#specifically for a slot and for the stars to align for me to be able to order

[zimisnotdrifting]

YEEAAAAA

Chibi commission for @zimisnotdrifting ,

this is Drift! thank you very much for commissioning me!

[honourablejester]

Spelljammer Character Concept: Aasimar Twilight Cleric/Fathomless Warlock

An odd and rather specific character idea, but for some reason Twilight Cleric/Fathomless Warlock niggled at me for a star wanderer. Basically, I wanted a cleric, but I also wanted tentacles. A wandering star cleric who happens to be able to summon spectral eldritch tentacles if startled unduely. I like cosmic horror and eldritch entities, and as a concept it mixes surprisingly well with gods and angels in the abyss. Which is why aasimar, too. A wandering vagabond angel, drifting timelessly through strange realms, and growing ever stranger themselves in the process. A strange, rather alarming angel, so the strange, rather alarming sort of aasimar too.

I did want to focus cleric, I mostly wanted Fathomless for Tentacle of the Deeps. So I started 2 levels of cleric, took 1 level of warlock, and I’d plan to take the rest in cleric. Maybe a second warlock level for a couple of invocations somewhere down the line. Because I’m missing most of warlock, I might gloss the patron as something less oceanic tentacles and more eldritch tentacles.

And because I started cleric, I wanted to give a story for the warlock level that wasn’t too involved, but had some mystery and, hm, idiosyncrasy. Ilim met a strange, eldritch traveller in the Astral Sea, a figure they can’t picture very clearly anymore and whose name they can’t quite remember. They asked Ilim for directions, and you should always help a fellow traveller find their way, so Ilim gave them. And, in return, they gave Ilim … a nice tentacle friend. A companion for their travels …

Character Sheet: Ilim

Name: Ilim

Race: Aasimar (Fallen)

Age: Unknown (Astral Sea)

Background: Far Traveller

Alignment: True Neutral

Class/Level: Cleric 2 (Twilight)/Warlock 1 (Fathomless)

Statistics: Strength 9 (-1), Dexterity 14 (+2), Constitution 16 (+3), Intelligence 9 (-1), Wisdom 16 (+3), Charisma 16 (+3) (Rolled: 16,15,14,14,9,9)

Ideal: Feet should always be free to wander.

Bond: Someday I will find someone to share my travels with.

Flaw: I am rather desperately lonely.

Quirk: I believe my spectral tentacle is a friend named Yhem who can speak to me. Yhem is incorporeal most of the time, it takes effort for them to manifest and they usually only do so when I’m in danger, but I can always hear them in my mind. A strange being who was looking for directions in the Astral Sea gave them to me in gratitude for helping them find their way.

Deity: Celestian the Far Wanderer

Patron: unknown, likely Far Realm entity

Proficiencies, Skills & Languages:

Proficiencies: Light, medium, heavy armour, shields, simple, martial weapons, Wisdom and Charisma saving throws, pan pipes

Skills: Insight, Perception, Persuasion, Religion

Languages: Common, Celestial, Deep Speech

Traits, Feats and Background/Class Features: Celestial Resistance (radiant and necrotic), Darkvision, Healing Hands, Light Bearer, Celestial Revelation: Necrotic Shroud, All Eyes On You, Ritual Casting, Eyes of Night (300ft darkvision, sharable 1hr), Vigilant Blessing (initiative advantage), Channel Divinity: Turn Undead, Channel Divinity: Twilight Sanctuary, Pact Magic, Gift of the Sea (swim speed 40ft, amphibious), Tentacle of the Deeps (spectral tentacle)

Spells:

Cantrips: Light, Guidance, Sacred Flame, Thaumaturgy, Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand

Warlock Spells: Armour of Agathys, Arms of Hadar

Domain Spells: Faerie Fire, Sleep

Spell Slots: 2 1st level warlock slots/short rest, 3 1st level cleric slots

Description: Ilim stands six and a half feet tall, with midnight black skin, draped in a black toga and cloak. Their gender is indistinct. They might be a particularly statuesque and flat-chested woman, or a man with a very melodious voice and a faintly feminine cast to his features. For their own part, they consider themselves neither, nor are they particularly concerned by the question.

History: Ilim is a wanderer of the Astral Sea, a perpetual voyager through life. When asked how old they are, they say they don’t know. When asked where they were born or who their parents were, they say they don’t remember, but they like to imagine that they sprang from a seed or perhaps a mote of starlight. Their memory, it must be said, is patchy in general, and as much of it might be whimsy and dreams as true remembrance. They are a traveller, first and foremost, and they follow a god of travellers, a wanderer in strange realms. They believe very fervently in Celestian’s example. He touched them once, when they were not yet made, only a whisp of thought, not yet realised. They felt him, and they delight in his teachings and his example ever since. They wander the Astral Sea in his honour, and for their own curiosity and experience. They don’t know how long they’ve been doing so already. Time is strange and somewhat meaningless in the Sea. But while the length of their travels cannot be measured in time or memories, it can be measured in loneliness. They have begun to feel the void of companionship more and more deeply. They long for a companion, someone to share the voyage with. Perhaps it was this loneliness that drew a strange creature to them, once upon a time. Or perhaps it was mere chance, that they happened to cross paths at the same time. The creature, whose name they were told, but can no longer remember, asked them for directions to a world. They saw no reason not to give them. In return, the creature gifted them a rudimentary ‘companion’, a spectral tentacle that they call Yhem, and fully believe is a sentient being that can speak to them. There were some other small rewards, a sprinkling of magic and a few other tidbits, but it was Yhem that delighted them most. At last, a companion! However, Yhem is a strange being, and something of a limited conversationalist. They would quite enjoy some more lively company, if anyone should be offering.

Image: I’m mostly picturing a more black-robed, androgynous version of Night in Day, by Thomas Blackshear:

[tisthenightofthewitch]

Ghost Are Shaping To Be Metal’s Next Awe-Inspiring Arena Act

From Motorhead, to Black Sabbath, and now the thrash kings, Slayer, metal is slowly losing its festival headliners, arena fillers, and most importantly its legacy acts. While it’s been a rather gradual shift, time only moves forward, and sooner or later metal will have to knight a new generation of arena and festival heavy weights. Early 2000’s bands like Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, and Disturbed have long demonstrated a knack for selling out arenas and filling headlining slots at festivals. However, most of these bands have rocked for nearly two decades, and it’s time for the 2010’s to showcase its respective arena acts. Currently completing their first US arena tour, Ghost are leading the charge for the next wave of arena and festival headliners.

Established in 2010 with their debut, Opus Eponymous, Ghost is quite possibly the fastest growing and most popular metal band of the decade. At first glance, the Swedish metal group embodies a very satanic aura, from their upside down crosses and the litany of demonic and catholic symbolism. While the music is the primary focus, their costumes and theatrics as a band are essential to the image and mythos they’ve established over the course of their career. They’ve even gone as far as making a web-series on their youtube channel, detailing the fictitious origins of the band and it’s current vocalist in power, Cardinal Copia. All masks and costumes aside, Tobias Forge is the creative force behind Ghost, being the band’s songwriter, lead vocalist, and founder. Tobias is actually the only known member, all the touring instrumentalists are incognito and share the stage name “Nameless Ghoul.”

As scary and sinister looking as they might be, Ghost brings one of the most melodic, catchy, and entertaining live shows in all of modern metal. Seeing them at their Hersey, PA stop was a remarkable and genuine concert experience; the crowd participation and the sheer enthusiasm that packed Giant Center arena is unrivaled by any band I’ve seen from the 2010’s. The crowd’s enthusiastic chemistry is comparative to Ghost’s onstage chemistry, with their goofy choreographed antics, and just their flawless musicianship between one another. Ghost’s stage production alone was worth an entry ticket; the cathedral-like stage spewed everything from pyro, fireworks, to a confetti filled finale. There’s something very authentic about Ghost as a band, but also as performers. They cater to several aspects of metal and rock music, but also theater in many ways, and at the end of the day Ghost is just pure entertainment, they give something for everyone to enjoy, and leave you feeling just awestruck.

Getting the chance to speak with Tobias Forge, he details the evolution of Ghost and how they got to their arena headlining status over the years.

Ghost went from opening arenas for Avenged Sevenfold in 2013, to more recently opening soccer stadiums for Metallica this summer, to now headlining your own arenas in the states, and soon to be in Europe. What’s the transition been like from opening arenas to now headlining them?

It’s been pretty gradual, over the years we’ve done support shows here and there, support tours here and there, but by the time that we headlined our first arena, which was now a few years ago, we had done quite a lot of arena shows before that, opening up. It wasn’t like a big physical shock, most bands will probably tell you that the weirdest thing about playing bigger places is usually you have to cover so much space on stage, like physically you have to. If you’re a semi-active rock band, the biggest shock from going to a club to arena or even worse, a stadium, is that all of a sudden you have so much physical ground, so much real estate to cover, which can be a shock. If you’re not used to running, and you have to run from one side to the other, and sing, that will punch you out. Gradually we’ve moved up through these venues, and on the first bit of the tour, not this tour leg, but on the tour when it started, we were doing “an evening with,” which meant we were playing two hours and forty minutes, and I definitely had a little bit of a shock over the first night like “whoa,” it was very tiring.

From an Economics, marketing, and profit standpoint, how have these aspects changed or evolved with “the ultimate tour named death?”

It’s kind of like what you’d say about bringing children up, if you have small children the problems are sort of small, and if you have older children then they are bigger. So you know back a few years when we were a band and crew in one bus, it took some time before we even had a truck. Now we’re three buses of people and six trucks, and it’s sort of the bigger the show the more it costs. That is the dynamic of every tour in the world, and the only thing that is making it harder for a band like ours is that it’s sort of new in the greater scheme of things, and in comparison to a lot of the other bands that are doing it on this level, or on an even bigger level. We are a new band that has managed to qualify into this setting, and if you look at most other very established and older artists, they charge a lot more for their tickets, a lot more than we do. That’s sort of the law of gravity and that makes it sometimes a little bit uphill, but we are fortunate to have the promoters and festivals believing in us on a worldwide basis. They believe in the idea that they need to invest in new headliners, the stars have aligned and fortunately they believe us to be one of the new ones to be able to fill that space. Just back a few years, there were several bands out there, but you know Black Sabbath is gone, and so many bands are just retiring or dying and in order to sustain these festivals they will need to invest in new bands and we’re one of them. However, you can clearly see on a festival of three days where The Scorpions are headlining one night, Kiss is headlining another night, and we are headlining a third, we are not getting paid the same as they are, of course not. The bottom line with that is we’re still looked upon and it’s expected of Ghost to deliver the same show, and that requires determination and you cannot look for economic return at this point. It’s further down the line of years and years and years of proving yourself, but that’s part of the game and that’s what I’ve been doing for almost ten years now.

You’ve stated the excitement for this tour was not only the fact Ghost would be playing arenas, but because the tour is spread across so many different markets. How has the reception been so far, in playing to these different markets, or territories that Ghost has less experience performing in?

The reception at the shows has been fantastic. Of course there are a few markets where it’s hard to expect anything because it’s in the middle of no where, and on top of that some of these shows have been on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and you can clearly see the ones that are on the weekends are doing way better. A lot these places that we’re playing are essentially in small towns, so they will have a magnetism for towns and cities around them, so people have to travel to come see it. That’s sort of the basis of that market in the first place, of course it’s a little bit sensitive if it’s a Monday or a Friday, but I must say that overall the promoter is very pleased, and we’re living up to the expectation of what a tour like this can do. That’s the point of the tour, reach out to people in territories where we haven’t really been, and having that in mind it’s been fantastic.

Have you held the idea or goal of Ghost inhabiting stadiums, or large venues since you started the band? These environments seem embedded in the very nature of Ghost’s live show.

My answer will be a little bit split between yes and no. Yes, I have always intended for my band to become a big arena headlining production value band. I always thought that Ghost as a project would be very production oriented. I never thought that Ghost would be that band, as in when I started I didn’t think that that was going to be the band that would define my entire career. However, once the first record got out and we started playing and we started touring, I had definitely put all my eggs in that basket, because I was like “this is the one that sticks, let’s just do this.” This is the one that I intuitively feel most myself, and I was gravitating towards that. Compared to all my other projects, this is the only one that I really truly understood, and could just do intuitively. I knew what to do with it, where as the other bands that I had were more of a head scratch. A lot of the ideas that I managed to either do or are still on the list with Ghost are things that are based on drawings and ideas that I had fifteen to twenty-five years ago. It’s a mixture, yes and no, I always thought I was going to work either with a band or in a band that was going to do full production touring, but I wasn’t sure it was going to be Ghost. It just happens to be two of my main interests, being in a band and writing songs, but also I’m very interesting in touring, and I’m very interested in the idea of stage design, tour design, light design, and all that. Had it not been for me being in a band, I would have gladly also done it for another band, building stage design for other bands.

Seven Inches of Satanic Panic undoubtedly has a very 60’s rock aesthetic, but specifically what bands from that era are influences to you personally?  

Ever since I was a kid my absolute biggest idols before I found extreme metal were from the sixties. It was Pink Floyd, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, I grew up listening to that. When I was eight, my favorite band of all time was The Rolling Stones. I knew everything about them, that was my biggest obsession. The sixties in general and as music have been hugely influential for me. Ghost just happened to be a little bit more heavy metal leaning, but there’s a lot of Pink Floyd in there, and a lot of The Doors, that was the stuff I listened to when I started playing guitar. When I was in my various different bands I’ve always heard that my writing was kind of odd because I had time signatures that were strange, and a melody language that was kind of peculiar. That was because I listened to Pink Floyd and The Doors, they taught me how to just write weirdly, and it’s not as outlandish as it might seem.

Many hail Ghost for their ability to balance a sense of nostalgia whilst maintaining an original song craft and sonic perspective. What has been your process, if not organically, in achieving this balance?

I always try to remember how I felt writing the first record [Opus Eponymous], and during the recording of the record coming after that, [Infestissumam], I think I’ve managed to tap into that. Don’t misunderstand and think I try to write the same record every time, it’s quite the contrary, but having that same playful approach when it came to writing that I had back when I had nothing to lose. Opus Eponymous was written in a complete void, where there was no one involved in my writing. I was depending economically on it, I had no crowd to please, and I had no one to please with my writing except my self and a buddy of mine basically. That’s what I’m trying to do every time; try the best of my ability to stay within that, and not think too much about the fact that “this is your most important record of your career.” With that being said you have that in the back of your mind every time, but you try to even that out, and you try to be somewhat distant from that. I wanted Ghost to sound like a big band, and because I’m trying to distance myself from that, that does not mean the songs aren’t commercial or whatever. I really tried to be commercial on Opus Eponymous, it was supposed to be very very catchy. I wanted it to sound like that huge band that you had missed out on. It was supposed to be very catchy, very memorable, and very playful. It was supposed to be a band from the seventies that didn’t know what the eighties were, but was trying to shape the eighties because they knew that was coming, but they didn’t know what the eighties were.

FORBES.COM

[strikeandrun]

Pokemon 2004 Format Rogue Deck - Donphan/Blissey

Anyone who has played in the Worlds 2004 format is familiar with some of the powerful Stage 1 Pokémon featured in the format. Most notable of these is Gorebyss from Hidden Legends as an Attacker and Delcatty from Ruby & Sapphire as a Supporting Pokémon. A lot of the times in this format, Pokémon from RS and onward overshadow the ones from the E-series. They were often more powerful, and so the E-series cards that saw play were mostly the trainers of the era. 

As I was browsing the selection of cards in the entirety of the format looking for a new deck to build, one Pokémon stood out to me for it’s incredibly strong first attack. Donphan from Aquapolis. 

For only 1 energy, Donphan could deal 30 Damage at the cost of inflicting 10 Damage to each of your own benched Pokémon. The downside wasn’t so bad, but I wanted a way to work around that 10 damage without having to run the Stage 2 Pokémon Bellossom from Hidden Legends. It was in the search for Donphan’s partner that I came across Blissey from the same set. 

Blissey let you heal 1 Pokémon on a coin flip, and only heals by the amount of energy attached to the Blissey. However, it is not limited to the “one power per turn” rule that Bellossom is, so you could flip 2 coins if you had 2 Blissey in play. The other thing I loved about Blissey is it’s High HP and the fact it didn’t give up 2 prizes. It’s Higher HP meant it could not be OHKO’d by Blaziken ex from Team Magma vs. Team Aqua like Bellossom could. So it was with this that I began constructing a Skeleton for the deck.

Pokémon-

x4  Dunsparce SS - Dunsparce is used in a lot of decks that require set up and don’t mind sacrificing the 4 slots for it. 4 copies means there is roughly a 40% chance to start with it and use it’s Strike and Run move to set up your basics on turn 1.

x3 Phanpy RS - Phanpy evolves into Donphan. it can also 3HKO Dunsparces or 2HKO RS44 Skitty. It can paralyze and do damage on a flip similar to Dunsparce but it’s attack is more expensive and doesn’t always do damage. avoid attacking with it if possible. It has more HP than the other Phanpy in the format, so you can use Earthquake more times before you need to heal it, and it isn’t OHKO’d by Metagross ex’s Metal Reversal. This is very situaltional but it is generally the better Phanpy.

x3 Donphan AQ - This is the decks main attacker. It can OHKO Dunsparce (which is almost always going to be played by your opponent.) and OHKO any Skitty, Magnemite or any other basic that is weak to Fighting with 60 or less HP. Mid and Late Game, Donphan can OHKO Magneton and Delcatty with a Strength Charm. Another neat play to make is to Deal 60 to a Magneton and 60 to a Delcatty, then use ATM Rock to score 2 prizes in one turn and saving your Strength Charms for later. Donphan’s second attack is a weaker version of Metagross HL’s Attack, and should be used with caution. It can return a OHKO on a Rayquaza ex that KO’d your previously Active Donphan with this move, but it requires Crystal Shard, a Double Rainbow, and 2 Heads flips. It is super risky, but it can pay off.

x2 Chansey AQ - While it might seem like it doesn’t matter which Chansey you play, it is actually much better to run this one instead of the 90HP one in this format. This greatly affects your matchup with the BDIF, RAMBO. Most important is that it can’t be OHKO’d by a Rayquaza ex with Multi+Fire energy after you have used Earthquake once. This forces the opponent to have to find the 3rd energy to get a kill if Chansey has full HP or 1 Damage counter on it. The 90HP one can be OHKO’d with just 2 energy if it has a damage counter on it. Additionally, If Donphan used Earthquake with a Crystal Shard attached and Rayquaza takes 6, and you have Desert Ruins in play, this chansey can KO Rayquaza with 8 Damage counters with 1 energy. It is also safer to bring out than Dunsparce. since Dunsparce could be KO’d by a Fire Stream from Blaziken RS on a following turn. Another perk is that this Chansey can’t be KO’d by a Shiftry HL with a Darkness+Boost Energy and Matching Hand size. Anyways, I’ve talked enough about these hypothetical situations. 

x2 Blissey AQ - This card is pretty incredible. It can (with a little bit of luck) deny your opponent prizes and keep the momentum in your favor, even in situations that look like you aren’t doing so great. Blissey can heal itself or it’s bench buddies as long as it has energy attached. There is rarely ever a situation where you might debate attaching to a Blissey or Donphan, since Donphan’s attack is so low-cost. This deck runs Double Rainbow as a way to let Blissey heal more for less attachments. I already talked about Blissey’s longevity above, and there isn’t much else to say about it. It simply is the best partner for Donphan.

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums-

2 Fast Ball - Fast Ball reveals cards from the top of your deck until it reveals an Evolution card. This means that you will either hit a Donphan or Blissey, and once you have the other out in play, the odds are better for hitting the one you want next. Once all of either Donphan or Blissey are in play, then it will always grab the other. 

2 Friend Ball - Since most decks run Dunsparce, Friend Ball makes it really easy to set up Blissey. This also makes it easy to grab Donphan with Fast Ball.

2 Switch - Blissey and Donphan both have high retreat costs, so switch is important. That’s all I gotta say about that.

2 Ancient Technical Machine [Rock] - This card is another way to score several KOs. You can also waste your opponent’s Rare Candy plays with this card. It has several uses, so the deck runs 2 in case one gets prized. A second one is also useful since most players only expect the 1-of tech from this card.

2 Strength Charm - This card lets you score KO’s you normally wouldn’t get, or make some very specific things 3HKOs instead of 4HKOs, like against a 100HP Stage 2. 

4 Pokemon Reversal - This card is really important. With some luck, you can grab a lot of prizes in the early game, and this makes it difficult for your opponent to catch up with your prize gain, even if you start to fall behind a little.

Supporters - Donphan/Blissey runs a pretty standard pile of draw supporters. Nothing too fancy here to note, most of your powerful trainer plays will be dependent on when you drop items. I think that you need to run recursion of some form, since it is very easy to run out of resources in a long game. Desert Shaman is key in not decking out, since it is easy to draw a large portion of your deck and not have much to do with it in this format.

Matchups -

Rambo/Blaziken - 65/35

This is your best matchup. The stars don’t have to align when you are up against this deck. Donphan finds it easy to pick apart the opponents board with Earthquake, taking out valuable support Pokémon. The opponent has no choice but to try and bring out their support Pokémon, so it is really only a matter of how you go about dismantling the board, either through Reversals, ATM or brute force. In the late game, when the Blaziken deck is low on resources, it will have almost zero chance at outing a Blissey in the active except with some bad luck on your end and extremely good luck on their side. This matchup is intimidating on paper, but Donphan can handle it. Being able to beat this deck is a key reason to play the deck in the first place.

Magma - 50/50

Magma isn’t impossible to beat, but it is not an easy task. Yes, you have access to easy pickings in the form of Zangoose, and you have some stall tactics but your Blissey is incredibly prone to Groudon in the late game. You may take an early lead in this matchup occasionally, but the fact is that the only prize that really matters to Groudon is the last one. Since Magma doesn’t run any ex Pokémon normally, it’s a big grind to get your prizes in a timely manner. Also the large amount of basics in the deck make your best plays less good (ATM does almost blotting in this matchup.)

Crobyss - 20/80

This matchup is terrible, Phanpys die to Crobat’s entire family, Donphan dies to Gorbyss. You need to get very lucky to win this game. Your opponent has to draw poorly every time. Blissey isn’t going to be enough because Crobat can shut it down so easily. Your saving grace is how good ATM is against Crobyss, but most of the time it won’t be enough.

MLB - 45/55

This is a strange matchup to evaluate. Blissey is pretty medium here, since it is very succeptable to Medicham but does excellent work against Lanturn and Banette. The beauty of MLB's circular game plan really comes through here. The biggest problem here is that Donphan already plays against Lanturn well, but can struggle to overcome Medicham without making some very hard to pull off ATM plays. Maxing out the value of your ATM plays is very important here. You need to blow them out with it early or you will struggle in the late game. I’d almost call it even, but Medicham can do so much early in the matchup and might not allow a late game to even happen. The best thing about Donphan/Blissey in this matchup is that it isn’t so weak to the ATM. Tread carefully and you can take the win here.

Swampert, Gardevoir, Stage 2 decks - 50/50

These decks play against Donphan similarly and the way you beat them is similar. If they are playing a Magneton/Delcatty engine, you go for it first and foremost. You will ALWAYS struggle against a souped up ex-Pokémon, so it is best to just try and take a lead and play the rest of the game carefully with Reversal plays and creating a board state that allows strong ATM plays. You may struggle more against swampert due to the type advantage, But I argue that regardless of type advantage you should be able to control the early game with Donphan every time against Stage 2 decks. You are faster than them every time, simply put. You can force the opponent to play their resources poorly (such as forcing an evolving basic to retreat because it’s been EQ'd). Donphan makes the entire game awkward for Stage 2s, and so long as you know how to take advantage of that you should have a fair shot at winning.

Conclusion:

Overall, Donphan is just another fair deck in a format where you have 3 different viable decks that accelerate energy, dump cards to draw more cards and recur resources. Those fast Stage 2 decks look fair compared to modern Pokémon standards, but they really aren’t. Your greatest strength when playing Donphan is OPTIONS. You have a lot of deck space to work with, since most of the “unfair” (for lack of a better term) decks dedicate so much space to energy and evolution cards, your ability to tech out a Donphan list is much greater. This blog post is simply a primer for a deck with untapped potential.

[mikeyd1986]

MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 156, May 2019

On Monday morning, I took myself to see the dentist at Casey Smiles Dental Clinic in Cranbourne. This was a very unexpected last minute appointment after the dental pain I’ve been experiencing recently was becoming more and more severe. Of course I thought that I could tackle it myself by simply throwing pain killers and mouthwash at it. WRONG! After a week of this, I had to face the music and get a professional to look at it.

I heard about Casey Smiles thanks to a post on Facebook which has been regularly popping up on my newsfeed. It’s been at least 3 years since I last visited the dentist mainly due to financial struggles and anxiety but today both of those things had to take a back seat. After filling in the new patient form, two dental assistants dressed in bright pink escorted me to the treatment room where I met my dentist Dr. Mohamed Massaud. He was tall, handsome and wore bright blue scrubs.

Sitting back in the leather dentist chair, he asked me what I needed. I really didn’t have any concrete answers for him besides the fact that I’ve had spikes of severe pain on the left side of my mouth. It sure was a strange feeling to be back at the dentist after several years but this was urgent. I got taken into another room to get an x-ray done. Here I had to stand inside a machine called an O.P.G. (Panoramic Radiograph) which is similar to an M.R.I. but for taking images of teeth.

It turned out that I’d have to get a tooth on the upper left side removed. I certainly wasn’t prepared for this and yet this wasn’t my first rodeo either. My last dentist appointment was to get one of my wisdom teeth removed. Thankfully the team made this process as relaxed and comfortable as possible. They had music playing in the background and a computer scene displayed a lovely, picturesque landscape.

Of course having numerous surgical instruments and a suction tube being shoved in your mouth isn’t exactly a pleasurable experience but I did my best to remain calm and focused. I knew this had to be done to stop myself from suffering in oral pain. There was lots of pressure, crunching and bleeding but thankfully not too much pain as I’d been strongly numbed up on the left side of my mouth.

Dr. Mohamed constantly checked in with me to make sure I was doing okay and gave me several breaks as the tooth had to be extracted in stages. Considering how much I was sweating in the chair, I did remarkably well to not freak out and bolt for the exit. For my first time being at this dental clinic, I was really satisfied with the service even in the face of my own uncertainty and doubt. Now I just have to let the area heal over the next couple of days.  https://caseysmiles.com.au/dr-mohamed-massaud

On Thursday afternoon, I had an appointment with my new occupational therapist Meghan. This session, we really honed in on having more structure and organisation around my cleaning tasks. She asked me to list them in order of importance to me, set specific times during the week in which to complete each of the tasks, use some motivation boosters such as doing the tasks in the morning and playing music in the background.

I had some reservations from my previous appointment as to whether Meghan is really a good fit for me as she could come off as a beauty cosmetics consultant at times with a charming smile and a forced giggle. My biggest concern was that these sessions would be a complete waste of time for me and that Meghan wouldn’t take me seriously. But I feel like we’re finally going to be making some progress as she’s laid out some concrete actions and strategies to use before the next session.

On Friday morning, I completed the daunting and overwhelming task of dusting my bedroom. When it comes to tasks such as these, I always seem to get myself worked up, emotional and stressed out. To me, there’s a lot more going on. It’s confronting how much clutter and mess there is, how long the task will take to complete, whether I’ll be able to get it all done, whether I’ll have the energy to do it. But thankfully with the help of mum, I managed to do it. Of course there was a lot of barriers in the way for me but I still did it.

On Friday afternoon, I finished my creative writing homework exercise for Week 3. This week we had to choose an idea and work out a rough plan for a very short story of around 500 words. Then write notes on the background of the characters, locations etc. I really didn’t have much time to focus on doing this exercise but I gave it an attempt and did write at least half the story. I decided to go with “A disastrous holiday”.

SHORT STORY: A DISASTROUS HOLIDAY 

Ryan, a busy corporate worker with long hours, endless deadlines and a consistently tight schedule. He wishes to escape his dead-end, stressful and demanding job by going on a relaxing holiday to Fiji.

Upon arriving at Tullamarine airport, there are massive delays and a long queue of disgruntled, impatient and irate customers demanding to know what is going on. Despite making his best endeavours, scrambling and worried that he wouldn’t make it to his gate on time, the flight ended up being cancelled anyway. There would be a lengthy wait until his next scheduled departure to Fiji. Defeated and exhausted, Ryan collapses into the nearby seat at the departure lounge.

On the flight, the plane’s engine malfunctions and one of the propellers catches fire. This triggers the emergency alarm which blares loudly. With all this commotion, Ryan suffers from a panic attack thinking that he’s going to die. A nearby flight attendant rushes to his aide and attempts to calm him down. The plane begins to tear itself apart and the passengers are forced to evacuate. Ryan finds a parachute and begins to descend slowly towards the South Pacific Ocean.

Ryan’s main objective is to find safety, survive from the plane crash and hopefully find his way home. He’s lost all his luggage and only has personal possessions on him such as wallet, keys, phone. Ryan ends up landing in New Caledonia, which is halfway between Australia and Fiji. 

Ryan eventually finds help from the locals, makes contact back home in Australia and ends up being rescued. He finds that even though he’s had a disastrous holiday, he still has a lot of things to be grateful for.

NOTES· 

Background of the main character/protagonist Ryan – wants to escape from his dead-end corporate job and enjoy a relaxing holiday in Fiji. Ultimately, he hopes to “find himself” by going on a personal journey like in the novel Eat. Prey.Love.· 

Research into the locations, settings and disaster scenarios – I will need to look into things such as air crash investigations, how planes function and operate, emergency procedure’s used while travelling on a plane, the geography of Fiji, South Pacific Ocean, New Caledonia and nearby islands.· 

The physiological and psychological changes that Ryan endures from panic attack episode to escaping from the plane and needing to be rescued. He’s literally in “survival mode” and will need to use his problem-solving skills in order to overcome this situation. · 

How will Ryan get out of this situation? Who can he contact? How will he manage his stress and anxiety levels?

On Friday night, I went to my boxing class with CinFull Fitness. I’ve had to shuffle a few things around this week due to my unexpected dental procedure but thankfully I do have some flexibility when it comes to slotting in my training sessions. Being the only male in a room full of females does present its challenges (my knowledge of babies, pregnancy and dating is pretty average at best) but it doesn’t bother me too much either. I couldn’t be further from macho and masculine in my nature and I get along with most people, even if I’m not the most social of people.

Tonight we did the usual combos and partner work plus a mini-circuit (sit-ups / plank hold knee taps, non-stop jabs into pad, step ups / step jumps / crossover lunges) and a 5 round AMRAP (10 jab crosses, 6 star jumps, 20 hooks, 4 squats / squat jumps, 10 Russian twists, 20 highs). I’m finding that my boxing technique is improving but the fatigue does kick it pretty rapidly. I know what my limits are though and when I need to take a break. It’s obviously really important to listen to my body and not overdo it when it comes to my fitness levels.

To be honest, this election has probably been the most difficult one to decide. It's true that I do vote for Labor 95% of the time. But do I completely trust opposition leader Bill Shorten and the past track record of the disastrous Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government? Not really. However, I detest everything that the Liberals / Nationals have done over the past 6 years far more.

The current PM Scott Morrison leads an unstable government who has changed leaders twice through an embarrassing and public leadership spill. Wasted millions of dollars on an unnecessary and divisive plebiscite for same-sex marriage. Have made many cuts to schools, TAFE, hospitals, medicare and penalty rates. Has lied in their recent budget about being in surplus and Australia having a "strong economy". Have not done enough to support women in parliament with MP's like Julia Banks and Kelly O'Dwyer leaving before this election.

I'm voting for Labor many because I align myself with most of their policies. Better funding for hospitals and schools. Higher wages for low and middle income earners. Restoration of penalty rates. Cleaner renewable energy. Real action on climate change. Improving the NBN. Investment in mental health services. Investment in the NDIS. More places for university and TAFE.

Bill Shorten is far from perfect but I'm willing to give him a chance considering the past 3 prime ministers have been arrogant, corrupted, untrustworthy and fake. Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison have put their own agendas first and the interests of the Australian people last. Plus the entire Liberal / National party has been in a shambles with many members jumping ship before the election this month.

P.S. I did consider voting for The Greens as I do agree with SOME of their policies (renewable energy and climate change, fully funding TAFE, university and public education, introducing medicare for dental and mental health services, legalising medicinal cannabis). It's just that I align myself more strongly with Labor policies.

I've always found the white senate ballot paper to be ridiculously long and cumbersome especially in recent years with many independent parties signing up and making the sheet of paper longer and longer. It used to be so much easier to vote for, simply putting a number 1 in the box above the line.

NOW you have to choose a minimum of 6 parties to vote for above the line or 12 candidates below the line. It essentially forces you to do your research into which political parties aligns with your values and views. And which policies do you find to be the most important. Or else you just follow the How To Vote cards which is really the easy way out.

Even before I turned 18, I considered myself to be a "Leftie". Always voting for Labor, The Greens or both. But even now at 33, I consider myself dumb and uneducated at times when it comes to politics. I can get myself easily mislead by the bullshit politicians and the news media are selling, confused by complex economics and tax policies, and just not knowing who to believe anymore.

Before yesterday, I didn't even know how preferential voting works. So now I'm forcing myself to do a bit of research and give some of the smaller independent parties a go particularly in the senate. The most important things to me are healthcare, mental health, autism awareness, education, workers rights, wages, penalty rates, sustainable energy, climate change and protecting the environment.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve done a lot of research and careful consideration into each of my electorate’s candidates as well as the individual parties to see what’s important to me and where my values lie next to them. With the federal election fast approaching this Saturday, my brain has been conflicted between voting for Labor and The Greens.

Which policies do I align myself more with? It’s even harder to make a decision after watching the many interviews, debates and news stories about the major parties. Plus social media is loaded with misinformation and internet trolls trying hard to tell you who you “should” vote for. Only recently have I learned about how preferential voting works, which adds further confusion as to which way I should vote.

So here is how I’ve decided to vote in this year’s federal election:

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (ELECTORATE OF HOLT)                               1. Anthony Byrne (Australian Labor Party)                                                             2. Jess Wheelock (The Australian Greens)                                                            3. Jatinder Singh (United Australia Party)                                                               4. Jennifer Van Den Broek (Liberal Party of Australia)

SENATE (VICTORIAN UPPER HOUSE)                                                ��               1. The Australian Greens                                                                                        2. Australian Labor Party                                                                                        3. Australian Democrats                                                                                          4. Australian Worker’s Party                                                                                  5. Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party                                                                              6. Animal Justice Party