#should probably do warmups in general anyway!

[werewolfbarista]

lykoi trollsona:)

(any pronouns)

[skadream]

happy ummm 8th month on t? (9th if i were actually on t continuously but i ran out for a month that one time) i used to do monthly t updates on tiktok but i dont rlly feel like doing that rn so i'll yap about it here (its actually wild how little stuff i have about my transition on my tumblr generally speaking? as if this isnt the website that transed my gender in the first place)

it really is hard to notice such gradual changes from month to month, especially if its just me lookin at myself, compared to seeing a doctor in person which, i am getting rx'd T thru telehealth currently as my nearest planned parenthood or even a neighboring one does not actually do gender affirming care which is. insane and whack. esp when i do live in a pretty populated county maybe second or third to nyc and albany area. and i have to call in to a pp THREE HOURS BY TRANSIT from me. but like, its been working for now ok!

mentally and emotionally ive been very up and down overall but i think thats largely due to my medication changes rather than hormones. ALTHOUGH. when i ran out for a month in november and my period came back... dude it was so horrible like genuinely the worst period of my life. its one of those things where i didnt realize just how dysphoric something could make me feel until i had a taste of being able to alleviate said dysphoria. so mentally speaking testosterone is probably pulling the mental train even more than the wellbutrin lol. and im trying not to account too much for circumstance/environment cuz like OBVIOUSLY if things were going smoothly for me there a lot of my emotional issues would be at least somewhat relieved, but im working with what i got.

physically, since starting t in july i have lost weight. at first i was very scared it was my medication, and i think a part of it was at least a little, like two of my meds can cause some weight loss, but i am no longer losing weight in a concerning way but just yknow the regular amount of daily fluctuation. so i do think a lot of my weight loss was due to hormones just shifting around my fat and all that, or something idk lol. everyones so diff with hormones, i know some trans guys gain weight on t and not necessarily from muscle training, i know girls on e who have lost weight without any changes to diet or exercise, it really depends so as always, this is just my experience etc etc

i do have more facial hair but its still quite patchy, i think i might start filling in my stache tho. with my shitty goatee, its not my fav so i shave it off when im not just sitting inside all day, but also idk it makes my chin feel less. round. or smth. i do always think of my one friend telling me ill look like the lead singer of a nü metal band and honestly maybe i should start giving that energy more anyway! embrace goatee lifestyle!

oh yeah my voice dropped in like the first two months and has gotten deeper since, and on timtom i talked a lot about wanting to maintain the vocal range i had pre-t? i dont think thats fully possible like i think the highest notes i used to reach are just inaccessible to me, but i think if i did some like vocal singing warmups i can get back up to reach those higher notes. in retrospect the way ive sung my whole life has actually prob been destructive on my voice, partly from lack of proper training and partly intentionally trying to sound deeper and more gravelly, but now that i can access deeper sounds more naturally i really do wanna work on singing in a better way where i can reach some of those notes.

overall yea im liking whats happening so far, i do wish it was happening faster but i understand that some people dont get the progress ive gotten for like, YEARS, and new progressions will be happening to me for years after today. if you think about "real" puberty, it is a gradual shift its not like you suddenly grow a chest as soon as you Bleed or whatever its different for literally every person and since im the only one in my family that i know of who has done this, im kind of a guinea pig. but like im okay with that! anyway yeah really recommrnd testosterone if u want it i like it :)

[late-to-the-fandom]

Writing Questions Tag Game

I was tagged by @mrsmungus … a week ago? I no longer have any concept of time whatsoever. I also have no idea who has done this so I’m tagging a few and if I missed yours I apologize

Tagging: @shipping-through-eternity @mousterian-writes @velvethopewrites @diaryofomellas @unknownogre @frostedlemonwriter @tidesages @kharrisdawndancer

1. What is your absolute all-time favorite idea you've ever had? I loved my non-linear storytelling in Light & Shadows. It was so much fun to write and read and it’s really ruined regular chaptered fics for me now 😅

2. Is there a question you've been asked in the past that really stands out to you and you still think about sometimes? I was asked once on a very old fic how my writing flowed so easily it didn’t even feel like reading. Which is one of my favourite things I’ve been told but the answer is I wish I knew so I could do it all the time.

3. What is your favorite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave? The beginning and the end. I love the conception, the outlining, the planning, the seeing the scene in my head, hearing the dialogue unfold - and I love the completed product where I can finally sit down and read what I saw in my head out loud. The middle part where I’m actually choosing word after word gets hairy, especially when my preconceived notion of how a scene should go turns out to be wrong and I’m fighting the characters.

4. What is your greatest motivation to write/create? There is a story I want to read and it doesn’t exist yet so I have to write it.

5. What is the best piece of advice you've ever read or been given as a writer? To not take writing advice from anyone whose writing you don’t personally appreciate. They’re trying to lead you in a direction you don’t want to go anyway.

6. What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing? It’s ok to have the same word appear in the same paragraph. Sometimes it just has to be done and it’s ok.

7.What is your favorite story you've written TO COMPLETION? Link it if you'd like and can! This is like asking me to choose my favourite child. I can’t do it. I love all of them. The most popular I’ve ever written is here. The one I’m proudest of just based on how long it took me and how hard it was is here.

8.What is your favorite out-of-the-box quote?Lee Smith said, “a writer is someone who is writing not someone who is publishing,” and I think that tends to be forgotten. Fanfiction is generally considered (even by those who write it) as the warmup to “real” writing and I disagree whole heartedly. I think there are probably on the whole more meaningful and beautiful fanfics then there are original novels because the people who write fanfic are doing it out of love for characters more than wanting to write something they think they can sell (not universally true anymore, but still a general principle)

9. Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so and how do you personally feel about their ideals? I think both Renathal and the Maw Walker have some controversial principles, which I like about them because I never wanted them to be good/bad coded. Renathal is straight up pro-torture and espouses the benefits of suffering for atonement. The Maw Walker has a jaded opinion on life in general and is willing to kill whoever she’s told without thinking too deeply about it. I don’t agree with either of those things myself but it’s who they are.

10. If you when you first started writing met you now, what would younger you think? I think she would be happy to find out that I came back from a two year hiatus. I hope she would be impressed at the improvement in our prose. I think she would be stunned at the ambitious projects (for us) I’m attempting to take on and worried (even more than I am) that they’re still out of our writing depths.

[mosquitoguyinc150]

Are Ticks and Mosquitoes a Concern in the Winter?

With winter weather upon us, you might have decided to store your insect repellent in the back of the closet until next spring. Well, you might want to dig it back out, especially if you’re still doing a lot of pandemic-friendly outdoor activities like hiking or camping. Some species of ticks can be active during winter. And if you live in a warm enough area (or are traveling to one), that goes for mosquitoes, too.

Here’s what you need to know about protecting yourself from mosquito- and tick-borne illness when the weather gets cold.

The Ticks That Are Active in Winter

In general, the species of ticks that transmit diseases to humans in the U.S. tend to become inactive during the winter. The combination of cold weather and shorter days triggers a kind of hibernation, known as diapause.

There are two important exceptions to this rule, however: the black legged tick (also known as a deer tick) and its cousin that lives on the West coast, the western black legged tick. These are the two ticks that transmit Lyme disease in the U.S., and they are likely to be active when we get a little warmup spell in the winter.

The reason is that some of the adult black legged ticks may not have found a meal before the end of the fall. Because the female adults need to feed in order to lay eggs in the spring, those that haven’t found a meal don’t go fully dormant during the winter. Instead, they can become active whenever the temperature rises above freezing (to about 35° F) and when there’s no snow on the ground.

And black legged ticks may carry not only Lyme disease but also a “whole laundry list” of other pathogens, including anaplasmosis, babesiosis, the deadly Powassan virus, and more.

What About Mosquitoes in Winter?

In the fall of 2019, you may have heard reports of a surprisingly high number of human cases of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus, a mosquito-borne disease that can be fatal in as many as 30 percent of people who contract it. Although the disease is extremely rare overall, with an average of just seven cases reported across the whole country per year, in 2019 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 36 cases of the illness.

By wintertime, however, the risk from EEE—already very low—is over in most areas. The possibility of another case can’t be 100 percent ruled out in the event of an unseasonable warmup, but the chances are extremely low.

Generally, in cold weather—below 50° F, mosquitoes aren’t active.

Still, even in areas with year-round mosquito activity, the numbers of buzzing bugs will probably be lower than during the warmer seasons. The risk of being bitten is low, and the risk of contracting a disease is even lower.

Protect Yourself From Insects in Winter

Even though black legged ticks bite during winter, the risk of contracting an illness is lower than it is during the peak seasons for these pests, in the spring and summer. Still,  tick control  dennis ma is very important because ticks are out looking for a winter meal.

If you’re hiking, hunting, or even doing yard work in an area where black legged ticks live, you should take precautions against ticks on any above-freezing days.

The nice thing about winter is you tend to wear more clothing anyway, which can help keep ticks away from your skin. You can use tick control spray hyannis ma to your boots and clothes with an insect repellent, or treat your clothing with the pesticide permethrin, which can disable or kill ticks on contact. And check yourself for ticks at the end of every day that you’ve been out in their habitat.

Don’t forget to keep your pets protected as well, with a vet-recommended anti-tick medication.

If you’re in an area where mosquitoes are still active during winter, it’s a good idea to use repellent when you might be exposed to them—even though the risk is low.

[olivelearnsart]

2023-03-04:

...Hmm? Oh, right, I have an art tumblr. Should... probably try doing more art huh. Look, in my defense, uh, art is difficult and I have a very hard time keeping motivated in general, much less to keep up a routine with something I'm so unpracticed at. (See that? Instead of calling myself bad, I call myself something that basically means bad, but less self-critical. Mental health!) On the brightside, I got a bunch of my friends to start watching one of them play through Omori, so I have that going for me. Honestly, that game is one a list of like, six games total that permanently destroyed me mentally (among such gems as Undertale and One Shot.) It's so good, and I really hope I can keep them all focused long enough to actually finish it. I really want them to feel as Emotion as the game made me feel. (:

Oh right anyways the art this time is that I traced over the art for Omori. Since the last post, I've given that desk over to my little brother (so he can be loud up in our room instead of the office) and so my tablet is now back to sitting at my main computer. Consider this a warmup of sorts, because if you do that then it implies more art coming next, and I really do want to get good at drawing, I promise. Also, maybe some other stuff, too. Music is a form of art, and so is writing, both of which really interest me too. And if I can become good enough at all three of those, then I'm already good at coding, so I'll have all the skills needed to make a video game solo! Some sort of full-stack game designer. ...Or just, an indie dev really.

Wow, this was supposed to be, like, half a paragraph. Not three. Guess I just had a lot to say since last time, huh. Who would have guessed? I only had 4 months to build up. With luck, and a bit of determination too, my next post will come much sooner, and with actual original art! I'll write to you then!

-Olive

[chalkrevelations]

Huh.

Well, this is not the next episode reaction you were expecting, but a while back, in the middle of the night, while I was ready to cry from working on a pharmacology paper, out of nowhere, Youtube threw up Street Dance of China S3 Ep1 at me. And yeah. I am, admittedly, f’kn weak for a dance show. (There are enough SYTYCD episode reax on my old Livejournal that I feel there’s no point denying this.)

So – no, actually, wait. FIRST of all, I do NOT believe the “towel vote” we ended up being given for the opening routines from the four captains. That was the most blatant bit of bullshit chicanery I’ve seen in my LIFE, and I say this as a person with a ton of SYTYCD episode reax on my old Livejournal, and I also say this not because Wang Yibo ended up last (well, not entirely), but because I saw Wallace Chung’s routine. As someone closer in age to him than to the other three captains, I have to give him props for trying, but come on, man. The critique that Yibo got from random contestants – if the subtitles are to be believed, so I realize this needs a grain of salt - basically boiled down to “it was too good for the stage lighting.” :hands: Also, I saw your face at the reveal, Wallace, and you were as shocked as I was. No way you got more towels/votes than Wang Yibo. Not unless there’s some super wild undercurrent of nostalgia propping you up, which, I guess could happen, because literally all I know about pop culture in China, current or otherwise, is filtered through Tumblr and Youtube, both notoriously suspect, but … anyway. There’s got to be a TON of behind-the-scenes manipulation going on for Yibo to be rock-bottom with last pick of teams but then also to end up with THAT pool of possibles. Are you kidding me with this?

ANYWAY, what I wanted to say is that I actually really like Wang Yibo here, and it’s not just because he’s the only captain I have even a sliver of familiarity with, and it’s not just because Lan Wangji was banging Wei Wuxian. I do realize all of this is influenced by whatever edit they’ve decided to give a particular captain or contestant, but I’m impressed with the way Yibo immediately starts team building by getting his group into a warmup, getting them dancing together, getting them dancing with him before they have to worry about dancing for him. (I mean, come on, Jackson Wang. The way to get people to stop being nervous is not to say “Stop being nervous! It will make you fuck up!”) The way Yibo immediately recognized and responded to his group’s concerns about that one dude copying someone else’s routine probably also bought him a lot of return investment. He’s dressed to work it, in his sweats and his flannel (what IS that fake-leather TAC vest and random leg holster-looking thing, Jackson Wang?). He’s convincing me he really loves to dance, he can’t hold still while he watches the contestants, he’s wandering over into other captains’ turf when it sounds like there’s a dancer performing who he might like to see, he’s being the best Yibo he can be, and I’m grooving along, wind in my hair, totally down for this ride. He’s also adorable at the beginning when all the other captains are like, my goal for this season is to slaughter the competition and dance on their graves! And he’s like, well, I’d like to … make some friends? And learn some new stuff? I don’t know if the perpetual Humble Student schtick is natural or persona, or whether it’s general or specific to dancing, but it’s working for you, my dude. This is also made better (read: ironic), by the fact that it’s immediately before the towel reveal, when he flips over to utter disbelief and gets all sulky for a while over the “fact” that his dance routine got the least votes.

Also, OH WAIT. This is where that clip of Yibo dancing with his crew ALL OVER HIM came from that I saw floating around a few months ago, isn’t it? You’re telling me those guys had never danced together before and had like, three minutes to throw together that routine? I’m even more impressed than before. Meanwhile, the towels symbolize courage and challenge, Mr. Emcee? OK, fine, cheesy reality show blah blah whatever. Can we get to the dancing now?

I’m going to put the rest of this behind a cut, because it got super long, because it turns out, when you watch in 5-minute increments, it takes two and a half weeks to get through a single episode, but you actually can see and have opinions on all 5,328 contestants, plus every single one of the captains’ battles. Meanwhile, I’m trying to convince myself this is not going to be another series of episode reactions, but 1) I do have the benefit of not having a ton of hometown media giving me a next-day play-by-play, so even though this is six months old, everything’s a surprise; 2) I am, admittedly, f’kn weak for a dance show; and 3) it’s easy to watch in 5-minute increments between researching drug interactions in hypothetical hypertensive patients with stable ischemic heart disease, erectile dysfunction, and seasonal allergies. So, I guess we’ll see. It’ll be slow going, though, because I don’t ever have two and half hours to sit down and watch an ep cover-to-cover – if it happens, it will likely keep happening in 5-minute increments. Meanwhile, there is a metric shit-ton of nattering below the cut, so caveat lector. No, seriously, I kept adding to this little by little until it became a monster. Hashtag long post (remorseful).

OK, I am generally out of my depth here, as this is not at all my area of dance not-really-expertise, but some reactions:

Team Wang Yibo: I can see why he didn’t want to choose between Colin and Dian Men – Colin might have been a touch better technically and a better showman, but Dian Men didn’t seem to have a single wasted move – but, also, my dude. Yibo. You maybe should look a little bit less stunned and overwhelmed by the mere presence of Colin, it’s giving me ideas about your taste in men. Continuing with the powerhouses, I probably shouldn’t even attempt to critique Klash, but I did feel like he was a bit stiff in some of his footwork; that final V kick, though, shit, that’s what having that kind of upper-body strength is for. Bouboo … I mean, excellent flexibility and control, of course, but mainly I’m just terribly amused that Yibo got last pick of teams but somehow ended up with the guy who’s literal world champion, and who’s just as useful for getting into the other captains’ heads – without even trying – as he is for his talent. And then there’s a montage of Yibo giving out towel after towel after towel, and my dude, you cannot keep up this pace. There are still too many dancers to see, and you don’t have that many towels. AAANNNND Towel Battle #1 (See Footnote 1).

Team Jackson Wang: I do like Gai Gai, although that may be influenced by the fact she’s working in the twilight area between hip-hop and contemporary that I have more familiarity with - but also, I suspect she’s pretty good in her genre. I thought Xiao Jie was inconsistent and didn’t stick the landing on his initial attempt, so I have to give you that hesitation, Jackson, even though you’ve somehow ended up the villain in my inner narrative for this show, for no particular reason I can yet discern. Maybe it’s that you’re the direct competition for Yibo’s team in the towel battles. Good enough. Anyway, Xiao Jie definitely stepped up his game for the battle with Bingo, so I can kind of see why both of them got a towel, but we’re not even halfway through this, and most of y’all are giving away towels like you have an endless supply. Yang Kai is a fucking menace with fantastic musicality, and I’m just gonna say it and take the fallout - I think he gave a better performance first time out of the gate than any of Yibo’s powerhouses did. Whatever power Klash has got, whatever skill Bouboo has got, Yang Kai feels more explosive and engaging, at least in these initial showings. He’s going to be one to beat, I’d hug him too, if he was on my team and was going to help me WIN. Yibo’s probably lucky that happened during his little stroll over to check out the competition, so that he can see they’re definitely competitive and be prepared for it. Also, Jackson, I have to admit - that face you made when Chao really kicked in? That was the same face I made, because wt actual f, you have a literal secret weapon – secret because he CAME FROM NOWHERE and NO ONE EVEN KNOWS him, how is that even possible, how did he get that good – fluid, creative, controlled, incredible musicality - without anyone having any idea who he even is? And then there’s a montage of Jackson just giving out towel after towel after towel, and my dude, you need to slow down. You can’t just be like, “THEY LOVE DANCE WITH ALL OF THEIR WHOLE HEARTS!!!!1111!!!!11!” I get it, but everyone there loves dance with all of their whole hearts, and there are not enough towels to send all of them on to the next round. ANNNND, Towel Battle #1 (See Footnote 1).

Team Lay Zhang: lol at how diplomatic you’re being, Lay Zhang – your team’s fierce roar startled you, OK. At this point, I suspect you’re the street most likely to have a knife fight break out before this is all over. I do like Alex, I think he’s got a lot of interesting, super-clean details in his moves, and he’s engaging - I cannot BELIEVE you made him battle that dude whose moves were so mushy, Lay Zhang, it leaves me doubting your ability to judge this thing. At first I thought maybe you were just looking for an excuse because you wanted to see Alex freestyle, but then you actually said something about both dancers being equal, and my estimation of you plummeted, and also sadly, my sound dropped out for the actual battle, including the part where the clearly inferior dancer fell over and then accidentally POPPED ALEX ONE IN THE EYE, and I TOLD YOU SO. I do agree it’s a good idea to make dancers in the same genre do some battling, so you can kind of plan out your towels and put together a team with broad strengths, instead of giving out towels like you’re making it rain for the first 20 contestants, and then you have 1,375 more people to get through, with 3 towels left, as EVERYONE ELSE seems to be doing, so it’s nice that at least one of you guys is thinking – if not actually acting - strategically. That was clearly not even a contest, though, GIVE ALEX HIS TOWEL and send him to the next round. Xiao Bao is hilarious, with his concern that his team captain, who’s into krump, which is “beating,” isn’t going to appreciate his waacking, which is “slapping.” I also don’t know a whole lot about waacking, so thanks for the primer, Xiao Bao, and don’t worry, your performance is just as engaging for those of us who don’t know what we’re watching as you are generally. You deserve that towel for your ability to interact with and engage your audience, alone. Lingo is a good solid performance, although he’s got his team captain strategizing edited over some of it, and here’s the thing: we are 1:56:00 into this, at this point, with another half hour to go, and all of you are starting to disappear into the sea of dancers who are very good at what you do, but at generally the same level? Anyway, Lingo, I approve of your ability to interact with your audience (read: your captain) to ensure engagement, too, so keep that up. Annnd, we actually haven’t seen that much of you guys, but it’s time for Towel Battle #2 (See Footnote 2).

Team Wallace Chung: I’m glad Su Lian Ya insisted on performing, I thought she started off slow but warmed up, and that ending was creepily fantastic and had me spontaneously grinning at the screen in delight. Then we lose sight of this group for a really long time, actually. We go back to find Wallace putting through a couple of urban dancers who we barely see, but who apparently claim to have some choreography experience, and he really likes that. TI shows up, and they’re solid, but honestly, not as good in this performance as they were in some of the stock footage the show threw up to introduce them, but Wallace remains super-excited about the idea of choreography and sends at least choreographer Zhang Jiang Peng through to the next round. And then, we really haven’t seen that much of you guys, either, which maybe doesn’t bode well, but it’s time for Towel Battle #2 (See Footnote 2).

FOOTNOTE 1, aka TOWEL BATTLE ONE, Team Yibo vs. Team Jackson, 3V3 freestyle: First of all, I have to say, I love Yibo - Mr. I Just Wanna Make Some Friends And Have Some Fun - being all, “I have three crappy white towels I’m stuck with for coming in last place that I can’t use to send dancers to the next round and that I DO NOT DESERVE, and I am getting BACK the colorful towels that ARE RIGHTFULLY MINE. I am coming for whoever is in my way.” Team Yibo is Bouboo, Klash, Dian Men, and OK, given what we’ve seen so far, that’s the safe choice, but honestly, I think we’re just taking some things for granted right now, and I’m not sure they actually have given the best performances so far. Yeah, I said it. Team Jackson is Yang Kai, Chao, and Xiao Jie, and … ok, on that last one, I think you probably could have substituted Bingo, but all right. Yang Kai is a definite yes. Chao will be great if he can stay out of his own head and not psych himself out, but given what we’ve seen so far, he’s an obvious pick. First round, Yang Kai vs. Klash, and Yang Kai is still a fucking menace, with super lines. Klash definitely stepped up his game for the battle, and I can’t get over the upper body strength he’s got, to get that kind of airy bounce in his moves, but to be honest, I can’t even be mad the first round went to Yang Kai and Team Jackson. Second round, Yang Kai is still … y’all, the beautiful lines from this guy in his poses, I can’t get over them, but I think he doesn’t have the stamina, his footwork is getting sloppy. Bouboo also steps up his game for an actual battle, his fluidity and control is amazing, and yeah, round to Team Yibo. Round three, Xiao Jie gives it a decent effort, but the polish isn’t there; meanwhile Bouboo is still in champion mode, and I was kind of surprised this was a split vote and went to another round. Xiao Jie absolutely surprised me, coming back stronger on his second try, although I suppose a more familiar genre helped, but Bouboo continues in champion mode. Round four, Chao looks like he’s going to throw up right before he steps out there, and then as soon as the music starts, it’s like, he doesn’t even think. The music just moves him. I feel like his dance vocabulary is more limited than Bouboo’s, though, and Bouboo’s flow is amazing at this point, so I feel like the judges just want to drag this out and see more dancing when we go to one more round. Strong effort all around, but yeah, round four and two towels to Team Yibo. I can’t really complain about that. I do feel like Yibo’s powerhouses have been holding back until now, though, and I’m not sure how I feel about THAT.

FOOTNOTE 2, aka TOWEL BATTLE TWO, Team Zhang vs. Team Wallace, 3V3 w/ captain: lol, Team Zhang really wants someone to pick the Sailor Moon song because they know Xiao Bao and his waacking will tear it up. Anyway, Team Zhang includes Lingo and Xiao Bao, who does not get his Sailor Moon song and continues to be hilarious in his disbelief about being chosen to participate in this battle, when he’s not looking almost as sick as Chao from Team Jackson before HIS performance. Team Wallace includes Su Lian Ya – and honestly, despite how I’m getting ready to bag on him for the entire rest of this battle recap, I like that Wallace put one of his female dancers up there for the battle - and some dude named Ba that they haven’t given us any footage of, up ‘til now, at least that I can remember and who I … don’t even know has been formally given a towel and sent on to the next round, yet? Oh wait, he must have, because there’s talk in the pause for choreography about somehow using the towels during the battle. Wallace relies on Su Lian Ya and Zhang Jiang Peng to choose Ba, and then Ba ends up choreographing a lot of the performance, at least from the edit we see. I continue to feel you may be in over your head, Wallace. This feeling … is not assuaged by your performance in the first round, which is fine, but not really up to the level of almost anyone whose name I’ve bolded so far in this entire recap. Also, using the towels was a cute idea, but it doesn’t translate well, and Team Wallace has a lot of wasted time throwing the towels around instead of actually. You know. Dancing. Lingo gets a credible solo during Team Zhang’s performance, and even though Xiao Bao is clearly lost during a good bit of his backup dancer duties, he manages not to throw up, which – given this team’s general skill level – should be enough to give them the first round, EXCEPT SOMEHOW Team Wallace gets the point from the judges, who then try to justify this inexplicable decision by saying Team Wallace had better interaction, I guess because of the hot mess with throwing the towels around, but adding that Team Zhang was more scattered, which what? More scattered than the hot mess with the towels? I’m not buying this. I can’t tell if they’re propping up Wallace or fucking with Lay Zhang’s head, but I’m having bad acid flashbacks to the many and varied ways dance show judges will try to gaslight you, telling you that things you just saw with your very own eyes did not actually happen when it’s right there! On camera! Visible, despite whatever edit bs you’re pulling! ANYWAY, they’re definitely managing to fuck with not only Lay Zhang’s head, but Xiao Bao’s, and Xiao Bao still doesn’t seem to have his choreography down, but they manage to pull it together enough to take the second round, which to be honest is kind of a muddled mess on everyone’s part. The only one who really stands out to me on this go’round is Su Lian Ya, but OK, Team Zhang might have had it slightly more together as a unit. And then, yeah, OK, I think they were fucking with Lay Zhang’s head, because we then find out that, holy shit, the song the show powers-that-be chose for the tie-breaking third round is that gd Sailor Moon song, and we can all see the writing on the wall. Poor Team Wallace is no match for Xiao Bao, who frankly, carries this entire round on his shoulders without breaking a sweat and barely needs any backup dancers to do it. There’s some ridiculously dramatic reveal of scoring, with the judges dragging out their decisions like this was any actual contest - I’m beginning to suspect that some of them grew up with Wallace Chung posters on their bedroom walls - but finally, round and towel to Team Zhang.

Cut to a little bit of Next Time On, and wow, the first two-and-a-half-hour episode is over, and we aren’t finished with the initial round yet. It’s gonna be Christmas before I make it halfway through this season.

[sincerelyreidburke]

Can we hear more about the time nando got in a fight on the ice and got ejected 👀👀👀 and why this upset quinn?? 👀👀👀

Yes, let’s absolutely talk about this. And please do forgive me for the slight delay on this one, as I was getting my thoughts together.

Here’s the original post where I brought this up, in the context of a bunch of reasons Quinn would get mad at Nando. Since apparently “Quinn and Nando fighting or bickering” is a train of thought we’ve been on in the past 24 hours (this post went up yesterday, about their first Actual Big Fight), let’s go down this road now.

TW: on-ice homophobia, implied racism, and general hate. I won’t type out any slurs, of course, but I’ll imply some really shitty things being said by a Bad Guy.

(Ask me anything about the crickets!)

- So a little backstory. We’ve established that Nando is a walking target for some of the ugliest hate hockey culture can spew. Is this his fault? Of course not. Nando should not have to deal with so much awful just for being who he is in the sport he loves. But does this cause him difficulty growing up in the sport and playing in college, despite being unjust? Absolutely, yes.

- The thing about Nando is that while guys on opposing teams (and, pre-Samwell, sometimes his own teammates) won’t hesitate to throw hateful chirps his way, Nando is also a.) not afraid to stand up for himself, and b.) gigantic.

- Look, all I’m saying is, if I were an asshole on an opposing team, I wouldn’t make fun of the biggest guy on the ice. No matter how much my toxic urges were telling me to do so.

- But Nando also doesn’t like always having to be a ‘violent’ player on the ice. He’s a d-man, and an enforcer, and a lot of his retaliation for the hate he gets comes in the form of legal checks, concentration on defending one player, light tousles after whistles, that kind of thing.

- He’s always trying to find the balance between standing up for himself (and people like him who get the same treatment) and getting in trouble for fighting too much. We know Nando’s off-ice personality, and we know he isn’t aggressive in the slightest. On-ice Nando isn’t afraid to get in a scuffle, but he doesn’t like getting in huge fights on the regular.

- The one little confrontation he got in in this fic is pretty demonstrative of how he is on the ice, usually. In that situation, somebody makes a dirty move and trips Touille, and Nando jumps to defend him, then gets in a little tousle with the guy, winds up getting penalized, and is smug when he goes to the box. Nando is generally pretty shameless about fighting when it means he’s standing up for teammates or friends.

- He doesn’t really start fights unprovoked. There’s always a cause.

- Okay, so my point going through all of this is to establish that Nando walks a careful line between standing up for himself and others and trying not to constantly get penalized or thrown out because of the roughing he gets into. I don’t mean roughing in the technical hockey penalty sense of the word; I just mean fighting.

- Anyway. Nando doesn’t get thrown out of games often. Tousling on the ice is a part of hockey, and it has to get really bad for you to get ejected, at least from what I understand about the game. (I’ve never played, but I’ve grown up in some serious hockey country, and I’ve watched my fair share of NHL, college, and youth-level games.) I actually would say that at Samwell, Nando probably doesn’t get ejected more than maybe once before this incident that I’m going to talk about right now.

- It takes a lot for him to get into a fight that’s ejection-level. For the one time it happens prior to this, I think there was likely some kind of really awful racial hate speech being thrown around on the ice, and he just can’t not fight back about that kind of stuff.

- So finally, we reach the incident you actually asked about. This is junior year. It’s once the season has already been going on for a little while, probably one of the last games of fall semester or one of the first of spring semester.

- Quinn is manager. Therefore, he travels with the team and sits on the bench for games. This is notable because this is, although not directly, the cause of the incident.

- I wrote in this Quindo facts post about some little routines they adopt once Quinn becomes manager, and the one I want to bring to your attention now is the little pregame tradition they have where Nando skates over to him on the bench and gets a little kiss. It’s always just a quick peck and a few words of encouragement from Quinn to him, and it’s very very soft. It starts probably around the second or third game of the season, and they just wind up adopting it as a post-warmup pre-puck-drop ritual.

- Why? Look, there are several reasons. First, they love each other. So jot that down. But kissing on the bench, in plain sight of plenty of college-hockey-TV-broadcast cameras and potential NHL scouts and spectators and opposing team members, isn’t just about their own internal relationship. That’s a deliberate and intentional action that they take because they want to make the ice a safe place.

- This is really important to Nando in particular. He grew up fully aware of how hateful hockey can be, and by doing this— kissing his boyfriend in plain sight before every game he plays— he’s making an active statement about himself and about the fact that there is a place for people like him in the game. He’s continuing, in a sense, what Jack and Bitty started.

- But. Of course, this decision comes with its own difficulties.

- I think Quinn is fully conscious, and a little wary, of the fact that being open about his relationship with Nando as he assumes the position of manager will mean that Nando could be targeted on the ice for even more hate than he already gets. Nando is openly gay, but this situation puts his specific relationship a bit more on display, and, well... okay, let’s just say I feel like it would be much easier to target a guy for his gay relationship when his boyfriend is literally sitting twenty feet away on the bench.

- My point is: Nando wouldn’t change his openness about his relationship with Quinn for a second, but it does create another way for opposing teams to jab at him.

- Look, hockey is, as a whole, a really cruel, really toxic sport, with an environment to match. And SMH is the most supportive team Nando could ask for, but that doesn’t mean that when they leave the confines of practice at Faber, everybody else is going to be just as loving and welcoming.

- So they’re at this game. It’s a home game. Nando and Quinn go about their usual pregame business, and some particularly assholish guy on the other team takes note of that.

- Samwell is losing the game. This guy, along with probably a few of his teammates, starts heckling Nando. It starts as just a few comments, and it grows steadily until he sort of ends up cornering him.

- Nando really tries so hard to let most things roll off his shoulders when it comes to the stuff that gets said to him on the ice. There’s so much of it, and he has so much practice just trying to brush it off. But this time is a little different. This time, the guy says something directly about Quinn.

- I don’t actually feel like typing out exactly what the guy says. Just use your imagination. There are a lot of really cruel words you can use, and he uses many of them. The details of the confrontation aren’t something I feel is necessary to lay out here.

- Something about this, combined with the pressure from the fact that they’re losing, and the way the guy is sort of threatening and menacing in the way he speaks, sends Nando over the edge.

- So they get in a fight. It’s your standard hockey fight; it’s just heated enough that they both get thrown out of the game.

- Quinn watches all of this go down from the bench, and the reason he gets mad is because they discussed the fact that Nando wasn’t going to get himself in trouble defending against cruel things said by people who don’t matter.

- That kind of thing gets lost in the heat of the moment. Quinn watches him get sent down the tunnel, and there are a number of things going through his head: one, that he really hopes he’s not injured too badly, and two, that he’s going to chew him out for getting himself in trouble.

- I think they have an argument after the fact — and I wouldn’t count this at all as a big fight but more just a chance for them to weigh their conflicting opinions. Quinn marches right up to him in the locker room and he’s sort of like, Sebastián, what were you thinking? You could be suspended! You know the disciplinary people aren’t going to go easy on you—

- And Nando is like, baby, but if you heard what he said—

- And they go back and forth for a minute, like: I couldn’t just stand there and let him say that shit about you / but Sebastián, you know people are going to be awful about us; why would you let that jeopardize your ability to play? /  because I had to stand up for you, baby— / It’s not a matter of standing up for me when it’s putting your own hockey life in danger!

- And basically, the reason Quinn gets not exactly mad at him but more just frustrated is because Nando, who operates with his emotions as the first driver at all times, refuses to regret defending Quinn’s honor on the ice. Quinn really doesn’t understand the full toxicity of hockey culture quite enough to realize why this is so important to Nando.

- This isn’t the kind of argument that lasts a long time. They get it out and then they’re okay; they have a much softer talk after the fact. This is how basically all of their disagreements tend to go.

- But yeah, that’s what happens! Nando is a rough boy on the ice and it scares/concerns Quinn. We love to see it.

I hope this answers your question!

[saint-dominik-of-zadar]

This is the third time I start writing the post, so let’s keep it simple. Yes, I was in Split yesterday. Yes I’m shook. Yes, my biggest short-term dream came true.

hearing people singing outside the stadium while still being on the bus = goosebumps

people singing outside in general, even while stuck in a huge ass crowd waiting to enter

you can watch all the videos from world cup and later but it never hits you as hard as being literally squeezed inbetween thousands of people singing “moja domovina”. never.

We arrived 2 hours before the game and honestly, considering the size of the line and how slowly it moved, we should have been there an hour earlier. We missed the entire warmup and entered a minute before the anthems, I don’t know if everyone entered before the kick-off. I don’t wanna complain a lot bc I’m just a humble guest but honestly what the hell

Poljud was far better than I expected, I was afraid that you can’t see anything from top rows but it wasn’t that bad. I saw everything.

I saw our boys winning.

I saw Livi and Raketa play for the first time.

I SAW THE LOVE OF MY LIFE CAPTAIN LUKA MODRIĆ SCORING A GOAL WITH MY OWN. TWO. EYES. THAT’S IT, THAT’S ALL, MY LIFE IS COMPLETE

And I could finally openly cheer after goals, after last year’s undercover trip to London it was refreshing.

I don’t even know what to say about the fans. The support was outstanding and you could feel in the air how much all these people love their country, each other and this little team. I’ve heard that story about how at Croatia games at home there are actually 33000 people on the pitch and I can assure you, this is true.

Speaking of chants, thank you very much for going “LU-KA-LU-KA-LU-KA“ from time to time so I could understand and scream along. 

Even Hungarian sector didn’t have to go that extra mile with the raincoats, but their did anyway and it looked amazing.

About the country: it felt quite familiar, even too familiar. Once I arrived it irritated me a bit because I was mad hyped and I’m not travelling thousands of kilometers to feel the same, but later I had to admit that there’s something comforting in it. I was in completely new place but didn’t feel overwhelmed, there was no shock, no rush, I went in like I never left. To me Croatia was warm and welcoming and it got to me even more when I finally left - it felt exactly like leaving a warm, soft bed in the morning. And if it wasn’t enough, there were no clouds and I had perfect aerial view of Dalmatian coastline. I will definitely be back next summer.

oh and of course

Very good, 12/10, would eat while drunk on bus rooftop and at any other ocassion. My dad didn’t even ask why I’m smiling like an idiot in a cookie alley, he probably assumed I’m just this happy to be there. I bought second box as a gift for my family, then at the airport I had to dispose of last kunas so I bought another. I literally couldn’t pack my hoodie because I had too much Domaćica in my backpack. Zero regrets. I’m an adult and no one can stop me from doing it for the meme.

I also need to mention my dad, an absolute madman who suffers from permanent wanderlust and considers it a legit plan to fly to a completely unknown country (unlike 80% of Poland we haven’t been to Croatia before) in the middle of the week in October to see a football match. Even when we had serious trouble getting tickets he didn’t stop looking for solutions and help when I was already slowly preparing to abandon this plan. Standing ovation for my dad, please.

[sohannabarberaesque]

Crazy Claws’ Caturdayz

As Summer Winds Down, The Cattanooga Cats Just Want to Hootenanny All Night

“Uh--CC?”

That was Country, leader (as it were) of the Cattanooga Cats, perhaps one of the more underrated folk-pop bands still hanging in there from their late 1960′s/early 1970′s heyday, calling me not that long ago on the ameche.

“If it isn’t Country ... I can still recognise the voice, in a way!”

“Glad you could ... at any rate, do you think you might hook us up with someone as might be willing to have us do an impromptu all-night hootenanny down your way?”

“A rather intriguing idea, I have to say there. Even if it’s getting close to the end of summer, I have to admit, never mind Labour Day being on the late end of the schedule this year.”

Kitty Jo, the ever-intriguing-looking female of the band, came on the line: “Which, I can assure you, should not be too much of a problem, and besides, we haven’t played the Dells for some while.”

“Which shouldn’t be much of a problem to get out of the way, considering where the Tommy Bartlett Show cancelled their performances for the season and many other festivals were cancelled.”

Which was pretty much that way in conversation with the Southern-fried feline quartet who, we are reminded from their show’s theme song, don’t ever purr nor go meow. And, for that matter, reject obnoxiously arrogant displays of Southern arrogance such as anything Confederate (though Kitty Jo does admit to making some rather wonderful chess pie and biscuits and gravy). And for quite the better part of an hour, mind you, before acknowledging that I knew of some rather tacky second-rate tavern on the articicial shores of Artificial Lake Delton that might be willing to take the gambit on the Cattanooga Cats doing hootenanny.

The manager may have been no Moe Szyslak, but the sheer cheesiness of the bar, balanced out by a rather kitschy deck set out unto Artificial Lake Delton, set in motion something of a modest little opportunity. Especially when enhanced by the element of surprise in promoting the hootenanny in essentially cramped quarters, right down to the flyers as could be passed out along The Broadway in Beautiful Downtown Wisconsin Dells announcing a “Surprise Act” as the feature for the folk-rock hootenanny. Let alone some of the older-generation motels and resorts with whom flyers were shared.

Comes the night of the hootenanny, at any rate, which turns out to be a Friday evening made borderline moody by drizzly rain and fog which can get to be a staple of the latter part of a Wisconsin Dells summer ... and some of the warmup acts ahead of the “Surprise Act” turned out sounding borderline awful considering the awful acoustics, the cramped milieu and a menu tending heavily to frozen pizzas as could be heated rather quickly. Let alone not getting much in takings when they passed the proverbial hat.

But when the Cattanooga Cats managed to arrive, in spite of the fog and the drizzly rain (not to mention yours truly helping get things set up), the secret managed to be kept: Their desire was for something intimate in the hootenanny department, which was enough to fill the premi with something of a hard core of hootenanny-loving fans vacationing in the Dells area. And for a band like the Cattanooga Cats, rather fond themselves of acoustic sounds, enthusiasm on their end for a high-energy hootenanny complemented by rather predictable beer and frozen pizzas heated up in a rather chintzy oven made up for the awful acoustics.

And how did Scoots, something of a storyteller himself, pull his story off?

Sensing the likely reaction of beer mugs and half-eaten cheeseburgers being thrown wholesale towards the stage, Scoots recalled one of the first college-town coffee house performances of the Cattanooga Cats, when the audience was probably little more than three people, not counting the employees on duty, wondering “what the **** are these Cattanooga Cats, anyway, to begin with?!” and making a few jokes playing up the angle before getting to the opening musical number. The earnings may not have been much, but at least such built in them a repute of somehow being awful, yet you want to join in on the act just to see what it was like to begin with.

How did it all come out?

At least they had yours truly to thank for managing to pull such a hootenanny off, right down to Kitty Jo’s closing with as much the “group hug” as a reminder to share some time to share some music with close ones in your life.

Not to mention some rather wonderful grits. Even at 2:30 in the morning, and with some cheese and red-eye gravy and ham bits to boot.

@warnerarchive @hanna-barbera-land @warnerbrosentertainment @dinobirdy @hanna-barbera-blog @hannabarberahell @hanna-barberians @screamingtoosoftly

[atvie]

all of the artist ask meme because i can and i love you ;)

ilusm!!!!!!! i’m putting them beneath the cut cause.. Long.

🖍️ when did you start drawing? do you remember?  when i was born????? idk i have a huge memory lapse from a lot of my childhood so! i really don’t know, but i’ve been told i took to it pretty quickly

✏️ do you prefer traditional art or digital to relax?  traditional! but it’s hard cause it’s not as pretty / more stressful when i’m not using lined paper / when i’m using lined paper it makes it harder to upload / i can’t use cool colors (i’m terrified of using colors on real paper……) but!! idk it’s just kind of soothing

📏 what’s your go-to canvas size?  that’s been changing recently.. but either 900x900 or 2500x2580! and then just cropping near the end

☕ do you do warmup sketches before drawing? (bonus: do you have any to share?)  yeah! except they really are just. normal sketches i guess. they’re usually the ones that i end up not finishing even part of the face.. but i generally share All of my art (except the ones i’m really anxious about… see below) so i don’t really have. any to show except for.. uh. here)

🙃 which is easier: faces facing left, right, or front view?  front view?… out of those options. i’m just really bad with noses from the side, but generally i hate doing a perfect front view or side view… i like to kinda play round w it

📚 how many layers do you typically use?  80+? but when i use a bigger canvas it limits me at around 45, so then i start merging the ones im ok with. i just like having a lot so that it’s easier to clean up cause i’m paranoid (but i usually end up merging them a Lot towards the end)

🐻 your go-to things to draw when you need comfort?  people? i don’t really draw for comfort.. at least in the way that i think the question means. i basically only draw people anyway so. yeah. (that’s another thing i’m working on;;)

🎁 do you prefer drawing fandom stuff or your own characters?  my own characters……… but no one’s really interested in them? i mean i know my friends are and some of my mutuals but realistically y’all can’t be invested in them as much until i release the actual story? (or like with you, rubi, where you’ve met them through rp smgksd) so it’s kinda been .. boring? because i like showing them to people to make people happy and when it’s my character it really is just For Me. like…. a lot of the things i draw are for me, but often i think of ‘oh x mutual might like it if i drew their favorite character’ even if i don’t tag them in it……. but then, those are usually the ones i don’t post, because my standards raise hugely when it’s For someone. (like with you! i’ve drawn a lot of kaya, but it’s never Enough for me, so i only end up posting any of them for my own art progress.) also my friends’ ocs. but again it makes me p anxious

🌈 do you use more warm or cold colors?  warm!!!! cold colors scare me SMDGJS… even when i use cold colors i tend to use warm undertones (is that the word? idk)

🎼 your favorite music to draw to right now?  i have a playlist!! um but usually i like drawing best to bastille.. 21 pilots (yes i unironically like them), khalid!!!!!!, my chemical romance, AJR, marshmellow, alan walker, coldplay(?) and imagine dragons! just the kind of. mystical soothing tone? it’s hard for me to describe but it’s really good for background for me!! oh and lizzo, pentatonix & the greatest showman’s soundtrack are fun to draw to!!

🙌 draw a doodle with your non-dominant hand  i regret everything

📐 whats your favorite kinds of lines to draw?  i literally have. no idea what this means sry? fsdkfdf

💐 do your drawing suit your aesthetics?  no :/

🦋 do your drawings resemble you?  no..? not really i mean.., i’ve done self-portraits sometimes, but even then those are more.. my idealized self? cause atm i’m really….. self-conscious i guess,, so i don’t like looking at myself much To draw..

✨ how often do you draw?  whenever i can!!!!!!!!!! i doodle all of the time! though, recently i haven’t had paper to access, so i’ve brought my tablet around & drew on it!! it’s a lot easier to

🌗 is night or day better for drawing?  mmmm.,,, not really either? just whenever i feel like it, which is basically all of the time. nighttime is often worse though just cause i’m more tired / it’s harder to see

🍭 what’s your main art blog / what do you tag your art with?  this is it! and i usually tag it with ….. the most-used name of the character. other than that, i’m unreliable ;;; i try to do the fandom too um but i don’t have any specific tags? come to think of it .. i should probably make a tag for all of my art to go under…. but also i don’t want to look at my old art, even to add tags to the posts mkfsdjg 😔

🍀 you wish your art was more..(fill in the blank)  good???? sgsjdf i just really look up to a lot of artists (a lot of whom are my friends) and so it’s just. idk. i guess i wish my art was more well-rounded. like.. i’m getting good at faces and such through practice, but i don’t have .. basically any experience with backgrounds / animals / things like that. so it’d be nice to be able to draw what i imagine without problems.

🌊 what’s the hardest thing for you to draw?  animals, because i tend to make them hyperrealistic which doesn’t merge with the rest of the piece(s). ;;

🙊 share your latest silly doodle with no context

[goddessofroyalty]

Fandom: DC

PROMPT (from AO3): slade/dick expecting or bonded.

So here’s just a quick warmup of it – seeing as how I’m going to be (hopefully) doing a SladeDick week later this year there will probably be more than.

Warnings: omegaverse, mpreg,

 "They're restless," Dick says, pressing up against Slade's side as the two cuddle in bed, dragging his mate's hand over to his stomach where he apparently wants it rubbed.

"You cannot possibly know that yet," Slade says, but diligently rubs along the slight-bump. After as many kids as he's had he knows when movement can be started to be felt and it is way too early for Dick to be able to tell even with all his heightened Bat-senses. Instead he thinks it's more likely that Dick can tell he's getting restless and is trying to get his attention onto the baby and away from missing the thrill of being a mercenary.

Thing is - it works.

"I can and I do," Dick replies, relaxing back as Slade's hand rubs his stomach.

"I think you just wanted a tummy rub and don't want to admit it."

Dick gives a hum, "maybe."

"You could just ask for it then instead of making it about them." It's not like Slade wouldn't give the attention if it was for Dick and not he baby. And Dick knows that considering how much of Slade's attention he could and did demand just generally before they were conceived. Considering that's basically how they were conceived - not that Slade was ever going to complain about scratching that itch of his mates.

They settle down like that for a bit longer, Dick happily pressed against Slade's side with all of Slade's attention on his stomach and Slade enjoying having his mate there and pregnant with his pup.

And then his mind wanders.

"What are you thinking about?" Dick asks almost immediately, gently rubbing his head against Slade's chin in a slight-scenting action to once again bring Slade's attention back onto him.

"You don't want to know." They made the deal, and Dick is right that if Slade is going to actually do right by this kid he has to give up his job and hobby. And he does want to do right by this kid and probably should be retiring generally anyway. But still he can't help but think back on it and the fun he had with it.

"Slade you promised," Dick whines.

"I promised I wouldn't do it anymore, not that I wouldn't think about it - I'm sure you're still thinking about swinging around rooftops chasing after muggers or supervillains still?" That was the other part of the deal - Slade would give Dick and their pup his complete attention but Dick had to as well.

Dick goes silent at that and Slade knows that it means he's won. Not that he cares about that right now - they both made their choice and now they have to stick with it. And part of that is helping keep the other distracted from thinking about the life they left. The life they will still probably always meet.

"We made our choice though," he says, leaning down to return Dick's weak scenting. To turn it into something more definitive. Rolling them over so he can really rub into Dick's neck, start to run his hands right along Dick's stomach instead of just of just the small section that Dick had demanded attention onto.

"Slade," Dick moans and that means Slade's on the right track. Means Dick isn't at all thinking about what he's missing out on in being here pregnant and under his mate. Is too focused on the moment to think about anything else.

And, yeah, Slade's not thinking about much else apart from his mate and their soon-to-be-pup. So the distraction works on both of them. Reminds them both on the reason they made the choice they did.

[sideofmaduros]

Beginner Strength Training

I got this ask and I wanted to make this into a post. I’m sure a lot of other trans guys will find this useful, too! Starting off, I would like to emphasize that there are a LOT of gym programs that can accomplish this goal, as well as a lot of diets (if you want to even go on one, some may find it to be unnecessary), so my advice and workout spread is just one of many options out there.

When it comes to diet, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, honestly. With how much you’ll be working out, you won’t necessarily need a caloric deficit to lose weight. You might actually gain weight because muscle is denser than fat, and so people say it weighs more than fat. You’ll develop more muscle mass from strength training, so you’ll probably gain a few kilos in your first few months doing this, while also achieving a leaner appearance because exercising burns fat. As long as you’re eating a varied diet and staying away from junk foods, you’ll be fine. I would also recommend getting a multi-vitamin to take every day just to fill in any gaps in your nutrition, but that’s up to you. It’ll also be important to eat a lot of proteins and carbohydrates for mass building, since those are what build up muscle and help your body grow and have energy. Definitely don’t cut too many calories from your diet when doing any kind of exercise. There’s a difference between a cutting phase and doing your body actual harm from not eating enough.

A decent workout spread that I think would be easy for a beginner to follow is a 4-day spread split between upper body and lower body days. With this, you’ll have 3 rest days in the week, so place them wherever you want. Rest days can be used to do literally nothing, or you could go for a walk, go swimming, bike someplace, etc. If you wanna go to the gym that day anyway, maybe use lighter weight and focus more on endurance (15-20 reps) than mass-building (8-12 reps) or you could do some cardio stuff like jogging or a HIIT circuit like the ones in the linked post. For any beginners here that don’t know what sets and reps are: a rep is 1 repetition of the exercise. For example, 1 push-up would be 1 rep. 10 push-ups would be 10 reps. Sets break up reps with at least 20-30 seconds of a break before starting the exercise again. 3 sets of 10 push-ups means doing 10 reps, waiting 30 seconds, and then beginning your next set, until you’ve done all 3 sets. Common shorthand for this would be 3x10, with the set number coming first, then the rep number. Using sets like this allows you to push yourself for a short burst of energy each time, so you don’t fatigue right away.

The workout spread is under the cut. I think this spread is good for a beginner who wants to focus on muscle mass gains and also get stronger. The exercises I picked are so you can build a decent strength base, and I view many of them as essential to mass-building in general, regardless of your experience level. I’ve linked the exercises to videos of how to do them:

Upper:

Warmup:

10 of each Rotator cuff exercise (can be done at a cable machine or with light dumbbells; can also be done at the end of your workout)

3x20 Wrist curls (light dumbbells)

4x10 Rear delt flies (light and slow)

3x12 Face pulls (light and slow, hold 3 seconds at peak of movement)

Workout:

5x5 or 4x8 Bench

4x8-12 Rows (any variation, but the how-to video is dumbbell rows)

4x10 Pec Flies (the how-to video is cable flies, which I think are easier than dumbbell flies)

5x8 or 4x10 Lat Pulldowns

3x10-12 Skull Crushers (on a bench like in the video OR standing)

4x10-12 Curls

4x10-12 Triceps Pushdowns

Lower:

Warmup:

25 Bodyweight squats

3x10 Goblet Squats (light or moderate weight)

3x12 DB Romanian Deadlift (light weight, same movement as barbell, just hold dumbbells)

Workout:

5x5 or 4x8 Squats

3x12 Split Squats (unilateral - aka one side at a time, do 3 sets per side)

4x8-12 Romanian Deadlifts (moderate or light weight, go slow)

6x8 or 4x10 Leg Press

4x10-15 Calf Raises (could also use dumbbells and hold them at your sides instead of the barbell)

4x10 Leg Extensions (don’t go super heavy on these)

4x12 Lunges (can use dumbbells or do these without any weight)

Upper:

Warmup:

10 of each Rotator cuff exercise (can be done at a cable machine or with light dumbbells; can also be done at the end of your workout)

3x20 Wrist curls (light dumbbells)

4x10 Rear delt flies (light and slow)

3x12 Face pulls (light and slow, hold 3 seconds at peak of movement)

Workout:

5x5 or 4x10 Bench

4x10 Lat Pulldowns

3x10-12 DB Incline Bench

4x8-10 DB Rows (unilateral, try to go heavy)

3x12 Shoulder Press (seated or standing; if seated, try and go heavier)

3x10 Face Pulls (go light with weight and go slow)

3x10 Curls

3x10 Hammer Curls (seated at an inclined bench or standing)

Lower:

Warmup:

25 Bodyweight squats

3x10 Goblet Squats (light or moderate weight)

3x12 DB Romanian Deadlift (light weight, same movement as barbell, just hold dumbbells)

Workout:

5x5 or 5x8 Squats

4x8 Hip Thrusts (barbell, just wrap the barbell in a towel so it doesn’t feel like it’s crushing your hips, try and pause 3 seconds at the top)

4x8 Romanian Deadlifts or Conventional Deadlifts

4x8-12 Leg Press

3x10-12 Calf Raises

3x10 Leg Curls

3x10 Leg Extensions

You’ll notice the first exercise on the lists is 5 sets of 5 reps. This focuses more on strength building than muscle mass. You can do 8-12 reps to focus more on muscle hypertrophy, but you’ll want to go lighter, since your focus for hypertrophy should be the contraction and stretch of the muscle, not necessarily driving a ton of weight. Doing 5 reps, or even just 3 reps, allows you to go heavy because the focus is on driving the weight. But what’s heavy will be relative to everyone, and beginners should focus on form more than focusing on how much weight they can move, that way you’ll have a good foundation of proper form/technique before you can go super heavy so you don’t hurt yourself. I’d say take at least a month or two on the main compound movements (bench, squat, deadlifts of any variation) before going as heavy as you can. You’ll learn your limits the more you’re in the gym working on these movements.

For your first year, maybe a bit longer, you’ll notice more strength gains than mass gains for sure, because you’re building your base, which takes time. You’ll notice a dramatic increase in strength and technique for your movements. Building strength will happen faster than building muscle mass/size. Don’t let that discourage you! It can take years to achieve your dream physique! If you’re a pre-T trans guy, it’ll take a bit longer to gain noticeable size, but I promise you it is possible. There are tons of athletes out there with bodies like yours who look athletic as hell and are strong as hell because of how well they train!

Stretching after you exercise will help you with the soreness and with your muscle recovery on rest days. Stretching on days you feel sore can help, too, regardless of if they’re rest days or gym days. Drinking lots of water helps with the soreness from the lactic acid as well.

If any of y’all have any questions about these exercises, just hit up my ask box or message me directly. I’ll be glad to help as much as I can, but please keep in mind I am not a personal trainer, I’m just a gym bro. None of my advice is professional, and may not be as tailored to you as it could be. Good luck on them gains, y’all!

Some pointers to keep in mind:

Triceps make up more of your arm than biceps, so bigger triceps will make your arms look bigger.

Larger rear delts will also help give an appearance of larger arms. Rear delt flies are a fav of mine for this. Go light and slow for 4x12 or 3x15. Can incorporate these on your upper body days as a warmup before bench.

Push-ups and pec/chest flies can help create a more masculine-looking chest.

Strong legs are the foundation of any good lifter/athlete.

[cyb-by-lang]

Shell Game (13/?)

Training begins.

During lunch on Monday, Kei stopped in with Principal Nezu to let him know about what had happened on Sunday. He could take it or leave it, but she was nonetheless slightly relieved to hear that the water villain would probably get his hearing back. Eventually. In prison.

She wouldn’t have been that happy if the jackass had actually managed to lay a finger on Hayate, but that was an alternate universe she hadn’t allowed to manifest.

After classes on Monday, Kei and Shinsō met for their mutual tutoring session in the school library. First of all came studying and, like the good student he was, Shinsō actually had all the notes from the classes Kei variously daydreamed through, missed, or simply didn’t understand. Though Kei did copy a fair portion of them and asked Shinsō for explanations for various topics, a fair chunk of the trouble came from not actually reading the coursework. She’d read more of the Modern Literature coursework in the past hour as a result than she had since the term started, with Shinsō outlining his note-taking strategy in between barely-hidden yawns. Sunday night clearly hadn’t treated him well, but he seemed game enough for their agreed-upon training.

And then, after the sky started to change color, it began.

It was…probably about the physical equivalent of what studying was for Kei. To wit: An embarrassing slog.

I didn’t realize it was this bad, Kei remarked to Isobu, while watching Shinsō get warmups out of the way. It’d been a long time since Kei had seen anybody huff and puff that hard after running a mile. Or its equivalent.

Training was all right in theory. Between Hayate’s pestering and Shinsō’s offer, Kei didn’t have much choice other than to study. She just hadn’t expected to have that kind of time while waiting for Shinsō to exercise.

Their route today was in Mustafu, solely because that was where UA was and it saved them train fare. Besides, studying after school meant there didn’t really seem like anyplace else to go that still felt like they’d be keeping momentum going. So, Mustafu it was.

By mutual agreement, neither of them were running anywhere near the bank from yesterday.

You may have forgotten that the majority of humans cannot keep up with a special jōnin in any capacity.

…Crap.

Shinsō managed to catch up to her, eventually. Checking her phone, she timed it out to about ten minutes. Unless the internet was lying to her, Shinsō was somewhat slower than average for a Japanese boy his age, and he was definitely not going to make the cut with the Hero course kids with a score like that.

Kei wasn’t even winded. She felt vaguely guilty about that, but figured Shinsō wouldn’t appreciate what’d look like pity coming from her.

Maybe she should have started him out with a kilometer run instead.

Once Shinsō got his breath back, he gasped, “Please… Just let me focus on Modern Literature.” Before Kei could pose a clarifying question, Shinsō went on, “If I have…to also tutor you in math…before doing this? I am going to die.”

Kei did her best to channel Gai. It was generally a safe bet. “Don’t give up yet, Shinsō-san!”

Shinso muttered something unintelligible, reaching up to adjust the sweatband around his head. He didn’t seem encouraged.

“Anyway, now it’s time for stretches and cooldown activities.”

Kei’s outlook didn’t really improve from that point onward, though she wasn’t nearly as frustrated as Shinsō was. He made it through most of the stretches fine, though he couldn’t touch his toes particularly well. At the end of it all, both of them were differing levels of annoyed, but at separate problems.

Are my standards completely broken?

Yes.

She didn’t even know where to start with katas. She needed more of an idea of his capabilities, even if his physical conditioning wasn’t filling her with confidence.

They went to a completely mundane non-beach park, which was conveniently free of witnesses on a Monday afternoon. There wasn’t exactly much to attract people besides the playground fixtures, and those were a little stooped and sad due to too many Quirk-blessed children attacking the structure over the years. And there was a water fountain, which Kei supposed was probably the only thing to recommend it.

Kei poked and prodded until Shinsō stood across from her on the grass, his feet shoulder-width apart. Given his expression, he was less enthusiastic than she’d been as a kid about the entire process. Then again, her mother had been using a shinai and had, perhaps with a bit too much faith in Kei’s impulse control, given her one to hold while the corrections went on. The trouble then had been keeping Kei still, not getting Shinsō to keep his muscles loose.

“Throw a punch, please,” Kei said, after she was almost happy with what she’d managed.

Shinsō blinked. “Right now?”

“No better time,” Kei said, and before she’d finished the last word, Shinsō had already thrown it at her face.

Kei caught his fist one-handed and said, “Gotta change a few things before you do it again.”

Shinsō huffed. “I’ve only thrown one.”

“And I’m here to make sure you don’t break your fingers on the second.” Kei turned his hand, saying, “Thumb on the outside. Otherwise you can hurt yourself more than the enemy.” She let go of him and reset their starting positions. “Again!”

A second punch.

“Don’t punch with the flats of your fingers. Knuckles first.”

A third.

“Stop aiming at my face. You’ll hurt your hand worse and just barely break my nose. Too many bones.”

A fourth.

“Keep your wrist straight. Good thinking, aiming for the throat.”

And on, and on, and on.

Shinsō switched arms before he could get tired, while Kei continued to correct him with the patience drilled into her by her mother and by trying to teach Hayate kenjutsu in their younger years. There was a different tempo to this kind of lesson, and Shinsō didn’t have the experience Kei relied on as a fighter to fall into step with the constant demand. Falling into a pattern in a real fight could be fatal, but here she just needed Shinsō to keep pace.

“Enough,” Kei said finally, while Shinsō shook out his wrists. His hands looked a little reddened by the constant impacts. Her own palms hardly tickled. “Take a break.”

Shinsō glared at her, but she ignored it. While he stalked toward the water fountain, Kei tried to think her way through the problem.

Would they get further with pure physical conditioning? The technical details were important, but Shinsō’s endurance wouldn’t really matter in a match with students who’d been training all along. Either he could grab someone with his Quirk and would win the match after essentially trash-talking someone into submission, or he’d be forced to rely on barely two weeks’ worth of training to rally after mind control failed.

Dammit, if only we had more time.

That is what everyone says, eventually. But you do not have that kind of time.

Kei pressed her thumb to her lower lip, trying to think.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar flare of fiery chakra, and Obito stepped out from behind a cherry tree in his Tokyo clothes. Jeans and close-toed shoes had been a hard sell for him, but the medical eyepatch and long-sleeved shirts without the Uchiha high collar had been comparatively easy. He still wore gloves to hide his mismatched hands, but otherwise Obito was about as inconspicuous as he ever got.

He had a smiley face on the eyepatch. Because of course he did.

“Hiya, Kei,” Obito said brightly. “How’s life?”

“Kind of weird. Did Hayate tell you what happened yesterday?” Kei asked, hand on her hip.

“A bit. You really do run into a lot of trouble, don’t you?” Obito’s gaze focused on Shinsō, who was making his way back to them.

“Trouble finds me.” Kei gestured toward Obito. “Hey, Shinsō-san, this is a friend of mine. Dropping in to check on me, I guess.”

“Kei needs looking after sometimes. I’m Uchiha Obito.” He inclined his head just slightly. “Nice to meet you, Shinso-san.”

“Likewise, Uchiha-san.” Was it just Kei’s imagination, or did Shinsō give Obito a searching look after all that? “So, are you two close?”

Oh, great.

“Uh, we did grow up together.” Obito was oblivious, of course. “So, what’re you two up to today?”

“Training,” Kei said, before Shinsō could dig any further into that topic. “The Sports Festival is coming up, so we’re trying to get in shape.”

Obito brightened. “Can I help?”

“Mark out another…two kilometers,” Kei suggested. With a sweet smile that sat not-at-all on her face without a twist, she said to both boys, “We’ll finish with that!”

Shinsō looked like Kei had just signed his death warrant.

Obito trotted off, whistling.

“So, are you two—?” Shinsō began with the beginnings of a teasing smirk.

“He’s my best friend, not my boyfriend,” Kei corrected him immediately. With a stern expression, she indicated the direction Obito was traveling. “And we do have a beach. What do you think about running in sand, Shinsō-san?”

Shinsō, even despite his exercise flush, somehow managed to go pale. “I’m good.”

“Thought so. Now, I don’t have much else going on in the afternoons, but I don’t think it’s realistic to meet every day.” Mostly because having a purple duckling following her around would put a severe cramp in her ability to keep up the whole “shinobi” thing. She hadn’t done a proper perimeter circuit since the school year started. “Okay. How about I show you how to fall safely on Wednesday? And maybe throw people.”

“Why Wednesday? Why not today?”

“I can show you how to throw Obito today, but only because his Quirk means we don’t need mats,” Kei explained. She tapped her foot on the grass. “Softer than concrete, but I’ve had concussions that say otherwise. So has he. And he already knows how to fall, so there’s that too.”

Shinsō sighed. “At this point I’m not sure who got the better deal here.”

“I did say I was fine if you cut it down to just Modern Literature,” Kei responded. She checked her phone for a cheerful “Done! ᕦ( ᐛ )ᕤ” from Obito, then said, “Let’s go. We’re wasting daylight.”

“I hate you so much already.”

“Big words for day one! Come on, it’ll make you feel better to throw Obito around.”

Shinsō groaned aloud.  

[exrkumji-blog]

// ( ★ ) mgas season 5: audition arrival of kim yewon

if there’s one positive thing you can say about yewon, it’s that she doesn’t show her nerves. that’s a consequence of not showing... almost any emotion, most of the time. in fact, yewon feels as deeply as anyone else; she just doesn’t show it.

so, although her stomach is twisting itself into so many knots she feels she might throw up, her outward appearance is perfectly calm. she’s standing in line with countless other people who are stretching, warming up, clearing their throats, testing their voices. they’re all talented. looking at her, they probably assume she’s talented too, or at least that she has some kind of performing experience. it’s funny in a dark sort of way. yewon chuckles under her breath, shuffling her feet on the ground. if only they knew.

she’s been to the sopa campus before, since some of her former tutoring clients went here. it’s important for aspiring performers to be multilingual. she’s taught english and japanese lessons to high schoolers who had to balance their studies with training at entertainment companies. in the past, yewon couldn’t wrap her mind around it. why would anyone want to live that way? they always seemed so exhausted, crushed between academic demands and the pressures of training, always practicing, dieting, losing sleep. even if they debuted, they’d continue that demanding lifestyle.

now that she knows it’s her fate, yewon has softened on the idea. although she still wishes that it were easier. here at sopa, she wonders if she should have gone to a school like this instead of hanyoung. if she had known earlier on that she was meant to be an idol, she could have prepared more. maybe she’d already be at a decent skill level by now. she would have spent her high school years alongside people with the same goals. it fills her heart with a wistful feeling, her eyes roaming around the halls. the stars had their reasons for revealing what they did, when they did; she knows that.

she proceeds through the mandatory measuring process, her height and weight jotted down by cold, impersonal hands. yewon isn’t sure why she had to put this information on the application when they would go through this anyway, but she’s glad she was honest. the knots in her stomach constrict tighter and tighter, making her briefly double over in a cramp as she steps on the scale to be weighed. she has to quickly assure the attendant that she’s fine. this part of the process doesn’t bother her at all. it’s the knowledge that this is the last easy part. the hard part is coming-- when she has to reveal her talents, or lack thereof.

there are a few things that comfort her. one: the knowledge that she can’t be the only person here who’s desperately unprepared. sure, she put together a routine to audition with, but yewon knows it’s not good. it’s the best she can do. and right now, that isn’t even close to good enough. but chances are, there may be someone, somewhere here, who’s worse. she can hear someone doing an incredibly off-key vocal warmup a little further back in the line, though they may be the most amazing rapper or dancer of this generation.

two: she’s heard of people who go on shows like this one, starting out with pathetic skills and growing to a level that’s at least passable. while yewon is aware that the chances of her passing the audition are very low, it’s not completely impossible. if she is accepted, the experience will be like a boot camp, a crucible that will forge her skills. and if she isn’t, she’ll go home with motivation to work harder.

and finally, three: yewon believes, beyond doubt, that this is the path she’s meant for. even if this audition isn’t a success, she owes it to herself to pursue every opportunity. no matter how impossible it seems. even if she fails today, she does belong here.

[vesperione]

She Didn’t Understand

I HAVE 100 FOLLOWERS ON TUMBLR, THANKYOU, AND I ALMOST HAVE 800 ON INSTA LMAO W H A T does that consider(thecoconut) me famous in the starkid community can someone confirm? Anyways heres a fanfiction I wrote be prepared for death

Don't leave she thought but she couldn't control him; he wasn't property. She held her head in her hands as she collapsed against a nearby tree. He was going to go and destroy the meteor. That part was simple. But there were harmonies surrounding her. What was the point in trying to survive if Paul wasn't even here? It was unlikely he'd even make it back. He only had grenades. She watched as he ran away full speed. There was a throbbing pain in her right leg. She didn't even want to look at the wound. Every time she moved her leg, it felt like 4000 burning knives were being pressed into her thigh. She cried out. She couldn't help it. "Vera, we've got another one!" How long had it been since he'd left? The sun was setting and a general in black uniform approached her. "This won't hurt." She smiled and knocked the girl out.

Emma awoke in hospital, with her leg in a cast. The general was sitting by her bed. "Ahh, hello Kelly. Seems you woke up." Who's Kelly? "We can't allow any connections to be made to you and Emma Perkins the girl who died tragically in the Hatchetfield Disaster." Shit. He hadn't made it out had he? She nodded. She'd adapt. "I'm just joking. Paul destroyed the meteor, but currently, PIEP are clearing out the remnants of the spores. Everyone else affected is here as well. Welcome to Clivesdale Hospital, Emma. Now, I'm Colonel Chaffer and I have all the details on what happened fully." And she handed Emma her phone. How did the general get a hold of Emma's phone? On the screen was a news broadcast.

I'm Rachel and this is Ron and we interrupt this programme with an emergency announcement. On the 26th of October 2018, a meteor crashed through the roof of the starlight theatre before the touring cast of Mamma Mia! were to perform. About half an hour precisely. Scientists were baffled by this mysterious meteor that had crashed for it was definitely out of sync with the rest of the meteors seen that night. Even though scientists are still researching it, they do know one thing. The DNA inside the spores latched on to one person by the name of Brendon Jinks, who was doing vocal warmups. Brendon Jinks was set to perform as Sam Carmichael in this very production of Mamma Mia. The DNA evolved inside of Brendon's bloodstream, killing him instantly. The spores then latched on to his corpse, allowing the meteor, which we now know was the mastermind, to control his body. Because Mr Jinks was singing when he was killed, the spores had evolved specifically to be a musical disease. It could have been anything. Brendon then killed the rest of his cast members and stage crew. Those who took their seats early were also killed. This disease soon spread from one side of the island to the other. Paul Matthews, an IT worker at CCRP Hatchetfield, ended the entire thing. Here's the thing, he didn't like musicals. Probably still doesn't and honestly Ron, I don't blame him. At 6"3 it wasn't too hard to spot him either. Paul entered the old starlight only to see the meteor sitting centre stage. We have since found out that Paul was once here watching a local production of Godspell last year. According to our parallel services, they told us that he managed to destroy the meteor. Unfortunately, Paul will have changed by now. CCTV footage that we have been given to release shows several people from Hatchetfield swarming around Matthews. Some of these include from the left, a picture flashed on screen, Bill Simmons, Ted Harris, Nora Davis, Professor Henry Hidgens teacher of Biology at Hatchetfield High, Anneliese Liat the Greenpeace Cassever often located outside of Beanies and Isaac Davison the manager of CCRP Technical. The picture then turned into a video. And if you see, centre stage, that is Mr Paul Matthews dear viewers. The audio turned on. Paul... he was singing? He was...infected. It cut off just before he threw the grenade. The last thing Emma saw from the video were all the people in the meteor walking towards Paul, clutching on to his clothes. Tears brimmed her eyes. She looked up but Colonel Chaffer was no longer there. She sighed and threw her phone down. He was singing and dancing. She was pissed. The apotheosis was a horrible thing but the fact that because Paul hated musicals made him an easy target and they made him sing and dance enraged her and she couldn't figure out why.

What seemed like hours but realistically was actually 34 seconds passed and the door clicked open. She expected to see a nurse. It wasn't. It was Colonel Chaffer. "Sorry for disappearing so suddenly, Miss Perkins, we had an urgent matter to attend to. Oh, the urgent matter was a visitor. Would you like me to send them in?" She gave a half assed shrug. She didn't know who it was and she didn't really care. She nodded and her footsteps seemed to vanish from the room. There was a soft knock at the door and she looked up. She should have smiled but she didn't. She should have felt happy but she didn't. He approached her bed. "I saw the news broadcast." She said bluntly. He sat down on the chair beside it. "What broadcast?" "Oh don't act like you don't know." She snapped looking back at him. He had a gash on his cheek that wasn't too big but so big to that it was noticeable. "I...don't?" Frustrated, she played the broadcast and thrust her phone into his hands. "You said you wouldn't be in a musical. And there you are. Singing. Dancing! Why didn't you fight it off!" "So you think I didn't. You think I...wanted to be like that?" Paul was confused as hell. Why was Emma all of a sudden so pissed with him? He didn't want to be reminded about what happened and here he was, watching himself almost die on CCTV footage. He was famous now, apparently, when all he wanted to do was go back to being regular Paul from CCRP Technical Hatchetfield. "You seemed to be having the time of your life." Emma sighed, sarcasm lacing her voice. "Emma can you look at me please?" So she did. "I fought tooth and nail to survive. I didn't know the CCTV was still on, I just assumed it had been turned off. I promise you I'd have never done anything like that willingly. Why do you think I'm here? Because I almost died in the process. You've been out for 2 weeks you know that? I was only in here for 2 days as they extracted the remaining spores. The spores were fascinating. Under UV light they were a shimmering blue. But to the human eye they were clear, like air particles." 2 weeks. She checked the date. Shit. It had been two weeks. "Paul I'm so sorry I didn't believe you I just..." "Don't apologise Emma, I can see why you did it." And he smiled at her as she rested her head on his chest. "But I still hate you." "yeah I gathered."

[fleetwoodhag]

My Thoughts on Grand Prix Helsinki 2018 (Ladies SP and Ice Dance RD)

LADIES

the announcer is REALLY enjoying his job and i’m here for it

i love hearing the loudest cheers for the home country girls, emmi and viveca. this helsinki crowd in general is just amazing. they’re so supportive of every skater whenever they fall. 

i saw on twitter that daria panenkova’s last name in finnish - “panen kovaa” means “i fuck hard” and i couldn’t stop thinking about it

i was watching the stream on my laptop and the loud sirens of rika hongo’s music started playing and my sister in the room went “wait someone’s skating to that???” love her energy though, it was a nice change of pace

loena hendrickx’s spins are so fast and so centered and her flexibility !!! queen of spins. i’m glad she was able to bag that well-deserved bronze sp medal. I can see her really becoming a huge podium contender in the next few years

as much as i love alina, i think her team really let her down with this short program. It was so hard to be engaged in the program when each song would last for about 10 seconds and then glass-shatter-transition into the next one. It’s unfair for people to say alina doesn’t emote during her programs and really feel the music when she doesn’t really have the opportunity to do it. an uncharacteristic pop on her combo but nothing too drastic. i haven’t seen her carmen fs in full but i’m positive it’s the stronger of her two programs so she should be fine 

my stream died just as stanislava’s program started and then came back on just as she ended so i didn’t see anything from her program...but that’s a nice dress and she looks so good

my heart was just broken for kaori. she looked so good on the warmup. her flow on the ice was just so smooth and effortless. it was painful seeing her after her performance. it takes a lot of spirit to be able to keep yourself from breaking down when you still have half a program to complete, so big props to her. i have confidence that she can make a comeback from 7th to podium. if zhenya could do it then so can she. stay strong kaori!

i have to say my winner for best performance of this event has to go to yuna shiraiwa. i didn’t know who she was going into this but she wasn’t just the cleanest, she also had this genuine joy on her face while she was skating. so effortless and so fun to watch. if she pulls out a solid and clean free skate, she can finish on the podium. 

ICE DANCE

i’m really not a huge fan of the genre the isu chose for this year’s rhythm dance. the latin one last year left so much room for each team to be able to have their own style, but with tango, it’s just so difficult to stand out. also, isn’t it quite unfair for brother-sister teams? no wonder the shibs decided to sit this one out

i’m getting a BIG liza tuktik energy from betina popova with their similar attitude on the ice and even their similar physical features. it’s her birthday btw, happy birthday betinka!

i was shocked to see that anthony ponomarenko was only 17...not with that mustache sir

oof guignard and fabbri getting screwed by the music guy not once but twice...anyway, i’m just glad it wasn’t another bird and that the interruption was before their program started and not smack in the middle

i love hurtado/khaliavin so much and really want them to succeed. i first saw them in the olympics and there was just something that drew me in amongst even the more established ice dance teams. sara just has this fire in her that not only is so evident in her fabulous facial expressions, but also in the way she moves on the ice. kirill has these sort of goofy facial expressions but they’re very cute and endearing, and the both of them combined just feels so cheerful and i get such a positive energy when they skate. the rhythm dance was good but not as hard hitting as their santana short dance from last season that initially drew me into them. it has room to grow. i’m going to really be rooting for them in the free. vamos sara and kirill!

wow. alexandra stepanova and ivan bukin. this team. i have to admit, i didn’t pay much attention to them before but this season...there’s just something different and it’s not just the fact that they’re probably russia’s number 1 ice dance team right now. their movements are just SO BIG and SO EXTENDED and SO POWERFUL. not only that but both of them are so into the characters they’re playing i just didn’t want the program to end. this has to be my pick for no.1 ice dance team this season. i know they probably aren’t regarded as one of the top 3 teams but they just have something special that i can’t really find a connection to with other teams. they’re the total package and i hope they win worlds