#making a career change

[livelaughloveluobinghe]

well maybe the wolf was wearing the sheeps clothing because he was cold and wet and sad. did u ever think about that? no ofc u didnt

[wooldawn]

[aurorangen]

A career change. It could be a good thing for Robbie. Earlier in the week, Renee messaged him about a new job opening for a forensic scientist company that she is connected to. He has a relevant degree and experience in the medical field from analytical chemistry to toxicology, it all sounded very exciting to him! Robbie mulled over his application, checking he had all the details before finally sending it off.

[batsplat]

Wait what’s the tea on Valentino’s sleep patterns 👀👀 (fellow insomniac / recent motogp fan always looking for more representation)

oh yeah, if you're looking for representation for poor sleeping habits you've very much come to the right place. his sleep patterns are pretty remarkable you have to say. way too nocturnal for a professional athlete, reliant on naps to get through the race weekend, all power to him for somehow making that work and winning all those titles. pretty sure I've read somewhere that he's still known for doing sim races at ungodly hours these days, just how he lives his life

tbh I can't remember off the top of my head where I'd actually read about his sleeping patterns, but I've cobbled together a decent selection of quotes from the usual sources. the most interesting stuff he's said on the topic is in his autobiography - where he goes into rather a lot of detail about his preference for the night. given that it's quite a lengthy passage, I've chucked it under the cut. he frames his nocturnal inclination as not only suiting his natural body clock better, but also as a way of escaping the rest of the world - of being able to move around in peace and silence and anonymity. plus, he liked to spend his nights in the garage to... *pinches bridge of nose* have some special personal time with his bike, when it was just the two of them. take that as you will

before that, let's just start with a few more general descriptions of his sleeping patterns. from early in his career, jerez 1998 (from oxley's vr files):

The camper only holds two people, but that's okay. I don't like my dad to sleep with me, because when it gets to ten o'clock he starts saying: "Vale, Vale, got to bed!", but I can't go to sleep before one or two. We did share a motorhome in '96 and it made life very, very difficult for me.

and about brno 1999 (from oxley's vr files):

On weekends when I'm not racing, I never go to bed before six or seven on Sunday morning. If it's a party, maybe even later, but going to bed at six in the morning is quite normal for me! Even when I was 14 I used to go to bed at 4am. Quite often I'd be riding around the local minimoto tracks until after midnight! If I go to sleep at 11 or 12 I just lie there, my eyes wide open. Maybe I would be good for 24-hour racing!

and then a few years into his premier class career, valentino says the following (x):

'I have a lot of energy after 2am,' Rossi agreed. 'I like to sleep in the morning. I have some problems at the start of the day.'

we've also got a description of crew chief jb's influence in terms of making sure valentino wasn't slacking off by sleeping in (from oxley's vr files):

Burgess' talents aren't restricted to getting the best out of a 500. The Aussie has been in GPs for decades and knows how to extract the best from riders as well. He expects 100 per cent commitment both on the track and in the pits, and when he doesn't get that, he gives 'em hell. Some other crew chiefs won't do that - they're too overawed by their riders' superstardom. JB laid down the law last summer when late-sleeper Rossi turned up late for practice. Rossi suggested that in future one of the crew should be despatched to his motorhome each morning to make sure he was out of bed. No way, said Burgess, I'll be there to give you your wake-up call. Rossi's not overslept since.

and from 2001, in valentino's own words:

Q: Tell us about your sleeping habits, JB has had to wake you a few times for practice... VR: I never go to bed before 1 o'clock, and there's no limit on when I go to bed, but even when I go to sleep very late I always wake up at 8.30, though when I do wake up I always have a big confusion for the first five minutes, then after that I remember: "Oh fuck, I'm at world grand prix!" So I have a shower and then I'm okay. I never get up too close to riding time because the 500 is a dangerous bike so it's necessary to be awake when you climb aboard. Back in the afternoon after practice at four or five o'clock I'll sleep for another hour.

only semi-related but valentino's also talked about... you know, this generational shift - where the sport has become more professionalised, which is reflected in certain lifestyle changes (from barker's rossi biography):

"The next generation is always stronger. They are more professional, they put more effort in, they make a perfect life, they eat in a good way, they don't drink, they go to sleep early, they train every day from the morning to the night... I come from an era where the riders drank beer and smoked cigarettes!"

also plenty of talk of jet lag obviously... doesn't struggle with it too much headed westwards because he says he basically lives on american time anyway. the other direction is tougher, but in his youth he decided that he might as well try to continue living on italian time. so he essentially went racing at 5 in the morning (about phillip island 1998, from oxley's vr files):

I don't have a problem with jet lag, I always sleep. Last year in Indonesia I stayed on Italian time for the whole grand prix - so I was racing at five in the morning! But the difference is too great to do that in Australia.

how on earth are you racing motorcycles like that. mind you, he won that 1997 indonesia race

so yeah. king of disordered sleeping. given the nature of motogp schedules and how they do kind of require you to actually get up in the mornings, congrats to him for being remotely functional during race weekends. crazy how he even won the odd race

and here's the autobiography passage:

My day, usually, begins in the afternoon. It’s as if I exist inside my own personal time zone. I live at night, because I love the night. Now, this might make you think I do goodness-knows-what in the wee hours, or that I don’t live the life of a professional athlete. It’s true, I don’t live the life of an athlete in the traditional sense — early to bed, early to rise and all that — but this does not mean that I’m not careful about what I eat and drink or that I don’t train. In fact, I train a lot, both in the gym and on the bike. It’s just that I go to the gym in the afternoon, rather than the morning. Equally, when I’m training on the bike, down at the quarry, I always go in the afternoon, never at nine o'clock in the morning. My body has a certain type of metabolism. It is used to living according to a different body clock. That’s why, even if I’m travelling all over the world, I don’t experience jet lag and I rarely go to bed before 3 a.m. It’s much more likely that I’m just tucking into bed as people are leaving for work. As I say, I have a special relationship with the night. I like moving in it, living in it, thinking in it, relaxing in it. The night fascinates me, because it’s the period of least confusion. The world calms down, it goes quiet. And, besides, I’m Valentino Rossi. I’m wanted... I'm a fugitive. Yes, I’m always running away from my _ beloved countrymen. The Italians. I’m proud to be Italian, I'm proud of our merits and I regret our shortcomings. Italians are exceptional people. In every way. Even when they start loving you. Because that’s actually when problems can arise — if it’s you that the Italian falls in love with. Italian people are warm, empathetic, spontaneous. But they can also be excessive, oppressive and disrespectful. I don’t know who said that Italians will forgive everything except for success. Whoever it was, they were right. Because it’s absolutely true. After the 1997 season, I could tell I was becoming popular. Year after year, that popularity turned into fully fledged love. They’re in love with me now and, as a result, since the 2004 season, I’ve been a man on the run. And there’s no escape, no end in sight, because wherever I go they find me. There are simple things, the little pleasures in life, which I simply can’t engage in when I’m back in Italy. I can’t go to the bar and have a cappuccino, because I would not be able to drink it. To be fair, I can do it in Tavullia, but that's the only place. If I go more than a few kilometres in any direction from the centre of town, that's it, everything changes and I become, once again, a hunted man. I can’t walk into a store, look at something and decide what I want to buy. In fact, I can’t stop anywhere, not even at a petrol station. If I stop, I’m screwed. Somebody will recognise me (Italians are exceptionally good at recognising people), make a lot of noise, call other people and then, before I know it, I’ve been swallowed up by the crowd. If I schedule a meeting with someone, we have to meet in a secret, out-of-the-way location and, even then, we can't linger. I can't go to a restaurant if there are too many people inside. And if I do go, I can't go at a normal time, say eight o'clock. I have to go later, much later, when people are leaving. And I can't sit where I like, I have to hide away in a corner, in the shadows. As for places like cinemas or the beach, forget about it. They are just always off-limits.

Having said that, I do mix with people. I do it because I like doing it. It’s just that I wish I could do it as a normal person, because, deep down, I am a normal human being. This is part of the reason why I have to live at night. It would be that much tougher during the day, with all those people about. Plus, I don’t like the traffic, the chaos, the noise, all those people running all over the place, stressed out and out of breath. The night is different. Everything is softer, there are fewer people around and you are much more free. It’s like a parallel dimension. The world is different at night. Everything is different. That’s why I’ve assimilated the lyrics of a song by the Italian artist Jovanotti, “Gente. della notte” (“People of the night”). It has become my personal anthem. Jovanotti is one of my favourite singers and I find myself agreeing with him on most things. I love his work. What else can I say? The night is my reality. And I don’t change just because Grands Prix are scheduled during the day. My way of being and living is reflected in what I do during races. I don’t really change. Obviously, I don’t go to bed at dawn, but let’s just say that when I do, finally, go to bed, there aren’t many people around. Everything is better at night in the paddock. There is silence, the people _ have disappeared and, with them, the chaos. I can wander around freely, most of all I can enjoy the empty pit area and my bike. Yes, my bike. Because at night I often slip into the team garage. At some races I do it every single night, because I love being with my bike. My night-time activities can be traced back to the years racing in 125cc, and are directly tied to my passion for aesthetics and the stickers, which would later become my obsession. I don’t leave anything to chance'when it comes to choosing the colour or the stickers for my bike. That’s why I’ve always been central to any and all discussions when we were deciding the aesthetics of my racing bikes. I’ve done it always, with every bike, at every level, with every team. And, naturally, I still do it today. Nobody has ever been allowed to attach a single sticker to my bike, unless it was the logo of a technical sponsor. Until a few years ago I was totally inflexible about this. Now, Roby takes care of the number: he attaches it because then he needs to cover it in transparent paint. But apart - from -this, which is primarily a technical procedure anyway, I take care of everything else to do with the stickers. And this takes time and planning, which is why I started going to the garage at night. During the day it is packed with people. There are mechanics, technicians and others around. I would just get in the way, if I wanted to get near the bike just to check the stickers. As I got older and progressed from 125 to 250 and then to 500 and on to MotoGP, I maintained that passion for aesthetics and stickers, as well as the habit of dropping in on the team garage at night. I enjoy the bike during the day _ obviously, but my relationship with the bike is so special that I can spend hours with it, just looking and admiring it, making sure that everything is in order. Those are very personal moments which I find difficult to describe. The Japanese guys, both the executives but also the engineers never knew this, not the guys at Honda, not the ones at Yamaha. I don’t think they would really understand. They would probably view it as a waste of time, since I don’t actually do anything concrete. I never touch anything to do with the bike itself, beyond, obviously, the stickers. And yet I find it hard to explain to an engineer that I enjoy simply being near the bike, even when I’m not doing anything. It’s a complicated concept to explain: the risk is that people will think that you're crazy.

During the day everything happens so quickly, frenetically, neurotically. However, there is a sacrosanct moment when I need to step away and isolate myself. Once my commitment to the team is over, usually around 5.30 p.m., I retire to my motorhome, relax and take a nap. It usually lasts a couple hours and then I go out. There’s always something to do after dinner. Of course, the range of options depends on how many friends are around. I really start enjoying the paddock around ten o'clock at night. Before going to sleep I check on the bike again and then I go into the team motorhome, which serves as an office. Now that I’m at Yamaha, I have an office all to myself. That’s where I keep all my race gear. I do this for two reasons. My own personal motorhome is an absolute mess, nothing more fits in there and I probably couldn’t find anything amid all the junk. Plus, the office is where I change into my racing suit before going out on to the track. Thus, at night, after going to the pits to see the bike, I go to make sure that all my stuff is where it should be: gloves, suit, socks, boots . . . everything needs to be perfect, because I just don’t have time in the morning to hunt around for stuff. Thus, each morning I have to follow a very precise routine. I’m like a robot, everything is the same each day. Because the truth is that I need to be like clockwork. I just don’t have the time to think. Somebody generally comes to wake me up — usually it’s Jeremy, because he doesn’t trust my ability to wake up on my own! I then get up, wash my face (my eyes are still shut at this point) and try to stay awake as I ride the scooter from the motorhome to the pits. I then go up to the office and get dressed. There too everything is done mechanically. It takes the slightest hiccup to throw everything off, forcing me to be late to the testing.

"I find it hard to explain to an engineer that I enjoy simply being near the bike, even when I’m not doing anything. it’s a complicated concept to explain: the risk is that people will think that you're crazy" well -

[tobethemselves]

I’d love to know why Louis is ONCE AGAUN forced to stunt! WTF! Why?!!!

I understand your frustration but this is sadly the reality for a lot of closeted people in the industry. And if you look at what happens in the US and so many other countries at the moment, I think it's really clear why Louis and Harry decide to stay in the closet for now, and stunting to appear straight is part of that.

And as much as a lot of us hate it, it's a big part of the industry in general too. Not only for queer people, a lot of stars use this for several different reasons, mostly to promote a project of theirs, stay relevant and create stories that will keep their names in the press.

Apart from that I don't really see Louis or Harry being forced to do it anymore. If they are stunting now, it's definitely something they agreed on. And that doesn't mean that it's their fault, it means I think they have more ability to have a say in things since they started their solo careers.

If you want to read more about why so many stars including HL do stunts you can look through my hashtags PR STUNTS, LOUIS' CAREER and MUSIC INDUSTRY. And I also recommend reading these posts here and here.

@daisiesonafield-blog has a lot of information on her blog too, it's very organized if you go there on web.

[capcollector]

one of bunny’s first big breaks in her modeling career was for fallon’s department store catalogs. it’s the job that first took her to new york and helped put her name out there. within the next year she was getting booked for larger publications, and before she knew it she was living her dream. so all that to say she’s always been fond of the chain for jumpstarting her career.

but now it just feels weird

[kannra21]

Rafayel calm down that's your friend 😂

[theirloveisgross]

thought this was important to have here.

not a surprise how disgusting the music industry is and how, yes, they claim to keep politics out of it, only when it doesn't benefit them.

[lobotomy-lady]

I don't care how many times the rich & famous talk about how being rich & famous is the worst fate humanly possible I will never ever ever believe them for one milisecond lol

[little-potato10]

I love them

[completeoveranalysis]

[4]

Well at least now we know! Lesson learned. 

Slightly hard to tell if the Jam Jar itself repelled the magic or if Evil Wolverine just had a shield around it. I suppose it doesn’t matter - it’s practically the same result.

Fireworks?

OH DEADLY FIREWORKS. 

That’s way less fun. 

I know it’s for pacing but it’s wild that Fai and Kurogane get RIPPED APART by evil fireworks and this is the moment Mokona chooses to start talking about the Jam Jar. 

But, ok! Timing may not be her strong suit but we appreciate her contributions nonetheless!

And also lore reveal! Clow made the Jam Jar. 

Which doesn’t answer how Evil Wolverine got it but it does kind of explain all my other questions about it. If this is YET ANOTHER little magic item Clow made specifically for a very exact future purpose then the history of the item becomes a lot shorter, and means we’ve probably already seen the only times it’s ever been used. 

For once, adding Clow to the conversation actually made things simpler!

[lunarharp]

if i just told you i love you would this world change

[mayasdeluca]

[jeweled-blue-eyes]

Misery AU where Yoichi is the author of the Captain Hero comics and AFO throws him into the vault when he discovers that Yoichi is planning to kill off the Demon Lord

[sleepy-spaceman]

As wonderfully tragic as it would be for simon and bob to have been the two people who died in the accident that happened before he worked for goddard futuristics, im on the side that jacobi is midland after the events of wolf 359, because that man deserves to have at least two friends that aren’t dead.

[nighthuntingclato]

i don't know if climax is considered the right word for this but the two pivot moments in thg are - to me at least - first rue's death and clove's (and not just because I'm obviously a biased clove stan). with rue's death, this was the first one that sparked actual grief and genuine emotion from katniss, since they shared an intense alliance/sister-like connection, enough so that her parting words to rue actually took precedence (!!!) over her promise to prim.

it's also the early stage of katniss's transition from responding to the careers' aggression with her own bloodthirsty behavior/thoughts to a more reluctantly empathetic attitude toward them, since her first instinct was to direct her hatred away from marvel to the Capitol instead, who she believed actually deserved it. of course, seconds later, she's still prepared to "make the careers pay" for what happened to rue, but for the most part that was more her grief-stricken haze than actual blame. it was this horrible incident that helped her understand what peeta wanted to communicate on the roof, made her recognize the importance of gale's rants that were "no longer to be ignored," and helped her realize she could have a bigger role and make an impact rather than passively accepting what happened out of a sense of impotence.

i know that the idea of clove's death having any kind of meaningful emotional impact on katniss could be the more unpopular opinion lol, but it does also severely change the mood of the story. aside from her observing marvel to be weak and vulnerable in death, this was also a time when she felt a kinder emotion towards the careers. despite clove's unhinged behavior with katniss, she is still depicted as the suffering and victimized child she is. cato as well is, if only momentarily, not a brute or monster, but rather a fellow tribute grieving the loss of his district partner, which katniss goes so far to say pains him.

katniss reflects on her dynamic with peeta twice before the feast and frequently in the falling action after, realizing that if he died it would condemn her to loneliness and suffering the pain of the arena by herself, which parallels the fact that cato himself was left alone - to the same fate katniss desperately wanted to avoid - with clove gone. the way she chooses to narrate the story has a more somber tone as she no longer desires any tributes death and while this was more explicitly about thresh, who actually did something nice for her, it was subconsciously for cato too, because she doesn't want anyone else to die. (ch 22, thg). this is definitely a drastic change, especially considering how she speaks of the other tributes - the pack and even non-careers like thresh and foxface.

what happened to rue was a tragedy and injustice, and was the primary catalyst for the revolution. but the weight of clove's brutal death (at least in my interpretation) is that it partially laid the groundwork for katniss to eventually come to the catching fire epiphany of who the real enemy is, and who truly deserves punishment.