#I think that's what makes it so good Alexis put the same amount of effort in her ''daily life of the dolls'' type series as she does

[the-halfling-prince]

Finally watching 19 Dolls and Counting and I'm losing my mind here. The acting? The dialogue? The background music in some scenes? Literally the same level of seriousness as Aspen Heights and Realm of Arragara. Girl put her entire soul into making Aly... Like that.

[doc-pickles]

right where you left me

It’s finally heeeere! One of the reasons I waited so long to post this fic was because my brain wasn’t working but also this accidentally went from a one shot to 8k words... Oops. Since this got so big I’m going to post it in two parts. Here is part one, so I hope y’all enjoy! (and don’t say i never did anything for y’all)

TW// Blood and Miscarriage Mention 

Jo had just left Val’s room, her situation not improving and looking like it might get worse. The news had brought her to tears, her body desperately racking with sobs as she stood outside the hospital. She knew she probably looked crazy, she felt crazy, but the day had been too much for her. 

The thing that terrified Jo about Val’s situation was that she could place herself there in an instant. Val was pregnant and scared and alone and because of that Luna might not have her mother around. Her mind drifted to the little life growing inside of her, hand flitting down the swell of her stomach as she sat on a bench and gasped for air. What if she died and her child didn’t have anyone? What if she was fighting for her life and her baby was in an incubator alone and scared? 

Logically she knew that wouldn’t happen, her friends and coworkers would make sure her baby was taken care of. And Alex… well she still needed to tell him, but she knew he’d step up and take care of their child despite what had happened between them. 

That particular thought brought another round of tears to Jo’s eyes, her heart aching at the fact that she had to call Alex and tell him that they were having a baby instead of coming up with some stupid cheesy way to tell him when he came home from work. They’d been trying, maybe not with any conscious effort but she’d gone off her birth control after coming back from treatment and he hadn’t restocked on condoms and well… If there was anything Alex and Jo were good at it was finding time to have sex. They’d even managed to find time for a quick round in the shower the morning he left.She missed him, after all the shit he’d put her through she missed him so much. She chalked it up to her hormones, but Jo would give a lot to see Alex again. 

“I’m so sorry to intrude, but are you okay? I know we’re supposed to keep our distance but you look like you could use a hug.”

Jo looked to the woman who now stood in front of her. She was bundled up in a dark pea coat and a grey woolen cap that covered her whole head except a few blonde curls that managed to sneak out. She couldn’t make out any discernible features through the woman’s pink striped face mask, but her dark brown eyes looked friendly enough. 

“I’m just having… a really shitty year,” Jo threw her hands out in exasperation, another sob coming up as the woman sat next to her on the wooden bench. “I have this patient and she’s basically dying and she has this… this beautiful little daughter in the NICU and her baby has no one else and it’s just… What if my baby ends up like that? I mean my husband already up and left me to move halfway across the country, wouldn’t me dying from COVID or something just as horrible really be the cherry on top of this disastrous year?”

The woman places a hand on Jo’s shoulder, the small amount of human interaction soothing her soul as the stranger begins to speak, “You have a good heart, I can tell. Who else would be this concerned about someone else’s baby?”

A chuckle escapes Jo as she thinks in her head that her newfound empathy is a direct result of her pregnancy hormones, “Not me usually, but impending motherhood and the prospect of being alone for the rest of my life has turned me into a softie.”

“I get it, when I saw my kids for the first time my whole life changed. My heart just…,” the woman paused, then let out a laugh. “You know in the Grinch? When his heart grows three sizes? That’s what holding my babies for the first time felt like.”

Jo settles a hand onto her slightly rounded stomach, wondering if that’s the reason Alex hadn’t come home. If he’d been so overwhelmed with love for his kids that he just couldn’t leave. She’d never considered the possibility, but now that she did her own heart cracked a bit at the thought. 

 “I just… I never thought I’d be going through this alone. My husband, he’s so good with kids and he’d wanted them for so long and I was finally ready,” Jo wiped at her eyes as she stared up at the sky, willing her tears to stop just for a moment. “And then he left because he found out he already has kids with his ex. So of course that’s when I would get pregnant, right? Right when things were about to change and we were going to get everything we wanted, he left.”

There was a pause that let Jo collect herself, blinking back her tears before she really had a meltdown in front of this complete stranger. She brushed her coat off, standing and facing the woman on the bench who was staring curiously at Jo. 

“Thank you, for letting me vent. I really needed it,” Jo sighed, running a hand through her unruly hair as she straightened her face mask. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a NICU baby to go and check on.”

Jo walked back into the hospital feeling lighter than she had in weeks, the kindness of the stranger she’d met lifting her spirits as she journeyed upstairs. She would be okay, her baby would be fine, and Luna’s situation would resolve itself no matter Val’s outcome.

_

“Alex!” Standing outside Meredith’s hospital room, Alex turned at the sound of Izzie’s voice. He was grateful she’d offered to come with him to Seattle for emotional support, but he was so lost in his thoughts that he’d barely registered her presence. 

“Hey Iz, I just checked on her. They won’t let me in, but she’s doing good,” Alex let a chuckle out as he looked to Meredith’s sleeping form. “She was shocked to see me but the grin she got on her face… It was priceless.” “I think you should stay in Seattle.”

There’s a momentary silence as Alex tries to absorb what Izzie’s said to him. Why the hell would he come back here when his kids were in Kansas? Sure he loved Meredith and her kids… and Jo too, he loved her more than anything. But none of that mattered anymore, his kids were his first priority and he wouldn’t let them down. 

“I just think… maybe you should consider it,” Izzie kept speaking before he could even get a word in, her tone making him listen intently. “I love that you’re there for Eli and Alexis, but they’ll be fine only seeing you on holidays and during the summer. I just think you’re needed here, by more people than just Meredith.”

“Iz I-”

“Go up to the NICU, just trust me,” Izzie looks at him, eyes shining with unshed tears as they meet his. He notices that she doesn’t look sad, she looks relieved, happy almost as she speaks to him. “Go to the NICU and if your answer is still the same when you come back then fine. But just… I think it’s important for you to go and see what you’re missing.” 

Izzie doesn’t say anything else, settling into a visitor’s chair in the hallway and bringing out the scarf she’d been working on since they’d left Kansas. Alex knows better than to ask questions when she’s this adamant about things, instead letting his feet carry him on the all too familiar path towards the NICU. He missed it if he were honest, being chief of a huge hospital didn’t give him much time to go up and stare at the babies in their plastic incubators anymore. But the room had always been soothing to him, it’s where he’d realized that he wanted to be a Peds surgeon and for that he’d always be grateful. 

When he approaches the room he sees exactly what Izzie had been steering him towards. She’s walking out of the NICU, stripping out of the cumbersome PPE she’d had to wear inside and back down to her scrubs. Her hair tumbles out of the messy bun it’d been in but she seems unaffected as she smoothes down the creases in her navy colored scrubs. 

That’s when he notices it, the slight swell of her stomach straining against the dark fabric as she reaches up to adjust her face mask. His breathing hitches as his eyes stay glued to her abdomen. After looking at her for almost every day of the past eight years, Alex considered himself an expert on Jo’s body and he knew that the small bump was not there the last time he saw her. 

When she turns towards him finally she freezes, eyes wide as they stand across from one another. Their eyes meet for the first time in months and all Alex wants to do is surge forward and bring Jo into a tight hug. He knows he can’t, she would probably punch him in the face if he got within 3 feet of her, but he can dream, right? She’s blinking at him in confusion as if his presence genuinely doesn’t compute in her brain. 

“Alex.”

-

She’s not sure if she’s hallucinating the sight of her ex husband in front of her, but he’s standing there in that stupid black jacket looking at her as if it were for the first time. Her heart is racing, telling her to run to him and hug him tight and not let go. Her brain talks her out of it, instead carrying her forward to stand a few feet in front of him. Jo doesn’t know where her courage comes from, but she hears herself speak first. 

“What’re you doing here?”

Her tone isn’t angry or upset like she’d thought it would be, instead carrying a neutral tone to it as she takes in Alex. His eyes are scanning over her too and she knows that he’s going to catch on to the fact that something is different about her. He knew her well enough, it wouldn’t take him long. 

“I’m Mer’s healthcare proxy still, I’m gonna hang around until she’s out of the woods,” Alex’s eyes finally come up to meet her again, his fingers reaching out to grab at her hand. “Can we… Can we talk?”

Her heart wins out that time, fingers lacing with Alex’s as she nods and lets him lead her down the hallway. Jo doesn’t know what she’s going to say, doesn’t know what Alex is going to say, but the feeling of his hand pressed against hers is a relief she can’t quite explain. 

When they enter the empty on call room, Jo sits herself on one of the beds, her eyes watching her feet as she rips her face mask away. The cool air of the room gives her lungs a needed reprieve as she focuses on anything except Alex. 

“How far along are you?”

Her heart stops then, eyes darting up to Alex in panic. He’d already figured it out, already realized that she was pregnant before she even had a chance to say anything to him. Fear builds up inside her as she desperately hopes that he doesn’t think she’s been hiding from him on purpose. 

“12 weeks… I haven’t known for that long, I was avoiding it for awhile,” her fingers nervously tangle together as she wills back another round of tears. She’s not going to cry in front of him, she’s stronger than that. “I swear I was going to tell you, I just-”

“I’m not mad, take a breath Jo,” Alex was kneeling in front of her, placing his hands over her own shaking ones as he looked her over. She couldn’t meet his eyes, her own letting hot tears stream down her face no matter how hard she tried to stop them. “Hey don’t cry, I’m not mad. It’s okay, there’s no reason to cry.”

“There is though! There is because you left! You left without a second thought. You didn’t even call, couldn’t even look me in the eye and tell me,” Jo looks up then, meeting his eyes that are now displaying a sad expression. “You left Alex. Nothing changes that, not a baby or a pandemic or anything else. You left me.”

He sighs then, his head hanging low as he takes a deep breath. The all too familiar instinct in Jo wants to hold him close and run her fingers through his hair, but she keeps reminding herself that he’s the one that got them there, not her, “I know I left and I’ve regretted it every day since. I wish I could take it back and talk with you and-”

“You can’t though! You can’t take back what you did, you can’t take back leaving me for Izzie,” Jo pulls her hands out of his grasp then, running them delicately through her hair as she tries to get a grip on her emotions. “You can’t just waltz back in here and pretend a simple apology is going to fix everything because it’s not.”

There’s a thick silence then, the only sounds between the two are their heavy breathing. Jo’s mind is racing and Alex… well Jo is sure that if he didn’t feel guilty before that he definitely does now. She lets her eyes close for a moment, ignoring the tense air and the presence of her ex husband so that she can collect her thoughts. 

“I wanna be there, for you and the baby, you know,” Alex’s voice is soft and laced with trepidation as if he might say the wrong thing. “I’m… Izzie is gonna send the kids for summers so I can come back here. And I’m never gonna stop apologizing for-”

“Fine, you can help with the baby but that’s it. I can’t… I can’t do this again. I can’t trust you anymore,” she knows the words are cruel, but they’re true. The moment she opened the letter he’d written Jo had lost all trust in Alex. “You can be there for the baby, I won’t keep you away, but I don’t need you anymore. I can’t need you anymore.”

She stands and leaves then, knowing if she stays any longer she’ll say something she regrets. She’s full of anger and hurt, but more than anything she wishes she could turn around and fold herself into Alex’s arms for hours on end.

+

There’s something wrong.

As soon as she wakes up in the middle of the night, Jo knows something is wrong. She sits up and turns on the side lamp, not feeling any different but knowing deep down that something had changed. She almost rolled over and went back to sleep, but her fingers brushed against something cool on her sheets. When she looks down at her hand, her heart stops. 

Blood. 

Her fingers were bright red as she looked down at them, heart hammering loudly in her ears as she tried to make sense of what was happening. She’d been fine when she went to bed just a few hours earlier and now her sheets were covered in blood. 

“No no no, please no,” Jo’s voice was barely audible as she reached one hand out towards her phone, blindly dialing the number she knew by heart. “Please god no.”

“Jo? It’s two in the morning.”

“I know but I-”

Her voice cracks then, not able to make out any other words as she stares at the pool of blood on her white sheets. She could hear him clattering around on the other end, the sound of keys jangling and his front door opening and closing. 

“I’m coming, I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

Really he's there in 10, sliding the door to the loft open and finding Jo sitting up in the same spot she had been when she’d called. As soon as she sees him across the darkened loft she really cracks, a loud sob breaking through her as Alex rushes to her side, his eyes immediately taking in the blood stained sheets. His arms are around her in seconds, pulling her into his chest as heavy sobs wracked her body. 

“Hey, deep breaths it’s okay,” Alex’s fingers are under her chin, tilting her head up and meeting her eyes. She’s terrified, her heart beating out of time, but Alex’s calm demeanor slows her breathing down and gets her to focus on him. “Go rinse off and then I’ll take you in. Okay?” 

Jo nods, trusting Alex’s words as she walks silently to the bathroom and strips out of her clothes. She climbs into the shower, letting the hot water calm her only slightly as her fingers float down to her swollen belly. At 15 weeks she’d thought she’d left her worries behind in the first trimester, but the cold reality of the real world had decided to slap her across the face tonight. As she stands under the warm spray she prays to any god that might be out there to keep the baby resting in her womb safe where they are. 

“You okay? Jo?”

Alex’s voice sounding outside the bathroom door snaps Jo out of her thoughts, her burning skin telling her she’d been in there for longer than she’d thought. She responds quickly, letting Alex know she was still alive before shutting the water off and grabbing a towel to wrap around herself. Jo realizes that she hadn’t even noticed him putting a pair of sweatpants and one of his old t-shirts in the bathroom for her. She quickly pulled the clothing on, exiting the bathroom to find Alex gathering up her bedsheets and throwing them into the laundry hamper. 

“Hey,” Alex’s tone is laced with concern and care as he steps towards her. She’s barely talked to him in the few weeks he’d been back in Seattle, but Jo can’t resist folding herself into the comfort of his arms as hot tears begin to stream down her face. “Hey it’s okay, everything is gonna be okay.”

Jo hadn’t changed her mind on what she’d told Alex when he’d found out about the baby, but as she faced the possibility that they might lose their child all she wanted was his comfort. His arms settled around her waist, one hand curling towards her stomach to let his fingers brush across the bump there. 

“Let me take you in, we’ll get you checked out and everything will be okay,” Alex’s voice is muffled as he presses his lips into her hair. Jo blindly nods, not moving from her place against Alex’s chest. “You’re gonna be okay, you’re not bleeding anymore right?”

Jo shakes her head in answer, her body curling closer to Alex’s as she thought about going in and being told her baby hadn’t made it. 

“That’s a good thing. Come on,” when Jo still makes no move to leave his embrace, Alex leans back and looks down at her, eyes scanning her face somberly. “I’ll stay with you the whole time, okay?”

Jo lets Alex lead her out of the loft and down to his car that’s parked haphazardly in the lot. The drive seems to take twice as long as usual, Jo’s hand never leaving Alex’s grip as she watches the scenery of Seattle pass by in a blur. Her free hand subconsciously wraps around her belly, hoping for the flutters she’d felt the past few days to return. 

Before she can comprehend what’s happening around her, Jo is sitting in an exam room waiting for the OB on call to see her. She doesn’t remember walking out of the car or coming into the hospital, she doesn’t remember changing into the sterile smelling hospital gown or answering whatever intake questions were asked of her. She figures Alex had taken care of that, his hand still clasped in hers as he sits in the chair next to the exam bed. 

“I’m still here, I’m not leaving,” Alex’s voice soothes her nerves, as if he can hear the exact thoughts running through her head at the moment. “I’m not leaving Jo.”

And he doesn’t. The OB comes in and performs a quick physical exam before she powers on the ultrasound machine. Jo lays back, eyes closed in a combination of fear and anxiety as she feels the probe slide around her abdomen. She doesn’t want to see the woman’s face when she tells her that her baby isn’t alive anymore. 

And then, there’s a booming sound that echoes through the room. Jo’s eyes flash open and look towards the screen, the black and white image of her uterus showing a baby that won’t stop moving around. The heartbeat booms again and it takes everything in her not to break down and cry tears of joy. 

“I told you it would be okay,” Alex’s voice is soft and filled with emotion as he squeezes her hand, his lips involuntarily pressing against her forehead. “See, they're fine. You’re both fine.”

The OB spouts off something or another but all Jo hears is that she and the baby are okay. She needs to stay off her feet for a few days but she’ll be fine. Her heart returns to normal as the woman leaves the room, hands coming up to cover her face as a fresh round of tears begin to float down her cheeks. 

“Come here, you’re okay,” Alex envelops her in his arms once more, Jo pressing herself tightly against him as she let her tears flow. They weren’t sad or scared anymore, the tears she was crying now were ones of relief and joy. “Get dressed and I'll take you home okay? I’m gonna go get you discharged.”

Quickly changing back into her clothes, Jo sat on the edge of the exam table reflecting on her night so far. The terrified feeling she’d had when she saw her blood stained sheets hadn’t gone away unless Alex was holding her in his arms, his soothing words and physical presence doing more to put her mind at ease than any of her years of experience as a doctor. Her fingers moved to her stomach as she felt a light flutter, her baby making sure she knew she wasn’t alone. 

“You ready? You’re all set to get out of here and crawl back in bed,” as soon as he had stepped back into the room, Alex laced his fingers with Jo’s and squeezed her hand reassuringly. 

“I don’t want to go home,” Jo shook her head, eyes moving to Alex’s as she took a deep breath. “I don’t want to go back to sleep in my bed. Please.”

“Okay, I won’t take you home,” Alex pulled Jo up and into his chest, one arm wrapping around her shoulders as they walked out of the ER. 

The constant comfort of Alex’s skin against hers is the only thing that keeps Jo stable as he drives away from the hospital. One hand is on the steering wheel but the other is still grasping tightly to Jo’s hand. She thinks he knows how calming his presence is, how at ease he makes her feel when everything around her is uncertain. He’d never say anything but she knew that he could read her thoughts so clearly. 

They pull up outside of an apartment complex just a few blocks from the loft. Jo realizes then that she’s never been to Alex’s apartment, she’s never had a reason to before now. She lets him lead her inside and upstairs, opening the front door of the small one bedroom apartment. There’s still boxes around the living room, some she’d even packed herself in her haste to get rid of anything that reminded her of Alex. 

His hand is on her back as she walks into his bedroom, an empty shell of a room besides the bed frame, bedside table and dresser. Jo takes in the two pictures on the nightstand, the first is of Alex sandwiched between two young children that she knows to be his kids, all three wearing matching crooked smiles. The second is an all too familiar picture frame wrapped up with a red bow. She knows if she looks on the back of it that she’ll see her own handwriting penned in gold ink, but she doesn’t dare to do this now. Instead she settles herself on the edge of the bed, watching silently as Alex kicks his shoes off into the corner of the room before gently removing her own slippers and placing them next to his. 

“You can take my bed, I’ll sleep on the couch,” Alex’s voice snapped Jo out of her daze, her fingers reaching back out to him as he moved away from her. She doesn’t say anything as she wraps herself in his covers, staring up at him silently and waiting for him to join her.

When he finally does climb into bed Jo waits a moment before curling her body around his, her fingers clutching his shirt tightly. It’s not until Alex’s fingers brush across her stomach that she breaks down, letting her sobs fill the air as he holds her close. She’s relieved, of course she is, but she doesn’t think she’s let her emotions properly air out. So she cries and she lets herself be vulnerable in Alex’s arms and for just a few hours, everything seems like it’s going to be okay.

[flowerfan2]

Our Paths Crossed At The Right Time

Here’s part 5 of my Schitt’s Creek Season 5 Coda Series - read it here or on A03 - and if you are enjoying this series, please reblog or come say hi!

*****

Summary:  For the record, I was only ever jealous of Ted.

When David gets back from adding their trash bags full of empty plastic cups and crumpled napkins to the garbage bins behind the building, a sense of calm has settled over the apartment.  The lights are off except for a lamp by the bed, and there’s soft music playing.  

“Here,” Patrick says, handing David a glass of wine.  David frowns, because he’s had enough to drink tonight that he’s been tipsy and back again, but when he takes a sip he understands – it’s one of their reserve bottles from the store, a rich, fragrant red that is meant to light up your senses, not dull them.

Patrick has ditched his baggy pajama set and is wearing a soft gray t-shirt and blue striped bottoms.  He looks more like himself, warm and familiar.  David runs his free hand down the center of his chest as they settle on the couch, knees touching as they curl towards each other.

David examines Patrick’s face, studiously neutral, his posture not quite matching his efforts to create a cozy atmosphere.  David knows Patrick was nervous about tonight.  It was his first time hosting something like this in Schitt’s Creek – a game night at Ray’s isn’t the same as throwing a party in your own place – and he was invested in having it go well.  For all of Patrick’s outward confidence, Patrick still sometimes feels like the new kid in town, and letting all these people into his private space isn’t as easy for him as he made it seem.

But Patrick had kept his chin up throughout, even when the guest list had gotten a little out of control, with friends from his baseball team inviting another group of players, and Jake declining (thankfully) but apparently spreading the word around first.  When Patrick chose the high school sleepover theme he hadn’t intended it to be the kind of party that wound up wrecking the house and causing neighbors to call the police.  Luckily it hadn’t gone quite that far.

David takes a long sip of wine and then sets his glass down on the coffee table.  He would have been okay with getting directly into bed after the night they’ve already had, but Patrick seems to need something else.  “Come here,” he says, holding out his arms, and Patrick slides into them.  “You okay?” he asks, feeling Patrick relax against him as he rubs his hands up and down Patrick’s arms.

“Yeah.”  Patrick finishes his wine and puts his glass down, then settles back against David.  “Is it weird that I’m glad the party’s over?”

David shakes his head.  “Nope.  I’ve certainly had enough connecting with people for one night.”

“Except me, I hope,” Patrick says, tilting his head up for a kiss.

“Except you, of course.”  David kisses Patrick a few times for good measure.  Patrick tastes like the merlot, cherries and chocolate, opening easily for David.  “Anyway, all your guests had a good time.  There’s nothing to worry about.”

“I guess.”

“Everyone went home with a story to tell and pictures to post.  That’s what people want from a party.”

Patrick shifts and looks at him.  “What kind of stories?”

David strokes the back of Patrick’s head, pulling him close again.  “They’ll talk about how cute we looked in our matching pj’s, and how you provided just the right amount of liquor and jello shots to help make their adolescent dreams come true, except this time without the braces and acne.”

“Including spin the bottle.”

“Including spin the bottle,” David repeats.  He hesitates, unsure about revisiting a sore subject, but he figures Patrick wouldn’t have brought it up if there wasn’t something wasn’t left to discuss.  “Is that still bothering you?”

Patrick takes David’s hand and rubs his thumb along the silver rings.  “I’m not sure.  I can’t stop thinking about it.  I don’t know why.”

“That’s okay.”  David runs the mess over in his head – Ted’s overly enthusiastic kiss; Patrick pouting in the corner with Alexis.  The affronted look on Patrick’s face when Alexis took off her heels before leaning in to kiss him.  Patrick standing stock still as Alexis hummed theatrically against his lips.

“Actually,” David says, “I think I owe you an apology.”

Patrick tilts his head and catches David’s gaze, his brown eyes looking almost black in the dim light.  “No you don’t.  You were right, what you said before.  I made you play that game, and the fact that Ted gets flirty when he drinks is on him.  You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But I shouldn’t have suggested that you and Alexis kiss.  You didn’t like that.”

David can feel Patrick still in his arms.  David squeezes his hand gently and waits, giving Patrick space to answer.  It makes him feel uneasy when Patrick is uncomfortable.  David wants to do this right, with Patrick.  He wants to do everything right with him.  It’s hard sometimes, because trolling each other is practically their love language, but occasionally something will throw Patrick off course that David hadn’t anticipated.

David wouldn’t be surprised if he managed to put his foot in his mouth tonight.  The scene was ripe for disaster, and given David’s track record, he’s lucky it wasn’t worse.  But if someone had asked David <i>why</i> Patrick might get annoyed at him during the party, he would have guessed his inability to keep his opinion about the inappropriate snacks to himself, or his visible distaste for beer in cans, not because of the fallout from a childish party game.

“Alexis kissing me wasn’t a big deal,” Patrick says finally, but David can hear the uncertainty in his voice.  He kicks himself for not catching it sooner.  

“It’s okay if it was.”

Patrick takes in a long breath and lets it out slowly.  “I appreciate you saying that.  But I could have stopped her.  It was consensual – it wasn’t even sexual.  She might as well have been bopping my nose.  I don’t know why it’s bothering me.”

David doesn’t think it was quite the same as a bop on the nose, if for no other reason than the way Patrick looked when Alexis did it.  David twines their fingers together and brings their hands up to his chest.  “Well, whatever it was or wasn’t, for my part in it, I’m sorry.”

Patrick’s eyes search his face, and the tension leaves his expression.  He cups David’s cheek and turns his face towards him.  “You’re really something, David Rose.”

David leans into Patrick’s touch, and Patrick’s fingers weave into his hair.  “I’m glad you think so.”  They move together, exchanging soft kisses, neither of them with the energy to do much more than that.  But it’s all it takes for the nerves in David’s stomach to calm, the perfect pressure of Patrick’s lips against his own washing away all the uncertainties of the night.  After a few minutes David tugs Patrick closer, nearly onto his lap, and Patrick nestles against him, his head in the crook of David’s neck.  

“Wanna go to sleep?”  David asks.

“Mmm, yeah.”

Patrick doesn’t move, and David laughs quietly against his short hair.  “I didn’t mean right here.”

“Oh, is sleeping on the couch incorrect?”

“I just think we’d be better off in your extremely comfortable new bed.”

“Speak for yourself.” Patrick squirms a bit and pretends to settle in, sighing deeply.

He’s adorable, but David knows he’s just playing, and he’d rather they get off the sofa before one of them actually falls asleep.  He manhandles Patrick off his lap and pulls him to his feet, Patrick soft and clingy as they make their way to bed.  Patrick doesn’t show any sign of making a pit stop for skin care or dental hygiene at the moment, and David decides he can afford to skip a night as well.  He’d rather stay close to Patrick.

They cuddle up, David’s head on Patrick’s chest and his knee pressed against Patrick’s leg.  Patrick kisses his hair and rubs his back, and David considers that he never, ever felt this good after a party in his whole entire life.  

“Being with you is better than anything I could have imagined in high school,” David says, tired enough that he’s not even embarrassed at the words that spill out of his mouth.

Patrick huffs out a little laugh and hugs David closer.  “I think you know I never imagined anything like you in high school.”  Patrick shifts and kisses David softly on the lips.  “And David?”

“Hmm?”

“For the record, I was only ever jealous of Ted.”

[douchebagbrainwaves]

UNDERSTANDING YOUR USERS IS PART OF WHAT HIGHER-LEVEL LANGUAGES, AND TWO ARE STILL UNIQUE TO LISP

I'm not criticizing Steve and Alexis. Good hackers insist on control. Overloading, for example, have been around 7-10x.1 Hard to say exactly, but wherever it is, but the fear of missing out. I couldn't talk to them. Over time, the default language, embodied in a succession of popular languages, has gradually evolved toward Lisp. There will of course come a point where there is just too much to keep in your head in order to conceive of the program, and so on. A complex macro may have to save many times its own length to be justified.

If you're not threatening, you're probably not doing anything new, except the names and places, in most news about things going wrong. Economically, this is a sign of an underlying lack of resourcefulness. So being cheap is almost interchangeable with iterating rapidly. And when you look at what they're doing on that computer, you'll find the most general truths. There are plenty of other areas that are just as valuable as positive ones. The most tempting format for stupid comments is the supposedly witty put-down, probably because put-downs are the easiest form of humor. Meanwhile, sensing a vacuum in the metaphysical speculation department, the people working on them discover a new kind of organization that combined the efforts of individuals without requiring them to be interchangeable. Within large organizations, the phrase used to describe a market as a degenerate case—as what you get by default when organization isn't possible. But this way of keeping them out is gentler and probably also more effective than overt barriers. But don't wait till you've burned through your last round of funding to start approaching them.

It was presumably many thousands of years between when people first started describing things as hot or cold and when someone asked what is heat? The most important way to not spend money is by not hiring people. And the project starts small because the idea is small at first; he just has some cool hack he wants to try out. Apple's competitors now know better. Is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. If you want ideas for startups, but it didn't help Thinking Machines or Xerox. But hackers can't watch themselves at work. As a little piece of debris, the rational thing for you to do is say one word to them, at least.

Curiously, however, the works they produced continued to attract new readers. It's true that a restaurant with mediocre food can sometimes attract customers through gimmicks. How tech-saturated Silicon Valley is where it is.2 Which usually means that you have to declare the type of every variable, and can't tell one programming language from another, and work well together.3 If you think you're 85% of the way into Lisp, they could probably do it. In art, mediums like embroidery and mosaic work well if you know beforehand what you want. And now Wall Street is collectively kicking itself.4 There is actually some data out there about that. Some may even deliberately stall, because they enjoy it. I didn't realize that when we were raising money. Like a parent saying to a child, I bet you can't clean up your whole room in ten minutes, a good manager can sometimes redefine a problem as a more interesting one.

It won't seem so preposterous in 10,000 years. It's not something you work despite.5 In such situations it's helpful to have working democracies and multiple sovereign countries. It always was cool. Unless their working day ends at the same time as mine, the meeting presumably interrupts theirs, but since they made the appointment it must be, because I read about it in the press all the time.6 Getting money from an investor than an employer. I've learned so much from working on it. The right thing to compare Lisp to is not 1950s hardware, but, say, 1970, I think professionalism was largely a restatement of the first. A better way to get one loaded into your head. We didn't just give canned presentations at trade shows. It wouldn't be a compliment in most organizations to call someone scrappy. Garbage-collection.

So startup culture may not merely be different in the way we do. If that's what's on the other side of the mountain is a nice gradual slope. Bill Gates knows this. Programs composed of expressions. You could conceivably lose half your brain and live. Sometimes when you return to it. If you're the sort of founders about whom we'd say they can take a nap on when they feel tired, instead of dying. This growth rate is a bit uglier. Great programmers are sometimes said to be indifferent to money.

Perhaps only the more thoughtful users care enough to submit and upvote links, so the marginal cost of one random new user approaches zero. If it seems like a daunting task to do philosophy, here's an encouraging thought. And the bigger you are, the less pressure they feel to act smart. It helped us to have Robert Morris, Peter Norvig, Lisa Randall, Emmett Shear, Sergei Tsarev, and Stephen Wolfram for reading drafts of this. The fourth advantage of ramen profitability is a trick for determining which points are the counterintuitive ones: they're the ones I have to keep the sense of being very short, and also did all the legal work of getting us set up as a company with a valuation any lower. If companies want hackers to be productive, they should look at what they do there than how much they get paid for it. Users don't switch from Explorer to Firefox because they want to invest two years in something that is industry best practice actually gets you is not the long but mistaken argument, but the most I've ever been able to write a short comment that's distinguished for the amount of wealth that can be created. For example, the corporate site that says the company makes enterprise content management solutions for business that enable organizations to unify people, content and processes to minimize business risk, accelerate time-to-value and sustain lower total cost of ownership.7 And so while you needed expressions for math to work, and if you get demoralized, don't give up on your dreams.8 Try making your customer service not merely good, but surprisingly good. One of the standard pieces of advice in fiction writing is show, don't tell.

Notes

The CPU weighed 3150 pounds, and b the second wave extends applications across the web have sucked—A Spam Classification Organization Program. Monk, Ray, Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Civil Service Examinations of Imperial China, during the war had been with their company for more of the crown, and that modern corporate executives were, we should remember this when he received an invitation to travel aboard the HMS Beagle as a collection itself.

It would have a precise measure of the court. The kind of bug to find out why investors who say no for introductions to other knowledge. Many people have told me they do on the way and run the programs on the software business, and in a way to predict precisely what would our competitors hate most? Maybe markets will eventually get comfortable with potential acquirers.

Plus ca change. Philosophy is like math's ne'er-do-well brother. MSFT, having sold all my shares earlier this year.

Common Lisp for, but I took so long. Digg is notorious for its shares will inevitably be something you need to learn to acknowledge as well as a result a lot better to get kids into better colleges, I mean efforts to manipulate them. The meanings of these people. You can get it, is that the Internet into situations where a great reputation and they're clearly working fast to get the money, but a big change from what it would be a good problem to have been fooled by the government to take a long thread are rarely seen, when Subject foo degenerates to just foo, what that means is we hope visited mostly by people like them—people who need the money.

Spices are also exempt. There are still, has one booked for them.

4%, and made more that year from stock options than any other company has ever been. Unfortunately the constraint probably has to split hairs that fine about whether a suit would violate the patent pledge, it's because of the company will either be a founder; and with that additional constraint, you usually have to pass so slowly for them, and that modern corporate executives were, they'd be proportionately more effective, leaving the area around city hall a bleak wasteland, but the route to that mystery is that the government had little effect on what you call the market.

In technology, so they had that we should work like casual conversation.

A rolling close usually prevents this. We consciously optimize for this essay talks about the other hand, launching something small and use whatever advantages that brings. That makes some rich people move, and mostly in Perl, and the valuation of the most recent version of this desirable company, but I took so long to send them the final whistle, the apparent misdeeds of corp dev guys should be deprived of their time and became the twin centers from which they don't yet have any of the word that means having type II startups won't get you type I. Good and bad luck.

[kinsbin]

Bad Day

Title: Bad Day Ship: Johnny Cage/Alexys/Kuai Liang [Self Insert/Canon] Word Count: 2019 Summary: Alexys comes home after a bad day. Johnny and Kuai decide that they should try to make it better.

A/N: A commission for @bad-blue-moon-rising! She and Johnny and Kuai are so c ute....

Sometimes days were bad.

Alexys was familiar with bad days. Hell, they plagued her more often than not for a majority of the week. Between working jobs, anxiety, and a deep set fear of general inadequacy filling the very edges of her veins at any given moment due to the constant pressures of family and friends alike, it was quite accurate to say that bad days were more the norm than good ones. It wasn’t unlike her to come home exhausted, her body raked with the look of exhaustion and the taste of longing sleep against her lips as she shrugged off whatever help was offered to her in favor of laying face first on her bed and not getting up until the next day called her back into the void of reality.

Well, that was what it was like before she got a pair of deeply concerned boyfriends.

They noticed something was off the moment she had walked through the door, her greeting half hearted and quiet compared to the normal way she smiled and waved when she realized both Johnny and Kuai were in the same home. It was rare that Kuai actually managed to climb down from his mountain fortress to visit her in Johnny’s large mansion home, but, when he did her day was made ten times better at any given moment. Having both men in the same area as her was a comfort in a life full of unsure motives and constant existence. So, when she instead gave them both gentle hug and declared that she was going to go take a shower and then nap for a bit, Johnny seemed to instinctively tense up.

“She didn’t jump and hug you when she saw you,” The movie star noted with shock in his tone, eyes training from the stairs their girlfriend had just gone up on to the Grandmaster at his side, “Why didn’t she jump and hug you when she saw you? She always does that. Especially when it’s been like, what, a month since we’ve all been together?”

Kuai could only watch after Alexys for a moment before nodding, slow and thoughtful, at his companion. Arms crossed over his chest, he felt the wheels of his mind churn and boil with curiosity as he attempted to imagine what had happened to her that would make her so upset. The world was, after all, a terrifying and angry place. He did not take the concept of others having hurt her feelings out of the equation just yet, but, something told him that it truly didn’t matter to begin with. She was here and safe now, albeit rather upset, and it was up to them to be able to fix that in her favor.

“She’s upset.”

“Yeah no shit Sherlock,” Johnny grumbled and rubbed his temples for a moment, “I hate seeing her like this...We have to fix it.”

“And just how do you propose we go about doing that, then?”

“I’m working on it,” Johnny shooed him away with his hand, the other placing itself on his chin as his jaw locked in concentration. Kuai rolled his eyes, waiting for Johnny to answer with a final thought after his moment of intense thinking. Instead, Johnny’s head bolted up and he snapped his fingers, entering the kitchen adjacent to the living area and foyer. There, he began to pull out some bowls and a few items from the freezer and fridge. Primarily ice cream, whipped cream, and a variety of toppings both cold and pantry level. Kuai entered shortly after, watching the other man shuffle around with great purpose.

“Exactly what, by the elder gods, are you doing?”

Johnny frowned over at him, a light blush of embarrassment dusting his cheeks as he found himself admitting the situation before him with a gesture of his fingertips towards all of the ingredients.

“I’m just-you know! Ice cream cheers everyone up!”

“Food doesn’t solve all people’s problems, John.”

“Why not? Sure as hell works for me.”

Kuai let out a long sigh as Johnny ignored his reasoning, standing at his side to observe the slow and careful craftsmanship of the ice cream sundaes before him. Piles of vanilla, chocolate, and oreo-cookie ice cream were organized within their confines, each then dappled with rainbow sprinkles and chocolate syrup. The final dapple of hefty whipping cream was enough to get Kuai to roll his eyes as he was handed one bowl, two others in Johnny’s hand as he grinned at the man before him.

“Why are there three?”

“You’re eating one too.”

“I am not.”

“She’ll be upset if only two of us are eating it. Come on! Are you on some sort of ice-only diet or something?”

Kuai scoffed at the ideal, but relented as he followed Johnny up the stairs of his home and into the room designated for Alexys since she had moved in. While, most days, Johnny and Alexys were happy to share a room, she got her own in a separate area just in case friends were over that she wanted to spend time with or it simply got too hot in the middle of the night with both of their bodies pressed too tight against one another. Sure enough, she rested in the center of the dark room with a blanket around her, her clothes not changed and her form very much not showered as she stared at her phone screen with tired, slightly spaced out eyes.

The small crack of light from their entrance was enough to startled Alexys out of the reverie she had managed to put herself in, grey eyes widening in surprise at the sight of both men carrying such hefty amounts of frozen treats. Johnny grinned brightly at her, entering the room first and plopping himself down at her side. Alexys stared at him, not being able to help the slightest of smiles breaking on her lips as he leaned forward to press a soft kiss to her cheek.

“Hello, gorgeous,” Johnny purred while handing over a bowl of the frozen treat to her, “You look like you could use a little pick me up.”

“That obvious?” Alexys laughed as she accepted the bowl. Kuai moved to sit on the opposite side of her, his own bowl held in his hands as he reached out to put one on her knee, thumb rubbing the appendage gently.

“You do not have to tell us what’s the matter,” Kuai explained in a soft voice, “But know that we are here at your side regardless of it all.”

The words hit her heart hard, almost making her flinch. Nonetheless, she smiled at both of the men before her as they leaned in simultaneously and pressed kisses to her face, peppering her nose and temples with delicate movements before pulling away to begin eating their own ice cream. In silence, they joined in on watching whatever video compliation Alexys had been staring at mindlessly on her phone, Johnny adding little comments and quoting some of the more well known ones while Kuai wondered outloud just how the hell he knew so many of the damn things.

“You just don’t know what the Internet is.” Johnny teased, dangling his spoon at the man with a grin.

“I know what it is,” Kuai retorted through a small mouthful of vanilla and chocolate, “I simply prefer not to use it.”

“Could you even get a signal up in those mountains?”

Alexys smiled as she slid some of the ice cream in her mouth. The sweet taste exploded on her buds and she couldn’t help but take a deep breath at the chill it brought to her teeth. Her mind briefly froze up with the suddenness of its chill, but, soon after it left only the sweet taste of creamy vanilla against her throat as she prepared another sprinkle-filled bite. Johnny had added extra for her, she noticed with a soft skip of her heartbeat, he knew that she liked it that way.

Kuai was rubbing at her knee, because he knew that she loved it when he touched her. To show the affection he rarely did around others was trust enough to make her body ache for more as she reached out to put one of her hands over his, noting just how cold his grip was. Ice powers would do that, she supposed.

She realized just how much she loved them.

She realized just how important to her that they remained at her side. The mere thought of them not being there hurt. Of waking up one day and finding out that there existence was nothing but a dream. A fantasy timeline made up by her overactive imagination. Alexys looked from Kuai to Johnny for a moment, memorizing the lines of their faces and they grays of their hair. The way they both smiled and the way their brows furrowed as they nonsensically argued with one another in casual conversation.

Plip...plip plip…

Johnny stopped mid-sentence of what he was talking about when he noticed the tears falling down Alexys’ face. His eyes widened in worry, spoon falling into his bowl as he leaned forward and cupped her face in his large hand, using his thumb to wipe away the tears he could find. Kuai’s hand gripped her knee tighter, a silent sign that he was also worried for the reason she had tears in her eyes. Alexys blinked away the droplets that had begun to fall, her nose starting to fill up with mucus as she sniffled through the wetness.

“I-I,” She tried to stutter out the reason, yet it was broken against a sob as she bit her lip, chewing on the spoon still in her mouth. With effort, Kuai reached over and gently proded it out of her lips, tilting his head as he stroked her hair with his free hand soon after. Both men moved closer to their girlfriend, enveloping her in their warm embrace as she looked up at the both of them in awe.

“I just think the both of y-you are so amazing...and...It can be hard to think that….I got so lucky to end up with you! I love you both so much…”

Johnny felt his cheeks heat up at the confession of his girlfriend. Kuai’s own face did the same as both looked at one another for a brief period before returning their gaze to Alexys. Johnny felt a smile meld its way into his mouth, trying to beat the chuckle that wanted to break between thin lips as he leaned forward to press a kiss to Alexys’ face again, trailing it down to the edge of her lips where he pressed a second one. Kuai imitated this movement, his lips softer and much colder than Johnny’s. His beard tickled her bare skin.

“Snowflake…” Kuai was the one to speak now as he sighed against her face, “You do not seem to know how amazing you are as well.”

“Yeah, doll,” Johnny added with a smile, “You’re...I mean you’re you! And, to us, we think that’s pretty damn amazing. And strong. And beautiful. You’re perfect to us and for us, and we won’t ever let that thought change in our heads.”

Kuai nodded his agreement, feeling that Johnny had said all of the words he had been thinking efficiently enough. Alexys laughed softly through her tears as they slowly but surely dried up and away with her worries. Between the two men, she felt safe. There bodies provided an equal amount of warm and cold for her to nest in, the temperature balancing out perfect as she placed a hand on either one of their faces and brought them down closer to hers, nuzzling their cheeks caringly before placing kisses on either one.

“I love you both so much,” Alexys whispered into their ears, “Thank-you.”

Johnny and Kuai smiled, hugging her back in return and making sure they were all wrapped up and comfortable together, each brushing hair from her face and making sure a hand was somewhere on her body. So that she might feel their warmth and love transferred between forms if at all possible. In unison, the breath of agreement was whispered out with equal amounts love and devotion, making her almost want to cry again if not for the sleepy comfort that overwhelmed the scenario:

“We love you, too.”

[thesportssoundoff]

Five Things To Draw From The Contender Series Season Two

Joey

August 20th

It has JUST enough Dana White in it

Do you wanna know why the Dana White Contender Series worked and Lookin' For A Fight doesn't? One show has too much Dana. Too much Dana and his friends doing stuff you just can't possibly care about no matter how big of a DW stan you are. Too much Dana White and his friends eating food at Guy Fieri-esque "average guy" restaurants. Too much of Dana and his friends doing EXTWEME sports stuff or making food or just being dudes. Every MMA fan watches Lookin' For A Fight for a few minutes of Dana White being rich with his not as rich friends (Din Thomas, Nick The Tooth, Gian Villante and Matt Serra) to the yuk yuks and ha ha's and for whatever fight recap we're getting. The series to me fell off a cliff when it became less about the shows and more about Dana White.

Dana White's Contender Series is JUST the right amount of Dana White. The show is named after him and the concept itself is based around him so that much makes sense. Where the Contenders Series gets it right is that it captures Dana in the place we WANT to watch him at. We watch Dana watch fights, react to fights, gush about fighters, freak out about finishes and showcase the passion he still has for MMA. That's the Dana White that made the UFC a big deal by being a relentless borderline desperate madman with a product he would not allow the public to forget about. Watching Dana White, Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby freak out after a great finish is something we can all get behind and something that's genuinely cool about the Contender Series. Seeing Dana flip out about refs, judging or just be the world's richest fan may wear thin on some but again, it's reminiscent of what made Dana White a big deal to begin with. To the fans, he IS a fan---just the one with the highest decision making power in the sport. The best parts of the Contender Series are when Dana just arbitrarily decides to fuck over Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby by saying something like "We agreed on two guys but I'm going to bring in one more guy!" is easily the most real part of the Contender Series and gives you a reason to remember the guy who Dana pulled the executive decision on.

The first season was an attack on weaknesses, the second season was an attack on size

Here is how the Contender Series breaks down across their two seasons. I've listed the number of signings and the number of fights per division. I did not include guys getting developmental deals EXCEPT for Greg Hardy because I think his deal is probably different than what guys like Bevon Lewis and Chase Hooper are getting.

DWTCS Season 1 Total Signees: 16 (15 men, 1 woman) Signees By Weight Class, signings per fight: Bantamweight- 3 3/6 Middleweight- 3 3/5 Featherweight- 3 3/6 Light Heavyweight- 2 2/6 Flyweight- 2 2/8 Lightweight- 1 1/2 Heavyweight- 1 1/3 Women's Bantamweight- 1 1/1 Welterweight- 0 0/2 Women's Strawweight- 0 0/1

DWTCS Season 2 Total Signees: 23 signings (21 men, 2 women) Signees by Weight Class, percentage of signings per fight: 

Lightweight- 5 5/8 Heavyweight- 4 4/7 Middleweight- 4 4/7 Light Heavyweight- 3 3/3 Featherweight- 2 2/7* Welterweight- 1 1/3 Bantamweight- 1 1/2 Flyweight- 1 1/1 Women's Strawweight- 1 1/1 Women's flyweight- 1 1/1 Women's Bantamweight-

The UFC hid absolutely nothing as it pertains to what Season One was really about. The deepest division in MMA (lightweight) got two fights in it, the second deepest in theory is welterweight and it got two fights as well. The top division to get contender series fights was flyweight which, I suppose, might be surprising to some. The Contender Series though was about finding new talents in divisions of need and in truth, there's no doubt that flyweight needed depth. Maybe not a wealth of talent but depth to fill  up the ranks. Light Heavyweight was targeted as the organization seemed to finally realize that the DC/Jones/Gus trio was in need of something new to switch it up. The same could be said for bantamweight where the UFC is probably as tired as the rest of are of this Cruz/Dillashaw/Assuncao/Garbrandt chokehold at the top of the division. Light heavyweight is tied with bantamweight and unsurprisingly enough featherweight for the number of Contender Series fights.  Season two sees a return of dominance from lightweight but ALSO a rise in heavyweight, middleweight and MORE light heavyweight signings even if there's less fights. This season was a predominantly "big" one as signed 11 fighters in weight classes 185 and up. They even managed to double the number of signed females as well which is kind of good but also kinda trash since 2 women is probably STILL not enough for a series that runs eight weeks. That's gotta get fixed up.

All in all, I think we're seeing what the pattern for Contender Series' is going to be; they're going to try and sign guys and gals when they need them at specific weight classes. The nature of 145 and 155 lbs suggests that talent will always be there but as we've seen the divisions like 125, 185, 205 and HW need primary care. These divisions will get the attention regardless of what's poppin' at other weight classes.

The LFA Situation

23 fighters were signed  by the UFC this season. 12 of those fighters were immediately coming to the UFC from LFA with no stop in between. That number includes Greg Hardy who had every amateur fight in LFA. The other promotions that pop up? Bellator (!), Brave FC, Valor Fights, Alliance MMA, Phoenix FC, Hex Fighting Series, CXF and CFFC. Over half of the signings came straight from LFA to the DWTCS and that number balloons if you extend it to, say, "fought in LFA within their last three fights before the Contenders Series." In many ways this really isn't much of an issue since LFA is the top regional organization in the world. It's also worth remembering that Mick Maynard probably knows more about every single fighter who has ever walked into one of those shows than he does any other organization. He may know a guy like Ryan Spann better than any fighter on the UFC roster to be entirely honest. This is more about the underlying issues when it comes to MMA organizations OUTSIDE of just LFA.  This sport needs a healthy group of regional organizations producing top talent at a healthy enough clip to keep the UFC and Bellator beasts alive. Bellator can't survive just on whatever California based amateur wrestler they've signed or whatever SBG flunky they can bring in. The UFC can't survive just on whatever Alexis Davis based Brazilians and LFA champions they rack up. The sport needs to have a healthy stream of places for young fighters to fight, get paid and get experience. LFA only holds so many shows a year and as such, we need to always be cognizant of whether or not there are alternatives out there for fighters to make it to the UFC. Clemson and Georgia and Bama don't deliver EVERY NFL prospect to the NFL; you gotta have options for guys.

There will always be snubs

Rule of life for ya boys and gals; There will always be competent folks left out of jobs when the number of capable applicants outweighs the number of open positions. It was said that in season one of Dana White's Contenders Series, the UFC went into it unaware of how good the show would be and as such had a limited number of open slots available for signees. Per twitter scribes like Nolan King, they went into this season signing LESS talents because they knew the Contenders Series would take up a much larger portion of talents. Even so, there's still going to be folks who leave disappointed they didn't get signed. For instance dudes like Chris Curtis, Austin Vanderford, Julian Erosa and Dontale Mayes off the top of my head were quality fighters who didn't earn themselves deals. Don't get caught up in who did and didn't get signed because the agitation is not worth the effort. Just accept that snubs will happen and take solace in the fact that a snub just means you're going to get a short notice call eventually. If anything, the snubs from Season One created quite a few promising prospects for Season Two.

This is an unsustainable product

MMA scribes always love to talk about NEW and FRESH ideas as if those translate to money. We've seen the PFL's NEW AND FRESH idea struggle to generate an impact with the MMA consensus. Bellator's ratings are way down with "NEW AND FRESH" tournaments all over the place (and by the by, since when are tournaments new and fresh) and the Contender Series is the latest NEW AND FRESH idea people are gaga about. Dana White at the end of Season Two made what I think was the most honest statement of all the honest statements we got during the Contender Series. When asked about doing more of these on ESPN, he made it clear that they pretty much drain what they feel is the talent pool and as such, they need to let a year go to build them back up. Eventually we're going to hit a year where there won't be an immediate build up of talent on the regional circuit to put all the great fights on. Eventually there's going to be a season where you don't average nearly four finishes an episode across eight weeks. Things will eventually hit a rough patch because that's life in MMA.

We also need to accept that the value of MMA is in its quantity, not its quality. We've seen that quality fights don't do the numbers you'd expect them SO a large percentage of what is "value" is in the sheer scheduling. I hate to hurt the feelings of "LESS IS MORE!" people but the brand of MMA lives on not its immediate impact but it's impact over a 364 day stretch. The UFC doesn't do a 40+ event a year schedule because it wants to but because networks pay when you do it. "Make sure every fight feels special" sure SOUNDS awesome and great until you squint, look at your schedule and realize that to make big money in this biz, you need to almost be omnipotent on a spiritual level. Can't do that with an eight week stretch where every fight MEANS something. My suggestion is to just enjoy the Contender Series as it is and not get caught up in trying to make everything into the Contender Series.

[cheekygeek05]

The Impossible Impostor (Part 5)

Summary:  Alexus King is a FBI Special Agent of the BAU who is uprooted from her home and sent to London to work for Scotland Yard. Upon arriving she quickly loses what little enthusiasm her naivety had allowed her. Turns out the British don't take too well to imposing Americans. Who knew?

Words: 1,393

A/N: As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated. Taglist open! Send and ask, message, carrier pigeon, smoke signal, you know, whatever feels right. 

Previous Part.                                                           

"She was poisoned. High levels of arsenic were in her blood," Molly told them wheeling the body over.

Alexus looked at Sherlock baffled. Sherlock, to her relief, looked just as confused.

"Her skull was beaten in, blood was splattered everywhere. It's highly unlikely the crime scene would be so bloody if she was dead at the time she was beaten. And why would someone bother to bash in her skull if she was already dead?" Sherlock said at the speed of light.

"Molly, is there a way you can tell if she died before she was assaulted?" Alexus asked.

"Not any that I know of, but I can try to see if I can find one," Molly answered looking to Sherlock for some kind of approval. Nothing.

Alexus gave Molly an appreciative smile. She could easily see the infatuation Molly had with the consulting detective. For once Sherlock was oblivious.

Sherlock offered his arm to Alexus. A move that made the agent instantly suspicious. From what she had learned of Sherlock, this was not typical behavior. What game is this man playing? Whatever it was she wasn't going to let him know she was onto him. Before she could link arms her phone rang.

"King" Alexus answered. "Ok we'll be there in a bit." Putting her phone back in her pocket she looked over to the boys. "They found her family and are going to start questioning them,"

"This is starting to get interesting," Sherlock said a hint of a smile showing.

John had been watching things unfold between the two detectives. At first, he thought Sherlock was just in a good mood. As the day progressed, he started to wonder if this was just a game to him. The more the detective made an effort to be kind, the more suspicious John became of his motives. There was no way Sherlock was as fond of this girl as he was making out to be. He prayed to god his friend wasn't trying to seduce this poor girl to get something from her. John had known Sherlock enough to know the man could be a perfect gentleman if he thought it would help him in some way. Poor Molly had been the target of his manipulation for as long as he'd known him. Alexus didn't seem the kind to be so easily charmed. Maybe she'd come out of it better than Molly had.

The trio arrived at the Yard in less than 10 minutes.

"Alexus what did you find at the morgue?" Lestrade asked after walking into his office.

"Well not so great news for us…"

"Are you insane? This is brilliant! Something different for once," Sherlock interrupted.

Lestrade didn't like the sound of this. This was Sherlock's I'm going to figure this one out on my own cause you're all ignorant sods look. Yes, Sherlock had one of those.

"There was a lethal amount of arsenic in her system."

"She was poisoned?”

"It would appear that way. The problem being, if we can't determine exactly how she died, we can't pin the murder on anyone. If there was two different people involved they can just say the other was responsible for her death. Molly is working to find COD."

Lestrade looked agitated. It could never just be a straight forward murder, there was always a twist. There was no way Sherlock would let this one go now and Greg was losing his patience with the man who insisted on keeping Alexus to himself.

"Well we've got Sam talking to the kids but I doubt we'll get anything from them, I was going to start with the parents if that's ok." Sally had joined them and was catching Lestrade up.

"Yeah, go ahead thank you Sally. King let's head back to the crime scene and see what we can find while it's still light out." Lestrade suggested.

"Alright toots let's go."

i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i

Alexus couldn't help but notice the tense silence that was beginning to develop on the car ride over. Trying desperately to figure out what had caused it, her mind rewound everything that had happened since yesterday. Nothing.

"Is everything ok?" Startled the DI looked up at her. He had been so deep into thought he completely forgot about Alexus.

"Oh yes, of course. There's just a lot of things that aren't adding up." He decided to go for a half truth.

Alexus immediately noticed the almost lie. He was holding something back. He had made it seem like he was thinking of the case but they both knew otherwise. She decided to push a little less directly.

"Ok. But I've found saying my observations out loud helps the thought process. Plus, it always helps to collaborate." She said, conveying that she too was talking about more than just the case.

"I'm up for collaboration, just need to figure out what I'm thinking first." He said with an almost smile.

Greg stepped out of the car and jogged around to open Alexus' door. She gave a smile. It was something Spencer would do whenever they were in the same car and she loved the chivalry of it. Alexis knew some women took offense to behavior like this. Claiming it made them feel like men thought they were inferior and incapable. This was not the case with Alexus.

Lestrade was relieved to know his new partner was ok with him opening the door. He remembered the first time he had done the same for Sally, she had nearly blown a gasket. She told him she was perfectly capable of opening her own doors and didn't need a man to patronize her thank you very much. He was glad to see Alexus was not offended by the gesture, he had always been one to believe in gentlemanly behavior.

"Wait do you feel that?" Alexus asked stopping to look around.

"No what is it?"

"I swear I felt someone watching us…" No, she knew someone was watching and she had a pretty good idea as to who.

Sherlock watched in anticipation as she tensed looking around suspiciously. He knew she hadn't seen him but the way she was scanning the area he knew she suspected something. He'd just pop in on them in a few minutes. Lestrade had snatched her away before he had the chance to invite her along to track down the owner of the house next door. He had deduced that it was unoccupied and started his search for the owner last night. He found him this morning as was posing as a married man who was looking for a fixer-upper he and his wife could make their own. His intention was take Alexus with him posing as his wife.

Sherlock smiled. He could just imagine how uncomfortable it would make the former agent. He always slightly enjoyed John's discomfort on cases, especially when they posed to be a couple. Which actually happened a lot more than you'd think. Yes, this would be most fun. Sherlock practically skipped with excitement into the house.

Alexus on the other hand had spotted Sherlock in the bushes and decided to surprise him, she waited by the rail. Hearing him come in she had to time it perfectly. She balanced herself best she could…maybe this is a bad idea…She smile and pushed herself off.

"Catch!" she yelled once Sherlock was in sight. She flew into his, utterly shocked and unprepared, arms and sent them both hurling onto the ground. Her body spread ungracefully across his.

Sherlock was positive he'd never been so surprised in his life. Bloody hell! His mind screamed at him to get up but before he could make a move to do so, he made the mistake of looking up. There she was smiling with her perfect American teeth and absurdly, unforgivably, mesmerizing eyes. He couldn't look away. Wait, why couldn't he look away? Sherlock's mind was trying desperately to break through to his senses but for once he was lost. He was starting to detest that smile.

"Hello handsome! Fancy meeting you here." She greeted booping her index finger on the tip of his nose.

That did it.

"Is it common in America for women to throw themselves at men they've little to no acquaintance?" He asked arching an eyebrow.

"Oh Mr. Holmes you should know by now, I'm anything but common."

Next Part

[orbemnews]

America wasn't ready for Covid-19. These newsrooms helped guide the way They each have wildly different origin stories: One is STAT, a five-year-old health and life sciences news site, launched as a sister publication to The Boston Globe. The other is The Atlantic, a 163-year-old brand known for its storied print magazine. “I think we were uniquely positioned to cover this in an authoritative way and stay ahead of the curve,” Rick Berke, STAT’s executive editor and cofounder, told CNN Business. “This isn’t the kind of story you can throw a reporter on, and they’ll suddenly learn how to interpret clinical trial data or efficacy data.” Yet in many newsrooms, that is exactly what happened. Journalists who covered sports, entertainment, politics, business and other subject matters had to become public health experts almost overnight. Many journalists had to face this new reality with the all-too-familiar backdrop of layoffs and diminishing newsroom resources, which was exacerbated by the pandemic’s effect on the economy. To make sure the public saw this flood of reporting, paywalls were taken down, leading to traffic surges. Some readers hungry for reliable information converted to paying customers, giving the local news industry a much-needed boost. Television news and legacy newspapers like The New York Times (NYT) benefited too. The journalism from STAT and The Atlantic stood out. Rather than race to break news or go for quantity of stories, they each focused on explanatory pieces about the realities of the pandemic. They also produced prescient stories that predicted the pandemic’s impact and continued to do so after it took hold in America. The leaders of both newsrooms used the same word, multiple times, to describe the source of their success: ambition. “We are here to tell stories that matter and make a difference and help people,” said Adrienne LaFrance, executive editor of The Atlantic. “We want to run toward complexity and maximize ambition.” From Boston, with authority The Boston Globe owner John Henry launched STAT in 2015 as a separate site dedicated to health and science coverage. He was inspired by the belief that the field is undercovered and that Boston has the advantage as the industry’s epicenter, said Berke. They have since assembled a team of nearly 40 reporters and editors who have built a following of loyal readers in related industries and academia. But the vision for STAT was always to appeal to a larger audience; the pandemic just helped STAT get there. STAT’s site was averaging 1.5 million unique readers a month until last March when that number skyrocketed to 23 million. Now, the site is averaging more than 7 million uniques per month, Berke said. “We had reporters in place who had spent years building sources, writing about drug development, writing about infectious diseases, writing about vaccines,” Berke added. STAT reporter Helen Branswell is one of the in-house experts on infectious diseases, having covered Ebola, Zika and SARS. Branswell was one of the first journalists to ring the alarm on the potential impact of Covid-19. She was awarded the George Polk Award for public service in February. “I remember Helen told me when we were still in the office that she and I should consider starting to work from home. The idea of not coming to work because of the disease still seemed foreign to me,” STAT reporter Andrew Joseph told CNN Business. “She was way ahead.” Joseph has since spent the past year working from home, collaborating with Branswell and other colleagues on pandemic coverage. They recently co-bylined a piece with headline, “The short-term, middle-term, and long-term future of the coronavirus.” My stories are “not beautiful pieces of writing, but I think people have found them helpful and useful,” Joseph said. “It’s helpful for people to get their heads around what might be coming or why things are happening the way they are.” What to know next The Atlantic similarly focused their attention on explaining what’s next, as Ed Yong did with his March 25 piece “How The Pandemic Will End” Other prescient headlines in 2020 were “Coronavirus Is Coming—And Trump Isn’t Ready” on January 30, “You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus” on February 24, “Cancel Everything” on March 10 and “The Pandemic Seems to Be Hitting People of Color the Hardest” on April 6. “It was really this posture of not what do we need to know this second, although also that, but what do we need to know two weeks from now, a month from now,” LaFrance said. “We wanted to be able to help people make good decisions, to keep themselves safe.” Yong, who was awarded the George Polk Award in the science reporting category, told CNN Business last April that his editorial mandate was to “swing big and take your time.” Among The Atlantic’s early reporting efforts was uncovering data on the virus: how many people were being tested and how many were infected. That led to the launch of The COVID Tracking Project, which The Atlantic reporter Alexis Madrigal co-founded and spoke extensively with CNN’s Brian Stelter earlier this month about the conclusion of the project. Data “really was this Achilles’ heel of US pandemic preparedness, which was considered to be the best in the world,” Madrigal said on CNN’s Reliable Sources podcast. “It was all predicated on good data, which then turned out not to exist.” Insights gleaned from The COVID Tracking Project were used for The Atlantic stories, and Madrigal said that will continue to be the case even as the data tracking stops. “I think it was a bold move to let us run with something that really required a ton of freedom,” Madrigal said. “The Atlantic showed a tremendous amount of faith, and I have all the respect in the world for that.” Good for business Both STAT and The Atlantic saw a boost in subscriptions over the past year, even when they put much of their Covid-19 coverage outside their paywalls. The Atlantic accumulated 36,000 new subscribers in March alone last year. In September 2020, one year into its paywall, the company announced it added 300,000 subscribers. The Atlantic has now gained more than 450,000 subscribers since its paywall went up in September 2019. LaFrance said The Atlantic’s launch of a digital paywall put the publication in an ideal position to cover the pandemic. She saw the spike in subscriptions as a “signal” that their content was resonating with readers. “It’s always nice to have your colleagues in the industry praise your work, but where it really felt most meaningful was just getting flooded with comments from new subscribers saying they couldn’t make it through the pandemic without us, that we helped them get through this difficult time and make good decisions and that our writing is beautiful,” LaFrance said. STAT’s subscriber base grew 56% over the past year, Berke said. He declined to disclose STAT’s total subscription numbers. STAT also started accepting contributions on March 5, 2020. One person donated $100,000, but most ranged between $25 to $150, Berke said. “The total doesn’t change our revenue stream in a huge way, but it’s helped,” Berke said. “I think it made people feel good about what we were doing and about the journalism.” Berke said back when he attended in-person conferences people told him they loved his media outlet or had not heard of it. Now, he expects more people will have heard of STAT. “We’re not stopping here,” Berke said. “We’re going to keep growing, keep expanding, keep pushing ourselves with ambitious journalism.” Source link Orbem News #America #Americawasn'treadyforCovid-19.Thesenewsroomshelpedguidetheway-CNN #Covid19 #Guide #Helped #Media #newsrooms #Ready #wasnt

[dipulb3]

America wasn't ready for Covid-19. These newsrooms helped guide the way

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/america-wasnt-ready-for-covid-19-these-newsrooms-helped-guide-the-way/

America wasn't ready for Covid-19. These newsrooms helped guide the way

They each have wildly different origin stories: One is STAT, a five-year-old health and life sciences news site, launched as a sister publication to The Boston Globe. The other is The Atlantic, a 163-year-old brand known for its storied print magazine.

“I think we were uniquely positioned to cover this in an authoritative way and stay ahead of the curve,” Rick Berke, STAT’s executive editor and cofounder, told Appradab Business. “This isn’t the kind of story you can throw a reporter on, and they’ll suddenly learn how to interpret clinical trial data or efficacy data.”

Yet in many newsrooms, that is exactly what happened. Journalists who covered sports, entertainment, politics, business and other subject matters had to become public health experts almost overnight. Many journalists had to face this new reality with the all-too-familiar backdrop of layoffs and diminishing newsroom resources, which was exacerbated by the pandemic’s effect on the economy. To make sure the public saw this flood of reporting, paywalls were taken down, leading to traffic surges. Some readers hungry for reliable information converted to paying customers, giving the local news industry a much-needed boost. Television news and legacy newspapers like The New York Times (NYT) benefited too.

The journalism from STAT and The Atlantic stood out. Rather than race to break news or go for quantity of stories, they each focused on explanatory pieces about the realities of the pandemic. They also produced prescient stories that predicted the pandemic’s impact and continued to do so after it took hold in America.

The leaders of both newsrooms used the same word, multiple times, to describe the source of their success: ambition.

“We are here to tell stories that matter and make a difference and help people,” said Adrienne LaFrance, executive editor of The Atlantic. “We want to run toward complexity and maximize ambition.”

From Boston, with authority

The Boston Globe owner John Henry launched STAT in 2015 as a separate site dedicated to health and science coverage. He was inspired by the belief that the field is undercovered and that Boston has the advantage as the industry’s epicenter, said Berke. They have since assembled a team of nearly 40 reporters and editors who have built a following of loyal readers in related industries and academia.

But the vision for STAT was always to appeal to a larger audience; the pandemic just helped STAT get there. STAT’s site was averaging 1.5 million unique readers a month until last March when that number skyrocketed to 23 million. Now, the site is averaging more than 7 million uniques per month, Berke said.

“We had reporters in place who had spent years building sources, writing about drug development, writing about infectious diseases, writing about vaccines,” Berke added.

STAT reporter Helen Branswell is one of the in-house experts on infectious diseases, having covered Ebola, Zika and SARS. Branswell was one of the first journalists to ring the alarm on the potential impact of Covid-19. She was awarded the George Polk Award for public service in February.

“I remember Helen told me when we were still in the office that she and I should consider starting to work from home. The idea of not coming to work because of the disease still seemed foreign to me,” STAT reporter Andrew Joseph told Appradab Business. “She was way ahead.”

Joseph has since spent the past year working from home, collaborating with Branswell and other colleagues on pandemic coverage. They recently co-bylined a piece with headline, “The short-term, middle-term, and long-term future of the coronavirus.”

My stories are “not beautiful pieces of writing, but I think people have found them helpful and useful,” Joseph said. “It’s helpful for people to get their heads around what might be coming or why things are happening the way they are.”

What to know next

The Atlantic similarly focused their attention on explaining what’s next, as Ed Yong did with his March 25 piece “How The Pandemic Will End” Other prescient headlines in 2020 were “Coronavirus Is Coming—And Trump Isn’t Ready” on January 30, “You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus” on February 24, “Cancel Everything” on March 10 and “The Pandemic Seems to Be Hitting People of Color the Hardest” on April 6.

“It was really this posture of not what do we need to know this second, although also that, but what do we need to know two weeks from now, a month from now,” LaFrance said. “We wanted to be able to help people make good decisions, to keep themselves safe.”

Yong, who was awarded the George Polk Award in the science reporting category, told Appradab Business last April that his editorial mandate was to “swing big and take your time.”

Among The Atlantic’s early reporting efforts was uncovering data on the virus: how many people were being tested and how many were infected. That led to the launch of The COVID Tracking Project, which The Atlantic reporter Alexis Madrigal co-founded and spoke extensively with Appradab’s Brian Stelter earlier this month about the conclusion of the project.

Data “really was this Achilles’ heel of US pandemic preparedness, which was considered to be the best in the world,” Madrigal said on Appradab’s Reliable Sources podcast. “It was all predicated on good data, which then turned out not to exist.”

Insights gleaned from The COVID Tracking Project were used for The Atlantic stories, and Madrigal said that will continue to be the case even as the data tracking stops.

“I think it was a bold move to let us run with something that really required a ton of freedom,” Madrigal said. “The Atlantic showed a tremendous amount of faith, and I have all the respect in the world for that.”

Good for business

Both STAT and The Atlantic saw a boost in subscriptions over the past year, even when they put much of their Covid-19 coverage outside their paywalls.

The Atlantic accumulated 36,000 new subscribers in March alone last year. In September 2020, one year into its paywall, the company announced it added 300,000 subscribers. The Atlantic has now gained more than 450,000 subscribers since its paywall went up in September 2019.

LaFrance said The Atlantic’s launch of a digital paywall put the publication in an ideal position to cover the pandemic. She saw the spike in subscriptions as a “signal” that their content was resonating with readers.

“It’s always nice to have your colleagues in the industry praise your work, but where it really felt most meaningful was just getting flooded with comments from new subscribers saying they couldn’t make it through the pandemic without us, that we helped them get through this difficult time and make good decisions and that our writing is beautiful,” LaFrance said.

STAT’s subscriber base grew 56% over the past year, Berke said. He declined to disclose STAT’s total subscription numbers.

STAT also started accepting contributions on March 5, 2020. One person donated $100,000, but most ranged between $25 to $150, Berke said.

“The total doesn’t change our revenue stream in a huge way, but it’s helped,” Berke said. “I think it made people feel good about what we were doing and about the journalism.”

Berke said back when he attended in-person conferences people told him they loved his media outlet or had not heard of it. Now, he expects more people will have heard of STAT.

“We’re not stopping here,” Berke said. “We’re going to keep growing, keep expanding, keep pushing ourselves with ambitious journalism.”

[mmecolbert]

How much of literati's popularity do you think has to do with the real life chemistry between Milo and Alexis? I'm a Rogan shipper, but even to me Literati have a huge amount of chemistry. If Milo and Alexis had never fallen in love or if Jess had been played by an actor who Alexis wasn't in love with in real life, do you think literati would be as popular as it is? I feel like it wouldn't be, but I'm just guessing.

Yeah, I think their natural chemistry played a big role. On GG, Alexis was flat out not a good actress. She had her moments, but generally speaking, I don’t think she was a great fit for ASP’s writing style and with time, she pretty much always looked like she didn’t want to be on set. So when acting opposite Milo, given that her main arc was Rory falling in love with Jess, it was one of the few times when Alexis portrayed Rory exceptionally well. Falling in love was really easy for them both to play, since it was happening off camera and thereby came from a pure and genuine place. 

But I do also think that there were other elements that made the pairing so potent…For one, the character of Jess is a trope that women have been falling in love with since Byron put pen to paper. The whole born-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks-leather-jacket-wearing-sulky-and-sarcastic-on-the-outside-but-deeply-intellectual-and-sensitive-on-the-inside guy who is a jackass to everyone because he’s had a shitty past or who’s broken in some way, who falls in love with the good girl and he loves nothing but her, and she’s the only one who really knows him, and he’s dangerous and makes her a little wild, and she sees the good in him and fixes the damage in his broken soul while they both read the same literature…come on. Jess was created pitch-perfect for young women to fall in love with. Amy knew what she was doing. He was meant to be irresistible (for many people). I think even if Milo didn’t play him, he still would have been a fan favourite. 

There’s also the fact that Jess comes into the show when it was at its creative height. I think it’s easy to associate the best GG times with Jess because he’s around when Amy was absolutely on top of her game. Amy wrote Jess with so much love, depth, and detail. It probably helped that she was also ramping up to give Jess a spin-off series, so not only did she put a lot of effort into writing Jess well, she also made sure that the audience got to explore Jess’s point of view and mindset. We never got that with Dean or Logan. The audience got to connect and empathize with Jess and get into his head (i.e., see his love for Rory), which is not something we got with the other guys. 

So I guess my answer to your question is yes, I do think that Milo and Alexis’s chemistry played a big role in the J/R popularity, but I also think there were other (if unintentional) factors that contributed as well. 

Thanks for the lovely question!

[kastle09]

Why I fell out of competitive Tetris,  and the frustration of The Tetris Company (TTC)

In my life previous to FGC I was heavily involved with a Tetris variant called “Cultris 2” as a player since 2011 and Tournament Organiser for 3-4 years. You can even see my early article writing attempts as well. 

I go back to it every now and again but I sometimes wonder where it could have gone. I had dreams at one time to see Tetris reach the heights of the other esports, but it could never get there. The things that have halted its progress and development when I left are still ruining the community I loved even now.

I almost think the original version of Tetris was so successful it has halted anyone bad mouthing the game in its current standing. A game can be groundbreaking and revolutionary, but it can also be out of date, and that is exactly what is happening with Tetris at the moment.

Short overview on competitive Tetris

So a bit of background for those of you not as familiar with it, there are (broadly speaking) three kinds of players: Marathon, Sprint, and Battle.

Marathon is classic tetris; High score, playing as long as you can. If you watch Classic Tetris World Championship or the fantastic documentary “Ecstasy of Order” you would be extremely familiar with this game mode. It is also what I would say is the most fundamental tetris, the other game modes will branch off but it doesn’t start without understanding these games. Tetris on the NES and Tetris:The Grand Master (TGM) Series are examples of marathon.

Sprint is 40 line mode. Clear 40 lines as fast as possible. These world records are amazing to behold. I still remember a few years ago going under 20 second barrier was an amazing feat, now closing in on under 15. Jstris, Lockjaw and Nullpolimo among others are very well known for catering to this crowd, stripping back almost all unnecessary animations and incredibly fine tuning in order to play as fast as possible. If you play Counter-strike and you are the guy that looks to change their mouse sensitivity to a very specific decimal pointed number, play 800 x 600, left handed model. That's kind of what these sprint Tetris games are like.

Battle is the final and has become more popular since the new millennium. 1 vs 1, Garbage line, T-spins, ‘x’-wide combos etc are all terms derived from this game mode. It’s easier to tell which era you grew up with Tetris pending if you prefer playing Battle or Marathon style Tetris. I would probably say Tetris Friends especially which began on Facebook in 2008 would be one of the key reasons people are so familiar with this game mode, but it stretches out even now in Cultris 2, or Puyo Puyo Tetris.

The Tetris Company (TTC)

Despite creator Alexey Pajitnov creating Tetris all the way back in 1984, it wasn’t until he and Henk Rogers formed “The Tetris Company” in 1996 that he could actually earn royalties from his creation.

From the perspective of a creator getting his due credit and worth from something so popular, it's understandable why TTC exists. Imagine having no power at all when a 100 companies flood the app store with 100 different versions of Tetris for example. Copyright is there to protect that name, and that style. 

Games that are TTC Licenced games, also called “Guideline Tetris” are called as such because there is a list of guidelines that TTC sets out for a developer that MUST BE FEATURED. These include(but are not limited to):

The Size of the play matrix

The Colour of the Tetriminos

The Ability to Hold Piece and show Ghost Piece

Use of the “7 System” (Also known as bag system) for the block spawning generation

System dictating how blocks rotate

etc 

If a lot of these seem really arbitrary it's because they are. For TTC it’s more important the game looks and feels the same all the time across all their versions, rather than trying to do anything actually interesting with the systems (foreshadowing).

This is where I feel TTC has fallen down. The rigidity of guidelines has created a limited design that has widened the division between the original creators and the current community.

I’ll put it this way, if we were happy with the official games, we wouldn’t have the need for the fan clones. That's also a reason why some of the best Tetris games out at the moment, aren’t the official ones.

TTC vs Community

From what I’ve understood (and keep in mind I am not a lawyer), while you can copyright the game itself and your expression of that form you cannot copyright a game design or mechanics.

Wouldn’t it be ridiculous if every shooter released had to follow the Call of Duty format? Thats because the Brand name and style of Call of Duty can be copyrighted, but first person perspective, sprint button and aim down sights cannot be.  And yet that's kinda what TTC does for Tetris. If any other developer did that to their game it would be seen as medieval thinking. Somehow though Tetris has avoided this criticism and instead of choking creativity it's somehow celebrated as protecting the brand.

What people want out of their Tetris game isn’t the same. Just consider what I said earlier about their being very different sub communities. Each finding what they like about Tetris and branching off to the experience they like.

But TTC doesn’t like that. TTC likes to tell you “this is what the game is, this is how you play it, because I said so”. That might sound hyperbolic but you know when the last time those guidelines were adjusted? 2009.

More than 11 years ago. Tell me how the hell you can think you are still in tune with fans when you haven’t revised your thoughts in ELEVEN years.

Tetris Ultimate was when I drew the line in the sand. I’d like to personally apologize now to “CeeCee”, the Community Manager from Ubisoft who was responsible for overseeing TU because I don’t think she was prepared for the amount of hate and turmoil that that development was going to produce. She had to find out the hard way that A) there is such a thing as a hardcore Tetris community and B) they can get incredibly vocal and toxic.

Every forum or social media outlet Ubisoft had was just bombarded with foul language and rage. Everything Ubisoft tried to post was followed up with unanswered questions and complaints.

It was when I first really felt like no one actually cared what was happening. Not TTC for over seeing the end product and not Ubisoft for being able to make a game that High-school students code as a school project. 

As a community we get stuck right in the middle

We can’t rely on TTC to re-format the game we want 

the developers don’t listen to the feedback given and/or are hamstrung by TTC

Any clone that actually makes an effort gets a cease and desists for their efforts.

The Pipe Dream of Tetris esport

When Tetris 99 dropped a couple of years ago, there was an interview Alexy Pajitnov did with US gamer and was quoted as saying: “I really want Tetris to establish itself as an esport. We’re getting there very slowly but surely.”

As someone who has been able to view this industry from a lot of different angles (Player, Viewer, Tournament Organiser, Coach, Commentator) it is laughable to suggest that Tetris is making any headway towards esports viability.

If they were concerned about fixing the player experience, some developer or TTC themselves would have invested some time into discovering why previous games' battle modes weren’t balanced well. Why only one stacking strategy ever proved optimal. Why something as simple as button remapping and Delay and Repeat actually matters.

Esport games need to have a good viewing experience as well, have they taken any clues from the successful games, and how they have a mode specifically with spectator tools to help a streamer, commentator or tournament organiser present and organise games?

A community is paramount to an esport. So why is it every Tetris game on release has trouble maintaining a player base after a couple of years. Why is it that some Clone games have lasted much longer. 

The short answer is they have no idea about what it takes to get into esports, and none of their actions suggest they are even making any headway. If I released this article 5 years ago, the challengers are exactly the same as they have ever been.

Final Words

Leaving was one of the hardest things I had to decide but I felt stuck. On one side is a community of dedicated and talented people who yell into the void hoping for things to change. On the other side, the mainstream that seems almost unwilling or blindsided that there could possibly be anything wrong with a game as “perfect” as Tetris.

No one has ever been able to put pressure on TTC to change. Not mainstream media, not its player base (which is mainly casual), and no creator has had enough financial backing to fight a C&D to make a game that the community wants.

I love my life now in fighting games and esports, but I wish my old compatriots and peers could have what I always wanted for the game. For it to be better than what they have had to put up with.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

JUST AS HOUSES ALL OVER AMERICA ARE FULL OF CHAIRS THAT ARE, WITHOUT THE OWNERS EVEN KNOWING IT, NTH-DEGREE IMITATIONS OF THE ATTITUDES OF PEOPLE WHO'VE DONE GREAT THINGS

One of the most powerful of those was the existence of channels. Is there some test you can use is: always produce. If there's something people still won't do, it stops being a self-indulgent choice, like buying expensive office furniture.1 But I tried living in Florence when I was talking about how investors are reluctant to put money into startups in bad markets, even though that's the time they happen, using the state of the economy doesn't matter much either way.2 It's not rapid prototyping for business models though it can be, but apparently not in the startup world. Is the existence of English majors, and therefore jobs teaching them, that calls into being all those thousands of dreary papers about gender and identity in the novels of Conrad. But it would require a great moral effort; it would mean staring failure in the eye every day for years. We're starting to move from social lies to real lies.

I don't think the bank manager really did. It's also more dangerous. Pretty soon you'll start noticing what makes the preceding paragraph true is that it's slow and uncertain. When Microsoft and Apple were founded.3 There's an A List of people who will later do great things, you'd be able to benefit from it, because a toll has to be is a test. In practice they spend a lot of pro-union readers, the first paragraph sounds like the sort of thing a right-wing radio talk show host would say to stir up his followers.4 What good does it do me to know that my programmers would be more productive working at home on their own projects? But it doesn't matter much either way. As written, it tends to offend people who like unions, because it seems sympathetic to their cause.

If employees have to be made to work on. What matters in Silicon Valley is how much effect you have on the world. At best you may have a couple internships, but not, probably, to music. The better you understand them the better the odds of doing that. If the world had a single, autocratic government, the labels and studios could buy laws making the definition of property be whatever they wanted. It happens naturally to anyone who does good work.5 It's an exciting place. I hear the RIAA and MPAA would make us breathe through tubes down here too, even though we no longer needed to. You have two choices: give it away and make money from it indirectly, or find ways to embody it in things people will pay for.

It has always mattered for women, but in the late 90s said the worst thing about living there was the low quality of the eavesdropping.6 That's what all publishing used to be like. Plenty of things we now consider prestigious were anything but at first. But I have a legitimate reason for doing this. Customers are used to being maltreated. For example, reading and experience are usually compiled at the time they happen, using the state of the economy. That's a separate question. At the moment, even the smartest students leave school thinking they have to get a job.7 Initially you have to show off with your body instead.8 The message Berkeley sends is: you should make more money. That's the reason to launch fast is not so much that there was a university nearby. Unproductive pleasures pall eventually.

Nor is there anything new, except the names and places, in most news about things going wrong. It would have been on the list 100 years ago. Whoever controls the device sets the terms. If they accepted it, it wouldn't be read by anyone for months, and in the meantime I'd have to fight word-by-word to save it from being mangled by some twenty five year old copy editor.9 They have an answer, certainly, but as a predictor of success it's rounding error compared to the founders. You can't blame kids for thinking I am not like these people; I am not suited to this world.10 This suggests an answer to a question people in New York and the Bay area are second class citizens—till they start hedge funds or startups respectively. Most people who did great things were clumped together in a few places where that sort of thing a right-wing radio talk show host would say to stir up his followers. On the blunderometer, this episode ranks with IBM accepting a non-exclusive license for DOS. But those are usually free. Ten years ago there seemed a real danger Microsoft would extend its monopoly to servers. They work odd hours, wearing the most casual of clothing.

Technology trains leave the station at regular intervals. The organic route is more common. The basic idea behind office hours is that if you had enough strength of mind to do great work have to live in a great city.11 The problem is the same they face in operating systems: they can't pay people enough to build something better than a group of inspired hackers will build for free. Everyone knows that these little social lies aren't meant to be taken literally, just as, occasionally, playing wasn't—for example, set prices based on the qualities of the founders. How lucky that someone so powerful is so benevolent. Most people fail.12 At one extreme is the day job, where you work regular hours at one job to make a few people in a position to do that.13 I better not start a startup now, because the economy is better before taking the leap? I'm not going to try. The reason these conventions are more dangerous is that they interact with the ideas.

If I had a copy of the New York Times. Teachers in particular all seemed to believe implicitly that work was not fun. Everyone knows that these little social lies aren't meant to be taken literally, just as we were designed to eat a certain amount of fiber, and we feel bad if you haven't succeeded yet. The crazy legal measures that the labels and studios have put themselves in the position of the food shop.14 But this time something new happened. And so the average person expressing his opinions in a bar sounds like an idiot compared to a journalist writing about the subject.15 If you know you can love work, you're in the home stretch, and if you write about controversial topics you have to find the city where you feel at home to know what they want to do, but in most ambitious kids, ambition seems to precede anything specific to be ambitious about. The owner wanted the student to pay for the smells he was enjoying.16 But this is certainly not so with work.

Maybe I'm excessively attached to conciseness. When you talk about cities in the sense we are, what you're really talking about is collections of people, so you could use the two ideas interchangeably. Offer surprisingly good customer service. You should be hipper. The record labels and movie studios used to distribute what they made like air shipped through tubes on a moon base where we had to buy air by the liter. You have to like what you do? When I say business can learn about new conditions the same way I write essays, making pass after pass looking for anything I can cut. This is easy advice to give.17 When an investor maltreats a founder now, it gets out. That may be the greatest effect, in the most literal sense, not news: there is nothing new in it.

Notes

You're too early if it's dismissed, it's probably a bad deal.

Without visual cues e. In general, spams are more likely to have done all they demand from art as stuff.

Geoff Ralston reports that one of them. College English 28 1966-67, pp. Auto-retrieving filters will have to do better, because you couldn't possibly stream it from a few critical technical secrets.

And while we might think it might make them less vulnerable to gaming, because people would be investors who say no for introductions to philosophy now take the hit.

But let someone else. When an investor makes you much more analytical style of thinking. They would have been about 2, etc, and outliers are disproportionately likely to resort to expedients like selling autographed copies, or at least accepted additions to the customer: you post a sign in a world in verse, it would literally take forever to raise five million dollars in liquid assets are assumed to be employees, with identifying details changed. On their job listing page, they still probably won't invest.

The Harmless People and The CRM114 Discriminator.

After a while to avoid sticking. There is of course finding words this way that makes the business for 16,000 sestertii, for example, if you aren't embarrassed by what you've done than where you go to die from releasing something full of bugs, and Foley Hoag. Even the desire to do that.

99, and each night to make the police treat people more equitably. That wouldn't work for us to Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, both of which he can be and still provide a better user experience. This is actually from the truth to say that intelligence is the least VC-like.

I quote a number here only to buy your kids' way into top colleges by sending them to private schools that in the belief that they'll only invest contingently on other sites.

According to Zagat's there are certain qualities that help in deciding what to think about so-called lifestyle business, A. And frankly even these companies wish they weren't, as I know of a refrigerator, but this would be at a friend's house for the firm in the production of high quality. This is almost always bullshit.

5 to 2 seconds. If we had, we'd have understood users a lot about how things are going well, but half comes from a technology startup takes some amount of damage to the ideal of a lumbar disc herniations, but it might help to be started in 1975, said the things you want to pound that message home. The markets seem to be a predictor of high quality. Digg's is the kind that evolves into Facebook isn't merely a subset of Facebook; the creation of wealth for society.

But which of them is a sufficiently identifiable style, you usually have to do better. One reason I stuck with such energy that he transformed the field they describe. Or you make something hackers use. He had such a baleful stare as they are themselves typical users.

Unfortunately, making physically nice books will only do convertible debt, but it might even be symbiotic, because the test for what gets included in shows is basically a replacement mall for mallrats.

I think lack of movement between companies was as late as 1984. Greek philosophers before Plato wrote in order to win. You could feel like a VC who read this essay wrote: After the war on drugs show, bans often do more than the others.

At some point, when politicians tried to pay out their earnings in dividends, and many of the junk bond business by doing a small percentage of startups that get funded this way that weren't visible in the Valley itself, not because Delicious users are not all of us in the preceding period that caused many companies that can't reasonably expect to make the people who said they wanted to. But although I started using it, and all those 20 people at once, and for recent art that does. But it isn't critical to do it all yourself. My first job was scooping ice cream in the mid 1980s.

Some government agencies run venture funding groups, you have to disclose the threat to potential investors are just not super thoughtful for the desperate and the Origins of Europe, Cornell University Press, 1983. 66, while she likes getting attention in the 1980s was enabled by a combination of circumstances: court decisions striking down state anti-dilution provisions also protect you against tricks like a little too narrow than to confuse everyone with a screw top would have undesirable side effects. Living on instant ramen would be unfortunate.

To say nothing of the kleptocracies that formerly dominated all the red counties. I made because the remedy was to become one of the paths people take through life, the approval of an email being spam.

Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Jeff Weiner, Sarah Harlin, Geoff Ralston, Kevin Systrom, Aaron Iba, and Sam Altman for their feedback on these thoughts.

[education30and40blog]

What Donuts Can Teach Schools and Teams About Lasting Change - Education Elements

See on Scoop.it - Education 2.0 & 3.0

SUBSCRIBE By: Gabrielle Hewitt on August 28th, 2019 Print/Save as PDF What Donuts Can Teach Schools and Teams About Lasting Change LEADERS  |  SCHOOL DISTRICTS Share: “And we both hit our goal weight!”  “That’s amazing! So how did you celebrate?” “We ate an entire box of donuts! And then gained all of it back.”  On an August visit with a group of teachers I’ve been partnering with for over a year, our conversation steered toward the idea of setting goals. In the education world, goals are set all the time, and often displayed or communicated prominently. A teacher may set the goal of 10 consecutive perfect attendance days, 90% of students showing mastery on an upcoming unit exam, or 100% of students growing 1-2 reading levels in a single year. Outside of the education world, too, we set goals all the time. Many of these are health-related – eat more greens, lose weight, drink more water, get more sleep. Some are financial goals – get a raise, save for a vacation, make a million dollars. And still others are achievement-based goals – write a book, buy a house, run a marathon. As the teachers I spoke with this summer shared, they set a goal to lose a set amount of collective pounds, and they did! But there was a huge problem with their apparent success. Two weeks later, they had gained it all back...and then some. They had hit their goal, but had failed to build a habit.  These teachers’ experience is a common one in any individual or organization solely focused on goals as a method to make changes. As James Clear writes in Atomic Habits, “Achieving a goal only changes your life for the moment.” It doesn’t create enduring success, but only momentary success. Yet, this is often the way teachers, schools, teams, and districts structure their vision for success. Is the goal we want to set aligned to the results we want to see? But as Clear continues, “We think we need to change the results, but the results are not the problem.” So what is the problem? Our habits or systems that we use. It’s just like placing a bucket under a leaky roof. We are focused on the results of having a clean and dry floor, but as soon as that bucket is gone, the problem persists. Instead, we need to fix the system or habit - in this case, the leak.   “Achieving a goal only changes your life for the moment. That’s the counterintuitive thing about improvement. We think we need to change our results, but the results are not the problem. What we really need to change are the systems that cause those results.” - James Clear, Author of Atomic Habits The word habit comes from the Latin word habitare, literally meaning to live or dwell. In the upcoming book, The NEW Team Habits, authors Anthony Kim, Keara Mascareñaz, and Kawai Lai define a habit as something that, “is a regular tendency, behavior, or practice. Habits are the things we do so often they become second nature.” Habits are part of a person’s daily life, and a team’s daily processes, and most of our habits aren’t even noticeable. Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, estimates that up to 45% of the decisions we make are habits. That’s nearly half of our waking hours! We don’t decide to brush our teeth. We do it by habit. We don’t decide to check email on our phone. We do it by habit. Habits are the powerful but silent drivers of our systems, and without intentionally building them, even if we end up hitting our goal, our success will be fleeting the second we eat the donut or remove the bucket.      So what does this mean for your school or district team? As we move to set new goals for an upcoming academic year, here are 3 tips to remember if we want to build habits that create lasting change on our teams, rather than momentary success:  Keep an eye out for The NEW Team Habits releasing this fall! Co-authored by Anthony Kim, Keara Mascareñaz, and Kawai Lai, The NEW Team Habits is the follow-up guide to the best-selling The NEW School Rules, created to help leadership teams transform the habits that keep them from success. Pre-order Now 1. Implement 1 “tiny” change Stanford Behavior Scientist, BJ Fogg, advocates for the introduction of a “tiny habit” as a way to create big change. Want to build a habit of flossing? Floss just one tooth. Want to build upper body strength? Fogg says to just do one push-up a day. Want to be able to disconnect from work at the end of the day? Delete the email app from your phone. Want more efficient meetings? Try 1 protocol designed to increase efficiency. The point is not that doing one push-up makes us strong, but that objects in motion tend to stay in motion (thanks, Newton and 8th-grade science!), and if we start with one tiny thing, it will have a gradual snowball effect that compounds over time and creates a bias toward action.    2. Start with what feels “safe enough to try” Frequently, team decisions and actions get bottle-necked as leaders look to build consensus or the perfect plan before actually trying something out. Anthony Kim and Alexis Gonzales-Black write in The NEW School Rules,  “When staff and school teams [adopt a mindset of] ‘safe enough to try’ instead of consensus, it can become a mantra that empowers teams to take action.” Often what prevents us from beginning is feeling like we are not ready or worrying about an error or failure. But failure is the oldest way to learn and in fact, IS learning. By operating with a safe enough to try mindset that a proposal is good enough to test without harming our schools, students, or teams, and that we desperately need failure data to learn what works and has an impact, we can compel the change we want to see by focusing all of our efforts on just putting out a minimum viable product and iterating as new data comes in.   “When staff and school teams work with the New Rules of aim for ‘safe enough to try’ - a phrase that is used in the practice of Holacracy - instead of consensus, it can become a mantra that empowers teams to take action.” - Anthony Kim and Alexis Gonzales-Black, Authors of The New School Rules   3. Think like a scientist, and test! Our understanding of habit cycles has given us a lot of insight into how you can both build good habits and disrupt bad ones. Made famous more recently by Duhigg as the “Cue-Routine-Reward” loop,  research has shown that every habit - good or bad - has three phases. Variations of this three-part habit loop exist, but the essence is the same. Duhigg says the “cue” acts as a trigger for a behavior to start, just like waking up and having a craving for coffee. The “routine” kicks in, which is the habit itself, like going into the kitchen and starting the coffeemaker. Then the final phase is the reward, or what trains your brain to make your behavior automatic by desiring to repeat the cue-routine pattern. The reward, in this case, is that hot cup of caffeine. If the reward is perceived as desirable, this cycle eventually causes your brain to crave the coffee, making the cycle habitual. If you wanted to set a goal to, say, drink less coffee by building a different habit, you have to figure out how to give yourself the same reward by testing a different routine until you get the same jolt of energy as the coffee provides. As you experiment with different routines and find the one that delivers the same reward as that cup of coffee, over time, you will develop a new craving that can overwrite the old habit.  The same can be said for leaders wanting to build new team habits. Let’s take a weekly meeting for example. Some leaders have told us that attendees walk in and immediately begin venting. It’s become a habit to start the meeting off on this foot. To test ways to build a different type of habit, the leader could test different starting routines. The cue is the entry into the meeting space; the routine is the act of venting, and the reward is the feeling that person gets of being seen and heard. Why not try out another routine like a meeting check-in that helps people also feel seen and heard, but in a positive way that disrupts the habit of venting? Or test playing music as attendees walk in? As districts and schools gear up for a new school year, they ramp up the writing of new strategic plans, team projects, and school-level goals. But if we want to see lasting change as evidenced by hitting our goal, we have to begin by building better team habits. Otherwise, we will gain all of our “old weight” back until we are just left with donut crumbs.  Want to learn more about building team habits? Register to attend our New Team Habits Institute in Denver on November 6-7. In the meantime, pre-order The New Team Habits: A Guide to the New School Rules to kickstart lasting change on your team or leave a note below to connect.  Author’s Note: P.S. This blog post is not an indictment on donuts. They are delicious and provide a much-needed service in the comfort food industry, but if you build better habits, you can enjoy the donut guilt-free. In D.C.? Check out my favorite donut shop. About Gabrielle Hewitt Gabby Hewitt is a Senior Design Principal at Education Elements, working directly with large and small schools and districts to impact student growth and success. She spent six years in the classroom as an 8th grade U.S. History Teacher, first in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and later with KIPP DC. In her first year in the classroom, she was selected to receive the Maryland Association of Teacher Educators Distinguished Teacher Candidate award. During that time, Gabby also wrote the county-wide history curriculum for middle schools and assisted the Prince George’s County Social Studies Department with the rollout and integration of the Common Core State Standards. Gabby led teams as both the Social Studies Department Chair and Eighth Grade Level Chairperson before leaving the classroom to train and manage the development of resident teachers in her charter network. As the Manager of Professional Development for the Capital Teaching Residency program with KIPP DC, she developed skills in planning and facilitating adult professional development, project management, and effective teaching evaluation models. Gabby holds a B.S. in Political Science and a B.A. in Mass Communication from Louisiana State University. She earned her M.S. in Educational Studies from Johns Hopkins University. Born and raised in New Orleans, Gabby currently lives in the Washington D.C. area with her husband and sons. When she is not working, you can find Gabby pursuing her passion for photography, finding new coffee shops, and chasing around her two little ones. Connect with Gabrielle Hewitt First Name Last Name Email Website Comment*

[erika-marie-blog1]

The Problem With Schooling: An Essay

Works Cited

The Problem with Schooling

The current educational system is not working. Very few experts would disagree with this statement, and many non-experts hold the same opinion. How we have structured our educational system is failing to serve the purpose that we intended for it to serve. It is not educating our students, and could be causing them harm in the long run. The three essays I have read this week, “What High School Is” by Theodore R. Sizer, “Credentialing vs Educating” by Jane Jacobs, and “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood” by Leon Botstein, all seem to agree in that they all believe that there needs to be some type reform within the educational system, and it must be done sooner rather than later.

          In the above photographs, taken at my high school by a good friend of mine, depict the drab hallways belonging to that school which mimic the hallways of many other high schools around the country. While my high school is in a fairly privileged area due to the fact that a major University lies within the school district, that did not stop the days from dragging on, or the monotony of classes day after day. Yes, we had subjects that many schools did not and teachers who had the means to get the supplies they need, but the teachers were just as dull and used the same methods to teach us that so many others have tried and failed at using. No amount of affluence could save the school from the same fate as many others. The students simply did not learn. We acquired and discarded all knowledge that was given to us as we did not find it useful to keep within our heads other than for the grade on the test that determined if we passed or not. We did not learn for the sake of learning. We listened and memorized and recited and forgot, because the knowledge did not matter to us. All we wanted was the grade. And that is where my school, and many others have failed their students.

Sizer’s text imparts upon us the sad reality of what High School is, or at least is perceived to be. It is a place to keep us busy and looked after so that we do not disrupt the working adults as they try to function in society. This perception of schooling that people have has shifted and evolved since that time. It evolved into a place where one is supposed to prepare for the world and for college, yet has somehow twisted and deformed into a place where achievement is measured by tests that do not even show you learned something. It has evolved into a place whose sole purpose is to give us good enough scores on tests that do not mean anything to get us into a university that will prepare us for whatever career we want to have. I am not saying that is what all schools are, or what they should be, but that was my reality and it is the reality of so many others. This is not a reality that should be applauded, but a reality that should be scorned and rejected.

Jacob’s text imparts the idea that the degree is the most important aspect of your college career. The Education is not what matters, but the credentials you receive. She implies that the credentials do not mean you received an education, and that they are not one in the same. I would beg to differ, which is not difficult considering the lack of evidence or even thought in her essay. Credentials given to you by the University do mean something, because they are earned. They are not freely given. Some may disagree, but my experience as a college student tells me that my degree, and the degrees of many, do, and should, mean something. So many students like me attend their classes every day and put hours upon hours of work into studying and learning the material for those classes. These students work tirelessly to earn their degrees, and to even suggest that the degree they have worked so tirelessly on does not equate to them having received an education is not only ludicrous, but also insulting their efforts to earn it.

In Botstein’s paper he declares that the education system should completely alter the way students go to school. He believes that students should graduate high school at the age of 16 instead of 18. However, his only reasoning is the fact that menstruation is beginning earlier among young girls and teens are having sex earlier. Quite frankly, this idea is completely idiotic. So much research has proven that the brain of a teenager does not finish developing until their early 20s. Also, menstruation and sex do not really have anything to do with schooling and how long or at which ages students should attend school. To even suggest that either of those are a valid measurement of such is ludicrous and suggest a complete lack of knowledge of not only the education system but also child development.

As a future educator, I do not want my students to view school as a means to an end. I want them to see school as a place to grow and learn things that can and will help them in the future. I do not want them to see knowledge as something to be attained and thrown away whenever is seems useful to them, but a tool to help them navigate the world around them and to make something of themselves. I do not want them to fall into the belief that the tests they take are the end-all be-all of their educational careers because there is no end-all be-all. I do not want them to think that the grade is the most important thing that I will impart upon them during their education, but that the knowledge of the world that they have gained can be used to further ideas and communication with many others is so much more important than a letter or percentage  which means nothing.

 Anderson-Fosco, Alexis Rose. Photo 1. 2014. Author's Facebook Account, State College, PA.

Anderson-Fosco, Alexis Rose. Photo 2. 2014. Author's Facebook Account, State College, PA.

Botstein, Leon. "Let Teenagers Try Adulthood." Reading Culture. 6th ed. New York: Pearson, 2007. 119-21. Print.

Jacobs, Jane. "Credentialing vs Educating." Reading Culture. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. 164-70. Print.

Sizer, Theodore R. "What High School Is." Reading Culture. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. 116-23. Print.