she went overboard. it wasn’t turbulence, it seemed like they were going to start to make a descent into the territory they’d dreamed of stepping into. she stood up, clinging to the security railings on the roof and walls. “ what’s happening? ”, she called.

perseus peeked his head out of the cabin door with his cheeky, boxy grin. “ we’re about to land! ”, he replied over the sound of the engine roaring, but as they neared their descent, all that she could hear was the whistle of the wind. beyond the windows, she saw red. well, red soil.

the landscape in which they’d landed resembled a savanna region which you wouldn’t have expected to find in egypt a long time ago. the dirt paths were overtaken by spreading grass, tall acacia trees scattered around but not close enough to resemble a full forest. no animals in sight, as expected. and if there were, they probably fled when they heard the aircraft landing.

landing in a desolate terrain that a human being has probably not stepped into yet was a thrilling idea, albeit terrifying. because if there weren’t humans roaming then there had to be something else, lurking, aware that something strange and out of their world had just touched down on their soil.

it felt forbidden, like they shouldn’t be here.

“ are we in the sinai peninsula? ”, seren quizzed.

at the shake of kailen’s head, she was growing confused. “ i made an emergency landing because i need to figure this compass out. if i try to do it on hair it’s just going to waste fuel. we might as well pause here until i get this thing working. ”

“ well, what do we do in the meantime? ”.

“ explore for a bit, i suppose. ”

romeo was the first one out once the hatchet opened. seren stepped out and landed on the grass with her two feet. the sensation was albeit the same but knowing that they were no longer caged within stone walls and now roamed the wild, it was no wonder her heart felt heavier, blood pumping with excitement.

what she did notice was how unbearably hot it was, the sun smiling down at them, toasting the girl beneath her dense military clothes. they only weighed her down, and if she was going to traverse through desserts and dry lands, there was no point wearing it.

after ripping her jacket off, she felt a massive improvement, loosening one button of her white shirt and slipping her gloves off. “ s-seren, what are you doing? ”, she heard perseus stammer behind her. she blinked at him cluelessly.

“ i’m burning hot. besides, these things are only going to slow us down. we’re not representing valhalla out here, we’re by ourselves. ”

pacing forward, she began to investigate her surroundings with a little more liberty. time was of the essence, but they were not expecting to reach salem within a week, that was very unlikely. so whilst tying her hair back with her ribbon, she took to admiring the trees, the landscape, the mountains in the distance.

“ from what i heard ”, alexander began suddenly, crouching down to take a sip of his water. “ the peninsula became densely populated with trees. it used to be more of a dessert, mountain range. now it’s practically a rain forest. most of the middle east is a rain forest. ”

which would mean that there would be less dessert to traverse, which the girl was thankful for. she’d heard rumors that during the apocalypse period, the world underwent a series of freezes that meant temperatures drastically cooled down and even countries that used to be in the line of the equator became sudden areas stained with trees and wildlife. egypt was one of them.

and with cooler temperatures, trees and humidity, the wildlife can be, well, wild. the girl realized that after spotting something on the dry dirt just after a patch of grass. something that seemed to resemble footprints, huge ones.

whoever they belonged to, the creature had hands resembling a human being if it wasn’t so thin and so lanky, and she was certain she had just come across claw marks embedded into one of the nearby acacias. crouching, the girl ran her fingertips over the prints and hummed.

“ you okay? ”, romeo asked.

she motioned him over and pointed to the foot prints, measuring at least at three metres in length. “ what kind of animal would you find in the middle of these plains who could have such a claw? ”, she questioned. 

“ dragons, or some sort of lizard-resembling creature ”, the gunner replied, grazing his fingers over the marked dirt. “ these aren’t new footprints, though, they have most likely been here for at least three or four days. they’ve not faded yet because of the lack of wind. ”

seren frowned, looking off at the set of mountains in the distance. casting her memory back to when she met alexander in the library, she had pulled out a book on the creature at hand. it spoke of the domains dragons took to, and long mountain ranges were some of them.

hopefully we’ll be out of here before such dragon can spot us, she prayed.

“ hey, i think i found a lake or pond! ”.

they immediately stood and walked on over to where evangelos stood and pointed. there was certainly a body of water, a stream of some sort that most definitely belonged to a greater source, perhaps something verging off of the nile river. “ it’s pretty cool, i’d suggest maybe getting clean water or cooling down before we head back ”, perseus called.

seren did just that, crouching over the edge and taking the water in her hands, holding it to her nose. no funny odor, and based off of how evangelos was drinking, it had no funny taste either. and it wasn’t pristine, yet she could at least see the bottom of the pond. 

she refilled her water bottle and set it to be cooled, and then splashed her face a couple of times and instantly felt better, headache simmering down with each passing second until it stopped. “ you’d never would have thought the world would be peaceful like this after stepping outside ”, romeo began, grinning to himself. 

“ this won’t account for the rest of the world. for all we know, the rest could be filled with monsters of all sorts trying to kill us. but it’s nice that there’s a safe haven here, minus the dragon footprints ”, evangelos ran a hand through his now damp hair. “ i asked kailen. we’re apparently very close to cairo. we might even be able to see the pyramids if we fly low enough. ”

“ seriously? ”, seren gasped and beamed. “ that’d be so great! but . . . we’d be best off staying on higher ground to avoid being spotted or alarming anyone we don’t want knowing we’re here. ”

it was unknown just how for salem’s hand stretched. eastern europe was occupied completely by her henchmen and it was why they advanced so easily down into the balkan countries. the empire military was being forced back into greece as their defenses fell, their greatest fear being that salem would find crete soon enough, and the last set of human beings would be crushed under her wrath. 

earth would have to start again, smaller, weaker, with no means of fixing what they had since it was going to be stripped from them anyway. seren’s blood boiled, it came to a point where she was done questioning the morale of a person like salem, of why people go to these lengths to pursue things for their own benefit. evil people just exist, they don’t need a reason.

she would be damned if she let the woman get close to her home. having been spotted in russia already probably had her hiding out in fear, but fear brings panic, and in the midst of panic, she might do something catastrophic and seren promised her father the woman would be dead before such thing could happen.

“ do you think . . . there are human beings outside of the walls? ”.

seren turned to perseus and rose a brow, “ separate populations? ”.

the boy nodded. “ yeah. people who weren’t given a chance of treading into the walls like everyone else, people who isolated themselves. people who saw the wild as their home and never thought to abandon it. different languages, a different culture. i think it’d be nice if we came across something like that ”, he suddenly chuckled. “ though, let’s hope they’re not aggressive. ”

“ for all we know, they could also believe they’re the last people on earth. we’d surely give them quite a scare, being armed to the brim ”, evangelos stated, tilting his head. “ human beings can be sympathetic despite their differences. i don’t think we’re going to get killed at the hands of people like that, though. that’d be a waste. ”

it was never said whether there were humans beyond the walls. seren knew the government worked hard to expand the walls at the same pace that the population grew, allowing people to situate their homes in zones they deemed ‘safe.’ never was it said that they made contact with other people, and if they did, they kept it as a very, very good secret.

they suddenly jumped at an echoing sound and threw their gazes over their shoulders to find kailen at the open hatchet, waving them over with a grin. “ i’ve fixed it! ”.

romeo grumbled, “ about time. ”

once inside the ship, seren found alexander tapping away at some control buttons on the board, the compass glowing green and seemingly working pretty well. kailen had pulled out a map of the old world, and he prayed that the land structure hadn’t changed exactly.

“ it seems like we’re going in a more north east direction. as soon as we get into sinai, we’ll start treading through the middle east, and even more east just to avoid the baltics. from what i heard, salem doesn’t have much control over china and mongolia. so we have to enter through there ”, kailen spoke whilst running a red pen, tracing through path and drawing what seemed to be a border around the baltics. it was a good tactic, avoiding where the enemy’s front line was. he looked back at seren who stood just behind him. “ what do you think? ”.

the girl shook her head, “ it’s perfect. what we have to be mindful of is not disturbing any of her minions in the area, but we can worry about that later. how much fuel are we on? ”.

kailen winced, lowering his head. “ three hours, at least. t-though, i hear there is a place where we might find some . . . ”.

time skip . . .

the flight wasn’t too long, but it was long enough for the girl to catch another nap. the seats were incredibly uncomfortable, the components of the seat belt digging into her torso and waking her up when the airship would shift at times. the feeling only relieved when she had an idea.

evangelos had been sitting beside her quietly, doing what appeared to be doodling on his phone. valhalla students were given school phones that aimed mostly at giving them a better experience in their classes, and they had longer lasting batteries, which is why evangelos seemingly whipped it out. some adjustments made by alexander meant that the school could not trace them.

the seat beside the male was free, and the seat belt component was lowered which meant that what she had in mind could work, it was just a matter of whether evangelos would be comfortable. seren bit her lip and sat down beside him regardless, he lifted his gaze and glanced at her. “ what’s up? ”.

she didn’t say a word, resting her head against his shoulder and finding herself feeling way more comfortable as opposed to before, smiling softly to herself. evangelos merely held his breath, but made no attempt at moving or pushing her away. you’d think she would be more cautious around him of all people.

in reality, she would have felt awful for avoiding him because of that dueling incident. her arms were still recovering, albeit slowly. and the burn marks became heavily obvious in the daylight, hence her attempts at hiding them as best as she could. 

and she probably to avoid making evangelos feel bad.

“ comfortable? ”.

the girl nodded, crossing her arms over her chest and pursing her lips slightly. she was bothered by the marks she saw on the dirt road despite romeo’s reassurance. in all honesty, she was far more concerned with the idea of there being a dragon roaming the heavens than getting to salem.

kailen had stated there was a nearby bay area on the coast of northern sinai where human dealings had stained. some sort of power plant from a long time ago had exploded, leading to the area becoming unstable and too toxic to support human life. after many, many years, it looked as if the toxicity levels were low enough for the fuel to be deemed safe enough to power the airship’s engine.

what didn’t bide well with the girl was the lack of a hostile presence ever since their journey began. they had not encountered one enemy aside from clues pointing to a dragon terrorizing the nearby area, but to come face to face with an abnormal creature was still on their to-do list. it was silent, peaceful, nothing she was complaining about but it drained the thrill from the situation and made it feel as if they were sneaking out to a party rather than, you know, saving the world.

that would only mean that whatever they encountered soon was going to shake her to her core. hence why apprehension to easing down and resting too much, but she found evangelos’s shoulder to be comfortable. his presence radiated that of protection aside from intimidation. and he was warm.

seriously warm.

“ did it hurt? ”.

“ hm? ”.

his fingers grazed gently over the surface of her arms. his touch was delicate, not an ounce of mal intention with it. it was perhaps the most docile thing she had seen from evangelos from the moment she met him. her thoughts drifted once more to the duel, to the internal shock she experienced after that impact, the agony that came from the burns, the way her bones rattled in fear when she realized her weakness.

“ well, of course it hurt. but does it still hurt? ”, he sounded concerned, and a part of her ached on his behalf. to have everyone glance at you as if you’re some sort of monster when your anger builds and you act upon it must be something nobody wants to necessarily deal with. she hurt for him. and she didn’t see a reason for holding a grudge against an injury that will heal. sure, the marks will always be there. but they will never be a reminder that evangelos was a violent person. ever.

seren glanced at his hand and chuckled, patting it gently. “ it did. but what hurts me most is that you’re still hanging on. it’s healing, as most injuries do. i just want you not to worry about it when there are other things we have to heal ”, she said.

and that was not her attempt at shutting down the conversation, it was simply a way to reassure evangelos in case his thoughts were scrambled, in case he somehow considered himself as the monster people painted him as.

“ like . . . the wounds of people who might have been denied a home within the walls. the wounds of people who never got a chance to be saved. if they’re out there, then we have to help them heal. isn’t that what heroes are supposed to do? ”.

evangelos started, “ y-yeah, but . . . ”.

“ my wounds will heal. memories stay but it’s how you remember them that counts. i don’t remember it as an attack. i remember it as a mistake. and we all learn from them. ”

it was clear she wanted to say more to nurse the situation, to put his mind at rest but she was cut off when the engine began to roar a little louder. upon listening out, it became apparent it was not the engine. but rather, waves crashing against each other. an ocean. a beach.

when the ship landed and the hatchet opened once again, seren felt a chill crawl down her spine when the pristine blue sky she had seen previously turned bleak, grey. lifeless. something you’d expect to see on a cold island in northern europe, not in a tropical region blessed with greenery and life.

upon stepping out, it felt like entering another planet.

craters of sharp rocks and dips made the landscape, the waves thrashing roughly against the shores. it was violent, turbulent, as if a storm slowly crept above them. it was a phantom menace, one that would bare its fangs and strike the rocks with pummeling strength. it took her a couple of steps back suddenly to avoid getting hit by a wave. when her back hit kailen’s chest, she let out a minor squeak.

but he applied a firm hand to her shoulder and nodded to the others, “ alright, there has got to be an oil source nearby. the toxicity will not kill you since it’s harmless at this point. but still be careful. fill the tanks as best as you can. if there’s any sign of movement, don’t wait. just act. ”

the tanks he mentioned weren’t large but it was enough for each member to carry one individually. kailen had suggested that he stayed in the ship whilst they went off to get the oil before quickly returning.

but seren was apprehensive to leave him alone. “ are you sure you don’t want someone to stay behind? ”, she quizzed as they prepared to leave. “ you know we can’t exactly communicate without alerting the academy of where we are, what if something happens to you? ”.

kailen gave her his usual comforting smile, one which causes every suspicion or worry to practically vanish. but it didn’t work this time around on seren. “ i’ll be okay. you just hurry back. it’d be nice to get going before night fall. ”

there was no use convincing him, of course.

seren hurried just like everyone else. it was in their best interest to hurry in order to avoid enemies, but her worry remained grounded on kailen who had stayed in the ship. and although he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, he might not be able to resist a mob of enemies, in whatever form they manifest themselves in. dragons, goblins, maybe even the very henchmen from last night.

“ kailen can handle himself, seren ”, romeo briskly reminded her with a quick pat on the back before hurrying her along. “ he’s an archer, sure. but his semblance won’t fail him in an attack if he gets swarmed. trust me, he will be okay. ”

seren chuckled, “ it’s a habit of mine to worry. i was even concerned when he was with alex fixing the compass. i suppose i feel anxious when we’re not in a group, if you can understand that. ”

romeo hummed, and swung the tank in his arm in a childish fashion that incited a grin from the girl. even if they were escaping mortal danger and running towards the enemy, he still acted as if it was a walk in the park. “ i don’t. but i reckon it’s due to the fact that i know their skills. and i know how strong they are individually. don’t worry, you’ll only exhaust yourself if you keep panicking during the journey. ”

to a great extent, she agreed. but this was also a habit that she has had from a young age, like her habit of taking the blame when it wasn’t hers to claim. unhealthy habits, as one might call it. it was going to take her a lot more time to grow distant from that constant worry. it wasn’t as if she was doubting their skills, they were in higher ranks than her and had stellar combat performances. yet . . .

a whistle from alexander caused her attention to shift. it seemed as if he had found something worth checking, so they hurried over.

what they stumbled across was a bunch of iron barrels with some sort of symbol on them. not the danger symbol, not the flammability symbol, but something else, a mark of manufacture. it was long faded, something that belonged to the old world yet it still sent shivers down her spine. part of the past stood in front of them.

perhaps the most bizarre detail to the scene were the skulls.

skulls.

ribs, skulls, arms and feet. as if a graveyard had surfaced from the soil, the barrels might have been a metaphor for a gold mine but the apparent human remains was what stunned seren the most. and even as the boys moved to fill the tanks, she remained with her feet nailed to the ground, her concern growing tenfold.

there was no use asking for what they believed happened here when it was somewhat clear. it had been a previous power plant, as kailen stated, and after an accident, nobody ever came to look at what remained of the location. craters of oil remained, yet what appeared to be the bodies of the workers also stayed. it was a disturbing sight of which she thought she’d only see in movies.

her steps brought her beside perseus who was studying one of the skulls closely, gloves slipped on and eyes narrowing in thought. “ notice how there is what appears to be bite or scratch marks near the top. that wouldn’t happen if it was a power plant accident, except if they were making monsters instead of oil, which i doubt ”, he stated, looking up at her. “ what do you think? ”.

seren brought her eyes towards the ocean, angry, thrashing, crashing, battling for what seemed to be a victim to pull into its grasps and yank it back into unknown depths.

“ i believe . . . it could have been a monster of some sort. maybe some animals that moved to the area and thought it would be nice to feast on the remains but the toxicity should have killed them and there are no animal bones . . . ”, she spoke, looking around. “ my bet is that it’s a monster. ”

evangelos suddenly grunted as he filled up the tank and screwed the lid shut. “ if there were monsters, they might have showed up by now. those marks look new, if we had the equipment we might have been able to locate the origin. but if it’s monsters, i suggest we hurry up ”.

but what kind of monster would attempt to dig their fangs into a human skull and then leave it aside. it would be normal if the flesh of the bodies had rotted and joined the soil beneath their feet, yet seren was uneasy. it felt too good to be true that this bay, dark and grey, was radio silent aside from the waves crashing ahead of them.

it was a horrible sensation, ignoring that worry gnawing at the back of her mind and then proceeding to fill up her tank with as much fuel as it could carry. she strained to lift it from the ground after screwing the cap shut but she heaved it up and sighed, following romeo who offered the way back to the ship.

with fuel in hand, they will be able to travel a longer distance before sundown and probably find themselves within the rain forest quickly. it would mean that they will be exposed to new danger but it would keep them hidden from any eyes from above trying to track them down.

“ where’s the ship? ”.

huh?

surely enough, when seren glanced up from the ground, her hand suddenly trembled and the tank met the floor within seconds as the ship had vanished. gone, as if it had never been there to begin with.

her first reaction was to believe that kailen might have left them. but if it had been the case, they would have heard the airship taking off and would have come running back long before their current return.

when they heard kailen’s scream, though, they all acted.

romeo suddenly bolted towards the edge of the rocks where he soon spotted the airship being dragged down the rocks, constantly being engulfed by violent waves that they couldn’t stick too close to. what was dragging the ship into the ocean?

seren’s worst nightmare.

mermaids, in mythology, are often depicted as beautiful creatures. alluring, tropical, ethereal. with perfect teeth and hair and stunning voices that will drive a sailor mad, inviting you in with docile smiles and large, curious eyes.

the mermaids that were dragging the ship into the ocean were far from it.

they were scathing around like wild animals, screeching and screaming loudly. there were dozens of them, seren was driven dizzy by the waving tails and the blunt force they used to drag the ship, pushing and pulling and screaming repeatedly and it felt like her ears were going to start bleeding soon, yet she gasped and reached for iron thorn the moment romeo fired a shot from his weapon.

“ kailen’s there! don’t let them get away! ”.

the ship was probably long gone, half submerged under water with kailen in the hatchet, motionless. seren’s food rose to her stomach in heaps yet she managed to fire some essences of ice from her blade, and it reached at least five mermaids, enveloping their tails and pulling them down into the rocks, keeping them from grasping at kailen.

but that still left at least twenty of them that evangelos and perseus were trying their best to blow away with the shots they could fire. evangelos was re-loading consistently, looking fed up by the second and perseus struggled on remaining on his feet. “ kailen! kailen, come on, man! kailen! ”, alexander yelled over the edge, flinching back when a mermaid jumped from a wave and tried to claw at his face. it was only then when seren realized that their nails were razor sharp.

with each stroke of ice and fire, the mermaids seemed to scream their way into the waves but when they began to drag kailen, alexander finally jumped into action and motioned with his hands. when the faint glow swarmed kailen’s body, the mermaid pulling him down shrieked and clawed at him. when alexander began to lift kailen’s body, seren was hopeful he would make it all the way.

when a mermaid jumped and suddenly grasped his ankle, romeo ran to keep the male on the rocks but kailen’s body began to fall back into the waves and seren did the only thing she could. and threw her sword that then pinned the fabric of kailen’s cape against the rocks. and then bolted, running the curve and launching her body over the edge and grabbing him roughly.

and soon, with the little strength she had, heaved him up, caring not for her sword that was probably going to fall into the waves.

“ perseus! ”.

seren busied herself with removing the tight jacket kailen wore as well as the chest coat and yet he made no attempt in breathing or moving. her blood began to run cold and when she began to apply her weight onto his chest, compressing a dozen times, she didn’t notice the hot tears spilling down her cheeks.

she was crying.

“ kailen? kailen! come on, wake up, wake up! breathe for me, kailen, please, we can’t lose you now! ”.

she grunted and pressed harder at a steady pace, her compression only becoming sloppy when she began to realize it wasn’t working. he wasn’t breathing. he wasn’t breathing! choking back a sob, seren pressed harder and felt someone grasping her shoulder but yanked their hand away and brought herself closer to the unresponsive boy. “ kailen, for fucks’s sake, stay with us! please! ”, she cried.

it was only when seren moved over him, pinched his nose and covered his mouth with hers, followed by two steady inhales, that she felt the boy flinch beneath her and jumped back to see the life rushing back to him.

kailen looked pale, coughing up the sea water that had been trapped within his lungs for some minutes. he was drenched, in some sort of pain, groaning through every cough and when he came to a stop, he panted. looking at the concerned faces looking over him, bringing his attention to seren and then looking around, as if to look for the ship.

“ w-what happened? w-why did i black out? ”, he grunted, moving to sit up but being pushed back down by evangelos who removed his jacket and wrapped it over the other’s shoulders. “ where’s the ship? o-oh god, did i lose the ship? ”.

seren’s lip quivered whilst she wiped the tears from her eyes, grimacing at the thought of having lost a team mate in the midst of something like that. the mermaids came out of nowhere, and through the way they shone their teeth at her, they were not good mermaids, not the ones she wold read about in stories and fairy tales. they were monsters. 

and they had almost killed kailen.

if they hadn’t arrived faster, kailen would have suffered the same fate as the remains of those people they had come across near the iron barrels. he would have been eaten.

“ they dragged the ship into the ocean. there’s no way we’re going to recover it now ”, romeo voiced with a sigh. seren glanced up when perseus gave her iron thorn. her heart sank once more. if she had lost kailen and her weapon . . . she gave the boy the best smile she could manage and nodded in gratitude, looming worriedly over the boy. “ looks like we’re gonna be walking. ”

kailen sighed and met eyes with seren, smiling timidly at her. “ sorry if i scared you. but thank you for acting so quickly ”, he managed through another cough.

“ y-yeah, it’s no worries ”, seren said and smiled back at him.

but they had a lot to worry about. the day had seemingly grown darker. they had faced possible carnivorous mermaids and they had also lost their ship.

night would fall soon.

they would get hungry.

they lost their direction.

they lost their means of travel.

they were lost. officially.

Mr. Warfstache

When I came to this college it was highly recommended. Everyone who went here said it was fun and interesting all be it a bit... strange. Rumor said that if you could survive the teachers weirdness you’d go through life with flying colors, if not... then you’d be scarred over what you encountered. I decided to apply to the college and easily got in, as most people were terrified to try the college.

It was obvious to see what was going on my first semester there. The teachers were all strange in their own way, none of them a ‘normal’ teacher. One of them was a man that I would have sworn was a computer, he could easily calculate the answer to any math problem in just a few seconds. Some people swore that his veins were just wires in disguise.  Another one was a business man who always wore old western outfit, complete with cowboy boots but he had the best jewelry in the world. He would constantly complain about the amount of kids he had. Last time someone counted they were easily in the 20′s. While all my starting classes were strange, there was one I was dreading. My PE class. School basically forced us to take some sort of exercise and almost all of it was maned by a man known as ‘The Colonel’ although his real name was Mr. Warfstache.  People who took the class said he was a strange looking man, even by the other teachers standards. Big round pink lenses glasses, a cap always on his head with the schools logo.  And the bushiest black mustache anyone had ever seen. If it wasn’t for the dumb shorts he always wore and the fact the man was ripped they could have sworn he time traveled. That coupled with the fact that I sucked at PE as a kid and was... well fat didn’t help. I always had trouble sweating, I could never exercise for long before I was overheating and struggling to catch my breath. I felt as soon as ‘The Colonel’ saw me his army instincts would kick into over drive and he’d pull out one of those old timey army whips and beat the shit out of me. So when I walked into the field in my exercise clothes along with the other students and saw him standing there, clipboard in hand I began to shake.  God the others were right, he looked like a weird safari man... It didn’t help when I noticed the amount of light scars on his legs, which looked like hunks of ham with how big they were. So many scars, small ones, huge ones. I could only imagine the amount of battles he went through. It didn’t help with how young he looked. “Good evening everyone~” Mr. Warfstache called out his voice strange. It took everyone off guard. Was it an accent? Some speech impediment? We all looked at each other in confusion as if expecting one of the others to say what the hell was going on. “My name is Mr. Warfstache... You could also call me the Colonel or if we get really friendly after a few days... William.” He flashed a smile, looking over the crowd of kids he’d be working with. “I’ll be going over names, and then we’ll warm up. Then we’ll run the mile.” Everyone let out a soft groan “Yes, Yes I know. A mile run on the first day, not the first thing everyone wants to start out with~” He drew out the last syllable as he fixed his mustache, looking down at the board. “But it’s a good start to see where we all stand as a class fitness wise and then at the final day we’ll do it again and see how you’ll improve. Seeing how fit you can get in such a short amount of time really increases your confident, trust me.” And with that he went over the list of people in the class. With each name someone would give a sign of affirmation.  I dreaded with how he said my name. “Jenna er...” He paused, tapping his finger against the paper as he tried to think about how to try to pronounce my last name I didn’t even give him a chance to try as I told him. He nodded his head, closing his eyes and muttering it to himself as if trying to remember it somehow. He lifted his head, eyes scanning over me before giving a small smile. Was it a smile?  It seemed so forced. I looked away from him, a shameful flush coming across my face.  He probably thought I was gonna be his biggest hurdle this semester. After he said all of the names we began to stretch as a group, nothing special but I could tell everyone had eyes on Mr.W.  Stretching his huge calves with lunges, lifting his arms in the air, a bit of his stomach revealed. More scars, every time he moved  there were more scars. It was obvious everyone was trying to figure out where they all came from, how that many scars could be on one man, and how many more they could find. It was alarming to say the least. “Alright~” He called out after a few stretches. “Four times around the track is a mile, get to it! I’m keeping track.... NOW.” He quickly pulled out a stop watch from his pocket and grabbed the whistle from around his neck, blowing it in all of our ears. Everyone took off at a breakneck speed while I started out slow. My messy mop of hair began to bounce in my face, blocking my view. Damn it, I knew I should have gotten a haircut during break. As I ‘ran’ Mr. Warfstache sped pass me seemingly wanting to catch up with the large group of runners ahead of me. As he passed though I noticed he gave me a little wave before speeding ahead. I shook my head and tried to concentrate on breathing. In through the mouth, out through the nose. I could feel my skin beginning to heat up as my legs began to ache and sting with each step. ‘Come one you’ve only been running for a little while’ I thought to myself trying to push myself further, not wanting to be ‘that guy’ in PE. I managed to make it a little further before my bangs flew in front of my face, blocking my view. I quickly began to wipe the hair away before realizing at the last moment that I was speeding straight for a pole. The sound of my skull hitting the metal echoed through the filed as I quickly fell to the ground, my entire world going blurry. I couldn’t hear anything except for the ringing in my ears and the sound of blood pounding in my head. I didn’t feel anything, but as soon as everything began to come back to reality I began to notice the wet sticky feeling running down my face. I learned from other students what happened while I was down.  A person rounding the corner saw me smash against the pole and stopped calling attention to the teacher.  As soon as he took notice, they said he took off at full speed towards me, hurdling over gym equipment left in the interior of the track to slide down beside me. The world was still whirling around me was I saw his face hunched close to mine. He looked worried and he was obviously saying something, but it was muffled to me. “... h....hey! Come on old girl...can’t do this to me first day.” I heard him say. I only muttered what I thought was a ‘sorry’ but probably sounded like me trying not to gargle my own blood that was currently leaking down my face. He began to  hold up fingers in front of my face. They were so blurry but i could see 2 fingers. “2...” I muttered out to him. This was seemingly right as he let out a small breath of relief. Then he did something I don’t think anyone expected. He slipped his hands under my body and picked my up, holding me close to his body, my head laying on his shoulder. “Come on, we gotta get you to a nurse. No concussion but still you bashed your noggin pretty good.” He said softly to me before turning to the crowd of people, all worried and slightly amazed at the feat of strength he was displaying. “Uh... keep going. I’ll be back as soon as I get her to the nurse.” With that he began to carry me off back to the building, facing towards the field as people began to talk, a few beginning to run again. The whole thing seemed like a blur. I probably wasn’t all there as all i could remember was him carrying me, muttering something, and the floor changing from grass, to the floors of the school. And then I was out like a light. I woke up with a splitting headache, laid against a couch in an office I didn’t recognize. It seemed... sporty? Medals after medals were placed on the wall, not all of them athletic ones. Pictures of a baby faced man in army clothing smiling towards the camera, with other men in uniform. Mr Warfstache’s office. I wanted to move but my body was still recovering, every inch of me hurting. It wasn’t long after before Mr. Warfstache walked in, a sigh coming from him. He was in a different shirt. I must of bled on the white one. “Jenna, Jenna, Jenna. Hell of a first impression my girl!” He walked over and kneeled beside my laying body. His face was close to mine but his eyes were focused above me. “Don’t mean to intrude... just checking on the cut. Seems good... good. That Schneep fellow deserves a pay raise.” He gave a little chuckle before sitting on the floor, look at me. “Now... I know you’re probably not in the mood for talking, but tell me what on Earth happened? Why did you decide to give me a scare on our first day back?” “I...I’m sorry. m...my hair. Got in front of my face and I just... ran into the pole. I didn’t want to...” I trailed off causing Mr. Warfstache to raise a brow “Didn’t what?” “D...didn’t want to fall behind. I know i’m not... good at running... or anything. I didn’t want to be that kid in class.” Mr. Warfstache looked me over before bellowing with laughter, a hand covering his mouth. “Sorry i’m not laughing at you just your thought process... Jenna my dear it doesn’t matter if your the last one in the group, i’ll just be happy if you try. And besides I don’t think anyone will think that of you now. I think they’ll think of you of the girl that bashed her face open first day of physical education!” His smile faded however as he took on a more serious tone. “I am glad you are ok though. You really did scare me. That’s not a very nice trick to play on an ex army man...” My heart sank as I tried to speak up to apologize but he put a finger up in protest. “That just makes me want to protect you now. You’re a hazard, who knows what you’ll do next. I got my eye on you Miss Jenna. Got to give you some protection. Any worries you have about this class or... anything about ‘being that kid in class’ please come to me... I hope you stay with me and don’t drop this class. I think you just made this class period just as mad as I want it to be!”

Excellent Article About Eye Care That Is Simple To Follow Along

Excellent Article About Eye Care That Is Simple To Follow Along

Eye care is a topic of great concern to many today. What does it take to do it right? How can I learn as much as possible about it? The first step is to read the article below as it contains a great plethora of tips and tricks on caring for your eyes you can't go on without.

Eat your vegetables. Living a healthy life is all about eating the right foods and avoiding the bad ones. Leafy green vegetables are packed full of Vitamin A and Vitamin E, which are very useful vitamins that help the body preform many of its necessary functions, such as repairing and replacing dead skin cells, thus preventing wrinkles and fine lines.

Find out if there is family history of diseases of the eyes because early detection can benefit you greatly. Hereditary conditions can be tested for ahead of time. Knowing about an illness in the early stages is Best 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh India always a benefit.

Take dry eyes very seriously if you suffer from this condition. While everyone experiences some dryness, either due to being tired or environmental influences, it can be damaging if it's happening too frequently. Talk to your eye care professional about possible treatments for your dry eyes, to prevent long-term damage.

Some foods can prevent eye problems. Studies show that eating high amounts of zinc, omega 3 fatty acids, as well as vitamins E and C, can prevent many negative eye conditions. Tuna, salmon, beans, nuts, oranges and green, leafy vegetables are some foods that contain these nutrients.

If you are a smoker, you need to stop smoking immediately. You know smoking can hurt your lungs, but did you know it can harm your eyes? Smokers are highly prone to eye damage. You can decrease the chances of getting optic nerve damage and cataracts if you quit smoking.

If you are planning on staying outside for a long period of time, wear a baseball hat or visor. This can prevent the sun's harmful rays from impacting your eyes and can reduce any irritation that you feel. Additionally, your eyes will become less dry if you block the sun from entering in.

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Eat plenty of greens. When it comes to eye health, carrots are often touted as the vegetable of choice. While it is true that carrots are high in Vitamin A, they are not the only vegetable that can help with vision. Studies show that lutein and zeaxanthin, found in dark leafy greens such as spinach can help improve vision even more.

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It is important to have your young children's checked by a pediatric eye doctor every year. Children's eyes develop rapidly. Regular check ups can catch any abnormalities yoga india that can lead to further problems. If caught early, the eye doctor can take measures to stop a problem before it occurs.

To better maintain good eye health, make sure you get a good night's sleep. Your eyes need proper rest like the rest of your body. When you don't get enough sleep, your tiredness can strain your eyes and negatively affect your vision. By getting enough sleep, you can relax and refresh eyes for the next day.

Take breaks when you need them. Many people think that looking at a computer screen is the only time you need to concern yourself yoga teacher training india with stressing your eyes. Even if you are reading or watching television, it's wise to take frequent breaks so that you don't start to have eyestrain.

If you wear contact lenses, avoid wearing them for longer than 19 hours. Make sure you don't sleep with your contact lenses. Your eyes need constant oxygen supply and contacts block oxygen flow to your eyes. Doing this can permanently damage your sight and create great discomfort for your eyes.

Consume large amounts of Vitamin C to improve the blood flow around your eyes. Vitamin C can also aid in cell regeneration so that it takes a longer time for your eyes to become sore and irritated. Strawberries, papayas, kiwi, guava and dark leafy greens are some foods that contain a rich yoga retreat in rishikesh quantity of this vitamin.

Now that you have all of these tips and tricks at the ready, make use of them! Turn your vision into something that matters to you, and eye health into a priority. Now that you see clearly about eye care, you must use this information to keep your eyes in check.

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New Post has been published on http://www.updatedc.com/2018/10/21/nikon-z7-field-review/

Nikon Z7 field review

Nikon Z7 field review by Stuart Palley (stuartpalley.com, terraflamma.org | @stuartpalley):

TLDR: Mirrorless is the future of working pros in the documentary/journalism/travel realm. It may take another generation or two to fully compete with DSLRs, but it’s coming. The Z7 will not replace my D850 but rather complement it for the many situations where weight and size trump ease of use and AF speed/reliability in the near term. As the Z mount lens system grows I can start divesting myself of F mount glass when a Z mount equivalent comes into production. This is written from the perspective of someone who makes the majority of their income as a photographer and creative professional.

For years many great companies have manufactured excellent mirrorless cameras already in use by working pros and enthusiasts alike. Fuji, Olympus, Sony, etc, all make awesome cameras (I’ve used many, the X100, X Pro 1, GFX, OM-D series, etc). The big news here is the FTZ adapter with solid AF/VR compatibility with my existing dozen Nikon lenses, similar button layout for fast workflow adoption, and smaller and lighter baggage.*

That means I can integrate the Z7 into my workflow with minimal fuss and rock the Z mount 24-70 f4 or 35mm 1.8 when I want to go fast and light. A metadata analysis of my images from wildfires shows 60-80% of my images shot in the 24-70mm focal length.

The other two lenses I use the most are the 70-200mm 2.8 VRII, 200-400 VRI, and Sigma 14mm 1.8, which all work great with the FTZ adapter.

Sigma 14mm 1.8 with FTZ adapter

With the Z mount 24-70 f4 I lose a stop of speed and the durability of the 24-70 f2.8 VR AF-S, (which is the best/most versatile Nikon midrange zoom I’ve used) but the lens is about 1/3 the overall mass and a fraction of the weight of the F mount big brother.

The FTZ adapter is well designed and does what it’s supposed to do, allowing me to use F mount lenses, now with the built in VR of the Z7. My chief criticism is that AF is not so great, in the case of using my 200-400 AF-S VR I for photographing Lenticular clouds over the Cleveland National Forest, it hunted for AF at sunset. I initially thought this an issue with the F4 aperture or lack of contrast in the tones of dusk, but even on contrasty and clear points on the horizon that my D850 and same lens combo would’ve likely focused on without issue, the FTZ adapter left me wanting a little more accuracy with it’s hunting and focus racking. I’m going off my own real-world experience here, lab tests and more technical analysis from might yield different results.

FTZ Adapter and 200-400 VR I, panorama stitched from two images

On the Z7 body itself, the buttons are laid out similar to other Nikon DSLRs and as a result I found the camera easy to pick up and start shooting with. The viewfinder is incredible, sharp, bright, and clear. Coming from using an original Fuji X100 or an earlier micro 4/3 camera you see the progress that electronic viewfinders have made in the last 5 years.

Another advantage of the Z7 is the reduced size and weight. Size wise, it’s mainly the bulk that is reduced in all dimensions. After using the Z7 for an afternoon and placing it on the counter next to my battle worn D810 with a vertical grip, the D810 looked like a pig and felt like a lead weight. This is a little hyperbolic but it’s liberating to not have a boat anchor hanging off your neck. Heavy cameras are terrible for your back ligaments, muscles, and spinal column, so any reduced size and weight is a welcome improvement when these are tools you use to make a living with day in and day out.

This past weekend I did a 4-mile hike and brought the Z7 along with my trusty 105mm f2.8 AF-D Macro lens. It manual focus only with the FTZ adapter, but having stabilization on a macro lens was great and I had a good time playing around with the forms of cactus spines along the trail. I wouldn’t have brought my D850 with a grip, that’s for sure.

FTZ adapter and 105mm 2.8 AF-D Macro (manual focus)

Virtually a 100% crop from the Z7, FTZ adapter and 105mm 2.8 AF-D Macro

FTZ adapter and 105mm 2.8 AF-D Macro (manual focus)

The lenses still retain a similar size to DSLR lenses, but with the shorter flange to sensor distance, optical designs can be optimized to make lenses slightly more compact. Additionally, the wider diameter of the Z mount will allow lens designers to take more engineering liberties when designing new lenses, meaning better performance, even more extreme focal lengths, and apertures too. Case in point, the 50mm-ish f0.95 lens Nikon has announced is a show lens to demonstrate the Z mount flexibility. Personally, the lens is useless to me since it lacks autofocus, and the sway of your body while breathing will put your subject out of focus at f0.95 handheld with manual focus. Try focusing an f1.4 lens in the dark and tell me it’s easy!

Every camera is only as good as the system around it and the company making it, so I look forward to Nikon fleshing out the Z lineup of lenses. The 35mm 1.8 is sharp from corner to corner, and the 24-70mm f4 is a versatile lens, but needs to be “unlocked” and expanded from its compact stowage position. As an NPS member I received priority delivery on the camera, and despite my concerns about Nikon’s repair logistics and inability to keep important parts in stock (Ask about my months long parts hold repair on a 70-200 VRII in 2015) rest assured Nikon will fix the camera should anything happen under warranty, and afterwards for a fixed fee. Cameras have always come back fixed right and with firmware upgrades, a sensor cleaning, etc from the repair center in Los Angeles.

A Storm is Coming

Randy’s Donuts, Los Angeles. Z7 and 24-70mm AF-S, ISO 140, 1/25 sec, Auto ISO. In body stabilization allowed me to shoot from the passenger seat of a car, at a stoplight, with a much lower shutter speed than I would usually select. Accordingly I was able to shoot at a lower ISO.

Another advantage of a smaller system is that everything gets smaller. The bags, tripods, tripod heads, filters, etc. needed to support the Z7 all shrink. Things get smaller and lighter, requiring less energy to cart around, which equates to more focus on shooting and creating pictures and telling a story, the whole reason I’m here in the first place. Everything about the equipment is in the service of creating the image. Instead of a Think Tank Retrospective 30 for my fast and light kit, I can get the Z7, 24-70 f4, 35 f1.8, and my ancient Nikon 70-210 AF push pull zoom (which I got for $60 :-p) with the FTZ adapter into a smaller Retrospective 7. I have space for spare cards, batteries, filters, and the charger.

Think Tank Retrospective in Pinestone with Z7, 24-70mm f4, 35mm 1.8, 70-210 (works in MF only with FTZ adapter, replacing with a 70-200mm f4 AF-SVR). GoPro Hero 4, spare batteries.

A Z7 and two lenses will now fit into the pack I carry around at wildfires that includes mandatory safety gear like a fire shelter and radio. That weight quickly adds up and adding a camera swinging off your neck with a strap isn’t ideal. Being able to stow the camera and it’s accompanying weight into my actual pack where the load bearing harnesses can support the load is a godsend for longer hikes. Sometimes I have to go hunt down fire crews in the bush and having a camera swinging off your body isn’t ideal. I was hiking at the Ferguson Fire in Yosemite National Park on assignment for the US Forest Service when my 24-70 decided to detach itself from my D850, and a lucky fall onto dirt with the lens hood saved it from damage.

This issue illustrates the two ways I usually shoot in the field. The first is up close, where the heaviest fire activity is present and I’m hiking around and moving a lot, getting in and out of a pickup truck, going up hills in smoke and ash. The smaller Z7 in good to decent lighting conditions is ideal for this. The jury is still out on how much I can push it in low light with the contrast detect AF. In darkness or low light, I would still be partial to a D850 and 24-70.

On a tripod with more relaxed conditions, perhaps photographing the fire from afar or just general nightscape photography, the Z7 perfect. I have three tripods, a large and medium Really Right Stuff carbon fiber tripod that is perfect for DSLRs and long lenses, and a tiny travel tripod. The medium tripod is perfect for a Z7 and a wide lens with FTZ adapter, and I could probably get away with one of their compact tripods in the future or my tiny travel tripod.

I disagree with Nikon’s decision to fit just one XQD slot in the camera. While memory cards are much more reliable than they were a decade ago, I still don’t fully trust them. My D850 is still coming out for when I need extra peace of mind. I hope that Nikon puts in a second SD slot, double XQD, or double SD in future versions. I would prefer a slightly larger camera with dual slot security. For me it’s just an extra short-term backup during shoots. Everything immediately goes onto a solid state RAID array when images are uploaded to my laptop, but once I click the shutter on the Z7, a potential card failing means it’s 2005 all over again. As I use the Z7 more I suppose I’ll grow to trust single slot XQD, but the jury is still out along with low light AF (which I’m finding is wholly satisfactory the more I use it). Buy good cards and format early and often.

Watch and Wallet: Z7 at ISO 11,400, 1/125 sec, f5: Nikon 105mm f2.8 AF-D with FTZ adapter in manual focus. This shot would not be possible without VR, at least handheld.

In conclusion this trend toward smaller and lighter with similar image quality to pro DSLR’s has long been in practice. Sony did it with the A7 series, their compact cameras with full frame sensors, etc. Now that the big two, Nikon and Canon have jumped on board, we have a real integration of mirrorless into pro workflows, We still have ground to cover when it comes to AF and lens selection, but the future is here, and the same way that the 4×5 Speed Graphic gave way to the 35mm SLR slowly over the years, so will the DSLR give way to mirrorless. Onward.

Stuart Palley is a Southern California based photographer who recently published his first photography book, Terra Flamma: Wildfires at Night, (Schiffer Publishers, 2018) photographing wildfires in California via long exposure over the last five years.

His work on climate change and the environment has been featured in National Geographic Magazine and has been recognized in Pictures of the Year International. He is a contractor for the US Forest Service and works commercially with various Fortune 500 clients in addition to select editorial publications internationally.

www.stuartpalley.com

www.terraflamma.org

Instagram @stuartpalley

*** Every camera on the market makes great images, it’s all about ease of use, ergonomics, lens options, price, etc. There are no bad cameras in 2018, just photographers that should focus on the art of making pictures rather than the gear. No camera manufacturer sponsors me or gives me anything for free, these views here are entirely my own and based off my experience as a working professional.

If you have an interesting idea for a guest post, you can contact me here.

For additional Nikon Z coverage like the Nikon Z Facebook page and join the Nikon Z Facebook group

Source from nikonrumors

Older, Wiser And More Wonderful: Interesting Advice On Getting Older

Unfortunately getting older is a part of life that everyone must deal with. If you want to learn how to approach getting older with more grace, you will want to read this article. In fact, the article will teach you how to avoid certain aspects of getting older and how to influence the rate at which you age.

Avoid wrinkles by not frowning. It may seem a little silly, but it's true. So if you feel yourself doing it, pinch yourself to stop. You can eventually break the habit.

One of the most important things to remember when getting older is to not focus on any numbers. It is simple to focus on your age, especially as it increases, or even worse the amount you weigh. While it's important to know your weight to keep in control, it's more important to focus on how you feel and not what preconceived notions tell you a person your age should feel like. Let your physician focus on these things. Spend your energy focusing on other things.

Put less emphasis on the little things. A good doctor will let you know when you need to take action to improve your health. The moment you start focusing on these three things is the moment that you will start obsessing over them and missing out on the fun parts of life that are aimed at keeping you feeling young.

Be sure that you are getting enough sleep for your age. Sleeping seven or nine hours can both relax you and help you retain a healthy hormonal balance. Not getting enough sleep leads to irritability and difficulty in finding joy in your everyday life.

Exercising is especially important as you age. As your body ages, it needs more activity to keep itself strong and malleable. Take a thirty minute walk during the weekdays. Do some strength exercises as well, preferably twice per week. This keeps your body healthy and fit, and helps you avoid other age related problems.

Make sure to care for your eyes as you age. It is natural to experience decreased visual acuity as you age, but by seeing an eye doctor on a regular basis, you can prevent any serious problems.

Don't hang around with friends who are always in a bad mood. There have been studies that have proved laughter and smiles can keep you looking young. Therefore, you should spend time with people who bring you joy and laughter, not with people who make you unhappy.

Eating excessive amounts of sugar over the course of your life can drastically reduce your lifespan. Sugar cuts down your lifespan, and it is one of the direct causes of getting older. Scientific studies have revealed that sugar has a detrimental impact on the life of every living animal.

Be sure to eat properly. The majority of what you eat should be plant based. When you eat well, you will have plenty of energy to face the day. You will be healthier in body and mind.

One simple way to reduce your risk of heart disease is to eat less red meat and start eating more fish. There are many unhealthy fats in red meat that can contribute to clogging of the arteries, and this can result in heart disease, as well as other illnesses. Fish is known to have the opposite affect. So, to help you live a better and longer life, you may want to eat fewer meals containing red meat, and replace those with fish.

Take care and wear well-supported shoes to avoid falling down. Falls can cause damage to your body which sometimes cannot be repaired. They are especially dangerous when a senior is involved. To maintain your mental and physical fitness, as well as your balance, try to walk three times a week, 30 minutes each time. Also try doing some light strength training exercises, and get plenty of vitamin D and calcium to keep your bones strong.

Get your blood pressure checked regularly. Your body may give you no warning that your blood pressure is high. As you age, your cardiovascular system will unfortunately start to deteriorate, and closely monitoring your blood pressure becomes even more important. With regular checkups, you can find any problems with your blood pressure before it becomes a severe problem.

It's pretty normal to add pounds as people get older. When you have a lower total weight, you have a lower chance of problems like strokes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer. You can stay at an appropriate weight by eating healthy and getting a decent amount of physical activity.

It is totally understandable to plan for the earliest retirement you can manage, but you need to reserve a savings cushion for your possible medical needs. But it's wise to also plan for future health issues.

Avocado oil has shown to have positive anti-aging effects on your skin. Avocado oil penetrates deeply to moisturize and tone stressed skin. Its high level of sterolins have been shown to minimize age spots.

There comes a point in time in your life where it is not a good idea to live alone. It is the best policy to sit down and talk to people that care about you about what your options are. If staying with family isn't an option, there are many choices in care facilities for seniors. If you are perfectly fine to live by yourself but it gets lonely, there are entire communities that exist for people like you.

Consider hormone replacement when you get older. As you age, your hormone levels can fluctuate drastically. This can lead to unpleasant side effects, such as decreased energy, endurance and libido. If you are really suffering from this, your doctor can give you a hormonal treatment if it is deemed necessary.

Many people have a difficult time understanding getting older or realizing they are getting older. The advice in this article will help you come to terms with your aging. They will also help you to get a firm grasp on your personal growing older process, so that you might feel in control of it.

Read more here Anti aging facial treatment

[Music] how to prevent crow's feet wrinkles especially on the face can make anyone look older than they really are when it comes to preventing fine lines and crows feet start as soon as you can among the various wrinkles that form on the face crow's feet often appear the earliest this is because the skin around the eyes is one of the thinnest and most sensitive and it also has the least amount of collagen and elastin compounds that aid in firmness and Tottenham's knowing how to prevent crow's feet can help keep your face looking young and fresh without the aid of any artificial pumpers or Botox injections later in life here are a number of tips to thwart the appearance of wrinkles around the eyes one always use sunscreen though this often appears in skin care guides many people do not actually dab them on every day and when they do they often neglect the area around the eye yet the fact remains that sun exposure is the number one cause of skin aging manifesting as wrinkles from spots and crows feet start protecting your skin today by patting on some sunscreen with at least SPF 15 better yet try a moisturizing cream with sunscreen for a more convenient morning regimen sunscreen also helps protect against skin cancer so it is unarguably good for skin health to wear sunglasses aside from making me look chic and cool sunglasses actually help ward away those dreaded growth beans choose ones with UV protection and wide lenses to safeguard drive from below your eyebrows to your eye bag and the sensitive skin is the size of my eyes additionally you can Don wide-brimmed hats for extra sun protection 3 take breaks from your screen if you work at a computer screen for hours each day your eyes at the brightness can cause eye fatigue making you occasionally squint and more prone to getting crow's feet take short breaks to look at something else consider gently massaging your eyes and the surrounding area as well even three to five minute breaks can add up to prevent crow's feet and I fatigue for ask your dermatologist about peptides these protein chain particles try to mimic collagen their presence actually stimulates the skin to produce more collagen so using a peptide cream daily can essentially boost protection and make your skin look firmer this works amazingly for crow's feet as well choose one with a good formulation that allows efficient absorption of these peptides you can ask your dermatologist for some recommendation five stop smoking if you smoke but care about your skin stop the habit right now or make plans to quit over time smoking makes you age more rapidly nicotine the chemical and cigarettes restricts blood flow to your skin thus decreasing levels of much needed oxygen and nutrients moreover chemicals and cigarette smoke injure the collagen and elastin that keep skin firm because of this smokers are more prone to premature aging and skin wrinkling talk to your physician or ask help from a health care professional if you find it difficult to stop smoking six don't forget to moisturize an eye cream that provides maximum hydration for your skin can greatly help in preventing wrinkles and crow's feet when skin cells has adequate moisture they resist sagging better thereby making the appearance of wrinkles and crow's feet less noticeable look for creams that contain hyaluronic acid honey and other moisturizing ingredients these tips on how to prevent crow's feet can help you shift your skincare regimen to one that takes good care of even the skin around your eyes if you want young looking wrinkle free skin start making changes now [Music]

If Economics improved my Chess game and Chess improved my mentality, does that mean Economics improved my mentality?

I mean if economical thinking reinforced how I go about playing a game of chess and my competitive mentality and overall character improved immensely through chess, does that mean by transitive property economics has improved my mentality?! Alright, this may have been a long stretch, but nonetheless I have to attribute the principles of economics to fortifying my thought process. I’ve been aware of my inability to think in high pressure situation and my constant struggle of dealing with my brain going on auto-pilot, or for use of a better term, my mind going blank.

So to elaborate a little more, competition has been a driving force in how I have grown as not only a person, but more as an individual. The staple lessons of hard work, determination, learning from failure, etc. have all propelled me towards my perceptions on a notable amount of things. Tennis, for instance, has been known as a game of mental fortitude as well as physical attrition. This lead to my build-up of willpower and persistence through endless hours of strokes with my forehand and backhand on the wall, the tiresome antiquity of court drills, and the gruesome conditioning that followed through, which I feel is one of my strongest attributes as a person. Through a “never give up attitude”, I have learned to always push through even when significantly behind and this later transitioned to just about everything I do within my daily life (an example being school work for one).

I tend to generalize on a lot of topics I have no real experience in. So with the case of economics at the beginning of the quarter, I had an initial impression of economics as a means of how to use and save money efficiently. However, I never would have thought that my first lecture on opportunity cost would leave a lasting impact on a lot of what I perceive. I knew of the idea of an opportunity cost, however, after learning it, I began to subconsciously apply it to everyday situations I experience such as should I buy a 4 for 4 at Wendys or walk 10 minutes to the Anteatery and not waste my flexdine.

First and foremost, I want to throw away some of my conceitedness, as social sciences have been but a second thought due to my bias and favor towards subjects like physics, chemistry, math, and computer science. I came into Econ 20A with an intention of trying to double major as a means of having a back-up to what I actually want to do. I had only a brief section in economics in high school, but even then I felt as though I enjoyed that ideas, and thinking around it enough to take up business. Classes like psychology and sociology sound interesting, but would never prioritize over my likes. However, I never really realized that the ideas that I took off from economics, through a social sciences lense, would be so applicable to my way of thinking over situations.

As stated earlier, competition has been a huge part of my life as I spent most of the time availble to myself playing video games. My love, dedication, and convenience led me to help revive the competitive community for my game and as a result led to the influx of tournaments that I would attend at every given chance. Just like with tennis, I had spent countless hours labbing fundamentals and complex inputs, as well as actively playing with people through a span of 12 years. So with the revival of the competitve community, I had cemented myself as a pretty good player due to all the time and effort I had already invested. My motivation was at the top of its peak, and I would strive to always get better by actively thinking about the game as I am playing it through observing what my opponent does in certain situations and what habits of mine they are picking up on as well as outside the game by thinking of certain strategies that could work in response to a certain situation.

However, after about two years or so of attending tournaments on the norm and just playing in general, I had burnt out. I became aware of this between the two year time span as I started to play on auto-pilot and not throughly think my actions through. As I couldn’t break through to the top of my scene, I felt as though I started to lose interest and more so feel the very mentality that I have built up slip away. All of a sudden you go from being one of the best players to constantly stressing out from whether or not you might lose to a person you normally always beat. As a means of alleviating the latter, I tried to come up with excuses for myself, and that further led me to not having fun with the game anymore. In its entirety, I was a very happy-go-lucky person who just had fun with the game in general. If I lose, I didn’t get mad because I just loved playing the game. However, it honestly came to a point where I went from actively thinking about the game to getting too used to the playstyles of the people I played against and as a result I became extremely counter-productive due to the lack of motivation. My competitive mentality was honestly at its lowest and I decided to take a long break to clear my mind in hopes of possibly making a comeback.

While on this hiatus, I had begun to think of ways in which I could bolster my mind into actively thinking about situations again and the first thing that came to mind was chess. I had played chess from time to time and got interested in the intricacies as well as the professional level as a spectator. I figure out who some of the best players in the world are and follow their games and even watch documentaries on the history of chess or certain players (ex. Bobby Fischer, Gary Kasparov, Magnus Carlsen, etc.). Honestly, chess is exciting to decipher and sometimes leads me to think I am a total nerd at times, but I love it. I got into playing chess when I was 14 or so because my brother got into chess and forced me to play with it. Like the little brother I was, I usually wanted to do whatever my brother did and so I learned to play chess and developed an innate love for it. When my brother, stopped playing, I stopped playing because I had no one to play with, but this basically sparked my interest in chess.

The play by play of chess really hones thinking on another level. It is so much more visible to see options in chess as compared to a video game. For instance, if I were to play white, I could open up d4 or e4 which first gives me center control, and second opens up my bishop. Black could react with d5 or e6 to contest white’s pawn and fight for center or b5 or g5 to give up center and open their bishop on the left or right side of the board. They could also start off b6 or g6 to contest spots where they would put their pawns that you could take. The amount of openings/set-ups are innumerable and a lot of the game has been discovered already, it’s just a matter of learning the strats and applying them in situations that you force or get forced into.

Economics helped me reiterate this type of thinking more so than inhibit me to think like this as I actually use play by play situations in chess whenever I play anything. The ten principles of economics apply really well to chess.

Understanding the Ten Principles of Economics

Economy is derived from the household as a household faces many decisions in which it much designate what household member does what task and what they receive in return. A household must allocate its scarce resources among its members. Scarcity means that society has limited resources and therefore cannot produce all the goods and services people wish to have. Economics is the study of how society manages its scare resources.

In chess, the household can in tandem with that of you the player. Your chess pieces being members of your household and each one serving a distinct function. For instance, the pawns can only move srtaight one space; the only exception would be when the pawn is at its starting space, in which it has the ablity to move forward two spaces. It can also only take your opponent’s piece if it is diagonal one space from where your pawn is placed. The benefit of moving this piece versus another piece is that, one its a bit more expendable value wise as compared to another piece like your rook, and two you’re applying board pressure by forcing your opponent to react to possible spaces that could be contested because you placed your pawn in an unfavorable spot for them (e.g. using a pawn to fork between a knight and rook).

Scarce resources could hint towards available pieces and favorable spaces left. A very risky opening that I favor when I play black is the Latvian Gambit, which basically involves sacrificing as many pieces as needed in order to gain a favorable advantage. So a common set up with this strategy is e5 in response to d4, and f5 in response to knight on f3. This in turn baits the opponent into either taking our pawn on f5 with his pawn or his knight taking our pawn on e5. In response to pawn taking out pawn we play bishop to c5 in hopes of sacrificing it to their king on f2. This forces the king out in the open on f2 and we check him with out queen on d4. If the king falls back on g1, then we checkmate on d4 with our queen. Otherwise, if king goes to e2 then we fork their king on knight with our queen on e4. Using the above idea, black takes the risk of sacrificing his pieces early on in order to gain an advantage on the board. Despite white winning in pieces in the beginning, they ultimately are put at a disadvantage if they decide to take the piece (or put bluntly the bait).

Sometimes when at a disadvantage, you need to make do with what you already have. Let’s say playing around the end game and you have a knight and a king whereas your opponent has a rook and a king. On the point to scale value system, a rook is more highly valued than a knight. In this position, since it’s black turn to move, the best course of action would be to get a draw as his king is pinned to the H column. So by moving knight to d7, king would be forced to move to g6 and so you just need to respond by dancing around his pieces by moving king to g8 and knight back to f8 when he moves rook to challenge your knight on d1. So just like how economics depicts of how society manages it scarce resources, chess emulates this through disadvantageous situations that are surely winnable.

Allocation in economics states that most societies determine allocation through the uncoordinated decisions of millions of individuals.

I think this is a good reference to metagame in chess to a certain extent. Certain strategies and this idea of optimality coin the word meta when the majority of people use a strategy whether it be in response to something or as an opener. Because these strats become the norm, people try to find ways to circumvent or mediate these strats and as a result these counter-measures also become the norm and its a huge cycle repeating to the point where every possibility has been reached. Chess, however, is seemingly endless as there’s too many permutations to count. Luckily, in my eyes, chess isn’t so condensed that the limits of the game would be cracked through means of permutation and combination.

The reason why i believe this to be true is because of the idea:

Markets provide incentives in order to make people act a certain way so that the resources get allocated in an efficient way. Choosing the best option may not always be the right choice. Chess , in itself. is a mental game for a reason. Like with the Latvian Gambit earlier, by sacrificing many pieces early on, black can gain a significant advantage early on. By placing the pawn on e5, black is incentivizing white to take what seemingly seems like a free piece and as a result be a piece up right at the third turn of the match.

Finally I feel as though, its important to talk about probably the most important piece of rational thinking from economics that truly depicts the play by play situations in chess.

How People Make Decisions

1.) People face trade-offs

“There is no such thing as free lunch.” All decisions involve a trade-off: reading someone else’s Econ Live project instead of mine! The time I take writing this is the time I’m giving up to study for my other finals.

2.) The cost of something is what you give up to get it - aka opportunity cost

I mean these ideas are the fundamentals of chess in its entirety!

So in this situation, had black not played e5 in response to e4 and developed his knight to c7 first, white wouldn’t have had the chance to check black’s king, thus leaving black with the inablity to not only castle now, but having to develop his knight in an unfavorable position as white can use d4 to take e5 and black cant take white’s pawn with his queen side knight due to bishop being able to check black’s king. The trade-off of putting pawn on e5 is that now they lose a pawn for nothing in return as well as center control. The opportunity cost of putting that pawn is that black gave up queen side control in the situation. So in a play by play analysis, black definitely loss that exchange. Does that mean black has lost yet? Definitely not! This is why chess is so enjoyable and exhilarating. White is in a pretty advantageous position because of that exchange, but black can still make a comeback just by outplaying white.

Just a few moves later, black is in an incredibly advantageous position despite being a piece down earlier. White moves bishop to g5 in hopes of trading bishops, however, black has a better move. by moving knight to c3, black forks white’s queen and bishop. Either white moves his queen to safety and loses queen side bishop, or trade queens with black and saves the bishop. However, if queen sides bishop is saved, then black can challenge white’s bishop on g5 by moving the pawn on f7 to f6 forcing white to retreat their bishop and giving black a free pawn to take on e6. Though white is winning in pieces still, this resets the board control which was heavily favored for white, giving black a chance to get back in the game.

Chess honestly helped me re-evaluate how I thought about problems in my everyday life. Having a clear set plan with an array of steps helps clear a lot of the situations I usually find myself in. If somewhere along the line that flow gets messed up then I know for a fact I can find another way to remedy that problem. How I perceive not only situations, but people definitely got better due to this way of thinking. I feel as though I try to be humble whenever I can, but there’s always times where my dark side can take over and turn me into someone I don’t want to be, especially in defeat. I take priority on whether not the game I’m playing is fun versus actually winning, but sometimes if I know I can beat the opponent and they win off some gimmick or play with the mindset of only winning when I am trying to have fun then I tend to get set off by that. Chess however gave me the motivation and mentality to play for fun, while also trying to win and just overall improve. In chess, it’s not fun when your opponent doesn’t take you seriously whereas in a video game, that’s fine. This thinking allowed me to see the connections in thinking in economics as they are incredibly similar. Though I mentioned earlier that I believed chess is biased towards math geniuses, I want to reiterate on the idea that chess is not as condensed where even if you know every available option you will always win (e.g basically chess a.i). Chess is definitely all decision based; so if a person thinks too optimally, they may get tricked out by a move that may seem out of place and ultimately fall into a trap. This brand of logical and bravado thinking formed my realization that I can think carefully, but also do things by the heart and stay true to my founding principles.

Justin Clenista

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