#and honestly these are some great beginner boots for someone looking to start getting into alt fashion

[i-am-literally-deranged]

ough I'm going through my stuff to cut down rn and I HATE that I have such a weird size because I would love to pass some of this stuff down to somebody but I simply do not know anyone who wears my same sizes

[gay-jesus-probably]

A beginners guide for skiing/snowboarding

It totally just occured to me that with nothing else to do this winter, people are probably looking at skiing as a good way to get out, do something, and remember that other human life exists within this universe while not exposing yourself to the threat of plague. And that’s a great idea! Because skiing is fun as hell and vastly superior to snowboarding in every way.

But I also realize that most people don’t have parents that consider skiing a necessity of life, and therefor didn’t start skiing pretty much right after they got the hang of walking. So, for those of you who want to get into the sport, here’s some useful advice from someone that’s been skiing for... I think about seventeen years? I’m honestly not sure.

And unless specifically stated otherwise, yes all this advice applies to snowboarding as well. They’re pretty similar sports.

Under the cut because this is very long and I’m not doing that to your dashboard.

Step one: Gear

- The most expensive part is the skis and the boots. As in, buying one pair of good quality skis + boots will probably be $1000+. So if you’re buying gear, you’d better be absolutely certain that you’re going to get at least a decade of use out of it. So, complete beginner? Don’t buy. Rent. Same thing for children; kids just grow too fast, they’ll need new gear every season. I know most ski shops will let you rent gear for a full season though, so that makes things a lot easier (and cheaper).

- Skiiers, get the hang of the basics before you get poles. They’re basically for extra balance, help moving over flats, and navigating especially messy terrain. Get some confidence on just skis first. Feel free to buy your own poles though; poles are cheap and they don’t come with any sort of performance level. Literally the only difference is height, grab type and paint job. Sizing is easy, you just need to be able to grab the handles with your elbows at a ninety degree angle and the tips on the floor. Ask if you’re not sure. Everything else is just personal preference. 

- Snowboarders, get wrist guards. That’s non-optional. You’ll be landing on your hands a lot. Save yourself the fractured wrists. Skiers can get them too, but snowboarders are the ones that really need them.

- Helmets are mandatory. For everyone. You are never too good for a helmet. Olympic level skiers have died from bad wipeouts without a helmet. Put your fucking helmet on. And I don’t mean a bike helmet or a skating helmet, you need to get a proper ski helmet. This is not optional.

- Goggles are also a must, but this one isn’t controversial. Keeps the wind out of your eyes, and also helps you see the hill better. Different tints are better for different lighting, but don’t worry too much about it; I’ve never bothered with different lenses. Just get a light orange tint; it’s best for flat light, which is the hardest conditions to see in.

- Get ski socks. They’re not hard to find, just make sure you get a pair that are comfortably tight. Loose socks cause blisters. And normally socks will not do, the socks need to be long. The tops should be under your knees, but still a good way up your legs.

- For pants, you want something light and comfortable. Sweat pants or leggings are perfect. Honestly, pajama pants will work in a pinch too. Don’t wear jeans unless you really hate yourself.

Step two: Staying warm

- Waterproof outside and layers on the inside. That’s what it all boils down to, really.

- A good winter jacket is your main concern. If your hood can come off, take it off, it’ll just get in the way. Not one of those long jackets either, you want your legs free. Also, zip up your pockets before hitting the slope! Nobody likes finding snow in their pockets. Nobody.

- Snow pants. Again, freedom of movement is the goal, make sure you’re fine. Also snowpants with suspenders may not be the best idea; there’s nothing worse than being on the top of a mountain and having to unzip your jacket to pull up a suspender. Also the snowpants go on the outside of the boots, not the inside. Just to be clear.

- Gloves or mitts. Again, waterproof is a must. If your hands get cold easily, mitts are a better choice here; you can have your fingers wrapped around a heat pack all day, while with gloves all you get is toasty palms and frostbitten fingers.

- Neckwarmer! It’s damn windy on the hill, cover your face up. You’ll be glad for it.

- Cycling back to the layers thing, to explain in more detail. The bottom and top of your clothes stay the same. Bottom layer is a comfortable shirt, which will be horrifyingly sweaty by the end of the day. Top layer is your jacket, which is waterproof and windbreaking. Everything in between is optional. Some sort of fleece or sweater is a good idea. Don’t wear a hoodie though, the hood will just annoy you all day. If you’re way too warm, lose a layer. If there’s no more layers to lose, unzip the jacket a bit. Do not take the jacket off. Seriously. Don’t.

Step three: Safety on the hill

The Alpine Code is the agreed upon universal code of conduct for skiiers and snowboarders on a hill. This is the most important thing you need to know. Not just because you’ll be in trouble if you break it, but also because not following puts you and everyone around you in danger.

Always stay in control. You must be able to stop, or avoid other people or objects.

People ahead of you have the right-of-way. It is your responsibility to avoid them.

Do not stop where you obstruct a trail, or are not visible from above.

Before starting downhill or merging onto a trail, look uphill and yield to others.

If you are involved in or witness a collision/accident you must remain at the scene and identify yourself to the Ski Patrol.

Always use proper devices to help prevent runaway equipment.

Observe and obey all posted signs and warnings.

Keep off closed trails and obey area closures.

You must not use lifts or terrain if your ability is impaired through the use of alcohol or drugs.

You must have sufficient physical dexterity, ability, and knowledge to safely load, ride, and unload lifts. If in doubt, ask the lift attendant.

This exact text will be on the back of your lift ticket, and on signs around the hill. These are the rules. Follow them.

To clarify some points:

- Stopping on the hill is totally fine; just stay off to the side, and make sure people can see you. This is especially important for snowboarders, because your stopping means sitting down. Be very sure that people will spot you in time to move out of the way. And if you’re in a group, line up vertically. Don’t collectively block the hill.

- When they say it’s your responsibility to avoid people in front of you, they’re not fucking kidding. If you can’t stop in time, you have to fall. It’s better than a collision, trust me. I don’t care if someone accidentally swerves directly in front of you, if your momentum is going to hit a person or thing, you need to stop that momentum immediately. This goes double if you’re about to hit a tree or something; please, for the love of god, fall. A wipeout will hurt. Hitting the tree can kill you.

- When you get off a lift, move. Immediately. There’s probably people a few seconds behind you, and you need to be out of the way. Also, if there’s multiple ways to go when unloading from a lift, make sure you know which way everyone on the chair plans to unload. Don’t fall over each other.

- For witnessing an accident, you don’t have to hang around and call ski patrol any time someone has a wipeout. Just pay attention to the other people on the hill, especially if you see a bad wipeout. If someone has a group of three or more, keep going; they don’t need you. But if you see a person wiped out alone or with one person, and they look like they’re struggling to get up, stop and check in with them. Ask if they’re okay. If the downed person is actually hurt, offer to go get ski patrol for them, even if they’ve got an uninjured friend; it’s better to have a stranger going for help while their friend stays.

- If someone wipes out and loses skis and/or poles up the hill from where they end up, grab them and bring them down if you can. That’s not alpine code really, it’s just basic manners. It’s incredibly hard to walk up a hill in ski boots; they’ll be eternally grateful to you.

Step four: Difficulty

If you look at a map of a ski hill, you’ll see every run marked with a symbol. That tells you how difficult that run is, by the standards of that particular hill.

Green circles are the easiest runs; these are gentle slopes that usually have lots of room to turn. I say usually, because CAT tracks also become green runs - those are the roads that brought machinery up to clear trees and stuff when they were building the ski hill. They’re a little narrow sometimes, but always a very mild slope. All green runs are groomed every day, so don’t worry too much about terrain. Most hills will mark their very easiest run, so that’s the place to start if you’re brand new.

Blue square is intermediate. They’ll be steeper than greens, but they’re usually groomed daily. Being steeper means they’re at more risk of ice, so watch out. Don’t try a blue until you’ve got some experience and confidence; if you’re a skier, you should have been using poles for awhile before you hit a blue. Make sure you’re confident in stopping, and know how to slow down. If you’re still relying on the snowplow instead of a proper brake, you’re not ready for a blue.

Black diamond is the hardest. Some of them are groomers, but plenty aren’t; thats how you get moguls after all. Black diamond runs are for very skilled skiers with years of experience. If you’re on a black and not feeling confident, then take it slow and careful, and don’t be ashamed to give yourself a muttered pep talk all the way down, possibly interspaced by frightened owl noises.

Double black diamonds are a symbol of mans hubris. These are never groomed. These are steep, messy, and personally hate you. If you’re not 100% comfortable on moguls, don’t take a double black. Even I don’t do double blacks; it’s just not the kind of skiing I prefer. Basically if you’ve learned something new from this guide, you’re definitely not ready for a double black.

Please remember that while these are universal symbols and meanings, every hill has a different standard of difficult. For example, a river valley or a man made hill will call their runs green, blue and black, but for a mountain skier the whole place would be very tame greens. Different area have different standards. If you’re trying a new ski hill, always assume that they’ve got higher standards than you’re used to. It’s better to underestimate your skill and do a few easy runs to warm up than to overestimate and find yourself stuck on a run you’re not prepared for.

Step five: Getting up the hill

While chairlifts are the classic method, there’s actually a lot of different ways to get up a hill, and no telling what a particular place will use. So here’s a full list of lift types, how to use them, and where you’ll probably find them.

Magic Carpet

It’s a conveyer belt. It’s literally just a big conveyer belt. You stand on it, and it brings you up. Short, slow, simple. These are usually found in areas meant specifically for beginners, at the very bottom of the hill. If there’s nobody in front of you and you’ve got skis, you can kinda shuffle walk up to go a little faster. Just don’t fall.

Tow Rope

These are like magic carpets, but a little more annoying. Instead of hopping onto a conveyor belt, there’s a rope being turned in a circle. You grab on, it drags you up, and you let go at the top. Again, these are found in basic areas. If you’ve got poles, hold them both in one hand, hold the rope with the other.

T-bar

Like a tow rope, but it’s raised off the ground and has bars shaped like an upside down T attached. You grab one of them at the bottom, get half under your butt, then hold onto the middle as it drags you up. If you’ve got poles, take em off and hold them in one hand. Each T can hold two people, one on either side. For the love of god, don’t try to sit down. It can pull you up the hill, but you’ve gotta work to keep upright. If you try and sit, you’ll fall backwards. If you’re riding a T-bar alone, it helps to have one hand holding the middle bar, and the other hand balancing out the other side of the T. T-bar’s are usually found on the lower mountain in easy areas, but they’re not uncommon at the very top for access to the hardest areas.

Poma Lift

Exactly like a T-bar, but instead of the T shape it’s just a bar with a plastic disk at the bottom. Unlike a T-bar, Poma’s are a single person lift; you just straddle it so that the disk is on your butt, and off you go. Yes, this means the middle bar looks incredibly phallic. That’s part of the fun. These are only found at the very top of the mountain, for access to the hardest areas. Like the T-bar, poles are held in one hand.

Chairlift

Ah, the classic. Chairlifts are the most common lift, and they come in many variations. Singles might as well be extinct; I’ve never actually seen a one person chairlift. Doubles are uncommon, and usually tend to be older and rickety. These days most chairlifts are triples, quads or six packs, although I hear eight person chairs are a thing in the Alps. Chairlifts range the entire mountain; look at the map and make sure you know you’re going to an area you can ski. For skiers, remove the straps on your poles, and hold them normally until you get the loading spot; once you’re ready to sit down, hold them in one hand. Snowboarders, remove one foot from your binding before getting in line. All chairlifts have either a safety bar or a windshield. Lower it once everyone’s sititng down, then just sit back and enjoy the view. No matter how tempted you are to check your phone, don’t do it unless you absolutely have to, and be very careful. If you drop something, you’re fucked. Don’t be concerned if the lift stops, that’s perfectly normal; someone might’ve fallen at the top or bottom, or needed help loading/unloading. Once you get to the top, everyone in the chair should communicate which way their going (to avoid getting in each others way), then raise the bar as you approach the top. When you reach the platform, stand up and push forwards.

If you don’t get off the chairlift in time, or fall down, don’t panic. There’s lift operators for a reason, and they’ll hit the emergency stop if someone falls in the unload area. Likewise, if you don’t make it off the chair in time, you’ll trip a wire as you go around and trigger an emergency stop, so that the liftie can help you down. Don’t just jump the few feet down, because then the liftie gets mad and you and also many people are skeptical about your sanity. Which I know. Because reasons.

Gondola

Finally, the mighty gondola. These bad boys are the comfiest ride, but also the most work to get on/off, so you’ll only ride a gondola to get from the base to the upper mountain. Before getting in line, remove your poles, skis, and snowboards. Carry them through the line. When it’s your turn to load, give your skis/snowboard to the liftie, who will load them onto the outside of the gondola you’re riding in; poles go into the gondola with you. Don’t be slow about it, cause the gondola won’t stop. Then everyone load in, have a seat, and enjoy a nice ride up in comfort and privacy. Check your phone, take pictures, look at the map, have a snack... you’ve got time, and you’re in a nice little bubble, so you don’t have to worry about losing anything. When you’re at the top, unload, grab your gear, and walk out of the way to put your skis/snowboard back on.

Step six: Everything else

Now for all the little details that’ll make the whole thing a lot easier for you!

Bring your own food if you’re on a really tight budget; ski lodges are like airports or theme parks. You’re a captive audience; everything is horribly overpriced. But if you do want a hot meal, tbh it’s usually worth it; ski lodge food is expensive, but they at least have the decency to make it good. Try to time your meals to be before or after the typical lunch rush; the lodges get horribly crowded around noon. ...Well, do that when the pandemics over; these days avoid the lodge like the plague. Because it is the plague. Your vehicle is your locker; bring your own lunch, and eat there.

Always have a spare pair of gloves/mitts in your boot bag. If you lose one, or one gets ruined somehow, you’ll be thanking yourself.

You should always have some essentials in your jacket pockets when skiing. All your stuff might be in your locker, but mountains almost always have multiple lodges, so you don’t want to be needing something when it’s an hour of lifts and skiing away. The universal necessities is some money (i find a 20$ bill is best), your phone, and a map if you don’t know the hill very well. If you use them, then extra hair ties, and a tampon and/or pad are also a good idea. Even if it’s not shark week. Doesn’t hurt to be paranoid. A protein bar or some sort of snack is also good, or gum/hard candies if you want. Also, in this day and age, have a mask in your pocket.

Weed is a traditional favourite of skiers and snowboarders everywhere; blazing is a popular way to pass the time on a chairlift. Just be careful not to drop anything, and you probably shouldn’t blaze it while skiing/snowboarding if you don’t have the skill and experience to safely do it while blazed. ...Oh and if it’s not legal where you are, you should probably pick a more subtle location.

In your boot bag, locker, or vehicle, it’s a good idea to have at least one bottle of water, some ibuprofen, blister packs, bandaids, and some normal socks, especially if you’re skiing. Ski boots are very uncomfortable footwear. You don’t really notice it on the hill, but after. My god, when you’re taking your boots off at the end of the day, it’s the most amazing feeling in the world. Being able to put on normal socks and shoes again is like a religious experience. Trust me. Normal socks. It’s so good.

Know the symptoms of frostbite! If your fingers or toes are numb and painful, it’s time to take a break and thaw. If it keeps happening, try getting heat packs; they’re little packets with chemicals in them, and as soon as you open the plastic wrap it starts a reaction that produces heat. It’s not hot enough to burn, and it’ll last all day. Keeps the fingers nice and toasty. They’re a skiing staple, you’ll love it.

If the group splits up, make sure you know where and when to meet up again. Don’t count on being able to text each other, cell service is not a guarantee. And if a member of the group isnt there at the end of the day, check with ski patrol; they might have been injured and wound up in medical.

If for whatever reason you can’t get back down the mountain on your own, head the nearest lift that goes to the base, and talk to the liftie. You can always ride the lifts down if you need to. There’s no shame.

If you’re riding up a lift and pass a tree completely covered in bras, panties, and those shitty plastic bead necklaces, don’t worry. Every good ski mountain has an underwear tree somewhere. It’s a time honored tradition. Respect the underwear tree.

If you’re skiing several days in a row, then taking care of your gear is top priority. As soon as you’re back home or in your hotel room, everything comes out of the boot bag and gets set out to dry over a heat vent. Boots too. Make sure to close all the buckles on your boots or they’ll be a bitch and a half to do up later. That step is extra important if you’re not skiing the next day; never leave your boots unbuckled.

Skiing is a very intense sport, and a good day of skiing is a serious workout. Plan your après ski. Hot tubs are perfect if you’ve got access to one; if not, take the longest, hottest shower you can stand. You need it; not only will it wash all that sweat off, but also it’ll make your life a little easier tomorrow. If you can get out of bed the next morning without groaning in agony, you probably weren’t skiing hard enough.

Finally, before going to a ski hill with chairlifts, please watch these two videos. It’s a two part review gleefully mocking a suspense/horror movie about three people getting stuck on a chairlift when a ski hill closes. To this day when me and my sibling are on a chairlift together and it stops, one of us will immediately declare that we’ll be trapped for a whole weekend, and the wolves are hunting us. It’s an extremely stupid movie, and an extremely funny review mocking it. The wolves are coming. Those notorious ski hill wolf packs.

[taylorswiftstylequestions]

Do you have any pointers or recommendations for someone who wants to take up heels dancing?! When we’re allowed to leave our houses 🙃 what heel height do you recommend starting with? Any other tips or advice? Thanks!

I’ve been doing my latest dance session completely from home via Zoom so I totally get how hard this is. 

THIS GOT LONG. UNDER THE CUT FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T CARE ABOUT DANCE. 

I will say however there is absolutely no reason why you can’t start training now. So many choreographers are offering digital classes and it’s amazing to be able to have the opportunity to learn from some pretty huge heels instructors right now you wouldn’t previously be able to because you’d have to otherwise travel to see them. Now they can come to you! 

In terms of starting out, I’d recommend a stacked or rubberized heel or even heeled combat boot situation. A heel that is very thick around and maybe 1-2.5″ in height. A lot of girls (myself included) start out in wedges or wedge sneakers but tbh I wish I hadn’t because the surface area of those shoes really does feel so much different than a true heel so imo you’re better off with something that does have a true heel but at least one that’s very sturdy. I graduated eventually over 1.5 years to a 3.5″-4″ stiletto. 

Try out different styles and different teachers. Everyone learns differently but all teachers also teach differently. Find the right person with the right style/movement and teaching style that you click with and want to learn more from. 

Once you find that teacher, stick by them. I’ve learned from the teachers I look up to so much that teachers look for students who are hungry to learn, who are passionate, and who are loyal. If you take the hobby somewhat seriously and really want to grow and train and get better, put in the time and the energy and the efforts to make that growth happen into one teacher and that teacher WILL see you and they will want to pour everything they have into you and all the learnings they have into nurturing you. Teachers are human too and they only have so much emotional capacity. They are physically and mentally giving themselves to rooms of 20-100+ people and they can either make decisions to spread themselves thin amongst all those people, or see the few who WANT TO BE THERE and LEARN FROM THEM and pour all they have into those people. It is incredibly worthwhile to have that mutual relationship with a teacher where you want so desperately to learn and grow and absorb all they have to teach and they can put all of that light and learning into you. IT’S HONESTLY A BEAUTIFUL THING. 

Wear clothes you feel confident in. Especially when you’re starting out, and ESPECIALLY in heels dance where so much self-esteem and vanity plays into the sensuality and sexuality of the dance — you want to feel like you look good when you’re learning and put in every effort you can to feel your most confident so you can tackle those moves. When you’re starting out, moves and choreography may not come easily to you and that alone can be very disheartening. Give yourself the best chance of success and feeling confident and good about yourself when you’re trying something new by wearing something you feel good in — whatever that is. I’d personally recommend black everything and a lot of dance teachers will, too, because it makes seeing the lines of your body easier for yourself and for them to correct. 

Ask questions before. A teacher will always be happy to answer questions ESPECIALLY in a beginner class. They will not be so kind or so happy about it if you don’t ask a question you’re confused about and execute a move incorrectly. Ask the question BEFORE. Then do. Do not walk into a move or an exercise confused, give it a half hearted or non-attempt, and expect a teacher to be happy. ASK BEFORE!!!!!! 

Document your growth. Videos are a great way to see your growth. I have so many videos from when I was first starting out that I can compare to now and it’s wild really seeing that. I also like watching videos over and over like a sports play-by-play to see what things I did great, what things I could do better so I know for next time. 

[quicksilversquared]

A Mountain of Fun

A field trip to a downhill ski area doesn't sound that out of the ordinary. But add in two (only slightly) panicky dorks who have never skied before (and their very unhelpful friends), and you get a fun day, full of snow and laughter and hopefully not too many bumps and bruises.

links in the reblog

Everyone had been looking forward to this day for ages. Getting out of the classroom, getting out of Paris, and being outdoors for a day. It had been talked up for weeks, people checking with each other- can you come? Can you come? How about you?- to make sure that their friends would be there, too. They had talked about nothing else for the days leading up to it, and now it was here.

The school field trip to a downhill ski area. They had taken a train out of Paris early- too early for Marinette's liking, and she had napped for most of their time on it- and now a bus was shuttling them from the train station the rest of the way to their destination.

Despite the fact that most of the group had either never been skiing before or hadn't really skied much, the excitement levels were high. Kim and Alix boasted about what runs they wanted to do, each talking up larger and harder slopes until Ms. Bustier put her foot down and informed them in no uncertain terms that some of the slopes would be off-limits to them, since the teachers weren't comfortable with how potentially dangerous they could be and there was no way of knowing if their parents would be okay with it..

"We are not going to have any broken arms today," she told them sternly. "So if you want to go off on your own and do anything bigger than the bunny hill, we'll have an instructor go with you for a run or two to make sure that you can handle it."

"They could have asked our parents, too," Alya pointed out as Kim and Alix settled back down with nearly identical pouts on their faces. "I've been downhill skiing loads of times. I'm not going to do anything crazy, of course, but I can definitely move off of the bunny hill."

"Yeah, I'm mostly going to be on the blue slopes, and maybe some of the easiest red slopes," Nino agreed, and both Adrien and Marinette frowned.

"Red slopes? Blue slopes? What does that mean?"

"Intermediate and beginner slopes," Alya explained. "It's the classification system, so that people know what hills they'll be able to do safely before they get to the top of the hill. I'd be surprised if all of the red hills are open to us, actually. There's a couple that are easier and then a few that are more difficult even within the red classification, so people can choose what they want."

Marinette nodded nervously. She hadn't ever been downhill skiing before, so everything was so new. "Why don't they make smaller classification types, then? Wouldn't it make sense to mark hills as specifically as possible so that people don't get hurt?"

"That's what all of the waivers are for," Nino joked, waving the forms that they had been given to fill out at home. "We sign our lives away before we even get out there."

"Not helping."

"They usually have write-ups of the slopes in the brochure," Alya told Marinette, sounding tired. "Nora had a copy from when she went last year with some of her friends, so I've been looking at them and deciding which ones I want to try. I'll start on the easier slopes, I think, and work my way up."

Marinette nodded. She would be starting on the bunny hill, and in all honesty would probably be staying there. Even though her coordination had improved since becoming Ladybug, putting heavy boots and skis on her feet would probably throw all of that out the window. She probably wouldn't see Alya all day, which was disappointing. But she didn't want to hold Alya back, either, and being on the bunny hill when she was used to intermediate slopes wouldn't be fun at all.

"I wouldn't even touch red slopes in some places," Nino was saying when Marinette tuned back in. "The really big areas that are way out? Nope, not a chance. I like my neck too much. But this is a smaller area, so the slopes aren't as long or as steep as some places."

"There was one place I went to once- because my mom was catering for a party there, we got free passes- where I only dared touch, like, half of the green slopes," Alya agreed. "And then there were people whipping down the black slopes, and I was just like, are you nuts? You could die! And there were always accidents. Several injuries per day wasn't uncommon- but not necessarily bad injuries!" Alya added hastily, seeing the looks on Adrien and Marinette's faces. "Like, sprains and concussions. I mean, there were some broken bones, but-"

"Alya, just stop talking," Nino cut her off with a laugh. "The injuries were on the more difficult hills. The most you'll get on the bunny hill is a couple bruises, probably."

"I'm not liking these qualifiers," Adrien told Marinette. "And there seem to be a lot of them."

"It'll be fine, I promise!"

"So Alya, if you ski so much, why don't you have your own equipment?" Marinette wanted to know, changing the topic before Alya and Nino could devolve into debating all the possible injuries that one might be able to get on the bunny hill. "Nino does."

"I outgrew mine last year," Alya admitted grumpily. "And I'm not tall enough for Nora's old skis yet. So I'm renting this year and probably next year, too, unless my dad has an afternoon off and we can make it to a used equipment store or something."

"Downhill stuff isn't cheap," Nino added. "My family always buys used. Used, or deeply, deeply discounted, when the stores have old stock sales."

"I did bring my own helmet, though, since I don't really want to use the ones in the rental shop," Alya told them. "And my goggles. I didn't outgrow those."

Marinette's anxiety mounted as the bus continued down the highway, even as their conversation moved onto other topics. She could already see herself tripping and falling and somehow breaking an arm or a leg or something- or worse, breaking someone else's bones. Maybe she would accidentally stab someone with a pole while falling. Maybe…

Oh, gosh, what if she hurt Adrien? She'd never be able to face him again.

"They won't give beginners poles." Nino's voice cut Marinette's thoughts short. He was talking to Adrien, who looked about as concerned as Marinette felt. "It's just one more thing to trip over and worry about. You don't need 'em, really. Not for the basic runs."

"Oh, thank god."

The bus slowed and turned onto a smaller road, and the excited chatter in the bus turned up another degree. They wound through a tall forest of pine trees, branches brushing over the top of the bus.

"Oh, great," Adrien muttered. "If there are trees like this on the hill, we're going to end up running into them, aren't we?"

Nino whacked his shoulder. "Stop worrying so much."

"Sorry, that's impossible."

"Oh my god, you're such a downer, dude."

The bus continued through the trees for a bit, winding upwards. Slowly, the trees thinned out and bright white snow replaced their view, extending out in all directions as far as the eye could see. Automatically, Marinette peered out the window at the gleaming slopes outside. Immediately, though, she wished that she hadn't.

"That's small?" she demanded in a squeak, eyes bugging out of her head as she whipped around to face Alya. Behind her, she could hear Adrien expressing a similar sentiment to Nino. "And we'll be going down those? Alya-"

"Oh, relax," her (absolutely insane) friend told her, grinning. "It'll be fun!"

Adrien's nerves weren't going away as they were shepherded into the building and through the rental area. The hills were huge, super tall and long and steep. Almost no one else seemed surprised by that, which meant that they had probably gone downhill skiing at least once before or at least was more familiar with the concept than he was.

Well, almost no one except for Marinette. She seemed as intimidated as he did, which was honestly a relief. They could stick together and be terrified as a team.

The workers behind the rental counter worked together almost seamlessly, shuttling their class through the area incredibly quickly, considering that the entire lycée was going through at once and it looked like absolute pandemonium to him. Then they were bundled up and shuffled outside to meet their instructors.

Adrien did not see any hills that didn't look absolutely terrifying. They were all tall, all steep, and worst of all-

"Why isn't there any room to stop at the bottom?!"

-there were really only maybe a dozen meters between the bottom of the closest several slopes and the mesh fence right in front of the chalet. Marinette was staring at that space with a look of horror on her face, clutching at Alya's arm as though her friend could change that somehow.

"You start slowing down before you hit that bit," Alya told them. "Slow and then turn so that you run along the bottom instead of straight into the building."

"How?"

Adrien wanted to know that, too.

"They'll teach you," Nino reassured them. "You won't just hop on the hill without any idea of what to do. They'll tell you how to slow down and stop first."

"But we're just supposed to go up without any practice?" Adrien demanded, voice coming out embarrassingly high. "There's no short slope to practice on first?"

Nino gave him a disbelieving look. "Dude, that is the short slope."

Adrien made a noise that he wasn't sure was entirely human.

"Can the more experienced skiers come this way, please!" one of the instructors called. "We're just going to do a quick run or two down the hill before we turn you guys loose."

"Right, see you guys later," Nino told them with a grin. "Don't die on us!"

Alya slapped his shoulder. "Nino, don't joke about that!"

"I was just trying to be funny, I swear!"

And then Adrien and Marinette were left on their own. Adrien suddenly wondered if it would be suspicious if he vanished and Chat Noir appeared to ski in his place. He would feel a lot safer in a indestructible super suit, but somehow he suspected that his classmates weren't that oblivious.

They watched as their more experienced classmates hopped onto the lift, slowly ascending the slope before vanishing at the top. There were a few minutes of nothing, and then they started appearing, zipping down the hill like it was nothing.

As though there wasn't an entire freaking building at the bottom, solid and imposing and unmoving.

Someone was doing fancy zigzags, curving from side to side as they went down. They all started slowing down as they approached the base of the hill, though Adrien couldn't tell how.

Whose bright idea was it to strap bits of plastic and metal to their feet and go plummeting down a hill? Seriously, how did anyone find that fun?

The group piled back onto the lift and headed back up. Adrien would have kept watching, but the instructors had started dividing the rest of the students up into groups and he wanted to be sure that he stayed with Marinette. They could fall down the hill together.

And then their lesson started. Adrien listened as closely as he could, trying to soak up all of the information before they got sent down the slopes. He was hoping that Nino was joking, that the actual bunny hill was hidden away somewhere, but no such luck.

At least it wasn't one of the hills with the chalet immediately at the bottom. If they didn't stop or turn right away, at least they wouldn't go straight into the side of the building, just the mesh fence and all of the ski racks at the side of the building.

(Well. Unless they turned in the wrong direction, they wouldn't go into the side of the building. If they did, they would be in for a world of pain.)

"I'm honestly surprised that we're still doing field trips like this," Marinette said quietly as they were shuffled towards the lift. "What with Hawkmoth's akumas interrupting class so often…"

Adrien nodded. It was a struggle for the teachers to stay caught up on the curriculum when classes were interrupted, and although not all attacks caused interruptions (for the majority of the school, at least), the ones that did added up over time. He had only dared to leave the city because Hawkmoth and his kwami had been injured in the last attack, two weeks prior, and their magic hadn't recovered enough yet for him to be able to akumatize anyone. "Maybe they knew that people would complain if they canceled. I bet a lot of people were looking forward to it."

"Crazy people."

Adrien could only laugh and agree.

They were up next for the lift, and Adrien's knuckles turned white under his gloves as he sat down and gripped the bars. His feet felt awkward and heavy- a huge change from when he was fencing, or playing basketball, or being Chat Noir- and his skis clunked together and criss-crossed as they lifted up into the air. Marinette didn't look like she was faring much better.

They climbed up, and up, and up. The top of the hill grew closer, and Adrien gulped as he glanced back down the slope.

Could he just stay on the lift and go back down? He had changed his mind, he didn't want to do this.

Their instructor left them no choice. She met them at the top, ushering them off and into a haphazard line.

"We'll go two at a time, to make sure that we aren't tripping over each other," she told them. "Ready?"

"Nope," Adrien muttered under his breath, and next to him, Marinette let out a nervous giggle.

In pairs, starting with the people who had skied a couple times before, the group started down the hill. They wobbled, swerving unevenly back and forth as they made their way down the hill.

It didn't look any smaller from the top. Adrien gulped, watching the line get shorter and shorter as he and Marinette got closer to the front.

And then the first of the first-timers went, sliding haltingly down the hill.. They let out a screech as they fell, only a dozen meters or so from the top of the hill.

That was embarrassing. Adrien hoped that he wouldn't do that. He had a reputation as athletic and coordinated that he wanted to uphold, so hopefully he wouldn't be wiping out. Not right away, at least.

If he got to the bottom of the hill and wiped out, that would probably be understandable. Bottom or two-thirds of the way, at least. Of course, if he fell then, he would probably be going faster than he really wanted. Going faster and coming to a sudden stop would probably mean a higher chance of breaking bones or otherwise injuring something, right?

...maybe he could swallow his pride and be fine with falling earlier. He probably wouldn't have a lot of choice in the matter, after all. And the only people who might actually judge him- Kim and Alix, mostly, plus a couple people from his fencing team- were already scattered across the mountain, far out of sight.

And Marinette wouldn't tell anyone. She would probably be falling right next to him on their way down the hill.

"Okay, you two next," their instructor told them. "Snowplow the entire way down, so that you don't pick up speed, and then get out of the way once you reach the bottom."

Adrien gulped and glanced down the hill. Nope, it hadn't shrunk at all since the last time he had looked. Not even a little bit. Still, Marinette was inching her way forward, so he couldn't stall any longer.

His skis inched over the edge, and then he was moving downward in starts and stops, wavering uncertainly. Marinette had started making a noise that was not unsimilar to a teakettle as she moved down the hill, just a bit faster than Adrien was going.

He managed a smile at that. Even when flustered, Marinette was cute.

"Wait, how do I turn at the bottom again?" Marinette yelled as they reached the halfway point. "I've forgotten!"

"You do something else with your skis, I think!" Adrien hollered back from nearly a dozen meters behind her. "At least I hope that that's what it is, because that's what I was planning on doing!"

Marinette turned her head partway, clearly about to give him a dubious look, but then she wobbled alarmingly and whipped back to face the front, arms extended to try to keep her balance. Adrien winced, fully expecting her to fall, but she didn't. Surprisingly enough, Marinette made it to the bottom of the hill upright and wobbled across the flat part at the base of the hill, finally inching to a halt right before the plastic mesh fence.

Adrien was still a third of the way up the hill, inching his way down at a much slower pace.

"Are you scared of going faster?" Plagg asked, popping his head out of Adrien's jacket. "This is so slow!"

"I picked this speed and I'm sticking to it," Adrien insisted. He tried adjusting his skis and squawked when he jolted forward. "It's a perfectly good speed."

"Your friend is already at the bottom of the hill," Plagg pointed out helpfully.

"Yeah, she must have been doing something different." Adrien wobbled as he hit a bump in the snow, windmilling his arms to stay up. "I'll get there. Eventually."

"Yeah, tomorrow."

"I don't exactly have a supersuit on right now," Adrien pointed out tensely. "If I fall or run into anything, I could actually get hurt. And if I get hurt, then I can't fight akumas as well as usual."

Plagg groaned loudly. "Oh my god, I can tell already why you don't have any downhill skiing experience, you're such a worrywart. I'm surprised that your parents didn't have you learn."

"Neither of them liked it, so why would they teach me?" Adrien let out a yelp as his ski hit a bump and made him wobble. "And I can see why they wouldn't like it, too!"

Plagg snorted and retreated back into Adrien's jacket as they finally got to the bottom of the hill. Adrien wobbled to a stop, then shuffled his way over towards Marinette.

"I thought that I wouldn't be able to stop," Marinette told him with a laugh. "I nearly hit the fence!"

"At least it wouldn't have been a hard hit," Adrien pointed out. "And you were going faster than I was. I was going at the approximate speed of a particularly tired snail."

Marinette giggled, and they moved over to join the rest of the group. "I wanted to go slower, but I didn't dare adjust my skis at all. By the time I was halfway down, I was fine with it. Mostly."

Adrien grinned at that.

It wasn't long before their instructor joined them. She waved them into a tight group, then smiled at them. "Okay! That was a nice first run. Now we're going to divide up a bit- people who didn't fall on the run will try doing a loose zigzag. Maddie will demonstrate- you want to go from one side of the run to the other and back, very shallow zigzags so that you don't go too fast. People who fell will do another snowplow run."

"Oh god," Adrien muttered as the assistant instructor started divvying them up. "Zigzags? That sounds like it requires adjusting the skis mid-hill."

He wasn't looking forward to that. There would no doubt be several seconds of the skis facing directly downhill while they made the turn itself, and if they weren't turned in time he could find himself zipping straight down the hill.

"I promise not to laugh if you fall," Marinette offered helpfully. "As long as you don't laugh when I fall."

"And I'll even promise to do my best to not fall on you if you fall," Adrien said with a laugh. "I'm not sure how much my best counts for, though."

They rode up the lift again, waiting anxiously in line for their turn. Their assistant instructor went first, making smooth turns before heading easily across the snow again. The first pair went, and Adrien was surprised when there was no falling.

Then he remembered that oh, right, some of the others have skied before. They just hadn't skied much, which was why they were in lessons with the rest of the beginners. They would be more confident than he and Marinette were on their skis, just not confident enough to head off without a review first.

"I can't wait for lunch," Marinette commented as they inched forward in line. "Getting off this hill and having a break? Eating food? That I can handle."

"I think we have to have mastered the basics before we can go in," Adrien said glumly, because now that she mentioned it he was remembering the food choices on the menu that he had looked up, and some of the offerings sounded really good. "And maybe it's a good thing. If they can make this at all enjoyable before we go in, maybe I'll go back out after eating instead of staying in and playing games on my phone."

Marinette made a face. Clearly she was in favor of just staying in. Adrien was leaning that way too, to be honest, but he had only done one run so far. Maybe it would get better.

Of course, maybe he would end up falling down on his face like the person who had just started their run down the hill. That didn't look comfortable.

And then it was time for him and Marinette to go.

Adrien gulped as their instructor angled him and then gave him a gentle push off the top of the hill. He started across the hill, at a shallow enough angle that he wasn't picking up too much speed, right at the trees that bordered the run.

He wasn't a fan of that bit. Couldn't the run be bordered by cushions or something? Maybe some pillows?

Behind him, Marinette's teakettle noise had started up again. Adrien chanced a glance behind him, spotting Marinette as she caught up to him.

Apparently she was going faster than him again.

Marinette took the turn before he did, letting out a tiny cheer as she successfully got herself turned around. Adrien tried to follow, and instead found himself angled a little too far down.

Oh, no. He didn't like this. Not one bit. Not at all. He wanted off, now.

"Adrien!"

"Shoot shoot shoot, what do I do?" Adrien yelped, wobbling as he picked up more speed. "Plagg-"

"Turn, kid! Turn or fall!" Plagg had stuck his head out again and was watching nervously as the opposite side of the slope approached quickly. "Or do that snowplow thing that you were doing earlier!"

Adrien tried. He pushed his heels out and his toes in, trying to put on the brakes. Instead, his skis got tangled up and he pitched forward into the snow. There was a loud click from the vague direction of his feet, and he had enough presence of mind to hope that it was his boot or the ski instead of his bones or something else important before he hit the ground face-first.

Nothing seemed to hurt, at least. Well, except for the sting of the snow against his face.

"Adrien, are you okay?" Marinette's worried voice cut through Adrien's mental groan (he couldn't have at least had a slightly dignified tumble? It had to be a complete and utter failure of a fall?) "Adrien- oh! Your ski!"

Adrien extracted his face from the snow in time to see one of his rented skis head down the rest of the hill without him. He stared after it for a few seconds- that explained the click, at least- then heaved a sigh and planted his face right back in the snow.

There was a distinct snicker from his jacket. Apparently Plagg was amused by the situation. That made exactly one of them.

"Adrien, can you get up?" Marinette pressed, and Adrien resigned himself to getting up. There was no point in needlessly worrying his friend just because he was embarrassed. "Adrien?"

"'M fine," Adrien assured her, pushing himself to his knees. To his surprise, Marinette was only a meter away and had somehow managed to grind to a near-halt without falling herself. He blinked at her, and after a moment realized that she had probably been headed straight for where his head had been before she had stopped herself.

Well. That was fortunate that she seemed to be doing better than he was at downhill skiing, at least.

Marinette's whole body drooped with relief. "Oh, good! I was worried! That looked like a nasty fall," she added. "And your legs kind of went at funny angles, too, so…"

"Everything feels all right," Adrien told her hastily. Then, just to lighten the mood, he added, "Well, except for my pride. But it'll recover."

Marinette was still watching him like a hawk. "Are you sure?"

"I promise." Adrien glanced down the hill, where his ski had settled against the side of the building. "I'm not sure how I'm meant to get down now, though. If downhill skiing sounded hard, downhill skiing with only one ski sounds even harder."

Marinette craned her neck and wobbled dangerously. Adrien winced, fully expecting her to topple over on him. Miraculously, though, she stayed up. "I think I see one of the instructors getting it. They'll probably bring it back to you."

Adrien briefly wondered if he could just bury his face in the snow again. No other student had needed a teacher to come down and help them mid-hill, so it was embarrassing that he did.

It didn't take long at all for the instructor with Adrien's ski to get up the hill and then back down to him, expertly sliding to a stop next to him.

"Marinette, please proceed down the hill," she told Marinette, who had managed to stay relatively close to Adrien. She hadn't been able to completely stop moving, so she had made a sharp turn and was now creeping past on Adrien's downhill side. "We'll meet you down there."

With one last look at Adrien, Marinette adjusted her skis and started moving down the hill again, slow but steady.

She was definitely getting the hang of this faster than Adrien was. He would have been jealous, but honestly he was proud of her. She was dealing with her nerves a whole lot better than he was.

"All right, Adrien," the instructor said, turning to him and holding out his ski. "Let's get this on and finish the hill, all right?"

Marinette got to the bottom of the hill and turned one last time to glide along the flat area, a grin on her face as she managed it. She had wobbled pretty badly on several- well, most- of her turns, but for once her clumsy tendencies had worked in her favor. She had plenty of practice in catching herself before she properly fell, and there had only been one time when she floundered enough to have to push off the snow to stay up.

It was really a miracle that she hadn't overbalanced and fallen the other way. A miracle, or just really, really good luck.

"Good job!" Tikki told her proudly. "I told you that you could do it!"

"I just had to do the same thing I did when I was learning how to use my yo-yo, just like you told me to," Marinette told her kwami. "The fear is there, but I have to not let it overtake me and stop me from learning and trusting my gut. And then I was worried about Adrien, too, so I had to act on instinct- and it worked!" She was a little giddy, to be honest. The entire way down, she had been convinced that she was going to mess up and end up zipping into a tree, but she hadn't. When she had tried to turn, she had actually turned, just like she wanted to.

Marinette wasn't going to be going any faster anytime soon- the lazy curves that she had been doing were the perfect speed- but she had done it.

"I hope Adrien is all right," Marinette added, glancing back up the hill towards where Adrien and the extra instructor were making their way down the hill. She seemed to be making sure that he wasn't going any faster than he wanted to be. "That was a really nasty fall. I didn't even see what happened."

"I think he tried to snowplow and angled his skis too much," Tikki told her. "And then they criss-crossed and he came to a faster stop than he expected."

Marinette winced.

Adrien's face was pink when he finally got to the bottom and shuffled over to join her in line for the lift. He looked distinctly disgruntled.

"You have snow in your jacket," Marinette commented, automatically reaching up to try to brush some of it off. "That doesn't look comfortable."

Adrien winced as he reached up as well, digging his fingers down the back of his jacket and pulling out several chunks of snow. "Yeah. That's what I get for being an idiot and falling."

"You're not an idiot," Marinette said immediately. "You're just learning."

"You're learning faster than I am," Adrien said, sounding discouraged. "I mean, the rest of the run went all right, I guess, but the instructor was pretty much tugging me into place every time. I keep not being able to do turns as tightly as I want to."

"I was nearly falling every time I did the turns," Marinette pointed out. "Except for that one time when I was barely moving at all. It's not like I was zipping down effortlessly."

"I'd rather nearly fall but make the turn right than end up not making enough of a turn and send myself zipping straight into the trees." They moved into position and sat down on the lift seat before starting their ascent again. "I wish we had a shorter slope to practice on. Shorter, and less steep."

Marinette nodded. That would be nice.

During the next run, she finally fell on a turn. It wasn't a hard fall, though, and most of the other turns seemed less wobbly, so she was going to count that as improvement. Maybe this would be fun after all.

Adrien seemed less convinced. He had nearly fallen once, but had also been snowplowing all the way down, except when he was turning. It was a surprise, really, since he was fabulous at every other sport ever, it seemed, but Marinette supposed that Adrien couldn't be good at everything. Besides, maybe he had had a steep learning curve for all of his sports but it had just been so long ago that he didn't remember it. She had heard that once somewhere, that little kids were less worried about getting hurt (or maybe they just couldn't know how badly they could potentially get hurt) so they didn't hold themselves back as much as teens and adults. Maybe that was what was going on with Adrien, too.

"Is it lunch yet?" Adrien asked as they headed up again. "It has to be soon, right?"

Marinette tried not to giggle at his exaggerated pout. "You just want to be done, don't you?"

"I mean- yeah, kind of," Adrien admitted. "It's frustrating that I'm so good at other sports and yet I'm at a complete loss here."

Marinette glanced over at him, curious. "Didn't you start out not so good at your other sports, too? I mean, you didn't just get thrown into fencing and immediately start winning trophies, right?"

Adrien laughed at that. "No, definitely not. But those sports are fairly safe, you know? If I ever felt uncomfortable when I was doing them, I could just stop. And none of my normal sports ever threw me onto a slippery hill with two bits of fiberglass strapped to my feet. It's that bit I don't like." He shrugged, wriggling his feet a bit and watching little bits of snow tumble off of his skis and fall to the ground below. "But there's also a part of me that wants to get at least one good run in, you know? Like, I have to improve enough for that, to make up for the mess earlier."

...well, if Adrien's pride was going to bring him out again after lunch, Marinette wasn't going to complain. She was intrigued now, just a little bit- and she wasn't going to lie and say that she wasn't also interested in making a nice, smooth run down the hill, free (or at least largely free) of wobbles and falls.

It turned out that the ski instructor had other ideas.

"Marinette, do you want to try going a little bit faster this time?" she asked, smiling at her. "Just a little bit! You can always snowplow if you decide that you want to slow down partway down the hill."

Marinette was sure that her whole expression dropped. Faster? Well, sure, she could try it, but wouldn't faster mean that she would be more likely to fall?

"And you can snowplow going into the turns," the instructor added, as though she was reading Marinette's mind. "So that you stay upright on them."

"You can do it!" Adrien encouraged her, beaming, and, well, there was no way she was going to say no after that.

"I bet you'll do great!" Tikki whispered as Marinette and Adrien joined the line. It was shorter than before, she noticed, and it didn't take long to realize that people were both going down faster and they weren't waiting for the full group to reconvene before having people go down again.

It gave her less time to really worry over the concept of going faster, which was probably a good thing. Hopefully it would be like when akuma fights had forced her to put aside her worries and focus on the moment instead of all the possible ways that she could mess up.

At least then she had had a magic super-suit to keep her from getting injured when the learning curve was a little too steep and she ended up falling or ramming into the side of a building.

When she and Adrien went up, Marinette started first. She did her best to avoid seizing up as her skis went a little bit faster than she had gone before.

"That's it, stay relaxed and move with the skis," Tikki coached. "You're doing well!"

"I'm repressing the urge to panic," Marinette ground out through gritted teeth.

"That's great! Keep repressing!"

For some reason, that made Marinette giggle. "And here I was thinking that repressing emotions was a bad thing!"

"Repressing is good- wait, no, that's not what I meant!" Tikki giggled as well. Then she gasped. "Oh! It's almost time to turn!"

Gradually, Marinette angled her skis in, slowing herself down until she was comfortable turning. It took a few seconds after the turn to readjust so that she would go just that little bit faster, and then she was off again.

It actually….wasn't that bad. She had slowed to a crawl, and had only really needed to work a little to keep her balance.

Huh.

She crossed the ski slope again, and this time when she turned she was confident enough to go a little faster, even. She had to give herself more time to slow down before the following turn, but it wasn't bad at all.

Cross the slope. Turn. Cross. Turn. Cross. Final turn-

"Why don't you go a little faster for the bottom one?" Tikki suggested. "It'll be fun!"

Marinette made a face. It was tempting, but… "We'll see."

She slowed down to a crawl, then re-angled herself, at a tiny bit steeper of an angle. To her surprise, it didn't feel bad at all.

Maybe she was getting the hang of this after all-

"Hey! Coming through!"

Marinette yelped and veered as someone went flashing by. The sudden movement threw her off, and then she was going much faster than anticipated down the remainder of the hill. She struggled to get back under control, but then she was at the bottom of the hill and skidding towards the chalet. Marinette angled her skis the best she could, altering her course enough that she wasn't headed directly at the building. There wasn't enough time to snowplow first before her turn, so she took it too fast and too sharply.

It really wasn't a surprise when she went tumbling into the mesh fence moments later. Marinette sighed at the sensation of finding herself on the ground (not that it was a new feeling, really), pushed herself back up, got herself untangled, and moved out of the way so that Adrien wouldn't hit her once he reached the bottom of the hill.

Adrien, who no longer had his ski instructor chaperone helping him. Marinette frowned, glancing around, and almost immediately spotted the instructor headed right for the man who had nearly hit her, a scowl on her face as she chased him down.

It took another minute for Adrien to get down. He seemed much steadier this time, and there was a small smile on his face as he drifted to a stop near her.

"That wasn't bad," he told her with a grin. "But that guy nearly took us out, didn't he? He knocked me over, too. What an ass."

"It looks like he's getting chewed out now," Marinette commented. "Hopefully he'll move to the other hills. Clearly he's good enough to do it."

They watched the man argue with the ski instructor for another minute before he suddenly conceded and stomped off, red-faced. The instructor glanced around, spotted them, and headed right over.

"We'll not have to deal with him again," she told them. "He had no business being on the bunny hill."

"What was he doing there in the first place?" Marinette wanted to know.

The instructor laughed. "He's from the US and didn't think that that was the bunny hill. He was raging on about how they shouldn't let beginners down the intermediate slopes, and I had to inform him that it was our bunny slope. I pointed him towards our intermediate slopes, though, and I think he maybe isn't quite so keen on them."

They both laughed.

"I'm guessing that he's from somewhere flat, where their expert slopes are our more basic intermediates," she added with a giggle. "And he probably didn't bother to look up the rise on our slopes before coming."

"So wait, what would their bunny hills look like?" Adrien wanted to know. "Not like this, apparently?"

"Very short and very flat." The instructor glanced at her watch. "On a more cheerful note, I think it's time for the lunch break! You can re-join us after lunch or ski on your own," she added. "I think you two might be interested in that slope over there. It's longer, but there are large portions that are a gentler slope than the bunny hill."

Marinette and Adrien gave the hill in question a slightly dubious look. It was taller than the bunny hill for sure, and longer, but at least it didn't have the chalet or a fence directly at the bottom. There was plenty of room to slow down.

"You can do it, I'm sure," she assured them. "And you don't have to decide right away. Think about it over lunch."

She headed off, and Adrien and Marinette shuffled towards the building. It took a bit of wrestling before they got their skis off- it was not straightforward- and then they headed in. The cafeteria area was already busy, and so the two of them dug out their money and headed over to get in line. Some of their group was already getting food, but most of the people around were adults, people who were serious skiers taking the day off to tackle the harder slopes. Still, it didn't take too long for them to get their food, and the two of them wound through the main part of the chalet to grab a table by the windows that were facing the mountains.

"I can't believe the instructor thought that I should be going anywhere near a hill that's not the bunny hill," Adrien commented as he dug in. "You, sure, since you seem to have gotten the hang of things, but she was still pulling me back on track."

"But the other hill isn't quite as steep," Marinette pointed out. Now that the instructor had suggested it, it stood like a challenge. She wanted to try it. She probably wouldn't have felt the need to do it before she became Ladybug, but now? "So you wouldn't be going as fast, right?"

Adrien glanced over at her and suddenly his expression turned thoughtful. Maybe he saw the pleading and hope in her expression- she didn't want to go down by herself, that would be no fun, and so far they seemed to have some sort of unspoken pact to stick together for the day- and was thinking about it. After a few seconds of thought, he spoke up again. "Maybe we could do the bunny hill a couple more times first? I'd- I'd be willing to try it after getting a little more practice with my turns."

"Sure!" Marinette wouldn't mind more practice, either. She needed that one good run without wobbles and falls. But more than anything, Marinette was glad that Adrien was willing to join her, despite his misgivings. It was really nice of her, and there was a tiny part of Marinette that wondered if he was going along with her because they were friends, or if maybe, maybe it was an indicator of his interest extending a bit more…?

"Oh, there's still a few people from our lesson out there," Adrien commented, pulling Marinette out of her thoughts. "I guess they wanted to try the bunny hill a few more times?"

"Maybe they just sent us in earlier because of that man who almost hit us," Marinette suggested, watching as two people slowly criss-crossed the hill. "I mean, I was a bit shaken after nearly getting hit. It was nice to get a bit of a break after that."

"Yeah- oh, look at that guy!" Adrien exclaimed, pointing, and Marinette looked. One of the other students was flailing a bit, and suddenly their skis were pointed down the hill. "Oh no! Look at them go!"

"They're not going to be able to stop!" Marinette gasped, leaning forward to watch. "At least they were most of the way down the hill when that happened, but oh! They're not snowplowing at all! And- oh, no, turn the other way!"

"Panic makes people forget all of their lessons," Adrien pointed out. He was leaning forward, too, a frown on his face as the skier slid across the flat. They hit the mesh net and went down in a heap, tangled with the plastic netting. They slid a little further before hitting the building with a low thud.

The instructors were on them in an instant, trying to untangle net and skier and then get the netting back up before anyone else came in danger of hitting the building. Somehow the skier was unharmed, and he was soon scooting off across the snow.

That did not make her want to get back out there on the hill.

"At least he didn't have poles," Adrien commented. "If he did…"

Marinette winced. Sharp, pointy objects and flailing combined? That would have been bad.

They settled into a comfortable silence as they ate lunch together, and Marinette thanked her lucky stars that she had gotten better about keeping her composure around Adrien. She only really stuttered and flailed around him now if she was trying to ask him out or if he startled her (and who knew that Adrien could be so sneaky?) but the rest of the time, they could hang out normally. The two of them had even exasperated Nino and Alya on occasion with their pun-offs, and giggling with Adrien was fun.

If she had still been getting all flustered around Adrien like she had the previous year, this trip wouldn't have been nearly as much fun. She would have been too busy tripping over both her words and her feet to be able to enjoy herself.

"Ready to head back out?" Adrien asked as they finished up their food. He scraped one last bite off of his plate and popped it into his mouth. "I'm done."

"Sure!"

The rest of the afternoon positively flew by. Adrien and Marinette hadn't returned to skiing right after lunch, instead opting to wander around and explore the area for a bit. They had watched snowboarders and skiers alike pull off crazy tricks on the terrain park hill, only leaving after seeing a particularly nasty tumble. Then they stumbled upon the trailhead for a few cross-country ski trails, which had Marinette grumbling that they hadn't been told about that.

"I mean, I've only done cross-country once and it was years and years ago," Marinette told Adrien as they headed back across the flat area. "But it was fun! And the hills were a lot smaller, too."

They stopped at the bunny hill next. Three runs later, Adrien was more confident with his turns and Marinette was celebrating a run that had been practically perfect.

And then Ms. Bustier informed them that their group would be leaving in just under an hour, and if they wanted to try any of the other hills, they would have to do it now.

"Wow, time really flew!" Adrien exclaimed as he and Marinette shuffled over to the hill that the instructor had pointed out earlier. "We haven't been here for that long, it seems!"

"Well, part of the day was taken up by getting here," Marinette pointed out. "It took a while. And then we had to get our stuff."

Adrien nodded. That made sense. Still, they had had to get to school early to get going on their field trip, and they weren't even trying to make it back by the normal end of the school day. It would have long since fallen dark by the time they got back to school and could go home.

This time, the lift ride was longer. Adrien's knuckles turned white again when he glanced back and saw how far off the valley floor they were getting.

It wasn't anything like the big slopes, the ones Adrien could see vanishing into the distance- the ones where there could be twenty or thirty people or even more people going down and they would still look pretty empty- but he could tell that they were going farther than before, and also just a little bit higher.

Hopefully the angry man from earlier had moved on to completely different slopes. Adrien didn't exactly want to get yelled at again. Or run down, either.

"Okay, what's the plan?" Adrien asked with a bit of a breathless laugh as they got off the lift and moved across the top of the slope. "Any preferred route down?"

"I was planning on pointing my skis straight downward and seeing how fast I could go," Marinette said, and Adrien's vision practically blurred with how quickly he whipped around to stare at her. His (confusion? Mild panic? Extreme panic?) quickly dissipated, though, when he saw the amused grin that she was (unsuccessfully) trying to hide.

"Ha-ha, you really got me," Adrien deadpanned, trying to not sound as amused as he felt. "Very funny."

Marinette's smile turned smug. "I thought so, too."

Surprisingly, their first run down the hill went better than Adrien had expected. He had fallen, sure- there had been one section that switched from really gentle slope to a slightly steeper slope, and there had been enough of a change that he had toppled- but it really wasn't bad at all. Longer, yes. It took longer to get all the way down and he and Marinette couldn't criss-cross the entire slope or they would get in someone's way, sure. But it hadn't been bad.

They went down twice more before they were called in. Adrien felt a bit bad for the workers in the rental area as an absolute pile of equipment was returned all at once as their school packed up, boots and helmets filling the counters and skis absolutely everywhere, but they didn't seem to be bothered by the complete and utter mayhem.

"Oh, gosh, my feet," Adrien groaned as he finally pried his boots off, feeling blood rush back into his feet. He could walk again! "I didn't even realize they hurt that much."

"I've got pins and needles," Marinette agreed as she hobbled towards the counter to give her boots back. "Ow ow ow."

One hasty gathering-up of their things later, and their group was bundled out the door and onto the bus, sweaty, tired, and a little bruised up. Apparently Alix and Kim had ended up on the Terrain Park later in the day and had tried a few tricks that they had really never learned. They had both wiped out pretty hard, and Alix was nursing a bruised wrist while Kim had gotten a sprained ankle. Needless to say, the teachers were not happy with them.

"So did you two ever move off the bunny hill?" Alya wanted to know as she and Nino piled into the seat in front of Adrien and Marinette. She was flushed and sweaty from skiing and her hair stood up on end as she pulled her hat off. "You must have been out a lot, Nino and I didn't see you at lunch!"

"Well, it was busy," Adrien pointed out. He tugged off his own hat- and wasn't it fabulous that Marinette had managed to find yarn in the exact shade of his favorite scarf and made a hat to match?- and did his best to tame the wild mess that his hair had turned into. "And we weren't in for long! It was nice outside."

"So the slopes weren't quite as scary as you thought, huh?" Nino asked smugly. Adrien just shook his head.

"Oh, they were just as scary." He turned to Marinette with a smile, reaching out to give her head a friendly squeeze. "But you know what? They're not so bad with a friend to keep me company."

[24stiles920]

Pack Mentality

Teen Wolf Rewrite

Pairing: Stiles x Reader

Warnings: Ages 16+, swearing, jerk!Stiles

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or Harry Potter. I am just borrowing the spells and potions from the wonderful Harry Potter Universe, not stealing them.

Words: 5724

A/N: Oh, my God. What a whirlwind chapter. Hope you like it, but I worked very hard on the end. Muhahaha. 😊

Season 1 Masterlist

“Happy Birthday!”

I woke up abruptly, rubbing my bleary eyes to see my mom and dad wearing cheesy party hats and gleeful expressions.

“Thanks, mom and dad, but it’s—” I snuck a look at my iHome. “—actually a normal time. I thought it was earlier.”

“Can we take these hats off, now?” Dad complained to mom. “They’re awfully uncomfortable.”

“Finn, honestly—” Mom sighed. “Yes, you can take it off, she’s seen it already.”

I grinned at my parents, loving how their relationship was even after almost thirty years together.

“So,” Mom turned to me, her expression hopeful. “Did it come in yet?”

I looked at my wrists and saw nothing. No writing or anything. But that was to be expected. It wasn’t five p.m. yet.

“No, and you know there won’t be until five, mom.” I pursed my lips at her playfully.

At the age of sixteen at the exact time they were born, everyone gets a soul mark of a person’s name on one of their wrists. It was a taboo thing; people didn’t like to talk about it, as some people don’t even have a soul mark. I know Scott doesn’t have one. And some people have two names, in which case a name appears after their first soulmate dies, which is very rare.

“Eleven hours until five o’clock.” Mom grinned while dad looked nauseous.

“Dad, you don’t have to look so upset,” I laughed. “It’ll be ages before I meet him.”

“Or her.” Mom chimed in.

“Or her.” I agreed.

“Sorry, munchkin.” Dad forced a laugh. “I just don’t like the thought of you leaving us.”

I gave dad an indulgent smile, thinking that his sappiness was sweet. “Dad, today’s my sixteenth birthday; I won’t leave you yet.”

Dad finally smiled, the skin by his eyes wrinkling up. “Well, we’ll leave you to get dressed. We need to go finish breakfast.”

My parents bustled out of my room, allowing me to get up and get ready. I picked out a black camisole and paired it with a black and pink floral skirt. I topped the camisole with a pink cardigan and finished the look off with black tights and black, high-heeled ankle boots.

My phone chimed with a text while I was putting my hair up into a milkmaid braid. I looked to see that it was a text from Scott, wishing me a happy birthday and that he needed to talk to me and Stiles as soon as possible. I quickly sent him a reply and finished my hair.

I grabbed my white leather purse, slipping my wand into it, and walked downstairs, my nose twitching at the smell of baked cinnamon. I entered the kitchen to see the breakfast table laden down with cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon, sausages, and toast.  

We had a nice breakfast, talking and catching up. I didn’t dare tell them about Scott being a werewolf, but I knew it would come up sometime. Just not now.

“So, how are you getting to school?” Mom asked casually.

I looked at her confused. “Uh, I was just gonna catch a ride with you guys, why?”

Neither of them said anything, instead, dad held out an arm and opened his fist. In his hand were keys with a silver keychain that said ‘Y/N’ on it.

“No way.” I gasped, feeling elated. My own car? I’ll take it.

“Yes way.” Dad grinned. “A Jeep Renegade, just like you wanted.”

“In navy blue?” I wondered. It didn’t matter to me, but I was just checking to see if they went all out.

“In navy blue.” Dad confirmed.

I squealed and jumped up from my seat, giving each of them a tight hug. Together we walked out to the driveway, where my brand-new jeep was sitting, gleaming in the morning sunlight.

“Oh, my God, thank you so much!” I cried, wrapping them both into another hug. “Oh, I love you guys so much.”

“We love you, too, sweetheart.” Mom smiled, cupping my chin gently. “Now get going. Don’t forget we have your birthday dinner with the Stilinski’s tonight.”

“I won’t forget.” I assured her, grabbing my purse from my dad. I walked to my jeep and got in, loving that new car smell.

I quickly hooked up my phone to the Bluetooth and played music, pulling out of the driveway, and thanking God that I had actually gone to those Driver’s Ed classes and gotten my license on time.

The ride to school was, unfortunately, fast, but Scott and Stiles were waiting by the school for me.

“Happy Birthday!” They greeted in unison, while Scott thrust a bouquet of sunflowers at me that were from him and Melissa.

“Thanks, guys.” I grinned at them.

“I have your present for later.” Stiles told me. “Dad and I went in on it, so he wanted to see your reaction.”

“Okay.” I shrugged. “That reminds me… Scott, did you want to come over for dinner? We’re celebrating my birthday. Melissa can come too. We’re having homemade pizza.”

“Sure.” Scott smiled. “I love your mom’s pizza.”

“Great.” I nodded. “Now, tell us about your text.”

Scott started explaining about this dream he had, where he and Allison were about to get it on, until Scott lost control and attacked Allison, basically killing her in a school bus.

“So, you killed her?” Stiles asked, opening the door for me and Scott.

“I don’t know.” Scott shrugged. “I just woke up. And I was sweating like crazy, and I couldn’t breathe. I’ve never had a dream where I woke up like that before.”

“Really?” Stiles raised his eyebrows. “I have. Usually ends a little differently.”

I scrunched up my nose and turned away, trying not to think about Stiles having wet dreams about Lydia. I just had to ignore it for a few more hours. Later today I would get my soul mate’s name, and then I could focus my time on someone other than Stiles.

“’A,’ I meant I’ve never had a dream that felt that real,” Scott said in a disgusted tone. “And ‘B,’ never give me that much detail about you in bed again.”

“Noted.” Stiles sighed.

“So,” I started, “Let me take a guess here—”

“No,” Scott cut me off. “I know, you think it has something to do with me going out with Allison tomorrow, like I’m gonna lose control and rip her throat out.”

“No, of course not.” I lied. Both Scott and Stiles gave me disbelieving looks. “Yeah, that’s totally it.”

“Hey, come on, it’s gonna be fine, all right?” Stiles said positively. “Personally, I think you’re handling this pretty fuckin’ great, okay? You know, it’s not like there’s a lycanthropy for beginners class you can take.”

Scott and I exchanged looks, both of us probably thinking the same thing. Derek Hale.

“Yeah, not a class, but maybe a teacher.” Scott suggested.

“Who, Derek?” Stiles exclaimed, pausing before slapping Scott on the back of the head. “You forgetting the part where we got him tossed in jail?”

“Yeah, I know, but chasing her, dragging her to the back of the bus, it felt so real.” Scott said.

“How real?” I asked.

“Like it actually happened.” Scott answered as he and Stiles pushed open the doors to go outside.

I gasped at the sight before me. A buts was parked outside of the school, its back door ripped halfway off with claw marks and splats of blood everywhere. It was exactly as Scott had described in his dream, and my worry for Allison bubbled within my stomach.

“I think it did.” Stiles said, mouth wide open with shock.

I fumbled with my bag, trying to grab my iPhone out of one of the silly pockets. Scott seemed to have the same idea as me, taking out his phone as well. I unlocked my screen and frantically texted Allison, wondering where she was. There was no reply and one glance at Scott showed that he was getting the same results as me.

We raced back into the school, searching the hallways for the familiar dark head of curls. We had no luck, so Scott and I kept pression on, with Stiles trailing behind us.

“She’s probably fine.” Stiles tried to calm us down.

“She’s not answering our texts, Stiles.” I said nervously.

Stiles grabbed my hand, causing me to calm down a fraction. How he could soothe me with just one touch amazed me.

“It could just be a coincidence, all right?” Stiles spoke soothingly. “A seriously amazing coincidence.”

Scott glanced back at me and Stiles. “Just help me find her, okay? Do you see her?”

I looked around, but I couldn’t spot the Argent girl.

“No,” Stiles and I said in unison.

Scott turned down a different hall, getting lost in the crowd. Stiles and I turned to each other, at a lost at what we could do.

“Hey, come here,” Stiles said suddenly, grabbing my arm and pulling me to the side of the hallway so that we weren’t in the way of people. He took off his backpack and rummaged through it, pulling out a small white box.

“I, uh,” He rubbed his head awkwardly. “I know I said I already got you something, but I wanted to give you this as well.”

I smiled warmly at him. “You didn’t have to, Stiles.”

“Of course, I did.” Stiles said indignantly. “You’re my—you’re Y/N.”

I gave him a small smile as he handed me the box. I took the top off and gasped as I looked at the ring inside. It was simple, but perfect, with a silver band and a single garnet stone in the middle. My birthstone.

“It was my mother’s.” Stiles said, watching as I slid it onto my right hand. “She left it for you, she loved you, said you were the best goddaughter out there.”

I glanced up at him, noticing the sadness in his eyes as he talked about his mom.

“I loved her, too.” I assured Stiles. “It’s beautiful, Stiles, thank you.”

I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his firm waist, resting my head on his chest. I could hear his heart beating fast as he wrapped his long arms around my shoulders and squeeze tight.

I breathed in his intoxicating scent and savored the moment, because there, with Stiles’ arms around me, and mine around him, I felt like I was floating on cloud nine.  

“Attention, students, this is your principal.” The overhead speaker boomed. “I know you’re all wondering about the incident that occurred last night to one of our buses. While the police work to determine what happened, classes with proceed as scheduled.”

Having parted from each other as the principal was speaking, I watched as Stiles sighed in disappointment like most of the other students in the hall.

“Come on.” I laughed, elbowing him playfully. “Walk me to class?”

“Why, of course.”

And off we went.

“Maybe it was my blood on the door.” Scott said later in chemistry class, turning around in his seat to look at me and Stiles.

“Could have been animal blood.” Stiles suggested. “You know, maybe you caught a rabbit or something.”

“And did what?” Scott asked, disgusted.

“Ate it.”

“Raw?” Scott looked appalled.

“No, you stopped to bake it in a little werewolf oven.” Stiles said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know, you’re the one who can’t remember anything.”

“Mr. Stilinski, if that’s your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while.” Mr. Harris called from the front of the classroom, his hands on his hips.

Stiles laughed mockingly.

“I think you, Mr. McCall, and Miss Stark would benefit from a little distance, yes?” Mr. Harris continued.

“No.” Stiles objected softly. Mr. Harris ignored him, pointing to two empty seats for Stiles and Scott to take on the opposite sides of the room from each other while I stayed in the same seat.

“Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much.” Mr. Harris quipped as the boys moved to their new seats.

Stiles scoffed, hauling his books and bag to the back of the classroom. Scott sat at the front with a girl named Harley, who was staring out the window.

“Hey, I think they found something.” She exclaimed suddenly, running to the window.

The whole class got up to walk to the window to see what Harley was talking about. I walked up behind Scott and Stiles, but I was too short to see over them.

“That’s not a rabbit.” Scott murmured to Stiles.

Suddenly, whatever the class saw made them all scream and jump back, causing me to startle a bit. Scott slowly backed away from the window with a horrified look on his face. Stiles joined Scott and I, a relieved look upon his facial features.

“Okay.” He said, patting Scott on the shoulder. “This is good, this is good. He got up, he’s not dead. Dead guys can’t do that.”

“Stiles,” Scott said solemnly. “I did that.”

-

“Okay, but dreams aren’t memories.” I argued softly as Stiles, Scott, and I walked to an empty lunch table, our trays laden down with food. I sat down while Stiles sat on my right, with Scott across from him.

“Then it wasn’t a dream,” Scott said. “Something happened last night, and I can’t remember what.”

“What makes you so sure that Derek even has all the answers?” Stiles asked, bringing up the older, grumpy wolf.

“Because during the full moon he wasn’t changed. He was in total control while I was running around in the middle of the night attacking some totally innocent guy.” Scott huffed.

“You don’t know that.” Stiles said firmly.

“I don’t not know it.” Scott countered. “I can’t go out with Allison. I have to cancel.”

My mouth opened in surprise. How could he just cancel on Allison like that? Especially when all she’s been talking about lately was Scott.

“No, you’re not cancelling, okay?” I said. “You can’t just cancel your entire life.”

Stiles nodded from beside me. “Y/N is right, Scott. We’ll figure it out.”

A tray slammed on the table in the spot next to Scott. I looked up to see Lydia standing there with a charming smile on her face.

“Figure out what?” She asked, before turning to me. “Happy Birthday, Y/N.”

“Thanks, Lydia.” I smiled begrudging at her. “And we were just talking about homework.”

“Yeah,” Stiles added breathlessly. He looked at me and whispered lowly, “Why is she sitting with us?”

I shrugged and looked up to see Allison sit in the chair across from me.

“Happy Birthday, Y/N!” She smiled sweetly at me, before handing me a chocolate chip cookie.

“Thanks, Al.” I beamed at her as Jackson walked up to the table.

“Get up.” He commanded the boy who was sitting at the head of the table.

They guy looked extremely offended. “How come you never ask Danny to get up?”

Danny, who was on the other side of Stiles, quipped, “Because I don’t stare at his girlfriend’s coin slot.”

The guy huffed loudly and got up, going to take a seat elsewhere.

“So,” Danny started casually, “I hear they’re saying it’s some type of animal attack. Probably a cougar.”

Jackson shook his head in disagreement. “I heard mountain lion.”

“A cougar is a mountain lion.” Lydia corrected him quietly. To her chagrin, we all heard her. Jackson even gave her a weird look. “Isn’t it?”

“Who cares?” Jackson said rudely. “The guy’s probably some homeless tweaker who’s gonna did anyway.”

“Actually, I just found out who it is.” Stiles said, looking at his phone. “Check it out.”

He held his phone out, so everyone could see what he was talking about.

“The Sheriff’s department won’t speculate on details of the incident but confirmed the victim, Garrison Meyers, did survive the attack.” The reporter on the video said. “Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition.”

“I know this guy,” Scott stuttered, taking Stiles’ phone into his hands.

“You do?” Allison asked as Stiles and I exchanged worried looks.

Scott nodded. “Yeah, when I used to take the bus back when I lived with my dad. He was the driver.”

“Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?” Lydia drawled. “Like, oh,” She turned to Allison abruptly. “Where are we going tomorrow night? You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?”

Allison swallowed her food, glancing worriedly at Scott. “Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do.”

“Well,” said Lydia briskly. “I am not sitting home again watching lacrosse videos, so it the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun.”

“Hanging out?” Scott stammered, looking bewilderedly at a regretful Allison. “Like, the four of us? Do you wanna hang out, like us and them?”

Allison looked at me for help, and I grimaced at her. I didn’t know what to do in this situation. On one hand, Lydia was being rude by barging her way into Scott and Allison’s date. On the other hand, I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it, and Allison would look rude if she said no.

I think Allison had the same lines of thinking, because she answered hesitantly, “Yeah, I guess. Sounds fun.”

Jackson scoffed and reached for his fork, holding it up to his face. “You know what else sounds fun? Stabbing myself in the face with this fork.”

Lydia pried the fork from his hand and gasped excitedly. “How ‘bout bowling?” She asked Jackson. “You love to bowl.”

“Yeah, with actual competition.” Jackson snarked.

Allison leaned forward, a challenging look on her face. “How do you know we’re not actual competition?” She looked towards Scott, “You can bowl, right?”

“Sort of.” Scott answered, his face screwed up.

Jackson leaned forward, putting his arms on the table as he leaned into them. “Is it sort of, or yes?”

Scott scowled. “Yes.” He lied, “In fact, I’m a great bowler.”

I twisted my lips together to hold back a laugh. Scott was a horrible bowler. In fact, the last time he bowled was at my eighth birthday party. He had gone to throw the bowling ball down the lane and accidently threw the ball backwards. The damn thing landed on my foot, and I landed in the hospital on my birthday, sobbing, with Stiles trying to cheer me up and Scott apologizing to me profusely.

Stiles and I hadn’t had time to confront Scott on his colossal lie throughout the day, so when we approached him when school ended, Stiles burst out, shouting, “You’re a terrible bowler.”

We walked down the stairs to the first level of the school.

“I know!” Scott exclaimed. “I’m such an idiot.”

I reached out and patted him on the shoulder. “You’re not an idiot, Scott.”

“Thanks, Y/N.” Scott smiled down at me.

“God,” Stiles interrupted, literally squeezing in between Scott and I. “It was like watching a car wreck. I mean, first it turned into the whole group date thing. And then out of nowhere comes that phrase.”

“Hang out.” Scott and Stiles said together.

“You don’t hang out with hot girls, okay?” Stiles continued. “It’s like death. Once it’s hanging out, you might as well be her gay best friend. You and Danny can start hanging out.”

I frowned at him. Why he insinuating that I was ugly? I mean, we hung out all the time, and I know he’s not gay.

“How is this happening?” Scott moaned. “I either killed a guy or I didn’t—”

“I don’t think Danny likes me very much.” Stiles pondered aloud.

“—I ask Allison on a date, and now we’re hanging out—”

“Am I not attractive to gay guys?” Stiles asked Scott and I, completely ignoring the fact that Scott was freaking out.

“—I make first line, and the team captain wants to destroy me,” Scott went on, “And now—now I’m gonna be late for work.”

Scott walked away from us, mumbling to himself, and leaving Stiles and I alone.

“Wait, Scott, you didn’t—am I attractive to gay guy—you didn’t answer my question.” Stiles pouted.

I gave him a confused look. “Why do you want to know if you’re attractive to gay guys?”

Stiles shrugged. “I dunno.”

We started walking out of the school towards the jeep.

“Stiles,” I started. “Are you gay?”

“What?” Stiles asked, shocked. “No! Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay, but I like girls. In fact, I love them. Why?”

“Well, you said only gay guys hang out with hot girls. We hang out all the time.” I said slowly. “So, if you’re not gay, that must mean I’m not attractive.”

Stiles stopped in his tracks and grabbed my arm, stopping me from walking any further.

“Wha—” He stopped and shook his head. “Of course, you’re attractive, Y/N. You’re one of the hottest girls in school.”

I blushed, my cheeks turning hot and pink.

“Come on,” I said, grinning like a fool. “Come look at my new jeep.”

-

Mieczyslaw

I stared at the name written on my wrist in slanted writing. I didn’t know anyone named Mieczyslaw, but the name sounded Polish. Maybe I would meet him when on a trip overseas or something.

“Y/N, the Stilinski’s and the McCall’s are here!” Mom called from downstairs, shaking me out of my daze.

“Coming!” I called, walking over to my vanity and grabbing a chunky bracelet to put on my wrist, covering the writing for now. I would talk to my parents later, but for now, Mieczyslaw would be my little secret.

-

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Y/N! Happy birthday to you!” My friends and family sang as my mom brought a large chocolate cake into the dining room where we were all sitting.

My cheeks flushed at their attention as I blew out all the candles in one blow. Everyone clapped loudly, cheering my name. Scott even threw in a cake cheer.

We opened presents as we ate the double chocolate cake.

Scott and Melissa got me a beautiful leather-bound journal with a elephant carved on the front. Mom and dad got me some books about potion making and a few cookbooks, as I had mentioned that I wanted to get into cooking and brewing.

But Noah and Stiles’ present was my favorite.

They presented me with a large photo album, filled to the brim with pictures of me, Stiles, and Scott, along with our families. There were even some pictures of Stiles and I in the bathtub together when we were toddlers.

“This was the best birthday.” I told them all sincerely. “Thank you so much for everything.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Now, did you get a name?” Melissa, still in her work scrubs, asked eagerly.

“I’m not sharing.” I told her, my lips quirking up a little.

Later that night, after getting interrogated about the name on my wrist by all the parents, Scott pulled Stiles and I aside, telling us that we needed to go the bus where Garrison Meyers was attacked. Apparently, Scott had went to Derek’s house to find out what happened, and Derek told him to go back to the bus and use his senses to remember.

So, after giving an excuse to the parents, we headed off to the bus garage. When we got out of the jeep, we walked up to the closed gate and Stiles put a foot in one of the links, ready to hoist himself up over the fence.

“Hey, no, just me.” Scott objected. “Someone needs to keep watch and stay with Y/N.”

I scowled at Scott, I was not defenseless.

“How come I’m always the guy keeping watch over Y/N?” Stiles whined.

“Because there’s only two of us.” Scott retorted.

“Okay, why’s it starting to feel like you’re Batman and I’m Robin?” Stiles said seriously. “I don’t want to be Robin all the time.”

“Nobody’s Batman and Robin any of the time.” Scott sighed.

“Not even some of the time?” Stiles asked in a disappointed tone.

Scott glared at him. “Just stay here.”

“Oh, my God!” Stiles yelled exasperated. “Fine. Come on, Y/N.”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me back towards the jeep, while I followed him willingly.

We sat in silence as we watched Scott scale the fence and run to the bloody bus. Stiles was unusually quiet, and I knew that it had something to do with what just transpired.

“You okay?” I asked him softly.

Stiles blew out a long breath. “I just—I just feel useless, you know? Like I’m not important.”

My heart broke as I watched his sad and disappointed face. How could he say that? Did he not know how important he was to me?

“I’ll never be the hero.” He continued. “Always the sidekick, I guess.”

“Hey,” I said strongly, capturing his attention. “Just because you don’t have powers doesn’t make you any less important than Scott.” He opened his mouth to argue, but I kept on, “No I mean it, Stiles. And who says you’re not a hero? You’re my hero. I mean, who talks with me for hours after I have a bad dream?”

Stiles said nothing.

“Who, Stiles?” I prodded, wanting an answer from him.

“Me.” He mumbled.

“Who let me drive his jeep during Driver’s Ed?”

“Me.” Stiles repeated.

“Who has to live with ADHD and constantly get good grades? Who did all the research to find out if Scott was a werewolf? You did, Stiles. You’re a damn good friend, an even better hero, and you are very important to me.” I said firmly as he watched me with an open mouth.

Finally, he smiled a little, the corners of his full lips turning up. “This is why you’re my Y/N.”

“Aw, shucks,” I waved at him.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, until suddenly Stiles swore, “Fuck!”

“What?” I looked at him alarmed. He didn’t answer, instead pressing on the horn two times.

I looked to see flashlights approaching the bus that Scott was currently exploring.

“Shit.” I muttered, climbing into the back seat.

“Come on—” Stiles groaned as Scott came running out of the bus. He jumped on the bed of a truck and flipped over the fence, speeding his way to the jeep.

“Come on!” Stiles shouted as Scott opened the passenger door.

“Go! Go! Go! Go!” Scott rushed out, causing Stiles to step on the gas and sending us into reverse.

“Did it work?” I asked, leaning up to put my head between the two boys. “Did you remember?”

“Yeah,” Scott nodded, breathless. “I was there last night. And the blood—a lot of it was mine.”

“So, you did attack him?” Stiles guessed, taking his eyes off the road briefly to look at Scott.

“No.” Scott answered simply. “I saw glowing eyes in the bus, but they weren’t mine. It was Derek.”

“What about the driver?” I prodded, ignoring Scott’s theory about Derek.

“I think I was actually trying to protect him.”

“Wait,” Stiles said, clearly not over what Scott said about Derek. “Why would Derek help you remember that he attacked the driver?”

Scott sighed and shook his head. “That’s what I don’t get.”

“It’s got to be a pack thing.”

Scott looked to Stiles, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Like an initiation. You do the kill together.” Stiles theorized.

Scott scoffed. “Because ripping someone’s throat out is a real bonding experience?”

“Yeah, but you didn’t do it, which means you’re not a killer.” I said as I patted Scott on the shoulder.

“It also means that—” Stiles started but was quickly interrupted by Scott.

“I can go out with Allison.” He sighed dreamily. I giggled under my breath. What a love-sick fool.

“I was actually gonna say it means that you won’t kill Y/N and I.” Stiles grumbled.

“Oh yeah,” Scott said in a casual voice. “That too.”

-

Thump!

I furrowed my eyebrows and turned around, narrowing my eyes at the photo album that Noah and Stiles gave me. It had fallen off my bed as I got off of it, making a tipi-like shape on the floor.

“Y/N, hurry up,” Mom called from the hall. “We have to drop you off at the Stilinski’s!”

“Okay, mom, let me pack a bag really quick.” I told her, grabbing the photo album off the floor and setting on my bed, intending to pack it for my stay at Stiles’ house.

My parents were going on a weekend getaway. Why they had planned it my birthday week was beyond me, but they’d had it planned for months, so they couldn’t get the money back from the hotel that they were staying at.

I had offered to stay at home, but my parents overwhelmingly shot the idea down, insisting that I’d get myself in any trouble I could find. So, I was staying at the Stilinski residence until Monday.

I quickly packed some clothes in my Vera Bradley weekend bag, and shoved the photo album in there as well, fully intending on looking it over front to back tonight before I went to sleep.

The ride to Stiles’ house was quick, and the goodbyes were quicker, as my parents were eager to get on their way. Noah wasn’t home when I arrived, but Stiles was, so we ordered Chinese food from our favorite Asian place and sat down to eat.

We talked about how we thought Scott’s group date was going, and we both had not-so-positive answers. Well, mine was okay, because I knew that Allison liked Scott, but Stiles’ was more negative.

“He sucks at bowling, so I bet Jackson’s laughing his fucking ass off at him.” Stiles prophesized, eating a bite of broccoli.

“True.” I agreed, eating some chow Mein. “I bet Allison is giving him tips, though.”

“I still think Scott will royally fail, though.” Stiles laughed. “Remember when he broke your—”

“Yes, I remember.” I scowled playfully at him. “What a great memory to bring up.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Stiles chuckled. “But you have to admit it’s kind of funny now.”

“It’s a little funny.” I admitted, a smile breaking through my lips.

After dinner we watched, to Stiles’ insistence, the first two Star Wars movies, and then I told him I was heading to the guest room, intending to fall asleep.

I snuggled into the comfortable bed and pulled out my photo album, opening up to a random page. The first photo that caught my attention was Stiles and I when we were maybe three years old. Stiles had picked a dandelion and held it out to me, where I was smiling cheekily.

I slid the picture out of the sleeve and turned it over, hoping that the year was written on the back. It was, and so were our names.

Y/N and Mieczyslaw. 1999.

My hands trembled, and I let out a gasp. Stiles’ real name was Mieczyslaw? It had to be. It was on the picture in Claudia’s handwriting.

I got up out of the bed and walked to the door, deciding that I was going to go ask Stiles about this. I opened the door and wandered down the hall, walking to Stiles’ room and knocking on his door with a closed fist.

Stiles opened the door, a curious expression on his face.

“What’s wrong, Y/N?” He asked.

“Your name.” I replied. “It’s Mieczyslaw?”

Color drained from his face and he stumbled back into his room, letting me follow him in. The room was a pigsty, but it was mostly clothes strewn on the ground.

“How’d you know?” Stiles asked.

“This picture.” I told him, holding up the photo so he could see the back of it.

“Fuck.” He whispered, putting his hand over his mouth.

“Do you know what name’s on my wrist, Stiles?” I asked, looking down at his carpeted floor.

“My name.” He said softly.

“And how’d you figure that out?” I wondered, not putting two and two together.

“Because your name’s on my wrist.” Stiles admitted.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, not believing that he kept this from me for close to nine months. Tears started gathering in my eyes and I made no move to wipe them away.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I cried, opening my eyes to see his guilty face.

“I-I don’t—” He stammered, but I cut him off.

“The truth, Stiles!”

“I don’t love you like that.” Stiles confessed, causing me to cry out as I absorbed his words. “Y/N, I’m sorry—”

“No, you’re not.” I sobbed. “So, what, you’re just going to wait for Lydia?”

Stiles was silent, not answering my question.

“That’s why you don’t want me?”

“Y/N, please.” Stiles begged, rushing towards me. I stepped away from him. “There are plenty of platonic soulmates.”

“I’m in love with you!” I cried out tiredly. “I’ve loved you for years and you never even noticed.”

“I-I—”

“Oh, my God.” I gasped. Sadness wanted to drown me until I was dead, the air sinking out of my lungs. “I can’t believe this.”

“I-I don’t want to lose you, Y/N, please, can’t we work this out?” Stiles asked desperately, tears now glistening in his eyes.

I bit my lip and shook my head, storming out of his room. I entered the guest room and slammed the door, locking it before he could even try to enter.

“Y/N, come on.” Stiles groaned, knocking on the door. “I need you. Don’t do this.”

“You did this, Stiles.” I spat, glaring at the dark-grained door. “Just—just leave me alone.”

“Y/N—”

I laid down in the bed, ignoring his knocking for over an hour until it went silent and I cried myself to sleep.

Tag List

@julzdec @karamelcoveredolicity @thegirlalmighty01​ @avadakedabitch @belleknows @supernaturallover2002 @dontstopxx @feelingsareharddd @brien-odylan @shewritesshedraws @dylnobrien1911 @kaleyana

[shitloadsofwrestling]

Anthony Carelli issues statement regarding Jim Cornette incident [October 10th, 2017]

In 2005, an incident occurred at Ohio Valley Wrestling that ended with student Anthony Carelli (later known as Santino Marella) being slapped by Jim Cornette, which led to Cornette being fired from OVW. 12 years later, after a multitude of burials from Cornette, he finally came face to face with Carelli last weekend at the XICW Cobo Legends convention, in an incident that was caught on camera. Carelli later issued the following statement:

Hi everyone, ok so here’s my one-and-only official statement regarding Cornette. He can definitely dish it out so lets see if he can take it too.  You will soon identify a reoccurring theme here, he’s complete bullshit, from head to toe.  My original stance from day one was to just let him rant and NOT to stoop to his level, and I tried to for a long time, but sometimes a brother gots to set things straight.  Its important to note that Cornette has been lying for so long about all this stuff that he actually believes it like an actually memory.   Some would say he’s a good bull-shitter.  But it’s actually called being a compulsive liar.  

12 years ago I moved to Louisville to train at OVW, after a month of the beginners class I was invited to the intermediate class where I would train with the legendary Rip Rogers.  At that time I was also invited to come and watch an OVW TV taping.  Upon arrival to my first ever TV taping I was told I could sit in the student area in the audience.  Keep in mind I’m with my daughter and simply a member of the audience, or so I thought.

The show starts, its great, and then there’s the debut of the bogeyman who was supposed to leave the arena through an emergency door directly behind us, no one gave me the 411, so as bogeyman was leaving he turned right towards us and I thought he was gonna do me a solid and scare my daughter thus creating a memory that she would never forget, so as a dad I was pretty stoked, and yes I was definitely smiling.  The bogeyman then jars the guard rail, we all run, and he exits out the door.  It’s all on YouTube if you care to see it. Actually I encourage one to do so, so you can see for yourself that I’m not laughing.  Hence BS #1.  There was never any agenda to the whole thing.  I wasn’t trying to be anything other than a fan.   I wasn’t part of the show, heck it was my first time there for show.  Gosh when I look back now I was so green to everything but I was definitely enjoying a pro-wrestling show with the rest of the audience.  The eagerness, the learning, the dedication, they’re all fond memories.    

I’m then summoned to the back where Cornette is flipping out and proceeds to slap me several times.  He claims 17 but lets just call that Bullshit #2.  I had no idea what he was even talking about.  I remember saying just that, which of course got him even more mad.  I remember him saying “you are nothing in this business”, and I’m like yeah no shit I literally just signed up here a month ago lol.  He knew I couldn’t do anything, he took complete advantage of the situation, and he assaulted someone, period, and probably should have been arrested and charged for that matter.  He acted completely unprofessional and very much disrespected the business he claims to love, I say claims to love cause all he ever does is go on completely negative rants about various aspects and his personal opinions.  All that hatred and negativity must be such a heavy burden to carry around all the time.  He has become his own prison sentence, left to marinade in his own negative filth.  Thank God he has become a non-entity and quite frankly irrelevant for some time now.  His overall contribution to the industry has been quite damaging and by no means, is he an authority.  He was merely tolerated and permitted, by real men, to be around the business during one of the best eras in history.  Hey don’t get me wrong I’m not an authority either but I’ve been around great men in this business that truly are and trust me he is NOT on that list.  Most people in the industry generally think him of as an asshole and loser today.  Most, but not all.  There are those few that do like him and that’s 100% fine by me.      

He also said that Bogeyman was furious at me and wanted to kick my ass, so years later and after I got to know Marty pretty well I asked him about that night and he said he was just upset at his “wardrobe malfunction”.  They failed to calculate the effect that the ring lights would have on Bogyman’s makeup and it was proving to be an issue.  Thus the original source of that segment’s frustration is what I always thought.  So what are we at now, BS #3?

Cornette was subsequently fired and pretty much resented me ever since.  I don’t hate him. I don’t hate anyone but he was in the wrong and everyone knows it, especially him.  That is why he so desperately tries to put me down and make excuses as to why he acted the way he did.  The answer is simple Jim, because you are and insecure poor excuse of a man.  

I would get asked about it from time to time but mostly down played it as it really didn’t bother to too much.  I’ve endured much more than a slap, or 7, in my life.  I actually do have a few friends in the business that still like Cornette so I thought that perhaps we could have had a good working relationship if things had been different.  I was not opposed to learning from him, in fact I regret not being able to.  I was taught to respect my elders in life in general, and my seniors in the pro-wrestling business, and until this moment I have.      

Fast forward 10 years and I’m now forced to retire due to 2 neck surgeries.  My WWE career was a dream come true, an amazing 10 year chapter in my life, and I am forever grateful to all the fans all over the world.  I sacrificed everything important to me and risked it all to make it.  I gave it more than 100% and am quite proud to say that I made it on my own merit.  When I got hired almost 2 years after the incident and thanked Johnny Ace for not holding the incident against me he didn’t even know what I was referring to.  I had to actually remind him, which was nice cause it reassured me that my employment was by my own hand.   So trying to say that I was gifted my job is a big pile of BS, #4 in fact, and Cornette knows that too.  I get it, it’s quite simple, he’s just trying to press my buttons and stay relevant.  However it’s the time I spent away from my daughter that I will not allow him to diminish.        

My intention was not to be a comedy wrestler, (check out my Boris Alexiev videos on YouTube) but I was given a once in a lifetime opportunity and I ran with it, just like anyone would do in my position.  Looking back I actually love the fact that I was able to bring laughter into people’s homes, and for so many years.  It’s entertainment.  It’s my absolute favorite thing to hear from fans, that I made their family laugh.  I think laughter is the greatest indicator of having a good time.  I don’t know if he was just jealous because he was not athletic enough to make it in the ring as a wrestler or what, but he’s definitely made some poor comments over the years.  I actually heard through a pretty good source that he can’t even cast a fishing rod.  Now that’s uncoordinated.  You might as well hand your balls in if you can’t cast a fishing rod.  Look I’ve been given the stamp of approval by people that actually matter so I’m able to rest well at night when it comes to my in ring ability.  Sorry buddy but comedy is an essential component of Sports Entertainment.  Honestly shouldn’t you actually know that?  And btw Kay Fabe was ruined long before I ever laced up my boots.  I too wished it hadn’t been, but it is what it is.   We work with what we have, whenever we get our chance to do so.  The business has evolved, and it will continue to evolve.  Those that can’t adapt, can’t evolve, get left behind.  And please don’t hate on WWE, it makes you look really pathetic.  Vince has done a million times more for this business than you will ever be credited for.  Bottom line is he is one of the most successful people in the world, and well you are definitely not Vince.  Put it this way, when I grow up I wanna be like Vince, but if I ever end up like you, I will consider my life a failure.  

Little does Jim know that all those countless negative comments and rants just make him look like an unconfident bitter person that has no class.  That is why I never made a big deal about it because he was already doing a great job of tarnishing his own legacy.  He shits on the comedic component and my in ring ability but duh I’m from OVW so he’s actually shitting on himself and the company that he partly owns.  He’s also shitting on his “friends” Rip, Danny, and Al, that all had a hand in my development and training, plus I can list off many great and iconic comedic wrestlers, 1st and foremost however is the late great Bobby Heenan.  Now you try and tell me that he had no place in wrestling and well I would have to say that you really don’t know as much as I thought you did about Pro-Wrestling Mr. Cornette.        

So one day I see that I got a voicemail from my friend Josh in Tennessee, then I get a text saying “omg I’m so sorry I didn’t know he was going to do that” then I get a call from Josh and he’s all upset about Jim Cornette tricking him in to calling me and then taking the phone from Josh and going on one of his classic rants.  Keep in mind I’m still in bandages fresh out of neck surgery so yeah I’m a little shocked that he could actually stoop this low.

So I mention the message he left in my shoot interview with Rob Feinstein and after it circulated a few people left messages for Cornette on social media letting him know what they thought of what he did.  So now his panties are all bunched up, yet again, and he goes off on his podcast actually denying the whole thing.  A blatant lie told to all of his loyal listeners, BS #5.  I guess he was ashamed of what he did so he just pretended it didn’t happen, and then proceeds to say again it anyway, lol, duh you just stooged yourself off shmarts.  Anyhow no skin off my back, it is what it is, and then he proceeds to call me midget, goof, etc. lol come on Jim you are known for a tennis racket, please tell me you are kidding me when you call me a clown, you were a red nose shy of being the biggest clown in wrestling history.  I think they call that “projecting”, like when he accuses me of disrespecting the business, when in reality its all he ever does.  He also stated that he will slap again the next time he sees me.

Fast forward to the Cobo Centre in Detroit last Saturday and his table is just 2 tables down from mine, so I know at some point we will have a chance to meet, as in actually meet, for the first time, since I don’t consider our first interaction an actual meeting, because no greetings and pleasantries were exchanged etc.

As I’m heading back down the hallway after I got a bite to eat, its Jim and I walking straight towards one another and no one is around, what a perfect opportunity to talk it over and hopefully hash things out.  I say Hello sir and I extend my hand to shake hands.  After all why not, peace is better then enemies right?  Its funny he looked shocked to hear my real voice, lol, mark.  He then proceeds to try to tell me about what happened 12 years ago like I wasn’t there lol, insults me, disrespects me, and then tries to walk away.  I remember being disappointed in how poorly he was dressed that day.  He made no effort at all to make himself presentable to meet his fans, visibly dirty clothing and in poor health I actually felt bad for him, until he decided to be a piece of garbage once again.  I said to him that I was hoping we could walk away from this with a new found respect for one another after possibly talking it out, and that I always regretted not learning from him.  I always hope for the best in people, like my mom.   He laughed and said that he had no respect for me, called me a joke, and that he should slap me again, that’s when I said to myself fuck this guy, there is no way in hell he’s going to punk me off after what he did all those years ago, so I said “do it” “please”, “slap me again and see what happens” trust me Jim it was not so that I could “sue” you. That’s what you see in the video.  Me cutting him off and saying “do it then”.  You cant make a claim like that and then walk away, at least not where I’m from.    It was at that moment that I saw his true colours.  He tried to run away and actually cried out for security.  I guess his wrestling instincts kicked in because he was a classic heal, brave guy when back up is around, but when its just him and the baby-face alone at the end, he begged off.  What happened to slapping me the next time you saw me Jim?  Then when he saw a fan and or security personnel his mock bravery started to kick in and he started to put on a show, Cornette style.  He was a complete bitch as I expected he would be, if it ended up going down this way, and when it was just the 2 of us, nose to nose, eye to eye, quite frankly a coward.  And believe you me I called him those exact words to his face “coward” and “bitch” and all he did was turn another shade of red.  He knows in his heart that I saw it in his eyes.  He can never say anything about it again because he backed down after shooting his mouth off so that’s BS # shit I lost count.  He also said publically that he decided to leave when we all know he was kicked out, escorted out in fact.  Taken out like the trash that he is.  So don’t forget to add another one to the BS list.   It was the perfect ending, the bully got what he deserved in the end.  

Sorry to all the fans that came out to the convention and show.  I really tried to put it all behind us.  Cornett had other plans.  Sometimes we just have to take a stand.

I hope the show was still a blast, well I’m sure it was because there were a great bunch of guys performing that night!

So I now get to have some closure from the original incident.  I get to return to my wonderful Canadian life, and come home to my hot Polish fitness model wife.  This week we are going camping up north to enjoy the beauty of mother nature, kayaking, hiking, fishing etc . . . . . let me guess you’re gonna go on a few rants this week.   Truly pathetic bro, sad, but hey enjoy them cause for a brief moment people are taking about you.  And we all know how important that is to you.  In the wrestling business you are always one headline away from having your spotlight taken away.  And since the shield has reunited . . . .well I guess its gone.

The End!    

Sincerely (so help me Jesus)

Anthony Carelli

[kathydsalters31]

What to Expect at Your First NAVHDA Training Day

I took my weimaraner Remy to our first bird dog training day with NAVHDA this spring ( North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association). Due to the fact that I was out of my component, I was very nervous. I’ve never ever gone searching in my life, as well as I have actually never educated a pet for hunting or for field trials. Today I’m composing concerning our experience as well as what to anticipate at your first NAVHDA training day if you ever attend one. I wish this assists someone! IN THIS POST: What

is NAVHDA?The flexible hunting dog breeds What to expect at your initial NAVHDA training day Below’s what to offer training Searching for birds Tracking and water obtains It

‘s OKAY if you have no experience Is it too late to educate my hunting dog?Benefits of

NAVHDA What is NAVHDA? NAVHDA is a non-profit company that enlightens people regarding training”

functional “hunting dogs in

North America. The organization

has dozens of chapters throughout the United States and Canada that host sanctioned training days, quest tests, workshops, youth occasions as well as other tasks. In my experience, the organization has actually been very inviting of beginners like me and most of the people there doing the training are additionally fairly brand-new.

Every person exists to improve as well as find out. The versatile searching dog breeds NAVHDA defines a flexible hunting pet dog as a type reproduced to dependably: quest and point game get on both land and water track injuredgame on both land and also water It presently acknowledges 30 breeds. You guessed it, the weimaraner(my pet)is

one of these breeds, together with the vizsla, the Brittany spaniel, German shorthair guideline and also all of the setter breeds. The recovering breeds such as Labs as well as goldens are not considered versatile hunting canines, according to NAVHDA’s philosophy.< img src ="https://www.thatmutt.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Bird-dog-training.jpg"alt=" very first NAVHDA training day

“class=”wp-image-44505 careless “data-sizes =”(max-width : 600px)100vw, 600px”srcset=”https://www.thatmutt.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Bird-dog-training.jpg 600w, https://www.thatmutt.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Bird-dog-training-300×226.jpg 300w”> What to Expect at Your First NAVHDA Training Day Every chapter is a bit various, so email the boss and ask questions. I’ll quickly discuss what our NAVHDA training days appear like below in Montana. Among my observations is that the interaction is not ideal. I needed to email 3 or four different people prior to I finally got a reply concerning exactly how to join as well as where to go. So maintain trying. Likewise join your regional phase’s Facebook group, if they have one. In our case, the training time and place was provided on

the regional phase’s website, in addition to a general concept of what to bring.

Our training days generally start around 8 a.m. to cover as well as defeat the warm up around 1 p.m. With our neighborhood phases, you can go to one event without being a member, but afterwards you’re anticipated to join (regarding$ 45 each year ). What to give your first NAVHDA training day A great deal of water on your own and your canine( 2 1-gallon jugs minimum )A long rope or check cable(30 feet is good )– no manage on the end Gloves to prevent rope burn!Cash or check to pay

for the 4-5 birds you might utilize (around $5-8 per pigeon)Blaze

orange hat or vest on your own Leash as well as training collar– I use a prong collar Pet crate or

tieout blog post(or crate from your car if it’s amazing) Dog deals with, if you desire Snack or lunch on your own Ear plugs or other hearing security Excellent shoes/boots– you walk around a lot!Waders if you have them(if there will be water retrieving) E-collar for recall if your canine is already trained on one(or else don’t bother with it)Training dummy/bumper if there will certainly be water obtains Fold patio chair

(optional)You probably wo

n’t require these things at your first NAVHDA training day: Shotgun as well as ammo Blaze orange for your canine Bird launcher Birds( will certainly be given) How NAVHDA training days function I’ve attended 4 training days total right here in Montana

. I get the feeling that other chapters around the country are rather similar. In our case, 1 or 2 individuals supervised, yet several of the various other experienced members were helping out. They established a training terminal or 2 and also

most of us turned through, each of us practicing roughly the very same thing with each pet dog

. We had roughly 10 canines as well as handlers every day. Most were pups or young pets– newbies just like us. Practically every person there was training

for one of< a aria-label ="undefined

(opens up in a brand-new tab )”href=”https://www.navhda.org/about-the-navhda-testing-system/ “target =”_ space”rel=” noreferrer noopener”

> NAVHDA’s tests– either Natural Ability for the young pet dogs or the Utility Test for a couple of advanced pets. We were the just one not getting ready for an actual examination. A pair working with their dog at a NAVHDA training day The handlers were a mix of males and females

and a variety of ages. I say this due to the fact that some more youthful females may

feel daunted( as I did), yet you must not feel this way. Everybody is handy and there to find out. What we serviced at the initial NAVHDA training day We dealt with having the canines search for grown online birds (pigeons )out in the field positioned in bird launchers.

A bird launcher safely holds the bird until it is released

by a remote. Often we fire the launched bird and sometimes we just want the dog to go after the bird as it flies away. Searching for planted birds I had Remy on a 30-ft

check cable

As soon as he located it, while he browsed for birds so I could stop him from billing the bird. (We desire the canines to quit and also “factor,” not charge.)

Ideally, Remy would stop and direct for a few seconds. After that among the trainers would “introduce” the bird for him to go after. I release the check cable so Remy can after that run. This was to construct his existing bird drive.

We did refrain any kind of actual capturing or obtaining birds with Remy up until his 3rd and fourth training days. The goal in the beginning was merely to obtain him interested in birds and also to aid him understand he was supposed to be looking for them.

I’ll direct with my tongue? Tracking and water gets At your NAVHDA training day, you will most likely work on browsing,”solidity

“as well as fetching on land, like we did. The dog’s steadiness suggests he will hang on factor while the trainer fires the bird and also flushes. Then the pet dog is sent out to obtain the bird. Preferably, anyway.

You could also deal with monitoring or water recovers. Tracking is where somebody will certainly drag a dead duck or pheasant a number of lawns while your canine is out of sight. You bring your canine to the start of the track where a few plumes have actually been gone down. You launch your pet and also ideally he must use his nose to locate the bird.

The water obtains are what you ‘d anticipate. You’ll work on presenting your dog to water, constructing self-confidence as well as excitement and hopefully retrieving bumpers or birds.

Remy and I have actually dealt with water retrieves on our own, beyond NAVHDA.

Take the training advice wherefore it’s worth– decide on You need to keep in mind that these are not always expert pet dog instructors. They are absolutely seasoned canine trainers as well as hunters as well as a few are dog breeders.

A lot of do not make a living training dogs. You will certainly see a selection of training styles as well as viewpoints at a NAVHDA training

day, and this is OK. Some participants utilize e-collars( shock collars) as I do. Some don’t. Certain trainers like to keep dogs on check cables. Others wish to allow their pet simply be a pet as well as figure points out.

Some fitness instructors will make use of chain or prong collar as I do. You likely won’t see many harnesses or deals with.

You’ll see a lot of “tough” guys on their knees praising their young puppies with laughs and rubs.

Every person is extremely happy.

All I suggest is, you need to be a supporter for your own pet.

Speak up if you want to attempt something a little various than what the “leader” is suggesting or if you favor to miss a certain training drill. This is absolutely OK.

At the same time, it’s not the end of the globe if you attempt a somewhat different training method than what you’re used to. Essentially, these breeds are quite resilient and also go with the flow.

It’s OKAY if you have no experience with searching or training My pet as well as I are an interesting set. A little bit enjoyable to some of the various other members, I’m certain.

Honestly, a few of them possibly wonder why the hell we’re also participating in. I assume some members are surprised we’ve returned momentarily, 4th as well as third time.

We pretend we understand what’s up While I’m from Minnesota as well as have lots of seekers in my

household, I’ve never ever really gone searching. And, at 4 years of ages, Remy is by far the earliest start canine in the group while also the least seasoned as well as possibly the most awful acted. He’s really quick-tempered. I have trouble controlling him. He does not heel when he’s ended up, and also he does not come when called accurately.

We’re a mess, sometimes.

This canine is extremely humbling. He makes me work hard to see outcomes.

Everybody is really inviting at NAVHDA. They recognize Remy as well as I are beginners with literally no searching experience.

Is it far too late to start educating my pet for searching? I would certainly state no, it’s never too late to train a hunting canine if they have the drive to do it.

Some pets simply don’t have the “drive” for birds and you can not compel that. Others have some major instinct for discovering birds, chasing, aiming, purging or recovering.

If the pet intends to do the work, it’s never ever far too late to train her, in my point of view.

It’s not concerning age, it’s concerning exposure, whole lots and lots of perseverance and also coming up with a plan that benefits you and your canine.

Some dogs are much more tough than others.

I waited as long to begin training Remy for searching since I stayed in San Diego when I got him as a puppy.

As you can envision, it’s not hassle-free to take your dog hunting in Southern California for lots of reasons. There is an absence of offered land for searching, the state has stringent weapon regulations and it was a long drive to the training locations.

We live in Montana now.

Searching is simply one more sporting activity I can do with my energetic, working canine.

Remy and I train for agility for enjoyable as well as we train for path marathons. Hunting is one more task we can do. And it’s what he’s reproduced to do.

Other sources I’ve found the most practical

There are likewise great deals of YouTube video clips as well as books that can help you educate your attendant. As well as there’s always the option of hiring a professional bird dog trainer.

A few of my favored sources:

Overall benefits of NAVHDA

Below are the advantages I’ve discovered until now:

Learn regarding training your searching dog

Have a good time with your dog & & make buddies

Easy accessibility to birds & & launchers for training

Learn about the other flexible hunting dog breeds

Talk pets with like-minded individuals

Obtain assistance from handlers/trainers with different experiences

Observe the various other trainers and dogs as well as learn

Obtain comments on issues with your pet

What concerns or advice do you have for your first NAVHDA training day?

If you prepare to go to a NAVHDA occasion, let me understand if you have any type of concerns. I definitely had a bunch prior to I began.

If you are included with NAVHDA, please share your experience listed below for any kind of brand-new individuals who may be asking yourself.

I’m sure I’ll have an upgrade at some time soon with exactly how our progress is going!

-Lindsay & & Remy Lindsay Stordahl

is the owner of That Mutt. She writes about pet training and behavior, healthy and balanced raw food for animals and also keeping up dogs.

source http://www.luckydogsolutions.com/what-to-expect-at-your-first-navhda-training-day/

from Lucky Dog Solutions https://luckydogsolutions.blogspot.com/2020/07/what-to-expect-at-your-first-navhda.html

[barryswamsleyaz]

What to Expect at Your First NAVHDA Training Day

I took my weimaraner Remy to our first bird dog training day with NAVHDA this spring ( North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association). Due to the fact that I was out of my component, I was very nervous. I’ve never ever gone searching in my life, as well as I have actually never educated a pet for hunting or for field trials. Today I’m composing concerning our experience as well as what to anticipate at your first NAVHDA training day if you ever attend one. I wish this assists someone! IN THIS POST: What

is NAVHDA?The flexible hunting dog breeds What to expect at your initial NAVHDA training day Below’s what to offer training Searching for birds Tracking and water obtains It

‘s OKAY if you have no experience Is it too late to educate my hunting dog?Benefits of

NAVHDA What is NAVHDA? NAVHDA is a non-profit company that enlightens people regarding training”

functional “hunting dogs in

North America. The organization

has dozens of chapters throughout the United States and Canada that host sanctioned training days, quest tests, workshops, youth occasions as well as other tasks. In my experience, the organization has actually been very inviting of beginners like me and most of the people there doing the training are additionally fairly brand-new.

Every person exists to improve as well as find out. The versatile searching dog breeds NAVHDA defines a flexible hunting pet dog as a type reproduced to dependably: quest and point game get on both land and water track injuredgame on both land and also water It presently acknowledges 30 breeds. You guessed it, the weimaraner(my pet)is

one of these breeds, together with the vizsla, the Brittany spaniel, German shorthair guideline and also all of the setter breeds. The recovering breeds such as Labs as well as goldens are not considered versatile hunting canines, according to NAVHDA’s philosophy.< img src =“https://www.thatmutt.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Bird-dog-training.jpg"alt=” very first NAVHDA training day

“class=”wp-image-44505 careless “data-sizes =”(max-width : 600px)100vw, 600px”srcset=”https://www.thatmutt.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Bird-dog-training.jpg 600w, https://www.thatmutt.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Bird-dog-training-300×226.jpg 300w”> What to Expect at Your First NAVHDA Training Day Every chapter is a bit various, so email the boss and ask questions. I’ll quickly discuss what our NAVHDA training days appear like below in Montana. Among my observations is that the interaction is not ideal. I needed to email 3 or four different people prior to I finally got a reply concerning exactly how to join as well as where to go. So maintain trying. Likewise join your regional phase’s Facebook group, if they have one. In our case, the training time and place was provided on

the regional phase’s website, in addition to a general concept of what to bring.

Our training days generally start around 8 a.m. to cover as well as defeat the warm up around 1 p.m. With our neighborhood phases, you can go to one event without being a member, but afterwards you’re anticipated to join (regarding$ 45 each year ). What to give your first NAVHDA training day A great deal of water on your own and your canine( 2 1-gallon jugs minimum )A long rope or check cable(30 feet is good )– no manage on the end Gloves to prevent rope burn!Cash or check to pay

for the 4-5 birds you might utilize (around $5-8 per pigeon)Blaze

orange hat or vest on your own Leash as well as training collar– I use a prong collar Pet crate or tieout blog post (or crate from your car if it’s amazing) Dog deals with, if you desire Snack or lunch on your own Ear plugs or other hearing security Excellent shoes/boots– you walk around a lot!Waders if you have them(if there will be water retrieving) E-collar for recall if your canine is already trained on one(or else don’t bother with it)Training dummy/bumper if there will certainly be water obtains Fold patio chair

(optional)You probably wo

n’t require these things at your first NAVHDA training day: Shotgun as well as ammo Blaze orange for your canine Bird launcher Birds( will certainly be given) How NAVHDA training days function I’ve attended 4 training days total right here in Montana

. I get the feeling that other chapters around the country are rather similar. In our case, 1 or 2 individuals supervised, yet several of the various other experienced members were helping out. They established a training terminal or 2 and also

most of us turned through, each of us practicing roughly the very same thing with each pet dog

. We had roughly 10 canines as well as handlers every day. Most were pups or young pets– newbies just like us. Practically every person there was training

for one of< a aria-label =“undefined

(opens up in a brand-new tab )”href=”https://www.navhda.org/about-the-navhda-testing-system/ “target =”_ space”rel=” noreferrer noopener”

> NAVHDA’s tests– either Natural Ability for the young pet dogs or the Utility Test for a couple of advanced pets. We were the just one not getting ready for an actual examination. A pair working with their dog at a NAVHDA training day The handlers were a mix of males and females

and a variety of ages. I say this due to the fact that some more youthful females may

feel daunted( as I did), yet you must not feel this way. Everybody is handy and there to find out. What we serviced at the initial NAVHDA training day We dealt with having the canines search for grown online birds (pigeons )out in the field positioned in bird launchers.

A bird launcher safely holds the bird until it is released

by a remote. Often we fire the launched bird and sometimes we just want the dog to go after the bird as it flies away. Searching for planted birds I had Remy on a 30-ft check cable As soon as he located it, while he browsed for birds so I could stop him from billing the bird. (We desire the canines to quit and also “factor,” not charge.)

Ideally, Remy would stop and direct for a few seconds. After that among the trainers would “introduce” the bird for him to go after. I release the check cable so Remy can after that run. This was to construct his existing bird drive.

We did refrain any kind of actual capturing or obtaining birds with Remy up until his 3rd and fourth training days. The goal in the beginning was merely to obtain him interested in birds and also to aid him understand he was supposed to be looking for them.

I’ll direct with my tongue? Tracking and water gets At your NAVHDA training day, you will most likely work on browsing,”solidity

“as well as fetching on land, like we did. The dog’s steadiness suggests he will hang on factor while the trainer fires the bird and also flushes. Then the pet dog is sent out to obtain the bird. Preferably, anyway.

You could also deal with monitoring or water recovers. Tracking is where somebody will certainly drag a dead duck or pheasant a number of lawns while your canine is out of sight. You bring your canine to the start of the track where a few plumes have actually been gone down. You launch your pet and also ideally he must use his nose to locate the bird.

The water obtains are what you ‘d anticipate. You’ll work on presenting your dog to water, constructing self-confidence as well as excitement and hopefully retrieving bumpers or birds.

Remy and I have actually dealt with water retrieves on our own, beyond NAVHDA.

Take the training advice wherefore it’s worth– decide on You need to keep in mind that these are not always expert pet dog instructors. They are absolutely seasoned canine trainers as well as hunters as well as a few are dog breeders.

A lot of do not make a living training dogs. You will certainly see a selection of training styles as well as viewpoints at a NAVHDA training

day, and this is OK. Some participants utilize e-collars( shock collars) as I do. Some don’t. Certain trainers like to keep dogs on check cables. Others wish to allow their pet simply be a pet as well as figure points out.

Some fitness instructors will make use of chain or prong collar as I do. You likely won’t see many harnesses or deals with.

You’ll see a lot of “tough” guys on their knees praising their young puppies with laughs and rubs.

Every person is extremely happy.

All I suggest is, you need to be a supporter for your own pet.

Speak up if you want to attempt something a little various than what the “leader” is suggesting or if you favor to miss a certain training drill. This is absolutely OK.

At the same time, it’s not the end of the globe if you attempt a somewhat different training method than what you’re used to. Essentially, these breeds are quite resilient and also go with the flow.

It’s OKAY if you have no experience with searching or training My pet as well as I are an interesting set. A little bit enjoyable to some of the various other members, I’m certain.

Honestly, a few of them possibly wonder why the hell we’re also participating in. I assume some members are surprised we’ve returned momentarily, 4th as well as third time.

We pretend we understand what’s up While I’m from Minnesota as well as have lots of seekers in my

household, I’ve never ever really gone searching. And, at 4 years of ages, Remy is by far the earliest start canine in the group while also the least seasoned as well as possibly the most awful acted. He’s really quick-tempered. I have trouble controlling him. He does not heel when he’s ended up, and also he does not come when called accurately.

We’re a mess, sometimes.

This canine is extremely humbling. He makes me work hard to see outcomes.

Everybody is really inviting at NAVHDA. They recognize Remy as well as I are beginners with literally no searching experience.

Is it far too late to start educating my pet for searching? I would certainly state no, it’s never too late to train a hunting canine if they have the drive to do it.

Some pets simply don’t have the “drive” for birds and you can not compel that. Others have some major instinct for discovering birds, chasing, aiming, purging or recovering.

If the pet intends to do the work, it’s never ever far too late to train her, in my point of view.

It’s not concerning age, it’s concerning exposure, whole lots and lots of perseverance and also coming up with a plan that benefits you and your canine.

Some dogs are much more tough than others.

I waited as long to begin training Remy for searching since I stayed in San Diego when I got him as a puppy.

As you can envision, it’s not hassle-free to take your dog hunting in Southern California for lots of reasons. There is an absence of offered land for searching, the state has stringent weapon regulations and it was a long drive to the training locations.

We live in Montana now.

Searching is simply one more sporting activity I can do with my energetic, working canine.

Remy and I train for agility for enjoyable as well as we train for path marathons. Hunting is one more task we can do. And it’s what he’s reproduced to do.

Other sources I’ve found the most practical

There are likewise great deals of YouTube video clips as well as books that can help you educate your attendant. As well as there’s always the option of hiring a professional bird dog trainer.

A few of my favored sources:

Overall benefits of NAVHDA

Below are the advantages I’ve discovered until now:

Learn regarding training your searching dog

Have a good time with your dog & & make buddies

Easy accessibility to birds & & launchers for training

Learn about the other flexible hunting dog breeds

Talk pets with like-minded individuals

Obtain assistance from handlers/trainers with different experiences

Observe the various other trainers and dogs as well as learn

Obtain comments on issues with your pet

What concerns or advice do you have for your first NAVHDA training day?

If you prepare to go to a NAVHDA occasion, let me understand if you have any type of concerns. I definitely had a bunch prior to I began.

If you are included with NAVHDA, please share your experience listed below for any kind of brand-new individuals who may be asking yourself.

I’m sure I’ll have an upgrade at some time soon with exactly how our progress is going!

-Lindsay & & Remy Lindsay Stordahl is the owner of That Mutt. She writes about pet training and behavior, healthy and balanced raw food for animals and also keeping up dogs.

from Lucky Dog Solutions http://www.luckydogsolutions.com/what-to-expect-at-your-first-navhda-training-day/

from Lucky Dog Solutions https://luckydogsolutions.tumblr.com/post/622634417741086720

[altitude-times]

Les Chèvres de Montagne

Yo Kelsey! Merci d’avoir accepté de participer à cette interview. I’ve been following Les Chèvres de Montagne for quite some time on Instagram and honestly, I love seeing girls encouraging girls to get out there and beyond their comfort zone. It’s super inspiring. Since when are you part of the group? How did you come to know the group? You mentioned you have a friend who’s a founder?

Hey Noémie, thanks for the interest in Les Chèvres de Montagne! I am thrilled to get to answer some questions for you and hopefully inspire you or other ladies to get out and be a part of the community. I've been a part of Les Chevres de Montagne for the last few summers with this summer being my third year coaching the mountain bike program in Les Estries. I was very fortunate when I first arrived in Quebec because the majority of the ladies I knew were also lovers of the outdoors. Coming from BC, this was heaven-sent! Pascale was a good friend of mine and one of the founders of the group so as the things expanded, we all did our part to be involved. There is a core group of ladies in Les Estries, and a lot of them are a part of Les Chevres in some way whether it be as a coach, nutritionist, chiropractor, event coordinator and more! The gist of the group was to create a community for women who loved the outdoors and wanted to participate in activities with other ladies. Whether you're a veteran at the sport you love or you simply want to try something new, the events are catered to be enjoyed by ladies of all skill levels, and that's what's so amazing about it. Plus! You meet so many new friends that you're never alone for your weekend adventures. I was stoked when I was first asked to help with the coaching. There's nothing more rewarding than watching the progression of the ladies over the few weeks you have with them.

According to you, how does going out between girls change the dynamics? Personally, I'm delighted to see girls playing in the mud instead of making Youtube videos about contouring. Sludge is a different kind of skin foundation. (ahah!)

The vibe is really special at all of the events. All the girls are encouraging each other and if they haven't signed up with a friend or two, they certainly leave with two or more new friends. Since I started with Les Chevres de Montagne, the number of ladies in my lady crew I can reach out to for weekend adventures has quadrupled, and that's something really cool. Everyone shares a common passion for the outdoors, and I agree, seeing this many ladies stoked on having fun outside rain or shine is pretty damn cool if you ask me.

What sports do you personally prefer? I guess it’s probably cycling, am I right?

Hahah you are correct! I come from a mountain bike background having raced downhill for six years before retiring at 18 due to too many head injuries. Since then, I spent three years coaching in Whistler Bike Park and a month in the Yukon coaching Army Cadets for the Federal Government. It's been a wild ride, but I couldn't see my life without mountain biking in it, so I love riding for fun nowadays and coaching on the side. Aside from that, I grew up skiing but recently switched over to snowboarding, I enjoy hiking and camping (if you can call it a sport) and try my best at fishing on the weekends.

Can you tell us a bit about an anecdote, something funny that happened or something truly memorable?

Because the majority of the girls participating are French, it's always a bit of a joke that I coach in English because they get an English lesson at the same time. For their entertainment, I'll throw in some phrases in French or attempt to explain my teaching anecdotes in French which always creates a few laughs. As for anecdotes, the cowboy gorilla stance which I learned from one of my coaches still gets people giggling. It sounds silly, but it really works! I've been using it with the kids I have coached as well as adults. That, and the chicken-wing, Superman. Another golden one I took from my time learning with the fantastic instructors at Endless Biking in North Vancouver.

What’s the longest trip you’ve experienced with them? A weekend? A few days? What was the biggest challenge?

For the past two summers that I have coached with Les Chevres de Montagne, we do a weekend at Vallees Bras du Nord, so I generally will arrive the Friday night and stay until Sunday. There are some epic multi-day adventures such as a survival camp over the winter and multi-day hikes, but so far that's the longest event I've done with the group. The biggest challenge, hmm that's tough. I think the biggest challenge for a weekend of coaching like that is just reserving enough energy to get through the weekend. After a long week at work, the drive there, a weekend of coaching and then the trip back, it can be a lot, but hey, it's hard to turn down an epic weekend of riding with such a fun group of women. Last year, we got to choose one of the two days to coach and had a free day to ride. This was fantastic because how often do you get your full lady crew out together to shred some new trail?!  Another tough challenge is having to head home after having so much fun of course!

You mentioned that you were involved as a mountain bike teacher. Can you tell us more about that?

You betcha! So the first year I coached, I was the head coach and the one I organizing the lesson plan for the beginner group, the intermediate group as well as my group of advanced riders. My second year, last summer, I coached the beginners. Both seasons were a blast, but personally, I kind of enjoyed the beginners a bit more because you got to watch the ladies confidence absolutely flourish over the six weeks. That's not to say the advanced riders didn't as well, but it was just such an enlightening feeling to watch the new riders' faces light up when they tackled a new trail they were so fearful of before. This is probably the best part of coaching, watching someone realize their potential and then turn into an absolute shredder. Everyone starts somewhere, and it's so refreshing to get to be a part of that process.

During my years of racing, I worked with numerous different coaches who all had their different ways of coaching. Everyone learns a bit differently so having those different techniques to work with is always great.

How do you plan your food for these occasions? Any delicious recipe you’d like to share?

We have our lovely Emilie who is the nutritionist for Les Chèvres de Montagne and plans the meals. Everything is taken care of for the participants for all meals from morning to after dinner snack (we make some mean s' mores cones!). We generally go for simple, hands-on meals where everyone can more or less serve themselves family style. This also depends on the size of the group but last year, we had amazing tacos that of course had the group stoke leve very high! Emilie is great at creating vegetarian-friendly menus with gluten-free options as well. As for the best recipe, I would say the energy balls. These are great and super easy to make even at home. At the beginning of the mountain bike days for the Vallées-Bras-du-Nord camp, there is a spread of jars with everything from dried apricots and cranberries to almond slices and honey and oats and pumpkin seeds and more. You simply mix your preferred ingredients in a bowl, add some honey and apple sauce for texture and stick and voila! You've got an energy ball to snack on later in the day. A lot of recipes can actually be found on the Les Chèvres de blog here → Yummy recipes!

What are your personal favorites gear-wise? It can be accessories, boots, jackets, backpacks, hydration systems, whatever.

I am currently in LOVE with my new Giro Cartelle MIPS helmet! I had a hard time finding a new helmet because I was just in between the small and medium for POC but this Giro fits like a glove. It's comfortable for long rides (my last helmet had an awkward pressure point in the middle of my forehead) and looks great. The best part is that it is equipped with MIPS® which reduces rotational forces. This is important for me with my past head injuries so I am happy to have a helmet that I feel safe wearing. Ooft, there is so much great gear on the market these days! I try to look away so that I can keep my credit card from screaming at me but hydration-wise, the hip packs are becoming incredibly popular! Not everyone is keen on wearing a hydration pack (although they can double as back protection as some brands will integrate spinal protection in the design) so the hip pack is the next best thing. I'll be wearing a CamelBak RePack™ LR 4 this season which I am excited to try out and I know that Osprey's Seral Lumbar Pack has been receiving raving reviews. For all the latest in mountain bike gear, stories and utter radness, check out Pinkbike.com. This is the epicentre of the Mountain bike world and a great source of knowledge, entertainment and of course, used bike goodies to purchase.

What did you learn from the group? What are your challenges for the year?

One of the biggest things I have learned from Les Chèvres de Montagne is that there are A LOT of badass ladies here in Quebec who absolutely slay on the trails, the slopes, and the crags! When I first started mountain biking, it was very much a men's sport although the times are changing (a lot) and it's amazing. The number of ladies that turn up for the mountain bike events and other events for that matter is impressive and inspiring. I'm proud and feel honored to be a part of such an amazing community of fierce women who are turning the tables in the outdoor world and also showing how accessible these adventures can be.

Anything else you’d like to share?

For all the ladies (sorry fellas, Les Chèvres de Montagne is for ladies only). Don't be shy! If there's an activity you're interested in but don't have a car or are not sure if you will be good, just do it! There are often many girls travelling from Montreal for events so finding someone to carpool with isn't a problem AND I can guarantee you're going to have a wicked time if you go.

[andythomas684-blog]

Hiking tips and gears for women

If you are planning a hiking trip soon and happen to be female, you might want to remember these hiking tips for women as you plan your trip. Going hiking is great exercise and a lot of fun.  Don’t let lack of experience make it a not so enjoyable time!

Why Hiking is the Best Exercise

When I was in college, I joined the Outing Club.It was my first taste of what hiking and camping were really all about.  The club was a great group of people who had been enjoying the  great outdoors for many years and lived to tell about it.  I was taught how to put up a tent and build a fire. In addition, they showed me how to prevent bears from rummaging in my food stuffs.  However, I was NOT told quite a number of things that I have had to discover on my own over the last 25 years. I am going to include a few links to hiking gear you may want to invest in before you head out on the trail.  Be prepared in mind, body, and spirit. Then head out into the woods with your hiking partner and enjoy the great outdoors! Related Articles : https://www.hikingbay.com

Hiking Gear for Women •  Adjustable Anti Shock Hiking/Walking/Trekking Poles : Trekking poles can be an invaluable asset when hiking out in the wilderness. • LifeStraw Personal Water Filter: The microfiltration membrane removes 99.999999% of waterborne bacteria (including E. coli and salmonella), and 99.999% of waterborne parasites (including giardia and cryptosporidium). • GoGirl Female Urination Device: Discreet, reusable, funnel-shaped urination device that provides a revolutionary bathroom option for women to go anywhere • Multi Performance Hiking Socks : Walk all day long and NO NEED TO worry about moisture

Best Hiking Tips for Women

I decided someone needed to put together a list of hiking tips for women so that others like me could continue to enjoy backwoods hiking or camping and not come home wishing you had never stepped foot on the trail!

This is just a very short list of beginner hiking tips that I never found in hiking books.  Of course, general gear and survival information should be researched thoroughly before heading out on the trail. So, keep reading, pack some homemade trail mix and start planning your next camping trip.

Plan the date of your hiking trip carefully.

Look at the calendar. Figure out when ‘that time of the month’ is going to hit.  Don’t hike the if possible. Hiking with cramps is not fun.  Having to carry used sanitary items out of the woods in your backpack is even less fun.  Honestly, I have had to do this.  I take the ‘leave no trace’ concept very seriously.  Take only pictures and leave only footprints.  That means no leaving your used ‘stuff’ behind! Hiking Food for Diabetics https://www.hikingbay.com/hiking-food-for-diabetics-meal-ideas-trail-mix-and-food-guidelines-to-follow

Smelling good is a bad thing

I love my lavender face wash, herbal shampoos, and fruity smelling perfume as much as the next girl. However, the only thing those will do for you in the woods is to attract bugs!  Go with unscented products on the trail and leave the perfume at home.

Leave the lace at home

I am a huge fan of Victoria’s Secret lace panties and push-up bras. Unfortunately, they aren’t the most comfortable attire when you start to work up a sweat.  And really, the bears don’t care if your breasts are perky and covered in black lace.

Ditch the sexy undergarments and grab a comfortable sports bra.  If you are doing serious amounts of backwoods hiking, invest in underwear made from a wicking material like in these hiking bras or even wool underwear.  You may think that sounds uncomfortable but it wicks away moisture and is NOT itchy like your wool sweater! what to wear on a hike and still look cute https://www.hikingbay.com/what-to-wear-on-a-hike-and-still-look-cute

Cut your nails before putting on hiking boots!

You are not going to be tromping around in the woods in strappy sandals so don’t invest in a mani/pedi. Just grab a pair of clippers and trim them.  Don’t hike up and down hills with your toenails too long.  This gets very uncomfortable very quickly.

Long fingernails get ripped off on rocks and logs very easily and can be extremely uncomfortable. Trimming your nails before you head out is one of those hiking tips for women that no one ever told me!

The hiking trail is not a fashion show.

Do not waste your time trying to get your hair to look decent.  Bring an elastic band (or many!), a scrunchie, a bandana or some other means of keeping your hair out of your face.  Bandanas are also useful for keeping ticks off your head.  Finding ticks in a head of dark colored hair is next to impossible until they have been there so long the have established residency. lattcure outfitters sleeping bag https://www.hikingbay.com/finding-the-best-lightweight-sleeping-bag-for-hiking

Use common sense when heading out into the woods. Bring a buddy, know where you are going, and make sure you have all the right gear.  And, most important…keep your sense of humor!  Yes, you will have to pee in the woods and no there is not always a convenient spot to do it.  Just make sure you remember the rule “Leaves of three, let it be” or you will be itching in very uncomfortable places for quite a long time! For more hiking tips for women, check out The Hiking Lady.  And remember…for all you moms out there:  your kids will not learn to appreciate nature if they don’t see YOU appreciating it!

[jennphotoblog-blog]

When did you decide makeup was a good career choice for you? What influenced your decision?

B: I went to Paul Mitchell the school for cosmetology. While I was there a male makeup artist who worked in film came to speak to the school. I was so interested in everything he had to say so when he revealed he was having a 2 day workshop I knew I had to go. He saw a lot of potential in me and invited me to his week long boot camp in la. Then and there I decided I wanted to be a makeup artist to make a living and definitely in film. So at that point I started working really hard preparing for the boot camp I did shoots constantly with photographers I met off model mayhem I’m still good friends with about 5 or 6 of those people. Of course this was back when model mayhem was decent and you could find normal talented people not just hobbyists. I was a front runner during the boot camp but then had problems with the other girls in the group and my amateur ego got in the way of learning and I ended up having a horrible last few days. I took it as a lesson learned and just kept going. I pretty proud of where I’ve come and how that lesson I learned there has helped me tremendously throughout my career.

-Who/what are your biggest influences in the field?

B: When I first started I guess I would have to say that first artist I learned from was my biggest influence, since he’s basically the reason I got into professional makeup artistry. As I’ve grown and educated myself more and more though lately I’m very inspired by Lottie, her talent and her career path. Charlotte Willer is a huge influence for me as well. I use to dream of being signed with Jed root and she is one of my favorite artists with them. I’m also very inspired by the first artist I assisted, Mary Irwin, who is with my agency. She is an incredible person and I’ve learned so much from her and hope to continue to learn from her as my career grows.

-How did you get signed to an agency? Do you feel that this has helped your career?

B: When I moved to New York to further my career path I reached out to an artist on model mayhem who I loved and asked her if she was taking assistants. She happened to be interviewing for new assistants that month. So I met with her and her agent they seemed to love me and be impressed with the amount and quality of the work of done in 2 years in Orlando. So I waited for a little while worried they changed their minds so I reached out to the artist and she said I could come to a test with her that it was unpaid but she could see how I am on set. So I did that. Had a great time, learned so much in just that first day. I ended up having to move back to Florida for personal reasons. I was working all these jobs and even picked up photography trying to make money to get back to New York when the agent called me and said he had some clients near Orlando and if I would be interested in trying to land them he would sign me. How could I say no? I ended up landing two of the clients then got my butt back to New York lol.

-Do you feel that clients are more drawn to someone who is with an agency as opposed to an unsigned freelancer?

B: Yes and no. It’s easier for clients to use an agency artist and they’re usually more comfortable thinking well someone represents them they must know what they’re doing and they’re more willing to give a chance to someone new to them. The benefits of a non agency artist is they can give a lower rate not having to pay all the fees an agency requires. Depends on the client.

-What is the most difficult part of your job? How do you deal with this?

B: Staying positive and grounded. Being smart with your money. It’s feast or famine in this industry one month you’re working non stop making tons.. The next you have 1 measly do and go. Balancing your money to cover those slow months is pretty hard especially for those who money burns a whole in their pocket haha. (Guilty) it gets easier once you’re at a certain point and are booking constantly. This is where the industry loses artists a lot of people give up nearing something more steady. You have to pay your dues though. You don’t make it overnight.

-When looking back at your career, what is one thing (if anything) you would have done differently?

B: The way I moved around wasn’t ideal. I went from Orlando to New York to Orlando to New York to Miami to Los Angeles all within 5 years. I would start building a good network then I’d move. After a few months I started feeling stuck and I’d get nervous if I wasn’t making money and feel like I have to move to keep my career path fresh which is silly. I think if I had worked my way up through the cities and spent a few years in each of have a more loyal client list and wouldn’t have broken a lot of ties I had with people in those places. I wish I had worked in Orlando for a couple years then went to Miami for a few years then to New York and so on. It’s has a few benefits though. I wouldn’t have met Mary and signed with Agency Gerard as quick as I did and I wouldn’t have contacts and clients across the country either. It’s just that one thing that I constantly go back to saying man I should’ve stayed here longer. My book is extremely diverse because of it though and I’ve had one client that I know of specifically choose me because it looked like I was more experienced due to the range I had haha.

-What is the best way to network as a makeup artist?

B: Honestly you have to make friends with other artists. It’s hard because they’re also your competition but if you’ve worked with these other artists and they know you’re good guess who they’re going to call to pass on jobs they can’t do for whatever reason? You. It also helps to assist not only for you to learn but once you’ve shown that artist you can cover them and do an amazing job they will refer clients to you when they’re booked. Also I would learn as much as you can about the other parts of the industry I picked up photography to make money when I was in a random city with a very very small industry. I retouched before I did hair and makeup as well. So when these little workshops or get togethers for photographers or retouchers are in town, I go to learn more but I’m usually the only hair and makeup person and I’ve met so many great photographers that I’ve worked with after from meeting them at these little workshops.

-Do you feel that it is ideal to do both hair and makeup, or to specialize in just one aspect?

B: Now yes. It didn’t use to be that way but a lot of clients won’t even hire you if you can’t do both. They want to pay less, which they can do by combining hair and makeup. Once you get on to huge campaigns, editorials or celebrity work they want one for each because they want each person to be a master and focus on that one thing. So yes learn both, do both and once you’ve surpassed a certain level you can focus more on one.

-How do you think the future of makeup artistry will differ? What is something future makeup artists can do to prepare for this change?

B: There are a lot of these do and go apps popping up that are seriously undercutting established artists. They are causing us to lose jobs because they’re offering the service way cheaper or for free to promote their app. It’s killing our rates. I’ve heard so many horrible stories about these apps taking jobs from working artists. All I can say is don’t work for them and don’t support them. We can only hope they’ll eventually go back to just doing the random girl going outs do and go and stop taking fashion shows and catalog etc jobs from us.

-What is the best piece of advice you can share with beginner makeup artists?

B: Be humble. Don’t follow Instagram trends. Assist assist assist. Make friends not enemies this industry is a super small world everyone knows everyone. Keep your mouth shut, don’t gossip. Don’t undercut. For gods sake clean your brushes between every girl. Always be early. That’s all. :)

[wayneooverton]

How to prepare for an adventure to a hut in New Zealand

Is there anything better waking up in the pristine wilderness? Surrounded by beautiful nature off the grid?

It’s no secret Aotearoa has a lot to offer in terms of natural beauty, and hiking in New Zealand can change your life and teach you some very valuable life lessons.

Pristine rivers, towering mountains, friendly locals, amazing native bird conservation. I’ve already blabbed on and on about what an amazing country this is but, despite all of its unique qualities, my hands down favorite part of New Zealand is the hut system, little basic cabins that are dotted all over the national parks and backcountry that are accessible by hiking, boating, biking, 4WD, ect.

Other countries have hut systems as well but none extensive or cheap as New Zealand.

Sure you can stay on mountain-top lodges in Italy that will cost you a pretty penny but here in New Zealand, you can experience the hut for less than your weekly coffee budget (definitely not speaking from experience, cough cough.)

With almost 1000 huts under DOC’s jurisdiction, you can find huts in every corner of the country, from the North Island to the South, from busy national parks to quiet, remote valleys. Some huts are massive and have great facilities like on the Great Walks, others more rustic and hold in them the rich history of New Zealand tramping, hunting, and conservation.

No matter where you are or what your level of tramping experience is, it’s never too late to have your first New Zealand hut trip.

There’s a hut for every level of experience here.

10 of the most iconic backcountry huts on the South Island

If you’re curious about visiting a New Zealand hut for the first time, now is the perfect week to do it!

February 15 -22, 2019 is Get Outdoors Week (GO Week), an annual week-long initiative that encourages people to get outside and explore New Zealand’s outdoors, safely. This week is all about rad, self-powered recreation so anything that requires your feet to get you there.

Need help on getting started? Mountain Safety Council is a great resource for planning your trip.

Here are my top tips to help make your first hut trip smooth as buttah!

Preparation is key

1. DOC has great resources, use them

The Department of Conservation (DOC) will be one of the most valuable resources you’ll find when searching for your first hut. You can begin by looking here.

They have in-depth descriptions about each hut, including maps and any important notices regarding accessibility or condition of the track. If you can’t find what you’re looking for online, pop into one of their visitor centers and talk to a ranger who will be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

All of the huts are different in terms of what’s available and what they cost and how to pay. Some you book in advance, others are first come first serve. It’s important to check in advance.

2. Check the weather, again and again

As with most mountainous regions, weather in New Zealand can be extremely fickle.

It’s not uncommon to start your hike in blazing hot sun and end in all of your warm layers. You should pack for all weather conditions (we’ll get to that soon!) but you should also check the weather and assess if that rain you’ll be getting is a light shower or part of a bigger system that will make for wet and miserable conditions. And many hikes become inaccessible due to flooded rivers or dangerous terrain in poor weather.

MetService is a great resource to get accurate weather forecasts for all of New Zealand, including national parks.

3. Tell someone your plans

Once you’ve talked to DOC and checked the weather and finalized the details of your trip, tell someone.

I know, this sounds overly simple but you’d be surprised how often people leave for a hike in a hurry and forget to tell someone where they’re going and when they’ll be back. If you’re not back by when you said you would be, your trusty friend or family member can alert search and rescue.

You never know when things could go wrong, even on “easy” looking trips, so don’t forget this key part of planning.

4. And use the Plan my Trip App

The Mountain Safety Council has released a really helpful tool called Plan My Trip that is super helpful when planning your first hut adventure.

The more you prepare the less chance you have of something going wrong.

5 Things to Know before Hiking in New Zealand

5. Know your limits and be realistic with your abilities

For your first hut trip, start with something easy and not too long.

You’ll need to get used to walking with a heavy load (since all of your belongings will be on your back) so make sure you choose a hike that is suitable for your level. If it’s not as hardcore as you wanted, don’t worry.

You’ll only get stronger and fitter the more huts you do and you can always work your way up. I’ve found tramping fitness is a specific kind of being in shape that only comes from hiking a lot.

What you need to bring

6. Make a packing list

All of your belongings for the day, night and next day will be carried on your back so for starters, you’ll want a sturdy and supportive 40 – 60L backpacking backpack that has adjustable straps and a hip belt to help take the weight off your shoulders.

Hiking in New Zealand is different and the huts are basic. You bring everything in and out yourself. It’s also season dependent. You’ll pack differently for hiking in winter, and as a beginner it’s good to start tramping in the summer when there are less challenges.

Your clothing choices will be personal but here are my must-have items for an overnighter trip.

Clothes 

Sports bra

2 pairs of underwear

Quick-drying synthetic t-shirt — not cotton! I use synthetic or merino wool

2 pairs of socks (1 for walking and one for relaxing in the hut)

Thermal leggings or polyprops

Long sleeve thermal shirt (either polar fleece or merino)

Outerwear

Hiking shorts or pants, depending on the season (NO DENIM EVER)

Hut shoes/slippers (honestly, my favorite piece of gear. Nothing like a cozy slipper to relax in after a long hard day!)

Hiking boots or trail running shoes, depending on the terrain

Rain jacket that is ACTUALLY waterproof

Lightweight puffy jacket that packs down small and is light (I always bring this, no matter the season!)

Beanie and gloves, you never know

Sunglasses

Gear

Sunscreen (essential here – we have no ozone layer)

Sleeping bag and inflatable pillow (huts don’t provide these for you, so be sure to bring one!)

Portable stove and gas canister (check with your hut to see if gas is provided for you – usually the busier, more popular huts like the Great Walk Huts will have a communal kitchen with gas provided in the summer season)

Camp stove/pot/jetboil

Map and compass or topographic map app

Lighter or matches in a waterproof bag

Camp utensils (knife, fork, spoon, plate, bowl, cup)

Toilet paper (most huts won’t have this so be sure to bring your own)

Toothbrush and toothpaste

Bag for rubbish (there are NEVER rubbish bins in the huts so you have to take your rubbish back out with you)

Earplugs (crucial!! You’ll be sharing your sleeping quarters and there’s ALWAYS at least one snorer)

Headtorch or headlamp

Water reservoir or big water bottle to drink from during the day

Small first aid kit: bandages, hay fever tablets, antiseptic cream, painkillers, bug repellant, etc.)

Toiletries if you feel you need them (although everyone else will be smelly too so try to just embrace it)

Candles or Luci Lights (there’s no electricity so when the sun goes down, you’ll be in the dark)

Deck of cards (some of the most fun you can have in a hut revolves around a card game with

strangers!)

Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) if you’re going somewhere hardcore and remote

Hut tickets (to give to the DOC ranger or leave in the honesty box)

Camera with a fully charged battery, because it’s going to be epic and you’ll definitely want photos.

7. Figure out your food

Dialing in your camp food is a bit of an art and with a little practice, you’ll quickly know what works for you. You’ll want to strike that fine balance between carrying too much weight that you won’t eat and not enough so that you go hungry — and trust me, there’s nothing scarier than a hangry hiker.

Here’s my general meal plan for an overnight hike:

Breakfast

Porridge with nuts and dried fruit

Coffee. ALWAYS coffee.

Lunch

Crackers

Stick of salami and cheese and/or tin of tuna

Small packet of olives

Small tub of hummus

10 food mistakes every beginner makes when hiking and how to avoid them

Dinner

Usually I bring dehydrated meals from Back Country Cuisine, though sometimes on the first night of a big trip I’ll bring fresh food (there are only so many days in a row you can eat freeze dried food before going crazy)

Other times I’ll do pasta or couscous with some veggies

If you’re just going for an overnight hike and you really want to be prepared and gourmet, you could prepare a meal a few days before and freeze the leftovers. By the time you reach the hut, the food will be mostly defrosted and ready for a re-heat in your camp stove

Desert

Chocolate bars

Snacks

Muesli bars

Bananas

Nuts and dried fruit

Beef Jerky

Tea (hey we are a Commonwealth country)

8. Great huts for first timers

Super keen to tick your first hut off the list but don’t know where to start? Here are some classics:

Aspiring Hut

Heather Jock Hut

Meg Hut

Mid-Caples Track

Hawdon Hut

Packhorse Hut

Nina Hut

The Pinnacles Hut

Pouakai Hut

Mangatepopo Hut

9. So you’re all ready to go. Now what?

Get out there! Make sure you’ve given yourself enough daylight to complete the hike. Once you’ve reached the hut, put your hut tickets in the honesty box or give them to the hut warden. If you’re not sure how to pay for a hut, you can check out this helpful site that will walk you through it.

Kick off your boots, make yourself a cuppa, and enjoy everything there is to enjoy about hut life. You’ll meet some unique characters in New Zealand huts so don’t be shy!

Be sure to sign the intentions book with all of your information (when you arrived, how long you’re staying, where you’re going).

10. Don’t forget!

New Zealand huts are a luxury, not a right.

Treat these amazing huts with the respect and dignity they deserve. Help keep the hut clean by looking after your space and leaving the hut cleaner than you found it; use the broom and sweep up and stack the benches in the morning.

Keep your dirty boots out of the main rooms and give the common areas a sweep before you go. Most importantly, take all of your rubbish with you. There are no rubbish bins so everything you bring in must go back out with you the next day.

Staying in a hut in the New Zealand backcountry is an incredible experience we should all get to enjoy!

Have you stayed in a hut before? Have any tips? What’s your favorite? Spill

Many thanks to Mountain Safety Council for sponsoring this post – like always I’m keeping it real – like you can expect less from me!

The post How to prepare for an adventure to a hut in New Zealand appeared first on Young Adventuress.

from Young Adventuress http://bit.ly/2DGaUEY

[ggdbonlineoutlet-blog]

Golden Goose Outlet Archimedes Such As Space3 1 .By Space For Examplesince;3 .4 .} How so As To Make your Cash Doing little Or Nothing

This totally gets back again again to these root to setting your outlook. Unless you might marketing typically the next new iphone 4 or any next scour engine (and good beginners luck with because if someone are), probability of are may be not certain to include thousands actually millions involving people attacking a Golden Goose Superstar Sneakers Outlet pproach to always be your big fan on Myspace. It'll receive time to have your program ad regarding get a certain traction on YouTube. Ever-increasing your Tweets following doesn't just happen overnight, unless you're going to be Ashton Ashton kutcher. And honestly, does specific world would like another Ashley? Just in view that any page at your individual website or blog is going to need traffic, very does your favorite squeeze webpage. In fact, it's Golden Goose Sneakers Outlet Online onsiderable more preferred to transfer all or most created by your web site to their squeeze before driving them to any other page at your web property. Casual footwear are not likely only on colder months and months. The String quartet Geek leg boots times Sugar normally great for summertime. Accompanied by strong cloth cotton, silicone soles, while an striking price, most of these boots is a major alternative with regard to your shoes or lift flop shoe. Where from a mini skirt not to mention oversized top, and families have some sort of complete summertime or spring look. Reviewing a great leather wrist strap detail, house heel, and as well as foldover flap these actually are unique, Sneakers Golden Goose Outlet urable, and some perfect new to sandals jamaica resorts. For specific fashionista which is is not ever concerned from price, choose up up some of the Charlye good looking boots by means of golden goose outlet. Italian made made as well as the in 100% durable troubled leather, some will be in your ultimate closet because years and therefore years. Tendered at an absolute hefty price, these lovely leather sneakers are for sure not to those watching their wallets. Beautiful that have anything you will decide so that you can wear and simply perfect on behalf of colder months, these unquestionably are all-weather and furthermore will hold the roughest treatment. The definition has definitely changed quite a bit since in this case. However that have the market of its internet in addition to the the attraction of cyberspace marketing, your current use about the Golden Goose Outlet hrase guru as the with accordingly many opposite titles is carrying become vastly more standard. After understanding how sales opportunities can get advantage your Mlm business, some next stride is towards find the new way with regards to identifying great leads. A multitude of MLM organizations will also provide leads the fact have were sold a lot more and close to to her clientele. Of these leads happen to be sold over and with to some people while this process that the entire prospects which will you does indeed be contacting will therefore have come contacted caused by several Marketing and advertising operators similar to that of yourself. For that reason when doing research for leads, make for sure that they start to are exclusive to the individual only therefore that you can reap maximum positive aspects by sending them. Not nearly social entertainment outlets are already created result in. This should be our own biggest 'no duh' fact of all, but you can't implement the the same things using Facebook that may you will do towards Twitter. Individuals can't race a Video hosting sites channel generally same chance you construct a record profile towards MySpace.

[0xcusesfitness]

Going the extra mile

Going the extra mile

Dear Reader,

So we got a few more responses to our survey right here – – a survey I’m considering “ending” in another couple of days.

If you wish to respond but haven’t already – – well do so right HERE – – http://0excusesfitness.com/2018/07/13/the-ball-is-in-your-court-now/

Your “voice” will be heard – that I do promise!

Now those of you that read the last missive will remember that I left off with my customer Gautham congratulating me on a great site and wanting to buy my “Pull-ups from DUD to STUD within a matter of WEEKS!” course.

In his own words, he “had a burning desire to improve at pull-ups”.

Let’s look at future exchanges I had with him in terms of his eventual purchase – –

Hi Rahul,

This is your avid fan from India!

I am sorry that I was unable to buy your Fast And Furious Fitness book because I was a little short on money at that time. But the good news is I have now accumulated enough money to grab more than one of your priceless gems.

But a small change in plan. Instead of Fast And Furious Fitness I would love to buy “Get better at pull ups- from DUD to STUD within a couple of weeks” and Gorilla Grip as I have a burning desire(obsession) to become a pull up pro.

But I have a couple of questions for you. So please answer them honestly.

1) You mention in your website that your “Get better at pull ups…” eBook can enable even a rank beginner to become a stud in pull ups within a space of few weeks. Is this claim genuine?

2) Do you suggest to do more rowing in bars or negatives to get better at pull ups in your eBook? Because I can do ten horizontal rows and six clean negatives but still can’t even budge on the bar with my entire body weight?

3) I know that pull ups mainly target the upper back, core, biceps and forearms. But you claim that doing pull ups in your way can develop the chest as well and help me develop more pushing power? How so?

4) I enjoy reading your articles, they are marvelous. So I am aware that one of your tricks to get better at pull ups is to get better at push ups like doing 100 in a row. But it can take a long time for me or anyone for that matter to be able to do 100 push ups in a row.I am over weight weighing 87 kgs. But I can knock 10 push ups easily. But 100 push ups seems like an herculean task for me. So any ideas on that in your eBook?

5) Does the “Get better at pull ups…” eBook covers everything in the “gorilla grip” eBook or does the “gorilla grip” contain more information to develop a pair of fearsome of forearms with vise like grip to boot?

6) Do you discuss shoulder packing in detail? i.e the drawing shoulders inwards when doing pull ups to protect the shoulder joint and better engage the upper back?

Sorry for bombarding you with so many questions my friend. But you seemed like the guy who would go that extra mile to ensure that your clients (or prospective clients) doubts are cleared thus enabling them to make confident decisions.

Please reply as soon as possible as I am eager to get started with your program!

Now you  might think that’s a ton of stuff to respond to, and you’d be right if you thought that – – but I can tell when someone really, really wants to improve and …

… I can RELATE. I was once the same myself, and therefore I can relate, and am perfectly willing to help such a person to the best of my abilities.

My response – –

Yes, you can certainly make progress provided you HONESTLY follow what is outlined in the manual – – it goes without saying that there are no shortcuts to success (any type of success in any field). You have to put in the hard yards – – there are no two ways around it, but believe you me, the end result will be spectacular. I have used the techniques outlined in all my manuals firsthand – – I’d rather test things out first on my own body before recommending them to other people.

I believe that’s question #1 out of the way. In terms of the other questions: –

2) Do you suggest to do more rowing in bars or negatives to get better at pull ups in your eBook? Because I can do ten horizontal rows and six clean negatives but still can’t even budge on the bar with my entire body weight?

I hardly ever suggest any exercises with weights, as I don’t personally believe in them. I believe that you can achieve far better results using your own body weight … but then again, as you already know, I train for functional strength as opposed to the “beach boy” look. In any case, the “supplementary” notes at the end of the book should address what you are trying to ask here.

3) I know that pull ups mainly target the upper back, core, biceps and forearms. But you claim that doing pull ups in your way can develop the chest as well and help me develop more pushing power? How so ?

Do them in proper (STRICT) form – – and you’ll know! I could write tomes on “why” but that’s really the best and most honest answer I can give you on this one.

4) I enjoy reading your articles, they are marvelous. So I am aware that one of your tricks to get better at pull ups is to get better at push ups like doing 100 in a row. But it can take a long time for me or anyone for that matter to be able to do 100 push ups in a row.I am over weight weighing 87 kgs. But I can knock 10 push ups easily. But 100 push ups seems like an herculean task for me. So any ideas on that in your eBook?

Not really, as it’s a book targeted towards improving pull – ups. I do go into a tad bit of detail on pushups, but again – – it’s oriented towards pull-ups. Fast and Furious Fitness covers pushups in greater details though.

5) Does the “Get better at pull ups…” eBook covers everything in the “gorilla grip” eBook or does the “gorilla grip” contain more information to develop a pair of fearsome of forearms with vise like grip to boot?

Depends upon what you consider to be “more information”. But I certainly wouldn’t go to the trouble of creating a separate manual for grip alone if it wasn’t worth it!

6) Do you discuss shoulder packing in detail? i.e the drawing shoulders inwards when doing pull ups to protect the shoulder joint and better engage the upper back?

I don’t specifically discuss this, but proper form is detailed in the manual (as well as what NOT to do) – – and that’s really all you (and I, for that matter) need!

So as you can see – – I’m perfectly willing to go the extra mile for those of you that really desire to IMPROVE!

Now, what I ALSO want to say is this – bear in mind the OLD book which Gautham got was NOT the “new and updated” version I’m selling now, and yet, the feedback I’ve gotten says it all.

The new book is packed with more info – personal experiences (which you do need to read, as you’re likely going through a lot of the same stuff) – and perhaps most importantly, as with the Shoulders like Boulders course, it has a “supplementary exercises” section that you DO need to get better at.

So that’s today’s update, my friend. Not only did I answer some questions that you might have had about the initial book on pull-ups – – but I’ve also given you a prime example on customer service.

OK – all for now. I’ll be back later  with MORE updates!

Best,

Rahul Mookerjee

P.S. – If you’re truly serious about improving your health and fitness levels – and taking them to staggering levels – then investing in our products would be a good decision. I recently revamped the page – take a look, and let me know how you like it!

P.S #2 – Remember though that there is NO substitute from learning from “one thats been there and done it”. And that person in this case is me, my friend. Apply to learn from me right here – – http://0excusesfitness.com/coaching

P.P.S – – Quote of the “night” – – “Every champion was once a BEGINNER!”. Sage indeed, my friend. Sage.

[topicprinter]

There are quite a few ways to make some extra cash online. If you follow this subreddit, you probably know that already.You’ve probably also noticed that one of the most challenging parts of online entrepreneurship is finding the right niche.Look around, and you’ll find tons of information about how to do the whole “making money online” thing.Whether it’s affiliate marketing, dropshipping, selling t-shirts, or whatever else, you’ll find a wealth of step by step guides that can teach you just about everything you need to know about strategies that work.Sure, there’s a learning curve at play there. And it can get kind of overwhelming if you’re new to all this stuff. But with some time, dedication, and perseverance, you can learn what you need to know to start making a profit as an internet entrepreneur.Whether your goal is to bring in some extra beer money with a fun, low-maintenance little side hustle, or to create something you can scale over time into a liveable, sustainable income, you can make it happen.But you may have noticed something. Despite all the awesome free information out there, there’s one thing that, at the end of the day, no one can really spoonfeed to you.And that’s finding a niche.In a lot of ways, that’s really the tricky part. And it’s a central aspect of a bunch of different kinds of online businesses.Maybe it’s not universally applicable, per se, but niche selection is essential for such perennial /r/entrepreneur standbys as affiliate marketing, dropshipping on Shopify, creating monetizeable Instagram accounts, and more.It’s also important to what I do, which is Kindle publishing.I know there are other Reddit posts out there about finding a niche, not to mention a million blog posts on the subject.But even so, I wanted to share my own “in-the-trenches” knowledge and experience because I noticed there’s a lot of bad information online.I love this stuff. I remember when I was starting out spending hours upon hours throughout the night (and often saw the sun come up) researching different niches.Again, my experience is with ebook publishing, but I’m also talking about broader concepts that are applicable in other entrepreneurial pursuits.So here’s my advice on finding profitable niches. And it’s maybe a little contrary from what you’re used to hearing over and over again.So let’s get started.This is a pretty long post, so here’s a quick TL;DR of the key points.Go for profit over passion. Profit potential takes precedence over your own personal interest in a subject. Remember, you can always outsource your content and copy to someone who does know a lot about the topic.Go for big, evergreen mass market niches that always sell. I’ll explain why, and what these niches have in common.Focus on solving a specific problem. “Getting in shape” is a broad niche. “How to get a six pack in 6 weeks or less” is a specific problem.Autosuggest is one of the most efficient ways to pinpoint those specific problems. This applies on Amazon, as well as on Google and Youtube. You can also find tools like KeywordShitter and AnswerThePublic that make it easier to find and collate that information.Should I Pick a Niche That Interests Me?This is a pretty common question, and yes, I have been asked this by people quite a few times.And honestly, this is something that comes up periodically here at /r/entrepreneur, I’ve noticed.There are two pieces of advice you see a lot. And they’re mutually contradictory.Some people will say, “Yes, go for your passion! You’ll be miserable if you’re grinding away writing content for a niche in which you have zero interest. Find what moves and drives you, and channel that passion. If you’re into cars, do affiliate marketing for auto accessories. If you’re into fashion, try finding a subniche in apparel and accessories.”Others say the opposite.“No matter how much you love something, when you create a business out of it, it’s going to feel like work. And this could lead you to resent something you used to love. Don’t make a business out of your passions or hobbies. Pick something toward which you’re more neutral, but that you know is going to sell.”So which is it?Both arguments honestly have some pretty good points.Personally, I like to lean toward the second option: choosing a niche based on the bottom line, not on personal passion.That’s not to say you can’t choose a niche you’re at least somewhat into. But here’s why I’m more in favor of Option 2:A lot of hobbies and interests are, frankly, kind of hard to commodify. If you’re into, say, French symbolist poetry, there’s not a whole lot you can really do with that. At least, not at scale.With some things, commodification kind of “feels wrong.” Think spirituality, that kind of thing. This is pretty individually variable, though, and I’m not here to make any value judgments of any kind.Chances are, you’ll end up outsourcing most of the “grunt work” anyway. A quick look through /r/juststart confirms that when getting started, most people write their own content. But as someone who’s published tons of books and stuff, I’ll say this: no matter how much you enjoy writing, doing it all day, every day, in high quantities, burns you out like nothing else.Even if you’re a super gifted writer -- a professional writer, even -- you’ll reach a point where you’ll want to outsource that kind of thing.Why? Because if you’re doing all the work yourself, you will reach a point where you can’t scale anymore.For instance, let’s say your output is 1 book per month. And after a few months, I guarantee you’ll want to take a break to recharge.But if you are outsourcing your work, you can get 3, 5, 10 books done PER month.(Again, my experience is in Kindle publishing, so I’m talking mostly about content, info products, etc. But I’m sure it’ll apply to physical products, creating an app, etc.)At the end of the day, the goal here is to start a business and make money. For that reason, it makes a whole lot of sense to focus on profitability, the level of competition, the potential for a “first mover” advantage in a nascent market, and other things like that.Again, you might have a hobby or a passion that actually does lend itself well to starting a business of some kind. Selling products, writing a series of books about it, blogging about it and posting product reviews with affiliate links, whatever.But don’t feel like you have to start with your own interests. If you don’t HATE it or if it does not go against your values, then it’s fine. (But NEVER go against your values because you’ll end up sabotaging yourself. For instance, I will not promote a business that is related to drugs, violence, or porn no matter how much potential there is because I will not feel good about doing it and I end up sabotaging myself.)Not interested in learning about knee high and thigh high boots tailored for the thicker calves of plus size women, even though there’s a rapidly growing market for that kind of thing?Find a writer who’s a plus size woman who loves fashion and wears a lot of boots during the winter. Get her to write up your product reviews, or write up general supporting blog content like fall fashion style guides and editorials about body positivity.She’ll gladly write for you. And no offense, but she’ll end up doing a heck of a better job than you, because it’s what she loves.And, what you end up paying her is a tiny fraction of the amount of money you’re ultimately going to make from that content. Check out my post about what kind of freelancers to avoid to save yourself a lot of headache, though.There’s a lot you can outsource, and for a lot less money than you might think. So don’t toss an idea just because it’s not a personal interest of yours.The advice I give to my students is: get some stable, consistent cashflow going first, then you can focus on your passions.You’ll enjoy these passions a thousand times more if you do this because there’s no pressure to make a profit from it. You’ll be way more creative also.Do I Need to Be Knowledgeable About My Niche?I kind of touched on this one in the previous section.It probably depends on what kind of business you’re running, what your goals are, and other variables that can be different from person to person.But what I do want to emphasize here is that you don’t have to feel like you need to be a world class expert on a subject to build a business around it.Don’t let yourself succumb to the whole “imposter syndrome” thing. You’d be surprised what you can do with some simple Googling in your free time.We live in a freaking golden age of information right now. Thanks to the internet and smartphones, you are literally holding the entire wealth of human knowledge in the palm of your hand.With just some determination, some free time, and the magic of Google Search, you can quickly learn the basics about almost anything.And honestly, the basics are all you’ll really need.When it comes to content -- whether it’s a book you’re selling, or a blog post housing affiliate links -- what matters is that you know more than your audience about how to solve their problem.Someone needs to attach two pieces of wood together with a nail? You don’t have to be a world class authority on hammers to give them the answers they need. You don’t need to know about the rich history of hammers, or how hammers are manufactured. You don’t even need to be all that knowledgeable about building and construction in general.You just need to know that your audience needs a hammer.And oh, look, you have a bunch of great product reviews of the very best hammers for their specific kind of nail. Or, you’ve got a comprehensive ebook that gives a full step by step guide to hammers and how to use them to pound a nail.So don’t feel like you need to be a #1 authority or expert on your chosen niche.How to Find a Niche: Start with the Timeless Evergreen Niches That Always, Always SellWhen people talk about niche selection, they put the biggest emphasis on specificity. They focus on narrowing things down.Now, don’t get me wrong. That’s definitely something you should do. But that step comes later.Before you begin, you want to focus on “selling what sells”.There are big, massive, evergreen niches where there will always, always be a market full of people itching to break out their pocketbook and pay you for solutions to their problems.Now, these niches have some pretty important things in common. And I think it’s worth talking about those things.What is it about these things that make them so perennially profitable?It comes down to basic human desires. Love, sensory pleasures, material wealth, self-confidence, social success, self-actualization. These desires are basically universal, at least within contemporary Western culture.They revolve around things that people want on a very deep and fundamental level, in ways they’re not necessarily even fully aware of.Love and friendship. For the most part, humans want to find a romantic partner with whom they can share both emotional and sexual intimacy. Someone to love them and support them.Social success. People want others to like them. This ties into things like beauty and getting in shape, although that also relates to the desire to find a mate. It also ties into self-help topics, like how to be more confident, how to get better at public speaking, etc.Material wealth. Good old “how to make money.” Whether it’s investing in real estate, starting a small business, or whatever, people are always looking for ways to make more money. Again, this also ties into the concept of social success.Entertainment. People like to have fun. They like humor. They like to laugh. They like to read about celebrities or whatever, vicariously reveling in the sumptuous glamour and sexy scandals of the rich and famous. A lot of late 20th century sociologists and thinkers wrote about the concept of the “culture industry.” Think of that kind of thing.Self-actualization and personal fulfillment. People want to feel content in their lives. They want to find a sense of peace with the immanent reality of their own existence. They want to find ways to create meaning and infuse their lives with a sense of purpose that makes them feel complete.As I mentioned, there might be some cultural variance here. I am not a psychologist, nor am I a sociologist, nor am I an anthropologist or a historian. Someone more knowledgeable on these subjects might be able to weigh in here.So, here’s a list of the specific “mass market evergreen niches” I’m referring to. Each of them ties into at least one of the general human desires I was talking about above.Mass media. Celebrity bios, stuff about TV shows or entertainment history, that kind of thing. Also “geek stuff,” pop culture stuff, etc. Think “pop culture,” which kind of runs the gamut from trashy tabloids, to comic book and TV show fandoms, and everything in between. Everyone partakes of the mass media culture industry. There are radically different audiences within it -- from blue collar housewives who devour the latest from TMZ, to sophisticated urbanites with a refined appreciation of contemporary interior design and decor, to people who are geeks and proud of it, guys who play D&D or have an encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars trivia. Sports stuff is in this category, too. Even fashion fits here.Diet and weight loss. This is America. We’ve got a massive obesity epidemic going on. We’re constantly surrounded by foods that are bursting with calories, but that aren’t very filling. (Seriously, take a look at the nutrition facts on those little cans of Coke and stuff. It’s insane.) People are always trying to lose weight -- and unfortunately, in most cases, failing at it. It can take some time to find a regimen that works for their personal tastes and their lifestyle.Fitness. Another thing people want is to get fit and get in shape. This one pairs well with weight loss and dieting, but it’s really its own distinct niche. Getting fit doesn’t always mean losing weight.Self development. Self-help books are always a perennial bestseller. One of the most important things we need to do in this life is to understand ourselves, and sometimes even better ourselves. I mean, think about it. None of us chose to be here, and if we did, we don’t remember it. We’re thrust into this world, as conscious beings capable of joy as well as suffering, facing down the eternal coldness of the hard problem of consciousness. People look for ways to infuse their lives with meaning and a sense of purpose. They look for a compass to guide them through life’s confusing twists and turns.Cooking. Everybody eats food. Some more, others less. So cooking is another perennial niche you can consider. Cookbooks sell like crazy, believe it or not.Dating and relationships. Finding a romantic partner is another big part of human life, at least for the majority of people. There are also the many problems of long term relationships and marriage -- dealing with disagreements, keeping sex interesting after multiple decades, rekindling romance in the wake of an empty nest, etc.Gaming. This one’s maybe a little more recent and modern than the others, but it really is a golden niche. I guess you could really stick this into the “mass media entertainment” category, but I thought it deserved a mention on its own.Making money. Everyone wants to find ways to bring in some extra cash. Money doesn’t buy happiness by any means, but what it can do is secure the base of the Maslow Pyramid. And that’s really important.There are more to this list. But what’s important here is what these niches have in common: an appeal to basic, deep-seated, universal human desires for things like love, acceptance, wealth, and meaning.So these things are evergreen. There is always money to be made. You might be thinking, “Aren’t these super saturated and high competition?”Sometimes, but they’re also massive and broad. There’s plenty of room in these markets.The Key to “Niching Down”You might not actually need to narrow your niche down as much as people seem to think you do. After all, go too niche, and you’re faced with a limited market. Sure, you might make some money, but you’ll hit a ceiling.Anyway, the key to pinpointing a subniche is to focus on answering a specific question or solving a specific problem.“How do I lose weight?” is a big thing, but it’s not necessarily super specific. There are a lot of ways to lose weight. There are also a lot of reasons for losing weight, and a lot of different subsections of the population of “people who want to lose weight.”You’ve got people who are morbidly obese, whose very lives may depend on dropping the extra adipose tissue that’s slowly destroying their bodies.But then, you’ve got, say, women in their 30s who aren’t obese, but who want to lose a few pounds. Like, 25 lbs or less. It’s not a health issue for them, so much as an issue of beauty, confidence, and sex appeal.The way each of those groups goes about losing weight is going to be different. Their specific problems are different, and they’re looking for different things.So let’s say you want to write an ebook and sell it on Amazon Kindle. You’ve got weight loss in mind as the topic. Cool.Now, you need a specific problem.The Power of Autocomplete: Finding the Exact Questions Your Audience Is AskingSo what’s an example of a specific problem? And how do you go about looking for them?You can find them by doing some keyword research. It’s not just for SEO -- it’s also a way to get a peek into what your audience is thinking.In my case, the focus is on what people search for on Amazon. These days, when people want to buy something -- whether it’s a product or a book on a subject -- they’ll usually go to Amazon directly, rather than using Google.But in other businesses, Google or even YouTube might be where you want to focus.Whether it’s on Amazon or Google, you can learn a lot about what people are asking and where the demand is at by checking out what comes up with the autocomplete feature.You can also check out resources like AnswerThePublic.com to find these questions, or use a tool like KeywordShitter or Keyword.io. The latter two actually draw from Google’s Autosuggest feature, so it’s a quicker way of getting that info than doing it manually.Either way, you’ll find queries and searches like these, which are what you want to focus on.“How To Lose Weight Without Diet And Exercise?” “How To Draw For Kids” “How To Lose Weight Journal” “How To Cure A Migraine”Sometimes they’re actually phrased in question format, and sometimes they’re not but you get the picture.Hone in on these specific questions and searches. Then, offer your audience a specific answer.Whether you’re putting together a buying guide for protein shakes or you’re writing a series of ebooks about weight loss and getting in shape, you can maximize your profits by offering a specific solution to a specific problem.This is what’s worked for me over the years: BIG Evergreen Niche --> Specific Problem Within That NicheI’m not the only person offering this advice, or at least I don’t think I am. But, it works.I realize that this subreddit is pretty diverse. Not all of us sell ebooks, or create monetized content. There are people here with cleaning services, with restaurants and bars, with brick and mortar boutiques, and more.So my advice might not be applicable in every single case. But if you want to make some extra cash online, in a way that revolves around informational content, this strategy has worked time and time again.I do hope this was helpful to some of you guys out there. Let me know if you’ve got any further questions about this stuff.