#must I point to sandy destroying the bear mountain again

[imminent-danger-came]

Sandy: "Hurting others isn't a measure of one's strength—took me a really long time to realize that. As long as I'm doing something to help out a friend, I don't mind what it is! I just want to be there for 'em when they need me. Because at the end of the day, helping my friends is more important than anything else in the world!"

(2x08 To Catch a Leaf)

-

Macaque: "She's completely out of control! If there's a time to go, it's now." MK: "NO! Mei is my best friend, I'd never abandon her when she needs me! We're heroes, it's what we do!"

(3x10 The Samadhi Fire)

-

Azure Lion: "I thought I arrived in time to contain the curse, but, based off of your expressions I would hazard a guess that Sun Wukong has already been consumed, along with your friends." MK: "But it's fine right!? We'll just pop this bad boy open and get them back!"

Azure Lion: "It's too late to save them, we can't risk unleashing the curse into the world!" MK: "You don't know, we'd risk it for sure! I won't abandon them when they need us."

(4x02 New Adventures)

-

Yellowtusk: "I know full well what will happen should Azure fail, but- but he is my brother. I owe him my life." Sandy: "We get it! I'd do anything to help my friends, but at the cost of the world?" Pigsy: "I'm sorry pal, but NOTHING is worth that price!"

(4x13 Rip and Tear)

-

Being there for your friends when they need you, but at the cost of the world.

#me in a dark corner saying ''no one understand me'' but it's literally just about how fucking insane the lego show is #look at this #what the fuck is this shit #oh my god #2x08 coming in clutch forever #Like. Oh my god #samadhi fire part 3 is happening #like it's not an if but a win #I have no doubt #MK is gonna go ''completely out of control'' #oh my gooddd oh my GODDDD #Actually still losing my shit over the fact that Macaque chooses to stay in 4x14. Holy shit dude #The growth #Everyone is blind to the truths of this world (the fact that lmk is very thematically banging. everyone wants what she has) #like the web weaving this show does #Am I insane why does no one talk about this. Like hello. Am I the only seeing this #must I point to sandy destroying the bear mountain again #Ohhhhhh dude the sandy backstory and the MK backstory are gonna line up and I might actually get the ''Sandy Trains MK'' arc of my dreams #like it's all right there. waiting for me #Also the fact that we don't know MK's origins and we also don't know how the pilgrims died. LIKE IT'S ALL LINING UP #haven't gone this insane about the legos in a bit sorry #the ''when they need me'' in 2x08 really got to me #lmk #lego monkie kid #lmk parallels #lmk Sandy #lmk MK #theme: exchange #samadhi fire part 3 #Samadhi Fire Mei Jade Emperor Azure and Monkey MK once again and forever being parallels. Thank you and good night

[melissaswimbikerun]

California: The Ultimate road trip

Normally I keep this blog about my triathlons/training and staying away from my usual mundane life. However for the last 22 days I have led a much more colourful existence road tripping around California and Nevada. And, just so I don’t stray away from the main theme of this blog, I did do a triathlon during my trip! So here is a write up of our time in the USA. Also there is more to come as we are only the first part of our journey as our travels continue on to New Zealand now.

Outline of our route and 2100 miles traveled 

On Monday 20th August Nathaniel and I began our journey. We said goodbye to our loved ones and got on a flight from Manchester to Los Angeles.

Jessica and I at my leaving party

Ready for our adventure at Manchester Airport

We arrived at Los Angeles International at 3pm local time (11pm Greenwich mean time - so we soon got quite blurry eyed!). After security and collecting bags and bikes, we got a taxi to meet our home for the next 22 days. Meet Oliver, the converted Dodge Campervan!

Oliver the campervan 

After some paperwork we set off on the road. We stopped at one of the biggest supermarkets that I have ever seen. Very tired by this point it was a struggle to scout the miles of shelves for food and equipment. We spent far too long searching for a coffee-maker (which was probably the only thing in the world this massive supermarket didn’t sell).

We drove out of the city and eventually got too tired to function any more (it was about 5am UK time!!) so we pulled over in a quiet lay-by in the Angeles National Forest and stayed there for the night. (Luxury, I know!)

Lake Tahoe

It was a 400 mile drive to Lake Tahoe. We could distract ourselves from the journey by the scenery as we drove along the Sierra Mountains. We stopped for lunch at the beautiful Mono lake.

Having an interlude from driving at Mono Lake

We arrived at Lake Tahoe at around 5pm and it was more beautiful that we could have imagined. The biggest bluest lake surrounded by mountains! We were staying at Meeks Bay Campground for 6 nights. It had its own beach and each site had a BBQ and fire pit. We had to put all our food and toiletries in a bear lockers so the bears can’t get hold of anything.

The beautiful lake Tahoe on our loop cycle 

The bear thing made me scared of venturing to the toilet block alone in the night for a few days. We never did see a bear in Tahoe though. One morning we did wake up and find the bear locker wide open, however the only thing we found eating our food was a pesky Blue Jay pecking at the loaf of bread! (We must not have closed it properly). The biggest mammal we saw was a beaver swimming in the creek near our campsite. He was a good spot.

The crystal clear lake was beautiful to swim in and we swam most days. The 2nd day we cycled the 70 mile loop of the lake with a cafe stop leaving the hilliest 16 miles to cycle with full bellies and 3 pints of beer each inside us.

Incredibly scenic cycling at Tahoe

We didn’t do too much at strenuous as we were tapering for the Lake Tahoe middle distance triathlon at the weekend. We did some running which I found really difficult - probably due to the 2,600 meter altitude that Meeks Bay was at!! At least we had a few days to acclimatise to the thin air.

Relaxing at the lakeside beach post ride

Pancakes for breakfast!

Checking out the triathlon venue 

Nathaniel and I during an altitude trail run 

Lake Tahoe middle distance triathlon

The morning of the triathlon it was an early wake up at 5am and Nathaniel and I scrabbled around in the cold and dark having cereal and gathering up all I triathlon stuff. It was a short cycle up the road to the triathlon venue.

We had already registered the previous day so we had plenty of time to prepare before the start. Than racked his bike next to me and transition and I guided him where to place his shoes and race belt etc. It was really nice to have him doing a triathlon with me, get we were both quite adamant to beat each other.

It was freezing waiting for the triathlon to start and we found the warmest place to wait for the delayed start was actually in the lake. The gun went off 15 minutes late at 7:15am.

The swim:

It was hard to site the bouys initially due to the sunrise but after the first turn it became easy. The swim was relatively uneventful- apart from losing my swim hat early doors, which I just stuffed down my wetsuit and continued hatless. There was no big groups to draft and I found myself alone for the majority of the swim except when I caught a man up near the end of the swim. I came out the water 6th Overall and 2nd Female. Leaving Nathaniel 15 minutes to claw back.

The bike: After running up a gigantic hill in T1 during the usual fumbling with my wetsuit I was off on my bike. Out on the road there was a guy to pick off. I felt strong on the flat, TTing along on the drops of my road bike. The course consisted of 2 out and back North portion (flat) and 1 our and back portion south (so very hilly). Approaching the turn around point I could see one other woman in front. I overshot the first turn in fact because a competitor in front carried on zooming up the road. I have learnt better than to trust other competitors so did a double take and looked at my distance - this was the turn around point! During the outs and backs I was making some progress against the woman in front and was keep Nathaniel at bay on the flat but it was soon time for the hills... This is when it started to get ugly!! The hills destroyed my legs as I picked off many competitors, only to be over taken again on the long technical descents. My legs began to struggle at the south turn around but I had caught up the woman in 1st place. I overtook her at a pace (proving a point, I guess). I think she must have seen me as a threat as she cycled away at a pace I couldn’t keep on the next hill. I could see Than on my way to T2 - still about 15 minutes behind (It’s out that he had a puncture on the first portion of the hilly section or he would have been sure to eat into my time buffer!)

The run. (A.k.a. The struggle!) After a speedy T2 (I got an applaud from the crowd for my discount and another competitor complemented the speed of my T2), it was time for the run. Heading off like a bat out of hell I began to struggle with my breathing - I needed to check my pace. The path soon turned off the concrete back and soon turned into a technical dirt track and, at one point, even a sandy beach! The air was hot and dry and, now, dusty. I chatted to another competitor, whom later learnt my name and gave me encouragement whenever he saw me. He soon ran off in the distance as I struggled controlling my breathing in the altitude. Exhaustion and altitude forced me to adopt a run-walk strategy. I expected Than to come cruising by any moment - but he never came (i presumed that he was having a worse time than me!). As I approached the finish I was going over scenarios in my head how I could brag to Than about my victory without putting him off another triathlon.

Smiles at the finish line Up the hill to the finish and who should be standing there with a beer but Nathaniel Manning!! I was extremely confused. Maybe he had pulled out?! Nope it transpires that Than was also confused as he had indeed “finished”. Later we discovered that he and some other competitions had missed at 1.5 mile section near the start of the run course which was poorly signed. Than thought I was ahead still and was worried when he looked about at the finish. He apparently also asked the medical tent for me... I’m dubious as he also had time for 3 beers in all this worrying and looking!!... Anyway a record was set - officially my slowest middle distance triathlon at 6 hours and 7 minutes!! Then again it was the hardest middle distance I have ever done. I still kept hold of 2nd female overall and came 1st in my age group. Nathaniel also got a prize for 2nd place in his age group (coming a good 20mins ahead of 3rd so we didn’t confess about the unintentional shortcut!). We were awarded with beer glasses and trucker hats! Cheers. And also Nathaniel is game for another triathlon... yet he still has to complete an actual middle distance triathlon!!

Las Vegas.

Following the triathlon we stayed one more night at the beautiful Meeks Bay and BBQ’d the biggest steak you have ever seen! The morning after we packed up Oliver, the campervan, and drove back south over the mountains and then the vast empty dessert - we were heading to “Las Vegas Baby” (the comment that Than would intermittently yell whilst popping the horn!).

The masses of sky scrappers appeared out of the desert and closer we got the buildings grander and the traffic heavier.

We found the Venetian hotel and waved goodbye to Oliver in the hands of the valet parking. After a long wait to check in we opened the door to the best hotel room I’ve ever stayed in (I’ve lived a sheltered life or maybe it felt it in comparison to our Campervan).

Vegas was everything I expected it to be big, fancy and at the bottom of everything fake. I wanted to give the city a chance.

We had a quick flutter on a slot machine before heading to our dinner reservation at The Cut. It was my treat for Nathaniel’s birthday which I regretted when the bill came - totalling US $500 (a bargain considering there was a wine on the wine list for $24,000!!). However it was the most delicious steak however Nathaniel had to finish it as a migraine had ruined my appetite.

Than and his expensive belated birthday steak 

We ended that night with a bit of Blackjack. $100 down I retired to bed. 

The second day we explored all the lavish casinos, trying our luck with a few chips as we went. We made our way down the strip to the New York New York hotel were he had dinner and watched a Cirque de Soilei show.

The following morning we had went on a tour of the Grand Canyon. Firstly we got to see areal views from the small plane and then driven to 2 different view points. Our photos really don’t do the Canyon justice - it’s size is just incredible! Landing back in Las Vegas we pigged out on the final night in the Bellagio buffet. Apparently the best buffet in the world but I don’t have much to compare it still. But it still being full the majority of the next day if good - then it was!!

Views over the Grand Canyon 

Mammoth Lakes.

We decided to visit mammoth lakes on our way to Yosemite. It was a good decision as this place is beautiful. We stayed up from the town at a place called Twin Lakes: aptly named due to the 2 lakes surrounded by granite cliffs and waterfalls.

We easily found a campsite on the first night. However, unbeknown to us, it was a big bank holiday weekend in the USA (labour day) so we were demoted from campsite to car park for the second night.

Views from our run in Mammoth

We did a beautiful run from twin lakes to Mary lake and around Horseshoe lake. Then lunch before we cycled up mammoth mountain to the panoramic view point. This tough day deserved beer so we stopped at Mammoth Brewing company tasting rooms. Than came out with a huge tasting platter and we selected our favourite for a few more pints (conscious that we had to cycle 4 miles up hill home!).

Cycling in Mammoth 

Than bought me a lovely tankard from the tasting room however I couldn’t hide my disappointment that it wasn’t a mammoth brewing co cycling jersey.

Tasting at Mammoth Brewery 

Yosemite National Park.

We were lucky enough to get to camp inside this breath-takingly beautiful National Park and did we make the most of it?!? 74 miles of footpaths and scenery was explored. Our legs ached but we will remember those spectacular views forever.

On our first full day with did a very ambitious 10 mile walk which ended up being 17 hilly miles however we were rewarded by seeing a bear walk across the footpath. A few days later we saw a bobcat on the footpath before he jumped back into the mountain rocks. Along with plenty of deer and birds of prey we have seen a lot of exciting wildlife.

At the river next to the campground

Nathaniel took over map reading after the 17 mile walk we did on the first day (which was supposed to be 10)

Walking up to North Dome (Via Indian rocks)

Half dome in the background

The bridge over Yosemite falls

Vernon falls in the background

Cooling off after a long walk in the river

Admiring a giant redwood

San Francisco

After 6 days of paradise in Yosemite it was time to continue travelling. Headed to the west Coast for San Francisco. San Francisco is a lively vibrant city which had a cool feel to it.

We swam in a beautiful outdoor lido in the Mission district which was full of lane swimmers and was a joy to swim laps in. We camped near a surfing beach and nature reserve due to the lagoons. During our 2 nights in San Francisco we did plenty of cycling. The first day 50 miles exploring north of the city and finishing with a burger and a pint in Sausilito.

At Alpine dam

Climbs in San Francisco earn you good views

perhaps the most iconic view

The 2nd day we did a 35 mile loop going through Muir wood. Afterwards we cycled over a very busy golden gate bridge with tourists crashing hired bikes constantly!! Over the over side of the bridge we had BBQ and tasting treats at the Presidio picnic before heading down the highway 1 back towards LA.

After taking 2 days to venture down the HW1. Seeing the sea otters at Monterey on the way. We checked into a hotel in LA ready to fly to New Zealand, our next adventure.

#travel #triathlon

[theupperberth-blog]

The Dance of Death by Algernon Blackwood 1917

Browne went to the dance feeling genuinely depressed, for the doctor had just warned him that his heart was weak and that he must be exceedingly careful in the matter of exertion. "Dancing?" he asked, with that assumed lightness some natures affect in the face of a severe shock—the plucky instinct to conceal pain. "Well—in moderation, perhaps," hummed the doctor. "Not wildly!" he added, with a smile that betrayed something more than mere professional sympathy. At any other time Browne would probably have laughed, but the doctor's serious manner put a touch of ice on the springs of laughter. At the age of twenty-six one hardly realises death; life is still endless; and it is only old people who have "hearts" and such-like afflictions. So it was that the professional dictum came as a real shock; and with it too, as a sudden revelation, came that little widening of sympathy for others that is part of every deep experience as the years roll up and pass. At first he thought of sending an excuse. He went about carefully, making the 'buses stop dead before he got out, and going very slowly up steps. Then gradually he grew more accustomed to the burden of his dread secret: the commonplace events of the day; the hated drudgery of the office, where he was an underpaid clerk; the contact with other men who bore similar afflictions with assumed indifference; the fault-finding of the manager, making him fearful of his position—all this helped to reduce the sense of first alarm, and, instead of sending an excuse, he went to the dance, as we have seen, feeling deeply depressed, and moving all the time as if he carried in his side a brittle glass globe that the least jarring might break into a thousand pieces. The spontaneous jollity natural to a boy and girl dance served, however, to emphasise vividly the contrast of his own mood, and to make him very conscious again of his little hidden source of pain. But, though he would gladly have availed himself of a sympathetic ear among the many there whom he knew intimately, he nevertheless exercised the restraint natural to his character, and avoided any reference to the matter that bulked so largely in his consciousness. Once or twice he was tempted, but a prevision of the probable conversation that would ensue stopped him always in time: "Oh, I am so sorry, Mr. Browne, and you mustn't dance too hard, you know," and then his careless laugh as he remarked that it didn't matter a bit, and his little joke as he whirled his partner off for another spin. He knew, of course, there was nothing very sensational about being told that one's heart was weak. Even the doctor had smiled a little; and he now recalled more than one acquaintance who had the same trouble and made light of it. Yet it sounded in Browne's life a note of profound and sinister gloom. It snatched beyond his reach at one fell swoop all that he most loved and enjoyed, destroying a thousand dreams, and painting the future a dull drab colour without hope. He was an idealist at heart, hating the sordid routine of the life he led as a business underling. His dreams were of the open air, of mountains, forests, and great plains, of the sea, and of the lonely places of the world. Wind and rain spoke intimately to his soul, and the storms of heaven, as he heard them raging at night round his high room in Bloomsbury, stirred savage yearnings that haunted him for days afterwards with the voices of the desert. Sometimes during the lunch hour, when he escaped temporarily from the artificial light and close air of his high office stool, to see the white clouds sailing by overhead, and to hear the wind singing in the wires, it set such a fever in his blood that for the remainder of the afternoon he found it impossible to concentrate on his work, and thus exasperated the loud-voiced manager almost to madness. Having no expectations, and absolutely no practical business ability, he was fortunate, however, in having a "place" at all, and the hard fact that promotion was unlikely made him all the more careful to keep his dreams in their place, to do his work as well as possible, and to save what little he could. His holidays were the only points of light in an otherwise dreary existence. And one day, when he should have saved enough, he looked forward vaguely to a life close to Nature, perhaps a shepherd on a hundred hills, a dweller in the woods, within sound of his beloved trees and waters, where the smell of the earth and camp fire would be ever in his nostrils, and the running stream always ready to bear his boat swiftly away into happiness. And now the knowledge that he had a weak heart came to spoil everything. It shook his dream to the very foundations. It depressed him utterly. Any moment the blow might fall. It might catch him in the water, swimming, or half-way up the mountain, or midway in one of his lonely tramps, just when his enjoyment depended most upon his being reckless and forgetful of bodily limitations— that freedom of the spirit in the wilderness he so loved. He might even be forced to spend his holiday, to say nothing of the dream of the far future, in some farmhouse "quietly," instead of gloriously in the untrodden wilds. The thought made him angry with pain. All day he was haunted and dismayed, and all day he heard the wind whispering among branches and the water lapping somewhere against sandy banks in the sun. The dance was a small subscription affair, hastily arranged and happily informal. It took place in a large hall that was used in the daytime as a gymnasium, but the floor was good and the music more than good. Foils and helmets hung round the walls, and high up under the brown rafters were ropes, rings, and trapezes coiled away out of reach, their unsightliness further concealed by an array of brightly coloured flags. Only the light was not of the best, for the hall was very long, and the gallery at the far end loomed in a sort of twilight that was further deepened by the shadows of the flags overhead. But its benches afforded excellent sitting-out places, where strong light was not always an essential to happiness, and no one dreamed of finding fault. At first he danced cautiously, but by degrees the spirit of the time and place relieved his depression and helped him to forget. He had probably exaggerated the importance of his malady. Lots of other fellows, even as young as he was, had weak hearts and thought nothing of it. All the time, however, there was an undercurrent of sadness and disappointment not to be denied. Something had gone out of life. A note of darkness had crept in. He found his partners dull, and they no doubt found him still duller. Yet this dance, with nothing apparently to distinguish it from a hundred others, stood out in all his experience with an indelible red mark against it. It is a common trick of Nature—and a profoundly significant one—that, just when despair is deepest, she waves a wand before the weary eyes and does her best to waken an impossible hope. Her idea, presumably, being to keep her victim going actively to the very end of the chapter, lest through indifference he should lose something of the lesson she wishes to teach. Thus it was that, midway in the dance, Browne's listless glance fell upon a certain girl whose appearance instantly galvanised him into a state of keenest possible desire. A flash of white light entered his heart and set him all on fire to know her. She attracted him tremendously. She was dressed in pale green, and always danced with the same man— a man about his own height and colouring, whose face, however, he never could properly see. They sat out together much of the time—always in the gallery where the shadows were deepest. The girl's face he saw clearly, and there was something about her that simply lifted him bodily out of himself and sent strange thrills of delight coursing over him like shocks of electricity. Several times their eyes met, and when this happened he could not tear his glance away. She fascinated him, and all the forces in his being merged into a single desire to be with her, to dance with her, speak with her, and to know her name. Especially he wondered who the man was she so favoured; he reminded him so oddly of himself. No one knows precisely what he himself looks like, but this tall dark figure, whose face he never could contrive to see, started the strange thought in him that it was his own double. In vain he sought to compass an introduction to this girl. No one seemed to know her. Her dress, her hair, and a certain wondrous slim grace made him think of a young tree waving in the wind; of ivy leaves; of something that belonged to the life of the woods rather than to ordinary humanity. She possessed him, filling his thoughts with wild woodland dreams. Once, too, he was certain when their eyes met that she smiled at him, and the call was so well-nigh irresistible that he almost dropped his partner's arm to run after her.

Read the rest here....