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cmlbcommish · 1 year

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CMLB: Saskatchewan Skates vs. Eekburg Billiards, S1D1, 4

Primed and ready. The Saskatchewan Skates stand on the field, taking in the atmosphere of the stadium.

They’re not a hugely followed league, especially for being so new, but Haruta was honestly not expecting so many people to show up. She shifts her feet nervously and Eli, who is standing next to her, extends an arm and rubs her upper back. Haruta looks at him and he beams at her, having the time of his life out here on the field.

It’s absolutely unfair how Eli’s positive attitude affects her so much. She smiles hesitantly back at him and he is about to say something when a bit of microphone feedback rings out across the stadium.

Everyone looks in the direction of the sound. It’s Nagomi and Parker. Nagomi is fiddling with the microphone a little bit before she starts her announcement.

“Greetings!’ Echoes her voice across the stadium. “I’m Nagomi Seraph, and this is my Minor Canadian Blaseball League, or CMLB for short.” There is a polite applause from the spectators.

“For further introductions, this is Parker.” She gestures to Parker, who waves at the crowd. “He serves as my co-commissioner. Now that introductions are aside, this is our first game of the season, featuring the Saskatchewan Skates vs. the Eekburg Billiards!” More applause.

A different announcer lists off all the starting rosters for the teams. The Skates have Shirai Jaylee pitching today, while the Billiards have Julio Glass on the mound.

Haruta sits next to Riley in the dugout, looking curiously out at the game. After a few outs, Riley speaks.

“We should have put me in first.” He states, his arms crossed. “Glass is their best pitcher, I would have had the best chance.”

“Uh, have you been… studying the other teams?” Haruta asks. “Of course I have.” Riley sniffs disdainfully. “We’ll never get anywhere without some sort of strategy.”

Haruta stares at him for a few seconds before the sound of a bat cracking can be heard from the field. The Skates fans in the stadium boo as the Billiards batter hits a home run, scoring two.

Riley rolls his eyes as the player showboats around the bases.

“That's Chad James.” He says. “He’s played minor leagues before. The only reason he hasn’t made it up to the major leagues is because of his bad attitude. Let’s just hope that an early home run makes him cocky and he doesn’t hit any other balls.”

Evidently, Riley knew what he was talking about. The rest of the game is pretty much small ball. Some good base hits and only runners scoring, no fancy home runs.

As the game went on, Haruta noticed Riley getting increasingly more irritated with Shirai’s pitching ability. He never said anything to Shirai herself between the innings, but Haruta saw how much he was keeping it in.

It all comes to a head in the ninth inning. Ryuji Krueger hits a nice triple to score Chad James, tying the score at 5-5. Riley jumps out of his seat, walking briskly over to Eli.

“Put me in.” He says, arms crossed. “Let me close out the inning so they don’t get up on us.”

Eli looks… Unconcerned, with Riley’s posturing. “Nah, it's fine. It's literally the first game, no need to be so serious about it.”

“We could win this game. Put me in so they don’t score any more. We have enough batting power to outscore them.”

“Riley, it’s fine.” Eli rests a hand on his shoulder. Riley aggressively shakes the hand off and stalks off to the dressing room.

Eli tilts his head as Haruta walks over to him. “What’s his deal? Something to prove?”

It isn’t until he says that, that Haruta realizes. “Oh.. Probably? He seemed really invested in the game.” Eli clicks his tongue. “He better get that under check. I don’t want him causing a fuss, especially cuz he’s one of the newbies. ‘Gomi’ll have his ass if he causes shit.”

That’s another thing. “I’ll talk to him?” Haruta suggests, but Eli shakes his head. “Let him steam til the game is over. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

They end up winning the game with a nice home run from King, starting off a rally in the ninth by Wyatt Morse, Tyler Marijuana, and Oli Mueller.

Final Score, 5-8 Skates.

When the rest of the team walk into the dressing room, Riley stands up immediately. He walks over to stand in front of Eli, still tense. Everyone is wary, he’s putting off a lot of aggressive energy for being on the winning team.

“I have invested interest in this team winning.” Riley starts. “I have figured out strategies that will beat out all other teams. I will be strategizing and I expect that we will use some of them.”

Eli clicks his tongue. “And why would I listen to the newbie posturing over his team captain?” Eli’s posture is relaxed, nonchalant. Haruta has no idea how he can act that way in this kind of situation. “You know we won right? We won our first game of the season. This isn’t the time to be worried about strategy.”

“Unlike the rest of you, I have things riding on my success.” Riley sniffs. He turns away from Eli.

Something about that really sticks in Haruta’s brain, and before she realizes it, she blurts out a retort.

“What? Because you’re a stats nerd you think none of us are capable?” It's not a very Haruta statement, Eli and some of the rest of the Skates look at her in surprise. Riley looks over at her in surprise too, obviously not expecting that kind of response, but he is immediately back on the offensive. “I hold myself to a higher standard than most people, yes. If the rest of the season continues on like this first game? There's no hope here.”

Haruta can feel herself getting a bit heated. “This isn’t the ILB! It's supposed to be fun!”

Riley is quiet for a few seconds, before he walks slowly over to Haruta and looks her directly in the eyes. “That’s exactly what Jaylen said back in Season 1. Look where it got her.”

Haruta breaks eye contact, shaking her head. “This isn’t about Jaylen! It’s about you!” She pokes Riley in the chest. “This league is about those people who want to play blaseball for the love of the game! Despite what happened to the ILB.”

“I can’t forget what happened to her!” He hisses, “She died! They incinerated her!”

“They incinerated Sebastian twice!” Haruta yells. “Since you want to make this a fucking family issue! They alternated him and then he went up in flames twice! Don’t forget the stuff that's gone on with Jess either!”

Riley at least has the heart to look a bit apologetic, right before they’re both doused with water.

Haruta shrieks a little, frantically wiping water out of her eyes, Riley doing the same. They both look over to see King standing with a water cooler held over xer shoulder as Parker gives them a glare.

“Are you both done?” Parker says. In the face of authority, Haruta crumbles, nodding her head frantically. Riley nods once, and Parker sighs.

“You’re both lucky I’m not gonna tell Nagomi about this.” He massages the bridge of his nose. “I wasn’t expecting this from the two of you, especially Haruta.”

Haruta looks down at her feet, avoiding the gaze of everyone. She feels so embarrassed by her outburst now that the consequences are setting in.

But, Riley steps in to defend her. “It’s my fault, I was the one who started the argument with my bad attitude. I’ll be working on it.”

“You better.” Parker hands them both a towel. “I’m only mildly sorry about the water. Seems like you both needed to cool off.”

Riley squints at him. “Was that a pun.” To which Parker grins.

“Now, who’s to say?” After making sure everyone is alright, Parker leaves the room.

As the rest of the Skates filter out, Riley and Haruta end up being the last two left. Haruta’s fingers had been shaking with anxiety the whole time she was packing up.

She’s crouching next to her bag on the floor when Riley comes down to crouch next to her. He makes sure that she realizes he is there before he speaks.

“I’m sorry, Haruta.”

She looks at him questioningly, a little wary. “I’ve been on edge today, and I believe I ended up taking it out on you. I didn’t mean for it to turn out like this.”

Haruta breathes out a sigh, some of her anxiety lessening when she realizes that Riley is still willing to talk to her. She stands up, shouldering her bag, and Riley rises next to her.

“I’ll forgive you, on one condition.” She says, and Riley tilts his head.

“Name your condition.”

Haruta extends her arms in a hugging motion. “Bring it in. It's hug time.”

“I.. what?” Riley looks at her, baffled.

“You upset me, and I like hugs so you’re gonna hug me so I feel better.” She explains wiggling her fingers a bit.

“That is a weird condition, but alright?” Riley steps into her embrace.

In Haruta’s opinion, Riley is the perfect hugging height. She can comfortably rest her head on his shoulder as they hug, and the longer she doesn’t make a move to let go, the more he relaxes into her hold.

“If you feel bad in the future, I can hug you.” Haruta offers. “I used to have to hug someone a lot whenever things happened to Jess or Seb.”

Riley sighs shakily. “Maybe that’s why you seem like you’ve adjusted. Better than I have, at least.”

Haruta lets him muse on that instead of making a comment, squeezing him a bit tighter.

They eventually stop hugging. “It wasn’t weird that we hugged for so long, was it?” Haruta says nervously as they start walking towards the exit for the stadium. “I’m used to long hugs.”

Riley hums. “It's been a long time since I’ve been hugged. It’s fine, it was nice.”

They reach the entrance. The drivers are waiting for the both of them. Haruta waves goodbye to Riley and steps out into the parking lot, until she hears Riley shout her name.

She looks back questioningly, as Riley does a light jog to catch up to her.

He abruptly sticks out a hand at her. “I think we got off to a bad start so… My name is Riley Hotdogfingers, I really do like playing blaseball, it feels like it's in my blood . Can we be friends?”

Haruta smiles at him, accepting the handshake. “I’m Haruta Telephone, I’d like to improve my pitching because I love playing this splort as well. I would be honoured to be your friend.”

For the first time, Haruta sees Riley smile.

#CMLB Stories #Haruta Telephone #Riley Hotdogfingers #Eli Quitter #Parker MacMillan.1 #Nagomi Seraph #Saskatchewan Skates #Eekburg Billiards #Fanteam #Blaseball #i honestly didnt think this one would be this long #idk why

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vios-rockland-corner · 5 years

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I attempted to draw my Rockland OC Sasha playing pool...it did not go well. I hate the face. I tried to draw a hand close up to make up for the disgrace, but I don’t think it does.

Oh well, it’s part of my rule that I can’t talk about Sasha unless I draw her. Helps me practice (but does not guarantee the picture will turn out great).

Well to be exact, I actually just wanted to talk about another character I’m trying to develop who could be a friend of Sasha.

I’m usually not fantastic at making side characters, but this one’s been forming in my head pretty well over the last few days.

I might make Sasha’s best friend a guy name Pierce (name pending- especially if a canon Rockland character pops up with the same name soon). He’d be someone that she’s known for a long time, either from elementary or middle school. I don’t know their ages yet, so I can’t say exactly how long. They’d be super tight though and comfortable with each other.

I was trying to think of what Sasha does in her spare time. At first I was thinking she had a gal pal who had a tendency to drag Sasha around as her designated driver so they could go to bars. Yeah, Sasha would be a good designated driver, but that doesn’t sound as fun. However, lots of bars and pubs will sometimes have pool tables, and I thought, “Well I could see Sasha going to pubs/bars if she’s with a friend and they have a little something more to do than just chat or scope out the scene!” So that’s where Pierce comes in.

Pierce is a fantastic pool/billiards player. Loves to play and he’s great at it. Sasha also loves pool, and is decent (but not as good as Pierce). So Sasha actually enjoys playing against Pierce to get better at the game, and Pierce enjoys having someone with the persistence to keep playing him.

Funny thing is though, while both Sasha and Pierce would be friendly and helpful if they were playing anybody else, when these two play together they talk a lot of smack and start roasting each other. These two have just known each other for so long that it’s more out of good fun and competitiveness than mean spirit.

Pierce wins the vast majority of the time, but on a rare occasion Sasha has pulled a couple wins (which just encourages her more to keep playing).

They may make small bets like, “You’re paying my tab if you lose,” though Pierce tends to avoid as many monetary bets because he known he’d starting draining Sasha’s wallet ;) (To which Sasha would retort, “Oh we’ll see about that.”)

Couple of reasons I like this setup:

1) I think it’s a decent pastime that both keeps them active in their own space as well as opens up opportunities to meet/interact with other characters in the world

2) Pubs and bars I’m sure would be great places to hear lots of odds stories and rumors...like about people going missing >:)

3) This is a little extra reassurance to keep Sasha safe, having the two of them together a lot in a public space

4) It’s a funny setup considering these two are NOT dating, but they often get mistaken as boyfriend and girlfriend.

At the moment, both characters are single. They don’t even consider dating each other. When people ask, they basically both give the same answer: “I’ve just known them for too long.” They often treat each other more like siblings than potential partners. They’re at this point where literally either could be hanging out at the other’s place, walking around in a towel after a shower looking for something, and they’d just treat it as casual (maybe a little joke thrown in though). It’s not that either of them are gay or lesbian, they just feel like they’re life friends, not partners. Although if either has to find a roommate to save money on living expenses, they’re each other’s first choice.

But of course, to the public eye it might not be easy to tell. It has DEFINITELY been problematic at times for each to find a boyfriend or girlfriend unless they’re hanging out by themselves. There’s been some problems before where the person they’re dating doesn’t like how cozy Sasha and Pierce can get with one another. Sasha and Pierce are the same though where, “If I’m dating someone who won’t accept my friendship with my childhood buddy, then they’re not worth dating.”

Pierce would also probably make a joke that if he married Sasha, “But then I couldn’t be the uncle who can spoil her kids rotten and let her know when she’s getting fat!”

If people they’re not fond of start to bother them too much when they’re playing a game of billiards, their usual strategy is to just start upping the smack they talk with one another (still only to each other) to the point where the other people just can’t get a word in and feel like they’re not even part of the scene. If they don’t know that Sasha and Pierce aren’t dating, Sasha and Pierce will also use each other as an “emergency girlfriend/boyfriend” if there’s someone they want to deter (obviously doesn’t work if somehow the other party is already aware they’re just friends).

Pierce and Sasha will watch each other’s backs though. If it looks like someone bad is getting too close, they’ll find a pool stick shoved in their way. Pierce might actually even smack a dude’s hand “on accident” with a pool stick if he saw them trying to get a little too handsy with Sasha. Otherwise, they just leave and head to the next bar/pub if a place isn’t working for them. People can look, but no touch (unless it’s obvious Sasha or Pierce is interesting in whoever new person they’re talking to).

Pierce is probably pretty good looking. I don’t know what he looks like yet though 0.o I didn’t try to draw him because honestly I’m even worse with male characters (both drawing and coming up with something original). Pierce probably gets more attention than Sasha though in public. Thinking he’s maybe 5′9″, but still debating on that.

Seeing as I changed talking about Pierce as a “would be” to an “is” here, pretty sure I’m going to try to keep him, but he could change in some ways.

Bonus:

I guess I could share HOW I came up with Pierce because it’s...kind of funny. I was in the mall and walking through one of the clothing departments when I passed by the lingerie section. I am a woman, but I still always feel a little weird walking through there. Some stuff looks nice, but I think I’m just shy, haha.

I thought for a moment would Sasha be more of the type to shop for lingerie? I’m thinking...I don’t think so, but what if she was there with someone else? Somehow it turned into me thinking about a serious conversation Sasha was having with a friend, who was advising her to basically be careful and keep herself safe (long story regarding a backstory I’m not sure I’m keeping). Anyways, the end of the conversation goes something like this:

Pierce: “Alright, now that I’ve done my sacred duty as your friend, advising you to stay out of trouble...take me to the lingerie section.”

Sasha: “Why do you ALWAYS want to go see women’s underwear when we go to the mall together?”

Pierce: “First of all: Don’t call it underwear, that’s so undignified. Second: Because if I go there by myself, either I get girls giving me a disgusted look or little old ladies creeping on me saying I must be such a good boyfriend looking to buy something for my girl.”

Sasha: “Well yeah, pretty sure it IS weird for a dude to walk around there alone...”

Pierce: “Yeah but if I’m with you we just look like we’re shopping as a couple.”

To clarify, Pierce thinks lingerie is basically like a work of art. He just likes looking, he doesn’t have a reason to buy it. He doesn’t like if Sasha calls it “underwear.” He’s well aware Sasha wears either boring underwear or just oversized shirts to bed, which he feels is a waste. He often says she needs to treat herself and “upgrade.”

I imagined one time Sasha got annoyed and offered to “model” for him at her place with some lingerie she just bought, just to get his opinion. She purposefully picked something ugly though (I keep thinking “pineapple lingerie” for some reason because that sounds pretty unsexy to me). Pierce was appalled and said, “Burn it.” Would also be another fun reason why Pierce could never really view Sasha as sexy XD

Sometimes Sasha’s not entirely sure if Pierce is more interested in women wearing lingerie...or really just the lingerie itself, haha.

I’m not sure if I’ll keep the lingerie fascination. It’s funny, but debatable whether it’s just perverted or an odd “sophisticated taste.” I could throw it out and keep the stuff I mentioned earlier. It’s just weird that’s how I came up with this character.

#rockland #sasha holmes #pierce #my OC #my art #billiards

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defira85 · 6 years

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Swtor toons and hobbies

I was doing some brainstorming today trying to think about hobbies for one of my characters and realised I was sorely lacking in that department for a lot of my characters. So to that end, I wrote a stupid long list of characters and the things they do to waste time and indulge themselves

Ona’la

Endurance training, especially weights and long-distance running

Parenting/baby-sitting/crechemaster duties at the academy PILE MORE BABIES ON HER SHE LOVES BABIES

She has a soft spot for action holoflix and romcoms. She likes things that have unquestionably happy endings

Is chocolate a hobby? Thexan says no, Ona’la says yes

Asmi

Gardening, a strange hobby for a carnivore, but it helped her recovery while living on Voss

She was trying to study for at least a Bachelor of Law after being assigned as attache to the Chancellor’s Office, but her various chronic illnesses made it very difficult. She was studying from home, but the workload was a lot to keep up with

Used to binge watch a lot of holoshows while she was bed-bound, has watched every season of Galactic House Hunters (yes, all one hundred and thirty-eight seasons). And yes, she loves watching those cringey old action flix that Felix loves

Ellaz

SPORTSBALL. Surprising no one, Ellaz is a bit of a jock. Also, one of her brothers was a pro-racer for over two decades, and she was heavily into speeder sports as a result

Collects and builds model spaceships and speeders- another hobby she picked up from an older brother.

She and Aric are fans of crime procedurals. They yell at the screen and throw popcorn when the forensics lab in the shows offers completely implausible evidence about blasters and shrapnel in the murder case

Tahrin

Would you call it mixed martial arts? Whatever it is in a GFFA, Tahrin was extensively trained in every available saber style while locked in The Facility, and many of the more common fighting styles, and likes to practice in her private gyms. She likes to zone out while exercising

Meditating. Again, likes to zone out. Tahrin, do you not like being in your own head or something?

She likes logic puzzles. Something she can sit and ponder for hours until the answer comes to her, something that tests the limits of her knowledge

Kallathe

Lana says she’s not allowed to say sex, what’s even the point Lana?

To the surprise of literally everyone who knows her, she likes strategy games, the harder the better. She’ll play against an AI opponent or another person, and despite her hotheaded nature, she is a masterful tactician. Again, to the surprise of literally everyone.

She used to be a regular attendee in the front row at Dromund Kaas Fashion Week

Thessa

Reading, especially in bed, or in some kind of blanket cocoon on a rainy day. She will read anything, but has a particular interest in romance novels. They always have a happy ending. Also subscribed to numerous science journals specialising in xenobiology and xenochemistry

An art aficionado, she has a Patron Pass for the Dromund Kaas Imperial Museum of Art so that she can go year round whenever a new exhibit is unveiled

Is tea a hobby? She likes to go to this particular Tea House in the Csillan Quarter near to where she and Vector and Arram live in Kaas City, it’s easy to lose an entire afternoon in there

Ysaine

Because of her years on Nar Shaddaa, she is inevitably a Huttball fan. Stans hard for the Djilka Dancers, an all women’s team

Involved in a lot of Women’s Support networks- for trans women, for veterans of the Great Galactic War, for domestic abuse survivors. Her services as a bounty hunter prior to the Great Hunt were almost exclusively in aiding women and children escape from bad situations, and she’s tried to follow through with making sure they’ve got networks to support them when they’re free

Enjoys a good raucous cantina. Drinking some beers with friends and watching the game and eating some greasy food and yelling a lot

Kol’aya

Long distance running, just likes to put her headphones on and start running and not stop until her legs are jelly

Subscribed to a number of medical journals, specifically for neurosurgery and cybernetics but some general ones too

If pressed hard, she’d admit to enjoying sitting down with a beer and binging a couple of horror movies back to back, none of them scare her but she enjoys the genre

When she was younger, she used to enjoy clubbing, and going dancing until dawn

Xolani

Small scale gardening, like keeping small bonsai like plants in her home

Opera, and while she’s not a singer worthy of the stage, she does a worthy rendition of some of her favourites. Visited the Zakuulan theatre a lot during her time as the Lady of Sorrows

Crosswords and word puzzles

Bejah

R O B O T S. What’s that Nikos? Can I have that? Can I build that? I bet I can build that. Unconfirmed reports that she once built a Gree teleportation platform from scratch just from seeing them on Ilum

M A R S H M A L L O W S. Do you know you can MAKE your OWN MARSHMALLOWS??? DO YOU KNOW MARSHMALLOWS HAVE LOTS OF DIFFERENT FLAVOURS???

She loves comic books, because the limited text and bright colours doesn’t make it too overwhelming for her to follow along with. If it’s particularly dense, she and Nikos will read it together. He does silly voices for all the characters.

Pop music. She got to see Moon Room in concert for her 25th birthday and she cried

GLITTER AND BRIGHT COLOURED MAKEUP, she watches a lot of tutorials on HoloTube to get it right

Evie

Typical pub games- card games like pazaak and sabaac and ball games like billiards and pool

Computer games, especially arcade games

Not much of a reader, but she’s great at mathematically minded things. She’s memorised the stats for her favourite Grav-ball team, and knows how to count cards, and plays things like Sudoku when she’s got nothing else on hand

She follows Grav-Ball religiously, has a tattoo of her favourite player’s number from the Terminosi Terrors

That’s not everyone obviously but it was all I could get done during work (oops, work?) so we’ll leave it there for now :D

#Defira rambles #Ona'la #Asmi Adhi #Ellaz Hervoz #Tahrin Dara #Kallathe Jen'zuska #Aranth'ess'anrokini #Ysaine Pierce #Kol'aya Torr #Xolani Xo #Bejah Amariha #Evie Che

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newssplashy · 6 years

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NEW YORK — At the Parkchester apartments in the Bronx, neighbors heard the news from a maintenance worker: The woman down the hall had just won a primary and was probably headed for Congress. At a popular restaurant in Union Square in Manhattan, workers struggled to comprehend that the young politician whose face was all over TV really was the same woman who had tended bar until a few months ago.

And on the streets of midtown Manhattan Wednesday morning, the candidate herself was trying to make sense of it all.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stood outside Rockefeller Center after appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” juggling phone calls and live TV interviews and the well-wishes of doormen and office workers on their coffee breaks.

“I’m used to people kind of knowing me in the community,” said Ocasio-Cortez, 28, but to have a stream of random people walk up and ask to take a selfie with her? “Insane.”

Ocasio-Cortez, whose résumé up to now included waitress, children’s-book publisher, community activist, member of the Democratic Socialists of America and former Bernie Sanders campaign organizer, was now something else: an instant political rock star. She stunned the Democratic establishment by beating one of the senior leaders in the House, Joseph Crowley, in a near-landslide in Tuesday’s primary.

She is expected to have little difficulty defeating the Republican candidate, Anthony Pappas, in a predominantly Democratic district that takes in working-class, immigrant-heavy swaths of the Bronx and Queens in November.

Ocasio-Cortez appeared to be adjusting to the intensity with the aplomb of a natural retail politician, graciously granting every request for a picture while staying cheerfully on a progressive message that has energized the Democrats’ left wing. “Thank you!” she said, over and over, eyes wide, smile wider, her hand flying to her chest. “Thank you so much.”

“When you won, I was bawling,” said Tahia Islam, 21, whose family lives in Queens and who was passing through the plaza on a break from her marketing job. “I had my whole family vote for you.”

“Oh my God, thank you!” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Tell your family, thank you.”

Behind the scenes, of course, Ocasio-Cortez’s rise has been a little less sudden. “For two years,” she said, “all I have been thinking about is 8:59 on June 26,” when the polls closed Tuesday night.

But it goes back many years before that. As a teenager, Ocasio-Cortez never hesitated to speak her mind during political conversations around the dinner table.

“There was nobody who could shut her up,” said her mother, Blanca Ocasio-Cortez. “I saw the political tendencies since she was very, very young.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s mother was born in Puerto Rico. Her late father, Sergio Ocasio, an architect, was born in the Bronx. The family lived in Parkchester, a planned community of mid-rise buildings, in the same apartment where Ocasio-Cortez now lives, until Alexandria was about 5. Then, they moved an hour north to a modest two-bedroom house on a quiet street in Yorktown Heights, a suburb in Westchester County, in search of better schools.

At Yorktown High School, Ocasio-Cortez was a serious science student and won second place in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in 2007. She presented her project, on the anti-aging effect of anti-oxidants in roundworms, to the town board of education, her science teacher Michael Blueglass said.

“One of the administrators wasn’t there at the beginning and came in after she started, and he said to the superintendent, ‘What company is she from?'” Blueglass recalled. “The superintendent said, ‘She’s a 17-year-old senior in our high school.’ She presented herself, verbally, visually, everything, as if she was a 30-year-old professional presenter businesswoman even though she was 17 years old.”

Blueglass said that even as a teenager, Ocasio-Cortez looked at science research through a political lens. “She was interested in research to help people in all areas, including developing nations, not just for the people with money.”

Ocasio-Cortez went off to Boston University. Her father died early in her sophomore year. She took only a week off from school and, afterward, threw herself into her studies. “She jumped from having good grades to being on the dean’s list,” her mother said.

She majored in economics and international relations, impressing the professor who taught an antitrust economics class, Marc Rysman, with “great analytic abilities.”

She also dabbled in establishment politics during college, working for Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., on immigration, but soon turned her attention to the grass-roots work that would come to define her candidacy.

Returning to the Bronx after graduation, she began advocating improved childhood education and literacy, starting a children’s book publishing company that sought to portray her home borough in a positive light.

She returned to national politics when she worked as an organizer for the Sanders campaign. She has credited her decision to seek office with her experience protesting at the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation in 2016 against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Around that time, she was contacted by Brand New Congress, a newly formed progressive organization that asked her to run.

She has also worked for years teaching summer courses in community leadership to high school students for the National Hispanic Institute.

She continued working until February behind the bar at Flats Fix, a taco restaurant in Union Square (where a photo of her mixing a drink still adorns their home page), heading off to political meetings and fundraising house parties after her shift.

“I spent the entire first part of this campaign just going to people’s living rooms and having them invite their neighbors, and just doing little coffee parties for like six or seven months,” she said. “And that’s how we really started this campaign.”

Her campaign evolved into something of a digital and door-to-door crusade. She and her campaign’s digital staff used Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to turn out new voters and push a progressive message that included calls for tuition-free public colleges, Medicare for all, and the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

“The scope of the digital effort for a campaign like this was massive,” said Jake DeGroot, who helped to manage Ocasio-Cortez’s digital efforts. About 30 volunteers used a private WhatsApp group to coordinate social media strategy, according to Ananya Kumar-Banerjee, another volunteer with the campaign.

On Facebook, Ocasio-Cortez’s team spent months refining and testing various get-out-the-vote messages and campaign announcements in English and Spanish. Since early May, when Facebook began archiving political ads in a public database, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign purchased about 180 ads for her official Facebook and Instagram pages. Crowley’s campaign bought 110 Facebook and Instagram ads during the same time period, all in English.

Ocasio-Cortez also kept with her ground game, saying it was important to “commit to grass roots, on-the-ground organizing, to knocking on those doors and making those numbers and phone calls.”

On Tuesday, primary day, Ocasio-Cortez still did not know where she was going to have her “watch party” for the election results. She finally settled on a billiard hall in the Bronx.

In the car there, she put her phone away and did not check the returns. “Everybody in the car we were in was so nervous,” she said. “We were just like, ‘Don’t check it, don’t check.'”

As the car pulled up, Ocasio-Cortez saw through a window a headline on a screen inside that put her in the lead.

“So I just started running,” she said. “I literally ran and I busted through the doors.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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buildercar · 7 years

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New Post has been published on http://www.buildercar.com/first-drive-2018-honda-odyssey/

First Drive: 2018 Honda Odyssey

WAIKOLOA, HAWAII – It’s 82 degrees and sunny, with a faint tropical crosswind sweeping across the billiard table-smooth highway. My family — conveniently flown in to accompany me on this 2018 Honda Odyssey test drive — is dishing about seat comfort and visibility after a multi-hour, cross-island drive. You may accuse Honda of tilting the playing field by flying the whole brood across the Pacific, but the move is a stroke of brilliance, really: come for the eight-passenger people-mover press launch, stay for experiential gold.

We took to the mean streets of Hawaii in a top-end Odyssey Elite under auspiciously ideal circumstances — that is, balmy weather, great roads, and minimal traffic. Remote operated dual power doors, relatively low step-in, and easily maneuvered second row seats made load-in easy. Once settled in, CabinWatch — a new monitoring system that uses a ceiling-mounted infrared camera to keep tabs on second and third row occupants that also offers night vision and pinch/zoom views — makes it easy to make sure everyone’s belted in (and not wrestling each other).

Honda launched the first-gen Odyssey in 1994 on a modified Accord chassis, a connection that remains to this day thanks to the automaker’s platform strategy. The 2018 Odyssey receives an updated structure that strategically uses high-strength steel, aluminum, and magnesium to increase torsional rigidity by 44 percent while reducing weight by as much as 75 pounds.

As a counter-measure against the genre’s reputation for uninspiring driving dynamics, Honda reworked the rear suspension with a compact trailing arm design and, for the first time, incorporated a rear anti-roll bar, moving the springs and dampers outboard. Up front, a new dual-pinion electronic steering system claims an 18 percent quicker ratio and better feel.

Powering the 2018 Odyssey is Honda’s familiar 3.5-liter V-6, tuned to make 280 hp and 262 lb-ft of torque — increases of 32 hp and 12 lb-ft. Not familiar, however, are the new 9- and 10-speed automatic gearboxes (the latter is standard on Touring and Elite models, like our tester) the engine is mated to, which replace the outgoing model’s 6-speed. The 9-speed is sourced from ZF, while the 10-speed is Honda’s in-house creation.

All models feature paddle shifters for the first time and claim a nearly one second advantage from 0 to 60 mph compared to the nearest competitors. Fuel economy is rated at 19/28 mpg city/highway, aided by a new active shutter grille which promises to aid aerodynamics by redirecting airflow when engine cooling is less critical.

A push-button shifter replaces the small outgoing shift knob on the center stack (a la NSX), and works easily enough. Press “D/S” once, and you’re in standard automatic mode; dip it again, and you switch — confusingly — to “Sequential,” not “Sport.” Go figure. And no, the provocatively named Sequential mode doesn’t refer to an automated single-clutch transmission; this setting simply encourages the driver to do his best mid-life crisis racer impersonation and shift via the paddles, which respond lazily but smoothly to inputs.

Though power never feels explosive, the engine plays well with the 10-speed, offering eager revving, flexible power, and the impression that regardless of speed or engine rpm, the gearbox seemed to be in the right gear. It also makes high-speed driving fairly effortless, allowing the engine to remain below a leisurely 2,000 rpm even while cruising at 80 mph.

The average red-blooded enthusiast might feel socially sheepish at the controls of this (up to) 4,593-pound vehicle, but at least on Hawaii’s open roads, the Odyssey manages to lurch past dilly-dallying locals and rental cars with ease. Cornering reveals good body control and solid steering feedback, while the long wheelbase and revised suspension seems to be well-equipped for bumpy surfaces (road quality on the Big Island was admittedly excellent).

Despite the drivetrain’s intuitive responses to driver input, the Odyssey’s automated features lack refinement — particularly the adaptive cruise system, which tends to repeatedly dab, rather than smoothly apply, the brakes. Frustratingly, the system also ceases to operate below 25 mph, exposing the driver to the full drudgery of stop and go traffic crawls.

Helping manage said drudgery are numerous interior enhancements. Softer, higher quality materials are employed throughout the cabin, which is highlighted by a new one-piece instrument panel surrounded in a padded surface. It’s a quieter space as well, thanks to extensive use of noise quelling measures throughout.

All trim levels benefit from active noise cancellation technology, while physical improvements include the addition of acoustical glass at the windshield and side glass, sound deadening carpet, and triple door seals. Also incorporated under the skin are copious amounts of spray foam, acoustic tape, and foam stoppers for good, noise-killing measure.

These refinements to NVH are palpable within the cabin, offering excellent sound and ride isolation. A side effect of the reduced wind, road, and tire noise is that engine noise is more prominent than before and your ears will pick up the refined but nonetheless mechanical sounds of the otherwise innocuous six-cylinder.

In addition to its greatly reduced noise levels, the cabin of the 2018 Odyssey features a strong lineup of communications and entertainment features, such as the aforementioned CabinWatch system.

Featured front and center on all models but the base LX is a new 8-inch touchscreen. The display uses an Android operating system, features customizable apps, and receives over-the-air updates to stay current. With what it says is first-in-segment in-car 4G LTE connectivity, the Odyssey’s multimedia system can also connect to up to 8 smartphones, feeding music playlist choices into the stereo system.

Key controls can also be managed using Honda’s proprietary CabinControl system, which enables HVAC, stereo, and nav system management via a smartphone app. And should CabinWatch show the need to threaten to turn this van around, the driver can use the included CabinTalk system to broadcast his or her words through the vehicle’s speakers and headphones. Although it projects a comically tinny, metallic version of the driver’s voice throughout the interior, it beats the old-fashioned approach of raising your voice.

The strains of long distance driving can be softened by Honda’s kitschy How Much Further app, which portrays a time remaining graphic in a cartoon format on the flip-down, roof-mounted 10.2-inch display. Due to our personal ban on in-car entertainment, we didn’t sample built-in streaming apps like PBS Kids, which displays video on the rear screen. However, the old fashioned picture window did the trick, offering excellent visibility on the Big Island’s famously volcanic landscapes. Your scenery may vary.

On the packaging side of things, although they’re not as flexible as the Stow ’n Go seats found in the Chrysler Pacifica, the Odyssey’s ‘MagicSlide’ second row seats can slide front-to-back and side-to-side in order to aid ingress and egress, and can be manipulated from the front seats in order to fine tune access and visibility. Rear seating space is excellent, and a deep storage bin behind the third row offers plenty of cargo room.

Say what you will about the genre’s intrinsic social liabilities, the minivan is the most efficient way to haul people and cargo – cool factor be damned. The Odyssey has been the best seller within this half-million unit segment for seven consecutive years, and is the fourth best-selling Honda in U.S. history. Given its undisputable utility and functionality, I would be hard pressed to create a compelling argument against the 2018 Honda Odyssey’s ability to retain that title.

2018 Honda Odyssey Specifications

ON SALE Now PRICE $30,930/$47,610 (base/as tested) ENGINE 3.5L SOHC 24-valve V-6/280 hp @ 6,000 rpm, 262 lb-ft @ 4,700 rpm TRANSMISSIONS 9-speed automatic, 10-speed automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 7-8-passenger, front-engine, FWD van EPA MILEAGE 19/22 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 203.2 x 78.5 x 68.3 in WHEELBASE 118.1 in WEIGHT 4,354-4,593 lb 0-60 MPH 7.5 sec (est) TOP SPEED N/A

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the-record-columns · 7 years

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Jan. 18, 2017: Columns

My first poker game…

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

A while back, I wrote about a man who cheated me out of the money he owed me for delivering the Greensboro Daily News to him, when I was an 11-year-old lad in 1960.

Let me hasten to add that this was the only real negative associated with that job, my first foray as an independent businessman. For the most part, that paper route was fun, educational, and it literally brought me financial independence — from the day I took that paper route, I never cost my parents another cent — except what food I ate at their table.

To tell the truth, I used to resent that a bit, but now I am proud of it.

At any rate, collecting for the paper was the most fun. Not just because of the money, but because I actually got to see and get to know my customers, most of whom were still asleep, or just getting up, when I was delivering their newspaper just before daylight.

There was Miss Mary Finley who I would collect from at her job on the second floor of Spainhour’s. Tall, thin, always dressed in black, and rarely caught smiling, this lady was an angel at heart and was as kind to me as anyone, even forgiving me for breaking a window. Another I remember fondly was Fred Hethcock. He lived over on Sixth Street hill, Town Hill to most of us, and always had a good word. He told me he worked in personnel at the Wilkes Hosiery Mill on F Street, and said if he saw on an application that the person had once had a paper route, he almost always gave them a job.

Another place I loved to stop was Sharkey’s Restaurant on B Street, diagonally across from the Bus Station. Owned and operated by “Sharkey” Pardue, on many mornings, I would trade him a newspaper for my breakfast. I never knew the man’s real name, and always assumed his nickname had something to do with billiards, having often heard the term “pool shark” spoken by folks referring to my older brother, Wayne. Well, here’s a touch of trivia for all you old timers who remember Sharkey Pardue. His nickname came from a big bet he placed on a boxer named Sharkey, which he lost. That information is directly from his beautiful daughter, Billie Minton, who to know is to love.

Then there was the old attorney, J. H. Whicker, Sr.

His office was upstairs in the Northwestern Bank (the former SunTrust Bank) building on B (now Main) Street in North Wilkesboro. My instructions were clear, that I was to collect from Mr. Whicker at his office on Saturday mornings — yes, Saturday. I will never forget that man. He was always dressed in a three-piece suit, a starched white shirt and a bright tie, usually red. The vest of his suit was always littered with ashes from the ever-present cigar perched directly under his perpetually red nose.

But that’s not the best part.

I collected from several of my customers at their offices, and every one, except Mr. Whicker, would have their secretary pay me, and I would be on my way, rarely seeing my customer face to face. Every Saturday, however, when I would go into Mr. Whicker’s offices, his secretary would buzz him on the intercom and tell him I was there. Momentarily he would summon me to come back to his office, which was a room furnished with a huge desk, conference table and several high-back leather chairs. Almost every week, there would be from two to six people in the office with Mr. Whicker and, as I walked in, he would motion for me to come behind his desk. After he paid me the 45-cent newspaper bill, he would begin telling me about the boundary dispute, broken contract, or an accident they were in the midst of discussing. Shortly, he would ask me to choose between the courses of action he felt were available to his clients. Each week, as I proudly listened and chose, he would lean way back in his chair. When we had finished our little exercise, he would sit up, pat me on the back as I left the room, and say, “From the mouths of babes…”

But, to be honest, the most memorable collection day revolves around a poolroom — the Friendly Billiards. When I was a kid, it was operated by J. B. Higgins. “Friendlys,” as it was often called, was located in the basement of the building right next door to the police station in North Wilkesboro. You were supposed to be 16 to go in the poolroom, but sometimes I would sneak in. Also, there was a table in the back area, which quite often was the scene of a serious poker game. Late one Friday afternoon, I made it into the back room to watch the game, which had been going on for hours. Very much to my surprise, one of the players leaned around to me and showed me his cards. “Kenny,” he whispered, “I need $20 to stay in this hand. If you let me have it, I’ll split the pot with you.”

To this day, I don’t know what possessed me to take that chance.

But I did.

I literally sweated bullets until that hand was over, and my guy won. He grinned and counted money into my hand for what seemed like forever. Truly, I had not seen that much money at one time in my life. Nervously, I practically ran out of the poolroom to find a place to count my winnings, which turned out to be just over $100. As I furiously pedaled my bike on the way home, I began to think about all the things I could do with that money.

By the next afternoon, however, someone had gotten word to my father that Kenny had way more money on him than a 12-year-old should. That night at supper, Pa began grilling me and, in no time, I cracked.

Retribution was swift and sure.

In addition to a whale of a spanking, Pa confiscated the money. Then, on Sunday morning, he returned it to me with instructions to put it in the collection plate at the Hinshaw Street Baptist Church later that morning.

As my dad walked away, I plaintively whined, “All of it?”

He turned and looked at me, his jaw set, speaking not a word.

He didn’t need to.

Overcoming Anger

By LAURA WELBORN

Overcoming negativity seems to be a constant in the news these days and there are times I want to yell “just get along” like I used to with my children… although it probably would not work to stop the negative verbal “spars” any better than it did with my kids. It seems hard to resist picking up a gauntlet when one is put down in front of you. Ephesians 4:29 “ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen”. Why can’t we all just follow that? Even when provoked.

One of the hardest things I have had to do is to pray specifically for those who have harmed me. I friend of mine once said to pray for the light within the person to overcome the darkness (and we all have darkness). When the light is greater than the dark we become more positive and goodness wins.

But how exactly can you adjust your response, and keep your attitude and actions positive, in the heat of the moment? Here are a few strategies that work…

“Create space to breathe. Conscious breathing is your anchor. Hold still for a moment, take a deep breath and free your mind from all the chatter that’s going on inside your head and around you. Doing so creates space for a change of state – for something new and positive to enter. Ultimately, the key is to refill your bucket on a regular basis. That means catching your breath, finding peaceful solitude, focusing your attention inward, and otherwise making time for recovery from the chaos of your life.

Relieve the resistance. If you evaluate your body and posture right now, you can find some kind of tension. it’s often in the neck, but sometimes it’s in the back and shoulders. Where does this tension we feel come from? We’re resisting something –our mental resistance creates a tension in our bodies and unhappiness in our lives.

· Locate the tension in your body right now.

· Notice what you’re resisting and tensing up against – it might be a situation or person you’re dealing with or avoiding.

· Relax the tense area of your body – deep breath and a quick stretch often helps.” From Marc and Angel Hack Life.com

Mindfulness can happen in an instance. We need to first stop and look a situation with intention, positive intention. I think that is why we say “step back” and visually this is stepping back from the gauntlet that is thrown to us- giving us a moment to rethink the situation. I read recently that if we take a minute every time we look at our watch to check the time, we intentionally become mindful of being positive when we feel ourselves becoming upset. Hopefully it will become a habit and we can stop ourselves from reacting negatively. I think that is what is wrong with texting it is so easy to respond. My mother once told me a story of when my father had written her a Dear John letter while in the Air Force. Her father told her to write back but give it to him and he would hold it for three days and then if she still wanted to send the letter he would. After three days she did not want to send the letter. Well the end of the story is years later they got together by accident and the rest is history because here I am. What if she had texted him back with her hurt angry feelings? Note the picture below of my father with the ink splattered on it from my mother in a fit of rage when she received the letter.

Laura Welborn, Mediator. Contact her at [email protected]

Better Control of the Money Flow to the Palestinian Authority

By EARL COX

Special to The Record

Since 2015, annual U.S. appropriations legislation has required the reduction of aid for the Palestinian Authority (PA) by an amount equal to what the PA spends to reward acts of terrorism including monies spent by the PA training children to become terrorists. To help Israel and fight terrorism, keep one eye on annual appropriations bills and another on your congressional representative.

Hateful rhetoric starts young for Palestinian children whose leaders instill the culture of violence through school textbooks and activities. Experts recently discovered violent narrative in 240 U.S. government-approved schoolbooks, including civics and math, that incite first- through ninth-graders in more than 400 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) schools in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem to kill Israelis and sacrifice themselves as martyrs for the cause of Palestinian statehood. One math problem used variables for the number of Jews killed during the intifadas.

An expert witness scheduled for a congressional hearing said an Obama administration memo intervened by saying the books were not problematic, and that the hearing on the books was unnecessary. With a new president and congress taking over the reigns of government on January 20th, the time is ripe to petition these bodies to take a positive stand against the PA's violation of the Oslo Accords and demand the PA to negotiate directly with Israel or lose US support. It's also a good time to enforce laws requiring the United States to withhold assistance to people or institutions fostering terrorism. Additionally:

• Pressure the PA to repudiate violence and violent rhetoric in all forms. Previous U.S. denunciations have had no effect;

• Review the aid’s effectiveness and

• Look for alternative ways to influence Palestinian leaders.

Elliott Abrams of the Council on Foreign Relations has suggested closing the PLO office in Washington, D.C., visa bans on PA officials, and channeling U.S. aid into specific programs unpolluted by corruption.

Some fear that withholding funds could result in the collapse of the PA and its U.S.-trained security forces resulting in a power vacuum—a risky incentive for Hamas or other radicals. If this fear is well founded, perhaps effective answers can be sought in better controls of the money flow and other incentive packages.

Memories

By Carl White

Life in the Carolinas

Memories are like butterflies, they come and go, and if we are lucky, they allow us to focus on their beauty now and then. I think that is why it is important to set ourselves up for the opportunities to enjoy their visits.

You can’t enjoy good memories without first enjoying the moments from which the memories are inspired.

I’m always looking for a great experience, and I seem to find what I am looking for in many of the places I visit. Maybe it’s because I believe there is more good than bad and if you are open to this idea things are stacked in your favor.

Great food is always a pleasure to find, but let’s face it, all chefs are not created equal. That’s okay I can only imagine how much I may be tempted to overeat if everyone cooked like Mom.

I know the value of a good night’s sleep on the road. However, I have met many people who say it takes them a few nights just to relax enough to get a good night’s rest. Well, if I did that I would never get any sleep. The key is staying at the right places. A clean room and a nice bed with good cotton sheets goes a zeat reputation and good reviews. I enjoy a nice B&B and I’m always pleased with my stays at the Hampton Inn and Suites. They always have clean sheets.

It is a duty to myself and others that I have great experiences so that I have good things to talk and write about. If you flood your life with good moments, you will have an abundance of sweet memories. You will not be able to escape them, and they will come in handy when you are dealing with less than pleasant situations.

If you are a regular viewer of our TV show or a frequent reader, I would guess that you have picked up on the fact that I love what I do. I love meeting all kinds of people and visiting all types of places. I enjoy good food and good conversation. I am enjoying the passing of time, and I love the power of kind words.

I like walking on the happy side of the street. It is there where I have met many people that are often newcomers, who have somehow stumbled across the wonders of days less filled with the obsession of things. They have discovered the power of kindness, generosity of self and the life-changing value of days filled with sweet memories.

It’s okay to have a busy life, but balanced with a playful nature. Make sure you take time for the right moments; you will need what they inspire.

We have so many beautiful things to experience in the Carolinas; there is no good reason not to stack the deck in your favor. That’s where the great stories are; I should know. Go ahead, have a walk on the happy side of the street. There you go, smiling already. Go to a nice place, sleep in a good clean bed and enjoy a great meal with someone nice. I’ll see you on the road.

Carl White is the executive producer and host of the award-winning syndicated TV show Carl White’s Life In the Carolinas. The weekly show is now in its eighth year of syndication and can be seen in the Charlotte viewing market on WJZY Fox 46 Saturday’s at 12:00 noon. For more on the show, visit www.lifeinthecarolinas.com, You can email Carl White at [email protected]. Copyright 2017 Carl White

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newssplashy · 6 years

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World: With one win, Ocasio-Cortez emerges as a political star