#basically just a bunch of the turtles searching for space from each other and not really getting it bc they’re so entangled in each other’s

[cryptidwizard]

i feel the turtle fixation creeping back up

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball 069 (nice)

I just like this shot of Roshi trimming his nose hairs while Launch lovingly cleans her shotgun.    Everyone’s just chillin’ out at Kame House.   Red Ribbon Army is D-U-N, and it’s smooth sailing from here on out.   Yep.   No life in outer space, so the Red Ribbon Army was definitely the only major threat left in the world.   Did Mercenary Tao have any family?   Eh, probably not.

Look how happy Yamcha is.   Bulma’s still mad at him for whatever reason, but what else is new?   After seeing how much stronger Goku’s become, he’s decided to tag along on the search for the last Dragon Ball.    Krillin, too.  

What I don’t get is why the boys aren’t planning a trip to Korin Tower, since that’s where Goku got his big power boost from.   Finding the Dragon Balls didn’t make Goku stronger, it was fighting the Red Ribbon Army, who was always there to get in his way.   Now that they’re defeated, the last Dragon Ball shouldn’t be a problem.

Only, not so much, because it won’t show up on the Dragon Radar.   Bulma checks it out, but the radar itself is working properly, and it picks up the other six balls just fine.   She concludes that the only explanation is that the 7th Ball must be hidden in such a way that its electromagnetic signals are being blocked.   Basically, each Dragon Ball emits some sort of EM radiation which the Dragon Radar can detect.   She says that living tissue will block the signal, so if a large animal swallowed the Dragon Ball, that would explain everything.

Oh, now I remember why I screencapped this still of Yamcha.   This is when he cheerfully suggested that they just have to wait for the animal to poop the Dragon Ball out, and they’ll be back in business.   Smart thinking, Yamcha, but Goku doesn’t want to wait around for that.   He needs the seventh ball to wish Upa’s dead father back to life, and he doesn’t like the idea of just sitting around hoping that the Dragon Ball will eventually reappear on the radar. 

Before we move on, I just want to explore this concept a little.  I think it’s interesting how Toriyama set this up right on the heels of the Red Ribbon Army arc.  According to Goku, the seventh ball had been showing up on the radar until very recently, which explains why Commander Red was never worried about it.  Remember, there’s a second Dragon Radar out there, and Red ordered it to be given to General Copper so he could hunt for the last Dragon Ball. 

Assuming Copper even made it out into the field, he must have turned on his radar and found nothing, just like Goku.   The only thing Copper would have picked up were the other six balls converging at Red Ribbon HQ, and then... leaving RRHQ to go to Kame House.   What must he have thought about that?  Or maybe he tossed the Radar in the trash when he decided it didn’t work.   One way or another, this arc neatly cuts off anyone who might have tried to use the Red Ribbon’s Dragon Radar after the fall of RRHQ.

Also, this complication completely changes the premise of the Dragon Ball search up to this point.   Before, finding the Dragon Balls was not all that difficult.  It was battling over the possession of them that was the tricky part, and then once you had one, it was impossible to hide from your enemies.   Red Ribbon tracked Goku easily, and Goku found their search parties without even trying.   One of the cool things about Goku’s attack on the Red Ribbon Base was that Red was completely cornered.   He couldn’t leave without surrendering the Dragon Balls to Goku, and he couldn’t take them with him, or Goku would just follow him.   Now, the game has changed.  

However, Master Roshi knows of another way to find the Dragon Ball: consult the Fortuneteller Baba, also known in the manga as the All-Seeing Crone.  If you absolutely cannot find something, Baba will be able to tell you where it is.   He shows the gang a really old map of where to find her, and Krillin and Yamcha join Goku on the trip. 

But first thing’s first.    Goku’s clothes are in tatters, what with him fighting the entire Red Ribbon Army all this time.  Also he just slept on the ground with a bunch of monkeys in that one episode.   And Upa dumped a bunch of dirt on him when he thought he was dead. 

I just realized that this isn’t even Goku’s Turtle School uniform.    It’s Krillin’s, because he had to loan it to him when Goku tore apart his own uniform as he turned into a giant ape at the World Tournament.   That explains why Krillin’s been wearing his Orin Temple gear ever since the tournament ended.   

This calls for a trip to Tailor Ford’s.   I’m not sure what that image is supposed to be on the sign.    It’s a shirt or maybe a suit jacket and it’s coming out of a pipe?  

Goku tries on an outfit from the nerd section of the store, and everybody laughs at him.   The tailor’s much more supportive, and says he can just recreate the clothes Goku was wearing when he came in, and it’ll only take him an hour.   Yamcha asks him to use his cheapest fabric, because Yamcha was living on a playground until a few days ago.  

While they wait for Goku’s new outfit, Goku skedaddles back to the land of Korin to pick up Upa.   See, this episode makes a much better introduction to the Baba Saga than Episode 68 did.  I mean, both episodes defined the problem of the missing Dragon Ball, but 68 had Goku polishing off the Red Ribbon Army, and this episode actually explains that Baba could solve the problem.   And this episode has Upa in it, and a shot of Bora’s grave, so the central problem is clearly in focus.  I don’t know why Funimation put 68 in the Baba Saga.   Just doesn’t fit.

I like how Upa is nervous about leaving home for the first time, and Goku reassures him by talking about how he felt when he left home for the first time.   I really feel like Goku has a strong connection with Upa and Bora.  There was a part where he was just watching Upa sharpen a spear, and Bora looked it over and indicated that he did a good job, and Goku was just sort of staring like it meant something to him.   Maybe Bora stirrs memories of Goku’s own father?   I mean, Bora could just remind Goku of his adoptive Grandpa Gohan, but I like the Bardock comparison better in this case.   Goku knows that he had real parents, but he knows nothing about them.   Seeing Upa have a dad and then lose him like that probably really got to him.

Anyway, Goku brings Upa back to the town, Krillin thinks Upa’s a girl, Goku changes clothes right in the middle of the street, and we’re ready to get rolling again.

Baba’s place is this palatial estate on a lake in the middle of a desert.    When the gang arrive, they find a line of big tough guys waiting to get in.   The majordomo is a ghost in a straw hat.   Yamcha finds it odd that only tough guys are here.

Then a rich couple walk out, and that just makes things even weirder.  Meanwhile the tough guys go inside for their turn and...

Okay, so they’re pretty shocked to hear these guys get beat up, and then they run in terror at the suggestion that they try again some time.   Something’s definitely up here, but is it really that bizarre?

I mean, this is the guy who greeted them at the door, and no one batted an eye at him.

As it turns out, Baba can easily help them find what they need, but she doesn’t work for free.   She charges 10 million zeni to do a psychic reading, and that’s way out of Yamcha’s pay grade.   It’d be funny if he had that kind of cash on him, but Goku’s suit cost 9 million zeni so he’s S.O.L. 

On the bright side, Baba also accepts violence as an alternative form of payment, because this is Dragon Ball, where everything can be solved with punches.  She has a team of five warriors, and if Goku’s group can defeat hers, she’ll happily locate their missing item for free.   Naturally, Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha are pleased to hear this, because they’re elite martial artists.   They all made the semifinals of the World Martial Arts Tournament, and Goku nearly won the damn thing, so unless Jackie Chun is on Baba’s team, they got it made in the shade. 

Only, I seem to remember some old guy telling them that winning in the tournament didn’t mean anything, and that there would always be stronger people in the world.    Nah, I might be imagining things.  This is a lead pipe cinch.

[transcendingsky]

Photos dating from March 26, 2018. This was the first town we reached on our journey, after a long day of getting adjusted to what our life would be like for the next fifteen days, butts glued to the seat of our two wheels. The confidence of the first couple hours quickly dropped as we left the border town of Tecun Uman and sunk into the beginning of the aches and pains. We made a quick stop on the way out, to check out a giant sculpture of a turtle signifying the area of Ayutla. Agreeing to continue trying to do my practice of one backflip a day, I found a nice grassy area to attempt one. I found myself floating high in the air, which felt like my best backflip the whole time I had been in the country. The weight of our bags for the first half hour of the trip made me feel springier as ever. 

For the final stretch of the day, we followed the highway up a somewhat steep incline heading towards the town of Coatepeque, which is the place shown in the photos. One of the more odd experiences of the first half of the trip was passing by all the stops we had blown past on our bus journey to the starting point at the border. As we approached the town, I remember how hectic the place had looked and that feeling combined with the first real uphill section we had encountered had me feeling a tad defeated. I pushed harder still as I tried to keep up with Sarah who was already quite a ways ahead of me. 

We sat in the practically nonexistent parking space in front of the Maxi Despensa supermarket, trying to recover for about half an hour or so while surrounded by the hectic hustle and bustle of what seemed to be the center of that area of the town. After what felt like a moment of acceptance of what we had actually undertaken, we headed out to find some actual food which we had been lacking that day. Happily finding an Asian food place with vegetarian options, we began the routine of stuffing our faces with calories, followed by crashing out in a random park for another half hour or so.

Finally feeling somewhat rejuvenated, we set out to find the railroad tracks that went through the town, which were the significance of the journey in the first place. The first photo you see above, is the abandoned train station that used to serve the town. I probably need to do a whole other write up about the significance of the train in Guatemala, but for now you just need to understand that these stations sort of served as guide markers, or checkpoints for us. They had been abandoned for decades and were just remnants of a time when the country had existed in a much more prosperous era. This is the first real one we encountered on the trip, as the one in Tecun Uman had been entirely fenced off within a huge radius. You can see the old sign depicting the name of the town, how many miles from the border and how many miles to Guatemala City. The usage of miles is one of many details that marks the hand of the the United States in the construction of the tracks.

This station also happened to be fenced off, but there were signs of people who seemed to be living inside. Approaching the gate, we saw a security guard who refused to let us check out the inside. This encounter was just the first of seemingly many people who we tried to explain the significance of our project to but simply refused to allow us to continue. Funnily enough, as we just went around the side of the building there was a huge section of the wall missing and you could just walk inside, as you can see in the second photo.

Inside the walls was an area consisting of a huge empty field, with two makeshift futbol goals and with a bunch of people crossing through the area. What even was the point of the guard being there in that case? I laughed at the absurdity of the situation and noticed to the right a huge rusted water tower. A lot of the stations along the tracks had these sort of towers which originally provided steam for the trains to run. I quickly ran over and began climbing the ladder to the top, which provided a great vantage point over everything. There was a hatch door that opened to a blackness inside, but I decided against climbing down into it as we were losing daylight and still needed to find somewhere to camp. 

Following the tracks out of the city into the jungle, we came across the first of many makeshift communities who had taken up homes along the more rural areas of the line. There were basically whole other cities out here, of people who lived with even less and just had what they needed to live away from the bigger towns. Certainly we drew a lot of looks from the people who had probably never seen two gringos pass through the area. As the sun went down everything felt so much more relaxed as we were away from the craziness of the nearby town. 

After biking down these quiet parts which turned from railroad tracks into just dirt paths through the jungle, we happened upon a quiet clearing which seemed to appear just as the sky was darkening. It was perfect for setting up the tent so we hurried to do just that with only a few minutes of light. You can see in the third photo our sleeping spot for that night. After getting comfortable we quickly realized we were both pretty much out of water. It was already dark but we knew it wouldn’t be smart to not restock as we weren’t even sure how far the next town was. We headed back through the night towards the community of squatters near the tracks. 

The walk was entirely pitch black, but one of the most peaceful feelings being out there with nothing but jungle. It was such a relief to leave the bikes behind and just move at a slower pace. We walked for about twenty minutes through the night, simply appreciating each other’s company with the occasional Mayan passerby walking to who knows where. After we made it back, we searched out water, which was only sold at the makeshift tiendas in small bags of 250ml I believe. Naturally we bought at least 6 of them, which still isn’t much water. It’s crazy that this is some of their only sources of clean drinking water without making the half hour or so trip into town. 

We still hadn’t had food, so we bought some fresh tortillas and a can of beans, which was destined to be a majority of our meals over the next two weeks. We found a guy selling some fresh vegetables which we were happy to add to the meal. He invited us to sit down outside of his house, which was a really crazy sight. This guy had a massive house out in the middle of nowhere in the community of squatters. Sarah began to talk to him in Spanish as he told us his life story, in which he made the treacherous journey to the States and made enough money to come back and build his house in the place he was from. He went to the city a couple times a week to buy the vegetables and sold them to the people in his community. He was just one of many people who we were humbled by on our journey, and we were grateful for the the experience as we made the trip back to our tents. We also rode back part of the way on a pickup truck through the jungle, with a couple guys who were nice enough to take us. Falling asleep in our tents, we felt empowered by the experiences we had encountered in only our first day of the trip.

[accuhunt]

Can We Reduce Single Use Plastic During the Pandemic?

Can we stay home and stay safe, yet reduce single use plastic during the pandemic? Choices, alternatives and demanding change.

The Covid-19 pandemic has penetrated every aspect of our lives.

As much as I hate to write or even admit it, it doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. We’re still far from a vaccine, and even when it does arrive, distribution around the world could take a long time.

In the meantime, we must continue to try keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe. That means we should use a mask and sanitizer, wash our hands frequently, practice social distancing, avoid touching our face and not go out to crowded spaces except when absolutely neccesary.

Also read: What’s the Future of Travel Blogging When Nobody’s Travelling?

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A post shared by CNN (@cnn) on May 27, 2020 at 7:00pm PDT

Unfortunately though, that also means a significant increase in our single use plastic consumption.

Personal protective gear – masks, hand sanitizers, surface disinfectant bottles – are typically non-biodegradable. Staying at home means more deliveries, e-commerce and food takeaways, which often come in non-recyclable plastic. Perhaps we’re discarding a lot of things we would’ve normally re-used, out of the worry that the virus might be lurking around on all surfaces.

As we gear up to face the pandemic for the long haul and adapt to life in the new normal, we need to be aware that a single use plastic catastrophe might silently be brewing.

Also read: Sustainable Living Ideas as we Emerge Into a New “Normal”

In this post:

How has the pandemic impacted single use plastic consumption?

Is it important to reduce single use plastic while we’re in a pandemic?

So, can we reduce single use plastic while we’re in a pandemic?

Use reusable multi-layered cloth masks instead of use-and-throw ones

Opt for eco-friendly e-commerce sellers who don’t wrap everything in plastic

Search for eco-friendly products

Read reviews that mention the packaging

Leave public feedback for sellers, both positive and negative

Insist that informal home deliveries are single-use plastic free and return the packaging immediately

Carry a washable cloth bag and reusable containers for takeaway

A “sanitize, quarantine and reuse” routine rather than an open and throw routine

Experiment, make and grow more at home

Segregate waste and consider eco-bricking

What else can we do?

Advocate for policy change

Ask e-commerce platforms to introduce a packaging rating and filter

Have you noticed changes in your plastic consumption during the pandemic? What steps are you taking / going to take to reduce single use plastic?

How has the pandemic impacted single use plastic consumption?

I guess we only need to look at our personal consumption to guess the anwer.

Discarded plastic masks are already washing up on Hong Kong’s beaches. In the US, single use plastic usage is estimated to have gone up by a whopping 250-300%. Athens has reported a 150% increase in the amount of plastic in the general waste stream.

And in India, where waste management is already a huge issue, the fight against single use plastic has taken a backseat.

In the midst of this unprecedented pandemic, the world has lost the momentum we gained over the past couple of years to reduce single use plastic. Plastic bans and alternatives have been rolled back.

Infact, plastic lobbyists are claiming that single use plastic is a hero in the new normal!

Also read: I Love Spiti: A Campaign to Save Spiti Valley from Single Use Plastic

Is it important to reduce single use plastic while we’re in a pandemic?

I’m sure we haven’t forgotten the disturbing visuals of corals covered in single use plastic, turtles choked to death by plastic straws stuck in their nostrils and dead whales found with tonnes of plastic waste in their stomach.

Single use plastic has long been a global crisis. But it’s more important now than ever to reduce single use plastic, for three main reasons:

Biomedical waste that washes up on beaches or into the oceans can easily be mistaken as food. Fish, turtles, dolphins and other marine animals can choke on gloves, get entangled in the elastic bands of masks and get injured by face shields. With all this plastic filling their stomachs, they can starve to death.

Many recycling plants have been shut down over fears of the virus spreading through infected surfaces. That means what little plastic did get recycled / upcycled is now ending up in the landfill or being swept away into the ocean. It’ll leach into our groundwater and soil, and enter the food chain. Scientists are researching what that really means for our health.

Plastic pollution disproportionately affects low income countries with poor disposal facilities. Much of the west’s plastic waste used to go to China, and is now being sent to other countries in Southeast Asia. Even in rich countries, waste tends to be dealt with in poorer neighborhoods, causing public health problems. When incinerated, low grade plastic releases micro particles that have been linked to cancer. When sent to landfill, it often leaches into the groundwater. So yes, plastic pollution is very much a social justice issue.

Also read: 5 Easy Steps Towards Plastic Free Living

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A post shared by Plastic Oceans UK (@plasticoceansuk) on Feb 27, 2019 at 1:00am PST

So, can we reduce single use plastic while we’re in a pandemic?

Given that health and safety trump all else right now, here are some things worth noting:

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that Covid-19 stays on plastic and stainless steel for 2-3 days, on cardboard for upto 24 hours and on copper for 4 hours.

According to the WHO, using a mask, frequently washing hands, social distancing and not touching the face are the most effective preventive measures. Surface disinfection with 70-90% alcohol is effective.

The WHO doesn’t recommend using gloves in public spaces.

In the early days of the pandemic, I decided that personal safety trumped my single use plastic consumption. In just a few weeks, the amount of plastic waste I was disposing became alarming.

So I spent a lot of time researching safe alternatives, and creative hacks to keep my single use plastic consumption as low as possible:

Use reusable multi-layered cloth masks instead of use-and-throw ones

Prevent a plastic pandemic by opting for cloth masks. Photo by Vera Davidova.

Masks are important for our collective safety, but that doesn’t mean we need plastic masks that come out of plastic covers.

According to the WHO, the CDC and Johns Hopkins University, those of us not interacting directly with positive or suspected positive people (i.e doctors, nurses etc), are safe enough using non-medical cloth masks. N95 and surgical masks are use-and-throw masks made of non-biodegradable plastic – taking upto 450 years to degrade! Instead, we can opt for multi-layered cloth masks, which can be washed and reused.

I bought a set of five cloth masks from Pulkar – an organisation in Dehradun that supports women’s livelihoods. I find cloth masks far more breathable, comfortable (instead of elastic bands around the ears, they have to be tied behind), stylish and affordable.

After each use, I sanitize and quarantine them for upto 48 hours (the virus is expected to survive on cloth fabric about as long as cardboard). And when I’m doing my laundry, toss them into the washing machine.

Also read: How to Indulge Your Wanderlust at Home

Opt for eco-friendly e-commerce sellers who don’t wrap everything in plastic

Reduce single use plastic by choosing eco-friendly e-commerce. Photo by Markus Spiske.

I think I’ve lost some of my sanity constantly outraging at Amazon and Urban Platter deliveries that arrive smothered in plastic for no good reason. I mean, why do non-breakable things like a pressure cooker whistle, a pan and even a pillow need to be wrapped in plastic?!

I limit using e-commerce for exactly this reason (aside from usually being somewhere too remote to receive deliveries and having no permanent address to receive them either). But now, in the midst of a pandemic with disrupted supply chains, closed shops and safety concerns, e-commerce is very much a part of my life.

Over time though, I’ve learnt to identify sellers that are conscious about not using single-use plastic:

Search for eco-friendly products

We needed a bunch of air tight containers so I searched for eco-friendly storage containers and zeroed in on the Star Work glass jars. Their products had great reviews and emphasized being environmentally friendly. And sure enough, despite being made of glass, the jars were delivered without any single-use plastic!

On the other hand, the couple of things I ordered from Amazon Basics came wrapped in layers of plastic despite being non-breakable. Ugh.

Now whenever we need anything, I use “eco” or “eco friendly” as a suffix while searching for it to identify plastic-free sellers.

Read reviews that mention the packaging

When I’m unable to find any eco-friendly sellers, I check if the reviews mention packaging – either while generally reading reviews or by doing a quick Ctrl+F search.

Also read: What I Learnt Volunteering on a Remote Island in Cuba

Leave public feedback for sellers, both positive and negative

Name and shame brands that don’t reduce single use plastic. Photo by Marc Newberry.

I know it sounds like one more thing to do. But unless brands and sellers hear that we value plastic packaging free products and deliveries, they’re unlikely to make any changes.

Every time I receive an order, I try to leave public feedback on the e-commerce platform mentioning the packaging. Praising it if it is single-use plastic free. And highlighting the unnecessary use of plastic, which is more often the case.

Amazon has the option of seller feedback as well as product review. The former seems to be private feedback, though it does impact rankings on Amazon. I try to fill in both.

If enough of us do this, my hope is that Amazon will take notice and include a feature to rank packaging. Perhaps even a way to filter products with eco-friendly packaging!

Also read: Inspiring Women I Met in Bhutan – and What Happiness Means to Them

Insist that informal home deliveries are single-use plastic free and return the packaging immediately

Fight the plastic pandemic by getting home deliveries in returnable containers / packaging. Photo by Misky.

I’ve switched from frequenting organic farmers’ markets wherever in the world I am, to ordering vegetables and fruits on whatsapp from local farmers or shops that stock their produce. Given that social distancing is hard at supermarkets and grocery stores, it’s prudent to have things delivered at home as much as possible.

That has one negative side effect though – plastic bags.

When I place an order, I always insist that they not be delivered in plastic bags. Thatched baskets, cardboard boxes and cloth bags are all good alternatives. In any case, I try to immediately empty the products into my own containers and return the packaging to (hopefully) be re-used.

This is also a great way of ensuring that I have the least possible interaction with a surface that might have been touched by multiple hands and possibly be carrying the virus. If I accept the packaging, I’d have to find a way of discarding it – increasing both, my exposure and trash.

Also read: Why I Switched to a Menstrual Cup – and How You Can Too

Carry a washable cloth bag and reusable containers for takeaway

My little kit to reduce single use plastic in everyday life and on my travels.

As India and the world slowly start to open up and emerge into a new “normal”, I’ve been thinking of how I can be both safe and environmentally-friendly.

I’ve been carrying reusable cloth bags for several years, and I think they’re our best bet now during the pandemic. Carrying my own bag means I don’t have to expose myself to plastic bags that have passed through multiple hands, on which the virus can survive for 2-3 days! Instead, I get home, empty my cloth bag and wash it with soap and water.

I’ve decided that no matter how much I crave diverse food during the pandemic, I’ll only ever order from places that deliver in eco-friendly packaging. In Hyderabad for instance, Le Terrassen Cafe has been using non-plastic single use cutlery and glass bottles. In Goa, Saraya has initiated a daily meal plan where lunch is delivered in returnable steel tiffins.

When I really want food from elsewhere – a slice of indulgent vegan chocolate cafe for instance – I will continue to carry my own resuable container. Again, relatively safer, washable and better for the planet.

Also read: 15 Responsible Travel Tips for More Fulfilling Experiences on the Road

A “sanitize, quarantine and reuse” routine rather than an open and throw routine

Getting rid of the open and throw routine to avoid a plastic pandemic. Photo by Nathan Dumlao.

When I heard that the virus can survive upto 72 hours on plastic surfaces, my first instinct was to open every plastic bag of grocery (unfortunately I didn’t have access to an organic zero waste store), empty it into a container and toss the plastic bag into the bin.

But each time I did that, I felt horrified. Especially when the bag was a resealable bag that I would normally have re-used.

I then read safety recommendations by North Carolina State University, and was relieved to learn that it’s okay to re-use bags as long as they are cleaned and disinfected.

Now, instead of the ‘open and throw’ routine, I wash the outside of any plastic bag that enters the house, dry it and store it in a cupboard. Empty the contents in a container when needed. Sanitize it again if I’m feeling extra paranoid, quarantine it for a few days further and re-use it.

Also read: Work from Home Tips from Someone Who’s Been Doing it for a Decade

Experiment, make and grow more at home

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A post shared by Shivya Nath (@nomadicvegan) on Jun 20, 2020 at 9:09am PDT

Some of us have a lot more time at hand with no social outings and travelling on the cards. I’ve been finding some solace in the kitchen, as well as in growing vegetables, herbs and microgreens.

I never imagined that someone like me, with a marked lack of cooking ability, could bake a good loaf of bread. After a disastrous first time, it turned out surprisingly easy and tasty!

I look to Minimalist Baker, Vegan Richa and A Sweet Alternative for inspiration for easy vegan recipes. A simple google search is a good starting point too.

It’s been fulfilling to make, bake and grow my own. And it also means I’m consuming more home-grown, organic, chemical-free food, and creating less waste, especially single use plastic.

Also read: 11 Tips to Ease Your Transition Into a Vegan Lifestyle

Segregate waste and consider eco-bricking

I know I’ve been talking about segregating waste far too often on my blog and Instagram. But I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that the vast majority of us still doesn’t choose to segregate!

All it takes is two separate bins for wet and dry waste. The wet waste can be composted, even if you live in an apartment (consider the Eco Bin). Dry waste should ideally go to a recycling facility. Else it can be given away to a local ragpicker who is likely to salvage as much as possible. Further segregating dry waste into glass bottles, cartons etc can make processing of the waste easier.

Unfortunately though, single-use plastic is such low grade plastic that it can’t be recycled. If burnt, it releases toxic chemicals. If sent to landfill, it ultimately leaches into the groundwater or lands up in the ocean. The best solution so far – besides reducing consumption of course – might be to create ecobricks. Then pool them together with a community of people and build any needed structure.

Also read: Quarantine Recycling: Staying green under quarantine

What else can we do?

Demand bigger changes to reduce single use plastic and save our oceans. Photo by Javardh.

Advocate for policy change

Even though the fight against single-use plastic looks pretty dismal during this pandemic, I feel hopeful about the possibility of policy action since it’s already happening in Thailand. In Bangkok, an awareness campaign to segregate waste is already underway, along with setting up of public collection points for plastic waste to be recycled.

Can this happen in India? With a combination of aware, conscious, motivated citizens demanding action from local, state and central governments – absolutely.

Ask e-commerce platforms to introduce a packaging rating and filter

We collectively need to ask e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and Urban Platter to introduce a feature to rate the eco-friendliness of sellers and products. A filter to sort products by planet-friendly packaging could make it easier to identify brands that care about reducing plastic waste. A rating system can allow consumers to easily share feedback.

The best way to do this is using social media, and tagging your local e-commerce providers.

Also read: Inspiring Indian Using Social Media to Drive Positive Change

Shudder to think of the plastic pandemic brewing in 2020. Photo by Anshu A.

According to UN Environment, nearly 13 million tonnes of plastic enter our oceans every year. In the Mediterranean Sea alone, the WWF estimates that the equivalent of 33,800 plastic bottles are dumped into the water every MINUTE.

That’s in an average year. I shudder to think what 2020 means for the oceans, marine life, groundwater and our own health.

Have you noticed changes in your plastic consumption during the pandemic? What steps are you taking / going to take to reduce single use plastic?

The post Can We Reduce Single Use Plastic During the Pandemic? appeared first on The Shooting Star.

Can We Reduce Single Use Plastic During the Pandemic? published first on https://airriflelab.tumblr.com

[thenerdytomboynewb96]

Samantha Allan Park Ch. #13

Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.

Chapter #13

*Thursday May 29th, 9:00p.m. At the Sachs Estate*

Shredder walked into the meeting room. There was a table with swivel chairs all around it, and sitting in each one was one of Shredders students or allies. Shredder didn’t show emotion, but there were a select few that he actually cared about, and all four of them were in this room at the moment.

First was Eric Sachs who had been in hiding for a little while after he was broken out of jail. Next to him at the table was Karai, a young Asian woman who was always right by his side. She aided in training the Foot soldiers that were recruited in the U.S.

 At the other side of the table was a bald Asian man who looked to be in his mid to late thirties named Tatsu. He had the same job and rank as Karai. When Shredder could not be in Japan to lead the Foot, then Tatsu took over for the main branch, and when Shredder couldn’t be in New York, Karai took over as head master. Tatsu and Karai saw each other as brother and sister figures since they both basically had the same jobs, so there was never really a reason for them to fight or argue over who was the best since in certain senses they were basically the same person.

 The final person in the room was a tall and buff white skinned man with a blonde ponytail named Hun. Just like how Shredder had raised and taught Sachs in Japan, Shredder had basically done the same with Hun once he first arrived in New York years ago when Hun was still a young teenager. Shredder taught him how to defend himself, and once he finished his training he went out and provided for his master in his own ways. While Sachs used brains, technology, and money to help his master in whatever he needed to accomplish, Hun used his strength and intimidating personality to round up his own gang, the Purple Dragons, to take care of more petty crimes. This way he could distract the public with his gang’s crimes, and then the Foot could get away with even more devious activity. Both men did what they needed to do and used their personal strengths to work together in helping each other and in helping provide for their sensei.

Overall, all four adults saw each other as family in a way and would do their best to protect one another, and all five saw each other as their own strange unique emotionless family.

Shredder first walked over to Eric Sachs. This was the first time that he had seen his student since his arrest months ago. “Sensei,” Sachs said as he bowed, “I can’t thank you enough for sending your men to rescue me. I’ll do whatever I can to show you how thankful I truly am.” Shredder put his hand on the man’s shoulder and nodded. “Welcome back my student, we will continue our work soon.” He then walked over to Karai who also bowed toward her sensei. “We have good news sir.” He put a hand on her shoulder and nodded to her, and then walked over to the next person, Tatsu. The man bowed towards Shredder. “Thank you sir for sending your men to help me and those from the main Japanese branch have successful travels from Japan to New York. We are all awaiting your orders.” Shredder repeated his greeting. “Welcome my student, we will work together soon.” Finally, Shredder walked over to Hun, who bowed to the Shredder as well. “Like Karai said, we have plans and news that we think will make you most happy sir.” Shredder repeated his greeting for the final time and then walked over to the head of the table. “Alright, so what is this good news?” he asked. There was never any emotion displayed on his face or heard in his voice, but at the same time it was so easy to feel how tense any conversation with the man was. The four sitting at the table all looked at each other and smiled as Sachs stood up. “Please follow me Sensei, we’ll explain as we walk.” Everyone stood up and followed Sachs. Karai was the first to talk. “We searched for the scientist that we tricked into working for us before and we forced him to come back. Since he and the other’s Hun and I forced to return have been here, they’ve been using his notes to create the mutagen that he had been working on before we found the turtles.” She then nodded towards Hun. He nodded back and began to talk. “The scientist’s then made huge doses. At that point, Tatsu and I rounded up our men and had them break into both the state zoo and a local pet shop, basically wherever we knew we could go to quickly snatch a bunch of different animals.” The group then walked into a huge laboratory. All around the room were cages and containers of multiple different animals. Shredder nodded his head. This was the only way he really showed praise, but that was enough to make his students feel proud of themselves for their accomplishments. “So,” Shredder began, “we are going to create a mutant army with the man-made mutagen?” “Exactly sir” Sachs said with a smile. He then snapped his fingers and two of the soldiers in the room dragged over a terrified Jordon Perry. Shredder glared at the man. “So, you thought you could try to run from the Foot Clan did you?” he said as he clenched his fists. “I, um, well the police made me. I mean, I didn’t really have a choice-” “ENOUGH!” Tatsu shouted. “How dare you try to insult my master! Do you really think he would believe an excuse filled with such nonsense?!” “I’m…I’m sorry…” the man whimpered. “Can you mutate these animals?” Shredder asked the man who was lying on the floor. “I…I’ve created a mutagen that should be able to give them some extraordinary powers…” Shredder glared at the man. “If you can turn these animals into soldiers, then I will let you live. Is the mutagen ready?” The professor shivered in fear, as much as he hated giving such power to such a horrid person, he wasn’t ready to die yet. He nodded his head at the man towering over him. He hadn’t gotten a chance to test out the mutagen he had been working on, but he was extremely confident in his work, so he had a strong feeling that this first and only test run would be successful. Shredder nodded at Sachs, who returned the gesture. “ALRIGHT!” Sachs shouted, “Everyone in this room, get these animals set up. This is where the fun begins” he said with a wicked smile. Within twenty minutes or so, all the animals were put into cages or large spaced containers that would be able to hold them once they had mutated. Within the different cages and containers was an Akita Inu male dog and his son who was still a puppy; a larger female tortoise and her two hatchlings, one a boy and the other a girl; a male and female adult terrapins and their hatchlings, two boys and two girls making four babies total; four male frogs of various colors; two female foxes of brownish-orange colors; a lioness; a male alligator; a male gecko of yellow skin with black spots and a female gecko of blue skin with red spots; a female arctic fox; a darker purple and blue colored female salamander; and a female kitten that had some ice cream stuck to its fur.

 Professor Jordon Perry was disheartened as he prepared to inject each animal with the mutagen he had made. If he had known what all his research and hard work would lead to, then he never would have agreed to come and work for the Sachs Estate years ago. But sadly it was too late, and as he used his hand to cover his mouth to prevent himself from letting out any sobs, the mutagen had slowly started entering the bodies of each of the animals. Within a couple of minutes each and every animal began writhing around on the ground, not being able to control their bodies. Then, they each began to grow, and grow, and grow until they were either as tall as or even taller than a normal human being.

The professor looked over at the Shredder, and what he saw made him want to run for the hills. For the first time that night, Shredder was grinning from ear to ear with the most devilish smile the professor had ever seen. It was the smile of a mad man, of a psychopath, of someone who was drunk with power.

“Great, and this is the person who determines when I get to die. Not that it matters, I’m already living in hell.”

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Themes for what’s going on inside Sam’s head: -AKMU: Melted -Jung Yong Hwa: One Fine Day (not in a romantic sense though)

*Thursday May 29th, earlier that night around 8:15p.m. At the Lair*

Donnie heard a beeping go off and ran over to his collage of computer screens. “Guys, we have trouble!” Leo and Mikey walked over to where Donnie was and waited for details. “It looks like there’s been a security breech at two places. An alarm was set at a local pet store up the street earlier, and there was another one at the zoo. If you give me a second…aha!” Donnie said as he pulled up a few videos. “These security cameras are showing that there’s Foot and Purple Dragon activity at both locations.” “Alright,” Leo began, “let’s gear up and see if we can stop whatever it is that they’re doing. One of you go get Raph-” “I’m already here.” Leo turned around to see Raph slowly walk down to where they were all standing by Donnie’s computers. “Hey, you okay?” “Pshh, of course. A little cold isn’t going to bother me” he said as he lightly swayed side to side. “Stop moving around so much!” “Um, Raph, I haven’t moved since you entered the room.” “Oh…really?” “Yup.” “Shit.” Leo gave his brother a small smile. “As much as you want to go with us, it’s probably best you sit this one out tonight. You’ll beat yourself up a lot more if you get caught because of something silly like a cold.” Raph gave a loud sigh, hating that his brother was right. “Fine, I’ll just chill here. Don’t have too much fun kicking butt without me.” Leo nodded towards his brother and then turned to leave. Donnie was using the devices on his left arm to figure out which pathways would lead them to their destinations the quickest. To Leo’s surprise, Mikey had his phone out as well. “Andddd what are you doing?” he asked Mikey, tilting his head to the side. Mikey looked up in surprise, and then with a smile. “Just texting Sam that we’re heading out and that we’ll be back eventually so not to worry when she gets here and its super quiet.” “Okay all set!” Donnie cut in. The two brothers then stared at Mikey, waiting for him to finish his text message. “Okay! I’ve slid into her DM’s, and now I’m ready to go!” “Never say that again, please.” Donnie pleaded. “Awww, why not? That’s become my new phrase! It’s the newest trend!” “Because you over use and incorrectly and awkwardly use modern phrases. So stop now before you ruin it for everyone.” “Tch, don’t hate the player hate the game!” he shouted as all three brothers ran off down the alley ways of the sewers.

While his brothers had been talking, Raph had walked over towards the four circular openings that lead into the dojo. He climbed up to the top left opening where the hammocks were and decided he would rest there. It was rare that he could lay and sway in the hammocks without there being tons of noise from his brothers, so he decided to take advantage of this opportunity. About ten to fifteen minutes later he heard someone enter the room. “Huh, they’re back early. They just left, what, ten minutes ago? Maybe they forget something.”

Raph leaned over a little bit and was shocked that he didn’t see his brothers. Instead, he watched as Sam walked in from the entrance along the wall at the end of the kitchen. From where she was standing, there was no way she could see Raph, so he took advantage of this and spied on her. She walked over to the bottom right entrance to the dojo and kneeled down facing the left side of the wall. Raph continued to secretly stare at her, wondering what she was thinking as she just blankly stared at the weapons wall. He watched as she took a cloth and a bottle with some type of liquid out of her back pack. He then clenched his fists together when Sam picked up the lone sai she had been questioning him about from days ago and began to dust and polish it. “Are you kidding me?! I told her not to touch my stuff, and what does she do, SHE TOUCHES MY STUFF!” Raph was just about to jump down from the upper level and begin yelling at her, but he stopped when he saw her put her hand back into her bag. His jaw dropped when he saw that in Sam’s hand was an exact replica of the small sai that was hanging on their wall. He wanted to feel rage and anger towards her, but more than anything he was just curious. When he found the first sai in a dumpster one night about four years ago, he constantly looked for its partner. At the time he needed a new pair of sais that would fit his growing hands, and it had really upset him that he couldn’t find the match, so he always kept it along the weapons wall in case he ever found the second of the two. He did use it every so often to practice certain attacks, but once he finally found a new pair where both blades were present then he just continued to use the newer pair, but he still always kept this one. All four brothers had saved all the weapons that they had fought and trained with over the years. It was their equivalent to when kids mark how tall they’ve grown on the side of a wall or door frame in their house, at least that’s what he had seen kids do on t.v. His thoughts were disrupted when he heard some light sobbing. He peeked back over at the girl and noticed that she had been crying. She wasn’t loud or crying her eyes out, but she did have some tears running down her cheeks. Raph listened carefully as the girl began to talk to herself.

“*sigh* I looked EVERYWHERE for you. Like literally everywhere, and in some places I’m not proud of either” she shuddered, “and you’ve been hiding down here all this time.” “Yeah, and I never would have expected someone like you to be hiding the other half all these years either” Raph thought to himself. Tears continued to run down Sam’s face as she softly spoke to herself. “Well, I finally got a chance to reunite you two. Heh, it really threw me off when I saw you down here the other day. You brought back a lot of memories that I was finally starting to hide away. Well, you know what I mean, not hide away, but…I’m able to live life again, you know? I just wish your new owner didn’t have to be such an ass about it.” Raph rolled his eyes. “But, even if you were a bit dusty, you still seem to have a nice blade to you, and you can still see the initials, so overall it seems he did a good job at taking care of you” she said with a smile, her tears finally starting to dry up and fade away. “In a weird way, I’m glad the Hulk found you. I never knew I would find this place, but because you were taken by he who must not be named, I finally got to figure out where you’ve been hiding all these years.”

Raph wondered what she was talking about. Initials? He thought the C.A.P. on the handle had been a brand name. He tried to think of the girl’s last name and after a few seconds he remembered her mentioning it when they first met. Allan Park, that’s what the A and P must have stood for, but what did the C represent? The next thing he knew, Sam was heading into the dojo with both of the sais. He quickly laid down as flat as he could, hoping she wouldn’t see him up where he was.

“Alright bro, let’s see if I can remember all that you taught me.” Sam began quickly slicing the sais across the open space in front of her. She moved so swiftly that you could hear the swishing sounds of the blades as she moved. Again, Raph wanted to yell and scream at the girl, but he was so lost in his thoughts, just as she was lost in hers. He was lucky that she was so emotionally wrapped up in what she was doing, or else she easily would have spotted him, but because of her personal distraction, Raph was able to sit up and watch her in plain sight. As he watched her in amazement, he continued to wonder what all her comments meant. How did these sais ever end up in her possession? When did she learn how to use them? Why had she thrown one in a dumpster? What had happened four years ago? And why did she just say ‘bro’ to the weapons?

Sam then swung the sais around and then threw them at a diagonal position down by her sides, only to have them go flying behind her. Raph clapped his hand to his head. “What the heck is she thinking? Treat them with a little more respect, jeez!” He then jumped where he was sitting a bit when he heard a loud slap sound. Sam had clapped both of her hands against her face in horror. “Oh crap! I thought I was acting like him and was trying to be cool, but I don’t have holsters!” She then ran over to where the weapons had been thrown and she inspected them carefully. “Oh thank cheesus, they’re both okay. Phew, so neither of you guys have to be mad at me since they’re both still in good shape. “Guys? I’m assuming I’m one of them, but who else would be upset about my sais? Does she think Mikey would get upset? Or maybe Leo since he controls whether she gets to come down here or not?”

Both their thoughts were interrupted as they heard voices getting louder and louder as they neared the entrance over by the living room. Raph recognized his brother’s voices, and before he could even wonder if Sam had heard them or not, his thoughts had been answered when he saw her run over to the weapons wall and carefully put one of the sais back and the other in her back pack. She then ran over to the fridge, opened the door, and shoved her head inside.

As the brothers walked in, Mikey instantly recognized his friend standing across the room. “Sam! Watcha doin?” She turned around and smiled. “Looking for food. Soccer practice makes you hungry, but you guys are low on snacks.” “Oh that’s okay cause I….don’t have snacks in my room, hehe” he said nervously. He then noticed that Leo wasn’t paying attention since he was focused on contacting April. “Hey April, I have a favor to ask of you when you get a momen-” “HEY ANGEL CAKES! How have you been?! What are you up to?! Did you miss me?!” Mikey shouted over his brother’s shoulder. As Leo walked out in the alley ways of the sewers to try to talk to April on the phone with peace and quiet, Mikey continued to follow him and bombard April with questions and comments. Donnie laughed as he rolled his eyes and headed for his lab. He noticed some movement to his right in his peripheral vision, and when he looked over he smiled and waved. “Hey Raph, hope you’re feeling better” he said with a smile, assuming that his brother had been relaxing in the hammocks while the rest of them were out.

While Donnie was smiling as he walked into his lab, Sam was standing still, frozen with fear. She heard a *thud* come from behind her and she knew that the hot headed turtle was walking towards her. She took a deep breath and slowly turned to face him. All she saw was his hands on his hips and without thinking she just began blurting out whatever came to mind.

“Okay I know you hate me and all but they both were originally mine, well sort of, but they belonged to my family so I had the right to check them out and you wouldn’t answer any of my questions the other day and just I needed this okay? So hate me all you want but it’s not fair that you wouldn’t even let me clean them and-” Just as she felt tears welling up in her eyes again, she was cut off when Raph used his hand to cover her mouth. She then for the first time realized that Raph had a calm expression with some sorrow resting in his eyes. He slowly removed his hand from her face.

“So, you gonna explain what I just witnessed for the past half hour?” Sam just stood there. She didn’t want to go into full detail about what had just happened, and just thinking about it made her come close to crying again, and realizing that Raph had seen her cry earlier made her even more upset. She hadn’t even told Mikey much about her past yet, and if she needed to cry then she would rather it be in front of someone who would comfort her rather than hurt her. That’s when she realized…Raph wasn’t insulting her. He hadn’t yelled, he hadn’t gotten violent, he was actually standing there ready to listen to her.

“Why…aren’t you yelling at me?” Raph looked over to the side as his face darkened a bit. “I’ve never seen a girl cry in person…” “Oh, I get it. You’re treating me like the damsel in distress” she said in a nasty tone. This was one of the reasons she didn’t want to tell any of them about her past, because she knew they would treat her differently. “Wait, what?” Raph asked in confusion. “You’re going soft on me because you know I’m broken. So I’m not Sam anymore to you, I’m the broken girl who makes you feel guilty for being yourself. I knew this would happen-” “Stop” he said, cutting her off. “I’m not treating you like you’re broken, I’m attempting…trying to be nice and understand…and stuff.” She tilted her head at him. “Look” he began, “I’ve been treating you like shit because I thought you were just a nosy brat who couldn’t keep her hands to herself and mind her own business. But obviously there’s reasons as to why you’re the way you are.” “The way I am?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “You know, super over confident and cocky when it comes to brains and strength. Someone your age and size shouldn’t be able to do the things that you do, but you still do it. And…I’ll admit I never really let you explain why, I just insult you every time…” “…you’re scaring me…” Raph rolled his eyes. “Are you going to explain yourself or not?” “Um…” she said as her eyes wandered to the floor, “please don’t make me tell you. It’s a long story that I’ve been hiding away for a while now.” Raph gave her a small smile as he put his hands on his hips. “How bout this, you at least tell me who’s initials these are, and then I’ll refrain from kicking your butt.” She looked up at him and gave him a small smile. “C.A.P. stands for Chuck Allan Park. These belonged to my younger brother years ago.” Her eyes glistened as she remembered fighting alongside her younger brother of two years. Raph noticed this and tried to carefully ask more questions about the subject. “Did he take those self-defense classes with you to?” Sam snapped back to reality, but she continued to smile as she answered his questions. “Yeah, we were the babies of the family, so our older siblings signed us up for a variety of different classes. Man the two of us kicked major butt together! I mean he was a million times better than me when it came to using sais. I’ll honestly admit I was always jealous that I couldn’t reach his level of expertise when it came to his weapon” she said as she jokingly shook her head. “Do you mind telling me how he lost it? How does he fight with one sai?” Raph asked. Sam took a breath, paused for a moment, and decided she was ready to reveal SOME information to the turtle in front of her. “We were fighting some bad guys and it got kicked away by the enemy. I tried looking everywhere for it, but I could never find it. I guess you took it that fast” she said as she playfully glared at Raph. He returned the gesture. “Well, now you can return it to him, and maybe if Leo is nice enough, he can come show me what he’s got.” Raph was actually a bit excited to meet another ninja who used the same weapon as him, but his excitement faded as he saw Sam’s face slowly return to its soft and sullen form. “Sadly that will never happen. My brother, he’s…far away right now…” Raph tilted his head in confusion. “Okay, my entire family has been split up for a while now. That’s why it’s always just me and my older brother Jay. Everyone else has traveled somewhere else throughout the country. That’s why I’m home alone so much.” “Do they ever visit, or even call or something?” Raph was shocked at how much concern he revealed in his tone. Of course Sam caught on to this and rolled with it, not knowing when the hot headed turtle might ever talk to her this way ever again. “Well, we sort of meet up all together about once a year now. But that’s usually it” she said as she shrugged her shoulders.

Raph wasn’t sure how to reply. He knew he would be devastated if his brothers just disappeared and saw him only once a year. Family was all he had, so he couldn’t imagine how Sam felt when her huge family was scattered and so broken apart. He wished that he had learned this earlier, but then he realized that he would have done exactly what Sam didn’t want and he would have treated her as the broken girl and not as Sam Allan Park. He then began to smile again, realizing that he could still treat her as herself.

“If you want, you can take both sais home with you, or you can leave them here for safe keeping. Your call. There’s no way Mikey can train you with them, but I can always give you some pointers if you’d like.” Sam didn’t realize how much her jaw dropped when she looked back up at Raph. “Did you just offer to help train me?” “Well, let’s put it this way. I don’t want you to get your butt kicked because you don’t know how to use the weapon you’re armed with. You know, since I DON’T hate you and all.” Sam playfully squinted her eyes and glared at him. “What are you saying about my technique?” “To put it bluntly, you’re a mess. You had some good moves, but overall your technique is sloppy.” Sam put her hands up in defense. “As much as I would love to disagree with you, I know you’re right. I haven’t fought with those for a couple of years now, so I could use a few refresher courses, you know, from someone who doesn’t hate me” she said as she turned toward Raph, aiming the comment directly at him.

Just then, Mikey walked back into the room, his smiling face instantly turning into one of concern as he saw Raph standing right next to Sam. “What’s going on?” Sam smiled at her best friend. “You’re leading me to the snacks that you don’t have hidden in your room.” “Right! Don’t follow me” he winked at her as he dashed back towards his room.

As Mikey headed towards his room, Sam looked over at Raph. “I’m gonna take a rain check on that refresher course, but let’s stay in touch Dauntless” she said with a smile as she walked away.

Once she was gone, Raph headed back up towards the hammocks. As he laid down and got comfy, he continued to wonder about her past. What had happened that her family was now scattered all over the country? He hoped that maybe now that he had opened up to her a bit, maybe she would slowly do the same, for safety reasons of course since it was important to know about the person who had appeared in not the most appealing of ways into their lives. As Raph thought back to the conversations he had recently had with the girl, he didn’t realize that he now had a small smile on his face as he drifted off to sleep.

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*Friday May 30th around 3:00p.m.*

Once school had gotten out, Sam went straight home to gather whatever she thought she would need when hanging out with Mikey and then headed straight for the sewers. The two talked for a while about their favorite games and shows and then not long after they decided to ride around the sewers on their skate boards. As the two rode around, Sam noticed a lot of empty spaces throughout the underground passage ways.

“Hey, how come you guys don’t take advantage of all these huge open spaces?” Sam asked as the two skated by another large open space about the size of two small houses. “Honestly, we just haven’t taken the time to really look around yet. After Shredder and his guys attacked us at our old home, we instantly started looking for a new home farther away from where our old one was. We stumbled upon this place, thought that it was large enough for anything we might need, and within a few days we were all set here. We haven’t really looked around anywhere else in the nearby sewer passage ways.” “Well, maybe you and I could start looking around, if you want to. If we find any spaces we like then we can decorate them the way we want to” Sam said with a smile. Mikey gave her a quizzical look. “And how exactly would we decorate them? What would we use these rooms for?” “Go Karts” Sam stated bluntly. Mikey laughed. “Where the heck are we going to get go karts?” “You guys realize what’s above this place, right? I mean you have to know what’s above the surface of where your new home is.” “…Uh, well, I know Donnie knows…and Leo knows…and everyone but me cared to find out…hehe.” Sam stared at him with wide eyes. “Seriously? Okay follow me.” “Where are we going?” “You need to see what’s above where you guys live, you’re going to freak out when you see what’s been above you guys this entire time!”

Sam led her friend to a manhole cover that would take them straight up to the location that was right above the turtle’s home. When she lifted the manhole cover, Mikey’s jaw dropped. “We’ve been living under an abandoned amusement park this whole time?!?!” “Heh, told you that you’d freak out” Sam replied, her hands on her hips. “And there’s a bunch of go karts right over there” she said as she pointed to a further away spot. Mikey ran as soon as he saw his friends hand go up. He inspected each of the go karts and then gave his friend a huge smile…and then began to frown. “These are awesome…but where would we put them. We can’t use them up here, we would easily be heard if we got them running.” Sam replied with a cheeky grin. “Oh I know just the place. Here we’ll leave the karts up here for now, I have another surprise. Follow me!” she shouted as she turned and ran goofily back towards the manhole cover. Mikey shook his head and smiled, wondering what else she was hiding near HIS home. He followed her until they were…back by the lair? “Um, Sam. You know where we are right?” She turned around with wide eyes. “Heck. Yeah!” “….so you know that’s the Hashi and the med wing behind us, right? As in we’re right by the lair.” “Yeah, but we’re not heading towards the lair, we’re heading here” she said as she pointed to the wall in front of her. “…we’re going to walk through a wall?” “See, right now this looks like a wall, but what you guys didn’t realize was that this section of the wall was hollow. Why you might ask? Because it wasn’t meant to just be part of the wall, but rather…,” she then pushed against the wall and a bunch of bricks came crashing down, falling into an open space within the wall, “…to be an opening.” Mikey stared at the open space. How had there been an entryway right by their home that they hadn’t even discovered yet? He took a step inside and slowly spun around as he observed the large open space. It seemed to be about half the size of their new lair. “Sam…how did you find out about this?” he said as he looked back at her with wide eyes. “The other day when I was sent to the Hashi, my legs felt like Jell-O afterwards and I needed the wall for support. As soon as I made my way out of the room, I quickly dived over to lean on this section of the wall, only to have it give out on me. I noticed there were some cracks in the wall, and I tried to push on it a little more. After a few minutes, this section of the wall caved in, and now boom! Here we are!” she said as she threw her arms up in excitement. “And this isn’t the end either, come here!” she said as she started jogging over towards the left side of that wall. At the end of that wall was yet another opening. This lead to another room that was about the same size as the first, but Sam continued jogging on. There was once again another entry way, and this lead to the biggest room of the three.

Mikey couldn’t believe his eyes. “This is what you were talking about, this is the space you want to turn into a go kart track?” He turned to her and saw her running her fingers across each other in excitement. “Ohhhh I have plans for all three of these rooms” she paused. “If...you’re okay with them that is” she said with a nervous smile. He smiled back and slowly swung his arm out in front of him like a servant. “Do share m’lady.” She chuckled. “The first one could be a sports room, the second could be a skate room, and then this would be for the go karts. Thoughts, suggestions?” Mikey shook his head. “That literally sounds amazing. We already have game rooms, t.v.’s, workout spaces, so those ideas all sound amazing for these large spaces…you purposefully wanted to skate around today just so you could show me all this, didn’t you?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about” Sam replied bashfully as she turned away, trying not to make it to obvious how much she had been wanting to show Mikey what she had discovered. He laughed as he put his arm around her. “Why don’t we head back to the lair and start making plans on how to decorate our new space?” “Sounds good to me, I just need to go to Donnie’s lab and get some blue print sheets.” Mikey paused. “Donnie allowed you to go into his lab?” “Yeah, he told me a little while ago that I could go in, I just have to let him know what I’m taking before I touch anything.” “Really?” “Do I need to say yes in another language?” she chuckled. “No, just curious. Now onward to the room of things I don’t understand to get some blue paper!”

Mikey would never admit it to anyone, but he was thrilled to hear that Donnie was finally giving his new friend a chance to be herself and get to know her rather than just push her away. He was proud of his older brother, and hoped that maybe he would become friends with Sam as well.

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*Much later that same day*

Donnie was sitting at the computers right outside where his lab was. “Foxes, a lion, an alligator…but then also household pets like a cat and a dog? Shredder, what are you up to?” Donnie was reading online articles about the robbery that had just happened the night before, trying to see if there was anything that would give away whatever plan Shredder was scheming. He couldn’t figure out why he would steal both vicious predators from the zoo while also stealing adorable animals from a pet store.

Just then, he saw something make a jolting movement in his lab and then heard heavy breathing. He looked over to see Sam breathing heavily, sweat running down the side of her lightly red face. Earlier Sam and Mikey were working on blue prints for who knows what, but after a while Mikey needed to move around some, so he kindly excused himself to go workout some with Raph, and by the time he had returned he discovered that Sam was fast asleep. With Donnie’s permission of course, Mikey moved Sam over to the small bed Donnie had in his laboratory and left her to sleep there. She had been sleeping peacefully earlier, but now her eyes were filled with terror from whatever had lead to her abrupt awakening.

Donnie quickly got up and rushed over to the girl who seemed to be having a hard time breathing. “Sam?” he said, snapping his fingers in front of her face, though this did nothing to change her condition. He then placed both his hands on the sides of her cheeks. “Sam? You okay?” Finally Sam’s breathing calmed down some as she stared in Donatello’s eyes. “What happened?” she asked. “Seriously? You’re the one who looks like they just saw a ghost.” She shrugged. “I guess you could say that.” He frowned at her. “Is everything alright?” He brought his hands back to his sides after realizing that they had still been holding her face. “I’m good, everything is good. I just have night terrors every so often. Heh, I thought I’d be able to hide that a little longer, but of course I have one the first time I fall asleep here.” “What was it about?” Sam sat quietly for a few seconds, not sure how to answer the question. “Just a typical dream where I’m falling and I wake up as soon as I’m about to hit the ground” she said with a playful smile. Donnie accepted her answer, but he had a feeling she was lying. He’d had dreams like that before and he didn’t wake up with terror in his eyes like Sam just had. “How long have you been having night terrors?” “Ummmm, since I was about eight? I want to say that’s about right.” “Do you have any idea as to what’s been causing them?” “Sorry Dr. Phil but I never really thought much about them. Usually when life got cheerier they began to go away, but even on my best days I’ve still had them. Sadly they just never go away.” Donnie could sense the pain in her voice as she spoke about her nightmares. He wished there was something he could do, but without her telling him the full truth, there was no way he could help his friend. “Friend?” he thought, “when did I start seeing her as a friend?” As he looked away, feeling a bit embarrassed and awkward because of the thought that just went through his head, he didn’t notice that Sam was looking all over the room. “Where did Mikey go? He isn’t back yet?” Donnie chuckled. “Mikey went to bed hours ago. He didn’t want to wake you, so he asked if he could let you sleep here.” “Oh, heh, sorry about that. I can leave if you want me to.” Donnie smiled as he shook his head. “Nah, I’m actually about to head to bed myself, so you can continue to sleep here if you’d like. You definitely have to spend the night here since its too late for you to head home alone, and this bed it way more comfortable than the couch.” Donnie was a bit shocked at seeing the huge smile that spread across the girl’s face. “Thanks Don, I owe you one. Hey throw me that stack of post it notes.” He stood up and reached for the pack and tossed them to her. “What are you writing down?” “How I’m going to pay you back.” “You don’t have to do that, it’s really no big-” “Well the way I’m going to pay you back is not big deal either” she said as she smiled and folded the note so that it would fit into her jacket pocket. Donnie smiled and put a hand on her shoulder as he turned to leave the lab. “Night Sam.” “Night Erudite” she said playfully as she turned over onto the bed.

Donnie walked back to his room around the corner from where the lab was. Maybe having this girl around wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.