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#i was in elementary school. i only lived there for 1st & part of 2nd grade. but there was a big forest behind the house that all us kids
2centsnobodyasked4 · 2 years
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Dear Josue,
Just like the previous two boys I've written to, you were also a first crush. You were officially my first REAL crush though, the first one I obsessed about and whose face I still remember.
Lets go back to second grade.
So I lived in Mexico with my grandparents until I was six years old. My mom was living in the United States where she gave birth to my brother so they were now living there. When I was going to enter 2nd grade my mom asked if I wanted to go live with her which of course I was so excited. I had missed her so much. My mom was living with one of her sisters (my aunt) who had two daughters, lexi and mickey. My mom was technically and illegal immigrant. She had crossed legally with a tourist visa, but just overstayed her welcome. She worked as house keeper for a very long time, even while my brother was a baby. I'm so proud of my mom for her hustle, she really is my hero. Anyway, so my mom enrolled me in the elementary near by where because my birthday was late in September they had argued that I should be placed in 1st grade. My mom was not having any of it. She argued that I was already in 1st grade in Mexico and that I needed to go on into 2nd grade. According to my mom, they had me take a couple of exams and determined that I was in fact smart enough to be placed in the 2nd grade.
Now, I dont remember if I was in ESL classes or bilingual classes, I'm not familiar with the program i was placed in. I just know that the class was in Spanish with some English sprinkled in.
So anyway, one of my classmates was this beautiful boy, you.
You really were the most beautiful boy I had ever seen. I still have our class picture, and I can still see the you were the cutest in the class. As I started telling my friends about my crush, suddenly I discovered that I was not the only one under your spell. Who could even blame them. Of course we were all too young for you to even care. It was just all of us girls swooning over you.
Now I'm not sure if you were only my classmate in 2nd grade, but I do know that my crush lasted during 3rd and 4th grade. Every time I would see you in the playground, there I was stalking you with my eyes. I remember we would even go on the same bus, so i lowkey knew where you lived. One of my aunts lived near you so a lot of times I would beg my mom for us to drive by your house, she had no idea why. I just kept telling her "I just want to look at the houses here". Damn, my stalker years really started off when i was young.
The only memory I can think of right now of "interaction" that we had, wasn't even really a one on one. But since it was humiliating it stuck in my brain.
So at home, my mom would always playfully spank me and say "andele". So one day in class I did that to my female friend. Playfully I came behind her and spanked her while saying "andele" which just means 'there you go'. So a boy saw me and was shook and went over to tell you. I was right there when he told you the following....keep in mind, we were like 7 years old, "do you know what a lesbian is?" you nodded your head, "well, thats what she is, she just spanked her". Um excuse me sir, what? To be honest, i dont think I even knew what a lesbian was, but i used context clues to figure it out. I was just embarrassed on being called out liked that and that it was now what you thought of me. But in fact, I dont think we ever actually crossed any words. It was just my villain stalker origin story.
Like I said, my crush lasted a good 3 years (2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade). When it came down for middle school, I had moved so I was now going to a different school in a whole different part of town. So no one that I grew up with was going to be there. And I thought I was never going to see you again.....WRONG.
Years had passed, and my life had changed. Last time I had seen you I was around 9 years old, and all of a sudden here I was 13 years old seeing you again. I actually saw all my old friends but that's a story for a different time. I knew the second I saw you that it was you. Of course you were so much taller, a big bigger, but your beautiful face was still the same. I no longer had any feelings for you, but seeing you from far away was enough for a closure. I just turned around and walked away.
Will I ever see you again? Eh, I probably have but I just didnt realize. But, I'll just keep you in my childhood memory.
EDIT: OMG! I decided to look you up on fb, and I have a friend in common with you (who happened to be my best friend back in 2nd grade), and DAMMMMNN BOY! You look fineee! If I wasn't married and pregnant I'd be sliding in your DM's...just kidding. I'd be too chicken.
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masongrizchel · 8 months
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Day 203 of 365
When I was a kid.
When I was a kid, I thought that life would be a little bit easier compared to what I had during that time. I only wish for simple things in life—a life where I can get what I want in an instant. I envy most of the kids who can get what they want in an instant. During my 2nd or 3rd grade (as far as I remember), they had this pocket game like Tamagochi, but it was more of a Digimon game. So I checked it on Google, and it was a Digimon virtual pet; that was the thing back then. I used to see some of my classmates or other schoolmates play with it during their breaks. I WAS SO JEALOUS, but I repressed this feeling since my mom emphasized the rough times that we had during that time. I originally enrolled in a private school (kindergarten to 1st grade); however, for unknown reasons, my mom decided to enroll us in a public school somewhere in Bicol. There are lots of adjustments for an 8-year-old kid. Back in my former school, our class hours were only in the morning (half-day). But it was totally different at the school where I spent my two years of elementary school. We spend most of our time at school. We start our school at 8:00 a.m. and go up to 11:30 a.m., there was a lunch break of one and a half hours where we could play. The classes will resume by 1:00 p.m. or 1:30 p.m., then the dismissal period is 4:30 p.m. I have walked from school to our home for an hour; we normally arrive at home by 5:30 or even earlier, depending on whom I bump into as we walk home. We were required to be in bed by 7:00 p.m. We were trained to go to sleep early, and when you see the clock ticking beyond 8:00 p.m., you're in trouble (you will feel fear yourself).
We are required to wake up by 5:00 a.m. since we are living together with my aunts and uncles. The place we had back then was my grandparents' home. My playmates or friends during that time were mostly my cousins. We are living with a family of four in one household. And when you wake up later than 5:00 a.m., you have lines with you, especially when going to take a bath. It became a routine; hygiene is mandatory, and you don't have a choice or you'll be punished. The punishment that we had back then was more physical. That's how my grandparents taught my uncles and aunts. PHYSICAL DISCIPLINE. There are several episodes of my childhood where I was hurt physically (using a bamboo stick, belt, or hanger). I guess this is one of their key skills: they can use any object within their reach as a weapon of physical discipline. That time I'm not thinking of how I'm going to discipline my kids (whenever I have one). I learned a lot as a kid in the household of my grandma, being disciplined by more than one aunt or uncle. I actually got beaten more than once that I can remember. I don't hold any grudges; I know that from their point of view, they knew the best. With all due respect.
Going back to my childhood memories, we know how we live on the bare minimum. It was fed to us; we were told how fortunate we were compared to them back then. We wish to have more, but we don't have the right to ask. Come to think of it, accepting the fate of limited accessibility and resources that you have inflicted on your resourcefulness as well, we have come to the point where we no longer strive or find any means to get the favorable outcome that we wish for. I guess it is part of the cycle. Going back to the toy that I described earlier, I know that if I have one, I can definitely have more friends and have probably become more inclusive academically if it becomes part of the reward mechanism rather than enforced punishment. If there are things that I have learned from this chapter of my life, it is not to enforce punishment to correct a certain behavior. It was one of my most colorful episodes, and there are lots of things to learn from it.
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my90smemories · 1 year
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Wooow I took a trip down memory lane through Facebook. I searched all of my Elementary-HS crushes & came across my very 1st crush (Marvin) his sister Leana & their Dad passed away in 2020. I’m assuming it had to have been CoVid. When my School 1st-4th grade Brodnicki changed districts; I was sent back over to Wilkins where I went for kindergarten. Leana was in the class next to mine as I started 5th grade. That is when I met her. Later on in the year I was switched classes later ending up having Marvin (who was held back) in the same class as I. I had a crush on him since 3rd grade but never knew who he was until I went back to Wilkins. I remember the time I saw their dad it was in the big field behind my building where it was a baseball setup & he & all of his kids were there. They all looked like their Dad!
Then today searching FB for Mary (my babysitter Liz who passed in 1998? Early 99? Daughter) & Mary’s son Chris I went to elementary school with him but he was older than me. I found both Mary & Chris on FB. I requested Mary who still lives in Chicago but not Chris. He lives in Missouri & doesn’t look like someone I’d like to know anymore. Honestly as kids he wasn’t a good person I was just forced since I spent the night every school night with them. I just remember after Liz passed Mary moved to a trailer park in Bridgeview not too far from our Apts & worked at the Walmart in Bridgeview. Chris didn’t go to live with her; He just disappeared…
The only 2 other people I want to find are the 2 brothers Joe & Mike MacDonald. They lived in the middle part of my building but on the 2nd floor. They had an Apt full of animals! I remember a lot of lizards, a grey cat & an iguana. I used to play with them but they were bad kids especially Joe the older brother. He tried to like my Bestfriend & her mom wasn’t having it. Mike was my age & wasn’t as bad but he was a tough kid. Some kids were bothering my cousin at the playground & Mike came out of nowhere ready to handle it. They moved away when I was in 5th grade & I remember Mike telling me it was somewhere deeper in Illinois but I don’t remember where?
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woodworkingpastor · 1 year
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The Jesus Creed -- Matthew 22:34-40 --  Sunday, October 30, 2022
The prayer-foundations of our faith
When I was a boy growing up in my home church—probably in the 1st or 2nd grade—I had the privilege of being in Evelyn Harpine’s Sunday School class. Mrs. Harpine taught Sunday School at Bethel Church of the Brethren in the village of Mayland for 37 consecutive years; two entire generations of children benefitted from her consistent, faithful presence.
As young elementary students, Mrs. Harpine met us where we were, teaching us what it means to love Jesus and be part of a church community at a level that was appropriate for our age, before sending us off to the next classes that continued our spiritual formation on our way to adulthood.
Her nurturing provided a foundation to our faith; and like a good foundation for a home or a building, her work wasn’t always so visible—I have only the vaguest memories of being in her class—but here I stand, nonetheless!
In many ways, these first two prayers in the Great Prayers of the Church series are like Mrs. Harpine’s Sunday School class—foundational to our faith. In times when the church placed a higher priority on catechism—using summaries of the principles of the faith to instruct believers—it was nearly universal that the Lord’s Prayer was used as a teaching tool for new Christians to learn how to be in communion with God. As we saw both last Sunday and Wednesday night, whether we take it as given to us or use it as a framework for an expanded prayer form, the Lord’s Prayer provides to us the basic elements of an intelligent and sustaining prayer life.
That is also the case of today’s prayer, the so-called Jesus Creed. This is the term that theologian Scot McKnight gives to the Greatest Commandments from Matthew 22. You might have noticed that this so-called prayer doesn’t exactly feel like a prayer, and you would be right about that. The commandments to
love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind
and to
love your neighbor as yourself
are closer to an affirmation of faith, a short statement summarizing the basic elements of our faith.
I will leave it to you to decide how important that distinction is. For my own prayer purposes, I have often found it helpful to affirm a statement like the Jesus Creed as a reminder of the core commitments of my faith, and how it is that God calls me to live. If for whatever reason it concerns you that these don’t sound very prayer-like, then just add the phrase, “Lord help me to…” in front of each one, and voila! you’ll have a prayer!
Context is important
As we consider these words, let’s ask ourselves what they meant to Jesus. When we arrive in Matthew 22, we find ourselves in the middle of Holy Week, a week where Jesus had an increasing number of confrontations with both religious and political leaders about the nature of the kingdom of God. Our text this morning comes as part of a contest between Jesus and the other religious leaders who are trying to trap him into saying something that they can then use against him.
People really haven’t changed all that much over time, have they. What Jesus’ opponents want to do is to get him on record as having made a particular statement so that they can say “Aha! I told you he was that way—see what he said!” They want to find one statement by Jesus and then use that to characterize the entirety of his life by that one statement.
Jesus, of course, knew exactly what they were up to and found a way to confound them every time, finding the flaws in their rigidly binary way of thinking about how we are to live in relationship to God, to our government, to people who die without leaving an heir for their children, and other challenging Biblical texts.
Matthew tells us that this particular question is a test—it’s a test in the form of a trick, because no self-respecting Pharisee would elevate one law over all the others. To them, it would be a bit like asking, “Which one of your children do you love the most?” The Pharisees—to their credit—took Scripture very seriously and wanted to emphasize that all of the laws were equally important.
The difficulty with emphasizing everything is that it becomes a limiting view of Scripture. The Jewish tradition recognized 613 laws in the Old Testament that were to guide people’s lives. How is it possible for any of us to keep track of 613 tasks? We ultimately can’t—so we end up focusing on the biggies or we work out in our own minds which ones are the most important and focus on those. It’s like saying to our teacher, “Just tell me what I need to know for the test” and I’ll be fine!
I read a story about a pastor who moved into an aboriginal community in Australia as a mission worker and then later stayed when he met his wife and they were married. One of the fascinating things he learned there was that when two aboriginal people meet one another for the first time, they don’t say “Hi, how are you?” they say, “Who are your relatives?” Knowing that piece of information allows you to order the rest of the world. When the world is complicated and there are threats all around, knowing to whom you are obliged is important; it brings clarity to what you must do and not do. You know who to love and who to hate. We like to limit our perspective because it makes life easier and more comfortable.
What I find attractive about Jesus’ response is the way it encourages us to take an expansive view of Scripture. Rather than boiling things down to a score-sheet that we can pull out of our pockets and say, “OK, the rules say that in this situation we’re supposed to act this way and not that way,” Jesus gives us a thought experiment: take what comes your way and ask yourself, “What does it mean in this situation to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength? What does it mean to love my neighbor?”
You might remember this same teaching coming in Luke’s Gospel. In that situation, the person asking Jesus the question had a follow-up question: “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus’ reply was the Parable of the Good Samaritan, where we are not asked to consider what we might do if we see someone lying half-dead in a ditch, but whether we have it in our heart to value someone whom it is culturally acceptable to hate. The Great Commandments teach us that if we can, in fact, learn to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, then we will need to learn how to love outside our tribe. Knowing the answer to the question “Who are your relatives?” is no longer sufficient for faithful Christian living, for Jesus calls us to love our God, our neighbor, and even our enemies. It’s a kind of love that will in many ways make life much more complicated, because loving beyond our tribe will never be popular. But it is the destination of this journey we are upon.
Praying the Jesus Creed
Earlier this week I met with a group planning a memorial service for victims of gun violence. Along the way we were wrestling with how a particularly emotional part of the memorial service will be best designed.
One of the committee members asked, “What is the purpose of this memorial service.” When another member read that from our minutes, the first member said, “Then these other important issues are not our concern. Our task is to do this.” We were able to move forward fairly quickly.
When it comes to our transformation in the Jesus Creed, I noted in the devotional guide how helpful it can be to affirm our core values in moments when the demands of life begin to wear us down. When we are confronted with the temptation to sin, we might rightly pray, “Jesus, lead me not into temptation.” We might also choose to say, “Jesus, help me to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.”
When we are angry with our neighbor and more inclined to wish them harm than good, we might pray, “Jesus, forgive me my sins, as I forgive those who sin against me.” We might also choose to say, “Jesus, help me to love my neighbor as myself—let me give my neighbor the same benefit of the doubt I so quickly give to myself.”
The Jesus Creed is Jesus’ answer to what it means to be committed to the Kingdom of God. As theologian Scot McKnight says,
A spiritually formed person loves God by following Jesus and loving others. In addition, the spiritually formed person embraces the stories of others who love Jesus.
Because Jesus’ mission was to establish the kingdom of God—the society in which the Jesus Creed transforms life—a spiritually formed person lives out kingdom values in the Society of the Jesus Creed. As navigators need the North Star for direction, as hikers need a compass, and as vacationers need a map and a goal, so the followers of Jesus need a clear vision of what the Jesus Creed looks like when lived out.
Jesus has given it. His category for spiritual direction is the term kingdom. Jesus uses kingdom for the society in which the Jesus Creed transforms life. Those committed to the kingdom form a society, which we now call the church. The kingdom’s values are transformation, a mustard seed, justice, restoration, joy, and an eternal perspective (The Jesus Creed, 123-124).
If we want to reshape our image of Jesu by turning to the real Jesus to see what he was all about, then we will have to make this term kingdom a close friend.
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holylacydoll · 3 years
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and you know, it's quite strange
#when my memories of traumatic events were gone#i didnt even know i was missing them#like people often say they dont remember what happened to them and they know the memories are gone#but one day i was just sitting and thinking of my older step cousin and then my brain was like#hey u remember that he exploited the fact u looked up to him as a cool older cousin to sexually assault you right?#and i. like. we were really poor for a while and lived with my ab*sers family. my grandma and his sister and all her kids.#i was in elementary school. i only lived there for 1st & part of 2nd grade. but there was a big forest behind the house that all us kids#loved to play in. we'd eat huckleberries & we also got the adults to help built a pretty awesome fort. but then my older cousin basically#took over it & he & his friends who were twins always hung out in it#& there was like a secret club they had going on & me & my younger cousin always wanted to hang out with them#but they excluded us and so we were really desperate for their attention & to hang with the cool older kids. like once they made us walk#through this like really thick muddy swamp & my little cousin & i were so short we couldn't get through easily.#like i was 2nd grade max & she was in kindergarten. so ofc the taller kids could get through fine & it was like a club initiation. but i#couldn't do it & so i cried & my ab*ser got mad at them for not letting us play with them. so basically they were forced to let us hang out#& everyone in the club had a postition & my cousin was the leader obviously. we would have jobs like clean the fort or go pick huckleberries#or look out for animals bc we pretended there was bears in the woods. usually all we found was deer or a rabbit.#it was rlly fun honestly to explore the woods like that. i miss it a lot. i miss the trees in the pnw. but of course in order to be in the#club my cousin would like pull me apart from the group sometimes to talk or to go down to the little stream or wherever. and then he would#like at first it was just looking down my pants but after time it became putting his hands down my jeans & having me do the same to him#this was 1st grade & it might be what started my fascination w/ s*x at a young age. that or it started in kindergarten?? diff story.#at the time it felt weird but good & like i didn't understand anything but for some reason i knew wasn't allowed to tell anyone bc it was#something i shouldn't be doing. and maybe you could say it was just two kids being curious together but he was in at least 7th grade at the#time. like it's one thing to experiment when ur young w/someone your own age but its another thing to do it to your younger cousin. idk.#but after this i just sort of became obsessed w/ the feeling. like b4 i got my own computer i literally used to google sex on yt & watch it#in the living room with my family just w/ the computer faced away from everyone else. i didn't do anything else just watched it.#when i got my own tablet my ab*ser monitored all my online activity. i think that's when it went from fatherly love to being a f*ckin p*do.#like omg. that tablet i got for xmas rlly ruined my life. i did so much w/ older creeps i didn't even know i was a victim until years later.#but worst of all my stepf*ther used it against me & said he'd tell my mom what i did. it was like he was always trying to start a fight.#he really enjoyed arguing with us and then making js apologize.
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vicecityhq · 3 years
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██████████████]99% loading…suspect into the apd database…
WITNESS(ES) SAY HE REMINDS THEM OF: glasses, academia, coffee shops . with a slight resemblance to JEON JUNGKOOK of/the BTS.
CLICK BELOW TO VIEW ENTIRE FILE.
FULL FILE:
last name, first name: lee, david alias: electro realm of birth(if earth, nationality): earth age: 23 date of birth: september 1, 1997 gender: cis-gender male preferred pronouns: he/him, they/them species: cyborg level 1, civilian sexual orientation: questioning
VISUAL FILE:
skin color: light tanned eye color: dark brown, blue tint when using eye enhancemets scars: none reported piercings: both ears tattoos: a simple black star on left wrist hair color: black, dyed a variety of colors at times abnormalities: none reported horns/ wings/ etc: none transformed form: none
PERSONAL FILE:
powers & abilities: enhanced vision, lens screen, vital monitor and data collection, temperature scanning, night vision, light adjustment vision, app synchronization (photo, video recording, downloading) traits: determined, aloof
BACKGROUND CHECK:
date of birth: september 1, 1997
date of death: -
crime record: a clean record
BACKGROUND/BIOGRAPHY:
david was the 2nd born in his family, to a career solider and a
struggling
opera singer. his sister was 1st and her words upon seeing him as a baby was “i’m cuter.”at times he felt neglected given that his sister was getting more attention that him, she was the golden child while he was …david, quiet most of the time but had moments of intense energy. his parents enrolled him a variety of sports which kept him in check. he excelled in martial arts (taekwondo and kumdo) and basketball which was used as leverage to keep in ballet. that was something his mother wanted for both of her children, though he never got a reason why. near the end of elementary school his parent’s divorced and his mother remarried a “rich man”. though he was kind he was very distant to him. his sister however took a liling to increases social status she had.
it was during middle school did david and his sister start to grow apart. sneaking out, skipping class, among other things became his sister’s focus. he had an idea of some things but didn’t speak on them since it would lead to an argument. “boring and straight laced” was what she called him, he and to edge to him. the young boy’s concern was to make in on a national team, it didn’t matter the sport. david used his studies as a shield against the chaos around him, not just at home and school, but the city in general. sometimes it felt like a comic with how crime was almost normalized be it in the background or directly involving you. he kept his circle small and hid most information about himself, his image had to be pure for the scouts and his future career.
given the reputation of his father, david knew military enlistment was the next step college or not. now being in the army was a double edge sword. there wasn’t this pressure to perform like say the marines but he was held to a higher standard. sometimes he was afforded privildges like extra time but also more severe punishments for making the same mistake as others. just going for 2 years wasn’t enough, he was expected to stay for 3. not for his own goals or wants but that of his father. it was during this time did david see that he had lived a rather comfortable life compared to others in his unit, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have any issues. the constant question on his mind was “where do i belong?”.  well the military wasn’t the answer, his discharge date couldn’t come soon enough and when it came, he was already in another system. college.
a bit older and wiser, david could fully focus on his studies (again) something he was happy about and rebuild some parts of his past that he couldn’t while serving. while he is aware his parents expect to major in something like medicine or law, he has no interest in either. his duties to his family and country are complete. it’s for david to live for himself. during his 1st year of college his sister got married much to the joy of his parents. his brother-in-law was “well put together” despite being a little off in his manners. it wasn’t until a few months later did his sister reveal she married a vampire along with hints of her planning to become one. their step-dad was willing to overlook all of his since it met more access to money and power however their mom had reservations. knowing her relationship was rocky with her daughter, she asked david to look after her.
this was 1 of the few times in his life he went against his parents wishes. david had a real chance to be a top athlete and having a gang affiliation wouldn’t help. even if he did have access to money and in some ways protection it was too big of a risk. his sister made her choice to get and stay involved, if she did need help he would but only from her directly. not going through with it put distance between the young man and his mom. maybe it was pressure of college, stress, or still trying to answer the question but david had a chance to “be better” and secretly got an enhancement on his eyes. this afforded him the ability to study in any lighting and pick up on details he would other wise miss. his grade improved greatly but the bigger reward was that his physical fitness was fine tuned to the point he could stay at his peak. with his enhancement he could monitor his calorie intake and vitals, adjust his work out plan so his whole body performing at it’s maximum. this offered him some stability as he had something to thrive for and could take his mind off of the less appealing parts of his life.
INTERVIEW QUESTION (PARA SAMPLE): “JUST RUN US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT”. - OFFICER
he was nervous looking at the “window” of the home unsure if there was others on the other side. running his hand through his hair was a ploy to cover his eye and scan for temperature, a rather unused feature of his eyes. he sighed out of relief not “seeing” anyone though he knew to not let his guard down. again the officer repeated their statement. this time he looked at them directly hands under the table quietly toying with the zipper of his jacket, “i was going home from the library but stopped at the store for a drink.” that was true, it was all true. though now he wished he just went straight home. “but you didn’t see the fight?” the officer raised a brow not totally convinced. “no, i wasn’t focused on that. i heard people yelling but didn’t look that’s how you get jumped. it wasn’t my business so i kept going,” he answered. “uh…david, you’re in school right? what do you want to be?” this sad attempt to relate to him. “that’s really irrelevant to why i’m here, shouldn’t you be talking to them or the store owner? i don’t know why i’m here, when i didn’t do anything.” his words had a hint of annoyance, he wasn’t a child. “you are a witness, maybe not a good one but still one regardless. even if your details are…missing. it’s enough with common sense to help confirm the series of events.” the officer replied, “you may go.” he was didn’t need to be told twice with his bag already on his shoulder and made his way out of the station.
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yuzusorbet · 4 years
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Kikuchi-san’s book, partial translations
Akira Kikuchi is the trainer who accompanied Yuzu to many competitions in the past.  Since elementary school days, Yuzu has gone to his clinic in Sendai for therapy sessions after skate practice.  Last year (2019), Kikuchi-san published a book titled 'Strongly, beautifully, 30 Methods to train' (my translation from the Japanese title).   I read a Chinese translation of some parts.  Very interesting to see things from his perspective, and quite touching too, so I decided to translate them to share.  Not ideal to translate from another translation but I don't have the book, and usually Chinese fans' translations are pretty reliable. 
  *paraphrased means I summarised a few lines there.   *more info means I added notes for myself, and it's not from the book.
Chapter 1, part 5.  The muscles that were forged after the earthquake.
He became the World Junior champion, and also started school at Tohoku High School,  and at the age of 15, Yuzuru made his debut in senior level competition.  His 1st competition was Season 2010-11 NHK Trophy in Oct where he landed his 1st quad jump in competition and was in 4th place.   2010 Nov was Cup of Russia in Moscow, where he placed 7th. (more info: Japan nationals in Dec, he placed 4th.  Then 4CC in Feb 2011, he placed 2nd.)
At the end of his first senior season, the Great East Japan Earthquake happened.  (March 2011)
When the earthquake occurred, I was working, seeing 4 patients.  My home and clinic felt the shaking but were not damaged due to being on higher ground.  But very quickly, the electricity, water and gas were cut off.
[paraphrased:  Everyone was worried but preferred to stay on.]   I continued treating the 4 patients.  When they left, I closed the clinic temporarily.
Soon, people whose homes were washed away in the tsunami or destroyed by the quake took refuge in nearby sports halls.  When I heard about this, I brought a simple bed into the sports halls and did massages for the  people there.  That was how I spent each day.
The reason I did this was because I thought of my father that night after the earthquake.  He was a policeman and was very strict with himself.   He was upright and always thinking of the safety of others.  He lived his life for others and he is the man that I most respect.  If father was here, he would definitely go to the evacuation centres to do his best to help......
Giving a massage to people at the centre, I was just doing the only thing I could do.
Yuzuru also went through some hard days.
On the day of the earthquake, he went to his usual training rink 'Ice Rink Sendai' after school.   It was at the rink that he experienced the "shindo 6"  earthquake.  (More info: shindo 7 is the highest.  See this: robintlewis/what-is-the-japanese-seismic-intensity-shindo-scale.   On the Richter scale, this is a magnitude 9 earthquake.)
That child felt the strong shaking and I heard that he rushed out of the building wearing his skate boots.  Next to life itself, the most precious thing is his skates.  Figure skaters always put skate guards on the blades when they leave the ice, they would never let the blades be exposed.  Rushing out without his skate guards, he must have been very scared.
Staying 4 days in the gym of a school which served as an evacuation centre, he seriously thought about whether he should give up figure skating.
It was also figure skating that made him pull himself together.
His home rink was damaged in the quake and he lost his usual training place. His coach during elementary school days, Tsuzuki Shoichiro, inquired about him.  Tsuzuki-sensei is the one who gave Yuzuru his foundation in figure skating.  Before the quake, he was coaching at a rink in Yokohama.
Subsequently, Yuzuru went to Tsuzuki-sensei's rink to train.
About half a year after the quake, around October, Yuzuru who had returned to Sendai came to my clinic.  He told me about what he had been doing.
During that period, he was participating in commercial ice shows and earthquake charity ice shows all over Japan;  I knew about this.  "For the people affected by the disaster, I want to give them some encouragement," I had read his interviews in the newspapers.  In the 5 months after the earthquake, he skated in 60 ice shows throughout the  country.  "I hope that my activities can become strength for the victims"-- to have this thought, he must have pulled himself together.
"When I participated in ice shows, I could do some training if I arrived early at the venue, and the intervals between shows also became my own training time," said Yuzuru, looking straight into my eyes.  (more info: usually there are a few shows at one venue, eg. 3 shows spread over the weekend)
After such an unprecedented earthquake disaster, what had Yuzuru learned, mentally how had he changed, all these I was not sure.  But the moment I touched his leg muscles, I immediately felt his efforts and I almost cried.
Since elementary school, I had been seeing him almost everyday.  Even a small change in his body I would know.
The muscles forged after the earthquake told of days filled with harsh figure skate training, day after day.
Skating in ice shows "for the disaster areas", and practising fervently in between shows.  During the performances, he must have also put in all his efforts so as to "convey something to the people".
Moreover, the muscles developed after the quake were not only those used for jumping, they were also those for bearing the impact of landing.
Landing on the ice after a jump, the impact on the body can be a few hundred times the skater's weight.  To withstand such an impact, the muscles around the knees, the gastrocnemius muscles in the calf and the tibialis anterior muscles must be sufficiently trained.  If these parts are not strengthened, injury will happen easily.
In a short period of half a year, those muscles grew to such an extent.   How much jump practice did he do after the earthquake.  Falling down countless times and getting up again.  How on earth did he train to develop muscles like that.
Yuzuru's leg muscles are different from other athletes that come to my clinic. His muscles were not developed by specialised muscle training but were formed naturally though figure skating practice.  In other words, they are muscles that grew only for figure skating.
Until now, that child still mentions that he "does not know how to ride a bicycle".  In my opinion, I think it is because he does not want to develop muscles except those needed for figure skating.
The muscles used for cycling are the same as those for speed skating.  Speed skaters have cycling in summer training;  bulging leg muscles are necessary for them.For figure skaters, if muscles become big and bulging, the weight can be a hindrance to jumping.  But still, strong muscles are needed to do quad jumps and to bear the impact of landing. [paraphrased]
Yuzuru overcame the earthquake disaster and developed muscles for jumping quads and for bearing the landing impact in a good balance.
Those well-trained leg muscles are the external manifestation of his experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake and his determination to fight as a top skater.
- translated by me from this Chinese translation: weibo
-----------------------
Chapter 1, part 6. Overcoming pain in the hip joint
The first time I went along with Yuzuru in the team for a competition was in his 2nd year of senior level, the November 2011 Rostelecom Cup (Russia) in the Grand Prix series.  Traveling with a team to an international competition as a trainer, it was the first time for me.  Not only that, it was also my first time watching a figure skating competition up close.  What a disgraceful old man. Almost everyday I listened to Yuzuru talk about all things related to figure skating but I had never watched his competitions live at the venue.
I saw Yuzuru only at my clinic, diagnosing leg problems, applying tape to stabilise ankles, this kind of interactions, the relationship of a therapist and a patient, I felt this was enough.
I had the role of a 'sports trainer' before, but not for professional  athletes. Supporting local high school and junior high students, I was already very content.  I had served as 'team trainer' for the swimming, baseball, and track and field teams of Tohoku High and Junior High Schools where sports is very popular, and went with the athletes for competitions.
Once these children graduated, the relationship between trainer and athlete would end.  Those who wanted to continue their sports career, some would leave Sendai, some would get a professional trainer to guide them.
"Rostelecom Cup is going to start, Sensei, can you go together with me as my trainer?" Yuzuru asked me.  I answered in a relaxed manner, "Oh, alright."​
As an athlete, Yuzuru was steadily rising.
"Whether it's an international competition or the Olympics, let me be your trainer and take me along!"  This was what I said to him jokingly when he was in elementary school grade 4;  I don't know if he still remembers it.  But this kind of joke has really come true now, so I was actually feeling rather emotional.
This was also like a commendation from Yuzuru for the treatment he had received so far.  "Well, it's just doing the physiotherapy in Russia instead of the usual place in my clinic," this was how I thought at that time.
However, at that Rostelecom Cup, at the official practice, Yuzuru injured his hip joint (the joint between hip bone and thigh bone).
The injury was treated by a trainer sent specially by Japan Skate Federation.   I was just Yuzuru's private trainer.
I understood the situation fully when we were back in his hotel room.  The treatment for the injury had ended but the pain was still there.  I was very sure that it was not suitable for him to do more skating.  Even walking would be painful.
"In this situation, it's better to withdraw (from competition), isn't it?"   When he heard this, he said with absolute certainty, "Whatever happens, I will compete in Rostelecom Cup."  Actually for this competition, Yuzuru must win first place in order to qualify for the Grand Prix Final which is for only the top 6 skaters of the GP series.  He wanted to compete, no matter what.
From that moment, I felt for the first time that I have "joined forces with an extraordinary world".  Yuzuru was so focused on the competition, "want to compete", "want to win", these desires were way above any pain.  As a therapist, of course my advice was to withdraw.  But as a trainer, I had to respond to such intense wishes of the athlete.
All I could do was to take care of his hip joint.  I also taped his ankle, and then sent him off to compete.  I knew the pain of the injury was still there.
But, Yuzuru, he did it....... short programme and free skating both were ranked 2nd, but his total score of 241.66 was higher than other strong rivals like Javier Fernandez and Jeremy Abbott, and he achieved his first victory in the GP series.
At that moment, witnessing it with my own eyes, I was crying.  Even though he received treatment, his hip joint injury was quite serious.  Any jump would be very painful, especially when landing, he would feel severe  pain.  In spite of this, for the free skate, he made a mistake only for the quad jump, the other 7 jumps were all successful.
For the first time, I realised it was such a cruel world that Yuzuru was fighting in.​
In the spectator stands were many Japanese ladies and they were looking at me with a surprised expression "why is this old grandpa crying so much??"  But it did not matter anymore, I did not care how others were looking at me, I was crying my heart out.  I was so happy..... really so happy.
That Rostelecom Cup was my first experience as a trainer stepping into the figure skating world.
After this, I did not accompany Yuzuru to any more competitions.  I stayed in my clinic treating patients, and sometimes I would treat Yuzuru who came back from travels.
​After Rostelecom Cup, Yuzuru rose rapidly at an astonishing speed.
For the GP Final, he was 4th, then at 2011-12 World Championships, it was his first time at Worlds and he achieved 3rd place.  At the age of 17 years and 3 months, he broke the record for the youngest World Championship medalist in Japanese figure skating men's history and ascended to the podium.
Then, from April 2012, Yuzuru moved his training base from Sendai to Toronto, Canada.​
Before he had overseas competitions, I saw him almost everyday at my clinic.​ We had been together for the past 10 years.  So I would miss him quite a lot.
But it's for becoming stronger that he went to Canada.  For greater improvement in figure skating, he made the decision to move to Toronto.  He has already "graduated" from my place here.
"Sensei, I'm going off!"​
And just like each overseas trip, Yuzuru set off from Sendai, and started on another journey.
- translated by me from this Chinese translation: weibo
This is the book on Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/
(I will share parts from Chapter 2 soon.)
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aysherjauhari · 3 years
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Write a narrative on how you made the transition from high school to day 1 in college up to the end of the 1st semester SY 2021-2022
PART 1
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
GRADE 7
I am at the 2nd section of grade 7 which is Benevolence in Talon-Talon National High School. This is my first time entering high school life where they said it is too way different from elementary life. Where many memories will be made. Where you will have many kinds of friends. Many naughtiness will be made, the memories will be cherished. So I will start in my experience in my first day in high school, as usual the traditional introduction of self cannot be let out of the experiences. In grade 7 many things was opened to me and things that I don’t know. Those thing made me curious in everything. Those topic has bear in my mind to have further study on that lesson. To know those things I tend to research on what I want to know and it became my habit to search for things I am curios with. And of course laziness does not leave us as well there are sometimes that my laziness strikes I tend to lose interest to study but then I need to study hard because someday I want to be a successful person that I can buy what I want to buy I want to have fun with my family. And since I am already in grade 7 my journey to success has already started.
GRADE 8
In this grade level, I am at the 1st section of grade 8 which is Aster. All the topics and discussion had step up. New learning new strategies to make on how to tune in with the studies. And in this grade, I step up my strategies with studying like having more time on studies and pending works if there are any before making stuffs like gaming playing because way back when I was in junior high school I am fun of playing games like DOTA. And honestly I became addicted to this game and it came to the point that when I am going home I tend to go first at a computer shop to play DOTA and to the point that my mother was angry at me because of that. But then didn’t leave behind my studies and besides got the 9th honor because even though I am addicted to online games I still think of my future and still dreaming the same dream I wanted to happen. Besides I proved to my mother that all of their sacrifices will not go to waste because I’m going to strive hard to reach my dreams. I change the way I live my student life by having more time on studies and for my parents to see that I am striving hard to reach my dream.
GRADE 9
In grade 9 my section is Amethyst which is the 1st section still in Talon-Talon National High School. What I can say in this grade level is they step it up. The lessons, discussions, and many other. This times when I was grade 9 I tend to have many activities unlike the past few grade levels because I also want to “upgrade” my socialization skills, leaderships skill, and problem solving skill. And one of those are like leadership camp and math camp. And I don’t want to miss the chance to gain more confidence because to be honest I am a shy type person which will not be needed when we step in the real world, it will just pull us down and make our lives miserable just because we are shy. I made a way to overcome my shyness and turn it into something more helpful for me. I know it is still the beginning of my journey and I will face more trials and challenges to test me if I will run or face it. And yes it helped me to overcome my shyness and I gain confidence in those activities.
GRADE 10
This grade level is the most memorable, I am in 2nd section in grade 10 and that is Babbage. How did I say it’s memorable? Because in this grade level we know that we will going to split ways and it is a bit sad because the laughter we shared the sad times we had. This year level, we are already introduce on how to work independently, practice doing things without help of others not literally but for me it is a preparations for us to be more independent person in the future. It also introduce to us about the research where we have been taught on how to make a research and the procedures, the step by step process for us to be well trained researchers. And also we have our oral defense where we had to defend our research title. I even made a table to manage my time to do things and made it in time so there are no delay and less to think of. But then I still strive hard knowing that after graduating junior high school is we are going to a different level which is the senior high school. With those knowledge we have will help us to reach our goal in life. To make that happen I made sure that I will study hard and work hard to achieve my goal.
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
GRADE 11
After the graduation in grade we had a vacation and I spent my vacation with my family. It is fun and I hope that will happen again. Here comes the senior high still I spent my spent my senior high school life in Talon-Talon National High School because of the financial status. Senior high school is challenging because aside on there are many activities, there is also more topics and lessons I need to learn and understand. When I was in this grade level I study harder, more than I studied last grade level. Senior high school is already on a higher level and it cannot be just messing around because I don’t want to disappoint my parents. I survived senior high school because of hard work, studying day and making my works at night. Not until the pandemic starts to conquer the world, as I remember it was nearly our last quarter when the pandemic starts to rise. That made us to stay at home and stay notified on what to do next. I expect that this will just passed by but it is not because it became more and more victim of this virus. This is when the modular and online classes starts because we can’t go out due to the pandemic. But then when the modular starts I just missed the old days where we can hang out with our friends after school and have fun. This is the saddest part of my high school life because of the pandemic. But it doesn’t stop me from continuing my studies and to graduate.
GRADE 12
This is the last year of my senior high school life and definitely the thrilling because there is the thinking that maybe I failed, what if I had line of failing mark on my subject but then here I am. Still this year level is modular and online classes are ongoing due to pandemic that is not yet going away. But I learned that even though our setup is like this I don’t let that prevent me from studying, learning what I need to learned. Since this is modular and I took the chance to read and read more books and modules to learn from it. It is tiring because there are many modules and others are hard to understand because it needed to be taught and cannot understand with only self-understanding. I survived grade 12 by getting ready every time, I study all night so I can summarize the topic and I can recite on recitations. I expect the unexpected.
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wexhappyxfew · 4 years
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HAPPY TRIVIA TUESDAY SHANNON!! Why did you start writing and how did you get from your starting point to here? (Like- basically can you talk about your development as a writer?)
AHHHHH JAMIE HAPPY TRIVIA TUESDAY!!!! and omg thank you so much for the ask you wonderful human, you’re such a supportive bean thank you!!! <3 
and these questions *chef’s kiss*
One of the main reasons I started writing is actually something people may not suspect. Growing up, I actually HATED writing because of experiences in a 3rd grade or 2nd grade class - I can’t remember exactly. But we were supposed to write a short story and when I presented mine, I was told that it didn’t have good enough ‘context’ or a real drive or plot, even though for me I thought it did. Supposedly it just ‘wasn’t what the hopes of writing a short story would be’. I was later told it was because I needed a simpler topic. Smh. So that set me off really and all through elementary I strayed from writing, writing classes, anything and I mostly just read because I was like just not confident at all with writing. And I struggled big time with essays, reports, story writing. In 6th grade, my ELA teacher tore apart my story as well - so yeah I wasn’t exactly happy about that either :( I was already off on a bad foot. 
But when I reached 7th grade - this was after my best friend introduced me to Wattpad and such - I started seeing the impacts of fanfiction actually and that you can base it off something and then make it completely your own! WHICH I LOVED! Because I like a bit of structure BUT THEN I LIKE GOING WILD!!! I like having that model a bit, but then being able to go and do what you want with writing. 
And honestly, I’ll be honest, I have written over 20 different works, but Band of Brothers is my only published work :) It’s short stories, other fics based on stuff like Stars Wars, The Maze Runner, etc...a bunch of stuff like that! 
And then I really discovered the impact of writing on me. I found that it became a hobby for me and I knew that when homework was done - I had the ability to go and write and escape to a completely different world. And for me, since I have trouble focusing in school and then it makes stuff more difficult to complete homework and such, I liked being able to escape to a different world through writing. And writing saved me more than anything in quarantine.
At the beginning of quarantine, I just was not in a good headspace especially with everything happening, but being able to go and write The Soldier of Stars with Hazel Parker, and being able to develop a deeply flawed character and write interactions with others, and then go and write a strong female bonded friendship as well as strong female characters who were also deeply flawed, really helped me through because it was rough. I don’t know what I would’ve done without it. 
But writing truly, I saw a change in myself even in school. Because of writing fanfiction really, I saw improvements in my essays at school surprisingly by 8th grade! They were used for examples, I was getting good grades on them - even if it were just a science report - and the teachers were complimenting my way of writing and my style. I remember in 8th grade I was partnered with a girl, where we were given 10 vocab words and had to create a story with it and we would share our stories with each other and I remember looking at me after I read it and saying, “ YOU wrote that? ITS AMAZING!” and she was just super shocked. And I think that’s where I really started writing after that tbh. 
Through high school I had major improvements and by my AP Lang Exam I took, I was nervous bc it was 45 mins for it, which isn’t exactly normal bc of COVID, but I was just like “Focus, you write FOR FUN for HOURS ON END, you can write for 45 minutes.” And that really focused me. And I got a 5 on the exam, which I was very happy about. But I swear it’s simply because of how much I write, and how OCD I am about making sure it is all perfect and up to my standards. I swear on it. Because with my writing, I like a flow and I feel if you don’t have a flow it just doesn’t work - and having a flow helped me AP exam bc without it, I would’ve done worse. But flow helps and being able to write with a flow helped more than anything! SO YES fanfiction helped earn me a good grade on my AP exam LOL
And for me writing has just been a place to express who I am. Sure, I like clothes, but most of the time for school, I’m too tired to try super hard and end up throwing on a sweatshirt and leggings and I’m not super talkative either, I’m quite shy. So writing, is where I really feel I can express myself and just BE myself. I can purely just write for fun and if people read it COOL! THANK YOU! But I’ve always written for myself, for personal enjoyment, and to see my characters, so when others love them, it’s always so nice!!! But writing has always been such a personal thing for me, and I love it more than anything in the world, where I feel I can truly express myself! <3
AND...my development as a writer is something I can definitely talk about!! <3
For me, each new story I write, I can see myself developing. Because when you start out, you’re not perfect - I SOOOO was not perfect - I wrote in 1st person (NO HATE AT ALL I JUST SUCK AT FIRST PERSON), I barely included any emotional value or ideas focused simply on timeline, I just wrote without second thought or really a care. But with Band of Brothers, I really developed. I write in 3rd person heavily, so I can explore different heads and emotions and character arcs, and ideas and interior monologue, which for a quiet person like me I LIVE FOR!
For Sunshine Soldier, I wrote with Charlotte Tarvers and developing her character, as she is someone who is very similar to myself, is something I have loved more than anything in this world. She’s my OG OC, my original little BoB Beeb. And her story I really focused on relationships and friendships of characters, simply because of what I was trying to portray with her of the fact she was a character who was called ‘Sunshine’ and loved everyone and was loved by everyone and was really that light in Easy. But in that story, I didn’t develop emotions (as I go back and reread) and descriptions as much as I wish I had. I feel there’s parts EVERYWHERE, where I could go in and add a little bit more of everything there
For The Soldier of Stars (+Ad Astra Per Aspera) I feel you see A BIG CHANGE in writing because this is where, with a quiet character like Hazel Parker who is heavily and deeply flaws, where we see the emotion and description that Sunshine Soldier misses at some points, comes out. Writing Hazel’s character (+that of Catherine and Lizzie and their bond) we focus more on an internal monologue, heavy and deep set emotions, and a constant questioning of reality from someone who is deeply hurt, and quiet and humble and soft-spoken like Hazel. And for me, there’s just so many lines in The Solider of Stars that I love with all my heart, because there are so filled with emotion and deep meaning and such and ACK I LOVE IT! One of my favorites is from Ad Astra Per Aspera - Chapter 4: The Little Bird, where all it is, is Hazel’s interior monologue after her wound. Her struggle and mental battle to simply stand and use the bathroom normally - from bed to bathroom and back. And there’s no present dialogue - very in character for Hazel, and simply just flashbacks and her mental mind having it’s own battle with having to constantly push herself to get over this fear and keep pushing herself to get better, to keep fighting. It’s a hard chapter, but so deeply beautiful of a raw struggle of simply being human.
And I feel with The Soldier of Stars (+Ad Astra) I felt myself simply just write with so much pure and raw emotion, which I held from Sunshine Solider a bit, even though Sunshine Soldier has A LOT I feel still LOL. But I definitely saw growth between these two stories, a whole lot, and I feel as I keep going I’ll just keep growing and growing with it all.
I feel with The Soldier of Stars (+Ad Astra ) I finally took the time and care to focus on my characters, and each of them individually, and really focus on emotions and feelings, which is something present in war for many and especially having a quiet character makes it easier I feel because they don’t say much but they FEEL so much. 
I would talk about Landslide - but I don’t want to get out of hand and spoil anything, so I’ll leave it at that for the moment <3 
I’ve just truly seen myself really develop and grow as any writer would and it has been so fun to see where my writing has taken me!! Thank you so much for the question Jamie, this was truly SUCH a good one to ask, because I can tell just a bit of my own story and personal struggle with it all. Thank you!!! <3
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bb-bambam · 4 years
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Can you talk more about your family au/s headcanons
sorry this took so long skdhdhkd i just have so much to say about this universe!! the premise of my family au is basically the members of a bunch of groups (got7, bap, exo, vixx, monsta x, red velvet, blackpink, nct, ikon, winner, seventeen, astro, etc) living in a small college town, with two generations growing up together
1st gen:
• 89 line - minseok, yongguk, luhan, himchan, hakeyon, kris
• 90 line - irene, junmyeon
• 91 line - leo, jinwoo
• 92 line - yixing, seunghoon
• 93/94 line - seulgi, wendy, mj, mino, baekhyun, shownu, daehyun, mark tuan, jongdae, chanyeol, jaebeom, seungyoon, yoo youngjae
• 94/95 line - jinhwan, jackson, taehyun, taeil, jinyoung, jisoo
• 95/96 line - yunhyeong, johnny, taeyong, seungcheol, jeonghan, yuta, bobby, joshua, jennie
• 96 line - kun, doyoung, ten, jinjin, jun, hoshi, wonwoo, hanbin, woozi
• 97 line - donghyuk, jaehyun, junhoe, winwin
2nd gen:
• 09/10 line - joy, kyungsoo
• 10/11 line - wonho, ken, tao, minhyuk, kihyun, jongin, hyungwon
• 11/12 line - jongup, ravi, yeri, sehun, choi youngjae, hongbin, jooheon, changkyun
• 12/13 line - rosé, dokyeom, lisa, eunwoo, mingyu, bambam, hyuk, junhong, minghao, yugyeom, seungkwan, chanwoo, moonbin
• 13 line - lucas, vernon, rocky, mark lee
• 14 line - chan, sanha, renjun, jeno, donghyuck, jaemin
• 15 line - chenle, hohyeon
• 16 line - jisung
families/relationships:
• minseok, junmyeon, and jongdae are brothers, and chanyeol and jinyoung are brothers
• xiuhan meet when they're 12 after luhan moves to town, start dating when they're 14, and get married and adopt kyungsoo after they've settled down in their jobs. minseok is a college professor and luhan is a soccer player
• krisho meet in college and start dating a few months later. a couple of years after graduating they get married and adopt sehun and tao. kris is a basketball player and junmyeon works in arts management
• chanbaek meet in high school during their senior year but don't start dating until the middle of college. they decide they don't want to get married and stay in a domestic partnership instead, and adopt jongin together
• jjp meet in high school and start dating at the end of jaebeom's senior year. they get married after jinyoung graduates college and adopt yugbamjae. jaebeom works as a producer and jinyoung is a kindergarten teacher
• markson meet at the college they both go to in la and after they start dating, when mark moves back home after graduating, jackson comes with him. mark works as a martial arts instructor and jackson is a fencer
• yongguk and daehyun are stepbrothers
• banghim meet in college and start dating while also raising jongup together, and they adopt junhong after they get married. yongguk owns a daycare center and himchan owns a restaurant
• daejae meet in kindergarten and are best friends but only start dating in their senior year of highschool. daehyun proposes while youngjae is completing his master's degree and after they get married they adopt hohyeon
• winwin and renjun are brothers, kun and chenle are brothers, and doyoung and jisoo are siblings
• jaemin and jisung are taeyong's nephews (his sister's sons)
• mark is johnny's son from a one-night stand who johnny is raising while also being a college/grad student. taeil, taeyong, and ten help johnny out the most with mark
• dojae meet in middle school and are awkward around each other even though they're part of the same friend group and have crushes on each other. they finally get together after high school, and adopt jeno and donghyuck after college
• shownu is aroace and loves kids, so he adopts 6 of them (the rest of monsta x) as an adult. he's the son of a rich ceo and takes over the company at a young age, which is how he can provide for the kids
• hakyeon is a dance studio owner who adopts 4 kids (all of vixx except leo). his neighbor leo helps look after them sometimes
• mino and yunhyeong are brothers, jinwoo and jinhwan are brothers, bobby and donghyuk are brothers, and hanbin and jiyong (yes i mean gdragon djfhsjkf) are brothers
• hanbin is jinhwan and jinwoo's cousin, and seungyoon and seulgi are cousins
• double b meet at a summer camp in the usa because hanbin's parents send him to their vacation home there every summer. they start dating when they're 16 and after they get married they adopt chanwoo
• junhwan meet through the college band started by triple kim and start dating shortly after meeting
• seulgi and irene may date but i'm not set on that
• i'm not totally sure about this either but i think mj and jinjin are also a couple and adopt the other 4 astro members
• jeonghan and joshua are half-brothers who are raised together by their moms who left their dad after they found out he was cheating on them with the other
• i'm not sure about this either yet but jeongcheol do start dating at some point and adopt some number of kids (who are of course the members of seventeen but probably not all of them)
random headcanons:
• yongguk, minseok, and hakyeon have been good friends since elementary school
• chanyeol thought jongdae and baekhyun were dating when he first met bc they're so comfortable with each other
• the winner members and jinhwan aren't from the town but moved into the college dorms and fell in love with the town
• hanbin's older brother jiyong is one of the four founders and owners of the big bang winery, which makes the most popular wines in town
• bobby has asked hanbin out every summer since they were 11 and hanbin says yes at age 16 because he decides he likes bobby enough to take a chance on a long-distance relationship. they ultimately end up going to the same college anyway so it works out well for them
• 93/94 line go camping for their senior trip (i have a bunch of scenes written for this but idk if it'll ever become a full fic sjfhhfkd)
• minseok, junmyeon, and jongdae have monthly kim brother wine nights where they meet up and catch up on each other's lives
• yixing is a first grade teacher and doyoung is a second grade teacher at the same school as jinyoung
• ten, winwin, seulgi, and donghyuk work as teachers at the dance studio hakyeon owns
• jinyoung, doyoung, and hanbin volunteer at yongguk's daycare center during their high school/college years
• yunhyeong and jaehyun work at himchan's restaurant as chefs
• daehyun gets recruited by a musical theater company as a high school senior so he doesn't go to college
• jaebeom meets seungyoon in college because they're both photography and music double majors
• the winner and ikon members are part of bands called winner and ikon that sing/rap and dance but they perform a lot together too as winkon
• jongdae lives with chanbaek during college and for a few years while he's doing his master's but he starts dating a girl during that time and eventually moves out to stay with her
• jaebeom proposed to jinyoung early, during his senior year of college, because he wanted to show his commitment to their relationship. jinyoung was of course elated and eager to say yes!
• yoo youngjae always like to bring up the fact that jjp's son youngjae is "named after him" (he isn't)
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tateishitoshiki · 4 years
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[Translation] Toshiki Tateishi Livedoor Interview (19/12/19)
I translated the interview that was posted on his birthday!
I also crossposted this to my translation blog on Wordpress.
From a firefighter to the world of entertainment――Looking back at Toshiki Tateishi’s journey to where he is now, on his 26th birthday
Celebrating Toshiki Tateishi who’s approaching his 26th birthday on December 19th with balloons and confetti! “I’m happy because it’s the first time that an article about me is getting released on my birthday!” he said, beaming from ear to ear as he did the photoshoot.
His stage debut was Musical The Prince of Tennis 3rd Season (hereinafter referred to as “Tenimyu”) in 2017. His popularity rose after he took part in Mankai Stage “A3!”, and in only a few years, he quickly became known as a popular young actor.
There is such a term as an Akita Beauty, but Tateishi surely classifies as an “Akita Adonis”.
Looks that you can’t get tired of looking at, skin that has a smooth, silk-like clearness, and an atmosphere that overflows with elegance…… It came as a shock that despite having this level of flawless beauty, he used to be a firefighter before going into the world of showbiz.
In this interview, he talked about the whole story of how he came to aspire to become a firefighter, and the encounters that brought him to reaffirm his feelings for singing.
For my birthday this year, I’d like to get myself an electric bike 
ーYou’re turning 26 on December 19th. Congratulations!
Thank you!
ーWe had a birthday-themed photoshoot today, with balloons and even confetti.
I had a lot of fun doing things I couldn’t do as a child (haha)
ーCan you tell us about your past birthday parties?
When I was young, I used to invite my friends from class to my house every year for a birthday party, but when I was in 1st or 2nd grade, my parents gave me a soccer ball. It made me so happy that I kicked it around inside the room, and it ended up landing on top of the cake, which hadn’t even been cut yet (haha)
ーHuh? Didn’t your parents get mad?
It was my birthday, so they couldn’t get mad at me (haha). Though I would say that they’re the type of parents that never really get mad.
ーThat’s such a charming story (haha). December 19th is pretty close to Christmas, isn’t it? Did you ever get only one present for both your birthday and Christmas? 
No, they always made it separate. I have sisters who are 5 and 7 years older than me, so as the youngest child, they were very affectionate to me. I guess I was quite spoiled (haha)
ーDo you plan on getting yourself anything for your birthday this year?
I haven’t thought about it. … But now I think I’d like to get an electric bicycle.
It’s because I went to a photoshoot by bike sometime ago, but I kept getting overtaken and it took quite some time to get there, so it was pretty tough (haha). I’ve also had people around me suggest it, saying, “You should definitely buy an electric bike,” so maybe I will buy one.
ーNow that you’re turning 26, you’ve reached the turning point of your 20s. Is there anything you’d like to do before you turn 30?
I’m not much of a planner, so… (haha)
ーHow about things like what you want to do in a job?
Thankfully, right now, I’m able to work both with music in a group and in stageplays, and I’ve just started working in film… Yeah, I would like to expand my horizons more. 
Ah, I love eating, so I would love to appear in a variety show or something that involves doing food reviews without having to stop working in music and acting.
ーI want to watch a program that shows more of your personality
Yes, please! Something like “TOshiki Tateishi’s TOwn Walk” sounds like fun! (haha)
Playing the role of Yukimura led me to grow as an actor and as a person 
ーYour birthday on December 19th is also the same day as the opening night of Musical The Prince of Tennis 3rd Season Seigaku VS Rikkai The Last Half.
That’s right!
ーYou play the role of Seiichi Yukimura of Rikkai. In a previous Livedoor interview, you talked about asking your manager to let you know if Tenimyu starts taking auditions. What made you want to be in Tenimyu in the first place?
After I quit being a firefighter, I passed an audition and started taking lessons. But, I fell into a slump and shut everything out, and there was a period when I didn’t go to my lessons and instead did nothing but watch movies.
At that time, I thought that watching films and then laughing and crying because of acting is the same as listening to music and then feeling moved. It made me think that I want to be someone like this, I want to try being an actor.
… So, the question is, why did I audition for Tenimyu, huh? (haha)
ーYes. (haha)
I heard that it was a gateway to success for young actors, so I wanted to challenge it.
ーI heard that you were in the swimming club and the baseball club when you were a student, but did you have any experience with tennis?
I didn’t. That’s why I don’t know the rules, and the first time I ever held a racket was in Tenimyu.
But I remember thinking of it this way. It took time to audition, and I got the part through that, so no matter how difficult the training is, I have no choice but to do it! Anyway, instead of thinking that it’s difficult, I desperately, frantically devoted myself to it.
ーGiven that you have a lot of co-stars, did you ever face any troubles occasionally?
I did find myself troubled with personal relationships. We had to make one production with that large number of people, so we were bound to have some conflicts, and now that I think about it, we couldn’t really make it work at first. But as we attended more rehearsals, we overcame our hardships and our bonds were formed.
ーWas there any pressure in debuting with the role of Yukimura? 
Of course there was. Rikkai is the champion school, so there was the impatience that I had to meet everyone’s expectations. I came in with no skills or anything at all, so there was still the shyness at having to act. It made me very worried.
ーSpeaking of Yukimura, being the captain of Rikkai makes him the strongest guy among all of Japan middle school tennis.
Yes. Yukimura started out with scenes wherein he was hospitalized instead of tennis scenes, so that part was difficult.
ーHow was it difficult?
I think it’s relatively easier to portray his strong “Child of God” side where he’s reigning at the summit of Rikkai. But when I had to sing in a scene where he was still hospitalized, I found it difficult to portray his frailty while also preserving the inner strength of his spirit.  
There’s a part where he sings, “Do your best, I’m praying for you,” to his friends in Rikkai, but I guess I sang it too weakly. The director told me, “Yukimura is originally a physically and mentally strong player, so express his hidden inner strength even through song,” so I had a fairly hard time dealing with that.
ーYou gain a deeper understanding of Yukimura while playing his role, but what do you think makes him attractive?
Like I mentioned, I guess it’s his mental strength as a person. His demeanor is fairly gentle, but I think he’s strong and likes tennis more than everyone else. He also has a ruthless side to him, he hates losing, he never wavers… he’s very cool. I respect who he is on the inside, and I think playing the role of Yukimura led me to grow as an actor and as a person.
I thought it’s amazing to have a job where you save lives 
ーI’d like to hear about the time before you entered this world, your firefighter days. Last October, Jun Utahiroba introduced your history in Mezamashi TV’s Ikemen Notebook corner.
A lot of people messaged me to say “I saw you”, and my Twitter follower count increased, haha. It even went trending on Twitter.
ー#Tateishi-kun (#立石くん) and #FirefighterDaysPic (#消防士時代の写真) did go trending on Twitter. I thought it was clever when Utahiroba said, “If he were dripping in sexiness like this, fires would go out on their own.”
He also said things like “Announcing a burning love alert!” haha. I’m very thankful. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Utahiroba again for featuring me in his corner.
ーOkay, I’ll write that down, haha. When you were deciding on your career, you had a hard time choosing between attending university or becoming a firefighter, weren’t you?
When my mom asked me, “Why do you want to go to college? What’s your purpose for going there?”, I couldn’t answer her. So when I thought again about what I wanted to do, I decided that I wanted to aim to become a firefighter. 
ーOf all the jobs out there, why firefighting?
There was a fire prevention drill at my elementary school, and the firefighters that came to lead it were cool. Boys at that age do find things they admire at least once. After that, the film “Umizaru” became popular when I was in middle school. The term “lifesaving” left a huge impression on me, and I thought that while it may be difficult, a job that saves lives is really wonderful. I wanted to have something worth doing like that as my profession.. 
ーYour sense of justice has been very strong since you were young.
Hmm, I wonder. Is it? Haha
ーI heard that the Tokyo Fire and Disaster Management Agency is quite hard to get into. Their acceptance rate is high; did you have to work hard at studying? 
I did, haha. They had a written exam and a physical strength exam, but I started studying since first year high school, had tutorials, and I asked my upperclassmen about it.
ーIt must have been hard to build physical strength as well.
Yes. I was already doing sports, so I had a foundation to build on, but I still did a lot of muscle training and running.
I cried in frustration at the words of an old stranger, one night in Kitasenju  
ーAfter that, you passed the entrance exam in one take and moved to Tokyo.
I didn’t exactly work immediately after I was employed. I went to a fire fighting school to learn the necessary information and skills, and there I experienced living in a dorm. I was raised with two older sisters and I always went to co-ed schools, so I was overwhelmed when I entered, haha. 
ーHaha. They must have been very strict with rules.
There’s a curfew at night and the time when you’re supposed to wake up is also fixed, so it was difficult to live out our lives with all those things decided for us. When we woke up in the morning, we ran and assembled at the oval, and then we had a roll-call. They even had rules on how to fold our mattresses. If you don’t fold it properly, you’ll have to do it over again, so they had very detailed rules like that.
ーWhat left a deep impression on you in your nearly two years of working as a firefighter?
What left the biggest impression was probably the people I met. The instructor and assistant instructor in my class were very compassionate people, and I’m very glad I met them. Above all, I still keep in touch with the assistant instructor. We even went out to drink together around the end of last year, just the two of us. 
ーHe’s still concerned about you even until now.
He’s the kind of person who would talk about things straight and to the point, which is something most adults wouldn’t do. I also opened up to him and talked to him about how I wanted to pursue music. …… Ahh, that brings me back, haha. Which reminds me, I was invited by my higher-up who likes music to perform at a small bar in Kitasenju. That assistant instructor also came to watch.
ーWhat did you sing?
A song by my higher-up’s favorite, Yutaka Ozaki. I didn’t know that song too well, but I tried to copy the way Ozaki sings when I sang it. When I did that, an old man who came as a guest told me, “Is that your real voice? You don’t leave an impression at all even if you copy voices like that.”
… Those words pierced through my chest, and after the live, I cried while eating sushi in front of my assistant instructor and my higher-up, haha.
ーYou cried tears of frustration.
I haven’t cried in front of anyone ever since I became an adult…… but it somehow spilled out.
ーIs that the point when your dreams of becoming a singer were brought back to life?
I suppose so. That time was frustrating, but I’m grateful to that old man now, haha. 
When anxiety and fear turned into “fun”. I found a turning point in Mankai Stage
ーAfter experiencing your debut at Tenimyu in 2017, you gained a sudden rise in popularity by appearing as Itaru Chigasaki in the 2018 production of Mankai Stage “A3!”. Do you remember the time when you got accepted for your role in Mankai Stage?
I went into Mankai Stage after experiencing two musicals in Tenimyu, but at the time, I was still afraid of standing on stage and felt embarrassed to act, so I was very anxious. On top of that, he’s an extremely popular character, and he’s really attractive, so I didn’t know what to do.
That’s why I consulted my co-actors a lot, like Yamato (Furuya) who plays Citron and Ray Fujita who plays Sakyo Furuichi. I stood on stage carrying all my unease at the start, but around the closing night, I felt like I finally had a grasp on Itaru’s character.
ーReally?
Itaru places distance between his colleagues in the Spring troupe and himself at the beginning, so in our first musical, I deliberately made a wall between the cast and myself.
ーWere you pulled in by your role?
It did have quite an effect at the time. I couldn’t really switch between work and private life, so I could only face them wholly. But now, of course, even if a role like that comes up again, I won’t be pulled in by my role, haha. 
ーThere’s a scene in the play where Itaru starts to find theatre fun. Has your own feelings ever overlapped with Itaru’s?
There was. The first performances in Tokyo ended in July, and the Tokyo return shows weren’t until 3 months after, so there was a lot of time in between. I was very frantic at first and it was just a lot, but by the Tokyo return shows, I found it fun.
ーHow did you feel on stage before the Tokyo return shows?
I didn’t know what to do, and I was pretty much just scared. I didn’t get to stand on stage all that much as Yukimura in Tenimyu, so I wasn’t used to the stage yet. I was a lot more nervous as Itaru than as Yukimura, haha. It almost felt like I was making my first stage appearance. From there, the Tokyo return shows passed and I grew accustomed to it little by little.
Apart from that, the Autumn & Winter 2019 performance which ran from January until March was also a turning point for me. Itaru appeared in it to support the Autumn troupe and the Winter troupe, but everyone’s acting made me want to do better too, and I was really impressed.
ーDuring the Osaka run, you also did things like go to Universal Studios Japan with the Winter troupe.
That’s right. We really got along well, and every time we ate during the provincial tour, it was like, the Winter troupe plus me, haha. Ryo Kitamura and Makki (Yoshihiko Aramaki), Kandai Ueda, Ue-chan (Keisuke Ueda), Ryosei Tanaka, would go, “Let’s grab some food,” and invite me. It was a very nice, comfortable place.
ーAnd, you mentioned before that during the the rehearsals for the Spring solo performance in April this year that the words of Director Fumiya Matsuzaki gave you confidence.
Yes. During the break, Director Matsuzaki told me, “The fact that you’re having fun while acting is showing in your performance this time,” and I felt really happy that he went out of his way just to tell me that. That gave me confidence. I really owe Director Matsuzaki a lot as my teacher.  
ーDid you welcome the Spring solo performance with that feeling?
It was the best! 
There were a lot of scenes where Itaru drags the stage, so I really felt like I had control of the stage, and while that came with a lot of responsibility, it was extremely fun. I felt the sense that I was creating the play along with everyone in the Spring troupe.
ー2019 was the year of development for you, wasn’t it?
I was. But Mankai Stage actually started the year before, even though I feel like it’s been three years, haha. I guess, with that, 2019 was quite a fruitful year.
Toshiki Tateishi takes on the “Would You Rather?” challenge!
ーQuestion 1: If you were to have only one friend for a lifetime, would you rather have... A. A friend who always cancels on you at the last minute B. A friend who always gets jealous easily
Will I ever get to meet my friend even if they always cancel at the last minute?
ーYou will meet them, but they will frequently message to say, “I can’t go today,” even if you’re already at your arranged meeting spot.
Then I guess it’s better to have a jealous friend.
ーHow come?
Isn’t it nice, though? You’re very much loved, haha. 
ーThey’ll keep nagging you with questions like, “Who were you with yesterday?”, though.
Isn’t that cute? Haha
If they ask, it would be fine to just answer and say, “I was with ___.” Even if they easily get jealous, I’m sure that if we hang out together, they’ll cheer up about it. Sudden cancellations just ruin plans, so that’s worse, haha.
ーQuestion 2: If you were to get married, would you rather be married to... A. A girl who doesn’t talk at all B. A girl who will talk your ears off for as long as you’re together
There are a lot of things you can’t communicate without talking, so it’s better to be with a girl who talks than a girl who doesn’t. I’d rather not be told something later on like, “The truth is, it was like this, but…”
ーThere are a lot of stories where someone doesn’t want to say something but wants their partner to notice on their own.
True. That’s why I’d be happier if they would just say it.
ーBut if you come home from work all tired, and they’ll keep talking and talking...
Then I’ll make them be quiet. I can’t just let them talk for 24 hours, haha.
ーQuestion 3: If you were to go on an overseas trip, would you rather... A. Be left behind in a jungle B. Be left behind in a desert
Aaaagh… both of those are really scary. There would probably be water and food in the jungle, but there would also be crocodiles and snakes and bears and insects, and there are a lot of dangers. On the other hand, it’s hot in the desert, and there would be nothing to drink, and even in the desert, there would still be snakes and scorpions.
(grimaces) Yikes...
ーIt’s “Would You Rather”, so you’ll have to make do... 
For the desert, it also depends on how long it would take for me to get to a town.
ーPerhaps you might find an oasis along the way.
If I’m allowed to wear proper, durable clothes, I’ll go for the desert. Even if I suddenly get attacked by a scorpion hidden in the sand, my clothes will be strong enough to defend me, haha.
ーQuestion 4: If you were to be reborn, would you rather be... A. A guy B. A girl
Huh, I’ve never thought of that before.
ーIs it because you have sisters? So you don’t have any curiosity towards what it’s like to be a girl.
That’s probably it. I’ve had friends who only have brothers tell me, “Must be nice to have sisters,” but I’d tell them, “Not really,” haha. 
Ahh, what do I do. I think I’d like to be a dolphin or a bird.
ーThat’s a good answer, haha.
Ah, but I don’t want to see the sea at night; it gets scary. Guess I’d rather turn into a bird after all, haha.
ーQuestion 5: What kind of 2020 would you rather have? A. A calm year where nothing good and nothing bad happens B. A turbulent year where you experience the best and worst moments of your life
I wonder how bad the worst moment could be, haha. I’m sure there are people who prefer to live a safe life with no gains and no losses, but that’s scary. … But, yeah, I guess I’d definitely go for a year with the best and worst moments.  
ーYou prefer the turbulent year?
It isn’t time for me to rest yet, I guess. It would be nice to spend my days peacefully someday, but for now, I want to experience a lot of things and grow more. So bring it on, turbulent 2020.
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beabaseball · 4 years
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this is a delirious 11pm post for Adults Only guys
Leave this space, child!
...
...
...
...y’all teenagers are going to be tweaked out of their goddamn minds.
Like, not necessarily in the drugged way, though some maybe yes in the drugged way, but like. Specifically in the non-drug way, they’re going to be snippy, and inattentive, and self centered. And that’s probably fine.
Like. Of course teens are self-centered, their bodies are doing weird shit for the first time and people keep making jokes they don’t understand yet, and some of these fuckers haven’t been given sex ed so they don’t even know what’s coming.
The younger teens have just emerged from the child form that has only just started being able to comprehend a larger world. In elementary school, sure I was reading time magazine for kids and we prayed for people who were being reported (religious school; recent tsunami, it happens) and when I was in 1st or 2nd grade we heard rumors that once upon a time women weren’t allowed to do the same stuff as men, but like— you can feel those things, but it’s not really something that you comprehend unless it’s right then a part of your life. I remember the first time I really ‘got’ sexism was in ninth grade in a gym class of 24 boys to 3 + me girls, and I wrote bad poetry about it in my phone for like three months trying to process it.
When I was like 16 our car broke down midway to school and we had to call my dorm parent to come drive me the next 5 mins, and so he’s in a bad mood bc he has to pick me up, and mom is in a bad mood bc car she gets a feeling dorm parent didn’t believe her when she said the car broke down, and it’s like 80 out but more importantly the humidity is a swamp, and I just remember being in his car driving the rest of the way to school and he’s complaining about sunburns bc he’s super pale and Irish, but he’s trying to talk so I kind of say “huh well i’ve never gotten a sunburn. I tan real fast and then go inside and I’m white again.”
and even in the moment I remember being like “that’s not really what he wanted to hear” and I think he even made a face, but I was too out of it and hot and tired to really do anything passed that. And I do feel kind of bad about it? Like, I did not mean to demean his pain of sunburns and I know also that at the time he was having A Rough Time with his marriage, to the point where he had us doing religious plays about parenthood for three seasons straight.
But also, I was a teenager. And looking back I can’t exactly blame my past self for just kinda... saying some words and feeling bad the rest of the car ride but also too tired to care. Theater teacher man wasn’t a bad guy; we were definitely not good at reading each other and he thought musicals sucked, but he also was the one who comforted me out of a panic attack when we had a tornado warning and I ended up convinced my daystudent friend was going to die.
Because that’s what I cared about at the time. Me-related things. Yes, tornado, but I am worried about one (1) person, and that mattered to me. I stayed behind when we got an actual sex-ed person in 7th grade because I was scared that reading yaoi would send me to hell. I had a breakdown in front of my history professor because one of my friends was discovering her gender identity and I was scared I was ‘losing her’ (you know the words!)
Now, someone comes out to me or someone doesn’t understand a term and I’m over here like “yea which definition u wanna use” but back then I was a kid and I had never experienced anything like this before, my hormones were wild—which didn’t mean I was horny and wanted boyfriend, it meant I was in constant fear of bleeding through things and every now and then I would wake up and my body would be in surprise unknowable pain (aka I was finally big enough to cut off my own circulation in my sleep and also growing pains)
Now, I’ve got a lot of that under control. When I wake up with a body in pain I usually know why and probably it is my fault actually. I know a bit better how to get through days when I’m too hot, or too groggy, or just dissociation or mad. (The trick is: say aloud, “sorry if I’m not responding much, I’m just really hot/groggy/out of it/still upset about that.” )
That’s not something a lot of teens have down yet. I saw a kid with a naruto shirt on at work once and I said “hey naruto” and he looked at me like he’d seen the face of god, he was so surprised someone knew what naruto was. To someone even MILDLY in my age range, the idea of not knowing who Naruto is is preposterous. But this was like, 12-15 year old at the most. Not hit his growth spurt yet. Just absolutely blindsided that there was an outside world which recognized something he liked, which I’m gonna wildly guess his parents probably aren’t into or don’t talk about it with him, because the thought of talking Naruto with your kid is horrifying.
Obviously, thinking other people don’t know about naruto is a similar kind of self-centered thought along the lines of “I bet thigh chick isn’t a REAL fan of x” or “EVERYONE has an opinion on me and there is no in between” where like the world... sort of revolves around you.
And like, once that person grows up if they keep that sort of self-focus, that’s usually the time you start trying to ditch them, but even older teens are still just coming out of that larval childhood state. They know a lot more about the world than we probably did at their age—I know a lot of them aren’t having the same existential crisis over their friends’ gender like I did, which is a big ol step— but there are still days that it’s going to be too much new shit to deal with, plus whatever else is happening inside them personally. And it’ll take a while to learn how to handle that.
In the meantime, they might be snappish, or out of it, or just kind of give up and have a ‘fuck it’ attitude sometimes, and it drives a lot of adults just goddamn insane it seems, according to all the mildly aggressive parents at work, trying to get kids who don’t want to be there to give the right reactions. It’s probably not even anything personal to the event that’s making them unhappy. One time I talked to a kid who was crying, and when I got her to tell me what was bothering her, it turned out that some people on her family reunion were mean to her. Nothing about the immediate ‘now’, just a lot of emotion that needed to go somewhere, and that somewhere ended up being crying, and it was not at all about respect or disrespect or anything related to us. Probably most of what was needed was to talk about it (success) and take a long nap.
The first time I remember having a meltdown with a ‘trigger’ like that, I was in 5th grade and my first assignment was something like “what did you do over summer” so I lost my entire shit and cried on the couch for an hour. Passed out, slept til 7, woke up and was fed soup, and have no idea if I finished that paper but presumably I did because I remember a nap and food working.
I would keep having these homework meltdowns periodically, and I don’t know when they stopped, but I had at least one, maybe two, in my first year of college.
And eventually I’ve just kinda.... stopped having them. Stress about a big project wasn’t something that bothered me anymore. You just did it one step at a time, and when you started thinking “maybe I’ll do it in the morning”, you immediately go to bed because you’ve already lost the fight and even if you don’t do it in the morning at least you won’t face it sleep deprived.
It takes time and living to get these experiences, and while one kid might not have the same issues with school work I had, maybe something else just knocks them on their ass every time (same) and it is just. Literally something you need to live through a couple times before you know how to deal with it. You can provide Blank Slate Alien Person with all the mental health tips and anecdotal advice and chamomile tea as you want, but the first couple times they face stress, none of those tips help if they don’t know how to implement them.
If you’ve ever assembled something by instructions and ended up building it upside down—it’s easier to build it again once you’ve gotten mad and undone it and started again. Because you’ve practiced. You already had the instructions, but now you have the experience of building it already, even if the result wasn’t the one you wanted.
Teens are learning a) how to read instructions, and b) that their assembly is probably upside down. and in the meantime, the world is also bonkers wild right now.
When they have that moment of rage, or giving up, or aloofness upon finding shit got built upside down— just. Let them.
You don’t have to ‘fix’ it or ‘fix’ them for having these emotions, or lack of them.
These are normal reactions. They make sense. All I’m asking is that we understand it’s going to happen. These emotions are going to happen.
Don’t let yourself justify being mean to kids and teens by telling yourself they’re being disrespectful. The world and their lives and emotions also don’t revolve around you. It’s not always a rebellion or reason to fight when things get too high strung to hold total control of.
That doesn’t mean ignore them. I was maybe 12 or 13, and it was 90 on a metal ship, and i was wearing an under shirt because i didn’t have a bra, so two layers of clothes on a hot metal ship, on my period— and all I remember is asking my dad to let us sit down and eat some lunch, because i was dizzy and dehydrated, and all he just kept saying we would do it once he saw the tour. I have no idea how long it was but I probably could’ve cried and been called moody or uncooperative.
Life is difficult. Especially for people who aren’t yet in control of their situations. Who are still bursting out with emotions they can’t otherwise articulate.
Be kind to that.
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jacquelinep21 · 4 years
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(I wrote this email to my grandmother, aunt, and uncle last week and felt pretty good with how it turned out so decided to publish it here.) 
Friday, May 1st, 2020
Coucou !
I’ve been wanting to write you for a while now, I even started a draft and wrote about ¾’s of it, had to stop to make dinner, and then never finished it. Maybe I was overthinking how I wanted to get the writing perfect when I should’ve just sent something to say hello, give you an update, and check-in that all was well with you. Mieux vaut tard que jamais.
How to describe everything and nothing that has happened since mid-March? Both on a personal level and on a “what’s the situation in France” level?
Personally, I’ve been cooking, both familiar recipes, and trying new ones such as Chickpea Curry, Mushroom-Stuffed Eggplant, One-Pan Wine Braised Chicken with Artichoke Hearts, Shakshuka, Spanish Tortilla, Roasted Red Pepper Cheese Toast, Peanut Butter Chile Sauce drizzled over broccoli and rice, Butternut Squash & Shallot Hash w/Poached Eggs, and a couple others. Let me admit, some were successes, others...will have to be adjusted and reattempted. Not to mention there are days when not having a dishwasher gets to be exhausting.
I still have multiple school projects that I have been working on, both group and individual. My classes were already supposed to end mid-April even before this all started, so it didn’t change much and most classes didn’t have any online classes, as the projects were more important and already put in place. I have three more to turn in before grades are due mid-May, and now the first part of my thesis is due one month later, at the end of June. Productivity has been difficult, as there are days that I feel like I need to do things for me, rather than sitting on my computer switching between reading the news and trying to do school work, but I’ve gotten a little better at it. My job, checking guests into apartments, and working in the office, is obviously non-existent, and likely will be until at least September, but because of the government's chômage partiel or temporary/partial unemployment of over 10 million people in France, I’m still getting 90% of my salary, which I am very thankful for.
What I have been doing for pleasure these days is listening to podcasts, my favorite being Spilled Milk, which I discovered in September when I was doing the grape harvest, a comedy show about food recorded in Seattle. I was taking a photograph or two a day with my dad’s 1984 Minolta 35mm film camera but ran out of film and can’t find a viable way to get more. I’ve been reading every day, finished two books so far, and have started a third. We’ve been watching movies and TV shows, such as Breaking Bad, the Jason Bourne trilogies, Charade, Star Wars, and others I’ve put off watching until now. Something I never thought I would do was a virtual dance/fitness classes but they have been a great source of dopamine and just physical movement. There are also weekly video chats with either Benjamin or I’s friends, which has been especially nice when we can reunite multiple time zones all in one call. My friend that works at Politico’s audio department asked if I’d be interested in recording an audio-diary twice a week as part of a project they’re working on of different people’s experiences during lockdown so I’ve been contributing to that (though not sure what’s become of the project so far). The most coincidental thing that has happened to me during confinement is changing the channel on the TV maybe the second week into the lockdown, as the Prime Minister’s press conference was ending (otherwise we hardly ever watch the TV), to a different channel only to see someone that looked vaguely familiar, and then see the street we live on. We soon figured out the people across the street we had seen filming once or twice were making a documentary on the lockdown. I contacted them after we finished watching the episode and they asked if I was interested in being interviewed. So that happened, haha. I don’t believe it’s possible to stream the episode outside of Europe so I’ve included the video here, it’s in English.
There are of course the daily musings outside the window to see what the neighbors across the street are doing or what is happening on the street below. Avenue de Saint-Ouen has calmed since this all began but it still is busier than I would’ve expected, both with cars and people, not resembling photos you may have seen of an eerily empty Paris. Sundays are the exception, when I can almost clearly hear what someone is saying on their balcony across the way, where the joggers' loud steps hitting the pavement echoes as they try to reach home before their 10am curfew, and the church bells ring telling us the time. The typical characters I can see on their balconies every day include the bald man that drinks his cup of coffee while smoking his morning cigarette, the retired man on the top floor that tends to his potted herbs that dangle over the balcony railing, or his neighbors that have two young boys that run back and forth. The weather has been clearer than any Parisian spring I’ve seen and the temperatures even got to the high 70’s last week but have now dropped and the clouds are back. We are allowed to walk for up to one hour within a 1km radius of our address, as long as we have a form, now available to download on our phones, filled out, otherwise there can be fines, though I have only seen police officers stop people twice.
So what is the situation in France right now? As of Thursday night, 24,376 people have died from Covid-19 in France, 26,283 people are currently hospitalized (551 less than the day before) and 4,019 are in the ICU (188 less than the day before). On May 11th, the lockdown will be lifted to a certain extent, but many restrictions will still be in place. Starting May 7th each département, kind of like a county, will either be classified red or green, depending on multiple factors, and this can change the severity of the rules after May 11th. Preschools, elementary schools, and daycares can reopen, on a voluntary basis by each family, so those in need that cannot do online learning and depend on the meals can return to school under certain hygiene measures. Public transportation will increase slightly but not back to the normal frequency, masks will be obligatory, every other seat must be left empty, employeurs are encouraged the adjust hours of employees that have to return to work to avoid rush hour, and that those not commuting to and from work should avoid public transportation during these hours. We will be able to leave the house without filling out a form, as long as it’s less than 100km from our address. Farther than this (62 miles) we will need to have a legitimate reason, such as professional or imperative family needs. No meetings, private or public, of more than ten people. Individual sports any time of day (currently in Paris jogging isn’t permitted between 10am and 7pm) but no team sports. Libraries and small museums may reopen while abiding by hygiene procedures. Parks may reopen but if considered dangerous, such as in Paris, they may remain closed. Most businesses can reopen, except restaurants, bars, cafés, large museums, movie theaters, concert venues, or theaters, while controlling the number of people in the business and customers may be turned away if they aren’t wearing a mask. Farmers markets may reopen as well. Malls may or may not reopen, depending on their size. Working from home is still strongly encouraged. The government hopes to test 700,000 people a week, though who can get tested isn’t clear. If you test positive you must self isolate for 14 days either at your residence or an allocated hotel, and teams of people will attempt to get in contact with those who may have been infected by said persons to get tested. An app is also in development to track this but is also highly controversial and will have to be voted on by parliament. Masks will be distributed by employeurs, by schools, to nonprofits for those in need, social action centers, and La Poste has set up a website where they can be bought, the government paying for part of the costs. The second phase in which things could change is June 2nd.
Voilà, I think that’s everything. I would love to hear from you when you can write back. Miss you and thinking of you.
Love,
Melissa
P.S. Some recent Articles/Blogs/Newsletters/Podcasts that are Paris related:
David Lebovitz's May 2020 Newsletter
When Cookies Fly and Other Tales of Staying Entertained During Quarantine
Lettre Recommandé: Notes from France by Lauren Collins
Podcast: Documenting confinement in Paris, checking in with the French psyche, May Day history (interview with the couple making the documentary that I was featured in briefly among other interesting things.)
The New Paris Podcast: Paris in Confinement
The Earful Tower Podcast: What does Paris look like in lockdown? (he has recorded several episodes about what has been going on, this is just a more recent one, light-hearted)
The Street That Still Offers Paris Hope
Denuded of Tourists, Paris Reveals Its Old Beating Heart
France 24's English Coverage of the France Lockdown (a great news outlet in English with a more French perspective of whats going on in France with articles and videos)
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serenamantra · 4 years
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Day 4: Describe your Best Friends
I got tons of best friends. From High School and College but not from elementary which is sad because I don't communicate with them anymore. Some of them might just think we were acquaintance or far from that. It was like years ago and we haven't communicate that much. Guess we've met other people that's why we didn't had the chance to prolong the friendship. But we still follow each other on social media and I'm so proud with their life choices.
Meet, Jessa Mae Abraham.
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I met her when I was in 2nd year high school and she was a freshman and a transferee. Everyone were discussing that we both looked alike and has the same nickname, which is Sam. Since everyone's saying we are like twins, we immediately clicked. She was always in our home and we bonded so much it feels like no one can break us apart.
It was kind of saddening since when I got to 4th year high school, I dedicated my time to my studies since I was a graduating student. And when I graduated and started my year as a freshman in College, she was a graduating student too. So, it was so hard for us to communicate and to spend with each other more often. When she graduated, she studied in Ateneo de Naga so it made it more complicated. So now, since I got more time to communicate with her, we are both trying to strengthen our friendship. Hopefully, we'll get comfortable with each other again. Hoping.
Next is, Jenica Celine Lustre.
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I remember blogging about her, Nicolle and Jhoice but reminiscing memories feels so good. So, let's blog about it again. Hoping I can make the story clearer this time.
We were in grade school when I met her. Everyone was talking about her when she transferred at our school. Everyone's crushing on her because of her physique, her fair skin and her intelligence. We were in Grade 5 and she had her own group of friends. One of her friends was Joriza. There were something I had to discuss with her when they were at the school's flag pole. After our discussion, they invited me to spend the afternoon with them. After that, I spent most of the days of my 5th grade with them. And with that, my friend Johannah spent them with us too. High school came and we were still studying in the same school. Celine was in the section where she met Maeca and still friends with Johannah. Me on the other hand, spent the school year with my classmates. The friends who matured early from others, they had boyfriends, drinks, stays outside late at night. It was a nightmare for peer pressure. When we set foot for 2nd year high school, I was classmates with Maeca and so Celine and I went friends again. And spent half of the school year with them. Then I began to be part of their group which was called Toperks. I forgot already what that meant. When 3rd year came, I was classmates with Celine. Then we started the group SGRS with Nicolle and Jhoice. Years went by and we are still best friends and I am thankful for that.
Next is, Nicolle Gomez.
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The start of our friendship was so funny. I was this bully from high school which everyone hated. This strong personality of mine led me to meet Nicolle.
She was classmates with my cousin, Kaye when were at the 1st year of high school. Kaye was this lowkey probinsyana who adores people who has fair skin, modest and lives in the city. I caught her carrying Nicolle's bag one afternoon and I got mad because why the hell she's making my cousin her maid. Her sister knew about this which was like me. A strong girl who can fight independently. Nicolle already said she was sorry and said sorry also to her and to her sister. That was one of a hell ride. Hahahaha
She was part of Toperks too when we were in 2nd year. We were awkward when we started in 3rd year but went closer to each other. We had many ups and downs in this friendship because we both liked the same guy which happened twice. HAHAHA. The first guy was Dominic, the guy that I had a relationship with for 2 years. You can find blog posts about him. Hehe. The second guy was Joward. I got closer to him because in a weird sense I can understand how he expresses himself. They dated for about a year in the last years of college but that should not be talked about coz ya know, its not my story. We grew closer together when we had the same course in College. Thankful for this friendship too.
Meet, Mary Joyce Andrea Sacayan.
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She was a transferee when we step in 2nd year high school. She was Ate Kia's new friend since they were classmates. They spent so much together and I spent with my new friends too. Ate Kia was a classmate in freshmen year. She's really fond of treating people with her money. Not in the negative nor positive way. I guess somewhere in between. Then she let us meet Jhoice. She was this bubbly, funny, cute and jejemon girl. She was fond of using numbers as letters in texting. Thinking of it makes it funnier because she stayed the same, jejemon in texting aside. We called each other, Tugs. See? Jejemon HAHA
We are the ones who were closer when SGRS started because we have the same strong personality. Also with group we had before Toperks, we spent night outs and drinking alcoholic beverages together. Up until now we still do but she got bored with already. I really hope for her to find a man who's really worth it.
Next is Archel Canlas.
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He's a high school schoolmate. I didn't get to be classmates with him in high school but we went closer together when Dominic was my boyfriend. They were classmates and I became fond of him with his quirky stuff and how he quickly became friends with girls.
When Dominic and I broke up. Archel and I were still close. He usually made every guy problem that I have through the years easier. He's the guy I got so comfortable to share with my intimate experiences in life. Also, a one call away friend for every night out I do. We grew so close together and went best friends with Nicolle and Celine too. He's so comfortable to be with and gives respect to us girls.
Next is, Princess Carla Parra.
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The first college buddy I had when I shifted to Psychology. She's this timid but funny person. I don't really remember how we got so close. Just woke up one morning and we got close already. She knows every kagagahan through my college life. All the flings and night out that I had. She was supportive nonetheless the chaos that I was having because of this. I grew closer too with every boys in our block because of her. She's a lesbian and I accept every bit of her. Not that she needed my approval or anyone else with her sexuality but I just love how she knew what she really liked in her very young age.
Many were shocked how our friendship grew since we have a totally different traits and personality. But that didn't stop our bond. We graduated college with this friendship I will always treasure. Also, very proud of her because she's slowly opening her little box. Hihi
Next is Nathalie France Ruin.
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People call her Bem. She's this out-going, intelligent, has a weird sanse of humor and the weirdest laugh. One day, I came late in one of our class. She saw my sweat near my eyebrow and decided to wipe it. I scolded her since she's going to wipe my eyebrows. HAHAHA Thesis came and my group of friends decided that we shouldn't spend and be groupmates. It happened in Experimental Psychology and seen what happened. That's why it's our best decision to split since it's only a maximum of 3 persons per group. I was groupmates with her and Ate Abee. 1st day of discussing with our title, Ate Abee wasn't around so Bem and I spent talking about what I have been going through with my boyfriend. That was Kris btw. Hahaha that's when we started our friendship. And then I got to be part of their group, dreamteam. It's with Christine, Ate Pearl, Linzi, Ate Abee, Bem and me. Finally get to have a girl group in College.
After thesis, we grew closer together. She spends her day in our house and she's close with my family. I taught her so many things and vice versa. I made a good girl drink so much and spent too much time outside with my boy friends.HAHAHAHA. But I didn't make her a bitch or something. I simply made her experience these things to strengthen her immune system when it comes to this circumstances. When she drinks with her other friends, atleast she's not going to be a burden to anyone since she practiced on not getting drunk so easily. She on the other hand helped me in focusing on my acads and it really helped me graduate on time.
These are my best friends. For better or for worst, through thick and thin I will never give up in all of this friendship. I love them too much and they are my source of strength and my constant source of support in this battle field.
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violetgunter-blog · 4 years
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Blog 1
I plan to teach elementary students, hopefully either 1st or 2nd grade. At this age I expect they will be more extrinsically motivated students; their parents send them to school and they have to go. I also believe this is an age range where teachers have the most opportunity to help their students become intrinsically motivated about learning. In 1st and 2nd grade they are still learning some of the basics, but they are more capable of applying it to their lives and seeing the importance of learning on a personal level. Something that Dirksen pointed out to consider about learners, is their current skill level and their knowledge on a topic. For first and second grade this means that they are learning the basics, they do not have a lot of background knowledge to lean on and make connections. Along with the fact that the materials being taught in these grades is new to them, I need to keep in consideration that I have known how to do what they are learning for a long time. Using Dirksen’s analogy, while something is organized in my mind “closet” they have never even touched that part of their “closet” let alone organize it. Another thing to consider is that this is an age group where students capabilities are everywhere. You have parents who have been working with their kids every and helping them progress their learning, then there are the kids who have not touched a book or done a math problem all summer, and there are those who are in between. One of the insights chapter two gave me was to have students who are more advance help other students. While it seems like such an obvious idea, I had not thought of it before. Not only will this help me as a teacher, but the advance students will be able to grasp a firmer understanding of the material and also explain it their fellow students in a way that I may not have. Since first writing this blog, I went and observed a Montessori class, the students age range was from 9-12. In this classroom I was able to see students helping students, and it was amazing. During my observation the teacher pulled a couple of students over for a presentation on adding fractions. He also pulled over a student who was already familiar with this level of math, for a refresher, so he could help his classmates if they had any questions. During the presentation the student sort of took over, while the teacher expounded on the important things. Not only did it allow the others to hear their lesson for someone who was only a little bit past where they are, but it allows the teacher to know what the student had taken from his original lesson on adding fractions. Another insight that honestly helps my confidence as a teacher is the fact that while there are many different types of learners, they have similarities. As I continue my education to become a teacher the different learning style of students is brought up quite a bit and more often than not, I am made to feel that I need to be able to cater to every one of the students need. The idea of it often becomes overwhelming and scary, this chapter encouraged me that it is possible to find common ground and doing so can be as simple as talking with your students and asking them what they need and does not always have to be some complex method. 
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homeschoolbase · 4 years
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Update on my 1st grade son: now he's saying he feels "ok"/neutral about school.
Update on my 1st grade son: now he's saying he feels "ok"/neutral about school.
About 3-4 weeks ago, I posted about possibly starting homeschool for my 1st grader after the holiday break. (Sorry I do not know how to create a link to a previous post yet). I've reached out to his teacher and she said that his occupational therapist (who meets him at the school weekly) has given her some strategies to help manage him in the classroom. So, now he's been completing his work with only occasional grumbling sounds. She's been giving him an option between 2 rewards if he finishes his work like he can draw or color, or choose a toy from a treasure chest.
Now when I ask him how he feels about school overall, he says it's a "5" on a scale of 1-10. A month ago, he would have said a "2" or a "3", the same rating he gave for our local neighborhood public school before we transferred him last year.
So now my question is.....is neutral good enough for paying a private school tuition? (I'm thinking "probably not"). He's going to the highest rating private school in our area. The best our area has to offer and it's just "ok" for him. My concern is, if I homeschool him, I am not sure I can give him a much better experience than this private school can. They give the kids more time for extra curricular activities there like music and art, and some hands-on tinkering which I LOVE about it.
I also love having the little bit of time to myself, but I don't need 8 hours of alone time. I'd be fine with only 2-3 hours, but there are no half day school options at all. It's all or nothing.
Now as for my preschool son....he is also advanced academically but is more social and actually likes being around other kids. His preschool is flexible and great, and the teacher gives him books to read while the other kids are learning "the letter of the week". So, my fears with him for next year is that he will be bored out of his skull and might start the disruptive behavior stuff, because all he wants to do at school is play with friends. That's his primary benefit of going right now. And, if he goes to our public school next year for K which is where he wants to go, it won't be as fun as his preK. They will make him sit at a desk and work. I've told him this and he still insists that's where he wants to be, so I need to let him try it out I guess. We live in a "yellow" state, so we can always transfer him with an intent to homeschool and a 2 week notice if he ends up not liking school.
My final concern is, I feel confident in homeschooling one child at home, but I'm worried I'll lost my sh*t if I do both kids, because I know they will distract each other and want to play all day!
tl;dr: my 1st grader went from not liking school much earlier this fall, to now he feels "ok" about it/neutral. We parents have now gone from "OMG we have to pull him out by holiday break" to "well maybe we need to finish 1st grade at the school then start homeschool for 2nd grade". We are paying a tuition to send him to the best private school in our area. If you google, "the best private elementary schools in the U.S.", it comes up as #1....The New School in Fayetteville, AR. Soooo, it doesn't get better than this in terms of schools, and my son is only neutral about it. His favorite parts of the day are recess and art class. HMMMMM. Any advice helpful. Thanks!
P.S. To clarify why he receives O.T. one hour per week... He has some coordination delays and doesn't like to do hand writing as a result, so he's been getting O.T. for 18 months now for this. He does like drawing, coloring, crafting, just not hand writing. And, he's been tested as mildly on the autism spectrum, but we will retest him in a few years after he's matured more, because we aren't quite sure if he actually has autism.
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