#i mean there's a whole lot of guys in there. the whole 7th division

[thousand-winters]

“Perhaps Reigen-sensei has a more important duty to fulfill,” pipes up the tallest one again.

“Oh, now that is bullshit,” Tome blurts out without meaning to, ironically making all their eyes settle on her like she was dreading earlier, but now too riled up to care. “I know Reigen made,” she makes a gesture to indicate the entirety of the office, “this business and all, but what do you think that we do? Fend off apocalyptic threats every other tuesday?”

 Or: The 7th division espers find out Reigen has no powers.

#presented without comment #reigen arataka #serizawa katsuya #kurata tome #mp100 #mob psycho 100 #i mean there's a whole lot of guys in there. the whole 7th division #but they don't talk THAT much just yet so it feels like cheating to tag them #okay not all of them. some of them are fucking dead. but the cool ones /j #my writing

[marbleboa]

I'd like to write a little something something sakuyama but I cannot for the life of me decide which relationship scenario is best for them. Keeping relationship secret from claw? Koyama not caring to talk abt it but Sakurai HATES him to bc he doesn't mix personal with professional life? Actually hooking up after Claw disbanded? Been an item for several years and nobody knew?? I think every idea got its potential but I can't decide. What's your personal hc for em?

Right? There's so many possibilities--but that's the fun part about hc stuff like this, you don't necessarily have to stick to one idea for everything you make! We don't get much about the Scars' histories with the organization and each other prior to Season 1, plus the unknown happenings between seasons. It's always very fun to see the different interpretations people have and how they compare/contrast.

In regards to my own thoughts, I actually had been typing up a draft on ideas for the way their relationship develops over the course of the series so. Perfect timing. Hope you find these helpful!

Claw Era: Rivalry+mutual attraction turns into what's meant to be a solely physical relationship to let off steam. Despite their best efforts, something akin to affection starts to develop deep down--expressed subtly, of course(like this). Koyama doesn't give a damn about secrecy but Sakurai makes him keep quiet, more so out of his own pride than any fear of repercussions. For Claw, the vibe I got is that HQ doesn't care about the Scars as long as they do their jobs(getting each other injured would affect) so even if the matter somehow reached them they don't really care. Some of the other Scars know something's up but, well, those two are a dangerous pair--as long as they aren't killing each other, best not get involved.

Post-Fall of 7th Division: Sakurai still insists on getting involved in Koyama’s business even though he really has no obligation to with the organization gone. To his own denial and both of their irritation, Sakurai's grown to care about what happens to him. It’s because of his influence that Koyama joins the other former Scars despite 1. not being there for Reigen’s speech and 2. Being a stubborn asshole. On Koyama's end, Sakurai’s become a pretty big weakness of his. He still doesn't trust the others, doesn't trust this weird Reigen guy they've called in who's apparently a big deal, but he trusts Sakurai. Also if he behaves he gets to make out with a hot guy, so. Win.

Post-WD Arc: Sakurai lets Koyama live with him under the convenient excuse of sharing rent and giving a fellow ex-Scar some help while he finds work--but he needs Koyama just as much as Koyama needs him. With Claw gone there's no way back, and having someone at his side while he faces rejoining society is a mortifying yet undeniable comfort. For Koyama, he has a lot of doubt about the whole 'becoming a commoner' thing and starts off feeling aimless, but Sakurai ends up give him direction. Granted, that often comes in the form of his own concerns about Koyama's capacity for change inciting this weird kind of...positive spite. He wants to prove Sakurai wrong, prove himself to him, it's like their former rivalry but more constructive. This leads into them working with each other again, and they learn to settle into a more domestic life.

As a sort-of aside, I really like the idea of their relationship being built upon things unsaid—it’s not a conventional romance by any means. They bicker like an old married couple, are attached at the hip, clearly are the most important thing in the world to each other, but then look at you like you’ve got two heads if you ask if they’re dating.

God I don’t even know when they’d get around to bringing out the L word. Sakurai has so many hangups about his capacity to love/be loved from his upbringing—hearing something so overt might make him panic and try to withdraw if it isn’t done carefully. And Koyama, for all his growth at this point, still isn’t really in touch with his emotions enough that he’d be able to have those sort of deeper conversations easily. But it doesn’t mean the emotions aren’t there, you know? And in the end they’re happy with how they are, with taking anything the other is willing to give.

#thank you for the ask and best of luck with your writing!!! #sakuyama #sakurai yusuke #koyama megumu #asks #fishy-octopus

[espectres]

CHARACTER INFO SHEET.

NAME: Suzuki Shou. 鈴木将。

NAME MEANING: 鈴 ; bell. 木 ; tree/wood. 将 ; leader/highest commander. 

ALIAS: Leader; given to him by his lackeys, pronounced in english, in katakana. 

ETHNICITY: mixed white/asian (japanese.).

THREE HEADCANONS YOU’VE NEVER TOLD ANYONE:

☆ > Shou took out an entire Claw division not long before the 7th division was destroyed, the details are interesting. 

☆ > Shou, for the most part, has a good head on his shoulders, he can figure out difficult situations, he can't be tricked with ease, he can keep his cool and his mind gearing through stress. But he is also quite the forgetful person, and has troubles concentrating and a tendency of zoning out when his guard is down. It's a mix between his nature and the effects of insomnia. Cue to education problems. 

☆ > This one is a little less personal, but Shou starts school after the first winter break after Claw is disbanded, a couple months before the events of confession arc. It sits things nicely in my brain I hope you can see my vision. 

THREE THINGS YOUR CHARACTER LIKES DOING IN THEIR FREE TIME:

Taking care of his hamsters, sketching whenever he has the chance, and after Claw gets disbanded he gets a severe case of wanderlust. He didn't have a lot of free time, back then. Despite traveling a lot, it was all for organization purposes, so it's no wonder he wants to explore a lot of places on his own, without anyone bossing him around.

SIX PEOPLE YOUR CHARACTER LIKES/LOVES:

♡ > Toichiro: that's his father, yes he might have been a neglectful, abusive and downright terrible father, but between the monster and the self-proclaimed world dominator and terrorist boss- he was family and good, at some point, and even now he's working to change and become better. And Shou loved him, still loves him, despite everything. ( yes, love can exist in an abusive relationship, no, it doesn't make the abuse any less terrible. )

♡ > Natsumi: Shou's mother! Although their relationship got strained by years of estrangement and lies, Shou recognizes how much his mother is trying to mend and do her best for his sake, and she really is trying her best, dealing with the aftermath of Claw and all the legal issues and stress while beginning to truly know who her son is and love him fully, powers and complicated past and difficult traits all together. 

♡ > Fukuda: Shou's "babysitter" ever since he was 10 going 11, he took care of Shou throughout some of the most difficult times of his days in Claw, healing his injuries and keeping him company and looking after his health when Shou's father was away traveling and his mother was nowhere to be found. Even trying to teach him whatever education he missed ( despite eventually giving up ). Shou & Fukuda share a very strong bond, but there are times when their personalities clash and their differences get between establishing something unbreakable.

♡ > Higashio: The last addition to Shou's resistance team. Despite not having been around since long, his collected attitude and absent-minded wisdom made him so much of a teacher to Shou, with the lessons being on life in general and a whole lot of street smarts and high culture. Higashio may not have been the strongest psychic out there, but he has Shou impressed more often than not with the simplest of things.

♡ > Ritsu: RITSU !!! Shou's first friend, Shou's best friend, his ride or die, his person his special guy!!!!!!! What they have is beyond your comprehension.

♡ > Ootsuki: First assigned as a bodyguard slash "attack dog" for Shou by his father, the two didn't get along so well at the beginning, with how Ootsuki's time at Claw was especially difficult and all the resentment he held to the Suzuki name. Eventually, Ootsuki began to see Shou for his own admirable person and not just a spawn of the Claw boss. And being the youngest in Shou's resistance team, they understood each other best, made a pretty strong and well coordinated duo in fights, too. 

TWO THINGS YOUR CHARACTER REGRETS:

> Not having acted sooner before his father's plan started.

> Acting against his father ... to begin with. Shou would never admit that to anyone ( sometimes not even himself ), but there are times when he sees himself and others he cared for struggling to live after Claw is done, and it all comes down to him and his resistance.

TWO PHOBIAS YOUR CHARACTER HAS: 

Agoraphobia ( trapped; helpless; panicked; embarrassed; scared. ) , Pyrophobia ( fire/burns ). 

#Shou's given name literally meaning leader vs his men actually calling him that for a meaningful worthy reason...... #hi welcome to more nonsense with peach. i love making shit up for shou. wth. #ショウ ; i realized that youth is grey. / headcanon. #ショウ ; attack is the best defense! / dash games.

[papirouge]

Not sure what anon calling your racial slur has to do with anything but your whole argument is sending links from biased news sources and using caps lock. It’s travel with my wife yearly to Israel and her family does occasionally as well but we could not this year because of what happened. You’re entitled to your opinion and I could send you links from other biased news sources arguing the opposite of what you’re saying. I was trying to have a discussion with a person not a propaganda machine. I have my biases as well.

By that I mean that I am sickened by the casualties on both sides and while you blame whoever it is you want to blame I blame Hamas. The state I live in sends immense support to Israel and overall we don’t tolerate extremism here and the city is nice compared to places flooded with slacktivists. Some of us are just upset the protests are harmful to both Muslims and Jewish people. I worry about the antisemitism and the type of Islamaphobia we saw happen after 9/11.

The protests and the online wars are not helping bring Palestine and Israel closer to peace. It is causing division and hate. The ceasefire did not happen because of everyone spray painting swastikas and vandalizing the White House. It happened for an amount of time because Hamas was releasing some hostages. I truly hope for peace and I believe Israel has a right to seek justice for what happened.

I’ve seen footage from both the bombings in Gaza and October 7th and what I would say is it’s going to get worse before it gets better. America will continue to be a strong ally to Israel like it has in the past. Idk how you do it in France and I get that there’s a lot hate for Americans but I do love the country that I live in and the freedoms I have here. 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 🇵🇸. This is what I want. Peace and understanding for everyone. Your slacktivism isn’t going to change a goddamn thing no matter how many links you copy and paste. The people who really make changes don’t care about likes and reblogs.

First of all : miss me with your unasked for lecture about my typing style OR MY USE OF CAPS, THANK YOU. That's MY BLOG and I DO AND TYPE HOW THE HECK I WANT💜 You already walk on thin ice here so you better watch your tone. I'm not your friend and you're just lucky I chose to entertain your annoying presence on MY space.

Now. Here's the thing anon : there's no unbiased media source. EVERY media has a director of publication AND a financier who pretty much has the last say on the 'orientation' of that media. People like you pulling out the "unbiased" source card come off very unaware of how journalism work. If the same information is shared in several publications from a various of countries and political spectrum, blaming the information at hand as being "biased" is ridiculous. But hey, weren't Israeli officials saying the UN and Amnesty International was the pro Hamas ? 💀Just say you're mad at this information and go.

I mean, it's extremely revealing you're like "no matter how many link your copy paste" because it shows 1) you're not interested in educating yourself (and it shows) 2) you don't even value information for what it is. Those are just "copy past links" which ultimately explains why your takes are so stupid and uneducated. I wouldn't be surprised you're American bc you guys often have that wicked mix of arrogance and sheer stupidity.

Also a question : are you White? Because the way you use "slacktivism" shows you don't know the slightest what it actually means and think. I'm asking bc like you, Whites haven't shut up about woke so I ended up with the conclusion they just love hopping on internet slang and rehashing it left & right without grasping their actual meaning ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Here's a clue : you realize that people talking shit on the internet..... don't necessary claim the "activist" title right? Do you realize that Palestinians THEMSELVES ask us to TALK about Palestine, and that unlike entitled brats like you thinking they can lecture anyone about how they should correctly support Palestine cause, are just grateful we keep talking about them? So why should I acknowledge your opinion? You're not a Palestinian. You are foreign to the equation at hand. Shut up.

"the protest and online wars aren't bringing Palestine and Israel closer to peace" .....but bombing Gaza will? Are you out of your mind? Do you realize you're literally breeding a new gen of radicalized kids who will hate Israel for wiping off 95% of their lineage? On what multiverse are you living??

Slacktivism doesn't kill people and yet you're more mad at it than the actual bomb killing civilians... Insanity.

And protest do work ; there's been a ceasefire. (Not because of sprayed swastikas). Funny how you act like it didn't happen. I thought you wanted peace; as a "peace lover", I think you'd be more appreciative of that🙃

And TBH we in France we ain't checking for America like that. I know you guys have a weird main character syndrome but the USA definitely aren't on french people's mind like that. I know you guys aren't the brightest bulb of the building but we have our own continent (Europe) to deal with first (which is a lot).

Conclusion : the people who really want changes aren't there submitting stupid anons on a rando inbox. You want peace through war? Enroll into Tsahal or shut up forever. People like you thinking war will ultimately fix things while not be on the frontline of that ✨peacemaking war✨ disgust me.

Yall told yourselves the same lie for decades already and it didn't work. Do you know how are called people doing the same thing while thinking the result will end up different? : CRAZIES.

PS/ learn to read: me bringing up like & reblog was about the person saying nobody was reading my lengthy response posts.

#answered

[thecollegefootballguy]

2021 G5 Coaching Power Rankings

Yeah yeah I know, it’s mean and unfair to only do a G5 ranking while doing each P5 conference. But also nobody cares about the 7th best coach in C-USA so we’re sticking with the highlights here.

Let’s see where each man stands.

Check out last year’s rankings here.

-

There was an enormous amount of upheaval in the rankings between this year and last. Several coaches in the top ten from 2019 left their positions, and not all of the moves were voluntary. Lance Leipold, ranked 10th last season, improved once more in 2020 and was poached by Kansas. Losing the #10 team won’t destabilize the rankings much, but 3 of the top 5 coaches also left their jobs. #1 ranked Bryan Harsin was hired by Auburn to replace Gus Malzahn. Poor Frank Solich (#2) was forced to retire to focus on his health. I wish him the best. In a head-scratcher, Doc Holiday (#5) was basically fired by Marshall after the Thundering Herd failed to renew his contract.

A lot can change in a year. There’s a whole new crop of top coaches is coming up in the G5, let’s see where they rate. Oh yeah, and the non-Notre Dame football independents are included here just so they can get some representation.

-

10. Kalani Sitake

Record at BYU: 38-26

Movement: N/A

BYU surged back to life with an 11-1 campaign in 2020. Replacing Zach Wilson won’t be easy, but Sitake seems to have the Cougars conforming to the blueprint.

-

9. Jason Candle

Record at Toledo: 38-21 Division Championships: 1 (2017) Conference Championships: 1 (2017)

Movement: N/A

Jason Candle jumps into the top ten with another solid season at Toledo. The Rockets are one of the few consistently good programs in the MAC and it’s thanks to coaches like Candle who keep the winning culture rolling year over year.

-

8.  Rick Stockstill

Record at Middle Tennessee: 94-92 Division Championships: 1 (2018) Conference Championships: 1 (2006)

Movement: Same

Three coaches ahead of him in the rankings left but Rick Stockstill didn’t move up in the rankings. That tells you something. Middle Tennessee has looked a bit shaky of late and it has fans concerned. Stockstill built a consistent winner in Murfreesboro, but it hasn’t won the last two years.

-

7. Jeff Monken

Record at Army: 49-39 Overall Record: 87-55

Movement: N/A

Jeff Monken built a successful winner at Army. That’s all you need to say.

-

6. Troy Calhoun

Record at Air Force: 101-72 Division Championships: 1 (2015)

Movement: Up 3 spots

Air Force didn’t play all that much in 2020 so it’s hard to tell what was going on with the program. Calhoun is a reliable coach so he stays firmly in the rankings.

-

5. Luke Fickell

Record at Cincinnati: 35-14 Division Championships: 2 (2019, 2020) Conference Championships: 1 (2020)

Movement: N/A

All of the sudden Cincinnati is looking like the next “it” G5 team. UCF and Houston felt that way at different times, now the Bearcats are the ones with the G5 belt on their shoulders. Fickell has completely rebuilt the program into a war machine, he’s gotta be the hottest new hire if the right job opens up.

-

4. Chuck Martin

Record at Miami OH: 32-46 Overall Record: 106-53 Division Championships: 2 (2016, 2019) Conference Championships: 1 (2019)

Movement: N/A

I honestly have no idea with this guy. Sometimes it has felt like Miami has lucked into a few division championships, but Martin has them consistent enough to be in the hunt usually which counts for something.

-

3. Ken Niumatalolo

Record at Navy: 101-67 Division Championships: 3 (2015, 2016, 2019)

Movement: Up 1 spot

Navy really wasn’t all that good in 2020 but that only does so much to dampen Ken Niumatalolo’s overall accomplishments in Annapolis. They were great in 2019 and it stands to reason that they’ll rebound soon. Niumatalolo is a steady presence as one of the most accomplished G5 coaches.

-

2. Skip Holtz

Record at Louisiana Tech: 61-41 Record Overall: 149-122 Division Championships: 3 (2014, 2016, 2019)

Movement: Up 1 spot

It’s only right that Skip Holtz take over Frank Solich’s spot in the #2 slot. Holtz is starting to look like a G5 lifer, doing a pretty good job at a solid program with a good chance to win the division most years.

-

1. Bill Clark

Record at UAB: 40-22 Overall Record: 51-26 Division Championships: 3 (2018, 2019, 2020) Conference Championships: 2 (2018, 2020)

Movement: N/A

It’s well deserved, Bill Clark blazes all the way into the #1 spot thanks to his incredible success at UAB for the past several seasons. The Blazers have won three consecutive West Division championships and two of three C-USA titles. Clark has done an incredible job all things concerned. I think he’s got a lifetime contract already but if not he should have one.

-

Final Tally

Conference-USA: 3 American: 2 Independent: 2 MAC: 2 Mountain West: 1

[purpli-writes]

Profile: Hagakure Yasuhiro (Chapter 1: It Starts With A Crash)

Summary:

Hagakure Yasuhiro, former Ultimate Clairvoyant and current Ultimate Despair, has caught the attention of the Future Foundation.

What will happen to Hagakure with the Future Foundation so close to capturing him?

Updates every Wednesday.

You can read it on AO3 here

Work was supposed to be dull today for Shimizu and Itsuki. The two were working in comfortable silence, mostly looking at paperwork.

That was until they heard glass shatter and an alarm begin to ring.

“Huh…?!” Shimizu yelled out, looking towards the source of the noise. Itsuki quickly followed, feeling his heartbeat increase as he made eye contact with the person.

Hagakure Yasuhiro, former Ultimate Clairvoyant, current Ultimate Despair.

Reflexively Itsuki reached for his gun, mind reacting to the danger that stood before him. Shimizu grabbed at his arm, sending him a glance.

They were going to try to solve this peacefully then?

“Hagakure-san,” Itsuki began, forcing his voice to be stable. “What brings you here to Future Foundation Division 7?”

“We’re not going to hurt you, Hagakure-san,” Shimizu added helpfully. “We’ll grant you protection as long as you communicate with us.”

Hagakure stared at them, looking like a cornered animal.

Before Itsuki or Shimizu could say anything Hagakure turned-tail and fled the same way he came in.

“Did… he just jump?” Shimizu asked, staring where Hagakure used to be. “That guy sure was weird, wasn’t he?”

“I don’t know what you were expecting, Usagi-san,” Itsuki said, getting ready to contact the other divisions. “But I suggest you get ready for a slew of questions.”

“Huuuh…?! But the weirdest thing he did was stare at you for a couple of seconds, Itsuki-kun!” Shimizu complained.

“Stare at me…?” Itsuki paused. “Wasn’t he just staring at you?”

“No way! That guy was barely staring at me at all,” Shimizu said, walking up to Itsuki. “It was a little creepy if you ask me.”

“You’re just imagining things, Usagi-san,” Itsuki said, smiling slightly. “You must be in shock.”

“Well actually, you’re the one smiling, Itsuki-kun,” Shimizu countered. “So if anyone is in shock it’s you.”

“I smile sometimes,” Itsuki said, beginning to make the first call. “You’re just not attentive enough.”

“Hey! Take that back, Itsuki-kun!”

“Nozomi, Shimizu, come in,” Munakata said, moving out of their way.

“Munakata-san, is it safe to assume that you have questions about the incident?” Itsuki asked as he sat down.

“No offense Munakata-san, but anything we tell you isn’t going to be very useful,” Shimizu added. “Despite what we know about the remnants this event was just very anticlimactic…”

“Any information about despair is better than nothing,” Munakata said, voice carefully neutral. “Could you give any specific information?”

“He didn’t say anything,” Itsuki said. “Hagakure-san seemed very confused about the whole situation.”

“Which he didn’t even have a right to be!” Shimizu added. “He’s not the one who had someone crash into their office!”

“He said nothing at all?” Munakata asked.

“Nothing,” Itsuki confirmed. “I don’t even think he knew where he was.”

“It was almost like he wasn’t even hearing us,” Shimizu said. “Itsuki-kun and I tried to negotiate with him and he just jumped out of the window!”

“He treated us as a threat despite us not even attempting anything!” Shimizu finished, pouting slightly. “Hagakure-san didn’t even give us a chance!”

“That isn’t surprising,” Munakata said blankly. “And there is nothing else you wish to add?”

“We’re positive,” Itsuki said as Shimizu nodded.

“But why are you wasting time asking us about the remnant instead of searching for him, Munakata-san?” Shimizu asked. “He couldn’t have gotten that far from here!”

“We’re already searching for him,” Munakata answered.

“Why would he do something as risky as entering the Future Foundation’s main building?” Itsuki asked. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

“We’ve been luring Hagakure closer and closer,” Munakata explained. “He seems to be their weakest link.”

“Their weakest link…?” Itsuki repeated.

“I mean that makes sense, probably,” Shimizu said. “With the way he was acting it does seem like he was set up.”

“But hey! If he was set up did you specifically tell him to go to the 7th division?” Shimizu asked. “That wouldn’t make much sense…”

“We didn’t tell him to go to any of the divisions,” Munakata said. “He did that out of his own free will.”

“It’s as if he’s almost asking to be captured,” Itsuki noted.

“What are we going to do once he is captured, Munakata-san?” Shimizu asked.

“It depends on how many casualties we sustain,” Munakata began. “If we can get Hagakure relatively easily then we’ll try to reform him.”

“If we can’t?” Itsuki asked.

“Then we just kill him,” Munakata said. “He might end up dead either way.”

Itsuki frowned, crossing his arms.

“Do you have a problem with that, Nozomi?” Munakata asked, staring pointedly at Itsuki.

“Are you sure we should just give up on Hagakure-san so early, Munakata-san?” Itsuki asked. “They’re still humans.”

“They’re no longer humans, they’re monsters,” Munakata said. “It would be wise of you to save your pity for things more deserving, Nozomi.”

“You can’t just-” Itsuki began, only to be elbowed by Shimizu.

“We understand and respect your decisions, Munakata-san,” Shimizu said forcefully. “Don’t we, Itsuki-kun?”

“Yes,” Itsuki responded, rubbing his side. “I can understand your opinion on this, Munakata-san.”

“I’m glad you came to your senses,” Munakata said coldly. “If you two have nothing more to add, you are free to go.”

Itsuki and Shimizu nodded, leaving Munakata quickly.

Once in the safety of their own wing, Shimizu stopped Itsuki, glaring at him slightly.

“What’s wrong, Usagi-san?” Itsuki asked.

“What do you mean what’s wrong, Itsuki-kun?” Shimizu asked. “Could you really not tell what you did wrong?”

“What I did wrong…?”

“Yes, your savior complex is bad to have, Itsuki-kun!” Shimizu scolded. “Not a lot of people are going to have a weird obsession with the remnants, y’know!”

“Weird obsession…? I don’t have a weird obsession with the remnants…” Itsuki complained, staring at Shimizu sheepishly.

“Expressing your unpopular opinions around here is liable to get you killed!” Shimizu continued. “Or even worse, fired!”

“Your scolding has little effect when you think being fired is worse than death…” Itsuki said, scratching at his cheek.

“Huh…? You think dying is worse than losing your livelihood…?!”

“You have odd priorities, Usagi-san…”

The Future Foundation was known for being annoying to its enemies. Not always was the Future Foundation threatening, in fact, most of the time it was anything but, however, the Future Foundation did always have their nose in things.

At least, that’s what Yasuhiro thought.

The Future Foundation was constantly after Yasuhiro for reasons he couldn’t discern, he figured they probably weren’t that good anyway. But Yasuhiro had enough of their constant badgering, he was going to stop them, at least for a bit.

That’s how he ended up crashing into their seventh floor, facing only two agents.

The two agents, a gray-haired girl, and a black-haired boy turned to face him as soon as the Future’s Foundation alarm began to blare.

The black-haired boy readied his weapon, only to be stopped by the girl. When Yasuhiro looked at the threat he felt a pang of something, it was familiarity he quickly realized.

But what about that boy was familiar?

“Hagakure-san,” the boy began nonchalantly as if he hadn’t almost just tried to attack him. “What brings you here to Future Foundation Division 7?”

“We’re not going to hurt you, Hagakure-san,” the girl added, voice painfully sweet. “We’ll grant you protection as long as you communicate with us.”

Protection…? That was laughable. They were the ones who needed protection from him, not the other way around.

Still, it wasn’t like he wanted to kill these two agents. But he doubted he would have many choices at this rate.

The boy at least needed to be protected, although he didn’t know why he was so sure of that.

Before the boy or the girl could try to say anything else Yasuhiro fled, jumping out from the hole he made in the window.

Barely grabbing the support he used to climb up, he laughed due to the rush.

A pleasant feeling filled him as he made his way down quickly. He didn’t recognize the feeling yet, but it was nice.

Things weren’t supposed to be nice.

Yasuhiro was vaguely aware of the area he had run to, knowing that the Future Foundation was probably hot on his tail.

So much for a promised protection, he mused.

Once Yasuhiro figured he was far enough from the main building he stopped, needing to catch his breath.

While he stopped he surveyed the world around him, a nice destroyed neighborhood.

It wasn’t anywhere familiar, sadly, there wasn’t much despair to be found in random people losing their homes.

And likely their lives as well.

But it seemed to prove that the Future Foundation was more worried about outward appearances than fixing the world.

Not that Yasuhiro cared either way, if anything that would just keep despair flowing in people’s hearts.

Even if Junko...

Yasuhiro shook his head, clearing his mind of that despairing topic. He had bigger things to worry about, like not being captured.

He could despair about Junko on a later date.

On the line of not being captured Yasuhiro realized he didn’t have many options. He couldn’t exactly contact the remnants or Ikusaba, revealing their locations would give the Future Foundation a good opportunity to capture and potentially kill them.

Even being captured didn’t seem to be a good option, even if Yasuhiro was tortured by the Future Foundation, which would give him more despair than he could dream of, that would mean potentially seeing that agent again.

Thinking of the boy gave him a spark, a spark he barely recognized.

It was disgusting, a feeling from his past life.

Hope was dead, Junko had made sure of it. Skewering it just before it could bloom.

Still, even after everything Yasuhiro had gone through it was too much of a risk to see that agent again. Regardless of the fact that Yasuhiro was far gone that little bit of hope for no good reason was dangerous.

Junko’s teachings were strong, but she wasn’t alive anymore to enforce them.

But currently, Yasuhiro couldn’t afford any more time to think about the agent or Junko. He needed to flee once more.

He couldn’t have possibly gained enough ground.

“Hagakure,” a deep voice interrupted his train of thought. “We are agents of the Future Foundation, come with us peacefully or come with us dead.”

Yasuhiro looked at his pursuers, three agents, each with guns, glared at him.

“I’m not going with you either way,” Yasuhiro answered, smiling smugly at the agents.

The agents fell for the bait, quickly loading their weapons, readying for fire.

“This is your last chance,” the agent with a deep voice said. “We’ve been given orders to take you alive or dead, how we return you does not matter to us.”

“I guess you’re going in empty-handed then,” Yasuhiro said, preparing his knives. “Although I can’t promise you’ll be going back uninjured.”

Yasuhiro attacked first, hitting both agents behind the leading one. Luckily, both agents were merely incapacitated and not killed.

Why did he care anyway…?

Before Yasuhiro could attack again the leading agent fired, hitting him right in the leg. It wasn’t a lethal wound, at least not yet, but it did prove the threat these agents gave.

Yasuhiro attacked, more precisely, making sure the agent fell to the ground. He was sure the agent could survive the injury if treated soon.

It wasn’t his problem anyway.

Yasuhiro fled, realizing that the other two agents would have their attention on their leader. They were predictable in the best sort of way.

Still, Yasuhiro wasn’t in the best of state. He couldn’t get too far with his current injury.

There wasn’t much Yasuhiro could do, he was a sitting duck.

Despair at being captured filled him, which was a comfort.

Hope at seeing the agent again warred with it, causing a pain sharper than the bullet hole in his leg.

What could he do other than wait?

#itsuki nozomi verse #makoto naegi #usagi shimizu #yasuhiro hagakure #kyosuke munakata

[skeilig]

i saw a post one time that was like “reigen may not be a father figure to mob but mob is a son figure to reigen” and i was like yeah there it is

i mean... i know that post, and kind of..? but i think the fact that reigen seems (in some ways) more attached to mob is just indicative of this kind of parent/teenage kid thing, like mob is growing a lot, and reigen is more static. mob had his little teenage rebellion in separation arc, and they both need to figure out how to move forward in their relationship more as equals.

and mob says to ritsu that he wants to be less dependent on reigen, so i don’t think that their relationship is one-sided at all, or that reigen needs mob more than mob needs him. they might have different ways of showing it, but mob tends to look to reigen for the last word, like with his family in this episode -- it wasn’t until reigen told him that they were ok that he allowed himself to relax. and we see this time and time again; Reigen “re-sets” him to 0% after the LOL cult thing, Reigen takes the burden of his powers at Claw 7th Division. 

Mob isn’t like “ugh i wish this weird guy would leave me alone” .. lol. anyway, they both learn to be less co-dependent during mp100, which is important and again, part of the whole.. growing up thing. 

and i'm not saying they literally see each other as father/son or whatever but to me the subtext is... very clear. and mob's parents are barely characters so he has this arc with Reigen instead. it’s about growing up and seeing adults (who you’ve known since childhood) as real flawed people, and finding your place in that world. 

#anon #asks

[goldenkamuyhunting]

hello, love your blog! I wanted to ask your opinion about the yuusaku/usami theory that has been blowing up on twitter lately (if you haven't seen it, here's a nice recap: twitter( . )com/lovhko/status/1100211333172211712 ), apparently it started off as a joke theory but people started taking it serioulsy to the point it almost makes sense now. What are your thoughts?

THANK YOU FOR LOVING MY BLOG!

As for the theory you mentioned... I’ve heard about it yesterday.

The idea is interesting but the problem is many things simply do not match.

Let’s talk about the problems.

PLOT

First of all we know Yuusaku died during the war. As Yuusaku was an official, the flag bearer and the son of Hanazawa it wouldn’t have been so simple to ‘make him disappear’ and then lie over his death.

Tsurumi wasn’t that powerful during the war and such a lie, due to Yuusaku’s status, would have required a lot of accomplices... and why should have Tsurumi bothered to do so?

He considered getting Yuusaku for his charisma and, likely, for his influence as Hanazawa’s son. Usami so far has no charisma and no influence.

I’ve already discussed in the past of how the standing Yuusaku who turns toward Ogata should be part of Ogata’s dream.

When Yuusaku was hit, he was holding the flag and his legs gave away in a very evident manner.

It’s clear the next that happened to him was he fell.

He couldn’t be standing perfectly straight and without the flag.

That scene is part of Ogata’s fever dream and it’s there merely to tell us Ogata feels guilt, despite trying hard to ignore it.

Noteworthy is also how we clearly see blood coming out from Yuusaku’s left eye, which meant the bullet went straight through his head and out of his left eye (which makes interesting how Ogata lost his right one) and might explain why in his memories Yuusaku’s eyes are never visible.

In short the last image we have of Yuusaku is of him falling, not of him standing.

Tsurumi couldn’t have ‘saved Yuusaku’. A doctor needed to do the job of saving him. Tsue, Tsurumi might have taken him away from the battle ground, but likely, considering Yuusaku’s heritage, it was a given they would try to retrieve him or his corpse should he fall.

In regard to Ogata writing Hanazawa’s letter I would sayit’s more likely Tsurumi had it prepared by a professional forger. Koito Heiji might have known Hanazawa’s writing style as the two were friends and might have written to each otehr more than once, so it makes sense if the letter is a fake (which we don’t know) Tsurumi wouldn’t have Ogata write it but someone who knew how to do it.

Going on.

WHY SHOULD YUUSAKU DECIDE TO TURN INTO USAMI?

Yuusaku is a second Lieutenant. Usami is merely a superior private. It’s a HUGE step down in the ranking system.

If Yuusaku has remained a second lieutenant he could have spent more time with Tsurumi as they would be closer in rank and wouldn’t have people like Koito trying to order him around. Actually it’s possible Koito wouldn’t even be there as, if I don’t remember wrong, each first lieutenant only had 1 second lieutenant below him.

Usami is clearly in love with Tsurumi. If he were Yuusaku he wouldn’t toss the advantage his rank would give him away.

AGE

Yuusaku is Ogata’s younger brother. Noda sensei, answering to a question said Usami is a bit older than Ogata.

It would be different if it was an info coming from a character, we might doubt it to be sincere, butNoda had no reason to outright lie, especially when he had no problems to state Kiro and Tsurumi were around the same age.

LOOK

Usami’s facial features actually do not match with Yuusaku.

I see they used as reference the Usami that first appeared in the manga (chap 117) but his look was retconned a bit starting from chap 118 in which Usami’s upper lip is rather different from Yuusaku.

Not mentioning Yuusaku is very clearly missing moles and his eyes seem to have evident lower eyelashes, which Usami misses.

Sure, they seem to have the same nose but that’s not really enough.

I’ll say also how while Yuusaku seems rather tall, a true Satsuma man like Koito, Usami seems just average but this might be just me.

What’s more, people who knew Yuusaku like let’s say Nikaido, clearly saw his face, eyes included, and would have realized if Usami and Yuusaku were the same person.

I would also argue Ogata and Usami’s eyes and eyebrows differ in shape and even if both have long lashes those too are different.

FIRST NAME

So far in Golden Kamuy the lack of a first name isn’t exactly suspicious, it merely hints we don’t know something relevant about the character, that will be revealed along with his first name.

In a way the scene is symbolic of us getting to know them more.

This is where we learn Ogata’s first name, when Tsurumi talks about his heritage... which ruined him.

Actually this is where we learn of Ogata's full name... in a scene that hints how Ogata is a rebel/betraying the 7th division, which, I guess, can also be viewed as a defining moment for him. Thanks to @importantwombatfancowboy for refreshing my mind about it!

And this is where we learn Koito’s, when his father tells Sugimoto Koito will have to become a leader... for which Koito showed no aptitude.

Here it’s where we learn Tsukishima’s, when he tells the story of Igogusa to Tsurumi, a tragedy that ruined his life.

And here it’s where we learn Tsurumi’s, when his family tragedy changes him.

Interesting enough here it’s where we learn Tanigaki’s first name, when Ogata ended up assuming Tanigaki was behind Tamai and Co’s death. No idea if this will be relevant in the future... or if it was revealed then because then Tanigaki will be hunted by Ogata and this was considered dramatic enough.

There are other true names which are revealed in dramatic situations, though they aren’t first names.

Kiro’s true name is tied to how ‘Russia hadn’t forgotten about him’ but also to the murder of the emperor which likely changed the course of his whole life.

We learn of Asirpa’s Japanese name when she learns about her father being Nopperabo.

Long story short, not knowing the first name or the real name or the Japanese name isn’t suspicious, it just means we’re missing some info. If Usami is Yuusaku, his first name becomes totally irrelevant as it’s a fake first name. We don’t need to know it.

It’s worth to note though that we were IMMEDIATELY given Hasegawa’s name as soon as he showed up...

... even if his own was a fake name.

MEETING/TALKING WITH/ABOUT OGATA

Regarding Ogata... Usami couldn’t meet Ogata in story as he was in Abashiri collecting info. It’s true we never see Usami in the war flashbacks, but the same applies for Koito. Maybe Usami was transferred to the 7th later or was busy doing spy work for Tsurumi.

Also Usami didn’t have a reason to talk about Ogata as the ‘Ogata topic’ never came up.

If we really want to be picky Koyama, the guy who supposedly was in the rebel group with Ogata and Nikaido, was never shown talking about him or with him.

Long story short, while the idea of Yuusaku surviving and becoming Usami is very interesting and I’m delighted to see GK theories, if you ask me I’m very sorry to admit I don’t believe in this theory in the slightest...

Honestly for me there are more chances for Usami to be the one who killed the Ainu than to be Yuusaku.

Of course this is just me.

Other fans can find ways to make this theory work, solving the problems I mentioned (as, since you said the theory was born as a joke, it can be it has holes merely due to it) and, after all, as long as the truth isn’t revealed, everything is closed in a cat box in which this theory too can exist so don’t take my words as if they were Noda’s words. I’m only a mere fan after all.

Thank you for your ask!

#Golden Kamuy #Hanazawa Yuusaku #Ask #Usami Tokishige

[ramrodd]

A Protestant Talks With a Catholic Priest

COMMENTARY:

I'm writing as I watch this and I have paused at timestamp 4:48. So far, so good. I was raised in the communion of the Army Protestant Chapel and I was confirmed in the Chapel of the Centurion at Ft. Monroe sometime in my junior year of high school, 6 months before I heard Sergeant Pepper's, Ode to Billy Joe for the first time and that John McCain was having Christmas in the Hanoi Hilton, after a tour of the medical services of a city being bombed by guys just like him before he intercepted a SAM in his F-8. That can spoil your wholle day.

I'm not Catholic and an really don't trust their version of Jesus because of all the blatant pedophiles in the cloth. The orthodox understanding of St. Paul, the man, is that he is like Peter, a confirmed celebant long before he was crucified. He had effectively given up sex by the time he gave up fishing for a living, but it was just like Spencer Tracy in "The Old Man and the Sea". As a history major, you do understand that Hemingway wrote that as a fable of St. Peter fulfilling his commission to "Feed My Sheep". It is a very elegant Catholic parable. A lot of spanish sunlight, like the moment of truth in “7 Spanish Angels”.  This is I'm writing as I write this and I have paused at timestamp 4:48. So far, so good. I was raised in the communion of the Army Protestant Chapel and I was confirmed in the Chapel of the Centurion at Ft. Monroe sometime in my junior year of high school, 6 months before I heard Sergeant Pepper's, Ode to Billy Joe for the first time and that John McCain was having Christmas in the Hanoi Hilton, after a tour of the medical services of a city being bombed by guys just like him before he intercepted a SAM in his F-8. That can spoil your wholale day.

I'm not Catholic and an really don't trust their version of Jesus because of all the blatant pedophiles in the cloth. The orthodox understanding of St. Paul, the man, is that he is like Peter, a confirmed celebant long before he was crucified. He had effectively given up sex by the time he gave up fishing for a living, but it was just like Spencer Tracy in "The Old Man and the Sea". As a history major, you do understand that Hemingway wrote that as a fable of St. Peter fulfilling his commission to "Feed My Sheep". It is a very elegant Catholic parable. A lot of spanish sunlight at the moment of truth in “7 Spanish Angels”, only it's just another day in paradise, doing the Lord's I'm writing as I write this and I have paused at timestamp 4:48. So far, so good. I was raised in the communion of the Army Protestant Chapel and I was confirmed in the Chapel of the Centurion at Ft. Monroe sometime in my junior year of high school, 6 months before I heard Sergeant Pepper's, Ode to Billy Joe for the first time and that John McCain was having Christmas in the Hanoi Hilton, after a tour of the medical services of a city being bombed by guys just like him before he intercepted a SAM in his F-8. That can spoil your wholale day.

I'm not Catholic and an really don't trust their version of Jesus because of all the blatant pedophiles in the cloth. The orthodox understanding of St. Paul, the man, is that he is like Peter, a confirmed celebant long before he was crucified. He had effectively given up sex by the time he gave up fishing for a living, but it was just like Spencer Tracy in "The Old Man and the Sea". As a history major, you do understand that Hemingway wrote that as a fable of St. Peter fulfilling his commission to "Feed My Sheep". It is a very elegant Catholic parable. A lot of spanish sunlight at the moment of truth of “7 Spanish Angels”, only, it's just another day in Paradise, going about the Lord's work for Jesus.

That's who Peter is, That's who this priest is selling and it's a true portrait, but both Rome and Canterbury do a bit of bait and switch and hand off most of their intellectual grounding to Paul and Paul is as queer as a $3 bill, but everybody pretends he is just exactly like Peter OR if he's queer, then so is Jesus and it goes on and on. Peter was raised as a Jew in a very circumscribed sexual climate focused intently, and exclusively, on reproduction. Producing children as a divine obsession. The reason they rested on the 7th day was so they could fuck and if you only fucked on the Sabbath, the law of averages was working for you to that end. And women, who have had children and like the process, come to know exactly when they are ripe for baby making. I've had a lot of sex with a lot of women who had acquired that sense of their own bodies and I've had sex with a whole lot more women who didn't but knew that when they needed to fuck they could count on me.

Paul came from a Greek culture where naked wrestling was encouraged and there was (and may still be) a respected tradition of legal male union as a religious pre-Christian ritual, which is exactly what the circumcision of Timothy is all about, but everybody pretends is an expedient measure allowing Timothy to move in and out of Synagogues, legitimately. It's is an expedient measure, but it provided Paul the sexual outlet he required to soothe his “thorn in the flesh”: he was into twinks, like Roy Cohn. Pretty boys. He made a pass at John Mark, mistaking him for Jesus's “Pretty Boy” and John Mark wasn't that kind of guy and neither was Jesus. Neither was Socrates. It was universal, the Greek Love traditions, but it travels well and the Catholic Church would profit from making long term relationships in the Church the norm, like the Salvation Army. Most of their abuse would resolve more or less naturally and painlessly.  

So,, anyway, there is no one in the Catholic Church I identify with except Cornelius. The one thing I identify about Jesus is that He had been through Ranger School, because He was absolutely mission oriented. The phrase “Give us this day our daily bread” translates into Ranger Speak as “MISSION” in a 5 Paragraph warning Order. Just like “Mission” Impossible”, only, just getting the order means you have accepted its premis, its assumptions, its legality and its imperative without qualification. “Instant Obedience:Self-Discipline”. Jesus is community organizer and the Squad Leader in a TO&E USMC Squad. 13 people. 1 leader,-player 12 players. The followers of Jesus showed up for the breaking of the bread, but, as your priest says, the Apostles are players under the authority of Jesus and His authority conveys directly in a chain of command kind of way.

So, I see Jesus as operating at the matrix between the economies of scale of the task environment, the battle space, and the economies of scale of the next higher command and the whole rest of the Army  It is US Army doctrine that the squad is the basic unit of the military organization. Jesus is running an Army squad engaged in social engineering, just like the Green Berets in Vietnam before the commie cocksuckers in Hanoi decided to steal the Republic of Vietnam for Uncle Ho and Joseph Stalin.

So, here's the thing to understand about Cornelius that's pertinent to your experience: Cornelius is a republican soldier serving his nation in a foreign, and actively hostile, territory, Indian Country, and he, Cornelius, is doing his most important work outside the wire just like the Green Berets in Vietnam before the commie cocksuckers fired on Ft. Sumter, in effect. Cornelius is working outside the wire just the the 38th Indiana “Cyclone” Division in Afghanistan right at this moment.  Out in IED land. That's where Cornelius is. Jim Kimsey, the venture capitalist that backed Steve Case and AOL, was a Green Beret in Vietnam back when it was cool to be in Counter-Insurgency in the Army, and he and his team built an orphanage for the same reasons Cornelius helped build the synagogue in Capernaum. The same imperative. Kimsey's orphange is still in operation. If you want to understand why Afghanistan is so important, it's because we are using the lessons learned from Vietnam to help Afghanistan, including the Taliban, bot adopt a superior form of national problem solving and organically spiritual health and economic equity as an expression of the economics of Jesus as explicated by Adam Smith as a moral science which I call process theology.

Before I go back to the video, I wanted to complete my thought about women knowing when their eggs drop is that the Samaritan woman in John 4 is at that moment and she wants to get pregnant, just like Tamar with Judah. The interpretation that she, the Samaritan woman in John 4 is a whore is as much bullshit as anything that comes out of Canterbury. I don't know Rome's version of the passage, but if you want to understand what bullshit the Pro-Life/Salvation Gospel is, ask your wife if it makes a difference whether the women in John 4 is a whore or just a woman with a mission and a window of opportunity.

St. Peter is asexual. St. Paul is a South Beach drag queen without the wardrobe. Both Rome and Canterbury are selling St. Peter, but you are getting St. Paul.

4:48: lift off.

Hover at 8:17  St. Paul is the dominant Apostle of American Evangelicals: Peter is your favorite from the perspective of Paul.

Evangelicals lean heavily upon Paul because of his emotional appeal relative to the “Just the Facts” testimony of Peter.  Here's an example where God doesn't not consider our expectations as a critical factor in His design, Paul, in particular, appeals to women. According to the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Peter was actively hostile to everything Mary represented. Part of this is a problem Peter had with the whole idea of eating with gentiles and there is little question in my mind he at least agreed with the prayer of pharisees of the age “Thank you, Lord, that I was not born a slave, a dog/gentile or a woman”. I mean, Peter was fighting an up-hill battle all the way in regards to the implications of Mark 7:19 and Acts 10, while Paul   was a pig in shit with the whole abrogation of all things kosher. And that whole drag queen aspect of his personality evident in his writing attracted women in ways very similar to the way Jesus did. I mean, Peter sent a woman to argue Romans in front of Theophilus and the covert Christian cell in the Praetorian Guard that represented the Church of Rome and why the Catholic Church remained in Rome. The Christian Church is a legacy of the Italian Cohort both Pilate and Cornelius were employed by: they got their paychecks via The Praetorian Guard, just like Julius Caesar. Except for the whole arising from the dead thing, the whole l'Affaire Crist was handled in a routine manner and His file happen to land on a desk in Rome and there it stayed until Constantine disbanded the Praetorian Guard after the Milvian Bridge, no hard feelings, we're just moving you to Iowa to be closer to real people sort of thing.

8:17 Resume:

9:52 pause: Everywhere the legions are, Christianity appears. The whole story of the experience of the Roman soldiers in Matthew 27:66 and Luke 23:26 – 47 goes throughout all the legions by that mysterious grapevine of the soldier's Rumor Control that relayed the murder of the negro soldiers at Ft. Pillow to the negro soldiers in the Army of the Potomac before Petersburg before the publication of Stars-and-Stripes, which wasn't created until the first world war.

Christianity is a creature of the Roman legions and a legacy of the Profession of Arms. The soldiers of Rome were in service to Rome but they offered their oaths to Yaweh, Queen of Battle and performed their Duty to Rome on that basis. That's a central tenet of Paul's legal argument in Romans.

Jesus placed a bet with The Satan that He could create a church without a bureaucracy. And He realized at the Transfiguration that He couldn't, which is why He was so brutal with Peter “Get thee behind me”. The Temptation is a continuation of the wagering between God and The Satan begun in the Book of Job and The Satan went long on the assumption that, to complete the process begun with Moses to create a universal consciousness of The One, Jesus was going to have to perform demonstrations of logistical competence, organizational efficacy and some death defying stunt and Jesus went short. Feeding the 5000 and the 4000 established His logistical competence, His scourging of the Temple merely emphasized the practical necessity of organizational efficacy in order to sustain His logistical competence but He believed He could finesse the death-defying stunt, personally, by avoiding fatal confrontation in the manner of wily Odysseus. And then, the Holy Spirit tossed Lazarus into the mix and, after four days, there is your death defying stunt. It is useful to remember that the Book of Job is a cosmic farce, with God, the Father, as the butt of the joke. The Satan tricks God, the Father, twice to beat up on Job for no other purpose than to exploit God, the Father,'s pride, And it works. And the Temptation of Jesus is a similar farce, a game of cosmic Three Card Monte, where Jesus believes He can always find the Queen of Spades until He discovers it was the Queen of Hearts, all along.

Jesus is absolutely correct that the Church He envisions is organic in nature, but even a jellyfish has structure and man has a spine to support the cathedral of the Spirit and it isn't even a paradox: the spine serves the spirit, The law was made for man, not man for the law. And the law propels mankind in a manner similar to how the spine propels the man and that's exactly what Jesus had in mind, but He didn't know it until The Satan made it apparent.

9:52 resumes.

14:52 full stop. The Canon Law, as ratified in 1918/1983, is what the Roman Empire lost when Constantine disbanded the Praetorian Guards, essentially, the Inspector General function that Baron von Stuebin brought to Valley Forge. A great strength of the Roman legions, as personified by the centurions, was uniform doctrine, training and the operational arts and that was maintained by the Praetorian Guard in pretty much the same function as the Pentagon, today (actually, all elements of the Executive of the constitutional government, i.e. The Republic).

In terms of Canon Law, I am a Protestant and the Presbyterian structures of Canterbury inform my own notion of the Body of Christ. It's why I say the Pro-Life doctrine is such heretical bullshit. It's a made-up doctrine established entirely for political fund raising.

From the description here, Canon Law became, in 1918, what John Knox presented with the Book of Discipline in 1560. Federalist 10 is basically a recapitulation of the Book of Discipline, which reflected the structures as processes of the Praetorian Guard, which was a practical application of the concepts presented in Plato's Republic, As Bruce Gore observes, the Romans were good students of philosophy but never professors of philosophy. And that's worked out pretty well.

14:52 restart:

15:25 “How does one go to heaven?”

One fucking dies, shit for brains.

There is no mystery, Going to heaven is why Jesus went to Hell, for Christ's sake! Review John 3:16, if you don't understand. As a paratrooper, you have a far better chance of going to heaven, in the final analysis, than your parachute opening and that's something like a 98% certainty. You are worried about the wrong fucking thing.

This is the problem with the Salvation Gospel of Campus Crusade for Christ (which is where I first encountered, and rejected, Salvation Gospel).  I went to Vietnam on the basis of Liberation Gospel: that's what Jim Kimsey was doing as a Green Beret in Vietnam. Everybody at that time believed in the Liberation Gospel of the Marshall Plan. Salvation Gospel is an exercise in monetized navel gazing.

15:25 Begin again.

I'm listening to Kellyanne Conway on FOX News Sunday. She is as anchored in existential reality as the Pro-Life doctrine reflects anything Jesus represents except His repulsion of the den of thieves in Jerusalem.

22:11 this gets back to the Book of Job, In my experience, it is impossible to actually know The One, as I do and Job did, and, subsequently, not know The One and to know, know, know Him is to Love Love Love Him, The mind will not allow not knowing while remaining whole and healthy. That's the thing about having a relationship with The One that Job has that God in the Book of Job doesn't understand: you cannot run away from God. And to actively hate The One is, as your priest says, virtually impossible beyond the conceit of Satan in Paradise Lost.

The issue of a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, as a proxy for The One, is awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your consciousness in some manner. Most people begin with dreams. Making two parachute jumps is a good way to calibrate your Pucker Factor to distinguish between the Fear of the Lord and garden variety fear of fire, heights, the dark and death and dismemberment by tooth and claw. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever, while pure animal fear is not. You can get over pure animal fear, which brings us back to the Book of Job.

22:11 restart

22:46  Resurrection validates the God Hypothesis. It's the thing the Richard Carriers of the world cannot conveniently dismiss as myth: the entire Roman army understood the nature of crucifixion and the anomaly of resurrection was big medicine for people who had already been baptized by fire and baptized by blood and had a working, professional relationship with Yaweh, Queen of Battle.  

In the final analysis, The One remains a mystery. The great gift of Jesus is that He represents the existential evidence that the mystery is the universe, itself, saying “Hi!”

22:46 restart  

23:48   - 25:00 The reign of God in the Kingdom of Heaven here, on earth, brings us right back to Liberation Gospel. Because our salvation is a given, our obligation arising from John 3:16 is to go forth unto the world and bring on Earth as it is in Heaven which brings us right back to Ranger Jesus and the 5 Paragraph Field Order.

25:00 It's not about you going to heaven. Rome and Canterbury agree, at least as far as N.T. Wright is concerned. This is not the Campus Crusade for Campus position, which is like proposing to compete in the Tour de France on a bike with training wheels. I mean, the 4 spiritual laws are great, but then what?  For the Charismatic, it's sexualized navel gazing rebranded as the Spirit of God moving on the waters.

25:35  Great video. As a Protestant, the idea that there was anything that needed to be pushed back against is just someone looking for a fight. I'm not going to become a Catholic for the same reasons I'm not going to become Jewish or Muslim: the essence is available to me from where I am,

Anyway, good show.

#transformingamericafirst eisenhowerrepublicansforAOC

[fatathlon]

Race Report: Whiteface Mountain Uphill Bike Race

Signing up for the 18th Annual Whiteface Mountain Uphill Bike Race wasn’t my idea. I’ll own the choice, of course, but I wouldn’t have even heard about it if my friend Phil hadn’t asked me to do it. I was in the midst of concussion recovery at the time, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sign up in part in order to give myself a temporary feeling of hope. Surely I’d be better by May 31st. If I sign up for a race, then it’ll make sure that comes true! Magical thinking, to be sure. Luckily it worked out okay this time.

We had a drive of about 3 hours to get to Wilmington, NY, where Whiteface Mountain rises above the surrounding ridge lines at the eastern edge of the Adirondacks. Lake Champlain was on the way, so we treated ourselves to a ferry ride while we tried to pick the mountain out from the landscape across the water. We never did quite determine which one it was.

Ferry across Lake Champlain

A couple of guys from Burlington wandered by and chatted with us briefly.

“You racing?” one asked.

“Yeah,” Phil answered, “Whiteface. You?”

The guy nodded, because obviously there was only one race all of us were thinking about. He looked up at my bike on top of the car, an Orbea Terra gravel road bike with 28 mm slick tires. Phil’s was a Trek Checkpoint, a similar machine, with slightly wider gravel tires. “You riding on those?”

“Yeah,” I said, a little unsure about the pointedness of his question.

“Wow,” he answered.

“What are you guys riding?” Phil asked.

“Mountain bikes,” the guy answered, as if it were obvious, and he and his flat-brimmed hat bid us good luck and wandered off.

For the next hour, as we completed our drive to the base of the mountain, Phil had something close to a minor meltdown as he parsed the conversation and tried to decipher what the guy had meant by his line of questioning, his clearly loaded, Owen Wilson-like remark of “Wow” and his utterly straightforward statement that he and his friend were riding MTBs. Did he think we were idiots for our bike choices? Or did he think he was the idiot, now seeing what we were riding? What did it mean, and what would possess a person to convey such apparent passive aggression directed solely to a person’s choice of ride? Were we idiots for riding these bikes? Were we even going to the right race? What day was it? Why were their brims so incredibly flat?

We arrived in Wilmington quite early, with hours to spare before the race was to start. We walked over the bridge spanning the Ausable River and found our way into the ski lodge, where we picked up our race packets, which included helmet stickers, bike stickers with timing chips in them, the largest number bibs I’d ever seen, t-shirts and exactly zero snacks. Good thing we brought our own. Phil had all kinds of goodies from home to choose from for on-the-bike nutrition, including some special power cookies his wife baked. I had opted for a singular choice item: a refillable energy gel bottle containing 100% pure maple syrup. That, combined with water and endurance formula in my bottles, was what I hoped would keep life in my legs as I scaled the mountain in a few hours.

The Ausable River

After I gathered my race accouterments from the helpful check-in folks, I asked them a question which had occurred to me.

“Is there another race here soon?”

“Yes,” one said, “a 50 or 100-km qualifier for Leadville.”

And suddenly, it all made sense. Those guys on the ferry thought we were doing Wilmington Whiteface. They thought we were going to be riding single track for 60 miles, on slick 28-mm tires! “Wow,” indeed. We had a good laugh about that, and “Wowwww” became an instant catch-phrase for the rest of the day.

We decided to cruise down the course a bit, just to check out the opening three mile prologue, and see what interesting things we could find in town. We saw a bunch of guys fishing the river, and watched one of them pull a sizable fish out. We stopped in a local shop and got some chocolate for the kids and wives. We saw a giant metal bike statue and debated climbing on top of it, but ultimately left such shenanigans to the presumed local youth to get arrested for. A gaunt man with a beard was lost and tried to get into a locked building nearby. I said to Phil, “That’s either a hardcore cyclist or a meth addict.” Not a minute later, he asked us where to check in for the bike race. #nailedit

At the start

Finally, it got close to race time. We changed into our kits and took a little warm-up spin up the hill behind the parking lot. Phil had a little trouble with his cadence sensor, but we got it sorted. A lot of folks were really clamoring to start near the front of the pack, which surprised us considering it was a chip-timed race and drafting wasn’t going to be a major factor, so it didn’t really seem to matter when you actually started. Phil had a theory that the best strategy (if you were racing to win) might be to hammer the first 3-mile downhill section, though, so maybe the draft was a bigger player than it seemed. In any case, we opted to start comfortably from the back.

The national anthem was sung, the Canadian national anthem was played, we got the most anti-climactic count-down in history, and the race was underway!

As I mentioned, the first three miles were essentially downhill. I deliberately played it cool here, trying to spin up the legs in a relatively high cadence and to really back off the power. There was enough of a descent that I was clipping along basically without working. Then we hit the corner, and the climb began.

Once I settled in, I kept an eye on my numbers and found that an average of 340 watts felt about right. I was working, but I wasn’t hammering, and my heart rate was staying below threshold. I found my most comfortable gear and got to work.

My numbers from the corner to approx. the toll booth

There was the slightest of reprieves while passing the tool booth, and then it was nothing but up, for a section of about 4 miles that featured the steepest sections of the climb. Partway through this section, I took my first hit of maple syrup. It went down smooth and quick, and much easier than energy gel. I also didn’t feel like I had to wash it down with water to clear it out of my mouth. So far so good.

My numbers from the toll booth to the first switchback

Because of how the road is laid out, I could see the switchbacks quite a ways before I got to them. They were laid out high above me on the side of the mountain. I knew that they were only a couple of short miles away, so it was a bit daunting to consider how high I had to climb in order to reach them, especially knowing the gradient it would take.

My legs were doing okay, but started to get a little crampy and uncomfortable at around mile 8 or so. Originally I had intended to ride a bit easier until this point, and then put the power down. As it turned out, I rode a rather more consistent power output, so I didn’t have a whole lot of reserves to draw from. I was going steady, though, so I figured I’d just keep on with my 340 watts and see how that worked out.

By the time I reached the first switchback, I had enjoyed some amazing views, passed two unicyclists, hit my second dose of maple syrup (so good), seen a guy riding deliberately crosswise across the road repeatedly (to rest his legs, I guess?), gotten slightly annoyed by someone with a squeaky bike that I couldn’t drop, and been told “I like that gear you’re in.” As in, complimenting me on my specific choice of gearing. At that moment. I guess? I still haven’t figured that one out.

I knew from simulating the ride indoors that the switchbacks provided some measure of relief, and were the time to drop the hammer for sure, if there was any hammer left to drop. I latched on to the wheel of a guy about my size, who I had noticed from his bib that he was also in the Clydesdale division like me, and followed him up and around the second switchback. Then I went by him and made for the finish.

Making my move

I had enough legs left to put down a sprint for the finish of about 0:20. It was completely unnecessary, and nobody was sprinting with me, but I don’t get to race in bike races very often, so it felt right. It was an experience I had never had, and I wanted to go for it.

Sprint to the line. Note the significant drop in temperature.

Still recovering from my sprint

After I got through the chute and received my finisher’s medal, I pedaled around the courtyard of the little castle-like structure that is at the summit to behold a magnificent view of the surrounding landscape. It was a great reward for doing the work to climb to the top. I took a couple of quick photos and then went back to the finish line to cheer on Phil, who was only minutes behind me. I managed to get a decent video of him crossing the line. We took a few more shots and drank some Gatorade, then put on our sleeves and started the ride back down. It was getting cold quickly so we didn’t spend a lot of time up top.

The first switchback, seen from the summit

The ride down was at once fun, beautiful, exciting and harrowing. We were cruising at 40 mph with our brakes engaged. If we had been alone on the mountain, we probably would have let it rip a little more, but there were still people climbing the hill, cars driving up and down both ways, and other cyclists heading down. With a lot of blind corners, it didn’t seem prudent to be going full speed with no chance to stop suddenly if necessary. It was also really cold, and I had to adjust my hands and arms periodically just to make sure that I could, in fact, still feel them.

We made it down safe and sound, and then cruised back to the ski area for food and to check out the results. I ended up in 7th out of 26th in the Clydesdale division (190 lbs+), with an official recorded time of 1:19:25. I was pretty darn happy with that effort. I don’t know that I could have done it much faster if I had changed anything, and I don’t know what I could have changed. It was pretty close to the best execution I could manage on the day. You can’t ask for much more than that.

The drive home was long and dark, but still a good time and there was plenty to recount and reflect on from the day.

I was very glad to be able to do this race. It’s one that I don’t think I will ever forget.

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[considergoldenkamuy]

Hey there! Love your blog and wanted to ask for some fluffy Tsurumi headcanons, if thats fine with you? Maybe even considering an M!Reader, that would be great! SFW or NSFW are both fine too. Hope you have a good day o/

sure, of course it’s fine with me! i’m not super good at writing for a majority of the 7th division but i’ll tryyyyy also just ask me straight up to put in the reader as male and i’ll do just that without hesitation, dwai.

i stuck with sfw for this one bc i still have a hard time getting a read on him despite being caught up with the gk manga (i’m an idiot i know), and i didn’t fuck up horrendously with the nsfw i had to do some research for this one since it’s got some historical aspects i wanna keep in mind to make this “Accurate”

Achievement Unlocked: Loving the Psycho Lieutenant

seriously how?? but i mean he’s just a complex dude so what was i expecting. i’m going under the assumption that you’re boyfriends since gay marriage isn’t really legally recognized

tsurumi’s a strange fellow in how he handles having a male partner

he’s definitely pretty openly fine with having a male partner, but with how there’s a slight animosity towards homosexuality or just being with someone of the same gender is a little off now due to japan wanting to go along with western culture and all that he’ll be more on the quiet side about it if you’re not comfortable with telling others

because he’s still technically with the military, tsurumi knows about the law and all that and when someone questions his relationship with you and he’s got no risk of being attacked or harmed he’s just “well it’s not illegal so i don’t see the issue”

it’s not illegal to be gay in japan btw, congrats

he’s?? super quirky about literally everything else tho

makes sure you’re usually around him because fuck does he not trust anyone else with your life or basically anything concerning you

however he trusts you to a larger extent than you might think so as long as he knows where you’re going (and sometimes why), he’ll let you do whatever

never, never ever leave without telling him

he will hunt your sorry ass down and pull you back to wherever you guys are staying by the ear scolding you like some grandma

you may or may not do it just because you find it funny and kind of cute

anything he finds interesting he’ll bring to you or he’ll bring you to it

i can fuckign guarantee he dragged your ass to see edogai

he sometimes enjoys making you jealous, he never feels bad about it and finds it weirdly endearing when you get angry at him

he teases the shit out of you like seriously

remember that one stupid thing you did two years ago?

yeah he still remembers that

tsurumi himself doesn’t feel jealousy much since like i said he trusts you, but shit does he not trust anyone else nearly as much

if anything he’s possessive. he wants to make sure there’s no one you love more than him, care for more than him, so on and so forth

and vice versa, he’ll be sure to remind you somehow that you’re the only he trusts so much

he’s also very open about this trusts, which may or may not place you in an awkward spot with the rest of the seventh division

despite them being slightly salty about it coughcoughkoitocoughcough, they do look at you w respect bc anyone their lieutenant likes, they will try to like too

fun fact tsurumi made you immediately move in with him as soon as you started seeing each other because jesus fucking christ he’s so impatient sometimes

probably has a secret plan to not only change japan but to also make gay marriage legally recognized on his Ultimate Objectives list

doesn’t kiss or hold hands a whole lot but he likes putting an arm around your shoulders or waist

but he’s okay with it if you ask for it so that’s always nice

#golden kamuy #golden kamui #golden kamuy imagine #golden kamui imagine #golden kamuy headcannons #tsurumi

[thesportssoundoff]

“Meet 2018, Lookin’ A Lot Like 2017“ UFC Fight Night From St. Louis

Joey

Jan 7th, 2017

The UFC ended 2017 on a bit of a hot streak as every event in December was at the very least enjoyable and in a perfect world, that's your springboard as we head into 2018. It's only fitting I suppose that 2018 begins with a continuation of the very ills that haunted 2017. The first show of 2018 is a tremendous eclectic mix of well put together fights on short-ish notice with no real big headliner to tie it all together. It's the best the UFC could do on short-ish notice while also filling up their schedule; a common refrain for 2017 that has seeped into 2018. Now don't mistake that for this card not being good; it is a very, very solid show on paper and with an NFL playoff lead in (the UFC will air on FS1 basically right as the Vikings vs Panthers/Saints game ends) it's going to do one of the bigger numbers of the year. It's just a bummer there's no big main event to launch the career of a star or build a big momentum leading title fight. Jeremy Stephens vs Doo Ho Choi is a fantastic fight and a great headliner for however long it lasts while popular fighters like Uriah Hall, Vitor Belfort, Paige Van Zant, Jessica Eye, Thiago Alves and Michael Johnson are all filtered throughout the show. Throw in some fine matchmaking on short notice and another step in Kamaru Usman's potential title fight picture and we're on our way, fellas!

Fights: 13

Debuts: 1 (Matt Frevola)

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 0

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC):  9 (Uriah Hall, Vitor Belfort, Paige Van Zant, Thiago Alves, Jessica Eye, Jessica Rose Clark, Michael Johnson, Darren Elkins, Zak Cummings)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC:  3 (Irene Aldana, Jessica Eye, Michael Johnson)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC:  5 (Darren Elkins, Zak Cummings, Kamaru Usman, Danielle Taylor, Kyung Ho Kang)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2016 (in the UFC): 12-8-1

Jeremy Stephens- 2-2 Doo Ho Choi- 1-1   Uriah Hall- 1-2 Vitor Belfort- 1-2-1 Jessica Rose Clark- 1-0 Paige Van Zant- 1-1 Kamaru Usman- 4-0 Emil Meek- 1-0

Too High Up- Matt Frevola vs Marco Polo Reyes

Matt Frevola's debut fight off of the DWTCS settles him in as apart of the FS! prelim slate. I get why he's there; Frevola's a fun  exciting LW newbie who probably has a bright future with the Serra-Longo team behind him. Marco Polo Reyes hits REALLY hard and tends to be in exciting fights for however long they last. Having said that, this is a showcase fight for Frevola and really isn't even the best LW fight on the prelim slate. This could've been a lot lower.

Down Too Low- Danielle Taylor vs JJ Aldrich

Neither fighter is big on the action fight category so I get it. Having said that, it's a fight that should probably be on the FS1 prelims if only because the winner will be one of the rare ladies on a winning streak at 115 lbs. Aldrich showcased skills in her first two fights and is a training partner for current champ Rose Namajunas whereas Danielle Taylor is on a two fight winning streak with one of those wins being vs former contender Jessica Penne. This isn't even the Fight Pass headliner for cripes sake, man.

Stat Monitor for 2017:

Debuting Fighters (Current number: 0-0): Matt Frevola

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 0-0): N/A

Second Fight (Current number: 0-0): Mads Burnell, Mike Santiago, Jessica Rose Clark, Emil Meek, Talita Bernardo, Kalindra Faria

Cage Corrosion (0-0): Emil Meek, Paige Van Zant, Kyung Ho Kang, Guido Cannetti, Jessica Eye,  Marco Polo Reyes, Doo Ho Choi

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- The main event is going to be a very serious test for what a prospect can learn from a loss and what is or isn't a fatal flaw. Its okay if Doo Ho Choi can't fight as good going backwards as he can going forwards. It would be a flaw but one that's non fatal in nature. If he simply CAN'T fight going backwards then THAT is a fatal flaw and the sort of flaw that cuts a prospects upside off at the knees. Choi looked awesome fighting going forwards vs Cub Swanson but when Cub (and Jackson-Wink) realized that Choi could only handle one way traffic, things went bad and in a hurry. Choi also gassed something serious which isn't surprising given his come forward nature and the power he puts behind his shots---but this fight is five rounds vs a dude who has been historically durable beyond measure. We're going to learn a lot here.

2- Food for thought for those who like to eat ideas; Choi has zero wins who remain in the UFC. Jeremy Stephens isn't as versatile or adept as Cub Swanson but he's probably as durable if not more so, he hits REALLY hard and has a style which will trouble Doo Ho Choi from the jump. That;s not to say that Choi can't win but if he does, I feel like that'll almost speak as loudly as a win over Cub Swanson would've.

3- Is there a single doubt that this card peaks viewership wise during PVZ vs Jessica Rose Clark?

4- Uriah Hall's biggest ability is neither his striking nor his cardio but his availability. Another MW would've been cut after three straight losses but Hall's "fight anybody anywhere anytime" style keeps him employed and it rewarded him with a awesome come from behind KO over Kryzstof Jotko his last time out. Hall's reward for that win is Vitor Belfort in the co-main event of a show that should do a happy, healthy viewership number. Good for Hall who genuinely seems like one of MMA's good guys in the sport.

5- Would Stephens vs Aldo be a good fight if Stephens wins?

6- Kamaru Usman's path to nowhere in the UFC's WW division raises what I think it is an interesting question going forward; should a fighter be removed from the top 10 if they refuse a fight for reasons other than injury? It really doesn't make sense that the UFC can't find a single guy in the top 10 willing to take a fight with Kamaru Usman and it hurts Usman and the UFC over the long haul that a division could have an artery clog as high as #7 or 8 in the rankings. So would that provision be in the best interest of the UFC? Could we modify it to anybody OUTSIDE of the top 5?

7- Staying with that thought, Emil Meek is the epitome of high risk, low reward for Usman. Meek is long, hits hard, attacks from awkward angles and on the feet will represent a collection of stylistic challenges for Usman. On the ground, I mean I got no idea. I know he's ridiculously strong but I doubt that'll help much if Usman is able to get him down as he's want to do.

8- Whomever thinks it's a good idea for Michael Johnson, he of suspect cardio and of a massive frame, to drop to 145 lbs probably doesn't care much about Michael Johnson.

9- James Krause has not beaten anybody who remains in the UFC. On the other hand, his losses are legitimate with L's vs Bobby Green, Jorge Masvidal and Valmir Lazaro. In many ways, he and Alex White are similar in that they lose to who they're expected to lose to and beat who they're expected to beat with an exception here or there. Krause seems to be transitioning into a coaching capacity going forward so this could be his final chance to really make a run in the UFC.

10- We've got four WMMA fights across three weight classes. Feel like that's the highest that number has ever been outside of femme TUF finales. We've sort of poked around on PVZ/Jessica Rose Clark and Taylor/Aldrich but let's touch on two other fights. Talita Bernando vs Irene Aldana is a battle of fighters who lost to Leslie Smith. Bernado fell off the map after the loss whereas Aldana lost to Kaitlyn Chookagian via very close disputed split decision. I personally thought she won. At 0-2, this could be her last chance to do anything of note. Kalindra Faria is better than she showed vss Mara Romero Borella at UFC 216 and she faces Jessica Eye who HAS to be on her last legs, right? Right? I mean seriously.

11- Let's talk briefly about Zak Cummings. If you had told me that Cummings would go from being a dude who pinch hit at 205 lbs to competing successfully at 170 lbs, I would've been pretty much stunned out of my mind. To his credit, Cummings has made good on that drop down with two losses at 170 lbs; one to the very good Santiago Ponzinibbio and the other a total stylistic booboo vs Gunnar Nelson. He faces Thiago Alves in what has the potential to be a career altering win for him assuming he can pick it up.

12- Dana White's Tuesday Night Contenders Series has had a great return on its investment but can Matt Frevola be the next guy to follow in behind those dudes?

Must Wins

1- Paige Van Zant

The UFC needs to 1) get back on the same page as PVZ and 2) Paige to carry this 125 lb weight class. If she can do the latter, the former will come into focus in theory. PVZ vs Jessica Rose Clark is giving Paige someone she's historically aced; fighters who aren't overpowering in nature and who are way below her on the athletic totem pole. A loss to Jessica Rose Clark, a competent opponent designed to make her look good, would be soul crushing for her stock.

2- Uriah Hall

URiah's walked his way up back into relevancy with a big comeback win vs Kryzstof Jotko and now he gets Vitor Belfort in his UFC retirement fight. This is the sort of fight that Hall has continuously struggled with during his time in the UFC; a guy who has power and fights tentative enough to where Hall overthinks it because he's afraid of getting clocked, dropped and finished.

3- Danielle Taylor

Taylor is probably not somebody the UFC sees a whole lot of value in. She's a somewhat dull fighter who is woefully undersized for 115 lbs and always seems to be left hoping for some mercy from the judges. She's on a two fight winning streak at 115 lbs and might be two wins away from serious top 10 level contention. Gotta beat a very tough game JJ Aldrich to get there though.

Five Can't Miss Fights

1- Jeremy Stephens vs Doo Ho Choi

2- Zak Cummings vs Thiago Alves

3- Marco Polo Reyes vs Matt Frevola

4- Kamaru Usman vs Emil Meek

5- Uriah Hall vs Vitor Belfort

Predict The Post Fight Talking Points:

1- Michael Johnson’s failed move to 145 lbs.

2- Is Paige Van Zant going to fight for a title now?

3- Was Doo Ho Choi rushed or this the natural course for him?

#MMA #UFC #Fight Night #St Louis #Kamaru Usman #Emil Meek

[sasuke-diaries]

some SasuGaa blank period headcanons because why not:

- getting to know Sasuke was a pretty interesting experience for Gaara. everything Gaara knew about him came from what Naruto would say, so he was surprised to see how... different Sasuke seemed from Naruto's descriptions. Sasuke really wasn't anything like he expected.

- I think Sasuke will move to Suna before they officially consider themselves a “couple.” he doesn’t feel at “home” in Konoha, but his relationship with Gaara strengthens by the minute, since he never bothers to visit Konoha during his self-reflection journey yet he always made an effort to visit Gaara at least once a week. he practically lived in the Kazekage mansion and Gaara knew it, which is why he would be the one to propose Sasuke just move in with him.

- during the beginning of their relationship, both Gaara and Sasuke were met with criticism every which way. neither exactly cared when they were personally attacked but got very defensive when the other was, Sasuke especially. ("There are only a handful of people I care about and even a smaller amount that I love. None of you will ruin this for me.") Sasuke still has Suna council members that hold a grudge against him for the things he said, but neither of them are bothered by it anymore. the village accepts them, and their friends and family accept them, so that's all that matters.

- Sasuke's very combative with Suna's council, and Gaara's conflicted about it because on one hand "We have to be respectful, Sasuke" but on the other hand Sasuke almost always says what he's thinking anyway.

- surprisingly, Sasuke got along quite well with Kankuro and Temari. except they all bonded over their tendency to stop Gaara from overworking himself (Gaara would argue there should be quotes around “overworking” because he thinks it’s fine but none of them are having it). as long as Sasuke cares about Gaara, there’s really nothing for them to be upset about.

- when Sasuke first moved to Suna, Gaara took some time out of his evenings to show him around. it worked as both a date-like setting since they both love taking walks, and as a way to familiarize Sasuke with his surroundings. Gaara’s practical in everything he does even when it’s unintentional.

- I think Sasuke's status in Suna would work out similarly to the way it does in canon. Sasuke's situation has always been odd, because he's still technically a missing nin therefore he has no "rank," but he's so respected by Suna's government officials and influential enough that he can be considered some sort of "Shadow Kazekage" (except this time he isn't fucking around in random dimensions).

- that being said, Gaara is still much more of a public figure than Sasuke is. which makes sense but also sucks because that means he's the one stuck doing TV interviews. Sasuke's usually backstage clearly amused at Gaara's camera shyness (even though Sasuke himself is as stiff as a board on live television, but he'll never admit to it).

- late night talks (if they’re still awake, which Gaara almost always is) are everything for these two, whether it be in bed or outside somewhere in the village. they’re the type of people that are always thinking about something, and the quietness of the village at night helps them organize their personal thoughts and share them with each other. 

- Gaara once tilted his head at Kankuro calling him "Gaara Uchiha" because "We don't even use last names here." when asked if that meant he wasn't taking Sasuke's name, he honestly had no idea what to say. the whole "who is taking whose name" conversation has yet to come up.

- Sasuke will occasionally find himself waking up from nightmares at 3ish AM, internally glad for a moment that Gaara's awake for him to talk to, but then irritated at the fact that Gaara's still doing paperwork at this hour:

"Sasuke, what's wrong? Why are you awake?"

"Why are you?"

- Gaara had no idea how to react to the truth about the Uchiha Massacre, and still is struggling to figure out what exactly he should do about it, if anything at all. it's very clear to him that Sasuke wants the truth to be revealed even if he hasn't mentioned it to any Konoha officials, but Gaara isn't sure if he'd be overstepping his boundaries by butting into a conflict like that. either way, at every Kage Summit or meeting, there's always a brief moment when they both feel the urge to just spill right then and there, but they aren't sure when would be the appropriate time. Sasuke's not as tense as Gaara about it though, who when he first found out was even more awkward towards Kakashi than he was before.

- Sasuke is such a little spoon it's not even funny. he just loves being near Gaara. he's the one with his head on Gaara's lap, the one that silently demands cuddles & affection, etc etc. he knows Gaara has a meeting with the Mizukage, but it's 4 AM, he's tired, and he wants to sleep on his Gaara Pillow for as long as possible.

- that being said, they're definitely not big on PDA, although sometimes when they're in their own little world they unintentionally display affection anyway. Sasuke's fond of holding Gaara's hand under tables/playing with it when he's not really invested in whatever conversation is being held in front of them.

- the fact that Gaara found friends in Team Taka still kinda surprises him to this day. the first time they met, they had walked into Gaara's office unannounced. some shark looking dude and a girl with red hair (an Uzumaki?) were loudly arguing while Sasuke was lying on the couch and Gaara was working on his laptop. Sasuke was irritated, because he specifically told Suigetsu they were meeting on the 27th, not the 7th (cue Karin hitting Suigetsu on the head). still, he decided to take this as an opportunity to introduce the team. when Sasuke mentioned there being a fourth member who was absent for some reason (”Where’s Juugo?”), there was a knock on the door. apparently Juugo stayed outside because he thought it'd be rude to just barge in like that, which Gaara silently appreciated although he didn’t really have a problem with the other two. after that, they became regular visitors in the Kazekage mansion: Karin usually provided her input on how to improve Suna's mental health facilities and spread awareness, Juugo found an interest in helping Gaara tend to his cacti (and giving him a newfound appreciation for other species of wildlife), and while Suigetsu liked teasing Gaara, he was really an interesting person to talk to.

- also Juugo is probably the biggest SasuGaa shipper of them all, followed by Karin (who isn’t far behind in the slightest, trust me), and Suigetsu, who isn’t all that interested in other people’s relationships but happy for them nonetheless.

- speaking of Taka, sometimes Sasuke accompanies them on their travels for about a week or so. I think it's safe to say Gaara is kinda... sad while he's gone. they try to call each other as much as they can, but one of the reasons why Sasuke even lives in Suna is because Gaara's too busy to use his personal phone and reach out without putting his work on hold. because of this, Gaara feels a bit lonely, and he's definitely relieved once Sasuke comes back.

- Gaara is not a great kisser but neither is Sasuke so they don’t really notice. it’s not until Sasuke bites his tongue for the 28th time that they realize something needs to change. 

- sometime in the near future Sasuke is going to demand that they drop a lot of the load off the Kazekage's shoulders and onto newer divisions that would actually have the time to deal with that shit. ("Sasuke, are you sure about this?" "The guy assigning S Rank missions shouldn't also be in charge of Academy admissions, Gaara). it turns out to be a lot more efficient and gives Gaara more free time than he knows what to do with.

this was longer than expected and not as... romantic... but damnit let SasuGaa be great!!!!!!

#sasugaa #gaasasu #headcanon #i am not the best romance writer #but i try and that's all that matters!

[sukikobold]

Guess I was encouraged to actually talk about this so….?

There’s a LOT of big anime spoilers in here, so just warning.

I’m going to start where my thoughts started but I apologize in advance because I’m sure there are people reading (maybe) who like this ship.

Sooo every once in a while I’ll run into some fanart of Mob and Tsubomi being a thing, and I find myself annoyed. Maybe not annoyed annoyed, but I will immediately start thinking through the reasons why I don’t believe that can be a thing. Or if it is, it won’t last very long and probably won’t end that well. Yeah, Tsubomi is a huge motivation to Mob and why he started working to improve himself, but he hasn’t actually spoken to her in the entirety of the show. I see this plot as something like the crush plot in Gravity Falls. Dipper had a HUGE crush on Wendy and she was his motivation for doing things (a lot of times the wrong thing) in most of the season 1 episodes, but it never went farther than that. Heck, they actually got along really well and it didn’t go farther than that. Similarly, I feel like Tsubomi is going to be “that girl I had a crush on in middle/elementary school”. Unless ONE gives her some major development in a later plotline. I’m doubtful though.

I think my biggest issue with it is how she dropped him like a dead fish once she got bored of his powers. Yeah they were little kids, but it still bugs me. That means that she didn’t play with him because she thought he was nice or fun or anything. She played with him because he was entertaining, and when he stopped being entertaining, that was the end of that.

This got me to thinking about Mob’s other relationships, specifically his good ones, and what make them his good ones.

Mob’s friendships, his good friendships, are not based around his powers. Maybe his powers caused their meeting, maybe they created a conflict or something, but they aren’t the reason that person still likes him or hangs out with him. They don’t see psychic powers as the trait that absolutely defines him. Maybe this is too obvious for me to be describing so much, as any good relationships should be like this, but I guess I’m still talking about it. >->;

Reigen is by far the best example of this. If fact, a chunk of my argument of how good a person he is is based on it. Yes, he uses Mob’s powers. That’s why he employs him. But when they go out to eat or talk about school or anything like that, he never mentions them. If Mob brings up concerns about them or is having problems, they’ll become a conversation topic. But even then, it ends in Reigen explain how they aren’t what makes him special. Even when they first met (and before Reigen knew Mob was a real psychic, mind you) he told him they were just another characteristic, that they didn’t define him. And they certainly aren’t why Reigen cares about him so much.

The Body Improvement Club is another really good example, because at least within the anime, they aren’t even aware he has psychic powers, I don’t think. They just see a guy who wants to improve himself and are 100% behind him because that’s what their club is all about. Even though he’s anemic and passes out a lot.

Teru is one of the ones who first interacted with Mob specifically because of his powers. Afterwards his entire life view was flipped and he realized that he, too, was not a special person because he had powers. But it wasn’t just that Mob shattered his conceit. I don’t think they would have become friends just on that. Teru did not believe people could change prior to their fight. He relied completely on his powers because he didn’t believe he was capable of improving at anything else. Then he sees Mob, a thousand times stronger than he is, trying to improve himself physically. Even if it’s hard and will take a long time, he’s still trying. I think that’s what kept Teru thinking as positively as he did following that fight. He believed that even though he wasn’t as special as he used to think, he could still change and make something better out of himself. I think that’s the reason he insisted on helping Mob when everything with Claw started happening.

Ritsu is…complicated (one-word summary for his entire character arc). He always knew Mob had powers. that was a constant in his life. But again, not the reason they got along so well as brothers. During the height of Ritsu’s…issues, he says that that friendship was never real, but I’m not sure I believe him. He’s so caught up in convincing himself that his actions are justified (even if he says there’s no rhyme or reason to them) that his perspective on how he’s felt in the past is skewed. Yes, he was scared and stressed because of how badly he wanted powers. But he still loved Mob. That much is proven about ten minutes following him saying how them getting along was an act. Even more so after everything with the 7th division is done. He believes Mob’s powers are the absolute strongest, but that isn’t why he’s so devoted to him.

It’s a minor thing, but I really like how his parents treat him. And his powers. His dad talks about them like it’s a normal part of growing up, just another part of puberty. His mom is annoyed by all the spoon bending (not that you can blame her if she has to keep replacing them) and calls it a bad habit, but in a way that it could be nail biting or something equally commonplace. They never talk as if they’re unusual or supernatural and this was probably extremely good for Mob growing up.

So uh, long story short. Mob’s best relationships are only made when people look past his powers. They don’t see an insanely strong psychic. They see Mob. This is probably the intended theme of the whole show but, uh, I guess I just ended up thinking about it way too much this morning. o-o;

#writing stuff #kinda? #mp100 #character analysis #amanda talks too much #don't even know how easy it is to follow my thoughts here #but here they are #spoilers #mp100 spoilers #I should probably go through and edit this #... #meh

[racingtoaredlight]

My Favorite Memory of Grandfather

***The man of the far left is Robert Edsel, the guy who heads up Monuments Men.  The guy with the papers is the German ambassador and he’s shaking hands with my grandfather.

My grandfather is 94 years old and won’t be around much longer.  He’s lived an incredible life, raised an incredible family, ran incredible businesses, and is one of the most important people in my life.

He hasn’t really been the same since a stroke in January 2015, essentially losing all of his short term memory and physical abilities.  Still though, my two grandfathers serve such lasting memories and have taught me such great lessons that I consider them as important in forming who I am as a person today, as I do my parents.

I say all that despite not being very close with my grandfather.  There are reasons for that...

As a lot of guys from his generation, my grandfather was not exactly what you would call a “warm, inviting” man.  He was demanding.  Strict.  Had about as much tolerance for bullshit as...something very intolerant of bullshit.  But what could you really expect?

This was a guy who voluntarily left Ohio University in his last semester before graduation, to enlist in the army.  He didn’t know if he was going to Europe or Japan, but what he knew was that there were asses that needed kicking and he was pretty damn good at it.

They shipped him of to Sicily, where he made it up though Italy and then into the thick of the fighting against the Nazi’s in Germany.  After the war, he came back and ran restaurants in one of the most Mafia dominated cities in the US, completely clean and uncorrupted.  To tell you the balls that takes would require a lesson in Cleveland history that we don’t need to get into.

The other reason I wasn’t particularly close with my grandfather is that I never felt, until probably three or four years ago, that I measured up to a worthy grandson in his eyes.  I felt like a disappointment.  A failure to the family and his genetics.

It didn’t matter that, even when he was physically able, I was a good four inches taller and 50-to-a-lot-more pounds heavier...there was never a doubt that he would beat my fucking ass in a heartbeat, if need be.  He was the epitome of Old Man Strength.

One of the reasons I always felt like a failure in his eyes was because of something that happened when I was in 7th grade...I spent a few weeks starving myself to cut weight for football, only to not really give a shit about football.  Which didn’t sit well with him.

My parents went out of town for a week, leaving us with my grandparents.  I used that week to lie to my football coaches about why I was missing practice, just so I could play video games with my friends instead.  My grandfather knew I was doing this, but didn’t say a thing.

Our football team was loaded back then.  Best in our division.  I played guard and defensive tackle.  We were playing some middling school that we should’ve mercy rule’d, but instead, we got upset.

Tears erupted on the car ride home.  I was devastated.  Despite missing practice, I played a helluva game...made a kid cry because I beat his ass so bad playing guard.  Got a sack.  But we lost and I wasn’t taking it well.

Consolation is not what I received.  I got lit into.  “How can you be sad if you don’t even care enough to support your teammates in practice?!?”  “Is this who your parents are raising you to be?”  “Maybe if you cared this much you wouldn’t have been playing video games.”

This made it worse.  He was right.  I knew it the whole time, but coupled with the pain of losing and the burdensome weight of me letting my teammates down all week, it wasn’t until later that I truly got it.

I was doing homework later that night, still upset, when he came over and wanted to talk.

He told me about the value of teamwork and solidarity and how it was these things that got him through Europe.  How it was the unifying experience of going through every level of the same shit that bonded people closer and gave them shared experiences in which they could find inspiration.

My grandfather never talked much about the war.  I have a feeling that his experiences there were horrifying, and I don’t need his verbal confirmation to validate that.  But that day he did.

He was telling me all about this one fortification and how if they didn’t capture it, it would likely mean the loss of dozens of American lives.  How they were shot at the entire time, had to deal with mines, traps, dogs.  And how, just before they finally got it, the squad’s sergeant got shot because my grandfather was careless in making sure the room was completely clear.

I could see the tears welling up in his eyes as he was telling this story.  In comparison, a grade school football loss is nothing compared to losing your best friends in combat, but the lesson was salient all the same, one that I’ll never forget.

As my grandfather was cradling his sergeant in his arms, watching the life drain from his eyes, his sergeant grabbed him by the shirt, looked him dead in the eyes and said...

“are dicks are also bigger”

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fín

*yes that is my real grandfather **some of this is true

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#filler #whimsy #are dicks are also bigger

[rancidtomatoes]

Race Report: Whiteface Mountain Uphill Bike Race

Signing up for the 18th Annual Whiteface Mountain Uphill Bike Race wasn’t my idea. I’ll own the choice, of course, but I wouldn’t have even heard about it if my friend Phil hadn’t asked me to do it. I was in the midst of concussion recovery at the time, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sign up in part in order to give myself a temporary feeling of hope. Surely I’d be better by May 31st. If I sign up for a race, then it’ll make sure that comes true! Magical thinking, to be sure. Luckily it worked out okay this time.

We had a drive of about 3 hours to get to Wilmington, NY, where Whiteface Mountain rises above the surrounding ridge lines at the eastern edge of the Adirondacks. Lake Champlain was on the way, so we treated ourselves to a ferry ride while we tried to pick the mountain out from the landscape across the water. We never did quite determine which one it was.

Ferry across Lake Champlain

A couple of guys from Burlington wandered by and chatted with us briefly.

“You racing?” one asked.

“Yeah,” Phil answered, “Whiteface. You?”

The guy nodded, because obviously there was only one race all of us were thinking about. He looked up at my bike on top of the car, an Orbea Terra gravel road bike with 28 mm slick tires. Phil’s was a Trek Checkpoint, a similar machine, with slightly wider gravel tires. “You riding on those?”

“Yeah,” I said, a little unsure about the pointedness of his question.

“Wow,” he answered.

“What are you guys riding?” Phil asked.

“Mountain bikes,” the guy answered, as if it were obvious, and he and his flat-brimmed hat bid us good luck and wandered off.

For the next hour, as we completed our drive to the base of the mountain, Phil had something close to a minor meltdown as he parsed the conversation and tried to decipher what the guy had meant by his line of questioning, his clearly loaded, Owen Wilson-like remark of “Wow” and his utterly straightforward statement that he and his friend were riding MTBs. Did he think we were idiots for our bike choices? Or did he think he was the idiot, now seeing what we were riding? What did it mean, and what would possess a person to convey such apparent passive aggression directed solely to a person’s choice of ride? Were we idiots for riding these bikes? Were we even going to the right race? What day was it? Why were their brims so incredibly flat?

We arrived in Wilmington quite early, with hours to spare before the race was to start. We walked over the bridge spanning the Ausable River and found our way into the ski lodge, where we picked up our race packets, which included helmet stickers, bike stickers with timing chips in them, the largest number bibs I’d ever seen, t-shirts and exactly zero snacks. Good thing we brought our own. Phil had all kinds of goodies from home to choose from for on-the-bike nutrition, including some special power cookies his wife baked. I had opted for a singular choice item: a refillable energy gel bottle containing 100% pure maple syrup. That, combined with water and endurance formula in my bottles, was what I hoped would keep life in my legs as I scaled the mountain in a few hours.

The Ausable River

After I gathered my race accouterments from the helpful check-in folks, I asked them a question which had occurred to me.

“Is there another race here soon?”

“Yes,” one said, “a 50 or 100-km qualifier for Leadville.”

And suddenly, it all made sense. Those guys on the ferry thought we were doing Wilmington Whiteface. They thought we were going to be riding single track for 60 miles, on slick 28-mm tires! “Wow,” indeed. We had a good laugh about that, and “Wowwww” became an instant catch-phrase for the rest of the day.

We decided to cruise down the course a bit, just to check out the opening three mile prologue, and see what interesting things we could find in town. We saw a bunch of guys fishing the river, and watched one of them pull a sizable fish out. We stopped in a local shop and got some chocolate for the kids and wives. We saw a giant metal bike statue and debated climbing on top of it, but ultimately left such shenanigans to the presumed local youth to get arrested for. A gaunt man with a beard was lost and tried to get into a locked building nearby. I said to Phil, “That’s either a hardcore cyclist or a meth addict.” Not a minute later, he asked us where to check in for the bike race. #nailedit

At the start

Finally, it got close to race time. We changed into our kits and took a little warm-up spin up the hill behind the parking lot. Phil had a little trouble with his cadence sensor, but we got it sorted. A lot of folks were really clamoring to start near the front of the pack, which surprised us considering it was a chip-timed race and drafting wasn’t going to be a major factor, so it didn’t really seem to matter when you actually started. Phil had a theory that the best strategy (if you were racing to win) might be to hammer the first 3-mile downhill section, though, so maybe the draft was a bigger player than it seemed. In any case, we opted to start comfortably from the back.

The national anthem was sung, the Canadian national anthem was played, we got the most anti-climactic count-down in history, and the race was underway!

As I mentioned, the first three miles were essentially downhill. I deliberately played it cool here, trying to spin up the legs in a relatively high cadence and to really back off the power. There was enough of a descent that I was clipping along basically without working. Then we hit the corner, and the climb began.

Once I settled in, I kept an eye on my numbers and found that an average of 340 watts felt about right. I was working, but I wasn’t hammering, and my heart rate was staying below threshold. I found my most comfortable gear and got to work.

My numbers from the corner to approx. the toll booth

There was the slightest of reprieves while passing the tool booth, and then it was nothing but up, for a section of about 4 miles that featured the steepest sections of the climb. Partway through this section, I took my first hit of maple syrup. It went down smooth and quick, and much easier than energy gel. I also didn’t feel like I had to wash it down with water to clear it out of my mouth. So far so good.

My numbers from the toll booth to the first switchback

Because of how the road is laid out, I could see the switchbacks quite a ways before I got to them. They were laid out high above me on the side of the mountain. I knew that they were only a couple of short miles away, so it was a bit daunting to consider how high I had to climb in order to reach them, especially knowing the gradient it would take.

My legs were doing okay, but started to get a little crampy and uncomfortable at around mile 8 or so. Originally I had intended to ride a bit easier until this point, and then put the power down. As it turned out, I rode a rather more consistent power output, so I didn’t have a whole lot of reserves to draw from. I was going steady, though, so I figured I’d just keep on with my 340 watts and see how that worked out.

By the time I reached the first switchback, I had enjoyed some amazing views, passed two unicyclists, hit my second dose of maple syrup (so good), seen a guy riding deliberately crosswise across the road repeatedly (to rest his legs, I guess?), gotten slightly annoyed by someone with a squeaky bike that I couldn’t drop, and been told “I like that gear you’re in.” As in, complimenting me on my specific choice of gearing. At that moment. I guess? I still haven’t figured that one out.

I knew from simulating the ride indoors that the switchbacks provided some measure of relief, and were the time to drop the hammer for sure, if there was any hammer left to drop. I latched on to the wheel of a guy about my size, who I had noticed from his bib that he was also in the Clydesdale division like me, and followed him up and around the second switchback. Then I went by him and made for the finish.

Making my move

I had enough legs left to put down a sprint for the finish of about 0:20. It was completely unnecessary, and nobody was sprinting with me, but I don’t get to race in bike races very often, so it felt right. It was an experience I had never had, and I wanted to go for it.

Sprint to the line. Note the significant drop in temperature.

Still recovering from my sprint

After I got through the chute and received my finisher’s medal, I pedaled around the courtyard of the little castle-like structure that is at the summit to behold a magnificent view of the surrounding landscape. It was a great reward for doing the work to climb to the top. I took a couple of quick photos and then went back to the finish line to cheer on Phil, who was only minutes behind me. I managed to get a decent video of him crossing the line. We took a few more shots and drank some Gatorade, then put on our sleeves and started the ride back down. It was getting cold quickly so we didn’t spend a lot of time up top.

The first switchback, seen from the summit

The ride down was at once fun, beautiful, exciting and harrowing. We were cruising at 40 mph with our brakes engaged. If we had been alone on the mountain, we probably would have let it rip a little more, but there were still people climbing the hill, cars driving up and down both ways, and other cyclists heading down. With a lot of blind corners, it didn’t seem prudent to be going full speed with no chance to stop suddenly if necessary. It was also really cold, and I had to adjust my hands and arms periodically just to make sure that I could, in fact, still feel them.

We made it down safe and sound, and then cruised back to the ski area for food and to check out the results. I ended up in 7th out of 26th in the Clydesdale division (190 lbs+), with an official recorded time of 1:19:25. I was pretty darn happy with that effort. I don’t know that I could have done it much faster if I had changed anything, and I don’t know what I could have changed. It was pretty close to the best execution I could manage on the day. You can’t ask for much more than that.

The drive home was long and dark, but still a good time and there was plenty to recount and reflect on from the day.

I was very glad to be able to do this race. It’s one that I don’t think I will ever forget.

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#Blog #General #Racing #bike race #cycling #hill climb #maple syrup. #race report #uphill bike race