#yes i can post this now it's march 15th in some places | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bellasbookclub · 8 months

Text

Bella's Book Club FAQ 🍎🌲📚

What is Bella's Book Club?

Bella's Book Club, (sometimes abbreviated to "BBC"), is an interactive virtual book club created by the Three Books One Plot podcast. Each month, participants read a selected book from the list of Bella Swan’s (really Stephenie Meyer’s) favorite books and authors as it appears in Chapter 13 of Midnight Sun, then come together to discuss it on Discord and other social media.

Where can I find Bella's Book Club?

We post most of our important information here on our Tumblr, as well as in the #announcements channel of our Discord. You can also follow along on our Goodreads and Storygraph (mainly used to keep track of past and present books we’ve read/are reading.)

Who can join Bella's Book Club?

BBC is open to anyone! You do not have to have participated in previous discussions, or even be a listener of the 3B1P podcast (though we’d love that, of course.) All we ask is that you be prepared to encounter mature themes and situations in some of our books (and discussions.)

How do I participate in Bella's Book Club?

BBC is designed to let you choose the level of participation you’re comfortable with. Most of the action (and fun) happens over on our Discord, during our monthly real-time discussions, but you're also welcome to share your thoughts or fanworks on a book by tagging us on tumblr or sending an ask/submission. We also sometimes post challenges, ask/tag games, and “scavenger hunts” to go along with our book of the month, and encourage each other to get creative. Past BBCers have made moodboards, fanbinds, playlists, shitposts, written fic and parodies, done scientific research, and even recreated recipes from the books we’ve read! The pressure is totally off, though—you’re welcome to read along and lurk from the cozy corner of your choice.

Who runs Bella's Book Club?

BBC is run primarily by bookworm nerds M (@gashousegables) and G (@volturialice) with occasional help from Shannon (@flowerslut).

M (she/they) is an Australian book nerd with librarian aspirations. From Animorphs to a Smeyer-adjacent Dragon girl phase, she's also the weeaboo in residence for the book club. When not feverishly promoting their Virtual Best Friend known as the Libby App they are swallowing pulpy Romances and mandatory sociological theory.

Favorite books: Imagica, the Locked Tomb series, Friday's Child, Picnic at Hanging Rock

G (she/her) is an American book nerd who grew up devouring like 3 high fantasy doorstoppers a week and considered the Scholastic Book Fair a national holiday. She enjoys reading gory Jacobean/Elizabethan tragedies for fun and has worked in Shakespeare education when she’s not stanning her local library.

Favorite books: Annihilation, The Bloody Chamber, the Locked Tomb series, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

Shannon (she/her) is an American jock who read oodles of fic but thought books were mainly good for propping up wobbly tables until she had her own Reading Renaissance in 2022. Now she's on a quest to discover new favorites by seeking out recs and devouring every book in sight!

Favorite books: We Have Always Lived in the Castle, the Locked Tomb series, The Vanishing Half

When is Bella's Book Club?

This year, Bella's Book Club runs September 2023 through June 2024, followed by a break for our summer reading challenge. Books are announced one month in advance, and discussions take place once a month on Monday nights at 8 PM EST (Tuesday mornings at 11 AM AEST) during 3B1P’s off weeks. In the event of a postponement, we announce it on Tumblr and Discord.

The current discussion dates for 2023-4 are:

October 2nd

October 30th

November 27th

December 26th (Tuesday!)

January 22nd

February 19th

March 18th

April 15th

May 13th

June 10th

Nominations/recs for the 2024 Summer Reading Challenge will open May 20th.

Do you do movie nights?

Yes! We sometimes take a break from reading to host Bella's Movie Club. Many of the books we read have been adapted for film and TV (and when no adaptation is available, we often watch a thematically similar movie.) We host movie nights on our Discord, scheduled according to demand and availability. We usually announce movie nights on Tumblr and Discord a week or so in advance, and schedule them on weekend nights (US)/weekend or Monday mornings (Australia) to accommodate the max number of time zones. If you’ve never watched a movie on Discord before, it’s super easy—anyone who wants to watch joins in via our voice channel, mutes themself (if you don’t know how to do this, the mods can do it for you), and then chats (mostly jokes) in real time via the #movie-discussion channel. It’s a rollicking time.

What books have you read in the past?

For our Season 1 (Twilight) lineup we read Jane Eyre, The Princess Bride, Sense and Sensibility, Tooth and Claw, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Little Women, and Northanger Abbey.

What’s the BBC Summer Reading Challenge?

The Bella's Book Club Summer Reading Challenge is our yearly summer break activity, designed to coincide with 3B1P’s hiatuses. Phase 1 of the challenge involves recommending up to 5 books through a Google form. In Phase 2, everyone’s recs are compiled into a list. Readers then choose 5 books from the list to read (and, optionally, review) during the summer months! You can find last year’s list here (and reccer spotlights here.)

Why are the books on your list Like That?

The list we’re pulling from was made by a white Mormon woman for her Not Like Other Girls YA protagonist. (We’ve found that Stephenie Meyer’s taste in books varies from “a quality classic but uninspired as a rec” to “this is actually a pretty cool deep cut.”) But don’t let that put you off too hard—we love reading through a more intersectional lens and Queering The Narrative, for example! We also take summers off to read each other’s book recommendations, which can be of any genre and include more diverse characters and authors. Even when choosing our lineup of monthly books, we try to schedule so that we end up with diversity of genre, era, style, and subject matter if nothing else.

***

got more questions? send us an ask!

happy reading! (we'll see you at book club)

#faq #book club #booklr #online book club #twilight #bella swan #bella's book club #official™ announcements

24 notes · View notes

absolutebl · 3 years

Text

This Week in BL

March 2021 Part 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

This is a LONG ONE, it’s been A WEEK everyone.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Lovely Writer Ep 5 - a little slow this week, but at least Gene finally flirted back, and very cute flirting it was, too. Also we got Aey’s motivation, background, and love interest. Thank goodness for that.

Brothers Ep 8 - still pants, what can I say? Clearly I am a BL masochist. Very embarrassing for everyone concerned.

1000 Stars Ep 9 - the conflict over Tian’s father was REALLY well done. The plot of this drama is excellent, the leads are great together, and yes I totally cried. What, you didn’t?

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Word of Honor (China) Ep 16-18 - big battle fighty fighty stabby stabby. Ep 17 switches to “this drama isn’t big enough for two chaotic-neutral godlings!” So what do they do? Drink together and bicker... A LOT. Then in Ep 18 we all get the dubious joy of really freaky puppets. (I HATE puppets.) Also how is China letting this be so SO VERY VERY GAY? Also, I wanna walk through the forest wearing a smanshy purple robe and waving a big fuck-off white fan around simply because I’m a pretentious fuss monger. And frankly, I feel like this is an achievable life goal for me.

We Best Love 2 (Taiwan) Ep 4 - not gonna lie, this is looking to be one of my top 3 BLs of 2021. It’s SO GOOD. Big bonus to this ep for treating stalker behavior like the mental illness it is and not as some dumb representation of enduring love.

The Most Peaceful Place is My Place (Vietnam) Ep 1 - finally dropped (find it under NƠI BÌNH YÊN NHẤT LÀ VỀ BÊN EM on O2′s channel). It’s got actors already comfortable with BL and looks pretty good so far. An angry tsundere uke reunited with his ex, a stoic chef, giving us lots of snap, crackle, and pop out the gate.

Dear Uranus (Taiwan GL) Ep 2 - I want to love it, but it is just moving too fast. There’s not enough character dev and then they’re throwing flashbacks in? It feels like a treatment rather than a show, and a rushed treatment at that. Bummer.

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 2 (AKA Ep 3-4) - let the cheesy popcorn continue! Idiot remains an idiot; ingenue remains an ice queen; nice gay guy remains nice and gay; obsessive stalker brother is getting ever more whackadoddle. Of course these last two have the best chemistry. (It’s caregiver codependency and the salvation trope. We got us a Leo/Fiat situation going on.) Plus lots of classic BL tropes because OF COURSE there are lots of tropes.

Occasionally, I am tempted to argue that shows like H4 or Cherry Magic or Ossan’s Love aren’t technically BL because of the office setting and age of the protags - but then they all behave like high school students anyway, so *shrug*

Stand Alones

Cute little Taiwanese micro BL Friend or Lover dropped, about bisexual realization within a friendship group. Normally these are too short for me, but this one did pretty good with its 15 minutes of charm, plus it’s abad boy + shy softy pairing.

Breaking News - Thai BL

Fish Upon the Sky released its actual trailer. The upside-down kiss is gone, which makes everyone sad, and it seems far less rivals to lovers than the first iteration, which makes ME sad. But it still looks good and a more classic BL than GMMTV has given us in a while. New trailer focused more on the makeover trope and they’ve upped Mix’s role (the object of everyone’s affection) now that he’s proved himself. (Or they are using him more to carry the trailer since he has a fan base form 1k*). Starts April 9 on GMMTV in 1K*’s time slot, probably with a 10 ep run.

2gether the movie is apparently coming April 22 to Thai theaters. F4 Thailand must be having issues or GMMTV just wants to milk the BrightWin cash cow. It’s rumored to be a combination of 2gehter + Still 2gether with some extra scenes and ending. Also, one assumes a lot will be cut out, if it’s movie length.

Call It What You Want released its updated trailer. If anything, it looks more scary than before. What are we in for? April 9th.

Nitiman got a release date, May 7 on One31.

I Told Sunset About You 2 got an updated release date of May 27 on LineTV.

Second Chance the series is coming to LineTV on March 29. I don’t know much about this one. Tons of familiar faces (mostly TharnType side dishes) and some nice looking new talent but a dearth of eng subs. I think it may take on Brothers’ time slot. Line did eng subs for Brothers so maybe they will do 2nd Chance too?

Close Friend the series is coming April 22. This is a combination of 6 couples with 6 story arcs as music videos (maybe)? It’s an epic fan service with familiar faces like OhmFluke (UWMA), MaxNat (LBC also in Y-Destiny), YoonLay (YYY also in Y-Destiny), KimCop (GenY), and JaFirst (TT2).

Y-Destiny starts March 30, and has starting dropping couple’s trailers. I’m still suspicious given the director but it seems like there is plot (or plots) and a theme. Looks to be a series of 7 single ep vignettes (amended, see comments, might be 2 eps each for 14 eps total), different couple each time, some with supernatural elements, all with decent chemistry and acting chops.

Sun MaxNat’s tutor/student arc

Mon jaded rich kid meets poor innocent

Tues sports romance enemies to lovers

Weds the messy realistic actual dating one

Thurs hot ghost boyfriend (sad)

Fri YoonLayPerth coping with loss and finding new love (sad). This one will all rest on Lay's acting so we know it’s in safe hands. Our boy is going to KILL it.

Sat time-slip memory loss reunion romance

I’m thinking we can’t expect any of these to end happy or be classic BL. They’re gonna be more slice of life-ish.

Gossip - BL Outside of Thailand

Scholar Ryu’s Wedding Ceremony AKA Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (Korean historical BL) got a legit teaser (eng sub here). @curriculumvtae reports that it’s releasing April 15th on WeTV (Philippines & Thailand) and Idol Romance (South Korea), while Will of Thai Bl says it’ll be on Viki too. It’s a short run of 8 ep built on a fake relationship trope (arranged marriage variant):

Ryu Ho Seon’s (Kang In Soo from You Wish) arranged marriage turns out to be with his expected bride’s brother, Choi Ki Wan (Lee Se Jin from Mr Heart). Ryu tries to undo the marriage, but his ill mother opposes this saying the scandal would be too much. Meanwhile, Kim Tae Hyeong (Jang Eui Soo from Where Your Eyes Linger), a senior at Ryu’s school, comes to congratulate him and falls in love with Choi. Then one day, the original bride disappears.

Okay it seems a bit twisty turny for ONLY 8 EPS, but oh my goodness how excited are we? Our first intentional historical BL out of Korea!

We already knew Hong Kong was doing a remake of Japan’s Ossan’s Love under the same name (not my favorite Japanese BL but so very popular) but it’s now reported to be coming to Viu in June. Who knows how the CFA will take it. Depends on whether Hong Kong bows before the NO GAY KISSES regs or if they are going to use this as a political nose thumb... things could get cray with this puppy (the original has several kisses and s shower scene). Are we back in Addicted territory only with added comedy and civil unrest?

Speaking of Japan, Absolute BL (AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai vs Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko) dropped sooner than anyone thought, March 27. But being Japanese who knows how/when/if we get subs. Protag finds himself trapped in a world of BL, but being straight he fights against any hot guy that draws near, but the whole world (literally) is conspiring against him. It’s a parody adapted from a yoai.

What with Absolute BL from Japan plus Lovely Writer and Call it What You Want from Thailand, is 2021 the year of BL being ultra self referential? Sure feels like it.

In Case You Missed It

Faded a gay micro film from Taiwan from 2017 deals with parental acceptance and serves up a ton of BL tropes (piggyback, forehead kiss, etc). I’m pretty sure this was a propaganda piece for legalization of gay marriage, and it’s an interesting nugget of BL history as a result. Yes, it ends happy. It’s cute.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed a day later than actual air date for accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

Man there’s a lot going on right now! Spring has sprung... I suppose.

P.S. I cannot believe I missed Absolute BL as a blog name. Numbnuts = me.

354 notes · View notes

rockmiyabideusexmachina · 2 years

Text

2022 Megaman Valentine’s Day Contest Results! (Part 1)

My sincerest thanks for your patience again, as this has unfortunately stretched into March. The world has been a tough, challenging place lately, and I appreciate all of you who took the time out of your lives to draw something for this contest. As well as those who continue to support me and it after 15 years of holding these art contests, for the fun of it. Every year I feel like it might be time to stop, as the fandom gets older and game interest is in a lull, but hopefully I can continue on to year 20 or more. Where does time go?

Promo art credit: @hotbloodedmachine

Anywho, you’ve waited long enough than to have me ramble on a ton, so here we go. This year we had 13 total entrants submit 18 unique entries. Well, and then some, with all the comics and bonus pieces. After the break, you’ll see all the entries from the first category, which focused on art with a little bit of red.

As I originally wrote this, I had saved my draft. Only to find out I must have hit an image and text limit, and half my work was not saved, despite clicking on save. I really didn’t want to use ‘tumblr ate my post’ as an excuse for being even more tardy on this, but here we are. So this is now broken into 2 parts and comments are a little shorter, since I had to redo it.

Originally, on top of the standard two categories, the third wildcard entry was going to be a bonus for one person to come away with first-place prize money if they could bribe me with their best Akane art. But then I changed it and made that a full prize category as well. But between making it super hard for me to choose between any sort of Akane drawing, the rough years of Covid affecting us all, and now war on the whole world’s mind, I felt I needed to do something nice for everyone who participated this year. It is the 15th anniversary after all.

So, all 13 people who submitted art this year are winners. Good news, everyone!! Yes, you all win! Even if you do not place in the top 3 for a category, everyone will be getting $50 sent to their Paypal account for participating. I will be contacting all participants about their winnings soon.

________________________________________________________

CATEGORY 1 (Talent): Some Talent -> Some Red

For the talent category, participants were to draw some form of visual art put on display at the Kattelox Art Gallery or being presented to the Museum Curator for a Valentine’s Day exhibit. Something red was required to be in the piece, to allude to the classic moment from the first Legends game.

For the full gallery of entries, you can head to this link HERE. Beneath each entrant’s name will also be a link to their individual pieces at full-size.

1.) @nightopianfoxgirl: $150 [IMAGE 1] [IMAGE 2]

Loved the Instagram-style way to pull off the requirements as a way to promote the art in the gallery! The painting of Laika and Pride is really unique with the abstract art style for their clothing, and still very cute and romantic. It really fit the theme well and felt like something that would hang in an art museum.

2.) mattasaurs: $75 [IMAGE 1]

The little bit of red in the painting from X’s ear piece in the art was so subtle, even I almost missed it. But that works. A little X DiVE fanservice between swimsuit Alia and X in the art, which still gives off a wholesomely romantic aura. And, well, I guess a tiny bit of fanservice from the curator herself.

3.) @dahlia-the-nurd: $50 [IMAGE 1]

You are my Sunstar, my only Sunstar, you make me happy on this V-Day... I liked the sculpture concept for this piece and despite not being fully colored, you still got the red in to fit the content requirements.

And the rest of our entries, in alphabetical order by alias.

Still a winner.) @alyssa–senpai: $50 [IMAGE 1]

A cute pic with a flower girl giving her guy some flowers and a kiss. Plenty of red to fit that part of the theme, but was looking for a little more to tie it into the art and museum requirements of the category.

Still a winner but you got your prize money for another category.) @digitallyfanged: [IMAGE 1] [IMAGE 2]

There’s a not really dirty magazine in the museum. It might still be fun to look at. There’s nobody around. You won’t get in trouble if anyone sees you. While yes, talent-wise, this piece probably would have taken the top prize on style alone, I chose to award you for your other entry. The subtle amount of red from the lipstick on Zero’s cheek to the highlights to the Heartless logo on the wine bottle all stood out against the darker color of the cover pic.

Still a winner.) foidot: $50 [IMAGE 1]

Cute pic with the little bit of red by featuring Roll, but just was looking for it to fit more into the art and museum part of the category’s theme.

Still a winner but you got your prize money for another category.) @subzeroiceskater: [IMAGE 1] [IMAGE 2] [IMAGE 3] [IMAGE 4]

Very enjoyable, but I chose to reward you for your color works in another category. Blast Man you are horrible. As usual, very clever and informative, utilizing the Robot Master’s personalities and in-game dialogue to fit the art/museum theme really well. I had a good laugh at Tundra’s improvisation with Sparkey the Terracotta Turkey, and the comic really just worked so well on all points.

_____________________________________________________

But of course, this is not all. Please head to my second post for part 2 of the results HERE.

#Rockman #Megaman #Mega Man #Rock Miyabi's 2022 Megaman Valentine's Day Contest #Too Many Tags To List

10 notes · View notes

sevenfactorial · 4 years

Text

Info about applying to PhD programs in pure math

This is... basically what it sounds like. I’m sure a lot of this is applicable to other PhD applications but I’m only very familiar with pure math. This is aimed at current seniors about to apply, but there is a section about prepping for applications in advance.

The highlights:

Recommendation letters are the most important thing. Most schools ask for 3ish. Try to get people who know you well, not just a student in the class. Someone you've conducted research with and one from a different institution are ideal if possible

Ask for rec letters at least a month before the due date is a good rule of thumb.

Research experience is probably the second most important.

Get the opinion of multiple professors who know you in order to build a list of potential schools. Then widdle it down to your will-actually-apply list (probably 8-14 ish).

My opinion but please apply to at least 3-4 safety/match schools. Even when you're fully qualified, acceptance rates are simply low enough that a bit of bad luck means getting rejected or waitlisted from a few of them.

Most pure math due dates are in early-mid Dec but a few schools are in Nov and some are as late as mid-Jan.

Schools will generally have their own graduate application portals. Some are better organized than others. Some require you to submit all your material before you can send a request for submitting rec letters so plan accordingly.

Acceptance letters will very slowly start going out in mid-Feb but the vast majority of programs won't send out anything until like, March and not be done until later than that. Accordingly, wait until at least mid-March to begin freaking out if you haven't been accepted anywhere.

You should 100% be expecting a tuition waiver and stipend from a program if you're applying for a PhD.

The rest of the posts is.... ridiculously long so I’m putting it under a cut. I mention things to do in advance to help you decide if grad school is right for you and things that make your application look good, give a full time line of the process, a list of things applications commonly ask for, and some miscellaneous notes. (The points above are repeated in more detail).

In addition, some links to other resources math students may appreciate:

an old post of mine about grad school apps (overlaps a lot and features some ranting from during the application process)

about REUs including my addition specifically about math ones

summer programs for undergrads that aren’t REUs by @counter-example and @jungleuniversity

Tips for prospective grad student visits

Also about prospective grad student visits by @thisurlhasbeenleftasanexercise

Also for context, I went to a large state school in the US for undergrad. I started as a CS major and added on math as a secondary major after my first year and dropped CS during third year. I’m primarily interested in discrete and algebra, though I have a significant topology background from undergrad too. I got most of my advice from people around the department, as I became pretty involved during my third year. Now, I’m a first year grad student at another large state school in the US, generally considered pretty decent though not a “top math program” at all. Not that much else has happened so far.

Things in advance (aka things to help you decide if grad school is for you and things that look good on an application)

Take the standard classes. For pure math, this is at least one semester of linear alg, abstract alg, and analysis each. Linear and analysis are also good for applied math but I'm not sure what else if anything is considered standard.

Take some grad classes if you have the option. Most people are not ready for this until senior year, but some do manage as juniors. Talk to people who know you well and the prof teaching the class before you do this though.

Try to get involved with research whether this is through independent studies at your home institution, REUs, internships, or other stuff.

Be involved in your department. This helps with getting you more personalized advice for applying.

The rough suggested timeline (assuming junior yr is your second to last year and senior is your last of undergrad)

Junior April: Take the math subject GRE so you can take it again in Sep or Oct if desired (perhaps not applicable atm). The general can be taken kinda whenever; I suggest fall of senior year.

Junior April/May: Start talking to professors/post docs/mentors/etc. about programs you may be interested in. Write/type it down. Don't worry if it gets long, you will shorten again later.

Summer: Do some research if possible; an REU or research at your institution (if an REU, also get your mentor's opinion on potential schools towards the end as well)

Senior Sep: Start whittling down your list. 8-14 seems to be the "normal" range of schools to apply to but some people panic and do more. Remember that asking for waivers is completely acceptable but applying is still just generally expensive (I spent around $800 for 10 schools)

Senior Sep: Apply for the NSF GRFP. You can apply as an undergrad senior and once during your first or second year of grad school if you didn't already get it. The due date is in mid-late OC but ideally you'll have a draft of your essays and ask for rec letters by the end of Sep, if not earlier.

Senior early Nov: Ask for rec letters if you haven't already. The rule of thumb is a month before the due date. Provide them a list of schools you want to apply to including due date and where/how to submit as soon as possible (as well as anything else they request of course; many ask for a resume and a draft of your personal statement).

Senior Dec-Jan: Submit stuff! Pure math programs typically have deadlines in Dec or early Jan. I think the big days are Dec 10th, Dec 15th, and Jan 15th but some are earlier or later. (applied math masters tend to be earlier I think; in Nov). I suggest putting them all into a list or calendar. In addition, some schools won't let letter writers submit until all of your stuff is submitted so start applications early, even if you don't finish them immediately.

Senior Feb: Programs will slowly start sending out offers in early Feb and pick up in mid Feb, but don't fret until AT LEAST the beginning of March! Grad programs are just way too slow at getting out offers for it to be worth worrying until then (and even then, it's definitely not time to panic but mathematicians are frequently anxious people so I get it). Waitlists are slower to come out; usually starting in early March. Also note, there are many programs that don't actually send out replies to everyone unfortunately.

Senior late Feb-early April: prospective student days! They might be online in 2021 unfortunately but try to attend whatever form they're in if you can (only one of my visits during spring 2020 was online since the others happen to be very early and safely beat covid in the US). Be warned, it's very possible to get offers of admissions and to visit very last minute. I do not have advice for how to make that less stressful.

Senior April 15th: Common reply deadline. If you got your offer in the first round or two, this is probably your deadline to accept. In addition, this means more offers will likely come out shortly after once more people have declined.

Senior summer: graduate. Send a completed, official transcript to your new institution. Check your new email account for stuff you're suppose to do. Some programs have some sort of program during the summer for in-coming students. Most places have graduate student training of some sort for a week or two before semester starts.

Some common things to be asked for in applications

Not actually a thing asked for but many graduate schools have their own portal for which you will have to make an account to submit an application. A few use a common system that kinda sort shares a database of accounts? Some are fine and some massively suck.

Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose: Occasionally called something else and once in a while actually separate things; will usually have a prompt of wildly differing specificity. Sometimes, the prompts come from the department itself and sometimes from the university's graduate school. I suggest having one or two "base" essays then tweaking them for each school. Sometimes a word/page limit is specified but if it's not, around 2 pages/1000 words is pretty reasonable.

Transcript. Some accept unofficial but some require official but generally not an unsealed one. I ordered myself one official transcript and sent it to multiple schools instead of paying for them to be sent to each school during the application process.

Resume or CV: Most ask for either a CV or is fine with either, in which case I give them my CV. I sent more or less the same one everywhere.

Some other notes

Yes, ask for application waivers. Just be polite about it.

Your goals for your essays are primarily to show that you're interested in math and math research and are capable of like…. writing things that make sense

Do not start out an essay with either "I loved math since I was little" or "I actually didn't like math when I was young" or any variations of those. (I had one essay that started with a mildly humourous anecdote from undergrad combinatorics and another that talked about how my undergrad department has greatly affected me).

You should 100% expect to get a tuition waiver and living stipend as part of a TA fellowship (or more rarely, an research fellowship) as part of your offer of acceptance for a math PhD program (pure or applied). Health insurance is also frequently part of the package. This is not true of masters programs unfortunately.

How schools do waitlists depend wildly though most don't have super long ones like prestigious undergrads do. If you're still interested in a place you're waitlisted at, follow their instructions to confirm your placement on the waitlist then wait until April before following up again, expressing your continued interest and asking for an update. You might even want to wait until around the common deadline, April 15th. The number of people who declined before April is just really really low so nothing really happens until then.

#grad school applications #math grad school applications #math phd applications #math grad school application tips #math grad school application advise #seriously not qualified beyond i managed to do it #but hey it's good to have more people's advice for cross referencing!#seven stories #long post #grad school #god

50 notes · View notes

princecharmingmendes · 4 years

Text

Electricity | Shawn Mendes

“Going to the gym it’s already a part of Shawn’s life, but the whole atmosphere changes when he sees you waking in for the first time. It was like electricity”

sooo, even tough i’m working on a new soulmate series (follow me for more updates *wink*) i felt bad for not updating my masterlist or whatever recently, so i had this idea coming back from gym and it’s a really simple concept. anyways, i’ll stop rambling and hope you like this concept/blurb thing... that’s it, it’s not my best work, but it was what I could come up with... byeeee

*Word Count: 2.2K+

*Warnings: cursing and that's it!

*Posted: March 15th, 2020.

-*-

Shawn’s pretty sure he’s an idiot. Not that he ever doubted that, but right now he’s just one hundred percent sure he’s pathetic. Working out is a really important thing on his life, not only for working purposes, but also to be able to keep up with all the stuff he has to do in general and to keep himself healthy. So it’s no surprise he’s basically everyday on the gym or doing something, and he generally was really good on focusing only on his workout, but recently that was becoming harder and harder, all because of you.

He’d always workout on the mornings to be able to work after and be free for the rest of the day, making this routine to not have excuses to skip leg day. And since this have been for a while, he knew pretty much everyone around him enough to notice when someone new showed up, but he didn’t pay much attention. That was until the first time he saw you. You were walking into the gym with a friend, giggling about something she said with an adorable blush on your face, an oversized hoodie and a pair of black leggings, and the messiest yet most beautiful ponytail he has ever seen in his life.

He just stood there in shock, mesmerized by the sound of you laughing and breathtaking smile and his trainer even asked if he was okay, which he just nodded. He tried so hard not to look at you because he thought that was invasive and kind of a dick thing to do, he couldn’t help to find himself looking for you, trying so bad to keep his eyes to himself. He didn’t want to be a creep. The second time his trainer noticed, he told him she was the sweetest girl he ever met but was dating some dude at work. The third time he tried to ignore your presence but it was hard, you were like a magnet and your voice was like melody to his ears.

His biggest regret was telling that to his friends, they didn’t miss a beat on mocking him about the mysterious girl he’s been crazy about. Every single time he mentioned something gym related they would make some funny comment about it. Brian even decided he would join him on his workout just to see the girl that’s been on his friends mind for a while now. So a week later he joined Shawn at the gym on his usual time and couldn’t stop cursing.

“Dude, why do you wake up that early?!”

“So that I can start my day knowing I already worked out and that I’m free”

“You are fucking insane, Mendes”

“Fuck off, Brian” he said chuckling as he got there and pushed the door open.

“I better end up looking like you after all this sacrifice”

“You know that’s not how working out works, right?”

“Yeah, and that’s why I hate it”

“Shut up, you didn’t even started, dude”

“Whatever” Brian said as they approached the trainer, only to be told to start by earning up.

They followed Shawn’s insane routine, with Brian complaining at every single movement, saying it was pointless since you were not there for him to finally meet you, even tough Shawn didn’t even had the courage to talk to you. When Brian was cursing for the billionth time, Shawn saw you walking in alone and going straight to the girl who he noticed that might be your trainer.

“Dude, what’re you... oh shit, that’s her isn’t she?”

“Yeah”

“Shit, I know her”

“What?!”

“I mean, I don’t actually know her, but she’s a really good Finn’s friend”

“Finn’s? She’s not his girlfriend?”

“No, dude, he’s got a girlfriend for two years now”

“Holy shit”

“Want me to talk to her and introduce you guys?”

“That would be so awkward”

“Only if you make it”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea”

“Are we done?”

“With what?”

“Your routine? ‘Cause I honestly feel like I won’t be able to talk tomorrow”

“Yeah, we can cut it a little shorter today”

“Great, hey, Y/N!”

“Brian” Shawn hissed through gritted teeth but it was too late, you turned around to see who was calling your name, and then you shot them a breathtaking smile, or at least, Shawn was finding it extremely hard to breath.

“Brian, right?” she asked approaching both of them.

“Yeah, that’s me, and this is Shawn, my best friend”

“Hi, Shawn” she said smiling at me and offering her hand to shake, and so I did.

“Hey, nice to meet you” Shawn said unable to hold back the grin that was plastered on his pink lips.

“Are you guys done? I don’t want to bother you too”

“Yeah, we’re cool, how’ve you been?”

“Fine, actually, things are a little crazy at work but that’s a good thing right?”

“I guess so, she’s a lawyer” Brian said.

“Oh, that’s nice”

“What have you been doing?”

“I’ve been working with Shawn for the past months”

“Really? Didn’t know you had music gift”

“Oh, he doesn’t” Shawn said and the girl giggled.

“I’ve been helping him on tour”

“So basically you’ve been traveling ‘helping Shawn’ and being payed for it?”

“Pretty much” Shawn said smiling.

“Hey, I do a lot, okay?”

“Sure thing, Brian, how do I take his place?”

“Just say the word” Shawn said chuckling making Y/N giggle, his heart melting at the sound.

“Great to know you too are already friendly enough to mock me” Brian said making both of their faces red.

“Anyway, it was nice talking to you guys, but I really gotta start this so I won’t be late later”

“Sure, it was nice seeing you too, Y/N, take care” Brian said and Shawn just mumbled a quick ‘bye’ before she turned away smiling at them “now you know each other” Brian said grinning and Shawn hit the back of his head playfully.

“You idiot” Shawn said as they left the gym laughing.

-*-

Since their first introduction, they haven’t talked much but would always say ‘hi’ at least to each other everyday, and she didn’t leave his mind at all. It was getting harder to don’t seem like a creep for looking at her while she was trying to mind her own business and sometimes he even caught her staring, but quickly turning away. So when she didn’t show up one day he got worried, she didn’t seem the type to miss her training, at least, she didn’t on the last month and a half. He even considered asking what happened to her coach but decided to drop it. But for his relief, she came to talk to Shawn’s trainer about it.

“Y/N called to say she couldn’t make it”

“Oh, everything alright?”

“Yeah, she just had a meeting she had to reschedule and she’s super busy, so this was the only time she and her client could meet”

“Nice... can I ask you a favor?”

“Sure”

“I won’t be able to come here on Friday, can you keep an eye on Shawn for me?”

“Totally, I just have to ask Y/N since she’s in for his usual time”

“I can come on another time if you want” Shawn said as he finished a series, taking a break.

“I’ll talk to her, if she doesn’t mind, would it be bad for you?”

“No, not at all” Shawn said trying to contain his excitement.

“Great, thanks, Jen”

“Anytime, Duke” she said as she went back to where she was previously.

“She said Y/N finds you cute”

“What?”

“Yeah, you should ask her out”

“Dude, are you serious? Is my love life you entertainment?” Shawn asked trying to keep his features as serious as possible.

“Pretty much”

“Unbelievable”

“But for real, you should really ask her out, it’s been a while you’ve been drooling over her and not doing anything about it”

“Yeah, maybe Friday”

“Whatever works for you, rockstar, now let’s go back to work”

-*-

Friday came faster than expected. Shawn was practically hoping on the streets to get to the gym in excitement. Jen was already there when he arrived, but he didn’t spot Y/N, which calmed him a bit.

“Hey, how are you?”

“Hi, Shawn, good morning, Duke showed me his plans for you, do you mind if we change it a bit?”

“Not at all, what do you have in mind?”

“I know you have some hard times stretching, so maybe we could work on that as well? To balance things a bit”

“Sure”

“Great, Y/N will be here anytime, wanna start warming up a bit?”

“Works for me”

Just as Shawn was doing as Jen told him to, Y/N walked in wearing a pair of leggings and an oversized hoodie, as always, and her hair in two braids. He could feel his palms sweating.

“Good morning, guys” Y/N said smiling at them.

“Morning” they both answered.

“So, Jen, what are we doing today?”

“We’re not going to change much, Shawn’s going to fit in your routine”

“Good luck, dude”

“Hey, it can’t be that hard right? I think I can handle it” he said, feeling his ego being punched.

Shawn didn’t consider himself as an athlete of anything like that, but he worked out hard for a while now.

“Let’s ser about that, tiger” Y/N said with a grin playing on her lips.

“Enough with the flirting, can we start?”

“Yes, Ma’am” Shawn said as soon as he felt his face heat up and Y/N’s cheek get a little pinker than usual.

He was so wrong. His workout routine was pretty intense, but hers were just something else. She trained a lot the muscles on her anda and back due to pain she has from stress and position at work, so there’s not so much weight lifting but what she does is just as bad, Shawn found himself almost begging to grab a few weights or something on his routine. When Jen announced the worst was over he almost felt happy, then he remembered she told him she was going to help them stretch, which was literally his biggest fear.

He was mesmerized by Y/N’s ability to apparently ignore the natural humane positions and simply became like a doll on Jen’s hands. He just stood there in awe with every movement she made while he couldn’t even touch his toes. But even tough the training was completely different and out of his comfort zone, he swear he never had more fun in his life. Y/N was constantly cracking jokes and making some sarcastic yet funny comments about pretty much everything. He was also impressed at how naturally the conversation was flowing between them, they sometimes ever forgot that Jen was right there beside them the whole time, only being remembered due to the exercises and the bickering about their flirting situation. Shawn found himself disappointed on how fast the minutes flew by.

“Well, it was fun, guys, see you two on Monday” Jen said as we grabbed our stuff.

“See you, Jen, thank you” Shawn said as she went to her next class.

“She’s right, today was actually really nice” Y/N said looking up at Shawn from where she was sitting on the floor.

“It was, Monday we’ll have the part two to this”

“Yeah... or maybe...”

“Yeah?” Shawn asked offering a hand for her to stand up, which she gladly took with a smile on her lips.

“Are you free right now?”

“I am, why?”

“Wanna go grab something to eat? There’s this really nice place nearby with some healthy stuff and great iced teas”

“I’d love that, actually I was intending to ask you out for a while now”

“I know” She said chuckling.

“What? Wait... how?!”

“Brian told me”

“I’m going to kill him” Shawn muttered under his breath.

“Hey” she said squeezing his hand, that he even forgot that was still holding hers “don’t do it, I’ve been wanting to do the same for a while now”

“Really?” Shawn asked, his whole demeanor changing into a smirk, making her blush.

“Yeah, I was just waiting to see if you’d actually do something other than ask about me or stare at me from a distance”

“Sorry, I got a little nervous”

“That’s why I decided to step up”

“And I appreciate it, but I was wondering... if we could actually have a proper date, one that I’m not all sweaty and shit”

“Hmm... it depends”

“On what?”

“Are actually going to ask me out this time?”

“Y/N, would you like to go on date with me... tonight... or whenever you’re available actually”

“I’d love to, and tonight’s just fine by the way”

“Okay, I’ll pick you up at seven?”

“Fine by me, give me your phone” she said and I handled it to her, in which she wrote her number down.

“Thank you” Shawn said smiling at her.

“Are we still going to grab something to eat now or...?”

“Oh, yeah, sure, let’s go” Shawn said squeezing her hand back and she just smiled at him, not letting go of his hand as she pulled him outside.

Shawn could literally feel his whole body exploding in excitement. Little did he know, she was feeling the same way.

-*-

*Please reblog or like this post if you liked it so I’ll know.

*I’m sorry if there are any spelling mistakes.

*Please do not repost this without giving me the credit, this is a completely original piece and I do not give permission to copy this!

*Hope you guys enjoyed it!

*xoxo

-🌙

: @fivefeetapartt

196 notes · View notes

rkxjongsuk · 4 years

Text

Final Post ||

I spent most of yesterday evening and this morning just kind of mentally processing the actual closing of rookies after seven years. Seeing the amazing plans that would have come to fruition makes me a bit sad but also kind of happy that rookies ended where it ended. Thank you to the mods for prolonged effort to keep this rp running as long as it did and I am glad to have been here as long as I was.

I first joined rookies six years ago on the 15th of October, 2014. 2014 and subsequently 2015 had been a chaotic formative years for me. At the time, I was in my third year of college, constantly questioning whether or not I should be doing my degree, watching my parents get divorced in the summer of 2015 and moving out of the house where I’d lived for twelve years. Rookies (at first through Sungjong in October and then through Kevin in March (03.04.2015) and Kris in April (04.29.2015)} was a writing escape and somewhat of a comfort. Over the years at rookies, I have grown, graduated from college with a business degree and ended up completely a different person then I was five years ago.

My writing improved a lot and I can confidently say that it was mostly thanks to Rookies. I had been completely scared off writing after an English teacher bitched at me for my skills but thanks to rookies, I got more confident in my own skills. Sure, there’s been other rps before rookies and at the same time as rookies, but they had never lasted quite as long. Through the years, I have made some incredible friends through rookies and I am glad to have them in my life. You guys are genuinely the best and I’ll always love you. I have no intentions of ghosting any of you and hopefully, we’ll write again together somewhere else.

Now, onto what everyone actually wants: rkmuses future and taking in the ideas and everything set out by Bianca in account, where they would end up?

rkxjongsuk: the trc vocal king, easter bunny, princess diva of youtube fame - formerly rkkevin

I know I always used to say that I wanted him to debut the most since he’s my oldest muse, but in all honesty, he would have never fit in the idol bubble. Going off the ideas set out by Bianca, however, his future would have been pretty satisfying.

He would have ended up staying in TRC (since he had signed his contract for the second time back in may) and debuting as part of the rkmonstax group with the other trc boys in early 2021 (most likely as their main vocalist). Jongsuk would have felt pretty accomplished by this, and had been ready for the idol life. However, he was not ready for the rules and restrictions that would come into play with the group.

he’d always had a kind of laissez faire approach to everything and so the idol life is kind of shocking to him. it wasn’t what he’d fantasized it would be. so, jongsuk would probably become the first member to officially leave the group before their six-year contract would expire citing personal difficulties and mental health issues (three years and a bit after debut)

During those three years with the group, however, he’d make a name for himself as the King of OST. He would have gone on to King of Masked Singer (making it to R2 and shocking everyone with the high note octaves), gone on to be one of the trainers on the Voice of Korea partnering with Dynamic Duo, and make multiple appearances on Immortal Songs (a la Kyuhyun). Simultaneously, he’d also be collabing with idols across companies, most notably fellow former mga 3 contestant Gyeoul of And*Roma and Jiyeon of HEARTZ.

Upon his departure from the group, he moved back to San Francisco and resumed his Youtube life and career. He would still support the rest of the boys, as an international fan and would always buy up a lot of their cds to support and tell his followers to stream. However, being back in his element, Jongsuk would feel a lot more relaxed and a lot more comfortable.

A few months after his return home, he’d gain a collaboration with Smashbox or Morphe for a makeup line and he’d release an eyeshadow palette, two lipsticks and three eyeliners with the branding Smashbox x Stark: Rave on Mad (an homage to his youtube name: starkravingmad). He’d most likely send it in packages to his best friends in Korea. Jongsuk would find success in other fields outside of music and delve into what made his channel tick and what made him the happiest.

Eventually, I think, he would have found love (maybe in the form of another tall actor who was in school 2013 with him) and been a happy youtuber, taking constant new challenges all over the place and always stepping to his own beat.

As for his friends, he would have definitely gone back to Korea for Kangjoon’s eventual wedding and Jiyeon’s eventual wedding as well. The invites to visit him in San Francisco, California would have been extended to all his friends and even in his busy schedule, he’d always find time to show them all around the city that he’d been born. He’d even always be happy to see his former groupmates if they came on tour to California and would always be the first one for the backstage/VIP passes.

rkxrm: the kt chaebol, nsg’s main rapper and actor extraordinaire - formerly rkkris, rkkmh, minhyukxrk

namjoon had always been the unwilling debut, since I honestly never saw him actually debuting before jongsuk and instead, here we are. he’s the established idol.

With NSG’s debut having just happened, he would probably stick around as the rapper before KT began shoving him into acting everywhere. Most likely, would have ended up as leader of another subunit (maybe?) in the future putting that leadership expertise to the good use. After the first two successful comebacks, he would have gone into acting officially with the first main role on a web-drama as Cha Gihyun on A-TEEN.

His charisma would have definitely shined and stolen the screen time since he’s a former actor already. Following initial drama success, he would have tried his hand in modelling and endorsement, with Honda and Skool Looks. He would have gone further in modelling and acting, eventually becoming more known as the actor Kim Namjoon than the rapper of nsg.

He would have had his share of crazy fans (mostly noonas, pretty girls and drama grandmas) and even probably taken the top bias spot for quite a few people when they would have found out his past. Of course, during the course of promotions (I envision this would happen during Regular-Irregular promotions), it come to light that he’s an actual chaebol (he’s never hidden it but netizens think this is a big deal) and the heir to Kim Securities with a former Canadian award winning actress as his mother. It also comes to light the dysfunctional family dynamic that he’d always had with them.

It caused some hardship between him and his family but he had the support of nsg behind him (his ride or die brothers and family) but in the end his family did began treating him a lot better and he eventually gained their support.

He would have stayed with NSG all through their first contract, but probably wouldn’t have renewed and most likely would have either gone to acting agency where he could focus on acting or go back to that chaebol life and actually fully embrace it as a future heir.

In terms of his love life, he would have officially asked Jiyeon to date him at the Halloween party and they would starred in a few dramas side by side (Cinderella and the Four Knights being their first). They would kept secretly dating and eventually after their mutual dating ban was over, would probably reveal it in a cute couple shoot for Ceci or Dazed and Confused (like E Dawn and Hyuna). After Joon would have left NSG (post contract non renewal), he would have probably still kept acting and modelling alongside Jiyeon. NamYeon would have been a lot like the Rain/Kim Taehee acting and visual power couple.

He would have definitely still kept in close touch with the rest of nsg (since they’re like brothers) and even with all his former kt friends, loving the time that he had spent in the company.

rksxngyeol: nova’s artist, the mangaka

sungyeol had been an incredibly refreshing muse to write. he’s always been someone who actually doesn’t want to debut and he just wants to draw. i initially got him because minhyuk (joon) and jongsuk were getting really exhausting.

there’s not much to say about sungyeol’s future. his contract with nova would have expired in november and he would have left the company on his own terms with the two years behind him. he learned a lot during those two years at nova and even realized a lot about himself.

following his contract expiry, he would have asked his boyfriend (myungsoo) to move in with him over christmas with a key in a box attached to a black butler keychain. if the other said yes, then the new year would have kicked off with the duo moving and cooking together and spending time with each other.

sungyeol would have resumed drawing manhwa and mangas, combining his webtoon comic into a more professional looking five volume manga series with the same title. eventually he would have gotten an anime deal again and even a live action deal on his works (if your muse would have wanted to be in the live action of the Princess’s Sword, go for it). That would have propelled his family to actually recognize him as a talent and he would have been reinstated into the family.

This would have led to myungsoo officially meeting Sungyeol’s family. His parents would have loved him to bits and his grandparents would have been iffy on it, but his grandmother would end up dying three years after of heart attack and his grandfather would have followed her a year later of old age.

After having dated Myungsoo for about five years, Sungyeol would have proposed to him and they would have most likely gotten married on the beach while on vacation somewhere warm. (we love a happy ending ;.;) Also, he would have moved into a bigger house and brought Haebin with them so that they could be a cute happy family.

Eventually, he would have come back to work for Nova as a producer and creative direction artist under Wendy as CEO (if that would have happened), and if not, he would have taken over his family’s company despite the lack of education and simply learned on the job. (Can I say that he would have been Myungsoo’s sugar daddy at some point even though they would be married or engaged at this point???)

Thank you for reading to the very end and I love you all. Let’s stay friends and meet again in another rp.

#that was very very long

14 notes · View notes

scotianostra · 4 years

Photo

On February 24th 1303 we saw The Battle of Roslin.

This is one of the largest battles within Scotland during the First Scottish War of Independence, and has been largely glossed over in our history books.

As the English army advanced through Scotland in another retaliatory campaign for the Guardians earlier expulsion of Edward I’s sheriffs and bailiffs, they initially met little opposition. The accounts talk of the army being divided up into three divisions, which approached Roslin mid February and made camp.

IIt was while in their respective camps that the English divisions were surprised by an attack led by mounted Scottish knights, led by John "The Red" Comyn and Simon "The Patriot" Fraser and some sources suggest William Wallace although we don't know this for sure. The Scots had ridden overnight from Biggar and attacked the occupants of the first camp, the survivors of this assault then warning the occupants of the second camp. The men in the second camp collected their arms and defended themselves against the Scots who had moved on from their first target. There was vicious hand to hand combat, in which the English almost succeeded in gaining the upper hand. However, rallied by their leaders the Scots renewed their assault and took the camp. No sooner had this combat ended than the third English division appeared, presumably better prepared for action than either of the first two. Again with the encouragement of their leaders the Scots re-entered the fray and to the astonishment of all won their third victory, though not before putting the survivors of the first two battles to the sword and taking their horses.

While the defeated army was acting on behalf of the English king, it is also likely to have contained many Scots loyal to Edward. The English army, in line with normal practice of the time, appears to have been split into three ‘battles’, or divisions, while on the march, each commanded by Sir John Segrave, the First Lieutenant of Scotland for Edward I, Ralph Manton, the Cofferer (Treasurer) of Edward I, and the third under either Sir William Latimer or Sir Robert Neville. There is unfortunately no information on the reasons behind the army being split in this way. Fordun, who was writing in the 15th century, states that it was simply due to the lack of suitable camping ground to accommodate the entire army, whereas others, such as Buchanan, writing in the 17th century, think it was a tactical disposition. The fact that medieval armies did generally fight in three divisions does suggest that there is more to the decision than the availability of camping space, as does the fact that the army is reported to have arrived in Roslin already divided into three. Scots:

There is very little specific information available on the Scots army, save that the force were mounted, which allowed them to carry out the surprise attack, and that they were under the command of John Comyn and Simon Fraser.

The earliest accounts seem to offer unrealistically high numbers, especially for the English army. This inflation is likely to be nothing more than pro-Scottish propaganda geared toward glorifying the scale of the victory, but I myself am not too convinced about this, for reasons I will come to after going through the numbers. According to Scotland's Sovereignty asserted by Thomas Craig the English consisted of 30,000 men split into the three ‘battles’ which consisted of three brigades of knights and at least 10,000 mercenary soldiers. Now Craig's account wasn't written until 1695, a time when Scotland was still an Independent country with a great pride in it's past victories, that's not to say it should be dismissed, again I will come to that. Here is a brief description of the battle by the Scottish Chronicler John of Fordun, who lived between 1360 and c. 1384

. ...there never was so desperate a struggle, or one in which the stoutness of knightly prowess shone forth so brightly. The commander and leader in this struggle was John Comyn, the son... But John Comyn, then guardian of Scotland, and Simon Fraser with their followers, day and night, did their best to harass and to annoy, by their general prowess, the aforesaid kings officers and bailiffs... But the aforesaid John Comyn and Simon, with their abettors, hearing of their arrival, and wishing to steal a march rather than have one stolen upon them, came briskly through from Biggar to Rosslyn, in one night, with some chosen men, who chose rather death before unworthy subjection to the English nation; and all of a sudden they fearlessly fell upon the enemy.

Forduns account also embellishes the story with the tale of a love affair, I have posted about this before, in my own mind it is a good yarn, but medieval battles were not fought over the love of a woman, this is not Braveheart we are describing here!

The Scots are said to have numbered anywhere between 8 and 10 thousand, again all these numbers are from historians telling the story between the 17th and 18th centuries, so we have no real way of knowing for sure how accurate they are.

As to the dead, well I have used Wikipedia in the past and they had numbers on their page, these now seem to have been removed for some reason, in fact the whole post there is quite pathetic, all it says under casualties and losses is that "At least 16 knights captured" on the English side, nothing on the Scots losses. All of the historical sources state that the Scottish army slaughtered many of the English force; however, no specific numbers are quoted, though Sir Thomas Gray says in the Scalacronica, a Northumbrian chronicle of the era states that Ralph Manton was slain, apparently by Sir Simon Fraser, and Sir Robert Neville is also thought to have been killed during the second Scottish attack. Given the information available from the sources and the surviving place-name evidence, it does appear the casualties on the day may have been extremely high, I am from the area and there are some great place names said to have sprung up from the battle, Shin Banes Field; The Hewan and Killburne, Killbrne ( A burn being a small stream) is said to have been discoloured with blood for three days afterwards.

I have to try and bring this long post to an end by explaining why history seems to have so few real facts about, what was a massive victory for the Scots. Well from an English point of view it was a humiliating defeat, so they are not going to write about it in any real depth, it is also said that this was a secret or a punitive expedition, this would suggest their numbers were nowhere near the 30,000 quoted in places.

On the reasons the Scots history books have little about Roslin, between Fordun in the 14th century until Craig in 1695 there is nothing I can find, well that comes down to history being written by the victors. Yes the Scots won a famous victory, but who was at the head of this victory? Well the subject of a post exactly two weeks ago, John Comyn III of Badenoch, nicknamed the Red, sworn enemy of Robert the Bruce and murdered by Bruce. The Scottish King may very well have suppressed stories of John Comyn's prowess as a warrior at a time he would have been only interested in his own achievements, even after his death in The Brus by John Barbour written around 1375 there is no mention of Roslin, The Brus was written for King Robert II to honour his namesake,Barbour was paid a pension for life for this, he wasn't going to boast about Comyn's exploits in it was he!

Pictures are of the Battle of Roslin Memorial, taken by myself in February 2016.

#Scotland #scottish #Scottish Battle #midlothian #History

18 notes · View notes

idv-ask-carpenter · 4 years

Text

Charlie's birthday Event! + The Future of this blog

"Celebration!"

- Twenty-six years and still kicking! This birthday boy gonna party till the sun comes back up."

Alright now is time for me to talk about what'll happen with this blog, now first off before you ask, no I'm not deleting the blog, in fact I've been planning to bring it back.

The main reason I had been away from the blog is mostly with school, lack of doing asks and just not wanting to draw Charlie.

All which I've been working in improve on, especially the school part.

But why now? Why would I come back after being away for a long time. Simple.

I missed doing this.

Having fun in making asks for all of you and creating Charlie up to be a character in this universe. All which I will be doing again, however I'm gonna change things up a bit.

First off the blog will have more of a storyline happening, yes I will still do nonstory asks, but I wanna make Charlie having a reason as to why he's in the manor in the first place.

Secondly, there will be more people coming into the blog that you all can ask both story related and non related, but be careful what you may ask, it might affect Charlie and the other's opinions on each other.

So get ready for some drama with Charlie and the other hehe.

Now third thing which I'll keep short, but I'll update the whole blog and add a official ask icon and perhaps a banner and I'll be posting some doodles of Charlie or the other characters when I'm not posting asks.

And fourth the new schedule and how I'll draw my asks from now on.

I'll start replying to asks on Wednesday's, Friday's and sometimes on weekends.

This'll start next week.

And as for drawing it'll traditional for now, with some color, (Mainly Coloured pencil) however after my birthday passes, which is March 15th (Can't wait for it!) I'll do a mix of both traditional and digital. It'll depend on the ask if digital or not but mostly it'll be traditionally drawn.

So that's all for now!

This has been the Mod Winter, and I can't wait to see you all again next week on Wednesday with my asks!

#my art #identity v oc #identity v #ask blog #winter speaks #ask #charlie pool #charlie #mod speaks #future of the blog #the great return of Charlie shall come #identity v ocs #idv ocs #oc birthday

14 notes · View notes

smol-and-grumpy · 5 years

Text

Dear Dean (Chapter 14)

Re-post

Pairing: Dean Winchester x OFC (Jamie Blum)

WC: 5.4k

Summary: After taking Saint Lo, by sheer dumb luck, Lieutenant Dean Winchester from the 29th Infantry Division, Baker Company, received a truckload of replacements for his platoon that was falling apart. Little did he know, that one recruit would change his life forever.

Chapter Warnings: Fluff, angst, “minor” character death

SERIES MASTERLIST

September 12th, 1944

Dean knew that good things don’t last. He learned that life lesson long ago and it was the only thing he remembered.

That little family of his? It didn’t last. The dream of just staying back home, work and pay for Sam’s studies? It didn’t last. The good thing with Bambi? That frankly didn’t last either, even though it wasn’t over. Not technically. Not when Dean could still find a way back to her. But the days in Brest with hot showers and hot food, that certainly couldn’t last. He knew that and still he was angry that they had to move back to the front line again. It was too soon. There was never enough time.

Dean waited with his platoon on the parade square. They were packed and ready to march out come Twenty-one-hundred-hours. Moral had been low ever since Bambi left, but they all knew that they had to keep on moving, had to keep on going and Dean wasn’t crazy about keeping Cas alive anymore. He wanted to keep his platoon together. Without them, he’d be lost and lonely.

It was Twenty-thirty-nine-hours and the men are going through their belongings, checking if they had everything. Dean did the same, to be thorough. He checked his haversack, his webbing, and then he looked into the pocket where he kept his flask. It was empty now. He knew that he should have filled it before they left, but it was too late. He knew he could use the space for something more important, so he took it out to put it into his haversack. His eyebrows came together when his fingers brushed a piece of paper in the pocket beside the flask.

He unfolded it. The lighting wasn’t the greatest on the parade square, but it was enough for him to read what was on it.

Dear Dean,

I don’t even know if you’ll find this and if you do - congratulations!

Come home soon, alright? I never said it, because I don’t know how to say it, but I think I love you with all my heart.

Bambi (shut up, I quite like that nickname)

Dean chuckled to himself and shit, his eyes were welling up.

“One Platoon, ready?” Castiel could be heard shouting from the front.

Dean folded the note and tucked it back into the side pocket of his combat pants. He stood at attention. Looking into the eyes of his men before he answered. “One Platoon, ready sir!”

***

September 15th, 1944

Baker company joined the battle at Fort Montbarey.

Castiel sent in one platoon after another, and each of them had to retreat back. They were losing men, and Dean’s platoon suffered with some wounded and unfortunately, Dopey was hit in the jaw.

Thankfully there were no more casualties. Dean didn’t know if he would be able to cope with that. They were a family and losing one meant losing a piece of themselves.

“Sir, there’s no way that we can get through.” Dean said as he knelt beside Cas.

“I know that. It was an order. Dammit Dean, you wanna switch places? I don’t know how much longer I can do this. Risking the lives of our men just because some stupid strategist thinks it do-able?”

“Cas,” Dean tried to calm his CO down, but Cas stood up and walked away swiftly.

Later that day, they had support from the British 79th Armoured Tanks, and they were able to break through.

***

September 17th, 1944

They finally captured the whole of Brest, and the whole of Baker company (or what was left of it) had time to recover. Thankfully, Dean’s platoon only had wounded apart from Dopey. Harvelle had a ricochet grazing his ass, but he was fine. At least there was that.

Dean finally had the time to find a barber, or at least someone with a steady hand who wouldn’t cut off his ear if he let them near his hair.

He walked the streets of Brest with a couple men of his platoon when they came across a barbershop - excuse Dean - it’s called coiffure here, how fancy!

The shop belonged to a French woman who introduced herself as Lisa. She was very friendly to his men and a couple of the women who worked there even offered some massages in the back of the salon. Dean didn’t even want to know what kind they meant by that, but he was sure that it didn’t involve scalp massages.

Sneezy followed a girl back to the back room with a shy smile on his face.

“Hey, Sneezy, if you’ve got a rash, I’m not scratching it, alright!” Dean called out, and there was laughter from a couple of other men behind him.

They were provided with condoms again, thank god. Too late for him, but not too late for his men, Dean guessed. The French women were all kinds of very, very thankful that the Allied Forces liberated them from the Nazis, and they were not shy about showing it.

It was Dean’s turn, and he took a seat. Lisa threaded her hands in Dean’s hair and he couldn’t lie. It felt great.

“What can I do for you, sir?” She asked him with a heavy French accent.

“Just cut it, I don’t really care.” He said truthfully, and he really didn’t. It was only hair and he wasn’t fuzzy. It would be covered by his helmet anyway.

“You have very nice hair, sir.” She hinted, her red lips curved up into a smile.

“Lieutenant, I think she likes you.” Tran, who sat on the worn out couch, watching them, chimed in.

Dean sent him a side eye, because he didn’t want Lisa to cut his ear off if he tilted his head. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Maybe she’ll give you a massage. You’d deserve it, sir.” Tran winked and raised an eyebrow.

“I would love to give you a massage.” Lisa whispered into Dean’s ear, as she cut at the hair above it.

Dean chuckled then. “I’m alright, thank you.”

“That’s too bad. You know, if you change your mind, you and me could have a good time.” She was persistent, and Dean thought that she probably didn’t get turned down a lot. It wasn’t hard to imagine since she was easy on the eye, and the soldiers were all desperate.

“You know where I am.” She said as she brushed off the hair she just cut from his shoulders. Dean stood up to pay, thanking her.

“Well, I might want a massage.” Tran said, grinning like a winner.

Dean frowned. “Tran, you have a sweetheart at home.”

“Sir, she doesn’t need to know. I’m..uh… have needs.”

“Well, you do you. I’ll see you all tonight at briefing.” Dean said, nodding as he walked out. He could only hear Lisa saying, “I’m alright, thank you.” to Tran and everyone started to laugh before the door closed behind him.

Dear Bambi,

I know I have only sent you a letter more than 10 days ago and you’re probably not even home yet.

Just wanted to keep you in the loop of what’s going on. We captured Brest. You’d be proud of us all. Dopey didn’t make it though, I’m sorry about that, Jamie. There was nothing I could have done to prevent it. It’s not that I didn’t try. I told him to stay back, but I guess my men had taken a liking to you and your ways of not listening to me. He was a fine man, and I’m sorry that I couldn’t keep him alive.

How are you? Did you arrive home alright? Is everything still the same? I’m dying to know about your life back home. Actually, anything that you could tell me that would take my mind off the war would be greatly appreciated.

I haven’t heard from Sam in a while and that’s been bothering me. I kept sending him letters, but I haven’t received anything back. I put Cas on it, to try to find out, but Cas is rather busy and finding Sam is not his priority right now. There’s nothing I can do other than to sit here and wait.

Fuck, Bambi, I miss you. I wish you were here. No wait, scratch that. If I could have a wish granted, I’d wish I would be there with you. Far away from war. That’d be great.

I found your note, by the way. Did you really think that I wouldn’t find it?

Shit Bambi, I never knew what love felt like. I have never said the L-word to anyone else except of Sam and if I did in my youth, it was said without meaning, so I get it when you’re not ready to say it yet. Like I said, I never knew how it felt like, that’s why I had to ask Sam. You heard the letter I read to you. It feels like this, doesn’t it?

I’ll write again whenever I can. You take care and wait for me, alright? And please, this time, for once, do what I tell you to.

Enclosed you can find a picture of me after I had a haircut today. Just so you remember how handsome I am.

Yours,

Dean

***

September 24th, 1944

Dear Dean,

I’ve just arrived home yesterday. Your letter was not the only letter to greet me, but the only one to welcome me home. Thank you for that. Only it doesn’t feel like home. Home is where the heart is, or so they say, and my heart’s still with you. Do you hear it beating? Hold it tight and don’t let go, alright?

I have been reading through the letters my brothers sent to me during my absence. They must have been worried that I wasn’t writing them back. You remember Jim, right? He was with the paratroopers. He dropped off a package for me when he was in Saint Lo. It’s his reserve parachute. He said “it’s pure silk, Jamie. I’ve been holding on to it since I landed, and I want you to have it. I saw you today, and I could have given it to you, but I thought that you didn’t need to carry another useless garbage in your haversack. Make a wedding dress out of it, alright? You’ll look great in it. I love you, kid.” So, I’ve been crying since, but I’m alright, don’t you worry.

Thank you for your picture, I’ll hang it on the door as to repel visitors.

If I can find a decent one of me without snot hanging out of my nose or without one of my brothers in the frame with me, I’ll send it to you.

I was joking, as you can see, there’s a picture of me, which Jameson took at our graduation. Behind the girl with long hair in her summer dress, you see our garden and our house.

It feels so lonely here, Dean, and yes, I wish you could be here with me.

I’m sorry about Dopey, too. Dean, it’s not your fault. I’ll go visit Trenton’s mom in the next couple of days. I’ve sent a telegram out to her right after I arrived. I thought I’d do that while I still have short hair. Wish me luck.

Shit, I’m sorry to hear about Sam. I hope Cas can get on the case. He’s alright, Dean. He has to be.

There’s not much news from here. Unless you want to read about what I need to clean next in the house? I don’t think it’s going to be of great interest, to be perfectly honest with you. As soon as everything settles around here, I plan to go back to school. Training to be a nurse or a teacher, I haven’t decided yet. So, there’s that about me. I’m quite the plain jane as you can see.

Dean, before I end this letter, I wanted to thank you. Thanks for not exposing me and keeping me a secret. And maybe you think that once I’m back, I will go back to my old life, find a decent man who’s around, whom I could start a family with. I know you think that you and me, what we had was just a fling. Maybe it was a chance that we both took because we didn’t have anyone else around, but the truth is, I chose you, Dean and if I could go back, I’d choose you all over again. From the moment that you screamed in my face and looked at me with your angry green eyes, you had me.

Thank you for keeping me alive.

Love, Bambi

***

October 2nd, 1944

Dean ran into Cas on the way out. They moved out towards Herzogenrath and things had been wild. Everyone scrambled around, picking up things that needed to be moved, and Dean still hadn’t heard from Sam.

“Cas! Sir!” He didn’t know how he should address Cas in the open, he tried both and Cas stopped.

“Dean,”

“Yeah. It’s me. Look, I know that we are moving out today and all. I just wanted to know if you’ve heard from Sam, is all.”

“No, not yet, Dean. I can put a word in today before we move out, alright?” He put a hand on Dean’s shoulder to calm him. Cas knew how close Dean and Sam were.

“Great. Thanks.” Dean nodded and he turned to walk out to the square when Cas called after him.

“I got a letter for you, almost forgot!”

Dean ran back to retrieve it. There was no address on it, but Dean knew from the writing that it was from Jamie. She was probably extra careful not to put any return address on it, just in case.

“Thanks.” He smiled brightly at Cas.

Dean sat on the steps as he read through it laughing at her use of his picture. He tucked the letter neatly back into his haversack and took his time to look at the photograph. Jamie, with long flowing brown hair. Her eyes were still as wide as he remembered them, and Dean wished for nothing more than to be able to hold her in his arms again.

The house in the back was big and old. It could use some fixing, and maybe Dean was thinking way ahead, but he would love to get his hands on the house and make it nice and homey again.

It was time to move out and Dean tucked the photograph in to his helmet, keeping it safe next to the note from Jamie and the picture of Sam - he had cut Anna and him out - and as close to him as possible.

Dear Bambi,

We’ve moved out again. Baker’s time of retreat is over. It was too good to be true anyway. They even had a movie theater set up, but I spent my time reading. It wasn’t like I haven’t seen the movies 100 times over.

I hope you’re well. Please tell me that you’re well. At least, I’d have some good news.

I’m still so sorry about your brothers, Jamie. Jim was a fine man. He looked out for you. I bet you’d look fabulous in white silk, too. Maybe it’s a bit too far fetched but.. I don’t know.. could you maybe. Shit, I don’t even know how to phrase that. By the way, if you could see me, you’d be laughing at me because I’m red as a tomato. Well, to go back to what I’ve started, and I know you’d be mad at me if I would just change the subject; When you told me about the silk dress, I could picture you in it and shit, Bambi, in my imagination you look perfect, alright. I wish you’d make a wedding dress out of it and if it’s not too much to ask for - you can call me crazy - I don’t know, maybe I do secretly wish that the man who is standing beside you at your wedding would be me? Would that be too crazy?

How did Trenton’s mom react to your visit? If you haven’t been yet. Tell her that I said hi and that it was an honor for me to have him in my platoon. He did some excellent work and I mean, he was great, and I considered myself lucky that I was his leader. Tell her that if you’re still in contact, alright? Cas probably wrote out a letter to her already, but I wanted for her to hear it from me, too.

Still no word from Sam, Jamie. I’m so fucking worried. Would you..I mean, could you maybe write to him, too? I mean, if it’s not too much trouble. I just… don’t know how else I could reach him. I don’t know, but maybe letters from home would reach him. Maybe it’s just our communication that’s been cut off? Honestly, I would like to abandon my platoon and go look for Sam, but that would get my ass in jail. It would mean that I wouldn’t get to go home to you either, so that’s not an option at the moment. Besides, I can’t leave family behind. I have written Sam’s coordinates down, in case you want to try to reach him.

Did you see what I wrote? Family. It never felt like that until you came along. Thank you for that. You did something special, Bambi. You kept us together, you cared for us all and that meant something.

You’re wrong on one thing, though. I didn’t think that it was just a fling. You are so much more, and maybe I’m wrong, but I knew the moment I screamed at you, sprayed my spit in your face, and looked into your big brown eyes that there was something wrong with you. I wrote to Sam about it, telling him that there’s something about you that I can’t put my finger on, and I felt it in my gut. So maybe we chose each other, huh? I’m glad it was you, and I’m glad it’s still you.

I think you must have received a lot of letters from the men, didn’t you? I saw them penning letters to you. Tran and Harvelle. Even Sneezy. They all miss you. Me included, but you know that already.

Alright, we’ve got Herzogenrath to assault. I will try to keep myself alive.

And oh, Bambi? Please don’t put my photograph on your door? I mean, unless you want random women to come knocking it down asking who that handsome fella is, because they want to ask me out on a date, then yeah, just keep it there.

Bye sweetheart. I’m coming home pretty soon. I can feel it.

I love you. There, I said it. I miss you with every breath I take.

Yours,

Dean

***

October 9th, 1944

“Take cover! Get off the streets!” Dean could only yell as a shell hits the building behind him, leaving a hole as big as himself as it rained cinder blocks as big as his head.

He took his feet in his hand an ran for his life, pulling at the webbings of his men who stood there frozen when he passed them, getting them to run with him. “Get the fuck out! Move move!”

Dean screamed for his men to fucking get out of there, to fall the fuck back, and when he finally saw that everyone of them was running to their rendezvous point, he put his hand on his helmet, swung his rifle over his shoulders and ran.

There’s no way they were getting in. They had to find another way. He didn’t like to risk his men and Cas damn well knew it.

***

October 11th, 1944

Baker was tucked away sleeping in abandoned apartments and houses. Fox was on sentry and Dog was out on patrol. Baker had the night to regain their strength, and they fucking needed it. Herzogenrath was almost done, but there were still a couple of villages around that had German outpost that they need to take out. Dean could finally breathe again.

He was billeted with a couple men of his platoon. They didn’t have beds so they were just lying on the ground. Harvelle found a metal bucket and lit up a fire in the middle of the room. Some of the men were heating water for coffee.

Dean had his back against the wall, his helmet was lying next to him, and he took out the picture of Sam. Still no sign of him. To say that Dean was worried was an understatement.

“Coffee, sir?” Tran held out a metal mug and Dean took it, thanking him. Tran took the liberty to sit next to Dean, and they drank their coffee in silence.

Tran saw the picture in Dean’s hand. “Is that Sam?”

“Huh?” Dean then chuckled, tracing his fingers along his brother’s face on the picture. “Yeah, my brother. He’s in the field. I haven’t heard from him.”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“It’s alright. I still have hope.” Dean tucked the picture back with his free hand.

“And that other picture?” Tran asked curiously.

Dean hesitated at first, he didn’t know if he should show it but then he thought, why not. Everyone was bragging about their sweethearts and besides, apart from the big eyes, Jamie didn’t look like the private Jamie. She looked like a woman and not a skinny private. “This?” He said, taking it out and showed it to Tran.

“That your girl, Lieutenant?”

“Huh,” Dean chuckled, his tongue wetting his bottom lip before he bit on it. “Yeah. That’s my girl.” There was a shy smile on Dean’s face. He never really had a girl to call his own, and to be able to say that, was kind of weird, but the good kind. Dean could get used to it.

“She’s fucking beautiful.” Tran was still looking at the picture.

“Yeah, she is.” Dean trailed his fingers along her picture as if he tried to touch her.

“Shit, Harvelle, the Lieutenant has a total babe at home. Fuck, look at that.” Tran called out for Harvelle to come over and when Harvelle sat down, he peeked at the picture.

“Damn, Lieutenant. How did we not know?”

“Was that why you didn’t want to have a massage with what’s her name? Lana?” Tran asked Harvelle, probably deliberately saying a wrong name because he was still butthurt Lisa didn’t want to massage him, and Harvelle answered with Lisa.

“I’m not a big fan of screwing around.” Dean said dryly, and it was the truth. He did that a lot when he was younger, but no, he wasn’t going to do it when he had Jamie to go home to. He wasn’t going to fuck up the only thing that kept him going forward, the only thing that kept him alive.

“Well, I’m a big fan of her.” Harvelle pointed his chin at the picture.

“Me too.” Tran said as he looked at the picture again. “And she looks so familiar.”

Dean’s heart started to drum harder.

“Say, Lieutenant, is she maybe someone famous? I mean, I think I’ve seen her somewhere. I just don’t know where.”

“Yeah, you’re right. She looks damn familiar.” Harvelle agreed.

“Letters from home!” Gabriel walked by, and Dean had never been more happy about seeing Gabriel.

“Here, Winchester!” Gabe threw him the letters to his feet.

Dean tucked the picture back into his helmet before he got on to his feet to distribute the letters to his men.

He received one as well. It wasn’t from Sam, which he hoped that it would be. It was from Jamie which was really the next best thing.

He ripped the letter open, eager to read it and all the others did the same.

Dear Dean,

Did you hear from Sam yet? I’ve penned him a letter, it should reach him the same day as you get that letter from me. I didn’t know what I should write to him, so I did my best in Jamie-style awkward letter penning. I hope it makes him smile a little.

Your letter arrived just before I was about to leave to see Trenton’s mom. It took her longer to accept. I think she had to convince herself that she actually wanted to see me, so that’s a good thing, I guess, because then I could tell her about what you wanted me to. Dean, it was so emotional. She said that I should thank you from her. Trenton’s been writing home and telling them how good of a leader you are. He thought highly of you, and he wanted to be like you. She told me that Trenton also wrote them about me. About me being his best friend. I cried - you can probably imagine. She thanks you from the bottom of her heart, and she prays for you to come back home. Dean, never doubt yourself and your leadership, alright? I’m rooting for you. I’m waiting for you to come back. You were Trenton’s hero, and you are still mine.

I wore a dress today. First time in what seemed like forever. Since I’ve been back, I walked around in Jameson’s clothes that are way too big for me. But today I thought I could try on my dress and it fits. I just need to remind myself that I should eat more so the dress will fit right again. Guess the front line does things to your body, huh? You would have loved it, though. But again, I think that you would love everything I put on. Even if it’s just some old men’s cotton underwear and a military undershirt and combat pants. But Dean, I looked really cute. Just saying. I found my mom’s old hat to go with it. You know, the hair is not long enough yet, but I’m getting there.

The reason I wore a dress to venture out is that I’ve been feeling bad lately. I can’t keep food down, and I went to see my GP. He put it down to stress that I’m under - oh boy, if he only knew - but I think it’s something different so I went to see another GP.

Everything’s fine, Dean. Don’t you worry about me, alright? I’m good. Better than good. You just take care of yourself and make sure you’re coming home to me. That’s your only job. Apart from killing Nazis, I mean.

There’s big news that I’d like to tell you about but I can’t do it through a letter. I don’t know how to word. You’ve gotta come home so I can tell you, alright?

Hey, if I could I would roll my eyes at you right now for your comment about your picture. I’ll keep it save, don’t worry. Don’t need my neighbors coming around to ask who that fine dreamboat of a man is that’s been hanging on the front door. Because for now, you’re a secret I like to keep to myself. I’m not ready to share you yet.

And to tell you the truth, you’re not crazy for imagining standing next to me on my wedding day. I’ve been doing the same.

I love you deeply.

Always,

Jamie

“Lieutenant?” A young private, probably one of the replacements, pulled Dean back to reality.

Dean looked up from the letter, his eyes a little teary. “Yeah?”

“Sir, Lieutenant Novak wants to see you.”

Dean cleared his throat as he folded the letter back and tucked it into his jacket. “Yeah, sure.”

He walked with the runner to the Company CP where Cas was waiting for him.

“Sir?”

“Dean,” Cas said and that was Dean’s clue that they were at ease. Otherwise, he was Lieutenant Winchester. “You wanna sit?” Cas turned the chair around for Dean.

Dean shook his head. “Nah, I’m good.”

Cas shrugged. “Alright,” He sat back on his desk and as usual, he grabbed his cigarette tin and took one out. “I’m not going to ask if you want one.”

“No.”

“I should cut the chase.” He lit one up and inhaled. “Dean, fuck, I don’t know how I should tell you this.”

No. Don’t.

Dean felt nauseous.

“It’s Sam, Dean. They were on a patrol mission, clearing out a German outpost. He was standing where the grenade went off and was killed on impact.”

Dean didn’t hear the rest of the sentence. He dropped his helmet where he was stood and walked to the nearest wall to throw up, right there in the fucking company office, and he didn’t care one little bit.

He used both his hands to brace the wall and Dean knew that his stomach was empty, he hadn’t been eating properly in days and there was nothing going to come out anymore, but the feeling of throwing up was still there so Dean choked and retched until he felt his head spin.

“Dean, hey, hey.” Cas put his arm around Dean’s shoulder and Dean tucked his head between his hands, the cool wall on his forehead providing little relief. His body began to shake and vibrate, and Dean didn’t even know that he was crying. The sound that came out were alien to him. He felt tears dropping from the tip of his nose.

Sam.

Dean clenched his fists, punching at the wall, and he kept on crying and punching until the skin around his knuckles felt raw. Until his knuckles were bleeding.

Sammy.

“Shit, Dean. I’m so sorry.” Cas started to say, his hand rubbing at Dean’s back as he stood there. He’s here for him as a friend and not his CO. Dean knew that much. It soothed him and it made him calm down, because he realized that he wasn’t alone. That he was still in the middle of a war and fuck, he just wanted to go home. He just wanted to crawl into Bambi’s arms and cry his eyes out. She’d hold him. She’d be the rock that he was missing.

He wanted to ask if he could see Sammy for one last time, but he knew that it was logistically not possible. Besides, he didn’t even know if there was enough left of Sam to be identified.

Oh fuck, Sammy!

It took a while for Dean to regain his composure, to feel like he wasn’t in a fucking nightmare.

He rubbed his bloody and bruised hand over his eyes and face and pinched the bridge of his nose before his hands searched for the chair Cas offered. He took a seat and picked up his helmet from the floor. He took out Sam’s picture to look at his brother.

“Fuck, Dean. It means you can go home. The regiment will take you off, deem you 4-G. you’re getting to go home.”

Dean didn’t want to tell Cas that home wouldn’t be the same if Sam wasn’t in it. There was no home without Sam. It never had been a home to him when he couldn’t get back to Sam at the end of the day. But then he thought of Jamie and took out her picture. He still had Jamie to live for, and he knew that Sam wouldn’t want to have it any other way. Sam would rip him a new one if Dean backed out from going home. If Dean backed out of having a future that was cut short for Sam. Sam would want him to be happy.

Shit, Sam!

Dean buried his head back in his hand, the pictures crumbling in his palms.

“When will I go?” It was a whisper, but Dean knew that Cas heard him well.

“That’s the thing. You’d have to wait until we reach Aachen. Can you do that? You’ll get to go as soon as we reach Aachen. The regiment can’t send someone to fetch you while we’re still here.”

Dean sniffed and brushed the back of his hand at his nose. “Yeah, okay.” He felt numb.

“I hate to see you go, Dean.”

Dean nodded. He wanted to say something. Anything. Maybe something along the lines of I don’t wanna go either, Cas, or I don’t want to abandon my family. But the words wouldn’t come out. Because more than anything, he wanted to go home.

“Take a rest. We’ll be moving forward soon.”

CHAPTER 15

#dear dean #dean winchester #dean winchester x oc #dean x oc #dean winchester fic #dean winchester fan fic #dean winchester fan fiction #spn fic #spn au fic #nathalie writes

55 notes · View notes

free-hk-blog · 5 years

Text

For Basic Human Rights

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION

Hello all,

Welcome to this page. If you are on this page, I’m assuming it’s because you managed to get a hold of one of my Free HK Hello Kitty Postcards.

If you haven’t been clued in yet towards all the Hong Kong Protests, this is the page for you. Unfortunately, due to the language barrier and the lack of media coverage, I’m sure a lot of people haven’t heard about all the things happening in Hong Kong since there is almost no access to it.

To give you a short background of the protests, it all began with an Extradition Bill. It was first considered when Chan Tong-kai, a Hong Kong man, murdered his pregnant girlfriend, Poon Hiu-Wing in Taiwan. Stuffing her body into a suitcase, then dumping it into the thicket of bushes near a subway station in Taipei. After doing so he fled back to Hong Kong. He was then arrested. However, when authorities tried to prosecute him, they found that they were unable to, due to loopholes in the law. [2]

The Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, decided to pass a law that would allow anyone who committed a crime in Hong Kong to be extradited to China. [3] Instead of gaining the support of the people of Hong Kong, it caused concern and fear.

What does being extradited actually mean?

“Extradition is an act where one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to their law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement process between the two jurisdictions and depends on the arrangements made between them.”

This is due to China’s previous dishonesty towards keeping to the One Country two systems agreement with the United Kingdom, Hong Kong was colonised previously by the British and was handed back to China in July 1st, 1997. (Before you think that Hong Kong is better off being colonised by the British, there is a whole bit of history behind that and lots of corruption. After all, Hong Kong was obtained from China in an unjust way. I’ve put a link below for your to read up on the History of Hong Kong, [1]) China has been trying to make it seem that their One Country two systems method will work through Hong Kong. However, it is terribly false. Hong Kong for starters does not even vote for our leader. Over the years since the hand over, Hong Kong citizens have felt and continue to feel that the mainland is closing in on them in subtle ways. In fact, they haven’t just been doing that for Hong Kong only, it’s been happening in the west, look how many things are marked “Made In China”. But, I digress.

Prior to the protests, citizens have previously took to marching on the streets during March and April to protest this corrupt bill.

The citizens of Hong Kong are fearful that it would be used in a corrupt way and would be a gateway for China to extradite and charge anyone in Hong Kong they find that they disagree with. Hong Kongers took to the streets, (most of them in their teens) protesting the Bill on the 9th of June. They were peacefully protesting despite being tear gased, being shot at by rubber bullets and pepper sprayed. However, the police still labelled them as “rioters” rather than “protestors”. For more information on the Extradition Bill, I will have a set of links beneath this post for you to read. [3][4]

Instead of retracting the bill and throwing it out, Carrie Lam persisted. Stating in an interview on the 12th of June, “I’ve never once thought that I’ve been doing this against my conscience. As I’ve said, we firmly believe we have been doing the right thing from the beginning. It’s not only responsible to the victim’s family. Now I can only say being responsible, I cannot promise the victim’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Poon, that the suspect that murdered their daughter can be brought to justice. If young people have taken action, and you don’t give them what you want, what then? To use a metaphor, I’m a mother too, I have two sons. If I let him have his way every time my son acts this way, I believe we will have a good relationship in the short term. But if I indulge in his wayward behaviour, he might regret it after he grows up. He will then ask me, “Mum, why didn’t you remind me back then?” To say I have sold out Hong Kong. How could I have? I grew up here with all other HongKongers. My love for this place has prompted me to make many personal sacrifices.” [5][6]

Watch the full video of the interview here

This caused anger through Hong Kong and specifically struck a chord with mothers in Hong Kong more angry as she basically compared the teenagers that are there to protest the Extradition Bill - peacefully, might I add - to children who are just whining, or acting out. This caused mothers to organise a march for themselves. However, no one would expect the event that would transpire on the 15th of June.

15th June

His name was Marco Leung.

He was only 35, described as “sunshine” by all friends and family and that he did charity work in his spare time. And all in all, a good guy.

When Carrie Lam proposed that she was suspending the bill on the 15th of June, rather than withdrawing the bill, Marco Leung Ling-Kit climbed the elevated podium on the rooftop of Pacific Place, a shopping centre in Admiralty at 4:30 pm. Wearing a yellow raincoat with the words “Brutal police are cold-blooded” and “Carrie Lam is killing Hong Kong” in Chinese written on the back, he hung a banner on the scaffolding with several anti-extradition slogans. After a five-hour standoff, during which police officers and Democratic Party legislator Roy Kwong attempted to talk him down, Leung jumped to his death, missing an inflatable cushion set up by firefighters. This fed the anger of the Hong Kong citizens and even more showed up to the protests on the 16th. Everyone was devastated by the suicide and hoped that there will not be another tragedy like this again. From then on, the yellow raincoat became a symbol of the protests.

An interview later with Marco Leung’s parents revealed that his mother still made breakfast for him, stating “We still pretend he’s with us, it feels as though he hasn’t left us at all.” [7][8]

While he is being hailed a hero and a martyr, it makes me feel uneasy and uncomfortable, because he didn’t do it for everyone else, he did it because he couldn’t bare to see the future where China has rule over Hong Kong. When this happened, it devastated me. However, this was only just the start of the suicides. I will warn you if you are prone to suicidal thoughts or self harm, please be advised that further suicides will be mentioned. Also, I would like to add that suicide is never the way to resolve things, even if you don’t believe you will be missed, you will be.

On the 29th of June, a 21 year old university student, Lo Hiu-Yan, jumped to her death stating “I would use my little life as a sacrifice to fulfil the wishes of two million people, but please press on.” in her final message written on the wall. Then on the 30th of June, just a day later, Zhita Wu, 29, left a heartbreaking message on Facebook, asking Hong Kong to “Add oil”, a common phrase to cheer on others, much like adding fuel to an engine. And that she won’t be at the July 1st protest because she felt like there was no tomorrow and that she was tired and didn’t want to fight for tomorrow anymore. [9][10]

You would have thought that by the end of the month, Carrie Lam would reconsider because of these suicides, but sadly, that is not to be. As I check the Wikipedia page for Hong Kong Protests 2019, it says that there are at least 10 deaths, most of them suspected to be suicides. [11] [12] [14][15]

1st July

As I have mentioned before, 1st of July is the day Hong Kong was handed back to China. Many took to the streets to continue protesting this bill. However, Carrie Lam ignored the protests and ignored the violence caused by the police. As a result, the police continued to become violent and protesters were just being labelled as “rioters”.

As police brutality escalated, citizens got more and more enraged by the police. However, there are also some citizens that actually support the police and are against the protesters. Many started showing their support for the police by wearing blue t-shirts. Despite this, many were still against the police. [13]

Escalation in violence

July 21st, in my opinion, started the escalation of violence on both the protestors and police’s part.

A group of white clad men, suspected to be triad members, started to indiscriminately attack people in the Yuen Long MTR Station. (MTR is the name of Hong Kong’s subway system). Yes, even people that were just getting home from work or a day out were attacked. Police took over 30 minutes to even respond to the incident. A protest was organised, but the police tried to ban it. The protestors defied the ban and went to Yuen Long to protest, saying that they were “Just going shopping in Yuen Long.”

Because of this, some members of Cathay Pacific organised a peaceful protest at the airport in support of the protestors.

By this point, protests were every Sunday and although the protestors were predominantly non-violent, the police still used inhumane methods to disperse them. As if the police couldn’t cause further anger towards themselves from the public, they fired tear gas into residential areas, one of which being Wong Tai Sin.

5th August

To further press their point, a strike was organised all over Hong Kong and about 350,000 people joined in on the strikes. Over 200 flights were cancelled due to this incident. To disperse the protesters, the police used more than 800 canisters of tear gas. On August 6th, a student was arrested for possession of “offensive weapons”. They were laser pens. This act alone proved how desperate the police were to just accuse someone of crimes. This prompted protestors to go to the Space museum and hold a Laser show, pointing their laser pointers at the wall of the space museum.

#Eye4HK movement & Airport protests

On the 11th of August, there was another protest. Protests have been going on for two months now by this point. But what made this protest so different from the rest was that a medic - who was just volunteering her help in the protests -was hit by a bean bag round fired by the police. This made the protestors even more furious, it sparked the #Eye4HK movement. It was started by a Korean actor, Kim Eui Sung on instagram. [16] The next day, the 12th, Cathay Pacific threatened its staff with being fired if they participated in protests. [17] Later on, on the 16th of September, the boss of Cathay Pacific stepped down. [18]

In an outrage, a protest was organised within the airport where from the 12th of August to the 14th, protestors sat in the airport, prompting Airport authority to cancel flights. However, protestors later reflected upon it and decided it wasn’t the correct method to choose and issued an apology over social media. They also went to the airport the next day and personally apologised to the tourists that were delayed.

#BoycottMulan

A movement to Boycott Mulan sparked when, on the 15th of August, the actress for Mulan posted a post in support of the Hong Kong police. [19][20]

The Hong Kong Way

On the 23rd of August, Hong Kongers formed a human chain to draw attention to the movement’s five demands.

The Five demands are:

Complete withdrawal of the extradition bill from the legislative process: Although the Chief Executive announced indefinite suspension of the bill on 15 June, reading on it may be quickly resumed. The bill was “pending resumption of second reading” in the Legislative Council. The bill was formally withdrawn on 23 October.

Retraction of the “riot” characterisation: The government originally characterised the 12 June protest as “riots”. Later the description was amended to say there were “some” protesters who rioted. However, protesters contest the existence of acts of rioting during the 12 June protest.

Release and exoneration of arrested protesters: Protesters consider the arrests to be politically motivated; they also question the legitimacy of police arresting protesters at hospitals through access to their confidential medical data in breach of patient privacy.

Establishment of an independent commission of inquiry into police conduct and use of force during the protests: Civic groups felt that the level of violence used by the police on 12 June, specifically those against protesters who were not committing any offences when they were set upon, was unjustified; police performing stop-and-search to numerous passers-by near the protest site without probable cause was also considered abusive. Some officers’ failure to display or show their police identification number or warrant card despite being required to do so by the Police General Orders is seen to be a breakdown of accountability. The existing watchdog, Independent Police Complaints Council lacks independence, and its functioning relies on police co-operation.

Resignation of Carrie Lam and the implementation of universal suffrage for Legislative Council and Chief Executive elections:Currently, the Chief Executive is selected by a 1,200-member Election Committee, and 30 of the 70 Legislative Council seats are filled by representatives from different sectors of the economy, forming the majority of the so-called functional constituencies, most of which have few elector

Prince Edward Station Incident

On the 31st of August, protestors, despite the ban put in place by police, still went to protest. At night, Prince Edward Station was stormed by the Special Tactical Squad. They beat and pepper-sprayed commuters and protestors alike. Following that, protestors gathered at Mong Kok MTR station to demand they release the CCTV footage of the incident in Prince Edward Station. To this date, there has nothing that has become of this CCTV footage. The pleas have fallen on deaf ears and police have denied that anything even happened. [21] [22]

The Withdrawal of the Bill

On the 4th of September, Carrie Lam decided to (finally) formally withdraw the Extradition Bill. However, being three months too late, this was received particularly badly by the general public. [23] The protestors no longer wanted just this anymore, they wanted the Five Demands they requested. [24]

Starting from the 10th of September, protestors began singing “Glory to Hong Kong” [25] while marching or in various locations. It was a song that was originally posted on the 26th of August. The song was written to include the phrase “光復香港，時代革命” (“Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times”). They also went on to initiate campaigns to boycott shopping malls that are owned by The MTR corporation, New Town Plaza, Pro-Beijing shops and corporations.

National Day and Mask ban

On the 1st of October, China’s national day, protestors organised another protest. The violence escalated further as a protestor was shot in the chest by a police officer while he was trying to hit him with a pipe. Police attacked protestors with tear gas, rubber bullets, sponge grenades and water cannons. The protestors fought back, using corrosive fluid, bricks and petrol bombs. 74 protestors were injured and 25 police officers were also injured.

Following that, on the 4th of October, Carrie Lam decided to pass a mask ban in an attempt to stop people from protesting. But This did not stop the protestors. [26]

#BoycottBlizzard

I’m not going to lie, ever since this incident happened, more of the people I have on my facebook are actually posting about the Hong Kong protests. More people have become more aware. On the 6th of October, a gamer known as Blitzchung was kicked out of a professional e-sports tournament after voicing his support for the protestors in Hong Kong in an interview. (“Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” ) Then shortly after, he was banned for 12 months by Blizzard, who are in business with China and made to forfeit the equivalent of $10,000 in prize money. [27] Blizzard also stated that the two interviewers who conducted the interview were fired.

Of course, this has highlighted how even the west walks on eggshells when doing business with China. How they are fearful of being punished otherwise. A good example of high street brands that had to apologise are Versace, Dior, Muji, Zara, Gap, the list goes on… [29]

The backlash Blizzard face from the rest of the world was huge, making the #BoycottBlizzard tag trend on twitter. [28] They have also shortened Blitzchung’s ban to 6 months and will receive his winnings from the tournament. Mei from Overwatch has also become a symbol for the protests as a result. Of course, Blizzard aren’t one of the only companies that came under fire when it comes to the Hong Kong protests. NBA, Apple and even Google have come under fire over the subject.

"To cut a long story short, Daryl Morey, who was the general manager of Houston Rockets, shared a tweet that showed support for Hong Kong anti-government protesters. This caused backlash from China and the NBA has since apologised. [30] Apple and Google pulled the HKmap.live app from their app stores. The app allows Hong Kong protestors to see the location of the police and where tear gas has been fired." [31]

Violence & breach of rights against protestors

On the 11th of October, a livestreamed account of a female university student sparked new anger towards the Hong Kong police. In the account, Sonia Ng, claimed that the police had sexually assaulted her. She also went on to say that detained protestors were body-searched in dark rooms and that others also “suffered sexual violence”. [32]

This is not the first time the police have been accused of sexual harassment. [33]

Many detainees have also come out to speak about the mistreatment of their time detained by the police. [34][35]

In fact, some protestors have prepared “last letters” to their loved ones in case they don’t return to them. [36]

For more information, please check out the Wikipedia page on the 2019 Hong Kong Protests. The link will be provided below. [37]

So, what can you do to help?

Firstly, you’re already helping by reading this long post. I’m going to be a pain and ask you to read the Wikipedia article too for further information. Secondly, have you signed the petition yet? It’s linked at the very top, however, I’ve linked it here too. Thirdly, If you live in the UK, please bring it up to your MPs, if you live in the US, please bring it up to the senator that represents your area. Fourthly, just spread the word, share articles on Facebook or Twitter, in fact, just share all of the links I’ve provided in this post.

Lastly, I ask you to remember those who have died from the protests. Remember Marco Leung, the first person to take his life over the protests. Remember Lo Hiu-Yan and Zhita Wu, who felt like there was no tomorrow and that she was tired and didn’t want to fight for tomorrow anymore. Remember all those who couldn’t bare to see the results in the fight for freedom.

Thank you so much for reading this post. Remember that even if things look bleak, you must press on.

[1] The history of Hong Kong, visualized

[2] Taiwan Murder Case

[3] Everything you need to know about Hong Kong’s extradition law

[4] A digital Cat-and-Mouse Battle between Police and Protesters in Hong Kong

[5] Carrie Lam addresses extradition law controversy

[6] The difference between Police before and Police now

[7] Marco Leung’s suicide

[8] Hong Kong remembering Marco Leung

Lo Hiu-Yan’s Suicide:

[9] https://www.theepochtimes.com/21-year-old-hong-kong-student-dies-after-leaving-message-protesting-extradition-bill_2983629.html

[10] http://shanghaiist.com/2019/06/30/21-year-old-hong-kong-student-leaves-anti-extradition-note-then-jumps-to-her-death/

Zhita Wu’s Suicide:

[11] https://shanghaiist.com/2019/07/01/third-suicide-by-an-anti-extradition-protestor-in-hong-kong-sparks-alarm-bells/

[12] https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/copycat-anti-extradition-suicide/

[13] Joshua Wong’s thoughts on July 1st protests

[14] Another Hong Kong Protester Fell to Her Death After Leaving a Message for the Government

[15] Hong Kong protest Suicides

[16] #Eye4HK: How a Korean actor started social media movement in solidarity with people of Hong Kong

[17] Cathay threatens to fire staff over ‘illegal’ HK protests

[18] Cathay Pacific boss Rupert Hogg quits after protest row

[19] https://twitter.com/AnthonyKFHo/status/1161977889371430914?s=20

[20] Here’s What to Know About the Mulan Boycott

[21] Hong Kong: Rampaging police must be investigated

[22] Hong Kong authorities deny protester death claims after police raid

[23] ‘Too little, too late’: Hong Kong democrats and protesters vow further action despite extradition bill withdrawal

[24] Why are the protesters in Hong Kong not holding back and looking forward to burn with the government

[25] Glory to Hong Kong

[26] Thousands on streets of Hong Kong rage against mask ban

[27] Blizzard bans video game star after he supports Hong Kong protests

[28] Blizzard, Hearthstone and the Hong Kong protests: What you need to know

[29] Versace is the latest major brand to express its “deepest apologies” to China

[30] The NBA’s crisis in China threatens multibillion-dollar ties

[31] Apple pulls HKmap.live app used in Hong Kong protests

[32] Student’s emotional allegation of sexual assault by Hong Kong police sparks investigation and anger

[33] #ProtestToo: Hongkongers adopt anti-sexual harassment rallying cry in response to police assault allegations

[34] More doctors, nurses decry police for arresting first-aiders, preventing treatment

[35] Amnesty accuses Hong Kong police of abuses, torture of protesters

[36] Hear Hong Kong Protesters Read Their Final Goodbyes | The Dispatch

[37] 2019 Hong Kong protests

[38] Lord Alton's opening speech in Hong Kong debate

Good twitters to follow:

HongKongHermit

Joshua Wong

Misakisuzuki

Winnie the Xi

#HKResist Fight for Hong Kong

10 notes · View notes

pcttrailsidereader · 5 years

Text

April is the Worst Time to Start the PCT . . . Here’s Why

This is a perennial question that has no right answer. That being said, it is an important decision for each individual to make based upon snow pack, skill level, tolerance for crowds and need for solitude, pace, and, of course, when you need to be done. Daniel Winsor offers his perspective and outlines a number of considerations.

This post seems an appropriate follow-up to the October 29 post about the changes to the permit system for 2020. It will become increasingly important because these changes will make skipping the High Sierra and returning later more difficult given new permit regulations.

By Daniel “Beta” Winsor

…ok, ok, so maybe it’s not the absolute worst time. December, for instance, probably deserves that title.

I thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 2017, starting on March 26th. But if I did it again, I’d start a week earlier.

Heresy, I know.

Because April 15th, plus or minus a few days, has traditionally been THE time to get on the trail headed north. Last season, those permit dates were the first to go, within minutes of the permits opening up. You ask a group online for their opinion, they’ll tell you mid-April. You read a book on the PCT, you’ll get the same answer.

It’s not a very good answer.

Now I’m not saying it can’t be done, obviously many people have started in April over the years and did just fine. I’m proposing that more people think about starting in March, specifically the last two weeks of March. Here’s a few of the rationales behind starting in April, and why March is almost always a better answer.

1. Snow in Southern California

Specifically Fuller Ridge near Mt. San Jacinto and then Mt. Baden-Powell later on. Honestly, there’s not much too worry about here.

I went through Fuller Ridge on April 5th on one of the highest snow years in recent history… and it was about five miles of low angle snow. People were getting through without any snow gear (not recommended). For me, it was slow, but manageable, in microspikes. Hikers with crampons used words like “cake” and “joke” enough to make me wish I had crampons.

People summit Mt. San Jacinto in the winter. You just hiked over a hundred miles to get to Fuller Ridge. You can most likely handle walking along a peripheral ridge for a few miles in the spring.

Mt. Baden-Powell is along the same lines as San Jacinto. The snow is steeper, but only slightly, and longer, about ten miles. Many of us managed just fine with microspikes, but those with crampons ran across with a common theme of “was that it?” once they were off snow again.

If there’s ANY snow in the Sierra you’ll be dealing with (a.k.a. every year that isn’t an extreme drought year), don’t fear the small patches of snow in SoCal. Get your ice axe and crampons out and go boost your confidence. Never used those things before? Go learn! It’s a great opportunity to figure out if you feel ready to tackle Sierra snow or if you need to flip up north to avoid the white stuff.

There is MUCH chatter about those first snowy obstacles. This is the first time you’ll likely see the word “impassible” crop up online…

Low angle snow is never impassible with the right gear.

2. Snow in the Sierra Nevada

If you start the PCT in March, then there will be a ton of snow in the Sierra, right?? Yes and no, it really depends on the snow year.

During high snow years:

…such as 2011 and 2017 (and 2019), starting in March puts you in Kennedy Meadows in late April or early May. Most people will need a few days to put their gear together before entering the snow, then you’ll enter into the Sierra in the first or second week of May. At a comfortable pace in the hard, firm snow, you’ll exit the Sierra in the first couple weeks of June.

Does that sound early? It is, BUT you get to leave the Sierra before the melt happens in mid-to-late June when crossing creeks becomes a harrowing, dangerous obstacle. Traveling on snow isn’t (terribly) dangerous, crossing creeks is dangerous. Snow is slow, but you’ll keep moving safely forward. Swollen creeks have the potential to turn you around or even kill you. Many of the creeks, up to 80% of them, are possible to cross on snow bridges during the month of May after heavy winters.

Unfortunately, a well known rule-of-thumb is to leave Kennedy Meadows on “Ray Day”, which is June 15th. Hikers who followed this guidance in 2017 damn near gave themselves a death sentence. Most who went into the Sierra in the month of June were forced to bail. Some even died.

Go when the snow is still snow.

During low snow years:

…such as the drought years from 2012 to 2016, March is still the better answer. You aren’t racing to get to the Sierra before the melt happens, but seeing the Sierra in at least some snow and solitude before the crowds move in on the John Muir Trail portion of the PCT will be the highlight of your hike.

An earlier start gives you the gift of time also. The Sierra is an incredible place, most hikers consider it their favorite section of the whole trail. Nobody should be running through it. There’s plenty of monotonous hiking in the hundreds of miles ahead to push mileage.

There’s great trail towns and side trips all along the Sierra also, take more zeros! Like Bishop, California? Stay there a couple extra days. Mammoth is great spot to go skiing in June! You’ll hike right by Yosemite Valley, an incredible side trip to go play tourist for a day or two.

3. It’s too cold.

I’d actually flip this concern and consider it too hot to start hiking in April.

Starting in late March means you’ll be hiking through Southern California section mostly in April. The hottest and most waterless sections of the PCT happen 3-4 weeks after you start, just before getting to Kennedy Meadows.

Water is a big factor here too. Seasonal water sources in Southern California start dwindling in early May, some even earlier. Without those intermittent water sources, you have to carry more water. Some stretches can be 7-8 liters, even more if you’re hiking slow. The most I had to carry was five liters, which turned out to be excessive.

Water caches are a personal enemy of mine (more on that later), but they are a (wrongly) heavily relied on source through those hottest sections, sometimes getting hikers in trouble. Caches tend to be well stocked very early in the season, even before they’re really necessary, but many run dry as the folks who were maintaining the caches don’t have the time/energy/money to keep them stocked the whole season. Earlier hikers have a better chance coming across water in the water caches.

TO BE CLEAR: NOBODY SHOULD BE RELYING ON WATER CACHES.

I apologize for all the capitol letters, how annoying. But anyways…

If you start in April, you’ll be walking through 90F days in May with disappearing seasonal water sources and questionable water caches. Starting in March, you’ll be walking through 70F days in April with every seasonal water source flowing and freshly stocked water caches.

One of those sounds a bit better than the other, right?

Oh, but you can just hike through the night to beat the heat? Uh. There’s cool stuff to look at out there. Why would you want to miss it? You could just stick a treadmill in your basement, stop showering, and turn off the lights if that’s all you wanted out of your thru-hike.

…although you’d also have to pencil in some off-treadmill time for the psychiatrist.

As for the cold, if you have a 20F sleeping bag, you’ll be fine. My coldest morning in Southern California was 23F near Big Bear. But then I was sleeping back in the 20’s the last few days in Washington! If I had started later, I’d have been spending the last weeks on the trail even colder, through snow storms and other garbage that NO ONE wants to backpack through in the final weeks of such and long, exhausting trip. The beginning of any thru-hike is the time to be uncomfortable, not the end.

4. There aren’t any trail angels or trail magic around in March.

Wrong. One of the best parts of hiking in the early season is that you’re one of the first PCT faces most people are seeing. You’re ahead of the “herd” of hikers, so businesses are still happy to see you. No asshat thru-hikers (yes, these exist) have come along to put a bad taste in anyone’s mouth yet. You’re still a novelty in trail towns. You’re the ONLY hiker at bars and restaurants. People haven’t seen PCTers in a while, so they want to say hi and buy you beers and give you rides. You know what people want to do when they walk into a bar with 20 thru-hikers? Probably leave after they throw up, because why would a hiker shower first when there’s hot food waiting?!

Big trail angel stops are still psyched on the season starting. You’re in places like Hiker Heaven and Hiker Town with less than 10 other people, not 50 or 60.

Just like thru-hikers, trail angels get worn out as the season goes on. By the end of the “herd”, there’s fewer and fewer trail angels around. Earlier season hikers easily have it the best when it comes to trail angels, and this continues all the way up to Canada.

5. I’ll miss the bubble of hikers if I start in March!

Uh. Good.

Not that all thru-hikers aren’t amazing people, I made many incredible friends on my thru, but think about what happens when there’s 50 people starting the trail every day for weeks before you and weeks after…

What are the odds that perfect campsite is free at the end of the day?

When someone leaves a couple six-packs of IPA’s as trail magic, what are the odds there will be one left for you?

Ever tried hitch-hiking along a road with 20 other hitch-hikers?

You like solitude? Hopefully you’ll get over that.

I don’t mean to say that a ton of thru-hikers on the trail is a bad thing, but some people like it, some people don’t. I prefer a tight-knit group of hikers I can get to know, but spend as much time alone as I want. That’s what I got by starting in March.

Final Consideration: Permits

Note: See the updates to the Permit system in the October 29 post. These changes have occurred after Daniel Winsor wrote this piece.

This upcoming year is the first time permits will be given out in November, before anyone has any idea what will happen during the upcoming winter! This is understandably frustrating for 2018 thru-hikers.

So what’s the safe bet if you’re not particularly good at telling the future? Once again: March.

If you go with an April permit and we have a dry winter, you’re in for a hot, waterless desert section. If we see another high snow year, an April permit will put you in the Sierra right when the rivers get dangerous.

If you go with a March permit and we have a dry winter, you’re in for a pleasant desert hike with decent water sources. If we see another high snow year, a March permit will give you choices: head straight through the Sierra on hard snow before the melt, flip up to Hat Creek Rim while it’s still pleasant, or drink beer in Bishop hoping it all melts (which this year, it oddly did).

The earlier permit thing sucks. No way around that. But if you’d like to play it safe, March is the way to go. The beautiful advantage to starting early is that you can always take more zeros. If you start too late, you can’t insert time into your hike if you need more.

All considered, you have to choose your starting date based around many more factors. Time off from work, time away from loved ones, financial limitations etc. The most important thing about choosing a start date is to allow as much time as possible for your journey. Nobody wants to death march through such an amazing trail. Take your time, stay uninjured, and go camp next to that gorgeous lake! A core regret of many thru-hikers is not allowing themselves time to thoroughly enjoy the trail.

Starting in March will give you that time.

#crowds #solitude #start date

8 notes · View notes

youknowmymethods · 5 years

Text

Content Creator Interview #8

Here we are again folks, number 8! This time we’re continuing on from last week’s interview with a bit of role reversal, @ellis-hendricks posing questions to her friend and beta @geekmama, chatting about Brit-picking, bad writing habits, favourite authors, and, most importantly, which of Sherlock’s shirts does it for her.

But starting off with a recap of last week’s intro...

We are, respectively, a Californian and a Geordie, and we got to know each other through reading and reviewing each other’s fics (geekmama’s ‘Time of the Season’ series was one of the first fics I read and loved). Geekmama has been writing in the fandom for around 3 years, and I’ve been doing the same for around 2 years, spurred on by the end of series 4 (and the ILY scene in particular). We started beta-reading each other’s work around a year ago, and are always discovering new and unexpected words and phrases that don’t translate across the pond! Although we’ve used the same set of questions for these interviews, we haven’t seen each other’s answers – so it does mean that if nobody else is interested, at least we will be!

Series

ellis-hendricks: Was there a particular moment in the series that set the ship sailing for you?

geekmama: I think it was A Scandal in Belgravia, and specifically Sherlock’s unprecedented apology to Molly, that got me thinking that the possibility was there, that it wasn’t just Molly’s schoolgirl crush vs. Sherlock’s needs when the game was on. I have to say, even though the Sherlock/Molly ship is easy to board, Mofftiss, etc., were very clever about leaving the way open for other pairings throughout the series. Even the ILY scene and its fallout could be interpreted very differently, if one was so inclined. It is really thanks to all the amazing fanfic authors out there that I jumped on board and took up residence on the good ship Sherlolly.

ellis-hendricks: What's your favourite episode and why?

geekmama: I love bits and pieces of all of them, but the one that I’ve watched more than any other is The Sign of Three. It’s heartwarming, hilarious, and only mildly heartbreaking. Even the villain of the piece, as little as we see him, has a motive one can understand.

ellis-hendricks: If you could ask/tell the series writers one thing, what would it be?

geekmama: Killing off Mary was a mistake, and I don’t care if that event sets up the entire story arc of season four, you should have thought of something else. Come on! You are brilliant writers, you could have done it.

ellis-hendricks: Do you have a controversial opinion about the series? E.g. a character who everyone else hates, but who you love?

geekmama: Or everyone loves but you hate? I’d say Moriarty qualifies. Andrew Scott is very cute, but though he’s in a number of the episodes we’re never given much insight to his character’s motives. Moriarty is pretty much just murderously insane in canon, and I don’t understand how one gets around that to write Molly/Moriarty or any of the slash pairings.

ellis-hendricks: Have you ever, when watching an episode, cracked a case before Sherlock?

geekmama: Well, if the writers want us to, then we’re given the information to crack the case before Sherlock. The series is about him, after all. The cases are secondary.

ellis-hendricks: With whom would you rather be stuck at a wedding table –

Janine or Irene?

geekmama: Janine, she is just fun and rather ordinary, whereas Irene has numerous ulterior motives under her veneer of smug vanity.

ellis-hendricks: Donovan or Anderson?

geekmama: Anderson, since he actually felt remorse for what they did to Sherlock, and came to admire him, too. There might be more to Donovan than what we’re given, and certainly that’s what fanfic is for -- I’ve made her a sympathetic character in a couple of my own fics. And apparently she and Sherlock have some pretty interesting history between them.

ellis-hendricks: Who would you rather bring back in series 5 - Mary or Moriarty?

geekmama: Mary, of course -- she is a far more well-rounded (and loveable) character. One wants to know more about her.

ellis-hendricks: Whose house would you prefer to live in - Sherlock's, John & Mary's, Molly's or Mrs Hudson's?

geekmama: Probably Molly’s, though Sherlock’s would be tempting. Molly’s looks pretty state-of-the-art in the ILY scene, if rather bland -- I couldn’t imagine Molly living in a place that’s all granite gray. It doesn’t reflect her personality at all, and I didn’t even think it could be her home the first time I saw that episode.

ellis-hendricks: In your opinion, who has been the best series villain - Jim Moriarty, Charles Magnussen, Culverton Smith, or Eurus Holmes?

geekmama: Eurus. We’re at least given some idea of her motives, and one can feel some sympathy for her, even though she is as insanely murderous as the other three. The other three are pretty equally revolting.

Your writing

ellis-hendricks: What was your first fic? What prompted it, and how do you feel about it now?

geekmama: My first in the Sherlock fandom was Visiting Hours, written in March 2016. I first watched seasons 1-3 of Sherlock in October 2015 and I’d been reading other authors’ work for several months. There were ideas I wanted to explore, and I wanted to see if I could still write at all, lol! I hadn’t written anything since July of 2013, when I celebrated a decade of being in the Pirates of the Caribbean fandom with a series of ten 50 word drabbles. Visiting Hours is only 100 words, official drabble length, and it’s held up pretty well, I think. I don’t hate it, at least.

ellis-hendricks: Which fic are you most proud of/most attached to, and why?

geekmama: This is a really difficult question since I’ve written quite a few Sherlock fics. If I had to narrow it down, maybe Idiots in Love, which is part of the Aftermath series and from Greg Lestrade’s pov, which is always fun, and The Kensington House, kid!fic from my Time of the Season series. But then there are all the holiday fics… and the historical AU’s…

ellis-hendricks: You write great AUs set in other historical periods - do you prefer this or present day?

geekmama: I’ve read, and written, a lot of historical fiction, and certainly writing it comes much more easily to me than writing something set in the present day -- particularly current culture in the UK. It’s a good thing my dear Ellis_Hendricks is willing to Brit-pick for me. I did my best, but I’m sure my early Sherlock fic has plenty of errors in that regard. That was the most difficult thing for me when I was beginning to write in this fandom. However, I have grown to enjoy writing fic set in the present almost as much as writing historical fic.

ellis-hendricks: What are your worst writing habits?/What are your most overused phrases, plotlines, etc?

geekmama: Wow. There are probably a LOT of bad habits (run-on sentences, excessive use of parentheses and ellipses, etc. etc.etc.), and overused phrases/words. As for plotlines, I find the (comparatively) reality-based canon of Sherlock to be somewhat limiting to begin with (which is why AU’s were invented, I suppose). I try not to repeat plotlines, but of course I’ve used post-ILY scenarios multiple times (and no doubt will again -- the anniversary is coming up on the 15th), and I tend to overdo the h/c as that’s one of my favorite things.

ellis-hendricks: Do you have a writing routine? Where and when? And is everything digital, or are things ever handwritten first?

geekmama: Laptop, ideally in the morning, alone in bed (except for a pile of snoozing dogs), with no distractions like music etc. I can write with the TV or music on, but it takes a lot longer to produce anything. I haven’t produced finished handwritten works since I was in high school, and when I first got back into writing in late 2003 it was on a laptop I borrowed from work -- and it was a revelation! I wouldn’t bother handwriting more than a drabble or the outline of a story, now. Computers FTW!!!

ellis-hendricks: Who do you enjoy writing the most?

geekmama: Sherlock (if I have to choose -- I love Molly, Mycroft, and Lestrade pov, too).

ellis-hendricks: Who do you find easiest/hardest doing first person POV? - Sherlock seems fairly easy a lot of the time (hopefully readers agree -- I may be way off base, who knows?), and maybe Molly for hardest. We see so little of Molly over the course of the series it’s sometimes difficult for me to get a handle on her.

ellis-hendricks: Which fic would you recommend to someone who has never read your stuff before? - Benefit of the Doubt, maybe. I like the way it came out. It was one of those that practically wrote itself.

ellis-hendricks: What do you value most when it comes to feedback?

geekmama: Any feedback is very much appreciated, from Kudos to brief comments, but it’s always nice when someone references a particular phrase or idea they liked. I know how difficult that is to do, sometimes, though.

ellis-hendricks: Would you ever go back and revise old fics - or do you consign them to history once they're published?

geekmama: If I discover (or someone points out) an error I will go back and correct it, but I don’t really revise my stories once they are posted.

ellis-hendricks: What's the nicest/weirdest bit of feedback you've ever had? And does feedback ever influence what you write next, either within a story or in terms of future fics?

geekmama: I have to say I’ve had a lot of great, encouraging comments over the years, and maybe a few negative ones, mostly on FF.net, which I pretty much ignore, though one or two brought up interesting points. I think mostly people leave a comment if they really like something, or just go away if they don’t. Feedback does influence what I write to an extent -- say if someone really wants more of a certain story, or aspect of a story, that gets me thinking how it could be done.

ellis-hendricks: Do you - or would you - write other pairings?

geekmama: Well, yes, I’ve written Mycroft/Lady Smallwood, and John/Mary, and I have a few fics that reference Lestrade/OFC. And of course there are other F/M possibilities. But mostly it’s Sherlock/Molly.

ellis-hendricks: How would you define your style? (E.g. mine was called 'fluffy realism’, which I quite liked!)

geekmama: I agree with that ‘fluffy realism’ definition, the sweetest stuff and easily related to. I would call mine “Romance” if I had to choose a word, the old definition of romance that entails fluff, angst, humor, adventure -- all the stuff that makes a story interesting and fun to read.

ellis-hendricks: What's your method in approaching a story? Do you plan methodically, or wing it?

geekmama: I am somewhere in between. With longer fic I sometimes use an outline, but more often I have a basic plot in mind, complete with ending, and think about it until I’m finally ready (and have the time) to write it.

ellis-hendricks: Who do you write for? Is it you, or are you thinking about trying to please your audience?

geekmama: Mostly me. I started writing fanfic in the Pirates of the Caribbean fandom because I wasn’t seeing fic that went where I wanted to go with that story. With Sherlock it was some of that, and the fact that I wanted to further explore these compelling characters, and writing fic was the best way to do that. But I do write for my audience, to an extent, and it is fun to accept a prompt or theme from someone and write to it. In the PotC fandom we had a weekly drabble challenge for years, and I really miss that sort of thing.

ellis-hendricks: Do you have any WIPs, and do you think new chapters will ever see the light of day?

geekmama: I do have a WIP, Souvenirs, for which I’ve written a couple of additional chapters, and hope to finish some day. But it sort of got waylaid by the whole post-ILY thing. I may finish it. You never know. I also hope to write some more of that Regency AU, Uncertain Terms.

ellis-hendricks: Are you working on anything at the moment?

geekmama: I’m going to try to write something for the ILY Anniversay (January 15th).

ellis-hendricks: What’s harder for you - writing the start of a fic, or coming up with a decent title?

geekmama: Writing the start, I guess. Titles are usually easy. It’s plot and particularly a good ending that take a lot of work.

Reading other people's fics

ellis-hendricks: What are your favourite tropes in the fandom?

geekmama: Post-ILY scenarios, for sure, h/c, kid!fic, Mary is still alive, Christmas stories. Etc.

ellis-hendricks: What things are likely to turn you off a fic?

geekmama: Bad characterizations (we read fanfic because we want more of the characters we love); poor editing / grammar; too many crazy tags; Intro posts that have TMI (I don’t want to know that you’re bad at titles/summaries/etc.), or that solicit reviews too blatantly. Well, those things and just stuff I don’t want to read -- bad porn, excessive violence (torture in particular), stories focusing on characters I dislike. I’m kind of picky, actually. But we write and read in a particular fandom for personal pleasure, and I think authors have to expect that their work won’t please everybody (or maybe anybody - who knows?).

ellis-hendricks: Can you recommend 3 favourite fics that aren't your own?

geekmama: Only 3??? Well, I’ve printed out miabicicletta’s A fearful hope was all the world, and sunken_standard’s Fumbling Toward Ecstasy, so I guess that counts for something. It’s virtually impossible to choose one of Ellis_Hendricks’ fic, they reference so many of my favorite tropes and are all of them deliciously memorable. But then, how can I leave out Quarto’s Competition? Or Emma_Lynch’s Quarantine? Or so many others?

ellis-hendricks: What compels you to leave comments on top of kudos?

geekmama: If some idea or turn of phrase stands out for me, and if the fic is well-done in general.

ellis-hendricks: Quick-fire questions!

John's TEH moustache or his TAB moustache?

geekmama: TAB (I don’t think we are meant to like his TEH moustache, are we?).

Sherlock's purple shirt or white shirt?

geekmama: Gah! Why do I have to choose? Purple, then.

Molly's stripy jumper or cherry cardigan?

geekmama: Stripy jumper, I think, as their relationship is more fully developed at that point.

Mary's christening outfit or black-ops gear?

geekmama: Christening outfit, for sure.

Submitted by OhAine: this is a joint question for Ellis and geekmama: Do you feel that working together as betas has changed the way you both write?

geekmama: Not really, my process is the same and any input from Ellis_Hendricks is given after the fact. I edit the story accordingly, but there are usually only minor changes involved. I am particularly grateful for her “Brit-picking” skill, which obviously makes her far more valuable to me than I am to her -- it’s surprising how many little differences there are between the UK’s culture and California’s. I was woefully ignorant about that when I became involved in this fandom, and I don’t feel I’m much better now, really.

Next week, Friday 12th April 2019, @thisisartbylexie interviews @writingwife-83

#content creator interviews #Sherlock #sherlolly #geekmama #ellis-hendricks

51 notes · View notes

tangyyyy · 5 years

Link

Lucille and Eliott met when they were both very young, here is a piece of their love story. They truly loved each other, maybe in a wrong way, but love isn’t always an easy thing to live and to do. From 2014 to 2019. From Lucille to Lucas, with a lot of Eliott in the middle.

Sinking

Friday March 16 2019, 11:50 pm

Eliott wasn't feeling well. Lucille knew it, she felt it. Despite the breakup, she had met him twice in the street and at his parents' home where she had come back to get few of her things. From what she understood through his Instagram account, Eliott and Lucas were back together. If it tore Lucille's heart, that wasn't her main concern at the moment. She admitted, Lucas seemed to make Eliott happy. Too happy. The young woman knew it, Eliott was at the beginning of a manic episode. He was no longer sleeping, was going into heated rhetoric speeches, and was planning future plans way too ambitious to be realistic.

Lucille felt totally helpless. She had talked to Eliott's mother about it. The latter had told her that it was difficult for everyone to help Eliott if he didn't really want to, but that besides, now that she was no longer his girlfriend, she had to focus on herself, take time for her. Unfortunately, all this was above Lucille's strength. She had called Eliott. The latter cut off the talk, retorting that his health shouldn't be her concern anymore. Lucille had hung up, a bitter taste in her mouth.

On Saturday, Lucille had remained all day locked in her room to mope in her bed. Neither her mother nor Charlotte had managed to convince her to go out. Go out for what? To see who? It didn't interest her. A bit sore of too much cries, the young woman lost herself on Instagram. She found Lucas' account. Curious and looking for every little things that could hurt her even more, she scrolled through his pictures until she found a story he had just posted a few minutes before. The boy was sitting on a couch, Eliott's head resting on his shoulder. His lips moved on a song she didn't know but she recognised the lyrics "Call your girlfriend". The young man's eyes were ironic and he looked more than provocative. Lucille clenched her jaw before throwing her phone to the other end of the room on a stack of clothes. The young woman let out a cry of anger from the depths of her heart. In the living room, her mother knocked on her bedroom's door. "Are you okay honey? -Yes, I'm fine! Stop asking me that damn question!” Lucille replied, burying her face in one of her pillows. Seeing the young boy showing off his happiness made her want to strangle him with her own hands. Ok, he had won, it was on his shoulder that Elliot was resting his head now. But was it necessary to be so full of himself? Lucille remained motionless for a moment in her bed, holding her breath into the pillow. It was only when her head began to turn that her main concern came to chase her murder dreams. She was still worried about Eliott. The latter stubbornly refused to talk to her, but maybe Lucas could talk to him? She had to talk to him about it. Not out of sympathy for him but out of love for Eliott. Lucille stood up and grabbed her phone. A few days ago she had taken Lucas' phone number from Eliott's phone. Ok, this wasn't the most respectful thing she's been doing lately, but at the moment, privacy respect was the last concern of the young woman. She had to warn Lucas, she had to protect Eliott. She dialed the boy's number, but he didn't answer.

The next few days, Lucille tried to reach Lucas several times without him recalling her back. The young woman was loosing her temper. What did he believe? That she only called him to insult him or to persuade him to "give back" Eliott to her? No, she just wanted to warn him that Eliott wasn't doing well, was it too much to ask? On Wednesday, he finally picked up his phone. Unfortunately, Eliott, who was at his side, cut the talk short. "I asked you not to call him, Lucille. -Please Eliott, list... -Can you leave us alone now? -Eliott, wait!" He hung up. Lucille felt more helpless than ever. Then Friday arrived. Smoking a cigarette on her bed, Lucille tried without much success to watch some lame sitcom on Netflix, when she heard her phone ringing. The young woman sighted deeply. No doubt it was Charlotte again, calling to harass her to go out with her. With a weary gesture, Lucille reached out and grabbed her phone. Seeing not Charlotte's name but Lucas' appearing on the screen, her eyes widened. She stood up abruptly and answered quickly. "Hello? -Hello... L... Lucille, please, c... come right now.” The boy seemed breathless, his voice was totally panicked. Lucille took a deep breath so that she wouldn't panic either. "What? But... Where are you? -I... I don't know! We're... I'll send you the address." Judging that it was useless to ask more details on the phone as the young man seemed anguished and confused in what he could say, Lucille hung up. Jumping into the first clothes she found, the young woman rushed out of the apartment. On the stairs, her phone vibrated against her thigh, Lucas had just sent the address. Glancing at the message, Lucille's heart sank, the young man was on a houseboat. A fucking houseboat?! What could have happened? Getting on the platform, Lucille rushed to the boat indicated by the address. Lucas was seated on a little iron staircase, looking completely lost, scared and stressed as Hell. When he saw her, he rushed towards her. "Fuck, I've searched everywhere, I don't know where he is !" Lucille made a superhuman effort to stay just a bit more relaxed. The whole world could collapse around Eliott but not her, she had to stay up. "What happened? -I don't know! We were in the houseboat, we were good and he told me he was going to swim..." Eliott had told him he was going to swim and Lucas didn't react immediately? How had he done to be so unconscious? "... And so, he stood up and by the time I came to... I didn't hear anything so I don't think he jumped, he... He was naked... Fuck..." The young man was about to cry, on the verge of anxiety attack. Lucille clenched her teeth, enraged for being the only one, again, to have a minimum of wisdom. "Oh fuck. Ok, ok, ok!” She interjected to cut Lucas off in his panicked speech. "We just have to hope the cops will find him."

It wasn't the first time Elliot had fallen into such deep crises. Each time, the police men had found him relatively quickly before Eliott really put himself in danger. Lucille crossed her fingers to make this night go the same way. A short silence settled. Lucas looked in Lucille's eyes for answers he didn't seem to find on his own. This ignorant look turned the young woman crazy. Was he so stupid to understand nothing about the situation in which he and Eliott had gotten stuffed? Shaking, Lucille was struggling not to yell on him, not to tell him what she really felt. "I don't even understand what happened... I do not know..." It was too much ! He wanted answers? She was going to give him some! "He's bipolar, Lucas! You understand that?!" Her words had the effect of a big slap in the young man's face. Too bad for him, Lucille thought, someone had to let him see his own stupidity. Being on edge, the young woman couldn't care about her ex-boyfriend she was still madly in love AND his new boyfriend completely overwhelmed by the situation.

"This houseboat, there, he entered by breaking-in. -He told me he rented it..." He said in a tiny voice. Was he so naive? Lucille let out a small ironic sigh full of weariness. "Come on... How do you think he would have paid for it? -I don't know. -You don't know, right...” Maybe if he had answered her many calls last week, he wouldn't be so surprised. Lucille felt her hate overflow from all the pores of her skin. "Did you smoke?" Lucas didn't answer, just staring at her with hatred and guilt in his blue eyes. "Did you smoke?” The young woman asked again. "A... a tiny bit... -Fuck, that's not good for him. He can't smoke. He's sick, Lucas, sick! You get it?" Maybe she was going a bit hard? Lucille didn't care. Lucas had to understand the gravity of the situation, whether he liked it or not. And again... If he had answered her previous calls, Eliott wouldn't be in danger tonight. Fuck, Eliott... Her phone rang in the pocket of her leather jacket. Lucille answered immediately. "Hello? -Good evening Miss, municipal police of Paris 15th. We call you because you are the emergency number of Mr. Eliott Demaury, he is currently with us at the station." Lucille felt her heart lighten up. Eliott was safe. "Oh thank you. -This young man is in a state of extreme distress, you must come and get him right away. -Yes Yes Yes. Yes, I'm coming, yes. I'll warn his parents and I'll come. -Police station Paris 15th, rue Vaugirard. -Thank you, yes." Lucille hung up, relieved. "Did they find him?” Lucas asked. "Yeah, they did. -Are you sure we should call his parents?"

Lucille had thought that once reassured about Eliott, she would be able to calm down. But she was heavily mistaken. In fact, the opposite happened. Now that Eliott was safe, the anger she felt towards Lucas and his unconscious and childish behavior took over in her heart and mind. The young woman was overflowing with rage and had no reason to hide it anymore. It was her turn to express her feelings... "Obviously I'm calling his parents!” How could it be otherwise? Lucas was way too stupid ... "They found him naked in the street, he broke into a houseboat and he smoked weed! -I am coming with you." But who did he think he was?! After all he had done, after being so irresponsible, he really thought he had a place near Eliott?! "No ! Oh no, no, no, no. You're not coming with me, no. You leave him alone now." Lucille wasn't stupid. Eliott had broken up with her, he didn't want her anymore, she knew it. But that didn't mean that she no longer had the right and the duty to keep caring about him. And that didn't mean either that Lucas was the perfect boy for him. He couldn't hold a candle to Eliott, the latter deserved much better than him! "You think he loves you?” Lucille was going to hurt him? Never mind. The words of the young woman were no longer dictated by any reason, only her broken heart was speaking now. "But that's not true. He can't love you.” Everything was worth for Lucas to leave Eliott alone. He needed someone strong, lucid, not a scared little boy like him. "It's just something he's got into his head, ok?” The more she spoke, the more rage invaded her. She couldn't control anything anymore. "You're nothing for him. You're just a fucking whim."

No longer able to look at Lucas, the young woman turned around. Walking through the streets of Paris, she ran to Eliott.

BEWARE: Even when the entourage is aware of the bipolarity of a person, it's very complicated, if not impossible to stop a depressive or manic episode. Lucille's idea that she or Lucas would do it is just her point of view, not mine... ;)

Poor baby Lucas... This was a very hard chapt to write because Lucille's pov, she doesn't see him as the really cool and nice boyfriend we know he can be !

#Growing Up #That chapter was tough to write but kinda fun too !#Poor Lucas #That's terrible...#Skam France #fanfiction #2 more chapters left !!

7 notes · View notes

iamtheroger · 5 years

Text

Queen Index Part 1: The Video Directors

I finally got round to starting this pretty big operation. I start off pretty simply with all the video directors of Queen music videos or concert videos. Just to keep this manageable to me I’ll only cover 1973-1995 (with some exceptions along the way). I’ll do this chronologically and then make a masterpost of all the different posts I’ve made.

Mike Mansfield - Director of the first promo videos of Keep Yourself Alive & Liar shot at Brewer Street in London on 9th August 1973.

Bruce Gowers - Was first used as the director of the Bohemian Rhapsody video, shot on 10th November 1975 at Elstree Studios in London.

Faced with a difficult situation, the group improvised, setting aside a budget of £3,500 and hiring director Bruce Gowers for a four-hour (might have been three - yogurtbattle) shoot that took place without storyboarding or much of any rehearsal — and found Gowers rolling tape while the band members kept one eye on the clock, intent on getting out of the shoot in time to make it to the pub before last call (they did - yogurtbattle). (x)

(BTW, I’ve seen Roger say that they left on 2 AM that night to take the bus to their first concert, but the date of the video is widely reported as 10th of November so one of those has to be wrong and right now I’m going for Roger’s memory :P)

He also directed the video for You’re My Best Friend, no exact date. Now there is a bit of confusion over this video, and this is the closest I’ve found, from Ratty’s book, that makes sense:

So it was recorded it a disused barn at Ridge Farm but not in April (as widely reported), but in mid-June (that’s when they rehearsed there). Makes far more sense as the single was released in mid-June as well.

Next up he directed the video for Somebody To Love shot both at Wessex Studios and Hyde Park in London, the former on 4th November 1976 and the latter on 18th September 1976, during the concert. Lastly, on 18th February 1977 he flew out to Miami (not as sometimes reported at Nassau Colisseum in Uniondale) to direct the video of Tie Your Mother Down in the Sportorium. The reason he never worked for Queen again afterwards, as told by him:

Gowers worked with Queen three more times before falling out with late singer Freddie Mercury because he was booked for another job. The pair had a “shouting match” in a London restaurant. “Freddie felt betrayed,” he said, “but didn't understand I was not under contract with them, and as a freelancer took work where I could get it. We never spoke properly after that.”

He did went on to work with (amongst others) Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones, Genesis, Bee Gees, Elton John, Michael Jackson & Prince.

Derek Burnbridge - The director of We Are The Champions, shot on 6th October 1977 at New Royal Theatre in London. This was the first time the band called on the fan club for cheap extras and the band gave an impromptu short performance afterwards. It is unknown why the band never worked with him again, but he did went on to direct videos for The Police & AC/DC.

Rock Flicks - Now, this sounds more like the name of a company than a person to me, especially as the Queen videos are the only videos found related to it, but anyway ‘Rock Flicks’ was behind the Spread Your Wings/We Will Rock You video shoot, shot in January 1978 at Roger’s new home in Surrey, the one where Freddie was drunk and everyone cold. It is therefore unknown who really directed this videos.

Dennis De Vallance - This guy worked on several Queen videos, which is odd as the band didn’t like any of them. Not like the band which is normally so perfectionistic. Anyway, he first directed the Fat Bottomed Girls video on 28th October 1978 at the Convention Center in Dallas, where Queen were playing. At the same time, the performance footage for Bicycle Race was shot, but the band hated that so much only the footage of the nude cyclists was used in the original cut. This footage is also credited to Dennis as director, and was shot on 17th September at Wimbledon Stadium in London. He later returned to direct the Love Of My Life promo video on the 25th April 1979 in Tokyo. At last, he made a good Queen video when he directed the Crazy Little Thing Called Love one, on the 22nd September 1979 at Trillion Studios in London.

Interesting side note on the Crazy video: it was choreographed by Arlene Phillips, who also choreographed the We Will Rock You musical!

Now the next one is a bit tricky, his name is written as both Jorgen Kliebenst and Jörgen Kliebenstein (it certainly isn’t the first one), but I wonder if this might be the same guy as Hans-Jürgen Kliebenstein, as that is the only person with a similar name I can found on Google who is also working for TV - Anyway, this guy, whatever his name is, directed the Don’t Stop Me Now video shot at Forrest Nationale in Belgium before Queen’s concert there on 26th January 1979.

Keith McMillan - The guy that managed to fall down an orchestra pit at the Rainbow Theatre in London while working on the video for Save Me. Because the director injured himself, the band had to return to the video shoot a week later, on 22nd December 1979 at Alexandra Palace. This guy had worked before Queen with Kate Bush and Paul McCartney (who might have recommended him to them as he was the one behind the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea that Queen performed in the same month, which Keith also directed). He later worked with Blondie and Simple Minds.

Brian Grant - Directed multiple Queen videos, with mixed successes. His first was the video for Play The Game at Trillion Studios in London on 29th May 1980. Two years later he also shot the ill-fated videos for Back Chat and Calling All Girls back-to-back, in an unknown location in July 1982. He worked with various famous acts in the 80s, amongst them Kim Wilde, Peter Gabriel, Spandau Ballet, Whitney Houston and Van Halen.

Daniella Green - Hey, a female director! She directed the video for Another One Bites The Dust, shot on the 9th August 1980 in Dallas at the Reunion Arena. Nothing else I could find about her, sadly.

Mike Hodges - Just after Queen finished work on the Flash Gordon soundtrack, they shot a video for the theme song with Flash Gordon director Mike directing it - I’ll come back to him when discussing Flash Gordon. The video was shot in November 1980 at Anvil Studios and Roger had to take a break from recording his solo album to shoot it. Mike also shot the video for Body Language (yes, that one) in April 1982 in Toronto. Here’s Mike talking about that one:

Your promo video for Queen's song Body Language was apparently the first film banned by MTV. It's certainly the most erotic piece of work you've made. How did you and the band arrive at the concept? While recording the music for FLASH GORDON, I became friendly with all the members of Queen. They were fantastic fun to work with. In fact, shortly afterwards, I shot the movie’s music video. Then Freddie Mercury approached me to do the same with a song he’d written, Body Language. There’s the eroticism you talk about - in the song itself. The concept was Freddie’s and I was only too happy to capture it on film. We completed it in a Toronto studio after a truly exhausting 24-hour (okay, that makes the lack of enthusiasm by the band even more understandable - yogurtbattle) shoot! (x)

David Mallet - Now, there’s a guy that should have his own page, so much has he done with Queen. He came to work with Queen as he had worked with David Bowie previously. His first video was the one for Under Pressure, and he went on to do the videos for Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Hammer To Fall, Who Wants To Live Forever, I Want It All, several of Freddie’s solo videos, and some work with Queen since Freddie’s death. Other people he has worked with include Joan Jett, Def Leppard, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Tina Turner, AC/DC and INXS.

Radio Ga Ga: Shot on the 22nd & 23rd of November 1983 at Shepperton Studios in London.

I Want To Break Free: Shot on 22nd March (the audience part), 23rd March (the drag part), 1st April (the ballet part rehearsal) and 5th April 1984 (the ballet part performance) at Limehouse Studios in London.

Hammer To Fall: Shot on the 25th August 1984 at the Forrest Nationale in Brussels. Footage from the 24th was also used for audience shots, as not enough fans showed up.

Who Wants To Live Forever: Shot on 16th September 1986 at a warehouse in Tobacco Wharf in London (by now demolished). Of course Roger was drunk here.

I Want It All: Shot on 22nd April 1989 at Elstree Studios.

The producer on several of these videos was Jacqui Byford, mentioned in the liner notes of The Miracle.

Tim Pope - Right. This guy had previously done the oh-so-great Man On Fire video, so Queen decided to hire him to shoot the video for It’s A Hard Life. The shoot ended up lasting one week, by far the longest of any Queen video. It was shot in Munich of course, in mid-June 1984 at Arri Film Studios. Now it wasn’t just Pope, the band was getting a bit out of hand with their videos then anyway, which probably had other reasons as well. He also worked with Soft Cell, The Cure, The Cars, Hall & Oates, Talk Talk, David Bowie & Paul McCartney (there’s a bit of an eighties theme going on here).

DoRo, The Torpedo Twins or Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher - The other prominent Queen directors, from one of their favourite cities Vienna. Responsible for even more Queen videos than David Mallet, especially in Freddie’s dying days:

One Vision: Shot in August 1985 in Munich, where Queen where recording for A Kind Of Magic. Also directed the shot documentary surrounding the video.

Friends Will Be Friends: Shot at JVC Studios in London on 15th May 1986, another Fan Club call.

Breakthru: Shot in June 1989 on the Nene Valley Railway in Cambridgeshire. Starring of course Debbie.

The Invisible Man: A video for Roger’s song shot on Roger’s birthday! Not very surprising then that Freddie had those glasses on for Roger’s birthday party. Apparently there was also a birthday cake wheeled in during recording and large amounts of champagne were drunk! Date of course was 26th July 1989, location Pinewood Studios in London.

Scandal: Again at Pinewood Studios, this one was shot on 27th September 1989.

The Miracle: Shot at Elstree Studios on 23rd November 1989. Freddie was portrayed by Ross McCall, who went on to become a professional actor, playing most famously in Band of Brothers.

Innuendo: This one was actually a collaboration between Rudi Dolezal and Jerry Hibbert (mentioned in the album notes). Jerry is an animator who has also worked on Fireman Sam. The video was made in December 1990.

Headlong: Shot at Metropolis Studios in London on 23rd November 1991 and another unknown date late 1990.

I’m Going Slightly Mad: Shot on 15th February 1991 at Wembley Studios in London.

These Are The Days Of Our Lives: Shot on 30th May 1991 (Freddie’s last video) at Limestone Studios in London. Brian couldn’t attend as he was in the US promoting Innuendo, but he was later edited in, with his parts filmed in June.

The Show Must Go On: The band wasn’t in this as Freddie has become too ill, but an edited montage was release as the video in October 1991.

No-One But You: Filmed at the Bray Studios in London in 1997.

After Freddie’s death Roger and Brian also made appearances at DoRo parties in 1992 (Hannes’ 40th) and 1998 (Rudi’s 40th).

Saul Swimmer - The amongst Queen members not very popular director of We Will Rock You, by now known as Rock Montreal, filmed on the 24th and 25th November 1981. It was renamed to its current name after Queen bought out Saul in 2006, after spending 25 years trying to get of him basically.

Gavin Taylor - The director of Live At Wembley, filmed on 13th July 1986. Also directed Live At The Bowl on 5th June 1982. Sadly not with us anymore.

Zsombolyai János -The director of the Hungarian Rhapsody, filmed on 27th July 1986 in of course Budapest.

That was it for the first part of the Queen index!

#queen index #this is way too long #I hope anyone even bothers reading it #queen

23 notes · View notes

omniversalobservations · 5 years

Photo

Devil May Cry Series Joins Netflix's Castlevania in 'Bootleg Multiverse'

After weeks of rumors, executive producer Adi Shankar has announced he is developing an animated series based on Capcom's popular action-adventure video game franchise Devil May Cry for Netflix.

Shankar had purchased the television rights to the video game series from Capcom himself to ensure a greater degree of creative freedom rather than acquiring them through a production studio. As such, the producer teased that the upcoming animated series takes place in the same multiverse as his Castlevania animated series for Netflix. Shankar confirmed the project through a post on his Twitter account dressed up as the franchise's protagonist, the demon hunter Dante.

"[I] acquired [Devil May Cry's] rights myself so the jabronis in Hollywood don’t fuck this one up too," explained Shankar in an interview with IGN. "[Devil May Cry] will join Castlevania in what we’re now calling the bootleg multiverse."

For weeks, there were rumors that Shankar was developing an animated adaptation to Nintendo's popular action-RPG franchise The Legend of Zelda. These rumors escalated after Shankar hinted at a massive video game-related announcement today. Today's announcement revealed that Shankar was working on a completely different video game adaptation with a different game studio instead while the producer thanked fans of Netflix's Castlevania for his continued success.

"[Castlevania] really over-performed. It did crazy well. We immediately got greenlit for Season 3," revealed Shankar. "I wouldn’t have a job if it wasn’t for the fans."

Details on the Devil May Cry adaptation, including an anticipated release date and cast, are currently unannounced as is how being in the same multiverse as Castlevania will impact either series, if in any way at all.

Source: Comic Book Resources

As showrunner Adi Shankar revealed exclusively to IGN's Jacki Jing, work has begun on a Devil May Cry animated series that will exist as part of a shared multiverse with Castlevania. Suddenly, two of the biggest franchises in the gaming world have become intertwined.

While at first glance these might seem like very random pairings of AAA franchises, there's actually a lot of potential in linking Castlevania and Devil May Cry. Here's how we think these two shows will connect with each other and begin to forge a larger animated multiverse.

MULTIVERSE VS. SHARED UNIVERSE: Shankar is specifically referring to Castlevania and Devil May Cry as being part of a multiverse rather than one shared universe. That might seem like a minor distinction, but it reveals a lot about how the two shows are likely connected. Unfortunately, the word "multiverse" implies that the two series won't be taking place in the same world. We could easily envision a scenario where Castlevania (which is currently set in 15th Century Wallachia) takes place some 500 years prior to the events of Devil May Cry (which will presumably unfold in the present day). But instead, it appears that the two series will be fairly isolated from one another.

This may be a necessary move given that the two game franchises are owned by different developers. It would be one thing to expand the world of Castlevania using other Konami properties like Silent Hill and Metal Gear, but it becomes a different matter entirely when Capcom's franchises are brought to the table. As much as we'd love to see the mythologies of Castlevania and Devil May Cry merge into one cohesive dark fantasy universe, that's probably too much to ask for.

THE ARROWVERSE COMPARISON: So if the two shows aren't going to take place in the same universe, what's the point of linking them at all? Does announcing a Castlevania/Devil May Cry multiverse actually have a tangible impact on either show? We have to assume the answer is still yes. Frankly, we doubt Shankar would make this announcement if there weren't concrete plans for having the two shows cross over with each other.

Our guess is that the two shows will coexist much in the same way The Flash and Supergirl do on The CW. Those two shows take place on separate alternate Earths in the larger DC multiverse. Barry Allen and his friends dwell on Earth-1, while Kara Danvers and crew reside on Earth-38. For the most part, Flash and Supergirl have separate adventures and don't cross paths. But once or twice every season, one hero will cross the barrier between universes and pay a visit to the other. The line-wide Arrowverse crossover has now become an annual tradition every December, with this year's "Elseworlds" crossover drawing near.

We assume Castlevania and Devil May Cry will have a similar relationship. We may not see Alucard cross paths with Dante very often, but it stands to reason that these shows will occasionally take the opportunity to bring one monster hunter over into another's world, allowing them to battle foes too powerful for any one hero to overcome. Given how steeped both franchises are in the supernatural, it wouldn't be very hard to invent a justification for an inter-dimensional crossover. Heck, most of the Devil May Cry games revolve heavily around the barriers between the mortal realm and Hell being shattered.

THEMATIC TIES: Hopefully, fans can look forward to occasional crossovers between the two shows, and possibly even the animated video game equivalent of The Defenders if Netflix continues to draw in more gaming properties. But it may be that the goal is less about establishing a shared continuity for these shows than it is building thematic ties.

Going back to the Flash/Supergirl comparison, it's always very obvious that the two shows are part of a shared multiverse even when they go months without directly interacting with each other. That's because they share many stylistic elements in common. They both take a relatively lighthearted approach to superhero storytelling. They both emphasize the importance of a strong support network in a costumed hero's life. Tonally, both shows are similar enough that it's easy to picture Central City existing just down the road from National City.

The same will probably hold true for Castlevania and Devil May Cry. Even if the two shows don't have much in the way of a plot connection, Devil May Cry may draw a lot of inspiration from Castlevania in terms of its tone, presentation, and characterization. Why shouldn't it? As we said in our review of Castlevania Season 2, the series easily ranks among the best video game adaptations ever. Given how difficult it's been for studios to adapt games to other media in the past, it would be foolish not to take a long, hard look at why this series has succeeded where most others have failed. From Capcom's perspective, the goal may be less about the fanboy appeal of pairing Dante with Alucard as it is having a Devil May Cry series that's as critically acclaimed as Castlevania. Not to mention that with Devil May Cry 5 arriving in March 2019, now is the ideal time to give the franchise a renewed push in other media.

And there's certainly plenty of inspiration to be drawn from Castlevania. This is a series notable for devoting painstaking attention to fleshing out its characters, heroes and villains alike. It's also a show that revolves heavily around family histories and heroes reluctantly embracing their destinies. Dante and Alucard make for logical allies, not just because they're both good at slicing up monsters, but because they're both half-human warriors torn between two worlds. Regardless of any overt crossover elements, we'd be happy just watching a Devil May Cry series where Dante's character arc mirrors what Alucard has suffered through over the course of 12 episodes.

Source: IGN

(image via YouTube)

#cartoons #Devil May Cry #Castlevania

27 notes · View notes