#i have life-determining exams starting june 7 </3

[buglaur]

the pics from my new navigation page!!

[not-so-bored]

May has the potential to be the most intense month of my life so far!

But the next months will sure beat it!

My name is M. I use he/him pronouns. I am a half-time retail employee, full-time chaos, and a European. My goal is to study at a university in the Netherlands starting in September 2024, and I am doing everything necessary to achieve that. I am determined because if I fail, I will have to stay in my home country, which is something I’d rather avoid.

I love cats, Philosophy, Computer Science and silly little emojis. This sideblog takes the form of a progress log. Its purpose is to hold myself accountable. I don’t usually post photos. 

Nice to meet y’all! 

Semi-schedule, plans and goals 

Week 1 (1 May - 5 May): 📌 Take care of myself. ✔️ . 🥗 Eat regularly. ✔️ . ⏰ Sleep more than 8 hours per night. ✔️ . 🧠 Meditate for at least 10 minutes. ✔️ 🗒 Study. ✔️ 🏬 Work shifts: 2. ✔️✔️

Week 2 (7 May - 12 May): 📌 Take care of myself. ⭕️ . 🥗 Eat regularly. ⭕️ . ⏰ Sleep more than 8 hours per night. ❌ . 🧠 Meditate for at least 10 minutes. ✔️ 🧸 Relax. ⭕️ 🗒 Revise. ⭕️ 📝 Exams: 3. ✔️✔️✔️ 🏬 Work shifts: 2. ✔️✔️ 👔 Discuss my contract extension with my boss. ✔️ 👥 Hang out with people. ✔️ 📃 Prepare my scholarship application. ⭕️ 📃 Write a report on Computer Science Classes. ✔️ 📱 Wabi-Sabi Studyblr Challenge by ddaengstudies 🍵

Week 3 (13 May - 19 May): 📌 Take care of myself. ⭕️ . 🥗 Eat regularly. ✔️ . ⏰ Sleep more than 8 hours per night. ⭕️ . 🧠 Meditate for at least 10 minutes. ❌ 🗒 Study. ⭕ 📝 Exams: 3. ✔️✔️✔️ 🏬 Work shifts: 3. ✔️✔️✔️ 👔 Discuss my contract extension with my boss. ✔️ 👔 Send 50 job applications. ✔️ 🎟 Help with organization of an event. ✔️ 👥 Hang out with people. ⭕️ 📱 Post my April Achievements on Tumblr. ✔️ 📃 Apply for a scholarship. ❌ 🎟 Participate in an online event organized by the university. ✔️ 🍜 Try ramen. ✔️

Week 4 (20 May - 26 May): 📌 Take care of myself. ⭕️ . 🥗 Eat regularly. ✔️ . ⏰ Sleep more than 8 hours per night. ⭕️ . 🧠 Meditate for at least 10 minutes. ❌ 🧸 Relax. ⭕️ 📝 Exams: 2. ✔️✔️ 🏬 "Volunteer" for paid overtime. ✔️ 🏬 Work shifts: 3. ✔️✔️✔️ 👔 Send 50 job applications. ⭕️ 👔 Update my English CV. ❌ 👔 Create my Dutch CV. ✔️ 📃 Apply for a scholarship. ✔️ 👥 Hang out with people. ⭕️ ✍️ Edit my WiP. ❌ 📘 Learn Logic. ❌ 🇳🇱 Learn Dutch. ⭕️ 🪡 Finally finish my embroidery project. ✔️ 🚲 Go cycling. ❌

Week 5 (27 May - 31 May): 📌 Take care of myself. . 🥗 Eat regularly. ✔️ . ⏰ Sleep more than 8 hours per night. ❌ . 🧠 Meditate for at least 10 minutes. ❌ 🧸 Rest. ⭕️ 🏬 "Volunteer" for paid overtime. ✔️ 🏬 Work shifts: 3. ✔️✔️✔️ 🫡 Thank my coworkers. ✔️ 👔 Send 10 job applications. ⭕️ 👔 Attend a job interview. ✔️ 👔 Make a decision. ⭕️ 👔 Polish (haha) my Dutch CV. ⭕️ 🖨 Print my Dutch CV. ✔️ 👥 Hang out with people. ✔️ 🇳🇱 Learn Dutch. ⭕️ 🚲 Go cycling. ❌ 📋 Set goals for June. ⭕️ 🎒 Pack for a trip. ✔️ 🔜 Go on the trip, explore and meet new people. ✔️✔️✔️

[imperialmask]

Homeworld Bound: Afterthoughts A Very Late Notice

Hello guys, sorry for putting this out on a Wednesday, bad form ik but i'll explain why that is.

I've been hard at work on a lot of stuff lately, in fact i'd say it was a miracle i kept HWB running weekly for 7 weeks despite the amount of pressure i got from coursework, exams, other projects im working on, my physical and my mental health but it's all finally caught up with me. You may have noticed chapter 7 was shorter and ended weirdly, that's because i didn't spend nearly enough time working on it, wanted to end it a certain way but realised that it didn't lead into anything, atleast this is the reason for the weird cliffhanger i barely followed up on.

This leaves me in a really tight predicament for Chapter 8 which is THE chapter i've been ping ponging on for awhile, it keeps swapping between 3 different ideas for what should happen that i keep forgetting which one im going with in the moment. So i've decided to do something weird since i'll be honest, i don't have a fresh chapter to give you guys today. Instead, i'm going to do a sort of part 2 to Chapter 7, it'll still be Chapter 7 but just continuing off the last line.

This isn't the only reason why i've been struggling, like i mentioned before i've been extremely busy as of late since i had 2 bits of coursework and an exam all due in on the same day as Chapter 7 (June 5th), plus i've come down with something like a cold (not sure what it is) which has been sapping any energy i have to do work on HWB. After this week, i'll be free to do work on HWB but i wouldn't be shocked if i do take a break next Wednesday (and maybe the Wednesday after that) to recoop after the extreme amount of work i've done lately. Hey, maybe i'll blow off steam with a Lyrics chapter, who knows!

So yeah, all that complaining out the way, let's talk about the content of HWB. I'd love feedback if anyone out there has any, especially on whether i should focus on being descriptive or focus on action or focus on character. I'm not 100% sure on what's the right way to go here.

Something i do want to start doing is filling chapters with 2 stories like a TV show, swapping between the 2 for a more episodic feel every chapter. It makes little sense in this format until you realise HWB ultimate goal is to be a TV show at some point, this whole series is just a first draft. A bad one, i'll say that, but a first draft none the less.

We're almost out of the woods when it comes to this boring opening arc, i'm not the happiest camper with these chapters but they'll have to do i guess. We have only about 2 more chapters until the end of this small opening before we genuinely get into London Calling and that arc, that'll last for about another 10 chapters and then we get onto full on new content. Anyway, instead of a teaser, here's a synopsis of the next 4 chapters!

Homeworld Bound Chapter 8- Alien Vs Zombie The anticipated Mick and Gas Mask Fight has finally arrived. A duel to determine the leader of Gold Squad on looked by it's members, as Mick starts to pull out all the stops to guarantee a victory, Gas Mask must find a way to get around Mick's Manipulation. Can Mick stop Gas Mask's brutal onslaught of attacks or will Gas Mask fall to Mick's constant shifting around the battlegrounds? Lets find out!

Homeworld Bound Chapter 9- Your Worst Enemy Red, a nobleman and well respected hero of Salem, and his squad mate Minos, the deadliest marksman COG has to offer, set off to stop a squad of soldiers that have broken into Salem. Meanwhile, Mega begins his training with Kip, showing him how to do magic.

Homeworld Bound Chapter 10- London Calling: Absolute At a campaign rally for the upcoming election, an assassin attempts to take Jones life. Dan chases him in pursuit to find out where he comes from. At the same time, another squad of soldiers led by a dangerous Rogue break into Reverend Bay to free the original group that was captured.

Homeworld Bound Chapter 11- London Calling: Kings and Thrones Mick and Dan head to London to meet the new King of Britannica who supposedly has information about the assassin who attempted to kill Jones. While they're there, Leech and the Salem Watch's professional scout Kate search for their own clues.

Alright, see ya!

[writer-in-theory]

jay's summer of fics — criminal minds

look who's back with yet another chaotic project that literally no one asked for but i have for you anyway. i will be taking a few weeks off of posting fics in order to prep and everything, but when i come back on june 27, i will be posting one fic every single day until august 1. and, i will be prioritizing requests!!

schedule

june 27 - in love & purell (fluff, spencer/gn!reader) in which spencer learns someone has been paying more attention to him than he thought.

june 28 - places we won't walk (hurt/comfort, spencer/gn!reader) when memories of a past assault become too much, spencer is there.

june 29 - two little pink lines (angst with happy ending, spencer/fem!reader) when reader finds out they're about to start a family, spencer does not give the reaction she expects.

june 30 - tiny fingerprints on coffee pots (fluff, spencer&reid!reader) spencer's favorite part of the day is the mornings spent getting ready for the day with his daughter.

july 1 - a very important message (angst with happy ending, spencer/fem!reader) in which the caller behind spencer's frustrated shout was the woman he'd been meaning to go on a date with for weeks.

july 2 - here comes the first step (angst, emily/male!reader) emily never thought she'd have to say goodbye to you. but as her cover gets blown as lauren reynolds, there's nothing left to do.

july 3 - M&Ms and healing (hurt/comfort, gen fic) hotch misses the days when everyone had fun in the office. he's determined to bring that back.

july 4 - lost in the moment (hurt/comfort, spencer/gn!reader) spencer finally works up the courage to ask you out, but what he doesn't realize is you've taken your hearing aids out after getting overstimulated.

july 5 - white picket fence (angst no happy ending, spencer/gn!reader) when spencer asks you to marry him, neither of you thought this was how it would go.

july 6 - learn from the best (fluff, spencer&reid!reader) spencer's kid has a major exam coming up, and who better to help them prep than him?

july 7 - spencer reid to the produce department (hurt/comfort, spencer/gn!autistic!reader) you and spencer 'battle' over who has to brave the grocery store, and may find it's easier to tackle as a team.

july 8 - chicken noodle soup and bedtime stories (hurt/comfort, spencer&reid!reader) when spencer's daughter catches a cold, she's determined not to admit she's sick.

july 9 - unknown targets (angst with happy ending, spencer/fem!reader) the team gets a letter from scratch that includes an image of you and spencer's kids. the problem? they were supposed to be a secret to everyone but you.

july 10 - intermission

july 11 - unconditional love (hurt/comfort, spencer/fem!reader) you and spencer's daughter brings over her partner for family dinner. when they come out as nonbinary and admit their family hasn't been completely accepting, you and spencer are ready to show them the love and acceptance they always deserved.

july 12 - unnecessary risk (hurt/comfort, spencer/fem!reader) they knew it was bound to happen eventually, and yet the first time you get injured in the field, spencer was unprepared for how Not Okay he felt.

july 13 - puppy eyes (fluff, spencer/fem!reader) spencer had never considered having a pet before, but when you rescue a cat outside his apartment, how could he say no?

july 14 - something borrowed, something blue (hurt/comfort, spencer/nb!reader) it was meant to be the happiest day of their life, so how was it they were crying in their dressing room?

july 15 - baby steps part two: dry scones & sour icing (hurt/comfort, dad!spencer/mom!reader) spencer tries to find his place in his new family.

july 16 - run from it all part two: before i let you go (angst with happy ending, spencer/fem!reader) with the threat of a murder charge, spencer must help reader prove her theory that she’s being set up before it’s too late.

july 17 - the way i love(e) you part two: hear it in the silence (fluff, spencer/fem!reader) from childhood neighbors to college roommates, you realize what’s always been true.

july 18 - baby steps part three: dancing 'round the kitchen (hurt/comfort, dad!spencer/mom!reader) there may be happiness for the reids yet.

july 19 - run from it all part three: darling, let's run (angst with happy ending, spencer/fem!reader) as time is running out, spencer and reader have a choice to make.

july 20 - the way i love(d) you part three: so you could take it off (smut, spencer/fem!reader) when you get invited to a celebrity event, you’re determined to make spencer see what you’ve known for years.

july 21 - baby steps part four: you broke us (hurt/comfort, dad!spencer/mom!reader) the past catches up to spencer and reader, threatening everything they've so carefully built.

july 22 - run from it all part four: and don't say no (angst with happy ending, spencer/fem!reader) is it too late for spencer and reader?

july 23 - the way i love(d) you part four: this magic in the air (fluff, spencer/fem!reader) life with spencer is a fairytale written in the stars.

july 24 - baby steps part five: these baby steps (hurt/comfort, dad!spencer/mom!reader) you and spencer have to decide what is worth saving and what's better left to history.

july 25 - run from it all epilogue: note from the locket (angst with happy ending, spencer/fem!reader) the aftermath.

july 26 - the way i love(d) you part five: dropped your hand (angst, spencer/fem!reader) when spencer wants more with you, every lingering fear catches up to you all at once.

july 27 - baby steps epilogue (hurt/comfort, dad!spencer/mom!reader) months later, did you and spencer make the right choice?

july 28 - the way i love(d) you part six: back to december (angst, spencer/fem!reader) the first time you see spencer after that fateful night goes differently than you’d expected.

july 29 - the way i love(d) you part seven: we'd go back in time (hurt/comfort, spencer/fem!reader) with time to mourn what was lost, you and spencer remember where you started.

july 30 - the way i love(d) you part eight: still worship this love (smut, spencer/fem!reader) you and spencer find your way back to each other a million little times.

july 31 - the way i love(d) you part nine: tying you to me (fluff, spencer/fem!reader) and isn’t just so pretty to think, there was some invisible string…

[depressedacadamia]

The Anatomy of the Sun- Chapter I

Edit- This is the first chap in a Percy Jackson/ Greys anatomy AU as well as my first fic! It’s going to follow the Grey’s anatomy plot behind the patients and the romances will be loosely based off it. I hope you do enjoy it! It was inpsired by @buoyantsaturn and their fic ‘Into you like a train’. 

Summary: Dr Will Solace just transferred to the New York Presybetarian hospital to become their Head of Trauma. Dr Nico Di Angelo is a month fresh out of Med- school and is starting his internship at New York Presbytarian. Nico, excited to join his best friend and head of the neurology department- Percy Jackson, wants to prove that he is not just the legacy that his sister- Bianca Di Angelo, left. As the doctors battle to save lives, they also battle to save relationships- but some may say it's too late. 

Chapter I- Work Work

Nico could feel his chest pounding as he drove. It wasn’t a good kind of pounding, not that there ever really is, but a -my heart is beating so damn fast - kind of pounding. Today was his first day at New York Presbytarian Hospital as an actual doctor. A surgeon. An intern.

 He groaned as he remembered that he would basically be the servant of his bosses for the next year. He wished his sister was here- she’d tell him how awesome he’d be, all the cool parts of internship and how ‘the friends you make here are friends for life’. Nico wasn’t nervous about friends though- he had known the Head of Neuro, Percy Jackson, for almost his entire life. In fact, it had been Percy who inspired him to become a surgeon. Nico knew- As a surgeon, you either have what it takes to play or you don’t. Nico’s sister , Bianca, was one of the greats, Nico on the other hand was so screwed.

The first Nico noticed about the hospital was that it was very very bright. Maybe it wasn’t and Nico was panicking; it wouldn’t be so beyond him. He watched as several other cars pulled up with other newbies similar to himself. He noticed that some people had their own stethoscopes- would anybody notice that his was used? The stethoscope he wore had the initials B.D.A engraved into the side of the drum. Did it matter if someone noticed that his was old? He could easily afford a new one either way but he had wanted to wear his sister's one. He hoped it would bring him good luck because he had a good feeling that he was going to need it. 

He walked into the Hospital where he was directed to a cleared Operating Room for the new interns who were having their introduction. He passed a group of attendings, all of whom he vaguely recognised but he noticed one in particular with curly blond hair. Of all the years he had tagged along with Percy to hang out at the hospital, he had never seen that dude- Why haven’t I seen him before?

“Every one of you comes here today hopeful, wanting in the game. A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors- Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you- say hello to your competition. 8 of you will switch to an easier speciality. 5 of you will crack under the pressure, 2 of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line- This is your arena. How do you play? That's up to you,” A man with long brown hair and greying roots dramatically explained. Nico realised that this was the Chief of Surgery- Chiron! Nico was surprised to learn that he still worked here after all these years. He recalled Bianca talking about Chiron who had been her mentor. 

Nico looked around at what was his competition-  as he thought, he was so screwed.

As he made his way into the locker room, some faces became familiar. He recalled some of these faces- the people he had met at the mixer. Nico decided to focus on work and not making friends; if someone spoke to him, he’d reply but he was not initiating any conversations. He had diagnosed himself with the overall dislike of humanity. Just as he was contemplating wearing his white coat, ( he remembered Bianca telling him that everyone knows that the doctors with the cleanest coats are the newbies and he did not want people noticing) the girl to his left with cropped brown hair and a determined expression tapped him on the shoulder.

“You’re Nico right? Which resident have you got?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m Nico and I’ve got Chase. What about you?”

 “ Same. And it’s Meg.”

A guy from across the room turned around, excited to have something in common with others. His hair was short and blond but not the same colour as the new attending that Nico had noticed earlier. This guy's hair was almost a platinum kind of blond whereas the attending had golden hair- Like the colour of sunrise. 

“You’ve got her too? So did I- You’re Nico, Nico Di Angelo right? I’m Jason Grace- we met at the mixer. You made a bold impression; black, skinny ripped jeans,  Ramone T-shirt and skull rings despite the fact it was obviously a work event… Okay I’ll stop talking,” The man rushed out all at once.

“Grace, Mccaffrey, Di Angelo and June!” A voice called out into the locker room. Nico looked at what were supposed to be his future friends. If he was supposed to feel some sort of magical bond with them- he sure as hell was not. The girl in front (who Nico could only assume was Dr June) was almost hopping - okay, she’s a happy person,  Avoid her at all costs- he put in a mental reminder. Nico watched as she approached the Blonde woman at the desk. Nico almost face palmed- Her surname was Chase- this had to be Percy’s girlfriend that he had been telling him about over the phone a while ago. June started talking only to be cut off.

“I’m Juniper June but most people just call me-”  

“I have 5 rules, memorise them. Rule number 1- don’t bother sucking up, I already hate you, that's not gonna change. Trauma protocol, phone list and pagers-” Annabeth pointed to the desk behind her. There lay 4 pagers which all the interns, including Nico, scrambled forward to grab.

“-Nurses will page you, you answer every page at a run- you hear me? A run, Rule number 2- Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours. You’re interns, grunts, nobodies- bottom of the surgical food chain. You run labs, write orders, work every second night until you drop and don’t complain!” She called as she led them across the bridge and into the second section of the hospital. Nico, not being the tallest person, struggled slightly to keep up.  They walked into a dark room that seemed to have bunk beds with thin mattresses and flimsy unmade covers. 

“On call rooms- attendings hog them- sleep when you can, where you can, which brings me to Rule number 3. If I’m sleeping, don’t wake me unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number 4- the dying patient better not be dead when I get there. Not only will you have killed a person, you would have woken me up for no good reason. We clear?” 

Nico was clear but he also wasn’t. He doesn’t remember Bianca telling him any of these rules and he also didn’t recall hearing the 5th rule. Did she already say it when he wasn’t listening? He didn’t think so but he also didn’t want to look like an idiot. He decided to ask, if he was going to fail at this hospital, he might as well fail knowing everything there was to know.

“That's only 4 rules. You said there were 5.” Nico slid in between Meg and Dr Grace, his head only up to the bases of their necks. Just Nico said those words, he heard a beeping which he could only assume came from someone's pager. Annabeth immediately looked down, grabbing the pager she had tagged into her waist.

“Rule number 5- When I move, you move.”

Hour 1

Nico slipped on his gloves as he stood in the elevator with the other interns. The second he heard its ‘ping’ he rushed forward, eager to learn. The wind blasted into his eyes and immediately, Nico raised his hands to cover his face. His hair flopped about as the helicopter descended in front him. He raised his head slightly and saw the same golden haired attending that he had noticed earlier- Nico took a guess that he was the trauma surgeon. He followed Dr. Chase who ran forward and helped lift the stretcher out of the helicopter. Nico perked his ears up as he heard the trauma surgeon recite her history.

“Katie Bryce, 15 years old, female, new onset seizures- intermittent for the past week. IV lost en route- Started grand mal seizing as we descended,” He shouted over the loud roar of the engine. Crap, Grand mal seizures, really? God really thought lets give me a hard case. They rushed to get her inside and Nico was trying to not panic as he heard Dr. Chase command the staff like it was her own mini army.

 “Put her on her side. 10 Milligrams of diazepam. No, the white lead is on the right. Righty whitey, smoke over fire. Give her a large bore IV, Don’t let the blood hemolyze.”

A different doctor walked in, his hair was black and cut short. His skin was a creamy white and Nico recognised the second language under ‘Doctor Zhang’ on his white coat to be chinese. 

“Dr. Chase, what do we have?” He asked, flipping through her chart. 

“Right now, nothing.”

“Okay, let's shotgun her.” He raised his hands and took a step backwards, allowing for the interns to continue their treatment. 

“Okay, you heard the man. Shotgun means every test in the book- CT, CBC, Chem 7, Tox screen. Mccaffery- you’re running labs, Grace- patient work ups and Di Angelo- take her for a CT,” Dr. Chase ordered

“Um, Dr. Chase, I think you forgot me,” Juniper piped up meekly. Annabeth turned around and gave her a firm look before telling her,

“Honey, you’re doing rectal exams.”

Nico couldn’t tell if he should laugh at the poor intern or console her. 

Each intern was busy. Extraordinarily busy. Nico did not expect the line for the CT machine to be so long. This was the best hospital in all of New York! You’d think they would be much faster but no, here Nico was with his patient who he had recently learnt, loved to talk… about herself.

“I’m missing my pageant,” Kaite whined.

“You’re missing your pageant?” Nico had to physically restrain himself from snorting. So that's what non- doctors  and people with normal lives did. Things like going to pageants.

“Yeah! And I was super excited because the judges were getting to the talents for the pageant- Mine is rhythmic gymnastics. I sprained my ankle and fell when I was training but now I was soo ready but then...” she threw her arms up slightly signifying everything around them and Nico understood- she had a seizure which stopped her from competing.

 “Katie Bryce’s labs came out clear, nothing in the results that would explain her seizures,” Meg informed Dr. Chase who was currently peeking her head out of a surgery. Dr. Chase nodded and was about to return to assisting on the procedure when Meg started talking again

“I heard that the attending picks the most promising intern on the first to perform a minor procedure.”

Dr. Chase looked anything but impressed.

“Go away,” she deadpanned as she closed the door in Meg’s face and returned to her surgery.

“It’s just what I heard!” Meg mumbled exasperatedly as she left the scrub room.

Hour 7

The cafeteria was full. One would think the hospital cafeteria would be stocked with healthy foods but in reality it was quite the opposite. It was stacked with a bunch of doctors telling you to eat healthy food as they stuffed their faces with pizza. The seating arrangements weren’t much different from a high school. You sit with who you know and avoid the ones in charge. Meg, Jason, Juniper and a group of other interns were all grouped together not too far away from the group of attendings and 3 residents. 

 “You know Nico is inbred.” Meg popped the fact onto the other interns. 

“Like it’s uncommon to be related to a doctor, my sister is Dr Thalia Grace.”Jason pointed his thumb to the girl with jet back hair and array of ear piercings who was currently smiling wickedly. 

“No like royally inbred, his sister is Bianca Di Angelo,” Meg insisted. 

“Shut up! The Bianca Di Angelo?” Juniper joined in.

“Who is Bianca Di Angelo?” Jason, as clueless as ever, asked. The entire table exploded into whispers and gasps.

“Where do you live, under a rock? The angel method? Where do you think that came from?”

“She’s a living legend!”

“She’s won 2 harper Averies!”

“Talk about familial pressure.”

“Um, incoming Nico Di Angelo,” Jason tried to speak over the food in his mouth unsuccessfully. Luckily, the other interns looked in the direction of him and shut their mouths up in time. Nico, with his 3rd cup of coffee that day slumped into a chair and slammed his head onto the table.

“Katie Bryce is a pain in my ass. If I hadn’t taken the hippocratic oath, I’d kevorkian her with my bare hands,” Nico groaned. Juniper, eager to get his mind off an annoying patient chirped in,

“I heard Chase and Jackson were dating- A resident and an attending!”

“They are,” Nico confirmed as the interns stole glances at the attending and the resident together, surprised that Dr. Chase had the ability to laugh or smile.

“Who wants to go for an attending? Bet ya none of you can,” Meg poked fun at them.

“I bet ya I could do Solace, he’s new apparently,” Nico hummed as he peacefully sipped his coffee, closing his eyes to enjoy the smell that drifted into his nose.

“Meg, you wanna go for Valdez?” Juniper curiously poked.      

“Nah, he’s only a resident and besides- He’s totally making eyes at Calypso. Letting a resident try to get into an attending pants is way more fun. I wanna see him fall into a hole.”

All of the interns stopped and turned to Meg, a slightly horrified look growing on their faces.

“Okay, now that Satan has stopped talking, who wants to put down their bets?” Jason beamed as Meg sneaked a quick punch to arm which had him cowering for a bit longer than necessary. The interns were all mucking about until a new voice joined the conversation.

“Hey! I just transferred to Chase’s service, I don’t really know anyon-”

“-Hazel?”  Nico’s confused voice echoed and his eyes shot open at the recognition of the soft voice.  

 “Nico?”  Hazel raised an eyebrow. They had both agreed to go to work in separate hospitals to limit family drama.  Ever since they had found out they were related, the family tensions had been higher than ever. Nico had assumed Hazel would go to a different hospital and leave New York Presbyterian for him and it seems Hazel had assumed the same vice versa.        

“You two know each other?” A voice, recognised as Meg, called out. 

“I’m Doctor Hazel Levesque. Newest Surgical intern under Dr Chase.” She reached out and gave her hand to Meg who shook it firmly. She gave another hand shake to Jason and a nod to Nico- both of them had ignored Meg’s question.  

“Final call, who’s going in?” Jason reminded them. 

“Me- Solace is new, hot, probably clueless and he’s the new Head attending in trauma.” Nico slammed his hand onto the table, indicating he was all in. It was easy, right? Seduce him and then manipulate. It couldn’t be too hard. 

Around 2 tables away from the interns, the attendings and residents were chatting away. Will, who had only recently joined the hospital, was still getting used to the way people behaved here. Everyone was so much more nice than he had expected. He remembered how people warned him about New York folks but in all honesty, Will would say that he was having a pretty good time, especially if the Di Angelo intern stayed in his eyeline-

“-Solace is eyeing the interns!” Percy’s excited voice cut into Will’s thoughts. Horrified, Will managed to sputter out,

“I am not eyeing the interns!”

“I like the newbie, she seems nice- better than the rest at least,”Frank mumbled about Hazel as he sipped at his hot tea. Piper to his left admitted,

“Blond one’s hot.”     

“That blond one is my brother,” Thalia grunted.

“Why doesn’t anyone call me hot?” Leo pouted as he rolled up the other sleeve of his shirt calling the attention of Calypso’s eyes. 

I’d totally call you hot , She thought.

She only glanced once.. Maybe twice… okay she was staring at him. But ever since Leo had become a resident, she kept on thinking they had to potential to become what.. Well, what Annabeth and Percy had become. Sure, she had rejected all his previous advances but she didn’t want to. She just didn’t think the timing was right- She was very aware that simply telling him the timing wasn’t right was a much more mature thing to do than acting bratty every time he spoke to her.

“Valdez, go make sure none of the pre-surgery kids aren’t sneaking pudding. There’s always bound to be one.” Dr Reyna Ramirez batted her hand towards her resident who gave her a mock salute before walking off. Calypso, unaware that everyone was watching, had her eyes glued to Leo.

 “Calypso is totally checking out Valdez- Mother Hen Reyna watch out- Calypso is after your chicks,” Percy snickered making a joke to the fact that Leo was Reyna’s resident- before Piper smacked him on the back of the head indicating a Shut it, hypocrite.

“No I’m not!” Calypso insisted, whipping her head, that only moments ago was glued to Leo’s ass. She ducked her head and sided next to Piper and Will.

“Calypso eyeing Leo is old news, please make sure you keep yourself updated,” Annabeth proclaimed, her head resting against Percy while his arm was snaked around her waist.    

“I will tell you what’s new then, Solace watching Nico like he’s fresh meat. That’s my bro that you’re checking out man.”     

 “I am NOT checking out Di Angelo!”  

 “Zhang, who are you picking for the procedure?” Annabeth curiously asked and also slightly eager to move away from the current topic. In all honesty, Annabeth expected Frank to choose Di Angelo- He was clearly the most promising and most experienced if one could even call an intern that. Annabeth knew that Percy and Nico had practically grown up together and besides he was a Di Angelo- Surely if his sister could cut, so could he.

“I’m gonna go with Grace.”

“He is not ready for that. Not to be a terrible sibling but he gets flustered a tad easily,” Thalia butted in, trying to protect her brother. She loved him but Jason was a tad sensitive and rustling his feathers was almost too easy.

“Torture one and the rest will fall in line,” Frank admitted half heartedly. He didn’t want to Pick on Jason- he seemed like a great kid, But he also didn’t want to have to have a bunch of misbehaving interns who had egos too big for the hospital because nobody ever put them in line. 

“Are you sure about Grace though?” Annabeth pushed, her voice slightly uneasy. Percy, who noticed this, squeezed her waist gently as a gesture of comfort, affection even. Percy was watching Nico’s table. The interns seemed to be having fun, no one was picking on Nico which was the most important thing and he figured soon the interns would realise Nico’s infamy- of being a Di Angelo of course. What he totally didn’t expect however, was Nico to get out of his chair and casually stroll over towards the group of attendings and residents. 

Nico honestly did not know what he was thinking. Was he being bold? Absolutely. Was he acting on impulse? Most obviously. Was he regretting every step towards them? Definitely. 

He saw Percy’s eyes widen ever so slightly before his face rested into a comforting, genuine smile- something Nico truly appreciated. If Percy was acting nice, the rest of the group were bound to follow his lead, right? Nico shuffled past 2 of the attendings, reaching behind them to gain access to the coffee machine.

Will didn’t know how to react. Did interns normally come and hang out with attendings here? He had no idea. Percy looked as if he knew Nico all his life and he did tell him earlier; That's my bro you’re checking out man. Were they actually related? Or did they just know each other for a long time? By now, all the attendings were settled at their own tables and Piper had unfortunately been rushed off for emergency surgery on one of her patients, leaving Will to sit by himself at a table. That was until Nico was standing by one of the chairs.

Nico took a deep breath and stood by the chair at Will’s almost empty table. It had taken Will a couple of seconds to notice that there was someone even at his table before he almost jolted backwards, alarmed by the shadow that had appeared on his table. Immediately, out of politeness, he gestured towards a seat.

“Do you wanna take a seat?” He offered politely. He watched as the intern hesitated. He could see how nervous he seemed and for a minute he really pitied him- It was no doubt stressful to be the brother of a famous surgeon, especially a Di Angelo.

“Are you sure? I mean, aren't you an attending, ya know, my boss and-”

“-Calm down, it's just a seat,” Will cut off Nico’s rambling and offered the man a seat. Gingerly Nico took it and looked down at his coffee. 

Nico did not think making Dr Solace treat him so nicely was going to be so easy. All he had to do was give a shy look away and blabber a bit and the next thing he knew, Dr. Solace had his hand on top of Nico’s and was shuffling his chair closer to his. Nico realised it was now or never- he had to start sending the right message. 

 “I’ve always found trauma interesting- ya know? Never knowing what's going to come into those doors. Percy used to tell me how much he hated it,” Nico laughed gently, making sure he accidentally  brushed his leg against Dr Solace’s.

“Trauma? Really? Lucky for you, I just so happen to be the new attending on that.”

“I think I’m much more lucky than you think I am, if you catch my draft,” Nico mummuered, smirking slightly, his eyes dropping to Will's lips causing Will to finally get what he meant. Will, slightly flustered by Nico’s onset attitude, flushed pink slightly. He was flattered greatly that someone as good looking as Nico found him attractive but he didn’t want to cause commotion or draw so much attention to himself  so early either. He wasn’t gonna lie, he totally was into Nico but Will knew that he could be putting Nico’s job at risk, not to mention his own. But it wasn’t as if Nico was using him- Nico seemed too innocent for that and besides- he was a Di Angelo, people respected him and the holy ground he walked on.

“If all goes well in your first surgery, feel free to send that draft out again.” Will winked as he got up and threw away the remains of his terrible lunch before heading to the table with the remaining attendings.

“Impress him with your loving, then impress him with your healing,” Will heard Percy whisper, which earned Percy a punch in the arm from Piper, a dirty look from Annabeth and snort from Frank. Will, slightly sick of Percy’s teasing, stormed off to the department at the entrance of the hospital which all the staff here called ‘The Pit’ for some reason. Percy, as clueless as ever was trying to remain a straight face and Frank was struggling to keep on being the mature one.

Hour 10

Nico was adequately proud of himself- he didn't flirt with people often ( mainly because normally it was people flirting with him) but he couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t slightly nervous when he was walking towards the room of Katie Bryce and saw a man and woman at the desk- Nico presumed they were married due to the wedding rings they wore.

 “Katie Bryce, Room 3604?” Nico asked the couple. They nodded eagerly and the 3 adults had a quick conversation where Nico informed them that he wasn’t Katies actual doctor, but still was a doctor, and that he would go and find said doctor. Nico, who didn’t actually know who Katie’s doctor was now, had to verbally tell himself to not panic and he managed to figure out that he should ask Dr. Chase (he prayed she wasn’t sleeping). Luckily, Dr Chase was charting at the nurses station and when she heard his meek footsteps approaching, her head snapped up and she raised an eyebrow.

“Katie Bryce’s parents want to speak with the head on the case. Shall I page Dr. Zhang?” 

“Dr Zhang? No, this patient belongs to Neuro now- Dr Jackson, he’s right around the corner.” Annabeth flicked her pen towards her boyfriend who was speaking to two other attendings- who Nico recognised to be Dr Mclean and Dr Ramirez. He waved over to Percy who smiled and dismissed the two doctors before making his way over to Nico and throwing his arm around Nico’s shoulders while ruffling his hair. Nico did not allow the gesture from anyone but felt comforted by it from Percy.

“Percy!”  Nico almost squealed as Percy rubbed his knuckles into Nico’s head keeping him in a loose headlock.

“Death! I haven’t seen you in ages! How has it been?” Percy smiled as he began walking them towards the hallway. Nico cringed slightly from the nickname. Death was not something you want to be called at a hospital, especially if you were a doctor.

“Oh you know, Chase is tough but she knows what she’s doing.”

“She better, she learnt from the best,” Percy said proudly, pointing towards himself. Nico took this as an opportunity to lower Percy’s ego and asked

“Chiron?”

“You smug little-” Percy was cut off by Nico’s shrieks and protests to stop as Percy tickled him. Was it evil of Percy to tickle Nico? Perhaps, especially since he knew that Nico was one of the most ticklish people to ever exist.

Hour 15

Interns filtered into the viewing box above the operating room- they were all excited to watch one of them perform the first surgery. Jason, however, was terrified. He was muttering the basics of the procedure again and again as the crowd filtered in above him. If he made one mistake, everyone would see it, everyone would know and he would become the intern who couldn’t cut.

“Open, identify, ligate, remove, irrigate, close. Open, identify, ligate, remove, irrigate, close,” he muttered continuously, his eyes scrunched shut in fear.

Meanwhile, in the overhead viewing box, interns started placing bets. Sure, everyone was excited that an intern was assisting but they were also bitter. It would be a lie to tell you that no one in that room had thought that they should be down there operating room instead of Dr Grace. As Nico came in, he was slightly surprised to hear people making bets- sure, Jason had taken the surgery from them but betting? Was that really necessary? Especially since they were betting on his demise rather than him succeeding.

“30 dollars if he can’t open the peritoneum.”

“35 if he faints, he seems like a fainter.”

“40 says he kills the guy.”

“50 says he pulls off the whole thing,” Nico, who was sick of hearing the interns bet, cut in, “That's one of us in there- where’s your loyalty?”  Nico had grown up with a loyal best friend- Percy- so if he valued anything in a person it was loyalty. He watched as poor Jason moved his lips, mumbling the procedure. He really hoped Jason didn’t butcher this- he had kind of put his trust in him over here. Jason turned to the nurses as they performed the time- out- reciting the patient's name, sex and other vital information such as the actual surgery- an appendectomy . 

“Scalpel,” Jason ordered his hand reaching towards the nurse. As soon as it made contact with Jason’s hand, the interns went wild. The interns were cheering, clapping and whistling. It was official, Jason was the first intern to pick up a scalpel on a live patient. Even Nico joined in on the cheering, leaning back slightly in his seat and clapping- that was until Dr Zhang turned towards the interns and mimicked silence. The interns understood- Dr Grace does not need distractions. 

“That Zhang is trouble,” Hazel muttered, biting her lip gently. Nico, trying to resist a smirk, leaned over and whispered,

“Hazel’s got a crush.”  

Hazel, as chill as ever (sarcasm intended), pinched Nico’s arm making him flinch, pout and then rub gently at his slightly reddened flesh. Jason was trying to concentrate- he had never thought that one would have to apply so much pressure to cut into human flesh so of course, he hesitated a bit. However, once he was through, he started to find it a bit easier.

“Pickups…. Clamps,” he ordered.

“Dammit, he got through the peritoneum, I’m out,” the intern who betted on Jason admitted defeat as Jason continued.

“Scalpel….. And Appendix is out!”

Despite Dr Zhang's previous warnings, the interns went wild. Jason did it, he actually did it. Nico could see all the interns freaking out and while he was truly happy for Jason, he knew that he hadn’t finished. He had to close and celebrating too early may jinx him. Dr Zhang, who didn’t mind the interns celebrating, began to instruct Jason on his remaining steps.

“Now all you have to is insert the stump into the cecum and simultaneously pull the up on the purse strings, but be careful not to-” Frank was cut of by the distinct sound of sutures snapping- a sound which caused the silence of everyone and echoed 

“- Break them,” Frank finished his sentence, sighing. He wouldn’t lie and say that he didn’t expect this but he hoped that the intern would fix his mistake quickly. He watched as Jason struggled nervously. Jason himself didn’t even know what he had just done- all he could replay in his head was the snapping sound and the feeling of the suture breaking. The loss of tension in his hand as he accidently pulled too hard. Out of all the useful knowledge he had, it was that recent memory that just kept on replaying in Jason’s head.

“You’ve just ripped the cecum, you’ve got yourself a bleeder! What do you do now?” Dr Zhang tried to encourage him but it was no use. Nico watched as Jason froze.

Damn it Jason come on! Alas, Nico couldn’t help but think, Jason was like a deer in headlights- Bambi. Jason didn’t know how to react- what did he do now? He hadn’t considered the possibility if the sutures snapped. 

“Think- You stop the suctions and start searching for those purse strings before he bleeds to death,” Dr Zhang instructed, his voice the only clear thing in the room other than the drastic beeping coming from the monitor. Nico could feel everybody in the room holding their breath- this moment was either going to make or break Jason.

“Give him a clamp,” Dr Zhang ordered.

“BP’s dropping,” a nurse warned. The interns watched with anxiety for their fellow intern- Jason was frozen, his hands stuck mid-air. 

“BP is getting too low.”   

Finally Dr Zhang had to make a decision and he held his hand out to the nurses,  

“Move. Suction and Clamps.”  

The interns all groaned, throwing their heads back or burying their heads between their hands. Money was passed around and Nico could only feel pity for the blond boy who looked like bambi in the operating room. As interns began to leave, people began to whisper.

“He’s a 007.”   

“Yeah! Totally a 007.”

“What’s 007?” Juniper looked around, slightly confused. Nico, morbid as ever, kept his eyes trained on the surgeon operating as he told Juniper.

“License to kill.”

Hour 19

Jason sat in a wheelchair (that he most likely did not want to know where it had been) as he rolled the wheels back and forth complaining. He still couldn’t believe that he had frozen up like that. Not only that but he knew what the consequences of it was now. 

“Everyone is calling me 007,” He complained, still embarrassed from his poor performance. Nico and Meg- both of whom were sick of his whining- answered at the same time.

“No one is calling you 007.”

“Really? A dude in the elevator whispered 007 and everyone started laughing!”

“007 is a state of mind,” Hazel called out as she waited by the old vending machine. It waited a bit too long for Hazel’s patience and thus she gave it a light kick to keep it going.

“Says the girl who finished first in her class at Stanford,” Jason retorted, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. Nico was enjoying this mindless banter, it was the first break he had in a while and it was relaxing to be able to not have to think critically for once. Of course, because fate hated Nico in particular, Nico’s pager beeped causing him to groan and accidentally bang his head as he pulled out his pager, causing his eyes to widen.

“Ah, fuck. Someone is paging me 911 on Katie Bryce, gotta go!” 

Nico hopped off the spare stretcher he was on and practically ran towards the stairs desperate to get the patient's room. As Nico left, he let out a small snort of laughter for he heard Jason mumble,

“I should have gone into geriatrics- nobody minds when you kill an old person.”

Nico gasped for air as he walked into room 3604 and saw a perfectly healthy and fine Kate Bryce. What the hell? Did she lose the ability to talk? Because that wasn’t a 911, that was a thank the gods. He looked around for any crash cart or indicator that there was actually anything wrong with her.

“There’s nothing wrong with you?” He panted, feeling his anger bubble up. Katie simply shrugged, twirling her platinum blond hair that looked dyed. 

“I’m bored.” 

Nico gasped and face palmed- he just could not with this girl! Would giving her an early death count as breaking the hippocratic oath? Man, he really wanted to punch Hippocrates- making doctors swear a damn oath on Apollo! 

“This is a hospital, people are dying, people who actually require a doctor's help! Go to sleep,” Nico explained, his voice raising slightly due to the interruption of his very calming break- he considered hearing Jason complain better than any sort of time spent with this patient. Katie, however, did not want to comply with what was being asked of her.

“I can’t sleep, my heads all full!” Katie whined slightly, throwing her head back softly against the propped up pillows. 

“That's called thinking, go with it, maybe you’ll learn something new.”

Hour 21

 Annabeth was happy right now. In this moment as she and Percy lay snuggled up against each other cuddling in the on call rooms, Annabeth was happy. She had to catch up on her sleep and Percy was a neurosurgeon- his surgeries were tiring and required him to be well rested (something that never happened either way) for him to perform at his best ability. She could hear Percy’s heart thumping under her ear as she lay with her head on his chest and one of her legs thrown on top of his. The sound and vibrations were comforting, relaxing, easing her to sleep- she was happy.

Juniper did not feel so happy right now. She was standing at the nurses station staring at the on - call room that she knew Dr Chase to be in. As she stood by the nurses station, a nurse leaning on the desk asked her what she wanted. 

“Mr Anderson has chunky veins, he needs antibiotics and I should start a central line,” Juniper admitted, looking away. The nurse, not even glancing up from his chart simply told her,

“Then start one…” 

Juniper's silence told him what he needed to know.

“...And you don’t know how to. You know what that means.” The nurse nodded his head towards the on call room where Dr Chase resided. Juniper had to physically restrain herself to stop herself from shivering. She was about to break Rule 3. She peeked her head into the dark on call room where she initially thought she was about to accidentally become scarred for life. However, what she saw surprised her. Dr Chase was soundfully asleep next to Dr Jackson. Their arms were intertwined with each other and Dr Jackson had one arm wrapped around Dr Chase’s waist. They looked so peaceful, Juniper was so tempted to walk out and just let Mr Anderson get a nice trip to the morgue but she didn’t want to end up being called something like 007. She took a deep breath.   

“Dr chase, I don’t mean to bother you-”

“-Then don’t,” Annabeth snapped. She did not want to leave Percy, he was so warm and she wanted her damned sleep.

“It’s Mr Anderson,” Juniper started explaining.

“Is he dying?”

“No.” 

“Then stop talking to me.” Annabeth rolled over so that her back was towards Juniper. Juniper cleared her throat slightly which caused Percy to jerk his arm. Annabeth huffed, clearly agitated. 

“Next time you wake me, he better be so close to dead, there’s a tag on his toe.”

Hour 23

Nico was walking towards Katye Bryce’s room once again to check in on her. Hopefully, she had taken his advice and was soundly asleep by now. Yet, as Nico approached her room, he saw nurses running in and out of it- Nico picked up his pace until it was a run as he got into the room. Immediately, the nurses briefed him on what was going on.

“She’s having multiple Grand Mal seizures, now, how do you want to proceed? Dr Di Angelo, are you listening? We’ve given her diazepam, 2 milligrams of  Lorazepam- we just gave a second dose- Dr Di Angelo, you need to tell us what you want us to do!”

Nico was frozen. What in the name of Hades had happened while he was gone? He began to filter his thoughts-find out what's in her system and proceed from there. 

“You gave her lorazepam?” he asked.

“Yep, 4 milligrams.”      

“You’ve paged Chase and Jackson?”  He pushed.    

“Lorazepam isn’t working!”

“Phenobarbital, 2 milligrams,” He blurted, remembering the drug from a chemistry quiz he had gotten completely correct due to Bianca’s old notes.       

“Heart’s stopped!” a nurse called out. Nico’s brain called out Code Blue, Code Blue! But his mouth could not move. What was he doing? He normally acted on immediately in emergency situations- they were practically his reflexes. He had to focus. He closed his eyes for a second.

Focus Nico, focus- this girl is literally dead. 

His eyes snapped open- he was still panicking but now that he had a second to think, he had a vague idea of what to do.

“Okay, start compressions- grab the crash cart. Charge the pads to 200.” Nico turned his head towards the nurse operating the charge value on the defibrillator.  

“Clear!”

Katie Bryce’s jolted upwards, but her heart did not return to normal. The nurse opposite to Nico continued compressions on her body while the other nurse held an ambu bag to her face, squeezing it every 5 seconds to provide air for her lungs. 

“Still V-Fib, no change,” the nurse commented. 

“Charge to 300.”

“27 seconds since the heart stopped,” another Nurse informed.

 “Charge to 360, C’mon Katie. Clear!” Nico waited to see if her heart would react.

“ Okay, restarting compressions,” He ordered as he tried to think of the next step in running a code.

“49 seconds since the heart stopped.”

“Charge again, Clear!”

Everyone in the room waited anxiously as the monitor returned to beeping normally. 

“Sinus Rhythm.”

A collective sigh of relief was let out as people started filtering out.

 at the hell happened?” Percy asked as he speed walked into the room. He couldn’t help feeling a bit useless as he found his patient that was dying only seconds ago, alive and well- only it wasn’t him who had saved her, it was Dr Di Angelo.

“She had a seizure and her heart stopped,” Nico explained, sighing gently now that Percy was here. 

“You were supposed to be monitoring her.” Percy turned around to face Nico. Nico was not expecting the accusatory tone- sure he wasn’t expecting clap on the back either but a Oh hey for keeping her alive while I took ages to show up would have been nice. Nico had known Percy all his life but despite that, he had never seen such a cold, turned off side of him. Was this how doctors or surgeons did their jobs? Become cold to everyone around them? Nico tried to explain himself- the key word there being tried.

“I-”

“-Just go, I’ve got her now.” Dr Jackson batted his hand and Nico was dismissed. Nico felt dismissed. Was this the life of an intern? Being blamed for every small inconvenience so the attendings can feel less guilt on their backs? Nico didn’t do anything wrong- he followed protocol, just as he had been told. He ran the code and continually paged Dr Chase and Dr Jackson. Them not showing up was the issue here, not him. He had saved her life. Not them.

Nico’s mind felt dead. He was 23 hours into a 48 hour shift and already, he was feeling the pressure. Too much pressure- was there a point to this? Was there a point to any of this? Nico dragged his feet across the floor, trying to find the exit.

“When you get a 911, you page me immediately. If someone dies, it’s on my ass. You hear me? Di Angelo?” Dr Chase raised an eyebrow at the intern who practically ignored them as they walked to the exit door, ignoring everything around them. The interns, Jason and Hazel both noticed his abnormally pale face and dazed expression. Hazel, being the concerned sister she was, followed Nico as he started to gain speed towards the exit.

“Nico, are you okay?”She reached her arm out but Nico made no notice of her. He could feel his stomach become more and more uneasy. He leant against a pole with one hand and quickly threw up his lunch. He placed both of his hands on his thighs, remaining hunched over and trying to catch his breath. As he walked back towards the hospital, intending to go and wash his mouth out, he caught Hazel walking towards him with concern drawn all over her face.

“If you ever tell anyone…” Nico trailed off as he walked past her, entering the hospital again.

Hour 26

“You said it was a seizure disorder, now you’re saying it isn’t?” Mr Bryce, Katie’s father, asked with slight confusion. He stood by his wife's side, both his hands on his hips in a confrontive manner. 

“I’m saying that I don’t know. For now, I don’t have an answer for you. Now that Katie is stable-” Dr Jackson started explaining only to be cut off by the father.

“-We came here because this hospital is supposed to be the best in New York. That's my kid in there and you have the audacity to stand here and say I don’t know. I want someone else , a doctor that knows what they’re doing. A doctor better than you!”

“Mr Bryce, I can assure you that I’m working hard on Katie’s case-” Dr Jackson tried to keep himself calm. He was working hard but sometimes the body did things that science couldn’t explain. He was a doctor, a surgeon, not god. 

“- No, you’re not. If you were, you’d be able to give me some answers.”

Percy decided to leave the couple before he said something to them that he’d regret.

Dr Zhang was a calm, collected and highly skillful surgeon. He knew what he was doing as he explained the surgery to Mr Savitch.

“I put you on the bypass machine, which pumps blood for your heart, fix your ticker, take you off the machine- I’m done. Simple procedure.”

His wife -who was clutching her husband's hand so tightly her knuckles were turning white- asked Dr Zhang with a slightly relieved voice,

“So I have no reason to worry?”

“I’m very good at what I do but it’s still surgery- there are still some risks. I’ll see you in the Operating Room this afternoon Mr Savitch.” Frank waved his hand goodbye to the couple and left while Dr Grace stayed behind to reassure the patient.

“Dr Zhang is very good, you’ll be fine,” Jason confirmed.

“He’ll be fine right?” Mrs Savitch urged again, wanting a guarantee. Her eyes screamed Tell me my husband will live. Jason could not understand how she was feeling but he sympathised for her. He wanted to help her, he reminded him of his mother, a woman who worried often. 

“Tony’s gonna sail through it- You have nothing to worry about Gloria - I promise.”

Hour 30

Nico had no idea why he was here- in fact, he had no idea why any of the interns were here. They had all been called to the briefing room for a conference yet at no point had he been informed what exactly it was about. He glanced to his right to see Hazel holding sutures with a banana laying on her lap.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m suturing a banana with the vain hope that it wakes up my brain,” Hazel drawled her hand raising up to tighten the perfectly spaced sutures together- something Nico too had the talent for. Their heads both shot up as Dr Jackson, with Dr Chase beside him, walked in. Dr Solace also walked in, catching Nico’s eye as he leaned with his back on the door frame. 

“I’m gonna do something pretty rare for a surgeon. I’m gonna ask interns for help. Katie Bryce right now is a mystery- she isn't responding to medication. All the tests are clean but she’s having seizures, Grand mal seizures and we don’t know why. I need you to help me out,” all the interns sighed as Percy explained this. 

“I know you’re tired, I know you’re busy which is why I’m gonna give you an incentive. Whoever finds the answer rides with me. Katie needs surgery- you get to do what no intern does. You get to scrub in to assist on an advanced procedure. Annabeth- I mean- Dr Chase will hand out the chart- The clock is ticking people. Let’s save a life,” Percy weakly smiled as he saw the eager interns scrambling for the files and gave Nico a wink as he left the room. Nico had to look down at his shoes to not blush- his crush on Percy had subsided years ago but what are you meant to do when people wink at you? 

Will decided to tag along to the intern conference being held by Dr Jackson- he’d get a chance to see the interns working under incredible amounts of pressure and have a look at potential residents to take under his wing as trauma residents. At least, that's what he told himself. In reality, he had wanted to see the Italian doctor who had the guts to flirt with him and then invite him to bed. Was Will offended? Of course! Did this intern think he was that easy? While Will told himself that wasn’t easy, a small part of his subconscious told him that him showing up to the intern conference for one gorgeous man proved otherwise.

As Nico left the conference room, Hazel jogged to catch up with him- though Nico didn’t know why she was jogging, she had much longer legs than him.

“Hey, I want in on Jackson’s surgery- you've been the intern on her case since the start- you want to work together? If we find the answer, we have a 50/50 chance of scrubbing in ,” She offered. 

“Sure, but I want in on the surgery.” Nico shrugged.

“So do I.”

“May the best surgeon scrub in,” Nico held out his hand for Hazel to shake. The game was on. 

The locker room was full of several other interns- all of whom were re-reading Katie’s chart as if their lives depended on it. Hazel and Nico were hunched together by their lockers- which were co-incidentally placed next to each other. There were 6 empty cups of coffee- 4 were Hazels and 2 were Nico’s. Rainbow sweet strips, Nico’s pick of course, were also present- Hazel had to beg Nico for a pack as he had 3 to himself. Nico was so used to staying up for unnecessarily long hours that he didn’t need as much caffeine to keep himself acting like a live human being, unlike his sister.

“So she doesn't have anoxia, chronic renal failure or acidosis. It’s not a tumor because the CT was clean,” Hazel confirmed.

“What about infection?” Nico suggested as he savagely bit into a rainbow gummy strip, ripping it away from his face causing sugar sprinkles to fly everywhere. Hazel shot him a look as she brushed them off her scrubs.

“No , there’s no white count, she has no C.T lesions, no fevers, nothing in her spinal tap.”

“What about an aneurysm?” 

“No blood on the C.T, no headaches, no drug use, no pregnancy, no trauma. Nico, what if this girl dies?”

“This is gonna sound really bad but I really wanted that surgery,” Nico confessed before continuing, “Her pageant talent is rhythmic gymnastics. What even is rhythmic gymnastics? I can’t even say it properly, I don’t know what it is!” 

“Oh come on, they have pageant talents?” Hazel started snorting with laughter with Nico joining only a mere matter of seconds later.  Rhythmic gymnastics- a totally odd and dangerous pageant talent. Why not go with knitting, there’s a less chance of falling. 

A less chance of falling. 

Nico’s brain raced- something about that was relevant- vital even. Why did that sound so important?

 Nico shot up, grabbing his sister by the arm. He thought he knew what was wrong with Katie.   

“Get up, come on. Come on!” Nico whisper- shouted as he grabbed Hazel who asked him what the hell he was on about. He told her about Katie’s fall during practise for rhythmic gymnastics when she had sprained her ankle- the chance of a small aneurysm to form.

“The only thing that she would possibly need is an angiogram,” Hazel realised as they both rushed out to find Dr Jackson. They found him in the elevator ,alone, and just as the door started closing, Hazel stuck her hand in the way of the door. Immediately she started talking.

“She has no headaches, no neck pain, her C.T is clean- there’s no medical proof of an aneurysm but what if she has one anyway?”

“How?” Percy questioned, slightly confused.

 “You see she twisted her ankle and fell. Just a bump on her head. It was so minor that her primary care doctor didn’t think to mention it in her history but there's a chance, right, Perce?” Nico almost begged, using the childhood nickname he used to call Percy, that he used to call his best friend. That is what he was doing at that moment- asking for his best friend to listen, not Dr Jackson.

“You know there’s a one in a million chance of that, literally,” Percy sighed, shaking his head. The siblings hung their heads as the situations settled- their diagnosis was getting shut down or so they thought it was. The lift opened and there stood Percy smiling. He waved his hands, signalling them to follow him. 

“Let's go find out if Katie is one in a million.”

Hazel and Nico were both silent as they waited in the cath lab- this was it for them. Either they become a pair of fools and Nico would tarnish the Di Angelo name or they get to be the first interns out of their year to assist on an advanced procedure. Percy stood with his arms folded, his black hair tousled and his jaw muscle ticking like crazy- Nico could also see that he was stressed although who for, Nico could not tell. 

“I’ll be damned. It's minor but it’s there- a subarachnoid hemorrhage. She’s bleeding into her brain,” Percy gasped slightly as he pointed his pen to the small black blobs on the screen. As they left the Cath Lab, Hazel and Nico were ready. They wanted to know who was getting the surgery- sure, they had agreed that the best surgeon would win but secretly, they had both hoped that they’d both be able to scrub it. 

“Uh, Dr Jackson, you said that the intern who brought the diagnosis would be able to scrub in,” Hazel gently reminded, her eyes hopeful and full of yearning.

“Unfortunately, I can’t have you both so Nico, you’re scrubbing in.”

Nico was over the moon- His first surgery was going to be with Percy and he was going to assist! However Hazel both looked and felt distraught. She knew she should feel more happy for her brother but she couldn’t help but feel a slight sliver of jealousy that he had only been chosen because Nico and Percy were childhood friends. As Nico turned around to apologise for her, he saw that she had already left without him.

Hour 34

Jason was in the scrub room waiting for Dr Zhang to finish up the surgery on Mr Savitch. Was he nervous? Of course, but he was also confident in Dr Zhang's skills as a surgeon. He was sipping a soda while charting, leaning with his back to the operating room- he didn’t want to get distracted by the surgery happening behind him. The door swung open with a Whack and Dr Zhang walked in, looking dejected. 

“That was quick, wow!” Jason said admirably- he knew Dr Zhang was good, but he didn’t think he could complete a surgery like that so fast!

“He didn’t make it. His heart had too much damage to get him off bypass- I had to let him go. It’s rare but it happens. It’s the worst part of the game,” Frank confessed as he washed his hands and splashed water onto his face, making him feel slightly more alive. Unlike Jason who swore his extremities went numb. 

This couldn’t be, right? Surely this was a prank- everyone would play a prank on him, he was the 007! He would walk into the operating room and see the nurses preparing to move him back to the ICU for post surgery care. Yes, yes that’s what this was- a whole prank. Dr Zhang was probably punishing him for almost killing a person in surgery and this was his equivalent of karma. Despite the idea, when Jason turned around, he regretted everything he saw. There was blood on the floor,the patient was still wide open, the heart monitor which was still attached to the patient showed no sign of cardiac activity. Jason could feel a lump in his throat, a lump that he just couldn’t swallow. Hos throat was dry and there were tears pricking at the corner of his eyes as he attempted to speak.

“B..but I told his wife Gloria that he would be fine- I promised her tha-”

“You what? The only person who can give a promise like that is God and I haven’t seen him holding a scalpel lately. You never promise a patient's family a good outcome!”Frank, in a rare moment of no self control, lashed out. Jason, who realised his mistake, decided to leave Dr Zhang to mourn what he considered his failure and inform the family of their greatest loss.

Frank slumped over the sink in the scrub room, rubbing at his head. He had never failed something so simple, how did he not foresee this? His fists clenched and relaxed as his mind went over the events of the surgery- he had never felt so much like a failure in his life as he did in this moment right now. 

As Jason approached the family, he could see their cheerful, happy faces, completely unaware of the soul- crashing news that he was about to bring them. Gloria ,who noticed him on instinct, immediately smiled wider- she thought she was going to go see her husband now. His kids had no idea what was about to happen to their lives. Jason still had the lump in his throat that was only getting bigger. He had to swallow several times which was a struggle because of his dry throat. 

“How is he?” Gloria rushed her words out and it seemed she seemed more excited than nervous. Jason swallowed heavily before starting.

 “Gloria, there were complications regarding your husband's surgery. Tony’s heart had a lot of damage. We tried to take him off bypass but- there wasn’t anything we could have done.”

Jason’s hands wrung back and forth as he struggled to keep his eyes from watering. He could feel them stinging as he fought back the tears of his betrayal

Gloria’s face scrunched up before slowly falling. Jason could see how her face slowly morphed from one of pure happiness to one of panic and distraught but Jason could also see the hope in her eyes.

“What are you talking about?” Gloria’s voice broke slightly, her lip curling.

“Tony died. He’s dead… Gloria, I am so sorry.” Jason reached out to comfort her, his hand reaching to stroke her back only for Gloria to completely flinch away from his touch. Betrayal illustrated her face and Jason couldn’t bear to continue looking her in the eye.

“Please, go away.” 

Jason had undergone a lot of tough, painful situations to become a doctor and yet, this is what broke him.

Hour 40

Percy was shaving Katie’s head, watching the blond tufts of hair fall off her face. Nico walked in, smirking as he leant against the door. On noticing Nico’s presence, he began to whisper, 

“I promised to give her a cool haircut. Apparently it’s a scandal to be a bald beauty queen.”

“Ah, well, I would totally pull it off..” Nico reached towards his hair and pushed it back slightly. Percy laughed slightly and nodded in agreement before they fell into a comfortable silence- the only sound being the buzzing from the electric razor. Nico watched Percy with admiration in eyes and Percy would look up at him every once in a while with a genuine smile that made his eyes crease.

Will was watching Percy and Nico hanging out in room 3604, an odd feeling of spite towards Percy starting to form. He didn’t know why- Percy had always been a good friend to him, helping him earn the respect of his peers. He watched as Nico watched Percy and suddenly felt the urge to accept Nico’s offer. 

“I do hope that you aren’t staring at Di Angelo,” Leo walking up behind him commented dryly. 

“Lover boy, you can’t really talk. Last time I checked, you seemed to be physically unable to keep your eyes off Calypso,” Will muttered in response. Leo gasped in mock offense before laughing. 

“Awww, are you two sharing ‘we are going to single forever’ moment?” Piper cooed. Will grunted slightly - while Piper defended Will in public she totally teased him when there weren’t as many people and as for her and Leo- well they had known each other since they were teenagers. 

“I’d like to escape the single lot, thank you for the offer though, pipes,” Frank sighed as he joined the group of them. His mood was still down due to losing his patient- he couldn’t help feel overwhelming guilt for not saving a patient with such an easy procedure. 

Percy came out of the room, chatting away with Nico before he spotted the group of attendings who were all staring at them. He raised an eyebrow at all of them, especially since they weren’t trying to be subtle in any way.

“Yall, get back to work.”

The operating room was a tad warm. Or maybe that was Nico sweating due to his nervous nature. He couldn’t afford to screw up here, he had made it so far in only a few hours and had worked hard. Dr Jackson walked in with his trident and sea print scrub cap on his head before he looked around the room.

“All right everybody. Are we ready? Okay, Scalpel,” He held his hand out as he ordered a scalpel into his hand. Nico who was on his tip- toes to see what was going on for he was not sure if he could come any closer- neurosurgeons were scary people sometimes. Percy, who was ecstatic and in a great mood, gestured for Nico to come closer. 

“Nico, come take a look. Your sister would absolutely love this,” Percy gushed and for once, Nico completely agreed as he looked at a live human brain.

Hour 48

It was finally time to head out. Nico was relieved- his eyeliner ,which was perfectly done the morning he came in, needed re-applying and he wanted to put his heeled boots back on. He was sick of everyone being taller than him. He was in the locker room after finishing the surgery and quickly he changed. He felt much better once he was back in his own clothes. Black ripped jeans, fingerless gloves, Ramone t-shirt and his beloved heeled boots.  He stood in the mirror finishing off his eyeliner as Hazel walked in.

“We don’t have to do the thing where I say something and then you do and then somebody cries and then there’s a moment-” she started

“Yuck,” Nico cut in. Hazel smiled ever so slightly but Nico noticed it, causing him to attempt to repress a smile. The key word there being attempt. 

 “Good.”

Nico was looking for Percy- he wanted to thank him for the amazing surgery and for picking him to scrub in. He was about to enter the on call room that he assumed Percy to be in when he accidentally walked into someone. That someone just so happened to be Dr Solace. Except he was shirtless.

Why the fuck was he shirtless? Is there someone in there with him? Oh my god, was I hitting on a straight dude?

“Ah, sorry about that. I was changing when I realised my clean clothes were in my locker,” Will confessed sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. But Nico wasn’t really paying attention to anything that came out his mouth but rather his lips. Wait, why was he shirtless again? Nico had an internal panic for about 2 seconds before he pulled himself together and remembered his objective around Dr Solace.

“If  I’m correct Solace, that surgery went very well,” Nico smirked. 

If your first surgery goes well, then feel free to send that draft out again.

Nice one Nico, you got this.

Will opened his mouth, slightly in shock that Nico had still remembered that by now- sure it was 41 hours ago but most interns just wanted to sleep  by now. But This was a Di Angelo he was talking about- surgery ran in their blood.

“Well congratulations. I caught the draft. What are you going to do about it, Di Aneglo?” Will challenged quite confidently, Nico’s surname rolling off his tongue.  Nico started walking towards him, backing him into the oncall room. The second they were both in there, Nico’s hand reached behind him and locked the door with a flick of his wrist. 

“Copy me,” Nico told Will. He raised one of his arms and then the other, watching as Will copied, slightly confused by the random motion. He then put both his hands together above his head and the second Will copied, Nico pinned Will’s hands above his head with a single hand and smiled wickedly. Will, adequately impressed, leaned his head forward to kiss Nico who obliged.

Explosions. 

That's what Nico felt. He wasn’t expecting Will to be such a good kisser. The kiss was soft at first, their breath dancing across each other's lips but became more heated as Will tried to shift his hands out of Nico’s reach. Nico, being stubborn as he was, refused.  Will bit Nico’s lip gingerly, teasing him as he pulled his lip back slightly between his teeth- the second Nico groaned gently, Will used all the momentum he had to flip them and press Nico against the door, holding one of his wrists in his hand. He reached to grab the other and hold it above Nico’s head as their lips smashed. When Will finally pulled back for air, he started making light butterfly kisses onto Nico’s jawline, making his way down to Nico’s neck. He gently sank his teeth and lightly sucked on the flesh there, making Nico throw his head back and let out a light moan. 

Nico decided that he could thank Percy for the surgery later.

Hazel was waiting for Nico. She was outside the hospital and was watching as all the other interns were leaving and finally he arrived. His clothes were a mess- crumpled, his t- shirt was completely inside out and there was a bruise on his neck.  Hazel had no idea what had happened and honestly, she didn’t want to. Nico waved to her, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it.

“Finally! Gosh, we need to go if you want to get there on time!” Hazel fussed.

 Annabeth and Percy were holding hands as they chatted away with Piper and Reyna- their faces all in an animated conversation despite being awake for 48 hours. 

“And then I totally clipped that aneurysm,” Percy boasted, swinging Annabeth's hand up in the air with his. 

Frank was meant to be paying attention to the conversation he was supposed to be having with Leo- who was excitedly talking about the life saving surgery that he did with Calypso as the Peds and OB department had to team up for that case. However, Frank was actually looking at Hazel as he started telling off Nico for the smoking near a hospital. 

“It was a really cool case- the mother was teen in the third trimester which meant Peds had to work with OB. The baby had a tight nuchal cord so the delivery had to be performed by C- section so we could safely clamp and cut off the umbilical cord,” Leo ranted.

Thalia was rustling the blond hair of her younger brother as they got into a car, talking about their days. 

“Who cares, 007 was totally badass!” Thalia told her brother as she started the car. Piper waved goodbye to Percy, Annabeth and Reyna, and leaned against one of stumps while she waited for Will. When Will finally arrived, his hair was an absolute mess and he had a few buttons of his shirt undone which gave view for a bruise blooming on his collarbone. Piper decided not to make much comment of it as they both started walking away. Will turned his head to see Nico one more time, only to see him laughing and kissing the head of a girl with dark skin and beautiful curly hair. Terror and unease immediately set within him. 

Did I just help him cheat on his girlfriend? 

Will decided to push the thought to the back of his mind as he left the hospital.

Nico was stalling. He knew it and so did Hazel. She had pulled up at the nursing home but he was still drumming his fingers on his lap as he sat in the car. After 10 minutes of pure silence, Nico got out of the car, the only sound made being the soft closing of the car door. He walked up the steps before entering the home. It was well lit, elegant and classy- he knew if Bianca was lucid that she’d love it here. He walked towards the window seat, knowing that she always loved to sit there. He took a gentle seat next to her, waiting for her to  notice him  nearby. When she finally acknowledged him, she looked at him and up and down, slightly confused.

“Are you the doctor?”Bianca asked, her eyes wide.

“No, I’m not your doctor but I am a doctor,” Nico attempted a smile but it failed with corners of his lips falling slightly. Biance wrung her hands back and forth, fidgeting with them subconsciously. The nails that used to be flawless were now chipped and bitten at.

 “What's your name?”she turned her head towards him, tilting it slightly as she looked her brother in the eye.

“It’s me, sis. It’s Nico,” He said half heartedly, his voice cracking as his eyes followed hers, trying to somehow get to her lucid mind. He saw her eyes. He saw her how they looked at him, how she didn’t recognise him. Her eyes, they weren’t the same golden brown that gleamed, they were glossy- as if there were clouds covering the clear sky.

“I think I used to be a doctor,” Bianca mused as she continued to rub her hands aggressively. Nico reached out to stop her, hoping she wouldn't flinch or become aggressive. He held her hand in his, enveloping his hand over hers and she accepted the gesture. Just for a second, Nico could see his sister again. 

“You were a doctor. You were a surgeon.”

[luvdsc]

hey!! it’s 🧋 anon!! i hope you’re doing well! thank you!! ive got 11 more exams this coming week so i’m a lil 🥲 and then 3 more maybe the week after? exactly! i was so paranoid in the exam like “am i suddenly smart or a grade a idiot?” but it’s comforting to know that others feel the same about tests in general 😅. i’m learning python! i know there are better languages but ehhhh it’s just high school sjdnndn. and thank you about my bias choice sjsjndn. oh no not the 10th floor 😭 i’ve heard horror stories 🤧 i just can’t get over how sweet, funny and gentle he seemed in the jolly interview 🥺. thank you!! for letting me claim 🧋! and i wish i could say the same about not knowing that it was released but i’ve legit been checking since pre-quarantine for a boba emoji bc emojipedia said it would be coming out 😭 i had to start claiming it soon bc i’m NOT letting someone take it from me 😠 (but also! look how cute these are: 🦤🦭🐻‍❄️🐈‍⬛ ). as for my regular boba order, i’m still a lil new to the boba world bc i first (finally) tried it like 2 weeks before quarantine 😭. so everytime i go to this boba place (which is hardly ever for obvious reasons) i try to get something different! bc it all seems so cool!! the place i go to has popping bubbles in different flavours! so i always try to get a different drink with different popping bubbles and regular boba. i think my favourite so far is any drink (maybe mango?) with apple popping bubbles and boba!! but i’ve also been making boba at home for agessss and i usually just make regular tea or green tea with it! 💗

awww 😭 thank you ma’am sksndjdj. i mean, you do give off very motherly energy so i’ll happily accept being a baby 🥺 awww you think my accent is cute? ms cat i’m blushing 😭🥺 oof yeah the exams are not fun™️. but like you said, it does kinda prepare us for them more but the stresssssss is 🥲😭 okay so i’ll answer these in order if that’s okay?

do you still have class going on in between these exams? i assume you mean specifically when we have exams? so unfortunately yeah😭 it depends on the teacher as to wether they’ll let us revise in lesson or if we have to do regular work

do the gcse’s determine your college field of study afterwards? kinda? i mean, colleges have a minimum enterance requrement for courses. although it varies course to course, it’s usually somewhere around the 4-5 (high c-low b) mark. but you can do any course you want at college as long as you have passes in most subjects (usually an emphasis on core subjects (english, maths and science)). (so like, if you didn’t do history in high school, but you wanted to do it in college, then you could do the course as long as you meet the courses’ gcse grade requirements).

is college different from uni? yeah! college is for 2 years and straight after high school. in england you legally have to be in education until you’re 18, so all education is free until then, meaning that college is free! (unless you want to go back to do something else later in life). uni is after college and is optional. that’s where you get things like a bachelor’s, masters and doctoral degree. usually it’s for 3 years although it can vary and you have to pay! we have a student loan system too!

don’t worry about the questions! i enjoy the differences too sjdbbdd. and oooo! here, high school is 11-16/year 7-11, then college is (usually) 16-18/year 12-13 (although we don’t tend to refer to them by years) and uni is (usually) 19-22! (although you tend to go back to that for higher qualifications).

ansnsekndj i’m sorry ms cat 😭 and for me college will start in september of next year! we finish year 11 really early compared to the other years (usually we finish in july (my birthday month!!) but in year 11 we finish the day our last exam happens! which is usually around the end of may to the start of june!) so the holiday is the longest we’ll ever have 😭. that’s one of the reasons i envy americans because the summer breaks are SO long 😭 here, they’re 6 weeks sksndn.

i hope i answered all of your questions ms cat! ily! 🐈‍⬛💗~🧋

hi, lovebug!!! 💓 i’m going to put my answers under the cut since they got pretty long 🤧

i’m doing good!! i got soo much sleep over the weekend and am well rested, so this means tomorrow’s 6 am meeting won’t be too bad 🤧 YOU HAVE ELEVEN EXAMS THIS WEEK???? what on earth 😭 that’s like 2 per day and one day has 3 aksjlhflajkdfaskdjf why don’t they spread them out??? and three more the following week 💀💀 this sounds absolutely brutal, i’m so sorry, lovebug. have you been studying for all of them? LOL yeah, i feel like something is wrong if i can just breeze through a test akjdlhsflask python is a good start and easy to understand! honestly, most codes are pretty similar tbh, so once you get a good grasp of one, it’s easy to learn the other ones :’) do you enjoy cs? 💕 aldskjfaslk yeah, jaehyun does seem like the perfect boyfriend, doesn’t he? 🤧💘 LOL i heard there would be a boba emoji, but i didn’t know if it was true or not, but woooo it’s good to know it’s finally here!! 🥳 and omg the dodo bird and seal emojis 🥺💗 those are all sooo cute!!! aslhfdlkjasd first time trying boba, i just gasped out loud 😦 i’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed it once you tried it though! 💜 omg the popping bubbles are really yummy! and i LOVE mango!!! 🤩 that’s one of my favorite fruits :’) same with apple!! omg you’re making boba at home asdjhfas i’m so jealous 🤧 i haven’t had any boba ever since quarantine started in march 😭 aaaah i loooove green tea and black tea ones :’) have you tried the cheese boba tea before? i thought it wasn’t going to be that good, but i was pleasantly surprised with the taste, like it wasn’t that bad actually. cloud tea is also really nice, too ☁️💞

akjashdlfkja you are the absolute cutest omg 🥺💖 the british accent is sooo nice like wow, you can just be reading me your grocery lists and i’m like 🤩 amazing, perfect, wonderful, never been done before. meanwhile, i’m here with some kind of american valley girl accent LOL 🤧 you shouldn’t be having that much stress at 15 what the heck 😭 i wish they would cut down on the number of exams for you because having 11 in one week is not okay at all ): and oh my goodness, thank you sooo much for giving me such thorough answers to all my questions, honey bee 🥺💛💛✨

ah, we also have classes going on during exams too, so i can relate unfortunately. it really sucks when the teachers continue to teach new material, instead of helping you prepare for the big exams /:

ooo i see!! i think it’s really cool that colleges actually show minimum requirements for acceptance. here, there’s no set criteria at all, so it’s kind of a shot in the dark. they do post the averages of past students’ grades/scores and whatnot, so we have a vague idea of what each school wants, but some schools are weird af, like my friend with a lower gpa and less extracurriculars got into stanford university, meanwhile my one friend who won essentially the youth’s version of the nobel prize and was even acknowledged by obama during his presidency was waitlisted 😬

oh wow, i wish it was like that here :o education is so expensive in the US, like student debt is the norm. do you still have general education classes in college, or is this where you can choose a specific field of study? and university is only 3 years oh my gosh wow, only three years of tuition to pay!! the US could never /: it’s like 70k/year for private universities, 5k-15k/year for public schools in state, and 15k-35k/year for public schools if you’re out of state 💀

the words “college” and “university” are pretty much interchangeable here in the US, so that’s really cool to know! years 6-8 / ages 11-13 (i think that’s the age range?) is considered middle school here, so it’s interesting to see that some of those years are considered high school for you :o

ooo ok, that’s when my school years ended too back in high school! i ended in may and started school again in august. but in uni, i started in september and ended mid june :’) ah yes, our summers are around 2-3 months, and i really miss having that now that i’m out of school 😭 only 6 weeks??? that’s so short omg i’m so sorry ): do you have anything fun planned for your summer? also, do you have prom there? 💕

thank you soooo so much, sweetpea, you answered all of my questions so nicely, and i appreciate you so much 💝💝 ily too, and i hope you have a good week ahead, angel!!! 💖🌷

[sunnysideofsaturn]

2019, oh how you’ve destroyed me.

basically i’ve seen a ton of posts like this, especially by one of my best interweb pals (lookin at you, C @hey-im-pan ) and it’s inspired me to make one of my own! i journal a LOT but it’ll be interesting to try and sum everything up in little synopsis.

*side note: i struggle with anxiety, depression, insomnia, and ocd, so those and their effects may be mentioned. be cautious. This also doesn’t include a lot of the more personal instances, so don’t take it as an accurate representation of what it is like living with these issues*

January:

Honestly, not much happened. I went on a college visit trip with a few of my friends to my dream school, which was stressful but informative, and my anxiety attacks were far and in-between. Sleep schedule was wack (has been since 7th grade), but i was functioning. Dysphoria (i’m nonbinary, but hadn’t really even come out to myself then) was pretty high this month in particular for some reason, so i finally started trying to convince my mom to let me cut my hair off. (I had like 2.5 feet it was a mess)

February:

Finally came out to one of my close friends as pan, kinda accidentally but she was chill with it :) My grandma had a weeklong sickness that scared the shit out of me, but she got better for the time being. I was constantly pushing myself academically and physically at practice, but my grades were taking a bit of a nosedive because i didn’t have the capacity to deal with everything, but i bottled it up because i hate feeling weak. I continued to explore my sexuality, and started to research the gender spectrum.

March:

School and Crew (rowing sport) were the only things on my mind at all times. I started having more anxiety attacks again, and decided it was time to talk to my doctor about going back on meds after 3 years off them. IB was kicking my ass, but i’m so grateful for all of my teammates for giving me an escape on the water. Started to accept I was non-binary.

April:

A month full of good vibes i really needed. Got my drivers license on 4/20. I hiked my grades up with the help of extra credit, held a “wedding” in a Dillard’s try-on section, and spent a few days of spring break at the beach with two friends. I finally cut my hair off!! That feeling was literally incredible and i try to get a haircut every other month to actually keep up with it now. Saw endgame, died inside, and competed in an art show! I was doing really well, so I went off my meds again (don’t do that without a doctors permission like me).

May:

BAdddd time to be off meds, anxiety and depression were dropping my health and IB finals kicked my ass and the class i had been most excited about taking had become my worst at this point, but I got through the exams without missing any. Went to Jr. Prom though! We actually used going to Jr. Prom as a coverup to throw a surprise birthday party for my best friend. I still have no idea how she didn’t figure it out. I also started talking to one of my internet buds, Rosie. She’s helped me through so much she doesn’t even know about, and it such a beaut inside and out <3

June:

MADE IT TO PRIDE MONTH!! I finished my actual finals with minimal panic attacks, and join a Parkner discord! That was short lived, but from it was born… The What the Actual Fuck Fam, whom i love dearly. You guys still crack me up, and i know i’ll always have people to fall back on ( or help me commit murder.) Turned 17 and watched Monty Python (again.) Was forced into not one, but tWo bible camps, but also went to my first pride in my city! I have never felt so loved by so many people i don’t know :)

July:

Depression hit me HarD. I was constantly in a bad mood and taking it out on other people and myself, and I was losing even more sleep. Went back on meds for a bit. I got to see Far From Home, but pretty much isolated myself from anyone in my real life. July is always hard for me to get though for some reason. On a happier note, I started talking to @winterrs-child , who I now love dearly and @exbrodokills , which started out by exchanging memes but i think we can now call a friendship :D

August:

More depression, yayyyy, but Rosie and my irl friends helped me through it so much, even if they didn’t know it was happening. I finally came out to my parents and grandma as pan. They honestly took it pretty well, even if my grandma thinks it’s a ‘phase’. Also came out to C, B, and T as non-binary. Ya’ll were the first people I told after a YEAR omg <3 developed a huge celebrity crush on a cosplayer i won’t name even though they’ll never see this :’) Also fell back into the kiribaku pit after finally stabilizing my Parkner obsession. Also, joined a sapphic server which is basically a big gay support group :) (thanks to Rosie)

September:

Started my senior year of high school. So far, it’s pretty much been one big panic attack but i’m managing. I’m a mentor on the crew team this year and have adopted pretty much every underclassmen on the team. I love them all equally (except for my favorites) Cut my hair even shorter! I love it! Got back into writing poetry and short stories after an intense writer’s and reader’s block that lasted for almost a year. Went off my meds again (I should stop doing that, ik) Went to a Harry Potter fest, which was great, but started building up major anxiety for planning the rest of my life.

October:

SPOOP MONTH. October is my favorite month, so I was determined to make it good. Went on a couple more college tours, but also celebrated fall and halloween with my favorite people. Came reallllly close to stabbing my IB Bio teacher, but he’s survived, so far. Cosplayer mentioned earlier followed me on insta, cue gay panic. i also accidentally created a huge cuddle pile of 30 girls on my team in the captain’s backyard. It was as amazing as it sounds :0 Applied for 6 colleges

November:

CAVETOWN omg. I was also murdered with a bent hammer (don’t ask) and my mental health was pretty stable. I joined yet another server created by the cosplayer, and have made so many friends through it, plus gained a new dad figure :). Contemplated buying a binder on black friday, didn’t and deeply regret it (planing on getting one with the christmas money i get from my homophobic grandfather we pretend doesn’t exist) Discovered the goodness of Baby Yoda. Did pretty much no spanish homework. Solid 7/10

December:

Honestly, school wise december has been the most stressful month of this year so far, and the 2nd worst depressive episode. I’ve written 6 essays and done 5 projects this month and that was not a good time for the already low seratonin levels. i got waitlisted for the school i mentioned earlier, but was accepted into the other 5 :) I got to see an Of Monsters and Men concert, and I’m trying to push thorough til break, but my grandma has been getting sick more and more frequently over this year and now she’s been in a lot of pain for over two weeks and in and out of emergency care 6 times. Just hoping to make it to 2020 with everyone in tact and healthy :) I’m doing a secret santa with my friends im looking forward to. My friends have been amazing support through all of this mess, even if ii didn’t tell you about it, and i love you all!!

special mentions:

@donnaschaunamanon

@dawdlzdoodles

@harleykeenerprotectionsquad

@bumbblebeeeeee

@lykkesw

@chai-studying

@hey-im-pan

@pumpkinparkner

@everyone’s users i don’t know/remember

[kat-feinated]

Living with anxiety

It took hitting my personal mental health rock bottom to realize that I needed help. I’ve always been an anxious person with perfectionist tendencies-I remember being five years old and my mom teasing me for being such a “worry wart”. In high school, I studied 24/7 and missed out on social opportunities because I was obsessed with getting good grades and getting into college. I was able to chill out a little in college and grad school, which were honestly less academically rigorous than my high school experience. Both college and grad school also had a ton of built-in structure, and I thrive on structure. It wasn’t until I finished school once and for all that I experienced my first panic attack and had to change a lot of things about myself and the way I was caring for my mental health.

Besides being outside of the safety net of academia for the first time, I also received news about a week after graduation that the job I had been offered (as a therapist for a private practice) was no longer being offered, not due to anything I had done but because the owner had decided to close down his practice after decades of serving the Denver Metro area. I had spent months and months writing cover letters, tweaking my resume, and interviewing for jobs in Colorado-I even had flown out from Iowa for this job interview. Suddenly, I had to start over from scratch. It was June at this point, and I was supposed to move to Denver at the end of the summer.

I was also devastated because at the time this job had seemed so perfect for me. I had just completed a year-long internship at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital doing therapy and medical social work for children with developmental/intellectual disabilities and their families. This new job would be working as a therapist for children with these same disabilities. It seemed like the perfect fit.

I moved home to California for the summer. Even though Joshua had a job in Denver already and offered numerous times to support both of us until I could find a job in my field, I felt uncomfortable about that. I had never relied on anyone financially except for my parents, and we had never even lived together despite having dated the past 3 years.

So I moved home to my mom’s place and started over with the grueling process of applying for jobs. It’s so true what they say-finding your first job out of school is the hardest. And, because of my perfectionist tendencies I was determined that my job needed to be a “good fit” for me. In retrospect I know that there’s no such thing as a perfect job, but at the time I didn’t want to “settle” for anything.

So there were just a lot of unknowns at the time. I didn’t have a job. We didn’t have a place to live in Denver. Joshua was still in Iowa, spending all his waking hours studying for the bar exam, so he could not see how much I was struggling. I had never been out of school supporting myself financially before. Instead of feeling free and seeing life as full of endless opportunities, I felt like I was drowning.

One morning, I interviewed for a job in Boulder over skype. The interview went just fine. But that evening, as I was researching commute times from Denver to Boulder, I suddenly felt like I was having a heart attack. I thought I was dying. I couldn’t breathe, my chest felt tight and I could not stop crying. I remember my mom walking in and seeing that I was crying and asking what was wrong, and I told her that I was going crazy and was scared.

My mom was well aware that I was grappling with anxiety about the future, but didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until I had my first panic attack. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately?) she had experienced panic attacks in the past following a traumatic car accident as well as caring for my sick and dying grandfather, so she recognized it immediately in me. She called my step-dad (a physician) who wrote me a prescription for Prozac (which is an antidepressant that can be used to treat anxiety).

I remember the first couple days of being on prozac I felt like a zombie or like I was in a perpetual fog. But within a few days or maybe weeks I felt normal. Not just normal-I felt like the best version of myself. It was like my entire life I had been white-knuckling everything-sweating and worrying about every little thing-and suddenly those things just didn’t matter anymore. I was still the same person-still a hard worker with the same goals. And don’t get me wrong, I still stress out about stuff, but I no longer feel like every little thing is a life-or-death situation. 

I’ve been on Prozac for almost 3 years now and I can honestly say it is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I feel like I’m the best version of myself when I’m on it. I tried once to cut my dose down about a year ago, despite my doctor insisting it would be fine for me to take it indefinitely, and I almost immediately started having insomnia (which I always had as a child) and stressing again. I quickly went back on my normal dose and have no plans to go off it anymore.

I think that because I am a mental health professional, I felt a lot of shame about going on Prozac at first. You’d think it would be the opposite-you’d think I would be more accepting and know that the stigmas about mental health and medications are stupid-but I felt like I was the one who was supposed to be mentally healthy. I was the one who was supposed to take care of people’s minds. I wasn’t supposed to be struggling with mental health myself.

My mom really helped me get over this. She told me, “One day you’ll work with someone who is going through the same thing, and you’ll have such a deeper level of empathy for them because of your experience”. And (as always) she was right. About a year ago, I met a brand new client at work. As we were going over her orientation together, she broke down in tears. Apologizing, she then explained that she felt like she couldn’t breathe, her mind was racing, and her chest was hurting. She said she was afraid she was going crazy.

“It sounds like you’re having a panic attack”, I told her. I remembered how paralyzed I had felt the first time I had one, and how I had needed my mom to take over and help. “I’m going to take you to a walk-in crisis center so you can talk to someone and get some help”.

Although Prozac has probably been the biggest game-changer for me, there are a number of other things that have helped me manage my anxiety-which I feel like is truly under control for the first time in my life. Exercise is huge-biking and walking, yoga, and weights are some of my favorites. Keeping a paper planner and creating (and checking off!) daily, weekly, monthly and yearly to-do lists makes me feel productive and in control. Writing helps-most of the stuff I write is just unintelligible blathering that never makes it on the blog! Spending time outside. Spending time with animals. Talking to family and friends. Cleaning. I’m not super into meditation, but I like to practice mindfulness in other ways-like sitting in complete silence for 10 minutes while drinking my morning coffee.

Just as we care for our physical health through eating our veggies, getting enough sleep and exercising, we MUST also take care of our minds. I’m not able to help the children and families I serve when I’m not in a good head space. If you are struggling with anxiety, depression, an eating disorder, whatever it is-do not feel ashamed. Do ask for help. Do take care of yourself. I’m sending you love and a virtual hug. It can and will get better. 

[rogsclogs]

Some Day One Day (Brian May x Reader); part 9

tag list: @brighter-thanthe-sky @im-a-sheerheartattack @fruityfreddie @discodeacygotmorerhythm @killer-queen-xo @destiel-stucky4ever-loki-queen @alfinaldelarcoiriss @kazzish @warren-lauren

if anyone wants to be added to the tag list please message me!

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8

feedback is always welcomed :) enjoy! 

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Brian had fucked up. Real bad. And he knew that from the beginning but his deepest fears were confirmed when one day, roughly a week after his argument with Y/N, he had come home to find all her stuff gone. She had left nothing there that could help him find comfort on the lonely cold nights that followed those events, not a scarf, not a shirt and not a sock. The only thing she had left was a pack full of candy for Emily, because after all she loved the little girl and didn't want to leave for good without properly saying goodbye to her, she deserved somewhat of an explanation, so she had come to pick all her stuff up on a day when she knew Brian had most likely left her home alone while he went grocery shopping for the week. She had walked in using the spare key Brian had left under the mat for her in hopes that she’d be back soon, and immediately felt Emily’s tiny arms wrap around her left leg making her heart grow three times its size.

“Y/N, you’re back! Where were you? I wanted to play princesses with you but daddy didn't tell me where you were”“I know baby girl, but that’s just because I didn't tell daddy where I was either! You see, we’re playing hide and seek so I couldn’t really tell him, but I’ve come back here to let you know about that and to bring you some candy so you don't forget about me in case I have to hide for a long time”.How do you tell a five year old child what really happened? How do you explain sadness, regret and heartbreak to such an innocent creature? Emily didn't deserve to know that there were awful things and awful feelings in the outside world, Y/N tried her best to hide it from her. She brought a lollipop, a teddybear and the largest sized bag of candy she could find, grabbed all her stuff in a hurry and left her spare key on the kitchen counter for Brian to find, then closed the entry door behind her back one last time, saying goodbye to a wide eyed Emily who still thought she’d be seeing her again soon.Brian hated the hopeful look on his daughter’s face whenever Y/N was brought up, but he knew it was entirely his fault if they were in such a bad place and it wasn't his place to be mad, angry or upset about it. 

He still saw Y/N every day at school, she tried to hide but wasn't very successful.She had switched desk with one of her classmates so she could sit at the back of the room and not have to stare directly into Brian’s eyes, and she made sure to never be the last one to leave the room so he couldn't try and talk to her.It broke his heart to see her become more and more distant by the day, he kept trying to tell himself that it was for the best and that she deserved much more than he could have ever given her, but the truth was that he had seriously considered quitting his job to be with her, so he didn't know if he would ever be able to move on.Emily had told him about the hide and seek thing that Y/N had made up and although it shattered him to know Y/N didn't want him to know where she was, every day he would tell his baby girl that he was getting close to finding her for good and that soon she would be back home with them. It was painful to lie to his kid, but he was hoping she would eventually forget and not ask any more questions, what else was he supposed to do after all? No matter what had happened between the two of them, Brian was dying to know where Y/N was staying and if she was okay, he doubted that she would be back with her parents after all they had done to tear her down, but then again where else could she be? At one of her friends’ place? Was she safe? Was she eating and drinking enough?He knew he had no right to be wondering about her whereabouts, but he still tried to find clues that would let him know a bit more about her situation. He just wanted to know she was doing okay.

Y/N, on the other hand, was not doing okay at all. She had been couch surfing from one place to the other, not wanting anything to do with her parents anymore. Thankfully she had a lot of friends in college, who all offered her the best they could, but she still felt that something was missing from her life and she blamed herself for it every day. Had she not been as pushy with Brian she would still spend her nights lying in his arms and kissing his bare torso lovingly. She even had dreams about it. She dreamt of long nights spent taking each other in, making love until the morning light and taking small breaks in between to talk about life and the universe. That's all she wanted. The only thing keeping her from making those dreams her reality again was partially her own pride and unwillingness to admit that she was also to blame, and partially the fact that she thought Brian was mad at her and wanted nothing more to do with her. She couldn't have been more wrong, of course. Every single day he would wait fifteen minutes after the end of his lesson to leave the classroom, in hopes that Y/N would burst back in and finally talk to him. He didn't know what else he could have done, she was unreachable and he was helpless, so he just waited for her. And he waited some more. 

He waited until the day his class could finally retake the exam they’d all been waiting for, on a very humid June morning, at around 9 am. He knew there was no more hope after that, she would move on and he would have to pretend he did too.It had been two months, eight days and ten hours since he’d last spoken to her and he felt himself go crazy without her by his side. Nevertheless, he had to be professional on such a day, he couldn't let his thoughts carry him back to where she was sitting, even though he lingered around her for as long as possible as he handed out the test.He was of course hoping for the best for her, he wanted to see her succeed and be proud of herself and the strong woman she had become, but he couldn't help but think about all the time they had wasted being away from each other when he could have helped her more with her school work. He felt like such an asshole, letting her go when she needed him the most. All he could do was hope that what they had done was enough this time around.He could tell that Y/N had not slept in a while, which was bad and he’d told her about it a million times, but he didn't have much time to think thongs through before the test began. 

The students had a little more than an hour to go over thirty questions. Brian had personally been previously selected to go over the test before it was given out to the students to make sure it was all correct and reasonably doable for their standards, so he knew very well what they were dealing with, he remembered most of the questions almost by heart. He knew from the very first moment that Y/N was doing better than last time, the determined look on her face was a huge relief for him considering how worried he’d been about her mental, physical and emotional health in the past few weeks, but he still decided to keep an eye on her for the whole time, just to make sure everything ran smoothly. And for the most part, it seemed to him that everything did run smoothly, at least until the moment he noticed her suddenly stop writing for quite some time, and he got worried all over again. Brian didn't know quite how to handle the situation, he felt it in his bones that she was struggling and he wanted to help, but how was he supposed to do that without raising suspicions or getting caught? He started walking around the classroom with his hands behind his back like he normally would and as he did that he realized that no one was really paying attention to whatever it was he was doing, after all they were way too busy focusing on their test to really give a damn about what their professor did, so he kept walking until he reached Y/N’s desk.

 He knew he had to be quick, so he glanced over to her sheet to figure out where she was stuck and saw that it was the last exercise of the bunch, specifically the third point of the last exercise which required to calculate the values of two variables in an equation for an ellipse that was pictured. Easy enough, at least for him. Y/N could feel him stare at her paper and she couldn’t really make a scene in the classroom so she kept silent, but she felt extremely self conscious. What was he trying to do? Make fun of her for not knowing the formula and getting it wrong once again? Was he going to use that against her in any way? Why would he? But then again, why wouldn’t he, after all she had been quite mean to him and he had every reason to be pissed. Brian walked around some more then headed right back to the big front desk where he was supposed to sit for the entirety of the test as Y/N kept her eyes fixated on him, wondering what the hell was going on in his head. He took out pen and paper and wrote down a little something to help his girl out. Morally speaking he felt quite bad doing that, but he just couldn't have her fail again and he felt that after the way he had behaved with her, she deserved his aid. Fuck the test, fuck the system, fuck everything other than his girl, she was all that mattered to him, it was about time for him to prove it.

X squared over 1 squared, plus Y squared over 3 squared equal 1. That was the last answer she needed to get the test over and done with and Y/N found it written on a tiny piece of paper that Brian had ‘accidentally’ dropped on her desk as he walked around the class once more, pretending to make sure that everyone was doing alright when he really couldn't have cared less. As she wrote the answer on her sheet she almost felt like crying from relief and couldn't believe Brian had actually done something like that for her. Her heart swelled with love for the man, she had no doubts anymore.

[ericvick]

Entire re-opening, close to mask mandate moved up to May 29

In no way brain Aug. 1. The Saturday of Memorial Working day weekend — May 29 — is the new goal date for the finish of almost all remaining Covid-19 limits in Massachusetts.

By that date, which is far more than two months in advance of the timetable declared much less than 3 months ago, Massachusetts intends to lift its pandemic limitations, though masks will nevertheless be needed in specific configurations like transportation, in universities, and at overall health care amenities.

Moreover, the state of emergency that has been in location considering that March 10, 2020 will be lifted on June 15, Gov. Baker announced late Monday early morning. At a afterwards press meeting, Boston Mayor Kim Janey— mentioned that Boston would stick to fit and line up with the statewide timetable considering the fact that Boston’s COVID-19 traits “continue to shift in the correct way.”

“Because of this development, I am generating the determination to align with the commonwealth of Massachusetts and raise the COVID constraints on Could 29,” Janey said. “But permit me be very clear: our fight from COVID is not around. Reopening our town will only operate if we all proceed to do our portion to struggle the pandemic.”

At former junctures in the year-long gradual reopening procedure, Boston opted to move slower and hold constraints in spot for a longer time than the condition. Janey stated on April 27 that the state’s premier city would lag about 3 months at the rear of Gov. Charlie Baker’s reopening timetable, but she explained Monday that “we have extra than a thirty day period of data exhibiting that circumstances are very low and continue to be lower in excess of time.”

Boston Chief of Health and fitness and Human Solutions Marty Martinez claimed Boston recorded an average of 63 new scenarios for every day as of Could 11, whilst the city’s positivity rate dropped to 2.1 p.c and was no greater than 4.3 percent in any single neighborhood.

Previous 7 days, he stated, there ended up much less than 65 COVID-good sufferers in town hospitals. “We have not observed these reduced numbers in over a calendar year,” Martinez explained. “It is distinct that vaccines are doing the job to continue to keep individuals from developing serious cases of COVID and decreasing unfold of the virus.”

The announcements signify a sizeable milestone in the state’s fight from the coronavirus that has fueled a global pandemic and upended practically all areas of human lifetime since the begin of 2020. But the governor built apparent that the finish of govt-mandated limitations does not always indicate the conclusion of the general public health threat.

“Covid is a minimal bit like, you know, Michael Myers,” Baker claimed, referring to the horror movie franchise character with a knack for surviving to make it into but a different sequel. “We have created incredible development and which is why we are able to do what we’re accomplishing below and what we’re proposing below nowadays … the individuals of Massachusetts have established the commonwealth up to be effective likely ahead from right here, but certainly this is anything we’re all likely to have to continue on to pay back consideration to and we will.”

Speaking at the Point out House, Baker explained the new reopening timeline — May well 29 was at first likely to be the following, but not closing, step toward a extra entire reopening — has been produced doable by an hard work that has the condition in line to meet its goal of vaccinating 4.1 million citizens by the 1st week of June.

“Massachusetts is effectively battling back in its marketing campaign in opposition to the virus,” Baker stated. “Nearly each and every university student in the point out is back again in the classroom and we have reopened virtually each individual industry. We’re safer, smarter, and superior outfitted in this struggle than at any time considering the fact that it commenced.”

New conditions are down 89 p.c because Jan. 8 and hospitalizations are down 88 p.c considering that Jan. 1, Baker’s business mentioned. The state’s optimistic exam level has fallen from 8.7 % on Jan. 1 to an even 1 percent as of Sunday.

Given that Baker very last laid out a reopening timeline on April 27, the ordinary of daily new situations is down 65 per cent, the typical hospitalization stage has declined 39 percent, and the typical everyday selection of deaths has fallen by about 45 percent.

Principles started off to alter on Tuesday in the Bay Point out. Productive May 18, steerage for youth and novice sporting activities was up to date to allow young ones less than the age of 18 to enjoy outdoor sports without obtaining to wear a mask and to allow young ones at university or kid care to go mask-totally free when outdoor for things to do like recess. Schoolkids will also be authorized to share classroom merchandise once again.

On Could 29, all industries will be permitted to open up to 100 percent potential, accumulating limits will be rescinded and, with the exception of confront-covering prerequisites for certain configurations, all condition-mandated Covid-19 restrictions will be lifted. Non-vaccinated people today will be encouraged to continue on donning encounter masks and to keep on distancing in most settings, but a new advisory will recommend that vaccinated people no lengthier will need to put on a facial area masking or social length indoors or outdoor apart from for in specific circumstances.

“After far more than a year of constraints, protocols, and tips, a entire Massachusetts reopening is magnificent news for smaller firms,” Nationwide Federation of Independent Corporations Point out Director Christopher Carlozzi claimed just after Baker’s announcement. “Now the real get the job done starts to mend a battered smaller company economic system and convey residents of the commonwealth back again into the place of work.”

Merchants Affiliation of Massachusetts President Jon Hurst said Baker’s announcement “sends a crystal clear message about the significance of financial expenditure and restoration now that we have accomplished what we required to do to be secure. With our vaccinations, we are all now evidently safe and sound to store, dine, entertain, vacation, and return to operate.”

But he also asked that buyers, quite a few of whom are as eager to get back to their regular procuring and dining styles as the companies are to welcome them back, be “patient and considerate as federal government mandates turn into person possibilities.”

“In the times to arrive, companies will have selections to make on masks and occupancy concentrations, and as perfectly as enhanced staffing desires for their institutions,” he explained.

Alluding to the chance that some metropolitan areas and towns could not go alongside with Baker’s new timeline, Hurst additional, “We also strongly urge municipal officials to fully grasp the need for regularity in coverage and community messaging, and to steer clear of perplexing our shoppers and modest enterprises with conflicting local plan.”

As with each individual other move in the state’s reopening work, municipalities are free of charge to go slower than the point out. Boston and Somerville, in certain, have commonly adopted modified variations of the state’s reopening techniques and have been much more cautious in their have returns to usual.

Baker reiterated Monday that “communities that don’t want to go as aggressively or as considerably as we’re proposing to go” can make whatsoever choices they experience are proper “and we will assistance that.”

Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy, who led the administration’s economic reopening advisory group with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, stated the 12 times until eventually May possibly 29 are intended to give organization owners and communities that are ready to reopen “time to approach for a return to regular, and to make changes to their actual physical spaces, and to modify their staffing ranges.”

“Kindness, knowing, and regard will go a extended way in these coming weeks,” Kennealy said.

Carlozzi, the point out director of NFIB, said corporations also face “major staffing challenges” as they put together for consumers to return in greater figures this summer season.

“A real indicator of a return to normalcy will be the many ‘help wanted’ signals currently being eradicated from storefront windows,” he stated.

Even though most Massachusetts people will likely circle May well 29 as the milestone date on their calendars, the June 15 expiration of Baker’s state of crisis declaration is just as major to those people who closely stick to point out federal government. Baker declared a point out of crisis on March 10, 2020 to offer with the coronavirus that was just beginning to surge across the planet and his administration’s restrictions, recommendations, and executive orders have shaded approximately all elements of daily life in the Bay Point out considering the fact that then.

“The lifting of the governor’s orders underneath the Chilly War period Civil Protection Act could not come a working day faster. For just about 421 times, plenty of corporations and people have experienced their rights and freedoms totally ignored,” Paul Craney, spokesperson for MassFiscal, reported, although Monday was the 434th day less than Baker’s condition of emergency.

MassFiscal has supported the New Civil Liberties Alliance as it pursued legal avenues to overturn many of Baker’s executive orders, arguing that the Republican governor overstepped his authority.

“A performing democracy are not able to survive below a temporary point out of emergency that is extended like we endured … Massachusetts really should never at any time go as a result of this again,” Craney explained.

For the duration of Monday’s push convention to announce the previous reopening phase, the lieutenant governor pointed out that it was literally a 12 months in the producing.

“May 18 of 2020 was the day that we arrived to this area and introduced the to start with stage of our reopening approach. And in this article we are, virtually to the day, a year later on with a full reopening,” Polito claimed Monday. “It would not have transpired with out all of you functioning so tough alongside this training course and alongside this journey.”

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[wineanddinosaur]

Advanced Cicerone Chris Leguizamon Is Using Beer Education to Make the World a Better Place

It was the two-hour bus ride to and from his previous job at Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, Calif., that gave Chris Leguizamon time to become one of only two Advanced Cicerones in San Diego. Armed with a collection of beer magazines and books like Randy Mosher’s “Tasting Beer: An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink,” Leguizamon honed his expertise as a craft beer expert, eventually becoming the education program manager at Pure Project, a 1% for the Planet Company and certified carbon and plastic-neutral organization known for ultra-complex and highly sought-after brews. He shares his knowledge with beer drinkers of all levels through an Instagram livestream series under his account @chris.thebeereducator, with a goal of helping San Diego become home to the most Cicerone-certified front-of-house staff anywhere else in the world.

Sharing knowledge comes naturally to Leguizamon. As a former brewery tour guide for six years, as well as a first generation Latino/Hispanic American with a degree in physics and passion for renewable energy, he’s as well versed in discussions about the diversity in beer styles as he is about diversity and social justice. After the #BlackoutTuesday initiative permeated Instagram last June, Leguizamon says he found himself avoiding discussions about beer in order to focus on conversations around equity (and the lack thereof) outside the beer industry.

“I could not fathom educating people about anything that pertains to this fizzy carbonated beverage without addressing real social issues, because that’s what the world is going through,” Leguizamon says. When responding to critics who say breweries should “stick to beer,” he says, “If you just think that life is about beer, you’re missing the point … Beer is made by someone with hands, that’s working, that also has three kids — there’s more to it [than beer].”

With Pure Project’s backing, Leguizamon shifted his educational efforts online. (He calls his employer “the best leadership company I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”) In the following interview, Leguizamon discusses his entry into beer, his upward trajectory, and his desire to empower others to make their own impacts.

Ed. note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

1. How, when, and why did you get into beer?

When I was 15, I was visiting my uncle in Bogota, Colombia. I’d never really had beer besides like, family gatherings when you’re like two years old (laughs). He brought in a mixed 6-pack, sits it right down in the living room, and says, ‘Chris, today we’re gonna drink the products of our country.’ He presented one — Club Colombia, which has won a bunch of awards — and told me to look at the color (yellow, fizzy, straw-like), smell it, and then I tasted it. It was nothing like soda, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh, God, this sucks!’

The second beer was Poker, and it had this attractive amber hue to it. The two didn’t look the same at all, so I tried it and it had this recognizable toast that reminded me of breakfast with my mom, and a touch of caramel. Colombians are attracted to caramel because of our obsession with arequipe. We put that on everything, so right away I thought it was way better than the other one.

At that point, I went down a rabbit hole of: Why does beer taste different? There are cultures behind this. There are centuries of science and art. I began wanting to read, wanting to learn, and indirectly change the stigma of what a Latino or a guy that looks like me is in beer. I’m a brown-skinned kid from one of the poorest cities in the nation (Reading, Pa.) and I want people to have a ‘Oh, holy smokes, this kid knows his stuff!’ type of mentality.

2. So when did you formally enter the beer industry?

In 2014, I worked at a brewpub in Pennsylvania called Chatty Monks, and at that point I was the only non-family member that was on staff; it was just a staff of six, including the three owners. I was this bushy, big-eyed 21-year-old, excited to finally be in craft beer and I would sing praises about flavors, pairings, and there came a point where like the guests were looking at me and they’re like, ‘Dude, it’s just beer. Why do you have so much passion behind this?’ It got to a point where I became an outlier in my own industry-slash-town. So I thought, ‘I’m gonna move to the place I like to vacation, which is San Diego,’ and I did in 2014. I remember thinking, ‘Holy shit, these people get it.’ I worked at Mission Brewery as a tour guide until 2015, moved to Stone Brewing until 2016, and then AleSmith Brewing Company until early 2019.

3. You’ve worked at a few big name breweries in San Diego. But you’ve talked about getting burnt out on the industry after a couple of negative encounters. What kept you in beer?

In 2019, I wanted to leave the beer industry, defeated. I was like, ‘Maybe I could get into bourbon, maybe get into coffee’ … but Kira Bouchard [currently the regional manager at Pure Project], who is my saving grace, was having coffee with me and asked what ‘beer adventures’ I was having. When I told her I was considering leaving the industry altogether, she encouraged me to apply to Pure Project, despite there being no open positions at the time.

Things fell into place: Someone left, I applied. I went through the whole interview process and the rest is history. I went from not wanting to smell a beer or talk about it to signing up for the Advanced Cicerone exam three months later.

4. What was the [Advanced Cicerone] exam study process like?

I studied for five hours a day. I would wake up at 5:30 a.m., put a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich in the microwave, and then coffee. I’d just sit there every single morning and by 6 a.m. the books were open. I sacrificed a lot. I’ve missed out on a lot, but that determination kind of got me back into the rhythm.

5. Why is beer education so important to you?

I’m very team-oriented, and I hate when people talk down to beertenders or try to stump them, mainly because of gender. That ticks me off. A lot of people try to stump [female bartenders] and I can’t stand that, so I want to empower everyone to be able to hold their own.

6. After you achieved Advanced Cicerone, how did you start to share your knowledge?

We at Pure Project all push each other to be better, and the way that it evolved was I was homebrewing this BrewDog beer through their DIY Dog program [an annual compilation of open-source homebrew recipes], and I asked Mike Czech [Pure Project director of distribution], ‘What if we do something like this at Pure Project? We’re releasing two new beers every two weeks. What if you announce the title, the ABV, and three important keywords the beertenders can use?’ But Mike tailored it so well; he cut out the fluff. I’m very raw with my ideas and I need someone to edit, and Mike made it happen.

At the same time, Matt [Robar, Pure’s co-founder] saw potential in me because I was a tour guide for so long. He asked me to jump on an IG Live, since we were about to release Hazelsaurus Rex and a barrel-aged sour. It was one of the rawest IG Lives ever, I’d never had the two beers and Winslow [Sawyer, Pure’s head brewer], who is like a foot taller than me, pours the beers and my face lights up. I’m just geeking out. When we cut, they thought I did a pretty good job, so they asked me to do it again the next week. And it went from there!

7. How did that segment on Pure Project’s Instagram transform into what you’re personally doing, and how did it change during Covid-19?

I started a beer account called Chris the Beer Educator, and the first video you find is literally me in the back of my girlfriend’s backyard, laying out the intention of this whole virtual education thing. It was literally just to highlight everyone who got me to the point where I’m at now — never to focus on me; it’s to highlight other people and what they’re doing.

Then Covid hits and I’m sitting there antsy, wanting to keep teaching people about beer. So this spawned off that IG Live that Pure Project had me do for a couple months. I thought if I can convince people to read one of the most fundamental books, which is ‘Tasting Beer,’ then hopefully people will follow along. It made me want to read that book again, and it kind of grew into its own beast.

Weirdly, people have told me I built a brand. I didn’t mean to — I literally just wanted to empower people that were just at home during quarantine, not knowing what the world is gonna look like, to read ‘Tasting Beer’ and show how amazing San Diego beer professionals are. It’s San Diego craft beer in its rawest form.

8. What’s one episode that stands out to you?

When George [Thornton, owner of Home Brewing Company] and I were talking, things were flowing, and we were talking about Black is Beautiful — that was just the most human side of me, and George. There was a lot of frustration with what’s happening in the world, a lot of ‘How can people not just want to listen?’ George and I had that one moment where we both had pain, we both had frustration, and this was the least we could do being beer professionals, just being human, is telling people, ‘Listen, we know that you feel attacked, but just stop yelling back — just listen, learn, read a book about what’s happening. Try to understand people’s perspective that you don’t understand. They’re not part of the same walk as you. Celebrate that diversity as we like to celebrate diversity in beer styles.’

9. Ultimately, what’s your goal in the beer industry?

The main goal of Chris the Beer Educator is to have everyone pass their Certified Cicerone and to get that Level 2. I’ve always, always, always wanted to have people go from Level 1 to Level 2 and say, Chris was that person when everyone else says ‘Just do it yourself,’ he didn’t mind that I messaged him and said, ‘Hey could you clear up this section for me?’

I asked a lot of people for help during the Advanced Cicerone studying, and I got a good amount of ‘nos.’ Then there’s those people that mentored me, and I want to be that person for San Diego, so that we have the most Certified Cicerones, the most [Advanced] Cicerones, and ideally the most Master Cicerones in the nation. Imagine San Diego not just having the most amount of breweries — that’s nice — but the most educated staff anywhere, where everyone’s really on top of their game. Making it both female and male, Latino, person of color, Black, Asian, whatever it may be to diversify. That’s the dream, honestly.

The article Advanced Cicerone Chris Leguizamon Is Using Beer Education to Make the World a Better Place appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/chris-leguizamon-beer-education/

[johnboothus]

Advanced Cicerone Chris Leguizamon Is Using Beer Education to Make the World a Better Place

It was the two-hour bus ride to and from his previous job at Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, Calif., that gave Chris Leguizamon time to become one of only two Advanced Cicerones in San Diego. Armed with a collection of beer magazines and books like Randy Mosher’s “Tasting Beer: An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink,” Leguizamon honed his expertise as a craft beer expert, eventually becoming the education program manager at Pure Project, a 1% for the Planet Company and certified carbon and plastic-neutral organization known for ultra-complex and highly sought-after brews. He shares his knowledge with beer drinkers of all levels through an Instagram livestream series under his account @chris.thebeereducator, with a goal of helping San Diego become home to the most Cicerone-certified front-of-house staff anywhere else in the world.

Sharing knowledge comes naturally to Leguizamon. As a former brewery tour guide for six years, as well as a first generation Latino/Hispanic American with a degree in physics and passion for renewable energy, he’s as well versed in discussions about the diversity in beer styles as he is about diversity and social justice. After the #BlackoutTuesday initiative permeated Instagram last June, Leguizamon says he found himself avoiding discussions about beer in order to focus on conversations around equity (and the lack thereof) outside the beer industry.

“I could not fathom educating people about anything that pertains to this fizzy carbonated beverage without addressing real social issues, because that’s what the world is going through,” Leguizamon says. When responding to critics who say breweries should “stick to beer,” he says, “If you just think that life is about beer, you’re missing the point … Beer is made by someone with hands, that’s working, that also has three kids — there’s more to it [than beer].”

With Pure Project’s backing, Leguizamon shifted his educational efforts online. (He calls his employer “the best leadership company I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”) In the following interview, Leguizamon discusses his entry into beer, his upward trajectory, and his desire to empower others to make their own impacts.

Ed. note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

1. How, when, and why did you get into beer?

When I was 15, I was visiting my uncle in Bogota, Colombia. I’d never really had beer besides like, family gatherings when you’re like two years old (laughs). He brought in a mixed 6-pack, sits it right down in the living room, and says, ‘Chris, today we’re gonna drink the products of our country.’ He presented one — Club Colombia, which has won a bunch of awards — and told me to look at the color (yellow, fizzy, straw-like), smell it, and then I tasted it. It was nothing like soda, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh, God, this sucks!’

The second beer was Poker, and it had this attractive amber hue to it. The two didn’t look the same at all, so I tried it and it had this recognizable toast that reminded me of breakfast with my mom, and a touch of caramel. Colombians are attracted to caramel because of our obsession with arequipe. We put that on everything, so right away I thought it was way better than the other one.

At that point, I went down a rabbit hole of: Why does beer taste different? There are cultures behind this. There are centuries of science and art. I began wanting to read, wanting to learn, and indirectly change the stigma of what a Latino or a guy that looks like me is in beer. I’m a brown-skinned kid from one of the poorest cities in the nation (Reading, Pa.) and I want people to have a ‘Oh, holy smokes, this kid knows his stuff!’ type of mentality.

2. So when did you formally enter the beer industry?

In 2014, I worked at a brewpub in Pennsylvania called Chatty Monks, and at that point I was the only non-family member that was on staff; it was just a staff of six, including the three owners. I was this bushy, big-eyed 21-year-old, excited to finally be in craft beer and I would sing praises about flavors, pairings, and there came a point where like the guests were looking at me and they’re like, ‘Dude, it’s just beer. Why do you have so much passion behind this?’ It got to a point where I became an outlier in my own industry-slash-town. So I thought, ‘I’m gonna move to the place I like to vacation, which is San Diego,’ and I did in 2014. I remember thinking, ‘Holy shit, these people get it.’ I worked at Mission Brewery as a tour guide until 2015, moved to Stone Brewing until 2016, and then AleSmith Brewing Company until early 2019.

3. You’ve worked at a few big name breweries in San Diego. But you’ve talked about getting burnt out on the industry after a couple of negative encounters. What kept you in beer?

In 2019, I wanted to leave the beer industry, defeated. I was like, ‘Maybe I could get into bourbon, maybe get into coffee’ … but Kira Bouchard [currently the regional manager at Pure Project], who is my saving grace, was having coffee with me and asked what ‘beer adventures’ I was having. When I told her I was considering leaving the industry altogether, she encouraged me to apply to Pure Project, despite there being no open positions at the time.

Things fell into place: Someone left, I applied. I went through the whole interview process and the rest is history. I went from not wanting to smell a beer or talk about it to signing up for the Advanced Cicerone exam three months later.

4. What was the [Advanced Cicerone] exam study process like?

I studied for five hours a day. I would wake up at 5:30 a.m., put a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich in the microwave, and then coffee. I’d just sit there every single morning and by 6 a.m. the books were open. I sacrificed a lot. I’ve missed out on a lot, but that determination kind of got me back into the rhythm.

5. Why is beer education so important to you?

I’m very team-oriented, and I hate when people talk down to beertenders or try to stump them, mainly because of gender. That ticks me off. A lot of people try to stump [female bartenders] and I can’t stand that, so I want to empower everyone to be able to hold their own.

6. After you achieved Advanced Cicerone, how did you start to share your knowledge?

We at Pure Project all push each other to be better, and the way that it evolved was I was homebrewing this BrewDog beer through their DIY Dog program [an annual compilation of open-source homebrew recipes], and I asked Mike Czech [Pure Project director of distribution], ‘What if we do something like this at Pure Project? We’re releasing two new beers every two weeks. What if you announce the title, the ABV, and three important keywords the beertenders can use?’ But Mike tailored it so well; he cut out the fluff. I’m very raw with my ideas and I need someone to edit, and Mike made it happen.

At the same time, Matt [Robar, Pure’s co-founder] saw potential in me because I was a tour guide for so long. He asked me to jump on an IG Live, since we were about to release Hazelsaurus Rex and a barrel-aged sour. It was one of the rawest IG Lives ever, I’d never had the two beers and Winslow [Sawyer, Pure’s head brewer], who is like a foot taller than me, pours the beers and my face lights up. I’m just geeking out. When we cut, they thought I did a pretty good job, so they asked me to do it again the next week. And it went from there!

7. How did that segment on Pure Project’s Instagram transform into what you’re personally doing, and how did it change during Covid-19?

I started a beer account called Chris the Beer Educator, and the first video you find is literally me in the back of my girlfriend’s backyard, laying out the intention of this whole virtual education thing. It was literally just to highlight everyone who got me to the point where I’m at now — never to focus on me; it’s to highlight other people and what they’re doing.

Then Covid hits and I’m sitting there antsy, wanting to keep teaching people about beer. So this spawned off that IG Live that Pure Project had me do for a couple months. I thought if I can convince people to read one of the most fundamental books, which is ‘Tasting Beer,’ then hopefully people will follow along. It made me want to read that book again, and it kind of grew into its own beast.

Weirdly, people have told me I built a brand. I didn’t mean to — I literally just wanted to empower people that were just at home during quarantine, not knowing what the world is gonna look like, to read ‘Tasting Beer’ and show how amazing San Diego beer professionals are. It’s San Diego craft beer in its rawest form.

8. What’s one episode that stands out to you?

When George [Thornton, owner of Home Brewing Company] and I were talking, things were flowing, and we were talking about Black is Beautiful — that was just the most human side of me, and George. There was a lot of frustration with what’s happening in the world, a lot of ‘How can people not just want to listen?’ George and I had that one moment where we both had pain, we both had frustration, and this was the least we could do being beer professionals, just being human, is telling people, ‘Listen, we know that you feel attacked, but just stop yelling back — just listen, learn, read a book about what’s happening. Try to understand people’s perspective that you don’t understand. They’re not part of the same walk as you. Celebrate that diversity as we like to celebrate diversity in beer styles.’

9. Ultimately, what’s your goal in the beer industry?

The main goal of Chris the Beer Educator is to have everyone pass their Certified Cicerone and to get that Level 2. I’ve always, always, always wanted to have people go from Level 1 to Level 2 and say, Chris was that person when everyone else says ‘Just do it yourself,’ he didn’t mind that I messaged him and said, ‘Hey could you clear up this section for me?’

I asked a lot of people for help during the Advanced Cicerone studying, and I got a good amount of ‘nos.’ Then there’s those people that mentored me, and I want to be that person for San Diego, so that we have the most Certified Cicerones, the most [Advanced] Cicerones, and ideally the most Master Cicerones in the nation. Imagine San Diego not just having the most amount of breweries — that’s nice — but the most educated staff anywhere, where everyone’s really on top of their game. Making it both female and male, Latino, person of color, Black, Asian, whatever it may be to diversify. That’s the dream, honestly.

The article Advanced Cicerone Chris Leguizamon Is Using Beer Education to Make the World a Better Place appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/chris-leguizamon-beer-education/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/advanced-cicerone-chris-leguizamon-is-using-beer-education-to-make-the-world-a-better-place

[districofcolumbiaprelawland-blog]

How Jury Selection Can Reveal Possible Injustices

By Trevor Haefner, The George Washington University, Class of 2020

August 31, 2020

Many American citizens do not look forward to serving on a jury. For some it is a burden, but for others it is an opportunity to witness the justice system in action first-hand. Crishala Reed, a 28-year-old mail carrier who lives outside of San Francisco, belonged to the latter half, therefore she was excited when she received her jury summons. Unfortunately, she was removed by a prosecutor and never got to serve on the jury. She was rejected after the questioning period in jury selection. Reed, and other lawyers, are claiming that she was excluded because she answered yes to supporting Black Lives Matter. The state of California is currently denying any foul play [1]. A court of appeals will be judging if Reed was dismissed due to discriminatory practices.

First, in order to understand Reed's story, it is necessary to review how jury selection works in criminal cases. Jurors are summoned by the court via a random drawing process, from a list of voters. The potential jurors receive a questionnaire to determine if they are eligible for jury service. These qualifications include being at the age of 18, a U.S citizen, live in the judicial district for at least one year, be proficient in English (enough to complete the questionnaire), have no disqualifying mental or physical condition, not be subject to felony charges (punishable up to a year), and have never been convicted of a felony. Three groups are exempt from serving jury duty. These groups are active military servicemen, members of police and fire departments, and people holding public office. People may also be excused from serving if it would cause undue hardship, such as a student during final exams [2].

As for the process of selecting potential jurors to sit through a trial, "voir dire" meaning "to speak the truth," is the method used by lawyers and judges. Attorneys from both sides of the case ask questions to gauge their biases, backgrounds, and/or if they have any knowledge about the case. Lawyers are also free to make inquiries that are meant to reveal characteristics that might uncover what side a juror is likely to favor. However, there is a limit to the types of questions that are allowed to be asked, such as excessively personal questions or how a juror would decide a case before it began. Lawyers then will remove certain potential jurors by making challenges for cause and peremptory challenges, which is known as striking a jury. Challenges for cause are justified when voir dire exposes that a juror is not qualified, or fit, for the particular case. In general, lawyers have an unlimited number of for cause challenges. Judges can also strike down potential jurors who are unable to put aside their feelings and make decisions with actual or implied bias. Actual bias is defined as a juror who admits to not being able to be impartial. Implied bias is when a juror has personal ties or experiences that would make it difficult for him/she to deliver an unbiased verdict. For example, someone who is a close friend of a witness, judge, or lawyer from either side would have implied bias even if that person passes voir dire.

Once all viable challenges for cause are complete, peremptory challenges begin [3]. A peremptory strike is a special jury challenge that each party has before the start of the trial. Attorneys are allowed to strike jurors without any explanation, and the amount allotted to each side is dependent on the type of trial. Still, the other side can claim a "prima facie" which argues that the strike was issued to discriminate against the person's race, ethnicity, or sex [4]. This is a Batson challenge, which is an objection to the peremptory strike on the grounds that the other side used it to discriminate. Baston challenges can result in a new trial. The name comes from the case Batson v. Kentucky in 1986 that made that type of peremptory challenge unconstitutional [5]. Once all peremptory challenges are complete, and all arguments have been made, the jury selection process is complete.

This leads back to Crishala Reed, who was removed via a peremptory challenge for a 2016 trial. The trail in question has already been decided by the jury. They determined that the defendants in the killing of a couple in the Bay Area, in San Francisco, were guilty [6]. However, the focus of this story is how Crishala Reed was removed from the jury. She was asked on a questionnaire if she supported the Black Lives Matter movement and then asked by the prosecutor if she supported destroying others' property. She responded yes to supporting the movement and no to destroying property. In the end, she was removed by the prosecution via a peremptory challenge [7]. The legality of the strike is now under scrutiny from Reed and lawyers alike. Attorneys at the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center see this as a way for prosecutors to eliminate black jurors. Easha Anand, a lawyer at the center, stated, "This is a troubling technique that we're seeing across the country, where prosecutors are asking these racially loaded questions of jurors and using their answers as a reason to strike Black jurors," [8]. Tiffany Wright, a lawyer at Orrick Herrington and Sutcliffe LLP, argued that asking a black juror about their position on Black Lives Matter is no different from interrogating them about their Blackness. Wright co-wrote a brief, claiming that Reed's dismal was not legal, that will be presented to a California appeals court [9].

The California Attorney General's Office retorted by denouncing the idea that race was a deciding factor in removing Reed. The prosecutors in this case Sheldon Silas, Reginald Whitley, and Lamar Michaels, cite Reed's body language as the reason for using the peremptory strike on her. They claim she crossed her arms when questioned by the prosecution. Also, they claim that when one of the prosecutors asked for her stance on Black Lives Matter she became, "openly hostile," [10]. The Contra County District Attorney's office, the county where the trial was held, has given few comments on the matter. Xavier Becerra, California's Attorney General, also has declined to comment, but are keen on defending the prosecutors. The state released a brief arguing that the prosecution did not examine other potential black jurors as severely, claiming it was only a matter of "not connecting" with Reed [11]. The resolution to the appeal will be delivered in the coming months. It is now up to the court to decide if racial injustice was present or not.

While the outcome of the court decision is a crucial part of this story, Crishala Reed's experience is also important to remember. In her own words, "It was a life-changing experience for me, personally. And I still talk about it to this day. I tell my kids about it. Not to scare them but to make them aware," [12]. Her emotions were also stirred by the prosecution, "I wanted to cry, but I held it," which illustrates how overwhelming experiences such as this can be [13]. It is imperative to remember how trials affect people on an individual level. Reed is only one factor in the institution of the judicial system, but her story resonates because of her humanity. 

________________________________________________________________

[1] VanSickle, Abbie. “Can you be removed from a jury pool for supporting Black Lives Matter?” ABAJournal, August 21, 2020. https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/California-appeals-court-to-decide-if-you-can-be-kicked-out-of-a-jury-pool-for-supporting-Black-Lives-Matter.

[2] Juror Qualifications. (n.d.). Retrieved August 28, 2020, from https://www.uscourts.gov/services-forms/jury-service/juror-qualifications.

[3] Streicker, Sherilyn. (2019, June 20). “Jury Selection in Criminal Cases.” Nolo, June 20, 2019. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/jury-selection-criminal-cases.html.

[4] Peremptory challenge. (n.d.). Retrieved August 28, 2020, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/peremptory_challenge.

[5] Batson challenge. (n.d.). Retrieved August 28, 2020, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/batson_challenge.

[6] Gartrell, Nate. “Antioch: Jury hands down guilty verdicts in 2012 double slaying.” East Bay Times, December 24, 2016. https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/23/antioch-jury-hands-down-guilty-verdicts-in-2012-double-slaying/.

[7] VanSickle, Abbie. “Can you be removed from a jury pool for supporting Black Lives Matter?” ABAJournal, August 21, 2020. https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/California-appeals-court-to-decide-if-you-can-be-kicked-out-of-a-jury-pool-for-supporting-Black-Lives-Matter.

[8] Karpan, Andrew. “When Can A Juror Say Black Lives Matter?” Law360, August 9, 2020. https://www.law360.com/articles/1299398.

[9] Ibid.

[10] VanSickle, Abbie. “Can you be removed from a jury pool for supporting Black Lives Matter?” ABAJournal, August 21, 2020. https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/California-appeals-court-to-decide-if-you-can-be-kicked-out-of-a-jury-pool-for-supporting-Black-Lives-Matter.

[11] Karpan, Andrew. “When Can A Juror Say Black Lives Matter?” Law360, August 9, 2020. https://www.law360.com/articles/1299398.

[12] VanSickle, Abbie. “Can you be removed from a jury pool for supporting Black Lives Matter?” ABAJournal, August 21, 2020. https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/California-appeals-court-to-decide-if-you-can-be-kicked-out-of-a-jury-pool-for-supporting-Black-Lives-Matter.

[13] Ibid.

Photo Credit: Brandon Ruffin for The Marshall Project

[deartashie]

I seldom post on Facebook but I believe this one’s a must.The road to being a Registered PetMalu (Psychometrician pala ;D) has been one of the bumpiest journeys I have traveled so far. It was never easy but I made it. As a lot of people would say, “No Pain, No Gain!” “No Guts, No Glory!” Therefore, I wanna share my 5 stages of becoming an RPm.

Stage 1 - THE “I’M SUPER CONFIDENT” STAGE

I’m a person who likes to set goals and I want these goals to be accomplished on schedule. This year, I thought of taking the board exam for Psychometricians and my mind was set to go to Manila on June to start reviewing for the boards. But plans changed. I got a job. I opted to have my review here in Iloilo while working at the same time. I was really positive that I can balance everything - work-life-study balance ika nga!  But I was wrong which leads us to the next stage.

Stage 2 - THE “I WANNA GIVE UP” STAGE

Yes. It came to a point in which I decided to give up. I was already half-way through the review and sayang ang 14k na binayad. I had a lot of reasons in mind (more like excuses) as to why I should not take the board exam anymore: I have no time and conducive place to study, I’m always tired, I have a lot of work to do, etc. In other words, “BURNOUT!”

Last September 1, I wearily talked to my mom and I told her that I would not review and take the board exam anymore. Surprisingly, she was okay with it. However, I was very much disappointed in myself. My spirit was uplifted (just a little bit) when I read my past devotions and prayed. But a friend’s post on Facebook about her struggles as she took her board exam encouraged me the most. That’s when I realized how big my God is and nothing is impossible with Him. I changed my phone’s wallpaper with this quote, “IF MY HEART IS OVERWHELMED, LEAD ME TO THE ROCK THAT IS HIGHER THAN I,” just to remind me that I have a God who I can lean on to in times of doubt and uncertainties.

Stage 3 - THE “I CAN DO THIS” STAGE

As the board exam was fast approaching, there were still times when I felt weary especially during drill reviews. My drill scores reminded me that I needed to study more. Still positive that I can do it even if time was not on my side.

One of my struggles was finding a good place to study since at work and home, studying was really impossible. Thus, cafe and milk tea shops became my best friends. After working hours or during days that I don’t have review or work, I hang out at these places. I even tried studying at the beaches of Guimaras (’twas nice and peaceful) and the crowded foodcourt of Robinsons just to test my concentration :). 

Days before the board exam, I took my leave from work. I became pretty much dormant during those days. I only go out when I needed to eat or take a bath. I wake up early in the morning and sleep late at night. And during break time, I either take a nap or go online shopping. Yey!

Two days before the exam, we had our final review. There were concepts that were truly foreign to me. I should have panicked then but I was still optimistic. As I always say, “Keribels!”

Stage 4 - THE “THIS IS IT” STAGE

On the day of the exam, I was surprised with myself. I was anxious but not to the point of panic. I’m melancholic during times like this but I was extremely calm. I was even able to sleep soundly the night before.

Throughout the 4 exams I took, I was smiling. I’m not saying I’m overconfident but I was just delighted that God made sure that I can answer every item in that board exam to the best of my ability. Since we were allowed to write on the test papers, I wrote ,”I WILL TOP THE BOARD EXAM ONLY BY GOD’S GRACE,” on every paper just to boost my confidence. When the two-day exam was over, I was convinced that I passed.

Stage 5 - THE “I PASSED” STAGE

It was a long seven-day wait for the results to come out. The high confidence level I had during the board exam and afterwards was still present. I knew I passed but there was still a bit of anxiety. My Psych friends and those who also took the board were already posting things like, “Ang score mo sa board exam doesn’t determine your worth as a person”, or “Never give up. Great things take time”. Some were discussing the answers to some questions on the exam. Good thing, activities here and there busied my mind that there was no room for worry or anxiety. A week after the board exam, I went to Manila with my co-teachers for a seminar. I was already thinking about what I would feel or how I would react after I knew I didn’t pass. “Would it affect my mindset during the seminar?” “Will I be able to focus?” Those questions just passed my mind. Nonetheless, I stayed positive.

November 7 - the day that I have been waiting for. Again, I was a little bit anxious. The results for the Fisheries Technologists Board Exam first came out. I was happy for friends who passed. Fellow Psych friends were already impatient since it was already past 5 pm and the results weren’t out yet. I decided not to check my FB or Messenger so I would not feel the same level of anxiety they felt. My co-teachers checked the results from time-to-time as well.

I was already asleep when my phone rang around 11:30 in the evening. I thought it was my alarm but I was wrong. My brother texted me that I passed. I checked the PRC page to confirm and voila, I surely did. I wasn’t able to sleep that night because of sheer happiness. We celebrated the next day over Kenny Rogers and ice cream. :)

After 5 months of ups and downs, my aspiring RPm journey is at its end. Oath taking (check). ID (check)! I want to share this story because I want to say thank you to all the people who supported me throughout this bumpy ride. During those moments when I doubted myself and I wanted to give up, God used many people to encourage me. Lines like, “Kaya mo na!”, “Waay na na napamangkot kung pasar or indi. Ang pamangkot da, kung ano ang rank!”, “Kapasar ka na!”, “Ara ka na naman! Positive lang bala!”, “Pray!” and “I can do it! I can make it! I will top the board exam and be the number 1″ (credits to RGO), helped me a lot. Family, friends, co-teachers, churchmates, RGO mumshies, and classmates, salamat kaayo!

Of course, how could I miss out being grateful to my Father for his unconditional patience especially during those moments I became faithless. All praises and honor are only His for He has given me the desire of my heart. <3 <3 <3</p>

As Marcos said, “Each generation writes its own history. Our forbears have written theirs. With fortitude and excellence we must write ours.“ 

To personalize, “With fortitude and excellence, I will write mine.”

TMVillacorta, RPm

Soon to be RPsy, RGC

#ServeThePeople #Honor&Excellence

[olla-village]

Language biography -My Chinese adventure

1. Here I am 18 years old

So, here I am, 18 years old confused monolingual… Finished my community college just to realize that I hate spending so much time in front of computer screens, writing code at nights, powered by coffee and greasy junk food.

 18 years old meant that I was an adult, at least both I and law of the country agreed on that… I could buy cigarettes, alcohol and tickets to other countries even if my parents were against it. I didn’t need to ask anyone’s permission. It felt like freedom. Freedom comes with responsibility, but that’s the whole different story.

 2.  It was time for something big It was time for something big.But for what? When I was younger I liked to travel to nearby cities by busses and hitchhiking. It was a mixture of being lost, on purpose… and finding something new after every trip. Traveling was my form of learning and escaping from problems at the same time.

 This time I was really lost.No direction. Hitchhiking for a week didn’t help. Yes, I tried. I needed a new medicine. I tried, like many of us nowadays, to find the answer online. Almighty Google knows it all.I didn’t know what to ask. So I decided to look at my bookmarks.

There was a website I read for more than 4 years. Or so. I guess. It is called Magazeta. They also do a podcast. Not some goofy cast, but LaowaiCast. They discuss everything about China through the eyes of laowais, speak Chinese fluently and seem to have all kinds of fun there in the mysterious country.

3. I decided to join them

I decided to become one of them, join this strange tribe. To become a laowai. A proper living in China laowai. And not an expat, who just hangs out with westerners, but a Chinese-speaking laowai. I figured out how much money I needed to study Chinese for a year, found 2 jobs that’d allow me to earn enough in 3 months. June, July and August. I became a taxi-driver, and began to work at a construction site. Not bad for a guy who majored in programming, eh? At least, there were no computers.At all. No screens, not even sunscreen. None of that, nada! I kept researching my new dreamland, China. Almighty Google told me that for my budget and for language learning Top2 options were Tianjin because Mandarin there is very standard, but it is cheaper than Beijing and Shenzhen, the most Mandarin-speaking city in Guangdong. I chose Shenzhen. It’s tropical and close to Hong Kong. I watched many Hong Kong movies as a kid and was interested in Kung Fu.

After working for 14 hours a day for 3 months I hated my jobs enough and was ready to fly to my dreamland. So I did. I kissed my parents and my girlfriend good bye and started my new scary laowai adventure. 4.  I didn’t learn Chinese before went to China I didn’t learn any Chinese before I went to Shenzhen because I read online that it’d destroy my pronunciation forever. So I followed advice of someone Almighty Google led me too. I was proud that I would’t learn broken pronunciation. Stupid. After a few, quite a few days of trains and planes, I arrived in Shenzhen. It was another planet. Humid, incomprehensible, green, terrifying and extremely friendly. No Kung Fu skills required. Beginner friendly.

I ordered a service of an interpreter who would meet me in the airport and help me to get to the hotel, the first and the last time in my life. He was quite surprised when I asked if he has a knife or at least keys when we got to an ATM. It was hard to explain why I sewed my bank-card in my pocket, but he understood that in my country people like to pick pockets. Not the best advertisement for a country, but I was determined and didn’t want to let thieves destroy my plan. 5.  Soon I didn’t go to lessons at all So I got a dorm room, figure out where I can buy pillow and started to learn Chinese in class, but soon I found that I was not able to say tones right and I was late for my writing classes on purpose, to skip that annoying dictation where I’d make a mistake in every character. Soon I didn’t go to lessons at all. I joined Wing Chun classes and hung out with other laowais and Chinese folks instead. My roommate also taught me some Chinese, especially survival kind of stuff or how to ask for cigarettes on the street, his teaching skills were particularly awesome when he was drunk. Sometimes when I met my classmates in campus they asked me why I gave up on learning Chinese, I said that I don’t go to classes, but I still learn Chinese. I hated that one guy who said he learns Chinese just to read stuff and that he doesn’t care about speaking since there’s no reason to talk with Chinese people, what a prick! I don’t hate him anymore. At that time I called my approach “just learn”. It meant learning without homework and tone drills. 6.  Laowai life was fun I spent 4 months like this. I was so busy practicing wing chun, playing football, buying fake shoes, hanging out and exploring Shenzhen that sometimes I forgot to eat for 2 or 3 days. That’s why I sometimes stole my roommate’s sushi that he’d get for free every night. Thanks to well-cooking people who lived in the girls’ dormitory, I was never hungry. I think I looked so skinny they just wanted to feed me on the level of instincts… Long story short, laowai life was fun, colorful and cheap for those who lived in campus. At least, it was for me. For 4 months or so. And then it was over.  The End. Game over. I had to go back home for what I call family reasons. I didn’t finish my 1 year Mandarin course. It was also hard to get my deposit money back, but I did. It was really good for my Mandarin skills. My WeChat was full of contacts. I packed all the tea, gifts I got from strangers in my friend’s dorm and stinky clothes. I was and wasn’t ready to leave. I told my friends that I’d be back for sure, which I doubted.

 The END or To be Continued? That is the question. At that moment, I connected language to living in that country. 7.  I missed China and Chinese Don’t live in China = don’t learn Chinese. So, obviously I gave up learning languages and broke up with my girlfriend. Luckily, I found a lazy job where I could play my phone almost all the time. For several months I just lived in my memories about China and felt some hole growing inside me. I didn’t understand where it was coming from. One cannot go and live abroad and then come back to the farm and pretend it didn’t happen. It is going to change anyone, no matter how hard this naïve person is trying to ignore it. I needed to fill that emptiness. I tried a few things. They didn’t work. Until one day I saw an ad about learning Chinese just by listening. Like literally sitting on my bottom, which I was already doing, I was even getting paid for that, and learning… Chinese! The language of my dream/nostalgia land. I was nowhere near fluency at that moment. Upperbeginner at best. I missed China and Chinese Pod became my new way to connect to the land of rice and cuteness. That emptiness inside was filled. Except for … it wasn’t. But things were getting better, way better. I felt alive again. Or maybe it was that nice Turkish coffee I was drinking while I listened to Chinese Pod? Then I thought that just listening, even good listening was not enough for that hole somewhere inside me. So I thought I need… people! But I still wanna sit on my bottom so if I find people online, I don’t need to spend extra time after job. Multitasking for the win. 8.  I started my new job I found hellotalk and some similar apps with similar names. Hellotalk was the best one, but at that time it was slow, sometimes a message was sent 4 hours or a day later, so I stole people from there by asking their whatsApp number. I started to realize that the missing ingredient in my life, besides people, was Chinese language. I also realized that escapism and dreaming about faraway lands was not an ideal solution. In search of a perfect combination of people and languages, I decided to join a university. I wanted to study Chinese, but they told me that they have teachers, but not so many students want to learn Chinese. Interpretation was not available that year. What a weird year! The only choice was teaching English, which sounded tasty at that moment, since I also wanted to change my job at that moment. I asked for all the details about exams and stuff. It was nice except for the fact that that stinking girl tricked me and I was preparing for master degree entrance exams instead of what I really needed because I was the first one who wanted to join that university that year and she didn’t really know what to tell me. It was a surprise, but I passed it super well, like top2 or something. Probably because I prepared for something way more difficult, thanks to that stinking girl. My score was a big surprise for me, since I’ve never been a top student. At the same time I started my new job. I was a tutor. Teaching kids English.1 on 1. Learning my major by practice. It was awesome. Language became my bread and peanut butter. 9.  I found my jam. It was olla. But I still needed jelly! Peanut butter sandwiches are fine, but they’re nothing like peanut butter jelly ones!

That Sunday I planned to have some rest for my brain and body. So I got a lot of nesquik and scrolled mindlessly through countless web pages full of memes and stupid videos. Until I saw an ad for a language learning app on some page where people who learn English hang out. In comments I read that most users were Chinese. These comments were written in a negative tone, but for me it was pure treasure. Here, I found my jam. It was olla. By that time, hellotalk and its clones were deleted and forgotten for a long time, but I gave olla as much of my precious SD storage and space on the screen as it wanted. I liked it for no particular reason, as I thought back then. Now I do understand that other apps couldn’t provide this kind of sense of community as olla did. It was alive, lively and vivid.

10.  It was addictive

It was a perfect place for me to practice my languages. My way to do it was to provoke people, often it meant arguing with them. I learned to be provocative in many languages. I also learned to pretend to be from different countries. The most difficult one was Australia. Controversy and gossip were my fuel. It was not just any drama, it was international. Better than Argentinian TV series! I tried many ways to catch attention, I hope that psychologists and my future employers don’t read how much of an attention seeker and drama queen I was. A few times I deleted an app and said it was shitty publically, while actually I loved it but was busy studying in my university and knew that I don’t have enough will power to keep studying while olla was still on my phone, it’d be too much of a distraction. It was addictive. Before I deleted it, I posted my email on olla plaza. Jessica was worried or surprised or something of this nature and wrote me an email. She helped me to deliver my messages to my biggest language buddy. It was one directional isolation and made me way more mysterious than I’ve ever been before. Because of me being such a d... dumbass, many people hated me, but many liked me. Many mentioned that they missed me, I knew it through gossip and screenshots. Imagine the size of my ego at that moment… After a while, I realized what other apps lacked completely and why they didn’t deserve my storage and screen space. Sense of community + drama, gossip and controversy (people crave it) + many people from different countries in the same room. Cultures don’t merge this way in 1 on 1 conversations. Other platforms also have many people from different countries,but they try to find you a match, a perfect partner. Perfect is boring. In olla people didn’t match perfectly and it was beautiful. It was colorful. It was my home anywhere I went. 11.  I couldn’t stay like this forever I couldn’t stay like this forever. All of us eventually get boring, also known as serious. I was a university student after all. Gotta be pretentious and stuff. They call it professional. I started to read a lot of SLA (Second Language Acquisition) research, just like people read news or comics. As a result, I realized that my“just learning” intuitive approach to languages was actually consistent with research. Even gossip and drama. But mostly community and compelling input. It is kind of the same thing.

Not only I pretty much filled that emptiness by languages, I also came to the point where my experience met science\research. Like yin and yang.

12.  I started to plan to get back to China After that, I decided to get my life together again and I started to plan how to get back to China. I didn’t get any good idea how to do it, but I started to save money and told my classmates and buddies that most probably I will go to China again. Fake it till you make it works every time. I also told some folks on olla about my plan. I really do consider olla to be my hometown and I did find real life friends there. I think it’s safe to say that I spent more time on olla than with my real life friends. I also spent a lot of time with my offline friends, but they can be less available than something tiny in my cheap phonethat opens the door to my friends. Wait, olla is real, so it’s also real life. People there are real. Language learning there is real as well. Wrong dichotomy. So I spent more time in my olla hometown than in another one because it felt warmer and closer.

My best language buddy who already became my friend decided to help me make my second laowai life happen much faster than I imagined and invited me to join olla team. I pretended that I am so cool and need to think for 1 day or so, like it is not a big deal, when in reality it was dreams come true type of deal, at that moment I was already packing my small backpack and getting ready for the second chapter of China. This time it was Guangzhou.

To be continued.

 You can read my language buddy’s story here

(my story https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/ollaolla.home.blog/40)

 Bear

2019/10/1

[richnursegroup]

The importance of health check-up

Image retrieved from: https://choosingwiselycanada.org/health-check-ups/

Regular health exams and tests can help find problems before they start. Regular health check-ups are essential because they help identify potential problems at an early stage. It is important to have a regular doctor who helps make sure you receive the medical care that is best for your individual needs. By getting the right health services, screenings, and treatments, you are taking steps that help your chances for living a longer, healthier life. When you're young and generally healthy, you might not need to see your health care provider too offer, but when you get older, the annual visit is still a good idea. Vaccines are very important too. We need to keep our vaccines up to date to prevent dangerous diseases.

Purpose of the periodic health examination:

As primary prevention

To identify risk factors for common chronic diseases

To detect disease that has no apparent symptoms (secondary     prevention)

As a way for the doctor to counsel people to promote healthy     behavior

To update clinical data since last checkup

To enhance the relationship between you and your doctor

Sources: EMedicine Health. 2018, October 10. General Medical Checkup. Retrived November 2019, from: https://www.emedicinehealth.com/checkup/article_em.htm#facts_about_and_definition_of_medical_checkups

~ Y. V.

                    Importance of Yearly Eye Exams

Retrieved from https://whelpleyandpaul.com/medical-eye-exams

Eye exams are extremely important as our eyes are our livelihood and we heavily depend on them for everything.

How frequent should you get your eyes checked?

According to the Mayo clinic, if you are between the ages of 20-30, you should get an eye exam every 5-10 years; ages 40-54, every 2 to four years; ages 55-64, every 1 to 3 years; every one to years after 65+.

For school-age children and adolescents, should have eye exam every 1-2 years at least before they enter the first grade.

Types of eye specialist doctors and what to bring

According to the Mayo clinic, there are 3 different types of eye specialists,

Ophthalmologist - medical doctors that perform comprehensive eye exams, prescribe corrective lenses, diagnose and treat eye diseases and perform eye surgery.

Optometrist - Provide similar services as ophthalmologist but do not perform eye surgery.

Optician - Do not provide eye health evaluations but fills prescriptions for eye glasses and sell contact lenses.

Why are routine eye exams important?

Eye exams are important to detect eye problems at their earliest stage when they are still treatable and it helps vision professionals to help correct your vision and adapt to any vision changes (Eye-exam, n.d.).

Eye exams are especially important in children where all children should have a comprehensive eye exam before the age of 6 months, another exam at 3 years old and one at age 5 or 6 right before they enter first grade (Heiting, 2019).

Sources

Eye-exam. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2019, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/eye-exam/about/pac-20384655?p=1.

Heiting, G. (2019, June). Why Back to School Eye Exams Are So Important. Retrieved November 4, 2019, from https://www.allaboutvision.com/eye-exam/children.htm.

~MW

Seeing an Allergist

An allergist is a physician that concentrates in the diagnosis and treatment of allergic disease and asthma. The allergist can help identify and teach you how to avoid triggers that activate allergies or asthma. Including finding any new or hidden sensitivities you may have not known about. Allowing you to live a healthier lifestyle and a more comfortable life as well. (Ferreira, 2019)

Image Source:

*, N. (2017, July 26). How do you know when it's time to see an Allergist? Retrieved November 4, 2019, from https://wasatchallergy.com/2016/04/27/know-time-see-allergist/.

Reasons to see an Allergist

Having a cold that doesn’t go away, such as a cough that is persistent. It may appear every night at bedtime or around the same time of year, such as springtime. This would most likely be an allergy.

Diarrhea after a certain meal, which an allergist can test you for food allergies and food intolerance's. A food allergy would occur quick or in 2 hours, such responses as a rash, swelling, hives, and trouble breathing. A food intolerance can start up to 3 hours after eating the meal, symptoms such as mild nausea, bloating, or diarrhea.

Waking up with itchy eyes in the morning. This could indicate an allergy to the dust mites that are on your bed. The allergist can test whether you have the allergy and teach you how to treat it.

These are only a few reasons to schedule an appointment with an allergist. You may also speak with your primary care provider about this matter and they may refer you to an allergist as well.

Source:

Ferreira, M. (2019, June 12). 7 Surprising Reasons To Go See An Allergist. Retrieved November 4, 2019, from https://www.prevention.com/health/a20510202/7-surprising-reasons-to-go-see-an-allergist/.

~C.Y.

Why Women Should be Going to the Gynecologist EVERY Year

Young women should begin making yearly visits to a gynecologist for a multitude of reasons. Although for some, it can be a particularly uncomfortable process, maintaining and taking care of our reproductive and sexual health is vital. Women should be visiting annually whether they are sexually active or not.

Here are some important reasons that women should be going to the gynecologist ever year:

Menstrual Periods: Women should be discussing their menstrual cycle with their GYN’s and addressing all aspects of it. Menstrual cycles have a lot to do with our overall health. Women should be telling their GYN’s about the length of their cycle, how heavy their flow is, and they should especially discuss any and all pain and discomfort they’re experiencing during their cycle. (Penn Medicine, 2016). What’s normal for one woman, might not be normal for another. Never assume your pain or discomfort is “normal”, always talk to your provider.

Birth Control & Sex: GYN’s are the number one person to help women find what type of birth control is right for them. New birth control medications and options are frequently coming into the market. (Penn Medicine, 2016) And it is always best to let your GYN know if your birth control is giving you any severe side effects, which may mean it’s time to find a new one. It is crucial to always be honest about sexual status, whether or not you’re sexually active, how many partners you have, etc. Annual or even semi-annual STD/STI tests are recommended depending on how frequently your sexual partner may change. Frequent and consistent STD/STI testing can help keep you safe and reduce the risk of more harmful conditions or long term effects of untreated STD/STI’s.

Clinical Breast Exam: GYN’s will do an annual breast exam during visits, which can be helpful if the patient misses something abnormal that should be further looked at and require additional screening for. Breast exams sound like they may be awkward or uncomfortable, but they are fast and painless. (Penn Medicine, 2016)

Vaccines: GYN’s are also a good source for vaccines, especially vaccines that have to do with sexual and reproductive health. For example, GYN’s will recommend the HPV vaccine for all women. (Penn Medicine, 2016)

Preconception Counseling: Your GYN will be able to help you determine if you're ready to have a baby in terms of physical health. Women need to be open about their lifestyle choices, family history, and environment they’re in, and whether or not that environment is ideal to conceive a child in. (Penn Medicine, 2016)

Mental Health and Wellness: I know what you’re thinking, it’s a gynecologist, not a therapist that you’re visiting. However, discussing your emotions and overall mental health can be an important topic to discuss with your GYN. Many women experience times in their life where their emotions are all over the place. Sometimes, these emotional experiences may have a specific cause, for example, postpartum depression or menopause. (Penn Medicine, 2016) Even if the aforementioned examples are not the reason for the emotional experiences, discussing it with your GYN may help and your GYN may be able to help you get to the bottom of it.

Sources:

Penn Medicine. (2016, August 24). Nine Reasons to Visit your OBGYN Annually. Retrieved November 2019, from: https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/womens-health/2016/august/nine-reasons-to-visit-your-obgyn-annually

Image:

Jones, Michael J. (2015, November 10). Health Works Collective. Choosing Your Medical Specialty: Obstetrics and Gynecology. Retrieved November 2019, from: https://www.healthworkscollective.com/choosing-your-medical-specialty-obstetrics-and-gynecology/

~L.C.

Adult Laboratory Screenings

Picture source: (Cholesterol Screening/ Cholesterol Lab Testing Market 2019-2025, 2019)

Part of an annual checkup is to have your annual screenings. Even if you feel like you are fine, it doesn’t mean you are entirely fine until some screenings are done. This will help assess rick for future medical problems, encourage a healthier lifestyle, and keep up to date on current vaccinations. (Health screenings for women ages 18 to 39, 2019)

Lipid Panel Screening is a screening to evaluate cardiac risks, cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels.  This is typically done every 5 years if the results come out normal. Blood Pressure Screening is to help monitor for high blood pressure or low blood pressure which needs to be checked more frequently if there is a family history or current illness of diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, or other diseases. Typically, if the systolic blood pressure is 140 or higher, the doctor will recommend a diabetes screening. Some other reasons the physician will recommend a diabetes screening is based on a person is obese with a BMI (body mass index) greater than 30. Immunization screening is to make sure your vaccinations are up to date. The tetanus-diphtheria and acellular pertussis (Tdap) requires a booster every 10 years. The flu vaccination is recommended every year during flu season. HPV (human papilloma virus vaccine) is recommended at the age of 18-26 yrs old. (Health screenings for women (men) ages 18 to 39, 2019) Basic Metabolic Panel is also checked to measure glucose, sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, carbon dioxide, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine levels. It is important to maintain stable metabolic levels especially if diagnosed conditions require intake of medications which would alter these levels. Urinalysis is done to check for kidney disease or diabetes. Complete blood count screening is to ensure there is normal red and white blood cells and platelets in the body, abnormality can mean that there is other health conditions and additional screenings are needed (Common Lab Tests, 2019).

Sources:

Cholesterol Screening/ Cholesterol Lab Testing Market 2019-2025: Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Quest Diagnostics, Eurofins Scientific, Spectra Laboratories, Unilabs, Synlab International. (2019, July 2). Retrieved November 2019, from https://www.ahealthcareindustry.com/cholesterol-screening-cholesterol-lab-testing-market-2019-2025-laboratory-corporation-of-america-holdings-quest-diagnostics-eurofins-scientific-spectra-laboratories-unilabs-synlab-international/.

Common Lab Tests. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2019, from https://www.martinhealth.org/common-lab-tests-mhs.

Health screenings for women ages 18 to 39: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2019, from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007462.htm.

Health screenings for men ages 18 to 39: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2019, from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007464.htm.

-KW