#I know season 2 aired in September 2020 but it was suppose to be one whole drama so meh also this counts | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

holllandtrash · 11 months

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fragile line | daniel ricciardo

pairing: daniel ricciardo x driver!reader

You and I walk a fragile line I have known it all this time But I never thought I'd live to see it break

what happens when the driver daniel falls in love with, ends up being the one who brings his career to a screeching halt? word count: 7.7k (im so sorry) warnings/tags: fluff-ish, plot with implied/very little smut, angst, mclaren danny, zak brown (gross), some incorrect f2 stats but whatever, time jumps, really just a lot of angst, its a rollercoaster

“What do you know?”

“What do you know?” Daniel repeated the question back to you, the emphasis making it clear as day that you both carried the same career-altering information.

His signature grin and comforting optimism were nowhere to be seen. Instead, Daniel’s expression could be described in a variety of ways. Solemn, disappointed, hurt.

“What was I supposed to do?” You asked, going straight to the defensive. You couldn’t be helpful in this scenario, you just needed to explain yourself. He wouldn’t understand it from your perspective, but you had to try.

“Not take the seat,” he offered a solution, as if it was that simple. “My god, I mean, they’re cutting my contract early, Y/N. For you.”

“For the sake of the team,” you corrected. You had no say in this. McLaren had plenty of driver options for the 2023 season. There were rumours of Daniel’s contract coming to an end a year early anyway, everyone heard them, everyone ignored them. The only thing that remained uncertain for a while was who would replace him should the rumours be true.

You.

“You don’t even like McLaren.” You told him, voice raising a little as if that helped get the point across. “You’ve struggled with this team since day one.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to stop racing.”

“McLaren is not the team for you and you know this.”

Daniel scoffed, eyebrows twitching, “Did Zak tell you to say that?”

It was a rhetorical question, but Daniel noticed the way your bottom lip quivered. He caught the way your eyes dropped from his, even just for a split second. There was something unspoken between you, something that weighed on your mind and Daniel stepped forward, wanting to know what exactly it was.

“Zak-” you started, reluctant to even say this. “-he doesn’t know I’m here. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to talk to you or anyone about it, not until your announcement comes out.”

Here meaning Daniel’s flat in Monaco. The place you spent more nights at than your own. You played it off by saying his view was better but that was such a bullshit answer. Daniel’s flat always felt more like home than yours ever did.

You had formally met the Australian driver a few years ago, but god did time fly. It was at a race in Monza. You could pretend you didn’t know the date but of course you did, you had it memorised. September 3rd, 2020. There was no way you could forget the day your life changed for the better.

Or possibly, for the worse. It was up in the air at this point.

You were new to the Formula 2 series. The only female driver on the grid as you raced with Prema alongside Mick Schumacher. F3 proved to be quite a successful stint for you and you had your eyes set on the coveted Formula 1 series. You wanted to be in the big leagues.

Daniel saw that. He saw how determined you were to not only make waves in Motorsport, but to make something of yourself. You trained just as hard, if not harder than the other drivers in the junior series and Daniel had seen that for a while. He was often surprised to see you at the hotel gym, already working up a sweat when he walked in at a little after 6am. He would be even more surprised when he saw you there in the evening when other drivers went and called it a night or even went and celebrated.

Your race weekends were the same as F1 weekends, but you just had limited ones. It was a shorter season, less intense, but whenever you were there. Daniel saw you. He saw you and he paid attention. He even rooted for you, very publicly as well whenever he could, despite the two of you never having exchanged a word.

The first time you heard about Daniel cheering you on was after the Monaco race, quite early on into your first season. You qualified 7th, not ideal for a track like Monaco where the opportunities to overtake were far and few between, but somehow you did it. And then you did it again. And you could say it was luck but it was really smart strategy and an insane amount of driver skill that had you finishing fifth. In Monaco.

Those were Daniel’s words. He was asked pre-race if he watched the F2 run and he said of course. He said he “wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” wanting to see what you could do this weekend.

“It’s not luck, she’s incredibly talented,” Daniel had told the Sky Sports reporter. “She’s doing big things in the series, and I’m rooting for her. Truly. It’s rare a driver comes around with such raw natural talent, where you look at them and you know racing’s just in their blood, but it’s in hers. I would love to see her in Formula 1 one day.”

You watched that interview clip about twenty times. Daniel Ricciardo, the Daniel Ricciardo who had won Monaco a few years back, was complimenting you. He was rooting for you.

It wasn’t until Monza, nearing the end of your season that he finally approached you.

“I want to work with you,” Daniel said, straight to the point. You were in the middle of stretching in the hotel's fitness centre. It was only Thursday, the race weekend itself had barely started but Daniel knew he’d find you in there.

You pulled your airpods out and looked up at him in the mirror, “You what?”

“I want to work with you,” Daniel repeated, this time sitting down on the floor next to you. He kept your stare in the reflection. “I’m not a trainer by any means, but I want to work with you. I want to see you in Formula 1.”

You were flattered, honoured really, but you didn’t know what that entailed. “Work with me how?”

“Well, regular fitness training for starters,” he said. “But managing, really. I want to help you with everything that it takes to move up. Media training, mental preparedness, finding sponsors, getting you in touch with the right people. Let me help you, Y/N.”

You weren’t sure what brought this on. Part of you was convinced it was because he knew this would look good on his behalf. If you did make it to Formula 1 and Daniel’s name was attached to yours, he’d look like a genius. A hero. He would be known as the first person from F1 to publicly support you.

But that wasn’t what it was at all. When you agreed and accepted his help, you soon came to learn that Daniel didn’t want to be in your spotlight at all. He found the opportunities that you needed and then stepped back. He didn’t mention to the media at all that he was helping you, he didn’t see a need to. He saw your potential and he truly wanted to help you make something off.

So there he was during the off season, meeting you in London where you resided. He trained with you, set you up with the right people, did weekly check-ins, he really was like a sort of manager.

He was there during pre-season testing the following year, literally. He stood in the Prema garage like he was just another member of the team. No one really questioned it, not when you said he was acting as a mentor to you. Everyone loved Daniel’s presence there and he was told he was welcome whenever.

He was there during race weekends whenever he could find time in his own busy schedule. He was never there during the actual race, needing that time to prepare for his own, but he always watched from his drivers room or had someone in his ear updating where you were and what was happening.

He was there in Silverstone, when you crashed during Saturday's Sprint Race.

It was one of the last sessions of the day, Daniel had already finished qualifying and he was standing in the back of your garage, arms crossed over his chest, eyes glued to the screen.

He was the first voice you heard when you spun, losing the breaks in mere seconds and all you could do was brace yourself for the impact of the barriers.

“Tell me you’re okay.” Daniel’s voice came through your radio. Not your engineer, not your team principal. Daniel. “Say something, sweets, tell me you're okay.”

Sweets, he called you. But only ever in private, or in front of close friends. What started as a joke when you complained about him not having any sweets in his flat the first time you visited in Monaco, stuck.

But everyone had access to the team radios. It could be heard by other engineers, other teams, fans even and those watching at home should F1TV choose to broadcast it.

Of course they did. They aired the exchange for everyone to hear and it spread like wildfire. It was all anyone on social media could talk about.

“Say something, sweets. Tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m okay,” you sputtered out, hands shaking as you unclenched them. It was an instinct to pull them off the steering wheel and tuck your arms to your chest, physically bracing where you could.

“Good,” Daniel breathed out a very obvious sigh of relief. “Good.” He paused, and then with a quiet chuckle added, “What the fuck was that then?”

You laughed in response, needing the humour at such a traumatic time. You had crashed before, but this was a bad one. You didn’t even need to step out of the vehicle to know you were lucky to not feel any immediate injuries, but there was a ringing in your ear and the adrenaline was preventing you from really understanding the damage your body had sustained.

It wouldn’t have helped, though, to have gotten an earful, not like it was your fault anyway. It also wouldn’t have helped if you were asked again and again if you were okay. The more people asked, the more stressed you would grow. Daniel knew you needed a bit of lightheartedness at this time.

“No brakes, Danny,” you answered through a soft laugh.

“That just sounds like an excuse to me,” he muttered, the sarcasm evident even through the crackling radio.

“Are you going to continue to question my driving abilities or are you going to send medical out here to help me?”

That whole interaction went viral. From the radio message, to the clips of Daniel accompanying you to the medical centre, to the photos of the two of you smiling in the paddock despite the bruising on your body, the concussion you were diagnosed with and the instruction from the doctor that you were not stable enough to race on Sunday.

Which sucked, to put it plainly. But you were with Daniel. He made the situation bearable. With his arm around your shoulder, he walked you to the car at the end of the day, having waited with you the whole time.

People speculated, of course. Questions were asked.

Why was Daniel Ricciardo paying such close attention to you? Why did he get over the radio when he crashed? Why did it sound so flirty? Had he been in your garages the whole time and no one noticed? Was he a mentor? A friend? More?

You had put out a statement when you got to the hotel, thanking everyone for the kind words and well wishes. You shared that you would not be driving on Sunday and you also shared that you were thankful for the support of Daniel Ricciardo, your mentor, who reminded you that even the best of the best crash out sometimes.

Mentor, you publicly called him That’s what he was, right? Or trainer. Or Manager. Or friend, really. There were a lot of words to describe his relationship to you.

People online didn’t believe it. They thought there was more because, who looks at each other like that if they’re not fucking?

But you weren’t. Honest to god, that line with Daniel was never crossed. You never even considered it. Always content with his companionship and his advice, you didn’t want anything physical or romantic.

At least, you thought you didn’t.

Daniel dragged you into his room instead of letting you go up to yours because you were under strict instructions to not be left alone for the next twelve hours should the concussion worsen.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said, handing you a glass of water. “I know I joked over the radio, but I was worried. It wasn’t a pretty crash.”

“Are any crashes pretty?”

He sat down next to you, closer than normal considering when he rested his arm over the back of the couch, his fingers were within the distance needed to play with the strands of your hair.

He sucked in a breath through his teeth, “I guess it depends on the driver. I make the crashes pretty.”

The comedic gasp you let out as you clenched your chest had him laughing.

“Daniel Ricciardo, are you calling me ugly?”

“Don’t twist my words!” He exclaimed, eyes squinting as his smile widened. “I said I was pretty.”

You hummed, “You pretty much said I made the crush ugly.”

“I didn’t say you were ugly,” Daniel playfully tugged on a strand of your hair. “You’re not- I mean, you-”

And then the humour faded. He met your eyes, his hand fell to your shoulder. He was still smiling but it was the sort of gentle smile one wears when they figure out the answer to a question that had been eating at them for a while.

Something clicked for Daniel. At this very moment.

He wasn’t going to let it escape him.

“Pretty doesn’t do you justice,” Daniel told you, voice lowering. “You’re breaktaking, Y/N. On the racetrack, at home, at events, you put everyone around you to shame. And it’s not- it isn’t just your appearance, it’s you. Everything about you. Your heart, your charisma, the way your eyes light up when you smile but only if you’re talking to people you like,” he chuckled, having experienced it first hand and having seen the way you don’t look nearly as pleased when someone you dislike approaches you.

You were speechless, though. Frozen where you sat as this admission came out of seemingly nowhere.

And Daniel was attractive, that was an undeniable fact, he was everything anyone could ever want in a man. But you never allowed yourself to look at him the way other people would. He was your trainer, manager, mentor, friend.

You had no words to explain the way he was staring at you now. Nor could you explain why it made you feel more alive than driving a racecar at inhumane speeds ever could.

Daniel took another breath, eyes never leaving yours. “You are unlike anyone I have ever come across and I know, in my lifetime, I will never find someone who could ever compare to even a fraction of who you are.”

There was no way you could continue to be just friends after those words passed his lips.

You kissed him. You had to. It wasn’t like there was anything you could say that would match what he had already said, nor could you even find the words.

You kissed him and Daniel pulled you onto his laps, your legs moving to straddle either side of his hips. His hands roamed your body, sliding up the Prema shirt you still had on as your tongue roamed every possible inch of his mouth.

His hand gripped your waist, rolling you over top of him so you could feel in a matter of seconds how this conversation had now taken a turn. His cock started to harden, constricted by his pants, but you still felt it underneath you each time he shifted, each time you grinded against him.

When you reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it off, Daniel leaned back, both of you taking that second to catch your breath and question if you were really going to do this.

“Is this a mistake?” You whispered, your thumb gently tracing over his lips. Your working relationship was perfect. This could ruin everything. You had fears, doubts, worries. One night could lead to dozens of complications.

But Daniel shook his head and all of those thoughts vanished.

“No,” he said, sounding so sure of himself with that one syllable. “I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life but you are not one of them.”

That was the only validation you needed. You kissed him again, more lust, more passion, than before as Daniel stood up, carrying you towards the bed at the back of the room. He dropped you down on the edge of it, smiling at the squeal that escaped your lips.

Daniel wanted to worship you every way he could. He was gentle with you, with your body, as he dipped his head between your thighs, making you feel a wave of euphoria that no one had ever brought you too before.

It wasn’t until you were begging for more did Daniel realise he didn’t need to be gentle the entire night. He slid two fingers past your folds, lifting his head and hovering his body over yours, wanting to feel your desperate breaths hit his face as he rapidly thrusted his digits in and out of you, your walls clenching around him.

When he attached his lips to that spot on your neck, his teeth pressing against your skin, you saw stars. Daniel’s motions didn’t let up as you came around his fingers, loving the way your legs shook and how you dragged your hand through the hair on the back of his head.

He was cautious about doing anything else, knowing you were injured, he didn’t want to overstimulate you or cause any more pain.

But you needed him. You reached for the zipper of his pants and tugged it down, telling Daniel you wanted this, as if the way you looked up at him didn’t already make that perfectly clear.

He was careful when he entered you, patient. The tip of his cock slid past your folds slowly and he kissed your collarbone so gently you almost didn’t feel it as you adjusted to his size, quiet moans emitting from the back of your throat.

He had praised you before, but only ever at the race track, so there was something so familiar yet so foreign about the way he whispered against your skin. It lit a fire within you.

“You take me so well, sweets,” he fought back a groan as your walls tightened around him when you clenched your legs. “So good for me.”

It was safe to say the dynamic between you two changed after that night.

Daniel adored you already, admired you greatly for your achievements and growth in the sport. But now he fought with himself every weekend, knowing that he couldn’t touch you how he wanted. He couldn’t show you the attention he so desperately wanted. He couldn’t kiss you when you got that podium in Belgium, despite finding a way to sneak out of the pre-race duties for a second to run to the barrier to be there for you with the rest of the Prema team.

Whatever was going on between you, it was unlabelled and it was private. The rest of the world didn’t need to know you were sleeping with the man you looked up to, the one who helped you become a great athlete in such a short period of time.

People continued to speculate. You were private, sure, but you weren’t overly careful.

You were seen landing in Monaco over the summer. You were spotted hanging out with Daniel on plenty of occasions. Even though you kept your hands off of each other and refused to act like anything more than friends out in public, you were different when you returned after the break. You both were. Everyone noticed.

Daniel was, if it was even possible, happier. And you were less stressed it seemed. While you were still fighting a constant battle of being the only female in F2, it no longer seemed as heavy because the weight of it wasn’t just on your shoulders anymore. Daniel was there too.

It wasn’t just physical, what you had. The emotional connection you shared was undeniable. Daniel was always there for you, and you, him. During the bad days, the good ones, and everyday in between.

When you finished the season 5th in the drivers championship, the only person you wanted to celebrate with was Daniel. He was so proud of you. He watched you go from finishing 13th last year to 5th. He played a huge part in that, but when you tried to tell him that, he only brushed it off, saying that it was all you, he was just happy to be there for the ride.

It was his idea for you to test drive for McLaren at the end of the year, too. ‘We’ll get you in a real F1 car’ he said. And you didn’t question it when the offer was brought forward to participate in a few practice sessions. It was exhilarating and terrifying and you cried tears of joy when you stepped out of his car because this was what you dreamed of. Driving a Formula 1 car.

Now you just needed a permanent seat and Daniel wanted that for you too. He was your biggest supporter, and you only grew closer as the days went on.

You met his family over the holidays. He spent New Years Eve in London with you.

When the season started again, he spent more time with you and Prema. When there were no scheduled F2 races during F1 weekends, you accompanied him in the McLaren garage.

At this point, quite a few people knew you were together, or at least they assumed it.

You didn’t post about it, you didn’t want to, you didn’t need to. Daniel didn’t need to show you off, nor did you feel obligated to let everyone know you were with him. What you had was private, it was sacred, it was only for the two of you.

But of course whenever you had a good performance, whether it be from a practice session, qualifying or a race, he’d share your celebration picture to his Instagram story.

“Would you ever do a shoey?” Daniel asked you one Tuesday night, zooming in on a photo of you, more specifically on the smile on your face as you clenched your second place trophy from Imola on Sunday.

You rolled your eyes but the smile was impossible to hide as he came up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist, tugging you into his chest.

“Next time you win,” Daniel suggested with a laugh. “I expect a shoey.”

“I’m not Australian.”

“You’re dating one, sweets.”

You never actually discussed what you were. The term boyfriend-girlfriend seemed so childish. Dating was, in a sense, accurate, but again, there were no labels. He had your heart, you had his. That was the only thing that mattered.

“The world doesn’t know that,” you pointed out.

“They kind of do,” Daniel kissed your cheek, giving your side a squeeze as he stepped aside to help you prepare dinner.

You weren’t even sure when you fell into such a domestic lifestyle but there you were, practically moved into Daniel’s place in Monaco at this point and he was at your side, chopping carrots for the salad while you prepared the chicken breasts.

“A shoey would confirm it,” you glanced up at him, but the smile on his face told you he wasn’t completely against the idea.

Daniel stepped behind you, fingers playfully pinching your waist, “Just think about it. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. I just reckon it would be entertaining for everyone.”

He didn’t bring it up again, not even when you got third in Spain and didn’t do it. It was your first time getting a back to back podium since you started racing and of course it was something to celebrate, but the idea of a shoey made your stomach churn. You weren’t sure if you were ready for the world to know about your commitment to Daniel.

You walked a thin line, being with him. And while you enjoyed every possible minute spent with him, you knew the world was cruel. The second you officially went public, you’d lose respect in the motorsport industry.

The only female F2 driver dating an F1 driver? How scandalous.

Despite the rumours, the correct rumours, you were still in a bubble with him. You could pretend you were just friends, close friends. The tabloids had nothing to go off except your polite interactions and maybe a little too friendly smiles and so what if you were there in the McLaren garage cheering him on?

You were his biggest supporter and he was yours.

But it didn’t help that while your performance was improving, his was rapidly declining. While you had less races than his, already your stats were better. You qualified in the top 5 for the first three races. You finished second in Imola, third in Spain, already better than how you started the season last year.

Monaco was next. Daniel loved Monaco, you both did. Everyone did, it was the pinnacle of Formula 1.

It was unfortunate that your weekends ended up so drastically different.

Daniel qualified 14th and then finished 13th. He wasn’t proud of it, but he did his best to hide his disappointment for you, especially since you were starting on the front row, P2, for the feature race.

And somehow, you won.

After trailing behind Drugovich for the majority of the race, you were starting to believe you would finish behind him too. And you probably would have, had there not been a safety car almost six laps after he boxed for fresh tyres, giving you the advantage of newer tyres and less wasted time. It was a strategy your team was banking on, waiting for a safety car. It was risky, but it paid off. Overtaking was nearly impossible with Formula 1 cars, but you had a better chance in your series and somehow, by the grace of god, you did it. You pulled ahead and swiped the lead from Felipe.

You made history that weekend. The first female F2 driver to not only podium, but to win at Monaco. You gripped that first place trophy so tight your hand turned red.

Usually, F2 didn’t draw nearly as big of a crowd, but this weekend was different. Everyone was a fan of the series after that performance, a fan of you. You saw people in the crowd wearing Red Bull gear, Ferrari merch, McLaren hats, and they were all applauding you.

Of course, you were blown away by the support. Hearing your national anthem play was an incredible sound. There were tears in your eyes and your entire body was trembling, yet somehow you managed to find Daniel. Right in front, with your team.

He was so proud of you.

Despite his shitty qualifying, despite knowing he had such a low shot at earning points at his race that was in just under an hour, he was there for you. You couldn’t tell if he was cheering the loudest, or if you were just so prone to finding him in a crowd that you couldn’t process anything or anyone else.

You weren’t sure what came over you, but once you grabbed the champagne bottle, you found yourself taking your shoe off as well. As Felipe and Théo started spraying their bottles in celebration, you poured the bubbly liquid into the sole of your racing shoe and lifted it up to your lips, pointing directly at Daniel who couldn’t believe what he was watching.

It was rancid, as you figured it would. It was champagne out of a sweaty shoe, you knew it wouldn’t taste good, but it was a shoey and it was for Daniel. Felipe patted your back, laughing at your reaction and muttering something about how Daniel would get a kick out of that.

He was right, but Daniel wasn’t the only one who found it entertaining.

Your name was once again trending following the Monaco Grand Prix. Not Checo’s, even though he won the F1 race. Your name.

Not that you really cared that night. How could you care about what the internet was saying when the man you were with told you that he loved you for the first time? Nothing online mattered, not when Daniel took your face in his hands and told you he was madly in love with you. He was proud, he was happy, he was in love.

And you knew you loved him too. You had known this for a while. Monaco was just the perfect time to say it.

After going about as public as you could without physically coming out and saying you were dating the Australian driver, Monaco was the perfect place to tell him you loved him. You were on cloud 9, you were making history, you were in love.

You continued to deny, or at least ignore, the rumours that followed, still. You both did. You were in love with each other, not the whole world. Things would get complicated if you announced you were dating. You were vying for a Formula 1 seat and you wanted it without Daniels’ influence.

But at the following race in Baku you were asked similar questions.

“Your shoey last week, did that have anything to do with Daniel Ricciardo being there to cheer you on? You two have gotten pretty close in the last few months, he’s one of your mentors, isn’t he?”

You shifted your weight to one leg, wondering what the fuck kind of post-qualifying question that was. You had just completed three back to back podiums, you were on a hot streak now, starting third at this next race and the reporter only cared about what happened at the podium celebration last weekend.

“Sorry, did you have a question about this week's race?” You asked, and when he stammered over his words, you just nodded and walked away, a tight smile on your face.

Daniel’s conversation went a bit differently.

“Y/N’s shoey last week, we all saw it. Was that your influence?”

“Yeah I never thought she’d actually do it, it was sweet,” Daniel laughed. “It was great though, I happily pass the tradition onto her.”

“She’s really come along in Formula 2 since she started back in 2020, do you think she has what it takes to be Formula 1’s first full-time female driver?”

“Absolutely,” there wasn’t a shred of doubt or hesitation. He was happy to talk about you, to explain to the rest of the world why you were up and coming and should be taken seriously as a real contender for a Formula 1 seat. He probably would have continued on if his PR rep hadn’t pulled him away, reminding him of other duties.

The next few races were similar to your first ones. A couple more podiums, some outstanding qualifying sessions, more history being made. Your phone was blowing up weekly, everybody wanted to talk to you now and you knew Daniel had something to do with it. Him constantly sharing the faith he had in you did wonders for your reputation.

You might have been on top of the world, but you were well aware you were alone up there.

Daniels’ performances were anything but newsworthy. He had gotten a few points in Austria and France, but nothing to be extremely proud of, especially when he compared his 9th place finish at the Red Bull Ring to your first place podium, making it your second one this season.

He never let his disappointment for himself and McLaren stand in the way of your achievements. In fact, you didn’t often speak about the races when you were together. You were aware Daniel was having issues with the team, with Zak, with the car, but he didn’t want to weigh you down with his own problems, even though you assured him time and time again you could handle it.

Really, if Daniel had come to you with his struggles, you would have thought twice when Zak Brown approached you prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix. You probably would have slammed the door to your drivers room in his face if you knew how Daniel was being treated at McLaren.

But Daniel held his cards close to his chest while Zak laid his all out on the table.

“If a spot opened up for you,” he said, after spending the last ten minutes talking about the rich history of the team and praising your accolades. “Would you consider it?”

It wasn’t an official contract, just the start of a conversation that could lead to one.

Of course you thought of Daniel. And Lando, having grown close with him simply through Daniel.

“For 2024?” You asked, knowing both of them were set to continue driving through to at least the end of 2023.

“No,” Zak shook his head. You didn’t like how harsh his tone had turned, having no remorse for what he was about to say. “Daniel’s contract would be ending early.”

You leaned back in your chair, fingers tapping the table as you tried to recall Daniel ever telling you that he was leaving McLaren. “Is he- he wants out?”

“It’s mutual,” Zak assured you. “He knows we can’t give him the car he wants and unfortunately, he’s not delivering what we need. We had high hopes with Daniel, but the working relationship isn’t what any of us thought it would be.”

It’s mutual. Those two words was all it took to convince you that Zak Brown and Daniel had already had a conversation about this, about terminating the contract a year early.

It didn’t help that Zak brought up your test sessions in the McLaren from last year, pointing out that you had better times than Lando, even. He went on to praise what you were doing this year at Prema and said, multiple times, that you would be an asset to McLaren should you choose to go that route.

And who were you to turn that down?

A team principal of a Formula 1 team wanted to sign you. Was it unfortunate that it was Daniel’s seat? Yes, obviously this situation was less than ideal, but he wanted out. You were convinced he wanted out, that he was done with McLaren. A 45 minute conversation with Zak Brown convinced you of that.

You should have been wary when at the end of the conversation he said, “Don’t tell anyone about this, yet. You know how the public can be, let’s just keep this to ourselves for the meantime.”

“But I can talk to Dan, right?” You asked.

Zak knew you were dating Daniel, it was a little harder to hide that from his team than it was the rest of the world. Maybe that’s why hesitated before answering, knowing that keeping a secret, something as big as this, from a partner had the potential to cause chaos.

But he shook his head, “Between us, yeah?”

And you listened to him. You wanted that Formula 1 seat so of course you followed orders.

You desperately wanted to talk to Daniel about it, but you knew you couldn’t. And either he sensed that something was off, or he was dealing with his own problems again and wouldn’t share, you really couldn’t tell when the summer break started and things just seemed…different.

You didn’t go to Monaco for starters, even though Daniel invited you to. But there were so many meetings with Zak and the board at McLaren that it made more sense for you to stay in London for the start of the break.

Daniel didn’t call as often and you wanted to give him space, knowing that this break was probably needed for him. You expected he was out with friends, letting loose, getting the weight of a horrible season off his back even if just temporarily.

The plan was to go to Monaco for the last week and a half and then travel to Belgium together. You had to delay that plan, however, when Zak called you and said it was official.

The 2023 seat was yours.

You wanted to celebrate, with Daniel, but how could you celebrate with the person you were replacing?

It was strange that Daniel had said nothing to you about leaving the team during the summer break, especially since Zak had said time and time again they were on the same page, that Daniel was ready to leave. The only thing that crossed your mind was he was given strict instructions to not say anything to anyone either, at least until McLaren went public with the news.

But with it being official, with you having just signed on the dotted line, you were tired of keeping it to yourself. You may not have been able to share the news with anyone else, but you had a right to have a conversation with Daniel about it.

You didn’t know how he would react. Surely he’d be happy for you, right? You were getting a seat in Formula 1, something that both of you desperately wanted to happen. And again, you were under the impression the departure from McLaren was mutual. He would be happy that someone he loved was taking his seat, right?

Right?

You had to tell yourself that the entire ride over to his place. You unlocked the front door to his building and took the elevator up to the fourth level. You didn’t think to knock, knowing he never locked it when he was home so you pushed open the door and stepped in, your suitcase trailing behind you.

You were happy to see him. He was always a breath of fresh air, despite the odd distance between you, you still loved him. You always would. He muted whatever was playing on the screen and stood up from the couch when he heard you walk in.

Usually, Daniel would greet you with a kiss.

Usually, he’d be smiling so hard his jaw would be hurting.

Usually, he was happy to see you.

You left the suitcase by the door and met him halfway, only he stopped walking when there was about a foot of space between your bodies. To you, it felt like you were still miles apart.

“Do you have something you want to tell me?” He asked, arms crossed over his chest.

Your heart sank.

You had convinced yourself, Zak had convinced you, the whole back of house team had convinced you, that Daniel was aware of this upcoming change. That the termination was mutual. You taking his seat might have been a surprise, but it was never supposed to be a blindside.

“What do you know?” you asked.

“What do you know?” Daniel repeated the question back to you.

You were both fully aware of the exact same information. Daniel was leaving. You were taking his seat. Only, you had been informed this much earlier than he had.

“What was I supposed to do?”

“Not take the seat,” he scoffed. “My god, I mean, they’re cutting my contract early, Y/N. For you.”

“For the sake of the team,” you said and then added, “You don’t even like McLaren. You’ve struggled with this team since day one.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to stop racing.”

“McLaren is not the team for you and you know this.”

Daniel scoffed, eyebrows twitching, “Did Zak tell you to say that?”

“Zak-” you started, finding it difficult to hold his stare. This wasn’t the Daniel you knew. “-he doesn’t know I’m here. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to talk to you or anyone about it, not until your announcement comes out.”

He rubbed his hands over his face, taking a few steps away from you. It hurt, watching as he tried to physically distance himself from you. Like being in too close of proximity would set him off.

“I struggled with the team, yes, but I’m not ready to give up racing. You have now left me without a seat.”

It was easy for Daniel to blame you, you were standing right in front of him. You were quite literally the driver set to replace him.

But the real villain was Zak, for not having opened up this line of communication earlier. For making you believe everyone was on the same page. It was Zak’s fault for rushing to end the contract with Daniel instead of putting in the effort to work with him. He saw the shiny new toy that was you, that Daniel helped create, and he wasn’t going to let someone else take it first.

Daniel wanted to blame himself too, but he wouldn’t let himself think about that until much later. He was the one who did everything he could to help you grow in this sport. He was the one who introduced you to Zak and the rest of the McLaren team. He was the one who got you in the car for the practice sessions, his car. Foreshadowing at its finest.

“You are unbelievable,” Daniel spoke quietly, heated with anger but his words were like ice as they sunk deep into you. “After everything I’ve done to help you for you to betray me like this, I just- I don’t think-”

You knew where this was going and you wanted to put a pin in it before he could finish any of his thoughts.

“Don’t finish that sentence, Daniel,” you whispered. “Please. Please, we can figure something out.”

“There’s nothing to figure out,” his mind was made up. “You took my seat.”

“Wouldn’t you rather it me than someone you don’t know? Someone you don’t trust?” You tried to turn this around, have him look at the positives, if there were any. “Daniel, everyone on the grid loves you, you’ll find a new team. One that helps you grow and get to where you want. McLaren isn’t that, we both know it.”

“I think you should go,” was his only response.

“If I hadn’t signed that contact, someone else would have,” you pointed out, grasping at straws here, painfully honest straws, but straws nonetheless. “Piastri, O’Ward…McLaren had options, Dan. Aren’t you at least happy for me that I out-qualified all of those guys?”

Daniel actually laughed, “You want me to be happy for you? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Dan-”

“Leave.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“You need to,” he was stern. He was angry. He was done. With you, with the team, with everything he used to love and cherish. He was done.

You thought you knew Daniel. You thought you knew how this conversation would play out. You figured it would still be rocky, but god you now realised how naive you were to believe you could still make things work.

“I love you,” you told him, because what else could you say except remind him that you were so hopelessly in love with him, that he was all you would ever want in life.

Except, that wasn’t exactly true, was it?

You wanted a seat in Formula 1 too. You just never thought you’d have to sacrifice one dream for the other.

Daniel’s stare was cold. He only looked away for a second to nod his head towards the door behind you, “If you loved me, you wouldn’t have done this.”

You stepped forward, desperate at this point because how could he do this? How could he throw away what you had, over a seat?

Or was it you, who had ultimately thrown away what you had when you sat down with Zak Brown all those weeks ago?

It pained you to think about the strong possibility of that being the case.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, because you were. You were sorry about how this turned out, how he was betrayed, how this was coming to an end. You grabbed hold of your suitcase and nodded, backing up towards the door, “I really am sorry, Dan.”

He didn’t believe you. Why would he? In his eyes, Formula 1 was more important to you than he was. A career decision that benefited you, but ruined him, mattered more than your relationship. It was a bold move, a cold move, one that you didn’t think would lead to this.

Neither of you could have predicted this. On September 3rd, 2020, when Daniel first said he wanted to work with you, neither of you thought it would end like this.

Just as you grabbed the handle of the door, Daniel opened his mouth, wanting to get the final word in. And you really wished he hadn’t because those final words destroyed you.

“I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life, but I never thought you would turn out to be one of them.”

You said nothing. You walked out of that Monaco flat with your head low and your heart even lower. You couldn’t even be excited about the next season, or the remainder of this one where you had the potential to finish in the top three.

You weren't happy, you were empty, you were defeated. And painfully so, you were also still in love.

Despite what was said, you knew it would take a while to get over Daniel. He was your rock for so long, he was always there for you and even though he could disappear without so much as a second thought, your feelings couldn’t, the memories couldn’t. It would take a long time until you felt whole again.

You didn’t know it yet, but the decision to take that McLaren seat would haunt you as you moved forward in your career.

This was not going to be the last time you ever saw Daniel.

part 2 haunted

#daniel ricciardo x you #daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo one shot #danny ric #dr3 #f1 one shot #f1 fics #formula 1 x you #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo au

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seenthisepisode · 1 year

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hi! I saw your post about the why episode title change why 11 scenes cut why lamp etc etc and I know some of it but not all, and I was hoping you could elaborate on spngate— if it’s not too much trouble— or point me in a direction where I can join you in the spn gate?

I feel ashamed for HOW LONG i let this ask just rot in my askbox (it's from january, apparently, now it's april. i thought maybe two weeks passed but NO. it was months. ANON I AM SO SO SO SO SORRY. I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART) but now with the power of this url and the wine i am currently sipping, let me give you the best, most thought-out answer that i possibly can.

I don't know how long you've been following/watching spn, so I won't get into real deep iceberg theories that go back to season 8 and jeremy carver, for the purpose of this essay answer I'll just stick to the year anno domini 2020, and will try to do my best to tell you what happened.

Okay, maybe 2019. So, in june 2019, when the first scripts and drafts for s15 are presented, these things happen: 1. apparently, according to Berens, the confession scene is the first thing that was written for season 15. 2. Jensen Ackles is sat down and asked if he would be okay with this. (question is asked: why would they ask jensen if all he does in this scene is look at cas, he doesn't say anything, he does not confess, it changes nothing about his character, etc.; if you put the real tjlc tinfoil hat on you'd ask hey , maybe they asked him if precisely that is okay, if he is okay with the fact dean is practically silenced here but that's Deep) 3. Jensen apparently is okay with that, because it happens.

also this thing happens around the same time: 1. they write the ending for the brothers, and no matter what version of the finale we're talking about, Dean dies 2. Jensen Ackles is Not Okay with this. he calls Kripke who then, in a call and/or email assures him it's a good ending (Jensen says that) and also very quickly after that Jensen is announced to play Soldier Boy in Kripke's The Boys. make of that what you want

They film, blah blah, march 2020, covid happens, they stop production right after they film the confession. Last episode to air is 15x13, last episode they film is 15x18, they almost have a plane crush when flying to vegas con, and then, a loooong break until august 2020. Now, from what we know, there were two versions of the finale - the pre-covid finale they were supposed to film if the filming schedule wasn't interrupted, and the finale that happened.

What was supposed to be in the Original Finale/Pre-Covid Finale, we still don't know exactly, but from what the cast said, there was supposed to be a big cast reunion, Harvelle's Roadhouse in Heaven, Kansas Band (why are they dead?) playing there after Dean gets there and so on.

Anyway. July 2020. Misha does a livestream with Michael Sheen (the SuperGood campaign) where he says he is going back to filming the last two episodes in a few weeks. he said it LIVE. it's on youtube. people analyze the background from Misha's livestreams and photos and conclude he is in Vacouver, where spn is filmed. He also says that he is going back filming in a few interviews. Also here.

August 2020. They go back to filming in august 2020 to film 15x19 and 15x20.

August 20th, 2020, Misha's birthday.

I wasn't on set TODAY. so casual. of all days i wasn't there today.

August 24th, 2020, day 6/8 of filming 15x19, Angel with a Shotgun is hash tag Song of The Day while filming scenes of 15x19 (scene 28, 31).

September 4th, 2020. ALL THEY FILM, for the whole DAY, is one scene. They usually film a few. They film one. Song of the day? The Night We Met.

Somewhere before the episodes starts to air again, Dabb says only 30% of the audience will like the finale. Anyway, everyone concludes, Misha is filming, destiel is more or less going canon, but everyone including bibros is sure Misha is filming and will be there for the finale.

Originally, "Despair" was called "The Truth".

Finale airs.

It feels shorter (apparently it's not) but it does have an additional ad break. For Walker. But it feels shorter because of the "carry on my wayward son" cover montage that lasts too long and later it's discovered thanks to scripts that dropped that there are ELEVEN scenes that were filmed,, but didn't make it to the episode. The script that drops is also very telling, where scenes are just [OMMITTED]. It was explained that they wanted to have actor there but they didn't want actors to quarantine for two weeks to film one or two scenes BUT then that's exactly what they did with Jim Beaver lmao.

So yeah. I also remember Misha at a con (DarkLight?) where, after asked about the original ending, he answers that the original ending was something that would be better explored in fanfiction anyway. Theory rises he filmed and was cut off the episode without his or Jensen's knowledge because Misha sat down his kids to watch the spn finale (which was the first episode they were supposed to watch ever, why would he do that if he's not there?) and then, CW SPN twitter posts a goodbye video that has everyone from the cast and their mother BUT MISHA AND JENSEN ARE NOT THERE. Jensens sexy silence starts.

THEN THE WILDEST THING HAPPENS.

November 25th, the Spanish Dub. 15x18 drops in Brazil and Dean says "and i you" to Cas, after he confesses. No "don't do this cas" but "and i you". Tumblr stops working for two hours, people on discords are screaming, no one knows whats happening, someone claims Jensen was called in September 2020 to record some adlibs? To record the muffled sobs Dean does while on the floor. Theory is supported by the fact that in the Bazil version? When Dean sits on the floor? The sound that plays are birds. Chirping birds. Sounds don't match, what was Dean saying while crying on the floor, question arises.

Everyone decides there was a Rogue Translator who managed to hide from The CW Sniper (who is the reason actors just dont tell us everything) and translated some kind of Original Script. Voice Actors are invited to a podcast where they debunk this saying that it was added because the translator felt this was the right response or something like that. Anyway they debunk the fact that there existed, at any time, a version of a script, that maybe was send to them, where Dean says I love you too. This was a wild night, no one slept.

And like. I could make this post longer, but I am planning to, one day, make a huge masterpost with real sources about that because honestly you could write a book about it.

But tl;dr spngate is a theory that misha did film for the last 2 episodes and the changes they made were truly last minute (september 2020), they were going for a canon destiel, possibly human!cas engame, dabb was always on our side, and it's based on stuff like jensen actively hating the ending to the point he made his prequel after 2 years of radio silence, 11 scenes just cut from the finale, misha saying he is going back filming, and people like mark pellegrino saying the last scene he filmed was with alex and misha. also the onion field. why lamp is the theory that cas is represented and symbolized by lamps throughout the show and when dean dances with a Lamp in a drug induced dream instead of, say, some kind of a lady he is actually thinking about cas.

also there are little things like when jensen at an online con before the finale says that oh yes i am wearing a grey flannel but tomorrow? who know it could be blue and green. and we all collectively lost our shit. like when he said he is most excited to "tackle" with cas in season 15. or that "dean has no taste, clearly". WHY WAS YOUR PERMISSION NEEDED JENSEN

there are a lot of things i didn't mention here because i simply can't unflod this whole thing just like that but

but if you understand this picture you might be entitled to financial compensation

#ask #anon #it took me 2 hours to write this #spngate

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dailyrugbytoday · 1 year

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Six Nations: Wales Rugby Warren Gatland coach replacing Wayne Pivac

New Post has been published on https://thedailyrugby.com/wales-rugby-warren-gatland-coach-replacing-pivac/

The Daily Rugby

https://thedailyrugby.com/wales-rugby-warren-gatland-coach-replacing-pivac/

Six Nations: Wales Rugby Warren Gatland coach replacing Wayne Pivac

Wales head coach Warren Gatland says the Welsh Rugby Union’s 60-cap rule needs to be looked at amid uncertainty over the future of players’ contracts.

Wales do not select players with fewer than 60 caps who play outdoor the united states, but that is beneath assessment. When asked whether the modern rule needs to be changed, Gatland replied: “I suppose it is a PRB (Professional Rugby Board) choice.

Gatland brought: “When you look at the cease of this year, there are 3 gamers who may not be available to us for the World Cup below the modern policies. We want to be pragmatic and it’d be disappointing if some gamers pass over out on the World Cup.

Warren Gatland has returned to coach Wales, replacing Wayne Pivac in December 2022

Claims were made by an ex-Wales women’s manager and a former chairwoman of the Welsh Rugby Union’s professional board

Why shoot ourselves inside the foot if we do not want to? There has been so much turmoil in phrases of getting the settlement sorted between the union and the regions. I think it would be a fine step moving forwards.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) and four regions are negotiating a brand new monetary settlement for professional rugby in Wales. This is performed via the PRB, which runs the expert game in Wales.

No agreement has been signed, with players out of settlement on the give up of the season, therefore they are not able to formally commit to new deals. Between 70 and ninety nearby players are believed to be out of settlement at the quit of the season.

More News :: ‘Ticking timebomb’ equality warning to rugby bosses

Wales Rugby Warren Gatland

Warren David Gatland CBE (born 17 September 1963) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player who is currently in his second spell as the head coach of the Wales national team.

As head coach of Wales from 2007 to 2019, he won four Six Nations titles, including three Grand Slams, and reached the semi-finals of the 2011 and 2019 Rugby World Cups. Gatland was also head coach of the British & Irish Lions on three tours, to Australia in 2013, when they won the Test series 2–1; New Zealand in 2017, when the series was drawn; and South Africa in 2021, losing the series 2–1.

He has previously coached Connacht, Ireland, London Wasps, where he won three Premierships and the Heineken Cup, and Waikato, with whom he won the Air New Zealand Cup. He has also coached Chiefs between 2020 and 2022 before returning to Wales in December 2022.

As a player, he played as a hooker and was one of Waikato’s longest-serving players, playing 140 games for the province – a record at the time.

Ken Owens says he is looking forward to a new challenge in captaining Wales

The 60-cap rule is intertwined with that manner and any choice on it may affect the careers of Will Rowlands and Japan-based totally Cory Hill and Jake Ball, with the trio all falling underneath the 60 global caps threshold.

Rowlands will go away Dragons on the quit of the season to sign up for Racing ninety two and might presently be ineligible for the World Cup in France, which starts offevolved in September.

Gatland concedes “there is a possibility” more players could go away Wales due to the settlement scenario.

“I cannot blame gamers for exploring the options because there’s a sure stage of uncertainty in Welsh rugby for the time being, mainly for folks that are out of contract,” he introduced.

“They need to consider their own non-public situation and that is flawlessly understandable from my point of view.

“I’d like to make certain we hold our pinnacle gamers in Wales. I don’t know if we want to look at the 60-cap rule due to the fact in the meanwhile is it healthy for cause with this a good deal uncertainty in the game in Wales?

“We want to maintain in angle it’s nonetheless January at the moment. If you move lower back some of years those contracts did not was mentioned until March.

More News :: Super Rugby fixtures live

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quietfounder · 3 years

Text

Timeline of DuckTales 2017

Here’s a theoretical timeline of the show I put together based on evidence given to me and intended order.

December 2017 (Launchpad was born in September 1987 and since with where I theorize This Duckburg Life, this is the year I went with):

Woo-oo!

Daytrip of Doom!

The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!

January 2018:

The Great Dime Chase!

The Beagle Birthday Massacre!

The House of Lucky Gander!

February 2018:

The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks!

The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra!

Terror of the Terra-firmians!

March 2018:

McMystery at McDuck McManor!

The Missing Links of Moorshire! (spring is starting by now)

The Spear of Selene!

April 2018:

Day of the Only Child!

Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!

The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains!

May 2018:

Jaw$!

From the Confidential Case Files of Agent 22!

Sky Pirates…In the Sky!

The second half of Whatever Happened to Della Duck?! occurs (Della’s made more progress in rebuilding the Spear of Selene in the end of the Shadow War compared to this episode in the end)

June 2018: (Suncrasher confirms six months passed since the start of season 1 up to the point)

The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!

Who is Gizmoduck?!

The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck! (all of these likely occur in the same week for the sake of pacing)

The Last Crash of the Sunchaser (couple days after last episode)

The Shadow War

October 2018 (coincidentally when season 2 began airing):

The Most Dangerous Game…Night!

The Depths of Cousin Fethry!

The Ballad of Duke Baloney! (it’s four months after The Shadow War according to Roxanne Fetherly and for the sake of later episode time frames, the first two are only a couple days before this episode)

November 2018:

The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!

Storkules in Duckburg!

December 2018:

Last Christmas!

January 2019:

Within the first week of the year:

Friendship Hates Magic!

Treasure of the Found Lamp!

The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck!

The 87 Cent Solution!

The Golden Spear!

Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!

Whatever Happened to Donald Duck?! (kinda cheating a bit with moving it earlier but it bette flows the Donald on the moon plot given how it continues where Nothing Can Stop Della Duck left off with him being captured)

Raiders of the Doomsday Vault!

The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee!

The Duck Knight Returns!

Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!

Nightmare on Killmotor Hill! (a year after Lena’s debut according to the episode)

The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!

Timephoon!

GlomTales! (end of the month since I’m sure the Scrooge/Glomgold bet referred to end of business year, not overall year and end of business year here could be February 1st-January 31st)

February 2019:

The Richest Duck in the World!

Moonvasion! (a month after Donald was supposed to go on his cruise and after his message was delivered to Scrooge)

March 2019-September 2019:

This Duckburg Life! (it’s after season 2 since The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee! events are mentioned in an episode of the podcast but before season 3 for obvious reasons like Webby/Scrooge)

October 2019:

The Trickening! (I know I’m going out of order but seeing how Astro BOYD is in March and another one later in the season takes place in spring break, I find it unlikely that they spent a year on the Missing Mysteries so holiday episodes go first)

December 2019:

How Santa Stole Christmas!

March 2020:

Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!

Quack Pack!

Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice!

The Lost Harp of Mervana!

Louie’s Eleven!

Astro B.O.Y.D.!

The Rumble for Ragnarok!

The Phantom and the Sorceress!

They Put a Moonlander on the Earth!

The Forbidden Fountain of the Foreverglades! (spring break)

April 2020:

The Fight for Castle McDuck! (okay, kinda cheating again with different from creator order but it makes more sense for this to be before FOWL is revealed to the family as the blog points out)

New Gods on the Block! (same as above)

Let’s Get Dangerous!

Escape from the ImpossiBin!

The Split Sword of Swanstantine!

May 2020:

The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck!

The Lost Cargo of Kit Cloudkicker!

Beaks in the Shell! (blog kinda points out it makes more sense for story pacing)

The Last Adventure! (I discounted The First Adventure since it’s fully in the past but just assume it’s like 25-ish years before the series began)

I’m so sorry to the person who sent this in months ago. I thought it was something I’ve done at first, but I uploaded it now and great recounting of events.

#ducktales #ducktales 2017 #submission

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ad1thi · 3 years

Text

2020 fic recs!! [Part 2]

part 2 of my 2020 fic recs!! as before, ive limited this to five fics per month; and fics are ordered by the month they were published. This spans fandoms and ships, and hopefully you find something you like!! credit for the idea goes to @iam93percentstardust

***

July

this is the start: @capnwinghead

Clark and Bruce continue raising the Wayne children and encounter a number of challenges along the way.

great minds (love alike): @starklysteve

Steve’s eyes flicks down to Tony’s knees on the floor.

“Are you – are you proposing to me with my ring for you?” Steve asks incredulously, eyes wide and confused.

---

Or, Steve finds Tony’s ring for him, Tony finds Steve’s ring for him. Panic happens.

Marvels Unsolved: @iam93percentstardust

Marvels Unsolved was never supposed to be this popular. It started off as a novelty web-series about Tony trying to convince Bucky about the existence of the supernatural—he firmly believed that if science could turn Uncle Steve from an actual shrimp to the god of muscles, then magic had to be out there—and then they’d started talking about an unsolved crime from the early 20th century after filming an episode one day, forgetting that the camera was still rolling, and had ended up with enough footage to make a second episode about real crimes. They had stayed pretty unknown throughout that first season but then true crime podcasts had exploded in popularity and Unsolved along with them.

it’s a small world after all: @maguna-stxrk

“Great speech.”

Smiling at the compliment, Tony turns around. “Thank y—”

And nearly drops his champagne flute.

His world comes to a stop.

They had only spent a night together, but Tony would recognize those baby blues anywhere.

It’s Steve.

Steve from Tony’s London business trip. Or, as Rhodey has become accustomed to calling him—The Soulmate That Got Away.

you’re in my blood, you’re in my veins: @nethandrake

Tony always figured that if they ever were to break up, it would be like a blaze. Scorching and hot and all-too blinding. Intense like the two of them have always been.

Instead, they break up on a Tuesday, with the rain pelting the windowpane and the midnight silence stifling.

August

Five Times Danny said he’d marry Steve (plus one): @five-wow

Danny humphs. “Look, all I’m saying is, I think I’d probably have married you by now.”

“I’d marry you, too,” Steve says.

Or: An experiment in how many times you can say something before you have to put your money where your mouth is.

Family (You’ve Always Had It): @/SunnyQueen

A black Camaro and a scowling blond was not what Junior had been expecting.

“Hi, sir. You didn’t have to pick me up.”

The blond looked up from the screen on his phone and groaned, completely ignoring Junior's statement. “You are right, I didn't have to."

Ode To Yoga Pants: @riotfalling

OR the continued terrible mating dance of Bucky and Tony, AKA when betting on your friends stops being fun

Through The Years: @hawkbucks

Tony brings home Natasha one day, proclaiming her to be his new sister.

Natasha takes this all in stride.

The broken road that led me home to you: @just-fandomthings

A documented list of conversations between Steve and Danny via text and phone call following the events of 10x22 "Aloha." (Where, even thousands of miles apart, Steve and Danny can't go without talking to each other.)

September

someday, we’ll pass it on to you: @starklysteve

Steve smiles.

Reaching up, he flattens his hand against his son’s far smaller one, curling gently around it. “You wanna be like him?”

“Da!” Peter agrees again.

One year old, and you already know who’s the best of us, Steve pauses to reflect, all his fears chased away by a fierce pride. “Your Dad’s coming home real soon,” he promises, “you should tell him that.”

---------------

Or, five times Peter did the repulsor pose as a toddler

+ one time he used the repulsors as an adult

Classic Sci Fi: @notdoingsohot

Bucky wakes up to Steve telling him he's lost his memory, but not to panic, it'll only last a few days. Easier said than done when the last thing Bucky remembers is fighting Hydra with the Howlies in WWII.

He tries to make the most of it however, and there's this guy... Tony Stark. It's pretty clear the guy hates Bucky's guts, which is unfortunate because god damn is he a sight.

He tries to figure out what he did to wrong Stark, but everyone just tells him he doesn't want to know.

They were right.

Blooms in Frost: @/Diomedes

Tony coughs up his first petal on the sixth of July. He has been married to the love of his life for two years.

Bury a Hanahaki corpse in earth and it will beget the most beautiful garden. All that love, it is said, must go somewhere.

Hanahaki AU: Established relationship

------------------------------------------

A Single Thread of Gold: @lovelyirony

Rhodey doesn't believe in love at first sight or any of that cheesy shit. He just wants someone who is nice, dependable, and safe.

Tony Stark is Housing Service's little problem for the school year, and now he's stuck in Rhodey's room because he's exploded the last two dorm rooms he's been in and won't live off-campus.

high roller, place your bet: @machi-kun

“Would you kiss Stark for a hundred bucks?”

“I would pay a hundred bucks to kiss him.”

October

press my luck: @omg-just-peachy

But... Steve is almost ten years his junior, and he could be with just about anyone, looking and acting like he does. And then there’s the not so small fact of Tony’s name and net worth and the fact that, okay, Tony had paid for Steve’s grad school tuition, and now he’s worried Steve feels obligated to stay. Or something.

Or, Tony is a billionaire, Steve is a grad student, and they learn to let themselves be taken care of.

see it with the lights out: @starklysteve

Tony goes on a business trip, and he does not - not at all - get jealous of Dodger hogging his husband's chest, a territory otherwise known as Tony's pillow.

(or, Steve goes on an Instagram spree and Tony misses home)

adulthood is looking both ways before you cross the street and getting hit by an airplane: @starkslovemail

It was a perfect plan, if Peter did say so himself.

The Buy In: @dracusfyre

For the ImagineTonyandBucky prompt: Mafia AU with Tony as the Boss (except he's a really good one, making the streets safe, keeping drugs away from kids etc) and Bucky as the detective sent to go undercover to catch him out but ends up realizing he's actually doing more good than harm and they end up falling in love

trinkets of your affection: @starklysteve

Kissed him once for every year I loved him, Steve had written.

By that count, Steve owes him five more kisses now.

Tony traces the words, hands trembling, and tips back a shot of Howard's ancient whiskey. None of it burns anymore.

One day, he'll have lived more days without Steve than there are words in the diary.

For the first time since he'd woken with shrapnel in his chest, Tony fears the future.

----------

Or, five things Tony keeps to remember Steve by, and one thing Steve gives him to remember.

November

“Hey Tony”: @riotfalling

Steve points out that Bucky never calls Tony by his actual name. Bucky doesn’t believe him, until he does.

Remembering You is Hard to Do: @lovelyirony

“The future’s crazy, honey-bear.”

Jim looks up.

“Why do you call me that?”

“Call you what?”

“Honey-bear. It’s weird.”

“Inside joke we have,” Tony says, chest tightening. “We thought those couples that have the lovey-dovey nicknames were ridiculous.”

overheard your heartbeat (calling me yours): @starklysteve

"Tony - "

"I wish I could promise to come home this time," he feels the armor crawl back down his arm, continuing unnoticed over Steve's red gloves, then up the blue uniform as Tony fights to keep Steve's gaze firmly fixed on him.

The last eyes Tony might get to see, and he wants to be lost in them.

In the end, his entire life boils down a few simple things: "JARVIS, take care of him for me."

----------

Or, Tony overhears a phonecall where Steve proposes, a battle happens, and a paper ring settles some misunderstandings.

i (really, really, really, really, really, really) like you.: @nethandrake

For as long as Steve can remember, he's been crushing on Tony Stark. The thing is, he's pretty sure Tony doesn't know Steve exists. And how could he? Steve's scrawny and little. He's a nobody compared to Tony who's Mr Popular and the son of a billionaire.

Or at least he thought so until Tony swings by the bakery Steve's mother happens to own to enlist Steve's help in finding the perfect Valentine's Day card.

The perfect Valentine's Day card for someone who isn't Steve.

One Song (My Heart Keeps Singing): @iam93percentstardust

When Thor is old enough to understand what a Heartsong is, he goes to his mother to ask her why he can’t understand the language his is in. He listens as she tells him about the first soulmates who couldn't understand their Heartsong until the day they meet, excited by the thought of a grand adventure, one that will take him across the cosmos in search of his One.

He’ll search all the Nine Realms if he has to.

December

Swiping Right: @s-horne

“Ouch. Definitely a hard pass for that one?”

Steve startled at the sudden comment from the row of chairs behind him and turned around. He’d been passing the time in the airport lounge by swiping through Tinder and had gotten lost in his own world. It was almost jarring to be pulled away from the screen of hot men and back into reality where the PA was screeching and there was noise everywhere.

Adjusting to the difference, Steve frowned. Wait, he knew that face. Oh, shit… he knew that face.

“No, no, it’s fine,” the man said before Steve could get out anything other than an embarrassed sort of yelp. Waving his hand through the air, the stranger smiled ruefully. “I get it. It’s the beard, isn’t it? True be told, it was a weird winter choice that year and I knew it would come back to hurt me.”

Steve didn’t know what to say. He knew it must have shown on his face and could feel himself flushing, panicked and embarrassed all at once. What were the odds of swiping left on someone literally sat behind him?

set your flight path home (to me): @starklysteve

Tony puts down his welding torch. “I’m building you a plane.”

Stepping carefully over the gears and tools scattered about, Rhodey slowly makes his way to him.

“And when did you become an expert on how to build a plane?”

“Last night,” Tony grins.

---------------

Tony builds a plane, and Rhodey teaches Tony how to fly it. Or he would be teaching Tony, if Tony didn't distract him so much.

I Want A Man With A Slow Hand: @thefourofswords

“Can I ask you a question?” he asked on their way to a crime scene, because no time like the present, and Danny believed in ripping off band-aids.

“Why not?” Steve replied, eyes on the road. “You’re gonna even if I say no.”

“What do you like in bed?”

Danny undertakes a very important mission to get Steve laid. For his health. Ahem.

same time next year: @omg-just-peachy

“I forgot to ask. When’s your flight home?” Steve asks, draping his arm over Tony’s shoulder and settling in against him.

Tony ignores the knot that forms in his chest at the idea of it, leaving Steve again for his own impersonal apartment, his piles of books and projects and the nights without sleep.

“Day after tomorrow.”

Steve huffs a little sigh, then brings his lips to Tony’s neck. “Well, we’ll have to make the most of it, won’t we?”

Or, four (4) Christmases with two (2) idiots who can't admit they're in love.

rearrange my heart (to fit your smile): @starklysteve

"You dare," Howard's chair makes an ugly noise as it scrapes against the stone floors, the chatter of the room shifting into hushed whispers and stolen glances. "I am your father and your King!"

"My King is my husband," Tony tips his chin up, defiant. "And I refuse to hear you suggest that my husband has been anything other than good to me."

Next to him, he feels Steve's shoulders stiffen in surprise.

Howard's fist slams loud on the table. "Your husband does not even love you!"

Tony jerks back, burned. He knows that. Knows that Steve did not marry him for love – does not need any reminder of the cold truth, of what he desperately yearns for and can't even hope to have – but the harshness of Howard's words was scalding, and Tony can't afford for this to go any further.

----------

Or, King Steven marries Prince Tony, Tony is pretty sure he shouldn't panic when he falls in love with his own husband, and Steve tries his very best not to cause diplomatic crises.

Keyword: try

#adi's rec list #superbat #superhusbands #winterironfalcon #mcdanno #buckytony #peppernat #superfamily #rhodeytony #ironfamily #and that's a wrap!!!

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magnificent-nerd · 3 years

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Why Naqib in The Boys sucked

Image description: fictional character Naqib in Amazon Prime’s show The Boys.

(Is the fire in the background an excuse to use racist Yellow Filter to show how exotic he is? Hmm.)

I first posted this on my blog in Dec 2020, and since nothing in superhero media has changed for the better at this time (September 5th, 2021), I’m going to keep talking about it.

Because nobody else does. So, without further ado:

WHY NAQIB SUCKS.

I was a big fan of The Boys season 1; I love superheroes, I love deconstructing a genre. Sure, it has its problems, but overall I enjoyed season 1 and thought the show had potential.

(That’ll learn me for being hopeful!)

When season 1 ended with this big build up of mostly nameless brown and background characters as Muslim terrorists (deep sigh) we the audience are left thinking this one Muslim character (Naqib) whose superpower is to blow himself up repeatedly (insert another long deep sigh here) is going to be The Big Bad of season 2.

I had my misgivings about that direction. Firstly, as you can see from the image of Naqib, he is highly exoticised and is walking around bare chested with Arabic writing on his chest. He looks more like a generic western media depiction of a genie than he does a supervillain.

And yet he's the first prominent Muslim character in superhero media I've seen in YEARS.

(See my post about MENA and Muslim character good guys, including Joe played by Marwan Kenzari in The Old Guard, which is technically a comic book movie but it’s not what I’d call ‘caped and costumed’ superheroes so it’s more... superhero adjacent.)

I follow superhero content closely and as far as I'm aware the last time we saw any named Muslim characters in superhero movies WITH SPEAKING LINES was:

Instance 1) Iron Man 1 back in 2008 with The Ten Rings in Afghanistan, showing multiple Muslim characters as baddies/terrorists, but only two of them as a named character and with any meaningful lines to say. And despite one of them, Yinsen (actor Shaun Toub), being a good guy he still dies! Which is common in western media for Muslim and MENA characters.

Note: Fellow Iron Man 1 castmate, actor Sayed Badreya, makes an important point in this GQ article: "I die in Iron Man, I die in Executive Decision. I get shot by everyone. George Clooney kills me in Three Kings. Arnold blows me up in True Lies…" (x)

Instance 2) A more recent instalment in Batman V. Superman in 2016, with some unnamed 'General' character and mercenaries/terrorists in Nairomi, Africa, referred to only as "the desert" throughout the movie. All reference to the General's actual name are available in an extended/deleted scene only, so a very poor and vague depiction in the final cut.

Instance 3) The generic and badly written ‘bad guys’ in Wonder Woman 1984 (2020 movie), which was honestly such a racist depiction of Arabs and Muslims that many critics pointed out we hadn’t seen a depiction this terrible since 1994′s True Lies. (At least most critics were in agreement that WW84 movie was generally terrible, so there’s that.)

And that's it, those are the only major instances showing any Muslim actors or characters in a caped and costumed superhero movie.

Some other fleeting glimpses of Muslims onscreen:

Glimpse 1) I spotted a girl wearing a hijab among the nameless and unspeaking background characters of Peter Parker's class in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). A first for Marvel movies, apparently.

Glimpse 2) Disney Plus show Falcon and Winter Soldier (2021) had two nameless Muslim characters walk by in a scene that’s supposed to be Tunisia (using Yellow Filter), and ‘thank’ the present American Air Force (eye-roll).

Glimpse 3) Netflix show Jupiter’s Legacy (2021) had a nameless Muslim sailor conversing with one of the main characters in a scene, with meaningful dialogue about racism. (WOW. Really good.) Bonus: no yellow filter. It’s a pity he’s a nameless background character because this brief instance is the least problematic MENA rep I’ve seen in ages, but it is very brief.

I just wrote about Glimpses 2 and 3, and how the Netflix show outdid Disney when it comes to these nameless walk-on Muslim characters.

This is pretty pathetic overall, these small crumbs, especially compared to better rep and probably the only instance of legit MENA superheroes in a ‘costumes and capes’ style superhero show, the Tarazi siblings on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Anyway, now I’ve listed what crumbs are available across the live action superhero genre, back to The Boys.

I was intrigued about how season 2 would handle Naqib and any characters relating to him, and what storyline they'd use.

Was I excited at the possibility of seeing Muslim supers onscreen? Damn straight I was. Did I mind that they were baddies? Well, yes and no. When you only ever get crumbs or no crumbs at all, you tend to get excited over one stale old crumb.

After the build up for season 2, I eagerly sat down to watch the first episode, only to have the first five minutes of episode 1 Trigon him.

Note: who's Trigon, you ask? Well if you didn't watch the DCEU's Titans show, Trigon was The Big Bad who was hyped up throughout season 1, introduced in the season 1 cliff-hanger episode as this big 'oh shit!' moment for the cast of heroes, only for him to fizzle out like a wet fart in the first episode of season 2 while the show pivots wildly in another direction.

Exactly what happened to Naqib in the first five minutes of The Boys season 2.

Erm, so, Naqib. Farewell, I guess? As a character you briefly appeared in 2 episodes, portrayed by a different actor in each (Krishan Dutt, and Samer Salem). It seems the writers used you as a plot device when they needed a cheap cliff-hanger for a direction that ultimately went nowhere.

Am I disappointed? Yeah, I am. Overall I thought season 2 of The Boys was weaker than season 1, but I'm not here to talk about the whole season: I want to talk about Naqib and this missed opportunity.

The Boys and its showrunners sell the show as being a satire of recent and well known superhero content, of all the big movies and TV shows. There's been a lot of patting themselves on the back for calling out overused tropes in superhero media (and sometimes they've done this satire well: see the LGBT marketing scene with Queen Maeve in season 2), but my issue with the show on their Muslim rep, or should I say lack thereof, is if your show has even less Muslim character rep than the content you're trying to parody, how is this a win for satire?

Naqib and that whole angle came across as a lazy, half-assed swing from the writer's room. Sure, perhaps a lot of the non-Muslim and non-MENA audience won't even notice, as we've been ignored by western media or made into nameless, generic, vacuous baddies for decades now. Non-Muslims and non-MENA just accept that we're always the baddies for no particular reason at all (which feeds into Islamophobia, by the way) and The Boys' writers could say they are simply satirising the tropes already present in media...

But, and this is a big but, the media that The Boys is satirising has already made a step toward better inclusion and representation: Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Marvel comics' first Muslim superhero, is entering the MCU as a lead character in her own Disney Plus show, debuting in 2022.

Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan is also cited to appear in upcoming Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels (2022), which will be a major movie.

The MCU has also cast a Muslim actor (Mahershala Ali) as the lead in a reboot of Blade. That's going to be big news when it starts filming.

So to the showrunners on The Boys, I say this: now you've done this small angle of 'all Muslim characters are terrorists, yuckity-yuck!' like we've seen in major superhero movies thus far, and you've brushed that aside in favor of focusing on other whiter villains, my question is will you come back to Muslim and MENA characters again? Or is that all you got?

Because if that was ALL, then the current score is Disney/MCU:02, Netflix:02, DCEU:02, and The Boys: a big ZERO as far as Muslim and MENA rep goes.

Originally posted on my blog, magnificently nerdy.

If you, like me, are always on the lookout for onscreen Muslim and MENA characters in superhero media, and have spotted any characters in superhero TV shows I haven’t watched yet, let me know about them!

Here is my post on good guys, featuring Old Guard’s Joe, and Blindspot’s Rich Dotcom.

Here’s my post about the Tarazi siblings on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow TV show.

And, if Marvels’ Eternals gets released on schedule for 2021, we will have a MENA actor portraying a supporting character. I just hope Marvel gives him a name.

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slayernina · 3 years

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Stranger Things release speculation

I’m bored at my parents house, and I just discovered a web to know Youtube’s uploading dates, so...

My other metas here

La maldición de las cuatro brujas here

Buy me a ko-fi!

Season 1

Important info from wikia: The filming of Stranger Things lasted for six months. They spent eleven days filming each episode. The visual effects team was working on shots until the last possible moment with the final shots turned in just two weeks before they aired on Netflix, most of them not even entirely complete.

First promotional photos: around June, 2016 (one month before the release)

First trailer: June 30, 2015 (two weeks before the release)

The First 8 Minutes - Series Opener: July 14, 2016

Release date on Netflix: July 15, 2016

Season 2

Filming of the season started in Atlanta, Georgia on November 7, 2016. Most regular cast members were confirmed on September/October 2016. On June 3, filming for the season officially wrapped (4 months before release).

Episode title teaser: August 31, 2016

First promotional photos: February, 2017 (8 months before release). The photos are only from completed episodes (1 to 5).

First teaser: Super Bowl February, 2.

First trailer (Comic Con): July 22, 2017 (three months before release)

Final trailer: August 13, 2017 (two weeks before release)

Release date on Netflix: October 31, 2018

Season 3

The third season was officially announced on December 1, 2017. They were revealing cast during March-April-May 2018. Production officially began on April 20, 2018. Filming officially wrapped on November 13, 2018.

Production teaser (table read): April 27, 2018

Starcourt teaser: June 16, 2018

Title teaser: December 9, 2018

Date anouncement teaser: January 1, 2019

First promotional photos: March, 2019 (four months before release)

First trailer: March 20, 2019

Summer in Hawkins teaser: May 20, 2019

Coca Cola teaser: May 21, 2019

Final trailer: June 21, 2019 (three weeks before release)

Teaser 4th July: July 3, 2019 (one day/same day release)

Release date on Netflix: July 4, 2019

Season 4

The schedule is on My Metas section, but briefly: filming started in January and should have been wrapped by August. It was supposed to be released on November, according to some hints from actors and crew.

Season 4 official announcement teaser: September 30, 2019

From Russia with Love teaser: February 14, 2020

Table read teaser: March 3, 2020

Here and there ther is more “promo” material, like cast interviews, the comics or the D&D game held today December 18th.

The production was halted several times due to coronavirus. Until this moment, the longer date for filming was the scenes in New Mexico to continue in March 2021. Two episodes were completed before stopping the production, the scripts were already finished and I suppose the post production team is doing everything they could now, maybe the release date after filming is shorter.

So until this moment:

Season 1: six months filming, one month before release for pics, first final trailer two weeks before release.

Season 2 (release date delayed for “day theme” reasons): seven months filming, eight months before release for pics, first final trailer three months before release.

Season 3: seven months filming, four months before release for pics, first final trailer three weeks before release.

About season 4

Given the trend above and how they resumed filming on October, we could expect the filming fully wrapped around March 2021 (post production included), first pics and teaser trailer maybe in December/January on an important date (Christmas? New Year? Some religious festivity?), first final trailer late March or in April, release on late April/May.

If Miss Rona doesn’t fuck up again.

EDIT: Filming is confirmed until June. Add 2 months for postproduction and we have July/August if they want to release as soon as possible.

Here is the Youtube website used, it’s fucking cool

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #st4 #netflix #youtube dataviewer #youtube #i'm so bored i could crack a russian code #slayernina writes stuff

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thecrownnet · 4 years

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A few months ago, to celebrate the easing of lockdown, Esquire editor Alex Bilmes met up with British actor Josh O'Connor for a socially distanced dog walk to discuss his role as Prince Charles in the long-awaited fourth season of The Crown. (The resulting interview and shoot appear in full in the new issue of Esquire, which is on sale now – subscribe here). We managed to chat to Olivia Colman and the show's creator, Peter Morgan, too. As socialising in 2020 goes, it beats a two-hour Zoom meeting.

So what did they have to say? Well, the trio were understandably tight-lipped, but we managed to extract some interesting little details about the most anticipated British TV event of the year. We also caught a glimpse at some key scenes. Check out everything we learned below.

Prince Charles’s life will only become more conflicted

But you knew that already. It will cover a passage of time in which the would-be king is struggling to find meaning, and raging against the twin pressures of royal expectation and press attention. Not to mention his marriage, which is doomed from the start.

Most of the season four clips we watched feature Charles feeling sorry for himself. We see him on the phone to Camilla, complaining that Diana is “a child.” In another scene, set during Charles and Diana’s tour of Australia in 1983, he grows jealous of her easy, likeable, media-ready demeanour. “I don’t deserve this!” he whines. “This is supposed to be my tour.”

Peter Morgan, creator and writer of The Crown, compares Charles and Diana’s marriage to “three Brexits and three Covids wrapped into one”. He went on to say: "Everybody is defined in some shape or form in terms of their reaction to the events that [the royal family] inflicted upon us. And at the heart of all that was this marriage. I think what’s so sad about it is they were such a dream team. It could have been so fantastic.”

Josh O’Connor’s performance as Prince Charles is impeccable

Or so say his co-stars and colleagues, who admittedly have some skin in the game. You wouldn’t exactly expect them to lay into him, would you? Still, the plaudits are pretty darn glowing.

Peter Morgan, creator and writer of The Crown, calls him the Andres Iniesta of acting – understatedly impressive and cultured in other words – and goes on to call him an “inside out actor”; a “proper actor’s actor.”

“Particularly with a part like Prince Charles, it’s so easy to get it wrong, so easy to descend into caricature, into impressions,” says Morgan. “His first day as Prince Charles, we just immediately knew how good he was.”

Olivia Colman went on to praise the way that O'Connor disappeared into the role. But how did he do it? “You put yourself in someone else’s shoes,” she says. The qualities required, according to Colman, are “an emotional intelligence and a natural empathy. Josh has got that in buckets.”

Francis Lee, the writer-director who cast O’Connor in 2017’s God’s Own Country, also has praise for his performance.

“What he does,” Lee says, “is he allows access to the character of Prince Charles, an idea of who he is. Josh makes him feel a three-dimensional, resonant character, somebody you could have sympathy for and understand. He has made a symbolic figure a very human figure.”

The Crown creator had never heard of O’Connor before casting him

Despite his stand-out performances in critically acclaimed British films like God’s Own Country and Only You, Peter Morgan didn’t target O’Connor for a part in show.

“To be honest with you, I hadn’t heard of him. But all the football scouts knew about him, if you know what I mean [edit: you probably don’t know what he means. Check out the full profile for a football-based explanation]. They all knew he was going to be an international. I was being told by lots of wide-eyed people, when we got him: ‘This is really good news.’"

He went on to compare the experience to discovering Michael Sheen fifteen years earlier. “I remember when we first did The Deal” — Morgan’s 2003 TV movie about Tony Blair and Gordon Brown — “and the casting director said to me, ‘There’s only one person who can play Tony Blair’. I had no idea who Michael Sheen was. It was a similar sort of thing.”

Josh O’Connor has a Prince Charles scrapbook – and it smells glorious

In preparation for every role he plays, O’Connor fills books full of scribbles and scraps that bring him closer to the character. Prince Charles was no different. “I went on the website and ordered the most public school shorts I could find. Crispy white shorts. I got those,” he told us, “and I soaked them in mud and left them in a sports bag for a week and cut out the material and stuck that in.” Suitable, as Prince Charles spent four miserable years at the sport-heavy Gordonstoun independent school in Scotland in his youth.

He managed to cover up the smell of muddy shorts, though. “I get quite experimental,” O’Connor says. “It’s purely for me, no one ever sees [the scrapbooks]. I bought some aftershave, the oakiest one I could find, the most Charles-y one I could imagine, and sprayed that in the book. Maybe it’s kind of over the top and maybe it doesn’t help me at all but I do it for fun, so who cares?”

The idea, he says, is that “Senses trigger emotional responses and memories. With any character, you’re trying to create something that isn’t just a performance, something as vivid as possible.”

Series Four of The Crown will air on Netflix from 17 November

Josh O'Connor's exclusive interview and shoot appear in the September/October issue of Esquire, on-sale now.

But November 17 is a Tuesday. Will Netflix really drop season 4 on a Tuesday? one week before Thanksgiving in US? two weeks after the US election? Also Netflix did start streaming season 2 on Nov 17, 2019.

#josh o'connor #prince charles #olivia colman #peter morgan #the crown #the crown netflix

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 3 years

Photo

DARK STORM ON NEPTUNE REVERSES DIRECTION, POSSIBLY SHEDDING A FRAGMENT Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope watched a mysterious dark vortex on Neptune abruptly steer away from a likely death on the giant blue planet. The storm, which is wider than the Atlantic Ocean, was born in the planet's northern hemisphere and discovered by Hubble in 2018. Observations a year later showed that it began drifting southward toward the equator, where such storms are expected to vanish from sight. To the surprise of observers, Hubble spotted the vortex change direction by August 2020, doubling back to the north. Though Hubble has tracked similar dark spots over the past 30 years, this unpredictable atmospheric behavior is something new to see. Equally as puzzling, the storm was not alone. Hubble spotted another smaller dark spot in January this year that temporarily appeared near its larger cousin. It might possibly have been a piece of the giant vortex that broke off, drifted away, and then disappeared in subsequent observations. "We are excited about these observations because this smaller dark fragment is potentially part of the dark spot’s disruption process," said Michael H. Wong of the University of California at Berkeley. "This is a process that's never been observed. We have seen some other dark spots fading away and they're gone, but we've never seen anything disrupt, even though it’s predicted in computer simulations." The large storm, which is 4,600 miles across, is the fourth dark spot Hubble has observed on Neptune since 1993. Two other dark storms were discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989 as it flew by the distant planet, but they had disappeared before Hubble could observe them. Since then, only Hubble has had the sharpness and sensitivity in visible light to track these elusive features, which have sequentially appeared and then faded away over a duration of about two years each. Hubble uncovered this latest storm in September 2018. Wicked Weather Neptune's dark vortices are high-pressure systems that can form at mid-latitudes and may then migrate toward the equator. They start out remaining stable due to Coriolis forces, which cause northern hemisphere storms to rotate clockwise, due to the planet's rotation. (These storms are unlike hurricanes on Earth, which rotate counterclockwise because they are low-pressure systems.) However, as a storm drifts toward the equator, the Coriolis effect weakens and the storm disintegrates. In computer simulations by several different teams, these storms follow a more-or-less straight path to the equator, until there is no Coriolis effect to hold them together. Unlike the simulations, the latest giant storm didn't migrate into the equatorial "kill zone." "It was really exciting to see this one act like it's supposed to act and then all of a sudden it just stops and swings back," Wong said. "That was surprising." Dark Spot Jr. The Hubble observations also revealed that the dark vortex’s puzzling path reversal occurred at the same time that a new spot, informally deemed "dark spot jr.," appeared. The newest spot was slightly smaller than its cousin, measuring about 3,900 miles across. It was near the side of the main dark spot that faces the equator—the location that some simulations show a disruption would occur. However, the timing of the smaller spot's emergence was unusual. "When I first saw the small spot, I thought the bigger one was being disrupted," Wong said. "I didn't think another vortex was forming because the small one is farther towards the equator. So it's within this unstable region. But we can't prove the two are related. It remains a complete mystery. "It was also in January that the dark vortex stopped its motion and started moving northward again," Wong added. "Maybe by shedding that fragment, that was enough to stop it from moving towards the equator." The researchers are continuing to analyze more data to determine whether remnants of dark spot jr. persisted through the rest of 2020. Dark Storms Still Puzzling It's still a mystery how these storms form, but this latest giant dark vortex is the best studied so far. The storm's dark appearance may be due to an elevated dark cloud layer and it could be telling astronomers about the storm's vertical structure. Another unusual feature of the dark spot is the absence of bright companion clouds around it, which were present in Hubble images taken when the vortex was discovered in 2018. Apparently, the clouds disappeared when the vortex halted its southward journey. The bright clouds form when the flow of air is perturbed and diverted upward over the vortex, causing gases to likely freeze into methane ice crystals. The lack of clouds could be revealing information on how spots evolve, say researchers. Weather Eye on the Outer Planets Hubble snapped many of the images of the dark spots as part of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program, a long-term Hubble project, led by Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, that annually captures global maps of our solar system's outer planets when they are closest to Earth in their orbits. OPAL's key goals are to study long-term seasonal changes, as well as capture comparatively transitory events, such as the appearance of dark spots on Neptune or potentially Uranus. These dark storms may be so fleeting that in the past some of them may have appeared and faded during multi-year gaps in Hubble's observations of Neptune. The OPAL program ensures that astronomers won't miss another one. "We wouldn't know anything about these latest dark spots if it wasn't for Hubble," Simon said. "We can now follow the large storm for years and watch its complete life cycle. If we didn't have Hubble, then we might think the Great Dark Spot seen by Voyager in 1989 is still there on Neptune, just like Jupiter's Great Red Spot. And, we wouldn't have known about the four other spots Hubble discovered." Wong will present the team's findings Dec. 15 at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, D.C. TOP IMAGE....HUBBLE UNCOVERS A PAIR OF DARK VORTICES ON NEPTUNE This Hubble Space Telescope snapshot of the dynamic blue-green planet Neptune reveals a monstrous dark storm [top center] and the emergence of a smaller dark spot nearby [top right]. The giant vortex, which is wider than the Atlantic Ocean, was traveling south toward certain doom by atmospheric forces at the equator when it suddenly made a U-turn and began drifting back northward. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 captured this visible-light image on Jan. 7, 2020, the same time a slightly smaller dark spot mysteriously appeared nearby. That spot then vanished a few months later. The smaller feature may have been a piece of the giant storm that broke off as the larger vortex approached the equator. Hubble uncovered the giant storm in September 2018 in Neptune's northern hemisphere. The feature is roughly 4,600 miles across. The estimated width of the smaller spot is 3,900 miles. The large storm is the fourth transient dark spot Hubble has observed since 1993. NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft first imaged two dark features in Neptune's southern hemisphere in 1989 as Voyager flew by the distant planet. Those storms had disappeared by the time Hubble looked at Neptune in 1994. However, Hubble detected two new dark spots in the planet's northern hemisphere in 1994 and 1996. It's unclear how these storms form. Their clouds may be rising to higher altitudes, compared to surrounding regions in the gas giant's atmosphere. Neptune's predominant blue color is due to the absorption of red light by the distant planet's methane-rich atmosphere. CREDITS:NASA, ESA, STScI, M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley) and L.A. Sromovsky and P.M. Fry (University of Wisconsin-Madison) LOWER IMAGE....The smaller dark spot in this Hubble image may have been a piece of the giant storm that broke off as the larger vortex approached the equator. Hubble uncovered the giant storm in September 2018 in Neptune's northern hemisphere. The large feature is roughly 4,600 miles across. The estimated width of the smaller spot is 3,900 miles. Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley), and L.A. Sromovsky and P.M. Fry (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

#space #science #Astronomy #physics #news #nasa #Neptune

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lonelyheartsclubhaze · 3 years

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We Sold Our Souls to Instagram

September 2020 // Chapter 2

“No, I’m not going to pick you up.” I shook my head, visibly and audibly annoyed. “You know damn well that I’m not getting behind the wheel. I’m hanging up, sorry.”

Converting potential energy into kinetic, the iPhone X left my hand, skimming across the wave-front of my bed. My hands ruffled through my hair as I inhaled then sighed, absentmindedly channelling the virtues of cellular respiration.

Tired of this perpetual bullshit, my fingers slithered across the Ikea desk before me, eventually detecting the apple of my bedroom’s Eden: a lychee ice Puff Bar. My fingers honed in on the device, ensnaring it, raising it to my lips. A deep breath saved me from the agony of sobriety, the nicotine buzz lasting a moment. Then, it was lost.

Six soft, knuckled knocks rapped at the bedroom door. “It’s unlocked,” I shouted.

A creak later, the door swung open, revealing Adam. There was nobody else in the house anyway. With a global pandemic at large and wildfires blazing on deep into September, neither Ajay nor Cam had seen Dwight House since March. Just Adam and me.

“Yo, we out,” he said, pulling a reusable, black cloth mask under his chin. “Can’t see shit outside but we still drinking, dawg.” Ah, the charming vernacular of a Korean-American friend from the elite suburbs of the East Bay.

“It’s good. What’re we feeling today?” I had actually enjoyed the past six months with Adam—it had been a good bonding experience. Despite his rough tone around me and the rest of the guys, Adam was quite versatile in social settings, weaving between upper-class gentility at investment banking info sessions and middle-aged rednecks at gun ranges. With classical Berkeley-liberal ideologies and Wall Street Journal-reading, center-right-leaning, finance friends, Adam defied social realities.

Adam shrugged. “Could go for some Chimay. I’m feeling classy.”

“Not a bad idea at all, my friend,” I said. It had been awhile since I’d had a good beer like Chimay, and I was getting sick of Coors Banquets. “On the other hand, your timing just might be—a bad idea, I mean. Air looks cancerous outside.” Marmalade light cast by the wildfires of a fuming Earth engulfed Northern California, held in suspense by cool, Pacific layers of atmosphere. It was like we were on planet Arrakis, from Dune, or trapped in the world of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust.

“The air low-key is cancerous. AQI is pushing 180’s right now,” said Adam, raising his eyebrows.

“Looks like an N95-kinda day. I’ve got a spare, you know,” I said, gesturing to a pile of three or so N95 masks by the lamp on my desk.

Adam waved it off. “Eh, I’m good. That’s some puss shit. Let’s just run over to Crafts and Grapes or some shit, shouldn’t take long.”

I shrugged. “So be it.”

Tossing on a pair of five-and-a-half inch inseam Lululemon shorts, I joined Adam as he hopped downstairs.

“Got keys?” he asked once we reached the door.

“Yer, we out,” I said, shaking my keys out from my shorts’ pocket to lock the front door.

“Fuck,” griped Adam. “It’s actually hot as shit out here.” Smoky, red air obscured him from sight as he craned his neck to see me.

“Hence the shorts.”

Adam squinted his eyes, pursed his lips, and jutted his head back and forth, mocking me. “For sure. Forgot your MCAT-lovin’-ass could predict the future. But really though—it’s the middle of September, dude. This shit is wrong. It’s hot as balls and California is on fire and the sky is red and fools are straight-up dying off this COVID shit.”

“And you’re still an idiot,” I said, flashing a cheeky smile.

“Are you qualified to diagnose me as an idiot?”

“Maddie would say so.”

“Hence the pet names.”

“Precisely.”

“We gotta do something about this, bruh. This shit pains me to see,” declared Adam.

“Let’s start by drinking these brews. We’ll recycle the bottles after.”

We walked east on Dwight toward Telegraph, dodging cars as we skipped across the one way street. Adam was quieter than usual, for the most part, looking up from his iPhone 11 Pro Max periodically to comment on something he’d read in the news, or the glum weather. He wore a khaki short sleeve button-up, Kapital raw denim jeans with smiley face patchwork on the back left pocket, and a pair of slip-on Nike Janoski sneakers. The jeans were nice—quite expensive, from the looks of it—but looked baggy on him. He didn’t seem to mind. In fact, all of his clothes wore a bit loose on him, akin to a fiery adolescent who’d picked out hand-me-downs from an older sibling. Who that older sibling might’ve been, I’d never know—with his unwavering demeanor, Adam always seemed like the eldest in the room.

Banking right onto Telegraph, we bore the full brunt of the veiled sun, which, though hidden behind dense clouds of smoke, now revealed its penetrating UV rays. We ducked under corrugated foam polycarbonate sheets, which lined the rooftops of mom-and-pop Telegraph shops, fending off the sun’s cancerous radiation. The insanity of the world mingled with the smoky, copper air, making me delirious. I imagined I was Mel Gibson or Tom Hardy in Mad Max, feigning off flashbacks in the Wasteland. At the corner of Telegraph and Blake street, Adam pushed and held open the door to Crafts and Grapes. Nodding my head at him in small thanks, I entered, squinting my eyes as the light shifted from hazy red to bright white inside. It was a tiny store, with two aisles directly ahead lined with candy, nuts, and other inconsequential (unless you ate too many) snacks, followed by two refrigerators: one in the back, the other on the far right. Cool, wispy air emanated from the cold storage, contrasting with the late summer atmosphere only meters behind us. A bell rang as the door squeaked to a halt, prompting the middle-eastern cashier, directly to our right, to rise from his stool and greet us. We nodded back silently, all three of us clad in masks.

Per usual, Adam took the lead, striding toward the fridge directly back. He popped open one of the see-through doors with his left hand, mapping his way through its items with his right pointer finger. Finding my eyes, Adam shook his head, indicating a lack of Chimay.

“Blue moons?” I suggested. “Mango wheats?”

Adam screwed up his face. “Fuck that. Let’s go with Lags.”

“Sure, why not.”

Adam kneeled and looped his hand through the cardboard handle of a Lagunitas StereoHopic IPA six-pack. We walked over to the register where Adam made small talk with the cashier. Eventually, he tapped his iPhone 11 to an Ingenico payment terminal, finalizing our transaction. Drinks acquired.

The bell jingled as the door shut behind us once more. We hurried home, eager to crack open our drinks, intent on droning out the blistered yonder. Adam tried to explain his enthusiasm for hoppy beers while I pretended to listen. He was distracting me, though; we both knew I couldn’t care less.

Arriving home, my keys found their way to the door, and we found our ways to the couch. A tenor beep resounded through our living room as Adam’s iPhone connected to an old speaker via bluetooth. “Street Lights” by Kanye West filled the air, followed by carbon dioxide bubbles freed by an unlikely liberator—the bottle opener.

Let me know

Do I still got time to grow?

Things ain’t always set in stone

That be known let me know

I found myself back in the hand-me-down BMW 330i, with her, the white wire packed into the lightning port of my iPhone, transmitting cosine waves that replicated the robotic voice I was listening to in my living room.

“Stop!” she cried, thrusting herself back against beige, leather seats. She wanted me to press the brakes. I had to stop the car, right, stop the car. Where were the brakes?

She was beautiful, of course.

Dark, brown hair fell over eyes of the same color, guarded by double-lids that I wish she hadn’t paid for.

Hardly anyone would notice the difference, but I did, and it hurt to know that she didn’t love them.

I loved them, unconditionally, but she loved the brakes.

Needed to find them.

We’d shared a large bowl of Marafuku’s acclaimed Hakata Tonkotsu DX ramen. I’d let her eat most of it, sneaking my chopsticks in for bites at intervals.

“Pennsylvania?” I shook my head.

“What, you’ve never been?” She tilted hers. “You’ll love it. Come with me.”

“You’re crazy,” I said, smiling. “My MCAT summer is coming up.”

She rolled her eyes. “Then I’ll help you study for it. Duh.”

“I’m sure Brandon would love that.”

“Will he? All the way from San Francisco?”

“He’ll make the trip.”

“Not if you do,” she said, melting my mind.

I was dizzy, sleepy, lost, a newborn. Vulnerable. And I couldn’t seem to find them.

I’m just not there in the streets

I’m just not there

Life’s just not fair

Sonorant chimes reverberated in my ears as Adam clinked his glass bottle to mine. “Cheers,” he said with a nod.

“Cheers,” I echoed. Leaning my head back, I swallowed, allowing the cool liquid down my esophagus and into my gut.

“You good?” he prodded.

“Yeah,” I replied, my voice cracking a little. I cleared my throat.

“Pretty hoppy, huh?”

I took another sip, licking my lips after. “Quite. I suppose we knew what we were getting ourselves into. You know, given the ‘StereoHopic’.”

“You right.”

“Yeah.”

“Yo,” said Adam. “On another note—might be going in on an addy deal with Grace if you’re tryna hop in.”

I scratched my head. While I wouldn’t have any major exams in the near future (although midterms for my biochem course [MCB 102, for my fellow pre-med students at Cal] were slated for October sixteenth), I certainly had errands that might be eased by a twenty milligram dose of extended-release Adderall. There’s nothing like a thorough room-cleaning session when you’re high on stimulant drugs.

The first time I ever tried Adderall must’ve been during my freshman year, back in 2017. Midterm season was approaching—come to think of it, that was around this time that year—and our generous friend, Grace, was kind enough to grant me a ten milligram pill of instant-release Adderall. Grace and I, along with Adam and perhaps Ajay, too, were partaking in a midnight study session at Moffitt Library, which was open twenty-four-seven—prior to the pandemic. I popped the pill, chased it down with a Javiva drink from Peet’s, and got to work.

Twenty minutes later I began to feel its effects as the amphetamine altered monoamines in my brain, releasing surplus dopamine into my many synaptic clefts. Optimism filled me to the brim and my vision bent inward. I saw nothing but the iPad in front of me, my mind enamored by golgi apparatuses and various protein structures. The stimulant saturated me with a profound appreciation for all thoughts that meandered into my head; a giddiness originated in my heart, spreading down my arms, my legs, and outward across my skull, contracting then expanding once more. It was artificial love.

Eventually, I was distracted. Grace’s dilated pupils stared into mine as she chattered away about Lin-Manuel Mir-something and a hurricane in Puerto Rico. After a second or two, my attention snapped away from cell membranes, landing instead on her words. The words of a girl from Colorado with a soft spot for the snow. I’d met Grace via Adam during Orientation Week and she’d quickly become one of my favorite people.

Gingerbread specks stippled her face like a George Seurat painting, fractal constellations arising as my eyes outlined her cheekbones. Gaps between long, chocolate locks revealed sepia collarbones, lined with descendants of the freckles on her face. A white Nike Alex Morgan soccer jersey overlaid the loose sweatpants that hung from her hips, held up by drawstrings I almost hoped would fail, concealing proportions that emulated golden ratios. Stained, white, laceless Vans hugged unpainted toes that tapped together when she spoke. Lips that scorned the artificially enlarged mouths of Instagram influencers communicated messages I was only barely beginning to listen to. She was the love interest of a nineties’ coming-of-age motion picture. But she wasn’t mine.

You know, I thought Adam might’ve loved her, but it was hard to tell when he was cycling through hookups with three different girls at a time. Come to think of it, I didn’t know if Adam loved anyone. A talker, yes; a charmer, certainly; but a romantic, I really didn’t think so.

He spent a lot of his time with her, no doubt. And she cared for him—anyone could see it. But she knew as well as I did that his head wasn’t in it. He wasn’t looking for love. He wanted to graduate, make money—to be someone. Sex seemed like nothing more than a physical need to him. I don’t think anyone would’ve described Adam as an emotionally vulnerable guy, and I don’t think anyone thought that emotion was what he kept those girls around for.

But at the same time, anyone could’ve seen what I saw in the way he bounced when she was around. Anyone could’ve heard the way he spoke about her. She meant something to him. But when you asked him about it, he’d brush it off; she wasn’t his type, or he had commitment issues (jokingly—but hey, grain of truth in everything).

Maybe she was his distraction from ambition—his distraction from latex-wrapped, emotionally removed nights and Wall Street Journal mornings, just as she was my distraction from cell structures.

For a good hour-and-a-half, Grace entertained me with conversation regarding natural disasters across the West; Broadway musical comparisons between Hamilton and Sunday in the Park with George; and the latest updates on Cal’s women’s soccer team, of which she was a huge fan. The Adderall certainly kept me focused, although not necessarily on my coursework.

“Let me know,” said Adam, tipping the bottle into the corner of his mouth. “I’m boutta text her back.”

I looked up from my lap at Adam. Right, I thought. “Sure, I could be down. Why not. Think you can pick me up two? I have some errands to run.”

“Twenty milligram XR work?” he asked as he tapped along the screen of his iPhone.

“That’ll do.”

The room went quiet for twenty to twenty five seconds as I was confirmed as an accomplice in the drug deal.

“What’s she been up to?” I asked.

“Hm?” he noised, raising his eyebrows without looking up.

“Grace,” I said. “Haven’t seen her much.”

He shrugged. “Not much, I guess. Drinking a solid amount though, from what I’ve seen.”

“Makes three of us.”

“Yeah,” he said, feigning a smile. “What about yours?”

“Maddie?”

“Yeah.”

I took a deep breath—inhaling, holding to the count of four, exhaling. “Not much of a difference, to be honest.”

“It’s not her fault, you know.”

“I know,” I breathed.

“Then talk to her.”

“It’s not like that,” I mumbled.

Adam paused.

I stared at my feet. “I’m sorry, Adam.”

He squinted. “The fuck you sorry for?”

“You know.”

He waved his hand aside, brushing it off. “I’m not tripping. Talk to her. Before I do it myself.”

I forced a smile. “Maybe it’s better off that way.”

“Here,” he said, handing me a two-foot-tall bong and lighter from under the coffee table. “Take it.”

Couldn’t stay away. My fingers gripped the paraphernalia as he withdrew. My heart quickened as the impending drug interaction approached. When it reached my lips, I lit, then inhaled, holding to the count of four, and then some. Blurry feelings rushed my mind as states of sufferance gave way to sedated nebulas, teaching me forgetfulness.

#writers on tumblr #my writing #fiction #writers #writing #mood #vibe #original #original fiction

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hostagesseason2downloadhd · 4 years

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madagascanoverseas-blog · 4 years

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Everything started that night of September 1998 when I was supposed to board a plane to Lyon, France for the purpose of studying. Had I known that night that my study trip will not see its end in France, but will continue to the state of Pennsylvania in the US, then later to Australia, and a few years down the line, to Canada where I do live with my wife and son, I am convinced that I might said to myself « That is just impossible »!On this night of september 1998, the air at Antananarivo Ivato Airport is hot and dry as the summer season is about to strike back again. My father will accompany me as it was the first time I am leaving Madagascar, my country, for such a long time. We will be spending a few days in Paris before heading to Lyon, where I will be commencing a school of hospitality.For most of the Malagasy youngsters like myself, it is in fact very usual to pursue one studies in France once we obtained our HSC or High school diploma; the reason being the fact that we speak French and that France is generally the country we tend to know about the most outside Madagascar obviously. I have had one or two classmates in Madagascar who went directly pursuing their education outside of France, but in general very few dared to pursue directly their studies to a country like the US or Canada.

That being said, I will always remember that night of september as despite of being mentally prepared, I surely knew I had so much challenges ahead to overcome, and I was even more aware that there were greater chances for me to fail than to make it! I knew it because since I was a child, I never left my parents for more than 10 days…and that was only once during a trip organized by my high school (La Clairefontaine) for us to visit Washington. But that was it!!! Apart from that accompanied trip, I really never had the chance to be on my own nor experience what I would be capable of should I be alone in an unknown environment.

I CANNOT EVER FORGET

I will always remember the face of my mother and my sister who were there at the airport; I can hardly erase from my memory this face of my mom seeing me going away and knowing that I was leaving for some time at least. I will also remember this Air France plane – having a big logo of a French kid holding a ball as Farnce has just won the Word Cup a few months ago – waiting for us to board. Also, I will never forget the next morning when we were flying right next to the very famous « Mont blanc ». At that very moment, I knew I was already flying over Europe. I will never forget my fathe’s words as the aircraft started to descend over Paris that day and as I was trying to familiarize myself with all those names that I saw on the map…at that moment, he said to me « well, that would be your country for the next three years ». With all the emotions of the departure, I still couldn’t realize that I have really left home, and that I left behind me everything I Knew, every place I was familiar with, everyone wiwth whom I used to share things. Now on, I have to be on my own and find my own way…here in this country….

In this article, I will be expose some insights about myself, about my personal stories as well as the different challenges I was facing. But more importantly, this article is also about providing advices in regards to travel overseas or settling in a foreign country.

I have also written this Blog as a Malagasy perspective dealing with overseas travels is of an extreme rarity. Most of the Blogs, articles, critics, history books, for example, about Madagascar, have been mostly written by non-Malagasy individuals. Also, most of the blogs, travels, articles existing on the net are hardly produced or written by any persons from the island of Madagascar. Today, by dropping a few lines here, I hope that there would be some changes, and invite other Malagasy both overseas and in Madagascar, to share their experiences or their talents online as I know that there are a lot of bright young people down there, bust most are not just given the opportunity to prove that.

LET’S START ABOUT THE DECISION PROCESS OF STUDYING OVERSEAS:

Even though I am writing this blog on the behalf of Malagasy students, it is also designed to help ANYONE who just has dreams to study overseas. It can be a US student wishing to spend 2 semesters in Argentina for example who wishes to study Spanish.

I have a youtube channel which displays different videos about my trip to Australia as well as Canada, but not limited to those. If you are interested to have a look at them, please go to:

www.youtube.com/channel/UCBY350-Kgd7X4umOAuCJk9A

WHAT SHOULD I DO FIRST WHEN PLANNING TO TRAVEL TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY?

first, do your research. get to know about the country/countries you plan to go to.

Secondly, if you can, try to get in touch with some people there

THE BIG QUESTION: SHOULD I SAY OR SHOULD I GO?

This question has no YES or NO answer, as it depends firstly on different parameters, notably:

external parameters: (the country you are going, whether you go alone or with someone else) and

internal parameters : your personality, you historical backgrounds, whether or not you were exposed to some individualistic environment, etc…

Some people that I knew when I was in Madagascar, were very bright and had all the skills they needed to succeed academically; however, among those people, many have grown within a highly non-individualistic environment. In other words, once overseas, they were struggling to adapt to an environment which different from theirs on a cultural standpoint. Many were also missing their friends back home, and that had huge consequences of their overseas stays in general, and many of them ended up abandoning their studies and coming back to Madagascar.

I also came across some Malagasy youngsters who chose France as a place to study, but for some reasons, did not fit in. Among those, some just came back home as they thought they were not fit to study overseas, but some others tried another option, which consisted of moving for example to Germany or to the UK, and as strange as it may seem, ended up adjusting just fine!!! So here, it was the French cultural and social environments, which were the causes of the problem.

FOR ME, WHAT WAS MY SECRET WHEN I SETTLED IN FRANCE

Well, as I said earlier, unlike my cousins or friends, I had no prior experiences about how it is to live away from parents and even less about how to live overseas, far from the loved ones.

But I remember each of the very first days I have spent in Lyon when I just arrived. In fact, the day we were supposed to travel to Lyon, there was an incident that happened to us at the Gare de Lyon, in Paris. That day, we arrived earlier as we thought that having lunch before the trip would be a nice idea. We then sat at a cafe inside the Gare de Lyon station, and as we were waiting for our order, a man poked at my dad and showed his vest. He then checked it and saw this huuuuuuge stain made of ketchup at the back of his suit…he was. shocked. At that moment, none of us realized what was to happen, but just a few seconds later, my dad realized that one of our bag has vanished (yes, just to let some Malagasy people know, there are many pickpockets in Paris!!!!). This is when we realized that our passports have also disappeared!!! Once we finished eating, we went to report to a police station and they issued us with a document allowing me to stay on the French territory for just 8 days!!! That means, I had just 8 days to lodge my application at the prefecture de Lyon!

We then travelled to Lyon and once there, explained the incident to the student adviser. It was so kind of him to offer me assistance while I was so far away from Madagascar, as when my father flew back to Madagascar with only a « laisser passer », he really assisted me to liaise with the prefecture de police as well as with the Madagascar consulate in Lyon, so I can obtain a new passport as well as a « carte de sejour » or permit of stay. As strange as it may seem, this incident has helped me to settle into the new hospitality school, while from time to time, making jokes about it with my new French friends!

Then, time went on and progressively, I made this new environment my home. I managed to make new friends, some of whom were French, but some were also Asians, namely from Korea and Indonesia. Both invited me to join some party, to eat soup, and two of my french friends invited me as well in their native region of Cher and Jura.

But you are probably wondering if from time to time, I missed my parents. Sure many times, and feeling lonely was something I considered being normal the first six months of any stays away from one’s family.

That being said, being a person growing with the « half-filled up glass » philosophy, I tended to be happy with what I had, and this was always the way I have always been. each day, I remained positive, saying to myself that everything will just work fine! But on the other hand, I told to myself: « If I should fail in this enterprise, I will just pack my bag and fly back home to Madagascar », and continue my studies there. Those thoughts have ,in my opinion, allowed me to remain calm as well as confident during those first crucial months of my stay in France.

AND THEN..

And then, after having spent 7 months in this hospitality school, I am leaving to to join the ISEG, a management school based in Lyon. Over there, I will be get acquainted with new French friends. The school is itself will last 2 years and after that time, with the help of my uncle Thomas who found that school for me by the way, I will choose to apply for this French-american school (called CEFAM) for another 2 years. Their principle is simple: students do the foundation courses in France, earn credits on each course they pass and then, can apply to US-universities once all conditions are met. Upon my registration at CEFAM though, I have met with the director who gave me credits for many of my classes taken at ISEG, which had allowed me to earn credits towards my BBA degree as well as some precious time, and more importantly, this had allowed us to save money as well on tuition fees!

But once I was about to earn all the credits from CEFAM this time (as I planned to pursue my studies in the US), the same director who gave me credits a few years before, sabotaged many foreign students applications, including mine!!! What he did was that he wrote to the US universities stating that « Mr X has met me and he has let me know that he no longer wishes to study in the US ». He just put a letter saying so once the applications sent, and wihout you knowing it! that means many students waited and waited hoping for a response, but nothing happened!!

The strange part about is is that it happened right after the event of 2001 in New york, and most of the sabotaged students were all foreigners, including asian students!

SO WAS EVERYTHING OVER FOR ME?

Well, some students abandoned that school and returned home. I did not choose to but instead, decided to push further. Each day I saw him, I kept asking him what about my application. A few times, he just told me to wait, but I just kept writing to Temple university (in the US) to get some feedbacks; strangely, I got almost no answers. I then decided to apply for further courses to increase my GPA (grades) and seeing me pushing through doors wasn’t to please him!! He as so angry to see me sitting there and taking additional courses because now, he knew I would have greater chances to apply to the US or even , to apply to any universities, including outside their partnership zone (Temple was their partner) or even Unis in canada or Australia. He probably guesses that I was clever enough to go around the obstacles he set on my pathway! So he convoked the staff and ordered them to cancel the classes, which y the way, was undoable as many students were registered already! That person would do anything not to let me go there for some reasons that might seem obvious (If he knew that at this time, I am living in a beautiful place like Canada, he would probably shoot himself in his feet!)

Now, I have no idea what happened but one day, this director (David R.) announced he was leaving his function. He was to be replaced by a new director, but when that happened, I went back to Madagascar for vacation….

When I came back in september, I was asked to meet immediately with this new director. He inquested about what happened and particularly about my intention to study in the US. I said that I still have those intentions and that I never expressed the opposite idea to his predecessor. Seeing me being persuasive enough but also, with all the « strange » parallel cases the former director did to other foreign students, he ended up believing me. It took him so much os willingness to explain this « highly particular » situation to theTemple U admission staff in the US, but he sure was w-aware that something was fishy!

I wanted to advise others: If you are victim of discriminatory acts like I did, never give up as giving up will just make the other person happy! Keep trying, and always keep pushing! In some cases, feel free to talk to other persons who are more open-minded and in an extreme case, do not hesitate to refer the matter to a lawyer and do not forget to bring proofs of what you are stating (signed documents, emails, written contents, etc…)

6 MONTHS LATER…

6 months later, I landed at Philadelphia airport at the end of the summer. I was finally in the United States, and about to start my two-semester program there. If everything goes fine, I will get my BBA degree soon!

The very first days is the US were quite challenging as it took me about 40 days to find a place to stay. During that time, I had to stay in a motel close to the delaware state border and clsoe to the airport, too. My parents were anxious as they knew I was far away and alone in a country that I did not know. On top of that, I wasn’t fluent with english, so exchanging ideas with others or even doing basic tasks like buying bread wasn’t that easy! I remembered 4 or 5 times, when checkin out at counters being looked strangely by cashiers as I did not understand what they said. When I explained to them that my first language was not english, they became suddenly very sensible! This was what I liked the most about Americans as they do understand that you may come from a different cultural background… this kind of understanding is something that you wouldn’t find too much in France.

THE WAY COURSES WERE STRUCTURED IN THE US

The American structure of teaching differs from the French one in many ways. In France, and to some extent, that is true as well for most of continental Europe, classes are being taught using a lot of theories; in other words, in the French system, the theoretical concepts tend to be dominant; the consequence being: one tends to learn concepts ny heart and there are more things to remember. In America however, courses are taught in a more practical way. It is very common in American universities to spend just 3 hours at the University, and spend the rest of the day to work on assignments as well as group projects. When studying in the United States (and later on in Australia as well for my Masters degree), I had to get used to work on group projects, do presentations in front of dozens of students, as well as be able to answer pertinent questions related to a specific topic.

Education in anglo-saxon universities in general are not always about remembering and be able to « spit out » the concepts; it is more about being able to deal with challenges, learn to work with peers coming from various cultural and academic backgrounds. It also teaches you to look beyond, to improvise on questions you may not expect…

Now, was it hard for me to adapt as a Malagasy? Sure it was! Coming from a french education system, I had to cope with reviewing entirely the way I was studying, as from now on, learning and remembering will no longer be that necessary!! In the way Americans as well as Australians (later on) educate their children totally differ from the way us the Malagasy do educate ours. I personally think that learning things by heart as we are so clever to do in Madagascar, is just an inefficient way of learning because first of all, after a few years, chances are that you are going to forget most of the concepts; secondly, learning without understanding a particular idea is just a total nonsense!

APART FROM STUDYING, WHAT DID I ENJOY IN THE UNITED STATES?

I enjoyed Philadelphia, where I spent about semesters! This is surely an old city with its own drawbacks, but it is a city with a soul, a city rich in history because one has to know that it sued to be the former capital of the United States. Apart from « Philly », I had the opportunity to visit the twin cities of Saint-Paul as well as Minneapolis, both located in the northwestern state of Minnesota. Compared to Philly, those twin cities were much more modern and the surrounding environment kind of looked like the environment you would find in some places in Canada.

I also have visited the deep south of the US, in New Orleans, which a few decades ago, was among those southern states known for practicing racial segregation. First, you might be wondering whether I want there alone. Just like I did when I was travelling through Europe a few before, I just booked a flight and an accommodation from a travel agency located inside the premises of Temple University, and went there by myself. When I landed there, I just felt that the environment was quite different indeed from the northern part of America. I do not mean that people were mean or bad, it is just that I felt that « something » out of the ordinary has happened it some time ago. For example, I saw that the frictions between whites and Black Americans were a bit harsher down here than it is in places like Washington DC for example. You also have those « invisible codes » that still seem to exist here, but which have already disappeared or evolved much north. I remembered knocking at the door of a fancy restaurant in downtown New Orleans; a patron opened the door for me and spoke to me very politely by saying that surely, I could have lunch there. But as we moved inside and as I wanted to sit « over there » on the right as to my perception, the left side was a bit crowded, the patron very politely invited me to sit with the other guests on the left side of the room using an argument that the right side is normally open during the evenings only. On the spot, I did not realize that there was a strange connotation to that invitation, but I just agreed and sat with the other guests, most of whom, I precise, were white Americans, or more precisely, white southerners. As I sat, some just nodded politely.

The next day, I have booked a tour to visit a very well-known plantation, called Oak valley. It was on a tour and it was a place surrounded by oak trees. In this sublime villa, there was a very beautiful house, which was owned by ancient plantation owners in the 1800s. Not far from it, one could find renovated houses, in which former slaves used to live.

Even though I was technically an African, my South-eastern asian ancestry (and genes) may have made that experience quite different from, let’s say, a person who might have been of an African descent or someone who ancestors who were ancient slaves. Here, in the southern part of the US, this hurtful past still haunts its victims, but to some extent, the whole American South itself.

A few days later, after this trip in the state of Louisiane, I flew back to Philadelphia to pursue my last semester. I had just a few subjects to take as well as one summer session before being able to finally graduate with my BBA degree. During the spring semester, I have had interesting courses among which the Risk Management course, taught by an American of Italian origin, who knew how to inspire us with his long-lasting passion. I remember doing a project on this particular course and that project that I chose (with my group mates) talked about the financial cost of the very sad and tragic 2001 event, which happened in New York. I have no idea whether it was my non-local perspective which made it interesting, but I managed to hold the breath of the whole assembly during the presentation.

The same semester, a marketing teacher of mine – for some reasons I do not know – has made everything in her power to fail me and some other students in her class. That event just reminded me of what happened to me in France a few years ago with that director who sabotaged my application to apply to Temple U. Being of a tempered and calm personality (that has helped a lot during my life by the way), I just remained calm as I knew that the chances of succeeding would be so low and that in any cases, my failure had nothing to do with the quality of my work. It had a purely discriminatory motive. So…. I just waited that the semester ends and waited that she flies to Norway for her vacations. Once she left, I wrote her an email saying that I was a bit « exhausted » and needed some time off. But in fact, instead of flying off to Madagascar, I just got registered with another lecturer, Craig. A (for the same subject), and got enrolled into the summer session! Now guess what, by exactly providing the same level of effort, the marks I have obtained with this lecturer, Craig. A, were way above Ms. Schau has given to me. That is already some kind of proof that there was clearly some form of « favoritism ». When she actually realized that I « fooled » her (as her colleague, a certain Smith saw me), it was way too late for her to intervene, and despite her effort to persuade Craig. using many arguments, the fact that I have proven to him that I could provide good-quality work, has made Ms Schau arguments totally meaningless!

As you can guess, before the end of the summer session, I passed this subject, which meant that I could now graduate!

I graduate with most of the CEFAM students, most of whom decided not to continue with another BBA degree. The day of my graduation, I can always remember my name being called, but what made me « laugh » was the American guy who had some struggle to pronounce my first as well as my last name, as firstly, it was not an English name, and second, because it was a long and unusual name. But that was fun, I started to get used with it and can fully understand that no one is supposed to be perfect; we just all try to do our best!

As soon as my semesters finished, I spent about 3 additional weeks in Philadelphia to enjoy that place for the last time. During this time, I visited most of my French and African friends – most of whom I’ve considered as family as we spent so much time together here in the US but also there in Europe, and to be entirely truthful I guess most of us did consider each and everyone as a sort of a family member, to some extent.

Fall was about to kick in when I left the United States… I cannot forget that funny incident at Philadelphia airport, where I got issues to board the plane. Having seen that I had no French visa in my Madagascar passport (when transiting through Paris, any nationals from Madagascar do NOT require a visa, unless they plan to stay in France for more than 24 hours; it is being called by the French as « Transit aéroportuaire » or airport transit, which normally does not require any visa at all!), I had to explain this agent that I was just passing through Paris, but will continue my flight to Madagascar four hours later! It took me almost 2 hours to make him understand things that even a 7 year old Malagasy kid would understand! In other words, I missed my plane to Paris just because I had in front of me an Air France staff who did not understand that I had another flight to Madagascar; he kept believing I was to disembark in France.

At the end of the 2 hour conversation, he finally understood but that was too late, I have missed my plane, so they had to disembark my 3 luggages and I had to book for a hotel for another 3 days until another flight to Paris becomes available.

After 3 days, I came back to Philly airport, went queuing at the desk that same agent was actually working. Why is that? In that way, I was to make sure that at least, after this 2 hour « intelligent » dialogue, he would remember the Madagascar guy who plans to transit in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, and who then flies to Madagascar…and guess what, he did remember me well, and that time, he knew for sure that we have already solved the situation last time. But still, I had at least 30 kgs of luggage excess; not astonishing as I have decided to buy many things (including some maple syrup jars from Vermont) and have expected that excess. The same agent obviously let me know about this and I just answered to him: « I have a Miles card so what if I’m using my miles to pay for the excess ». As it is a rule, he just accepted.

The flight to Paris was to take about 8 hours, and as we approached the Western coast of France, I just felt at that moment that America was there, way beyond of what is now this vast Atlantic ocean. I start to realize that I have undertaken something big and have confronted obstacles, challenges in a country that I barely knew. Not only so, I have succeeded to get an education and go till the very end of it in a place I had to learn to speak the language. Yes, I have suffered for some time! sure, I had to explain things to people so that they could understand why I struggled so much with my English! But if you asked me whether this struggle was worth it? I will respond you with a Malagasy proverb « ny valala tsy mandry inin-droa am bavahady », which signifies that it is rare that life gives you a second chance, so if you have one, just go for it!

BACK IN MADAGASCAR

In 2004, I was back in Madagascar after having spent time in France, as well as a bit in the US. Even though I finished and obtained my BBA degree from a US university, I had this feeling that I wanted more and that those few years of overseas experiences weren’t enough, at least for me. I had the chance to settle down there but for some reasons, my spirit went thinking of pursuing a degree elsewhere, but right now, I had no idea on earth where would that be?

The very first months of my stay in Antananarivo were more than an adjustment. I had to learn to get used to the quite conservative mentality and behavior of people in Madagascar. I remember living in the southern suburbs of Tananarive, and even though I had all the comfort that I needed, that place was entirely different from any places I used to stay in France or America. Unlike developed countries, people in this place tended to mingle into your own business and your daily life. There were moments for example you feel observed and envied (that suburb of antananarivo has a high unemployment rate, and also reminds me of some places in South Africa where there was a huge gap between the richest and the poores) and to be entirely honest with you readers, I have ever felt this kind of « strange feelings » during all these years I have spent in France and America, because over there, people have something to fill up their day, and on top of that, they have been raised to respect other’s privacies and life. I understood that I had to put a strategy in place, and that is not a strategy to fight back as changing those types of mentality would almost be impossible, but more a strategy to continue the « study road » elsewhere.

instead of losing my time thinking about the « mentality issues » of some people there, I started to look for post-graduate degrees in places like Germany or the United Kingdom. At that time, my father was working with a UK-based company, which was conducting geological surveys in northern Madagascar. One of the persons there advised me to apply for a university in Nottingham. I constituted the application to both that University and another university in Northern Germany, more precisely, in Bremen.

Now, we all know that university applications take time, knowing that there will be months of waiting time for the application, and other 2 or 3 months waiting time to get a study permit, I decided to do what I never had the courage to do when I was a teenager!! I decided to travel on my own in southern Madagascar, using the most basic mean of transportation ever, the famous « taxi-brousse » or bush taxi! I had not knows it at that moment, but this archaic trip will change the fate of my studies forever!

TRIPS TO SOUTHERN MADAGASCAR

After having spent a few years travelling in Europe and the US, I thought : How is it to travel in a country that is far less developed?

It is an experience that I will probably never forget, but at the same time, this experience has allowed to meet all sorts of people, to get to learn things that I have never knew about my own country! At the same time, it has probably shaped my perception of things and who know…was it thanks to that funny trip that I became more willing to be able to appreciate countries like Australia or Canada?

DEPARTURE TO AUSTRALIA

february 10th, I am standing in front of the desk at the airport to register my luggages. I just realize now that the trip that I have undertaken in the south is now over. I keep shuffling in my head those faces that I have encountered and made this trip so special. I am also remembering those days spent in the bush taxis, travelling in the middle of the night on the National 7 road. I also recall those nice moments spent with the FCE staff, notably the train drivers and ticket controllers, with whom I sympathized with after undertaking so many trips in the South-eastern part of Madagascar.

Now, I’m here again, ready to fly overseas, in a country I have ever been and whose official language is equivalent to what I would define as « my third language », after Malagasy and French, but thinking about my two semesters in the United States would help me reassure myself that I could probably do it.

It is now around 3 PM and I am about to say good bye to my parents. Unlike my very first departure to France many years ago, this trip, I will have to do it all by myself. Indeed, no one is coming with me. After tomorrow, I will be landing in a country that neither my father nor any of my extended family members have had the chance to step foot on.

Now, having hugged my parents and my sister, I crossed the security points, and I remember once I picked my hand luggage from the scanner, I turned by back hoping they were still behind looking from far…but as I looked, they were no longer there…. All I could see was the public area of the airport where they were standing a few minutes ago with people walking back and forth, and this noise that is so particular to airports. At that moment, I realized that I was leaving Madagascar for good.

…

The Air Mauritius plane awaits for us to board. Around 5 PM, the plane takes off the runway and heads to Mauritius, which we reached after 1h35 minutes. When it landed in Ramgoolan Intl. airport, the night has fallen and as we debarked, we had to queue for the immigration as I had to spend one night in Mauritius. The cab that picked me up proposed that he comes back the next day but the next day, I ended up taking the shuttle bus to go back to the airport.

…

That day was a « grand day » as I am going to fly to a totally new place. Over there, I knew no one and am aware that I will have to build my own network of friends once there. If you ask me if I had apprehensions, I would say yes, I did.

Once passed the security point, I was now inside the duty free zone. I looked at the screen to make sure I embark on the right gate. For now, very few people were queuing but despite of that, I couldn’t help myself slowing down and paying attention to those who were there because for the first time, I was to see many Australians in just one place. After 20 minutes or so, many more joined the queue..most were families coming back home after some vacations in Mauritius, others were businessmen probably and the rest were surely Mauritians who were flying to Australia. For sure, I am the only Malagasy boarding this flight bound to Sydney today!

…

After the different procedures, the A340 took off and was heading eastward. It is for the very first time that I have taken off from Mauritius and headed towards that direction. The flight was to last 11 hours but it was a pleasant trip as I had the chance to chat with a Mauritian man who has been living in the UK for years and now, plans to visit his daughter who is studying in New Zealand. He will be just passing through Australia tomorrow before boarding to another plane to Auckland.

…

After the lunch, the night set quickly as the plane is flying eastward. I managed to sleep for a few hours, but at a very moment, I just woke up in the middle of the night. I looked around and everyone was asleep. I raised my eyes to look at the map and noticed that our place was now right over the western coast of Australia, somewhere south of where Perth is. Even though I wasn’t sitting close to the window, I did my best to try to look through one of the windows which was left open by mistake I guess, and I could see some lights stemming from what I would define as a small town; without doubt, I have finally reached the shores of this continent, that I have ever expected to see anytime in my life and I just could not believe I was here. Another 2 hours went on before breakfast was served. Right after that, we almost reached over Adelaide and the plane made his way through probably northern Victoria, Canberra before commencing descent to Sydney. Just 45 minutes before landing, they started to send a video on which I could recognize Steve Irwin, a highly known person in Australia. The video was to warn passengers about the highly strict quarantine laws existing in Australia and informed that any food, products containing for example nuts or meats had to be declared upon entry.

THIS IS AUSTRALIA!!

I will always remember when the Airbus 340 did its final approach to Sydney; it was a quarter to 6 in the morning and we were in the middle of the summer in the southern hemisphere.

From above, I could see the lights from firefighters and those streets, being all parallel the one to the others.

The city of Sydney was now below me and I couldn’t wait to finally discover it, after so many years of wishing that one day, I could see this beautiful country for real!

This was downtown Sydney back then as I first saw it!

One landed in Sydney, I said goodbye to the mauritian guy, while he wished me good muck for my Master degree. After a few minutes, we all disembarked and as I was walking inside the airport corridors to head towards the immigration, I could already perceive this Australian accent hearing airport staff coming the other way.

This is the neighborhood of Quakers Hill, located in Western Sydney. That was were I have lived the very first months of my arrival, in a cottage among other international students. having always lived by myself during my studies in France, sharing a living space with total strangers is going to be a new challenge for me.

As paradoxal as that lay sound to you, this trip that I have undertaken in southern Madagascar – in which I got myself used with constraints and discomfort – will be of a great help for me to cope with this new experience!

The surroundings of Quakers Hill, Western Sydney

It took me a while to get familiarized with this whole new environment, but I have to admit that living in France as well as spending some time in the US has helped me a lot to adapt to this new country. One night, one of my roommate, a guy from the Emirates, had to go to downtown Sydney to visit his friend; He suggested that I accompany him so that he could show me the way to the City as well as getting used with the train system in Sydney. As in any big cities, Sydney is a busy town with lots of restaurants, all sorts of amenities as well as all types of shops. Unlike Paris, Sydney is highly cosmopolitan and is the home of many migrants coming from so many corners of the world!

Here is a video of how Sydney Harbor looks like when I was travelling on the ferry!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbelHdNmFWs

WHAT EDUCATION OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE IN AUSTRALIA? There are many Universities in Australia, but another option consists of studying for shorter courses, which are being offered at TAFE colleges. The link is below:

www.tafensw.edu.au

If you are looking into getting into a Bachelor’s program or a Masters program, you also have the option to apply for those in one of the Australian Universities. You can find the liste right below, otherwise, as I said earlier, you can contact an IDP Office in your country or get in touch with Go Study Australia, https://www.gostudy.com.au, which is an office based in Melbourne, and which advises foreign students about the different study options available to them in Australia!

Here is a video of how Sydney Harbor looks like when I was travelling on the ferry!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbelHdNmFWs

www.tafensw.edu.au

WHAT WERE THE FIRST THINGS I SAW IN AUSTRALIA?

When I first arrived in this country located so far away from any other places I have visites, I was so impressed to see the famous icons of Sydney, which were so known worldwide, and which included the Harbor Bridge, the Opera House, the famous QVB (Queen Victoria Building) among others. Fours months after my arrival in Australia, I have travelled withe. a friend of mine to Canberra, the capital city of Australia, a city which was created because The two giants, Sydney and Melbourne, could not find an agreement which of them would become Australia’s capital; The creation of Canberra was then said to be a « compromise »

#australia #madagascar #studies #france #malagasy #travels #voyages

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All September long,IGN is highlighting the best TV coming your way in the 2019-2020 season. Today, we're checking in with Cody Rhodes and

All Elite Wrestling, a fledgling wrestling promotion with big names behind it that's about to unleash a new weekly show on TNT, premiering Wednesday, October 2. AEW on TNT will feature the likes of Rhodes, Jon Moxley (formerly Dean Ambrose of WWE), Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, newly-crowned AEW Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho, and an exciting exhibition of stars on the rise.

AEW has its work cut out for it. Not that there isn't an intense hunger among fans for an alternative to WWE, which still monopolizes the industry in most regards - but all eyes will be on AEW's product to see if it's truly the fed that can give the giant a run for its mega-money.We spoke to Cody Rhodes - an AEW performer who also serves as one of its founders and Executive Vice Presidents - about the upcoming TV show, AEW's competition with NXT (which will also air on Wednesday nights as of mid-September), and how his promotion intends to stand out from the pack.

RHODES TRIP

AEW will kick things off in Washington D.C. for its October 2 show, then move on to Boston and Philadelphia for the next two tapings. So why the decision to hit the road with the show, instead of staying in one spot? Well, Rhodes could feel the fan fervor all over the country early on. "I think [AEW President] Tony Khan had the same ambition that we had when we envisioned this," Rhodes explained. "When we did All In [the franchise's recent PPV], and even before we did All In, we felt the hunger for this. And it wasn't just in Chicago. Every place we'd visit we'd find this really strong hardcore fanbase who wanted to be part of everything we did. And we wanted them to be part of everything we did. And that was nation-wide, that feeling."

Despite running for two hours each week, not everyone on the roster is going to be featured on each episode. "We're going to try and present quality over quantity," Rhodes said."Which means that some guys are going to have some time off. Which for the life and the well-being of a wrestler is a great thing to hear; that they're not gong to be, every week, putting themselves in a high-profile singles match. That, every week, they're not going to be in a barn-burner tag. It's going to be a very different show each week. We're not going to try and cram everybody on the two-hour show. There's no participation award here."

That being said, Rhodes and others behind AEW are considering an extra hour of content, which more than likely won't be televised. "It will probably live for people to stream on B/R Live," he shared. "We have a lot of resources and we want to make sure that people can plug into the wrestlers who we signed who they're fans of. We're going to try and keep everybody busy."

Check out this exclusive promo for AEW on TNT...

AEW vs. NXT

A few weeks back, WWE announced that its lauded NXT promotion would shift from streaming Wednesdays on the WWE Network to airing on USA Network in mid-September, landing in AEW's time slot before AEW debuts. "We can't pretend that we don't know that's happening," Rhodes said, "but we were always planning our show. And have been for a long while. This isn't a reactionary move on our part. This is what our intentions were. To be on Wednesday nights and to be on a major network with such a great partner like Warner Media and TNT. Our focus is still on providing the best AEW, providing the best alternative. We haven't switched over to 'Well how can we compete?' because we already felt like we had a product that people wanted to see."

He added, "We want to provide bell-to-bell sports-centric pro-wrestling. That's going to mean longer matches. That's going to mean stories being told between the ropes. That means no invisible camera backstage. That's gonna mean more of a live-sports approach to our product. That's 100% what we're doing, so I want to avoid any reactionary elements. I loved the Monday Night Wars, I did. And I'm not trying to be naive and ignore a situation where it's like 'Hey, if this happens, we'll have to play this card,' but I'm just saying I want us to be more about our young and upcoming crop of talent."

"I'll give you a great example: the very first match you're going to see on TNT is myself versus Sammy Guevara. I can't sit here and tell you that Sammy Guevara's got all the potential in the world because it makes him so angry. He's so full of piss and vinegar and genuinely thinks he's the best and that's the type of thing we want to put out there. People like Jurassic Express, which is Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy. People like Sonny Kiss. Kip Sabian. Obviously, my best friend in the whole world too, Maxwell Jacob Friedman. I just want to stick to our word, that we gave fans back at the beginning."

TOO MUCH WRESTLING?

With AEW launching its show, WWE still creating hours and hours of content each week, New Japan available on AXS TV, and ROH (Ring of Honor) in syndication, this Fall features a very crowded wrestling landscape. But Rhodes doesn't see this as a problem at all. "As a wrestling fan you don't have to watch every show," he said. "You only have to watch what you like and who's keeping your attention and who's doing right by you, the wrestling consumer. I know the rising tide affects all ships, but at a certain point, you're going to watch what's better. As one of the biggest wrestling fans in the world though, there can never be too much wrestling for me. I'll give you an example: As a huge Trekkie, I think about that Golden Era of Trek when Next Generation and Deep Space Nine and Voyager were all on and all crossing streams. That was heaven for a Star Trek fan."

Rhodes himself is getting a shot at Chris Jericho's AEW Championship at the Full Gear PPV, coming November 9, but, according to Rhodes, that match might not wind up being as advertised. "This is one of the positive uses of 'card subject to change,'" he said. "I'm coming off a win over Dustin, one of the best of all time, and coming off a win over Shawn Spears, who's an absolute stud. Those were two huge wins. So me going for the title makes all the sense in the world. But it may not end up being me versus Chris Jericho. Because Chris Jericho still has a title defense before that in Philadelphia. And it may not be me if I take a loss to Sammy Guevara on the premiere episode. I think Chris Jericho is probably going to get through his first title defense, but if he doesn't we're going to stick to our word about win/loss records being a deciding factor. It's really about the data and who has the best record."

SO, ABOUT THAT CHAMPIONSHIP...

It was a whirlwind 24 hours. Just days after Chris Jericho became the first-ever AEW Champion at the All Out PPV, the belt went missing. But it's back now, so we've heard. "Yeah," Rhodes laughed, "it's all intact. There's no damage to it, which was my biggest concern because myself and Matt Jackson are the ones who ordered this title - who painstakingly tried to cover as many details as we could because we wanted it to be a really special championship belt. So I was not stoked when I found out it was gone and the mystery will remain a mystery, I suppose, of what happened. Was it grand larceny? Did someone just put it on the roof? We don't know. I'm glad it was found. Stuff happens. Jericho's, like, a 60-year vet and one of the greatest of all time, this isn't his first rodeo. And he did everything he could to get it back. Thankfully it's back in the champion's hands."

With the first AEW Champion in place, the AEW tag team champions to be determined by a tournament, and the first AEW Women's Champion to be crowned on October 2, are there any other championships on the way? "There's a title we're considering," Rhodes stated, "and it's something people can probably guess since we're going to be on TV, hint hint, but there are no plans for it at the moment. Right now we revolve around the AEW Championship and in D.C. we're going to name the first ever AEW Women's Champion, and that's such a beautiful belt. I don't know if people know, up close, that rose gold is layered into it. Brandi, Kenny Omega, and Tony did a great job getting that title. There's going to be some guidelines laid out for whoever wins that title though," he laughed. "Some guidelines about how they're supposed to take care of it."

#all elite wrestling #aew #cody rhodes #chris jericho #sammy guevara #article #posted on: 9.7.19 #ign

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zisurru · 6 years

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my big bad list o’ bartimaeus fanfic recs (updated september 2020)

it’s long so I put it under a cut. [unfinished] means the fic has been apparently abandoned :(

Gen:

On Names, and Becoming Them by me malum: "You have many names," the old crone continued. "Did you know you've gained another?" Bartimaeus, in the centuries after 'Ptolemy's Gate'.

Hair by Kyuunen: Jane Farrar wishes she could lock away the razor and the shaving cream. Lock them away forever.

In the End by Volkie: In a way, she was glad. She would rather die than live in a London controlled by commoners and second-raters.

Ties that Bind by chibideath: Concerning what happens to Kitty Jones and Bartimeaus following the end of Ptolemy's gate. A story about names, hearts, and what comes with being human.

Of Uruk by electrumqueen: Five stories of origin for the djinni known as Bartimaeus of Uruk, as told to Ptolemy of Alexandria over the course of his research. Some of them might even be true.

one day you will go away from this by electrumqueen: Enkidu becomes a real boy; Bartimaeus is dubious about the process. Uruk changes everyone who comes into her walls.

coda by asdfghjkla: a series of unrelated prompts taking place during and after the events of ptolemy's gate. spoilers for everything. mostly kitty and kitty+bart focused.

Of Pentacles, Rocking Chairs, and Presumed Deaths by yonwords: Kitty summons Bartimaeus after the events of Ptolemy's Gate.

Far From Home by Contrarian: Bartimaeus is summoned for the first time after Ptolemy's death.

After Icarus by Bialy: The boy in the pentacle is skinny and pale, and forever twelve years old. He has dark, combed hair, and his black eyes are locked on the thick chalk line at his feet. He is regretting this form. Oneshot, five years after the end of Ptolemy's Gate.

o brother you are not by DrMeh: He's always tried his hardest to forget the difference between cowardice and courage, Nick has.

Semantics by TheAliensDidIt: Detailing the exploits of Bartimaeus of Uruk (i.e. moi), the Serpent of the Silver Plumes, N'gorso the Mighty, the Bane of Magicians, in great battles of wit and cunning... you'd best say your incantations correctly and pray your pentacle has no faults, for if there is one, I will find it.

Untitled by @notaflower whom tumblr won’t let me tag

Untitled by @joons

Stages by @tarragonthedragon: Faquarl's view of Bartimaeus over time changes, and ultimately, stays the same. Their very nature seems to revert them to the status quo of uneasy disdain.

three doors, three souls by @avinryd: “B-” He clears his throat. “Bartimaeus?”(He's not sure where that name came from.)The boy blinks, then shakes his head. “No, my name is Ptolemy.” He looks expectant, as if waiting for a response.And what to respond? Does he have a name? After a moment of thought he decides, yes, he does have a name: Nathaniel. He says as much and Ptolemy smiles.“Hello, Nathaniel,” and it sounds so right and familiar in his voice that Nathaniel aches.

it doesn’t really bear thinking about by @avinryd: "He wonders, vaguely, what might have changed if they’d lived; all three of them against the world. It doesn’t really bear thinking about, but then again, he’ll be dead in moments. Why not spend those dwelling on happier things?"

Cats by @tarragonthedragon: Prompt: Bartimaeus and Queezle being happy. Maybe one of their adventures?

Just One Yesterday by @shadowy-dumbo-octopus: Bartimaeus stumbles upon an old enemy, and sees them in a new light after certain events from the last book.

a song skims over the nile, by dolokhovian: call it the earth turning.

Untitled by @shadowy-dumbo-octopus: Evil Nat AU!

A Road Trip (A Disgusting Human Invention) by @tarragonthedragon: In which a magician, a spirit, and a commoner are crammed into the cramped space of a single Honda Civic and are unable to stop and shout at each other. It's not going to end well.

Bartimaeus/Nathaniel:

Thorn by Maiden of the Moon: Nathaniel was a thorn in Bartimaeus' side. But now that he is dead, now that the thorn is gone, the resulting wound is free to fester and ooze and bleed...

Chaos by Maiden of the Moon: Sometimes, I understand why he hates me.

Distractions by Maiden of the Moon: The djinn flopped backwards, rearranging his puppet's toned body and dark hair in a sexy sprawl on his master's desk. “Why?” the demon pressed, voice husky with suggestion. “Do you find this distracting?”

It’s A Harsh Thing by Existence’s Bane: For each breath taken...

Written Aramaic and Other Tips for Everyday Living by Kyuunen: Somehow, in the thrum of everyday life, the djinni that drives Nathaniel to near insanity is the only thing keeping him sane.

miserable company by BoltAcid: Nine cheesy, mismatched prompts and one familiar, mismatched pair.

warm chromatic by atrophie: bartimaeus is on a desk and annoying nathaniel, as usual.

A Very Fetching Rug by ThePurpleRose: Nathaniel, you have a very feching rug in your hall." Bartimaeus plans to bring out the Nathaniel out of John Mandrake. Involves necklaces, guilt trips, soaps, coat stands and rugs.

As We Dream by the Fire by Wit Unraveled: Time progresses and turns to evolution; seasons decay into change. Magician boys do both. - In honor of the season; there's just something about all this snow.

Untitled by @chokopoppo

Untitled Part 1 Part 2 by @princefado

no dose of emotional chemotherapy (can halt my pathetic decline) by @singacrossthemoon: For all of his sarcasm, all of his acerbic wit, Bartimaeus could not, for the life of him, remember the last time anyone had treated him with anything less than nauseating kindness, never mind such immediate, obvious distain. I think, he realized in a rush, that I am in love.

love is colder than death by izzybusiness: Bartimaeus first meets Nathaniel at eight-thirty on a Monday morning. It’s not the most auspicious of meetings. Then again, when you’ve taken a job as a barista with the sole purpose of poisoning someone’s drink, he supposes that any sort of meeting is favourable to its end.

love is colder than death au fics by @singacrossthemoon [Series]

one for the money (two for the pain) by @singacrossthemoon: Or: Five times someone asks about John Mandrake, and one time Bartimaeus talks about Nathaniel. [Content warning: sexual assault]

fire and air by @transarty: Nathaniel wants to see Bartimaeus' true form - but what could he possibly expect? Bartimaeus delights and frights over this. / light bartnat and headcanon on bart's shape, feelings and a little mush

Bartimaeus/Kitty:

Autumn Leaves and the Endless Fall by otherworldviolet: Kitty dies. This is about what happens next. [Unfinished] [Content warning: brief mention of sexual assault in Chapter 3]

Of Fire and Roses by Anti-Logic: But this was different. That place had been all gentle waves and currents, always intermingling and flowing. This was a world of fire and roses. [Unfinished]

Of Auras and Oracles by conception.creation: The trilogy is complete, but Bartimaeus’ adventures are far from over. When a prominent politician goes missing, Kitty and Bartimaeus must find him, but who is behind the mysterious attacks on Kitty’s life?

Monomyth by conception.creation: Nouda didn’t die in the Glass Palace explosion. Now Kitty must rely on her wits to survive in a post-apocalyptic London overrun with enemy spirits.

The Haunting by conception.creation: A rebel turned demon hunter treks across the world in pursuit of escaped hybrids. Now she must track down a spirit with a mysterious agenda, and nothing is as it seems.

Restless Spirit by conception.creation: Quick thinking saves Kitty from assassination – unfortunately, she’s now without a body. Can she solve her own murder in time to stop a massive conspiracy threatening Britain itself?

Panache by conception.creation: When Bartimaeus' master sends him out to win him the hand of a beautiful commoner, he doesn't expect the djinni to fall for her himself. Based on the play Cyrano de Bergerac.

That Awful Rush To Say Goodbye by cacophonyGilded: Hope is what kills you. Kitty knows that. Bartimaeus, somehow, is still learning.

children of dust and ash by callunavulgari: Kitty summons Bartimaeus on a chilly fall day in her thirty-eighth year. Her children are at school. There is no husband. She is alone in the house, save for a fat persian who slumbers happily on a cushion in the window seat downstairs. The persian, she knows, will not wake before noon.The words are familiar to her, and she does not stumble over them. Smoke billows into the room, as expected, but instead of a creeping sulfurous stench, there is the faint smell of sandalwood and wet earth. When the smoke clears, Bartimaeus is there.

the way to the graveyard by @singacrossthemoon: Djinn are beings of fire, Kitty realizes anew; they leave naught but ash in their wake.

Bartimaeus/Kitty/Nathaniel:

stars are projectors by asdfghjkla: Someone is kissing her. She is not sure which one he is.

Entertainment by princefado: In which Kitty and Bartimaeus double team Nathaniel. In a skirt. Gratuitous smut.

the root of the root by @singacrossthemoon: The pyre burns with the misery of passion. She does not try to stop it.

Bartimaeus/Kitty/Ptolemy:

this isn’t our first time around by nighimpossible: It seems that the spirit she thought was dead and gone isn’t so dead after all. Kitty could spit she’s so furious.“This is about the worst way you could tell me you’re alive, Bartimaeus,” Kitty grits through her teeth. Her fingers curl against the countertop, nails nearly cutting into the wood.The man gives her a confused look. “Sorry,” he says carefully. “I think you’re mistaking me for someone else.”

Kitty/Nathaniel:

The Matchmaker by conception.creation: Eight lousy, stinking months have gone by and Nathaniel still refuses to let him go home. Bartimaeus gets creative.

Bartimaeus/Ptolemy:

Eyeliner by Chokopoppo: Generally, I’m known for my keen eye and my acute knowledge of universal human culture. There are few others, even among humans themselves, who so completely understand the workings of their past, present, and inevitably future, as I do. Few things are beyond my scope of great knowledge.This, apparently, was one of those things.

Coffee by Chokopoppo: He would follow the boy to the ends of the earth in every cycle of time, if he could.So he does.

Choices by Chokopoppo: He needs flight, he needs home, he needs the stars and dark eyes and shifting essence and warm skin and vast great oneness and a gentle fragile voice calling his name but he cannot have both the Other Place and Ptolemy and the universe has made his choice for him.

As Far As Adventures Go, It Was Pretty Okay by jonesandashes: Judge not - developing a proper threat rapport does not happen in a day. We got better.

drives you crazy getting old by electrumqueen

and we talk of things that matter, in words that must be said by @lupevensies

Lullaby by @shadowy-dumbo-octopus: In which Ptolemy refuses to sleep because who needs sleep when there's research to be done? This forces Bartimaeus to try and get him into bed before the poor kid burns himself out. Short and fluffy.

Bartimaeus/Queezle:

Battlecry by The Sad Privateer: "You are either a genius, or the luckiest idiot on the planet," she remarks to him one day. "And I'm leaning towards the latter."

Bartimaeus/Faquarl:

Hold Your Colour by otherworldviolet: Faquarl comes to Bartimaeus with a proposition. Set during Ring of Solomon.

A Mirror Darkly by badpriestess: Two entities so alike yet so crucially different can't help but clash, but in the end they always come back to each other.

Anger Was Good by @lupevensies

Eeeuuuggghjjjjj by meanfrogs: Bart and Faq con non suspecting people into buying terrible copper in some market stall in Ur. They hate each other and also kiss, hell yeah

Faquarl/Jabor:

Why you should never cut your fingernails in the kitchen by JTJonah: So Jabor and Faquarl are discussing ways to ruin Lovelace (as per usual) and then - you know what, we all know what you came here for, they swive okay they swive and that's all we're here for, I hope you're all goddamned happy with the results.

Indoor Voices by JTJonah: So they had just broken into a tomb in the middle of nowhere.

Khaba/Ammet:

The Master's Shadow by badpriestess: Khaba has been inadvertently cruel, and Ammet's dissatisfaction comes to a head.

Untitled by @madanach

More Thank Your Shadow by bluebeholder

Multiple ships:

Just Hold Me Close by Chokopoppo: A series of reincarnation romance AUs, set within the writing constraints of the Songfic Challenge from the early 2000s.

quiescency by @singacrossthemoon: “What a beautiful portrait,” the teenager gasps, his admiration genuine. “Is it of me?” The boy pauses, reconsidering the picture. It is yet unfinished. He cannot recall when he started it. “No,” he says at length.

#if your fic is on this list and you don't want it there just message me i'll take it off #fanfic #bartseq

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fromwinnipeg2everywhere · 3 years

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Pandemic Travel to the Rockies

I naively thought that by the summer of 2020, the pandemic would be over and by fall we’d be travelling again, but when our November flight to Spain and Turkey got cancelled by Air Canada mid-July, reality started to set in. We were given the opportunity to rebook later, but we decided that for 2020, we will travel locally. We have always wanted to travel to the Rockies, but we kept on putting it off, so with five weeks of vacation to use and nowhere to go, we decided that we will drive to Alberta from Winnipeg for two weeks in September of 2020.

The first two days of the trip was spent driving to Calgary. We refused to drive the full 14 hours straight so we spent a night in Regina, so what would have been a two-hour flight became a 36-hour road trip. The hotel in Regina was one of many hotels we stayed at for this trip. We compared our hotel stays to when the trio in Harry Potter had to move from campsite to campsite in book 7, and every time they would move campsites, they would set up protective spells around them. We basically did the same because every hotel we went to, we whipped out our big container of Lysol wipes and wiped everything down, from the door handles, to light switches to all the surfaces we would potentially touch. If I’m being honest, I would say I resented having to do all that, but it was necessary for our peace of mind. Some people would probably say, well, maybe, you shouldn’t have been travelling at all in the first place, but I felt like we did our due diligence and taken measures to protect ourselves (i.e. driving and not flying, travelling in the off season, wiping everything down, wearing masks, not eating in restaurants, staying away from people, etc.). As selfish as it may sound, it was important for us to travel, and at the time, the cases were still low, the variants were not a thing, and I would decide the same thing 100x over if I had to do all over again.

We spent the first couple of days in Calgary visiting with my brother before driving out to the Rockies. It was nice seeing my brother and his family. I know we only live 14 hours apart, but we rarely see each other. I think one of the silver linings of this pandemic was that I got to visit them and stay with them for a few days. Our first stop after Calgary was Lake Louise. We spent our first night in Lake Louise at the iconic Fairmont, with a room overlooking the lake. Did we overpay for the hotel? Probably. Was it worth it? I would say that for that price, I’ve had better experiences elsewhere. We were supposed to stay there two nights, our first and last day at Lake Louise, but after the first night, we decided to cancel the second night and just drive out to Jasper a day early. The hotel itself is what you would expect a Fairmont to be, but for $500 a night, I really expected a little bit more than just the view of the lake from my window. The room was standard, the pool was very disappointing and the breakfast at the restaurant was ordinary. We did get a free canoeing voucher, but there were forest fires at the time so we weren’t even allowed to canoe the full hour on the voucher. There were definitely benefits to staying at the Fairmont, for example, not having to fight for a parking spot, being close to the trail head for the Big Beehive, and just having access to Lake Louise first thing in the morning and at sunset. It really was too bad that it was hazy the entire time we were there, so no decent photos were to be had.

After our night at The Fairmont, we stayed a couple of nights at Mountaineers Lodge located at the Lake Louise town. It was reasonably priced and a perfect place to get to everywhere you might want to go in the area. There was not much to do in the town of Lake Louise. There were a couple of delis where you can order takeout, but after dark, everything shuts down and there’s nothing to do. We didn’t see a lot of wildlife around either, which I was very surprised by. Here is a list of things we did and places we went while staying at Lake Louise:

1. Hiking – we hiked the Fairview Lookout, Lake Agnes, Big Beehive and Johnston Canyon. For Johnston Canyon, we booked breakfast at the Blackswift Bistro and this allowed us to drive all the way to the trailhead. If you don’t have a reservation, you have to walk an extra 10km before you even get to the trailhead because the highway leading up to it is closed to traffic, so a $30 breakfast is worth the price, I think. We struggled with Lake Agnes and Big Beehive, but the views are rewarding, even with the smoke and haze. We were not in shape, but it is doable, if you take your time.

2. Moraine Lake – staying at Lake Louise allowed us to get to Moraine Lake in the early hours and not worry about the parking lot being full. Even in the off season and on a weekday, the parking lot fills up by 7:30AM. We were able to get here early in the morning to catch sunrise, and late in the evening to take milky way photos. It is really jarring to be here when it’s pitch dark, and I kept imagining running into bears, but for the entire trip, we actually only saw one bear, and that is on the road on the way to Moraine Lake at dawn. We didn’t get to do any hikes because the hikes required at least four people, but after Lake Agnes and Big Beehive, this suited me just fine.

3. Morant’s Curve – a short drive from Lake Louise town, Morant’s Curve is a scenic little lookout with the mountains in the background and the railroad track in the foreground. If you’re lucky (or you’re patient), you can catch a train passing by.

4. Yoho National Park – about an hour drive away from Lake Louise town, Yoho National Park is actually already in British Columbia. The highlights of Yoho National Park include the Natural Bridge, Emerald Lake, Meeting of the Waters viewpoint and Takkakaw Falls. Takkakaw Falls wasn’t particularly wide, but it was tall (taller than Niagara!). We climbed as high as we can without getting too wet or slipping on the wet rocks.

After three nights in Lake Louise, we drove to Jasper. The drive to Jasper was an adventure filled day. There were so many stops on the Icefields Parkway that it took us 8 hours to get to Jasper from Lake Louise. The town of Jasper was bigger than Lake Louise. There were actual restaurants and breweries where you can dine in. There are many hiking trails and it was hard to pick which ones to do when you only have three nights. We stayed at Maligne Lodge. It was the cheapest place that we can find at Jasper and I probably will not stay here again. The room had that typical motel chemical smell, and the only way I got rid of it was to have the windows open the entire time we were there. I did like that we had our own entrance and we can park the car right in front of the door, so we didn’t have to drag our luggage far. There were a lot more wildlife sightings in Jasper. We saw elk, goats, deer, but still no bears. Here are the Jasper highlights:

1. Icefields Parkway – from Lake Louise, our first stop was Herbert Lake. We got there just as the sun was rising and there was a mist on the lake. Next stop was Bow Lake. This place looked like a postcard with the lake and the mountains and glaciers surrounding it. Next was Mistaya Canyon, just a short hike of Highway 1 and worth the quick stop. We then went for a quick stop at the Toe of the Athabasca Glacier. It was also a short walk from the highway, but the temperature difference between the parking lot and closer to the glacier was noticeable. It was also sad to see the markers where that toe had been (much closer to the highway) and sad to think what that glacier will be like in the next few years as humans cause irreversible damage to Earth. Our next stop was Tangle Falls, another quick stop just off the highway and we climbed to the very top of the falls. The parking is on the opposite side of the falls so just be careful crossing the street. We then stopped at Rocky Mountain Lodge for a quick lunch (and a quick nap) before continuing onto Sunwapta Falls. Most people stayed to view just the Upper Falls, but we hiked the 1.8 KM to the Lower Falls. It was a nice, short hike in the woods, but the Lower Falls themselves were not as nice as the Upper Falls. Our last stop on the Icefields Parkway was Athabasca Falls. This is another short walk from the parking lot, and it would have been a nice place to take milky way photos had the skies been clear.

2. Hiking – we hiked Maligne Canyon, Medicine Lake, Pyramid Island, Annette Lake and Valley of Five Lakes. Valley of Five Lakes was my favourite. It was a short 4.8KM loop and you’re rewarded with views of five turquoise lakes. We started out early and there was barely anyone in the parking lot, but by the time we left before lunchtime, the lot was full.

3. Jasper Sky tram – this experience was equal parts amazing and disappointing. It was amazing because the views at the top are breathtaking. We hiked up to Whistler’s Summit and our breaths were literally gone by the time we got up there, both from the views and the struggle to hike to the summit. The climb up was steep and challenging, but the climb down was equally as harrowing. It was disappointing because at the bottom, they promised social distancing while riding the tram, and on the way up, it wasn’t bad. It was still crowded, and people were definitely not 6-feet apart, but it was a 5-minute tram-ride so it is one of those calculated risks we took. On the way down was another story. They herded you into these waiting rooms where everyone is squeezed in like sardines, and the tram occupancy limits that they enforced on the way up is thrown out the window on the way down. If we had gotten sick from Covid from this trip, it would have been because of this experience. The fee is $52 per person and they encourage you to book in advance. We walked up and had to wait an hour before we could get on the tram.

We enjoyed our time in Jasper, but all good things always come to an end sooner than you’d hope. After spending three nights in Jasper, we left early in the morning and drove to Banff. The drive back on the Icefields Parkway was like night and day difference. The smoke was gone by this time, and in the three days that we spent in Jasper, the leaves along the Parkway started to turn colours! Icefields Parkway was lined with trees with varying shades of yellow and I could have driven here all day. Instead of driving straight down Highway 1, we took the Bow Valley Parkway (Highway 1A) when we got to Lake Louise. The drive was slower but more scenic than Highway 1. We stayed at the Ptarmigan Inn in Banff. This was our favourite hotel out of the five that we stayed at. The room was big, it had a nice balcony, lots of storage place, and free breakfast to boot, and all this considering it was the cheapest out of all the hotels in the Rockies. With it being off season, and with Covid, the restaurants in Banff closed early. Like Jasper, you had to wear a mask in the town proper, even when outside. We only spent two nights in Banff and wish we could have stayed longer. We spent an evening watching the stars at Two Jack Lake. We did a short hike on Tunnel Mountain. We had a yummy lunch at Park Distillery. We went shopping, and just spent our last days in the Rockies relaxing.

After the Rockies, we drove back to Calgary and spent a few more nights with my brother before driving back to Winnipeg. It’s funny because it took a pandemic for me to see the Rockies. I’ve lived in Canada for three decades, and although I’ve been to Calgary a couple of times, we never really ventured any farther west than Banff. Later this month, we are heading to Vancouver and to Banff again, another Canadian trip, before international travel opens up again. Worse comes to worst, if we get locked down again later this year, then maybe it’s time to venture out west. I hear Quebec and the Maritimes are nice.

#travel #vacation #canadian rockies #canada #jasper #banff #lake louise #moraine lake #alberta #roadtrip

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