#again. i think Pierre shows how much he cares and values people is through the time he spends and memories he creates with them

[thepavementsings]

Cheerleader Pierre (Extended Version)! 

[lightsovermonaco]

His Good Sweater: Chapter 18

Masterlist

Thanks to @acollectionofficsandshit for being my bestie and beta reading! This would have never happened without her ❤ Make sure you read Roman Profile, set in the same universe!

Word Count: 7.6k

Abu Dhabi holds a special place in Pierre's heart. The food is great, the views are spectacular, and there is always plenty to do to keep him busy. Night races are some of the more exciting races too and Pierre appreciated the variety.

Coming into the final race of the season, Pierre holds on to seventh in the championship by a few points. Perez sensed the usurper creeping up on his seat and had cranked it up to eleven. 

Exams had kept you in London for the race in Brazil, where Pierre had finished sixth and Checo DNF'd. You had managed to fly out for the weekend in Saudi Arabia, where Perez had finished fifth and closed the gap to Pierre to only four points behind. 

If Pierre didn't finish ahead of Perez this weekend, he was fucked. And he was at the distinct disadvantage of his good luck charm being absent, stuck in London finishing up your final few exams of the semester. Two weeks without seeing you coupled with barely hearing from you had worn on him. It wasn't purposeful on your part but Pierre's stress was already compressed like the suspension on his car. Stray an inch too far over the racing line, hit a curb too hard and it was liable to snap, sending bits and pieces flying.

Pierre checks his phone for the millionth time as he waits to check in to the hotel. Wednesday was late for this many crew members to be arriving. His main concern though was that you hadn't responded to the text he'd sent you upon landing.

"Look lively, will you?" Max claps Pierre on the shoulder and he slides his phone into his pocket. "It's the last race of the season. We get to go balls to the wall and leave it all out in the track. And here you are looking like a kicked puppy."

"Easy for you to say," Pierre starts, grinning at his friend. "You clinched the title weeks ago. You don't even have to race this weekend if you don't want to and you'd still win."

"Doesn't mean I won't be shooting for a podium."

Pierre rolls his eyes. "Yeah well we can't all be so lucky, can we?"

"Next year you'll be playing with the big dogs." Max hands the receptionist his ID, says a few words and turns back to Pierre. "Looking forward to having you as a teammate again. It was fun for those couple races and I'm sure you'll be a challenge now that you've found your groove."

"You're gonna jinx it if you keep talking." Pierre laughs, praying that it covers up the old wound Max's statement picked open. Pierre hated the idea of moving back to Red Bull but he didn't have much choice. He was still contracted to one of four Red Bull branded seats for next season. A promotion, at the very least, would help him showcase his talent and further cement his value. If he had to spend any longer than that with the team, ripping out his hair was a real possibility.

"Wasn't someone supposed to be with you this weekend?" Max quirks a brow. "Where is she?"

"In London." Max bringing you up doesn't help the pit forming in Pierre's stomach. Win or lose, seventh or eighth, Red Bull or Alpha Tauri, come Sunday Pierre wanted you at his side. Interview requests were bound to roll in either way and Pierre would need someone to ground him, a task much easier to accomplish if you were physically at his side.

"Too bad." Max clicks his tongue and takes his room keys from the receptionist. "It's gonna be a fun weekend."

"I don't think-"

Pierre's vision goes dark at the same time someone whispers, "Guess who?"

Pierre sucks in a breath, spins on his heel and wraps you in a hug in one smooth motion. You laugh as he lifts you off your feet and presses kisses to your cheeks. 

"What are you doing here?" He grabs both suitcases and tugs you aside. His room can wait.

"Tost asked me to come." Your grin is contagious, its twin appearing on Pierre's own cheeks. "He said that since you were flying out from Milan on your own there was an extra seat on the jet, so if I got myself to Nice I could fly out with the Red Bull boys."

"Seven hours trapped in a tin can with Max, Yuki and Checo?" Pierre rubs his chest. "I've got heartburn just thinking about that."

"It wasn't so bad," you say, finally giving him a proper kiss. "Yuki and I just played games on our phones the whole time. And I beat Max at Scrabble."

"How many Dutch words did he try to use?"

"Mmm, about half the words he tried were definitely not English."

"Yep, sounds about right." Pierre throws an arm around your shoulders and leads you back to the reception desk. He pays for an upgraded room when you aren't looking- though when you're assigned a suite there's not much higher you can go- and slips the woman behind the counter an extra bill for good measure.

"I could use a nap," you note, leaning against Pierre like you'd otherwise fall over. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

Pierre checks his watch. "We've got time for a nap."

"We?" Your raised eyebrow is question enough. Pierre smiles and swipes his key card once you're in the elevator with him. He hadn't looked at the price of the room but he was positive it was more than he'd spent on a single night in his entire career, considering it occupies an entire floor of the swanky hotel.

"It's date night," Pierre says simply. Initially his plan had been to invite Charles over for a game of Fifa but the Monegasque wouldn’t fault him for cancelling at the last minute. "We're in one of the most luxurious cities in the world and I'm going to show you off every chance I get. The restaurant down stairs is to die for."

Your attempt at nodding along with what he says is thwarted by a yawn. "Sleep first, eat later." Seeing as it was impossible to deny you, Pierre simply drops a kiss to the crown of your head.

"Wait until you see our room." The way your eyes light up when he says our room makes him want to say it again and again just to see you sparkle.

"I know you upgraded it, Mr. I-think-I'm-sneaky." You uncurl yourself from against his arm when the elevator chimes. "How much did it cost?"

"A few extra pennies."

The stainless steel doors open directly into the suite. The living space is dominated by a curving crescent of full length windows overlooking the cerulean harbor and the jagged steel of the city skyline beyond. Suitcase forgotten, your jaw drags along the floor as you toe off your shoes in favor of sinking onto one of the half moon couches situated around a low coffee table.

"Did you get some sort of bonus you didn't tell me about?" Pierre sees your inner engineer cataloging the chandelier dripping crystals over the carved dining table and the pattern of the black veined marble flooring. "This cost more than a few pennies."

"I didn't really look at the price so it's possible," he admits. In the end it was worth it to see you like this, happy as a pig in mud. Pierre was in his element at the track you were in yours in beautiful buildings. For all Pierre cared you could be sharing a dingy room at a motel; it would still be five star worthy with you there. 

Every once in a while though, you deserve a bit of pampering for all you put up with. Late nights and months apart wasn’t easy on either of you, but you stuck by him. And when the day comes that Pierre retires or loses his seat, you would be the one there to comfort him. Spending frivolous amounts of money to see you smile was nothing in the grand scheme of things. 

In Pierre’s world, money is temporary, you are forever.

"Well I have half a mind to tear into you for spending so much on a room we won't spend all that much time in," you start, your star-speckled gaze landing on Pierre, "the view is too pretty to be upset about."

"Mine isn't half bad either." You laugh, tucking an errant hair behind your ear. You both know he isn’t referring to the glittering bay or the expensive furnishings.

"Up," Pierre demands softly, holding out his hand. Your hand is warm and dwarfed by his long fingers but you barely seem to notice. The heart in his chest pounds for no discernable reason as he leads you down the narrow hall past doors leading to what he can only assume are bedrooms and bathrooms, to the one at the end of the hall. Based on his mental floor plan this one has the best view, if he's guessed correctly.

Your breezy oh confirms his hunch. You stutter at the threshold, coming up short behind him to bathe in the beauty of the sea, dotted through with white sails. Sunlight twinkles off the waves and if he breathes deep enough, he can almost smell the salt.

"Come on," Pierre says with a chuckle, urging you to fall into the fluffy down of the bed with him. You follow reluctantly, too enamored by the sights to pay any real attention to how Pierre arranges your limbs to his liking, your head resting on his chest and your joined hands laying atop his stomach.

"How about that nap?" He murmurs, running the fingers of his free hand through your unbound hair. 

You sigh and snuggle in closer. It was rare that Pierre had the opportunity to steal moments like this during a race week, when he had nothing better to do than tangle himself in you.

"I'll tell you a story." 

Just as he expected, you leap at the offer. "Can you tell me the one about the time you and Charles got in trouble when you were karting?"

Normally he opts for something fictional that allows him to embellish the details to fit his narrative. Pierre loved spinning tales rife with laughter and intrigue but he also didn't mind indulging your curiosity.

"Yeah, I can tell that one. Let me set the scene. It's midnight on a Friday at a little track outside Rouen. Two gangly teenage boys, one French and one definitely, positively not French, have nothing better to do than get themselves in trouble…"

**********

Fans began whispering when Pierre set foot in the lobby. The price of stardom was high and had taken years to get used to. Some days the bombardment of people asking for photos and autographs overwhelmed him to the point he was desperate for an out. Most people respected his boundaries and when they sensed it was too much, they backed off. Other days it was simply too much and he would mumble excuses and book it out the door.

The pressure increases tenfold when he steps into the lobby with you on his arm, the pair of you dressed to the nines. He clocks a group of women- clearly tourists based on their body language- perched on a sofa the minute their low murmurs turn into excited squeals.

Pierre mentally braces for you to stiffen or stop altogether but you do neither. You carry on unaffected, either ignoring them or completely oblivious to the women who do nothing to hide their pointed stares.

"Table for two please." You smile at the restaurant host and then at Pierre. You must not have noticed the fans then. You were getting better at coping with the photos and whispers, although your smile usually became forced the longer it dragged on, the polar opposite of you currently beaming at him.

Pierre's shoulders sag a bit when you're led to a secluded table towards the rear of the dining space. Privacy wasn't a luxury he was often afforded. With his back to a wall of windows, there were fewer angles for people to approach from which was a small comfort.

Apparently you find sitting across from Pierre unacceptable because you shuffle your chair to his side of the table before plopping down in it. Pierre shoots you a questioning look but keeps his mouth shut. Inquiring after your motives didn't tend to end well for him.

Instead he leans over to kiss your cheek, relishing the blush his lips coax to the surface.

“It all sounds good,” you say, scanning the menu. “You’ve been here before, I take it?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah I have. It’s all wonderful.” 

The fans from the lobby remain in the blurred fringes of his vision. Pierre does his best to focus on the waitress explaining the specials. He tunes in automatically to the fan’s heavily accented English as they argue with the host, vying for a table as close to Pierre as possible.

Their phones remain out as an annoyed waiter tries and fails to coax the gaggle of girls into ordering something. Pierre drags a hand through his hair.

Being the center of attention usually doesn't bother him. Coping with the spotlight and the scrutiny that accompanies it is second nature; if the press conferences at Spa in 2019 had taught him anything, it was the importance of a solid poker face. Fame is new to you though and interactions with polite fans make you nervous. Having your picture taken without permission and splashed on social media? Forget about it. Pierre didn't care to find out how you'd react.

"Don't be nervous." You lay a hand on Pierre's thigh. The touch is enough to temporarily pause his bouncing leg. "You're going to do amazing this weekend. All you have to do is finish in front of Checo and you're golden."

How you haven't noticed the girls giggling mere yards away is beyond him. The last thing he wants to do is ruin this perfect, beautiful moment of bliss. You look gorgeous with your painted lips and that sinful black dress that he doubts can be comfortable based on how it hugs your curves like water. To top it off, the pride in your gaze is something to behold, making it impossible to doubt himself when you so clearly and openly believe he can conquer the world.

But it's better to tell you now versus you finding out on social media later. "That's not what's bothering me."

"Oh?" You sit straighter and set the menu down. "What is it then? Because if it's Horner, I have no problem marching in there and chewing him out. Birdy will back me up."

Despite himself, Pierre can't hold back his smile. "Where did all this confidence come from, hmm?"

"I'm learning," you insist, nodding your head firmly. "I'm growing as a person and you should be proud."

"I never said I wasn't." Maybe you'd spent the last month at university interacting with racing fans on campus. Perhaps being exposed to endless questions in a setting you controlled was the key. "Did you take a course in confidence at university?"

You scrunch up your nose and laugh in the most adorable way. Pierre's heart lurches at the sight, regardless if it was him you were laughing at.

"No, but I did make a few new friends that have a habit of pestering me about you." You jab a finger in his side for good measure. "It helped, I think. I don't look for cameras as much anymore. You're my focus now, not paps that may or may not be lurking in bushes."

"I knew it." Pierre is slightly impressed that he'd hit the nail squarely on the head. "I figured there had to be someone at uni responsible for helping you out."

You shrug and purse your lips. "I guess we'll have to see how I handle this weekend. I mean, there's bound to be press trying to corner me, what with the stakes and all. But I think I can take them." You raise your fists in front of your face and Pierre has to laugh. 

“Throw a punch like that and you’ll break a finger.” He takes one of your clenched fists in his and untucks your thumb from under your fingers. “That’s how you make a proper fist. And you hit with these knuckles here- make sure you distribute the blow across all four, or you’ll be hurting.”

“Regardless,” you say, jabbing the air a few times, “The shock factor of having little old me in their face ought to be enough to earn me an advantage.”

Pierre finishes the lap to circle back to the topic at hand. "How about we test your confidence?” 

"Okay," you say, dragging out the 'a' until it hangs in the air between you like a spider's web. 

Pierre rakes a hand through his hair and nods to the girls a few tables away. "They've been taking pictures since we sat down. I'm sure they'll be all over Instagram in an hour, if they aren't already."

You steal a glance at the table in question under the guise of grabbing something from your purse. You hum, contemplating how to go about responding. Pierre is almost certain you'll ask to head back upstairs where it's just the two of you, no cameras or outside influence to ruin your night. His wallet is already out under the table, ready to leave a hefty tip for putting up with your drink-and-dash.

“We aren’t doing anything interesting,” you point out, swirling the knuckle’s worth of whiskey in your glass. “Why do they feel the need to document every passing second?”

Pierre lifts a shoulder in a shrug. “It’s just what some people do. If you’re uncomfortable we can go.”

“Who said anything about leaving?” You scoff, the corners of your lips turned up in a teasing smile. “I figure the best course of action is to give them something worth photographing.”

“What do you-”

Pierre’s yelp is decidedly unsexy when you yank him forward by his tie and attach your lips to his. Caught entirely off guard, he flounders for a moment before he catches himself and sinks into you. One hand on your cheek and the other creeping up your thigh, Pierre slides his tongue over the seam of your lips. You don't hesitate to obey the silent command.

He should be embarrassed. He should be contemplating the consequences of this kiss being splashed across tabloids the world over. He can’t bring himself to care, not when you’re the only release he needs and something as simple as a kiss sets his skin alight and causes any sane thoughts to trickle from his head.

Nothing matters. You're kissing him and your hand is a few inches below his hip on his right thigh, burning a brand that he prays leaves a puckered pink scar. Your scent and your mouth and your unmistakable hiss of pleasure saps the worry from his limbs. He's floating up off his chair, lungs filling with helium as you steal every last molecule of oxygen from the room.

Just like that, Pierre is the one that's roaring to leave for an entirely different reason.

Your hand on his jaw keeps your lips a hair's breadth apart as you whisper, "Are they staring?"

A blissed out nod is all he manages. Thoughts evade him and speaking is utterly out of the question when your lips are within striking distance. He surges forward for another kiss, heavier on teeth than on tongue. He makes sure to hold your lower lip between his teeth longer than necessary, putting on a show now that you've given him permission.

"Pierre," you murmur, using the hand splayed on his chest to push him away. The whine that escapes him is wholly unintentional. Thankfully it's low enough that only you hear, pressing a finger to your sinful lips.

"Down, boy." You extricate his hand from the dimpled flesh of your hip and place it chastely in his own lap. "We've accomplished what I wanted to."

Saying you tossing a wink over your shoulder at the intrusive fans isn't the hottest thing he's ever seen would be a lie. Pierre needed to be sure to thank Daniel's girlfriend the next time he saw her for whatever the hell she said to finally bestow you with a healthy serving of self-assurance because this new you is an entirely different entity, one Pierre intends to explore at the next opportunity.

"Problem solved." You brush your hands together and Pierre half expects to see dust clouds in the air like you'd just finished a woodshop project. 

Pierre's brain is operating on a ten second delay. So really, normal operating procedure when he was in your vicinity. "I don't think we've accomplished everything I'd like to get done."

"We have a dinner to finish first." You pick up your menu and resume browsing like you hadn't just forcibly ripped his appetite for anything other than you right out of him. "The salmon sounds good, don't you think?"

"You sound good," Pierre mumbles under his breath and picks up his own menu. God, he'd love to let his fingers drift to the apex of your thighs. You’re always cute when you squirm. It was so simple to do too, all you needed was a brush of his knuckle to your center and you'd be gasping.

"Are you ready to order?"

The soft-spoken waitress bursts Pierre's bubble. She brings fresh drinks and jots down an order of two salmon fillets and leaves with a smile. 

How Pierre has managed to make it this long without fucking you is beyond him. From the moment you surprised him in the lobby, his limbs have been thrumming with energy. And now your surprise kiss had been the pebble that preceded an avalanche of feverish longing. Those red painted lips would look better wrapped around his-

The pointed toe of your shoe digs into his calf. "Quit staring."

"Either you let me daydream or you let me take you upstairs,” Pierre quips back, licking his lips before he can catch himself.

"Can we get through one date without you mentally undressing me?"

Pierre dips his grin in a vat of lust, his words dripping with waxy promise. "No. Not when I know that as soon as we're alone, you'll let me do what I want."

"And what about what I want?" Your pouted lip does absolutely nothing but push his mind further in the gutter. 

"Your wish is my command." His hand floats under the hem of your dress to graze along your core. And there it is, that sound he would swim across oceans to hear, your chastizing gasp of surprise. 

The cross way you whisper his name is a thing of dreams. No one else's name sounded like that on your tongue, that honor is reserved solely for Pierre. The two breathless syllables are more exhilarating than standing on the top step. The rush of adrenaline that accompanies them is ten times what he is rewarded with when passing a world champion on track. He'll give it all up to hear you repeat it when you're pissed or lonely or tired- he just wants your voice echoing in his ears like a broken record.

You move his hand a safe distance down your thigh, nearly at your knee. Pierre gives your leg a sharp squeeze. "Can we please get our dinner to go?"

"Not tonight. You can wait, mon amour."

The French rolls off your tongue awkwardly but Pierre will be the last to complain. Your encyclopedic knowledge of which buttons to press when had come back to bite him in the ass.

"That's not fair." His pout is a mirror image of the one you turned on him earlier. "You can't use my own language against me."

You pat your pockets as if searching for something and shrug when you come up empty. "I don't see a rulebook anywhere."

Reminding you what happens when you tease him shoots to the top of his to do list. "I'll play if you wanna play, ma chérie. Don't bite off more than you can chew."

"I think you're forgetting who usually wins off track."

Pierre can't help it. He takes advantage of his superior reflexes and surges forward to claim another searing kiss. You did normally win and it wasn't for lack of trying on his end. No matter the tactic he employed, you generally got the better of him. Not that he minded.

"Why don't you come here?" He purposely grazes his lips to your ear as he speaks and grins when a shiver runs down your spine. 

"Because we are in public," you hiss back, though the way your head tips to the side betrays you. Pierre's nose touches the underside of your jaw and you struggle to find your breath.

"We should eat." A self satisfied smile splits his face when he notices your heaving chest and wild eyes. 

"When did our food get here?" Pierre did that. He got you so worked up that you blocked out your surroundings so thoroughly that you hadn't heard the clink of plates. Pierre wears that fact like a badge of honor.

"A minute or so ago. Remind me again who's winning?"

"We may be even," you relent, adjusting the skirt of your dress. Yeah, even isn't the word he would pick, considering how flustered you are. It's a good thing Pierre has learned to eat with one hand because he doesn't plan on moving the arm currently slung over the back of your chair anytime soon. His finger traces the letters of his name on the bare skin of your shoulder. Whether you realize what he's writing or not you lean into him as you eat, falling in closer with each lemon-scented bite.

"Excuse me?"

You don't bother to look up but Pierre does. Disappointment washes over him when he is met by one of the fans, apparently deeming now to be the appropriate time to approach him, while clearly on a date, in the middle of a meal.

"I'll be happy to take a photo once I'm done." Sometimes passive aggressiveness works best with people like this, who have no regard for personal space. "Right now I would prefer to be alone, thanks."

"Oh, right." The blonde giggles, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "You two make a… cute couple?" The end of her sentence turns up and your fork falls to your plate.

Pierre tucks you a little closer to his side, both possessive and reassuring. "We know."

Your discomfort is plain, the way you curl in on yourself making his heart hurt. But you surprise him by taking a deep breath and turning to the woman with a smile. 

"If you'd let us finish our meal, I would appreciate it. We can stop by on our way out and chat with you." Sylvie would be proud of that answer. Diplomatically phrased and said with a smile that negates any negative connotations.

"Of course." The blonde's smile is sickly sweet. To Pierre she adds, "Good luck on Sunday."

Pierre nods. The woman's rude behavior didn't warrant a verbal response. She mumbles a feeble goodbye before slinking back to her friends. If nothing else at least their whispers died down, put out by his behavior. 

Pierre loves his fans. Without them he wouldn't have a sport to compete in, and of course he appreciated their endless support. Stopping for photos or autographs had gotten him in trouble with Marko multiple times for being late to meetings that usually turned out to be pointless anyway. As a whole, their enthusiasm gives him an extra boost on Sundays and lifts his spirits after a bad weekend.

And then sometimes there were people like the blonde woman that had interrupted his dinner. Those people he has far less tolerance for. Basic manners were imperative to Pierre giving someone the light of day, otherwise he saw no need to waste time and energy on them.

"All good, ma chérie?" Pierre rubs your shoulder, hoping it'll stave off any anxiety.

"I'm good," you confirm with a nod of your head. "Let's finish up and go to our room."

Pierre presses a kiss to your temple and scarfs down the remainder of his meal in record time. He flags down the waitress and hands her his card, leaving a substantial tip when she returns with the check.

“Can you distract that table?” Pierre asks, aware of how unusual the request likely is. “I’d like to get out of here without making a scene.”

“Of course,” the waitress says with a warm, sincere smile. Pierre waits until she loudly announces, “Excuse me? Your card has been declined, do you have another method of payment?”

Neither of you can contain your laughter as you stumble through the lobby. In the sanctity of the elevator, Pierre wraps his arms around your middle and molds himself against you. "You look especially gorgeous tonight."

"You're not too bad yourself." One of your hands finds the nape of his neck, guiding his face to the crook of your shoulder. Pierre takes the invitation at face value and nips at the sensitive skin. Your hum goes straight to his cock, twitching against the swell of your ass.

"I win," you purr, tangling your fingers in his hair and tugging. 

For once Pierre is glad to be in the world's slowest elevator. Since he's already lost, he might as well lose in style. He spins you to face the mirrored wall. And because he knows it'll make you tremble, he trails his hand lazily over your throat to grip your jaw.

A low moan leaves your parted lips. Pierre studies your reflection, from your hands gripping the railing to the skin dimpling beneath his fingers. 

"Fine, you win this time. But I think you and I both know, I'll come out ahead in the end."

**********

Waking up to soft kisses will never get old. Thirty years from now when Pierre was retired and you fell asleep each night with his arms around you, you'd still yearn for the brush of his lips to your cheeks, neck, and shoulders to rouse you from the violet shores of sleep.

"Good morning," you mumble, a sentiment which Pierre echoes with his gruff, sleep tinged voice. "Sleep well?"

"Best sleep I've ever gotten. You tired me out last night." You both grin at the reminder. Fueled by a slight tinge of jealousy after the women at the restaurant made eyes at him, you had refused to let him tumble into bed until well past midnight, when you both were well and truly exhausted. Thursday is press day, nothing strenuous that he couldn't afford to be a little sore for.

Pierre rolls to straddle your hips, lips capturing yours for a proper kiss. The taste of freshly brushed mint makes your skin tingle when he tugs your lip between his teeth.

"It's too early for that." You throw your arms around his neck and urge him to bend his elbows until he falls atop you. It takes him a moment to snuggle in, his head on your chest and his arms sliding under your middle. 

You're convinced that ten minutes in this position can cure any ailments, physical or mental. The weight of your soulmate pressing into you, forcing you to focus on breathing instead of whatever might be bothering you. It's easy to forget about the outside world when everything you require to be happy is wrapped around you like a blanket.

You stroke a hand over Pierre's hair until his breathing evens out, only rousing him when the sun peeks over the harbor. Amiable silence fills the space as hues of orange and pink paint Pierre in swaths of color. Suddenly you're seeing him for the first time, completely enamored by the angles of his cheekbones and the sharp cut of his stubbled jaw. The golden hour of dawn shines on it's golden boy, his lashes brushing his cheeks as he turns towards the warmth calling him home.

"Pyry and I are going for a run soon if you'd like to come with us."

You cringe. Running used to be fun when you were in school, but seeing as you hadn't properly trained in years you doubted you could keep up with a pair of professionals. "How about you text me when you're back and I'll come to the gym with you? It looks fancy, if George's snaps are anything to go by."

Pierre trails kisses up your sternum, over your neck and only speaks once he's reached your lips. "Looking at other men, are you?"

"Shut up," you laugh, shoving him off you. "I'll have you know it was a rare shirt on picture, thank you very much. I don't need to see George shirtless ever again."

A satisfied, "Good," rumbles from Pierre's chest and he stands to stretch the lingering sleep from his limbs. Clad in nothing but a pair of white four inch inseam shorts and with his back to you, you grin as an idea forms. You scramble forward before he can process you moving and smack his ass so hard he yelps.

"Gotcha!" You devolve into a fit of giggles as he rubs the spot you hit, whining about you taking advantage of his distraction.

"You like it," you tease, and Pierre remains strictly pouty for two whole seconds before he breaks into a grin and nods. "Now put on a shirt and get downstairs before Pyry calls you and you get reamed for being late again."

Pierre leans down for one last kiss before rushing off to the lobby. Waking up before the sun leaves you plenty of time to laze about if you choose to. Kicking your butt into gear seems like the better option so you drag yourself out of the relative warmth of the sheets and shuffle to the kitchen in search of coffee. 

Apparently the suite came fully stocked with a handful of different freshly ground blends, and much to your delight you recognize one of your favorites. You scroll through the room service menu on your phone while it brews. Without a doubt Pyry would rope you in to whatever workout he had planned for Pierre, albeit giving you a watered down version of what he gave the driver. Regardless, it would still be grueling and you needed to fuel up.

A hearty breakfast of fresh fruit and cinnamon sugar oatmeal shows up at your door ten minutes later. You're just finishing up when Pierre's snapchat comes through and you nearly choke.

Come on down baby

The sweaty, shirtless selfie that accompanies the caption is wholly unnecessary. Pierre's stupid tongue sticks out and the fingers of one hand are tangled in his hair. The muscle of his bicep is perfectly flexed, an obvious but appreciated attempt to rile you up. You shamelessly screenshot the photo before it disappears to save it for later.

You change into a simple set of leggings and a loose t-shirt and head to the elevator, curating your music queue on the way down.

The outdoor gym overlooks a pool of the same crystalline blue as the sea not far beyond. A few Alpha Tauri and Red Bull team members you recognize occupy a handful of machines. You wave at the ones you recognize, including Alana- she was a sight for sore eyes. You make a mental note to catch up with her at some point today, as you're sure to cross paths again.

Pyry spots you before Pierre does and waves you over. "Start stretching," the fin orders, "I'm glad you dressed for the occasion this time."

"I've learned my lesson." You plop down next to Pierre and lean into a stretch to stage whisper, "He drives you this hard?"

"Get used to it." Pierre shoots you a grin that sets you on fire. He's got a shirt on now, which means he only took it off earlier to send you that snap. Tease.

Any other time you'd chide him for his behavior but this weekend you let it slide. Tension has been brewing since the moment you spotted him across the lobby; simple things tip you off to the stress winding up in him. If flirting could offer him a small amount of release, then so be it, even if it was torturous for you to see him like this and be unable to do anything about it.

"If you two can't get through this without making heart eyes at each other I'll separate you," Pyry warns, pushing at your shoulders and helping you stretch a few more inches. You hide your wince and laugh, leaning into the slight burn.

"Sorry coach," Pierre chimes in, "I'll keep my hands to myself, don't worry." He accepts Pyry's hand to be pulled to his feet. Bouncing on his toes he throws a few punches at the air and catches your gaze over his trainer's shoulder.

"Definitely not you I'm worried about."

As Pyry says it, you blow Pierre a kiss. You quickly tuck your hands behind your back when Pyry's head whips around. Your cheshire grin gets you off the hook and Pyry just points to the stationary bike in silent command. At least he was going easy on you.

Headphones pumping a Pierre curated playlist, you lose track of time as you cycle mile after mile. Pierre sparring on the fringes of your vision helps distract you from burning muscles. Sweat soaks his black tee and is absorbed by the waistband of his oddly patterned orange and white shorts. No matter how incessantly you tease him for his fashion choices, he never fails to amaze you for how well he pulls it all off.

Lost in the music and the incredible view, it takes you a moment to realize Pierre's lips aren't just moving silently. You yank out an ear bud and blubber, "What did you say?"

Pierre's breathless laugh is accompanied by a shake of his head. He half curls in on himself, hands on his hips and mouth agape as he tries to catch his breath. The image stirs memories of the last night, when he was panting just like that but with nothing obscuring you from drinking in his godlike muscled body.

"I said," Pierre starts, walking over to kiss your cheek, "I need a shower before press. I'm going upstairs. You can stay here and Pyry can take you through some more-"

"No thanks!" Pyry shrugs off your immediate refusal. Training top tier athletes and training you sat at polar opposite ends of the spectrum and often times the Fin pushed you farther than you thought capable. You'd like to be able to function tomorrow, thank you very much.

The elevator ride to the suite is filled with salted kisses and wet touches. A breadcrumb trail of clothing leads from the stainless steel doors to the glass encased shower. There's not enough time to worship Pierre like you'd wanted to but he sighs when you run a soapy cloth over his body. Your lips follow the suds, leaving light kisses to the tender muscles. By the time you pour shampoo in your palm and lightly scratch at his scalp to work it into a lather, he's practically purring.

Media appearances are a necessary part of being a driver. Pierre usually handled them well enough on his own and occasionally with Sylvie's help when she could be bothered to get off her phone for a few minutes, but having you with him is different. You pride yourself on reading him well enough to know exactly what he needs. Some days, when the press isn't a pack of rabid animals, he returns to his driver's room and needs nothing more than a quick kiss to have him righted. On days when the pack of piranhas descend to feast on the bones of a bad session or the whispering of drama, a delicate touch is required.

If your suspicion proves right, today would be the latter. Being ahead of the frenzy might take the edge off when Pierre got in the thick of it.

When the tap cuts off, you step out and wrap Pierre in a fluffy towel. His smile communicates how grateful he is- and that he knows what you're doing.

You hand him a stack of Alpha Tauri branded clothes and sit on the foot of the bed. "Do you want me to come to the paddock with you?"

Pierre pauses with his shirt half on. "If you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind." You pluck a few of his rings from the nightstand and hold out your hand. "You have to complete the look."

"What would I do without you," he murmurs, slipping one on his pinky and one on the thumb of his opposite hand.

"Probably be ridiculed for your lack of fashion sense."

**********

As a driver's girlfriend, you had come to grips with being relegated to a background role when it came to team events. You have to ask Sylvie to repeat herself twice before her words sink in.

"Come with me to the media pen," the woman grits out. Apparently Tost intended to have some fun torturing the woman before he fired her at the end of the season. Hopefully whoever Pierre got stuck with next was a bit more personable than Sylvie.

"Pierre told me to wait here," you say, gesturing to the garage buzzing around you. You were a rock and the mechanics were the stream, parting around you without a care in the world. You were barely a blip on their radar, everyone too honed in on their tasks to pay you any mind.

"And now I'm telling you to come with me. The other wives and girlfriends are in attendance and it'll look odd if you're not there too." Clearly, Sylvie didn't like the idea. And any idea that pissed Sylvie off sounded like a good one.

"I know the way," you say and breeze past her. Your feet follow the familiar path to the cluster of reporters crowded around metal gates, keeping the drivers in like caged animals. It was fitting, considering how often people referred to the sport as a traveling circus.

Pierre is already knee deep in an interview with one of the more popular journalists in the bunch, Will Buxton. Careful to stay out of the lens, you lean against the guardrail to listen in. So far it seems to be going well, Pierre's laugh brings a smile to your face.

"So, Pierre." Will shifts on his feet, pausing to create a sense of drama. "Your seat for next year. We know you'll be in Alpha Tauri or at Red Bull. Only a few points separate you from being demoted right back to eighth in the championship, which would officially relegate you to keep your seat at Alpha for the upcoming season. Are you worried about a mechanical problem or an accident stripping you of your chance to prove yourself and leaving you stuck where you are?"

Your stomach sinks. Buxton knew how to phrase a question, you had to give him that. Each word had been carefully chosen to elicit an emotional response from Pierre. You hate seeing him backed into a corner, forced to answer the same questions again and again, helpless to prevent it.

"Well first of all I'd like to stay that I'm not stuck at Alpha." Pierre shifts his weight and you exhale. Buxton's poisoned dart had missed its mark.

"Given a few years of development I know we could have a really competitive car. But it's more so that I'm ready to move up, fight with the leaders now instead of waiting. I'm in my prime and I don't want to let that pass me by.

"So no, I'm not worried about things that are out of my control. My team has given me an amazing car this year and I'm not concerned about mechanical problems. Things out of my control aren't worth my energy. There's nothing I can do about it so I don't even give it thought. I'll focus on my driving and pushing my limit- if an accident happens, I'm just a passenger."

"Well said." Buxton nods and turns away, effectively dismissing Pierre. As soon as he's out of the camera's view he's reaching for you and you meet him halfway. Sylvie trails after you as Pierre leads you through to the Alpha garage.

"Five minutes until your briefing," Alana says the second you enter. "And hey girl. Don't think I've forgotten about that sweater I loaned you. I still want it back!"

Your friend doesn't leave any room for rebuttal before heading for the conference room, presumably to set up whatever presentation she had created. Sylvie had disappeared too, leaving you as the only one for Pierre to focus on.

"You think I can do it?" He asks quietly, playing with your interlaced fingers.

"I don't think." You tilt his chin up so he's looking at you. "I know. And I'll be right here when you cross that line on Sunday and bring home points. You've got this, baby. Don't doubt yourself now."

"Pierre!"

Your grip on his chin prevents him from following the voice, not that he would if he could. You shoot him a raucous grin, "Red Bull colors would look pretty good on me, huh?"

Pierre's smile is brighter than all the stars in the sky. "Anything with my name on it will do.”

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[rainbows-and-emeralds]

Jean Pierre Polnareff's true purpose

So, let's talk about Jean Pierre Polnareff.

The "silliest" of the Stardust Crusaders, the "clown" of the group, the "immature one".

Except he's really none of those things. He may not be a genius, but he is smart. People really don't give Polnareff the credit he deserves. I personally do believe, that out of all of the Crusaders he is the one with the worst fate.

All of the Crusaders have been through some form of trauma, yes, they all have faced Dio and have lost friends along the way, but Polnareff has had it especially hard, because people just seem to ignore/forget all he's done, and we tend to put him down as that silly, funny guy from Part 3.

It is true, Polnareff is very dorky and jokes around a lot, and just generally seems to be very at ease in an almost naive way. But this has it's reasons, and Polnareff is so much more than just this.

The people who smile the brightest often hide the worst pain in their hearts.

What I'm trying to say is, Jean sort of uses this goofy, happy facade as a coping mechanism for trauma and grief. Only 3 years prior to meeting the other Crusaders he'd lost his younger sister Sherry. And she wasn't just killed by accident, she was murdered. Imagine what that must have done to him. Whatever it was, it was enough for him to seek revenge, not stopping before anything.

Furthermore, he'd just somewhat come to terms with Avdol's supposed death later on in season 1 of Part 3. Maybe Polnareff even blamed himself for dragging Avdol into this. Especially after going off on his own when he'd finally found J. Geil, which I still believe he did, to not endanger his friends unnecessarily.

Avdol was probaply his closest friend of the bunch. I love the bond these two shared. And I believe that Avdol wanted Polnareff to realize that it's better to have friends to rely on, and that it wasn't his fault.

Still, Polnareff likely blamed himself for being responsible for Avdol's death, having seen him die right in front of him, because he was protecting him..

And later it turns out Avdol didn't really die, he was still alive all this time, and all the Crusaders knew about it. All of them, except for Polnareff.

They didn't tell him, because they didn't trust him to keep quiet about it in front of the enemy.

This is the one desicion I disagree on with Kakyoin and the others. How could they. Not only did they basically end up telling Polnareff that they didn't fully trust him, they left him blaming himself, feeling incredibly bad and traumatized for WEEKS.

And then not ONE of them, not even Kakyoin, really apologized to him. It can be argued that what they did was not to hurt Polnareff on purpose, regarding the dangerous situation they're in. And that makes sense. But it did hurt him. And that's sort of unforgivable in my book. Jean puts up this happy act, and no doubt he does have fun with the other Crusaders, it's not bad all the time at all. But when nobody's looking, the sad, pained look on his face is obvious enough.

In the end, Polnareff really loses three of his friends, two of them because they protected him, and gave their lives for that yet again, but this time for real. He's essentially left with what he'd believed to be true before.

He is alone again.

Having only survived because others protected you and died for that, can make you feel so utterly desperate and worthless.

Despite this sorry state he falsely sees himself in, here is where it truly shows, just how noble Jean Pierre Polnareff really is.

Instead of leaving all of this behind when given the chance, to go back home to France, he continues investigating the Stand arrows, and the problems Dio's actions caused, even after he died.

While Jotaro was on it too, Polnareff eventually decides to further investigate alone, probaply because he wanted to avoid losing another friend because he couldn't protect himself alone. It shows that he's grown. And it shows that Polnareff really doesn't hesitate to risk his life for this.

This causes Polnareff to run into none other than Diavolo, who is after the arrows for his own, twisted reasons.

Which in turn, gets him into an even worse situation.

Not only has Polnareff spent his youth, from the age of 19 (when he lost his sister) to age 36, chasing after the Stand arrows and Dio to seek revenge and prevent even worse things from happening, he's also severely injured and left disabled for the rest of his life at only 23 years of age.

On top of all of this he is now the potential target of one of the most dangerous Mafia bosses in the world, forcing him to live in solitude for over 10 years, unable to contact ANY of his remaining friends or family because if he did so he'd risk getting them and himself hunted down and killed. Thus Polnareff is yet again alone.

Just.. take a moment to let all of that sink in. All of what Polnareff has been through.

And DESPITE all of that, he still pulls through, he still keeps going, stays strong and continuously puts his own life on the line to try and stop Diavolo from obtaining the Requiem arrow.

Because he knows that if he fails, everything the Crusaders fought for in 1989 will be to no avail. And even if he can't do much himself, he finds a way to contact Bucciarati's group after what I can only assume are weeks, if not months of research on them.

(It is almost scary to see how much Polnareff has changed, from the mostly happy, outgoing and talkative guy we've known, to this serious, more mature and collected man, operating from within the shadows to reach out to Bruno.)

Now we, as the reader, know all of this about Polnareff, but to Bruno and his gang, he is a stranger, somebody they don't know if they can trust yet. They also only meet Polnareff very briefly before Diavolo finally reveals himself and kills Polnareff for good.

Jean Pierre Polnareff, spent his live almost constantly facing some sort of trauma. I can't begin to imagine what he must have felt like in the end, knowing he's dying, before having finished what he started, what he fought for.

Yet he spends his last living moments thinking of his friends, the things he's been through back in Egypt, and atleast he knows that what he's done is not in vain, because he can safely place this mission he's dedicated the last 10 years of his life to, in the hands of Bucciarati and his gang.

This has an almost poethic value to it.

(It is also interesting to note that the Stand, Judgement, from Part 3 shows up in this panel. Think back, this Stand had the ability to grant "wishes" in form of illusions that turn against you. That was when he wished for his sister Sherry, and Avdol, whom Polnareff still believed to be dead, to come back to life. This always strangely touches me, because it's so naive to believe in such a thing, yet, it shows just HOW much Jean cares for those two, that he still had hope left, and was unable to let go, as of that time. The pain in his eyes as he realized that this last bit of hope he had was foolish, wronged, he had to accept and move on, which he does for the most part, but the fact that Judgement is something that he remembers in his last concious moments before dying shows that what happened on this particular day never really left him..)

Somehow, Polnareff is given a second chance, in form of his soul being kept alive within this bizarre Stand ability of Coco Jumbo. His body is dead, he can never go back, but Polnareff's spirit lives on. Atleast for now.

And Polnareff did so much. He sacrificed everything, not even hesitating to lay down his life.

He deserved so much better. He deserved a happy, long life, a family, love and friends.

While he may not ever get some of these things, he's with Giorno now. He's made it out, somewhat, alive. He can rest easy now and that is what counts for me. His sacrifices have not been for nothing, and thus, his friends dying to protect him back in Cairo also have not died for nothing. Polnareff carried on their legacy, making their deaths count, moving on, but never forgetting.

It is somewhat ironic that the one who carried Polnareff's mission to the end was Giorno, Dio's son, and yet another Joestar. It seems that the fates of Polnareff, Dio, and the Joestar family were destined to cross paths from the beginning.

Again, as the reader, we know the whole picture, but Polnareff doesn't. And he still did what he did, and he deserves credit and gratitude for that.

This is why Jean Pierre Polnareff is one of the most important people in the storyline of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and a man who has ALL my respect and admiration. I truly think that without him, things wouldn't have turned out as well as they did, and we have him to thank for that.

The last thing spoken in the anime of Vento Aureo is said by none other than Polnareff:

"Let's go,

...to the Colosseum."

~Haru

[your-dietician]

Gov. Pritzker signs NIL bill at State Farm Center

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/ncaa-football/gov-pritzker-signs-nil-bill-at-state-farm-center/

Gov. Pritzker signs NIL bill at State Farm Center

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Vederian Lowe remembers sitting in the dorms as a younger player on the Illinois football roster and joking with his teammates that though money flowed into universities and towns based on revenue from the football team, they never saw a dime of it. Yes, they received full-ride academic scholarships, stipends and food — and that’s not to be overlooked — they couldn’t do anything to cash in on their own name, image, and likeness.

That changed on Tuesday at the State Farm Center where Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law SB 2338, the Student-Athlete Endorsement Rights Act, to allow college athletes in the state of Illinois to profit off of their name, image, and likeness beginning on Thursday. It’s a fast-moving change to the college athletics landscape and one that will put money into the pockets of student-athletes in the state as they build their brand.

“With this law, Illinois is at the forefront of taking some pressure off of some talented kids who are torn between finishing their degree and cashing in on the big leagues,” Pritzker said. “But to be clear, the benefits of this law don’t stop at kids bound for the NFL or NBA. Any student-athlete can partner with businesses in their college towns, as well as brands big and small to see financial benefit from the hours they pour into their craft. This isn’t just a win for student-athletes, it’s a win for the future of our entire state.”

Pritzker was flanked by Lowe, Illinois women’s basketball player Eva Rubin, men’s basketball player Trent Frazier, men’s gymnast Dylan Kolak, Illini athletic director Josh Whitman, university chancellor Robert Jones, former Illini football player — now a state representative who sponsored the bill — Kam Buckner, soon-to-be Northwestern athletic director Derrick Gragg, DePaul athletic director DeWayne Peevy, and others.

“This is something we’ve all been dreaming of and now it’s reality and we’re very grateful for that,” said Lowe as he spoke during an hour-long press conference. “This is all something that we think that we deserve and we need. We put countless hours in. It doesn’t matter what sport that we’re in, whether it’s football or basketball, track and field, volleyball, swimming, any sport, we all see each other and we all know the amount of work that we put in to try to become national champions. This is something we’re very excited about and we’re glad the moment is finally before us. …. This is a historic change and it will change the way collegiate sports will be viewed for years to come.”

According to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger, Illinois is the 14th state that has NIL laws going into effect on Thursday. On Wednesday, the NCAA is expected to approve an interim policy that allows all student-athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness, regardless of state legislation.

But on Wednesday, Pritzker, Whitman, Illinois speaker of the house Chris Welch and Buckner each touted Illinois being at the forefront of the legislation. Student-athletes, according to state law, will be required to disclose all of their endorsement deals to the university and the university has partnered with the app Opendorse to help streamline and create a smooth process for endorsement deals.

Buckner was the co-sponsor of the bill and was back on the campus where he played college football and where his own beliefs about student-athlete compensation changed after a trip to the mall with former Illini running back Pierre Thomas. A jersey on the rack was clearly meant to be Thomas’ jersey but he didn’t have the money in his own pocket to buy it and would never see the money from that jersey sale. Buckner’s beliefs began to shift about athletes’ compensation.

Though Illinois athletes won’t be able to represent the school — they cannot wear any Illinois gear or identify themselves as an Illinois student-athlete in these endorsements — plenty of opportunities will exist to put money in their pockets.

“This bill is about equity, it’s about parity, it’s about autonomy, it’s about fair market, it’s about the legal tenet that we call the right to publicity,” Buckner said. “But more over this bill is essentially about fairness. Fairness. Fairness. Fairness. I really feel fortunate to be able to have led this fight just 14 years after I took off my Illini uniform for the last time.

“The Illinois Student-Athletes Endorsement Rights Act modernizes the college athletics landscape. This bill is long overdue. What we are signaling here is we cannot continue to economically suppress these young people while they infuse tremendous amounts of money into our economies. I want to be clear: This is not just a win for the star quarterback or the star point guard. This gives the women’s tennis player the opportunity to be compensated for teaching lessons back in her hometown during summer breaks. This creates an apparatus for the women’s softball player to lend her image to the local pizzeria for fair-market value.

“We’ve seen states around the country begin to address this issue and rightfully so, but I’ll be clear that this is the most comprehensive and forward-thinking legislation in the entire country that addresses this issue.”

According to the Chicago Tribune, the bill “would prohibit college athletes from promoting sports betting, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, vaping products, adult entertainment or any other product ‘considered to be inconsistent with the values of a postsecondary institution’ or which would bring ‘embarrassment, scandal or ridicule’ to a college or university.”

Some student-athletes have gotten a jumpstart on making it known their services are open for business come July 1. Frazier has been active on social media, urging companies to reach out to him for potential endorsement deals. Thanks to an NCAA rule that granted an additional year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic Frazier, a fan favorite, has one more year in Champaign and plans to cash in on the brand he’s built over his first four seasons. He said he’s been preparing for two weeks on the best way to approach July 1 to maximize his exposure.

“I’m a businessman now,” Frazier said. “Obviously with the bill passing, like I said, I’ve been working for two weeks now. I wanted to take full advantage of this opportunity and use it and not take it for granted. Obviously with this being my last year, I wanted to make the most out of it. Obviously taking care of my family. I want to be able to have some money in my pocket that I can give to my parents. I’m just trying to set myself up for after this until I see what my next step in life is.”

Rubin, a senior on the women’s basketball team, is a Type 1 diabetic. She’s spent time volunteering and in internships with the American Diabetes Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Those are fulfilling in their own rights. She met a seven-year-old while she played at Arizona State who wasn’t sure if he could play baseball because he was diabetic. A year later, the child’s aunt found Rubin in a mall and informed her that he was playing baseball again following their conversation. Those talks matter and can happen without NIL, but the new law allows her to continue to build her platform with the potential to make money at the same time.

“Those were all volunteer things, and I love to do that stuff,” Ru bin said. “But now I’m at a point where, OK, maybe the company that makes my insulin pump or the company that makes my glucose monitor — I can’t really play my sport without those two things — maybe they want me to post on Instagram and show other diabetic athletes, ‘Hey, this is what I use so I can play collegiate sports and you can do it too.’

“… It was really exciting. I know myself and my fellow student-athletes, we thought right away of a couple brands or a couple companies that we love or we would love to work with, and it’s different for everyone. We all have our own little things outside of our sports world that are really important to us so now this is another bridge between us and those things we love so much and a way for us to benefit and for the company to benefit as well. It’s just a great opportunity for us. It’s great for us to learn about the process and have the university here supporting us and helping us learn how to take those risks and manage them.

“Being able to actually make a profit off of our name, image, and likeness, that’s another way for us to develop ourselves. That’s another way for us to figure out what we’re going to do when the ball stops bouncing and another thing for us to put on our resume. A lot of athletes struggle to build résumés because we’re so busy. Us being able to make a profit and work with these different companies, that’s huge for us.”

When Illinois head football coach Bret Bielema hired director of football branding and creative media Patrick Pierson, NIL was near the front of Bielema’s mind. He wanted to get ahead of the curve, to begin preparing his football team for the opportunities that would eventually be ahead of them.

First, Pierson said, football players began to understand what their own brand is and what they want it to be in the future along with the platform that will help elevate that brand. From there, they began to educate and prepare the team for what was going to come, particularly through the use of Opendorse. Illinois athletics can not set up endorsement opportunities nor advise them other than to make sure it falls within the legislation’s morality clause.

Now comes the time to put all of the educational pieces to practice in real time.

“They’re ecstatic,” Pierson said. “They’re all nervous because it’s an unknown just like all of us trying to figure it all out. There’s a lot of guys, I mean Vederian obviously has an immediate family and kids and there are other guys in that situation and there are other guys looking to provide money to send home. People don’t think about that too. They’re excited. They’re all nervous because they don’t know about the world of opportunities ahead of them, but they’ll learn fast and we’re here to help them, educate them and guide them.”

Years after sitting in his dorm, talking with teammates about not being able to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness, Lowe is in a position to take advantage of any opportunities in front of him. He’s still laying out the best approach for himself but plans to reap the benefits of the legislation.

The veteran tackle had a massive decision as last season ended about what to do with his future. He wanted more tape for NFL scouts but has two children, is the guardian for his younger brother and is recently married. A paycheck certainly would have helped. For him, this bill exists as a stopgap before what he hopes is his NFL payday.

“It means a lot to me and will help me a lot with things I have going on in my life and things I’m dealing with at home and everything,” Lowe said. “It will help me try to put my family in the best position possible because I want to take over that role of being a provider for my kids, my wife and my brother as well. It means everything. … It’s something everyone is excited about. I’m definitely going to get in touch with the right people so I can approach this the right way.”

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[momzoneonline]

MOVING TO CANADA IS A JOKE...The Economic, Military, and Social Integration of North America

Eh? I can think of scores of reasons to move to Canada (or opt for the Mexican Riviera) . . . any place but Babylon the Great: The USA. The War in Iraq . . . or better yet: The entire Military-Industrial Complex sucking the life-blood out of Americana for starters. Or, how about the whole hedonistic culture of greed, avaricious appetites, and super sizing all things godly and ungodly--from Hollywood to Mega Churches; indeed, ours is a "city set on a hill which cannot be hid" but the closer you get to this glittering jewel, the more it resembles the "Little Shop of Horrors," you know, that flesh-eating plant crying out: Feed me, Seymour! Conspicuous consumption of a nation which spends $1.8 Billion more each day than the whole earth combined and finds herself some $14 Trillion in debt (National Debt + Balance of Payment/Trade Debts) is a bit too much, wouldn't you say?--after all, she represents but 5% of the world's population.

Come on, half the eagle is in a declared state of emergency and the overt identification by Big Brother of all things human is prepared and/or is itching to pounce upon American liberties once thought sacrosanct by both the ACLU and the NRA by euphemistic legislation called Patriotic Acts, and finally, a cashless society where all of us are implanted with chips awaiting true identity and debit through scanning devices at your local Safeway.

The clock is ticking. Peak oil, where American's "zero sum game" is played out--for you to gain I must loose--refuses to share her bounty with the Asian tigers of China and India; and, of course, they are more than pleased with our indulgence. Like Rome, our legions amongst the world's "provinces," are stretched thin--and the draft can't be all that far off if we're to maintain our economic edge and SUV-lifestyle (latest stats for the past two years show that 58% of all vehicles purchased in the USA are SUVs, pickups, or plain old gas guzzlers). And, as if these outrageous consequences weren't enough to abandon ship--toss in the worst natural disaster ever to afflict the homeland: Katrina; man, wait till we finance that one!

So . . . isn't it about time to flee to Canada or head for the Mexican Riviera? Eh? Canada's a safe haven for pot-people and same-sex marriage is the rage. Crime's relatively low compared to the lower 48 and the death penalty's been outlawed for nearly thirty years. Finally, most of the 125,000 Viet-Nam Era draft dodgers who fled to Canada stuck around and now constitute the leading edge of all the above progressive life-style. Wow, we're talkin' about socialized medicine for all--a veritable paradise compared to the inflictions of them patriots down under. Cheap drugs (includes tons of cannabis), affordable housing, tiny military budget, etc., etc.--a little cold, but you'll get used to it.

Finally, if Hollywood's collective apoplexy over President Bush's election can be believed--we're outta here . . . a few of these righteous indignations (unfulfilled) are duly noted, if for nothing else, their entertainment value. Notwithstanding the Hollywood stars and directors who claimed exodus was their only option under Bush--Barbra Streisand, Alec Baldwin, Michael Moore, Robert Altman, Lynn Redgrave, Pierre Salinger (now deceased), and Cher--all found the allure of Babylon on the Hudson irresistible; so much for leftist vibratos. Misquoted or just plain fluff--they all abide within the walls of the crystal palace celebrating the party atmosphere, as they star in a movie sequel to the "Left Behind Series" entitled: Talk is Cheap, Follow Us falling in love with a single mom quotes.

ECONOMIC INTEGRATION VIA NAFTA, CAFTA, FTAA--Enter the "Three Amigos"

Patriots would exclaim we're selling off and out America; globalists would see dollars galore; socialists would see an on-going rip off; and a whole bunch of people in the middle could care less (a.k.a. "victims anonymous").

Meanwhile Deanna Spingola in "Building a North American Community" (July 15, 2005) keeps telling it like it is:

"While our sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers having been spilling their blood in the sands of Iraq under the guise of restoring the country to the Iraqi citizens, our president is in the process of giving our country to the elite One World Order insiders. While our president is requiring protected borders in Iraq, he is obliterating, not only our southern, but our northern borders." Actually, Deanna (and you've got to read her entire article) is referring to the Bush/Fox/Martin meeting (USA/Mexico/Canada) held at Baylor University in Waco, Texas on 23 March 2005, where they were busy about establishing the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America" - to wit, the SPPNA's troika:

"We, the elected leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, have met in Texas to announce the establishment of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.

"Over the past decade, our three nations have taken important steps to expand economic opportunity for our people and to create the most vibrant and dynamic trade relationship in the world (i.e., NAFTA; my insert). Since September 11 2001, we have also taken significant new steps to address the threat of terrorism and to enhance the security of our people. "But much still remains to be done. In a rapidly changing world, we must develop new avenues of cooperation that will make our open societies safer and more secure, our businesses more competitive, and our economies more resilient.

"Our Partnership will accomplish these objectives through a trilateral effort to increase the security, prosperity, and quality of life of our citizens. This work will be based on the principle that our security and prosperity are mutually dependent and complementary, and will reflect our shared belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic values and institutions. It will also help consolidate our efforts within a North American framework, to meet security and economic challenges, and promote the full potential of our people, by reducing regional disparities and increasing opportunities for all."

COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS--They're at it again!

Now don't go conspiratorial on me . . . hee-hee . . . don't need to . . . let the truth speak for itself:

It was on May 17, 2005 the CFR formalized its "Independent Task Force" to review at length the parameters of such a three-pact agreement among the USA, Canada, and Mexico. This 31-member force de jure was chaired by John F. Manley, Pedro Aspe, and William F. Weld and vice-chaired by: Robert A. Pastor, Thomas P. d'Aquino, Andrés Rozental. Cooperating with the CFR's efforts were the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales.

Indeed, the composite document released by the aforementioned is the very title of Spingola's article . . .

No wonder that Spingola and other American patriots view this as the "Great American Give-a-way!"

Take a gander at their timid prognostications and guess why moving to Canada's a joke . . .for what NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) could not destroy, FTAA (Free Trade Area/Agreement of the Americas . . . a.k.a. "Building a North American Community") fully intends:

"We are asking the leaders of the United States, Mexico, and Canada to be bold and adopt a vision of the future that is bigger than, and beyond, the immediate problems of the present . . . they could be the architects of a new community of North America, not mere custodians of the status quo." (Canadian co-chair, John P. Manley, Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance). CHRISTIANS ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE

Now, listen to Spingola's assessment of all this--and, don't think she's some brainless Libertarian gone amok down in Texas somewhere . . .

"This basically means that Americans must give up their freedoms and hard won sovereignty along with all resources for the greater good of the 'New Community.' It is a socialistic equalization designed to make slaves of everyone in all three countries. This will occur as a result of the secret, subversive activities of our ruling elitist who have never sacrificed anything except their integrity. When it comes time to sell this socialistic venture, Bush will adopt his multipurpose 'Christian' stance and use every possible guilt maneuver to encourage this good hearted Christian country to open our hearts to the less fortunate. This is a ploy to make all of us less fortunate. There will be many who will fall for this scam under the pretext of Christianity. If we think Christians are media maligned now, just wait! We will be the most hated inmates in the camp!" Wow! Powerful projections here, right? I'm sure we'll somehow meet up with Spingola one day--if not in glory, then in some gulag cell contemplating how all of this got out of hand . . . I mean, if Shirley McClain went out on a limb, Spingola's going out on a twig:

"All of this is done under the facade of protecting us - from terrorists? The worse terrorists we face are those who serve in our government. Another day that shall live in infamy, 9/11, has done much to serve the purposes of those whose main goal is to establish the One World Order. What an opportunistic event! It couldn't have worked any better if they had planned it!" O CANADA - VIVA MEXICO - Life is good!

Of course most Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans can't stomach all of this unification at once; thus, the GREAT TRANSITION awaits us all:

Unified military command? Listen to what the CFR plans for your future:

1. Establish a common security perimeter by 2010. 2. Develop a North American Border Pass with biometric identifiers. 3. Develop a unified border action plan and expand border customs facilities. The CFR web site is effusive in its sacrifice of sovereignty:

4. Create a single economic space: 5. Adopt a common external tariff. 6. Allow for the seamless movement of goods within North America. 7. Move to full labor mobility between Canada and the U.S. 8. Develop a North American energy strategy that gives greater emphasis to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases - a regional alternative to Kyoto. Hey, and let's shoot the gap - listen, we're talkin' INTEGRATION BIG TIME . . . and we're not whistling Di

[andryuska]

What's andrei's guiding philsophy? How well does he adhere to it?

what is andrei’s guiding philosophy?

andrei’s main philosophy ( up until he is wounded in 1812 ) is that the value and good of people / actions / things are found in their capacity to produce effective and favorable results. the consequences of an action determine whether it is good or bad, rather than the action itself ---- the worth of a person is determined by their ability to have an effective impact on something important. nothing inherently has its own value, and is essentially useless unless it is able to create an effect of some sort. this of course means that his own value is also found in his usefulness as a person, which is partially responsible for those constant notions he has that he’s failing and he can’t find a purpose in life ---- most of his pursuits end up producing no effective results, and so he labels himself a failure and finds himself contemptuous and unhappy.

this gets mixed in with a very large desire for privacy and isolation. he likes to be alone, and he is very apathetic towards others in society, as they really don’t produce anything of value to him, so he takes on the opinion that the best way for him to live is to live for himself ---- he doesn’t concern himself with matters outside his household ( as he considers his family as a part of ‘ himself ’ ) but rather focuses on his own life and his own usefulness. combined, his focus on consequences and his desire to live for himself create a sort of philosophy that is almost amoral in the conventional sense. he doesn’t adhere to the notion that there is an overarching ‘ good ’ and ‘ evil ’ but instead sees the value of these things in how they effect him individually.

the best chapter for his dominant philosophy is in book v, when he speaks to pierre after having returned from his capture at austerlitz, and the two get into somewhat of a debate on the ethics of his lifestyle.

“ i only know two very real evils in life: remorse and illness. the only good is the absence of those evils. ” ( tolstoy, 410 )

andrei’s two evils are effectively the two things that he believes can make one useless beyond their control ( i’ll leave out the fact that he thinks some people are simply incompetent ), and in being absent these evils, he’s capable of doing things. note that, while when he’s injured, he falls into a depression and pretty much takes a big leap into intense disillusionment, which cuts him off from a lot of his passion. and later one, in his remorse for the loss of natasha’s hand, he stops most of his efforts to enact real change in the russian system through his rewriting of the military codes, and instead devotes himself to seeking revenge on anatole. the two evils drive a sense of failure in him, which make him very unhappy.

as to living for himself, he simply sees that as a means to being most effective in ridding his life of illness and remorse, as not to again fall into uselessness. note as well that illness and remorse as used with very lose meanings ; illness can incorporate both injury and mental illness ( i headcanon that andrei has social anxiety and ptsd, both of which make him feel inadequate ), and remorse can be for any kind of loss ---- death, disconnection, loss of an interest, and so on.

some other examples; when pierre talks about freeing the serfs and educating them, andrei says immediately that doing so would lead to unfavorable results. putting aside the somewhat aristotelian argument for the innateness of social positions, andrei basically says that educating the serfs would lead to their mental torment, and would produce no good ---- they would be like him, kept up at all hours, unable to sleep as they are too caught up in their thoughts, and they’d become useless. he says likewise that if he himself were a serf, he’d be useless as he’d collapse under the difficulty of the labor. basically, this is an argument for people’s use being found in their ability to effectively perform their jobs ---- serfs doing labor, and nobility like himself writing legal codes at that time.

similarly, andrei makes an argument for the killing of prisoners of war, and states that he really had no trouble with being merciless to captures soldiers. this is because they’re essentially of no use, and only deplete the military’s supply, so they ought to be returned or killed, because doing either of these would produce the most effective results. killing prisoners of war, of course, in itself is not generally regarded as good, but because of his philosophy, andrei would have no problem doing it, because it’s about results, not actions in themselves.

another really good quote to strengthen that notion of andrei’s lack of care for good and bad in itself;

“ it is not given to man to know what is right and what is wrong. men always did and always will err and in nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong. ” ( tolstoy, 410 )

this shows the opposite side of the coin, in a way, in showing what andrei does not believe in ---- the absolutely of things being right or being wrong. to him, the very notion that a person or action in itself can be good or bad is kind of ridiculous, because the qualities that make something’s goodness are their ability to produce that favorable result. saying something is good in itself is like saying a glass, for example is just good as it is ---- andrei would counter with the argument that a glass is good in its capacity to hold liquid. it has not inherent value, and people shouldn’t assume that anything does, because they’ll probably mess up.

how well does he adhere to it?

by this account, we can assume that in terms of actions, andrei should be guided by the principal that actions should be done only if they produce effective results, and avoided otherwise. anything that is useless or creates unfavorable consequences ( remorse or illness ) should not be done, because doing it has no inherent value, and its results are just as bad. and when there might be mixed results, one should act in accordance to which results will be more prominent. the example we’re going to use: going to war.

based on andrei’s philosophy, people should not go to war, and he himself certainly should try to avoid active service. this is because war produces an incredible amount of both illness and remorse, and the political results, even if russia wins, are probably not worth the suffering undertaken in the process ---- he even says to pierre that he wouldn’t go back into active service, even if the french marched on bald hills ( except eventually ---- he does just that. but we’ll get back to that in a minute ).

the only time it would be permissible to go to war, then, is when the benefit of the victory or the reason for the cause are important enough that they outweigh the evils they cause. they would have to be what i would call “ absolute causes ” ---- you would die fighting them, because the favorable results far outweigh the unfavorable ones. so, the political wars the russia and france fight are both wars that andrei does not believe in, and does not think they should be fighting, because he’s certain that very few would actually willing die for the war ---- and those who do die do so in vain, as their deaths do not produce good results, generally.

so why does andrei go to war when france invades? for the same reason that he’s generally very bad at adhering to his philosophy: because there are social and familial obligations that demand him to do things even if they do no produce favorable results, and invite illness and remorse into his life. his father has expectations for his actions that don’t necessarily go along with what he thinks is good. there’s a certain level of pride and patriotism that drive him to defend his country, despite what he thinks of it. and andrei is actually pretty impulsive, and though would like the adhere to this very logically driven philosophy, he’d pretty prone to emotional decision making ---- which is something of himself that he really does not like, but nonetheless, doesn’t know how to change.

so, even though his philosophy should prevent him from doing things like going to war, falling in love with people he probably shouldn’t fall in love with, and seeking revenge on those who have wronged him, he does it anyway, and he kind of hates himself for it. andrei proclaims early on that he’s a failure, and i think that belief he has of himself is consistent through the entirety of his life. it’s not just a failure to be effective and useful ---- it’s a failure to adhere to his convictions and beliefs as well. he speaks very strongly of things, and consistently fails to follow through on them in a successful way.

tl;dr, andrei 1) cares about the consequences of actions and not the actions themselves, 2) thinks actions should only be taken if they do not produce remorse or illness, and 3) is not very good at adhering to this belief.

a note on quotes: i am using the oxford university press publication, tranlsated by louise and aylmer maude.

[balarouge]

Why aren’t anglos more curious about local franco music? | Montreal Gazette

The surprise happened to me at Jean Leloup's inspiring program at Metropolis in the loss of 2015. It stays one of the best, very most thrilling shows I've observed previously many years, as Johnny the Wolf ripped through monitors coming from his bestselling return cd Paradis Cité and also tunes from his whole career.As I walked

around the nightclub, enjoying the program coming from different viewpoint, what definitely blew me was how almost everyone in the 2,000-strong group understood every one of the phrases to each of the songs, from very early hits like Isabelle and 1990 to the brand name brand-new tunes off of his most up-to-date album.It created me

recognize that Leloup is actually Quebec's substitute of Bruce Springsteen or even Bob Dylan. Not stylistically, however in the sense of his value to his reader. He is one of the most legendary figures of his generation.But listed below's the unusual feature of that night at City. There were actually no anglophones there. OK, perhaps there were actually a couple of branché chaps concealed in dark corners of the location, yet there weren't a lot of. And it possessed me asking yourself however again why it is actually that English Montrealers reveal thus little curiosity concerning popular music brought in en français ici. Anglo rock followers will like Leloup, but the majority of all of them have not heard his idiosyncratic stone. Canadian singer-songwriter Louis-Jean Cormier executes on stage with his boy as manies thousand

of militants flood the roads of Montreal during the course of the worldwide climate strike." If you're into indie rock, then Louis-Jean Cormier is your individual on the French edge, "CHOM music director Pierre Landry claims. MARTIN OUELLET-DIOTTE/ AFP/Getty Images documents image Exactly how is actually that my pals who adore alt-rockers like Wilco as well as Radiohead have certainly never provided a listen to Hubert Lenoir or even Louis-Jean Cormier or even, mention, Les Louanges,

the most recommended musician at this year's ADISQ Party. Les Louanges is actually Vincent Roberge and he makes dazzling late-night funky, jazzy spacey popular music that I trust my substitute anglo chums would certainly love. Les Louanges is up for nine Félix prizes at the yearly Quebec songs honors event, including for alternative album, doubter's option cd, singer-songwriter, finding of the year as well as song of the year.The same goes with the primary hip-hop nominees at the ADISQ Party-- Koriass, Loud as well as Alaclair Ensemble. If you relish hip hop then you will totally enjoy these 3 totally original artists. The ADISQ Party takes place Oct. 27. Thus exactly how to clarify this massive anglo inattention to franco music made chez nous?As excellent a beginning aspect as any type of is actually the fact that Canada stays extremely a lot residence to pair of cultural solitudes( and lots of other privacies, however that is actually another account ). If you relish hip-hop, you'll adore Koriass

, Brendan Kelly points out. Marie-France Coallier/ Montreal Gazette file photo "There are really two Canadas," said Nicolas Boulerice, who sings and also performs piano in the trad Québécois band Le Vent du Nord, which is actually up for pair of Félix prizes this year.The band is actually contending with on its own in the

group of absolute best traditional album, for their album Territoires and also for the album Notre cd solo , a task coupling Le Vent du Nord withthe band De Temps Antan." There

's very little bit of animosity today in between anglophones and also francophones therefore there is actually a little more openness," stated Boulerice. "Nationalist francophones don't experience they reside in a battle with anglophones anymore. The 2 edges are talking more than before ... however maybe it's difficult for anglophones to approve their unawareness of francophone lifestyle. It takes a ton of humility to claim, 'OK I possess to begin with Ground Absolutely no listed here.' It might intimidate individuals off, to must make an effort to recognize music from an additional lifestyle." There is actually that hesitation for anglos also though the majority of our team do not listen to the lyrics the only thing that carefully the majority of the opportunity. What is necessary originally is the groove, the riff, the tune and afterwards perhaps a little later, you may observe what the performer is actually performing about. Exactly how is actually that people that enjoy alt-rockers like Wilco as well as Radiohead have certainly never offered a listen closely to Hubert Lenoir? Montreal Gazette documents photo" I paid attention to a ton of modern

stone when I was maturing, "Boulerice pointed out." I am actually a huge enthusiast of King Crimson, Origin as well as Yes. Also today I have no tip what they are actually vocalizing around. " The hilarious aspect of Le Vent du Nord is actually that though they are actually incredibly political as well as extremely nationalist, they allure to non-franco target markets in the remainder of Canada

and worldwide given that there is actually an international passion in conventional songs as well as those sorts of audiences don't care what foreign language the tracks are in.Matt Lang-- whose real title is Mathieu Langevin

-- performs new-country-style in the language of Keith Urban and also his self-titled debut cd is actually chosen at the ADISQ Gala in the category of greatest anglophone album, along with Marie Davidson's Working Class Female, Alex

Henry Foster's Window overhead, Jesse MacCormack's Currently as well as The Brooks' Freewheelin 'Walking.Lang claims it is actually certainly not that surprising that anglos listen closely mostly to music in the foreign language they knew initially. "The No. 1 worldwide foreign language is actually English plus all the music happening from the rest of Canada and the USA is in English, thus there's lots and also

great deals of choice in English-language popular music," Lang said." If anglos have the choice of listening to Ed Sheeran or one thing in French, for sure they're going to decide for Ed Sheeran. In Quebec, the francophone terminals participate in francophone and also anglophone music, whereas the anglophone terminals just play British popular music. It feels like, I don't pay attention to Spanish songs since I do not know just about anything about it.

" Dairy +Bone tissue's reader is mainly francophone, though they perform in English. They are actually with a record label

that is actually typically anchored in the franco community. ALICE CHICHE/ AFP/Getty Images data photo Pierre Landry, music director at CHOM, states it is actually a shame anglos do not show a bit even more inquisitiveness concerning what is actually participating in on the franco side of the fencing. "Most of anglophones are going to pay attention to English music," said Landry." However it happens down to culture. Since they relate to a specific factor, they'll eat that product. The reality is our company have actually got the francophone matching of what is actually on the market. If you enjoy indie stone, then Louis-Jean Cormier is your individual on the French side

. If you enjoy one thing like Ariane Grande or even something a little bit more stand out, then you've obtained Marie-Mai ... yet given that there's thus much English society on the market, it is actually easy to forget what is actually occurring on the French edge. You are actually presently over-served with British songs. I think it is actually due to the fact that

they don't understand the culture." Solange Drouin, director general of ADISQ( Organization québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du display et de Los Angeles vidéo), took note that francophone musicians have actually had little effectiveness boosting their market portion below in Quebec lately as well as said obviously these artists would really love to attract anglophone listeners.Camille Poliquin, one fifty percent of the Montreal electro-pop duo Dairy +Bone, said their target market is actually mostly francophone, though they vocalize in English. Milk+ Bone is actually chosen at the ADISQ Gala for greatest anglophone program for their Deception Bay trip. She stated their reader is primarily francophone because they are on a record tag, Bonsound, that is much more anchored in the franco neighborhood." Both sides of the songs industry in Montreal are actually super polarized," said Poliquin." Our experts don't observe the English tags ever before and I presume we would expand and also know a great deal (if the sector was less polarized )." The performances are actually still primarily separate, as are actually the readers. Pair of solitudes, you mention?

This content was originally published here.

[soccernetghana]

Interview: Senica Ghanaian forward Sadam Sulley talks about life and career

Sadam Sulley appeared at Łazienkowska Street in the summer of 2016 and joined the Legia in a 4-year contract. He didn't break through, didn't make his debut in the first team. But in spite of everything, she remembers staying in Warsaw in superlatives. We talk to a player from Ghana about the time spent in Poland. We ask how does he recall the tournament after which he came to Legia or about friendship with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang? We invite you to talk to the former striker of our club. What was your childhood like? Sadam Sulley: It wasn't very colorful. I didn't grow up like most children who had parents by their side. My mother died when I was 11 and my father was not with me - he died a year after I came to Legia. I was looked after by my grandmother and aunts. I had to take care of everything I had. I left my family home at a very young age. I grew up myself and started to learn what is good and what is bad. I learned humility and respect for people. I also have good memories of my childhood, but - as I say - it was not easy. I missed the presence of parents who could tell me what I should do and what not to do. Despite the adversity, I could manage. Where I am today is because I didn't give up, matured on my own and had to take care of the food myself. Thank god for that Did you have anyone outside the family who you could rely on? Sadam Sulley: Three very good colleagues. We're still friends, we often talk to each other. In those days they were able to offer me invaluable help. They took me to homes where I could sleep normally and gave me food. One of them had older siblings who looked after him. He appreciated it very much and decided to take care of me too. I am grateful to each of them for this day. I am humble, I respect everything and everyone, no matter who the person is. I also regularly talk with Abdul Basit Abubakra, who closely monitors Legia's results and comments on the club's posts on all social media. Did you go to school in your country? Sadam Sulley: Yes, although I did not have the opportunity to complete all levels of education. I attended a high school in Kpedze, which I did not finish due to my family's financial problems. I love football so much that I had to stop learning at that moment. I began to study myself. I assumed that you do not have to acquire knowledge only through classes at school. Man learns all his life. I learned to write and read by interacting with people, being in society. There used to be an Internet company called MTN in Ghana and from 12 o'clock every phone call was free. Sometimes I called this company and talked to nice ladies who worked there just to improve my English. It was funny. Life taught me a lot Is Ghana a safe country? Sadam Sulley: It is one of the most peaceful countries in Africa, basically and all over the world. Everyone is friendly here, positive energy beats from everyone. You can go to the sea to experience relaxation and unforgettable views. If you don't look for unnecessary trouble, you won't meet them on the road. I will say it again: Ghana is a very calm and at the same time a fantastic country, I recommend it to every foreigner. Was there any player you liked to imitate in your childhood? Sadam Sulley: Yes. It was Didier Drogba. He impressed with physical conditions, strength. We can say that he was a football animal, of course in a positive sense. He could stay on the ball or hit a football with his head, misleading the opposing goalkeeper. In my childhood I cheered on him a lot, I was his big fan. I also followed Pierre-Emeric Aubameyang and Asamoah Gyan. In a way, I grew up with these characters. Ghana Soccer Fiesta - it was after one of the editions of this tournament that Legia got interested in you. How do you remember this competition? Sadam Sulley: I remember they were yesterday. This is one of the most important moments in my life. I was returning after the injury. I had a knee injury that excluded me from playing for eight months. My guardian Abdul Aziz Husein was with me all the time. When I was cured, I returned to competition. I was already a little known in the country at that time. I took next football steps, and Husein knew many people. They wanted to get me the best clubs from Ghana, but I wasn't ready for it. I was coming back after playing football. Mr. Aziz contacted me and told me to move to the second league team, to Vision FC, and give my best. He said, "I promise you'll find a club in Europe after the season." I agreed and it worked out for good. I had great statistics. I scored a lot of goals and showed myself from the good side, for which I thank Mr. Husein, A moment later, I heard about the Ghana Soccer Fiesta tournament, organized by Dreams FC. In total about 20 teams took part in those competitions. We started playing early in the morning. Every day we played two or three matches. In one meeting I scored two goals, I was pleased with the performance. The next day we faced a demanding rival. Again we showed good points, I scored again. I was aware that the tournament was followed by many observers and scouts from various countries. I believed that I presented myself quite well and had the opportunity to catch many contacts. Michael Osekre, president of Vision FC, i.e. the club where you played then, said that you aroused interest in, among others Anderlecht or Sporting Braga. These clubs really wanted to get you? Sadam Sulley: Of course. After the tournament I was in touch with representatives of Sporting Braga and Anderlecht. I had a lot of different options. I was interested in five strong teams. In this group, in addition to the previously mentioned teams, there was also Schalke. I remember it very well. Radosław Kucharski (current sports director - editor) also called me and said: "Sulley, please don't talk to anyone, don't answer the phone, just come to Legia, because we are very interested in you." I made a decision and decided that I want to get to the club from Łazienkowska. When and how did you meet Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang? Sadam Sulley: I met him three years ago in Warsaw. Borussia Dortmund, in which he played then, competed with Legia in the Champions League. When Aubameyang arrived to Poland for the Champions League match, I had the pleasure of exchanging a few words with him. I told him I knew Andre Ayewa, whom I treat as a brother (Ayew is currently playing in Swansea - ed.). We started talking. I remember that Pierre liked me and gave me contact. I received a shirt from him, which he gave me after the match in the Thibault Moulin locker room. Later we contacted via WhatsApp. He sent me another shirt in which he played against Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga's last round. He is a good and calm man. I respect and value him a lot. He gives me advice all the time if I find myself in difficult situations. We still keep in touch with each other. Do you also have contact with other players who play in good clubs? Sadam Sulley: Yes, mainly with representatives of Ghana. I have a good relationship with Mubarak Wakaso, who has performed in Spain almost all his life and has recently signed a contract with a Chinese club (Jiansu Suning - ed.). I am in touch with Jordan Ayew, brother Andre. I also talk with Sulley Muntari, who in the past represented AC Milan. I treat him like a brother. Most Ghanaian players have had the opportunity to play in big clubs. They gave me important tips because I was a young player. I could learn many things from them. Is there something characteristic of Ghana that you would like to "transfer" to Europe? Sadam Sulley: Even better contact with friends or even easier access to meet new people. The African population is one big family. Most of the people there are treated like brothers and sisters, whether you have family ties or not. It doesn't matter if you only see them while walking on the street, because you know that he is a man who is important to you. In this way, unity is created. However, Europe is a little different. There is a rush and nervousness here. Everyone is concerned about individual things, they don't have time for themselves. They wake up, go to work, and after finishing rushing home. There is not enough time for interpersonal relationships. Some people do not have the opportunity to meet even people from the neighborhood. It comes to a situation that the neighbor, who is only one wall away from you, is completely strange to you. And it is very possible that for three years living next to each other, you'll never see him. Everyone in Africa feels very at ease and is open to other people. It happens that someone knocks on the door of another inhabitant and says: "I went shopping, but I forgot sugar. Could you buy it for me? " Meeting a refusal to grant a request is practically impossible. I think that you have to take care of friendship and good relations with others. You can go out with someone for coffee, have a good time and just laugh. I would like it to be more common in Europe. Do you feel important in Ghana? I am asking because you once posted a photo on Instagram - you visited the Volt Region. It was obvious that people from there support you very much and set you as an example. Sadam Sulley:  Yes. When I visit my homeland I feel really honored. It's unique when I see how I am perceived by young people, friends and people around me who know what I was struggling with as a child and appreciate my hard work. When I return to Ghana, many people support me and speak very positively about me. The local community shows me respect and admires me, which drives me to overcome new barriers. It happens that a boy approaches me who does not beat around the bush and says directly: "Sadam, I admire you. I play football thanks to you. I want to be like you. " Such moments make you feel unearthly and happy that you have the right influence on people. I really appreciate it and I realize that many countrymen support me. Returns to our homeland always enjoy. Ghanaians treat football as a cult, religion? Sadam Sulley: Of course. It is known that the level of football in Ghana is not like in Europe. However, we have clubs at a good level that compete in nice local leagues. The development of technology and greater knowledge of football will allow us to reach an even higher level. There is no shortage of talented players in Ghana. The president of the Ghanaian Football Association, Kurt Okraku, together with Michael Osekre, the president of my former club, Vision FC, are doing a great job and are doing great. I believe that football will make great progress in 3-5 years in my country. You came to Legia in 2016. How do you remember the moment of transfer, the first days in Warsaw? Sadam Sulley: Excellent. Before leaving for Poland, I read Legia supporters' comments about me. I must admit that I was nervous and shocked by the whole situation. When I found myself at Chopin Airport, I saw a group of fans and Radek Kucharski who was waiting for me. It was a great moment for me. It was then that I flew to Europe for the first time to be associated with such a big club as Legia. I was accompanied by great emotions and a great feeling. I remember every single detail during the first days in Warsaw. After the first training, during Besnik Hasi's term, you said that you trained on the grass for the first time in your life. Kidding? Sadam Sulley: Haha. Grass on European playgrounds is definitely better quality than in Ghana. I remember that it was raining during the first classes in the colors of Legia. We practiced at Łazienkowska, on the side court. Then I just said this sentence that I feel the difference between grass in the Old Continent and Ghana and Africa in general. Not every club has the opportunity to train on the surface I have encountered in Europe. It was therefore my real debut on the grass. Until then, I had never been able to compete on such a good pitch. Don't trainers teach tactics in Africa? During training with the first team, there was a lack of understanding during tactical classes. Sadam Sulley: I was lucky to train with Ghanaian trainer Ivan Bugajic in Ghana. He taught me a lot, tactics too, but it is obvious that changing the club is not easy. Each trainer has a different, own concept. I thought it was difficult to comprehend everything immediately after moving to Legia. Over time, however, I began to understand more and take further steps forward. At the beginning you trained under Besnik Hasi, but you didn't make your debut in the first team. Sadam Sulley: Besnik Hasi believed in me and trusted me, he knew my potential. He previously worked with many black players when he was in Anderlecht. Then we went to the pre-season camp to Austria. Later, the Polish Super Cup was waiting for us with Lech Poznań. That day the trainer called me and said: "You must be ready. Maybe you will start the match in the basic composition, because you did well in Austria. Everything goes in the right direction. I will use you on the pitch and then you will improve with each passing day. " So I was supposed to play. When I changed clothes in the locker room, I found out that this would not happen. Team leader Konrad Paśniewski said that some of my documents had not yet been sent from Ghana, so I couldn't go out on the pitch. From that moment everything broke down. I trained intensively, the trainer said I was making progress, we often talked to each other. Then came the time for qualifying for the Champions League, Polish Cup and Premier League. The meeting schedule was tight. Besnik Hasi wanted to give me a chance, but at that time there was a change of coach. If the Albanian stayed in Legia for a longer time, I would probably have the opportunity to play in several meetings and show the fans and the club what I can do. Then you moved to Legia's reserves. In the third meeting in the second team you scored a goal. It looked good, but you didn't play regularly. Sadam Sulley: Young players do not always have the right way of thinking. This causes some problems on the pitch, you are not fully focused on what you are doing and you focus on what is happening around the ball. When I was moved to the second team, I did not think positively. A moment earlier I was in the first team and I wanted to fight there for the composition. I started to play in the reserves, I scored a goal, but the rule in the form of a limit for players from outside the European Union, which was more stringent than in the Premier League, stood in the way. At that time, three-four players who were on the defensive were included in the reserve. For the trainer it was a difficult situation in the context of possible changes, because the defenders must be in the game and are usually from the first to the last minute. This is one of the reasons I didn't have enough opportunities to play in the III league. At the end of the 2016/17 season, you often played in reserves. Did you feel you could get a chance in the first team? Sadam Sulley: Yes. When I was in the reserves, I did my best and wanted to play regularly in the second team. I knew I had skills that I can show to Legia supporters and make them happy. I still think I could do it. I think I deserved to get back to "one". I woke up every day and wanted to be an even better player. The coach of the III-league reserves supported me, said that I was doing well and that I would keep working that way. But at that time no one gave me the opportunity to show talent in the first team. I believed that my place was in the first team squad. I know my potential and I know what I could give the club. I think that then I should be in "one". What do you think - if you had the chance to play in the Polish Premier League, your career would have been different and you could still play in Legia? Sadam Sulley: I'm 100 percent sure of that. Ekstraklasa is a nice league, with beautiful stadiums, great supporters who cheer up enthusiastically. You can also see the presence of the media, journalists who are at every match and watching the struggles from the height of the stands. When you play and experience all this, confidence increases. If I could prove myself against the background of the Premier League in the colors of Legia, my whole career would look completely different. What did you learn in Warsaw? Sadam Sulley: Many things. I gained both as a footballer and a human. I have learned to be patient and hard work. And that you always have to be ready, because you don't know when the chance for the long-awaited performance will come. Then you have to prove the value and present yourself from the best side. During my stay in Legia I had contact with many great people. Jakub Rzeźniczak, who was then a captain, is a great guy, I learned a lot from him. Guilherme turned out to be an amazing man. Just like Thibault Moulin and Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe, with whom I recently spoke. I had the opportunity to play with Belgian, who is like a brother to me. I watched how he behaved on and off the pitch, and how respectfully he relates to everything. To be honest, Legia greatly influenced my development. How do you remember your stay in Poland? Sadam Sulley: Arriving in Warsaw and joining Legia was the best decision I made. My only regret is that I could not show my supporters playing in the first team and make them believe in me. But memories of Legia will be remembered forever. I came to the club with a rich history, great fans, based in a great city. Regardless of where you were in Warsaw, you felt respect. Every person I met at Łazienkowska Street turned out to be friendly and good: from the president, to the training staff, chefs ... Everyone wanted it to be the best, it's amazing. I estimate the time spent in Poland in superlatives. Would you ever like to come back to Legia, to Warsaw? Sadam Sulley: Yes of course. When I left the club, I felt that I just couldn't complete the mission. I believe I could help the team win trophies and prove their usefulness. I would be very grateful if you could come back. It doesn't matter if such a chance would arise today, tomorrow or just in the future. I would be very pleased about that. From Legia you went on a two-year loan to Zemplín, you could play in the Slovak Premier League. Sadam Sulley:  That's right. At some point, I realized that I need regular play. I was not satisfied with the trainings alone and the lack of frequent performances on the pitch. A player builds confidence when he is on the field and plays football. I believe that I made the best decision possible. I wanted to go on loan to another club from the Polish Premier League, but it did not happen. I tried to change something. I came to Zemplin, in which I got a chance to show myself in the highest class. I played there for two years and gained valuable experience. In many matches I played from beginning to end, I felt that I was developing and going forward. From this season you represent another Slovak club, FK Senica. You went there as a definitive transfer from Legia. Sadam Sulley: When I ran out of loans for Zemplin, I thought Legia would show me. It seemed to me that my time was coming in Poland and the moment to show my skills. I thought I could fight for the squad and prove that I was ready to compete. During talks with the management, I was told that I had no chance of staying in Warsaw. When you hear these words from the club you love and want to do everything for him, your heart breaks. I felt lost and misunderstood. I was depressed but I had to make a decision. FK Senica made an offer, she was interested in me when I played in Michalovce. I talked to Legia and decided to go to Slovakia. I knew the league there and I knew how it all works. Is this a step forward for me? I think so. I'm in Senica and I'm just fighting whatever the future holds. What is the situation with football in Slovakia regarding the coronavirus? Apparently there are plans to return to the game on June 6. Is it true? Sadam Sulley: Hard to say. The first important fact is that we have resumed training. I focus on classes with the club and do everything to be ready for the league's return. If the government decides we should come back to the game tomorrow or early June, I have to be ready, it's my job. It is not known yet when the games will return. Let's change the subject. The craziest footballer you met in the football locker room? Sadam Sulley: I have some positive players in my mind. Josh Didiba, or FK Senica captain, is a great guy. In Legia, Steeven Langil and Michał Kucharczyk were the leaders. I think that Kuchy is the most positive player I've ever met in Poland. A crazy man whom I liked very much. The biggest joy? Sadam Sulley: When you wake up every morning and are happy to be alive. Everything else will work itself out. Greatest fear? I wouldn't say death. Everyone will ever die, this is the way things are, that's why I don't think about it and I'm not afraid of it. The main problem for me is waking up and finding out that you have lost everything you had. The best player you played with in one team? Sadam Sulley: Vadis Odjijda-Ofoe. Strong, technical with high skills. The football player who plays in front of him can feel comfortable. Belgian can send enough accurate passes. The best one I've played against? Moha from Slovan Bratislava. Very fast and talented. An amazing footballer. A youth player who could make a more serious career? Sadam Sulley: I would point to one of my friends - Abdul Aziz Nurudeen. I think he deserves more. He is still competing in the Ghanaian Premier League, playing for Hearts of Oak, which is one of the leading teams in the country. He is also a youth representative of the country. I think he should perform in an even better club. He has great talent, he is great. Biggest dream? Sadam Sulley: Winning the Champions League, performance at the world championship with the Ghana team, as well as playing for major European clubs. I want this to happen. As for private dreams, I would like to marry my wonderful bride and have a child with her. What does Sadam Sulley do outside of the ball? Sadam Sulley: I like to move. I played basketball and table tennis. I am happy to travel. But not alone, because it is not pleasant, only with the bride. Sometimes I go to the cinema or for coffee. However, I am a householder, I spend a lot of free time in the apartment. Then I watch movies with great pleasure, at this moment my favorite is "Divine Intervention". This is a sports film that shows that faith in God combined with hard work can help you reach your goal. I recommend to everyone. Source: Legia.net  source: https://ghanasoccernet.com/

[guttersvillemayor]

Dasie Who?

[It was just another Tuesday night. At least that’s what I told myself. It made it easier on nights when I could feel my father’s presence. Knew that he’d have something to say about how I spent my nights. But then again he really couldn’t say anything. He died when I was 11. A robbery gone wrong. Which is funny in some weird, twisted way seeing as he’d been in actual war zones and lived to tell the tale, but the moment he was stuck stateside he was killed. 

We’d just moved to Seattle the year before. My father had been transferred to the Naval Station Bremerton and we lived at Fort Lawton with my mother. That was until he was killed. Then we moved from apartment to apartment with my then-baby brother Noah. And then my brother Jace. Plus twin sisters Sara and Anna. To say my mother went down a dark path is putting it lightly. I didn’t even realize until I was 14 that Noah wasn’t my father’s son like I thought. But apparently my father had known about my mother’s checkered past. 

I came to learn of it the hard way. How she spent the little money we got from my father’s pension on drugs and god knows what instead of on her children. I had never known why my parents weren’t married until I’d seen my mother in action. He was waiting to make sure she wasn’t just trying to trap him. That might make my father seem like a bad man, but you’d have to know my mother and how horrible she could be. I’m sure in some messed up sense she loves us. At least I’d like to think that for my siblings sake. But considering we hadn’t seen in her in over a year it was highly unlikely. 

When I turned 16, I petitioned for emancipation and begged to take care of my siblings. Thankfully an old military buddy of my father, Lieutenant Commander Austin McDaniels stepped in to help keep us together and became my siblings’ legal guardian until I could prove that I’d be responsible enough. It was a very rare case, but I was more than willing to play up the fact that my father was a vet and that my mother was clearly a trainwreck. My school records were decent and I had already gotten a job and had a car. By the time I was 18 I was the legal guardian, and McDaniels transferred to a new post when I turned 19. 

It was challenging at times. And I gave up my own dreams to take care of my family. But I wouldn’t change a second of it. Even the bad parts. Like the jobs I had to take to make end meets. When I was old enough, the remainder of my father’s pension was put into a savings account. It’s not much, but it’s good to have in case of emergency and I try to leave it alone for only real emergencies. It would be too easy to take out money for anything from rent to food if I didn’t have that thought in mind. And for a while when rent was hard to keep up with, I really had to stop myself from doing that. Instead I found myself working for Pierre. 

Pierre Scott was a friend of a friend and my boss. When I fell on hard times and needed money fast, an old friend from high school suggested I go work for him. The moment I walked into the Forbidden Desires Gentlemen’s Club I knew I was going down a path I most likely wouldn’t come back from. Any dreams that I had would have to be completely forsaken. Thankfully Pierre only needed escorts at the time. Arm candy to men with money who for whatever reasons needed to come across it this way. I learned really early it’s best not to ask questions. I cleaned up nice, was polite and well mannered. And that made me a very popular commodity. 

When I first started, I was nervous about exactly what was required of an escort. My heart was racing so hard up until Pierre assured me that no one was allowed to touch me without my permission. He made it clear anything I wanted to do was my prerogative and that he’d have my back if someone got handsy. That seemed weird but he valued running a respectable business. He saw it as something that could benefit both the girls and the men as long as there were rules and boundaries which were respected. I’d worked for him ever since. Most days it didn’t bother me, dressing up fancy for some man who just needed me to look pretty. Some of my regulars had actually become weird defacto friends in a sense. 

But like I said, on days when the memory of my father weighed on my mind it was a bit more of a challenge to get out of my head. I was currently in the back room of the club, the kids staying with our neighbors the Fredericks, getting ready for a night out. The gentleman was new and I hoped it’d be a simple evening with not much talking. Sometimes conversations, especially small talk, was hard for me. It was best to be seen and not heard. 

The pearl earrings that we were allowed to borrow from Pierre’s collection easily slipped into place and I knew I still had a few minutes to kill. Looking in the mirror only made me dread this night. And I didn’t like dreading a job that I usually enjoyed. So I set out for a quiet place to wait. My fancy dress swooshing with every step up the backstairs. Escort services were just one part of the Forbidden Desire’s offering. The other was very in house. Soft, slinky music filling the room as my hand pushed open the velvet door to the balcony. Not many people were up in the back area unless they just came for the view. Instead there was a decent crowd downstairs enjoying the company of the ladies that worked the floor. Dancing and entertaining them. 

Classy, not trashy as I once described it to a friend. I’d never worked it, but I would be lying if I said I’d never thought about it. There was a fascination more towards the dancing than anything else. When I was a little girl my father took me to the ballet. It was actually one of the few things we did on a regular basis that I remember and one of the last things we did together before he died. I remember being mesmerized by the dancers and wanted to be just like them. So I took ballet classes. Once he died it was harder to keep up with it, but I did as best I could. When I danced I felt connected to something I couldn’t describe. I felt connected to him and my childhood. My eyes were trained on the current dancer up on the stage. Regina. And she was good. Graceful and seductive and just mesmerizing like the ballerinas from my childhood. 

I was so entranced that I didn’t even notice Pierre walk up next to me. “You know, I remember Jake telling me that you used to dance in high school. Ballet in fact. Said you were pretty damn good and could have become better had you gone to an academy or something. What kept you?” My eyes flicker from Regina to meet his. I was pretty closed lip about my past. People knew what they needed to know and nothing more. Pierre probably knew the most out of anyone in the whole building but even that was limited. Over the years I’d learned to trust him. As much as I could trust any one. 

So in a rare moment of honesty, I mumbled softly as my eyes turned back to Regina.] It’s hard to pay for that kind of education when you’ve got four children who depend on you and barely any money. Being a dancer is a nice dream, but that’s all it is. [Pierre is quiet for a moment before humming softly. “Well with Paige quitting last week, I’ve got an open dancer spot. If you’re interested, you could split shifts between your escort work and dancing. I’d be more than willing to give you a bump in profit if…” He trails off and my eyes cut back to him. Eyebrow arched in curiosity. 

Pierre wasn’t a bad guy but this was sounding too much like a Pretty Woman scenario for my taste. Once he knows he’s got my attention he continues. “... if you spend that extra money towards dance school.” The incredulous look on my face is hard to disguise. Pierre must be drunk or something and I have no problem telling him so.] Hahaha, very funny. But what you're talking about is just ridiculous. Go back to your office, Pierre before someone else realizes you’re drunk and takes advantage of the situation. [I push off the rail I’d been leaning on and am ready to head back downstairs when his hand catches mine. Letting out a soft gasp, I can’t help but turn back to meet his gaze once more. 

There’s something about the look he’s giving me that has me worried. Not that he’d do something out of line, but that he might cross a line that would make being here uncomfortable and I actually really like working here. He seems to pick up on my distress and slowly lets go of my hand so that it drops by my side. His tone still firm. “I’m serious, Dasie. You make me a lot of money and I’d be a fool to give you an out. But you deserve more out of life and if I can help you find it some way, I want to. So come in early tomorrow and work with Regina a bit. See how you like dancing on the floor and if it’s something you like doing and interests you, the job is yours. Just promise me you’ll think about the other part. You’d make one stunning ballerina.” I swallow the lump that has formed in my throat and can’t bring myself to say anything. So I simply nod my head and back away towards the stairs. 

It was surely time for my appointment and I needed to distract myself from the bizarre turn this night has taken. There’s a separate entrance for the escort business. A more discreet one and even an area for limos and cars to stop by and pick us up. It almost looks like a hotel lobby and valet service. It’s quite the disguise and I can see the receptionist looking for me when I push through the double doors. Seems I was a tad behind, though one look at my client for the night and I knew he wouldn’t mind my tardiness. 

Effortlessly, I glide across the tile floor and slip my arm into his with a wide smile on my face.] Good evening, sorry for the delay. [“Oh it’s nothing, Sadie. I hope you like the ballet. We’re going to the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s performance of Sleeping Beauty and they have gala after that.” My lips pull back into a wide smile but it’s mostly for show. Because for as much as I love the ballet, and it’s been so long since I’ve had a chance to go, that is the last thing I want to do after how my night started. But tonight I wasn’t Dasie Wallace. I was Sadie and my date was taking me to see the ballet.] 

[kartiavelino]

How Tiffany Trump’s World Diverged From Her Famous Family

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Asked in October 2016 if she was interested in joining the family business one day, Tiffany Trump replied, “Of course I’m interested…but I’m applying to law school, though, so I like to bring a different kind of skill set to the company.” At this point, it certainly can’t hurt to have a lawyer in the family. If Tiffany is still interested in the family business at all. Raised by a single mom in California and then all of a sudden thrust into the he-has-five-kids spotlight when her father ran for president of the United States, Tiffany ended up the unwitting poster girl for privileged paternal neglect, the forgotten daughter next to favored princess Ivanka Trump. Two and a half years in, she remains a go-to punchline—not because of anything she has done, but mainly when comedians want to reiterate just how little they think of Donald Trump‘s family values. But Tiffany isn’t asking for anyone’s pity. The 25-year-old Georgetown Law student and businessman boyfriend Michael Boulos were in the south of France where the 72nd Cannes Film Festival is taking place this week, photographed at the 5-star Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic, one of the spots frequented by celebs during the reliably decadent affair. Pierre Suu/GC Images While Ivanka can now only dream of the widely admired, relatively uncontroversial life she led before the 2016 election, Tiffany has managed to avoid that level of scrutiny precisely because, famous last name aside, she didn’t grow up with her half-siblings in a gilded penthouse in Trump Tower. (For the brief period she did live there, the other kids were elsewhere with their mom.) “Since I have grown up on the West Coast, I’m definitely different from all of them growing up on the East Coast,” Tiffany told Oprah Winfrey in 2013. “It was great for me getting to grow up as a normal kid just out of the spotlight, versus all of them growing up in New York. They always had that intense media and spotlight on them.” Trump “would say that it’s really a miracle that [Tiffany] is as well-adjusted as she is, and that she’s accomplished anything,” a Trump friend told Vanity Fair‘s Emily Jane Fox, author of the 2017 book Born Trump. “He gets that he screwed it up when it came to Tiffany, and this is a man who doesn’t admit that he got it wrong on anything.” Trump himself has acknowledged that he was always working throughout his kids’ childhoods, and wasn’t a particularly hands-on dad—for the older Trump kids or for now 13-year-old Barron Trump, his son with first lady Melania Trump. But true to form, Ivanka even quibbled with his modest estimation, telling ABC News’ Barbara Walters in November 2015, “He was very available to us.” “Our times together,” added Tiffany, by then posing as a full-time member of the fold, “we’re learning, you know, playing in his office. He would always sneak me down to get a candy bar in the lobby.” (Her mother’s a health nut, so that would have been a very real treat.) John Barrett/Photolink/Mediapunch/Shutterstock Her mom, Marla Maples, married Trump in December 1993, when Tiffany was 2 months old. Howard Stern, O.J. Simpson and Rosie O’Donnell were among the 1,100 people who attended their wedding at the Plaza in New York. The real estate tycoon had been through an impressively messy split with first wife Ivana Trump, the parents of three waging a tabloid war against each other via the New York Post (his) and New York Daily News (hers) before finally reaching a divorce settlement in 1990, in which Ivana got custody of Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump. Trump hadn’t been planning to get married again, or have more children, at least not so soon. Davidoff Studios/Getty Images “I’m glad it happened,” he said on The Howard Stern Show in 2004, per old tapes acquired by Newsweek. “I have a great little daughter, Tiffany. But, you know, at the time it was like, ‘Excuse me, what happened?’ And then I said, ‘Well, what are we going to do about this?’ [Marla] said, ‘Are you serious? It’s the most beautiful day of our lives.’ I said, ‘Oh, great.'” Still, Trump called the New York Times 20 minutes after his fourth child was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Palm Beach, Fla., telling the reporter, “We have a perfect little girl, a combination in looks of both of us, to go with my three other wonderful children.” Tiffany, incidentally, is what he wanted to name his firstborn daughter, but Ivana wouldn’t hear of it. “Everything involved with Trump Tower has been successful, and Trump Tower was built with Tiffany’s air rights,” he told the Times, referring to jeweler Tiffany & Co., which was next door on 5th Avenue. “But I’ve also always loved the name.” For her husband’s 50th birthday, Marla commissioned an oil painting of Trump with all four of his children to replace one he had of just him with Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric that hung in his office. The new one featured little Tiffany sitting in Ivanka’s lap. Trump and Maples separated in 1997 but were still technically married when Trump met future first lady Melania Knauss at a nightclub in 1998, the divorce taking years to figure out because Maples was contesting their prenuptial agreement (as Ivana did before her), which had promised her between $1 million and $5 million if they split up before reaching five years of marriage. “It’s a hard, painful, ugly tool,” Trump later reflected to New York Magazine about prenups. “Believe me, there’s nothing fun about it. But there comes a time when you have to say, ‘Darling, I think you’re magnificent, and I care for you deeply, but if things don’t work out, this is what you’re going to get.'” (He and Melania did sign one as well.) Before the divorce was finalized in 1999 (reportedly for about $2 million plus child support), Maples, an actress, model and former beauty queen, relocated with Tiffany to California, where she scored the occasional acting job, but mainly juggled hosting gigs and embraced wellness and spirituality, eventually having her own radio show, Awakening With Marla. “We settled into a really beautiful life in Los Angeles where we went to church, the Kabbalah Center, school, soccer, basketball and everything for her to be able to live in a world where she would not necessarily be recognized as the daughter of Donald Trump and Marla Maples,” Maples told Healthy Wealthy nWise. “My goal for her was to let her do as I was longing to do; to find her own identity and her own self. We pulled away from that world in a big way and moved out to a suburb in Los Angeles. I cooked dinner five nights out of the week. The other two nights we loved sushi, so we’d be out having sushi. It was really all about getting that little girl to school every morning. I would get to the gym and do my workouts, and then my work would begin.” Davidoff Studios/Getty Images Tiffany mainly visited with her dad (and future stepmom Melania) at Mar-a-Lago on her spring breaks, and occasionally in New York, while Trump would fly out to Los Angeles for important school events, or see her when he was in town on business. “She’d like to get to know her father better and spend time with him like his other children did,” Maples told the New York Times in 2016, “by going to his office and watching him work. Only now, he’s not in the office anymore. He’s on the campaign trail.” She added, “I had the blessing of raising her pretty much on my own.” (Ivana Trump, too, has commented to that effect, that she raised the kids till they were 21 and then handed them off to their father and his business, the two inextricably linked.) Tiffany has always been exceptionally close to her mom, telling Winfrey in 2013, “My friends are always like, ‘Wow, you guys have a really good relationship.’ She’s with me a lot of the time and people find that kind of shocking.” On this past Mother’s Day, Tiffany wrote on Instagram, which boasts numerous photos of her and Maples, “Thank you @itsmarlamaples for being there for me always and guiding me throughout my life! I wouldn’t be where I am today without your unconditional love!” “She’s a great girl. She is full of a lot of love,” Maples told Healthy Wealthy nWise about her then-15-year-old daughter in 2009. “Now she wants to start on her career path, so we’re working on her music. She’s starred in a couple of plays. She did a fantastic job. It’s my career and it’s her career, with a lot of loving times in between. She knows that’s the core.” In her 2009 book The Trump Card (dedicated in part to Tiffany and Barron, “the next generation”), in an anecdote about how none of them took their family’s wealth for granted, Ivanka recalled Tiffany coming to her for advice the previous Christmas about how to talk to their dad about acquiring some extra spending money—nothing too outrageous, Ivanka noted, just a raise in her allowance. Because she hadn’t spent nearly as much time around their father as her other siblings had, Tiffany understandably hadn’t benefited from Trump’s largess as much, “just by virtue of lack of proximity.” Knowing Tiffany was nervous about asking, “Big Sis did an end-around to save Tiffany the trouble,” Ivanka wrote. “I didn’t tell her, of course, but I went to our father and suggested he think about surprising Tiffany with a credit card for Christmas, with a small monthly allowance on it. Sure enough, he did just that. Tiffany was thrilled and relieved. And appreciative.” MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images Though not seeing her dad all that much meant she probably saw her siblings less, Tiffany was one of Ivanka’s bridesmaids, along with Don Jr.’s then-wife Vanessa, when she married Jared Kushner in 2009. Ivanka also helped Tiffany get a summer internship at Vogue in 2015.  “We would see each other on all of the holidays and talk to each other frequently,” Ivanka told People in 2016. “She’s my little sister! I’ve been close to Tiffany her whole life, and I really love her.” But she paid Tiffany the ultimate Trump compliment while talking to the New York Times: “Tiffany has always been a very special person, very confident, very driven, always the hardest worker and not bashful about it. A lot of people are happy to get by without doing a lot of work, or work hard and pretend they don’t. She is proud of her work.” For Big Sis’ birthday last fall, Tiffany wrote on Instagram (a few days later), “Wishing my big sister and best friend a happy birthday (sorry for the late post, but you know my law school life haha) I love you so much!” Tiffany may have inherited the performance gene from her mom—she recorded a dance-pop tune in 2011 called “Like a Bird” with rapper Logiq and once told Oprah she was considering pursuing music as a career—but after graduation from the private Viewpoint School in Calabasas, Calif., she chose to attend her father’s alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. She started college in 2012, just as her father, who had become more famous than ever as host of The Apprentice, started publicly questioning whether or not President Barack Obama was really born in the United States. Dad becoming what’s known as a “birther” didn’t do anything to help the Trump name on the Ivy League campus, but Tiffany’s spot in her privileged social circle—her group of friends was nicknamed the “Snap Pack” for all the chronicling they did of their highbrow exploits on social media—was not threatened. She never appeared on her dad’s reality show, but she and her friends were approached about doing their own. “It’s easy money…” Tiffany commented to DuJour in explaining why they never accepted the offer. “But,” interjected her pal Gaïa Jacquet-Marisse (great-great granddaughter of artist Henri Matisse), “it conflicts so much with all of our different personal goals. Besides, it’s not about money or fame. It’s about our friendships. It’s about us being f–king amazing people and loving each other.” Tiffany graduated from Penn in 2016 with degrees in Sociology, concentrating in Law & Society, and Urban Studies. By then, the ducklings had fallen into line. Richard Drew/AP/REX/Shutterstock “He’s true to himself and he speaks in a way that the average person can understand,” Tiffany told Barbara Walters in 2015 when Walters asked Trump’s four adult children if their dad had said—during what was then only five months on the campaign trail—anything that had made them cringe. “I think that’s refreshing for everyone.” (Eric Trump had immediately answered, “Truthfully, no.”)  The least talked-about Trump child told Walters, “It’s all I know. I’m so happy to be Tiffany Trump. I’m so happy to be, you know, in the family I’m in, with my siblings and my father and my mother.” Melania gave only a handful of interviews before (and since) the election. As the campaign got increasingly ugly, it was left largely to Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric to talk to the press, much of which involved defending whatever their father had said or tweeted on any given day. But Tiffany did join all of them in giving a solo speech at the Republican National Convention in July 2016 in Cleveland. She didn’t have all that many applicable warm and fuzzy anecdotes to share, but she said her father used to write “sweet notes” on her report cards, and she had kept them all. In an email to the New York Times in October 2016, when asked about his younger daughter, Trump wrote, “Tiffany is a tremendous young woman with a big and beautiful heart. She was always a great student and a very popular person no matter where she went. I am incredibly proud of Tiffany and how well she has done.” In the meantime, Tiffany’s mom praised her daughter for the way in which she was handling being in the public eye. Michael Bocchieri/Getty Images “She is able to step in there and be her true self who loves her mother and her father and her family,” Maples told People in the spring of 2016, while she was competing on Dancing With the Stars. “Having raised her, I knew she would ultimately have a public life. But watching her sit there in that arena [during a recent Trump Town Hall] with that much pressure on her and see how the love we have shared through the years has shaped her. She has become a woman. I could not have been more proud of her.” And then, unexpectedly for most, Trump won the election, and Tiffany became a first daughter—just like Ivanka, only without the heavy expectations and, therefore, without all the blowback from Trump critics. Win McNamee/Getty Images Marla, who also attended the nominating convention in the summer of 2016, was in Washington D.C. to support Tiffany during all the inauguration festivities, the surprise culmination of the interminable presidential race, and where she shared spotlight after spotlight with her siblings. Tiffany, perhaps because she was with a boyfriend and not a spouse, stayed the night after the Jan. 20 inauguration ball at Trump International Hotel in D.C., rather than at the White House with everybody else. The inauguration was on a Friday, and by Sunday everyone except for Ivanka and Jared, who had already moved to Washington, went back to New York. That included Melania, who stayed with Barron at Trump Tower until his school year ended before moving into the White House full-time. Meanwhile, like her siblings, Tiffany has had a Secret Service detail since before the election, albeit a smaller one than father of five Don Jr. and mother of three Ivanka. A patron of trendy East Hampton café the Golden Pear told Born Trump author Emily Jane Fox that, compared to how customers reacted when Chelsea Clinton walked in one day with her detail in the 1990s, Tiffany showing up with her boyfriend in May 2017 was a nonevent. “The world basically stopped” when Chelsea was there, the customer said. “For Tiffany, no one really noticed, and the people who did were intentionally looking the opposite direction.” Someone approached to ask if he could use an extra chair at her table, and not even her security blinked.  To this day, Tiffany and Barron’s code names remain unreported, while Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric are, respectively, Marvel, Mountaineer and Marksman. Melania is Muse. But since it’s impossible for the first lady or other first daughter to do anything normal out in public, shouldn’t Tiffany be relieved that she can more or less do as she pleases? Last summer, for instance, she went to London and then hung out with Lindsay Lohan in Mykonos, where the Mean Girls star was getting her MTV reality show Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club off the ground. (Lohan, incidentally, has been more complimentary toward Tiffany’s father than some, tweeting in July 2017, “THIS IS our president. Stop #bullying him & start trusting him. Thank you personally for supporting #THEUSthat people should support their president.”) Tiffany and Boulos, whom she reportedly met in Greece, also vacationed earlier this year in Phuket and, this week, she looked to be living her best life in Cannes. “Tiffany is happy she has so far been able to keep things with Michael under the radar,” a source told Page Six in November about her relationship with Boulos, who is of Lebanese descent and grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, where his wealthy family does business. “But she introduced him to her family at Thanksgiving, and he comes across as a very intelligent young man from a great family. There was no mention of the president’s unfortunate comment about African nations.” As a student at Georgetown Law, one who longingly posts throwback pics from her summer vacation while hunkered down at the library, just like anybody else would, Tiffany once again lives near her dad and certainly seems to be making the most of the proximity. On Instagram she posted photos of herself and Boulos in front of the Christmas tree in the White House’s Red Room and visiting Mar-a-Lago for Easter. Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage Tiffany told People in 2017, “I think regardless of distance, I don’t think that dictates any relationship strains. I really have an emotional bond with him and he was always just the funniest, most loving father.” But in April 2018, insiders told People that Tiffany, after growing closer to her father on the campaign trail, once again felt like a second-tier Trump kid. “Since the inauguration, Tiffany and her father have sometimes gone for months without speaking and she went a very long time without seeing him,” a source close to her said. “The last time she was at a family function with him, it was awkward for her and she didn’t feel totally welcome.” (The White House didn’t comment.) Another source said that their relationship wasn’t bad, it was just different than his connection with the other kids, due mainly to her growing up on the opposite side of the country. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images And just as people have wondered about Melania and Ivanka’s true political leanings—not as much lately, but a lot at first—Tiffany has been the subject of the same sort of speculation. Her date to Trump’s inauguration was then-boyfriend Ross Mechanic, a registered Democrat who she met at Penn—and whose real-estate attorney father donated thousands to Hillary Clinton‘s presidential campaign, according to the New York Daily News. They dated for two years before breaking up toward the end of 2017, when she moved to D.C. for law school. A source insisted to Page Six that it was a geographical, rather than a political, issue, noting that Mechanic lived in New York. Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images And though she can buy an iced coffee without causing a stir, it did not go unnoticed when Tiffany “liked” an Instagram post featuring several photos from the March for Our Lives rally for gun control in D.C. last year, with the caption, “Next massacre will be the GOP in the midterm elections.” And at the State of the Union in February, her all-white ensemble prompted speculation that she was dressed in solidarity with the sea of Democratic congresswomen also wearing white. But Tiffany wears white a lot, and she has been careful to not actually say or tweet anything that contradicts what her family seems to stand for these days. Her “I just voted” post in 2016 included the hashtag “#TrumpTrain” as one might expect, but even in 2014 she tagged a voting post with “@pennvotered,” seemingly a nod to voting Republican.  Late last year, she shared a photo on Instagram Story of herself and a friend checking out the game Trumped Up Cards—a Cards Against Humanity-style word-association game “For People With Big Hands”—at a Georgetown bar. And while that raised some eyebrows among those hoping for a sign of anti-Trump life in the universe, she may as well have been wearing a jacket that said, “I really don’t care, do u?”  https://www.eonline.com/news/1043254/how-tiffany-trump-s-world-diverged-from-her-famous-family?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories The post How Tiffany Trump’s World Diverged From Her Famous Family appeared first on Top Of The World. https://kartiavelino.com/how-tiffany-trumps-world-diverged-from-her-famous-family/

[fitono]

Focus on Weight Loss Behaviors, Not Meals, Exercise and the Myth of a “Damaged Metabolism”

One time a client who wanted to lose weight broke down and cried right before our training session. It was jarring, but in time I’ve learned that this is not uncommon.

Clients count on our expertise to help them lose weight, if that’s their goal, but we must also realize that by the time they come to us they’re battered and worn from myriad setbacks and are desperate for hope. Understand that, based on their past experiences with failure, they’d rather not try, because potentially stumbling again (even if it is a tiny remote chance) is too psychologically painful, as this study in Diabetes Care suggests.

Perhaps you have good intentions and have read all of the cutting-edge tactics on helping a client get the results they want, but how can you be sure you’re not hurting the client further — psychologically, emotionally, or maybe physically?

That’s what I want to go over in this article, friends. Specifically, I will outline:

How some weight loss recommendations can do more harm than good

The myth of a “damaged metabolism”

The right approach to weight loss that the best coaches implement

Here we go!

“[Individuals with obesity] feel a shame that they are failures, and failure itself is such a powerful thing that it eats away at a person. How do you fuel positive change through guilt and shame and feeling like a failure?” – Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, MD

One of the most important steps we can take toward facilitating a client’s success is to (respectfully) address misinformation, correctly assess her sticking points, and steer her toward behaviors that support weight loss (and keeping it off long-term).

We know that to achieve weight loss we must induce a calorie deficit, which can be done by restricting calories and following an exercise program. Both are integral parts of a weight loss plan, but both can also be taken to the extreme and leave clients miserable, physiologically and emotionally, and cause them to fall off the wagon. An “extreme” plan might include 60 minutes of cardio, six or seven days per week, and lifting five times per week.

If you make such recommendations, you’re being an irresponsible coach, hands down. In fact, you could be doing possible damage to your client.

It’s Not JUST a Calorie Deficit

While it is true that to lose weight a person must be in a caloric deficit, we know that weight doesn’t magically go away so effortlessly and predictably in the real world.

Weight loss already is not easy, but combine a difficult process with the plethora of misinformation or incomplete information and promises of “quick and easy” fixes, and you have a recipe to set people up for failure.

Jordan Syatt, a personal trainer whose impressive client roster includes influencers like Gary Vaynerchuk, says that poorly prescribed fat loss plans are ones that:

“Don’t offer any support outside of nutrition. As in there’s no accountability. No motivation. No check-ins or asking, “hey, how are you feeling?” Nutrition (and strength) coaching is far more than just dishing out numbers and programs. It’s about getting to know your client and how to not only motivate them, but help them learn how to motivate themselves.”

Bad fat loss plans don’t offer any support outside of nutrition. – @SyattFitness Click To Tweet

There’s a sweet spot for caloric restriction that can nudge weight loss, but still avoid possible physiological and emotional damage to the client. Studies show that while exercise is important, weight loss from exercise alone is modest and must be supplemented with a sound diet that leaves the client in a deficit.

But the amount of physical activity needed to actually maintain weight loss is high and individualized. For example, individuals in the National Weight Control Registry who have maintained weight loss have activity levels that are equivalent to walking approximately 28 miles per week. That’s a ton of steps!

In other words, you need to understand two important things:

Your client needs high levels of physical activity.

But your client’s high levels of activity do not have to be vigorous.

That means your client does not need to do hours and hours of slogging away on the elliptical or treadmill each day. Rather, they’d likely benefit from moderately intense cardiovascular activity for 30 minutes three times per week, with increased walking throughout the day.

Example: Suggest that your client take a 10-minute walk during lunch breaks and a 20-30-minute walk after dinner. Either suggestion is easier to maintain compared to 60 minutes of pounding the stairmaster every day of the week.

Is It Possible to Harm Someone’s Metabolism?

You’ve probably heard horror stories of clients whose metabolism was completely wrecked from following low-calorie diets and programs that involved superhuman levels of activity.

It’s not hard to see why people can be misinformed. Precision Nutrition published an excellent article, written by Brian St. Pierre, RD, on this very topic. As he wrote in the article, the equation for changes in body composition is:

Changes in body stores = energy in – energy out

The above equation holds true for everyone, but there are a lot of other factors that must be considered, such as:

Sex hormone levels

Macronutrient intake

Exercise style

Age

Medication

Genetic predisposition

The “energy in” component is simply more complicated than most of us think. The number on the menu or food label isn’t necessarily accurate and can be off by as much as 25 percent. To further muddy the waters, the amount of calories our individual body can absorb is different from the number or label on the menu too.

Thus, it’s tough to accurately measure how many calories we’re really eating. Can you unequivocally proclaim that you ate exactly 500 calories just because McDonald’s website says the Big Mac is 500 calories? No, you can’t take those numbers at face value.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with the calorie-in-calorie-out equation.

Plugging the “right numbers” into the equation is challenging, but the point I’m really trying to highlight is that attributing a lack of weight loss progress to “metabolic damage” is merely convenient and misleading. The truth is, creating a negative energy balance is the only way an individual will lose weight. Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, a board certified family and obesity medicine physician, states:

“Low-calorie diets are the main treatment for obesity. We can’t get around this. They don’t damage metabolism. The only way to lose weight is to be on a lower energy diet. It doesn’t have to be very low (800 or less), but has to be lower than what they are on now. If done properly, it is fine and actually evidence-based.”

Hear that? Low-calorie diets are fine and effective for fat loss. In fact, you can be aggressive, but knowing when to not be aggressive is key, Dr. Nadolsky says. For example, if your client has a binge-eating disorder, an aggressively low-calorie diet might not be ideal nor sustainable. Plus, low-calorie diets can become problematic if your client has a history of rebound. St. Pierre explains why in his article:

“Because of adaptation your body undergoes in response to fat loss, energy out for those who have lost significant weight will always be lower for people who were always lean…Unfortunately, because of this adaptive response, someone who has dieted down will often require 5-15% fewer calories per day to maintain the weight and physical activity level than someone who has always been that weight.”

So you would be messing up your client if you set her up with a low-calorie diet that causes her weight to constantly fluctuate. Additionally, Syatt shares that the TRUE marker of a good weight loss diet isn’t whether you cram crazy amounts of protein or leafy greens or superfoods (whatever that means) into it, although those can be beneficial.

A good weight loss diet is sustainable. Syatt says:

“I’ve seen some coaches put normal “average joe” clients on 800 calories per day for months at a time, which clearly doesn’t work because no one can stick to it so they end up binging and gaining weight.”

Yikes. Since you’re reading this article, you know that there’s a better way, of course.

Focus on Behaviors, Not the Meal and Exercise Plan

“Understanding the who, what, when, where, and why behind each client. It’s not just about physiology. It’s psychology. And the more you understand the emotional side of why people make certain choices regarding their health, the better you and your clients will do.” – Jordan Syatt

There are always certain keystone behaviors that must be reinforced in order for successful fat loss to occur, which is why I prefer a flexible approach.

In a recent research experiment, several colleagues and I interviewed over 200 participants with weight loss goals. We examined each of their perceived weight loss barriers. Based on our initial results, it was clear that an individualized approach is necessary (see graphs below). For example, look at the variation in responses for lack of accountability. One person may need to address this barrier, whereas accountability may be unimportant for another.

  When designing an individualized plan, you should first understand the machinery behind motivation and its relation to behavioral change, and have a system in place to assess behaviors that facilitate caloric restriction.

What does this mean for you?

You need to establish an environment where a client has competence and autonomy. Here’s what I mean:

Competence: Competence is providing your client with the skills and tools necessary for behavioral change. For example, a client may express interest in learning resistance training, so you coach the client on correct exercise technique to help them feel competent. You want to avoid overly challenging him and help him gain mastery in whatever behavior he decides to pursue.

Autonomy: Autonomy is allowing your clients to have personal choice in adopting health behaviors because they would be more likely to comply when they personally value a behavior. For example, if a person has no interest in cutting back soda consumption, don’t force this behavior upon her. It will likely threaten her sense of autonomy and may backfire. To support autonomy, give the client a personal choice and help when she explores her barriers to her own weight loss. To increase personal motivation, help her link chosen behaviors to life values. For example, find out what the client really cares about in life (i.e. being a good parent or going on adventures) and help them create a link between those — what they are doing in the gym and what they are eating — to these life values.

The next step is to think about a system that can assess their needs and be flexible based on the client’s needs and desires.

Using a Survey to Help Give Your Clients Autonomy and Competence

One way to reinforce autonomy and competence is to survey your clients and identify those behaviors which clients want to start improving first. You can easily make surveys using free tools like Survey Monkey or simple forms from Google (like these).

It is important to address behaviors that need to be adopted in order for the client to be successful, which you can find out from surveying them. I use a linear scale (0-10 or 0% to 100%) that measures their confidence toward performing certain behaviors. (You can reference the National Weight Control Registry for ideas on some of these behaviors.)

  Confidence is important, but so is autonomy. A client may be very confident in their abilities to do a behavior, but has no desire to actually do the behavior. So let the client pick the behavior they do want to work on. Use the multiple-choice grid option for this.

Once a client has filled out a survey like this, you can have a rough idea of what behaviors they are motivated to perform. If a client is motivated (high confidence and wants to do the behavior) to reduce soda intake, you can move into a planning phase with them.

This planning phase might take the form of an implementation intention, which dictates when, where, and how a behavior might occur. For this person, the plan might be:

“When I am going grocery shopping, I will buy the diet coke instead of the regular coke” or “When I am going grocery shopping, I will buy seltzer water instead of soda”

A trainer can set up a shared spreadsheet with a client such as the one below where they can type in their daily health intentions. The below screenshot is an example:

To help set up automatic reminders to continue these motivated behaviors, I use the automatic text messaging service ohdontforget.com. It’s not free, but can be worth it when your clients start seeing results and improved confidence (and refer you to more of their friends).

Bottom-line: Extreme deficits and exercise plans can give your clients quick wins, but may ultimately burn them when they inevitably fall off. Your and your client’s best chance of success must involve a form of physical activity that they can sustain as well as appropriate dietary changes that they won’t hate doing as well.

Extreme deficits and exercise plans give your clients quick wins, but ultimately burn them. Click To Tweet

Whatever plan you give your client should allow them to feel competent and autonomous because doing so will contribute to long-term motivation and a better chance at sticking to these changes for life.

  The post Focus on Weight Loss Behaviors, Not Meals, Exercise and the Myth of a “Damaged Metabolism” appeared first on The PTDC.

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[ozsaill]

Looking west from Martinique

When we look back on the Caribbean, Martinique will feature among the best memories—and not just because of the pâté, brie, and baguettes. A stop to provision and facilitate a trip to Puerto Rico for Jamie stretched out and filled with beaches and swimming, exploring the history and charm of this lush island, Thanksgiving celebrations – all packaged in the company of friends.

So good

The pâté, brie, and baguette factor can’t be ignored! I don’t know when we’ll be in French territory again, so enjoy the treats instead of watching calories. The team favorite for pastry from the Sainte Anne boulangerie: pain au chocolat et amandes (basically: a croissant, with chocolate AND almond paste, and a dusting of powdered sugar). Oh my. Beautiful baguettes, one euro (about $1.20) each – shame they don’t keep, we’ll get our last before departing for Bonaire today.

Everyday treats aside, provisioning here is excellent: a wide selection and great prices. I don’t often provision deeply, but make do with what’s available. People everywhere have to eat, so it only makes sense for a few reasons: to save money if ports ahead are particularly costly, of if the selection will be “aged” (thinking of the flour full of weevils in Tonga), or if it will simply be very remote and few or no stores are available (an uncommon situation).

Here, it’s the breadth and value. The affordability of everything from balsamic vinegar to risotto makes me wonder if France doesn’t subsidize food in Martinique. Staples on board Totem that should last months ahead: UHT milk, canned tomatoes, olive oil, cocoa, pasta and more.

There’s planning ahead, too. If we want an affordable glass of wine, this is our last chance for a very long time (wine at our budget in Mexico was undrinkable). There’s very nice wine here for about $5 bottle.

And then, well, FRENCH. There are specialties sold here that will add enjoyment to many meals ahead. I love French puy lentils. There’s saucisson sec: the dried sausages will keep for months in the refrigerator, and are a delicious treat. GOOD butter. Marinated anchovies. Dijon and whole grain mustard. Affordable luxuries for the cruiser’s diet!

Everyday shopping at local shops, but it’s great to stock up at the big supermarket. Also: Le Snacking. hee!

Nautical hub

Martinique is a great place to get things done on a boat. While it’s not a great place to ship things in (that’s nearby St Lucia, kinder to yachts in transit), the chandleries are well supplied and there’s expert service available. One of those experts looked at Totem’s Yanmar (our 4JH3 turbo has been overheating) and declared that not only had the heat exchanger failed, but the engine showed signs of being late in life. That’s bad news but hopefully continued care (and a new heat exchanger) will see us through until repowering is necessary. Jamie got lots of boat yoga practice in the engine compartment to replace it.

Look at that shiny new heat exchanger!

The finish line for the Mini Transat was in view from Totem’s cockpit, a solo trans-Atlantic race in VERY small boats. The excitement of seeing boats come in over several days, tracking them on the race website, spying them from hikes around the south end, and the spectacle of the fleet after all had finished. Notice how on the transport ship, the keels are painted in fluorescent colors… a safety measure I don’t want to have to think about.

Mini Transat boat sailing into the harbor after finishing

Loaded up for the next destination

Exploring and fun

We rented a car to get around a few days: rentals are affordable until high season kicks in (as low as 23 euros/day!). Teaming up with the Utopia crew – more fun for everyone. In the north, the town of St Pierre has relics of Mt Pele’s eruption in 1902: all but a couple of residents were killed. One, the town troublemaker, was in the stone equivalent of a drunk tank – enough to protect him (that’s the second picture below).

And just having fun, between the boats at anchor in Sainte Anne…and pizza night!

Sainte Anne sunset: kids on the SUP and kayak

These besties are making the most of our months together.

Puerto Rico

The primary reason we spent more time in Martinique than expected was to accommodate Jamie’s trip to Puerto Rico, delayed in an online booking snafu. The dermatologist wasn’t happy with the biopsy of his excision in Puerto Rico. Time for another slice. His flights bounced through Guadeloupe and Sint Maarten, allowing a peek at hurricane damage. Birds-eye view of the Simpson Lagoon showed boats anchored outside.

In Puerto Rico, recovery in progress from the ground:

Trees down, but many standing and starting to leaf out again: the highway from San Juan to Ponce

Just a little off kilter

Jamie is a plastic surgeon’s dream. Here’s how he looked right after the surgery… and once I removed his stitches six days later. The biopsy is back: basal cell, but all clear margins. A clean bill of health. We just need to stay on top of regular checkups.

Passage prep

This is first passage of more than one night at sea since sailing from Bermuda to Connecticut last year. It’s also our first downwind passage in a long while, and the full moon only just starting to wane. Comfortable reaching and nice moonlight, away from the small-boat traffic of islands…a very nice setup. It’s a somewhat awkward length: just long enough that we can’t quite squeak it into a two-night trip. So we’ll leave this afternoon, and point for Bonaire, and should arrive on Saturday morning. Follow along on our PredictWind tracker–is displays a snapshot of our speed along with position.

Much of this will be on port tack. Our galley is uphill if we’re heeling to starboard and cooking can be harder, so I’ve done a little extra prep. These are my first effort at homemade “condensed soup,” like Campbells but DIY from the beautiful leeks and potatoes in the market here (along with a white sauce for bolognese style lasagna).

Homemade condensed soup: easy heat-n-eat for the passage

I use whiteboard in the pantry. It’s usually the progressive shopping list. That’s on the right; on the left is a list of meals prepped for the passage. If my brain is foggy (adjusting to being at sea can do that) it’s easy to look at the list for a quick reminder. At the top are leftovers to use up. Only in a French island would that include duck fat!

Bidding farewell to the beautiful anchorage in Sainte Anne.

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