#jan 20th hurry up
Text
Thinking about Vax.
Thinking about Vax.
Thinking about Vax.
Thinking abo-
#vax#i think about him#lmao i am having a time#jan 20th hurry up#critical role#cr#the legend of vox machina#tlovm#vax'ildan#stop being gay on main lynias#lynias shut up challenge
18 notes
·
View notes
Text
[TRANS-THEQOO] 230117 Netflix and JTBC simultaneous broadcast ‘King The Land’ Still Cut (Junho.YoonA)
At time of posting 17 Jan 11pm KST: 14.7K views, 100 comments
(Will translate non-repetitive comments)
1. Ha. Damn handsome damn pretty........
2. What is the story about
3. Heol, I am looking forward to this
4. Woah crazy
5. Woah. So you two are filming a drama together
6. I'm looking forward to it so much. Please come out quickly!!!!
7. This is insane, the combination of their visuals are so good
8. What is this what is this?????? Is this real????? It’s not photoshopped????????
9. When will this be released? Please just give me the date
10. I am looking forward to it, come quickly, King The Land
11. Wa ㅠㅠㅠ
12. Finally ㅠㅠI want to watch it soon
13. Oh, simultaneously broadcasting through Netflix sounds great
15. Heol, it is coming out earlier than I thought
16. Crazy, when will this be airing
20. Judging by just the still cut, it gives off the feelings like the third-generation chaebol head of a conglomerate and a Cinderella who is poor but cheerful
21. I am f*cking looking forward to it. We will get to see the chemistry like that of MBC Gayo Daejejeon for a long time ㅜㅜㅜ
24. (Replying to 20th comment) Isn’t that right ㅋㅋㅋ
25. (Replying to 20th comment) That’s right
26. This is a drama content!
27. Woah romcom from this two, insane
30. This is crazy this is crazy!!!!!!
31. Suits!! It is going to be a feast to the eyes, I want to see you soon ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
32. Why do you despise laughter/smilesㅋㅋ (*t/l note: referring to Gu Won’s character setup)
34. This sounds fun ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
38. YoonA’s facial features are more distinctive than I thought
42. Finally!!! ㅠㅡㅠWhat quarter will this be out ㅠㅜㅜㅠI can’t wait for it to be released
43. I like that it will be simultaneous aired through Netflix. Gu Won and Cheon Sarang, you two are damn handsome and pretty
44. Woah.. I am nervous... I want to see you soon ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
53. Oh, the chemistry is good
55. I am curious of both Gu Wo and Sarang
70. I didn’t think much of their chemistry initially. But the more I look at them, the better it gets
72. I want to watch the teaser soonㅋ
73. Finally the still cut! ㅠㅠWhen will the first episode comes out?
75. Hurry up and give me the video teaser. ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠNo, let me know the broadcast date first |
77. Damn handsome and pretty. I heard there will be a lot of overseas filming. I am also looking forward to the videos visual beauty
82. Woah YoonA is really pretty
84. Great combination
94. Is this pre-produced? ㅠㅠ I want to watch it soon
96. I am really looking forward to it after seeing the atmosphere (of the still cut). Come quickly
Source: TheQoo
Trans: mystarmyangel
5 notes
·
View notes
Video
youtube
H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture
Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture
‘I NEEDED TO CONTINUE TO THE END’
A Texas man immortalizes his father
You don’t have much time before Father’s Day, which falls on June 16 this year, to match the magnificent gift given by a Texas man, originally from Marlin, who came close to immortalizing his father.
Jack Robertson, 81, uncovered a treasure trove of old Texas documents, essays, letters, photos and other ephemera in a box of memorabilia that had belonged to his father, Rupert Robertson (1895-1968). h
A University of Texas professor emeritus of accounting, Jack recognized the historical value of Rupert’s descriptive essays written for his English classes at UT from 1914 to 1916, as well as the evidence from his military service during World War I, when Rupert was a balloonist.
Since the elder Robertson starred on the Marlin high school track team and earned his track letter at UT in Austin, his son Jack wanted to preserve his father’s writing at the university’s Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports, a marvelously eccentric museum and archive tucked into the north end of Royal Memorial Stadium.
Terence “Terry” Todd, the late director of the Stark Center, and his wife, Jan Todd, current director, welcomed Rupert’s personal papers, many from more than 100 years ago.
“Terry asked me to include a biography of my father, so independent researchers could add the personhood of the author to the context of the stories,” Jack says. “Ten months and 62 pages later, I delivered the biography.”
You read that right, the dutiful son produced a biography of his father that weighs in at 62 single-spaced pages, which, while short of being a book, is much more than a bio sketch.
I can’t pretend to have read every word of this opus, but combined with Rupert’s own writing, the world of Texas in the early 20th century became incrementally clearer to me through this gift from Jack Robertson.
A choice essay on Austin from Rupert Robertson
In 1914, Rupert Robertson wrote the following essay about a night on Congress Avenue, one of many he executed for English classes at UT.
Note the keen details as Rupert’s attention wanders — through various sentence structures — from one sensation to another.
This was a time when most of the city’s commercial traffic and entertainment venues were concentrated on Congress, but before the Paramount Theatre opened as the Majestic Theatre in 1915.
https://www.thestoryoftexas.com
This particular personal anecdote — and others like it from all over the state — is available digitally to the public at thestoryoftexas.com through the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum as part of the “Help Us Tell the Story of Texas” project.
“The rain is coming down slowly, and it wets the street so that it glistens under the big arc lights like a large mirror.
“The red and yellow drays are bespattered with mud. The streetcars, automobiles and other vehicles are rumbling down the street with such a terrible drum that I would think I was by myself if I could not see the throng of people moving up and down the street.
“Some are gazing at the beautifully lighted show windows which contain various shades of the latest styles of clothing; some are on the inside of the store purchasing articles, and some are looking at the red, white and green moving picture signs, and debate with themselves whether to go in or stay outside and parade the street with the ‘mob.’
“The crowd is composed mostly of university students, but they are not in a hurry tonight. This is unusual, because as a general rule, these fellows are restless, and always go with push and vim wherever they are. But the college spirit is here, for every now and then I hear the jolly laugh of some young man at the joke or remark of one of his companions.
“Boys and girls in couples, clad in their grey and brown rainproof garments, are present in great numbers. There is an air of happiness and success among them as they go down one side of the street and come up the other; the thought of the green-back English book and the brown cloth-covered mathematic text is left behind and forgotten.
“The crowd is divided into groups which represent different fraternities, clubs and various other organizations. Each individual bunch has a characteristic of its own. The Rusticusses wearing big hats, the Phi Gamma Deltas grey mackinaws with a blue stripe, the Sigma Nu’s ties, and the other organizations have some similar distinction.
“The rest of the crowd is compiled of town girls and boys; brown (Mexican American); Negro men and women; and a great part of the Jewish population. Here and there, and at every corner, I see a policeman watching the crowd as a cowboy on horseback watches a herd of cattle.
“The street is as crowded with vehicles as the sidewalks are with people. Along the curbing are many automobiles with their radiators pointing toward the crowd and the rear ends toward the middle of the street. At intervals are found horses and buggies, but not many, because automobiles are rapidly taking their place.
“Then there are the candy vendors in their dingy clothing, selling brown peanut and pecan candies. The popcorn man has his wagon driven close to the curbing, and is selling chewing gum, peanuts and pink popcorn. The whole scene has an atmosphere of relaxation and freedom in spite of the gloominess of the weather.”
Rupert Robertson the athlete
“After starting the biography,” Jack Robertson writes, “I needed to continue
to the end.”
Rupert Cook Robertson was born March 31, 1895. in the rural town of Kosse, Texas (pop. 500) in southern Limestone County.
His father, Charles Onward “C.O.” Robertson was born in Alabama in 1867; his mother, Martha Adeline “Mattie” Price Robertson, was born in Blue Ridge in Falls County in 1872.
Rupert was known as a “city boy” in Kosse, where his family owned a general store, but he spent much time on his grandfathere’s farm in Falls County, where “all activity revolved around the fields and seasons.”
Even in the early 20th century, rural Texas remained closer to the rhythms of the 19th century. “His transport was shoe-leather and horse-and-buggy,” his son writes. “His water came from a well. His sanitation was the outhouse. His entertainment was outdoors with family and friends.”
Socially, this was the “segregated South,” with scant interaction between the races, other than the employerworker relationships, Jack reminds readers.
Rupert was not the only Kosse native to make it big in sports.
David E. “Kosse” Johnson Jr. starred as a halfback on the Rice Institute team during the 1950s and was drafted by the Green Bay Packers.
Another nearby exposure to big-time sports: Pro baseball teams — such as White Sox, Cardinals, Reds, Athletics and Giants — held spring training camps in nearby Marlin, which attracted flocks of tourists because its mineral water promised reputed healing properties.
Rupert attended Marlin High School from 1912 to 1914.
He lived in a boarding house operated by his aunt Clara Belle Price.
Even today, one can walk by blocks and blocks of sizable Victorian and farmhouse-style homes in Marlin.
Since his father disapproved of football, Rupert ran track. State high school track meets were held at UT’s Clark Field beginning in 1905.
The big four regional teams were Belton, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas. According to University of Texas Interscholastic League records, Marlin competed strongly from 1910 to 1915, and the school earned the top spot in 1914.
As usual, Rupert won individual and team medals. (Jack’s documents on these events are startlingly detailed.)
When Rupert entered UT in 1914, Austin was home to about 30,000 people, and 2,300 of those were members of the university’s student body.
His freshman class, for which he served as secretarytreasurer, counted 674 members.
Rupert said he wanted to study business in order to take over the family general store in Kosse.
Jack always imagined that his father was recruited for his track skills, but he also turns up evidence of family and friends who had attended UT, and would have supported Rupert’s collegiate aspiration.
He belonged to that generation of Texans whose families had survived pioneer life in the country and saw brighter horizons for their children in the cities and through higher education.
Rupert joined an athletic fraternity, Sigma Delta Psi, as well as Kappa Alpha, which included among its brothers athletes who were Rupert’s friends.
Sports were already big on campus and getting bigger.
Folks like Billy Disch, L. Theo Bellmont and Clyde Littlefield led what was becoming a dominant college power in football, basketball, track, tennis, gymnastics, wrestling and soccer — Rupert played wing on the soccer team. In track, he did well in high hurdles, mile relay and other events.
Life in the military and its aftermath
UT sports hollowed out, however, once the U.S. entered World War I on April 6, 1917. Athletes were among the first to enlist and the campus opened military training centers, which were later badly stricken by the flu epidemic of 1918-1919.
Rupert enlisted in the Army on Aug. 5, 1917, in Houston.
Much of what he wrote about his first months is fairly anodyne but still illuminating about Austin and San Antonio, where he trained at Camp Travis, during the war.
(For instance, Rupert did not pause his habit of dating campus beauties.)
After basic training, he was assigned to Fort Omaha, Nebraska, on March, 26 1918 to enter the balloon school.
He qualified to be a spherical balloon pilot.
Rupert’s family expressed concern whenever the press reported any balloon accidents or explosions, but the young man made it through two years in the corps unscathed.
He skipped the flu, too, at a time when the military was among the sectors in the U.S. hardest hit by the pandemic.
On Aug. 30, 1918, Rupert was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Service.
After a series of service flights, he was honorably discharged on Aug. 11, 1919, with bronze victory button.
The rest of Rupert’s young adult life was spent working in real estate, insurance and various other Kosse businesses, as well as farming citrus fruit and working for firms in the Rio Grande Valley, Corpus Christi and California.
In the Valley, he met and married widow Lois Lucille Rose Bartlett; they produced Sara Ellen Robertson Moore and Jack Robertson.
Rupert suffered from various medical conditions, including diabetes and depression, some of them traced to his military service. Lois taught school and the family eventually moved to Marlin, where Jack grew up.
A good deal of the remaining personal history consists of Jack’s childhood memories of his family while growing up there.
(We’d need another column or two to do that part justice.)
Rupert died Jan. 10, 1968, at age 72
0 notes
Text
Hurry up!! 12th Jan, 2024 is the Last Day. Get 30% Off on S4HANA SD ( Sales & Distribution) Module .
Join our upcoming SAP S4 HANA FICO and SD online training batch starting on January 20, 2024! 📅
🗓️ Batch Start Date: 20th Jan 2024 ( Sat & Sun)
⏰ Timings: 8:00 AM - 10 AM IST
🌟 Why choose us?
✨ Expert Trainers: Learn from industry professionals with extensive experience.
✨ Interactive Sessions: Engage in hands-on exercises for practical knowledge.
✨ Flexible Schedule: Balance your learning with convenience.
✨ Career Support: Gain access to job assistance resources.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to advance your career
Enroll Now : https://www.gauravconsulting.com/sap-online-training-courses
#sapfico#S4HANA#OnlineTraining#Finance#Accounting#CareerGrowth#EarlyBirdDiscount#EnrollNow#SD#sales#salesdistribution#ProfessionalDevelopment#ISTTiming#SDModule#SAPS4HANA
0 notes
Photo
*CMS ADMISSIONS OPEN & 2023 BATCH STARTING ON 25 JAN* BBA HONS (4-Years) & BS (Software Engineering). *Degree programs:* wa.me/c/923323810784 No Hidden Charges. Few seats are available. The last date of admission is *20th Jan 2023.* No Annual Increiment in fee straight 4 years. So hurry up and enroll yourself for your best career opportunity. *To be the best you've got to learn from the Best.* The Sindh's 1st Affiliated college with University of Sindh, Jamshoro. *Ranked#1 with 800+ enrollment in all programs & counting* www.cmshyd.edu.pk Fb.com/cmshyderabad *Call:* 0222100007 *Mobile:* 03323810784 *WhatsApp:* wa.me/923323810784 *Google Map:* https://maps.app.goo.gl/hNfF5QMomQXHX1XG9 #Bba #cms #everyone #bsit #bsswe (at CMS) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnMLDo0Lv8H/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
1 note
·
View note
Photo
1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PROMO / NEW YEAR RESOLUTION PROMO RM 50 ONLY!!!!!!!! RM 50 PER MONTH (MONTH OF JAN) FREE (MONTH OF FEB) BUY MONTH OF JAN FEE , ENTITLE FREE FOR MONTH OF FEB. ONLY RM 50 FOR 2 MONTH (JAN & FEB) WHO ARE ENTITLE ? * FOR NEW MEMBERS * FOR NEWBIES * WALK IN ARE WELCOME OLD MEMBERS AND RECENT MEMBERS ARE NOT ENTITLE THIS PROMO ENDS ON 20th DEC. HURRY UP....COME AND GRAB THIS SUPER VALUE PROMO. https://www.instagram.com/p/CkIhPSdpTjO/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
0 notes
Photo
My Essager USB Type C Cable 3A review w/ my Accezz Type-C To Micro USB Adapter and my Romoss Sense 6 Plus Pro Power Bank (w/ my Paper Dolls) - Part 7 [Apr 20, 2021]
Hi! Once again, here’s my Part 7 of my Essager USB Type C Cable with my Accezz USB Type C to Micro USB Adapter, my Romoss Sense 6+ Pro Power Bank and (as always) my paper dolls.🙂
You’ve already saw my previous part, when I tested my charging time through my Honor 8C with Quick Charge 3.0A USB port from my Romoss Sense 6+ Pro Power Bank; which also known as “Fit+”, right? So in this part, I’m now attempt to plug in the regular 2.1A USB port from the same Power Bank and the same combine cable.⚡📲🔋😊
If you haven’t seen my previous Part 6, then please [CLICK ME!].
BTW #1: Once again, I’m using my dad’s phone of the same brand and model as I have; much like I did in the previous one.📱👨
So without further ado, let’s get started:
1st to 3rd Image(s):
• Alright so, right of the bat, I plugged in my Honor phone at the exact 1:04 AM 🕐. But instead of 5% charging, I have 4% charging, really?😳 Yeah this is because I turn on my phone, just to check what percentage remaining... This could be a very unfair, hopefully I will try again in my next part very soon.
• Even my paper dolls’ thoughts is “unexpected”. I know, right. Well, time to feed you once more! The menu of today/tonight is cardboard bacon & rice! Mmmm!, time to chow down you two.🥓🍚🍴😋
4th & 5th Image(s):
• Nevertheless, my Honor phone is now 50% charging at around 1:58 AM. Here are the comparisons (in 50% charge time):
○ Part 4 (Apr 2nd) | 2:28 AM - 3:16 AM = 48 Minutes
○ Part 5 (Apr 14th) | 12:43 AM - 1:35 AM = 52 Minutes
○ Part 6 (Apr 17th) | 1:07 AM - 2:01 AM = 54 Minutes
○ Part 7 (Apr 20th) | 1:04 AM - 1:58 AM = 54 Minutes (4% to 50% charging)
• My paper dolls saying that both today and previous are now tie up in estimate 54 Minutes. Yeah, but It doesn’t seem right; despite during charging 4% from the start, I want to redo it.😕
• Also you notice I have 2 led lights from Romoss Power Bank. Indicates that I have 70 - 60% battery remaining.🔋
BTW #2 [controversial moment]: I sorta messed up... 😟 Because when I take a snapshot in a hurry with my paper dolls while at 50% charging, It’s too late, it now has 52% charging... And I’m not sorta happy to snapshot at 52% (I know, it’s sorta complicated). So I have to plug out from my power bank, turn on my Honor phone and play it until it reach to exact 50% and recharge. I understand that is a bad thing to do (well sorta), but I’d just want to take a picture at 50% charging my phone with my paper dolls... That’s all.
6th & 7th Image(s):
• Anyways... Finally at estimate time of 4:17 AM 🕓, once again my Honor phone is now fully charged. 📲🔋 💯 Total duration of time from 1:04 AM (at 4%) to 4:17 AM (at 100%) charging is 3 Hours 13 Minutes. So here are the comparisons (in 100% charge time):
○ Part 4 (Apr 2nd) | 2:28 AM - 4:49 AM = 2 Hours 21 Minutes
○ Part 5 (Apr 14th) | 12:43 AM - 3:11 AM = 2 Hours 28 Minutes
○ Part 6 (Apr 17th) | 1:07 AM - 3:49 AM = 2 Hours 42 Minutes
• I would say that 3 hours of charging time is not what I expected... And my paper dolls doesn’t seem to impress. Yeah I know. 😟
8th Image:
• Here’s my remaining two led lights 💡💡 in close up after charging my Honor phone (at full charge). I still have more juice, and I’ll be save it in my next part.🔋
Overall:
• Due to my ‘controversial moment’, my thoughts is “Unimpressed” to say the least.😔 3 hours of waiting to charge my Honor phone 100% is very understatement, so a 2nd try is a must as my next part coming up soon.
Well that’s all for now, more part about this topic very soon. And if you want to see my previous parts of the same topic review, then I’ll provide some links down below.↓😉
My Essager USB Type C Cable 3A:
• Part 1 [Jan 4,2021]
• Part 2 [Jan 22, 2021]
• Part 3 [Mar 30, 2021]
• Part 4 [Apr 2, 2021]
• Part 5 [Apr 14, 2021]
• Part 6 [Apr 17, 2021]
Tagged: @lordromulus90, @bryan360, @carmenramcat, @bytern, @gibsonfreak49
#My Photos#My Photo#MyPhotos#MyPhoto#Photos#Photo#Chowder#Panini#Chowder Panini#Paper Dolls#Essager#Essager USB Type C Cable 3A#USB Type C Cable#USB Cable#Accezz#USB Adapter#Romoss#Romoss Sense 6 Plus Pro#Romoss Sense 6+ Pro#Romoss PH80 Pro#Power Bank#Battery Pack#Photography
9 notes
·
View notes
Link
August 20th, 19—.
I HAVE HAD what I believe to be the most remarkable day in my life, and while the events are still fresh in my mind, I wish to put them down on paper as clearly as possible.
Let me say at the outset that my name is James Clarence Withencroft.
I am forty years old, in perfect health, never having known a day’s illness.
By profession I am an artist, not a very successful one, but I earn enough money by my black-and-white work to satisfy my necessary wants.
My only near relative, a sister, died five years ago, so that I am independent.
I breakfasted this morning at nine, and after glancing through the morning paper I lighted my pipe and proceeded to let my mind wander in the hope that I might chance upon some subject for my pencil.
The room, though door and windows were open, was oppressively hot, and I had just made up my mind that the coolest and most comfortable place in the neighbourhood would be the deep end of the public swimming bath, when the idea came.
I began to draw. So intent was I on my work that I left my lunch untouched, only stopping work when the clock of St. Jude’s struck four.
The final result, for a hurried sketch, was, I felt sure, the best thing I had done.
It showed a criminal in the dock immediately after the judge had pronounced sentence. The man was fat—enormously fat. The flesh hung in rolls about his chin; it creased his huge, stumpy neck. He was clean shaven (perhaps I should say a few days before he must have been clean shaven) and almost bald. He stood in the dock, his short, clumsy fingers clasping the rail, looking straight in front of him. The feeling that his expression conveyed was not so much one of horror as of utter, absolute collapse.
There seemed nothing in the man strong enough to sustain that mountain of flesh.
I rolled up the sketch, and without quite knowing why, placed it in my pocket. Then with the rare sense of happiness which the knowledge of a good thing well done gives, I left the house.
I believe that I set out with the idea of calling upon Trenton, for I remember walking along Lytton Street and turning to the right along Gilchrist Road at the bottom of the hill where the men were at work on the new tram lines.
From there onwards I have only the vaguest recollection of where I went. The one thing of which I was fully conscious was the awful heat, that came up from the dusty asphalt pavement as an almost palpable wave. I longed for the thunder promised by the great banks of copper-coloured cloud that hung low over the western sky.
I must have walked five or six miles, when a small boy roused me from my reverie by asking the time.
It was twenty minutes to seven.
When he left me I began to take stock of my bearings. I found myself standing before a gate that led into a yard bordered by a strip of thirsty earth, where there were flowers, purple stock and scarlet geranium. Above the entrance was a board with the inscription—
CHAS. ATKINSON
MONUMENTAL MASON
WORKER IN ENGLISH AND ITALIAN MARBLES
From the yard itself came a cheery whistle, the noise of hammer blows, and the cold sound of steel meeting stone.
A sudden impulse made me enter.
A man was sitting with his back towards me, busy at work on a slab of curiously veined marble. He turned round as he heard my steps and I stopped short.
It was the man I had been drawing, whose portrait lay in my pocket.
He sat there, huge and elephantine, the sweat pouring from his scalp, which he wiped with a red silk handkerchief. But though the face was the same, the expression was absolutely different.
He greeted me smiling, as if we were old friends, and shook my hand.
I apologised for my intrusion.
“Everything is hot and glary outside,” I said. “This seems an oasis in the wilderness.”
“I don’t know about the oasis,” he replied, “but it certainly’s hot, as hot as hell. Take a seat, sir!”
He pointed to the end of the gravestone on which he was at work, and I sat down.
“That’s a beautiful piece of stone you’ve got hold of,” I said.
He shook his head. “In a way it is,” he answered; “the surface here is as fine as anything you could wish, but there’s a big flaw at the back, though I don’t expect you’d ever notice it. I could never make really a good job of a bit of marble like that. It would be all right in the summer like this; it wouldn’t mind the blasted heat. But wait till the winter comes. There’s nothing quite like frost to find out the weak points in stone.”
“Then what’s it for?” I asked.
The man burst out laughing.
“You’d hardly believe me if I was to tell you it’s for an exhibition, but it’s the truth. Artists have exhibitions: so do grocers and butchers; we have them too. All the latest little things in headstones, you know.”
He went on to talk of marbles, which sort best withstood wind and rain, and which were easiest to work; then of his garden and a new sort of carnation he had bought. At the end of every other minute he would drop his tools, wipe his shining head, and curse the heat.
I said little, for I felt uneasy. There was something unnatural, uncanny, in meeting this man.
I tried at first to persuade myself that I had seen him before, that his face, unknown to me, had found a place in some out-of-the-way corner of my memory, but I knew that I was practising little more than a plausible piece of self-deception.
Mr. Atkinson finished his work, spat on the ground, and got up with a sigh of relief.
“There! what do you think of that?” he said, with an air of evident pride.
The inscription which I read for the first time was this—
SACRED TO THE MEMORY
OF
JAMES CLARENCE WITHENCROFT
BORN JAN. 18TH, 1860
HE PASSED AWAY VERY SUDDENLY
ON AUGUST 20TH, 19—
“In the midst of life we are in death.”
FOR SOME TIME I sat in silence. Then a cold shudder ran down my spine. I asked him where he had seen the name.
“Oh, I didn’t see it anywhere,” replied Mr. Atkinson. “I wanted some name, and I put down the first that came into my head. Why do you want to know?”
“It’s a strange coincidence, but it happens to be mine.”
He gave a long, low whistle.
“And the dates?”
“I can only answer for one of them, and that’s correct.”
“It’s a rum go!” he said.
But he knew less than I did. I told him of my morning’s work. I took the sketch from my pocket and showed it to him. As he looked, the expression of his face altered until it became more and more like that of the man I had drawn.
“And it was only the day before yesterday,” he said, “that I told Maria there were no such things as ghosts!”
Neither of us had seen a ghost, but I knew what he meant.
“You probably heard my name,” I said.
“And you must have seen me somewhere and have forgotten it! Were you at Clacton-on-Sea last July?”
I had never been to Clacton in my life. We were silent for some time. We were both looking at the same thing, the two dates on the gravestone, and one was right.
“Come inside and have some supper,” said Mr. Atkinson.
His wife is a cheerful little woman, with the flaky red cheeks of the country-bred. Her husband introduced me as a friend of his who was an artist. The result was unfortunate, for after the sardines and watercress had been removed, she brought out a Doré Bible, and I had to sit and express my admiration for nearly half an hour.
I went outside, and found Atkinson sitting on the gravestone smoking.
We resumed the conversation at the point we had left off.
“You must excuse my asking,” I said, “but do you know of anything you’ve done for which you could be put on trial?”
He shook his head.
“I’m not a bankrupt, the business is prosperous enough. Three years ago I gave turkeys to some of the guardians at Christmas, but that’s all I can think of. And they were small ones, too,” he added as an afterthought.
He got up, fetched a can from the porch, and began to water the flowers. “Twice a day regular in the hot weather,” he said, “and then the heat sometimes gets the better of the delicate ones. And ferns, good Lord! they could never stand it. Where do you live?”
I told him my address. It would take an hour’s quick walk to get back home.
“It’s like this,” he said. “We’ll look at the matter straight. If you go back home tonight, you take your chance of accidents. A cart may run over you, and there’s always banana skins and orange peel, to say nothing of fallen ladders.”
He spoke of the improbable with an intense seriousness that would have been laughable six hours before. But I did not laugh.
“The best thing we can do,” he continued, “is for you to stay here till twelve o’clock. We’ll go upstairs and smoke; it may be cooler inside.”
To my surprise I agreed.
WE ARE SITTING now in a long, low room beneath the eaves. Atkinson has sent his wife to bed. He himself is busy sharpening some tools at a little oilstone, smoking one of my cigars the while.
The air seems charged with thunder. I am writing this at a shaky table before the open window. The leg is cracked, and Atkinson, who seems a handy man with his tools, is going to mend it as soon as he has finished putting an edge on his chisel.
It is after eleven now. I shall be gone in less than an hour.
But the heat is stifling.
It is enough to send a man mad.
#william fryer harvey#august heat#august 20#well i don't know why...it's just that i'm sitting here sweating again in mid august in portland
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
Back to School Weekly Schedule
Going Back to college Jan 20th. decided to make a weekly schedule of eating times (ha ha jk) and exercise times and other things of that nature
this is tailored specifically to my class schedule and my own sleeping schedule
Instead of a calorie limit, I want my week days to be to eat as little as possible. if that makes sense… I feel like if I challenge myself with my mindset it will work out better? Weekends are cheat days where I have more freedom, but still calorie limits to prevent binging!
Monday
- Wake up at 6:30 am, Stretch until 6:50 am. one bottle of water by the time you’re done stretching
- Drink water and walk around the DMZ three times (big loop around dorm buildings)
-Be at the rec center by 7:45 and warm up on treadmill until 8:00
-Cardio for 120 minutes AT LEAST. (dont spend your flex money on gatorade or smoothies either. even if they do have protein in them >:[ )
-Class starts at 11:00 am. Make sure all work is done. Double check. Make sure you have those papers!!
-Leave your room no later than 10:30 am. If you’re hungry, drink water or bring unsweetened hot tea.
- Your day is done at 2:00 pm. Refer to your list of things to do besides eating. Stay busy! Get all your work done! Go back to the gym if you have to!
-If you ever go to get breakfast, get egg whites. No bagels or bread. No more than 5 tater tots if you’re really craving them. Really really craving them..
Tuesday (Busy Day)
- Wake up at 6:30 am, Stretch until 6:50 am. one bottle of water by the time you’re done stretching.
- Drink water and walk around the DMZ two times (at least once). Class starts at 8 am so hurry up!!
- Get to class no later than 7:45. Use extra time to make sure all work is done!
- You’ve been in classes since 8:00 and its 11:00. Make sure you have water and drink and walk around upper campus until 1:30 pm class.
-You’re free!! Get apple(s) no more than 3 from dining hall and relax in library/walk around campus until biology lab at 6:00 pm. Sucks being a biology major huh..
-Its 9:00 pm. Go to dining hall, grab some apples and have your fruity dinner in dorms and get your homework done. Don’t touch your switch until everything is done!
-Be in bed no later than 11:00 pm.
Wednesday
- Wake up at 6:30 am, Stretch until 6:50 am. one bottle of water by the time you’re done stretching.
- Drink water and walk around the DMZ three times Listen to music so it goes by faster!
-Be at the rec center by 7:45 and warm up on treadmill until 8:00 am
-Cardio for 120 minutes AT LEAST. (dont spend your flex money on gatorade or smoothies either. even if they do have protein in them >:[ )
-Class starts at 11:00 am. Make sure all work is done. Double check. Make sure you have those papers!!
-Leave your room no later than 10:30 am. If you’re hungry, drink water or bring unsweetened hot tea.
-After your 11:00 am class you’re done for the day!! Either go to the gym, walk around town, or take a well deserved nap! Look at your list of things to do besides eating!!! Go back to the gym if you have to!
-Make sure to go to the food bank to get more varieties of low cal snacks to keep in your dorm room!! 4:30 every Wednesday.
-Be in bed no later than 11:00 pm.
Thursday
- Wake up at 6:30 am, Stretch until 6:50 am. one bottle of water by the time you’re done stretching
- Drink water and walk around the DMZ two times (at least once). Class starts at 8 am so hurry up!!
- Get to class no later than 7:45. Use extra time to make sure all work is done!- You’ve been in classes since 8:00 and its 11:00.
-Time for club meeting!! GSA meeting in the center at 11:00 am. make sure your presentation is ready if you’re doing one!
- You’re free from 12:00 pm until 1:30 pm. Chill in the center but only drink water/unsweetened tea!!! Don’t eat any snacks there unless theyre under 100 cals.
-At 3:00 pm you’re free! Get some fruit and low-cal food. (no more than 500 cals together) and go get work done at the library!!
-Get back to your dorm before dark!! Relax and drink water/tea and chill until 11:00pm. Dont stay up any later!!
Friday!
- Almost to the weekend…
- Wake up at 6:30 am, Stretch until 6:50 am. one bottle of water by the time you’re done stretching.
- Drink water and walk around the DMZ three times Listen to music so it goes by faster!
-Be at the rec center by 7:45 and warm up on treadmill until 8:00 am
-Cardio for 120 minutes AT LEAST. (dont spend your flex money on gatorade or smoothies either. even if they do have protein in them >:[ )
-Class starts at 11:00 am. Make sure all work is done. Double check. Make sure you have those papers!!
-Leave your room no later than 10:30 am. If you’re hungry, drink water or bring unsweetened hot tea.
-After your 11:00 am class you’re done for the day!! Either go to the gym, walk around town, or take a well deserved nap! Look at your list of things to do besides eating!!! Go back to the gym if you have to!
-Be in bed no later than 11:00 pm.
Saturday (On-Campus)
- Sleep no later than 10:00 am!
- Rec center for at least 120 minutes!!
- No more than 750 cals today.
- If you want soda, go for it. But no more than one cup if it’s not diet!!!
- Get all work done!!!
-Be in bed no later than 12:30 am! Get to bed!
Sunday (On-Campus)
- Sleep no later than 10:00 am!
- Rec center for at least 120 minutes!!
- No more than 1000 cals today.
- If you want soda, go for it. But no more than one cup if it’s not diet!!!
- Get all work done!!!
- Pool has long hours today!! see if anyone wants to go swimming!
- Be in bed no later than 11:00 pm! Get to bed!
If at any time you need to find things to do, Look at your list of things to do instead of eating!!! Dont go to the dining hall if you’re bored!!
46 notes
·
View notes
Text
Reviewing time for MAG135 /o/
- Fun fact! The verb “extinguish” has appeared as a word in all three of the Daedalus statements, in relation to the three different powers involved:
(MAG057, Carter Chilcott) “There’s nothing, nothing but empty, uncaring void lacing dead worlds and dead stars all-together like a tapestry of lonely meaninglessness. Humans have existed for the smallest sliver of a fraction of a moment in the existence of the universe, and we will be extinguished just as quickly. And when we are at last gone forever, into the quiet emptiness of death, there will be nothing left but the cold universe. And nothing shall mark our passing because there is nothing to do so.”
(MAG106, Jan Kilbride) “Most people can’t even properly appreciate the size of our own planet, seeing it only in crudely rendered diagrams or maps; but compared to us… the planet is immense. More than large enough for the swell of humanity to grow and… ultimately extinguish itself. [SCOFF] Yet compared to the wider universe… it isn’t even a noticeable speck.”
(MAG135) ELIAS: I don’t know the details. Ny-Ålesund is a stronghold of The Dark, meaning I can’t see inside. I… believe they call it “The Extinguished Sun”, though that’s as much as I know.
- I love how The Dark still feels like… that one fear which should be super stereotypical (Cult Of Darkness.) and yet always manages to get under your skin anyway, and is that one thing that we’re apparently never managing to get rid of. Julia and Trevor butchered Darvish in Summer 2010? No problem. Things happened in March-to-May 2015 at the Hither Green Dissenters Chapel, apparently derailing or temporarily neutralising The Dark’s activities? Ahaha, we’ll manage. Maxwell Rayner was killed by Section 31 officers on Elias’s Personal Tip in February 2017? IT’S FINE. WE CAN STILL DO SOMETHING. I had Questions about how The Dark was connected with Gertrude’s death, I’m delighted that we’ll be digging into their activities again, since Jon isn’t sure what happened – isn’t even sure whether Gertrude had managed to neutralise them! I wonder if the matter of March/May 2015 as the date of Gertrude’s death will be explained, or if I should finally put that to rest as a simple mistake.
… Interestingly, following the pattern of solar eclipses: the total solar eclipse over Ny-Ålesund that Basira had pinned down actually took place on 20th March 2015, which is… neither when Mark Bilham went into the Hither Green Dissenters Chapel (March 11th), neither when Gertrude officially died (March 15th or May 15th), but is around the time she should have died according to Oliver’s dreams. In real life, the next solar eclipse (partial) in Ny-Ålesund happened on August 11th 2018, so that could be the planned date for the upcoming half-baked new ritual attempt indeed… but the date is a bit weird for the overall pacing of season 4. We’re in… beginning of April? 2018, and usually getting a statement a week (more or less). So that doesn’t easily coincide with a midseason finale, nor with the season finale? Unless Team Archive hurries to get to Svalbard very soon, in the hope of neutralising The Dark before August 2018. (Funny bit: there was a partial solar eclipse in South America on February 15th 2018… the day Oliver visited Jon and he woke up from his “coma”.)
I have no idea: there are so many things to keep track of, currently (Peter’s own plans? The Extinction’s threat? Elias’s intentions regarding The Watcher’s Crown? The Web’s schemes and intentions for Jon? Now, The Dark’s activities?) – I… do like that it indeed gives us a feeling that, outside of pure narrative… all the Fears have their own agenda, they’re not just queuing up for the Archives team to take care of them? They’re not dependant on them, they carry on Doing Their Things and bringing their own terrors? And it’s… very bittersweet to think that it will probably always be like this.
- I’m so mad about the fact that Manuela’s story makes… so much sense with how Jan had described her:
(MAG106, Jan Kilbride) “Manuela Dominguez was quite a big name in certain areas of the physics community. Or at least she had been; I hadn’t heard of any work she’d done for a good few years and, as I said I’m more on the engineering side of things so… it wasn’t really something I kept up with in detail. While she was happy to talk, Manuela apparently didn’t like to discuss her professional life on Earth, or the specifics of the research she was doing on the Daedalus. Like Chilcott, her research was kept entirely separate from mine, and while we spent plenty of time together, I never did figure out exactly what it was. Something to do with lasers, I think.”
I never ever thought for one second that it might have been “it’s because she’s part of the cult, Cass, and has been for the past years” aND YET IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE AND SEEMS SO OBVIOUS IN RETROSPECT… I’m so mad, I love this series and it keeps making me feel like a Fool. (But with love. Cackling at my face, but with love.)
Another thing that gets a bit… “funny” in retrospect:
(MAG106, Jan Kilbride) “It was the sense of a presence, of there being something out there… something that wasn’t the Earth, and it was getting closer… When it started, I tried to talk to Manuela about it, but she seemed to think I was talking about aliens and quickly changed the subject. […] And that cry came again; so loud, and long, and deep that I couldn’t not be the sound of a living thing – so vast and so ancient that thinking about it made me weep. And I screamed in turn. My hands touched the rail at the exact moment that Manuela came to check on me. I was moving again. She asked if I was alright, though she… clearly had no interest in the answer. She said she’d felt the station shake, bu–ut when I pressed, she… claimed she hadn’t heard anything. Her eyes were red and I noticed for the first time that the tips of her fingers were burned. I… don’t know why I asked her, really. I knew then that she hadn’t heard it – that she would never hear it. And I felt completely alone. I remember I almost envied Chilcott, because at least he had known what he was signing up for.”
…………………… She probably assumed that Jan had heard her “battery” screaming, uh, hence the quick denial.
- WHY DO WE KEEP GETTING OPPORTUNITIES TO GET SAD ABOUT JAN KILBRIDE??? There was already something very… sensitive and heart-wrenching in his statement from MAG106, in his thought and overall tone (I’m apparently very weak to characters pulling the ~I would have liked to still be able to think that ignorance meant safety~ shtick ;;), even more with Melanie’s narration – she was absolutely perfect for that one, with her voice slightly cracking and the overall impression of throat tightening… And I was already sad for him with that statement alone! Even sadder when thinking he was probably the man with beautiful eyes seen with Gertrude during The Buried’s ritual! And season 4 keeps making me sad about him, godsdamnit, first with Jon mentioning how he ended, and now with:
(MAG135, Manuela Dominguez) “Either way, it was clear my two fellow astronauts were patsies, sent up there to suffer. I almost felt bad for them, but it was in most ways a relief to know I wouldn’t need to worry about them interfering with my own project. […] the closest I ever came to discovery was when Kilbride expressed confusion at the rate that our supplies were diminishing. It was really only the two of us anyway, with Chilcott sealed away, having his own little breakdown. And Jan was always a bit of an idiot, so ready to believe anyone’s lies… But I suppose I don’t need to tell you that – do I, Gertrude?”
(The insidiousness was creepy, sure, but come on, Dark people, we’re so used to Voyeurs all the time, you spilling that You Know What Gertrude Did With Jan doesn’t feel mind-blowingly threatening compared to the others <3)
I wonder if we’ll hear again about the Daedalus. Melanie had noticed that Jan’s statement felt like it ended abruptly (presumably, Gertrude was told he was here and interrupted him to have a chat?) – so there could be another half lying around, or a live-statement with Gertrude, or… I don’t know. But now that we know that there was a 4th person on the station (WHICH WAS A “HOLY ARCEUS” MOMENT), and given that Manuela mentioned that she wasn’t sure of the Lukases&the Fairchilds’ own motives + that… the person who had taken care of the calculation must have been aware of the extra body, but she didn’t say it was Rayner’s team taking care of that aspect, it still feels like there might have been another story against the Currently Official Story (once again):
(MAG135, Manuela Dominguez) “I don’t know how he convinced Fairchild and the Lukases to help finance the project – a life as long as his is evidently very good for one’s finances, but even so, space exploration is a whole other magnitude of expenditure. I don’t entirely know if they were working on rituals of their own, or simply pushing the boundaries of their own fears, their masters. […] Exactly how the launch was arranged, I couldn’t tell you, but I assume the calculations must have been done by one of ours. Otherwise, well… weight is very important when planning a launch, and it could hardly have escaped their notice that there were four people in that rocket.”
I’m very appreciative of the way the Daedalus had been handled in the canon, slowly taking “shape”. We first had Carter Chilcott’s testimony, who… couldn’t tell us a lot about the life aboard, except for his own experience, since he was precisely isolated; we then had Jan, who was more in control but still unaware of what was at work there; and now, we’re getting Manuela, who turned out to have been totally aware of the aim of the mission. This could be the end of the story, or there could be yet more to put things into perspective (ha), we’ll see!
- I don’t know which shade of queer Manuela was/is but: definitely queer (“Anything they did not understand became unnatural and I found myself crossing that line from an early age. Although strangely, out of everything I was, it was always my desire to pursue a scientific career that they railed against with the most energy.”). AND SO AWFUL HOLY HECK… I’m glad that Daisy wasn’t in the room with Jon because his tone was so into it that… he might have freaked her out a bit? It was terrifying, so… deceptively sweet while digging the knife deep into your flesh…
- One thing that gets me a lot (in a “HHHHHhhHHHH” way) is when… avatars talk about their patrons? The reverence, the worship in their words? And Manuela was especially “HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” is that regard: yes, absolutely terrible, and did you hear that drive and that passion? (It’s hot/aesthetically pleasing, is what I want to say.)
I still have… the impression, in a way, that the Daedalus never actually happened in the TMA universe; Melanie had mentioned that feeling in MAG106, though she pointed out the existence of pictures of the crew’s return to Earth, but somehow… I can’t help but feel like indeed, it was too out of our realm to truly have happened, and that it was all staged by another entity/by the Lukases&the Fairchilds, to pretend it had happened when actually the staff had stayed on Earth all along, and that they organised the press releases about it? But it’s also awfully fitting that yes, Fears experiments sound so impossible that it can’t have been happening. If there is no twist, it seems like avatars are drawing powers from their patrons proportionally to the faith they have in them?
(MAG135, Manuela Dominguez) “Scientifically, it was nonsense of course. Dark energy and the like don’t work like that, not even remotely. But that wasn’t important. What mattered was that it felt like science, and that was all I needed. To do my work, to create the Black Star would need a parody, an aping mockery of science. But it would also need the deepest of darknesses. When I told Maxwell what I actually needed, he told me such a thing was impossible, but I insisted. And so he began his work on the Daedalus.
[…] My experiments continued largely uninterrupted, pushing the boundaries of light, darkness and fear. It was dangerous work and more than once, I got too close to the light and it almost destroyed me. But it didn’t. I could regale you with the technical terms or scientific disciplines I played with and rendered meaningless, but in the end all you actually need to know is that I succeeded. A tiny, terrible sun of the pitchest black, shining beautiful Darkness all around it.”
Like a twisted “believe in fairies” – things getting the power you give them, similarly to symbols? Sarah had, back in the days, said the Trophy Room Taxidermy Shop got its powers from people’s interactions with it (MAG096: “What is the significance of this place?” “Nothing, except what people give it. But they give it a lot, make it a place of power for us.”)
If the experiment did indeed happen in space: there had been hypotheses that the “falling satellite debris” which killed Oliver had been the Daedalus, and I had dismissed it because the dates didn’t match at all… but I’m a stupid potato and: of course the crew returned to Earth through a shuttle, and this was explicitly stated by Manuela. So it could still have been the Daedalus going full-on Icarus.
… But on the other hand: while the name “Daedalus” finally takes a bit more meaning with this episode (the story about ~getting too close to the sun~), Daedalus was actually the prudent one, who remained wary of the sun and was clever enough to always escape the murder attempts. Icarus went too close to the sun (and drowned in the sea, leaving Daedalus alone). Daedalus… gave his name to the maze, and brings corridors to minds. (But the “Daedalus project” was an actual, historical one, which never got completed in our world… Rah, I don’t know! The fact that we learned that Manuela had actually been full-on avatar in the space station, and not an innocent scientist victim of The Dark, makes me paranoid about another… twist regarding the station x’))
We’ve had another reference to Icarus in the canon, though: “George Icarus” was the name under which Leitner was buried, as Tim discovered in MAG114. Paid by the Institute. It fits Leitner very well but… given the ties between “Daedalus” and “Icarus”, it feels like a very weird coincidence – so did you get involved in the space project in one way or another, Elias… *squints*)
- Regarding the 4th person on the Daedalus, I’ve been grabbing my face a lot and screaming in silence about the sheer HORROR of suddenly learning that… there was someone else aboard, with Manuela very casually dehumanizing him at every possible turn (“one unlucky nyctophobe”, “I never learned his name, never needed to; he was simply a battery”, “The final experiment had left my battery in such a state that no amount of sound-proofing could dampen the screams, and I was glad of the peace and quiet.”). I wonder if it’s someone we’ve already seen mentioned somewhere…? The only potential one (in my mind) would be Peter “Pete” Gordo, who worked at the Wakefield Prison in MAG052 – Exceptional Risk, and had touched the Dark creature when it came to butcher Robert Montauk. Both the (awful) statement-giver and Jon had highlighted that he had vanished shortly after, in 2002, so he was probably a “half-finished meal” too…
Since Manuela… didn’t mention killing him but implied that she had left him behind (alone) in the station when she went back to Earth with the other two, I wonder if he might have turned into Something Else, or if he plainly died of exhaustion / lack of oxygen / starvation / Fear (alone, in the dark empty infinite space). Conceptually, it could be a good tie-in if he had somehow become an avatar of Extinction, but I don’t know how that could fit with his primal fear and what happened to him. One thing I have in mind, though: Daedalus was the inventor who helped Pasiphae copulate with the bull, in the myth, and the Minotaur wouldn’t have been conceived without it. So… Daedalus contributed to Creating The Monster (before working to contain it). Not sure it could be relevant, but just in case… there is that.
(- Extra-funny thing about Icarus/Daedalus……………… remember how Peter had called Jon in MAG134? A “bull-headed Archivist”. Congrats, Jon! It might have been involuntary (IS IT.) but you’re officially the Monster In The Labyrinth, right now, according to the Lonely creepy boat captain.)
(And again: considering that it turned out Martin was the one who gave Jon the connection to the outside that helped pull him out of the coffin, does that make Martin an Ariadne.)
- So, we got a new name for a ritual (The Dark is ~The Extinguished Sun~) but we also got the notion of a “stronghold” mentioned by Elias:
(MAG135) ELIAS: I don’t know the details. Ny-Ålesund is a stronghold of The Dark, meaning I can’t see inside.
=> Breekon had described the Institute as “The Eye’s Pedestal” (MAG128, “That was the first time we saw what would become this place, The Eye’s Pedestal.”), too. The question is still pending for Point Nemo (a Vast one? An End one?) and Hill Top Road (neutral ground or Web? Desolation? Spiral?). For the Lonely, Carter Chilcott had very specific dreams reminiscent of the graveyard from Naomi’s statement and of the Tundra’s journeys:
(MAG057, Carter Chilcott) “The hallucination stopped. I did not even get the comfort of company in my delusions, though at some point, the line between dreaming and reality seemed to blur. I’d be sleeping, strapped into my bed in the middle of the void, or at the same time floating through ancient graveyards or the open, empty sea. They weren’t hallucinations though, they were dreams – even if the cold seem to seep out of them, and into the bones of me.”
And there were the places where ritual attempts took place – the Wax Museum for The Stranger (though the Taxidermy Shop was also “a place of power” for them), that Elias claimed to be unable to access (and Jon did feel weird with no conception of time there); the town of Bucoda, for The Buried; Sannikov Land, for The Spiral; the Gnostic church near Istanbul for The Flesh (and potentially the Hither Green Dissenters Chapel for The Dark). Given how these places got… severely destroyed after their rituals got thwarted, it sounds like they were only been temporary places to build up power? Ny-Ålesund and the plain… sea are a bit more permanent than those punctual places, though? (Please, Team Archive, don’t go bombing the whole of Ny-Ålesund.)
- If we’re going to be digging a bit more into Dark-related activities… will we get a confirmation of what the fuck was happening re:Maxwell Rayner? Did he just have a remarkably long lifetime thanks to “feeding” his god, like Simon Fairchild, since we know that he was already around in the XIXth century and Manuela herself made a reference to the fact he had been around for very long (MAG135: “a life as long as his is evidently very good for one’s finances”)? I know the favourite fantheory on this one is that he’d been body-hopping but I’ve never been convinced since we didn’t really have descriptions of him changing, except that he was often Kind Of Old. There… has indeed been a suspicious trend of him targeting or getting a child around him: an unnamed one in 1864 (MAG098, Doctor Algernon Moss: “He is led around by a young Arabian lad of ten or eleven, though the ease with which he carries himself makes me suspect this assistance is an affectation rather than necessity.”); in 1995, Julia was attacked by the creature when she was 12; Basira and the other officers were sent against Rayner after he had kidnapped Callum Brodie, twelve years old, in January 2017 (MAG073, Basira: “Yeah. Callum Brodie. Twelve… twelve years old. Disappeared from his home in Dalston three weeks ago.”) – but it’s not necessarily to get a new body…? I always had the impression that it could plainly be because… well, the fear of the Dark is more prominent in children? So they could perhaps feed Dark-people better?
- I mostly wonder if (/hope that) we will get a bit more information about the relationship between Robert Montauk and Maxwell Rayner, in the process! Because… honestly, except for the fact that Robert’s wife apparently belonged to the People’s Church of the Divine Host (since she had the pendant) and that Robert killed around 40 people between 1990 and 1995 that may or may not have all been related to the cult, there are a loooot of things I’m still uncertain about? And Jon still had Questions about it too:
(MAG052) ARCHIVIST: So what is this thing that seems to have stalked Robert Montauk through so much of his life? And what’s its connection to Rayner? Were they summoning it, containing it, worshipping it? Whatever the case, it seems as though Montauk earned its anger. I feel it might be worthwhile getting a few more torches for the Archive.
(MAG074) ARCHIVIST: Well, that seems to close the book on Maxwell Rayner. Maybe the whole People’s Church of the Divine Host. I can’t help but feel I’ve got the last chapter of a story and I don’t even know the title. At least I hope it’s the last chapter. I still can’t find much about the company Outer Bay Shipping. Looks like a shell corporation, but tracking corporate ownership is not something I’m skilled at.
* Was Julia’s mother a runaway from the cult, or an active participant? It sounded to be the latter since Julia mentioned that she used to have friends who… didn’t inquire on her disappearance (MAG009: “apparently no-one noticed she was gone, which was strange as I have vague memories of her having friends over a lot before she vanished.”) Had she left her pendant to trap Julia too? Did she disappear to protect Julia? Did she willingly get spirited away? Actually, Robert told Julia she was “gone” but since Robert’s last victim had disappeared from his previous life a few years before his murder (MAG009, Archivist: “Christopher Lorne was a member of the church and his family hadn’t heard from him in the six years prior to his murder.”)… could it be possible that Julia’s mother is actually… still alive… and very Invested in the cult…
* Robert apparently did these things in order to protect Julia from… the cult? The creature? Maxwell? Julia did highlight that protecting her was one of his concerns (MAG009: “He whispered to me then, when he thought I was asleep, promised to protect me, to make sure that ‘it wouldn’t get me too’.”), but she didn’t really come out of the story acknowledging that it was what he was trying to achieve, I felt – not even to renounce his methods or success. Even when we got her live-statement in MAG109, she presented his actions as unrelated to her. But what was Robert doing exactly, and why…?
* Julia highlighted that they didn’t get any money problems (MAG009: “it was only after his arrest that I discovered that had been the point he’d resigned his job on the police force. I don’t know where the money came from after that but we always seemed to have enough.”) sooo was Maxwell Rayner paying for Robert’s… services?
* Robert and Rayner apparently hated each other by the time of Robert’s imprisonment, when Rayner visited him in Wakefield Prison in late March 2002, a few months before getting butchered by The Dark’s creature (… or one of them):
(MAG052, Phillip Brown) “It was an older guy, I’d guess late 50s, wearing a well-tailored black suit and an expression of disgust. When I brought Montauk in, his face fell, and he went very pale. I’d helped folks beat Robert Montauk a dozen times or more, but I had never seen him look scared. He sat down opposite the old man, and they looked each other in the eye through the thick glass. I think the visitor might have been blind. His eyes were cloudy, but he had no cane or dog. And it didn’t seem to affect how he looked at Montauk. Neither of them spoke. The seconds turned into minutes and still they didn’t say a word. They just sat there staring. Given where I work, it’s really something to be able to say that I’ve never seen two people who hated each other as much as Robert Montauk and that old man.
[…] I was tense, ready to fight off Montauk if he decided to make a move, but instead, a soft voice came from out of the darkness. I didn’t recognise it, but I thought it sounded like it came from the old man, and I don’t think he was talking to me. [STATIC:] “You didn’t think you could kill it for long, did you?” [/STATIC] That’s what it said. Then Pete got the door open, and a shaft of light poured in from the corridor. I could once again see Montauk and the old man sat there, motionless. It didn’t seem like they’d moved an inch, though as I went to take Montauk back to his cell, I noticed that he was crying.”
But before that, Rayner had apparently sent Robert after his next targets (MAG009, Julia: “He asked me to tell my father that it was Detective Rayner on the line with a new case for him.”), so? Unless the last one was someone that Robert went after without Rayner’s approval? Christopher Lorne, Robert’s last victim, was the only identified one, and was confirmed to have belonged to the People’s Church of the Divine Host. Was he an exception, or were all the previous victims from the cult too? In that case, why the heck was Maxwell Rayner getting them killed…? Or were they typical sacrifices in the cult? What happened, for Rayner to have come to loathe Robert, although he previous appeared to be giving him instructions…?
* Unless… was the man who phoned the Montauk’s house and pretended to be “officer Rayner” actually Maxwell Rayner, or someone making fun of him? Julia mentioned that the voice was old (fitting Rayner, forever a bit old) but… that it had an accent (MAG009: “It was a breathy voice, like that of an old man, and at the time I decided he had a German accent, though, when I was young a lot of different nationalities and accents were lumped together in my mind under the label ‘German’.”). If we know one thing from Maxwell Rayner’s voice, at least during the XIXth century, it’s precisely… that it just sounded unremarkable in English (MAG098: “Both speak perfect English, with no accent I can recognise”) – though the statement also dealt with German folklore and Rayner Knew about it, so who knows. Same person, different perceptions? Body-hopping after all? “Maxwell Rayner” being a mantle and a role more than the same person/soul?
- tl;dr Given how The Dark has been a huge part of Julia’s story and there is still room for Questions regarding Robert Montauk… if the Archival staff is planning to go after the remnant of the cult, I really hope that it will be Julia’s cue to come back… Although it has been stated that she couldn’t handle the idea of travelling by boat for very long.
- Re: Manuela’s DRIVE, how fitting that this was also an episode in which Elias casually mentioned his own ~patron~ (I’m really glad that Peter and Elias are now using that word too! It had, so far, mostly been used by other people to refer to avatars’ gods, not avatars themselves presenting their gods this way). Elias rarely mentions The Eye unprompted, and there was something interesting in the way the plural “you” from Manuela’s statement, referring to Gertrude and Elias, became that implied “we” from Elias, referring to him and… Jon, nowadays.
(MAG135) ELIAS: Fine. Consider it a test – things are… coming, things that will need Jon to be far stronger and more willing to use his connection to our patron.
Not the first time Elias amalgamated Jon and himself in the same ~we~ (MAG092: “It doesn’t please your master?” “Our master, Jon.”) but it was especially noticeable since Manuela had totally reduced the relevant Eye agents to the Archivist and the Head of the Institute, too. I don’t know how to explain that but… I felt like there was a bit of an echo, between the fact that Manuela had her own “we” (“even with the loss of Darvish, we will still be victorious”) with clearly identified, more powerful figures (Maxwell, Darvish, Manuela herself), and the… Eye people. There is mostly Elias and Jon, they’re the ones with powers, and as Manuela is describing The Dark’s ritual coming closer at the time of her statement, I feel like the shadow of the Watcher’s Crown is silently looming in a corner?
- As usual: e v e r y t h i n g about Elias. It’s been twice in a row now that Peter appears in an episode only for Elias to do the same in the very next episode and it feels like a competition between the Two Bastards to claim the Throne. Or a friendly competition between Alasdair Stuart and Ben Meredith to see who will manage to make people laughscream the most.
Anyway, non-exhaustive bullet list of Elias being… Elias:
* Do you think he will manage to give ONE GOOD PERFORMANCE REVIEW ONE DAY. I mean, how did he handle Melanie, who worked the hardest of all the assistants in the beginning of season 3, who read the most statements after Martin, who was given work by Jon, and all despite the lack of Archival training&direction (as she called Elias out on)?
(MAG106) ELIAS: And… how are you finding it?
MELANIE: Is that a joke?
ELIAS: Aside from the obvious, I mean.
MELANIE: Oh well, I… I suppose it’s been… unstructured. Without Jon around, and with you being sat up here lurking, there’s not been a lot of useful direction.
ELIAS: I see.
MELANIE: I mean, you pick out a statement occasionally, and Jon might phone in to ask after some… scrap of information, but to be honest, no one’s even really told me what an “archival assistant” is actually supposed to do.
[A FEW EVIL SPEECHES AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE SESSIONS LATER]
MELANIE: [BROKEN SOBS]
ELIAS: Anyway. Aside from all of that, I’d say your performance has been… satisfactory.
Meanwhile, Jon, who managed to snap out of the chaos that was The Unknowing, saw through Nikola, managed to compel Tim back to awareness enough for Tim to use the detonator…
(MAG135) ELIAS: Consider it a test – things are… coming, things that will need Jon to be far stronger and more willing to use his connection to our patron. His performance during The Unknowing was… disappointing.
… was “disappointing”. THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAID IN MAG120, THOUGH, YOU JERK:
(MAG120) ELIAS: You’re doing well, Jon. I only hope you can continue your growth without my guidance.
Insert the “My job here is done.” “But you didn’t do anything…?” meme here.
Elias, just face it: you’re a shit boss, a shit manager, a shit leader, absolutely terrible when it comes to actually giving direction, they’re not responsible for this!! :w
* Well, at the same time, calm your Jon!boner Elias:
(MAG135) BASIRA: Then you messed up. Way he tells it, he doesn’t know how he got out of there.
ELIAS: But he did. And his powers were no small part of it. Even if he required some assistance, they were what saved him. And he’s still achieved what no one – mortal, monster, or anything in-between – has ever been able to. He climbed out of The Buried. […] If Gertrude had a plan for this one, I haven’t found it, which is why Jon needs to be closer to The Eye. If anyone can stop what’s happening, he can. See through the darkness, etcetera.
I had wondered whether Jon wasn’t beginning to get a biiit more powerful than was to Elias’s taste (since he mentioned to Basira that he has given instructions to prevent Jon from visiting him if Jon was inclined to it in MAG127, and Jon demonstrated in MAG128 how he’s now able to… extract statements from unwilling subjects, plus the overall droplets of knowledge), but it sounds like it’s actually going according to plan. Elias had already mentioned that Jon was… supposed to grow his own powers and be the one to take care of The Unknowing, back in MAG102, but here, Elias came across as especially powerless compared to Jon (“I don’t know the details. Ny-Ålesund is a stronghold of The Dark, meaning I can’t see inside.”) and… not even trying to pretend anymore that He Has An Important Role On His Own. Jon is the Archivist, we knooow, we’ve been told, but what is Elias’s function in this mess, then…?
* I’m not sure that there is anything more behind the “detective” title he’s giving to Basira since, as mentioned another time… it was something Georgie initially used (MAG122: “You’re the detective.”) and Elias uses it precisely because Basira pointed out that it wasn’t her title?
(MAG135) ELIAS: Nice to see you again, detective.
BASIRA: Still not a detective. Never was.
ELIAS: Oh, but everyone else seems to be getting a title these days, why shouldn’t you–
BASIRA: [SLAMS HANDS ON THE TABLE] Cut the shit!
[…] ELIAS: I rather feel the real shame would be letting the entire world fall into Darkness because of a single person’s wounded pride. Detective. The stakes are far too high for that kind of… indulgence.
[…] ELIAS: Good luck. Detective.
It sounds mostly, to me, like a cat staring you RIGHT IN THE EYES while slowly pushing your favourite mug off the table? Doing it just to piss her off? Elias never used “Archivist” with Jon either (except in statement-mode in MAG120, but he went back to “Jon” when addressing him directly through the tape right after the static had faded), so I’m not sure there is particular… substance to it. On the one hand, it would sound like the perfect title for a Hunter-Beholding activity (tailing someone or something and learning about their privacy, potentially cumulating both fears of being hunted and exposed). On the other hand, I can’t help but feel like it could be another jab at Martin, who had mentioned his own lack of special pet name:
(MAG092) ELIAS: You think you’re the only police officer eager to do violence and call it justice? No, there are plenty of other rabid dogs out there, mad with the Hunt.
(MAG116) ELIAS: Oh, and, Jon, technically, I can’t stop you, but I would heavily advise against bringing any… rogue… elements.
MARTIN: You can just say Tim.
(MAG118) MARTIN: Oh. That’s it, isn’t it! Martin’s just acting out! I mean, Daisy’s a rabid dog, and Melanie’s a potential killer; Tim’s a… a, a rogue element, but Martin? Oh, Martin’s just, just acting out! He’ll have a cry, and a lie-down, and feel much better!
(And once again: Elias did mention that Jon had received ~assistance~ to get out of the coffin… but managed to not name Martin directly, pfftttr.)
* Even more rattling chain sounds every time Elias opens his mouth => he’s using his hands a l o t when talking, uh. Gesturing person. VERY dramatic person. Is it a prerequisite for working at the Institute, was that the reason Elias chose Jon as the next Archivist.
* Oooh, Elias.
(MAG135) BASIRA: [SLAMS HANDS ON THE TABLE] Cut the shit! What are you playing at?
ELIAS: I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.
When you’re playing at too many things at the same time that you can honestly not answer that question.
* Overall: I LIVE FOR ALL THE ELIAS-BASIRA EXCHANGES THIS SEASON… In season 1 and 2, they probably would have had very civil and cordial discussions but… beginning season 3, yes, Elias had begun to Let It Out way more (was it costing him that much to hold off and to appear proper and respectable? … or did the role just become Free Ben Estate.) and it’s even worse now. He’s so bratty and petty, and Basira had always been so straight-to-the-point and no-bullshit (except when it comes to office gossip) that it’s delightful and feels like she has to handle a spoiled brat while not being paid enough for this.
(MAG135) BASIRA: If you’re lying about this–
ELIAS: You’ll kill me? [HUFF] I can hardly wait. [STEPS DEPARTING]
eLIAS, THAT’S LOW (the thing about kill-me-and-you’re-all-dying still stands, that’s precisely why they chose to get him arrested) AND YOU HAVE NO PRIDE YOURSELF.
* Though I am also very mad that Elias confirmed that His Plan regarding Basira’s investigations… was to get her out, because she’s Jon’s impulse-control.
(MAG135) ELIAS: Would you simply believe I wanted you and Daisy reunited?
BASIRA: No.
ELIAS: Fine.
I LOVE BASIRA SO M U C H…
Elias… called Basira out on her “pride” (“I rather feel the real shame would be letting the entire world fall into Darkness because of a single person’s wounded pride. Detective.”), and I’m worried that he might be spot-on on this one, like he was with Melanie and Tim. Though he’s currently nurturing Basira’s frustrations – sending her all over the globe before basically admitting that she couldn’t have done anything relevant herself? Now talking her down? Insisting that Jon is their best chance, apparently not taking her into consideration at all except as a potential messenger? Offering an “idea” that turned out to have been manipulation, and now giving new instructions while highlighting that she’s in no position to refuse? Either he’s still awfully bad when it comes to hurting people and not expecting them to get back at you, either he’s Compensating Hard for the prison time, either he’s trying to foster harsh reactions from Basira (and it won’t help her to warm up to Jon if Elias keeps presenting Jon as their most reliable chance ;;).
- I am HYSTERICAL over the fact that we’re finally getting another bit of something related to Elias’s backstory and that it’s that he was apparently acquainted with MAXWELL RAYNER:
(MAG135, Manuela Dominguez) “I come to you with a warning. And an offer. When you read this, I would consider it a great favour if you could share my words with the Head of your Institute. Tell him that Maxwell Rayner sends his regards and offers… sanctuary. A time of holy Darkness is at hand, when The Eye will close forever, and in the spirit of the friendship they once shared, he offers an opportunity – to surrender. Forsake the Ceaseless Watcher; abandon your position, and you shall be spared in the Blind World to come. In the spirit of reconciliation, and to convince you of our sincerity… I offer my story. Much as it may pain me to feed the sick voyeur that lurks in this place.
[…] That’s all I really came here to say! To let you know we had succeeded. And to make your boss an offer on behalf of Maxwell. […] So by all means, do your worst. Or prostrate yourself, both of you, before the Forever Blind – and perhaps you might be spared. Maxwell and I await your decision, with keen interest.”
ELIAS……………………
And nothing says more than “(ex)friendship” than confirming that you gave a tip to Section 31 to ensure they would go after and get rid of your old ~~friend~~, uh:
(MAG073) ARCHIVIST: […] Oddly enough, all I can think about is how did the police know where Rayner was keeping the boy? Basira didn’t seem to know, and the Church clearly wasn’t expecting the police to arrive. With a few exceptions, Rayner managed to stay off the grid for two decades. How did they find him now? Someone must have known what was happening and tipped them off. And I don’t think it was anyone inside that building.
(MAG135) ELIAS: You thought the final death of Maxwell Rayner might have sufficiently derailed them? Yes, that was my hope too, but alas it would seem not.
BASIRA: Maxwell… You… You called in that tip, sent us out to their warehouse.
ELIAS: And now I’m sending you out again.
(I’m so glad that it was confirmed!)
Until now, almost everything we had about Elias’s… life outside of the Institute was the Infamous Bits about His Official Backstory (which directly contradicted the small mention from MAG029 that he was a filing clerk at the Institute in 1972 – or at least, highlighted that uhoh, something doesn’t match here and that’s a twenty-years difference, the staff should have noticed):
(MAG049) ARCHIVIST: Supplemental. Elias Bouchard is a difficult man to pin down, certainly since he became head of the Institute in 1996 […]. It was a remarkably fast climb to the top, as from what I can find, it looks like he only joined the Institute five years before, in 1991, working in the Artefact Storage. […] And yet, everything I found out about his life before the Institute seems… an ill fit with the austere man I know. He apparently graduated with a Third from Christ Church’s College in PPE, and I found an old gossip column in the student newspaper that – sure well – that mentioned him. If I’m not reading too much into it, the implication seems to be that he was… something of a… pothead [CHUCKLES]. Was he… like that when he first came to work here…?
If this information is accurate: the time of Elias’s studies and his starting at the Institute would match the time-period during which the People’s Church of the Divine Host were officially active (MAG009: “a small cult that grew around the defrocked Pentecostal minister Maxwell Rayner in London during the late eighties and early nineties. […] Mr. Rayner himself disappeared from public view sometime in 1994 and the group fragmented shortly afterwards.”). How the heck did Elias apparently meet him, though? And mostly: … how could Rayner even have The Audacity to offer for them to just… resign? Manuela mentioned that she supposed “there is also an element of provocation here as well” and YOU DON’T SAY…
Wild hypotheses about the Rayner-Elias relationship, not in any particular order of Seriousness:
* Since Manuela only referred to “the Head of the Institute”, without naming Elias, and she referred to the fact that Rayner had been around for very long (we have a statement mentioning him from 1864): it’s an Old Thing, whether or not “Elias” is actually Jonah Magnus. (At the same time… given The Show that Elias is currently putting on, he really doesn’t read to me as being potentially 200+y old? He sounds way too immature and petty and frustrated to be this old?)
* Okay, so amongst the Eye-folks, there seems to be a trend of “x all the Entities”. Gertrude: thwarting all the Entities’ rituals. Jon: getting whumped by all the Entities and having scars to Show. Martin, man of 16 Fears: being courted by all the Entities. Elias: bedding all the Entities??
* Elias was a member of the cult during his Wild Days, before swinging another way when it began to crumble and/or before getting a Revelation at the Institute?
- … It’s also possible that the things about “friendship” were actually awfully sarcastic and cruel in their own ways. We have had the example of Mike Crew who was pursued by an entity and managed to escape it by giving himself fully to another, it… could have been something like that with Elias, too? Escaping the Dark by throwing himself into Beholding?
One thing I find striking is that, quite often, when we learned about the Spooky backstory of people who are currently tied to the Institute, Beholding wasn’t exactly the main Fear that they had encountered – mostly, they witnessed someone around them getting taken by a Fear, and were spectators who didn’t try (or manage) to stop it and… pressed on to know what was happening:
(MAG081) ARCHIVIST: And of course, in my heart, I knew that no-one else could have possibly seen anything as horrible as I had. Well, maybe I could have named one person, but… I watched him disappear forever. […] I had no idea what was going on, not really, but I was somehow desperate to get that book back. He was much bigger than me, though, so all I could do was follow as he walked down alleys and side streets. […] A strange conviction that, if I had been able to face that thing myself, maybe I could have saved him. Stopped it. Ridiculous, of course, I was eight.
(MAG101) MICHAEL: When he was in school, [Michael Shelley] lost a friend to something like me. His friend was named Ryan, but those in power simply called him schizophrenic. I don’t know if he was, but it doesn’t matter. He was so dreadfully afraid his world wasn’t real that to make it so was almost nothing. Michael was there when he was taken; he never got over what he saw. Or didn’t see. After much searching and despair, it drove him into the waiting arms of the Institute, where he met Gertrude Robinson.
(MAG104) TIM: I always tell myself there was some force there. Something that held me in place and meant that all I could do was watch. But sometimes when I think back, I remember how my legs shook, and maybe I could move. … Maybe I’m just a coward.
(Tim was literally a SPECTATOR in a theatre… Plus, add Basira who witnessed one colleague be taken by Diego Molina during her first Section 31’d case, and another colleague get killed by Natalie Ennis; Daisy who saw her colleague be taken by the coffin during her first Section 31’d case; Melanie… who didn’t lose anyone close to her in the process but still witnessed the strange things happening to “Sarah”, and a ghost getting butchered in the train.)
Survivor’s bias, but still noticeable – does Beholding put a claim on almost everyone who survived a Spooky encounter, maybe?
So I don’t know, really, but somethingsomething could the Dark actually have been the experience that originally pushed Elias towards the Institute…? (Jon had assumed, and seemed to have been validated in that regard, that Elias had trouble Watching in the tunnels, which are notoriously very dark. Perhaps the best way to insure Elias would shut the heck up would be to… plainly put a blindfold on him, and he would turn catatonic.)
- Meanwhile: Peter was mentioned for the first time in MAG033, appeared for the first time in episode MAG100. He has had a speaking presence in five episodes since then. He has been an absolute chatterbox when it comes to Elias – there has been no episode in which he didn’t mention him.
Elias has been around since MAG017, has had a speaking presence in… eight? episodes since Peter appeared. And still. Has made. No mention. Whatsoever. Of. Any. “Peter Lukas”. Elias………………
(- Assuming that they do know each other, given that Elias said that:
(MAG135) ELIAS: Have you ever seen the Aurora borealis? It’s lovely this time of year. It would be a shame to lose them.
… Did he see them while on The Tundra? Romantikku.)
- Elias managed to not even mention Martin when describing that Jon had ~received help~ to get out of the coffin, and I want to believe that he’s still bitter about his arrest. Though… I really got the feeling, with MAG134 and how Martin described it, that it was The Web and… interestingly, Elias didn’t seem as wary of what happened as Peter.
(MAG135) BASIRA: Then you messed up. Way he tells it, he doesn’t know how he got out of there.
ELIAS: But he did. And his powers were no small part of it. Even if he required some assistance, they were what saved him. And he’s still achieved what no one – mortal, monster, or anything in-between – has ever been able to. He climbed out of The Buried.
So either it was actually Beholding guiding Martin there, either it gives some credentials to the idea that Elias had been collaborating or tolerating The Web at the Institute for a long while? There is also that strange connection between Jon and Martin: the fact that Martin just knew that Jon was alive (MAG088, Martin: “It’s the not knowing, you know? I mean, Jon’s still alive. Not sure why, but I’m sure of that. But Sasha, I…”) + the “DIG” from the same episode’s statement, read by Martin, creeping into Jon’s dreams (MAG120). So still no certainties about it but… there is something.
- I… am… very… wary… of the way Elias is OH SO VERY CONVENIENTLY pushing in the direction of Jon’s own uncertainty.
(MAG135) ARCHIVIST: I mean, the Sun’s still there so I assume they failed. Unless they’re still… waiting to attempt it. That’s not the sort of statement you give… four years before you try to actually… ! … Or is it… The timeframes on these, er, “attempts”, the–these rituals, well… they seem variable, to say the least. When I try to think about it, uh– […] [SIGH] I’ll keep digging. If there is another ritual upcoming, I’ll need all the information I can get on it. I can’t believe Gertrude didn’t have a plan for it. I hope I’m just being over-cautious, that it’s already long since dealt with, but… we’ll see. […] I can’t afford to be just living one day at a time, I need… a plan. But I don’t even know what I’m trying to achieve… And no one… no one wants to tell me. Hm. [SIGH] End recording.
(MAG135) ELIAS: I have been observing a recent increase in people and supplies being moved to the small town of Ny-Ålesund, in Svalbard. An increase which I believe may be linked to a rather desperate attempt, by the People’s Church of the Divine Host, to perform a crude ritual of their own. To bring their… “Mr. Pitch”… into the world. […] I don’t know the details. Ny-Ålesund is a stronghold of The Dark, meaning I can’t see inside. I… believe they call it “The Extinguished Sun”, though that’s as much as I know. If Gertrude had a plan for this one, I haven’t found it, which is why Jon needs to be closer to The Eye. If anyone can stop what’s happening, he can. See through the darkness, etcetera. […] Feel free to do your own research to confirm what I’m telling you. Just don’t take too long.
It… it sounds way too much like throwing Jon a bone to ensure that he will get a Dark scar/experience, since Jon had been unable to Know whether Gertrude had managed to stop them or not. It doesn’t feel like Elias is taking this threat too seriously (compare it to the way he had handled The Unknowing?!), but more that he’s pretty confident that they won’t manage anyway and that he can… totally afford to be totally shitty about it since, anyway, he knows that Jon and the others will get worried and will get invested because they can’t afford to risk allowing another ritual to succeed? I find it hard to believe that The Dark is currently any threat but I totally understand that just in case, yes, the Archive Team would feel like they must intervene.
… and with The Lonely (and The Extinction), the only physical scars/marks that Jon is still missing? Are from The Dark. He’s never experienced it directly either and… catapulting him over to Svalbard sounds like the IDEAL opportunity for it, uh. Elias didn’t explicitly say that stopping The Dark was why he needed Jon to get stronger – there were two separate things, he implied causality but… didn’t explicitly say that it was the case so. Suspicious. Of course he would need Jon stronger for The Eye’s ritual, ultimately, after all…?
… But another thing that makes me flip out? IS THAT ELIAS IS NOW FACTORING IN THAT JON CARES FOR THE EXTENDED ARCHIVE TEAM:
(MAG092) ELIAS: You may believe yourself to have friends, to have confidantes, but in the end, all they are, is something for you to watch, to know, and ultimately to discard.
(MAG135) ELIAS: […] His performance during The Unknowing was… disappointing. I needed a way to force him to harness his ability more acutely than he had before. The coffin was a useful tool; Daisy an adequate bait.
………………… and yes, Jon will probably get a new injury on the way: he’ll get mauled by one of the Dark creatures in best case scenario, he could lose his eyes at worst (… does he even need them nowadays. I mean, YES it would be heart-breaking but. It sounds like One Of These Things very likely to happen to him.)… but I’m more worried about Basira.
Because if Elias is now factoring in that to push Jon further, you have to use the fact that he cares, Ny-Ålesund sounds like a Big Danger for BASIRA.
She was there when Maxwell Rayner was killed.
The only other witnesses were police officers (all Section 31’d nowadays). She didn’t kill Rayner herself but. But. I do not trust Elias one second to not spread (or have already spread) misleading rumours letting Dark cultists think that Basira had been the one to kill Maxwell Rayner. Jon had noticed people wearing the People’s Church pendants outside (MAG123) and we still don’t know why they’re hanging around so close to the Institute but really… I can’t help but feel like if they’re targeting someone, it’s Basira, and not Jon.
- About Jon’s feeling regarding the way the other staff members look at him…
(MAG135) ARCHIVIST: I don’t… like interacting with the rest of the Institute these days. The way they look at me, I– … I don’t know. I don’t know what they’ve heard, what the rumours going around are, but… they have definitely heard something…! [SIGH] And they can’t wait until they don’t have to talk to me anymore. Can’t honestly say I blame them, none of this is easy. Everyone’s just trying to get through as best they can. Living one day at a time.
I’m not sure of what is happening, so:
* Is there indeed something noticeable in Jon nowadays? A gaze a bit too intense, an overall aura, something that makes you think “he’s spooky” without being able to pinpoint how? Too many eyes? Daisy was in the room when he read MAG133’s statement, I still feel like if anyone would be able to tell… it would be her.
* Alternatively, it… could also be an effect of the Lonely, again, since Jon had mentioned feeling isolated/lonely and… he’s very prone to feeling this as soon as he’s physically alone. It could just be that Jon feels like he can’t connect and that nobody wants to talk to him, while people are just… behaving towards him normally, but the Lonely is warping his perception.
* Alternatively: did Peter spread rumours on him through memos.
* Alternatively… oh, Jon… there could be so many reasons for people to not want to get involved with you Just In Case… Objectively: the Archives were attacked by Prentiss’s worms in Summer 2016. Jon was a mess for the following six months, before a body was discovered in the Archives and Sasha disappeared; Jon was on the run and the prime suspect. He came back and was on and off for a few months… before Tim died in an explosion in the Wax Museum alongside him, and Jon was hospitalised. And now he’s back. He means trouble, he means danger and, yes, people thought that Tim was having a breakdown when he was ranting about what was actually happening (as Martin told Jon in MAG102) but… Tim was popular. Tim used to be social, chatting with students and acting as relay between them and Jon (when they noticed errors in MAG033)… and Tim died.
Even Tim aside, there was the matter of Elias’s arrest and… Elias looked like he was actually well-liked by the staff? He was invested in the Institute’s life:
(MAG098) MELANIE: Uh, Martin? Have you seen Elias?
MARTIN: Oh, uh… no. But Tuesday lunch he normally meets with the Library staff, I think?
And Rosie was chill with him (you don’t go “Yep, will do” at a boss you fear…). It’s possible that people resented Jon for Elias’s arrest and/or thought that Jon had framed him (which. to be honest.)? There are so many reasons for people to just… be wary of him, indeed…
- Jon’s voice was… something, at the beginning of MAG135. Sulky, tired, crushed? He reminded me of how he had introduced MAG129’s statement right after his encounter with Martin (clearly… unwell and plain sad); could have been caused by what he recounted regarding his interactions with the rest of the Institute, or by the content of the statement itself (it… wasn’t great news and Jon had no certainty about a possible positive outcome), but I wonder if it mightn’t be that reading statements left by Avatars is more taxing, since they’re more involved with the Fears? Does it feed Beholding a bit too much? He was very tired after Jane Prentiss’s; he collapsed after Breekon’s; he was clearly not fine with Manuela’s here. The only exception I can think of is MAG074 – Fatigue, which left him exhausted despite not apparently being (as far as we know) from an avatar?
- Raise your hand if Jon keeps slowly breaking your heart into small pieces when he has to tell himself, again and again, that he has to focus and that he can’t save everyone…
(MAG132) ARCHIVIST: I… heard someone. He was begging for me to save him. Said he couldn’t breathe. … I can barely breathe. I couldn’t find him. But I am… n–not here for him. I don’t even know him.
(MAG135) ARCHIVIST: At least, the coffin’s gone. I gave Artefact Storage some very specific instructions, and they’ve got it solidly sealed away. … Is locking it up the right thing to do? There are other people in there. And Daisy and I got out, but– … No, I, uh… I can’t think about that. Even if I could somehow be sure of recreating our escape, I–I can’t save everyone that’s been taken. I–It’s not my job to try, I– And I can’t spend another three days in there, I just… I need to let it go.
(But I’m still worried that this could be… how Gertrude started out, too. At first focusing on people around her and on the missions ahead, before gradually coming to thinking that the others were necessarily sacrifices for the Greater Good. Though in Jon’s case: he’s been… very consistently upset and sad for victims overall. So right now, he’s encouragingly… totally unlike Gertrude. Caring so much.)
- Bring as many torches as you can, once again. And your Web lighter, Jon? What happened to that one since the end of season 3 ;;
(… They don’t even need to go to Svalbard, actually, since there was still the matter of St. Paul’s Church in West Hackney, from MAG063, though Jon hadn’t managed to find any connection with the People’s Church of the Divine Host but… it was clearly a Dark creature lurking there? And the statement was from 2014.)
- If Team Archive goes to Norway in a group expedition trip… I’m picturing the door of the Archives, closed. Jon having left a note warning people that they’ll be away for a week or two, the Archives will be closed during that time.
Scribble from Daisy underneath: “If we don’t die.” (Helen having added “Of fun!”, before adding something else about this door being closed, but people can still knock if they need a door, she’d do her bestest.)
Melanie put a message encouraging to NOT take a job here if they happen to hire new staff after their disappearances in ~dark conditions~.
Basira tried to salvage the memo with a mention about contacting the police with a mention of Section 31 if they failed.
Martin passing by, one day, and losing it because pETER, WHAT DID YOU ALLOW TO HAPPEN AGAIN, YOU SAID THEY WOULD BE SAFE–
- Elias said the words “SVALBARD” and “AURORA BOREALIS” in an episode about “DARK MATTER”, so my heart is screaming and seeing this as His Dark Materials representation. Come on, the Archives crew are millennials, they have read the trilogy, right right right? :w
… Well, maybe not Jon, who probably didn’t manage to finish the first volume and/or gave up on the second one when he realized that Will’s cat wouldn’t be the main protagonist. (Maybe he secretly stanned Lyra a bit for her tendency to just run away from the College. And also panserbjørne. He would stan The Bears.) Sasha’s first dream job was to be a witch because Serafina was DANG COOL, with becoming an aeronaut coming in close second; cue Heated Bi Debates with Tim, because his tiny bi heart had been awakened through other options (Lord Asriel? Terrible, but hot!! Marisa Coulter? Terrible but hella hot!!). Basira got her lesbian awakening with Mary – smart clever scientist who went Fuck Injustice? Sign her up. Melanie loved Will, loved WILL’S KNIFE, and also loved to read about bears savagely murdering each other (oh no, sheer horror if she ever finds out she had that in common with Jon!). Helen might need to have the story told to her but she goes “!! I can open doors and Windows too! :D”. Georgie loved the technology and the Gallivespians communicating through Lodestone resonators (… actually, Jon probably made her think about the Gallivespians. A lot). … Aza mentioned to me that “ahah, Martin must have projected so hard on Will” and I hate her, it was supposed to be all fun headcanons but oh no now it’s awfully sad (=> Will’s mother being sick and needing his help! Not being reliable, but it doesn’t matter, she loves him! And turns out that Will’s dad had never abandoned them, not exactly, and that he had always loved them all very much!) (YEAH NOW IT’S SUPER SAD WHEN THINKING ABOUT MARTIN PROJECTING.)
(Let’s compensate the Sad by thinking about Jon and the assistants going on a boat trip to Norway, and NOTHING BAD HAPPENING, they’ll manage to neutralise the Dark’s feeble attempt and nobody will die or be gravely injured or traumatised by anything :| So they get to enjoy the trip, even if it’s probably on the Tundra and Jon is seething because still no sign of Peter Lukas anywhere, Martin is there though mostly inaccessible (… all alone on the boat to fuel it?), but Jon still managed to grab him at some point to have Meaningful Discussions in the cold of the deck, at night, when they’re undignifiedly bundled up in layers and layers of down jackets, Martin being especially starry-eyed at the starry sky because as he had mentioned in MAG113, he never got to travel much, and he’s getting Something Nice for once even if it’s when on their way to probably die a dark death – but they don’t and it stays something nice :[)
(What do you mean, I slept 2h30 last night and worked overtime today and I’m surviving thanks to my 7th coffee.)
MAG136’s title is out and AAAAAAAAAAAAH???? WEB??? WEB??? I want to think that a twist could be at work here (The Corruption and The Desolation ought to be offended, tfw still no episode almost halfway into season 4 :w) but it screams WEB, it screams especially strongly SHE, SHE, THE WIFE… Though Annabelle was “the story-spinner” and this is another title altogether. On the one hand, Jon has been repeatedly lamenting over his overall lack of direction, so it could be Her Cue to go see him in person or send him someone who survived her… but on the other hand mmmm, too soon for that maybe? Could also be something about Raymond Fielding, perhaps? (Or twist and it’s not Web.) (… second-meaning could be about so many people… Peter? Elias (ha, he wished.)? Annabelle?)
50 notes
·
View notes
Photo
100th Anniversary of Stigmata of Padre Pio
On this day, 100 years ago, Padre Pio received the stigmata, which are visible wounds like Christ's. Not even science can explain how these wounds appeared or persisted for the remainder of his life:
On the morning of the 20th September 1918, after having celebrated Holy Mass, the priest Padre Pio retired to the choir stalls for his usual thanksgiving. The place was S. Giovanni Rotondo and the church, Our Lady of Grace.
Outside in the small piazza the morning was similar to most other mornings on the Gargano. The friary, lying at the foot of the mountain, high above the village, seemed isolated and remote, altogether cut off from the world. Peace and quiet hung heavy in the mountain air filling the huge spaces with indescribable serenity and calm.
Padre PioChirpings of birds, muted and subdued, coming as if from far off and the monotonous drone of myriad flying insects were sounds to accentuate the silence of the place. They adorned but did not disturb it. Already the clear lines of morning were fading and merging into the heat of midday. High up, a blazing sun seared the massive garganic granite, sending all creatures hurrying to the cool oasis of shuttered rooms.
Only a few old folk long accustomed to this midday furnace moved slowly about, entering the small church to say their devotions, then emerging and making their way across to the ancient yew-tree dominating the middle of the piazza to rest silently in its shadow. A day like other September days with little hint that it could be any different from those which had preceded it or from those which must assuredly follow it.
For the young priest, however, just then kneeling in the chapel of the church, this morning was to be very different, a fateful morning like no other, containing within it a destiny, a summons whose imperious and exalted demands he would attempt to fulfill to the end. Here inside the church the silence was very great. Not a sound penetrated the thick walls from outside as P. Pio, oblivious to everything except the memory of his recent Mass, slowly prostrated in loving adoration before the outspread, bloodied figure on the crucifix.
With that marvelous facility possessed by the mystics by which all external objects are abandoned he withdrew into himself, his spirit yielding to the peacefulness which invaded his whole being, a peacefulness, he later wrote, "similar to a sweet sleep". In this absolute silence he prayed, mind and heart totally wrapped in the burning love which consumed him like some incurable fever. A sweet calm heralding the forthcoming storm.
What happened next can best be told in the simple, unadorned words of P. Pio writing to P. Benedetto little more than a month afterwards: "It all happened in a flash. While all this was taking place, I saw before me a mysterious Person, similar to the one I had seen on August 5th, differing only because His hands, feet and side were dripping blood. The sight of Him frightened me: what I felt at that moment is indescribable. 'I thought I would die, and would have died if the Lord hadn't intervened and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out of my chest. The Person disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were pierced and were dripping with blood" (Ep., V. 1, no. 5 10, p. 1094). P. Pio had just received the visible stigmata. There was nobody about. Silence settled once more round the brown robed figure now lying huddled on the floor.
The StigmataA long Calvary had just begun and with it the answer to a prayer: the prayer of his profound desire to identify with Christ crucified not only by participation in the priestly apostolate but in some mysterious way in that supreme immolation of Our Lord on Calvary (cf. Le Stimmate di P. Pio, G. Cruchon, SJ, Colana "Spiritualità", No. 1, p. 102).
He had not desired this physical conformity and when he had recovered somewhat from the immediate experience his embarrassment was extreme: "I am dying of pain because of the wound and because of the resulting embarrassment which I feel deep within my soul. . . Will Jesus who is so good grant me this grace ? Will he at least relieve me of the embarrassment which these outward signs cause me" (Ep., V. 1, p. 1904). Not the wound, not the pain did he wish removed but only the visible signs which at the time he considered to be an indescribable and almost unbearable humiliation.
Later, much later, however, he would come to love and cherish these divine marks of predilection, drawing from them that rich source of superhuman energy which from then on marked his apostolate of love and suffering. With Catherine of Siena he could truly say: "My wounds not only do not afflict my body, but they sustain and fortify it. I feel that what formerly depressed me, now invigorates me." His wounds, hitherto invisible but now manifested exteriorly, mark a definitive stage of his soul's transformation into the object loved, namely, the Lord who suffered and was crucified.
For the next fifty years they would confound impartial science; their continuous and profuse effusion of blood, accompanied often by the sweetest fragrance, came to be regarded as a prolonged miracle, because, as the experts correctly state, blood for its production requires nourishment while this friar's extraordinary frugality was such as hardly to maintain the life of a small child.
The remarkable nature of this miraculous gift becomes more apparent when it is considered how such loss of blood was simply inconsonant with and disproportionate to the stamina and energy with which P. Pio with ever greater activity and zeal conducted his life in all matters relating to the service of God.
Such are the bald facts of P. Pio's stigmata. From his correspondence it is clear that very early in his priestly life there were, at least, indications of what eventually came to pass. Writing to P. Benedetto as early as 1911, only a year after ordination, P. Pio described a phenomenon which he had been experiencing for almost a year: "Then last night something happened which I can neither explain nor understand. In the middle of the palms of my hands a red mark appeared, about the size of a penny, accompanied by acute pain in the middle of the red marks. The pain was more pronounced in the middle of the left hand, so much so that I can still feet it. Also under my feet I can feel some pain" (Ep., V. 1, p. 234).
This is his first mention of the phenomenon to his spiritual father because, as he says, he was overwhelmed with shame. He simply did not want to talk about it, hoping no doubt that it was a passing thing which would soon clear up and then be forgotten.
Four years later, in 1915, his beloved P. Agostino demands certain information in the name of Jesus: When did Jesus first favour him with celestial visions ? Has Jesus made him a gift of his stigmata even though invisible? How often does he feel the crown of thorns and the scourging? P. Agostino asks these questions not out of curiosity but for the glory of God and the salvation of souls (Ep., V. 1, p. 659).
In his reply to this letter P. Pio recognizes the express will of God and willingly answers all three questions. To the first he replies that Jesus began to favour "his poor creature" not very long after his novitiate (Jan. 1903 to Jan. 1904); to the second, whether Jesus made him a gift of the stigmata, the reply is affirmative and we learn that from the start the wounds were visible, especially in one hand, but that P. Pio was so terrified in the face of this phenomenon that he begged the Lord to withdraw them.
From then on they did not appear again until September 1918 although their pain remained and were felt more acutely under certain circumstances and on determined days. The final question he also answers affirmatively. He experiences the pain of the crown of thorns and the scourging. How often he cannot say except that at the time of writing he has been suffering from them almost once a week for some years (cf. Ep., V. 1, p. 669).
The rest is history. News of the event spread like wildfire and by the following year there began that afflux of pilgrims to the tiny friary which has not ceased since. At first in a tiny stream they came, later in the tens of thousands, flocking to glimpse this priest with the wounds of Christ, to assist at his Mass, to kiss those mittened hands and for those who could speak Italian the privilege of confessing to him.
In all this, of course, there were dangers. The danger of a "personality cult"; of the possibility of self-induced wounds produced by a morbid, impressionable, temperament; the danger of fraud and deception, deliberate or otherwise, with the intent of leading a credulous faithful astray; that the stigmata was nothing more than an effect of natural causes rather than a supernatural gift; and finally, there was the dangerous possibility of preternatural and diabolic activity.
In the light of this, and in retrospect, it is understandable why the Church authorities took a course of action that at the time seemed harsh and cruel but which today can be seen, at least in part, as the anvil on which P. Pio's sanctity was hammered out, put to the test and purified to become the luminous and diaphanous veil through which men glimpsed God.
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
Hanna's Musings - Tragedy, Exposure, Tough Women
Where Were You?
Last Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of the infamous terrorist attack on the United States, and it became indelibly impressed in my memory. And it’s one of those tragedies that kind of freezes time so that I can remember vividly where I was and what I was doing when those planes smashed into the World Trade Center towers and subsequently reduced them to rubble. A third plane hit the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa. The death toll was close to 3,000. I was having coffee with a fellow faculty member on the porch of the College Union at what then was West Liberty State College and now is West Liberty University. Another faculty member came up to us and gave us a quick update on what had eventuated. I had to leave to teach a class, but as I walked through the Union, I saw a television news broadcast showing a picture of a plane lodged in the side of one of the twin towers. And I remember thinking first of all the poor people who had offices there and secondly how much work it would entail to patch that skyscraper, never for a moment thinking the whole thing would ultimately collapse. In the 20 ensuing years since 9/11, I unfortunately have witnessed far too many tragedies, and I would be hard-pressed to rank them, but 9/11 certainly is near the top as are the Jan. 9 insurrection orchestrated by a sitting president and the televised murder of an African American by a white police officer. As horrific as all of these were, what is even worse is that they happened in this country – the land of the free and the home of the brave. Of course the gigantic question generated by all of the assassinations and tragedies we have endured is this: Will things ever change?
It’s Baaack!
Yes, despite all the COVID-19 germs flying all over the place, college football made its triumphant return last weekend, and if anyone were afraid of catching the virus, it didn’t show from the jam-packed stadiums without any evidence of masked fans. It would be interesting to find out how many fans came down with the virus after attending a game. You just know that there are lots of hungry germs looking for some poor soul to infect. If you look at it from the germs’ point of view, they must be ecstatic to find venues with 100,000 people all in the same place. What a smorgasbord! And the germs don’t need to hurry either because most of those fans won’t be going anyplace for at least three hours. That’s even plenty of time for a daddy germ to go back home and bring the wife and children back to enjoy a bountiful repast in the stadium. Bon appetite!
Not again, please!
Last winter was one of the most miserable times I can ever remember. The pandemic was wreaking its illness and death around the world, and its effect on the United States was beyond devastating. For a time the country just shut down as did some other countries. As many school children were forced to stay home and rely on virtual classes, small business owners were trying to figure out how they were going to survive the shutdown, and scientists were frantically working around the clock to develop a vaccine. High school and college graduation ceremonies ended up being conducted virtually, and masks were the rule of the day. We weren’t even allowed to hug family members in our homes, and it seemed like forever until things finally began to loosen up, and suddenly the miracle occurred. We ultimately had not one, but two vaccines that could be administered by injections in the arm. Now things could now return to normal as the vaccines wiped out the virus. But that didn’t happen because, for some strange reason, not everyone wanted get the shots. As a result the virus and its variant got a foothold on us again, and that has necessitated some very unpopular mandates by President Biden, who was enraged by those who have refused to be vaccinated. Opinions vary, but I simply cannot understand why people will risk contracting a killer disease or spreading it around instead of opting for a shot or two that will keep them well. Now that football season has arrived, packed stadiums with fans who have eschewed wearing masks seem as if they would be a breeding ground for COVID-19 or its variant. I hope I’m wrong, but the only way to beat this damn thing is with massive vaccinations. Please help and get vaccinated!
Spoiled!
COVID-19 reared its ugly head here last Friday as it forced the cancelation of Wheeling Park’s home football opener against Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph. Dwayne Rogers, Wheeling Park’s athletics director, said that game will not be made up, but he added that an effort will be made to schedule another game on Park’s open date. Last season COVID-19 knocked the Patriots out of the playoffs.
Ponder This:
My grandmother was a very tough woman. She buried three husbands, and two of them were just napping.
~ Rita Rudner
Read the full article
0 notes
Text
Analgesic culture: can reframing pain make it go away?
The way we think about pain could change how much we actually suffer
Margee Kerr and Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
Sat 23 Jan 2021 16.00 GMTLast modified on Sun 24 Jan 2021 10.34 GMT
We’ve all got a story about pain. Maybe it’s that time you broke your arm skating, or the time you finished the game on a twisted ankle, or the 10 hours of labour without an epidural. Maybe your story of pain is a story of violence, the injury and trauma of an assault. Maybe it’s a story of terror. Or it’s heartbreak, the seemingly endless depths of grief and despair after a loss. Whatever it is, (almost) all of us have experienced what we call pain and we’re not in a hurry to experience it again.
But have you ever tried to define that pain? When you’re telling the story, how do you explain the pain? Do you try to quantify the injury – how many broken bones, the size of the bruise, the amount of blood? Or do you describe the cause – the type of cancerous cells, the crowning baby, the sharp knife? But what if there was no obvious cause? And how do you communicate the intensity? Is it a searing or scalding burn, a throbbing or dull pressure, a pounding or stabbing headache? Is it worse than a bee sting, but not as bad as a dog bite?
When we say “pain”, we tend not to be specific, other than to say where it hurts (and even “where” can be hard to pinpoint). We say a root canal is painful, as is a cut finger, as is chemotherapy, as is arthritis, as is muscle ache, as is eating hot peppers, as is a broken heart, yet these experiences are wildly different from one another. Their single link is that we use this one astonishingly flexible but utterly insufficient word to describe them all. The more we question this, the more we are confronted by the fact that pain is complex, hard to describe and even harder to understand.
Pain is a big concept. It is constructed not only from anatomical structures and neurochemical phenomena, but also where we are, who we’re with, the reason we’re there, our previous experiences with pain, what we expect to feel and what we want. How we react in this moment and how we think about it in retrospect determine whether it will become part of the rush or the trauma. It is shaped by our genetic material, the physical environment in which we are born and raised, and our personal morals and values, which in turn are forged in and framed by the culture, religion and politics of our time.
And right now, we are suffering from the symptoms of a socially dysfunctional relationship with pain. Pain is complex phenomenon, yet the way we treat it is not. We have more ways to pharmacologically manage pain, but opioids and over-the-counter analgesics often cause more problems than they solve. The increasing availability of ever more powerful drugs means that more and more, we expect to be pain-free. And when we aren’t, this has serious consequences for our health and happiness. The irony is that the more we try to suppress pain, the more we feel it.
The more we try and suppress pain, the more we feel it
It’s not just the drugs that promise to deliver this pain-free existence. Powerful forces – from big pharmaceutical companies to Instagram to the relentless narrative of consumerism – tell us that we can feel good, that we deserve to feel good and that we should feel good all the time.
In an article for the British Psychological Society blog, Christopher Eccleston, director of the Centre for Pain Research at the University of Bath, wrote: ‘The 21st-century world we live in can be characterised as an ‘analgesic culture’, one in which we work to avoid pain and distress. When the avoidance of pain fails our first thoughts are that any pain should be short-lived, diagnostically relevant, treatable and a cause for empathy, sympathy or social assistance.” When we experience pain that doesn’t meet that criteria, that pain hurts more; the flaw in our relationship with pain is based on our expectation that we shouldn’t have to suffer it.
In the 1980s, Harvard psychiatrist Arthur Barsky warned that America was becoming a nation more sensitive to pain and offered some convincing data to back up his claim. He noted that where community surveys from the 1920s found respondents had 0.82 episodes of serious illness a year, by the 1980s this had increased to 2.12 episodes. Even after accounting for increases in awareness and life expectancy, the differences were significant. Americans were objectively healthier, yet they said they felt worse. His argument – and he was not the first or last to make it – was that our tolerance for discomfort decreased as our expectation to be comfortable increased.
In our defence, this wasn’t an entirely unreasonable expectation – after all, during the 20th century, we developed treatments and vaccines for many acute and infectious illnesses, came up with new pharmacological ways to address pain, our life expectancy doubled, and the safety of our homes and workplaces increased. But as hard as pain is to define, it’s equally difficult to reduce completely – not even the strongest opioids can reliably do it. This mismatch between expectation and reality has darkened our perception of the pain we’re in and has made it feel worse.
More than 30 years later, the trends Barsky observed appear to have grown. In 2017, the US National Bureau of Economic Research, published an article analysing survey data from 2011. It showed that Americans reported aches and pains more often than any other nation. According to the survey, 34.1% of Americans reported feeling physical pain “often” or “very often”. Australia, at 31.7%, was closely followed by the UK, at 29.4%.
At the same time, the US spends more money on healthcare than any other nation, about $11,172 per person in 2018. But again, Americans say they feel worse. Speaking to The Atlantic about the data, Barsky suggested Americans assume all aches and pains can and should be treatable, and that it would therefore be intolerable to suffer them. “Curable pain is unbearable pain,” he told the magazine. ‘It’s when you think you shouldn’t have to suffer it, that there should be some solution out there, that it becomes even more intolerable.”
In one example, swearing lessened our feeling of pain
As we adjust our lives around avoidance and suppression, we internalise the message that we cannot handle pain. And when we limit our chances to get hurt, we fail to learn that we can get back up again. This has serious, demonstrable consequences for our ability to deal with both the physical and emotional pain that life will inevitably throw at us, and fuels a paradigm in which we don’t believe we have control over pain without the aid of drugs, surgery or medical intervention.
Our reliance on drugs and surgery is an unintended consequence of the incredible advances in medicine. The dominance of the biomedical model of the human body helped foster those advances, but it has left us with a big blind spot when it comes to understanding and managing pain. This model considers the human body as made up of constituent parts that can be assessed and repaired – just find the broken bit and fix it. Treating the human body like a car can be useful, but this ignores the role of emotion and cognitive processing in the generation and management of pain. It also means that many of us still think some kinds of pain are more “real” than others, and it’s the reason that when someone says “It’s all in your head”, it’s not typically meant kindly.
The invented divide between “emotional” and “physical” pain is the biggest misconception we need to unlearn. Our emotional states have a demonstrable impact on our physical state and vice versa.
The artificial division of mind and body also means potential pathways for easing pain have been ignored. For example, a 2013 study published in the journal Pain found that when the meaning of a painful experience was reframed from detrimental to beneficial, participants exhibited a much higher tolerance. But what was more interesting was the fact that this increased tolerance seemed to have been aided by the co-activation of the opioid and cannabinoid systems, our endogenous painkillers. How we think about painful experiences has measurable neurobiological effects that change how we feel pain.
In one example, swearing can lessen the perception of pain. Of course, as relieving as a well-timed expletive can be in the short term, we can’t swear our way to a better relationship with pain. That’s going to take a lot more work.
This is an edited extract from Ouch! Why Pain Hurts, and Why it Doesn’t Have To by Margee Kerr and Linda Rodriguez McRobbie, published by Bloomsbury Sigma at £18.99. To order a copy for £16.52 for to guardianbookshop.com
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jan/23/analgesic-culture-can-reframing-pain-make-it-go-away
0 notes
Text
Can jan 20th hurry the fuck up
0 notes
Photo
Top Ten Things to do in Las Vegas for the Holidays
1. Cactus Garden Lighting at Ethel M. Chocolates
If the idea of over half a million twinkling Christmas lights draped over three acres of cactus sounds exciting, then you must a visit the Chocolate Wonderland at Ethel M Chocolates Factory and Cactus Garden in Henderson, NV. Inspired by the kitchen of Ethel Mars (which date back to 1910), Forrest Mars Sr. created Ethel M Chocolates in his mother’s honor.
The huge Ethel M's cactus garden out front features a spectacular display of more than half a million holiday lights, chocolate houses and sculptures, and demonstrations of Ethel M Chocolate creations. The display will be open from Tuesday, November 7th - Jan 1, 2018. Admission to Chocolate Wonderland is free and includes a factory tour. Special seasonal chocolate collections are also available for purchase.
2. Vegas! The Show Holiday Spectacular Edition
Join our show partner this holiday season as Vegas! The Show presents a holiday rendition of the performance at the Saxe Theater located inside the Planet Hollywood Miracle Mile Shops. From November 20th – December 31st 2017, the show will include additional fun filled dance numbers and festive costumes, while celebrating the timeless Holiday music made famous by your favorite Las Vegas stars! Ticket prices start at $99.99 for general admission.
3. Modern Day Sleigh Rides with Sundance Helicopters
Bring your kids for their very first helicopter ride aboard our modern day sleigh rides with special child rates from $59 for kids up to 12 years of age for tour dates of Dec. 22 - Jan 7, 2018. Saint Nick will also be available Dec. 22-24, 2017 from 6pm to 9pm at the terminal for photo opportunities, hand out holiday goodies, and for story times.
4. Magical Forest at Opportunity Village
Christmas is a time for giving. What better way to give this time of year than a visit to the Magical Forest which is celebrating another year of providing holiday joy to the Las Vegas community. Join the more than 150,000 people that visit the Forest every year. Feast your eyes at the more than three million lights on hundreds of decorated trees. Ride the Forest Express passenger train, take a spin on the Carousel or visit Santa. There is fun for the whole family and plenty of special events and offers throughout the Forest season. Children general admission ticket prices start at $10.00 and adult general admission ticket prices start at $12.00.
5. New Year’s Eve Spectacular with Sundance Helicopters
Ring in the new year in the skies or atop a scenic overlook! We will be the only helicopter company flying on New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas. Let’s welcome 2018 in style by viewing the fireworks extravaganza by air or at our private Red Rock overlook for an exclusive party with amazing fireworks across the Las Vegas skyline! Hurry! Book now from $499! Limited seating. Tour almost sold out!
6. Ice Rink at The Cosmopolitan
This holiday season, The Cosmopolitan transforms the Boulevard Pool into The Ice Rink. Located high above the Strip, guests will enjoy skating on over 4,200 square feet of real ice, roasting s'mores by the fire pits, and warm cocktails. The Ice Rink also features light snow showers which occurs every 30 minutes. Tickets from $10.00.
7. Scuba Santa at the Silverton Aquarium
Visitors can see Santa Claus dressed up in scuba gear and submerged in the Silverton's 117,000-gallon aquarium. Santa Claus will be swimming among the 4,000 sharks, stingrays and tropical fish this holiday season.
8. Mystic Falls Winter Wonderland
Considered one of the great Las Vegas attractions, the Mystic Falls indoor park at Sam's Town goes through a transformation at Christmas time. Marking the kick off of the holiday season this time-honored tradition goes back to 1994, with decorations beginning in Sam's Town's porte-cochere and decorative snowflakes leading guests through the property to Mystic Falls Park. Garland streams, wreath-adorned lampposts and snow-covered trees fill the atrium, and decor offers guests a glimpse inside Santa's workshop, from elves making toys to loading up Santa's sleigh with goodies for children. Bring your camera and enjoy this Winter Wonderland Décor.
Mystic Falls indoor park is a holiday haven this time of the year. A nine-minute laser light show is the centerpiece of the display featuring a variety of classic holiday songs, like "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "Let It Snow," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and "Frosty the Snowman."
9. Tournament of Kings Holiday Dinner Show
Make 'tis the season for holiday cheer at the Tournament of Kings Holiday Dinner Show inside the Excalibur Hotel and Casino. Guests of all ages will take part in the festivities as The Tournament of Kings Arena is transformed into a medieval winter wonderland with décor, music, costumes, cheer and "snow." The show will feature magnificently designed holiday costumes, majestic banners, flags and new castle lights, which will be illuminated as Merlin conjures snowfall on the kingdoms.
Kings, queens, knights and maidens of all ages are invited to eat, drink and have a holly jolly time, while watching the legend of Prince Christopher's journey toward knighthood unfold. Tickets from $65.00.
10. A December to Remember at the Neon Museum
You don’t have to wait for the holidays to appreciate the Neon Museum’s amazing collection of vintage Vegas signage, but everything’s brighter with some extra holiday cheer (and live caroling by the Las Vegas Academy choir). Start with ornament-making and Santa snapshots, then at 5pm head into the Boneyard for hot cocoa and an after-dark stroll past the city’s illuminated history. This event is free and open to the public; reservations are not required.
Las Vegas is the place to be during the holidays as it offers a giant list of “to-dos” for the family. ‘Tis the season to create memories and experiences.
#holidays#holidays in las vegas#las vegas#vegas#experiences#things to do in las vegas#things to do in las vegas this holiday season#'tis the season
6 notes
·
View notes
Photo
Metro Swim Shop Celebrating MLK Day with 15% off on Swimming Costume
Metro Swim Shop Celebrating MLK Day with 15% off on Swimming Costume excluding Tech Suits. Limited offer.
Starting from 20th Jan to 30th Jan 2020.
Hurry up to grab the discount sale.
Visit: https://metroswimshop.com/
0 notes
Last Seen Blogs
batmassil-blog
Custom Tattoo Artist And Painter
gskiphotography
Gski Photography
singlemeglio
Daje Con L'estate 😎☀️
vanille-web
lulu